"The Need To Suffer" - Stephanie Ike

all right okay um let's pray mom can you hold the hand of your at the person standing next to you no you know it's good for us to be accountable for each other expecially in prayer father God we thank you for this day lord thank you that we stand in agreement for you to have your way on tonight Lord God and we stand by the God that made this word touch and we knew the minds of your people and may it change lives amen okay so earlier on when we started the service Brian talked about you know us being in a spirit of Thanksgiving and I find that so incredible sometimes we are too holy with the things we are thanking God for you know like thank you God for you know I'm not going to say it but we're too holy with some things you know the other day in prayer I was like wow god there's so many things that you you do for us that when we are able to praise you it's a time that we should give it our all and true story what came into my mind was you know I like the dance hit the Quan and it's an urban dance for those that don't know but the ability to do that dance it requires a lot of different body parts functioning and all that stuff and I'm like God I thank you that I can hit the corn but for real you know but when we see the little things that we are excited about things that we like to do in fun and we realize that we can't even do these things without God it's like you know what hey but to go into serious stains because this message the title might not sound too you know funny the other day I was talking to my mom and I was like oh yeah that'll be nights with her the message and she was like what is it I was like it's called the need to suffer and real quick she went Nigerian ami she's like sofa why and what was so fun is because like her and everyone and I mean most people no one wants to suffer you know it's like please you know my mom was like please I've suffered enough you know we don't need that she kept trying to change the denied the name of the style of the message or whatever and I'm like mom this is the message and when I was coming in here I was aware that I was coming into a room full of burdens and it didn't connect with me that the whole day my back had been hurting and I'm like okay and it's not like I worked out and I wish I did but that's not it and I was like god what is this thing and I felt like it just felt like load on my back and it took me a long time and was just few minutes ago and I realized I was feeling the burdens of the people and so we're going we're going to go into this message and it's going to make some sense let's start with the first one first passage and it's okay now in Ecclesiastes 3:1 it talks about for everything there is a season now everything so the season is connected to the thing so there is a thing that produces or that causes a season to come about and sometimes we are so focused on what the season is that we're not thinking about what the thing that is connected to is about I loved how Kevin talked about you know there in every season God is with us sometimes we like to demonize things that God has approved and one of those things is the period of suffering and for some people we call that the wilderness period and ultimately what we're going to see today is that suffering leads to the revealing of who we are and so God allows it and God allows us to go through such periods and it's not something that is like masked to you you can hide it from your pairs but you know when you're suffering you know that's not a hidden thing and sometimes it could be based on whatever it could be based on maybe a Nantz is a suffering it could be based on your emotional stability sometimes we lack peace we can't sleep we don't we can pinpoint what is going on whatever the case is you know when you're in that stage and so I want us to go to the next verse and we're gonna is going to be very interested I'm very excited about today and if I tend to twitch I learned that's what I do when I'm feeling the spirit but yeah so now it talks about although he was a son he learned obedience through what he suffered now this is Jesus and we learned that although he was the son of God Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered and when we're looking at this it brings us to the place of Gethsemane when Jesus wasn't get cemani it's interesting and I hope that everyone would read that passage I believe it's Matthew 35 or somewhere in Matthew if you google it you know it will pop up but it talked about how Jesus said my soul is suffering you know my soul is is everything was focused on the soul and he said his soul is suffering even to the points of death and I found it very interesting that he mentioned his soul because I wasn't the spirit because obviously the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak now the soul is a place where our mind and our intellect and all those things dwell and so Jesus is in Gethsemane and he's in the place where he's trying to negotiate himself you know with God's will and he's praying and he's talking about God you know if you can take this cup you know that'll be cool you know but if it's your world then you know that's that's what it was what it is and whatnot but we see Jesus in a place where he was kind of like in peace because we learned about how you know he was he was crying to the point of blood you know I've never cried to the point that I would see you know something something like that so I can't even imagine what that would look like but Jesus was in a place where he was struggling in his mind to think about you know how can it be that this is what I'm going to do his spirit was cool with it and ultimately obedience is really your soul submitted to your spirit because your spirit is where the Holy Spirit dwells and so for you to obey God your soul has to be in submission you see in the beginning