GOSPEL MESSAGE: The Greatest Trials Of Our Faith

Merry Christmas, everyone. Today is December 21st, and I want to wish you all a mele kalikimaka. That’s “Merry Christmas” in Hawaiian.

So, praise be to God. I’m so happy that you’re here with me today, and that we are blessed. We live in a blessed nation. We live in a nation where Jesus Christ is Lord over this nation. Amen.

And I thank Him, and I praise Him for this message that He’s given me today. Now, typically, most pastors will prepare a Christmas message, but the Lord gave me something different.

He gave me a message for last week, and I wound up getting sick and had some issues going on. But thank God I’ve recovered from that—presently taking antibiotics, but doing much, much better. Praise be to God. God is so good.

But anyway, I have a really terrific message for you, and after we pray, I’ll share the title with you, and we will get started. Okay.

Heavenly Father, we come to You right now in Jesus’ holy name.

We come boldly before Your throne of grace to obtain mercy and to find grace and help in our time of need. Lord, You are a God of grace. Holy Spirit, You are the great Comforter, and You comfort us.

You comfort us in times of trial. You bless us in times of joy. And You fill us with Your peace even when we’re under anxiety. You give us Your peace that keeps our heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Father, I pray that this message will go forth in boldness, clarity, and power, in Jesus’ name. Lord, a promise You gave to me a long time ago is that You put Your Word in my mouth.

And as I open my mouth right now, I believe that Your anointing is putting Your words that come directly from Your throne to the people that You want to hear this message today. I pray that everyone be encouraged greatly.

No matter what you’re going through, no matter what’s happening in your life, God is going to come through for all of us. God is going to come through.

And once again, before I say, “In Jesus’ name, amen,” Merry Christmas to each and every one of my subscribers. I thank you all so very much. I’ll be praying for you in the new coming year as well.

And we’ve only got 10 more days left in this year. Wow. It’s amazing, isn’t it?

We pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

All right. Well, let’s get started.

And the title of today’s message is: The Greatest Trials of Our Faith. The Greatest Trials of Our Faith. And God is so good… add something here.

Anyway, let’s just go to Psalm 44. We’re going to start with verse 17. Psalm 44, verse 17.

Let me get a sip of my hot chocolate this morning.

Boy, it’s good. The Lord is good and greatly to be praised. Amen.

All right, we’re going to start with Psalm… for you now. Isaiah 41—did I—wait a minute.

Did I say—I’m sorry. Psalm 44. I’ve got the wrong scripture here. Psalm 44, and we’re going to start with verse 17.

“All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,

nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way,

but You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,

and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we had forgotten the name of our God or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long.

We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Wow. That’s just an amazing verse of Scripture there. So, let’s go back.

He begins with, “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, Lord.” We’ve not forgotten You. And that’s an important thing.

And the devil—Satan—is trying to turn our eyes away from God’s promises. He’s trying to manipulate us not to believe the Lord in the most difficult trials of our faith.

Faith is purified so that it becomes like pure gold. There’s a refining process that we all go through, and we’re going through that right now.

If you’re going through great trials right now, just hold up your hand and say, “Lord, I receive Your grace.” God has grace for you in great measure. God’s grace never runs out.

And I always think about Psalm 23: “You have prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies.” That’s an amazing, beautiful picture.

I like how he says, “But we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.” Now, dealing falsely with God’s covenant is living a life of hypocrisy.

Just not allowing your true faith to shine when you’re going through difficult times, and begin to complain, and backbite, and put others down—strife and all that.

That is not a good thing. Stay clear of it. Just stay clear of it. Amen. Stay clear of it.

All right. Let’s go to Philippians 4:6–7. Philippians 4. Philippians 4:6–7.

A very well-known verse:

“Be anxious for nothing, but instead, in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…”

See, that’s a beautiful thing, because have you ever been in a situation in your life where you were just devastated and everything just seemed terrible?

And my goodness, you experienced this tremendous peace. You didn’t know why, but you knew that God was going to deliver you. And I’m sure He did. Right?

That’s an amazing thing because faith is powerful.

You know, I listened to a lady on Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural this week. She was a Jewish woman. Her and her husband, years ago, went into Russia when it was fully communist.

And they carried Bibles in there, and they smuggled many Bibles, and God would blind the eyes of the inspectors that they would not see the Bibles.

And at one point—it was really interesting—at one point they were arrested, and the husband was taken away, and the wife was taken away. They both went to two separate prisons.

