The Purpose of Suffering - Sunday Service

praise god father we thank you for this another opportunity to minister to these your precious sheep thank you lord that revelation knowledge will flow freely uninterrupted and unhindered by any satanic or demonic force and father i pray that you will speak through my vocal cords and think through my mind none of me all of you and we give you the honor the glory and the praise anoint every ear to hear anoint me lord to teach it and to share it under the anointing of god we welcome you in jesus name and everybody said amen you may be seated if you have your bibles go with me to the book of first peter chapter one [Music] and verses six through seven first peter chapter one verses six through seven uh we have been in a series entitled understanding the trials of faith answering that question why is it that believers have to go through suffering is suffering something that god actually uses to mature us is suffering of god or suffering of the devil why we got to have trouble and so we want to look at that but we want to spend time today talking about the trials that peter had to go through that paul had to go through and examining the faith of abraham and really get into this today so you can understand that when you're confronted with trials challenging you and your faith that you have some understanding where you can you know not be frustrated by it not run from it not fear it but to stand up against it and you know it's kind of like i love the scripture be still and know and that god is god and in in those situations where you're being tried be still in no so there's some things that we need to know when our faith is on trial first peter chapter 1 and verse 6 and 7 says wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a season just for season if need be for season if need be so this is interesting if there may be a need for certain things to happen in your life to get you prepared for certain assignments in your life okay uh if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of your faith so that's a real thing the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold and that perishes though it be tried with fire so he says the trial of your faith is more precious than gold that perishes though it be tried with fire then it might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of jesus christ the trial of your faith now what is that i know what most people traditionally would say about and how they would define the trial of your faith but let me kind of give that to you first so you can really you know it'll have impact as we go through this the trial of your faith is not just testing your faith to see whether or not you have faith or not somebody says well you know uh you know god got to test me to see if i have faith or not that's not what the trial of your faith is the trial of your faith is not testing your faith to see whether or not you have faith or not neither is it testing uh you to see if your faith is sufficient or not okay so you have to go through a test to see if you got faith or not or you have to go through a test to see if it's sufficient or not that is not the definition of the trial of your faith the trial of your faith is literally the purifying of your faith it is the removing of the impurity of your dependence upon self it is purifying your faith by removing the impurities of your dependence upon self now i took a whole lot of scriptures and reading a whole lot of books of the bible to to bring that into one but i thought just like everybody else thought it was just testing to see if i got faith or testing to see if it was sufficient or not now it's actually purifying your your your faith actually purifying your faith from you depending on self dependence upon self is is going is this is this is what's going to be put on trial we're going what's going to be put on trial is this are you depending on god or are you depending on self the trial of your faith not the trial of your works the trial of your faith not the trial of your accomplishments the trial of your faith and that's going to be tried to see whether or not you have declared independence from god saying i don't need god because i got money i don't need god because i got education or you made your mind up regardless of what comes in my life i am going to depend on god and not depend on myself and you'll find that this whole system this whole life satan's purpose is to get you to declare dependence from god his purpose in everything about our lives is to get us to a place where we say we don't need god we don't want god and we don't depend on god because that's what he did he declared independence from god with two words i will and he went right in the garden of eden and tried to do the same thing with adam and eve and did and they thought well the deal is you know if we'll if we'll separate from god and do what he told us not to do then we can be like god this whole deal is about it and so jesus came satan's job is trying to get you to declare independence from god saying you don't need him and jesus came to get you to operate in complete dependence upon god man all these years after 40-something years could not see that that is the theme of our life and this bible jesus has come that you might have life and have it more abundantly but you know you can't have that abundant life unless you have complete dependence upon him john 15 5 says god says i'm the vine you're the branch if you're going to bear fruit you're going to have to be dependent upon the vine because without him you can do nothing oh my god are you getting this now so the attitude towards god under grace and we are no longer under the law but we're under grace amen so the attitude towards god under grace should be here's the attitude that we should have right now today the attitude should be complete dependence upon him and i don't know if that's so in church today all we do is create new rules and new things to do so we can give ourselves a credit and boast about what we have done and that's where the trial of your faith comes in that until there's no boasting until you know it's not you without god until you understand it can only be you with god you were not created and designed to exist without him so there's no need of you trying to be like god without god because that's not gonna happen and the whole point of jesus dying and coming and shedding his blood and and his body is so that you can get to a place in your life where you can depend on god so what trial have you gone through lately after the trial is over with you now recognize i i need jesus and sometimes god will put stuff in your life and you you don't know what to do reminding you i i need to depend on god and that's a great place it might not feel comfortable for us but it's a great place for god and god is waiting for all of us to say i don't know what to do i need you instead of you're going around being deep and pretend like you got it all together there are some things in your life if you haven't had it happen yet it will there are some trials in your life that'll show up that say i can't do this god i'm just a branch say out loud i'm just a branch i need divine but not all christians think like that no some christians think no no no i'm not a branch i i got a holy ghost and then you leave the holy ghost and then go on and figure out how to do something on your own yeah i finally get it suffering may could be understood in light of what we're getting ready to talk about so how does god plan on perfecting and purifying this dependence on him since that is the object the objection here the the the how does god plan on perfecting and purifying this dependence on him because as long as you have trials and you come out and you still don't get it it's going to be some more it's going to be some more because somehow you keep coming out giving yourself credit until he can take that sense of you wanting to be important and can humble yourself and say when somebody even asked you how did this happen jesus jesus jesus but it's not like that there's a little arrogance in church these last days people are trying to build their image up they're trying to come up with the five things you have to do to do this you got to do that they feel like they got the system down but you don't know god see see god might use mud to open somebody's eyes up but don't try to marry that method cause the next time he'll use