August 14, 2025 • 49 mins
This episode is your official activation notice! We're exposing how your "Simon" moments of weakness are being radically transformed into your "Peter" moments of unstoppable strength. It's time to archive the old you and let the warrior God designed you to be report for duty.
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God Bless,
Pastor Tim
If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
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Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
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Join: Brothers In The Word | Facebook
6 pm CST: Wednesday
8 am CST: Saturday
God Bless,
Pastor Tim
If this message touched your heart or challenged you in any way, we're asking you to pass it along. Share it with someone in your life who needs to hear it. Your willingness to share doesn't just help us it extends God's Kingdom. It plants seeds. It opens doors. It points people back to Christ. That's the real mission. So don't keep it to yourself. Let it travel. Let it matter in someone else's life. Love & Need Ya!!!
🎧 New episodes drop every Friday | Available on: Spreaker, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio
👉 Like, Subscribe, and Share
Pastor TIm: pastortim@kingdomchicago.org
Brothers In The Word - Facebook
Brothers In The Word - YouTube
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I need you to identify the demonic surveillance in your life.
I need you to understand the divine defense that is
your portion, and I need you to walk out of
this teaching ready to strengthen everyone who is connected to you.
And we're going to see how to do this. Before
(00:21):
we're done, let's go to the Word of the Lord.
You can meet me over in Luke chapter twenty two,
verse thirty one. We're going to see what doctor Luke
has to see about has to say about this. You know,
Luke is a physician, so if you hear me, call
them doctor Luke is because he is an actual doctor.
So our text Luke chapter twenty two, verse thirty one
(00:44):
to thirty two. Simon Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you,
that he may siff you as we but I have
prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and
when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers one more time.
This is Jesus speaking of Simon. Simon, Simon, behold, pay attention,
(01:08):
be aware. There's a heads up. Satan demanded to have you.
Satan had a conversation with me, Simon, and he demanded
to have you, not James, not John, not Nathaniel, but you.
He called you Satan demanded to have you. Why that
he may sef you like we, But I have prayed
(01:30):
for you that your faith may not fail. And when
you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Let's go to work.
Wall number one, taking notes, write this down the wall
of diabolical demand. Wall number one, the wall of diabolical demand.
(01:52):
I want you to see how this text opens up.
Jesus pulls back the curtain, and he pulls back the
curt on a conversation that Simon knew absolutely nothing about.
He doesn't ease into this conversation. He rips the bandage off,
and he says, Simon Simon, Verse thirty one eight, Simon
(02:15):
Simon behold Satan demanded to have you. Let's stop right there.
The first thing we have to deal with is the
double calling. Do you see that? Do you notice that,
Simon Simon? In scripture, whenever God repeats a name, it's
a divine interruption. It's an alarm clock for the soul.
(02:39):
If my grandmother called my name twice when I was young,
I was in trouble. It was already too late. So
I want to show you at least three double callings
in scripture, because I want you to see this is
a pattern that God has. When God called Abraham Abraham,
I think that's in Genesis chapter twenty two, Abraham was
(03:03):
on a mountain, he had a knife in his hand,
and he was ready to sacrifice the very promise he
had waited a lifetime for. So the double call wasn't
just to get his attention. It was to arrest his
action and elevate his understanding of who God was, Jehovah Jiroh,
(03:23):
the God who provides. When God cried out in Exodus
chapter three, verse four, Moses Moses, Moses was a man
marinated in failure. Moses was eighty years old. He was
a shepherd with a past. He was a fugitive. So
the double call on Moses' life, it wasn't just a greeting,
(03:44):
you know what it was. It was a recommissioning. It
was pulling him out of that wilderness. It was pulling
him out of his past, and it was propelling him
into his purpose and into his future. One more, when
God called Samuel Samuel in First Samuel chapter three, Samuel
(04:04):
was a boy who didn't even recognize God's voice. So
the double call on. Samuel's life was a divine education,
and what God was teaching him was how to tune
his ear to the frequency of heaven and not man.
Here we are, doctor Luke writes this, Jesus says, Simon, Simon,
(04:31):
this is an urgent call. This is a critical call.
This is a warning. But notice something. Notice who Jesus
calls back in Matthew chapter sixteen. Back in Matthew chapter sixteen,
Jesus had already renamed him Peter. He said, you are Peter.
(04:52):
Peter simply means Petros. Peter means the Rock. Jesus goes
on to say, and on this rock I'll build my church.
But here in Luke chapter twenty two, verses thirty one
and thirty two, Jesus reverts back to his old name.
Why what's the revelation in this? Because Satan wasn't making
a demand for Peter the Rock. Satan was making a
(05:16):
demand for signing. He wanted that impulsive, emotional, unstable, flesh
driven fisherman. That's what he was pulling on. That's what
he was surveiling. Now here's the revelation. I need you
to catch this because this is the pivot point of
the entire passage. I want you to look at those
(05:37):
two verses Luke, Chapter twenty two, Verse thirty one and
thirty two. There's a contrast in these two verses. Verse
thirty one is the demonic demand and who is the
target signing Verse thirty two is the divine defense and
who is the beneficiary, the restored man who will become Peter. Now,
(06:02):
I want you to see that the attack is on Simon.
Simon is your flesh. Simon is your past. Simon is
your weakness. But the prayer of Jesus is for the
future you, the you that will turn again, the Peter
who will stand on the rock of his restored faith.
(06:24):
So Jesus is essentially saying, Satan is coming for the
old youth, but I'm praying for the new youth. The
enemy is attacking who you used to be, but my
prayer is covering who you are becoming. Hear me. The
surveillance is focused on your Simon moments, when you lose
(06:48):
your temper, when you compromise, when you doubt, when you
go back. Satan has a highlight real of your worst moments,
and he's playing it on the loop. In the court
of heaven. I believe it's over. In Revelation, chapter twelve,
data somewhere around verse ten, the Bible says that Satan
(07:10):
is the accuser of the Brethren. Satan is the accuser
of the Church. So when Satan is playing that highlight
reel in the court of Heaven, you know what he's saying.
He's saying, that's who you really are. They dress up
as Peter, but they're really Simon. This is for my
(07:33):
people who work in the boardroom and you still feel
like that kid from the broken Home. The enemy is
always going to call you by the name that reminds
you of your failure. He will bring up receipts from
ten years ago. He will surveil your life for any
piece of evidence that suggests you are not who God
(07:56):
says you are. And you know what his goal is.
His goal is to get you to agree with him,
to get you to see yourself as Simon the failure,
instead of Peter the Rock. But you have to make
up your mind in this moment that the next time
the devil comes knocking for Simon, you let Peter answer
(08:20):
the door. You let the redeemed you, the blood bought
you the new creation you be the one that responds
to the attack. When the accusation come, Peter stands up
and says, that man, Simon, he died with Christ. I
am a new creation. Old things have passed away. I
got a question for you. Thank you Dad for adding
(08:41):
that scripture. What name have you been answering to lately?
Simon or Peter? And if you're on the face beside,
I want you to be honest and dropping in the chat.
What name have you been answering to late? Simon or Peter.
(09:03):
While you do that, let's go to wall number two.
Wall number two is the wall of destructive design, the
wall of destructive design. So the demand has been made,
But what is the enemy's end game? What is he
aiming at? What is it that he's trying to do?
(09:23):
The text tells us. Jesus says it Satan demanded to
have you. Why look at verse thirty one B that
he might sift you like wheat. Whenever Jesus uses any
kind of agricultural metaphor, you should lean in and you
should pay. You should give it your undivided attention. Because
(09:49):
here's the thing that you need to understand about sifting.
We're not farmers so when we read that, it may
not even resonate to us exactly what it is that
Jesus is saying and what it is that's say and
it's demanding him for Sifting is a process of violent agitation.
The whole purpose of sifting is separation. Imagine this the
(10:16):
threshing floor. The threshing floor is a place of brutality.
You're beaten your throne and exposed to the elements. The
goal is to see what you're made of. Satan wants
to throw your life into the air and separate and
separate the valuable wheat from the workless chaff. That's what
(10:39):
they do. They would take the weak, put it on
the threshing floor, beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it,
and then it would take what's left. They would throw
it up into the air. The wheat would fall in
one pile. The chaff would be blown away by the wind.
