Speaker1: [00:00:00] Well. Good morning and welcome. Welcome, everyone to Grace Life Church. Glad that you're here. If you're joining us this morning, however you join us. Glad to have you part of our service to hear this morning. We're going to dive right into the into the word of God this morning. And if you have your Bible, just go wherever you think we're going to go, that we're we're going to go and we'll see if you're going to flow very well. And so wherever you think it is. No not really. Let's go to first Corinthians chapter ten. I'm not going to read from there just right away, but that's where we're going to get to. And so you can go ahead and turn to that place. I want to talk to you this morning about temptations test and trials. Temptations test and trials. Now, I know you've never been tempted. You've never no one has ever went through a test. No one's ever had a trial in life. But I want you to take some notes for someone else. You know that you can hand them. Because I know no one here, no one here has ever went through a trial in life. Because you're a Christian, Right. And because Christians, you wouldn't know anything about temptations, tests or trials. So thank you all for coming so that you can help other people. Okay, I got a big sigh out of that one. Well, okay, maybe 1 or 2 of you might know what a temptation test and trial is.
Speaker1: [00:01:16] So I'm going to give you a little appetizer this morning before we get that. So we want to have a successful way through life and even facing temptations, tests and trials, which we all do, which we all have. And and when you get through with one, know this, another one is right behind it. It's like the waves of the ocean. And sometimes I'll never forget. I've told this 100 times. And here I was like, I remember being in the other church in Clanton. I don't know what the situation was, but whatever it was, I remember enough. That was bad. And I remember saying I was in the building by myself during the week and I said, Lord, I'll be so glad when this situation is over. And then I didn't. Expect him to talk to me. I'm talking to him and I expect him to talk back. He said, why? I looked around, I mean, it almost seemed like he was out there. He said, why? I said, this situation, I mean, it's just. It's who? He said, why would you be glad? And I said, well, I'll be glad to be on the other side of this. He says, well, when you get on the other side, there'll be something waiting on the other side. You know, Jesus got in the boat, the storm came up. She got there. There was a madman there, remember? So there's mad men everywhere.
Speaker1: [00:02:37] Some are, some are just mad. Some are angry and some are. Some are demonic. But. But what he said to me, he says. He said Eric, he said the just shall live by faith. It's not an experiment. He said, so if you just live by faith, you won't measure the temptation, the test or trial, as it were, you know? In other words, Was like, get all this stuff out of my life so we can just have a great life. Well as long as you're in this life, when you're in heaven, no struggles. When you're in heaven, you say, I'm going to show the devil. I'm going to give him what for? He won't be there. So all your fighting, all your standing is done on this side, right? And we have to think right in our thinking. Which means renewing your mind to think right. So that we can act right in the moment of temptation. Test and trials. So before we get this, the appetizer, I think this goes hand in hand with it. And I'm just going to give you a few highlights that we'll get into our lesson. But when you become a person to be perfected that you'll be ready for the test or trial. It's going to require that you be a person of love. You say, well, why are we talking about love now? Has everything to do to do with it.
Speaker1: [00:03:56] You know that old song What's Love Got to Do with it? Everything. It has everything to do with it. Because all your all the the positive responses come out of the fact of what you're rooted in, whatever you're rooted in, that's what you're. If I can say it this way, it may not be a good word. Whatever you're rooted in, you're rooted in, and your fruit is no better than your root. See, most people are doing fruit inspection, but they don't take time to do anything with the roots. Don't be surprised. You know, when you don't enjoy the fruit, you need to go. You need to check the tree and go down to the root system is telling the story. So it's in our capacity to love. And we need to remember this. That love never fails. Now, if you look up the word never It actually means never deep in it. Love never fails. So it's the only thing that brings peace to your relationship. And love has the capacity to reduce the the turmoil that we all face in our life. And it has the capacity to bring a tranquil condition into your home life and to your family as well. Being rooted in love teaches us to reach out. We're in selfishness. It's always reaching in in the New Testament, depending on there's not an exact number because there's different translations that uses different words. But the New Testament, the word love is used 183 times, and 143 of those times is translated as agape love, which is what the God kind of love 17 times or more.
Speaker1: [00:05:53] Is the filial love, and filial love means brotherly love or brotherly affection. Where God's love is love, the way God has, the way that God knows it. When you're born again in the new birth, you received his nature, which means you receive the love nature, didn't you? And that's the kind of love that never runs out, never runs dry. I think that's the song in it. Never fails, never runs out, never runs dry. Well, he's not talking about filial love. He's talking about agape love. So if our homes and our relationships and our marriages is running on filial love, you're going to run out of gas. The cupboard is going to go dry. You're going to have a lot of bad days because you're going on who did? Who does this? Who does that? How well do you do it? If you make me happy, I'll make you happy. You do for me. I'll do it for you. If you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back sort of thing. That's that's Phileo love. It's just based on feelings and conditions. And so this ties into how we're going to deal with temptations, tests and trials. Because if we're rooted in love, rooted in love is everything. It comes before teaching on faith because faith works.
Speaker1: [00:07:12] By what? Love and the God kind of love. So if I let go of the God kind of love, and then I'm attempting to walk in faith, Satan will make sure you have a situation. He'll make sure that you have a situation that you can't do in your strength. What can you do in your strength? Nothing. But you don't do it in your strength. You do it in his strength. And the love of God keeps everything clear. Keeps everything in focus. You're going to have many opportunities in life, whether you're single or whether you're married to walk in love. If you're married, you're going to have more opportunities because the Bible says you become joint heirs. And, you know, sometimes couples. Sometimes married couples don't agree. Shazam! I'm getting out of all this deep revelation about weather and weather patterns and all kind of stuff, but sometimes marriage couples don't agree. But, you know but if they agree to walk in love, if they agree to love each other with a God kind of love, then no matter how enduring the situation is, they can work it out together because they'll make the big deal. The love of God and nothing separates us from the love of God that's revealed to us in Christ Jesus. In other words, give your partner what Christ gave you. Amen. What did he give you? Complete forgiveness. Yeah, but he said this to me 15 times.
Speaker1: [00:08:47] Well, what's the limit? She hasn't changed. He hasn't changed. Well, there's a lot of people. Hasn't changed yet. Right. So what changes it? What changes the situation? What? What causes? What causes the thing to turn? It's how you look at it. It's how you focus on it. It's what you're paying attention to. It's what has your attention. It's who has your attention. And when and when you're focusing on God's love in you, and you see how much God loves you, when you can really begin to see how much God loves you, then you have to assume he loves other people just that much. And when you see how much he loves you, and now you know how much he loves the one next to you, then fault finding is not really in the order of the day. It's easy to find fault. And it's not that you wouldn't be wrong. You could be right. It's easy to find problems. Matter of fact, people find problems a lot easier than they find solutions all the time. And so what we want to do is help one another. That's what love does. The Bible says, how can two walk together unless they be agreed? And you might say, well, we'd be agreed if they just do it my way. Well, that's not the that's not the love of God. You know, that's what Elvis did. He did it his way. And he made 42 years old.