wheat to open the eyes up and the next time he'll just he'll just blow on you and open your eyes up and the next time he'll just cross his arms and say open your eyes up don't marry methods cause he's too big for you to figure out only thing you need to know is i need him and i depend on him and certainly in the time that we live on right now the time that we're living in right now is the opportunity for you to declare complete dependence upon god i don't know how to deal with this i don't know how to deal with that i i went to the store to get some ain't nothing on the shelves i i went to look at that and inflation got so high it was this price last week it went up loud certainly now is the time for you to lift your hands up and declare complete dependence upon god and while the world is freaking out and have no idea what to do we who are in the body of christ recognize that we have a vine that has never let us down oh my god help me y'all glory to god help me [Applause] now here's what i believe i believe that this provision is found this provision of god perfecting and purifying this dependence upon him i believe it's found in suffering i know that's a bad word to some christians i believe it's found in suffering i don't believe in that well i don't know who you think you are jesus the captain of our salvation was made perfect through this sufferings i'll show you that in a moment in scripture if jesus had to go to hell how come you don't think you got to go through some hell jesus had to go to hell all right i'm not saying prepare to be defeated by the things you suffer i'm saying prepare to let go of your self-dependence by the things you suffer [Applause] are you listening to me so this might be the greatest explanation for suffering by god's people look at second timothy chapter three uh let's look at verse ten through twelve second timothy chapter three verse ten through twelve let's look at it in the king james and then the the uh new living translation now my challenge today is i got i got to attack all that religious stuff that we've heard all this time and the only way i know to do that is to turn the scriptures and to challenge you to just read the word and believe it you you you have to make your mind up you're going to believe god's word now if you for some people they just hold on to what they've always heard and what happens there is your tradition has made the word of god of no effect in other words you don't believe the word you believe what you have traditionally always known instead of believing what the word has to say all right now notice he says but thou has fully known my doctrine paul is talking here you've known my manner of life my purpose my faith my long service my long suffering my charity he says you've known my persecution my afflictions which i which came unto me at antioch at iconium at um at uh lystra which uh excuse me what persecutions i endured but out of them all the lord delivered me that's the key thing he said he says i've gone through all these things but god's delivering me out all of them verse 12 yay and all these all that all that will live godly how many of you are attempting to live godly okay he says they shall suffer persecution so somebody says well you know i'm saved by grace it doesn't stop at salvation grace will teach you how to live godly see he says all that will live godly in christ shall shall suffer shall suffer persecution now look at this in the nlt okay so to me that's that's that pretty much says it it's like okay so if you're saved and you plan on living godly you're going to be suffering some persecution but the the question that we're trying to answer is why uh but you timothy certainly know what i teach and how i live and what my purpose in life is you you know my faith my patience my love my endurance you know how much persecution uh and suffering i have endured you know all about how i was persecuted at antioch iconia lystra but the lord rescued me from all of it all right so yes you will suffer persecution but your dependence upon him here's what you get delivered from all of it why would god allow you to suffer persecution and then commit to deliver you out of all of it so when you're out of it you can say this is the lord's doing a lot of us work real hard to get out of stuff on our own and you think you made it out only for it to return back again and again and again but when god delivers you it's complete you come out not only deliver but with the wisdom of what happened and how not to repeat it again see some of us come out of trouble and we leave the most important thing in trouble wisdom bring wisdom out everything you go through you ought to know you ought to get smarter after each trial and the number one thing you need to know is i depended on jesus and like paul he delivered me out of them all some of you might be going through a trial right now but i have good news for you this morning jesus has committed to deliver you out of them all okay so instead of you going around trying to figure out a way to get out of it the first base for you should be i have complete dependence on jesus to deliver me out of them all oh what you're going through yeah but jesus will deliver me out of this and after a while you'll build a backlog where you can do a flashback of testimonies and you realize he he delivered you out of that five years ago he delivered you out of that three years ago two years ago he delivered out of that a year ago he delivered you out of that eight months ago he delivered you out of that three months ago he delivered you out of that this morning when i rose church he delivered you out of that and there should be a confidence that's building that out of all these things he delivered me out of that and look at this in verse 12 he says yes and everyone who wants to live a godly life in christ will suffer persecution now i don't know about you if that was the first scripture they showed me when i desired to get saved i don't know if i would have finished saying the prayer i mean who who wants to go through trouble persecution but there's a reason there's a purpose for it and for you to run from it avoid it and and and not see what's happening here you're going to limit what god's trying to do for you you were put here for a reason you will put here for a purpose there's an assignment that that's on your life there's an anointing and an equipping that god has put on you to do that there's a season for you to rise and be prepared for that but there must be preparation and a maturing to bring you to that place that ultimate place that you're here for and you can't run away from the preparation process of getting you ready to do the thing that god has anointed you to do there are no there's an anointing on each of you that that you know that anointing on you just causes you to stand out above everybody and anybody else there's nobody like you when that anointing is on you but you're not mature enough sometimes for him to do things there's certain things he's ready to do you're not sure enough yet because you think you're numb on god which means you think you depend on yourself there's still too much confidence in yourself even jesus came and said i can't do nothing except the father do it and we're still saying well i'm gonna pray for five hours and i'm gonna fast for four hours hey y'all there you go i got it stop you need god stop it stop all this church playing stuff i realize some christians christians don't even love god they don't care nothing about him they're into the games of the church i'm done with that i'm done with all that i want to know i got to be playing no church you don't want to hear the truth don't come around me cause if you if you're more concerned about your image then you are about people and you're more concerned about what what what it make you look like than you are about what god trying to do well i ain't gonna let nobody know i'm going through this because they're gonna think that i'm not a powerful powerful christian i know you already ain't a powerful christian because if you don't depend on god you're you're just the imitation of life you're just you're just this fake symbol that that's trying to pretend like you power but see you can't you can't fake the anointing hallelujah you can try to fake it you can jerk jiggle and fall out but the anointing is not the anointing unless it removes burdens and destroys yokes and you can't fake that you can