Toure Roberts - Promotion Has a Process (01/15/2026)
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In this exposition of 1 Peter 1:3-9, the core message is: «Promotion has a process.» Trials and difficulties are not evidence of God’s absence but divine refinement of faith—the most precious asset in God’s eyes, more valuable than gold. True promotion requires purified, living faith that trusts God not merely to prevent trouble but to sustain through it. Peter, having survived denial and restoration, speaks from experience: believers are born again to a living hope (fiery expectation) via Christ’s resurrection, inheriting an incorruptible, reserved elevation. Yet this inheritance demands vessels worthy of it. God targets faith «if need be» through various trials to manifest genuineness, killing misplaced trusts (finances, relationships, expectations) and upgrading conditional faith to unshakable trust. Misinterpreting trials as abandonment stalls growth; embracing them as faith-development accelerates promotion. Real faith needs opposition to prove itself; every new dimension requires tried faith. Rejoice in the process—joy evidences promoted faith, heralding manifested promises.
Opening and Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9
We’re going to have a wonderful time in his presence here today. I want to just get right into it because I have a lot of ground to cover, and our thought for today—what I really want to speak about—is this idea: promotion has a process. Promotion has a process, and there are some people here right now who are misinterpreting your season. You’re in a season of promotion, but it looks like trouble, and I want to break something down.
We’re going to look at Peter. In fact, let’s go to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9, and I’m going to show you that promotion has a process. We’re going to unpack these verses, and I think we’re going to be blessed.
Peter says, beginning in verse 3 of the first chapter of the first epistle of Peter: «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again.» Say «again.» «Has begotten us again to a living hope.» Say «living hope.» «Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead—into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.»
«To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God.» Say «kept by the power of God.» Turn to somebody and say, «I’m kept.» «I’m kept.» «I’m glory, I’m kept. I’m kept.» «Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.»
«In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while—though now for, in another translation, though now for a season—if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.» I want to read that again: «In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.»
«That the genuineness of your faith, the value of your faith, the worth of your faith, the purity of your faith, the legitimacy 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.»
«Whom, having not seen you love; though now you do not see him, you believe; you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith-the salvation of your souls.»
Prayer
Let’s pray:
Father, thank you so much for this moment that You brought all of us into. And I sense, Lord God, from Colorado to California, to Zimbabwe, to Belgium, to Germany, to the UK, to the Netherlands, Lord, to the uttermost parts of the earth — You are doing something in the hearts and the minds of Your sons and daughters. You’re activating them, You’re making things plain, and You’re making things clear. And You’re gonna move in their lives, You’re gonna explain some things, unpack some things. I thank You for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. God, there will be revelation knowledge and prophecy and insight and truth that will seize Your sons and daughters in a powerful and profound way that will bring light where there was darkness, clarity where there was confusion — and that it would give Your sons and daughters the ability to run when all they could do was walk. It’s gonna give Your sons and daughters the ability to walk when all they could do was stand. It’s gonna give Your sons and daughters the ability to stand when all they could do was open their eyes. All of us will receive an upgrade today because of the words that You speak to us. We receive it in advance, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.
I dare you to receive it in advance right now. Come on, somebody! God didn’t bring you here for nothing. He brought you here to give you something. And I dare you to have the measure of faith — can you hold it up before it even happens? Come on, somebody — press in and get it. Let’s talk. Let’s talk a little bit. Please be seated. Let’s have a conversation here.
Peter’s Credibility: A Survivor’s Voice
This is written by Peter, and I love Peter for so many reasons. And one of the things that I love about Peter — one of the things that just really, really moves me concerning Peter — is that Peter had been through some stuff. And it’s like the older I get, the less I trust people who haven’t been through anything. Are you tracking with me? The older I get, the more I realize that it’s not the person who has never been through anything that’s the most valuable. I think what manifests a person’s value is not that they have avoided something, but that they have walked through something. Come on, somebody! Do I have any people in God’s house? Come on, Denver! Do I have any people in God’s house? It wasn’t that you avoided everything, it wasn’t that you did everything so well — it’s that you survived. Do I have any survivors?
