SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_01: Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the book of 1 Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We started last week.
SPEAKER_01: And what I'm calling it is Peter's principles for prevailing over the problems.
SPEAKER_01: Does anyone in the room have a problem or two?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So we life is full of problems.
SPEAKER_01: You could almost define life as problems and how you navigate it.
SPEAKER_01: And I think if you if we were to define success, um, we could probably say success is how well do you navigate problems?
SPEAKER_01: Because you're going to have problems.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter, who created a lot of his own problems.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody here create your own problems a lot?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just we'll just get that's a given here.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not gonna hammer anybody here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna say we all create our own problems.
SPEAKER_01: But in this case, Peter is actually talking about a persecuted church.
SPEAKER_01: So Nero, one of the great emperors, one of the most insane emperors that Rome ever had, came into power through matchinations of assassination, and then he also went down with matchinations and assassinations.
SPEAKER_01: What comes around usually goes around.
SPEAKER_01: What goes around comes around.
SPEAKER_01: So Nero had created a fire to burn down Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Great leaders do that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Great dictators do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's how totalitarianism comes in.
SPEAKER_01: You can't have totalitarianism without destroying the past.
SPEAKER_01: You have to destroy the past.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Nero did.
SPEAKER_01: So he knew that if he was going to get the people of Rome to have an idol to Nero, of which the pantheon of Roman gods meant that most people, if not virtually all the people except for the Jews and the Christians in Rome, had all these idols, then the best way to do it is just burn up all their idols.
SPEAKER_01: And then the only idol they can get, you know, at the market next is Nero's idol, you know, or whatever it looked like.
SPEAKER_01: So he burned everything down, and his desire was to destroy the history of Rome, but he needed a scapegoat.
SPEAKER_01: So the scapegoat became the believers, the Christians.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason he did that was because Christianity was growing like wildfire all over the Roman provinces.
SPEAKER_01: So they were really having a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll know that we're truly having a kingdom of God revolution in America when persecution increases.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So that's what we were praying about about Nicaragua, you know, a couple weeks ago, because of Britt Hancock and his team there with uh Mountain Gateway.
SPEAKER_01: There's, you know, they're having these crusades where I think upwards of hundreds of thousands, and the total of about three crusades was near a million.
SPEAKER_01: And Daniel Ortega, the socialist, not really communist, but sort of a communist, democratic leader is in power.
SPEAKER_01: And so he came against 111 pastors and leaders, and their trial was this week.
SPEAKER_01: We prayed about it every noonday all this week, and the verdict is still not out, which is interesting.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to just take a moment right now and I want to pray for the believers in Nicaragua and what God's doing there.
SPEAKER_01: So, Father, thank you for Nicaragua.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for even Daniel Ortega.
SPEAKER_01: You're even using him to bring about a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't know it, he's trying to stop it, but in reality, he's only increasing the favor of God and the fear of God upon the people through the persecution.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we pray that all of the pastors, all of these leaders with Mountain Gateway would all be released.
SPEAKER_01: They would all be released.
SPEAKER_01: I pray Acts 4, where John and Peter were released, and that signs and wonders would follow in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty exciting.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we all go through struggles, and that's what 1 Peter's about.
SPEAKER_01: So the Christians, we talked about last week, they've been dispersed all over Asia Minor, all around that Mediterranean, the north, south, east sides of the Mediterranean, they've been scattered out of Rome because of persecution.
SPEAKER_01: And it what's interesting is how God works in his economy of prophecy.
SPEAKER_01: I call it the economy of prophecy.
SPEAKER_01: That when we follow true, spirit-filled, prophetic voices, not those that are just saying what everybody else says or predicting elections and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about people who actually have a prophetic insight into something that affects us, i.e., Matthew 24 is a great example.
SPEAKER_01: And Matthew 24 is where Jesus predicts what's going to happen in 70 AD with the Romans coming and surrounding Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and so he uses that prophetically to also talk about the last days.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes in the Bible, I want you to understand this about how the apocalyptic literature works, is that last days doesn't always mean the last last days.
