John Bevere: The Refiner's Fire

[Music] [Music] hey good morning victory we're doing today hey I'm so excited about today but first I want to welcome everybody who's joining us online we got people everywhere from Ireland to Antigua to Missouri and everywhere in between joining us online as well as our family up at Hamilton mill what's up and what's a mill and what's up Midtown this is a super special weekend for us how many of you know after somebody is coming to join the family for so long eventually they become part of the family alright and so we actually we don't have a friend of the family here with us today we actually have a family member we have Uncle John is in the house with us and John Bevere is actually been coming to victory here to speak since 1993 that's a long time and there are certain people who kind of mark you along your journey and John is actually one of those guys who's marked me from a distance even when I was young in the ministry kind of growing up and I was reading books like under cover and bait of Satan he just reminded me a minute ago the fear of the Lord I don't know if you've read any of those books but here's what I love about those how many of you know sometimes you read like a 200 page book and about a hundred pages in you're like and they're done and just got to add another hundred pages just so they can call it a book now they what he writes is revelatory what he writes is actually real like you leave those times thinking man I just wish I had more and so that's what I love is our opportunities to have John come and speak to us personally and so the message he's bringing today I do believe is a word of the Lord in due season and I believe exactly for where we are right now and for the seasons that we are gonna find ourselves in even when we leave the room and so let's do this here at Norcross online Hamilton Mill Midtown let's all give a really warm victory family welcome to our friend John Bevere [Music] I Love You Man Douglas hey everybody stand up come on Uncle John's in the house you guys know me by now I told the earlier service I said hey come on man I'm Uncle John I'm here you know I've been tending more than most of you longer than most of you right anyway I love coming here I love this house it is one of my favorite churches to be in in the country because many many reasons you have amazing leadership and because I honestly and I don't believe in flattery I believe you have the greatest worship that I experience anywhere in the country and you know I'm really close with the Bethel guys and I get just as blessed here as I do it with Bethel I mean it's like neck-and-neck I mean that's when God's in something it's amazing amen and so listen I really feel the responsibility and before I pray just as to be an uncle okay and I am so excited about this transition that is about two of leadership that is about to happen hear the announcement that is made and as I was worshiping last night it's like just like the Holy Spirit gave me a quick review of all the transitions I've gone through in my life and can I tell you this every transition that I've gone through in my life has been uncomfortable but I've looked back in every transition in my life has been necessary and I wouldn't be here to where I am today had it not been for those transitions so I want to say to you please endure any because there may not be any uncomfortableness I'm not I'm not saying there will be but if there is will you endure that uncomfortableness to get the benefit of the transition are you with me because here's what I believe and I'm not saying this lightly I believe victories greatest days are ahead of us not behind us how many of you believe that let me get let me get a clap of hands if you really believe that I am so excited about this couple I really believe there are God's choice to steer this ship in the direction that we're gonna go in the future because this church is gonna impact the world like you can't even imagine and you're part of it it's not just the head it's my entire body it's not just the head it's the entire body and God has brought you here for a reason there is a purpose for you belonging here so most of you know me this is actually the first time in whatever how long I've been coming 26 years that I came twice in the same year the reason is as pastor Dennis and I talked and he really felt like you know I'm carrying up a prophetic message and we talked about it and I'm gonna say this again I believe the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit is right before us but before our harvest comes the greatest attack of the enemy comes and I believe this message today is gonna prepare you to navigate well this next couple years whatever it is next couple months years whatever this season is gonna be that the enemy's gonna try to pull you out before the great harvest comes in because he's gonna try alright let's just be honest he hates that you have left his side and joined Jesus's side he hates it and you don't he's not gonna let you go easy and he's not gonna let you just walk into the greatest move of God's Spirit the earth has ever seen just he's not gonna let you tiptoe in it but guess what he's defeated and we have authority so I wanna I want it I want I don't want to just bring the message today and and so what I'm saying is I've been here twice this year I don't want to show you I always show you the picture of my family because you