Speaker1: [00:10:20] And so I don't know that I don't know that our way is the best way, but God's way definitely is the best way. Amen. John four John first John 416 through 18 says, now we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, Because as he is, so are we. Where in this world. On this side. Not in heaven. There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love, not made perfect in love. So when you become perfect or mature in love Fear has to go. Fear is always rooted in I or me. Its main fear is focus is me. Always focuses on self. But the love of God, the real love of God, is turned outward. And the enemy comes to corrupt and he comes to steal and destroy. And and so when you put focus on the perfect love of God, then the perfect love will cast out. All torment, all fear, all anxiety. It has to go all whining, all complaining, all pouting. Because love has the place of the home, because love is on the throne. And before you can focus on others and you on what I'm trying to say before you can focus on loving others, it would help us a lot just to remember every day, to focus on how much God loves you first.
Speaker1: [00:12:11] You say, well, we know that, but I'm saying when you really take time to see how much God loves you. When we didn't deserve it. When we made mistakes over and over and over again. It was our mistakes. Costly. Yes. It's called the crucifixion. So we'd like to say it this way. On the cross. Nobody was innocent. Jesus was innocent, but he died as the guilty. So he died. He did not die for your sin. He died as your sin. So we're seeing what Christ did with people who were guilty. He gave his life for them. If you would give your life for someone who did you wrong, if you would give your life for someone who sinned against you. This gives us the picture of the cross, gives us the picture of what? The what kind of love that we're supposed to give someone else, even if they're, quote, dead wrong. Amen. Love is what? Patient and kind. The scripture says in first Corinthians three they said love was even patient kind. If it's suffering with you, gets really quiet. Love is patient. I think that says love is not rude. Rude. Love has no self-interest. Boy, that is really killing the me itis. Because we all have self-interest. See all sin. Think about it. Any sin, any of any sin is rooted in selfishness.
Speaker1: [00:14:06] There is something that we wanted, something that we thought we had to have, something that we thought we deserved, and we wanted it. And if we didn't get it, then it caused a problem. People are in prison today because they had me itis there was something that they wanted, something that they needed. They thought they needed something. They was going to take someone else and they created a crime. You know, whether it was theft, grand theft auto or whether it was murder, whether it was the motions, you know, on high alert. But it was all about them at the moment. And in doing so, it caused them to have an action that caused them to have a repercussion that now they're spending time in the penal system. Well, it's all rooted in selfishness, but but the love of God is not rooted in self. It's it's in God himself. So as we continue to focus on how much he loved us, it makes it much easier than when I begin to see you and I begin to see others. And when others make mistakes that we go give them what Christ gave us. And that is pure, unconditional love. Amen. Amen. And so the bottom line is it's how we choose. How we choose. So let's get on with our message today. So when you're talking about temptations, testing trials, we're talking about what does the soul do? Satan is the enemy of your soul.
Speaker1: [00:15:32] He can't fight you in the spirit realm, but he certainly does fight you in the soloist room. And so that's why that's why we talk so much about, you know, keeping our mind renewed. Thinking his thoughts, the Bible says in Philippians chapter four. Thinking on things that are good and pure and lovely, and of good report. If there's any virtue or praise, then what? Think on these things. Then it says. And then the God of peace that passes all understanding shall keep your heart and your mind. Many times the scriptures that I just quoted are no more than where I started with. In other words, people say, well, the peace of God will keep your heart. Yeah. But it's that's true. But you got to hook up the verse before that by thinking on things that are good and pure and lovely and of good report. If you go to bed on Saturday night and you watch three horror movies and you can't go to sleep that night. I don't know, maybe it's something you ate. It could be something that you watched, right? If there's monsters under the bed. Well, there's a reason why you think that they're under there. Anyone who had an older brother knew why. The problem was your brother did it. Yeah. So my brother always told me there was something under my bed or something. He had a lot of fun at my expense.
Speaker1: [00:16:52] But anyway, that's the joy of growing up. And so we're going to talk about today. About how do we deal successfully when temptation tests and trials come into our life. And we're going to come out of Luke chapter four. We'll be there in just a minute. And because we see Jesus was in a time of testing severe test. And we know from Luke chapter four that he won the test. He won every test. And when we get to First Corinthians here in just a moment, we'll see that this was written for our example. In other words, Israel and the way that they handled their Situations was not successful, and he wanted to make a record of it so you and I wouldn't go repeat it. I mean, why do a repeat of something that's already a failure? And so we want to see exactly how God would have us to do this. So the way that you choose life and the way that you choose how you're going to think about these situations, is going to have everything to do with your emotional realm. And the emotional realm has everything to do with temptations, tests, and trials because Satan is the enemy of your soul. He's not your friend. He doesn't kind of like you. He hates you completely. And what he uses. And I'm going to use this term over and over again this morning, I'm going to call it the unfulfilled desires, is what he creates, an unfulfilled desire to generate pressure to give in.
Speaker1: [00:18:34] Satan is a master at creating pressure. Pressure. That's what temptation is. Temptation is pressure. The test in trials produces pressure on the soul. And so when you have unfulfilled desire in your thinking, your emotions, and they generate pressure. It's the pressure is for you to do something to get the situation fulfilled. If you don't believe so, one day, ask Adam and Eve. The serpent said what he said, did what he did to try to create an expectation of an unfulfilled desire that they didn't even know that they had until he told them they had it. They didn't even know that they had a need until he told them they had one. And so then he just took an object and had them look at this, created this expectation. And he says, you know, I know your life is great, but it could even be greater. And really, you know, God's holding you back. Satan will always tell you something. Something or someone's holding you back. And he creates this unfulfilled desire. And he wants you to focus on that desire. The thing that you don't have that you see, that other people do have. So how we choose is going to have everything to do with it. So there's we're going to talk about three. I think probably about three different pressures this morning or temptations.
