February 17, 2025 • 35 mins
Can the trials and tribulations of daily life be a stepping stone towards a deeper faith journey? We explore this profound question with insights from Philippians 1:12-14, sharing personal stories from my life with my 16-year-old and 16-month-old children. Their unique challenges remind us of how every stage of life can test our patience and perspective, and how emotions like anger can be managed wisely for personal and spiritual growth.
Listeners are invited to consider the alignment between their lifestyle choices and their spiritual values. By reflecting on my own decision to exclusively listen to Christian music, I encourage a conversation on how our entertainment choices can impact our faith. It's an invitation to evaluate the habits and influences we hold onto, and a call for a deeper relationship with God through consistent spiritual growth and letting go of past attachments.
Through the biblical narratives of Paul and Joseph, we underscore the transformative power of perspective. Even in imprisonment, Paul saw opportunities to spread the gospel, and Joseph’s trials brought him closer to his divine purpose. We emphasize trusting God's timing and using our challenges as testimonies of faith. By shifting our perspective, we can turn obstacles into opportunities for growth, recognizing that our trials may be steps toward fulfilling our divine calling.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up?
Faith and failures.
Welcome back to another episode.
Today we're going to be divinginto something that I feel,
being that we're in February, weneed to check ourselves to see
if what we set out to do January1, if we are still being
(00:26):
intentional.
This is something we should doevery month a self-evaluation,
self-checking, seeing if we aresticking to what we believe.
Have we veered off and have wecompromised anything?
I preach and teach this all thetime that we, as believers.
(00:49):
The Bible says that they willknow God's love.
They will know who God is bythe way we love each other, and
I also believe that they willknow, or they will be shown,
what sin is.
They will be shown what trueChristians are by the way we
live our lives, and so they willdefine what is okay or what is
(01:10):
not okay, what morality is, whatmorality shouldn't be, by us.
So are we staying focused onthat and are we keeping a clear
vision of what the word says?
Are we remaining faithful towhat we say we believe is true?
So stick around, because we'reabout to dive in.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
(01:30):
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet considersubscribing, hit that bell
notification so that you can seeevery time I put out a new
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A Major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
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It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
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(01:51):
Anything, great or small, isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
So let's dive into our keyverse.
You know, usually we start offwith some scripture and we kind
(02:12):
of go through a few.
If you want to take screenshotsand if you would ever be
interested in the slides or theverses and stuff from the
episodes, I'm thinking aboutstarting, maybe, a Patreon where
every slide and every verse andevery text, whether in a PDF or
slides, you can just downloadand or screenshot on your phone.
I'm thinking about starting aPatreon that will kind of have
(02:36):
this type of stuff in it earlyreleases of episodes, things
like that, special live streamswhere we can do more of a Q&A,
one-on-one type feel.
So let me know in the commentsif you'd be interested in that,
because I plan on, if theinterest is high, to start off
with that very soon.
So don't forget, like you justsaw, to subscribe to the channel
(03:00):
.
And if you're listening on aplatform for podcasts, please
make sure to subscribe to that,follow the podcast and download
the episodes.
That helps me out greatly.
So let's look at Philippians 1,verses 12-14.
And I want you to know, my dearbrothers and sisters, that
(03:21):
everything that has happened tome here has helped to spread the
good news For everyone here,including the whole palace guard
knows that I am in chainsbecause of Christ and because of
my imprisonment, most of thebelievers here have gained
confidence, confidence andboldly speak God's message
(03:44):
without fear.
So here's the bottom line.
Now I don't know if you'veexperienced this, but if you're
of any amount of age, like Ihave a 16 year old right now, I
have a 16 month old right now,and both of them have different
levels of things.
They go through that to them,just like me being 39 years old.
(04:08):
Every tier of age group,whatever is happening in their
lives, when it happens to us, tomy little 16 month old, when
she doesn't get what she wants,it's the end of the world.
She will, she will grab herlittle face and she'll go and
she will slowly melt down.
It's just tearing her apart andthings are over my teenager.
(04:35):
He kind of does a rendition ofthat same thing.
When things aren't going hisway, he gets a little mouthy, he
gets sometimes belligerent.
Now, granted, there's a lot ofchemical things going on in his
head and new things happening tohis body.
So these are the very sensitivestages right now of where he
(04:56):
doesn't really he's experiencingnew things.
And so I have to be verygracious and not immediately get
upset with him, because I haveto realize that, okay, what I
have to teach him is beyond thefrustration, because we're
always going to get frustrated,we're always going to get upset,
we're always going to be insituations that could possibly
make us angry.
(05:17):
And yes, guys, you talk.
Some guys talk about womenbeing super emotional, but anger
is an emotion, so you are alsosuper emotional.
It's when your emotions, angerbeing one of those, runs away
with you.
And the Bible says that we areallowed to be angry, we are
allowed to be sad, we areallowed to have emotions.
It's a good thing to haveemotions, sometimes releasing
(05:39):
those emotions and like,sometimes, men and women, both,
I guess they just need a goodcry, and literally there is
scientific proof of, when youcry, the as things are pouring
out of your eyes.
So is mental, physical,emotional clarity.
You're being purified andpurged a little bit of emotional
(06:02):
blockage, emotional pileup.
So it's a good thing.
But everything in our life doeshappen, whether you're in a 15,
16 month old, you're at a 16year old, you're at a 40 year
old or you're at a 90 year old.
Life happens and thingsSometimes you just can't control
(06:23):
what happens.
Matter of fact, most of thetime you can't control what
happens.
But what can you control?
You can control yourperspective.
You can control the way youlook at things.
You can change the way you seethings.
Change your perspective on life, change your perspective on
(06:45):
your struggles, change yourperspective on life, change your
perspective on your struggles,change your perspective on your
trials, change your perspectiveon your sickness or a loved
one's sickness, change yourperspective on suffering.
So I kind of titled today'slittle bit as I can see clearly
now.
So hopefully, by the time youget done watching this episode,
(07:06):
I hope this helps you andencourages you to see things
differently, because we arecalled as believers Once we get
grafted into the true vine, oncewe accept Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior and make himLord of our lives.
The way we see things shouldbecome differently.
For instance, a mature way oflooking at sin or looking at
(07:32):
deciding whether something is asin or not.
Maturity doesn't look at it andsay is it a sin?
What maturity will do is whatis this costing me compared to
what, without it could gain me?
That being said, for instance,we watched, we had a movie night
(07:54):
at our church like four weeksago, five weeks ago, and in the
movie it was about what was itcalled?
