July 11, 2021 • 52 mins
Get back what the enemy took. In “The Guided Mind & The Guarded Heart,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals how you can start reclaiming your peace — one thought at a time.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
And I've been waiting to ask you, are you ready
for the Word of God? Not be really ready? Why
(00:25):
are you ready? Come on, y'all better stretch for this word?
All right, quit banging on those bongos and let me preach.
First Kings, Chapter twenty. First Kings Chapter twenty remains standing
for the reading of God's word. It's good to see
(00:45):
my niece Hattie with blonde hair. I barely recognized her. Wow,
a lot has changed. I used to have blonde hair, Hattie.
Look it up. It's on Google. First Kings, Chapter twenty,
versus one through thirty four. You want to hurry today? Okay?
Are you hungry? Hungry for the bread of life, the
(01:07):
manna from heaven? I have food to eat that ye know,
not of Okay, King James, let's do it. One Kings
twenty verse one. Now ben Hadad, King of Aram, mustered
his entire army, accompanied by thirty two kings with their
horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and
(01:30):
attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab,
King of Israel, saying, this is what Ben Hadad says.
Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of
your wives and children are mine. And the king answered,
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just as you say, my lord, the King, I and
all I have are yours. How are you going to
give up that easy on what God gave you? I
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and all that I have are yours. And the messengers
came again and said, this is what ben Hadad says.
I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives,
and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going
to send my officials to search your palace. In the
houses of your officials, they will seize everything you value
and carry it away. And the King of Israel summoned
all the elders of the land and said to them,
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see how this man is looking for trouble. When he
sent for my wives and my children, my silver and
my gold, I did not refuse him. Let's key in
on these next verses. The elders and the people all
answered don't listen to him or agree to his demands.
(02:56):
So he replied to ben Hadad's messengers, tell my Lord
the King, your servant will do all you demand it
the first time, but this demand I cannot meet. And
they left and took the answer back to Benidad. They
left and took the answer back to Benadad. This demand
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I cannot meet. Don't listen to him or agree to
his demands. Now that that scripture was probably unfamiliar to
most of you, how many you never heard that one before?
Don't remember hearing it? We can't start my first Sunday
back with y'all, lion right here in church. Come on,
how many of y'all like I don't really know much
(03:39):
about Benadad. I'm gonna balance. I'm gonna balance this and
give you a familiar scripture, and then we'll preach. But
look real quick at Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four,
verse six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in
every situation, by prayer, petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests
(04:03):
to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So for the next few minutes, let's talk about the
guided mind and the guarded heart. And in case that's
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too pretty, here's the other title. Take it back. Take
it back, Father, I thank you for this day of deliverance.
Do what you said you would do. In Jesus' name, Amen,
on your way to your seat, punch your neighbor gently
if they are not COVID conscious, and say, take it back.
(04:55):
We need to get a new Touch your neighbor, Oh,
touch your neighbors. Take it back. So I want to
make a confession to you. This is one of my
friends advised me not to share this. I'm gonna share
it anyway. About ten years ago, I went to have
a consultation for liposuction. Buck went with me. This is
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not an endorsement or a negative publicity against cosmetic surgery
in any way. But I went to get an endorsement
for what do you call it? A consultation to see
if the doctor thought I should do liposuction. I didn't
do it. He talked me out of it. And the
reason I went is because I want to have abs
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and I like fried rice, So that's why I went.
That's what I told him. So when he heard me talking,
he said, oh, you're one of these guys, And I
said one of what guys? And Buck was there, so
he was there with me. He said, these guys you
just want to You want me to fix the fat, right,
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but you still want to eat the food, he basically,
And I think the guy had a lot of integrity
because he said, get out of here. He said, come
see me after you've changed your processes. Come see me
after you've changed some things, you know, maybe your diet,
you're exercising all that. Then if you still he said,
but but don't come to me asking me to fix
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what you are unwilling to change. So I left and
I didn't do it, and I still haven't done it
to this day, but I might one day. I don't
know making any commitments like that. What I've noticed a
lot of times spiritually is that we bring God our problems,
and that's good. I want you to know you can
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bring any problem that you ever have into the presence
of God. Your problems are welcome in God's presence. You
might as well bring him into the presence of God.
It's not like he doesn't know about them anyway. My
problems are welcome in God's presence. And that helps me
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to know that there's nothing that I'm dealing with that
I have to carry by myself. I don't get extra
credit for holding it to myself. When I come to God,
I can start talking about you know, like Paul said
in Philippians chapter four, anything he said, don't be anxious,
but instead pray. And I'm so grateful that there's nothing
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that I have to hide from God. I can bring
him any problem that I have, not just a big
one but a small one. Not just a small one,
but a big one. God doesn't have a scale where
he weighs my problems and says that's too big. I'm busy.
And on the other hand, God doesn't have a must
be this tall to ride sign in his presence where
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he says, if your problem isn't a certain amount, I'm
not concerned with it, because He's number the hairs on
my head. He cares about what I care about. But
lately I felt the Lord challenging me. And I'm want
to start this teaching with you today and this will
just really be the beginning of it. But God's been
challenging me instead of always just bringing me your problems,
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which you're always welcome to do. Why don't you start
bringing me your thoughts instead of coming to me, you know,
like in an emotional state where you're all worked up
and you're so depressed, and you're so anxious and all
these other things that I know I'm not supposed to be,
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but I get there and then asking God, will you
please suck it out? It's been a while. Have y'all
prayed any prayers lately? God? Would you please suck this
out of me? Have you ever come to the Lord
for light? Bo is what I'm trying to say, where
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I'm asking God to deal with the consequences, and that's fine,
and I would not discourage you from that. There's nothing
that you've brought in here today that God hasn't seen before.
Please don't ever be arrogant enough to think that you
have created a new category or species of sin that
God is somehow going to be repulsed or surprised by.
And please don't ever think that you're going to bring
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God something that he would be intimidated or insulted by.
At the same time, wouldn't you like to find out
what it would be like that instead of letting the
problem get to the point where it's so tangled up
inside of you that you have to bring it to
God as a full grown problem. What if you started
involving God earlier in the process, at the level of
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your thought. When I read you the scripture from One
Kings twenty, it was a surprising scripture for me that
God led me to to preach, because the main character
in the passage is not King David, or you know,
Man after God's own heart, or Moses who was no
ordinary child, but a king that we don't preach much
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about named Ahab. Now, the only time you ever hear
Ahab's name is in connection with the problem that he caused.
And AaB caused a lot of problems in fact, for
any of you who feel like you're too bad for
God to bless you, or you can't like really give
what God has for you. The Bible says in One
King sixteen that Ahab was the most wicked king who
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ever lived, all right, So that's who we're talking about.
And the Bible says that thirty two kings came to
attack him, a confederacy of thirty two different kings led
by ben Hadad, who AaB fought three different times and
I'm just giving you all this background to remind you
that Ahab, in One Kings Chapter twenty, the king who
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needed for God to do something. Let me read it again.
Isn't it crazy? I just read it again that the
king of Israel, the nation that belonged to God, didn't
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even ask for God's perspective before he agreed to the
enemy's demands. If you notice, there is no section in
this scripture that Ahab stops and calls for a prophet.
There is no section in the scripture that I read
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you that Ahab stops and says, well, let's see what
the Lord says about this. There is no there is
no indication see aep I hate Ab because he caused
all this trouble for the nation and then wanted to
blame the enemy for an agreement that he him elf
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made with the enemy. How many times in my life,
in your life, have we asked God to deliver us
from an agreement that we made with the enemy without
consulting him. Oh, you're one of those kinds. The life
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of suction doctor said to me, you just want me
to suck it out. You just want to bring me
the results of your habits and have me fix them
without adjusting any of them. AaB is so quick to
agree with the enemy. I wonder how many times in
your life have you agreed with the enemy without even
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consulting God. You know what I mean by agreed with
the enemy. It comes along in the form of anxiety.
I'm not one of these people who wakes up to
my first alarm clock. In fact, my default disposition in
the morning is despair and discouragement. Holly, that's too loud
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of a laugh, and you just keep it down on
that front. Row my default position. And so in some
ways the verse I read you in Philippians. I know
you don't think these two scriptures go together, but I'm
going to show you how they do. Because Philippians four
six to someone like me is just about the most
annoying Bible verse in the Bible, where Paul says, don't
be anxious about anything. And I want to file that.