push people down you can spit on people you can kick people and make it look like you're anointed but the anointing of the holy host cannot be imitated it's got to be authentic or not there [Applause] look at luke 22 42 in the nlt look 20 luke 22 42 and nlt uh this is jesus in the garden of gethsemane all right so here here's jesus the son of god in the garden of gethsemane and he's he's going through this serious attack on his soul one translation says all the way to depression he was resisting to such a point he started to bleed through his pores and he said father if you are willing please take this cup of suffering away from me that's a human talking to you every one of us have asked that i know i have god please take this suffering from me when is it going to be over but i saw the dependence of jesus when he said this after he said that he says ah yet i know what i just said yet i want your will to be done not mine i want your will to be done not mine so through intense suffering in gethsemane jesus's unfailing dependence on the father was expressed in these words not my will but thine be done have you ever thought about your life when you're living a life and everything's about your will your prayers are about your will lord do this for me lord give me that coming to churches by your will trying to get some more knowledge of the word is about your will but when will the day come well your will is no longer at the top of the list his will is god i don't know why this is happening i don't know why that's happening but let your will be done somebody says well that ain't god's will well most trouble ain't but it's still something that you can grow through so lord whatever you're trying to pull out of me put in me rearranging me changing me not my will i depend on you let yours be done i don't know what's down the street around the corner and behind the building i don't know what that perfect 100 flawless will of god is for my life and i don't know the preparations that are all needed and necessary for me to be ready for that but you do yes i don't how do we pretend to act like we even know what we're doing i often wake up declaring i don't know what i'm doing with a lot of things but you do and that's why i say there's a little arrogance in the church we wake up actually think we know what we're doing we think we know the path we ought to take and the bible says some guys wake up and go down the path and they have no idea what they what they where they going what they're doing they won't depend on me they won't look to me how about getting up in the morning and say lord i depend on you show me what to do today show me what path i need to go down today you will be shocked of the completion of a day when you have said not my will but let thy will be done now somebody say oh but you got to watch that brother that's a scary thing i don't care i want his will why why would i want to be a scared out of his will i want to know his will listen jesus had to go through hell to get to the will that god had planned for him in that physical body he had to go through here to go through through a hell and you think you ain't got to go through nothing to get to the place where god called you to when the son of god who became the son of man so that the sons of men could become the son of god the sons of god what is that what is that big pretense i'll be a christian if god gets me the car and gets me to raise it are you serious so you if if he don't give you everything you want then you're going to quit somebody said pastor ain't nobody doing that yes they are all over the world they're mad at god because they didn't get what they wanted i prayed that this person would live and they died and now i'm mad at god you are mad at the only one that can help you [Music] it's not about you it's about the kingdom it's about the will of god and you keep trying to make it about you what is it going to take for you to get to the point where you realize it's not about you oh my god the things that i've had to go through to get to this space in my life and ministry to understand this enough to even say this to you no no i'm just not i'm just not interested i don't know why people preach and i don't know why they pass the churches or nothing like that but i know why i do it and i'm not doing it this is so important i'm doing it because it's the will of god for my life that's it if this was not the will of god for my life i'd have been gone this negro would be out because people people people people only causes the will of god only because i know it's the will of god only because this is what he he told me i spent all these years getting you ready for this don't talk to me about you coming home you you just ready to get started and i'm thinking where's that in the bible moses moses was while before he got started in ministry 80 and some of you think well i'm seven out of eighty i'm through you better ask the lord it took him 70 or 80 years to get you ready just to say a few things and and to understand some things and you can look back and have a flashback and understand about that point and understand about this point and understand about that point and understand about this point you're good to go now you're ready but i'm talking about the people who just got saved an hour ago and they still went from water baptism and they trying to tell you about life salah talabash coming outside in time my time honda could it be that suffering is god's method under grace for perfecting and purifying faith could it be that his method under grace for perfecting and purifying faith is suffering the things we have to go through there's another side of what you go through i don't know nobody that has gone through something and and took the wisdom with him that came out with something that's why it's important for you to listen to your elders you know there are laws in certain parts of the country that you can go to jail for not taking care of your elders certain parts of the world excuse me from certain parts of the world you you can't lay around mama's house and not have a job if if the government get a report that they're not being taken care of you can be sentenced to jail i wish they did that today because we are so about ourselves we don't even think about those who took care of us there's no honor for for the elderly there's no honor for the elderly [Applause] i'm preaching the baby the best i know how i don't want to have to go through nothing in order to preach it better lord help me i depend on you jesus [Applause] are you listening to me all right in fact let me show you this one more scripture and then we'll get started hebrews 2 somebody said you ain't started yet no man this review this is a summary i'm trying to see where y'all at some of y'all ain't seen in a long time i'm trying to catch all up make sure you still save you you yet holding on that pandemic has some demons that pandemic got but a lot of people got demon possessed that people who didn't possess don't even know they didn't possess i say hey praise the lord who oh i don't know why i did that this is this is real what i'm about to say but they're demon-possessed people who come in and asking please pray for me and deliver me from this demon the god part that's stealing them i got a demon in me i can't tell you a number of times this happened to me and it was a little freak out i got a demon in me i know i'm demon possessed could you help me go you mean you ain't even said no before she knows you know got slapped fell out and got up and got delivered said what happened you ain't got to go through no scientific investigation before you cast the demon out when people come up to you and say i need deliverance don't bring them to church you anoint it you got time to bring them to church that demon could could kill them before you get to church you take your hands out in the name of jesus well ain't no preacher i i beg to differ he's commissioned all of us to preach the gospel so you're a preacher go ahead and put it on in the name of jesus and you ain't got to go through all that because sometimes people just scared when they take too long in the name of jesus oh lord help me oh in the name of israel and that thing oh in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus you're scared you're doing too much don't talk to god about your problems talk to your problems about what god's already done don't sit up there and talk to no