Trust The Process

[Music] I could listen to him all day amen amen let's pray father thank you so much for this day thank you for allowing us to be in church today god I sense such a need for you in my own life their lives of these my brothers and sisters who are here I stand in all this moment I reverence this moment I have nothing to say unless you give me something to say the lives of these people are too precious and too important for me to just give them something that I think give us what you think give us your words speak life into this situation into this moment to everybody watching online to everybody joining us our way of a cd/dvd everybody in this building speak to us we need you we need direction we open ourselves up to you to hear what you have the safe to us and may we not just hear it help us to heat it in our lives I pray now for these moments that you will block out all distractions that you would bind the works of the enemy that babies will fall asleep cell phones will be silenced for the next 30 minutes or so you will have our undivided attention nothing else matters but hearing you Jesus speak Lord your servants are listening in Jesus name Amen psalm 66 thank you praise team praise team and the music ministry that was outstanding the day awesome psalm 66 i think will be today my subject is trust the process I must tell you something I don't even know how this is gonna work but I'm gonna tell you something I don't think I've ever said this publicly my mother did hair when I was young that was she was a cosmetologist call them beauticians back then and she and my wife's mother Vicki's mom did hair too interestingly enough and because my mother did hair some of her supplies she would bring him home so in the 80s when it was in style I gave myself a jheri curl I did she had some stuff and yeah it wasn't a jheri curl it was some stuff it was called Bantu I remember the name of it it was some perm so you know I ain't had that straight curly wavy black head it's lay down on my stuff is tight so I wanted my stuff to lay down on your exam so I put the perm in and I just saturated it had it all around I wanted to make sure I got every pot because you know this was the nappy section so I really I doubled up in here and I was in the bathroom she wasn't home and I just just laid it on you know and I figured you know it said a time on there how long supposed to be on before you washed it out but I figure says my hair was was was tight I need to extend that time so you know after a while I started feeling a sensation around my stuff was was getting warm and he started burning if I could talk to my hair at the time I would tell my hair just relax no pun intended when this is over you gonna be straight yeah I don't know what's in Perm I really don't know what's in it but but it it is hot and it will get his straight I think sometimes God's work in our life is just like a perm it's hot it's uncomfortable but if you stay under that chemical long enough he will get you straight and you gotta trust the process now I didn't know what I was doing because I wasn't a cosmetologist but people didn't know what they doing know how to put that thing in I'm not suggesting anybody go perm to here I don't I'm not just now I'm just saying that was just for illustrative purposes in this Psalm there's a process that happens and I have three points psalm 66 beginning to verse 8 it says I'm reading a new King James Version says bless Oh bless our God you people's and make the voice of his praise to be heard who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved that means he protects us he keeps our soul among the living does not allow our feet to be moved he's our defender everybody's a defender verse 10 for you O God have tested us you have refined us as silver is refined you brought us into the net you laid afflictions on our backs you've caused men to ride over our heads we went through the fire and through the water hmm but you brought us out somebody's a deliverer he's not only our defender he's out delivering he protects us then he says but you brought us out to rich fulfillment you brought us out to a place of abundance you brought us out to a wealthy place it's easy to celebrate the God who defends the God who protects and the God who prospers and the God who delivers the problem is is in between he defending them in verse nine and he's delivering them in verse 12 the end of verse 12 but in verses 1011 in the first part of verse 12 they're going through development they're going through a test and that's the part we need to trust God because he does something in between the going through two part that the process is as important as the destination we tend to celebrate God and this is actually a Thanksgiving song about a way and so they're actually celebrating not just to God who deliver it and not just a God who defends but to God who develops us the God who tests us by fire the God who causes men to ride over our heads we praise the God who put afflictions on our back we praise God who calls us to be trapped in the net we praise the God who brought us through the fire and the water that's a mature praise right then where you can praise them not just for the deliverance and the defense before the development process in between and that's what I want to talk about today for somebody who's going through a process right now I want to talk to you about it because I want you to just breathe in just take a deep breath and relax he's got you in the process oh let's go through this passage first of all he says in verse eight he says I want you to praise God this is a writer whoever's right misses right into the Israelites and he says he starts off in verse eight by saying bless our God you people's our God our God is stronger our God is greater God you are higher than any other he's saying this is not just a praise for all people this