Furnace of Life // New Year, New You (Part 6)

we've been in a series starting last month called new year new you and we talked about the first message was about fasting and prayer and as you received the booklets right now we make him available we we are so proud of our church for being a praying church a fasting church amen so excited for that and then a week after that we talked about the practical part of taking care of our health and maintaining good diet we also talked about the importance of giving God our finances and making him the first in our finances anybody has done that in their life we also last week talked about the importance of relationships and how isolation and toxic people can bring you down in life and this morning we're gonna bring this series to a series finale with a message about the furnace of life and I believe that we have to address this issue about human suffering it's a question everyone has who are believers and unbelievers as of last month in the world over 322 people were killed for the sake of just because they followed Christ they didn't do anything wrong outside of the fact is they follow Jesus 214 churches have been destroyed last month because they were churches serving Christ around the world 772 forms of abuse and torture has been done to Christians from kidnapping rape cutting body parts out to destroying people physically have been done to Christians all around the world in just last month the statistic says that 250 million Christians face high persecution with 100 million of those living in Asia alone and I'm not talking about persecution where you know when we were in Ukraine they made fun of us during the class because we were Christians it was public the teacher actually made us publicly made fun of us and that was that was normal we actually didn't expect anything better I'm not talking about that I'm talking about persecution where you get kicked out of school well you lose your job or you cannot get admitted to college persecution where you get dragged to court for no reason you get sentenced to jail 215 million Christian last month face that so I understand we love prayer line and we love to come through you know for breakthrough and everything but there are certain suffering that will happen on this earth and I'm not talking about their suffering that comes from Adamic suffering because Adam commit is sin stuff happens on earth now there is a suffering that devil the devil brings afflicting us with sickness and pain we gotta resist that and come against that but there is a suffering that will happen because you follow Jesus Christ and see some of us in here we don't know what that is is the only suffering we know is when we make a mess out of our life and some of us we need to pray say God at least let me once in my life suffer for doing something right let me once in my life go through something and some of you the only suffering we get is when we push the plate and the king stomach starts to throw a fit and we like man I'm going through suffering you know at least we're going through something the suffering is real coming from a family where my ancestors set in jail and they were dragged physically and beaten and died days later from damages under physical body because they followed Christ the topic of suffering is is not stretched to me and to my Christian faith knowing my parents my grandparents who were not allowed to meet like we meet today and send mass text messages and say we meeting on Sunday they had to switch location of the services right before the service so the KGB wouldn't find it they had to be baptized at night and they had to be baptized in a cold rivers not in the warm so warm the bryson almost got cooked one time it was so hot water in the church and these are the things that we come from and today I want to bring the topic of the fact that suffering is part of life on this earth especially for follower of Jesus Christ I know I'm not gonna get a lot of amends for that first so if some of you are here still with me I want you to not say a man well let's talk the Calvary is a picture of suffering because on the Calvary there was three crosses the first cross was the cross of a rebel the second cross was the cross of the Redeemer and the third cross was the cross of the redeemed under Calvary there was a sinner who was suffering there was a saint who was suffering and there was a Savior who was suffering three kinds of people live in this world there are sinners and they will suffer sometimes people think if I get away from God I will avoid suffering actually you will also find suffering on this earth but the worst part is this suffering is just a trailer it's a preview of the eternal suffering that will happen after you die the second suffering is the Savior was experiencing suffering for us as Christians this means that anytime I am suffering as a Christian I am never alone because Jesus went through suffering and as I am suffering he is with me in that suffering when Joseph was in jail the Bible says the Lord was with Joseph right there in jail Bible says if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me not outside of the valley waiting and applauding me God is with me in the valley as I go through it Savior is also in the suffering I kind of remind each one of us God shows suffering as a way to redeem us if Jesus would suffer on the cross there will be no salvation so Savior suffered and there is a third suffer on the Calvary he is their saint a brand new believer a brand new convert he was the person who got there as a rebel and something happened he became redeemed and that's us as followers of Christ sometimes we end up on our Hill of Calvary in our life and we are Christians and we are suffering many times the Lord removes that and gives us freedom and deliverance and does a incredible miracle but there are moments when God takes the time and while you are in that season of pain he transforms you he changes you he didn't cause that pain but he says since you air it since you in it let's use it to blame God for the suffering in the world is like blaming the Secretary of Transportation of State for all the accidents on the road it's not wise