Faith, Foes and Family //DW// Pastor Terrance Richmond

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Love Quest International

Church podcast, where we seek to love all nations, equip the

church, mobilize the equipped, and serve all.

We're super glad you're joining us from whenever and wherever

you're at in the world. Welcome to the family to get

your Bibles ready, get some water, get some coffee, maybe

some tea, and get ready to receive.

Let's get into it. Amen, Amen.

For those that are here and those that are are tuned in at

home, it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

I was sitting in the back, there was a few of us in the back.

Just literally within the last 10 minutes hit me like a ton of

bricks. And I said, I've never seen it

this way, but I said, or spirit said that warfare is harder for

us today than it was for Paul. And you'd be like, whoa, how was

that? He, they like they, they, they,

they, they were getting persecuted.

They was getting heads cut off. They was, but all they had was

their community. They worked to provide and they

had ministry. You know why it's harder for us?

We are so distracted. And it kind of hit me as I was

studying. I was like, whoa, there are men

and women of God all over this world that are called to prepare

a word for people that aren't even hungry for it.

It literally almost scared me. I can't, I was looking.

I was just like, no, you know, sometimes your emotion, you're

like, where did that come from? No, maybe I'm just being I'm

tripping. And I was like, whoa, those guys

actually was focused on training and he how do you get the

revelation that these get? How do you get the revelation

that you get? How do you get a revelation that

is like God said no, we going to take this revelation and give it

until Jesus return. How do you get eternal

revelation? How do you get a revelation to

write a book that is for letters that apply to every generation

that will ever walk this earth that comes from a deep well man,

I was like we are distracted. You think of how much stuff you

went through today mentally just to get here to hear a word for a

few minutes. Just think of how many times or

think of how many people wanted to come tonight but let

something get in the way We are. I got to go home and deal with

this because I'm like, whoa, this is a scary issue because if

the church is a body that's put in the earth to intercede for

the world and we're distracted, then when we see King Jesus,

what will that conversation be? Will it be well done?

I was like, whoa, we need to pray for pastors and leaders and

teachers and those that have said yes to the call.

Because here's what I understand is these evangelists and these

pastors and teachers, when they look out into that audience,

Elder John, they have to, they have to fight through so much to

hopefully land a word. We're we're a body that is eaten

against itself. We can't even see when the enemy

pluck us up out of a church we call to.

And what should scare us is what is the next generation going to

be left with if we're as distracted as we are now?

There's parts of the world that are dialed in in focus, but

unfortunately some of the places that are the most hungry for

God, they don't got nothing. And Elder Brett back in the day,

you didn't need a flyer in Instagram to to to try to compel

people to get to church. Folks were looking for where was

the church open like Wednesday nights or Thursday night or

midweek or a a Sunday was full every service all day.

We triple dipped, really quadrupled dipped because we

went to Sunday school and then some people would say, man,

that's that. But that's that's back then.

Same God, same mission. For those that did fight to get

here, kudos to you. What I will not do for a

generation who prefers to stay home is to act like staying home

is as equal of option than being here.

It's not the same. It's not the same.

You go ahead and be married via FaceTime for 20 years and see

how your marriage work. Don't, don't come, don't.

Do not fight, do, do not accept like there is a war against

getting in the House of God. So when we get in the House of

God, do you understand the miracle?

Do you know how many people got shot down, not literally but

spiritually and did not make it to the House of God?

The Bible tells us to make sure we gather together even more so

in the last days. And so may we have ears to hear

tonight and eyes to see. Lord God in this distracted

time. May we stay focused, not be

weary and well doing, but also Father for the leaders.

May preaching Jesus be enough. May we not be a church that get

caught up in the acrobats and the trickery and the

manipulation of marketing to get people in the house.

But Lord, if your word don't draw the people, Lord, they

ain't meant to get drawn. If your anointing does not draw

the people, they are not meant to be drawn.

And Lord, we repent as leaders on behalf of the church.

Lord, where we've just busy has become the enemy's most

effective weapon. We repent, Lord, may there be a

remnant of people that are willing to go go deep, that deep

well of hunger and fervor. Because Lord, we truly do need

you. Families need you.

Mental health is breaking out like never before.

And here we are, the people with the answer distracted.

Lord, we repent. Lord, raise up some anointed men

and women in this last hour that is serious about your call, that

is not wavering, being tossed to and fro.

Lord, give me some of that Old time religion in a new

generation. Old time fervor, old time

intercession, old time faithfulness, all time

surrender, old time generosity, old time faith.

Lord God, raise up a generation that is serious about your your

call, serious about your word, serious about prayer, serious

about worship, serious about gathering, serious about

contending, serious about interceding.

Lord, raise up a people. Raise up a people, Lord, God,

and those that are serious. Be not weary and well doing.

Be not discouraged when you're not accepted.

You are the remnant. You stand down, you are

preserved, you are set apart. Be encouraged, be encouraged.

You're different for a reason. You're not called to blend in.

It's a narrow gate. Press on our hearts, Lord.

Break our heart for what breaks yours.

We get to worship. We get to write songs, Lord.

You write songs through US. You.

You deliver songs through US. That's the river of living water

flowing through US. Forgive us for arrogance, Lord

God. Forgive us for making gathering

an option and not a necessity, Lord, it's a call together.

It's a it's a privilege to gather.

It's a privilege to sit at your feet and get a word.

Lord, thank you for sending men and women who will go before you

to get a word from heaven that will save our family's lives.

Thank you, Lord, thank you, Lord, forgive us for taking your

servants for granted. It's so easy to take your

servants for granted because all we got to do is get on YouTube

and there's thousands of words, there's thousands of pastors to

follow. It ain't even a buffet.

I don't even know what to call it.

But we're so arrogant. We get to choose.

When God chose a man and a woman for us.

He he sends men and women after his own heart.

And now, Lord, we get to choose. We are consumers.

Forgive us. We get the scroll for the word

that feels good. We break the spirit of

distraction now in the name of Jesus.

Peace be still. Forgive us.

