Hebrides 2.0 – Purifying Fire

God willing, we'll be dedicating Kanak fan Joseph Yip next week.

So last week when I asked Derek to preach, it's one of my favorite Sundays, sometimes

even more than Christmas or Good Friday, and that's Pentecost Sunday, and I kind of was

wishing I was here. And so I was going through my notes on Pentecost Sundays from the past,

and I came across these notes from 2020. And in 2020, Pentecost Sunday was when we first

started talking about Wally. So that's three years ago. And I went through the notes from

2020 Pentecost Sunday about Wally and what we hoped would happen. And as you read the

notes you realize we have no clue what we are supposed to do. And then three years later

you look at Wally and you marvel. And this is a work of God, eh? I mean, I know for sure

that I can't take any credit, at least some of you guys who go there can take some credit.

And sometimes the things that we have been saying, God is saying in this church may sound

very obscure, may not, you may not be able to wrap your hands around it, but in two or

three years God takes the word he has spoken and gives it form and it becomes flesh. Wally's

become flesh. When I look at the notes there and what we had planned, and I think we asked

people to go to the corner of 106th and some other road and stand there and pray, and a

few people went. That was three years ago. And now to see Wally the way it is, where

it can function as a separate church, nuts man. So I was very encouraged that sometimes

when God gives us a word about something he's going to do, most of the time we don't know

how he's going to go about it. I definitely have no idea. And yet he has the power to

bring it to pass. And so today I want to visit something that happened at the beginning of

the year and that was when we went to, when some of us went to the Hebrides Islands because

we felt that one of the things God wants to do through us is bring about Hebrides 2.0.

So for the next little while, for as long as it takes, we'll be talking about Hebrides

2.0. What do you mean by Hebrides 2.0? In the 40s and the 50s these remote islands off

the coast of Scotland suddenly knew the heavy presence of God and they didn't know what

to do with it. We went to those villages and I know most of you have heard this but there

are people who have not heard it so I'm just recapping quickly. Suddenly village after

village began to feel the tangible heavy presence of, they knew it was something supernatural.

They didn't even know how to define it. Many of them had no Christian upbringing but they

grew up in a Judeo-Christian culture and so what would happen is they would be working

in their fields and they would feel this tangible sense of God and they would run to the closest

church or minister or pastor or Christian and they would be weeping uncontrollably and

they would ask for help. It was not even repentance because they did not know what to repent of.

It was penitence. It was a sense of deep penitence and so we went to those islands January 6th

or 7th because a lot of said that would be the first stop this year. So we went there

and it was as barren as you can see. You go there and you feel squat. You feel nothing.

There's no vestige or residual effect of the revival that happened 40 or 50 years ago but

it shook the world because what started there then began to spread. We met one man who was

the son of one of the guys who was critical or pivotal to that revival and he began to

talk about the scriptures but he couldn't talk about the revival because his heart was

no longer expectant and most of the work happened among the young, among the 20s and the 30s

so while we were there and there were people from Bahrain, from Los Angeles, from here,

God gave a word and this was the word. That's your cue Brandon and this was the word. That's

an actual shot of this village called Barvis where the Hebrides revival actually started

and this was the word that was given to us to take into the future and this was given

to us as a church and to the churches that we are connected with saying this is what

I want to do. I don't know when we'll see these guys but all I can say is if three years

ago on Pentecost Sunday God said I want you to go into this place called Wally and I want

you to transform it and today we look at Wally and we are fascinated by what God has done

then this too can come to pass. So turn off the lights, it's easier maybe. Yeah, so here's

what the promise was that was given to us and here's what it says, a purifying fire

from heaven that burns up religious and historical junk. That's from Hebrews 12. As the divine

warrior, Revelation 19, marches delivering young men and women to the temple of God and

the emphasis seems to be on the young men and women, delivering them from what? From

the nations they come from into the kingdom, calling sons and daughters into that circle

of dancing, of abundance, of joy. Each of these is from scriptures, I'll give you the

references later and so they're being drawn into the kingdom but they're being drawn into

the kingdom not as disciples but as sons and daughters. Into what? Into a circle of dancing

abundance and joy, meaning it won't be something that we as a church have experienced, it'll

be beyond us. A circle of dancing of abundance and joy that does not exactly describe us

so we'll have to shift some. Before the lion and the lamb, both, the lion of Judah and

the lamb of God and then it ends with and they will become a torch bearing generation

that goes forth and will not remain empty, return empty. This is what will happen over

the next one, two, three years, I don't know. Any questions on that before we go on? So

this was a promise that was given to us and now looking forward to how this will pan out,

and this is not a Hebrides thing, it's a worldwide thing. It'll happen across the world but we

are igniters and once we ignite things we take the torch that we ignited with and hand

it to others so that they can ignite things too. No one church can do this alone but He

is announcing and igniting this across the earth through us. Any questions? Okay, so

over the next few weeks, you can turn the lights back on guys, over the next many weeks

we'll take each of these and we'll begin to talk about it. So today we deal with just,

we'll just call it Hebrides 2.0 Purifying Fire because that's the first bit. One of

the things that really makes me happy about Wally is it's one thing to teach guys, it's

one thing to get info, it's another thing to apply and see something become flesh and

so I'm praying that even as we learn stuff like this that it eventually turns into flesh,

that it becomes real. So I'm just taking the first sentence today and the first sentence

was a purifying fire from heaven that burns up religious and historical junk. That's from

Hebrews 12, 27-29 in the message. A purifying fire from heaven that burns up religious and

historical junk. We'll just deal with that. Another word for purifying fire, you can turn

that off if you want to, Brandon. Another word for purifying fire that the Bible often

uses is refinance fire. That's a more common term that we here use. Refinance fire. And

the refinance fire may take many forms. We're not as concerned about the forms right now.

