Set Apart For Glory Pt 5 - Joe Sweet

week number five teaching series set apart for glory do you really believe that if we walk with jesus his glory will fill us how many believe that if you don't you're in the wrong church it really is the bible this is the gospel we have to recover we have to recover the fullness of the gospel message which is not just deliverance from the penalty of sin but it's deliverance from the presence and the power of sin unto being filled with the holy spirit now we call being filled with the holy spirit if someone has an experience and i and they're filled they're baptized in the holy spirit maybe they speak in tongues or gifts we call that being filled but the bible tells us in the book of ephesians that we're to be being filled it's a greek tense it's an ongoing a lifestyle of being filled and the the less there is of us the more room there is for him and that's our quest our quest is to lay down us so that he can fill us i remember years ago speaking with the uh the late wonderful man of god dick mills and he was telling me how a couple of times that he had visitations from the lord he said he remembers one time he was pastoring in a small church many people don't know this he pastored a small church in canyon country probably 60 or more years ago i remember asking him i did i said i didn't know you pastored a church in canaan country how long did you pastor he said long enough to know it wasn't for me and uh god made him an itinerant prophet evangelist what a blessing he was and uh he said at one time in the church he said his eyes spiritual eyes were opened up he said i saw the lord jesus christ he stood up in the air on the back wall of the church and he pointed to dick mills he said i'm looking for somebody to become a nobody so that i could be everything in them face to face the lord appeared to him i'm looking for somebody to become a nobody so that i can be everything in them that's our call that's our call john the baptist said he must increase i must decrease now we're in christ we're in christ our sins are washed away we're new creations but following him is a process where the old man who's already been crucified but in our soul our thinking our will our emotions that are in our soul old man has been crucified we're born again but our soul has to be renewed to come into agreement with the will and the heart of god that's where we become nothing he becomes everything and don't think that becoming nothing is is a is a losing thing it's a purely winning thing because there's nothing in us paul said i know that in me is no good thing and god's not again he's not trying to make us better he's trying to make us deader god wants to come in and say will you just move over and let me live and then you can come back in and enjoy my life i'll live through you that's the walk we're called to where he fills us his love fills us his character fills us his heart fills us the mind of christ fills us his thoughts fill us there can't be anything greater there's nothing greater than god to say i want to bring you into my life i want to bring you to think so you come in with me lord said i'll let you see the way i see i'll let you think what i think i'll let you feel what my heart feels and let me love through you let me speak and bless and help through you there's no greater thing than to enter into the life of christ and the deception of the enemy of the old life of the old man is hold on to your life i got my plans i got my dreams god's plans are infinitely better so when we talk about entering into the glory realm we're talking about entering into union with jesus where's no longer i who live but christ lives in us that is the normal christian life that's not the super spiritual life that's not for a few exceptions that's the normal christian life galatians 2 20. paul said i've been crucified with christ it's no longer i who live but christ lives in me and the life i live now i live by faith in the son of god who loved me and gave his life for me how awesome that god would bring us into him into his heart i would rather be in the heart of jesus and weep with him than be outside of christ and laugh in the world i'd rather be in christ and have a heavy burden on my heart than be outside of him doing my own thing there's no higher or greater thing than to partake of the life of christ and it's a process by which our souls are renewed into the image of christ our mind is renewed so that's what we're talking about god has from the beginning chosen you and me he's chosen us to be partakers of his glory realm i want to read that verse again second thessalonians we've been reading it for the last several weeks chapter 2 verse 13. but we are bound to give thanks to god always for you brethren beloved by the lord i love that you are loved by god everyone say it out loud i'm beloved i am loved by god isn't that awesome because god from the beginning and when the bible says from the beginning it speaks of before the world was made god from the beginning chose you for salvation so he chose you before you were born now we could go into all of that but i'm not here's what he chose you for for salvation salvation does not mean only forgiven of my sins justification that's what we think often in the west they went before they prayed a prayer they got saved well yeah they did they're they they got justified by faith they're not going to hell but that's only the very beginning of a salvation process of the soul onto it there's salvation sanctification that's a word for transforming the soul to become to think and act like christ because his spirit's in us and he wants to act through us but our soul keeps him blocked down our thinking keeps him under so when our thinking comes into agreement with his heart his spirit manifests so that's why it's a good thing for us to die so he said god chose you for salvation that means justified sanctified glorified god chose you for this by this by through sanctification by the spirit everyone say it is the holy spirit who sanctifies me it's his work ephesians 2 10 you are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which he's prepared beforehand that we should walk in them that means the calling the destiny the purpose the ministry the good works that god has foreordained for you before you were born there's no competition nobody can do what you're called to do find out what it is and do it and don't compare with anybody else don't look over there and think that's better no the greatest thing that any of us can do is what