You are called to move beyond mental assent and become a doer of the word in your daily life. Embrace the cost of obedience and let bold love shape your relationships, knowing the supernatural awaits on the other side.
I'm she's trying to get off the stage. I'm like, no. You ain't going anywhere. You're gonna stay right here, baby. 18 and a half years, I've got to be married to this beautiful woman.
3 and a half years before that, we dated, and mother of 4 amazing children. And I'm very thankful that I get to be their dad and and her husband. I get to be. Husbands, that's your attitude. If it's not, repent and make it your attitude.
Yes, sir. That's what I tell to my kids. Yes, sir. And then they say, yes, sir. They go do it.
No. But seriously, like, your role as a husband is to love your wife as Christ loves the church. To speak over her the words of Christ. To shift shift the way that you speak and your word, you should be washing her in the water of his word. Amen?
The way that you love your children, you're supposed to love your children the way that that the heavenly father loves you, and you can only do that. You can only love your wife and your children in that way to the to the way that you understand how God loves you because we love because he first loved us. So men, "step up". Men, if if and and this is a lovingly as your pastor, if this if you're new, praise the Lord, just receive it. I lovingly as your pastor challenge you.
If you couldn't lead your family in communion, you need to step up as the leader of your household and become a **spiritual leader** and and start start getting on your face and getting on your knees before the Lord when nobody's looking and receiving the love of God so that you can be the man of God that he's created you to be. He's created you for more than just being a mamby pamby, gutless man. He's created you to be a warrior for the kingdom. He's created you to take back what the enemy stole, to pray over your family, and to stand up. That's just that's just who he's created you to be.
So stand up in that place and and and thank your wife for praying for you, and then repent for not being the leader that God's called you to be openly, and then step up and get around some other men that are gonna challenge you to live like that. Because every single 1 of you, he's he's challenged you in that way. Our Jesus is a warrior king, and he's put that inside of you. And women, women, he's he's created you with so much in you, and and you're not less than. You're a helpmate.
And a helpmate, by the way, that same word helper is the word that's used for God in relationship with man. You help your husband to do all that he's called you to do, and he lays his life down to push you to be all that you that God's called you to be. The way Jesus treated his bride, the disciples, is he said, you'll do the same things I do and even greater to them. So a proper relationship for a husband and with his wife is laying his life down to wash her feet and pushing her forward saying, you'll do the same things I do and even greater. Proper relationship with a wife for a wife is helping her husband to do everything that God's called him to do.
You both doing that and it's an amazing marriage. Amen? This is what God's called you to. If you're married or God's called you to marriage. And anything less than is less than what he's created you for.
Time to step up into that place and go to a church that's gonna challenge you to do that. If that offended you a little bit, good. My prayer is your flesh is offended so much you wanna walk by the spirit. Amen. And you put it aside because it's not supposed to be alive anyway.
You were crucified with Christ. It's no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. I love you enough to tell you. Bold love is not just some wimpy love that that man just appreciates every aspect of your sin. Bold love will "call you out" when it's what you need, and be silent when that's what you need.
And, man, we wanna love you. 1 part of our our core values at Real Church is to love boldly. To lay our life down to give you exactly what you need even if it hurts a little bit. Because the scalpel of the word sometimes hurts when it cuts, but it's gotta cut away the crap so that you can walk for Jesus. Amen?
Amen. Is it okay if I talk real? Yeah. Just as as the reason we named it real church is real person living a real life for a real Jesus having a real good time. It's been my motto since I was 14.
I just want that to overflow to everybody that God will send. Man, we got some amazing leaders that are living that way, and it's fun. And my wifey, by the way. Bro. If you ain't married yet, get you a woman that'll call you out.
If you if you are married, pray for your woman and give her permission to call you out. And sometimes she'll say, you know, I'll frustrated or something, know, just take my mind off of Jesus for a moment and put it on myself. And she'll say, don't come at me like that. That's flesh. I don't talk to flesh.
That that's the old David that's in the grave. Don't don't resurrect him. I'm like, I used to get offended. Now I'm thankful. Amen.
Amen? Amen. No. No. No.
I want want you to pray for me, baby. I am who I am today because of your prayers when I was stupid. And and so I'm gonna preach this message. I'm serious.
Well, his mama's here today. Miss Faye, will you stand? Can we honor your pastor's mom? You know, he says he's a product of my prayers, but it started with that woman. So she deserves honor.
I I I also am who I am today because when I was when I was acting a fool as a child, she spanked me. She she loved me enough to discipline me and break off the junk. So I'm thankful. I am. So would you would you pray that this message would would just be the word of the Lord and impact people?
