I believe there is real freedom and life change available in tonight's message. So get pumped. We've been in Romans 12 for many weeks. A couple of weeks ago when we met last, we talked about the first three words of Romans 12, 12.
Rejoice in hope. And it laid this amazing foundation for patience and tribulation, which is tonight. Everybody okay? Okay.
Why don't you turn Old Testament? Isaiah 43, if you got your Bibles near you, we're going to look at the first couple of verses there. I want to look at a bunch of very familiar passages to this house, halfway through that verse 1, read out of the ESV. Fear not for I've redeemed you and I've called you by name in your mind.
So that is your starting place. I want you to notice the very first word of verse 2, when you pass through waters. I'll be with you. And through the rivers, they won't overwhelm you.
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned and the flames shall not consume you. That's a promise, friend. I said that's a promise, friend. Okay.
I think there's a couple of ditches that I just want to point out real quick before we get into patience and tribulation. I feel like in our culture and in our time, American Christianity right now, there is a ditch of if you say yes to him, you're going to have this blessed, magical life. All your ducks are going to be in a row and there's this somehow buffer between you and actual real life. On the other side, there's this ditch of expecting foreign believing for bad things to happen to you.
Both are ditches. The truth is in the middle. I read out of John 1633, these things I've spoken to you. Listen, that in me, this is Jesus talking, in me, you may have peace.
But listen to his words, in the world, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer because I've overcome the world. This is powerful, friend. Have you read the number one?
You're going to have tribulation. I say that with a smile, but I really want you to get that so you're not surprised. I don't want us to get caught off guard. It shouldn't be a shocking or surprising thing when this stuff hits the fan in your life.
Don't want you to expect and believe for it. I don't want you to act like it doesn't exist. I just want you to know it's coming and it's okay because he's overcome the world. Because you're not left empty handed, you lack no good thing to go through that trial.
But I actually want to turn to that super familiar, consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds of passage. But if you have the passion translation, I actually want to read it out of there because you all are so familiar with all the other translations, I want it to sound a little bit more fresh. Okay? Okay.
Okay. Three of you are good with this. All right. My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, I want to pause there because, friend, this is like bottom of the barrel stuff.
This is soul crushing stuff. This is nothing is going right. You track it? You get as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can.
Well, for you know that when your faith is tested, it stirs up in you power of endurance. And then as your endurance grows even stronger, listen to this, it will release perfection into every part of your being until there's nothing missing and nothing lacking. What a promise. This says, when you pass the waters, I'll be with you.
Yours won't overwhelm you. You walk through the fire and the flame won't burn you. This says, consider it pure joy. Yeah, your face tested, but it stirs up in you power, power for endurance.
And as endurance grows, perfection is released into every part of your being until nothing's missing, nothing's lacking. Consider it pure joy. Be of good cheer. Consider it pure joy.
Do you see any sort of theme? God's perspective is exactly what will make you an overcomeer in your experience here on the earth, God's perspective, not the world's not your own, God's perspective. And he looks at your trials and tribulations. And there's two triggers, joy and good cheer, God's perspective, is that trials and tribulations bring about power and good things and perfection on the inside.
That is actually something to where, what if the first words out of our mouth when trials and tribulations come, were the first words on his? Can you imagine the power that you would have to where you're actually not vulnerable in the world in which you live. I think that we're mostly not just resistant to hard things, that there's actually fear, worry, anxiety that comes when they come rather than joy and good cheer. What if joy and good cheer were triggered every time there was a trial?
You'd stop being afraid, because he's not afraid. This is about aligning with his perspective. Is everybody okay? All right.
This is not a message, even remotely close to a message on sovereignty. But we're talking about when the stuff hits the fan in trials and tribulations. So while I got the mic, you better believe, I'm pulling the car over and addressing everybody in the car. If trials and tribulations are happening in your life, hear me extremely clearly, God did not author them.
Augustine passed down this idea to John Calvin that God was micromanaging and controlling everything in your life. It's almost true, but it's not true. It's a twist and it's a perversion and it's a ditch and it created atheism, by the way. A rejection of a God that would allow death loss and destruction in your life and in fact would even author it.