Speaker1: [00:20:01] And so the first one there's there's pressure in relationships. And you can read all throughout the scriptures. You read in the Bible and, and see about how God wants us to have a fulfilled relationship. And perhaps in marriage or just in our relationships. But but if you're married and you begin to see the goodness of God and what he would have for you and what's available to you in, in the marriage relationship, then what we do is we do a self analysis and say, well, my life is nothing like that. Well, that causes a pressure to come into your life, which creates an unfulfilled desire. And then you begin to look at your life, and then you begin to it can cause you to become discouraged. It can cause some people to complain. Some people, you know, to to y'all never met a whiner, have you? Y'all know what a whiner is. And sometimes you get some whiners out there. But unfulfilled desire is pressure in relationships, especially when it doesn't meet your expectations. It generates you to be tempted to do something to relieve the pressure. That's what Satan wants you to do, something to relieve the pressure. He wants you to act out in the natural realm, to do something to relieve the pressure that he has created. He wants you to reach for a natural tool. To relieve the pressure. He wants you to act out in the flesh. He wants you to stay out of your.
Speaker1: [00:21:32] Your weapons, your spiritual weapons. He knows that you have them, but he's shining the bright lights over here and everything he's doing in your life that's causing you to be focused on everything that you should be focused on. But he's using the outward flesh, the manifestations of things that you can touch, feel, taste and see. And he wants you to engage your mind, your will and your emotions on that pressure. And the more pressure that he can apply to your life than than, the more successful he'll be to get you away from the realm of the spirit, because he knows he is completely defeated in the realm of the spirit. He knows that. I mean, this guy is going into the ring knowing he has no chance to beat you. Now, I know he sounds like he's awful and he's he's he's a big threat because people in pulpits make him that way every week. But he's not that big a deal. No, he is just not that big a deal. And when you understand how he works, you can shut him down. And so that's why he has to keep your attention and keep things camouflaged over here so you don't actually get to the truth. And so if he could have his way with you, it would be that you would never know that he ever existed. Yeah, he'd be like the movies that you see called The Invisible Man.
Speaker1: [00:23:01] You know, if I was an invisible man for a day, I'd never have a need for money ever again. I would invisibly go in and take anything I wanted from anywhere. I mean, I'm invisible. My my fingerprints are invisible. You know, the invisible man. And that's what he is. He's the invisible idiot. And the idiot does idiotic things, but he. What he does with you is not invisible. He gets involved into the things of the natural flesh. If you can, if you can touch it, if you can taste it, if you can see it, if you can smell it, if you can, if you can, if you can have any contact in the physical realm, that is where he is working in your life on high alert. He's staying away from spiritual things because that is I mean, that is like Superman. And what is it? Superman's allergic to Krypton. Thank you. That's Kryptonite. This word is Krypton to him. They'll say it wrong. Kryptonite. Krypton. Kryptonite. They get it from Krypton. I ain't had lunch yet. Just leave me alone. Amen. Krypton. That's his weakness. And so here. He. Here. He already knows he's lost. He already knows he's a defeated foe. These aren't just songs we sing. Some of them wrote songs about being defeated, folks. The psalm became because it was a truth. Jesus said, I've come to set you free. So I mean, are you free or are you not free? And if you're not free, when are you going to be free? Yeah.
Speaker1: [00:24:42] That's right. Are you going to wait till heaven to get free? Or could you be free on January the 19th, 2025? Got that part right. Then 25. Amen. So let's just be free today. So this is the unfulfilled desire. And in all this, the enemy, you know. So he's he's doing things to cause pressure. And you're and you're going to try to relieve the pressure. And and so he'll cause things to go wrong or prematurely go wrong to get you to act out. And he really, at this point, isn't tempting you at this point. He's just he's just exerting pressure is what he's doing. It's not even the temptation yet. It's just exerting the pressure. And as the. And he's the God of this world. The Bible says Second Corinthians four four, which means he can manipulate circumstances and people to build more pressure. He loves pressure. He loves pressure. And the Lord will always attempt to influence you all through the whole, through the whole process. The Lord, the Holy Spirit, is dealing with you. But I'm talking about the real you. I'm talking about the one in your spirit so that you make the right choices, that you won't fall into the enemy's trap. And the Lord is always with you at all times. Now, first Corinthians ten. We're going to get there.
Speaker1: [00:26:00] Are you there? I'm going to read the main verse, and we may come back and fill in some more around it. But here's what I want you to always remember when we're talking about temptations, tests and trials. Now I'm going to be reading from the Passion Translation. There are several good ones. I haven't found any. I haven't found one any better than the Passion Translation. That's just my preference. Verse 13. We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you who will screen and filter the severity, the nature and the timing of every test or trial that you face so that you can bear it. And every test is an opportunity to trust him more. For along with every trial, God has provided a way for escape that will bring you out of it victoriously. So he starts off with saying that we all experience times of testing. He said this is normal for every human being. But then he goes right and says, but know this, that God will be faithful to you, and he will screen and filter the severity of that test that you are going through. He knows the nature of it and the timing of every test or trial that you face so that you can bear it. The way that you probably heard this said, and I have, especially in the Bible Belt, which we're in, God won't put on you more than you can stand.
Speaker1: [00:27:42] That would be the worst translation I think I've ever heard in my life. He didn't say God put anything on you, but God said, if it comes your way. In other words, if you're not ready for this test, I'll just bring you out of it. I'll test it. Now we want to be brought out of every one of them. You see, I'm going to use my faith to steer around it. Well, your faith will steer you around things. But see, Daniel didn't get steered. If you say it that way. Steered around the lies. Then he got. He got delivered from it. Shadrach, Chirac and the bad Billygoat. They didn't get steered out of the furnace. They furnace. They got they got delivered in it. So there's some times as you grow up in the Lord, he doesn't have to. He doesn't have to pull you out. He says, turn around and talk to Goliath. Yeah. You don't have to run from Goliath. They're running from Goliath. Okay, they're not ready. But perhaps you're ready. There's a leader in you. There's a Christ man in you. There's one in you that's not afraid of the devil. That's right. There's a roar in you. Amen. A real roar in you that comes out of your spirit being. Yeah. And when the Lord speaks to you. Deep calls unto deep. And you turn around and you face that situation, and you say, it will not be this way, and you deliver the news, you have the headlines.
Speaker1: [00:29:08] You're the one in control. Yeah. You're not the thermostat on the on the wall, just reflecting what's going on in the room. You're the thing on the outside that's controlling it. You'll say, no, it's not going to be this way. We'll change the situation right now. Get your hands off the situation. Get out of my life. Get out of my family. Get out of my finances. I take authority over you. Get out in Jesus name. I'm blood washed, blood washed, blood bought. I don't belong to you. I've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. I'm not under a curse. Christ redeemed me from the cursed law being made a curse for me. The blessing of God is on me. The blessing of Abraham is in my life. I'm the head. I'm not the tail. And then you begin to speak to it. That's right. Well, everybody's getting this. Well, I'm not getting it. The whole world's going to die of a cold. A few years ago, the whole world. Changed the whole perception of how people think. Hope that won't knock me off. They're saying Covid. Little words, you know, takes you off. Going down the road two years later, you see someone in a car by themself with a mask on. And like, you're by yourself, you're by yourself. You got one on your mouth, one on your forehead, or you got a whole.
