EMBRACE THE PROCESS | Pastor Paul Daugherty | Saint Paul Series pt.2

hey online church so glad that you tuned in today hey I'm preaching today about the process I'm talking about how God privately prepares us before he publicly promotes us and how we go through a process of preparation today we're gonna look at the life of st. Paul before Paul preached any big messages before Paul started any churches or wrote any books there was a season where Paul lived in Arabia for three years and today we're gonna dive into that season what God wants to do in our lives during the process of preparation before the promotion let's get right into the message today embrace the process [Music] come on well hey we have been in this series called st. Paul and this is one of my most favorite series we've ever done as a church what we find in the life of st. Paul is that this dude had a pass that needed a lot of grace the same guy that would later on write about the amazing grace of God needed to figure out that it wasn't all about his works he was a strict Pharisee he did all the religious duties and so I want you to turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 1 and you can get loud we get loud when we open up the Bible and I want to talk to you about what God did in Paul's life after he got saved today I want to talk to you about the process and by same process the process for everything in our life there is a process there's a process of preparation farmers know this that there's a process of sowing and reaping that if you want to get a harvest there's a process of tilling the soil preparing it laying down the seed right there's a there's a season a process of preparation before you see the harvest in your life what we're gonna learn today and this season of Paul's life is that God privately prepares us before he publicly promotes us he privately prepares us that then that God shows us through the life of Paul that there's always a private preparation before there's a public promotion private preparation precedes public promotion all of us in this room have desires dreams ideas things that God's called us to do one day how many guys are waiting on something right now in this season you're waiting right some of you are waiting to have children some of you are waiting to get married where's all the singles in the house all right come on look around look around scope out the territory all of us in this room we're waiting on something we're waiting on a spouse or you're waiting on children or maybe you're waiting for your children to grow up or maybe you're waiting you know you're waiting on a promotion you're waiting on increase you're waiting on a check in the mail you're waiting for a job all of us are waiting on something Ashley and I right now we are waiting on our third child to come right so we are pregnant right now or she's pregnant not me and but I had something to do with it come on gene TMI too much information but uh cold I ain't guess I'm gonna cleanse your thoughts in Jesus name Holy Spirit help us right now y'all are like what language is he talking it's a language I'm gonna talk about in this series the language of the Holy Spirit Paul talks about the gift of speaking in tongues and we need it it's not a gift for 2000 years ago it's a gift even for today but Paul had a past he was a saint with the past a sinner with the future God was transforming his life so he gets to Galatians chapter 1 and what we're going to discover here is Paul leads us into the process of preparation Galatians 1 verse 11 he says I want you to know brothers and sisters that the gospel I preached is not of human origin so he says I didn't get this from a bunch of philosophers Peter didn't teach me this Matthew didn't teach me this the guys who follow Jesus didn't teach me this I got this straight from Jesus himself can I tell you today God doesn't want you to have a revelation just from somebody else's revelation God wants you to have a personal revelation of who he is in the world of so many sermons online and podcast and YouTube we can listen to everybody except for Jesus and what God wants to do he says Paul I've gotten revelation that's fresh from me for you you don't have to pull it from TD jakes even though he's an amazing preacher you don't have to pull from this person I've got something that I want to download in you that straight from me God wants you to have a personal real authentic genuine revelation so he says I didn't receive it from man nor was I taught it rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ he says you've heard about my previous way of life I love that Paul doesn't try to hide his past he's like hey listen let's talk about it I used to be a bad guy I was a terrorist I tried to kill the church I killed Christians for a living that's what I did and yet God still saw potential inside of me can I tell you something those you that are watching on the other side of that screen God sees potential in you when no one sees any potential at all when the world counts you out God counts you in whom the world rejects God accepts and God says I've got a plan for your life I know your mind is a mess I know your past ISM I know you've done some bad things but I still have a plan for your life you might have sinned right before you came to church today you might have sinned even in our building God still loves you he still has a plan for you he hasn't counted you out he wants to use you for his glory just like Paul was saying listen I had a bad past but god but God ever say but God right so he has this but God moment but when God who set me apart from my mother's womb you've been set apart since the day you were born even before you came into this earth God sets you apart you might have done some bad things and maybe some people did some bad things to you but it has not discounted