Pushed Into Purpose - Tim Timberlake

What if the pain you’re trying to escape is actually the thing God is using to push you into your purpose?

In this powerful message, Pastor Tim Timberlake unpacks Acts 8:1-2 and reveals how persecution, pain, pressure, and unexpected hardship can become the very tools God uses to position you for purpose. Through the story of Stephen’s death, Saul’s transformation, and the faithfulness of unnamed “devout men,” this message will challenge you to remain faithful when life gets difficult.

If you’ve felt buried by life, overlooked, attacked, discouraged, or confused by what God is allowing—you need this message.

You are not being buried. You are being planted.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey, I'm Tim Timberlake, and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Celebration Church podcast. I hope this message encouraged you, strengthened your faith, and gave you something you can carry into your week. If you'd like to stay connected, I encourage you to join us live every Sunday at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. on YouTube. We would love to have you there. And if you're ever in the Jacksonville, Florida area, come see us in person. We have a seat saved for you. Thanks again for being with us. We're so grateful for you, and see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

The Lord is good. The Lord is good. And all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

If this is your first time the celebration church, wave at me so we can acknowledge you. How you doing? It's good to see you. How are y'all?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

How are you? It's good to see y'all.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

I was uh in the lobby in between our 9 and 11. I met a brand new sister who flew in from New York. She's right here. Put your hands. She's flown down eight times to be in service. It's amazing. We honor that. We honor what God is doing. We're glad that you're here. Whether you're in the room or watching online via celebration everywhere. We love you. We are expectant for what Jesus is going to do in and through your life today. Amen. I believe he's going to speak to you. I believe that he's going to change some things that need to be changed. And he's going to transform you from the inside out so that when people see you, they see him. When people hear you, they hear him. When people see you walk, they say they walk like Jesus. And that is the power of the word of God. Not that we would hear it and say the same, but that we would hear it, apply it, and be changed and transformed and have our minds renewed by the Word of God. Amen? And so today, as we continue through the Acts of the Apostles, we find ourselves at Acts chapter 8, beginning at verse number 1. I'm going to read to you only two scriptures today. We will spend the majority of our time in the text on Acts chapter 8, verse 2. A very short scripture, but very powerful and profound. And I believe it will mark you, change you, and allow you to lead differently than the way you came. So Acts chapter 8, beginning at verse number 1, the NASB translation, scripture reads, Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered, scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And some devout men buried Stephan and made loud lamentations over him. Some devout men buried Stephan and made loud lamentations over him. For a moment, I want to utilize these two verses for our subject for our time together today, entitled Pushed into Purpose. Pushed into Purpose. Let's pray. Devilly Father, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would speak to us, allow us to leave differently than the way we came. We declare that you alone are worthy of all of the honor, all of the praise, and all of the glory. And so we give it to you. We ask, God, that you would make much of our lives and get glory out of it. In the name of Jesus, we pray. And everybody that agrees, what time we're allowed, can you shout amen? Can take your seats. Ended up at Acts chapter 8, verse 1. And as we traveled through the conclusion of the book of Acts chapter 7, verse 60, we talked through pain and how pain serves a purpose. Today, as we land in verse number 1, in chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, we see the people of God being pushed into purpose. What I've learned about God is oftentimes He will utilize pain to teach you what comfort never could. And the reality of your life is that you would not be in the place that you are in right now had it not been for pain pushing you there. And some of you, you've been praying and you've been believing, and you've been expecting, and God has been delivering what you've been praying for in the vehicle of pain, and you have not paid attention to it because it did not arrive the way you expected it to. It pushes us closer to the feet of Jesus and it pushes us close to understanding what it is he desires for us, and more importantly, what it is he desires from us. And here we find ourselves in the text, seeing the church under pressure. We see violence escalating. We see fear spreading, but tucked in between the chaos, God hides a holy moment. Verse number one, these words are powerful. Saul was in hearty agreement. This is not passive approval. And as a matter of fact, the Greek word of this implies act of delight, full consent, alignment of will. He was not only in attendance, he was giving his authority to what was happening. And oftentimes we believe that we have to be vocal to agree with someone when in fact you just have to be present. And Saul, he is not watching. He is agreeing with this murder. And the revelation in this portion of verse chapter 1 is that the same man approving death, God will soon use to preach life. Which allows us to understand that it is unwise for us to judge a person based upon how we met them, because God can do anything with anyone anytime he wants to do it. Did God not change you? Did he not save you? Did he not deliver you? Did he not set you free? Did he not unshackle you, unchain you, remove yokes and burdens from your shoulders, knowing the sin that you were carrying when you came to him? He sure did. And isn't it crazy, y'all? Isn't it crazy? How we judge people in their current sin when God delivered us from that same sin two years ago. We have a tendency to cross our eyes and turn our nose up at people because they're struggling with the same sin that we got delivered from last week. So be very cautious with how you judge someone based upon how you met them, because as you see an attacker, God sees an anointing. As you see a persecutor, God sees a future preacher. As you see an enemy, God sees a gospel avenger. And so Saul is standing here, and the same man that's approving this death will soon be the same man God uses to preach life. And in your own life, if you do inventory and you go back through the books of time, you will see that God often introduced your future through tense moments of pressure. And then scripture continues by saying a great persecution began. This is organized, this is intentional pressure, this is not random suffering, this is targeted opposition, and everything that the enemy does, he does it through great intentionality. Every opposition, every enemy, every demon, everything that you have to face in this life is not by happenstance or kowinky dink. It is intentionally designed by the enemy to get you off of the path of righteousness and focus more on him and what he's doing than you would focus on what God said and what God is actually doing. But