The Danger of Self-Powered Awakening

• Enduring Faith and Conquering [01:04:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts cultural desires for comfort with the biblical call to 'overwhelmingly conquer' through enduring faith during difficult times.
• Grace and Restoration [01:05:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses those who feel they failed or did not handle difficulties well, using the parable of the fig tree to illustrate God's willingness to give a second chance and work on the believer.
• New Season/Era [01:10:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor expresses a feeling that the church is entering a new spiritual era or season, emphasizing the importance of how one begins something new to finish well.
• Hearing God's Voice [01:12:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between 'heard' (past foundation) and 'hearing' (present continuous activation of faith), citing Romans 10:17 to argue that faith is activated by ongoing listening to God.
• Internal Quietness [01:13:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares his personal struggle with internal 'noise' and racing thoughts, emphasizing the need to 'quieten oneself inwardly' to create space for God to speak.
• Divine Presence in Chaos [01:14:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using Genesis 1, the pastor illustrates that even in formless and desolate conditions, the Holy Spirit is present and hovering, bringing order and light.
• Transition of Leadership [01:20:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the transition from Moses to Joshua to discuss the anxiety and difficulty of losing mentors or leaders, highlighting the need to rely on God's direct word rather than human intermediaries.
• Death and Grief [01:22:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the emotional toll of death, particularly the loss of younger people, and contrasts human grief with the theological comfort that death is an enemy defeated by Christ.
• Divine Guidance and Presence [01:24:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using Joshua as an example, the pastor emphasizes the necessity of hearing God's voice and relying on His presence rather than personal plans or experience when facing new challenges.
• Spiritual Warfare and Kingdom Work [01:26:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the devil only opposes those doing Kingdom work in Christ, not mere 'good works,' and that believers should expect resistance when pursuing God's specific calling.
• Perseverance in Ministry [01:27:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor addresses the logistical change of preaching two services, framing it not as a personal preference but as a divine answer and a form of persecution for faith.
• Seasonal Provision and Disappointment [01:30:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > Through the story of Elijah, the pastor illustrates that God's provisions (like the brook) are often seasonal, and believers must move on when they dry up rather than staying in a depleted state.
• Divine Presence and Revelation [01:34:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts God's presence in dramatic manifestations (wind, earthquake, fire) with His presence in the 'gentle blowing' or 'still small voice,' noting that God is not always in the dramatic signs He used in the past.
• Intentional Stillness [01:36:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers must intentionally step away from the 'presence' of worldly situations to step into the presence of the Lord to hear Him speak.
• Discernment vs. Noise [01:38:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the 'noise' of the world and cares of life drowns out God's voice, requiring believers to choose between focusing on the world or the Kingdom of God.
• Prayer and Listening [01:41:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages the congregation to ask 'What is the Lord saying?' rather than just asking for direction, noting that God can speak even in silence or in 'same old, same old' situations.
• Spiritual Renewal and Identity [01:44:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the transition from feeling chaos to experiencing renewal, where the believer's true, God-created self comes alive.
• Divine Guidance and Clarity [01:45:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that spiritual awakening leads to knowing what to do and hearing the Lord more clearly.
• Escaping Worldly Chaos [01:46:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for deliverance from the chaos, thoughts, pressures, and politics of the world to step into God's presence.

• Sermon Illustration [01:07:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a dream where he was in an office with God the Father, who was evaluating church members. God expressed a desire to help those 'not doing well' (like the unfruitful tree) and instructed the pastor to encourage and speak life over them rather than reject them.
• Sermon Illustration [01:05:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the parable of the fig tree from Luke 13, where the owner wanted to cut down an unfruitful tree, but the gardener asked for another chance to dig around it and fertilize it to produce fruit.
• Sermon Illustration [01:15:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a 'mama bear' protecting her cubs to describe the protective and hovering nature of the Holy Spirit over the earth and believers, contrasting it with the less protective male bear.
• Sermon Illustration [01:21:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his struggle with death, specifically the death of younger people, and a conversation with Jerry Ball who told him that death is 'to be expected' as one gets older.
• Sermon Illustration [01:20:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative of Joshua succeeding Moses to illustrate the feeling of anxiety and loss when a powerful spiritual mentor or leader is removed from one's life.
• Sermon Illustration [01:22:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal struggle with grief, citing a conversation with Jerry Ball about death being 'expected' as one ages, and his own difficulty accepting the death of younger people as God's will.
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:39 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the biblical narrative of Joshua succeeding Moses, highlighting Joshua's lack of experience and plan, and his reliance on God's voice and presence to lead the people into the Promised Land.
• Sermon Illustration [01:28:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of Elijah the Tishbite, detailing his rise, the drought, the ravens feeding him, the drying of the brook, his interaction with the widow, the showdown on Mount Carmel, and his subsequent flight to Mount Horeb due to fear and exhaustion.
• Sermon Illustration [01:43:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal dream where he was in a dark cave representing chaos and feeling that his life was messed up. God told him to come out of the cave. Upon stepping out onto a mountain, he saw billions of stars and felt a breath of air, symbolizing a renewal and awakening of his true self created by God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:39:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a humorous anecdote about his past spending habits, admitting he used to spend hundreds of dollars without keeping receipts or realizing it until his wife took his debit card away, illustrating how easily one can be consumed by worldly distractions without noticing.
• Sermon Illustration [01:44:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts a personal dream where he felt the chaos of his life, then walked out of a cave onto a mountain with billions of stars visible. A breath of air entered him, causing him to feel renewed and come alive as the person God created him to be, contrasting this with the chaos of the cave.
• Sermon Illustration [01:45:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical story of Elijah, noting that Elijah's life did not end in the cave but continued with great purpose, culminating in a spectacular departure to heaven via a whirlwind, illustrating that God has bigger moments ahead.

• Pastoral Charge [01:07:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up to receive prayer and a declaration of grace from the Holy Spirit
• Pastoral Charge [01:13:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor models and implicitly commands the congregation to actively reject intrusive negative thoughts and 'take every thought captive' by speaking to them directly.
• Pastoral Charge [01:42:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor invites the congregation to verbally affirm their commitment to giving God space in their lives.
• Pastoral Charge [01:42:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > A physical directive for the congregation to stand.
• Pastoral Charge [01:46:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > Reach hand to heaven and pray for spiritual awakening.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:04:26] Happy 845 service. It's good to see y'all. And I'll say Happy New Year. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. That was Friday. And just super interesting y'all in the Jewish number calendar. This is the year of new beginnings. And it just I didn't know that. I don't know anything about that kind of stuff. But Dean reached out. I just felt like we're doing something new. Like we do have a new beginning going on.
[00:04:58] on here and it just felt appropriate. Would you all stand and we'll pray? Well, Lord, we thank you for new beginnings. We thank you that you're fresh, that you're new, that you have a wind that's
[00:05:13] going to roll through this place that we haven't seen yet. And we're here for it, Lord. We're here to see where the river's going to go. Where are you going to lead? What's this season going to
[00:05:22] look like? And we're excited about it and we're open to it, Lord. Do your stuff. Do something that only you can do. Flow in this place and take us along on that journey, Lord. And we're just here
[00:05:33] for the ride. We're here to worship you and love you and see what you're doing and see how we can support that, Lord. Be with us today. In your name we pray. Amen.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:33:14] that we can grab a hold of this morning to allow us to breathe again freely and let our hearts beat at the right speed, even down to our bodies to be regulated.