I don't remember, but it was ayoung man who got a job.
At the job there was a boss.
The boss ended up being aChristian and he talked to him
about and the young man didn'twant anything to do with God,
but the mother was praying forhim and man, that's going to
(08:18):
drive me nuts.
That I can't remember.
Then it forged I think forged,not forged, forged and he
brought a man to disciple him.
He was mentoring him, butbecause he was a christian, he
actually was discipling him inthe ways of god, in the ways of
christ, and giving him biblicalprinciples to live his life, to
be a better man.
(08:38):
So he was bringing him in, uh,getting him closer, and he
challenged him to step up, andat the end of the movie he
stepped up in a big way.
Well, through this wholeprocess of letting things go
that he should have let go, orwhen he gave his life to God, he
knew that there were somethings that he should let go of,
(09:00):
not because they were bad, butbecause it was robbing him of
time that he could be spendingin the word and with God,
praying.
And he ends up coming home andone of the things as most young
men today, and apparently grownmen too, I don't do it
personally, there's no, I'm notthrowing stones, it's just I
(09:21):
don't have the time.
It's not how I unwind.
So I don't play video games.
But in the movie this young mandid, and so he came home and
gathered up his PlayStation orwhatever it was, put it in the
box and got rid of it.
So what happened was my sonafter that movie whether he felt
(09:42):
convicted or was extremelymotivated in what was going on
he came home and he boxed up hisXbox and it's and put it in my
office and he said he wanted toget rid of distractions and just
(10:05):
wanted to make that choice.
So I was okay, it's your choice, like we didn't try to push him
in that direction, he justended up doing it.
Well, it's like four or fiveweeks later and I noticed last
night that in my office the boxis the X-Box is missing, and so
I asked her about it.
So what do you?
(10:25):
I thought you made a choice,and so this is one thing that
that he's doing as a teenager,but we do as adults all the time
.
We say, okay, god, I'm going todedicate, I'm going to choose
to follow you, I'm going tochoose this path that I know you
put in front of me, that you'veconvicted me of that you have,
(10:45):
or in front of me that you'veconvicted me of that you have,
or that you, you want me, howyou want me to serve, or
whatever the case may be.
But then we talk ourselves intokeeping it around, not
necessarily saying that it's bad, but could my life be more
fruitful in Christ without it?
And usually the answer is yes.
And if you end up trying todissect whether something is sin
(11:05):
or not and trying to keep it inyour life, then in my personal
opinion, because I've done this,I can talk myself into keeping
things around that I reallyshould let go of.
This is like TV shows, music.
I'm a big music guy.
I lead worship at my church andI literally do not listen to
(11:26):
anything but Christian music.
I don't listen to the radiobecause they get on my nerves.
It's the same songs.
Five years later I'll turn iton.
It's the same song, same BPM.
It's so annoying to me whatthey have turned music into, but
anyways.
But YouTube music.
I got a playlist a mile long,spotify, things like that.
(11:47):
I love music, I love worshiping.
So for me to decide whether andthis is, I'm not saying this is
the choice that should be foryou.
What I'm saying is this is thechoice that I have felt should
be for me and in my house, forinstance, like if my son is
playing music or whatever, Idon't let him play anything but
(12:10):
Christian music in my house.
Now I know some people are likewell, that's old school, that's
legalistic.
No, it's not legalistic If youlook at the lyrics of the songs
that you listen to, if youlisten to anything but Christian
music.
I'm not saying you have to, butwhat I'm saying is why is it
that we fight and closeourselves off to the possibility
(12:30):
that getting closer to Godshould be a pruning of what is
still in our lives.
If you immediately get likebowed up of like, well, I'm not
letting that go, that's dumb,that's not really so.
If you're doing that, you're,so why?
That's a very importantquestion you need to ask
yourself is why will you not letthose things go if it's not
(12:56):
getting you closer to God?
And, as believers, everythingin our lives should be doing
that either trying to getourselves closer to God or
trying to get others close toGod.
And so something in your lifemay not keep you from God, but
it may not help others close toGod.
And so something in your lifemay not keep you from God, but
it may not help others get toGod.
It may not affect anybody else,but it may privately affect you
(13:18):
.
So you have to toss and turnand weigh these things out with
intentionality.
I believe here in America andI'm guilty of this is that we
get so caught up in what wethink is right and wrong and we
don't think about is it what Godwants in my life?
Not necessarily what is wrong,but what is right for me, what
(13:42):
is right for God, what God hascalled me to do.
And so, when the Xboxdisappeared, I went to my son
and asked him and he was likewell, I was going to plug it in,
but I didn't.
And I said, well, why, why?
Why do you?
Why do you do that?
Why do you?
I'm asking him, him this, thesequestions, when I do the same
thing, sometimes, like I will,I'll say, well, I'm not going to
do this.
And then a few months later I'mlike, well, I guess it's not
(14:06):
that bad.
Or I'm around somebody thatdoes it or that thinks that way
and I'm like, well, if they'redoing it or somebody I look up
to, this has happened to memultiple times that they, their
standard is not my standard andsomething that was between me
and God.
I felt I should let it go, orfelt I should stop doing it, or
felt I should stop watching itor listening to it and other
(14:30):
people around me do.
So it's easy.
It's easier to gravitatetowards the compromise and
talking myself into keepingthings that really they don't
benefit me in the long run.
It may not be something that'sdamaging me now, but it could
possibly harm or do damage laterand I should want to run from
(14:53):
anything that looks like that IfI want to keep myself 100% pure
and focused on God.
So he didn't plug it in, but Italked to him.
I said listen, you know, Iunderstand that you felt you
need to do it.
You hear something, you watchsomething, you see something.
It inspires you.
You come to the altar, you cryit out, you feel good and then,
(15:18):
like a month later, you're likewell, maybe I wasn't supposed to
do that, because we get onspiritual highs, we get worked
up about things and maybe Godwas calling you to maybe lighten
up on some things and notnecessarily give up on some
things.
So you have to work that outbetween you and God and be open
to this consistent conviction.
(15:40):
So some of us will get savedand we stay in the exact same
place for the next five years.
And I don't believe that's Godat all.
I believe God calls us intotransitions to move us closer
and closer and closer to him,closer to maturity, closer,
getting more discipled in Christ, not staying the same.
(16:01):
We really want to change theworld and make a impact on the
world around us for Christ.
We have to give up things alongthe way.
An impact on the world aroundus for Christ.
We have to give up things alongthe way we have to become.
The Bible even describes moreand more like Him and less and
less of me.