all know how much I love my family but you all saw the wedding picture earlier this year so you all know everybody's good we're growing that's fine I just want to get into the word because I want every minute I can with the word and I've got two of my son's with me you can see them at the table afterwards Austin and our Tanner both with me so anyway put up your hand if you believe don't put it up yet if you believe that your life can be changed forever in one service put up your hand if you really believe that now put up the other hand because we don't have because we don't ask so Heavenly Father I'm thanking you right now for what you've already done in the previous two services but Lord it just goes from glory to glory let it be even better this service I'm asking Holy Spirit invade this sanctuary invade Hamilton mill invade Midtown invade everyone that's watching online and Lord may it be that we see Jesus clearer than we've ever seen him before and as we see him may we be changed from glory to glory and strength to strength for I decree your kingdom has come within us therefore your will shall be done on this earth as it is in heaven and for this we give you all the glory the honor and the praise and the Thanksgiving and it's in Jesus mighty name we pray and everybody that agrees shouts Amen come on give him praise for what he's gonna do amen amen you can be seated you want to know how cold it is purified it's ground down beat down then it's thrown into a furnace melt it down by 2,000 degree fire the heat increases and parodies begin to surface things you never saw before they appear you scrape away these impurities and what are you left with refine pure gold the trials you face as a human being are the furnace decide to remove the impurities in us or the only thing that remains is what was placed at the core of us God's nature and character some of you are in the furnace right now all you sees the fire all you feel is the heat each day feels like a struggle I think you want to give up you want to hit the snooze button you want to give up on that marriage you want to quit that job take the easy way out but you weren't created for easy you were created for victory when the fires of life were raging keep going it's always remember on the other side of pain trial George promised [Music] all right so I wanted to do some I want to share with you a little bit of my history when I was young my parents brought me to church every single Sunday I mean we didn't miss but I had absolutely no relationship with God none and it was obvious because people witnessed to me constantly in high school and in college I remember one guy left my room my freshman year of college and he told me after I got saved you said I left with tears because you were so clueless to what I was saying but I played varsity tennis at Purdue University so I had a lot of respect for Apple athletes and one of the best athletes in the state of Indiana was in my fraternity and he came up one night my sophomore year and he started sharing with me Campus Crusade for spiritual laws I remember as he was sharing with me that night something changed I actually my eyes were open and I realized God my Creator really wanted a relationship with me as he does with you okay I I realized that he loved me deeply cared for me uniquely that he would actually make promises to me as any good father would to his children and keep them when my eyes got open to this I remember in my fraternity receiving Jesus Christ as my Lord and my life totally changed and what really marked the change was his presence I mean I was experiencing the presence of God I never felt in church I and he filled a void that listen winning the state tennis title didn't fill it playing junior Davis Cup didn't fill it playing the USTA circuit didn't fill it dating the prettiest girls in college didn't I mean I was overwhelmed by the presence of God and I became a very emotional man because it was so evident the presence of God and I remember he was answering prayers so uniquely empower flee and so markedly I remember my cassette player if you don't know what that is google it it's prehistoric it broke and you know I'm a broke college student so I don't have the money to fix that one of the money to get a new one and all my worship all my teaching was coming from that cassette player right and I thought this is terrible and I thought but wait a minute jesus said hey lay hands on the sick and they'll recover my cassette players sick and I laid hands on my cassette player my car and I commanded it to work and be healed and you know God is my witness is amazed see I put a cassette in right after that and it worked and it never broke again I mean it's crazy okay and I'm like okay this is Christianity right but after a couple years go by the presence of God starts seeming a little more elusive and my prayers weren't getting answered quite as quickly and I started noticing I was going actually away from the promises he was making me instead of toward them and it seemed like actually at one point everything was going wrong in my life and I remember this overarching question was in my heart God where are you has anybody ever thought that can I see a show of hands alright alright everybody doesn't have their hand up has only been saved six months I get it alright so I mean there was a process that I didn't understand and I want to spell this process out really clearly to you this morning