Speaker1: [00:30:19] And now you just cut out something for the eyes. If you've ever been in an elevator, I'll say this as nice as I can during those times going into the hospital. And you smell body odor. From someone, I guess. Passing gas. And you're wearing a mask. It probably is not working. If you can pick up on the body odor, it probably is not working. Why is it the church believed that you could have something that you could give to me, that could harm me, but didn't believe enough that I have something in me that I could give to you that could help you. Such as I have give, I thee. So it conditioned many people in the world to succumb to what? Fear not making light of the situation. I know people were sick, and I know many people lost their lives. And we are. And we are sad for that. But the truth will still be the truth. Yeah. And so things get tried on people to see how they'll react to it. And we, we need to do a better job, a much better job now. So he said, no temptation has taken you. Well, the footnote of of the the passage translation said, This is God's faithfulness and grace that will limit the severity of every test and will prevent you from being tested beyond your ability to cope. Unlimited grace is available for every believer who faces hardship, temptations, and seasons of difficulty.
Speaker1: [00:32:11] God's grace always provides the power to endure, and grace provides the way to an exit or an exodus. So if an exit needs to be there, or then God has already provided the way out of the situation. What? I'm telling you that God is there in the time of temptation, test and trial. He's already got there before you got there. He's already tested. He knows. He knows what it is. He knows where you are. And he can give you the power or the grace to go through. Or if he won't, if he needs to, he'll just take you and pull you out of it. Amen. Now, so the Greek word for temptation is rendered in other passages as test and trials, and the amplified defines it as trial, regarded as enticing descend. So all temptations, all of them all test. They're there to entice you to sin. Every, every test, every child, every temptation is there to entice you to sin. And Satan is the author of all that. So people go through life thinking sometimes like, you know, they're being tested by God, but that's not true. You're not being tested by God. James 113 says, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted to God. For God tempts no man, neither can he be tempted. He's not the tempter, is he? He is not the tempter. This is another popular myth in the Bible Belt.
Speaker1: [00:33:38] You know the God's. You know he's he's testing us. No he's not. If he knew you before you was born. And the Bible says he did. Yeah. You say, how could he know before I was born? I ask him one day, I don't know. Then do you think he actually has to test you to see where you're at? No. That's foolishness. So he says I don't tempt any man. So God would never test you with sickness or lack of finances or any bad situation. When you think of it this way, God knows everything about you. He knows how knows how many hairs on on your head. Some people have to keep up with that every few seconds. But he knows all about you. He doesn't need to test you. Testing is the enemy's purpose for enticing you to sin, to cause pressure in your life so that you'll have unfulfilled desires. He's tempting you to get out of faith. The enemy is always tempting you. The test comes. The temptation comes. The trial comes to tempt you to get out of faith. He's enticing you to sin. And if he can get you out of faith, he'll always get you into sin. Always. If he can get you out of love, he's already got you in the sin. If he can get you out of walking in love with your partner, your people, he's already got you in the sin.
Speaker1: [00:35:05] So he's enticing. The pressure comes because he's enticing you to be in sin. So that when the pressure comes, The pressure wants to be relieved. And the way pressure gets relieved mostly is through the medium of exchange of words. When you get in enough trouble long enough, loud enough, you'll talk. And that's how one way he gauges if he's affected with you. When you say, I can't take this no more, he's thinking it's working. It's working. Just put a little bit more on there because you told him or they all get laid off at the plane. I guess I'll be the next one. You will be. I guarantee you will be. You just signed up for it. You will be the next one. And so the pressure comes. Then you have an unfulfilled desire. I go in there and see how your life is and mine is the opposite. It's like, well, this doesn't make me feel good. So I can get discouraged. I can become jealous. I have this unfulfilled desire. I'm Adam and Eve out there looking at whatever, whatever the fruit is and thinking. And I mean, just think they lost their whole position with God over fruit. Rude. Yeah, I mean, I could see maybe for ice cream, but fruit. I mean, a snicker bar maybe, but fruit. Anyway, the unfulfilled desire takes you, always takes you the wrong doctrine and toward death and cursing. So when are you going to go through a test? We sometimes feel like it's the worst thing that ever could ever happen to someone.
Speaker1: [00:36:39] And but actually, you know they're just common experiences. And what I mean by that is sometimes when you're going through a situation like this, it's so overwhelming to some people what they're going through that they feel like they're the only one in the world. No. That scripture says these things are common. Don't flatter yourself thinking that you're the only one on the planet who's ever dealt with what you're dealing with. Because you're you're one of many, many, many, many, many of people that you'll ever know who's dealt with what you're dealing with and probably even sometimes a lot worse and and came out victoriously. When you go into a temptation test and trial, change your mindset. Change it. Just like what it's like taking a if it was like a knob or a switch, turn it and say, I don't know what it is, but there's a way out of this. Just, just begin to change that much and say, I don't know what it is. This is bad. I don't see no way out of this. But he said there's a way out of this. So there is a simple way out of this that I'm asking the Holy Spirit to show me what is the way out of this. What is the path for victory? Because there is a path of victory.
Speaker1: [00:37:53] It's laid out. It may look hidden, but it's hidden for it to be revealed. I think it's what? Psalm 77. Somewhere in there, I forget what verse it's about. Israel said that God went ahead of them to the Red sea, and he marked the path. I like to say he popped a chalk line, and when they got there, he'd already been there, and he knew exactly where they were going to go across. You may not see the chalk mark, but when you get there, you'll see it, or you'll smell it and you'll know this is the path. No one else may see it, but he'll show you when you get there, because he's already went way ahead of you. So if you just change your focus and thinking as bad as this feels, as hard as it seems, as enduring as it seems like it's going to be, I know there's a path of victory for me. And when you. And when you win in a time of testing and trial, the whole world will see it. And the devil will see it too. The devil will see it, and the devil will record it. And he's like, we were having a hard time with her. We're having a hard time with him. This doesn't work, this doesn't work, this doesn't work, this doesn't work. And after a while, he'll leave you alone for a season. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.
