July 16, 2024 • 27 mins
Welcome to another powerful episode of "Faith It Till You Make It" with James Masse.
Join us for the third and final installment of "Forget The Former Things" as we dive deep into the transformative power of faith and God's unwavering love.
James, with heartfelt stories and scripture, takes us on a journey through the incredible process of metamorphosis, drawing parallels between the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly and our spiritual evolution.
Discover how to shed your old self, embrace God's calling, and step boldly into the new life that He has prepared for you. Remember, God is doing a new thing, so we must walk by faith, not by sight.
And just like the angel told Lot's wife... 'Don't look back.'
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hi, my name is Charlotte. I want to welcome you to Faith It Till You Make It
with my daddy, James Masse.
Me and my sister just want to thank you all for being here.
Hi, my name is Gracie Bell. We just want to remind you. Jesus loves you! Bye!
(00:22):
What's up, everybody? Welcome to Faith It Till You Make It.
I am your host, James Masse. So before we get started, I just want to make
it a habit to start off the show with some good news. Amen.
So no matter who you are, where you've been, what you've done,
or where you're headed, Jesus loves you.
He knows you by name and he has amazing plans for your life.
(00:42):
Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed himself for our salvation.
And then three days later, he rose again, conquering death, hell, and the grave.
All you have to do is believe in him, repent of your sins, invite him into your
heart, and follow his lead. I promise you, it will be the best and most important
decision of your entire life.
And if it sounds too good to be true, that's because it should be.
(01:03):
But luckily for us, there's Jesus.
And that is why we call it the good news. Your ticket to heaven is already paid
in full. So just pick up your cross and let's go.
Welcome back, Faith and Family. This is episode 10, and this is the third and
final installment of Forget the Former Things.
(01:25):
We're going to jump right back into it. So let's go.
Scripture says that no weapon formed against us will ever prosper, right?
But we should make sure that we are not the weapon formed against ourselves.
Right? Because our hearts can be so deceitful.
Because why? Because they're made of flesh.
(01:47):
And why? Because flesh is weak and easily controlled because of our carnal nature, right?
Make sure that you are not the weapon formed against yourself.
Because when you pray, right, when you pray and you're trying to discern the
voices that you're hearing, there's the voice of God, right?
(02:08):
There's the voice of the enemy, but then
there's the voice of yourself your carnal
desire your flesh which is sadly and
then man my pastor just talked about this today too and i
already had this written this is funny and there's and there's also the voice
of the world right so there's god the devil yourself and the world you got to
(02:31):
try to discern what's what right and sadly because of our carnal nature our
voice and the enemy's voice are similar They're similar.
Man, being a Christian is a lot of work, ain't it?
Being a Christian is a lot of work. It's worth it, though.
It's worth it. Just remember what he did for you, for me, for us, on Calvary. Praise God.
(02:59):
So 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come, and the old has gone. on, right? The new is here.
So don't look back because God has told us that he is doing a new thing. It's exciting.
(03:19):
Listen, we can't talk about transformation without talking about the most,
it's got to be the most incredible transformation in the entire,
I can't say animal kingdom, but but possibly in the world, and that is metamorphosis, right?
The butterfly, the caterpillar. I heard a sermon one time talking about how
(03:44):
it's like such an incredible thing that God did with caterpillars and butterflies because...
It's just so impossible. If you look at a caterpillar, there's nothing that
says that this worm, right, this fuzzy worm is ever going to be a butterfly.
(04:06):
There's no, it just makes no sense, right?
But that caterpillar is just crawling around, right? So when the caterpillar
is born, all it does is eat.
It's only, it's just got to eat and eat and eat, right?
It doesn't even know why. It doesn't know that it's going to be a butterfly.
It probably is crawling around on its belly and looking up and seeing all these
(04:29):
beautiful butterflies flying all over the place.
And meanwhile, like it has no idea that that is its destiny, right?
It's kind of like, it's kind of like us, some of us who have these amazing callings
on our lives. and we feel like a caterpillar that we're just crawling around
on our bellies and just eating and getting to the next day, right?
(04:49):
Watching other people flying around, look, you know, beautiful wings.
I mean, we all want, right? We all are, we all think at least we're ready for our wings, right?
But like, this is a whole nother part of transforming, right?
And not looking in the rear view mirror and looking through the windshield and
forgetting the former things, right?
And allowing God to do a new thing because we all want a butterfly life, right?
(05:14):
But you can't have a butterfly life if you're still thinking caterpillar thoughts, right?
It's time to just allow this metamorphosis to take place and embrace it, right?
Embrace it. You think a butterfly ever comes out of the cocoon and is looking
(05:35):
back and saying, man, I want to hop back in this cocoon and give these wings
back so I can crawl around on my belly, right? Of course not.
Of course not. The butterfly would never look in the rearview mirror.
That's the kind of attitude we got to have, you know?
So it's actually pretty incredible. Pull this up. Let me see what this says.