That's the separation process, because not only do you have
(10:59):
to go through the eating process, but then you go
through the separation process. Wherever the wind blows, that's where
it's going to take the chaff. Whatever's good in you
and the weak is going to be in a whole
different pile, and that's what Satan wants to do with
your life. He wants to separate the valuable weak from
the worthless chaff. He wants to prove that your faith
(11:21):
is just chaff blown away by the winds of adversity.
The entire goal of these walls of demonic surveillance is
to find a way to separate you from your confidence,
to separate you from your community, and to ultimately separate
you from your God. He wants to annihilate you. He
(11:46):
wants to isolate you. But can I tell you something.
The apostle Paul already preached the funeral for this particular
strategy right here. He stood up in the Book of Romance.
It's one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And
Paul asks the question that echoes through eternity. It's a
(12:09):
question that silences the accuser and it shatters the sifter.
And he says it over in Romans, chapter eight, verse
thirty five. Then we're gonna jump down verse thirty eight
and thirty nine, and I want you to see this.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Paul
asked this question, very boldly, very in your face. It's
(12:33):
a rhetorical question, but it's also a question of I
wish somebody would try to separate us from the love
of Christ. He says, shall tribulation or distress, or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or swore verse thirty eight.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
(12:57):
nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to powers, nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Paul takes the time to
(13:17):
list everything in Satan's tool kit, every form of sifting imaginable,
and he declares it all bankrupt and powerless. Satan can
bring the sifting, and he's going to bring the sifty.
He can bring the tribulation, he can bring the distress,
but it's ultimately fruitless. His agitation is powerful, but the
(13:42):
gravitational pull of God's love for you is infinitely stronger.
The sifting might feel like it's tearing you apart, but
it can't separate you from the love that holds you together.
The ask your question, what the sifting look like for
you today? It looks like that pressure that makes you
(14:06):
want to compromise, that pressure that makes you want to
cut corners. It's the loneliness that makes you want to
go back to what's toxic. It's the social media scroll
that agitates, that agitates your spirit. With comparison, it's any
violent agitation designed to separate you from your core identity
(14:28):
in Christ. This is for my people right now who
are in the middle of a sifting season. You feel
like you're being tossed around. The enemy's design is to
make you so disoriented that you forget which way is up.
But you've gotta plant your feet solely on the promises
of Romans chapter eight, and you have to declare unequivocally
(14:52):
out of your mouth that nothing can or nothing will
separate you from the love of God. Question for you,
what agitation in your life right now? It's trying to
separate you from your value? I want you to think
about that, and I want you to answer that question
(15:15):
for yourself. What agitation in your life right now? It's
trying to distract you, it's trying to pool you, it's
trying to sever you, it's trying to separate you from
your value. Question number three, I'm sorry. Wall number three,
the wall of divine defense, the wall of divine defense.
(15:38):
So we've seen the demand, we've seen the design. It's dark,
it's intense. But now we get to the two most
powerful words in the entire passage, two words that change everything,
two words that takes verse thirty one and body slams it. Jesus,
(15:59):
look said Simon, And after laying out the entire demonic plot,
after laying out for the entire demonic surveillance, he says,
but I verse thirty two, A look at it. But
I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
(16:21):
Satan demanded, but I prayed. This is the pivot of
the passage. Everything turns on a dime right here. The
enemy has a demand, Jesus are saying, but I have
a defense. The accuser has a case, but I am
your advocate. Advocate. Advocate is just another word for lawyer.
(16:43):
The enemy wants to siffe you, but I'm here to
secure you. So the demand was loud, But hear this.
The intercession is eternal, and what is the defense his
own intercession? I have prayed for you. That's Jesus talking.
(17:05):
I have prayed for you. The Greek tense is perfect,
and what that means is I have prayed and the
results of my prayer are still in effect. That's what
he's saying. This wasn't the last minute prayer. This wasn't
the old Lord let me stop right now. No, this
was a preemptive strike. Before Satan ever made the demand,
(17:27):
the advocate had already filled the appeal, had already filed
the appeal, while the surveillance was happening. The Savior was
already interceding. This means that right now, the prayer of
Jesus for you is more current than the problem that
you're facing. And I want you to notice what he
prayed for. And this is so amazing to me, because
(17:50):
we wouldn't have done this. He doesn't pray that Simon
wouldn't be sifted. He doesn't pray that Simon won't fall,
because Simon is going to deny Jesus three times after
this conversation. Simon is going to fall. Simon is going
(18:11):
to raw fall. He's going to do everything that Jesus
told him that he was going to do, that he
didn't believe he himself would ever do. So he doesn't
pray to stop that he let the sifting happen. Why
because pressure is the prerequist it for promotion. Fire doesn't
(18:33):
destroy gold. Family. You know what fire does to go,
It finds it. He prayed for the one thing that
would get him through that. Your faith may not fail.
Jesus knows that if your faith remains intact, you can
lose the house and get it back. You can lose
(18:57):
the job to start a business. You can fail miserably
and still finish faithfully as long as you have your faith.
Your faith is your core conviction. Your faith is your
core conviction in who He is, and with that conviction
(19:18):
you can survive any sifting that comes your way. This
is the part that should make all of us want
to dance in our living rooms. Right now, there is
a butt eye over your life. No matter what you're
dealing with. Right now, there is a butt eye. You
may have a diagnosis, but I am the Lord that
(19:42):
heal with you. You may be unemployed, but I am the
Lord who supplies all your needs according to God's riches
and glory. In Christ, Jesus, your hope is not in
the absence of the sifting. No, your hope is in
the presence of intercessor. And that's already been assured for you.
(20:05):
Hebrews chapter seven, verse twenty five says this of Jesus,
your advocate, your lawyer. This is what it says in
Hebrews seven twenty five. He is able to save to
the other most those who draw near to God through him,
since he, Jesus, always lives to make intercession for them.
(20:27):
So what is that saying. He's not a part time lawyer.
His office is never closed. These demonic walls of surveillance
are real, but there are nothing when you're dealing with
the reality of his intercession. It's nothing compared to the
reality of his intercession. So here's a question for you.
(20:50):
Are you more aware of the enemy's demand or the
Savior's intercession stands out more for you? Are you more
aware of the enemy's demand or the Savior's intercession? Wall
(21:11):
number four the wall of designated direction. So the demand
is met by intercession, the sifting happens, but the fate
holds up. So now what's next? Is the goal for
(21:32):
you and I just to survive? No, Jesus gives Peter
his assignment on the other side of his failure, and
this is the comeback clause. It's found in verse thirty
two B and when you Peter have turned again, strengthened
(21:53):
your brothers. I want you to look at the language.
Jesus doesn't say if you turn again. He doesn't say
you might turn again. He doesn't say if you think
you can turn again. No, he says it emphatically, when
(22:13):
you turn again. Remember he's already prayed for him. Jesus
prays for our faith, but he fully anticipates our failure.
Grace is not surprised by your stumble. Please hear me.
God's plan for your life has your mess ups already
(22:34):
factored into the equation. He knew Simon would deny him,
and he planned for it. He says, when you repent,
when you come back to your senses, when you remember
who I called you to be. I have a job
for you. And what's that job? Strengthen your brothers for
(22:59):
simply means strengthen the church. Your greatest ministry will come
from your greatest mess. It's something about when God turns
us around and says, now you go back and you
help those who are going through the exact same thing
that I just delivered you from the thing that I
(23:20):
just brought you out of. You have a voice for
those that are dealing with that, and this is something
that I don't feel we're tall enough in the church
because everybody is in the church trying to get theirs,
get theirs, get mine, get mine, my bag, my bag,
my money, my money. But this is part of the
commission that God has on all of our lives. It's
(23:41):
amazing to me that Peter is going to have one
of the most devastating collapses of anybody in scripture because
of his proximity to Jesus. Peter is in the inner circle.
Whenever you see Jesus go off and leave the other
nine disciples, who's in the mix Peter, James and John, Peter,
(24:04):
James and John, Peter, James and John. Whenever you go
anywhere in your Bible and look at the list of
the disciples' names, first name you're going to see is Peter.
And that's who the enemy was coming for. He's coming
for you because you have the ability to impact others.