is a praise for our God we owe him a praise because it's by virtue of our relationship with him we're in covenant with God we're connected with God you see when we're in church I don't really trip off of people who don't have relationship with God they won't praise them what what concerns me is people who know that they have a relationship with them and won't open their mouths and be publicly identified with them and the kind of praise he's talking about in verse eight is a praise that people can hear mm-hmm he says make the voice of his praise to be heard that means it needs to be audible it needs to be out loud and needs to be expressed and even you can't say it you need to show it you need to show your gratitude to God in an expressive way because God has blessed you publicly why do you praise him privately why is it that you're so cool that you can't open your mouth and clap your hands and lift your hands up like like if you're too if a man shoots a 3-point shot on a team you you're cheering for you go like this with no problem you're like that score it's a three it's good you have no problem expressing yourself about things that you celebrate and being audible about it and being expressive about it but God is greater than all those things and all those people how is it that we think is okay to come in church especially and not open our mouths and give them praise it's as if our coolness takes precedent over God's goodness that's that's real complicated to me because the only way you have the right to not praise God is if you're bigger or badder than God these would I understand that the one who's the best is the one who sits down and receives the praise the one who's the least is the one who gives the praise and somehow you've got it twisted you think you're bigger than God and better to God that's why you think it's okay for you to sit down and church with your arms folded and never give them praise and never give him worship and never open up your mouth and say thank you but I have news for you he's bigger than you he's greater than you he's more powerful than you he's more mighty than you he's stronger than you the only reason you're cool right now and not hot is because he didn't let you burn a nail and he saved your soul so how dare you not give him pray some of you it really confuses me because of all he's watching through he doesn't rush you through depression and it brought you through abuse and brought you through sickness and brought you through drug addiction and rush you through family problems and watch you through college and brought you through so much and you're gonna sit here and act like you came this pop by yourself you don't play with God like that God is worthy to be praised whether you feel like it enough cuz he don't have to feel like blessing you and like loving you and feel like serving you and if you're worried about the person sitting next to you they didn't die for you they didn't wake you up this morning they don't have a heaven or hell to put you in you Oh God praise he's worthy all the time maker verse who says make his praise glorious glorious glorious glorious I praise you what are you praising him for he says first of all we praise him in verse 9 because he's defended us he's our defense see he's our defender verse 9 says he kept our soul alive and he kept our feet from being snatched away he kept my feet from being moved but they're talking about is through difficulty in war and hardship and through their through their transferring from Egypt in slavery and through the wilderness into the promised land we get to verse well they come out into a wealthy place into a rich fulfillment it's the picture of the Israelite journey and he says through it all he kept us alive he kept us he kept us he kept us see see I don't know about y'all but he kept me cuz I know y'all haven't messed up I've made some decisions that should have took me out by now I've done some real extra stupid-ass or foolish ignorant stuff in my life they should have took me out by now I'm not here cuz I made all the right decisions and because I doubted all my eyes and cross all my teeth I'm not here because I love Jesus so much that I did everything right I've done something should have got me take it out but God has kept me he's kept my soul alive and if you know the only reason you're living right now is because God kept your soul alive he says your appraisal for that he's been my defender kept my soul alive when I wanted to die he kept me alive when I should have been dead he kept me alive when the doctors were gave up on me he kept me alive I stopped breathing before but he brought me back again I didn't wake up one morning but he woke me up in the afternoon I'm still here God has kept me alive he's my defender and then he goes back in the past tense in verse 10 and he says he says he stops he stop talking to the people it gets so good to the writer and we don't know who wrote this but whoever he was he stops talking to the people and he starts talking to God he says okay y'all praise Him praise Him make make sure he hears your praise and he's been our defender and our defender then he says to God you have tested us like like a refiner test silver you have refined us like silver fine then he says you brought us into the net watch all these use you laid a fliction on our backs you caused men the rod over our heads we went through the fire and through the water and you brought us out watch this now the same unit brought us out took us through the same you who was defending us in verse nine caused us to be caught in the net in verse 10 and he caused heavy affliction to be laid on us and caused men the rod over our heads and caused us to go through fire and through water same God see a lot of people don't like this kind of preaching because we like to just believe that he's the God that brings us out and we like to believe