Proven Worthy

Chapters

• 0:00 Proven Worthy: Theme Set
• 0:19 Why Tests Reveal Who We Are
• 1:44 Two Kinds Of Believers
• 2:43 The Prodigal’s Downward Path
• 4:19 Storms, Success, And Subtle Pride
• 5:28 Keep The Standard In Highs And Lows
• 6:22 Self-Will Versus Lordship
• 8:52 Proven Trust: Money, Gifts, And Tithing
• 10:05 Church Family As Lifeline
• 11:11 Using Gifts For Self Drains The Flow
• 12:14 Light In The Tunnel, Not Just Beyond
• 13:11 Return, Repent, And Be Proven

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:07

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SPEAKER_00: 0:13

I'm going to be talking to you about proven worthy. When you walk the word of the Lord out in your life, you will be proven and tested in areas that you're going to wonder, why am I going through this? What is taking place? God knows how we are in our hearts. He knows all about us. But during the tests, those tests will prove to us where we are in God. Let us never forget it'll also show others in God where we are. Sometimes you'll hear people say, oh yeah, Goody, they think they are so good. Let me tell you, anybody that talks like that, you know right away that they're having difficulty with their spiritual walk. Don't be intimidated by that kind of talk. They are having difficulty with their spiritual walk. Every one of us, it takes faith to walk the walk. And no two of us walk the same walk. We're not faced with the same demonic attacks. We don't live in the same conditions. We don't have the same troubles. We don't have the same problems. But we're all tested according to the revelation and according to where we are in God. I'm going to base this message as found in Luke's Gospel, chapter 15, verse 11, and Jesus is telling us this story. It's about the prodigal son. A certain man had two sons. They make it a point to walk out the word of the Lord, to study the word, to bring themselves before the Lord. And then we have the type of follower or believer. They walk very loose, very materialistic, very carnal or fleshly, if you would. They walk in their own way, yet testifying and claiming that they are a child of God. The younger of them said to his father, Give me the portion of goods that falleth me, and he divided onto them his living. And the story goes on. We find out that this son takes his inheritance, he goes into a far country, and he lives a wild lifestyle. Very loose, very carnal. He wastes his substance. He thinks that everything is going to be wonderful forever as he walks in that way. We all know that when we walk, we all have good days. And we have days that could be a lot better. We have times where it seems like no matter what we do, it's prosperity, and everywhere we turn, the sun is shining. But then clouds start to gather. Maybe we get some news and we're wondering how we're going to get through it. The struggle starts, and then we find ourselves in serious storms of life. And may I tell you that when you follow on to know the Lord and you allow God to work in your life, and these times come and you still serve the Lord. When things are tough, who do we turn to? And so we're going to follow on to know the Lord. And when we come through difficult days and good days, it is proven to us, to those who know us, to the church. It is proven who we are and how we are doing in the Lord. Lots of times people say bad times come and people don't serve the Lord. I have seen people, when good times come, they don't serve the Lord. They just get caught up in all their abundance and all the change of lifestyle. And many people can't handle it. Some people can't handle money. Some people can't handle success. It's just like somebody is so humble, and when they start having good success, or they're maybe sometimes they move in their gifts and they're moving in a great way. And sometimes they'll get so full of themselves, they uh they become so obnoxious. People just will shut off and they won't listen to them anymore. There's danger in both areas. But the Lord will bring us through and he will prove to us who we are in God. Philippians 3, 16. Keep living the same standard to which you have attained. When God brings me up and I get above, and I come through that struggle, and we come up on there, we're going to live the same standard. We're going to still keep believing God. We're going to still keep reading scripture. We're going to still keep moving ahead. We're going to stay strong. And we're going to say, no matter what, I'm going to still keep serving the Lord. Sometimes people say, Why do you go through these difficult times? You are where you are. Because you have proved God true. You have found that living for Jesus has been most fruitful and beneficial to you in the kingdom. But there was a prodigal son. There was something in one boy that he was never satisfied in Father's house. He would live in Father's house. He would take all the blessings that Father would provide, but his eye was always looking back out there. What does the world have? You and I were there. That's why we left the world. And that's why we've come to Christ. And when we come to Christ, we understand that every blessing, every promise in the Bible that's given, everything that the Spirit of God has led us into, it's for us. And we're going to be blessed. The reason that some people have a difficult time serving the Lord and they think that the world is a better place to live is because they are self-willed. They have a difficult time surrendering. When we come to Christ and we make him Lord of our life, we accept him being savior. But when we make him Lord, it means that whatever it is that my Lord asks me to do, that I will do. And we have many scriptures in the Bible that speak to us and tell us it's no longer I that liveth. Paul wrote that, but Christ in me. And Lord, I will do what you want me to do. Get to know the will of the Father. Follow the Spirit. You don't have to be serving the Lord too long to figure it out that self-will is not the way to go. Self will cause many heartaches and many problems in your life. Sometimes you'll get people to say, no one's going to tell me what to do. In the kingdom of God, that doesn't work. When we walk in the kingdom of God, we want the kingdom of blessings, but in the proving times, what are we going to do about our self-will? And I believe that we have to surrender. We got to lay them down. The old man has to die. But the old man likes to resurrect, doesn't he? The old nature, if you will. It always wants to try to rise up every once in a while. Nobody said this is going to be an easy walk. When you try to do it in your own strength, it doesn't work out that way. But in the proving times, and there will come proving times. That's how we grow. That's how we move from one level to the next. We've proved ourselves at this level, and now God says, I can trust you more. It's just like receiving wealth. Can God bless us? Can God trust us with that extra? Can God trust us to move in this abundance? I always think it's interesting about tithing. We believe in tithing. I believe it's scriptural, both Old and New Testament. Some people have no problem tithing on$100 or$1,000. But if it's$100,000, now