So there's a part of letting goof what was so that we can move
(16:22):
into what God desires for us tomove into Because we're called
to in our lives.
To not just survive life.
God desires for us to thrive inour lives, to be fruitful, to
be full of life, to not justsurvive life.
God desires for us to thrive inour lives, to be fruitful, to
be full of life, to be full ofpurpose.
Now ask yourself, when you lookback in the last year, even the
(16:45):
last month, how easily did youallow things in your life to
tear you down, to distract you,to dismantle what God's tried to
do in you?
Did you let circumstancescontrol or manipulate the way
you act or respond, or yourfeelings, and did it rob you of
your faith?
The Apostle Paul, a man whoselife should have been a TV show,
a reality TV show.
(17:06):
He had, like some of the mostback-to-back-to-back series of
unfortunate events,unpredictable to everyone, but
God had a purpose, as we read inour key text, for his suffering
.
Yet in this suffering, paulstill had joy, still had peace.
Now, joy and happiness are notthe same thing.
(17:27):
Happiness is a synthetic of joy.
It is a manipulation of yourwell-being to make you feel like
you are good and you are safeand you are content.
But in reality it has nosubstance and it cannot sustain
you.
But joy comes from the Lord.
It is eternal, it is powerfuland the Bible even says that the
joy of the Lord is our strength.
(17:48):
So that's where our strengthcomes from.
It's hard to fight the battlewell, if you're depressed or
you're anxious, but if you havejoy and you have peace that
comes from the Lord, you canfight properly.
Your head stays clear, yourmouth stays sanctified, your
heart stays purified.
So there's a reason to cling tothe joy and peace of the Lord
so that we can remain effective,to the joy and peace of the
(18:13):
Lord, so that we can remaineffective.
So his joy and peace will giveus profound insights that are
key ingredients to be trulycontent in our perspective, how
we see things.
He teaches us an invaluablelesson that you cannot control
what happens to you, but you cancontrol how you see the problem
(18:34):
, how you see the situation andhow you see the things around
you.
So let's look at some context ofPaul's journey in Rome we have,
if you want to look in yourBibles or mark it 23, 11, paul
is supposed to take.
He is taking, uh, and he has avision of taking the gospel to
(18:56):
rome.
Now the rome, the roman days,the roman people.
In this, in this time periodwhere where paul was living is
the epicenter of political powerand cultural influence, imagine
the impact he thought ofsharing Jesus with the leaders
of the known world.
Paul wasn't some bum.
He actually had interactionsand was high up in, I guess you
(19:20):
would say, the chain of commandin the Roman church I say the
Roman church, the Roman culturein the Pharisees, sadducees, all
that organization.
So Rome took over, but they letthem have their religion aspect
, the Jews to keep the peace.
(19:41):
That makes sense.
So they took over, theyconquered them, but they let
them keep that.
Let them keep that.
If you see when Jesus, if youpay attention, when Jesus was
(20:02):
being brought before PontiusPilate, he was a part of the
Roman government.
So you have outside or out inthe I guess it was outside, I
wasn't there but you see in themovies and all this stuff.
There's not really adescription in the word, but
they're out there in kind of themain square and they're yelling
crucify him and stuff.
They bring out Barabbas, allthese things.
So you have the Pharisees thatstarted that chant free Barabbas
, free Barabbas.
Okay, so it's obvious that inthe Pharisees were the religious
(20:24):
leaders of the Jewish people.
They knew the law, they obeyedthe law, they were the ones to
uphold the law, they hadcouncils and things like that.
So all of this was allowed, butthey could not do certain
things or go above their paygrade, so to speak, because they
had to have the Roman stamp ofapproval, because they were
(20:47):
their rulers.
When the roman soldiers showedup, you paid attention and you
did what you were told, or theywould.
The crucifixion was a roman wayof punishment and they would
try to be um, think of it ascompetition between this little
regime over here and this oneover here.
They would try to finddifferent ways to torture and
(21:09):
kill people and crucify peopleto kind of make a name for
themselves and be recognized andbecome influential in killing
people, which is gruesome andcrazy to even think about.
But that's the setup.
So Paul was thinking in hishead.
I'm sure that he's about to goand he's going to change the
(21:31):
Romans.
You ever done it before?
You get excited about Christ.
You get excited, you got saved,you got baptized, you got
filled with the Holy Ghost.
Come on somebody and you go inand you're about to change
everybody and instead you end upin chains.
That was his situation.
He thought he was going to, heknew what he was supposed to do,
he knew there was no doubt inhis mind.
(21:52):
Jesus spoke to him and appearedto him on the road to Damascus.
And then you have the vision ofwhat he's supposed to do in
Acts 23, 11.
But when Paul finally arrivedin Rome, it wasn't a celebration
of a preacher, but a prisonerchained, awaiting trial.
(22:14):
To us.
If it was me and I'm just beinghonest that would be a massive
letdown and I would feel like Iwasn't doing the calling on my
life that God called me to do,when in reality, god positioned
him exactly where he wassupposed to be.
(22:35):
So we have to change ourperspective.
Let's look in.
No, I was still talking aboutPhilippians, sorry, philippians
1, 12 and 14 that we read at thebeginning.
We see the essence of changingyour perspective.
Despite his chains, paul saw hissituation not as a setback but
(22:57):
as a setup for the gospel to beadvanced in the Roman Empire in
a way that he never imagined.
Every guard chained to him,because it became an ear to hear
the gospel.
Every guard chained to him,every prisoner around him became
an ear to hear the gospel ofJesus Christ.
Now, paul couldn't control thecircumstances he was in prison
(23:21):
but he could control hisperspective.
When you begin to realize thatthat dark place you are in right
now isn't a place of beingabandoned by the Father, but it
is a place to shine the light inthe dark places and to reveal
the gospel of Jesus Christ inthose dark places, you
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understand that it's not youbeing tormented or you being in
a place of suffering, althoughyou may be suffering, but it
could be a place of salvationfor others while they watch you
suffer and how you act in asituation.
Romans 8, 28,.
(24:01):
And we know that God causeseverything to work together for
the good of those who love Godand are called according to His
purpose.
Even in our darkest moments,god is weaving our stories for
his glory.
If your life belongs to Christ,then you should be living like
(24:24):
it.
No matter what happens, it willall be worked together for your
good, no matter if it's theworst season of your life or the
best season of your life.
It'll be worked together foryour good, because you are loved
and you are called according tohis purpose.
Which means that you have tosay, lord, I am not, I'm not
(24:47):
having fun where I'm at rightnow, but I trust you.