god assigns us to do if god called me to shine shoes at the los angeles airport if that was my calling then by the grace of god i'm going to be the best shoe shiner and i'm going to manifest christ to every person whose shoes i'm shining it's not how great we think on the outside by the judging of the appearance jesus said don't judge by appearance he said judge righteous judgment the greatest thing any of us can do is whatever god assigned us there's nothing greater i don't want to be like anybody else i don't want to do anybody else's assignment i want to do what god assigned me to do he said so god chose us to be sanctified by the spirit and by believing the truth to which he called you by our gospel now the whole purpose in the process of being called before you were born chosen for salvation sanctified by the spirit and believing the truth is the word of god that god uses to sanctify us spirit of god sanctifies us he uses the word it's the washing of the water of the word ephesians chapter 5 by which we're sanctified john 17 17 father sanctify them by the truth your word is truth so by belief this is the work of the spirit and we believe we ingest we hold on to his word we hold on to his word the spirit works he sanctifies us for what purpose he called you through this process of sanctification by the gospel he called you here it is ii thessalonians 2 14 to obtain the glory of the lord jesus christ that's what our salvation is about now if we just settle for i missed hell and i'm going to heaven you've missed your eternal purpose because when we get to the next age when we stand before the judgment seat of christ for believers the judgment seat of christ is not about heaven or hell that's already been settled when we accepted christ the judgment seat of christ is an evaluation of how far that sanctification process went how much did we yield how much did god change us how much are we like christ how much of his will did we do at the end of the life of christ in john 17 verse 4 and verse 6 jesus prayed these two things he said father i have finished the work you gave me to do i've glorified your name and then he said in verse 6. he said father i have manifested your name name means character and nature so two things that jesus did by the end of his life he was able to say i manifested the father so it means to manifest his name and he said and i did the work he sent me to earth to do now that is our goal as believers at the end of our life we want to be able to say lord i did the work you wanted me to do and i also allowed you to kill me so that i could manifest christ that's what we want to have happen now to the degree those things happen that's where god sets us for eternity in his kingdom there's different levels of authority glory rewards i did the whole series on that authority glory and reward it's on youtube so god called us to obtain the glory of the lord we saw last week so sanctification we back up sanctification means holiness we saw last week from first thessalonians chapter 3 verse 12 and 13 that holiness means love that's what holiness is may the lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness so holiness we have to have a good understanding of it's not how long or short your hair is it's not how much makeup you have or how much jewelry you have or don't have it's not if your hair is in a bun it's not holiness is of the heart holiness means every motive of our heart springs from love for god and love for my neighbor love for the person next to me it's easy to go on a mission trip and love people over there it's hard to love the people right here but that's what we're going to be evaluated on and so that's what holiness is and then we talked last week this is all introduction i'm going to get to today's message john 17 i told you an esteemed prophet of god he's now in heaven with the lord when he was caught up to heaven one time had an encounter with the lord and the lord explained to him face to face with the lord the lord explained to him that my love is my glory he was standing in heaven he said the glory of god he said that was tangible it was like a mist shimmering and it felt so awesome he said it was just awesome i said lord what is this he said it's my glory now listen god intends for that glory realm to come to earth that glory christ in us is the hope of glory and then he explained to him he told him my glory is my love that's what he told him face to face he said my glory is my love as you abide in my love my glory will manifest and then he gave him the verse he said it's in john 17 verses 22 and 23 it says the glory which you've given me i've given them in verse 23 said and and you have loved them as you've loved me so jesus said the words love and glory are interchangeable come on somebody so watch all have sinned and fallen short of the okay now watch all of sin had fallen short of the love of god he's called you through our gospel to obtain the the glory of god that's we're called to and it's progressive as we grow in love the glory realm starts to manifest and it's evidenced by righteousness peace and joy there be there comes a buoyancy in your spirit comes a peace and it's that's it so love does no harm to a neighbor romans 13 love is a fulfillment of the law we talked last week about hebrews 5 9 we talked about obedience anybody remember he said in hebrews 5 9 jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him that means the salvation of our soul is contingent upon our obedience there's some things that we need to do to cooperate with god to accelerate the sanctification process if we disobey god if we disregard if we're disinterested if we're indifferent to his word the sanctification process is it's hindered it's stifled if we devour his word if we hold his word in our heart if we pray and ask for grace to yield to god the sanctification process is accelerated as it is we grow in love as we grow in love we grow in the glory of god the glory realm is the realm where you speak and a miracle happens the glory realm is where you don't say come out come out come out the glory well is where you say come out amen we need the glory realm we're growing into it now praise the lord god has good plans for you first peter 1 22 says you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren therefore love one another fervently so that so it's the obedience to the word of god obedience to the spirit that we that our our souls become purified now we're going to talk about the process that god uses of sanctification i'm interested in