Before God Uses You, He will Give You These 7 Tests

Seven ways God will test you before he'll use you. I want to talk to you about process. I want to talk to you about those seasons in life where you're wondering what God is doing. You know you're called. You know he's placed gifts upon your life. You know he's given you a purpose and you're trying to discover that purpose or maybe you're even to some degree already walking in that purpose. But there are seasons that will cause you to have doubts and questions. There are seasons that will weigh heavily upon you.

I want to talk to you about that because it's important that you understand what you're facing. And I believe that as you listen to the word of God right now that seasons of life are going to begin to make sense. There'll be things that are happening in your life where you're going to finally see and say, "I finally see what God is doing."

But the enemy is going to work to distract you. The enemy is going to do what he can to pull your attention away from the word of God. So, I need you to make a commitment right now to fight the flesh. Say no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. You'll find that as you're hearing the word often that the enemy will do what he can to pull you away to something else, something that seems more enticing, more entertaining. The flesh craves entertainment and distraction, but the spirit craves the scripture. The spirit craves the deeper things of God. So as you hear this message, just be aware of the fact that your flesh may fight what it's hearing because it's being corrected, because it's being weakened, because it's being subjected under the power of the spirit.

As I said, I want to talk to you about process. Process is simply the proper use of a series of moments or behaving correctly as God sends these moments to you. Job chapter 23:10 says this, "But he knows where I am going and when he tests me, I will come out as pure gold." When the Lord tests you, he purifies you. As you are facing trials, as you are facing those difficult circumstances that maybe cause you to question, to doubt, and even that cause you to desire to quit, remember this that God does not waste the process. God does not waste the moment. God does not waste trials. As gold is purified in fire, so God's children are purified in trials. Jeremiah 20:12 says, "Oh Lord of heaven's armies, you test those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you."

Now watch this. This one especially, I want to focus on Psalm 105:19. Psalm 105:19. "Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph's character." I want to read that again. Listen to this. "Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph's character." We're going to be looking at the life of Joseph. And I'm going to show you seven ways that God tested Joseph before he could step into the promise, before he could step into the fulfillment of those dreams that God had given to him.

Now remember, there is a difference between your dreams and divine dreams. Your dreams have to do with your will. Divine dreams have to do with God's will. So when I'm talking to you about the call of God, I'm not saying that you're going to eventually receive everything that you desire. No. In fact, when you follow Jesus, there is a lot of self-denial. And if you can't remember the last time that you had to say no to self, then you need to double check and make sure that you're actually following Jesus. Because to follow Jesus is to deny self.

Now, one more clarification here. I am not saying that an individual has to go through all seven of these tests in order to be used by God. Nor am I saying that these tests have to be taken in a certain order. So, don't look at these as a chronology. Look at these as just biblical principles that you can apply to your life.

Now, God could use anybody that he wants. I mean, think about how Saul turned to Paul pretty much instantaneously. He didn't necessarily have to go through a process before God called him into ministry. So God can do what he wishes. But generally speaking, God processes the individual before he will begin to use them in certain degrees. And the more processed they become, the more he will choose to use them. So everyone is being used by God to some degree. You're watching this, you're a born again believer, you're spirit-filled. There's no way that he's not using your life in some way.

Now, you may say, "I don't see how God's using my life. I don't see where my purpose is. I don't see the effect that I'm having." But rest assured, if you're a spirit-filled believer, it's impossible to not make an impact. Just by your existence and being who you are in Christ, there is an impact that's being made. But as you begin to pass certain tests, God begins to promote you for the sake of his will and promises.

Comment this in the comment section. Now, I want to pass the tests. Tell the Lord in the comments section now that you want to pass your test. Lord, test me and help me to pass these tests. Leave a comment whether you're watching live or on the replay.

Now, let's go to Genesis chapter 37. And let's begin to look now at the life of Joseph. Genesis chapter 37. I'm going to begin reading verse number one. So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan where his father had lived as a foreigner. This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was 17 years old, he often tended his father's flocks. He worked for his half-brothers and the sons of his father's wives. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Verse three, watch this. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph, a beautiful robe. Watch this verse four. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn't say a kind word to him.

Now for the sake of the analogy I have to clarify. I'm not saying that God loves some of his children more than he loves others. No, God loves his children equally. But he trusts us in proportion to our obedience. He favors us in proportion to our obedience. So favor is simply how God responds to a life of obedience and humility. Live righteously before him unto his glory.

Verse five. One night, Joseph had a dream. And when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. "Listen to this dream," he said. "We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly, my bundles stood up and your bundles all gathered around and bowed before mine."

Now, imagine this. He's already disliked by his brothers. He's hated. The scripture makes it clear. Why? Because he has favor. Because there was a special gift made for him. And that special gift represented the special favor that he carried. And now adding his dream to this equation, he's beginning to make things worse for himself by sharing this dream. Now, I don't think it's necessarily wrong that he shared the dream, but that can be debated. That's not the point of my message here right now.

Verse 8, his brothers responded, "So you think you will be our king, do you?" Isn't it interesting that when you begin to share what God has placed in your heart, when you begin to recognize who God has called you to be that suddenly people begin to accuse you of arrogance and pride and sometimes it is the case that people are filled with arrogance and pride. But it's not always the case. Sometimes sharing the dream is done so out of excitement or enthusiasm because of what God is doing and you expect people to celebrate with you instead they hate you. "Do you actually think that you will reign over us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. So he's probably gloating. At least that's what I suspect.

Verse nine. Soon Joseph had another dream and again he told his brothers about it. "Listen, I've had another dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed low before me." This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers. But his father scolded him. "What kind of dream is that?" he asked. "Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?" But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. Now, this is the price of favor. When God begins to promote and favor you, keep in mind that he never does so for the sake of you. When God gifts you, it's not about your gifting. When God anoints you, it's not about your anointing. When God places you in ministry, it's not about your ministry. It's not about your story. It's not about you becoming important or using the gospel to make yourself important. No. When God elevates a man or a woman, he does so to elevate his purpose, his message, and the expansion of his kingdom. And in so doing, when God raises an individual, often they attract jealousy. And people who you thought would celebrate with you begin to carry hatred against you in their hearts and they begin to perceive you in ways that cause them to feel better about themselves. You try explaining yourself to others, it's not going to work. Do you know why? Because they want to dislike and hate you. Do you know why they want to dislike and hate you? Because it's the only way that they can justify what it is they feel about themselves. That it's the only way that they can make up for the insecurity in their own lives, in their own hearts. Confidence looks like arrogance to the insecure. Let me say that again. Confidence looks like arrogance to the insecure. When someone is confident in who they are in Christ, someone who is insecure is going to perceive that as pride and arrogance. And often what we perceive as pride in others, please hear me now. What we perceive as pride in others is actually insecurity within ourselves.

