Alright look down at your Bibles at Luke 22 verse 21 verse 31 excuse me it says
and the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desire to have you that he
may sift you as we but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when
thou art converted strengthen thy brethren and the title of sermon this
evening is surviving the breaking point surviving the breaking point now what is
a breaking point well breaking point is simply a moment of greatest strain where
someone can either quit or just give up and it's a time when someone goes
through such stress and anguish and trial that it kind of pushes them over
the edge and it's important that when someone goes through that which
Christians all will go through that one point that we just endure those
afflictions endure those trials and and seek to survive that breaking point and
in fact the Bible says that when we survive that breaking point we're
converted and then at that point we can strengthen our brethren okay now there's
many benefits to surviving trials surviving this breaking point but two of
the things that we see here is that one we can then strengthen our brethren how
do we strengthen our brethren when we're capable of enduring affliction and
surviving it well you know when you go through a trial when you go through a
difficulty and you pass with flying colors you allow yourself to just trust
the Lord and read your Bible and you pray and you just endure affliction
you're in due harness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ you know there's people
that are coming down the line six months from now three months from now a year
from now they're gonna go through the same trials that you're going through
and when they see that you push through a trial you go through hardships and you
don't quit that actually strengthens their faith as well okay it strengthens
them as a Christian it strengthens them as a family as a husband and it helps
them to realize well if this person can do it if this person trusted in the Lord
so can I you know I can survive this and what do you do you actually strengthen
your brethren when you do that okay so what I'm talking about this this evening
is growing at this breaking point and surviving that moment of stress now here
in Luke 22 we see the famous story of Peter you know where Jesus Christ prays
for him and he tells them you know Satan has desire to have you did me sift you
as we and what he's referring to here is the fact that Peter was going to go
through a time of temptation where he was gonna be tempted to deny the Lord
and did he deny the Lord yes right and in fact he denied them three times and
he had a relapse in faith he fell but you know the Bible tells us a just man
followed seven times and rises up again and we see that the reason he was able
to make it through this was because of the fact that Jesus prayed for him he
says I pray that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy
brethren I find it interesting that he gives him this this admonition this
instruction and immediately after this Jesus not only teaches him this but he
actually exemplifies it himself by going through a temptation right because we
see him go through the Garden of Gethsemane and he's going through a
difficult time and he's praying and he's telling the Lord in verse 42 he says
Father if thou be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will
but thine be done and when the soldiers come to take him and to arrest him he
just he goes through it he allows himself to be arrested he becomes the
perpetuation for our sins and he just plows through this trial through this
temptation he exemplifies what it means to survive this breakthrough right this
this breaking point and after he survives it it's during this time that
Peter actually begins to question he begins to doubt he begins to waver a
little bit and then we see there afterwards that he's able to come out of
that he does strengthen his brethren now let me just say this is that people will
often use this verse or this story of him being converted as a means to teach
that this is where Peter got saved okay you know and the reason they say that is
because you know it said it uses the word conversion which this is a proper
term to use when we talk about people getting saved right you know when we're
out there preaching the gospel we're soul winning we are converting them
we're converting their souls we're converting their spirit once they
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and place their faith in him at that point
they've converted from being an unbeliever to a believer on Jesus Christ
for being unsaved to being saved for being a child of disobedience and of
wrath to being a child of God that is a true conversion right but here's the
thing this is not what this is teaching now let me let's go through some of
these real quick go with me if you went to mark 13 mark chapter 13 I'm gonna
give you some examples in the Bible before we get into the actual message
itself I just want to give you an introduction on this on the conversion
of the Spirit because we don't want to take it too far and say well anytime the
Bible says conversion is never talking about salvation because it is so well
how do you know we just got to interpret it in light of the Bible you know some
people they want to take one phrase and just apply it all across the board to
one specific doctrine and that's it but this is nonsense this is foolish to do
because of the fact that you know we just got to read it in its context you
know when the Bible says endure all things or when the Bible says he that
endured to the end the same shall be saved you have to read it in its
context it's not talking about salvation we know that we don't have to endure in
order to for our spirit to be saved we don't have to endure being in church we
don't have to endure the Word of God we don't have to endure persecution in
order to be saved spiritually speaking we know what the Bible says about that
there's plenty of doctrine plenty of verses plenty of instruction in the
Bible that tells us what it means to be saved right spiritually speaking now let
me read to you you're in you're in a mark 13 Matthew 13 excuse me I'm gonna
read to you from Matthew 18 it says in verse number one at the same time came
the disciples unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven
and Jesus called a child unto him and said him in the midst of them and said
verily I saying to you except ye be converted and become as little children
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God this is referring to salvation now
why is he saying that we have to be converted and be as children well because
children have a what we would refer to as a childlike faith in other words they
don't have problems just believing right just placing their faith and and not
questioning they don't have a whole lot to overcome and the Bible is telling us
here that when we go on and preach the gospel you know there's people out there
that we could say man I person had a childlike faith and another way we say
that is man that was low-hanging fruit right it's like didn't they didn't
really buck you they didn't really like argue with you they just you just gave
them one verse and they said I believe it you know this is low-hanging fruit
this is a person who was converted they became as a little child right so it's
important that when someone gets saved that they humble themselves as a little
child in order for them to be converted the Bible says in Acts 3 19 repent ye
therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times
are refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Psalm 19 7 says the