Forgive. Us forgive this generation.

Forgive us. Churches are busy all week

trying to figure out how to get people in the door and keep

people in the seats instead of trying to figure out how to

mature Saints. How do we get Saints anchored?

How do we get Saints get get Saints rooted more than getting

them running programs? Lord, deliver us a fresh

discipleship strategy. May that be our prayer.

Deliver to us a fresh discipleship strategy.

No, not just small groups. Lord, discipleship strategy, not

just a place to make the church feel small, not just a place for

people to just feel seen, but Lord, a discipleship strategy

that will mature the Saints for the work of the ministry.

What is the work of the ministry to mature the Saints?

Deep, deep conviction, deep conviction.

Lord Jesus, overwhelming conviction, trembling

conviction. Forgive us, Forgive us.

Forgive us. Forgive us, forgive us.

In Jesus name last week Elder Brett took Week

2 and talked about the whispers and and week 3.

Let me backtrack a little bit. Couple weeks ago when I started

this faithful and family, we were not born into comfort.

That's that's we started there. It's just a little bit of recap.

We were not born into comfort. We were born into covenant

conflict. We were not born into comfort.

We were born into covenant conflict.

Remember, we said we were born into a war from the beginning.

The Lord himself said I will put enmity, enmity.

Watch this. This was not accidental tension.

This was declared hostility by God.

It was not random friction. It was a bloodline war,

bloodline war. And we discovered that from the

garden. There was opposition to

offspring, opposition to promise, and opposition to

legacy. You want to have kids?

Let me, let me let. If you're watching, if you're

here, if you want to have kids, understand you're bringing kids

into a war. So you need to be parents that

know how to fight, not parents that fight each other, parents

that know how to fight with each other.

On behalf of the Bloodline, Amen.

We saw that the serpent did not attack random activity.

He attacked Order, He attacked alignment, and he attacked the

seed. He attacked Order.

He doesn't. He's done an amazing job in this

generation. He has the women of this world

trying to prove they can do what the man do and we can do it

better, and we deserve to make the money they make.

Let's put all that aside and understand where that war came

from. If you, if you look, we, we tell

people, but look, if your wife make more money than you,

fellas, that's not a slide on your manhood.

She just make more money than you for whatever reason.

Now, if she make more money than you because you refuse to work,

that's a problem. But if she make more money to

you because of the career she chose, the the degree she got,

even if she's just a little smarter than you, you've married

a smart woman. Good, right?

You don't want to marry a dummy. You don't want to marry.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

No. But in this world, it's this

competition. The enemy has done a great job

at turning men. The competition is in the house.

The competition sleeps together. Now, how would that work in a

business? Watch this if you've ever worked

in a pro team organization. The cheerleaders and the players

cannot be together. They discourage the people from

from sleeping together in the organization because it creates

conflict. It works the same way when you

sleeping with your enemy. You have married couples that

don't like each other. Same bed going two different

directions. Same bed. 2 separate calls, one

agree, one support, one don't. Same bed.

You are sleeping with the enemy. And here's what you what some

couples don't want to hear, because when you say you're

sleeping with the enemy, you think somebody calling you a

devil. No, you're not the devil.

You're a saved foe. You you because of trauma.

You are working against God's plan for your bloodline.

And the crazy part is when you marry somebody, you guys

interrupted the bloodline by just coming together from two

different places. You got an absolute great

opportunity to start a new thing just by coming from two

different places there. There is nobody in my family

that I know that look like my kids because of the woman I

married. And then if you go to my wife's

family, ain't nobody look like me now.

It is because when you come together, you have an

opportunity to do a new thing. Somebody say a new thing.

Yeah. Because when the Lord builds a

house, hell can test that house. And unless the Lord builds the

house, those who build it labor in vain.

We got that last week. Not Christians building it, not

your anointing building it, not effort building it, not by might

know by power, but by his spirit.

The house is being built. The Lord must build the house.

Somebody say that the Lord must build the house.

We also heard Jesus say something very sobering.

He says sometimes a man's enemies will be those of his own

household. And here's what we try to fight

against. Guys, why, when, when will you

come and come to the realization be like, there's something in

me, watch this. There is something in me working

against who I live with. I, I'm mature enough to know now

whatever the things that I didn't deal with was working

against God's plan for my wife. My wife and I, as much as we

liked each other, we were in conflict no different than them

boys being in that womb that represented two different

nations. And some of you, whether you're

watching or you here, there is the spirit of two nations in

your house. And until both of y'all can take

ownership of your actions, your trauma, your bruises, your

scars, your stubbornness, your pride, and realize there is

something living in me that if I don't deal with it, it will work

against God's plan for my household.

Doesn't mean that you hate your spouse or your kids, it just

mean there is something undealt with.

That can be used against someone you say you love.

So when you get in your fields, you'll hurt them a little bit.

You get a little attitude with them sometime because that's

that thing that's waging against that person you say you love.

That that that scripture is saying, if God doesn't build the

house, he builds in vain. But also watch this.

Watch this, he goes on to say. I hate technology getting folks.

Folks will call you. That was the devil calling.

Amen. I don't know who it was but you

the devil right now. The devil just used you in Jesus

name. Come on, where is my notepad?

How you just going to steal that from me?

Hallelujah, salvation and glory, honor and power unto the Lord

our God. Thank you grace, Amen.

Nah, While the pastor answered the phone, like y'all saying for

a second I got to take that call.

No, Amen. No, no, no, it's good.

Sometimes a man's enemies will be in his own household, right?

This is saying that when allegiance shifts, remember this

neutrality leaves, right? He says I come to cut and a part

of how Jesus cuts is he grab a hold of just one person in the

house and that person gets convicted about they call and

they say yes, Lord, and then that other person is like, no,

are you too busy or you doing this or you think you this or

the insecurity flare up and all of those things right?

Yeah, the devil mad right now in Jesus name, Amen.

Right. And so he he comes to cut

because he's trying to get a hold of the household.

