Joel Levi - Created to be like the Stars in the Sky - Sunday, September 20, 2026

You know, the idea of a fireside chat is very intriguing, very inviting to me.

I love the sound of a real fire.

I love the sound of just sitting down and focusing on something.

Talking about stories, most of you know the a little distraction, little detour that our family had with Rwana's health and our plans.

But as we were coming out of that, and it was time to for us to go back to work, and Rwanda's always, she has a bag always packed.

So anytime there is half a short or half an opportunity to go go away, she's always ready.

But she instigated that, oh well, we should go away for a couple of weeks before she goes back to consulting.

And we were like, yeah, it's it's definitely a well-earned holiday.

So we did go away.

And as I was, we went to Tasmania and we went to a few walks, but then this time we were about to start the Cradle Mountain Walk, and and as I stepped out of the car, I just felt like the Lord said, This is gonna be a few hours.

Do you want to talk?

And I said, Yes, Lord, I would love to talk.

What do you want to talk about?

And um I and we had just started walking, and I said, What do you want to talk about, Lord?

And straight away, I did not hear an audible voice, but it was one of the strongest impressions in my heart that I've heard for a long time.

And it was that verse, all things work for good for those who love him.

And I was like, all right, Lord, he wants to break this down with me.

And I spent the entire how many hours it took us to walk those um, I don't know, it was how whatever it was, however many kilometers, four hours, something.

I just talked with the Lord.

I mean, Uh and I talked a little, you know, here and there, but mostly it was a single track.

You can just walk behind each other, and we would stop to take photos and discuss the you know what the scenery, but my heart through all of it was connected with Jesus as well, because he was speaking, and I figured that this all things work for good, and I was so intrigued, I went on my phone because in my memory I could hear the King James version, and I could hear myself go, all things worketh towards good.

But something was not sitting right in my heart.

So I was like, what is this?

So I went and looked at the King James version and it says all things work towards good.

So I was like, okay, so this is just in generic memory that we think that it's worketh.

Anyways, when I came back, I had the internet again and uh checked up on the internet, worketh is a singular word.

He worketh towards something.

But work is plural, and this is very, very important to understand that that verse.

All things work for good for those who love him.

So there is a collection of things that God is referring to.

It's not just one thing, there's a collection of things that God is referring to.

All things work, that means all these experiences that I'm having or I have had, all of them together will work towards good for those who love Him.

That means that not every experience is amazing.

That means that not every experience is something that we would particularly enjoy.

Some of them would be very hard, some of them would be very difficult experiences, some of them would be loss that we feel, some of them were disappointment that we feel, some of them we might feel uh wrongly done by, sometimes we may feel our own guilt and mistakes that we might have made.

But when you consider all those things, they work for good for those who love him.

I was looking through this rock formation on the other side, and and I was saying to the Lord, Lord, this is so some of these rocks are so old.

And we know the world that the earth is four and a half billion years old.

Doesn't matter what anybody says, it is that old.

And the Lord is a lot of process.

Yeah, he can miraculously change things in our lives, but he rarely does so.

Very rarely would he abuse the natural laws that he's put in place, and he has put them in place.

Every law of chemistry, every law of biology, every law of physics, every law of mathematics that he's put in place, he is not going to abuse them.

Very rarely would he abuse those laws, and he's a God of process, and this is a verse of process, Romans 8 28.

I read it as a child.

There were many places in the Bible that were my water holes, and this was one of them.

That all things work for good.

When you don't see what's before you is good, you know that at the end of the day, when it's all been added together, I will still come out profitable.

But who is this I?

Who is this me who's depending on this verse?

Who is this person?

All things work for good for those who love him, and one of the things that I would like to say is even when we go through tough times, God is still working behind the scenes.

Because of this person, for the one who loves him, all things work for good for me.

Who is this me?

I'm somebody who in my life God is working.

You are someone, if you say so, that all things work for me, work good for me, all things work towards good for me, for I love him.