God's calling on your life he said he called me by His grace now hold on I want to stay right there he didn't call me because of my wealth he didn't call me because of my good looks he didn't call me because of my family my connections he didn't call me because I had the skills to do this or that he called me simply by the unmerited favor of God I couldn't achieve it I could only receive it God's calling on your life is not because you've been so good and you've earned the calling of God on your life it's because He loves you so much that his calling on your life supersedes any stuff you've done so he says by the grace of God he was pleased to reveal the Son of God in me that I might preach that preach Jesus among the Gentiles so my immediate response was not to consult any human being I love that Paul says I didn't go to talk to everyone else about what God talked to me about when I'm preparing a sermon to preach to you one of the best things I can do is shut the door and have private time with God it's so important when God speaks something to you that you don't try to get everybody else's opinions about it it's good to get advice it's bad when you discount what God may have spoken to you just because not everyone thinks you have the education to do that you're qualified to do that you come from the wrong family the wrong side of the tracks God has a plan for your life and it will happen in private preparation before there's public promotion so he says I didn't go to anyone the next verse he says this he says instead instead of going to Jerusalem to see all the bigwigs to see all the great preachers to see all the apostles he says I went into Arabia I went into Arabia and later I returned to Damascus and the next verse he says for three years ever I say three years after three years I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and the other apostles and met with them for 15 days God spoke to me earlier this week to preach a sermon to you about Paul's time in Arabia I was going to title it Arabian Nights like Arabian day I grew up watching way too much Disney I was going to call it a diamond in the rough Aladdin in the desert right but there was this there was this moment if you watched any cartoons growing up like Aladdin you remember that there was that moment where he's in the Arabian desert he finds the diamond in the rough that hall movie by the way is him seeking to try to figure out who he is his identity right so he goes by this other name Prince Ollie fabulously Ali Ababwa y'all are like what are we doing right now trust me I'm going somewhere with this God wants to establish who you are outside of what everyone else will say what God is about to do in this service in the next 30 minutes we're going to go through a process we're going to look at what God would do in Paul's life in Arabia I almost decided not to preach this sermon because when God told me to look in the Bible to study what God did in Arabia there's only one scripture about it I was like God how am I supposed to preach a whole sermon from one scripture and we don't even know what happened in Arabia isn't that like society though to skip over the quiet seasons when they make biographies and movies about people like Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln and the great leaders we don't really talk about the quiet place we don't talk about the seasons that aren't highlighted in Scripture we kind of skip over that as if that was insignificant but I'm telling you today what God spoke to me in private this week what man thinks is insignificant the seasons that are invisible that no one else sees those are the most important seasons where God is preparing you for the promotion he has so we're gonna dive into the process of what God would do in Arabia embracing what God wants to do in your life today Lord I pray that you would speak to us today God confirm your word I pray that we would leave changed refreshed encouraged ready to do what you've called us to do Lord let our eyes and our ears and our hearts lean in to hear what you want to speak to us today and lord help us not to be afraid of that which we do not understand but Lord rather help us to have the courage to embrace even what we don't understand what we don't know that you're doing in our hearts today have your way in Jesus name a man amen thank you so much Keyes I'm so thankful for the band here aren't you thankful for the victory worship team so about nine and a half months ago Ashlan I found out she was pregnant and we were so excited we were a little nervous though because it's number three and and now we're gonna be outnumbered right we've been doing man on man defense now I got to figure out a zone right so I'm gonna talk to you guys that have more than two children figure out how you guys do that because two kids has been a lot for Ashley and I it's been a lot to handle and at the same time there's this excitement there's the sense of joy because we had a miscarriage last year and Ashley shared it at mother's day just walking through that the restoration now of having this baby is it's a beautiful miracle right there's a lot of excitement and so in the first you know few weeks that we found out we were calling her parents calling my mom talking to our friends like guys this is so exciting our 3rd baby's coming they're like we're gonna pray for you we were like yes we need that prayer but it's also exciting right it's there's so much joy we're preparing we're getting the car seat we're getting the preparations ready for this baby but then something started to happen not to me but to Ashley and I'm gonna be careful to talk about this because I don't want to dig myself in a hole with all the ladies in the room so I'm watching my wife's facial expressions out of the corner of my eye here to see if I got the green light here but