But how he gets a hold of the household and get a hold of

somebody. Can I get a hold of somebody in

the house that's willing to say, babe, I know this is going to be

tough for you, but I can't put off call no longer.

And I'm talking about specificity.

I'm talking about the call when when Christ becomes Lord in a

house, every other loyalty is exposed.

Yeah, we also established we were born into a war.

Enmity was declared before we arrived, guys.

Legacy was contested before we were conscious, guys.

And we expose something very critical.

That conflict is not proof of failure.

Resistance is not proof of rejection.

Warfare is not proof that God is absent.

It may be proof that that something eternal is attached to

you. It may be proof that a house is

being built by the Lord. Maybe the enemy is attacking

your home because there is something God is building.

But here is the question. You guys listen.

Here is the question if enmity is real.

If enmity it's real, if the house is contested, and if

allegiance divides, how does faith survive it?

How does faith mature in it? And how does faith build legacy?

Under pressure? We're going to expose.

We're going to equip and we're going to what we're going to

expose, we're going to we're going to excite one more time.

We're going to, we're going to and we're going to tonight, week

three-week 2 for me, week 3 for y'all is we're going to talk

about faith under fire, formed in the fight, formed in the

fight. Because if the fight is

inevitable, if pressure is destined then and maturity is

required, how do we grow in the fire?

I think we have a lot of believers that want to mature

but not be pressured, mature but not be accountable, Mature watch

this but not be stretched, mature but not be challenged,

mature but not have no pressure applied.

And so we're constantly thinking that breakthrough means release

of pressure and we have gotten it backwards for a long time.

Immature faith collapses under pressure.

Many believers love promise, but few embrace process.

I'm talking about Elder John. Embrace process, not, not, not

let process pass by, but active in process.

Immature faith, it collapses under pressure and many

believers love promise, few embrace the process.

War does not destroy faith. Immaturity destroys faith.

Hallelujah. Can I?

Am I talking to somebody in here tonight and am I talking to

anybody that's been had immature faith before?

The warfare is not is not the thing breaking you.

Immaturity is breaking you. Watch this because maturity

allows you to stand under pressure.

Immaturity causes you to buckle under pressure.

You you can be watch this. You can be a mature adult but an

immature believer. You got so many mature adults

walking around with their chests out acting like they watch this.

Mature adults that know scripture but but don't have

revelation, don't have intimacy. You might read your words, you

might pray, but you can be a mature adult.

I don't care how good you are with your money, you cannot be

stewards of the word. You can.

You can rightfully divide your money and pay all your bills on

time, but not rightfully divide the word.

Am I talking to anybody? And there's so much pride in in

in in humanity. You think, 'cause you're a

mature adult, that translate to being a mature believer.

Watch this. Because you are a college

professor, it does not qualify you to be mantled as a teacher

in the body of Christ. So just 'cause you can teach at

Harvard don't mean you can teach in the middle of warfare to a

room full of people that's distracted and get an anointed

word. Watch this.

Diplomas do not destroy yokes and remove burdens.

It is the anointing of Jesus Christ that destroys the yoke

and removes the burdens. So just because you're this in

the world don't mean you that in the Kingdom.

Just because you got weight in your house don't mean you got

weight in the Kingdom. Just because You Beautiful in

the world don't mean You Beautiful before God's eyes.

Yeah, I know you fearfully and wonderfully made, but he is not

pleased with you Mature adults. You Mama in and you daddy in.

But pressure comes, the wind come, the storm comes.

But you're a immature believer. There were no promise attached

to your life. There would be no resistance

around your life. The enemy does not fight, but

has no future. Tell Malia she need to come eat

some of this food. James One.

Consider it nothing but joy. Somebody say nothing but my

brothers and my sisters, whenever somebody say, whenever

you fall into various trials, this word fall here is saying

you gon, you gon run into something.

This is this word does not mean you slip in the sand.

Can I help you? This is not slip in the sand.

You can't count it all joy when you slip in the sand, OK?

Be assured that the testing of your faith, testing of your

faith through experience, produces endurance leading to

spiritual maturity and inner peace.

Watch this. Be assured that the testing of

your faith through experience, you can.

Your faith cannot grow without being tested.

Your faith don't grow because you read about people that got

faith. Your faith grows because what

you read, you apply. And while you apply, you fall

into diverse temptations. And then your faith is under

trial. It produces endurance leading to

spiritual maturity and inner peace.

You mean there's a measure of peace that I cannot enter into

without first going through the storm?

And it's not just go through the storm, it's how I'm postured

through the storm. Wait a minute.

So you saying watch this the peace.

So, so there's a storm that I got to go through without a

peace that I will have in the next storm.

I'll say that again. There is a storm that I have to

go through without the peace that I will have in the next

storm. I don't get the piece for the

next storm unless I go through this storm and let endurance

have its perfect result. Let endurance have its perfect

result and do a thorough work so that you may be perfect or

mature and completely developed in your faith.

Lacking in nothing. I think of so many people on my

road and and on our Rd. that forfeit the right you.

What? What's this?

It wouldn't be. You wouldn't come to church.

You wouldn't find a church or a job or travel somewhere if the

initial feelings didn't feel good.

A part of luring you in is to appease and please your initial

desires. So when you're looking for a

church, it got this, it got that, my call can do this, my

and you're there for a year, you're there for two years.

And then oh, all of a sudden familiarity kicks in.

And in order to get you out of that state of familiarity,

you're going to have to get some wind blown because God is

uprooting some things so that you can continue to grow.

But so many people when they get that win, they like, oh, they

get critical and then they get uprooted.

And watch this, you'll start the process over.

You got to go through the hard thing.

You got to had a hard conversation and you got to be

transformed. You got to stare the storm in

the face and you got to go through it, not around it.

How many Saints read the wilderness story and like,

shame, shame, shame Israelites. But then we like God.

Why this taking so long, Lord? Why you bring us this route?

Watch this. And they didn't even have the

Bible. Unless the Lord governs the

house, conflict will define your house, confusion will overwhelm

your house, and anxiety will drive your house.

