Stephanie Ike - It Was Very Good

Family. While you're standing, we're gonna read two scriptures, and we're gonna start in Genesis Genesis one thirty one, and it says, then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. I'll stop there. Then we'll go to Romans eight twenty eight, and it says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. You may be seated. Amen. Amen, it's such a beautiful thing. God. Just turn to your neighbor and say, you look good. God made a good thing in you. You see, Family, If you have been in church for any period of time, you have a circle of friends that are believers, you will always hear this scripture that God causes all things to work together for your good. When you're going through a moment, they say, Oh, don't worry about it. I've been there too. I'm the one who says it. God CAUs us all things to work together for your good. And then when we see the full context of it, we see that He causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And when I read it, it challenged me a little bit because I realized that we were not born loving God. It tells us, you see all of us here, many of us here. Some may have been brought in and tonight or today you're going to give your life to Jesus. But for men, any of us here, we say we love God, and we are called according to the purpose of God. But there was a time in our life that we didn't love God. Even the Bible tells us that God loved us first. But all of a sudden we find ourselves claiming the promise that all things work together for those who love God. And it made me start to wonder, God, is this exclusive because we were not born loving you? And then it says, and those who are called according to His purpose? But the reality in life is every human being is called according to the purpose of God. And so I began to wonder what else could this scripture actually speak to. Could it be that it's not something that is exclusive to those who love God? Because at some point we all did not love God? Is it exclusive to those who are called according to the purpose of God? Because we are all called according to the purpose of God? Then what is it that God could be pointed at and it made me wonder that could it be that it is about perspective, that there is a difference between the one who recognizes that God, I love you, and love is not this like one time check mark of you know, the moment of my salvation was the moment I fell in love with Jesus. Love is that daily surrendered, that daily submission to the will of God. And that is why a lot of times God equates love as obedience, and so love is this surrender to God. And so could it be that there is a mindset, there is a way that we perceive life when we are able to surrender our will to God's will and when we embrace that we are called, because the fact is we are all called. But there's a difference between the fact of your life that you are called and embracing that you are called by God. Could it be that there is a perspective shift that happens in the one who says, God, I am surrender to you and I recognize that you have a call in my life, versus the one who says, you know what, I'm living by my own desires, I am the master of my life. Could it be that everything in life was always designed to work for your good. But the ones who live in the reality of it have a different perspective. That there is a perspective that God, if my life is not random, then the events around my life cannot be random. That we have to actually engage this reality that no, this is actually working for my good. You see many times when we allow because practically, in a practical sense, what this looks like is that when frustration hits, when we encounter events in our life that brings frustration, we are not quick to conclude on why it happened. We are not quick to conclude on you know what, God, I'm over this. We are not easily influenced by our emotions because as many times when we allow our emotions in a place of frustration to influence us, we actually make decisions to sabotage the very thing that was actually working for your good. But the mindset of one who says God, I am surrendered to your will, God, I am pursuing after you. You see Jesus so the disciples, when he was teaching them how to pray, he says, give us this day our daily bread. It is the mindset of one who is humble enough to say, God, I need wisdom about my life. I need wisdom about this circumstance. I need wisdom about what is taking place because I don't want to conclude on how I see it. I want to know, God, what are you saying about this situation? Because my life cannot be random. When I recognize that I am called, the events of my life cannot be random. They has to be meaning to what is taking place. And so in that space, we don't allow our emotions to influence our decisions. You see my testimony. I've shared this with many of you when I came. When I moved to this country, now I was I thought, you know, I was about to live my best life. And then at some point, you know, when I encountered this church, got interrupted my norm. He said, Stephanie, I've called you here, and I want he told me a lot of things. He was like, you're going to walk away from a lot of things, and I want you to serve in this house. He said, serve in this house like it is a job. And so what he called me to do in the beginning was to be to be one of the greeters and the ushers, and he and the way he showed me this. It literally it was like a full time every Sunday, every Thursday. I was like, okay, we got to be first there and it was about serving. But there was a way God showed it to me that your commitment is to this house and the things he told me to walk away from. My family could not understand it because there were many opportunities that would have spoken to my desires, to my flesh, that would have allowed me to live what I thought would be my best life. But God said that that is not what I have for you. It was one of the most difficult situations in my life financially and not because I was lacking opportunity, but it was almost like this moment where what the Lord leads you into a wilderness journey because of what He's doing in you, and there were many opportunities that came that was like the