 Today we're going to talk about wilderness experiences and honestly the the season that I've just come out of it's been a truly humbling experience and I'm sharing this from you know I'm being open I'm being transparent here it was really it was really humbling before I went into this season that I was in I really thought that I was it I was I was it I had it all figured out I was you know Mr. Know it all I was all that and you know I thought that you know hey I've been to Africa you know I've done this I've done that and listen to me and look at me here and all that and if you look at it from God's perspective I'm not surprised God probably you know if you look at God's perspective I had it coming I needed that to humble me a little bit and I'm being really honest and you can laugh and it's you know it's funny and all that but for real I needed it I'm not saying that God that they was God that put me in that situation it wasn't but you know when the devil has plans to attack us and stuff because the devil truly tried to destroy me and destroy us he couldn't destroy us God wouldn't let him destroy us and when he can't destroy you he will try to delay you when he can't delay you he will try to distract you when he can't distract you he'll try to discourage you so I was delayed distracted and discouraged but not destroyed hallelujah here we are today hallelujah praise God and I've been waiting to say this actually I've been waiting to say this and I want to say it to the whole world and I want to speak into the spirit realm right now and say devil you should have taken me down when you had your shot because we're coming for you with the fire of God we're coming for you gonna pay for every single day that you have stolen hallelujah I've been envisioning saying that for like two and a half years some of you that I talked to frequently you've already heard me say that many times but now I said it from the stage and it felt really good I'm very serious when I say that the devil would try to destroy you when he can't he would delay distract or discourage you and that's what we went through and it was a humbling experience God allowed it he said this boy it's good for you to know what you're preaching about because I could preach a little bit I could make people feel a little bit like yeah yeah yeah I didn't know what I was preaching about I've never faced it before one of my favorite sermons that I used to preach is when I talk about stepping out of the boat taking a step of faith out on the water and I had never been in a storm before the disciples of Jesus when Peter needed to take a step of faith he was in the middle of a storm and it hits different to say it when you have experienced storms it hits different the scripture that says the name of the Lord is a strong tower when you have felt unsafe before the Bible verse that says I know the plans I have for you it hits differently when you have felt hopeless and helpless it hits differently when you have gone through it so now I mean I'm not in any way fully you know I'll probably go through things still in my life but at least I know what it means to go through wilderness it's not easy praise God and the humbling part of the experience is I realize that I'm not special I'm not special I'm just an average guy but Jesus Christ loves average people Jesus loves average people with average problems and average marriages and average houses and average work and average everything there's one thing that isn't average though and that's our God our God is everything but average so if you're feeling average here today maybe you're an average Joe like me Jesus Christ wants to use you you don't need a special gift to be able to be used by God you don't need a special talent you need to be nothing special for God to use you looking for average people Jesus Christ called 12 average very carnaly minded people that were straight out stupid many times when he chose the people that would shake and change this world so if you're feeling average today don't be discouraged let it be an encouragement God is calling you average Joe he is calling you today he wants to use you and that's all he needs he needs an average Joe I had some numbers and I'll say it just for fun if you are an average Joe and you're making between 33 and 39 a year you live in 2200 square feet you have 1.15 kids and 1.88 cars you're the average Joe that Jesus is looking for you have a dog named Max or a dog named Bella Jesus is calling you today you're the average American person and that's what he's looking for he's not looking for for special people he's looking for average people like you and me praise God and average people go through wilderness as well and that's what I'm gonna talk about today the title of today's message is deserts and gardens deserts and gardens praise God you can follow me to the book of Joshua how many know what it means like to go through wilderness you know the meaning like going through wilderness you're well acquainted with it can I see it again how many have gone through a very serious wilderness in your life how many are going through wilderness right now I mean don't be going through wilderness is nothing to be ashamed of I'm literally I mean I'm on the you know right two days ago I came out of my metaphorical wilderness and this is how we look like this is a person fresh off the wilderness boat you know praise God so the dictionary definition it's not a dictionary definition but it's a Christian resource that defines the Christian terms it says