Unless the Lord governs the house, not just build it, govern

it. Unless the Lord anchors the

house, legacy will fracture. You see scattered believers,

scattered minds. Watch this.

What am I saying? I'm bringing you some context,

guys. James is writing a letter to a

scattered church. He is writing to a people who

are under pressure. He he he is writing to a people

was socially pressured and economically strained and

displaced. Do not forget that in the book

of Acts the church was scattered.

This letter is to a scattered people who are dealing with

immense pressure. He says count it all joy.

Watch this. The scripture says trials this

word trials mean testing. It means proving and it means

examination. The the a part of going through

the storm. Watch this.

It's to notic. Watch this.

Here's what the enemy loves doing.

When pressure hits or wind blows, I examine your life.

When the wind blows, I examine the pastor's life.

When I get uncomfortable, I examine the elder's life.

I examine the worship team's life.

But I don't understand. I I need to understand that when

the wind blows, the first thing that needs to be examined is me.

This word trials is not this is very important.

This word trials could be, if not careful, it could be taken

as temptation. Similar words.

It's why it's up there on the board for you periosmos.

And then you have Perioso. The one James is Speaking of is

trials. The way you could take it is I

am going through temptation, count it all joy when I am being

tempted. But he is telling me that I am

being I am. I am on trial circumstances that

prove what is already there. James One is talking about the

trial you're going through is to expose what's already in you.

It's exam time. Well, no.

The teacher going to see if you studied or not.

You can say I was up all night long, Miss Stephanie, but she

going to check them papers and it's going to look like you was

not. You might have been up all night

but not studying. You might have been at church

every Sunday but you wasn't locked in.

You might have been a Christian for 15 years but you ain't

matured over 15 years. Do you look 15 years mature?

If you have a baby and they 15 years old and can't talk yet, do

you know you got a problem? If you got a 15 year old and

they're coming to you crying like when they was one, do you

think you have a literal problem with your child?

We have a lot of Christians with special needs.

No, no, no, no. Listen, they'll tell you they

need special needs because they'll say your church can't

provide them. So then you got to understand

this disconnect. You're not even talking.

If you're maturing, there's going to come a point where he

cuts and you're not even talking.

You're talking to a Christian, but you ain't talking about the

same God. We can't be talking about the

same God because we're talking from two different dimensions.

And if we're talking from two different dimensions, we're

talking from two different seasons.

And you wonder how he comes in these relationships and cut you

trying to save him when God saying, no, I have elevated you.

Therefore that's why there's a disconnect and you're trying to

connect something that's a frequency issue, not a

friendship issue. It look, look, I'm not, I'm not,

I'm not, I'm not going separate ways from you in this season

because I don't like you. It's just we ain't on the same

wavelength. What is what is already there is

what's already there. The wind that just blew.

If you just stood still versus pacifying your own dysfunction,

God would have been able to expose what's wrong with you

instead of what's wrong with them.

That's what the pressure for. That's what the wind is for.

And so all the wind, and when you hear the wind is about to

blow again, if you stay at Loaf Castle Quest that long, all you

have to understand is that's a warning that whatever's in you

is about to be exposed. And I think when we warned about

the wind we had, we had said this is exposure time.

God's about to blow. This word here means spiritual

examination, not moral seduction.

This is not talking about count it all joy when you are morally

tried or seduced or tempted. This this James one is speaking.

Hey, count it all joy when you fall in the divers because

what's it counted all joy on test day?

Look, look, I was the person that get nervous on test day.

For one, I wasn't like that great a test taker, but I also

didn't put in the work sometimes.

And then you come and your friends, they there early.

They not panic you you ever. I don't know.

I think this is a room every you finished early in your test.

But I was the per I was one of the last people.

I was the one of the last people that that that that that walked

out the room on test day. Now look, I've passed a lot of

tests, but the but the point is, is, is that not everybody is

prepared for the wind to blow and the wind is blowing.

Exams are not to tempt you, they're to prove you.

They're not to draw you away. There is to actually actually

attest even the wrong answers make you smarter.

When you discover you got something wrong, it makes you

more mature. Because I had to get it wrong to

find out what was what right. How can you correct something

that you keep calling corrected? How can you correct something

you think is fixed? Gold is not destroyed in fire,

the impurities are. The gold is not destroyed in

fire, the impurities are. The trial does not create

weakness. The trial reveals weakness.

James does not say here, feel joy.

You say count it. The immature believer wants to

what feel joy? The mature believer what counts

it. And you find more believers

complaining than counting. This word counted all joy.

It's an accounting word. It means to evaluate, reckon and

calculate. In other words, in order to

count it all joy I need to. When the enemy is waging war

against me, that's when I start pointing out all the goodness of

God. Like God then brought me out of

this. I might be stuck in this, but he

then brought me out of 30,000 things.

I might not have much now, but God has always provided all of

my needs in the name of Jesus. I might be hungry, but I'm not

going to go hungry. I'm not going to die of

starvation. I may not have the relationships

I desire, but I got family, I got friends, I got.

I may not have the house that I desire, but I got a roof over my

head. Understand when the enemy comes

in like a flood, you raise a standard and you count it all

joy. God is good, God is faithful.

He brought me out of that car accident.

He healed my body when I was sick.

He made a way when there was no way.

Count it all joy. Be careful the people that count

all the wrongs. The Bible says that love keeps

no record, so when people come to you pointing out what's

wrong, they're not in what Assess your trial.

Count it all joy means to assess your your trial properly.

Assess your trial properly. Do not interrupt pressure

emotionally and inter interpret it covenantly.

Assess your trial properly. Do not interpret pressure

emotionally. Do you know how many people have

walked out of tough moments because it didn't feel good?

They didn't assess that this is an ordained storm.

Jesus said go across. He counted the storm was coming,

but he counted himself in the storm.

Interpret it covenantly. Watch this.

Testing produces steadfastness, it says genuine proof.

