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When I ask you a question today, this
is the title of the message that I
know that the Holy Spirit has given me.
And it's, is your work being tried by
fire?
How many, right now, I'm going to ask
you a question before I even preach this.
You're in a fire, and you don't understand
this fire.
This is a strange thing inside of you.
You look to the exterior, and the exterior
seems to be fairly reasonable, but you're in,
you've got this interior fire going on, and
you don't understand why this is happening in
your life.
Can I just see your hand?
I want you to, look at the hands
here, folks.
Just so that you know, you're not alone
in this.
And for those that didn't raise their hands,
you're probably in the fire, you're just not
aware of it yet.
And then there's others who'll just say, I'm
beyond that, I'm burnt.
Now, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if you'll go
there, please, and your Bible's with me.
Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing
of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, Jesus, if you don't come, we waste
our time.
Now, Holy Spirit, you're the only one that
can enlighten this word that you've given to
me.
You're the only one that can make it
real in my own heart.
You're the only one that can cause it
to find root in the hearts of your
people, your church.
My God, I pray today, give us open
hearts and open minds.
Help us to understand things that are mysteries.
They're hidden from those who walk in the
flesh.
But those who desire to walk in the
Spirit, God, I pray today, please open it
up.
Give me the power to open this treasure
of your word and to make it real
and desired to your people.
I yield to you, Lord, and I ask
you to guide my life, guide this message.
I ask it in Jesus' name.
Now, before we go to 1 Corinthians 3,
let me just share something with you.
Paul, the apostle, says in 2 Corinthians, and
I'm speaking to the same people.
And in chapter 5, verse 18, he says,
Now, he says, Now,
Paul is saying to this particular church, and
this is important because we're going to go
back to his first letter momentarily.
But he says to this church, Now, the
ministry is to bring about reconciliation on every
level.
Of course, the primary level of reconciliation is
between men and God.
I'm calling you, God says, to go out,
and I'm calling you to make disciples of
all nations.
I'm calling you to call men, as it
is, to be reconciled to God, lest they
should spend an eternity in hell without God.
There is only one way that they can
be saved, and that's through faith in Jesus
Christ.
God was in the world in Christ, willing
as it is, to reconcile the world to
Himself.
But our part, and man's part, is to
receive by faith that sacrifice on the cross
2,000 years ago, and to bend their
knee to it, and to call out to
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Now, Paul says, in order to have this
ministry, and I'm paraphrasing Paul, but I believe
this is what he's saying.
You must first be reconciled to God.
It's powerless to go out and confess something,
as it is, to a society that we're
perhaps not living ourselves.
We are a church called to bring men
and women in New York City and the
tri-state area, and wherever you're visiting from,
to a living relationship with God.
In the future, at the end of June,
we're going to Burundi.
There's quite a large contingency going from this
church.
And in Burundi, we're going to be on
national radio and television, calling this nation to
make reconciliation with God and with one another.
There's obviously some very real difficult issues that
need to be faced.
But the Lord is speaking to my heart
and says, before I can use you, before
I can use this church, there needs to
be a reconciliation with me and with one
another.
I need to have ambassadors who are walking
in truth.
They've truly embraced the kingdom that they're representing.
And so, to that end, I bring this
word, which I know is from the heart
of God, is your work being tried by
fire.
Now, let's go back, well, I'll go back
to 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to
3.
Paul says, I, brethren, could not speak to
you unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even
as unto babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk and not with
meat.
For hitherto you were not able to bear
it, and neither yet now are you able.
For you are yet carnal, whereas there is
among you envying and strife and divisions.
Are you not carnal and walk as men?
Now, Paul says there's a carnality among the
people that's keeping their ears closed to what
the Holy Ghost would teach them.
The fruit of this carnality is producing envy,
he says in verse 3, and strife and
division.
And he says, you know, folks, they didn't
see it this way.
Quite often, where the difficulty arises in our
relationship with God, is God is calling something
by a name, but we refuse to acknowledge
that name.
He's calling bitterness, bitterness, but we're calling it
justifiable grievance.
We're giving it another name, we're putting religious
garments on it.
And the Scripture says the end result is
division, the end result is strife.
And even more fearful than these things, Paul
said closed ears.
If I were to tell you today that
your ears are closed to things that God
wants to speak to you, wondrous things, wisdom
that's been hidden from the princes of this
world, would you want to know what it
is today that might be closing your ears
to this truth?
And Paul was coming as a nurturing father
to the Corinthian church, and he was saying
to this church, I want to, I'm moved
upon by the Holy Spirit to bring you
incredible meat that you might be strengthened.
And as we heard earlier in the next
letter, Paul writes to the Corinthian church that
you might be ambassadors of God's reconciliation.
But he says you can't hear what God
wants to speak, and you can't hear it
because there is a level of carnality among
you that is closing your ears to the
truth.
Now, the people didn't see it this way,
I'm sure of it, up to this time
of Paul's letter.
You see, after all, they were simply divided
among the lines of the preferred preaching styles
of godly men.
This was the division.
I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of
Peter or Cephas, and I'm of Christ.
And Paul says, is Christ divided?