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My first instinct is I want to file that in
the court of useless advice. And I also want to
argue with Paul because his kids didn't have Snapchat, and
so when he's telling me don't be anxious about anything,
he didn't even have kids, So how are you going
to sit here and advise me on a situation that
you never had firsthand experience of. And I want to
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argue with Paul, don't be anxious about anything, because to me,
at first it seems like an impossible demand. So then
he says something else. He says, but in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
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Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now,
this is the end of a letter that Paul wrote
to the Philippian church. This is not the first thing
that he said to them. This is not your annoying
friend that gives you unsolicited advice. This is a church
that he had a great relationship with. This is in
a time of his own imprisonment where he has more
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to worry about than they have to worry about. And
when we see the word anxious, I know you can't
relate to this. But a few people in the church
have had more anxiety in the past year than they
ever had before. There's a few people in the church,
just a few dirty sinners. And what the to me?
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Over the course of the pandemic is very interesting. It's
almost by getting me to indulge in the little thoughts
I noticed that he had. He had, he had tempted
me to make agreements that I didn't even know that
I made. That almost that almost caused me to give
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up what God gave me, an agreement with the enemy.
So Ahab has a wife named Jezebel, and she has
taught him to depend on idols. She is a Phoenician woman.
She does not serve the God of Israel. She has
taught them to serve the rain god. Bail the rain God.
But he has just been proven false on a mountain
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called Mount Carmel under a prophet named Elijah. And now
after a state of famine, the nation is weakened, and
so Benedad makes a strategy. I will attack them while
they are still week from the famine. And it's not
just one enemy that you got to worry about. The
Bible says that he went and got thirty two other kings.
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Because you need to know before you agree with the enemy.
He always brings company that you didn't count on an
agreement with the enemy. Have you made any agreements with
the enemy that need to be broken? Today before you
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can move forward into the promise that God has for
your life, do not be anxious about anything. I don't
like that verse because frankly, I like my anxiety, and
I'm not talking about as a medical condition. You know,
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terms get so culturally loaded. They mean different things to
different people. I am not telling you not to consult
a professional. That is not the point of this sermon.
But many of us have made an alliance with anxiety
somewhere deep in our hearts, and we have actually grown
so accustomed to our anxiety that it now feels normal
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to us, and peace feels foreign. And so now you
get used to just waking up feeling weird all the time,
and now you get used to feeling on edge all
the time, and you begin to think that it is
normal because it's all that you've ever seen. And I
love what the elders said to Ahab. This is what
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I believe the spirit of God is saying to somebody today,
and it's the message God gave me. Do not listen
to your enemy or agree to his demands. Just because
my enemy speaks something doesn't mean I have to agree
with it. After all, it is not the voice you
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hear that determines the life you end up with. It's
the voice you believe, and before the enemy can get
you to agree with it, he has to get you
to believe it. So in order to get you to
believe it, he'll get somebody to say it. And how
many have found out you cannot believe everything you hear?
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Not these days, I was reading the list of things
that Paul said that we should think about, because he's
trying to give us a new perspective. You have to
believe everything that crosses through your mind. You have to
accept everything that comes across your heart. He said, don't
be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. Now he says,
there are some things we should think about verse eight.
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Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely. But see, I stopped at
part one when he said, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever
is true, think about such things, because I wondered, how
do I even know anymore what that is? How do
I even know what is true? How can I possibly know?
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In this culture of headlines and highlights. Now you don't
even just believe the headline. You believe the retweet of
the retweet of the retweet of the retweet. How do
I even know what is true anymore? How do I
even know? Because if I make an agreement with the enemy.
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That's why I was excited about uth X. I think
that if we can undo some of the untruths and
keep our young people from making some agreements with the enemy. Now,
this is what I'm praying. This is what I'm praying,
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not only for this week, but I'm praying this for
my kids all the time. You'll know I've got a
good prayer life because I've got three children that are
still living in my house. You'll know I got a
good prayer life because one of them as his driver's permit.
You'll know I got a good prayer life because I
have a beautiful ten year old daughter. And oh, I'm
praying every day. Don't let my daughter, don't let my sons,
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don't let me make agreements with the enemy. Don't let
me make an agreement with the enemy. You know, sometimes
you get in this self pity mode and you kind
of go with it and you start thinking, oh, I'm
just worthless, I'm just this, I'm just that, I'm just
the other. You know why you do that, because it
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takes the pressure off for a minute. You know why
Ahab gave up his silver and his gold, and the
Bible said his best wives not you can have the
other ones, but Lord, let me keep the best ones.
I'm gonna take your silver and your gold, and I'm
gonna take your best wives and your best kids. In
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other words, I'm attack the land. They have said, okay,
because if I agree with you, maybe you won't attack me.
So sometimes we find ways to make the attack stop
that actually make the battle worse and weaken us on
the inside after the fact. This is the root of addiction. Oh,
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I was praying for our kids when y'all were standing
up earlier. I was praying, God, don't let them make
an alliance with something early in their life. Don't let
them make an agreement with something. Some of us make
agreements with things that provide us with temporary relief. But
they are false gods. They cannot save, they do not
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serve us, they do not satisfy us. They are broken
cisterns that cannot hold water. So if we're going to
preach about anything, if we're going to preach about repentance
from sin and dead works, we have to first understand
that before the problem, this is my sermon, before the
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promise of God can be received, your agreement with the
enemy has to be broken. And there are things there
are things about you that are not true, that are
not right, that are not noble, that are not good,
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report that are not virtuous, that are not praiseworthy, that
you have begun to believe, because sometimes it is easier
to believe the lie that looks like the evidence I
can see, then believe the truth that is new. And
it's easier for me to bring God my love handles
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and ask him to suck them out. Have you ever
crawled up in the presence of God when it's so
bad that you can't even hardly pray anymore? After you've
been fifteen rounds with Oh God? And I've had God
help me in those times. To be honest with you,
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I wouldn't bear if he didn't help me in those times.
So there's nothing wrong with that. But I heard the
Lord say to me the other day, this would have
been easier if you'd have brought it to me earlier. Listen,
it starts before you see it. Say that out loud.
It starts before you see it again. It starts before
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you see it. That's true for a leak in your roof,
that is true for an emotional state. I was so,
I was so obsessed with Paul's instruction to the Philippians.
He said, the peace of God will guard your heart
and your mind. In Christ, he says, look at this
in verse seven, and the peace of God. So I
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want the peace of God. God, give me your peace.
I'm so stressed out, I'm so anxious. I don't know
what to do about it. And he said, well, if
you don't guide your mind, it's impossible for God's peace
to guard your heart. How many know your mind needs
to be guided. Oh? Let me, Oh, I need to
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break it to you. Your mind needs guidance. Your mind
is an undisciplined, rabid dog that will bite the whole neighborhood. God,
your mind needs guidance. That powerful computer of your mind,
that mind needs guidance. Elon Musk didn't make a self
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driving mind yet, y'all. I don't think there's one coming
on the market. So if I'm going to bring God
into my problems but not bring him into my process,
what's what's going to happen? Every single time? When the
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King said to the enemy ben Adad, I can't meet
these demands. The Lord gave a promise in verse thirteen.
Listen to this. This is Firse King's twenty thirteen. A
prophet came to Ahab, King of Israel, and announced, this
is what the Lord says. Whoo, this is what the
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Lord says. I'm supposed to read what comes next, but
that's where I'm stuck. This is what the Lord says.
Everybody say it. This is what the Lord says. What
did I come to church to hear what the Lord says?
What do I want to fill my heart with? What
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the Lord says? What do I want my kids to believe?
What the Lord says? What am I building my life
on that can't be shaken with a storm? What the
Lord says? What has the power to defeat and uproot
every lie? I believe? What the Lord says? What am
I steering my life according to what the Lord says?
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What has the final say over what happens to me
in this season of my life? What the Lord says?
