Welcome to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.
We're so glad you've joined us.
Each week you'll hear powerful messages, testimonies, and conversations designed to
help you grow in your faith and encounter Jesus in a fresh way.
Let's dive into today's episode.
Come on, somebody.
Someone saw me this morning and there must be a picture in the bulletin when Anna and
I got married.
They said, man, Pastor Matt, you look really good with hair.
And I said, I guess that's what 10 years of ministry does to you.
You lose all your hair now.
I'm definitely not saying it's 10 years of marriage that makes that happen,
but.
No, we're super thankful.
We had the opportunity to go down to the youth retreat last night in Lancaster and
Anna led worship and I was able to speak.
And man, let me tell you, if you guys have kids at that youth retreat, those kids are
getting rocked.
And when we do our youth retreat, it's not just to have a fun weekend.
Like, yes, it's fun, but those kids are encountering the presence of God.
And when I spoke last night, I was able just to kind of look out and see tears
just running down their cheeks.
There was 36 youth going to our retreat this year and a bunch of kids never really
were church.
So this is their first experience of hearing about Jesus and what does it look
like to be a Christian.
So for all of you that have sewed into that and made that possible for those kids
to be there, thank you so much.
And I'm expecting them to come back changed and transformed like never before.
Amen.
So good.
Uriah is watching daddy on the screen, huh?
Yes, sir.
His shirt says, pretty fly for a little guy.
So he's ready.
Man, I'm excited.
We've been just journeying through the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five,
and we are gonna close this series out today.
But I'm just so excited to have our hearts postured in a place where we're learning
what does it look like to truly live a blessed life?
Because I don't know about you, but my definition of what I consider a
blessed life maybe even has shifted as we've spent time just studying scripture,
listening to Jesus explain to us what a blessed life truly is.
So this morning, I wanna talk about our posture in the world.
So we're still gonna be in Matthew chapter five, specifically in verses 10 through
12.
But I just wanna give a little bit of a recap because we've been unpacking a lot.
And if you've missed one of the weeks, I just wanna give you kind of a snapshot
of what we've been talking about.
But week one, we talked about our posture before God.
And we talked about what does it truly mean to be poor in spirit?
What does it mean to truly be dependent upon him and him alone?
I don't know about you, but I wanna be dependent upon the father.
I don't wanna just run to him when I need him.
How many know we can't just incorporate God into our life when things seem to go a
certain way that we didn't want it to go?
God can't be this 911 emergency hotline that we call.
We must be in a active, daily relationship with him.
And when we say poor in spirit, we're not necessarily talking about
financial poverty because I believe God wants us blessed to actually be a
blessing.
How many know that it costs money to send young people to youth retreats?
It costs money to support missionaries.
It costs money to operate the local church.
How many of you have a desire in your heart that when someone around you has a
need, how many of you have a heart to just wanna open the checkbook and write the
check?
Anybody?
I wanna be able to do that.
But I believe good stewardship leads to being able to do that.
Because a lot of the times we have a mindset that says, well, when I get this
or when I step into this, then I'll be generous.
I believe God is challenging us to wanna be generous before we even step into those
things so we can steward what we already have so he can trust us with more.
Amen?
He promises those who mourn will be comforted.
We don't have to try to escape mourning.
We can actually mourn with and in the Holy Spirit and he can be with us.
And it's this beautiful heart of repentance and we can look at the state of
our nation and in our spirits mourn for where we are.
It's okay and run to the Lord and read verses like, if my people who are called
according to my purposes.
It doesn't say if my pastors.
If your favorite podcasters.
It says if my people.
If you consider yourself a son or daughter of the Lord, a Christian, that verse is
speaking to you to humble yourself.
Turn from your wicked ways.
And when we do that, we're promised that he hears our prayers and he will heal our
land.
So what does it look like for us to humble ourselves and say, you know what,
God?
What wicked ways have I partnered with that I don't even realize?
Because how many know?
When you're in denial, here's the thing.
You don't know it.
When you've gone off a little bit and you need to kind of be recalibrated back,
that's the Holy Spirit's nudge on your heart to come back to me, son.
Come back to me, daughter.
Trust me with that.
We talk about meek, not necessarily meaning weak.
What does it look like to be meek and fully surrendered to the Lord and allowing
his strength to come and saturate every part of our being because we can do all
things through not our strength, through his strength.
But what does that look like?
It looks like surrender.
It looks like laying yourself down and saying, God, I realize that I can't do
this without you.
God, I don't wanna do this without you.
We wake up and we say, God, I need you today.