temptation of when Satan says to Jesus, ooh, turn these stones into loaves of bread. You're hungry. You have the ability to do something about it. Why don't you? You see, you have to recognize that even the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. There are times and season in your life, that God will lead you into a dry place and there would be the opportunity you would have the power to walk away. Jesus at any point in time could have teld you know what, I'm good, I'm done with this. But he it was his will to go after the will of God. And when everything seemed like it was crazy, and no one could understand what I was doing, because you're like, why would you walk away from lucrative opportunities? And I understood that this was a season that God was calling me to consecrate myself in a different way and he and the thing is that in the wilderness, God provides for you day by day. And so you know, if I had enough food to eat for that day, I was all right. I didn't even think about tomorrow. I had to just look out, what do we do? What do we do in lert today? But this is the crazy thing, family, because when we are not in that place of submission, I would have looked at what many thought, Stephanie, this is crazy, this is ridiculous, this is not making sense. I would have looked at that and allow my own frustration of God. I came from a place of living my best life to live in. I don't know what life this is. I would have allowed my frustrations to influence a decision that would sabotage the very thing God was using as a good thing in my life. And so you see, family perspective in life is everything the scripture he read it says, then God saw everything that he has made, and indeed it was very good. That word that God saw is that God considered everything that he had made. That he carefully thought about everything that he had made. And the beautiful thing is that when God considers a thing, he is not limited in his understanding. God sees a thing in its entirety. When he saw Adam, he saw the seeds of Adam. When he saw Adam, he saw you. He saw everything about your life and everything that would ever be connected to your life. And he said it was very good that from the beginning, even before creation. The Bible tells us in Revelation that Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, that even before he created, in order for him to recognize his creation as a very good thing. We see that even Jesus was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. It was a decision that was settled in heaven before God ever started creating, because he recognized that this is part of the plan that will cause what I'm creating to be very good. God saw every moment, every event about your life, and he says it was very good. You see. The beautiful thing about that word very good is that it means for something to be completely excellent, completely precious, completely favored. And I understood that the keyword was complete. That God sees your complete story. He sees how everything is connected together, and he says, when all the pieces come in alignment, you too would realize that this was always very good. You see. There's a story about a man named Joseph in the Bible. Joseph in the end of his life, when he saw the complete picture of what God was doing in his life, Joseph said, you meant evil for me, but God meant it for my good. You see. The story of Joseph is one that is so fascinating. He's this young kid. You know, he's excited about life. He has these dreams that God gave him, and he's excited. He believes that God has called him for something. He shares his dreams with his brothers because for him, these are my brothers. I trust them. He had moments of vulnerability with them, sharing these intimate dreams that God gave him, and he's living just this excited kid. But the funny thing is that his brothers it's not that funny though, but his brothers were jealous of him because Joseph was favored by his father in a very unique way, because Joseph was known as the son of the father's old age, and so the father had this special bond with Joseph, and the brothers could not stand him. And so you have one day, Joseph is just walking out taking a walk, just doing him. The brothers see him, they're like, look at the dreamer. Come in and they start plotting to kill him. And so then one of his brothers, Ruben, says, no, let's not kill him, Let's just throw him in a ditch. And Ruben is like, you know what. He had an agenda that perhaps when the brothers leave, that he would rescue Joseph and restore him to his father. And then one of the other brothers, Judah, said, you know what, would it really profit us? Because it was almost as though they were still arguing about no, we should kill him, and then Judah says, what would it profit us if we kill Joseph? Why don't we sell him? And they sold him into slavery and he was shipped to Egypt. Now it's very critical you remember those two names, Reuben and Judah. So Joseph goes to Egypt. He feels betrayed by his brothers, betrayed by the people he was vulnerable to, betrayed by the people he trusted. How many of us have ever been in those positions, right? The relationships that you felt would protect you, the relationships that you thought would cover you, were the relationships that betrayed you. Then Joseph finds his place serving this man and in his master's house. He had favor God still favored him, but Joseph still felt that need I don't belong here. I want to be home with my dad. He had a younger brother, Benjamin, who he loved so much, and he missed home. And then one day his master's wife tries to sleep with him. Obviously he was a pretty handsome kid, you know, and he rejects every time she tries to be with her advances on him. He rejects, said and What that showed me is that Joseph kept his integrity, that he did not look at himself in the position that, you know what, I'm frustrated because he wasn't happy. He knew that God, why am I even here? But he was submitted to the will of God. That even when what he could have done in private and no one would have known, he understood that this would be a sin before God. And even in the midst of his integrity, she lied on him. He was thrown into jail, and even in