Speaker1: [00:39:07] We'll talk about it in just a moment. And we know exactly how Jesus defeated the enemy. All he did, he. He defeated him with what words he didn't use nothing else. He didn't. He didn't have something from heaven. He had someone from heaven. You have someone from heaven. He released spiritual words in the enemy. Had nothing he could say back. All he could do was take things and pervert it. You know, like, here he is. I know you're hungry. Just take those. Look at those stones. Just, just just turn them into bread. Here you are at the edge of the cliff. Just jump off and angels will catch you. Well, why would I jump off anyway? Even if the angels would catch me. And all Jesus ever gave him was the pure, unadulterated Word of God. He just kept speaking the word. The last thing Satan wanted Was worship. And Jesus wouldn't give it to him. It says Jesus bowed down and began to worship the father and said, Only the father will I worship. And Satan couldn't stand to look at that as the former worship leader. And he left for a season. If you don't ever know what else to do in your situation, your temptation test and trial. When you don't, when you spoke the word, just stop speaking the word for a while and just say, father, I thank you that you've heard me and you've answered my prayer and begin to worship and praise him.
Speaker1: [00:40:37] You don't have to go back into reading 50 verses, 14 more books. Listen. 13 more series on faith. You don't need to prove to God that you got faith for something. He already knows that you got faith because he gave you his faith. If he gave you faith, I know that you got it. And then just go into a place of worship. You say, well, I don't see it yet. I feel like I need to work on it. No, you don't have to work on it. Speak it. Rest. Turn it over to him. Casting all your care for he cares for you. Well, that's what the. That's what the that's what the pressure is there for is trying to get you to act out in a natural way. Come from the the mind, the resources of the mind, the knowledge of the mind. And you can't fix a you can't fix a demonic issue. You can't successfully take a temptation test and trial that the enemy is testing you with. You can't fix a fleshly problem with a fleshy tool. You can't go to the flesh to fix the flesh, right? I'm trying to find even simpler ways to say that. I mean, I mean, you can't employ natural means to fix a spiritual problem, right? Recognize that it's a spiritual problem and you'll have to come from the spirit. Well, he's giving you the weapons he said to to come to successfully do that.
Speaker1: [00:42:11] But you have to believe that when you speak, you you have to believe in the power of the Word of God, and you have to believe in your words. And that's the thing. That's the that's really the key issue is, is do you believe in the spoken word of God? You know, the Scripture says the Word of God settled in heaven, but now you got to settle it on the earth. You're not in heaven right now. Amen. You want. If I ever teach a Bible lesson in heaven, I don't know if I ever will. That'd be fun. It won't be this one. I won't be telling people how to successfully live against temptation. Tests and trials. That won't be. It will. It? I mean, he's supposed to be right. I don't want to exist in heaven. But if you're gonna need it, you're gonna need it right here. Right? So in Luke chapter four, you don't have to go there. It's the account of Jesus temptation in the wilderness that shows some of the primary tests that come your way, all of which are common to us. You might even say dirt and how he successfully defeated the enemy. And then when you get in Luke chapter four, it says, it starts off with Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit. There's the thing. Are you filled? Oh, yeah. I got filled back in 1943.
Speaker1: [00:43:39] Well, you've already leaked since then, but are you filled today? Life's leaked you out. Amen. So you got to keep on refilling. But it says Jesus was filled with the spirit and returned from the Jordan. And was led by the spirit into the wilderness. So? So wilderness is a place of testing the wilderness, the temptation test and trials. You can call that a wilderness. That's the place of testing that every Christian is going to pass through. Don't think that you won't. You were. Everyone will. And the children of Israel, they passed through the wilderness just like Jesus did. Same way. Except they failed the same test over and over and over again for 40 years, and they never got delivered from the promised land. See, it's a journey. It wasn't a one jump thing. It was a journey. And God had a plan for them. He had a place of victory for them. He had a great place for them. He had a place of contentment. He had a place of joy. And he has a place planned for you just the same. A place of victory. But they they didn't pass the test. They took it over and over again for 40 years. So how long does it take to pass the test? Well, how long? Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. Israel was there for 40 years. Was it God's will that you go through something 40 years? And these people didn't actually pass the test.
Speaker1: [00:44:52] They actually died. The next generation had to go in. So one of the first common tests that you're going to take is in Luke chapter 43. And the devil said unto Jesus, If you're the Son of God, command the stones, that it might be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, it is written, that man should live by bread alone. Not or not by bread alone, but by every word of God. In other words, Jesus answered. Jesus answered Satan. Jesus had a reply to the test. He said, if if you're the Son of God. Well, he knew he was the Son of God, and he knows that he knows who you are, but he's going to see. Do you know who you are? I may not be doing a very good job this morning. There's so many things here to this that you could just break it down into weeks and weeks and weeks, actually. And I'm probably trying to fit too much in here. He really wants. He needs to know. Do you really know who you are? And the only way that he knows this. And I'm gonna be honest with you, the only way. My opinion. But I think I can validate from the word of God the only way that you're actually going to know who you are is in the test. You don't you don't know much about yourself, and everything's great.
Speaker1: [00:46:22] Oh, I know you believe it, but I'm talking about the car that you drive, the car that you parked in the parking lot. If it was brand new and it was the first one off the assembly line. It was tested before it ever got to a consumer. They put dummies in their crash test. I'm not talking about real people. I'm talking about. But it had to go through a lot of tests before it ever got on, you know, to the market. Right? Yeah. Well, you don't really know where you are until the test comes. You're at the school you were taught. You was given information the teacher shared, communicated. Hopefully you had an understanding. The way they knew that is they gave the test and if you studied it, let her know. Am I communicating this in a way that they understand and they can apply it? Some did and some didn't. And that's what tests do. The test of life. It's not God bringing them, it's the enemy bringing them. So God doesn't have to bring your test to know who you are. He knows exactly where you are. And that's why he will not allow Satan to give you a test that you're not ready for. He'll test it. He'll test the severity of it, the passage said. He'll screen it, he'll filter it. But there's just times in life, like I said earlier, that Were we? We would rather be delivered from every test.
Speaker1: [00:48:02] You don't really grow. You don't really grow when everything's wonderful. Now ask me which one I prefer. Wonderful and easy. I don't want to take a test. I don't, I don't want the trials. I don't want the temptation. I mean, when you. When you're at Publix and you walk by the ice cream freezer and all those lights turn on. And it says two for whatever. Just two Out of all these flavors. And then there's the temptation. And the lights are on it. Now that's a tactic. Lights. Yeah. They're saying they're using it for other reasons. No, that's that's no for the the true ice cream connoisseur. Those lights on it, that's like let's see I'll tell you the two over here. Give me two over two over here. Because the temptation comes. And remember, before he used this on you, he used it on your savior. Yeah. That's good. That was the best that he had. He used it on him. So he has nothing past this because he used the same thing on, on on Jesus. And Jesus. 40 days and 40 nights. Israel. 40 years. I mean, you Satan knew Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and he hoped that he was weakened. Naturally. He was he had this unfulfilled pressure on Jesus's body that would need food. And so your bodies can put pressure on you at times, can't they? Too many sweets, too many chocolates, too many savory foods.