Was I crucified for you?
Paul was trying to, you see, this is
where the problem begins.
You see, folks, it's a very subtle thing.
Now, you're going to have to try to
follow this because I'm going to be moving
through a lot of thought here, so you're
going to give me your good listening ear
today.
In order to build one man up, it
is necessary, even subtly, to cast another one
down.
There's no other way to do it.
You see, they were forming camps in the
body around preferred preaching styles.
I can see the people who say, well,
I love Peter because, you see, Paul preaches
too long.
Remember in Acts chapter 20, he preached so
long that a young man fell out of
a window and died.
He preaches too long.
It takes him forever to get to the
point.
I like Peter better because Peter is a
meat and potatoes preacher.
He just goes right to the heart of
the issue, tells us all to shape up
and get prepared to endure the trials.
And then the Paul camp says, well, you
know, I would like Peter, but he preaches
too loud.
Peter's a loud preacher.
I have no doubt Peter was a loud
preacher.
And, you know, it's just after a while,
you can hardly hear the man.
He just screams for an hour and a
half.
And he's passionate, but I don't like that
kind of preaching.
And then, of course, there's Apollos.
The Peter crowd says, well, we like loud
preaching.
We don't.
Paul preaches too long.
And Apollos, well, he's just too heady.
I can't follow him.
He's deep.
He's a very, very deep man.
And he doesn't doesn't speak my language.
And so here is this division, which seems
to be holy.
But it's creating a carnality among the people,
which ultimately will cause them to begin to
fellowship in the body with people who they
perceive to be like themselves and ultimately push
the poor to the sides of the temple.
And, of course, Paul again deals with that
in first Corinthians, chapter 11.
Now, in chapter two and verse 12, Paul
begins this statement.
He's on this trend of thought.
He's not he's not diverging from this all
through these verses.
He says, now we have received not the
spirit of the world.
Now, Paul is inferring that the spirit of
the world still has a place in their
thinking.
If it's left unchecked, it will open them
to those who will use them for personal
advantage.
Oh, folks, I'm telling you, that's what's happened
in the body of Christ at large in
many places today.
This spirit has been unchecked.
People have failed to understand that there are
various ministries in the body.
Each one has a function and a purpose
in the kingdom of God.
Those who are truly men and women of
God who stand in pulpits lead the people
to Christ and to Christ alone.
But when camps begin to be formed in
the body, it opens the people's minds to
those who would use them for personal advantage.
Now put a marker there and go to
Jeremiah, please.
Chapter five in the Old Testament.
Now, you know that Jeremiah is crying out
to a people who are heading and have
headed into captivity.
And Jeremiah, along with many of the prophets,
all speak of the same spiritual condition that
begins to be manifest at the time just
before the greatest captivity comes of God's people.
In Jeremiah, chapter five and verse 26.
Now, here's the spiritual condition of Jeremiah's day.
Now, God's speaking through him and says, For
among my people are found wicked men.
They lay wait as he that sets snares.
They set a trap.
They catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so
are their houses full of deceit.
Therefore, there become great and waxen rich.
They are waxen fat.
They shine.
Yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked.
They judge not the cause, the cause of
the fatherless, yet they prosper.
And the right of the needy, they do
not judge.
Now, Paul says, there are, well actually Jeremiah
is saying, in every time when the backsliddenness
is coming to the house of the Lord,
there are these people who rise up.
And you see the people's focus has turned
to men and personalities.
They've lost the whole concept of why God
has a fivefold ministry in the first place
in his church.
It's set around preaching styles and they don't
realize it's opened their hearts to the exaltation
of flesh.
And when you've opened your heart to allow
flesh to be exalted, you have now opened
your eyes and mind to flesh that will
stand before you that wants to be exalted.
That wants to be considered to be God's
man of the hour.
God's superstar for this generation.
They're wicked men, Jeremiah says.
And they set snares and they catch men.
Their houses are filled with deceit and they
become great in the eyes of men and
they use the people for their own personal
gain and advantage.
He said in verse 28, they shine.
And in the original text, in the Hebrew
text, it means they are sleek, glossy and
polished.
Amazing.
Sleek, glossy and polished.
They move like silken superstars from one end
of the platform to the other.
But you see, they move theologically according to
their fallen nature.
And those who agree with them become like
them.
Now, folks, we're living at a time like
this.
This is why I'm laboring on this particular
point right now.
But back in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, if
you put a marker there, Paul says, now
we have received in verse 12, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which
is of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of
God, which things also we speak, not in
the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual.
But the natural man receives not the things
of the Spirit of God, their foolishness to
him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judges all things,
yet he himself is judged of no man.
For who has known the mind of the
Lord, that he may instruct him?
But then Paul makes an incredible statement.
But we have the mind of Christ.
We have the mind of Christ.
We have a new mind.
We don't think like fallen men think.
We don't view success as who gets the
bigger crowd and who has the nicer car
and the biggest bank account and who holds
the highest position on the corporate ladder.
This is not God's view of success.
God's view of success is how much of
Jesus Christ has been allowed to be manifested
through my life.
How kind have I become to people who
need to experience kindness.