Well, she told her story about how she was tormented by these guards. She was slapped in the face, beaten, thrown against the wall.

And she said, “You know, I can’t understand this, but I felt no pain. I felt no pain.”

That’s awesome, isn’t it?

They were willing to obey God’s call and go into a very dangerous situation, and God was with them both as they suffered.

Well, they were in prison, I guess, for a couple of months or something, and then they were taken to the court.

And she said her and her husband were there together. She hadn’t seen her husband or anything.

And the judge says, “I don’t know why I’m doing this.” Listen to this: “I don’t know why I’m doing this, but you’re free to go.”

And he released them.

Is that awesome or what, man? I’m telling you, that’s like a miracle of being in the lion’s den, and God closed the mouths of the lions like He did for Daniel.

Right? Listen, if we keep our mind on the Word of God—on the Word of God—God will deliver you in your deepest, darkest trial. He will deliver you, and He will cause His light to shine upon you.

And come to find out, when they had gone back into Russia a few years later, the guard that was beating her up accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior because she would tell him, “You need Jesus. You need Jesus Christ in your heart.”

And come to find out—even like I said—this woman and her husband, they were Jewish people. They were Messianic Jews.

Well, come to find out, this guard, a few years later, came up to them and met with them and said, “Can you bring Bibles to our locality?”

And he says, “My mother lives in a village where there are no Bibles.”

And he says, “My mother is a Jewish believer in Messiah.”

What an amazing story.

You know, when we are willing to endure and set our eyes on the promise of God, God will deliver us. He promises to deliver us.

Philippians 4:6 and 7 is a well-known passage encouraging believers not to be anxious, but to bring every request to God through prayer, petition, thanksgiving—resulting in the peace of God guarding their hearts and their minds in Christ Jesus.

It’s a promise that replacing worry with prayer leads to a profound peace that surpasses human understanding, offering divine protection for one’s thoughts and emotions.

Satan’s goal is to steal your joy and rob your victory from you. He wants to take your joy. He wants to rob you of your victory.

But you know, if you’re under great trial and heaviness and all these things, begin to praise God. Begin to call out to the Lord, you know, and God will deliver you.

He promises to do that. And He is not a liar. God is not a liar. Praise be to God.

Let’s go to Isaiah 41. We’re going to read verses 8 through 14. 8 through 13—Isaiah 41.

“But you, Israel, are My servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

the descendants of Abraham, My friend.

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth

and called from its farthest regions,

and said to you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’

Fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God.”

Here’s the promise, right?

“I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced;

they shall be as nothing.

And those who strive with you, they will perish.

You shall seek them and not find them—those who contend with you.

Those who war against you, they shall be as nothing, a nonexistent thing.

For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,

saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’”

Man, I’m telling you, it makes me happy. I don’t know about you, but that makes me happy. Glory be to God, man.

What a promise of the Lord. What a promise.

When we are in the pressure cooker, this is our promise from God. Stay fixed on Him.

Shout, “Grace, grace,” to the mountain, and it will become like a plain before you. It will become like a plain, and you’ll walk right over it through the power and the grace of God.

God is in control of everything.

Let’s go to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3, start at verse 1.

“My son, do not forget my law,

but let your heart keep my commandments;

for length of days and long life and peace—peace, shalom—they will add to you.

Let not mercy and truth forsake you;

bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart,

and you will find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways, acknowledge Him.”

Acknowledge that He’s with you. Acknowledge His promises. Acknowledge that He will deliver you. Acknowledge it.

Speak it out of your mouth. Tell the devil to take a hike, because God is delivering you. He never fails in His promise.

If God failed in His promise, He would no longer exist. He would no longer be God. That’s a plain and a true fact.

“Acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord and depart from evil and that which is not good.

It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones.

Honor the Lord with your possessions

and with the firstfruits of all your increase;

so your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Wow. Praise be to God.

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord.”

What a blessing. What a tremendous blessing that we have promises here in these particular Scriptures.

Our Father is not a cruel master. Everything that you go through—acknowledge the Lord in your situation. He will work in your life in ways that you can’t even imagine, because nothing is impossible to our Father.

All right, let’s go to Colossians chapter 3. I’m going to start with verse 14. Colossians chapter 3, start with verse 14.

“But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts…”

That’s a decision on our part. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body, and be thankful.

Here’s another: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.”

And if you do that, you’ll have wisdom, understanding, teaching, and you’ll be able to admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Isn’t that amazing? That is absolutely astounding and amazing. Glory be to God.