Thank goodness for clarity in the life of Jesus. John 1010, if you're ever confused about what's going on in your life that looks like death loss and destruction, you can remember as John 1010, everyone who's familiar with how we teach in this house knows that it's the devil, the thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy and put on the screen. I came up there to life and life abundantly. So if it looks like abundant life, probably God, if it looks like death loss and destruction, probably devil, God good, devil bad.
Keep it simple. So when we're in that James passage, it says that our faith gets tested. I know a couple of weeks ago we spent an entire message on hope and we brought in a lot from when we spent an entire message a year ago on faith, but I wanna pause here because it doesn't say that your belief gets tested. It says your faith does.
Can we review real quick, difference between the two? I learned through repetition maybe you do too. Belief is based on information. It starts with mental ascent and then there's this like line that gets drawn in the sand to where you're like, no I'm taking hold of this belief and that move from like head to heart and to him who believes all things are possible.
It's with the heart that man believes. It's like from the core of you, but it stops. What changes a man from hearing the voice of Jesus that says come out of the boat and walk on the water. Belief stops in the boat and it's like, I believe I can't.
The end. Faith is almost inseparable from action and works because without it it's dead. Doesn't exist. Just as the spirit would leave a body and that body would be dead.
Well, if works or action were taken from faith, faith wouldn't exist. It's dead. Faith is what actually the action of jumping out of the boat is faith. Just like that whole Hebrews 11 passage talks about the greats of the faith and not what they believed only, what they did.
So I want you to hear that when James is saying that faith tests, I'm sorry, that trials and tribulations test faith. This isn't just your mindset. This isn't just what you're believing at the core of you. It's testing what you do with that information and that belief.
And my personal opinion is that there's probably nothing outside of trials and tribulations that can test your behavior more than trials and tribulations can. Does what you believe and say with your mouth match what you do? That's the question. And one of the greatest things to test that faith, which is acting relentlessly on what you believe.
That's the mustard seed, relentlessness. I love that faith is relentless. I'm getting distracted now, but this is good. It's that Sarah Phoenician woman that showed up relentlessly and even was told no, said, nope, I'll take crumbs, thanks.
It was the woman with the issue of blood that pushed through the crowd to grab hold of the hem of his garment. It was that Jacob grit that says, I won't let go until you bless me with your name. There is grit. It's relentless action on what you believe.
This is faith. And trials and tribulations test that. But it's not the trials and tribulations that produce this power for endurance. It's the faith that does.
And I want you to get this because it's the testing of the faith and that relentless action of what you believe produces power that allows you to endure. And the longer you endure, crazy things happen on the inside of you. We're talking perfection in every part of your being. We're talking lacking nothing on the inside.
But it starts with when the stuff hits the fan, what do you do? This is the testing. It's like, do you believe this? Really?
Show me. It's the show me part of our experience of Christianity. So I'm looking at trials that trigger joy. I feel like for almost all of us, maybe it's cultural.
Maybe not. But we like to think of God as almost interventionist, almost wanting to see the visual transformation when he shows up. We love the testimony. We love that big transformation, correct?
And I think tonight is mostly about. There is something available greater than a physical, circumstance, visual transformation. I don't ever want to get bored with the miracle of the circumstance changing. But I wonder if there's something even greater available.
So I want to turn to a bunch of familiar passages. So are you guys good with more sort drill? OK. Let's go to Danielite.
We're going to hang out with Old Testament for a little bit. Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3 verse 24. I'm still out of the ESV here.
Little back story, super familiar passage. Three Israelites get thrown into Nebuchadnezzars furnace. Y'all know the story? Verse 24.
That king was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound? Notice that word, bound into the fire. The answer said true.
We did. The answer said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire. And they're not hurt. And the appearance of that fourth man is like a son of the gods.
But on verse 27, like halfway through. And he saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. And the hair on their heads were not singed. And their cloaks were not harmed.
