Part 2 & 3 The Hedge and The Hammer

The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 1 FIRST HARVEST MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL Sabbath Bible Study THE HEDGE AND THE HAMMER When Trouble Comes — Are You Fighting Satan, or Resisting YAHWEH? PART TWO · TEMPERING THROUGH THE CHARGE Opening Word: Sometimes It Is Just Life + Discerning the Difference Continues from where we ended: Job repented — not of pre-trial sin, but of his broken trust under the silence. Rev. John Shane Vaughn Founding Apostolic Overseer First Harvest Ministries International The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 2 PULPIT COLOR KEY ■ Navy — Structure, section headers, and Scripture passages ■ Crimson — Warnings and conviction ■ Gold — Sacred Names, declarations, and key emphasis ■ Green — Revelation and insight ■ Purple — Reflection questions, prayer, and the charge ■ / ■ Crimson / Green table — the Hammer (judgment) vs. the Forge (tempering) The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 3 PICKING UP — TEMPERING THE BLADE Where we ended last night: Job repented — not of pre-trial sin, but of his broken trust under prolonged silence. OPENING WORD — SOMETIMES IT IS JUST LIFE Before we go one step deeper into this teaching tonight, I have to stop and clear up a confusion — because if I do not clear it up first, everything else I teach you tonight, you will turn into a weapon against your own soul. And I will not have that. Here is the confusion. We spent our first night learning that YAHWEH sends trouble — sometimes as the Hammer of judgment, sometimes as the Forge of tempering. And that is true. That is biblical. We proved it from the Word. But somewhere between the parking lot and the pew, some of you have already started doing something dangerous with it. You have started believing that every hard thing in your life is either the devil The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 4 attacking you or YAHWEH testing you. That every ache, every setback, every heartache must be a spiritual message you have to decode. And I am here tonight to tell you — that is not true. Hear me, beloved. Not every problem in your life is the devil. Not every problem in your life is a test. Sometimes a problem is just... life. Sometimes life in a fallen, mortal, aging world is simply hard — not because heaven is hammering you, not because the adversary has singled you out, not because you failed some secret exam — but simply because you are a mortal human being living in a world that is winding down. There are three categories of trouble, saints — not two. There is the Hammer of judgment. There is the Forge of tempering. And there is the plain, ordinary friction of mortal life — and that third one is the one nobody preaches on, so it is the one that tortures the most people. Tonight, before anything else, I am going to lift that torture off of you. I am going to give you back the freedom to have a hard day without interrogating your soul over it. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 5 Let me lift two specific burdens off of two specific groups of people in this room right now. THE FIRST BURDEN — THE AGING BODY Hear me carefully, because this is a word of mercy, and it is just as biblical as everything else I will teach tonight. Not every limitation in your body is the Hammer. Not every limitation in your body is even the Forge. Some things are simply the natural course of life in a mortal body. Saints, when a man turns seventy and his knees do not work like they did at twenty-five — that is not the judgment of YAHWEH. When a woman who has borne children finds that her back aches where it never used to — that is not a fiery dart of the adversary. When the eyes grow dim, when the hearing fades, when the old football injury flares up in the cold, when the hands that worked hard for fifty years no longer grip the way they once did — that is not heaven punishing you, and it is not The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 6 necessarily heaven tempering you. That is the simple, honest reality of living in a body that is wearing down. Look at the Word. Even the great patriarchs aged. Yitzchak — Isaac — in his old age, what does the Scripture say? Genesis 27:1 "And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see..." Was Yitzchak being punished? Was Yitzchak under the Hammer because his eyes failed? No. He was an old man, and old men's eyes grow dim. That is the course of life. And listen to what Moshe — Moses — wrote about himself: Deuteronomy 34:7 "And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Now why would the Scripture make a special note that Moshe's eyes were not dim and his strength was not abated? Because that was the exception, not the rule! The The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 7 very fact that the Bible points it out as remarkable tells you that the normal expectation is that an old man's eyes do grow dim and his strength does fade. Moshe was the miracle. The rest of us are the rule. So hear me, beloved. When your body begins to show the wear of the years — do not run to Job 31 and start hunting for a hidden sin. Do not assume YAHWEH is hammering you. Do not even assume He is forging you. Sometimes a sore knee is just a sore knee. Sometimes a bad back is just the honest cost of a life of labor. Sometimes the decline is just the body returning, slowly, to the dust from which it was formed — exactly as YAHWEH said it would in the garden. Genesis 3:19 "...for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." That is not a curse you can repent your way out of. That is the appointment of every mortal man until the resurrection. The aging of the body is not a sin problem. It is a mortality problem. And the only ultimate cure for The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 8 mortality is the resurrection and the redemption of the body that YAHWEH has promised: Romans 8:23 "...waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Now — does this mean YAHWEH cannot heal? Absolutely not. YAHWEH heals. YAHWEH still touches bodies. Injuries produce things in the flesh that no doctor can fix, that no surgery can undo, that no medicine can reach — and only a divine healing can restore what has been broken. I believe that with my whole heart. I have seen it. Many of you have seen it. The same YAHWEH who formed the body can reach into the body and mend what is broken. But hear this — and hear it well. Divine healing can be requested. Divine healing cannot be demanded. There is a generation of preachers who have taught the saints to walk up to the throne of YAHWEH and demand their healing as if YAHWEH were a vending machine and faith were the coin. "Name it and claim it! Decree it and declare it! Command your body to line up!" The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 9 That is not the posture of a servant. That is the posture of a spoiled child stomping his foot at his Father. Look at how Yahshua Himself prayed in the deepest trial of His life: Luke 22:42 "...Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." "If thou be willing." And "not my will, but thine." If the Son of YAHWEH Himself, sinless and perfect, made His request to the Father with "if thou be willing" — who are we to march up and demand? We ask. We ask boldly. We ask in faith, believing He is and that He rewards those who seek Him. But we leave the answer, and the timing, and the method in His hands — because He is the Father, and we are the children, and the children do not give orders to the Father. Some of YAHWEH'S choicest servants carried physical infirmities to their graves. Sha'ul — Paul — asked three times for his thorn to be removed, and YAHWEH said: The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 10 2 Corinthians 12:9 "...My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness..." YAHWEH said no to Paul's request for healing — not because Paul had sin, not because Paul lacked faith, but because YAHWEH had a higher purpose in the weakness. And Paul did not throw a tantrum. Paul did not accuse YAHWEH. Paul said, "Then I will glory in my infirmity, that the power of Messiah may rest upon me." That is a tempered man. That is the trust we are going to talk about all night long. So let the elderly saints in this room rest tonight. Let the ones who carry the aches of a long life breathe. Your weakening body is not an accusation against your soul. It is simply the cost of being mortal — and the loud, blessed promise of the resurrection that is coming, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and YAHWEH shall wipe away the wear of every year. Request your healing — boldly, faithfully, persistently. But never The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 11 demand it. And never, ever let the natural decline of your tent send you on a false hunt for sin that is not there. THE SECOND BURDEN — THE WAYWARD CHILD And while I am lifting burdens off of shoulders tonight, there is one more I have to lift — because I can see the faces of the mamas and the daddies in this room, and I know what some of you are carrying. Some of you have a child who has walked away. A son who is in the far country. A daughter who has turned her back on everything you raised her in. And night after night, you lie awake running the audit — not on your own life, but on your parenting. "Where did I go wrong? What did I fail to do? What sin of mine is being visited on my child? Their hedge is down — and it must be MY fault." Saints, hear me — and hear me as a father myself. Stop it. When a grown child's hedge comes down, it does not come down because of mama and daddy. It comes down because of that child's own choices. A grown son or daughter is a free moral agent before YAHWEH — The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 12 accountable for their own decisions, the author of their own consequences, the one who opened their own gate. You did not open it for them. You cannot open it for them, and you cannot keep it closed for them either, because it is their hedge — not yours. Look at the Word. The clearest picture in all of Scripture is the prodigal son: Luke 15:13 "...the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living." Now look at that father. Was that father a failure? No! That father was the very picture YAHSHUA chose to represent YAHWEH HIMSELF. And yet his son still walked away! Was it the father's sin that sent the boy into the pigpen? Was it the father's failure that brought the famine and the husks and the swine? NO. It was the son's own choice. The son "gathered all together" — by his own hand — and "took his journey" — by his own feet — and "wasted his substance" — by his own folly. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 13 And what did that father do? He did not chase the boy into the far country. He did not move to the pigpen to manage the boy's consequences. He did not blame himself and fall to pieces. He let the boy go, he let the consequences do their work, and he watched the road — and the day that boy "came to himself" and turned for home, that father ran to meet him. That is the model, beloved. You cannot repent on behalf of your grown child. You cannot stand in their hedge and hold the wall up with your own two hands. And you must not take the blame for a gate they opened. Now — does this mean parents bear no responsibility for how they raise a child? Of course not. The Word is plain: Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." We train them. We bring them up in the instruction of YAHWEH. We do our part with everything in us while they are under our roof. But the training is not a The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 14 magic spell, and it is not a guarantee against a grown child's free will. Even YAHWEH Himself — the perfect Father — raised a nation of children He called out of Egypt, taught them His Torah, fed them with manna, led them by fire and cloud — and they still rebelled. Was that YAHWEH'S failure as a Father? Never. It was their rebellion. The perfect parent can still have a wayward child, because the child has a will of their own. But now — mama, daddy — look again at that verse. Look at the part you have been crying over without seeing the hope buried inside it. Read the last four words with me: "...and WHEN HE IS OLD, he will not depart from it." WHEN HE IS OLD. Not "while he is young." Not "in his twenties." Not "before he ever wanders." The promise of YAHWEH is not that your trained-up child will never take a journey into the far country. The promise is that when he is OLD — when the years have done their work, when the husks have lost their flavor, when the pigpen has The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 15 taught him what your kitchen table tried to teach him — he will not depart from it. The training you poured into that child does not expire. It does not wash off. It is planted, down in the soil of that soul, and a planted seed has a way of coming up in its season — even if its season is thirty years away. That word "old" is the most merciful word in that whole verse, and the church has run right past it. It means YAHWEH gave you a long-range promise, not a short-range one. It means the prodigal years are not the end of the story — they are the middle of the story. The boy who "took his journey into a far country" is the same boy of whom it was written, "and when he came to himself..." The training his father gave him is exactly what he came back to. It was the memory of the father's house, the father's bread, the father's ways — the training — that pulled him off that pig farm and pointed him home. So when you planted YAHWEH'S Word in that child, you were not wasting your labor even if they wander now. You The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 16 were burying treasure in their soul that the far country cannot steal. And one day — maybe when they are old, maybe when you are old, maybe at a graveside, maybe in a hospital room, maybe in a moment you will never see this side of glory — that buried training is going to rise up, and it "will not depart." You have YAHWEH'S word on it. Keep the porch light on. The seed is still in the ground. So to every grieving mother, every heartbroken father in this room — lay the false guilt down tonight. Your child's broken hedge is on your child's account, not yours. Your job is not to carry their guilt. Your job is to do what the father of the prodigal did: keep the porch light on, keep the road in view, keep praying, keep loving — and be ready to run the day they come to themselves and turn for home. Pray for them like a watchman. But do not flog yourself like a criminal. Their choices are theirs — and the promise is yours. NOW — WITH THOSE BURDENS LIFTED The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 17 So hear me, beloved, before we go on. Tonight is not about teaching you to find a devil under every rock or a divine test behind every disappointment. Some of what you are carrying is just life — the honest friction of a mortal body in a fallen world, or the free choices of people you love that are not yours to answer for. But — and this is why we still have a full teaching ahead of us — there is real trouble that is the Hammer, and there is real trouble that is the Forge. And when one of those comes, you had better know how to tell which one it is, and how to respond. So now that the false guilt is off your shoulders, let us pick up the blade where we left it — on the anvil. SECTION 8 — TEMPERING THE BLADE Now I want to stop and give you a picture, saints. A picture from the blacksmith's shop. Because this picture explains the entire book of Job, and it explains the entire Christian life. I want you to picture a master blacksmith making a sword. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 18 He starts with a piece of raw iron — ugly, lumpy, useless. He takes it, and he heats it in the forge. He heats it until it is glowing red, almost white. And then he takes it out and lays it on the anvil. And he begins to HAMMER it. The hammer is what shapes the blade. Each blow — each impact — drives the iron toward the form the smith has in his mind. Whack. Whack. Whack. The metal cries out under each blow. Sparks fly. The smith does not stop. He keeps hammering until the rough lump of iron has become a recognizable sword shape. Then he takes the rough sword and he puts it on the grindstone. He sharpens it. The grindstone screams against the metal. Sparks fly again. The smith does not stop. He grinds and grinds and grinds until the edge is razor-sharp. Now — at this point in the process — the sword is shaped and sharp. It looks beautiful. It looks finished. A novice would say "That's a sword. We're done." The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 19 But the master blacksmith knows better. Because if he hands you that sword right now, in its current condition — and you take it into battle — it will bend in the first swing. It will dull on the first impact. It will be useless. Why? Because it has not been TEMPERED. So here is what the smith does. He takes the beautiful, shaped, sharp sword — and he heats it up again. One more time. He heats it until it is glowing red — and then he plunges it, suddenly, with a hiss and a cloud of steam, into a barrel of COLD WATER. The shock of the cold water on the hot blade is what TEMPERS it. The crystalline structure of the metal locks into place. The blade becomes hard. The blade becomes resilient. The blade can now take a blow without bending. The blade can now strike a target without dulling. The blade is now battle-ready. Saints — that is what YAHWEH does to His saints. Job's righteousness was real. Job's righteousness was PERFECT. YAHWEH said so. Twice. "There is none like The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 20 him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man." The shaping was done. The sharpening was done. Job was a finished sword. But he had never been tempered. He had never been plunged into cold water. He had never had the experience of YAHWEH stepping back, going silent, withdrawing the visible blessings — to see whether the sword would hold its edge in the dark. So YAHWEH stepped back. He pulled His hand off the hedge. Not because Job had sinned. Not because Job needed correction. But because YAHWEH was finishing the work. YAHWEH was making a battle- ready blade. And here is the connection to the new covenant. Look at: Matthew 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 21 Yahshua had never sinned. Not once. Not ever. Hebrews tells us he was tempted in all points yet without sin. He was the one perfect human in all of human history. And mark the timing of it, saints, because the timing preaches. From the day of his baptism — the day he came up out of that water a new man, anointed and commissioned for his ministry — Yahshua walked out his year of ministry as the spotless yearling Lamb. Remember the requirement of the Pesach lamb: Exodus 12:5 "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year..." A male of the first year — a yearling. That is the type, and Yahshua is the fulfillment. From his baptism as a new man, through that year of ministry, he was the unblemished male lamb of the first year, walking toward his appointment as the Pesach offering. And at the end of that year — for a moment, on the stake — YAHWEH stepped back. The Father went silent. The hedge came off. And Yahshua, the yearling Lamb in his year of ministry, felt the cold water of forsakenness. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 22 Why? Same reason as Job. Because YAHWEH was tempering the blade. YAHWEH was finishing the perfect man — not by adding anything, but by proving that even in the silence, the man would still trust the Father. And here is the difference between Yahshua and Job: 1 Peter 2:23 "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." Yahshua passed the test that Job failed. Yahshua kept trusting. Yahshua kept committing himself to the Father, even from the stake. "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Job stopped trusting. Job started saying YAHWEH had become his enemy. Job's tempering was harder, and longer, and more painful, because he resisted it. Both men were righteous. Both men were tempered. But one passed the trust test on the first try, and the other had to be brought through the trust test the hard way. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 23 Now hear me, saints. Hear me very carefully. YAHWEH WILL TEMPER YOU. If you are walking in obedience, if you are keeping His Sabbath, if you are honoring His feasts, if you are walking in His Torah — you will not escape the tempering. The tempering is part of the process of making a battle- ready saint. You cannot skip it. You cannot pray it away. You cannot bind it up and rebuke it. What you can do is pass it on the first try. Like Yahshua. By trusting YAHWEH even when He goes silent. By refusing to believe that He has become your enemy. By saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" — and meaning it. Job 13:15 "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Even Job, in his better moments, said the right thing. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." The problem was, Job couldn't sustain it. He kept slipping back into the The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 24 accusation. He kept saying "YAHWEH hates me" and "YAHWEH counts me as His enemy." You don't have to slip. You can hold the line. You can be like Yahshua — committed to Him that judges righteously, even from the stake itself. Reflection Question Four: Could YAHWEH trust YOU in the silence? If He stepped back tomorrow — if the blessings stopped, if the prayers seemed to bounce off the ceiling, if the trial dragged on for months with no answer — would you still trust Him? Or would you start to suspect, like Job did, that He had become your enemy? The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 25 HOUR THREE — DISCERNING THE DIFFERENCE How to Know Which Trial You Are In SECTION 9 — THE TWO TRIALS Saints — welcome back. Final hour. This is where it all comes together. This is where we integrate everything we have laid down in Hour One and Hour Two, and you walk out of here tonight with a master key for the rest of your spiritual life. If you have never had a teaching like this before — and most of you have not, because the modern American church does not teach this — you are about to receive something tonight that will outlive me, outlive you, and serve generations of your children's children if they are willing to receive it. We have laid the foundation. Now we put it together. And here is the foundation in a single sentence — write it down, mark it, underline it, do not forget it: There are TWO kinds of trouble that come into the life of a saint, and you MUST learn to tell them apart, because the right The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 26 response to one is the WRONG response to the other. That is the whole teaching in one line. Read it again. The right response to one is the wrong response to the other. Which means if you do not know which one you are in, you have a fifty-fifty chance of doing exactly the wrong thing — and fifty-fifty is not good enough when your soul is on the line, when your family is on the line, when the testimony of YAHWEH'S name in your life is on the line. The two kinds of trouble are these: 1. THE HAMMER — YAHWEH'S judgment for sin, designed to make you repent. 