How much am I willing to stand for
truth in the face of whatever kind of
adversity comes against me?
How much of the virtue of Christ, the
life of Christ, the kindness of Christ, the
truth of Christ, the generosity of Christ is
being formed in me?
How much am I like Jesus Christ?
You see, we can only have His mind
if our objective is to be truly like
Him.
Folks, we have myriads of theologies leading people
now in the supposed body of Christ and
their objective is not to be like Christ.
Their objective is to be like the carnal
man, to be like men whose view of
success is coming from a worldly perspective, not
from God's perspective.
Now, go ahead with me to Philippians, please,
chapter 2.
Put a marker again there in Corinthians.
Go to Philippians chapter 2 where Paul talks
about this mind.
We have this mind of Christ.
Now, in verse 5, Philippians 2, 5, Paul
says, Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation.
Let this mind be in you.
Oh, folks, how many people serve God for
reputation today?
How many people get in a knot?
Because nobody has recognized this incredible selfless service
that they've been performing for God's name even
in His house.
And they get all in a knot.
Do you want to know why they get
in a knot?
Because this mind is not in them.
Christ made Himself of no reputation even though
He was equal with God and it was
not robbery to declare Himself equal with God.
In other words, He had every right to
say, I am God and stand up.
He had the right to create, recreate anything
He wanted.
He had the right to do anything He
wanted to do because He created the whole
universe by the word of His mouth.
But this mind that was in Christ that
Paul said should be in us, He made
Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself
the form of a servant, not of a
Lord, not of a king.
That will come one day.
But the mind, the Scripture says, that we're
to have which was in Christ Jesus is
that He made Himself of no reputation and
became a servant to people and was made
in the likeness of man.
Didn't try to pretend that He was something
else than those He was speaking to.
Didn't try to pretend that He had somehow
achieved this pinnacle of perfection and that He
was not tempted in all measure and means
as others around Him were.
And being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
There's so little humility left.
There's so few people who are willing to
walk humbly before God and just simply become
obedient to death, to the dying of ourselves,
the dying of our reputations, the dying of
our image of who we think we are,
just simply to be humbled and become obedient
to God.
Paul says again in 1 Corinthians chapter 3
and verse 10.
Now you may wonder where I'm going.
That's why I've asked you for a good
ear because we're eventually going to get to
the trial by fire.
Paul says in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians
verse 10, According to the grace of God
which is given to me as a wise
master builder, I have laid the foundation, and
another builds thereon, but let every man take
heed how he builds thereupon.
For other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Paul says I've laid a foundation for you,
O Corinthian church, and you must be careful
how you build on this foundation because if
you're not building according to the mind of
Christ, it's not going to last, it will
never prosper.
Paul said in Acts chapter 20, let me
just paraphrase it for you, verses 33 to
35, as he was leaving and heading on
his missionary journey.
I've coveted no man's silver or gold or
apparel.
I've worked for others, especially the weak, and
I've taught you that it's more blessed to
give than to receive.
Paul said I can appreciate what others have,
but I've not coveted it.
I've worked with these hands.
First I've supplied, he says, the needs in
my own life, and I've worked with these
hands to supply the needs of people around
me.
I've taught you it's more blessed to give
than to receive.
Now Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, in verse 12, he says, Now if
any man builds upon this foundation, this foundation
of Christ, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
and stubble, every man's work shall be made
manifest, for the day shall declare it, it
shall be revealed by fire, and the fire
shall try every man's work of what sort
it is.
If any man build on this foundation gold,
oh, we've got a lot of people building
gold on the foundation of Christ today, there's
no doubt about that.
They've got gold dust, gold teeth, gold bars,
gold hair, gold everything.
Now, there is a resource, of course, that
Christ provides, but it's for the purpose of
being as Christ, and doing the work of
Christ in our world and in our time.
But I think of those who build for
gain.
They build for reputation and recognition.
Just as Nebuchadnezzar built a golden image of
himself as it is, and commanded people, when
you hear the music, bow down to this
golden image.
If any man build on this foundation silver,
before the days of glass, the invention of
glass, silver would be used and made into
plates and polished so people could see a
reflection of themselves.
And I can't help but think of the
number of people who build something and they
like to see a reflection of themselves.
They're not building it to see a reflection
of Christ.
It's a reflection of themselves.
I'm always wary when I visit a church
and people walk out the door and all
they talk about all the way down the
street and through the week is the pastor,
the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor.
Oh, folks, I'm telling you, if you walk
out of this church saying these words, then
we have all failed you.
You ought to be walking out of this
church, through exits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, and 9, saying, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus.
If we are leading to ourselves, then we
have failed you.
We are producing in you a carnality and
a division.
You ought to be stirred to become like
Christ.
If I'm preaching from the throne, something should
be happening in your heart.
There should be a deepening inner desire to
be like Him, to walk with Him, to
yield to Him, to obey Him, to be
conformed to His image.
If that's not happening in your heart, then
I am not representing Christ before you.
If any man build on this foundation precious
stones, now, those precious stones can represent truths
that are being planted within the heart that
are conforming us to the image of Christ.
But they can also represent those that become
proud and possessive of their giftings.
