"A Life of Trust." -Johnny Asevedo

Pastor Johnny shares a word on trusting the Lord & allowing the Holy Spirit to expose any area in your heart that isn't trusting God. Enjoy!!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Destiny Church and Throne podcast. We pray this stirs you into a deeper relationship with Jesus and equips you to live a heaven-on-earth lifestyle daily. Enjoy.

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Just examine our hearts right now. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Yeah, come on. Thank you, Jesus. Just examine our hearts. Trust you. But I pray that as this word goes forth, every word, that we would just be in a place where we trust you, Lord.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Thank you. Jesus' name. You know, um, a lot of times we can turn this light on. We can turn these off up here. Um a lot of times trusting the Lord is us trusting in most of the time things that are like material things or things that are around us or things that we are able to see. You know what I mean? Now, not always. That's not always the case. Sometimes we have to trust God with a diagnosis or or something like that. You know, but but but a lot of the times in our life, in our day-to-day, we have to trust God with like what we see in front of us. Does this make sense? You guys follow me on this? Right? We got to trust Him with what we see in front of us. I want to give you an example of something that just happened in our life. Praise God. So I was starting this new job. We were needing another vehicle. Um, prayed about it. Just it was just, there was no other way. Like, kids were in school, it was crazy. Like, there was no other way. Like, we were like, Lord, you you have to come through, you know, because you opened the door for this job. So we knew that he was gonna do it, but we were just like, how, what, when? And um, out of nowhere, my my mom was like, Hey, we just got another car. If you want to just take up the payments on this car. And we were like, what? You know, and we were we were praying about it, praying about the situation. And and as we got closer and closer to, and what was crazy is the entire month of March when I got hired, didn't have a car. Still looking for that car. But what was crazy is they were like, hey, this first month, you're gonna ride along with your coworker. And my coworker, who's also a man of faith, he was we were praying and believing. He's like, dude, like, yeah, praise God. You don't even need a car this month. I got you. I'll pick you up every day. It was beautiful. We just talked about Jesus all day long. It was awesome. But he was like, Don't worry about it, I got you, I'll pick you up. We prayed and believed. As that month was coming to an end, as March was coming to an end, is when my mother said, Hey, we got this other vehicle, we don't need two cars. Would you guys like to take up the payments on this car? And we're like, Yeah, praise God, hallelujah. And and it was awesome. We didn't have to go through the credit process and everything else, and that's just what we're doing during this time right now. Like, God made a way. But during the end of that, I'm gonna be honest with you, I was like, okay, God, like you opened this door. And it wasn't like I was just like, yay, like any day now, a car's gonna fall from the sky, praise God, which in the past, God has done things like that. He's done things like that. Like we've seen, God has blessed us to where we're like, say, what? Like it has happened. Like it's it's crazy. And so even though I knew that God had done things like that before and came through, I was still like, Lord, come through. Like he had blessed us with vehicles before. When we got married, a friend as a wedding gift gave us a vehicle as a wedding gift. We're like, dude, praise God, that's absolutely amazing. We were at another situation, and this job that I was at, my my boss was like, dude, you're doing so tremendous. I want to buy you a car. He bought us a car. Yeah, I was like, dude, praise God. So God has moved in the realm of vehicles for us before, but as it came closer and closer to that time, I'm not gonna be like, oh, God's got it. Even though I knew that in the past he had moved the exact same way, I was still like, Lord, like, Lord, like, you open this door for a job. Like I'm trusting you, but I'm not seeing any area of where I should trust, you know, not that it shouldn't, but I'm not seeing any area where breakthrough's coming in the next 24 hours. I just I just wasn't seeing it. I just, I just wasn't, and I was like, okay, Lord, I trust you. I too, but you know, but there were areas, even though I said I trusted, if the Holy Spirit was to be like, look at this part, Johnny, look at this area of your heart, you're not fully, right? Because I felt like I had to talk about it more with God. Right? And it became more than just praying about it to borderline worrying because I was like, God, I need you to move now because there's no other way