Sermon: "Refined By Fire"

  Refined by Fire!

Refining is a process by which everything else is removed and only the pure metal remains. It is accomplished through firing, putting the metal over the fire until it is a liquid from which
can be drawn from.
God sent a message to the prophet Zechariah- (Zechariah 13.9) “This third I will put into the fire;
   I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name
   and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people, and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.”
1)     Look for the ways God is using your difficulties to refine you. Don’t rebel against the work God is trying to do in your life. We all have to be refined in our lives.
(1 Peter 1.7) “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
2)     The Lord does not willingly afflict, yet His wise love often appoints sharp trials, to      show His people their hearts and to do them good in the latter end.  In the end result- God wants a generation of young believers who’s hearts are pure and holy towards God. With no bitterness,  anger Ect.. But true and holy believers who are really ready to carry out the gospel and to bring the end time harvest in.
God wants us to be as- Holy as Holy as I am. He wants us to mirror image His life, His holiness to be complete and perfect. The refining process (going through the fire) is not the easiest thing to go through as a Christian. But each time you go through a trail, or refining period- God is trying to show how much He loves you. He wants you to be perfect like Him. An atmosphere of complete holiness would be, in a broken position before the Lord, letting Him come in and do the work that He needs to do, and be vulnerable enough. A lot of times, it will be a very painful and emotional thing- a lot of times you will end up in tears or crying your eyes out not really knowing why. But God is trying uproot all the impure things in your life.
**Pain and suffering can have a diving purpose in preparing us for Glory (2 Corinthians 4.16-18) “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. “ Peter was tested daily on his faith, being tested each day- or even going through the “fire” shows the strengths and weaknesses of your faith..

 (Habakkuk 3.17-19) “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. *Sometimes we are forced to turn to God. But yet we will rejoice in the Lord, and be joyful. Even though we go through some of the hardest things in our lives, God will always be there and we can TRUST in HIM.
(2 Corinthians 1.3-5) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
Do you see that? God comforts us in our “troubles” so that we can go out and comfort other people! WOA! The trails that you go through, are not only for yourself but they are also for other people. That you can go out and share your testimony with others and show and tell them how you made it through things, and that they can make it through as well!  Bearing pain and suffering can be an inspiration to others. .( just like the apostle Paul to the message of Christ to almost everyone in the new testament! )
Lastly! (1 Timothy 6.12) Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
KEEP FIGHTING NO MATTER WHAT! Don’t give up just because you are going through something hard. Keep pressing forward to receive the crown of life! (eternal life)God would never give you something you can’t handle and would never ‘not’ be there with you through the fire. Fire produces endurance and character! Don’t give up!