John 1:43-46 KJVS The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. [44] Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. [45] Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. [46] And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
As I was praying and meditating on what the Lord wanted to say to us today, I heard these words in my spirit... Can anything good come out of Nazareth? I knew immediately this was from the text we just read. It was when Phillip was telling Nathaniel about Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathaniel responded by saying, can any thing good come out of Nazareth.
Why did Nathaniel say that? Well according my research, Nazareth was not a nice place, it was a small village of no significance, and it would seem that the Jews didn't even want to live there. It was a gathering place for the lower elements of society. To be called a Nazarene, was not a compliment, it was more of a put down, like calling somebody a hillbilly or hick.
So needless to say, Nazareth did not have a very good reputation.
So Nathaniel was saying... Can anything decent, or benificial, or helpful, or useful come out of that place?
That made me think to myself, Have you ever went through something that was very painful, and I mean physically, or emotionally, something that was heart breaking, frustrating, and confusing, and left you drained, physically, emotionally and spiritually, and you looked at that problem, that situation, that pain producing, frustrating issue, or situation, and said to yourself, this is absolutely the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life?
And you might not have said it, but you surely thought it, what good can come of this? Or can anything good come out of this mess, this pain, this misery producing situation.
It was like your Nazareth, the place and the conditions, and the circumstances that you couldn't see anything good ever coming out of. That's what Nathaniel was saying.
You may be there right now. You may be walking through your personal Nazareth right now. And you didn't ask for it, and you didn't want it, but you got it.
What Nathaniel soon found out was that it didn't matter how low, or dispicable or undesirable Nazareth was, something good could come from it. Out of all that collection of undesireable, dispicable conditions, and circumstances, Jesus came to Nathaniel.
The point is, it doesn't matter what it may look like, or feel like, Jesus chooses to reveal and manifest himself, in spite of, and in the midst of, the most undesireable circumstances, and in the most unexepected ways.
And that's why the Holy Spirit said to tell you, "Something good is going to come out of this".
I don't know what your this, or your Nazareth might be today, but hear the Holy Spirit say it again... Something good is going to come out of this.
You may feel like you are walking through your own personal fiery furnace. I can understand that.
You may be going through the greatest fire of your life, and it’s the kind that hurts, and the kind that makes you cry, it could be physical, spiritual, emotional, or financial, or it could be everything at once. The point is, it's real, and it hurts.
The first thing I have to say is, don't start getting frustrated with God. He never promised us a rose garden with no thorns. He never said that you would never be attacked physically, spiritually, emotinally or financially.
In fact he pretty much promised that you would. He said all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
He also said, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trials which are to try you.
And he said, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
I don't expect you to get excited about the fire, but I just wanted to remind you, it came with the calling. Warfare came with our comission, thats why he furnished us with the armor of God.
He never said fiery darts wouldn't be hurled at us, but he gave us the sheild of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
One of the devils greatest tools in his tool box, is to isolate you. And to make you feel like nobody else has ever felt what you're feeling. But I just have to throw this in... While I would never minimize your pain, and your hurt, I promise you... there is somebody who has been through worse, and by the grace of God they have lived to testify... You can make it.
Somebody else has walked through that fire before you, and they made it.The devil tried to kill them, but here they are to testify, God is faithful.
He's faithful on the mountain, he's faithful in the valley, and he's faithful in the fire. He keeps his word... He will never leave you, nor forsake you.
We have not a highpriest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Jesus feels our pain, and he cares, and you are not alone.
He never promised us that we wouldn't have to go through the fire, but he did promise us, we wouldn't be alone. It doesn't matter how high or how low, or how hot, you can count on his presence. And I don't just mean in a metaphorical sense... I mean in a tangible way. You can feel him by your side.
When your walking through the fire keep this in the forefront of your mind... Somebody else has been here before me, and they beat this fire, they beat this viper that tried to kill them. Like the apostle Paul, they were bit, but they weren't beat.
Somebody else walked through the fire and they lived to testify, we made it, and you can make it too.
3 Hebrew boys would testify to you right now, and tell you, you can trust him. God is able. And they would say to you, whatever you're going through you need to believe that something good is going to come out of this.
You say pastor I need a little more encouragement than that. Alright lets try this... Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love the Lord, and who are the called according to his purpose.
Oh pastor you're helping me now. How about another? Ok, how about this?
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it unto good. To bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive.
When Joseph said that, he was standing on the other side of his fiery trial, his persecution, his betrayal, his rejection and he is saying, everything that you plotted and conspired against me, and did to me to try to destroy me, God used it to get me here.
Hallelujah, look at someone and tell them, it's working for you. God is using the fire to get you somewhere. No God didn't send it, the devil sent it, but God is using it to get you to the palace. It's working for you.