And no smell of fire were on them. There is something greater available than a fire getting put out apparently. Because friend, if you're like me, I'm thinking, God, would you just show up? Because I attach God showing up to circumstance changing.
I'm in a fire. Perhaps you could show up. God shows up my assumption of fire changing. What we see here is there's something available that's greater than the fire changing.
Have I said that enough times? OK. They went inbound. And when the fourth man shows up, he taught them to be free right in the middle of it.
I'm talking that maybe your circumstance can't change in this moment in the way that you thought and the timing you thought. But what if you could be free right now? I think that we want to be free from the fire. But the greater heavy revives, he teaches us how to be free in the fire.
A couple of weeks ago, we had talked that when you're actually starting to understand hope, it's really God's perspective for what's coming. It's being fueled by the future. It's a confident expectation of future good. That you're not denying circumstances.
You're not living in denial. You're just denying them a throne. You remember that from two weeks ago. He's teaching you how to be lured over the fire way too often.
We have given authority to this trial that I'll be OK when the circumstance is OK. I'll be OK when they say I'm sorry. I'll finally believe I'm free from the addiction when I stop manifesting the addiction. I'll finally believe when I see the change.
We're giving Lord. And you cannot take authority over something that has authority over you. And it's your choice. You can give that thing authority, or you can trample on the snake and the scorpion.
The opportunity here is for massive upgrade. And it's not on the outside. It's on the end. This makes sense to me.
This makes a lot of sense when Jesus shows up. And this whole time in the old covenant, we thought that we could actually earn right standing by exterior behavior. Jesus shows up on the scene and says it's not enough. You've heard it said, don't kill a guy.
I'm telling you, it's a heart thing. You can't even want to. You've heard it said, don't commit adultery. I'm saying you can't even lust in your heart.
Internal thing. Well, the best rulekeepers were Pharisees. Well, I'm saying your righteousness has to exceed that of the Pharisees. The best external rulekeepers on the planet.
It's not enough because I'm going to put a brand new heart within you. And you can't earn that brand new heart. I am not looking external flesh. I'm looking internal spirit.
This is the kingdom on this side of the cross. And even in that concept of it's about what's going on in your head and in your heart, your character, and what's actually going on inside of you, he's mimicking it even with the gospel itself on how you get saved. So this is a thing. And I feel like we've been so cheap on waiting for the external.
When he's like, friend, there are treasures in the fire. I think it's time to actually pause. If you're in a fire, lucky. You are lucky because you will uncover such gold that the ones who aren't in the fire either couldn't have found or would have taken them decades to find that in a season you can take hold of a lifetime of revelation and upgrades.
Consider a pure joy friend. It's upgrade season. One of the things that I don't want us to get disconnected from is this thing of hope because it does fuel us in the time of trial. And it's so directly tied to what he has said.
And if we get disconnected from what he has said, we'll get disconnected from what he sees. And if you get disconnected from what he sees, where you're headed, what's coming and what's available. Instead of being fueled by the future, you'll be left with just being fueled for now. And your gaze and your eyes of looking ahead will then be looking down instead of enthriving, you're just trying to get by in survival.
And you can only think for you and you can only think for not. This is the typical experience for people in trials. They're just trying to get through it. And when I look at even comparing the first Adam and the last Adam, the first Adam got disconnected from what God said.
I can't even emphasize how important the logos meaning the written word of God is. It's the first thing that the devil attacked. Wait, are you saying? Are you sure?
That's what God said. It's calling into question what he's anchored to. The immovable, unshakable nature inside of a Christian. The righteous are unshakable is a truth and a promise because we can anchor to something that never moves and never shakes.
But if you remove the anchor or call into question what it's anchored to, that's a devil's only shot that gets you blown and tossed. A double-minded man's unstable in all his ways because he's considering a couple of different options here. I'm not quite sure if I'm focused on the promise or the problem, so I'm unstable. What drives you?
Are you driven by the problem? Or are you driven by the promise? This is worth taking note of. And when Jesus responds in the same level of temptation after fasting in a wilderness, he didn't respond with his belief.