I'm gonna be able to do this job with our kids in school and everything else. There was just no way. But it got to this point to where I had came to this realization right before that happened with my mom, Karen and I, we got to this realization where we were like, he's done it before, and he's faithful even when we are not. So he's gonna take care of all of it. And he did. And he absolutely took care of it. And that is one of many examples where there has been times where we, and I know we could pass this microphone around, have had to just stand on faith even when things were getting shaky in life, and it didn't look like anything was about to shift. You know what I mean? But that's the thing about it that's so amazing is that like even if at that time God did not come through, I still think that in other in another way he would have made a way. I do believe that, right? Because there was this area in my life, I didn't start like, you know, freaking out, or we didn't start looking for other opportunities, or, you know, started, you know, trying to do this or look here or try to do it our own self, because I've learned the hard way that doesn't work. I've learned that the hard way. Trying to do it yourself outside of what he's breathing on, it might work for a little while, but there will be no longevity in it. There will be nothing sustained when you try to do it yourself. And in fact, as a believer, when you try to do it yourself, what's going to end up happening is you're gonna birth something that God never wanted birth in the first place. He wants us to trust him. Most of that trust will come by what we see with our eyes. So it's important to not walk by sight, but to walk by faith. So what's one of the most difficult things as a believer? Right? We want to put everything in our hands. We want to be able to do the things that, well, God, you gotta come through like this, or it's gotta look like this, or I gotta have like this, or it's gotta be this. Like it's hard to trust him, especially with those things that we are so desiring. When we're desiring those things that we're not seeing God move on, and it's like year after year after year after year, we're like, God, like, okay, like I just I just let that go. I remember um they used to say uh back in the church days, I say that but a while back, there used to be in these in these different circles, they would say, you know, well, it's got to come to a time where you just gotta put it on the shelf. Yeah, put put what you're believing for on the shelf. And I'm thinking to myself, well, that just doesn't make any sense. Because if if I desire him and he gives me the desires of my heart, I'm gonna trust that there are things in accordance to his will that he's going to bless me or give me or share with me or allow me to partake in that is desire of my heart. You guys feel me on this? And again, I'm saying in accordance to his will, right? Um, so I say all this to say we have got to be a people that trust. There is so much joy when we trust him. Right? There's so much joy. What you will find is there's a lot of people, when they are weighed down with worry and with fear, when they are weighed down with, I don't know how this is gonna get taken care of, or what's gonna happen here, what's gonna happen there, there's not a lot of joy in their life. You guys feel me on this? There's not a lot of joy, there's not a lot of fruit of joy. There's no fruit of the kingdom, because a lot of times, when you find yourself stalemated by a situation or a problem God's not moving in, when you find yourself kind of stuck in a situation where you're just trusting God, there's not a lot of fruit that's being born in your life. You're not seeing it. You're not seeing fruit being buried in your life because more than likely your mind is consumed with this thing that you need God to move on because you haven't been trusting Him. I want to read this scripture to you. It's in Jeremiah. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They will be like trees, hear me, planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. Listen to this. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought, and their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit. If a trial or a circumstance causes you to sin and not produce fruit, you are not a tree that is planted by that river, and you are not an individual who is trusting God. If the moment that your faith gets shaken, you run to something other than him, that is showing you scripturally speaking that you are being bothered by the heat, that some of these earthly elements are taking out your faith. If you run to anything else other than him in those moments, you start to see exactly the opposite of what we're seeing here. It says that their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit. Even in the midst of a trial, you should never stop producing fruit. Some people, even outside of trials, don't produce fruit. That's a whole nother story. We're called to produce fruit. Amen?

