You must choose to stand firm under the pressure of your calling rather than cracking under the weight of glory. Shift your focus from self-protection to God's presence, allowing suffering to produce the perseverance needed for maturity. Trust that He is working through the trial to make you complete and lacking nothing.
We are continuing today, we're continuing a series titled, The Glory of Living. I've really enjoyed this series and I believe that this series is monumental for our church. I think it's foundational. And, if you'll lean in, take notes, understand the principles, put them into practice in your life, I believe it's it'll be monumental and foundational for you as well. Because in this series, you're gonna learn more clearly about who God has called you to be.
And number 2, what he has called you to do. And I need you to take this seriously. It's important. You know why? Because as you understand who God's called you to be and as you begin to do what God's called you to do, **"real church"** will become more who God's called it to be.
Amen. And, real church will be able to do everything God's called it to do. It's that important. Maybe you're like, wait a second, me? Yeah.
Yeah. You. You have a purpose designed by God. And, if you're still alive, your purpose is still possible. And not only that, if you rest in him, it's more than probable.
He wants to redeem the time. And, if you're sitting in here today, that means in some way, some shape, some form, real church plays a part in you fulfilling that purpose. Not only that, if you call real church your home, especially if you call real church your home or you will, then you play a part in real church fulfilling its purpose. That's how important it is. Pretty awesome, Cool.
So we're gonna get into the Glory of Living series. Before we do, I'm going to go through some statements that we've learned over the past 4 parts of the series. If you hear these and you're like, man, I would love to to dive deeper into that or wow, where are the scriptures on that? You can go to our website realchurch.us, look at the podcast, you can listen any podcast app we're found on there. You can find it through our website if you'd like or YouTube.
You can find that through our website there and watch it if you prefer to watch. But I encourage you to go back if you've missed any of them, go back and listen. But in this series, we've learned that the definition of *glory* is the nature of a thing on display for all to see. Right? So the glory of God I just saw Nick.
I like what's up dude? Sorry for calling you out, but I'm glad you're here brother. Anyway, distraction squirrel. The glory of God then is the nature of God on display for all to see. It's who God is and what he does on display for all to see.
And, we've also learned that everything exists to manifest God's glory. He put a piece of who he is in everything in order for it to be brought out and shown to the world. Yeah. But, you're special because mankind was created in his *image* to be a representative of him. As a matter of fact, Colossians-1:27 says, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That means, God's *hope* of his plan a, his main plan of being glorified throughout the world is putting Christ in you. That's awesome. But see, there's a prerequisite environment for glory to be manifested. For instance, and we've learned we've learned this. It's a review but it's putting us all on the same foundation.
Right? That the glory of a bird is to fly but it needs the right environment. So it needs open air in order to fly. You put a bird in a cage, it prevents it from walking or living in its full glory. Right?
The glory of a fish is to swim. It's its purpose. It's what it's created to do. Right? So the environment necessary for that to happen is water.
You take a fish out of water and it's kind of funny as it flops around on the land. It's not glorious at all. In the same way, the glory of mankind is to be in his image, to represent God, to show who God is and what he does by through the way that they live. And, the environment necessary for you to live out your purpose is his in his presence. That's the environment.
So it's in his *presence* that you find purpose. Amen? Amen. Not only that, see, as we seek him, we seek him. He meets us with his presence.
But not only that, he speaks to us and so we hear him, we trust him, we believe him, and we obey. And it's through obedience that he works out his *purpose* that he put in us at conception for all to see. Amen? Alright. Is there any other things that we need to catch up on before we dive in?
So you see this, there's a process to purpose. That's part 5, by the way, the glory of living. The **process to purpose**. Alright? You guys ready?
So here we go. There's some weight to your purpose that you may not be ready yet to carry. Have you you've heard the term the weight or the phrase the weight of glory. Right? Have you heard that?
