You Can Beat This

Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and meet me at verse 13.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul tells us in this passage of Scripture that no temptation has

overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful.

Will you say God is faithful? Say it one more time.

God is faithful. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,

but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

I want to spend some time today on this passage of scripture.

It has impacted my heart and I believe that it will impact your heart and your life as well.

Many, many years ago, I was doing some research, I believe it was around 2009,

no, around 2000, anywhere from 2005 to 2009, yeah.

I used to be a financial advisor.

I worked at a Fortune 500 company, so I was not always a pastor.

I worked in business and I handled 401ks and IRAs and stocks and bonds and those

sort of things that help you in your wealth with your money and stewarding your

money and those sort of things.

And so my background is in finances.

God has placed me in that arena. I had a special calling to be a part of that.

I still have the calling to help people financially.

Matter of fact, I still get called today from some of my constituents asking

financial questions along those same lines, even though I'm not in the industry anymore.

But back then, in order to be able to be a financial advisor,

you had to take a series of tests.

And I think I'm a good test taker.

The first test that I had to take was a test called the Series 6.

Now this text at the time had a hundred questions.

And you had 135 minutes to answer these questions, and you had to get 70 correct answers.

Now, the test has changed. They made it a lot easier today.

How many know a lot of things have been made very easy today?

But back then, it wasn't that easy to take this test.

And so I took this Series 6 test, and I passed the test, and I was licensed

as a financial devirer with a Series 6 license.

Jumping ahead, I had to take the series seven test, which really allows you

to be a financial advisor.

Now, this test in 2010 had 250 questions and you had six hours to answer this.

They gave you three hours up front and then a lunch and you had three additional

hours and you had to get 180 answers correct. I mean, you know that when I studied

for this test, I was married to the books.

I was not married to Stacey. I even told her, we are not married right now.

I've got to marry these books because who wants to wait six hours and fail a test, right?

And I said, man, I was in it. And the only thing Stacey said to me,

okay, if you're going to be married to the book, then you cannot watch sports.

And so I didn't watch sports because she's like, you can't be married to the

book and watch sports and not be married to me.

I said, okay, I get it. I'm going to be married to the book.

I'm not going to watch sports.

And I'm going to study for this test. And this test I passed, praise God.

And I was series seven licensed.

But there is a text in between the series six and the series seven called the series six.

Now, in 2010, and I keep referring back to that date because all these tests

have reduced their questions, and the passing has gotten a little easier today.

But at the time, it had 60 questions to answer, and they gave you 75 minutes,

but you had to get 43 correct.

And for some reason, this test was shorter, but I struggled, Ron, in this test.

This test was difficult for me. I went and took it. And if you didn't pass,

by the way, they would let you go.

You lost your job if you didn't get these licenses.

What they wanted to do was to communicate to every one of their clients that

their representatives were all licensed.

And so the 63 had a real difficult time with the 63.

I don't know why. I don't know if I took it.

For granted, because it was a shorter test, a lot of my friends,

they weren't even studying.

They were knocking it out. And I'm thinking, well, you know,

I'm studying. And the first time I took it, I failed it. I got 42 correct.

So I failed the test. So they said you had one more time to take it before you

lose your job. So I mean, you know, that's pressure, right?

I took it a second time and I failed it again. I got 42 correct.

And so they were like, oh my goodness, we got to let you go.

But they didn't want to let me go. Somebody say favor.

They did not want to let me go. There was favor on my life. So the manager,

I'll never forget, his name was Mike the Gifford.

Mike the Gifford did everything he could not to let me go.

He went to HR. He fought for me. He battled for me. And I ended up telling him

that I think it's the test center.

It's not me. It's not the test. It's the test center.

And they were like, OK, they said, OK, you know what? because what's the odds

that you keep getting 42 on it?

And so they sent me to Greensboro.

I went to Greensboro. I took the test. Now I'm like, Lord, I got to pass this

test because I convinced them that it's the test center.

It's not me, but it's the center. And they said, okay, drive to Greensboro,

but on your own dime, by the way, drive to Greensboro, take this test.

And by God's grace, I passed the test. Amen.