unknown 9:56

Amen, amen, hallelujah.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Right? We're not called to just say we're Christians. You feel me? Oh, I'm a Christian. I'm a believer. I go to church. No, no, no. Are you producing fruit in the world around you? Are people able to eat of the fruit of your relationship and your faith with the Lord? And the Bible tells us here their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit. Um being individuals that trust God. You know, one of the things that that was very hard for me these past few weeks is uh as we we talked about on Sunday, one of our dear friends and beloved members of this house, Don Perry, passed away. And that was difficult. That was very difficult. Meeting with the family, you know, going to the hospice and talking with her, meeting and all these different things. It was it was difficult to see that. And I'm not gonna stand there and and be like, oh, yeah. Like we spoke life every time. It was like supernatural faith and life. Like we just spoke faith, we just declared and we said, God, we trust that you're gonna heal her. She's been in similar situations before. We're trusting that you're gonna heal. We're trusting, we're trusting, we're trusting. And we didn't get the results we thought we should have gotten. Because if you were to ask me, the results would be she would, she would live, she would be here with us. That was that was a this that this past week with all that was very heavy on my heart just because of who she was in my life. And there were some areas where I was so very thankful that even in the midst of all that stuff that was going through, to hear family members connect and talk afterwards about what about how Jesus was glorified in the moment was amazing. Absolutely amazing. But even during that time, it did not shake her family's faith. It did not cause them to blame God, it did not cause them to curse God, it did not cause them to live any outside way other than Jesus, you're good, and she's with you. It didn't, that trial, that's to me, that's one of the worst. Like I start to think about what is something that is so crushing, it's losing a loved one like that. That's so crushing outside of finances or cars or work or or or losing this or breaking a limb here, all of these different things. One of the most heartache things that I can think about to happen is something like that. And to see individuals who praise God even during that is bearing fruit of their relationship to Him and the way that they trust Him. You see, in every season of your life, you're going to bear fruit on the way that you trust God. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, they've made the Lord their hope and their confidence. They're like trees planted along a riverbank with their roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. I want you to understand the scripture in this place here and what we're seeing in this moment. They are not bothered by the elements of the earth. So, so so as believers trusting God, that what we're seeing here is a picture of us being trees with our roots going down deep into the waters, deep into the rivers. You are like a tree that is planted, immovable. Most trees that have deep root structures, what's hard for like it's hard for them to be knocked down. You feel me? Right? When they have deep root structures, you can't just go over there and some little something blows them down. It don't work like that, right? So when you see these trees, when you see us as individuals who put our trust and our hope and our confidence in Him, we are like these trees. And these types of trees are not bothered by what happens on this earth. There's no amount of heat, there's no amount of winter, there's no amount of flood, there's no amount of drought, there's no seasonal thing that can cause these trees from stopping to produce fruit. Do you feel me on this? No season in your life should be without bearing fruit when you are trusting him and your hope and your confidence is in him. I cannot bear fruit with just being myself. Johnny cannot just bear fruit. I have to be connected to him, abiding in him, in order to bear the fruit of the kingdom. I got to pray with Katie in the back back there. I was walking out, turning on the volume, she was there. I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna declare over her. I'm gonna pray. We just met tonight. I'm just gonna pray what I saw. How much of it was on point? All the way down to an item that was on her bed. And I don't know Katie, but guess who does? The Lord. So, what does she experience? She was able to experience fruit of my life of sitting with him and just knowing him and being willing, being willing to say, This is what's on your heart for this individual right here. Right? And so many of you that David shares testimonies all the time of convenience stores getting rocked and wrecked by Jesus. Dude's just going to Wiener Schnitzel and 17 people get saved. Dude's going to Hibbett Sports to pick up some socks, 28 people get saved. Like testimonies. Well, what's happening? David's not going out and he's saying, like, I'm just going to evangelize everywhere that I go. He is just living his life, and fruit is coming from his life. That fruit doesn't just pop out of nowhere. That fruit comes from his relationship and trusting God and other areas of his life. Because in every season, you're called to bear fruit. You could be having the worst day. I'll never forget. Years and years ago, I had one of the worst days. I was working at a call center in Beaumont. It was one of the worst days. And I remember we were I was driving through and I took Highway 62 and that little um, what's right there by Waffle House? What is that? A Valero? A little Valero by Waffle House. I remember I went in there. It was one of the worst