The weight of glory, w e I g h t. Sometimes it is a weight. How do you how do you weight on something? What? Why do you spell that 1?
W a I t. Yeah. My wife must have spelled I was a mathematics guy. Alright? W a I t.
Sometimes there is a weight to glory. There's always a weight to glory until God says it's time. But there is a w e I g h t, weight to glory. We talked about this in part 1 actually. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for glory is the word kabod, k a b o d, kabod.
And it is the root of it also means weightiness or heaviness. So there's a weightiness and a heaviness. For instance, if you walk into a job, you're given a new task or a new role, a new responsibility, there's a weightiness to that. Maybe it's better explained if I say it like this. You have a new responsibility with a greater pressure.
Now, you guys follow me? A greater pressure there. And so you get that new task, and there's a greater responsibility and a greater pressure to be able to finish the task, and it's greater than you had before. Well, we're to go from glory to glory. So we're continually going from pressure to pressure, from responsibility to responsibility.
And, you get this new task and you think you're gonna crack under the pressure, you don't know how you can make it, but then you stand under the pressure, you face it down, and you persevere through it, and when you complete it, there's a release and it's glorious. We talked about in the first time, in the first the first message, it it'd be like, you know, graduating high school, or graduating college, or getting that certification for your job. You know, you have these tests that you got to take. You have this class, and and with some some of them are harder than others, and there's a different weight to them, there's a pressure, a different responsibility. But you have to persevere through all of it.
And finally, if you don't crack under the pressure and give up, if you walk through the finish line, when it's done, there's a release and it's glorious. You know what I'm talking about? Entrepreneurs, the startups, most startups fail. Most of them fail. You know why?
Because the founder didn't have the character necessary needed in order to be able to stand under the pressure. There's a pressure to it, a weight. And so most give up within the first year, first 2 years, first 3 years, most give up. And they buckle, they crack under the pressure. But then those who stand it out, they get the glory of a 5 year anniversary of successful business, of changing people's lives with a product or something.
They get the glory of a 10 year successful business of changing people's lives with a product. They stood through the pressure. You guys follow me so far? With the weight of glory. So there's a weightiness to the glory that God has designed for you to walk in.
There's a huge responsibility linked with the *purpose* that he's put inside of every single 1 of you and there's pressure. Pressure that's too much for you to bear on your own. It takes faith, it takes *trust* and it takes God. And guess what? He's a good father.
He wants to father you through the process. He wants to lead if you will let him, he wants to lead you through the process and he's relentless about the process because his will is for every purpose he's planned for you to be pulled out, for you to fulfill everything. His will is for you to leave it all on the table, to die empty. So he's relentless about the process because he's a good father. He won't let you be lazy if you'll follow him.
He wants to take you through it all. And in doing so, his process will perfectly prepare you to carry the weight of glory that he's designed for you. And in doing so, you will glorify God to the fullest extent that your life was created to. Amen? And if you're still alive, your purpose is still possible.
He can redeem the time and he wants to. Will you let him? Everybody say, there's purpose to the process. My voice sounds deep and serious today. Everybody say, there's a process to your purpose.
There's a process to your purpose. Guess what? Part of that process is pressure. Yep. Usually, the glory of something is hidden beneath the surface, and there's a process to exposing or revealing that glory.
*Glory* comes out in a process which forever alters the container that held the glory. Let me explain what I'm talking about. What's that? Orange. It's an orange.
What you see right here is a hint at what's inside of it. Right? But it the glory of is the glory of the orange the peel? No. It's a beautiful orange.
It's pretty. But the glory of the orange is not the peel. The glory of the orange is the juice and the seed. The seed will be deposited in order to reproduce more oranges, orange trees and orange groves. The juice will be squeezed out in order to or for for those around to enjoy what God put in it.
And maybe even change somebody's life. It's got all kinds of vitamins, all kinds of good stuff in it. Right? Now, in order for me to get the *glory* out of this container, I have to take this big old butcher knife and I have to cut it. Right?