And so this is what Joseph is facing. God gives him a dream. Look, you're going to be someone important. You're going to be someone to whom others bow. Now, it wasn't about that. Obviously, these dreams were not ultimately, if you study the story and you look at the overall purpose of the dreams and the fulfillment of those dreams, you'll find that ultimately this was not about Joseph becoming somebody important, but rather it was about the redemption or the saving of an entire nation, God's people, because it was through Joseph that that nation was saved. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. When you begin to walk in God's favor, it will automatically attract jealousy. There's no way around it. It's going to happen. And instead of attacking others, instead of becoming bitter and offended, you have to just recognize that that's just what comes with it.

Now, Job 7:18 says, "For you examine us every morning and test us every moment."

Now, look at what happens in verse 12-4. Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem." How's that for a tongue twister? Get ready and I will send them to you. Or send you to them, excuse me. "I'm ready to go," Joseph replied. "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me a report." So, Jacob sent him on his way and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valleys of Hebron.

Now, this is test number one. Test number one. Mind you, this is after Joseph's been favored. This is after Joseph has received the dream. This is after Joseph knows that his life has been set aside for a specific divine purpose. Number one is the test of service. God will not use anyone who does not have a servant's heart. Jesus said that if you want to become great in the kingdom, you must seek to serve. The first shall be last, the last shall be first. You want to find your life, you have to lose it in him. You want to receive of God, you have to give yourself over to him. So service is the first test. Notice here that he's being sent on an assignment after he knows his divine assignment. He's still willing to obey his father. He's still willing to serve his brothers. And this was a form of service to his brothers in this capacity. He was helping. He was acting on behalf of their father for the sake of their benefit. So he's serving. He's obeying. He's submitted even though he knows there's this great call in his life. Even though he knows that one day there is going to be great importance to who he is, he's still willing to serve.

And many people skip this point. They want to have the pulpit. They want to have the platform without the process. Look, I thank God for social media. I thank God that many people can use social media to share what God is doing in their lives and even to share the word. But here's one of the drawbacks of social media and it's also one of the positives. Positive, anyone can have a platform on social media. The negative, anyone can have a platform on social media. And many believers today are bypassing the process because they have the platform in the palm of their hand and now they don't allow the Lord to process them. They don't serve anywhere. They're not giving their lives over to a vision, to accountability, to spiritual headship, which is a biblical concept. Notice I didn't say a spiritual control. God gives us spiritual headship not to govern our lives but to help guide us. But the scripture makes it clear that one who is to serve in ministry must be well respected, known among the believers, must be someone who's proven themselves. They must be known. There's a process before the platform.

Now, when I began in ministry, I didn't start by preaching. When I began preaching as an evangelist is when I began preaching. But I look back at the first ministry that the Lord allowed me to serve in and I was what you would call the song flipper. Now Steve, we went to the same church. We've been friends. How old were we when we met? I was four or five years old. You I think were seven. I was like six or seven. He was like four or five years old. So picture that. And we went to the same church. Now Steve, do you remember the overhead projector at the Madison building? I do. I do. The with the little bulb. I don't know if some of you might not know what that is, but Well, if they don't know, they can Google that. Like, you can go on online. You don't have to do that right now, but Google overhead projector. And that's what I operated. So, for those of you who don't know, it was basically a box with a bulb in it, and it would shine a light upwards and over that box would be this magnifier that would project the image overhead and onto a screen. So, an overhead projector. And my job was the song flipper. So, I had these transparent pieces of paper that I would flip onto that projector and those would be the words for the worship lyrics that the people would sing. And I still remember to this day when I was asked to do that, I was I was just standing around eating some breakfast at church with my friends and my youth pastor walks up to me. He says, "I need some help." And one of my friends went to the left, one of my friends went to the right. They scattered and I was left standing there and pastor looked right at me and says, "I need you to run the overhead projector." And I was so nervous. I thought I was going to mess everything up. I thought that I was going to mess up the service and everyone would be looking at me and laughing at me and I said, "I don't know if I can do this." But I stepped into that role because there was a need. There was something that needed to be done and I knew it was for the sake of the kingdom. And I'll tell you this, I put everything I had into being that song flipper. I made sure that all of the songs were categorized in alphabetical order. I made sure that my cart that carried the overhead projector was perfectly clean. No dust was collected on that. I made sure that I went to the worship practices to make sure that I understood when the team would be switching over to what lyrics. I memorized their hand signs so that I knew if they were going to go to the bridge or the chorus or sing the verse again. And I watched it very carefully. In fact, I even put tissue boxes down on that little cart that I would move around so that anybody who was crying near that space at the altar would have access to a tissue box. And I took that job seriously. All the wires perfectly wrapped. I would clean that up. I made sure everything was always put away. And I took great joy in operating the overhead projector. My friend, I was not called into the ministry the day I stepped into the pulpit. That was the day when I first began to flip songs. That was the day I stepped into my calling. That was the time that I went and found myself set on a path to fulfill what God would do in my life. And I served in sound ministry. I served in the song flipping ministry. I served in the audiovisual. All of that. That's what I did for years. And it was actually in those moments that I would encounter God during worship. It was in those seasons that I learned what it was to have integrity. To do things with excellence, to embrace change that is good, to do everything that I could do with all my heart for the sake of the glory of God. In everything that you do, do as unto the glory of God. You may wonder if you're wasting time. You may wonder, well, what about that person or that individual or look how many subscribers they have or look at how many viewers they get. I'm falling behind. I got to hurry up and get in this. I got to hurry up and get in there because someone my age is doing better than I am or someone in my season is doing better than I am. And that's where comparison will kill you because it makes you try to rush your race. When God called you to serve. God called you to be processed. In the serving, the character is developed. So that's test number one, the test of service.

