Latest / Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay / Does God Test Us In The Fire? | Episode #341 | Encore Episode #012

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Does God Test Us In The Fire? | Episode #341 | Encore Episode #012 · Reflections On The Word With Richard Kay

• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's edition of Reflection on the Word with
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  Speaker 1: Richard K. I'm Chuck Christie, and today we are asking
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  Speaker 1: you to spend a few moments of your time with
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  Speaker 1: us each day as Richard shares from God's Word with notes, quotes,
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  Speaker 1: and stories, along with some of his own personal experiences,
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  Speaker 1: to confirm for you God's great love for us, that
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  Speaker 1: his compassion for us never fails, and that He has
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  Speaker 1: a great faithfulness toward us in every regard. In Lamentations
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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, verses twenty two and twenty three, we read,
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  Speaker 1: because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed,
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  Speaker 1: for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.
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  Speaker 1: Great is your faithfulness. Now, if you miss a portion
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  Speaker 1: of today's broadcast or would like to recommend it to
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  Speaker 1: a friend, you can hear this program anytime online at
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  Speaker 1: Talknetwork Radio dot com. Well, now here's Richard with today's reflection.
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  Speaker 2: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
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  Speaker 2: tribulation our anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
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  Speaker 2: peril or sword? Even as it is written, for my sake,
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  Speaker 2: we are killed all the day long. We are accounted
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  Speaker 2: as sheep for the slaughter Nay, in all these things,
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  Speaker 2: we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
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  Speaker 2: For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
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  Speaker 2: nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
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  Speaker 2: nor height, nor death, nor any creature shall be able
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  Speaker 2: to separate us from the Love of God, which is
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  Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus Our Lord, Romans eight thirty five through
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  Speaker 2: thirty nine. Today's reflection is titled does God test Us
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  Speaker 2: in the Fire? In modern day Christianity, sometimes it becomes
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  Speaker 2: too easy for us to be Christ's disciple. We are
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  Speaker 2: often under the impression that there will never be pain, trial,
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  Speaker 2: or suffering. Easy beliefsm is the modern substitute for true discipleship.
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  Speaker 2: The times become ufer and many followers of Jesus simply
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  Speaker 2: fall away. Statistically, the age of mass crusades, tent meetings,
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  Speaker 2: and early revivals produced many who professed Jesus as their savior.
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  Speaker 2: The sad part is that in just a few short
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  Speaker 2: years following their profession, the majority have given up on Christianity.
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  Speaker 2: Why perhaps it is because those believers were not truly
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  Speaker 2: discipled as we are commissioned to do by Christs. Throughout history,
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  Speaker 2: as recorded in the Bible, men have tested and have
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  Speaker 2: been tested through various trials. Today, in many parts of
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  Speaker 2: the world, this testing even cost believers their lives. Richard Wernbrand,
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  Speaker 2: the writer of Tortured for Christ, reports of the persecuted
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  Speaker 2: church in the publication Voice of the Martyrs. There are
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  Speaker 2: more accounts of torture of believing disciples in most of
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  Speaker 2: the Third World countries. Today, we live in a much insulated,
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  Speaker 2: protected society. In the Western World. Our trials are relegated
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  Speaker 2: to not being comfortable in a church atmosphere where many
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  Speaker 2: expect to be entertained. Most of our churches are only
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  Speaker 2: open a few times a week, and even that must
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  Speaker 2: accommodate our more important busy schedules. We are still free
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  Speaker 2: to worship as we please, whenever it suits us. But
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  Speaker 2: do we worship as God pleases? In all of our
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  Speaker 2: opulence and instant gratification, we rarely see the need for
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  Speaker 2: intercessory prayer. When we are faced with hardships. Our effort
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  Speaker 2: is to blame everyone and everything but ourselves. Sadly, we
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  Speaker 2: even blame God. Where did we ever get this view
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  Speaker 2: of discipleship? The Bible is replete with scripture that teaches
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  Speaker 2: us like the contrary. Listen to just a few, we
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  Speaker 2: read who shall separate us from the love of God?
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  Speaker 2: And listed within those in order comes persecution. The scripture
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  Speaker 2: says in two Timothy, Chapter three, verses ten through twelve,
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  Speaker 2: all those who live godly lives will suffer persecution. During
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  Speaker 2: the time of the Babylonian captivity, we find a miraculous
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  Speaker 2: testimony of three young Hebrew boys. These sons from the
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  Speaker 2: tribe of Judah were named Ananiah, Michelle, and Azariah. Each
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  Speaker 2: of these boys became known to the king nebuchad Nezar
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  Speaker 2: because they were accused by the Chaldeans for their promotion
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  Speaker 2: in Babylon. The king had made an image that everyone
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  Speaker 2: was ordered to bow to or be thrown in the
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  Speaker 2: fiery furnace. The Hebrew boys were not known by their
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  Speaker 2: Hebrew names, but each had been given a Babylonian name.
