The 3 Steps to Your Destiny

You want to know how gold is purified? It's ground down beat down Then it's thrown into a furnace Mounted down by a 2,000 degree fire The heat increases and pyridies begin the surface that you never saw before they appear You scrape away these impurities and what are you left with? refined pure gold The trials you face as a human being are the furnace Designed to remove the impurities in us so the only thing that remains is what was placed at the core of us God's nature and character Some of you are in the furnace right now All you see is the fire. All you feel is the heat each day feels like a struggle and you want to give up You want to hit this news button You want to give up on that marriage you want to quit that job take the easy way out But you weren't created for easy you were created for victory When the fires of life were raging keep going it's always remember on the other side of pain on the other side of trial is Your promise So I just want to open up and and share with you a little bit in my background I actually was raised in church. My parents took me every single weekend But I had absolutely and I mean absolutely no relationship with God It was quite obvious because in high school and college people were witnessing to me like crazy I remember one guy came and shared with me about Jesus for two hours in my freshman year at Purdue University And he told me later after I got saved He said he literally walked out of my room in tears because I was clues to what he was saying But it wasn't until my sophomore year in my fraternity Athletics is a big part of my background. I played the US USTA circuit and tennis. I played junior Davis cup I played for Purdue University So I really didn't pay much attention to anybody unless they were athlete God knew it

So one of the best athletes in the state of Indiana happened to live in my fraternity He came up to my room and shared campus crusade for spiritual laws with me and I will never ever forget While he was sharing with me that night all of a sudden I realized that God loved me uniquely That he cared for me deeply that he wanted a relationship with me that He wanted to make promises to me as any good parent would make to their child and keep them All this started adding up and my heart just opened and and I remember that night when I received Jesus Christ as my Lord Everything changed. I mean what girls athletics Going to church everything couldn't fill Jesus literally filled that void, but the thing that stood out to me was his presence That's what was amazing to me that I'd never experienced in church before was his presence and You know, I'm not a guy that cries, you know athletes are trained not to do that, right? But I'm finding myself crying, you know all the time I mean, I remember a storm was forming in the distance and and it was on this and I remember just tearing up going my dad created all this right and and and and man did he answer prayers uniquely and quickly I Remember one time I cassette player You might want to Google it when you go home it is prehistoric, but it broke and and and I'm a broke College student, right? I don't I don't have money to fix my cassette player I don't have money for hot dogs for my date, you know, and I remember I thought Jesus You said lay hands on the sick and I'll recover my cassette players sick and so I laid hands on it I remember putting a cassette it and God is my witness my cassette player started working and It were it never it never broke again And so, you know, I'm like this is Christianity well then all of a sudden, you know his presence started seeming a little more elusive and It seemed like instead of going towards the promises he was making me I was going away from the promises he was making me in fact It seemed like nothing was going right in my life and the overarching question that kept coming up in my heart was this God Where are you? Somebody know what I'm talking about at all or am I just preaching way over people's heads right now? Have you ever cried that out and said God, where are you? Well, there there there was there there was a three-step pathway. I didn't understand You know, how many of you know that God has a destiny for all of us and and you really I mean

How can you be a Christian and not understand that right? I mean Psalm 139 says every day of my life was recorded in a book before a single day of my life began, right? The steps of a good man a good woman are ordered of the Lord. Well God's got a three-step pathway to get us to our destiny The first thing that he does with us is he, he'll give us a glimpse, he'll show us where we're going. He gives us a promise, right? With Joseph, it was a dream, a couple of dreams with Jeremiah, it's a word, with David, the senior prophet came and said where you were going, I actually have a file folder in my credenza right behind my desk. And in that file folder, it's all the prophetic words that have been given to me that have really been from heaven and there's one day to July 1985, excuse me, July 1981. And there were things spoken over me in that prophetic word that I didn't start fulfilling until I was in my 50s. I mean, crazy, right? And so God will give you a glimpse. Now, somebody's probably sitting there thinking, "Well, you know, wait a minute, John. God hasn't given me a glimpse like that." Well, let me get a little tough for a second, okay? The Bible says that God rewards those who diligently seek them in faith. It does not say God rewards those who casually seek them and wonder in doubt. So you might want to check up on your seeking level. Okay, we'll go on from there. That really got a good response.