We're concerned with the outcome. Now the forms can be worship, sometimes refining happens

during worship, other times it happens because God's glory shows up. These are the incidents

in the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New Testament where refining happened during

worship as in with Isaiah. And again because of the glory of God that he sees, he suddenly

realizes that he's a man with unclean lips and then the refinement happens. Sometimes

it is through just obeying through very difficult times. Obedience refines. Obedience refines.

Through pruning. Pruning begins with God giving instructions. Pruning is not some kind of

thing that we should dread. Pruning is basically discipling. Discipline begins with instructions.

And if one listens to the instructions, pruning is actually very helpful and produces fruit

and if pruning doesn't work then there is discipline. Hebrews 12 talks about it as a

father disciplines his child. And sometimes persecution is used to refine. What's the

intent? The intent is very simple. Till refining happens, till the reflection of the refiner

can be seen. As in the purity of his nature can be seen. The purity of the nature of the

refiner can be seen. I don't know how true this is but they asked a silversmith who was

refining silver, how do you know when it is refined? And his response was, when I can

see my reflection. So the intent of refining is so that the reflection of the refiner can

be seen in the silver or the gold that is being refined. That the purity of his nature

is made evident. That is the intent of purifying fire or refiner's fire. Yeah, very often Israel

would go through persecution and would stick through it and in the process that which was

shakeable would be cast aside and that which remained, the remnant would be what God would

use to spring things again. So there's always been this process that God uses throughout

the Old Testament and the New Testament. You see it in the letters written to the book,

to the churches. It will talk about you will be tested for ten days but if you stand, if

you overcome then. And he always, one of the intents of refining is to bring you back to

the core remnant so that the original can be maintained. So that there is no hybridization.

Refining removes any hybrid or any mutations are removed, comes back to the core and then

once you come back to the core it can start multiplying after its kind. So persecution

is used. Persecution is God's will. Persecution is God's will. Persecution is God's will.

Persecution is God using what the enemy meant for harm for the betterment of the church.

God using what the enemy means for harm for the betterment of the church. So when Paul

talks about all the things that have helped him die from the outside but increase from

the inside, he's talking about whippings and scourgings and beatings and imprisonments

and near drowning and being exposed to beasts in Rome. What did it do to him? He says that

at the end of the day even though my external tent is dying, internally I'm finding new

life. And so we must realize the severity or the weight of this that if God is saying

that I want to use a purifying fire across the earth and he wants us to begin the process,

he'll first try it out on us. So it's not something that we dread, it is something that

will make us different, change us to look like him and that should be anyways the aim,

that's always the end goal to grow into the full stature of Christ. And so one of the

things with refiner's fire is it always exposes or separates or sieves, so it separates the

chaff from the grain, the dross from the silver, so that's one of the things it does, it sieves.

The other thing it does is refiner's fire tests. So I'm half looking forward to God

testing in this church what is solid and what is not. He talks about it in 1 Corinthians

3, he says fire will test what you're built with. If you have built with gold, great,

but if you've built with stone, rubble, straw, then it'll be exposed. It doesn't mean that

your salvation is in question or whether you're doing well as a church or not is in question,

but I want to expose everything here that is not built with gold that you bought from

me. So in a way, like I said, I'm half looking forward to it because it's always disruptive,

so I'm only looking half forward to it. So that's one of the things he'll do because

fire tests, refining fire tests. And refining fire can be resisted, refining fire can be

resisted, you don't have to accept it. Nineveh accepted refining fire, Capernaum rejected

the refiner himself. So we have that choice, but we foolish to... And by the way, why use

refiner fire? Why use purifying fire? Because the one thing Christ is after is a pure bride,

why would he not use it? He's coming for a pure, spotless, blemishless bride, why would

he not use purifying fire? Try ironing your clothes with a cold ironer. If you try that,

we'll have to call you Stone Cold Don or Stone Cold Derek. That also you wouldn't understand.

There was a famous wrestler called Stone Cold Steve Austin, but why would you know stuff

like that? Sorry, you have a question about Stone Cold Steve Austin? No, sorry. Yeah,

how do you know that something that's happening is God and how do you know it's the enemy?