[00:33:35] Just trusting him this morning.
[00:33:41] So thank you, Lord, that we can trust you, that you're trustworthy, Lord.
[00:34:25] Just exalt you, Lord.

[00:49:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:49:15] Lord, we lift you high and we esteem you, Lord, because you are so good to us.
[00:49:26] and you are the only one worthy of our praise.
[00:49:31] So freely this morning, Lord, we just praise your name.
[00:49:34] We say, Lord, you are good.
[00:49:36] You are our God, and you are so good to us.
[00:50:29] What an awesome thought, Lord, that you're the one who's holding the world in your hands.
[00:50:33] Not chance, not randomness, Lord, but you've got us in the palms of your hand.
[00:50:41] And that seems massive, but on an individual level, that we can just rest in your arms, Lord.
[00:50:52] Oh, Daddy, that we can just be held by you.
[00:50:58] That's so good, guys.
[00:51:01] It's a good place to be, isn't it?
[00:51:05] So if anybody needs to feel like they're in their daddy's arms this morning, I'm just going to pray for that.
[00:51:11] Lord, be with us right now.
[00:51:14] Oh, Lord, we want to feel your presence.
[00:51:18] We just want to melt into your arms.
[00:51:20] And all of those things that come with that comfort and love and safety in the midst of this world that doesn't offer us those things.
[00:51:33] Oh, Lord, you do.
[00:51:35] So we just rest in you right now, Jesus.
[00:51:52] There's two things I want to pray for this morning.
[00:51:54] One of them is physical healing.
[00:51:57] So if you're sick, if you're hurt, if you're broken, if you're busted, if you want to raise a hand, you can, and people will lay their hands on you.
[00:52:07] If not, I'm praying for you anyway, so take it.
[00:52:10] If you see somebody near you with a hand up, I'm just going to pray.
[00:52:14] Just really, folks, church, out of this morning, out of a place of obedience, where Jesus says, Father, as it is in heaven, so on earth.
[00:52:22] I'm just praying that this morning.
[00:52:24] There's not brokenness in heaven.
[00:52:27] Your broken body is in earthly condition.
[00:52:31] But when the disciples came to Jesus, he said, pray this, Father, hallowed be your name.
[00:52:37] May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
[00:52:40] We just pray that over your bodies right now.
[00:52:42] Those broken parts, those aching parts, those hurting parts, Lord, may heaven come right now.
[00:52:48] Renew and restore and replace with the heavenly components Lord, we pray against allergies.
[00:53:00] That's not heavenly.
[00:53:01] So we rebuke those in Jesus' name.
[00:53:06] And people might be able to breathe clearly.
[00:53:08] Sinuses would be released.
[00:53:11] Heaven come.
[00:53:14] Man, I'm open for some heavenly sinuses.
[00:53:21] Here's the other thing I want to pray for, church, and this might be clunky, so I apologize.
[00:53:25] But I really, that song that Seth was singing about, I want to be close to know that heaven is real and death is a lie.
[00:53:32] I really want to pray about that lie component because there's an adversary who likes to lie to you. And I think one of the most dangerous tools in his toolbox is the little lie.
[00:53:46] The little things that we hear that seem reasonable and we believe, but that's not Jesus.
[00:53:52] So if you find yourself in a position where you're believing some things that aren't true, or you're hearing some things in your mind that aren't true, let's rebuke those right now, okay?
[00:54:03] So if that's you, you can put your hand on your head or whatever.
[00:54:07] This isn't formulaic.
[00:54:08] I don't really care what you do.
[00:54:09] But Jesus, come right now into our mind space.
[00:54:13] Lord, I pray that you would shine a light on the lies from hell.
[00:54:16] The things that the devil wants to tell us that would separate us from your glory.
[00:54:21] Things like we're not good enough.
[00:54:23] Or they don't love you enough.
[00:54:24] Or they don't love you in the right way.
[00:54:26] Or you're not smart enough.
[00:54:27] Whatever that lie is, Lord, we rebuke it right now.
[00:54:31] In Jesus' name.
[00:54:32] And in Jesus' name, we say, I am loved, and I'm good enough, and I'm a child in the kingdom of God.
[00:54:38] Hallelujah.
[00:54:40] Whoa.
[00:54:47] Yeah, devil, you're a stinker.
[00:54:50] We don't got time for that up in here this morning.
[00:54:55] Well, Lord, you're good to us.
[00:55:01] So good to us.
[00:55:02] Anybody else feel like just a joy in the place this morning?
[00:55:06] I haven't laughed this much in church in a long time.
[00:55:08] And even Oliver said he was happy today.
[00:55:11] That's amazing, y'all.
[00:55:12] We're flipping the script on this thing.
[00:55:15] I think ushers, I think if y'all want to come forward, as just this atmosphere of worship, let's pray for the offering and we'll keep kind of moving forward.
[00:55:26] Oh, we even have a new usher this morning.
[00:55:34] Ooh la la.
[00:55:37] All right, let's pray.
[00:55:38] Well, Lord, thank you so much, Father, for this home that we have, for this place that we get to come with our family.
[00:55:47] Lord, I pray that you would bless this offering today.
[00:55:50] Father, if we just pour into your kingdom and what you're doing, Lord, we're just giving back some of what you've done already.
[00:55:56] Lord, and we just lean into the partnership with you that we get to contribute and get to meaningfully see the work that you do in the kingdom.
[00:56:03] So do something awesome, Lord.
[00:56:05] In your name we pray, amen.
[00:56:08] They're gonna start passing the basket.
[00:56:10] If you are new, I'd like to say welcome.
[00:56:12] We love that you're here.
[00:56:13] We love that you're joining us.
[00:56:15] On the back of the seat in front of you or maybe a seat adjacent, there is a little QR code.
[00:56:19] You can tap your phone on that.
[00:56:20] You can scan it.
[00:56:21] On that's anything that you would wanna know about the church.
[00:56:23] So if you wanna know how to give digitally, that information's there. If you're looking for another language to enjoy the service in, that information is there. If you really are new and you're like, hey man, I want to connect with
[00:56:33] somebody, there's a visitor place in there that you can fill out some information. And I would love to call and chat with you and just say, hey, and thank you for coming and see what you got to
[00:56:45] say. Is that good? Awesome. I'm going to do some announcements and we're just kind of plugging along here. So there's some stuff going on also conveniently in that QR code or tap situation You can sign up for our online announcements in the morning on Sundays.
[00:57:00] We send out an email that Kristen has masterfully put together.
[00:57:04] It's glorious.
[00:57:05] But, y'all, it's a lot.
[00:57:07] There's more going on here than probably is reasonable.
[00:57:13] But this place is alive, y'all.
[00:57:14] Like the Lord is thriving in this place, and he's doing something, so we're going along with it.
[00:57:19] But sign up for that because we're only sharing a couple things here on Sunday morning from the pulpit.
[00:57:25] But some highlights.
[00:57:26] This week on Thursday night are the healing rooms.
[00:57:28] So on Thursday night, we open up this space and we do specific healing for people.
[00:57:32] So if you have a physical ailment or y'all know, like, if you know somebody who does that may not want to come to church on a Sunday morning, like, that's a really intimate space for them
[00:57:42] to come in and get prayed for and let's see them get delivered and see the Lord touch their lives.
