Transcript for:
Isaiah 48:10 -The Crucible- Guest Speaker Wayne Dekoret 2024-08-18
Found the transcript but need the audio? View Episode
Well, good morning, everybody. How are you guys doing today? Good. Good. Well, if you got your Bibles with you, let's go ahead and open them up, and we'll get started with a section of scripture, and then we'll pray. If you wanna go ahead and open up to the book of Isaiah chapter 48. And in keeping with our Calvary Chapel tradition, would you go ahead and stand as we read the word of God? Isaiah chapter 48 verse 10. Behold, I have refined you but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. Father God, we come before you in the name of your son Jesus Christ. And God, we just thank you for this time you've given us to gather together as the body of Christ, as believer believers in your son Jesus, and we just thank you for the opportunity, the freedom we have to do this. And God, I just approach you humbly, and I just wanna glorify you today. I wanna serve you today, Lord. And I invite the Holy Spirit here into this place to fill this place, to speak to our hearts. Each one is different, but I just pray you work on our hearts and you soften our hearts to help us to hear the message that you would have us to hear. And I pray that you would do your work today for the body of Christ, and that you would speak today and it not be me, but it'd be you speaking, Lord. I pray you bless this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Go ahead and be seated. So as we pray and we seek the face of God, we wanna be in his presence today. We're not here to seek the hand of God and ask him to do stuff for us, but we wanna seek his face. And by being in his presence and allowing that presence to fill us, you guys can get filled up and get radiant for the rest of the week and go forth and conquer the battles that you guys have to conquer. You're blessed and you're fortunate that you guys have a awesome pastor that loves to preach the truth to you guys. He doesn't fear men or men's opinions, and that's good. And you should feel very thankful for that, that he's willing to share the truth with you and to edify you and to encourage you. As I was spending time in prayer and I was sitting before the Lord and asking him, you know, Lord, what is the message that you would like the body of Christ to receive at this time? And just trying to be open to that and praying about that. I kept coming back to a word, that was meaningful to me, the word core. The word has lots of different meanings, and it's referenced in different ways. So in keeping with my standard bible study traditions, I'll look the word up and see what the meaning is and read some verses about it and try to learn from it and understand it. So here in Isaiah chapter forty eight ten, this is the verse that I kinda led with here. Behold, I have refined you but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. So that word furnace in Hebrew is actually kor. It's spelled a little different with a k u w r, but it's pronounced kor as you would think of the word core. Now my initial thought of this word core is more like, hey, you know, what you know, like a marine corps type core, you know, a core or a group of people. So the the term in which I was reading and I was thinking of before I, you know, read the scriptures, you look it up in your Webster's dictionary, the term core, it's spelled c o r p s. It's a a noun, and it describes a group of persons associated together or acting under common direction, especially in a body of persons having a common activity or occupation. So you are a core group of believers. You're a unique group, a special group of people. Right? Unique and defined in which you guys have had, very significant things happen in your lives in the past few years. Lots of struggles and lots of furnaces of afflictions for many of you guys, and you've gone through those trials really well. So as I read that word core in their core group of people and who you are, I also think of esprit de corps, which is the term we use in the Marine Corps. And when you look that one up, it's a French term, but it's described as the common spirit existing in the members of a group and inspiring enthusiasm, devotion, and strong regard for the honor of the group. So our honor and our devotion is in the Lord. And that esprit de corps, that unity, that encouragement, that excitement we have comes from the Lord. Right? So there's multiple layers to this word and to its meaning. And those terms are important as I go on. I'm gonna start talking a little bit faster. I got a lot of stuff to go through here. I'm really excited and happy to be here with you. But but the Hebrew term's a little bit different. Alright. So you start going into core and what it says in the Hebrew and in the bible. It's used nine different times in the bible and it's defined as a furnace and as a forge, a smelting furnace or a pot. There's other terms it's associated with to bore, to pierce, to dig, or to hew. In the original language, its origin is from an unused root meaning, properly to dig through. Deuteronomy chapter four verse 20, but the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt to be a people for his own possession as today. First Kings chapter eight verse 51. For they are your people and your inheritance which you have brought forth from Egypt from the midst of the iron furnace. Proverbs chapter 17 verse three. The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 21. The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold and each is tested by the praise accorded him. Jeremiah chapter 11 verse four, which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace saying, listen to my voice and do according to all which I commanded you. So you shall be my people and I will be your God. If you wanna turn, I got a little bit longer section here in the book of Ezekiel chapter 22. Ezekiel 22, we'll start in verse 18. Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace. They are dross of silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because all of you have become dross. Therefore, behold, I'm going to gather you in the midst of Jerusalem. As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it. So I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, I will lay you there and melt you. I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath and you will be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my wrath on you. So this description of this refinement process, this this process, does this apply to you now, today, as followers followers of Christ? So the Messiah came and laid his life down for you to pay the price for you, as we sang in those hymns. He applied that blood to you directly. It wasn't spilled recklessly. He did that on purpose to atone you the way that they did all the sacrifices in the temples. It was applied intentionally. Right? So this type of this refinement process in these furnaces that we go through, does this apply to you as a follower of Christ, redeemed by his blood, saved by his power of his resurrection, that not only redeems us, but it's actively restoring us if we so choose to be sanctified and restored. So there's another form of this word that we're going to address before we start having some fun here. The word crucible. Okay? So as a metal worker or somebody who's worked with metal, you understand what a crucible is for. That's what this is talking about. Okay? You take that metal, you heat that metal up to a specific temperature in which that metal will melt and then all the impurities and all the dirt and all the garbage kinda floats up to the top and it burns and it sits on the top and then you just kinda scrape that stuff off and then you heat it up again and then you refine that thing again. So that crucible is something that, you know, we as believers go through all the time. You may or may not realize it. Some of us that have maybe some serious medical issues and some heart attacks and, you know, some cancer struggles and some, you know, diseases and, you know, you know people that got different things like Lyme's disease and diabetes and all these afflictions they go through. Imagine the mental and the spiritual struggle and refinement they're going through in the midst of this process. It's challenging them in different ways. It's refining them. It's drawing them closer to the Lord. But it's painful, and it hurts. And it brings out all these different things we didn't know were there, and it gets them to the surfaces and it gets them out of there. A crucible in Marine Corps terms is a time of testing and trying. So when you go to boot camp and you suffer for three months, learning all these diff different things, breaking your body down, learning to work as a team, learning a whole new structure in life, learning to follow commands and follow orders, learning the esprit de corps and that pride in your history and where you come from and why you are who you are. The culminating event of all of this is what they call the crucible. And you have this long arduous task of going out in the field and accomplishing these obstacles with a team of people and go on very little sleep and very little food, and it's designed to show you how far you can push yourself. And this is just in the beginning of their career before they've even graduated their boot camp. Right? And as you're doing all these tasks in this multi date event, you start to head towards this mountain that they call the reaper. And it's designed to be intimidating and fearful, and you've got this pack on your back and all this weight, and you've been on your feet for days, and you've got blisters, and you gotta pop those blisters and put a piece of duct tape over them and keep marching and keep going. And you're tired and your your your, flesh is weak, but you keep going because your buddies are going. And they're putting one step in front of another. You start hiking up this mountain, and you're just like, oh my gosh, this is gonna take forever. What are we doing? And you start seeing people quit. You start seeing people stop, and they go back down the hill, and you're like, I'm not redoing this. I'm not doing this again. I'm I'm going. I'm going to the top. And something stirs within you, something drives you to keep going, to keep pushing on. And then when you get to the top and you drop all your gear and you stop for a minute, the reward that you receive is what you've been working towards for the entire three months. Because there's a man of authority at the top there, a drill instructor who has a piece of metal to pin on you called the Eagle Globe and Anchor, which is a symbol of the Marine Corps. And he pins that on your uniform, and he says, you've accomplished the task. You've made it through the crucible, and you've suffered, and now you have earned that title of marine. It's a unique thing. So that suffering produces this reward, but it doesn't make it easy. And then you learn throughout your career that there's joy in the suffering because there's rewards associated with them. As you move on to different schools and different tasks and things get more challenging, you look back on that one and you're thinking, well, that one wasn't so bad because this next one seems impossible. So as I use this term crucible and I use that challenging term, I want you all to realize that today, whether you like it or not, whether you realize it or not, you've entered the crucible. So let the furnace refine you today. Before I can move forward and really dig into some of these terms, there's some very unique distinctions that I need to make. Because I'm gonna use some words and some language that a lot of believers and Christians don't quite recognize. And I wanna use those distinctions based upon the Bible and based upon scripture, and the description of our God in his might and power, and the roles in which he's called us as believers in that God. So the first distinction that we need to make is, you're a warrior on a battlefield. Whether you realize it, whether you like it or not. If you wanna turn to Ephesians six, we're gonna go through that real quick to solidify this in a way that you may or may not have realized. Some of you have heard this before. I've had the honor of coming here and talking before in the past, some of you haven't. So let's, dive into Ephesians six, and we're gonna start in verse 10. We're gonna go through this description and realize a couple very specific words that apply to you as Christians. I know that before you've heard different terms of spiritual battles, and you've heard about struggles and things in your walk as a Christian. But whether you realize the battlefield you're involved in or not, it's still there. Ephesians chapter six verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the powers and against the world forces of this darkness. Against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm therefore having belted your waist with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. As you read through there and you separate different items and you look at the names and the words and the meanings, there's one specific item I want you to realize. When you're humbled as a human being and you realize I'm just a dirtbag sinner and I don't deserve this redemption and I've come to this place to where I need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and you've accepted him as your savior, You've accepted his payment, his redemption for you. He bought and he paid for you. Okay? And you've got that, helmet of salvation. Right? And you move on further with sanctification and