something started changing her body started developing and making room for this new baby that was being born so her belly started to make room start to get a little bigger right her back started hurting a little bit more her feet started swell and she was a little nauseated in the morning the second trimester going through all of this and if we were to take all these symptoms that we see there happening and go to the doctor and go what what happening why is she feeling this way he would laugh and he would say it's part of the process right these things are normal when you're giving birth to something new this is part of the process everybody say it's part of the process alright don't don't get discouraged don't be scared you might be feeling a little uncomfortable it may be inconvenient but your body is making room for that new life that's coming through you into the world and in the same way as Christians we go through seasons where God begins to birth something new inside of us dreams the next assignment the next chapter and it has to be developed on the inside there's a private preparation before the public Proclamation there's a private development that begins to happen before it's publicly promoted what God is doing in you right now is no surprise to him that you're feeling a little uncomfortable that there's a little bit of pain a little bit of frustration and if you're looking to the left or to the right and you're comparing your season with somebody else who's further along than you or who's experiencing some sort of harvest you could kind of get discouraged you can go God why why am I not seeing breakthrough right now I've been I've been in this season long and up and God says trust me my friend your harvest is coming I believe that Paul was in Arabia these three years we know for three years Paul didn't write a book he didn't preach to any churches he didn't do any missionary traveling here he was just developing who he was it was a season of preparation where Paul was pulled away in private a quiet place where God would begin to develop his character that later on decades later Paul would travel overseas he would preach in Rome he would stand before great leaders right he would start churches and write the book of Romans and we looped to Christ he would then write the book of Acts but here in Arabia here's the place the tension builds where God begins to work and cultivate what he was doing in his heart so many of us we want to skip Arabia we want to skip the process of preparation because it's tough we are a microwave generation serving a crock-pot God right we just want to stick the popcorn in there push 30 seconds and we want it to be all ready y'all like I don't know any popcorn takes 30 seconds okay it's about a minute 1/2 ball all right I get it but whatever it is you want to put the hot pocket in there you want to put something in the microwave you're like God can I please have my harvest now and God says this is gonna be a crock pot season I'm gonna prepare you because what I have ahead of you if you step into it too soon you won't have the character to sustain yourself where I'm taking you so what I'm gonna do in Arabia is gonna be slow it's gonna be painful and if you look to the left and to the right you see other people building things really fast and experiencing fast excitement fast harvest you're going to be discouraged so what I want you to do is I want you to shut the door close the blinders and I want you to focus on what I'm doing right now inside of you I think oftentimes we miss out on the purpose of our season because we're so focused on other people's seasons we're so focused looking at what other people are getting to do and God says what I'm doing in you is so important for right now see Paul was anointed on the road of Damascus that day God shows up interrupts Paul right but something changed I want to go to Acts chapter 1 Acts chapter 9 verse 17 Paul Paul at that time he was Saul and he had been interrupted by God on the road to Damascus God said I've got a plan for your life go into Damascus there's a man that's gonna lay hands on you you're gonna be you're gonna be able to see again so Anna NIH's lays hands on Saul scales fall from his eyes he can finally see again he's baptized Holy Spirit comes inside of him regains his strength he starts preaching right and verse verse 20 it says he starts preaching to friends starts preaching to people right there in Damascus but watch this everyone who heard him were astonished and they said isn't this the guy that was doing bad things like don't we know about his past who is he - preach - don't we know the stuff that he's done and sometimes in our life were anointed for something but we're not yet appointed for something we have the anointing to do it but God says I need to pull you back for a sec I need you to sit down be humble right I need you to let me work on the inside you before you step out too soon because if you step out before it's time you're gonna experience a lot of criticism and you won't have the character and the identity established to be able to handle the criticism that's going to come so what we don't see in the book of Acts is Arabia Luke doesn't doesn't mention Arabia again Luke represents so many of us unintentionally we only highlight the highlights we only keep the focus on the highlight reel of Paul's life but Paul mentions it he says there was a time there when Damascus wasn't working out and I had to get out of there I had to go to Arabia there was a season where I was all alone and God was speaking to me the first thing that God does while we are in this process of preparation is he prepares our identity in the process he prepares our identity everybody say identity see identity precedes activity if you get the two mixed up you're gonna live your life constantly walking