Refined | Pastor Darren Palmer | Faith Church

I've got three things that I want to share this

morning. And the first one is a word for maybe

one or two people here. But the Lord put this

on my heart last night as I was praying for the

service. And I want to share this with you. Your

season of laughter is coming. Will you receive

that? Your season of laughter is coming. Now

I want to read some verses from Genesis chapter

Genesis 21 · chapter mention

21. Verse 1. Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah

as he had said. And the Lord did for Sarah what

he had promised. And I want to remind you, and

you can remind the person sitting next to you

right now, God will do what he said he would

do. God will do what he said he would do. Amen?

So just tell that to the person next to you right

now. God will do what he said he would do. Sarah

became pregnant. and bore a son to Abraham in

his old age. At the very time God had promised

him, there it is again, Abraham gave him the

name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. And when

his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised

him as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred

years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

And listen to what Sarah said. Sarah said, God

has brought me laughter. And everyone who hears

about this will laugh with me. Hallelujah. Now

you need to understand something, that this was

after a lifetime of grieving. She had been married

to Abraham for a long time. They had the promise

that God had given to Abraham for 25 years when

she was 65. And so she was living, believing

for a long time. And now she's 90. Her womb is

dead. But God woke up her womb. so that she could

receive and bear a miracle son. Hallelujah. Now,

the year before, when the men came sent from

God to bear that message, Sarah laughed. Do you

remember when Sarah laughed? You can read the

story, Genesis 17, 18, right in there. And Sarah

laughed because she was doubting. And she was

embarrassed that she laughed. In fact, Abraham

asked her, why did you laugh? And she lied. And

she said, I did not laugh. And you see, the first

laughter that was connected to this miracle was

the laughter of doubt. But God is faithful even

when we are not oftentimes, amen? And he was

faithful to Sarah. And Sarah, bore a child, and

God turned her laughter of doubt into the laughter

of abundance. Hallelujah. And she freely, before

she lied about it and she said, no, I didn't

laugh. No, I didn't doubt. No, I didn't do any

of those things. But now she has been given a

son. The promise has come to her. And she is

freely laughing in front of everybody. And she's

saying that the God that made me laugh is going

to make everybody else laugh when they hear my

story. Hallelujah. Now, some of you have been

standing, believing God for a long time. And

God says this morning, your season of laughter

is coming. Hallelujah. And so I want to pray

over you right now. I want to pray over you because

there's a couple of people in this room that

that went into. And you say, I'm latching on

to that word. If that's you, lift up your hand

right now. You're latching on to that word. Hands

up all over this room. Father, in the name of

Jesus, I thank you for the hands that are up

right now just representing the promise of God

being fulfilled in their lives. They're believing

you. They're standing. And for some of them,

it has been a long, long season. God, I'm asking

right now all over this room. that the season

of laughter will come forth in the name of Jesus.

You say, how Lord can it be done? How Lord can

it be done? But we join with Mary and say with

God, all things are possible. Lord, when Elizabeth

gave birth to John, the Bible says that everyone

rejoiced with her. Hallelujah. And God, I thank

you for the miracles that are coming to these

hands that are lifting up right now in Jesus'

name. I thank you for the breakthroughs that

are coming. I thank you for the answered prayer

that is coming in the name of Jesus. I thank

you for the healing that is coming in the name

of Jesus. And I ask, Father, that the season

of laughter will come in Jesus' name. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Okay, you can

tell I haven't preached in a while. Sermon number

two. Sermon number two is in Joshua chapter 24.

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

And these are for some people to strengthen their

hand in their family. To strengthen their hand

in what God has called you in your family. And

you remember Joshua had just, he had won all

the battles. The land was being settled. And

he was giving a victory speech to the Israelites

before they split up and all went their way.

And he was warning them about serving other gods.

And he said in verse 14 of Joshua 24, 24 -14,

Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness.

Everybody say, all faithfulness. Throw away the

gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates

River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if

serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then

choose for yourselves this day whom you will

serve, whether the gods of your ancestors, they

serve beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the

Amorites in whose land you are living. But as

for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Hallelujah. And that's a declaration I felt the

Lord put in my heart. This is all aside from

my ever -shortening sermon that's about to come

up. I believe that that word was to be released

this morning over somebody here to have... courage

to stand up for your household and say, as for

me and my house, we're not going to go the way

the world. We're not going to do the things that

the world does. We're not going to operate the

way the world operates. We're not going to be

in love with the things that the world is in

love with. We're not going to spend our money

the way the world spends its money because as

for me and my house, we're serving God. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. How many of you will with a fresh

declaration today? Whether you are single, living

by yourself, that is your household. Or whether

you are a grandparent and all of your kids are

gone and you're there by yourself now, that is

your household. Amen? Or whether you have kids

in your home, whether you're a full family in

your home right now, man of God, woman of God,

will you stand up in the Spirit? And will you

say, as for me and my house, we will serve the

Lord. Hallelujah. The spirit of Joshua come upon

you in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. If that's you,

lift up your hand before the Lord right now.

