Challenged But Chosen

Well, open your Bibles to John chapter 6 and meet me at verse 1.

John 6 · chapter mention

John chapter 6 and verse 1. If we could get another background there,

that would be good for me.

John chapter 6 and verse 1.

John 6 · chapter mention

And I want you to follow me as we dive into what the Lord has for us today.

After these things, Jesus went over to the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

Then a great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs,

which he performed on those who were diseased.

Verse 3, and Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.

Jesus lifted up his eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward him,

he said to Philip, Watch this.

Where? Somebody say, where? Shall we buy bread that these may eat? Verse 6.

But this he, Jesus, said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Verse 7.

Philip answered and said, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them

that every one of them may have a little. I want to place an emphasis today on the word test.

Somebody say test. I want to emphasize the word test today, and I want you to

notice in this passage of Scripture that Jesus himself tested Philip.

Philip has been traveling with Jesus for a year or so now, and he's seen miracles.

He has observed the teachings of

Jesus. He has placed some things and implemented some things in his life.

And now at this moment, God himself, who is Jesus,

is now testing Philip to see what he knows, to see what he has processed,

to see what Philip has learned, to see what Philip or how he is thinking.

He tested Philip and he asked him the question, where shall we buy bread?

Where, where, where this is a test and Philip responds with money.

Money. Money is on his mind. Jesus didn't ask how much. He asked where.

And Philip responds with money. This test indicated to Jesus what's on Philip's

mind. What's on his mind is money.

Money is on his mind. And I want you to see testing in a different light today.

I want to talk about testing because I want you to understand that there are

tests that take place in your life.

God will test you. We see it here. He tested Philip. He'll test you. Never with sin.

Never with sickness or disease. But there are tests to find out,

to locate where you are and what are you thinking.

There are tests that God will place on your life. It's an invitation to grow.

It's an invitation to develop. It's an invitation to go a little higher.

And a test takes place so that we can recognize and understand where we are.

You will learn more in a test, an examination.

You'll learn more about yourself that you didn't know.

When you're being tested, you're going to learn some things about yourself,

and you're going to learn some things about God that you didn't know when you go through a test.

Stacey and I were dating, and while we were dating, she had always been a really good friend.

We started out, I got the chance to meet her, we became like really good friends,

and then we began to date.

And this particular time while we were dating, I had some stomach issues,

some really bad stomach issues. I don't know what was going on,

I'm about to tell you what it was, but at the time, I didn't know what was really going on.

We went to a restaurant one particular night, and I literally couldn't eat.

And my stomach was hurting so bad I couldn't eat. We ended up leaving,

ended up taking all the food home and leaving. Just stomach issues.

Well, she said, you need to get a doctor's appointment. Check this out. I said, I will.

Went and got a doctor's appointment, got one in the next day,

and they immediately rushed me to the emergency room.

I mean, I went from a doctor's appointment to the emergency room,

same day. I had just received a new job, too.

And so I don't have time to go to this emergency room. I want to start my new

position at the Fortune 500 bank I worked for.

But I went to the emergency room. I called Stacy.

And at this time, we're dating. I'm still trying to figure out if she's the one or not for me.

You know, we're good friends. We're in that exploratory sort of season.

How many of you know that dating is also a task?

And so I'm dating. We're dating.

I tell her, hey, they rushed me to the emergency room.

She's like, well, where are you? I'm at such and such hospital in the emergency room.

And then next thing you know, they gave me something that put me out.

Like I count down the 10 backwards and I was gone.

And I had a phone call, count down the 10, I'm out.

I wake up four hours later, went through surgery. I had appendicitis,

and that's what was causing so much of the pain in my stomach, almost like knife.

It was like someone was stabbing me with a knife over and over and over.

Really, really painful, and so they took my appendix out, but as soon as I woke

up from the surgery, guess who's in the room waiting for me? Stacy.

Now, I didn't tell her what room I was in. I didn't tell her any of that except

I'm at this hospital, and she did all of the research to find out where it was. She's in the room.

And I'm like, okay, this is awesome, right? I wake up at two in the morning,

and guess who's in the room? Stacey.

Just in the room, hanging out in the room. And then when I woke up at two,

she said, hey, I've got to go to work in the morning, but before I go to work,

I'll come back and see you again. She came back and she saw me again.