jail, being wrongly accused again, he still kept his integrity. There were moments where there were two guys and they had dreams and they needed those dreams to be interpreted, and Joseph is like, hey, you know, let me tell me your dreams, and I'll pray to God and perhaps he will give me the interpretation. You see, Joseph had every right to be in a place of bitterness and say, you know what, God, You've given me dreams. I still don't understand what those dreams mean. I'm not trying to serve anybody here, because in those moments, it's easy for us to become very selfish when we feel like life is against us. We don't want to serve another person. But in that moment, Joseph still kept his integrity. He understood that God is a god of wisdom, and even if I don't have the wisdom about what he showed me, perhaps he could show me the wisdom for what he's revealed to you. You see in that moment. I wonder that if Joseph held onto his pain and his bitterness and said, you know what, I'm not telling anyone anything, that would have been a moment that he sabotaged an opportunity that God was going to use for him. In the end, that very ability of him to seek the Lord for the wisdom to interpret dreams was what elevated him. His master has a dream. He can't understand his dream. They're reminded that, hey, Joseph knows how the interpret dreams. Joseph is released from prison, he tells the Master. He seeks the Lord about the master's dream, tells him the dream and is revealed to Joseph that hey, there is gonna be a great famine, but before this famine, there's gonna be seven years of abundance, and then this famine would kick and the Master puts Joseph on top of everything. He's like, you know what, You're gonna be in charge. You're gonna manage all the resources. He immediately elevates into this position of authority and power. Now, the interesting thing about this message, and why I use Joseph as an example, is because during the seven years of abundance, Joseph is managing the resources with knowing that the famine is coming. When the famine came, it was so bad that the Bible tells us that the whole world was affected, and the whole world came to Egypt to seek food, and the whole world included Joseph's brothers. Now, this is the interesting thing. The brother who says, let's not kill him, let us sell him, and you know, they ship him off to Egypt, that brother ends up being the one in the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will think that, God, when you're looking at who should be in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus, shouldn't it be Reuben. If it must be someone from the family, shouldn't it be the one who tried to rescue him? You see, and what I saw with God is every time God wants to move in your life. He uses people, and a lot of times it could feel like a blessing, right when someone comes into your life and you just feel like, Wow, your presence in my life is the favor of God. But sometimes it could look like betrayal, and it is still the vehicle and the weapon of God for your life. You see, the very person that initiated let us not kill him, let us sell him, it was still a betrayal. This was the person that God, in his wisdom chose to be in the lineage of Jesus Christ. And so we almost see this picture that joseph brothers were part of God's strategy for Joseph's life, and Joseph would also be part of God's strategy for his brother's lives, because if Joseph held on to his pain and his bitterness and he said, I'm not helping you guys, then perhaps they would have died as a result of the famine, and this would have gone against the very will of God. You see, we have to take a step back when we feel like we are in positions and circumstances that doesn't look like it's speaking to our good because the truth is when God saw everything he created. It was not just about a moment in time. It was about what he saw for eternity. He said it was very good. Joseph had to wait until the full story was revealed to him. He had to wait until he had a moment of reflection that he realized what I thought was evil, what you may have thought was evil, God was actually using that for my good and so family, the are key things I want us to take away from this. The first thing is that you have to keep your integrity. You cannot be so quick to allow your emotions to influence your decisions just because you feel frustrated. We all do feel frustrated many times. But what is influencing the decisions that you make in those moments? Because when keeping your integrity is keeping that posture of saying, God, I am surrendered to you. You see the one who is after what God has for them. They're not in a hurry to live a life that is designed by their own desires. They want to know God, you place your hand on me for something, and I want to figure out what that thing is. I don't want to be so caught up by my comfort that I run out of the process. That is actually working for my good and so we have to learn to keep our integrity. That God, I'm not going to act out of character simply because I don't understand. I want to humble myself and submit myself and seek your wisdom. God revealed to me, what does this season of my life represent? What is happening in my life? What is it that you are doing in me? I want to be in sync with you God. I want to move at your ridom. I want to move at your pace because I recognize that I am called and I did not call myself. You called me. You see. The second thing is that we have to forgive because what if the person that you're holding a grudge against that you are part of God's strategy for their life. The Lord began to show me that there are many relationships that would need to be mended because the reason why you perceive it to be a betrayal is because of your expectation of what that relationship should be. You see, And it's not like a bath and it's normal. I mean, if you have brothers, you would expect your brothers to be your confidence, the ones that you can trust, the ones that you can rely on. But that was in his wisdom, in God's wisdom, he said, no, I have a greater plan than this. And there are times that I would use people to bless you, and there are times that I would use people to hurt you. But it's but in that