God's Goodness - John Humenik Ministry Weekly Podcast

Good morning, everyone. Hope you're all doing well today. Um, this is an exciting, uh, go-live for us today. We're looking forward to talking to you about God's goodness. So I hope you're ready for a jam-packed livestream. This is John Humenik, and I'm with my daughter, Caitlin Humenik. We got a duo that we're going to be working tonight, and we're excited to talk about all the goodness that God has in your life and in our life. So let's go ahead and start with a prayer so that we can get going. So dear Heavenly Father, we praise you today and we give you glory and honor as we come up on the Christmas day. We are a few days away. We are going to highlight your goodness today, sending your Son to die in our place and redeem us from all our sins. And so let us enjoy this livestream. Let it be meaningful and touch the hearts that everyone here can hear it. And that everyone can understand it and receive all the blessings, all the blessings that you have in store for all of us. We pray this all in Jesus' name. All right. Amen. So we're going to go ahead and get started with Mark 10, verse 18. And so we have to start with this one because it kind of sets the standard. Why do you call me good? Jesus answered, no one is good except God alone. One of the things that Jesus was saying as a part of this statement was that God alone is good. And you'll hear this from time to time when people talk about it, that he was a good person or she was a good person, or they lived a good life. But Jesus is saying here that no one is good except for God. And so let us— we're going to touch on that and go into a little bit deeper and understand the deeper meaning of God's goodness. And what it also means, how that goodness can flow through us into other people. So, Caitlin, let me go ask you a question to start this livestream off. So one of the first things that we know about God's goodness is— we talked about this before— your school. Can you kind of talk a little bit about how God's goodness reflected in your school, how he ushered you through what was considered a challenging season? It was something that will get some people to relate because As a lot of people know, school can be a very trying time, whether they're in high school, college, or even in a post-degree, post-bachelor's degree, and that can really stretch them. But how does God's goodness power you through that, and what did he do specifically to kind of help you really, really understand that he was present throughout the entire process?

Yeah, I'm a freshman in college, so going into my first year, it was really nerve-wracking and I didn't know what to expect. But I also did online, so I knew that it would be a little bit easier for me because going in person, it was just a new environment. So I knew that online I can have the materials that I need right at my fingertips, basically. So throughout the whole semester, my school breaks my classes up. where I only do half my classes for the first part of the semester and then the rest of my classes for the last half. And that kind of— that honestly was the first thing that God showed me that he was present because I knew that going into college, taking on like 5, 6 classes at once is really stressful. It's not easy to like move with that. So The first thing that he did was chop that up for me so I can only focus on 2 at once. Mm-hmm. So moving on to that, whenever I focused on 2 at once, it was easier for me to kind of go more in depth on each, each class. So, and it also breezed by really fast. Each of my assignments were very simple and Again, I had the internet at my fingertips so I can just research whenever I wanted. God provided the wisdom, the knowledge that I needed, and it just, it just went by so quickly. I didn't have any problems. And then moving on to the last half of this semester, um, obviously different classes, different levels of difficulty, it was a little bit harder. But again, God just poured out his wisdom, his knowledge. He just gave me so much understanding.

Mm-hmm.

I want to specifically highlight that I also took a theology class the second half of this semester, and I was really intrigued by that. And although it was a beginner's class, God really poured out like everything into me. And I, I realized that whenever he pours something into you, it's like you're supposed to use that obviously for, for something good. Um, and I noticed that being more open-minded, he, he started to pour more into me. the more open-minded I was and the more I surrendered. So that was really a cool experience. And overall for the semester, I'm currently done and I finished with, I think, the best grades I've ever had in my life. So praise the Lord, and his goodness just was so present in everything I did. And I'm honestly so excited for next semester because I'm excited for what he's gonna do. Um, and yeah.

All right, so let's talk about, um, so leading up to that, we We made a move a few years ago, and one of the big challenges with the move was it was a cross-country move, and it was difficult because it was the first time we were moving to a new area as a family. It was something that was challenging for us because we were going into a place that didn't have any family where we were moving. God was calling us to a place, and, and so during that time, during God's goodness, you had Uh, 3 high schools, if I remember correctly. You were basically within, like, I think a year and a half where we, we moved. You were at the, um, the high school, um, if I remember correctly, a junior year, and then we moved, and then you had to finish up your senior year at a different school. So there's really 3 because we moved another time in between. And so talk about God's goodness in that, because that was a really challenging time because, as you know, COVID hit. Uh, 4 years ago, and you were the, the one grade, 9th through 12th, that actually had to experience the entire— the entirety of the pandemic and all that went on with it. And so what was it like to watch God's goodness go through moving from Pittsburgh to a temporary location where you had to make new friends, and then move again to another location which then became your permanent home, only then for you to graduate and then go to college. So you really, realistically, you had 4 schools that you were going through in such a short period of time, 2 years total. And so talk about God's goodness during that time, the challenges that you faced through that whole thing, and anything else that might come to mind.