(05:56):
Chrysalis, right? So after reaching a certain size, so pretty much the caterpillar
is born and just eats and sheds and eats and sheds, right?
So after reaching a certain size, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis or pupa.
The caterpillar's body, this is incredible. This is just, only God could do something like this.
(06:17):
The caterpillar literally creates like a
little cocoon thing right and inside that
cocoon the caterpillar's body breaks
down and enzymes break down the caterpillar's entire body and all the tissues
into soup so like when you look at a caterpillar the reason you can't see a
(06:37):
butterfly in that caterpillar is because it's not that the caterpillar just
goes to sleep in this in this sleeping bag and comes out with like with with wings.
It literally just turns into soup.
It turns into slime and then rebuilds itself.
This is what this caterpillar is doing in there.
(07:00):
Completely rebuilds itself. It doesn't even have the same amount of legs,
the same body, the same structure. There is nothing.
When you look at that caterpillar, there's nothing that says that thing could ever be a butterfly.
So when you get a dream from God, when God puts something on your heart and
you say, there's just no way I can never, where's the funding going to come
(07:21):
from? Where's the time going to come from?
Where's the opportunity going to come from?
Guess what? You got no idea what he's doing, what he's planning, what he's capable of.
All things are possible with God, right? So when God puts it on your heart,
when you're a caterpillar crawling around on your belly and God puts it on your
heart that you're going to fly.
(07:42):
You just accept your wings. You just got to be obedient.
When he tells that caterpillar to go in this little cocoon and turn yourself
into soup, trust me, it's going to be worth it, right?
You know how uncomfortable it probably is for that caterpillar,
right? It's uncomfortable growing wings, right?
You think it was comfortable when God told David he was going to be king and
(08:04):
then David found himself in a cave getting hunted down?
The king was trying to murder him? You think it was comfortable for Joseph when
he saw these amazing things God was going to do for him, but then his brothers
throw him in a pit, sell him into slavery,
gets accused of something he didn't do, and now he's sitting in prison, right?
(08:25):
Sometimes once we get that vision from God, everything starts happening in the
opposite direction, right?
But it's all a process. It's all a process, and this caterpillar's got to tough
it out, and it's going to be worth it, right?
Well, sometimes we got to tough it out, and it's got to be worth it.
We can't, we got to stop thinking caterpillar thoughts and expect to have a butterfly life.
(08:47):
God is trying to give us our wings, right? We got to be obedient.
We got to walk by faith and not by sight.
If you walk by faith and not by sight, it shouldn't be too hard.
I know that's easier said than done I'm not saying
it's not hard for me but it's just such
a reminder walk by faith and not
by sight there's a reason that's in there because
(09:10):
if we walk by sight we cannot make it we can't because we can't rationalize
God's way of thinking God is outside of space and time right we go into situations
and we weigh our own bank accounts our own abilities our own strengths,
weaknesses, relationships.
(09:30):
But if God called you to it, he's going to bring you through it, right?
God didn't bring you this far to leave you. That's written. I'm going to,
I'm not, I don't have my Bible in front of me, but I'm just going to paraphrase this.
It says, there's a scripture that says God is faithful to finish,
like pretty much God is faithful to finish the work that he started in you, right?
(09:54):
Into the coming of Jesus Christ, something along those lines.
But God is, if he started something in you, he doesn't just,
he doesn't just like start it and then just, just stop.
He has a purpose for you, right? He has huge plans for us.
Listen, he created us. He knit us together in our mother's wombs.
He gave us a calling, a destiny, a path.
(10:19):
Then he came down here and died for us. Do you know how much he's invested in us?
He wants us. you don't do
all that for no reason and still
we mess up over and over and over and crawl back to
him over and over and over and he's always
there open arms waiting we dirty this temple over and over and over and the
(10:43):
holy spirit just sticks it out right that's love he's love that's wild though
So that whole metamorphosis thing is really incredible.
So whenever you feel like you can't see away, imagine what that caterpillar
thinks when he comes out of that cocoon, out of that pupa, whatever it's called.
(11:07):
Right? So try to remember that.
There's no sign at all in nature,
in science, in anything thing that says
like when you look at a caterpillar that this
thing could ever fly or ever become a butterfly just doesn't
even make any sense but that's how it is sometimes right
(11:31):
because you know who created it the one whose thoughts are so far above our
thoughts and ways are so far above our ways right so when you look in the mirror
and you say this caterpillar can never fly because i don't have the right connections
or the money or the time or the skills.
Just remember that, that your father, do you know who your father is?
(11:54):
He's got all the money. He's got all the connection. He knows all the people. He's got all the skills.
He's got it all planned out, right?
You can't see your wings, but he can.
Just like Gideon, mighty warrior. That's what the angel called him.
He said, well, you got the wrong guy.
The angel said, no, you have no idea what God put in you.
(12:16):
You look in the mirror, you see a caterpillar, but God knows he put a butterfly in you, right?
By the way, I'm going to take all your soldiers and send you out there with
300 dudes and watch what God does. I mean, just incredible. Just incredible.
