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Fervency: Burning With The Spirit, Part Three | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. I want to go ahead and continue with a direction that we were going in a previous service. And turn with me, if you would, to Revelations chapter three, Revelation chapter three. And we're going to start reading in verse 15, Revelation chapter three and verse 15. We had talked about it on a previous service, about how with all the different restrictions and guidelines that our countries and different states or counties are facing, you may walk into a place of business. We've walked into a restaurant or two in the past, and they stood there with a temperature gun and they put it to your head. And I go, make sure that not loaded, but they put it to your head. They're taking your temperature because your temperature is an indication of if there's a physical issue. And so even they don't have to know anything. They don't have to know your name, they don't have to know your history. They just take your temperature and your temperature tells them a lot. And so it's an indicator. Well, even so, just as there are indicators with our physical temperature that reveal our physical health, see something here In Revelation, chapter 3, verse 15, Jesus said to the church of the Laodiceans, he said, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that you were either cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. So if we're listening to this, we would think in reading this, it seems to me at least lukewarm would be better than cold. But as we previously stated, lukewarm means you once had heat applied to you and you backed off. And Jesus is saying, I'd rather you not have any light of the word than back off from it. I'd rather you had not had any fire of the Holy Ghost than step away from it. And so this is why he said we're to be either cold or hot. What is he telling us? That these are indicators of our spiritual temperature and our spiritual health. Amen. And so go with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 12, Romans, chapter 12. And we want to make sure that if we were to go home and we realize, hey, you have a temperature, your body has a temperature, you would address it. You wouldn't just leave it unacknowledged. Well, if you realize that you're not as hot spiritually as you were, we need to address it and not leave it unaddressed, because we want to make sure that our spiritual temperature, that it shows us that we're well spiritually. Romans 12:10 says, Be kindly affectioned, one to another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business. And look at this word, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. The word fervent in this verse, the definition means to be hot, to boil. So he's saying that he wants us to be boiling over in the spirit, hot for God, and then that's how we're to come serving him. That if we're serving him lukewarm, we're not going to. We're not going to be the blessing in the serving that we could have been. And this is many times an indicator when people don't rejoice in the serving, it's not because somebody's asking too much, many times it's because sometimes they're too warm, they're not hot. They went to the warm direction. And so we want to make sure that he. Listen, God deserves hotness instead of what is. Anything less than hot is really an apathy, a spiritual apathy. I don't really care. I'm kind of casual, I'm kind of. I just float towards spiritual things. Listen, I'm so glad when Jesus came to the earth, he didn't just float, he was on fire for what he was born for. Amen. The amplified says of verse 11, never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor. Be aglow and burning the with the Spirit serving the Lord. So we can say this. When people are full of the Word and full of the Spirit, that's going to show up in their spiritual temperature, they will be fervent. Amen. This is how the Lord wants to be served. And in a previous service we talked about things that will lower our spiritual temperature to stay away from, and then things that can cause our spiritual temperature to be hotter. And second Timothy, go with me if you would. Second Timothy, chapter two. Second Timothy, chapter two. Paul is writing to Timothy, and wouldn't we know that Paul knew something about overcoming opposition, overcoming persecution. And when he had gone through all the beatings he had faced, the fastings, the stoning, the shipwrecks, all these things that had opposed him and persecuted him, at the end of it all, he said, I have finished my race. I have fought the good fight, I have kept my faith. So notice this. What was it at the end of it all? He's still burning hot. He is still burning hot. He's fervent that opposition did not cool him but it caused him to be hotter for God. And Second Timothy, chapter two and verse three, the King James says, when Paul was writing to Timothy, he said, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. How many of you know a good soldier does what he's told? A good soldier's not grumbling, he's not murmuring, he's not complaining. He's not talking bad about his superior officer in the, you know, in the mess hall. A good soldier is faithful to his position, faithful to his company. He's adding to that company. He's not diminishing it through a bad attitude. So when hardness comes, our attitude should not diminish. It matters that we stay full of the Word and full of the Spirit. And when we are, we will be fervent in spirit, we will boil over, and we will be hot. And therefore, things that come against us do not set us back. They don't set us back. In fact, we thrive on it. Amen. I want you to go with me. I want to take some time tonight and read through a passage, if I could. Daniel, chapter three. I want to read through something when keeping in mind this verse in Timothy, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We can see this played out in. In this passage in Daniel, chapter three, and we'll start reading in verse 14. But to set it up for you, King Nebuchadnezzar had set up an image of himself. And he called together all the dignitaries, all the leaders of his empire to come. And on a certain day, they were to come together. And when the music played, everyone was to bow to this image. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these three Hebrew men were in leadership positions. And so whenever the music was sounded, they just stood. So you can imagine when all the dignitaries are bowing, you can see who's standing, right? Well, they're going to now get to endure some hardness as a good soldier, right? And so this is where we pick up the account of these three Hebrews. In verse 14, it's being reported to King Nebuchadnezzar that these three men did not bow. So Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, is it true? O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, heart, sack, but sultry and dulcimer and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made well meaning, then we're back on good terms. But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. All right, now let's endure hardness as a good soldier. And he makes this statement in verse 15, and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Meaning he's saying, my hands are greater than the hands of your God. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered, anybody read a book called Answer It? They answered, now it's going to show their spiritual temperature. And they said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. In other words, we're not going to measure our words. We're not going to counsel together and see how can we say it in a way that you're pleased and we're saved. We're not careful to answer thee in this matter. In other words, we're not going to be politically correct. Verse 17. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. So many read this wrong. They read it as, if God delivers us, we're not going to serve you. But if he doesn't deliver us, we're still not going to serve you. Well, you don't have to take tell a man that if God doesn't deliver, you're not serving because you're crispy. You are no longer. If God doesn't deliver you, you don't have to tell him. We're not going to bow down to you once you throw us in. So this is the way it's to read. Verse 17. If it be so, if you do throw us in, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will. He will. This is the talk of a fervent man. This is the talk of someone full in their faith. He will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. Because, see, verse 18 is not backing up on what they just said in verse 17. But if you don't understand it right, you'll think that they're giving options. They're not giving options. Verse verse 18 says, but if not. But if you don't throw us in, in other words, you're the one that's going to change your word, not God. If you Throw us in. God will deliver us. But if you back up on what you just said, be it known unto thee we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which thou has set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar, full of fury. Why he. He's doing this in front of all the dignitaries of his empire. They all see him challenged. And the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Therefore, he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace 17 times more than it was wont to be heated. It had never been heated this hot. Stoke the fire. Why? Why make it hotter? Won't a regular fire do the job? But they were so bold and so fervent that the king started doubting his tool of destruction and said, heat it hotter. How many times have you stood in faith? And things got worse. It doesn't matter that things get worse. When things things get worse, it shows the enemy's scared. He's exposing that he is getting. He's doubting his strategy against you. Don't get upset when things get worse. Realize the devil's frightened. Can I tell you this? Satan is a fearful being. That's why that's what he produces. That's why he's skilled with it, because he himself is a tormented, fearful being. In verse 20. And the king commanded the most mighty men. Why use the mighty ones? He's scared. He's questioning. Their boldness made him, so to speak, back up on what he thought he could produce. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Verse 21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, in their hats and other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. God was showing the the furnace is working because if these men walk out unburned, somebody's going to say the furnace wasn't working right. God is giving testimony the furnace works. Amen. Just like there have been different ones that have said, when Moses and God's people left Egypt and they went across the Red Sea, they said, well, it was only ankle dead. You know, there's a place where it's only ankle deep. They were trying to diminish the miracle of it. And that's a Greater miracle that Pharaoh's army got drowned in ankle deep water. And then you had Daniel thrown in the lion's den. He comes out untouched. He made them his pillows. Instead of him being their dinner, he made them his pillows. And when he walked, he comes out of that five that lion's den. The king has the men who strategized against Daniel to be thrown in to show the lions really were hungry. So what happens, we see that when the devil makes a plan against you that it's not your undoing, it's his undoing. If you will face the that fervently full of the word, full of faith, full of fervency, then it will be his undoing. The Bible says about Jesus that said that had they known the kingdom of darkness would never have crucified the Lord of glory. They thought they won and it was their undoing. So everything that is in opposition to you, if you'll stay full of the Word and full of faith in worshiping God, it will not be your undoing. It will be the opposition's undoing, and it will be your launching pad. So the furnace burned up the men. The furnace is working, verse 23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king was astonished, huh, Rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? Now I'm going to have to start questioning the sanity of this man, because in front of all of his dignitaries of the empire, he looks unsafe sound. He's talking to three men. He had a conversation, and then now he's saying, were there really just three? Did we not cast three men bound in the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. They're deep. They're deep. True, o King. Verse 25. He answered and said, lo, I see God will let those if you will, if you will stay with what God says. Those who oppose you will see God is with you. He answered and said, lo, I see four men. They're loose. They're walking. Ah, they're moving around, finding the hot spots. Walking in the midst of the fire. Look at this. This is. This is the king's word. They have no hurt. They have no hurt. They are in a fire. That would have. That was three men. Now see, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego saw the soldiers burn up in front of them. But they didn't. They didn't. They didn't waver. They've got a lot to. A lot to keep their eyes off of. And King Nebuchadnezzar says they have no hurt. And I love this phrase. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Now notice back up here. He said, who is this God that will deliver you out of my hands? And down here he knows he's got a son. Now he came into some understanding. Ah, this God has a son. Verse 26. The Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and said, shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God. Now he found out, who is this God? Ah, it's the Most High God. He changed his testimony in front of all the dignitaries of his empire. Ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. I don't know. I think I would have said, furnace isn't working right. Come get us. But he has such confidence that they're moving around in the form of the fourth is like the Son of God, that they cannot. They not only went into the fire, they can come out under their own power. They didn't have to be hauled out. They didn't have to turn off the flame and let it cool. They walked out in front of every person there. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors and captains and kings, counselors, being gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed. Neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, blessed be the God. See, he has just come into such light. In Revelation, he knows he has a son. He's calling in the Most High God. And now in front of his dignitaries, he's blessing him. Blessed be the God Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Ah, look at this. Who has sent his angel? He knows he has an angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him. Who does God deliver? Those who trust in him. He delivered his servants that trusted in him. Look at this next phrase. This is huge. And this is what the king declares and have changed the king's word. Ah, they expected the highest man in the land to back up on his word before they expected God to fail them. They have changed the king's word. Look at this. They have yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation and language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces. Somebody gonna die. This king's all about that. But now he's their biggest. He's their biggest advocate. And their houses shall be made a dunghill. Look at this. Because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Verse 30. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. What was to be their undoing was their place of promotion. Why? They were hot for God. These men were fervent in their focus. They did not look at the furnace and back up on what they believed. They did not look upon the burning soldiers and back up on what they believed. They didn't back up. When they heard the command, heat it seven times hotter. They did not back up. What determines whether or not you'll back up? Your spiritual health? How full of the word. How full of the Spirit. Because they were fervent, I believe the gift of faith went into operation through them. This is not ordinary faith. But because they were full and fervent, another faith met them. And they were able to look at complete destruction and say, not me. Not me. Others may lose their children, not me. Others may lose their business, not me. Others may lose their marriage, not me. This is what fervency will produce. Someone who won't back up. They could not be half hearted and have walked out of this fire. It matters how you go into a fire. These men faced threat and fear without hesitation. These men were fervent. They were hot and boiling over with their confidence in what God would do for them. And I say this. When they were thrown into the fire, they were thrown into their element. Because they were burning before the fire was heated. So what was intended as fire to be their ruin only caused them to burn hotter. You can't hurt fire with fire. Amen. It only stoked them. And they ended up with greater promotion. And in one day, a nation's loyalty, who they worshiped, changed. A nation was changed because they did not back up. It does matter. It does matter. Whether or not we're going to hold to our faith and whether we're not, we're going to be fervent. Now we read out of Revelations, chapter three, when Jesus said, I would rather that you be cold than lukewarm. Because if you're lukewarm, warm, and you're not hot, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Meaning I can't flow through someone who is not hot. Because what's going to happen, opposition is going to back them down. They won't endure the test. They won't endure hardness like a good soldier. So our safety is in being hot and fervent. But notice this. Jesus was not speaking to a man in revelation. He was speaking to an entire congregation. It is not up to just the preacher to be. It is up to the congregation as a church family to be hot for God. And if somebody comes in cooled down, it affects the overall temperature of that church family and that congregation. I will not be the cooling factor in my congregation. I will not be the cooling factor in the body of Christ. I will encourage and stoke the fire with others. That has to be your mindset. That means you don't to have people who cool you down. That means you don't go to places that cool off your hotness for God to where you're not boiling over. That means you're not watching things that you shouldn't be watching on the computer when nobody sees but God. Because your hotness will show. Amen. It matters. I said it matters. The Word tells us that God is fire from the low ones up. Fire from the low ones down. And he wants us when he said that we are to be aglow and burning with the spirit, that's how we truly represent him. Because there's nothing cold in him. There's nothing half hearted in him. It's all out. It's an all out movement with God. It's an all out, it's an all out working. Amen. So, fervency for this year. Our best year yet. Our best year yet. Let's stoke the fire. How do we stoke it? Feeding, hearing the Word, speaking in other tongues, spending time with God in fellowship. These are the primary ways that we keep ourselves hot for God. Acting on the Word, doing the Word. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries. Org to learn of our upcoming meetings. Share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of defrain Ministries.