in insecurities God establishes the identity of Paulistas Paul I've got a calling on your life there's gonna be days in your future where people will make fun of you they'll say you're a good author but you're a terrible public communicator which actually happened to Paul there's gonna be days where your closest friends abandon you they leave you you're gonna be shipwrecked you're gonna be snakebit you're going to face people that will criticize you so I need you to know who you are before you step into the next season I need to firmly establish your identity did you know God did this same thing with Jesus we don't think about it but Jesus didn't start his ministry until he was thirty years old so what happened during the quiet season of Jesus's life thirty years and all of a sudden he's preaching he's doing miracles what was it was development it's preparation in fact before Jesus ever preached a sermon before Jesus ever a miracle he's baptized in the Jordan River and God speaks to him that day says this is my son whom I love in whom I am well pleased God was establishing the identity of Jesus before Jesus did any activity I don't know about you but when I'm out and about and I'm interacting with strangers people who don't know me and they asked me one of the first things they ask me is what do you do what do you do what do you do that's the question we ask in societies what do you do as if what you do determines who you are what do you do oh you're a teacher okay that's your identity you're a plumber you're an electrician you're a coach okay that's your identity you're a businessman your car salesman okay that's your idea you're a pastor that's your idea what you do is not who you are and I learned this even more when I went to Bible College and our focus at Victory Bible College was just to help people get their identity back in not what we do determines our worth or our value or our significance on this planet but who's we are determines who we are when I know that I belong to God my father I can walk out no matter what I do my occupation does not determine my identification my vocation my location doesn't determine my Worth my value so whether I'm serving behind the scenes or I'm on stage the stage doesn't make me the stage just reveals who I already am so then if I walk out on the stage and I don't have a firm identity in Christ then I'm constantly crumbling at the criticism or the compliments right I'm living by the pride of compliments or the discouragement of criticism but when I'm firmly established in the identity of my father it doesn't matter what you say the cheers don't make me right and the spears can't break me why because I am founded in the identity of my father God so I'm not performing I'm preaching to an audience of one I know I am loved and my father is well pleased with me when I first stepped in as pastor in the first week someone came to me and they said I remember when you played basketball during Sunday night church service you skipped I was like oh you got me I got a really bad pass there's a lot worse things that I did that they weren't aware of they said yeah I came in the gym and you had a bad attitude you threw the basketball you know what I said to them I said man I'm so thankful that God still uses sinners like me I'm so thankful that God doesn't pick perfect people with the perfect past I'm so thankful that God can redeem people that may have had a bad attitude in their past anyone thankful for the amazing grace of God that same week that I stepped in his pastor someone secretly gave me a gift I still to this day don't know who it was could have been one of you out here but it was a bag and in the bag was a plaque and a little note that said God wants you to know this Paul and on the plaque it just said your father is well pleased with you and so it sits on my desk and right up to the service I'll go back there and I'll look at it and no matter who says anything about me I know my father's well pleased [Music] there's days where I feel like I'm not qualified there's days where I look to the left and to the right and I compare myself in comparison as a thief of contentment comparison is a thief of joy and I don't know maybe I'm the only person in this room that's ever dealt with comparison but if you have you know what I'm talking about sometimes you feel so unworthy so like you're missing out and God says hold up hold up the process I have you and Paul is so beautiful I know it's painful but it's required it's necessary and I know you may see other people that get to do more than you and have more than you but the race I have for you is a long race it's a long road of obedience it's not gonna be sexy it's not gonna be flashy I'm not the god of flashy I'm the God of faithful so it's gonna be brick by brick so here's what God does in my life and what he wants to do in your life is he's got you on this road of just establishing your identity you may be right now in the dark you may be in an Arabian season where no one knows the potential that's inside you isn't it amazing that Paul was living in Arabia and I guarantee you the people that were around him had no clue that this dude was gonna write 13 books in the New Testament you don't know who you're sitting next to turn to the person actually say you don't know who you're sitting next to you don't know there's more than meets the eye and I imagine Paul just step-by-step what good is it to build a house really fast if you don't lay the foundation right if you skip the shortcuts that house is gonna collapse I used to and I still do honestly battle these feelings of wanting things to happen fast fast come on microwave please and the older Saints in the room are probably y'all are like he's preaching to the choir we get this we're just thankful a young lad is finally figuring it out right a little young