this i don't want to stay where i am i don't have that many years left on this earth i you know they're flying by i feel like i'm in a race don't you i'm in a race to get as full of jesus as i can i want him to have his way and sometimes we need not sometimes we always need help from god's outside circumstances that he allows in our life to cause discomfort and pain to help move us where we're supposed to go because sometimes we don't want to go there our spirit wants to go there but not our flesh god says i know how to overcome that now so we're going to talk about the process and here's what it is are you ready that was all introduction today's message is about the test t-e-s-t the test of god god is a god who tests us and if we understand what his test is we understand what he's looking for then every day can be redeemed every day we can go farther in god every day we can go higher if we recognize this a test from god i'm going to pass it now that's the truth here's what jeremiah 17 10 says i the lord search the heart i test the mind even to give every man according to his ways according to the fruit of his doings so god tests us but sometimes we don't recognize that the difficult thing we're in right now is a test from god not a test because god wants to see how bad we do well it's courtesy from the scripture the reason god tests us is so that he can bring us into the promised land that's where god's taking him now you say well that's old testament here's almost the same scripture revelation 2 23 jesus speaking to the church all the churches will know that i am he who searches that word is examine who searches the minds and the hearts i will give to each one of you according to your works jeremiah 17 i the lord search the heart i test the mind i give every man according to his ways so let's now if you have your bible we're going to look at it and god's going to tell us very clearly how to pass his test how many want to know how to pass deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 1. god speaking to the jews that he brought out of egypt into the wilderness the wilderness was meant to be a transitionary place they weren't intended to stay there for 40 years in the beginning how long were in the wilderness please hear this depends on how obedient we are to hear god and obey to find out lord what test am i in right now if i'm in a wilderness and all i want to do is blame everybody else i'm probably not going to get out when you're in a test you have to ask god what lesson do you want me to learn then pass the test and then you go into another wilderness [Laughter] but it won't last forever every time it's a promotion he gives you a break in between wildernesses how many have ever come out of a wilderness and thought i'm done all the fiery trials are now behind me is anyone else falling into that deception but it feels like that sometimes you come out of a fiery trial and you go oh glory to god i'm great glad that's over i'm sure from now on it's all smooth sailing from here and it might be for a couple weeks or a month or two or three who knows god gives us that refreshing he gives us the grace he gives us the time to recover and as soon as we're recovered he said okay it's time to take you to another level now you're going higher in me all right let's look at it deuteronomy chapter 8 every commandment which i command you today you must be careful to observe now if you write in your bible i would underline that you must be careful to observe we cannot be indifferent to the commandments of god why that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land so the reason why god wants obedience he's going to talk about it in the wilderness is so that he can qualify us to possess the land if we if we talk ourself out of obedience and we're good at that we can come up with reasons can't we well i know the bible says that but you don't know my circumstance you're condemning yourself to a longer stay in the wilderness well i know the word says that but you know where i'm at it's a little different where i'm at he's god said be here's what he said be careful to observe that you may live and multiply that you may go in and possess the land now i want to tell you up front as we read this the land that they possessed is a clear picture it's a type and a shadow of of abiding in christ that's what the land is here's what the land is he said in that land the land represents jesus it represents us coming into rest into union with christ our will is surrendered remember that song blessed assurance jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine there's a part that the words go um perfect submission all is at rest i am my savior i'm happy and blessed perfect submission all is at rest that's the promised land perfect submission all is at rest see we enter read hebrews chapter 3 and 4. he's talking about the promised land he said if joshua had given them rest that was only a picture of resting in christ he said if he'd given them rest the scripture wouldn't say yet that there's another day to enter into the rest if you read hebrews chapter 3 and 4 that rest now is for us as believers to labor to enter into the to oneness to surrender to christ to be at rest in him that's the promised land what's in the promised land you don't have to plant vineyards they're already planted you don't have to build homes they're already built you're complete in christ it's rest it's not living out of your labor anymore it's living out of abiding in christ now to get into that place of rest we got to pass through stuff that breaks off the things in us that are contrary to christ so god takes us out into the wilderness and he said now please hear this be very careful he said to observe so that you may possess the land of which the lord swore to your fathers and then he said number verse 2 you shall remember so we're to remember something the lord your god led you all the way these 40 years in the wilderness how many been through wilderness of course you have how many been through pain that you couldn't explain how many been through injustice health issues relationship challenges struggles how many been through spiritual oppression in your mind you're going through it and you're saying listen god brings us through it to promote us so he said we brought you into the wilderness what first thing now here's the first lesson to humble you god wants us to learn i can't do it i don't have the answers i don't have it in me i'm not smart enough i can't figure it out i don't know how this is going to work