the only way the secretary is the Secretary of Transportation can remove the accidents is to not let you have a license the only way God can remove all the suffering on earth is to take your freewill and which will no longer make you a human agent as long as there is free will there's gonna be choices and there will be consequences and these consequences will affect each one of us but God says if you follow me I will in the mists of this suffering recycle it for my glory for those who love me and are called by my purpose I will make everything work for their good see this guy who's been on a cross he got redeemed he only stayed there for about few hours and then he went to a new level in life called paradise what I love about the Christians when we go through suffering unlike the people who don't serve Christ we see suffering as a platform not a prison after our suffering we see a new level in life for Joseph it was a palace for this guy it was a paradise but either way we don't stay in suffering we always go to a new level whether in this life or in the next come on somebody [Music] Satan will use suffering to make us bitter God will use it to make us better Satan will use suffering to define us God will use it to refine us Satan will use it it says that's it you're not coming out of this and you said listen watch me devil I'm gonna step over this and I'll step into a new season in my life I like what TD jakes said he said when you're born you like a key with no cuts in it as you go through life each wound each failure each hurt cuts into that strip of metal and one day there's a clear click your pain has formed the key that slips into the lock that unlocks your future TD jakes is so powerful you can read his quote and everybody claps after that let's open our Bible this series has been based in the Book of Daniel Daniel chapter 3 verse 17 and verse 18 if this is the case our God whom we serve is able somebody say Abel somebody say our God is able and our saying if this is the case our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand O king but if not somebody say if not come on somebody say if not if not let it be known to you O king that we do not serve your gods nor we will worship the gold image which you have set up they made up their mind right away they say God is able and he will what if he doesn't will still won't worship you we will still worship God what if he doesn't we will still be a church what if he doesn't I was still tied I'm still fast I'll still pray I'll still love my family I'll still go after God devil is furious when he finds out that you don't serve God for stuff but you serve God for God come on somebody verse 25 of the same chapter so this is after they've been in the furnace already the King says look he answered I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt and the form of the fourth man is like the Son of God if somebody say a man sometimes God delivers you from the furnace fire other times he makes you fireproof and that's what the message is gonna be about today sometimes God delivers you from it but as a Christian I want you not to limit God only to getting you away from it if God sees it fit or in his sovereignty permits and allows you to go through things that cannot be explained by a simple theological doctrinal statement of suffering trust in God to make you fireproof and that when you go through that fire furnace the Kings and the different people will see that and they will call you out and they will see things about your life they would otherwise have never seen I want I want to share with you three insights of what it's like to live or going through the furnace of fire the first one is if you want to be purified by the furnace of life you first have to be consumed by the fire of God the Bible says not only these three boys went through the furnace the man who threw them into the furnace before even they got out from there they already died because the flame of that fire was so strong why did they die I think I have a theory see the furnace of fire happens to everyone but some people get burned by it others get purified in it and the question now is this how can I go through stuff in my life without getting burned have you met people who got burned people who get burnt serving God people who get burned in their marriage people who get burned in the job trusting people they get burned and why do we get burned because I feel like sometimes God is only like a shower for us it's only cleansing but if God becomes the something that consumes your life nothing in this world can burn you're only purifier hello somebody you can kill a dead man when you're already dead in Christ everything else in life it will be painful it will still not make sense you will still feel the uncertainty but you won't be burned by it why because something else already consumes you and that something else is much stronger than any sickness much stronger than any depth much stronger than anything in your life God's fire is so much stronger than the death of a loved one God's fire is so much stronger than the rejection of the people you trusted in God's fire is so much stronger than any demonic activity or any demonic torment in your life and you have to ask yourself a question today are you dating God or are you consumed by God because when you're consumed by God and you fire the devil throws you in it only purifies you he can't consume you because you've been consumed you've been consumed this man could not be burned by fire because they already got burned by a greater fire that's why they refuse how do I know they were consumed because whatever you worship consumes you how do you get consumed so point a whatever I worship consumes me many people love God but they really worship money but they really worship success but they really worship good status and one thing get pulled from under their feet for temporary they lose their traction because God is not someone that consumes them God is someone they just cleanses them it's good to be cleansed by God but it's better to be consumed by him my Bible makes me to understand God is a consuming fire means if he comes into your life he wants to consume you Paul