Come on — and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month — do I have any survivors? Whether it was cancer, whether it was a heartbreak, whether it was divorce — if you are a survivor, I dare you to take a minute and celebrate the One who gave you the strength to survive. Come on, somebody! Some of you survived 2017. Some of you survived 2018. Some of you survived when people gave up on you, when life threatened to wipe you out, but you are still here. Where are my «still here» saints? Come on, somebody!
There’s something about surviving, and I can’t explain it. I love everybody — everybody’s cool, I’ll go to coffee with anybody — but the only people that can really sit at my table, really, really at my table, are people who have been tried, people who’ve been through something. Because we’re not gonna be able to connect if you don’t have any scars. We’re not gonna be able to connect very deeply if life hasn’t thrown everything it could at you, and in some sort of way you found within yourself to get up and stand up again and keep moving, believing that the best is still yet to come. And some of you are in the process of getting there, and you don’t like it — and we’ll talk about that. I’m trying to stay on track today, I’m trying to stay here, but I feel the spirit of digression happening to me.
Peter — I love Peter because Peter had been on every side of this faith thing. You know, when he first started walking with Jesus, Peter was talking big talk: «Lord, even if everybody leaves You, don’t You worry about me. I’m gonna be with You till the end. I’ll be with You to the very end.» And Jesus is like, «Mm-hmm, you’re gonna deny Me.» And Peter was shocked at the notion that Jesus would even insinuate that someone of his caliber, of his integrity and faith and loyalty, would one day turn his back on Jesus. Right? Peter was a beast — no, seriously, he would cut people’s ears off. Peter was something else.
Born Again to Living Hope
And then here he is writing about what we have to go through, what we have to endure in order to develop the type of insides that are worthy of what God has promised to us. And Peter went through something. It’s funny — as we look at this text, there’s so much in this text. I pray I can get through all of it in the time that we have together. But look at what Peter says. I pointed out the word «again» because he says in verse 3: «Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.»
What is he talking about? He’s saying that even Peter went through a very dark and difficult moment where his faith was tested unlike ever before. Peter — you know the story — even after all that big talk about never forsaking Jesus, never giving up on Jesus (remember all that talk Peter was doing? You gotta study your Bible, it’s really amazing stuff), all the stuff that he said he would not do because he was so committed to Jesus — and then he denies Jesus. And I think one of the reasons why Peter is able to so masterfully talk about how your faith has to be tested is because when Peter went through that, he did not lose his faith — he lost his fire.
You see, Peter had walked with Jesus. He had seen all kinds of miracles take place. He had seen provision come out of nowhere. He had seen when people were hungry, he had seen all these problems be met by Jesus. He saw when people were sick — they were healed. When haters were trying to get them, they escaped the haters. There was no poverty, there was no scarcity. And so his relationship with Jesus was only a relationship based on the expectation that as long as I walk with Jesus, nothing negative will happen to me. And then all of a sudden Jesus is removed from him. Jesus has to go to the cross, Jesus dies, and now his mismanaged expectation begins to rob him of faith so much that his behavior changes. He is no longer this ride-or-die disciple, but he becomes ultimately a coward. He didn’t lose his faith — he lost his fire.
And that’s why in the text he starts talking about how God, how Jesus had brought him to this place where again he received a living hope. He says, «who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope.» And I thought about that — like, what does he mean «a living hope»? And so, you know me, I like to look words up, and it’s two words that were translated «living hope.» One word means «alive» — that’s where they get the «living» from — and the other word means «expectation.» So what he is saying is that when he went through his dark season, he didn’t lose all of his hope — he just lost the living hope.