demon cast them out in the name of jesus satan come out in jesus name i i did that it was a couple of times i did it one time in this in this building i said come out in the name of jesus that demon said no and i thought now wait a minute now i got authority and you got the ding money the next question is do you want to release this or do you want to keep it no i don't i said we're going to sit down i can help you until you want to get delivered how many you know you can't want it more than the person who's in bondage and we keep trying we keep wanting it more than the person who's in bondage because we play in church and then you want to hop on folks and jump on them and and and stay there for an hour and sweat and i ain't ain't that ain't hard you're not supposed to happen like that if you want it and you want to receive deliverance it's simple come up and receive i take authority and cast that devil out you take authority and put him out demonic influence you can tell that depression comes you start doing things that you're trying to figure out why you're doing it you start having these thoughts trying to figure out how you have a that's demonic influence see you watch too much tv you think something's gonna float and spit up green stuff and all that kind of stuff now i don't see them spit but i'm like i'm gonna make you clean this up after you get delivered you you if i could open your spiritual eyes you would be shocked of the number of people who are under demonic influence and we're walking around here with the power and too scared to to to execute it in the name of jesus that changes right now i don't care where you are i don't care what's going on you will release your authority in the name of jesus you ain't got to touch him you got to do nothing you can stand right back and say satan you know who i am and i call you out right now leave this woman or this man in jesus name they want to be delivered it all happened you gotta do that see i think part of that is self-dependence pray long time do dramatic things slap folks had an organ plan do a big old show and the person still ain't delivered you just get them like they deliver okay honey go back to your seat oh yeah they still ain't delivered and i'm waiting on the day when one of them turned around saying i ain't going nowhere [Music] hebrews 2 verses 9 and 10 and then we're going to look at the trial of peter hebrews 2 verse 9 and 10. now watch what jesus says he says but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels or elohim uh the hebrew elohim made a little lower than god that the rank is not you know uh angel's then jesus it's it's god jesus angels and man excuse me actually i ain't got time to get into that but that is a really powerful sermon amen because we have we will judge the angels another sermon but we see jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of god should taste death for every man verse 10 for it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings now look at just these two verses in the nlt so jesus is the captain of our salvation but look at look at what he how he how he got to that point through suffering uh what we do what we do see is jesus who for a little while was given a position a little lower than the angels and because the suffering the suffered death for us he is now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death for us he suffered death for us and he's now crowned with glory and honor yes by god's grace jesus tasted death for every one yes god for whom uh and through whom everything was made uh chose to bring many children into glory and it was only right that he should make jesus through his suffering a perfect leader fit to bring them into their salvation through his suffering when jesus was on this planet he was not absent of suffering persecution being slandered being lied on he wasn't absent of those things some some i don't know some people think well you know jesus was on earth you know he can't understand of course he can i guarantee you he went through more persecutions than than you've ever encountered persecution to you is not having the money to pay the big old house that he didn't tell you to get in the first place he became a fit leader the captain of our salvation through the things that he suffered so instead of complaining about the things you're going through talk to god and say you must be preparing me for something i believe that god's preparing you for something i believe the thing that's going on in your life is preparing you for something something that will fit the anointing that has been placed on you for your life everybody see when you got born again you got born again with an anointing for an assignment and it's going to take going through something uh to bring the beauty of it out of it you remember in elementary school we used to have pottery and we made the pottery and and then they would take the little pottery that you made and put it in a keel and and the heat of it and then we'll come out and they put glaze on it and it will come out with this this beautiful you think what what's that is that mine yeah that's basically what's happening here god is is is through suffering and through persecution he's going to bring you out better greater but the main thing he's trying to do through persecution and suffering is bring you out with a complete dependency on him don't forget that that's the main issue to bring you out with a complete dependency upon him that's it god wants us as christians to not depend on self he wants us as christians to depend on him you know i was you know back traveling this weekend and uh on both of the trips ran into some really strong rocking wind and and i had to catch myself i'm like i'm not even there's not even a thought about it the thought that i used to have is not there anymore why i got on this plane with complete dependence on him i'm gonna get off with complete dependence on him all is well see complete dependence on him is gonna remove a lot of fear out of your life there's certain things in your life that bother you now that won't bother you later because it ain't about you no more it's not about what you can do it's about what he has already done and your decision to completely depend on him and you can go back and look at some things in your life and say wow look at what i went through now i know i need to depend on him wow look at that what happened to me now i know i need to depend on him you'll be able to go back and locate all of those areas where you thought you were smarter than god and it'll humble you enough to where you'll come out and say lord i completely depend on you there's something liberating about finally getting to the point as a christian where there's no boasting you know the bible tells us that about our salvation we were saved by uh uh by grace we got it through faith and he says so there's no boasting you can't boast about it because there's nothing that you did to do anything to enable you to be saved it was all that jesus did and that same dependence he wants to be in our lives now let's go to luke 22. let's let's get started luke 22 31-33 in the nlt let's look at peter's uh trial and let's look at the trial of faith that peter had luke chapter 22 verse 31 through 33. now watch this very carefully this is this is you know i hesitated on whether or not i was going to share this with a congregation and then i thought oh it's the world changers they'll get it and if you don't get it now you'll get it so i might as well just put it out there i i am not going to ever look at something say oh well that's just too deep for the world changes you got the holy ghost you got the holy ghost i'm not going to hold back on you on this all right now watch this 31-33 simon simon jesus is speaking here satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat now watch this but i have pleaded in prayer for you all right who is praying for simon say it again jesus i have pleaded in prayer for you simon that your faith should should not fail so what was jesus praying about simon come on what that your faith failed not so when you have repented and turned to me again so he says i pray that your faith fail not so when you repent it or when you've changed your mind so there's something he needs a change of mind about when you've changed your mind and turn to me again strengthen your brothers verse 33 and peter said lord check this out i be careful when that