Speaker1: [00:50:11] A pecan pie, at least slightly warm topping of whipped cream or ice cream. And the temptation is one piece or the whole pie. Please don't eat the whole pie. That's not good for you. Maybe half of it would be okay. No. Not half. See if a guy is tempted to smoke. If you give one cigarette, the flesh should go on another. If it gets one drink, it's going to want. It's going to want more. If it gets what taste of cocaine, it's going to want more cocaine. If you give. If you give it a taste of premarital sex, it's going to want more. The flesh always wants more. The flesh has unfulfilled desires because the flesh doesn't live by the Word of God. The second common test that we all have to deal with is our view in relationships to money in the world. That's one of the second tests. Luke 4 or 5 through eight says, the devil took him up to a high amount and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said unto him, all this power will I give unto thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me. And to whomsoever I will give it. If you will worship me, and shall be thine. And Jesus answered him again. He answered him, saying, get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him shalt thou serve.
Speaker1: [00:51:41] Satan is the God of this world. He's looking for worshipers. So is God. God is looking for those who worship him in spirit and truth. John 424 says, so that he can show him strong. The Bible says on their behalf. He is looking for those who will worship him with their lips, not with their lips, but with their lives. Jesus said, there's people who honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. He doesn't want lip service. He wants life service. So the true test of worship comes from your commitment to him and your service. You think about it like in Luke chapter 16. If you read the story one through 12 about the unjust steward, and God wants faithful stewards, not not unjust stewards, but faithful stewards who worship him. So he faithful stewards use their money properly. They understand what money is for. They understand it's a tool. Faithful stewards help do what they need to do to finance the cost of the gospel, that people will be saved. The Bible says that The. This is the least that we should do with our finances. This is the least we should do. Not the most, the least. So Luke 16 tells us the least. We have to be faithful is to seeing that our money is used to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. The unjust steward is the one that had manipulated the system, didn't do, wasn't just, was unjust, took but took what the master gave him, didn't put it to work, didn't increase, it didn't multiply.
Speaker1: [00:53:22] It went and hid the whole thing. And when he came back for recompense, those who had increased, he doubled them. But the one who said, I knew you was a hard man. I knew, I knew how you are about these things. I didn't want to lose what you gave me. So I went and hid it in the dirt. Jesus called him evil. And you want to get promoted? Promotion doesn't come from staying Stationary, but for moving and propelling forward and having big ideas, thinking big and small places. Having big thoughts in a small place. You think God could give you $5 million? Could he? Could he give you $5 million? Would it help if you had $5 million or $1 million? Would it help if you don't have it down on paper, what you do with it, it's probably not coming because you haven't really thought about it. You just know what you just know it would be a better day if you had it. But you understand there's some people that would be needed to file bankruptcy if they had $5 million because they're billionaires. They can't run a company on 1 million or 2. So learn to live big in small places from wherever you are. So it goes on to say, if you're faithful with the least, you'll bless you with the riches.
Speaker1: [00:54:45] He called it true riches if you're faithful in that which you have, which is least, he will bless you and increase you with true riches, which includes the anointing if you're faithful with the small. If you're faithful to tithe on on $10, which is a dollar and ten on 150 on 500 and a hundred on, then he says, then if I can trust you with that, which is least. So he's saying your finances and your need for finances is what you ought to be using the least amount of faith for in the Kingdom. We think we act like it's the biggest deal. Jesus called it the smallest deal. Yeah. He said, your financial need is the smallest thing that you'll ever need faith for in the kingdom. Why? Because Matthew chapter six says, if you can see birds in the sky and they can find a worm in the ground in the morning, he said, you're okay. He said, don't be like a Gentile. The Lord didn't tell you to take care of yourself. He said the field was clothed more beautifully than Solomon was with all his riches. He said, so what are you worried about? He said, take no thought for tomorrow. The prophet of God was sitting by the brook, and the raven was coming to feed him, a carnivore bringing meat to him. A carnivore doesn't give up meat.
Speaker1: [00:56:08] I have we have a little dog at home that says she begs for food all the time. It's pathetic. It is pathetic. They don't bother my wife for her to sit here and watch her eat. But I can't stand that thing sitting there watching me, like, please drop, please drop, drop. But if I were to give her a piece, I said, Lola, change my mind. Give it back. She ain't bringing it back. The Raven I mean, when you think about the raven bringing Elijah food to the brook, a raven bringing him a cheeseburger. That's supernatural. They don't share stuff like that. So why would we worry about money? Because money is everywhere. You ever saw God's best and you ain't saw his last. It's everywhere. I mean, it's everywhere. It's almost too easy. It's unfair. It's a stacked deck against the devil. Amen. Amen. You say? Well, that's easy. You must have a lot of money in your pocket. Actually, I forgot my wallet. I don't. But I don't have to do that. Did Jesus carry around a lot of money? I don't know. I don't I don't know if he did or not. I knew, I knew he carried around enough to feed 12 men and all the hungry people that came across with it. He needs some. He just said, go fishing. There's silver or gold in that fish's mouth, but you don't have to carry a lot of loot if you can just go fishing.
Speaker1: [00:57:29] Amen. All right. So true riches, which is the peace and joy that's in him that money can't buy. True riches will only be yours when you're faithful in the very least, which is how you handle your money. Nothing. Because money is nothing more than a medium of exchange. Is it? It represents the material world that we live in. So this during this temptation, Satan told Jesus the kingdoms. He said, this kingdom I will give unto you. This is what Satan is telling Jesus. He said, if you'll bow down and worship me, I'll give you this kingdom. That kingdom represents power, doesn't it? But the kingdom produces wealth and power. So he was offering Jesus the kingdom back that he took from Adam. And I'll give you the power and the wealth that goes with it. All you have to do is worship me. A lot of Americans would have sold out. A lot of people would have sold out. So that brand of temptation is power, wealth and influence derived from the world that Satan is the God of. I mean, have you ever heard of a king that's poor? Of course not. He's the richest man in the kingdom. He controls everything. So the test is, are you going to hoard up and pile up for yourself. While we're in the world. But the Bible says we're not supposed to be of it. That's not how the true kingdom operates.