What has divine power to demolish strongholds and defeat every
devil in hell? What the Lord says? This is what
the Lord says, I heard what you said, Nadadh. But
this is what the Lord says. Do you see this
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vast army. Do you see these problems? Do you see
this situation? This is what the Lord says. I will
give it into your hand today. Then you will know.
I am the Lord. Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
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to me. I'm divorced, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
to me. I'm twelve, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
to me. I got a learning disability, Well Pastor Steve.
That doesn't apply to me. I got an eating disorder,
Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I don't
have any friends, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me.
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I got a ge d. If God did it for
Ahab him sure enough to do it for me. I
amn this child, Do it for me, Lauren. Do it
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for me, Lauren. I have been carrying the burdens of
battles that my decisions created. I have been anxious about
agreement that I made with the enemy. But the Lord said,
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I'm gonna I'm gonna deliver them into your hands today.
Then you will know. Then you will know, and the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your
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heart and mine. Wait a minute, what's the difference heart
and mine? Heart and mind? The heart is the emotions.
The mind is the thought process. And I can't pray
my way out of emotional states that my thinking cost.
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Y'all didn't shout too good over that heart. Sit down,
We're still we're still just getting started. I'm not very
I'm not very good at vacation. I don't know how
you can be bad at vacation, but I am. Usually
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I'm too lazy to do anything fun with my kids
and make any memories. But then sometimes when I try stuff,
it just goes horribly wrong. In fact, every time I
try to do something a little interest, it goes wrong.
We were talking this summer. We went to the beach
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this summer, and and they've had kayaks that you can
ride in the ocean. But it's different. When Holly gets
in the kayak, it's peaceful. When I get into kayak,
it's cursed. And there's three three times we got in
the kayak that it went bad all in one week
last summer. I didn't get into kayak this summer. It's
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this cursed when I get in one of the times
that the kayak had ended with a man with scissors
pointing them at me, telling me he was going to
stab me with the scissors. And that happened. That happened,
and we don't have time to talk about that, and
I don't really want to talk about it. It's a
horrible memory. But even when I'm not in the kayak,
listen how bad I am. Listen how bad I am
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at adventures. We swam in the ocean two summers ago,
and I think I told you all this story where
the rip title. Yeah, I told you that, But it's
a conversation that I had with Elijah that I wanted
to say to you. And maybe I'll say more about
this at Youth Thanks, because they're gonna let me preach
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a session too, and I might have talk more about this.
I said, Elijah, You've got to be so careful how
far you swim out from me, because even if I
want to get to you out there, there is a
place that you can get so far away from me.
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I'm your dad, I'm your father. If I could get
to you, I'll get to you. But in this particular instance,
the undertow was so bad I had Abby on one arm,
and Graham was hanging on the other. And they weren't
care if I lived or died. They were just using
me to get out as an object. And I said,
if you get too far out, it won't be about
whether I want to come get you. There is such
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a thing, and I used it to parallel to them,
not just the water. But I just talked about in
your teenage years, in your decisions, there is a place
where you can get far enough out. Now. I'm not
saying God's love can't reach you wherever you are, especially
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for y'all in the back, how y'all doing. I'm not
saying you're too far away for the Lord. But what
I'm saying is you can't make an agreement with the
enemy in your soul and then ask for peace in
your life. If you do, it's going to be cyclical,
and you're just going to keep bringing your problems to
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God over and over again and he'll accept them. But
the Lord has been asking me, do you always want
to be bringing me your problems or do you want
to bring me your thoughts before they become problems? So
I think we have to decide will we be willing
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to let God guide our minds, so that is peace
can guard our hearts. And the term is a military term.
It's a great, amazing picture that Paul gives. It's a
military term. Is talking about a detachment that God will
set up at your heart, the peace of God. There
are two things mentioned in Philippians chapter four. You may
not notice them on the surface, but they're both right there.
One is the peace of God and one is the
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God of Peace. In Philippians four seven, it says, in
the peace of God which passes all understanding. And every
time I call someone who's going through something that you
can't imagine or can't figure out how to deal with,
or you can't counsel, the standard thing that I will
pray for them is God, And I pray that your
peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart of mind.
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Because you know, when you're calling someone who lost their
child as a pastor, or when you're calling somebody who
is in the fight of their life and dealing with
things that you know they didn't cause for themselves, it's
no good for you to try to explain it to them.
So I'll just pray that the peace of God that
passes all understanding would guard their heart and their mind
in Christ. But some of the agreements that you make
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with the enemy, instead of keeping out anxiety, peace of
God wants to keep out anxiety. But sometimes your agreements
with the enemy keep out the peace of God. You
know when I tell myself I'm not worthy. In psychological terms,
they talk about rumination, and a lot of us we
think that we're overthinking things. We're really under thinking things.
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We're just thinking the same thing over and over at
the same level. Never involve God. Just give the enemy
whatever he wants. Just give him our mind. Just believe
anything that goes through our mind. Right, But the peace
of God will set up a guard at your heart.
That's your emotions if you guide your mind. And that's
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why he says there's power and prayer. I don't. I
don't pray like I like I could, like I should.
Sometimes I don't pray till the pressure gets so bad
I feel like I'm about to explode, And the Lord's like,
are you Are you done with that? Now? You want
to come on over here? And if you drag that
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far enough across the floor, you've got low enough now.
But what if you don't have to wait till it
gets to that point. Lord, keep me from doing something
crazy in the next five minutes. It's gonna take me
the next five years to what if you prayed that?
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What if we prayed about What if you involved God
earlier in the process, like before it goes all the
way to level ten? What if God wanted to meet
you at two? Oh, this is slipping a little off tray.
Like if you drove your car like you guided your mind,
you being a ditch. Just let go of the wheel
(35:27):
until the last minute. You're steering into a semi Now
you want to drive, but we do it with our souls.
We wait until let's see exact last minute. Oh, God,
deliver me from the decisions that I've made all week.
You no, I'm serious, y'all. Do me like that in
one hour on Sunday. You want me to preach a
(35:48):
word that will deliver you from the decisions just spend
all week making. That's not right, it's not fair. I
told the dental hygienist one time, I'm not gonna flyss.
I'll be here every six months. Do the best you
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can whenever you can get out of my teeth in
that time. Just do it and the rest. Leave it,
and it'll grow for the glory of God until you
remove it again. I know it's gross, but I let
it build up until the last minute. And God has
been saying to me, you can bring me your problems,
but you can also bring me your thoughts. Now I'm
(36:32):
at the point where I will pray about absolutely anything
because you know why I do it, because Paul said
I could, and he wrote the Bible. And I know
you think there's certain things we're not supposed to pray about,
but you didn't write the Bible. I don't care what
you think about it anymore, because Paul said, don't be
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anxious about anything. Listen to this. Pray in Eva every situation.
So in Greek every situation means every situation in that
deep I got a degree in the Bible. I'm gonna
blow your mind. A porn addict can pray while he's
(37:20):
looking at porn. I'll see y'all next week. We gotta
do this. In doss LJ. You can pray in the
middle of a panic attack, not after it's over and
you're on the floor. You can pray, you know what.
You can even start with a selfish prayer if you
(37:40):
have to. You have to wait until you want the
right thing to talk to God. You've been waiting the
rest of your life. You're too dysfunctional to wait until
you want the right thing to pray. Delight yourself in
the Lord, and he will give you the desires of
your heart. He will put them in there. So I
(38:06):
prayed the man who had the scissors at me, and
the thing I pray, God, I want to take his
sisters from him, because I was more fit than him.
I could see it. I you know, I sized it
up real quick. And I and so you know, they
say pray for your enemies. It doesn't say what you
pray for him. So you have to start somewhere like, Lord,
(38:29):
let him fall on his scissors right now. But but
the important thing is that you involve God in the process.
Right you ever had to pray in anger? Pray angry?
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I was getting ready to preach one time, and I
start praying to the Lord, why will you hide your
face from me? Wh're the block? Then I why have
you forsaken me? I wouldn't feel anything to God. And
I thought as if God was saying, oh there you are, there,
you are. Why am I hiding my face from me?