of this year PT talked about how we this is the year of authenticity and we see that we are in a time where the kingdom is rising and we are in a time where you need to be you and God needs you to be you and so sometimes we talk about being authentic but it's as though we desire it more as a thought than as a reality because the reality of being authentic is a very scary ordeal you see the place of your authenticity is a place that you're going to be criticized the most it's a place where although really like God I just want to be in a walk in Who I am but really do you you know and so God knowing us and just being so good and even we see this in the life of his own son that to get us to that place we have to go through somethings you see suffering ultimately strips you down to the real you it strips down all the extra stuff that we like to add it brings you to the place that you're like God you know what let's do this Kevin mentioned earlier that you know I wrote a book and ultimately I got the revelation for that in March last year I didn't do it until September because I was in the place where I was afraid of what that meant you know stepping into who I knew I was who I knew I am rather but just thinking of you know okay God it feels like I'm coming out type of thing and it's so funny because no one is ever really thinking about you but you think everybody is thinking about you and as I was growing up and so in my mind I'm like oh my gosh everybody's gonna be like says that was Stephanie you know wanted to do now now she wants to be talking about the Bible you know but nobody no one is gonna think of that right but it took me till September because that was a time in my life where everything was shut down I almost lost the place I was staying I was just I was it was maybe one of the most down times in my life I would cry myself to sleep almost every night and my mom's probably watching this she's like what you didn't tell me but yeah you know we have to be honest in the house of God but real talk you know um it was a very hard time for me and that was the place that it didn't care I didn't care anymore what people would think because I'm like Lord I can't like I can't I can't cope you know I'm it was just was not working and I'm like you know what fine we're gonna write this book and I need this book so I need you to teach me then I can teach other people and that's how the whole thing came about and so let's push on to the next verse and while that comes up already up it's so interesting how even last week I benissa talked about the wilderness is the place where disobedience dies so the wilderness which is you know aka you know when you're suffering is the place where you become able to obey God you know so not in this passage I'm just gonna read mine so it says and after you have suffered a little while the God of all Grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore confirm strengthen and establish here now one thing that PT has taught me is to look into the translations of these words because you know being able to partially speak another language in there things that in my language which is ebo if we say it and if someone else sees it in English like if I translate it to you it's not going to be as you know our authentic maybe as if maybe my mother translated because she you know she grew up in the culture and all that stuff so it's not as watered-down as I would say it and so when we look into the Greek translations it's completely incredible but first of all even before we go into that we see how the suffering leads to God releasing something unto us now there's a passage in Isaiah and I believe as I 45 and it talks about how God will give you treasures in dark places and I found that very interesting I believe it's as I 45 three or so that's one of my favorite chapters but it says he will give you treasures in dark places now there's a man named John who referred himself as the one God loves now I you know I regard myself as God's treasure and biblically there are places where God would regard his people as his treasured possessions and when I read this and to understand the my god what are you what are you saying the treasure is actually you the treasure is not it's in this context he's giving you yourself in the darkness because sometimes you see we are so buried there's so many things if you you know when Petey talked about Wells and I grew up in Nigeria so you know we we dug some wells no but you see if you put a touch light or something you know down like if it's you know down the well or whatever you might not be able to see everything unless you go deeper into it you see sometimes we are so so many things have buried us and even starts from childhood you know you grow up being told you know this is what you should do or this is how you should be your Europe we consume so much stuff especially in this age with social media and all this and especially in this town where perception is you know the image of who you want to be is greater than you actually becoming who you really are and so we have the real us is buried and so we cannot even see ourselves and so God needs you to go to that place to for him to give you yourself and so now we go amen we go into this place where we see the things that God is saying that he will give to us and so it starts with your restore you now the Greek translation talks about how it means to perfectly join together and in that in that context is talking about alignment you see you go through the suffering then you get to the place where you can obey God and so you're in alignment with him now he talks about he would confirm you why he and that in itself talks about how he would turn you purposefully in a certain direction so this is about your purpose so he's confirming the very thing that you might have known or he's bringing that information to your