June 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Every day, we stand at a crossroads between positivity and negativity, between faith and fear. This choice, while seemingly simple, shapes our entire reality in profound ways. As we explore the battlefield of the mind, we discover that our thoughts aren't just passive reflections—they're active creators of our lived experience.
The scripture tells us in Romans 12:2 that transformation comes through "changing the way you think." Not by changing our appearance or even our words first, but by renewing our mental landscape. When we allow negativity to take root, it colors everything we see, creating distortions that feel real but don't reflect truth. Even innocent interactions become tainted when viewed through a lens of suspicion or hurt.
Our words carry immense creative power. They can build up or tear down, heal or wound, bring life or death. Proverbs reminds us that "kind words are like honey—sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." This isn't just poetic language—it's spiritual reality. When we speak life over ourselves and others, we create an atmosphere where God's power can flow freely.
The message uses jumper cables as a powerful metaphor: just as these tools must be properly connected to transfer power, we must be grounded in Christ and focused on the positive for God's power to flow through us. There's no middle ground here—we're either speaking life or death, faith or fear, truth or falsehood. And only when we're properly connected can the true power of Christ energize our lives.
This isn't about ignoring life's challenges or pretending everything is perfect. Valleys are real, but even there, we can find "lush green forest" while we rest until God calls us back to the mountaintop. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave lives within believers, empowering us to choose positivity even when circumstances suggest otherwise.
Join us as we learn to harness the transformative power of positive thinking and life-giving words, creating a life that reflects the joy and strength found only in Christ. Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, and your actions become your legacy. Which path will you choose today?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If we have to go into next week with this one, we
will.
But I want to start by sayingevery day we face a choice.
Amen.
Can we turn out the front rowof lights, just the back row,
please?
Thank you.
Every day we face a choice, andthat choice is between
positivity and negativity.
Amen.
(00:20):
Every day we face that choice.
Every day that choice can be achallenge.
It's a choice between faith andfear, between encouragement and
criticism, and the world oftengravitates towards the negative.
Amen, the world oftengravitates towards the negative.
(00:45):
But we all know that thescripture tells us that we are
to live for higher perspective.
Right, that we should always belooking for the positive.
Amen, and we should be prayingfor the positive.
Now I heard a lady say first ofall, let's just back up for a
quick second.
I'm all discombobulated, butthis started.
(01:05):
You know, Joyce Myers thinksthat, or doesn't think, but she
preaches.
A big part of her ministry ison that the mind is a
battlefield.
Right, that the mind is thebattlefield.
And I used to think that's agreat gimmick for selling books
and audio books and all of thatstuff.
But it's true, right, it's allabout how you look at it, it's
all about perspective, but trulyit's all up here.
(01:29):
It starts there before it goesanywhere else.
It doesn't come out of yourmouth before it comes into your
brain right Now.
The problem is is sometimes ourbrains are wired to just say
whatever comes in there, withouta filter to stop it from coming
out Guilty as charged.
Hallelujah, right.
It's not a good thing.
I'm just saying it happens, itexists and it's something that's
(01:49):
real, that we have to be awareof and we have to fix.
So I said that because I hearda lady say that.
Well, I had a young lady say tome.
She was sitting next to me andshe made this comment.
She said everybody here is lazy.
That was the comment.
That was not about the church,it was in another setting.
But she said everybody here islazy.
(02:10):
And I thought on it for asecond.
I said when she comes back, I'mgoing to call her out on that,
I'm going to say something aboutit because I ain't lazy.
I might be a lot of things.
You can call me a lot of names.
Lazy ain't one of them, right?
So she came back and she saidsomething to me, almost as if
she was asking me for something,and I said I'm so sorry, I'm
lazy.
And she was shocked because shedidn't know that I had heard
(02:32):
what she had said.
And she just kind of looked atme, walked away.
And a few minutes later she cameover and she plopped down
beside me as hard as she couldand she said when I said
everybody was lazy, I wasn'treferring to you.
I said but I'm part ofeverybody, therefore you are
accusing me of being lazy.
And she said well, I didn'tmean it that way.
(02:54):
Fine, I said but this person'snot lazy and that person's not
lazy and this.
Well, I was just sayingsomething to somebody else and
nobody should have beenlistening anyway.
Right, but when you say it inpublic, out loud, everybody can
hear it and therefore you areaccusing me and the other people
of being this thing that yousaid.
(03:15):
Right, I said to her.
I said if I would say everybodyin this room is ugly, how would
you feel about that?
And she would say well, Iwouldn't care, because I don't
care what other people think.
I said well, you care enoughwhat I think that you came over
here and apologized.
(03:35):
You do care.
Here's what it boiled down to,her final statement to me,
before I just simply gave hergrace was I can be angry and
still be a happy person.
I said I don't think it worksthat way.
And she continued to argue thepoint and I said I'm going to
make an agreement with you thenext time you make a generalized
statement.
I will just assume that you arenot talking about me.
(03:57):
And she said okay, and she gotup and walked away and she felt
like she had won that argument.
All I did was plant a seed thatyou cannot be miserable and
angry and mean and be happy atthe same time.
It's not possible.
You can't live life like that.
(04:17):
Amen.
Somehow in their mind, that'sreal, that's rationalized.
Can I tell you that each andevery one of us do that with
something in our lives.
We all rationalize somethingthat we know is wrong and try to
make it right.
Amen.
All right, got a couple ofscriptures.
I want to hit first thing.
But at the end of the day, wewant to be a positive-minded
(04:42):
people, amen.
We don't want to be fixated onthe negative, we don't want to
be fixated on the things of theworld, but we want to be fixated
on the positive things.
And that means that doesn'tmean there can't be things we
dislike.
It means that when we seesomething that we dislike, we
have to pray about it right.
We have to be able to handle itwith grace and with mercy.
(05:02):
What you think shapes who youbecome Amen.
If you think negative thoughtsall day long, if you think
everybody around you is out toget you, pretty soon everybody
that's around you will be out toget you Good, bad or
indifferent.
That's how it will be.
(05:24):
If you allow yourself to thinkthat that will become your
reality.
Whether it's true or not is notthe point.
It will be your reality.
You won't be able to walk intoa conference.
There are people who like tothink that Pastor Holly and I
talk about them.
I don't have the time whenPastor Holly and I get on the
(05:46):
phone.
It's about ministry.
It's about positive things.
It's about moving forward inthe kingdom.
It ain't about your life.
I mean, it's not that we don'tcare.
We love you guys.
We care deeply, but we don'thave the time to manage it right
.
We want to lift you guys up inprayer and that's what we do.
We aren't going to.
We aren't.
I'm sorry.
I know you might have thoughtthat you were really popular in
(06:08):
the ministry circle, but weain't talking about you.
Romans 12.2.
It says don't copy the behaviorand the customs of this world,
but let God transform you into anew person by changing the way
you think.
Then you will learn to knowGod's will for you, which is
(06:32):
good and pleasing and perfect,amen.
It didn't say by changing theway you dress.
It didn't say by changing theway that you talk.
It said by changing the waythat you think, because
everything that goes throughhere is what your life becomes.
You know, I said to Courtneythis morning.
(06:53):
I said I thought your pantswere cow print, because she's
got on these black and whitepants and this is a fun story.
I saw her a long time ago itwas months ago and she was in a
shirt that was like was itpurple?