And
and also 1 more prayer for them. And you guys just join in in this prayer. James-1:22. I've quoted it the last few messages, but I just want you to get it. It says it says, don't just be hearers of the word and deceive yourself, but be doers of the word.
And I'm I'm I'm scared that a lot of the American church have been deceived. They come to church on a Sunday, they hear it. They say, man, that's a good message. Mental assent, they love it. They go, they might even talk about it a little bit at lunch, and then they forget about it.
And they're deceived because they think they got it, but they never put it into practice. Don't just be hearers of the word and deceive yourself. There's a lot of people that are church goers, and are living a deceived life because there's no action in what they heard. But be careful how you hear, is what Jesus said. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Are you gonna measure what is being taught? If it's in line with scripture, if it's not being in line with scripture, go somewhere else, man. But if it's in line with the word, measure it as if it matters. Don't measure it in inches because inches will be added to your life. Measure it in miles, and miles will be added to the life.
You'll see so much life change. I'm gonna get you to pray in a second. I promise. I promise. Here you go, baby.
There'll be so much life change. Let me show you. If you've experienced radical life change in the last few years because of you making the shift from being a hearer to a doer of the word, and you can look back at at the testimony of your life and you see that, like you could share a testimony about what God has done, I want you to stand.
Amen. When
you're really following Jesus, you see radical resurrection life change. You see radical surrender. If you've not experienced that before, I'm I'm not throwing shame at you. I'm saying, look around. Man, God has impacted so many people with his life and he wants to sow those seeds into you.
You know how he does it a lot of times? In the context of relationship. You you you really you're not created. Part of our core values again is together we. You're not created to do life alone.
You can't be a fully surrendered Jesus and be a loner. A fully surrendered Jesus follower and be a loner. You can't. Because Jesus loved people. So when you're a fully surrendered Jesus follower, you're following him and loving people.
And he pulls you into the context of relationships. It's a crucible that that sharpens us and and and smooths out our our our sharp edges that cause problems. You know? The crucible of relationships is what he uses to refine us, and you need to just lean in. Amen?
Amen. Amen. So while they're standing, baby, why don't you pray over me and pray over them so we can dive into the message?
Alright. Lord, thank you that you are here. Thank you that you inhabit our praises, Lord. You meet us here. Thank you for your Holy Spirit being present here.
Lord, I pray that the words that David speaks are none of his own and come straight from heaven, Lord. Let your heart be shown in this place, Lord. Lord, I pray that you will clear away any anything that is distracting. I rebuke any any spirit that would try to distract, and no spirit is welcome here but the *Holy Spirit*. Thank you, Lord, that you are here.
Thank you that you're present. Lord, I pray that the people that are under the sounds of David and those who will eventually listen online, Lord, I pray that this doesn't just impact them with a momentary feeling, but the words that he teaches will equip them to move forward every single day. More equipped to share who you are with people, more equipped to walk through life the way that you've called them to, Lord, more equipped to "bring heaven to earth". If we're gonna pray your kingdom come, then let us be workers who help to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, Lord. Lord, we love you.
We worship you. We adore you. And it is in all your name that we pray. Amen.
Amen. The Lord provided a gift for you. You may be seated. I I do think we need to celebrate just for a second. We had a very, very productive, busy, but productive week this past week.
We have my friends from 30 third company come in from Fort Worth, pastor Chris Donald and Mike Gales and Jay and all the team. We also had my friends from Every Heart Movement come in from Michigan, I believe. Is that where they're? Michigan? Grand Rapids.
And if you ever listen to MBL worship, it's a Brennan Joseph who leads that, leads also Every Heart Movement, which is kind of the the covering of that. And they send college aged kids on mission tours around The United States to go lead worship and preach the gospel. So every heart movement and 30 third company converged on real church, and there was a synergistic effect. There's a supernatural synergy when the body of Christ is unified together. That's another reason you're not created to be a loner.
It's because you can't do as much by yourself as if as you would if you were sacrificing yourself to be in unity with somebody else. *God* created synergy, and synergy in the body is so much better than being alone. And so 30 third company said, this event, we saw more people "born again" at this event than we ever have at an event we've done. So from Saturday night to Tuesday night, and I think the reason they did was because Every Heart was here as well, and there was a unity with Real Church, Every Heart, and 30 third company. And so between Saturday night and Tuesday night, we saw 89 people born again.