I didn't know before the appendectomy. I didn't know this before.

I was still wondering, you know, is Stacey the one Is she not?

You know, am I supposed to, or is there another? You know, I was one of the

most eligible bachelors out there now. You understand?

You know, I'm not trying to brag, but, you know, a lot of people wanted me.

And so, you know, I'm just trying to figure out, you know, which one deserves this, you know.

And so before I'm wondering,

but after the appendicitis and after how I get home and at the time,

you know, I lived in a house and she would come over and she would go in the

kitchen and she would cook and make sure, because it took a while to a couple

days to really get back on my feet.

And she was basically showing me, if you marry me, this is what you're going to get.

I don't know if I would have seen any of that without the test.

Are you listening to me? Without going through that test of,

okay, you're going to be able to see what you have once you're in a vulnerable position.

Now, I dated some girls in the past that would have never came to the hospital.

They would have just waited until I got home and got better and never done anything.

But Stacey showed me that if you get sick or if something happens,

I'm going to be right there.

It wasn't too long after that I proposed. Right after that, and then the rest

is history. I chose the right woman. Glory to God. I'm the best.

I'm a better man for choosing that great woman of God. Come on, say amen to that.

When you are tested, you will find out things about your situation,

about you, about someone else, and about others that you never knew before.

Several months ago, we got an email from a couple, and they said they're leaving our church.

And I said, okay. They said, there's too much testing at the church.

You challenge us too much.

And I don't know about all this testing, so I'm leaving. Well,

at least he told me the truth.

I don't get the truth a lot of times when people leave, but at least he told me the truth.

I said, brother, I said, I don't know if you, I didn't say this to him, but I wanted to say,

I don't even know if you saved, because in Scripture, there are many things that we will go through.

John 16, 33 says, in this world, you will have many trials, many testings.

And he said that there was too much testing at True Life, and they needed to

find somewhere else he didn't want to be tested. And one of the things was,

at this particular day, I said, come on, everybody, let's run.

And everybody ran, right, that day. And Don, your foot was healed in that service.

Don, I went to the doctor, and his foot was healed. And I said,

man, this man took off running with a hurt foot. His foot was healed.

Amen. He said, no, I don't want to be tested. You told everybody to run, and that was a test.

I don't want to be tested that way. I'm going to find another church.

Well, I'm saying all that to say to you, in this world you will have testing.

You will be tested. Matter of fact, James chapter 1, let's put it on the screen,

James 1 · chapter mention

verse 2 through 4. Watch this.

James chapter 1, verse 2 through 4. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall

James 1:2–4

into or find yourself in various trials, knowing, well, why are you in this trial?

You got to know that the testing of your faith is going to produce patience.

So that tells me patience doesn't come automatically.

But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

What produces patience is the testing of your faith.

The trial, the examination, the trying, the proving of your faith is going to produce something.

It's going to produce patience. You can't get patience by praying for it.

Patience doesn't come. Lord, give me patience. What you just asked for is,

Lord, give me a lot of tests and trials because that's how patience comes,

through testing and trials.

And in patience, you're going to be perfect and mature when you let the testing

do its work, lacking nothing, meaning you are going to be a mature person.

You're going to be a person that's going to be above the fray when it comes to testing.

There are some things that I have went through.

I remember one particular time I got fired, and it's in the book, The Hope Switch.

I tell a time where I get fired from a ministry. I got fired.

And man, what a painful, what a hurtful time. I didn't even see it coming.

I mean, it was out of the blue. I get let go. I went down in some deep, dark depression.

I really did. But from that experience, it's what got me to look at moving the shark.

And then I met Stacy, and then now we have this wonderful church and my kids,

and I mean, now I'm glad I got fired.

You listening to me? Because it allowed me to see some things about myself and

allowed me to open my eyes to clarity regarding what the Lord would want to do.

We have to stop looking at situations and circumstances we're going through

as just, oh, my gosh, it's the worst thing ever, and start looking at it as,

there's this, I'm being tested.

And I'm going to learn something.

We look at school examinations. My kids are in school, and they take tests.

And we find out what they know and what they don't know after the results of the test.