So, once he makes, once he gives you that glimpse through the promise, then the process begins. Everybody say the process. Now, what's the process? I've affectionately termed the process as the wilderness or refining. Why is the process important? Because it gives you the character to handle the promise once it's fulfilled. And once you successfully navigate the process, then what happens? Then comes the promotion and that is the fulfilled promise. Now, Peter writes about this in his book in first Peter. First Peter chapter one, the first five verses. He talks about our inheritance in heaven that's undefiled. And I love the apostles because they don't spend a lot of time talking about heaven. Okay, why? Because we're in the here and now, right? So, he talks about it quickly. And then he goes on to this in verse six. He says, "In this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while." Now everybody say a little while. Now, a little while to God is a little different than a little while to us. If I say to you, I'm gonna be to your house in a little while, you're thinking 10, 15 minutes, right? Peter writes in his second book, the same guy writes, "A day with the Lord is a thousand of our years."

So, me with the engineering mind, I was trained as an engineer. I thought, well, if a day with God is a thousand of our years, what's an hour to God? And I divided it out by 24 and found out that one hour to God is 42.6 years. So a little while, seven or eight years, that's 15 minutes. Okay, aren't you glad you came all the way out, fought the traffic on Wednesday night just to hear that? Okay, even though now for a little while, everybody say a little while, if need be, let me enlighten you, the need is there. You have been grieved, and the word grieve means greatly distressed by various trials. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. I love that. You don't have in genuine or counterfeit faith. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold. Though your faith is far more precious than gold. So around that time period that I was talking to you about, Lisa and I actually lived here in Dallas at that time, we were both attending a very, very large church here, the Metroplex area, and we're probably one of the best-known churches in America. We had 450 paid staff members at one time. And our church didn't talk a lot about character. We didn't talk a lot about godliness, about purity, about holiness. We talked about miracles, about faith, about believing God, about being successful in life.

And so I'm out praying one night, Lisa and I lived in an apartment here in Dallas, and there's a field by the, I think it was a construction area that no buildings were built yet. And I used to go out there and pray a lot. And one night it's late at night, and I'm praying. And God speaks to me so clearly. And the Holy Spirit said to me, He said, "Son, I'm gonna begin to teach you how to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. I'm gonna begin to work a work of holiness in your life." Now you have to understand that was completely foreign to me. Okay, Catholic boy gets saved, and now he's at a church that doesn't talk about these things. I'm like, I was so excited. I ran back to my apartment. I said, "Babe, babe, God spoke to me." She said, "What'd He say?" I said, "He's gonna begin to do a work of holiness in my life." I said, "So all the excesses in my life they're gonna go, all the excessive food I eat, 'cause food was an idol back then. I ate when I wasn't even hungry." he's going just like, he's gonna clean it all up. So you know what happened the next three months? I ate twice as much as what I normally ate. I watched twice as much TV. I watched twice as much sports on TV. So after three months of this, I go back out to that same field this time,

it's early in the morning. I said, God, I don't understand this. You said you were going to make me holy. I am like twice as fleshly. So the Holy Spirit speaks to me that morning and said, well, son, that's because you've been doing it your way. He said, holiness is not a work of your flesh. It's a product of my grace. He said, now I'm gonna begin to do it my way. Now I had no idea what he was talking about, but over this next six months, I started going through trials like I had never faced before. And they were not self-inflicted trials. You know what I mean? You know what self-inflicted trials are? That's when you're doing stupid things and you're not in a trial. No, you're not in a trial. You've inflicted yourself. We're not talking about that. We're talking about, I'm doing the right things and all the wrong things are happening. They're really wrong, like wrong things I've never faced before, right? And I remember during the six month time period, I am a terror to live with, okay? I am like angry at Lisa for the stupidest things. I'm irritated by my nine month old son. I'm angry with my pastor because he's not recognizing me.