There are others who are connected to you. There are
(24:26):
people who are watching you from afar. They know your story,
they know what you've been through, and they're still watching
to see what the end result is going to be.
The very thing that the enemy meant to use to
disqualify you, God will use to qualify you to help
somebody else. Because isn't this what the Gospel is all about.
(24:51):
Isn't this the whole purpose of us being lights in
a world that is filled with darkness. The specific area
of your sifting becomes the specific area of your strengthening.
If you were sifted in your finances, you'll you'll strengthen
(25:14):
others in their stewardship. If you were sifted in your marriage,
you'll strengthen other couples. If you were sifted in being
single and alone, when you come out of that, you're
going to help others. Simon, the one who failed, became
Peter the Rock who preached on the Day of Pentecost.
(25:38):
You can leave Acts chapter twenty two and you can
run ahead to Act I'm sorry. You can leave Luke
chapter twenty two, and you can run ahead the Acts
chapter two, and you're going to run into Peter over there.
You're not going to see Simon. You're going to go
over there to Acts chapter two, and you're going to
see Peter. You're going to see the rock Petros the
(26:01):
one who preached on the Day of Pentecost, and three
thousand souls were added to the church. He fulfilled his assignment.
And when you are converted, and when you repent of
this thing, strengthen the church, strengthen the brothers. Your fulfillment
(26:21):
is right over there. In the next chapter two, God
recycled his failure and turned it into fuel for the kingdom.
Why is this important for you and I Because your
story is not over that failure that you're so ashamed of,
(26:43):
that failure that always seems to keep following you everywhere
you go. That's not an exclamation point. Your failure is
a common God wants to use your failure when you
turn again, there is someone who needs to strength that
only can come from a person who has been sifted
(27:03):
and survived. There are some things that you can minister
too that average preachers won't be able to minister too,
because you have the credentials for it. You have the
credentials for your pain, You have the credentials for your hardships,
you have the credentials for your setbacks. This is for
(27:24):
my people who feel disqualified. God is saying, when you turn,
that becomes your testimony. Your scars give you the credibility
that you need when you help other soldiers that are wounded.
Your breakdown is a qualification for your breakthrough ministry to
(27:47):
someone else. Some of you have survived some things that
are totally, totally the grace of God, and God is saying, hey,
can you let me use that? Can I use your testimony?
Can I use your survival skills? Because again you can
(28:11):
speak to a group of people that others will never
be able to reach. Question for you, who are the
brothers or sisters that God is calling you to strengthen
on the other side of your sifting? Who is it?
(28:32):
Because God didn't just save you just to save you.
God didn't make you into a new creation just to
make you into a new creation. There is a purpose
for your calling. There is a purpose for your salvation.
And I don't want to mess with anybody's theology, but
your purpose for your salvation. I'm sorry. It's not for
(28:54):
you to just go and sit in the church on
a Sunday. That's not it. No, like Peter, we all
we have to go. We have to strengthen. Think about
the walls that we've walked through. We've seen the wall
(29:14):
of diabolical demand. That's where the enemy calls you. Simon
that's where your name is called twice. In the spirit,
we face the wall of destructive design, his plan to
separate you, his plan to violently separate you from the
call from the love of God. But then we looked
(29:36):
at the wall of divine defense, celebrating the butt eye
of our Savior's intercession, because that that's what protected Peter.
If Jesus leaves him, if we never have a verse
thirty two, Peter is doomed, we'll never hear I'm sorry,
Simon is doomed. We'll never hear from him again. In
(30:00):
the scripture, if Jesus left it at verse thirty one,
if he just came to Simons, is basically told hey,
sim and Simon that with desires to have you, that
he may see you we as we peace about Deuceus.
If he had did that, it would have been over
for him because Satan had legal claim and legal right
(30:21):
to do exactly what Jesus warned Simon that was about
to happen to him that verse thirty three, Verse thirty two,
that's the pivot. That's the moment where everything has to
come to an abrupt stop. But I have prayed for you.
If you ever get a chance, you should go over
and read John chapter seventeen. That whole chapter is a prayer.
(30:46):
That whole chapter is a prayer. And the very next chapter,
Jesus is arrested and taken to the cross. By the way,
this conversation that he's having with Peter, it is just
a few hours before the cross. So before he goes
through the most agonizing thing any human being has ever withstood,
he has to stop and holler at his boy, Hey,
(31:08):
come here, man, I need to holler at you about something. Look,
this is what's going on. I need you to know.
And Jesus pulls no punches. He lets him know exactly
what's happening. Hey, bro, all that impulsive stuff, all that
speak now and think later, all that anger stuff that
you got going on inside of you. Yeah, Satan wants that.
(31:29):
He wants to pull on that. And what do we
see over in the Gospel of Mark, we see Peter
acting the food. Remember, Jesus doesn't pray that he doesn't fall.
That's not the prayer. The prayer that is faith doesn't fail.
Peter denied Jesus three times. Hey don't you aren't you
(31:51):
one of his disciples? Nope, Hey, you kind of sound
like them. Boy. You should note the third time they
asked Peter, Peter was cussing people out. Reader, it's in
your bible. He denied Jesus positively. After this conversation, he
(32:11):
denied Jesus positively. He denied him contemptuously, and he denied
him blasphemously. Later on that night, his eyes in Jesus'
eyes met he saw him from Afar. They had Jesus arrested.
They had Jesus himed up, and Peter saw those eyes,
and the Bible says in the Gospel of Mark he
(32:33):
went out and he wept bitterly. He couldn't take it.
He was in such a depressed place that Peter went
that Simon went back to his old lifestyle. He went
back to everything that he once did. Forget this, just
(32:53):
like Jesus had his mind on Simon before he went
to the cross. When he got up on that third day.
Guess what he says in the Gospel of Mark, go
tell my disciples and Peter, Yeah, this Bible is amazing
to me. He makes a specific mention, not for signing,
(33:16):
but for Peter. Then if you go over to the
last chapter of John, you're going to see Jesus ask
Peter three times, Peter, do you love me? Yeah? Lord,
you know I love you? Peter, Yeah, Lord, Peter, he
asks him three times. Please hear me. The Bible is
(33:37):
so precise in what it does because this threefold restoration
counters the threefold rejection that Simon had for Jesus. So
he restores him, and when he restores him, he recommissions him.
So many of us we deny Jesus decisions that we made.
(34:02):
We deny Jesus. Sometimes in our lifestyle we deny Jesus
and the places that we go. But always know each
praying that your faith doesn't fail, because if your faith
doesn't fail, then Pentecosts is on the other side of
what you're going through. The influence that you will have
(34:26):
is something that you never even imagine, something that you've
never even dreamed, something that you've never even realized. So
our failures are the fuel for our future assignments. God
wants to use your mess. He wants to use your mistakes,
He wants to use everything that you're ashamed of. He
(34:47):
wants to use it for his glory. So please hear me.
These walls of demonic surveillance they're real. The enemy is watching,
he's plotting, he's demanding. But the revelation of this text
is this, there is a higher, greater, more powerful reality,
(35:13):
the look of your savior, the prayer of your savior,
the plan of your savior. The enemy may have a
file on you, but God has the final blueprint for you,
and his blueprint includes turning every attack that you've gone through.
(35:33):
Some of you have been attacked from a child. The
enemy has been trying to take you out. And guess what,
You're still here. You're still here. You know why you're
still here because He prayed for you that your faith
doesn't fail. So every attack, God wants to turn it
(35:56):
into a testimony. Every trial that you've gone through, God
wants to turn it into a triumph. The Bible says, over,
I believe it's in Ephesians, chapter two, verse ten. The
Bible says, we are His workmanship. That word workmanship, if
you flip it over. In the Greek, it says poema.
(36:16):
The word poema means masterpiece. Think about that with everything
that you've gone through in your life, think about all
of the mistakes, all of the detours, all of the highs,
all of the lows all of the times that you
are ready to throw into town. God says you are
my masterpiece. Powerful, powerful, That's the love that Paul is
(36:41):
talking about over in Romans chapter eight, verse thirty five,
and thirty eight through thirty nine. So here it is today.