lad but I believe the day will come where I look back and go thank you God that you didn't give that too soon thank you God even though it was painful even the road the road was long and it took a lot longer than I would have hoped for us to get that thing done for us to see that breakthrough that miracle God says the long road of obedience right that step-by-step the identity that I'm firming up and establishing in you is so important for the promotion I have ahead of you the second thing that God does is God prepares our perseverance in the process I want to borrow a scripture that Paul would later on write in his life Romans chapter five verse three and I believe Romans chapter five verse three carried a little bit of inspiration twenty years prior to him writing it when he's in Arabia some of us don't don't believe this right that God will be birthing things in our lives that won't be seen publicly for another twenty or thirty years I believe the things that Paul would write later on in his life carried a lot of inspiration from the quiet season in his life that nobody else saw that the private preparation was preparing the one day public proclamation he would make at Philippi in colosseo Thessalonica to the Romans right that God was doing something in Paul's life preparing perseverance there's things God is writing on the inside of me right now that won't be in my first book they'll be in my fifth book they'll come out 20 years from now right it's too soon for me to talk about everybody say let it marinate there's something that God's doing in you that he's preparing you for perseverance so in Romans chapter five verse three says this he says we glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance the word perseverance means steadfast it means patient it means the ability to endure it means stamina msai stamina stamina means you've got the ability to stick with something long enough beyond the feelings of wanting to quit right and we're in a generation right now of quick quitters and and I don't mean to knock on my generation but for some reason we've got we've got to change the labels that have been placed on our generous the only way to change the labels is to change the behavior change the actions recognize who we are we are a generation we have to lean in and refuse to leave something just because we're not seeing fast results we've got to choose to set the example I want my kids one day to say dad was so good I don't want them to say dad was so good at quitting everything that didn't work out so fast right no one wants their kids to say that I want my kids to say dad had stamina dad had perseverance dad had a steadfast spirit I hope when Liam's 25 he says dad didn't quit everything he started dad knew how to stick to it he had a grit about his life that when everyone else was criticizing he just stayed faithful to what God had asked them to do there's something about perseverance that births in us a christ-like spirit Christ had perseverance right to go to the cross he's pushing past all the stuff that's coming against him he was focused headed towards the cross there was a perseverance later on in Paul's life we see that he was marked by his perseverance shipwrecks couldn't stop him snakebites couldn't stop him mean people couldn't stop him right jail cells couldn't stop them being shackled in Chains couldn't stop him he found a way to keep persevering how many guys love watching the Rocky movies anybody seen the Rocky movies there's like six of them right and I think about how there's this moment in a lot of his movies he puts on the headband right things get serious when the headband comes off he starts training right come on [Music] she starts working he starts preparing for the comeback that part in Rocky where he kind of loses publicly and it's a little humiliating for him and he feels like giving up feels like quitting and that trainer gets in his face and says rocky you're gonna have to work hard you're gonna you're gonna have to train hard if you want to make a great comeback you're gonna have to train harder than you've ever trained and so rocky you know he's got the jump rope and he starts chopping he starts running I got a friend in this service named coach Jacy I don't know if he's in the house but uh Jacy he he trains me when I show up and any any what he'll do is he'll give me my jump rope and his jump rope and he'll say okay Paul's start jumping and I'll go for how long they'll say just keep going when do I stop how long am I going he goes just keep going what's he doing he's building in me stamina he's trying to teach me that it's not about how fast you could finish it's not about how fast you can get to the finish line it's about sticking with something it's about having the discipline to stay with it when you feel like giving up it's time for me to start doing the work behind scenes private preparation before the public promotion see their steps to the next season God has for you there's steps in every season to get to the next place God has her as a kid I used to play video games Mario Donkey Kong Super Nintendo come on those are the good old days and I remember playing these games and I remember getting one I was in one game I had beat each level and I was getting to the end of it I've been working hard for like five months y'all like what anyone who doesn't play video games always makes fun of the people that do all right so but I've been working hard on these levels and I've been you know figuring out all the ways to beat each level finally I get to the end of the game and I remember I got to the end it said you have to go back three worlds and repeat a level because you missed a clue and I was like what so I go back and I'm trying to play this certain level to figure out what they're talking about it took me so many times to finally figure