God, all over this room, people standing up saying,

as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

God, we declare that with our whole heart. God,

we just embrace the declaration Joshua made.

Joshua knew that others would go the other direction.

And there might be people at work or even our

friends that have gone the wrong direction. But

we declare with something fresh in our hearts

at the beginning of this summer, God, we declare

that as for me and my house, we will serve the

Lord. We declare that in the name of Jesus. Ooh,

hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, just in the midst

of this, we declare our, we just recognize that

we're imperfect, that we are being made holy.

We are holy and we're being made holy. We are

sanctified, but we're also being made sanctified.

That you are working in our lives. We ask for

your help in this, your grace. God, it's not

just about following rules better because we

fall short. It is about leaning into Jesus and

the power of the Holy Spirit and trusting God

day by day to be our strength. We declare, as

for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Isn't that good? Praise

God. Praise God. And then finally, this morning,

in 1 Peter 1, if you would turn there with me.

1 Peter 1. And we're going to be celebrating

with baptisms right after this time. I want to

talk for a moment about the refiner's fire. And

I want to ask you, is the refiner's fire burning

in your heart? The refiner's fire. And we're

in 1 Peter chapter 1, and I want to read from

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

verses 6 through 9. In all this you greatly rejoice,

though now for a little while you may have had

to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 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. Though you have

not seen Him, you love Him. And even though you

do not see him now, you believe in him and are

filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy

for you are receiving the end result of your

faith, the salvation of your soul. Hallelujah.

Give God praise for that. That's powerful. The

refiner's fire. And Peter alludes to the refining

of gold the same way that God tests your faith.

Refiner's fire. Let me read to you some verses

that you can write down if you're taking notes.

Proverbs 17, 3. The crucible for silver and the

furnace for gold. But the Lord tests the heart.

The Lord tests the heart. So you and I, and this

obviously is not your physical heart. This is

the heart of your faith. The internal spiritual

heart, God tests. He does not test it so that

you will fail. He tests it so that you will pass.

He's not a cruel teacher that wants most of his

students to fail, like my freshman English teacher.

I barely passed. Oh, God wants you to pass the

test. And so the fire that you have been in,

the trial, is to... increase your faith in Christ.

Amen? And so there are different ways that the

Lord tests us. Let me just walk through a couple

of them quickly. Here's another proverb, Proverbs

27, 21. The crucible for silver and the furnace

for gold, but people are tested by their praise.

Wow. Did you know that? When people tell you,

you did a great job, guess what's happening in

that moment? Your heart is being tested. What's

in your heart often comes out when people praise

you. Whether you have a woe is me attitude, Which

God wants to burn out of you because sometimes

when people praise you or give you a compliment,

you have so much woe is me -ism in you that you

can't even receive what they're trying to say.

And you just outright reject what people are

saying to you. Or whether you are inflated with

pride. And so you have... pride that grips your

heart when you are praised and when somebody

compliments you and pride just swells up and

you go, oh no, that's all God, but inside you're

saying, oh yeah, that's me. Praise tests your

heart. It's a fire. Here's what you ought to

do when somebody praises you. you ought to first

say, thank you. That's encouraging. Right? In

fact, let's all say that together. Thank you.

That's encouraging. That's a great thing to say.

And then do you know what you do? You give glory

to the Lord. You give that praise to God because

you know and I know that if I do something well

and somebody says thank you or that was a great

job, Darren, you know and I know that that only

happens because of the goodness of God in my

life. And the same is true for you. It happens

because of the goodness of God. operating in

your life. And so you and I cannot take the glory

for that praise. You and I cannot take the accolades

for that praise. We can't do it. We've got to

give glory to God. We've got to give glory where

glory is due. Because it is only Him working

in my life that I am what I am. Amen? And so

we say thank you, that's encouraging. And then

we give God the glory for that thing in our lives.

Amen? We give Him glory. We are tested when we

are praised. How do you respond when people praise

you? If you have a woe is me attitude, you need

to repent of that in Jesus' name. Because that

is the opposite side of pride. And it is the

constant putting down of yourself which God does

not do. And you need to stop it in the name of

Jesus. And you need to say, God, thank you. I

recognize the giftings and the good things that

you've done in my life. I recognize those things.