Yeah, I'm gonna— I want to touch base on basically my whole high school career because everything was Crazy. But, um, I think my first year of high school— this was before we moved, I was just in the same school I always was. Um, and then come second year, that's when COVID hit. Um, second year of high school, and we— my school wasn't very prepared for it, so we kind of had a mix of full online and then hybrid and then full in person eventually with masks. Then all of the mandates and all of that, it kind of just, um, it was really hard for me that year. Mm-hmm. That was probably Like the worst year for me because my grades slipped, I wasn't focused, and it was just really hard to adapt to the changes that they were enforcing on us. Because like within— when COVID hit, we were out of school for like 2 weeks straight. We— they just didn't tell us anything. And then we came back hybrid, which meant that we were like based off of our last name, we went, um, we went into class like half the week and then the other, um— The other category of last names went in the other half of the week, um, and then we kind of just started to implement, um, live streams and just like video calls to kind of aid for us to kind of support, um, being at home and being at school simultaneously, basically. Um, and that was— I feel like that was the hardest part because, um, switching so many times, I just, I wasn't able to focus. And this was at at a point where my faith wasn't very foundational. I didn't really have, I mean, I didn't really, I just wasn't too deep into my faith at that moment, so I didn't really know who or what to rely on. I didn't really know who to turn to. I just kind of struggled through it. But I think one thing I did notice for my second year is that that was the year that God kind of separated me from everyone. And I do want to clarify, there's a difference between being isolated by the enemy and being separated by God. Yep. And I could very clearly tell the difference that it was God separating me because I, I just noticed that I stopped wanting people's attention. I stopped looking for validation. I stopped just honestly being insecure. I just stopped caring what people thought about me, and I just kind of went about school, just kind of went about my day. So that was honestly like the first probably the first time before we moved that I actually really saw God work in my life because I, I, it was so visible how he wanted to just, um, make me like apart, set apart from other people so that he can work on my faith, work on my character, and just build me up. Um, and then I think it was going, I think halfway through my, um, junior year, 11th grade, I was still at the same, the same school, but this is when we decided to officially move. And then when we did move, it was halfway through my junior year, so it was kind of easy to start at a new school whenever we came back from Christmas break because everyone was just coming back from a break. It wasn't just like I was coming right in the middle of like classes and stuff, so that kind of gave me a lot of relief. I knew I was still kind of nervous when we moved, and the anxiety kind of like lifted a little bit knowing that God would take care of me. Because this was— I'm gonna make a note— this is whenever my faith kind of skyrocketed, and this is whenever I began to kind of see God more, whenever his character was just so like prevalent in my life. And that's actually one of the biggest parts of my testimony currently, is whenever we did move, because My faith just like went from basically dead to like rejuvenated completely. Whenever we— before we did move, God put on my heart to kind of start researching some churches just to kind of look at like what the area was about and kind of just like figure out like where we would kind of like put our foundations basically because obviously there's churches everywhere. You need to do your research, figure out what works for you. And I had— he put this like almost like a vision in my head about what the kind of church that I have always wanted to go to. And that was just a church that had a big community, that just had like, I don't know, it was just very big and just like a very— Good. Yeah, a very good community. So whenever I first— I think it was Yelp, honestly, when I just looked up a church and the first thing that popped up was the church we ended up going to because I just saw one picture. I'm like, this is the church we're going to because it just spoke to me and I could just see that God would just do such amazing things through that church. And when we eventually, when we did move, we decided to go to that church for the first week just to kind of check it out, just to scope out everything. And I was just mind-blown by everything. I mean, like, the building itself is big, and the community fits that. Like, the community is so big, everyone is so welcoming and kind, and I think that's a very important thing if you're trying to look for a church. Because a lot of smaller churches kind of— not that they're not almost welcoming to like other people, but it's easier for a bigger church, a bigger community, to just kind of like open their hearts to anyone. So that was one thing that stuck out to me, and I was able to make a lot of friends down there. And later going into— after we continued to go to the church, we eventually realized like this is where we're gonna set our anchor. Like this is where we're gonna go to church, and it was just such an exciting thing to think about like this is my church because I was just— I was so thankful that God brought this kind of opportunity to my plate that I could be in such a beautiful community that just resembles God in every aspect of it. And I think a few months after we started going, I got plugged into serving, and I started to serve as a youth leader. Mm-hmm. Something unique that my church does is whenever you are a youth leader, you have to— or at least when you're serving in general, you have to serve, because we have 2 services, you are supposed to serve one and then sit in the sanctuary for the other so that you don't miss the sermon that's being preached. And I think that's a really unique thing because it shows that they really value the, the word that God wants to speak to everyone, that the word that God wants to speak to his church. So that really kind of spoke to me as well. It was a big adjustment because obviously I had to wake up earlier and It just like, it just wasn't my thing at the time, but eventually when I got situated, it was honestly an amazing change because I got to know even more people, and it kind of sparked something in me that showed me that God's like rising up a leadership characteristic in me where I can use that later in life. Yeah. So that was— and being able to practice with that too because the Being a youth leader, you work with kids. So obviously, that's also when I realized that God placed a high value on my heart about like being around kids in general. And I've always loved kids, but this was something that really just was so different that I had to just like ask God, like, what is this? And that's whenever he ended up revealing to me like he placed placed this value on my heart to then be a leader for the younger generation. And I think that's very— obviously I'm stepping more into it now than I was before, but that was just one of the best things because I was always wondering like why I had such a love for the younger generation and why I just had so much confidence, so much hope for what God's gonna do in the younger generation. And that's why, because he wants to rise up leaders to then guide the younger generation to where they're supposed to be. So after serving for a while, I think like a year and a half I was serving, and it just kind of, again, it skyrocketed my faith. We go to youth group too, so on Wednesdays we have like a message preached by our youth pastor, then we also have obviously messages on Sundays, so those really filled me up. And the goodness of God really just flowed out from there. Like, God's goodness has been so evident in our lives, like our whole lives honestly, but ever since this move it's really just been like a huge spark and it's really opened my eyes. That was the biggest thing that I've noticed is like I just looking back I felt like I was blind and now I just feel like my eyes are opened. I feel closer than ever to God. I feel like I have a better relationship with the people around me. God has mended the relationship with my family, with my friends that I had throughout this whole process. And honestly, that's like that—that's such a deep thing for me because obviously it's important to have a good relationship with your family, your friends, especially God because He's supposed to be at the center of your life. But it's like it just all comes together whenever He's in the center of it because whenever He's at the top, everything else lines up to the place it's supposed. Supposed to be. So that's kind of what I started to realize over time. Um, and yeah, just stepping into new seasons, a lot of change happened, and that was just kind of the whole scope of it. And he's still teaching me. We're always going to be students of the Holy Spirit for the— our, our whole lives. God is all-knowing, so there's always something we can learn. And he's just taught me to have an open mind with everything and just pushing forward and keep standing on the truth. Um, and that's the essence of goodness, is the being good. And only God is good. So in order for us to actually represent goodness, we must represent the very essence of God. So that correlates into the other fruits of the Spirit too. So, um, yeah, that was just— it was an amazing experience, and I'm ready for what God's gonna do next.