I'm not enjoying this at all,but I trust you.
I know that you are a good God.
I have seen you time and timeand time again.
I know who you are.
Help me to remember who I amand what I am called to do, and
your eyes will be opened to thepurpose.
I believe Sometimes we don'tknow the purpose, but
(25:09):
understanding that there is apurpose in the pain and that
will help us to understand it,he may be doing something.
And here's one thing just likeJoseph, you know the coat of
many colors.
When he was sold into slavery,he went through this whole
ordeal, ended up in Egypt, hegot arrested because he was
blamed by Potiphar's wife ofsomething he actually didn't
(25:31):
even do.
He actually ran and all ofthese things that seem to be
back to back to back to back toback to where it was always
something bad happening to him,but it was actually every step
that he took in a bad or roughseason or what seemed like
(25:54):
torture and chaos and terribleseasons of his life, was one
step closer to where God wasactually leading him to actually
walk into his purpose.
Some of us want to just wake upand listen.
I'm the same way.
We want to wake up and we wantto be like you know I don't
(26:16):
understand what's going on.
But, lord, I know you're aboutto bring me into my purpose and
it may be years down the roadBefore you get to where God's
actually leading you, to whereyou can, because there may be
some things you need to learnalong the way.
There may be some training Overand over again.
You see that from the verybeginning of his story, joseph
was having dreams and he didn'treally know when to say, when
(26:38):
not to say.
He kind of.
You know he said it to hisbrothers, but that was the very
beginning of the chain of eventsthat led him to where God was
going to have him over hisbrothers.
That, in full circle, fulfilledthe very first dream that we
read about from Joseph.
So don't get discouraged,because God is sovereign.
(26:59):
When we begin to understandthat the almighty power of God,
how powerful he is, you begin tostep back and just let the good
Lord do what only he can do.
Just be quiet and enjoy theride.
Sometimes the ride is full ofsuffering, sometimes it has a
little bit of pain, butunderstand that it will all work
(27:22):
out in the end for your good.
So let's go to the next one.
James, chapter one, verses twoand four.
James chapter one, verse twoand 4.
James 1, verses 2 and 4.
Dear brothers and sisters, whentroubles of any kind, any kind,
come your way, consider it anopportunity for great joy, for
(27:43):
you know that when your faith istested, your endurance has a
chance to grow.
Trials are not just obstacles,but they are opportunities to
grow us in our faith and grow usin our endurance.
So change the way you seeopposition.
(28:07):
Change the way you see issuesand bad seasons and drama and
all this other stuff.
A mature believer does not justlook at their obstacle as
opposition but as opportunity.
What is it that I can learnfrom this?
What is it that I can get outof this?
And if you know anything aboutplants I'm not a green thumb guy
(28:29):
, I don't really know a wholelot, but I know this for a fact
I have seen trees that havebeautiful flowers and all of a
sudden they would prune themdown to almost nothing.
I mean cut everything off, butit was for the betterment of the
(28:52):
plant.
It grew back stronger, it grewback more beautiful Every single
season because pruning was done.
Pruning is not fun.
Pruning is not sexy.
It's not one of those thingsthat you're like, oh yeah, I'm
going to go get pruned next week.
It's not something that youjust walk up to and you're
(29:13):
enjoying.
It's hard, but it's necessaryfor good growth out of your life
.
So trust God that he knows whathe is doing and lean on his
understanding and not your own.
Let's look at 2 Corinthians, 4,17 and 18.
For our present troubles aresmall and won't last very long,
(29:37):
yet they produce for us a glorythat vastly outweighs them and
will last forever.
So the glory will alwaysoutweigh the troubles.
So don't look at the troubleswe can see now.
Rather fix your eyes on thegate, fix our gaze on things
(29:57):
that cannot be seen, for thethings we see now will soon be
gone.
But the things we cannot nowwill soon be gone.
But the things we cannot seewill last forever.
So Paul is reminding us veryclearly to not focus on our
temporary troubles, but on theeternal glory they produce.
This contrasts our temporarynature of our troubles, the
(30:21):
temporary nature of our troubles, with the eternal glory they're
preparing for us.
Jesus said you will havetroubles of many kinds, but he
will protect you, he will leadyou, he will guide you.
So I want you to change this.
I want you to stop thinkingabout things being so bad.
(30:46):
I want you to go from here'ssome key phrases and sayings
that we say a lot and weprobably say I say things
without even thinking Like ifit's a saying like my dad used
to say well, people in hell wantice water too.
Too, when I want something as akid.
So change from it can't getmuch worse to it could be much
(31:08):
worse.
See how there's a change there.
Perspective shift Flip yourperspective back to biblical
principles and promises that Goddesires for every believer to
live in.
(31:28):
Every one of us has faced orwill face circumstances beyond
our control.
Sometimes it is a daily thingthe job we didn't get, the
relationship that didn't workout, the people that abandoned
us, the plan that fell apart.
But, like Paul, we have thechoice to change our perspective
.
Ask yourself what if yourcurrent obstacle is an
(31:50):
opportunity.
What if this waiting period isGod working behind the scenes in
ways that you can't yet see andyou are just not prepared yet
to receive the promise he hasready for you?
Paul's story is a call to action.
(32:10):
His change led to his boldnessof other believers.
So his season he was goingthrough, his circumstance,
actually led to other believers,their faith, rising up and
becoming stronger in their faithand speaking out more boldly,
because they were looking atPaul's situation and saying,
well, he is in prison, andprison was no patty cake.
(32:33):
He was in prison.
He was still preaching, stillwriting letters, still telling
people of the goodness of God.
If he's in prison and I'm outhere free, why am I complaining
about anything?
I should be more willing tobegin to say more of the
goodness of God and sing hispraises.
Paul didn't let his conditionspoil his position, where he did
(32:56):
not stop where he was, did notstop him from being who God
called him to be.
It propelled him into thepurpose God had for him.
It's time that we have toembrace the perspective shift
that God desires for us andspeak out more about the
(33:22):
goodness of God, more about thegospel of Jesus Christ.
It is good news for everyone,and so I want to encourage you
today that, wherever you are orwhat you have went through,
don't look at it as a blemish onyour testimony, but look at it
as fuel for your faith.
(33:43):
Look at it as opportunity, notopposition, that where you are
in the middle of something thatis so detrimental to you that it
is, it's heavy on you.
See the beauty in the burden.