Trust him. Walk by faith and not by sight. And watch what he does.
(12:37):
There's another example in scriptures, right? That we're to forget the former
things and to move forward into the things that God has for us, right?
This concept I'm talking about is mentioned in Mark, Luke, and Matthew,
but I'm going to jump into it.
In Matthew 9, 17, it says, people don't pour new wine into old wine wineskins.
(12:57):
If they do, the skins will burst and the wine will run out and the skins will be ruined.
Instead, they pour the new wine into new wineskins so that both are preserved,
right? God's doing a new thing.
So if he's doing a new thing, he needs the new you, right?
To move into the new thing without the old you holding you back.
(13:21):
Remember the old you? Just think right now. Just think.
Because sometimes I have to do this. Sometimes I feel like, man,
am I really a Christian? Like, have I really changed?
Am I a man of God? Am I a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Can I really say that? Do I feel like I'm doing enough?
(13:45):
Do I feel like my thoughts align with that? Am I picking my Bible up enough? Do I pray enough, right?
And it's so easy to fall into that rabbit hole.
And why do you think? Because there's the devil jamming you into it, right?
Shoving you deeper and deeper and telling you everything you don't want to hear, right?
(14:08):
But really remember the old you. Think of where you were when Jesus found you,
where you were when Jesus rescued you, because I remember where I was,
and I remember who I was, and when I remember that,
it really, really shows me how far I've come and how much God has done. It's a miracle to me.
(14:29):
My thoughts, my actions, my beliefs, my boundaries, my parameters.
Sometimes you got to go back to that place. I know none of us want to.
I know none of us because if you were in that place to where you cried out to
Jesus and he rescued you, it's a place you probably I want to forget,
but you know, never forget. Right.
(14:53):
I heard a pastor one time say this, like what made King David so amazing is
that he never forgot the harp, right?
He was the most powerful man in the world, but he never forgot the harp.
He never forgot his harp. He never forgot where he came from. Right.
(15:13):
Never forget where you were when Jesus found you. And it will remind you how
far you've come, how far he has carried you, right?
Remember the old you. Remember the old you, the one that God already healed
and delivered and freed you from. He freed you from that.
(15:34):
Leave them in the past. You're a new creation, right?
Who the Son sets free is free indeed. Amen.
You're free. You're no longer required to take any of that package with you.
Jesus took it. Jesus took it to the cross on your behalf, right?
(15:54):
And the devil will do anything he can to make you forget that or to make you
not believe that or to make you question that, right?
Just like he did to Eve. And because Eve didn't know who she was, she fell right into it.
Because Eve didn't know who she was, she fell right into it.
(16:15):
Do you know that Eve did not even have a name until after the fall?
She didn't even have a name. Her name was Eve after the fall.
Of course she didn't know who she was, right? But Eve didn't have Romans 12 too.
We do. We know who we are, right? We're born again.
So we know who we are and we know whose we are, right?
(16:37):
We're no no longer conformed to the patterns of this world, right? We have Romans 12 too.
We are no longer conformed to the patterns of this world, but we are transformed,
transformed by the renewing of our minds. Amen?
Yes. You got to know whose you are. You got to know who you are.
You got to know whose you are, right?
(16:58):
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Know I always say this is not just an Instagram post or a bumper sticker. This is scripture.
But man, if there is one that makes a great Instagram post and a great bumper sticker, it is that.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Oh, I bet the devil hates that. Oh, he hates that.
(17:23):
The devil likes to hinder any sort of blessings that God means for us to receive, right?
He likes to, you know what he likes to do. I just talked about this.
I don't know if it was last week or two weeks ago or something,
but he likes to hide it with thick fog, right?
The fog is fear and he'll do whatever he can to slow down our blessing or to
(17:46):
make us quit before it reaches us, right?
Remember the angel Gabriel talking to Daniel?
He says, God heard you the second you prayed, but I've been fighting through
forces of darkness for 21 days to get to you.
That's the angel Gabriel, personally.
Okay? 21 days it took him to get to Daniel. That's the time from when you pray
(18:09):
for it to when it can get to you.
I mean, the devil's hoping that we quit, that we don't have perseverance.
This is why the Bible tells us, like, count it all joy, because hard times give us perseverance.
We're going to need perseverance for things like this, right?
Just remember that fog is only fear. The devil's always going to throw fog in
(18:31):
front of any door God opens, but just remember any door God opens, nobody can shut, right?
You're always going to have to go through fear to get anything worthwhile. Always.
All the best things are on the other side of fear. You're supposed to be scared.
We know this. Fear is only fog.
There's nothing to it. If you just walk into fog, it scatters,
(18:54):
right? Just take one step.
I know it's scary. Just take one step in the direction God's telling you to
go. One step at a time and the fog just separates.
The fear just moves. It takes no physical effort. It's all mental.
That's why we're not told, we're commanded.
(19:16):
We are commanded in Joshua 1, right? Yeah, Joshua 1, to be strong and courageous.