And sometimes the school will let them re-tests. and you'll test again,

and they know what they didn't know, and they'll do a better job the next time.

An examination, a test, it's the testing of our faith that's going to produce in our life.

In testing, you will discover that there are areas of your life that you need to grow in.

I need to, you know what, this happened, and you know what, I cussed,

and I, you know what, I've got to do a better job the next time, amen.

Now, I don't cuss, I'm talking about one of y'all, okay, but,

but, but you'll know, like, okay, you know what, when that happens,

as I've gotten more mature and increased in age.

I'm starting to see a lot of areas of my life that I can.

Be better in. I can respond better.

And when you get to the point where you get mature enough to recognize,

I ain't God's gift to the earth, right?

I got some flaws. And I remember one time when Jason and I first got married,

I was getting on her about something, and she looked at me, she goes,

you do the same thing. I was like, I do not do that.

And the Holy Spirit said, yes, you do. And I was like, man, I'm getting on her

about something, and I do the exact same thing. As you grow,

you're like, okay, you know what?

We're developing. We're growing. The crooked places are being made straight.

The rough edges are being smooth because of testing.

I believe one of the reasons why you should get married is not because you're so in love.

I believe it's to find out who a person that is strong in your weaknesses and

someone that you're strong in in their weaknesses. is. Come on.

And you get together and you rub on each other a little bit.

And you'll begin to see like, okay, okay, the rough edges are being smoothed out.

Because I, Mary Stacey, and some of the testing that we've gone through together,

I'm a more compassionate man than I used to be.

I used to be very cut and dry, like, get over it.

And now having a precious woman in the house, you can't say that, right?

You have to be a little more patient and kind, and it's brought me to be a man,

like in James 1 verse 4 tells us, that is perfect, mature, lacking nothing. thing.

James 1:4

And so we have to have the right view of testing.

I like what 1 Corinthians 10, 13 tells us, and I want to take my time here.

1 Corinthians 10, 13 tells us, no temptation has overtaken you except such as

is common to man, but 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.

Now understand this word temptation is also the word testing or trying.

It's also the word putting to the proof. So you could say there's no testing,

there's no trying, there's no situation that will be put to the proof that has

overtaken me. What does that mean?

That means no matter how it comes, regardless of its source, it is not overtaking me.

Listen to me now. But it's common to man. Somebody say common to man.

That means testing is normal. It's no different than what others have experienced.

You are not going through a situation that no one right now is currently not going through.

You're going through the same situation. You may think you're the only one.

You may think you're alone. But there's somebody somewhere that is going through

the exact situation that you're going through.

And if they're not going through it on the earth right now, somebody somewhere

has been through it before.

It is common to man. Any testing, any circumstance, any situation,

any challenge, any obstacle is common to man.

You are not going to go through something that no one else is not currently going through.

And isn't it good to know that you're not the only one?

Somebody say amen to that. You are not the special exception or you are not

going through the unique situation.

Somebody else somewhere is going through this.

Others before you have overcome the same task, the same trials,

the same circumstances, the same obstacles, the same challenges, the same situation.

Somebody somewhere else has gone through it before you, and so your situation

is not beyond resistance. Glory to God.

Your situation is not beyond resistance because it's common to man.

Whatever it is you're going through, if it's a pain in your body,

if it's a sickness or disease, if it's healing of a lost child, if it's a divorce,

if it's sickness, if it's financial, whatever it is you're going through,

somebody somewhere else is going through that as well.

I used to play a lot of spades when I was in college. Matter of fact,

I played too much spades when I was in college, okay?

I mean, it was class to the spade table, right?

And then we ended up playing dominoes, and it was class to the domino table.

And you had a spade table here, you had a domino table here.

And that was my life. Go to class, hurry up, and go play spades and dominoes. And I'd gotten so good.

Now, you can ask Steve and Tasha. I'm good now, y'all. I'm great.

I've gotten so good that I've gotten so good that I can look at someone else's hand.

And they, if I'm not playing, and I'm looking at their hand,

and they're talking about they got two or three books. I'm looking,

you got four or five books.

What is it about their hand that I know that they don't know?

Is just because I've got more experience.

That's the only difference. I can see something in that hand that they cannot see.

And someone else has the ability to look at your situation and see something that you can't see.