I don't need you to maybe show up today.
God, I need you to show up today.
And then we read, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are filled.
We get satisfied by him and him alone.
And then in week two, we talked about our posture towards others.
How many know that's important?
And it's this beautiful phase of being postured before God and then be postured
towards others.
And what does it look like to extend mercy?
I wanna be known as someone that extends mercy because I've received mercy.
How many of you in this room have received mercy?
You've received grace.
And sometimes it's easier to receive that from the Lord, and sometimes it's a little
challenging to extend it, especially when it comes with family or people that are
close to us.
Because when people that are close to us hurt us, it's challenging to have to push
through those things.
But we need to learn how to die to ourself to be able to extend mercy and compassion
to others.
We talked about the pure in heart, seeing God.
Like, I don't know about you, but do you wanna see God?
Like in the midst of everything we're seeing and faced with in the world today,
I wanna be able to see God.
I don't wanna be distracted by what the enemy is trying to do.
Because if you turn on your news, if you sign into Facebook, what is it?
It's all division.
It's us versus them, it's right versus left.
Like, people leaning left, people leaning right.
I wanna stand firm.
That's what I wanna do.
I wanna stand firm in Christ Jesus, in him and him alone.
And not be focused on what the enemy is trying to do.
I wanna have undivided attention towards the Lord.
I don't wanna be distracted by what the enemy's trying to do.
I wanna be so focused on what God is doing.
And then we talked about peacemakers truly reflecting the heart of the father.
I don't wanna be someone that just keeps the peace for a few hours.
You know, you're that person at the Thanksgiving dinner just trying to keep
the peace.
And we run to the bathroom every once in a while and strengthen ourself in the Lord
and say, surely they're gonna leave soon.
Surely this Thanksgiving dinner's gonna come to an end at some point.
I don't wanna be someone that keeps the peace.
I wanna be a peacemaker.
I wanna be able to go into situations that are lacking peace and bring the peace that
passes all understanding.
And say, God, because you're in me and I'm in you, peace is in the room right now.
And God, how do you wanna use me to bring peace to the people and to the situations
that are happening around me?
So now in week three, Jesus closes this sermon with something unexpected.
Something that doesn't sound like blessing at all.
I don't know about you, but what we're about to read doesn't sound like blessing.
He says we're blessed when the world actually pushes back.
So let's read this.
Matthew chapter five, starting at verse 10.
I'm in the New Living translation.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right.
For the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say
all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.
Watch this.
Be happy about it.
Be very glad for a great reward awaits you in heaven.
And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
I don't know about you, but that challenges me.
That stretches me.
But Jesus ends the Beatitudes with a paradox.
Blessed are the persecuted.
That doesn't sound right to our natural ears, does it?
It goes against what we classify a blessing, what a blessing is.
How can you be blessed and also be going through suffering?
How can you rejoice when you're being attacked and misunderstood?
These are questions that it's normal for these questions to come into our minds
when we're reading scriptures like this.
But Jesus is teaching us something powerful, that the blessed life isn't
fragile.
It's not dependent upon circumstances, approval or comfort.
It's dependent upon him.
Because no matter what you're experiencing in your personal life or what we're
experiencing here in our nation or what people are experiencing in the nations,
a blessed life is defined by Christ and Christ alone.
You guys with me?
We can't be distracted by what we think blessing is when a blessed life,
I truly believe it's knowing God and be able to live from that place.
It's rooted in the kingdom.
It's rooted in a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
You have to know that the storms of life will come.
It's not a matter of if those storms come, it's when.
But when those storms come, if you're rooted and grounded in Christ and Christ
alone, those storms won't be able to take you out.
You'll be able to speak to those storms and tell those storms how big your God is.
You'll be able to remind those storms that you already have the peace that passes all
understanding.
You already have a supernatural hope that can only be found in Christ and Christ
alone.
The world can't take away a hope that it didn't give you.
The world can't take away a joy that it didn't give you.
Your joy, your hope, your love, all of those things are found in Christ.
That should give you a sense of relief.
You should be able to breathe a little easier knowing, man, devil, you are
working overtime.
Maybe the devil seems like he's working overtime on you or on your family in this
season, and you look back and go, enough's enough.
How many of you just get in that spirit?
Enough's enough.
I'm not gonna allow this to dictate whether I have a good day or not.
My good day is found in Jesus Christ saying it is finished.
I think some of us just need to remind ourselves that Jesus declared it is
finished.
And when he said that, he truly meant that.
When you live for Jesus wholeheartedly, the world won't always celebrate it.