And so I was able, and then you guys know my story. I got promoted three times

in two years, started out making $28,000, ended up making over $120,000 in a short period of time.

God's hand and grace and favor was upon me. But this particular test really

stumped me. I don't know why. I can't tell you why.

Maybe it was the test center because I ended up getting a 48 in Greensboro and

passing the test, and that was a great drive back, knowing I could keep my job.

Amen. And so a test is something that is given to you to evaluate you.

To check to see what type of progress you have made, what type of advancement that you have made.

A test is meant to reveal some things to you, to learn and teach you some things

about yourself that you didn't know.

A test is also given to you by the instructor or teacher to find out what you're learning,

how you're growing and where you're weak at or maybe even where you are strong

at a test is not meant to embarrass you or expose you a test is only meant to

reveal areas where you can grow.

A test is meant to shine light on some areas where you're strong,

but also shine some light on some areas where you are weak.

And when you are in the middle of a test, notice more often than not that it

is usually quiet when you're taking the test.

The instructor is not talking and no one around you should be talking.

It's a test that you're taking and you may feel like it's a silent season that

you're in But understand that it's only a test and when you are taking a test

I want you to understand that it's not about being perfect,

but it is about progress,

Testing is about progress And so when first corinthians chapter 10 and let's

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

put it back on the screen team at verse 13 Watch what paul tells us.

He says no temptation has overtaken you. This word temptation is the word test.

It's the word putting to the proof, trial, testing.

Now, temptation can also mean an enticement to sin.

Okay. You can be enticed to sin.

And I believe that the day we live in, in the area, the culture we live in,

it is a lot easier to sin now than it has ever been before. Do you believe that?

There with so many distractions and so many manipulations and deceiving and

so much media, you guys can take that verse down.

There is so much distractions that take place.

And so it could also mean an enticement to sin.

What I want you to realize and to understand is that God never entices you to sin.

Matter of fact, James chapter one says, God cannot be tempted to sin,

neither will he tempt you to sin.

So anytime you're being tempted, tested, or enticed to sin, that is not of God.

Now, sin is missing the mark.

Sin is not something that is more than just, I missed the mark.

What is the mark? The mark is set in scripture. This is the aim,

the target that we should be going towards and sin or an enticement to sin will

cause you to miss the mark.

A lot of times there is enticement to sin in our ability to lie.

I know we'll get a little quiet on that, but we are quick to tell a lie,

to self-preservate, to make ourself look good or to stay out of trouble.

There was one particular time I was talking to a man, there were three of us,

and this man started talking about how he felt after his wife cheated on him.

And he went on and on about my wife cheated and this is how I felt.

And I was listening to him and couldn't relate. Oh, I couldn't relate.

Thank God I couldn't relate. But I could understand the words that were coming

out of his mouth. Let me say it that way. I can understand the words that were coming out of his mouth.

And he was just telling me how he felt this, that and the third.

And the other individual stood there, didn't say anything at all.

When that individual left, the third individual said that man's lying.

I said, well, he goes, I know his story. He's he's lying. he said he cheated

on his wife and he flipped the story to make himself look good and to make him

the victim when he was the one. I said are you sure? He goes I'm 100% sure.

He just sat there and lied to you the entire time. So I said you need to call him out on it.

You need to go up to him and say I don't appreciate you lying to the pastor

about that story. And he did. He went up to the guy and called him out on it and said you lied.

The man came back and apologized about it and you know I ain't never let him

speak publicly Ever again Can he talk to me?

Praise God No, I'm forgiven I am a forgiven person But every time he talked

afterwards I questioned everything Why?

Because there is an enticement To lie.

To exaggerate, to make up things, to defend ourselves.

And I want to help you out with this. You cannot be more like the devil than when you lie.

When you lie, he's the father of lies.

He's the author of lies. Just go ahead and just tell the truth.

Yeah, I did it. Yeah, I messed up. Yeah, I missed the mark.

Yeah, I shouldn't have said that. Own up to it. But there is an enticement.

I feel it, too, an enticement to embellish certain things.

I have to be careful being a pastor because a lot of time other pastors ask

you a question and you can be quick to embellish.

Oh, yeah. When Sierra was singing, she sounded like Gabriel himself straight

from heaven. You should have been in that service. Now, Sierra sounds great.