I'm really upset with my friends 'cause they're not giving me the sympathy I think I should get. I'm mad at the people I'm working with. And I mean, it's bad. So after six months of this mess and it's really bad, okay? I go back out of that same field, I say, God, where's all this anger and bitterness coming from? I wasn't even this angry and this bitter before I got saved. What do I bind? What do I cast out? And that's when the Holy Spirit said to me, he said, "Son, you don't cast out flesh, you crucify it." So then I remember I had this 14-carat gold wedding ring on. Lisa gave me this one on her 25th, so it's different. But this 14-carat yellow gold ring, he says, "Son, you're ring. "Look at your ring." He said, "Does it look like pure gold?" I said, "Yeah, it looks like pure gold." Now you gotta understand, 14-carat means 14 parts out of 24 parts is gold, 10 parts out of 24 parts is impurities. Copper, zinc, nickel, other metals. He says, "Does it look like pure gold?" I said, "Yeah, it looks like pure gold." I said, "What happens if you put it in a furnace "and heat it up a couple thousand degrees?" I said, "Well, it liquefies." He said, "Then what happens?" I said, "Well, the impurities which are the lighter metals "because gold's heavier, I said come to the surface." He said, "They appear, right?"

I said, "Yeah, they appear." He said, "They were in there the whole time, weren't they?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "But you didn't see 'em, did you?" No. He said, "You didn't see 'em till it went to the furnace." He said, "All this anger and bitterness? "It's always been in there, invisible to you, "but visible to me." He said, "Now I have permitted you "to come into the furnace of affliction." So you could see these things. He said, "Now what you do with them "will determine your future. "You can keep blaming your pastor, your wife, your friends, "and it'll all go right back down "and we gotta start this process all over." He said, "Or you can own it. "And if you own it and you repent of it, "I'll take my ladle and skim it right out of your life. "You gotta understand God really respects our right to choose." Got quiet on that one. I remember during this time period, Jeremiah makes a statement in Jeremiah, I think it's 15, chapter 15. He says, "Why is my pain perpetual?" I understand that statement. I lived in pain. I woke up in the mornings, I was in pain. I went to the office, I was in pain.

I ate lunch, I was in pain. I'd come home in pain. I would live in pain. I'd go to bed in pain. I'd wake up in pain again. And I remember one day it got so bad. I closed the door in my office and I'll never forget this. I just hung my head in between the corner and my hands were just draping like this. I said, "God, why do I hurt so bad inside?" I said, "This pain is unbearable. "Why do I hurt so bad?" He said, "Son, 'cause you're dying." He said, "There's always pain and death." He said, "Son, do you wanna know "how you gonna know when you're dead?" I said, "Yeah, how will I know when I'm dead?" He said, "When you don't hurt anymore." 'Cause he said, "Dead people don't hurt." Dead people don't have any pain. I said, "God, would you please kill me quick?" (audience laughs) See, the time period was 1984, 1985, 1986. And you have to understand. You know, I had all these promises. Remember, I told you the promise, the process, the promotion, right? I had all these promises, and this promise is all, almost all of them stayed.

I'd preach the gospel all over the world. And I thought, "God, it's 1984. "Jesus is coming back in '88. "I have got to get out there and do it." to do that, I would have destroyed a lot of lives. You know, if you look at Joseph, how many of you know Joseph in the Bible? Come on, everybody should know Joseph, right? I mean, has to be one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament. Joseph is this young man that God gives him these dreams, right, of great leadership. And he shows him clearly that one day he will be a leader and his brothers will even be under his leadership, right? But when Joseph shows up in Genesis 37, the very first verse, you know what it says? He was telling his dad about the bad things his brothers were doing. So he's a telltale. And then if you go a couple verses later, like six more verses, you know what it says? He's bragging about his dreams and he's talking down to his brothers. So let me list this out, make this really, really clear. When Joseph shows up, we got a bragger, we got a telltale, and we got somebody who talks down to people. So God puts Joseph into a leadership position, right there, you know what you got? A very narcissistic, insecure leader.

Somebody's gonna destroy lives. So God says, we need a little work done in this boy's life. Now God doesn't author this, he permits it. See, you gotta understand God, you know, he knows the end from the beginning 'cause he's not bound by time. We're bound to time. I can tell you everything that happened yesterday. I can't tell you much of what's gonna happen tomorrow unless God shows me, right? 'Cause we're bound by time. But God knows what these boys are gonna do, his brothers, right? So he knows they're gonna sell them into slavery. So what do they do? They throw them into a pit. For those of you that don't know, pit stands for preachers and training, by the way. And he sold as a slave and he's brought down to the most powerful nation in the world and he's sold into one of the officer of the king's house in Egypt, right? Potiphar. And yeah, we in the Western world do not understand what his brothers did to him, okay? What his brothers did to him was worse than killing him. Because back in those days, it was everything for a young man to receive his father's name and inheritance. I mean, God appears to Abraham and says, I'm your reward, and Abraham's response