It was like a deep purple butit was kind of iridescent and I
thought it was camo.
For those of you who like camo,don't judge me.
I saw it and I went.
(07:14):
Why is she wearing that Like?
She certainly has better tastethan that, right.
But now my mindset is I don'ttrust Courtney to dress herself
Cal print pants, camo.
None of that was reality, right, it wasn't.
Yes, I know it's not cal print,I'm correcting myself.
It's not reality, but in mymind that's what it was and
(07:35):
therefore it became my reality,right?
So I was allowing the world toshape how I think about
Courtney's pants, right, andtherefore I made an assumption
about Courtney's pants, right,and therefore I made an
assumption about Courtney.
Well, that's not very fair,right?
I didn't allow my brain toprocess it and I didn't go back
and say, hey, I probably need tothink about that before I say
(07:57):
something about it.
Amen, amen.
Like if I'd have walked in andmooed really loud, that would
have been offensive, right, mymind would have said it's just a
joke, but it would have beenoffensive.
That's the stuff that we have tobe thinking about all the time.
We have to fix our minds on thethings that are positive and
good.
Therefore, we don't have toworry about the things that are
(08:19):
negative.
Philippians 4.8, it tells us.
And now, dear brothers andsisters, one final thing Fix
your thoughts on what is true,hold on to that word and,
honorable and right and pure andlovely and admirable, think
about the things that areexcellent and worthy of praise.
(08:42):
Is somebody's sin worthy ofpraise?
I didn't think so, but why arewe holding on to it?
Why are we constantly talkingabout it and thinking about it?
If it is not worthy of praise,I don't need it, I don't need to
hold on to it.
Think of the thoughts of whatis true.
(09:02):
Now, here's the problem.
A lot of times there are twotruths.
Right, we remember when Jesuswas being tempted in the
wilderness, the enemy wouldquote scripture.
Right, he would quote scripture.
It's not that the scripture wasuntrue.
But then Jesus comes back, butman shall not live on bread
alone.
Amen.
(09:22):
Listen, I don't need to knowthe things that aren't real.
This is a hard lesson for thoseof us who go to work every day,
because you hear things aboutpeople and it's real easy to
look at somebody else and go hey, did you hear what so-and-so
said?
I think that such and such isabout to happen.
Right, that was a hard lessonfor me.
I'm gonna just tell you thetruth.
I met with my owners severalmonths ago and they said
(09:46):
something to me.
I mean, it crushed me.
I have a great deal of respectfor these men and they said we
can't tell you certain thingsbecause we're afraid you'll tell
other people.
Oh, that's crushing.
Now, vicki, you went.
Oh, because you don't think Iwould do that, do you?
I'm going to tell you something.
If you've told me, my wifeknows.
It's the truth, right, and it'snot a bad thing.
(10:07):
My wife knows, because I've gotto go somewhere Now she
wouldn't tell anybody.
I can't even get her to tell mewhat she got me for Christmas.
Most of the time, this lady isa secret keeper, she is a vault,
she knows stuff that she'snever told me and I'm thankful
for that, because there is stuffshe knows I don't need to know,
right?
Hallelujah, thank you Jesus.
Thank you Jesus.
(10:33):
But my point is when we tellother people things, we break
trust, we break confidence, andwhen we do that, there's this
level of like discontent thatstarts to well up inside of
people, right, and the problemis, is we're not typically
focused on the truth or, if it'shonorable, we're focused on
getting it out of our face,right?
I need people to know this, anda lot of times it's stupid
stuff, right?
(10:53):
Yeah, okay, all right, hey,listen, last Sunday, when Pastor
Holly started talking aboutpeople that like to start the
fire and then stir the fire, andI got fired up in the sound
booth, I could have preached awhole message last Sunday,
because I'm going to tell you.
It happens to me every singleday.
Somebody will call me and belike Pastor Michael, so-and-so
said or so-and-so did.
Why are you starting this fire?
(11:15):
What's the purpose of this fire?
Is it to glorify God?
Because, if it's to glorify God, why are you starting it with
me and not with God?
Right, because if God needs todeal with it, let God deal with
it.
Keep me out of it.
Listen, my wife said to meyesterday you are not a social
person.
I'm a very social person.
(11:35):
I just don't want to know aboutyour problems.
Personable, personable,personable that's what she
called me.
I'm not personable.
Can you go back to class orsomething?
Can you go, get out of here?
Yeah, I know we won't fistfight in front of you, that'll
be later.
We'll have to cut that.
(11:58):
Who said that?
Do it.
I know, I know that I have noidea what I was talking about.
Completely lost it, which meansI ain't supposed to talk about
it.
Negativity is often born in themind and it starts with a
(12:20):
thought, but it becomes amindset, right?
That thought, that singlethought where you say Dale says
well, pastor Michael doesn'tlike me anymore, pastor Michael
doesn't like me anymore.
That's a thought.
That becomes a mindset, right?
And then when I approach Dalein the hallway and Dale's like
he didn't even talk to me it hasnothing to do with the fact
that he was talking to three ofthem, he just doesn't even like
(12:41):
me anymore, right?
And then this mindset becomesour.
We identify with that exactthought and it consumes us,
right?
Listen, people say bad stuffabout me all the time and that
used to bother me a lot, a lot.
And now I look at it and I gowhy does it matter?
I can't please every person.
I would rather let the worlddown and please God every day,
(13:07):
all day, and not care what theworld thinks about me Right Now.
That doesn't mean to say that Iwant to be hated by the world.
It means I want to be valued bythe world, but for who I am in
Christ, not who I am in theworld.
Amen, amen, hallelujah,hallelujah in the world.
(13:28):
Amen, amen, hallelujah.
God calls us not to just thinkbetter, but to be transformed by
a renewing of our minds.
Right, we are not just to thinkbetter, but we are to be
transformed.
Listen, every morning when Iget up, I pray that I am
transformed from the person Iwas the day before and listen, I
think that I have been right.
I can apologize to people nowand I'm like hey, I'm really
(13:48):
sorry about doing that.
I shouldn't have done that.
I don't even have to explainwhy I did it.
I'm okay with just saying I'msorry, I was wrong.
Right, it used to be.
Hey, I'm sorry, I was wrong,but that, this, that or the
other right.
There's always the but Not thatway.
I am really sorry if I made you.
I'm really sorry if I hurt yourfeelings.
(14:12):
I'm really sorry if you feltneglected.
That's not my intention.
I'm getting much better at that.
That's growth, people.
That is growth.
All right, your words havecreative power.
Creative power.
Pastor Holly always tells methat I am always on something up
(14:32):
here in my brain, right?
Pastor Holly always tells methat I am always on something up
here in my brain, right, like Ifind creative ways, creative
solutions for just about everyproblem.
We find right.
We don't run across somethingthat I can't come up with.
It might not be the rightsolution, but we can guarantee
it's creative.
(14:53):
Ephesians 4.29, it says noticethat it says he ascended.
This clearly means that theChrist who descended Christ also
descended to our lonely world.
That's not the scripture that Ihave written down here, so I
don't know.
I wrote it wrong apparently.
What is that?
Is that Ephesians 4.9 or 4.29?
(15:15):
It should be 4.29.
I'm sorry I wrote it wrong.
Can you quickly change that?