It has absolutely no power over you. Just go.
Just take one step at a time. And as the fog scatters, the path will extend
right before your eyes. Just got to have obedience.
(19:38):
Pray for boldness. pray for courage pray
for confidence right because greater
is he who is in you than he who
is in this world and there's nothing there's nothing he who is in this world
can do about that because it is written and because jesus has already won for
(19:58):
us don't look back and remember to forget the former things, right?
God's doing a new thing. But in order to have something you've never had, right?
If you're being called, if God is calling you to something, especially if it's
(20:21):
something so much bigger than you, which it is, if he's calling you to it,
of course you can't do it.
If you could do it, you wouldn't need him, right?
That's a good sign. I know it's easier said than done. Here I am preaching this,
and then I'll be fighting this all week.
You know what I'm saying? So again, I'm not preaching at you.
(20:42):
I need to hear this as much as I'm saying it. Trust me.
But God is doing a new thing.
In order to have something you've
never had, you're going to have to do something that you've never done.
And that's just the truth.
In order to be someone you've never been, you are going to have to fully detach
(21:09):
from the person that you were.
You're a new creation. You need to act like the new creation God created you
to be to bring you through this time in your life.
Maybe you were made for such a time as this.
You got to keep your eyes on the windshield and away from the rear view,
the cross before you and the world behind you, right?
(21:32):
The person that you prayed to God to deliver you and transform you away from,
you prayed for God to change you, to fix you, to heal you, right?
So the person that you were, you prayed to God to deliver you from them,
to transform you away from, to make you different, right? So let them go.
(21:55):
You're going to have to have a faith that you've never had before.
You're going to have to lean on Proverbs 3. It might be the best verse in the whole Bible.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Well, I can't say that because you got
John 3.16, you got Psalms. There's a lot of good ones, but this is one of my favorite.
(22:15):
Proverbs 3. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, right?
We get in trouble when we start trying to lean on our own and understanding,
but we can't do that because his ways are so far above our ways and his thoughts
are so far above our thoughts.
You can't try to rationalize it because it's irrational, because he's a way maker.
(22:35):
And I know it's a song, but it's the truth. He's a miracle worker and he's a
promise keeper and he is a light in the darkness.
He can do anything, anything.
You can't rationalize that.
You can't. So you just trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. Invite him into it, whatever it is.
(23:00):
Don't just assume he knows this is a mess, so he'll show up. No.
Acknowledge him, and he'll make your path straight. I go through seasons where
all I do is acknowledge him, and my life just starts running so much smoother.
And the second I get distracted and I stop doing it,
things just start falling apart i mean it's just the
(23:22):
truth and it's like oh well if you know that
then why do you ever let that happen it's because just like you we
get distracted we got kids and jobs
and bills and relationships and friends and
family and dishes you know what i'm saying and laundry right like and we got
(23:43):
the devil trying to distract us and just throwing fog in front of all the things
we're supposed to be looking at, right?
It's just wild. Everything is spiritual. Everything is spiritual.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against principalities
and the rulers of the darkness in this world.
(24:07):
All your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight, period.
So not only do we need to walk into the fog, right?
And pray that it moves out of our way, right? What I say before,
you got to know who you are and you got to know whose you are, right?
So if you know whose you are, you need to stomp into the fog in the authority
(24:29):
given to you by our Lord and Savior, you're Jesus Christ.
He tells us we have authority to trample snakes and scorpions, right?
So you stomp into the fog in that authority given to you by Jesus,
and you command the fog to scatter. And you know what happens?
It has no choice but to obey us.
(24:50):
So as long as we know who we are and whose we are, we have authority.
We have the power. We're in control.
The devil will do everything he can to convince us otherwise.
But greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world. Amen?
So forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. Because he is doing a new thing.
(25:15):
And now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I know you perceive it.
He's making a way in the wilderness, and he's making streams in the wasteland.
So get ready. And whatever you do, don't look back. .
Whether you know it or believe it, Ephesians tells us that we do not wrestle
(25:39):
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and the rulers of the darkness
in this world. So, let's pray.
Father, I take up the full and complete armor of God over everybody under the sound of my voice.
I declare and decree the cross and the blood of Jesus to protect us,
our families, and our peoples.
Father, with the power of prayer and all of your promises in scripture,
I take up the belt of truth. I take up the breastplate of righteousness.
(26:02):
I take up the boots of the gospel of peace. I take up the shield of faith,
I take up the helmet of salvation, and I take up the sword of the Spirit.
I take up the full and complete armor of God. I declare and decree that no weapon
formed against us shall ever prosper,
that God will never leave us nor forsake us, that God's plan is to bless us
and not to harm us, and that greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world.
(26:26):
I bind and rebuke any plan or
scheme that the enemy tries to form against us. I claim the word of God.
I claim the power of the Holy Spirit.
I claim all of God's armies of angels in heaven. And I claim the precious blood
of my Lord and Savior over our protection.
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I will answer.