says I have only one life and that life is Christ that's why jails didn't cause Paul to drop the towel and give up at Christ they beat him so many times he got shipped wrecked he got beaten rejected and he's still at the end of his life he said I kept my faith I fought the good fight why I've been consumed by God [Music] some of us sometimes we had a little bit of mistreatment and we said that's it I quit I give up and I'm not belittling anybody it's not that you're not committed to God it's not that you're not hard-working it's that your passion for Christ and the passion of Christ in you needs to grow are you with me I want you to write this down we need to stop using God as a means to a goal we've got to make him our goal one of the reasons people use God as a means to a goal in reality God is only a method that they used to achieve something very important in their life God is worthy to be the most important thing and to be the ultimate goal of your life when God is the goal you don't use him you worship Him see Moses he's seen the glory of God he's seen the miracles you've seen the deliverance and he used that as a means to know God more many of us would use God to get something from God because that is our goal and when that is your goal not God when the trial happens it begins to hurt you but if God becomes the goal the trials purify you they refine you and they make you stronger and better for God God says to Abraham he says Abraham walk before me and be blameless for I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward if you want God to be your shield make him your reward if you want God protect you make him your goal make him why you fast make him while you pray make him while you come to church make him while you serve when you make him your goal he becomes your shield come on somebody he becomes your shield remember part-time Christian cannot defeat a full-time devil you know why you have to be sold out to Christ because the devil is sold out to destroy you devil is not on a part time devil is not on a clock and then he gives up devil is relentless that's why you gotta be passionate and because the devil is here that means you gotta be sold out to Christ only then only there the furnace will purify you only then only then in order to be cleansed by the fires of life you gotta be consumed by the fire of God that's why you got a fast that's why you gotta pray that's why you gotta get on your face before God and not care what you're wearing and what is looking at you and that's why you got a press soon to repress through the opinions of people and what people have done why because you gotta understand life is not fair devil is crouching at every opportunity to destroy you and you gotta know the only way to beat him at this game is to be consumed by something stronger greater and eternal and that is the Holy Ghost hallelujah somebody say hallelujah somebody say praise the Lord anybody who says you know I need to be consumed by the fire of God I need to surrender my life totally I need to stop playing games with God I need to be sold out to Christ come on somebody let's give Jesus a round of applause let's give God the glory let's give God the glory the other let's get in the last ship oh yes yes [Music] Santo we worship You Lord we were super come on let us take next 30 seconds and you say Lord I want to be fully committed to you god I don't want to play games god I want to be sold out Lord I want to make you our goal I want to make you why I served Lord the reason why I got burned is because I served you I served the ministry but I want to be consumed by you know God come on open up your lips right now open up your spirit right now forget to say God consume me consume me Lord consume me alone I don't want to be burned by the Ministry I want to be consumed by the Spirit of the Living God [Music] in Jesus mighty names they can sue me Lord they can sue me Holy Spirit in Jesus name we may take our seats in order to survive the furnace not only you gotta be consumed by something bigger and stronger than the problems of life and that is God you can be a part-time christian beating a full-time devil devil is sold out on destroying you if you're not sold out to Christ he will get you and you can blame it on people you can blame it on your church and your ex-husband and your ex-wife you can blame it on anybody but the reality is it's hard to kill a dead man and when you are dead to your old self something happens he cannot do anything bad but except actually elevates you to a new season the second thing that I want us to see in this story is the faith is not absence of doubt its refusal to bow to the negative images set up by the enemy faith is not absence of doubt its refusal to bow down to the images of the devil that he sets up using our circumstances using the doctors report using what's happening to us using our own feelings the devil paints an image in our mind and he wants us to bow to that image many people the reason why their faith struggles is because they think that faith is just pure confidence in God without any even shadow of doubt to have doubt you first have to have faith why because faith is squared out is questioning your faith you can't have faith you can't have doubt if you never had faith it's what the devil says you lost your faith because you have doubts a devil actually the reason why I have doubt is because I got my faith and I will feed my faith and my dad will die but let's do maybe just a little bit less a little bit less drums it's just more and more music yes I want you to write this down doubt is not absence of faith its questioning of faith doubt is questioning what you believe unbelief is determine refusal to believe see doubt is questioning unbelief is you're determined not to even believe doubt is a struggle faced by the believer unbelief is the condition of the unbeliever and these exist also in our app and our notes and will be with the message as well doubt says I can't believe I need more proof unbelief says I won't believe in spite of the evidence doubt is honest unbelief is stubborn doubt is looking for the light unbelief is content in the darkness doubt is born out of a troubled mind