Joyce Meyer - Tests We Encounter On The Way To Promotion (08/24/2019)
Tonight's message explores the tests we face on the path to promotion in life and ministry, drawing from Deuteronomy 8 and other Scriptures. God allows trials to humble us, prove our hearts, and prepare us spiritually, teaching us to trust Him fully, endure with stability, and pass key tests like trust, forgiveness, and rejection to receive promotion and the victor's crown of life.
Desire for Promotion and the Reality of Tests
I'm gonna talk to you tonight about the tests that we encounter on the way to promotion. How many of you are looking to come up higher in life? Well, everybody is. Some of you are believing God to be used in ministry. Some of you are believing God for more financial freedom. You're just fed up with being in debt all the time. Some of you are believing God for better employment. Some of you wanna go back to college and get a degree. Maybe there's somebody here who really wanted to be a doctor or a nurse, and you never got the opportunity to do that, and you would still like to do that. We're all praying for something. I hope to goodness that there's nobody in this building tonight that's not praying for something, because prayer is an amazing thing.
Now, last night we had close to 900 people give their life to the Lord, and tonight at the end of the session we're gonna have another opportunity for people to give their life to the Lord. Now, if you don't have Christ in your life, then you have no option when it comes to temptation. You're just gonna give in to it, and you're going to do the wrong thing, and your life is just gonna turn out worse and worse and worse. But when you have Christ in you, you have options. And I wanna talk to you tonight about the options that you have as a believer, and the good choices that you can make that will help you have the abundant life that Christ died to give you.
Full Disclosure: Trials Are Coming
But I am not gonna stand here tonight and just talk to you about all the great things that God wants to give you without being fully honest with you and having full disclosure that you are going to go through things. They're not all gonna be pleasant, and you're gonna have to learn, just like we all do, to get through them and be stable and not let your trials and tribulations control how you behave and how you treat people and what you think and how you respond to God. We need to grow up. Amen. And, you know, I'm all about spiritual maturity. I think that's very important. It's not something you have to do to be saved. You're totally saved by the grace and the mercy of God. If you truly believe in Jesus, then I believe you'll go to heaven even if you just squeak in the back door by the skin of your teeth. But that's not good enough.
Because it's not about can I go to heaven, it's about can I glorify God while I'm here in the earth by living the life that He wants me to live. So, how many of you agree that we go through things? We get tested, we go through things. Now, you know, a child doesn't get to go from, say, grade school to high school unless they take some tests and pass those tests. And so then, every year that you go to school, you would take some tests at the end to see if you really knew what you thought you had learned. And I find, for me, sometimes I think I know things and when the pressure is put on, then I think, well, just because I've got it underlined in my Bible apparently doesn't mean that I know it. Come on now, you know what I mean? I mean, just because we sit and color in our Bibles, that doesn't mean that we know anything or have any kind of spiritual maturity. The way we find out what we really know is when we're tested and we stand firm.
Rainbow Days vs. Circumcision Days
Now, I agree that the testing times in life are not very pleasant. They're not very easy. You know, an interesting thing that I've seen in the Word of God, and maybe you've thought about this, maybe you've never thought about it. You know, God deals with us in different ways and He gives us different things at different times. And God sealed His covenant with Noah by giving him a rainbow. Isn't that amazing? And He sealed His covenant with Abraham by giving him a circumcision. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm voting for rainbow days. However, I mean, that's really a stark difference, you know? I mean, this guy gets a rainbow, and here's the other one that gets, you know, the circumcision. I'm like, well, what's that all about?
You know something, it's very difficult sometimes when you're going through a hard time to look at somebody that seems to have all the rainbows in life and think, what in the world is wrong with me? What am I doing wrong? Doesn't God love me? How's the enemy getting into my life? But here's what I want you to do tonight. I want you to make a decision that you are going to fully trust God. Fully, completely trust God. And you know what? If He gives your friend a rainbow, and He gives you a circumcision, which means the cutting back of the flesh, then you have to just say, God, I trust you that you've got a personalized, individualized plan for me, and even though this thing hurts so bad, I want to scream my head off, I know that you are going to work something good out of this, and it's going to make me a better person because God is faithful.