2. THE FORGE — YAHWEH'S tempering of righteousness, designed to make you trust. Look at the contrast with me. I want you to study this table. I want you to photograph it with your eyes and carry it in your memory for the rest of your spiritual journey: The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 27 THE HAMMER THE FORGE YAHWEH'S judgment YAHWEH'S tempering For sin Without cause Right answer: REPENT Right answer: TRUST Saul (1 Sam 16) Job (perfect) / Yahshua Stops when you change Stops when you trust Cause: YOU opened the gate Cause: YAHWEH opened the gate "What have I done?" "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" Painful but short Painful but transforming Aim: correction Aim: maturation Result if you respond right: restoration Result if you respond right: glory Result if you respond wrong: more hammer Result if you respond wrong: bitterness Now I want to slow down here, because saints, the danger is enormous and most of you have never had this explained to you. Let me show you what happens when you mismatch the answer to the trial. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 28 MISMATCH NUMBER ONE: The trust answer to a judgment trial. If you give the trust answer to a judgment trial, you are excusing your sin and the hammer keeps falling. You are out there saying, "I'm just being tempered like Job! Glory to YAHWEH! He's just refining me! This is just the enemy attacking me because I'm doing something big for the Kingdom!" — when actually, you are being chastised like Saul. And the trial will not stop until you repent. It cannot stop. YAHWEH'S hand will not lift, because YAHWEH'S hand is not seeking your refinement at that moment — YAHWEH'S hand is seeking your return. I have watched this happen, saints. I have watched men in this very ministry — and I will not name them, because their cases are between them and YAHWEH — but I have watched them lose their marriages, lose their children, lose their finances, lose their ministries, and through every single layer of that loss they kept saying, "The enemy is just really after me right now." And the truth was — and I told them, gently, but I told them — "Brother, the enemy The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 29 did not do this. YAHWEH did this. And He did it because of that thing you will not confess. He is not going to stop until you do." That is the trust answer applied to a judgment trial, and it leads to ruin. Because the hammer keeps falling, and falling, and falling — and the man keeps thanking YAHWEH for refining him while YAHWEH is actually trying to wake him up. MISMATCH NUMBER TWO: The repent answer to a tempering trial. If you give the repent answer to a tempering trial, you are confessing sins you did not commit, and you are insulting YAHWEH'S earlier verdict on your life. You are out there saying, "YAHWEH, I must have sinned somewhere, please show me my fault, I deserve this, I am wicked, I am evil, I am unworthy" — when actually YAHWEH has already declared you righteous and is now tempering you. You are like Job in his middle chapters — searching for a sin that does not exist. You are like a man hunting in a dark room for a black cat that is not there. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 30 You will hunt and hunt and hunt and never find it, because it is not there to be found. This is what Eliphaz did to Job. This is what every false comforter does to every righteous saint. "You must have done something. Sin produces suffering. Suffering means sin. Therefore — confess. Confess. Confess." And the saint, exhausted, hammered by the trial, eventually starts to break and confesses things that were never true, accepts blame that was never his, and ends up where Job ended up — accusing YAHWEH of being unjust because the "repentance" did not stop the trial. Because it could not stop the trial. The trial was never about repentance. The trial was about trust. You see the danger now? You see why this teaching matters? You see why I will spend three hours of a holy Sabbath on this and not apologize for one minute of it? You MUST discern which one you are in. And if you cannot, saints, you will spin in circles for years. I have seen it. Some of you have lived it. Some of you are living it right now, this very night, in this very pew, and the reason The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 31 your trial has not lifted is because you keep giving the wrong answer to the question YAHWEH is actually asking. Let me give you an illustration that I think will lock this in your minds forever. Imagine a father with two sons. The same father. The same love. The same goal — to raise mature men. The first son is disobedient. He has stolen money from his father's wallet. He has lied about it. He has done it three times now. The father confronts him, and the son denies it, and the father — because he loves the boy — disciplines him. Grounds him. Takes away his privileges. Makes him work to pay it back. The discipline is painful. And the right response from the son is — repent. Confess. Apologize. Make it right. The moment he does, the discipline lifts. Why? Because the goal of the discipline was the repentance, and the repentance has been achieved. The second son is obedient. He has done nothing wrong. But the father knows that this son is going to inherit the The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 32 family business. The father knows that this son is going to lead. And the father knows that leadership requires character that has been forged, not merely taught. So the father puts this son into hard situations on purpose. Sends him to do difficult work. Lets him fail at things and recover. Watches him struggle and does not rush to bail him out. Why? Because the goal is not to correct this son — there is nothing to correct. The goal is to temper him. To make him strong. To grow him into the man who can carry the inheritance. Now hear me, saints. What if the second son thought he was the first son? What if every time the father put him in a hard situation, the second son started crying, "Daddy, what did I do? Tell me what I did wrong! I'll make it right!" The father would have to say, "Son, you did nothing wrong. I am not punishing you. I am preparing you. Stop apologizing. Stand up. Trust me. Walk through this." And what if the first son thought he was the second son? What if every time the father disciplined him, the first son The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 33 said, "Oh, Daddy is just preparing me for greatness! Daddy is just tempering me!" — and never repented, never confessed, never returned the stolen money? The discipline would never end. Because the discipline was tied to the repentance, and the repentance was being refused. Saints — that is exactly what is happening in the body of Messiah today. There are sons of YAHWEH who are being disciplined and they think they are being tempered — so they never repent and the hammer keeps falling. And there are sons of YAHWEH who are being tempered and they think they are being disciplined — so they confess imaginary sins and grow bitter when their "repentance" never lifts the trial. Both are spiritual cripples. Both are confused. Both can be healed tonight by simply learning the difference. Now somebody is going to say, "Pastor Shane, that sounds hard. How am I supposed to tell which one I am in? How am I supposed to know whether I am the first son or the second son?" I am about to show you. Step by step. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 34 Because YAHWEH did not leave us in the dark on this. He gave us a process — and it is a process Job himself walked through in chapter 31, even when he walked it imperfectly. YAHWEH gave us the steps. The steps are clear. The steps are scriptural. And tonight you are going to learn them. SECTION 10 — HOW TO TELL WHICH ONE Here is the process. Write it down. Memorize it. Teach it to your children. This is the process that, if every believer learned it, would transform the entire body of Messiah. STEP ONE: EXAMINE YOURSELF. The first step is always examination. Always. No exceptions. Even Job — even perfect Job — went through the examination process. Look at the entire chapter 31 of Job. It is a remarkable chapter. It is Job, methodically, going through every commandment, every relationship, every category of sin, and examining himself. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 35 Job 31:1 "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" Lust. He examined himself for lust. Eyes — clean. Job 31:5 "If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;" Walking in vanity, hastening to deceit — clean. Job 31:7 "If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;" Steps, heart, eyes, hands — clean. Job 31:9 "If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;" Adultery. Coveting his neighbor's wife — clean. Job 31:13 "If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;" Treatment of servants. Justice in his household — clean. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 36 Job 31:16-17 "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;" Treatment of the poor, widows, orphans — clean. Job 31:24-25 "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;" Idolatry of wealth — clean. Job 31:26-27 "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:" Idolatry — sun worship, moon worship — clean. Job 31:29 "If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:" Hatred for his enemies, rejoicing at their downfall — clean. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 37 Job 31:32 "The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller." Hospitality to strangers — clean. Job 31:33 "If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:" Hiding sin — clean. Saints, do you see what Job did? He went through the entire Torah, category by category, sin by sin, and examined himself. And he could not find one. Not one. Eyes, hands, feet, heart, mouth, marriage, servants, poor, widows, orphans, wealth, idolatry, enemies, strangers, hidden sin — all clean. ONLY THEN could Job confidently say "I have not sinned." That is the first step for you, too. Before you ever get to the question "Is this a tempering trial?" you have to do what Job did. You have to walk through every category of YAHWEH'S Torah and examine yourself. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 38 Let me walk you through a self-examination checklist tonight. Take this home with you. Use it this week. Sabbath: Have you kept every Sabbath as YAHWEH commanded — sundown to sundown — without compromise? No work? No commerce? No worldly entertainment? Or have you been letting the world creep into the seventh day? Feasts: Have you observed Pesach, Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot? Have you put aside the resources to make the pilgrimage where required, and to set aside the days from worldly activity? Or have you been treating them as optional, attending when convenient, skipping when busy? Sacred Names: Have you used YAHWEH'S name and Yahshua's name reverently and accurately? Or have you been slipping back into "God" and "Lord" and "Jesus" and "Christ" — the pagan substitutes that the apostate church uses? The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 39 Tithes: Have you tithed faithfully — ten percent off the top, before taxes, before bills, before anything else — to YAHWEH'S work? Or have you been robbing YAHWEH because the budget was tight? Marriage: Husbands — have you treated your wife the way Messiah treats the assembly? Have you laid down your life for her, served her, honored her, refused to be harsh with her? Wives — have you submitted to your husband as unto YAHWEH? Have you respected him, honored his leadership, refused to undermine him in front of the children? Children: Have you raised your children in the fear of YAHWEH? Taught them Torah? Disciplined them with love? Modeled what a saint looks like? Or have you let them be discipled by the iPhone, the school system, the entertainment industry, and the peer group? Tongue: Have you spoken truth in love? Held your tongue when you should? Or have you gossiped, slandered, lied, exaggerated, mocked, or torn down others with your words? The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 40 Forgiveness: Have you forgiven everyone who has hurt you — fully, completely, from the heart? Or are you carrying bitterness, grudges, resentments? Eyes: Have you guarded your eyes from images that defile? From pornography? From lustful looks? From the entertainment that fills your soul with the world's images? Sexuality: Have you reserved your sexuality entirely for your covenant marriage? No fornication? No adultery, even in the heart? No fantasy life that betrays your spouse? Honesty: Have you been honest in business? In taxes? In your dealings with neighbors? Or have you cut corners, fudged numbers, told half-truths? Idolatry: Have you kept YAHWEH first — above money, above career, above hobbies, above family, above self? Or have you let something else take His throne in your heart? Pride: Have you walked humbly? Acknowledged when wrong? Submitted to authority? Or have you been stiff- necked, contentious, always-right, never-correctable? Saints — go through that list. All of it. Not in five minutes. Not in a quick prayer. Spend HOURS, if The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 41 necessary. Spend DAYS, if necessary. Examine yourself thoroughly. Run the inventory like Job did. Be ruthless with yourself. Be honest. Do not protect yourself from yourself. Do not let yourself off the hook. Get the truth on the table. STEP TWO: REPENT OF EVERYTHING YOU FIND. If the examination turns up sin — and it usually does, especially the first time you do this seriously — REPENT. Make it right. Restore. Confess to YAHWEH. Confess to the people you wronged where appropriate. Make restitution where possible. Turn from the sin in tangible, concrete ways. Proverbs 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Note that — confess AND forsake. Not confess only. Not forsake only. Both. Confession without forsaking is just a verbal exercise. Forsaking without confession is incomplete repentance. Both. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 42 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." The four steps are clear: humble, pray, seek, TURN. The turning is what makes the repentance real. Words without turning are just noise. If you find that the trial you are in matches a sin you have been carrying — the trial IS the hammer. It is judgment. It is correction. It will stop when you repent. Not before. After. Most of the trouble that comes against most of the saints in this room — let's be honest with each other tonight — most of the trouble most of you face is not Job-style tempering. It is Saul-style chastisement. Because most of you are not yet at Job's level of righteousness. And that is okay. It is normal. It is the standard human spiritual journey. But you have to be honest about it. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 43 If, after thorough examination, you find sin — REPENT. Do not pretend to be Job when you are still operating like Saul. YAHWEH knows the difference. And He will not stop hammering until you repent. Let me give you an encouragement here. The fastest way to end a chastisement trial is fast, complete repentance. YAHWEH does not want to keep hammering you. He hates having to do it. He chastises only because you forced His hand. The moment you genuinely turn — the moment you actually forsake the sin and come back to obedience — the chastisement stops. Often immediately. Sometimes within hours. 2 Samuel 12:13 "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." David's repentance was instant. Nathan's announcement of forgiveness was instant. The death penalty was lifted instantly. "The LORD also hath put away thy sin." That is The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 44 how YAHWEH responds to genuine, immediate, broken- hearted repentance. So if examination reveals sin — do not delay. Do not try to negotiate. Do not try to minimize. Repent quickly, deeply, and completely. And the trial will end. STEP THREE: ONLY THEN — IF THE TRIAL CONTINUES AND YOU FIND NOTHING — PRAY THE JOB 34 PRAYER. Now hear me very carefully on this third step, because this is where the dangerous part comes in. If, and only if, you have done a thorough examination — and I mean thorough, not the five-minute version — and you have repented of everything you found, and the trial continues with nothing else for you to repent of, you may then pray what I call the Job 34 prayer: Job 34:31-32 "Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more." The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 45 This is the prayer of the tempered man. This is the prayer that Job should have prayed earlier, instead of accusing YAHWEH of treating him as an enemy. The prayer says, in effect: "Father YAHWEH — I have examined myself. I have repented of everything I found. I do not see any remaining sin. But if there is something I am missing — TEACH ME. Show me what I cannot see. And if there is no further sin to repent of — then teach me to TRUST YOU in this trial. Teach me to be tempered. I will not offend any more. I commit myself to Your hand." That is a beautiful prayer. But it is a dangerous prayer. If you pray it without first examining yourself thoroughly — if you skip step one and skip step two — you are lying to YAHWEH. You are claiming a righteousness you do not actually have. You are pretending to be Job when you are actually still Saul. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 46 That will heap YAHWEH'S anger on you, not relieve it. Because YAHWEH hates lies. And He especially hates lies told to His face by people who think they are being spiritual. So the order is non-negotiable: 3. EXAMINE. 4. REPENT of anything found. 5. THEN — and only then — pray the Job 34 prayer for tempering grace. Now here is the shield of faith that comes at the end of this process. Look at: Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Three things to believe — and you must be able to affirm all three calmly, soberly, truthfully — to walk in the shield of faith: The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 47 6. YAHWEH IS — He exists, He is sovereign, He is who He says He is. 7. He REWARDS those who seek Him — He is not arbitrary, He is not capricious, He honors faithfulness. 8. YOU are diligently seeking Him — you have examined yourself, you have repented of what you found, and you are walking in obedience to the best of your knowledge. If all three of those are true — YOU HAVE THE SHIELD OF FAITH. And: Ephesians 6:16 "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The shield is not magical. The shield is the calm, settled confidence that YAHWEH is on your side, that you are walking with Him, and that no fiery dart of the adversary can land on you that He has not already permitted for your tempering. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 48 That is the only defense against the adversary worth having. Not loud rebukes. Not anointing oil flung around the room. Not chants and incantations. Settled confidence in your standing with YAHWEH. And that confidence comes only from honest, thorough self-examination — and the assurance, after the examination, that you are clean before His eyes. Saints, the average believer cannot pray the Job 34 prayer truthfully. The average believer has never done a thorough self-examination. The average believer has dozens of small sins he has never repented of. The average believer cannot affirm point three of Hebrews 11:6 — "YOU are diligently seeking Him" — with a clear conscience. That is why the average believer does not have the shield of faith. And that is why every fiery dart from the adversary lands. Because the shield is missing. You can have the shield. You can pray the Job 34 prayer truthfully. You can stand in the day of trial like Yahshua stood — committed to Him that judges The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 49 righteously, unshaken by the silence, untroubled by the fiery darts. But you have to do the work. Examine. Repent. Then trust. REMEMBER THE THIRD CATEGORY And saints — keep in front of you what we settled at the very start of tonight. Before you ever run this audit, remember that not every trouble belongs in this process at all. Some of what you carry is neither Hammer nor Forge — it is simply the friction of mortal life: the aging body that is returning to dust, or the free choices of a grown child whose hedge is their own. Do not drag those into the courtroom of self-examination. This audit is for discerning a genuine trial — not for manufacturing guilt over the ordinary weight of living. Reflection Question Five: Tonight, before you leave this Sabbath gathering, can you walk through Job 31 and your own life — and pass the test? If not, what is the one thing you need to make right this week? Don't wait. Don't put it off. Start tomorrow morning. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 50 SECTION 11 — THE LESSON FOR FHMI Saints of First Harvest Ministries International — hear me now. This part is for us, specifically. We are not the average church. We are not the casual Sunday-keeping crowd. We are not the pre-trib rapture, eat-bacon-on-Easter, Christmas-tree-in-the-living-room, name-it-and-claim-it crowd. We are a covenant people. We keep the Sabbath. We keep the feasts. We use YAHWEH'S name and Yahshua's name. We honor His Torah. We have separated ourselves from the apostate Christianity of the modern age. That means YAHWEH expects more of us. Much, much more. Luke 12:48 "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." We have been given MUCH. We have been given the truth of the Sabbath, when most of the Christian world is still keeping the day of the sun. We have been given the truth The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 51 of the feasts, when most of the Christian world is still celebrating pagan festivals. We have been given the truth of YAHWEH'S name and Yahshua's name, when most of the Christian world has substituted Greek and Latin titles for the Hebrew name of the Almighty. We have been given the truth of Torah, when most of the Christian world has been deceived into thinking the law was nailed to the cross. We have been given MUCH. And so much will be REQUIRED. What does this mean practically? It means that some of the trouble that comes