awareness like hey this is who I've called you to be you see moment I said God have your way in my life you know if we're gonna write this book hey you know we're gonna do it but I was still in a place where I was just obeying to obey and God does not call us to be robotic you know like do it because I said so there's a relationship but in so in that moment he was confirming me that this is who you really are you've known this all along and he brought so many things to me for me to realize that Stephanie you know you're not just writing this book because of writing sake you're not just writing it because God is like you know what you're the only one I could find to write these things and the pages or whatever but but this is who you really are and then it goes into he was strengthen you and that word means to confirm in spiritual knowledge and power you see what is happening right here is me being strengthened you see there are things that would happen as a result of you being aware of your purpose and allowing God to push you that things would start to happen around you that shows you that he's confirming you of the thing that he spoke to you and then it goes into that he would establish you and that is to make you you know stable a solid foundation and that is the place we we all want to be right we all want to get to the place where God can establish us and God to say you know what you're settled but the thing that hit me when I was reading this cuz I was like yes God you know let's do this type of thing was that all these things are built on the place of obedience if you step out of obedience at any stage everything else crumbles you see Petey talked about how sometimes we're so focused on the branch you know that we see like the branch has roots and we cut off the branch forgetting that the ability for the branch to bear fruit is because it's connected to the tree you see there is a tree of obedience and if you disconnect any one of this stages that you're in if you disconnect yourself from the very thing that God told you in the beginning everything else crumbles and so we could we see this as a confirmation even in the next verse and that that is coming up boom it says that the Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself as he has sworn to you if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways everything comes down to the very point of the beginning it comes down to the very place of our obedience unto God and so in walking that out in being in the place where you're saying God it's not just about what I can get from you but it's an understanding that God I want to submit to you because if you're so focused on because it will work you know you do the things that God tells you to do this will move for your life but if you don't understand what it means to be submitted to God because why is he mentioning this to the people because there is the potential for us that when we get what we want from God where it's where it's easy for us to walk away it's easy for us to forget how everything came about it's easy for us to say you know what maybe it was never gone in the beginning maybe I was self-made and it's not that you're actually telling yourself those thoughts but your actions are showing it and so when we look at the place of suffering because there is everyone in this room is in the stage right you're either in the stage of you know the suffering stage or in the stage of restoration or being confirmed or being strengthened or any of these things we're all in a stage and the goal is that we keep moving forward right no one is trying to be stuck somewhere and so when we are when we are coming into this we have to have a desire to go into the next thing but the next thing is not about the next thing it's about knowing that God no matter what I am submitted to you I surrender to you it doesn't matter how high you take me I surrender to you you see when I started being a gatekeeper there are things that you're loved things that God showed me about my life but the one thing that he mentioned that has to stay the same is being a gatekeeper you see because sometimes we get caught up right there are people you know maybe not here maybe your friends that you wouldn't serve in this house because you're so caught up with your image and to God it's like I gave you that image so you're so concerned about who the people call you outside that you forget who gave you that thing there is never a reason why we should be in the house and we are we are announcing constantly for people to serve everyone is in this building everyone here has the ability to serve and I'm just being honest you know if we search ourselves we know these things because it's natural for us to get to certain stages in life and feel as though we are too big to do the very thing that launched us there you see it was me being a gatekeeper that brought me here so I can't stop being a gatekeeper because I'm here I can't stop saying you know what Lauren I'm feeling the people I don't need to be serving them anymore as I come on you know I can't stop that so we have to oh we have to be honest you know and and neek coming into today this is a message that I mean even like he needed everyone to hear this message true story I mean I got the the title of this message maybe it was like a couple weeks ago I just didn't really focus on it and when I read the passage um that is actually going to be coming up it's interesting how there was a particular word that I didn't understand and we could even go to it there was a particular word that I didn't understand and I'm like God um I don't know if this is supposed to be in there or what's going on and the following I believe it was Wednesday we could go to the next one the following Wednesday philmont's he preached and the word is apostle's and I'm going to go into that and film once he preached and