That's why it's good to have a pastor and a friend and that sort of thing that

can speak life into your situation, see things that you cannot see.

When we first started the church in 2011, we started with absolutely nothing.

We had no money. We had a handful of people. We had no equipment.

All this stuff you see that's here, praise God, all of this is paid for in Jesus' name. Amen.

None of this was here, and we didn't have the money for it.

And I remember calling a pastor friend of mine, and I was complaining.

Kim, I was saying to him, I cannot believe the Lord told us to start a church like this.

And my goodness, I just wish I had more money. I wish I had more assets.

I wish I had more resources. I wish I had this. And I was just complaining and

complaining and complaining. And he just listened to me.

And finally, when I got done complaining, he said, and you still have a church.

I thought, wow. He said churches are closing down left and right,

but God still sees fit for you to have the church.

After all this complaining, you still have a church. Hallelujah.

It caused me to say what I'm going through, what I'm feeling, is not uncommon to man.

Somebody somewhere else is feeling the same way. And one of the tactics of the

enemy, listen to me now, is to get you to feel like you're the only one.

Nobody else is feeling what you're feeling. Nobody else is going through what you're going through.

If he can isolate you and separate you and get you to feel like I'm the only

one, then you're already defeated.

But when you realize that what I'm going through, it's common to man,

and the next part of the verse says that God is faithful. Say that.

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

I'm telling you, he is faithful. He is loyal. He's reliable.

He's consistent. He can be dependent upon. He's faithful.

The devil would destroy you if he could.

His intention is to destroy you if he could. But guess what? God is faithful.

He supervises all testing. Glory to God.

He oversees and supervises it all. and he says, devil, you can't destroy them.

Matter of fact, I'm not even going to allow you to put anything in their life

to destroy them because I'm faithful.

Glory be to God. Say amen to that. You can trust God. He'll never let you down.

He's faithful. Watch this. It says, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able?

So that word tempted is also the word tested. Watch this.

The Lord will not even allow you to be tested beyond what you are able.

Now, this is good news when I hear this, that there is no situation or obstacle

or challenge that I can go through that I cannot get through.

So if I go through it, I can get through it because God's faithful.

He won't even allow me to go through it if I didn't have the ability to get through it. Amen.

Amen. Man, the Lord is basically saying here, before I let you go through anything,

I always survey your ability. Hallelujah.

He says, I will never let you face anything that you would not be able to handle.

He's surveying your ability, not allowing you to face anything you couldn't handle.

I like this. He says, I'll screen and filter the severity and the timing of every task.

He is overseeing even the timing of the test.

Glory be to God. I'll never let you be pushed past your limit.

That's what he says there. If he's not going to allow you to be tested beyond

what you're able, then he's going to never allow you to be pushed past your limit. Glory to God.

He says, I know you can handle it.

The Lord is saying this. I know you can handle it. If you go through it, you can get through it.

I placed you in this position, knowing your capacity, knowing your ability,

knowing your temperament, knowing your knowledge and your understanding.

And I know it feels overwhelming. And I know it feels weighted down. And I know you feel pain.

And I know you feel singled out. And I know you feel like it's not fair.

But God is saying, I would never let you even go through it if you could not

be victorious in it. Come on, say amen to that. I'm preaching better than you saying amen.

God is surveying and he's looking at this thing and he's saying you can't even

go through it. I know your kids may be acting crazy.

I know your parents may be acting crazy.

I know your spouse may be acting crazy. But God is saying you can get through this thing.

I strategically put you in this position so that you can overcome it,

find victory in it, learn more about yourself you didn't know,

learn more about me that you didn't know, and you would develop and you'll be

cultivated and you'll grow from this because I know where you're going.

I know where you're headed. I know what the future is. This is temporary.

It's something to change. But if you can get through it, God's got something

better on the other side. But most of us quit.

Most of us give up and say, God doesn't care.

He doesn't love me. Oh, do you care that we're perishing when the rain was coming

down and the waves were flooded?

The disciples, they said to the Lord and accused him of not caring.

He said he got up. He's asleep. He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves

and said, listen, you could have done the same thing.

I know we're going to the other side. Say, I'm going to the other side.

Say it like you mean it. I'm going to the other side.