(39:14):
Why are you hiding from me? You keep God out
of the process, You keep God out of the then
you end up just being just like a half Oh
I hate a haveb but I gotta be honest. I
kind of relate to him. Enemy is attacking me with
(39:34):
thirty two kings. Okay, you can have it. You can
have it. It is easier to just believe the lie
than it is to you know, you got to train
yourself in truth. It doesn't come naturally. Paul said, whatever
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things that you have seen, received or heard from me,
a lot of us have never actually seen a pattern
of how to fight our battles with God's help. We
believe the way that we've seen it done is the
only way that it can be done. We don't really believe,
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like really believe that I can give my battle to
the Lord. I don't really believe that the peace of
God will guard my heart in my mind. But I
want you to watch what happened to Ahab. You know,
(40:42):
the enemy doesn't just attack you once and if it
doesn't work, he leaves you alone. Because the Lord gave
Ahab a victory over Benedad. But just after the victory,
the prophet comes back and came to Ahab again. And
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look at this. In verse twenty two, he said to
the King of Israel, strengthen your position and see what
must be done, because next spring the King of Aram
will attack you again. I'm under attack again. I'm dealing
(41:27):
with depression again. Jesus died for me, and I believe
that his blood cleanses me. But I'm struggling with unworthiness again.
And the prophet said something very interesting. It's not just prayer,
it's not just peace. He says, strengthen your position and
see what must be done, because see the officials. Verse
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twenty three of the King of Aram had a theory
on why God gave the victory to the Israelites the
first time, and they advised him their gods are gods
of the hills. That is why they were too strong
for us. But if we fight them on the plains,
surely we will be stronger than they. So do this,
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remove and replace them, or remove all the kings from
their commands and replace them with other officers. Remove and
replace would be a good sermon, by the way, to
remove and replacement, not today. You must also raise an
army like the one you lost. Horse for horse and
cherio for chery. So we can fight Israel on the plains.
Then surely we will be stronger than they. And he
agreed with them and acted accordingly. He agreed with the
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lie and acted accordingly. This has been a dad the enemy.
He agreed with the advice of his counselors. He thought
that God Yahweh, was like Bail of the Phoenicians. He
thought that God was only limited to one geographical locale.
So the reason they beat you was because you fought
them in the hills. But if you fight them in
(43:00):
the low place. Now here's the thing. Some of you,
the enemy attacked you on one level, and it didn't
work because you still have your faith and you still
have your sanity, and you didn't blow your brains out,
and you didn't give in, and you didn't walk away.
But now watch this, he's hitting you with a low blow.
He said, if you fight them in the plains, will
(43:21):
be stronger than them. But look what the word of
the Lord says. And I want to show you this
in verse twenty eight, and I'm closing. I'm closing because
it says that they lined up against them, and they
seem like a flock of small goats, and they look
too small, but they had God fighting for them. Verse
twenty eight. The Man of God came up and told
the King of Israel. Here it is again. This is
what the Lord says. This is what the Lord says,
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because the Eramians think the Lord is a god of
the hills and not a god of the valleys. Because
the enemy face that if he hits you in your
weakest spot. Just be honest, how many of you the
(44:05):
enemy has hit you with a low blow lately, like
in the place where it hurts the most. This is
what the Lord says, because he hit you where you
were the weakest. I am going to display my strength
in the greatest way because the enemy thinks, oh, if
(44:27):
I fight him there, they'll give in. But he's wrong
about it. The harder he hits you in the most
vulnerable place, the greater a candidate for the grace of God,
you become. Some of you. The enemy couldn't defeat you
(44:48):
while you were awake, So now he started sneaking into
your sleep. You've been having dreams in the middle of
the night about scenarios. You've been waking up in a
cold sweat, not even rested. He couldn't fight you, couldn't
beat you awake, so now he's fight you asleep. Some
of you. The enemy took a lot from you personally,
but it didn't cause you to lose your faith. So
then he hit your kids. There was one thing for
(45:12):
you to be dealing with it, but now you're watching
your kids suffer. Oh, if I can't beat them in
the hills, I'll fight them on the plains. God said,
I am the God of unconditional victory. I believe that
(45:37):
God is calling somebody today to take back not only
the high places. But God said, because your enemy thinks
that I am only the God of the hills, I
am going to show you a victory in the valley
so you will know I'm not like bail. I don't
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operate based on physical location. I don't need perfect circumstances
to do my work. In fact, if you have faith
to believe it, I hear God saying I stack the
odds against myself. That's what the Lord said. I'm making
it so impossible because I want you to know that
(46:27):
it's your weegh. I want you to know that it's God.
See when they're fighting you in the mountains, when they're
fighting you in the good time. You think it's you,
You think it's your leverage. This is what the Lord
says in this season, I'm going to do something in
the lowest place, in the most vulnerable place, in your weakness.
(46:52):
I am strong. So what does the Lord say? That's
what I want to know. I don't want to agree
with the enemy about anything that keeps me from hearing
(47:15):
what God has said about me, whether it's why I'm unworthy,
why I'm incompetent. In fact, Lord, right now, in the
name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I break
the power of the agreements that your children have made
(47:39):
with the enemy, and we call on you, God of Peace,
to set up an armed guard at our hearts. In Christ, Jesus,
we thank you that our position in you is permanent
and it is fixed. Lord. Today, we don't want to
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give the enemy so easily what you died with your
blood to purchase for us, and you came to give
us peace right now, standing all over this house, every location,
watching online, God said, take it back. You agreed with
(48:28):
the enemy, but take it back. I know I agreed
in my heart that I was workless. I know I
agreed in my heart that my best days were behind me.
I know I agreed in my heart that I wouldn't ever.
But I take it back, because this is what the
Lord says. God, We're not going to be so quick
to hand over the best of what you gave us.
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We've let the enemy have enough. He's taken enough ground
in this season. We've given up enough ground. Not another inch,
not another inch. I thank you that now, in this moment,
you are releasing your peace, your unconditional victory. Lord. I
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want to pray for somebody today who has believed the
lie that you are a god of the mountains, only,
that you can only win into hills, that you can
only use perfect people, and that you can only work
in perfect circumstances. It's a lie. And because the Aramians
think that you're only a god of the hills and
not the valleys, I dispatch victory into the valleys of
(49:41):
your people's lives today. Well, I thank you for it.
I thank you for it. In advance. We have heard
your word today. This is what the Lord says. We
have sung your word today. This is what the Lord says,
and we thank you Jesus your name. Then, over these
(50:03):
next seven days of our life, as we meditate on
this word, we will not rehearse the reasons that we
should feel defeated, and we will not rehearse the reasons
that we should be afraid. We will remember the victories
that you have given and anticipate the ones that you
(50:24):
have promised. All of God's people who agree with this word,
lift up a great shout of braves, lift up a
great shout of friends. Thank you Lord. Come on, lift
your hands, lift your hands. I declare victory over your life.
(50:44):
This is what the Lord says. I'm gonna give it
into your hands. Receive it, receive it right now, receive
it right now. I give it in your hands. It
is a kid. See that. All the people who receive
this word clap your hands and say Amen. So good
(51:09):
to see you again. I missed you. Have you missed me? Well,
we're back back together again. I pray that you heard
something from the Word today that you can put into practice.
That's what Paul said, and Philippians for check it out.
He said, and whatever you received, put it into practice.
So you're going to practice what God says this week
instead of rehearsing what you heard from the enemy. I
(51:32):
just pray that this week you come into agreement with
what God says about your future, about your gifts, what
God says about you as a person. He loves you,
has a great plan for you. Thank you for being
a part of the ministry, all of you who give
and pray and share these messages and come here regularly.
Just it's a blessing to be connected with you. I
(51:54):
look forward for what God is going to do next.
I love you. Take it back
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
And I've been waiting to ask you, are you ready
for the Word of God? Not be really ready? Why
(00:25):
are you ready? Come on, y'all better stretch for this word?
All right, quit banging on those bongos and let me preach.
First Kings, Chapter twenty. First Kings Chapter twenty remains standing
for the reading of God's word. It's good to see
(00:45):
my niece Hattie with blonde hair. I barely recognized her. Wow,
a lot has changed. I used to have blonde hair, Hattie.
Look it up. It's on Google. First Kings, Chapter twenty,
versus one through thirty four. You want to hurry today? Okay?
