Refiner's Fire Part 2 - Refiner's Fire

You're listening to the road by Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

I want to challenge us.

Quit belly aching.

Instead, go God.

I want the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Bring it on in my life because I want to be conformed to the image of your son.

I want the revealing of the sons and the daughters of God to flow through me.

God, I want to be taken to the next level.

I am not satisfied with where I'm at.

I got issues in my life, and you're burning them out.

I welcome your refining fire because this is what I want.

I want the peaceable fruit of righteousness flowing in my life.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

Well, for the past month, we were getting ready to go into Worshiper and Warrior based off my book.

We're still going to do that, but through some prophetic words that have come actually from across the country toward this church about a refiner's fire, last week I started talking about the refiner's fire.

Uh, related to not only my wife coming in here, Liz coming in here and praying and feeling and sensing a blue flame upon her, um, uh, Cindy, Vince's wife giving a word, several other words given.

We switch gears, and for the next few weeks we've been on this idea of refiners fire.

Anybody feel like, honestly, that you're going through some fire?

Any little bit of fire and brimstone in your life.

Okay.

That's good.

It's gonna be good after you hear my message.

It's not good right now.

If you heard me last week, this is part two.

So turn in your Bibles to Malachi chapter three.

This is the refiner's fire passage in Scripture.

As I shared last week, Malachi is prophesying to Israel at a time when they have been restored to the land.

They've built a wall in Jerusalem, and yet they still have fallen back into immorality.

And so he's crying out to them.

And one of the key words in Malachi is the fear of God.

But in Malachi 3, he uses this term, refiner's fire.

And I mentioned to you last week, isn't it great to know that it's a refiner's fire and it is not a forest fire?

God doesn't burn indiscriminately everything up.

God moves to refine us and to purify.

So he uses this term, which would have been very well known at the time, because of the refining of silver and gold, that God is like a refiner's fire.

Verse 1.

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me, and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple.

God is suddenly coming upon the road.

God is suddenly coming upon our staff team.

God is suddenly coming upon the whole household.

God is suddenly coming in some of your lives.

You were not ready for this.

You were not planning on this.

Whenever God moves with a refiner's fire, you didn't ask for it.

99% of the time, you did not ask for it when that doctor said you've got cancer.

When you got the papers for that divorce, when you got the slip when you came into work that you're gonna be fired, that you're gonna be released, that it's time for you to resign, it's time for you to.

You just were not prepared for that.

God is doing something.

Listen, you say, well, Satan's doing that.

Well, yes, Satan may be allowed to do stuff in your life because God is coming as a refiner's fire.

So here's what he says.

Even the messenger of the covenant, we just talked about the new covenant in Christ, in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

For he is like a refiner's fire.

He is like launderer's soap.

He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.

He will purify the sons of Levi and pursue them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.

1,764 degrees Fahrenheit is what it takes to refine silver.

So the silver does not get refined at 1,763 degrees.

It gets refined at 1,764 degrees.

Everybody look at me.

Very hot.

Say very hot.

That's what God does.

He takes us into these situations that are very hot.

They're uncomfortable.

They are hurtful.

They are painful, and they are difficult.

So I shared with you last week that I was going to share with you this week that I was up in Uray.

And it was a combination, time with the Lord, bear hunt.

The bears are safe.

The bears are safe.

But Steve's not.

Because God came and did some Steve Smithing.

So a lot of, I didn't do a whole lot of hunting.

I was staying in someone's house, beautiful house that looked out over the mountains there.

You can see tell your ride way off in the distance, beautiful area.

And so I just stayed in on their porch and God came upon me and apprehended me and sideswiped me.

I was not planning on this.

It was not in the agenda at all.

I just was going to kind of think about uh 2019 and what what some vision stuff and then God came and he broke me.

And he showed me at 1,765 degrees that he was purifying me of forgiveness, of some areas of forgiveness.

That I thought I'd forgiven some people.

But it wasn't forgiveness from the heart.

And so I cried out to God, oh God, you've got to strengthen me to forgive at that level.

And he came and he fell upon me and I fell to the floor.

And for a couple hours, I wept before the Lord.

And then he gave me a revelation that I had heard before, but had never applied at this level of refining and steve smithing as I did.

So turn in your Bibles to Romans 8.

And I want to show you a passage that's meant a lot to me, and through the years, all of you here.