law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is
sure making wise the simple so this is conversion of a soul in its proper
context look at Matthew 13 and verse number 11 it says he answered and said
unto them because it has given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven but to them it is not given for whosoever hath to him shall be given and
he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be
taken away even that he hath therefore speak speak I to them in parables
because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand
now let me just say this if a person wants to use conversion all across the
board for salvation then you have to believe in the reprobate doctrine look
what it says in verse 14 and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah's which
saith by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seen you shall
see and shall not perceive for this people's heart is waxed gross and their
ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed that's that any time
they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand
with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them now in
his proper context this is referring to salvation because he's talking about
seeing with their ears understanding with their heart you know being able to
believe right this is what this is referring to and he's like in order for
you to be converted to be saved you know God has to work in you he's working to
you through the Word of God and you have to believe that and be converted look
what it says in verse 16 but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears
for they hear for verily I say to you that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things what you see and have not seen them and to
hear those things what you hear and have not heard them hear you therefore the
parable of the sower so on and so forth and so go with me if you with the 2nd
Corinthians chapter 5 so make no mistake about it using the word conversion or
being converted this is a biblical term to use in regards to getting someone
saved we convert them right you know when we witness to a Catholic we
convert them from Catholicism to Christianity when we convert a when we
win a Pentecostal to the Lord we're converting them from being a
charismatic a Pentecostal to being a Christian a saved person this is a
proper term to use because we're changing them you said well the Holy
Spirit's changing them we both are both Holy Spirit us the Bible you know in
tandem with one another we are a team the Lord and myself the Lord and you we
work as a team to convert the person from unbelief to believe look what it
says in 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 17 very familiar verses says therefore if any
man be in Christ he is a new creature all things are passed away behold all
things are become new what is he saying when someone is in Christ they're saved
they're converted to being a new person right there is a new man that dwells
within that person so this is very much a proper term to use in regards to
salvation however there are times when the word converted is used when it's
just referring to the conversion of our mind because look when we get saved our
spirit is converted but we still need to convert our mind because we go into
Christianity we go into salvation with still even though we believe right on
salvation you know we still come with a lot of false ideologies you know things
that we've learned whether from other religions or even just you know other
churches that taught different things about the Bible that are not true we
need our mind to be converted you know I remember when I got saved you know and
and and after years after when I when I was taught the pre the the posture
pre-wrath rapture and I began to learn it from the Bible you know even after
believing the posture pre-wrath rapture you know I had to like wash my brain
because sometimes I would read certain verses and you know the pre-trib was
ingrained in my mind to basically look at a verse and say well this is pre-trib
well it's not pre-trib okay and it was very easily debunked but it's just like
one of those things where you have to convert your mind and to those of you
who are like well I've always been post-trib you may not know what I'm
referring to but this does happen to people where they have certain teachings
that are just ingrained in their brains and they literally have to be converted
you know oh you just yeah cuz you got brainwashed yeah of course absolutely I
wash my brain from the filthy stupidity of the pre-tribulation rapture you know
how about this matter of the Jews right you know that requires a conversion of
the mind and you know Satan through dispensationalism and false teachers and
Bible colleges and books they have done a fairly good job you know conditioning
people to think that the Jews are God's chosen people even to the point where I
remember in 2009 reading Romans chapter 2 and meditating upon it you know to 28
to 29 talking about who the real Jews are and I remember thinking to myself oh
yeah yeah the we're the we're we're the spiritual Jews but even then I still
believe that the Jews were God's chosen people at that time why is that because
there still needed to be some more conversion taking place in my mind so it
goes to show you that sometimes people can believe right but you know what
their mind has to be still be converted in different ways you know how about
this some ladies you know when they get saved and you know they get married and
then they realize that the Bible teaches that they have to submit to their
husband they know that's what the Bible says but they still have a hard time
with that concept their mind needs to be converted you know they oh man this is
it just doesn't sound right it sounds like you know so chauvinistic and I just
understand why the Bible says that well you know they may believe it because
that's what the Bible says but they have a hard time adapting to that
because their minds still need to be converted right you know you have guys
or whatever that they get saved and you know they're literally feminine and they
know the Bible teaches hey manhood be manly quit you like men make sure that
you have manly characteristics but they still struggle with that why because
they still need to convert their mind you know so the conversion of the mind
is very much important you know we're already converted as far as being saved
but the conversion of the mind is so much more important even after that
because of the fact that this is when you know we begin to read the Bible and
we need to change who we are right that's why the Bible says I beseech you
therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living
sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is a reasonable service and be not
conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
you know someone who's not in the Bible they're saved they're just worldly this
is why sometimes I don't know if this person's safe well you know we shouldn't
necessarily question because they're worldly it's just the fact that they
haven't converted their mind you know sometimes we would lead people to the
Lord and guess what they'll never show up to church they'll never win a soul
ever in their life and maybe they know they should but they never will why
because they never converted their mind okay what are we doing when we come to
church Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday night I'm converting you I'm
trying to convert you I'm trying to brainwash you use that in the clip if
you want use it in a clip chop it up and he said he's trying to brainwash his
