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  WHAT THE ENEMY INTENDED FOR EVIL (VIDEO)
  by Shane Idleman
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the story of Joseph, highlighting how he
reconciled with his brothers, extended forgiveness, and shielded his
family from negative influences. It delves into the power of repentance,
genuine humility, and the need to trust in God's ability to work all
things for good. The message also touches on the importance of
understanding Jesus' intercession for believers and the truth that
nothing is impossible for God. Additionally, it addresses misconceptions
about purgatory and emphasizes the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

Topics: "Forgiveness", "Trust in God's Plan"
Scripture References: Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28, Hebrews 7:25, Revelation 3:20, John 19:30

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the story of Joseph, highlighting how he
reconciled with his brothers, extended forgiveness, and shielded his
family from negative influences. It delves into the power of repentance,
genuine humility, and the need to trust in God's ability to work all
things for good. The message also touches on the importance of
understanding Jesus' intercession for believers and the truth that
nothing is impossible for God. Additionally, it addresses misconceptions
about purgatory and emphasizes the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

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CONTENT
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This is going to be the last message. Joseph was in prison, then he goes
to the palace. And I think the prison humbled him.

Joseph, to be able to fulfill what God's called him to do. And prison
humbles you. I mean, we've had four felons give their testimony.

And I'm so excited. If that bothers a person, please talk to me
afterwards, because I would love to talk to you. God's in the business
of redeeming.

And you might see a national figure be arrested Tuesday. So keep that in
prayer. Hope it breaks him.

I don't know if you saw it, but former President Trump tweeted out on
True Social that he thinks he will be arrested on Tuesday with the
things going on. I'm not surprised. And so we will be praying for that.

I don't care if you like him or not. I'd pray for Biden if he was in a
pickle where people are coming after him. The deep state is deep, and
it's real.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I know people who know people in the FBI
and CIA, and it's deep. Because why? You have kingdoms colliding.

You have a liberal agenda that's wanting to groom children. And you have
others fighting that. You have those moving towards a one world system,
and America is bad, and let's all come together, and let's re-event
America.

We don't need the Constitution. And then you have others standing. So
there's kingdoms are colliding.

This is real. This is not pixie dust. And it cracks me up when people
say, oh, you're a conspirator.

No, this is the truth. Unless you have your face buried in CNN 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, you don't know what the truth is. So you've
got to look everywhere.

I'm not just putting them down. I'll put down anybody, but look
everywhere. Look at what is really going on.

Then Joseph could not restrain himself. I better give you a little
background. I know what's going on in my mind because I've been looking
at it all week.

But Joseph is in prison. Gets out of prison. Stands before Pharaoh.

And there's a great famine in the land. Joseph is in charge now because
he was able to interpret Pharaoh's dream. So now, the famine is here.

Joseph's brothers, what, 17 years later or so, come and they're coming
to buy grain. They think he's dead. He sees them.

Oh my goodness. I don't want them to wreck, and he's probably dressed
like an Egyptian and walks like an Egyptian. You remember that song, I'm
Dating Myself? And so I couldn't resist.

And differently, he spoke in their language and not Hebrew again, even
though he could. And so they didn't really recognize him. And then he's
kind of, I don't think he's playing games with them.

He's probably testing their heart. He sent them away and then put things
in their bags to make them get caught. And then he wants them to bring
back Benjamin, the youngest son.

And Judah intervenes and intercedes. You have to listen to last week's
message about that. And he goes, no, I can't let Benjamin come here.

And my father, I promised my father. So could it be that Joseph now is
seeing genuine repentance in Judah? He's seeing that and that's why it
says, then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood
by him. So he hears the cries of his brother, mainly of Judah.

And he cried out to everyone, get out of here. Leave me alone. So no one
stood with him while he made himself known to his brothers.

And he wept aloud and even the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard
it. And again, Judah's signs of genuine repentance may have sparked
this. It may have sparked this.

I know I've talked about this before and I've done sermons on it, but
you need to know there's a difference between sorrow and repentance. We
see this a lot at the church. Many people are sorry, right? Sorry I got
caught.

Sorry my name is being rung through the mud. Sorry that this happened.
My reputation.

But they're not genuinely repentant. Because sorrow comes from self-
preservation. I'm trying to preserve my image of myself and I want to
get things back on track and okay, I'll tell them what they want to
hear.

Where genuine repentance comes from the opposite of self-preservation.
But of humbling ourselves and admitting that God, I need you. I need you
to fix this.

I need to own what I did wrong. Whether in what I said or what I did.
And I'm going to make restitution for what I did.