Pushing out anybody that gets close to their
turf as it is.
Proud of what God alone has given them.
Proud, too proud to be humbled.
Too proud to let this mind of Christ
come into them and to be humbled and
obedient even unto death.
If any man build on this foundation wood,
now, wood is a good thing.
In the days of Solomon's temple, there were
skilled workmen that came in and carved beautiful
flowers and roses and such like things which
truly glorified God.
But there are others who carved things to
glory in the work of their own hands.
Oh, folks, it's when we sit back like
the Old Testament king and said, look what
my hands have done.
Hasn't it been incredible?
I'm the best Sunday school teacher in this
whole church.
Six children last year were baptized in the
Holy Ghost under my ministry.
Look what my hands have done.
Glorying in the work of his own hands.
And then lastly he says, if any man
builds on this foundation wood, hay or stubble.
And hay and stubble speak to my heart
of just worthless things.
And that's what Paul was talking about.
He says, you're yet carnal.
There's among you envy and strife and division.
And you're carnal and you're walking like men.
You're building worthless things.
Folks, if you are here today and you
are in strife and you are in division
and you are proud and you will not
walk according to the word of God, you
are building a worthless thing on the foundation
of Jesus Christ.
Now, how does God deal with this?
Verse 13 says, every man's work.
Now, I'm talking about the true Christian.
Folks, we all fall into these traps.
Goodness sakes, man, there's nobody here that can
say I've not gone astray in my thinking.
I've not spoken something wrong with my lips.
I've not done something that I shouldn't do.
There's nobody here that can even make that
claim.
But when we begin to move in a
direction that is not good, Paul says, every
man's work shall be made manifest.
The day shall declare it.
It shall be revealed by fire and the
fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is.
Now, this is where it really gets interesting
because that is a future context.
I've always preached it this way.
We're going to get to heaven one day.
Everything I've done, the whole wagon load is
going to be taken and put on the
altar of God.
Churches I've pastored, services I've preached, things I've
done in the name of God will all
be put there, and the fire of God's
purity is going to touch it.
Everything that was birthed in God, that honored
God, that represented God, that had the mind
of Christ will stand, and I will be
rewarded, the Scripture says accordingly.
And everything that isn't God is going to
burn, and there will be a loss.
There will be no reward.
So what's the point of even doing it?
Oh, folks, think it through.
But you see, there's something that makes this
very interesting because in the original text of
this verse of Scripture, the pulpit commentary translates
it this way.
It is being revealed in fire.
It is actually written in the present tense.
It shall be.
They call it the continuous present tense.
The better way that this could have been
translated would be this.
The day shall declare it because it is
and will be revealed by fire.
God says, I will show you what your
work is by bringing you into the fire.
You'll find out how deep this theology that
you espouse has truly led you to Christ.
Now, follow me.
Matthew chapter 3.
What is the fire?
You're going to be surprised to see this.
What is this fire that will try my
work?
Is it trial?
Is it tribulation?
Well, it can appear to be that.
It's deeper than that.
Is it difficult circumstances?
Is it not being able to pay my
electricity bill?
Is it being short a loaf of bread
this week?
What is the trial?
What is the fire that will try the
purity of the work in my life?
Matthew chapter 3.
You know, when you pray, O Lord, send
the fire, you better be sure you know
what you're singing.
Matthew chapter 3, verse 11.
This is John the Baptist speaking.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.
But he that comes after me is mightier
than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to
bear.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
and with fire.
Now, the word fire here is the same
word that Paul uses in Corinthians.
The fire that will try your work of
what sort it is.
The fire that continuously tries the things that
are being built on the foundation of Jesus
Christ.
Oh, I've heard so many people.
Oh, God, baptize me with fire.
And they have no idea what they're talking
about.
Now, the Holy Ghost is the power of
God to live the life of Christ.
That's God.
Coming into your life, taking the promises that
become ours through Jesus Christ and making these
promises a living reality.
The fire is different.
The fire is an inner passion.
It's born of the life of Christ within
us.
It's a fire that is always gathering and
burning or consuming that which does not conform
to the image of Christ within you.
It's Christ.
It's a manifestation of Christ in you, the
hope of glory.
When he came into your temple, he came
in with a godly jealousy.
He came into the very heart of you
and says, I will give you the power
to be the man, to be the woman
I've called you to be.
But I am jealous for you with a
godly jealousy.
And I will go within you and I
will I will roust out and roast out
everything in your life that is unlike me.
Everything being built on the foundation of my
name that does not conform to my image.
This godly jealousy that I have for you,
I will set fire to this thing and
burn it right where it stands.
I will try your works by fire daily,
every day.
I will try what you do and where
you're going by fire.
You see, John says in verse 11, he
shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
with fire.
And in verse 12, now here's the fire
described, whose fan is in his hand and
he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather
his weed into the garner.
But he will burn up the chap with
unquenchable fire.
He came into your life and he came
in with a purpose to raise you and
I from the dead, to quicken us according
to the power of his mighty life working
within us, to make us new creations in
Christ Jesus.
His fan is in his hand.