that's a good place to live that's a very good place because as long as we think we know it we will rely on ourself as self-reliance keeps us out of union with christ union with christ is a place of rest of trust of abandonment to the will of god so he said i brought you out there to humble you and to test you there it is to know what was in your heart whether you would keep his commandments or not so god brings us into situations that are difficult they're challenging they're painful god said why did he allow this to see if you're going to remember my word and obey it so he humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with man in which you did not know nor did your fathers know okay now stop right there don't read ahead god brings us into situations where we don't know how it's going to ever change is anybody there see there's a situation you know i'm praying for so and so i'm praying for their self i'm praying for this something going on there's something there i have no idea how how in the world it's ever going to work out god brought you to the place where he said you don't know manna you don't know where it comes from you can't store it up for two days it'll turn into maggots god brings us out to places to where we're stripped god i don't know what how i'm going to eat tomorrow i don't know how to make this relationship better i don't know what to do about my health god said i humbled you to see if you would obey me if you'd keep my word or what they did to fail the test is to start sight walking sidewalking says well he brought me out here he must not love me look things don't look good things if he loved me i would have a refrigerator full no you wouldn't you're going through a test you're getting qualified for the promised land if he loved me everything would be different no it wouldn't because he loves you he brought you into the wilderness he brought you out there to test you and to show you to quit living by your own ways your own mind your own reasonings your own answers your own power stop and say god i don't know how it's going to happen but i know what i'm going to do i'm going to obey your word that's what he said i brought you out there that he might make you know there's a purpose of trials every trial the answer to every trial you and i go through is to become more like jesus that's the answer it's not for the other person to become more like jesus it's for me to become more like jesus i know if everyone else around me would become more like jesus i'd finally be happy and that's never going to happen in this age god won't let it happen because that just makes us un unsanctified carnal messes that when we get to heaven everyone will be like that but we can have heaven right now if we become like that and it does it and we're dead to how other people are to the degree other people affect us is how dead we're not let me say that again to the degree other people are affecting our peace love and joy shows how dead we are not when we're dead we can be at peace love and joy but everybody else isn't heaven is right in here oh hallelujah that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the lord jesus said in john 14 21 john 14 23 whoever keeps my word is the one that loves me and i will love him my father and i will come and make our home i will manifest to him then he said whoever does not love me does not keep my word we can gauge our love for god directly by the degree that we give attention to his word so he said i want here's what god says i want to teach you the reason why you go through fiery trials difficulties i want to teach you to start living in a different way where you're living by faith in my word and you're not always wanting all the circumstances around you to get better am i talking to anybody here come on what what if nobody changes but i change what if i change i can have righteousness peace and joy right now in the holy ghost so he said i want you to learn how to live by every word that comes out of my mouth your garments didn't wear out your foot didn't swell 40 years you should know in your heart that as a man chastens that the word chasing means discipline and train as a man disciplines and trains his son so the lord is disciplining and training you now remember what is the purpose for the trials that we go through what is a purpose to teach to humble us to teach us to live by the word that comes out of god's mouth so that so he can test us to see if we're going to obey his word obedience without obedience we're not going to get where we're supposed to be so he said why so i can bring you into the promised land all that we're going through is to bring us into the promised land if we dig our heels in if we fight if we try to go around if we rationalize we explain it away the only one we're hurting is ourself that's why jesus said if anybody's going to follow me he must deny himself take up his cross and let's go therefore you shall keep the commandments of the lord your god to walk in his ways i'm in verse six to fear him for the lord your god is bringing you into a good land a land of brooks of water of fountains and springs that flow out of valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley of vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive oil and honey a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity in which you will lack nothing a land whose stones are of iron out of whose heels you can dig copper that means prosperity when you here's what god says will you submit to the process it's hard find out what god's word says and obey it don't worry about anybody else god says because i'm gonna bring you into union with me and when you come into union with me there's springs of living water on the inside there's wheat there's gold there's everything there's righteousness there's peace you're not be offended anymore no matter what anybody does it won't hurt your feelings anymore you'll be happy right now you won't look for something else to make you happy you won't look for somebody else to change you'll have the springs jesus said out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living waters he said in the promised land there's springs and rivers and fountains there's wheat there's oil that means fruit fruit fruitfulness it comes from dying to me and living by his word and passing the test that's what it is well i thought that was good then he goes on to the rest of the chapter and he says beware that you don't forget the lord your god by not keeping his commandments his judgments his