I'm actually changing what I'm doing. It's a change of mind to repent,
but it can't just be that. Because if we change our mind, because so
many times we've counseled people and we've told them what needs to
happen.

And like, yeah, I got it up here. I need to do that. But then they don't
do it.

Has that person repented? Not at all, it's called lip service. But be
encouraged, God is in the business of restoring those who truly repent.
As a matter of fact, that's all He wanted the nation of Israel to do.

Throughout all of the Old Testament. Many times those prophets, they
called them major prophets, the minor prophets, they would just call the
nation to repentance. Change what you're doing.

And again, put Yahweh on the throne. Serve Him, follow Him, humble
yourself. And they would not.

And another point to remember here, you'd be amazed at what repentance
can fix. You'd be amazed at what repentance can fix. It can fix the
broken, fractured marriage.

It can fix the relationship you might have with your kids or your
spouse. Or it might be able to fix something at work. Or in your own
personal life.

Repentance. And I don't want to get too deep on this. Maybe I'll talk
about it in the health seminar, but there's amazing things coming out
about how toxic emotions can really affect us.

There's even studies where epigenetics, it'll study how your gene can
switch and how it can affect your mood and gut microbiome and anger and
what angry does and speaking anger and light and being critical and what
that does to the body. And repentance frees you. Haven't you seen that
before? You're kind of hard and rigid until you repent.

And then there's a softness, there's a glow. There's a skip in your
step. There's a joy.

We get the emails, when's morning worship again? What time do you start?
When's the Wednesday service start? When are the Saturday services
again? There's a joy to get back to God. That's what repentance,
repentance is amazing. Without that, we will not see change.

And that's why I keep sounding this alarm for our nation, for our
nation, because we don't realize, I mean, in the church, what I'm
talking about, socialism isn't our biggest problem. Communism, wokeism,
the biggest problem right now is a church that's asleep. She's not
repenting.

She's arrogant and boastful and proud. Not humble and pliable and usable
from God. Can you imagine if just the call went out to 5,000 churches,
God was moving? I mean, that's what they think now is left in America,
about 6,000 Bible-believing, Christ-centered churches, if you can
believe that.

If they would just get on their knees before God and say, God, I want to
say what you want me to say. I'm going to repent of pride. We don't want
to jockey for position.

If you use me cleaning toilets, if you use me in any, just God, and this
mighty moving of people repenting. That's why after, if my people, it
says, if they repent. If my people humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways.

And I think that's why a lot of strongholds stay in the lives of many
people, because there's sorrow, but there's not repentance. Or they're
fighting it, but then they compromise and begin to open that door up
again. And they start to justify things.

They start to blame their spouse or blame others or blame the situation.
We love to run back to our addictions by blaming someone else. Oh, I'm
preaching to somebody.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, I would have loved to be here. There's
some things I would have loved to have been at. You know, the party in
the Red Sea, that would have been pretty cool.

And I personally loved when Jesus opened up the scroll of Isaiah and
read it out, and He said, today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing. He sat down. I mean, the magnitude of what that must have been.

And I don't even think I could have stood the cross, but being there.
But one of these where Joseph revealed himself. We thought you were
dead.

I'm Joseph, does my father still live? But his brothers could not answer
him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said, please
come near. So they came near.

Then he said, I am Joseph, your brother, who you sold into Egypt years
ago. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry. And some of you may
live there, grieved, bitter, upset at God or at the situation, or angry.

Angry, upset at things. He said, don't do that because you sold me. God
sent me before you to preserve life.

Joseph repeats this. I don't know how much longer, but it's quite a bit
longer, because the father, Jacob, has already died. You've got Abraham.

The 12 tribes of Israel didn't come from him. They didn't come from
Isaac. They came from their lineage.

But then Jacob had the 12 tribes of Israel under which Joseph was. And
now after Jacob dies, Joseph goes back and reminds them, don't worry,
now that our dad is dead, because they're thinking, okay, dad's dead,
Joseph's gonna come back and get us because of what we did to him. But
he said, what you meant for evil against me, God has meant it for good.

For what reason? In order to bring about, to this day, to save many
people alive. You know, I thought of, I added this just, I think this
morning. And it really struck home that sometimes it's not all about me.

What I'm going through, right? What you're going through. Come on, let
me make this applicable. Sometimes it's not all about me.

How it's affecting me. I don't want to go through this. I don't want to
put up with it.

Me, me, me, me, me. God, it's all about me. The center of the earth
revolves around me.

But sometimes God says, I'm gonna take you through that for someone
else. And I often wonder, I've got another one coming up Saturday when I
speak at memorial services. The person passing away is a terrible thing,
but it caused others in the family to come to the Lord.