Are you hungry? Hungry for the bread of life, the
(01:07):
manna from heaven? I have food to eat that ye know,
not of Okay, King James, let's do it. One Kings
twenty verse one. Now ben Hadad, King of Aram, mustered
his entire army, accompanied by thirty two kings with their
horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and
(01:30):
attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab,
King of Israel, saying, this is what Ben Hadad says.
Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of
your wives and children are mine. And the king answered,
(01:51):
just as you say, my lord, the King, I and
all I have are yours. How are you going to
give up that easy on what God gave you? I
(02:11):
and all that I have are yours. And the messengers
came again and said, this is what ben Hadad says.
I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives,
and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going
to send my officials to search your palace. In the
houses of your officials, they will seize everything you value
and carry it away. And the King of Israel summoned
all the elders of the land and said to them,
(02:34):
see how this man is looking for trouble. When he
sent for my wives and my children, my silver and
my gold, I did not refuse him. Let's key in
on these next verses. The elders and the people all
answered don't listen to him or agree to his demands.
(02:56):
So he replied to ben Hadad's messengers, tell my Lord
the King, your servant will do all you demand it
the first time, but this demand I cannot meet. And
they left and took the answer back to Benidad. They
left and took the answer back to Benadad. This demand
(03:17):
I cannot meet. Don't listen to him or agree to
his demands. Now that that scripture was probably unfamiliar to
most of you, how many you never heard that one before?
Don't remember hearing it? We can't start my first Sunday
back with y'all, lion right here in church. Come on,
how many of y'all like I don't really know much
(03:39):
about Benadad. I'm gonna balance. I'm gonna balance this and
give you a familiar scripture, and then we'll preach. But
look real quick at Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four,
verse six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in
every situation, by prayer, petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests
(04:03):
to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So for the next few minutes, let's talk about the
guided mind and the guarded heart. And in case that's
(04:30):
too pretty, here's the other title. Take it back. Take
it back, Father, I thank you for this day of deliverance.
Do what you said you would do. In Jesus' name, Amen,
on your way to your seat, punch your neighbor gently
if they are not COVID conscious, and say, take it back.
(04:55):
We need to get a new Touch your neighbor, Oh,
touch your neighbors. Take it back. So I want to
make a confession to you. This is one of my
friends advised me not to share this. I'm gonna share
it anyway. About ten years ago, I went to have
a consultation for liposuction. Buck went with me. This is
(05:20):
not an endorsement or a negative publicity against cosmetic surgery
in any way. But I went to get an endorsement
for what do you call it? A consultation to see
if the doctor thought I should do liposuction. I didn't
do it. He talked me out of it. And the
reason I went is because I want to have abs
(05:42):
and I like fried rice, So that's why I went.
That's what I told him. So when he heard me talking,
he said, oh, you're one of these guys, And I
said one of what guys? And Buck was there, so
he was there with me. He said, these guys you
just want to You want me to fix the fat, right,
(06:07):
but you still want to eat the food, he basically,
And I think the guy had a lot of integrity
because he said, get out of here. He said, come
see me after you've changed your processes. Come see me
after you've changed some things, you know, maybe your diet,
you're exercising all that. Then if you still he said,
but but don't come to me asking me to fix
(06:31):
what you are unwilling to change. So I left and
I didn't do it, and I still haven't done it
to this day, but I might one day. I don't
know making any commitments like that. What I've noticed a
lot of times spiritually is that we bring God our problems,
and that's good. I want you to know you can
(06:52):
bring any problem that you ever have into the presence
of God. Your problems are welcome in God's presence. You
might as well bring him into the presence of God.
It's not like he doesn't know about them anyway. My
problems are welcome in God's presence. And that helps me
(07:14):
to know that there's nothing that I'm dealing with that
I have to carry by myself. I don't get extra
credit for holding it to myself. When I come to God,
I can start talking about you know, like Paul said
in Philippians chapter four, anything he said, don't be anxious,
but instead pray. And I'm so grateful that there's nothing
(07:35):
that I have to hide from God. I can bring
him any problem that I have, not just a big
one but a small one. Not just a small one,
but a big one. God doesn't have a scale where
he weighs my problems and says that's too big. I'm busy.
And on the other hand, God doesn't have a must
be this tall to ride sign in his presence where
(07:55):
he says, if your problem isn't a certain amount, I'm
not concerned with it, because He's number the hairs on
my head. He cares about what I care about. But
lately I felt the Lord challenging me. And I'm want
to start this teaching with you today and this will
just really be the beginning of it. But God's been
challenging me instead of always just bringing me your problems,
(08:17):
which you're always welcome to do. Why don't you start
bringing me your thoughts instead of coming to me, you know,
like in an emotional state where you're all worked up
and you're so depressed, and you're so anxious and all
these other things that I know I'm not supposed to be,
(08:37):
but I get there and then asking God, will you
please suck it out? It's been a while. Have y'all
prayed any prayers lately? God? Would you please suck this
out of me? Have you ever come to the Lord
for light? Bo is what I'm trying to say, where
(08:58):
I'm asking God to deal with the consequences, and that's fine,
and I would not discourage you from that. There's nothing
that you've brought in here today that God hasn't seen before.
Please don't ever be arrogant enough to think that you
have created a new category or species of sin that
God is somehow going to be repulsed or surprised by.
And please don't ever think that you're going to bring
(09:19):
God something that he would be intimidated or insulted by.
At the same time, wouldn't you like to find out
what it would be like that instead of letting the
problem get to the point where it's so tangled up
inside of you that you have to bring it to
God as a full grown problem. What if you started
involving God earlier in the process, at the level of
(09:44):
your thought. When I read you the scripture from One
Kings twenty, it was a surprising scripture for me that
God led me to to preach, because the main character
in the passage is not King David, or you know,
Man after God's own heart, or Moses who was no
ordinary child, but a king that we don't preach much
(10:09):
about named Ahab. Now, the only time you ever hear
Ahab's name is in connection with the problem that he caused.
And AaB caused a lot of problems in fact, for
any of you who feel like you're too bad for
God to bless you, or you can't like really give
what God has for you. The Bible says in One
King sixteen that Ahab was the most wicked king who
(10:30):
ever lived, all right, So that's who we're talking about.
And the Bible says that thirty two kings came to
attack him, a confederacy of thirty two different kings led
by ben Hadad, who AaB fought three different times and
I'm just giving you all this background to remind you
that Ahab, in One Kings Chapter twenty, the king who
(10:54):
needed for God to do something. Let me read it again.
Isn't it crazy? I just read it again that the
king of Israel, the nation that belonged to God, didn't
(11:18):
even ask for God's perspective before he agreed to the
enemy's demands. If you notice, there is no section in
this scripture that Ahab stops and calls for a prophet.
There is no section in the scripture that I read
(11:39):
you that Ahab stops and says, well, let's see what
the Lord says about this. There is no there is
no indication see aep I hate Ab because he caused
all this trouble for the nation and then wanted to
blame the enemy for an agreement that he him elf
(12:00):
made with the enemy. How many times in my life,
in your life, have we asked God to deliver us
from an agreement that we made with the enemy without
consulting him. Oh, you're one of those kinds. The life
(12:22):
of suction doctor said to me, you just want me
to suck it out. You just want to bring me
the results of your habits and have me fix them
without adjusting any of them. AaB is so quick to
agree with the enemy. I wonder how many times in
your life have you agreed with the enemy without even
(12:48):
consulting God. You know what I mean by agreed with
the enemy. It comes along in the form of anxiety.
I'm not one of these people who wakes up to
my first alarm clock. In fact, my default disposition in
the morning is despair and discouragement. Holly, that's too loud
(13:13):
of a laugh, and you just keep it down on
that front. Row my default position. And so in some
ways the verse I read you in Philippians. I know
you don't think these two scriptures go together, but I'm
going to show you how they do. Because Philippians four
six to someone like me is just about the most
annoying Bible verse in the Bible, where Paul says, don't
be anxious about anything. And I want to file that.
