I Can See The Light - Week 2

I said, life happens to everybody, and sometimes at an accelerated pace.

But we all have seasons where things are not easy, and scripture does a

lot of explaining and correction and preparation for those times. And if you've got

a Bible, go with me. The Second Corinthians, chapter four, Second

Corinthians, chapter four of starting in verse seven, Second Corinthians four, verse

seven. If you're there, say amen. If you're not, Ohmi,

all right, the ol mais can follow along on the screens. But we

have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellence of the power may

be of God and not of us. He says, this treasure, this

this thing, this this God presence that's on the inside of us. It's

encapsulated in a vessel created for earth, vessels not created for heaven. It's

created for atmosphere and time. Come on, somebody, these modules that God

created for us to live in. And our body reacts to those things,

to those inputs that come against us, that pressure that squeezes down. And

he says, listen, the treasure is inside that earth and vessel, and

that earth and vessel it's going to experience all of the atmospheric conditions, that

atmospheric sin that presses, that causes all of the erosions of those principles that

we hold dear. It responds and it reacts to those things. But the

treasure is inside that vessel. But I'm aware that the vessel is earthen.

I'm aware that the body I created was created to live here on Earth.

I'm well aware of that, and I want you to know that I'm aware

of that. And this precious treasure that's on the inside of you is inside

this tent, this momentary, encapsulated peace of us we call the flesh,

and it's there, and it's temporal. But I also know that it's probably

the part that you spend the most worrying about. Come on, somebody,

I mean, after all, we we we we often spend countless hours worrying

about our own comfort and our pleasure and our safety and all of those things,

right, And that's all flesh related. That's all the earth suit related.

Most of the things we worry about. Where am I gonna sleep?

Am I gonna be warm enough? I'm gonna be That's all. That's all

flesh related. And God knows that that is one of the most important things

to you, because that's where your feelings are. One of the primary reasons

Jesus was was incarnate in flesh that he put on that same earth suit is

so that he could live through those same experiences that you do. So he

knows what it is to be hungry. He knows what it is to be

tired. He knows what it is to be cold, he knows what it

is to be houghty. He experienced pain. He knows what it is to

be in the place of humanity. Because it's easy for us just to look

at God and say, you don't understand what I'm going through. He looked

at the man. The man said, listen, I want to come and

I want to be with you. And Jesus looks back and he says,

listen. The birds of the air have nests, preacher of the ground have

holes, But the son of Man has no place to lay his head.

He said, tonight, I'm going to have to sleep under a tree.

He knows what it is to identify with your situation and your circumstance because his

flesh experienced it. So he's not an uncaring god that's separated by some kind

of geography. He's an up close personal God, because he's lived where we

lived and walked through the things that we've walked through. He says, this

treasure is in earth and vessels, that the excellence of the power may be

of God and not of us. He said, here's the thing. People

are going to see the light because your flesh is weak. People are going

to see the power of God expressed through me. Not because of the great

exploits you can do under your own power, but because of the ones you

can't, because it is the power of God that's manifest and not our flesh.

And then Paul just kind of gets right in there with us and he

says, hey, we're hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

Now it's time for that honest moment. I know y'all don't like these How

many of you you just feel constant pressure all the time. I mean,

it's just like you know, I like in it. I don't know if

there's any Star Wars fans in here, but there's that scene where where they're

down in the dumpster. They're trying to escape and the walls start closing in.

That trash compactor starts closing in, and they start feeling all of this

pressure around them, and they're thinking, oh no, this is it.

And then suddenly, by miracle, R two D two come on, somebody,

he says, and it stops, and they start shouting, and they

start they're excited and they're yelling and they're cheering. But now R two D

two and see the gold one right, they're listening to this happening over the

monitor and C three po or c P three oho, whichever comes first,

it doesn't matter. He looks. He says, Oh my goodness, listen,

they're dying. They're being crushed. Now. They still felt the pressure,

but they weren't crushed, and they realized there was a moment of rejoicing

and shouting. Because we feel pressure, it doesn't mean that things are over,

because will never be crushed because greater is he who is in me than

he who is in the world. And when the world looks at you living

in that pressure, they're not going to understand the celebration and the excitement because

they don't understand the peace of God that offsets the pressure of the world.

He said, we're pressed on every side, yet not crush. We're perplexed,

but not in despair. We don't really understand why but it's not gonna

get us down persecuted, but not forsaken. How many of you believe that

the word of God is true, that it's infallible, And listen, the

Bible says you're going to be persecuted. If the Bible says it, it's

going to happen. But we want to press back against persecution and say,

oh, no, that's not of God. God. Listen, Uh,

can't happen, not gonna happen. Not here. We're Americans. Oh,

we're in America. We don't get persecuted. And then the you know,

the government raises taxes and you start screaming, oh persecution, Amen, price

of beef goes up. Now your tee bone costs a little more. Persucution.