Yep. And so when we look at like Psalm 16:2, It says, I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. Apart from you, I have no good thing. And really, your testimony here shows that God's goodness was there with you the whole time, and without him, you don't have any good thing. You know, when you look at it from your perspective, and as you look at your journey with him, as you're walking with him, you have situations where you've, you know, you've been through different jobs, you've been through different schools. You've been through different churches, and you really have learned along the way, and God has been there for you every step of the way. And a lot of times we miss that because we may be going through a trial, we may be going through something that may test our faith, maybe stretching us. We may be having a situation where you maybe have lost a relationship, maybe you have lost a job, maybe you've lost something that you thought was valuable and important to you. But God is, as you said before, kind of starting to set you apart because he wants to lift you up. And I remember a time where I was really involved with a lot of different things throughout the, you know, the church. And I remember God was like, you need to put all of those aside. You need to actually dump them. They need to come off your plate. And I was like, but I'm doing work for you. But when God asks you to give up something, He has something better in store. And so when I trusted him and I trusted his goodness in my life, I saw that fruit manifest in different ways. And so, you know, talk about other ways that you've seen God's goodness manifest in your life, or maybe things that you've learned along the way, either through the Bible or other life experiences.

Yeah, I think obviously, like I said before, goodness correlates with righteousness. And obviously righteousness is God. Righteousness only comes from God. And I have a verse here that is in 1 Corinthians 10:31, and it says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. So we also know that righteousness comes from the act of faith. Whenever you, whenever you are saved, God is mending your relationship with him almost. He is covering you with righteousness. He's cleansing you. So when we go back to this verse, it's saying, do whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. So that means by the words you speak, the way you act, everything must honor God. And I feel like that's something that we don't always realize, but if we're just like joking around with someone, or whether we're, we're using bad words, or whether we're not actually serving one another, it resembles the posture of our heart, because from the posture of your heart then comes your thoughts, so then words and actions come after that. So I think that's really important too. And I have another one that's from Romans 1:17, and it says, this good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the scriptures say, it is through faith that a righteous person has life. So whenever— before you are saved, you have a dead spirit, and whenever you are saved, you are resurrected with Jesus. So that, that spirit becomes alive in you. Like I said before, he covers you in righteousness because righteousness only comes from him. So to have— to resemble a godly character, to resemble righteousness, we must, we must seek God and to just embody who he is, all his characteristics. I mean, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verses 4 through 7, what love is. God is love. Love is patient, An action, not a feeling. So in order to like show other people we love them, then you have to actually show that with your words, with your actions. And, um, there's this verse that in Matthew 25:40, it says, um, when you cared for one of the least of these, my little ones, my true brothers and sisters, you demonstrated love for me. So God is basically saying what you do for others, you do for God. That's right. So in order to show your love to God, you must show your love to his people. You must show your love to everyone that surrounds you. You must serve them in love because that's by action, not a feeling. Um, and something that kind of just comes to my mind right now, I was reading my Bible and I have in the back of my Bible, I have these sections that answer a bunch of questions, and under the category of kindness it says Kindness is not based off of your feelings towards someone else or how much they deserve it, but based— but it's based off of how much you love them. Right. And I think that really hit me deep because it shows that despite how someone's treating you, despite how someone acts, you're called to be good. You're called to embody righteousness no matter what. You're called to love them, and that is being kind despite how people choose to live their lives. So I think that's really important because a lot of the time we, we think almost that the way we're kind to people is almost like whether they deserve it or not. I see a lot of the time, I see myself being kind to people that are kind to me, but I sometimes have a hard time being kind to someone that's being mean to me or being mean to someone else because obviously that righteous anger can kick in sometimes. Yeah. But we can't act on that anger because that's when it becomes a sin. So I think that's important going back to the element of showing your love towards someone is that it does not matter how they're treating you, what they've done in their life, what they will do, the choices they make, you're called to love them. You're called to be kind, to be patient, to be gentle, to have compassion. I mean, sometimes people can just be mean because they're having a bad day. That's when God has grace over us. I mean, it says in Matthew 7:12, so in everything do for others what you would have them do for you. So that's the Golden Rule, basically. How you want to be treated, you do for others, because you reap what you sow. You're planting all these seeds by the way you act, and you're reaping that, which means that the harvest will come back to you. So if you're—

In the same way.

Yeah, if you're sowing seeds of unmercy or not, um, just unforgiveness, just—

Yep.