Any fire that falls from the enemy will destroy, will destroy, it will diminish, it will shame,

it will harm. It is never towards building and showing what is true. It is always towards

destruction, shame. You don't come out of it thinking any better of yourself. You come

out of it undone. But after you're undone, there is no coal from the altar that touches

your lips and makes you clean. You walk around feeling undone. I once had this strange experience,

this is anecdotal, it's not meant to prove anything, where I was in a church and I was

watching Jesus as he showed any part of his nature, let's say kindness. He would take

kindness and he would show me how kind he was. He would take kindness, he would take

the word kindness and then he would show me how kind I was and then he would quickly show

me how kind Jesus was. And every time he did that, I would burst into tears because I could

see the gap. Yet at the end of it, when I got up to my feet and walked away, I didn't

walk away thinking I'm a useless, unkind, terrible guy. I got up thinking, oh my God,

this is the God that I'm supposed to pursue. That was in 1993. You don't come away from

it feeling shabby or worse off. And so it's an odd kind of fire. It does not destroy the

bush. Yeah. But it sets it alight. So when you look at the purifying fire thing, purifying

fire, what's the intent? Can we now begin to get to a place where we reflect the purity

of his heart? So here are three or four things that we will need to have happen to us. This

is proof that purifying fire is at work. One, purifying fire will end up with us recognizing

his claim of ownership. Recognizing his claim of ownership. 1 Corinthians 6.19 says he bought

us, he ransomed us, he paid a price. So one of the things that will happen if purifying

fire actually begins to work in our lives, in my life, in your life, is that we will

begin to recognize his claim of ownership. Most of us are leasing our lives to God. Even

though he's purchased it, we lease it. Most of us don't always, in everything, think that

he owns us. We choose when to lease our lives to him. I've never owned a car. I've always

leased a car. I know how it works. On the insurance papers it says, belongs to the name

of the company that leases me and belongs to me. Both names are on. The claim of ownership

is different. We are leasing to him. I decide when I own myself and I decide when he owns

me. I decide when he owns me. This will have to change because if you have property then

you can have, you need to have legal ownership. He has legal ownership. If you have property,

at least in those days you had to have a single user who possessed legal claim. And if you

have property, the value at which the property is sold, the value at which the property was

exchanged, depends on how valuable the property was to both parties. Your God's property,

there must be a legal claim. Jesus has a legal claim on your life. Satan had a legal

claim on your life. That legal claim was settled. Sin requires payment. Satan had a legal claim.

That legal claim was settled. God pays. Second, it's a single user who possesses the legal

claim. It's not multiple users. He has single user claim over my life. I cannot lease it

to him when I want. I cannot hold it back when I want. In every area. I was driving

here today and I was thinking of a picture that I wanted to put up. I saw it on some

website. I was going to send it to Brandon. I had this thought in my mind. What gives

you the right to take someone else's property that they have actually taken a shot of and

put on the website? What gives you the right? Why is it Jacob that you can flip so easily

from being very Christian to not worrying about copyright? Every time we do things that

are not God, we are deciding that we will not abide by his ownership. His ownership

requires that we function a certain way. Every time I choose not to, every time I skirt around

things, I suddenly begin to leave. As in, in this area of God you have ownership but

in this area you do not. In decision making it is the same. In this area of God you have

ownership. You can tell me what you want and I'll do it. In this area you do not. I am

the one who makes choices here. This is why ownership is the end of self-determination.

Ownership is the end of self-determination. Salvation is ownership. Ownership is the end

of self-determination. It's crazy. Salvation is ownership. Someone owns you. But ownership

is the end of self-determination.

The third one I really was touched by that the value at which property was exchanged

is the value that both parties were willing to pay. And that just put such a different

spin on it that for me to be bought, the value that was demanded was the value of the sun

and it was paid. That's a high price. That's a high price. The value at which the property

was exchanged depends on how valuable the property was to both parties. I was very valuable.

These are the reasons why I cannot lease myself to the one who owns me.

Purifying fire will help us recognize its absolute claim of ownership over us. Once

that happens you'll find that there's a spontaneity of obedience. There's a spontaneity of obedience,

of healing, of new life that breaks out like a fountain.

You'll find that. In Genesis 22 you find that ownership was a reason. Genesis 22 verse

Genesis 22:5

5 or 6 or thereabouts is where you see the first act of worship. And what is the first

act of worship? Abraham takes his son Isaac, takes him up a mountain, puts him on an altar

and offers him to God. What is he offering? He's offering his entire person. He's offering

himself. He's offering himself unreservedly. This is why in Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 it

Romans 12:1

says there's only a reasonable act of worship to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

What we are saying here is that when we recognize God's claim of ownership over our lives you'll

find a strange thing happening. You will unreservedly begin to offer yourself all the time, every

time, all of you. That is what purifying fire does. I am not at that place. Just yesterday

morning I was telling the Lord, I mean I wasn't even going to teach this, but yesterday morning

I was telling the Lord, Father, you know, you really don't have full ownership over

I take it back so often and I decide how things are going to be. On one hand I know he's Lord

of my life, on one hand I know he loves me, I love him back, on one hand I know I'm doing

my best to, no I'm not doing my best, I'm doing a lot to run after him but I can take

back ownership whenever I want. That free choice is given me, God will never take that

away. But I do, I do, I take back ownership. Any questions guys? Any questions? What would

it be not to take back ownership? What would it be not to leave myself to God? Different

areas guys, in your marriage do you take back ownership from God? In your finances?

In your work? In following the laws of the land? In how you think? In what you watch?

In standards, moral standards? In relationships? In church? In mission? In marriage? In marriage?

In calling that is on your life? In the use of time? Treasure? Talent? Strength? Pace

of growth? Self determination? As in I'll decide what needs to happen? I don't know

that. Affordable sin, small time sin, not big time. I mean the list is endless. You

suddenly realize how often you take back ownership, habits, attitudes that I afford myself. So

what are we saying? What am I saying? I'm saying that if I began to recognize his legal

ownership over me, his claim of ownership over me, I will not go into this eyes wide

shut. I'll become aware that, ah shucks, in this area you have ownership, therefore

I will not be able to do what I want to do even though I can do it if I want. I'll choose

not to. How much do you belong to him? How much do I belong to him? Any questions guys?