Music.
(27:01):
Amen this is faith until you make it with James Masse and i just want to thank
everybody for being here i pray that you guys leave with a little bit more than
you came with get out there and tell somebody about the show.
And while you're out there, definitely tell somebody about Jesus.
Love you all. God bless you. And we'll see you next time.
Hi, my name is Charlotte. I want to welcome you to Faith It Till You Make It
with my daddy, James Masse.
Me and my sister just want to thank you all for being here.
Hi, my name is Gracie Bell. We just want to remind you. Jesus loves you! Bye!
(00:22):
What's up, everybody? Welcome to Faith It Till You Make It.
I am your host, James Masse. So before we get started, I just want to make
it a habit to start off the show with some good news. Amen.
So no matter who you are, where you've been, what you've done,
or where you're headed, Jesus loves you.
He knows you by name and he has amazing plans for your life.
(00:42):
Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed himself for our salvation.
And then three days later, he rose again, conquering death, hell, and the grave.
All you have to do is believe in him, repent of your sins, invite him into your
heart, and follow his lead. I promise you, it will be the best and most important
decision of your entire life.
And if it sounds too good to be true, that's because it should be.
(01:03):
But luckily for us, there's Jesus.
And that is why we call it the good news. Your ticket to heaven is already paid
in full. So just pick up your cross and let's go.
Welcome back, Faith and Family. This is episode 10, and this is the third and
final installment of Forget the Former Things.
(01:25):
We're going to jump right back into it. So let's go.
Scripture says that no weapon formed against us will ever prosper, right?
But we should make sure that we are not the weapon formed against ourselves.
Right? Because our hearts can be so deceitful.
Because why? Because they're made of flesh.
(01:47):
And why? Because flesh is weak and easily controlled because of our carnal nature, right?
Make sure that you are not the weapon formed against yourself.
Because when you pray, right, when you pray and you're trying to discern the
voices that you're hearing, there's the voice of God, right?
(02:08):
There's the voice of the enemy, but then
there's the voice of yourself your carnal
desire your flesh which is sadly and
then man my pastor just talked about this today too and i
already had this written this is funny and there's and there's also the voice
of the world right so there's god the devil yourself and the world you got to
(02:31):
try to discern what's what right and sadly because of our carnal nature our
voice and the enemy's voice are similar They're similar.
Man, being a Christian is a lot of work, ain't it?
Being a Christian is a lot of work. It's worth it, though.
It's worth it. Just remember what he did for you, for me, for us, on Calvary. Praise God.
(02:59):
So 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come, and the old has gone. on, right? The new is here.
So don't look back because God has told us that he is doing a new thing. It's exciting.
(03:19):
Listen, we can't talk about transformation without talking about the most,
it's got to be the most incredible transformation in the entire,
I can't say animal kingdom, but but possibly in the world, and that is metamorphosis, right?
The butterfly, the caterpillar. I heard a sermon one time talking about how
(03:44):
it's like such an incredible thing that God did with caterpillars and butterflies because...
It's just so impossible. If you look at a caterpillar, there's nothing that
says that this worm, right, this fuzzy worm is ever going to be a butterfly.
(04:06):
There's no, it just makes no sense, right?
But that caterpillar is just crawling around, right? So when the caterpillar
is born, all it does is eat.
It's only, it's just got to eat and eat and eat, right?
It doesn't even know why. It doesn't know that it's going to be a butterfly.
It probably is crawling around on its belly and looking up and seeing all these
(04:29):
beautiful butterflies flying all over the place.
And meanwhile, like it has no idea that that is its destiny, right?
It's kind of like, it's kind of like us, some of us who have these amazing callings
on our lives. and we feel like a caterpillar that we're just crawling around
on our bellies and just eating and getting to the next day, right?
(04:49):
Watching other people flying around, look, you know, beautiful wings.
I mean, we all want, right? We all are, we all think at least we're ready for our wings, right?
But like, this is a whole nother part of transforming, right?
And not looking in the rear view mirror and looking through the windshield and
forgetting the former things, right?
And allowing God to do a new thing because we all want a butterfly life, right?
(05:14):
But you can't have a butterfly life if you're still thinking caterpillar thoughts, right?
It's time to just allow this metamorphosis to take place and embrace it, right?
Embrace it. You think a butterfly ever comes out of the cocoon and is looking
(05:35):
back and saying, man, I want to hop back in this cocoon and give these wings
back so I can crawl around on my belly, right? Of course not.
Of course not. The butterfly would never look in the rearview mirror.
That's the kind of attitude we got to have, you know?
So it's actually pretty incredible. Pull this up. Let me see what this says.
(05:56):
Chrysalis, right? So after reaching a certain size, so pretty much the caterpillar
is born and just eats and sheds and eats and sheds, right?
So after reaching a certain size, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis or pupa.
The caterpillar's body, this is incredible. This is just, only God could do something like this.