You got a choice. You got a choice right here,
right now. You can stay fixated on the surveillance, living
in the fear of the sifting, or you can fix
(37:04):
your eyes on the Savior, who has already prayed for you,
who has already made a way through, and who has
an assignment for you. What's on the other side of
your purpose is so much greater than anything that you
(37:24):
can imagine. The sifting is not the end of your story.
It's the beginning of your strengthening, because God wants you
to strengthen the church. The pressure that you've been under
is proof of the potential that you carry. Can I
tell you something. The enemy doesn't sift chaff, He saists wheat.
(37:50):
The demand is only made for those who have a
destiny work derailing. So if you feel the heat, if
you feel the pressure, if you feel the agitation, I
want you to lift your head because your King has
already spoken a word over your life. He has already
(38:11):
spoken a but I over your situation that your faith
will not fail. So the question we have to ask
ourselves here is what now? Well? I'm going to give
you three things to do as you begin to walk
out this moment, as you begin to walk out this challenge,
(38:32):
as you begin to walk out this purpose. The three
things that I want to give you three CTAs. Number one,
I want you to confront the name. Confront the name,
and this is what I mean by that today. I
want you to identify and reject the signment, the signment
(38:57):
names the enemy has been calling you. What are the
simon names the enemy has been calling you? Failure, added, unworthy, untrusting, unlovable.
I want you to confront those names, and I want
you to consciously answer only to the name that God
(39:19):
has given you, Peter, Chosen, Loved, righteous, beloved. You don't
answer that anymore. You don't answer these negative thoughts, these
negative reels that get played over in your mind, these
negative things to try to remind you of your mistakes. No,
(39:40):
you have to remind yourself of who God says you are. Again,
Please don't miss this. Jesus didn't pray for Simon, not
the Fall. He could have shut all of that down.
He could have called legions of angels from heaven. He
told the men that were arresting him, y'all ain't doing nothing.
(40:02):
I'm in control here. Y'all are not in control. I'm
running the show. So if he wanted to, he could
have stopped everything that was about to happen. But he didn't.
You know why because sometimes family, we have to go
through some things. Sometimes there are some things that we
have to go through because there are some things that
(40:26):
God wants to strip off of you. All of those
behavioral problems. I wish I had the time to show you.
Peter always been a mess. Simon had always been a mess.
He didn't just become a mess. In Louke twenty two,
Simon was always a mess. But guess what, Jesus loved him.
(40:46):
He didn't throw them away. He didn't get rid of him,
he didn't cancel him. He kept him close because there
was destiny on the other side in Acts chapter two.
So that's the first thing I want you to do.
I want you to confront the name that the enemy
keeps trying to remind you that you are cancel those names.
(41:08):
Cancel all of that, because that's not who you are.
You start speaking who God says you are. I am
the righteous, I am the beloved. He has called me
by name. You start speaking those words over your life.
Say them out loud, Let the enemy know, let the
demonic surveillance hear you. You reclaim who God has purposed
(41:31):
you to be. Number two, I want you to consecrate
the pain. Consecrate the pain. This is what I mean
by this. Don't waste your sifting. Take the most painful
part of your journey, most painful thing that you have
experienced in your life, and I want you to consecrate
(41:54):
it to God. I want you to offer it to
him in prayer and say, God, use this recycle this failure,
turn this pain that I went through into a platform
that means God. If I have to write a book,
I'll write the book. God. If I have to shoot
(42:15):
a movie, I'll shoot a movie. God. If I have
to do a documentary, I'll do a documentary. What if
I got to stand up and testify. If I have
to go to where people are who I identify with
my PA, I'll go there. I'll do it. I'll speak
on your behalf you have to turn this pain into
a platform. One of the most terrible things that ever
(42:37):
happened to me in my life is when I went
to prison at eighteen years old. It messed my world up.
I was in the world. I knew nothing about it.
I had no gang affiliation, I and no tattoos. I
ain't have nothing. I was just a young mark in
jail with a bunch of killers. And guess what. God
took me through that, but no problem. And then almost
(42:59):
twenty years later, guess what, I went right back into
the very prison that I was once locked up in.
But I went into that prison with my head. How
I walked through the front door this time. See, the
last time they brought me in there, they brought me
in there with about four or five hundred other brothers
dressed in yellow jumpsuits that said doc. This time I
(43:20):
walked through the front door with my Bible under my hand.
Why Because I've turned my pain into a platform. And
when I went in there to speak to those brothers,
they couldn't believe it. But when I shared my testimony
to them, God got all of the glory out of it.
That's what I mean. Take the most painful thing that
you've gone through. You gotta tell me. You all have
(43:42):
been sitting on this for years. The fact that you're
still here is proof positive that God loves you with
your crazy soever, He loves you with an everlasting love.
Please don't sit on your testimony. We overcome Satan. Satan
about two things, the blood of the Lamb that's already
(44:03):
been done and the word of our testimony. There is
something so powerful about your testimony. There is something so
electric about your testimony. There is something so liberating about
your testimony. Stop sitting on your testimony. Consecrated, share it,
(44:25):
help set other captives free. Hey man number three, I
want you to commission a brother. And this is what
I mean by commissioner, brother. I want you to look
around your life. Who's going through a sisting right now?
Just some conversations that you've had, just from posts that
(44:45):
you've seen, Who in your circle, who in your proximity
of influence, is going through a sifting. Your assignment starting
today is to find that one person strengthen them, Signed Peter.
When you are converted, strengthen the church. So if God
(45:07):
has converted you from what you've been through, I want
you to see if you can strengthen somebody. Now, it
might just be one person, and you'll look up a
year from now and you'll be standing before thousands of people.
I'm telling you first Corinthians chapter two, nine to ten.
You better get it, you better read it, you better
live it, you better believe it. God has the ability
(45:31):
to take what you can't even imagine, and he'll do
it in your life. So find that one person who's
hanging on by a thread, and I want you to
strengthen them. Send them a text, make a call, share
(45:51):
this message, if you like, use your story to remind
them that their faith will not fail. I'm begging you
to do that. Listen, if this teaching has impacted you,
I need you to share it. Has an impacted you,
(46:11):
don't share it, We'll do better next time. But if
it has impacted you, I need you to share it.
If you're on Facebook, hit that share button. Don't you
leave here, Don't you come here and take and not
leave and not give on your way out. That's the
only offering I'll ever ask you for. Imagine that, the
only offering I'm asking you for is to help me
(46:32):
spread the gospel. That's all I need for you to do.
I'll never ask you for a dime of your money,
but I need you to help me to help some people.
If you're listening on Streaker, if you're listening on Spotify,
if you're listening on Amazon Music, if you're listening on iHeart,
send this link to somebody who needs to hear it.
(46:54):
Download those apps, follow these walls, and let's speak in
to share the gospel. If you're here for the first time,
thank you so much for stopping by and for hanging
out with us. I want you to make sure you
follow the page because there's more. There's other brothers that
are going to be bringing lessons as well. I'm just
(47:15):
filling in for our brother, Pastor Sam, who's out of
town at the moment. So I want you to follow.
I want you to engage. I want you to lock
arms with us as we stamp out biblical illiteracy. It
brace my heart when I talk to Christians and they
don't know their word, But it doesn't break my heart
(47:39):
to the point that I don't want to do something
about it, because I do. I want to do something
about it. I want to help them. I just want
to point people to God. Hey, God wants to have
a conversation with you. Just go over there and get
in his word and he'll talk to you. God wants.
God has something he needs to say to you about
what you're going through. So every time we come here,
(47:59):
every time we get into this digital sanctuary, we're gonna
challenge you, we're gonna push you, we're gonna encourage you.
We're gonna be here until the wheels fall off, and
whatever we can do to help, whatever we can do
to encourage, please let us know. That's what we're here for.
We're here to help strengthen one another. I am, I am.
(48:22):
My spirit is on ten just because of what I
feel is gonna come from this conversation that we've had today.
I believe that when you know to do better, you
just do better. Doesn't mean you're not gonna make any mistakes.
It doesn't mean that you're not gonna fall. Hear me,
the Bible says. The Bible says, a just man, not
(48:45):
a wicked man, not a bad man, not an ungodly man. No,
the Bible says, a just man falls seven times and
he rises back up. These walls has been blessing me.