is kind of like big deal. I don't have an error. Nobody's gonna carry my name on. And so, back in those days, if you're a slave, you're gonna work the rest of your life to build somebody else's name and heritage, their legacy. The woman you marry will build their legacy. Your children will build other people's legacy. Now, it's one thing to be born a slave. It is a completely different thing to be born in the air of a very wealthy man and have it all stripped away from you by your own brothers. So after six months a year, all hope of a father's rescue is gone. My dad thinks I'm dead. He's 10 years he's a slave. What you think about how long 10 years is, go back 10 years. It's a long time. Right? Now, God is blessing him because God always blesses, but underneath the surface, something much worse is going on. And that is this, the officer's wife gets the hots for Joseph. And she doesn't approach him once or twice. The Bible says she approaches him every day. Now, I want you to stop and think about this. This woman is probably dressed in the best,

sent it in the best and probably has a seducing spirit up dry balls. And she's approaching him every day for sex. Okay, now you're not thinking this through. He doesn't have a connect group, a small group. (congregation laughing) He doesn't have podcasts to listen to. He's not even looking at Twitter. (congregation laughing) He's got no pastor. And yet every day, I love how this guy fears God. Every day, he's like, no. See, a lot of people don't get the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is not to be scared of God. How can he be intimate with somebody you're scared of? The fear of the Lord is to be terrified to be away from him. Paul tells about the fear of the Lord when he writes to the Philippian church. Now, this is Paul writing to the Philippians, but it's really God speaking to us. And you know what he said to the Philippian church? Philippians 2, 15, somewhere around there. He says, "As you have always obeyed in my presence, "even now, much more obey in my absence, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." See, it's one thing to obey God when you're in an atmosphere like this. It's easy. What about?

and you got the presentation of your life in front of the board the next morning. Or what about when you're at work and you're in your dream job and somebody gossips about you and totally slanders and tells lies about you and you get fired? Are you still going to obey God? Are you going to be a little passive-aggressive? Like, why should I obey you? What have you done for me? Sure is quiet in this Presbyterian Church right now. [laughter] But Joseph, every day, now think about it. Ten years, you've had your heritage stripped from you. You're not the bad one, your brothers are. They're enjoying all the wealth of your grandfather, Abraham. Great-grandfather, excuse me. You're working to build somebody else's legacy. Ten years, and this woman's approaching you and she's, you know, she knows what she's doing. Finally, they're alone in the house one day, right? And this woman's got it planned. She puts on the right office. She got some leg showing up, that slit of that coffin. She had a little cleavage showing and she nestles up to him and got that perfume on and she goes, "I'm yours. Nobody's here." And he does exactly what the Word of God says. He flees sexual immorality. She's got a hole of his robe, his garment. He runs, that robe tears, he's naked, she's scorn woman.

Her scorn turns into, her lust turns into hate. And now she accuses him of rape, very thing he ran from. So he gets thrown into the dungeon. Now, I just preached in Louisiana a couple months ago, the largest prison in the United States called Angolans in Southeast Louisiana. 6,200 inmates, they're all in their 20 years to life, no parole. Can I tell you, that prison was a country club compared to the Middle Eastern Dungeons I've been in. Now, let me tell you, we don't get what a Middle Eastern dungeon is, Middle Eastern Dungeons were usually cisterns. They were dried up, underground. The average height of a Middle Eastern dungeon, the cistern is four feet. You have no sunshine, it's damp, it's bedrock. So get the picture here, there's no mattress, there's no pillow, there's no running water. Do you understand you were living in your waste? You throw up, you live in it. Nobody comes in and cleans it up. You don't have a gym or a basketball goal. You don't have a television. You don't have any sunshine coming in. The Bible says they hurt his feet with fetters. They laid him in chains. Put it up for me until the time that his personal promise came to pass, the word of the Lord tested. Amazing. You know what they did in those dungeons? They gave you what's called the bread of affliction.