SPEAKER_01: It's the last days, as it were, to those who are being addressed at the time.
SPEAKER_01: So because of his word in Matthew 24, the Jewish believers living in Jerusalem, which is the first century church, knew as Titus the Spasian was coming in to surround the city, that's what Jesus was talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And remember what it says: run to the hills.
SPEAKER_01: And so they did, and they ran to Pella and they developed one of the great thriving communities.
SPEAKER_01: And Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that virtually no Christians were killed.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, a million Jews were killed during that work of Rome, taking over and just totally leveling.
SPEAKER_01: If you read Matthew 24, it's just like reads like perfectly with what happened in 70 AD.
SPEAKER_01: So, what we're seeing with Peter here is that this prophetic word, so he's this letter is what we call a cyclical letter.
SPEAKER_01: So, cyclical letter means that it went out in a cyclical way to all the churches around there.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so he's basically saying this is how we can handle trials.
SPEAKER_01: This is how we not just survive, but thrive under a nut like Nero.
SPEAKER_01: This is how we can continue to find joy and a prevailing attitude and a prevailing spirit during trials.
SPEAKER_01: And so it speaks to us because all of us have trials.
SPEAKER_01: And who knows?
SPEAKER_01: Who knows what the next year is going to look like in an election year?
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be some weird stuff, man.
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be, you we've talked about this a lot, so I don't know, and I just want to echo that again.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: But there's things that are gonna surprise us, but I want to challenge you at the road.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be shocked.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be surprised.
SPEAKER_01: Have a bring it-on attitude because God is interestingly enough bringing about a kingdom of God revolution.
SPEAKER_01: God's bringing a kingdom of God revolution, you guys.
SPEAKER_01: It's happening.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I listen to podcasts all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I listen to probably four or five podcasts a day, okay, from all kinds of different disciplines and stuff that I listen to.
SPEAKER_01: And one thing that just shocks me, I'm listening, and a lot of them aren't Christian.
SPEAKER_01: How many of your top people, top podcasters, I'm talking about like three million followers, five million followers, people like that, are reading the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And they talk about it and they don't seem ashamed of it.
SPEAKER_01: They talk about it, they talk about Jesus, they talk about Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I was listening to Bono of with YouTube.
SPEAKER_01: Bono was talking um the other day about his faith in Christ, how he gathers all his kids in there and they read the Bible almost every night, and he believes in the resurrected Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he said.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in the resurrected Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So it's not some new agey thing.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's talking about the historical Jesus, the historical Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He uses that word historical.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, it's happening.
SPEAKER_01: So don't let yourself get so inundated with so much negativity that we miss what God's doing through the negativity.
SPEAKER_01: There's always negative stuff going on.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we can get the paper and read about how many accidents there were yesterday and decide, well, I'm never gonna drive.
SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, we can look at all the good things that God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk about today this idea of rejoicing in trials and what it means to rejoice in trials.
SPEAKER_01: So turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Let's start with verse 6 of 1 Peter 1.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a bold paragraph, man.
SPEAKER_01: This is such a bold word.
SPEAKER_01: Because listen, let me put this up.
SPEAKER_01: Let me jump back on that PowerPoint.
SPEAKER_01: The question is not if we will experience trials, but when and how we will experience them.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to experience trials, but how are you gonna handle it?
SPEAKER_01: How will you experience it?
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's a good thing to wake up in the morning and go, I wonder what kind of trials are gonna happen today.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder what kind of trials are coming my way that I created.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how many trials today are demonic.
SPEAKER_01: How many trials today are persecution?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just ask yourself that question and then go, bring it on.
SPEAKER_01: Just say, bring it on.
SPEAKER_01: Say, bring it on.
SPEAKER_01: You have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Peter's saying.
SPEAKER_01: We have what it takes to handle any situation.
SPEAKER_01: First Peter 1, 6.
SPEAKER_01: In this, you greatly rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Underline, greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you've been grieved by various trials.
SPEAKER_01: That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold, that perishes.