he mentioned apostle's in passing and I was like oh he knows okay God but then I'm serving so I can't really you know disrupt what I'm doing in between service to go find film on see and I'm like okay Lord you know if I need to talk to this man you know just you just make the way and so where I'm at the door and we're telling people by because we're about to transition to the next service and randomly film on see comes behind me to shake people's hands I said look at this you know and so right there I asked him and I'm like you know what does it mean to be an apostille and he explained that to me and that is the word that we'll be using today when we look at that the next verse which we are there now this next verse because in the first part of this teaching we see how what does where you know why God puts us through things that we have to suffer where all those things lead to but in the second part of this we're going to see the things that actually happen through you as a result of you becoming you now when you read this you know it sounds very you know like okay let's read it so and God has appointed in the church first apostles second prophets third teachers then miracles then gifts of healing helping administrating and various kinds of tongues and so initially it sounds like okay this is what God is doing in the church right but when I read this the thing that he taught me was to focus on the order of what was happening and to see what it actually symbolizes you see the church is actually you right the church is not a building is actually who you are now the Apostles like philmont's he taught me represent the father's and why that word was really confusing to me was when I was praying about it the word I kept hearing was the foundation and I was like okay what does that mean but when you think about it fathers are the foundation you know of the house but in this context the father is in reference to our relationship with God the Father right and this happens through Jesus Christ so we get that boom you know we have a relationship with God and then next it talks about the prophets now the prophets gives the prophetic word right so the prophetic word symbolizes the word of truth which is the Holy Spirit gives you the word of truth so now you have the holy bird within you the Holy Spirit confirms you this is who you are and all that stuff so you receive the word now the teachers actually teach you how to apply the word because no teachers come in here to just inform you right I mean that would work what we doing that for you know which is coming here to help you know as a people as a unit how to apply these words now the ability to apply the word is through the things you suffer right now the miracle which blew my mind because I said God what is a miracle and the understanding I received was that it is a supernatural revealing of what is now when we look at a miracle for example we look at you know Jesus healing a blind man are we all in agreement that that's a miracle right okay so now let's just make sure you know now he's healing a blind man what is he doing he's okay let's use one example you know there was a blind man who came up to Jesus and Jesus touched his eyes and then boom he could see but he had you know eyeballs in an eye socket the whole time right then the intention of your eyeballs is for you to have the ability to see right it's not for anything it's not just for you know for design God gave you that for you to have the ability to see so the miracle happened because now there's a supernatural revealing of the intention of the eyeball so the miracle revealed its intention now the miracle in your life is the supernatural revealing of who you are is it as a pastor that talks about you know all earth is eagerly awaiting for the revealing of the sons of God right are the children of God but the revealing is a process and that process is a miracle it was a miracle for the Israelites to come out of the wilderness and so when you're being revealed is not to be demonized or to be so focused on God when am I going to get out of this seizing but it's for us to focus on the thing that actually made the season to occur and that thing is the revealing of you it is the treasure amen it is a treasure that God wants to give you which is you okay now it's very interesting for us to see how everything else after that is a gift so the miracle the teaching the Prophet none of that is a gift everything after that is a gift and it talks about healing helping and ministry and all that stuff now the gift is what will happen through you as a result of you becoming you so now your ability to heal people and help people you see the the word says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony so you have reached the place where you have broken through something you have broken through the wilderness point I can stand here and be a testimony because I broke through something and that can heal and help people and so all these things that would happen is a result of the gifts that God would cause to flow through you now it talks about administrating you see to be an administrator that means that God is putting giving you responsibilities and ultimately it's responsibility over people but you see God cannot trust you with responsibilities if you're not you because then you're going to lead people astray how can you lead people when you don't even know who you are and so the place of having responsibilities comes in the place when you know who is you and you're walking in who you are and so then it talks about various kind of tongues now true story when you know people always talk about you know you know praying in tongues and you know learn how to speak in tongues naturally I'm a very acts a lot of questions and so when it came to that oh my god you know why do I have to you know praying tongues and so I wanted to