that a wilderness experience is a local for intense experiences of stark need for food and water of isolation like Elijah of danger and divine deliverance like Hagar and Ishmael of renewals and encounters with God like Moses and there's a psychology as well as a geography of wilderness a theology gained in the wilderness and something I can say is that wilderness experiences often times comes right before or right after life changing events or promotions I mean I'm gonna mention it we used to say the joke in the pastoral chat when the first happened but I was ordained as a pastor and then literally on like Sunday it was like Sunday I was ordained as a pastor and like Tuesday was not allowed back into the country and when my wilderness experienced I never even came to the church with the title so the joke was oh man dude you really want that title that's what he was here for you know took the title and ran with it so many times that's how it is right around very important events in your life great promotions either before or after is when you face that something that we kind of see God would like allow it to see to test your metal to see if you are ready and you're able to carry the promotion that is coming away and that is it when I grew up in Swedish Pentecostal church the elders in the church they are very God loving people God fearing people and I don't know if you have this in American culture maybe some of us they are from European countries we can identify but Swedish Pentecostal church when you have the young people that were on fire for God you know they newly saved newly converted and they love Jesus and they sing loud and they raise their hands and they dance a little and they shout hallelujah and the elders would be like oh wow I can see the passion in you I feel the fire burning in your heart I can see myself I just want to let you know get ready because the wilderness is coming for you too you'll go through your wilderness too don't you worry like oh wow thank you for this wonderful prophetic encouragement I feel so edified by these elders you know these are the desert dwellers they have found their comfort in living in the wilderness they have no plans of moving out they're there permanently and they want to encourage people you know hey it's coming for you too get ready it's coming for you too so we are not desert dwellers here that's not my purpose of telling you either but I want to let you know that many of us in fact all Christians go through wilderness but there are two different kinds of wilderness not everyone goes through the desert type of a wilderness but I believe that everyone goes through the garden type of a wilderness two different wildernesses I'm going to read from the book of Joshua chapter 5 to define the first wilderness Joshua chapter 5 verse 6 for the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers that he would give us a land flowing with milk and honey this was the only wilderness experience that I was aware of from the beginning it's the desert it's caused by you know it's a prolonged season of you know sand and all that good stuff and if you go to Israel and the surrounding areas and you've actually gone to the desert that the people of Israel was in with if you ride a camel because you can't take a car through the desert it takes about a day and a half to go through that desert so for the people of Israel to confusedly be walking around in that desert for 40 years it's literally a miracle it's like if you would go out here get your car and it would take you half a day to find your way out of the parking lot it's literally impossible it requires God not allowing you to come out of that desert experience because of their pride because of their disobedience and because of their rebellion against God but then we have the other type of wilderness experience the one that all of us if you haven't yet it's coming I'm not I'm I'm just joking but but it might be you know I might be able to prepare you if you haven't faced anything of such sorts yet and it's from the book of Luke chapter 22 this is the second type of wilderness experience Luke 22 verse 39 coming out he went to the Mount of Olives and as he was accustomed and his disciples also followed him when he came to the place he said to them pray that you may not enter into temptation and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed saying father if it is your will take this cup away from you from me nevertheless not my will but yours be done then an angel appeared to him from heaven strengthening him and being in agony he prayed more earnestly that his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground when he rose up from prayer and he came to his disciples he found them sleeping from sorrow and they said to him why do you sleep rise and pray lest you enter into temptation two types of wilderness one was a wild desert one was a wild garden and I've got a couple of points now on how you can identify if you're going through a wilderness experience in your life today I hope that this message will help you to be able to see clearly if you're in the desert or if you're in the garden okay point number one one of these wilderness experiences was self-inflicted it was because of rebellion it was because of disobedience and what happened was it became a punishment the other was inevitable there was nothing that could change the fact that it was going to happen one was a punishment one was a test what is your wilderness today is your wilderness a punishment or is it a