September 17, 2025 • 67 mins
This profound exploration of adversity's revealing power cuts straight to the heart of spiritual maturity.
Most of us have heard the saying that adversity builds character, but that's not entirely accurate. Adversity reveals character—exposing what's already within us when pressure is applied. Like sweat that exudes from our pores during intense exercise, our true nature emerges during difficult times. And this revelation isn't for God's benefit (He already knows what's in our hearts), but for our own understanding of who we truly are.
Through powerful biblical examples—from the wilderness-wandering Israelites who revealed their unbelief when tested, to Job who blessed God even after losing everything, to Hannah who turned to prayer rather than bitterness when persecuted—we see how responses to adversity determine spiritual outcomes. Most powerfully, we see Jesus himself, who "learned obedience through what he suffered" and became the prototype for all believers.
The message becomes crystal clear: God's testing process isn't punishment but revelation. When He tries the reins and hearts of His people, He's allowing them to see what they're made of—and to grow through that knowledge. The trials we face today are preparing us for glory, for the day when Christ will be "glorified in His saints." As one character wisely observed in a movie, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."
Are you being squeezed by adverse circumstances right now? Don't waste your adversity. Understand that your response reveals your spiritual condition more honestly than any words spoken in times of ease. And take courage—Christ has overcome the world, and through Him, so can you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
j - Jesus M. Ruiz (00:04):
The vision received was that of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much-needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are spent,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
I don't know about you, but Ifeel like heaven was not brass
(00:32):
during praise and worship.
You know what I mean by brass.
Brass is just this hard ceilingand you can't get past it.
But it wasn't that way todayand I think that happens when
you just open up your heart.
This really has to do with you,because God is waiting.
He's waiting to receive of theglory and the praise that is due
him and if you have a brokenand contrite heart, he is ever
(00:56):
ready to listen and he is everpatient and waiting for us,
because he's always waiting forus and we have very little time
to to wait for him and that'sreally our fault.
But today I want to talk abouta perfect work, and there's some
someone said and I think ifyou've been any type of sports
(01:20):
competition, you've probablyheard this, but if you haven't
been in it, you may never haveheard this but it is said that
adversity doesn't buildcharacter, it reveals it, and
that's a very true statement, asI well.
I was actually reading into thescriptures and then I
(01:40):
remembered that statement that Ihad seen somewhere else.
And I remember that statementthat I had seen somewhere else.
Let me repeat it againAdversity doesn't build
character, it reveals it.
And I've seen that very, veryclearly with my children as they
meet situations that areadverse to them.
(02:03):
I think I had a teachingrecently.
I had an acronym, somethingabout adverse Stand.
That's it stand.
Oh geez, now I forgot theacronym.
Something through adversity,not desire.
Stable through adversity, notdesire.
That was right.
Okay, so adversity.
I guess the Lord wants tocontinue this theme.
But adversity brings about and alot of people think no, it
(02:27):
actually builds and forms yourcharacter.
And it actually doesn't.
Cause when the heat is on, whenthe pressure cooker is intense,
you begin to exude that whichis within you.
And so when that quote says itsimply reveals your character,
(02:48):
that's true, it's like characteris like sweat.
When you are exercising and youjust start working up a sweat,
well, you can't help but sweatcome out.
And you can't help but tastethat.
It's salt, it's salty.
You can't help, that it justexudes from you.
There's nothing you can do tocontrol it.
Well, adversity in our lifecircumstances does the same
thing.
It simply reveals what isalready there.
(03:09):
So it's like the sweat thatpours out of our pores when
we're in the hot sun or whenwe're exercising or when we're
in a sauna.
Adversity, when we experience itin life, it just comes out of
us who we really are, what weare truly made of.
(03:30):
And for some people, whenadversity comes, we find the
most bitter, the most angry, themost spoiled, cantankerous
person we would ever want tomeet.
And sometimes we meet in others, these laid back, docile,
passive people that the worldcan be crumbling all around them
and they're just sitting backand like not a care in the world
(03:53):
.
And so that's a different typeof person that we see when we
see the adversity.
Our responses to adversityreveal to us.
Let me say that again ourresponses to adversity reveal to
(04:13):
us what state of man we're in.
It's not for the Lord.
The Lord already knows who weare, what we're made of.
When adversity comes and wejust begin to sweat and exude
something from ourselves.
It's not for the Lord, it's forus to see what's still inside
(04:37):
of us, what still remains.
It's like when you're purifyinggold and just the impurities
start coming out.
The master goldsmith knows thatthere's impurities.
It's not for him, it's for thegold to become more pure and
letting go some of that impuritythat it has contained within
(05:01):
itself.
And David, I think, understoodthat.
In Psalm 26.2, david saysExamine me, o Lord, prove me,
try my reins and my heart.
Somehow David understood, nothaving the Old Testament and the
(05:24):
New Testament Maybe we have afew books of what transpired in
the past because he came afterMoses.
He probably had the what is itcalled?
The Torah?
He probably had that.
But in that he realized thatGod is doing something with
mankind.
He understood that God wasdealing with David.
(05:47):
And what was in David?
Why did he go through all ofthese trials and circumstances?
And you know his story.
I don't want to delve toodeeply into it, but you know
that he came up as a littleshepherd boy.
You know that he fought Goliath.
You know that.
You know they said somethingabout David, his ten thousands,
(06:08):
but Saul, his thousands, and hejust began to create great fame
and he grew in wisdom and hegrew in understanding.
Yet he never touched Saul, henever touched the anointed, and
that was his response.
Yet we know, David fell many atime, even though he's raised up
as a humble person.
But he seemed to understandthat God was always testing and
(06:34):
proving mankind.
And in knowing that he acceptedthe challenge, David understood
.
Yes, examine me, yes, prove me,prove me, but not for God's
sake, it was for David's sake.
David wanted to know who hereally was.
(06:56):
When everything came down to it,when we say the rubber meets
the road, who are you really?
There's another prophet of themost high.
David was a prophet of the mosthigh.
But there was another prophetof the most high, Jeremiah.
And he recognized also that theLord tries the reins and the
(07:18):
heart, but specifically He triesthe righteous.
He specifically mentioned youtry the righteous.
So if you will turn to Jeremiah11, 20.
Jeremiah says but, o Lord ofhosts that judges righteously,
that tries the reins and theheart, let me see thy vengeance
(07:42):
on them, for unto thee have Irevealed my cause.
If you know anything aboutJeremiah's story, he kept
standing up for the Lord andeverybody kept beating him down,
either verbally or physically,I mean.
They literally had their waywith him and if he ever spoke up
and said something of the Lord,they would immediately smack
(08:03):
him and punch him and throw himin jail.
He had a hard life being aprophet of the most high, but it
was the way that he respondedto it.
That is our focus today.
He says in Jeremiah 20, verse11,.
He says the Lord is with me asa mighty, terrible one.
(08:24):
Therefore, my persecutors shallstumble and they shall not
prevail.
They shall be greatly ashamed,for they shall not prosper.
Their everlasting confusionshall never be forgotten.
(08:52):
But, o Lord of hosts, thattriest the righteous and seest
the reins of the heart.
And when I read that, for hehath delivered the soul of the
poor from the hand of theevildoer, and when I read that,
I see Jeremiah squeezed like anorange and the juices just come
(09:15):
out.
But look at what those juicesare.
There is faith in God.
There is a knowing that God isfor him and not against him.
There isn't any blame that, ohGod, why'd you do this to me?
I'm here speaking your word.
There's nothing like that.
There is a steadfast faith thatcomes out of him, that is
(09:41):
proclaiming what God is going todo, knowing that the Lord is
going to deal with those thatare persecuting him and singing
unto the Lord.
It reminds me of Paul and Silasin the jail.
What, when they were pressed,came out of them?
Worshiping the Lord in themiddle of the night.
(10:01):
That's why David wanted to beproved.
What is going to come out of me?
What am I going to exude?
What am I going to sweat?
Is it going to be a fragrantaroma in the presence of my king
and my God?
David said in Psalm 7, verse 9,oh, let the wickedness of the
(10:23):
wicked come to an end, butestablish the just For the
righteous.
God trieth the hearts and thereins.
Now, what we see in these lasttwo verses is that you see that
in the process of God trying thereins and the heart, he is
(10:45):
establishing justice for therighteous.
He is establishing deliveranceof the just and judgment upon
the wicked.
But all of that is dependent onhow did you respond to the
adversity.
Did you respond in faith or didyou respond like a spoiled brat
(11:10):
wanting to know why this andthat is happening to me?
It's all about your response toadversity.
Now there are a few examplesthat I want to highlight in the
scriptures of how the Lord triesthe hearts and the reins and
(11:33):
let's see the outcome.
The outcome is always dependenton the response we have.
The Israelites in the wilderness.
If you'll turn to Hebrews 3.6,we're just going to summarize it
because I'm not going to readall of the old stories, but
Hebrews summarizes it.
Hebrews 3, verse 6, it'sspeaking of Christ, but Christ
(11:54):
as a son over his own house.
Whose house are we?
If we hold fast, I say it again, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope,firm unto the end, there's a
condition if we hold fast,wherefore the Holy Ghost sayeth
today if ye will hear his voice,harden not your hearts as in
(12:21):
the provocation in the day oftemptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me.
God says your fathers temptedme, they tried to prove me and
they saw my works for 40 years.
(12:43):
Now, what did the Israelites inthe wilderness see of God in
those 40 years?
Faithfulness, yeah, they werecorrected.
Yeah, they were chastised.
But if you look at the wholepicture, for 40 years, when they
tested and when they proved God, god showed himself faithful in
(13:03):
every way Food, water, clothing, safety, protection.
The only time they didn't haveit is when they rebelled against
them and he withdrew from themand the enemy came in.
But other than that, he wasfaithful, he remained true to
his word and he said I wasgrieved in verse 10 with that
(13:26):
generation and said they doalways err in their heart.
They have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath theyshall not enter into my rest.
The Israelites did not enterinto a greater rest and a
promise that God had for thembecause of their rebellion,
because of the way that theyresponded To the wilderness
(13:49):
experience.
The wilderness experience wasthe adversity that God had for
them.
He purposely put them in thewilderness to prove them, to see
what was in their heart.
But does God need to see whatwas in their heart?
Who needed to see what was intheir heart?
They did.
They needed to know why theywere going to be condemned, and
(14:16):
so there's a warning in Hebrewsthat says take heed, Listen to
the stories of old brethren,lest there be any of you or in
any of you.
Oh, what?
An evil heart of unbelief.
That's what exuded, that's whatcame out of the pores of the
(14:36):
Israelites when adversity cameand trials and tribulation came.
They exuded an evilness ofunbelief in the God that
delivered them out of Egypt, inthe God that protected them from
the angel of death, in the Godthat saved them from Pharaoh's
army.
And they saw them washed in thesea.
And then they began to havegolden calves and they began to
(15:00):
rebel and to murmur and tocomplain.
While it is called today, lestany of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin.
And here's another condition weare made partakers of Christ,
(15:21):
blanket statement if we hold tothe beginning of our confidence.
Steadfast them to the end.