Value Comes from Going Through Stuff
Now, let me ask you a question. Do you really, do you really think that I would have very much to say to you tonight that would be valuable if all my days had been rainbow days? Of course not. But I've gone through stuff. I mean, I've gone through a lot of stuff in my life. I've gone through things with people. I've gone through financial things. I've gone through some serious health things. I have been through things in my life. But the good news is, is I'm still here. Amen? And that's what it takes. That you won't give up, and you won't quit. And always know this, God will never allow more to come on you than what you can bear. But with every temptation, He also always provides the way out. When you've had enough of the hard stuff, then you'll get a rainbow here and there. And maybe sooner or later, it'll all be rainbows. I hope so. But I'm still not having all rainbow days. I've got a lot more than I used to have, that's for sure.
God's Testing and What We Really Need
So, God actually will test us. And He tests us by not giving us what we want when we want it. Let me tell you something. God may not always give you what you want, but He will always give you what you need. Did you hear me? God may not always give you what you want, but He will always give you what you need. You're thinking, well, I sure don't need this. Well, you know what? You may not need it in the natural. It may hurt you in the natural, but you may also be getting something in the spirit. Do you understand what I'm saying? You may also be getting something in the spirit that is going to actually be the springboard that God uses to promote you to the next place. And to make you spiritually mature enough to have the thing that you're asking God to give you.
Let me tell you something. When you ask God for something, just because you want it, that doesn't mean you're ready for it. And it doesn't mean I'm ready for it. You know, when God first called me to do what I'm doing 37 years ago, I thought for sure, man, I'd just... next day, I'd just be, wow, worldwide, all over the place, you know, because God called me. I'm anointed. Whoo! And you know, if you want to know the truth, except for a lack of, you know, I've gotten certainly a lot more experience, but, I mean, when I was sitting in my living room floor teaching 20 people, I was actually really a pretty good teacher. And I couldn't figure out why God didn't let me loose on more people.
Brokenness and Readiness for More
Well, now I know very well why He didn't let me loose on more people, because it would have been a total disaster. I would turn the television on, and I'd see other people preaching, and, you know, of course, I felt like God had told me I was going to do that. And I remember, in my pride and haughtiness, looking at them and thinking, God, I just don't get it. I could teach circles around them. Well, that's probably why I wasn't there doing the teaching. And they were, because I thought more highly of myself than I should have. I don't know if anybody's comfortable with this word or not comfortable with it, but it is a Bible word, so we're going to use it tonight anyway. We need a degree of brokenness in our life. And that is not a bad word. It means that our flesh has to be broken, or circumcised, if you will. We have to stop walking in the flesh and learn how to walk in the Spirit if we really want to have what we say that we want to have.
Deuteronomy 8: Lessons from the Wilderness
I recall one time complaining to God, Well, I don't understand why you deal with me so strongly. I can't do this, and I can't do that, and I can't do something else. And, you know, I see all these people doing this, and these people doing that, and I see preachers doing this, and I see people doing things that you just are all over me about if I do. And you know what God's answer was back to me? And maybe there's some people here tonight that need to hear this. He said, Look, you've asked me for a lot. Do you want it or not? So you know what? In a certain way, you might want to be a little more careful what you ask for. Because to be honest, when you pray and say, God, give me a worldwide ministry, honey, you don't know. You do not know what you're in for.
We ask for a lot of stuff, not having any idea what it's going to take. Now, listen to me. What it's going to take for God to actually get us ready for that thing that we're asking Him for. That's why many are called, and few are chosen. Amen. So, I can stand here tonight and teach you from experience. I'm qualified to teach you the things I'm going to teach you tonight, because I didn't just go buy a book and put together a little message. I've been through all of these things that I'm going to share with you tonight. There are things that I believe that we go through and test that we must pass in order for God to promote us to the levels that we say that we want to be in. Is anybody up for that tonight?