people yes look I'll make it really easy for you to edit it I pastor Bruce
Mihir I'm trying to brainwash you okay there you go use it I'm trying to wash
your brain and cleanse it from all the filthiness of this world by preaching
you the Word of God you said well how do you how do I know if I'm not converted
in a specific way well when I when I preach the Bible and I give you verses
to prove it and you're just like oh yeah like I don't like this then that kind of
shows you okay this is an area where you need to be converted in you know if I
talk about submission you're just like you just like flinch you just have this
knee-jerk reaction you just start having seizures it's just like okay then
you probably need to be converted in that area you know if I if I preach on
laziness and I say you know get a job you lazy bum and you're just like okay
you need to be converted from from you know being a lazy bum to being a
diligent hard-working person all right if I talk about being effeminate you're
just like you start just breathing heavily your heart starts palpitating
then that's probably area you need to be converted in because the person who's
already converted they're like yeah that's right get those little sissies
you know get those people you know hey when I preach on anime and right now
your heart just started racing a little faster you need conversion you need to
be converted okay look this is good you know you want to be in a church where
you're constantly being converted right because if you're in a church and you're
never converted you just stay the same person you never learn anything you
never you never have you know you never get your face ripped off you're never
challenged to change you know you're not gonna grow as a Christian you're gonna
remain the same the same old man that you've always been whereas God wants us
to manifest that inward man every single day though the outward man perished yet
the inward man is renewed day by day what does that mean to be renewed it
means it's converted day by day you know and this is why I have to preach on
certain things that you may not like you know where it offends you it causes you
and look don't hate me because I tell you the truth okay if I tell you the
truth it's not because I'm trying to get on you it's not because I dislike
you it's because I'm trying to renew your mind you know I want you to live a
life that's pleasing unto the Lord and you know what change requires pain
change requires pain and it requires look and let me say this if I'm
preaching and you're like man who told them about that that's even more
confirmation that you need to change you know and I've heard this multiple times
whether here or even like my old church I remember like my father-in-law
preaching and I remember thinking myself like who told them like you know
you you know when the pastor's preaching and he hits on your sin and then your
face just blushes being able to get a little red like oh he's talking about me
you know yeah he probably is talking about you but he doesn't know that he's
talking about you though it's God is trying to break through and try to get
you to change your ways go to Ephesians chapter number four so look there is a
conversion of the mind that's important right there is a conversion of the mind
that's important the conversion of the soul saves our soul right the conversion
of the Spirit saves our spirit and that conversion comes through the Word of God
right faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God but you know
it's the same Word of God that will continue to convert and to save even our
bodies okay how does it save our bodies by warning us by giving us instruction
that when we heed we actually avoid you know the ramifications of our decisions
because we hear what the Word of God says we understand and we say I'm not
gonna be involved in this sin I don't want to have this mindset because there
are consequences that come attached to that okay and it rescues us that's what
we want this is why the Bible tells us in first Timothy chapter number four you
know take heed unto thyself and unto them that hear thee for in doing so thou
shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee right he said look if you give
attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine you actually save yourself not
save yourself as in save yourself you know to save your soul you save your
body you save your mind right you save that which is here from destruction from
heresy whatever it may be but not only that when we preach that to others we
save others as well you know maybe you came to this church already saved you
know and you can say well you know through the preaching I've been saved
for making a lot of stupid decisions you know I've been saved from making dumb
decisions from doing wicked sins that would destroy my life okay and both of
them are important obviously the salvation of the soul is the most
important but after that we need to kick we need we need to save your mind okay
and we save your mind by converting you by giving you the Word of God teaching
what the Bible says look at Ephesians 4 verse 20 but ye have sought not so
learned Christ if so be they have heard him and have been taught by him as the
truth is in Jesus that you put off concern in the form of conversation the
old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind and that you put on the new man which is after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness so God associates you know
renewing our mind with the new man you know it's like this it's like when you
have you know an onion for example and when when you get the Word of God
preached unto you we're peeling back those layers of the old man until that
inward man is manifest right until more of the inward man is being revealed day
by day as you walk in the spirit you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh etc
go to James chapter number 5 James chapter number 5 this is why it's
important that we preach against sin and specific sins and we name the sins
amen you know because it resonates with us as Christians you have the Holy
Spirit living within you the Bible tells us grieve not the Holy Spirit you know
quench not the Spirit you know we delight in the law of God after the
inward man and when we preach the Bible it resonates with you you know it
resonates in two ways if you're right with God it's like amen to that you know
because I'm not involved in that sin and I know that's in can destroy other
people but it also resonates with you if you are involved in that sin this is
he's talking about me you know I need to change this there I need to repent of
this area in my life etc look at James chapter 5 verse 19 brethren if any of
you do err from the truth and one convert him let him know that he which
converted the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death
and shall hide a multitude of sins now keep in mind that sometimes in the Bible
when it refers to the soul is just referring to the person in general okay
so he's telling you here look if we if someone is erring from the truth they're
getting involved in sin or they're starting to believe false doctrine you
know and we convert that person we preach the Word of God we said don't cut
your hair short right don't look like a butch don't look like a dyke and we say
it's wicked this is what the Bible says about it go read 1st Corinthians 11 and
we started giving him the Word of God if we convert that person we actually
convert them from the error of their ways and we save them from death okay
and we shall hide a multitude of sins you know God is very much interested in
saving people's lives not just spiritually speaking but even physically