The testing genuine proof. Approved character produces

steadfastness, genuine proof. This is why I love the things

that we preach in here. It comes from experience.

Seminary could teach you so much, but the anointing only

with seminary. No, the anointing to be potent

needs experience coming out of the mouth of people who've been

through dungeons and who've been through This is why the the, the

no, I'm not going to go ahead of myself.

I'm not going to go ahead of myself.

Pray for me, say PT, slow down. Somebody say endurance.

I love this. I love this endurance.

It's 2 words here hypo meno. Now I'm not you know, I'm not

Hebrew or Greek and you know, so so if you can save money if you

want to, but hypo mean no watch this the word this word

endurance under and to remain to have endurance means you stay

under to you don't have endurance because you tolerate

you have endurance because you stay under.

To remain under endurance means or does not mean not escape.

It does not mean to escape. It does not mean to retaliate

and it does not mean fold. It means to remain.

It is not just remain complain, it is remain and counted, remain

and continue to do the last thing he told you to do before

you have a self-proclaimed transition.

We got the church is less cost less sent than it ever has been.

You got more people sending themselves to all kinds of

places in the name of Jesus, not escape.

It's not retaliate. It is not fold.

It is remain. Somebody say remain.

This is not passive suffering. It is active perseverance.

This is not we just going to cover up and wait till the storm

pass. You remember a few months ago or

however long it was, I was like you got to you got to walk

through the valley of the shadow of death.

He said watch this. He says Ezekiel, what do you see

in the valley? I know you see death, but don't

cover your eyes. Tell me, what do you see now?

Do you think they can live? If Ezekiel didn't look he would

have said what you mean. Can what live?

And some of us won't call in purpose but we walking through

the valley with our all eyes closed.

You can't hear God with your eyes closed.

This is not passive suffering, guys.

Being a person who carries weight without shifting

allegiance is endurance. To be a person of endurance is

to be a person who carries weight, not offload it, carry it

without shifting allegiance. Suffering produces endurance and

Jesus endured the cross. I love this scripture.

If we are faithful, this do not believe and are true and to to

him he remains true, faithful to his word and and his righteous

character. Watch this for he cannot he

cannot deny himself. In other words, God is not

shifty. So to be a wavering shifty

person, you are out of God character.

You are not a son, you are an orphan.

To be shifty, to be wavering. God's character is one that even

when others are unfaithful, you remain the same.

Even when others walk away, even when they walk back, they going

to find you the same person, just matured version of

yourself. It is God character to remain

the same in a time of unfaithfulness, shiftiness,

double mindedness. I will remain shout that out,

see who who's the better person, the person that walked away from

it or the person that remained who's the better friend?

Somebody that's going to squabble with me.

He gave me a black eye. Gave me a black eye.

We mad at each other. We got up.

That's how old school fights used to be.

Uncles now get get the gloves and you box it out and then you

hug and make be friends. Nowadays we shoot each other.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

You guys. It's happening in Surrey too.

People get shot. OK?

Canada is coming. I promise.

Canada is coming. It's not of God to have such a

shifty people. We are so shifty.

We are so weak. We are so we buckle under.

Not even we we buckle up. It ain't even a tornado.

It's just a blow in your ear, Devil blowing your ear and you

distract it. Devil whip.

Watch this. A whisper is a blow.

The devil whispered something in your ears and it got your mind

all over here and you're like, whoa, I'm ending.

You show up at church on a Sunday or a Wednesday with that

whisper in your ear instead of doing what God say and look at

the fruit. Look at watch this.

Look at the fruit of the whisperer and look at the fruit

of the people that remain. Come on, say I shall remain.

We serve. We serve a reliable God.

Wavering is not of godly character.

We serve a covenant. Keeping God.

Endurance is covenant stamina. Endurance is covenant stamina.

I'm remaining because I'm in covenant.

I'm remaining because I'm in love with God.

I'm remaining not because I like, because you like me and I

like you. But God has called me here.

He's faithful, He loves me, I love him.

Therefore I'm remaining because I am doing it unto Him.

I'm not doing it unto circumstances or going my way.

I am doing it unto covenant. So we got to let go and let God

do not interrupt. Watch this do not interrupt the

process and do not abort development.

When the Bible says let endurance finish, it's saying do

not interrupt the process and do not abort development, right?

If you if you in surgery and the doctors got your stomach on the

side because they doing surgery and they pulled your stomach out

and they got in on the side on the little silver platter and

you just so happened to wake up. You don't get up and be like I

got to go. No, they got to finish the job

and watch this. You don't go home soon as they

stitch you back up. You go to that room where they

call it what development takes a process.

You don't even get muscles by lifting weights alone.

When you lift, it rips and then it rips and then it rebuilds.

And then we just run at the ripping, not realizing we got a

RIP to be built. It says perfect work.

This word perfect means mature whole watch this fully

developed, fully developed, fully developed, fully

developed, fully developed, fully developed, complete.

It means integrated. It's, it's crazy how when you're

in school, you can't go to the next grade until you complete

the grade. You don't just get to go to the

next grade because you turned a new age.

Oh, I'm 18 now. So you got to put me in that, in

that class, but you didn't pass that class.

So guess what? If you, if you don't want to be

sitting in the little desk with your long legs, guess what you

got to do? You got to, you got to pass that

class. Hallelujah.

The fire is not reducing you. It is refining you.

Come on, write it down. The fire is not reducing you, it

is refining you. It is refining you.

The fire is not reducing you, it's refining you.

Here's what immature faith does. Immature faith ask why is this

happening to me? Mature faith Ask what is this

producing in me? The war exposes whether your

faith is emotional or covenantal.

The war exposes whether your faith is emotional or

covenantal. Immature faith Watch this The

posture of immature faith is shifty.

It's passive, it's works based or performance based and confess

but don't align. You confess but don't align.

You confess. You sound faith, but you're not

postured Faith mature. Mature faith postures.

It's submitted, it's diligent, it's transforming and it's

rooted or it's fixed. You can't move mature posture.

You can't you can you? You not easily, you not the

enemy, right? Hey hey, eat from this tree.