days. Calls were long. It was like early on in my walk with the Lord, like it was just like, it was a tough, tough day. And um, I was tired. I was I got angry with customers on the phone because they were like cussing me out. I'm like, well, you know, you know, like it was rough. And I remember I walked in to the little speedy stop, whatever it is, Valero, and I went to the back, to the cooler, got something out, and the Lord said, I want you to pray for the lady behind the cash register. I'm like, there's like how? How? Why? Why would I even do that? I have nothing to offer. My day has been terrible. Like I can't, I can't, I can't do it. Like, there's just there's no way. I have nothing to give in this moment. And I'll never forget, I think I was getting, I was like in the middle section where the drinks were at the time. I think it was like a power eight, or back then, I don't even know if they still do it, but Speedy Stop had their own version of a power aid. I don't remember what it was called, but it was it was a lot cheaper. So I, you know, I went for the discounted uh hydration beverage item. It was discounted. So I went, I got it, and as soon as I turned around, I'll never forget, they had like the chips and the candy were in the area. I'm turning around and I remember I said, Lord, forgive me, I trust you. So I went to the front and I was just like, hey, I just feel led to just pray with you. I feel like the Lord highlighted you to pray with you. And she just broke. We just prayed, I'll never forget it. And I'll that's from that day. It's moments like that where it doesn't matter what season I'm in, when I just put my trust in him in that moment, fruit is bared. When you trust him, even in those days where you don't feel like it, type of day, right? You remember Jesus? He got tired, he sat at the well. Remember that? He got tired. He showed us a side of his humanity in that moment. It said he went to the well and he rested at that well. He was thirsty. Woman, give me a drink. He needed some hydration. He was thirsty. See, it doesn't matter what type of season that you were in, even if you were in the most weary of weary seasons, keep trusting God. Keep trusting him. Because I know that we've all been through those seasons, those times in our life where things have been heavy. Maybe we haven't been as fiery as usual, but I'm telling you now, don't use those seasons to give up or to run to something else. Don't use those seasons of trials to say, Lord, oh, it's just too hard right now. I know you got me, but I'm gonna start running to something else. Don't just give him lip service or tell him something that we think that he wants to hear. Right? People pleasing is so dangerous because we want to tell people what we think they want to hear. It doesn't work like that with God. He doesn't want to hear the things that you think he wants to hear. Spirit and in truth, beloved, in that season of your life, wherever you are, however you are, cling to him and trust him. He will come through. He doesn't fail. He doesn't fail, he doesn't fail, he doesn't fail. It may not happen the way that you think in the timeline that you think, but just keep trusting him. Just keep trusting him. Be with him as you trust him. You're gonna know it here. You're gonna know it. Because when when something hits the fan and all thing goes into chaos and all things are just, oh my gosh, what's happening? Here, like you're gonna be resting in him. When that wave comes, when that storm comes, your house isn't gonna be blown over. You feel me on this, guys? Like you should be, we should be bearing that fruit. And our life should show it far beyond just what we talk about. That's why we see here in scripture it tells us they're not bothered by those things, but their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit. And the reason they never stop producing fruit is if you go to the back beginning of that scripture, they trust in the Lord and they've made him their hope and confidence. Whatever it is that you're trusting God for, whatever it is that you're trusting him for. Don't allow anything to shake your faith to where you run to something else or you're not bearing fruit during that season. Don't let that thing that you're trusting God for overwhelm you to the point that it becomes a distraction. You find yourself worrying, you find yourself fearful, all these other things that are producing things outside of the kingdom. Because I'm telling you, from personal experience, tons of personal experience. There's gonna be things that come, they're gonna try to shake you. There's gonna be moments in your life that are going to shake you to your core, but there has to be fruit of the relationship. Right? There has to be fruit of that relationship with Jesus. Because that's what it always will come back to. It's hard to trust someone you don't know. What do you teach kids? Stranger danger. Right? Stranger danger. Jesus said it himself: a stranger's voice they will not follow. If he's a stranger to you, it's going to be awfully hard for you to trust him. Right? If you just know about him one day a week, it will be very difficult for you to trust him. I'm not just talking about, oh yeah, I trust God. No, no, no. I'm talking about bearing fruit that you trust him. Meaning, sometimes he actually takes you through those trials and takes you a little bit longer in those seasons to develop. Up something within you. I would not just give Maggie a rookie Jalen Hurts football card. That's the quarterback of the Eagles, one of the best quarterbacks that's ever played the game. Just in case you go, Burts, in case you're listening out there. I wouldn't just give her a rookie mint condition Jalen Hurts card. She's two years old. What's she gonna do with it? Probably gonna paint with it. Probably gonna put paint all