and a broken heart and belief is just an act of the will I want to give you a freedom this place today that freedom that of this revelation gave me I struggled with my faith because I always try to fight my doubts because I thought the presence of doubts contaminates my faith and I can't operate in my faith to pray for other people and to be used by God because I filled out and then when I started to learn this truth I felt that as long as I spoon feed my faith not spoon feed my doubt by trying to deal with them I leave my doubts alone I just don't feed them and anything you don't feed stars anything you feed will begin to grow and I feed my faith by surrounding with other believers I feed my faith by looking back at what God has done instead of fixing my eyes on what he has not done I feed my faith by reminding myself of what God's Word says instead of what the King Babylon paints in front of my mind because the babylon will tell you we use images and the babylon will tell you threats and paint a worst-case scenario in your mind of what will happen to you if you don't bow to this image faith is not absence of doubt faith is just refusing to worship the reality and your circumstances it's not rejecting the reality it's not rejecting doctor's report it's you have to be respectful to the medical personnel it's refusing to let their take over the Word of God that's why the Bible says that we cast down imaginations why imaginations because the devil brought an image that slipped into your mind and became imagination means it's how you imagine things will turn out if nothing happens we cast down imagination and every wrong thought into obedience of Jesus Christ about somebody are you with me we cast down imaginations and the Bible says and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ we have to understand number B another point too is that faith and fear have one thing in common they both ask you to believe in something you cannot see faith and fear have something in common they both ask you to believe in something you cannot currently see it takes same energy to have faith as it is to have fear because fear you don't see it and so it's faith faith and fear is like the gears in your car when you get in the car there is the reverse and there is the drive it takes same amount of time and takes same amount of energy to switch between the two while it doesn't take you much to switch it determines a different direction because reverse does not go forward and thriving does not go backwards see when you release your imagination and you begin to imagine the worst-case scenario you begin to imagine your funeral you begin to imagine your divorce you begin to imagine your bankruptcy you begin to imagine that you will never be accepted you begin to imagine you'll never get married you'll never have kids life will never experience a breakthrough you are actually switching to reverse and you don't even know if that's gonna happen but when you switch to a drive instead of looking at the images given to you by the devil there are taking clues from your current situation you're looking at the images given to you by Jeremiah what is this for I know the thoughts that I think of you says the Lord and thoughts of good and not of evil to give you hope and to give you future and you see devil I don't reject the fact that I got tumor I don't reject the fact that I got arthritis in my Jones I don't reject the fact that I've been divorced I don't reject the fact that my company is laying off people I don't reject the fact that my child left me and doesn't want to talk to me but I choose not the reality to be the image I worship but the Word of God for I know the thoughts that I think of you says the Lord and thoughts of good and not of evil to give you hope and to give you a future and that is my image it will go into my mind as a stronghold and that's faith the Bible says faith is a substance where substance is is it's like a title deed it's it's a substance of things hoped for faith is not what you're afraid of it's what you want to happen in your life faith is what I want to happen and God's Word paints me the image and I carry the reality I don't worship the image is set up by the devil because I am busy carrying the substance of the Word of God in my spirit come on somebody anybody got faith in this room come out somebody if I can ask my brother to come and give me I'm gonna use an illustration what matters is not where your life is being pulled to right now what matters is where you are being pointed to right now sometimes life pulls you in reverse but you still gotta be pointed forward sometime life goes opposite you believing in God and instead of getting promoted you get thrown into the furnace of fire you're believing in God in a dream I mean instead of going further you're getting further away life is like like arching this this is you this is each one of us this is god it's big hair and this is life and the question now I have for you is where is your faith pointed to because your life right now can be going backwards you can't control that your boss is pulling you backwards your spouse might be pulling you backwards your your your job your ministry and maybe even the people pulling you backwards and you feel like man but God promised me the future never be afraid when your life is going backwards you can't control that what you can control is where your mind and your focus is pointed to come off somebody because if you are in the hands of God remember you're not you're only anchored in life but you are really in the hands of God and if God is the one that holds your life even if you're going backwards and you point it forward your setback is actually a setup come on somebody why because no arrow can fly forward without being pulled backwards sometimes the devil will think that you're gonna go backwards but in reality in life is exactly the same way when the brothers are rejected Joseph they thought they're destroying him but see what they miscalculated is Joseph was in the hands not of destiny but of God God calls the shots God holds my life not your boss not your ex that's your life not your doctor not even your pastor you are in the hands