okay now with that in mind go back to Luke 22 Luke 22 let's look at the
conversion of Peter because the title of the sermon is surviving the breaking
point you're gonna come to a point in your life for whatever reason where
you're just gonna want to quit you just you know the Christian life gets gets
old or it just becomes redundant you know it becomes mundane and the newness
wears off and you're like I just want to go do something else you know coming to
church every single morning getting ready you know hearing preaching going
so when you reading my Bible you know it's just like oh man I can just like
can't take this and what happens you know you get a trial in your life and
that trial becomes the reason why you get out of church but look you and I
both know that if we backslide if we get away from the Lord if we don't read our
Bibles there's consequences to that right you know we know that God has our
best interest in mind we know that God loves us we know that the Christian life
is exciting it's just a window of time that we're going through where we're
being tested okay you know and this can often happen when you're in a season of
transition what I mean by that you know when a husband and wife first get when
two people get married okay and you know they're newlyweds so everything's
brand-new it's like man this is great you know married and honeymoon we're
both Christians on fire for God but then a child comes okay Lord willing a child
comes and children are a blessing right but it is a transition because you're
not used to having this this this pooping machine they won't let you they
won't let you sleep and you know they have all these issues sometimes and it
and it kind of throws a wrench in your schedule and you're just like I don't
know what to do crazy I'm not sleeping I just I need I'm just not gonna go to
church at all well you know you need to just grow through that this is a
breaking point for you okay and look if you're able to overcome that breaking
point you're gonna be able to help other mothers through that time that
transition as well in the future so let that be an opportunity for you to say
you know what this is a blessing and you know what I can sleep when I'm dead and
I'm just kidding just like just like this is just a look you can make it and
endure through specific temptations if you just realize it's only for a window
small window of time it may seem long and arduous and never-ending but it's
just a little time it's a light affliction that endurance but for a
moment and if you can just keep that in mind you say you know what this is just
for a moment we're gonna get past this and you know once we get past it I'm
gonna be strong in the Lord and not only that I'm gonna be able to help others to
be strong in the Lord and the power of his might as well because I can tell
them look people you know people they misery loves company okay don't you feel
good when you're going through a tough time and someone else is going through a
tough time too okay I know that sounds weird but it's true even if they even if
they like have not come out of it yet as long as you know someone's going through
it with you it's like that's kind of comforting because you don't feel alone
you you understand man someone else is going through this you know as well and
it helps so you know when you reach that breaking point referred to as a child or
even when you have two children or three children because look once you start
like adding more children you know there's there's a lot more breaking
points right brother Albert I mean that's like that's that's that's a lot
of breaking points okay I'm just kidding what I'm saying is you know I'm sure
they can testify to that where there's times when the the stress level was high
you know the difficulties and it just felt like man I just I don't know if I
can handle this right now well you know I just hang in there just endure it and
and pray and ask for advice and learn and grow through this time you know I
mean and you don't want to allow that season to pass you by and without
learning anything learn something and look here's the thing sometimes
Christians they'll go through a trial and they'll pass but they forgot to
enjoy themselves during the trial and I know that that sounds kind of weird
like how do you enjoy yourself through a trial well sometimes when you're going
through a trial you have to stop and smell the roses you know when your
children are misbehaving or they have a sickness you know or whatever trial
you know whatever things going on in the house you have to just stop and say you
know what this is the only time my son or my daughter are gonna be this age
this is the only time I'm gonna see them during this time I need to and just
enjoy it and not get frustrated with my children not get frustrated with my
spouse not get not get so frustrated that I just forget this because look any
parent can testify that six months or a year after that trial they can look back
and laugh a little bit like I remember we couldn't sleep it was like terrible
and it's like oh man but then you realize it's like it wasn't actually
that bad we made it through so the important thing is this is like endure
that temptation but seek to enjoy it as well okay you said how do you do that
well count your blessings you know when your children are sick and look over the
last couple of months we've had a lot of sicknesses in the church like everyone
like multiple times like as soon as my kids get better just like two weeks
later they're sick again they play with one of your kids and you know your kids
infect my kids and then and then once once your kids get better I'm like all
right go get them son payback no I'm just kidding but you know kids are
getting sick over and over again you know and sometimes it wears on you and
you're just like will this ever end it's like good night
it feels like this is never gonna end but you know it does have an end there
is an end to these things and we just need to learn to smile through it all
okay and say look this is this is a time when I can come from my child still hold
him you know because look once they're 21 that's kind of weird okay you know
but hey you can still hold them and comfort them and enjoy this time when
they need you right so this is what I'm saying is like you have to have a
conversion of your mind throughout this time you know sometimes there's a
conversion there's there's a there's a breaking point where maybe you lose your
job okay or you're just going through a tough time with your family these points
in your life can often be a breaking point where it just causes you to quit
on the Lord just get out of church but that's not the time to do it you know
man up okay you need a man up endure it strengthen yourself and when you do
you'll be able to be a blessing to others look at Luke 22 keep in mind at
this time that you know obviously Peters a leader isn't it interesting that
Jesus goes to Peter and tells him this why is it that Satan desires Peter
because he's a leader he is a leader you know people follow his lead yeah he put
the you know he sticks his foot in his mouth every once in a while but you know
at the end of the day whatever he says everyone else says you know when he's
like I will go into the even unto death the disciples say likewise like yeah
maybe us too you know so they follow his lead because he's a leader and this
is why Satan wants him look verse 31 it says and the Lord said Simon Simon
behold Satan have desired to have you that he may sift you as weep now notice
in verse 28 it says ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations
and I appointed you a kingdom as my father has appointed unto me that you