[00:57:46] Is that good?
[00:57:46] But that's Thursday night.
[00:57:48] Starting next Sunday, Cheryl's doing her biblical citizenship course again.
[00:57:53] Cheryl, would you raise your hand?
[00:57:55] So if you have any interest, there's information in the foyer.
[00:57:58] Or I would say just generally, Cheryl, I'm going to volunteer you for stuff.
[00:58:00] If you just want like a resource in the political spectrum and just want to know like, Lord, where are you at?
[00:58:07] How can I be involved?
[00:58:08] What are you doing?
[00:58:09] Cheryl's a really great resource.
[00:58:10] She's not pushy.
[00:58:11] She's not extra.
[00:58:14] She's really great, y'all.
[00:58:15] So I would say reach out to her and take advantage of that, okay?
[00:58:19] Next week also, we have a representative here for World Outreach.
[00:58:23] he's going to be doing a like lunch and learn kind of thing. So that's going to be really cool.
[00:58:29] If you are interested in missions and you are not already involved in missions, that might be a really interesting barbecue to come have and listen and ask some questions. Y'all, we have some missions going on in this place. Like sometimes people outside the church call and
[00:58:47] they're like, hey, do you want to support a missionary? We're like, no, we sure don't.
[00:58:52] We got our missionaries.
[00:58:54] Like, we're doing a lot.
[00:58:55] But could we be doing more?
[00:58:58] Like, could you be?
[00:58:59] Like, maybe.
[00:59:00] So that would be interesting.
[00:59:01] So think about it.
[00:59:02] Come check it out.
[00:59:03] Information's on the board behind me.
[00:59:05] And then coming up in October on the 3rd, the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Lake Norman is having a fundraising drive.
[00:59:13] This is, for me, just one of the most put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is things.
[00:59:19] Like, I don't ask for donations a lot.
[00:59:21] I asked for donations for camp and for this.
[00:59:24] I think that's pretty much what I'm most interested in people giving their money up for.
[00:59:28] But this is in Mooresville, and they help young ladies who find themselves pregnant to take away any of the practical concerns that they would have about bringing a baby into this world.
[00:59:42] They get rid of those things.
[00:59:43] So there's no concern about diapers or formula or whatever.
[00:59:46] They help manage all of that.
[00:59:48] And I don't know what the number was last year, but it was something like 94 families they supported.
[00:59:53] So mothers who were like, I don't know, I'm on the fence, who came to them and got support and counseling and help.
[01:00:02] But then it doesn't always go that way.
[01:00:04] It doesn't always end up the side that we want.
[01:00:06] And sometimes people land on the other side of the fence and they have a ministry about reconciliation.
[01:00:12] So people who may have made a choice that's heartbreaking and hard and could be damaging, and they pour into that too.
[01:00:19] So anyway, that's a really cool ministry that y'all should consider.
[01:00:22] There's a walk and a fundraiser involved with that.
[01:00:25] So if you want to walk, just sign up, just do it, but get some people to give you some cash, okay?
[01:00:30] If you don't want to walk, because that's not your jam, just give some cash.
[01:00:33] Just give me your cash.
[01:00:35] Okay, all right.
[01:00:36] Kids, let's go.
[01:00:37] We'll dismiss the kids.
[01:00:40] Thank y'all for being patient.
[01:00:41] I hope that wasn't too long.
[01:00:43] We have programs going right now, birth through fifth grade.
[01:00:49] I don't see any new kids, but if you forgot where to go, ask Jen.
[01:00:53] She'll help.
[01:00:58] All right, y'all.
[01:00:59] Was that good?
[01:01:01] It's kind of like a little bit of a surprise party this morning.
[01:01:05] Like who's going to show up at the 945 service?
[01:01:10] 845.
[01:01:11] Oh, my gosh.
[01:01:12] And like Thomas, like I'm surprised, dude.
[01:01:14] I had you pegged for an 11 o'clocker.
[01:01:15] This is kind of fun.
[01:01:17] So that's good.
[01:01:17] But we're going to move right into Byron preaching.
[01:01:20] You want to come on up and we'll, you know.
[01:01:24] A little bit?
[01:01:26] I will, fine, he says, fine.
[01:01:30] I'm gonna pray for Byron and then we're gonna hear the word this morning, okay?
[01:01:33] I don't, I'd like to pray for Byron, but I'd like to pray for us too.
[01:01:37] So I'm gonna pray for them both.
[01:01:38] So Lord, we just ask that you would flow, use this conduit.
[01:01:42] Lord, what an awesome servant we have in Byron who's just willing to say what you got, who's not looking for anything for himself.
[01:01:48] He just wants to share what the Lord has.
[01:01:50] That's a really special place to be, Father.
[01:01:52] So like, help us, help us find those, What are you saying, Lord?
[01:01:56] What do you have for us today that's brand new and that's so important for us?
[01:01:59] In your name we pray, amen.

[01:02:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:02:02] Amen, thank you, Lord.
[01:02:03] And worship was good, wasn't it?
[01:02:05] Yeah.
[01:02:06] I was thinking usually at that time I'm doing something else.
[01:02:10] So it was better being here worshiping the Lord instead of piddling around whatever I'll be doing normally at this time.
[01:02:17] Yeah, amen.
[01:02:18] So, you know, one time I had a good friend who was gonna come visit the church.
[01:02:22] And he said, hey, Byron, what time does church start?
[01:02:23] And I said, it starts at 1030.
[01:02:26] And then I got to the church, and I started thinking, I'm not sure I told him right.
[01:02:31] I realized, so I looked at the time, again, that we decided on doing, about when we were supposed to be done.
[01:02:38] So I looked at it, because when I was sitting there, I was forgetting, like, what time are we getting done here?
[01:02:44] In other words, I didn't want to just keep going past the time.
[01:02:48] Okay, y'all.
[01:02:51] Thank you, Lord.
[01:02:52] Lord, you're good.
[01:02:54] You're amazingly good.
[01:02:55] Thank you, Lord.
[01:02:56] thank you Lord Jesus that you really are on the throne with the Father right now Lord and that scroll whenever that is however all that works but you're the only one who can take that scroll Lord and open it and take complete ownership Lord we give in the day we
[01:03:16] give our hearts to you fully we don't wait to that moment we just say Lord we belong to you and you belong to us.
[01:03:27] And we thank you for that, Lord.
[01:03:28] We thank you, Lord, that you chose us.
[01:03:31] Lord, you called us, you invited us, and somehow by your grace and mercy we responded.
[01:03:38] And, you know, we keep responding somehow by your grace and mercy.
[01:03:43] And we're just thankful for that, Lord.
[01:03:44] Our hearts are full of gratitude today in Jesus' name.
[01:03:47] Amen.
[01:03:49] I'm going to read Romans 8.37.
[01:03:51] It's a pretty famous verse.
[01:03:52] A little bit different than New American Standard, but it's really cool.
[01:03:55] But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.
[01:04:01] We overwhelmingly conquer.
[01:04:04] So I think about the culture we live in.
[01:04:08] We live in a culture that loves comfort, and we live in a culture that loves success.
[01:04:13] But what I've seen is I've seen people over the years who have gone through stuff, okay, and devastating stuff.