Anger, um, all these things that don't correlate with God's character, you're gonna see it come back to you. And it's not obviously a good feeling to have those things come back, especially coming from God. If you don't have mercy over someone else, you can't expect God to have mercy over you. Obviously, he still covers you in grace, and he still, um, he still has patience with us, but The whole point is that you reap what you sow. So we must do to others what you want them to do to you. Like, we have to, we have to stay clothed in righteousness, and we can't slip. We can't just half a day be nice and have the other half just be angry because something happened. You have to remain in a faithful mindset, a pure— you have to have a pure heart because it all comes from the posture of your heart.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I think one of the things that Uh, we see that in Psalms 23, one of the most famous verses, uh, actually chapters, uh, and then actually verse in the entire Bible. Uh, we see verse 6, it says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And there, this is a deeper— there's a deeper verse here, um, aspect to it, because one of the things that you see is it's very similar to Psalms 91. Where it tells us to rest in the shadow of the Almighty, and we also see that we're under God's protection. And so as you're building a relationship with Jesus, because that's functionally what Christianity is— Christianity is really not a religion by any standard. What it is, is it's a relationship with Jesus, and God's goodness flows in those moments into you and out. So as you're planting seeds, the more time you spend with Jesus in your prayer closet, in his word, worshiping him, whether that's, you know, you're going out for a walk or you're driving to work, wherever that may be, what you'll see is, is that you get transformed by who you're around. Like, that's one of the reasons what talks about bad company corrupts good character. But if you're in the perfect one's presence and he's good all the time, what happens is your character reflects his. And because of that, it becomes a transformative experience that just flows out and just reciprocates and just hits people. They're like, wow, this person stands out so much more than other people. Look at them, they're always giving up their time, they're always supporting the poor. They're always doing the work of the ministry because that's who they are. But at the same time, you'll notice what you really find out is that they don't burn themselves out. And you know, you might have heard this acronym: BUSY is buried under Satan's yoke. What you'll see is those who can do the good works of God spend more time in their prayer closet than they do out in the world. Because that's where they get that transformative experience that then flows outward. That's the difference between someone that's caught up in a works mentality versus someone that's caught up in a goodness mentality.

Yeah, I like how you said that because that reminds me of— I heard someone say once that Jesus obviously is perfect, so when he came into the presence of sinners, he wasn't the one that left changed, they did. So I think that that really just hits deep for me, especially because It just shows, like you said, you must have a firm foundation of your faith. You must— God has to be on the throne of your heart, because then when other things start to come first, when you start to idolize things, then they start to get in the way. Big time. And then you're lacking peace, you're lacking patience all of a sudden. Um, so I think that's a really important note to have, that when Jesus, although he was perfect, so he was— he's still human though, but he was so surrendered to God That even though he endured temptation, he never— he always chose righteousness every single time. He always chose truth. Mm-hmm. So that's something that we need to reflect in our lives, is like, even when you're around other people that may not lead you to God, are you going to be the one that's changed, or are they going to be the one that's changed? Are you going to show them God's love, or are they going to start wearing off on you? And I Um, I wanted to make a note that, um, whenever you are completely in a righteous, um, point— whenever— not point of view, but whenever you're in a righteous place in your life, almost whenever you're reflecting God's character and everything that it is, um, you start to allow yourself to reveal the love of God, obviously through your actions and words. But when people come to encounter God, it's because of the way you're acting. It's because your, your heart is transparent enough for him to kind of shine through.

Yep, yep.

And also something he placed on my heart earlier is how can someone have an encounter with God if you're not resembling God? So if he's using you as a vessel, you need to be used as a vessel and resemble his righteousness because you could be the only encounter that they have of God. So let's— every encounter that you have, let it be an act of righteousness. Let them have the opportunity to have an encounter with God by the way you're acting. Because sometimes people may not realize that it's God, but whenever, in the end, whenever they start to realize, like, why, why did you forgive me so easily? Or why were you so patient with me in this circumstance or in this situation? Yeah. And that's your opportunity to say, hey, God is patient with me. God is merciful to me, so the least I can do is show it back to others. That's how I show my love to God. So that's how you begin to start to embody the love of God, is by taking on his character. And you have to know his character to then resemble it. So I think that's really important too, is just always, always keep him at the center of everything, because everything will find its place and he will order every step that you take. He will order everything in your schedule, and you don't need to plan out your whole life for it to, to work out because God has everything planned. Yeah. And he's not always going to give you every single detail at once because it's, it's supposed to be a faith walk. You're supposed to partner with him in faith and take those steps because how else are you supposed to grow in your relationship with him? Like you said, it's not based off of religion, it's based off of relationships. So let's work on building that rather than feeding our sinful desires and our fleshly desires.

Yeah, and this is a good segue into Ephesians 5, um, verses 8 through 10, uh, and it says, for once you were in darkness, uh, but now you are light in the Lord. Uh, live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. And so You have to think about it from the perspective of God's goodness. Is God is timeless, and he understands that he's not in a rush. And if you're in a rush, it's because of you're in a rush. I've been in that spot before. It's a challenging thing where you're like, man, I want things done right now. Why do I have to wait? But God knows the next season, and he knows the season after that, and he has you in this moment because. He's preparing you for that next season. He wants to level you up, and in order to level you up, sometimes it's a shedding of some things, and sometimes it's an adding of some things. But at the end of the day, it's still his goodness. And so you'll know the people by their fruit, and if goodness is always following you, no matter what the situation, it's gonna be like, wow, this is, this is all about God, and he, he is a part of this person's faith walk every single step of the way.