When I read it I was like thatdoesn't make sense.
It's a great scripture, not fortoday's message.
Hold on to that.
Maybe there it is.
(15:35):
Oh, I don't like this one.
Don't use foul or abusivelanguage.
Let everything you say be goodand helpful, so that your words
will be an encouragement tothose who hear them.
Jesus, I should have rereadthat scripture before I put it
(15:59):
in there.
Right?
Don't use foul or abusivelanguage.
Let everything you say be goodand helpful.
Is everything that comes out ofyour mouth good and helpful?
Ooh, if we're all saying no,that's not a good sign for us,
is it Because the scripture Imean it's pretty clear, right,
like there's no reading betweenthe lines on this one?
(16:19):
Be good and helpful, so thatyour words will be an
encouragement to those who hearthem.
How often do we go out into theworld and we say things to
people that are hurtful?
Those people may not know.
Jesus, vicki, can I share yourstory about next Sunday?
About next Sunday yeah.
So Vicki approached me in thecafe this morning and she said
(16:40):
Pastor Michael, I want to askyou if I can do something before
I do it.
That's usually not a good sign.
Right Now, vicki, I trust her.
I would trust her with my life.
But that statement coming fromanybody goes.
And she said Pastor Michael, Ihave a friend who was scared to
(17:01):
go to church.
They're afraid to go to churchbecause they went to a
Pentecostal church when theywere little and they were scared
by the person that was theSunday school teacher because
they were just jamming hell downtheir throats.
And she said can I go toanother church to go with them
on their first Sunday?
Absolutely you can, because ifyou are bringing somebody to
(17:24):
Jesus, it's not about thisbuilding, it's about the kingdom
of God.
Amen, it is about the kingdomof God.
Now here's the thing Leteverything you say be good and
helpful, so that the words willbe an encouragement to those who
hear them.
They didn't decide to go tochurch just because they decided
to go to church.
You know why they went tochurch.
They decided to go to churchbecause Vicki had been praying
(17:48):
with them and been speaking lifeinto them.
That is what changes thekingdom of God, right?
It's not that invitation justto church on a random Sunday.
And listen, we're not foreverybody, right?
There would have been somenewbies that would have showed
up here this morning and be like, uh-uh, ain't coming back there
.
Right, they'd have been out thedoor.
We are not for everybody inevery season, but you know what,
(18:10):
if we can get them into thehands of somewhere where they're
comfortable, that's glorifyingto the kingdom of God.
Amen.
That is a positive interaction.
Proverbs 16, 24.
It says kind words are likehoney sweet to the soul and
healthy for the body.
(18:31):
I tell my wife she's beautifulall the time.
All the time I tell my wifeshe's beautiful all the time.
All the time I tell my wifeshe's beautiful, and you know
what she says to me Shut up.
Do you think her telling me toshut up stops me from telling
her she's beautiful?
Absolutely not, because Ibelieve that those sweet words
(18:53):
will only make her grow stronger.
Right, it's like Miracle-Gro,right?
I just keep telling her she'sbeautiful and whether she ever
believes that she's beautiful ornot, I think she's gorgeous,
right, and I love her for whoshe is.
I don't need her to change atall.
I mean, I would like for her tobe able to wash, dry and fold a
basket of laundry in one day.
(19:13):
But I mean, we're all workingon ourselves, right, we're all
working on ourselves, right.
Anybody in here can do thatWash, dry, fold and put away a
basket of laundry in one day.
Good for you guys.
Good for you guys.
Anybody want to come to myhouse and help out?
No, lord, have mercy.
(19:35):
But I believe that when we goout into the world and we speak
life and we speak sweetly andkindly and genuinely to people,
I'm not talking about that kindof like, oh well, god bless you.
Not that kind.
I'm talking about the real kindthat says, hey, my dad was at
work a week or so ago and we hada church group in.
Sometimes those church groupscan be a little high maintenance
(19:56):
, I'm not going to lie, allright.
So this group of ladies werethere.
My dad gets in the elevator, hepushes the button and the lady
looks at him, waits for a second, she goes.
You know Jesus loves you.
Like, how great is that?
This lady didn't know him fromAdam.
She didn't know that he wassaved, but she made sure that he
knew that she didn't know himat all.
(20:17):
I mean, you've seen that guyright, big goofy looking dude,
little old lady just telling himJesus loves him.
We need to be more like thatevery day, because those sweet
and kind words and you're goingto get people who don't want to
hear it.
But you've planted a seedBecause when they fall on hard
times they're going to go.
You remember that one time thatlady told us Jesus loves us.
(20:38):
You remember that one?
Remember that young kid thatsaid they're going to remember
that and it's going to plant aseed.
The lady that Vicki is going tochurch with next Sunday has
been to church a long, long timeago 60 years, is that?
What she said 60 years agoHasn't gone back because she was
(20:59):
afraid, but Vicki, speakingsweetly, gently into her life,
has allowed her to haverevelation.
Amen, proverbs 12, 18.
Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise
bring healing.
Do any of us ever say harshthings just because we can?
(21:21):
Yeah, like you meet somebody oryou ever got that person you
know in your life.
You just don't like them andwhen they walk by you're like
I'm going to make a snidecomment, right, I'm going to say
it loud enough that I hope theyhear it, but I'm not going to
say it directly to them.
Amen, hallelujah, thank you,jesus.
Nobody else can admit to thatbut me.
Okay, that's fine.
Muttering, yes, yeah, yeah,yeah.
And you, just loud enough thatthey can hear it, right, because
(21:43):
you want to cut them.
But it says the words of thewise bring healing.
Listen, I want to be wise inthe kingdom, right?
I want to be able to speak life.
I want to be able to heal thebrokenhearted.
I want to be able to give themhope in a world that feels
hopeless.
(22:04):
Amen, faith over fear, joy overdespair.
Amen, faith over fear, joy overdespair.
Romans 15, 13.
It says I pray that God, thesource of hope, will fill you
completely with joy and peacebecause you trust in him.
(22:26):
Then you will overflow withconfident hope in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
There is hope In the mightyname of Jesus.
Negativity often stems from fear, right?
I think that fear is theleading cause of all sin in this
(22:48):
world.
I was watching this littleadvertisement for this company
that they talk about addictionvery differently.
They say that when you'readdicted to something, it's not
because you're a bad person,it's not because you're sinful
in nature.
It's because your brain ischasing cheap dopamine.
(23:11):
Well, that might be true, butsin is sin.
Let's call it what it is right.
Let's don't try to sugarcoat itand tell you it's okay if you
sin.
It's just the way your brain iswired.
No, we need transformation inthe name of Jesus.
We need to have hope and faithin what Jesus Christ has told us
.
So then, we're not chasingcheap dopamine, right?
(23:31):
Listen?
There is nothing in this worldthat will replace the love of
Jesus.
It's not the love of a spouse,it's not the love of a child.
There is nothing.
It's not the love of a child.
There is nothing.
It's not Dunkin' Donuts, it'snot Starbucks.
There is nothing in this worldthat will replace the love of
Jesus.
Starbucks might taste good,dunkin' Donuts might be good, or
(23:52):
McDonald's.
Now, don't be coming after melike that.
Don't be coming after me likethat, but there is nothing that
will take the place of Jesus inyour life.