89. Kind of a big deal, like people making the decision to make Jesus their only Lord. And and most of those, I think 87 of those, because there were 2 last Sunday morning, but 87 of those were outside of church. Clearwater Beach walking the streets, in Downtown Clearwater, at Publix, at the different places, people just going out and loving people with the gospel. It's a big deal.
*God*'s moving. Revival's here. And those who live on mission get to experience it. Amen? And that's that's my role as a leader of this church is just to challenge you every single day, every single time I'm around you to live on mission.
Challenge you and equip you to do that because there is more in him. And then after Tuesday night, from Wednesday to Saturday, there were another however many born again. So we got, I think, a 116 or more that were born again this whole week. Did a Jesus rally in downtown I mean, at Clearwater Beach in the big grassy area, and every heart just set up on the grass. No big stage, no big fanfare, nothing like that.
They just set up on the grass, and they're playing worship music, and people just start to file in, give their life to Jesus, come forward to the altar. Some of them are crushing their their vape pens and whatnot, dedicating their life to Jesus. We went out afterwards. There's lightning everywhere. We went out and baptized people anyway.
Be careful. I don't recommend that. But praise the Lord, we did it, and it was awesome. So I'm I'm very thankful. I was I was wrestling oh, those names on the seats, by the way, we have boiler room every Thursday night.
So boiler room is where you're gonna learn how to pray, and then you take that into your own prayer closet and let it overflow. There's a special amazing thing where 2 or more come together. He's there in their midst. So there's another thing, like, when there's unity in the body of Christ, he wouldn't say, there I am in your midst. He's always there when you're alone.
But why did he say, there I am in your midst? Why? Because there's a special manifestation of the power and presence of God when we come together in unity. And we do that every Thursday night in prayer. It's powerful.
We say, if it happens at real church, it's "birthed In the boiler room". It's what? Burthed the boiler room. If it happens at real church, it's birthed in the boiler room because prayer precedes movement. So you wanna come on a Thursday night during the summer from 8 to 9 p.
M, sacrifice your night for Jesus, and watch how He overflows in your life. Amen? Amen. It's just a good thing. It's worth it.
Following Jesus is worth it. So I was was wrestling with what am I gonna preach this Sunday because I've had a message prepared for about 3 weeks. And you know, wrestling with whether or not I dive back into the Corinthians series, which or not. Which we'll get back to the Corinthians series eventually, but the Lord was like, or not today. I've been going in my bible study every single morning.
He's led me back to Romans-8. Romans-8. Romans-8. I'm like, Lord, just Romans-8 was my favorite chapter as a teenager. You know?
And I'm reading Romans-8 over and over and over, and every time the Lord's unlocking something new. Not a new revelation. I mean, there's nothing new under the sun, but new to me, something more fresh. Like, he's infinite. There's more in everything in him.
He's infinite. Go after him, and he'll reveal more of his goodness and more of himself to you. And this is the living word. So I'm reading through Romans-8 and I just wanna share 1 of the things that stood out to me. You know, I've I've been on this topic of sonship As I've preached the last month, the intimacy of a father and a son, like a father and a daughter.
How I wrestle with my kids on the floor and it's and it's deeply personal. And yet, we, when you're born again, you get to call God your *father* and know him as your father? Like, have you really processed that more than just saying it in prayer? Father God, Father God, Father God, but, like, really, that fact that he's that intimate and personal with you? And this is something that in my own personal time with the Lord in the mornings, he pulled out.
It says, *Romans-8:12*, so then brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit, you put the deeds you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. There's life and walking by the spirit. There's death and walking by the flesh.
How do you get to death? *Sin*. Death is the product of sin, ultimately. But, on the way there, there's weakness and sickness and pain and suffering. And then, ultimate weakness is death.
The ultimate product of *sin* in the world. Okay. Hold that. For all who are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
Now, if I can be called the bride of Christ, then ladies, you can be called a son of God. Okay? Eric thought that was real funny. But with that, it's interesting the contrast that the Holy Spirit made through the pen of Paul in Romans between sons and slaves. It's a complete different mindset.
Do you notice the contrast? For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God, For you did not receive the **spirit of slavery** to fall back into fear. So as a son, we don't follow because of fear. As a son, we follow because it's our nature. You've been born again with the nature of the heavenly father placed inside of you.
You want to be an imitator of your father as a dearly loved child, Ephesians-5:1. And that is contrasted with following God like a slave. And the mindset of a slave, it says here, is fear. *1 John-4:18*. There is no fear in love, but "perfect love casts out fear" for fear has to do with punishment.
The 1 who fears has not been made perfect in love. So wait a second. Hold on. So the motivation of a slave is fear of punishment. My concern is that there are a lot of people in the church that don't know how to be sons.