Yeah, I, um, um, relating to that, I have a verse in Colossians, and it's in chapter 3, verse 5, and it says, put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, um, and which is idolatry. Um, but I think that's really important because he tells us to pick up our cross daily. It's not like you pick up your cross and you're good for a month, you pick up your cross and you're good for the rest of the year. Like, you— it's a daily battle. Um, and might I, might I add, it's a battle of the mind too, because,

um,

whenever you are focused on something, distraction— you can't let distractions in. When you are focused on a goal or a task, the spirits that are attacking you of distraction, of laziness, all these things, it can't affect you if you're focused on what you're supposed to.

Yeah.

So I think that's really important too, because if we're not picking up our cross daily, we're not— that means we're not surrendering to God. So that also means that's one less day that you're allowing yourself to be attacked and you're coming into agreement with the things you shouldn't, which then leads to evil seeds that are planted and demonic doors that are open. It just goes into a spiral of things that you don't want to step into. And God obviously has a solution for this, is being in his presence. He wants us to— Yeah. It gets shed. Just sit in his presence. That's how that stuff gets shed. That's how that stuff gets broken off, is by you sitting in his presence. It's not about how many verses you read in the Bible or how many chapters you're going to read today. It's just what does God want you to do? Be Spirit-led every single day because it's going to look different. Sometimes it may look the same, where in— at least for me, in the past few weeks, he has had me on a specific schedule every single day. And then I switch into a new season where now it's like, okay, one day is this way, one day is another way, and it's just about taking steps of faith. There are times where God gives me a list of things I'll be doing that day. Mm-hmm. There are times where God just says, hey, do this first thing and then come see me again, where it's like he wants me to have faith. He wants me to come seek him for the things that I need to be doing. So if we're not constantly remaining in God's presence, then we're not being filled up by the Holy Spirit. And obviously that's the most important thing, because going back to goodness and righteousness, you can't resemble that if you're not being filled up by the very person who has it, you know?

Yes.

So, um, because again, righteousness belongs to him, so we can't just like have it. You have to go receive it from the person who's trying to give it to you, along with all the other things that he's trying to pour into you, like peace, patience, compassion, kindness, all these fruit of the Spirit. It's all from him, and he wants you to sit and open yourself up so that he can pour all that into you. That's what I was saying about the wisdom and knowledge that God gave me this semester in school, is I noticed because I was more willing to receive his wisdom and knowledge that he gave me more.

Yeah.

And he, he takes you, um, every step of the way, obviously, and you have to, you have to follow that. You can't, um— I know I've seen a lot of people try to schedule every second of every day of their life because of anxiety or fear of the future.

Yeah.

Um, and that kind of correlates back to, um, your faith in God and where— because that's, that's the, the point about faith is like believing in what you can't see, which also is something like, okay, you can't see your future, but you believe God has something good for you. Yeah. It goes back to understanding God's character, because if you don't know God's character, then that's when that stress comes in. But whenever you understand that God is merciful, God is kind, and he loves us, so that means when he loves us that much, that he wants the best for us. So he also has Perfect timing. So those two together—that he wants the best for us and that his timing is perfect—you can trust that the things in your future are where they're supposed to be. You just have to walk it out. He already has placed everything where it needs to be, and you just have to take those steps of faith. You have to trust that he is trustworthy because he has your whole life in his hands. He has everything supported the way it needs to be. He's a provider, even in the. the situations where we're lacking in certain areas of our life, go to his presence and get filled up, because he's not someone that's trying to hold it all for himself. He wants us to go and be poured into, because that's a blessing from God. And when we are blessed, we can then be a blessing for other people. We can then pour into other people. Mm-hmm. When he gives you knowledge and wisdom, understanding, discernment, all these spiritual gifts, he wants you to use that to serve other people. He wants other people to see who he is through your acts, through your words, and that all connects back to goodness. So

yes,

I think that's important too.

Yeah, and I think that like when you go into 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 11, it talks about, with this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and every deed prompted by faith. And this is a really— think about what he just said. Let me reread that one more time, the second half of that. It says, by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire. Every is an all-encompassing word. It's functionally the same as all. For goodness and every deed prompted by faith. So think about it from this perspective, that God will bring— because the promises of God throughout the Bible apply to me, they apply to you. They're there. He's a respecter of no persons. If you don't believe that, just read John 3:16. You'll change your mind pretty quickly. He will. And as difficult that may sound, he wasn't even a respecter of his Son because he had to show equality Uh, to Jesus as he does for us. And that's why he sent Jesus to die for us. And so as we celebrate that in this Christmas season, you see that God made this promise that every single desire, every single deed that you have is something that he will bring by his power. Now we know that by God's power, that there's no one that's equal to him, no one that can counsel him. No one's above him. And so when you look at that and you understand that it talks about this in the Old Testament, that the heavens are higher than the earth, so his ways are greater than our ways. And so when you start to understand it, if he's making a promise that says every desire for goodness will come to pass, every deed attached to faith will come to pass, he's the only one that has the power to do it. Satan can't stop him. Satan can do all he wants. He can get loud, and that's how you know you're transitioning seasons, because usually what happens is the devil gets loud. A lot of problems start happening. You may run into some sickness. You may have some issues with family. All kinds of issues may come up, but at the end of the day, God's power rules over all. And so as he's moving in your life, you see his goodness, and he makes sure that your good traits, your good actions, your good words Your good faithful steps come to fruition because he said it in in second Thessalonians. He's guaranteeing it, and so that's the power of God. That's the power of our Father—is that no one can stop him from doing what he wants to do. It's just not possible. Every being that's created, including the angels, are finite beings. They're not and they're not all powerful. They're not all knowing. They don't know the things that God knows. And so because of that, he can make it happen. So think about that. I want you to kind of think about that from the perspective that he will bring every good desire to fruition. He'll bring every deed in faith to fruition. It's an incredible statement.