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  Speaker 2: Hananaiah was called Shadrak, Michelle was called Mishak, and Azariah
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  Speaker 2: was called Abednego. King Nebukazar was faced with the open
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  Speaker 2: refusal of the three boys to bow down to the image.
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  Speaker 2: He commanded that they be thrown into the furnace. He
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  Speaker 2: was enraged and caused the furnace to be heated to
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  Speaker 2: an intensity of seven times that which was normal. Before
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  Speaker 2: being cast into the furnace, the boys made an amazing
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  Speaker 2: statement which was based on their faith in Jehovah God.
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  Speaker 2: This is that statement. Shadrak mishak And of Bendigo answered
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  Speaker 2: and said to the King O Nebuka Nezzar, we are
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  Speaker 2: not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it
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  Speaker 2: be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to
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  Speaker 2: deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will
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  Speaker 2: deliver us out of thine hand, o King. But if not,
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  Speaker 2: be it known unto thee, O King, that we will
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  Speaker 2: not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which
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  Speaker 2: thou hast set up. Then they are bound and thrown
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  Speaker 2: into the furnace. That heat was so intense that the
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  Speaker 2: guards who threw them in were disintegrated. King Nebuka Nezar
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  Speaker 2: looks in through an opening at the base of the
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  Speaker 2: furnace and describes what he sees. First, he asked, did
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  Speaker 2: we not throw three men bound into the furnace. His
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  Speaker 2: advisers affirmed the answer. Then he describes the miracle, for
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  Speaker 2: he sees four men walking in the fire, and he
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  Speaker 2: proclaims that the fourth man looks like the son of God.
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  Speaker 2: He calls them out of the furnace. When the three
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  Speaker 2: youths step out, their clothes are not even singed, nor
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  Speaker 2: is there any sign of them being affected by the fire.
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  Speaker 2: The king then makes the decree that the three lads
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  Speaker 2: be promoted to high leadership in the land, and that
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  Speaker 2: their god was God. Perhaps the king knew what these
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  Speaker 2: three youths would do even before their refusal to vow.
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  Speaker 2: Why would their names have been changed. The answer may
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  Speaker 2: be in the meaning of their names. Hannanaiah means Jehovah
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  Speaker 2: has given, as Ariah means whom Jehovah helps, and Michelle
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  Speaker 2: means who is like God. Their names were a living
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  Speaker 2: testimony when understood together, Jehovah has given whom he helps,
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  Speaker 2: who is like God. Initially we are asked the question
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  Speaker 2: does God test us in the fire? The answer is
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  Speaker 2: that he does and will, but he walks through the
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  Speaker 2: fire with us. It is this fact recorded throughout the
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  Speaker 2: brutal torture of early Christians and ongoing intoday's society. They
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  Speaker 2: sang songs of praise to Him while being burned at
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  Speaker 2: the state, fed to lions or crucified in similar fashion
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  Speaker 2: as their Lord. Not all of us will have to
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  Speaker 2: endure the same trials, but many will, and some will
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  Speaker 2: be delivered into the loving hands of our Savior and
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  Speaker 2: Lord for eternity. We are to encourage those who suffer
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  Speaker 2: for the faith and pray for them in and during
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  Speaker 2: their trial.
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  Speaker 1: Richard will be right back in a moment to wrap up.
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  Speaker 1: But if you've just joined us you've been listening to
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  Speaker 1: Reflections on the Word with Richard K. You can hear
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  Speaker 1: this message in its entirety again online as well as
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  Speaker 1: Richard's entire archive at Talknetwork Radio dot com. We would
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  Speaker 1: like to acknowledge our theme song, how Great Is Thy
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  Speaker 1: Faithfulness from the America's twenty five Favorite Hymns album unless otherwise.
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  Speaker 1: Express scriptures are read from the Homan Christian Standard Bible,
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  Speaker 1: which is published by Homan Bible Publishers in Nashville, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 1: Additional resources used for Reflections on the Word with Richard
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: K include Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Our Daily Bread
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  Speaker 1: and printed by Discovery House Publishers. Again, here is Richard
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  Speaker 1: to wrap up today's message.
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  Speaker 2: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: tribulation or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: peril or sword, even as it is written, for thy
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: sake we are killed all the day long. We are
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things,
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: nor height, nor death, nor any creature shall be able
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  Speaker 2: to separate us from the Love of God which is
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  Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans eight five through thirty nine.
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  Speaker 2: And that is two day's Reflection on the Work.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Richard. Join us again tomorrow when we continue
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  Speaker 1: with the next edition of Reflections on the Word with
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  Speaker 1: Richard k Or Richard and the entire team. This is
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  Speaker 1: Chuck Christie saying thanks for listening to this edition of
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  Speaker 1: Reflections on the Work.