Either they don't know how, they're ignorant, or they've never become a son, And it's shown by the way that they follow God. They follow God out of fear of punishment. They're obedient. They do a bunch of good things, but it's from the wrong position. Their position is a slave.
I don't want to mess up because I don't want to get punished. I'm scared to mess up because I might go to hell 1 day. I'm scared to mess up. I'm scared to sin. I don't want to.
I'm gonna be obedient. And their The mindset is not love, it's slavery, it's fear of punishment. Perfect love casts out fear. And you know someone's been living under the household of parents, or they have maybe maybe they've just seen it in life and they have fear of of punishment. They've they've been living with this slavery mindset because they can't wait to break free.
What does a slave dream about? Freedom from the house. A slave, like a son who it goes on in Romans-8. Listen to this. The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
A son wants to be an imitator of the heavenly Father. They understand their relationship with their father. They know that they're an heir, and so they know that men, they as they imitate the father, they're growing to learn how to take care of the family business. They don't want to run from the house. But a slave can't wait to break free.
They're dreaming about what it looks like to be out from under the father's thumb. They're dreaming on what it looks like to go and be able to be free to go to sin. I can't wait till, man, I just get out of this house and out of this church or out of this place, but I'm too scared to do it because I'm scared of being punished. But man, I wish I could go in. The mindset of a slave.
Don't have the mindset of a slave, you're a son. Instead, understand that you're loved by *God* and he wants the best for you. And the best for you is in surrender and obedience. And it's not so he can control you, it's so you can experience the freedom of your purpose. Don't live like a slave, afraid of punishment.
When you're afraid of punishment, that means you don't trust his love. There there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear for fear has to do with punishment. The 1 who fears has not been made perfect in love. So every area of your life, the Father is trying to train you and discipline you and press on you in such a way that teaches you that you can trust him in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the suffering. Which leads me to the purpose of this message.
Lord, what do you want me to preach on? Should I preach on Corinthians? Should I go back to the Corinthians series? Pick up at 1 Corinthians-9? No.
I want you to preach on suffering. The title of this message is suffering. What is suffering? Let's ask Siri. Hey Siri, what's the definition of suffering?
See if I have enough signal. Ah, there it is. To experience or be subjected to something bad or something unpleasant. We have to go through suffering. We're gonna get back to it.
So as sons, y'all hear how I I read scripture? Like, this was my personal time with God, all of this coming out. I want you to know that I'm not super special because I'm a pastor and because I'm standing on a stage and I have a microphone. God wants to speak to you in the same ways or maybe even greater ways in your relationship with the Lord because you can know him as a father. As a matter of fact, I'm not just blowing smoke at you.
That's actually scripture. *1 John-2:27*. It says, but the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, Just as it has taught you, abide in him or original language, you can say abide by him. So his anointing abides in you so that you can abide by him, by his word.
And his anointing teaches you about all things. It's the Holy Spirit. And when you were born again, he put the Holy Spirit inside of you to lead you like the best coach, like the best father, like the best friend in every area of your life. So he speaks to you and you learn to hear his voice over time. You learn how he how what are the ways that the anointing speaks to you, the Holy Spirit speaks to you?
Through circumstances. You see this coincidence or this thing happen over here, that thing happened over there. You'd never would have thought about it before, but something inside says, hey, lean in. I'm speaking, and it's it's confirming what God's already said. Where did he say it?
Maybe he said it through other people, through the pastor as he's preaching the sermon, or maybe through friends, other mighty men of God in your life. They said something that that sparks something in your heart because they're mighty men of God. And and they they're speaking the word to you, and it's challenging you and growing you. And then a circumstance comes along that confirms what they said, and it was the Holy Spirit speaking through both. He speaks in those ways, through circumstances, through other people.
He also speaks how? Through prayer. You're learning, coming to the boiler room or other prayer meetings with believers and they're challenging you and the way that they pray is teaching you how to have communication with the Lord. You go into your private prayer closet or on your walk with the Lord or you run or however you pray, and you hear the Lord speak in your heart. You have thoughts or dreams or visions or ideas, and he's speaking to you in such a way.
And then the next thing you know, you see it happen in the circumstance, and he's confirming what he showed to you in prayer. And then you heard somebody preach about the very same thing, and you're like, woah, what's happening? It's the same Holy Spirit that's in them, is in you, and it's confirming what God's speaking. It's beautiful. But the most important 1 is in the word.
The anointing teaches you. You don't read this just for a mental ascent and mental knowledge. How do you read this? You read it in relationship with the Holy Spirit. I can't understand this and I don't want to understand it with just my mind.