Test number two, go to verse 18. Now, Genesis 37, go to verse 18. "When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. 'Here comes the dreamer,' they said." So, they're mocking him now. "'Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father a wild animal has eaten him.' 'Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams.'" These guys are vicious. Verse 21. "But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph's rescue. 'Let's not kill him,' he said. 'Why should we shed any blood? Let's just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he'll die without our laying a hand on him.' Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father." So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Now they strip him of something that symbolizes favor. Now they could strip him of this robe, but they could not strip him of the favor of God on his life. Let me just say this really clearly. You cannot cancel who God has called. If God has called you, there's nothing anyone can do about it. If God has called you, they can slander you. They can gossip. They can team up against you. They can try to get as many people as they can to work against you and to hate you like they hate you. But there's nothing that anyone can do if God has called you. And this is what you have to remember when you're facing difficult seasons is that they may be able to strip that symbol of favor which they took this robe but they could not remove the actual favor. Now then they grabbed him. Verse 24 says and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty. There was no water in it. This is sad because they throw him into this and this is obviously a storage point for water. It was a deep hole basically is what they threw him into. There's more to it than that, but for the sake of brevity, it was basically a pit that they threw him into. And Joseph is sitting in there now. He's lying in there maybe. They throw him in there because they're sick of the favor on his life. They throw him in there because they're jealous of what's happening for him. They throw him in there because they hate him because of their own insecurity.

Now, this is test number two. Please hear me now. This is test number two. This is the test of hiddenness. Often God will hide you to protect you. Well, you imagine that him hiding you is slowing you down. You see, you're in danger when you begin to look at someone else and you say, "Well, maybe you look at a general in the faith who inspired you or your pastor, your leader, your parents, and you say things like, 'Well, when they were my age, they were doing this. When they were my age, they had already reached this point. When they were my age, they had already written this many books or had this many crusades or had a program or whatever you compare.'" But you have to realize that when God hides you, it's for a purpose. Often that hiding is to protect you. Because if you develop too soon or if exposure comes before the intended moment or at an intensity that's not supposed to happen, well, now you're actually slowing yourself down. Nothing will slow you down quite like a shortcut because you think you're saving time. You think you're catching up. You think you're making up for lost time when all the while you're just adding to your heartache because that exposure that comes before its time will actually slow down the call.

Now you may say nothing can slow down the call of God on my life. Sure, in terms of God's ultimate destiny for you. But if you're talking about the human timeline and time from the human perspective, yes, our disobedience, our rushing, our fighting, our resistance, that can extend the timeline at least on our end. Now, God can make up for the time, but you're still going to have to go through what you have to go through. And I thank God sometimes, many times, all the time actually. I thank God all the time that I didn't have the exposure I have today back then. Now I wanted it back then. Lord, I want to reach the masses for you. My motives were in the right place. I want to preach to as many people. I want to reach more. I want to see more souls saved. But God kept me hidden. You know that I wrote a blog every week for quite a while. I don't remember now how long I wrote a blog for. And I literally had zero readers. Like zero people would read it. But I would write the blog anyway. When I first started live streaming, live streaming wasn't even a thing. We had to rent special software in order to be able to live stream. We had this whole elaborate setup to be able to get the broadcast on. And nobody would watch. I remember our peak viewership like where we would go, "Wow, look at how many people watch this was like 30 people." And that's when we knew, man, now now we really have a crowd. There's 30 people watching. And I thank God for those seasons. Here's why. It's in the season of hiddenness, please hear this now. It's in the season of hiddenness that your motives are purified. Because in this season, in the season of hiddenness, you're either doing it because you love God or you're not doing it at all. You see, if you're in a season of hiddenness and you're doing it for praise and accolades, there'll be no longevity. You'll quit because you're not getting what you want out of it. If you're in it for the compliments of man, if you're in it for financial gain, if you're in it for status, then the season of hiddenness will weed out those who have impure motives. Why? Because in this season, either you're doing it because you love God and his people, or you're not doing it at all. And many want to rush this. They want to get right to the place where they have a platform. They want to get right to the place of notoriety. They want to get all the way to the end result that they see in their minds that they know that God has showed them. But if that comes too soon, I'll tell you right now, it will crush you. I know for a fact that if I had the criticism that I have now coming against me 10 years ago, it would have driven me insane. The emotional and mental and physical pressure that comes from being in ministry sometimes. I'll tell you, if you're not processed, it can destroy you. Like lifting weights. You have to start with the smaller weights. Now, I know we don't want to hear this because it seems sometimes even a little condescending, but this is the reality. You don't just go into the gym and go for the heavy weight. You have to work your way up to that. And if you go for the heavy weight up front and you don't know form and you don't know how to position yourself and you don't know your limitations, you're going to wind up hurting yourself in a way that delays the progress. And often we delay our progress because we're trying to rush out of the season of hiddenness. The only people that knew Joseph was there. Oh, hear this please. The only people that knew Joseph was there were the people who were trying to keep him hidden. The only people who knew that he was in that cistern were the ones that put him there. You may think that your enemies are winning. You may even think that the devil is winning because there's no what you would call breakthrough. But you don't know what God is doing in that season. It is in that hiddenness that your character is processed. It is in that hiddenness that your motives are purified. And now you begin to do it because you love God or you don't do it at all. And this is why it's so important that we see the hiddenness, that we see these seasons. Think about David when he was tending sheep. He was hidden. Now, what if Saul knew that there was a potential replacement for him somewhere out there before the time? He probably would have tried to prevent that. He would have tried to sabotage that. And God keeps you hidden because the people who are jealous of you would try to sabotage what God is doing in your life. And that's sometimes what slows us down, too. Now, I'm giving you deep things of the spirit here. These issues are not often talked about. And so, many people are left going on these journeys not knowing what's going on. They think God is working against them when he's actually working for them. Now, Joseph didn't know that this was actually the first step to fulfilling his dream. The dream that God gave him was being fulfilled and the plan was already in motion. It didn't look like it because he was hidden. It didn't feel like it because he was hidden. But this first step, this hiding of Joseph, that was the first step to set that plan in motion. Now, for your protection, God, please hear this. For your protection, God will only expose you in proportion to the purity of your motives. For your own protection. God will only expose you in proportion to the purity of your motives.

