Cresthill Church: Overcoming Obstacles Sermon-Part 1

In my own life, the facts are clear. Time and again, this is me speaking. God through his matchless mercy and God through his matchless grace has transformed my tests into my testimony. And my friend, if God can do that in if God can do that in me, a screw up that he just straightened up. Imagine what he can do for you. God refines us. God makes us less like us and more like him through the fires of difficulty. Why? So while we may not like the process, the product God has transformed us to be is well worth it. So I say unto you, accept that obstacles are a part of life. Say that with me. Accept that obstacles are a part of life. [00:36:41] (66 seconds)

To gauge his process, the refiner looks for his own reflection on the surface of the melted silver or gold. It has to be like a mirror. The more the dross the more dross removed, the less distorted is his image, his reflection. And only when the refiner sees a clear reflection of himself in the crucible is the process complete. The bible tells us that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. [00:28:43] (41 seconds)

Do you remember when it first started? Do you remember how it was just an aggravation, an irritation? Did you notice how the longer you walked through it, how it went from an irritation and an aggravation to, dear God, get rid of this. Did you notice that? That is God Almighty, the refiner cranking up the knob, turning up the heat to make you all that he created you to be. The refiner raises the temperature to higher degrees. The heat extracts the dross. Listen, you can't get rid of that stuff in your life that is preventing you from being all that God wants you to be unless you have the refiner turn the heat up. [00:23:34] (56 seconds)

He's getting you ready for something. What do you think he's getting you ready for? Couple things real quick. He's getting you ready for your ministry. He's getting ready to take you places you never dreamed of, to serve him in ways you could never possibly have imagined, to walk through doors that no devil could shut and no man can close. But as we look at this life that we live, the bible says time and time again that life is but a vapor. Life is like the grass that comes up in the morning and it is burnt by noon. This is very brief in the scan of eternity. God is getting us ready for heaven. [00:09:41] (43 seconds)

I was driving here this morning in my jeep and I heard the holy spirit talk to me about some things that I'm going through. And I heard him say, I didn't send this to destroy you. I sent this to you to develop you and advance you. Not to destroy you, but to develop you and advance you. Hear me please. When you read the 66 books of the bible, one of the threads woven through it all is that God is more concerned about the process than the product. [00:09:06]

Proverbs twenty four nine says, remove the dross from the silver and a silversmith can produce a vessel. That's what God's doing. He's getting you ready so that as you are the container of the Holy Spirit. Did you know that? You are the vessel of the Holy Spirit. And so when you go someplace, the Holy Spirit, God is in you. Not only goes before you and beside you and behind you, beneath you and above you, but within you. And he's getting you ready. So watch this. Where you show up, he shows up. [00:21:27]

That word is used throughout the scriptures, and it means that you hold on to the one who's holding on to you. You hold on to the one holding on to you. It's a divine embrace and you've got to bear in and bear in. Can you remember when you were a child and you got sick or you got hurt? I can remember when my grandma was taking care of me when I was little and I'd get injured. And I would just press into her and I just couldn't get close enough. Somehow just being held made it alright. Just being held by the father makes it alright. Doesn't mean it goes away, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, but it means it's alright. It means it's alright. [00:32:22]

In John chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus said, I told you these things so that you can have peace, watch this now, in your circumstances, peace in your possessions, peace in your five zero one three c, peace in your four zero one k, peace in your nest egg, peace in the abundance of all that surrounds you. No peace in me, Jesus said. That's the only place you find peace, that you can have peace in me. Now watch what he says. In this world, right here, you will have trouble. How many of you know that's true? Now Jesus does not lie. Right? He was telling the truth. In this world, you have trouble. Watch this. But be brave. [00:06:00]

He skims off us. For for us individually, dross represents anything that keeps us from being all that God wants us to be. Now I want you to stop just for a moment, and I want you to think, what's keeping me from being who God wants me to be? You got it? Do we need to wait a minute? K. You got it? That's why God's allowing these things to happen in your life. Because he wants to literally melt away all of that, have that rise to the surface so he can skim that off, and you can be done with it. [00:20:09]

Listen, there are a lot of us that we don't have multiple personalities, I hope. Some of you might. I don't know. We can talk. But a lot of us have multiple watch this now, personas. We act one way when we're with this group. We act that way when we're with that group. We act this way when we're at the office. We act this way when we're the club. We act this way when we're in church. And what trials do, what obstacles do, what pain and problems do is that wipes the personas away. And we get boiled down and broken down and purified down so there's no persona, just you the person. The person God created you to be. [00:16:52]

That means you press on. You press through. You go forward, not backwards. You persevere by pressing close to the heart of the one who allowed the trial in the first place. How do you get through it? You run to Jesus. How do you get through it? You hold on to Jesus. How do you get through it? You hang on like a bulldog hanging on a bone. Hang on to Jesus. You hold on to him. [00:31:42]

Again and again, impurities rise to the surface. Again and again, the crucible is returned to the furnace to extract the dross. And why the higher heat? Our refiner knows the exact temperature needed to extract the dross. And he knows that only certain impurities are released at certain temperatures. Psalm 12 verse six says, and the words of the Lord are flawless like silver purified and a crucible like gold refined seven times. [00:26:18]

Can I tell you something? There are a lot of us that prolong the process because we won't agree with the refiner. He takes us out and we're like, no. I'm not going back in there. I know. I've been in there before. I'm not no. I'm not no. I'm not doing that. God says, okay. Okay. Then he allows another problem come in. And so now you gotta deal with that issue instead of allowing him to have dealt with this issue. Now he brought this into your life and you're gonna have to go through the whole process again. Who wants to do that? [00:27:18]