*Holy Spirit*, would you make this alive so that I put it into practice in my life and then read it in prayer with him? Lord, I don't know what that meant. Would you show me? Lord, how do you want me to put this into practice in my life? Write it down.
Think about it. Lean in. And then how he speaks in every other way through other people, through prayer, through circumstance. If it's not in line with the word, that wasn't him speaking. We judge all of that by this.
The word is sharper than any 2 edged sword. *Hebrews-4 says, it divides between soul and spirit*. What does that look like? He it's a picture of him as the high priest who has taken the knife or the sword to the sacrifice and dividing out what is not supposed to be on the altar and what is, what's usable and what's not. But you're the sacrifice.
You have to willingly He doesn't force you on the altar. You have to willingly come to the altar and place yourself on the altar. This is the sword. What do you do? Every morning, you lean into the sword and allow it to cut away the junk.
It hurts. So what? Lean in more. It's a good hurt. It's cutting away the stuff that was never supposed to be a part of you anyway.
I'm a willing What does Romans-12 say? I'm a present your bodies as a living sacrifice. What does that mean? I'm climbing on the altar every morning getting in front of this word, and Lord, cut away the junk. Whatever it takes.
I'm all in. Lord, make it. "whatever it takes". That's where my prayer comes from, by the way. Some of you know, some of you don't.
I've been praying for over a decade. Lord, whatever it takes to develop in me the character necessary to "walk out the fullness" of the call that you have for my life. Don't wait 20 years for what you can do today. Lord, if it whatever it takes, do it now. I'm willing to walk through it.
You don't know this, but I pray it for you too. Every leader you send to our church, and I believe every 1 of you is a leader. Why? Because you're all called to be disciple makers. I pray whatever it takes for God to develop the character in you necessary to walk out the call.
What's the title of this message? Guess what it takes? Suffering. **Suffering produces perseverance**, which produces proven character, which produces hope that doesn't disappoint. You might not wanna come back.
That's what I'm praying for you. But it's because it's best. Whatever it takes to stretch the faith necessary for you to walk in the power and the presence of God so that everyone around you sees Jesus. That's what I pray for me. That's what I pray for you.
But let's talk about it, suffering. Suffering is kind of a big deal. Why? Well, *Romans-8* again. Verse 29.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. God knew you, he created you with purpose in mind, and he has a preplanned destiny for you. Problem is, he's not gonna force you into that destiny. He called you. Are you gonna "answer the call"?
Bible says many are called, few are chosen because few actually answer the call. He says, it's not his will that anyone should perish, which means it's his will that everyone would come to repentance. But God's will doesn't always happen because he gives man a choice and they choose not him, some of him. Some of them. He's predestined you.
Are you going to walk in line with what he's destined for you or are you gonna reject it and walk your own way? I would hope that you would walk with him 1 step at a time. He's good. What else does he say? For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.
How does he conform you into the image of his son? How do you think? Hebrews. What is that verse? *Hebrews-5:8* through 9.
Would you pull that 1 up? Although he was a son, this is Jesus, he **learned obedience** through what he suffered. If Jesus learned obedience through suffering, and we're supposed to follow him, don't you think we will too? Now Jesus never didn't disobey, but yet he was born as a man. So Philippians-2 says that Jesus, being equal with God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but instead took on the form of a servant.
He limited himself to being born as a human being. Fully God, never not fully God, but took on all of the limitations of flesh, of human. So that means *Jesus*, when he was born in a manger, was born as a baby with the baby's brain and had to learn and grow. He he As an infant, he didn't know everything because he limited himself to being a human. So he had to learn and grow.
He he he pooped himself, and his mom had to wipe off the jaw the the mess. He nursed at his mama's breast. He was dependent on his mother because he limited himself to being a human. And as he grew, he learned obedience. He learned how to be, to go from boyhood to manhood, having never sinned, but learning obedience through suffering.
And you're to be conformed into his image. How? *Suffering*. Suffering is not necessarily a bad thing. Let's talk about it.
We can sin see the characteristics and the the nature of God clearly throughout his creation. We can see the the the Bible says in Romans-1, the invisible characteristics and nature of God, we can see clearly throughout what he created. And everything he created to manifest and to reflect his glory. Got a lot of things I'm throwing at you here. Just take it in.
*Glory. What is glory? It's the full nature and character of a thing on display for all to all to see. And if God* created it, he created it to reflect his glory. So with everything, he created by his mouth, by speaking it, but with mankind, he created you with his hands, created you in his image to be a reflection of the glory of God.
