Opposing the Oppositions: Staying True to God's Calling

In this episode of Relentless Pursuit, we embark on a profound journey to explore the importance of sustaining a deep and unwavering devotion to God, even amidst the relentless chaos of modern life. As we navigate the turbulence surrounding us, it’s crucial to anchor ourselves in faith and trust, drawing strength from timeless biblical stories and lessons. We’ll delve into the story of Peter walking on water—a powerful example of stepping out in faith despite overwhelming forces. Additionally, we revisit the Israelites' arduous journey through the wilderness, shedding light on their trials and triumphs as they sought to trust God’s plan. These narratives offer rich insights into the nature of faith and perseverance.

Transcript

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What's up RP family? We are back at it again with the white vans. Amen. We are back I'm so excited to see what God's doing and I have a message today that God's downloaded in two different messages, but it's exciting. It's exciting what God's doing in my life, and I know that there is a deeper devotion that God's calling his people to. Especially right now. Now there's a lot of things going on in the world. There's a lot of chaos, whether it's through wars, whether it's political, whether it's riots, whatever the case may be, whether it's rights. Whatever It almost seems like we can get lost in what's happening on the exterior without realizing that we're losing a relationship with God. And so what I mean by that is we're so focused on the chaos that we are distracted from his presence. And I want you guys as expand your walk as you grow in God that make sure you keep your eyes on him there is a story in the bible where it talks about peter and jesus was walking On the water and the people in the boat. Which were the disciples jesus called out to him and said come and peter was the only one that had courage enough to step out in faith The thing about that is, is that we have the courage enough to step out in our faith and saying yes and declaring that Jesus is Lord, declaring that Jesus is the Lord of our life and that he lives in our heart. But the problem is that a lot of times people get comfortable in their walk with faith, that they begin to focus. On their peripherals, meaning that Peter seen the storm and he was walking in faith. He was believing that God could do miracles. He was keeping his eyes focused on the Lord. But when stuff happened to the side of him when chaos happened, when life happens when obstacles happen, troubles happen, health issues happen. When these things come about, are we still going to focus on God? That we are walking on the miracle Or we're gonna succumb to the pressures of the world and my whole reason of going into that is because make sure you keep your eyes on him. Let your vision not be Stray from God's path and what God wants you and so I want to get into today. I'm not too sure what Where God's gonna take this, but I'm believing that We're gonna open our eyes to see greater. I want you guys to understand too. Amen. So I'm using my wife's phone for like notes and stuff. And she has this note. And it's saying being fully immersed in the Holy Spirit. Hi ya! Woo! Praise God. I love that my wife is fully On fire for Jesus. Anyways I want to explain some things that, because last time we talked about the seeds of purpose, that you are the seed and, in God's eyes, and that God views you as the seed that can be planted, and that you have a purpose, and your purpose is being birthed through that seed, which is you. Now, I want you to see this is that you are being planted by God to achieve your purpose or promise, but there is also opposition. To the purpose or promise and so these are some forms of opposition that we bring on ourselves. We see complaining When the children of Israel were walking in the wilderness. They were hindered With the relationship with God because they were complaining they were murmuring they were complaining about the wilderness and how it was better to be in Egypt because they had meat. They had think they could eat when they wanted to, even though they were slaves, they said Egypt was better. So they were complaining about the season that they were in. Another form of opposition is fear. Again, back to the children of Israel, when they went. When they sent 12 scouts and I'm about to get a preface to this when they sent 12 scouts to the promised land they saw the richness of the land. They saw the prosperity of the land. They saw the beauty in the land. Now the issue with that was that they saw the inhabitants of the land. And so their inhabitants, which they claimed were giants, then began To bring out the insecurity in them. And so they had fear, they birthed fear through insecurity. And so they went back to the children of Israel or the Hebrew children. And they were like we are grasshoppers in our eyes compared to these giants that are in land. Now fear has many facades. Fear comes off as doubt. Fear comes off again as insecurity. Fear comes off as various things. Let's just say that fear comes off as various things. And in a lot of time, fear more focuses on, again, more self perspective. Now, God told Moses, the promised land is yours. Why was there 12 scouts to go? Now let's get to the root of this because I want you to see this is that when Moses was told by God that the promised land is yours, why observe, why go outside of