test just like the three Hebrew men in Daniel chapter 3 the three Hebrew men it was inevitable for them that they would go through this test that the fiery furnace was not a punishment not from God it was from man and God can use man to put you into a garden God uses man many times to put you in through situations so these three Hebrew men it was inevitable sooner or later they were going to have to say no or they were going to have to bow their knee and they chose to say no and there was an instant test I think metaphorically speaking that the fiery furnace was the garden of the three Hebrew men it was inevitable it wasn't self-inflicted it would have happened no matter what because they had their faith and they said no we're not going to follow Jesus and consequences followed number two in one of the wilderness experiences God wanted the people to learn a lesson in the second one they needed to keep their focus when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane there was no lesson for him to learn there when Daniel was in the lion's den there was no lesson for him to learn to get out of the lion's den I believe that the lion's den was Daniel's metaphorical garden wilderness experience he wasn't there because he had been disobedient to God and he wasn't there to learn a lesson what lesson could he have possibly been learning in the lion's den how to tame lions or what there was no lesson you learn lessons when you go through wilderness no matter what but the purpose of it isn't a lesson when you go through a garden the purpose of it is to keep your focus you don't need to learn a lesson at this point if you read about Jesus in the book of Matthew 4 when he was taken into the desert and the devil was tempting him he wasn't there to learn a lesson he was there to keep his focus the longer he kept his focus the more successfully he passed through the garden remember the garden is something you pass through it's not something that you live in don't be a desert dweller nor be a garden dweller we're passing through it, we're not staying there Jesus passed through the desert and he was tempted but he kept his focus and because of them he moved on in deserts you need to learn your lesson but in the garden you need to keep your focus where are you today? I'm talking from experience we were asking God fasting and praying seeking the physical, sure someone is like oh yeah you're fasting, okay God will forgive you God will forgive you I know there was someone because I thought the thought it's like I heard someone was like ah you're fasting, okay okay we were fasting, we were praying we were seeking the face of God and we were asking God what is the lesson you want us to learn here I mean if you look at it from a practical point of view the lesson is basically don't do anything that you're not allowed to do on a visa that's the lesson, oh wow thank God for that lesson that was a good lesson for life we weren't there necessarily for a lesson because we were praying we were seeking the face of God but God wasn't answering and saying oh this is the lesson I want you to learn and when you learn this lesson be faithful in little then you will go through and I will let you out what we were there for was to keep our focus to not allow anything to distract us from following what we have our eyes on which is Jesus Christ hallelujah step number three the third thing that differentiates a desert from a garden in a desert God wanted the people of God to pray and seek him and God wants you to always pray don't misquote me here but in the desert God wanted people to seek him and pray and seek his face in a garden Jesus already prayed and sought the face of God Jesus already tried to get an answer from God but seemingly there was no answer seemingly yet God always sends his comforter in the book of Psalm 23 God gave us two promises when he talks about the value of the shadow of death promise number one he will guide you through it promise number two he will protect you and comfort you in the midst of it those are the two promises those are the two promises so when you are praying and you are seeking the face of God many times he has already told you I will see you through trust me only something that I realized something that I realized when I was in this season is that sometimes we try too much and what we need to do instead is to trust you try you try and all you need to do is to trust in the value of the shadow death it says nothing about trying it talks only about trusting you can't lift yourself out by yourself out of the lion's den trust that God knows what he is doing in the midst of it so Jesus Christ was praying we in our situation we were praying the answer that we wanted the answer we wanted was basically oh you know if you forgive the sins that someone had done to you for many years ago you live a better and holier life and you watch less Netflix and you pray and fast more and you don't do anything else then I will fast forward this situation for you but it wasn't about that it wasn't about that but God sent his comfort always the three Hebrew men there was a fourth man there to comfort them in the lion's den God sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions and to comfort Daniel when Jesus was in Gethsemane the Bible says angels came and ministered to him and comforted him when Jesus was in the desert in Matthew 4 angels came and ministered to him there too he will comfort you you might not answer the way that you want him to hallelujah step number four deserts can