hurt I need a door to shut so that I can open the right door. And so you cannot take it personally. You say, many times we thank a lot of people for the things that they do good in our lives, but there are things that went wrong in our lives that has brought us to where we are, and we have to be able to thank people that how they treated us was not how we expected life to go because we said it, realizing we said it, tapping into something about who we are. He says, sometimes God can use betrayal to develop you. That what connected you in a relationship was brokenness, What joined you, what made you so trusting, what made you so vulnerable, was not the real you. It was your pain that connected you to that relationship. And when God shut the door, he said, I'm actually using this to develop you and not to harm you. And so if in the mind of God this is actually working for your good, why would you Why would you hold onto it from a bad narrative. Why would you hold on against hold something against that person saying, you know what, what you did to me was just wrong. Even though you are standing in a place where you see the faithfulness of God, you see there are relationships that need to be mended because God had a purpose for that relationship. Not only did he have a purpose for what it would do in your life, but there is a purpose of what you would do in their lives. And so what I'm understanding, family, is that if we give life just a little bit of time, the complete picture of our lives will show the favor and the excellence of God. It will show us that God, your hand has always been upon me. You never let me go, You were with me through it all. And so this is a moment where for many of us we have to lay down the hurt that we've been holding onto because we feel like we can justify. Joseph had every right to justify what the brothers did to him. The fact is, even when the brothers came to seek him for food, they couldn't recognize him, so he could have played it off. He was actually speaking a whole different language. He acted like he didn't understand Hebrew. I said, wow. I said, that's a good move. Joseph. He had a translator coming there to translate to him what they were saying, and the whole time he understood. He could have played it off and say, you know what, God, I'm not I'm just gonna act like I don't know them. I'm in a good space. I want to protect my energy. Right, he said, you're bad for my energy. You know what was so funny to me, and this person might be watching, I love you. I had asked a question about what there are questions that people would like to know or you know, conversations that they would like to see and hear about God. And someone said, can you talk about energy vampires? I said, this sounds so African? I said, who is draining your energy? But you see, we have all these nice Africans who understand what I'm talking about. But we have all these sayings. You know, I just want to protect my energy. You are not good for my energy. But the fact is, what if you have an assignment to them? Let God be the protector of your energy rather than we make all these decisions. And it's really from this place of hurts they were like, yeah, you're just not good. You know, good vibes only right. But God has a plan. God has a plan. God has a plan everything. He uses it because when he saw that it was good, that was it for him. He could rest after he created because he was not just creating for that moment. He was creating for eternity. And he said, every human that would touch this earth, that the fullness of humanity will be very good when everything comes together with the complete story of what I'm doing is completely excellent. Family, stand with me. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. Family, if you know that there are hurts that you need to let go of and their relationships that and almost like this past week it's been on your heart, there are people that have been on your heart and you just felt like, I'm good. What if God is making you sensitive to realize that it was all part of his plan, that that thing that you felt was a dark thing, that there was treasure in it. You know that the Bible tells us that God gives treasures of darkness, that what we may see as God, this is a dark situation. And he says, if you see it right, you would engage what I have in the midst of it, if you see it right. And so for some of you, there are people you need to forgive. There are things that God is leading you to in regards to those relationships, and they need to be mended. Some of these people have come before you and they're apologized. They're like, you know what, I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry, but you don't know how to let it go because you're still holding on to the pain. And God said it was always for your good. I want you to come down to this altar that we would pray together. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus. And I also wanna call out those that feel as though that God, I it's almost like you're you're allowing your frustrations to get in the way. You're allowing your frustrations to make the decision for you. And all God is saying is that you just need to be still and seek My wisdom about what is actually happening in your life. That you feel as though God, this does not look like the plan. You see. Many of you are in the place that God led you to, the same way that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. God led you to a dry place, and now all of a sudden you're surrounded by temptations that say you could get yourself out of it. But if you're honest, you know that God is the one that's telling you to stay there because he's using that to work something in your life. He's using that to develop you. And you've been fighting this temptation of God. I'm about ready to go. There were many times that for me personally. I remember there was one night in particular, and it was I just felt like God, like you know when you have the memory of what you feel like was good, Just like the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. You know, sometimes we have selective memory about the past. The Israelites were in the wilderness, and all of a sudden they say, let us go