(13:35):
My first instinct is I want to file that in
the court of useless advice. And I also want to
argue with Paul because his kids didn't have Snapchat, and
so when he's telling me don't be anxious about anything,
he didn't even have kids, So how are you going
to sit here and advise me on a situation that
you never had firsthand experience of. And I want to
(13:57):
argue with Paul, don't be anxious about anything, because to me,
at first it seems like an impossible demand. So then
he says something else. He says, but in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
(14:18):
Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now,
this is the end of a letter that Paul wrote
to the Philippian church. This is not the first thing
that he said to them. This is not your annoying
friend that gives you unsolicited advice. This is a church
that he had a great relationship with. This is in
a time of his own imprisonment where he has more
(14:39):
to worry about than they have to worry about. And
when we see the word anxious, I know you can't
relate to this. But a few people in the church
have had more anxiety in the past year than they
ever had before. There's a few people in the church,
just a few dirty sinners. And what the to me?
(15:01):
Over the course of the pandemic is very interesting. It's
almost by getting me to indulge in the little thoughts
I noticed that he had. He had, he had tempted
me to make agreements that I didn't even know that
I made. That almost that almost caused me to give
(15:27):
up what God gave me, an agreement with the enemy.
So Ahab has a wife named Jezebel, and she has
taught him to depend on idols. She is a Phoenician woman.
She does not serve the God of Israel. She has
taught them to serve the rain god. Bail the rain God.
But he has just been proven false on a mountain
(15:48):
called Mount Carmel under a prophet named Elijah. And now
after a state of famine, the nation is weakened, and
so Benedad makes a strategy. I will attack them while
they are still week from the famine. And it's not
just one enemy that you got to worry about. The
Bible says that he went and got thirty two other kings.
(16:08):
Because you need to know before you agree with the enemy.
He always brings company that you didn't count on an
agreement with the enemy. Have you made any agreements with
the enemy that need to be broken? Today before you
(16:30):
can move forward into the promise that God has for
your life, do not be anxious about anything. I don't
like that verse because frankly, I like my anxiety, and
I'm not talking about as a medical condition. You know,
(16:52):
terms get so culturally loaded. They mean different things to
different people. I am not telling you not to consult
a professional. That is not the point of this sermon.
But many of us have made an alliance with anxiety
somewhere deep in our hearts, and we have actually grown
so accustomed to our anxiety that it now feels normal
(17:16):
to us, and peace feels foreign. And so now you
get used to just waking up feeling weird all the time,
and now you get used to feeling on edge all
the time, and you begin to think that it is
normal because it's all that you've ever seen. And I
love what the elders said to Ahab. This is what
(17:37):
I believe the spirit of God is saying to somebody today,
and it's the message God gave me. Do not listen
to your enemy or agree to his demands. Just because
my enemy speaks something doesn't mean I have to agree
with it. After all, it is not the voice you
(18:03):
hear that determines the life you end up with. It's
the voice you believe, and before the enemy can get
you to agree with it, he has to get you
to believe it. So in order to get you to
believe it, he'll get somebody to say it. And how
many have found out you cannot believe everything you hear?
(18:26):
Not these days, I was reading the list of things
that Paul said that we should think about, because he's
trying to give us a new perspective. You have to
believe everything that crosses through your mind. You have to
accept everything that comes across your heart. He said, don't
be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. Now he says,
there are some things we should think about verse eight.
(18:49):
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely. But see, I stopped at
part one when he said, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever
is true, think about such things, because I wondered, how
do I even know anymore what that is? How do
I even know what is true? How can I possibly know?
(19:13):
In this culture of headlines and highlights. Now you don't
even just believe the headline. You believe the retweet of
the retweet of the retweet of the retweet. How do
I even know what is true anymore? How do I
even know? Because if I make an agreement with the enemy.
(19:37):
That's why I was excited about uth X. I think
that if we can undo some of the untruths and
keep our young people from making some agreements with the enemy. Now,
this is what I'm praying. This is what I'm praying,
(20:00):
not only for this week, but I'm praying this for
my kids all the time. You'll know I've got a
good prayer life because I've got three children that are
still living in my house. You'll know I got a
good prayer life because one of them as his driver's permit.
You'll know I got a good prayer life because I
have a beautiful ten year old daughter. And oh, I'm
praying every day. Don't let my daughter, don't let my sons,
(20:24):
don't let me make agreements with the enemy. Don't let
me make an agreement with the enemy. You know, sometimes
you get in this self pity mode and you kind
of go with it and you start thinking, oh, I'm
just worthless, I'm just this, I'm just that, I'm just
the other. You know why you do that, because it
(20:45):
takes the pressure off for a minute. You know why
Ahab gave up his silver and his gold, and the
Bible said his best wives not you can have the
other ones, but Lord, let me keep the best ones.
I'm gonna take your silver and your gold, and I'm
gonna take your best wives and your best kids. In
(21:06):
other words, I'm attack the land. They have said, okay,
because if I agree with you, maybe you won't attack me.
So sometimes we find ways to make the attack stop
that actually make the battle worse and weaken us on
the inside after the fact. This is the root of addiction. Oh,
(21:31):
I was praying for our kids when y'all were standing
up earlier. I was praying, God, don't let them make
an alliance with something early in their life. Don't let
them make an agreement with something. Some of us make
agreements with things that provide us with temporary relief. But
they are false gods. They cannot save, they do not
(21:53):
serve us, they do not satisfy us. They are broken
cisterns that cannot hold water. So if we're going to
preach about anything, if we're going to preach about repentance
from sin and dead works, we have to first understand
that before the problem, this is my sermon, before the
(22:13):
promise of God can be received, your agreement with the
enemy has to be broken. And there are things there
are things about you that are not true, that are
not right, that are not noble, that are not good,
(22:34):
report that are not virtuous, that are not praiseworthy, that
you have begun to believe, because sometimes it is easier
to believe the lie that looks like the evidence I
can see, then believe the truth that is new. And
it's easier for me to bring God my love handles
(22:57):
and ask him to suck them out. Have you ever
crawled up in the presence of God when it's so
bad that you can't even hardly pray anymore? After you've
been fifteen rounds with Oh God? And I've had God
help me in those times. To be honest with you,
(23:18):
I wouldn't bear if he didn't help me in those times.
So there's nothing wrong with that. But I heard the
Lord say to me the other day, this would have
been easier if you'd have brought it to me earlier. Listen,
it starts before you see it. Say that out loud.
It starts before you see it again. It starts before
(23:42):
you see it. That's true for a leak in your roof,
that is true for an emotional state. I was so,
I was so obsessed with Paul's instruction to the Philippians.
He said, the peace of God will guard your heart
and your mind. In Christ, he says, look at this
in verse seven, and the peace of God. So I
(24:03):
want the peace of God. God, give me your peace.
I'm so stressed out, I'm so anxious. I don't know
what to do about it. And he said, well, if
you don't guide your mind, it's impossible for God's peace
to guard your heart. How many know your mind needs
to be guided. Oh? Let me, Oh, I need to
(24:25):
break it to you. Your mind needs guidance. Your mind
is an undisciplined, rabid dog that will bite the whole neighborhood. God,
your mind needs guidance. That powerful computer of your mind,
that mind needs guidance. Elon Musk didn't make a self
(24:46):
driving mind yet, y'all. I don't think there's one coming
on the market. So if I'm going to bring God
into my problems but not bring him into my process,
what's what's going to happen? Every single time? When the
(25:10):
King said to the enemy ben Adad, I can't meet
these demands. The Lord gave a promise in verse thirteen.
Listen to this. This is Firse King's twenty thirteen. A
prophet came to Ahab, King of Israel, and announced, this
is what the Lord says. Whoo, this is what the
(25:32):
Lord says. I'm supposed to read what comes next, but
that's where I'm stuck. This is what the Lord says.
Everybody say it. This is what the Lord says. What
did I come to church to hear what the Lord says?
What do I want to fill my heart with? What
(25:53):
the Lord says? What do I want my kids to believe?
What the Lord says? What am I building my life
on that can't be shaken with a storm? What the
Lord says? What has the power to defeat and uproot
every lie? I believe? What the Lord says? What am
I steering my life according to what the Lord says?
(26:14):
What has the final say over what happens to me
in this season of my life? What the Lord says?