over it. She had paint all over her face today. She wouldn't even know what to do with it. Throw it in the toilet. But let's say when she gets 18 years old, 19, 20, and she knows about finances and she knows about value and she knows about worth. I may present something of value to her in that moment. There's things sometimes God has to develop within us. And we wonder why we're not immediately rescued sometimes. Because we treat him like a genie. Give me out of here, God. Give me out of here, God, give me out of here, God. And then when he doesn't move, oh God doesn't hear me. He's mad at me. He doesn't want any part of me. It literally has been 35 seconds. You feel me? Like, like this is this is real. We can all say amen. We can all say amen. He wants to develop within us. Trees like this don't just overnight. Trees like this are steady in their growth. They're steady. It's long term. It's this longevity. It's this enduring the elements. It's enduring all these things so they can grow to where they are. I talked to pastors who have been pastoring for forever. I shared a testimony Sunday about a pastor that came up to me the other day and he wanted to talk with me and introduce himself. And he was crying while we were talking, guys. Because I started talking about intimacy with Jesus, and he says, I've forgotten about that. He's been pastoring longer than I've been alive. And I say that to say, none of us have arrived. We're all still growing. We're all still trees that are enduring and that are growing. And there will never be a time in our life where we cannot trust him. We don't have it all figured out. We don't have everything. Like, I don't care where you are, how you've been, how many schools or degrees you got, you like you, it's not there. We have to allow him to develop these things within us. And most of the time we see it developed in situations that shake us to our cores. How do you know you have faith until you have to use faith? You know what I'm saying? Like people pay for auto insurance, and when people sell you their auto insurance, they're gonna say, Well, we hope you never have to need it, but when you do, it's there. I've never I've been in one car accident my entire life, and it wasn't even my fault. And I've been paying for insurance since I've owned a car. I've never even had to really use it. You know what I'm saying? Like, so I say that to say, how do you know you have faith and you trust him unless you're shaken? Because everything that can be shaken will be shook. Everything. And if we believe that God is not going to share the throne in our heart, then you better believe that thing that satisfies you and that thing that you put all your time and your effort into outside of him, he's gonna shake the crap out of that thing. He's gonna shake it. Especially if you're saying yes to him, especially if you're a design relationship with him, especially if you're wanting to go after him in this place of intimacy and friendship. It's gonna get shook. But it's gotta come back to do we trust him? So ask him that. Ask him, Lord, expose those areas. Like be live in that consistency of like, Lord, are there any areas where I'm not trusting you right now, Lord, when it comes to my job or any all these other things? Why am I freaking out about here? Why am I worrying about this? What's going on here in my life? Like, just trust him to begin to show you because he's a good papa. He's a good, good father. He really is a good father and he will show you. So I say all that to say, let's be trees that produce fruit no matter what. Because that's what we're called to be. Let's allow things to be shaken. Let's allow every area in our heart so that we can say, Jesus, I trust you. You're gonna be my hope, you will be my confidence, you will be everything. I don't want to try to do anything outside of your will. I don't want to try to do anything at the work of my own hands, even though you said it. I don't want to birth something that is not of you. So let's just be people that trust him. Amen? All right, let's pray. Lord, I thank you, I thank you, I thank you. And I just prophesy over this room that we will be like trees that are planted by this riverbank, by this living water, that the elements and the seasons of life will not cause us to wear down. Lord, that droughts and floods and heat, all these things will not stop us from bearing fruit. And we bear this fruit as we abide in you, we bear this fruit as we trust and put our hope and our confidence in you. Jesus, I pray over every individual that's here, Lord. If in their in the depth of our heart there's things that they are just having trying issues trusting you with. Maybe there's things that they're needing breakthrough in that they just haven't seen it in years, months, whatever it may be. Lord, if they're at this tipping point of like, I gotta do something. I pray that they would just keep saying yes to trusting you, God. Trusting you.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, thank you. I just speak that over this room.

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I speak that over the bride. That we would say yes to trusting you, that we would we would bear fruit in every season.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Come on, I don't want to be moved by seasons in my life. I want to trust him in all ways and in all things, no matter how big, no matter how small.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

I want to trust him. I want to live a life of trust. I want to live a life where he is my hope and where he is my confidence. But I want to know him. I don't want him to be a stranger.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

I want to know him. I want to know this one that I'm called to trust. I just pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.