if you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the Word of God says he will deliver you from them all. And so as we read this passage, a great persecution began. This persecution, it was not just the enemy attacking people, it was the enemy's attempt to attack the gospel and the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What it teaches us is that persecution is often confirmation that something powerful is happening. And the enemy does not persecute his own. He persecutes those that are opposing him. And so if you're being persecuted and if you're suffering, if you're going through pain, if you're in a season of trial, tribulation, a season of confusion, maybe even chaos, it could be that you are headed in the right direction. Because persecution is often confirmation that something powerful is happening. Then scripture continues to read, they were scattered. This word means that they were sown like seed for a harvest of souls. They would not yet know how significant and seismic it would be. They thought they were being driven out, but God was spreading them out. He utilized this pain and this persecution and the death of Stephan to ignite purpose on the inside of them that could not be displaced, only positioned by divine destiny to fulfill the great commission in the earth, so that we today would have the gospel of Jesus Christ. Little did they know that this moment would be a moment people would talk about over 2,000 years later because they dared to believe that God was still good in the face of adversity. Little did they know against all odds who they believed in would still be moving over 2,000 years later, saving, healing, delivering, setting the captives free, because a group of people dared to remain faithful in the face of adversaries, and that is why scripture calls them devout men in verse number two. It says some devout men buried Stephan. And for me, this is where the text slows down. It doesn't say some apostles buried Stephan, some rabbis, some priests, some elite. It says some devout men buried Stephan. These devout men had to have been impacted by the life of Stephan because they stayed around after he was murdered to collect his things and make sure that his body had dignity as they buried him. You can tell a lot about how a person treats someone when that person that they are stewarding no longer can do anything for them. And they still provide dignity for the person that they are stewarding when after that person is gone. As I read this last night, I was reminded of my godmother calling me one night, and she told me, I need you to come over to the house, Mark. He's dead in the bathtub. My godfather and I rushed over to the house, and sure enough, he was lying dead in the bathtub, and I pulled him out. And the first thing that I did was I dried his body. I covered him in towels, and we called EMT, and they came. And before I would let them in the house, I made sure that he had dignity. Because dignity was the only thing that I could give him. I could not give him life, but I could give him dignity. I put clothes on his dead body, I made sure that his hair was in good standing. I made sure that everything that he left with, he was buried with because I could not give him life. The only thing that I could give him was dignity. That same godmother who I loved, who was my assistant for 14 years, I'm in a meeting with her, going over my schedule, and she says, I don't feel well. And I said, What do you mean you don't feel well? She said, I need you to call the ambulance. And I called the EMT, and the EMT came and they put her in the back of the ambulance. And me, my wife, my mom, my sister, we followed behind them as they drove her to the emergency room. And by the time we got to the emergency room, they had told us that she had suffered an aneurysm and half of her brain had decomposed into her spinal. We could not give her life, so the only thing that we could do is give her dignity. Because we were next to the can, they asked us if we want to keep our life support to pull her off of it. We knew because she didn't have a brain, she would not have any life worth living. So we made a decision to pull the plug, and then she took her final breath. The nurses left the room, the doctors left the room, the people left the room, and we're in the room with her body, and we stayed, and we gave her a DNA. Because I refuse to let someone take someone that I love out of a hospital room undignified. My mom knocks on my door one night and says, I need you to help me get your dad out of bed. He's not breathing. I go into his room, I pull him out of his bed. We work on him for a little while, and after we realized there's nothing we could do, we called 911. 911 came. They got him, they put him in the back of the ambulance, they took him to the emergency room. They worked on him as long as they could, and they came and they told me and my mom there's nothing more that we could do. And I looked at them and said, just give us some time with them. The reason I wanted time with them is so that we could provide dignity for him. There's no way in the world I'm letting my hero go out undignified. And the reality was the nurses, the nurse practitioners, the doctors, they knew of who he was, but they didn't know him the way me and my mom knew him. They weren't attached to the stories we made. He was not their hero. He was not their spouse. He was not their father. He was just a pastor to most of them, but he was my hero. And I'm not letting my hero leave the hospital without escape. So I stayed in that room. I put clothes back on his body. I made sure every hair was meticulously placed back in its rightful place. I made sure that his hands were clean from the blood, from the needles that they had jabbed into his arms. I made sure that every tube that they placed in him was removed. I made sure that he was clean as he exited into eternity. Because I could not give him life. But what I could give him was dignity. I remember going to the viewing of the body. And sitting in that funeral home, being the first one there, and one of the last ones to leave because I wanted to make sure if I could not give him life, that he was carried away with dignity. And that homecoming service, all these dignitaries, president was there, all these pastors, all these bishops, all these apostles, all these important people were there, but he didn't mean to them what he meant to me. So I was the last one there to make sure that my hero, when he got sent off, he got sent off the right way because I could not give him life, but I could give him dignity. What we see happening in this scripture is that these devout men, they restored honor to where society and culture tried to strip honor from the first martyr represented in Christendom. What religion rejected, righteousness respected, what men disrespected, the devout made dignified once more. And so when we utilize the term devout, we're not talking about just any kind of person. We're talking about a person who has remained faithful even at the cost of their lives being placed in the crosshairs of those that killed Stefan and those that killed Jesus. This word devout, it's a very powerful word that means to be faithful. These men, they weren't famous, they weren't known. None of their names are mentioned in this text outside of the category of Luke, finding it important for us to know that these weren't just any kind of men, these were devout men. And the thing that I love about this passage, as it pertains to you and as it pertains to me, kingdom impact is often carried by unnamed obedience. And in