So at the end of He Made for Evil, could something good come of that?
Now people are open, they're receptive. And He might use a difficult
situation. Why am I going through this? Maybe to reveal something in
someone else.

Maybe to help them get through their situation. Maybe as iron sharpens
iron. They have to be tested and tempted and tried.

And that really just stood out. You know, I'm sure Joseph's thinking,
okay, that's great, I'm glad I went through years in the prison so these
people could be saved and not starve. I don't know, I might have to
process that one for a little bit.

But it's a good reminder of what we're going through. What we're going
through, the challenges, if we rely on God, could have amazing fruit,
even though we don't like the pain, because the pain will have a
purpose. And then of course, this is important for us, conviction is
good.

Conviction is good. But he didn't want his brothers to feel shame and
guilt. Here's the difference, conviction.

Man, this isn't right, I'm convicted, I get my heart right with the
Lord, I repent, I apologize, whatever, and ah, that drew me to a fresh
relationship with God. Where shame and guilt, I'll never measure up. I
keep blowing it.

Man, I'm back, I did that again, it's been years or months, and I'm
living in the shame. And now I'm guilt, and God, I can't ever serve You,
and You just stay stuck. That's where the enemy wants You to stay.

Look at my past, look at what I've done. What's really hard even when,
and that's why it's hard to talk about sometimes, is when women or men
who concede to an abortion, what they have to deal with in their heart
for years. The conviction is good to get our heart right and to repent,
but you don't want to stay in the shame and the guilt.

Because when there's shame and guilt, that's where we don't do much for
God. Correct? I'm just stuck in this cycle, and I can't come out of it.
I don't really want to go to church.

I don't want to be around believers. You know those people that make you
be quiet. They're so happy all the time.

Yeah, I know you love the Lord, blah, blah, blah. Don't keep sending me
worship songs and Scriptures. Right, because we're in shame and guilt.

And it's good to break out of that and repent, and then experience the
joy of the Lord, the refreshing that comes from the presence of God.
Then they went out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob,
their father. Again, this is now when Jacob's living.

I just fast forwarded to show you that the famous verse, what you meant
for evil, God meant for good, actually comes towards the end of Genesis.
Again, he says it in chapter 45 and again in 50, reassuring them. And
they told their father, saying, Joseph is still alive.

He is governor over all the land of Egypt. So once he told his brothers,
now the brothers go back and tell the father, can you imagine Jacob's
heart? He must have stood still, thinking your child that was dead is
now alive. And I thought of the prodigal too.

They threw the big feast when he came back, and he said, my son that was
dead is alive again. The joy. And Jacob's heart stood still because he
did not believe them.

I bet he didn't. But when they told him all the words what Joseph had
said to them, and when he saw all the carts that Joseph had carried with
them, the spirit of Jacob, their father revived. Then Israel, whose name
is Jacob, it's used interchangeably, then Israel said, it is enough.

Joseph, my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die. I
hope this is for someone this morning, but God can and often does
resurrect dead dreams.

Now, I'm not going to turn into some motivational speaker this morning.
All of you can get your dream back. Just think it and believe it.

That Ferrari dealership that told you no? You just name it and claim it.
And I hear a lot of those guys sometimes like, you can't just make a
blank in a statement because what about if a person's not a believer?
What about if they're in a prodigal state? God's not going to revive
that dream until they repent. You've got to work through some things.

You can't just throw a blanket statement out there. But it is true, I
believe, that God often resurrects dead dreams. Have you ever had God
deposit something into you that's powerful and profound and say, Lord,
Your Word confirms it.

You put that in my heart. I've prayed about it. I've thought about it.

But it's not happening. It's not happening. And of course, that would be
a whole other message between is it my will or God's will? Anybody else
have their will get in the way of their prayers? Yeah? Lord, I just want
to retire at 50.

I just want to retire at 50. And we'll get started. But He knows what is
best.

He knows the waiting time is not wasted time. And I would take it to the
Lord. Sometimes He's readjusted my dreams.

And maybe yours is for a son or daughter or grandchild. And it gets,
doesn't it get, and I pray for people, I'm talking years. Years I've
been praying for people in our prayer room.

And the husband or the wife or the kids or the grandkids have not yet
come to the Lord. So I don't need a lecture on being frustrated. Because
I see them, sometimes I feel bad.

Like, God, please, God, this has got to be tough. Lord, please. And I
don't know, but I do trust in God's timing.

And I've known people on their deathbed crying because their son or
their daughter. But remember, your prayers outlive you. Many times,
Pastor Abram can tell, I mean, I've seen the kids give their lives to
the Lord in memorial services.