Not only do I have to cut it, I have to squeeze it. And the more this orange allows me to squeeze it, the more glorious it comes out. As a matter of fact, the oranges that go through the most squeezing get the most glory out. Make sense? But the problem is the container is forever altered.
It will never look the same. But that's okay because that's part of the process that it was created for. Make sense? Let's dive in right there for a little while. There's a process to your purpose, and you must live out your purpose, and by doing so, glorify God.
Are you willing to submit to the process? *2 Corinthians-4:6. 2 Corinthians-4:6* says, for God Here it is. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. What that's saying is, hey, God spoke.
Let there be. In *John-1* it says, the word was with God and the word was God. Right? So the word is God. Jesus became flesh.
He is the word. The word is light. He spoke and you when you received his word, his light penetrated your heart and it changed the darkness into light in your heart, gave you a new heart on the inside. The glory what does it say? Just the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ.
He put Christ in your heart. The glory of who he is in order to be revealed through your life. But there's a process for that to happen. Keep going. Next verse.
We have this treasure in a vessel and jars of clay to show that the all surpassing power is from God and not from us. There's a reason for it. This life we live is not me centered, it's God centered. The quicker you shift your perspective, the better life will be. Next verse.
We are pressed on every side but not crushed. Perplexed but not in despair. Next verse. Persecuted not abandoned. Struck down but not destroyed.
Amen. Keep going. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. Forever altered but it lived out its purpose. The more it squeezed, it's created to die empty.
It's created to give all its juice and all its seeds so it can be reproduced, multiplied and change lives. Yeah? Pretty cool, For the glory that God put in us to come out to impact the world around us, our container must be forever altered. We must be squeezed. We must go through pressure.
We must go through resistance and push through by faith and grow. I want to give you a principle that I hope you never forget. Growth occurs only as we **overcome resistance** and or obstacles. Growth occurs only as you overcome resistance. Tests and trials will come.
They're an inescapable part of life. And those tests or trials will either make you or they will break you. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world. What is your perspective going to be on the tests and trials?
Because how you respond and how you walk through the trials depends on your perspective. Are you going to take heart because he overcome? Who he overcame or not? We tend to complain about the trials of life, but God wants wants to use them to strengthen us and bring us into maturity. Let me show you.
Let's go to James-1:2. Consider it "pure joy", my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Wait a minute. Hold on pastor.
Are you saying it? Wait a second. So when I'm going through this test and this problem that I'm going through right now. Okay. This issue, whatever's going on.
Whether it's too much responsibility, not enough, money, sickness, death, whatever's going on. I'm going through this top, this test that's pressing me. I'm supposed to consider that joy because it's gonna develop in me perseverance? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. Not only that, watch this.
Let *perseverance* finish its work so that you may be **mature and complete**, lacking nothing. God is relentless at the process because he wants you mature. He wants you growing. Verse 12, blessed is the 1 who perseveres under the trial having stood the test. Look, literally in the original text, perseveres under the trial means "sits under the trial" until it's had its finished work.
Too many times, tough times come. Instead of standing and facing it down, we try to escape it, run around around it or cheat it instead of standing and looking in the face knowing that we have him with us. Because we're created for the pressure. We're created to stand and face the trial and sit under it until it's had its perfect work. Because it's through the trial that Christ is being squeezed out of us.
So I'm pressed on every side but because I recognize I'm not ignoring him but I recognize his presence with me. I'm walking hand in hand with my father. I'm pressed on every side but I'm not crushed. I'm persecuted but because I'm walking hand in hand with the heavenly father with me. I'm not I know that I'm not abandoned.
I might be struck down. The enemy might try to come and take me out. But you know what? I'm walking hand in hand with my father. I will be with him now and I will be with him forever.
So I'm not destroyed. I recognize his presence with me. You know what? I'm perplexed. I don't understand what's going on.