(06:17):
The caterpillar literally creates like a
little cocoon thing right and inside that
cocoon the caterpillar's body breaks
down and enzymes break down the caterpillar's entire body and all the tissues
into soup so like when you look at a caterpillar the reason you can't see a
(06:37):
butterfly in that caterpillar is because it's not that the caterpillar just
goes to sleep in this in this sleeping bag and comes out with like with with wings.
It literally just turns into soup.
It turns into slime and then rebuilds itself.
This is what this caterpillar is doing in there.
(07:00):
Completely rebuilds itself. It doesn't even have the same amount of legs,
the same body, the same structure. There is nothing.
When you look at that caterpillar, there's nothing that says that thing could ever be a butterfly.
So when you get a dream from God, when God puts something on your heart and
you say, there's just no way I can never, where's the funding going to come
(07:21):
from? Where's the time going to come from?
Where's the opportunity going to come from?
Guess what? You got no idea what he's doing, what he's planning, what he's capable of.
All things are possible with God, right? So when God puts it on your heart,
when you're a caterpillar crawling around on your belly and God puts it on your
heart that you're going to fly.
(07:42):
You just accept your wings. You just got to be obedient.
When he tells that caterpillar to go in this little cocoon and turn yourself
into soup, trust me, it's going to be worth it, right?
You know how uncomfortable it probably is for that caterpillar,
right? It's uncomfortable growing wings, right?
You think it was comfortable when God told David he was going to be king and
(08:04):
then David found himself in a cave getting hunted down?
The king was trying to murder him? You think it was comfortable for Joseph when
he saw these amazing things God was going to do for him, but then his brothers
throw him in a pit, sell him into slavery,
gets accused of something he didn't do, and now he's sitting in prison, right?
(08:25):
Sometimes once we get that vision from God, everything starts happening in the
opposite direction, right?
But it's all a process. It's all a process, and this caterpillar's got to tough
it out, and it's going to be worth it, right?
Well, sometimes we got to tough it out, and it's got to be worth it.
We can't, we got to stop thinking caterpillar thoughts and expect to have a butterfly life.
(08:47):
God is trying to give us our wings, right? We got to be obedient.
We got to walk by faith and not by sight.
If you walk by faith and not by sight, it shouldn't be too hard.
I know that's easier said than done I'm not saying
it's not hard for me but it's just such
a reminder walk by faith and not
by sight there's a reason that's in there because
(09:10):
if we walk by sight we cannot make it we can't because we can't rationalize
God's way of thinking God is outside of space and time right we go into situations
and we weigh our own bank accounts our own abilities our own strengths,
weaknesses, relationships.
(09:30):
But if God called you to it, he's going to bring you through it, right?
God didn't bring you this far to leave you. That's written. I'm going to,
I'm not, I don't have my Bible in front of me, but I'm just going to paraphrase this.
It says, there's a scripture that says God is faithful to finish,
like pretty much God is faithful to finish the work that he started in you, right?
(09:54):
Into the coming of Jesus Christ, something along those lines.
But God is, if he started something in you, he doesn't just,
he doesn't just like start it and then just, just stop.
He has a purpose for you, right? He has huge plans for us.
Listen, he created us. He knit us together in our mother's wombs.
He gave us a calling, a destiny, a path.
(10:19):
Then he came down here and died for us. Do you know how much he's invested in us?
He wants us. you don't do
all that for no reason and still
we mess up over and over and over and crawl back to
him over and over and over and he's always
there open arms waiting we dirty this temple over and over and over and the
(10:43):
holy spirit just sticks it out right that's love he's love that's wild though
So that whole metamorphosis thing is really incredible.
So whenever you feel like you can't see away, imagine what that caterpillar
thinks when he comes out of that cocoon, out of that pupa, whatever it's called.
(11:07):
Right? So try to remember that.
There's no sign at all in nature,
in science, in anything thing that says
like when you look at a caterpillar that this
thing could ever fly or ever become a butterfly just doesn't
even make any sense but that's how it is sometimes right
(11:31):
because you know who created it the one whose thoughts are so far above our
thoughts and ways are so far above our ways right so when you look in the mirror
and you say this caterpillar can never fly because i don't have the right connections
or the money or the time or the skills.
Just remember that, that your father, do you know who your father is?
(11:54):
He's got all the money. He's got all the connection. He knows all the people. He's got all the skills.
He's got it all planned out, right?
You can't see your wings, but he can.
Just like Gideon, mighty warrior. That's what the angel called him.
He said, well, you got the wrong guy.
The angel said, no, you have no idea what God put in you.
(12:16):
You look in the mirror, you see a caterpillar, but God knows he put a butterfly in you, right?
By the way, I'm going to take all your soldiers and send you out there with
300 dudes and watch what God does. I mean, just incredible. Just incredible.
Trust him. Walk by faith and not by sight. And watch what he does.
(12:37):
There's another example in scriptures, right? That we're to forget the former
things and to move forward into the things that God has for us, right?
This concept I'm talking about is mentioned in Mark, Luke, and Matthew,
but I'm going to jump into it.