I love her singing. But that's an embellishment, right? She don't know if she

was Gabriel from heaven, right?

People are enticed to lie, to say some things that are not true.

And we got to be careful. We have to be aware that there is no temptation or

no enticement to sin has overtaken you that is not common to man,

but God is faithful.

He will not allow you to be tempted more than you are able, yet he will give

you the way of escape so that you may be able to bear it.

So anytime there is an enticement to sin on you, understand that it cannot be

more than you can handle.

Along those same lines, that word temptation means testing, as we've said before.

And some people don't believe that God tests you.

And I want to correct that today. I sent a blast out one particular time.

I said a relationship that hasn't been tested can't be trusted.

This is a true statement. If your relationship, whoever relationship you have,

has not experienced any testing, you better ask the question, can I trust the person?

Because anytime you have a relationship, there's going to be times of testing.

There's going to be times of going through different things.

There's going to be times of disagreement.

I remember when I was dating Stacey, one of the major tests we had was I had an appendectomy.

So my appendix didn't rupture. Praise God, didn't rupture, but it was hurting

so bad. I went to the doctor.

I thought I was just having some gas or something. I went to the doctor,

and the doctor immediately rushed me to the emergency room.

And I had just got a new job, too, and I was like, I can't miss work.

Well, you better miss work. you got that going on.

And so I went to the doctor's office to the emergency room.

And when I got in the emergency room, they immediately took me into surgery.

I mean, all of that happened just like that.

And at the time I was dating Stacey and I just remember giving her a call like,

hey, I'm at such as us hospital.

I'm in the emergency room. I'm having emergency surgery and epidectomy.

That's all I told her. I come out of the surgery and there she is standing in

the room, making sure I'm okay, making sure everything's right.

That was a test, and she passed the test.

I don't know about you, but I used to date some girls that they wouldn't have showed up.

You know what I'm talking about. They wasn't going to come. Where you at? I'll see you later.

But no, no, that was a test. She said, you know what? I'm here for you.

This is what you can expect if something ever happens.

Amen. You can expect I'll be here. I'll show up.

Well, that was a great test. And man, I saw a lot of good out of that.

And I said, I need to marry this girl because if I ever get sick,

she's going to take care of me.

And she does. She takes care of me today. But every relationship has some form of testing.

And some people believe that God doesn't test.

Like I said, I sent a blast out one particular time that said a relationship

that hasn't been tested can't be trusted and someone really pushed back hard

on and say well God doesn't test well that's not true now God doesn't entice you to sin.

But he will test you. Genesis 22, verse 1, Scripture says that God tempted,

Genesis 22:1

in the King James, in the New King James, it says he tested Abram.

That word test is he put him to trial.

He evaluated him. He assessed him.

He wanted to see what was on the inside of him, so he tested him.

He tempted him He tested him And Abram's the father of the faith Right?

If God will test Abram You best

believe he's going to test you You best believe that there are some things That

you could be going through Even right now That is simply a test from God He's

testing to see what's on the inside of you He's testing to see what you're made

of He's testing to get that quitting spirit out of you.

You know, the only way to drive that quitting spirit out of you is to force

you to keep going when you want to quit.

He's testing to get some of that turn back spirit out of you.

He's testing to get some of that doubting spirit out of you.

He's testing you to drive out those lying spirits out of you so that you'll

come to the conclusion that you know who God is, what he stands for.

Why his word is true, and that you'll build your house on a solid rock that

when the rains come and the storms come, that you'll be able to stand.

And having done all the stand, that you'll continue to stand there for.

This is the purpose of the task. If he wouldn't allow you just to go through

it Nothing at all You would think everything is peaches and cream And you'll

be some of the weakest individuals alive We tell our kids all the time This is a test.

You don't know it, but everything we're doing the test. Hey,

make your bed. And we come back, the bed's not made. That's a test.

Well, I want to stay up late. Did you make your bed? No, I didn't. Well, that was a test.

It's all a test to see, are you listening to me? Are you heeding my words?

Are my words more important to you than the distraction?

Are my words more important to you than PlayStation?

Are my words more important to you than the cell phone. This is what God is testing.

