 I'm continuing my series now, The Seven Trials of the Called, and I know this is going to bless you, especially those of you who sense a call into the ministry. Now last week I talked about the first test, the first way God will test you before He can promote you, and that is, number one, the test of service. Now this week I'm talking about, number two, the test of hiddenness. This is the season where you feel like you're overlooked, like your gifts are being underused. It's a season where you're saying, Lord, I have a lot to offer to your kingdom. There's so much I want to do. There's so much in my heart that I want to do for your kingdom, but I feel like I'm being hidden right now. Well, I want to talk about that test. I'm going to tell you how to pass that test on this edition of Spirit Church. But first, Stephen Moctezuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in worship, and then we're going to continue this series, The Seven Trials of the Cult. In this series, we've been paralleling my story with the story of Joseph, and I'm going to be very open and honest and vulnerable with you. I want you to learn from my journey, but let me be clear. I don't feel that I've obtained my plateau. I don't feel that I've reached a certain point in ministry where I can no longer grow. I'm just sharing with you my journey and where I am right now, because the truth is where I am right now is not where I used to be. And compared to where I used to be in ministry, there has been a tremendous amount of growth. And I say that all to the glory of God. So I want to encourage you in the ministry to continue to pursue what God has for you, because though frustrations come, though trials come, though troubles come, God will bring the dream to pass. And it's that dream I want to talk about today as I talk to you about the test of hiddenness. As we parallel with Joseph alongside my story, I want to look at Genesis chapter 37. When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. Here comes the dreamer, they said. Come on, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father a wild animal has eaten him. Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. But when Ruben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph's rescue. Let's not kill him, he said. Why should we shed any blood? Let's just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he'll die without our laying a hand on him. Ruben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. Verse 23, so when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. So the cistern was empty, there was no water in it. Then just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromac resin from Gilead down to Egypt. Now we see, I'm going to talk about that next week, about how there was a turn in their plan to sell Joseph into slavery, but I want to look here and where Joseph finds himself. Here he is professing a dream. He's saying, this is what God has shown to me. God has revealed to me what my destiny is. And those around him become jealous. And they throw him into a cistern. They throw him in a place where he is hidden and alone. Now here's the thing about where Joseph is, even though they're actually positioning Joseph to ultimately fulfill his destiny, his brothers who are jealous of him think that they are stopping him from fulfilling those dreams. You see the people who are against you, the people who are jealous of what God wants to do in your life, they can try their best to try to stop what God is doing, but little do they know, even their actions to try to stop you are a part of God's plan to bring the dream to pass, but still there's this season, where Joseph finds himself in a place where he feels hidden, in a place where he is hidden, in a place where he is alone. But this is the truth. God hides you to protect you before God will use you. God will hide you. He'll put you in a place where no one can see you. And I want to show you something here because you often hear about people. Oh, they brag about their accomplishments and they brag about how wonderful their ministries are doing. And it's OK when we give reports about how our ministry is doing. It's OK when we tell others that we're doing great. It's OK to want to share the exciting things happening in our lives. But, you know, not everyone shares their failures, which is why I'm going to share them with you now. I know what it is to be in a season of hiddenness. And again, I want to emphasize, I'm not saying I've reached any plateau of ministry or that I've arrived and I have no more growing to do. I'm just simply saying that compared to where I was, to where I am now in ministry, that season I came out of was hiddenness. And when I get to where I'm going in the next phase, this season where I am now will be considered hiddenness. But just so you don't think that it all came easy, that it just happened instantly for me, just so you know that there was a struggle so that you too can be encouraged to know that where you are doesn't necessarily determine where you are going. I want to read to you a list of my failures in ministry. My first book was rejected by every single publisher I submitted it to. It was called Living a Life on Fire and it was my book that I wrote when I was 14 years old. Now, when I finally did get it published, it sold less than 200 copies. Even to this day, it has