In Matthew 9, 17, it says, people don't pour new wine into old wine wineskins.
(12:57):
If they do, the skins will burst and the wine will run out and the skins will be ruined.
Instead, they pour the new wine into new wineskins so that both are preserved,
right? God's doing a new thing.
So if he's doing a new thing, he needs the new you, right?
To move into the new thing without the old you holding you back.
(13:21):
Remember the old you? Just think right now. Just think.
Because sometimes I have to do this. Sometimes I feel like, man,
am I really a Christian? Like, have I really changed?
Am I a man of God? Am I a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Can I really say that? Do I feel like I'm doing enough?
(13:45):
Do I feel like my thoughts align with that? Am I picking my Bible up enough? Do I pray enough, right?
And it's so easy to fall into that rabbit hole.
And why do you think? Because there's the devil jamming you into it, right?
Shoving you deeper and deeper and telling you everything you don't want to hear, right?
(14:08):
But really remember the old you. Think of where you were when Jesus found you,
where you were when Jesus rescued you, because I remember where I was,
and I remember who I was, and when I remember that,
it really, really shows me how far I've come and how much God has done. It's a miracle to me.
(14:29):
My thoughts, my actions, my beliefs, my boundaries, my parameters.
Sometimes you got to go back to that place. I know none of us want to.
I know none of us because if you were in that place to where you cried out to
Jesus and he rescued you, it's a place you probably I want to forget,
but you know, never forget. Right.
(14:53):
I heard a pastor one time say this, like what made King David so amazing is
that he never forgot the harp, right?
He was the most powerful man in the world, but he never forgot the harp.
He never forgot his harp. He never forgot where he came from. Right.
(15:13):
Never forget where you were when Jesus found you. And it will remind you how
far you've come, how far he has carried you, right?
Remember the old you. Remember the old you, the one that God already healed
and delivered and freed you from. He freed you from that.
(15:34):
Leave them in the past. You're a new creation, right?
Who the Son sets free is free indeed. Amen.
You're free. You're no longer required to take any of that package with you.
Jesus took it. Jesus took it to the cross on your behalf, right?
(15:54):
And the devil will do anything he can to make you forget that or to make you
not believe that or to make you question that, right?
Just like he did to Eve. And because Eve didn't know who she was, she fell right into it.
Because Eve didn't know who she was, she fell right into it.
(16:15):
Do you know that Eve did not even have a name until after the fall?
She didn't even have a name. Her name was Eve after the fall.
Of course she didn't know who she was, right? But Eve didn't have Romans 12 too.
We do. We know who we are, right? We're born again.
So we know who we are and we know whose we are, right?
(16:37):
We're no no longer conformed to the patterns of this world, right? We have Romans 12 too.
We are no longer conformed to the patterns of this world, but we are transformed,
transformed by the renewing of our minds. Amen?
Yes. You got to know whose you are. You got to know who you are.
You got to know whose you are, right?
(16:58):
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Know I always say this is not just an Instagram post or a bumper sticker. This is scripture.
But man, if there is one that makes a great Instagram post and a great bumper sticker, it is that.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Oh, I bet the devil hates that. Oh, he hates that.
(17:23):
The devil likes to hinder any sort of blessings that God means for us to receive, right?
He likes to, you know what he likes to do. I just talked about this.
I don't know if it was last week or two weeks ago or something,
but he likes to hide it with thick fog, right?
The fog is fear and he'll do whatever he can to slow down our blessing or to
(17:46):
make us quit before it reaches us, right?
Remember the angel Gabriel talking to Daniel?
He says, God heard you the second you prayed, but I've been fighting through
forces of darkness for 21 days to get to you.
That's the angel Gabriel, personally.
Okay? 21 days it took him to get to Daniel. That's the time from when you pray
(18:09):
for it to when it can get to you.
I mean, the devil's hoping that we quit, that we don't have perseverance.
This is why the Bible tells us, like, count it all joy, because hard times give us perseverance.
We're going to need perseverance for things like this, right?
Just remember that fog is only fear. The devil's always going to throw fog in
(18:31):
front of any door God opens, but just remember any door God opens, nobody can shut, right?
You're always going to have to go through fear to get anything worthwhile. Always.
All the best things are on the other side of fear. You're supposed to be scared.
We know this. Fear is only fog.
There's nothing to it. If you just walk into fog, it scatters,
(18:54):
right? Just take one step.
I know it's scary. Just take one step in the direction God's telling you to
go. One step at a time and the fog just separates.
The fear just moves. It takes no physical effort. It's all mental.
That's why we're not told, we're commanded.
(19:16):
We are commanded in Joshua 1, right? Yeah, Joshua 1, to be strong and courageous.
It has absolutely no power over you. Just go.
Just take one step at a time. And as the fog scatters, the path will extend
right before your eyes. Just got to have obedience.