The Humbling and Proving in Deuteronomy 8
Okay. All right. Come on. Give God a big praise. Tests that we encounter on our way to promotion. You're going to find tonight that some of the things that you're going through that you think are so crazy, everybody has to confront these things at different times in their life. So first of all, God does test us. Psalm 7 verse 9 says, God tries the hearts, emotions, and thinking powers. He is a righteous God. Or in other words, He tests us and tries us, and He's right in doing so. You know why? Because we belong to God, and He has the right to find out if we actually are going to hold up under pressure. Because God wants to do more through us.
You know, I recall one time, and anybody here who wants to be used greatly by God, I want you to listen to what I'm going to say. I remember when the Lord put this in my heart. He said, I want you to always remember that however many people you can help, that's exactly how many you can hurt. Amen? So when you start standing in front of people, telling them how they need to live their life, even if it's your kids, come on now. You need to make sure you've got the goods. It doesn't do much good to tell everybody else what to do, and then not be living it yourself. That's what's caused some of the tragedies that we've had in the body of Christ over the last 20 or 30 years.
Testing Through Pressure and Deuteronomy 8
So, we do encounter tests. Jeremiah 11.20 says, God tests the heart and mind. Well, how do you test anything? Put a little pressure on it. It's not a bad thing. We don't have to be comfortable all the time. The Bible says, be instant in season and out, whether it's convenient or it's not. You test a thing by requiring it to do what it says that it can do. How many of you don't like it if you go buy a brand new coffee pot, and you take it home and plug it in, and it won't work? That's frustrating, isn't it? You wanted to get what you thought that you were getting.
You test something by requiring it to manifest what it says it can do. There's not a person here, I would imagine, who has ever bought a chair that you didn't sit in it before you bought it. Amen? I've never bought a mattress that I didn't actually lay on it in the store. I didn't care how silly I looked. I didn't care what people thought. Dave and I have not bought a mattress that we didn't lay on it and see if it was going to be comfortable. So we do test things, and God has a right to test us.
Now, Deuteronomy chapter 8 is a very precious chapter to me in the Bible, because I lived it long before I understood what was going on in my life and before I really ever knew that Deuteronomy 8 existed. So I want to share with you just a little tiny bit about some of the early years of my ministry. And you know, if you don't feel like you're called to ministry, well, we're all called to ministry, if you want to know the truth. Not everybody's called to a platform ministry, but we're all called to be used by God and to minister to people.
Small Beginnings and the Wilderness Humbling
Actually, more people are going to be influenced by each one of you one-on-one that will ever be influenced even by a ministry like this. If every single believer would really get out there and let their light shine and be the kind of believer that God really has equipped us to be, we would see some massive changes in the world and they would happen quick. People are waiting for the evidence of what it's really like to live for Jesus Christ. But I'm going to use some ministry examples tonight. You don't have to be called to that kind of ministry to apply these examples to your own life.
Chapter 8, verse 1, All the commandments which I command you this day you shall be watchful to do, that you might live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving to your fathers. And you shall earnestly remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness to humble you, to prove you, which means to test, to know what was in your mind and heart whether you would keep His commandments or not.
Now can I tell you that when you have rainbow days it's easy to keep God's commandments. It's easy to give a little bit in the offering if no matter what you got you're still going to have lots left over when you're done. It's easy to obey God when everything is going your way. It's easy to be nice to people and be loving when you feel up and ooey gooey and everything is wonderful. But what about when God is asking you to love somebody that you'd like to punch them in the eye? Anybody ever go through that? How about, yeah, of course.
The Loving the Unlovely Test
Well, one of the tests we'll talk briefly about tonight is loving the unlovely test. Oh God, just teach me how to love. Oh yes Jesus, I want to walk in love. I tell you what, we are so spiritual in church. And you know what, I know you guys are up for this because only really radical people spend their time doing this kind of thing. You're here tonight because you want to be here. You're here because you love God and because you really want to learn, you want to grow, and you want to be able to pass these tests and not give in to temptation. So a big hand clap for you. Amen.