Nehemiah 8.10, and Nehemiahcontinued go and celebrate with
a feast of rich foods and sweetdrinks.
(24:15):
Get off my back and share giftsof food with people who have
nothing prepared.
Share gifts of food with peoplewho have nothing prepared.
This is a sacred day before ourLord.
Don't be dejected and sad, forthe joy of the Lord is your
strength.
I may be weak in a lot ofthings, but my joy in the Lord
(24:36):
is great.
Strength in all things, amen.
I don't have to worry aboutwhat the world thinks or what
the world does, because I havestrength in all things.
Amen.
I don't have to worry aboutwhat the world thinks or what
the world does, because I havestrength in the Lord.
Amen.
All of my strength is in theLord.
Negativity drains us.
Joy sustains us.
See, when I live life negative,I will constantly be miserable.
(25:02):
You ever had those days whereyou wake up and you just don't
want to get out of bed becauseyou know life is terrible, right
, like, oh, nothing's goingright.
I've had a bad week, this, thatand the other.
You haven't had a bad week.
You don't have a bad life.
You had a bad situation.
Let me tell you that thatvalley that you might be feeling
like you're in today is one ofthe best places to be.
(25:23):
There is lush green forest inthat valley.
You can rest comfortably untilthe Lord calls you back to the
mountaintop.
You cannot worry abouteverything in your life.
You have to say God, I trustyou and I know that can, and I
have joy in walking out thisexperience with you.
(25:44):
I have joy in walking out thispath with you.
Amen, all right, roger.
You want to come help me?
Harley, can you go get me yourcar battery?
I'm just kidding.
He got up, he was going to godo it.
I'm just kidding, I know youwould do it.
That's why I asked you and notanybody else.
I knew you, of all people,would do it.
(26:06):
Pastor Roger, hold that end.
So I brought with me a pair ofjumper cables.
Right Now, how many of you havea pair of these in your car?
You didn't have a car.
Well, I guess then you don'thave one in your car?
How many people Raise yourhands?
Okay, a good deal of you.
How many of you know how to usethem?
Holly's, like, I got a set.
(26:29):
I don't know what to do withthem.
Okay, most of us know how touse them.
Most of us know that the red ispositive, the black the
negative the ground right.
Okay, now, if you were to takeboth of these and you were to
(26:49):
hook them up to the car batteryincorrectly, what happens?
Large spark or a large boom.
Why is that?
Because you can't have negativeand positive at the same time,
right, you can't have negativeand positive at the same time.
Right, you can't have negativeand positive at the same time.
However, if you take both ofthese and you hook them up to
the dead battery the correct way, positive to the positive,
negative to the negative andthen you hook those up to the
(27:10):
battery that has power, you cantouch them together and make
some space.
But if you hook them up, whathappens?
Power flows from one to theother.
Great power comes when we'regrounded in Christ, focusing on
the positive.
Amen.
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
Some of you are positive right.
(27:33):
How many of us are positive?
Positive people Great,wonderful.
Some of us are positive.
Some of us are negative, right.
Right, how many of us arenegative?
Mike raised his handinvoluntarily 50-50.
Right, that's fair.
(27:53):
That's fair.
Now, some of you are actuallyjust like a set of jumper cables
, because you like to startstuff, are actually just like a
set of jumper cables.
Because you like to start stuff, it's true, isn't it?
Because you like to start it,stir it and let somebody else
deal with it.
Can I tell you something.
It's not life-giving, it'slife-draining.
(28:16):
It's life-draining for thepeople that you're telling.
It's life-draining for yourself.
It is life-draining for thepeople that you're telling.
It's life draining for yourself.
It is life draining for thepeople who are around you.
Listen, we shouldn't have tohide our every word because we
are trying to sugarcoat it tomake it feel positive.
Well, that set of jumper cablesis broken.
Roger, I don't know if I'd usethat if I was you.
Just get a little electricaltape, it'll be fine.
(28:36):
Hey, beth, we're going to usean extension cord and fix this.
Okay, he says he can fix it.
Yeah, we'll just fix that, it'sfine.
It's fine.
Quit messing with it, get outof here, go.
It ain't even hooked up tonothing.
I'm going to get electrocutedbecause he won't stop touching
it.
Roger has a way.
(28:57):
I know that we laugh at thatjoke that some of us are just
like a set of jumper cables andwe just like to start stuff.
But let me tell you something.
It's true.
It is true every single day.
Some of us wake up in themorning and go how much trouble
can I stir and then go.
I don't know what happened.
(29:17):
What happened?
Why are all of these peopleupset.
I didn't say that.
What I said was Easton, thiskid can twist anything right,
it's like a magic power, isn'tit?
He goes oh yeah, that's asuperpower, I say to him.
I say to him did you say that?
(29:38):
No, I didn't say that.
I'm like well, the other kidsaid you said that and he goes.
No, I didn't say that.
What I said was which is theexact same thing, with an
inflection on a different wordthat makes the sentence feel
different.
What I didn't do, that, listen,life is not all rainbows and
(30:00):
unicorns, right, life is goingto be difficult.
We are going to experiencehardships, we're going to
experience things that don'tfeel good.
However, however, is oh, Iforgot about those.
Thank you for doing that.
We have to realize that there isa positive and a negative in
everything that we do.
Give me the positive.
(30:20):
The positive.
We're speaking joy, faith andtruth.
There is a positive and anegative in everything that we
do.
Give me the positive.
The positive we're speaking joy, faith and truth.
Amen.
The negative, we are speakingfear, doubt, or we're
complaining.
How many of us like to complain?
I love to complain.
It's like a pastime for me,right, it's like a pastime, but
(30:41):
let me tell you only when youare connected properly can the
true power of Christ flow inyour life.
Amen.
You have to be properlygrounded in the word and your
positive needs to be fixed onJesus, amen.
Positive needs to be fixed onJesus, amen.
There is no gray area.
(31:05):
It is black or red.
You are in one or the other.
You are positive or you arenegative.
You can't be one or the other.
I woke up this morning in such abad mood.
No, god did not call you tothat.
God called you to speak life,amen.
Listen, I'm preaching to myselfright now.
I know that when things happenin my life that I can fall over
(31:29):
here, it's easy, it's easy to do, but I have to run it through
that filter.
Is it glorifying to God?
Is it glorifying to the personI'm about to say it to or the
person I'm about to say it about?
If not, shut my mouth, lord,only allow me to speak positive
things.
Amen.
Church, I need you to understandsomething.
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Today we're going to walk outof this room.
Most of you are going to forgetabout this message.
Be the last time you thinkabout it, but the next time your
car gets a dead battery, thenext time you're going to go.
Oh, I remember how to jump thissucker.
First of all and I think Imight be a little bit negative
today you know how easy it is tobe negative when your car
(32:13):
battery dies.
It ain't nice, right.
But think about it.
We need to ground ourselves inthe word.
We need to positively fix oureyes on Jesus and life giving
power will flow.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for a word in season, lord,
(32:37):
that we may be able to laughand to joke.
But, lord, I know, I know thatyou are doing something great in
your house.
Lord, that the words that arebeing spoken are directly from
you and not of me.
Father, god, that there isglory in your message.
(32:59):
That, lord, each of us can walkout of here with our eyes fixed
upon you.
Lord, repentance is our heart'sdesire, a rebirth, walking from
the old man to the new man.