his redemption process. We don't stay there in redemption, but we move on to restoration. Okay? But in that redemption process, accept that salvation. There's no place you'd rather be. You're super happy. You're excited. You're just like, look, all these horrible things I've done in my life, I'm forgiven for. And I know that I've got a plan of forgiveness. I know that he's gonna help me learn and grow and be restored. But would you willingly sit down and take that helmet off? You wanna give your salvation up? Think about that exchange for a moment there. If I put that helmet of salvation on, do I want to say, I don't really want to be a Christian today. I don't really want to serve the Almighty God to create every heaven and earth. Nope. I'm going to take that helmet off. I'm to set it down and go do something else. It doesn't make any sense to me. So realize that as a believer in Christ, as a Christian, you you put that helmet on, you're not taking that thing off till you go to heaven and you sit at the feet of the Lord. That's your place of rest. It's not here. While you're here on this earth in these fleshly sinful bodies that constantly need forgiveness and, sanctification, you're keeping that helmet on. And knowing that, you must move forward knowing you are constantly in battle. Constantly, twenty four seven, every day till you sit at the feet of the Lord. So we need to move forward as a body of Christ in recognizing that. You don't get any breaks. Right? You're constantly wielding that sword of the spirit. You're constantly in prayer for your loved ones and your family members. You're remembering those that are struggling and suffering until we sit at the feet of the Lord. Okay? So we're going to move forward a little bit more here. Okay? Before years ago, I had an opportunity to speak here at the body, serve the body, and one of the, messages that I gave was a comparison between effective warrior, the ineffective warrior, and the wounded warrior. And we had a conversation about, you can be wearing your armor. Right? You can be on the midst of the battlefield, but you could be completely clueless that you're under attack because you're not using your sword, you're not using your shield. You're just sitting there useless. And that's exactly where the devil wants you. Ineffective and useless, doing nothing because you're not telling people about the power of your God. You're not showing them the power of your God. You're not laying your life down for them and serving them and loving them. You're not displaying that love of Christ in that self sacrifice. You're useless. It's a great place for the enemy to have you. Then there's the wounded warrior. Right? You're that servant of the Lord that's beat up. Right? You've been out there serving, you've been out there preaching the gospel, you've been rejected by men, you've been, you know, financially struggled, health struggled, all the things. You're not weak in the sense of you're you're weak in your spirit or your flesh. You're weary because you're worn out and you're wounded and you need some trauma care. You need someone to come up and put a tourniquet on you and slap a chest seal on you and get you out of there, get you an IV and maybe some some blood fluids, you know, so you can get back on the battlefield. And that happens to people. And as the body of Christ, we can minister to the body of Christ and we can love each other and be like, hey, you're worn out, you're beat up. You've been slaying dragons and fighting demons all day and you are exhausted. Let me come and lift your arms up. Right? Pray for each other, comfort each other, help each other, be the body to each other, and recognize when your brother and sister are weak and lift them up in prayer. So moving on from that, there's also another distinction we're gonna make here. There's a difference between offensive combat and defensive combat. So, when I was in the city of Ramadi living with all the Iraqis and trying to figure out what the heck was going on there, there was a very clear distinction between a marine and a soldier. And this isn't a dog of my army brothers out there. You guys are amazing at what you do. Okay? The artillery unit that was there was phenomenal at call for fire and artillery missions. Dropping massive hunks of lead and stuff from miles away. They were amazing at what they did. But they were not violent offensive infantry men that were aggressive in wanting to assault the enemy on a daily basis. They were two separate creatures. And when you walked out on the street, the enemy knew who the marines were. And they knew that if they picked a fight with them, they were gonna unleash all hell on them with no restraint. And they weren't walking away that day. But they knew if they picked a fight with the guys in the green uniform, it was gonna be a little bit different response. Cause they were trained for defensive operations to hold a base and a fort and a structure, to defend it, to launch fire from distance. They weren't trained in that aggressive action. There was a clear distinction on the battlefield. And as Christians and as believers, the weapons and the warfare that you use, they're offensive in combat. You have to be aggressive and bring the fight to the enemy. Don't just sit there and wait to get beat up and attacked by him and then whine and cry when you don't know what's going on. If you're not active in that warfare, you're gonna fall victim the way David was when he was on the rooftops and his men were in battle. And that's not where we wanna be. So there's a clear distinction between your behavior as a Christian, as a warrior in the battlefield. You must be aggressive on the offensive. Otherwise, you're gonna get beat up. Daniel chapter 10 verse 10. Daniel was in a spiritual battle, and we recognize how these warfares work. Daniel was a unique individual, whom God used for awesome stuff. And he was described as being above reproach because they couldn't find anything wrong with the guy, even though they tried. Daniel chapter 10, we're going to start in verse 10. Then behold a hand touched me and shook me on my hands and knees. And he said to me, Daniel, you are. You who are treasured. Understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand at your place for I have now been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. And that's a healthy fear. And then he said to me, do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing in my way for twenty one days. And then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me. For I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days because the vision pertains to the day still future. There's spiritual battles over you even though you realize it or not. And when you ask for help, from the moment the thought goes in your mind, the Lord sends help. You may not realize it at the time, and you may be thinking, what has taken so long for this call for fire mission? Why haven't they launched that artillery yet? Why isn't their air support coming yet? Well, it's because they gotta fight off some insurgents before they can get to you, but they're coming. Recognize that. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we must answer. So side note, I was having a conversation this week with my nephew briefly. Weapons are a part of our religion. Yeah. So you don't realize it. Weapons are a part of your religion. And though your mainstream mega churches would love to have you be a little baby as an adult wearing a diaper, drinking milk, asking for a binky. You're on a battlefield and weapons are a part of your culture. And they're in your hands and they're surrounding you, use them. Distinction number two that is very critical, not only are you a warrior on a battlefield, but you serve the warrior of warriors, the king of kings. Like you to turn to Exodus chapter 14, and we'll start in verse 10. Exodus chapter 14 verse 10. I'll give you guys a minute to get there. I cheated and typed it up ahead of time. So I forget that it takes you a minute to turn there. Okay. Exodus chapter 14 verse 10. As pharaoh approached, the sons of Israel looked and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them and they became very frightened. Remember that for later. That's eventually where I would like to get. The Israelites became very frightened. So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord and then they said to Moses, it is because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness. Why have you dealt with us in this way bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt saying, leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. But Moses said to the people, do not fear. Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, will never see again ever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. If you look on the very next page in Exodus chapter 14 or sorry 15. After the Lord had victory over the Egyptians as a man of war and he slaughtered them and buried them under the ocean. Exodus chapter 14 or sorry, 15. The Israelites realized how powerful their God is. Exodus fifteen one. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord saying, I will sing to the Lord for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider, he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song and he has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him. My father's God and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 13. The Lord will go out like a warrior. He will stir his zeal like a man of war. He will shout indeed. He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against his enemies. Revelation chapter nineteen eleven. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he judges and wages war. Not only is God a warrior from the beginning, but his son Jesus Christ is captain of the hosts of heaven. In Joshua chapter five verse 13 through 15. Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and he saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, are you for us or for our enemies? Neither, he replied. I have now come as commander of the Lord's army. And then Joshua fell face down in fear, in reverence and asked him, what does my Lord have to say to his servant? The commander of the Lord's army replied, take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua did so. And the language we study in the Bible about Jesus Christ and about the son of God, the Messiah, and the role in which he played before he took on the human body to come down to earth. He played a mighty role as commander of the heavenly hosts of army, his supernatural body where he would go throughout the bible. The unique language in which men would fall down to worship angels, they'd say, no, no, no, I'm just an angel. I am not the son of God. And then the language in which they would fall down and worship the angel of the Lord and he allowed so is the son of God, the Messiah. So this leads me to this very important third distinction here that we have to recognize as believers before you can move forward. You're involved in cosmic warfare from the beginning. From the beginning, when you read the Bible in in its whole, in its entirety, in his message God gives you as a believer, from beginning to end, the descriptions of the battle over you, you unique people, you human beings in which God is created for his glory and his good pleasure. You're the pinnacle of his creation in the universe. He laid out the stars in the heaven and the planets in the universe, and every single thing works symbiotically for life on earth. A little bit closer to the sun, we burn up, a little bit further away, we freeze. It's impossible for the sun to be bigger, it would consume us in fire. Everything on earth that is created symbiotically for your life and existence, the birds and the animals that feed off each other and serve each other and help each other, every little thing that works for us to live here on earth. And how much he loves you and when he created you, and his intention for you in the garden with Adam and Eve, this beautiful perfect place where you could be free and talk to the animals. Y'all ever read the Narnia Chronicles? We've got suspicions in our family that maybe in the garden that they could talk to all the animals and the animals could talk to them. And maybe an eternity with a new heaven and earth, with all this sin and destruction on the earth, maybe we can have those conversations again. I mean, God allowed a donkey to talk to Balaam and opened his mouth up. Right? You know pastor Rick always says he's like a donkey that God's allowed to speak, but he uses him. Right? So in the the garden, there was this beautiful picture. But you have to think before the garden. Right? Isaiah chapter 14. If you want to turn there, I'll give you a minute. Isaiah chapter 14, we're going to read verse 12 through 17. Need to kinda comprehend this big picture here because it's not just, well, the gospel is you were saved by grace, you know, at the foot of the cross. There's so much more than that. There's so much more that took place for all of this to happen. The impossibility of us being here today with the things that have happened in the bible. You read through the book of Hebrews in the hall of faith and you're just like, man, Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess, all the very unique tiny little doors that God opened with one impossible pathway for his son to be born in Bethlehem. The enemy of your soul has been trying to destroy that since the beginning and will continue to destroy try to destroy you and every little thing he can to spit in the face of God. Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. How you have fallen from heaven, o day star, son of the dawn. You have been cut down to the ground, o destroyer of nations. You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heavens. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the Mount Of Assembly. In the far reaches of the North, I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high, but you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. Those who see you will stare. They will ponder your fate. Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble? Who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities? Who refused to let the captives return to their homes? Jude chapter one verse six. And angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling place. These he has kept in eternal restraints under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Ezekiel chapter 28, if you wanna turn there. This one's a little bit longer. Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 11. Ezekiel chapter 28 verse 11, and I'll read through 19. And again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God. You have the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The ruby, the topaz and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx and the jasper, the lapis, the lazul, the turquoise and the emerald. And the gold, the workmanship of your setting and sockets was in you. On the day that you were created, they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade, you were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God and I have destroyed you, oh covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you by the multitude of your iniquities and the unrighteousness of your trade. You profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore, I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. They have become terrified and you will cease to be forever. These descriptions of the enemy of your soul, of the one who would attack you, would destroy you or try to do anything to hurt you or harm you, his battle and his struggle against an almighty God have been since the beginning. There's another glimpse at this war, this cosmic warfare since the beginning. And I love how the answers are in the back of the book. Turn to the book of Revelation chapter 12. We'll go to Revelation chapter 12 verse one. A great sign appeared in heaven and a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars. And she was with child and she cried out being in labor and in the pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns. And on his heads were seven diadems and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now is the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come. For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. He who accuses them before our God day and night and they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice oh heavens, you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea because the devil has come down to you having great wrath and knowing that he only has a short time. This war from the beginning wages cosmically and it wages currently today. You know the answer. You know the end. You know that our savior, the captain of our faith has descended to the depths and conquered death and hell because he's the only one that can do it. You know that he's already won the battle, but the war just still rages on and there's still casualties. First John chapter three eight, chapter three verse eight, the one who practices sin is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. First Corinthians chapter 10, For though we walk in flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. And we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And we are ready to punish all disobedience whenever your obedience is complete. There's another verse that I reference here and it's, in Zechariah. I'm sorry. No. It's in Ezekiel. And it's referencing weapons because I think that it's fun to talk about this topic. It's kind of a affinity, I guess you could say, for people to realize like, no, there's battles. There's there's struggles. There's things going on around us, and you need to fight those battles. You need to be involved in those battles. Okay. Here we go. Ezekiel, let's go to chapter 28. No. Wait. I'm sorry. Chapter nine. Ezekiel chapter nine verse one and two. Ezekiel chapter nine verse one and two. Then he cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, draw near, oh executioners of the city. Each with his destroying weapon in hand. Behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand. And among them was a certain man clothed in linen, with a writing case in his at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. So these men with these destroying weapons in their hands went forth, and they obeyed the commands of an almighty God. So understanding these clear distinctions as a body of Christ and as believers, we know that you have a battle around you. It's invisible. You may not see it. You have these struggles every day, and you have to fight these battles spiritually. Continually going to the feet of the Lord and saying, okay, Lord, how are we gonna fight this battle? What's our strategy? What's our tactics here? Are we gonna get together as believers in Christ, as a body of Christ, and support each other? If you got to go in all by yourself, it's going to be overwhelming. Even though there are scriptures in the bible that say a thousand may come and 10,000 may fall by your side but none will come near. The odds are ever in your favor as a believer because you've got the power to take on more. As a Christian and as a believer, it's more of like a, you know, 100 to one odds in a battle versus when the enemy comes at you, it takes much less of them to destroy more few of you. But when you work together as a team, the fortresses and the battles that you can conquer are even greater. So these distinctions about you being a warrior on the battlefield, about our God being a warrior from the beginning, and his divine love as a father, and his compassion as a father, he will fight for you. He has sent his son to lay his life down for you. And he will continue to wage war against the enemy of your soul until the day we sit at his feet. And the understanding there's a cosmic war around us, we move one step closer to the important conversation that we need to have. Why does the enemy want you in this state? The enemy wants you disabled, weak, ineffective. The enemy would love it if you just accepted Christ and did nothing for the Lord because then you're no longer a threat to the kingdom of darkness. So what is the threat to the enemy? What do you do differently in your walk, in your battle, in your struggle, in your life? What are you gonna do differently that when you walk