He's inside of the temple, constantly working inside
of us, constantly lifting and purging, changing and
cleansing, challenging.
And taking those things that are unlike him
and burning them up in the fire of
his own inner passion for the glory of
his life to be revealed within us.
Go to John chapter 2, please, if you
will.
I want to show you how this works.
John chapter 2, verse 13, tells us it
was a time when the Jews Passover was
at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
And I walked into the temple, into the
physical temple.
And he says he found in the temple
those that sold oxen and sheep and doves
and changers of money sitting.
You see, these are things that had just
kind of crept in, just like the Corinthian
church.
They got there, people didn't see them as
wrong, and all of a sudden the fire
of God shows up.
The Redeemer comes, but the fire comes with
the Redeemer.
And when he had made a scourge of
small cords, doesn't the scripture say in Hebrews
that he scourges every son that he receives?
He challenges, he changes, he chastises.
He drove them all out of the temple,
all the sheep, the oxen.
He poured out the changers' money and overthrew
the tables and said to them that sold
doves, take these things hence and make not
my father's house a house of merchandise.
And his disciples, verse 17, remember that it
was written, the zeal of thine house has
eaten me up.
You see, folks, the baptism of fire was
within.
Now think of how, for a moment, if
the physical temple had been capable of emotion,
it must have felt.
If the physical temple was capable of emotion,
this inward upheaval.
Just think of yourself as the Old Testament
temple for a moment.
And all of a sudden this Christ comes
in to the middle of the temple.
And you're completely satisfied with the way you're
worshiping God, everything is in order.
All the doves are over here, the goats
are over here, and the money changed, everything
is necessary.
As far as you're concerned, it's all necessary.
These are just personal preferences.
All of a sudden the fire comes into
the temple.
And inside of you is this incredible upheaval
going on.
Goats are running in this direction, sheep are
going in this direction, doves are flying in
this direction.
Tables are turning over, you feel sick to
your stomach.
What is going on?
Have you ever been there?
Have you ever felt this?
Am I the only one in this church
that goes through this?
Where you just have this incredible inner turmoil
going on.
It feels like an earthquake is happening inside
of you.
And all your ducks were lined up on
Sunday.
Everything was fine.
It's now Wednesday afternoon.
And there's this incredible fire going on.
Say, God, what is going on in my
life?
As far as I'm concerned, everything is fine,
but I feel this upheaval is happening inside
of me.
I'm so stirred, I'm so restless, I'm so
discontent, I'm so troubled.
God, what is going on?
You see, that's exactly what the Old Testament
temple would have said had it been able
and capable of speaking and feeling.
But you see, the problem we face is
that in the New Testament, we, you, me,
are the temple of the living God.
The same Christ that walked into that temple
the moment you received Him walked into your
temple.
He came into the midst of your heart.
He came in with the power to redeem
you.
He came in with the power to raise
you from the dead.
He came in with the power to make
you a new creation.
But He also came in with a fire
and a godly jealousy that everything built in
His name in your life would be conformed
to the truth.
The baptism of fire came to Him.
Oh, Lord, send the fire.
I learned about these in the natural realm
years ago, and I've been learning about some
of these things in the spiritual realm even
today.
I bought a house as a young Christian
and spent 12 years renovating this house, building
it in the way that I thought it
would look nice, adding a piece here, taking
a little bit away there.
And after 12 years, finally, I got this
house to the way I thought, this is
nice.
I'm finished.
Oh, this house looks good.
You can be 12 years saved, and you
can have been reading the Bible, you can
be studying, you can be listening to tapes,
and you've built the house, and you say,
this house looks good.
You look in the mirror in the morning,
that's a good-looking house.
Windows are just right.
Everything is the right length.
Vocabulary seems to be correct.
This is a good house.
I'll need to go on a trip, preaching,
and come back and find out that God
sent fire to my house, or let's just
say allowed my house to burn to the
ground.
You see, I learned something that day that
fire does what it wants to do.
Only water can put it out.
And in the Christian life, only agreement with
the Word of God can put out the
fire.
Jacob was in a fire.
Uncle Laban was teaching him some grand lessons
of life.
And he came back to God, and he
said, I want you to bless me.
I can't go back until you bless me.
And you see, many, many years before, he
had asked for this blessing, and his father
had asked him, what is your name?
And he lied.
He gave his father another name.
He declared himself to be a man that
he wasn't.
And so, because of that, he was taken
into this place of incredible trial and fire,
because God was jealous for the legacy and
the life that he longed to give him.
And finally, he ends up wrestling with God
himself before going back to face his old
fears.
And the Lord says the very same thing
that his father once said to him.
He says, bless me.
I won't let you go until you bless
me.
And then he says, what is your name?
Agree with me.
Agree with what I have called you.
You see, Jacob was given the name Deceiver.
Tell me what your name is.
Agree with me, and then I will bless
you.
Years ago, as a young Christian, somebody handed
me some tapes.
And I began to listen to these tapes.
And it sounded so good.
I was young in the Lord.
I was young in the Scriptures.
Only saved maybe a year or two.
And this guy on this tape was extremely
charismatic.
He was smooth and polished, slick.