(33:20):
Father God, laying down all ofthose sins at the foot of the
cross.
Lord, you know that our fleshis weak, but each and every one
of us have a strong, strongspirit Centered on you.
Lord, there is nothing that canstop us, because the same power
(33:42):
that rose Jesus from the gravelives in us.
Lord, I thank you forlife-giving power, for tongues
of fire.
Father God, that we speak lifeabundantly into our community,
into our friends and our family,into our community, into our
friends and our family, into thebroken and lost world.
(34:06):
Lord, I pray that you movethrough this house today, touch
hearts, touch minds, release usfrom our chains.
Father God, I thank you and Ipraise you.
I give you all the honor andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus, and the church says amen.
Love you guys.
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We'll see you on Wednesdaynight.
If we have to go into next week with this one, we
will.
But I want to start by sayingevery day we face a choice.
Amen.
Can we turn out the front rowof lights, just the back row,
please?
Thank you.
Every day we face a choice, andthat choice is between
positivity and negativity.
Amen.
(00:20):
Every day we face that choice.
Every day that choice can be achallenge.
It's a choice between faith andfear, between encouragement and
criticism, and the world oftengravitates towards the negative.
Amen, the world oftengravitates towards the negative.
(00:45):
But we all know that thescripture tells us that we are
to live for higher perspective.
Right, that we should always belooking for the positive.
Amen, and we should be prayingfor the positive.
Now I heard a lady say first ofall, let's just back up for a
quick second.
I'm all discombobulated, butthis started.
(01:05):
You know, Joyce Myers thinksthat, or doesn't think, but she
preaches.
A big part of her ministry ison that the mind is a
battlefield.
Right, that the mind is thebattlefield.
And I used to think that's agreat gimmick for selling books
and audio books and all of thatstuff.
But it's true, right, it's allabout how you look at it, it's
all about perspective, but trulyit's all up here.
(01:29):
It starts there before it goesanywhere else.
It doesn't come out of yourmouth before it comes into your
brain right Now.
The problem is is sometimes ourbrains are wired to just say
whatever comes in there, withouta filter to stop it from coming
out Guilty as charged.
Hallelujah, right.
It's not a good thing.
I'm just saying it happens, itexists and it's something that's
(01:49):
real, that we have to be awareof and we have to fix.
So I said that because I hearda lady say that.
Well, I had a young lady say tome.
She was sitting next to me andshe made this comment.
She said everybody here is lazy.
That was the comment.
That was not about the church,it was in another setting.
But she said everybody here islazy.
(02:10):
And I thought on it for asecond.
I said when she comes back, I'mgoing to call her out on that,
I'm going to say something aboutit because I ain't lazy.
I might be a lot of things.
You can call me a lot of names.
Lazy ain't one of them, right?
So she came back and she saidsomething to me, almost as if
she was asking me for something,and I said I'm so sorry, I'm
lazy.
And she was shocked because shedidn't know that I had heard
(02:32):
what she had said.
And she just kind of looked atme, walked away.
And a few minutes later she cameover and she plopped down
beside me as hard as she couldand she said when I said
everybody was lazy, I wasn'treferring to you.
I said but I'm part ofeverybody, therefore you are
accusing me of being lazy.
And she said well, I didn'tmean it that way.
(02:54):
Fine, I said but this person'snot lazy and that person's not
lazy and this.
Well, I was just sayingsomething to somebody else and
nobody should have beenlistening anyway.
Right, but when you say it inpublic, out loud, everybody can
hear it and therefore you areaccusing me and the other people
of being this thing that yousaid.
(03:15):
Right, I said to her.
I said if I would say everybodyin this room is ugly, how would
you feel about that?
And she would say well, Iwouldn't care, because I don't
care what other people think.
I said well, you care enoughwhat I think that you came over
here and apologized.
(03:35):
You do care.
Here's what it boiled down to,her final statement to me,
before I just simply gave hergrace was I can be angry and
still be a happy person.
I said I don't think it worksthat way.
And she continued to argue thepoint and I said I'm going to
make an agreement with you thenext time you make a generalized
statement.
I will just assume that you arenot talking about me.
(03:57):
And she said okay, and she gotup and walked away and she felt
like she had won that argument.
All I did was plant a seed thatyou cannot be miserable and
angry and mean and be happy atthe same time.
It's not possible.
You can't live life like that.
(04:17):
Amen.
Somehow in their mind, that'sreal, that's rationalized.
Can I tell you that each andevery one of us do that with
something in our lives.
We all rationalize somethingthat we know is wrong and try to
make it right.
Amen.
All right, got a couple ofscriptures.
I want to hit first thing.
But at the end of the day, wewant to be a positive-minded
(04:42):
people, amen.
We don't want to be fixated onthe negative, we don't want to
be fixated on the things of theworld, but we want to be fixated
on the positive things.
And that means that doesn'tmean there can't be things we
dislike.
It means that when we seesomething that we dislike, we
have to pray about it right.
We have to be able to handle itwith grace and with mercy.
(05:02):
What you think shapes who youbecome Amen.
If you think negative thoughtsall day long, if you think
everybody around you is out toget you, pretty soon everybody
that's around you will be out toget you Good, bad or
indifferent.
That's how it will be.
(05:24):
If you allow yourself to thinkthat that will become your
reality.
Whether it's true or not is notthe point.
It will be your reality.
You won't be able to walk intoa conference.
There are people who like tothink that Pastor Holly and I
talk about them.
I don't have the time whenPastor Holly and I get on the
(05:46):
phone.
It's about ministry.
It's about positive things.
It's about moving forward inthe kingdom.
It ain't about your life.
I mean, it's not that we don'tcare.
We love you guys.
We care deeply, but we don'thave the time to manage it right
.
We want to lift you guys up inprayer and that's what we do.
We aren't going to.
We aren't.
I'm sorry.
I know you might have thoughtthat you were really popular in
(06:08):
the ministry circle, but weain't talking about you.
Romans 12.2.
It says don't copy the behaviorand the customs of this world,
but let God transform you into anew person by changing the way
you think.
Then you will learn to knowGod's will for you, which is
(06:32):
good and pleasing and perfect,amen.
It didn't say by changing theway you dress.
It didn't say by changing theway that you talk.
It said by changing the waythat you think, because
everything that goes throughhere is what your life becomes.
You know, I said to Courtneythis morning.
(06:53):
I said I thought your pantswere cow print, because she's
got on these black and whitepants and this is a fun story.
I saw her a long time ago itwas months ago and she was in a
shirt that was like was itpurple?
It was like a deep purple butit was kind of iridescent and I
thought it was camo.
For those of you who like camo,don't judge me.
I saw it and I went.
(07:14):
Why is she wearing that Like?
She certainly has better tastethan that, right.
But now my mindset is I don'ttrust Courtney to dress herself
Cal print pants, camo.
None of that was reality, right, it wasn't.
Yes, I know it's not cal print,I'm correcting myself.
It's not reality, but in mymind that's what it was and
(07:35):
therefore it became my reality,right?
So I was allowing the world toshape how I think about
Courtney's pants, right, andtherefore I made an assumption
about Courtney's pants, right,and therefore I made an
assumption about Courtney.
Well, that's not very fair,right?
I didn't allow my brain toprocess it and I didn't go back
and say, hey, I probably need tothink about that before I say
(07:57):
something about it.