Allow God to use what you'regoing through to not only be
(34:05):
encouraged yourself that he isthere, he cares for you, he
loves you, but also to showothers who are watching you, and
if you are a believer, youbetter believe that they're
watching.
We are to be able to answer forthe hope that is within us, and
if we have hope in some of thedarkest times of our lives, then
this right here, that alone canchange somebody's viewpoint of
(34:32):
who God is and who Christ is andgive somebody else hope,
because we're having hope when,by all standard of the world, we
shouldn't.
So I hope this video encouragesyou.
I love you and I'm praying foryou, and I hope you have an
amazing rest of your week.
What is up?
Faith and failures.
Welcome back to another episode.
Today we're going to be divinginto something that I feel,
being that we're in February, weneed to check ourselves to see
if what we set out to do January1, if we are still being
(00:26):
intentional.
This is something we should doevery month a self-evaluation,
self-checking, seeing if we aresticking to what we believe.
Have we veered off and have wecompromised anything?
I preach and teach this all thetime that we, as believers.
(00:49):
The Bible says that they willknow God's love.
They will know who God is bythe way we love each other, and
I also believe that they willknow, or they will be shown,
what sin is.
They will be shown what trueChristians are by the way we
live our lives, and so they willdefine what is okay or what is
(01:10):
not okay, what morality is, whatmorality shouldn't be, by us.
So are we staying focused onthat and are we keeping a clear
vision of what the word says?
Are we remaining faithful towhat we say we believe is true?
So stick around, because we'reabout to dive in.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
(01:30):
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet considersubscribing, hit that bell
notification so that you can seeevery time I put out a new
video.
A Major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
subscribed yet, so why not?
It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
one-time or give a monthly tosupport the channel.
(01:51):
Anything, great or small, isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
So let's dive into our keyverse.
You know, usually we start offwith some scripture and we kind
(02:12):
of go through a few.
If you want to take screenshotsand if you would ever be
interested in the slides or theverses and stuff from the
episodes, I'm thinking aboutstarting, maybe, a Patreon where
every slide and every verse andevery text, whether in a PDF or
slides, you can just downloadand or screenshot on your phone.
I'm thinking about starting aPatreon that will kind of have
(02:36):
this type of stuff in it earlyreleases of episodes, things
like that, special live streamswhere we can do more of a Q&A,
one-on-one type feel.
So let me know in the commentsif you'd be interested in that,
because I plan on, if theinterest is high, to start off
with that very soon.
So don't forget, like you justsaw, to subscribe to the channel
(03:00):
.
And if you're listening on aplatform for podcasts, please
make sure to subscribe to that,follow the podcast and download
the episodes.
That helps me out greatly.
So let's look at Philippians 1,verses 12-14.
And I want you to know, my dearbrothers and sisters, that
(03:21):
everything that has happened tome here has helped to spread the
good news For everyone here,including the whole palace guard
knows that I am in chainsbecause of Christ and because of
my imprisonment, most of thebelievers here have gained
confidence, confidence andboldly speak God's message
(03:44):
without fear.
So here's the bottom line.
Now I don't know if you'veexperienced this, but if you're
of any amount of age, like Ihave a 16 year old right now, I
have a 16 month old right now,and both of them have different
levels of things.
They go through that to them,just like me being 39 years old.
(04:08):
Every tier of age group,whatever is happening in their
lives, when it happens to us, tomy little 16 month old, when
she doesn't get what she wants,it's the end of the world.
She will, she will grab herlittle face and she'll go and
she will slowly melt down.
It's just tearing her apart andthings are over my teenager.
(04:35):
He kind of does a rendition ofthat same thing.
When things aren't going hisway, he gets a little mouthy, he
gets sometimes belligerent.
Now, granted, there's a lot ofchemical things going on in his
head and new things happening tohis body.
So these are the very sensitivestages right now of where he
(04:56):
doesn't really he's experiencingnew things.
And so I have to be verygracious and not immediately get
upset with him, because I haveto realize that, okay, what I
have to teach him is beyond thefrustration, because we're
always going to get frustrated,we're always going to get upset,
we're always going to be insituations that could possibly
make us angry.
(05:17):
And yes, guys, you talk.
Some guys talk about womenbeing super emotional, but anger
is an emotion, so you are alsosuper emotional.
It's when your emotions, angerbeing one of those, runs away
with you.
And the Bible says that we areallowed to be angry, we are
allowed to be sad, we areallowed to have emotions.
It's a good thing to haveemotions, sometimes releasing
(05:39):
those emotions and like,sometimes, men and women, both,
I guess they just need a goodcry, and literally there is
scientific proof of, when youcry, the as things are pouring
out of your eyes.
So is mental, physical,emotional clarity.
You're being purified andpurged a little bit of emotional
(06:02):
blockage, emotional pileup.
So it's a good thing.
But everything in our life doeshappen, whether you're in a 15,
16 month old, you're at a 16year old, you're at a 40 year
old or you're at a 90 year old.
Life happens and thingsSometimes you just can't control
(06:23):
what happens.
Matter of fact, most of thetime you can't control what
happens.
But what can you control?
You can control yourperspective.
You can control the way youlook at things.
You can change the way you seethings.
Change your perspective on life, change your perspective on
(06:45):
your struggles, change yourperspective on life, change your
perspective on your struggles,change your perspective on your
trials, change your perspectiveon your sickness or a loved
one's sickness, change yourperspective on suffering.
So I kind of titled today'slittle bit as I can see clearly
now.
So hopefully, by the time youget done watching this episode,
(07:06):
I hope this helps you andencourages you to see things
differently, because we arecalled as believers Once we get
grafted into the true vine, oncewe accept Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior and make himLord of our lives.
The way we see things shouldbecome differently.
For instance, a mature way oflooking at sin or looking at
(07:32):
deciding whether something is asin or not.
Maturity doesn't look at it andsay is it a sin?
What maturity will do is whatis this costing me compared to
what, without it could gain me?
That being said, for instance,we watched, we had a movie night
(07:54):
at our church like four weeksago, five weeks ago, and in the
movie it was about what was itcalled?
I don't remember, but it was ayoung man who got a job.
At the job there was a boss.
The boss ended up being aChristian and he talked to him
about and the young man didn'twant anything to do with God,
but the mother was praying forhim and man, that's going to
(08:18):
drive me nuts.
That I can't remember.
Then it forged I think forged,not forged, forged and he
brought a man to disciple him.
He was mentoring him, butbecause he was a christian, he
actually was discipling him inthe ways of god, in the ways of
christ, and giving him biblicalprinciples to live his life, to
be a better man.