[01:04:25] And what I've seen in them is this verse being released in their life that even though you've made choices not to be comfortable, you've made choices, you've made the hard choices in your life.
[01:04:40] And it's what the Bible calls enduring faith, that there's a faith, part of faith that we have to endure through things.
[01:04:47] and many people don't necessarily endure but i want to say a lot of people that in this room has have endured you've endured some things and the lord has been with you and you you are coming
[01:05:01] out a lot sharper and a lot more tempered than when you went into these dark difficult times that you walk through and you're to be commended for that i really believe but on the other hand
[01:05:13] Now, there's some of us, and I can definitely put myself in that category at certain seasons in my life, where we didn't necessarily feel like we did as well through difficulties.
[01:05:23] How many people relate to that?
[01:05:25] Where you feel like you just didn't really, you know, looking back, if you could do it over again, you would like to do it better.
[01:05:33] But there's hope.
[01:05:36] There's restoration.
[01:05:37] there's a in Luke chapter 13 there's this parable that Jesus gave about a fig tree and this tree was in this garden and the tree had not bore any fruit and so the owner of the garden wanted to cut the
[01:05:53] tree down because it wasn't it was just taking up space and he wanted to plant something else there but the gardener said no no let's give it another chance and let me work on this tree and let me dig
[01:06:06] going to dig around it, fertilize it, and see if it doesn't produce fruit. And I think there's so much grace in that for us is that God is always wanting to give us a chance. So if you're a person
[01:06:19] who feel like things haven't really worked out well in your life, or you haven't worked out well, that you didn't really feel like you stood up with enduring faith, you didn't necessarily feel like you were overwhelming comfort, a conqueror, you need to know that there's grace for you today.
[01:06:37] You know, there really is. And that God really is inviting you to have his faith to really operate and become a conqueror. Because he really has called us all to conquer, not necessarily conquer the world, but conquer the world from coming inside of us and invading us and conquer the
[01:06:55] darkness that wants to live inside of us and not allowing and allowing the light of God to live inside us am I talking to anybody this morning and so I wanted to take one minute especially for you
[01:07:06] because I have gone through some times in my life where I thought man I could have done so much better if I'd have let the Lord have his way if I wouldn't have reacted emotionally or got afraid
[01:07:16] or I operate out of fear if that's you this morning don't be ashamed just stand up and I want to just pray over you and ask the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do. And I want to declare
[01:07:28] over you that in Christ, you have another opportunity. You're not disqualified. In fact, the Lord is saying opposite today. He's saying like that gardener said, let me have another chance. Years ago, I had this dream. Let me tell you that before I pray over you. I had this dream
[01:07:45] where I was sitting with me and some friends were sitting in this office environment and inside this office that we were going to go into when it was our turn was like God the Father and it was like
[01:07:59] a time of evaluation that's what he was doing and we were being evaluated and I remember going in there and sitting down to be evaluated by the Father and really you know what he began to talk
[01:08:12] to me about. He began to talk to me about people in our church that were not doing well, like that tree. And he began to talk to me about how he wanted to help them, and that he wanted me to
[01:08:26] help them, that he wanted me to go and encourage them and go speak life over them and not reject them. And that's his heart for us today. So I want to just pray that you would know that heart
[01:08:37] and know that you're not a failure.
[01:08:40] You may have failed in areas, but you're not a failure.
[01:08:44] God's called you to live in victory.
[01:08:46] Father, thank you today that you have a father's heart and that you're not willing to disqualify any of your children.
[01:08:52] In fact, you're doing everything that we will allow you to do to invite us into a deepness in you.
[01:09:00] And Lord, you have given us the Holy Spirit to help us be fruitful in our lives.
[01:09:06] You've given us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and to bring us through situations, to tell us how to get through situations.
[01:09:13] You've given us grace to teach us how to deny ungodliness and live with a sound mind and a righteous mind.
[01:09:21] And Lord, we're just declaring, I'm declaring that over everybody who's standing up and that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh.
[01:09:31] And Lord, even though there's times when we might find ourselves being in the flesh, you have not disqualified us. You're just asking us, you're asking us to choose you, to choose the Holy Spirit, to walk in him. And I just declare that, I declare that grace over
[01:09:47] people this morning in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, Lord. You know, the Holy Spirit's amazing because he sheds abroad the love of God into our hearts,
[01:09:59] right? And he's a teacher. He reflects Jesus to us. He tells us how to live like Christ. And so we won't always be Holy Spirit people. Well, let me just go on. I wanted to share that because I
[01:10:11] think that's really important for us right this moment. Let me read Matthew 4.4. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word, everybody say every word that comes out of the mouth of God. So I believe we're, I believe, and this is not just
[01:10:30] because we're doing another service. It really is not. It just so happens. I believe we're entering into a new season, actually probably a new era spiritually. I really feel like there's this shift going on. I don't, does anybody else feel that? It's just a weird feeling. And I feel like God
[01:10:47] has really has shared some things with me about it, but I'm, I'm, I'll say this. I have a godly fear about even talking about those things right now. Okay. I would rather wait for the Lord to
[01:10:59] really, you know, it's like he needs to bake things in our hearts sometimes before we start talking about them. Cause I found in my life, a lot of times I might be hitting on something from
[01:11:08] the Lord, but speaking it too soon, you know, apples of gold and setting them silver. So was a word fitly spoken. And so I'm really asking the Lord about all that. I don't want to be a chicken,
[01:11:19] you know and not say what i believe the lord's saying but at the same time i want to really be honoring to the lord and speak what in in the time and in the right way that he won't sing said but
[01:11:30] but i think anytime we enter into something new which i'm really believing we are you know how we begin something new it matters it really matters significantly a good beginning helps us finish well it doesn't necessarily guarantee a good finish but it will help you uh to to to
[01:11:49] finish well if we begin. The strength we, I wrote this down, I want to read it to you because I thought it was pretty good after I wrote it. The strength we need today cannot come solely from
[01:11:59] yesterday's experiences. Are you hearing me? It cannot come solely. Yes, okay, we treasure what God has done in our lives. I absolutely treasure everything God has done in my life. It's the beautiful thing to me to think about all the wonderful seasons that I've gone through with
[01:12:14] the Lord, and that God's gotten me through the big seas and the high places and even the dark places that God got me through. I treasure what he's done in my life. You know, how and when and
[01:12:25] where the Holy Spirit's really worked in my life is the most important thing to me. But just like yesterday's manna, it will not necessarily sustain us for today. And so God won't, that's what Jesus
[01:12:38] was saying. He wants to give us where our proceeding were because God the Father wants to speak to us.
[01:12:43] I really believe the Father, He has something to say, and He really wants to help us hear Him.
[01:12:50] You know, Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
[01:12:56] In other words, it doesn't say, and this is really literally the present tense continuous hearing.
[01:13:02] It doesn't say faith comes from heard, okay?
[01:13:06] Heard is important.
[01:13:07] Heard creates a foundation, but hearing is where our faith gets activated, okay?
[01:13:13] and our hearing, actually our faith gets activated and our hearing gets activated by the word of the Lord.
[01:13:18] And see, the father really does want to speak.
[01:13:21] He's a speaking God and he really has things to say to us.
[01:13:25] He's not silent.
[01:13:28] So let's read Genesis 1.
[01:13:31] That's what I'm going to talk to you about is hearing him.