statutes which i command you lest when you've eaten her full in a beautiful house and dwell in them when your herds and your flocks multiply your silver and gold are multiplied all you have is multiplied when your heart is lifted up you forget the lord your god he's the one that brought you out of bondage he brought you out of egypt and from the house of bondage who led you through that great and terrible wilderness they forget it here's what happens people grow in god they get blessed they get anointing on their life they get some presence of god things are going good and they forget god and start to prostitute the anointing what i mean by prostitute the anointing start to sell all their sets for lots of money try to get money from they forget god they become corrupt because god brought him out of bondage he brought him into a place of his presence and anointing and now they use the blessings god give for their own self they get puffed up and think look at me i'm a great man of god i'm a great woman of god none of us will ever be great we're redeemed by the blood of jesus now we will be great in this sense that we're in christ she said beware you should remember the lord your god verse 18 for is he who gives you the power to get wealth so he's saying let's apply it to the christ the promised land remember when god starts breaking things off of you and working in you and he brings you into that place and that anointing and the presence of god grows remember it's not you amen remember that he brought you out of a horrible place remember how nasty you were and sometimes are remember how selfish and dark remember how many times you cried lord forgive me and he did so he said when god blesses you and starts filling with the holy spirit don't become a fat head remember where god brought you out of remember that without christ we're nothing it's what he said remember it and if god would have lifted spirit off of us for for one second we'd all turn into selfish devils so god now that now being humbled being humble is a qualification to enter into union god's not going to fill us with the holy spirit and power if he doesn't first humble us because if he fills us and anoints us and we're not humble we're going to take the glory and then god is obligated by his nature to resist the proud god's nature is righteous he lifts up the humble and he puts down the proud so god said the reason i'm testing you breaking you humbling you dealing with you so i can get your heart in a place to bring you into this glory realm where you're full of the holy spirit where springs and rivers and wheat and gold are there the life of christ is there and when you get there remember you're nothing he's everything remember that lest you become puffed up he said is the lord who gives you power to get wealth it is the grace of god that brings us into the fullness of the holy spirit here's what god said in deuteronomy 30 verse 19 i call heaven and earth as a witness today against you that i've set before your life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live so what god's here's the process of sanctification god puts us in situations he said i tested you to see if you would obey that's what deuteronomy 8 and the reason for the testing he said is so that i can bring you into this promised land i want to to all be reminded that the difficult challenges we're going through is because god loves us and he's trying to qualify us to go into a higher realm and he does it through testing he tests us to see if we're obedient god tests all of us every day every situation we're in i want to skip ahead i'm changing the order of this if you have your bible you can turn to john chapter 6 i'm going to read part of this verse 1 through 14. it's where jesus took was out in the wilderness and he multiplied the food but the bible says he was testing philip god tests us and again his test the purpose of the test is to approve us so that we can go into a higher place that's why the mindset that this the the sort of a quasi-hybrid christianity mindset of some of the popular christian teachings is that you know we're uh god wants us all to be blessed and yes he does he does want us all to be blessed but blessed when we say that word what that means to our carnal self means that i'm i'm always comfortable and i always have everything i want that's just not true christianity true christianity god loves us he will meet all our needs he will i said he'll meet all of our needs he didn't say he'll meet all our greeds but he'll meet all our needs he's kind to us he's good to us and if we're honest we can all say he's way way better to us than any of us deserves but his his purpose is not to make sure that we all had a good day that's not god's purpose for our life did you guys we're not going to get to heaven he said did you guys enjoy that i hope everyone had a good time he's not a doting grandfather that wants to make sure all the kids had fun at disneyland that's not what this life is about he's a father who's training sons and daughters to be overcomers to be made like to me made beautiful like his son and to do it is it takes real men and real women it takes going through some real stuff and at the end of the day we're going to be so glad god wasn't like we thought we're going to be so glad that he was way beyond good beyond our description that his plans for us were far better than we could ever have imagined when we didn't understand why it was so hard sometimes down here because he's working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure so jesus is out john chapter six verse one after these things jesus went over the sea of galilee which is the sea of tiberius that a great multitude followed him because they saw the signs which he performed on those who were diseased and jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat with his disciples now the passover a feast of the jews was near then jesus lifted up his eyes seeing a great multitude coming toward him he said to philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat do you think jesus didn't know now there's a great multitude they're coming because they saw jesus heal multitudes how awesome how would you like to have a video of that it says in the gospels they brought the halt the lame the maimed the blind and he made them all whole i looked it up in the greek maimed means missing limbs and missing body parts after they got in the line with jesus when he laid hands on they walked away came with one arm they walked away with two how many know that will