Now, here's how deceitful we can be. I want to spend just a little more time on this one. Here's how deceitful we can be. I remember when I was praying to be used by God like in the early years of my walk with Christ. I say early years, but I'm still young, but that doesn't mean I don't have earlier years. So I was in my earlier years of walking with the Lord and I remember knowing this like in my mind I knew God won't promote me unless my motives are pure unless I'm doing this for the right reasons. So here's what I would do and here's how self-deceptive we could be. Here's how tricky the flesh can be. I would pray things like, "Lord, I don't care if you ever promote me. I don't care if you ever use me in a great way. I just whatever you want to do." And I would say that knowing in the back of my mind, if I pray that, maybe he'll promote me. And that's how tricky this can be because when you crucify something, when you place something on the cross, you got to leave it there. And many of us try to come off that cross. We're squirming. The flesh should be subjected, but we're squirming. It's still alive. And it comes into this place where we're just fighting the process. And we don't like that place. I'm telling you, it's not a pleasant place to be because you feel like you're wasting so much time, but you're not. There is no time wasted with God if in those seasons you yield to his every instruction. There's no season. Think about what God told Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 6. He said, "Go and tell the people to listen, but they're not going to hear you." See, but don't perceive. In other words, I'm sending you to be ineffective. That's what basically God told Isaiah, I'm going to just send you, you're going to talk, but no one's going to listen. You're going to speak, but no one's going to understand. And he was okay with that. What is it about anyway? Is it about exposure? Is about popularity? Well, you'll find out because it's in this season that God purifies you. And by the way, you'll see often people seem to skyrocket out of the blue. And please understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that anyone who appears to have quick growth is not qualified. That's sometimes that's what God does. But you know, we don't always see what's going on behind the scenes. Like people tell me all the time, "Man, I'm so blessed by your ministry. I just found you two years ago." And in their minds, we just kind of popped into existence two years ago when we've been here for over 20 years doing the Lord's work. I'm not upset about that because I know how that works. And so sometimes it appears that someone has overnight promotion when in fact they've been laying a foundation in hiddenness for years and years and years. But here's the reality. Sometimes God will just allow someone to be promoted because their heart's not even right in the first place anyway. He didn't call them. He didn't position them there. They're doing it for the fame, for the fortune. They're preaching from impure motives. He doesn't allow them to be processed because frankly, that's part of the punishment. So, it's actually in the blessing that we find hiddenness. I'm going to move on to test number two. Now, if this is blessing you, let me know in the comment section. Let me know how you're doing in this season or if this is making sense in terms of the hiddenness. So, test number one is service. Test number two is hiddenness.

Test number three. We'll see it right here. Verse 25. "Then just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, 'What will we gain by killing our brother? We'd have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let's sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.' And his brothers agreed. So when the Ishmaelites, who were the Midianite traders, came by, Joseph's brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for 20 pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt." I'll read verse 29 just so you can kind of see for good measure here. "Sometime later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief." So Reuben again was all along planning to rescue him out of there. And you know we always have people who will be there for us but sometimes even they cannot prevent some of the struggles that are coming our way.

This is test number three. Discouragement. Discouragement. You know you've heard it said that the way oil is retrieved from the olive is when the olive is crushed. And there is a great crushing that comes. But consider also the fact that to get the olive in the first place, it must be shaken from the tree. First, there's the shaking. Everything that's familiar, shaken. Everything you thought you could trust, shaken. Everything you relied on, everything you knew, everything that brought you comfort, and what you perceived as stability, shaken. And you're removed from these places of familiarity so that God can show you that he was the one you should rely upon all along. God will shake the things that you trust more than him. God will remove you from familiar situations if that familiarity becomes your source of peace. Because you need to learn to have your peace come from him, your trust based on him. So first you're shaken from the familiar. I'm talking to someone right now. I know I am. First, you're shaken from the familiar. Confusion. I don't know who to trust. I don't know who is real. I don't know what is real. I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do now. I feel like everything in my life that was familiar, that was stable, that was consistent, it's all gone now. And I feel like my whole world has changed. That's the shaking. And then the crushing, the heaviness, the discouragement, the trials, the heartache, the betrayal. That's a part of it. Now, keep in mind that the crushing doesn't produce the oil. The crushing only reveals it. In trials, whatever is truly in you comes out. When you're being pressed by the trials and tribulations of life, what is in you comes out. It's revealed. Trials don't create anointings. Trials reveal anointings. Trials don't give you character per se, though there could be an argument made there. And in some instances, yes, it could. We could talk about that later. But trials more than anything reveal that character. So when we are crushed, what is within us is revealed.

Now this is the test of discouragement. This is test number three. Test of discouragement my friend. This is when people betray you. This is when the ones that you thought were with you leave. I've gone through these seasons and believe me, they're not fun. Seasons where the people you thought would back you don't. Where the people you thought who were with you turn against you and sometimes you don't even know why. Like there are a handful of pastors I could name who last I checked we were on great terms. There was no issues. And I'm not talking about anybody you know. I'm talking about like from years ago like when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. People I thought we were on great terms with. Suddenly I find out they they do not they they can't stand me. I'm going, well, what happened? I don't know. People you thought would remain with you don't. And that's really the pain point, isn't it? Because you could accept betrayal from people in general, but betrayal hurts the most when it was the one you least expected. Betrayal hurts the most when it comes from the one who you thought was the confidant, who you thought, okay, if others betray me, I'll always have this one. And that comes. I've had those seasons in life and sure God will bring friends around you, people around you who will not betray you, that happens. But people begin to slander you. You know what the worst part of slander is? Not even the people who slander you. Slander, lies, gossip. That's one thing. What hurts the most is the people who believe the slander just because somebody said it. Like I can't tell you how many times I've watched as preachers and teachers and ministers are bashed and all it takes is a simple claim, "Well, that person's false." And you look at the comment section, they are. Oh my goodness, I never knew. Well, thank you. I'm going to stop following them. Thinking you just believed that you heard it, they said it, and you just said, "Well, I'm going to believe it." Why? Or don't you realize that ego and pride and personality and perception all play a role in these conflicts? And perhaps you've dealt with this. Family comes against you, friends come against you, fellow ministers come against you. You know who it was that was the harshest to me, the meanest to me when I was just beginning in ministry? It wasn't the atheist. It wasn't the unbeliever. The people who came the hardest against me were seasoned pastors who were jealous by what God was doing in my life. To this day, the people who come hardest against me are jealous ministers of the gospel.