out there was a hidden clue that I missed wouldn't it be sad to step into the next promotion and God says you're gonna have to go back because you missed you missed a clue you missed what I was trying to do in the process wouldn't it be sad if you don't like graduate you go into the next season and God says you're gonna have to go back to school you're gonna have to you missed it you weren't even checked in you just kept on praying for me to make the season end and you skipped it you're gonna have to go back there's gonna be some repeats here and don't be mad because once you get that then then you could step into the thing you've always one of their steps to this I think about in our room there's their steps to each section if I want to go higher I gotta take more steps every bus I take another step take another step that there's steps that God's leading you on and the Bible says that he orders the steps of a righteous man he orders the steps of a righteous woman so if God wants to take me higher I've got to take another step how do I say take another step and sometimes Stephen my man sometimes God says in order to go higher you got to take a step lower in order for you to go to the higher level you're gonna have to humble yourself and take another step lower you're gonna have to serve someone but you thought you were above you're gonna have to help someone that you don't want to help I mean I'm gonna lead you on steps I'm growing your perseverance and the third thing that God develops in the process is the character number three he he prepares our character in the process so number one he prepares our identity number two he prepares our perseverance number three he prepares our character it says in Romans chapter five verse four that this perseverance now produces character of us a character character is who you are when no one's watching character is not what's seen on the stage character is what's seen when no one's watching you and you're sitting there and you're like god do you care about my future because I'm still waiting on a harvest and other people are getting their harvest other people are seeing their progress is anything happening and god says right where I have you this is important I've got character development that I'm doing inside you I'm teaching you to be honest I'm teaching you how to honor people that may not deserve honor I'm teaching you how to show honor when no one's watching you see character is not what you say when the persons in the room character is what you say when they're not in the room don't tell me what they said about me tell me why they were so comfortable to say it to you are you a trash can for gossip do people come to you and just shared the most negative things about others because that could be a character flaw how's God gonna take you to the next level if you can't even honor the people on the level that you're on God says I will not promote you until you allow a private preparation of character development so it's gonna be frustrating there's gonna be times where you're sitting in the dark in Arabia there's gonna be times where it's Rabia nights you know the thing I think about I said it earlier and I was joking but a diamond in the rough Ashley can I see your ring a diamond in the rough I spent my entire life savings on Ashley's ring come on I worked hard all my lawn-mowing money I remember when I was 22 and I just I went to Israel diamond store here in Tulsa I took all my money out of the bank I said I want to buy my wife a ring and guy was laying all right let me see what I can get you and he said let me tell you something about diamonds they don't start off looking pretty every diamond starts up in a rough place what separates a piece of black coal from a diamond is just that one has been through more pressure one has been through more pressure I want to take a closer look at this why this diamond is so shiny and prettiest because it's endured pressure pressure heat it's gone through cut cutting process some of you right now are in this and if you wish it away go man I just I just wish God would speed up my process and give me my promotion just graduate college just get this season over advance to the next level I'm trying to beat the game and God says don't don't don't don't don't shortcut the process other people are buying things buying their platform God says you're gonna build your platform you're not gonna buy it and building takes a lot longer than mine building I'm gonna lay a foundation it's gonna be a long road there's gonna be times where you're frustrated but I'm cutting and I'm heating up God is not the god of pain don't misinterpret what I'm saying that's not my theology God is not the author of sickness and darkness God's a good god the devil is a bad devil God but what God does do is he takes with the devil meant for harm and he turns it into something good so every attack every trial every struggle every temptation all the suffering and there is suffering and following Christ that God does promise us in the New Testament but all of that there's a preparation process I look at my friend on the front row Joel Stockstill Joel will you stand up we're so honored to have you in the church today the son of Larry Stockstill and his wife Amy if you just knew the story the testimony of his life he shouldn't even be alive today but but God has continued to spare his life God's continued to save him some of you shouldn't even be alive today but God's continued to deliver you from accidents calamities tragedies and for some of us in this room we're going why did I have to go through that season some of you in this room you've walked through failed marriages maybe you're walking through season right now where you're not even sure if your marriage is gonna work out and maybe you feel like you're unworthy or unqualified does