A lot of you have taken vacation time from your work to be here and you've traveled and you've rented hotels. And let me tell you something, when you make that kind of sacrifice just to hear the word of God, something amazing is going to happen in your life. Verse 3 says, And he humbled you and he allowed you to hunger. And he fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Merciful day.
From Small Beginnings to Trusting God's Word
Well let me just see if I can tell you this story real quick. I had no idea why God was making me wait so long. When I had such a big vision and everything that I looked at was little. How many of you know that we can quote the scripture, don't despise the day of small beginnings, but by and large it's very hard not to despise them when you have got a big vision or a big dream in your heart. And I don't care what this is, if you need to lose 50 pounds and you're only losing an ounce a week, that's not going to get you very excited. But if you stick with something long enough, you will ultimately get there.
And it was so hard for me not to give up in those early days. In one way it was hard for me not to give up, in another way I look back now and I realize that God had me boxed in and there was no way I really could have given up, but I threatened giving up all the time. And I'm sure he stood back and laughed, just like he does when you threaten to give up all the time. Oh how I remember one day falling in the floor. Oh God! God! I just, I quit. God I give up. That's it. I can't do this anymore. And honestly I heard the Holy Spirit say, really? And I thought, well you sound kind of excited. What's with that?
Giving Up and Letting God Work
And here's what came back in my heart. The only time I really get to do anything in your life, Joyce, is the few minutes when you do give up. Because I was into such works of the flesh. I was trying to make my ministry grow. I was trying to change myself. I was trying to change Dave. I was trying to change my kids. I was trying to be prosperous. I mean, I tried until I almost died. I've been saying that for years, actually. One of our daughters, Sandra, she's here with us tonight. And she's actually working on a book right now called, I Tried Until I Almost Died. And most of us do that. Amen? We just get into works of the flesh, and we just completely wear ourselves out. And we're so frustrated, and we don't understand why we're not getting what we want.
Because, now listen to me, all we have our mind on in those early days is getting what we want. If you're single, you want to get married. If you're married, you want your spouse to be a spiritual giant. If you don't have kids, you want kids. If you have kids, you want the kids to grow up and leave. If you have a small house, you want a big house. When you get a big house, you want somebody to clean it. Then when you get somebody to clean it, you don't like the cleaning lady, you want another cleaning lady. Come on, are you with me tonight? Until we learn that it's not stuff that satisfies us, God really cannot give us what we want.
Yo-Yo Christianity and Stability
And so I remember one day, I remember the intersection that I was at. I was going down to get the mail, which was, you know, usually at that time, two, three, four pieces. And my goodness, if we got ten pieces of mail, I would just have a, man, that was a rainbow. Day for me. It was like, whoa! I mean, I would be excited. And, you know, but then when we didn't get any, I'd be done. Then if we got some, I'd be excited. If we had money, I was excited. You know, Dave would get a bonus every year at work of about $1,200, I think, and that had to last us. That was the extra money for the whole year. And man, I was excited on bonus day. But then we'd have to buy four new tires, and the $1,200 would get down to $800. And then one of the kids would have to go to the doctor, and it'd be $700. Then the refrigerator would break, and it'd be $600. Man, by the time we got down to $200 or $100, I was like...
Is there anybody in the building that's tired of what I call yo-yo Christianity? You know, you're up when your circumstances are up, and you're down when your circumstances are down. You're up, and you're down, and you're up, and you're down. You're up, and you're down. You're happy with the rainbow days, but Lord, help us when we have one of those circumcision days. We don't like that at all. Amen? Well, don't look at me like that. The word's in the Bible. It just simply means the cutting away of the flesh. God has to deal with us so we are not walking in the flesh all the time. He loves us even if we do, but we're not very valuable to Him if we're in that condition.
Stability: Who God Is Matters Most
He needs us to be stable and to be the same whether we're on the mountain top or whether we're in the valley. God has to teach us that it's not what He does for us that is the most important. It's who He is in our life. And He's never going to go away. And as long as we have Him, we have more than enough, and we need to trust God that no matter what, whether it feels good or it doesn't, whether it takes longer than I want it to, whether I understand or I don't, God is only one thing, and that is God is good. He cannot be anything else. He loves you. He loves you unconditionally. He has nothing but a good plan for your life and my life.