And if we get into that place, even through tough times, God is still actively working through that whole situation, and of course, sometimes he may just allow circumstances to come upon us for our spiritual growth, because he has a plan for our lives to be somewhere.

He wants us to look more like Jesus, he wants to look more like him, he wants us to be changed and transformed, and so he's allowing us to go through seasons, and we may think that where is God through this?

So much destruction, so much loss, so much damage, so much hurt, but he's still working because the promise still remains true, that when all things are said and done, and you add all the experiences and all that we have lived through, we will come out on the other side profitable.

All things work towards good for those who love him.

See, Paul wrote this to the Roman church, Romans 8, 28.

The Roman church well and truly understood what trials felt like.

Because they lived through the Roman rule.

It wasn't easy to keep maintain faith in that atmosphere, and so he's writing to those people who are surrounded by this system of governance that is contrary to the kingdom, and they're still fighting through, and to him to them, he writes, remember, brothers, all things work for good.

Because they're going through some hard times.

If you and I think that we're going through some hard times in a country where this faith is free, no one's coming attacking us, the government's not shutting us down, we're free to blare out worship music in our homes if we want to.

These people knew what Paul is writing about when he says, all things work for good.

He's speaking hope to them, he's offering reassurance that difficulties in life events do not mean that God is not with you.

Or these events fall outside of God's control.

He's still working behind the scenes.

Paul is trying to encourage the Roman church that hold fast.

Keep on pressing forward.

It was a very apt verse that the Lord wanted to discuss on a walk that you gotta just keep pressing forward.

Even when there's a climb, you keep pressing forward.

You see, this concept is tied directly to the Christian's hope and trust during suffering.

Now, this work for good is reserved for a certain type of people.

It's not for everybody.

All things work for good for those who love him.

Loving him is what defines the people who will find this true time and time and time again in their lives.

The only condition that this verse has is we need to love him.

If we don't love him, I mean his grace is there, he makes the sun shine on everybody, he makes the rain fall on everybody, he makes his goodness is there for the whole world.

But there are specific promises in the Bible that are vital for our Christian victory, that are vital for us to be able to breathe as a believer.

And this is one of them, and it is reserved for people who love Him.

And it's not just one or two things that we will look back in life and go, Wow, that was amazing what God did.

Of course, we remember things like that, but this verse is talking about our whole life.

When we look back at our whole life, we will think that, yes, I came out good, I came out better, I came out victorious, I came out with a breakthrough.

And Paul continues to define that even more.

Let's read it Romans chapter 8, verse 28.

Romans 8:28

And he goes, and we know, as if it's a common fact.

He's writing to the Roman church, he says, Come on, brothers, we know, we know all things work together for good to those who love God, and then he adds something more to those who are called according to his purpose.

Every one of us sitting in this room has a calling on our lives.

There is a dream, there is a desire in God's heart, there is an image in God's heart, how he sees us.

And he will continually call us to come to that image that he sees us.

He will continually draw us to become more like what he sees us.

Let's continue reading.

For he, for whom he foreknew.

What do you mean for for for for whom he foreknew?

This is not that he's already planned your life.

No, there is a dream in his heart for our lives.

There is a dream, he can see us what we need to become.

For whom he foreknew, he already knows, he already sees who we need to become.

But we have to allow ourselves to become that.

He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

So he's already created a picture in his heart that you and I need to look like that.

He's already predefined who we're going to become.

And these are the people who will who will look back to their lives and these life uh instances and experiences and memories and go, I came out so good.

God has been good to me.

I can never forget.

I was uh doing a bike ride with somebody many, many years ago, and we stopped for a break and we sat sit down and started talking.

And the guy says to me, Well, you know, God has been very hard on us.

That is outside of my comprehension.

I cannot agree.

He's not hard with anybody.

He doesn't do any wrong to anybody, he doesn't.

He's a loving father, and everything he's doing, he's doing to get us to that image that he holds so dear in his heart.

That he's already predestined, he already has established an image, a look, a person that we need to become and change into.