I don't have to deny them to be humble. I can

recognize what God has done in my life, and I

can give Him praise for that. Amen? That's good

stuff. Praise the Lord. The second thing that

God refines us with, which we've already touched

on, is affliction. affliction. It's difficulty

in life. And Jesus said, in this world you will

have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome

the world. And the psalmist said in Psalm 66

10, for you God tested us, you refined us like

silver. You refined us like silver. You brought

us into prison. Now this was because of Their

lack of repenting. They would not repent. You

brought us into prison and you laid burdens on

our back. You let people ride over our heads.

We went through fire and water. But you brought

us to a place of abundance. I want to read that

again because that was exciting to me. If it

was exciting to nobody else. Verse 12. This is

Psalm 66, 12. You let people ride over our heads.

We went through the fire and water, but you brought

us to a place of abundance. You see, the refining

and the testing is not to get you to fail and

fall and be destroyed. It is ultimately to bless

you and bring you into the place of abundance.

But they had to say yes to the time. of trial.

That's Psalm 66 10. Isaiah 48 10. God says through

Isaiah, see I have refined you, though not as

silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

Wow. Zechariah 13, 8 and 9. In the whole land,

declares the Lord, two -thirds will be struck

down and perish. This is a prophecy. Yet one

-third will be left in it. Verse 9. This third

I will put into the fire. I will refine them

like silver and test them like gold. They will

carry on my name and I will answer them. I will

say they are my people and they will say the

Lord is. our God. You see, when silver and gold

is refined, if you've ever watched the process,

you can watch it on YouTube. As it heats up,

what happens is all the impurities in it come

to the surface. And the gold is so hot that when

the impurities hit the surface, and they come

in contact with oxygen, then they burst into

flame and they are burned up. And this is what

God wants to do with the dross in our lives.

It's called dross. The dross comes up to the

surface and it burns up so that what is left

in your life... In that bowl is pure silver and

pure gold and is not mixed with anything else.

Now that's a simplified version of the purification

process. But what does it take? Heat. It takes

heat. And so you go through things in life. And

you know what it does? It puts heat underneath

you so that the impurities draw out. Amen? The

impurities are drawn out. You hit your thumb

with a hammer. And guess what? The impurities

can come out. I'm just telling you. And you might

discover there's more I need to repent of. You're

laughing because you know it's true. Frustrating

things happen. no matter how saved you are, frustrating

things will still happen. And why do they happen?

Because God is purifying our hearts. So do you

know what the solution is? To surrender to the

refiner's fire. The Holy Spirit has not just

been given you to empower you so that you always

live on cloud nine. He has come so that you can

be a strong witness for the kingdom of God. But

one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to

burn like a fire so that you and I walk refined

before Him. Refiner's fire. And so as I close

here, the psalmist learned to pray. And so if

you can, turn to Psalm 139 with me, and we're

going to close with this prayer in Psalm 139.

There's actually multiple places in the Bible

where people pray something similar, but... I'm

just going to read this one as I close this morning.

In verse 23, the psalmist says, Search me, God,

and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious

thoughts. See if there is any offensive way.

in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Isn't

this a great prayer? Do you know what this is?

This is a surrendering to the refiner's fire.

God, I recognize that there's places in my life

that I can't even see. I have blind spots that

others can see often, but even some, God, that

only you see. And the psalmist says, God, here's

what I want you to do. I want you to burn the

dross off of my life. I want to be pleasing to

you in your sight. Search me, O God, and know

my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

What he's praying here is not just that they

would be exposed, but that they would be transformed

and changed. And what the psalmist did not have

revelation of that you and I have revelation

of is the cross of Calvary. That you and I can

pray this, and as we pray this, we... can come

to the cross. Hallelujah. We can come to the

cross where Jesus shed His blood. And we can

say, God, search me. Know me. Try my anxious

thoughts. I bring them to the cross for You to

deliver me and set me free. Hallelujah. And God

will do that. What is that vice that has you?

That perhaps you were once freed from, but you

went back to it. What is that internal thought

that you constantly have that you know is not

from God? What is that thing that you struggle

with that you know that God needs to burn out

of your life? Holy Spirit, search my heart. Know

me. God, my desire is that if there is any offensive

way in me, That God, it be out of my life. And

that I walk in the way everlasting. I want to

bring you pleasure, God. I want to bring you

pleasure. And so before we move to the baptisms

this morning. I just want to respond. And you

might want to come down to the altar. You might

build an altar right there where you are. You

might just close your eyes. But I want to respond

with a song that just says, Refiners fire, have

your way in me. Have your way in my life. Refiners

fire. Move in me. Thank you, Jesus.