Our destiny in him isconditional.
We can start off on the righttrack.
We can start off by coming inthrough the gate, but somehow we
(15:42):
can get off that narrow roadand find ourself in great demise
and destruction.
It's all dependent upon yourresponse.
It says Today, if you will hearhis voice.
Here's the warning.
Harden not your hearts, as inthe provocation For some, when
they had heard, they had heardthe Lord, they provoked the Lord
(16:05):
.
How be it not all that came outof Egypt by Moses, but with whom
he was grieved for 40 years.
Was it not with them that hadsinned, whose carcasses fell in
the wilderness?
So we see I'm gonna skip toverse 19, that they could not
enter in because of unbelief.
Prove me, lord, because I wantto know do I really have a heart
(16:32):
of belief and faith in you, oris it really an evil,
unbelieving heart?
He's proving you to show youwhat you really are.
To show you what you really are, we can read of 1 Corinthians,
we can go through 1 through 13,but I'm just gonna highlight
(16:52):
some of these points.
Because he talks about thatthey were baptized into Moses in
the cloud and in the sea, andhow.
That's a type of us in the newcovenant who are baptized in
Jesus, in water and in Spirit.
It talked about how the rockwas Christ that gave them water
in the days of old.
(17:13):
It says in verse six thesethings, these stories, were en
samples for us, to the intent towarn us that we should not lust
after evil things, as they alsolusted.
So what exuded out of theIsraelites was unbelief.
What exuded out of them waslust for the things of the old
(17:37):
world.
It just came out of them.
They squeezed and that's whatcame out?
They lusted after evil things.
And what else?
It says neither be ye idolaters.
What was really in their heartwas not faith in God, it was
idolatry.
They worshiped every other God.
(18:00):
I've said this before.
They got out of Egypt, butEgypt never seemed to get out of
them.
It says also neither let uscommit fornication.
What was it that they did whenthey were squeezed?
They started to commitfornication.
What was it when they weresqueezed?
It says neither let us temptChrist.
(18:21):
Then they began to tempt Christ.
Notice, it didn't say God, itsaid tempt Christ, because
Christ was the God of the OldTestament.
What else did they do?
Neither murmur ye.
When they were squeezed, theycomplained, they murmured.
We see that all the time today,even in ourselves.
(18:42):
Now, all of these thingshappened unto them.
For ensamples, verse 11, andthey are written for our
admonition.
Take heed.
Take heed of these stories lestyou fall in the same manner.
(19:04):
God is faithful.
It says in verse 13,.
God is faithful.
It was tested, he was provedand He showed Himself faithful
all those 40 years.
And when he brings trial andtribulation in your life, He
(19:27):
will make a way of escape thatyou can bear it.
But your response is the key.
I see my children's attitude.
What is your attitude when youlook in the mirror, when you
(19:53):
step back and you stop listeningto this person on the left and
this person on the right?
What is it that God is tellingyou about you that you need to
deal with?
No-transcript, because if weadmit that, then we are going to
(20:18):
be destroyed just like theywere.
Why should God treat us anydifferent?
Who respond with an unbelievingheart, who tempt him, who
murmur and complain to the left,to the right, who commit
fornication, who are reallyidolaters and just lusting after
the things of the world?
Why should he treat us anydifferent?
(20:40):
Another example King Saul.
King Saul was of the least ofthe tribes of Israel.
He was the least of the familyin the tribes of Israel.
Yet God selected him.
Yet we know his story, thepower that was given to him, the
(21:03):
fame.
He responded and his heart wascorrupt.
It was found to be corruptbecause of the way that he
responded.
He was jealous of David.
When he beat Goliath, he wasn'thappy.
Finally, someone stood up totake on this.
(21:24):
Goliath defeated them and allof the armies of Israel, wiped
them out.
But he's not happy about thatbecause he's worried about what.
I killed a thousand and Davidkills 10,000.
And there was jealousy in hisheart and you know what he did
with David.
He kept trying to kill him,flinging javelins at him.
(21:49):
There's Judas.
Judas walked with the disciplesfor three and a half years.
He was selected and God knewwhat was already in his heart
because he said, one of you is adevil.
And none of them knew who itwas, not even Judas.
Judas did not know what was inhis heart until he betrayed him
(22:14):
and when he saw what was in hisheart, he killed himself.
When he saw what was in hisheart, he killed himself.
And that's what exuded out ofJudas.
And there is a scripture,because we've been talking about
the last days so much whatcomes out of the wicked in the
last days when the wrath of Godcomes upon the earth?
(22:37):
It says in Revelation 6, 15,.
And the kings of the earth andthe great men and the rich men
and the chief captains and themighty men and every bondman and
every fiend man hid themselvesin the dens and in the rocks of
the mountains and said to themountains and rocks fall on us
(23:00):
and hide us from the face of himthat sitteth on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb.
That is what is going to exudeout of the wicked and that is
why their demise will be justand why it will be swift,
because when the tribulationcame they still did not repent,
(23:22):
they still did not come to theLord in humility.
But there are some very goodexamples for us to follow.
There is Job.
In Job 1, we see Satanfrolicking around to and fro
throughout the earth, walking upand down on it, and he goes
(23:46):
before the Lord.
And I find this interesting.
But it has to do with whatDavid asked for.
It has to do with what Jeremiahunderstood.
It says and the Lord said untoSatan hast thou considered my
servant Job?
Because he is the one thattries the reins and the hearts.
(24:12):
Does God need to know what's inJob?
God said of Job there's nonelike him on the earth.
He's perfect and an upright man.
He fears me, he eschews evil.
God already knew him and hedeclared who he was.
But he needed to show Job whohe was.
(24:32):
He needed to reveal to Job thisis the man you really are.
And Satan said what.
God knows how to push hisbuttons to get Satan to do what
he wants.
And as soon as Satan heard that, he said what Doesn't Job fear
(24:53):
God for nothing.
You made a hedge about him,about his house, about all his
side.
You bless all the work of hishands and his substance and his
increase.
Of course he's perfect.
You bless him in everything hedoes.
But take your hand away fromhim.
He'll curse you to your face.
Satan thought he knew Job, butGod is the one that knows who
(25:17):
you are and he let Satan do whathe will to us to try us.
He gave Job a way of escape.
He didn't violate his word.
His way of escape was to notcurse God.
He didn't do that.
Yeah, he went through trouble.
(25:38):
Yeah, he was squeezed.
And what came out of him when hewas squeezed?
Faith.
He did not turn his back on God.
Matter of fact, let me show youthe proof.
Because when it happened, whenhis children were killed and all
of everything else was wipedout, it says Job said naked, I
(25:58):
came out of my mother's womb andnaked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord takeit away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When he was squeezed, blessedbe the name of the Lord.
That's what came out of him nomurmuring, no complaining, no
tempting of God, no idolatry, nofornication.
(26:21):
He stayed faithful, he stayedsteadfast.
And finally and this wasSatan's defeat for me he tried
to get into his wife and hiswife said you still retain your
integrity, curse God and die.
That was Satan's words.
(26:42):
And what did he say when he wassqueezed?
Thou speakest as one of afoolish woman.
What?
Shall we receive the good atthe hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil?
When he was squeezed, he wassteadfast.
He didn't rebuke God, he didn'tcorrect God.
(27:05):
Sure, he wanted to know why.
Sure, he wanted to understand.
And he wanted to sit down andtalk with God.
God, what happened?
I know you're faithful, butwhat happened?
And that was all he did.
But he never turned his back onGod.
He wanted to sit down with God,he wanted to get before God's
face and have a discussion.
Lord, what's going on?
(27:25):
And that's all right.
But he never turned his back onGod, never lost his faith.
And then he was put in checkanyway.
Were you here when I createdthis, that and the other?
Did you tell me how high tomake it, how small to make, you
can tell me nothing.
And he got in check.
(27:46):
He got a little bit more pure,purified, and then he was doubly
blessed.
Afterward we have Abraham.
You know Abraham's whole story.
You know the things that he waswent through.
You know the things that werecommanded of him and how he had
to sacrifice family, the landthat he knew, his friends.
(28:09):
He had to go away.
He had to sacrifice his onlyson and when he did, the angel
said don't lay your hand uponthat child, for now I know that
thou fearest God.
The angel said that Now I knowthat thou fearest God.
(28:31):
Was that really for God?
God already knew what he wasgoing to do.
Who was that really for Abraham?
Abraham, had that really forAbraham?
Abraham had to know for himselfthat if I was brought between a
rock and a hard place, I wouldstill obey the Lord.
(28:52):
Look at what God said of Abraham, four chapters before.
He says in Genesis 18, 19,.
For I know him.
This is four chapters before.
He says in Genesis 18, 19, forI know him.
This is four chapters beforeAbraham was about to come down
with the night, God said I knowhim.
He will command his childrenand his household after him and
(29:13):
they shall keep the way of theLord.
To do justice and judgment.
That the Lord may bring uponAbraham that which he'd spoken
of him.
The Lord already knew himbefore the foundation of the
world.
He knew what Abraham was goingto decide, how he was going to
respond, how he was going tochoose.
It wasn't for God, it's neverfor God, it's for you.
The adversity and the squeezingand the tribulation and the
(29:36):
persecution is for you.
It is a purifying process, itis a knowing of who you really
are.
If you turn to 1 Samuel,chapter 1, it's interesting
because I had given a teachingto my children about this and I
(29:58):
thought it was going to be onthis, but it wasn't.
But there was something thatwas highlighted that sort of
veered me off in this directionof adversity.
I'm not going to read the wholechapter, I'm going to highlight
some verses, but it's all in 1Samuel 1 and chapter 2.
A woman named Hannah.
She was the wife of Elkanah.
(30:20):
But Elkanah had two wives,hannah and Peninnah.
Now, already, that's already abad deal.
I'm not the only wife of thehusband.
I got to share what Already,already.
But we see that Elkanah lovedHannah.
(30:43):
It says Elkanah loved Hannahbecause the Lord had shut up her
womb.
You see, in that day and age,one of the blessings, one of the
things that brought favor toyou and to your household, was
for you to have children, andlots of them.
And if you didn't have childrenyou were the scum of the earth.
(31:06):
Everybody looked down on you,you looked down on yourself.
I mean, we're talking about theearly days, we're talking about
a little bit after A Adam.
I mean that's what they did.
They didn't create a newinvention.
Mean that's what they did.
They didn't.
They didn't create a newinvention.
And that's how they create, gotfame.
No, it was about havingchildren, and the more they had,
(31:29):
the more blessed they were.
But the lord shut up her womb.
So there's lord squeezing her.
What are you gonna do, man,when I don't allow you to have
children?
But I know that's what you want, but what are you going to do
if I don't give them to you?
Elkanah loved her, but Peninnahprovoked her verbally, abused
(31:55):
her I don't even know if shelaid hands on her, but Peninnah
did not make life easy forHannah.
Hannah was constantly abusedand persecuted and Elkanah the
husband, probably saw that andtreated her with more favor.
Talking about Hannah treatedher with more favor, which then
(32:16):
caused Peninnah to be morejealous and start abusing her
even more.