Purifying fire helps you recognize his absolute ownership over you. There's a word that most

people don't use now. We exchange this word for the word servant. But the actual word

used for us as sons are slaves. We are called slaves. We use the word servants just to make

it sound more culture. The actual word used in the Old Testament and the New Testament

is the word slave. A slave has no rights. A slave belongs to his master. A slave's family

belongs to his master too. A slave is utterly dependent on the benevolence of his master.

A slave does not get paid because the slave is owned. This is what ownership looks like.

I have ways to affect every area because every area of the slave now belongs to the

master. The only way a slave escapes his master is by dying. That's how we escape the power

of sin. Now we belong to one who lives and we will not die. So we are sons who choose.

A mature son is one who is constantly moving towards servanthood. When Christians claim

that they are the son or child of a king, that's very nice and charismatic. But it doesn't

help the cause of the kingdom. Jesus could have done that and sat on the throne and had

the angels singing forever and ever after. Any questions? I'm not saying don't think

son. You have to think son before you can think servant. But it is necessary to move

towards slave. Any questions? The other thing ownership does, and then we'll move on, ownership

is dependence. Ownership is dependence. If he owns me, I'm utterly dependent on him.

I've become utterly dependent on him. For life, for choices, provision, protection,

satisfaction, joy, healing, expectation, and love. I'm not saying that you should be dependent

on him. You should be dependent on him. For life, for choices, protection, expectation,

everything is now dependent on him. Ownership is dependency. And so at some point today

or some point this week if you can say yes to his purchase of you. I say yes, oh God,

to your purchase of me. My mind, my body, my hands, my legs, my eyes, my mouth, my thinking,

my life, my all, everything is now depriving me of that purchase of me. There is nothing

that is now outside of that purchase. I know how valuable I was to you. I know what was

exchanged in my place. I fully belong to you, I cannot keep leasing this life to you when

I want and then to the prize, when I would, I cannot do that. This is when clay becomes

back on the potter's wheel and spun around again.

It's clear that it's malleable, it's shapeable.

Purifying fire does that.

Any questions?

Any arguments?

Anything you disagree with?

I wonder if you make a perfect thing

anywhere close to the sun.

Some of us may.

Paul probably was getting there.

Yeah, so Paul is not some special kind of guy.

I mean, if there was a gone guy

who should have struggled with guilt every so often,

and was tormented by what he did, it was Paul.

And so, we mustn't think of Paul as exceptionally.

I mean, I used to think Elijah was exceptional.

Did you read James chapter five

and you realize he was ordinary?

But Paul pursued.

So, yes, some of us may get somewhere close

to looking like Christ, so that others have someone

to imitate, and I pray God that it be you.

The question was, maybe all of us won't reach

this level of recognizing his claim of ownership

over us in this lifetime.

Actually, the question was, will any of us reach it?

Not in that world.

Yeah, will any of us?

Look what you've started done.

Will any of us reach this place?

I'm saying that some of us may,

and if you do, then people have someone to imitate.

Okay, next one.

Purifying fire brings you to a place

where you will just one thing,

and that is, treasuring.

And that is, treasuring.

One thing.

And that is, treasuring God.

You will just one thing.

You will just one thing.

Purifying fire brings you to a place where

treasuring God becomes that one singular thing

you are after, which will never be taken away from you.

The one singular thing you are after,

which is treasuring God.

Always remember that most battles,

most battles are fought

at the treasuring level of life.

At the treasuring level of life.

Most battles are fought at the treasuring level of life.

That's where most battles are fought.

There are no battles when there is no

conflict over treasure.

Every time there is a conflict in your heart,

it is only because you have two treasures

that you now have to fight for.

That's where the conflict is.

If there are no such treasures you are fighting,

if there is only a singular treasure,

there is no conflict.

James chapter 4 talks about it.

James 4 · chapter mention

Why is it that we have quarrels?

Why do we have fights?

Because we desire things.

Hinduism, Buddhism, what do they suggest we do?

That we empty ourselves of desires,

which is absurd.

We were made with desires.

What we need to do is not empty ourselves of desire,

but desire one thing,

of unsurpassing worth.

Philippians 3.8, call Christ.

And so, most battles happen at the treasuring level.

And what your heart treasures,

or tramples,

what your heart treasures

or tramples at any moment

is what your mouth speaks.

Your mind thinks,

Your eyes see, your feet either move towards or away from.

Your feet move towards or away from.

So we don't realize how critical this is to our existence.

And if we can get this right, so much aligns.

Because whatever I treasure or trample is how my mouth will speak,

my mind will think, my eyes will see, my feet will walk towards or walk away from.

It just depends on what I treasure.

Be it sin or be it something virtuous, this is how it works.

And so whenever, so in other words,

if Christ isn't, if Christ isn't my supreme treasure,

if Christ isn't my supreme treasure,

at that moment,

He ceases to be

what I'm pursuing.

So let's say in the next 20 seconds,

Christ is no longer the supreme treasure in my life.

The moment He ceases to be supreme treasure,

at that moment I'm no longer pursuing Him because something else replaces Him.

Purifying fire brings you to will just one thing.

Nothing else.