a world and in a society that's fighting to be known, in a culture that wants to be famous, there has to be a remnant of people willing to carry things that other people aren't willing to carry, even if it means you won't be recognized for carrying it. That is what it means to be a devout man and a devout woman. Devotion, true devotion, it is revealed by what you are willing to carry when there is no audience, when there is no congregation, when there is no applause, when there is no pat on the back. True devotion is what you are willing to steward when you can't take credit for stewarding it. And that is what the kingdom of God needs, and that is what the king of glory is looking for. Not just any kind of men and women. He's looking for devout men and women who would lay their identity at his feet and say, God, use me however you want to use me to carry what you define as important that society and culture may step over and look past, but you see great significance in it. These devout men carried the dead body of Stefan because they wanted to restore dignity where society and culture had disrespected him. The reality is these few devout men were pushed and propelled into purpose because they saw great pain. And as I think about my own life, I was pushed into purpose because of the pain that I stored in. And the reality is, I would have never answered the call of God on my life to run in ministry if my father was still alive. Pain first must die. And in order for you to do the things that God has called you to do, and run in the lane that God has called you to run in, and storing the gifts and the talents and the anointing that He's placed on you, you have to do so, understanding the significance of pain and how it works together for the good of those that love the Lord. And so instead of running from the pain, ask God, what is it that you're revealing through the pain, and what are you making me into becoming so that I can carry your grace and your glory the way you desire for me too. Because he was dead. It lives because of the influence, the impact, and the impartation that was made by the person that is no longer here. Some people they preach loudly, they scream loudly, they talk loudly, while others preserve what was costly. And scripture teaches us these devout men, they carried his body. And I asked myself the question: what did these devout men look like? And what did these devout men do? How can we be devout men and women? And the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. A devout man or woman shows up when it's inconvenient. A devout man or woman honors what others overlook. A devout man or woman stays when everyone else runs. A devout man or woman carries weight privately before they speak publicly. A devout man or woman moves towards responsibility, not away from it. A devout man or woman refuses to let culture redefine what is sacred, such as marriage, purity, calling, truth. A devout man and woman are consistent when no one is watching. A devout man or woman has processes that they go through in pain without becoming passive or bitter, but remaining soft in the hands of their father. A devout man or woman treats every assignment like it matters to God. A devout man or woman understands there's great significance in the season that they are in, even if they don't like it. Because the future of the church will not be carried by louder people, it will be carried by those who are devoted to the Great Commission. Continues to say they begin to lament. What lamentation means is mourning while yet trusting. This isn't just grief. This isn't just mourning. This isn't just crying. It is allowing those tears to be prayers to your Heavenly Father. It is acknowledging that in my weakness, then I am strong. It is acknowledging, yes, people that I love are no longer here, but God, you are still here, and as long as you are still here, then you are still good, and you are still God, and I lean on you, I trust in you, and I devote my life to you so that I can see my loved ones again. For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. These men, they lamented, which was very dangerous for them to do because it meant that they had relationship with Stefan, and relationship with the criminal meant that you were worthy and willing to stand trial for your own crimes of association. But they cried out loud anyway. They didn't cry to the people, they cried out to God. And this is an echo of Jesus. I will say that again because you missed it. Who you honor in private will determine who God places you in front of in public. See, some of you you love public adoration, but you don't have honor privately for the person that matters most in your life, and that is Jesus. And there are only two people that really know that you are going to make it out of the situation that you find yourself stuck in, and those two people are Jesus and yourself. And you don't know that you are going to make it unless you talk to him. And so they honored him, they buried him. They were willing to get persecuted because of their relationship and proximity to his life. As I read this passage, and I see the tension between what Saul is doing and what these devout men are doing, I have to believe that Saul sees this devotion and it marks him. Saul sees these men standing up for this fallen brother and it marks him. Saul sees this devotion and it sows a seed of righteousness in his heart, so that years down the line, that seed of righteousness would reproduce a harvest, that many would come into the relationship of Jesus Christ because a few devout men decided to stay when it would have been easier to leave. He did not resist the murder of Stefan, which means he agreed with it. And silence can be very loud under the right circumstances. As a matter of fact, silence can be just as loud as a stone when truth is being crushed. Your agreement to something doesn't need action to be dangerous, it only needs your consent. And some of you, you see injustice and you remain silent. In silence, it is not neutrality. Silence is a decision. And if you see injustice and you remain silent, you are silently agreeing with the person who is being persecuted or put under pressure, and you stand on the sidelines while other witnesses lay their cloaks at your feet in agreement with what is happening. And you may say, Well, that's none of my business. If it is injustice, it is your business. You say, I don't know those folks. You don't have to know someone for them to be your brother and sister in the Lord. We not know soft Christians. Like, like we are not the people that run from confrontation. We are the people that infuse peace into confrontation with the love of Jesus Christ. And love without truth is manipulation, and truth without love is abuse. And so everything we do, we do it from the lens of love while speaking the truth in love. But make no mistake about it, if you see something and don't say something, you agree with what you see. And when that is your posture, you can only keep your hands clean for a limited amount of time before you start to throw stones yourself. Moving right along. History. It remembers the attackers. But heaven judges the ones who quietly approved it. What are you quietly approving that heaven disapproves of? What are you standing on the sidelines watching that heaven is urging you to speak up against? What is it that you can do that you're not doing because you're too afraid of losing the identity you've made for yourself or the influence that you've garnered or the little platform that you think you have? What is it that you are not doing because