What's the bread of affliction? They don't want you to die, it's too easy. So they give you just enough bread and just enough water to keep you alive. So then God brings the greatest test to Joseph. What's the greatest test? He brings two guys that had a dream, a butler and a baker. You know the story, right? They want an interpretation of their dreams. What's the test? Listen, can Joseph proclaim to them the faithfulness of God? He's not seen one shred of evidence of it in his own life in ten years. Think about it, God says you're going to be a leader and your brothers will be under your leadership. He's gone from pit to slavery to dungeon. Can he proclaim to them the faithfulness of God when he hasn't seen any evidence of it in his own life in ten years? Joseph would have been like many of us. You had dreams last night, leave me alone, dreams don't come true. I had a dream once. If he were to have done that, he would have died in the dungeon saying God is not faithful and God does not keep his promises. When the reality is God is faithful and God does keep his promises. This guy obeys. Every time he obeys God, his life gets worse. Do you understand this? All he does is proclaim the dream. He gets the pit and slavery. All he does is flee sexual immorality. He obeys the word of God, and he gets the dungeon.

Now he obeys, he proclaims the faithfulness of God and the butler forgets him. And he's in there two more years. Two more years, living in his waist, his urine, all that stuff, okay? He's in this underground cistern, this dungeon. Two more years. And then the king has a dream, the butler goes, oh my gosh, I forgot that guy. He gets restored seven years of plenty, two years of famine, out of the years. 19 years later, here comes the brothers. And some of us are upset when our dream isn't fulfilled in 18 months. Do you know what Joseph's life shows us? Shows us this, no man, no woman, no child, no organization, no demon can ever get you out of your destiny. Joseph's brother said, we're gonna destroy it, we will kill him and we'll see what becomes of his dream and God says, oh yeah, you're gonna be the very ones that fulfill his dream. The only one that can get you out of your destiny is you. How? Paul tells us, first Corinthians 10, you got Israel, God brings them into their refining, to the desert. You know, read your Bible. God only attended them to be there one year. They ended up being there for 40 years, which tells me you can't shorten your refining time, but you sure can lengthen it.

Good preaching, Amen, thank you so much. And Paul tells us that they are an example to us, and there are five things that kept them from their destiny. Isn't this amazing? Moses passed her to three million church, only two adults in his entire congregation fulfilled their destiny. Think about that one for a few hours. Your life's work, two people fulfilled their destiny. (laughing) Okay, you're going pastor, where'd you go to this guy? Five things Moses lists, or excuse me, the Paul lists that kept them from their destiny. Number one, idolatry, number two, sexual immorality, number three, tempting Christ, number four, lusting after evil things, number five, complaining. What, whoa, whoa, one day I'm reading this article. What? You know, when I was a kid, my sister watched Sesame Street. It wasn't on when I was a kid, it was on when she was a kid. This is my baby sister, and they had this song, do you ever remember this song it says to be straight? ♪ One of these things just doesn't belong here ♪ Do you remember? And they're singing this song, and they get the picture of the car, a picture of a bicycle, a picture of a horse, and a picture of an alligator. Well, come on, you're bright Texans. Which one doesn't belong to alligator? You ride the other three, that doesn't...

And I'm looking at this list, I'm gone! Complaining has no place in this list! This is wrong! I mean, I'm talking to, I'm like, this is wrong! How can you put complaining in the list with idolatry and tempting Christ and sexual immorality? And Holy Spirit said to me, he said, complaining is a very serious sin. I said, okay, I don't get it, I need understanding. He said, son, do you know what complaining says to me? I said, no, complaining says to me, son, God, I don't like what you're doing in my life. And if I were you, I'd do this totally different. He said, it's an absolute disrespect from my person and my ways. It's a complete lack of the fear of the God. All of a sudden, man, I saw it. I went to Lisa, I said, Lisa, complaining serious. So there's four things we discipline our kids for, right? I said, we gonna add it, it falls under rebellion. You know, our kids got disciplined. They hit their brothers, they spoke disrespectly if they rebelled and if they lied. I said, complain and falls under rebellion. So we discipline our kids' rebellion. And I got to the point where I was like, so proud of the fact that I didn't complain, right? And one day I'm on this four day fast and the Holy Spirit said, I just woke up and the Holy Spirit said, I hear the complaining in your heart.