No, that's not what God told me. Sorry.

Watch this. Jesus was tempted 3 times and

the enemy gave him a word very close to the word.

Mature faith, even when starving can hear accurately.

Mature faith cannot perform under fatigue.

I mean immature faith cannot perform under fatigue.

Somebody say equip. If endurance means remaining

under pressure, you guys, what does that look like when the

heat is real? If endurance means to remain

under pressure, remain under the fire, remain under the

intensity, what does that really look like when the heat is on

your butt? The furnace is formation, not

punishment. Daniel Three says this.

Your threat means nothing to us. Watch this.

Troy, you should appreciate this.

You'll threaten it. This is their response to

pressure. Watch what comes out of their

mouth. Watch this.

They count it. Your threat means nothing to us.

If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve, watch how they

count it can rescue us. They counted it.

If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from

your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up.

I love how they counted God's ability, not the Fahrenheit.

They counted God's ability, not how hot the furnace was.

We're in a time where Babylon is ideological captivity.

They are not told to renounce God.

Watch, this is very important. They're not told to renounce

Yahweh. They are told to blend.

The temptation is to get you to be like the world, respond like

the world, think like the world, conversate like the world,

problem solve like the world, heal like the world.

He did not say renounce. He said blend in faith is not

attacked directly. It is pressured socially.

Watch this. It was it was social in the

garden. We fail because of a

conversation. Be careful who whispering in

your ear. But then watch this.

You got to then ask how do they keep getting to your ear?

How do they still have access to your ear?

How are you still considering their voice?

Once you identify the serpent, stop listening.

Watch this. It goes on and says, but even if

he doesn't, somebody say, but even if he does it, we we read

this a lot, but we don't see them counting it all joy.

They say, throw us in the furnace.

He will save us. He is able.

They talk about his ability and they say, you know what?

Even if he don't save us, it wouldn't make a bit of

difference. We still wouldn't serve your

gods or worship the gold statue you set up.

Somebody shout out. It won't make a difference.

Here's their mindset. Elder Roseanne, we have no need

to answer you. I have no need to talk to you.

I see where you are. I see how you talking.

Watch this. I see how you moving.

I heard you bark. You're a dog.

Why? I see you slivering you a snake.

I'm not trying to make you a dove.

You a snake. You I see it.

So stop trying to believe something different.

Because I might see Elder John. That's Elder John.

But how Elder John? I'm not called to call Elder

John out. I'm called to call and discern

the spirit that's used in Elder John.

So I'm not called an Elder, John, a snake.

I'm talking about what's moving through EJ.

And because we are so relational, we are not allowing

ourselves to be warrior like This is why people in the army

don't be on the phone with their kids.

They they, they train killers. You send the letters home

because if you hear the sound of your baby say daddy, what that

will do to you if the next sound is a call for war and the church

right now we're so community. We're not covenant.

Community and relationship can feel like covenant.

But if you are so wow, what's this if you are so comfortable

in covenant? That you can't fight and when

God tell you to stick your sword out and you retreat, then how

much covenant are you really in the theology here guys, we've

got it. We've got to give it to you.

Say we teach the theology. Here is God is able.

Somebody say God is able. The sovereignty of God says God

may choose otherwise. That's his sovereignty.

He may choose something different.

He has the right to, but if he chooses something different, he

must have another way of delivering me.

Abraham says this guys, he said, I don't know.

God told me that the promise was going to come through this Son.

Hebrews says that he reasoned with himself and said God must

go raising. If God told me the slaying, then

God must got a plan to raise him.

And then the loyalty says we will not bow, we will not bow.

Faith that says even if not must be tested by fire because

conviction without consequence is unproven.

Some of y'all think you convicted until you get in the

fire. Your conviction has to be

proven. Faith that requires deliverance

to remain loyal is transactional.

Faith that requires deliverance to remain loyal is

transactional. Faith under fire is covenant.

Watch this. Pressure increases when

allegiance does not shift. You, you, you'll appreciate this

P deal. Pressure increases when

allegiance does not shift. So watch this.

Here's the flip side of it, Joyce, is that the longer I

remain, the higher the heat gets turned up.

Watch this. But God's with me in the

furnace. He's not with me while I'm

running. So the question is, do you want

to be where God is or do you want to be where cup comfort is?

Pressure increases when the legion.

So when you getting all that pressure, you getting that

persecution, it must be a sign of something.

You might you might just be standing and wherever you find a

people standing, territory is being recovered.

The fire consumes compromise before it consumes Covenant.

The fire was intensified and the consequences was real, right?

The cost was visible, right? Watch what happens when Covenant

goes into flames. Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar

jumped up in alarm. Watch this.

Covenant goes into flames. Covenant is in fire.

Now watch what happens when covenant is under fire.

Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm and said, didn't we throw

three men bound hand and foot into the fire?

That's right. OK, they said.

But look, I see four men walking around freely.

Wait a minute. 4 men in a furnace 7 times hotter, meaning

it can't get no hotter because 7 is complete.

We can't turn the knob no more walking around.

Watch this freely. Didn't we bound them completely

unharmed? And the 4th man looks like the

son of the gods. The fire burned ropes.

The fire revealed presence. The fire did not remove them

from God. The fire revealed God was with

them. The fire revealed God was with

them. Oh, I'm going to read it.

You with us today. What bound them could not

survive. What bound them could not

survive. What tested them.

What bound them could not survive.

What tested them. What bound them could not

survive the fire. So God says, let them tape you

up, let them bind you, let them talk about you, let them count

you out, and then let's go under the fire.

Let the wind blow and let's see who's standing.

Then let's who's? Let's see who's standing after

the wind blows. Let's see who has peace after

the wind blows. Let's see who household is

intact after the wind blows. Let's see who got real joy after

the wind blows. Come on, somebody.

Sometimes the fire you fear is the fire that frees you.

When God permits fire for formation, He limits damage and

multiplies dominion. He limits damage and multiplies

dominion. Presence was revealed under

fire. This is for you to take home.