What has divine power to demolish strongholds and defeat every
devil in hell? What the Lord says? This is what
the Lord says, I heard what you said, Nadadh. But
this is what the Lord says. Do you see this
(26:38):
vast army. Do you see these problems? Do you see
this situation? This is what the Lord says. I will
give it into your hand today. Then you will know.
I am the Lord. Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
(27:00):
to me. I'm divorced, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
to me. I'm twelve, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply
to me. I got a learning disability, Well Pastor Steve.
That doesn't apply to me. I got an eating disorder,
Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I don't
have any friends, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me.
(27:22):
I got a ge d. If God did it for
Ahab him sure enough to do it for me. I
amn this child, Do it for me, Lauren. Do it
(27:45):
for me, Lauren. I have been carrying the burdens of
battles that my decisions created. I have been anxious about
agreement that I made with the enemy. But the Lord said,
(28:06):
I'm gonna I'm gonna deliver them into your hands today.
Then you will know. Then you will know, and the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your
(28:30):
heart and mine. Wait a minute, what's the difference heart
and mine? Heart and mind? The heart is the emotions.
The mind is the thought process. And I can't pray
my way out of emotional states that my thinking cost.
(28:56):
Y'all didn't shout too good over that heart. Sit down,
We're still we're still just getting started. I'm not very
I'm not very good at vacation. I don't know how
you can be bad at vacation, but I am. Usually
(29:17):
I'm too lazy to do anything fun with my kids
and make any memories. But then sometimes when I try stuff,
it just goes horribly wrong. In fact, every time I
try to do something a little interest, it goes wrong.
We were talking this summer. We went to the beach
(29:39):
this summer, and and they've had kayaks that you can
ride in the ocean. But it's different. When Holly gets
in the kayak, it's peaceful. When I get into kayak,
it's cursed. And there's three three times we got in
the kayak that it went bad all in one week
last summer. I didn't get into kayak this summer. It's
(30:00):
this cursed when I get in one of the times
that the kayak had ended with a man with scissors
pointing them at me, telling me he was going to
stab me with the scissors. And that happened. That happened,
and we don't have time to talk about that, and
I don't really want to talk about it. It's a
horrible memory. But even when I'm not in the kayak,
listen how bad I am. Listen how bad I am
(30:21):
at adventures. We swam in the ocean two summers ago,
and I think I told you all this story where
the rip title. Yeah, I told you that, But it's
a conversation that I had with Elijah that I wanted
to say to you. And maybe I'll say more about
this at Youth Thanks, because they're gonna let me preach
(30:42):
a session too, and I might have talk more about this.
I said, Elijah, You've got to be so careful how
far you swim out from me, because even if I
want to get to you out there, there is a
place that you can get so far away from me.
(31:03):
I'm your dad, I'm your father. If I could get
to you, I'll get to you. But in this particular instance,
the undertow was so bad I had Abby on one arm,
and Graham was hanging on the other. And they weren't
care if I lived or died. They were just using
me to get out as an object. And I said,
if you get too far out, it won't be about
whether I want to come get you. There is such
(31:25):
a thing, and I used it to parallel to them,
not just the water. But I just talked about in
your teenage years, in your decisions, there is a place
where you can get far enough out. Now. I'm not
saying God's love can't reach you wherever you are, especially
(31:46):
for y'all in the back, how y'all doing. I'm not
saying you're too far away for the Lord. But what
I'm saying is you can't make an agreement with the
enemy in your soul and then ask for peace in
your life. If you do, it's going to be cyclical,
and you're just going to keep bringing your problems to
(32:07):
God over and over again and he'll accept them. But
the Lord has been asking me, do you always want
to be bringing me your problems or do you want
to bring me your thoughts before they become problems? So
I think we have to decide will we be willing
(32:30):
to let God guide our minds, so that is peace
can guard our hearts. And the term is a military term.
It's a great, amazing picture that Paul gives. It's a
military term. Is talking about a detachment that God will
set up at your heart, the peace of God. There
are two things mentioned in Philippians chapter four. You may
not notice them on the surface, but they're both right there.
One is the peace of God and one is the
(32:50):
God of Peace. In Philippians four seven, it says, in
the peace of God which passes all understanding. And every
time I call someone who's going through something that you
can't imagine or can't figure out how to deal with,
or you can't counsel, the standard thing that I will
pray for them is God, And I pray that your
peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart of mind.
(33:12):
Because you know, when you're calling someone who lost their
child as a pastor, or when you're calling somebody who
is in the fight of their life and dealing with
things that you know they didn't cause for themselves, it's
no good for you to try to explain it to them.
So I'll just pray that the peace of God that
passes all understanding would guard their heart and their mind
in Christ. But some of the agreements that you make
(33:36):
with the enemy, instead of keeping out anxiety, peace of
God wants to keep out anxiety. But sometimes your agreements
with the enemy keep out the peace of God. You
know when I tell myself I'm not worthy. In psychological terms,
they talk about rumination, and a lot of us we
think that we're overthinking things. We're really under thinking things.
(34:02):
We're just thinking the same thing over and over at
the same level. Never involve God. Just give the enemy
whatever he wants. Just give him our mind. Just believe
anything that goes through our mind. Right, But the peace
of God will set up a guard at your heart.
That's your emotions if you guide your mind. And that's
(34:23):
why he says there's power and prayer. I don't. I
don't pray like I like I could, like I should.
Sometimes I don't pray till the pressure gets so bad
I feel like I'm about to explode, And the Lord's like,
are you Are you done with that? Now? You want
to come on over here? And if you drag that
(34:45):
far enough across the floor, you've got low enough now.
But what if you don't have to wait till it
gets to that point. Lord, keep me from doing something
crazy in the next five minutes. It's gonna take me
the next five years to what if you prayed that?
(35:05):
What if we prayed about What if you involved God
earlier in the process, like before it goes all the
way to level ten? What if God wanted to meet
you at two? Oh, this is slipping a little off tray.
Like if you drove your car like you guided your mind,
you being a ditch. Just let go of the wheel
(35:27):
until the last minute. You're steering into a semi Now
you want to drive, but we do it with our souls.
We wait until let's see exact last minute. Oh, God,
deliver me from the decisions that I've made all week.
You no, I'm serious, y'all. Do me like that in
one hour on Sunday. You want me to preach a
(35:48):
word that will deliver you from the decisions just spend
all week making. That's not right, it's not fair. I
told the dental hygienist one time, I'm not gonna flyss.
I'll be here every six months. Do the best you
(36:09):
can whenever you can get out of my teeth in
that time. Just do it and the rest. Leave it,
and it'll grow for the glory of God until you
remove it again. I know it's gross, but I let
it build up until the last minute. And God has
been saying to me, you can bring me your problems,
but you can also bring me your thoughts. Now I'm
(36:32):
at the point where I will pray about absolutely anything
because you know why I do it, because Paul said
I could, and he wrote the Bible. And I know
you think there's certain things we're not supposed to pray about,
but you didn't write the Bible. I don't care what
you think about it anymore, because Paul said, don't be
(36:56):
anxious about anything. Listen to this. Pray in Eva every situation.
So in Greek every situation means every situation in that
deep I got a degree in the Bible. I'm gonna
blow your mind. A porn addict can pray while he's
(37:20):
looking at porn. I'll see y'all next week. We gotta
do this. In doss LJ. You can pray in the
middle of a panic attack, not after it's over and
you're on the floor. You can pray, you know what.
You can even start with a selfish prayer if you
(37:40):
have to. You have to wait until you want the
right thing to talk to God. You've been waiting the
rest of your life. You're too dysfunctional to wait until
you want the right thing to pray. Delight yourself in
the Lord, and he will give you the desires of
your heart. He will put them in there. So I
(38:06):
prayed the man who had the scissors at me, and
the thing I pray, God, I want to take his
sisters from him, because I was more fit than him.
I could see it. I you know, I sized it
up real quick. And I and so you know, they
say pray for your enemies. It doesn't say what you
pray for him. So you have to start somewhere like, Lord,
(38:29):
let him fall on his scissors right now. But but
the important thing is that you involve God in the process.
Right you ever had to pray in anger? Pray angry?
