"It Was Very Good" - Stephanie Ike

[Music] [Music] family while you're standing we're gonna read two scriptures and we're gonna start in Genesis Genesis 1:31 and it says then God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good I'll stop there then we'll go to Romans 8:28 and it says and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose you may be seated amen amen such a beautiful day in God's house just turn to your neighbor and say you look good God made a good thing in you you see family if you have been in church for any period of time you have a circle of friends that are believers you will always hear this scripture that God causes all things to work together for your good when you're going through a moment they said oh don't worry about it I've been there too I'm the one who says it God causes all things to work together for your good and then we when we see the full context of it we see that he causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose and when I read it it challenged me a little bit because I realized that we were not born that loving God it tells us you see all of us here many of us here some may have been brought in and tonight or today you're gonna give your life to Jesus but for many of us here we say we love God and we are called according to the purpose of God but there was a time in our life that we didn't love God even the Bible tells us that God loved us first but all of a sudden we find ourselves claiming the promise that all things work together for those who love God and it made me start to wonder God is this exclusive because we were not born loving you and then it says and those who are called according to his purpose but the reality in life is every human being is called according to the purpose of God and so I began to wonder what else could this scripture actually speak to could it be that it's not something that is exclusive to those who love God because at some point we all did not love God is it exclusive to those who are called according to the purpose of God because we are all called according to the purpose of God then what is it that God could be pointing at and it made me wonder that could it be that it is about perspective that there is a difference between the one who recognizes that God I love you and love is not this like one-time checkmark of sight you know the moment of my salvation was the moment I fell in love with Jesus love is that daily surrender that daily submission to the will of God and that is why a lot of times God equates love as obedience and so love is this surrender to God and so could it be that there is a mindset there is a way that we perceive life when we are able to surrender our will to God's will and when we embrace that we are called because the fact is we are all called but there's a difference between the fact of your life that you are called an embracing that you are called by God could it be that there is a perspective shift that happens in the one who says God I am surrendered to you and I recognize that you have a call in my life versus the one who says you know what I'm living by my own desires I am the master of my life could it be that everything in life was always designed to work for your good but the ones who live in the reality of it have a different perspective that there is a perspective that God if my life is not random then the events around my life cannot be random that we have to actually engage this reality that no this is actually working for my good you see many times when we allow because practice in an in a practical sense what this looks like is that when frustration hits when we encounter events in our life that brings frustration we are not quick to conclude on why it happened we're not quick to conclude on you know what god I'm over this we are not easily influenced by our emotions because many times and we allow our emotions in the place of frustration to influence us we actually make decisions to sabotage the very thing that was actually working for your good but the mindset of one who says God I am surrendered to your will god I am pursuing after you you see Jesus so the disciples when he was teaching them how to pray he says give us this day our daily bread it is the mindset of one who is humble enough to say God I need wisdom about my life I need wisdom about this circumstance I need wisdom about what is taking place because I don't want to conclude on how I see it I want to know God what are you saying about this situation because my life cannot be random when I recognize that I am called the events of my life cannot be random there has to be meaning to what has taken place and so in that space we don't allow our emotions to influence our decisions you see my testimony I've shared this with many of you when I can't when I moved to this country now I was I thought you know I was about to live my best life and then at some point you know when I encountered this church got interrupted my norm he said Stephanie I've called you here and I want he told me a lot of things he was like you're gonna walk away from a lot of things and I want you to serve in this house he said serve in this house like it is a job and so what he called me to do in the beginning was to be to be one of the greeters and the ushers and he and the way he showed me this it literally it was like a full-time every Sunday every Thursday I was like okay we gotta be the first there and was about serving but there was a way God showed it to me that your commitment is to this house and the things he told me to walk away from my family could not understand it because there were many opportunities that would have spoken to my desires to my flesh that would have allowed me to live what I thought would be my best life but God said that that is not what I have for you it was one of the most difficult situations in my life financially and not because I was like an opportunity but it was almost like this moment with where the Lord leads you into a wilderness journey because of what he's doing in you and there were many opportunities that came that was like the temptation of when Satan says to Jesus turn