For instance, for example, somebody's going down the road and they're looking for old junk stuff to restore and they find this old car. They find out, wow, this old car is beaten up, rusted, and broken, and busted, but it's a Rolls Royce from like 1960. The engine doesn't work. It needs to be restored. So this guy pulls it into the garage, begins to work on the inside, works on the engine, gets it up and running, makes it purr, makes it sound beautiful.
But it still looks all broken, busted on the outside. So he sands it down, repaints it, puts all of the redos the interior, makes it shiny and nice, puts the plate on it that says Rolls Royce. Now, as that restored car is going down the road and other people see this Rolls Royce, who gets the glory? The 1 that restored it. Wow.
Look at that. The restorer of the thing gets the glory. And the name on it, Rolls Royce, the company. Man, that's an amazing Rolls Royce. Oh my gosh.
It's all They make such great cars. It's a beauty. It's a classic. It's beautiful. Right?
In the same way, when Jesus restores your life, Jesus gets the glory. And when you're living out the fullness of the purposes He created you for, every aspect, Other people see your life, your business, your your family, or whatever he's whatever area of life He's called you to and they say, wow. Man, how are doing that? My Jesus, man. He created me for this.
And your life brings glory to the Father. God wants to bring out what he put inside of you in fullness and the only way that he gets it out. How does he reveal the glory that he put inside of you? My dad always quotes this verse, **treasure in earthen vessels**. That's what he says.
Well, NIV says, you have this treasure that's in jars of clay. So if he put when you were born again, he put his light, the light of the world inside of you so that you could be the light of world, Jesus says. And you're a jar of clay. If a jar of clay is closed in, what's inside? Can you see the light?
No. It's blocked. What has to happen to be able to see the light? That jar of clay must be broken. The bigger the crack cracks, the more the light shines through and impacts the darkness around it.
You're a jar of clay and he put his light inside of you, and now he needs to get it out. James chapter chapter 4 Verse 5, or do you suppose it is with no purpose that scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? He put the *Holy Spirit* in us and he wants what's in us to be shown in communion with him, but also shown around. And how does we have the capacity to limit the Holy Spirit by saying no. So what does he do?
He takes us through process of processes of breaking us of self. But we can see clearly see his characteristics in his nature through looking at nature. Think about it. A diamond. How's a diamond formed?
Under intense pressure and heat deep within the earth, then it's mined and cut and polished until the beauty is revealed. Wine is crushed. Grapes, what happens? The farmer plants the grapes, they grow and mature, and it takes a lot of time. And then the farmer picks the grapes.
You think, Oh man, it's done, it's ready. Nope. Takes the grapes down and crushes them. Now you got grape juice. You're like, man, it's done.
It's ready to be used. Nope. Then he puts it in a bottle and places it on a shelf. Are you willing to think that you're ready and then be put in a bottle and placed on a shelf? Are you willing to wait for the process of crushing and suffering and hiding until the master says that you're ready for the glory to be revealed?
Fine wine, aged is better. Are you willing to go through the process that God wants to take you through until you're ready to walk out the fullness of the purposes he has for you? Or are you gonna shortcut the process? And that process, my friend, is suffering. Olive oil.
Plant the olives, olive tree grows, pick the olives. Is it done? For some. But for others, they're meant to be crushed until the oil comes out. Then you bottle the oil and you place it on the shelf until people are ready for it.
Perfume. How is perfume made? Spices and petals are crushed, distilled, and even burned. But once they're bottled and the people are ready for it, it makes smell like heaven whatever it touches. Gold refined by fire to remove the impurities.
The more it goes through the process, the pure it is and the more moldable it is. Wheat for bread, crushed, ground, mixed, and baked in heat until it's edible. Pottery, clay, shaped by the hand, pressed, all of the impurities taken out, pressed, molded, and then put on a a wheel and spun under the pressure of the potter's hand. And with each pressure of the potter's hand, because now it's moldable, the the shape moves until it's molded to what he wants it to be. A lot of people, they shortcut the process.
They think, okay, he's molded me. I look like what I'm supposed to be. I'm ready to be used. And the potter says, nope. I need to put you in the fire, in the kiln.
And if you don't go through the kiln, you don't go through the fire, and you just crush and crumble. You can't hold what's supposed to be put in it. What's the process? *Suffering*, chipping away at your selfishness, at the areas of pride. Why?
Because *God* James says, God opposes the proud. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So every area of your life that's a hard "clay pot" that's blocking the light on the other side of that area, God puts his finger on it and he goes he pushes it, he opposes it. Until you're willing to yield and break so that it cracks, and so what's inside can shine and impact the darkness around. Are you willing to go through the pressure?