[01:13:34] This year, you know, I've shared this so many times.
[01:13:37] This year has been a time where I feel like God spoke to me early this year that he wanted me to quieten myself inwardly and give him space to speak to me because I realized I had got,
[01:13:49] I'm noisy on that.
[01:13:50] Anybody else noisy on the inside?
[01:13:52] I'm super noisy.
[01:13:54] I've got stuff flying.
[01:13:55] I mean, I had to keep, I literally tell thoughts, I reject you.
[01:13:59] I literally say, I reject you.
[01:14:01] You have no, because I have these thoughts kind of racing at me constantly and I have to really speak to them to tell them, you know, take every thought captive.
[01:14:09] That's how I take them captive.
[01:14:10] I speak to them, I'm not hearing you.
[01:14:12] I'm not, because if I let them, they'll get into me.
[01:14:14] And the truth is, is every thought has a family.
[01:14:18] Did you know that thoughts have families?
[01:14:20] They're like human, they're like rabbits.
[01:14:22] They multiply.
[01:14:23] So if you allow a bad thought into your mind, and it's going to get in there, and it's hauling everybody, all the cousins, the uncles, you know, and they're a bunch of bums, you know,
[01:14:33] and they're going to live off in you and feed off in your heart and wear you down on the inside.
[01:14:38] It's like a virus running in the background of a computer it's slowly but surely killing it. Well, here's this, but these are verses everyone knows, but they're so beautiful. In the beginning, it says, this is the very beginning of the Bible, God
[01:14:51] created the heavens and the earth and the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness. Man, that was the earth. And darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering
[01:15:02] over the surface of the waters. So even in this difficult, messy world, the Holy Spirit was there.
[01:15:10] So I want to say, sometimes I have felt like that was my life.
[01:15:16] I felt like that's just the way my life is disconnected.
[01:15:19] My life feels like it has too much chaos in it.
[01:15:22] But I think back to this, that the Holy Spirit is right there.
[01:15:25] He's not left.
[01:15:27] He's hovering.
[01:15:28] You know, one of the pictures people have given, it's like a mother hen over her chickens.
[01:15:33] Okay.
[01:15:34] Or maybe a better picture might be a mama bear over her cubs.
[01:15:39] You know, bears in the wild, big boar bears, male bears, they don't really necessarily mess with you much, you know, unless they're starving.
[01:15:48] But a mama bear, if you come up on a mama bear with cubs, you can expect it to kill you because they're going to protect these cubs more than anything.
[01:15:57] And that's the way the Holy Spirit is.
[01:15:58] He's like that mama bear hovering over the earth, wanting to move.
[01:16:04] And it says, then God said, let there be light, and there was light.
[01:16:08] So that's the two things right here in the very beginning of the Bible that really is all the way through the Bible.
[01:16:15] If you really begin to study the Bible and look what's happening, there's two things that always happen in every beginning.
[01:16:21] It's number one, the Holy Spirit's presence is there, okay?
[01:16:25] And that's why we should be Holy Spirit presence people, okay?
[01:16:30] Because He's always there, you know, wanting to work, wanting to operate.
[01:16:34] And the other thing is that God speaks, that God, right from the beginning, and, you know, in Genesis chapter 1, it's nine or ten times, depending on the translation, it says, and God said, and God said, and God said, and God said.
[01:16:53] And I've said this before, I'll say it again, it's a little bit off the subject, but, you know, God spoke everything into existence, except for one thing, okay?
[01:17:03] and that was us. I love this picture. I have to say it because God took what he created already, the mud of the ground, and grabbed it in his hands and formed the first human beings.
[01:17:17] So God has, and then he blew his breath into them. He got down on his knees. I can imagine this formless body laying on the ground and God getting on his knees and putting his mouth
[01:17:28] on that man's mouth and breathing his life into him.
[01:17:33] That's the way he really is.
[01:17:34] And Jeremiah says that God has formed all of us.
[01:17:37] I think, no, Job said that.
[01:17:38] Somebody said it.
[01:17:40] That we all, God has touched every one of us in this room.
[01:17:44] At some point in your life, in your mama's womb, God was personally involved in it.
[01:17:49] He was personally involved in creating you.
[01:17:53] And his fingerprints and his DNA is on every human being's life.
[01:17:57] I don't care who they are.
[01:17:58] There's something of God.
[01:18:00] There's a touch from God that's on them.
[01:18:03] This is powerful.
[01:18:04] And when we begin to see right from the beginning of humanity that God wants to touch us and that God wants to breathe on us and breathe into us and form our life.
[01:18:14] Well, that's off the subject, right?
[01:18:16] I still love it.
[01:18:17] But it said the first thing that God said is let there be light.
[01:18:20] And that was not sunshine and stars.
[01:18:23] That happened down in verse 14.
[01:18:25] Okay?
[01:18:26] It was the glory of God that he released into the earth.
[01:18:29] And in that light, things begin to come into order.
[01:18:33] That's what the light of God does.
[01:18:35] As he starts creating order, the darkness starts fleeing.
[01:18:39] And that's really the first thing that God wanted to do for the earth.
[01:18:42] Is he wanted to set it in order.
[01:18:43] He wanted to get the chaos out.
[01:18:46] He wanted to get the darkness out by releasing himself.
[01:18:50] Really releasing the essence of who he is into the earth.
[01:18:54] And it really made a huge difference.
[01:18:56] And then later, you know, he began to create everything, you know, and put things together.
[01:19:01] So when God begins something new, there's his word that he speaks, and there's his presence.
[01:19:08] And those are the two things.
[01:19:09] So anytime we enter into something new, the things we should be asking, maybe it's not necessarily what are we going to do?
[01:19:18] Because we all want to know that, right?
[01:19:21] How are we going to do this?
[01:19:22] What are we supposed to do?
[01:19:23] What is God's will?
[01:19:24] But maybe the question we should be starting to begin to ask is, Lord, what are you saying?
[01:19:30] What are you saying?
[01:19:31] Am I making, and am I creating the space in my life for you to lead me in this time?
[01:19:36] Because I don't, that's the foundation.
[01:19:38] If we don't, if we don't grab a hold of that, then it's going to be difficult for us to walk forward into what God has for us in this time.
[01:19:47] Because this, that's the foundational thing that creates everything around us.
[01:19:51] Am I talking to anybody?
[01:19:53] If I'm not, I'm sorry.
[01:19:55] Okay.
[01:19:55] All right, let's read another example out of the Bible.
[01:20:00] Yeah, I'm thinking I'm supposed to be done at 1030.
[01:20:03] Is that true?
[01:20:04] Y'all got to keep me on line here.
[01:20:07] I had to be kept in line, or I'll get out of line.
[01:20:09] I got plenty of time, y'all.
[01:20:12] Y'all, I won't keep y'all late, I promise.
[01:20:15] Maybe the Lord might, though, but that would be between you and him.
[01:20:17] I won't be involved in that, any issues around that.
[01:20:22] But this is another great, great thing that has spoken to me.