(08:38):
So he was bringing him in, uh,getting him closer, and he
challenged him to step up, andat the end of the movie he
stepped up in a big way.
Well, through this wholeprocess of letting things go
that he should have let go, orwhen he gave his life to God, he
knew that there were somethings that he should let go of,
(09:00):
not because they were bad, butbecause it was robbing him of
time that he could be spendingin the word and with God,
praying.
And he ends up coming home andone of the things as most young
men today, and apparently grownmen too, I don't do it
personally, there's no, I'm notthrowing stones, it's just I
(09:21):
don't have the time.
It's not how I unwind.
So I don't play video games.
But in the movie this young mandid, and so he came home and
gathered up his PlayStation orwhatever it was, put it in the
box and got rid of it.
So what happened was my sonafter that movie whether he felt
(09:42):
convicted or was extremelymotivated in what was going on
he came home and he boxed up hisXbox and it's and put it in my
office and he said he wanted toget rid of distractions and just
(10:05):
wanted to make that choice.
So I was okay, it's your choice, like we didn't try to push him
in that direction, he justended up doing it.
Well, it's like four or fiveweeks later and I noticed last
night that in my office the boxis the X-Box is missing, and so
I asked her about it.
So what do you?
(10:25):
I thought you made a choice,and so this is one thing that
that he's doing as a teenager,but we do as adults all the time
.
We say, okay, god, I'm going todedicate, I'm going to choose
to follow you, I'm going tochoose this path that I know you
put in front of me, that you'veconvicted me of that you have,
(10:45):
or in front of me that you'veconvicted me of that you have,
or that you, you want me, howyou want me to serve, or
whatever the case may be.
But then we talk ourselves intokeeping it around, not
necessarily saying that it's bad, but could my life be more
fruitful in Christ without it?
And usually the answer is yes.
And if you end up trying todissect whether something is sin
(11:05):
or not and trying to keep it inyour life, then in my personal
opinion, because I've done this,I can talk myself into keeping
things around that I reallyshould let go of.
This is like TV shows, music.
I'm a big music guy.
I lead worship at my church andI literally do not listen to
(11:26):
anything but Christian music.
I don't listen to the radiobecause they get on my nerves.
It's the same songs.
Five years later I'll turn iton.
It's the same song, same BPM.
It's so annoying to me whatthey have turned music into, but
anyways.
But YouTube music.
I got a playlist a mile long,spotify, things like that.
(11:47):
I love music, I love worshiping.
So for me to decide whether andthis is, I'm not saying this is
the choice that should be foryou.
What I'm saying is this is thechoice that I have felt should
be for me and in my house, forinstance, like if my son is
playing music or whatever, Idon't let him play anything but
(12:10):
Christian music in my house.
Now I know some people are likewell, that's old school, that's
legalistic.
No, it's not legalistic If youlook at the lyrics of the songs
that you listen to, if youlisten to anything but Christian
music.
I'm not saying you have to, butwhat I'm saying is why is it
that we fight and closeourselves off to the possibility
(12:30):
that getting closer to Godshould be a pruning of what is
still in our lives.
If you immediately get likebowed up of like, well, I'm not
letting that go, that's dumb,that's not really so.
If you're doing that, you're,so why?
That's a very importantquestion you need to ask
yourself is why will you not letthose things go if it's not
(12:56):
getting you closer to God?
And, as believers, everythingin our lives should be doing
that either trying to getourselves closer to God or
trying to get others close toGod.
And so something in your lifemay not keep you from God, but
it may not help others close toGod.
And so something in your lifemay not keep you from God, but
it may not help others get toGod.
It may not affect anybody else,but it may privately affect you
(13:18):
.
So you have to toss and turnand weigh these things out with
intentionality.
I believe here in America andI'm guilty of this is that we
get so caught up in what wethink is right and wrong and we
don't think about is it what Godwants in my life?
Not necessarily what is wrong,but what is right for me, what
(13:42):
is right for God, what God hascalled me to do.
And so, when the Xboxdisappeared, I went to my son
and asked him and he was likewell, I was going to plug it in,
but I didn't.
And I said, well, why, why?
Why do you?
Why do you do that?
Why do you?
I'm asking him, him this, thesequestions, when I do the same
thing, sometimes, like I will,I'll say, well, I'm not going to
do this.
And then a few months later I'mlike, well, I guess it's not
(14:06):
that bad.
Or I'm around somebody thatdoes it or that thinks that way
and I'm like, well, if they'redoing it or somebody I look up
to, this has happened to memultiple times that they, their
standard is not my standard andsomething that was between me
and God.
I felt I should let it go, orfelt I should stop doing it, or
felt I should stop watching itor listening to it and other
(14:30):
people around me do.
So it's easy.
It's easier to gravitatetowards the compromise and
talking myself into keepingthings that really they don't
benefit me in the long run.
It may not be something that'sdamaging me now, but it could
possibly harm or do damage laterand I should want to run from
(14:53):
anything that looks like that IfI want to keep myself 100% pure
and focused on God.
So he didn't plug it in, but Italked to him.
I said listen, you know, Iunderstand that you felt you
need to do it.
You hear something, you watchsomething, you see something.
It inspires you.
You come to the altar, you cryit out, you feel good and then,
(15:18):
like a month later, you're likewell, maybe I wasn't supposed to
do that, because we get onspiritual highs, we get worked
up about things and maybe Godwas calling you to maybe lighten
up on some things and notnecessarily give up on some
things.
So you have to work that outbetween you and God and be open
to this consistent conviction.
(15:40):
So some of us will get savedand we stay in the exact same
place for the next five years.
And I don't believe that's Godat all.
I believe God calls us intotransitions to move us closer
and closer and closer to him,closer to maturity, closer,
getting more discipled in Christ, not staying the same.
(16:01):
We really want to change theworld and make a impact on the
world around us for Christ.
We have to give up things alongthe way.
An impact on the world aroundus for Christ.
We have to give up things alongthe way we have to become.
The Bible even describes moreand more like Him and less and
less of me.
So there's a part of letting goof what was so that we can move
(16:22):
into what God desires for us tomove into Because we're called
to in our lives.
To not just survive life.
God desires for us to thrive inour lives, to be fruitful, to
be full of life, to not justsurvive life.
God desires for us to thrive inour lives, to be fruitful, to
be full of life, to be full ofpurpose.
Now ask yourself, when you lookback in the last year, even the
(16:45):
last month, how easily did youallow things in your life to
tear you down, to distract you,to dismantle what God's tried to
do in you?