these stones into loaves of bread you're hungry you have the ability to do something about it why don't you you see you have to recognize that even the Holy Spirit let Jesus into the wilderness there are times in season in your life that God will lead you into a dry place and there would be the opportunity you would have the power to walk away Jesus at any point in time could have said you know what I'm good I'm done with this but he it was his will to go after the will of God and when everything seemed like it was crazy and no one could understand what I was doing because you're like why would you walk away from lucrative opportunities and I understood that this was a season that God was calling me to consecrate myself in a different way and he and the thing is that in the wilderness God provides for you day by day and so you know if I had enough food to eat for that day I was alright I didn't need to think about tomorrow I had to just look out what do we do what do we do today but this is the crazy thing family because when we are not in that place of submission I would have looked at what many thought Stephanie this is crazy this is ridiculous this is not making sense I would have looked at that and allow my own frustration of God I came from a place of living my best life to living I don't know what life this is I would have loved my frustrations to influence a decision that would sabotage the very thing God was using as a good thing in my life and so you see from the perspective in life is everything the scripture reread it says then God saw everything that he has made and indeed it was very good that word that God saw is that God considered everything that he had made that he carefully thought about everything that he had made and the beautiful thing is that when God considers a thing he is not limited in his understanding God sees a thin in its entirety when he saw Adam he saw the seeds of Adam when he saw Adam he saw you he saw everything about your life and everything that would ever be connected to your life and he said it was very good that from the beginning even before creation the Bible tells us in Revelation that Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world that even before he created in order for him to recognize his creation as a very good thing we see that even Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world it was a decision that was settled in heaven before God ever started creating because he recognized that this is part of the plan that will cause what I'm creating to be very good God saw every moment every event about your life and he says it was very good you see the beautiful thing about that word very good is that it means for something to be completely excellent completely precious completely favored and I understood that the key word was complete that God sees your complete story he sees how everything is connected together and he says when all the pieces come in alignment you too would realize that this was always very good you see there's a story about a man named Joseph in the Bible Joseph in the end of his life when he saw the complete picture of what God was doing in his life Joseph said you meant evil for me but God meant it for my good you see the story of Joseph is one that is so fascinating he is this young kid you know he is excited about life he has these dreams that God gave him and he's excited he believes that God has called him for something he shares his dreams with his brothers because for him these are my brothers I trust them he had moments of vulnerability with them sharing this intimate dreams that God gave him and he's living just this excited kid but the funny thing is that his brothers it's not that funny though but his brothers were jealous of him because Joseph was favored by his father in a very unique way because Joseph was known as the son of the father's old age and so he the father had this special bond with Joseph and the brothers could not stand him and so you have one day Joseph is just walking out taking a walk just doing him the brothers see him they're like look at the dreamer come in and they start plotting to kill him and so then one of his brothers Reuben says no let's not kill him let's just throw him in a ditch and Reuben is like you know what he had an agenda that perhaps when the brothers leave that he would rescue Joseph and restore him to his father and then one of the other brothers Judah said you know what what would it really profit us because it was almost as though they were still arguing about no we should kill him and then Judas says what would it profit us if we kill Joseph why don't we sell him and they sold them into slavery and he was shipped to Egypt now it's very critical you remember those two names Reuben and Judah so Joseph goes to Egypt he feels betrayed by his brothers betrayed by the people he was vulnerable to betrayed by the people he trusted how many of us have ever been in those positions right the relationships that you felt will protect you the relationships that you thought would cover you with the relationships that betrayed you then Joseph finds his place serving this and in this masters house he had favored God still favored him but Joseph still felt that need I'm not that I don't belong here I want to be home with my dad he had a younger brother Benjamin who he loved so much and he missed home and then one day his master's wife tries to sleep with him obviously he was a pretty handsome kid you know and he rejects every time she tries to add beam up with her advances on him he rejects it and what that showed me is that Joseph kept his integrity that he did not look at himself in a position that you know what I'm frustrated because he wasn't happy if he knew that God why am I even here but he was submitted to the will of God that even when what he could have done in private and no one would have known he understood that this would be a sin before God and even in the midst of his integrity she lied on him he was thrown into jail and even in jail being wrongly accused again he still kept his integrity there were moments where there were two guys and they had