I would call it one of those Christian fortune cookie verses.

Everybody quotes it when they're going through a hard time, but very rarely is it quoted in its entirety.

Romans 8.28.

Romans 8.28.

Probably one of the most popular verses that we all quote if we're going through something really horrible, really terrible.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose.

Really?

Really?

Is that true?

All things work together for good when that child commits suicide.

All things work together for good when you go through a horrible divorce and reconciliation never seems to ever happen again.

All things work together for good when you got fired from that job right when you bought the house.

All things work together for good.

And so the blame, blame, blame that happens all through our life, and we're always working through stuff, through the negativity of our own screening that we've had, where we then quote Romans 8.28.

So something's missing.

So I want us to look at the context.

Let's look at the context of the verse.

And I'm just gonna be honest with you guys.

I'll just be honest with you, church.

I was in your ray to relax and be with the Lord, and then he came in the back door.

I don't like when he doesn't come through the front door.

He came through the back door and just ripped my heart, and he took me to Romans 8 and kind of messed with my heart, messed with my mind.

Do you ever have God do that to you?

Where it's just like it doesn't seem like that's what your agenda is, but it's you soon realize that's his agenda for you.

So look at Romans 8 and start at verse 18.

Let's look at the context of Romans 8, 28.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

I think what it's saying here is that there is a gravitational pull in this earth, in our life, downward, that is constantly pushing and pulling us through suffering.

Suffering is part and parcel what life is.

Life is difficult, life is hard, and there's something of the work of the Spirit happening in our life where as we go through suffering, there is a glory, there is a glory that's being forged within us.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty.

Now I circled that, this glorious liberty of the children of God, for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together unto now.

How many women in this room have been pregnant?

Now I can tell you there's a lot of things that I can relate to by being a human, the same, it's it's gender-free with my wife, but that's not one of them.

But I've been there for all of them.

And it looks like complete agony.

And for some of you, it went for long, long periods of time.

So for the ladies in the room, keep that in mind.

Life can be like that.

That's what he's saying here.

He's saying that agony, that birth, that birthing, listen, that God wants to do in all of our lives is not unlike the birth pangs of that promised child that's coming to you.

God's doing something in each one of our lives that is only birthed through struggle.

You don't hope for something you already have, you hope for something that you don't have that you're hoping is going to happen in the future.

It's called, that's what hope is by definition, right?

So there's something of the revealing of God's work and his power, and what he says here, his glorious liberty that we're not currently experiencing, that he's using through the sufferings of this present time.

He continues, verse 23.

Not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit.

Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for this adoption, the redemption of our body, for we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees?

But what, but if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

So there's eagerly waiting, this battle within our hearts through the inner struggle of depression, anxiety, issues related to our outer life and our inner life.

And so God is making us eager for freedom.

Anybody here eager for freedom?

Eager for freedom in areas of our life?

And we sit there and we have so many of these conversations through our blood-stained allies and through our small groups and our D groups.

And we have those because we're all going through stuff.

Every one of us are going through stuff, and as we go through stuff, we start to share, we become vulnerable about those things, and there's power that comes and presence that comes through confession.

So how?

How do we do this?

How do we walk out this all things working together for good?

How do we walk out this refiner's fire, this 1,764 degrees spiritually in our life?

Well, I believe that's what he does next.

I think Paul turns the corner here and he gives us revelation.

I want to give you three thoughts this morning.

Three thoughts of how all things can work together for good.

Three thoughts on how God uses pressure, the vice grip, the vice grip of the enemy, the vice grip of God.

God letting the enemy come and have his way in our life to mess with us, to change us, and to transform us.

And here's the first one.

Look at this.

He says this, verse 26.

Likewise, in other words, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses.

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.

So, guys, here's what happened to me that day, and I'm not basing this on my experience, but I'm illustrating it, and that is I didn't know how to pray for forgiveness.

I didn't know how to pray right for forgiveness from the heart.

Then God came, he interceded.

He came and interceded.

And I prayed in the spirit.

I prayed in an unknown tongue.

I prayed in English.

I pray, I would have prayed in German if I could speak German.

I could have prayed in Japanese, but I prayed, and but it was the spirit.

He showed me how to pray.

He will show you how to pray.

There's a prayer shift.

A prayer shift.

That's not what I was gonna pray about.

That is not what I was gonna pray about.

But then God came, and when he came, he prayed through me.