So there's this vicious cycleof Peninnah feeling down on
herself because she can't havechildren, elkanah granting her
more favor, peninnah gettingjealous and then Peninnah
getting down more on Hannah, andit just happened year after
year and every year they wouldgo up to celebrate the feast.
(32:39):
But for Hannah you got tounderstand the feast was a time
of celebration.
It wasn't a time of of.
You know, give me sackcloth andashes and let's just repent and
let's everybody get on herknees and wail.
No, this was a celebration.
You had a feast.
You were eating for days on end, thanksgiving seven times,
(33:01):
because sometimes you werefeasting day after day after day
for at least seven days,sometimes three days, depending
on what the feast was.
But they went up yearly for thefeast and it wasn't an
enjoyable time for him.
It says hannah was grievousbecause panina provoked and
vexed her sorely during thattime, especially during the
(33:21):
feast, because the feast was atime of happiness and joy.
But Peninnah was not going toallow Hannah to have any of that
.
She made sure that Hannah wasgoing to be out of the feast and
the celebrations and Elkanahtried to be more of a blessing
with her than with any of theothers, but that did not fill
(33:44):
Hannah's void.
Our mate, husband or wife isnot going to be able to fill you
in that area that you lack theway that God can.
Elkanah couldn't do it.
And so what did Hannah do afterthe celebration?
(34:06):
She then, while they were fullof eating and drinking, she left
the feast and she grieved andwas in bitterness of her soul
and she prayed In tears and shevowed to the Lord to dedicate to
(34:27):
the Lord her man child All thedays of his life.
She did not turn from him.
She actually went to him, tothe only one that could solve
her situation.
She could have got angry, shecould have got rebellious, she
(34:48):
could have left the house, shecould have caused more trouble
for Elkanah, she could havestarted fighting with Peninnah
and there could be chaos in thehouse.
But she went to the Lord Inthat deep grief, she vowed and
she was sorrowful and you knowthe story how the high priest
Eli saw her thought she wasdrunk and I find this so you've
(35:19):
got to understand that sometimes, in you seeking the Lord.
The Lord answers you through ahuman.
Here she is crying in thebitterness of her tears, just
devoid of any sanity, and she'sjust crying and bitterly crying,
(35:40):
and she's crying out to theLord and vowing to the Lord,
give me a child, I'll give himto you.
And all of a sudden this manthinks she's drunk, says what
are you doing here?
And she says no, I'm not drunk,I'm actually praying to the
Lord.
And then he says Eli answersher prayer.
Eli answers her prayer and Elisays go in peace, and the God of
(36:02):
Israel grant thee thy petitionthat thou has asked of him.
And that happens all the time.
God is speaking to us and wedon't listen because it came
from a human.
And the human doesn't even knowthat he's giving the word of
the Lord to you, because Elididn't know.
(36:23):
She thought she was drunk.
All right, go in peace, may theLord grant you his petition.
It's not like he heard the LordGo and tell her I'm going to
give her her prayer.
He just whoa sorry, I thoughtyou were drunk.
Go in peace, let the Lord grantyou his petition.
And that happens all the time.
And we don't recognize that.
(36:43):
We don't recognize how God justfavors us in the most
inopportune situations, whenwe're not expecting him to
answer in such a way.
And the next time that Elkanahand Hannah get together she
(37:04):
conceives.
Reminds me of when I gotmarried Ten months later we had
a baby.
I mean, it was just like thatand you do the timing man.
That was right when we weremarried.
Okay, so the Lord remembered.
It says the Lord remembered her.
And when Elkanah and Hannah gottogether, boom, she conceived.
(37:25):
She got a son named Samuel.
And you would think that aftershe vowed that she would give up
the baby immediately, shedidn't.
And that doesn't mean that shewas being disobedient.
She just kept the baby longenough to give him the milk, to
have him grow up to a certainage, so that then he can give
(37:46):
into the house of the Lord.
And so I wanna read versechapter two, because after she
was squeezed, she began to exudeall of these things faith, not
rebellion, not fornication, not,you know, turning away from the
Lord.
But she exuded faith.
(38:06):
She got, excuse me, her prayeranswered.
And then, when she had the babyand gave up the baby, it wasn't
like she was sad, it wasn'tlike she was disappointed and
down After she gave up Samuel tothe house of the Lord.
It says Hannah prayed and myheart rejoiced in the Lord.
(38:26):
My horn is exalted in the Lord,my mouth is enlarged over my
enemies because I rejoice in thysalvation.
There is none holy as the Lord,for there is none beside thee.
Neither is there any rock likeour God.
Talk, no more so exceedingproudly.
Let not arrogancy come out ofyour mouth, for the Lord is a
God of knowledge and by himactions are weighed.
(38:48):
The bows of the mighty men arebroken and they that stumbled
and girded which this is allcoming out of Hannah's mouth as
she's praying and they that werefull have hired of themselves
for bread, and they that werehungry ceased, so that the
barren.
And that's what came out of her.
I mean, she's just talkingabout how the Lord is in this
(39:16):
and he's in that, and he's inthis and he's in that.
And she continued how the Lordis in this and he's in that and
he's in this and he's in that.
And she continued the Lordkilleth and he maketh alive.
He bringeth down to the graveand he bringeth up.
The Lord maketh the poor, hemaketh the rich, he bringeth the
low and lifteth up and raisethup the poor out of the dust and
lifteth up the beggar from thedunghill to set them up in
princes and to make them inheritthe throne going off on the
Lord.
She is boasting in the Lord,her God.
That's what came out of her.
(39:48):
He will keep the feet of hissaints, she says, and the wicked
shall be silent in the darkness.
What do you think happened toPeninnah when she had a baby?
Elkanah already had all herlove.
Now she's got all Elkanah'slove and a baby.
(40:11):
How about that, peninnah?
I bet you that shut her mouth,because that's what she's saying
.
The Lord shut up the mouth ofmy adversaries.
The adversaries of the Lordshall be broken to pieces out of
heaven.
Shall he thunder upon them, andthe Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and he shall givestrength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed.
He will exalt his own people,she declares.
(40:36):
And as we read the otherscriptures, they just confirm
what she's saying.
When adversity caused her tosweat, that's what came out of
her.
And the last, for me, is aprototype.
It is Jesus.
In Hebrews 5, verse 7, it saysof the man Jesus, who, in the
(41:03):
days of his flesh when he hadoffered up prayers.
Don't get me wrong when I saythis, but Jesus was God from the
womb to the tomb and allthereafter.
But you have to understand thatin the days of his flesh he was
a man.
(41:24):
He didn't have his omnipotence,he didn't have his omniscience,
he didn't have every.
He was a man Make like hisbrethren in every respect.
This is why he needed to pray,which is why he sweated on the
garden of Gethsemane.
(41:44):
He was a man and it says thatwhen this man offered up prayers
and supplications with strongcrying, the man cried in his
prayers and tears unto him thatwas able to save him from death
(42:08):
and was heard in that he fearedthe reason.
The man.
Jesus was heard of God becausehe feared him.
It says of Jesus that he didn'tdo anything unless the father
said it, or he didn't sayanything unless the father said
it.
He didn't do anything unlessthe father said it, or he didn't
say anything unless the fathersaid it.
He didn't do anything unlessthe father did it.
He was completely yielded tothe spirit of God without
(42:30):
measure within him and as a manhe was completely led of the
Spirit, doing no wrong, takingno wrong turns, never
misspeaking as a man I'mstressing that because I'm gonna
get to a point with it Becauseas a man, him being led by the
(42:50):
spirit in every respect God wasunable to perform his word.
To that man, it says, though hewere a son, yet learned he
obedience?
Why did Jesus get pressed?
He was learning obedience bythe things which he suffered and
(43:19):
being made perfect.
He was made perfect.
He was made perfect, learningobedience through suffering.
He was made perfect and hebecame the author of eternal
salvation unto all them thatobey him.
Why do I say he was a prototype?
A prototype is the first of itskind.
(43:42):
He was the son of man.
He was the son of man.
He was the quickening spirit.
He was the first of his kind tolive as a man in the days of
his flesh and be completelysubmitted to the spirit of God.
And if he did it as a man, he'ssetting the example for you.
(44:03):
He suffered temptation in everyway.
He suffered rejection.
He suffered all the things thatyou think.
No, he can't possiblyunderstand that.
He lived at least 33 and a halfyears in the days of his flesh.
He suffered what you sufferedHunger and thirst, not having
(44:29):
friends or maybe having friendsfor a while and then having them
leave you.
He suffered all of that,probably suffered the loss of
his earthly dad, because wedon't know much about Joseph
after about two to three years.
He suffered it all and yet hewas still able to be led
(44:53):
completely by the Spirit of God,and so he sets the example for
you.
Follow in the assembly line.
I am the prototype, but I'mhere to make children of God.
I'm here to have sons of God.
He was called of God a highpriest after the order of
(45:19):
Melchizedek.
Melchizedek was a king and apriest.
What do you think you're calledto If he was the trailblazer?
He was the forerunner, likeJohn the Baptist was a
forerunner to Jesus, Jesus was aforerunner to the sons of God.
(45:39):
He set the way for you tofollow.
You are called a king and apriest in the house of God.
You are called unto the orderof Melchizedek.
He was the first trailblazer,the first to lead the way by
(46:03):
example to love the Lord andloving the Lord.
Did you ever see Jesus blow Goda kiss?
Did you ever see him hug theLord?
What I saw Jesus do was keephis commandments, and that's how
we love the Lord.
(46:30):
There is a work of perfectionthat only comes about through
God-ordained tribulation andsuffering.
The work of God's perfection inyou cannot come any other way.
There is no easy way.
There is no shortcut.
It's going to be hard, it'sgoing to be difficult, it's
(46:52):
going to be trying and it'ssupposed to.
He tries the reins, he triesthe hear t.
In Romans 5, paul speaks of this, verse 3, romans 5, verse 3.
(47:13):
He says, and not only so weglory in tribulations, knowing
that the tribulation workethpatience, patience, experience
and experience, hope and hope,and maketh not ashamed.
Paul is saying here we learn towait on God In our tribulation
(47:39):
because there's nobody else toturn to to deliver us out of the
tribulation that he put forthin our lives.
So we learn to wait on him andif it doesn't happen the moment
that we think it needs to happen, we have to wait a week, a year
, seven years.
We learn to wait on God,knowing that God is going to
bring about the deliverance.
(48:03):
Because when you learn to waiton God, it teaches you that God
remains ever faithful.
When he finally answers, yourealize how faithful God was in
the midst of your circumstance,whether it lasted a day, a week
or seven years.
(48:24):
You see how faithful God was.
The Israelites, if they hadrepented, would have seen how
faithful God was those 40 years.
And when you learn how faithfulGod is, it leads you to hope in
(48:46):
him more because you saw howincredibly faithful he was to
deliver you out of that pastsituation you found yourself in.
Because when you hope in God,you must hope that God will
bring you to completion in theday of Christ Jesus.
(49:07):
That is what he will do.
His word says so.
If you endure steadfast to theend, He will be found faithful.