But because I have his presence with me, I'm not in despair. I as a matter of fact, I can have peace that passes understanding because I know that he's with me and I'm standing in his presence. That's the only way to be. Because remember, the prerequisite for glory to be shown the environment, the prerequisite environment for that is his presence. So as I acknowledge him in the midst of what I'm going through, I acknowledge his presence in the midst of what I'm going through.
His glory is sure to be shown through me in the midst of the pressing. And so "Jesus juice" comes out of me in the midst of the pressing. Christ comes out and impacts and affects everyone around me. And so their lives are changed as I'm being crushed. And Paul said, man, I'm glad when I'm my life's being poured out like a drink on the sacrifice of your faith.
I count it joy when I get to be laid down like Christ. But see, when you when you walk through those things with his presence, with him knowing that he's with you, you'll make it. You'll you don't have to shrink back from the problem because you recognize he's with you. You got the 1 who hit the winning home run holding your hand, walking you through it. He's a good father.
He's walking you through the thing. So you can through the through the process. So you can you can keep your eyes on him and you're destined to overcome that. You're destined to stand. So stand and stare it down and face it.
Quit trying to run from it. Not only will you overcome, but guess what? Growth only occurs as you overcome resistance. So when you overcome, you will have grown. I told the dream team this morning, I'm no longer going to ask people what they're going through.
I'm going to ask you what you're going through. If you're a Christian, every everything you go through is an opportunity to grow through it. Right? Isn't that awesome? Growth only occurs as we overcome resistance and obstacles.
Weight lifting. I get to weight lift with my buddy over there, Bart. He's a big dude. Challenges my muscles. I mess with him but he gets me.
Anyway, if I consistently lift weights, what am I doing? I'm consistently going through resistance. And as I overcome on every rep, my muscles are being stretched and torn. I go away, they and rest, they rejuvenate, and they grow bigger and stronger. So now, not just at the gym, I can use that strength in every area of my life.
That's great. It's part of the process. But if I neglect the resistance training, then I atrophy. My muscles grow smaller and weaker, and I'm weaker in every area of my life. Right?
God does not want you to atrophy. He wants you to be strong. Have you ever wondered why it seems that every time you solve a problem, there's another 1 waiting to take its place? You know why? Because it's about glory.
*Glory* comes out under pressure. God uses resistance, problems, trials, tests, obstacles. The even the enemy coming to try to take you out, God's like, I ain't worried about that. All things work together for good for those that love him. I've already given him everything he needs or she, everything that she needs in order to overcome this issue.
Watch. Everything's an opportunity to grow. It's when we're under pressure that we reveal what we're really made of. Look on the outside of this thing. It's an orange.
So by looking on the outside, you should you should know what's on the inside because it's real. So when I squeeze it, if tomato juice came out, you'd freak out. What's going on? I've never seen that before. That's weird.
Yeah, it is. So when the trials of life squeeze a Christian, what should come out? *Christ*. Jesus Christ. And God's relentless in the process taking you through things so that no matter when you're pressed in the future, as you grow, no matter when you're pressed, every time you're squeezed by life, Jesus comes out.
That's what he's after because that's the glory that he put in you, coming out of you and impacting the world around you. He's relentless in the process because he loves you. Not because he he's mad at you. No. He loves you.
He cares for you. See, as you seek him, you get in his presence and then and then you hear his voice, you trust and believe, and you obey him and it looks like you're going the opposite way. You gotta trust him. He sees everything. He's not leading you in circles.
No. He's leading you in a way that will most develop you and get you ready for the purpose that he placed in you. Are you willing to follow? Do you trust him? I believe you do.
Like Paul said, follow me as I follow Jesus. Let's follow him together. Watch this. *Romans-5:1* through 5. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace you don't have peace with God because you did a bunch of good stuff. You don't have peace with God because you read the Bible enough, because you came to church enough, because you did this, because you did that. No. You have peace with God because of Jesus Christ and because of what he did, and because you believed that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, and that is grace giving you what you don't deserve, and mercy not giving you what you do deserve. Because of him, we receive him and we have peace.