how many of you know that God has a destiny on every single one of our lives not just preachers okay we think that sometimes but that's wrong the Bible says that the steps of a good man a good woman are ordered of God the Bible says in Psalm 139 then every day of your of my life was recorded in a book before a single day of our life began you got a book written about your life before you were even born because God you were born on purpose for a purpose you've heard that right and so God in order to get us to our destiny he'll give us a glimpse he'll make a promise to us right with with Joseph it was a couple dreams and he shows us differently right with David a prophet comes to him and says you're gonna be king with Jeremiah God says to him you are gonna be a prophet to the nation's I personally I have a file folder in my desk that literally has a prophetic word it was dated July 1981 I know that is a long time ago July 1981 there are things written in that prophetic word that I didn't start walking in until I was in my 50s it's amazing right somebody's sitting there going yeah I didn't get any glimpse about my life well let me let me just let me challenge you a little okay my Bible says God rewards those who diligently seek Him in faith my Bible does not say God rewards those who casually seek them and wonder in doubt so you might want to check up on you're seeking level okay let's move on really quickly from that one okay so then once the promises made then comes the process everybody say the process now this is what I want to talk to you about today what is the process I like to call it the wilderness or refining why is the process so important because process gives you the character to handle the fulfilled promise and once you successfully and listen to my words successfully navigate this process that I'm going to talk to you about this morning then comes the promotion and what is the promotion it is the fulfilled promise so Peter writes about this in his book in the first five verses of his very first book he talks about heaven but all the Apostles will not spend a lot of time on this they they spend time on the here and now and I like that so in verse six Peter says in this and that would be heaven you greatly rejoice though now for a little while now we need to talk about this a little while statement okay if I say to you I'm gonna be your house in a little while what am I talking about I'm talking about 10 15 minutes right all right maybe it's a little longer in Atlanta but anyway it's for us it's 10 or 15 minutes okay and but you know Peter writes this statement in his book he says that a day with the Lord as a thousand years so a thousand of our years is one day to God so I started thinking what's a little while to God so I divided a thousand by 24 out by 24 and I found out the one hour to God is 42.6 years so a little while seven eight years aren't you glad you fought the traffic just to hear that this morning okay though now for a little while if need be and let me help you the need is there you have been grieved and greed means greatly distressed by various trials these trials will show that your faith is genuine if you are going through trials and you're still coming to church guess what you got genuine faith it is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold though your faith is far more precious than mere gold now I want to go back to that time period where God's presence starts seeming elusive to me at that time now I'm working for a church in Dallas Texas we're one of the best-known churches in the United States we had over 400 paid employees our church didn't talk a lot about character we talked a lot about faith about receiving from God about miracles and so what I'm about to share with you was very foreign to me but Lisa and I lived in an apartment there was a field next to the apartment and that was my place where I'd go pray either early in the morning or late at night I remember one night I was out there praying and I remember God spoke to me and it's one of those things it was those encounters with the Holy Spirit you never forget I mean I can close my eyes see myself out in that field and still remember his words and he said son I'll never forget to seize it son I'm gonna begin to teach you how to deny yourself how to take up your cross and how to follow me I'm gonna begin to work a work of holiness in your life now I was so excited I heard the voice of God I literally left the field ran back to the apartment and Lisa was taking off her makeup getting ready for bed and I said babe babe God spoke to me she said what'd he say I said God said he's gonna begin to do work holiness in me he's gonna make me into a holy man person I said all this excessive stuff I do like watching all the TV sports on TV eatin food cuz I eat when I wasn't hungry can you believe it but anyway I said it's all gonna leave my life and I said I'm gonna be a godly holy man oh that's great right so you know what happened the next three months I ate twice as much as what I normally ate watch twice as much TV I mean I just had a flesh out three months and I remember I go back out to that same field even it was three months later and as early in the morning I say God what's going on you said you gonna make me only I am like twice as fleshly as I've ever been and God spoke to me again and he said son that's because you're doing it your way holiness is not a work of your flesh it's