be shortened gardens can't you cannot shorten the garden experience you have to endure till the end in the desert if the people of God would have turned away from their idol worship if they would have finally embraced God and followed his law the situation would have turned around but in the garden Jesus had to go through it till the end when Daniel was in the lion's den he prayed I mean he doesn't say it but I'm pretty sure he was praying in the lion's den he would be weird if he didn't he was praying, he was fasting and if I was the one in the face with lions if you read it it actually says that when the people that he's accusers when they were thrown into the lion's den the lions devoured them before they even landed literally mid-air the lions took them imagine being in that you can read it imagine being in that situation and you are praying God they put the stone over on everything and you don't even know what time it is God please save me right now I'll do anything I'll increase my time to 20% 30 even God 30, okay 35 even come on God I'll do these out fast every Monday I'll do 3 day fasting every month 7 day fasting once a year or 40 days fasting or whatever you know there was nothing Daniel could do to shorten his encounter in the lion's den when you're going through a garden you got to endure till the end yeah and why is that because of point 5 point 5 in the garden in the garden when Jesus was in the garden praying and he was sweating blood there was a reason bigger than himself when you're going through a garden is because there is a purpose greater than yourself you're not just there to learn to change a way of life like they did in the desert they needed to change something change their approach change their attitude but when you're going through a garden is because there is a purpose greater than yourself because Daniel went through the lion's den that is why God became the God of that nation after that there was great turnaround in that country because of the lion's den when he was there do you think he knew that do you think if he prayed the God was like oh yeah you're going to survive this and when you survive the whole country is going to love me and that's why I'm putting you through this right no all he needed to do was to trust come on come on because there was a purpose greater than himself something great is coming after but the desert wasn't that wasn't how it was they were there to learn something change something grow so what are you going through today these five points hopefully you'll be able to see if you're going through a desert or if you're going through a garden message here right now we're going to take some time to minister here at the end maybe you're here today and you feel like oh I'm probably going through a desert after all I mean considering what you've said it fits me people go through desert don't get me wrong people go through desert you know people I've heard many people say you know you commit a crime you get punished for it and you say it's your garden or your wilderness experience God is not doing this for you to you know a greater purpose or whatever God can turn it around but you caused it okay mister or mrs so it's important to understand the difference between a desert and a garden and if you are here today and you feel like you're going through a desert in a little bit we're going to pray with you and if you're here today and you feel like you're going through a garden maybe you're still in the middle of it we're going to pray for you in just a minute I want to round up with this in the book of Isaiah chapter 10 let me see if I can find it quickly there are five stages that people go through the five stages or the five phases of loss or grief I didn't grief during my wilderness but I think that it's definitely five stages of wilderness too and I'm going to share it with you the number one stage that you go through when you are in a garden it's stage number one denial I was going through that me and Brittany for a long time we refused to accept reality and many times when life hits you really hard and you come into a situation that you can't even believe like where did this come from it's very hard to accept that reality maybe you are facing denial today and you're like no that's not real the doctor told you that you got a terminal disease so you're like no, that's not me not happening, not today it's so hard to believe and understand and accept the reality that we live in denial is that you today we want to pray with you in just a minute stage number one, denial stage number two anger stage number two, that's mine I'm telling you right now that's the one that I struggle with the most I was angry, I'm not going to lie I was angry I was angry with the immigration officer I was angry with the government of United States I was angry with Biden I was angry with the police I was angry with the political system I was angry with Sweden I was angry with Covid, I was angry with masks at times angry with my wife she forgave me and loved me even more I was angry if I ever talked to you at some point these last three years I've probably been angry at you and you wouldn't even know me and I'm like wow so for me stage two, anger every stage had a part of stage two for me I was in denial and anger I was in anger and then stage three is bargaining and I was bargaining with anger and that was something that I had to face with God it's not a sin to get angry it's a sin when you act out of anger okay so if you have emotions and you are not