God even have another spouse for me can I tell you today that if you will submit to the process that God wants to bring you through God has so many greater things on the other side of your obedience today's obedience will affect tomorrow's harvest but you've got to submit you gotta say Lord whatever you're doing I surrender the only way to succeed is to surrender the only way that you're gonna see the diamond be made and be beautiful as if you surrender to the pressure I feel pressure every week I feel pressure every week as a dad as a husband as a pastor getting up here to preach and if I ran from the pressure and said God please take the pressure away it's just too much the responsibility to pass through the church and be involved to the school in the bible college and the camp and the dream center and be be doing all these things and be a daddy to two year old and a four year old God says don't run from the pressure Paul you were born for the pressure and if you'll surrender in the midst of the heat and the pressure and the intensity what I have in front of you is beyond your imagination but you got a surrender number four what does he do he prepares our hope in the process so he prepares our identity he prepares our perseverance he prepares our character number four he prepares our hope so going back to Romans chapter five verse four it says perseverance produces character character produces hope and now verse five hope will not put us to shame it won't disappoint us God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us hope means I'm waiting expectantly hope means I'm on my tippy toes for what God is about to do hope means I'm on the edge of my seat that I've not lost heart that God has something greater in store for my future is there anyone that has hope in this place this morning [Applause] [Music] maybe you're here right now you don't have hope maybe you could use a refill of hope maybe you feel like your cup of Hope is running dry and you're saying god I I could use some hope I've been feeling discouraged I've been feeling overwhelmed maybe you've been caught in comparison God's saying stop all of that stuff that's been weighing you down it's time to lean in for what I'm about to do God's God's wanting to birth something new you know two weeks ago I came to my wife I said babe let's have this baby and she was like sure pull or do toca baby all right like I get to decide I'm just going to stick my head in there and tell the baby to come out now right the baby's gonna decide the natural way the baby's gonna decide so she was like please stop putting the pressure on me to have the baby right now it's gonna come it's gonna come it's gonna come when it's ready it's gonna come when he's ready so we thought she was gonna have it we actually went to the hospital and they said he's not ready yet you're getting closer getting closer I would say to some of you in this room you're getting closer you're getting so close it's so close so many people quit right before the fourth quarter they quit right before the finish line I says don't quit don't throw in the towel don't skip this process so a few days ago I said hey you ready Ashley you're ready to have the baby now she goes again I'll tell you when it's time to go to the hospital just wait we want that baby to stay in the oven as long as he needs to right we don't want it coming out too soon there's something about the development process that when the baby comes we want him healthy we want him crying keeping us up at night no I'm just kidding but uh there's a timing God has a timing I want you to stand your feet all over this room God has a timing I didn't even get to the end of my notes but I just sensed the Holy Spirit speaking to some of you in this place right now as you're standing all over this place I will say this next week is gonna be my favorite week so far in this series you need to bring a friend bring ten friends with you to church next week it's a good sermon for people that aren't used to church come next week but I gotta say this as we finish up Paul here it says before he went to Jerusalem he had to be lowered in a basket outside the wall of Damascus there were threats coming against his life people were trying to kill Paul before Paul wrote a book the enemy will always try to kill you before you start your public ministry the enemy came after Jesus in the wilderness trying to thwart the purpose before the enemy came after Moses when he was in a basket right and then and Pharaoh was trying to kill all the babies in the land the enemy came after David with Spears from saw the enemy will always turn up the heat right before the breakthrough if you felt an increase of heat and pressure I'm telling you you're about to see your breakthrough so the heat serd up on Paul the pressure stirred up on Paul they lower him in a basket connected to a rope out of Damascus over the wall in the dark all I can imagine is Paul just thanking God God you're not finished with me yet he who started this work at me will be faithful to complete it and my God shall supply all my riches according all my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus and he's working all things together for good god you're with me you're with me in the dark you're with me in the valley you're with me on the mountaintop Paul would go to Jerusalem aswhat vouched for Paul Paul would begin his public ministry but there was three years in Arabia it was a preparation time God may have you in that process right now and what God's asking you to do is just surrender to the process just say God work in me create in me a clean heart Lord help me and my character Lord help me in my perseverance help me to be steadfast Lord helped me to know who I am in Christ let my identity be firmly established in the roots of your word your opinion not man's opinion of Who