(38:52):
I was getting ready to preach one time, and I
start praying to the Lord, why will you hide your
face from me? Wh're the block? Then I why have
you forsaken me? I wouldn't feel anything to God. And
I thought as if God was saying, oh there you are, there,
you are. Why am I hiding my face from me?
(39:14):
Why are you hiding from me? You keep God out
of the process, You keep God out of the then
you end up just being just like a half Oh
I hate a haveb but I gotta be honest. I
kind of relate to him. Enemy is attacking me with
(39:34):
thirty two kings. Okay, you can have it. You can
have it. It is easier to just believe the lie
than it is to you know, you got to train
yourself in truth. It doesn't come naturally. Paul said, whatever
(39:58):
things that you have seen, received or heard from me,
a lot of us have never actually seen a pattern
of how to fight our battles with God's help. We
believe the way that we've seen it done is the
only way that it can be done. We don't really believe,
(40:20):
like really believe that I can give my battle to
the Lord. I don't really believe that the peace of
God will guard my heart in my mind. But I
want you to watch what happened to Ahab. You know,
(40:42):
the enemy doesn't just attack you once and if it
doesn't work, he leaves you alone. Because the Lord gave
Ahab a victory over Benedad. But just after the victory,
the prophet comes back and came to Ahab again. And
(41:03):
look at this. In verse twenty two, he said to
the King of Israel, strengthen your position and see what
must be done, because next spring the King of Aram
will attack you again. I'm under attack again. I'm dealing
(41:27):
with depression again. Jesus died for me, and I believe
that his blood cleanses me. But I'm struggling with unworthiness again.
And the prophet said something very interesting. It's not just prayer,
it's not just peace. He says, strengthen your position and
see what must be done, because see the officials. Verse
(41:51):
twenty three of the King of Aram had a theory
on why God gave the victory to the Israelites the
first time, and they advised him their gods are gods
of the hills. That is why they were too strong
for us. But if we fight them on the plains,
surely we will be stronger than they. So do this,
(42:12):
remove and replace them, or remove all the kings from
their commands and replace them with other officers. Remove and
replace would be a good sermon, by the way, to
remove and replacement, not today. You must also raise an
army like the one you lost. Horse for horse and
cherio for chery. So we can fight Israel on the plains.
Then surely we will be stronger than they. And he
agreed with them and acted accordingly. He agreed with the
(42:38):
lie and acted accordingly. This has been a dad the enemy.
He agreed with the advice of his counselors. He thought
that God Yahweh, was like Bail of the Phoenicians. He
thought that God was only limited to one geographical locale.
So the reason they beat you was because you fought
them in the hills. But if you fight them in
(43:00):
the low place. Now here's the thing. Some of you,
the enemy attacked you on one level, and it didn't
work because you still have your faith and you still
have your sanity, and you didn't blow your brains out,
and you didn't give in, and you didn't walk away.
But now watch this, he's hitting you with a low blow.
He said, if you fight them in the plains, will
(43:21):
be stronger than them. But look what the word of
the Lord says. And I want to show you this
in verse twenty eight, and I'm closing. I'm closing because
it says that they lined up against them, and they
seem like a flock of small goats, and they look
too small, but they had God fighting for them. Verse
twenty eight. The Man of God came up and told
the King of Israel. Here it is again. This is
what the Lord says. This is what the Lord says,
(43:43):
because the Eramians think the Lord is a god of
the hills and not a god of the valleys. Because
the enemy face that if he hits you in your
weakest spot. Just be honest, how many of you the
(44:05):
enemy has hit you with a low blow lately, like
in the place where it hurts the most. This is
what the Lord says, because he hit you where you
were the weakest. I am going to display my strength
in the greatest way because the enemy thinks, oh, if
(44:27):
I fight him there, they'll give in. But he's wrong
about it. The harder he hits you in the most
vulnerable place, the greater a candidate for the grace of God,
you become. Some of you. The enemy couldn't defeat you
(44:48):
while you were awake, So now he started sneaking into
your sleep. You've been having dreams in the middle of
the night about scenarios. You've been waking up in a
cold sweat, not even rested. He couldn't fight you, couldn't
beat you awake, so now he's fight you asleep. Some
of you. The enemy took a lot from you personally,
but it didn't cause you to lose your faith. So
then he hit your kids. There was one thing for
(45:12):
you to be dealing with it, but now you're watching
your kids suffer. Oh, if I can't beat them in
the hills, I'll fight them on the plains. God said,
I am the God of unconditional victory. I believe that
(45:37):
God is calling somebody today to take back not only
the high places. But God said, because your enemy thinks
that I am only the God of the hills, I
am going to show you a victory in the valley
so you will know I'm not like bail. I don't
(46:03):
operate based on physical location. I don't need perfect circumstances
to do my work. In fact, if you have faith
to believe it, I hear God saying I stack the
odds against myself. That's what the Lord said. I'm making
it so impossible because I want you to know that
(46:27):
it's your weegh. I want you to know that it's God.
See when they're fighting you in the mountains, when they're
fighting you in the good time. You think it's you,
You think it's your leverage. This is what the Lord
says in this season, I'm going to do something in
the lowest place, in the most vulnerable place, in your weakness.
(46:52):
I am strong. So what does the Lord say? That's
what I want to know. I don't want to agree
with the enemy about anything that keeps me from hearing
(47:15):
what God has said about me, whether it's why I'm unworthy,
why I'm incompetent. In fact, Lord, right now, in the
name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I break
the power of the agreements that your children have made
(47:39):
with the enemy, and we call on you, God of Peace,
to set up an armed guard at our hearts. In Christ, Jesus,
we thank you that our position in you is permanent
and it is fixed. Lord. Today, we don't want to
(48:06):
give the enemy so easily what you died with your
blood to purchase for us, and you came to give
us peace right now, standing all over this house, every location,
watching online, God said, take it back. You agreed with
(48:28):
the enemy, but take it back. I know I agreed
in my heart that I was workless. I know I
agreed in my heart that my best days were behind me.
I know I agreed in my heart that I wouldn't ever.
But I take it back, because this is what the
Lord says. God, We're not going to be so quick
to hand over the best of what you gave us.
(48:52):
We've let the enemy have enough. He's taken enough ground
in this season. We've given up enough ground. Not another inch,
not another inch. I thank you that now, in this moment,
you are releasing your peace, your unconditional victory. Lord. I
(49:19):
want to pray for somebody today who has believed the
lie that you are a god of the mountains, only,
that you can only win into hills, that you can
only use perfect people, and that you can only work
in perfect circumstances. It's a lie. And because the Aramians
think that you're only a god of the hills and
not the valleys, I dispatch victory into the valleys of
(49:41):
your people's lives today. Well, I thank you for it.
I thank you for it. In advance. We have heard
your word today. This is what the Lord says. We
have sung your word today. This is what the Lord says,
and we thank you Jesus your name. Then, over these
(50:03):
next seven days of our life, as we meditate on
this word, we will not rehearse the reasons that we
should feel defeated, and we will not rehearse the reasons
that we should be afraid. We will remember the victories
that you have given and anticipate the ones that you
(50:24):
have promised. All of God's people who agree with this word,
lift up a great shout of braves, lift up a
great shout of friends. Thank you Lord. Come on, lift
your hands, lift your hands. I declare victory over your life.
(50:44):
This is what the Lord says. I'm gonna give it
into your hands. Receive it, receive it right now, receive
it right now. I give it in your hands. It
is a kid. See that. All the people who receive
this word clap your hands and say Amen. So good
(51:09):
to see you again. I missed you. Have you missed me? Well,
we're back back together again. I pray that you heard
something from the Word today that you can put into practice.
That's what Paul said, and Philippians for check it out.
He said, and whatever you received, put it into practice.
So you're going to practice what God says this week
instead of rehearsing what you heard from the enemy. I
(51:32):
just pray that this week you come into agreement with
what God says about your future, about your gifts, what
God says about you as a person. He loves you,
has a great plan for you. Thank you for being
a part of the ministry, all of you who give
and pray and share these messages and come here regularly.
Just it's a blessing to be connected with you. I
(51:54):
look forward for what God is going to do next.
I love you. Take it back
Host
Steven Furtick
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