word i is used i am ready to go to prison with you and even to die with you and jesus goes on to say he he told him he was like look dude let me tell you before is that in verse 34 jesus said peter let me tell you something boy hey check it out i know you sound good it sounds good it sounds noble he says but before the rooster crows tomorrow morning you will deny three times that you even know me all right now let me ask you some questions think about this did peter's faith fail i'm glad you stayed quiet now traditionally we would immediately say what his faith failed listen to me now did he deny his lord yeah yeah he denied his lord but if it be said that his faith failed then jesus's prayer for him was not answered is that even possible for jesus to pray a prayer and it not be answered no he's you just read simon satan decides to sit down y'all like weak but i'm going to pray to the father that your faith will not fail so i i can't accept the fact that jesus prays prayers that are not answered there's not one time that jesus prayed and didn't get exactly what he prayed me he's the example for us for prayer how is his prayer not answered if his faith failed then his pr then jesus's prayer wasn't answered so what have we missed because i'm going to tell you right now it wasn't his faith that failed i mean that's not possible so how then could this be understood was it was it was it in faith that peter made his boasting profession of faithfulness did he say that in faith it seems not when you look at mark chapter 14 verse 29 through 31 in nlt go there mark chapter 14 so we're rightly dividing it right now mark chapter 14 verse 21 29-31 was it in faith that peter made his boasting uh profession of faith ah i will do this and i'm prepared to do that and i'm sounds like another guy i read about it in isaiah 14. it wasn't in faith that he said that because it was about what he could do all right now watch this verse 29-31 nlt peter said to him even if everyone else deserts you watch this i never will 30. jesus replied i tell you the truth peter this very night before the rooster crows twice you will deny three times that you even know me response verse 31 no peter declared emphatically this is jesus if anybody knows what you're getting ready to do in the morning he does no peter declares emphatically even if i have to die with you i will never deny you and all the others vowed the same peter's words were filled with self-confidence follow me carefully now peter's failure then was of self and not of his faith in god in fact his faith in god is what got him to change his mind to repent the failure his faith didn't fail the failure was of self through his failure peter peter peter learned his own weakness and his own inability to carry out his own resolve so this is the first essential for dependence upon god out of this experience although it was very painful and disgraceful peter emerged with a deeper sense of need of his lord and greater faith in him what he declared i i was confidence in self it was not confidence in god he still had faith in god that's what got him to change his mind and said you know what i probably need to have no confidence in me and i need to have more confidence in god's ability are y'all seeing this now so before peter's fall peter had faith in jesus as the son of the living god but his faith was mixed with much confidence in self so by the trial of his faith by that trial that was a trial what that he went through imagine him denying he even knowed him first of all i know it can condemn him big time i know he had big time problem with it but then he did this in front of other people i'm sure they had some stuff to say about it and i'm sure they did we saw you with him and you did so he went through some triangles right there so by the trial of his faith confidence himself was burned out and his faith in the son of god included dependence upon him for his daily life so if that whole situation were to happen again and jesus is telling them something he would say well i depend on god instead of having confidence in self and permitting peter to fail because of confidence in self grace taught him to depend wholly upon god you can see your life in p pieces of what peter went through so with all believers failure of the flesh may be god's way or god's means to bring about a greater dependence upon him that grows into an enriched spiritual life especially when you have confidence in you confidence in you places an order for a trial to burn out that impurity to increase your spiritual life to a place where you can depend on god and not on you [Applause] i got about 10 people that got it the rest of you download this and listen to it again until you get it failures due to dependence upon self failures due to dependence upon self now that you're hearing this pay attention to when self when you depend on yourself and then it fails or you depend on yourself and it happened but then all hell broke loose i i i'm teaching this because i want you to know immediately what to go to it's like a car that's broke i want you to know when when you let the hood up immediately what to go to what the problem is and it's not the devil all the time this is the devil no no we we have impure dependence on self that needs to be burned off i have to order a trial to get this off of you because you're not going to be able to do what i called you to do depending on self you got too much confidence in yourself too much confidence in your degree too much confidence in your education too much confidence in who you know too much confidence and how much money you got you got too much confidence [Applause] your confidence needs to be in me failure's due to into dependence upon self should be stepping stones to deeper spiritual experiences those failures should be stepping stones they should be steps that bring you to a place of more maturity you should be getting matured by the stuff you're going through now you are going to encounter those christians that will say oh they must be doing something wrong because they're going through that how about you must be in preparation that's why you're going through that it's not always something wrong you must be in preparation god must get you ready for something and we got to graduate from romper room church some people are content with romper room church and i have been instructed by the lord to take you deeper than we've ever been before and some of you drowning right now you got to get rid of romper barney you remember barney the dinosaur you barney the dinosaur is not going to exist in the series you're going to have to grow up see the one thing about this sermon is i don't care what your theological dissertation is about what i'm preaching all i got to do is sit back and watch it and after you go through a little hell now and still won't get rid of that confidence itself remember you're not it's not you must mature and god is not going to compromise and use you and you've not matured to the place where you need to be in order to be used you ain't the only one there are thousands of people that he can put in the place to do what need to be done i don't want nobody showing up taking my place i want to get rid of myself i want to pay attention to the trials that i go through it's my faith that's not on trial it's my faith that's on trial it's not my works that's on trial it's my faith that's on trial it is it is my my dependence do i depend on god or do i depend on self have i declared independence from god or do i have complete dependence for god that's going to be on put on trial and the scripture says in first peter that when that's put on trial you are going to come out looking pretty good but the problem i see with most church people is put on trial and they still won't change look at the apostle paul real quick second corinthians chapter 12 7-9 man i like having church as much as everybody else but we got to grow we got to grow now cause this thing has accelerated and we got to grow we got to grow you can't keep not coming to church hey well you went to church today yeah what were they preaching you can't take this and only look at it today and close your book and then open it up next sunday you got to grow you got to grow you got to see yourself like you in college or school somewhere and i'm teaching you about life and you got to get this in you this can't be the only time you hear it it can't be the only time you see it you got