You say pastor do you really believe that? Can I really believe that this pain, this grief, this frustration and misery can actually be working for me?
Let's look at some more scripture... 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 says, For all things are for your sakes, (See that, all things are for your sakes) that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. (Ultimately God is going to get glory out of this).
[16] For which cause we faint not; (meaning, because we know this, we don't give up and throw in the towel) but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. [17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, "worketh for us" a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
I know that this will require an excercise of faith, because you have to through spirit eyes. You do know that we have two sets of eyes right? Tell your neighbor, use your other eyes.
Now while we're looking through the eyes of faith, can we just stop and shout right here, and give God some praise that it's working for us? Shake hands with 4 or 5 people and tell them, it's working for you. I mean encourage somebody, put some faith into it... It's working for you. Maybe you need to get out of your seat and tell somebody... Hold on, keep the faith, God is on your side... it's working for you.
If I didn't say anything else today, you heard enough Bible truth to get you through.
No God did not say you would never go through deep waters, or face the fiery trials. In fact he said we would.
Isaiah 43:2 says, When (not if) thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: (when) thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Tell your neighbor, you're not going to drown, and you're not going to burn up. Now tell them... Just keep on walking, keep on walking.
Oh but here's the secret sauce,..[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
So there it is again, while we are looking through spirit eyes, it's working for us.
You got to keep looking up. Look higher than your circumstances. Look beyond your circumstances. There's glory coming. Something good is going to come out of this.
Paul and Silas would tell you, keep on praising God, keep on praying, keep on sowing. They would tell you God is faithful. They would probably tell you that the most important thing is, don't lose your praise.
Friend, it is a choice to praise God. It also a choice to not praise God.
Isaiah 61:3 says, To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
So Isaiah says by the Spirit of God, that you have an appointment to get beauty for ashes, and oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
But you have to show up for your appointment!
Tell your neighbor, I aint missing my appointment.
Now tell your neighbor I hope this doesn't disturb you too much, but if it does, I can't help it, because you came on my appointment day, and I've got to get my praise on.
Now I want you to think of every good thing God has done for you. Think about the mess he brought you out of. Think about the mess he kept you from. Think about how he healed your body, saved your marriage. Think about how he filled you with the Holy Ghost, think about every accident you walked away from, and the ones that almost happened, but didn't.
Forget about all the negatives right now. Forget about the fire right now, forget about everything the enemy is trying do, and just get your praise on.
Tell your neighbor excuse me for a minute while I get this heaviness off me, and put my praise on.
Now tell your neighbor please excuse me, I have an appointment. I'm keeping my appointment.
Paul and Silas had an appointment to praise God in the midnight hour, and it woke up the whole jail house. The Bible says the prisoners heard them. That means their praise was verbal. It wasn't just a thankful heart, they also had thankful lips.
Don't tell me you can't praise the Lord. You can holler at each other, and yell and scream at the ball game, or a rodeo, or big time wrestling. What you need to do is take that breath God gave you and turn it into a praise.
I'm trying to tell somebody, something good is going to come out of this.
Joseph's praise brought him out of his betrayal and false accusation, and took him into the palace.
But Joseph didn't wait till he got to the palace to give God praise. He gave God a palace praise while he was still in the ppit and the prison.
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The Bible says that when Pharoh called for Joseph he was in the prison. And the Bible says, he changed his clothes, and shaved himself. In other words, he gave God a palace praise while he was still in the prison.
Changing his clothes meant I'm going somewhere, I aint there yet, but my praise is prophetic. My garment of praise is prophetic. If you want to know where I'm going just look at my praise.
Friend I'm going to tell you something, God has been too good to me, I aint going to give him some luke warm, half-baked, watered down, 2% low fat praise. I'm giving him a 100% hot off the grill, born in the fire praise.
Put your hands together and give him some real praise... God you're worthy, God you've been good to me praise.
Why don't you just prophesy with your hands, and give God some real praise. Why don't you let your feet do some prophesying. Maybe you could just bust a move for God.
Yes I know it's true, God knows what is in our hearts, but he wants to hear it come out of your mouth.
Not only that, you need to make the devil listen to your praise. He's already heard you crying, and moaning, now it's time to make him pay.
I'm getting ready to place within your hands devil blasting power. How want devil blasting power? I'm going to show why the devil hates a praising Christian.
Ok, here we go, your praise is an instrument that God uses to punish the devil.
You say, I've never head that before. It doesn't make it any less true. The devil dreads a praising Christian. One of our greatest weapons against the kingdom of darkness is our praise.
Let's read it... Psalm 149:5-9 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. [6] Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; [7] To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; [8] To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; [9] To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord.
While we're praising God, we are binding the enemy, and punishing the devils and demons.
Your praise is like salt to snails. It's like when you pour salt on them they just melt away.