That's life. Persecution is when you live your life in such a way

that the light of Jesus is offending people. Principalities and powers in high places

affecting people, and they come against you because of what you believe and who

you belong to, not because you live in a place that inflation is out

of control. Persecution will differentiate you from the world, and it will set

you as a city on a hill. Like we talked to so they look

at you and they see that you're being treated unfairly. They see that you're

at a disadvantage. But yet God continues to elevate you. It's when we

take on those things that the light of Jesus shines bright to the world.

I'm struck down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body the dying

of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our

body. For we who live or always delivered to death for Jesus' sake.

We don't like that. We don't like passages like that, that we go

right to the edge, But it's for the glorification of Jesus, because he

pulls us back from the edge. Because the truth is, we all want

to be the main character in the story, but we're not the main character

in the story. Jesus is the main character in the story. And when

we write the story, we're the central figure. And we always place the

central figure in a place of safety and a place of security, and a

place of prosperity, in a place of all those things. But when Jesus

is the central figure, then we glorify him because he is the central figure.

He is the author and the finisher of our faith, and if he

writes the story, we will finish it in a better place than we started.

But when we write it, we just botch it all up. That

the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, not in

the sweet by and bye, but that Jesus may be manifested through the things

we endure and the things we go through. So then death is working in

us, but life in you. Wow. And since we have the same

spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believe, and therefore

I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he who raised

up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us

with you. For all things are for your sakes. That grace, having

spread through the many, may cost thanksgiving to a bound to the glory of

God. He said, Listen, the temporal trials that we go through and

the pressures that we endure. It's all about glorifying Jesus so that his gospel

spreads to those around us. We're getting closer to the end than we've ever

been. We're moving at a cataclysmic rate towards the end of things as we

know it, Jesus may no longer be seated at the right hand of the

Father. He may now be standing. He may even be in the sprinter's

block. And it's time that we live our lives with such an urgency about

the Gospel that we become contagious, and that it becomes difficult for the people

around us to go to hell verse sixteen. Therefore we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing, Yet the inward man is being

renewed day by day. That every day the man on the endside of me

is growing, that on the inside of me is learning to adapt to the

pressure a little better, and the inner man is shining through the outer man.

Because I've come to the realization that the outer man is simply not as

important as the inner man, because the outer man will perish, the outer

man will go away, but the inner man is eternal and will live forever.

So I better start paying as much attention and keeping the inner man in

shape, maybe a little more than the outer man. Y'all laughing, But

round is a shape. I just want y'all to know. You know that

in that story of Joseph in the Old Testament. It's a it's an incredible

story of perseverance in the face of adversity. Joseph was his daddy's favorite.

He had a dream one night, and that dream was probably at the moment

it's supposed to be private to him, but sometimes when God gives us a

dream, we also get motivated to run our mouths. Come on somebody,

and he tells the story that offends his brothers and even his parents about them

bowing down to him, and his brothers decided they weren't going to have any

part of that. After Joseph got a pretty coat of many colors, which

indicated that he was his daddy's favorite, and they took him and they threw

him in a pit, and they sold him into slavery. They told his

daddy he was dead. And even as he was thrown into a pit and

sold into slavery, he was delivered to a man named Potiphar, a wealthy

man. Potiphar soon realized as the gifts and the talents that Joseph had,

and he put him over his whole home. He was in charge of everything

in the home. And Potiphar left go on a trip and Potifer. Potiphar's

wife took a liking to Joseph and said, hey, hey, I want

you to I want you to come to bed with me. And he said,

Now, I don't think so, Nic said, because here here's the

deal. You know, I'm in charge of everything. The only thing that

the masters would tell from me is you. And this is Listen to what

he says that in the face of adversity, he still points to Jesus.

We missed this. He did not say, I don't want to offend your

husband. He said, why would I sin against God? He said,

why would I sin against God? Because God has brought me to the place

that I am, And even though I'm a slave, even though I'm indebted,

even though I'm owned, the freedom on the inside cancels the lack of

freedom on the outside, And why would I sin against God? So we

know, she makes up a store and grabs his coat and all that stuff.

He ends up in prison. As soon as he's in prison, the

prison guard looks at him and says, I sense that God is with you,

and he puts him in charge of all the prisoners, and it says

that he trust. Now, this is an Egyptian who worshiped the God Pharaoh.

He looks at him and he says, I sense that God, and

he says. The Bible says that he did never go behind and check up

on Joseph because the Lord was with Joseph, and in that place of adversity,

because the inner man was more important his devout pursuit of God. The

inward man shone beyond the outward captivity. We're pressed, but not crushed.

We're persecuted, but we're not forsaken. Jesus is doing something so profound on

the inside of you that if you took a moment to take note, it

would revolutionize the way you walk, talk, and live. When you're like

not me, pastor yes you do you realize that you are God's favorite?