to make a commitment throughout this week to study this to get it in you to understand it so you can see the only thing you're getting and understanding is the tradition of the old stuff and part of that's wrong and your life won't change because you won't change change your thinking change your life you won't even change the way you think i'm imparting something into you and you're thinking well i i'm ready to have church what's that what's that i'm ready to have church in the morning oh we have a church now what's that how do you grow how do you mature so you can have a real experience with the holy spirit and see the impossible moved out of your way because you know the problem under the hood [Music] [Applause] aren't you tired of being defeated by the devil every split second but you're tired of walking afraid until tired of not knowing whether you can trust god or not trust god aren't you tired of that [Applause] and here we've got a word and i'm preaching this word now i want to hear the couple of the law says but i don't know what criminal will be talking about hey you ain't me everybody ain't funny go to realm tremble's church and just shout about stuff that y'all traditionally know that's wrong we got to grow my assignment is clear this year i i got to i got to blow your upper room mine so that you can have the mind of christ so that when trials come you don't get afraid you don't run you don't make religious excuses you don't sit there and not come out with the wisdom necessary we've got to grow we've got to develop you should not be on the same level now as you were 20 years ago in that sad you've wasted 20 years because you didn't understand why all those things had to happen and it's not too late just sit back today when you go home and look at everything that's happened and you'll see the common denominator you you well i don't know why they got a divorce listen first of all what somebody's doing ain't none of your business ain't done our business we are part of the new department called none of your business club and and but i i see guys that decide you know well i'm embarrassed i don't want to stay at the church anymore like every see you think you're too important like everybody know you don't nobody know you or what your business is going in it seems like every time someone's going on your life i got to leave the church why you always leaving the church ain't nobody nobody know what you're doing i didn't know your first wife why you i don't i don't i don't i can't keep up with all these new wives i don't know i don't know [Applause] y'all excuse me i got a little bit in the caulipod the illustration i want to show you is very simply this and i talked to the guy and i'm like well what you gonna do well i'm gonna leave where are you going well i'm gonna go to south dakota do you have you ever been to south africa before no but it's just long and it's just far away from nobody so i ain't got to see nobody see people ain't your problem see you i'm going to south dakota i'm going to have a new new state new city new house i'm going to get a new wife and new children but we still got one problem the same oh you keep showing up the unrenewed you keep showing up do you who refuses to mature keep showing up and so what's going to happen you're just going to create the same dynamics in south dakota as you had in atlanta ain't none change because you won't change [Applause] you got changed i mean one time boy me and tyler were going there and i went to god i said why you always are you always on her side he said cause she always on my side and you not [Applause] i said well why am i he says you're on your side doing your thing your way in your circle building boundaries around you i'm like you know i would say you're right you're right that's not issue are you going to change some people try to change the word instead of letting the word change their thinking i don't get it you're trying to be a christian without the word what's that i'm saved and you won't grow i'm saved and you won't you won't you won't go to feeding time i'm saved you won't judge yourself i'm saved you're not maturing you we have to mature we can't stay 20 year old babies because you know what 20 year old 20 you know what a 20 year old christian looks like the flesh 20 year old christians are selfish they are they are dependent upon themselves and they're only concerned about what makes them happy and they play christian games and talk christian talk and memorize the scriptures for the benefit of manipulating others aren't you tired of that looking around you can't hardly trust nobody because you're like you know i'm saving tonight in your head you're like yo what kind of saved are you how does how do you have to ask that question because i mean it's pretty obvious you've seen saved people operate in the flesh and you're like what kind of saved are you do you grow do you come to church most people talk about coming to church they can't ever figure out how important it is to you know get on that stream if you're not here or come here it's vital it's it's vital to your life the devil is trying to kill you he's trying to kill you he wants to destroy you but if you ever find out who you are and if who in your book and if you ever find out who you connected to and if you ever come to the place where you know he is the vine and you are the branch then no weapon in hell will be able to scare you you'll stand up in the boldness of the power of the holy ghost and demons will flee from you but you don't know who you are you keep identifying yourself with how you behave instead of identifying yourself through the faith that jesus has declared you you are the righteousness of god so satan says they don't believe that i'm going to have them to define themselves by their behavior you got to believe you are who jesus said you are first and then your behavior will be changed and be in line with what that but you won't believe what he says you want to go and believe what everybody else say i won't go no church i i i won't listen no no no pastor ken in them about talking i'm gonna give me a professional counselor well go don't go two crazes in a in the same room go cause we're not gonna use no big old words to tell you your problem we're gonna just look at you and say you is the problem oh i'm gonna go with somebody else fat you've been doing what you've been wanting to do anyway and that's why i'm saying it is your dependence upon yourself that continues to allow these trials to come because god is trying to burn that impurity off you and you won't let him and after a while it's just like you know what you choose life for death blessings of curses you choose yeah but what about grace grace can't make you do nothing you don't want to do do you understand that and the bible says grace teaches us but we won't let grace teach us that's what the trials are about grace teaching you you could have just went on the hell but grace trying to teach you you know a number of people end up dead and go go got the narrator to go to god and talk about why are you here why why i'm here i don't understand what happened you're supposed to be god he said yeah and you're supposed to be maturing i told you five times not to go there remember that story used to tell about that guy in the boat and uh he fell off the boat and a boat came by to get him said hey hey can i help you you want me to get on board no the lord gone gonna rescue me he said you sure boat went on another boat came by hey i know you're glad i'm here come on no oh the lord gonna rescue me said all right third ball came by you in trouble now man said i got you come on come on you get in the boat the lord gonna rescue me man get in the boat get in the boat you're drowning no the lord gonna rescue me and he drowned praise god he was born again got to heaven went to god and said lord i got a question how come i died you god how come you didn't you know rescue me god said dear god man i sent three books by what else you want me to do that describes a lot of christians so immature you can't even tell when the hand of god is moving in your life the answer knocking at your door and you still talking in tongues instead of getting up and opening the door the hundredfold blessing on the salary has come but he you won't leave your job and even told you like ten times it's time to go it's time to go it's okay to go it's time to go ready it's time to go no i made a