sold less than 200 copies. So over 14 years, I've had countless services, miracle services. You see the services we show you where people pack out the building, which you won't see on YouTube because partly we didn't have really cameras then, was the services where less than 100 people would show up and the building would seat three to 500. You didn't see all the times I put out a teaching on DVD and not a single DVD was bought. In fact, not a single DVD was taken for free. There were times where I would try to hit a mark in our attendance at an event and it wouldn't work. So for example, we did what was called a 1000 Youth Revival and the idea was to get 1,000 teenagers to rally together for worship and the word we had less than 200 show up. So that's less than 100 people with about 800 or 900 seats empty behind them. God put the vision on my heart for television when I was at a very young age. But when I first started on camera, it would take me one to two hours to do a one minute promo, at least one to two hours. It took more to do a one minute promo. I wasn't very good on camera. The first 30 or so television networks that I approached that I contacted wouldn't even call me back. The first EncounterTV taping was a financial disaster because at it we needed to raise $3,500 to cover the cost for the event where we filmed. We needed $3,500. We raised less than 300. My first four fundraisers for television equipment failed. EncounterTV, when we finally did launch it, was only on local cable in about 60,000 homes in one or two cities. And when we did get on the air, it was only on the air for about three months before we had to pull the plug because we ran out of money. Then when we did go live, we used the internet to do so. We averaged a viewership of 20 viewers a week. My first blog had literally no interaction. I mean, none, no shares, no reads, no comments for the first few years. But I still wrote that blog regularly. One of my events, we went to a fairground that seated about 1,500 people. We did radio ads. We did commercials. We put flyers in churches. We got denominations together to try to rally to save souls so that they bring their loved ones and they hear the gospel. It seated about 1,000 of 1,535 people showed up. At that time, my average ministry bank account was less than $100. And these are just some of the many things that failed early on. It was the season of hiddenness. People don't see everything. The season of hiddenness is King David tending the flock of his duty of his ministry at the time. King David is doing what is practical. He's doing what is small. And nobody sees him. In fact, his own father overlooks him when Samuel the prophet went to go anoint one of his sons as king. He leaves David out in the field because he thinks it couldn't possibly be David. He's out tending sheep all day. I think of Moses who spent 40 years tending the flock of his father in law Jethro. In fact, Moses, when he stood before the Lord and was asking the Lord for signs, asking the Lord for some type of help in going to deliver the people of Israel because he was making excuses. He didn't want to go. The Lord asked Moses, what's in your hand? And in Moses' hand was the staff, the very same that he used to tend to that flock. That staff represented his preparation. That staff represented his hiddenness. That staff represented his time in the wilderness. And God used all of that preparation, symbolically used all of that preparation as what Moses would hold when he stood before the waters of the Red Sea and the waters of the Red Sea would open. In this season, you may feel overlooked, underused. Here's the sad thing about Joseph's situation is even though he was filled with a dream, he was in a place where he was hidden. Even though he knew he would stand in a place of authority, he was in a place where he was hidden. And the only people that knew he was there were the ones that wanted to keep him there. Now, when I talk about being hidden and then being revealed, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that one day you're not popular and the next day you are popular. Our culture is so obsessed with popularity, it's pathetic, it's sad. Popularity is not what I'm talking about when I'm talking about God exposing you. And it's sad that we go to church conferences and we go to events and you go to all these conferences and events and church Christian gatherings and all they're about is God's gonna give you your dreams, God's gonna give you your breakthrough, God's gonna give you what you've been praying for and really in Christianity, it's come to be that the word breakthrough is just code for my day of comfort. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about fulfilling the dream that God has placed in your heart. I'm talking about being used to make an impact for souls. I'm talking about doing something to the glory of God, not to the glory of self. Really the church has become like a Ponzi scheme, like a pyramid scheme because in a pyramid scheme, there is no real product. The money is made by the people who join in to the idea at the bottom and it supports those on top. And so now we say that he will come to our conference and we'll show you how to put on a conference. Come here, our worship team, and come to our worship workshops and we'll show you how to get so good that one day you'll be putting on worship workshops. And this is madness. There's no substance, there's no real product. The substance of the gospel is lacking. The substance of Jesus is lacking. And this is a sad state. You know, in the Old Testament, God rebukes his people. He says, I'm tired of your festivals. I'm tired of your observations. I'm tired of your sacrifices. I could just prophetically hear him today. I'm tired of your events. I'm tired of your gathering. I'm tired of your savvy marketing strategies. Where's the power? So I say that to make it clear that when I talk about being hidden, I'm not saying that you're going to be hidden in one day famous. That is not what I'm saying and that's not what I want you to get out of this. I'm saying that you're hidden and you're going to be revealed to whatever level God has for you. But do know this, that before every promotion comes a season of hiddenness. So you may not be as hidden as you were before and you may be at this point more hidden than you will be in the future, but it doesn't matter. All you need to know is that in this season of hiddenness, the way you pass the test is by surrendering. The power is not found in the struggle. The power is found in surrender. God will wear you out. He's not trying to strengthen you in the season of hiddenness. He's trying to wear you out. So where you say, okay, Lord, whatever you want, I'm done struggling. I'm done fighting. I'm done trying to vie for the spotlight. It's what you want for my life. Nothing more, nothing less. And really there could be nothing more. In this season, God is purifying your motives. In this season, God is testing your motives. Why? Because in this season, you're either doing it because you love God or you're not doing it at all. This is the season of hiddenness and you pass the test by saying, Lord, I surrender. Lord, I'm done fighting. You just let it be. You seek His face. You love the Lord. You take care of what He's already given you. Remember test number one from last week, test of service and you just lay at His feet and say, Lord, whatever you want for my life, as long as it's for your glory, I'll do it. It's for your protection that God will hide you because He does not want to give to you what will crush you. And it's not that He's waiting to reveal you saying, well, let me be cruel to this person. Watch how long I make them wait. It's because the process of waiting is what causes you to become someone who can handle what God wants to give to them. God won't give to you something weighty if you can't handle it. God will raise you, not in proportion to your ability, but in proportion to the purity of your motives. That is it for this lesson. That was test number two, the test of hiddenness. I want to pray with you now. I want to pray that you pass this test that you would let God crucify ego and ambition and pride and competition. He would crucify the flesh and that you would be in the Lord's hand, like clay, pliable, moldable. Embrace this season. Look at me. There is no wasted season with the Lord. You may feel like you're wasting time, like I could be doing this, this and this and everyone else is, but I feel hidden. Don't worry, God's processing you. Nothing will slow you down like a quick fix. Just be at peace, rest, let Him raise you in His time. Do what's before you and let promotion come from the Lord. I want to pray with you now, as I said, Father in Jesus' name, I pray for that one watching who desires to receive from your hand promotion. Lord, we thank you that you've kept us hidden. We thank you that you've kept us pure. And I pray Father in Jesus' name, we would stop struggling and begin to surrender. I thank you Father for the presence of the Holy Spirit. I sense the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit is flowing. There's breakthrough happening for you. There's somebody watching me right now. You've been praying for breakthrough in your ministry and this spoke right to your heart. You're saying, Lord, I surrender, Lord, I surrender for His glory. That's what it's all about. Father, thank you for those who are gifted but hidden. Thank you for those who are wondering when their time will come. I pray, Father, you would crucify ego and ambition in the matchless name of Jesus. And I pray for those Lord, who need a healing touch in their body, who need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. That's what I sense right now. The Lord wants to baptize some of you in the Holy Spirit. I know I didn't teach on it, but you know me, I can't go to a whole lesson and not talk about the Holy Spirit. I can't help but talk about the Holy Spirit. Father, in Jesus' name, I thank you, Lord, that you are baptizing those watching in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Baptize them in your name. In Jesus' name, we pray. And I want you to say it, if you agree, say amen. Well, I really do sense the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I wanna welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you, praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. Look at all of these names of the people who've joined the Spirit family. And if you would like information on how you could join the Spirit family, use the information at the bottom of the screen. It's free. You're gonna receive a weekly email from me, and you'll be able to respond to that email