all of a sudden they have a problem. Would I give the$10,000 as an offering? When you can be proven with the 100 and pass that test, God can trust you with$1,000 and so on it goes. 10,000 and 50,000, 100,000, a million, 50 million, and so on. As you go, each level that you are proven on, so we find that proving is what promotes us to the next level. So if you can be found faithful in the little things, God's going to trust you with the more. There is the sins that attack us, especially when we're an early believer. What's happening is there's proving going on. Proving. And for some, they spend less time with the family of God. Going to church is not just all about you here and preach a great sermon to you. Going to church is not just allowing yourself to be in the presence of God. Going to church also allows you to know your church family, to know one another, to trust one another, to love one another, because the other believers in the church, they will strengthen you. We all keep an eye on one another. We all watch one another. If they're struggling, we will help them, whatever it is. We're not going to allow ourselves to be taken down by the enemy. This young man in the prodigal story, he knew he had some goods coming to him. He knew that there was going to be the results of business assets. There was going to be the family name. Many assets. And he said, I'm on all these goods for me. And I'm going to use it all for me. This is what I see going on here. When we get the benefits of the Lord and we begin to prosper in many areas, or especially when we get the gifts of the Lord, we move in the prophetic, or our faith is growing abundantly. And suddenly we realize I could use all of this and I could get very wealthy. Why should I work and build somebody else's church or house or kingdom? Why shouldn't I be doing this for myself? And that's how flesh thinks. That's how the enemy tries to get in. In Father's house, we all work for the good of one another. We all want to see everybody prosper. We want everybody to be healthy. We want everybody to be wealthy. We want everybody to have lots of friends. Paul was going to send one of his workers to Corinth to check on the church and to encourage them there. And the record that I want to read to you is found in 2 Corinthians 8.22. So you see, Paul wasn't just going to send anybody out to do what had to be done at the church of Corinth. He was going to send onto them somebody that was proved. That's who God uses. The more tests that you pass, the stronger you become, the more mature you become. Then the Lord is able to start moving you to different levels. People in the church, people who serve God, and you're able to minister to them. What was the test he passed? He proved to be diligent in many things, but now much more diligent. And this word diligent, it means active and zealous. He proved to be zealous or active in many things. He just didn't just do one little thing and say, there, I've done my thing, now I'll rest. No, we're involved in many things because the Holy Spirit will not send you to anybody to help them unless you yourself have proven to be found faithful. But wherever God would send, you have the faith and the confidence that you were proven and found true and diligent and dependable. That's what we need in the church. That's the kind of church that you want to be a part of. This son, the younger son, was a part of such a kind of family. We're talking about the prodigal son, but I want to spiritualize this and I want to tell you look at it as a church family. I want what is mine. Yes, God's going to give you things that are yours. Yes. God's going to bless you in every way. We're talking about a young son. He wants his goods. He is wanting to go. The church doesn't kick him out. He will leave on his own volition, his own doing. You're being proved. God is proving to you where you now are. You can look and say, Wow, I come through that test. Sometimes those tests are not easy. Sometimes those tests are very both gave in. Sometimes, and we're wondering if we're ever going to come through it. Ephesians chapter 4. These are some passages that this young prodigal son did not understand. These are things that we understand when we are born again. These are principles and truths that we understand when we come into the kingdom of God. And as we grow and as we prove, each level we begin to understand more and we become stronger and we mature and we develop. Ephesians 4:1. Walk worthy of the vocation, the divine invitation wherewith you are called. You've been called to walk in the Lord. And the Lord has placed you in the body. You can look at that as a spiritual vocation. God's going to give you a heart for something in the natural. And I'm not going to allow myself to be wasteful because that's what this young man did. He wasted. I cannot get across to you today strong enough. He wasted. He wasted his inheritance. We all have an inheritance. You don't want to waste your time and your life. This young prodigal son that I'm reading to you about in Luke 15. I'm sure he got up, and every day, what am I going to do? And he would just wander around, fall into some kind of a trap. He had a chance to be, you know what he did? He cut off the life flow. See, a lot of times people say, I got this gift and I'm going to use it just for me. Do you understand? You cut off the life flow when you no longer walk in the spirit and it drains. And it goes from overflowing. And we're fine, but all the time your measure is going down. See, the flow has stopped. And all the time, the measure just kept going down and down until one day it was empty. Gone. No more. And he's sinking. The flow. Where's Father? One day he had the realization that even the servants in my father's house are living better than where I am. I have made a serious mistake. And that today is what I want you to think about. Those of you who've proved and you're walking strong in God, keep pressing onward. Some people say, Well, there's light at the end of the tunnel. No. For those who approve in walking in God, there's light in the tunnel. The light at the end of the tunnel is the one that's in trouble, and they're thinking, can I make it and get to that place again? Verse 18, he said, I'll arise, I'll go to Father. I've sinned against heaven and before thee. There is not a backslider, somebody that knew the Lord and has walked away from serving God. There's not a day in their life that they're not reminded of where they are and where they might have been. I was talking to a chief of an indigenous nation here in Canada in one of my meetings. And I said, You're doing so good in the Lord. I said, I really appreciate what's happening in your life and your ministry here in the church. And he said, It wasn't always this way, Brother Don. He said there was years I backslid. And he said it was terrible. And I said, What was it like living that backslidding life? He said, terrible. He said there wasn't a day went by that I didn't thinking of how well I was doing serving the Lord and walking in God. Amen. Come back to the Lord. Let's prove to be true. Amen.

SPEAKER_01: 19:41

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