Anybody experience that?
Maybe you've had friends in the past where you start to really go after Jesus with
everything you have, and they don't like that?
Or maybe the things you used to do now you can't do.
Pastor Don corrected that a couple weeks ago because that's sometimes the mindset
that we have.
Oh, well now that I'm a son, now that I'm a daughter, now that I'm walking with
Jesus, I can't do those things.
No, no, no, we shouldn't want to do those things.
Yeah, come on.
It's not about, oh, I used to be able to party, and now I don't get to.
No, no, no, you get to.
It's just the Holy Spirit party now.
It's a party where there's no high like the Most High.
It's joy not dependent upon circumstances.
It's a party.
And I believe God wants to give you a different perspective to realize that we
have a lot to celebrate.
We have a lot to be thankful for in Christ Jesus.
The world might not celebrate it, but heaven does.
Heaven is celebrating.
And heaven's reward outweighs any earthly resistance.
Persecution reveals our alignment with Christ.
Jesus said, God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, not for being
difficult, not for being opinionated, but for doing what is right.
We have to constantly ask ourselves, God, what do you want me to say?
Because a lot of us, a lot of the times, we know what we want to say, right?
We know the little piece of our mind that we would like to give somebody.
And whenever I'm tempted to give someone a piece of my mind, I have to make sure that
my mind is in his mind and remind myself that I have the mind of Christ.
So any thought that isn't in God's mind shouldn't be in mine.
And if I recognize that, man, I'm really negative towards this, or I have a really
bad opinion towards this.
Maybe those things I need to submit to him first before I say anything.
Those feelings, those emotions.
Man, Lord, these feelings aren't from you, are they?
Because I feel really irritated.
Anybody else feel irritated out there, ever?
Just Pastor Matt?
Okay, just checking.
It's okay to feel irritated.
We just can't let those feelings of irritation steer the ship of our heart.
And we lay down that irritation, we lay down that frustration, and we say,
God, man, I'm irritated.
You don't have to edit your conversation with God.
Because he understands what you're thinking about before you actually even
say it.
If you're frustrated with a boss, if you're frustrated with your spouse,
if you're frustrated with the family member, it's better for you to take that
real, authentic frustration to God, hear me, to God, not to social media,
not to your five closest friends, to God, and be really real with him and
say, man, Lord, I'm frustrated.
I'm irritated.
I realize that I have allowed my heart to maybe partner with bitterness,
and before I allow this to turn into any kind of sin, because the Bible says be
angry and do not sin, doesn't say we can't be angry, but God, before I mess this up,
I'm gonna bring this to you, because you're the only one that can really change
my heart.
You're the only one that can shift my perspective.
So God, before I speak to anybody about this, I'm gonna talk to you about this.
That's what it looks like to humble yourself and have a real conversation with
God and allow him to meet you in that place, allow him to heal those areas of
your hearts that he sees.
We think he doesn't.
He sees it.
He knows you better than you.
Second Timothy, chapter three, verse 12 says, yes, and everyone who wants
to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
And guys, please hear my heart.
You've heard me say this a couple times recently, but persecution is not someone
unfollowing you on Facebook.
Persecution is not a family member ignoring you for a few weeks.
Guys, our brothers and sisters in Nigeria are losing their lives by the masses right
now, and I don't know if you even realize that.
You know why?
Because the media's not talking about it.
We're talking over 30,000 brothers and sisters.
I think the average is going to about 35 people a day are losing their lives
because of their faith in Christ.
These are Christian farmers.
These are brothers and sisters in Christ that are just trying to serve the Lord,
just trying to love the Lord, and radical groups are coming in and wiping them out
by the masses.
Guys, we need to pray.
But also realize that they are receiving some kind of a blessing, because as we
read, blessed are those that are persecuted for their faith.
Guys, that is the persecution we're talking about, and I don't wish that upon
America, but I'm saying if that were to come to America, we better be ready.
You better be ready to lay your life down for the one that laid his life down for
you.
We're so blessed in America.
Oh my goodness.
But are you walking that kind of lifestyle with Jesus?
Are you in that kind of a relationship with Jesus that if you had to lay your
life down, if you had to stand up for the gospel in a way where you could lose your
life, are you ready?
I'm not trying to scare you at all, but things like this are happening in our
nation.
I think it's sad that we have to have security in churches, but I'm really
thankful that we do.
And I'll share this testimony real quick, because there's a lot of new families in
here, and maybe you don't know this, but man, we've had times where people's
lives were saved because of our security team.
I don't know if you know that.