(19:38):
Pray for boldness. pray for courage pray
for confidence right because greater
is he who is in you than he who
is in this world and there's nothing there's nothing he who is in this world
can do about that because it is written and because jesus has already won for
(19:58):
us don't look back and remember to forget the former things, right?
God's doing a new thing. But in order to have something you've never had, right?
If you're being called, if God is calling you to something, especially if it's
(20:21):
something so much bigger than you, which it is, if he's calling you to it,
of course you can't do it.
If you could do it, you wouldn't need him, right?
That's a good sign. I know it's easier said than done. Here I am preaching this,
and then I'll be fighting this all week.
You know what I'm saying? So again, I'm not preaching at you.
(20:42):
I need to hear this as much as I'm saying it. Trust me.
But God is doing a new thing.
In order to have something you've
never had, you're going to have to do something that you've never done.
And that's just the truth.
In order to be someone you've never been, you are going to have to fully detach
(21:09):
from the person that you were.
You're a new creation. You need to act like the new creation God created you
to be to bring you through this time in your life.
Maybe you were made for such a time as this.
You got to keep your eyes on the windshield and away from the rear view,
the cross before you and the world behind you, right?
(21:32):
The person that you prayed to God to deliver you and transform you away from,
you prayed for God to change you, to fix you, to heal you, right?
So the person that you were, you prayed to God to deliver you from them,
to transform you away from, to make you different, right? So let them go.
(21:55):
You're going to have to have a faith that you've never had before.
You're going to have to lean on Proverbs 3. It might be the best verse in the whole Bible.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Well, I can't say that because you got
John 3.16, you got Psalms. There's a lot of good ones, but this is one of my favorite.
(22:15):
Proverbs 3. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, right?
We get in trouble when we start trying to lean on our own and understanding,
but we can't do that because his ways are so far above our ways and his thoughts
are so far above our thoughts.
You can't try to rationalize it because it's irrational, because he's a way maker.
(22:35):
And I know it's a song, but it's the truth. He's a miracle worker and he's a
promise keeper and he is a light in the darkness.
He can do anything, anything.
You can't rationalize that.
You can't. So you just trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. Invite him into it, whatever it is.
(23:00):
Don't just assume he knows this is a mess, so he'll show up. No.
Acknowledge him, and he'll make your path straight. I go through seasons where
all I do is acknowledge him, and my life just starts running so much smoother.
And the second I get distracted and I stop doing it,
things just start falling apart i mean it's just the
(23:22):
truth and it's like oh well if you know that
then why do you ever let that happen it's because just like you we
get distracted we got kids and jobs
and bills and relationships and friends and
family and dishes you know what i'm saying and laundry right like and we got
(23:43):
the devil trying to distract us and just throwing fog in front of all the things
we're supposed to be looking at, right?
It's just wild. Everything is spiritual. Everything is spiritual.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against principalities
and the rulers of the darkness in this world.
(24:07):
All your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight, period.
So not only do we need to walk into the fog, right?
And pray that it moves out of our way, right? What I say before,
you got to know who you are and you got to know whose you are, right?
So if you know whose you are, you need to stomp into the fog in the authority
(24:29):
given to you by our Lord and Savior, you're Jesus Christ.
He tells us we have authority to trample snakes and scorpions, right?
So you stomp into the fog in that authority given to you by Jesus,
and you command the fog to scatter. And you know what happens?
It has no choice but to obey us.
(24:50):
So as long as we know who we are and whose we are, we have authority.
We have the power. We're in control.
The devil will do everything he can to convince us otherwise.
But greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world. Amen?
So forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. Because he is doing a new thing.
(25:15):
And now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I know you perceive it.
He's making a way in the wilderness, and he's making streams in the wasteland.
So get ready. And whatever you do, don't look back. .
Whether you know it or believe it, Ephesians tells us that we do not wrestle
(25:39):
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and the rulers of the darkness
in this world. So, let's pray.
Father, I take up the full and complete armor of God over everybody under the sound of my voice.
I declare and decree the cross and the blood of Jesus to protect us,
our families, and our peoples.
Father, with the power of prayer and all of your promises in scripture,
I take up the belt of truth. I take up the breastplate of righteousness.
(26:02):
I take up the boots of the gospel of peace. I take up the shield of faith,
I take up the helmet of salvation, and I take up the sword of the Spirit.
I take up the full and complete armor of God. I declare and decree that no weapon
formed against us shall ever prosper,
that God will never leave us nor forsake us, that God's plan is to bless us
and not to harm us, and that greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world.
(26:26):
I bind and rebuke any plan or
scheme that the enemy tries to form against us. I claim the word of God.
I claim the power of the Holy Spirit.
I claim all of God's armies of angels in heaven. And I claim the precious blood
of my Lord and Savior over our protection.
In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, I will answer.
Music.
(27:01):
Amen this is faith until you make it with James Masse and i just want to thank
everybody for being here i pray that you guys leave with a little bit more than
you came with get out there and tell somebody about the show.
And while you're out there, definitely tell somebody about Jesus.
Love you all. God bless you. And we'll see you next time.
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