Not all y'all you which one? Yes, I know it's hard to understand.

It's one of those things that is it's hard to process with the logical

brain as the trinity, but it's still reality, and it's still true that

you are God's favorite, so much so that the same spirit that raised Christ

Jesus from the dead lives on the inside of you. If you're born again

and you've repented of your sins in Philippians, Chapter three, verse twelve.

It says not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I

press on press, I don't mosy. That's why we This is what we

want serving Jesus to be like. But that's not what it's like. Living

for Jesus is like this. You know, why would I want to live

like that? Because you don't know you're living like that because you have the

peace of God. The world sees you pressing, and your face is set

and you're pressing and you're pushing and you're claiming, and even when it gets

heavy, Jesus is there to lift the load. You know, when Lexi

was doing rehab on her ankle after she had ankle surgery, they had this

amazing machine they would because she couldn't put any weight on that ankle, but

they wanted her to immediately start running. So that's hard to do, right,

you can't put weight on your ankle, but they want you to start

running. So they had this machine, this treadmill thing, and they strapped

her in it and then they dialed af off the amount of body weight,

so that I think when she first started running she had like three percent body

weight on her ankle, and she was able to run as fast as she

could run, but she wasn't putting weight on her ankle. Now shes still

weighed the same surgerized ankle, but she was able to run. They would

slowly dial off the weight until she was carrying more and more weight through the

rehab process. And that's exactly what God does for you. That through the

weight. You don't realize if you were looking inside, so the light shines

outside. Now if you're looking at the outside, you feel the pressure.

If you were the pivotal point in the story, if you're the most important

character in the story, it's gonna feel heavy. But if Jesus is the

most important character in the story, if his light is shine, then he

will remove the weight so that you can walk through life. But you still

have to press. But I press on that I may lay hold of that

for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do

not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do. He said,

there's one thing I got, one thing I've I used to think I

knew a lot, but now I've only got one thing forgetting those things which

are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. He said,

I got this figured out. The things that are behind me are not important.

Only the things that are in front of me. The things that are

behind me, the wounds and the hurts and all of those things, the

trauma and all of that stuff that's behind me. Does it shape me,

sure, But the pain and the weight of it can't hold me down because

I'm forgetting that, because I know what's ahead of me is more important,

because Jesus is out there, and what's ahead of me is the rest of

my testimony. You know. When I was growing up, right, I

mean here in this church, I was growing up, and I would hear

people give testimonies, and the testimony would be the same thing every time they

said it. It would be like a memorized script. Come on, somebody,

I'm so glad the Lord saved me and filled me with the Holy ghosts

and gave me four pre cows and whatever it was, you know, And

it was always the same story, and it's always the same thing over and

over. And I used to think at the end of that, I would

think, well, what's God doing now? It almost may it seem like

God only worked back then. You're in the middle of a testimony right now.

You may not know what the testimony is. You may not realize that

you're in a testimony. It may look messy, it may look dirty,

it may look broken, But you're in the middle of a testimony that the

world is seeing. And what's ahead of you is more important than what got

you in the mess to start with, because what's ahead of you is the

testimony that the world will see God working through you. In I said I

was, I'm gonna preach this hard today. Christ Jesus has also laid hold

of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but

one thing I do. Forgetting those things what you're behind, and reaching forward

to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize

of the upward call. In Christ Jesus, listen, I'm not pressing towards

heaven. Heaven is a byproduct of salvation. The job we have to do

now is the call of God. Let me phrase it in a let me

phrase it in cornerstone tabernacle vernacular. I'm pressing towards purpose because my purpose is

life. My purpose brings life to me and life to others. So I'm

pressing towards purpose. I experience God, I walk in freedom, I find

my place so I can live with purpose. They're all pieces of the journey

so that we can make an impact in the world around us. It's about

the upward call of Jesus, and the upward call of Jesus is not behind

me. Listen. You may think you're old, but the call is in

front of you. You may be retired, but the call is in front

of you. If you're still here, there's still a plan and a hope

and a future. There's still more for you to do than you have ever

done for Jesus. Just because you've been repositioned doesn't mean you're out of the

game. It means now you're free to do the things that make the most

impact. You know why I love Pastor Gary Well lots of reasons. This

is not the only one, bro, Because he comes to me and he

says, I want you to know that I'm doing more ministry right now than

I've ever done in my whole life. I want to be able to look

at somebody and say that one day that I'm gonna get myself in trouble if

I go down that road. I don't have to babysit anymore. I don't

have to babysit. I don't have to worry about budgets. I don't have

to worry about getting my message right. So Facebook, don't take it off

the internet. You know, there's about four words I could say right now

that Facebook would bam and pull us off the internet. If I say COVID,

if I say terrorist, if I say nuclear bomb. Oh, I'm

saying them, aren't I What if I just said I love Israel and I

pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I dare you. I'll tell what band?