You can get through it if you go through it, or God will never let you go through it.

That's his faithfulness. So whatever it is that feels impossible,

that seems unlikely to happen, that seems like you, with your last name, that'll never happen.

Whatever it is, God says, I would have never allowed you to go through it if

you couldn't get through it.

Oh, that just brings so much peace to me.

That when I hear bad news or when I go through things and it's like,

okay, God would never even allow this to come to me if I couldn't get through

it, if I couldn't overcome it, if I couldn't withstand it, then it wouldn't

even be allowed to come my way. Hallelujah.

You take, for example, Job. And Job lost everything.

You know how long Job went through this ordeal where he lost it all? Nine months.

We make it seem like it was 99 years. It was nine months. And he went through a lot in nine months.

But God knew something about Job. He said he'll never curse me.

Whatever you do, he'll never curse me.

And he never did. And after nine months, Job got doubled for his trouble.

He knew he could get through it. I know you feel like you're going through something

that I don't know why I'm going through it. God knows you can get through this thing.

I don't know who I'm talking to, but you can get through it. You can get through it.

It would have never been able to come if you couldn't get through it.

You can overcome and you'll be victorious.

He says here in the next part of the verse, but with the temptation will also

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

That means God will always be there for you, always be there for you.

The way of escape leads you to the place where you may be able to bear it.

You can bear up under it. He will never let trouble exist unless there's a solution

that exists right with it.

He is not allowing any trouble to come your way that there is no solution for.

There is an answer. There's a solution.

You just have to spend time with the Lord and figure it out with him.

I have children, and each child is different.

Each one is very different. I have to spend different energy with each one,

different amounts of prayer regarding each one, hearing from God.

What is the motivating factor in this one? What is the solution here?

And the Lord will tell you, because he ain't going to let you go through it

unless you can get through it. And the answer will always come with the problem.

Man, I hope you're getting this. When a test happens, there is an answer.

I'm talking about a test in school. When they ask you a question on that paper,

there is an answer for that question.

You just have to discover what the answer is. Are you listening to me? Hallelujah.

When I was working in corporate America, I was a financial advisor,

and I had to get these licenses, Series 6, 63, 7, I got my insurance license,

so on and so forth. You know what I'm talking about, Alec.

And I was taking the 6 and there was an examination because they're just not passing out licenses.

I want somebody that can pass a test to be licensed.

Do you want somebody flying, being a pilot of your airplane without being tested?

No, no, no, I need you to be, I need you to have a good relationship with that airplane.

Right I need you to be able to pass a test I need you to be able to fly for

hours before I jump in that airplane right and so I was tested and passed the

series six and and the 63 was a shorter test,

but you can only get a handful wrong in order to pass and all my constituents

they were knocking this 63 out without even studying so I thought the first

time I'll take it you and they only gave you two times taken.

If you don't pass it the second time, you're fired.

This is how serious it is. So I thought, oh, shoot, I don't need to study.

I took it the first time. I missed it by one point, Darren. I said, okay, I need to study.

Took it the second time. Missed it by one point.

Same time. So now they got to let me go. But thank God for the favor of God.

My manager said, I ain't letting you go. I'm going to do what I can to get you this test.

I said, listen, I said, I think something's going on in the computer system.

I said, I keep missing it by one point.

He believed that. Something is going on with the computer. I said,

yes. I said, what's the odds I keep missing it by one question?

They let me take it again. I went to the same place. Missed it again by one

question. So that's three in a row.

One question. I said, what are the odds of that.

And then all of a sudden,

He said to me, what do you want to do? Because I've got to let you go.

I said, listen, it's the computer system.

Let me go to Greensboro, because I was taking it in Charlotte.

Let me go to Greensboro. I'm going to take the test. He goes,

that's it. I'll talk to the superiors. You go to Greensboro.

I convinced him it was the computer system.

You drive. So I had to drive an hour and a half with the Greensboro.

And I'm praying in tongues.

Lord, help me pass this test. I didn't study. You can ask my wife.

I wasn't married to Stacy. I was married to them books.

Okay, Stacey, so she said to me, now this is a good wife, she said,

now I'm going to give you time to study, but I don't want you watching football and basketball either.

If you're going to be married to these books, be married to the books.