One of the strange things with what you treasure is what you treasure

frees you

from competing offers.

Let's say

you treasure everything Elon Musk does.

Google comes and offers you, Microsoft offers you,

the Facebook guy comes personally to offer you a job,

but because you treasure Elon Musk,

all competing offers are no longer attractive.

So what you treasure frees you from competing offers.

So what you treasure frees you from competing offers.

What you treasure frees you from competing offers.

So when you begin to treasure Christ,

it frees you from all other offers.

All other offers are still present, they'll be offered to you,

but they no longer carry the ability to pull you away.

Guys, sometimes we treasure lies.

Sometimes we treasure lies.

All strongholds are built on lies.

All strongholds in our lives have been built on lies.

Behind every stronghold, I'm talking about ungodly strongholds,

behind every stronghold is a lie.

And sometimes we treasure lies,

and you wonder why the knowledge of the truth is not setting you free,

when the knowledge of the truth is not setting me free,

I must go examine the lies that bind me.

When the knowledge of the truth is not setting me free,

I must go examine the lies that bind me.

The knowledge of the truth is supposed to set me free,

me free but why is it that I'm hearing the knowledge of the truth but I'm not being set

free? It's because sometimes I believe the lie so deeply that I need to go pull out the

lie from the substructure before anything can be built on me. It's like that has become

so embedded in my foundation that I have to reach out and pull it out. Otherwise nothing

grows and all of us have some lie or the other in our lives that is so embedded that it doesn't

matter how much truth is spoken it never seeds. I mean I'm watching construction happen near

my place and the place I used to live in before was the gas station and when they had to redo

the gas station it was so much work man because they had these huge gas tanks that carry gas

and it just discolours the soil. You have to dig it up, you have to literally bring

in new soil because those tanks have been there for so long that the gas and the soil

have become, it's impossible to do anything there. You've got to dig deep to get it out

and then you build something new over it. Sometimes this is important that when the

knowledge of the truth is not setting you free, begin to examine the lies that are binding

me. The Holy Spirit will help because one of the Holy Spirit's greatest desires is to

help you treasure Christ. One of the Holy Spirit's greatest desires or greatest pleasures

is can I help you treasure Christ and he likes cultivating an exclusiveness towards Christ.

Read about this in James chapter 4 where he says, don't you know that the Spirit of God

James 4 · chapter mention

yearns jealously over you. In 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2 it says, don't you, Paul is talking

2 Corinthians 11:2

now and Paul says on behalf of God, don't you know that I've betrothed you to one as

a chaste virgin. As in, it is, the Spirit of God has great pleasure in helping me treasure

Christ. He wants to cultivate exclusivity with Christ because at his very essence God

is jealous. It's a great quality that God has. If he wasn't jealous, it would be terrible,

sorry. Yeah, jealousy, God's jealousy is the kind of jealousy that will not control but

is possessive. It is possessive but it will not control. It will not control, it will

not take away free will, it will not use force to do harm, to bring a person back. You see

this in the Hosea story. So there is Gomer who Hosea is married to and she goes around

sleeping with others and he says, let her go. You lavished her, she was your wife, she's

run after others, let her go but pray a hedge around her. Pray a hedge so that she cannot

chase after her lovers, her lovers can't find her and she will soon say, let me return to

my husband who loved me. And he says, this is how I treat Israel. If it wasn't for God's

jealousy over Israel, Israel would have been lost long ago. If it wasn't for his jealousy

over you, you and I would have perished long ago. If not perished, we would have gone askew

long ago. But here is a God who is possessive and yet his possessiveness does not control

or take away free will or lock us up or threaten us but the jealousy keeps us, brings us back

on track. It's the nature of a father, it's the nature of a spouse. This is why God has

no problems using spousal parables or fatherly parables to talk about his possessiveness.

How does God display jealousy? So Phoebe is obviously not my child but if someone, if

I saw someone messing around with her or trying to harm her, why is it that I would go to

protect her? It is because there is a love that is jealous over her that no harm should

come to her. It rises up in you. You don't want any harm to come to her. Some of the

scriptures in the Bible like, you are the apple of my eye. Where does that come from?

That listen, I am so jealous and possessive over you that even if someone comes near you,

I'll make sure I protect you. It's a possessiveness that protects. It will not allow harm. It

would rather die than let harm come to you. That is a jealous God. Oprah got it all wrong.

She turned away from the God of the Bible because she heard that God was jealous. For

a woman who reads so many books, she could have read a little more and figured it out.

Sorry, that was just side tracking. But I just find it so absurd that someone with a

book club could not understand the word jealous. We did a teaching on jealousy. If God wouldn't

be jealous, my God, he would let us be. But his love is jealous. Thank God. Yeah.

What you treasure, you protect. What you treasure, you honor. What you treasure, you protect.