All right, let’s go to Romans chapter 8, verses 26–30. Romans chapter 8.

“And we know that all things work together for good.”

All things means bad things—you know—mediocre things, things that are great, things that aren’t so great. He works them to our good.

To those who love God and to those who are the called according to His purpose.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

Wow. Praise be to God. God is so good. God is so, so good.

Keeping our minds on the Word of God will certainly renew our thinking into godly thoughts and perception.

You know, a lot of times the way we look at something—our minds over the years, our carnal minds—have been trained to look at certain things a certain way.

And we must allow the Word of God to renew our thoughts and our perception of what is.

Because, you know, if you’re always looking at something— that old saying—you either see the glass half full or the glass half empty.

Our perception can be changed by the Word of God, and we really need the Lord to help us with that type of thing.

The Bible is filled with people enduring extreme challenges, and I’m going to list them:

Like Job, who suffered loss and a lot of suffering.

Noah dealt with floods and isolation.

Abraham—waiting, waiting for his only son for many years, and then his near sacrifice.

David dealt with persecution, sin, and war. Amazing.

Jeremiah dealt with a lot of persecution.

Daniel and friends—they were thrown into the fiery furnace, the lion’s den.

Listen to all these examples of people who suffered in the Old Covenant.

Esther—the threat of genocide.

And Paul—shipwrecks, imprisonment, many beatings.

Their stories highlight themes of faith, perseverance, and God’s provision through immense hardship—often despite their own flaws.

Job lost his wealth, children, and his health. Yet he maintained faith in God’s sovereignty.

Noah built an ark to survive a global flood, facing immense physical labor and societal ridicule for over a hundred years.

Now just think about that for a minute. God tells you to build something—especially back in his day—and you choose to do it, you and your family.

And you build this huge boat, and He says, “Rain will come.” They never saw rain before that.

Rain was a judgment of God on the wicked in that day, and they all were washed away with the flood.

They had immense physical labor and were ridiculed greatly for all those years until God said, “Get in,” and shut the door.

Can you imagine what that must have been like? It makes me shake and shudder when I think about it.

All right, think about Abraham. He endured long waits for promises. His faith was tested, and he even prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. But God stopped him.

Just imagine that.

Moses led enslaved people out of Egypt, faced Pharaoh’s wrath, and dealt with the complaining, rebellious nation in the desert.

David—he fought Goliath, fled King Saul’s jealousy, and dealt with personal sin and family turmoil.

Yet David was a man after God’s own heart. It’s incredible when you think about it.

David was a sinful human man who trusted God under the Old Covenant. It’s just amazing.

Think about Jeremiah the prophet—called the weeping prophet—enduring persecution and imprisonment for delivering God’s difficult message that people did not want to hear. They didn’t want to hear it.

Think about Daniel and his friends—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And one of my church members years ago, I was teaching a Bible study, and she was having a difficult time pronouncing these names.

So, because it’s repeated over and over—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—on and on and on.

And she says, “Oh, I’m just going to say ‘SMA.’”

They faced exile and refused to compromise their faith—surviving a fiery furnace.

And of course, Daniel—a lion’s den.

Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal, fled from Queen Jezebel, and prayed to die. But God sustained him, fed him, took care of him.

Nobody ran like he did. I looked up one time how long—how many miles—he had run, and it was a long way.

It might have been like 80 miles or something. Can you imagine?

Think about Esther. She risked her life to approach the king uninvited to save her people from genocide.

He could have had her head chopped off according to the Persian law at that time. Amazing.

Ruth—a Moabite widow—who showed extraordinary loyalty and faith while facing poverty and loss.

Our faith makes great impact in the lives of others. Your faith—how you respond, how you act—is going to make an impact in somebody’s life. Trust what I’m saying.

Jesus faced intense temptation, betrayal, unjust trial, crucifixion, and separation from God.

He had never been separated from God. From the beginning of eternity, He had never been separated.

Yet those hours on the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

I can’t imagine.

How about Peter? Denied Jesus three times, but he was restored—becoming a bold leader despite his failures.

Saul became Paul. He went from persecutor to apostle—enduring beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, and constant opposition.

Think about the friends of Jesus: Mary and Martha.

They dealt with grief—both of them—over their brother Lazarus’s death. And Martha was overwhelmed with her service.

Think about John the Baptist. Lived a harsh life in the wilderness, and when he was imprisoned, he questioned Jesus’ ministry.