But we need to realize that He doesn't always give us what we want, but He always gives us what we need. And I know some of you right now, maybe if you were up here, you'd say, Lydia, I would like to slap you. There is no way that you are going to tell me that what is going on in my life right now could ever possibly be good for me. Well, it won't be good for you if you keep having a bad attitude and murmuring and complaining and blaming and making excuses. But if you say, okay, God, I don't know what's going on, but I want to learn. If I got myself in this mess, show me how I open the door. If this is something you're doing in my life for some reason that I don't understand, then please, please, please help me not to run away from you.
Praying to Stay with God
I mean, I've had to pray many times, God, if you have to tie me to the altar, but don't let me run away from you. Because I want to finish my course and I want to finish it with joy. Amen? So, if you go on and read this, which I didn't even know it was there at the time, it says so many beautiful things about how he didn't let their shoes get old and he didn't let their clothes wear out. And, you know, I had a lot of years like that where I didn't get anything new, but what I had kept lasting. And, you know, we don't like those times, but the truth is, is that when I look back now and I see those years when we had such financial need, God took care of us. We never had to pay a bill late. I always found what I needed for my kids, even though I had to go to garage sales to do it most of the time.
I lived in a lot of fear because I didn't know how to trust God. But God had... now, listen to me. God had to let me go through that in order to teach me how to trust Him for finances because if I would not have gone through those six years, I remember specifically, I would go crazy trying to believe God for what we need today to run this ministry for one day. What you don't understand now, you will understand later. We live life forward, we understand it backward. And I look back now and I thank God for those things that I hated back then. And someday you may thank God too for some of the things that you despise right now.
Beware in the Good Land – Deuteronomy 8
You may look back and say, Oh my gosh, boy, was I full of myself. I thought I knew more than I did. I thought I was ready for more than I was ready for. Let me tell you something, God's timing is perfect in our lives. And then he goes on to say in Deuteronomy 8, I led you all this way to bring you into a good land that flows with milk and honey, where you'll have no shortage, plenty to eat, plenty of everything you need, and then I love this part. And when you come into that good land, and you have houses, and you have this, and you have that, you have... In other words, when you come to the time in your life where you have everything you want, beware that you do not forget me.
Now that's the message. When you come into that time in your life, when you have everything you want... You know, it's easy to seek God when you're desperate. And sometimes that's why we stay desperate. Because we don't seek God as much on the rainbow days. As we do when we're hurting. And we must learn how to love God just as much either way, and to trust Him. There's two tests that you'll pass concerning money. How you act when you don't have any, and how you act when you got a lot. Having things can ruin you. They can destroy you if you don't have a deep relationship with God. Being well known can cause you to mistreat people faster than anything else if you don't really have a reverential fear of God.
Favor and the Victor's Crown
We have so many of these places that we go to. Arenas and things like that. I mean, somebody told me another story yesterday. We are told over and over and over. Here's one of the last things I heard. The lady said, we have all kinds of rock stars in here, and all kinds of famous people. And you know what? Most of them are really unhappy. You guys are really happy. Well, see, that's a witness to people. Just when you're really consistently happy. And we've had so many people say, your people treat everybody so nice. You value everybody. You wouldn't believe how some people come in here and treat us, and how they act, and the messes they make, and how they tear things up.
God wants us to behave well when we've got what we want, and not get what you want, and then do the very thing that He would not want you to do. Amen? The Bible says that when we endure temptation, in James 1-12, when you endure temptation, you will receive the victor's crown of life. Now, what is that victor's crown of life? If you study that out in some of the original languages, it means a badge of royalty. And it was something that runners got if they won the race. It was something that any kind of person in sports, if they won the event, they would get this badge of royalty. And that badge actually was a badge, I would imagine, and it gave them access into special places where they normally couldn't get into. In other words, it gave them favor.