what God's word has already declared and trying to see what it is for yourself. Now, I'm not going to continue to go there, but I just want you to see that when you don't have to scout your promise, when God gives it to you, you have to walk into it. Don't scout it, don't observe it from an outside perspective, because if you observe it from an outside perspective, you will then begin to doubt you can accomplish it. But the thing about that is from a fulfillment of your purpose and the the impossibility that it is, there is a bridge in between that and you and that bridge is Jesus. Because you cannot do this on your own. You cannot focus on God without the obstacles getting in your way. You can't beat those giants, David. You can't kill that Goliath with just a rock and a slingshot, David, you can't do this. You can't become King Joseph. You are in a. Prison right now. What makes you think you can get into the palace? It's these things that we see our promise from an outside perspective and then doubt we can actually do it even though God's word contradicts our doubt. And I'm about to, I'm about to start preaching, but I'm not trying to get there. Another opposition of a forms of opposite. Another form of opposition is people. We allow people into our circle that then corrupt and influence our decisions. There are people that we allow and have trust towards that we give our trust to, and they begin to speak these negative thoughts, or they begin to influence us outside of a God idea into a good idea. See, the thing is about Christians is that everybody has an opinion. The problem is not everybody has the opinion that God has for your life. So yes, you should seek wisdom and counsel to people that are over you and have authority over you. But you should not listen to every single person that has the power. A title of Christian to try to influence your life because there is such a thing. Come here, Judas. There is such a thing as you being around God, but not directed by God. We have this example in Judas. Judas was around Jesus. Judas walked with Jesus. Judas was. eating with Jesus but still had the decision to turn on him. There's still, okay, you don't want to go that dramatic. You look, come here, Peter. We bringing y'all to the table. Peter he was Jesus's top three. This man was declared Upon this rock, Peter, you shall build my church. But Peter still denied Jesus. Peter still ran away from Jesus. Peter didn't even go to the cross when Jesus was being sacrificed. Yes, you may have godly friends. Yes, they may claim the title of Christian. Yes, they may have God's influence over their lives. That does not mean that they have insight to yours. Now, with that being said, I'm not saying that people can't help you. People can't encourage you. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that there are certain times where you have to seek God for your purpose and you can't allow other people to determine where you're going. Come on, somebody. Oh, what is that fourth thing? Pride. Pride comes before the fall. See, there are like there are many times where people are chasing office. People are chasing a title pastor. So and evangelists, so and so prophets, so and so people chase titles. And there are times where we can fall into the lust of a title without doing it for the love of God. See, you should not follow the title. You should follow the King. You shouldn't follow the position. You should follow Him. Now there are Caveats, with this is because God can put you in a place of entitlement, i, that's probably a bad word. God can put you in a position of the title. So you could be pastor so and you could be prophet so and but the thing is God's not calling you to chase the title because that is feeding the pride that is feeding yourself. You are exalting yourself instead of exalting God. Second or not second, I don't know how I jumped to two, but whatever. So we have complaining, we have fear, we have people, we have pride. This is the last one. And this one hits home. The most compromise. One degree off of God's will is disobedience. One degree off of God's path will lead you down a path of destruction. One degree off of God's way will lead you to a wilderness that isn't provided or protected by God. And you have compromise. A lot of people have compromise. And even churches have compromise because they want to fit in instead of standing out. But God has not called us to conform to the world. He calls us to conform to him. And how do we oppose these oppositions? Let's get into it in order to combat complaining. Gratitude. Be grateful for where you are. Be grateful that the fact that you are in a valley right now, knowing that God has led you to this place, and that no harm shall come to you. Have a heart of gratitude. Now, how do you combat fear? Have a heart of faith, have a posture of faith, that you are filled. And start quoting the Bible, but don't just quote it. Quote it. Live it. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. The gates of hell shall not prevail. You've got to understand that not the words in the Bible aren't just words. They're supposed to be a lifestyle. How do you combat? People have a relationship with God. Be influenced by the Holy spirit. How do you combat pride? Again, humility. We have to be humble. We have to be humble in our walk with God become less than so he can grow more. How do you combat compromise live to a holy standard you don't live to a holy standard by yourself You have to be clothed in his righteousness so you can live to the standard of the promise that God calls you to And so these ways what did I say complaining gratitude fear faith? people Influenced by the Holy Spirit pride, humility, compromise, standards, holiness. And so I want to quickly go back to the point of fear and emphasize this this part of what I said, don't explore your promise. Walk to it. Don't explore it. Don't scout it. Don't try to observe it from the outside. Go. Abraham, go from your father's house. Go from anything that's comfortable to you. Go so you won't compromise your vision that God has placed over your life. So go. And The thing about where God is taking you and where he's leading you to and the reason why I wanted to Show you these, this, these opposition, and then the opposition to the opposition is because I believe God is going to use a lot of people's past to define your future. And what I mean by that is that your testimony has a purpose. The bible says that you will overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb, which is the grace and mercy of god Which is the the sacrifice that jesus has made so that you couldn't you can't control that part. It's been done So that part is fulfilled And the word of our testimony so now your responsibility in order to overcome the enemy Is to speak your testimony, speak about your past and how God gave you the ability to overcome it. And past is being used for your present obedience. You're you have to be obedient to what God calls you in order to fill your purpose. And the thing is that there are a lot of people whether they come from a really, Angry background or a really a depressing background, whatever the setting was of their background or of their past, whatever happened, just know that God will use your past in order to help build your future. You're not defined by your past, but you have, but God has a foundation that is set that he's going to use your past in order to build you up. Every palm. And then this is where I'm leading you to because, and we're talking a lot about the Hebrew children and the Hebrew, the Hebrews Hebrew people, Lord Jesus. Because I want you to know that your promise has boundaries. Your promise has boundaries. So people, the reason why there's a specific story that I want to get to cause the Lord just anyways, Nehemiah, there was this man named Sambalat, I could be completely pronouncing his name wrong, but was getting a little angry because there was this man named Nehemiah he's in the Bible. He was building up this wall for Israel. For the promise line and what Sam Bellat wanted Nehemiah to do was come down from building the wall and go into, so they could have lunch. I completely summarizing the story and making a little bit more into today's but anyways, so Sam Bellat was like, yo, Nehemiah come down here so we can have some lunch and talk a little bit, can hang out. And Nehemiah was like, no, why should I go down from what God called me to go and take time to have lunch with you? For this is a good work. And the thing is that God's promise to Nehemiah, God's purpose for Nehemiah was to build this wall. And Nehemiah saw that if he went down. It would lead to death. If he left his purpose, the boundaries of his purpose, it would lead to death. There is a reason Jesus or God was, as he was telling Abraham, these are the parameters for the promise land. This is the land I'm going to carve out for you. Now, if you leave it, you leave my provision. If you leave my boundaries, then you leave my covering. This is anointed land. This is holy land. Now I've set this apart for you. Now don't leave it. So God is saying, I have set out a path for you so you can achieve your promise. So don't leave my covering in order to do what you feel is the best thing to do. And so the, you have these oppositions towards the promise that try to influence you off the path that God has set you on because the enemy knows that if you continue on the path to your purpose, then he will, ultimately end up losing a lot more than just your life. He will end up losing souls around you because everything you do, if every purpose that you have that has been given by God, he uses that purpose to expand his kingdom. God calls you to a purpose. He's using it to win a soul. God calls you to a place. He's using it to win a soul. When God calls you, he doesn't do it for you. He does. He. Uses that call for the people that are around you that you will affect. So now our provision as we walk on the path of God's provision and that opposition comes. And let's say our foot gets off the path. And now I'm not saying God's grace isn't sufficient, but there will be a conviction that comes with that compromise. And when that conviction comes, it's not so that you would condemn yourself, but it's so that you will realign yourself to God's path. Now you have free will. God loves you so much that you have the opportunity to choose him or choose you. Every temptation comes from the evil desires of the flesh. Now let's get back. Now if you ignore that conviction, That one degree of compromise will turn to two will turn to four will turn to eight will turn to 16 and so forth. And so when and I want to get to this part when I am with Eli, when I'm with Eli and we are walking across the street, I hold his hand. I am very tightly holding his hand because that guy, yeah, he is fast. He's a fast, he's a fast runner. But I don't hold his hand because I don't think he can't walk