Now, you can't dwell on that too long. You can't let that become what your preaching is about, your teaching is about. You don't just leave it. Leave it to the Lord. But you will face it. Look, you get saved, you lose some ungodly friends. It's a fact. You get saved, you're going to lose some unbelievers as friends. But you start walking in the call of God, you're going to lose some lukewarm friends too. Oh, I need to say that again. That's going to set somebody free. I know it. You get saved, you're going to lose some unbelievers as friends. But you start walking in the call of God, you're going to lose lukewarm friends. "Who do you think you are? Why do you think you're special?" And it's exposing the compromise in them because they're not willing to go after everything that God's given to them. They'll criticize you so that they feel better about themselves. Kind of like when somebody's eating healthy. They have a proper diet and they sit down at a restaurant and they order chicken and veggies when everyone else is ordering burgers and pizza and what does everybody at that table do? What do you do? Come on, order something. And they try to get them to eat. Here. Here. Here. Let's get him some nachos. Let's order some wings. Come on. You come on. Stop it. Stop it. You got to eat. And why? Because they don't feel convicted about what they're doing and their healthy eating is a direct contrast to their unhealthy eating. So they try to get them to do that. It'll poke fun at them. And this is what people do spiritually.

So not just betrayal, by the way, heartache, disappointment, things that you've built with the Lord get knocked over. Here's the reality. When people attack you, there will be people who believe those attacks. You're just going to have to deal with that. When people slander you, there will be people who believe the slander, and you're just going to have to deal with that. That's a part of it. There's no controlling that. You can explain yourself a thousand different times and for every time you explain yourself, there'll be 10 more reasons that you give them to attack you. They'll attack the explanation for the explanation. And I'm not just talking about fellow ministers. I'm talking about family. I'm talking about friends. I'm talking about betrayal and discomfort and disconnection and isolation. I'm talking about financial struggle. I'm talking about not seeing fruit for a long period of time. And here's the thing is persistence doesn't even begin until you feel like giving up. Oh yeah. We say, "Lord, anything you want me to do, anywhere you want me to go, whatever you want me to become, you tell me, Lord, I'll do it." And then the discouragement comes and we don't realize how hard it was actually going to be. Difficulty there. There's emotional weight. There's mental cloudiness like thoughts bombarding. Oh, and the enemy, the devil will speak. The devil, demons will talk. They love to talk. It's about all they can do to a Christian. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. And they get into your head. And then people curse you supposedly, even though their words have no power over you. They speak things. And the moment you begin to believe in the power of that curse, now that's a mental block. And you're just everything you see is perceived through what you think is a curse. And you're just discouragement, heaviness, loss of motivation. It will come. But it's a test. It's a test. And it's only a season. It's only a season, my friend. I want to say that again because it's for someone listening right now. It's only a season. He who began a work in you is faithful to complete it. He will complete the work. He will accomplish his purpose. He will use your life. You're going to go through discouragement. You're going to feel like quitting. There were seasons of life where I didn't even feel like walking on the platform. I didn't even want to do it. I said, "Maybe, how many times did I say it, Steve, just where in those difficult seasons, you remember some of those?" And I would say, "Why can't I just go work at like at a Walgreens and be a manager and just have a nine-to-five and just be a Christian who just witnesses to my friends and family?" No, my friend, we have work to do. We have work to do. There's a call to fulfill. And the discouragement you sense now, my friend, hear me, it's doing something in you that can't be replaced. You can't replace it. I used to say to the Lord, "Lord, I want every bit of the anointing that you have for my life." This was one of my prayers when I was like 12 years old. I said, "I want every bit of the anointing that you have for my life. I want every last drop. Pour it out on me, Lord. Every last drop." And then I said this to him. I said, "Lord, in the seasons when I feel like quitting, in the seasons when that mental and emotional anguish is more than I feel like I can bear, in those seasons, Lord, remind me of what I prayed. Remind me that I prayed for every last drop." And then seasons come and the Lord says to me, "You wanted every last drop. You talk about crushing." People see the miracles. People sense the presence on your life. Oh, but there's crushing. There's a price to pay. You see, salvation is free, but the call of God to ministry will cost you everything. Salvation is free, but the call of God into ministry will cost you everything. Everything. The glory that rests on you. I'm going to give you secrets of the kingdom right now. The glory that rests on you comes in proportion to your brokenness. The glory that rests on you comes in proportion to your brokenness.

Then we look at test number four. So, and I'm going to go through these a little bit more quickly than I went through the first few. Test number one is the test of service. Test number two is the test of hiddenness. Test number three is the test of discouragement. Test number four, let's go to Genesis chapter 39. We're going to skip chapter 38, which is Judah and Tamar. There's a whole explanation as to why that's inserted right there, but that's for another time. Genesis.

39:1-3. When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishraelite traders, he was purchased by Piper, an Egyptian officer. Potterer was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. Piper noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph giving him success in everything he did. So now Joseph becomes the servant of Piper.

Suddenly now there's some momentum here. He begins to to to see blessings. There's there's there's the dream that seems to be fulfilled here. This is the this is the test here of faithfulness. Even though he's a servant, even though he's under the the the the rule of another man now, even though he's not where he necessarily wants to be, he's still faithful, he's serving. So even in the midst of all that there is to do, even in the midst of all of the tasks that need to be done, even in the midst of hiddenness, even in the midst of discouragement, there's faithfulness. He's consistent about his attitude and his spirit. He's consistent in what he's doing for the Lord. Even though he wasn't where he wanted to be, he was consistent in his walk with Christ or his walk with the Lord. Um, prophetically future tense, his walk with Christ. Um, he gave his best here. Hear this, please. Faithfulness isn't just activity over time. It's excellence over time. Faithfulness is not about how long you do something. It's about how long you do something with the right attitude.