And you know what.
We will not be ashamed.
We will not be ashamed.
We will not be let down.
We will not be disappointed,for we know in whom we have
(49:27):
believed, even when everyoneelse around us chides us, mocks
us, doesn't really followalongside us, talks behind our
back.
I'm talking about those whocall themselves Christian.
Because the world?
I don't expect the world towalk with me.
(49:49):
I expect those that callthemselves Christian to walk
with me.
But those are the ones we getthe most persecution.
Those are the ones that hurtthe most Our family, our friends
supposedly calling themselvesChristian.
But regardless of that, I knowin whom I have believed.
My hope is in God, not in thesaints, because I can't judge
(50:13):
before the time.
Peter speaks of tribulation.
He says in 1 Peter 4, verse 12,beloved, think it not a strange
thing concerning the fierytrial, which is to try you as if
some strange thing happened toyou.
In other words, you're supposedto expect it.
(50:36):
God is going to try you.
When he speaks to you and hetells you what you ought to do,
you get baptized, you begin toseek him, you begin to tear, you
want to receive of his spiritand he tries you.
Are you going to?
And when you receive the spirit, he tries you.
(50:59):
Are you going to obey me Inthat area that you don't want to
change, that you don't want totouch, that you don't want to
give up to me?
I'm trying you.
Yeah, I'm going to try you inevery facet of your life, until
it's mine, because I purchasedyou, I redeemed you, you're mine
(51:25):
, all mine.
Peter says, but rejoice in asmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings, that whenhis glory shall be revealed, you
may be glad with exceeding joy.
My question is when is thisglory going to be revealed?
(51:49):
How is it going to be revealed?
Where is it going to berevealed, this glory that's
supposed to be revealed?
Paul takes over this kind ofthought in 2 Thessalonians,
(52:13):
chapter 1, verse 3.
Same type of spirit Peter wasspeaking in about beloved
rejoice in the fiery trials.
Paul says we are bound to thankGod always for you, brethren,
as it is me, because your faithgroweth exceedingly, you, the
(52:49):
churches of God, for yourpatience and faith in all
persecutions and tribulationsthat you endure.
It's like a muscle If you don'twork the muscle, it doesn't get
strong.
If it doesn't find anyresistance, it doesn't get big,
it doesn't get.
So you can start carrying 50pounds.
If you can't carry 10, how areyou going to carry 50?
(53:10):
You have to start with 15.
And then you have to start with20 and keep moving up and it
keeps getting harder and itkeeps getting more trying.
But it strengthens you all thewhile.
When I used to lift weights, Iknow some of you that lift
weights.
You know exactly what I'mtalking about and I'm telling
you that when God deals with you, that's exactly how you should
(53:32):
take it.
He's trying me, he'sstrengthening me, he's making me
firm, he's making me steadfast.
That's what he's doing Now.
That depends on your response.
You don't work with him, you'regoing to injure yourself.
You don't work with thatdumbbell, you start doing
(53:52):
something crazy.
I broke my arm.
That's what he's going to do toyou.
He'll break you.
That's not his choice.
But if that's what's necessaryto do a perfect work in you,
that's exactly what choice.
But if that's what's necessaryto do a perfect work in you,
that's exactly what he'll do.
When faith is perfected, itleads to your charity.
(54:17):
When it says, your faithgroweth exceedingly, notice what
came right after and thecharity of every one of you.
It's called the perfect bond,the bond of perfectness, and
that's charity.
That's love, perfected, matured, brought to its culmination,
(54:39):
its completeness.
Notice what it says.
All of these patience and faith, and all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure, isa manifest token of the
righteous judgment of God, sothat you may be accounted worthy
(54:59):
of the kingdom of God for whichyou suffer.
You see, you need to be countedworthy of the kingdom of God,
for which you suffer.
You see, you need to be countedworthy.
You're not like some superstarquarterback that just comes in
out of nowhere and he gets tostart on the team and you get to
just break records.
It doesn't happen that way.
That's a figment of yourimagination.
If you want to start on theteam, if you want to perform
(55:22):
well on the team, you need to gothrough trial, you need to go
through practice.
It's not going to happen anyother way.
Were you born a great tennisplayer?
Were you born a great wrestler?
Were you born a great pianist?
None of that came by.
I just started playing and itjust happened.
(55:43):
No, sorry, you need to work atit.
Your education you need to workat it.
Your humility you need to workat it.
Your teachableness you need towork at it.
You need to be counted worthyof the kingdom of God.
(56:12):
It is a righteous thing, withGod, to recompense tribulation
to them that troubles you.
In other words, it's a goodthing for God to bring vengeance
upon those that are tribulatingand persecuting you.
He's ready and willing to dothat, but you need to be
accounted worthy of the kingdomof God for him to do that.
And to you who are troubled,rest with us.
(56:32):
When the Lord, here it is again, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with hismighty angels.
So there was a question when ishis glory going to be revealed?
Jesus will be revealed inheaven with mighty angels.
I need to keep reading Inflaming fire taking vengeance on
(56:54):
them that know not God and thatobey not the gospel of our Lord
, jesus Christ, who shall bepunished with everlasting
destruction from the presence ofthe Lord and from the glory of
his power.
Here it is, here's the kickerverse 10.
When he shall come to beglorified in his saints, the
perfect work in you is Christ inyou.
(57:18):
Then we say the hope of glory,because Christ is perfectly
formed in us.
The glory of God is nowrevealed in me, his saint, in
you, his saint.
That's what it's all about.
There is no other highercalling than to you be conformed
(57:38):
into the very image of his son.
Don't talk to me about being aking.
Don't talk to me about being apriest.
Don't talk to me about being apriest, an apostle, a prophet,
an evangelist.
Those are all lower grades.
The standard and the target isthat Jesus Christ be formed in
me.
That's it.
That's the culmination.
There is no higher glory.
(57:58):
You can't talk to me aboutanything else.
That's what the man child is theperfected, fully mature son of
God, and that's going to happenon earth.
There is a manifestation of Godthat's going to happen in the
earth through his sons, for hewill be revealed in his saints.
(58:20):
It's not just well, I'm goingto wait for him to be in his
saints, it's not just well, I'mgoing to wait for him to, you
know, be in the clouds.
He's going to be revealed inhis saints and if you don't get
that, you're not going to allowGod to work in you now, because
you think it's not for now, it'sgoing to be for later.
So I guess God is using me tohelp us shift our paradigm and
(58:46):
we're not waiting for the Lordof glory to come in the clouds
in heaven.
The glory is to be revealed inhis saints, to be admired in all
them that believe.
So I say again in verse 11, Ipray always for you that our God
(59:09):
would count you worthy of hiscalling Worthy Peter.
I come back to Peter, becausehe also speaks of this again in
1 Peter.
I'll go to verse 5.
He speaks of those who are keptby the power of God through
(59:33):
faith unto salvation, ready tobe revealed in the last time.
In other words, the salvationthat we're all waiting for is
going to be revealed in the lastdays, wherein ye greatly
rejoice, though now, for aseason, if need be, you are in
(59:56):
heaviness through manifoldtemptations, that's, your
tribulations, that the trial ofyour faith, being much more
precious than of gold thatperisheth though be tried with
fire, might be found unto thepraise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ.
(01:00:18):
The appearing of Jesus Christis Jesus glorified in his saints
, and in verse 9 it saysreceiving the end of your faith.
What is the end of your faith?
It is the complete salvation ofyour soul.
(01:00:39):
It is God fully perfected inyou.
Here's a man named CharlesSwindle.
He had another quote, one thatI remembered and I said that
fits with this.
He said the longer I live, themore I realize the impact of
(01:01:01):
attitude on life.
Attitude to me is moreimportant than facts, is more
important than the past, theeducation, the money, than
circumstances, than failure,than successes, than what other
people think or say or do.
It is more important thanappearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company, a church, a home.
(01:01:22):
The remarkable thing is we havea choice every day regarding
the attitude we will embrace forthat day.
We cannot change our past.
We cannot change the fact thatpeople will act in a certain way
.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do isplay on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.
He said I am convinced thatlife is 10% what happens to me
(01:01:46):
and 90% of how I react to it,and so it is with you.
We are in charge of ourattitudes.
How do you respond to thetribulation that God puts on you
?
How do you respond when hesqueezes you?
(01:02:10):
It says in Zechariah 13, and Iwill bring a third part through
the fire and will refine them assilver is refined and I will
try them as gold is tried.
And they shall call on my nameand I will hear them.
I will say it is my people andthey shall say the Lord is my
(01:02:36):
God.
Isn't that what Timothy said?
My Lord and my God?
Isn't that what Timothy said,my Lord and my God?
There was a movie called theLeague of their Own.
I watched it recently, at theend with my daughter.
She didn't catch this so maybeI'll highlight this for her.
(01:02:59):
This woman was leaving thebaseball team.
Her husband had finally comeback from the army.
He was serving in the war.
He lived great and she didn'treally want to play baseball.
She just wanted to be with herhusband and family.
So, anyways, he came back andshe was leaving the team.
They were about to go to theWomen's World Series and the
coach comes to her and startstalking about how could you quit
(01:03:20):
, how could you give up on this?
He said baseball is what getsinside you, it's what lights you
up.
You can't deny that.
And she said it just got toohard.
And he said it's supposed to behard.
(01:03:40):
If it wasn't hard, everybodywould do it.
The hard is what makes it great.
Can you imagine all of thetrials and the tribulations that
you will go through?
And then, when you make it tothe end, it's going to be why
(01:04:02):
it's so sweet what God has justdone.
If God didn't take you throughanything dangerous.
What's an action movie withoutdanger?
What's a drama without drama?
Boring?
Why am I going to watch thismovie and spend my life?
(01:04:24):
No, you watch it because itgrips you, the trial and the
struggle and the venture and theaction that they go through, so
that at the end it makes it allthe more sweet.
And what God is doing throughyou is how you need to look at
this.
It doesn't feel great at thetime, but you have to see beyond
the present circumstances.
(01:04:44):
You have to see into the realmof glory and say how sweet it is
when God is done with me.
I will not quit, I will notrelent, I will not give up.
I will see this truth to theend, for I reckon that the
(01:05:05):
sufferings of this present timeare not worthy.
He had a vision of the glory tocome.
It's not worthy to be comparedwith the glory which shall be
revealed in us, because thecreature waits for the
(01:05:27):
manifestation of the sons of God.
The creature itself shall bedelivered from the bondage of
corruption into the gloriousliberty of the children of God.
The creature, all of creation,is going to share in the liberty
that the sons of God will bringand that they will also
(01:05:51):
experience.
We ourselves groan withinourselves, waiting for the
adoption, the redemption of ourbody.
That is the end of thesalvation of your souls, because
the glorified body is therighteousness of Christ that
will clothe you.
This is the end of our faith.
(01:06:14):
This is the salvation of oursouls, and it doesn't come easy.
It doesn't come without pain.
It doesn't come without gettingwounded in battle.
It doesn't come without astruggle or an obstacle or any
type of temptation.
It doesn't come without a fight, and that fight is the good
(01:06:35):
fight of faith.