And he said, you know, all sickness is
of the devil.
Nobody should be sick.
And all poverty is of the devil.
Nobody should ever be poor.
And all everything, he said, every denomination is
of the devil.
Nobody should even be in a denomination.
I remember I thought that was a little
odd.
But the other stuff seemed so good.
It seemed so positive.
Oh, this is great stuff.
I mean, if this guy really has the
truth.
And he said, if you want something, all
you've got to do is confess it, and
it's yours.
Just confess it, and you will possess it.
Oh, that sounds really good.
That really, really sounds good.
That sounds like goats and sheep in the
temple if I've ever heard it in all
of my life.
And so, I started to embrace this.
I even started to pass out some of
the tapes.
I was invited as a guest speaker to
a church.
And I got up, and I espoused some
of this theology.
And the pastor was very kind to me.
He could have ripped me to pieces.
At the end of the service, he said
to me, where did you get your theology
from?
And I beamed, and I said, oh, from
so-and-so.
And he didn't say anything.
He didn't say anything to me.
He said, just be very careful what you're
listening to.
All you have to do is confess it.
You possess it.
Just speak it, and it goes away.
You've got a cold?
Just say, I don't have a cold.
It's gone.
You don't have any bread in the cupboard?
Just say, there's bread.
There's bread.
By faith, there's bread.
And bread appears.
And it sounds so good.
Until my son fell into a fire that
was in our backyard, where I was burning
trash.
And it was a miracle of God that
he wasn't killed.
But his hand was burned so badly that
the doctors doubted that he'd ever be able
to use it again because his hand went
right into the coals of the fire to
stop him.
I remember taking him to the hospital and
sitting beside his bed.
And this little boy was in such incredible
pain.
He was three years old.
And my heart was broken.
And my theology was tried by fire.
I'm not saying that God did that to
get through to me.
I'm saying that that experience got through to
my theology.
And I began to realize, confess it all
you want.
There are some things you're just not going
to possess.
Tell it to go away.
There are some things that are just not
going to go away.
Now, God took an evil situation and turned
it for good.
Out of that, my son has developed an
incredible compassion for struggling people.
The Lord put a grit in his gut
through this that allowed him to become a
marine and travel around the world.
And he's got a bravery that is second
to none I've ever seen.
An evil situation was turned to good.
The scarring was not taken away.
He still has an incredibly scarred hand.
But that has not stopped him.
What it did is it stopped me from
a pursuit and a theology that would have
greatly harmed my life and my family.
Paul says it this way.
If any man's work shall be burned, 1
Corinthians 3, 15, he shall suffer loss, but
he himself shall be saved, yet so as
by fire.
Know you not that you are the temple
of God and the Spirit of God dwells
in you?
If any man defiled the temple of God,
him shall God destroy.
For the temple of God is holy, which
temple you are.
You see, the trial of fire will show
him what kind of work has been going
on in his life and how much of
Christ has been truly in it.
If the work is a defiling work to
the name of Christ, God will destroy this
work.
God will destroy your image of yourself.
God will set his hand against it.
He will put you in a fire that
you're not going to be able to get
out of.
And the fire is his own passion for
your soul within.
Isn't it strange?
So you can't escape it.
Go to Milwaukee.
Run to Minneapolis.
Go anywhere you want.
The fire is within you.
It's not outside of you.
The fire is a godly passion of Christ
himself that you be conformed to his image.
And that the work that he does through
your life truly bring honor and glory to
his name.
If it's a defiling work to the name
of Christ, God himself says, I will destroy
this work.
I'll destroy this temple.
I'll tear it down.
There won't be one stone left upon another.
I will show him his error and let
him again begin to rebuild something to glorify
Jesus Christ.
You see the pattern all through the Old
Testament.
How invading armies would come in.
A trial of fire would come to the
people of God.
They would go for a season into a
time of chastisement.
Then God in his mercy would bring them
out again with a command to build and
rebuild and build according to a sure foundation.
The most wonderful thing that God could do
for you and for me if we are
not building on a foundation of truth is
to tear it all down.
To expose it today for what it is.
Lest we end up going to the throne
of God one day and have him say,
All you did, I didn't know you.
I didn't know what you were doing.
I never asked you to do what you
were doing.
It didn't bring any glory to my name.
I would prefer to be put into the
fire now.
1 Corinthians 3.14 says, If any man's
work abide which he has built thereon, he
shall receive a reward.
God says there's a reward if you walk
in truth.
If I can prove you, if I can
reprove you as it is.
If I can hold you up to the
light of scripture.
And the work that I'm doing is verified
to be a work that is after my
mind and after my heart.
There is a reward.
Now you're going to find that in chapter
2 and verse 7.
Here's the reward.
Paul says, We speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery.
Even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory.
Paul says, Listen, he starts out by saying
to the Corinthian church in chapter 3, You
can't hear what God is trying to speak
because you're not building on what is the
true image of Christ.
But if you are willing to build on
the image of Christ, Paul is saying we
have something from God.
It's a mystery to those who walk according
to the natural mind.
But to those who are truly building a
life in God that will be conformed to
the image of Christ.