You see, because many believers, they just spin their wheels. And and this right here, this could be why. And and I'm not trying to be presumptuous here, but I need you to at least consider this as a possibility. Maybe this is why you haven't seen fruit. Because even though you're going through the motions, your attitude's not right. Even though you're going through the motions, your motives aren't in the correct place. Even though you're going through the motions, you're not really putting the best work in. You're not really giving your all to where you are. And you're you're doing it consistently. You may see say things like, "I've been doing this for five years. I've been doing this for 10 years. I've been doing this for 20 years. Why am I not seeing traction? Why am I not seeing growth?" And you're frustrated with where you are, but you haven't gone from frustration to fruitfulness because you haven't learned the key of faithfulness. And again, faithfulness is not just doing something again and again and again. That's consistency. And consistency is good. But faithfulness is more than just consistency. Faithfulness is consistency in the right spirit. Faithfulness is consistency in the right spirit. God requires this. Galatians 6:9. So let us not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. If that's a promise. That's a promise.

And you may be wondering, how is this ever going to happen? I don't see it actually working. I don't see it actually coming to be. I used I I asked my dad one time because I was so discouraged in specifically in the area of my finances. Now, it's not all about money, but money plays a big part, uh, especially when you're trying to do things on a mass scale. And I remember I didn't have money to pay my cell phone bill. I didn't have money to pay my rent. I hardly had money to eat food. And I went to my dad and I said, "Dad, I know God's called me. The ministry is at a place where it's demanding pretty much all of my time. Either I have to cut back on this or and get, you know, a part-time job somewhere as I used to do side work and different and different odd jobs. And by the way, actually, let me go off on this t this is going to be a tangent, but I need to say this, and this is going to be for somebody listening. Some of you might be wondering how to transition to full-time ministry. There may be someone watching. Um, transition to full-time as it's demanded. Don't do that thing where you say, "Well, God's called me not to work." That's not scriptural. The Bible's very clear. You don't work, you don't eat. You work. You get a job. You work that job. And as the ministry begins to demand more, you gradually go from full-time to part-time to freelance and then over into full-time ministry. But there's a gradual process. Now, there may be a point at which you have to take a leap of faith and say, "Okay, I just got to go all in. Otherwise, this thing isn't going to grow." Of course, that's a different story, and you have to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. But this idea that I'm not going to work. I'm just going to sit around and wait till God blesses it. No, that's not biblical. And in fact, you can use the resources that you get from that practical job to actually help the ministry grow faster. But that's besides the point. So, I was at this point. The ministry had already come to the place where it demanded my full-time. There was no way it would function without my full-time attention. And I'll be honest, this is what I asked my dad. I said, "Dad, at what point do I call it quits?" Like at what point does it go from being having faith to being delusional? Like at what point do I actually have to say, "Okay, you know what? I got to get real and I got to just I got to change things up here." And I've been there. I know that feeling, that feeling of frustration, like you're pushing up against a brick wall that just isn't budging. Like this wall won't move. I I can't push past a certain point. I'll tell you what a wonderful man of God told me gradually then suddenly. You just keep working. You just stay faithful. You stay faithful. And that means be consistent. But be consistent with the right attitude. Not grumpy complaining. I've been doing this for 10 years. Where's God? No. You haven't learned your lesson if that's how you're looking at it. But consistency with the right attitude and you watch, God will do it. God will do it.

So number one, test of service. Two, hiddenness. Three, discouragement. Four, faithfulness. Test number five, blessings. Now, let me paraphrase Genesis 39:es 5-20. And you can go look this up on your own time because I want to make sure I'm I'm addressing this in a timely fashion. Many of the those who tune in set aside about an hour for the teaching. So I want to make sure I'm being respectful of that time so that everyone can receive the test of blessings. You know everything was going well for Joseph in the house of Piper until Piper's wife gained a lustful eye for Joseph. She had her eye on him and she wanted him. She would make advances. She would try to convince Joseph to sleep with her. And she would basically say, you know, we won't tell Piper. We won't tell my husband. It'll be our secret. And Joseph kept his integrity. He said, "No, I'm not going to fall. I'm going to stay faithful. I'm going to be consistent. I'm going to do the right thing." So eventually she gets upset and she tries to advance on Joseph. He flees from her and she strips his robe and she goes to to Piper. She says, "Look, he tried to rape me and here's the proof and they threw him into prison." Now, I think here's what I think and this is speculation. I think Piper believed Joseph because otherwise he would have had him killed. Your slave tries to to to do that to your wife, you would have had him killed. I would. So, so I believe Potterer believed Joseph. And so he sends him to prison instead to appease his wife, I guess, for perception, keep up appearances, to make sure it looks like he actually did something about it. He sends Joseph to prison. And this is test number five, the test of blessings. I'm going to challenge you here right now. This is the test of blessings. Do you know in the house of Potterer if I were Joseph I would have looked around and I would have said this is it. This is the fulfillment of the dream. I have status. I have wealth. I have influence. I have an abundance. People answer to me. Remember Piper had placed him in charge. People are answering to me. People are in some sense bowing to me. So this certainly must be the fulfillment of the dream. And this really is the tricky part of blessings because God will bless you just to see how you act when he blesses you. This is what many people don't know about the Lord. And so as he blesses you, it begins to reveal what your motives were. Because as he blesses you, if you begin to relax on your character, if you begin to relax on, you know, faithfulness, you begin to relax on all the other tests, it shows why you did it all along. Now many people in Joseph's scenario would have said, "This is it. This is the fulfillment of the dream. I've made it." And it's in the blessings, servant of the Lord. This is a very important warning. It's in the seasons of blessings and abundance that sin is knocking at the door because it's in the seasons of blessings and abundance that you gain idle hands. There's there's less to do in these seasons. Season of rest. It's a season of eating the fruit of your labor. It's a season of of now there's some stability and so opportunities begin to present themselves. You give someone status and wealth and influence and so forth and opportunities will present themselves to them. It's in the season of blessings that we are tested again. And here Joseph doesn't give in. He chooses to keep his integrity even in that season of abundance. He chooses to not settle for blessings alone. God will give you something sometimes just to see how you react when he takes it away. I need to say that again for someone. Sometimes God will give you something just to see how you react when he takes it away. I remember when God first gave me a nice set of camera equipment that we used to actually do television broadcasts and then he told me to sew it and give it all away. I did not like that one bit. I was trying to rebuke that. The Lord said, "So your camera equipment." I said, "I rebuke that. That can't be you, Lord. That that must be the enemy." And I was fighting that because I had become so reliant upon that. I didn't realize God had so much more for me than just two or three cameras that we could film with. I didn't realize that God had a team for me, a studio for me, worldwide ministry, millions of people hearing the gospel through the ministry, all of these wonderful things that come for the sake of his glory and his glory alone and not my glory. But I didn't realize that was on the other side of the obedience. All I knew is God told me, "Give up my camera equipment." That's like telling a pastor, "Give up your church building, at least for an evangelist who does media." And so I said, "Okay, Lord, I trust you." And I swed it. And then the Lord began to bring even more growth. But God will test you with blessing because it's in blessing that you start to relax. It's in blessing now that your integrity maybe takes some compromise because now your guard is down. Number five, the test of blessings.