I'm gonna share this, because it's a testimony to be shared.
We had an individual one Sunday that was walking around the property that looked a
little out of place.
We didn't know who he was.
We've never seen him before.
And this individual was just walking the property in our security, know what to do
in times like that, and they're talking to each other.
They're communicating with one another, and they made their way to the back of our
church, and however they got into one of our sheds.
And the individual was trying to take their life as church is going on in here.
This was someone that was close by the property.
You could put two and two together.
What's the closest building to us?
Somebody left that building and came over here.
They were attempting to do that.
Our security team found them, and that person is still here, and not only they're
still here, they sent an email to the office the following week thanking our
security team and saying, I would not be here if it wasn't for you guys caring.
I take that very seriously.
I wish we didn't have to have security, but we do.
But I want the lost.
I want the ones that are broken.
I don't know about you.
I want the people in our community that are confused to come here and find Christ.
When you stand for righteousness, it reveals your allegiance to God.
You look different because your values should look different.
Your light exposes darkness, and not everyone is comfortable with that.
John chapter 15 verse 18 through 19 says, Jesus said, if the world hates you,
remember that it hated me first.
The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no
longer a part of the world.
And you have to ask yourself, am I living this out?
Like if people watched the Netflix series of your life from the time you wake up to
the time you go to bed, would they be able to know that you know him?
Think about that.
Sometimes we give celebrities a bad rap for how they respond to paparazzi.
Can you imagine someone being at your front door and as soon as you step out,
that they're literally documenting your entire life?
How you drive, how you respond to people when they cut you off, how you respond to
your wife when she sends you interesting texts, when your kids do exactly what
they're not supposed to do.
Like if we're watching the story of your life, could someone go, man, that person
knows Jesus.
We have to live that way because God is watching that Netflix series.
He's got front row seats.
And we have to ask ourselves, how am I doing?
God, am I representing you well in this world?
I believe that all of us in this room, hear me, were born for such a time as
this.
That God is outside of time.
He knew exactly where the world would be in 2025.
And if you're in this room or if you're watching online, you have breath in your
lungs, you're here for a reason bigger than you know.
You have purpose, you have a destiny.
I don't care how old you are, I don't care how young you are.
You are a part of God invading earth like never before.
And you have to ask yourself, what part do I play?
I don't want you to want someone else's calling.
I want you to fall in love with the calling that God has placed on your life
for such a time as this.
When persecution comes, whether it's rejection, mockery, misunderstanding,
don't take it personally.
And that's hard, isn't it?
As humans, it's natural for us to want people to like us.
I don't think anyone wakes up and goes, man, I'm really excited to frustrate the
world.
And I'm really excited for people that I genuinely love and care about to reject
me.
I can't wait to start my day today.
No one's doing that.
But when you're standing up for Christ and maybe you are losing friends, I believe
it's you planting a seed in their life so maybe one day they look and go,
wow, they were right this whole time.
Your new life in him can't look like your old life outside of him.
That's right, come on.
You can't be set free and still bound to the same old stuff that you dealt with
outside of Christ.
We are living in a time where enough is enough.
We're either in Christ or we are not.
We're either saved or we're not.
We're either ready and our lamps are full or they're not.
It's not enough for you to be around friends that have full lamps.
And sometimes we can trick ourselves and think just because we go to a church that
preaches the gospel and people get freed and people get set free and people get
healed that we're in a good place.
How full is your lamp?
So that when it does come and when he does return, which I believe he will,
we don't know when.
I don't think we should be consumed by the when.
I think we should be consumed by him.
Now and be so focused on helping as many people now as we can because I don't know
about you but if Jesus chose to return this afternoon, I personally have a lot of
people in my life that will not be with him.
How many people in your life, in your personal life that you're connected to,
co-workers, family members, neighbors would not be with him.
Our heart has to begin to break for what breaks God's heart.
I don't know if we forgot this but it's God's heart that none would perish.
It's my job to say things that aren't popular.
It's my job to say things that are Biblical, not cultural because I'm not
willing to do this us versus them thing.
My heart breaks for Charlie Kirk and everyone attached to Charlie Kirk and his
family and his team but my heart also breaks for the one that pulled the
trigger.
My heart breaks for that individual because you just made a decision that will
have consequences.
And if that individual loses their life because of a decision they made and if
they don't know him, if they don't know God, that means they're gonna be separated
from God for eternity.
And as hard as it is, God, break my heart for what breaks yours.
God, would you reveal yourself to that individual?
Would you meet them in their dreams?
It's not too late.
