It’s Refining Time

It’s Refining Time Dr. Kenneth Jones

Notes • The purpose of the gospel is not to make “Bad” men “Good” but to literally transform lives for God’s Purposes and grant us access to Him and to the kingdom • Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. • John 1:12 - But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: • Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Information vs. Revelation • Many Christian come to church for information and not transformation. • Greek mindset- • Informed behavior - people try to manufacture a product ( holiness) without a transformed mindset • Knowledge’ to the Greek mind is information. But to the Hebrew, you cannot know anything without experiencing it. It is all about revealed knowledge through spiritual encounter and living out the “Creed” • There is more a need for Revelation than Information

What’s the Point? Knowledge is usually Stored But Revelation Leads to Transformation

What is Transformation? • Consider the Movie, “Transformers” • Process: • There is a Change • To a Conformed Image • Becomes a new or different Creation • Spiritual Transformation Requires Change to Become What God Destined You to Be

World’s Statement “Accept Me As I Am” But What if What You Are is Not What God Pre-Destined You to Be?

“I’m Going to Change! You Just Wait!” By Whose Standards and By What Process?

Best Statement Ever “Be Patient, God isn’t Finished With Me Yet.” But Have You Even Submitted Yourself to the Potter’s Wheel or Do You Keep “Jumping” Off When the Friction Gets too Intense?

God’s Process • Iron Sharpens Iron • Spiritual Disciplines • Fellowship • Discipleship/Mentoring • Refining Through Fire • The Sting of Afflictions • Trials • Adjustment

Issue Free? Then You Don’t Need God Is there Anyone Out There That is Completely Issue Free? Is There Anything in Life Above Your Ability to Repair?

God Creates Vessels

Molding and Remolding • So are ye in mine hand - When a vessel was ruined, the potter did not throw it away, but crushed it together, dashed it back upon the wheel, and began his work afresh, until the clay had taken the predetermined shape. • The Clay is in the Hands of the Potter – You are in God’s Hands. He really is “Working on Me” • In order to begin again, the clay had to be crushed into an unresisting mass, in which the formative process began again immediately. God does this to human lives through affliction to make another vessel

It’s Getting Hot in Here! Isaiah 48:10: Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried and chosen you in the furnace of affliction • In the furnace of affliction - Referring particularly to their trials in Babylon. Afflictions are often likened to fire - from the fact that fire is used to purify or try metals, and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God. • For my own sake – Not everything is about us. We, as Christians have made our songs, our testimony, our Christian experiences about us – It is really about bringing glory to God

Being Refined • Refined - Taken through a process to create a better product less contaminated than before Proverbs 25:4 - Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Another Translation: Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel • Drossis a mass of solid impurities floating on a molten metal or dispersed in the metal God’s Purpose through Refinement: To make a better Vessel for His use. But he has to purge us first

A Continual Refining • There are all manner of junks that we bring into our lives even after we make “Jesus Our Lord” • Carnal mind-sets and approaches, • Character traits rooted in the sin nature • That is why the call to repentance does not stop at the day we experience salvation (Revelation 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19).

The Process of Refinement • Those of you who are familiar with the process of refining gold know that the gold is first placed in a crucible and subjected to intense heat. The heat causes the gold to melt and its impurities to separate and come to the top, where they can be skimmed off. • This process is repeated as many times as necessary in order to increase the quality and purity of the gold. For example, 10-karat gold does not have to be heated as much or as long as 14-karat gold. Twenty-four karat gold undergoes an even more intensive refining process. • The More Intense the Refining, the greater the Worth • What do you want to be: Refined Gold or Fool’s Gold?

The Refining Process • God has to remove the impurities from our lives that hold us back from going all the way with Him. I believe that this is His agenda for the church right now and that we have entered a season of God's refinement. • Selfish motives • Impure actions • Envy • Jealousy • Refining can be a difficult and uncomfortable process. At times, we may feel very much as the gold does when it is being melted. We experience heat, discomfort and adversity.

The Refining Process – The Heat is On • This process of Refinement is walked out a bit differently in each of our lives. • For some of us, important relationships seem to fall apart. We may find ourselves misunderstood, misjudged and falsely accusedfor no reason • Finances run out for some, feeling like it is slipping as water through our hands • Others may face sickness in our body or physical hardships. • We may find ourselves struggling once again with emotions and issues that we thought we had long since conquered. • Increased Anxiety: For example, you can’t sleep due to worry because you lost your job

Why Is This Happening? • First Thought: Am I doing something Wrong? • But I am Seeking God: The purifying process can be especially confusing to those of us who have been seeking the Lord and drawn to a place of deeper intimacy with Him than ever before. • We may not understand why God is allowing "bad" things to happen in our lives. • Remember the act of Refining is not punishment God’s desire to make a better vessel out of you

This World is Under Fire Because Many Christians and Churches are Presenting a Different Image than What God Ordained it to be Today’s Church is Not Only “Under Fire” But it Also “In the Fire” For the Wrong Reasons

Scripture Jeremiah 8:11 - "They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, `Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.