cause great multitudes to come and by the way it it's not hard for god it's not hard for god to get 10 000 people or 50 000 or 100 000 people saved in two days all he has to do is open blind eyes and make an arm appear like three services in a row and the entire city will be there so it's not hard for him to get people to come what's hard is for him to get the body to surrender to him so that he can release that level of power so he said what's what shall we uh great multitude he said to philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat but this he said to test him there it is again you might circle the word test free himself knew what he would do so now follow this jesus is testing his disciples the word test means to examine to find out where they're at now he said in jeremiah 17 10 i search the minds i test i search the hearts i test the minds to give every man according to his works so in every test that we're in how we respond to that test god says i'm going to give you now according to your choices so how we pass or fail that test does it if we fail does it mean god doesn't love us god said i'm just going to give you according to that so if we want to go higher we have to pass the test so he tested philip and he knew what he was going to do philip said 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them for every one of them to even have a little bit one of his disciples andrew simon peter's brother said to him there's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish but what are they among so many then jesus said make the people sit down there was much grass in the place where the men sat down and numbered about five thousand jesus took the loaves when he had given thanks he distributed them now notice this when we give thanks what we have gets multiplied when we complain it gets diminished so he distributed them to the disciples the disciples to those sitting down and likewise of the fish as much as they wanted so when they were filled he said to his disciples gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost therefore they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten then those men when they'd seen the sign that jesus did said this is truly the prophet who's to come into the world i wanna now i'm just guessing i've been to israel five or six times i i don't remember except maybe how many times but i know that uh what they do over there is they dry and smoke the fish so i'm assuming since they didn't have refrigerators back then a little lad that has two small fish and five loaves i believe they're smoked and salted now i personally like smoked fish i don't know if you do but i believe that the fish tasted better than the bread because when they gathered them up it said they only gathered bread they didn't gather any fish and it says they multiplied it and every man ate all that he wanted so everybody was eating all the fish and there was some bread left over that's not even doesn't have anything to do with this message but it's just something that i noticed when i read that but here's what happened here it was it was a test now some of you heard me tell this and so i'll tell it again short but back in about 1994 i had a minister invite me to go to the philippines he said he's going to minister to about 600 leaders church leaders on the island of mindanao that's where all the muslim terrorists are he said and he said he told me the lord's telling me to invite you to go with me but you're gonna need twelve hundred dollars now back in our church was really small back then in 94 and we didn't have any people i i know anybody in our church had a lot of money so i thought twelve hundred dollars that's a lot of money he said you need twelve hundred dollars for your airfare plus i'm asking if you can buy some bibles so we can give away to the pastors we're going out to real rural place and we did we stayed out for about two weeks and we were in places we stayed in places administered in places where there's no running water no electricity there was like the flintstone days they lit candles in it homes made out of coconut wood we lit candles for light uh we had a pump in the village that we pumped water and out came dirt and water then you wait till the dirt settles then you scoop the water and all that you see pig running around the village they said that's what we're having for dinner tonight and that's what we had so we were out there and it was uh so i prayed i said lord should i go because i i don't want to go if you don't want me to go and if you want me to go then i need you to bring in the money because i felt bad about asking our church our little church to cough up 1200 bucks unless i knew it was the lord's will so i i said give me a week or so to pray so i prayed over it regularly and one day while i was reading my bible i came across i was reading john chapter 6 and i read it i heard the voice of the holy spirit speak to me very clearly he said just as i took that boy's lunch and i multiplied it he said i was testing philip to see but i knew what i was going to do he said i took that lunch and i multiplied it and i fed the multitudes he said it's my will that you go to the philippines i want you to minister to those 600 pastors he said if you'll go he said i'm going to anoint you and he said i'm going to really bless them he said ask the church to give what little they have even if you think because my thing was lord we don't we're not a church it has a lot of money it's back in 94. he said if if ask the people to give what little they have give what they have and he said and you'll go he said i'll multiply it i'll bless all those pastors and he said it and then when the baskets are gathered up there were 12 baskets left over he said i'll bring the 12 baskets that are left over i'll bring them back and bless your church with 12 baskets and i said lord what are the 12 baskets he said i'll bring my best my premier ministers to your church he said you go and take care of the mission field you sow into the poor you give to those in need and i'll bless your church and he did right after that when i came back larry randolph came 94 he was carrying the toronto blessing anointing we had a move of god in this i mean we had to carry people after the meeting was over it was late at night people were just blasted in a good way in the holy spirit i remember care we had to carry roy wilkerson's daughter out just couldn't people can get up there so so anyway god brought neville johnson bobby connor he brought just one after other god said