I don't know if it's been blessing anybody else, but
it's been blessing me. It's been helping me to grow
(49:06):
in my faith and grow in my walk. And so
if you haven't done so already, download one of those
four apps Speaker, Spotify, I Heart, or Amazon Music. We're
on about eight different pop up eight different streaming services,
(49:28):
but those are the four main streaming services. And I
want you to plug in, and more importantly, I want
you to share. Get into the word of God, and
the word of God will get into you, and we'll
see you Saturday at eight am. Eight He Am God,
bless me. See y'all then, Peace,
I need you to identify the demonic surveillance in your life.
I need you to understand the divine defense that is
your portion, and I need you to walk out of
this teaching ready to strengthen everyone who is connected to you.
And we're going to see how to do this. Before
(00:21):
we're done, let's go to the Word of the Lord.
You can meet me over in Luke chapter twenty two,
verse thirty one. We're going to see what doctor Luke
has to see about has to say about this. You know,
Luke is a physician, so if you hear me, call
them doctor Luke is because he is an actual doctor.
So our text Luke chapter twenty two, verse thirty one
(00:44):
to thirty two. Simon Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you,
that he may siff you as we but I have
prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and
when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers one more time.
This is Jesus speaking of Simon. Simon, Simon, behold, pay attention,
(01:08):
be aware. There's a heads up. Satan demanded to have you.
Satan had a conversation with me, Simon, and he demanded
to have you, not James, not John, not Nathaniel, but you.
He called you Satan demanded to have you. Why that
he may sef you like we, But I have prayed
(01:30):
for you that your faith may not fail. And when
you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Let's go to work.
Wall number one, taking notes, write this down the wall
of diabolical demand. Wall number one, the wall of diabolical demand.
(01:52):
I want you to see how this text opens up.
Jesus pulls back the curtain, and he pulls back the
curt on a conversation that Simon knew absolutely nothing about.
He doesn't ease into this conversation. He rips the bandage off,
and he says, Simon Simon, Verse thirty one eight, Simon
(02:15):
Simon behold Satan demanded to have you. Let's stop right there.
The first thing we have to deal with is the
double calling. Do you see that? Do you notice that,
Simon Simon? In scripture, whenever God repeats a name, it's
a divine interruption. It's an alarm clock for the soul.
(02:39):
If my grandmother called my name twice when I was young,
I was in trouble. It was already too late. So
I want to show you at least three double callings
in scripture, because I want you to see this is
a pattern that God has. When God called Abraham Abraham,
I think that's in Genesis chapter twenty two, Abraham was
(03:03):
on a mountain, he had a knife in his hand,
and he was ready to sacrifice the very promise he
had waited a lifetime for. So the double call wasn't
just to get his attention. It was to arrest his
action and elevate his understanding of who God was, Jehovah Jiroh,
(03:23):
the God who provides. When God cried out in Exodus
chapter three, verse four, Moses Moses, Moses was a man
marinated in failure. Moses was eighty years old. He was
a shepherd with a past. He was a fugitive. So
the double call on Moses' life, it wasn't just a greeting,
(03:44):
you know what it was. It was a recommissioning. It
was pulling him out of that wilderness. It was pulling
him out of his past, and it was propelling him
into his purpose and into his future. One more, when
God called Samuel Samuel in First Samuel chapter three, Samuel
(04:04):
was a boy who didn't even recognize God's voice. So
the double call on. Samuel's life was a divine education,
and what God was teaching him was how to tune
his ear to the frequency of heaven and not man.
Here we are, doctor Luke writes this, Jesus says, Simon, Simon,
(04:31):
this is an urgent call. This is a critical call.
This is a warning. But notice something. Notice who Jesus
calls back in Matthew chapter sixteen. Back in Matthew chapter sixteen,
Jesus had already renamed him Peter. He said, you are Peter.
(04:52):
Peter simply means Petros. Peter means the Rock. Jesus goes
on to say, and on this rock I'll build my church.
But here in Luke chapter twenty two, verses thirty one
and thirty two, Jesus reverts back to his old name.
Why what's the revelation in this? Because Satan wasn't making
a demand for Peter the Rock. Satan was making a
(05:16):
demand for signing. He wanted that impulsive, emotional, unstable, flesh
driven fisherman. That's what he was pulling on. That's what
he was surveiling. Now here's the revelation. I need you
to catch this because this is the pivot point of
the entire passage. I want you to look at those
(05:37):
two verses Luke, Chapter twenty two, Verse thirty one and
thirty two. There's a contrast in these two verses. Verse
thirty one is the demonic demand and who is the
target signing Verse thirty two is the divine defense and
who is the beneficiary, the restored man who will become Peter. Now,
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I want you to see that the attack is on Simon.
Simon is your flesh. Simon is your past. Simon is
your weakness. But the prayer of Jesus is for the
future you, the you that will turn again, the Peter
who will stand on the rock of his restored faith.
(06:24):
So Jesus is essentially saying, Satan is coming for the
old youth, but I'm praying for the new youth. The
enemy is attacking who you used to be, but my
prayer is covering who you are becoming. Hear me. The
surveillance is focused on your Simon moments, when you lose
(06:48):
your temper, when you compromise, when you doubt, when you
go back. Satan has a highlight real of your worst moments,
and he's playing it on the loop. In the court
of heaven. I believe it's over. In Revelation, chapter twelve,
data somewhere around verse ten, the Bible says that Satan
(07:10):
is the accuser of the Brethren. Satan is the accuser
of the Church. So when Satan is playing that highlight
reel in the court of Heaven, you know what he's saying.
He's saying, that's who you really are. They dress up
as Peter, but they're really Simon. This is for my
(07:33):
people who work in the boardroom and you still feel
like that kid from the broken Home. The enemy is
always going to call you by the name that reminds
you of your failure. He will bring up receipts from
ten years ago. He will surveil your life for any
piece of evidence that suggests you are not who God
(07:56):
says you are. And you know what his goal is.
His goal is to get you to agree with him,
to get you to see yourself as Simon the failure,
instead of Peter the Rock. But you have to make
up your mind in this moment that the next time
the devil comes knocking for Simon, you let Peter answer
(08:20):
the door. You let the redeemed you, the blood bought
you the new creation you be the one that responds
to the attack. When the accusation come, Peter stands up
and says, that man, Simon, he died with Christ. I
am a new creation. Old things have passed away. I
got a question for you. Thank you Dad for adding
(08:41):
that scripture. What name have you been answering to lately?
Simon or Peter? And if you're on the face beside,
I want you to be honest and dropping in the chat.
What name have you been answering to late? Simon or Peter.
(09:03):
While you do that, let's go to wall number two.
Wall number two is the wall of destructive design, the
wall of destructive design. So the demand has been made,
But what is the enemy's end game? What is he
aiming at? What is it that he's trying to do?
(09:23):
The text tells us. Jesus says it Satan demanded to
have you. Why look at verse thirty one B that
he might sift you like wheat. Whenever Jesus uses any
kind of agricultural metaphor, you should lean in and you
should pay. You should give it your undivided attention. Because
(09:49):
here's the thing that you need to understand about sifting.
We're not farmers so when we read that, it may
not even resonate to us exactly what it is that
Jesus is saying and what it is that's say and
it's demanding him for Sifting is a process of violent agitation.
The whole purpose of sifting is separation. Imagine this the
(10:16):
threshing floor. The threshing floor is a place of brutality.
You're beaten your throne and exposed to the elements. The
goal is to see what you're made of. Satan wants
to throw your life into the air and separate and
separate the valuable wheat from the workless chaff. That's what
(10:39):
they do. They would take the weak, put it on
the threshing floor, beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it,
and then it would take what's left. They would throw
it up into the air. The wheat would fall in
one pile. The chaff would be blown away by the wind.
That's the separation process, because not only do you have
(10:59):
to go through the eating process, but then you go
through the separation process. Wherever the wind blows, that's where
it's going to take the chaff. Whatever's good in you
and the weak is going to be in a whole
different pile, and that's what Satan wants to do with
your life. He wants to separate the valuable weak from
the worthless chaff. He wants to prove that your faith
(11:21):
is just chaff blown away by the winds of adversity.