The parents don't know. Now, they didn't know, but now they knew.
Eventually, someday they will in heaven, right? But it took that
brokenness, that losing someone and realizing, look at what I had and
look at what I didn't appreciate and why have I drifted from God? I knew
God had a calling on me at a young age.

And they turned back to God. Or there's many dreams for ministry. I
truly believe you're not just called to come in here on Sunday and hear
the message and worship and go home and wait for next Sunday or
Wednesday.

There's God can birth things inside of us. Maybe in your workplace, a
Bible study, a ministry to whoever. But again, you have to shift your
motives.

You have to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Because I
remember when God first called me to preach, there was a training ground
for it, for sure. And back then I was going to Calvary Chapel and they
would have me kind of like as a traveling pastor for churches that need
a pastor maybe for that week or for that month from Tehachapi, North
Edwards, out to Yucca Valley, way out there.

So I would go and I'm saying the same thing I'm saying now. No podcast,
no YouTube, nothing, just this 30, what, two-year-old guy. And I walk
in, I'll never forget, I walk into Yucca Valley, I didn't sleep well
because they put me in a hotel on the main thorough, the street there
and it was a racetrack till 2.30 in the morning.

And I get there and I hear the worship and I walk in, there's 12 people.
And I didn't care, I didn't care. I was just excited to be there because
see, so many people, how many are there? How many are there? I'll have a
home group as long as there's 20.

What about if it's two? Could it be that we don't see our dreams
fulfilled because we're focused on the numbers? And God will take that
from us. And I'll never forget, this is when I, we see it sometimes
here, but man, when I would travel sometimes, I mean, I don't know if
they weren't used to my messages, but the front rows right there, I'm
preaching to this guy, he's probably 300 pounds, he just falls down on
his knees and he's weeping during the Mass. I'm like, what do I do with
this? And I just stop and we just pray for this brother and he just came
back to the Lord after 30 years of, I'm like, whoa, this is incredible.

And go to other places and speak in places and you'd see God just moving
powerfully and that's why I have a desire for the power of the Spirit,
for the unction, I've seen it radically change lives. And people get
excited at worship because God is breaking and restoring and renewing
and rebuilding. If this is the church of the living God and His word is
living and powerful and people are coming here with demonic bondages and
strongholds, don't you think we should offer a source of life? And I
know there's people who even feel called to like deliverance, right? And
what does that look like? Is there even a deliverance ministry? Aren't
we all called to deliver? I don't believe in that and I don't know.

And well, I'll just tell you this, take it to the Lord. Because every
time I read the Bible, those who believe on me will speak in new
tongues, they'll cast out demons, they'll lay their hands on the sick. I
mean, one of Jesus' what He did the most often was rebuking demonic
strongholds, demons.

Now I'll say it's a little interesting, correct? I mean, it can get
really not too comfortable for a pastor. Let's say that. Because you
want to keep kind of things comfortable, you don't want people to leave
it.

Did you know what the chain of commandment is? It's not even allowed
today. Oh my goodness. But if the person's getting freedom, and the lady
I prayed for a week and a half ago wasn't anything profound, just
blinding that darkness, that addiction, that demonic stronghold of
alcohol, and we just trust in faith in what God, sometimes it's not
overly dramatic.

Sometimes it's what does God want to do that day, but we have to be
open. Open. Open.

A lot of people aren't experiencing revival because they're not open.
Notice I didn't say gullible, and I just got hooked up to an app. I
can't announce it right now with a lot of different pastors.

We're going on this app, and it's gonna be a revival resource. And it's
in different, God is moving in powerful ways all over the United States.
I don't know what you follow, I don't know who you listen to, but God is
doing amazing things.

And it's a spot where we're all gonna connect and watch what God is
doing in our nation, in our homes, in our church. God can and often does
resurrect dead dreams. Do you have a dream for your marriage? One piece
of advice, you might want to make sure it's a realistic dream.

I know Morgan was expecting the night riding on a white horse in armor,
and I will do the dishes, and the laundry, and I will help with
homeschooling the kids. But what happens sometimes, unexpected
expectations. Doesn't mean we continue with that, we work on it.

I try to do all those things as often as possible, but it gets
challenging. So here's a few things I want to pull. His name is Samuel
Amedi.

Lessons from Joseph, and a couple things we can glean from this morning.
Instead of getting revenge, Joseph reconciles with his brothers, and he
restores the family by extending forgiveness. Wow, is that tough for
anyone? Me, you, yeah.