Enduring for Promotion and Favor
And I tell you, there's nothing more wonderful than seeing the favor of God on your life, and watching Him do something for you that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know was God, and that nobody but God could have put you in that place. You didn't have to struggle to get it. You didn't have to lie to get it. You didn't have to play games to get it. You didn't have to be a people pleaser to get it. God opened that door for you because you were faithful to Him. And when we endure the things that we go through, and even though it's gut-wrenchingly hard, we do what God is asking us to do in the midst of the trial, then God gives us that badge of royalty. And boy, that's when life gets sweet.
Don't you love to watch God do things for you that nobody else could do? I probably get a bigger kick out of that than anything else. What kind of test can you expect to encounter in your life? Let's just get really, really, really practical. Types of tests that we may encounter when we're on our way to promotion. Everybody say, I'm on my way to promotion. Let's say that again. I'm on my way to promotion. See, that's the thing to remember when you're going through a difficult time. I'm on my way to promotion.
The Trust Test – When You Don't Understand
Okay, the first test that we all have to pass is the trust test. Trust in God when you don't understand what in the world is going on. Instead of saying, I don't understand. Why God, why? When God, when? Open your mouth and say, God, I trust you. It hurts so bad I can hardly stand it, but I choose to trust you. I'm not going to try to figure this out. I was addicted to reasoning, and I remember God just telling me, I had to give that up. You have to stop trying to figure stuff out. Because the more you try to figure out, the more confused you get.
If I would have walked in here tonight and said, how many of you are going through a time of confusion in your life right now? I can guarantee you it would have been shocking how many people would have put their hands up. But you know, the truth is, is you cannot get confused if you don't get into reasoning. You just can't. Don't let your mind rotate around and around and around and around. What's going on? I don't understand what's going on. I don't understand. I don't understand. Why God, why? When God? Why? I don't understand. Why don't we just use that same energy saying, God, I don't know what's going on, but you do. And I trust you, you've said that you love me, and you've got a good plan for me, and whatever I need to learn here, show it to me quick so I can get on with your plan. Amen?
Trust When Heaven Is Silent
We can learn how to fast-track through the wilderness if we'll learn how to just simply yield to God and resist the devil, instead of resisting God and yielding to the devil. Amen? Trusting God when heaven is silent. How do you like that, when you can't get God to say one stinking thing to you? How many of you feel like it's been a long time since you've had a really special word from God? Okay? All right, look at me. Same thing has happened to me. I haven't heard anything specific for a long time. You say, you haven't? Well, what's up with that?
You know what God expects us to do? Walk in what we already know. And you know what I've found out? When God wants to say something, He has no trouble doing it. Believe me, when God wants to be heard, He makes Himself very clear. So sometimes we might be just as well off that He's not saying too much, because maybe that means everything's okay. It's good for you to know that kind of stuff. A lot of the stuff that I know now are things that God has said to me in the past. And you know, I'm not saying that I don't... I mean, I believe that we walk in the wisdom of God, and I believe that we're led by the Holy Spirit on a day-to-day basis. But I haven't had some great, big, divine, super exciting word from God in a while.
The Security Test – No Confidence in Flesh
And I would venture to say that there would be a lot of other people in here, I mean spiritually mature people, that probably would say the exact same thing. Just keep doing the last thing God told you to. When He wants to tell you something else, He will. And it may involve some kind of sacrifice, so you might be just as happy that He's quiet right now. What about the security test? Oh my gosh. Philippians 3.3 says, put no confidence in the flesh. On outward appearances, and physical advantages, and who you know, and how many degrees you've got behind your name, and what neighborhood you live in, and what labels in your clothes, and you know, whether you're married or not, or single or not.
Our security can't be in all those things. If it is, we're going to drive ourselves nuts. We have options. I'm happy about options. One of the girls that works for me, when she first came to work for me, I said, would you like this? And she said, what are my options? And I thought, what do you mean, what are your options? What's wrong with this? But it was something that I learned from, because we do have options. And how can you even make a decent choice, if you don't know what your options are? And so you have options. I have options.