out of here today, you will be attacked because you are a threat to the enemy? Because if you wanna make that choice and you wanna make that step, as you exit the crucible, you're gonna be refined. Whether you like it or not. Because you're one step closer to being an active participant in the battle, a direct threat to the enemy. So today, is that something that you would like to have happen? Would you like to be an effective warrior in the battlefield? Would you like to take one more step in that refinement process to break down strongholds? The afflictions and the troubles that we see in the world today are almost overwhelming. And if you're not an active participant in that offensive combat, you're gonna succumb to the fear of the enemy. The thing that's gonna make you different, the thing that's gonna bring the enemy's attacks on you is when you're a threat. And the thing that makes you a threat is when you know your God and you know the power of your God. Amen. It's not me seeking the hand of God. Oh, God, please help me with this. Oh, God, please help me with this. It's not his hand that is gonna make you a threat to the enemy. It's you being in his presence and seeking his face. And being in his presence and having that glory shine upon you and filling you when you move out into the world, you're gonna be filled with his radiance. You're gonna be filled with the holy spirit, and the enemy can see that coming from a mile away, and they're gonna come after you. They're gonna say, oh, that one's different. Look at that glow on that one. We need to humble that person. We need to humiliate them. Need to attack them and destroy them. Attack their emotions and their insecurities, make them depressed and sad, lack of confidence. But that's part of the joy of the battle. When I would go out sometimes with my marines, I'd always work in small units. Right? Not a big mass horde of dudes, but just a small unit. And we'd usually be a little bit more refined in our processes, a little bit more well trained in very specific aspects of our task. And it's always a struggle to get into those small units. It's always a challenge. There's a testing period where they try to get you to quit before you get to go to those schools and go to be to those units. And it's always a struggle. A physical challenge, a mental challenge more than anything. Oh, are you gonna quit or are you gonna give up because of the physical pain? Oh, are you gonna quit or are you gonna give up because I'm overwhelming you mentally and you can't handle the stress? What is it? But because you know what they're trying to do and you know that they're trying to get you to quit, you laugh and you smile, and you take joy in the challenge. And inside, you don't say it exterior, but you say it inside. Is that all you got? We're on mile number six, let's keep going. I haven't fallen over yet. You haven't broken me yet. And then there's the really special dudes that I would work with that would get broken, and then they just keep going. And you're like, you're physically injured. There's something wrong with you. They drink some water, they change their socks, take some Motrin, keep going. Because they don't care about the pain. They want to accomplish the task. And you smile and you laugh at the challenge. You're physically exhausted. Your muscles are in pain. You haven't slept, you're just like, this is great. There's no place I would rather be than in this struggle and in this battle with my brothers in arms fighting it. So do you know the power of your God? If you know the power of your God, you must understand what you are capable of. Daniel chapter 11 verse 32. And by smooth words, he will turn to godlessness, those who act wickedly toward the covenant. But to the people who know their God will be strong and take action. When you read that in the King James it says, those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. If you know your God, what are you capable of doing? Not in your power because our flesh is weak, but in the spirit. If you know your God is the one who made the heavens and the earth, he's the one that made all these physical things around you, he's the one that created the angels that were cast out of heaven, he's the one that made the path of redemption. What are we capable of doing in his name and through his power? And how do we get to that point to where we understand his power? Psalm chapter 60 verse 11. Give us aid against the enemy for the help of man is worthless. With God we will perform with valor and he will trample our enemies. Psalm chapter 27 verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Whom shall I dread? When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell. Though in army and camps around me, my heart will not fear. Though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust. Do we as a body of Christ genuinely reflect upon the fear of the Lord? Or do we just kinda think like, okay, I got my weekly Jesus shot. I'm going back out into the week. Let's hope I survive the week and make it back for another one. But do you daily enter into that fear of the Lord and his capabilities and his power and his might? I'm glad that I still have more time because I think I'm only about halfway through. You guys doing okay? Okay. Good. I'd like you guys to turn to the book of Malachi. Starting to get a little bit closer to a culminating event here. Let's go to the book of Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter three verse one. I'll read verse one through three. Behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant 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 and like a fuller's soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Yeah. It hurts. Yeah. It's painful. But are we going through this refinement process? The difference between the crucible and the refining pot in which the metal is refined is there's a point in which it's refined where it's usable. Then you take that liquid molten metal, and if you're working as a jeweler or whatever, they could pour that gold into a mold or a shape for a ring or a crown or something along those those lines or silver for coins or whatever it is they use it for. If it's a weapon of war, that metal will be poured into a mold or a shape that can be used for a sword or a axe or something of that nature. But then the pounding occurs or the hammering occurs and the shaping of the metal while it's still warm and moldable and shapeable. That's what's being referred to as the the refiner's fire, the smelter there, three three. He sits as the smelter and the purifier of silver, working it, shaping it, molding it. The purifier. Move on to the end of chapter three and go to verse 16. And this is where we start to make some progress here, understanding our role and understanding what's going on around us. Malachi chapter three verse 16. And then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. And the Lord gave attention and heard it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name. They will be mine says the Lord of hosts on the day that I prepare my own possession and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him. Chapter four. For behold the day is coming burning like a furnace and all the arrogant, every evil doer will be chaff and the day that is coming will set them ablaze says the Lord of hosts. So that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing on its wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked for they will be ash under the soles of your feet on the day in which I am preparing, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statues, statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I am going to send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse. Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another and the Lord gave attention and heard it. Behold, the day is coming burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and the evil doer will be chaff. Those you as believers as the body of Christ suffer, though you go through that refinement in that furnace, though you may have some infirmities and some pains in this short temporary life that we have now, there is nothing for the wicked. They've chosen their path. I've had the privilege of fellowshipping with a good brother of mine who God spoken to through the Holy Spirit and just given some awesome encouraging words. And in the midst of the fellowship, I had this awesome time of refreshment and fellowship with the body of believers. I went to this warrior summit out in Colorado. And the word that he shared for the theme of the summit was Ezra nine. God's given us a time of refreshment. He's given you a time of rest, a time of refreshment before things really may maybe get intense. Maybe he's giving you this time of refreshment as a body believers to encourage each other, to motivate each other, to bless each other. And one of the best times I had at this weekend warrior summit was the fellowship. And we were warned ahead of time, hey, the takeaway from this weekend is you as the body of Christ fellowshipping with the body of Christ, share your struggles with each other. Share the trials you've gone through. Tell your war stories of what God's done in your life because it is encouraging. That adage that iron sharpens iron, you know, is a visual we have that the steel sharpens the steel. But it's offensive and sometimes it wears a little bit of steel away and you may say, wow, that was drastic what happened in your life. But it encourages you. And it was an engineered time of breaking bread together and fellowshipping that it was such a blessing as the body of believers sharing in the struggles that we have as believers. Those that feared the Lord, those that honored him and just hearing the stories of what people have done and gone through in their lives and you're just like, wow. But it's just a momentary affliction. This isn't eternal. This isn't it. But you only get one shot. We got a phrase in the marines we like to use. It's a little bit offensive to some. One shot, one kill. Ready to die, but never will. If you get one shot on the battlefield, better make it count. That's one enemy that you take down in the spiritual realm. You get one shot to be obedient to the Lord. You're prompted in your spirit to do something and you're just kinda like, you know what? I really think that's what the Lord wants me to do. Don't take the back seat to cowardice. God doesn't like cowards in his kingdom. He calls them out directly. And as men specifically, we seem to have this fear and intimidation of validation of men and there may be a little bit of, I don't really want to and I'm a little bit scared and afraid. But our courage comes from the Lord and the fear of the Lord. To take that courage and take that step forward. Yeah. You're scared. It's like John Wayne says, you're scared but you get on the horse anyways. Right? You go right into the battle. So fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Right? You read through Proverbs, you guys study the word and you know it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Okay? You want to move forward in his name. Job chapter 28 verse 28. And he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding. Proverbs chapter 15 verse 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honor comes humility. Don't pray for humility. Right? It's embarrassing. But if God wants to use you, you have to be humble. I love the adage of be as a little children, they come to Him. Don't be shy to allow the children in. And if I can't read something to my kids and have them understand it, maybe I'm over complicating it. Make it a little bit more simple and be humble. Proverbs eight thirteen, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. It's not the individual. We want that soul to repent. We want the majority of the cotton candy, pie in the sky, Disneyland, Christianity groups out there that are delusional to the world to repent and turn to the Lord in humility. Proverbs eight thirteen, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverted mouth I hate. Proverbs three seven. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Turn out to the New Testament and you read in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 verse 18. For you have not come to a mountain that could be touched into a blazing fire and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind. And to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken of them. For they could not cope with the command, if even an animal touches the mountain it shall be stoned. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I am terrified and trembling. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to the myriads of angels. To the general assembly and to the church of the first born who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who were warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns us from heaven. And his voice shook the earth and then, but now he has promised saying, yet one once more, I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things. So that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let's show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire. Amen. Psalm one twelve. Prosperity of one who fears the Lord. Praise the Lord. Blessed is a person who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house and his righteousness endures forever. Light shines in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious, compassionate and righteous. It goes well for a person who is gracious and lens. He will maintain his cause and judgment for he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear bad news. His heart is steadfast trusting in the Lord. His heart is firm. He will not fear but will look with satisfaction on his enemies. He has given freely to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed. He will gnash his teeth and melt away and the desire of the wicked will perish. If your fear is rightly placed in the fear of the Lord, what on earth do you have to fear? In the insanity and the chaos that we endured over the past few years, the theme was lawlessness and fear, panic and worry. What are people going to think about me if I do this or if I do that? If I succumb to the overwhelming opinions of men, they say I can't go here and I can't do this. And in fear, I've got to comply and cover up my face for fear that I might get sick or I might make someone else sick. And there's no truth in the statements and they're validated with truth and evidence today that, yeah, all of that was reactionary in fear. You responded in fear because you cared more about what men said than what the common sense in your spirit said. And you said, you know what? If the warning label on this box says don't wear this three m mask for more than ten minutes because it's going to make you pass out. No. I'm just going to ignore that logic and reason. Let's put two of them on and pass out while I'm driving a car. That sounds logical. Right? Stop ignoring the spirit of truth within you. Stop fearing the men and what they have to say. That was just a warm up workout guys. That's a warm up workout. Okay? You woke up in the morning and your team leader said, hey guys, we're going go for a little PT run. This is part of your test to see if you can move on to the next step. He doesn't tell you what the distance is because psychologically he wants to get in your head to where you say, oh boy, I don't know if I can do this if it's longer than three miles. And every once in a while on the run he stops and he just thrashes you with squats and burpees and push ups until he's tired. And this is, alright, let's keep running. But he doesn't tell you how long the run is. And about halfway through, a bunch of guys start falling out because psychologically and mentally, they can't handle the unknown, the fear. Oh, how long is he gonna go? So five miles in, they drop out from the mental struggle, not the physical. Team leader's doing it. Why can't you? He's older than you. He's in worse shape than you. You guys have struggled in your spirits. You've battled in the spiritual realm. Your spiritual armor is on and you've battled. For those that are here today in the congregation that have suffered, you've battled in prayer. For those that you've seen through the turmoil in the past few years, you've battled in truth and encouragement and telling them, hey, stay the course. Some of them have quit, some of them have given up, but you encouraged them. You said, don't give up. Don't quit. This is just a PT run. This is just a warm up. We haven't even got to the battlefield yet. The encouragement I wanna bring you is no matter what happens, six days, six weeks, six months from now, don't fear men. Don't fear what men or the devil or the enemy has created to cause fear in your life. As you read, he's someone who people look on in shame in the end. The fear of men, the way that the devil and the enemy does war. If you read through descriptions and the etymology of the words, read through that red war horse in Revelation and look that word up. In the Germanic, the way they interpret that word war is through, faint maneuvers and deceptions. Pretending you have a large massive force when really you don't. The enemy's way of attacking in war is deception and deceiving. In the biblical and the Hebrew when you look at the etymology of those words, the way they describe war is a righteous indignation, standing up for evil. And I don't care if I got 10 dudes with me going against a 100, we know what we are right. And we do not fear them because we have the almighty God on our side. Look at David in the way he stood up to Goliath. The faith of a child that knows the fear of the Lord and the power that comes along with him. Don't fear men and what they have in store for you. Because now you move forward out of today's crucible with the ability to encourage others. The ability to tell them this is just a warm up round folks. Stand by. I want you to get excited. When rounds start popping off, we're going get some. You're going to have the opportunity to stand up in prayer. Say, dude, let's pray right now. Let's battle in the spirit. Let's read that Psalm one twelve. We're not going to fear men and what they have. For our almighty God says we have but a short time. A short time to serve him before it's done. His flesh is weak. The spirit is willing. Prepare to engage in conflict. Because if you can train for the fight now and suffer in the spirit and training, the theory is you'll bleed less in war when the battles come. But you're gonna lead the battles amongst those that need you in the spiritual realm. The fear of the Lord is where we want to go. That's the qualifying factor for the next step. That's a qualifying factor for the next direction. So in preparation and knowing your rightly placed fear of the Lord, know the direction that we're gonna go and there'll be more to come. Let's take a minute and pray. Father God, I come before you Lord and I just wanna thank you so much for your word. Thank you for writing all these things down to speak to our hearts. Forgive us for forgetting them. We forget so easily the things that you've taught us and read us from old. All the things that prophets and everybody suffered through to lead us to today. God, I just want to thank you for your glory. Thank you for your power. Thank you for sending your son Jesus as a captain of our faith to bring us into the family, to adopt us into your family. Thank you for the Holy Spirit to work on our hearts, to challenge us in different ways. I come before you God today, and I lift up this body of believers. And I ask Lord that you send them forth today refined, ready for the battle, ready for what is to come with courage and no fear of men. I pray today that this body of Christ would move forward in confidence in you, in you alone, in Christ alone. We have our confidence in our faith. I ask Holy Spirit that you would fill the hearts of every person in this place. Fill our hearts to overflowing. We would just go forth and shine and radiate in the world that's around us. Thank you for the opportunity, God, to just sit here at your feet and let you speak to us through your word. It's not me, but it's your word that spoke to us today, God. It's your scripture that spoke to us. Thank you. We pray all these things in Jesus' name.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