Jesus said these things have Ispoken unto you that ye might
have peace In the world?
Ye have tribulation, but be ofgood cheer.
What did he say?
I have overcome the world, andif I have overcome the world, so
(01:06:58):
can you Be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world, andso can you.
Amen.
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(01:07:21):
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(01:07:42):
May God bless you and make youprosperous in Him, as you listen
and obey His voice.
The vision received was that of blood cells
traveling throughout the body,supplying the much-needed oxygen
and other nutrients to thediffering members of the body to
fulfill their purpose.
Once the blood cells are spent,they must return back to the
heart to be refilled beforebeing sent out again and fulfill
their purpose.
I don't know about you, but Ifeel like heaven was not brass
(00:32):
during praise and worship.
You know what I mean by brass.
Brass is just this hard ceilingand you can't get past it.
But it wasn't that way todayand I think that happens when
you just open up your heart.
This really has to do with you,because God is waiting.
He's waiting to receive of theglory and the praise that is due
him and if you have a brokenand contrite heart, he is ever
(00:56):
ready to listen and he is everpatient and waiting for us,
because he's always waiting forus and we have very little time
to to wait for him and that'sreally our fault.
But today I want to talk abouta perfect work, and there's some
someone said and I think ifyou've been any type of sports
(01:20):
competition, you've probablyheard this, but if you haven't
been in it, you may never haveheard this but it is said that
adversity doesn't buildcharacter, it reveals it, and
that's a very true statement, asI well.
I was actually reading into thescriptures and then I
(01:40):
remembered that statement that Ihad seen somewhere else.
And I remember that statementthat I had seen somewhere else.
Let me repeat it againAdversity doesn't build
character, it reveals it.
And I've seen that very, veryclearly with my children as they
meet situations that areadverse to them.
(02:03):
I think I had a teachingrecently.
I had an acronym, somethingabout adverse Stand.
That's it stand.
Oh geez, now I forgot theacronym.
Something through adversity,not desire.
Stable through adversity, notdesire.
That was right.
Okay, so adversity.
I guess the Lord wants tocontinue this theme.
But adversity brings about and alot of people think no, it
(02:27):
actually builds and forms yourcharacter.
And it actually doesn't.
Cause when the heat is on, whenthe pressure cooker is intense,
you begin to exude that whichis within you.
And so when that quote says itsimply reveals your character,
(02:48):
that's true, it's like characteris like sweat.
When you are exercising and youjust start working up a sweat,
well, you can't help but sweatcome out.
And you can't help but tastethat.
It's salt, it's salty.
You can't help, that it justexudes from you.
There's nothing you can do tocontrol it.
Well, adversity in our lifecircumstances does the same
thing.
It simply reveals what isalready there.
(03:09):
So it's like the sweat thatpours out of our pores when
we're in the hot sun or whenwe're exercising or when we're
in a sauna.
Adversity, when we experience itin life, it just comes out of
us who we really are, what weare truly made of.
(03:30):
And for some people, whenadversity comes, we find the
most bitter, the most angry, themost spoiled, cantankerous
person we would ever want tomeet.
And sometimes we meet in others, these laid back, docile,
passive people that the worldcan be crumbling all around them
and they're just sitting backand like not a care in the world
(03:53):
.
And so that's a different typeof person that we see when we
see the adversity.
Our responses to adversityreveal to us.
Let me say that again ourresponses to adversity reveal to
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us what state of man we're in.
It's not for the Lord.
The Lord already knows who weare, what we're made of.
When adversity comes and wejust begin to sweat and exude
something from ourselves.
It's not for the Lord, it's forus to see what's still inside
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of us, what still remains.
It's like when you're purifyinggold and just the impurities
start coming out.
The master goldsmith knows thatthere's impurities.
It's not for him, it's for thegold to become more pure and
letting go some of that impuritythat it has contained within
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itself.
And David, I think, understoodthat.
In Psalm 26.2, david saysExamine me, o Lord, prove me,
try my reins and my heart.
Somehow David understood, nothaving the Old Testament and the
(05:24):
New Testament Maybe we have afew books of what transpired in
the past because he came afterMoses.
He probably had the what is itcalled?
The Torah?
He probably had that.
But in that he realized thatGod is doing something with
mankind.
He understood that God wasdealing with David.
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And what was in David?
Why did he go through all ofthese trials and circumstances?
And you know his story.
I don't want to delve toodeeply into it, but you know
that he came up as a littleshepherd boy.
You know that he fought Goliath.
You know that.
You know they said somethingabout David, his ten thousands,
(06:08):
but Saul, his thousands, and hejust began to create great fame
and he grew in wisdom and hegrew in understanding.
Yet he never touched Saul, henever touched the anointed, and
that was his response.
Yet we know, David fell many atime, even though he's raised up
as a humble person.
But he seemed to understandthat God was always testing and
(06:34):
proving mankind.
And in knowing that he acceptedthe challenge, David understood
.
Yes, examine me, yes, prove me,prove me, but not for God's
sake, it was for David's sake.
David wanted to know who hereally was.
(06:56):
When everything came down to it,when we say the rubber meets
the road, who are you really?
There's another prophet of themost high.
David was a prophet of the mosthigh.
But there was another prophetof the most high, Jeremiah.
And he recognized also that theLord tries the reins and the
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heart, but specifically He triesthe righteous.
He specifically mentioned youtry the righteous.
So if you will turn to Jeremiah11, 20.
Jeremiah says but, o Lord ofhosts that judges righteously,
that tries the reins and theheart, let me see thy vengeance
(07:42):
on them, for unto thee have Irevealed my cause.
If you know anything aboutJeremiah's story, he kept
standing up for the Lord andeverybody kept beating him down,
either verbally or physically,I mean.
They literally had their waywith him and if he ever spoke up
and said something of the Lord,they would immediately smack
(08:03):
him and punch him and throw himin jail.
He had a hard life being aprophet of the most high, but it
was the way that he respondedto it.
That is our focus today.
He says in Jeremiah 20, verse11,.
He says the Lord is with me asa mighty, terrible one.
(08:24):
Therefore, my persecutors shallstumble and they shall not
prevail.
They shall be greatly ashamed,for they shall not prosper.
Their everlasting confusionshall never be forgotten.
(08:52):
But, o Lord of hosts, thattriest the righteous and seest
the reins of the heart.
And when I read that, for hehath delivered the soul of the
poor from the hand of theevildoer, and when I read that,
I see Jeremiah squeezed like anorange and the juices just come
(09:15):
out.
But look at what those juicesare.
There is faith in God.
There is a knowing that God isfor him and not against him.
There isn't any blame that, ohGod, why'd you do this to me?
I'm here speaking your word.
There's nothing like that.
There is a steadfast faith thatcomes out of him, that is
(09:41):
proclaiming what God is going todo, knowing that the Lord is
going to deal with those thatare persecuting him and singing
unto the Lord.
It reminds me of Paul and Silasin the jail.
What, when they were pressed,came out of them?
Worshiping the Lord in themiddle of the night.
(10:01):
That's why David wanted to beproved.
What is going to come out of me?
What am I going to exude?
What am I going to sweat?
Is it going to be a fragrantaroma in the presence of my king
and my God?
David said in Psalm 7, verse 9,oh, let the wickedness of the
(10:23):
wicked come to an end, butestablish the just For the
righteous.
God trieth the hearts and thereins.
Now, what we see in these lasttwo verses is that you see that
in the process of God trying thereins and the heart, he is
(10:45):
establishing justice for therighteous.
He is establishing deliveranceof the just and judgment upon
the wicked.
But all of that is dependent onhow did you respond to the
adversity.
Did you respond in faith or didyou respond like a spoiled brat
(11:10):
wanting to know why this andthat is happening to me?
It's all about your response toadversity.
Now there are a few examplesthat I want to highlight in the
scriptures of how the Lord triesthe hearts and the reins and
(11:33):
let's see the outcome.
The outcome is always dependenton the response we have.
The Israelites in the wilderness.
If you'll turn to Hebrews 3.6,we're just going to summarize it
because I'm not going to readall of the old stories, but
Hebrews summarizes it.
Hebrews 3, verse 6, it'sspeaking of Christ, but Christ
(11:54):
as a son over his own house.
Whose house are we?
If we hold fast, I say it again, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope,firm unto the end, there's a
condition if we hold fast,wherefore the Holy Ghost sayeth
today if ye will hear his voice,harden not your hearts as in
(12:21):
the provocation in the day oftemptation in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me.
God says your fathers temptedme, they tried to prove me and
they saw my works for 40 years.
(12:43):
Now, what did the Israelites inthe wilderness see of God in
those 40 years?
Faithfulness, yeah, they werecorrected.
Yeah, they were chastised.
But if you look at the wholepicture, for 40 years, when they
tested and when they proved God, god showed himself faithful in
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every way Food, water, clothing, safety, protection.
The only time they didn't haveit is when they rebelled against
them and he withdrew from themand the enemy came in.
But other than that, he wasfaithful, he remained true to
his word and he said I wasgrieved in verse 10 with that
(13:26):
generation and said they doalways err in their heart.
They have not known my ways.
So I swear in my wrath theyshall not enter into my rest.
The Israelites did not enterinto a greater rest and a
promise that God had for thembecause of their rebellion,
because of the way that theyresponded To the wilderness
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experience.
The wilderness experience wasthe adversity that God had for
them.
He purposely put them in thewilderness to prove them, to see
what was in their heart.
But does God need to see whatwas in their heart?
Who needed to see what was intheir heart?
They did.
They needed to know why theywere going to be condemned, and
(14:16):
so there's a warning in Hebrewsthat says take heed, Listen to
the stories of old brethren,lest there be any of you or in
any of you.
Oh, what?
An evil heart of unbelief.
That's what exuded, that's whatcame out of the pores of the
(14:36):
Israelites when adversity cameand trials and tribulation came.
They exuded an evilness ofunbelief in the God that
delivered them out of Egypt, inthe God that protected them from
the angel of death, in the Godthat saved them from Pharaoh's
army.
And they saw them washed in thesea.
And then they began to havegolden calves and they began to
(15:00):
rebel and to murmur and tocomplain.
While it is called today, lestany of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin.
And here's another condition weare made partakers of Christ,
(15:21):
blanket statement if we hold tothe beginning of our confidence.
Steadfast them to the end.
Our destiny in him isconditional.
We can start off on the righttrack.
We can start off by coming inthrough the gate, but somehow we
(15:42):
can get off that narrow roadand find ourself in great demise
and destruction.
It's all dependent upon yourresponse.
It says Today, if you will hearhis voice.
Here's the warning.
Harden not your hearts, as inthe provocation For some, when
they had heard, they had heardthe Lord, they provoked the Lord
(16:05):
.
How be it not all that came outof Egypt by Moses, but with whom
he was grieved for 40 years.
Was it not with them that hadsinned, whose carcasses fell in
the wilderness?
So we see I'm gonna skip toverse 19, that they could not
enter in because of unbelief.
Prove me, lord, because I wantto know do I really have a heart
(16:32):
of belief and faith in you, oris it really an evil,
unbelieving heart?