Amen, amen.
Like if I'd have walked in andmooed really loud, that would
have been offensive, right, mymind would have said it's just a
joke, but it would have beenoffensive.
That's the stuff that we have tobe thinking about all the time.
We have to fix our minds on thethings that are positive and
good.
Therefore, we don't have toworry about the things that are
(08:19):
negative.
Philippians 4.8, it tells us.
And now, dear brothers andsisters, one final thing Fix
your thoughts on what is true,hold on to that word and,
honorable and right and pure andlovely and admirable, think
about the things that areexcellent and worthy of praise.
(08:42):
Is somebody's sin worthy ofpraise?
I didn't think so, but why arewe holding on to it?
Why are we constantly talkingabout it and thinking about it?
If it is not worthy of praise,I don't need it, I don't need to
hold on to it.
Think of the thoughts of whatis true.
(09:02):
Now, here's the problem.
A lot of times there are twotruths.
Right, we remember when Jesuswas being tempted in the
wilderness, the enemy wouldquote scripture.
Right, he would quote scripture.
It's not that the scripture wasuntrue.
But then Jesus comes back, butman shall not live on bread
alone.
Amen.
(09:22):
Listen, I don't need to knowthe things that aren't real.
This is a hard lesson for thoseof us who go to work every day,
because you hear things aboutpeople and it's real easy to
look at somebody else and go hey, did you hear what so-and-so
said?
I think that such and such isabout to happen.
Right, that was a hard lessonfor me.
I'm gonna just tell you thetruth.
I met with my owners severalmonths ago and they said
(09:46):
something to me.
I mean, it crushed me.
I have a great deal of respectfor these men and they said we
can't tell you certain thingsbecause we're afraid you'll tell
other people.
Oh, that's crushing.
Now, vicki, you went.
Oh, because you don't think Iwould do that, do you?
I'm going to tell you something.
If you've told me, my wifeknows.
It's the truth, right, and it'snot a bad thing.
(10:07):
My wife knows, because I've gotto go somewhere Now she
wouldn't tell anybody.
I can't even get her to tell mewhat she got me for Christmas.
Most of the time, this lady isa secret keeper, she is a vault,
she knows stuff that she'snever told me and I'm thankful
for that, because there is stuffshe knows I don't need to know,
right?
Hallelujah, thank you Jesus.
Thank you Jesus.
(10:33):
But my point is when we tellother people things, we break
trust, we break confidence, andwhen we do that, there's this
level of like discontent thatstarts to well up inside of
people, right, and the problemis, is we're not typically
focused on the truth or, if it'shonorable, we're focused on
getting it out of our face,right?
I need people to know this, anda lot of times it's stupid
stuff, right?
(10:53):
Yeah, okay, all right, hey,listen, last Sunday, when Pastor
Holly started talking aboutpeople that like to start the
fire and then stir the fire, andI got fired up in the sound
booth, I could have preached awhole message last Sunday,
because I'm going to tell you.
It happens to me every singleday.
Somebody will call me and belike Pastor Michael, so-and-so
said or so-and-so did.
Why are you starting this fire?
(11:15):
What's the purpose of this fire?
Is it to glorify God?
Because, if it's to glorify God, why are you starting it with
me and not with God?
Right, because if God needs todeal with it, let God deal with
it.
Keep me out of it.
Listen, my wife said to meyesterday you are not a social
person.
I'm a very social person.
(11:35):
I just don't want to know aboutyour problems.
Personable, personable,personable that's what she
called me.
I'm not personable.
Can you go back to class orsomething?
Can you go, get out of here?
Yeah, I know we won't fistfight in front of you, that'll
be later.
We'll have to cut that.
(11:58):
Who said that?
Do it.
I know, I know that I have noidea what I was talking about.
Completely lost it, which meansI ain't supposed to talk about
it.
Negativity is often born in themind and it starts with a
(12:20):
thought, but it becomes amindset, right?
That thought, that singlethought where you say Dale says
well, pastor Michael doesn'tlike me anymore, pastor Michael
doesn't like me anymore.
That's a thought.
That becomes a mindset, right?
And then when I approach Dalein the hallway and Dale's like
he didn't even talk to me it hasnothing to do with the fact
that he was talking to three ofthem, he just doesn't even like
(12:41):
me anymore, right?
And then this mindset becomesour.
We identify with that exactthought and it consumes us,
right?
Listen, people say bad stuffabout me all the time and that
used to bother me a lot, a lot.
And now I look at it and I gowhy does it matter?
I can't please every person.
I would rather let the worlddown and please God every day,
(13:07):
all day, and not care what theworld thinks about me Right Now.
That doesn't mean to say that Iwant to be hated by the world.
It means I want to be valued bythe world, but for who I am in
Christ, not who I am in theworld.
Amen, amen, hallelujah,hallelujah in the world.
(13:28):
Amen, amen, hallelujah.
God calls us not to just thinkbetter, but to be transformed by
a renewing of our minds.
Right, we are not just to thinkbetter, but we are to be
transformed.
Listen, every morning when Iget up, I pray that I am
transformed from the person Iwas the day before and listen, I
think that I have been right.
I can apologize to people nowand I'm like hey, I'm really
(13:48):
sorry about doing that.
I shouldn't have done that.
I don't even have to explainwhy I did it.
I'm okay with just saying I'msorry, I was wrong.
Right, it used to be.
Hey, I'm sorry, I was wrong,but that, this, that or the
other right.
There's always the but Not thatway.
I am really sorry if I made you.
I'm really sorry if I hurt yourfeelings.
(14:12):
I'm really sorry if you feltneglected.
That's not my intention.
I'm getting much better at that.
That's growth, people.
That is growth.
All right, your words havecreative power.
Creative power.
Pastor Holly always tells methat I am always on something up
(14:32):
here in my brain, right?
Pastor Holly always tells methat I am always on something up
here in my brain, right, like Ifind creative ways, creative
solutions for just about everyproblem.
We find right.
We don't run across somethingthat I can't come up with.
It might not be the rightsolution, but we can guarantee
it's creative.
(14:53):
Ephesians 4.29, it says noticethat it says he ascended.
This clearly means that theChrist who descended Christ also
descended to our lonely world.
That's not the scripture that Ihave written down here, so I
don't know.
I wrote it wrong apparently.
What is that?
Is that Ephesians 4.9 or 4.29?
(15:15):
It should be 4.29.
I'm sorry I wrote it wrong.
Can you quickly change that?
When I read it I was like thatdoesn't make sense.
It's a great scripture, not fortoday's message.
Hold on to that.
Maybe there it is.
(15:35):
Oh, I don't like this one.
Don't use foul or abusivelanguage.
Let everything you say be goodand helpful, so that your words
will be an encouragement tothose who hear them.
Jesus, I should have rereadthat scripture before I put it
(15:59):
in there.
Right?
Don't use foul or abusivelanguage.
Let everything you say be goodand helpful.
Is everything that comes out ofyour mouth good and helpful?
Ooh, if we're all saying no,that's not a good sign for us,
is it Because the scripture Imean it's pretty clear, right,
like there's no reading betweenthe lines on this one?
(16:19):
Be good and helpful, so thatyour words will be an
encouragement to those who hearthem.
How often do we go out into theworld and we say things to
people that are hurtful?