he's the God that protects but he's also the God that develops us to testing and trials and it's good to meet as good news is good news for me to know that he didn't just he wasn't just on the front end of my trouble and on the back end of my trouble but he was all over the trouble him but he's Alpha and Omega he's the beginning and the end and he's whipped me all in between he says I didn't just defend you I developed you I developed you before I delivered you so that when I delivered you into a wealthy place you can handle what I delivered you into because if I just delivered you without developing you you would get to where I've delivered you from - and you wouldn't be able to handle it so I took you through something and watch what he says first of all he says in verse Tim I okay okay okay first thing he says is you have tested us Thank You Laura you refined us as Silver's refine so I got this silver thing up here today I don't know if it's real in that but it looks in the silverish but whatever it looks like now it didn't always look like this somebody had to go into the earth and pull this out when it was covered with dirt and or and dross some miner had to see potential in something that didn't look like it had potential a lot of people have judged you because they can't see what you will look like when he's finished refining you yeah but the refiner can see a pile of potential I thank God that when he met me he he looked beyond my faults and and he saw my potential because if he had just thought with my faults he would have walked away from me but he saw past that he says I see what I can do even through your life if you let me work on you now how does it refine a work on a person a refiner a refiner according to Malachi chapter 3 verse 2 and 3 uses Fuller's soap and he uses fire the fire burns off the stuff that's hard on it and it melts it off and then he takes these fuller so and he uses this this brush is like brillo pads and he scrapes the material and he starts cleansing it him and he burns it up some more and he melts all stuff and he cleanses it anything was just he cleanses everything that won't let it shine that won't let what he wants to come out of this situation come out he he brings he's in his it's a long process turning something into silver is a long process and so it's cleaning and it's scrubbing and his fire is cleaning is scrubbing and his fire and refiner doesn't pull it out of the dirt and just go like this and go and it's ready we would love for that if he just pulled us out of darkness into the marvelous life and just went like that and we were straight and ready to bring him glory no he's got a clip he's got to keep scrubbing and putting fire to it and taking it through fire and scrubbing it and scraping it and washing it and the finer keeps doing this and you may wonder how does he know when it's finished he knows when it's finished when he can see himself in what he's working on somebody ought to catch this today the reason why you're going through what you're going through is because it's too much you in the way and he's going to keep scraping and burning and wiping and strengthening not as too much you too much flesh too much attitude too much negativity too much pride too much arrogance too much puffed up you talk about yourself too much I want him to see me you must decrease I must increase my glory my shuffle now you're looking like me now now you've been broken now you look like me I can see myself and then the length of the process is proportionate to how much the area he's working on doesn't look like him God says I want to see me in you and you've got to trust it that's what I'm up to so watch this as he walks through the passage so for now you know we don't like that we don't like the process it's just like one day I was I was in the grocery store and this is one reason why I go to counseling because stuff like this I don't drink coffee I don't know how it still covers for grownups I guess I never grew up I just never drank coffee one day I was in the grocery store and I'm telling you the truth I really thought I get these I have a have had imagination since I was young and so I said I imagine as I go through the coffee section I just having to go through that hour and it's such I like the smell of it and I said I wouldn't if the coffee bag could talk what it would say all right told you I'll go to counseling for stuff like that's why I mean so and so I started hearing the coffee bag talk I mean I made sure I wouldn't make sure one by no my from the church was coming so I heard the coffee bag saying cuz you know you can't see it but what it was in here is what they call what's this called beans coffee beans right so this was in here I poured it out in here these are coffee beans and I hear this I heard the coffee bag saying I want I want to be used I don't want to be on the shelf I want somebody to choose me I want my barkos white I want a family to take me home with them I want to be smelled in the morning coming from the kitchen helping somebody start their day I want somebody to put me in their car I want to be used I want to be used I want to be used so I may show anybody looking I say I say you sure you want to be used she want the Lord to use hey I said look at you the problem is you can't be used like that because people can't drink beans you sure you want to be used you got to go through a process you really want to be used you want to go into a cup like this and have somebody toast you in the morning and read their newspaper with their pinky out with you in here guess what you got to be crushed you got to be go through a grinding process you can't keep the properties of your life the way you are right now it's too much of you we can't drink you like this we first got to crush you and then we got to put you in a grinder and then we got to put you in this thing and then we