Can I teach for a second here? There there are a lot of people that misquote the bible. They will say, God never puts anything on you that you can't handle. To which I ask, where did you read that? Show me. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that God, when you go through something, he will allow a way out. That's first Corinthians ten thirteen, by the way, if you wanna look the passage up. There are gonna be a lot of things in life that we can't handle. That's why we got faith. Forsaking all, I trust him, f a I t h. If you can handle it all, you don't need him. [00:25:06]

If you forget everything that I say today, if you are in the house and you fall asleep, if you're online and you decide to get up and not come back until the invitation, that's alright. I got something for you then. But I want you to hear this and hear this well. Obstacles do not get in the way of God's plan for your life. They are a vital part of God's plan. Say that with me. Obstacles do not get in the way of God's plan for your life. [00:02:20]

But in this life, we're gonna have stress. We're gonna have problems. We're gonna have pain. We're gonna have obstacles. It's a normal part of a normal life. We should not be surprised when difficulties, losses, and problems pepper our daily experience. Now that doesn't mean that we like it. If you like problems, we have a counseling center in our church. Doesn't mean that we like it. It doesn't mean that we wish it wasn't so. It just means that we accept that obstacles are a part of life And that in Christ and by Christ and through Christ, watch this now, we can overcome them. We can overcome them. [00:08:13]

And while we all face obstacles, we all face things that block our way, we all face things that prevent us from getting to where we want to go. I dare say that very few of us have ever looked at our obstacles through a biblical lens. And while most of us not only dislike obstacles in our lives, we actually despise them. Could it possibly be that obstacles are a part of God's master plan for you and me. [00:00:36]

The biblical account recorded in Exodus chapter four makes my hands sweat just reading it. This was not just an obstacle for the Israelites on their way to the promised land. This my friends looked like the end of the road. It was life or death. Now let me rethink that for a minute. It was actually death and death. You see death by the sword of pharaoh's army or death by drowning in the sea. And when we closely examine Exodus chapter 14 and a plethora of every other biblical passages that present God's people facing seemingly insurmountable and impossible obstacles, I wanna share with you today that there are three things that we can discover about overcoming life's obstacles. [00:04:25]

accept that obstacles are a part of life. Take a deep breath, my friends, on the count of three. One, two, three. Let it out slowly. And repeat after me. Accept that obstacles are a part of life. Smack your neighbor and say, ain't it the truth? The Bible is crystal clear about the fact that all of us will face trials, all of us will face tribulations, and all of us will face problems, and all of us will face pain in this life. No one is exempt. Nobody. [00:05:17]

After the refiner painstakingly skims off these impurities, he increases the heat and places the crucible back in the blistering furnace. Quick time out. That's why you're not done yet. But, God, I went through that. What are you doing to me? Oh, God. Listen. If you haven't been there, you will be. Don't worry. You'll get there. It'll happen. Nobody gets left out. [00:24:39]

I'm a give you a little clue. The word wait in Hebrew doesn't mean just sit there and do nothing. It literally means keep doing what God told you to do until he gives you further instructions. Wait for God's intervention. These are three ways to learn and to grow and to get on with your life. My brothers and sisters in Christ, that's how you overcome your obstacles. Let's give God some praise. Come on. [00:38:15]

See, here's the deal. God is doing in your life what he's doing in your life so that when people look at you, they go, it reminds me of somebody. I just I I just can't put my finger on it. They they kinda walks like him and talks like him and and and and just even starting to look like him and and and and because God wants you to be just like Jesus. Just just like Jesus. [00:29:54]

You see, God loves you just the way you are, but he loves you so much he will not allow you to stay that way. Why? Because he wants you to be just like Jesus. There's a word in Greek. May I teach for a second? It's the word kathos. Say kathos. Kathos. It means exactly like. Not just sort of, not close, but no cigar, but exactly like. [00:29:23]

The closer you walk with him, the more that you love him, the more that you allow God to bring you through the refining process, the more people will see Jesus, and they will not see you. And they will be attracted to you in ways that you could not possibly imagine. The anointing of God, the special touch for the special task he's called you to will be so heavy upon you. Listen to me. You will walk into a room not knowing anybody in the room and every head in the room will turn and stare at you. Why? Not because you're so pretty. [00:22:14]

And instead of despising it, you need to press into the one who gave it. Listen to me. Satan can't do anything in your life that God the father doesn't allow. And he uses that egg sucking dog not to destroy you, but to propel you toward your destiny. He makes Satan still work for him even though Satan that's the last thing he wants to do. I told you the devil's not stupid, but he is crazy. And so God uses that craziness to make you not bitter, but to make you better. [00:35:59]

But can I tell you that God looks at you and he sees the real you? Remember, it's the process, not the product. So remember, we're getting ourselves ready to go home to heaven. God sees you the way you look upstairs. Somebody needs to write that down. God sees you now the way he sees you upstairs. Now I'm a tell you, when I get upstairs, I'm a look good. I may look good now, but you just wait, baby. Gonna look good upstairs, and that's a wonderful and that's the way that God sees you. And he wants to wipe away your multiple personas. [00:18:48]

Now, being all tore up or pulled apart is a normal part of a normal life. Now here's the deal gang, none of us want to accept that. Look at this. Why does this keep happening? Why do I keep having problems? Why does this why why can't I just have one day we're not that's not life. Can I tell you the only people not experiencing stress? Dead people. When you're laying in your box, ladies and gentlemen, or if you decide to be cremated and sit in an whatever your situation might be, When you're there, there ain't no stress. Let me take that back. There'll be a lot of stress on the other side if you didn't go to heaven. I'll talk to you about that in a little bit. Uh-huh. [00:07:15]