Is he more important to you than anything else?

And scripture says here that no test shall come or has overtaken you.

That word overtaken could also mean can come upon you abruptly or suddenly or overwhelm you.

No temptation can overwhelm you.

Say this out to me. No temptation can overwhelm me.

You need to believe this. You cannot be overwhelmed.

You cannot be overtaken with any test or temptation that you don't have the ability to get out of.

Scripture says here that no temptation shall overwhelm you, overtake Now,

I like what it says in Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 2.

Deuteronomy 28:2

He says that all these blessings shall overtake you.

Praise God. So I like to be overtaken with the blessings, but being overtaken

with the test is impossible because God is saying some tests are unacceptable for you.

Listen to me now. Some things he's not going to allow you to go through and

be tested with because he forbids it.

He does not permit it.

Scripture says no temptation has overtaken you such as common to man.

That means it has to be in the human experience.

Someone somewhere at some time has gone through something that you are going through right now.

You are not the only individual.

You are not the only male or female or teenager that's going through or feeling what you're feeling.

Somebody right now with the 7 billion people on the earth is going through the same thing.

Somebody right now with the billions of people that have ever been on the earth

has actually gone through it before.

God's not going to allow you to be overtaken with

a test that someone has never gone

through before and that's good news for

you and I today because that means I'm not the only

one say I'm not the only one say I'm not

alone I'm not the only one somebody

somewhere has gone through this and I'm

not the only one going through it that's good news to me because I feel like

I'm the only one sometime I feel like I'm the one that's been separated and

And God has forgotten about me and God has forsaken me and he's left me and

he's not thinking about me any longer.

And I'm the only one that's going through it. But God is telling you no temptation,

no test is overtaking you. That is not common to man.

If you go through it, somebody else has gone through it, too. Say amen to that.

Now, I play. I used to play a whole lot of cards and a whole lot of dominoes.

I don't care how you feel about me playing that. When I grew up,

people, oh, that's that's the devil.

I rebuke you, that's the devil to you it ain't the devil to me.

I'm a grown man. All right? I'm going to let you know I'm a grown man.

So, well, that's the devil. Get thee behind me, Satan.

Now, if I'm gambling or fighting or cussing and smoking and all that,

that's a whole other thing. But we're just playing games.

And so, we used to play some card games.

And kids used to come over to my house and play these card games when I was

in school because a lot of other parents felt like that was the devil.

So, well, my mom said, that wasn't the devil. Come on over here.

And we're going to play games of Monopoly, Uno, cards, spades.

We played a lot of spades, and I played a lot of dominoes. And when you begin

to play a lot of spades and dominoes, you begin to get experience.

Somebody say experience.

Experience. You gain experience with the game. You become familiar with the cards, with the hands.

You'll be able to count. You can read the board. You'll be able to even know

by how someone else is playing, what they have, what they don't have.

And if you're playing spades, you got a partner If you were like me and my friend, we had codes,

We had different codes, yeah we did I ain't going to tell you the codes because

we might play y'all one day,

But we had different codes, so we kind of knew who had Big Joker,

who had Little Joker You know,

we had all type of stuff going on, we just knew And you couldn't talk,

right, don't talk across the board Alright, we had hand signals,

you know, we just, don't look We didn't look, but my finger was doing something, you know And so.

We would play, and then there were times you would stand behind someone, right?

You weren't playing, but you were watching other people play,

and you would stand behind them, and they'd think they have a terrible hand.

But you, with experience, could look at that hand and say, that's actually a really good hand. Why?

Experience tells me that I could win the game with this hand.

A lot of times, the reason why you feel like you feel in the middle of a situation

is because you're not looking at the hand that's been dealt to you with experience.

You're looking at my situation, my circumstance, what's going on with my children,

what's going on with my parents.

Things are not happening the way I want them to happen. I got pain in my body.

I've got lack occurring.

I hadn't found a man yet. I hadn't found a woman yet.

What is going on? What's taking so long? In my situation, Lord,

we've been looking for a facility. Why haven't we found it yet?

Someone with experience could look at my hand and say, God's got this thing.