got to run unbearably hot water over you it burns you up so that you can come out and be something that somebody can drink whoever I'm preaching to today I know you want to be used I know you're ready to come up off the shelf I know you've been writing your little sermons I know you're ready to get used by God but are you ready to be crushed are you ready to be pressed are you ready to go through the fire because you can't be delivered you can't be used if you're not useful [Applause] and so the first thing God takes us through what's just layer what's this layer watch this layer the first thing he takes them to in verse 10 he says he says you led us into a net that's good right there and the reason why he's got to take us into a net to work on us is because most of us are trying to get away from them whew I don't want that heat I don't want that pressure I don't want that crushing I don't want that grinding so what happens is he's trying to work on us and we keep squirming so first place we go is to the net the net represents first of all it is a place of surprise by the way a net was used during that time to catch animals hunters would catch animals Internet so it's an unexpected trial how many been an unexpected trial didn't even see it coming you ain't even see you coming see okay see the real spiritual people in here always see it coming they always know what's going to happen before it happens because God always sends them notices but for the rest of us we didn't Biggers himself we even see that coming I didn't even know that that was even pending I didn't even see how many I have been through some you did you see where that I don't even know where that came from but before I know it I was all up in the midst of it I used to think I used to want God to let me know when something bad was gonna happen before it happened I say God now I need you you had to send me some updates like let me know when it's coming that way I'll be prepared then God showed me you really don't want that because if I tell you something Bad's coming it may be coming six years from now you'll be depressed waiting on it least you could have fun until it got here let me like surprise me God surprise me somebody look at me say what's wrong with you I just saw my future that's what's wrong with me see first first I gotta get you in the net is it gonna work on you and watch this you know the net does it holds you some of us are in something we can't even get out of it oh you can't get out of it because you've got out of it you be out of it you can't move that thing on you you can't even get out of it it's you gotta put you in something you can't even get out of why because because watch this what he's working on the first of all is patience and not just any patience I need you to have and have my kind of patience because remember we trying to look like you anymore so imma butchering something that you can't get out of watch this watch this count it all joy when you come into various trials knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience but you got to let patience have our perfect work so that you may be perfect in time like ain't nothing the challenge of being in a trap like this is is that it never happens fast enough we never get out we're praying we're praying we're praying and most of our prayers are for exits we pray watch this we don't pray about what we can get out of a situation we're praying that we can get out of the situation y'all miss that that was real good right there we're not praying what we can get out of it we're praying to get out of it get me out I don't like this this is uncomfortable I don't like the people I don't like the situation I don't like this office I don't like anything in this situation and you can't move game moves so guess what the faster you submit the faster the work can happen because he's gon do his work on us and thank God he won't leave us like he found us and let me tell you this suit sometimes we internet the thing gets worse before it gets better jelena number get different twists and turns this thing was bad already now we got this new twist to it and all of it is with the goal of making us patient then the next the next place he takes us in this whole process of trying to refine us trying to make a silver the next thing he says is as you laid affliction on him back you did that got any semblance truth you laid affliction on my back what is the friction it's a picture of weight pressure burdens oppression way down is there anybody here that's under pressure so much pressure as you feel like you're gonna break so much pressure as you tell them people I'm gonna need you to come knees your head you gonna have to stay over somebody's house for a week cuz I'm gonna hurt you pressure where you feel like you about to lose it where you don't know if you might you might go the wrong way and I feel the pressure and what you have to understand is is that history said I'm saying God knows how much you can bear and he's the one to put the pressure on you and so he would not put more watch this but he puts enough pressure on you that you can't handle it that you need him see some pressure we can handle I got that I got that I got that's rough but I got that I saw her I got there but you run into something you're like whoa I need Thee that's nice you god I don't know how to handle this ain't never faced this before ain't never read about this ain't never I've never him heard of this before I didn't notice existed I'm gonna have to Google this that's all I'm alone I google stuff when I think never and so so he says I'm a latest official Wow because I don't just want patient I need you to get strength and I don't just want you to have your strength I want you to look like me I want my strength to be made perfect in your weakness I'm gonna make you showing you now you get stronger in the gym you don't get strong