commitment and i'm gonna keep it too immature to even had a conversation with god god said well how in the world am i ever gonna get this increase in you and you still stuck there [Applause] why you always screaming and hollering and stuff like i was at the beginning what happened to i'm a soldier in the army of the lord do you still have your war clothes on [Applause] no because you're trying to figure out a way to poke holes through this to not understand that this is god's method of maturing you and that is to get you into complete dependence on him all trials aren't needed if you'll just learn how to walk in dependence on him and he can begin to teach you how to do that what is god trying to say to you where's god trying to bring you why is it always up and down up and down oh i'm in god this week next week i'm not oh i'm in the word today uh i don't i don't understand it well that's why that's why you know one of the reasons you have a pastor and i'm trying to break it down teach it doing all kinds of things that i freak out when i look at it like i can't believe i did that can't believe i said that you know anything to try to get you to understand it but oh i had the wrong title i ain't come to church on cause i don't like that cult that's how he had the lord told me when a preacher had his color tied don't trust him see i ain't even got time go on brother i will help you find another church go on it's time for me to have another altar call for people who want to leave because there's somebody out there that'll help you that'll love you that'll teach you the problems not the different preachers you've had over the years it's you think of that it ain't even the devil some of y'all blame the devil they'll be like because if you're gonna give him credit he'll take all the credit you're giving ain't the devil you are a free moral agent you can choose life or death you can choose blessings or curses you can choose to depend on god or you can choose to declare your independence away from god something switched in the earth something switched in the atmosphere something's coming you better hear me something coming just as sure as i stand here this morning it don't feel the same the air don't even feel the same there's a huge battle going on satan senses that his time is drawing near and you know what i'm sensing as a christian then i'm going to stir it up i'm ready here's what i mean by that here's what i mean by that let's do it god for everybody that ever doubted you for everybody that thought they can live without you use this world changes nation use them in the street use them on a job use them on airplanes use them when they're traveling when they walk in in the park let the anointing come on them let them glow if you have to whatever you got to do to use these world changes to make a mark that cannot be erased something's happening right now as we are seated as we're here together right now something's happening right now in your life satan has has has had his claws on you for years and now the angels of god are moving on our behalf and you are about some of you've already done it don't even know it bible says be careful when you entertain strangers because you you could be entertaining angels and doing it unaware that the commission has been given out there is about to be a move of god on this planet like you've never seen before but we must mature we got to be mature christians we can't be a bunch of babies that are deceived by the antichrist when he shows up and gets on television and tells us when he says peace peace you you got to be mature enough and say whoa that's prophecy and he's training you right now he's training you to believe everything that come on television everything the news say you believe every bit of you're being trained right now for satan's use unless you make your mind up i'm not going to depend on me and the flesh i'm going to depend on god i have complete dependence upon god i need to hear from god the holy spirit the bible says will teach you and show you things to to to to in the future he'll show you where to go and what to do you're going to need an inside guide because they're going to be false prophets and antichrist and and some of them are going to be doing miracles and you're going to be deceived by miracles and you don't know that it's a spirit of darkness that's doing something because he knows that's how to blow an immature christian's mind but i don't care how many miracles i've been in places where i've seen people do miracles and heal the sick and i sat back then the lord said they are not of me but a whole bunch gravitated toward them oh but they did this and they did i don't care what they did god said they are not of him the holy ghost will will lead you and he will guide you and you go need the holy ghost because everything that looked good ain't gonna be good and everything that look bad ain't gonna be bad i have never seen the entire world is being trained in deception for the antichrist to come and just blow all kinds of smoke in your ear and you just take it with no spiritual discernment at all and then whoever don't agree with you if a trial comes on them then you assume we'll see now look at them how come that trial came on them and not me because he's taken them to another level and you're stuck because you don't want to go nowhere so when i look at people when i see you going through some stuff and i see things happen in your life i don't immediately assume it's sin you remember john 9 who has said that this child was born blind the mother of the father and jesus said neither one of them sinned but that my work and my glory can be seen and that's what he's doing with you when people look at you and you go through stuff they say oh you must have did something wrong oh you must have been sinning no that's not the case god's getting ready to allow his glory to be seen through you he's getting ready to do something awesome with you he's getting ready to do something magnificent through you glory to god hallelujah don't be afraid of trouble learn how to trouble your trouble say this out loud everybody here god's getting ready to use me [Music] well we ain't got no more time we'll we'll pick up with paul's trial and then we'll spend the rest of time talking about all of our trials but there's glory and praise and honor as a result of what you will go through and how you come out but this is how you come out i never that's part i missed this is how you should come out of every trial complete dependence on god when i went through my first public lynching i was like whoa and then some by preachers i knew friends of mine dang i was like wow first thing you want to do is feel sorry for yourself but now i see oh i see why that had to happen oh i see why they had i see why that kept happening i still didn't get what i was supposed to get out of the trial you know how valuable it is today for you to come to church and hear and have an understanding of what you're supposed to get out of the trial you don't have to get deep you don't have to get spiritual you know if there's a trial what you're supposed to get out of the trial is complete dependence on god and then we move on to the next level of preparation i depend on god i depend on god would you bow your heads and pray with me just for a moment father we come before you right now and you know we're ready to do whatever you want us to do but we know we can't do anything without you we're ready to go we want us to go but we we we we don't need to do that without you we we we're ready to be whatever you want us to be but we can't be that without you you're you're the vine we're just branches but we know we can bear fruit if we are dependent upon the vine and today we declare our dependence upon divine for every trial that should come our way we understand what we should get out of it dependence upon you we can't do anything without you oh how you would use this church and how you will use these precious people help us to be mature and prepared help us to be mature and prepared now let your anointing begin to stir let it begin to stir on the inside of all of us glory to god we say simply we trust you we quit the fighting of ignorance and like we don't know what to do we know what to get out of this we know what to get out of this that jesus came so that we might have complete dependence upon you and we asked your help help us help us oh god show us we want this we