a product of my grace he said now now I'm gonna begin to do it my way now I had no idea what he was talking about but over the next six months after that I start going through trials like I had never encountered before and I'm not talking self-inflicted trials you know what I mean by self-inflicted you do something stupid you get stupid results I'm not talking about I'm not I'm doing the right things and I'm getting all the wrong results and I'm talking about trials that were really really unbearable almost unbelievable and it was one thing after another after another and a member in that six month time period I was terror to live with I am yelling at Lisa for the stupidest things I'm irritated with her I'm irritated with my 9 month old son I'm mad at my pastor cuz he doesn't recognize what I'm going through I mad at my employer fellow employees and my friends cuz they're not giving me the empathy I think I deserve I'm mad at everybody right and I remember I start getting a little scared at the way I was behaving how bitter I was right it was scaring me and I remember I went back out to that field six months later and I said God where's all this anger and bitterness coming from like I wasn't this angry before I got saved what do I bind what do I cast out and that's when I found out you don't cast out flesh and you crucify it right and the Holy Spirit spoke to me that morning I never forget this he said son look at your ring and at that time I don't understand I I have an engineering degree from Purdue University so look at my ring it was 14-karat gold ring and you have to understand 14 karat gold means this 14 parts out of 24 parts is gold but 10 parts out of 24 parts is other metals impurities copper zinc nickel other metals like that he said does your gold ring on your finger does it look like pure gold to you I said yeah it looks like pure gold to me he said what happens if you put that 14-karat gold ring into a furnace and heated up a couple thousand degrees I said well it liquefies becomes liquid he said then what happens I said well the impurities the other metals the copper zinc nickel because they're lighter molecular weight begin to come to the surface he said they appear right I said yeah they appear he said you keep asking me where this anger and this bitterness is come in front he said it's always been there it's been invisible to you but very visible to me he said so what I've done in my mercy is I've allowed you to come into this furnace of affliction he said now you can see what's in you and now what you do with it will determine your future you can continue to blame your wife your pastor your friends and if you do it will all go back down and we got to start this thing all over again he said or you can own it and he said if you own it and repent of it he said I'll take my ladle and skim it right out of your life that's when I really discovered that we our free will plays a lot into this because God won't violate it you want to be mad at your husband he'll let you be mad at your husband sure is quiet in his Presbyterian Church if you want to be mad at your wife he'll let you to continue do it but you're gonna go around a mountain for 40 years mmm you know in that time period Jeremiah makes a statement I actually can relate to Jeremiah says this why is my pain perpetual in other words why is my pain non-stop look I got up in pain I ate breakfast in pain I went to the office in pain I worked all day in pain I came home in pain I went to bed in pain I got up the next morning in pain and the pain was actually to the point at places that it was unbearable I remember one day I closed the office door and I just put my head in the corner right between the walls and my arms are draping like this and I said God why do I hurt so bad inside and the Holy Spirit that day spoke to me he said because you're dying he said there's always pain and death he said you want to know how you're gonna know when you're dead I said yes how will I know when I dead he said you won't hurt anymore cuz dead people have no pain I said God would you please kill me quick you have to understand the time period that this all occurred was 1984-85 time period and God had made a promise to me showed me I was gonna preach the gospel in other nations and I mean Jesus was coming back in 88 I had to get this done but I look back now if God would have sent me out right then I would have destroyed lives I wouldn't have helped people see it's very very similar to Joseph do you know who Joseph is in the Bible he's Genesis 37 to 50 if you don't know who the guy is man read it he's cool he's one of my favorites in the Old Testament if you look at Joseph God said to him he gave him a glimpse gave him a glimpse you're gonna be a leader and your brothers will be under your leadership right but when Joseph shows up in the Bible you at the very first scripture says about him he was telling his dad the bad things his brothers doing he's a snitch and then you go the next verse he appears is like four verses later you know he's doing he's bragging about his dreams and he's talking down to his brother so can we spell this out when Joseph shows up we have a snitch we have a bragger and we have a guy who talks down to people so you know what happens if God puts him in that position of leadership right now you know what you get a very narcissistic insecure leader so God says we need a little refine and we're done so God doesn't