dreams and they needed those dreams to be interpreted and Joseph is like hey you know let's let me tell me your dreams and I'll pray to God and perhaps he would give me the interpretation you see Joseph had every right to be in a place of bitterness and say you know what God you've given me dreams I still don't understand what those dreams me I'm not trying to serve anybody here because in those moments would be quick it's easy for us to become very selfish when we feel like life is against us we don't want to serve another person but in that moment Joseph still kept his integrity he understood that God is a God of wisdom and even if I don't have the wisdom about what he showed me perhaps he could show me the wisdom for what he's revealed to you you see in that moment I wondered that if Joseph held on to his pain and his bitterness and said you know what I'm not telling anyone anything that would have been a moment that he sabotage an opportunity that God was going to use for him in the end that very ability him to seek the Lord for the wisdom to interpret dreams was what elevated him his master has a dream he can't understand his dream they reminded that hey Joseph knows how the interpret dreams Joseph is released from prison he tells the master he seeks he seeks the Lord about the Masters dream tells and tells him the dream and has revealed to Joseph that hey there is going to be a great famine but before this famine there's going to be seven years of abundance and then this famine would kick and the master puts Joseph on top of everything he's like you know what you're gonna be in charge you're gonna manage all the resources he immediately elevates him to this position of authority and power now the interesting thing about this message and why I used Joseph as an example is because during the seven years of abundance Joseph is managing the resources with knowing that the famine is come in when the famine came it was so bad that the Bible tells us that the whole world was affected and the whole world came to Egypt to seek food and the whole world included Joseph's brothers now this is the interesting thing the brother who says let's not kill him let us sell him and you know they ship him off to Egypt that brother ends up being the one in the lining of our Lord Jesus Christ I would think that God when you're looking at who should be in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus shouldn't it be Reuben if it must be someone from the family shouldn't it be the one who tried to rescue him you see and what I saw with God is every time God wants to move in your life he uses people and a lot of times it could feel like a blessing right when someone comes into your life and you just feel like wow your presence in my life is a favor of God but sometimes it could look like betrayal and it is still the vehicle and the weapon of God for your life you see the very person that initiated let us not kill him let us sell him it was still a betrayal this was the person that God in His wisdom chose to be in the lining of Jesus Christ and so we almost see this picture that Joseph's brothers were part of God's strategy for Joseph's life and Joseph would also be part of God's strategy for his brothers lives because if Joseph held on to his pain and his bitterness and he said I'm not helping you guys then perhaps they would have died as a result of the famine and this would have gone against the very will of God you see we have to take a step back when we feel like we are in positions and circumstances that doesn't look like it's speaking to our good because the truth is when God saw everything he created it was not just about a moment in time it was about what he saw for eternity he said it was very good Joseph had to wait until the full story was revealed to him he had to wait until he had a moment of reflection that he realized what I thought was evil what you may have thought was evil God was actually using that for my good and so family there are key things I want us to take away from this the first thing is that you have to keep your integrity you cannot be so quick to allow your emotions to influence your decisions just because you feel frustrated we all do feel frustrated many times but what is influencing the decisions that you make in those moments because when keeping your integrity is keeping that posture of saying god I am surrendered to you you see the one who is after what God has for them they're not in a hurry to live a life that is designed by their desires they want to know God you place your hand on me for something and I want to figure out what that thing is I don't want to be so caught up wet by my comfort that I run out of the process that is actually working for my good and so we have to learn to keep our integrity that God I'm not gonna act out of character simply because I don't understand I want to humble myself and submit myself and seek your wisdom God revealed to me what what does this season of my life represent what is happening in my life what is it that you are doing in me I want to be I want to be in sync with you God I want to move at your rhythm I want to move at your pace because I recognize that I am called and I did not call myself you called me you see the second thing is that we have to forgive because what if the person that you're holding a grudge against that you are part of God's strategy for their life the Lord began to show me that there are many relationships that would need to be mended because the reason why you perceive that to be a betrayal is because of your expectation of what that relationship should be you see and and it's not it's not like a bad thing it's normal I mean if you have brothers you would expect your brothers to be your confidence the ones that you can trust the ones that you can rely on but that was in his wisdom in God's wisdom he said no I have a greater plan than this and there are times that I would use people to bless you and there are times that I will use people to hurt you but it's but in that hurt I need a door to shut so I can open the right door and so you cannot take it personally you see many times we we thank a