Likewise, the spirit also helps in our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.

So let's just say, half the time, maybe for some of you, maybe not, for some of you, you don't know how to pray.

You're not sure how to pray.

Good.

That's what he's saying.

That's normal.

We don't know how to pray.

But the next part is the prayer shift.

But the Spirit himself prays and makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

So it's as if God's Spirit comes and we start to have the mind of Christ.

There's a groaning, sometimes in words, sometimes not in words, but Jesus is praying for you.

He's praying through you.

And here's the key word.

It's not in this verse, but I believe this is the key word is waiting on the Lord.

Learning to wait on the Lord so that he can pray through you.

Isaiah 40, 31, another one of those verses many of us know.

Those who wait on the Lord, they will renew their strength.

They will run and not be weary, they walk and faint not.

So this waiting on the Lord that we do before him and say, God, pray through me.

God, I need to know how to pray for my son.

I need to know how to pray for my daughter.

I need to know how to pray about my job.

I need to know how to pray for the road.

I need to know how to pray for America.

You think that's not on his heart?

He knows how to pray, and if we'll wait on him, he'll come and intercede in our spirits and show us how to pray about that situation.

Amazing.

So he came and it was supernatural.

It was a prayer shift.

And when I say shift, what I mean is you aren't really praying.

Hello?

I mean, really, you're not praying because I'm talking about the deep things of the spirit.

This prayer shift is letting the spirit pray through us.

Secondly, and here we come to our verse.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose.

And this is the key word, far.

Far.

Far.

It connects the two verses.

For whom he foreknew.

He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Number two, paradigm shift.

There's a prayer shift.

Number two, there's a paradigm shift.

And here it is.

This paradigm shift is a shift of looking at our problems, not necessarily that they work together for good as we would define it, but as God defines it, and you know what he's doing?

He's conforming you to the image of his son.

Man, I'll tell you, that just was a light bulb that went off of my heart.

God's actually using present circumstances and difficulties that he would conform me to his son.

That the revealing of the sons of God, the revealing of who we are, is manifest, men and women who can reign and rule in Christ is primarily through suffering.

Hello?

That's huge.

So look back at Romans 8, verse 15 through 17.

Romans 8:15–17

Romans 8, 15 through 17.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear.

What's the biggest problem we have when we're going through big time struggles?

Is it not fear?

So you don't have that spirit anymore.

You've got to reject that spirit of fear and that bondage that comes from fear.

Because here's what he says.

But you've received a spirit of adoption by whom we now cry out, Abba, Father.

The Spirit Himself bears witness within our spirit that we are children of God.

There's this adoption process in which, like when you got married.

When we got married, we went to the ceremony and you were officially married.

When you gave your heart to Christ, when you surrendered to Christ, you were married to Christ.

But then, as we all know, there's that working out of the marriage vows, right?

There's that working out of the marriage covenant, right?

And so as we do that and we're working out, that's how the two are really becoming one.

So it's not the technical term, and it's not the position legally, spiritually, and legally of us being sons and daughters of God, but it's actually this working out of adoption.

This working out of the revealing of the sons of God that comes, here's what he says next.

And if children, then we are heirs.

Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ.

Listen to this.

If indeed we suffer with him.

I know everybody here, like, when is he going to say something positive this morning?

Okay, turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12, so turn to the right, come to Hebrews 12.

This is good stuff, man.

This is, you should write over verses 3 through 11, the Jesus School of Training, or the Jesus Training Center.

That's what's written in mind, right?

The Jesus Training Center, starting in verse 3.

For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Because that's what we do.

We get weary and we get discouraged in our souls.

You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord.

And in your New American standard, it would be the discipline of the Lord.

Nor be you discouraged when you are rebuked by him.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens.

The one he loves, he disciplines, and scourges every son whom he receives.

And if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

But if you're without chastening, wouldn't you say like that's enough?

I mean, I'm reading this and I'm going, okay, the quote, you know, from the Old Testament, great, you made your point.

Thank you, writer of Hebrews.

But no, he has to give us verse seven, and he has to give us verse eight, and he has to first give us nine.

So he keeps hammering you, man.

I think because we don't get it, do we?

But if you're without chastening, verse eight, of which all have become partakers, so everybody goes through this, then you're an illegitimate and not sons.

Furthermore, verse 9, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.