SPEAKER_01: So we could say, being much more precious than the dollar that perishes.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Um, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise and honor glory at the revelation, Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love him.
SPEAKER_01: Though you now do not see him, yet believing, and here's where you need to underline again, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
SPEAKER_01: You rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, who writes this stuff?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what document out there speaks of trials this way, but the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: This is good news.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's so exciting about Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Easter is good news.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to get ready for Easter, read 1 Corinthians 15 every day.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, what's being said in 1 Corinthians 15 by Paul is everything hinges on the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Everything.
SPEAKER_01: If Jesus did not rise from the grave, your faith is futile and it's useless.
SPEAKER_01: If he did rise from the grave, we have everything we need to have a successful life.
SPEAKER_01: It's all through the resurrection of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Because any God that would take a man Christ Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, because he was a man and he was God, the man Christ Jesus, and have him die for the sins of the world, and then on the third day, through the power of the Spirit, come in to him in such a way that he's down in hell.
SPEAKER_01: He preaches the gospel to demons, he preaches gospel to the dead, he rises again is a God I want to follow.
SPEAKER_01: How about you?
SPEAKER_01: And so that's the same God that is using Peter right now to write these words to us that we can find joy inexpressible in our trials.
SPEAKER_01: So I think I see five things that are here about trials.
SPEAKER_01: Five principles from Peter for rejoicing in trials.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while.
SPEAKER_01: Stop there.
SPEAKER_01: For a little while.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, we can rejoice in trials because they come and they go.
SPEAKER_01: We can rejoice in trials.
SPEAKER_01: They don't, no trial lasts forever.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, I lost my spouse, so that'll last forever.
SPEAKER_01: No, you lost your spouse, and you felt the presence of the shock of the loss of your spouse, but you're gonna rally back.
SPEAKER_01: You are gonna rally back.
SPEAKER_01: We go through things in our lives, and these things come and we're not ready for them, right?
SPEAKER_01: We're not ready.
SPEAKER_01: So you're, let's just use my term.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say you're a level three maturity level for trials.
SPEAKER_01: You're a level three.
SPEAKER_01: But you want to be a level four, and God wants you to be a level six, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so what he does is he brings level four trials.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't bring level three trials because you've already accomplished so you've passed that test.
SPEAKER_01: You're good, you're you're fine.
SPEAKER_01: You can handle a flat tire, you can handle an increase in uh groceries, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You can handle uh disagreement with your spouse.
SPEAKER_01: But God wants you to not just be a level three leader, he's also calling you to be a level four believer in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And so he brings not level two, not level three, and and I mean they're there, they're all the time, but it's not a big deal to you.
SPEAKER_01: But then there's gonna be a level four trial.
SPEAKER_01: Because you can't become a level four leader, you can't become a level four disciple unless you go through level four trials, and they don't last forever because he's got level five coming.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know about you, but I'd like to pass the test and not retest.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: So my son, one of my sons, who took his what do they call it, LSAT.
SPEAKER_01: The first time he took the LSAT, which is a law SAT, he didn't like his score.
SPEAKER_01: It opened him up to these law schools.
SPEAKER_01: But he wanted to be at these law schools.
SPEAKER_01: So he decided to take the LSAT again.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd already watched the agony of this thing, man.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, dude, you're a glutton for punishment, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And uh he's no doubt, I've got to get, you know, I've got to get three more points or whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, okay.
SPEAKER_01: So he does that.
SPEAKER_01: It's hard, it's tough, man.
SPEAKER_01: Now he made the choice to do it, but that's a trial for him, right?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and so sometimes when you know that God's called you to this, you sign up for that because you're not gonna get there unless you go through this.
SPEAKER_01: And so God puts in your heart something greater and better than who you currently are because he's challenging you to want it, and by wanting it, he's gonna build your character to the kind of person that God can use who can handle trials at a higher level.
SPEAKER_01: But they come and go.
SPEAKER_01: Because you you pass level four and and you and then there's a whole bunch.