He didn't respond with his experience. He responded with what's written, connected to what he said. It's power. All right?
Numbers 13, still in the Old Testament. Numbers 13. I want us to go to verse 25. 12 tribes of Israel.
Each tribe sends forth their best, strongest fighter guy. To spy out a promised land. Verse 25, at the end of the 40 days, they returned from spying out the land. They came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people in Israel in the wilderness of Puranic Adesh.
They brought back word to them into all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they said, we came to the land to which you sent us. Yep, it does flow with milk and honey. And thus is its fruit.
Verse 28, however, the people who dwell in the land, they're strong. Cities are very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Malekites are in the land of Nagabb.
Hittites, Jebesites, and Amorites are in the hills. Canaanites in the seal on the Jordan. Verse 3. But Caleb quieted the people before Moses.
I want you guys to get a grip for what it's like when you're connected to what he said and promised, rather than the problem. It's going to sound a little like Caleb. Let's go up at once and occupy it for we're able to overcome it. Verse 31, then the man who had gone up from him says we're not able to go up against the people.
They're stronger than we are. Verse 32. So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land. And they had spied out, saying, quote, the land through which we have gone to spite out is a land that devours the people in it.
And all the people that we saw in it are huge. Verse 33. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who came from the Nephilim. And we seemed, in our opinion, to ourselves, like grasshoppers.
And so we seemed to them. Next chapter, so Numbers 14, go down to verse 6. Again, I want us to get the perspective when we're connected to the promise instead of the problem. Verse 6, Joshua and Caleb were among those who had spied out the land.
They tore their clothes after hearing all this. Verse 7. And they said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, quote, the land which we pass through to spite out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us what she does, He will bring us into this land.
And He'll give it to us. It's a land that flows with milk and honey. Verse 9, only don't rebel against the Lord. Don't fear the people of that land.
For they are bred for us. Their protections removed from them. And the Lord is with us. Don't fear them.
Whoa. When you're connected to the promise, your anchors dropped on what He said. Do you realize what it does to your speech? Do you realize what it does to your mind?
Do you realize what it does to your behavior? Even their perspective was like, good. I'm glad there's giants. We're going to eat them like bread.
I'm glad there's giants because we get to see giants fall and that sounds cool. They've lost. We've won. The end.
Let's go. Bulletproof, not in themselves. The promise was bulletproof. We have to connect to what He said His perspective.
If you get what He said, you'll get what He sees. Everybody OK? So I feel like there is an opportunity for us to actually be less focused on the fire in the burning and to actually shift our eyes and shift our gaze to the fourth man. What's the look on His face?
Well, the fire's getting cranked up seven times hotter and well, you can look at that dial. And it will probably produce in you certain reactions. Or you can pivot your gaze to the fourth man. And I promise you, you'll go and bound.
But when He shows up and you see Him, you'll be free. I'm talking about Psalm 23 stuff. And the presence of your enemies all around you. There's a God who shows up and doesn't kill them.
But He sets up a table. And He says, let's feast right in the middle of the hell that's around you. This is so good. I mean, it's communion time with Him.
It's almost like it's face to face connection time with Him. When you look at feasts, it was almost always to do in remembrance of a covenant. And I feel like it's time to feast with Him in remembrance. I think there's something on being a good steward, like David was before facing Goliath.
He stewarded the power of God and the authority of God with the lion and the bear. I remember even in Joshua how they would set up memorials, meaning like altars, stones, to remember what God did. There's something about remembering what God did. And feasts in that culture were almost always about remembering what God did, remembering the covenant, it's setting up a memorial, a memory, memorial of what has happened.
And I almost feel like in the presence of a giant, Jesus at a table with David would be like, hey, do you remember the bear? Do you remember the lion? I was with you. In the presence of enemies.
I feel like fear forgets, but faith remembers. And we need to pause and just remember what He's said, what He's done, what He's like. Remember to look at Him. We have to pump the brakes.
We got to pull the car over. We have to stop what we're doing in the hell of the circumstance and remember what He's like. I feel like there's even something around training in and out of season for trials. How many agree that if you're entering into a battle, you're probably not going to hear as well in the midst of a battle compared to when you're not.