of who you think you are that God has called you to do? Because people, their lives weigh in the balance because you remain silent. And I just want to encourage you with this truth. Pain and discomfort will push you closer to Jesus. It will push you closer than blessing and breakthrough ever could. Because if you got what you prayed for the way that you prayed for it, you wouldn't even talk to him no more. And that's what makes Romans chapter 8 so powerful. He says, I'll take the good and I'll take the bad, and I'll make it work together for the good of those that love the Lord. He doesn't just say, I'll take the good and everything will be great, and your life will be perfect. You won't have any pain, you won't have any issues, you won't have anything you need to be delivered and set free from. Everything will be all good, all good, everything will be a bed of roses for the rest of your life. As soon as you receive me, everything will be perfect. He doesn't say that. He says that you will be persecuted, you will have affliction. He says, after you have suffered for a little while. On the flip side, he doesn't say that there will just be pain. Your life won't just always be painful. I know it seems that way based upon the season you find yourself in right now, and the discomfort you find yourself in right now, and the pressure you find yourself in right now, and I know it seems like there is no hope because I've been dealing with this for this many years, and this amount of time, and this many people have left me, and this is how my physical body feels, and this is where my mind takes me, and this is how things have panned out as far as finances in my life. And I know it seems like every single day you wake up and there's new pain that encounters you, but at the same time, every single day you wake up, new mercies encounter you as well. And you have to have your mind made up that if God is providing new mercies for you, then that new mercies He's providing for you, you not only will receive, but you will retain so that when you find yourself in seasons of pain and in moments of pressure, you understand where your help comes from. It does not come from people, it does not come from your job, it does not come from your business, it does not come from your employer, it does not even come from your sponsor. Help comes from the Lord. And if you get that mistaken and if you get that twisted, your faith will be rocky whenever life gets rocky. But those whose faith is anchored in Jesus are not swaying to the left or to the right based upon what happens. You understand? The pain is in my life, that pain is pushing me closer to the purpose and the plan that God has for me, and it will not leave until it finishes the job and the assignment that it's supposed to finish. And I'm not talking to everybody, but I do believe I'm talking to some people who are faced with pain and pressure right now that don't know which way to jump from them, that don't know the timeline, or when you're coming out, or when you're going over, or when God is gonna bring you through. But I just came to encourage you to go keep going, you can't stop you. You're gonna win this battle, but it is a battle, scripture says fight. It is a fight, but if you keep fighting, you win. Well, Pastor, how do you know that? I know that because the name of the book says so. He calls you victorious, it calls you more than a conqueror, it calls you overcomer, he calls you triumphant in Jesus' name. So if we can just hang on, if we can just hold on to his unchanging hand, I'm telling you, he will get you through, he will bring you out, he will pull you over, he will give you enough strength to scale every mountain and defeat every giant and defeat the pain and the pressure you find yourself up against today. How do I know this? Because I've seen too much, and I've heard too much, I've experienced his grace and his mercy when I have been in seasons of pain, and I have been in seasons of discomfort, and I have been in seasons of confusion and chaos, and when I lean on his word, and when I lean into his presence, he never has failed, and he never will. Point number two is this. God will always raise up carriers when the world tries to create casualties. God has called you for such a time as this. The talents, the gifts, the anointings that you have, those are not just for you. Those are for the people that will be impacted by you. Those are for the people that are around you, those for the people that you have not met yet, that God is going to use you to impact their life, to see them in eternity. When I say that God will use you, I mean God will use you, your imperfect self, your sin-prone self, your fractured self. God will use you. He's not asking you to be perfect, he's asking you to pursue and serve the one that is perfect, the one that is holy, the one that is true, the one that is still alive and well. And so he's not waiting for you to change. He sent his son to change you, and he absolutely will if you allow him to, and you accept him to be your Lord and your Savior and your master and your king of kings, and your Alpha and Omega, and all those other things you need him to be, he will in fact be them if you allow him to be. So God will always raise up carriers when the world tries to create casualties. The reality of this text is that you cannot erase what God has decided to remember. When no one is watching. Point number three is this. The kingdom is carried forward by people who refuse to let holy things be treated as common. I said the kingdom of God is carried forward by people who refuse to let holy things be treated as common. These moments with God are not common. These gatherings in his presence are not common. These moments with your Savior are not common. The quickest way to lose reverence is to become familiar with God. The quickest way to lose reverence is to not honor God with your time and with your fullness of mind and fullness of heart and to be in his presence, but your mind be elsewhere. The quickest way to lose devotion and reverence and miss an opportunity to see what God is actually doing is to be seated at his feet. While your heart is still attached to someone that's separate from him. And as we live in a world that screams mission, mission, mission, may we be a people that is so consumed with lifting those that can no longer lift themselves. That people say ministry, ministry, ministry. What does it look like to be faithful? What does it look like to be devout? What does it look like to be loyal? What does it look like to be unmovable, unshakable in the things that God has called you to be unmovable and shakable in? Faithfulness is not attractive. Faithfulness is not sexy. But faithfulness is always worth it. Hear me before you clap because I want you to hear me. Women, instead of looking for a sexy man, look for a faithful man. Men, instead of looking for a woman, they got a body yada yada, look for a faithful woman. Instead of chasing the bag, chase faithfulness, chase loyalty, chase, being unmovable, chase what it looks like to be righteous, seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Be faithful. And if you find yourself in seasons of pressure and in seasons of pain, be faithful. Be faithful when others run. Be faithful when others quit. Be faithful when others give up. Be faithful when others go silent. Be faithful when others walk away. Be faithful when others compromise. Be faithful when others fall under pressure. Be faithful.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor be faithful.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