SPEAKER_01: Usually they come like waves on the sea, man.
SPEAKER_01: You notice that?
SPEAKER_01: It's like bam! Like, have you ever been out?
SPEAKER_01: I used to surf and stuff, and so used to, okay.
SPEAKER_01: I tried to get up on board one time like a couple years ago, and it's like, this is not good.
SPEAKER_01: Not good.
SPEAKER_01: This is very scary.
SPEAKER_01: Boogie boarding, yes.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but but you get out in there and you have these storms, you have storms, and then you also have the laws and everything, so you're there, and then it doesn't it feel like when you're on the ocean, the waves kind of come in a series.
SPEAKER_01: They come in a series, and you're picking the one that you want and all that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, same with trials.
SPEAKER_01: I think they come in a series.
SPEAKER_01: They seem to hit you and hit you and hit you.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like some point you gotta ride the wave.
SPEAKER_01: Some point you gotta quit standing there with the board and just getting crushed and decide I'm gonna go with this, and I'm gonna learn what I need to learn in the test that I'm in, because that test is gonna get me ready for the next wave when it comes.
SPEAKER_01: So, test.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, guys, tests come and go.
SPEAKER_01: There's an initial shock, but you have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: I think it was true of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus talked about the cross, but yet when he went to the Garden of Gethsemane, the humanness, the human part of Jesus, he cried out to his father, if there's any way that this test can be passed, please.
SPEAKER_01: But then when he knew the Father's will at the deepest level, he said, bring it on.
SPEAKER_01: And then he was ready.
SPEAKER_01: And for the joy, isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_01: For the joy set before him, he endured the cross.
SPEAKER_01: So what was agony became joy because he knew it was the salvation of billions of souls all across the globe because of what he would do at the cross.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Good Friday's about.
SPEAKER_01: Come to the Good Friday service.
SPEAKER_01: Just this service right here, you know, is three-quarters full.
SPEAKER_01: It'll be packed for the Good Friday service at 1 p.m.
SPEAKER_01: and it'll be one hour.
SPEAKER_01: Join us for that.
SPEAKER_01: So, number one, rejoice in trials because they come and go.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, we rejoice in trials because we choose authenticity.
SPEAKER_01: What do I mean by that?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the verse again.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse six again.
SPEAKER_01: If need be, you've been grieved by various trials.
SPEAKER_01: I love this because Peter seems to recognize that the people need to grieve.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, let's just let's just take the first century situation.
SPEAKER_01: They've lost their homes.
SPEAKER_01: The believers have lost their homes.
SPEAKER_01: Some of their relatives have been fed to lions in the Colosseum.
SPEAKER_01: Dad is not around anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Mom is not around anymore.
SPEAKER_01: They've been taken to the games.
SPEAKER_01: You saw this, you know, you saw this in the movie Gladiator.
SPEAKER_01: You know, they're taken to the games, they're put into the Colosseum, and they're just destroyed by lions, and the bloodlust of the people is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, probably I don't remember what the Colosseum holds, but I'm gonna say when I was there, it looked like it could hold like 40,000, 30 or 40,000.
SPEAKER_01: That was just the ruins of it.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality of that, let's be real.
SPEAKER_01: This is hard stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go through stuff, and I want you to be authentic about it at the road.
SPEAKER_01: I want us to be real.
SPEAKER_01: Let's don't pose, let's not fake it till we make it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, let's not be posers.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be authentic.
SPEAKER_01: And being authentic about it, this is really a hard time in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I remember grieving with so many of you during COVID about losing your job because you wouldn't get the you know the Fauci's auchie.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Um and and you had been in that job for years.
SPEAKER_01: Years kicked out, man.
SPEAKER_01: Kicked out.
SPEAKER_01: I said, really?
SPEAKER_01: This happens in America?
SPEAKER_01: Because of a vaccination, you lose your job?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was just such a totalitarian type move, right?
SPEAKER_01: But I agreed with you, and then here's what was cool is now I get to rejoice with you, because in most cases you got better jobs.