across the street. I hold his hand because there are things that he may not see that I'm looking out for. So when Eli is about across the street, let's say when we're about across the street, he's not looking to the left or to the right. He's looking straight ahead and he's walking. Now, me as his father, who's holding his hand, is looking to the left and to the right because I want to see if there's anything that's going to harm him. And let's say there is a car coming from, before we're crossing the street, I'm going to hold his hand and hold him to stop. Now, you, Eli, obviously he's a little young and he can't get away from me, but you being a child of God and him being your father is holding your hand, walking you to your purpose, but you have the choice of stepping out of his perfect path and being hit by a car. You have the choice of being hit by the car or being protected by God. I don't know why that's funny to me. I could be hit. There's, if you choose to step out in the middle of the street, you're going to be hit by a car. But the reason why I'm saying that is because I want you to know that with God's purpose, with God's provision, there comes a responsibility to continually and constantly and consistently choose Him. You have to choose Him. You have to choose him because if you don't choose him one moment of one day, there is, there are times where that one moment will lead to weakness and that weakness will lead to compromise and that compromise will lead to influence and that influence will lead to ignoring convictions and that ignoring convictions will lead you down a path that you were like, where the heck did I go? Now, I'm not saying that if you don't do what God wills every two seconds of the day that you'll all of a sudden go to hell. But what I am saying is that make sure you assess, reassess, renew, be renewed in your mind. Continually be conscious. Conscience of where you are in your walk with God. There has been some major decisions of as of late that I have had to make because I was I don't want to say compromising, but I wasn't pursuing God to the way that I could to the ability that I have. And so I had to reassess where I'm at. And the things that were in my life that brought me away or took me away from God, away from ministry, away from church, away from these things. And I had to make sure that I severed every tie. Not because I want to. No, I was reaping benefits of certain things. But because I knew that if I continued down a path, it would lead down to destruction. When Jesus was feeding the 5, 000, which 5, 000 men, it was more like 20, 000 people. After he fed them fast forward. He said this is a little bit after I have to, I would have to look it up, but he said, eat my flesh and drink my blood. And these certain Israelites got offended. They were following him. They seen him do miracles. They were just fed by him. But then he says, eat my flesh and drink my blood. And then all of a sudden he's the devil. They seen the works of him. They seen the miracles. And he said this and then they turn away and walk away. But then he turns and this is the part that's crazy is then he turns to his disciples. He says, are you going to walk away too? And Peter was like, where else can we go? Meaning this is our life. This is what we want. I don't care what you say, Jesus. I don't care what you say to me that offends me. I don't care if there is a conviction in my heart. I need to observe it. And then I need to obey it. I don't care what you say to me as long as I trust in you, God, I know that what you say to me is for my, for the good, for my good, what God is doing. He wants to do for your good. And so people have this. Have this misinterpretation of conviction and kind of view it as condemnation. And then that leads them down that path. And that's why I was saying there's these oppositions that come for your walk, but then you have to build up these other oppositions for the oppositions. You have to be equipped with the full armor of God, because when fear comes, you have to answer that fear with the sword of faith. When a compromise comes, you have to have the breastplate of righteousness. When these when people come and doubt come, you have to be the belt of truth. You have to have this, the belt of truth. You have to be fully immersed by the Holy spirit. When complaining tries to keep in, you have to renew your mind. When pride comes in, you have to have the shoes of peace that are fitted for the gospel. And the crazy part is that there is one more, one more weapon for the armor of God. And that is the sword of the spirit, the sword of the spirit. You have to be fully immersed in the spirit. You have to dwell and abide in him so that he can abide in you. You have to be attached to the branch or to the vine because you are the branch. And so why am I saying all this? I'm saying this because I want everybody who's listening to this to assess where they are in their life and walk in the faithfulness that God has for you, that you could have for him. Awesome. Thank you guys so much for joining this week's episode of Relentless Pursuit. I know it was a different setting, but we're going to continue to find new spots so that we can Get a little bit of newness in here, right? Amen. But thank you guys for joining. Don't forget to follow, share, subscribe to all our social media platforms. We're going to get into another awesome message next week and we'll have a special guest for you. See you guys soon.