Speaker1: [00:58:51] Okay, we're going to finish with this this morning. I mean, think about the rich young ruler. He came to Jesus. What did he want? How do I have eternal life? Jesus told him. He said, well, I know that I've been doing that since my youth, but the Bible says that Jesus knew that man's problem. He didn't say it was your problem. He knew that man's problem. You ever read it that way because Jesus talked to him about money? Why? Because it was his problem. He observed all the things that of the law that he was supposed to. He said, but what do I have to have to have eternal life. And they went through the commands. And he said, well, I've kept them from my youth. And Jesus said, I'll tell you what you do. He said, you, you go liquidate everything you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. I'm offering you a position as a disciple, as one of my disciples. You couldn't do it. He couldn't cash in. The Bible said that he had too many possessions. And so he went. He went away grieved and sorrowful. He didn't have possessions. They had him. He didn't own anything. It owned him. That was his problem. What would you have done? Would you have sold everything? Jesus offered him a discipleship. He could have been one of the of the 12, but he couldn't pass the test.
Speaker1: [01:00:12] Do you hold on to your finances? Do I do I tip? Do I tithe? Do I give when it's convenient? Do I give when it looks like I'm going to have enough? Well, are you a castle builder? Builder? Or are you a kingdom builder? If you build castles, you build them on the earth. When you give your finances to to the work of the kingdom, you're building the kingdom. You're not building castles. You already have a castle in heaven. Amen. So the pressure of Unreconciled desire is always testing you. And the last test we'll talk about the third kind of test is tempting God itself. You say what? Yeah. The third common test of temptation, test and trials is us. Tempting God. Hadn't thought of that one, have you? But that's. That's what we do all the time. Luke chapter four, verse nine through 12 will illustrate this. And Satan brought him Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, if you be, if you be the Son of God, cast yourself down from hence, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all. Their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered and said to him, it is said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Speaker1: [01:01:35] Tempting the Lord is the same thing as testing Test is you testing him. People do it with all kind of things. We just talk about money. They do it with money. Or they think, if I go to all the prayer meetings, I'll spend extra time in prayer. I spend extra time. I read so many chapters a day. I read this book, I listen to 14 CDs. Then God will pay attention to me. Maybe do something with me. What are you doing? You're tempting him. You're testing him. You're gauging him for a response. I did this. Will you please respond to what I just did? He's not a slot machine. You don't have to have three apples lined up. He's not grapefruit. He doesn't need your money. He has money. You got a CD? He lives in gold and sapphire. You know, when you get to heaven, the moment you get through, you're going to be highly impressed with the gate. When our friend, brother Roger, your dad, walked in in a split second, I guarantee you guarantee it's like, wow. Amazing. I mean. Amazing when you just read about the gate. One huge pearl. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. And so tempting. The Lord does the same thing is testing him. It always is. Not all those things I mentioned. There are good things. You know, reading your Bible, going to prayer, meeting all those things. If they're done for the right reason, if they're done for the right motivation.
Speaker1: [01:03:10] When you tempt God, isn't it a root of unbelief? It really is, isn't it? Because you're acting from the frustration of your flesh. But when you give in faith wanting to do the right thing, knowing that God will take care of you, not that you're bribing him. So the first generation of children of Israel, they died in the wilderness, it said, because of unbelief. It said because they tempted God. Because they tempted God. All three tests, trials and temptations that every one of us is going to experience in our life. What are you going to do with them? Would determine everything. But you'll be in subjection to into your spirit. All pressure that you might be facing today is no more than an unfulfilled desire is all that it is. And you may feel like there's no way out of it, but there is, because he said, I will make the way out. I will bring you out victoriously. Never forget, during the temptation and test and trial, that the greater one lives on the inside of you, and all you have to do is yield to the Holy Spirit and yield to the Word of God. Don't yield to your flesh. Don't yield to the temptation to test and trial. Don't yield and succumb to the nature of the flesh because you can pass the test. All you have to do is be consistent. You know, consistency means not changing the face of pressure, but just being the same.
Speaker1: [01:04:44] Everything that you're facing today in your life has an expiration date. It won't stay there. That helps me more through the years thinking. And I relate this to you many times. But, you know, just as a kid going to school, working in the grocery store, part of my job in the grocery store was every now and then I had two aisles that I worked, and I had to go check expiration dates, whether it was cans or, you know, vegetables or whatever it was, you had to check expiration dates. And when they got right there on the date, you had to pull them off, pull them off, pull them off, and the company come pick them up. Brand has an expiration date. Milk has an expiration date. Every test and trial that you have in your life has an expiration date. Now it's trying to take you. The bread will mold. It's expired, but it's trying to get you to mold with it. But just throw it out. Don't think that you that you got to drink the milk when it's all cleared up, you know, and it's 15 days past because you need to save a dollar a quart. The Lord can replace your dollar and a quarter. Amen. Amen. Think big in small places. Amen. So you just need to be consistent. So everything has an expiration date. Amen. Amen. So what is the escape? Here it is.
Speaker1: [01:06:02] James one two. He said, my brethren, count it all joy. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. No matter what the trial is, count it. He should count it all joy. When you face various trials, temptations, situations, whether it's your body, your finances, your children, your home, your marriage, that you are to count it all joy. The next verse said, knowing this, that the testing of your faith will produce patience, but let patience have its perfect work. That you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Have you ever heard someone say, I'm not a patient person? You've heard that a lot, haven't you? You ever heard a Christian say they're not a patient person? Have you show them from Galatians the fruit of spirit that patience is the fruit. They just got they just got through telling you I'm not saved. Now, what they're telling you is I'm not exercising the fruit that's on the inside of me. It's already on the inside. Love is in there, too, but you're not exercising it. Long suffering is in there, too. Patience and goodness and kindness and forbearance. It's all in there. The fruit of the spirit. It's his fruit. The fruit of the spirit. It's already on the inside of you. You can't say I'm not. Well, you know, I'm just. I'm just not a patient person. No, you act like you're an unsaved person.
Speaker1: [01:07:35] So you have to understand and recognize this and then begin to say, begin to employ what's already on the inside. It's not on the outside. It's not a prayer for God to answer. It's already on the inside. I mean, if you buy a brand new car, you call, you know, whether it's Toyota or GM or Ford or whatever it is and say it's hot out here. I mean, I need y'all to do something about it. Why you why you calling us? Because it's hot or tomorrow it's cold. I mean, if I called General Motors and I said, I got this canyon truck, and it's. Man, it's cold. What's the matter? It's cold, but the heater don't work or it's got a heater. How does the heater work? Now, whose fault was it? There's a mine. It'd be mine, right, because they built it with a heater. I'm just not a patient person. Yeah, I know you're not. You know, you're somebody who don't like to read either. So Satan's testing is to entice you to sin. The testing of your faith. To entice you to back away from what you believe. But when you refuse to back off. And give in to pressure, the test works. Patience in your life, in your situation. Then patience ends up with the perfect work. What does patience do? Patience is the fruit of the spirit. So what patience does. It undergirds your faith works with your faith and patience work together.