What’s the difference between hope and living hope? Hope is when you believe. Living hope is when you are on fire. Living hope is when it doesn’t matter what comes your way — you will stand flat-footed and recognize that no matter what comes your way, it is not bigger than your God. Living hope is when there’s fire on your hope, there’s fire on your faith, and you cannot be stopped. And the tricky thing is, oftentimes in life we get demoted internally from a living hope, a living faith — the faith that is alive, a faith that is innovative, a faith that is yet still creative, a faith that still has vision, a faith that believes that the future is greater than the past — to just faith. And it’s tricky because it’s not that all of your hope and all of your expectation and all of your faith goes away — it’s just not alive anymore. And it’s tricky because as long as you have a little bit, you think you have what you need.
It would almost be better for you to not have any faith at all, because then you would recognize you don’t have faith and you would go and try to get faith, you would try to do something. But what happens when your faith just gets a downgrade? Because what you expected — see, Jesus going to the cross was the death of Peter’s expectation. Oh, feel the Holy Spirit. And God wants to mature us in such a way that we do not lose the fire of our faith when our expectations aren’t met in life. Oh, there’s so much in this text. He wants to get us to a place where we do not lose our faith in God when life deals with us in a way that is, in our minds, not within the parameters of what it means to have God on your side.
Because all of us, up to a certain point, have our own perspective and perception about what it means for God to be with us. And when it does not fit into that box, when somehow trouble seeps into the box that we have established in our own mind about «if these things do not happen, that means God is with me» — can I talk to you for a second? All of us right now have this thing: «I know God is with me when He keeps trouble out. I know God is for me, I know the blessing of God is on my life when He keeps trouble at bay.» And the only problem with that mentality is that when trouble comes into the borders or the parameters of what we believe is our safety, then all of a sudden our faith goes from living faith to just faith, because now we have mismanaged the borders and the parameters of where faith should live. And now, because it didn’t happen the way we wanted it to happen, because our expectation of what it meant to be covered by God was disappointed, now we no longer have living hope — we just have hope.
Faith Upgraded: Sustained In, Not Just Kept From
Here’s one of the things I’m learning about God: faith is not simply about what God keeps you from. What I’m learning about faith is faith is believing that what God can sustain you in. I need to say that again because I was speaking in tongues. Faith is not simply about what God keeps from happening to you. Faith is about your belief in the fact that no matter what comes your way, if it happens to you, your faith in God will sustain you through it. Are you tracking with me?
So this is faith upgraded. Because a lot of times we think that if God was truly believable, if God was truly worthy of my heart, if He was truly worthy of my faith, then He would keep trouble out. And God is saying, «You don’t know how I work. True faith is not in you believing in Me because I keep trouble out. Faith is in you believing in Me that even if trouble comes your way, I will be with you in the trouble. You will go through the fire and not be burned. You will go through the rivers and they won’t overflow you.» That’s real faith.
If you think about faith itself — faith itself needs trouble to be itself. Let’s talk about it for a second. Faith itself needs something that is opposing it in order for it to truly be faith. The Bible says about faith in Hebrews 11 — you know this — it says, «Faith is the substance of things hoped for…» The problem is in the «hoped for.» Faith needs a problem in order to be faith. Faith needs a deficit, it needs something to believe for or to believe in. Faith needs something to be absent in order for it to be itself. Faith needs trouble. And faith also has to be proven, because you don’t know that you have faith until it is tried and tested. And guess what — it’s not even God testing your faith to show you whether you have it or not. It is God allowing things to happen to your faith to manifest what faith really is. Are you tracking with me?
And one of the things I’ve learned about God is that every new dimension requires a trial of your faith. Oh, I feel the Holy Spirit. Every new dimension requires a trying of your faith — not a test from the perspective of pass or fail — it is to manifest faith that is worthy of and necessary for the level that God has taken you to. Oh, I feel it. See, all you gotta do is live a little bit and you’ll recognize that going from level to level and dimension to dimension necessitates another level of faith, because the oxygen up there is a little different on the next level. You want the next level not realizing that you need next-level insides to even breathe on that level.
