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. PEACE OF GOD • The Bible speaks to two sorts of peace: Peace withGod Peace of God • Romans 5:1  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ • Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. • Philippians 4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. • Peace: eirene: rest; quietness; absence of war or chaos OR internal peace giving a quiet, calm spirit • Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

4. GUARDING John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” • Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ • 1 Peter 1:3-5  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which isimperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. • guard, protected: phroureo: the advance sentinel; power of God through faith protects! Gives advance warning!

5. HOW FAITH WORKS • Romans 10:14  How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? • Romans 10:17  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. • Hebrews 11:1-3  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. • Hebrews 11:4  By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

6. TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT • Galatians 2:16 …nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. • John 6:28-29 Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." • James 2:26  For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (nekros: dead body) • James 2:15-17  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for theirbody, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

7. SPIRITUAL PREPARATION • Habakkuk 1:2 How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save. • Habakkuk 1:4  Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. • Habakkuk 1:5-7  "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce, impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves. • Habakkuk 1:12  Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge…

8. THE WATCHMAN • Habakkuk 2:1  I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. • Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.” • Habakkuk 2:12-14 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the LORD of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of theLORD, as the waters cover the sea • Habakkuk 2:18,20 "What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him."

9. THE SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION • Habakkuk 3:2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. • Habakkuk 3:17-19  Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.   The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

10. THE INNER PEACE • Hebrews 12:11  All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. • Romans 9:20-25 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?  Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?  What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?  And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

11. OUR PART • 2 Corinthians 10:3-6  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. • According to: kata: in accordance with; conforming to • Captive: aichmalotizo: to take charge of something and make it a prisoner • Most power encounters are usually truth encounters

12. NOT VICTIMS; NOT PASSIVE • We are in covenant relationship with Christ • We have His armor and weaponry; we are prepared for the battle • We must learn how to use the power and authority that has been offered to us • We learn to trust God and act according to the purpose that He has given us • When we loose peace, it is time to take action