alter this he knows the end from the beginning see we are confined a time I cannot tell you what's gonna happen tomorrow I can tell you everything about yesterday but I can't tell you about tomorrow cuz I'm confined to this thing called time God's outside of time he says I know these boys gonna do long before they ever do it cuz I'm not down to time so we all know these brothers hate him so much they throw him into a pit now pit is an acronym for preachers in training in case you didn't know and then he gets sold as a slave to a foreign nation Egypt right and he's sold as a household slave into one of the officers of the King now we in the United States do not fully comprehend what they did to him and that is this in those days and it's not this way anymore because I'm gonna tell you something we don't get it dad's would stay with families no matter what if we understood but back in those days it was everything to a man to have sons who would carry on his name and legacy okay and when you are sold as a slave into a foreign nation now listen to me carefully you're gonna you're not gonna carry on the heritage or legacy of your family you are gonna work all your life to build somebody else's legacy and the woman you marry will work all her life to build somebody else's legacy and your children will work all their life to build somebody else's legacy now it's one thing to be born a slave it's a totally different animal to be born listen the error of a very wealthy man whose grandfather walked with kings and Kings actually bowed to him and have it all stripped away from you by your own brothers what Joseph's brothers did to him was worse than killing him now God blesses Joseph as a slave in this officers house something much worse is going on under the surface the guy's wife gets the hots for him all right she wants to have sex and she doesn't approach him once or twice the Bible says she approaches him every single day for sex and you know what's amazing to me he didn't have a small group have a pastor Dennis preaching to him every week and every day he says no he obeys God and goes no uh-uh I love his fear of God you say fear of God yes fear of God we don't get what the fear of God is in America we think it's B it's to be scared of God no it's to be terrified to be away from him that's the fear of God Paul makes this statement it's actually God's speaking to us don't read it as Paul speaking to the Philippians Reed is God speaking to you and me he said as you have always looked at the screen as you have always obeyed in my presence even much more now obey in my absence the absence of the tangible presence of God you follow me work out your salvation with fear and trembling see it's one thing to obey God in an atmosphere where you just had and I'm not kidding when I say this the most amazing worship in America and a presence of God is so thick in here it's easy to obey God what about Wednesday night when you're kids throwing up all night long you got the presentation of your life at Davos at 8:00 in the morning or what about when somebody gossips about you at work and you just lost the job your dream job because somebody lied about you you can obey God then we'll see a bunch of why should I obey you more I'll pay you to worse my life gets I look at sinners out there nothing's going on with them nobody can relate to this I know this is bunch of theory in it it's just too close to home for all of us so the day comes when they're alone in the house and she she's got a seducing spirit up to her eyeballs and she knows how to she knows how to get a man she puts on that outfit you know it's got the slit up to here and she's got the leg sticking out she got a little breast showing a little cleavage right and she Nestle's up to him and she goes I'm all yours nobody's gonna know and you know what he does he flees he does what the Word of God says he does it again he flee sexual immorality well she's got his art a garment in her hands right when he flees he runs out of the house and now she's a scorned woman and her lust turns into hate and she cries out rape now the very thing he's running from he now gets accused of doing and he's thrown into a dungeon did you hear what I just said dungeon now the problem is we don't know what a dungeon is I was just in the largest prison in the United States last year preaching 6,200 inmates it's called Angola it's in south Louisiana 6,200 inmates and every inmate is in there from 20 years to life with no parole okay it was once called the bloodiest prison in the United States I go in there and preach and can I tell you it is a listen a five-star hotel compared to the middle-eastern dungeons I've been in because I have been in a couple of Middle Eastern dungeons let me and I've researched it let me tell you they're usually underground so you get no sunlight and they're very damp because they used to be most of the time they used to be cisterns that held water now they're very damp it's bedrock the average height listen to me carefully of a Middle Eastern dungeon is four feet you can't stand in it okay now the Bible is very specific they hurt his feet with fetters this is talking about Joseph look at the scripture they hurt his feet with fetters they laid him in Chains until the time that his promise from God came to pass the word of the Lord tested him refined him you got it you got it now when you're a slave and you have tried to rape one of the king's officers