Those people may not know.
Jesus, vicki, can I share yourstory about next Sunday?
About next Sunday yeah.
So Vicki approached me in thecafe this morning and she said
(16:40):
Pastor Michael, I want to askyou if I can do something before
I do it.
That's usually not a good sign.
Right Now, vicki, I trust her.
I would trust her with my life.
But that statement coming fromanybody goes.
And she said Pastor Michael, Ihave a friend who was scared to
(17:01):
go to church.
They're afraid to go to churchbecause they went to a
Pentecostal church when theywere little and they were scared
by the person that was theSunday school teacher because
they were just jamming hell downtheir throats.
And she said can I go toanother church to go with them
on their first Sunday?
Absolutely you can, because ifyou are bringing somebody to
(17:24):
Jesus, it's not about thisbuilding, it's about the kingdom
of God.
Amen, it is about the kingdomof God.
Now here's the thing Leteverything you say be good and
helpful, so that the words willbe an encouragement to those who
hear them.
They didn't decide to go tochurch just because they decided
to go to church.
You know why they went tochurch.
They decided to go to churchbecause Vicki had been praying
(17:48):
with them and been speaking lifeinto them.
That is what changes thekingdom of God, right?
It's not that invitation justto church on a random Sunday.
And listen, we're not foreverybody, right?
There would have been somenewbies that would have showed
up here this morning and be like, uh-uh, ain't coming back there
.
Right, they'd have been out thedoor.
We are not for everybody inevery season, but you know what,
(18:10):
if we can get them into thehands of somewhere where they're
comfortable, that's glorifyingto the kingdom of God.
Amen.
That is a positive interaction.
Proverbs 16, 24.
It says kind words are likehoney sweet to the soul and
healthy for the body.
(18:31):
I tell my wife she's beautifulall the time.
All the time I tell my wifeshe's beautiful all the time.
All the time I tell my wifeshe's beautiful, and you know
what she says to me Shut up.
Do you think her telling me toshut up stops me from telling
her she's beautiful?
Absolutely not, because Ibelieve that those sweet words
(18:53):
will only make her grow stronger.
Right, it's like Miracle-Gro,right?
I just keep telling her she'sbeautiful and whether she ever
believes that she's beautiful ornot, I think she's gorgeous,
right, and I love her for whoshe is.
I don't need her to change atall.
I mean, I would like for her tobe able to wash, dry and fold a
basket of laundry in one day.
(19:13):
But I mean, we're all workingon ourselves, right, we're all
working on ourselves, right.
Anybody in here can do thatWash, dry, fold and put away a
basket of laundry in one day.
Good for you guys.
Good for you guys.
Anybody want to come to myhouse and help out?
No, lord, have mercy.
(19:35):
But I believe that when we goout into the world and we speak
life and we speak sweetly andkindly and genuinely to people,
I'm not talking about that kindof like, oh well, god bless you.
Not that kind.
I'm talking about the real kindthat says, hey, my dad was at
work a week or so ago and we hada church group in.
Sometimes those church groupscan be a little high maintenance
(19:56):
, I'm not going to lie, allright.
So this group of ladies werethere.
My dad gets in the elevator, hepushes the button and the lady
looks at him, waits for a second, she goes.
You know Jesus loves you.
Like, how great is that?
This lady didn't know him fromAdam.
She didn't know that he wassaved, but she made sure that he
knew that she didn't know himat all.
(20:17):
I mean, you've seen that guyright, big goofy looking dude,
little old lady just telling himJesus loves him.
We need to be more like thatevery day, because those sweet
and kind words and you're goingto get people who don't want to
hear it.
But you've planted a seedBecause when they fall on hard
times they're going to go.
You remember that one time thatlady told us Jesus loves us.
(20:38):
You remember that one?
Remember that young kid thatsaid they're going to remember
that and it's going to plant aseed.
The lady that Vicki is going tochurch with next Sunday has
been to church a long, long timeago 60 years, is that?
What she said 60 years agoHasn't gone back because she was
(20:59):
afraid, but Vicki, speakingsweetly, gently into her life,
has allowed her to haverevelation.
Amen, proverbs 12, 18.
Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise
bring healing.
Do any of us ever say harshthings just because we can?
(21:21):
Yeah, like you meet somebody oryou ever got that person you
know in your life.
You just don't like them andwhen they walk by you're like
I'm going to make a snidecomment, right, I'm going to say
it loud enough that I hope theyhear it, but I'm not going to
say it directly to them.
Amen, hallelujah, thank you,jesus.
Nobody else can admit to thatbut me.
Okay, that's fine.
Muttering, yes, yeah, yeah,yeah.
And you, just loud enough thatthey can hear it, right, because
(21:43):
you want to cut them.
But it says the words of thewise bring healing.
Listen, I want to be wise inthe kingdom, right?
I want to be able to speak life.
I want to be able to heal thebrokenhearted.
I want to be able to give themhope in a world that feels
hopeless.
(22:04):
Amen, faith over fear, joy overdespair.
Amen, faith over fear, joy overdespair.
Romans 15, 13.
It says I pray that God, thesource of hope, will fill you
completely with joy and peacebecause you trust in him.
(22:26):
Then you will overflow withconfident hope in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
There is hope In the mightyname of Jesus.
Negativity often stems from fear, right?
I think that fear is theleading cause of all sin in this
(22:48):
world.
I was watching this littleadvertisement for this company
that they talk about addictionvery differently.
They say that when you'readdicted to something, it's not
because you're a bad person,it's not because you're sinful
in nature.
It's because your brain ischasing cheap dopamine.
(23:11):
Well, that might be true, butsin is sin.
Let's call it what it is right.
Let's don't try to sugarcoat itand tell you it's okay if you
sin.
It's just the way your brain iswired.
No, we need transformation inthe name of Jesus.
We need to have hope and faithin what Jesus Christ has told us
.
So then, we're not chasingcheap dopamine, right?
(23:31):
Listen?
There is nothing in this worldthat will replace the love of
Jesus.
It's not the love of a spouse,it's not the love of a child.
There is nothing.
It's not the love of a child.
There is nothing.
It's not Dunkin' Donuts, it'snot Starbucks.
There is nothing in this worldthat will replace the love of
Jesus.
Starbucks might taste good,dunkin' Donuts might be good, or
(23:52):
McDonald's.
Now, don't be coming after melike that.
Don't be coming after me likethat, but there is nothing that
will take the place of Jesus inyour life.
Nehemiah 8.10, and Nehemiahcontinued go and celebrate with
a feast of rich foods and sweetdrinks.
(24:15):
Get off my back and share giftsof food with people who have
nothing prepared.
Share gifts of food with peoplewho have nothing prepared.
This is a sacred day before ourLord.
Don't be dejected and sad, forthe joy of the Lord is your
strength.
I may be weak in a lot ofthings, but my joy in the Lord
(24:36):
is great.
Strength in all things, amen.
I don't have to worry aboutwhat the world thinks or what
the world does, because I havestrength in all things.
Amen.
I don't have to worry aboutwhat the world thinks or what
the world does, because I havestrength in the Lord.
Amen.
All of my strength is in theLord.
Negativity drains us.
Joy sustains us.
See, when I live life negative,I will constantly be miserable.
(25:02):
You ever had those days whereyou wake up and you just don't
want to get out of bed becauseyou know life is terrible, right
, like, oh, nothing's goingright.