Be faithful. Be faithful when you want to choose comfort over your anointing. Be faithful when you want to chase an applause, but there's no applause there. Be faithful when others forget what matters most. Be faithful when others look the other. Be faithful! When I just treat what is holy as common, be faithful. Be faithful. Be faithful in when God does only show up when it's easy. Be faithful. If you can find yourself faithful. If you can find yourself faithfully. The word of God. So if faith find you, may it find you, faithful. If pressure finds you, may it find you, faithful if chaos finds you and knocks on your door. May it find you faithful if confusion finds you and it often does because it finds me and everyone else that breathes. May it find you faithful, but what you cannot do is be faithless. Not under the pressure you're under, so that your faith could fall apart. The enemy would love that. The enemy would love for you to remain silent. He would love for you to think that God has abandoned and forsaken you. But God has not abandoned and forsaken you. The scripture says that he's with you every step of the way, even when you don't feel him, even when you don't hear him, even when you don't see him, he's closer to you than your own breath because he is God. And scripture says beside him there is no one else, which means that if he does not do it, it won't get done. If he does not come, no one else is coming. If he does not work it out, it will not get worked out. If he does not heal you, you will not get healed. But God is a healing God, He's a delivering God, He's a saving God. So our faith is not in our ability, our faith is in God's ability. But what we have to do is remain faithful. And if you can find yourself faithful, you will find yourself victorious. Look at me. You are not called to do what the world is doing. You have been set apart, you have been called righteous, you have been called a holy priesthood, you have been called a peculiar people, you have been called separate, set aside for such a time as this. You are not like everyone else. You are uncommon. There aren't many like you. You are one of one, you are different, and you have to understand your difference. And when you get a revelation of your difference, you won't allow people to pigeonhole you into becoming who they want you to be because you are focused on who God is making you into being. You don't break the way other people break, you don't bend the way other people bend, you don't run where other people retreat, you don't stay where other people have struck. You are different, and the reality is where other people are being scattered. God is sending you because you are different. What makes you different? You being faithful. That's what makes you different. Faithfulness over convenience, faithfulness over comfort, faithfulness when things get tough and difficult and hard. Faithfulness to the word of God when it would be easier to run away, you stay faithful.