may eat and drink at my table my kingdom and sit on the thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel so he's telling them look this is your reward this is what
you're gonna get you're gonna be able to rule and reign with Christ judging the
twelve tribes of Israel but you're not comes with a price and he's telling them
this because he's saying look because you're gonna receive this this is why
Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as we now I just want to
point out real quick that this shows us that God has Satan on a short leash
because he says Satan had a desire to have you that he may sift you as we what
does it mean to sift something when you're sifting wheat you're basically
putting the wheat through a strainer right and removing the wheat from the
chaff so he's basically saying like Satan is going to just sift you he's
going to purge you from these impurities that you have it's gonna make you a
better person okay verse 32 says but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren now you know I
was talking to someone earlier this week and they're talking about we're talking
about this this stupid doctrine of like you can stop believing right like oh you
know you can stop believing that's what happened to Peter you know he stopped
believing that he was saved he was like Peter's just like I'm not really saved
you know I'm just I just forgot that I got saved I no longer believe well to
say that is to say that that Jesus can't get his prayers answered right because
he says I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not well he stopped believing
well you're calling you're saying that Jesus doesn't get his prayer and look
Jesus always gets his prayers answered right always okay but obviously this is
not what this is teaching he's saying look I have prayed for thee that thy
faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren what
is the faith that he's referring to he's referring to the fact that you know he's
telling them you have faith that I'm gonna save you physically speaking you
have faith that I'm gonna provide for you that I'm going to protect you that
I'll be there for you and I'm gonna pray that your faith fails not that's what
he's saying okay look at verse number 33 and he said it's him Lord I am ready to
go with thee both into prison and to death this shows us that Peter believed
that he believed that Jesus can can can can be with him and he's gonna be there
for them he's gonna help him verse 34 and he said I tell thee Peter the cock
shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me
and he said unto him when I sent you without purse and script shoes lacking
anything they said nothing then said he unto them but now he that hath a purse
let him take it and likewise his script and he that hath no sword let him sell
his garment and by one so he's basically telling them like hey I'm gonna be there
for you I'm gonna pray that your faith doesn't fail and that you make it
through this trial okay and everyone goes through this sifting process you
know this is what trials do to you they sift you you're put through the
strainer because look in order for us to be effective Christians in order for us
to be able to win people to Christ and be a blessing there's certain things
that have to be removed let's just be honest okay we don't we don't come with
batteries included you know we fail we have wrong mindsets we're just
ineffective as Christians it requires for us to go through a strainer to
remove those things and why is that well because we're prideful that's why and
sometimes when we're prideful we just think oh we got this all down pack we
know the Christian life we I've been a Christian for this amount of time and I
know the Bible and all these things and what God does is he puts us to a
strainer to humble us because you know what trials do they humble us it shows
us and I really do need the Lord I need to pray more I need to read the Bible
more Lord I'm sorry for my pride I'm sorry that I thought that I was all that
in the bag of chips you know help me Lord I need you and it kind of puts you
in a position of just needing the Lord okay whereas some people are just like
no I'm fine I'm good and you know what's happening they're being sifted
and they're failing the test you know they're not allowing their minds to be
converted what God wants is for our minds to be converted from pride to
humility right from self dependence to dependence on the Lord okay this is
important now go to 2nd Corinthians chapter number one 2nd Corinthians
chapter number one I remember years ago I talked to someone he's like yeah this
is when Peter got saved and in fact even Adam Fannin said something like this
did he not yeah he said that like he said that like he got saved under the
Old Testament like he read this and he's like I gotta figure this out you know I
don't know how to figure this out you know I gotta I gotta create some false
doctrine to figure this out right and he's like well you know he got saved
under the Old Testament law but now these transitions in New Testament he
had to get saved again this is this is crackhead doctrine right here it's like
what are you talking about you sound like an inbred dispensationalist or
because there's two you know there's the Old Testament New Testament like
everyone so it's like everyone who got saved under the Old Testament who was
alive at this time Jesus is like hey I know you guys got saved but sorry we
got to do this again your licenses are revoked and now you got to get saved
again because now we're under the New Testament you know and here's the thing
like if that were the case it's still wrong because of the fact that Jesus had
not died yet so the New Testament hadn't even started right so it's just like
what in the world this is not referring to salvation it's just referring to the
fact that God can save us from our physical you know destruction if we just
depend on him okay this is the conversion that is referring to and most
men of God most Christians I mean every Christian needs the conversion but if
they just if they just plow through it they will receive it look at Paul okay
Paul received his conversion he was converted right not just not just
spiritually speaking we know that but I'm talking about his mind was converted
look what it says in verse number three of 2nd Corinthians 1 it says blessed be
God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God
of all comfort who comforted us in all our tribulation that we may be able to
comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
comforted of God he's saying look God comforted us through our trials and
tribulations why so we can comfort other people not so we can consume it upon our
own laws not so we can just you know rest easy at night and lay our head on
our pillow and not worry about anything he wants to strengthen you that you may
strengthen your brethren he says for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us
so our consolation also abounded by Christ he's a look just keep in mind
anytime there's a measure of affliction God also provides the same measure of
comfort so when you're going through a difficult time just understand that
trial is not void of his comfort it's also there okay he says it abounds by
Christ it says a verse 6 and whether we be afflicted it is for your
consolation and salvation whoa hold on a second what are you talking about
salvation are we comforted so that people can get safe no he's referring to
the fact that he's going to trials that could cause him death and he survives it
and what does it do it saves people physically speaking you know by them
seeing Paul's example of just plowing through a trial and it's like well you