He's proving you to show youwhat you really are.
To show you what you really are, we can read of 1 Corinthians,
we can go through 1 through 13,but I'm just gonna highlight
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some of these points.
Because he talks about thatthey were baptized into Moses in
the cloud and in the sea, andhow.
That's a type of us in the newcovenant who are baptized in
Jesus, in water and in Spirit.
It talked about how the rockwas Christ that gave them water
in the days of old.
(17:13):
It says in verse six thesethings, these stories, were en
samples for us, to the intent towarn us that we should not lust
after evil things, as they alsolusted.
So what exuded out of theIsraelites was unbelief.
What exuded out of them waslust for the things of the old
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world.
It just came out of them.
They squeezed and that's whatcame out?
They lusted after evil things.
And what else?
It says neither be ye idolaters.
What was really in their heartwas not faith in God, it was
idolatry.
They worshiped every other God.
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I've said this before.
They got out of Egypt, butEgypt never seemed to get out of
them.
It says also neither let uscommit fornication.
What was it that they did whenthey were squeezed?
They started to commitfornication.
What was it when they weresqueezed?
It says neither let us temptChrist.
(18:21):
Then they began to tempt Christ.
Notice, it didn't say God, itsaid tempt Christ, because
Christ was the God of the OldTestament.
What else did they do?
Neither murmur ye.
When they were squeezed, theycomplained, they murmured.
We see that all the time today,even in ourselves.
(18:42):
Now, all of these thingshappened unto them.
For ensamples, verse 11, andthey are written for our
admonition.
Take heed.
Take heed of these stories lestyou fall in the same manner.
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God is faithful.
It says in verse 13,.
God is faithful.
It was tested, he was provedand He showed Himself faithful
all those 40 years.
And when he brings trial andtribulation in your life, He
(19:27):
will make a way of escape thatyou can bear it.
But your response is the key.
I see my children's attitude.
What is your attitude when youlook in the mirror, when you
(19:53):
step back and you stop listeningto this person on the left and
this person on the right?
What is it that God is tellingyou about you that you need to
deal with?
No-transcript, because if weadmit that, then we are going to
(20:18):
be destroyed just like theywere.
Why should God treat us anydifferent?
Who respond with an unbelievingheart, who tempt him, who
murmur and complain to the left,to the right, who commit
fornication, who are reallyidolaters and just lusting after
the things of the world?
Why should he treat us anydifferent?
(20:40):
Another example King Saul.
King Saul was of the least ofthe tribes of Israel.
He was the least of the familyin the tribes of Israel.
Yet God selected him.
Yet we know his story, thepower that was given to him, the
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fame.
He responded and his heart wascorrupt.
It was found to be corruptbecause of the way that he
responded.
He was jealous of David.
When he beat Goliath, he wasn'thappy.
Finally, someone stood up totake on this.
(21:24):
Goliath defeated them and allof the armies of Israel, wiped
them out.
But he's not happy about thatbecause he's worried about what.
I killed a thousand and Davidkills 10,000.
And there was jealousy in hisheart and you know what he did
with David.
He kept trying to kill him,flinging javelins at him.
(21:49):
There's Judas.
Judas walked with the disciplesfor three and a half years.
He was selected and God knewwhat was already in his heart
because he said, one of you is adevil.
And none of them knew who itwas, not even Judas.
Judas did not know what was inhis heart until he betrayed him
(22:14):
and when he saw what was in hisheart, he killed himself.
When he saw what was in hisheart, he killed himself.
And that's what exuded out ofJudas.
And there is a scripture,because we've been talking about
the last days so much whatcomes out of the wicked in the
last days when the wrath of Godcomes upon the earth?
(22:37):
It says in Revelation 6, 15,.
And the kings of the earth andthe great men and the rich men
and the chief captains and themighty men and every bondman and
every fiend man hid themselvesin the dens and in the rocks of
the mountains and said to themountains and rocks fall on us
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and hide us from the face of himthat sitteth on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb.
That is what is going to exudeout of the wicked and that is
why their demise will be justand why it will be swift,
because when the tribulationcame they still did not repent,
(23:22):
they still did not come to theLord in humility.
But there are some very goodexamples for us to follow.
There is Job.
In Job 1, we see Satanfrolicking around to and fro
throughout the earth, walking upand down on it, and he goes
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before the Lord.
And I find this interesting.
But it has to do with whatDavid asked for.
It has to do with what Jeremiahunderstood.
It says and the Lord said untoSatan hast thou considered my
servant Job?
Because he is the one thattries the reins and the hearts.
(24:12):
Does God need to know what's inJob?
God said of Job there's nonelike him on the earth.
He's perfect and an upright man.
He fears me, he eschews evil.
God already knew him and hedeclared who he was.
But he needed to show Job whohe was.
(24:32):
He needed to reveal to Job thisis the man you really are.
And Satan said what.
God knows how to push hisbuttons to get Satan to do what
he wants.
And as soon as Satan heard that, he said what Doesn't Job fear
(24:53):
God for nothing.
You made a hedge about him,about his house, about all his
side.
You bless all the work of hishands and his substance and his
increase.
Of course he's perfect.
You bless him in everything hedoes.
But take your hand away fromhim.
He'll curse you to your face.
Satan thought he knew Job, butGod is the one that knows who
(25:17):
you are and he let Satan do whathe will to us to try us.
He gave Job a way of escape.
He didn't violate his word.
His way of escape was to notcurse God.
He didn't do that.
Yeah, he went through trouble.
(25:38):
Yeah, he was squeezed.
And what came out of him when hewas squeezed?
Faith.
He did not turn his back on God.
Matter of fact, let me show youthe proof.
Because when it happened, whenhis children were killed and all
of everything else was wipedout, it says Job said naked, I
(25:58):
came out of my mother's womb andnaked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord takeit away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When he was squeezed, blessedbe the name of the Lord.
That's what came out of him nomurmuring, no complaining, no
tempting of God, no idolatry, nofornication.
(26:21):
He stayed faithful, he stayedsteadfast.
And finally and this wasSatan's defeat for me he tried
to get into his wife and hiswife said you still retain your
integrity, curse God and die.
That was Satan's words.
(26:42):
And what did he say when he wassqueezed?
Thou speakest as one of afoolish woman.
What?
Shall we receive the good atthe hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil?
When he was squeezed, he wassteadfast.
He didn't rebuke God, he didn'tcorrect God.
(27:05):
Sure, he wanted to know why.
Sure, he wanted to understand.
And he wanted to sit down andtalk with God.
God, what happened?
I know you're faithful, butwhat happened?
And that was all he did.
But he never turned his back onGod.
He wanted to sit down with God,he wanted to get before God's
face and have a discussion.
Lord, what's going on?
(27:25):
And that's all right.
But he never turned his back onGod, never lost his faith.
And then he was put in checkanyway.
Were you here when I createdthis, that and the other?
Did you tell me how high tomake it, how small to make, you
can tell me nothing.
And he got in check.
(27:46):
He got a little bit more pure,purified, and then he was doubly
blessed.
Afterward we have Abraham.
You know Abraham's whole story.
You know the things that he waswent through.
You know the things that werecommanded of him and how he had
to sacrifice family, the landthat he knew, his friends.
(28:09):
He had to go away.
He had to sacrifice his onlyson and when he did, the angel
said don't lay your hand uponthat child, for now I know that
thou fearest God.
The angel said that Now I knowthat thou fearest God.
(28:31):
Was that really for God?
God already knew what he wasgoing to do.
Who was that really for Abraham?
Abraham, had that really forAbraham?
Abraham had to know for himselfthat if I was brought between a
rock and a hard place, I wouldstill obey the Lord.
(28:52):
Look at what God said of Abraham, four chapters before.
He says in Genesis 18, 19,.
For I know him.
This is four chapters before.
He says in Genesis 18, 19, forI know him.
This is four chapters beforeAbraham was about to come down
with the night, God said I knowhim.
He will command his childrenand his household after him and
(29:13):
they shall keep the way of theLord.
To do justice and judgment.
That the Lord may bring uponAbraham that which he'd spoken
of him.
The Lord already knew himbefore the foundation of the
world.
He knew what Abraham was goingto decide, how he was going to
respond, how he was going tochoose.
It wasn't for God, it's neverfor God, it's for you.
The adversity and the squeezingand the tribulation and the
(29:36):
persecution is for you.
It is a purifying process, itis a knowing of who you really
are.
If you turn to 1 Samuel,chapter 1, it's interesting
because I had given a teachingto my children about this and I
(29:58):
thought it was going to be onthis, but it wasn't.
But there was something thatwas highlighted that sort of
veered me off in this directionof adversity.
I'm not going to read the wholechapter, I'm going to highlight
some verses, but it's all in 1Samuel 1 and chapter 2.
A woman named Hannah.
She was the wife of Elkanah.
(30:20):
But Elkanah had two wives,hannah and Peninnah.
Now, already, that's already abad deal.
I'm not the only wife of thehusband.
I got to share what Already,already.
But we see that Elkanah lovedHannah.
(30:43):
It says Elkanah loved Hannahbecause the Lord had shut up her
womb.
You see, in that day and age,one of the blessings, one of the
things that brought favor toyou and to your household, was
for you to have children, andlots of them.
And if you didn't have childrenyou were the scum of the earth.
(31:06):
Everybody looked down on you,you looked down on yourself.
I mean, we're talking about theearly days, we're talking about
a little bit after A Adam.
I mean that's what they did.
They didn't create a newinvention.
Mean that's what they did.
They didn't.
They didn't create a newinvention.
And that's how they create, gotfame.
No, it was about havingchildren, and the more they had,
(31:29):
the more blessed they were.
But the lord shut up her womb.
So there's lord squeezing her.
What are you gonna do, man,when I don't allow you to have
children?
But I know that's what you want, but what are you going to do
if I don't give them to you?
Elkanah loved her, but Peninnahprovoked her verbally, abused
(31:55):
her I don't even know if shelaid hands on her, but Peninnah
did not make life easy forHannah.
Hannah was constantly abusedand persecuted and Elkanah the
husband, probably saw that andtreated her with more favor.
Talking about Hannah treatedher with more favor, which then
(32:16):
caused Peninnah to be morejealous and start abusing her
even more.
So there's this vicious cycleof Peninnah feeling down on
herself because she can't havechildren, elkanah granting her
more favor, peninnah gettingjealous and then Peninnah
getting down more on Hannah, andit just happened year after
year and every year they wouldgo up to celebrate the feast.
(32:39):
But for Hannah you got tounderstand the feast was a time
of celebration.
It wasn't a time of of.
You know, give me sackcloth andashes and let's just repent and
let's everybody get on herknees and wail.
No, this was a celebration.
You had a feast.
You were eating for days on end, thanksgiving seven times,
(33:01):
because sometimes you werefeasting day after day after day
for at least seven days,sometimes three days, depending
on what the feast was.
But they went up yearly for thefeast and it wasn't an
enjoyable time for him.
It says hannah was grievousbecause panina provoked and
vexed her sorely during thattime, especially during the
(33:21):
feast, because the feast was atime of happiness and joy.