SPEAKER_02 48:07

If it's broken, you better believe God is building. And if it's not fixed, you better believe God is working.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

And if things have not changed, you better believe that God has a plan in motion to deliver to you what it is He desires for you to see and what it is he desires for you to hear. Why and how do I know this? Because you are not like everyone else. Your life is buried in you. But what if God is planting you? But what if every time somebody throws dirt on you, heaven rejoices because the seed is being planted. So instead of crying in defeat, cry to water the harvest for the seed that is being sown through the sacrifices you are making so that God can get glory out of this. You didn't fall apart. You fell into alignment. You didn't give in, you gave up. You didn't throw in the tower, you threw your hands up. And you remembered from where your health came from. As I read this, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Psalms chapter 118. I will give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love, it endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say his steadfast love endures. Let those who fear the Lord say his steadfast love, it endures forever. Out of my distress, I called on the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. I will not fear. What can man do to me? You got to talk to yourself like that. You gotta look in the mirror and remind the enemy what can you do to me? You gotta remind yourself that the enemy is a defeated foe.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

That God has given you all authority, he's given you all dominion to trample over serpents and to stomp on scorpions.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

He's placed the enemy under your feet. So if he's placed the enemy under your feet, why do you keep elevating him in your life? What can a man do to you? A man cannot take your soul, a man cannot sift or steal your spirit. What can a man do to you? There's not an enemy, a demon, and a devil strong enough to stop the plan of God in your life. For the word of God says, the Lord is on my side. He is my helper. I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All nations, they surrounded me, and in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me on every side, and in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like fire among thorns, and in the name of the Lord I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling, but the Lord He helped me up. For the Lord is my strength. The Lord is my soul, He has become my salvation. And glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly, the right hand of the Lord exalts, the right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but I shall live to declare and recount the good deeds of the Lord. You gotta talk to the enemy like that when he's screaming at you, you're gonna die prematurely. You gotta talk to the devil like that when he says you got cancer and you're not gonna live. You can stand flat-footed and stare him right in the eyes and say, I shall live and not die to declare and recount the goodness of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 53:44