That's what happens to the devil when you praise God, he starts melting away, like the wicked witch on the wizard of Oz. If you could hear the devil when you praise God, you would hear him crying help me I'm melting.
I'm trying to tell somebody, something good is going to come out of this.
When Paul and Silas kept their midnight appointment, and got their praise on, their shackles fell off. The Bible says, God sent an earthquake and shook the jailhouse off of its foundation, and every prisoners bands were loosed, and their prison doors came open.
Tell your neighbor... Don't underestimate my praise.
Tell them my praise is powerful.
Do you see how Paul and Silas keeping their appointment to praise God, loosed every prisoners bands?
Then the jailor comes rushing in, and sees all the prison doors open, and starts to kill him self, but Paul says, do thyself no harm we are all here. Then the jailor and his whole family gets saved, because Paul and Silas kept a midnight appointment.
I want to tell you something very powerful. You may be going through something right now, and you think it's all about you. But what you don't realize is there were prisoners, and there was a jailor and his family that needed to experience the mercy of God.
And God allowed Paul and Silas to go into that Prison, because he knew they would keep their appointment no matter what the circumstances were.
I don't know what your fiery trial might be right now, but I want to ask you, can God trust you to keep your appointment? Because I can tell you this right now, it's not just about you, or me.
Somebody is watching you, and somebody is bound up, and they're sitting in the darkness of their negative confusing lives, And maybe not with their lips, but in their hearts they're asking, is it worth it.
And they're not in any condition to praise God. They're in a dark place, there's no joy, there's no peace, and there's no song. And then you keep your appointment and you start praising God, and all of a sudden, their prison starts shaking, and chains start breaking, and doors fly open, and light comes pouring into the darkness, and hope springs up, and salvation breaks forth, and miracles start happening. Because somebody praised the Lord.
When Nathaniel heard that Jesus was of Nazareth, he almost immediately rejected him, because his thought was, Nazareth is such a terrible place, that no good can come from there.
But something good did come from Nazareth, Someone good came from Nazareth and transformed his life.
We all have our Nazareth experiences, and when we look at them, and we feel the pain, and the discomfort, and the frustrations, and confusions, we are tempted to throw away and reject our Nazareth. But you need to know, the one we call the sweet savior, and the Nazarene, comes out of Nazareth. I know he wasn't born there, but he grew up there.
Friend, if you despise your Nazareth you might miss the Nazarene. Many times throughout the scriptures it is a practice of God to hide his greatest treasures in very plain, and even undesireable packaging.
The tabernacle in the wilderness contained an enormous amount of wealth, gold everywhere. But it was covered in badgers skin.
Your greatest treasures in life may be hidden in badgers skin. In other words, they may be in the middle of the greatest fire of your life.
When the 3 hebrew boys went into the fiery furnace, they didn't know Jesus would show up there. And I feel like prophesying and telling someone, Jesus is with you, just keep walking, put one foot in front of the other, and keep walking, and you will ultimately walk into a prepared place of glory.
Sometimes we take his presence for granted. When everything's going great, we just rush through life taking his presence for granted. Then comes the fiery trial, and all of sudden, we're searching for him again, we're reaching for him again, because we need him.
Surely we always need him, but there's nothing like a fiery trial to make us feel how much we need him.
As the 3 hebrew boys fellowshipped with Jesus in the fire, they found everything they needed.
Then comes the king and calls them out, and they reluctantly exit the fiery furnace, then they are promoted in the kingdom.
Something good is going to come out of this.
Tell your neighbor: I'm not going through this for nothing.
When I come out of this, I'll be wiser.
When I come out of this I'll be more anointed.
When I come out of this I'll be more dangerous to hell.
When I come out of this I'm coming out blessed,
I'm coming out stronger, bolder, wiser, more anointed. I'm coming out of this with a greater testimony than ever before.
Something good is going to come out of this. The devil will wish he never sent this trial my way, because it made me stronger.
It was in that fiery trial where I really learned how to pray, and I learned the power of decreeing and declaring the word with my mouth. It was in the fire that I learned how to be faithful, I learned that my emotions can't be trusted.
It was in the fire where I found a real praise, not just a courtesy praise. I learned how to dig down deep into my spirit and pull up a real praise.
I have to tell you courtesy praises are always real cute and tidy.
But sometimes a real praise can get ugly. In fact I think that the best praise, I mean the deepest most genuine praise that God gets from us, is that ugly praise. Never ever be ashamed to give God an ugly praise.
You may be going through something right now, and you may not know it, but you could be just one ugly praise away from your breakthrough.
Praise doesn't have to be pretty to be powerful.
Can any good thing come out of this? Absolutely, no doubt about it... Something good is going to come out of this, in Jesus name.