learn what it meant and when I was studying the word I saw how you know the tongues hot deals with different languages right and so I was like okay I'm gonna pray in tongues and so I really felt I myself cuz then and the word you could do that right and I was like I'm going to release my spirit Lord and I'm gonna do that and what I did I wrote down what I was saying however I could spell it and then I went to Google Translate real talk I went to Google Translate right there and I said okay Lord we're gonna see if this is legit and so I put it in there and it shocked me because it translated to saying Joseph is a position of circumstance now if you know Joseph in the Bible for him to ultimately get to the place you know as basically the Pharaoh you know he was in charge of so many things for him to get to that place it went through him being enslaved by his own brothers being thrown in jail like just all kinds of crazy stuff so he had to go through all these circumstances to become who God had called him to be which is really really like our suffering talk you know but I'm saying I'm calling upon that because in that moment I realized I was speaking like Hindu or something or Hindi and I learned there was a difference recently um and I realized I was speaking that and I was like wow and it translates to this and so when we talk about different tongues it's really about your ability to impact cultures so you're able to reach across different languages God can use you to reach so many people that don't speak your own language God can use you to reach so many people that are not like you because the Spirit has no you know discrimination the things that God wants to do through you is not based on your race or anything like that because that's not going to matter at the end of the day right and so we see all these things and it calls us to ponder on first of all we have to have relationship with God and not just knowing God you see a lot of us in this building don't sleep even though a lot of things are going on there's a lot of this there's no peace in your life and peace is a sign of God in your life as a sign of knowing who God is in your life because God is always with you right there was a lady when I went to megafest so megafest is over and I ended up touring Dallas ended up going to Fort Worth and there was this lady who had the horses and I kept you know I was so drawn to her and I was you know basically led to ask her about her faith and so when I mustered up some courage to go down there because that's a very no interesting topic but I see it takes courage to be yourself and so I go up to her and when we the when the conversation sparked it's interesting that she talked about how she knows that Jesus is with her but he's not in her and I'm like why if you know he's with you then what is wrong with him being in you and she was afraid that what if he's not real and I asked her what if he is now the difference between this lady and a lot of us is she recognized what her problem was a lot of us don't recognize what it is you see coming to church sometimes can be an addiction like a drug because sometimes we are addicted to the feeling some of us come in here because of relationships some of us come in here for so many other reasons and that not really God because if we are coming a sign and I'm not saying everyone you know but if we leave this building and that is all of God that we have encountered that there's a problem because the deeper you go in God or the deeper you have a relationship and always look at relationship with God like a relationship with a person you don't just not talk to them or not see them right you don't just show up when everyone shows up it's like only going to your birthday party you know like no but that's what it is right and so if we leave this building and we have no other um commitment to our walk with God you know if one thing we all need to have a Bible you know the phone is great but there is something different about it just being in your hands it being you being able to just you know touch it and open it you know there's something very different about that and so on the second part we learned that to even encounter what your purpose is it's in Christ there's a passage in 2nd Timothy and I can't remember where it is but it talks about how our purpose was given to us in Christ so for that thing to be revealed we have to understand who Christ is we have to go deeper into who God is and so this message today is very brief but it should spark something within each and every one of us are we asking the right questions or are we praying it away are we like God I don't want to go through this I'm done with it and you know whatever and you just push me into something else or are we really seeking God to understand the purpose of the place we are in you see when I was coming in here today and I my god Who am I speaking to and there was such a burden in my heart because I'm like I'm not really trying to say all of this you know but we have to right if we I mean I serve here I love each and every one here and so when even praying about this three types of people and I'm gonna call out who you know these people are and if that is you do not be shy to come down here there is a revealing that will be taking place on this day and I am excited about the testimonies that will happen amen as a result now the first group if you know that your relationship with God is not really where you need it to be and you desire to go deeper in to God you desire to go deeper to first have that relationship so you can understand what your purpose really is you see this group of people you rarely have any peace in your life there's so much going on and some actually a lot of things might be going good for you but something is missing something is not clicking something is not making sense and you're like God what