Distinction invites testing. You are under fire because you

are distinguished. The distinguished shall not be

extinguished. Endurance is not surviving

alone. It is remaining under with

presence. Watch this.

Testing develops endurance. Endurance matures faith.

The last thing I'll give you with excitement.

The fire promotes the faithful, Nebuchadnezzar said.

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

He sent his Angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him.

They ignored the King's orders and laid their bodies on the

line rather than serve or worship any God but their own.

Do we have those type of people in today's church who under

pressure, you will lay your body down for the body, You will lay

your life down for the body. You will lay your desires down

for your family. You will lay your preferences

down for Unity. Therefore the King says, I issue

this decree anyone, anywhere. So we talking about global favor

of any race, color or creed. Who says anything against the

God of Shadrach, Meshach Abednego and Terence Richmond

will be ripped to pieces limb by limb and their houses torn down.

What? Was Shadrach Meshach, Abednego?

An Angel? No, there was right.

OK, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego and Noel Shadrack,

Meshach, Abednego and Troy. Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego

and Elder John Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego and Malia Shadrack,

Meshach and Abednego and Adam Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego

and the Rivera Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego and Grace.

Anybody that put their mouth on Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego

and you their limbs from limb and their How's this torn down?

There has never been a God who and pull off a rescue like this

love quest. I declare over you what God is

about to do. The people have never seen God

move in families like this, God move in finances like this.

God move in mental health like this.

God is about to move in unprecedented ways.

Don't worry about what they say, don't worry about what they do.

Don't worry about where they go. God is fighting your battles.

Just stand under pressure. Stand in the fire.

Even your family. Never seen before what he's

about to do in your life. Never been seen before in your

bloodline. That's what somebody what God's

about to do in your life. It's never been done in your

bloodline. Wealth in your bloodline like

never before. Peace in your bloodline like

never before long. Life like never before.

Favor in your bloodline like never before.

Sanity like never before. Relationships like never before.

Promotion like never before because you stood in the fire

coming out gold, lift your hands all over the room, says the king

promoted them. The fire was not interruption,

it was preparation. The wind didn't interrupt

momentum. Watch this.

The wind exposed the prepared you standing here tonight, you

are the prepared. You cannot be moved.

Some of you know in these last few years you have been tested.

You have been tried. You've wanted to give up.

But you're still here. And what bound you before was

burned by the fire and blew away by the wind.

Come on. Tell somebody I'm a new creation

right now. I'm unstoppable.

Come on. I'm immovable.

The fire did not disqualify them, It authenticated them.

The wind did not disqualify you. It authenticated you.

Yeah, I'm. I'm.

I'm. I'm.

Watch this. This doesn't make some people

mad. I know it'll make hell mad, but

I'm the real deal. Now you can, you can think

that's cocky or whatever. No, no, no, that's just being

aware the anointing of my life is the real deal.

My, my wife and I have been proven as blood bought anointed

leaders in this country in the name of Jesus.

And if you ain't aware of yourself and you too afraid to

say I'm the real deal, man, you tell yourself if you know you're

the real deal, you're the real deal.

And that's what the enemy do not want sons and daughters to know

that you are you the real deal. You cannot be moved.

You've been tried by fire. You've been.

You was born in some jacked up situations.

Your dad wasn't there, but you made it through the fire.

Your mom wasn't there, but you made it through the fire.

You was raped, but you made it through the fire.

You was abused, but you made it through the fire.

Come on, If you made it through anything, say I'm the real deal.

And we're, we're, we're in a place in this world, in this

region where anybody that's aware of them being the real

deal or I'm anointed or anything.

You are a threat to people because they want to, they want

to humble you. Watch this.

You can be humble, you can love Jesus.

You can know Jesus is the real light of the world, but you can

also know you the light of the world because the light told me

I'm the light. There's room for both.

There's room for humility and awareness.

There's room for humility and confidence.

Somebody say I'm the real deal. Come on.

I just think that's agitating the enemy that has plagued your

family because you have family members with false humility.

You have family members that didn't go to the next dimension

because they was too humble in the name of Jesus.

But we are a new breed and we understand who we are.

We understand we are the anointing of the Most High.

We are the real deal. We are the remnant, we are the

preserved, We are the light of the world.

We are the salt of the earth. We are God's chosen.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

God sees us. He knows the hairs on our head.

He brought us out of a mighty long way in the name of Jesus.

Come on. That God that brought him out of

the fiery furnace lives in you. The God that split the sea lives

in you. The God that kept Daniel in the

in the lion's den lives in you. The the the God that went to

hell and rose on the third day lives in you.

The God that went inside of Lazarus tomb and called him out

lives in you. What you mean I'm not the real

deal? Yahweh lives in me.

Elohim lives in me. The creator of the heavens and

the earth lives in me. The author and the finisher

lives in me. You're the real deal.

Come on, tell somebody you're the real deal.

How the world walking around with more confidence than us,

and they the loss. How the found don't got more

confidence? How the found don't got more

confidence? Your kids need to know they need

to see a daddy. They need to see a Mama that

know they the real deal. Your kids take on that false

humility. Your kids take on that

insecurity. They need to.

You need. Your kids need to see parents

that walk around with confidence and speak with boldness and

speak with courage and take it by force.

Raising up a timid generation. Woe is he who raised up children

who are timid. That's not that's not a

generation that we are the, the, the, the, the generation of

Elijah. OK, we read about Elijah.

Did he sound timid? He might have sound weary

sometime, but did he sound timid?

Where's the people that that dares to believe the impossible?

We're the people that fed up with mediocracy and this false

humility. And and and anybody got a little

bit of confidence? Somebody want to shush you down,

Let them call you what they want to call you a preacher with

sneakers. Yeah, you can be a preacher and

love sneakers. So what?

The same people that put their mouth on you are the same people

that got big savings account to leave money behind for their

kids and leave inheritance behind.