God Does Not Promote Unworthy Vessels
I love — let me tell you what God does not do. God does not promote unworthy vessels. You know, in the natural realm people who don’t deserve to be in position can be placed in position because of favoritism, because of family, because of finances, because «you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours» — that is how the world system works. Come on, somebody — casting-couch type stuff, you follow what I’m saying. But it doesn’t work like that in the kingdom. It doesn’t work like that in the Spirit. God’s not gonna promote you unless you are the real thing on the inside. God does not allow for kissing up. You can’t kiss God’s booty into position. You have got to be the real thing. You have got to endure whatever God tells you to endure. You’ve got to face something in order to be promoted to the next level. Are you tracking with me?
So you have to understand God’s process. When God makes you a promise — it says there that we have this inheritance that is incorruptible, that is undefiled, that does not fade away, reserved in heaven. That word «heaven» literally means «an elevated place.» And so He’s given you something that is extremely valuable. Oh God, the promises over your life are not little cute popcorn promises and pink fairytale stuff and cute little Disneyland promises. No — He’s saying, «I’ve got an inheritance for you that is incorruptible, undefiled, will not fade away. It is valuable. It is worth something. I’m not playing with you. I’ve really set you up.» But here is the thing — it is too valuable for Me to bring it down to where you currently are. I will not demote the inheritance to meet you where you are. What I do is I will allow situations and circumstances that will develop you and qualify you and make you worthy of what I’ve reserved for you in an elevated place. In other words, when I bless you high, it is to lift you high. Are you tracking with me?
You’re not gonna be able to slick your way in here. You won’t be able to bribe your way in here. You won’t be able to brown-nose your way into it. You have got to be it in order to receive it. You have got to be it in order to receive it. And the process of being it is to have your faith tested.
Faith: More Precious Than Gold
I thought I had faith because as long as God kept a hedge of protection around me, I could sing «Hallelujah, oh Jesus is good!» But He’s only good because He kept the hedge of protection around you — you didn’t have no financial trouble, you didn’t have any relationship trouble, the jobs were always flowing — and that’s why He was good and that’s why you praised Him. Oh, I feel the Lord — «You’re good because I’m happy.» Come on, somebody, you’ve been there. «He is good — oh God, You know…» And something wonderful happens to you in life and you start naming off things that He has done as if He were not good or would not be good had He not done those things. How many of us know that I don’t care — He can stop right now and still be good in my life for where I’ve come from and what He’s brought me through. I don’t need another blessing. You are good no matter what You do. You can stop right now and I would still say, «Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.» Are you tracking with me?
See, a lot of us walk around with this fluffy faith and we don’t know it because it’s never been tested. It’s fluffy faith — everything’s so pretty. I live in California, I live in Colorado, the weather is so nice, I see the four seasons, my home is happy, my job is great, I’ve got money, everything is wonderful, I’ve got my health, my six-pack has come back — all these things — and we think that we are in faith. And that type of faith is not living faith. It is situational faith. It is conditional faith. It’s not real faith. Now God knows that real faith is in there, and so what He has to do is He has to begin to target your faith. Oh, I can’t wait to get into this — God has targeted your faith because your faith is more valuable to your life than you think.
Let’s look at a couple things in the text real quick. In verse 4 and following he talks about this inheritance — it’s incorruptible, undefiled, does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you — who are kept by the power of God… who are kept by the power of God through what? Oh, wait, wait, hold on — I saw that. «I’m kept by the power of God» — that makes me feel good, because if I’m kept by the power of God, I’m good, I don’t have to do anything to be kept. Oh God, I don’t have to do anything to be sustained if I’m kept by the power of God. But there is a little caveat in there: it says I’m kept by the power of God through faith. Oh Lord Jesus. So I’m kept by God’s power, but God’s power does not keep me without my faith. I feel it. That’s why God is always going to be targeting your faith — because your faith is what keeps you. Your faith is what keeps you from utterly giving up. It is your faith and it is always going to be under God’s microscope. I’m learning this — you gotta catch this point — it’s always gonna be under God’s microscope because your faith is more valuable to you than you know.