What you treasure, you honor. Now you can see why Jesus is asking Peter, one of his

favorite disciples by the way. He is asking Peter, do you love me more than these? What

is the intent there? He wants to establish treasure. He is asking Peter, do you love

me more than this? He asks the same question sometimes every day. Do you love me more than

the work you are doing? Do you love me more than the shortcut you are taking? Do you love

me more than the taxes you are scrimping on? Do you love me more than the other things

you are doing? Do you love me more than Acts 29? Do you love me more than ministry? Do

you love me more than Wally? Do you love me more than worship? The questions are always

there because the treasure must be established. The treasure is very simple. There is also

why he wants you to sell everything for this treasure because it is so priceless that you

cannot have it till you sell everything. I know you have heard this before but again,

because some haven't, I will just quickly go over it. There was a man who stumbles across

the treasure in a field that he was walking through. He knows that according to the law,

he cannot take what is in the box that he stumbled over because it belongs to somebody

else, because the field belongs to somebody else. So he goes home. He hides it so that

nobody else finds it. That is how we are jealous over things. One of the things we should do

about things of God is you should be so jealous about the things of God that you should hide

it so that you can find it. So he hides it and then he goes. What does he do? He sells

everything. He sells all the wealth he has. He sells his reputation. He sells his dignity.

He sells whatever is required. What do you need to sell to get this treasure? Sell it.

Because once you know what you are after, there will be no competing offers that can

begin to create conflict. Sell everything. You do that for your spouses sometimes. You

will travel miles. You will go to Portland. See, that's how this works. You sell everything

and then you sell everything and what do you do? You buy the field. You don't buy the

treasure. You buy the field because you cannot buy just the treasure. You have to buy the

entire package. You can't take Jesus. I really like you as a healer. Yahweh Jaira, Yahweh

Rafa, oh my God. No, Yahweh Rafa doesn't come separate from Yahweh Jaira, Yahweh Shama,

Yahweh Rohi. He is all Yahweh, self-existent one. Either have all of him, you can't have

just a bit of him. This is why Paul asks in Philippians 3.8, hey, do you count everything

else as rubbish, Jacob, in comparison to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as

your Lord. Next one, purifying fire. Derek, you are keeping an eye on time, right? I know

the preaching is so good you don't want to get up and go, but you do have to go to Victoria.

Purifying fire will eventually lead to representation. If purifying fire touches you, it will be

to representation. What is representation? It is the fearful privilege of representing

the King of Glory. It is the fearful privilege of representing the King of Glory. Purifying

fire always does that and we'll talk about that very simple. Because we like encouraging

people and we should, we don't think that representing him is a weighty task. We see

it as anybody and everybody can do it and that's true. If you were the ambassador of

Canada to Indonesia or to the United States, that's great, but you usually won't send

your six-year-old son to meet Biden. Because even though you're the ambassador and the

boy is the ambassador's son, you won't usually send it because you need a degree of maturity.

Why? Because you're representing a nation. We don't understand the weighty responsibility

or the fearful privilege. I like the words fearful and privilege. On one hand it's a

privilege, on the other hand there should be fearful privilege of representing him.

So God's prime concern, surprisingly, God's prime concern is not with sin, at least when

it comes to believers, God's prime concern is not with sin but with representation. He

is concerned about sin because of representation. It's not as complicated as it sounds. I think

he's concerned about representation. His desire is, hey, now that I've called you to

myself, I've separated you, I've separated you so that I can send you back into the world

so they may see me. I'm more concerned now with representation. I'm not as concerned

with sin. The reason I'm concerned about sin is so that when you go out there, you better

not sin because you're representing me. So his concern is not, his prime concern is not

with sin. Oh, I didn't put the word sin there. His prime concern is not with sin but representation.

Can I send you out as an accurate representative of me? That's my prime concern. The reason

I'm even thinking about sin is because when you go out there, if you sin, you don't represent

me. So please, can we stop? Because if you do, you can represent me accurately. Purifying

fire helps us represent him better because there's very little chaff and dross left

because the silver begins to reflect the refiner. And so, and you can't really represent God.

You can only surrender to him and he can use you. You can't turn up and say, Jesus, you

know what, I'll represent you. No, it's usually not that way. It doesn't work that way. Peter

tried that, didn't work out very well. He said, before the cock crows three times, you

will deny me. But you can surrender yourself to him so that he can take what you're giving,

sacrificially, intentionally and say, all right, I'll use you to represent me. That's

all we can give him. Romans 12 gets more and more powerful as you get older. Present your

body with living sacrifice and there's only reasonable so that he can wear it and go where

he wants and use your mouth to say what he wants. So let's go beyond just being purified

from sin. Purifying fire will take this church from beyond just being, it'll take us beyond

purity from sin. It'll take us beyond purity from sin to purity in attitude, core values,

aspirations. It'll take us beyond purity from sin. Purity from sin was what the Puritans

were aiming for and in the end that whole movement kind of backfired. It changed into

the holiness movement and then it got dreadful after a while. It started off well but we're

not just looking for purity from sin. We're looking for something beyond that. It's called

blazing purity where it's no longer a sin thing. So here's a question. In representing