And don't be watching. I said, okay, so I couldn't watch football or basketball.

I was married to these books. And I went down to Greensboro,

and I went, and I almost got 100 on that test in Greensboro.

Praise God I passed it. Hallelujah.

I still think it was something going on in the computer system in Charlotte.

Well, I come back, and with passing the test,

I got an opportunity to take another test, which was the Series 7,

which is the one that allows you to sell stocks, bonds, that sort of thing.

And that test, most people don't pass that test.

But I went in there, and I passed it on the first time. Praise God.

And then got the licenses in order to do the job that the Lord had called me to do.

They're not just passing out security licenses for free.

There's got to be a test. In James 1, let's take a look real quick.

James 1, verse 12, watch this.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who endures testing, for when he has been approved,

that means he's passed the test, he's been proven,

He will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Everything worthwhile is going to require testing.

Everything worthwhile. The only person I know that has a lot of favor is Zai.

Somehow Zai got her, Zai, my oldest

daughter, she got her driver's license without taking a driving test.

We went to the spot, and I had the car, okay, get ready.

And she came out, she said, I got my license. I was like, you have to drive?

They said no. They looked at my grades.

And this was during COVID, too. They looked at my grades, and they were like,

you got your license. I said, I don't know anybody that got their driver's license

without taking a driving task.

But most people, we're going to be tested. and blessed is the man or woman who endures testing.

Because you will be proven. Don't you want somebody that's, when you go to the

dentist, do you want somebody to say, I have never worked on teeth before.

All I've worked on is cars, okay? And I want to mess with, do you want,

would you stay in that seat?

No. Excuse me, I need to leave here.

We want someone that's been tested, proven. Don't be afraid of this word tested. You're being proven.

When you go through something, look at it as I'm going to exercise and I'm going to get stronger.

When I get done with this, I'm going to be able to help somebody else because

I went through something that was traumatic and now I can help somebody else

because guess what? All of this is common to man.

Somebody else is going to go through it too, and I'll be able to help you.

But notice in this verse, put it on the screen, guys, if you don't mind,

James 1, 12, blessed, empowered to prosper.

Empowered to prosper is the man and woman who endures testing.

For when he has been proven, so there's a time of being proven.

Once you've been proven, you're going to receive, I'm going to say it this way, promotion.

Once you've been proven through the test, you're going to receive promotion.

There's going to be promotion in the spirit realm.

Once you have been approved through testing. I used the example earlier, and I'll tie it in again.

Through the appendix and appendicitis that I went through, I learned some things

about myself that I didn't know.

I learned some things about Stacy that I didn't know.

And she received a promotion, praise God.

We went to the next level in our relationship. Amen.

Now, she don't have a mic up here, so she can't defend herself.

But there's going to be a promotion that takes place.

There are relationships that have to be tested. So you know what you got.

You know who you're working with. You know who's with you.

You know who's not. You're going to go through. Don't look at it where I'm going

through something. Let's look at it this way. Let's see if we can get through this.

I've got some good friends now that's been friends since I was 9,

10 years old, lived in three different states together.

We've even said over the decades, because we've been through some things together,

money and girls will never divide our friends.

Now, we're both married now and that sort of thing, but if there's a money thing,

we're going to drop that thing. We got too much at stake.

We even said now with 40 years of friendship, now, I was talking to one of my

friends the other day, if something were to happen between us,

we're not going to let that break us up.

If I got to apologize, if I got to jump on the airplane and go and say, I apologize, us.

We're not going to let it happen because we've been through too much together.

You got to start seeing your relationship with the Lord that way.

The devil will try to throw this, that, and the third at you,

but I'm not going to let that distract me and come between my relationship with God. Amen.

Amen. That's his goal is to deflect and divide and to distract.

Now, James 1 also tells us that never say that God is tempting you to sin.

God's not going to be the one that's going to tempt you to sin.

With testing from God, it's never about temptation to sin. God's never going to tempt you to sin.

God's never going to tempt you with sickness and disease. Well,

let me give them a little cancer to see how they handle that.

That is not God. He'll never do that. The devil would throw something at you.

But that's not God. He'll never do that.