lot of people for the things that they do good in our lives but there are things that went wrong in our lives that has brothers to where we are and we have to be able to thank people that how they treated us was not how we expected life to go because we started realized and we said let's happen into something about who we are you see sometimes God can use betrayal to develop you that what connected you in a relationship was brokenness what joined you what made you so trusting what made you so vulnerable was not the real you it was your pain that connected you to that relationship and when God shuts the door he said I'm actually using this to develop you and not to harm you and so if in the mind of God this is actually working for your good why would you why would you hold on to it from a bad narrative why would you hold on against the hold something against that person saying you know what what you did to me was just wrong even though you're standing in a place where you see the faithfulness of God you see their relationships that need to be mended because God had a purpose for that relationship not only did he have a purpose for what it would do in your life but there is a purpose of what you would do in their lives and so what I'm understanding family is that if we give life just a little bit of time the complete picture of our lives will show the favor and the excellence of God it will show us that God your hand has always been upon me you never let me go you are with me through it all and so this is a moment where for many of us we have to lay down the hurt that we've been holding on to because we feel like we can justify it Joseph had every right to justify what the brothers did to him the fact is even when the brothers came to seek him for food they couldn't recognize him so he could have played it off he was actually speaking a whole different language he acted like he didn't understand Hebrew I said wow so that's a good move Joseph he had a translator coming there to translate what they were saying and the whole time he understood he could have played it off and say you know what God uh I'm not mm-hmm I'm just gonna act like I don't know them I'm in a good space I want to protect my energy right [Applause] he said you're a bad for my energy you know what what's so funny to me and this person might be watching I love you I had extra question about whether what there are questions that people would like to know or you know conversations that they would like to see and hear about God and someone said can you talk about energy vampires I said this sounds so Africans draining your energy but you see we have all this nice Africans understand what I'm talking about [Laughter] but we have all this st. you know I just want to protect my energy you're not good for my energy but the fact is what if you have an assignment to them let God be the protector of your energy rather than we make all these decisions and it's really from this place of hurt they were like yeah you're just not good you know good vibes only right but God has a plan God has a plan God has a plan everything he uses it because when he saw that it was good he it was that was it for him he could rest after he created because he was not just creating for that moment he was creating for eternity and he said every human that would touch this earth that the components of humanity will be very good when everything comes together with the complete story of what I'm doing is completely excellent family stand with me thank you Jesus thank you Lord thank you lord thank you lord family if you know that there are hurts that you need to let go of and their relationships that and almost like this past week it's been on your heart there are people that have been on your heart and you just felt like I'm good what if God is making you sensitive to realize that it was all part of his plan that that thing that you felt was a dark thing that there was treasure in it do you know that the Bible tells us that God gives treasures of darkness that what we may see as God this is a dark situation and he says if you see it right you would engage what I have in the midst of it if you see it right and so for some of you there are people you need to forgive there are things that God is leading you to in regards to those relationships and they need to be mended some of these people have come before you and they're apologized they're like you know what I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry but you don't know how to let it go because you're still holding on to the pain and God said it was always for your good I want you to come down to this altar that we would pray together thank you Jesus thank you Jesus and I also want to call out those that feel as though that God it's almost like you're allowing your frustrations to get in the way you're allowing your frustrations to make the decision for you and all God is saying is that you just need to be still and seek my wisdom about what is actually happening in your life that you feel as though God and this does not look like the plan you see many of you are in the place that God leads you to the same way that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness God led you to a dry place and now all of a sudden you're surrounded by temptations that say you could get yourself out of it but if you're honest you know that God is the one that is telling you to stay there because he's using that to work something in your life he's using that to develop you and you've been fighting this temptation of God I'm about ready to go there were many times that for me personally I remember what there was one night in particular and it was I just felt like God like you know when you have the memory of what you feel like was good just like the Israelites when they were in the wilderness you know sometimes we have selective memory about the past the Israelites were in the wilderness and all of a sudden they say let us go back to Egypt we had food life was good all of a sudden they forgot but you were also in bondage and I had this moment where I had selective memory and I said God you know when I was