Yeah, I like how you said that God is above everything, because what he brought to my mind just now is that, like, people struggling with depression or anxiety or Yeah. Like you said, sickness. God is above all of those things. God is above cancer. God is above, like I said, depression, anxiety. God is above all—

He doesn't want you sick.

Struggling with. Yeah, so he, he, again, like I said, when you're in his presence, he wants to pour into you. He wants to heal you. A lot of people think that God doesn't want to heal them or that they're not— they don't have enough faith to be healed, or that, um, like,

yeah, God can do it for someone else but not for me.

Yeah, that's He doesn't like—

I've heard that.

Yeah, that's being him not being a respecter of persons. He does— he can do what he does for someone else, he can do for you. So if, if you're seeing someone with cancer being healed, don't be discouraged in your walk. If you are diagnosed with cancer, God is above it all. He can heal you. He has the power to do that. Same with depression. He's above depression. He can heal you, but he wants you to come into his presence to get filled up. There's obviously— everyone goes through different seasons, and healing is always in God's will. It's just a matter of when. It's just a matter of timing, because there could be— he wants— he maybe he wants to show you something before he heals you, or maybe he wants you to, um, be a living testimony to someone that God is still good even though you're going through depression, even though you have cancer, even though you have anxiety. Yeah. God wants you to be a walking testimony for those people of how good he really is. And obviously, again, healing is always in his will for you. It's just when, when is it? When is he going to do it? So—

Yeah, I can tell you one quick, one quick story. There was a gentleman in one of the small groups this past year, had stage 4 cancer. And if anyone knows anything about cancer, stage 4 is very close to being as close as anything to a death sentence. Most people don't recover even with the best medicine, chemotherapy, and so on and so forth. So this was an 8-week class that we were all part of, and he came in, he said, I got stage 4 cancer, I'm believing that God will heal me. 8 weeks later, God had blown away all the cancer. He's completely healed. And so that's a medical testimony because he has scans that can show his Here is the cancer. It is trying to come and kill me, but we know the weapon is going to be formed. Because that is the thing, we know weapons are going to get formed, but we know it will not prosper. And so here he is. He is a living testimony that God heals cancer at the worst possible time. He is greater than all that.

Yeah, that also reminds me whenever people have gone through a season of struggle before they are healed, and after they have been healed, they always question God, why, if you are healing me, why did I even have to go through it from the start? And something— that's something that God brought to my mind earlier today. And he was saying, because that's how his glory is revealed, that's how his character is revealed, that although you're in the midst of a hard season, that he is still good.

Yep.

That he is still righteous, he is still love, he's still all these things, and he, he's never changing. Hebrews 13:8 says he, he never changes. So the same God that was kind to you yesterday is going to be the same God that's kind to you today. His mercy is new every single day. So if you're going through a season of struggle, of sickness, disease, mental illness, whatever it may be, just know that God is still there. Yeah. God hasn't left your side. God will heal you, but he wants, he wants this to be a testimony for you. He wants you to share that with other people of how good he is. That even— I've seen people who haven't even been healed yet and are just so joyful and saying, I know the Lord will heal me. Yeah. I know the Lord will heal me even though I'm in this situation. God is still good. When people see that kind of faith, they see— people get inspired by that. People are inspired to kind of see like, like, wow, the fact that this person is in such a deep place in their life, even if they've hit rock bottom, but they're still praising God. Yep. They're still giving God glory. This God must be amazing. And that, that can be like the, the moment that someone gives their life to Christ because of your testimony. So that's also, um, the things that he's healed you from, the things that you're going through, that's also part of your testimony of like, um, how you're supposed to share it to others. There's power in your testimony because people can be encouraged by something, if they're going through something similar, like, oh, this person is going through something similar to me and God has showed up every single time. Again, he's a respecter of no person, so if he showed up for them, he can show up for you in miraculous ways.

Yeah.

I know one time you did tell me that, um, that we are supposed to put the natural and God puts the supernatural to it. So I've always— I always think about that because that also correlates with having Yeah. A relationship with him. Obviously, that's what a partnership is, is we're supposed to put what we're supposed to put in it, and then he puts the miracles on top of it. He puts the healing, he puts the supernatural on top of it. And I think that's, um, really important to note because it shows that you have to take steps of faith. And I know that's the— from experience, that's the scariest thing to do when you're at rock bottom or when you're in a scary situation, when you're in a, um, a low position in your life, is to take a step of faith. That's probably the scariest thing that you could do is like, okay, well, like, how am I supposed to know that God is going to do this for me? How am I supposed to know that God is there for me? Well, he also, he says in his word that he, um, all over his word that he is there for you, that he, he has never left your side. Yeah. He says that all over the Old Testament to all the prophets that have gone, where he has called them to something that is— I mean, seems impossible almost. And he says, greater than them. I am with you. I am above it all. I will, I will hand you the victories. I have the victory. So walking with a victorious mindset, a joyful mindset that he's still good no matter what happens in your life, is probably the most important thing to stick with.