know if he can do it I can do it too I mean you think of the example in
Philippians chapter 2 where he's in jail he's writing to those at Philippi and
what happens to the brethren they wax bold in the Lord they see that Paul's
going to the trials he's rejoicing and again I say rejoice he's just talking
about rejoicing in the peace of God the past with understanding he just has this
great attitude and all the brethren are like you know what I want to be bold too
and I'm not afraid to preach the Word of God if the Apostle Paul got got
persecuted and got arrested and yet he's rejoicing amen to that I can do it too
and they began to wax bold in the Lord and preach the Word of God without fear
it's great and whether we be afflicted it is for your consolation and salvation
which is effectual in the what enduring of the same sufferings which we also
suffer or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation he
says look if you want to be saved physically speaking you need to endure
that's interesting that we hear about this more in Matthew 24 right verse 7
says in our hope of you is steadfast knowing that as your partakers of the
suffering so shall you be also the consolation for we would not brethren
have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us at Asia that we were pressed
out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life have you
ever felt that way we're just despaired even of life like that the trials are
just piling up the bills are piling up the health issues are piling up just
nothing's going right you're just like man life sucks right now I mean really
has anybody ever felt like that it's just like it's just not going good right
now I'm just not happy right now I'm going through a tough time I'm going
through a difficult time you know I'm just I'm struggling right now and it's
like I'm despairing even of life says the first time but we had the sentence
of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which
raised the dead he's like you know why you go through something like that so
you can trust in God you know sometimes when you you know you have a job and
you're paying the bills you become very self-dependent you know you're eating
right you're doing right everything's just going hunky-dory everything's fine
it's just like I got it together and God's just like all right let me just
pull the carpet out from under you so you can start depending on me more right
so you can because you forgot to pray give us to stay our daily bread and the
reason you forgot to pray for that is because you already earning your bread
so you know in order for you to depend on me to provide the bread for you and
to give you the strength to be able to work and earn that I'm gonna take the
carpet from under you I'm gonna call some trial to come into your life where
you're kind of like forced to pray and say God I need you you know help me
during this time provide for me it says in verse 10 who delivered us from so
great a death and duth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us
man that's faith he's like man he he delivered us he does deliver and we
trust that he will continue to deliver us that's a great attitude to have he's
like I know he's gonna continue to deliver us you know and in spite of what
weird Bible colleges and dispensation let's teach you know Paul was not you
know he did not he was not a martyr you know all the Romans they they chopped
off his head and they come up with these weird stories he died an old man and he
endured a lot I mean he was stoned he was beaten he was you know shipwrecked
many times when he could have died and God just rescued him from those times
and what did he do he just died just a normal death look David went through a
lot of trials right he just died on all of that he died the way I think everyone
would want to die just in a bed old in a bed surrounded by his family members
but you know what you read the book of Psalms it shows his faith he's like I
know he's gonna deliver me he's my salvation the hoard of my salvation and
you know what God pulled through and he died an old man later on look at Psalm
19 if you would go to Psalm 19 Psalm 19
so what I'm saying is this is that you know survive the breaking point and
you're either within a breaking point now you're gonna go you've gone through
one you're gonna go through one but just just just hang in there okay because you
know it's gonna happen you're gonna be just a better Christian because if you're
gonna be a better husband a better wife you know a better employee a better soul
in here just gonna make you better all around and I feel like I need to preach
this every like three months or something because you know a lot of
people quit on the Lord unfortunately I've been a Christian for 14 years and
in my 14 years of Christianity being saved I seen a lot of people just quit
on the Lord some quit and then they come back or some quit and they just never
come back some of them just never just never are able to bounce back and it's
sad you know and it's like man this person has so much potential they could
have done so much for the Lord hey there's people who have quit here you
know for whatever reason they quit and they just fall by the wayside and it's
sad because they have so much potential you know and you know during this time
you need to see the big bigger picture you know and look those of you who are
you know your parents are in church first of all rejoice over the fact that
your parents in church I'm sure there's people here that would that would like
love it to have their parents in church it's like man it'd be such a blessing
if that my parents were in church you know you need to listen to your parents
you know and and and look you know I'm not saying that I'm not trying to
downplay the trials of teenagers and young young adults they go through
trials too I understand that I was a young adult one time too I know I'm old
now but I've gone through trials even as a young person but you know when you
when you're a young person sometimes the trial comes in the form of you know just
having to obey your parents even when you don't understand that comes to the
trial sometimes isn't it because because obviously young people know way more
than their parents right don't young people just know way more than their
parents they just they just your parents are just like they're they're kind of
like dinosaurs and like they just don't know anything I'm joking here okay they
don't know more than their parents everyone's like but sometimes we we
think that as young people will think like well you know my parents don't
understand and they don't know what what they're talking about they don't know
what we're going through and all these things but you know what God gave you
those parents and if God gave you those parents and they're trying to lead you
in the way of righteousness just trust them and look you know what that's gonna
do that's gonna help transition you when you get married and you start having
children that's gonna transition your mind into trusting in the Lord because
the way we treat our parents the way we treat our dad is a way that we're gonna
treat the Lord right so if you're willing to trust your father and mother
now and just obey what they say in spite of what you think is right or
wrong you know obviously if they're trying to make you do sin and stuff like
that we're not talking about that I'm just talking about just regular
decisions in life and they take a privilege away from you or they just
feel like you shouldn't do something or tell you to do something you're just
like I don't agree with it they don't know what they're talking about just