you give to the poor you give to missions he said i'll anoint you when you go and then i'll bring the 12 baskets to your church come on now watch this so i now this is why this is why you have to be a praying pastor and find out what god wants you to preach about so the lord said to me i want you on sunday this sunday to preach john 6 tell the church that this is a test i'm asking them if they will give their lunch give what little they have to send you i'll bless the philippines i'll bless the church so i got up sunday our little church and i preached my guts out and i got up there and i just went over john 6 and i said jesus was testing philip and uh to see you know and uh i told the whole story and i remember two or three times saying and jesus was testing philip and uh give your lunch and god multiplied it i told the whole word of the lord amen i finished the message right when i was done there was a man that he used to come to our church only two or three times a year he visited that sunday he was sitting on the back row and he was hispanic but he looked pale after you know he said nice color to him and uh he ran right up to me and he was sort of pale he was trembling i remember i needed twelve hundred dollars he had a check for twelve hundred dollars he said he said my name is philip he said it he said every time he said god is testing philip i felt an arrow go through my heart he goes he said i'm a painting contractor which i knew he was a he said i just did the biggest he's a one-man painting company he said i just did the biggest job i've ever done in my life for twelve thousand dollars the tithe is twelve hundred and i felt i was supposed to come to church today but on the way here i kept saying god i'm not gonna tithe twelve hundred dollars that's too much i've never given that much and he said i got in church and you kept saying god is testing philip any how many believe god wanted me to go to the philippines he brought philip that day he gave me 1200 the church gave more so i was able to bring more money to the philippines buy more bibles we went over there the power of god i mean the anointing was flowing past god bless i came back when i got back from the from that trip that god started sending his premiere the 12 basket started coming it was a test [Applause] it was a test for me would i obey was a test for our body it was a test for philip we have to pass god's test come on somebody now here's what i want to say i'm going to try to close please understand this god's plan if you don't hear anything i said today hear this god's plan is to bring you in to a good land to the promised land they had they've been in the wilderness so long they couldn't even picture streams and fountains and barley and gold and silver and houses but god said i have for you no i have seen no ear has heard what god's prepared for those that love him what we're going through now is a test will we hear what god says and do it or will we say it's been a long time out in the desert why here's what the here's how most of the people failed they said we've been walking out here moses for a long time what did you bring us out here for to die that's the voice of satan god said in the beginning i brought you here to test you to see if you'll obey just to humble you to make you know that you have to live i have to live by every word it comes from the mouth of god and god said i did this because i want to bring you into the promised land that's where god's taking us so understand a test is not a bad thing a test is a good thing every test is a step higher every test every test is an open door to go farther into the now here's the test every day i'm being tested will i be sweet or grouchy will i be forgiving or hold on to a grudge will i be generous or selfish will i speak criticism or praise will i point the finger or intercede for them every day is a test everything that comes every day and every test we pass we go higher high we ought to be we ought to be god bring the tests on bring them on bring them on because every test you pass you go higher in god you cannot get higher without a test let the test happen i never thought i would say that but here's what i found out i can't escape them can you they'll find us if you're loved by god here's one of the signs that you're illegitimate if you're not going through trials for every son and every daughter that he receives he chastens because he loves who he loves jason means train and training is not always easy but god's motive is good it's love here's what i'm saying we're either choosing please hear this i want us to all remember this every time we have relational difficulty we have a health issue a financial issue a struggle a spiritual issue here's what we're choosing we're choosing either obedience or disobedience we're choosing either faith or fear we're choosing either self-protection or love we're choosing humility or pride we're choosing honesty or dishonesty every day every day we're being tested every time we pass a test we go higher we go higher it's the only way to go higher do we choose to forgive and forget or to hold on to an injury do we choose to talk about the person or to ask god to help them do we choose to be generous or stingy do we choose to pray or let someone else do it do we seek to make disciples or let someone else do it every situation every situation is a test this is the way of the kingdom it's the way of the kingdom oh i have mo so much more to go but i think i should try to give me five more minutes i'm going to just i'm going to really try to close with this a few years ago every now and then we need to do it again soon we haven't been on one for a while but every periodically melinda and i will go away for three days just to get alone and to have prayer time and we need to do that again but i remember going up to the mountains we went up to big bear and our whole goal we weren't going there to do sightseeing or activities basically we stayed in the cabin most of the time was just to get a loan away from the phone away from anybody finding us so we could have prayer time and i remember having waking up from a profound awesome dream i remember i sat straight up in bed my heart was exhilarated and tears were running down my cheek because i'd just seen the beauty of the glory realm and here was i'll tell you the dream that just goes with this it's i i wrote it out it's an article it's called the test in a dream i was standing with 40 or 50 people and you know that in prophetic experiences you you just know you know