Did you let circumstancescontrol or manipulate the way
you act or respond, or yourfeelings, and did it rob you of
your faith?
The Apostle Paul, a man whoselife should have been a TV show,
a reality TV show.
(17:06):
He had, like some of the mostback-to-back-to-back series of
unfortunate events,unpredictable to everyone, but
God had a purpose, as we read inour key text, for his suffering
.
Yet in this suffering, paulstill had joy, still had peace.
Now, joy and happiness are notthe same thing.
(17:27):
Happiness is a synthetic of joy.
It is a manipulation of yourwell-being to make you feel like
you are good and you are safeand you are content.
But in reality it has nosubstance and it cannot sustain
you.
But joy comes from the Lord.
It is eternal, it is powerfuland the Bible even says that the
joy of the Lord is our strength.
(17:48):
So that's where our strengthcomes from.
It's hard to fight the battlewell, if you're depressed or
you're anxious, but if you havejoy and you have peace that
comes from the Lord, you canfight properly.
Your head stays clear, yourmouth stays sanctified, your
heart stays purified.
So there's a reason to cling tothe joy and peace of the Lord
so that we can remain effective,to the joy and peace of the
(18:13):
Lord, so that we can remaineffective.
So his joy and peace will giveus profound insights that are
key ingredients to be trulycontent in our perspective, how
we see things.
He teaches us an invaluablelesson that you cannot control
what happens to you, but you cancontrol how you see the problem
(18:34):
, how you see the situation andhow you see the things around
you.
So let's look at some context ofPaul's journey in Rome we have,
if you want to look in yourBibles or mark it 23, 11, paul
is supposed to take.
He is taking, uh, and he has avision of taking the gospel to
(18:56):
rome.
Now the rome, the roman days,the roman people.
In this, in this time periodwhere where paul was living is
the epicenter of political powerand cultural influence, imagine
the impact he thought ofsharing Jesus with the leaders
of the known world.
Paul wasn't some bum.
He actually had interactionsand was high up in, I guess you
(19:20):
would say, the chain of commandin the Roman church I say the
Roman church, the Roman culturein the Pharisees, sadducees, all
that organization.
So Rome took over, but they letthem have their religion aspect
, the Jews to keep the peace.
(19:41):
That makes sense.
So they took over, theyconquered them, but they let
them keep that.
Let them keep that.
If you see when Jesus, if youpay attention, when Jesus was
(20:02):
being brought before PontiusPilate, he was a part of the
Roman government.
So you have outside or out inthe I guess it was outside, I
wasn't there but you see in themovies and all this stuff.
There's not really adescription in the word, but
they're out there in kind of themain square and they're yelling
crucify him and stuff.
They bring out Barabbas, allthese things.
So you have the Pharisees thatstarted that chant free Barabbas
, free Barabbas.
Okay, so it's obvious that inthe Pharisees were the religious
(20:24):
leaders of the Jewish people.
They knew the law, they obeyedthe law, they were the ones to
uphold the law, they hadcouncils and things like that.
So all of this was allowed, butthey could not do certain
things or go above their paygrade, so to speak, because they
had to have the Roman stamp ofapproval, because they were
(20:47):
their rulers.
When the roman soldiers showedup, you paid attention and you
did what you were told, or theywould.
The crucifixion was a roman wayof punishment and they would
try to be um, think of it ascompetition between this little
regime over here and this oneover here.
They would try to finddifferent ways to torture and
(21:09):
kill people and crucify peopleto kind of make a name for
themselves and be recognized andbecome influential in killing
people, which is gruesome andcrazy to even think about.
But that's the setup.
So Paul was thinking in hishead.
I'm sure that he's about to goand he's going to change the
(21:31):
Romans.
You ever done it before?
You get excited about Christ.
You get excited, you got saved,you got baptized, you got
filled with the Holy Ghost.
Come on somebody and you go inand you're about to change
everybody and instead you end upin chains.
That was his situation.
He thought he was going to, heknew what he was supposed to do,
he knew there was no doubt inhis mind.
(21:52):
Jesus spoke to him and appearedto him on the road to Damascus.
And then you have the vision ofwhat he's supposed to do in
Acts 23, 11.
But when Paul finally arrivedin Rome, it wasn't a celebration
of a preacher, but a prisonerchained, awaiting trial.
(22:14):
To us.
If it was me and I'm just beinghonest that would be a massive
letdown and I would feel like Iwasn't doing the calling on my
life that God called me to do,when in reality, god positioned
him exactly where he wassupposed to be.
(22:35):
So we have to change ourperspective.
Let's look in.
No, I was still talking aboutPhilippians, sorry, philippians
1, 12 and 14 that we read at thebeginning.
We see the essence of changingyour perspective.
Despite his chains, paul saw hissituation not as a setback but
(22:57):
as a setup for the gospel to beadvanced in the Roman Empire in
a way that he never imagined.
Every guard chained to him,because it became an ear to hear
the gospel.
Every guard chained to him,every prisoner around him became
an ear to hear the gospel ofJesus Christ.
Now, paul couldn't control thecircumstances he was in prison
(23:21):
but he could control hisperspective.
When you begin to realize thatthat dark place you are in right
now isn't a place of beingabandoned by the Father, but it
is a place to shine the light inthe dark places and to reveal
the gospel of Jesus Christ inthose dark places, you
(23:41):
understand that it's not youbeing tormented or you being in
a place of suffering, althoughyou may be suffering, but it
could be a place of salvationfor others while they watch you
suffer and how you act in asituation.
Romans 8, 28,.
(24:01):
And we know that God causeseverything to work together for
the good of those who love Godand are called according to His
purpose.
Even in our darkest moments,god is weaving our stories for
his glory.
If your life belongs to Christ,then you should be living like
(24:24):
it.
No matter what happens, it willall be worked together for your
good, no matter if it's theworst season of your life or the
best season of your life.
It'll be worked together foryour good, because you are loved
and you are called according tohis purpose.
Which means that you have tosay, lord, I am not, I'm not
(24:47):
having fun where I'm at rightnow, but I trust you.
I'm not enjoying this at all,but I trust you.
I know that you are a good God.
I have seen you time and timeand time again.
I know who you are.
Help me to remember who I amand what I am called to do, and
your eyes will be opened to thepurpose.
I believe Sometimes we don'tknow the purpose, but
(25:09):
understanding that there is apurpose in the pain and that
will help us to understand it,he may be doing something.
And here's one thing just likeJoseph, you know the coat of
many colors.