But Peninnah was not going toallow Hannah to have any of that
.
She made sure that Hannah wasgoing to be out of the feast and
the celebrations and Elkanahtried to be more of a blessing
with her than with any of theothers, but that did not fill
(33:44):
Hannah's void.
Our mate, husband or wife isnot going to be able to fill you
in that area that you lack theway that God can.
Elkanah couldn't do it.
And so what did Hannah do afterthe celebration?
(34:06):
She then, while they were fullof eating and drinking, she left
the feast and she grieved andwas in bitterness of her soul
and she prayed In tears and shevowed to the Lord to dedicate to
(34:27):
the Lord her man child All thedays of his life.
She did not turn from him.
She actually went to him, tothe only one that could solve
her situation.
She could have got angry, shecould have got rebellious, she
(34:48):
could have left the house, shecould have caused more trouble
for Elkanah, she could havestarted fighting with Peninnah
and there could be chaos in thehouse.
But she went to the Lord Inthat deep grief, she vowed and
she was sorrowful and you knowthe story how the high priest
Eli saw her thought she wasdrunk and I find this so you've
(35:19):
got to understand that sometimes, in you seeking the Lord.
The Lord answers you through ahuman.
Here she is crying in thebitterness of her tears, just
devoid of any sanity, and she'sjust crying and bitterly crying,
(35:40):
and she's crying out to theLord and vowing to the Lord,
give me a child, I'll give himto you.
And all of a sudden this manthinks she's drunk, says what
are you doing here?
And she says no, I'm not drunk,I'm actually praying to the
Lord.
And then he says Eli answersher prayer.
Eli answers her prayer and Elisays go in peace, and the God of
(36:02):
Israel grant thee thy petitionthat thou has asked of him.
And that happens all the time.
God is speaking to us and wedon't listen because it came
from a human.
And the human doesn't even knowthat he's giving the word of
the Lord to you, because Elididn't know.
(36:23):
She thought she was drunk.
All right, go in peace, may theLord grant you his petition.
It's not like he heard the LordGo and tell her I'm going to
give her her prayer.
He just whoa sorry, I thoughtyou were drunk.
Go in peace, let the Lord grantyou his petition.
And that happens all the time.
And we don't recognize that.
(36:43):
We don't recognize how God justfavors us in the most
inopportune situations, whenwe're not expecting him to
answer in such a way.
And the next time that Elkanahand Hannah get together she
(37:04):
conceives.
Reminds me of when I gotmarried Ten months later we had
a baby.
I mean, it was just like thatand you do the timing man.
That was right when we weremarried.
Okay, so the Lord remembered.
It says the Lord remembered her.
And when Elkanah and Hannah gottogether, boom, she conceived.
(37:25):
She got a son named Samuel.
And you would think that aftershe vowed that she would give up
the baby immediately, shedidn't.
And that doesn't mean that shewas being disobedient.
She just kept the baby longenough to give him the milk, to
have him grow up to a certainage, so that then he can give
(37:46):
into the house of the Lord.
And so I wanna read versechapter two, because after she
was squeezed, she began to exudeall of these things faith, not
rebellion, not fornication, not,you know, turning away from the
Lord.
But she exuded faith.
(38:06):
She got, excuse me, her prayeranswered.
And then, when she had the babyand gave up the baby, it wasn't
like she was sad, it wasn'tlike she was disappointed and
down After she gave up Samuel tothe house of the Lord.
It says Hannah prayed and myheart rejoiced in the Lord.
(38:26):
My horn is exalted in the Lord,my mouth is enlarged over my
enemies because I rejoice in thysalvation.
There is none holy as the Lord,for there is none beside thee.
Neither is there any rock likeour God.
Talk, no more so exceedingproudly.
Let not arrogancy come out ofyour mouth, for the Lord is a
God of knowledge and by himactions are weighed.
(38:48):
The bows of the mighty men arebroken and they that stumbled
and girded which this is allcoming out of Hannah's mouth as
she's praying and they that werefull have hired of themselves
for bread, and they that werehungry ceased, so that the
barren.
And that's what came out of her.
I mean, she's just talkingabout how the Lord is in this
(39:16):
and he's in that, and he's inthis and he's in that.
And she continued how the Lordis in this and he's in that and
he's in this and he's in that.
And she continued the Lordkilleth and he maketh alive.
He bringeth down to the graveand he bringeth up.
The Lord maketh the poor, hemaketh the rich, he bringeth the
low and lifteth up and raisethup the poor out of the dust and
lifteth up the beggar from thedunghill to set them up in
princes and to make them inheritthe throne going off on the
Lord.
She is boasting in the Lord,her God.
That's what came out of her.
(39:48):
He will keep the feet of hissaints, she says, and the wicked
shall be silent in the darkness.
What do you think happened toPeninnah when she had a baby?
Elkanah already had all herlove.
Now she's got all Elkanah'slove and a baby.
(40:11):
How about that, peninnah?
I bet you that shut her mouth,because that's what she's saying
.
The Lord shut up the mouth ofmy adversaries.
The adversaries of the Lordshall be broken to pieces out of
heaven.
Shall he thunder upon them, andthe Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and he shall givestrength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed.
He will exalt his own people,she declares.
(40:36):
And as we read the otherscriptures, they just confirm
what she's saying.
When adversity caused her tosweat, that's what came out of
her.
And the last, for me, is aprototype.
It is Jesus.
In Hebrews 5, verse 7, it saysof the man Jesus, who, in the
(41:03):
days of his flesh when he hadoffered up prayers.
Don't get me wrong when I saythis, but Jesus was God from the
womb to the tomb and allthereafter.
But you have to understand thatin the days of his flesh he was
a man.
(41:24):
He didn't have his omnipotence,he didn't have his omniscience,
he didn't have every.
He was a man Make like hisbrethren in every respect.
This is why he needed to pray,which is why he sweated on the
garden of Gethsemane.
(41:44):
He was a man and it says thatwhen this man offered up prayers
and supplications with strongcrying, the man cried in his
prayers and tears unto him thatwas able to save him from death
(42:08):
and was heard in that he fearedthe reason.
The man.
Jesus was heard of God becausehe feared him.
It says of Jesus that he didn'tdo anything unless the father
said it, or he didn't sayanything unless the father said
it.
He didn't do anything unlessthe father said it, or he didn't
say anything unless the fathersaid it.
He didn't do anything unlessthe father did it.
He was completely yielded tothe spirit of God without
(42:30):
measure within him and as a manhe was completely led of the
Spirit, doing no wrong, takingno wrong turns, never
misspeaking as a man I'mstressing that because I'm gonna
get to a point with it Becauseas a man, him being led by the
(42:50):
spirit in every respect God wasunable to perform his word.
To that man, it says, though hewere a son, yet learned he
obedience?
Why did Jesus get pressed?
He was learning obedience bythe things which he suffered and
(43:19):
being made perfect.
He was made perfect.
He was made perfect, learningobedience through suffering.
He was made perfect and hebecame the author of eternal
salvation unto all them thatobey him.
Why do I say he was a prototype?
A prototype is the first of itskind.
(43:42):
He was the son of man.
He was the son of man.
He was the quickening spirit.
He was the first of his kind tolive as a man in the days of
his flesh and be completelysubmitted to the spirit of God.
And if he did it as a man, he'ssetting the example for you.
(44:03):
He suffered temptation in everyway.
He suffered rejection.
He suffered all the things thatyou think.
No, he can't possiblyunderstand that.
He lived at least 33 and a halfyears in the days of his flesh.
He suffered what you sufferedHunger and thirst, not having
(44:29):
friends or maybe having friendsfor a while and then having them
leave you.
He suffered all of that,probably suffered the loss of
his earthly dad, because wedon't know much about Joseph
after about two to three years.
He suffered it all and yet hewas still able to be led
(44:53):
completely by the Spirit of God,and so he sets the example for
you.
Follow in the assembly line.
I am the prototype, but I'mhere to make children of God.
I'm here to have sons of God.
He was called of God a highpriest after the order of
(45:19):
Melchizedek.
Melchizedek was a king and apriest.
What do you think you're calledto If he was the trailblazer?
He was the forerunner, likeJohn the Baptist was a
forerunner to Jesus, Jesus was aforerunner to the sons of God.
(45:39):
He set the way for you tofollow.
You are called a king and apriest in the house of God.
You are called unto the orderof Melchizedek.
He was the first trailblazer,the first to lead the way by
(46:03):
example to love the Lord andloving the Lord.
Did you ever see Jesus blow Goda kiss?
Did you ever see him hug theLord?
What I saw Jesus do was keephis commandments, and that's how
we love the Lord.
(46:30):
There is a work of perfectionthat only comes about through
God-ordained tribulation andsuffering.
The work of God's perfection inyou cannot come any other way.
There is no easy way.
There is no shortcut.
It's going to be hard, it'sgoing to be difficult, it's
(46:52):
going to be trying and it'ssupposed to.
He tries the reins, he triesthe hear t.
In Romans 5, paul speaks of this, verse 3, romans 5, verse 3.
(47:13):
He says, and not only so weglory in tribulations, knowing
that the tribulation workethpatience, patience, experience
and experience, hope and hope,and maketh not ashamed.
Paul is saying here we learn towait on God In our tribulation
(47:39):
because there's nobody else toturn to to deliver us out of the
tribulation that he put forthin our lives.
So we learn to wait on him andif it doesn't happen the moment
that we think it needs to happen, we have to wait a week, a year
, seven years.
We learn to wait on God,knowing that God is going to
bring about the deliverance.
(48:03):
Because when you learn to waiton God, it teaches you that God
remains ever faithful.
When he finally answers, yourealize how faithful God was in
the midst of your circumstance,whether it lasted a day, a week
or seven years.
(48:24):
You see how faithful God was.
The Israelites, if they hadrepented, would have seen how
faithful God was those 40 years.
And when you learn how faithfulGod is, it leads you to hope in
(48:46):
him more because you saw howincredibly faithful he was to
deliver you out of that pastsituation you found yourself in.
Because when you hope in God,you must hope that God will
bring you to completion in theday of Christ Jesus.
(49:07):
That is what he will do.
His word says so.
If you endure steadfast to theend, He will be found faithful.
And you know what.
We will not be ashamed.
We will not be ashamed.
We will not be let down.
We will not be disappointed,for we know in whom we have
(49:27):
believed, even when everyoneelse around us chides us, mocks
us, doesn't really followalongside us, talks behind our
back.
I'm talking about those whocall themselves Christian.
Because the world?
I don't expect the world towalk with me.
(49:49):
I expect those that callthemselves Christian to walk
with me.
But those are the ones we getthe most persecution.
Those are the ones that hurtthe most Our family, our friends
supposedly calling themselvesChristian.
But regardless of that, I knowin whom I have believed.
My hope is in God, not in thesaints, because I can't judge
(50:13):
before the time.
Peter speaks of tribulation.
He says in 1 Peter 4, verse 12,beloved, think it not a strange
thing concerning the fierytrial, which is to try you as if
some strange thing happened toyou.
In other words, you're supposedto expect it.