I was reading the verse the other day. The Lord said in Genesis 22,

he said that when Isaac was on the altar and Abram was about to sacrifice him, he said, don't do it.

And he looked and there was a ram and it said, the Lord will provide for himself.

And when I read that, I thought that's what the Lord's going to do with true

life and our new building. him.

He's going to provide for himself a place for us to meet. Say amen to that.

He's going to provide for us. I said, man, let me take a look at this.

And I started looking at this other brother's hand and this other sister's hand.

I'm like, man, I can't say nothing to him because they say it's cheating,

but I can win with that hand. But you don't even realize it.

When we first started the church back in 2011, I felt like we were dealt a raw hand.

We started with absolutely nothing.

When I say nothing, I literally mean nothing.

The Lord got us to start. One day I'll tell you how that situation occurred.

But we started, we had a handful of people that just love God.

They love Stacey and I and felt called to us during that season.

And that was it. We had no equipment, no microphone, no speakers,

no keyboard. We didn't have no Kurt.

We didn't have no Stephen back there on the drums. We didn't have no bass player.

We didn't have nothing. and we didn't have no singers. We just had nothing.

But the word from God saying, get started. And God's always going to ask you

to start with something small.

Can you be faithful with the little? And just, we just got started.

And one day I was complaining to a pastor friend of mine.

I was, I was complaining. I rarely complain, but this day I was complaining.

I said, man, why the Lord have a start? We ain't got nothing.

We got this and that and nothing, nothing. And at this point,

we were probably a year old.

And I'm looking at church over here and they look like they're thriving.

And I'm looking at church over there and they're thriving.

And I'm talking to some of my friends, churches, and they're thriving.

Everybody thriving. And we ain't got nothing.

Nothing at all. Why don't I just close shop?

This hand that was dealt to me is a bad hand. It's a raw. If I was playing poker,

I was folded. We've got nothing.

And he laughed at me. He listened and laughed. He said, and you're still playing the game.

He's like, churches are folding more than they are opening.

You know there are more churches closing than opening today?

Every month there are more churches closing in an opening. And he said,

and you are still going strong.

You may not feel like you got anything, but you're still going strong.

See, that was a man with experience looking at my hand and saying,

you can win with this hand.

I'm so glad he did that because, well, that was 12 years ago.

We're still going strong.

We're stronger than we've ever been before.

Say amen to that. I'm glad he said that because he showed me that I can win with this hand.

I want to show I want to show you today, whatever hand you've been dealt,

you can win with that hand.

You can win. Whatever news you hear, you can win with that news.

Whatever's going on in your life, you can win with that. Something going on

with your children, you can win.

Maybe someone abruptly died, you can still win with that hand.

Say amen to that. And so, some tests are unavoidable.

Some tests are unavoidable, but it's designed for you to discover what's inside of you.

And God's designed it to prepare you for the next level.

So watch this. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. No temptation has overtaken you or suddenly

come upon you except such as common to man.

Somebody somewhere has gone through this before, but God is faithful.

Come on, somebody say God is faithful.

Say it again like you mean it. God is faithful.

He's loyal. He's steadfast. He's reliable. He's consistent.

He's constant. He can be trusted.

He can be trusted. He's dedicated to you.

He can be trusted. When you are faithless, God is still faithful.

Even when you don't know what to do, he's still faithful to you.

He can be trusted. He can be depended upon and you can depend on him and watch this.

He can depend on you. Let me tell you why.

Because he will survey.

Every test. The next part of that verse says that God is faithful,

who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able.

That means he has surveyed your ability, your capacity.

He has looked at your experience. He knows your stamina.

He understands your endurance he

knows what he's put inside of you he knows

what will cause you to stumble or not he knows

what will take you out or not he knows what will cause you to run away from

him or not and if it's too much for you scripture tells us that he will not

even allow it to happen to you.

Ooh, say amen to that. That God has surveyed you and said, you know what?

I'm not going to permit that test to come your way.

No devil, you can't send that to them because I have surveyed their ability

and I forbid it to come that direction.

And so that tells me that if I'm going through something, God already knew beforehand

that I could get through it.

Come on somebody, if I'm going through it. I can get through it.

God knew that ahead of time.

God looked at me ahead of time and said, that test can come because they can get through that test.