Yes, becoming like Jesus is one of the things, but there's also an image of you and I in his heart that he sees and he goes, Wow, that person is amazing, and he's working all our lives to be to help us to become more like that.

One is a conditional promise.

One is known as common grace.

That common grace is given to everybody.

Most people, whether they believe in God or not, still experience the goodness of God.

Whether they're believers or not, and that's what helps them to live a good life.

There are a lot of good people in this city, and they don't know Jesus, they they don't even, they don't read the word, they're not believers, they're not Christians, but they're genuinely good people.

Why?

Because the common grace is still working in their lives and and they they feel it.

They don't see it as common grace, they just feel like, and they might have some concept of God or may not have a concept of God.

But because the common grace is working on their lives, they're just good people.

But then there are these ones who have the conditional promise on their lives, like the promise in 828.

These people have a specific call on their lives.

There's a conditional promise.

You do this and you achieve that.

These are the ones who would carry kingdom power, these are the ones who would who would carry the capacity to change cities and impact nations.

These are the ones who can pray and something changes.

But there is a condition to this promise.

And as far as God is concerned, his people are definitely the target audience.

You and I are part of the target audience here that Paul is referring to.

Yes, he wrote that to the Roman church, but we're reading it today, and we are the target audience.

We have the conditional promise.

If we achieve that condition, then we will get the reward of all things working together for the ultimate good.

For you and I who love him.

This calling, I've divided it into again into two terms.

One is a general call.

All Christians are called.

We're all called to to further the gospel, to tell others about Jesus.

I mean, that's just a general thing.

But then there is an effectual call, the inward call that we feel in our lives.

This is what God is calling me into.

A very personal thing, it defines our identity.

And until we find that, we we're lost.

Because there is no grounding in our identity.

But we need to come to an understanding and an acceptance with that inward call.

This is what the Lord is saying to me.

And that very well could be the condition that if we overcome, if we if we fulfill that condition, there is a solidifying of our identity.

You know, a lot of people just this this became a very big thing in the late 90s of this identity thing.

Find your identity in God.

And a lot of uh prayer movements and and and stuff started to happen around this concept of finding identity.

I tell you what, the only identity we need to find is who am I in Christ.

What's he saying to me?

And for that, we need to learn how to hear his voice.

We need to cultivate a relationship with him.

We need to learn how to worship.

Put a worship song on and just practice worshiping.

Just read the word, and if your emotions rise, let it rise like sweet, like a sweet aroma to him.

That's also worship.

Worship is not just song.

But as humans who have been given this capacity to sing, we might as well sing for him.

You know, some of the Christians, uh somebody said to me in this city, uh they said to me really um victoriously, brother, song's not the only type of worship.

And I said, yeah, no, it's not.

But we can sing.

Who else are you going to sing for?

We might as well sing for God.

But those things, if we can learn how to worship, if we develop a word love for the word, just start reading, just start reading.

Nothing happens, read more.

Nothing happens, read more.

Just continue reading chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter until something moves.

Because that's going to position you into that place where you can love him.

Because that condition is those who love him.

Doing things for him is not loving him.

Spending time with him is loving him.

Sitting with him is loving him.

Setting time aside for him is loving him.

And all of these will solidify your identity in him so strong that nothing can move you.

The general call is there, but the effectual call, that inward call, the call that has an effect on me as an individual, on you as an individual.

It'll form an identity in us that nothing can move.

And it'll usher us to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, with God.

In John 14, Jesus says, If you love me, you'll keep my word.

We cannot keep his word if we don't love him.

Yeah, there could be a religious attitude.

We might have grown up with a certain lifestyle, we might have grown up in an atmosphere that that's how you live.

That's not obedience.

Obedience is you do what he tells you to do.

And it's not always hard.

It's not always hard.

Oftentimes, um, obedience is defined as if it was very difficult, but I did it.

Jesus doesn't say that.

He says, take my yoke, which is light and easy.

It's actually easy to follow him because there's entire heaven's resources are there.

It means his deliberate plan.