always perfectly emotionally stable God can overlook that people that he's the average they weren't all emotionally stable at all times they called him a ghost they rebuked him to his face they were people that literally he said like my word is gonna fill you and they're like we don't have bread he's like jeez guys literally I'm talking about word not bread guys come on okay they were so average so I was angry so many things my wife can testify but after that comes next stage and we went through that stage two and actually Jesus in the Garden of Gethseman he went through two of the five stages two it's the two most important stages stage number three which is bargaining we started bargaining with God oh my have I bargained with God God I will never take a paid salary again let me come home I will work for you for free for the rest of my life Lord whatever it is God please just let me get through this and the same with Jesus in the Garden not like that that was very that's not how Jesus said let this cup pass me by he was bargaining with God but once again it seemed like God didn't answer yet God comforted him the reason why God didn't answer the prayer of Jesus because Jesus added not my will but your will be done God please let me get through this not my will though let your will be done and we begin to bargain with God we begin to ask and pray and say we'll do this we'll be better we won't do it again still and that's the stage that separates the desert from the gardens people that go through desert they never pass stage 3 because at stage 3 God comes in and is like oh yeah you're gonna behave ok let's move on you're gonna do the right thing you're gonna stop doing those things let's move on but in the garden bargaining is only the third number 4 depression number 4 depression I went through depression to accept it but it was heavy maybe you are going through that today let me tell you something that you are feeling depressed that you are feeling anxiety it doesn't mean that there is an absence of faith that you're feeling anxious today depressed or you're having feelings of feeling down doesn't mean that there is no faith there don't be ashamed because you have feelings don't be ashamed because life hits you hard it's ok you still have faith even though you don't feel like it your faith is there even though you don't feel the presence of Jesus He is still your Lord He loves you He wants to be your friend no matter what whether you feel it or not He is right there hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah the presence of anxiety doesn't mean the absence of faith the presence of depression doesn't mean the absence of faith hallelujah so you go through that depression and me personally I would never when I'm in the midst of it I would never tell anyone no because I thought I got it together what are people gonna think if I actually say that I'm not doing good I'm not doing good aren't you a pastor isn't your faith so strong why are you feeling down yeah it happens life hits you but the best thing is that you get back up you can't get back up if you were never down you can't get back up if you were never never struck down and that leads me to stage number five and this is the one that defines it all Jesus went through this stage two in the garden stage number five after depression is acceptance you accept the facts of your situation this family member is gone I'm accepting it they're gone this child that I had in me it's never gonna come back it's gone it's in heaven and you accept it the situation that I'm facing it is what it is and when you come to the point of accepting your lion's den when you come to the point of accepting your fiery furnace when you come to the point like Jesus in the garden sweating blood because he was so anxious and he stood up and he said, God I accept the outcome it was not until he did that that God could transform that situation and he became the savior of mankind Jesus Christ when you accept the situation come in and he would say, my daughter and my son I never needed you to be strong I never needed you to be perfect I just needed you the moment that you accept the hardship you accept and you say, you know what it's not gonna change right now I'm not gonna get my child back I'm not gonna get my parent back I'm not gonna this situation isn't gonna turn around this heartbreak it's not gonna change they're not gonna come back tomorrow and say I'm sorry and they want to get back together and you begin to accept the garden that you're going through that's when this Bible verse comes to pass from the book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 27 it shall come to pass in that day that your burden will be taken away from your shoulder and your yoke from your neck and the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil because he will never leave me nor forsake me I accept it God save me maybe that's you today I want to help you we're gonna pray so that you can come to the point of acceptance because at that point when we are here that's when God he can build you up like never before if you have never been broken how will he build you back stronger click on the bell so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos thank you so much for being a part of this community if you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen our internship, our conferences, deliverance and so many other things go to HungryGen.com for more information and as always remember better is not good enough the best is yet to come