REFINED BY FIRE

1. REFINED BY FIRE JoLynn Gower 493-6151 352-2458 jgower@guardingthetruth.org

2. WORD FOR THE JOURNEY • Matthew 7:21-23  "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROMME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' • Does: poieo: to perform (especially as a poet) • Practice: ergazomai: to perform or work • Matthew 7:13-14  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

3. BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND • Romans 12:1-2  Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. • 1 Thessalonians 5:8  But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. • Ephesians 6:17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. • Helmet: perikephalaia: protection for the head

4. HOPE OF SALVATION • Hope: elpis: the confident expectation that something promised will actually happened • Salvation: soterios: deliverance • Our heads are protected by the confident expectation that God has begun the work of our salvation and will complete it • We take up all of the armor except the helmet and the sword, which we receive • Take up the helmet: dechomai: receive, take when offered • The armor and weaponry are given to us because we are in covenant relationship with Jesus • James 1:21  Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

5. WHY ARE CHRISTIANS REJECTED? • Why are other religions tolerated when Christianity is not? • John 1:11  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. • Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. • Luke 20:16-17  "He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others." When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!” But Jesus looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAMETHE CHIEF CORNERstone'? • Rejected: apodokimazo: to disaprove; • Rejection is a big part of the refining process which conforms us to the image of Christ

6. RENEWED TO CHRIST’S IMAGE • 2 Corinthians 3:18  But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. • Colossians 3:9-11 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices,  and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. • Renewed: anakainos: put back to original form • Image: G: eikon: form or likeness • Image: H: tselem: shadow image made by light

7. WHO DO YOU SERVE? • Galatians 1:10  For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. • GOD MAY, FROM TIME TO TIME, CAUSE US TO DO THINGS THAT PEOPLE DON’T LIKE • 1 Corinthians 15:6-11  After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

8. SIGNS OF THE TIMES • Matthew 10:32-39 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAWAGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN‘S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” • ABSENCE OF STRIFE; PEACE WITH GOD; PEACE OF GOD

9. NEVER FORSAKEN • Hebrews 13:5-6 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKEYOU,” so that we confidently say, “THELORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME” • John 15:18-21 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

10. WHY NOW? • Matthew 24:6-7 "You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. • Matthew 24:9-14 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. • Revelation 14:6  And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;

11. ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION • Matthew 24:15-16  "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. • Daniel 9:26-27  "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

12. THE ANTICHRIST • Revelation 13:1  And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. • Daniel 7:19-20  "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. • Daniel 7:23-24 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other king-doms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise

13. THE WORLD AT THE END • Revelation 17:8-13  "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.