receive from you right now in the mighty name of jesus we pray now i thank you lord that you're perfecting everything that concerneth us in jesus name amen did you receive that this morning praise the lord amen if you're here let's honor god with our finances you know this is a part of worship which is why i keep it right here in this place of worship it's a part of worship it's nothing well it's the end it's time for giving no no no it's it's us realizing as a result of being taught in the word that man i need to be grateful and thankful for what god's done if you'd like an offering envelope if you'll lift your hands up in the dome ushers will get it to you if you're at home streaming in you know the drill the information is on the screen you can text the world changers or call the number on your screen you can mail to that address or you can go and log on to those websites worldchangers.org or crippleddollarministries.org [Music] you can use your paypal if you have one you may be viewing in from another part of the world it is so important and so vitally important that we learn how to worship god and give god praise and thanksgiving [Music] through our giving give unto the lord glory do unto his name what glory bring an offering and worship him in the beauty of his holiness it's in the scriptures and so we're we're doing that it's a part of our worship we worship him for what he's done have a have a flashback if you will look at what god's done for me or even today maybe there was some enlightenment that came today i sure pray it did maybe there was some enlightenment that showed up today you're like wow well honor god with your gifts [Music] in jesus name there's also a qr code for those of you who are watching at home streaming in if you are listening through your phone device you can take advantage of that qr code there are also qr codes in the lobby as you walk out the lobby on those two screens next to the desk and that qr code can also be used here in the dome as well amen praise god i think i had about i got about two hours in me right now lord help me this sermon was supposed to last one sunday what was it what is this the fourth installment next week could be the fifth one i i decided to take my time i don't know when jesus is coming back so i might as well take my time and don't rush through it and get you what you need but i i something's going to happen something really the goodness of god is being released right now and that goodness is about to fall on you you believe that david said i had to believe that i would see the goodness of the lord believe that you're going to see the goodness of the lord this week somebody said why this week what's your date in go on with your bad self amen let's just go ahead and you can receive the offerings right now and and then i'm gonna pray the prayer of salvation and then dismiss y'all thank you so much for streaming in this morning we got we we're grateful to you thank you for those of you who came to the dome today we're grateful for that we celebrate our anniversary which is gonna be amazing praise the lord and uh i got a man who preaches the gospel of grace amen who is qualified to preach it who's gone through enough trials i mean he got some good oh my god just you're really going to be blessed we're excited about all the things that are going to happen somebody said well i thought you was going to postpone it i ain't postponing nothing ain't canceling nothing i'm it's going to be here and you got to decide whether you're going to come or stream but it'll still be here i'm not going to cancel it you know you got what two or three ways you can still get a hold of it but hopefully by february you'll feel pretty comfortable uh about coming out and feeling safe to be a part of church again because i can't imagine you know some of the things that people have gone through just you know being locked down and i think our voices are coming together both through the stream and live and i think the devil's getting pretty nervous about what's about to happen in the earth amen praise the lord now if you're watching online or if you're here today and you've never made jesus the lord of your life i want to lead you in a prayer of salvation and i i pray that you get saved today give your heart to jesus what do you have to do to be saved believe believe and receive him to to as many as received him they became the sons of god and the daughters of god pray this prayer with me heavenly father i realize that i'm a sinner but right now i repent of all of my sins i make you the lord of my life and i receive the free gift of forgiveness by faith i receive you into my heart and i thank you for saving me and i declare that i am saved in jesus name amen now if you prayed that prayer with me through the stream then text the keyword i'm saved that's one word to five one five five five and if you'll provide your name and email address we'll send you a free ebook as a gift to you today and those of you who prayed that prayer and you're in the dome today in just a moment i'm going to ask you to come down front we're going to get some things to you as well uh the last thing i want to do is if god's calling you to join this church world changers church international somebody said to me one time why are you having an altar call for people to join the church during the time of a pandemic well the pandemic did not surprise god you know you got to learn how to live through things and yeah we we're i'm having altar calls and doing everything we need to do and and it's it's all good all is well amen um but if you're here and you want to become a member of this church taff and i would love to be your pastors we would love to watch over your souls we realize the seriousness of that business we actually want to pastor you not saying that others don't but we just want to let you know we do and if god's calling you to become a member today would you get your if you'll get your bibles and personal personal belongings come on down front uh we'll receive you and pray with you right now and also those of you who prayed the prayer of salvation if you can come on down front and we'll do that right now in jesus name amen [Applause] those of you who are watching online if you want to be a member of our e church east church membership you can go to the web you can go to worldchanges.org and click join at the top of the page or you can text join wcci all one word to 51555 and we will send you all the benefits of e-membership we recognize that you may not be in the atlanta area or able to come to the physical location and so we thank god for our e-membership and hope that you will take advantage of that today amen if you have taken advantage of e-membership we welcome you in jesus name amen [Applause] praise god well father i thank you so much for these precious families and i thank you that by the power of the holy spirit you will stir them up for the job that you called them to do and lord for whatever reason you sent them to this brook i thank you lord that they will mature and be well able to carry out that assignment we thank you for it in jesus name everybody said amen at this time if you'll follow this gentleman right here to the prayer room they're going to take you and minister to you and give you a biblical understanding of how to obtain and maintain what you came to receive we thank god you'll never be the same again congregation would you please stand for our benediction amen [Music] again good to see you god bless you continue to be safe remember the balcony is still there for you to do your own type of social distancing so you can feel comfortable i knew this big old church would come in handy somehow but you feel as comfortable as you want to feel we got people in the balcony social distancing we want you to know that we're doing everything that we know to do to keep you safe and to make you feel confident about coming back to church now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the almighty god be glory majesty dominion and power both now and forever and everybody said amen god bless you have a great day

Channel: Creflo Dollar Ministries

Views: 315,201

Keywords: creflo, creflodollar, worldchangers, taffi, taffidollar, grace, megachurch, collegepark, atlantachurch, sermon, gracelife, tbn, pastors, church, pastordollar, drdollar

Id: lmOYo2Y9X5s

Length: 85min 54sec (5154 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 23 2022