The entire goal of these walls of demonic surveillance is
to find a way to separate you from your confidence,
to separate you from your community, and to ultimately separate
you from your God. He wants to annihilate you. He
(11:46):
wants to isolate you. But can I tell you something.
The apostle Paul already preached the funeral for this particular
strategy right here. He stood up in the Book of Romance.
It's one of my favorite passages in the Bible. And
Paul asks the question that echoes through eternity. It's a
(12:09):
question that silences the accuser and it shatters the sifter.
And he says it over in Romans, chapter eight, verse
thirty five. Then we're gonna jump down verse thirty eight
and thirty nine, and I want you to see this.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Paul
asked this question, very boldly, very in your face. It's
(12:33):
a rhetorical question, but it's also a question of I
wish somebody would try to separate us from the love
of Christ. He says, shall tribulation or distress, or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or swore verse thirty eight.
For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
(12:57):
nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to powers, nor
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Paul takes the time to
(13:17):
list everything in Satan's tool kit, every form of sifting imaginable,
and he declares it all bankrupt and powerless. Satan can
bring the sifting, and he's going to bring the sifty.
He can bring the tribulation, he can bring the distress,
but it's ultimately fruitless. His agitation is powerful, but the
(13:42):
gravitational pull of God's love for you is infinitely stronger.
The sifting might feel like it's tearing you apart, but
it can't separate you from the love that holds you together.
The ask your question, what the sifting look like for
you today? It looks like that pressure that makes you
(14:06):
want to compromise, that pressure that makes you want to
cut corners. It's the loneliness that makes you want to
go back to what's toxic. It's the social media scroll
that agitates, that agitates your spirit. With comparison, it's any
violent agitation designed to separate you from your core identity
(14:28):
in Christ. This is for my people right now who
are in the middle of a sifting season. You feel
like you're being tossed around. The enemy's design is to
make you so disoriented that you forget which way is up.
But you've gotta plant your feet solely on the promises
of Romans chapter eight, and you have to declare unequivocally
(14:52):
out of your mouth that nothing can or nothing will
separate you from the love of God. Question for you,
what agitation in your life right now? It's trying to
separate you from your value? I want you to think
about that, and I want you to answer that question
(15:15):
for yourself. What agitation in your life right now? It's
trying to distract you, it's trying to pool you, it's
trying to sever you, it's trying to separate you from
your value. Question number three, I'm sorry. Wall number three,
the wall of divine defense, the wall of divine defense.
(15:38):
So we've seen the demand, we've seen the design. It's dark,
it's intense. But now we get to the two most
powerful words in the entire passage, two words that change everything,
two words that takes verse thirty one and body slams it. Jesus,
(15:59):
look said Simon, And after laying out the entire demonic plot,
after laying out for the entire demonic surveillance, he says,
but I verse thirty two, A look at it. But
I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
(16:21):
Satan demanded, but I prayed. This is the pivot of
the passage. Everything turns on a dime right here. The
enemy has a demand, Jesus are saying, but I have
a defense. The accuser has a case, but I am
your advocate. Advocate. Advocate is just another word for lawyer.
(16:43):
The enemy wants to siffe you, but I'm here to
secure you. So the demand was loud, But hear this.
The intercession is eternal, and what is the defense his
own intercession? I have prayed for you. That's Jesus talking.
(17:05):
I have prayed for you. The Greek tense is perfect,
and what that means is I have prayed and the
results of my prayer are still in effect. That's what
he's saying. This wasn't the last minute prayer. This wasn't
the old Lord let me stop right now. No, this
was a preemptive strike. Before Satan ever made the demand,
(17:27):
the advocate had already filled the appeal, had already filed
the appeal, while the surveillance was happening. The Savior was
already interceding. This means that right now, the prayer of
Jesus for you is more current than the problem that
you're facing. And I want you to notice what he
prayed for. And this is so amazing to me, because
(17:50):
we wouldn't have done this. He doesn't pray that Simon
wouldn't be sifted. He doesn't pray that Simon won't fall,
because Simon is going to deny Jesus three times after
this conversation. Simon is going to fall. Simon is going
(18:11):
to raw fall. He's going to do everything that Jesus
told him that he was going to do, that he
didn't believe he himself would ever do. So he doesn't
pray to stop that he let the sifting happen. Why
because pressure is the prerequist it for promotion. Fire doesn't
(18:33):
destroy gold. Family. You know what fire does to go,
It finds it. He prayed for the one thing that
would get him through that. Your faith may not fail.
Jesus knows that if your faith remains intact, you can
lose the house and get it back. You can lose
(18:57):
the job to start a business. You can fail miserably
and still finish faithfully as long as you have your faith.
Your faith is your core conviction. Your faith is your
core conviction in who He is, and with that conviction
(19:18):
you can survive any sifting that comes your way. This
is the part that should make all of us want
to dance in our living rooms. Right now, there is
a butt eye over your life. No matter what you're
dealing with. Right now, there is a butt eye. You
may have a diagnosis, but I am the Lord that
(19:42):
heal with you. You may be unemployed, but I am the
Lord who supplies all your needs according to God's riches
and glory. In Christ, Jesus, your hope is not in
the absence of the sifting. No, your hope is in
the presence of intercessor. And that's already been assured for you.
(20:05):
Hebrews chapter seven, verse twenty five says this of Jesus,
your advocate, your lawyer. This is what it says in
Hebrews seven twenty five. He is able to save to
the other most those who draw near to God through him,
since he, Jesus, always lives to make intercession for them.
(20:27):
So what is that saying. He's not a part time lawyer.
His office is never closed. These demonic walls of surveillance
are real, but there are nothing when you're dealing with
the reality of his intercession. It's nothing compared to the
reality of his intercession. So here's a question for you.
(20:50):
Are you more aware of the enemy's demand or the
Savior's intercession stands out more for you? Are you more
aware of the enemy's demand or the Savior's intercession? Wall
(21:11):
number four the wall of designated direction. So the demand
is met by intercession, the sifting happens, but the fate
holds up. So now what's next? Is the goal for
(21:32):
you and I just to survive? No, Jesus gives Peter
his assignment on the other side of his failure, and
this is the comeback clause. It's found in verse thirty
two B and when you Peter have turned again, strengthened
(21:53):
your brothers. I want you to look at the language.
Jesus doesn't say if you turn again. He doesn't say
you might turn again. He doesn't say if you think
you can turn again. No, he says it emphatically, when
(22:13):
you turn again. Remember he's already prayed for him. Jesus
prays for our faith, but he fully anticipates our failure.
Grace is not surprised by your stumble. Please hear me.
God's plan for your life has your mess ups already
(22:34):
factored into the equation. He knew Simon would deny him,
and he planned for it. He says, when you repent,
when you come back to your senses, when you remember
who I called you to be. I have a job
for you. And what's that job? Strengthen your brothers for
(22:59):
simply means strengthen the church. Your greatest ministry will come
from your greatest mess. It's something about when God turns
us around and says, now you go back and you
help those who are going through the exact same thing
that I just delivered you from the thing that I
(23:20):
just brought you out of. You have a voice for
those that are dealing with that, and this is something
that I don't feel we're tall enough in the church
because everybody is in the church trying to get theirs,
get theirs, get mine, get mine, my bag, my bag,
my money, my money. But this is part of the
commission that God has on all of our lives. It's
(23:41):
amazing to me that Peter is going to have one
of the most devastating collapses of anybody in scripture because
of his proximity to Jesus. Peter is in the inner circle.
Whenever you see Jesus go off and leave the other
nine disciples, who's in the mix Peter, James and John, Peter,
(24:04):
James and John, Peter, James and John. Whenever you go
anywhere in your Bible and look at the list of
the disciples' names, first name you're going to see is Peter.
And that's who the enemy was coming for. He's coming
for you because you have the ability to impact others.
There are others who are connected to you. There are
(24:26):
people who are watching you from afar. They know your story,
they know what you've been through, and they're still watching
to see what the end result is going to be.
The very thing that the enemy meant to use to
disqualify you, God will use to qualify you to help
somebody else. Because isn't this what the Gospel is all about.
(24:51):
Isn't this the whole purpose of us being lights in
a world that is filled with darkness. The specific area
of your sifting becomes the specific area of your strengthening.