There is a hidden wisdom which God ordained
before the world unto our glory.
God gave knowledge.
God gave instruction.
God gave power.
God gave direction.
God gave protection.
God gave the most incredible victory.
God gave a clearness of mind.
God gave a freedom to walk out of
every prison situation.
God gave a word that will have weight
and authority.
God gave us the power to call a
fallen world into reconciliation with God and with
one another.
God gave it.
It's a hidden wisdom.
It's the wisdom of God that brings a
man out of weakness and into the strength
of Almighty God through Jesus Christ.
It's a hidden wisdom that the natural mind
can't understand.
You will never find it in a success
and prosperity seminar.
It's not there.
It's a hidden wisdom which none of the
princes of this world, verse 8, knew.
For had they known it, they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, eye has not
seen nor ear heard.
Neither have entered into the heart of man
the things which God has prepared for them
that love Him.
But God has revealed them to us by
His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the
deep things of God.
God has given them to us.
This incredible life.
This incredible power to be a servant.
The power to walk a life that sees
success is not the measure of how men
see us, but how God sees us.
For what man knows the things of a
man save the spirit of man which is
in him.
Even so, the things of God knows no
man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of
the world, but the Spirit which is of
God, that we might know the things that
are freely given to us of God.
Which things also, Paul says in verse 13,
we speak not in words which man's wisdom
teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual things.
Hallelujah!
This is the reward.
It's a mind.
It's a heart.
It's a spirit that is open to the
life of Christ.
And God says if you truly call out
to me in truth, I will come in.
I will sit down with you, my father
and I.
We will sup with you.
We will open to you a banquet of
truth.
We will enable you.
We will strengthen you.
And you will be called reconcilers in this
generation.
Not just trudging through.
Not just trying to make it by until
the day of the Lord's return.
No, more than conquerors.
Victorious warriors for the name of Jesus Christ.
The hidden wisdom of God.
I was actually going to call the message
that at the beginning.
Because that's the reward.
It's a wisdom that was hidden from this
world.
But it was ordained of God before this
world was formed and you were born to
bring you to glory.
That's the reward.
A mind that can hear.
Remember Paul started with the Corinthians.
He said, I want to give you this,
but you can't hear it yet.
You see, for those who are being tried
by fire, it's simply because God loves you.
Not angry with you.
He loves you.
He passionately loves you.
You invited him in.
He came in with the Holy Ghost and
fire.
He baptized you in himself.
He constantly pursues you.
Constantly cleanses the temple.
Constantly challenges the things that we are building
in his name.
God loves you.
And he has so much more for you.
All he says is, turn away from the
reasoning and the thinking of man.
And agree with me.
Walk in agreement with me.
If you do nothing else.
In the course of this week, go back
to Philippians and study the scripture.
Let this mind be in you, which was
in Christ and study it.
Memorize it.
It will help you to filter everything that
you ever hear preached in the church of
Jesus Christ.
Let this mind.
Being you, which was in Christ Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord.
Have father.
I have delivered your heart.
I know I have.
I pray in Jesus name.
Lord, give us the grace.
To build on a true foundation.
Take away from us strife and envy.
Building for reputation.
Everything that offends you, Lord.
Oh, God, thank you that you're not willing
to allow these things to continue to coexist.
With your presence.
And your life within us.
I thank you, Lord, that you are challenging
me every day.
I thank you, God.
It's not easy.
But you are there.
And even more so in the last while.
I pray for the grace.
To be of no reputation.
To be a servant.
I ask you for the grace.
To walk humbly and obediently before you.
To the suffering of the loss of anything
that you want to take away.
I pray it for your church.
Lord, no other church will make a difference
in this generation.
The days are very dark.
And they're going to get exceeding dark.
But, Lord, you said you'd have a people.
Who truly shine with the light of Jesus
Christ.
God almighty, challenge me.
Challenge me, Lord.
Challenge me.
Go deep in my heart.
I don't want to end up before your
throne and have half of my life's work
burned.
Challenge me now.
Father, I thank you for it with all
my heart.
Lead this church into the future.
Holy Spirit, I bend my knee to you.
And I ask you to lead this church
into the future.
God almighty, thank you.
That you are dissolving our doubts.
And you are chasing away the voices of
the enemy.
That would try to tell us that God
is angry with us.
Lord, you're not angry.
You're passionately jealous of us.
Oh, God, take my works to the fire.
If that's the cry of your heart today.
I'm going to ask you just to join
with me at this altar.
In a moment, we're just going to pray
together.
He's called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
Take our works to the fire.
And you know what that's all about.
Let's stand up in the balcony, main sanctuary
in the annex.
Please, if you feel to move forward, you
can stand between the screens.
But I'm calling today those that are in
the fire.
Instead of trying to justify yourself, ask the
Lord now to take your works to the
fire.
Take them to the fire.
Test me.
Prove me.
Try me.
This is what made David such a man
after God's heart.
Search me, oh Lord.
Try me.
See if there'd be any wicked way in
me.
Lead me in the way of life everlasting.
This is what made him a man after
God's heart.
It wasn't the fact that he was a
king.
He had a heart.
He knew he needed God's ways.