I've had a bad week, this, thatand the other.
You haven't had a bad week.
You don't have a bad life.
You had a bad situation.
Let me tell you that thatvalley that you might be feeling
like you're in today is one ofthe best places to be.
(25:23):
There is lush green forest inthat valley.
You can rest comfortably untilthe Lord calls you back to the
mountaintop.
You cannot worry abouteverything in your life.
You have to say God, I trustyou and I know that can, and I
have joy in walking out thisexperience with you.
(25:44):
I have joy in walking out thispath with you.
Amen, all right, roger.
You want to come help me?
Harley, can you go get me yourcar battery?
I'm just kidding.
He got up, he was going to godo it.
I'm just kidding, I know youwould do it.
That's why I asked you and notanybody else.
I knew you, of all people,would do it.
(26:06):
Pastor Roger, hold that end.
So I brought with me a pair ofjumper cables.
Right Now, how many of you havea pair of these in your car?
You didn't have a car.
Well, I guess then you don'thave one in your car?
How many people Raise yourhands?
Okay, a good deal of you.
How many of you know how to usethem?
Holly's, like, I got a set.
(26:29):
I don't know what to do withthem.
Okay, most of us know how touse them.
Most of us know that the red ispositive, the black the
negative the ground right.
Okay, now, if you were to takeboth of these and you were to
(26:49):
hook them up to the car batteryincorrectly, what happens?
Large spark or a large boom.
Why is that?
Because you can't have negativeand positive at the same time,
right, you can't have negativeand positive at the same time.
Right, you can't have negativeand positive at the same time.
However, if you take both ofthese and you hook them up to
the dead battery the correct way, positive to the positive,
negative to the negative andthen you hook those up to the
(27:10):
battery that has power, you cantouch them together and make
some space.
But if you hook them up, whathappens?
Power flows from one to theother.
Great power comes when we'regrounded in Christ, focusing on
the positive.
Amen.
Now, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
Some of you are positive right.
(27:33):
How many of us are positive?
Positive people Great,wonderful.
Some of us are positive.
Some of us are negative, right.
Right, how many of us arenegative?
Mike raised his handinvoluntarily 50-50.
Right, that's fair.
(27:53):
That's fair.
Now, some of you are actuallyjust like a set of jumper cables
, because you like to startstuff, are actually just like a
set of jumper cables.
Because you like to start stuff, it's true, isn't it?
Because you like to start it,stir it and let somebody else
deal with it.
Can I tell you something.
It's not life-giving, it'slife-draining.
(28:16):
It's life-draining for thepeople that you're telling.
It's life-draining for yourself.
It is life-draining for thepeople that you're telling.
It's life draining for yourself.
It is life draining for thepeople who are around you.
Listen, we shouldn't have tohide our every word because we
are trying to sugarcoat it tomake it feel positive.
Well, that set of jumper cablesis broken.
Roger, I don't know if I'd usethat if I was you.
Just get a little electricaltape, it'll be fine.
(28:36):
Hey, beth, we're going to usean extension cord and fix this.
Okay, he says he can fix it.
Yeah, we'll just fix that, it'sfine.
It's fine.
Quit messing with it, get outof here, go.
It ain't even hooked up tonothing.
I'm going to get electrocutedbecause he won't stop touching
it.
Roger has a way.
(28:57):
I know that we laugh at thatjoke that some of us are just
like a set of jumper cables andwe just like to start stuff.
But let me tell you something.
It's true.
It is true every single day.
Some of us wake up in themorning and go how much trouble
can I stir and then go.
I don't know what happened.
(29:17):
What happened?
Why are all of these peopleupset.
I didn't say that.
What I said was Easton, thiskid can twist anything right,
it's like a magic power, isn'tit?
He goes oh yeah, that's asuperpower, I say to him.
I say to him did you say that?
(29:38):
No, I didn't say that.
I'm like well, the other kidsaid you said that and he goes.
No, I didn't say that.
What I said was which is theexact same thing, with an
inflection on a different wordthat makes the sentence feel
different.
What I didn't do, that, listen,life is not all rainbows and
(30:00):
unicorns, right, life is goingto be difficult.
We are going to experiencehardships, we're going to
experience things that don'tfeel good.
However, however, is oh, Iforgot about those.
Thank you for doing that.
We have to realize that there isa positive and a negative in
everything that we do.
Give me the positive.
(30:20):
The positive.
We're speaking joy, faith andtruth.
There is a positive and anegative in everything that we
do.
Give me the positive.
The positive we're speaking joy, faith and truth.
Amen.
The negative, we are speakingfear, doubt, or we're
complaining.
How many of us like to complain?
I love to complain.
It's like a pastime for me,right, it's like a pastime, but
(30:41):
let me tell you only when youare connected properly can the
true power of Christ flow inyour life.
Amen.
You have to be properlygrounded in the word and your
positive needs to be fixed onJesus, amen.
Positive needs to be fixed onJesus, amen.
There is no gray area.
(31:05):
It is black or red.
You are in one or the other.
You are positive or you arenegative.
You can't be one or the other.
I woke up this morning in such abad mood.
No, god did not call you tothat.
God called you to speak life,amen.
Listen, I'm preaching to myselfright now.
I know that when things happenin my life that I can fall over
(31:29):
here, it's easy, it's easy to do, but I have to run it through
that filter.
Is it glorifying to God?
Is it glorifying to the personI'm about to say it to or the
person I'm about to say it about?
If not, shut my mouth, lord,only allow me to speak positive
things.
Amen.
Church, I need you to understandsomething.
(31:50):
Today we're going to walk outof this room.
Most of you are going to forgetabout this message.
Be the last time you thinkabout it, but the next time your
car gets a dead battery, thenext time you're going to go.
Oh, I remember how to jump thissucker.
First of all and I think Imight be a little bit negative
today you know how easy it is tobe negative when your car
(32:13):
battery dies.
It ain't nice, right.
But think about it.
We need to ground ourselves inthe word.
We need to positively fix oureyes on Jesus and life giving
power will flow.
Amen.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you and I praiseyou for a word in season, lord,
(32:37):
that we may be able to laughand to joke.
But, lord, I know, I know thatyou are doing something great in
your house.
Lord, that the words that arebeing spoken are directly from
you and not of me.
Father, god, that there isglory in your message.
(32:59):
That, lord, each of us can walkout of here with our eyes fixed
upon you.
Lord, repentance is our heart'sdesire, a rebirth, walking from
the old man to the new man.
(33:20):
Father God, laying down all ofthose sins at the foot of the
cross.
Lord, you know that our fleshis weak, but each and every one
of us have a strong, strongspirit Centered on you.
Lord, there is nothing that canstop us, because the same power
(33:42):
that rose Jesus from the gravelives in us.
Lord, I thank you forlife-giving power, for tongues
of fire.
Father God, that we speak lifeabundantly into our community,
into our friends and our family,into our community, into our
friends and our family, into thebroken and lost world.
(34:06):
Lord, I pray that you movethrough this house today, touch
hearts, touch minds, release usfrom our chains.
Father God, I thank you and Ipraise you.
I give you all the honor andglory in the mighty name of
Jesus, and the church says amen.
Love you guys.
(34:26):
We'll see you on Wednesdaynight.
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