There's some people you just want to keep that grudge. But let me tell
you, it's beautiful, and there's times of refreshing come also from the
presence of repentance. Hey, I just want to focus on unity.

I forgive you, let's move forward. Because somehow, in some way, that
bitterness and that pride keeps you bound to your past or to the person
who's done you wrong. And let me tell you, I'm not excusing anything,
but people will hurt you.

Amen? Sheep bite. And if we're not staying close to the shepherd,
humble, broken, our words can hurt. I've learned a lesson many years
ago.

It doesn't always happen, but I try not to meet with people on difficult
things on like a Monday or Tuesday. But like right after service, let's
talk about right after service, I'm just full of joy in the Holy Spirit.
Whatever, I don't care.

Repent, ask for forgiveness, great. But you let a couple days go by, the
old shame comes back. But they did this to you.

They did. Yeah, that's right, they did. Thank you, defense attorney
within.

But it's such an important lesson. And I've seen, here's what I've told
people recently too. Once we become the better person, not that we have
to necessarily apologize or something, but once we take that initiative,
like I shouldn't have to do this.

Let me tell you, that happens to me a lot. I shouldn't have, why am I
reaching out? Well, I shouldn't have to do this. Well, somebody's got to
step on the gas pedal to get the car moving.

And God looks at your heart and honors your decision to fix that
relationship. There's probably not a, I'm reaching out to people every
week for the last decade. Like, hey, how are you doing? I'm praying for
you.

I haven't seen you in a couple of years and I don't know if I hurt them.
I don't know what, I mean, but there's trying to reconcile and then
leave the ball in God's court. Because I think that's the bottom line is
God wants His children to be united.

If we're truly believers, we should be united. There shouldn't be, well,
there's that person. Let me avoid that person.

I am not talking to them. They don't know, what did they do to me? What
did they do to me? What did you do to Jesus? John Bevere said that on
Facebook, so I can't take credit. It was a good clip.

Joseph settles his family in Goshen, shielding them from foreign
cultural influences. So fathers, parents, we can learn this. Shielding
them from cultural influences.

You know, it's okay to do that. Your nine-year-old doesn't need a phone.
Uh-oh, uh-oh.

They don't need to be hooked to YouTube. Shield. Oh, it's hard, isn't
it? Oh my goodness.

Joseph preserves his family amid severe famine through wisdom, through
wisdom and administrative genius. And where did he get that genius? From
his own skill set. From God.

So, I'm careful here on this, but I would encourage all of us to start
using more wisdom right now during these times. Especially in your
spending. I would be a little saver right now.

Do you need it or do you want it? Because we may see times where things
get a little scarce. And we need to be wise in this area. And then the
next point, through Joseph, God is reversing the curse, unraveling
violence through forgiveness, unrighteousness through righteousness, and
hunger through wisdom.

Joseph's story is the story of the whole Bible. It's the story of glory
through suffering. Exaltation through humiliation.

And it's the story of the cross and the crown. And that part really
stood out to me. It is the story of exaltation through humiliation.

If you really want to go up in God's kingdom, you need to humble
yourself. Let God promote you. Let God promote you.

And it's hard. We all go through these, we want to promote ourselves,
here's what I do. But when I don't even promote anything, anything, God
begins to raise up.

And you can't be false humility. You know the false humility. Oh no,
Lord, not me.

Little old tiny me. No, I'm just a worm. I'm just dust on Your scale of
the earth here.

But saying, Lord, I don't want to go beyond what You want me to do. I
want You to elevate me. I want You to promote me if it's what You want.

I want to walk within Your will. Walk within Your ways. God, I don't
want to be seen.

I don't want to be recognized. And that's hard because, not everyone,
but there's a lot of people that like that, you know, that recognition
or that name dropping. And the look at me, I've arrived.

And you watch these guys now, they're all trying to be billionaires or
millionaires. And it's just so, or sports figure, if I could be the next
LeBron James, thank you. Sorry, don't follow a lot of that stuff.

If I could be the next Mike Trout or LeBron James or Colby, and see,
that's their whole life. If I could just be, look at how, like this
amazes me. Just because somebody has a million followers to YouTube, why
are you getting advice from them? That just means their algorithms are
good, their title popped and they were able to get it out there.

They're not the voice of truth now. Like that little guy who dresses as
a girl who went to the White House with Biden. Dylan, just, I crack up
sometimes.

Like, oh man. But now, so he's the influence, he's the voice of truth.
Let's see what he has to say.

No, if you dress up like a girl and act silly, you might get a lot of
TikTok shares. That's just how it works. The sillier you are, the more
stupid you are.