You're probably not going to think as clearly in the middle of a battle that maybe you would at a time of peace. There is a call to arms right now, not to prepare for a fight, but almost just a good, healthy living that happens to prepare you for a fight. That when the fight actually comes, the soldiers that have trained, it's less to do with their ability to hear and their ability to think, but it's more about their training kicks in. If you're going down the stairs or if you're stumbling, there's railings that you typically grab onto or things around you that you grab onto to stabilize yourself.
And I want to audit that. What are you grabbing for when the stuff hits the fan? What's your railing to help you get down the stairs? What are you typically medicating?
Because if you're grabbing the pain numbing medication, which can be any number of the pleasures of this age, but then try and incorporate God or Christian things later, friend, what's the experience that you will have in that trial is like night and day from this pure joy, good cheer, available experience. I want us to just think though, when the stress is the highest, when you're like maybe James II, the worst of the worst, like all you have are problems. What's your default? It's worth auditing.
Because the trials are what exposed that gap between what you say you believe and how you behave, believe versus behave. And it tests that faith which is the behavior part. And it's okay, you gotta start somewhere. It's okay to actually look that clear in the eye and be like I grab the following things.
But I'm almost wondering if I can go super practical for a minute on what it would look like to make sure that you have a few things in place for the next storm or mountain or fire stream. And I feel like one of the things that is super common sense but does get overlooked is community. And I'm not talking about friends that are acquaintances that maybe you could call up when times get tough. I'm talking about the shoulder to shoulder community that goes to the depths of the hell of your circumstances with you.
I remember that when God created everything, He said it's good, right? Do you remember the first time He said it's not good? It was when man was alone. They're even in like this amazing place of union and communion with God.
You were hard-wired for connection with people as well. And just like in the wildlife with nature, thank you, with lions and cheetahs and stuff, predators, they will try and find easy prey. And one of the marks of an easy prey, I believe is isolated. It's significantly more difficult to attack a group than it is an individual.
And you don't, you maybe don't understand the power in community. You might think that it's kind of a semi to maybe not important thing when there's actual spiritual power in community. It's God's design. That's why disciples were sent out in groups or when Jesus was training groups of people He'd send them out to you.
There's something about isolation versus community. So that's practical. I do want you to audit this. I do want you to actually look in the mirror.
Am I running with people? Like really? Do people really know me? Do I really know the people that I'm running with?
Please get community. Number two, in no particular order. Get counsel. You need a counselor.
You're not that smart. You need people smarter than you to look into your life and provide counsel. And you might say, I had a bad experience. Okay, find another counsel.
That would be very similar to you saying, yeah, I mean, I was working out at this gym, but then I had a bad experience, so I stopped working out. Find another gym. It's okay to find another gym. That's exercise for your body, which is actually pretty important to having a decent life.
This is diet and exercise for the soul, counsel. And if you have a bad experience, find a different gym. Find a different counselor. Get mentors that are ahead of you and smarter than you.
It's one of the railings you grab onto when you're surfing. You need to call people that can help you process, that understand and see things that you don't. Everybody okay with the community and the counselor thing? I wanna spend a little time on how important, real, true, connection, not just with people or counselors, but the most important one is real, true connection with God.
This is the oil in your lamp. It's that 10 virgins parable. It's like you need oil to get through the trial. You need real, true, authentic connection with the fourth man.
Real connection with the man that's at the table amidst the enemies. If the first time you're leaning in to hear his voice is in a battle, you're not gonna hear as well. I think there's, I can't emphasize how important it is to get any rhythm of connection with him. And this isn't like, I'm not gonna go legalistic and say you have to find an hour a day and spend that with the Lord.
If you can, that's an incredible thing and keep running. And if you, for some reason or in a season where you can't or that your time with him looks different, it's okay, stay connected with him throughout the day. Everything is a launch pad. If you're even like listening, I don't know, you're in the road and you're listening to a sermon or a podcast, do it with him.
