Faith in Action: Embracing Trials for Growth

"Well, we, of course, are in this sermon series entitled Faith Works. Faith Works. And it's really about applying the power of faith in your everyday life, that it shouldn't be something that you just study and read about, but it should be something that you implement on a daily basis. And usually, you know, we'll have these inflection points in our life journey. You know, there'll be times in which certain choices matter maybe a little bit more than others." [00:05:26]

"certainly you know there'll be certain things that will happen within a couple of months of time but every now and then there'll be like a biggie you know it's like this one makes the big difference and often we know it's that in hindsight we might I don't always know when we're in it but we look back and we might say gosh you know my life might have been different had I done something different at that point you know or maybe things would be a little better if I had made a different decision at that particular time and place but I would like to suggest to you this morning that it's good and it's fine to to go back and you know maybe look at what you might have done but what is most important is to thank God for the blessing of having a moment having your mind having your life having your spirit having your connections having having all of these opportunities that are with you now and having the capacity to choose now and what I found more often than not is that when we were in maybe that inflection point maybe the fire was turned up and maybe we you know didn't rise to the occasion I have found that God will put you back into it at some point later it's like you know this thing is not just about what your life outcome is it's really" [00:06:08]

"even more about who you are becoming as a result of it you know i can think of this in my own life as a pastor i've uh i guess i have to call myself a pastoral journeyman now um because i was looking at these bishops and stuff you know and and all the amazing things that they've done and then they usually have a list of the number of churches they've pastored and i've usually pastored twice as many as they have right so i will never be a bishop but i guess i am a pastoral journeyman so so uh so you know i've past nine churches now and and so you learn a lot through each of these different churches because churches are like people they have their own histories their own personalities their own issues and so you know when you're thrown into different situations then you get to learn a lot too and so you know um there was a repeating pattern one of those repeating patterns for me was like with my very first church and i've talked to this maybe in bible study once or twice or something but you know my very first church um i was there and things were going well it's a very small church it grew we were making progress and you know what like they what they like to do in the methodist church you do well they want to give you a reward right and so uh they wanted to move me right away and i kind of went to the bishop i said if you do that you're probably going to kill the church you know you're probably going to kill the church you know you're probably going to kill the church you know" [00:07:39]

"and uh they did that and the church died okay and so you know it and there were there were other situations that could be compared to that but for me as a kid as a first time you know 30 years old your first church you do whatever the bishop tells you to do you know that kind of thing and you you you make sure that uh you don't get out of line and you respect your leadership and you still should but as we are refined there are times in which we even have to follow the lord where he's saying even beyond that and that was a part of my own testing and so i think that we grow through these challenging moments where it's a tough decision and it's uh you know almost um by being on fire almost you know it's it can be anguish but when we make that decision we become better god puts us in a better place and then we're able to do the wonderful things that he's called us to do so you know leading up to that point is really everything that we've talked about right we've talked about having a certain faith having that assurance not a hoping and a wishing but when you know or being in the zone like when that athlete's in the zone and they just know they're going to make it and they keep on getting it in" [00:09:01]

"the hoop having that assurance is having the ingredient of faith that can really move mountains and do things it's that mustard seed that certainty but then after that the next thing needs to be having a faith that takes action without the natural resource so you have the certainty but you prove it you prove that it's a spiritual certainty when you put it into action without the natural resource because if you have the natural resource what do you need the faith for right but if you actually put it into action as a spiritual resource then you watch god provide the natural resource to both the ministry you've called to and to the minister and then thirdly we said focus that once you have that certainty and once you put it into action we saw that peter did that he had the certainty he saw jesus he put it into action he stepped out of the boat but then what happened is he didn't have the stamina that once he started seeing the winds and the waves he sank right back down and so in order for us to make it all the way to our destination we have to keep the focus so it's a certain faith it's an action faith and it's a focus faith and if we have all three of those we're well along our way to becoming our best selves and to be using and to be used by god and to be using and to be used by god" [00:10:41]

"of faith and fire you see servant cannot be greater than his master jesus was tested we're tested jesus was tested in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights the enemy came to him but then when the enemy failed and jesus withstood the fiery test if you want to call it that the scripture says and the enemy left to return at an opportune time in other words if we're not greater than the master then even when you have those first three steps of a faith that works you can be certain what will happen is that the uh waves will subside the storm will calm and you'll be gliding and you'll be as happy as a lark you'll be skipping through the daisies it'll be great but you know what the enemy will return at an opportune time and so i'm here to prepare you to let you know that once you get going don't ever think oh i made it you know you're not made it until you see the lord as long as you're here we're continuing to be in the state of testing and so we have to have the stamina to go all the way and usually" [00:12:20]

"to continue to you know inflict maybe pain in ourselves that we don't have to why we do it because we think we believe that it's worth it in the end we believe that there's a reward for withstanding the challenge that we're going through on the other side of it it's worth it for us to endure and so here we are in this particular incident of course got the three famous boys right Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and Marguerite's going to get mad at me if I don't tell this joke so she says find a way to fit it in maybe this is the spot so she says well you know there's this little boy they get in the bedtime story mom gets ready to read the story she opens the bible she opens to Daniel 3 and mommy says there's three little three boys just like you really yeah what's the name Shadrach Meshach and Abednego okay all right and then she reads the story and she says so what did you learn I learned three things Shadrach Meshach and Abednego okay so had to tell it all right so anyway all right but the thing here is this though so Daniel had really set himself apart to the point where you" [00:16:42]

"nebuchadnezzar had put him in the royal court put him over everything because of his tremendous wisdom interpretation and everything else and so what daniel did is he got hit three of his friends and had them and had him over the province so daniel was in the royal court and his three friends were doing the on -site admin and they were all gifted they're all doing a great job everybody was jealous all of them all of the satraps and precepts and governors and everything they couldn't stand them because everything they touched just just went great and the thing is when you put god first in what you do god will bless the work of your hands i'm telling you as a witness if you put god first in what you do and don't be afraid of being your very best self god will bless the work of your hands he's faithful in that way and so you know these guys ate vegetables these guys worship god they were worshiped their god obviously but here's what happened sometimes carnality human competition can throw a wrench in the machine so you know ramses iii was full of himself and so he makes a statue like a hundred feet tall which is humongous and it's made it's made out of marble and it's of him you" [00:18:21]

"So when Nebuchadnezzar finds out about this, this is terrible because he's in love with these guys, all right? They're doing good work. Why does he want to mess it up? But when he finds out it's true, I love what they say. They say, our God will deliver us from the flames. But even if he does not, we will not bow to your God. This is a different level of faith. It's one thing to have faith in an expected positive outcome to you that gives you the motivation to persevere through trial." [00:22:00]

"What they're saying is this. He has the ability, but whether he chooses to or not, we will have faith in our God. I think this is the most powerful form of faith. It's a sacrificial faith, or at least the willingness to have a sacrificial faith. To put yourself in the hands of God and say, thy will be done. To say, God, whatever the outcome is, I might not like it now, but I know you have my best interest at heart. I'm ready to do what you want me to do." [00:23:02]

"So you want to persevere? You want to make it all the way? Have that certainty. Take that action. Keep that focus and persevere through the fire. And if you do, God will show up when you need him most. He'll do it on a daily basis through those inflection points. And through this short life, you look back and say, look what God did. Amen. Amen." [00:29:39]