of God and even if you're going backwards as long as your mind is forward your sickness might be increasing in your body but you have to mentally say but I'm getting healed but I'm getting healthy your body is decreasing your money is going backwards but your mind has to be forward that God is my shepherd and I shall not lack whatever you're being pulled back to does not matter what matters is where you point to - right now when our church was getting smaller at one particular time we never stopped our confession there were thousands locally and millions globally we prophesied we spoke people said but the church is shrinking things are not happening at the time see it doesn't matter what we being pulled - because the further we get backwards from our vision as long as we're pointed in the right direction and in the hands of God it actually will give us speed speed toward our future thank you thank you come on somebody are you with me Church did you receive something in there conclusion I want you to write down just just simple tips God will use your story to reveal his glory God will reveal his glory through your story the God's name was so exalted in Babylon when these boys came out from the fire that the King made a law and the law wasn't to respect God he says if you disrespect God that people will be not only tried in court they will be cut in the half there has never been a revival in the earth where blaspheming God's name gets you killed and there has never been a revival in the earth we're not honoring God's name get your house burned not salt burned this is how big the revival happened only after the boys came out of the furnace see God is not just interested to get you out of what where you in so that you go to a new level is so the God's glory goes to a new level God needs your story to reveal his glory come on somebody but I want you to also write this down God's glory is not revealed when you go to the furnace it's when you come out of it because strongest men of Babylon went to the furnace God's glory wasn't revealed because they never came out of it and see by not you have to come out of whatever you're coming a cake came into whatever you are in you got to come out of it because that's what God's glory is revealed I want you to also to see is that before you can get out from your furnace you have to get up in your furnace see the Bible says that they were thrown into the furnace means they fell there and many people instead of taking time to get up they're busy blaming people who threw them into the furnace they're busy cursing suing and cussing and and doing all the stuff up a.m. when I succeed I'll do this and I'll do that you don't have time for that they throw you in there but right now you gotta get up you gotta forgive them and you gotta forgive yourself even if you fail there because of your mistake forgive yourself get up if you want to get out some of you are so focused on getting out God says let's start with the first step get up God says the first get up and start walking again start loving again start serving again go finish your education come on join the gym I want you to start with you get up but my ex but that person it's been 20 years ago get up if you want to walk out of the furnace you gotta learn to walk in the furnace you know what caused the name of God to be seen it's not when they laid around they're crying and sobbing these guys were boss they're like the guys threw us in we're not wasting any time we're gonna burn some calories imagine in the fire I mean imagine the boldness you gotta have imagine I mean see you can be pitiful or powerful but you can't be both and many of us when we're in the furnace we're just sitting there could somebody get us out these guys were not waiting for a call but look while we're here let's get acquainted with the area and as they're walking the Bible says there was a fourth man with them see sometimes when you cannot get out learn to walk in it learn to be the best you are in it maximize your moment in that area be the best you can be I know it's not where you belong but it's also what you have to learn to thrive you know this is not what we're gonna be guys this is not what we belong but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of this area and this season and this building and this season and stage of our choice right now we gotta learn to walk in this furnace before god takes us to another level you gotta learn to walk in your furnace before god takes you to another level you gotta learn to do this and as you walk few things happen Jesus is seen the Bible says the robes they were tied with were removed it speaks of a mindset God begins to change your mindset from where you were to where you actually had it and then when they came out they smelled no fire some people are stuck because they stink it's normal to smell from where you came from but it's supernatural when you go through that and you're a smell why because God didn't kill the fire but he didn't let the fire rub off on you and you come out of divorce or maybe you came out of a broken relationship or maybe you came out of a really bad abuse but you don't talk like an abused person you don't look like an abused person you don't spend money like an abused person you'll spend your time like an abused person you have no smell of fire around you because God didn't protect you from the fire he cleans you from the smoke keep beautified you from the smoke somebody's getting free today from their smoke your pass thank you for watching this content I hope this was a blessing to you if you're like me and you like to click on things click on this subscribe to our channel and the content will come to you every time we post it and remember the best is yet to come

Channel: HungryGeneration

Views: 7,861

Rating: 4.9469028 out of 5

Keywords: healing miracles supernatural today, pastor vlad hungrygen, hungry generation, hungry gen, vladimir savchuk, miracles sermons fire, new year, new you, new year new you, bow and arrow, responding to suffering, furnace of life, suffering, principle of an arrow

Id: 1tRB5G6O2xU

Length: 36min 13sec (2173 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 28 2018