If you were sifted in your finances, you'll you'll strengthen
(25:14):
others in their stewardship. If you were sifted in your marriage,
you'll strengthen other couples. If you were sifted in being
single and alone, when you come out of that, you're
going to help others. Simon, the one who failed, became
Peter the Rock who preached on the Day of Pentecost.
(25:38):
You can leave Acts chapter twenty two and you can
run ahead to Act I'm sorry. You can leave Luke
chapter twenty two, and you can run ahead the Acts
chapter two, and you're going to run into Peter over there.
You're not going to see Simon. You're going to go
over there to Acts chapter two, and you're going to
see Peter. You're going to see the rock Petros the
(26:01):
one who preached on the Day of Pentecost, and three
thousand souls were added to the church. He fulfilled his assignment.
And when you are converted, and when you repent of
this thing, strengthen the church, strengthen the brothers. Your fulfillment
(26:21):
is right over there. In the next chapter two, God
recycled his failure and turned it into fuel for the kingdom.
Why is this important for you and I Because your
story is not over that failure that you're so ashamed of,
(26:43):
that failure that always seems to keep following you everywhere
you go. That's not an exclamation point. Your failure is
a common God wants to use your failure when you
turn again, there is someone who needs to strength that
only can come from a person who has been sifted
(27:03):
and survived. There are some things that you can minister
too that average preachers won't be able to minister too,
because you have the credentials for it. You have the
credentials for your pain, You have the credentials for your hardships,
you have the credentials for your setbacks. This is for
(27:24):
my people who feel disqualified. God is saying, when you turn,
that becomes your testimony. Your scars give you the credibility
that you need when you help other soldiers that are wounded.
Your breakdown is a qualification for your breakthrough ministry to
(27:47):
someone else. Some of you have survived some things that
are totally, totally the grace of God, and God is saying, hey,
can you let me use that? Can I use your testimony?
Can I use your survival skills? Because again you can
(28:11):
speak to a group of people that others will never
be able to reach. Question for you, who are the
brothers or sisters that God is calling you to strengthen
on the other side of your sifting? Who is it?
(28:32):
Because God didn't just save you just to save you.
God didn't make you into a new creation just to
make you into a new creation. There is a purpose
for your calling. There is a purpose for your salvation.
And I don't want to mess with anybody's theology, but
your purpose for your salvation. I'm sorry. It's not for
(28:54):
you to just go and sit in the church on
a Sunday. That's not it. No, like Peter, we all
we have to go. We have to strengthen. Think about
the walls that we've walked through. We've seen the wall
(29:14):
of diabolical demand. That's where the enemy calls you. Simon
that's where your name is called twice. In the spirit,
we face the wall of destructive design, his plan to
separate you, his plan to violently separate you from the
call from the love of God. But then we looked
(29:36):
at the wall of divine defense, celebrating the butt eye
of our Savior's intercession, because that that's what protected Peter.
If Jesus leaves him, if we never have a verse
thirty two, Peter is doomed, we'll never hear I'm sorry,
Simon is doomed. We'll never hear from him again. In
(30:00):
the scripture, if Jesus left it at verse thirty one,
if he just came to Simons, is basically told hey,
sim and Simon that with desires to have you, that
he may see you we as we peace about Deuceus.
If he had did that, it would have been over
for him because Satan had legal claim and legal right
(30:21):
to do exactly what Jesus warned Simon that was about
to happen to him that verse thirty three, Verse thirty two,
that's the pivot. That's the moment where everything has to
come to an abrupt stop. But I have prayed for you.
If you ever get a chance, you should go over
and read John chapter seventeen. That whole chapter is a prayer.
(30:46):
That whole chapter is a prayer. And the very next chapter,
Jesus is arrested and taken to the cross. By the way,
this conversation that he's having with Peter, it is just
a few hours before the cross. So before he goes
through the most agonizing thing any human being has ever withstood,
he has to stop and holler at his boy, Hey,
(31:08):
come here, man, I need to holler at you about something. Look,
this is what's going on. I need you to know.
And Jesus pulls no punches. He lets him know exactly
what's happening. Hey, bro, all that impulsive stuff, all that
speak now and think later, all that anger stuff that
you got going on inside of you. Yeah, Satan wants that.
(31:29):
He wants to pull on that. And what do we
see over in the Gospel of Mark, we see Peter
acting the food. Remember, Jesus doesn't pray that he doesn't fall.
That's not the prayer. The prayer that is faith doesn't fail.
Peter denied Jesus three times. Hey don't you aren't you
(31:51):
one of his disciples? Nope, Hey, you kind of sound
like them. Boy. You should note the third time they
asked Peter, Peter was cussing people out. Reader, it's in
your bible. He denied Jesus positively. After this conversation, he
(32:11):
denied Jesus positively. He denied him contemptuously, and he denied
him blasphemously. Later on that night, his eyes in Jesus'
eyes met he saw him from Afar. They had Jesus arrested.
They had Jesus himed up, and Peter saw those eyes,
and the Bible says in the Gospel of Mark he
(32:33):
went out and he wept bitterly. He couldn't take it.
He was in such a depressed place that Peter went
that Simon went back to his old lifestyle. He went
back to everything that he once did. Forget this, just
(32:53):
like Jesus had his mind on Simon before he went
to the cross. When he got up on that third day.
Guess what he says in the Gospel of Mark, go
tell my disciples and Peter, Yeah, this Bible is amazing
to me. He makes a specific mention, not for signing,
(33:16):
but for Peter. Then if you go over to the
last chapter of John, you're going to see Jesus ask
Peter three times, Peter, do you love me? Yeah? Lord,
you know I love you? Peter, Yeah, Lord, Peter, he
asks him three times. Please hear me. The Bible is
(33:37):
so precise in what it does because this threefold restoration
counters the threefold rejection that Simon had for Jesus. So
he restores him, and when he restores him, he recommissions him.
So many of us we deny Jesus decisions that we made.
(34:02):
We deny Jesus. Sometimes in our lifestyle we deny Jesus
and the places that we go. But always know each
praying that your faith doesn't fail, because if your faith
doesn't fail, then Pentecosts is on the other side of
what you're going through. The influence that you will have
(34:26):
is something that you never even imagine, something that you've
never even dreamed, something that you've never even realized. So
our failures are the fuel for our future assignments. God
wants to use your mess. He wants to use your mistakes,
He wants to use everything that you're ashamed of. He
(34:47):
wants to use it for his glory. So please hear me.
These walls of demonic surveillance they're real. The enemy is watching,
he's plotting, he's demanding. But the revelation of this text
is this, there is a higher, greater, more powerful reality,
(35:13):
the look of your savior, the prayer of your savior,
the plan of your savior. The enemy may have a
file on you, but God has the final blueprint for you,
and his blueprint includes turning every attack that you've gone through.
(35:33):
Some of you have been attacked from a child. The
enemy has been trying to take you out. And guess what,
You're still here. You're still here. You know why you're
still here because He prayed for you that your faith
doesn't fail. So every attack, God wants to turn it
(35:56):
into a testimony. Every trial that you've gone through, God
wants to turn it into a triumph. The Bible says, over,
I believe it's in Ephesians, chapter two, verse ten. The
Bible says, we are His workmanship. That word workmanship, if
you flip it over. In the Greek, it says poema.
(36:16):
The word poema means masterpiece. Think about that with everything
that you've gone through in your life, think about all
of the mistakes, all of the detours, all of the highs,
all of the lows all of the times that you
are ready to throw into town. God says you are
my masterpiece. Powerful, powerful, That's the love that Paul is
(36:41):
talking about over in Romans chapter eight, verse thirty five,
and thirty eight through thirty nine. So here it is today.
You got a choice. You got a choice right here,
right now. You can stay fixated on the surveillance, living
in the fear of the sifting, or you can fix
(37:04):
your eyes on the Savior, who has already prayed for you,
who has already made a way through, and who has
an assignment for you. What's on the other side of
your purpose is so much greater than anything that you
(37:24):
can imagine. The sifting is not the end of your story.
It's the beginning of your strengthening, because God wants you
to strengthen the church. The pressure that you've been under
is proof of the potential that you carry. Can I
tell you something. The enemy doesn't sift chaff, He saists wheat.