Don't let the enemy fool you. Come out of cultural oppression,

come out of slave mentality, come out of the House of the

orphan and live and be sons and daughters once and for all in

the name of Jesus. I speak courage into your

household. I speak boldness into your

household. I speak confidence into your

household. Come on, we not biting our

tongues no more because when we speak, we speak what the Holy

Spirit tell us to speak. We will not apologize for being

courageous. We will not apologize for being

bold. We will not apologize for

speaking on behalf of the Lord in the name of Jesus.

My second guessing days are over.

We will not apologize for being unique.

We will not apologize for being different.

We will not apologize for being distinguished.

We will not apologize for being anointed.

We will not apologize for being articulate.

We will not apologize for being multifaceted.

If you a pastor and you sing and you make clothes, then you are

anointed to do everything that God has created you to do.

We are an unapologetic people. In the name of Jesus, write

letters and make tents. Start a company and lead worship

pastor and be a fashion designer.

Be courageous in your identity. Just under understand the enemy

wants to shut you down. He wants to quiet your voice

because he's reaching too many people.

He wants to cripple your swag because it's influencing too

many people. If we are fishers of men, your

fashion might be the thing that get them on the hook, but when

you get them in the boat, preach the gospel, show them Jesus.

If you're a fisherman, you are strategic.

Your looks, your influence, your favor.

Don't hide no more. I'm speaking to myself.

I'm speaking to whoever in here. Wherever your voice has been

silenced, I command it in the name of Jesus to be unmute.

We not finding our voice, we got our voice back.

No, no, no. Come on.

We will pray with authority. We will sing with authority, we

will dance with authority, we will shout with authority.

We will write books in the name of Jesus.

The next generation will not be without revelation.

The next generation will not be without a blueprint.

The next generation will not be without strategy in the name of

Jesus. So Lord, release the books,

release the songs, release the businesses.

In the name of Jesus, your church will be essential.

You called us fishers, the men, and it's very easy for us, Lord,

to see us as fishermen and not as fish, but us fishermen.

I'm only a fisherman because I was a fish caught.

But when I look at fishies, there is thousands of species of

species. Yeah.

And not what if the whole ocean was full of one type of fish?

Lot of fish wouldn't survive. And there's some of you in here.

You caught a fish in the ocean, you deep sea.

You swordfish, some of you, you in rivers, you, you can walk in

the water to catch your fish, but just look, look, look.

The, the, the, the size of the body of water does not dictate

the size of the anointing. But we need every person to

understand their unique abilities because there's a

diversity of fish to be caught. Lord, we are skillful, House,

because of your anointing. And I will tell some of you, you

do not want God to undistract you because that looks like the

prodigal son in the pit. For God to stop you, to get you

focused is not something you want.

Redirection is your responsibility.

UN unbusy in yourself is your responsibility or wouldn't be

covenant. You got to choose God, you got

to choose the Great Commission, You got to choose soul winning.

You got to choose alignment. You got to choose.

You got to choose to be discipled.

You got to choose to submit. You got to choose it.

He is not going to force you. He died that some might be

saved. Why might?

Because not everybody will choose excuses over immature.

Some of you, I will say it straight up, some of you have

been saved too long to be as immature as you are.

You've been loved, you've been affirmed.

Stop it. You are too old.

You are too you. You've been saved too long to be

as needy, to be as blind, to be as immature.

The body of Christ needs you to step into your maturity.

Some of your immaturity is not because you don't know.

You have not chosen chosen to walk in the authority that God

has put into your life and the excuses are over in 2026.

The body needs you to grow up. The body needs us to grow up.

The excuses is over you parenting.

So what Mary did too. She parented the Savior kids,

not an excuse, work. Not an excuse.

Raise them up in the way they should go and that's not by

sitting at a table. Sometimes it's about them

marching behind you. Where are we going?

To the House of the Lord. Where are we going?

You going to sit right here and color in this book while I

disciple because I don't got a babysitter, but I got to

disciple this person. Why all these people over here?

Because we're building the church, we're making disciples.

We're doing the work of the Lord.

Why that person sleeping in my bed, Mama?

Because we're being a blessing. They won't be here that long.

Just two weeks. Enough is enough.

And that's starting with me. When is the right time?

When you don't know your last breath?

When is the right time? Your last day on this earth

could be next week. So if your last day was on this

earth was next week, would you get it right?

Probably not, because now you got to eat your favorite food

before you die. Now you got to say bye to all

your friends before you die. Now you got all this list to do.

Verses he says when I return, will I find them in faith?

When I return? They don't know when I'm

returning. They don't know when I'm coming

to get them. They don't know when I'll

receive them back home. But will I find them in the

thing that I created them for? That's legacy.

It's not being harsh, but that's how Jesus talked and he said

worse things and we cannot apologize, but you guys want to

see Jesus in the earth. Then you're going to see

authority. You're going to see boldness,

you're going to see faithfulness.

You're going to see you're going to see Jesus said what the

Father told him to say. Enough of being led by soft

leadership. Watch this.

Jesus didn't have a problem with the people that took formation

said make disciples and show them and teach them the ways.

You don't make disciples because you share scripture.

You make disciples because you let Jesus make you and then

people see your formation. So for the few that have ears to

hear, let this be the last day that you either be prodigal son

or let's talk about another one young man that's sitting at the

side of the pool making excuses. Won't nobody pick me up,

Everybody getting in my way. Or you could be like the one

with the issue of blood and spend 13 years trying everything

else but Jesus tonight, somebody I know, somebody hears the Lord.

Somebody hears the voice of the Lord tonight.

And we'll make a decision tonight to say, God, here I am.

And this is not a call to move with zeal.

It is a call to move with surrender.

Lift your hands all over this room.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's sermon.

We pray you were challenged, equipped and encouraged.

Make sure to follow us on all platforms.

That's love quest Intl church. We out here for real.

We're really doing it. That's Facebook, Instagram,

YouTube and TikTok. You can find us anywhere you

need to find us. But until next time, you know

the drill. You know the motto, get your

love fixed man and we'll see y'all real soon.