You get lots of likes and followers. Doesn't mean they're the voice of
truth. So be careful when you follow an influencer, make sure they're
influenced by Christ and God's Word.

Because that's the go-to, if I could just get enough subscribers, if I
could just do this, if I could just get my platform, and see, that
really is dangerous. Because now everything is gauged on numbers,
subscribing. What about if I gauged what I was doing on attendance? Did
you know from one Sunday to the next, we can go up or down 200 people?
Especially if the weather's bad.

People think that's Mount Everest to drive over or something. Jeez
Louise. Ah, I can't drive that mountain.

That's not a mountain. Let me take you to Yosemite in a van when the
brakes are going out. The more I remember that, I'm like, what is that
noise? These brakes are not working down that big.

That's a mountain. Bless their heart. Exaltation through humiliation.

If you want to rise up in your marriage, humble yourself. And it's hard,
isn't it? Because pride is deadly. Pride is damning.

Pride is disgusting. When you see it in others, oh, God, I hope that's
not in me. What's that saying I told you a few months ago? The pride in
others I clearly see, but praise God, there's none in me.

And the reason I bring this up so much is we actually do see it as
leadership of the church. We actually see the ugly side of that a lot. A
lot.

Because most conflicts in the church are because of pride. Whether mine
or someone else's. I'll own that one.

Have I ever told you I'm very humble? Listen, I arrived at humility a
while ago, so don't challenge me. Don't this. No, but it's in all of us
wanting to rise up inside all of us.

Remember the guy I told you gave me the finger when I was protesting the
abortion clinic? And I didn't think gracious, loving, oh, hey, brother.
He's like, turn back around. Hot shot.

Let's talk about this. Come out of the car and do that. But see,
sometimes that old man is inside of you.

And I love people. I know their hearts are good, but they always say,
but Pastor, you shouldn't have to deal. That should be cleansed at the
cross.

Well, what do you say to Paul, oh wretched man that I am? Who would
deliver me from this body of sin and death? For with the mind, I serve
the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. I have these members
working inside of me. One to do evil, one to do good.

That's biblical, the war within. What do you choose to follow? Repent,
humble yourself, and be filled with the Spirit of God, or continue to
fuel pride, and anger, and angst inside of us. And you know what brings
us out more? There's so many rabbit trails, but I think it's good for
people to hear.

What brings out the most in us is often just two little letters. Tell
somebody no. Watch what happens.

No. No. No, you can't do that.

No, I don't think that's gonna work. No, that doesn't sound right. No,
no, no.

Why? Because they're being challenged. Me too, right? All of us can
deal, what do you do with that? Let that know. And what the enemy
intended for evil.

What the enemy intended for evil. Romans 8.28. I want to get into
Revelation, guys, but I don't know if I'm gonna be able to finish this.
I kind of don't, I've been postponing it, because it's a lot, it's some
in-depth stuff.

Romans 8.28, and we know that all things... Okay, look at this. We know,
we know. So faith is involved.

Faith, if you want God to work out all things for the good, according to
his purpose, it takes a certain amount of faith. We know that God is
going to do this. Versus, nope, this guy can't even move in this.

This person's belligerent. God's not gonna move, God's not in this. And
we doubt that this is gonna work out for good.

One of the, well, I don't know if I should say this, but I mainly have a
lot of weak points. My wife has stronger points. But one of those where
I'm kind of helping, like more, I guess more, I don't even know what the
right word is.

But even with like raising kids, I'm like, God's got this. God's got
this. And moms are supposed to freak out about everything, right?
They're not getting good grades, they're not doing this, they're not
dressing the right.

She does not want me to dress our four-year-old, because I don't care if
their socks don't even match. Right, and so just, everything will work
out fine. Everything will work out.

But look how I've turned out. That does not help things. Look how I
turned out.

Public school? Didn't even graduate, barely, barely by cheating. I used
to drink, remember those days when you would drink out of the water
hose? Yeah. You'd eat your, you know, you'd chew on your crib, lead-
based paint.

Tons of pipes and things with asbestos. Man, I walked a dangerous line
there. I rebelled against God.

See, I turned out fine, they'll be fine. But we don't want them to do
that, right? But I just, I think because God has brought me through hell
and back, I'm not real concerned with, you know, things that might
happen that, if it's not just like the way we want it, because I know
all things will work out according to His purpose. But mom's have that
kind of that instinct, right? To nurture, make sure they're, I shouldn't
tell you guys too much, because I can get myself, like if they miss
breakfast, I'm not real concerned.

But you know they can go till later in the day, it's okay. Maybe they
should. Yeah, fast, okay, now you said it.