Shall we not much more readily be in subject unto the father of spirits and live?

Still not done.

Verse 10.

For as they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, in other words, it didn't seem best to us, it seemed best to them to chasten us.

But he, for our prophet, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

Now, verse 11 is like the big wow.

I love verse 11.

Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but what?

Painful, nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

You can't get the peaceable fruit of righteousness, church, except by being trained through chastening.

So I want to challenge us.

Quit belly aching.

Really?

Instead go, God, I want the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Bring it on.

Bring it on in my life because I want to be conform to the image of your son.

I want the revealing of the sons and the daughters of God to flow through me.

God, I want to, I want to be taken to the next level.

I am not satisfied with where I'm at.

I'm a complainer, I'm a blamer, I'm lazy, I got issues in my life, and you're burning them out.

I welcome your refining fire because this is what I want.

I want the peaceable fruit of righteousness flowing in my life.

Isn't that exciting?

It is exciting.

Because God wants to train you, He wants to train me through difficults and hardship.

I mean, He's training us, He's developing us.

And here's the key point, and this is the next point.

Look back at Romans 8.

Woo! This is really good.

Romans 8.

Now look at verse 30.

Turn there.

Romans 8.

30.

So let me go back to 28.

For we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose.

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Okay, I want you to write this down.

Number three, promotional shift.

Promotional shift.

So prayer shift, paradigm shift, number three, promotional shift.

Here's what he says.

Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Verse 32.

He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with them also freely, freely give us all things?

Church, there are promotions in the kingdom.

There are promotions.

God gives promotions, but he never gives a promotion without a test coming first.

And some of them are pop quizzes.

And some of us have had so many tests that we never seem to pass that he has to just keep testing us and keep testing us and keep testing us.

And you're missing out on the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

God's got so much more.

He wants to freely give us all things.

He wants to freely give us all things.

There are anointings, there is power, there is grace upon our lives that is just waiting.

God's ready to freely give it to us, but you can't take it.

You can't receive it because you won't let the chastening of the Lord take you through the training center of the Holy Spirit and begin to say, I want to be conformed to the image of your will more than anything else, Lord.

I want that.

That's what Paul's talking about in Philippians.

He says, I'm going after to know Christ.

Forgetting all the past, forgetting all the stuff that's happened in the past.

I'm going after Christ.

And he's relentless in contending for more of Christ in his life.

I'm an athlete.

That fires me up.

Because I can understand how God does that, first of all, by being a father myself.

But second of all, men and women, that's what he did with Moses.

That's what he did with Abraham.

That's what he did with David.

That's what he did.

That's what he did with Jesus.

He learned obedience through the things that he suffered.

So what a paradigm shift that is for us to say, God, I want all those things.

Because look what he says next.

Jump down to 37.

Look at verse 37.

Look at verse 37.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquers through him who loved us.

That's pretty exciting stuff.

We can be more than conquers, but church, it's gonna come through hardship.

It's gonna come through the training of the Holy Spirit.

It's gonna come through difficulties, it's gonna come through misunderstandings, it's gonna come through dumb things that you do.

And you're gonna you're gonna have to confess and you're gonna say you're sorry, and you're gonna have to work that stuff out.

But that's the life.

That's the abundant life.

That's the joy-filled life.

That's the kingdom of God, righteousness, peace, and joy.

So one of our members came up to me last Sunday, and I can't remember it was Sunday.

It might have been actually, I think it was morning fire.

So we had just finished the 4 a.m.

to 7 a.m., and we're all a bunch of us guys were all out in the lobby during the 24-hour war room, and he gave me this silver dollar.

And he said, Steve, God told me to give you this.

This silver dollar.

He said, God's God's forging you.

Like silver.

And on that silver dollar, you got Lady Liberty on it.

Have you ever seen it?

But then it's got liberty written across the back there.

Liberty.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, freedom.

That's appropriate.

So that's what God's doing.

He's revealing in you through hardships, through your own stuff, through what other people have done to you or hurt you.

For me, it was forgiveness.

For some of you, it's forgiveness.

And you know, for some of us, and this includes me, it's forgiving yourself.

Forgiving yourself because of stuff that you have regrets about.

Everybody has some regrets.

And you're gonna have to forgive yourself by letting Christ forge in you to be a son and a daughter of God through hardship and difficulties.

Say, God, forge me.

It's really hot.

And it's really hard.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.