Let’s keep reading. Verse 5: we’re kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. «In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be…» If need be — in other words, God has calculated your times and your seasons, and He knows when to try your faith and when not to. So your faith will not always be under trial, but it will be under trial when you are getting ready to experience the next dimension. Because God has times and seasons in His hands, and He knows that in order to get where you need to get in a certain time, in a certain season, when your moment of harvest comes, He needs to begin to target your faith. Because only «according to your faith» will it be unto you. Remember Jesus said that so often: «According to your faith be it unto you.» Which means it cannot happen unto you unless your faith agrees. Oh Holy Spirit. It cannot happen unto you unless your faith is co-measure with the experience that God wants to bring you into.
And you think it’s your righteousness — it’s your faith. Faith produces righteousness. And so you’re working on trying not to do this and not to do that — and all that’s wonderful, we walk in integrity, that’s all wonderful — but at the end of the day He did not say «according to your righteousness be it unto you.» He said «according to your faith be it unto you.» And so God begins, in seasons where it is time for your harvest, to target your faith. And it is not fun. It is not fun, because God has an understanding that who you are as it relates to Him at your core is who you are by faith. Oh Jesus Christ. In His eyes, where you are most valuable is in your faith.
Look at it — verse 6-7: «though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.» So He is saying that the most valuable thing that you have is your faith. Oh hallelujah. It is more important than gold. It is more important than anything in life that you can amass. In the eyes of God He is saying your faith is it, and it must be tested and found worthy. Oh hallelujah.
Purifying Faith: Killing Misplaced Trusts
That’s why I love this — we can’t get around God, because God sees our heart. He knows how much faith we really have. He knows if we have faith on Sunday and the moment we get out of this building our life speaks to the fact that we are trusting in ourselves or we’re trusting in things and not trusting in Him. And so when there’s a call on your life, when you’re called and chosen and God is desiring to make a deposit on the investment that He has in you, the very first thing He is going to do — because it has to happen, if need be — is He’s going to zero in on your faith to determine whether you will have faith that God keeps you from something or faith that even if something happens, God keeps you in it.
I hear this for somebody — the reason why you’re in it (you think it’s the devil and it ain’t) is God. And you’re misinterpreting the trial. You’re thinking that the trial is evidence that God is not with you, that if God were on your side He would have put a hedge of protection around me to keep me from this pain that I’m feeling. And God is saying, «You don’t understand how I work. I am a faith developer. Yes, I am a faith builder, because I understand that you are going to need some faith.» And here is the thing — it’s not that you don’t have faith. Your faith just has to be purified. Oh hallelujah. Your faith just has to be purified.
How does God begin to purify our faith? He begins to kill things that we are trusting in that we didn’t even know we were trusting in until we are left at our core with nothing but faith. Oh I feel it. There are things that surround our faith that need to be killed that we will not kill. There’s a passage in the Bible that says, «Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.» Think about what a mourner is — mourners are grieving something that has died. And one of the things I’ve learned is if you are really gonna be all that God has called you to be, you are going to have to be a professional mourner. In other words, you’re gonna have to sign up to kill things that are keeping you from your destiny. You’re gonna have to sign up for it.
Paul says, «I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice…» That means worship is all about bringing something to the altar that needs to die, that’s keeping you from being everything God has called you to be. Blessed are the mourners, God says, for they shall be comforted. In order for me to be who I’ve got to be, I’ve got to be willing to mourn today so I can celebrate tomorrow. But herein lies the problem — we do not want to kill what God wants to kill. We either see there are things we know we need to lay at the altar that are standing between us and the Lord, but we don’t have the same sense of urgency that God has. And the reason we don’t have the same urgency is because God is seeing the big picture and understands times and seasons. So while we’re playing with something, God is saying, «If this doesn’t get out of your life today, it is gonna ruin your destiny.» So since you won’t do it voluntarily, I’m gonna send the trial your way. Since you won’t kill it, I’m gonna have to kill it.