But no, you don't want little ones to fast. But you know, it's just that
all, we know, we know that all things are gonna work together for good.
You see, I'm getting out of that quick.

To those who love God. So here's, if you want something to work out,
there are keys to this. You can't just quote the Scripture like it's a
magic wand for you.

And we know that all things work together for good. To those who, see,
if I'm loving God, I'm living a certain way, aren't I? Because so many
people claim this verse, you can't claim this verse, you don't love God.
He's not the Lord of your life.

He's a get out of hell free card. And you're doing whatever you want.
And you're quoting this verse to me.

Love God with all your soul, with all your heart. Because see, as you're
loving Him, now it directs my steps. So now when I'm doing things,
although I mess up, I'm not perfect, God says, ah, the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord.

He's gonna watch out, He's gonna pick me up. And now because of that,
this can be true. He's gonna work out together for your good.

Have you ever seen court cases reversed? Real estate transactions,
whatever. I mean, this thing, I used to, this was so awesome what God
did. Many of you know, but I have a background in when I had to go to
real estate for a little while to pay bills when construction plummeted.

And I was thrown right into short sales, REOs, asset managers, I'm
working on commercial land, everything, and I would get a short sale and
they'd have one loan, right? But then they'd have a second lien on it.
Now both lenders have got to release that title. And this second lien
holder would be, say, 30,000.

They took a HOMA equity line of credit. And the second lien holder is
like, no, we're not letting go, we want our full 30,000. And this guy's
saying, we're not getting anything.

You're not getting 30,000, we'll give you 3,000. 10%. What? Forget it,
this is going to go to whatever, foreclosure.

And I remind them, a foreclosure's not going to get anything. Right, but
it's like, forget it, this whole deal's falling apart. Lord, I just
pray.

And the next day, you get an email, okay, we decided this is fine. And
how God can work behind the scenes on certain things. Or with medical
issues and doctor's diagnosis.

And we know that somehow this can all work together for good. But trust
is involved. Lord, I know you can do this.

I trust you, my trust is in you. And then there's relationship. I love
God.

And here we go, to those who are called according to His purpose. So
that can have a couple different meanings, but obviously it has to do
with salvation. You know, you're called according to His purpose.

You're calling, your election is sure. And so now you're a believer, and
you're walking, you're submitted to God, and though you're not perfect,
though you try to get back up, you make bad decisions. Anybody make bad
decisions out there? Invest where you shouldn't have invested? Nothing
but God.

And all that, God can still work through it. Nothing is impossible if
God lays the burden on your heart, or you pray according to His will.
Nothing is impossible.

And I truly believe that. Now, that doesn't mean all things are gonna
happen that I want. Like, I would love, I would love to go play for the
Dodgers, even for a season.

Now, technically, is that impossible? No, with God in it, but is that
gonna happen? No, I have to be practical. I have to be very practical.
Maybe somebody will hear this down there, let me at least go to pitching
practice, or hitting practice, or something.

So, the burden on your heart to pray, or you pray according to His will.
Are you praying according to His will? God, get that difficult person
out of my life. Is that His will? Or is He teaching you through this? In
Genesis 18, we read months ago, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is
anything too hard for the Lord? And I wanna do a sermon once on
nevertheless, or but God.

You see all these traumatic things happening, nevertheless, God stepped
in. All hell is breaking loose, but God. All throughout Scripture, but
God, but God, but God, but God, some of you need to leave here with a
little but God.

Yes, this is happening, but God. But God remembered Noah, but God came
to Laban, but God did not permit him to harm him. But God will be with
you, and He'll bring you again into the land of your fathers, and even
Hezekiah, look at this great army, but God.

What army can stop Him? That's why I say that and get excited. What army
can stop God? What plans are gonna thwart His plans? What government is
going to overrule Him? Nothing can overcome God Almighty. Nothing is
impossible for God.

You know that's not gonna happen, that this isn't looking good, but God.
You'll never own a home, but God. You'll never get married, find the
right, but God.

Your life is falling apart. Look, there's no good come from this. You're
in your fifth rehab home, but God.

Oh man, just meditate. What can you fill in there that this doesn't
apply to? Nothing, I tried all week. No, that's but God.

No, that's but God. I mean, is there anything? Doesn't mean He's gonna
do it, but is there anything God can't fix? It might behoove us to get
our attitude right. Hebrews 7, 25, this is important for many people,
all of us actually.

Consequently, He's talking about Jesus. He is able to save to the
uttermost those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives
to make intercession for them. Jesus lives to intercede on behalf of His
people.