(37:50):
The demand is only made for those who have a
destiny work derailing. So if you feel the heat, if
you feel the pressure, if you feel the agitation, I
want you to lift your head because your King has
already spoken a word over your life. He has already
(38:11):
spoken a but I over your situation that your faith
will not fail. So the question we have to ask
ourselves here is what now? Well? I'm going to give
you three things to do as you begin to walk
out this moment, as you begin to walk out this challenge,
(38:32):
as you begin to walk out this purpose. The three
things that I want to give you three CTAs. Number one,
I want you to confront the name. Confront the name,
and this is what I mean by that today. I
want you to identify and reject the signment, the signment
(38:57):
names the enemy has been calling you. What are the
simon names the enemy has been calling you? Failure, added, unworthy, untrusting, unlovable.
I want you to confront those names, and I want
you to consciously answer only to the name that God
(39:19):
has given you, Peter, Chosen, Loved, righteous, beloved. You don't
answer that anymore. You don't answer these negative thoughts, these
negative reels that get played over in your mind, these
negative things to try to remind you of your mistakes. No,
(39:40):
you have to remind yourself of who God says you are. Again,
Please don't miss this. Jesus didn't pray for Simon, not
the Fall. He could have shut all of that down.
He could have called legions of angels from heaven. He
told the men that were arresting him, y'all ain't doing nothing.
(40:02):
I'm in control here. Y'all are not in control. I'm
running the show. So if he wanted to, he could
have stopped everything that was about to happen. But he didn't.
You know why because sometimes family, we have to go
through some things. Sometimes there are some things that we
have to go through because there are some things that
(40:26):
God wants to strip off of you. All of those
behavioral problems. I wish I had the time to show you.
Peter always been a mess. Simon had always been a mess.
He didn't just become a mess. In Louke twenty two,
Simon was always a mess. But guess what, Jesus loved him.
(40:46):
He didn't throw them away. He didn't get rid of him,
he didn't cancel him. He kept him close because there
was destiny on the other side in Acts chapter two.
So that's the first thing I want you to do.
I want you to confront the name that the enemy
keeps trying to remind you that you are cancel those names.
(41:08):
Cancel all of that, because that's not who you are.
You start speaking who God says you are. I am
the righteous, I am the beloved. He has called me
by name. You start speaking those words over your life.
Say them out loud, Let the enemy know, let the
demonic surveillance hear you. You reclaim who God has purposed
(41:31):
you to be. Number two, I want you to consecrate
the pain. Consecrate the pain. This is what I mean
by this. Don't waste your sifting. Take the most painful
part of your journey, most painful thing that you have
experienced in your life, and I want you to consecrate
(41:54):
it to God. I want you to offer it to
him in prayer and say, God, use this recycle this failure,
turn this pain that I went through into a platform
that means God. If I have to write a book,
I'll write the book. God. If I have to shoot
(42:15):
a movie, I'll shoot a movie. God. If I have
to do a documentary, I'll do a documentary. What if
I got to stand up and testify. If I have
to go to where people are who I identify with
my PA, I'll go there. I'll do it. I'll speak
on your behalf you have to turn this pain into
a platform. One of the most terrible things that ever
(42:37):
happened to me in my life is when I went
to prison at eighteen years old. It messed my world up.
I was in the world. I knew nothing about it.
I had no gang affiliation, I and no tattoos. I
ain't have nothing. I was just a young mark in
jail with a bunch of killers. And guess what. God
took me through that, but no problem. And then almost
(42:59):
twenty years later, guess what, I went right back into
the very prison that I was once locked up in.
But I went into that prison with my head. How
I walked through the front door this time. See, the
last time they brought me in there, they brought me
in there with about four or five hundred other brothers
dressed in yellow jumpsuits that said doc. This time I
(43:20):
walked through the front door with my Bible under my hand.
Why Because I've turned my pain into a platform. And
when I went in there to speak to those brothers,
they couldn't believe it. But when I shared my testimony
to them, God got all of the glory out of it.
That's what I mean. Take the most painful thing that
you've gone through. You gotta tell me. You all have
(43:42):
been sitting on this for years. The fact that you're
still here is proof positive that God loves you with
your crazy soever, He loves you with an everlasting love.
Please don't sit on your testimony. We overcome Satan. Satan
about two things, the blood of the Lamb that's already
(44:03):
been done and the word of our testimony. There is
something so powerful about your testimony. There is something so
electric about your testimony. There is something so liberating about
your testimony. Stop sitting on your testimony. Consecrated, share it,
(44:25):
help set other captives free. Hey man number three, I
want you to commission a brother. And this is what
I mean by commissioner, brother. I want you to look
around your life. Who's going through a sisting right now?
Just some conversations that you've had, just from posts that
(44:45):
you've seen, Who in your circle, who in your proximity
of influence, is going through a sifting. Your assignment starting
today is to find that one person strengthen them, Signed Peter.
When you are converted, strengthen the church. So if God
(45:07):
has converted you from what you've been through, I want
you to see if you can strengthen somebody. Now, it
might just be one person, and you'll look up a
year from now and you'll be standing before thousands of people.
I'm telling you first Corinthians chapter two, nine to ten.
You better get it, you better read it, you better
live it, you better believe it. God has the ability
(45:31):
to take what you can't even imagine, and he'll do
it in your life. So find that one person who's
hanging on by a thread, and I want you to
strengthen them. Send them a text, make a call, share
(45:51):
this message, if you like, use your story to remind
them that their faith will not fail. I'm begging you
to do that. Listen, if this teaching has impacted you,
I need you to share it. Has an impacted you,
(46:11):
don't share it, We'll do better next time. But if
it has impacted you, I need you to share it.
If you're on Facebook, hit that share button. Don't you
leave here, Don't you come here and take and not
leave and not give on your way out. That's the
only offering I'll ever ask you for. Imagine that, the
only offering I'm asking you for is to help me
(46:32):
spread the gospel. That's all I need for you to do.
I'll never ask you for a dime of your money,
but I need you to help me to help some people.
If you're listening on Streaker, if you're listening on Spotify,
if you're listening on Amazon Music, if you're listening on iHeart,
send this link to somebody who needs to hear it.
(46:54):
Download those apps, follow these walls, and let's speak in
to share the gospel. If you're here for the first time,
thank you so much for stopping by and for hanging
out with us. I want you to make sure you
follow the page because there's more. There's other brothers that
are going to be bringing lessons as well. I'm just
(47:15):
filling in for our brother, Pastor Sam, who's out of
town at the moment. So I want you to follow.
I want you to engage. I want you to lock
arms with us as we stamp out biblical illiteracy. It
brace my heart when I talk to Christians and they
don't know their word, But it doesn't break my heart
(47:39):
to the point that I don't want to do something
about it, because I do. I want to do something
about it. I want to help them. I just want
to point people to God. Hey, God wants to have
a conversation with you. Just go over there and get
in his word and he'll talk to you. God wants.
God has something he needs to say to you about
what you're going through. So every time we come here,
(47:59):
every time we get into this digital sanctuary, we're gonna
challenge you, we're gonna push you, we're gonna encourage you.
We're gonna be here until the wheels fall off, and
whatever we can do to help, whatever we can do
to encourage, please let us know. That's what we're here for.
We're here to help strengthen one another. I am, I am.
(48:22):
My spirit is on ten just because of what I
feel is gonna come from this conversation that we've had today.
I believe that when you know to do better, you
just do better. Doesn't mean you're not gonna make any mistakes.
It doesn't mean that you're not gonna fall. Hear me,
the Bible says. The Bible says, a just man, not
(48:45):
a wicked man, not a bad man, not an ungodly man. No,
the Bible says, a just man falls seven times and
he rises back up. These walls has been blessing me.
I don't know if it's been blessing anybody else, but
it's been blessing me. It's been helping me to grow
(49:06):
in my faith and grow in my walk. And so
if you haven't done so already, download one of those
four apps Speaker, Spotify, I Heart, or Amazon Music. We're
on about eight different pop up eight different streaming services,
(49:28):
but those are the four main streaming services. And I
want you to plug in, and more importantly, I want
you to share. Get into the word of God, and
the word of God will get into you, and we'll
see you Saturday at eight am. Eight He Am God,
bless me. See y'all then, Peace,
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