wife's wife they want you to suffer so they this is what they did in these middle-eastern dungeons they gave what's called the bread of affliction what's the bread of affliction they give you just enough water and just enough bread every day to stay alive because they don't want you to die it's too easy now listen carefully you're in your late in Chains you got a 4 foot ceiling got no sunlight coming in if you throw up you live in your throw up there's no there's no maid service you have no running water you have no mattress you live in your waist this is what he gets for obeying God the more he obeys God the worst his life gets he just he just tells the dream that God gave him and he gets the pit in slavery he flees sexual immorality obeys the Word of God and he gets the dungeon see if your indicator of your obedience to God is immediate success you might have the wrong indicator cuz the worst this is this is going on for over 10 years and you know what then God now brings the greatest test to Joseph you know what the greatest test is he brings two guys that just had dreams the night before right a butler and a baker you know the story right what's the test can Joe civ proclaimed to the Butler and Baker the faithfulness of God when he hasn't seen one shred of evidence of it in his own life for over ten years think about it God says you can be leading your brothers will be under your leadership he's gone from pit to slavery to dungeon and offer obeying God each time if Joseph would have been like some of us he would have hunted those guns said you had a dream last night leave me alone dreams don't come true if you would have said that he would have died in the dungeon saying God is not faithful God does not keep his promises when the reality is God is faithful God does keep his promises still with me he interprets the guys dream he stays faithful he obeys God again and the guy forgets about him two more years in that hellhole and then the King has a dream and the butler goes oh my gosh I forget about that guy in prison he interprets the Kings dream he has made number two in Egypt seven years of plenty two years more years of famine add up the years you come up to 19 years here comes his brothers 19 years later the dream is fulfilled and some of us are frustrated when our dream isn't fulfilled in 18 months you still with me do you know what Joseph's life shows us no man no woman no child no organization no devil can ever get you out of the destiny that God has planned for you Joseph's brothers said we're gonna kill him and destroy his dream and God says oh yeah you're actually the instruments I'm gonna use to fulfill his dream cuz God was so many steps ahead of him the only one that can get you out of your destiny is you Israel God intended them to march into that Promised Land one year after coming out of Egypt read it in your Bible but they ended up staying there for 40 years and died in their desert which tells me you cannot shorten your refining time but you sure can lengthen it yeah you think about this you know Craig Craig Craig Groeschel is a good friend of mine he has a hundred and ten thousand people in his church right you know Moses had three million people in his church three million do you know that only two adults in his entire congregation fulfilled their destiny think about it you think Moses is a failure no he isn't he was a great leader you can have the best leader and not fulfill your destiny because of you David had a horrible leader and fulfilled his destiny because of David boy it's quiet here I think I've gone from Methodist to Anglican you just listening real good I know I know you guys by now god only intended them to be there one year and they extended it do you know how many people I've met in the church they've been going around the same mountain for years because they've not handled the refining well because they put the blame on everybody else and they find people who will support them putting the blame on everybody else instead of realizing how big of a God we serve I'm sure I'm sure that there are people that are dying before their and and they're not seeing the dream that God put in their heart fulfilled and it's not God's fault it's because they didn't pass the test in the refining I'm telling you Joseph could have died in that dungeon leave me alone I don't want to interpret your dream in fact you know what Paul said Israel is an example to us now think about it Paul writes in 1st Corinthians chapter 10 and tells us exactly why Israel doesn't walk into their destiny he said there was five things they did number one sexual immorality number two idolatry number three tempting Christ number four these are really bad things lusting after evil things and number five complaining now I remember the day I read that list I really read that list I pushed my Bible back I was a little upset how can complaining qualify to be in that list you know you remember the Sesame Street song one of these things just doesn't belong here you know let me enlighten you if you didn't watch Sesame Street you should uh you got a dog excuse me you got a horse you got a car you got a bicycle and you got a crocodile right well you ride the horse you ride the car you ride the bike in the crocodile eat you so it doesn't belong in that list I looked at I looked at that list I said how can you put complaining with tempting Christ with the Dollar Tree with sexual immorality I pushed my way