Jesus is interceding for us while Satan, whose name means accuser, is
accusing us. So let me focus on this just for a minute. Is the Satan
accusing you this morning? Is he trying to wear you down? You'll never
measure up, you'll never be a good wife, you'll never be a good husband.

You've fallen again. He's accusing you and accusing you. He does that to
me sometimes.

Who do you think you are to speak God's Word to the nation? Who do you
think you are? Don't they know what you did in your 20s? Oh, that's
true. He starts accusing. You snapped at your spouse last week.

How dare you come to church? You looked at something you shouldn't have
yesterday. How dare you come to church? Accusing, accusing, accusing.
Pointing out our sin and the frailties before God, just as he did with
Job.

Again, from gotquestions.org. But the accusations fall upon deaf ears. I
just got so excited this week. No matter what Satan does now as a
believer, it doesn't matter.

He can't say anything. He can't say anything. What's he gonna say? God
says, oh, you know what, good point.

Nothing. Because Jesus' work on the cross paid our sin debt in full.
Completely paid it.

And this is what I try, when I try to tell Roman Catholics about
purgatory, they get mad at me. Like, why are you causing division? Why
are you talking about a purgatory, a place to go and experience torment
to pay for our sin when Jesus said it's finished on the cross? That
sounds like me getting mad at you, not you at me. I'm just speaking the
truth.

I love people enough to tell them the truth. Can you imagine, okay,
after this, I'm gonna have to go somewhere and just be punished for a
while. You know how they built St. Peter's Cathedral? When a coin in the
coffer springs, or makes a noise, a soul from purgatory will spring.

You can pay to get your loved ones out of there. Martin Luther
challenged it. That's what prompted the Reformation of 1517 on the doors
of Wittenberg, Germany.

All these things. And it drives me crazy when people say, well, we're
the real church. No, Protestants didn't start in 1517.

They started when Jesus came in the power of the Holy Spirit in the
upper room. We've been doing the same thing now for 2,000 years. You've
drifted off course.

We haven't went anywhere. And again, just speaking the truth in love.
Sometimes you need to hear the difficult things to get you to wake up
and say, I can't believe He said that.

I'm gonna go find out. And guess what? You'll find out. You'll find out
that Mary was not immaculately conceived.

We don't believe that Mary was a virgin and had no children. Or that
she's co-redeemer. Or we go to her to pray.

These things are blasphemous. Folks, I don't say that to be me. Is that
not the truth? Jesus is going, hey, hey, go ahead and go through my mom
to get through me.

And you don't go through a man to get to God. You go directly to the
throne room of grace. There's so many things here.

And people say, we don't believe that. No, you might not. I got it.

But go check the authority. While you're at it, read upon a papal
decree. A papal decree that's above me is above Scripture.

Folks, it's dangerous. I don't know, none of that's in my notes. So I
hope that's somebody.

Oh, trust me, I'm getting chewed out on that one for sure. But it's
okay. I've learned now, if you don't spark some type of conviction,
because here's the thing, what did I just say that is wrong? It's all
true.

I was an altar boy. All true. But that we don't want to hurt people's
feelings.

Okay, you're not going to hurt feelings as they're on their way to hell.
That makes no sense to me. Now, I don't want to go out of my way to
like, yeah, let me chew them out.

Let me tell them off. But hey, I want to rethink this. Remember, I told
you guys, he was a priest over at that diocese in Santa Clarita, like
4,000 people.

Somebody got us together for an hour. I said, explain purgatory. I'll
never forget, he looked at me and said, Pastor Shane, but how do you
deal with the sin and the guilt? Hold on, are we reading the same Bible?
I mean, is that eye-opening? I don't deal with it.

He dealt with it. When he said, Tetelestai, it is finished. It's done.

And my concern is a lot of these people don't have saving faith, so they
still have the shame and the guilt and they feel that need. I have to be
punished because I'm not good before God. It's a false doctrine.

God always sees His children in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. I
don't know if you caught this. I shared it.

A person I really like following and listening to is Alistair Begg. If
you're on the radio. He gave this incredible story briefly of the thief
on the cross.

Like when he's in heaven, people are going to be like going, how did you
get here? How did you get here? Did you go through the baptismal class?
No, you weren't even baptized? You weren't even baptized? Did you go to
the church of Ephesus? Klossy? Thessalonica? How are you here? I don't
know. I don't know why I'm here. What do you mean you don't know? Were
you a Baptist? Pentecostal, Presbyterian? How did you get here? He just
said, the man in the middle told me I could come.

Jesus hanged between both thieves. He said, the man in the middle told
me I could come.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/SHfRpYvVUE4.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/what-the-enemy-intended-for-evil-video/
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