i have all this information it doesn't have to be spoken you just know it i knew that the people i was standing with were all sort of what we call seasoned christians they'd been saved for a number of years they've been instructed they've been to prophetic conferences they knew the lord like that they weren't babies and uh we were in a park-like setting and we were just standing in a group everybody just sort of fellowshipping and really enjoying fellowship and the pleasant surroundings we were in like a park and then all of a sudden the lord showed up the lord just stood there now it's so interesting it's amazing that in an experience like this you like i didn't know it was the lord but the second i woke up i knew it was the lord just a man showed up but i knew it was the lord and he had an envelope in his hand he started telling the whole group he got all of our attention 40 or 50 he's got all of our attention he said there's a woman she's way stuck way out in the wilderness and as he was telling us about her i had a vision i could see her i actually knew who she was and i and to me she was a picture of that part of the body of christ who needs help he said she's stuck out in the wilderness that's what he said he said she's so discouraged she's barely holding home she's barely holding on to her faith he said i need someone he had an envelope he said i need someone that will take this letter to her he said if if she can read this it'll bring her great encouragement and great strength he said who will go and when he said take this letter to her i saw a vision in the dream of a long windy path a foot trail through along through the desert and everyone knew whoever went was going to have to leave this beautiful park-like setting and the fellowship we're all enjoying and go alone out into the desert and i remember i feel ashamed of this but i remember for about half a second i hesitated i i thought well i want to go i want to make sure you know she needs help but another part of me thought i don't really want to go through the desert so i hesitated for a second to see maybe somebody else a volunteer and then after a second i said no that's what went on in my heart like in the second half all that happened i said i'll go and he said and he gave me the letter and i took off so i walked through the desert it's very real in the dream i'm walking through a footpath and i'm i'm telling you it was desert i grew up in palm desert area so i've sand dunes cactus sticker bushes lizards i just walking through a footpath through the desert and it seemed like i'm just walking and walking i'm all alone everybody else is having a good time i'm walking then i see a big sand dune that goes up about 12 15 feet and there's a trail and i follow the trail up as i got to the top of the sand dune the view in front of me it was like you remember the movie the wizard of oz the house landed on the witch and dorothy opened the whole movie was in black and white when she came out the whole oz was all in color remember that it was a dramatic like that as soon as i crested the top of the it was like wow the scene in front of me it was the most gorgeous beautiful paradise i had ever seen i saw colors that are that do i can't describe them they don't exist on earth i saw a pool of water i saw a waterfall all these plants i saw a hill i can't even i can't describe it it was beyond beautiful and not only was it beautiful but the presence of the lord was real strong there as i came over the top of the hill two things happened the beauty that i saw and then a wave of his presence washed over me the beauty was so exhilarating in a second i felt totally refreshed and i felt filled with the holy spirit and i thought wow this is awesome and i remember thinking i need to go back and tell all those people that thought that was beautiful that's the debt where they're at is the desert compared to this i need to go back and tell them so they can come here and i started to go back and i heard a loud authoritative voice of the lord say no you cannot go back you must go forward and i knew at that voice they would never ever see this and i stepped into the wilderness and i woke up and i sat up in bed tears were running down my cheeks i felt the presence of the lord refreshing me and then i felt the holy spirit start speaking to me he said it's a test he said i test all my people he said didn't i say that no greater love has any man than to lay down his life he said i'm testing my people he said if you'll lose your life you'll find a whole new level of my glory in me if you'll give up what you think is great you'll find a new level in me those who love their life they'll never find that new level those that hold on to their own self-life they'll never get there he said it's a test and the test is love he said because you were willing to say yes i'll leave i'll go into the desert to help somebody else he said i brought you into a paradise see these are the tests that all of us have god's not dumb he's going to test us all and he's going to see if we qualify to enter into the promised land if we'll obey him now listen laying down our life is a command to every one of us in that group should have all volunteered we said we'll all leave our comfort zone and go into the desert had they all obeyed they would all gone into the paradise but we stay back and we hold on to our self-life and we flunk the test god is a god who tests us every test that we pass takes us higher into the glory of god so to sum up here's what we need to think of as we're going through tests i'm going to choose pride or humility selfishness or laying down my life obedience or i'm going to reason myself out of obedience those are the tests i can talk myself out of it or i can obey what god said i can humble myself or i can lift myself up you know i can hold on to my self-life or i can lay i can be selfish or i can lay my life down those are the tests every test sweep that's what sanctification is the process of sanctification is being put into these situations and then all of us have we have the road map we have the book we have the answers we have the test in front of us then we make a decision am i going to do what this says or do what i want every test we pass more glory thank you lord let the test come let him come come on let's give the lord praise

Channel: ShekinahWorshipTV

Views: 8,383

Rating: 4.949791 out of 5

Keywords: Joe Sweet, Shekinah Worship Center

Id: 24G7EbQrDII

Length: 67min 57sec (4077 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020