And that’s why it says you are grieved by various trials «if need be.» In other words, if we don’t become professional mourners, if we don’t get so desperate about our purpose and destiny that we will lay anything down at the altar that stands in the way, then God is gonna come and shake things up. Because God has got an investment in you — He knew you before He put you in your mother’s womb, and He understands the timing. So it will feel like a grievous trial, but it’s really God developing your insides, removing the dross from the silver, removing the coal from that which will show up as gold. And it hurts and it doesn’t feel good, but it’s not unto death — God is doing it, and you’ve got to embrace it because this is the process to promotion.
Closing Call and Prayer
I feel the Holy Spirit. Faith is nothing without opposition. We are shocked when our faith is put to the test. We can’t believe it — «Something strange just happened to me! I actually had to believe God!» And the purest faith recognizes that this is par for the course. Faith in itself, in order to be faith, has to have its nemesis. It has to have something to manifest it. And what some of you are experiencing in this season right now is that something to manifest it — and you become better.
The tricky thing about the next level is you know what’s in it, but you don’t know what it’s made of. Next levels and next dimensions have lions, tigers, and bears — there are issues and things you must fight on that level that did not even exist on the level you left. And so God is not a negligent or irresponsible God who would put you on a level that would crush you upon entry before first developing you. God does not promote prematurely. And sometimes you don’t know what you’re praying for, and you’re frustrated with God because instead of answering your prayers you are stuck on this level fighting, and you’re mad at God. And I hear God saying, «I need you to struggle there to get your strength there, to fight and conquer and kill the devils on that level and become something.» And when you become something, you’ll already be in that next dimension.
To whom much is given, much is required — and we want the «much is given» ignorantly, not realizing the requirement of that dimension. But God knows. He told Peter, «Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.» In other words, all you have to do is have the right type of faith and you will be able to fight and overcome every battle you face. Promotion is a process, and that process is always zeroing in on your faith, because we cannot in our own strength increase or purify our faith. He has to put you in situations that draw perfect faith to the surface. And in the process, it kills things that choke out our faith — and oftentimes the things that choke out our faith are things we are relying upon instead of God. That’s why finances get attacked, relationships get attacked — because we trust in them.
God is trying to get you to a place where your faith is not predicated by circumstance, where you can say like the three Hebrew boys: «My God is able to deliver me from the fiery furnace, but even if He doesn’t, I will not bow.» Even if I have to go through it, as long as I know You’re with me, I’m gonna keep on believing. That word «kept» in the text — «kept by the power of God through faith» — literally pictures a guard in an elevated place looking out at the gates. Real faith sits in an elevated place looking with expectation for the coming of what God promised. It is not tossed to and fro by present circumstances.
And some of you need to elevate yourself above what’s going on and look at the gates — the promises God has spoken to you. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Morning doesn’t come when the miracle shows up — morning comes when your faith elevates itself above the situation and by faith you begin to rejoice that the miracle is on its way. Joy is the evidence that your faith has been promoted.
I feel that for some of you — God’s gonna give you your joy back. He doesn’t have to give you the miracle right now; He just needs to elevate you. Some of you have been stagnated because you’re misinterpreting the moment. And God is saying, «This is just the test. Say hallelujah anyhow. Praise Me regardless.» When you can celebrate God in the difficulty, your faith has been promoted — and once your faith is promoted, your life will be promoted.
If you’re here and you say, «God, give me living faith again, renew my fire, » lift your hand. Father, I thank You for every hand raised in Denver and around the world. Seal this word in their hearts and minds. Brand it in their spirit. Whenever it feels unbearable, let them remember: this is the trying of my faith so the genuineness of it can shine. There is significant greatness on their lives, and You will do great things in them, through them, and for them and their children’s children for generations yet unborn because of their commitment to Your process of promotion. Let Your hand rest upon each one, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.