[01:20:27] over my life is is the book of Joshua and I love how it starts is in Joshua 1 it says now it came about as the death of Moses the servant of the Lord imagine let's put yourself in Joshua's place
[01:20:39] Moses was like the he was the gun right he was the big gun he was the he did everything I mean he divided everything the seas I mean he struck things he did I mean this dude was I mean he had
[01:20:51] the power of God going he faced God he experienced God he was there with God so Moses carried the glory and so in what Moses's word was the word of God when he spoke you know if he said jump
[01:21:05] everybody said how high you know because because the word of the Lord was on him and he carried that word but then it says he's dead okay that may if I was Joshua in his place I'll be feeling a
[01:21:18] little anxious at that moment because the thing the person that had carried the word of the lord for me all my life pretty much was now gone that would be a that's a difficulty have you ever had
[01:21:30] a mentor or somebody in your life that has been extremely impactful to you and they were taken out either died or god moved them out of your life for some reason it can be a challenging
[01:21:42] challenging time when those kind of things happen i've had it happen to me a lot uh the older you get the more it happens i hate to say yeah yes those things happen i remember i've told y'all
[01:21:54] this i i i one thing i've really struggled with being a pastor the worst thing there is is death i just can't you know it beats me every that's the way i feel every time somebody dies i feel
[01:22:06] destroyed by it you know i mean it just eats me alive and jerry ball said to me one time his sister had passed i think somebody in his family i called him to you know give him condolences
[01:22:17] and he said, Byron, the older you get, this is to be expected.
[01:22:22] And when he said that, I thought, oh my gosh, are you serious?
[01:22:26] This is to be expected?
[01:22:28] I mean, at that point in time, I had not experienced that much of people dying.
[01:22:33] So it's always hard to lose people, even the older ones that you know it's their time.
[01:22:40] It's hard to lose people because you love them and they have meant so much to you.
[01:22:44] But I'll tell you, it's even harder to lose younger people.
[01:22:49] That's the thing that has absolutely just ate me alive, is when a younger person passes, you know, and I just have never been convinced that was God's will for them.
[01:23:00] I feel like their life was cut short, you know.
[01:23:02] I mean, you can use Bible verses to comfort yourself, but I've always felt like their life was cut short.
[01:23:07] They had a destiny, and somehow the devil got his way in their life, not that they had done anything wrong.
[01:23:12] that's just my theology on it so i have a hard time with people dying and i hope you do too because i'll tell you the bible says death is an enemy death is no friend okay and it will be the
[01:23:25] last enemy that's dealt with by christ and christ has already defeated the death isn't that amazing and that is the comfort when somebody passes but um back to joshua you know so here he was
[01:23:39] you know moses was dead he was facing something he had never faced before i mean it was a completely new world he was fixing to walk into not only did he lose his leader he was going to have to lead
[01:23:51] into this place that he was had no experience in he did not have the experience to be the leader and suddenly he was thrust into this and uh he knew there were there was going to be battles
[01:24:01] he knew there were going to be battles ahead of him and difficulties and choices to make But if you read the first nine verses over and over, it was the Lord speaking to Joshua.
[01:24:12] You know, that was the thing of it, is that God spoke to him and kept giving him information, telling him about himself, and telling him what he wanted to happen.
[01:24:22] So he didn't really try to go into this promised land without hearing what God had to say.
[01:24:27] He did not have a plan.
[01:24:30] At this point, when he got there, he had no plan how to get there.
[01:24:33] He was waiting on God to give him the plan.
[01:24:36] Okay, and that's the key.
[01:24:38] But you know what it says then?
[01:24:39] I think it's verse 5.
[01:24:40] It says something really cool.
[01:24:42] The Lord said this, I'm going to be with you.
[01:24:46] You see, that's the presence of the Lord.
[01:24:47] So you got the voice of the Lord, you got the presence of the Lord.
[01:24:51] And see, that's what we all need right now in our lives.
[01:24:55] Every one of us in this room, we need to hear that voice and we need to know.
[01:24:59] We need to have this assurance that God's with us.
[01:25:02] And that when we begin to move forward, we move forward in what we believe He's saying to us and not what we thought in the last season.
[01:25:10] Am I still talking to anybody?
[01:25:12] Yes.
[01:25:13] So it really, as we move forward in life, as we move forward in our country, okay, as we move forward in our calling or our marriages or whatever it might be where you're at, you know, it doesn't rest on you.
[01:25:28] It's not up to your ability.
[01:25:30] It's really up to hearing from the Lord and doing what He asks you to do.
[01:25:35] That's really what it's up to.
[01:25:36] And knowing that He's going to be with you, you know, in this thing as we move forward.
[01:25:43] I appreciate somebody saying amen.
[01:25:45] Yes.
[01:25:47] So the way we begin matters.
[01:25:49] The way in our foundations of what God's already done and building all these matters because the pressure will come.
[01:25:55] The difficulties and trials will come even though you may be doing exactly what the Lord's told you to do, there's going to be resistance. Let me just tell you that. There's going to be a battle over this thing. Listen,
[01:26:07] let me tell you this. The devil does not give a rip about doing good stuff. You can do good stuff all day and he'll ignore you. He don't care about this, but you know what he does care about? He
[01:26:17] cares about Christ. He cares about the kingdom. And whenever you're doing something in Christ and doing something of the kingdom, you can expect the devil to show up because it's a threat to him.
[01:26:30] Your good works is not a threat to the devil.
[01:26:33] In fact, he would love for you to get really involved in good works and stay involved, stay distracted with your good works, okay?
[01:26:42] Any good works people, don't raise your hand.
[01:26:45] Be all involved in your good works and not be involved in what God's called you to do.
[01:26:51] And the devil's not gonna bother you.
[01:26:53] In fact, he'll help you.
[01:26:54] He'll send money your way to do it.
[01:26:58] You know, it would be better to be doing what God's called you to do and flat broke, you know, and trusting God to send money to do it, which he will, than have a bunch of money doing what, you know, it's not going to really make a difference.
[01:27:12] Are y'all with me?
[01:27:15] Whew.
[01:27:17] Well, let me read another good story.
[01:27:18] I'm doing pretty good.

[01:27:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[01:27:20] Yeah.

[01:27:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:27:21] They're making me preach shorter, y'all.
[01:27:24] They said you had to preach shorter.
[01:27:26] I think I'm going to try to learn how to do this.
[01:27:29] You know, another thing I've struggled about having to do two services for me personally, I've told people, I'll tell everybody in the room this, I'm not doing this for me.
[01:27:39] Okay?
[01:27:40] Y'all got it.
[01:27:40] This ain't for me.
[01:27:41] I'm lazy.
[01:27:42] I don't want to preach two times.
[01:27:44] I don't want to go to church two times on Sunday morning.
[01:27:47] I want to do one time and go home.
[01:27:49] Okay?
[01:27:50] I'm doing it because I believe this is what God, the answer God has given us, you know?
[01:27:57] But I don't know why I told y'all that.
[01:27:59] I told that to the detractors.
[01:28:01] I had two people really come after me, but they didn't want to do it.
[01:28:03] Like, I don't either.
[01:28:04] I mean, I'm with you 100%.
[01:28:06] We're in agreement.
[01:28:07] I don't want to do it.
[01:28:09] You know, but like Becky said this morning, when you get up and whine and complain about having to do this, it's just the persecuted church, people being persecuted for their faith, being threatened, duh, you know?
[01:28:20] That'll straighten you out, you know?
[01:28:23] Yeah.
[01:28:25] So I was going to tell you something else, but I'll just go on here.
[01:28:30] Well, here's another great example from the Bible that really has spoken to me over the years.