Now, Joseph does what is right and gets sent to prison for it. Let me ask you a question. What do you do when doing the right thing seems to put you in the wrong place? You see, sometimes God will say, "So, you sew and you're like, well, I didn't get a miracle." And he's like, "That's okay. I wasn't telling you to sew for a miracle. I was telling you to sew because I want you to sew." Or you'll go and you'll give your life to a certain ministry or you'll give your life to a certain task that the Lord has given to you. Maybe God calls you to pastor a church. You go pastor the church saying, "Lord, it didn't grow." And saying, "That's okay. I'm just calling you to see what you do in that season." And so sometimes doing the right thing will seem to put you in the wrong place. Speak out against evil. Teach correctly. Do as the Lord leads you. And it doesn't put you in the right. There have been seasons where the Lord told me to do something. I did it. And I was like rubbing my hands in in anticipation saying, "Okay, Lord, where's the blessing for it?" And he says, "I I'm just telling you to do it just because I said." I go, "Oh, okay. There there's a good check on my motives." But sometimes when you obey God, it messes up your plans. Sometimes when you obey God, it seems to make the situation worse, doesn't it? I'm talking to someone I know I am. Sometimes when you obey God, it seems to make the situation worse. Let me know in the comments section if that's ever been you. Where you do something and you said, "The Lord told me to do it." You do it and everything seems to fall apart. That's the test of blessings. Were you were you willing to give up the comfort? Were you willing to give up the certainty? Were you willing to give up what you thought was the fulfillment of the promise in order to obey God?

Now, watch this. Then you go into the next test. And again, these are not necessarily in chronological order, but it is important that we recognize that these sometimes happen. In Genesis 40, the entire chapter we read, and then in 41 verse1, we read about how Joseph is now in prison, and he's approached by a cup bearer and a baker who both used to serve Pharaoh, of course, and both of them had dreams. He interprets their dreams for them. The baker was to be killed and the cup bearer was to be restored after three days to his position. So the cup bearer and the baker, they fell out of favor with Pharaoh. Now they're both in the prison with Joseph. But here's the point I want to make. When Jo when Joseph interpreted the dream of the cup bearer, let's actually read. Let's go to 40. I'm going to read one verse here. Genesis, I believe it's 40:14. Genesis 40:14. Yes, it is. Watch this. Actually, we'll read verse 13 and 14 of Genesis 40. Within 3 days, Pharaoh will lift you up and restore you to your position as chief cup bearers. So, now here, Joseph is interpreting the cup bearer's dream. Watch this now. Watch this. And please remember me. Now, Joseph is like, "Hey, help me out here. When you get restored, remember me and do me a favor when things go well for you. Mention me to Pharaoh so he might let me out of this place." Now in Genesis 41:1, we later discover that 2 years went by before the cup bearer finally remembered, "Oh my goodness, I forgot about Joseph." Now watch this. Joseph was imprisoned before the cup bearer was imprisoned. So he was serving a much longer sentence than the cup bearer was. Yet God used Joseph to help the cup bearer and interpret that dream to know that he was going to be restored to his position. I'm going somewhere with this. So make sure you're you're you're watching this. So the cup bearer comes in. If I were Joseph, I would have said to the Lord, "Lord, I've been in prison longer. Why did you restore the cup bearer before you restored me? Lord, I've been waiting here. I've been obedient to you. I've been serving you. I've been faithful. How is it that the cup bearer gets here and then all of a sudden is promoted before me. I think some of you might know where I'm going with this. This is number six. And it's the test of jealousy. This is this is especially and I know I know I'm going to upset some people but but let me just say this especially in the age of social media I'll tell you this there are many who are operating at a competition and jealousy I've watched it happen a few years ago I watched one ministry just destroyed by others who were, you know, claiming to do it in the name of God. And the Holy Spirit told me, "No, that's jealousy." Now, the person who they came against did say some foolish things and do some foolish things, but you know, they repented of it. They clarified it and so forth, but I watched this happen. This was years ago. And don't try to guess who it is. This happens all the time in the church world, okay? So, don't even bother. I'm not going to give names. And it's been a long enough time since then since I think anyone would even remember this. And I watch these people destroying this other ministry. And they're claiming, "Oh, you know, I'm I'm grieved about it, but I have to do it. Oh, I don't want to, but I I need to say this, and I'm watching this." And and the Holy Spirit told me two things. A, yeah, that person was in the wrong for what they said and did, but two things can be true at one time. But these others took the opportunity because of the jealousy that was in their hearts. I'm going deep here. And again, I know some might not like this, but this is this is the reality of the church sometimes. You've probably seen it at your local church. Backbiting and competition and and and fighting for for for status and and the Holy Spirit told me, "Yeah, two things can be true. Yeah, that person was wrong. But but but the attacks also came from a place of jealousy. Why? Because that person was gaining what they all wanted. And I watched this and I prayed for everybody involved.