back to Egypt. We had food, life was good all of but a sudden they forgot. But you were also in bondage. And I had this moment where I had selective memory and I said, God, you know when I was living my best life, I was, Oh, it was great, but I wasn't in purpose. I didn't have the peace of knowing that I'm walking out the thing that God called me to. And I remember this one night, I just you know, I was, I was just tired. I said, God, I don't know. I don't know how I'm gonna hang itt this. You know, there's too many memories, good memories in my mind. And I literally was that moment. I said, God, you have to confirm this word to me again. You have to let me know because if this is not you, I need to just you know, turn this around real quick. And I remember that night the Lord came to me because I was It was a very desperate moment for me. I was really hungry to know. I was, God, if this is what you have for me, then I would stay in it and I would wait. I would not lead myself out of it. I would wait for you to be the one to lead me out of the dry place that you have led me to. But if this is not you. The next day I was about to get a flight, and I remember that night the Lord encounted me and he said, if you stay, I would do everything that I've spoken about you and more. And that was all I needed. And for many of you, that moment is happening to you right now in your heart. You see, God speaks to us through many ways. It may be a dream, it may be a vision, it may be a knowing, but even right now, it may be a conviction that as you're hearing this words, there is something happening in your heart, and you know that God is the one saying stay. When the time comes, I would you to what I have for you, But right now I need to develop you because you're not ready. I need to develop you for where I'm sending you to. And if you know that's you, I want you to meet us at this altar right now. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. It's always been for your God, always, always, always, Thank you Jesus. If you're in this house, then perhaps you haven't committed your life to God and you want to know him. You don't want to just live for your desires that you for so long you have been the master of your own life, and now you're saying, God, I want to walk with you. Because you see, there's it's a difference. No one, even when I say no one is born loving God. Some may feel like but I've always known God my whole life. No, you were exposed to what your family believed in as a child. But we always have to have a moment of encounter where we choose to walk with God. Because walking with God is not just knowing the Jesus of your mother or your father. It's not just going a church on a Sunday or a Thursday. It's not just streaming service. It is your commitment to say God, I will lay down my will for what you're doing in my life. And it takes an encounter to do that. It is not just coming and saying Hallelujah and reading your word. It is saying that God, I am making a decision to walk with you. Every human being has to come to a point of decision everyone. I encounter God when I was nine, but it took me years to find out that the God that encountered when I was nine was my dad. It was until years later that he became my savior. Because I wasn't living submitted to his way. I was just like, well, you love me, so this is what I'm about to do. Let me inform you about my life. It was until years later that he became my savior and I said, God, I wanna lay down my life for you. I wanna live the life that you have called me to. I don't wanna live this random life. I don't wanna live governed by my own desires about my own will. I wanna know why you place your hand on me. And so, if you're here and you have not made that decision to walk with God in that way, you have not made that decision to say, God, I wanna lay my life down for what you say. I am who you say I am. I want you to lift your hand so boldly and say God, I'm here and I'm willing. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus. Look at that family. Can we praise God for what has happened in this room right now? Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. Just bow your heads in prayer with me. Heavenly Father, We thank you, We thank you Lord that before we ever got here, you saw this moment. You've seen everything about our lives, and you said it was very good. Heavenly Father, we embrace that even the situations that we may be standing in right now, that that too is very good, because it is working to us the complete picture of what you have said concerning our lives. Lord, we lay down every hurt, every betrayal, the relationships that you're calling us to mend. Lord God, may we recognize that it was always for your purpose, that everything that has ever taken place in our lives, that God, you can use people to bless us, even through betrayals. And Lord, we are laying down the hurt, and we're saying that God, I'm gonna let it go, and I'm gonna forgive, and I'm gonna know that your hand has always been in it. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We embrace the fact that we have been called by name, that our lives are not random, that you called us for a unique purpose, and for that we say yes. And Lord, I thank you for those who are who raised up their hands so boldly and say, Lord, you called me for a unique purpose. That maybe I have known you through my family. I have known you because as a child that went a Sunday school, and I went to youth camp, and I did all these things. But I have never submitted my life to you. That Jesus be my savior. Jesus, I want to walk with you. I want to lay down my life for who you say I am. I don't want to be governed by my decisions. Lord, I thank you for the decisions being made in this house today, and we just say seal it in the name of Jesus. Lord, we thank you for what they're going to walk out in their lives. They're walking it out with you, the decision to walk with you. Lord, be their strength, be their God, be their Lord, and be their savior. Have your way of Heavenly Father, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen, Amen, Thank you Lord. Can we just lift up praise to Jesus in this house? Hallelujah, hallelujah. Amen, and