for prayer support from our staff. And you'll be joining believers from all around the world. In fact, you'll be joining over 2,000 believers from all around the world when you become a member of Spirit Church. I wanna read your comments now. And this, you'll notice we're a little bit of out of sync with the comments during this series because we're coming out of a week where I was at a conference, and it was just, it was a hectic schedule. So it was very hard to get a film scheduled together. So we had to tape several series in one day. And so it was, anyway, that's why these comments are out of sync. But this is from the video, Changed in the Holy Spirit's Presence with my guest, Michael Lombardo. You gotta go check that out. He did an excellent job. And here are the comments from that video. Judith Magsale writes, I am so inspired by these lessons. Wow, thank you, Pastor David. God bless. Anabascar writes, Wow, I'm blessed. God bless you guys and what you do for God. George Wilson, I felt a great presence of the Holy Spirit in this video. God bless you guys. You know, people sense the presence of the Holy Spirit while watching Encounter TV. It's because we love the Holy Spirit and he is welcome to do whatever he wants. If you've noticed, there's a difference between our ministry and many of the others. I'm not saying they don't have the Holy Spirit, but I'm telling you, we love the Holy Spirit. We love his presence and we love his power. And that's what actually I think connects us. Catherine Sherwin, here, see right here. Catherine Sherwin, I love the ministry of the Holy Spirit. God bless you. Hannah R. Jacqueline, the final commenter writes, I felt like God was speaking right through my heart. Very anointed. Thank you, men of God. May you continue to reach more lives for Jesus. And we do want to continue to reach more lives for Jesus. We want to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to win souls. Listen to me. Souls, souls, souls, souls. Every day over 150,000 people slip into eternity. Many of them, without knowing Christ, help me win souls. Help me continue to preach the gospel. Help me continue to get the message out there. Listen, you see what we're doing as a ministry. You see the media and you see the events that we do all around the world. Well, we want to do more of that and on larger scales. So we started recently a campaign. Now don't turn this video off. I want you to hear this. We started a campaign to raise finances, monthly support, not one-time gifts, monthly support, though the one-time gives help, monthly support to take care of the monthly costs that we're about to incur. We are by faith stepping into a new ministry facility. We're almost there. We needed a thousand new $30 a month partners. And here's where we are. Take a look at this. Look at how close we are to our goal. Look at how near we are to being able to step into that facility. This is where I need your help. The monthly support, let me tell you where it's gonna go. The new monthly support that we get during this campaign is gonna go toward the monthly cost on that new facility. That's the rent. That's the maintenance. That's the janitorial. That's things like the electrical, the utilities, the insurance, the security. There are a lot of monthly expenses that come in with that facility. But with that facility, we're going to be able to produce more programs, more media in higher quality. We're going to be able to go live from studio. We're going to be able to bring you in as a studio audience. We're gonna build a seating area for studio audience and we're gonna have regular services there. Do you hear me? Regular services. And we're even gonna have a 24 seven prayer room and I'm hoping we can get that live stream 24 seven. So these are things we have in the works. Also that monthly support is gonna go to help our events. I wanna do more events, more miracle services more often and in more places. So this is where I need your help. Help me take the gospel all around the world. Help me win more souls. We are just getting started. I want you to think big, big, big, big things that are coming to this ministry and I want you to be able to say you were with us from the beginning. So become my partner. If you partner with me today, I'll send you either carriers of the glory or 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare. I'll sign it for you and I'll send it to you as my gift and initiation gift for signing up to become my partner. If you're watching this on YouTube, wait until the end of the video. Some links are going to appear on the screen. Click on the link to partner. Do it today. Don't wait. If you're watching this on the app, as soon as the video ends, the video will go away and you'll see a button that says partner with David. Click on that, partner with me today. Everyone else, you can use the information at the bottom of the screen to partner with me today. Sign up to become a $30 month supporter. Help us reach that goal. We are almost there and then we're gonna step out in faith and into that new facility. Well that is it for this edition of Sparant Church. Until next time remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching Encounter TV. Don't forget to subscribe. Also, help me win souls by spreading the gospel through events and media. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.