Speaker1: [01:09:06] They become the great twins. They work together. Patience will keep you steady and consistent while you're walking through the test with a great attitude, with a joy when everyone's falling apart and you and you have it all together and you got the same situation they do. I mean, you got the same problem they got. They're falling apart like a $2 watch. And you're over there, you know, shining, you know, thinking you you just don't know the problem I have. I have the same problem that you have. I have the exact same problem that you have. Well, yeah, but look at me, I said, yeah, look at you. Stop it, stop it! Do this right here. Well, you know, I just, I just, you know, I just I'm just not, you know, God didn't make me that way. Yes he did. You got born again. He only has one nature. He didn't have 15 different natures. He parceled out. He made you just like him. He made you just like him. I said he made you just like him. He didn't produce no failure. Wow. Amen, Amen, Amen I hate notes I think it hit notes hinders me. They just do I just, I could talk it better than I could. I mean I get this study and just write it down. I don't like reading my own notes. Praise the Lord I'm telling you he made you just like him.
Speaker1: [01:10:23] Amen Amen. The The Bible says that you're hid in Christ. The only problem you're having trouble with Satan is because you come out of hiding. Stay in there, man. Just stay in there. Amen. Hey, man. Then the devil comes and he says, is that you or him? I said yes. I mean, the devil won't attack you, he said. I mean, he knows about Jesus. He dealt with him, right? He says, is that is that you or him? Yeah. Because you've been found in him. You abide in him. You live in him, you walk with him. You have your being with him. Everything that you have is wrapped up in him. That's why you have so much joy. So when you get in a situation, he said, now here's a situation that I'm going to have to count all joy. Why do you have to count all joy? Because it ain't. It's not joy. There's nothing joyous about it. So you count it as joy, you could count it as blah blah, blah, blah, whatever. But. But we're going to count it as what he said. Joy, when you do, patience says, oh, we're going to count this in joy. We'll be there right in about a half a second. Boom. And it hooks up with your patience to us. Then it gets hold of your attitude. You say, man, this is going to be a great day. I don't know how God's going to do it, but he's going to turn this situation around.
Speaker1: [01:11:42] This thing is pitiful. This is an awful situation that I'm in right now. I don't know how he's going to do it, but he's going to do it. I'm going to come out on the victory side. I don't care what the x ray looks like. This is what God said. Whose report are you gonna believe I'm gonna be that report. I'm gonna believe the report of the Lord. I'm. I'm going to get so happy. I'm gonna go ahead and dance whatever dance looks like to. You know, I know why folks don't know how to dance, but, I mean, what I'm saying is you have to overcome on this side. You have to overcome before the Red sea opens up. Amen. I know you get the other side. You can dance. Oh, man. We come on the other side, man. It was like dance on this side. Get excited on this side. Scared the devil on this side. Jerry used to say, you know, when he felt like he was all over and he was drowning. He said, you feel like you're drowning. He said, you're about to fall off the end of the rope. He said. Tie a knot in the end of the rope and hang on. And he said, even when you feel like you're losing, you fall down and been knocked out. You tell the devil I'm winning on the other side.
Speaker1: [01:12:48] I'm winning on every side. You don't feel like you're winning on any side. You look in your wallet. Ain't nothing in there but bills. Your phone rings just past due about this and past due about that. You said, man, we got more than enough. We're more than conquerors through Christ. Amen. You know why the devil put so much pressure on you? Because you're scaring the heaven out of him. He's worried about you. You're a major concern for him. Amen. He has a kingdom. He doesn't want his kingdom demolished by you. You are giving him fits. He just needs you to be a nominal Christian. Which won't take much. But there's nothing in here. Nothing in you. I don't see anyone in here. Nominal. You're a Holy Ghost, wild and weird. So he always has to keep an eye on you. Cause you're a problem. You're a problem. You're a major problem for hell. Hell knows your name. They have the wanted poster of you on their wall. You're on their most wanted list. Because you just won't shut the heaven up. You don't know when to stop. The the 14 temptations. Ago. 14 trials ago was supposed to have killed you. But here you are, breathing air like you got good sense. Like you don't have a problem in the world, right? Oh, no, you're not supposed to be here, you understand? You're not supposed to be here. Do you think Donald Trump's supposed to be the president again tomorrow? No, no.
Speaker1: [01:14:29] I mean, certainly. I mean, that man's been seat for women from women that he's never even met yet. He said if I got to pay the billions of dollars, shouldn't I listen better? I mean, that's what I want him either. But if I'm paying, if I did something, shouldn't I at least meet her? Oh, God. Man, look, you got to know this. You're a champion of God. I know who's in this room. You're a champion of God. That's why you've been going through some of the tests that you've been going through. But. But take your eye off the problem and look to the other side. Jesus said he saw us in our situation, and he came on this side, and he saw the only way I could go through this is going to be the cross, death and hell. Did you hear what I what I said? Death and hell and hell. But he said he endured the cross, despising the shame, because he looked on the other side for the joy that was set before him. You got to be able to see the joy that's set before you in front of the temptation of test and trial. Amen. And then you got to be just like, you know, you know, Satan's looking for worshipers, but God is too. I'm not worshiping you. I'm not giving you lip service. All I'm going to tell you is the unadulterated word of God. Get out of my way. Get out of my way! In the name of Jesus! This is the way that it is. Amen. Amen. Well. I'm happy.
Speaker2: [01:16:01] Amen.
Speaker1: [01:16:02] I don't know if you're happy, but I'm happy. I choose to be happy.
Speaker3: [01:16:06] Amen. Amen.
Speaker1: [01:16:07] Glory. Anyone here happy? Who's the happiest person in the room right now?
Speaker2: [01:16:12] Amen. Hallelujah.
Speaker1: [01:16:14] Nathan won the award. Right there. He's there. It was his smile. Sometimes they don't take a woo, it just takes the right ground. Amen.
Speaker3: [01:16:24] Amen.
Speaker1: [01:16:26] You know, we can have things just battle tested. They may not look like much, but they've been. Had you worked on some cars, brother Bill? I mean, you knew the car, right? It may not look like it's. But. But you knew that car could take you anywhere you want to go. If you didn't know that car, you may not want to get into it, but it's been battle tested. Amen. Y'all, some of y'all been battle tested. Amen. Some of y'all got some bondo in you. Some of y'all got some aftermarket parts. Some of y'all. The insurance company was not going to fix you. They going to total you. Your insurance said no way, no way. And you are still here. You are still here. And with a great attitude. Amen. Amen.
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