Because you have conversations with people and people are like, well, what if someone
like Hitler got saved?
Do you think Hitler would go to heaven?
Yes.
Really, Pastor Matt?
Absolutely.
If some, we all are in need of a savior.
This person doesn't need God more than you need God.
We all need God.
We all needed rescue.
That's why Jesus came and did what only he could do.
I think it's important to ask ourselves the question, what would Jesus do on this
side of eternity when we're having conversations with people, when we're
making decisions.
It's pure to have that kind of question cross your mind.
But you know what Jesus would do?
He would die on a cross.
He would do what you never could do.
Because he was the only perfect one who could hang on that tree for people that
are mocking him, spitting on him, literally rejecting him to the highest
degree, doing what we most likely will never have to experience.
And as he's hanging on that cross, and as you can't even tell who he is
because he's been beaten beyond recognition, he's literally using the only
strength that he has to say, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.
What is he saying?
Father, do not hold this against them.
They're lost, they're confused.
Why do we as Christians get upset at a lost world for acting lost?
We can't get mad at sinners for sinning.
That's who they are.
They wake up, they're sinners.
If you do not know Christ, if you have not given your life to Jesus, whether you're a
good person or a bad person, you are a sinner by default.
Now, once you've given your life to Christ, which is controversial,
and this is the thing that kinda sets us apart, I believe your identity shifts from
you once were a sinner, now you are a saint.
You do not have to wake up as a saved individual saying, oh brother,
I'm just one of those sinners saved by grace.
If I believe, if to the core of who I am, I believe that I'm a sinner, I am going to
sin by faith.
But if I wake up every day believing I am the righteousness of Christ Jesus,
I believe that right believing will lead to right living, and I will manifest
righteousness more than sinning.
Am I saying that we don't have the ability to sin?
No, we do have the ability to sin, but the scriptures also teaches us if you
sin, there's an advocate.
Doesn't say when you sin, you don't have to wake up expecting you're gonna sin.
If you wake up believing you're going to struggle with A, B, and C for the rest of
your life, you most likely will.
But if you lay all that down at the feet of Jesus and go, I'm not righteous because
of me.
I'm not righteous because of my right actions, I'm righteous because his right
actions.
I'm saved because Christ's obedience to the Father.
I'm saved because Jesus said, your will be done.
And now we're invited into that relationship.
This is beautiful, man.
This is the gospel.
This is the message that will transform your life if you allow it to.
I promise you, there's nothing too big for him.
Is Winopa here or does she have to leave?
I have a word for Winopa, I'm gonna give it to you, JP.
Is that okay?
Can you receive that word on her behalf?
Because during worship I looked over and I saw Winopa.
And for all of us that know Winopa, she's a prayer warrior.
She's an intercessor.
And a lot of the times prophetic ministry should confirm what you already know.
It's God confirming and encouraging and uplifting you and edifying you in things
he's already speaking to you.
And I looked over there and I remembered the words.
I'm allowing the Holy Spirit to just do this because I feel like I need to.
He wants her to know that he's heard her prayers.
He's heard her cries.
Things are about to shift.
In the spirit I saw the Lord handing her a sledgehammer.
And things that she's been believing for, things that she's been contending for,
things that she's been standing in the gap for.
It's felt hard at times.
It's felt difficult at times.
It's felt like God, are you hearing my prayers?
This morning God says, I have heard your prayers.
I have seen your cries.
And honey, here's the breakthrough that you've been waiting for.
So God, I thank you.
I'm gonna try this.
I thank you for the back ups.
How'd I do?
I thank you for the breakthrough that is here.
And God, I thank you that you are prophetically contending Winopa and JP and
Winopa are one.
So the breakthrough that they've been leaving for is here.
And God, I thank you.
And I just release that over to them and to their family in Jesus' name,
amen.
Real quick, Brenda, sorry, I just gotta be obedient.
I had a word for Brenda this morning during worship.
The Lord told me that and then I said anything else and I saw Brenda.
I saw you sitting at a dinner table.
It was a wooden table.
I don't know your house personally.
I've seen a few things you posted on Facebook.
This is important for you to know that I know certain things.
Because I'm not gonna be someone that is pretending like, oh, Pastor Matt knows all
these facts.
No, I know some things.
But I also know in the natural that you're preparing to live somewhere else in the
near future.
Is that safe?
I don't know anything else other than that.
So the picture that I saw was you sitting at a wooden rustic table.
The table was full of paper.
It was full of plans.
It was full of you jotting things down with the Holy Spirit.
And if you looked at the table in the natural, it seemed overwhelming.