When he was sold into slavery,he went through this whole
ordeal, ended up in Egypt, hegot arrested because he was
blamed by Potiphar's wife ofsomething he actually didn't
(25:31):
even do.
He actually ran and all ofthese things that seem to be
back to back to back to back toback to where it was always
something bad happening to him,but it was actually every step
that he took in a bad or roughseason or what seemed like
(25:54):
torture and chaos and terribleseasons of his life, was one
step closer to where God wasactually leading him to actually
walk into his purpose.
Some of us want to just wake upand listen.
I'm the same way.
We want to wake up and we wantto be like you know I don't
(26:16):
understand what's going on.
But, lord, I know you're aboutto bring me into my purpose and
it may be years down the roadBefore you get to where God's
actually leading you, to whereyou can, because there may be
some things you need to learnalong the way.
There may be some training Overand over again.
You see that from the verybeginning of his story, joseph
was having dreams and he didn'treally know when to say, when
(26:38):
not to say.
He kind of.
You know he said it to hisbrothers, but that was the very
beginning of the chain of eventsthat led him to where God was
going to have him over hisbrothers.
That, in full circle, fulfilledthe very first dream that we
read about from Joseph.
So don't get discouraged,because God is sovereign.
(26:59):
When we begin to understandthat the almighty power of God,
how powerful he is, you begin tostep back and just let the good
Lord do what only he can do.
Just be quiet and enjoy theride.
Sometimes the ride is full ofsuffering, sometimes it has a
little bit of pain, butunderstand that it will all work
(27:22):
out in the end for your good.
So let's go to the next one.
James, chapter one, verses twoand four.
James chapter one, verse twoand 4.
James 1, verses 2 and 4.
Dear brothers and sisters, whentroubles of any kind, any kind,
come your way, consider it anopportunity for great joy, for
(27:43):
you know that when your faith istested, your endurance has a
chance to grow.
Trials are not just obstacles,but they are opportunities to
grow us in our faith and grow usin our endurance.
So change the way you seeopposition.
(28:07):
Change the way you see issuesand bad seasons and drama and
all this other stuff.
A mature believer does not justlook at their obstacle as
opposition but as opportunity.
What is it that I can learnfrom this?
What is it that I can get outof this?
And if you know anything aboutplants I'm not a green thumb guy
(28:29):
, I don't really know a wholelot, but I know this for a fact
I have seen trees that havebeautiful flowers and all of a
sudden they would prune themdown to almost nothing.
I mean cut everything off, butit was for the betterment of the
(28:52):
plant.
It grew back stronger, it grewback more beautiful Every single
season because pruning was done.
Pruning is not fun.
Pruning is not sexy.
It's not one of those thingsthat you're like, oh yeah, I'm
going to go get pruned next week.
It's not something that youjust walk up to and you're
(29:13):
enjoying.
It's hard, but it's necessaryfor good growth out of your life
.
So trust God that he knows whathe is doing and lean on his
understanding and not your own.
Let's look at 2 Corinthians, 4,17 and 18.
For our present troubles aresmall and won't last very long,
(29:37):
yet they produce for us a glorythat vastly outweighs them and
will last forever.
So the glory will alwaysoutweigh the troubles.
So don't look at the troubleswe can see now.
Rather fix your eyes on thegate, fix our gaze on things
(29:57):
that cannot be seen, for thethings we see now will soon be
gone.
But the things we cannot nowwill soon be gone.
But the things we cannot seewill last forever.
So Paul is reminding us veryclearly to not focus on our
temporary troubles, but on theeternal glory they produce.
This contrasts our temporarynature of our troubles, the
(30:21):
temporary nature of our troubles, with the eternal glory they're
preparing for us.
Jesus said you will havetroubles of many kinds, but he
will protect you, he will leadyou, he will guide you.
So I want you to change this.
I want you to stop thinkingabout things being so bad.
(30:46):
I want you to go from here'ssome key phrases and sayings
that we say a lot and weprobably say I say things
without even thinking Like ifit's a saying like my dad used
to say well, people in hell wantice water too.
Too, when I want something as akid.
So change from it can't getmuch worse to it could be much
(31:08):
worse.
See how there's a change there.
Perspective shift Flip yourperspective back to biblical
principles and promises that Goddesires for every believer to
live in.
(31:28):
Every one of us has faced orwill face circumstances beyond
our control.
Sometimes it is a daily thingthe job we didn't get, the
relationship that didn't workout, the people that abandoned
us, the plan that fell apart.
But, like Paul, we have thechoice to change our perspective
.
Ask yourself what if yourcurrent obstacle is an
(31:50):
opportunity.
What if this waiting period isGod working behind the scenes in
ways that you can't yet see andyou are just not prepared yet
to receive the promise he hasready for you?
Paul's story is a call to action.
(32:10):
His change led to his boldnessof other believers.
So his season he was goingthrough, his circumstance,
actually led to other believers,their faith, rising up and
becoming stronger in their faithand speaking out more boldly,
because they were looking atPaul's situation and saying,
well, he is in prison, andprison was no patty cake.
(32:33):
He was in prison.
He was still preaching, stillwriting letters, still telling
people of the goodness of God.
If he's in prison and I'm outhere free, why am I complaining
about anything?
I should be more willing tobegin to say more of the
goodness of God and sing hispraises.
Paul didn't let his conditionspoil his position, where he did
(32:56):
not stop where he was, did notstop him from being who God
called him to be.
It propelled him into thepurpose God had for him.
It's time that we have toembrace the perspective shift
that God desires for us andspeak out more about the
(33:22):
goodness of God, more about thegospel of Jesus Christ.
It is good news for everyone,and so I want to encourage you
today that, wherever you are orwhat you have went through,
don't look at it as a blemish onyour testimony, but look at it
as fuel for your faith.
(33:43):
Look at it as opportunity, notopposition, that where you are
in the middle of something thatis so detrimental to you that it
is, it's heavy on you.
See the beauty in the burden.
Allow God to use what you'regoing through to not only be
(34:05):
encouraged yourself that he isthere, he cares for you, he
loves you, but also to showothers who are watching you, and
if you are a believer, youbetter believe that they're
watching.
We are to be able to answer forthe hope that is within us, and
if we have hope in some of thedarkest times of our lives, then
this right here, that alone canchange somebody's viewpoint of
(34:32):
who God is and who Christ is andgive somebody else hope,
because we're having hope when,by all standard of the world, we
shouldn't.
So I hope this video encouragesyou.
I love you and I'm praying foryou, and I hope you have an
amazing rest of your week.
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