To the point where you hear something and you're pressing the pause button and you're actually talking to him about what you just heard. There is so much available in connection with him and that every day that you have like riches that are untold just in intimacy with him. And that is wells that you're digging deep in and out of season. That's a thing.
I actually wanna talk also about this concept of lion bear giant because I think it's real. There's something about stewarding power and authority that he's given you. Where my heart breaks is at the quantity of times in my own walk and experience that I've seen people never pray for the sick. A loved one, somebody that they really care about gets a terminal diagnosis.
And the first time that they're ever praying for the sick is for a loved one on their death better in hospice or in a hospital. It's the equivalent for us like getting a phone call tomorrow morning and being like, time to run a marathon and you've never trained. The chances are for the average person in here who has never trained for a marathon but then had to run one tomorrow, it might not go that well. Some of us are more trained than others.
Some of us just naturally because of wiring are gonna excel in areas of power, authority and miracles because of how they're wired. Some of us will actually have to spend more time in the gym working that muscle. Regardless, what's tragic to me is seeing, never pray for the sick, so I pray for Uncle Larry and I don't see the cancer disappear and Uncle Larry passes away. And then I form a doctrine of I guess it's not God's will or timing where I guess Uncle Larry had unforgiveness in his heart and couldn't receive the power of God.
Or what's worse is you actually harden your heart that you didn't see the breakthrough and then you never pray for the sick again. And there's a stewardship of what he's given you. Don't make the first and only time that you reached for the fruit of the spirit, be when times are tough. How about eat that like you would normal food during the day and during the week when things are good?
Feast on his finished work. In and out of season. Commun with him at a table, in and out of season. Pray for the sick, in and out of season.
I look at that experience that the disciples had when the storm came and Jesus was asleep in the boat. Two things strike me about that. I could be totally wrong on the first one but I'm gonna say it anyway just in case I'm right. I think that's most often preached.
Look, look at Jesus as an example. He was at rest when a storm came. And that's probably right but I have a different thought on that. Jesus came as the first born among many to actually show us the truth about us and to give us an example.
But I'm wondering if this wasn't what happened in the boat, I wanna extrapolate us. Maybe us sleeping in the boat is different than when Jesus sleeps. I'm concerned that there are storms in our life and you and me are asleep in the boat. And there is a call and a shaking of our shoulders.
Wake up and speak to the storm. Trent, wake up from your slumber and speak to the storm. Second thing, I found it fascinating that Jesus stands up, rebukes the storm in a way that you would rebuke a devil or a demon. You look up the word of he rebuke the storm and says to bind or to muzzle.
That's fascinating. Some storms are natural and some storms are spiritual. Just like some sicknesses and bodies are natural and some sicknesses are spiritual that need to get cast out like the epileptic boy. But the second thing that strikes me is that after Jesus binds and muzzles the storm, he turns to his disciples and says, where's your faith?
I think we almost always interpret that in a what's wrong with you, dude? Almost a shaming, almost a condemnation way. But I almost wonder if he is actually coming alongside them rather than talking down to them and saying, where's your faith? Let's find it.
Don't forget about the shield. Where is it? Let's pick it up. I don't want you to forget about the shield of faith that extinguishes every fiery dart of the devil.
It is literal offense when you step out in faith. It's not defense, but sometimes the best defense is a good offense. If you stepping out an offense extinguishes every fiery dart of the devil. So we can't forget what we've been given.
Where's your faith? It's the trigger. Where's your faith when the storms come? Consider it pure joy, friend, when the storms come.
It's a trigger. It's a guardrail that you grab the railing for. Everybody OK? Stephen, I'll invite you, everybody.
We've taught on forgiveness of past hurts many times. And there's such power. And when you're going through a time of unforgiveness that you're in that fire that you can choose right then and there to be free to forgive. But I want to focus for one second on other times that we've taught on freedom from sin.
Because I think there's a very interesting parallel here that's available for us. One of the most powerful methods that actually I experienced freedom in my own life was the power of Thanksgiving. You guys have heard of Pavlov's dog? There's this experiment done where they ding a bell and feed a dog.