[01:28:36] It's out of the life of Elijah the prophet, and I'm going to read it to you.
[01:28:43] So, you know, most of y'all are familiar with Elijah, how he had this amazing call on his life.
[01:28:48] And I love how it starts, I think it's 1 Kings 17.
[01:28:51] is Elijah shows up out of the middle of nowhere.
[01:28:54] I mean, he just shows up in the Bible.
[01:28:56] Most people in the Bible, they'll start telling them about their...
[01:28:59] You know, because the Bible is big on lineages.
[01:29:03] It's big on family, like so-and-so, the son of so-and-so, the son of so-and-so.
[01:29:08] You know, I mean, you know, in the Gospels, you've got all this lineage of Jesus because that was very important in the Hebrew world to know who your daddy was because who your daddy was was important in God's eyes.
[01:29:19] it was really a it was what he was really trying to tell us something he was really trying to say who your real daddy is important that's why all that was really about was to get people to see
[01:29:29] that god is our real daddy and that we're his sons and daughters but so so elijah shows up elijah the tishbite okay and and starts prophesying to ahab okay and letting them know hey some stuff's
[01:29:43] coming down guys. There's a new world order coming. There's a new sheriff coming into town okay and I'm here to let you know the new sheriff's coming and things are going to change and that's kind of how the whole thing started with him and you know the story he went through
[01:30:00] all this stuff you know went from here went to live by a brook and they had you know ravens were feeding the guy. Have you ever thought about the kind of food he was getting that ravens were
[01:30:12] hauling in. I'm imagining that Ravens was going to Ahab's house and stealing his food and taking it to Elijah down there at the brook. So here's Elijah down here at this brook. And then the brook dried up. This is crazy. God sent him to a brook and it dried up. So sometimes in your
[01:30:31] life, the provision or whatever it is, the move of God, whatever it is, it's going to dry up.
[01:30:39] now are you going to be dumb enough to stay at a dried up brook no you need to get up and realize that brooks do dry up in god the god brook that he gave you it was for a season it wasn't for the
[01:30:52] rest of your life and so he said get up you know he got up and went over here to this widow and said hey i'm hungry give me something to eat and she said i'm not giving you nothing to eat
[01:31:03] because i've got just enough for me and my boy we're going to eat this last meal and then we're going to die because because elijah created a drought he didn't tell her like i'm sorry but
[01:31:12] i'm the one who who spoke this into being because that was one thing he said ahab it ain't gonna rain anymore till i say so can you imagine that kind of power it ain't raining till i say so
[01:31:24] so he you know she wasn't giving him this and then he gives her a miracle provision where she would have food all through this drought was pretty powerful pretty powerful of any of course The big thing is he winds up on Mount Carmel and has a showdown with the priest of Baal.
[01:31:42] I'm telling you a lot of stuff in the Bible real fast, okay?
[01:31:45] It was a beautiful thing.
[01:31:47] We went to Mount Carmel when we was over there.
[01:31:50] It's, you know, it's pretty cool.
[01:31:52] I mean, it's nice now.
[01:31:54] I imagine it wasn't nice then.
[01:31:55] It was a nice platform.
[01:31:57] You can stand on it and look and see all these valleys.
[01:32:00] And we saw these fighter jets, Israeli fighter jets, landing and something opening up in the ground and them going down in the ground.
[01:32:10] They keep their stuff hidden down in the ground.
[01:32:13] But we saw all that from Mount Carmel.
[01:32:15] It was pretty cool.
[01:32:16] It was amazing, really.
[01:32:18] But we didn't see no fire of God.
[01:32:20] That would have been more amazing, right?
[01:32:21] Yeah.
[01:32:22] But we were asking for it.
[01:32:24] Mm-hmm.
[01:32:25] Yeah.
[01:32:25] So anyway, so he did all that.
[01:32:28] And then, you know, Jezebel did what she did.
[01:32:30] Y'all remember, Jezebel said, I'm going to kill your hide over this because he killed a bunch of her priests, the Baal guys, you know, because he had this big showdown.
[01:32:39] He killed a bunch of them, slaughtered a pile of them.
[01:32:42] And so she was going to kill him over it.
[01:32:44] And so he kills all these guys.
[01:32:47] And now he's, well, you know what happens sometimes to us?
[01:32:51] You know, he was a man, you know, and he was vulnerable at that moment.
[01:32:56] And he was tired of that moment.
[01:32:58] He was emotionally exhausted at that moment.
[01:33:00] Even though he was a powerful man, he was still a man.
[01:33:02] And he got scared and he ran away.
[01:33:05] And he ran, it says he went for 40 days and he was going to the mountain of the Lord because God had been known to be there at this Mount Horeb.
[01:33:15] It was a powerful place where God had manifested himself through Moses.
[01:33:21] So everybody knew at that time, if you wanted to go find God, go to this particular mountain.
[01:33:26] That he would be there.
[01:33:28] And so he's going to this mountain to find the Lord because he didn't know what to do with his life at this point.
[01:33:33] He had done everything God had told him to do.
[01:33:35] He was afraid.
[01:33:36] You know, he was in disarray.
[01:33:38] So he gets to this mountain, and he winds up in this cave, and the Lord starts asking him what he's doing here.
[01:33:44] And he starts telling the Lord all this stuff, and it's really an interesting conversation.
[01:33:51] But then it's, I'm going to read this part of it.
[01:33:54] Then the Lord said, so he said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.
[01:34:00] And behold, the Lord was passing by.
[01:34:03] That's interesting, isn't it?
[01:34:05] And a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord.
[01:34:12] But the Lord was not in the wind.
[01:34:14] Isn't that amazing?
[01:34:15] It says the Lord was passing by.
[01:34:19] Yeah, but then there was this wind that came.
[01:34:22] But it says the Lord was not in the wind.
[01:34:25] And after the wind, there was an earthquake.
[01:34:27] but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire but after the fire this is the part everybody should love a sound a sound of a gentle blowing
[01:34:40] and when Elijah heard it he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the interest of the cave and a voice came to him and said what are you doing here Elijah the Lord had already
[01:34:52] had this conversation with him okay he'd already said all this stuff to him in the cave and now he's but he's out here in the presence of the lord and the lord's speaking to him again it's kind of
[01:35:03] interesting that lord was speaking to him and asked him to come out to this mouth of this cave and so you know um the interesting thing also is about the wind the earthquake and the fire is
[01:35:15] those have or were ways that god had revealed himself to israel in the past so elijah knew that. He knew these were signs of God moving. He for sure knew the fire was. He for sure
[01:35:28] knew it was because he called fire down. So he knew these were all manifestations of the Lord. But this is one of the few places in the Bible actually where it specifically says the Lord's not in it. Isn't that interesting? And the reason it says it because he had been
[01:35:44] in it in other times. And he wanted us to know that God, just because he did something before and there was a manifestation he may not be in that anymore are you with me he may not be in
[01:35:57] that anymore okay but the the gentle blowing is really the thing is is that so elijah was out there in the presence of the lord and there was this this really gentle blowing or this still
[01:36:09] small voice that god was was speaking so there's two things here about the presence thing it's i think we had to be we had to be really clear about this is we had to be we're in the presence of
[01:36:22] people we're in the presence of the world we're in the presence of situations all the time are you hearing me but there's but there's a time to step away from those those presence that that's what
[01:36:36] it's what we're seeing here when the lord called him to go stand out in that cave to step away from the other presence into my presence and so we have to be intentional about doing that
[01:36:47] because we can be caught up in life so much that we're not stepping into the presence of the Lord we're not giving the presence of the Lord the time that we need from him where he can begin we can
[01:37:01] get still before him where he can begin to speak to us because this is the way the Lord likes to speak to people. He likes to speak in a gentle way, a quiet way on a regular basis. If the only
[01:37:13] way we know the Lord is when he's on the mountain and we're having a very great experience, then we're missing out on much of what God has for us in our lives. So I believe what I'm saying to you,
[01:37:24] what I believe is we're in a time, you know, where God wants to bring us into some, I think he wants to bring us into some amazing times. I really do. But I think that the way we're going to get there
[01:37:36] is being intentional about getting still before the Lord, okay, and giving the Lord the space in our life that we need to give Him so we can get still and we can get quiet enough
[01:37:54] where we can begin to hear the Lord.