I'm just gonna be honest.
And I feel like the Lord says, I've seen where you've been.
I've seen the things that you've been trying to do.
And it seems a little, you feel maybe in this season, you feel a little
overwhelmed.
I don't wanna put those words in your mouth, but the picture that I saw,
it felt like you felt a little overwhelmed.
And this is how it's prophetic.
Because the prophetic is encouraging, uplifting, and edifying.
If I stop there, how is that encouraging, Brenda?
It's not.
I saw not you even opening the window.
The window bursted open.
The wind of God blew all of those papers off of your table.
Your heart immediately began to worship Him.
As you worshiped Him, a blueprint literally fell from heaven and covered the
entire table.
Doesn't mean that your plans are wrong.
Doesn't mean that your plans frustrated the Lord.
They were just your plans.
And as soon as your heart was postured to welcome God into the equation,
what once was overwhelming now is a pleasure.
So God, I thank you for what Brenda is dreaming about.
God, I thank you what you are using her to partner with you and plan and prepare for.
It's beautiful.
This is for your husband as well, because you're also one.
But God, I thank you that as they begin to just let go and let God, and this is what
you're gonna see and experience, the things on the blueprint are the
desires of your heart.
They are the things you've been thinking about.
They are the things you've been dreaming about.
God is just a better planner.
He's a better executor of our dreams becoming a reality.
So God, I just thank you for that wind coming over this marriage.
And God, I thank you for your plans to make themself known.
And Lord, we make a way for your way.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Come on, somebody.
When we experience persecution, it means we stand where Jesus stood.
We don't have to try to escape persecution.
If we're living right for Christ, persecution is going to happen.
Think of Daniel.
Did Daniel, did Jesus remove the lions?
No, but he made a way.
He made a way.
Daniel refused to bow to cultural pressure and was thrown into the lion's den,
yet God delivered him.
And his steadfastness, it impacted a nation.
But sometimes we spend so much time trying to pray the lions out of the lion's den
when God is like, I have placed you there for such a time as this.
Trust me, son.
Trust me, daughter.
My plans don't make sense.
My plans don't look like your plans.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have been real easy for them to bow,
couldn't it?
When you have an evil, twisted king saying bow to me and anyone who doesn't,
you're going to get thrown into the fiery furnace and lose your life.
You have three men that stood.
Even when they were walked to the furnace, where prisoners died because of how close
they got to the furnace, that's how hot it was.
They were thrown into that furnace.
And then what happened?
Did God remove the furnace?
No, he just allows Jesus to show up for such a time as this.
And we see a pre-incarnate Christ, Christophany, if you will, appearance of
Christ in the Old Testament before he makes an appearance in the new.
And he's with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The only thing that burned was the thing that was bounding them.
It was the things that were holding their hands together.
It was the shackles.
Nothing else burnt.
Their clothes didn't even smell of smoke.
Come on.
I want you to see the furnace from a different perspective.
I want you to see the lions from a different perspective because maybe our
prayers are in the wrong place.
Maybe we're in a place that needs you.
You need to be in that job.
You need to, God gave you your family for such a time as this.
There's heat on that.
That family member that's been a struggle.
And that's nice.
Nice way of putting it.
I believe God's placed you for such a time as this.
God, what do you want me to say to them?
What do you want me to, how do you want me to love them, God?
Because you put me in their life for a reason.
Come on somebody.
Persecution produces spiritual maturity.
Persecution doesn't just reveal your faith.
It refines it.
I want my faith refined.
It tests what's real and it removes what's shallow.
I don't want to have anything in me that's shallow.
I want to be confident in Christ.
James chapter one verse two through four says dear brothers and sisters,
you ready to laugh in the Lord?
Because this is a doozy.
When, not if, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity
for great joy.
Not even just joy, great joy.
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to
grow.
So let it grow.
For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and
complete, needing nothing.
In hardship, you learn to depend on God more deeply.
In rejection, watch this, in rejection, you find security in his approval rather
than man's approval.
I would love for the people in your life to all approve and give you so much
encouragement and accolades, but sometimes you don't get that.
It's not popular to say your heart needs to break for the person that pulled the
trigger.
Your heart needs to break for things that break God's heart, not what's popular.
I want what's pure, not what's popular.
God, help us.
In trials, our roots grow stronger.
That's right.
Do you want strong roots?
I want a strong root system.
1 Peter chapter one, verse six through seven says, so be truly glad.
There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little
while, these trials will show you that your faith is genuine.
Don't waste your trials.
Every time we see someone going into the wilderness, what do we see?