SPEAKER_01: You were set up better because you, here's why, because you were authentic.
SPEAKER_01: You decided you your conscience wasn't going with that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not putting this conscience on everybody, I'm just saying those that I worked with who had a conscience about that, you stood your ground, and then it set you up for a spiritual promotion.
SPEAKER_01: A spiritual promotion in your life because you stood your ground in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, that was hard, right?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are in this room, that was a hard time for us as a church to see people going through that.
SPEAKER_01: And I love that we were real about it.
SPEAKER_01: This is not easy, this is hard.
SPEAKER_01: And you guys remember when we opened up early, I said to you, well, you know, Ryan might be speaking next week because I'll be in jail, right?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I wasn't like pumped about going to jail, but one thing I knew is that I was gonna be up with a bunch of my friends.
SPEAKER_01: So that was cool.
SPEAKER_01: But it didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01: But the point is that you guys, we go through trials.
SPEAKER_01: They come and go, and sometimes they're really hard.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just say they're really hard.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to say they're really hard.
SPEAKER_01: And then you know what that does?
SPEAKER_01: It opens us up to the reality that we need each other.
SPEAKER_01: We need the family of God.
SPEAKER_01: We need people to pray for us.
SPEAKER_01: We need each other.
SPEAKER_01: We need to don't be so strong all the time.
SPEAKER_01: It's really okay to be weak.
SPEAKER_01: And then strength comes through weakness.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, it gives permission to everybody else to be weak sometimes by you being weak.
SPEAKER_01: It's called a testimony, right?
SPEAKER_01: Test I moony.
SPEAKER_01: Eyes in the middle, that's you.
SPEAKER_01: We like moy.
SPEAKER_01: We don't like test.
SPEAKER_01: It's a test I monie.
SPEAKER_01: It's a test you moy.
SPEAKER_01: And so we like to have a testimony.
SPEAKER_01: We just don't like going through it and getting one.
SPEAKER_01: Because testimonies come from test.
SPEAKER_01: So be authentic about it.
SPEAKER_01: Be okay.
SPEAKER_01: Realize everybody goes through test.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody has a test e moony.
SPEAKER_01: So first we rejoice in trials because they come and go.
SPEAKER_01: Second, we rejoice in trials because we choose to be authentic.
SPEAKER_01: Now look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: That the genuineness of your faith, that the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, we rejoice in trials because we realize God is testing the genuineness of our faith, the sincerity of our faith, the reality and genuineness of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Tested means is from docaminon, from the Greek, which means proof.
SPEAKER_01: It's the proof of your faith.
SPEAKER_01: God proves our faith.
SPEAKER_01: God proves the worthiness in our lives for faith through trials.
SPEAKER_01: So James writes this My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, and let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete and lacking in nothing.
SPEAKER_01: So the virtuous cycle of maturity in our lives is that we go through trials to build endurance, to make us more perfected through the growing genuineness or sincerity of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: So that's how we see if you're genuine or not.
SPEAKER_01: And how many of us are not here right now that once were here?
SPEAKER_01: There are people here because you've been through endurance.
SPEAKER_01: There's people not here because they gave up.
SPEAKER_01: They quit.
SPEAKER_01: When the trials came, they ran.
SPEAKER_01: They took off.
SPEAKER_01: And it was a test for them on the genuineness of their faith because they knew how to pose so well until trials came.
SPEAKER_01: So trials prove the sincerity of our faith, the sincerity of our walk with God.
SPEAKER_01: It's part of God's way of sifting out, using parabolic terms, wheat from tares.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Even Jesus said, I don't know the difference between the wheat and the tares.
SPEAKER_01: In the last days we will know.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's a harvest coming, church.
SPEAKER_01: There's a harvest coming where it all looks the same.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a farmer.
SPEAKER_01: My grandfather was a farmer.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a rancher.
SPEAKER_01: My grandfather was a rancher.
SPEAKER_01: But he had, you know, he had corn.