They can come out on top after that test.

They will be more prepared for the next level after that test.

So if you're going through it, you can get through it.

If it's going, if it's overtaking you, you can overcome it because God would

not even allow it to come on you if you couldn't do it. Somebody shout amen.

You ain't the only one that's going through it and God says before I let you

go through it I always survey you.

I love that. He's always serving and looking because he's faithful and he's

saying, OK, you think you're going through something that's going to take you out?

God said it's not going to take you out because I wouldn't allow it to come

through you to you if it could.

Amen. I wouldn't allow you to go through it.

If it could take you away from me.

Matter of fact, I'm allowing it to take place because some way or another it's

going to draw you closer to me.

Sometimes we got to get out of our comfort and get into some discomfort so that

we can begin to appreciate it.

What God has done for us. I don't appreciate health. I've never really appreciated

health until I've gotten sick.

Say amen to that. Oh, man, when you're not feeling well, oh,

my gosh, you start appreciating health.

You start thinking through my goodness. I am glad that by his stripes I was

healed. You started considering the goodness of God in the moment of sickness.

Somehow, some way or another, we become drawn closer to him in those moments.

You don't appreciate it until you've gone through it.

A lot of times, I'm thinking about my kids.

Thank God that my children have Stacy and I in their life. But they won't be

able to recognize or appreciate that.

Until they're much, much older.

We can't force them to appreciate that right now. They don't know until they're much older.

Zayv and I were watching a movie the other day, and in the movie,

the mother was stealing money from the son.

Teenage son and the mother was stealing. Zayv was like, the mom is stealing it?

I said, the mom, instead of going to... I said, don't you thank God for mom?

That mom's not stealing from you? Thank God for mom. Now, obey her. Amen. man.

Do what's right, right? Because you don't have a mom stealing from you, praise God.

He was like, oh my goodness, why? Because we don't really know what we have until it's gone.

Until God begins to cultivate us and mend us and mold us and strip us,

we don't even know what we have.

I believe God's trying to get us to the point that we derive all of our joy directly from,

Not our circumstance, not what's going on, not what's making us happy or what's not making us happy.

That we'll be able to mature enough that we draw joy, strength,

comfort directly from him.

Whether this happens, whether that doesn't happen, I have the joy of the Lord

because joy is unaffected by circumstances.

Did you know that the joy? Now, happiness is affected by your circumstance,

but joy, biblical joy is unaffected by circumstances.

And this is where James tells us counted all joy when you go through different trials and situations.

What is he saying? When you're going through someone, don't disregard joy.

Don't eliminate joy. Make sure you include joy in your life when you go through

some, because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Somebody say the joy of the Lord is my strength.

God is saying, I'll never let you face anything that you are not able to handle.

Think about that You're never going

to face anything That you're

not able to handle Because God's faithful Not because you look good Not because

you're so wise and intelligent Because God is faithful That he won't allow you

to face anything That you can't handle If you go through it Understand God must consider,

You strong enough to get through it.

Think about that Man, I'm going through something that's really,

God must consider that I'm strong enough to get through this.

I'm strong enough to handle that.

I can, I'm strong enough. One of the hardest things to do is to let some people go.

Some people, they're not going to go with you to the next level.

It could be family members. They're not going with you to that next level. They can't go.

They're not happy for you, not excited for you. they can't go to the next level.

And some of the hardest things to do is you got to release them and let them

go so that you can go to where God wants you to go.

And know that you can handle it.

You can handle it or he will never even allow you to go through it.

The Lord says, before I let you go through anything, I always survey your ability.

I will not allow you to face anything that will exceed your capacity to overcome.

Thank you, Jesus. He will not allow you to face anything that will exceed your capacity to overcome.

I believe the Lord is saying you can handle it. Say, I can handle it.

This test is not here to break you. It's here to strengthen you.

It's not here to embarrass you.

It's here to strengthen you. And we need to change our view of tests.

Like I said, there's a large majority of believers that just don't believe that

any test is from God or God is behind it.

I'm here to tell you through scripture, he can be.

Now, if there are tests that entice you to sin, no.

Tests of sickness and disease are not of God. Okay, he redeemed that on the cross for you.

