I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

38 One day down in a great nation under a great bondage there was some Hebrew children that we know as Shadrach, and Meshach, and Abednego. And it came to a place where they had to make a decision, that something had to be done. They had their--their--their faith was put to a test. And when their faith is put to a test, then don't fail. Stay right with what you believe.

And when they're faced, faith was put to a test. And they went through a crucial hour, not only did they go to a--a ash heap, but they went into a fiery furnace. But Satan could not destroy them, for God's purpose wasn't yet fulfilled. They could go in there with this hope, "I know my Redeemer liveth." They could go in there with this hope here, "We are assured that God is able to deliver us from this fiery furnace, but nevertheless, we will not bow to the image."

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

41 Satan could not take them. He could not drown Noah in the flood, until the purpose of God had been finished. He could not burn up the Hebrew children until the purpose of God had been finished. He could not kill Job with boils and troubles until the purpose of God had been finished. Neither could the lions eat Daniel until God's purpose had been finished. Neither could death and old age take Abraham until the purpose of God had been finished. And neither can it take you, or can it take me until the purpose of God of our life is finished. So we gather from their consolation.

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

43 And why does God let troubles come? God harnesses trouble, puts bits in its mouth, and makes it obey Him, and those troubles bring us into a closer fellowship with God.

There had been no rainbow until the flood came. But after Noah was pressed into that condition that he was in, to float forty days and nights in a storm and the little ark pitching up and down in the water, it was after the flood was over that he saw the rainbow for its first time, the covenant of hope, the covenant of promise. After he'd went through the tribulation, then he saw the promise.

That's the way you see the promise, after you've gone through the tribulation. I've liked that poem, or psalm:

Must I be carried home to Heaven on a flowerly bed of ease,

While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?

We ask for comfort and peace; God gives us the best He could give us: trials and tribulations. That's better than comfort and peace. Our comforts is just beyond the river.

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

47 It wasn't until the Hebrew children was forced into the fiery furnace, on one of their most outstanding trials, that they seen One like the Son of God stand among them. Their troubles produced the Son of God standing among them in the breezes to wave away the heat wave. But not until they went into the fire did that Comforter appear.

It was Daniel who had purposed in his heart that he'd not defile himself with the things of the world, and was forced through a trial, whether he'd pray to God or go to a lions' den. But it was after the heat was put on, and he was throwed into a lions' den, that after that, he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the midst of him, keeping away, that great Pillar of Fire standing between him and the lions. And the lions could not get him, because he'd went through the trials and temptations and troubles. He knew that his God was able to deliver him from that.

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

49 It was Abraham, after he'd seen the ground get barren, and the drought come, and Lot separate himself and go down to live deliciously into the world; it was after he had heard the whines and cries of--of his herdsmen, with no grass for his cattle, but he maintained in the land that God gave him and told him to sojourn in. And as on that day, after he'd been tried till his--his patience was at the end; it was on that day that when after the trial was over, he spoke face to face with Elohim under the oak that day. It was after he'd suffered his trials, after he'd went through the troubles that he'd been through, that God appeared to him in the form of a Man, and set there and told him he was married and his wife's name was Sarah, and said she laughed at Him in the tent behind. It was there that Abraham called Him Elohim. It was after the trial and tribulation.

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

50 Oh, if the Church could only wake to Itself today, to find that after the troubles, and trials, and laughs, and made fun of, the things the church has been through, the Pentecostal church, that we see God in our midst, doing great signs and wonders.

After the toils and troubles of day,

After it's all passed,

Then we shall see Jesus at last.

He will be waiting for me,

Jesus so fair and true,

On His beautiful throne,

He will welcome us Home

After the day is through. (While it's day, let us labor.)

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

51 All these great men, that would take much of our morning service away, to go into mention that they went through trials and saw God. They went through trials and saw Angels. They went through trials and revelations and saw signs and wonders, and things. But, oh, none of them saw what Job saw. All them men, after seeing Angels, and seeing God, and all these things, they never saw nothing to give them hopes beyond the grave. But Job saw the resurrection. He saw Easter. He saw the thing that comforts every heart. Then when he did, "Oh that my words would be printed in a book, oh that they would be engraved with an iron pen in the rock."

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

53 See, it... Everything had turned against him. His... Even his servants wouldn't speak to him. His wife was a stranger. There he set on the ash heap, that great trial. And the church come and turned their back to him for seven days. And no one to comfort him.

Then he must have saw the vision of Easter, when he cried, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He'll stand on the earth. I know. O that my words were penned with an iron pen in a stone, that my words could never fade no more, for I know my Redeemer liveth. I know. I know."

What do you know, Job? "I know my Redeemer liveth." Did you notice, not only was there Someone living, but He was a Redeemer to Job.

I.KNOW_ JEFF.IN EASTER.MESSAGE.BOOK SUNDAY_ 60-0417S

56 Oh, blessed be the Name of the Lord. I'm so glad that I'm part of Easter, that I'm part of that resurrection. And we are part of it this morning, because in us dwells that resurrection Life, that as a partaker, brought Easter. "I know that my Redeemer..." What do you know? I'm not guessing at it. We got too much guessing today. "I know my Redeemer liveth." Yes, sir.

Now, what was He? If He lived, He was a Redeemer to Job. "My," personal, my, "my Redeemer liveth."

And what else do you know, Job? What did you see in that vision? "And at the last days, He shall stand on the earth. And though the skin worms destroys my body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself. I know my Redeemer liveth, and He will stand at the last day upon the earth. Though my reins be consumed within me, though the skin worms destroys my body, yet in my flesh I shall see God." Through that was the greatest vision.