into our lives at FHMI IS the hammer of judgment. It is YAHWEH chastising us specifically because we know better. It is YAHWEH chastising us for Sabbath compromise — when you start letting the world creep into the seventh day. For feast neglect — when you start treating Pesach and Sukkot like they are optional. For tithing failure — when you start robbing YAHWEH because the bills are tight. For marriage neglect — when you start treating your The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 52 wife or husband like an obstacle instead of a covenant partner. For tongue-sin — when you let your mouth run gossip and slander among the brethren. For half-hearted obedience — when you give YAHWEH half the loaf and keep the other half for yourself. When THAT is the cause of the trouble — no amount of "rebuking the devil" will move it. The devil is not the problem. YAHWEH is the problem, because YAHWEH put it there. The only fix is REPENTANCE. Real repentance. Turn-around-and-walk-the-other-way repentance. Not the watered-down, "Lord I'm sorry if I might have done something somewhere" prayer. Real, named, specific, measurable repentance. But — and hear me on this — some of the trouble that comes upon you, FHMI saints, is NOT judgment. Some of you are walking with extreme care. You are tithing faithfully. You are keeping every Sabbath. You are observing every feast. You are raising your children in Torah. You are honoring your spouse. You are walking in holiness as best you know how — and yet the trial keeps The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 53 coming. The sickness will not lift. The finances will not improve. The relationship will not heal. Saints — that may be the forge. That may be tempering. YAHWEH may be making a sword out of you, and you are at the cold-water stage. The blade is shaped, the blade is sharp, but it has to be tempered before it can be wielded. Do not fail the trust test. Do not let the silence of YAHWEH convince you He has become your enemy. He has not. He never will. He is forging you for something you have not yet seen. He is preparing you for ministry, or for trial, or for tribulation, or for the day of His coming, in ways you do not yet understand. Trust Him in the silence. Trust Him in the silence. And let me say something else, FHMI. We are living in the last days. The 2035 marker is right in front of us. The end of the 6,000 years is upon us. The gross darkness Yeshayahu prophesied is rolling in, and the Goshen of YAHWEH'S preserved people is going to need to be tempered — not just shaped, not just sharpened, but TEMPERED — to stand in the day that is coming. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 54 That means YAHWEH is going to put more pressure on this assembly than most of you have ever experienced. Not because you have sinned. Because He is making swords. He is making blades that will not bend in the day of battle. He is making a remnant that will hold the line when the world goes mad. Some of you are in the cold water right now. Some of you are about to be. Pass the trust test. Do not break under the pressure. Do not let the silence of heaven convince you that YAHWEH has stopped loving you. He has not. He is forging you. And one more thing for FHMI. We have a particular danger as a small, intentional, separated community. The danger is that we become like Job's friends. That when we see a brother or sister in trial, we automatically assume they must have sinned. We start whispering. We start speculating. We start spiritualizing. "Did you hear about brother so-and-so? I bet he had unrepented sin in his life. That's why this is happening." The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 55 "Sister so-and-so is going through something. I bet she compromised somewhere. The Lord is dealing with her." Saints — DO NOT BE JOB'S FRIENDS. YAHWEH'S wrath was kindled against them. He demanded seven bullocks and seven rams of sacrifice from them — and even then, He said "and my servant Job shall pray for you, for HIM will I accept." If we become a community of Job's-friends, gossiping about each other's trials and assuming hidden sin — we will incur the wrath of YAHWEH. Not the trouble. Not the trial. The wrath of YAHWEH. Because nothing offends YAHWEH more than His servants accusing each other of sins they have not committed. When you see a brother or sister in trial — pray for them. Walk with them. Encourage them to examine themselves. But do NOT assume you know what is going on between them and YAHWEH. You do not. The brother sitting next to you tonight may be in a Job season. The sister across the room may be in a Job season. Their trial may have nothing to do with sin. It may be The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 56 tempering. Bear them up. Hold them up. Pray for them. Do not accuse them. And if you yourself are in a Job season — do not let the well-meaning Job's-friends in your life knock you off the trust line. They may mean well. They may even be loving. But they may be wrong. And YAHWEH'S verdict on you is what matters — not theirs. SECTION 12 — THE FINAL CHARGE Now hear the closing of this matter, saints. Hear it well. Job 42:7-8 "And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for HIM will I accept: lest I deal with you The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 57 after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job." Hear it. Three times. "My servant Job." "My servant Job." "My servant Job." Even though Job stumbled in trust at the end. Even though Job had to repent in dust and ashes. Even though Job said things in the middle of the trial that he should not have said — YAHWEH still calls him MY SERVANT. And YAHWEH'S anger was not against Job. YAHWEH'S anger was against the friends. The ones who insisted Job MUST have sinned. The ones who built their entire theology on a vision from a lying spirit. The ones who, instead of helping their brother, piled accusations on him. YAHWEH demanded seven bullocks and seven rams of sacrifice from Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Seven and seven. That is a covenantal completion number — a sacrifice large enough to atone for what they had done. And even then, YAHWEH said the sacrifice alone was not enough — they needed Job to pray for them. Job, The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 58 the man they had falsely accused, had to intercede on their behalf. Otherwise YAHWEH would have dealt with them after their folly. Do you understand what that says, saints? The man who suffers wrongly becomes the priest who prays for those who accused him wrongly. That is the gospel pattern. That is the Yahshua pattern. "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." The very people who tortured Yahshua on the stake — Yahshua interceded for them from the stake itself. The very people who pile accusation on the suffering saint — that suffering saint will one day be the priest who stands between them and YAHWEH'S wrath. So here is the final charge tonight. Three things. Three commands. Take them home with you. Live them out. Teach them to your children. Practice them when the next trouble comes — and the next trouble is coming, saints. The hedge will open again. The question is not if, but The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 59 when. And when it opens, you must be ready. You must know what to do. You must know which trial you are in. FIRST: Examine yourself, before YAHWEH, before you ever rebuke a devil. When trouble comes — before you say a single word about the enemy — get on your face. Walk through Job 31 in your own life. Run the audit. Do the inventory. Find out if there is anything in your life that opened the gate. And if there is — repent. Repent specifically. Repent quickly. Make it right. Restore. Do not be afraid to find sin. Sin found is sin that can be removed. Sin hidden is sin that becomes a hammer that does not stop falling. Be a man — be a woman — who is unafraid of the mirror. Most believers are terrified of the mirror. Terrified of what they will see. Terrified to look. So when trouble comes, they reach for the megaphone of "the enemy is attacking me!" — because the megaphone is easier than the mirror. But the mirror is what frees you. The mirror is what stops the hammer. The mirror is what restores you. Pick up the mirror first. Always. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 60 SECOND: When you find no sin and the trial continues — TRUST. Do not do what Job did. Do not let the silence of YAHWEH convince you He has become your enemy. He has not. He never will. The Father who built the hedge around you in the first place is the Father who has now stepped back to temper you. The cold water is part of the forging. The shock is part of the process. Trust Him in the silence. Pass the test that Job failed. Be like Yahshua — commit yourself to Him that judges righteously, and trust Him from the stake itself. When the bills do not get paid and you have done nothing wrong — trust. When the doctor's report comes back bad and you have done nothing wrong — trust. When the spouse walks out and you have done nothing wrong — trust. When the ministry shrinks and you have done nothing wrong — trust. When the prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling and you have done nothing wrong — TRUST. Because YAHWEH did not become your enemy The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 61 when the silence began. He became your forge. And the forge is finishing you, not destroying you. THIRD: Never become Job's friends. When you see a brother or sister in trial — never assume hidden sin. Pray for them. Walk with them. Encourage examination, but do not accuse. Because YAHWEH'S wrath is kindled against the accusers, not against the sufferers. And as a covenant assembly, we cannot afford to incur the wrath of YAHWEH by accusing the brethren He has called His servants. Be the kind of brother, the kind of sister, who can sit in the ash heap with another saint and say nothing. Job's friends were actually good for the first seven days — they sat with him in silence, and Scripture commends that silence. The trouble started when they opened their mouths. Sometimes the most ministerial thing you can do is shut your mouth and weep with the weeping. You do not have to fix it. You do not have to explain it. You do not have to diagnose it. Just be there. Hold their hand. Pass them a tissue. Bring them a meal. Pray quietly. Let The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 62 YAHWEH be the One who explains the trial. He does not need your help in the explanation department. YAHWEH still calls them His servants — even when they stumble in the trial. He calls them His servants when nobody else does. He calls them His servants when the friends have abandoned them. He calls them His servants when they are sitting in the ash heap scraping their boils with broken pottery. And the man who suffers wrongly becomes the priest who prays for those who accused him. Saints — hear me as I close this matter. You have sat under three hours of teaching tonight. Three hours. Some of you have not sat through three hours of preaching since you were children. You came hungry, and YAHWEH fed you. You came weary, and YAHWEH refreshed you. Now you The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 63 must carry it home. Do not let what you have heard become a Sabbath echo that fades by Tuesday. Take the Hammer-and-Forge table home with you. Photograph it on your phone if you must. Tape it to your refrigerator. Tape it to your Bible cover. Memorize the difference. Because the next trouble that walks through your door — and it will walk through your door, saints, because the hedge will open again — you will not have time to come find Pastor Shane and ask, "What kind of trial is this?" You will need to know. You will need to discern. You will need to walk through Job 31 yourself. You will need to know whether to repent, or whether to trust. And the saint who knows the difference is the saint who walks in maturity. I am not preparing children tonight, FHMI. I am preparing mature sons and daughters. I am preparing the bride that makes herself ready. I am preparing a remnant that can stand in the gross darkness of the days ahead, when the trouble will not be little — it will be massive, civilizational, historic. The kind of trouble where The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 64 a man cannot afford to spend three weeks confused about whether he sinned or whether he is being tempered. The kind of trouble where you must know immediately, get the diagnosis right immediately, and respond rightly immediately — because the cost of getting it wrong will be too high. That is the people I am preparing. That is the people YAHWEH has called you to be. Tempered. Discerning. Mature. Not panicked. Not rebuking shadows. Not crying "the enemy" at every shift in the wind. Anchored. Knowing your Father. Knowing His ways. Knowing the difference between His hammer and His forge. Examine yourself. Repent if you must. Trust if you can. And know the difference. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 65 CLOSING PRAYER Stand to your feet, saints. Hands lifted. Hearts open. YAHWEH, our Father, the Elohim of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov — Tonight Your people have heard hard words. Words that cut both ways. Words that demand we examine ourselves before we open our mouths to rebuke a devil. Words that demand we trust You even when the silence of heaven feels like rejection. Father, teach us to know the difference between Your hammer and Your forge. Teach us to repent quickly when we have sinned. Teach us to trust patiently when we have not. Teach us to never accuse You of injustice — and never, ever, to excuse our own iniquity. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 66 Father, build the hedge thick around this assembly. Build it thick around our marriages. Build it thick around our children. Build it thick around our finances. Build it thick around our ministry. And when You see fit to open the gate — for correction or for tempering — give us the wisdom to know which one it is, and the grace to respond rightly. Make us a tempered people, Father. A people that the adversary cannot break — because we are submitted to You, hedged by You, and forged by You. Forgive us, Father, for the times we have been Job's friends instead of Job's brothers. Forgive us for assuming sin where there was only suffering. Forgive us for piling accusation onto the wounded. And let us, from this day forward, be a community that lifts up the suffering rather than condemning them. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 67 And Father — for those of us in this room tonight who are in a Job season — strengthen us. Steady us. Help us to pass the trust test on the first try. Help us not to fail like Job did. Help us to commit ourselves to You like Yahshua did, and to trust You from the cold water of the forge. In the name of Your Son, Yahshua HaMashiach, who trusted You even in the silence of the stake — we pray. Amen. The Hedge and the Hammer · Part Two: Tempering Through the Charge First Harvest Ministries International · Rev. John Shane Vaughn · Page 68 SHABBAT SHALOM, FHMI Rev. John Shane Vaughn Founding Apostolic Overseer First Harvest Ministries International