Is It God or the Enemy? • Some believers don't understand that God is refining them, so they "resist the devil" instead of submitting to the Holy Spirit James 4:7 - Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. • Sometime the enemy's attacks and the refiner's fire look a lot alike. • If you are unsure, then ask God James 1:5 - But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Is It God or Us? • Most of what we experience today are due to the choices we’ve made, the choices made for us, and generational curses and sins from our ancestors • Also God said that our sins have separated us from him. If you are separated from the source, then you won’t have the power to stand and after done all to stand Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. • Sin not only clouds our view of God, but it also clouds His view of us

Separated By Sin • The process of Refining allows us to be purged from Sin so that we can enjoy fellowship with the Father • Sin separates us from fellowship with God, because at least at the point of our sin, we no longer think alike with God. • Sin separates us from the blessing of God, because at least at the point of our sin, we are not trusting God and relying on Him. • Sin separates us from the some of the benefits of God’s love, even as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) was still loved by the father, but didn’t enjoy the benefits of his love when he was in sin. • Sin separates us, in some way, from the protection of God, because He will allow trials to come our way to correct us.

Good News! God is Present With Us! • God is present in the refining process. If you are suffering for Christ then Christ is with you in the fire. until you are formed in the image that he desires • The Silversmith must sit with his eyes fixed on the furnace so he won't damage the product • The Refiner knows when enough is enough

Don’t Retreat Can’t stand the Heat? Then Get out of the Kitchen This mindset has led many to retreat to the living room of complacency waiting on someone to bring them a “plate” every Sunday God is the Potter and We are the Clay, but many of us keep jumping off the Potter’s Wheel because of the friction while God is trying to make a better vessel out of us. (Jeremiah 18:1-10)

Scriptures Zechariah 13:9: And I will put this third (the Christian Church- inserted)into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ • The Christian Church, Corporately and Individually will be endure afflictions, but they will refined, not consumed • There is some truth that many times the trials and the “fires of life,” that we endure develops us, more than just “teaching us a lesson.” • Sometimes teaching us a lessons infers that we need to be punished for wrongdoing, but God is in the business of molding, not destroying

Your Faith is Your Gold • 1 Peter 1:7 ESV : So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Faith . . . tested by fire: Our faith isn’t tested because God doesn’t know how much or what kind of faith we have. It is tested because we often are ignorant of how much or what kind of faith we have. God’s purpose in testing is to display the enduring quality of our faith. • Is your faith more valuable than your material possessions? faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love.

Christ Formed in Us • The Purpose of all aspects of spirituality, warfare included, is to bring us into the image of Christ • We are delivered from sin not so that we might live for ourselves, but that we might come into Christlikeness • Many of our spiritual conflicts are not going to cease until the Character of Jesus is formed in us

Scripture Galatians 4:19 - My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you– • We are made in the “likeness” of God, meaning that we were created to operate within the chaos just as God does – We are made to not only look like Him but “Act” like Him • Until Christ reigns wholly in your hearts; until you wholly and entirely embrace his doctrines; and until you become wholly imbued with his spirit

Points of Emphasis • God has one answer to spiritual warfare: appropriate the nature of His Son • Many of us claim we are fighting a war against the devil when the target of our frustrations and defeats is ourselves • God allows spiritual warfare and the trials of life for one purpose- to bring us into Christlikeness • To be in the image of God is to be able to operate in the chaos just as God.

All Things Work Together Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. • All things - All our afflictions and trials; all the persecutions and calamities to which we are exposed are appointed for our welfare. • Work together for good - They shall cooperate; they shall mutually contribute to our good. For those who live in the spirit of obedience.

God is With You in the Fire Isaiah 43:2 - When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. • When thou passest through the waters - This is a general promise, and means that whenever and wherever they should pass through water or fire, he would protect them • But God helping us, we can walk through the fire. We don’t have to panic, we don’t have to fear, and we don’t have to run as if we didn’t trust God. He can so strengthen us in our trials that we can walk through the fire!

Surviving The Refinement Process • 1 Peter 5:10ESV: And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. • Surrender to the Process - Cooperate with Him rather than resist Him. • Acknowledge the Need – see the need for cleansing and spiritual growth • Who you really are is who you are in the midst of adversity • Learn to recognize that person and submit to the refining process

Surviving the Refining Process (Cont’d) • Be careful not to condemn yourself – God’s refining process is not meant to be punishment • Some of us become upset and condemn ourselves when we notice impurities present in our lives. We may even pull away from God. • But God wants us to run to Him and receive His forgiveness and cleansing. His desire is not to condemn us but to purify us and transform us into the image of His son (Rom. 8:1; Titus 2:14; 2 Cor. 3:18). • Rejoice in the Midst of Trials because You know the Outcome

It’s Refining Time