Sure, it doesn't look good right now, but the Lord is good. Sure, my body doesn't feel good right now, but the Lord is good. My circumstance and my situation, it may not be good, but the Lord is good. He's good. I said, the Lord is good.

SPEAKER_03 54:05

I said, the Lord is good. That is a complete sentence.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

The Lord is good, and if you know that he's good, and beside him there is no one else, why don't you praise him? Why don't you lift your hands, open up your mouth, and give the Lord some praise? Come on, you need this praise. You've been in pain, you've been under pressure, the enemy is trying to silence you. Release this praise and watch how God releases you into a new season.

SPEAKER_03 54:49

The Lord is good, period, and you need to say it until your spirit aligns with what your mouth is saying. The Lord is good, the Lord is good, the Lord is good now.

SPEAKER_02 55:15

Regardless of what's going on, regardless of the pressure, regardless of the pain, if you know him to be good, why don't you open up your mouth and give God a real good praise?

SPEAKER_03 55:41

Oh, I love verse 24. It says this is the day that the Lord has made. I choose to rejoice, being made glad in it. You could choose to be angry, but you could also choose to rejoice.

SPEAKER_02 56:04

You could choose to be mad, but you can also choose to rejoice.

SPEAKER_03 56:08

You could choose to be sad, but you can also choose to rejoice. I wonder how anybody that chooses to rejoice, be very glad in it, open up your mouth, lift your hands, and rejoice.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

And the fact that you're here is an indication that you are standing in the day that the Lord has made. I said the fact that you're still here is an indication that you're standing in the day, that the Lord has made.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

I wonder if there's anybody that chooses to enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 57:39

This praise is bigger than you. This praise is for everybody coming after you. This praise is for the generations that need to hear about the king of kings and the lord of lords.

SPEAKER_03 57:52

This praise is so people can hear about how faithful of a God you serve.

SPEAKER_02 58:08

Bring it all the way down, G, because sometimes we rejoice because the music sounds good. We we rejoice because we we hit a guitar strum, and we hear the drums bang, and we hear the cymbals clash, and we hear the keys clash, but I wonder how anybody listen to me.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:23

And the conclusion that I have arrived at is that somehow, somehow, God is going to get glory out of this.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:42

Therefore, I rejoice in the Lord always.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:49

Again, I say, rejoice.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:08

So, my prayer for you. My prayer for you is that God would teach you how to be faithful.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:23

That he would teach you how to be devoted, that he would teach you how to be loyal, that he would teach you that no matter what the storm is, every storm runs out of rain. That he would teach you that he is for you. And if he be for you, who or what can stand against you? I pray that he keeps your mind in perfect peace because your mind is stayed on him. I pray you're reminded that he is the lift of your head. May it push you into purpose. May it push you into the plan of God for your life. You're not being buried, you're being planted. Listen to me. Just keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. He will work out everything that needs to be worked out. He will fix what needs to be fixed. He will remove whoever needs to be removed. He will set free whoever needs to be set free.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:46

How do I know you're gonna make it?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:54

Because I know who's leading you and guiding you. The good shepherd is taking you by the hand. The word of God says, the Lord is my shepherd. I will not be in need. He lays me down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. What's happening right now, he is restoring your soul. What you feel right now is your soul being refreshed. What you feel right now is your spirit being revived. What you feel right now is the peace that surpasses all your natural understanding that will guard your heart and your mind when you keep your mind on him. If you need him to save you, if you need him to keep you, if you need him to lift you up out of sin. Out of the grave of death. I want you to stretch both hands towards heaven right now. Repeat this prayer after me. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Cleanse me from my unrighteousness. Forgive me from my sin. Wash me white as snow. I ask you, Lord, to do what I cannot do. That is, make me righteous. Make me new. Create in me a new heart. And renew in me a right spirit. Today, God, I want the joy of my salvation. And I ask that you would cleanse me. I confess that you are my Lord, my master and my Savior, my King. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.