Jesus, please try and answer this. Please try and answer this. In representing Jesus,

what area of my life can't I present yet publicly? In representing Jesus, what area

of my life can I, can't I present publicly? What area of my life can't I present publicly

yet? I can't present it publicly. It's got way too much contamination in it. And don't

get stuck with sexual stuff on the air. The sexual stuff is an out working of a whole

lot of other things. Habits, addictions are often the result of other things but at the

end of the day, just ask yourself this question and I will ask myself. I didn't want to ask

ahead of time. I wanted to ask with you. So I'm going to go home tonight and today and

ask in representing Jesus, what area of my life can't I present yet? This is a frightening

line and it's not mine. Representation must get you to a place where those you stand before

find themselves in the presence of God. I'm going to ask you a question. Did I offend

you guys? I asked for it. Thank God you guys are not miked. Representation must get to

a place where those you stand before find themselves in the presence of God. I'd say

to you that some of you have areas in your life where this happens. So don't diss yourself

as in no, no there's no such area. No, I've seen it. Where in your lives there are areas

in your life where the way you behave, one would be standing in the presence of God because

you're trying to reflect his nature as close as possible. Representation must go to a place

where those you stand before find themselves in the presence of God. And it will be in

the areas that you think you're not good at. I've had people come in and sometimes tell

me, hey, this is what I experienced when I was with you and I'm thinking to myself, that

is not the way I think of myself. Sometimes people see things in you that you don't see

yourself because who are the people that are most severe on you? You. Who beats you up

most? You. Nobody can beat you up better than you beat yourself up. I never win when I wrestle

with me. Am I a daily letter from Christ? Am I a daily letter from Christ? 2 Corinthians

3-2. Paul says about the Corinthians, after writing 22 chapters on how messed up they

were, he then says to them, hey, you are a letter. When people read you, they see Christ.

So if you can say that about Corinthians, I'm sure God can say that about Acts 29 because

we haven't messed up as much. At least not if you compare it to the things that the Corinthians

did. The point being that many of us are letters that are read, but the question is, are you

daily a letter that Sheldon reads and he says, my God, Jane is like Jesus? Sorry, you were

sitting right up front. Okay, let's end with the last one. Purifying fire consumes culture

and religious, soulish junk. That's how the message puts it in Hebrews 12.27. Purifying

fire consumes cultural, historical, religious and soulish junk. It just consumes it, doesn't

let it stand. And so it should be. I pray God that as we teach this, God will test us.

And as he tests us, hey, you guys are still here. Either leave or come back in. Wow, the

husband's coming back in. Yes. Alrighty, as a special offer, we let you, we let you know

give a second offering. So purifying fire consumes cultural, historical, religious and soulish

junk. In other words, it consumes or shakes itself free, whichever way you want to look

at it, or shakes itself free from old wineskins. Old wineskins are basically old operating

systems, old mindsets, old clannish behavior, old denominational behavior, world views,

etc. Hal Lynn says stuff. Nothing wrong with it, but if you're still thinking that the

late great planet Earth is going to happen, it may not happen immediately. Don't even

go there. Just forget what I said. Erase the last bit. It was not important. So it consumes

or shakes itself up from old wineskins. That's one thing purifying fire does. And it'll happen

here. And I pray God that he tests us on it so that anything that should be shaken,

should be let go, will be let go. We can't hold on to things when God is moving forward.

It is a mistake that the Old Testament and New Testament and ever since churches have

been making what God was doing, they hold on to when God is doing something new. We

can't let go. And maybe be shaken there. There are things in this church that it's time to

let go. There are things in my life that I have to let go. It's an old wineskin, an old

method of operating. It's usually done or accomplished by God through change, through

unfamiliar situations, being put in unfamiliar situations. These are the methods he uses

and through the scalpel of the Word, the Spirit and the people of God. It's a three-pronged

scalpel. These are the methods he uses to change old wineskins. What is a wineskin?

Later, Derek. What is a wineskin? This is your wineskin. This is your wineskin. You're

thinking. This is your wineskin. This is your wineskin. If this wineskin doesn't change,

no new God thoughts can be poured. This is the wineskin. Old wineskins doesn't mean old

people. I have met more young people with old wineskins than old people with old wineskins.

The old people sitting in this room have had to change much more than you guys. We didn't

have phones. I'm not even talking about a cell phone. We didn't even have a phone at

home. Our TVs were black and white. You don't know how rapidly we had to adjust. There were

no microwaves. There was no automatic car. There was nothing called Bluetooth. Bluetooth

was when you colored it blue. I could go on. I could go on. I could go on. I could go on.

I was thinking of things with Facebook. No, we won't go there. One of the things with

old people is their jokes get a little dad jokes, so I've got to stop before it gets

there. This is the wineskin, guys. This is the wineskin. This is the thinking. If this

thinking doesn't change, no new revelation of God, no new wine is poured into you. This

must change. To change this, historical junk, religious junk, traditional junk, denominational

junk, cultural junk will have to be shaken. How is it shaken? Through change, through

unfamiliar situations you are placed in, through the three-pronged scalpel of the Word, the

Spirit and the people of God. This is what God uses, has always used. Any questions?

How do we posture ourselves if we want to be part of it? We can be based on change,

and we can also be naturally resistant. I want to change, but then I'm afraid. How do

I go about aligning myself with the Spirit? When we are resistant to change, and most

of us begin our lives resistant to change, but if you are exposed to change over and

over again, you get more accustomed to it. But if I'm resistant to change, then you have

to do everything in your power to make it easy for me to change. You have to walk with

me into the change. And if after all that I resist, you have to come back to me three

months from now, four months from now, and try again. This is what we do with our children.

I remember taking this kid and all I wanted him to do was walk into the elevator by himself.

I believe you are not supposed to do that. But that's not the point. I wanted him to

be brave enough to walk into an elevator without holding my hand. And it didn't matter what

I did, the kid wouldn't go in because he had heard horror stories of kids being jammed

between the doors, which never happens, but that's what parents tell you. And so eventually,

I had to walk with him. And over a period of time, he began to dare it himself, knowing

that Jacob would be right behind me and would take care of me. Change will be resisted unless

you are used to it. When change is resisted, you have to go just like with your children

and help them. And when they resist, you have to back off and start again. I recently watched

a dad.