and and you know what the Holy Spirit said to me he said listen he said complaining is a very and that's the way he emphasized it serious sin to me I said I need understanding I don't get why cuz complaining so common he said you know what complaining says to me son I said what does it say complaining says to me God I don't like what you're doing in my life and if I were you I'd do this totally different I went whoa it does doesn't it it's a slam on his character it's a lack of the fear of the Lord I remember the day I saw that I to my wife I said we will discipline our children for complaining I said it falls under the category of rebellion so there were people thought we were nuts but all four of our sons have been serving it with us in the ministry for years maybe wisdom might have might have been godly wisdom let you determine that I got to the point where I was I was almost proud of the fact that I didn't complain you know I was like getting proud of one day I was on this four day facet I woke up and the first thing I heard the Holy Spirit say to me is I hear the complaining in your heart I I didn't get out of bed I literally rolled off the mattress to my knees repenting I'm sure that Joseph felt a little abandoned by God come on let's just be honest in that dungeon for over two years I'm sure he felt abandoned with that in mind I want you to watch this short video and I'll close the message everybody has a hero [Music] mine's my dad since mom died it's only been us here's a way of filling my life with colors that one sometimes I don't understand his advice but I trust him and would always brought us together it was I love for running one day I'll be faster than him and when I am I'm gonna win every marathon in the world or at least that was my plan I'm losing my sight read to me the lowest level that you can see under what is called is I can sir unfortunately you will lose your vision that was the day my father disappeared we're gonna run Jim come on I thought he would always be there for me I guess I was wrong [Music] you abandoned me where are you dad where did you go do you not love me anymore am I still beautiful [Music] Graeme you no longer proud of me how could you leave me when I need you the most Abby thinks I've left her [Music] and as much as it pains me to hear that she's right I've left her I've left a realized she's more courageous than she ever imagined I've left her to discover how beautiful she is from the inside out [Music] I've left her to challenge herself in ways she never considered I've left her to discover how strong she really is it's me it's me baby why did you leave I was right here where did you go I was always here baby no one believes in you more than I do [Music] think about how far you've come my dad says he gave me what I needed not what I wanted is allowing someone to see their true Worth and beauty I used to think my dreams were over I thought I'd never run again and even though I can't see my dad I know he's guiding me the entire way job's another guy who went through some pretty intensive refining and I want you to listen to job's words in the light of the video our team made that you just watched job said look I go forward but he God is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him when he works on the left hand did you notice her father was working the whole time but she didn't perceive it why was he doing that he didn't want an inlet he wanted her to realize how strong she was when he works on my left hand I cannot behold him when he turns to the right hand I cannot see him but he knows where I'm going why he planned it and when he tests me hey can we talk about this really quick what why do why do we have such a problem with tests I know why it's our midterms and finals we experienced but can I say this I just flew over the Atlantic Ocean a few weeks ago and I am so glad the pilot passed the test because he and I didn't end up at the bottom of the Pacific or the Atlantic testing only shows you what's inside he God said I brought you into the wilderness he said this Israel I brought you in the wilderness to Humble you and test you so you could know it's in your heart he knows in their heart they didn't refining shows you what's in your heart Selah he said when he tests me I will come forth his pure gold if you look at pure gold it's tender its pliable do you know 14 karat gold is hard stiff neck stubborn if you look at pure gold it has a counterpart called brass brass looks just like pure gold but brash tarnishes because of the atmosphere pure gold cannot tarnish no matter what atmosphere it's in do you understand when you go through God's testing his refining you can no longer be tarnished by the world the atmosphere of the world if you look at pure gold it is transparent you can see right through it the streets of heaven are made out of it do you understand that when you go through his refining they don't see the vessel anymore they see the treasure in the vessel we need to see more of Jesus in the church he says what was job's response it was exactly what Joseph did for I've stayed on God's pounds I have followed his ways and not turned aside I have not departed from his commands but I've treasured his words more than my daily food it just came out the re6 recent statistics 15 to 25 year-olds spend fifty three point seven hours a week in front of screens how many hours do they spend in front of the Word of God let's face it the