trust them because don't you want to trust the Lord don't you want to trust
God like oh yeah well God's leading me in this area no actually God's leading
you to obey your parents no matter what okay that's not gonna give you any
extra biblical revelation if you're not willing to obey them and that which is
already revealed trust your parents amen and look when you trust your parents
you're actually sowing good seeds because guess what you're gonna be a
parent one day and when you reach the age of your parents you can be like oh
that's why they didn't let me do X Y & Z and they're like oh dang I gotta make
sure I gotta like protect my kids in that area too you know don't don't think
you have it all figured out God gives us these governors they're called parents
and they're there to govern our thoughts they're there to govern our lives
because they know more than we do right they've lived longer they have more
wisdom they have more discernment and for that reason they're there to help us
to make decisions in the areas that we don't understand okay and if you're just
like well I don't agree with it well that's fine don't agree with it but you
know just trust your parents at least lean not until thine own understanding
in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths God will always
honor the child who's willing to obey their parents even when they don't
understand and it causes you to increase your faith and you just be a really
faith-filled Christian when you grow up as an adult okay look at Psalm 19 let's
look at the conversion of David it says the fear of the Lord is clean verse 9
excuse me the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the
Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired today than gold ye
the much fine gold sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb moreover by them
as a servant warn and in keeping of them there is great reward by the way let me
make this disclaimer this when I was talking about the parents and children
applies when the children are in the home okay so this doesn't apply when
you're already married okay what I'm saying is just like you tell your
husband hey I got to obey my parents you know I was like they said like not to
cook for you or something sorry you know that doesn't apply at that time leave
and cleave amen once you've gotten married then you know the transition the
the authority switches to the husband and now he's the boss he is and jefe
okay treat him as thus right and look look man this is good advice for you
right now okay you know where I'm going with this you know amen you know when
you you know when you are looking for you know person to potentially marry you
should look at how they treat their parents because you know they're not
gonna like treat you differently than they treat that they're gonna treat it
treat you exactly the same so if they treat their parents and look obviously
there's always an exception to the rule or maybe you have some brat it's some
spoiled little brat who treats their parents like like junk and then they
get saved or they begins to transform their mind and they're like you know
what this was wrong now I'm gonna do it the right way you know obviously that
that's the case but generally speaking children or you know young ladies will
treat their dad treat their husband the way they treated their dad it's how it
always works this is why I wanted to marry my wife okay cuz she treated her
dad like a king oh that's what I want right there yeah that's cool you know
she she respected her father she obeyed her dad she trust I like and the thing
that stood out the most is how much she was just willing to trust her dad
because sometimes you know pastor Esposito is a little rough so I'll just
be honest like he would give minimal information about stuff you know it's
like you know he would say you know you guys aren't getting married and I'll
just I'm not gonna tell you why and she was just like okay you know you're not
gonna you guys aren't gonna get married as of yet and he would give like very
minimal I mean you thought it was minimal what God revealed it to it's
like when God revealed it to Daniel he's like what does this mean you just like
seal it up I gotta know and Daniel's like all right you know that's how my
wife and I felt for a long time and he just would not explain anything but you
know what my wife trusted my father-in-law and now we're married and
she trusts me the same you know I'm like jump off this cliff with me she's like
all right she's like I trust you you know I'm just kidding but you know what
it's just like when we joined the movement or we started the church she
just trusted me she's like why but it was like the fags and the homos just
like let's do it I'm trusting you you know so this is why it's important guys
that you you know look at how that relationship is established between
daughter and their father because that's what it will be like when you get
married okay he says in verse 15 verse 12 who can understand his errors cleanse
down me from secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let
them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and shall be
innocent from the great transgression now go to Psalm 51 I'm gonna show you
something so he's warned by the Word of God right he's warned and he says in
keeping of them is great reward he is uplifting the Word of God now in Psalm
51 we find the the psalm of repentance you know David committed great sin
adultery murder and he's very repentant of this like he's grieved by this later
on and so he's confessing his sins before God he's getting right with the
Lord look what it says in verse 9 it says hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all my iniquities look what he says create in me a clean heart Oh God
and renew a right spirit within me now just as soul is often synonymous with
our bodies or just us in general spirit is not always talking about our spirit
like the inward man it's not always talking about the inward man or you know
the Holy Spirit spirit is often referring to our attitude okay it was
like man you got a bad spirit what that's referring to is like your
attitude sometimes and this is what this is referring to he says cast me not away
from thy presence and take not the Holy Spirit from me restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit then will I teach
transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee what sinners save
people who were involved in sin like David was so he's saying look create
within me a clean heart renewal right spirit help me to have the right
attitude and look folks don't we all at one point or another just have a really
bad attitude I had a bad attitude today okay and it was because of sleep
deprivation and a lack of coffee and you know it's just you know it was a long
trip was a long weekend and like Murphy's Law took place this morning
like everything that could go wrong went wrong you probably didn't know
about it but it's okay nothing bad it was just like man it was just frustrated
and I'll be honest I had a bad attitude you know I had a bad attitude when I
went home I was just like I'm frustrated right now and you know what sometimes
you just need to put yourself in check and say this is not right for me to have
a bad attitude we had a great day at church full house people were saved you
know my people love me I love them you know I great works being done I need to
change my stinking attitude and you know what we need this right this is a
transformation of our mind okay you know when you're in our church if you have a
bad day everyone is is free to have a bad day right and sometimes it gives us