He didn't give you cancer so you can learn something That's

not biblical You don't have any verse where Jesus gave anybody any sickness

or disease Not one And so these are not biblical tests Now these are of the

devil that we resist and fight But there are some tests that will come your

way that will test your faith Do you really believe?

Do you really believe I'll never

leave you nor forsake you? Do you really believe that I'm the provider?

Do you really believe that I'm the orchestrator and the one that's going to

lead, guide, and instruct you? Do you really believe that? Those tests will come.

And that's where you have to ask the question, Lord, do I believe that?

Because in the middle of the test, you're going to find out very quickly if you do or you don't.

Through this process of our transition and our new season in true life.

I would have thought we'd already found something, guys. I would have thought

that, but the Lord is stretching me.

He's stretching me. He's pulling me and saying, can you believe a little longer?

Can you remain patient a little while longer? Can you wait a little longer?

I don't know who I'm talking to, but I'm talking to somebody in the sound of my voice.

Can you just hold on a little while longer?

See, if we get everything that we wanted to get in the time frame we wanted

to get, we would never have need for the word called patience.

Just eliminate that word completely out of the Bible. If we can get everything

we want at the time we want when we say it, and it happened instantly right

then, you would never have to develop the word peace.

But the scripture says we're going to let patience have its perfect work in us.

That means you're going to have to wait a little while longer.

You got to hold on a little while longer. You got to stand a little while longer.

You're going to have to persevere a little while longer. You got to have some

stamina and some endurance just a little while longer.

You want to derive your strength straight from the Lord just a little while longer.

When you're weak, you're going to have to start saying, I am strong.

Just a little while longer.

This is what God's trying to do. He's trying to get you to the place in him

that you turn around and you tell somebody else, yeah, sister, I've been there before.

Let me help you walk through this thing. I can't do it for you,

but let me tell you how you're going to feel.

Let me tell you what's going to come across your mind. Let me tell you what

the devil's going to say.

Let me tell you all these things that's going to happen because God is not strengthening you just for you.

He's strengthening you for somebody else as well.

He's always got someone else on his mind.

His heart beats. If you can hear his heart beat, it's beating people,

people, people, people.

He's thinking about somewhere else, and he's got a mold, and he's got a menu,

and he's got to construct you.

And he's got to chisel you to be at the place that you have some empathy,

some compassion for somebody else when they're going through something that's

difficult and that's hard.

And you let them know this is not to break you, honey.

This is not to embarrass you, it's to get you stronger.

When you're lifting weights, I got some free weights at the house.

They are designed to make me stronger.

If you use them, they're designed to get you to be stronger.

Why? Because you're resisting.

The weights are resisting and you are pushing against that resistance and you're

getting stronger and you look in the mirror one day and you're like,

woo, look what the Lord has done.

The test is not here to break you.

I want you to think about that. It's not here to break you. It's not here to embarrass you.

It's not here to embarrass you. I got fired from a job once.

Can you believe that? I still can't believe they fired me. They let me go. No reason whatsoever.

Gloria, I can't believe it. They fired me. Walked me in the office. and said, you're done.

Let go. Abruptly. Didn't even know it was coming.

I had just gotten a raise a few months before.

Great employee. Fired a couple months later.

And they were talking about a ministry that I loved. Worked there. They just let me go.

Here I am embarrassed, thinking my life is over.

I'm young. I'm thinking, man, I thought I'd be here a long time. People know I got fired.

People are talking about me. They weren't, but I'm feeling like they are.

People, man, I'm an embarrassment to my family.

I'm an embarrassment to the people I work with. I got fired from this ministry. Let me go.

And I look back at that now, and I just laugh because all it did was make me stronger.

That's all it did. I moved to Charlotte. I came here, got a job,

got promoted. You know my story.

Pastoring a wonderful church now. All it did was just make me stronger.

And then now that ministry, they have me on their TV programs. The fired man.

Why? Integrity, character. I could have bashed him, but I didn't.

I said, this may be what the Lord has for me.

Maybe this is what he wanted me to happen. I got closer to him.

I would wake up six in the morning and just go walk around my neighborhood,

pray in the spirit because I knew that God called me to pastor one day and I

was really praying over you.