living my best life I was it was great but I wasn't in purpose I didn't have the peace of knowing that I'm walking out the thing that God called me to and I remember this one night I I just you know I was I was just tired I said god I'm I don't know I don't know how I'm gonna hang in this you know there's too many memories good memories in my mind and I literally was that moment I said God you have to confirm this word to me again you have to let me know because if this is not you I need to just you know turn this around real quick and I remember that night the Lord came to me because I was it was a very desperate moment for me I was really hungry to know I was like God if this is what you have for me then I would stay in it and I would wait I would not leave myself out of it I would wait for you to be the one to lead me out of the dry place that you have led me to but if this is not you the next day I was about to get a flight and I remember that night the Lord encountered me and he said if you stay I will do everything that I've spoken about you and more and that was all I needed and for many of you that moment is happening to you right now in your heart you see God speaks to us through many ways it may be a dream it may be a vision it may be a knowing but even right now it may be a conviction that as you're hearing this words there is something happening in your heart and you know that God is the one saying stay when the time comes I would lead you to what I have for you but right now I need to develop you because you're not ready I need to develop you for where I'm sending you to and if you know that's you I want you to meet us at this altar right now thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus [Applause] thank you lord thank you lord thank you lord it's always been for your good always always always thank you Jesus if you're in this house and perhaps you haven't committed your life to God and you want to know him you don't want to just live for your desires that you for so long you have been the master of your own life and now you're saying god I want to walk with you because you see there is a difference no one even when I say no one is born loving God some may feel like but I've always known God my whole life no you were exposed so what your family believed in as a child but we always have to have a moment of encounter where we choose to walk with God because walking with God is not just knowing the Jesus of your mother or your father it's not just going to church on a Sunday or a Thursday it's not just streaming service it is your commitment to say God I will lay down my will for what you're doing in my life and it takes an encounter to do that it is not just coming and saying hallelujah and reading your word it is saying that god I am making a decision to walk with you every human being has to come to a point of decision everyone I encounter God when I was 9 but it took me years to find out that the god I encounter when I was 9 was my dad it was on two years later that he became my Savior because I wasn't living submitted to his way I was just like well you love me so this is what I'm about to do let me inform you about my life it was until years later that he became my Savior and I said God I want to lay down my life for you I want to live the life that you have called me to I don't want to live this random life I don't want to live governed by my own desires about my own will I want to know why you placed your hand on me and so if you're here and you have not made that decision to walk with God in that way you have not made that decision to say God I want to lay my life down for what you say I am who you say I am I want you to lift your hand so boldly and say god I'm here and I'm willing thank you Jesus thank you Jesus look at that family can we praise God for what is happening in this room right now thank you lord thank you lord just bow your heads and prayer with me Heavenly Father we thank you we thank you Lord that before we ever got here you saw this moment you've seen everything about our lives and you said it was very good Heavenly Father we embrace that even the situations that we may be standing in right now that that too is very good because it is working towards the complete picture of what you have said concerning our lives Lord we lay down every hurt every betrayal the relationships that you're calling us to mend Lord God may we recognize that it was always for your purpose that everything that has ever taken place in our lives that God you can use people to bless us even through betrayals and Lord we are laying down the hurt and we're saying that god I'm gonna let it go and I'm gonna forgive and I'm gonna know that your hand has always been in it Heavenly Father we thank you we embrace the fact that we have been called by name that our lives are not random that you called us for a unique purpose and for that we say yes and lord I thank you for those who are who raised up their hands so boldly and say Lord you called me for a unique purpose that maybe I have known you through my family I have known you because as a child I went to Sunday school and I went to youth camp and I did all these things but I have never submitted my life to you that Jesus be my Savior Jesus I want to walk with you I want to lay down my life for who you say I am I don't want to be governed by my decisions lord I thank you for the decisions being made in this house today and we just say sealing in the name of Jesus but we thank you for what you're gonna walk out in their lives they're walking it out with you the decision to walk with you Lord be their strength be their God be their Lord and be their Savior have your way our Heavenly Father in Jesus mighty name amen amen thank you lord can we just lift up praise to Jesus in this house [Applause] [Music]

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

Views: 28,469

Rating: 4.9397163 out of 5

Keywords: LA Churches, TPH, The Potters House, TPH LA, The Potters House LA, One LA, Toure Roberts, Sarah Jakes Roberts, tphla

Id: Qude7LJdoIY

Length: 38min 1sec (2281 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2020