I didn't get out of bed this morning. I rolled to my knees. I was like, God, forgive me. Do you know the prophet? Do you know the prophet Malachi saw the last days? And do you know, he said there's gonna be three kinds Number two, Christians who fear God. And number three, unbelievers. Do you know that? He said that. Yeah, let me read it to you. You'll like this. If I can find it. Okay. God says, this is the prophet Malachi. God speaking through him. You complainers. These are complaining Christians. God a member. He doesn't have our terminology. So he's going to speak in his day's terminology. You complainers have spoken hard rude words to me. This is God saying this. You asked, when did we ever do that? Listen to what God said to him. When you complainers said, it doesn't pay to serve God. What did we ever get out of it? See if Joseph would have said, what am I getting out of obeying God? He would have stopped. This is what a lot of people do. They got this attitude of, why should I obey you God? Every time I obey you, things don't work out for me. I get fired from my job. I lose my wife. I lose my kids. I lose my, you know. Are you here? You just listening real good? Okay. I thought people in the South like shouted. Yeah. Amen. I don't know. I'm having fun with you. It doesn't pay to serve God. What did we ever get out of it when we obey him? When we did what he said, what difference did it make? Oh my gosh. Does that sound familiar? From now on, we'll call the unbelievers blessed. For those who do evil, they get rich. And those who dare God to punish him, they don't suffer any harm. Then those whose lives feared God got together and talked it over. God saw that they were doing and listened in. A book was open in God's presence. And minutes were taken of the meaning of the names of the God fear is written down. God says, they're mine. All mine. They'll get special treatment. That gets my attention. When I go into action, I'll treat them the same, with the same consideration and kindness, the parents give the child who honors them. The question is, you have to ask yourself and be honest. Are you going to be a complainer? Are you going to be one who fears God? This is what you got to ask yourself. See, because let me tell you, you feel abandoned? I would imagine Joseph felt a little abandoned by God. Watch this video. Everybody has a hero. Mine's my dad. Yes, I can. Since mom died. It's only been us. He has a way of filling

my life with color. Sometimes I don't understand his advice, but I trust him. And what always brought us together was our love for running. One day, I'll be faster than him. And when I am, I'm going to win every marathon in the world. Or at least that was my plan. I'm losing my sight. And real quick, read to me the lowest level that you can see on there. What is called is interocular melanoma. I cancer. Unfortunately, you will lose your vision. That was the day my father disappeared. Thank you, Wakey. Were you to run, Jim? Come on. I thought he would always be there for me. I guess I was wrong. Dad, where are you? Dad. You abandoned me. Where are you, Dad? Where did you go? Do you not love me anymore? Am I still beautiful? Are you no longer proud of me? How could you leave me when I need you the most? (dramatic music) Abby thinks I've left her. And as much as it pains me to hear that, she's right. I've left her. The best that we can do is save the actual eye so that cosmetically she doesn't lose them. That's my girl. That's my girl. That's my little girl. There's four groups that I know this is a very difficult time. No! I've left her to realize she's more courageous than she ever imagined. I've left her to discover how beautiful she is from the inside out. [Music] I've left her to challenge herself in ways she never considered. I've left her to discover how strong she really is. [Music] Abby, it's me. It's me, baby. Why did you leave me here? I was right here. I was always here. Where did you go? I was always here, baby. Listen, no one believes in you more than I do. You're welcome. [Music]

Think about how far you've come. My dad says he gave me what I needed. Not what I wanted. [Music] What we're seeing here is amazing. This is a testament of true love. Love is allowing someone to see their true worth and beauty. I used to think my dreams were over. I thought I'd never run again, and even though I can't see my dad, I know he's guiding me the entire way. [Applause] Of course, this video is not showing that her dad did anything to her. It's showing what he did for her. I want you to think of this video in the light of Job's words. Job went through something very similar that Joseph went through. Job made the statement and he said, "Look, I go forward, but he, God, is not there." Can we put it up on the screen, guys? "Look, I go forward, but he, God, is not there and backward, but I cannot perceive him." Now, look at this. When he works, so he's working on Job's bath, on the left hand, I cannot behold him. See, that dad was working on her behalf so that she could discover how strong she was. When he works on the left hand, I cannot behold him. When he turns the right hand, I cannot see him, but he knows where I'm going. Why? He's the one that planned it. God says, "I'll never leave you and never say to you." It's just that Job couldn't perceive him. Even though God was working on his behalf, Job couldn't perceive him working on his behalf, just as she couldn't. He knows where I'm going and when he tests me, why do we have a problem with tests? It's midterms and finals, right? Gave us all what they call it? PSTD or whatever it is? Over tests. But can I say this? I just flew over the Atlantic Ocean a few weeks ago. I'm so glad that pilot passed the test because he and I didn't end up at the bottom of the ocean. I mean, think about it. Tests only show you what's in you.