The Rejection Test and Its Pain
I can be insecure. I can need all kinds of compliments from people, just to keep me propped up every day. I can need a fresh fix of strokes and compliments every day, just to get through the day. If I cook a dinner, which, well, that's not a good example, because I don't cook. I better say something different. Let's see. If I put on an outfit, and I just think it looks great, and nobody gives me a compliment, I can still be secure. And if I like it, I can wear it, because I like it. Everybody else doesn't have to like it. If I like it, that's enough.
Do you know how wonderful it is when we no longer have to fall apart, because everybody's not falling all over us with compliments? Oh my gosh, I remember when I started doing these meetings, and trust me, they were nowhere near this size. I mean, I've gone out and done public meetings. One time I had nine people, then I brought five of them with me. I can tell you, this is exciting. This is a rainbow night. But I've had lots of other nights, and I was not a happy camper back then when that happened. My moods were controlled by what I saw in front of me, and I would feel very insecure.
Maintaining Confidence in Ministry
And I can remember being in meetings, you know, maybe I'd go to a church somewhere, and you know, it's tough when you're up here, and people are sleeping. It's tough when they're... You're thinking, oh my gosh, I better get done, I better get done. They want to get out of here, they want to get out of here. It's really tough when you're a woman, and you show up, and nobody in the church knew that a woman was coming, and a bunch of the men get up and walk out. Now, I've had that happen. That wasn't very pleasant either.
You know what God finally taught me? Anybody who has any kind of a pulpit ministry, listen to this. God said, when you're in that pulpit, you better maintain your confidence, because the minute you give your confidence away, you give the whole beating to the devil. Amen? So I don't judge whether I'm preaching good or not on how you act. At least I try not to. If enough of you act bad, I might still have a problem, but, you know. I don't just look at the one or two that maybe don't seem to be getting it. For all I know, they didn't get any sleep last night. You know, there's a lot of reasons why things like that happen. But if you're insecure, you always take it upon yourself.
The Rejection and Judas Kiss Tests
Then there's the rejection test. Wow. I don't think there's anything that's much more painful than being rejected by people that you want to be accepted by. We all want to be made to feel valuable. And there are people here in this room that are still suffering because your parents didn't know how to love you properly. And it wasn't about you. They had a problem. They didn't know how to give you what you needed. Maybe you grew up in a situation where your peers didn't accept you or you were made fun of. Or, you know, maybe you had a learning disability or some other kind of a something or other about you that made people make fun of you and laugh at you. And you've been hurt a lot in life and you've been rejected.
But let me tell you something. God never rejects you. You're never rejected by Him. And I love what the Bible says about Jesus. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. In other words, Jesus went through what He needed to go through in order to obey God and He got His badge of royalty. Amen. And He has access to special places. Amen. Amen. Boy, that rejection test, man. I believe that many times the devil launches an attack of rejection. A painful attack of rejection that wounds you emotionally just before you're about to be promoted.
Personal Stories of Rejection Before Promotion
I'll give you an example. When I was filled with the Holy Spirit back in the 70's and God called me to teach, and I was teaching a home Bible study, I got asked to leave my church and lost all my friends. I didn't understand it. I didn't know what in the world was happening to me. But Satan saw. He sees sometimes more than we see. And he launched an attack. And God could have done something about it, but he chose to just wait. Come on. God can do anything He wants to. He could have gotten Job out of the situation that he was in a long time before he did. But he waited. Because there was something that he was doing in Job that was going to prepare him for promotion.
Job lost a lot, but when he got through his test, God gave him back twice as much as he had lost. Whoo! Hallelujah. My gosh, I still remember the pain of being called in by those elders and being told that we were too radical and too wild. You know, we believed things that were not the church doctrine. That we either had to be quiet or leave. Well, being quiet wasn't an option for me, and so we left. And when we left, we lost all of our friends. I mean, it was just a very extremely, extremely painful thing.