His testing are always testing to invite you to grow,

to develop, to locate where you are, to examine yourself, to examine your faith,

to cause you to develop more patience so that you can be mature,

perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

His goal is for you to grow up, and it's going to require him not cotton candy all the time.

Test of obedience. Will you obey?

I'll end with this story. Many of you know my story. I worked for a Fortune

500 company as a financial advisor.

The Lord asked me to step away from that, leave that job and step away and go into the ministry.

I was making six figures. I was making great money. I was promoted.

I was doing very well. I just told you about the licenses I had,

and I was doing extremely well.

And the Lord said, I want you to step away and go into full-time ministry.

Now, I'm not asking you to do that. This is what the Lord asked me to do,

okay? Listen to me clearly.

Pastor said, he stepped away from my job. I'm stepping away from my job. No, no, no, no, no, no.

This is what is the Lord saying to you, okay? And so he said,

I want you to step away. And I said, oh, Lord, I went to Stacy about it.

I said, I believe we're supposed to step away and go to full-time ministry.

I was really hoping she would say, no, we're doing well, you know.

I mean, good money's coming in, and, you know, this don't sound like the Lord.

She said, can I still get my hair done? I said, yes, yes, you can.

And we're going to believe God. She said, let's do it. Stepped away.

My job could not believe it. They were like, are you sure you want to leave?

I was like, I have to. I've got to go.

And they walked me out with security. Yes, they did. And they didn't believe it.

They thought I was going to a competitor or something. You're going to the ministry?

Are you sure? Why don't you do both? I said, I asked the Lord that too.

Let me do both. And he said, no, I want you to trust me.

And I stepped out on faith. And as soon as I stepped out, now watch this.

As soon as I stepped out, this was a test from the Lord.

Will you trust me? Will you obey?

As soon as I stepped out, put my notice in, stepped away, a man called me.

He said, man, what's going on? I said, man, we're going into full-time ministry.

He said, the Lord told me this. He said, this is why I called.

The Lord told me to send you $1,000 every month.

Until he tells me not to send it to you anymore.

Well, that was, he said, I want you to pay your house payment with that. Well, glory to God.

Amen. That's a big bill, praise God.

Well, then another man comes running up to my door. Can I admit you I'm going

to step in the ministry. He came to my door with $1,200 cash.

The door truck's still running, door's still running. He goes,

I can't stay long, but the Lord told me to sell $1,200.

And to your hand, glory to God. We're getting started here. And then more miracles

started taking place. What happened?

There was a test. Will you step away?

And I did. And look at me now. I've never missed a meal. Praise God.

I've never gone without. God has always taken care of me and my family.

When you step out on what God's asking you to do, when you understand that the

test is for me to grow, it wasn't easy. I wish I could tell you that it was easy. It wasn't easy.

It was difficult. But the Lord was teaching me some things about him that I never knew.

I learned through the doing of his word. I learned through obedience.

I learned through the pressure and the pain. I learned through the negative

thoughts that God is faithful.

He's faithful. I would never be able to get up and boldly declare that he's

faithful without going through the process of learning that God is faithful.

He's faithful. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

He's right there with you. even at your weakest moment Paul said with the thorn

in the flesh he said when I am weak,

then I am strong at your weakest moment you have access to the strength of God like never before.

It's through these times that we develop and we grow and we're cultivated and

we develop a foundation that runs deep.

It runs so deep that when the wind comes and blows the house down that was on

the sand, but it didn't blow your house down because your house was built on the rock.

And the only reason why that sand was, the house was built on the sand is because

the person that built the house on the sand didn't take the time to go down

deeper into the surface.

Because what is sand? Just broken up rock.

If he'd have took the time to

go deep enough and get his roots down deep enough, then God is faithful.

God will never leave me nor forsake me. He's with me. Even though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil. He's always there.

He who is with me will never leave me.

And you go down deep, you'll build your house on the rock. And when the storm

came, it came for both, the righteous and the unrighteous. The storm came.

One went flat down. The other stood on the rock.

This is what testing will do. It gets you to the place that I know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that I am rooted in him.

And it's in him I move. It's in him I breathe. And it's in him I have my being.

You'll know this when you go through don't be afraid to go through anything

because God is already surveying it and it won't allow you to go through it

unless you can get through it won't even allow it Amen.