Are you willing to follow *Jesus* into the suffering? There's 3 types of suffering. You can be analytical and say, come up with other types of suffering. We missed that. We missed Don't do that.
Okay? I'm sure we can find out 20 hundred types of suffering. Okay. There's 3 types of suffering for the message. Number 1, suffering from sin.
*Jesus* never experienced this because he never sinned. And Jesus paid a price to die and rise again so that you could experience freedom from *sin* and not have to walk through that again. *Romans-8*. Watch this. *Romans-8* just keeps coming up, man.
It's everywhere. Verse 30. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified. You know what justified means? Just as if I'd never done it.
So when you receive Jesus as Lord, he washes away your past just as if you never sinned, and he calls you to live just as if you never sinned. Forgetting the past and pressing on towards the goal for what he has. What happens if you sin again? You just fall forward, get back up, and start living again just as if you never did. That's why we take communion.
You're remembering that you've been forgiven, you've been washed. You don't have to live like a slave in fear of punishment. You can live like a son who's been justified. That's Christianity, guys. That's the shift from slavery to sonship, justification.
And Jesus justified you by his blood. That was e d in Romans-8. Past tense. It has happened. So live like it has happened.
And when you screw up, confess. I was wrong, Lord Jesus. Forgive me. Oh, I'm already forgiven. Thank you, Lord.
You did that 2000 years ago. Well, repent. I turned my life. I don't want to just ask for forgiveness and not repent. I actually want to turn my life and start walking and following you because I'm a son and I want be an imitator of you as a dearly loved child.
Catch it? You don't have to suffer. There's a lot of people like they sin and they get in this habit of sin and this lifestyle of sin. Don't worry, I'm gonna land the plane here in a second. Again, this lifestyle of sin.
And then they forget that they were the ones that did it and they blame God for their suffering. You see, people are sleeping around, get like 3 or 4 women pregnant, and then the child support comes in, they're like, God, why? Bruh, you're getting cut up by your mistakes. "Man up". Are the women that did that now have a baby and no daddy at home and they're stuck in poverty for years?
God, why? Man, he's a good father, but he's not gonna enable you in your junk. A lot of times he'll let he'll let the consequences of your choices play out for a little while, so you realize that disobedience hurts. And then you repent and he says, okay, I wanna work it all out for good. So those he works all things out for good for those that love him and are called according to purpose.
Loving him looks like obedience. So he says, hey, I know you screwed all this up, but I'm gonna work it out for good. Take this step. You gotta obey. And in your obedience, he starts to work it out for good.
Showing you what it looks like. So as as people that suffer because of sin, man, take your lumps, repent, get back up, and let him work it out for good. Okay? Second type of suffering, because of temptation or testing. *Jesus* experienced this type of suffering.
*Jesus*, after he was baptized, came up out of the water. The Holy Spirit came on him like a dove. He was anointing him for his purpose. Remember, because he lived life as a life as a man limited by because he chose to. Like, if he's sovereign, he can limit himself.
Right? So he was anointed by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Here's a thought. When you're being led by the Holy Spirit on the way to your purpose, there is going to be temptation and testing on the way. It's part of the fire that's preparing you and refining you.
Are you willing to walk through the suffering or are you gonna wimp out? I'm not saying it's not hard. I'm just talking to you like a coach right now. Hey, bro. Step up.
Don't wimp out. There's more for you. He's got the Holy Spirit in you. I'm not saying what you're going through is not hard. It's hard.
But the Bible says he won't tempt you more than you he won't allow you to be tempted more than you can bear. So if he led you to it, then he can lead you through it. He's gonna empower you. You just gotta keep your eyes on Jesus. Why did Jesus come?
First John, it says that he came to destroy the works of the devil. That's his purpose. And then in John-20, he commissioned them to destroy the works of the devil. To he it says, as the Father sent me, I'm sending you. So the Father sent Jesus to destroy the works of the devil.
*Jesus sent the disciples to destroy the works of the devil*. So whatever your purpose is, once again, if it's business, if it's being a stay at home mom, if it's this, if it's that, it's other. In that realm of influence that God has given you, your role is to destroy the works of the devil. So he anoints you and then he leads you into that place, which means the devil's there. So you're gonna be tempted.
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Do you know why the devil came to tempt Jesus? I think I think we get this wrong. We have a wrong perspective. We focus on the temptation.
Oh, the devil's tempting me. Oh, I got this these thoughts happening and I get it. I've been there. I'm not making fun of you. I've lived there.
