Sheryl Brady - The Hidden Riches of Suffering

On your way down, tell your neighbor I’m about to get some hidden riches. I was talking to somebody earlier this weekend; I don’t even remember who it was, but I was a bishop, and I was telling them that, um, what we used to do before we went full-time in ministry. I used to work at a Christian bookstore. You know, I tell you, destiny leaves clues. It does. I had no idea why I went to the bookstore. I didn’t know the difference between a commentary and a concordance. I had to— I don’t know why they hired me, but they hired me, and then they taught me all the things that I needed to know. As a result, I found myself falling in love with books. I loved to see all of the books in our store. The books were categorized by different phases, different categories. There was a category that represented faith; there was a category that represented healing. Then over here, there was prosperity, and then over here was an end-time prophetic section. There was a section for spiritual warfare and a section for prayer. Walking through the store, you could start to feel kind of like, uh—this is, as I look back now—it wasn’t so spiritual at the time, but as I look back now, I think of that and I think, «Wow.» As I walked through there, that was like all of the phases that I’ve seen the church go through in my lifetime. There were so many books: «Ten Steps to Your Deliverance, ” „Five Steps to Your Victory, ” and „Four Steps to Learning to Pray and Intercede in the Holy Ghost.“ Then there were books that were like, „Two Steps to Understanding the Word of God.“ You all remember when the church, kind of at large, went through the phase of the word, the word, the word? A lot of people went through that phase, and I’m not saying that the word is a phase, but I’m saying people made a phase out of the word. Some of us realize that I live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God, but for some people, it was like a phase to them. They’d say, „Speak the word! You’ve got to speak the word! You’ve got to declare the word! You’ve got to talk the word! You’ve got to stand on the word! You’ve got to confess the word!“ I’ve literally seen people become so consumed with the word that they lost all feelings; they not only lost all feelings but also all compassion and empathy for other people. Rather than sit with you in all your pain, it was easier for them to just throw the words at you and say, „You’ve got to confess the Lord! Just confess the word!“ For goodness' sake, if you were ever going through that season, if you were going through a hard time, or if something went wrong in your marriage, your family, your children, your health, or your finances—don’t let that happen! People would look at you like you were the chief of sinners and had done something not in the word, because if you had done something that was not in the word, then you would not be where you are. You need to know the word, and the word would bring you out. I agree with all of that—that the word will bring you out—but we can’t get so caught up in this thing called the word, the word, the word, the word, because if you don’t have any power with the word, then it’s just like reading another book. Hello? I mean, I’ve really seen people act crazy over stuff: your nose is running, your eyes are watering, you’re sneezing, and you’ve got a terrible cold! But you better not admit that you have a terrible cold around some people because if you do, they will label you as a person that doesn’t have faith. You don’t have faith! No, here’s the truth: I have a cold. Okay? I have a cold, and while I believe in speaking the word, proclaiming the word, declaring the word, and standing on the word, I also believe in balance. I said I also believe in balance. If you need a Kleenex, help yourself, okay? Balance is important because truth ceases to be truth whenever it is taken to an extreme. I’m going to say that again: truth will cease to be truth when it is taken to extremes. While it is true that I am everything that God said I am—I can do everything that He said I could do—while it is true that I can be everything God has declared that I can be, and while it is also true that no weapon formed against me will be able to prosper, it is also true that occasionally, from time to time, the weapon will be formed even if it cannot prosper. Okay? It is also true that the Bible says those who live godly shall suffer persecution. The Bible says that Jesus Himself learned obedience by the things that He suffered. So if the Master Himself, if the Spotless…