The Forgiveness Test – The Hard One
And then I worked at a church in St. Louis for a long time, and when God was ready to promote me, it was a good job I had, but He was telling me now to take the ministry and go north, south, east, and west. God was wanting me to get prepared to do what I'm doing today. And an attack of rejection by a group of ladies that I worked with was launched on me by the enemy. And I'm telling you what, for three years I shook my head and didn't understand what in the world was going on. They told lies about me. I mean, it was just some absolutely horrible stuff. But I look back now and I realize that God did me a favor because I had too much trust in them, and where I was going, come on, where I was going, God didn't want me to take them. You understand me?
Listen, at every stop somebody gets off the bus. Did you hear me? And sometimes when you're traveling somewhere, there's a stop in your travel and you don't understand, and it's just a stop because God's getting somebody off the bus because they don't need to go to the next place where you're going. It's not somebody that would be beneficial to you. That's one of the tests that we have to pass, and letting God remove the people from our life that are poisoning us, and trust Him that He knows what He's doing.
What about the Judas kiss test? Mmm. Can you imagine Judas, one of the twelve, betrayed Jesus with a kiss? How totally disrespectful was that? Went into the garden and kissed Him. The one whom I kiss, that's the one that you're to capture. We've all had betrayal. Somebody that you trust tells your secrets. Somebody that you trust turns against you and gossips about you and tells lies about you. And I'm not trying to paint a sour, sad picture. I'm just trying to tell you that these are some of the things that you'll go through.
Stability in Highs and Lows
Now, in between, you're going to have a lot of rainbow days. I'm telling you, hanging out with God is awesome. I mean, it is amazing, it is wonderful, but I would be lying to you if I told you that that's all it is, and that you're not going to have some difficulties along the way, and we need to learn to be the same on the high terms as we are in the low times. That has to be our goal, to be stable in the storm. Is this helping anybody tonight? See, more than anything, I want to see people pass these tests and fast-track through the wilderness and get on with what God has given them to do.
There is one thing that I do like to tell you about God, though. If you don't pass your test, you will get to take it over and over and over again. Until you do. So you might want to just go ahead and settle down and do it God's way. What about the forgiveness test? Mmm. Did you hear that? How many of you heard that low groan that went through? You know what, honestly and truly, this is probably one of the biggest things that we face in life, is being able to forgive people when they hurt us.
Forgiving Like Jesus – They Know Not What They Do
And I love, love, love, love, love what Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You know, actually the real truth of the matter is, when people hurt us, most of the time they're acting out of their own pain and their own dysfunction. And they really didn't just like target us to make us miserable. It's just that we got in their way on a day that wasn't a rainbow day for them. And it didn't turn out so good. Sometimes people don't even know that they've hurt us.
My father, who sexually abused me for probably close to 15 years, over and over and over, when he was a man in his 80's and he finally got around to apologizing. Talk about timing. It's like, why couldn't we have done this a little bit earlier, God? He actually looked at me and said to me, and I believe him. He said, I had no idea that what I was doing to you would hurt you so bad. Let me tell you something. Now, he knew it was wrong. But the way he had been raised, and a lot of the incest that he had seen in his own bloodline, had warped his thinking, and he knew it was wrong, but he wasn't really just purposely trying to hurt me.
Concern for Their Harm More Than Ours
And I know that sounds crazy, but people hurt us out of their own weirdness and dysfunction and their own pain in their life, and no wonder Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And I know this is going to sound hard, but I actually believe that God wants us to grow spiritually to the point where we are more concerned about what people are doing to themselves when they hurt us than what they're actually doing to us. Amen? Now, I know that's a little bit deep, and it takes us a while to get there, but that's exactly what Jesus was saying. They don't understand what they're doing. They don't know that they're crucifying the Savior of the world. They have no idea who I am. They have no idea what they're doing.
Even the devil didn't know what he was doing. If he would have understood what Jesus was doing on that cross, trust me, whoo-hoo, because now it's too late. What? The blood's been shed, the price has been paid, and we are forever free! Amen! And look at me, and let me tell you something. When you make it through the things that you're going through, and God has promoted you, and He's using you, it's going to be too late for the devil to do anything about it, because once you graduate and get your degree and get your badge of royalty, nobody can ever take it away from you again. Come on, give God praise tonight. Amen, amen, amen, amen!