Yeah, and I think if you look at like some examples of Old Testament folks that really stood out. I mean, I know that Moses is very well respected in both Christian and Jewish circles, but what you see is, is that Moses eventually did not ultimately lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, although technically he did make it because we see him later being a part of the Transfiguration because The Promised Land is actually Jesus. But what we see is that Joshua was the one that led them in there. And so this is the rule of seconds, because you had this iconic leader who had left, who helped with his faith, with his brother and his sister, pull the Israelites out of Egypt, the most powerful country in the world. And, and yet Joshua was the one that led them to the Promised Land. And why was that? So if you go back into the scriptures and dig a little deeper, what you see is, is that Moses would leave the tent of meeting or the tabernacle, but Joshua would stay behind. Joshua continued to stay in God's presence longer and soak him in. You see that even when Saul and David, the 2 first kings, were the 2 first major kings, Of Israel. And what you see here is that David wrote Psalms and sat in God's presence over and over again. He even wrote, uh, the legendary Psalm 51, if I remember correctly. That's the one after he had Uriah killed, uh, yet he, he crawled back into God's presence. And so we see God's mercy being prevalent, God's goodness, but it's his presence, it's his goodness that flows from that, that secret place that's so important in everyone's life. And that's where the place where all the bondages, all the problems, they disappear because they can't stay in his presence. Um, it just— they just can't. They don't have the power to stay in his presence. They have to flee. And that's where God's goodness is just manifested over and over again in your life.

Yeah, that reminds me of the, um, the story of Gideon in the Old Testament because read that recently, and it was, um, God called him to do something very specific, and he kept doubting God. He kept saying, God, if you're calling me here, show me this. God, if you're calling me here—

The fleece.

Yeah, with the— I think it was initially he wanted the fleece to be dry with all the ground, um, with dew on it, I think. And then the other one was with the whole ground being dry and then the towel only soaked in dew. So I think that's Also, like, important to note that, like, whenever God's calling you to something, um, something big, obviously he's gracing you for that. And if he's gracing you to do something, it means that you have the capabilities of carrying it out. It means that he's given you the tools you need to carry it out. So in Gideon's case, he was doubting God, but even then, God was still patient with him.

Yep.

God was still being kind.

He showed up.

He still answered him. And he answered within due time.

Yes.

But I think that's the most important part, is that even though he kept doubting, he was still patient. He was still answering him.

Type in the comments if you want to see some videos on some Christian jokes. We've been mulling that over recently, and let us know if you're interested. We'll be happy to put in some really good, not corny, But good jokes for you.

Yeah, yeah, I just— I wanted— I want to say that one. Um, but I want to— I want to kind of transition over because there's this verse that he brought up, and it's from 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 through 20, and it says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. So I feel like he was kind of transitioning me to talk about, um, the state of modesty, not only physically but just having a modest heart too. Um, but this verse is saying, like, whenever you are saved, the Holy Spirit comes to reside. Your body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit, just how in the Old Testament, um, the holy people would go into a temple for the presence of God. Yeah. You now have the presence of God living in you, which means that your body is the temple. So if this whenever you see those holy people coming into the temple, they had to do specific things. They had to cleanse themselves in order to come into the presence of God. It was such a holy place. It was holy ground. So don't you think that the place the Holy Spirit resides right now is holy too? Yeah. He, he made your body. He is the creation. You're the creator. So the least we can do is honor him with our body, whether that's with a modest heart or physically being modest. Um, and I know that, um, kind of can stir up some things sometimes, but that's also— that's something in my testimony that God has been teaching me recently is modesty, because I've struggled with that my whole life of just wanting validation from other people, wanting attention, just wanting to be seen. And I would just follow all these trends and all these things like, okay, whenever crop tops started like becoming popular, I started saying like, okay, let's start wearing crop tops. Started buying all these clothes that were just not glorifying to God. And, um, that was also part of the— whenever we moved down here, when my faith skyrocketed, because that was the one thing that God convicted me of that was so hard to give up. You would think that that's something so simple, like just put different clothes on, just cover up. Like, that's something so simple. But I was so— there was a deeper root to it. It was rooted in insecurity and validation and— Yeah. When he pointed that out to me, I was realizing, wow, like, I'm not dressing for God. I'm not dressing as if my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So that, um, it literally took until now. We moved like, I think, 2 years ago almost. It took me until now, or like a month ago, to fully turn from that and just fully surrender that to God and say, you know what, I'm gonna start wearing modest clothing from now on. I'm gonna start honoring you. Yeah. By the way I dress, by the way I walk and talk. And like, again, like I said, it just seems like something so small, but it just took such a toll on my body, on my mind. And it made— it honestly gave me the most peace I've had in my life, is that I'm going out and I'm giving glory to God by the way I'm dressing. And I just felt so much peace because I'm like, I'm not— I'm not doing this for other people. And I know that a lot of people may be struggling with that too, but he— that was just one of my convictions that he brought to my attention. And it was, again, like I said, it was, it was probably one of the hardest things I had to do is he literally told me, get rid of your whole wardrobe. Like, that, that's not, that's not an easy thing to do, is just take off all your clothes from your hanger and throw it away. Like, that was— But again, he uses everything for good too. So he also told me like, you can also— because my clothes were like brand new too. Like I didn't, I didn't really wear them that much. I just always just wore something that was comfortable anyway. But he said those clothes you can kind of resell to someone who actually needs them, and the money you can get from it you can use to purchase clothes that honor me. So I was— whenever he told that to me, I was like, oh, that's, that's a good idea, because I can, I can give back to other people. And, um, the, the what comes from it is something that I can use to honor God. So that's something that has been so big in my life, and it correlates with that verse, is how are you representing yourself? How, how are you walking? Are you, are you trying to expose yourself because, like, you want validation, or of insecurity?

Attention.

Yeah, but, um, Because God has— God's above that too. God can fill you up.

Yeah, he wants your attention.