(50:36):
God is going to try you.
When he speaks to you and hetells you what you ought to do,
you get baptized, you begin toseek him, you begin to tear, you
want to receive of his spiritand he tries you.
Are you going to?
And when you receive the spirit, he tries you.
(50:59):
Are you going to obey me Inthat area that you don't want to
change, that you don't want totouch, that you don't want to
give up to me?
I'm trying you.
Yeah, I'm going to try you inevery facet of your life, until
it's mine, because I purchasedyou, I redeemed you, you're mine
(51:25):
, all mine.
Peter says, but rejoice in asmuch as ye are partakers of
Christ's sufferings, that whenhis glory shall be revealed, you
may be glad with exceeding joy.
My question is when is thisglory going to be revealed?
(51:49):
How is it going to be revealed?
Where is it going to berevealed, this glory that's
supposed to be revealed?
Paul takes over this kind ofthought in 2 Thessalonians,
(52:13):
chapter 1, verse 3.
Same type of spirit Peter wasspeaking in about beloved
rejoice in the fiery trials.
Paul says we are bound to thankGod always for you, brethren,
as it is me, because your faithgroweth exceedingly, you, the
(52:49):
churches of God, for yourpatience and faith in all
persecutions and tribulationsthat you endure.
It's like a muscle If you don'twork the muscle, it doesn't get
strong.
If it doesn't find anyresistance, it doesn't get big,
it doesn't get.
So you can start carrying 50pounds.
If you can't carry 10, how areyou going to carry 50?
(53:10):
You have to start with 15.
And then you have to start with20 and keep moving up and it
keeps getting harder and itkeeps getting more trying.
But it strengthens you all thewhile.
When I used to lift weights, Iknow some of you that lift
weights.
You know exactly what I'mtalking about and I'm telling
you that when God deals with you, that's exactly how you should
(53:32):
take it.
He's trying me, he'sstrengthening me, he's making me
firm, he's making me steadfast.
That's what he's doing Now.
That depends on your response.
You don't work with him, you'regoing to injure yourself.
You don't work with thatdumbbell, you start doing
(53:52):
something crazy.
I broke my arm.
That's what he's going to do toyou.
He'll break you.
That's not his choice.
But if that's what's necessaryto do a perfect work in you,
that's exactly what choice.
But if that's what's necessaryto do a perfect work in you,
that's exactly what he'll do.
When faith is perfected, itleads to your charity.
(54:17):
When it says, your faithgroweth exceedingly, notice what
came right after and thecharity of every one of you.
It's called the perfect bond,the bond of perfectness, and
that's charity.
That's love, perfected, matured, brought to its culmination,
(54:39):
its completeness.
Notice what it says.
All of these patience and faith, and all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure, isa manifest token of the
righteous judgment of God, sothat you may be accounted worthy
(54:59):
of the kingdom of God for whichyou suffer.
You see, you need to be countedworthy of the kingdom of God,
for which you suffer.
You see, you need to be countedworthy.
You're not like some superstarquarterback that just comes in
out of nowhere and he gets tostart on the team and you get to
just break records.
It doesn't happen that way.
That's a figment of yourimagination.
If you want to start on theteam, if you want to perform
(55:22):
well on the team, you need to gothrough trial, you need to go
through practice.
It's not going to happen anyother way.
Were you born a great tennisplayer?
Were you born a great wrestler?
Were you born a great pianist?
None of that came by.
I just started playing and itjust happened.
(55:43):
No, sorry, you need to work atit.
Your education you need to workat it.
Your humility you need to workat it.
Your teachableness you need towork at it.
You need to be counted worthyof the kingdom of God.
(56:12):
It is a righteous thing, withGod, to recompense tribulation
to them that troubles you.
In other words, it's a goodthing for God to bring vengeance
upon those that are tribulatingand persecuting you.
He's ready and willing to dothat, but you need to be
accounted worthy of the kingdomof God for him to do that.
And to you who are troubled,rest with us.
(56:32):
When the Lord, here it is again, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with hismighty angels.
So there was a question when ishis glory going to be revealed?
Jesus will be revealed inheaven with mighty angels.
I need to keep reading Inflaming fire taking vengeance on
(56:54):
them that know not God and thatobey not the gospel of our Lord
, jesus Christ, who shall bepunished with everlasting
destruction from the presence ofthe Lord and from the glory of
his power.
Here it is, here's the kickerverse 10.
When he shall come to beglorified in his saints, the
perfect work in you is Christ inyou.
(57:18):
Then we say the hope of glory,because Christ is perfectly
formed in us.
The glory of God is nowrevealed in me, his saint, in
you, his saint.
That's what it's all about.
There is no other highercalling than to you be conformed
(57:38):
into the very image of his son.
Don't talk to me about being aking.
Don't talk to me about being apriest.
Don't talk to me about being apriest, an apostle, a prophet,
an evangelist.
Those are all lower grades.
The standard and the target isthat Jesus Christ be formed in
me.
That's it.
That's the culmination.
There is no higher glory.
(57:58):
You can't talk to me aboutanything else.
That's what the man child is theperfected, fully mature son of
God, and that's going to happenon earth.
There is a manifestation of Godthat's going to happen in the
earth through his sons, for hewill be revealed in his saints.
(58:20):
It's not just well, I'm goingto wait for him to be in his
saints, it's not just well, I'mgoing to wait for him to, you
know, be in the clouds.
He's going to be revealed inhis saints and if you don't get
that, you're not going to allowGod to work in you now, because
you think it's not for now, it'sgoing to be for later.
So I guess God is using me tohelp us shift our paradigm and
(58:46):
we're not waiting for the Lordof glory to come in the clouds
in heaven.
The glory is to be revealed inhis saints, to be admired in all
them that believe.
So I say again in verse 11, Ipray always for you that our God
(59:09):
would count you worthy of hiscalling Worthy Peter.
I come back to Peter, becausehe also speaks of this again in
1 Peter.
I'll go to verse 5.
He speaks of those who are keptby the power of God through
(59:33):
faith unto salvation, ready tobe revealed in the last time.
In other words, the salvationthat we're all waiting for is
going to be revealed in the lastdays, wherein ye greatly
rejoice, though now, for aseason, if need be, you are in
(59:56):
heaviness through manifoldtemptations, that's, your
tribulations, that the trial ofyour faith, being much more
precious than of gold thatperisheth though be tried with
fire, might be found unto thepraise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ.
(01:00:18):
The appearing of Jesus Christis Jesus glorified in his saints
, and in verse 9 it saysreceiving the end of your faith.
What is the end of your faith?
It is the complete salvation ofyour soul.
(01:00:39):
It is God fully perfected inyou.
Here's a man named CharlesSwindle.
He had another quote, one thatI remembered and I said that
fits with this.
He said the longer I live, themore I realize the impact of
(01:01:01):
attitude on life.
Attitude to me is moreimportant than facts, is more
important than the past, theeducation, the money, than
circumstances, than failure,than successes, than what other
people think or say or do.
It is more important thanappearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company, a church, a home.
(01:01:22):
The remarkable thing is we havea choice every day regarding
the attitude we will embrace forthat day.
We cannot change our past.
We cannot change the fact thatpeople will act in a certain way
.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do isplay on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.
He said I am convinced thatlife is 10% what happens to me
(01:01:46):
and 90% of how I react to it,and so it is with you.
We are in charge of ourattitudes.
How do you respond to thetribulation that God puts on you
?
How do you respond when hesqueezes you?
(01:02:10):
It says in Zechariah 13, and Iwill bring a third part through
the fire and will refine them assilver is refined and I will
try them as gold is tried.
And they shall call on my nameand I will hear them.
I will say it is my people andthey shall say the Lord is my
(01:02:36):
God.
Isn't that what Timothy said?
My Lord and my God?
Isn't that what Timothy said,my Lord and my God?
There was a movie called theLeague of their Own.
I watched it recently, at theend with my daughter.
She didn't catch this so maybeI'll highlight this for her.
(01:02:59):
This woman was leaving thebaseball team.
Her husband had finally comeback from the army.
He was serving in the war.
He lived great and she didn'treally want to play baseball.
She just wanted to be with herhusband and family.
So, anyways, he came back andshe was leaving the team.
They were about to go to theWomen's World Series and the
coach comes to her and startstalking about how could you quit
(01:03:20):
, how could you give up on this?
He said baseball is what getsinside you, it's what lights you
up.
You can't deny that.
And she said it just got toohard.
And he said it's supposed to behard.
(01:03:40):
If it wasn't hard, everybodywould do it.
The hard is what makes it great.
Can you imagine all of thetrials and the tribulations that
you will go through?
And then, when you make it tothe end, it's going to be why
(01:04:02):
it's so sweet what God has justdone.
If God didn't take you throughanything dangerous.
What's an action movie withoutdanger?
What's a drama without drama?
Boring?
Why am I going to watch thismovie and spend my life?
(01:04:24):
No, you watch it because itgrips you, the trial and the
struggle and the venture and theaction that they go through, so
that at the end it makes it allthe more sweet.
And what God is doing throughyou is how you need to look at
this.
It doesn't feel great at thetime, but you have to see beyond
the present circumstances.
(01:04:44):
You have to see into the realmof glory and say how sweet it is
when God is done with me.
I will not quit, I will notrelent, I will not give up.
I will see this truth to theend, for I reckon that the
(01:05:05):
sufferings of this present timeare not worthy.
He had a vision of the glory tocome.
It's not worthy to be comparedwith the glory which shall be
revealed in us, because thecreature waits for the
(01:05:27):
manifestation of the sons of God.
The creature itself shall bedelivered from the bondage of
corruption into the gloriousliberty of the children of God.
The creature, all of creation,is going to share in the liberty
that the sons of God will bringand that they will also
(01:05:51):
experience.
We ourselves groan withinourselves, waiting for the
adoption, the redemption of ourbody.
That is the end of thesalvation of your souls, because
the glorified body is therighteousness of Christ that
will clothe you.
This is the end of our faith.
(01:06:14):
This is the salvation of oursouls, and it doesn't come easy.
It doesn't come without pain.
It doesn't come without gettingwounded in battle.
It doesn't come without astruggle or an obstacle or any
type of temptation.
It doesn't come without a fight, and that fight is the good
(01:06:35):
fight of faith.
Jesus said these things have Ispoken unto you that ye might
have peace In the world?
Ye have tribulation, but be ofgood cheer.
What did he say?
I have overcome the world, andif I have overcome the world, so
(01:06:58):
can you Be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world, andso can you.
Amen.
If you were blessed andappreciate listening to this
podcast and you would like tosupport us in our efforts,
consider lifting us up in prayerfirst.
Then remember these four socialmedia buzzwords share, like,
(01:07:21):
subscribe or follow.
Share this podcast link withsomeone else by text, email or
word of mouth in the hopes thatthey might be uplifted, as you
were Like, by leaving a positiverating or review with whomever
you listen to our podcast.
With Subscribe to support theshow monetarily with the link in
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Follow us on all our socialmedia platforms.
(01:07:42):
May God bless you and make youprosperous in Him, as you listen
and obey His voice.
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