God said, "I brought you into this wilderness to humble you and test you so you could know what's in your heart. you need to find out what was in your heart. Good, bridging, amen, thank you so much. And when he tests me, now look at this, I will come out as pure gold. Pure gold, do you know that pure gold is actually tender, soft, pliable? Do you know that? 14-carat gold is very hard and brittle. If you look at gold, it's got a counterpart. It's called brass. Brass looks like pure gold, but brash tarnishes because of the atmosphere. You understand when you go through testing, you're no longer tarnished by the atmosphere of the world. (audience applauds) Pure gold, if you look at the streets, streets of heaven are the purest gold. You can see right through them like glass. Do you understand when you come out as pure gold, they don't see you, they see the treasure in you? We need to see so much more Jesus in the church right now. (audience applauds) What was Job's response the same as Joseph? They both did the same thing. Listen to what he said, "For I have stayed on God's paths, "I have followed his ways and not turned aside." He wasn't passive aggressive.

I have not departed from his commands, but I have treasured his words more than my daily food. Do you know the most recent statistics I've got at the recent polls, this is not a Barna, this is a secular, I think it was the Gallup poll. 15 to 25 year olds right now, the average time they spend in front of a screen is 53.7 hours a week. How much time they spend in the word? They can sure tell you what everybody's saying on Instagram and Twitter. Are you with me? See, here's the deal, here's the deal. The word of God is food to our spirit, right? Right, so do an experiment, go four months, eat one meal on Sunday, make sure it's a light one, and then once a month you get a meal on Wednesday night. You can pick first, second, or third, or fourth Wednesday night, whatever you want. Do this for four months and tell me how much strength you have. Now here's the deal, when you stop eating, your body screams. You ever done, how many fast, anybody's ever gone on fast? Okay, you go to that food for 12 hours, what is your, 18 hours, what is your body doing? Come on, talk to me, it's screaming. I'm hungry, don't look at me religious, okay? You know what, your spirit does just the opposite. The less you feed your spirit, the quieter it gets.

Less you eat physical food, the more you want to eat. The less you read the word of God, the less you want to read it. Let me just say this, back in the early 1980s, miracles were happening like crazy, but I took care of some of the guys that God used to work those miracles, and I heard the things that were being said, and I said, how can this be? But yeah, they'd get up on the platform, people get out of wheelchairs, and I'd go shut up a beer. God spoke to me in the middle of all of it. He said, I gave my church a thimble full of my power, see how she'd handle it. We didn't handle it well, see if she'll market it, make money off of it, use it to draw people to herself. We didn't handle it well. He said, so in the midst of this, he said, I'm going to bring my church into a wilderness. He said, I'm going to develop her character. And he said, when she comes out of this wilderness, she'll walk in the measure of my power and my spirit that the world has never seen. (audience applauds) We've been in that wilderness now for over 30 years, and we're about to come out. God showed me last year, we're about to come out. But listen, here's the great news. You ready for this? The greatest attack against you comes at the very end of your wilderness.

David's in the desert for 12, 14 years, but when do his wives get to kidnap? When does everything he has get stolen by the Amalekites? And when do the last 600 people that believed in him on the earth want to kill him? Days before his fulfilled promise. Jesus is in the desert, 40 days, being tempted by the enemy. But it's the last three that occur at the very end that are the ones that get written about. God spoke to me, he said, you strengthen my church. And we release this book faster than any book we've ever, this is the 21st book. And we released it faster than ever because I realized it was a prophetic word for the body of Christ. We need you to fulfill your harvest. Hey, Moses had two people congregation of millions did not fulfill his destiny and that was a guy named Aiken, it was all over money. I believe that this generation that comes out will have the character to fulfill what we've been called to do and we all need to fulfill what we've been called to do. Can you say amen?