Yes, because your people, you don't need to get the attention from other people. They're not— that's also— it goes back to having God at the center of your heart. Because if you have the attention of God, this— the creator of the universe, why would you want the attention from anyone else? Especially in a way that's not glorifying, and especially in a way that's not not modest, you know. And he told me, I think yesterday too, is that like whenever you start to get to know God and truly why he values modesty, you look at clothes differently. You look at everything differently, honestly, because you're more conservative. You're more— that doesn't mean like you have to wear, you have to cover every inch of your body. It just, it's about the heart of your, the posture of your heart. Yeah. Like where, what are you doing with your clothes? I have to ask myself every single time I'm going out and I'm putting some nice clothes on, I'm like, okay, am I doing this for the glory of God? Am I doing this to honor him? Is this something that is gonna expose me in a way that I shouldn't be? You know, I always have to ask myself that question, and it's okay to ask yourself that question too. Is this what I'm doing gonna glorify God? Mm-hmm. Especially in the way you talk, the way you act, you can ask yourself that question too. Am I— if I make this choice, is that gonna be honoring to God? Is that gonna glorify him? Is that gonna bring honor to his name, or is that gonna make his name look bad almost?

Yeah.

So I think that that's a very important thing, that you have to follow your convictions. And another verse that he, he brought that kind of correlates with that, he brought that to my mind I think yesterday maybe, but he— it's a verse that says if you have doubts to do anything and you do it anyway, it's a sin.

Yeah.

Um, and I think that that has been hitting me so hard too because, um, correlating with modesty, and I would think like, okay, if I even have the smallest doubt to wear this or to do that or to say that, and you go ahead and do it anyway, that's a sin. So obviously if you have doubt for that, he's convicting you of something like, okay, this is probably not glorifying. But that's also where discernment comes in because you have to know the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit And doubt from the enemy. So that's— it just all has to go back to, is it honoring God?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, God's goodness— there is correction and there is conviction, and it's never comfortable. Even Paul talks about it. No one likes being disciplined, but God does discipline his sons and daughters because you're legitimate children. He doesn't discipline illegitimate children. That's why he talks about Esau he hated, but Jacob he loved. He gave promises to Esau, delivered on 100% of them, but he never disciplined Esau, ever. You never saw that in the Bible. Yet Jacob was constantly being addressed over and over again because he was refining him over and over. And that's important because that's God's goodness. And so the, the big difference when it comes to that is, is does that conviction lead you to repentance, or does it lead you to condemnation where you're feeling guilty, you're struggling in pain, because God's goodness drives you towards repentance and forgiveness and moving on from that. Satan's condemnation goes the other way.

Yeah, I wanted to— going back to the modesty thing, I feel the Lord wanted me to say a prayer for those people who are struggling with dressing appropriately, just kind of honoring God with their body and also with having a modest heart too. So I just want to say a quick prayer about that. Okay. Dear Lord, we come into your presence by the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. We thank you for this beautiful day. Father, you've placed this on my heart to pray for those who are struggling with their convictions, Father, specifically according to modesty. Father God, you call them to be set apart. You call them to be different from the rest. Father, I just pray that you pour out your mercy, your, your goodness over them. Father God, help them to see the things that you are calling them to do and say and wear, Father God. Help them to see who they're supposed to be, Father, because you're calling them to be higher than they're, they're calling themselves to be, Father. They're labeling themselves as things that are so much less than your calling for them. I just pray over your sons and daughters that you can strengthen them, Father God, that you can bring them boldness and confidence in a way that honors you, Father God, whether that's Through the clothes that they wear, through the actions and words that they resemble, Father God. I just pray that they can begin to see your glory, see your goodness, Father God, see how good you are in all situations, your righteousness, Father God. Help them to embody that in their own life, Father. I just pray that you can pour out everything that they need to receive, Father God. Any peace, any Anything that they need, Father God, fill that hole. The things that they're trying to use to fulfill themselves with validation, with comparisons, Father God, mislabeling themselves or believing the lies of the enemy, Father God, whether it's through another person or a direct lie that's being spoken to them, Father God, I just pray that you can fulfill who they're supposed to be, Father God. Help them to step into their calling. Help them to understand who They are in you by understanding who you are, Father God. They are children of God, and I just pray that your love can pour out onto them. And as we say, when we come into your presence, you pour into us, Father God. So pour into these people who feel like they have hit rock bottom with the things that are in their life. If they are struggling with depression, anxiety, Father God, with sickness, with illness, disease in any way, shape, or form, I just pray, Father God, that you can overflow them with your abundant healing in Jesus' name. I just pray that you can fill those holes that they are trying to fill with the world. Fill those holes that they are trying to use with other things that only the world provides, Father God. Only you can provide goodness. Only you can provide perfect peace. As it says in Isaiah 26:3, if you remain Keep— if your mind is kept on you, we remain in perfect peace. You are only remaining in perfect peace when your mind is kept on you. So I just pray that all in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Amen. And so, uh, we, we here at John Humenik Ministries have a really bold vision. Uh, our vision is to spread the gospel to every, uh, person on the planet. Uh, we are also looking to raise up 1,000 churches to expand and grow their online ministries through social media. So if you feel led, we, we would very much appreciate a partnership with you, whether through a one-time donation or a monthly gift. The amount doesn't matter to us. You can go ahead and go to humenik.com/give. That's spelled H-U-M-E-N-I-K.com/give. And any, like I said, any Any donation that you would give to us is much appreciated. 100% of the proceeds go to supporting the ministry and growing it across the world. Thank you for joining us, and we hope that this blessed you. Okay, so now we're going to