Let me ask you a question. Well, let me say something and then I'll then I'll ask you a question. It's easy to celebrate others when they're blessed with something that has nothing to do with you. It's easy to celebrate others when they're blessed with something that doesn't really affect you, is not really a part of your world, really wouldn't interest you, per se. Here's my question now. How do you respond when someone else is blessed with what you've been praying for? How do you respond when someone else is blessed with what you have been praying for? Do you get angry? Do you get upset? Do you secretly hope they'll fail? Do you secretly hope in your heart that it'll all fall apart for them? You know why? That's insecurity. If you think God can't bless you and someone else at the same time, you're mistaken. You need to acknowledge that jealousy, repent of that jealousy, and realize that your security comes from your identity in Christ and nothing else. Because if you find your security in anything else but Christ, it it leaves room for jealousy and you can't celebrate others. And so and so we recognize that that God does not have to take away from someone else to bless me and that by blessing someone else, he doesn't have to take away from me. God can bless multiple people at one time, but how do you respond when somebody else gets what you've been praying for? And let's add to that. How do you respond when somebody else is blessed with what you've been praying for and they haven't been praying for it as long as you have? You've been praying years and years and years and years and years and years and years and then someone else just they got it. I remember this story a pastor told me he was believing for the gift of prophecy. He was praying, "God, please, I want the gift of prophecy. I want the gift of prophecy. I want the gift of prophecy." And he just asking the Holy Spirit for this gift. And he had been asking, I think, for like months, like six to nine months or something like that. And it became a point of frustration in his life, like he was almost getting bitter with God for it. And in walks this individual who was a hippie who gets saved. He's at the altar and that person who just got saved stands up at the altar and starts praying aloud in tongues. And just as this new convert is opening his mouth to prophesy, this pastor friend of mine goes, "God, you better not." And instantly he realized, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong with me?" Me and I thought it was a little comedic, but you know, ultimately that's something we need to deal with. He's watching this going, "Lord, what are you doing? Why?" That's jealousy. Watch for it in your own life. Because because because that jealousy will affect the way you minister. That jealousy will affect the way you operate. You'll operate out of anger and frustration, and it will squander your growth. It's it's it's a bondage. It's it's it's a cage that jealousy you you there's no joy in your life. You can't be grateful for what God is doing in your life because you're so focused on everyone else. And that that really stifles. It's competition. It's ego. You got to crucify that ego. Crucify it. I've been in green rooms with preachers and pastors and ministers and television personalities and you know often times there's a lot of ego there and and I have to watch my heart because ego in others will agitate the ego in you and that happens that stirs it up. So whenever I feel the stirrings of jealousy in my heart often I'll pray for those individuals. I'll bless them. This doesn't mean everyone I blessed I'm jealous of. But you got to crucify the flesh.

Finally, test number seven came when Joseph finally had his moment before Pharaoh. Now, Pharaoh has this dream and he's given now the opportunity to interpret that dream for Pharaoh. Now, if you misinterpret a dream or you give Pharaoh bad advice, he'll probably have you killed. I mean, think about the baker fell out of favor. I'm thinking like, what could the baker have done to be to be thrown into prison? Well, he doesn't have very much interaction with Pharaoh other than he probably baked something that Pharaoh didn't like. And that was enough for Pharaoh to go out of favor. I'm I'm I'm banishing you and I'm going to have you executed. I'm like, okay, that's pretty harsh. And now Joseph's standing before Pharaoh and Pharaoh wants him to interpret a dream. It takes faith. And that's the final test. It's the step of faith. One, service. Two, hiddenness. Three, discouragement. Four, faithfulness. Five, blessings. Six, jealousy. Seven, faith. You ever get frustrated with where you're going or how there's no progress. One of the quickest ways to get unstuck is to just take a step of faith. Do what God said to do. And we'll leave it there for now. Father, I pray that you would help your people to pass their tests. Holy Spirit, remind them of when they face these trials and tests in their lives. Remind them that it's only a test. [Music] Mold their character. Shape them into the image of Christ. I pray that they might be more like Jesus moment by moment. Holy Spirit, we thank you for the privilege of serving. And we ask that you would give us strength and discernment. Help us to pass our tests. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say, "Amen." Well, if you enjoyed that and you think other people need to hear it, make sure you leave a like right now. And don't forget to subscribe to my channel to receive more teachings on the Holy Spirit, prayer, and spiritual warfare. And also see live streams of our events that we do around the world where people are saved, healed, delivered, and empowered. And do click that notification bell when you subscribe. Now, let me ask you for your support of this ministry. I'm going to make a very simple request and I want you to ask the Holy Spirit what you should do to help this ministry continue to fulfill its man mandate. We believe in preaching the gospel, empowering believers through the word, through ministry. Help us on our mission to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all around the world through events and media. Go right now to davidhernandemministries.com/donate to give a single gift. davidnandasministries.com/partner to become a monthly supporter. Look, we support all kinds of things monthly, streaming platforms and gaming platforms and gym memberships. Why not also add to your monthly support of other things a monthly support of this ministry to help us continue to fulfill our mandates. Go to davidernnandeesministries.com. There we accept all different payment types. We even take cryptocurrency now. We even take various different types of currency from different nations. So wherever you're watching from, check if that form works for you. If if it doesn't work for you, of course, you can give through YouTube or Facebook or other means. But do try that form first. Don't count yourself out. We have a very generous online community. Many of you are givers. Many of you sew into this ministry. So, make sure you do your part to help support this great work. Again, david hernandezministries.com/donate to give a single gift. David Hernandez Ministries.com/partner to become a monthly supporter of this ministry. Don't count your gift out. There's no gift so small that it won't make a difference. There's no gift so large that we won't know what to do with it. Just ask the Holy Spirit what you should do. And I can actually see some of the gifts coming in right now. Thank you to the Patrick family for your gift. Thank you Christine and Latana and Nada and Raphael for becoming monthly ministry partners. Thank you Lisa for your gift. Thank you also to Wesley and Yolanda for being partners and Jennifer, thank you for being a partner. Thank you Lely for your gift. Thank you Mark for your gift. Um, thank you all of you giving through the website. Now, if you enjoyed this teaching, then you will love the teaching where to begin if you're unsure of your calling. Make sure to check that out.