We see them going in one way and coming out powerful.
Maybe you're in a season where it feels like you're alone.
Maybe you are in a season where it seems like people that were there, now they're
not.
Maybe God wants you all to himself.
Maybe God wants to remove all the distractions, all the voices, all the
opinions.
He wants you all to himself.
He wants you to bring all of those things to him.
He wants to make it uncomfortable for you to bring it to anyone else other than him.
It's okay to get pastoral counsel, but sometimes we just want to complain.
Try complaining to God.
I love it.
Sometimes you bring excuses to God.
He's like, hey, you remember I sent my son to die for you?
You know the thing you're praying for?
I've actually called you to do.
The family member that you want me to transform, I've given you all of the gifts
and the abilities to be a part of that transformation.
He humbles you real quick.
Let those trials make you more like Jesus.
The same fire that burns away impurities also forges strength.
I want to get stronger in the Lord.
I want his fire to burn away everything in me that's not in him.
Gold is purified by fire, not to destroy it, but to make it more valuable.
The blessed life shines brightest when it's tested.
We need to go through testing.
We need to become stronger.
Our faith needs to become more genuine.
Persecution positions us for eternal reward.
I want to hear one day, I want to hear well done.
Good and faithful servant.
The way that I look at my life, I'm a son before I'm anything.
I'm a son of God.
If I'm anything else before I'm a son, everything else is gonna be off.
I'm a son to God.
I am a husband to Anna.
I am a father to Uriah and any other future children.
Come on, 10 year anniversary, woo woo.
Come on somebody.
Then I'm a shepherd to you.
I want God to be able to look at me and go well done.
Good and faithful servant.
I'm looking for that well done on that side of eternity.
Because Jesus said be happy about it, be very glad for great reward awaits you
in heaven.
He's not saying we should enjoy pain.
He's not saying that.
He's saying we should have a heavenly perspective of the trials.
When you endure hardship for Christ, heaven takes notice.
Watch this in Romans chapter eight, verse 17, 318.
Since we are his children, we are his heirs.
In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory.
But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
These are not things we can just take out of scripture because it's not comfortable.
If you wanna share in his glory, you're also gonna have to share in his
suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Watch this.
Your reward is not temporary applause.
It's eternal joy.
Knowing that you've served the Lord with all of your heart.
Every act of faithfulness, every time you stood firm in love, every tear you shed
for righteousness sake, heaven remembers.
Heaven has a record of all of these things.
What kind of record is being kept for you?
I want God to look down and say, well done.
Sometimes it looks like corrections.
Sometimes it looks like, Matt, you could have prayed for that person.
I literally made it so easy for you.
Maybe you've been crying out for God to use you and then all of a sudden you're at
the grocery store and the person that needs him is right in front of you and
then what happens?
Sometimes we just get a little nervous and we choose not to do the very thing that
we've been praying for.
I want God to be able to correct me in the car and be like, hey son, I love you.
That was me.
I don't know if you know that, but that was actually me.
I'm not mad at you.
I don't want you to feel condemned.
I don't want you to partner with guilt.
I don't want you to partner with shame, but learn from this moment.
Why didn't you reach out?
Why didn't you pray for that person?
And then you just be honest and go, wow, you know what, I got a little afraid.
It's okay to be honest with God.
Some of us have family members.
Some of us have people in our lives that you know God is challenging you to have a
hard conversation with.
The person that immediately came to your mind, God wants you to have a conversation
with that person.
Why?
Because it's only holding you back from being the person that God wants you to be.
If confrontation and hard conversations are done right, the two people should be
leaving that conversation closer than they were before.
That doesn't mean it's easy.
It's gonna be uncomfortable, but it sounds like to me, it's a great opportunity to
welcome in the comforter.
And say, oh, buddy, I have this person in my life that I know God's wanted me to
have a conversation with for a long time and I've been putting it off.
And I don't know who this is for, but I'm telling you, it's for you,
man.
If you're in this room and your heart's beating out of your chest, it's for you.
Trust me, I've been there.
I can preach to a room full of teenagers because I've done it before, but I also
was the teenager in the room.
And when I'm preaching last night to these teenagers looking at me bawling,
they're like, Pastor Matt, everything you just said is everything I'm currently
struggling with, everything I'm going through.
I said, look what he's done for me.
If he did it for me, he could do it for you.
These kids, man, depression falling off these kids.
Anxiety falling off these kids.
Suicidal thoughts leaving these kids' minds.
Because that's the God we serve.
If he did it for me, he could do it for you.