We must remember that we are only human, but we are serving a big and mighty God—Jesus, the King of glory. Amen.

Now I want to share with you something.

Think about how gemstones are formed in the belly of the earth, way down deep.

Think about the process of removing them deep from underground, and then faceting, cutting, and polishing that they go through.

It’s a very long process, just as God’s process in us is.

What are you going through today? What are you going through?

You might say, “Well, pastor, you won’t believe what I’m going to tell you.” Yes, I will.

We are all going through an immense time of testing right now, and I don’t think it’s over, folks.

Now, I don’t want to scare you or alarm you, but I think there will be more in the days ahead of us.

But you and I can be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

We can give praise to God and allow God to use us, and not fail in our calling—because God has called you. He has called you.

You are born again. You’re filled with Holy Spirit, baptized with fire, and Jesus has called you into the kingdom to be a mouthpiece for Him.

I pray right now that everybody that’s listening to the sound of my voice—that you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire, and great boldness.

I speak great boldness right now over all of God’s children and people.

Boldness to the young. Boldness to the middle-aged. Boldness to the elderly. Wisdom. Boldness in Jesus’ name.

Let boldness—the power of Holy Spirit—be poured out upon you in great and enduring measure, in Jesus’ name.

In Jesus’ name, I decree and I declare, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Praise be to God.

Think about those gemstones down deep in the earth—molten lava and all this—the pressure under the earth—and how these most beautiful rocks, they’re big chunks of rock, and yet they get pulled out of the earth.

And I’ll tell you, one of the most beautiful gemstones that I’ve ever—well, there have been many of them.

I used to collect them, and I’ve got a nice collection of them.

But when I look at them, I’m amazed at the radiant colors that come out of them.

When light is shined on them—see, without light shining on them, they don’t glitter and all that type of thing.

Well, if God’s light is shining on you, you’re like a gemstone that’s going to radiate God’s light out to many in these days that we’re living in.

Do not let fear grip you.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I come against the spirit of fear.

Spirit of fear, you go from God’s people right now in Jesus’ name. You go from God’s people.

You are evil, and you are wicked, and you have no right to God’s children.

You will not rob them. You will not destroy them. You will not kill them.

They will live and not die, and they will declare the works of their Creator.

Father, You have prepared a table before them in the very presence of their enemies—Satan.

And many have natural enemies too. Many have natural enemies.

I know people that are going through incredible hardships right now, and yet their faith is strong.

God is truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come unto the Father except through and by Me.”

If you’re listening to this message today and you’ve never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, I want you to pray this prayer with me.

Say, “Lord God, I believe that You sent Your Son to this earth to die for me.

I am very grateful that He died for my sins on the cross of Calvary.

And on the third day, He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father—by the Spirit of the Father.

He is filled with grace and truth.

Jesus, I ask You now to come into my heart to live and abide forever.

Jesus, I confess my sins to You.

I ask You to wash me in Your blood. Wash me and make me clean in Your blood.

I give every sin to You that I’ve ever committed, and I receive freely Your forgiveness.

I thank You, and I praise You.”

Your name is now written in the Lamb’s Book of Life in heaven.

That’s great news. Praise be to God.

The Lord—He loves you so much. He cares for you. He died for you.

If you just prayed that prayer with me, I want you to write me and let me know.

I’ve received some emails from some people, and I thank you for them.

You can email me at Zion Freedom Fellowship. Just write it right out: [email protected].

Again, that’s [email protected], and I will answer your email, and I’d be glad to pray for you.

We’ve had some new subscriptions lately, so I’m very happy for that, and very glad that these messages are helping you.

If you would like to donate to our ministry—I know people are constantly asking everybody for money.

We don’t make a practice of that here. We trust the Lord.

But we have a PayPal account in the description if you desire to donate to our ministry.

We love you all, and I want to speak God’s blessing over you now.

Father, in the name of Jesus, bless Your people, Lord. Bless Your people with a wonderful, blessed holiday that’s coming up, where we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank You, Lord, for family gatherings. Thank You, Lord, for the gifts.

Thank You, Lord, that this is a season of giving, where we can help others.

And in Jesus’ name, I pray that all the people that have needs—that are in need—Jesus, that You would somehow make a way to bless them during this 2025 Christmas.

In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen and amen.

Well, I will not see you until next Sunday, and then just a couple of days from that, we’ll be in New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

So, blessings to you all. Glory be to God. The Lord is with you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Love you guys. Love you very much.