SPEAKER_01: And he didn't do wheat, but wheat's the example often used in scripture because it's a Middle Eastern plant that is harvested there.
SPEAKER_01: But it's the idea of the white unto harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And so we can see the whiteness of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: But within that, evidently there are weeds, there are tares in it.
SPEAKER_01: And as you go through, and now it'll be with a combine, and you start harvesting the wheat, the it's it's pretty interesting the way those teeth work, where they where they move mechanically through, scurrying through the wheat and the tares, so that the wheat comes forth and the tares get left behind, and so it is in the church.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are true believers, and some of you are not.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know the difference.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna judge you.
SPEAKER_01: But it's trials that sifts the wheat from the tares.
SPEAKER_01: It's trials that proves the genuineness of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're if you have genuine faith, then you welcome them because you know it's like iron sharpening iron.
SPEAKER_01: God is honing you, he is sharpening your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_01: Not as enthusiastic on that one.
SPEAKER_01: You know, isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, think don't don't think of it as a trial.
SPEAKER_01: Think of it as being sharp.
SPEAKER_01: Think of it being sharp.
SPEAKER_01: So uh Ricky Bobby Thompson here in our church, who cooks for us on Tuesday mornings, he's also an engineer.
SPEAKER_01: He's an engineer by background, his degree's in engineering, and he's also a metalsmithers.
SPEAKER_01: He makes knives and swords and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: And he made me this cool buoy knife, but really big knife.
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's razor sharp.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's too nice because it's made out of Damascus steel for me to actually use.
SPEAKER_01: So it's just on display.
SPEAKER_01: But if I was using it, I would need to sharpen it.
SPEAKER_01: And I carry a little knife about this big when I'm hunting.
SPEAKER_01: So this little Gerber knife does all I need done on an animal.
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of times at the end of one elk, if I've got another one down or a deer or something like that, I have to sharpen it.
SPEAKER_01: And so I sharpen it because I really dig this knife.
SPEAKER_01: And because I want, I need a genuine, I need a genuine blade.
SPEAKER_01: I need a genuine edge.
SPEAKER_01: That's what God's doing, guys.
SPEAKER_01: He's giving you a genuine edge through trials, through difficulties.
SPEAKER_01: Don't cut and run.
SPEAKER_01: Face it.
SPEAKER_01: Walk into it and say, Bring it on.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_01: You guys are good.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and say, So we we come with a genuineness of faith because we're gonna be sharper because of that trial.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be better people.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be more honest.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be more sincere because we went through that trial.
SPEAKER_01: So rejoice in it.
SPEAKER_01: Be thankful for it.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: Believe it or not.
SPEAKER_01: All right, number four, verse seven, and the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Number four, we rejoice in trials because we know it will eventually, doesn't mean right now, but eventually, if we pass the test, bring praise, honor, and glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what I signed up for is for people to see and to understand there's no way that guy could have that kind of attitude unless there's a supernatural power living in him.
SPEAKER_01: That's the glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the action is, folks.
SPEAKER_01: Is that we get to pass through tests.
SPEAKER_01: We can rejoice in test, because that's how people get saved.
SPEAKER_01: That's how your friends come to know Jesus, is because of them watching you and going, man, look at that.
SPEAKER_01: Look how they act under these conditions.
SPEAKER_01: And um, I want to be like that.
SPEAKER_01: There's something, there's something different about that person.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, a lot of us would say, well, what they see different in me is the other side.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, that's all right.
SPEAKER_01: There's parts of that too, but you're gonna get it.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna get there.
SPEAKER_01: Folks, you're gonna get there.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to pass those tests, and you're gonna be a stronger person.
SPEAKER_01: And people are going to notice it.
SPEAKER_01: My wife is so good at this.
SPEAKER_01: She's such a joyful person, and she's always meeting people at grocery stores and stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, she wears some interesting sweatshirts that kind of proclaim her faith.
SPEAKER_01: Um, not exactly um cultural.
SPEAKER_01: But then she'll get in these conversations and they'll come to church.