Amen?
I mean, guys, we can't, look at Stephen, the first martyr of the Bible.
He looked up, his stones were hurled at him and saw Jesus standing at the right
hand of the Father.
Jesus chose to stand to honor a man who refused to back down from his devotion to
God.
What can you do that would cause Jesus to stand in honor of what you're doing?
That's the kind of applause I want.
I would lie to you if it didn't make me feel good for people to come up and say,
man, Pastor Matt, that was a great word.
But if I lived by that applause, I would die when it didn't come.
And how many know there's Sunday after Sunday that you say hard things sometimes
and you don't get anything like that?
You can't do things for the applause of man.
You must do things for his applause.
All of heaven goes, I know what you just did there and I'm so proud of you.
I saw that you could have done this and you chose not to.
And we're ending with this and I know that this last part was gonna be the heaviest
part of the series because it's a pretty heavy topic.
But when you die to yourself and you surrender to him, it makes living this
kind of life possible.
You can't live this kind of life through your own strength.
You just can't.
So I wanna end with this.
When we started this series, the Beatitudes begins with humility but watch,
it ends with courage.
It's this beautiful flow.
It's this proper positioning of how our heart should be.
First, our posture before God with humility and with hunger.
Then our posture towards others with mercy and peace.
As we've received mercy and peace into our life, now God wants to use us to extend it
to others.
And then lastly, our posture towards the world.
And God is calling us to have courage and perseverance.
I promise you a life surrender to God shaped by love and steadfastness points
people to him First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58 says, be strong and immovable.
Always work enthusiastically for the Lord.
For you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
Some of you have been doing a lot of things behind the scenes that no one sees
and heaven is applauding you.
I made a post on Facebook yesterday just kind of highlighting things that I'm
learning just by watching Anna, mother.
If you're a mother in this room, thank you.
You should be honored more than just Mother's Day.
Take notes, boys.
All of the things that you do that no one sees, why do we make that less of a
calling?
You're raising up the next generation for the Lord.
That's a pretty big deal.
As you're also pursuing business ventures and a lot of you are entrepreneurs,
but if you're also, it's not just being a stay at home mom.
All of those things, you're beautiful.
God wants you to know I've seen your prayers.
I've heard your cries.
I've seen you cleaning and sometimes not cleaning.
And husbands, when we come home, sometimes we have to check in and start
cleaning.
But all of us have a part to play in this.
Allow this series, allow Matthew chapter five to be attitudes, to transform how you
view a blessed life.
Because if you can get into these scriptures and pursue a lifestyle that
looks like this, you're blessed.
You're blessed.
You're so blessed.
If you get this, you're blessed.
Everything flows from this reality.
Because the blessed life doesn't crumble when things get hard.
When things shift, you stand firm.
It doesn't retreat in fear.
It shines with courage and love.
It doesn't live for the approval of man.
It lives for the reward of heaven.
So can we stand?
I just wanna pray and ask God to partner with us in this pursuit.
Because this is a pursuit.
So can we just extend our hands to heaven, put our hands out in front of us and just,
let's just pray this together.
Let's just believe God for a move right now.
Lord, thank you for the strength that comes from your spirit.
When the world pushes back, help us stand firm in love and truth.
Purify our motives, Lord.
Deepen our faith and fix our eyes on eternity.
May our lives reflect your kingdom in every circumstance.
In Jesus' name.
And I just wanna pray for anyone that's just feeling heavy.
Anyone that's just like, man, I hear this, I hear this.
God wants some folks in the room that are hearing it here to let it go from here to
here.
So if that's you, I just want you to place your hand on your heart as my prayer team
comes and gets ready to pray with individuals.
I wanna pray that you guys can come as the prayer team now.
God, thank you for everyone in this room that is responding to you in this moment.
And God, if they have a heavy heart, God, I pray that they would be able to
hear that they would bring these things to you, Lord.
They would bring the things to you that only you can shift.
That only you can change.
So God, I just say have your way in our lives today and every day.
In Jesus' name.
Amen?
Amen.
If you would love prayer, please respond, come forward.
We'd love to pray with you.
If you have a healing that you need to see in your body, we'd love to pray for you.
If you just need encouragement, please come and allow us to encourage you.
Thank you so much for being with us this Sunday.
We'd love to see you at our fall harvest party next Sunday, but be blessed.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thanks for listening to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.
We hope this message encouraged you and drew you closer to Jesus.
So stay connected with us at HarvestChapelPA.com or follow us on social
media at Harvest Chapel PA.
We can't wait to be with you again next week.