Right? But I've realized there's a shift in perspective we're supposed to have. You know why the devil came? What was Jesus perspective on it? *John-14:30*.
I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me or he has nothing in me. Another version says, but I do as the father commanded me so that the world may know that I love the father. What was the purpose of the temptation according to Jesus' mindset? To prove that I love the father.
Enemies coming, tempting me with old stuff, thinks I'm gonna fall and he's gonna disqualify me from walking out my purpose. I ain't even worried about that. My eyes are on Jesus. I'm following Jesus. And that's just an opportunity for me to prove that I love the Father.
So that the world around me sees my life, and they're like, man, I see how you've been tempted. I've seen the testing. I've seen the craziness come at you. And and your life just shows me that you really love Jesus. How do you do that?
And you invite them into a relationship with him. By your overcoming temptation. You're not even focused on the temptation. You're focused on loving the father. And it reveals the father to the world around you.
That's humility. This is this is the way, guys. So Jesus experienced that type of suffering. The third type of suffering is suffering from obedience. There is suffering from obedience.
Anybody Jesus said anybody who wants to follow me must first deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow. A slave's perspective is fear because he's self focused. You catch that? When you're fearful, you're self focused. Self preservation.
A *son*'s perspective is the father's business. *Obedience, the suffering* that comes on the other side of obedience. He will challenge you to take steps of obedience, loving people boldly, and they'll think it's hate. Are you willing to love people and risk the relationship even if they think it's hate? Ask Grammy, my mom.
It was hard when I chose to pick up my family and move here to plant a church. I'm ripping grandbabies from her hands. It looks like hate. Yeah. Right?
Are you willing to say yes, Lord, no matter the cost to you and those around you? I know you are, but there is suffering on the other side of obedience. There's persecution. *Jesus' obedience led him to a cross*. Your obedience might lead you to persecution where other people around you don't like you.
You lose friends. You lose other things. Are you willing to walk through that? Is he worth it? Is he worthy of it all?
He is. Because the supernatural is on the other side of obedience. He's so worth it. Yeah. You gotta trust.
He's worth your trust. Amen? Amen. Alright. I'm really done.
I just wanted to give that out to you. So here's how we're gonna close. Don't forget, there's real good time day today. It's a big deal. Would you give me some of that music you had playing during Yes, ma'am.
Aren't you gonna ask us
to pray for your trip? Yes. I will. I will. Mom, put me in my place.
So here's what we're gonna do. I am going to dismiss you guys, but I'm also gonna have the altar team come back up. So if I can have the altar team come back up, it'd be great. I know many people, you got plans, you gotta go. I get it.
We're not judging you if you gotta go. We're gonna assume the best, assume you received everything and man, the Lord's got other things for you. But some of you are challenged because you've really been living, once again, a "wimpy Christianity", shrinking back from obedience. The Lord wants your full yes. And that full yes may cause some suffering, but that suffering is make it's conforming you into the image of the Son.
And so you wanna lean in. Whatever it takes, Lord, press against the areas of my clay pot that's not broken in humility yet so that I can reveal Jesus. So if there's areas of pride, areas that you've resisted, where you're not seeing the fruit of the kingdom in your life, is righteousness, peace, and joy, that's probably an area where you've been prideful and resisting, letting go, and that's actually causing suffering. Got these people up here just to pray you through. We got an altar.
You can come forward to the cafeteria altar. There's something special about taking a step of obedience. Right? Of of a physical step to reflect the heart change. So we're gonna leave this music going, and we're gonna invite you to participate in the step.
And the other thing that my mom asked me to ask you guys to pray for is I'm taking Alex David, and we're going to Peru tomorrow. We wanna minister the gospel to and equip leaders to reach "unreached people groups" up and down the Amazon. We'll be sleeping in a tent on the Amazon River 10 miles or 10 hours up on a boat ride. It's gonna be fun. Sometimes obedience leads you to suffering.
Some of you guys might think that's suffering. I'm excited. I mean, I'm I'm stoked. When you're living out your purpose, what others see as suffering, see as a joy. Amen?
So I'm gonna close that way. If you've never given your life to Jesus, you don't you've been living like a slave and not a son, come forward. Don't leave. And please don't just be a "hearer of the word", be a doer. Put put this into practice in your life.
We love you. The best is yet to come. Oh, small groups start tomorrow. Sign up for a small group on the website, which is great. You guys are welcome to.
Am I missing anything else? No? Okay. Let's end like this. If you know, you know.
I'm a real person living a real life for a *Jesus* having a real life. Y'all have an amazing Sunday.