in the gym walking around talking to people he's strong in the gym because you're pushing up against resistance and the more weight the more strength you have and God the blessing is is that God is spotting you so so you got you got deflections on my back you got me in this net you want me to be patient you want me to be stronger what else are you doing God to make me like you watch this you've caused men the right over our heads that's a picture of Israelite soldiers laying prostate while the enemy tramples over them it's being mistreated and God says I caused that to happen I caused you to be in a situation where you're being mistreated why God for your humility what are you trying to teach me I'm trying to teach you to stop acting South East okay they've got people watching online that's a place here in this area where you just act out of your bag or mine just act just goats I need you to stop tit-for-tat and with people I need you to stop being that person even though you're saved that will go off in the office and they have to call the police on you I need you to stop being that person in the family say yes she loves you but don't go across the line with her she will go snap Kirk out in here stop breaking stuff uh uh yeah uh I know you ain't I know you ain't come out your mouth like that to me I'll pool you start taking your hair loose and everything and ready to fight people no it's just no I need you to trust me to fight for you and part of what you're going through is to Humble you and let me fight your battles so that you don't react the way you use the react yeah that's ain't nobody like an air part because watch this I don't want your humility I want you to look like me cuz cuz guess what they spat on me and they slapped me and he put a crown of thorns on my head and they blindfolded me and say who's that to hit you they mock me and I forgave him now I'm not telling you to do all that I'm saying you let the Lord lead us this the way he want us to do it this one more one more we went through the fire and through the water that's trials of various types fire and water that means it just keeps coming he come you're gonna fire and you're in the fire and it's hot and you're struggling here comes some water and you said thank you Lord for this water you think the water came to put the file when the water was a flood the water like the bell to drown you he'd be like here comes deep is calling on the deep if it ain't one thing said have you ever came out of one thing and Here Come another thing right behind it I can't get a break I walked outta one trial class right into the next trial and it's one thing either another he comes to fire and then I'm in the water now and him to fire I think the fire come to drop the water and the fire came to be an inferno to burn me up and like I say is but here's the good news he says you brought me through the fire and you brought me through the water and you want me through the fire you brought me through the water I need to preach to somebody today it's bad but he's bringing you through it you're not gonna get stuck in the middle of him you're not gonna die in the middle of it he's carrying you through it hmm I gotta wrap this up he says he says I've been afflicted up I'm being tested he wants me to be like a silver and and I'm gone been caught in the net and he's trying to build my patience and and I've gone through affliction said and and and in Menna or stomping on my head and people are mistreating me and I'm going through the fire and through the water but I love this rush well but because that conjunction again but you have brought me out you have brought us out I'm gonna tell you something right now I Got News for you the reason why many of us are here right now is because God gave you a but you don't went through fire but you've been through the water but you've been through tragedy but you've been through divorce but you've been through a sickness and distress but God brought you out don't you look at me like I'm crazy God brought you out he delivered you he brought you through it he brought you out of it and you owe him praise for being your deliverer because he didn't keep you in it he did bring you out and watch this it would have been enough to just bring me out but he says you brought me out into a place of fulfillment you brought me out into a wealthy place watch this now that's not just money you brought me out better than I came into it because it ain't just about wealth it's about wisdom it ain't just about cash is about character so when I look back out of all I came through I came out of the net I came out of the fire I came out of scraping I came out of washing so when I come out delivered I'm better than I was before I win it I'm wealthy now full of wisdom full of joy full of anointing full of power so you gotta trust the process yeah and that's the end of the story let's pray father thank you for this truth I pray that everybody who needed this was just gonna trust you hold on check out what you're up to don't just get us out let us get out of it what it was intended to do in us maybe not focus on the circumstance but focus on you and focus on what you're showing us in what you're doing in our lives we trust you we trust you help us to trust you when we can't trace you help us to trust you through it all and not just praise you when we get delivered but praise you while we're in the fire in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Keith Battle

Views: 17,708

Rating: 4.8454547 out of 5

Keywords: trust the process, Pastor Battle, Keith Battle, trust in the Lord, God, Jesus, sermon, Steven Furtick, teaching, motivation, getting through trials, trust, obedience, faith, Faith in God, Zion Church, DMV, Zion Church Live, fresh motivation, infinite waters

Id: 6_T3TjMvs84

Length: 33min 55sec (2035 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 16 2018