Word of God is more important than our daily food can you imagine can you imagine living on physical food the way you've lived on spiritual food try eating one small wee little meal a week and then go six days without they need another small meal and tell me how you're doing after four months you know what's really scary is when you don't eat physical food your body screams I'm hungry when you don't need spiritual food your spirit does just the opposite it gets quieter the less you feed on God's Word the less you want his word why am I saying why am i travelling all over the nation preaching this message because we need each other to fulfill our destiny if you look at Joshua's generation there was only one guy in his entire generation that didn't fulfill his destiny his name was akin it was all over tithing Moses only two guys fulfilled Joshua only one guy didn't fulfill I'm believing we're entering into a Joshua generation I need you to fulfill your destiny because I'm I'm connected to you we're one body and Jesus more than any of us wants you to fulfill your destiny can you say Amen I want you to bow your heads close your eyes Hamilton Mill Midtown online every head bowed every eye closed why am I having you do this because I don't care if you're the only one that responds I want you to be honest if you're in here today or it sure if you're at Hamilton mill or Midtown and you say you know what I've been going through some refining some trials and I've not responded well I've been complaining some of you are complaining in your heart some of you're complaining with your mouth some of you even go to the point where you'd say I've been disobeying I'm a little mad at God if I really am honest about it well guess what he's not mad at you if you could see Jesus's face right now he has a hopeful look he died for you he is so for you he loves you so deeply but he's hopeful that you'll get in line with his wisdom you need to be honest [Music] if you've been complaining you've been even disobeying and you'd say you know what I'm ready to repent of this I can see clearly now but I've been miss handling this situation and I'm ready to get back into God's wisdom here on this I've been complaining I'm ready to repent of it and I'm giving it up I've been disobeying I'm ready to repent of it and giving it up that's you I want you to just stand to your feet really quick Wow same thing happened in the earlier service I'm looking at probably 80% of people standing to their feet now it's probably 90 if you're of the 10% that is sitting right now and you want to be standing can you ask yourself one simple question why are you sitting if it's because you want to continue to complain and disobey God I respect that but if you want to be standing and you're not can you be honest with yourself and ask yourself why well a lot more people just stood up I want you to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed because there's one more question when I asked some of you are like I was your attending this church and it's a great church but you have no relationship with God you don't enter a relationship with God by praying a sinner's prayer if somebody I'm so sorry that we preachers have lied to you and told you that the Bible calls Jesus a groom that calls us a bride when a bride gets married to a groom she is actually communicating something she's saying goodbye to 3.5 billion guys she's saying this is the one man I'm giving my entire heart in life to you cannot get saved by just praying a sinner's prayer you have to give your entire heart your entire life and you are saying Jesus you are the head of this Union and I will obey you I have full intention to obey you even when it's uncomfortable and if that's you and you're standing up right now and you'd say you know what I really really truth be told don't have a relationship and I want to give my entire heart and life to him he died for me nobody else did he do it then I want you to put your hand up because I want to pray for you put up your hand hi Wow look at this beautiful I'm sure it's the same in Hamilton Mill and Midtown put your hands down and I'm going to lead you in both prayers I want you to say this out loud everyone's standing say this God in heaven thank you so much for speaking to me I realize I've tried to do this my way I'm so wrong forgive me for complaining in my heart with my mouth with my actions forgive me for disobeying because I was upset with you I realize that you deeply loved me so today I give my spirit soul and body everything I am everything I have to you Jesus Jesus you are now my Lord and I'm asking you to cleanse me with your blood of all complaining and disobedience from this moment forward if I have the urge to complain I'm gonna give you thanks sincerely from my heart in Jesus name now lift your hands coz the presence of God just came in holy spirit touch every person that's standing manifests the presence of Jesus some of you haven't sensed that kind of peace in a long time there's his presence right there Jesus name now let's give him praise for what he's done

Channel: VictoryATL

Views: 25,275

Rating: 4.8916969 out of 5

Keywords: John Bevere, John Bevere at Victory Church, John Bevere at Victory World Church, Victory Church, Victory World Church, Joseph of the Bible, genesis, how to become holy, job 23: 8-9

Id: NRrYK4XRZY0

Length: 51min 44sec (3104 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 11 2019