Ding, feed, ding, feed. All of a sudden they remove the food and there's ding in the dog, start salivating. You see how that's training. It's a trigger.
When it comes to freedom from sin, there is a crazy upgrade available. That what if every single time that the temptation from the outside trying to get in triggered you was the bell that was dinging that triggered you into Thanksgiving on what's true? To where it reminds you of Romans 6, you have been set free. Those who have died have been set free from sin.
And you almost forgot until the temptation came. And you're like, thanks for reminding me. God, I just thank you that I'm totally free in this moment and in this time. It is a flipping of script to the point where the temptation is blessing you.
Because it's almost like there's a piece of wood and there's a nail and a hammer. And every time the temptation comes, it's driving that nail deeper into the piece of wood. I wouldn't have the depth of revelation if there wasn't a hammer. So I'm grateful that every time the hammer comes, I get deeper and deeper revelation of just how free I am from that sin.
So the temptation's blessing me. The trial is meant to yield something to you rather than take something from you. And what if we just let the fire burn up the longer to get the nail driven down a little deeper? Because we're not always in control of when the fire leaves.
And what if we weren't being controlled by the heat, the smoke and the dial, but we're being controlled by our experience with the fourth man? And that's what drove us. Like Joshua and Caleb, not driven by the fire, but driven by the promise that nothing shall by any means hurt you even when you're in the fire. So what's the upgrade?
This is what I'll leave you with. Right when we started maybe eight, nine years ago, there was a question that marked our community that came from a pastor overseas. He told this story of a woman who came forward after he preached a message on trials. And what he left the congregation with was this question.
When trials come, ask God this, now that this thing has come into my life, who do you want to be for me right now that you could have never been before this thing came in my life? So this woman came up to that pastor after the service and was so moved and marked by that. She said I was literally just diagnosed with terminal cancer of six weeks to live. Thank you for this message.
She was so in a good way haunted by that question. About every 10 minutes she was triggered to ask him again, now that I have terminal cancer, who do you want to be for me now that you couldn't have been at any other time? Every 10 minutes, who do you want to be for me now that you couldn't have been before I got this diagnosis? And that question started growing in her and growing in her.
It was a pivoting and a taking of her eyes and her focus off of the fire onto the fourth man. And the answer started growing in her as the question started growing in her. Five days in, she's in her bed at night about to go to sleep. And she has this encounter with a man dressed in light that comes into her room and says, I am the Lord that heals you.
An electricity shot through her body at the revelation of the answer. The next day she went in and got tested, every way that she could. And there was not a trace of the cancer in her body. So as a community, we've been marked by that question, ever since our foundation.
Who do you want to be for me now? That you couldn't have been at any other time before. You got to ask the right questions. Friend, you're in the fire now.
It's time to find the upgrade and the gold that's hidden there for you. The trial is there to bless you. Find the blessing. Communed with the fourth man.
Uncover your upgrade. Who do you want to be for me now? You'll have a greater revelation of who he is that you never would have had. You'll have scriptures that'll just become like bedrock frameworks to your life.
It was in that season that I learned that and now no one can take it from you. What does this mean for our relationship? Now that this is in our life. There's upgrades in intimacy and union and communion with him.
He is an ever-present help in time of need. So cast your cares on him because he cares for you. And if you're tired and heavy, laden, he says, come to me and I will give you rest for your soul. Much as soon.
Let's just practice a little covenant with him. Everything that I have is yours. Everything that I am. And even in a fire or storm, I echo hollow.
I cast out fear, anxiety, worry. I release to you every emotion that doesn't come from you. And by faith, in its best design of how, I take hold of your perspective, your emotions. I take hold of what you've offered, which is joy and peace as I'm believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, I would be overflowing with hope.
I say yes to that invitation. Now we just choose to throw down our anchor again on what you've said, on what you're like, on what's been written, on the testimonies and the memorials and the stones of the past, and on what you've covered into us. We cast our anchor, teach us how to find you in the storm, you in the fire. We wanna feast with you again.
We bless you in Jesus name, amen.