His deliberate plan.

His design or his resolve for our lives.

Now, resolve is a very different word to design and plan.

Resolve is something that requires a certain weight of the person's identity behind it.

And you always refer it in that nature.

If you say, Well, we'll see if your plan pans out how your plan pans out, that's one way of saying it.

Another way of saying it, let's see if your resolve holds.

See how how deep that is.

You can feel it, that it has it carries a different weight.

And when the Lord says that it is the word purpose contains that meaning.

God's resolve for our lives.

That's very identity-defining word for me.

It means that the lives of believers are not dictated by random luck, fate, or whatever chaos we might have.

God's purpose has a specific origin and a specific destination.

See, he's a God of process.

So he starts something and he finishes things.

And if you continue reading this passage further, verse twenty nine, you will find this.

So God is eternal, and eternity has a plan and a resolve for your life.

The Holy Spirit then comes and draws us into that plan, tries to shape our heart to come into conformity with that plan.

And there is a future which is becoming more like Jesus.

It's absolutely incredible.

Absolutely incredible.

Ephesians chapter one, verse 11.

Now, Ephesus was another um, it was very close to um, I think it was very close to Patmos.

That's where John was the only disciple who wasn't martyred.

When he was released from the island of Patmos, he went to Ephesus and died.

Old age, natural death.

But he was at Ephesus, it was a Roman colony, Ephesus.

So this is again Paul writing to a Roman church, Ephesus chapter 1, verse 11.

He goes, in him also we have obtained an inheritance, a future, an inheritance, a future, being predestined according to the purpose, again, the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, of his resolve, of his heart, his design, his plan for your life.

It all starts with this eternal God having this plan and a resolve for our lives.

And while that plan and that resolve is independent of any human merit, we didn't do anything to achieve that.

It is fully dependent on humans.

Whether he sees it fulfilled or not.

He knows you.

That he might be the firstborn among many brethren, in the midst of all of us.

He may be the firstborn.

Moreover, this is verse 30.

Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called.

Whom he called, these he also justified by the cross of his son, and whom he justified, these he has glorified.

That means we have to, we have to shine, we have to be victorious, otherwise, there's no glory.

We have to come out strong, we have to come out with this feeling that yes, things have been good for me.

Because it is a it is part of that condition, it is part of that promise.

Paul wrote it in that same breath.

People often quote 828 and just stop there.

All things were for good, those who love him.

But there is so much more.

There is a guarantee of victory, there is a guarantee of glorification.

These he also glorifies.

How?

How some people call it the golden chain of salvation.

He foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, he glorified.

From nothing to shining.

The five links of this incredible salvation in Jesus Christ, Romans chapter four, verse three, very interesting passage.

How do we find our way back to him?

How do we find our the doorway into loving him?

How do we find a passage into this?

So we get a chance to run, so we get a chance to just take part in this, try to meet the condition.

Romans chapter 4, verse 3.

Romans 4:3

For what does the scripture say?

This is Paul asking, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Romans chapter 4, verse 9.

Romans 4:9

Does this blessedness then come upon us, upon the circumcised only?

Or upon the uncircumcised also?

For we say that I mean, is it for the ones who were part of the promise, or is it for everyone?

That's what he's saying.

For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness, so he believed.

God made a promise to him, you will have a son.

And 25 years he he held that promise, traveled to far distances, holding that promise.

He was 75 years old when he got the promise.

And 25 years he holds the promise in his heart.

How did he hold it?

By believing it.

What did Jesus say?

He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments, you will keep my word.

We can't hold on to promises like that if we don't love him.

At one point, at some point, somewhere down the line, we will start questioning his goodness, we will start, we will get confused, we will start stop worshiping, stop going to church, and be maybe not actively or openly express our disgruntled heart towards God or our unimpressed feelings about Him, but just go quiet.

And then all of that, every feeling like that, questioning God, questioning His goodness, comes down to this one core issue.

They don't love God.

Because when you love someone, in the hardest of times, you want to go to them.