So in other words, to answer Benny's question, if we're the ones who are resistant, we have

to hang out with people who are daring and challenging you? Is that the...

Or I should find you if you're resistant and try to help you. Sometimes we have to

look for... Guys, we're supposed to do this together. So if I find that Diana is resistant

to change and she disguises it well, I must still go and find situations where I can help

her with change. We must both look for help and we should look for those that need help.

It's both. It's not one or the other. We should look for help, but we should also look for

those that need help and who will not let on. We're not waiting for our child to ask us

for help. We look for the child who needs help and we go help. I saw a dad who's a guy

who's literally like Dr. Dolittle, helping his son with horses. It was fascinating watching

him. He's got three sons and one son is a little scared of horses. But the way he went

about it... A change is scary, eh, because you get on the wrong end of a horse and you

can go flying without the horse. And so he had to make sure that the child is positioned

correctly. He wanted the child to hold the reins right up where the bit and bridle is

so you can hold the horse. There was a way to feed the horse. But the way the dad went

about encouraging the horse, in the end the boy was on the horse. I'm watching it and

I'm thinking to myself, wow, a boy who was resistant to sitting on a horse is now desiring

to sit on a horse. So the only way we go through change is this way. And when all else fails

and you're really stubborn and resistant and full of yourself, then God uses his favorite

weapon, which is jealousy. This is how God uses jealousy. He'll send a wave that will

ward your boat from the safe mooring that you refuse to let go of and the wave will

carry you on the ocean of his love into the deep where you suddenly realize that oh shucks,

what do I do now? One way or the other, because he's jealous over you, he will get you to

where you need to get to, only you'll have less time to do it because you spent too many

years moored to the port. God will always keep you moving. One of the things about his

jealousy is he will get you moving. The only difference is you may not get to the destined

end that he had planned because you've run out of time. But he'll always keep you moving.

These are the things that happen with purifying fire. One, recognition of his claim of ownership.

Two, a singular thing, treasuring him. Three, able to represent him accurately because

sin is no longer an issue because a purifying fire consumes it. Four, historical, religious,

cultural and soulless junk being burnt up and now you always have a new vessel that's

forged through change, through the scalpel of the word, the spirit and the people of

God and through unfamiliarity. You become a wineskin that Jesus can always pour new

wine into. New things, new things, new things. Continuously pouring new things. And if you

don't change your wineskin, then here's the flip part. You will at some point resist the

move of God and you will resist the generation that's coming after you. Just remember that.

Many of us who refuse to change will become the enemies of change. There is no middle

ground when there is a refusal to change. Please hear that again. There is no middle

ground when there is a refusal to change. Every time you refuse to change, you will

become the enemy of those that are changing. You will resist them. It's only a matter

of time. Cool. Why did I say the scalpel of the spirit, the word and the people of God?

Isaiah 65, 8, beautiful scripture, it says that the wine is found in the cluster, not

in a single grape. The wine is found in the cluster, so do not destroy it. It's a three-pronged

scalpel. The word, the spirit and the people of God. Remove one of them and it collapses.

The wineskin is not formed. It's all three. Okay. Let's pray and end. I know I'm supposed

to do communion and Heidi brings communion every week and then she packs it and keeps

it next week. We would have finished earlier had Tooni not lost his voice. Yeah. Let's

pray. Father, part of the reason I'm excited about not this message but excited about this

series is because of what you will now do. One of the things you told Israel to do was

always walk into the future looking back. We've talked about that. They would walk into

the future looking back. They would literally walk backwards. They could see all that God

has done and they would look at it and say, this God did, this God did, this God did.

Why should we be afraid of the future? They would walk into the future looking back. And

so we walk into this future looking at Wali, looking at other promises, looking at this

place you gave us that we are now releasing. We want you, O God, to do these things in

our midst. There's no other reason for being a church but to be everything that you want

us to be. So we go over that list one last time, Brandon, if you can just put it up and

say yes to this, O God, your hands are gentle. Your hands do not harm. Your fire does not

destroy. And so we look at it and say let this begin with us and then let it spread across

the earth that you, O God, will, are going to, have begun sending a purifying fire from

heaven that will burn up all the religious and historical junk in our lives, that you

will lead us as a divine warrior marching ahead of us. You'll teach us how to war. In

the process you will deliver young men and women from many nations into the kingdom.

And you will bring them into the kingdom as sons and daughters. And you'll draw them into

a circle of dancing of abundance and joy that we haven't really experienced. It's

not natural for us. We do burst into it occasionally but it's still not part of our DNA. We'd

like to become like that so that we can show them. And that they would do this before the

lion and the lamb. They would both know the one who was crucified and the one who rose

like a lion, not one or the other. And that they would become a torch bearing generation

that goes forth and will not return empty. So we as a church say thank you for this rich

privilege. It is so overwhelming that it must be you. It is so overwhelming that only you

can do it. So thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Bless you guys. Hey, this would not be possible

if we didn't all do this together. Sometimes when you look back now 17, 18 years later,

it's magnificent. So thank you. Thank you. If you need prayer, someone has arranged for

people to be out front here and they'll pray with you. And God will respond because he

said so.