a bad attitude but don't stay there though don't stay having a bad attitude
why because it's the fruit of the spirit right it's not only love its kindness
but it's the ability to rejoice right I mean to be a grump and to be like mad
and have a bad attitude that's the flesh folks I was in the flesh this afternoon
okay and I'm confessing my sins before you but you know I you have to check
yourself and say you know I need to walk in the spirit I need to rejoice I need
to be happy why because I'm saved folks I'm saved I have a church you know my I
have my wife and my children you know there's so much to be thankful for okay
this is why he tells him create within me a clean heart and he associates the
way we think what the way our heart is this is create with him a clean heart
and renew within me a right spirit what is he saying like help me with my heart
and look parents when you're at home and you have a bad attitude gotta check your
heart check your heart if you're constantly fearing you're angry you're
grumpy you're depressed you're discouraged check your heart and you say
you know my attitude is not right therefore my heart is not right right
now you know because you know I have a bad attitude and just ask the Lord like
confess it before the Lord and say Lord create within me a clean heart and
renew a right spirit within me help me to have a good attitude today okay and
what happens when we do that well he says I'm gonna teach transgressors thy
ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee so what am I doing right now well
you know God helped me get it right a good attitude amen by the time I came
back and I'm trying to convert you to do the same now you probably already
have a good attitude okay but maybe there's so many in here that doesn't
you're just like I don't want to be here you know I don't like this sermon I
don't like your tie I hate when you wear that suit someone took my seat it's too
cold in here it's too hot that breakfast was stupid this morning who eats grapes
anyways who likes string cheese and you just have a bad attitude well I'm trying
to convert you okay hey transgressor I'm trying to convert you okay to cause you
to change you know we see that I'm at a time but the last example that I was
gonna give is Timothy Timothy needed to be converted because Timothy was already
saved right in fact he got saved prior to even meeting Paul he got saved by his
by his either his mom or his grandmother and but the only thing that needed to
change with Timothy is he was just always scared this is why one of the
common things with Timothy was like fear not be not ashamed of my chain God did
not give us a spirit of fear but of power and a love and a sound mind and
one of the biggest things he was afraid of is just persecution you know he's
just like I'm afraid what's gonna happen and this is why second Timothy exists
second Timothy all these chapters in second Timothy just deal with like hey
endure all things as a good soldier of Jesus Christ you know if you suffer with
him he shall also reign with him you know if you deny him he will deny you
if you believe not yet he abided faithful he cannot deny himself and he's
just Paul's just constantly helping him to like renew you know we can say that
Timothy was renewed his mind was renewed you know he was converted in other words
right from being afraid to being bold and that's one of the biggest things
that we need to be converted in is this to not fear and you know fear we got
often feared not just persecution but sometimes we fear like man where's the
next paycheck gonna come from what's gonna happen like I don't have enough
money to buy this I need to purchase this for my family for my wife for my
kids what's gonna happen it's just like don't fear you know be confident in the
Lord and the power of his might be confident in his provisions and his
protection and look if God provided how many can relate and say you know God has
provided for me in the past okay you know what if he did it if he did it in
the past he can do it in the future again why couldn't he he's the same
today yesterday and forevermore you know and look well before it was just like
this amount of money but now it's way more money that I need it's like what
you think like God has like a credit card limit or something you can't go
past 5,000 you know there's a credit card limit he owns all the cattle in
the world he owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hills all the silver and gold
is his he could if you wanted to you could just make money appear if you
needed to cuz he's God so seeking first the kingdom of God in his righteousness
and these things shall be added unto you that's how we have to view it and not be
afraid well what if we go hungry you will never grow hungry as long as you're
a faithful member of a church if you're here you're faithful no one here will
ever let you go hungry and in fact sometimes we just feed you too much you
know I mean it's like you'll never go without as long as you're just serving
the Lord you're doing that which is right God will always provide for you
and if our church ceases to exist if every churches ceases to exist you have
nowhere to go God will still provide for you always will he's always there
you know so if you have this mentality of fear what is gonna happen I'm scared
I just don't know should I move should I do this man maybe I need to take this
job where it caused me to work on Sunday it's like hey chill out take it down
about a thousand calm down go take a nap eat a cheeseburger go to Raising Cane's
with me after service everything's gonna be okay just trust in the Lord
trust God know that you'll provide be confident in him okay and when thou art
converted strengthen thy brethren you know when you realize man God did come
through on that okay now what you need to do is find someone who's struggling
just as much and say hey man God's gonna provide for you don't worry you know
let's pray together let's ask the Lord to help us and it'll happen okay and
believe pray believing that it will happen what's the sermon today the
sermon is simply this you know survive that breaking point when you're just
like you you're at your wits end he's just like I can't do this anymore I'm
frustrated I'm mad I'm just angry just plow through it plow through it look if
he prayed for Peter I mean the Bible tells us that he's still praying for us
he makes intercessions for us right the Holy Spirit makes intercessions with
words that cannot be uttered he's still praying for us he's still our advocate
and God oh Jesus always gets his prayers answered we'll be okay just make sure
that you continue to be converted and to survive that breaking point let's pray
when the service here Lord thank you so much for your word and Lord thank you
for trials thank you for people who survived those trials that were an
example to me they helped me in my personal life and I saw a lot of people
go through a lot of difficult times and it strengthened my faith and helped me
realize that I can go through it too and I'm pretty sure there's probably
people here that are going through a tough time they're just going through a
transitional period in their lives and Lord they just they just need this
reminder and God I prayed that it was a blessing to them I pray that it helped
them and even if it helped them to just survive this week you know if we could
just make it through another day we just got to take it day by day sometimes and
I pray God that you'd help us to stay in your word help us to continue to pray
make us stronger as Christians and may our faith be increased in you as we
endure these afflictions and survive the breaking points and in Jesus name we
pray amen