I was praying over the future church that I would pastor.

Those six in the morning is that a 20, 25, 26 year old man just praying,

Lord, I got fired, but I believe there's a call on my life.

Now I look back at it and I laugh because all it did was make me stronger.

And when I hear that somebody else gets fired, I have empathy for that.

You got fired. What happened? I didn't do nothing wrong. I understand.

I got fired before too, and I didn't do anything wrong to listen.

God's trying to redirect you.

He's trying to get you from one place to another. You weren't going to leave there on your own.

So they had to he had to he had to intervene to get you going on another course.

Do you trust God? Do you trust him?

Do you trust him enough?

To allow him to do something in your life by any means necessary.

A friend of mine was talking to me about his son. Son has gone wayward,

not serving the Lord anymore.

He was asking me what I thought.

I said, let's pray for you, son. We prayed. I said, you've trained him. You've raised him.

He knows what's going on. He knows what he's doing.

You raised him in a nice home. He knows what's going on. I said,

let me ask you this question. He said, well, I said, because this particular

son had gotten to the point that he started to be agnostic.

Which simply means, I believe there's a God, but I don't believe the God we

serve is the real God. Now, he grew up in a Christian home.

But he started to believe this way. This father was very upset, talking to me about it.

Very hurt. I would be hurt, too. Very distraught, very upset.

I said to him, do you want God to reach your son? He goes, I do.

I said, you remember Saul had a encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.

Jesus showed up, blinded him.

What? He was blinded.

The light was so bright. Blinded him.

Had an experience with Jesus. He changed instantly. I said, do you want your

son to have an encounter with the Lord Jesus?

He said, I do. And I said to him, by any means necessary.

He said, I do. You know what that means by any means necessary?

Something bad could happen.

He can go to jail. But if God shows up in that jail, changes his life around

in that jail, was it worth it?

It was worth it. It was worth it.

But God knows I ain't going to let anything just happen.

If I let that happen, it's because they can handle it.

It's because I got something for them that can strengthen them and bring them

back to me. He and I laughed together a little bit, prayed together a little more.

I said, by any means necessary. He said, by any means necessary.

And we came in agreement, God, you reach him by any means necessary.

I have a friend of mine who grew up, his son grew up in the Lord. This friend is a pastor.

Son understood some things where the Lord is concerned.

This particular son started drinking They don't drink, but the son started drinking

Got so drunk one night That he punched a police officer.

Now, you know, they could have

beat him down And probably been justified Maybe even beat him to death.

Punched a police officer, got arrested, went to jail While he was in jail,

a lawyer came to represent him,

began to chastise him, but it was godly.

And then he had a dream that night that he went to hell.

The son did. That he went to hell, was burning in hell. You know,

hell's a real place, by the way.

Despite what some people are trying to change that, hell is still a real place.

He went to hell, had a dream, went to hell, got up out of that dream.

He's serving the Lord right now today. He had an encounter with,

encountered that night in jail, got out of jail, got through it.

The police didn't press charges or anything, was able to get through that.

And now he's serving the Lord today by any means necessary.

Do you want God to reach your children, your family members by any means necessary?

You better say yeah to that because he knows how to do it.

If you just trust him and he won't do it in a way that no one can handle,

we will all be able to handle it because God would never allow something to

happen that we can't handle. Say amen to that.

I want to say two things to you. I want to call you to action on two things.

Number one, refuse the lie that you're alone.

Refuse the lie that I'm alone. Number two, reject the thought that you can't handle it.

Number one, refuse the lie that you're alone and reject the thought that you

can't handle it. Say, I can handle it.

So what's number one? refuse the lie that you're alone. What's number two?

Reject the thought that you can't handle it. You need to start saying God trusted me with this.

God trusted me with this.

He's trusting me with this. Something's not going right. He's trusting me with

this. He's trusting me with this.

If you're in the test right now, stand on your feet. If you're in the test,

stand to your feet right now.

Everybody's either in something or you're about to head into a test. Stand to your feet.

It's not easy.

But you're ready. You're ready to grow.

You're ready for the next level God is taking you to. It's not easy, but you are ready.

This is how you experience true life.