Now, can walk hand in hand with him through the issues and through the trials, and we can face it down because of that peace. Amen? Alright. Through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. We don't escape.
No, we stand. We're sons and daughters of the king. We can stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Come on, that's good.
We boast in the hope of man, I know, 1, God's plan a is putting Christ in me, so my hope is his glory being shined through me to give him glory throughout the world, and throughout my world. Man, I'm I'm boasting Christ and in his hope. Amen? And the hope of my life being transformed because of that. Watch this, not only so but we also glory.
Another version says, rejoice, *glory in our suffering*. Because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Hold on. Perseverance, we just heard. Perseverance we gotta let perseverance finish its work.
So we can't reject perseverance. We can't try and start and I don't feel good, so I'm just gonna quit. No. We let perseverance finish its work, so we can be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Right?
We rejoice in our suffering because we know that that is part of the process to becoming mature and complete. So when we see the suffering, we're like, oh man, I can't wait. I see this press this pressing. I see this trial. I see this test.
I can't wait to see God how you're gonna work through this. Man, we're gonna stand right here in your presence. It's gonna be awesome. I can't I can't wait to see how you grow me in the midst of this, and how other people are transformed because of what's happening right now. I can't wait.
That's my perspective. That's our perspective as a Christian. How's complaining gonna help you in the midst of the trial? Let's go there for a second. How's complaining gonna help you?
I want you to be able to I want you to receive this. Okay? I want you to this is important. How are you gonna get stronger if you're complaining about everything? See, if you're complaining about the trial, then you're ignoring God through the trial because complaining is self focus.
You're focused on yourself, what you feel, and self protection. Right? So you're ignoring his presence. What's the prerequisite for glory, environment? Oh, and you're ignoring it by complaining.
So that means that you're probably going to crack under the pressure unless you shift your focus. That means you're probably not going to finish the resistance because you're so self focused. And self focus is pride. And pride comes before a Wow. And that means you won't grow.
And that means you'll probably have to go through that test again because you have a loving, relentless father who wants you to grow to maturity. And he's not going to let you give up. But if you realize the test is an opportunity to grow, you do it in his presence. You rejoice and praise him through the trial. Remember praise attracts his presence.
You know why? Because when you pray when you're praising him, you're lifting him up, which means you're humbling yourself in his sight. And God lifts up the humble. So when you complain, you're lifting yourself up because you're self focused. But when you praise, you're lifting him up.
And the prerequisite for glory to be revealed is his presence. Right? So suffering will produce perseverance, produce proven character, and proven character hope that doesn't disappoint. Hope that doesn't put us to shame. Why?
Because we've walked through the process to develop the character necessary to carry the call. Satan. I just said that to get your attention. Satan Satan was a falling Satan was a fallen angel. If he's a fallen angel, means he was somewhere before he fell.
Right? You look to the scripture, his name was Lucifer. Satan's name was Lucifer. He was the the most glorious of all the angels. God created him as the most glorious of them all.
Now, there's a weight with glory. Guess what? Lucifer didn't have the character necessary to carry the call. With that weight, he be he imploded. He became self focused.
You know why? Because he was prideful. He tried to be God. With the weight of glory, he became self focused and pride. Pride comes before a fall.
He became a fallen angel and the enemy of the saints, wanting you to become self focused and prideful too. You guys see that? So when you complain and feel sorry for yourself during suffering, you're doing the same thing Satan did. I'll smile at that 1 so it's easier to swallow. When you complain and feel sorry for yourself during suffering, you're doing the same thing Satan did.
You're turning inward, self focused, which is pride. Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged and with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect.
And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving, or you can text any amount to 84321, and then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church Clearwater. God bless you, and the "best is yet to come".