I am lord help me to stop comparing myself to everybody else around me lord help me to stop comparing my season lord help me to be so focused on what you're doing right here I want us just to bow our heads and close our eyes if God is speaking to you today I want you to just lift your hand up if you know God's saying it's time to embrace the process yeah you're in a process right now yeah it could be character could be perseverance could be hope it could be identity just raise your hand if you know God speaking to you but there's some things you've been walking through and God says stop trying to wish it away I want you to lean in I want you to embrace the process if you raised your hand or should've raised your hand I want you to leave your chair come and join me at this altar take a step towards your next level take a step towards your next season take a step towards the process just because things are quiet in your life doesn't mean God's not with you the teacher is always quiet when the students are taking a test God says you gotta pass this test I'm in the room with you I'm on the boat but there's a there's a test there's a trial God says just just keep going just keep going persevere stamina be patient by faith and patience they inherited the promises of God so while Abraham was almost a hundred years old Paul writes later on he did not waver in unbelief he faced the facts that his body was as good as dead but he held on to hope his hope was not in his age his hope was not in his stage his hope was not in his power his strength his hope was in the all-powerful God but the God who brings the dead back to life had the power to bring children to Sarah's womb [Music] some of you that have been believing to have children God says it's time to release your faith maybe you're here you say Paul had so many miscarriages I don't even want to try again but God says don't no lose hope if God's put a promise in your heart he intends to bring it to pass God is not your problem he's your answer and if you'll lean in and stop running every time God wants you to linger in his presence don't be in such a hurry to get out of God's presence God said there's something about when Hannah lingered in the presence of God that's when God gave Hannah the son Samuel she stayed in the presence of God she wept her tears were seeds that would produce a harvest of joy some of you are sewing in tears right now but you're about to reap a harvest of joy you've been sowing with tears God says I've watched every tear I've got every tear I got a bottle of your tears there's a harvest of joy on the other side of your obedience your surrender to forgive to love to stick with it to persevere God has not forgotten you I remember right before I stepped in his pasture my mom had been leading our church for five years and I was watching her her perseverance her stamina her steadfastness just that long road of obedience and there were a couple times where she said Paul you ready and sometimes I was like yeah I'm ready then other times like no this does not look fine I would not want to do what you do and she said Paul did God call you did God call you and I would remember yeah November 22nd 2009 MD Anderson Texas Houston Texas the night my dad passed away I remember God saying serve your mom serve the church get ready you're gonna pass her she said that's all you need God's called you God will grace you for the weight and the responsibility God's gonna grace you for this next season don't forget your calling don't forget your calling God has called you he's got a promise on your life the promise will be yours through faith and patience if you'll just keep pletely a patient keep persevering hey thanks so much for watching the message today I pray that you were encouraged refreshed and reminded that God is for you he's with you and he's in you and he's giving you the victory over whatever you're facing remember if it feels like God's quiet it could be because you're in a test and that God is still with you in the room but he's asking you to embrace the process to go through that test to pass it for what he has next God's not finished with you yet your best days are still in front of you hey we want to continue to pray for you connect with you if this message ministered to you leave a comment right below this video on youtube or you can also reach out to a senate e-mail or you can tweet about it talk about it on instagram share it with friends copy and paste the URL link and share it with somebody whether it's on facebook or email or any type of social media let's continue to get the Word of God out thank you so much for your help also if you want to be a part of helping us reach more people with God's love today you can participate in giving this message impacted you or you believe in this ministry in any way you could sow a seed today into helping us reach more people there's a link to do it right here from the video you could go to victory calm as well and give online right there thanks so much you haven't subscribed yet to our channel click Subscribe turn on the notification area so that way you can find out whenever we're uploading more sermons just like this we love you so much stay encouraged your best days are still in front

Channel: Victory Tulsa

Views: 11,221

Rating: 4.858407 out of 5

Keywords: sermon on process, sermon on seasons, sermon for women, sermon for men, sermon for teenagers, sermon about next step, what is next step, how to get onward in my life, seasons in life, process is important, following jesus, how to get through rough times, how to change season, paul daugherty, victory tulsa, young preacher, sermon on paul, paul the apostle, sermon about paul, sermon for the church, sermon for leaders

Id: 0zkSPQ2rRTI

Length: 48min 40sec (2920 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 22 2018