is this thing what is this thing that is going on and so if that is you and your desire is God I am ready to get to know you better you see sometimes it's okay to reintroduce yourself to God like I got my name is Stephanie you know I don't like long walks on the beach but you know this is what it is sometimes it's okay because sometimes we have to go to a place where we're like let me know you as I know my friend let me know you as I know the person next to me as I have a relationship with people so if that's you and that identifies with you then come on down amen now the second group of people you are in a season and you've been so focused on getting out of the season rather than understanding what the season is about and so there is and I say this with confidence because I knew what I was stepping into when I walked in here there is a revealing that would take place about where you are in life there is a revealing there is wisdom that God is going to impart in you about what you're going through and so if that is you don't be shy we don't have to say it twice you know come on down a man and the third group of people you actually you know you made some progress you went you were obedient you were moving through and everything but you reached a certain stage in your life that you disconnected yourself from the tree of obedience and things began to crumble but you really couldn't place the hand on what was going on and you were wondering like why is this not like what is happening what is taking place here and even as I'm talking you can calm down amen and so what is taking place today is that God is taking you back to the place of obedience it's not going to take too long for you to get back to where you are but you have to be in a position where you're saying god I am putting everything back to you it's not about image it's not about all these things you see sometimes perception could actually kill us you know something I found very interesting about Solomon when I read about you know when he was asking God for wisdom and what is so fascinating is that if you or when you read that passage because I'm just believing y'all are taking notes in or something but Solomon was someone that when his father was dying and you know King David was instructing him in his deathbed and he's telling him you know about the things that Solomon should do but it's funny that he called him a wise man and he said you know you're a wise man you know you can you know figure it out and stuff like that and it's so fascinating that his own father called him wise but when God asked him what does he need he was asking for wisdom you see Solomon was able to detach himself from what the people thought about him what his own father thought about him he was only focused God what do you think because if I have wisdom then you tell me I'm fine right you just be like now you're good you know checked you know but that wasn't the case he came to God and he was humble enough to say God I need some wisdom I'm not I'm not gonna fall for that one you know so we can't be so stuck on how people perceive us and so there is also a breaking of that thing that thing of you know I want to be liked I want to be approved you want to be authentic right it's not it's not about that because that thing can kill you and it's actually killing you and so if that is you that it's not no problem here to calm down we're not going to remember that because you're walking into something beautiful you're walking into something powerful so if there is a breaking if you actually struggle with that thing I struggled with it for years so it's not you know nothing crazier nothing like oh my gosh I can't be revealed type of thing so if you struggle with that you struggle with being approved by your parents you struggle with being approved by your community I grew up you know Nigerians and if you have any Nigerian friends they'll tell you that three of the most respected positions is being a lawyer a doctor or an engineer and I wasn't interested in any of that all right so it's like God this is mm-hmm you know but if you struggle with that thing and you need the grace of God to break that thing then come on down amen amen thank you Jesus oh let's hold hands father God we thank you Lord we thank you for what has taken place today for God we thank you that we are able to be accountable for each other we are able to feed and pour into each other we know that there is nothing shameful here only victory Lord God we thank you that you are moving in our lives as the victor and we thank you Lord God that there is indeed a revealing of who your children really are because we are in that year of authenticity Lord God and this year will not escape your children being something else so Lord God we thank you for the courage and the boldness of the people who are able to walk down here and Lord God I pray for anyone sitting down Lord God or standing Lord God that is still struggling with nothing and we break up the lie of the enemy over their lives father God because I know what you spoke about today Lord God and so we thank you for the testimonies that will take place out as of today Lord God we thank you for the breakthroughs that would take place because of this word Lord God we thank you for the deliverance of your people to move into who they are father God and we thank you Lord God for insights into the things that we are in father God and we thank you that they would be a move for the God there will be a rise of your people Lord God that there is a rising and revealing of the Saints Lord God and we thank you God that we will not be left behind and what is taking place and we give you all the glory in Jesus name

Channel: ONE | A Potter's House Church

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Length: 41min 7sec (2467 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 10 2015