Can we sing that song, Take Me Past
the Outer Court?
Folks, we've got to go beyond just normative
religion.
Beyond the excuses of our natural mind.
Take us right to the place.
Because in the Holy of Holies was the
fire of God.
It was the manifested fire of God.
And that fire would kill everything that truly
dishonored the name of God.
Take me there.
My God, I truly want to honor you.
I don't want to stand in Burundi without
authority.
This is about a nation turning, Lord.
You've called us to be reconcilers.
We first have to be reconciled to you.
And to one another.
Help me in this, God.
Help this church, Lord.
Help us, God.
Father, we ask you in Jesus' name.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Thank you, Jesus.
Lord, you love the testimony of this church.
And we've been tried by fire over and
over again.
But one more time, Holy Spirit.
One more time.
We invite you to try this work by
fire.
Everything that is being built in your name,
Jesus.
Come.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Come with the passion that you have for
every soul.
My soul, God, and the souls of your
people.
Come and overturn the tables and kick out
the dove cellars.
Everything, everything, Lord, that we are building that
closes our ears to the hidden promises of
God.
Oh, Lord.
Oh, God.
Lord, we're a people in need of a
supernatural experience.
Not just theories and theologies, but a supernatural
working of God within us.
God, you're the only one that can make
us shine in this darkened hour.
You're the only one that can give our
voices authority and weight.
You're the only one, oh, God.
You're the only one.
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, God.
There's nothing in us that's any good except
for you, Lord.
You're the only good thing that we have.
My God, my God, come and build the
temple.
Come, Holy Spirit, and build the temple.
Come and build the work of God, the
virtues of Christ in my life and mind
and heart.
Come, oh, Lord, purge and purify everything in
me that's unlike Christ.
My God, my God, I yield to you,
Lord, I yield to you, oh, God.
As Abraham took Isaac to the altar, I
take my own heart, my own ministry, I
take everything to the altar, oh, God.
And I ask you, Lord, I ask you,
God, to touch it with the fire of
your purity.
Oh, Jesus, my Savior, my God, oh, Lord,
don't let the candle of this church ever
go out.
Keep the candle of this testimony burning brightly
until the day you come and take us
home.
Don't let us settle, oh, God, for anything
apart from you, Lord.
Don't let us build with things that don't
satisfy.
My God, I pray, let this pulpit always
be a burning bush, challenging us, oh, God,
to be conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ.
My Lord, let the truth of Christ always
be preached here.
Oh, God, let there be a penetrating word
that goes right between soul and spirit and
joint and marrow and discerns the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
God Almighty, we yield ourselves to this.
We yield ourselves to it.
We ask you, Holy Spirit, to come and
speak to us.
We ask you to challenge us.
We ask you, God, we ask you, Lord,
to purify the work that you are doing
within our hearts, oh, God.
Would you lift your voice with me now?
Would you lift your voice and pray with
me?
Ask God for the purity of his presence.
Oh, Jesus, do this work, oh, God.
Do this work that only you can do,
Lord.
My God, my God, my God, we welcome
the baptism of fire.
We welcome this baptism of fire.
We welcome your passion for our souls, oh,
God.
We welcome, Lord, your challenging of the testimony
of your life.
We welcome it, God.
We welcome it into our very being.
Challenge us, oh, God.
Let our testimony count for your glory.
Oh, God, open our ears to the truth
of your life within us.
Give us the hidden wisdom, oh, God, that
the carnal men know nothing about.
My God, lift us out of poverty and
into the wealth of Christ.
Lift us, oh, God, lift us into the
knowledge of our God.
Give us the power to be servants.
Give us the power to lay down reputation.
Give us the power, oh, God, to care
for nothing but your honor and your glory
among men.
My God, my God, my God, we cry
out to you, Lord.
We cry out to you, oh, God.
Lord, you're the only one that can do
this.
Come and do it within us.
We invite you.
We say, blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord.
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
Come, come, Holy Spirit, come.
My God, come and do the work that
only you can do.
Jesus, thank you.
God, thank you for this.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, mighty God.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, God.
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, God.
Guide us.
Guide us now, Holy Spirit.
Guide us.
Take us to the very heart of Christ.
Help us, God.
Help us, Lord.
This is a dark city.
It's a dark time.
Take us now.
Take us, God.
Open our ears to the meat.
Give us the meat of Christ.
Father, we thank you for it, God, with
all our hearts.
Oh, folks, if this is in your heart
this morning, the Lord is pleased.
Just thank him now.
Just give him thanks.
Give him praise.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
If this is your church, beloved, please hear
me on this.
You should attempt to be at at least
two services a week.
We have three on Sunday, one on Tuesday,
one on Friday.
I'm not saying this to pack the pews.
This house is full all the time.
You know that.
I'm saying this for your soul's sake.
You must grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ now.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken.
It's already begun.
Only the foundation of Christ can't be shaken.
Oh, God promises through Isaiah to have a
people in the midst of the fire that
will praise him, that will give him glory,
that will cry out to those who still
live in darkness.
There will be a testimony.
There will be a victorious church until Christ
comes.
Thanks be to God.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.