You want to go talk to them.

If something happens, you want to go to talk to somebody that you love that is close to you.

And that was the difference here.

Abraham didn't leave the land of the Chaldeans.

I'm not gonna go into the scripture there.

Land of the Chaldeans, Abraham didn't leave his home because God gave him a commandment.

He left because he had love for God.

He was willing to sacrifice his son.

Um, it was shared a few weeks ago, some message somewhere, somebody shared.

He's willing to do anything for the one he loved, and that's why he was able to continue and keep that faith in him.

And what was the promise?

Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23.

Proverbs 4:23

It says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life.

I read that as a child, and I I just embraced it.

I embraced it.

And many years later, many, many couple of decades later, somebody said to me, he prophesied over me, he says, Joel, the Lord's calling and he's saying that you have kept your heart and he wants you to continue to maintain your heart, protect your heart.

We need to protect our hearts from negativity against God, from questions against God, questioning his nature, questioning his character, questioning his love towards us, questioning his goodness towards us in all things.

He is good for those who love him.

One of the promises, just read this and then we go.

Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

This is a promise to Abraham who believed.

Chapter 22, verse 17 onwards.

And blessing, I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the seashore.

Somebody wants money.

They're chasing up some money.

The promise to Abraham, just listen to this: the promise to Abraham was that I will make your descendants like the stars.

Yes, part of it was like, can you count it?

But part of it was the nature of stars.

They only show up at night, they only show up in the darkness, they only shine in a certain atmosphere.

Are they around in the daytime?

Yes, they're there, but can we see them?

No, they're still there.

But they're visible in the darkness, they're visible when the times are difficult, they're visible when it's difficult.

That's when they shine, and that is the promise that He's making you and I to be like stars.

That's all the difference.

That is the attitude.

Following through, believing, holding, and we become, we get that capacity by maintaining, by cultivating a love for him.

Through worship, you can cultivate by learning how to worship, you'll cultivate love by by reading, by practicing reading his word.

And the more you read it, I'm telling you, you will fall in love with the word.

If you feel nothing when you read the word, continue doing it.

Do it for six months.

And I'm telling you, by the end of six months, you will fall in love with the word and with the God that it talks about.

Be a star.

Because that's when we show up.

We don't show up at any other time, we show up when it's dark.

That's when we are seen.

And these are the people that the promise is for.

Those who have the capacity to shine through the darkness.

Made a mistake, guilt, pressing down, disappointment, words from other people, sense of huge losses, but we're still shining.

Why?

Because we know that when all of this is added up, I will come ahead.

When all of this is added up, it will work towards good.

Because I am a lover of God.

I am one who has called, who has been called according to his purposes.

I am the one he holds this beautiful image in his heart, and he's calling us into becoming more like the one he sees.

Because he's seeing it through the blood of Jesus, he's seeing it through the sacrifice of his son, he's seeing it through the work that he's put in through all eternity.

Because he sees the future that we have.

Let's pray.

Father, we give you honor.

We bless your holy name.

We give you thanks.

We give you thanks for the burning fire that's in your heart.

You know, the altar in the Old Testament, it represented God's heart.

And one of the one of the mandates for the priests was that keep the fire going.

Because it represents, it mimics God's heart.

There is a fire burning for every one of us in his heart.

There is a resolve in his heart.

And Father, I pray that you help us to get that to that place of loving you.

That we may get to that place of finding a path to you through worship, through your word, through devotion, change our language, change the desires of our hearts, change the way we see, change the way we perceive, change the way we think.

Renew the spirits of our minds, Lord.

Come, Holy Spirit, and do that work in us.

Teach us how to love you, Lord.

We love you.

Lord, we love you.

We honor you, Jesus, in our midst.

Holy Spirit, come and do all that you have for each and every one of us.

That we may truly become like stars in the night sky.

Shining.

Displaying the nature of the kingdom coming out of us, displaying who we are.

We bless you, Jesus.

We thank you.

We thank you, Lord.

Amen.