Come on, get ready, listen Hebrews chapter thirteen. You are positioned

in the kingdom to be a leader, doesn't matter who you are. Leadership

is influence, and a testimony is about influence. And God has given you

all a testimony because you're all a witness. And that means if you're a

witness, if you track back through, you're a leader. And the Bible

makes it how we position ourselves for leadership. It's not a sophisticated process.

There are no degrees involved, none of that. It's found in Hebrews chapter

thirteen, verse seven. Remember those who rule over you, who lead you.

Remember those who lead you, who have spoken the word of God to

you, who lead you according to godly principles. Now listen when you read

this, don't put yourself in the lower role. Put yourself in the leader

role, because that's who you are. Remember those who rule over you,

who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow. Do

you know how you get in in fluence faith? How do people see faith

through your works? What works? Good works? What kind of good works?

Kingdom works? Where I push aside those things that are distracting me and

I chase after that which is ahead of me? How do they see the

light? I become the light? How do I become the light? I

focus on the inward man and stop worrying about whether I'm comfortable or whether I've

got what I want, And I trust God for what I need, and

I live my life wide open, at a velocity that the world is impacted

through me, because that's who you are. You are a world changer,

not the person sitting next to you, not the person wearing a microphone.

You or the world changer. You were the one that God has entrusted for

such a time as this, The population on planet Earth has never been greater

than it is right now, at eleven point fifty five on this Sunday.

And listen. God didn't choose the twelve and put them here now. He

didn't choose Paul and put him here now. He didn't choose Wigglesworth and put

him here now. He didn't choose doctor Someral and put him here now.

He chose you. He chose you to live your faith out loud so that

the world sees it and has drawn to you because He is alive in you.

Now. Listen, your brother, there's probably at least one person in

here right now that said, and I don't know what you're talking about,

faith, sacrifice, persecution ahead of me, not behind me. The only

way you could understand that is to know Jesus Christ. Let me tell you

just a little bit of what Jesus did for you. After a ridiculous trial

where he was found guilty of nothing that's right, innocent, they whipped him

and tore the flesh from his body. They beat him beyond human recognition.

They spat on him, and they made fun off him. They pounded a

crown of thorns into his head, mocked him. Then they made him shoulder

the instrument of his death. It would be like the government sentencing you to

the electric chair, but making you plug it in. And he shouldered the

instrument of his death, and he carried it down those cobblestone streets of Jerusalem,

and he looked into this room, and the reason he did it is

because of you, and up Calvary's Inclyde. And he stretched himself out on

that wooden cross that day, and he allowed them to pound nails through his

hands and his feet, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, creating

a bridge to the Father for you, and with you own his mind,

knowing that your sin put him there, he said, Father, forgive them.

I didn't know what they were doing. My blood is for them.

And right now to receive the greatest gift you could ever have, the gift

of salvation, all you have to do is to repent up your sins.

How do I do that? I acknowledge that I'm a sinner, and I

turn and I go the other way. And I asked him to forgive me

and make him my lord. Everybody's staying with me all over the building.

What I'm gonna see, clout, that's a good one. Listen. If

you're here and you know you're far from God, maybe you've never asked Jesus

to forgive you of your sins. Maybe you've never asked him to be the

lord of your life. To day's your day. Maybe you're here and you've

allowed things to come between you and him, to tarnish that relationship, and

you want to make things new today, you want to come and say Lord,

from this moment on, come on, somebody, Today's the best day.

The way we do that here is we do it very openly because we

believe scripture when it says if you confess me before Men, I'll confess you

before my father in Heaven. If you deny me before Men, I'll deny

you. So this is what we're gonna do. If you're here and you

want to ask Jesus to save you or to restore a relationship with you,

whichever one, it doesn't matter. This room is filled with people who love

you and have been praying for you all week. On the count of three,

If that's you and you want to make things right with Jesus, I

want you to step out and I want you to come. Don't look around

and see if anybody else is moving. That's popularity. That's not faith.

It's on the count of three, I want you to step out and move.

Today's your day. This is the day you've been dreaming off. This

is the day where those things are behind you and something great is in front

of you. So on the count of three, step out and move one,

two, three, step out and move right now. Don't miss your

moment. Come on, come on, come on. If your heart's beating

fast, that's the Holy Spirit drawing you. You kind of feel like everything's

a dream right now, that's the Holy Spirit drawing you. You don't even

know what's happening. That's the Holy Spirit drawing you. If you're here for

the first time or the one hundred first time, it doesn't matter. Step

out and move right now. I know there's two or three more, there's

two or three more. I don't want you to miss your chance. I

don't want you to miss your opportunities. Step out and move right now.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

let go, Let go. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,

Jesus, Jesus Jesus, Jesus