SPEAKER_01: And they'll come to church and they'll get saved because she was just loving or she was kind or she said an encouraging word.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are like that.
SPEAKER_01: I know your stories, and and and people are here today because of you.
SPEAKER_01: Because you invited them to come because you have a genuine faith.
SPEAKER_01: And people are looking for genuine, sincere faith, not posers and fakers, but people who are genuine.
SPEAKER_01: And that happens through trials.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8 Whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SPEAKER_01: Fifthly, we can rejoice in trials because our salvation is being made secure.
SPEAKER_01: Our salvation is being made secure.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm gonna confuse you.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody struggles with sin.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody here is not perfect.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: You may be perfect for a moment or two, but you're you're gonna mess up, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um I think you can go days, weeks being perfect, but you're still gonna at some point fall into sin.
SPEAKER_01: Now, that's called in Hebrews 12, 1, the entanglement of sin.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we get entangled in sin.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, folks, it's important.
SPEAKER_01: If you're involved in habitual sin and it doesn't bother you that much, you have reason to doubt whether you're saved or not.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're involved in habitual sin, it doesn't even bother you that much anymore, you may not be saved.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm a salvation security guy all the way.
SPEAKER_01: But here's why I say that.
SPEAKER_01: Because of what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus said this when he was asked the question: Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of the Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?
SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty fruitful Christian, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
SPEAKER_01: Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: Practice lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: That's the operable word here.
SPEAKER_01: So, church, here's my question today: Are you saved?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody can answer that question but Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But in your heart, if you continually doubt your salvation, it might be that you're not saved.
SPEAKER_01: Or it means that you've got an enslavement to a sin that you need to be set free from by giving it all to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Surrendering it all to Him.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the answer.
SPEAKER_01: Whether we are or we not, only God knows.
SPEAKER_01: But why not drive a stake in the ground?
SPEAKER_01: Why not drive a stake in the ground and make Jesus Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Not just your savior, but your king.
SPEAKER_01: Not just, you know, this prince over here that you like because he looks really good, and you're an American, so you're not a Buddhist, and you're not a Muslim, so you must be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Or make him king over your life.
SPEAKER_01: To say, I can't do this Christian life in my own power.
SPEAKER_01: I do not have what it takes.
SPEAKER_01: You've got everything that I need.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I'm saved or not.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm gonna drive a stake in the ground and say, I am today.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm gonna make you Lord and King.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna invite him into my heart.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna believe and trust him in a new, articulate, powerful, genuine way.
SPEAKER_01: That's how you know.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know Marcus Vihil, one of our pastors?
SPEAKER_01: I baptized that guy three times and he wasn't saved.
SPEAKER_01: Marcus, haven't we done this before?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is a second time, Pastor.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is a third time, Pastor said.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to keep doing this.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I think I need to.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't know he was selling drugs to all the youth in the youth group.
SPEAKER_01: This is an other church, not here.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, just want to make clarify that, all right?
SPEAKER_01: Um I guess the fourth was the charm.
SPEAKER_01: Because it got radically saved.
SPEAKER_01: This is now 12 years ago, and it really stuck.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want you to do right now is I just want all you guys to just bow your heads where you're at.
SPEAKER_01: This is for the believer and for the unbeliever.
SPEAKER_01: This is for you who have confidence, you that lack confidence.
SPEAKER_01: It's for all of us in this room that you know in your heart you need to drive a stake in the ground and make Jesus King.
SPEAKER_01: Make Jesus Lord, not just your savior, not just your friend, not just your buddy, but the king over your life.
SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna surrender everything to him.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, yes, yes, all over the auditorium.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, amen, yes and amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yes and keep those hands up.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jesus, would you go with supernatural salvation power, sanctification power, lordship, kingship power on those that are raising their hands in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_01: And if there's any sense of doubt within them, I pray you start to wipe that out as the days and the weeks and the months go by, and there would be a new kind of confidence, a new kind of joy, a new kind of rejoicing in their life because of the work of your spirit today.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Forn for War podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit steveholtonline.org.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.