[01:37:55] And that might look different in everybody's life, you know, because, you know, everybody has a different lifestyle, everybody has different schedules and situations, little children, all these things, but I believe there's a way for us to still ourselves before the Lord
[01:38:12] and learn how, like Elijah did, to learn how to discern that voice because you will not bear to discern that voice and noise. And a lot of people are so consumed with the noise of the world
[01:38:25] and the cares of the world, so consumed by what's going on in the world that we have allowed all this noise to get into our minds and that's what we occupy ourself with y'all should feel it i hope
[01:38:40] you're hearing this because this because all of that i mean we need to know what's going on in the world but i don't want to live there you know i want to i want to know enough where i know how
[01:38:49] to pray listen what's your what's your vision in your life is it the world or the kingdom of god that's what you had to decide and that's how you know so look at your life what you're doing
[01:39:01] I better hush.
[01:39:05] Back in the day, you know what they used to tell us?
[01:39:08] Well, we can tell what's important to you by looking at your checkbook.
[01:39:12] That's what they used to tell us.
[01:39:13] We're going to go look at how you spend your money.
[01:39:15] You're like, oh, Lord, don't do that.
[01:39:17] You know, I don't spend any money.
[01:39:19] Becky spends it.
[01:39:21] So go look at her checkbook because I don't even have one.
[01:39:24] You know, we used to have this bank card.
[01:39:28] This is terrible, y'all.
[01:39:29] You know, those debit cards.
[01:39:30] and I would just go to the bank and just use it and use it and use it.
[01:39:36] I mean, I would spend so much money and then at the end of the month, like, hey, where's all this money at?
[01:39:42] Like, I haven't spent no money, Becky.
[01:39:44] Maybe a hundred bucks at the most and like three or four hundred dollars.
[01:39:47] You have spent three or four hundred dollars.
[01:39:49] Where's the receipts?
[01:39:50] I don't know, I threw them away.
[01:39:51] I didn't think they were that important.
[01:39:54] Yeah, it was before online banking.
[01:39:56] Well, then she took the card away from me.
[01:39:59] like give me the card you can't have the card no more like okay you can have an allowance it's terrible well yeah when you're praying for a breakthrough don't let the difficulty become louder than the word of god are you hearing that when you're praying for something don't let the
[01:40:23] difficulty around you become louder than his word okay and that's what a lot of times we do The situation just drowns him out.
[01:40:36] And what I have found, if I will be intentional to steal myself, I can drown that stuff out because I can learn how to let, I won't let it in.
[01:40:45] Because I'm saying I'm going to steal myself, and I'm inviting the Holy Spirit to talk to me about anything he wants to talk to me about.
[01:40:53] And he'll begin to talk to you.
[01:40:55] Now, listen, I've shared this before, but I think it's important.
[01:40:58] Sometimes there's going to be just total silence, okay?
[01:41:02] That's okay.
[01:41:04] That's totally okay.
[01:41:06] Because what I've discovered, total silence, oh, the Lord didn't say nothing.
[01:41:10] Well, that's cool.
[01:41:11] But then later, maybe later that day, maybe later the next day or two or three days later, all of a sudden God starts speaking to me.
[01:41:19] And I trace it back to that moment where I just, there was a silence, where he planted something in me, and he began to share his heart with me.
[01:41:29] So what we need to do today is not, Lord, how do we move forward, But what are you saying to us?
[01:41:36] What's the Lord saying to you in your life?
[01:41:38] That's what you need to ask.
[01:41:40] And it may be that you don't, well, I'm not in no new beginning.
[01:41:43] It's just the same old, same old for me.
[01:41:45] That's okay.
[01:41:47] God's in your same old, same old.
[01:41:49] Your same old, same old can become a new beginning if you will let it be.
[01:41:54] If you will say to the Lord, Lord, what are you saying to me?
[01:41:57] What are you saying about my life?
[01:41:59] What are you saying about my future?
[01:42:00] How I need to move forward?
[01:42:01] And, Lord, I'm going to give you space in my life for the Holy Spirit to lead me.
[01:42:07] I'm going to give you that place.
[01:42:09] Amen?
[01:42:10] So I want you to stand up.
[01:42:12] I hope, you know, did anybody get anything out of this?
[01:42:17] Lord help, right?
[01:42:19] Well, I'm so glad you came this morning.
[01:42:21] Yeah.
[01:42:21] And so you're fixing to leave.
[01:42:23] And you're going to go hang out and do whatever you do.
[01:42:26] I'm going to stay here.
[01:42:29] But I don't mind.
[01:42:31] So I want to pray for you, though, and all sincerely.
[01:42:35] I love the scripture where Jesus was talking about, you know, if we had eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand.
[01:42:46] Wow, isn't that such a beautiful scripture?
[01:42:48] Eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to understand.
[01:42:52] You know what I would like to propose to you today?
[01:42:54] I believe you have those eyes.
[01:42:56] I believe you have those ears, and I believe you have that heart.
[01:42:59] but sometimes it gets overcome it gets overwhelmed other things crowded out and i believe the lord is wanting to do awakening he wants to awaken our eyes in a fresh way he wants to awaken our ears
[01:43:13] in a fresh way awaken our heart and really he wants to awaken all this to him and to his presence and to his beauty so father thank you right now in jesus name lord thank you for eyes i say lord
[01:43:25] I think you want to stir people up. Yeah. You know, I had this dream, another dream about a cave. One time I had dreamed I was in a cave. Okay. I was like, I was in this cave, but the cave,
[01:43:39] but it was, and it was darkness, y'all. I felt like I was in darkness. And in my life, it felt that way. And everything that was going on in my life, it just felt like, gosh, my life is just
[01:43:49] messed up. Things are not working. Everything I'm trying to do is not working. And the Lord spoke to me in this dream okay and it was a lot like what he did with elijah he said i want you to
[01:44:00] come out of this cave okay so in this dream i walked out of the cave and and you would not believe the sky it was like it was at night and it was like you could touch the stars almost
[01:44:13] because there was billions and billions of stars that were that i could see uh because because i was in a cave and I stepped out on a mountain somewhere and I could see all that and and this
[01:44:25] air came into me it's like a breath of air came into me okay and all of a sudden I went in the dream from feeling the chaos of my life to feeling this renewal from the Lord and I felt like
[01:44:39] something inside of me came alive and really I'll tell you what came alive it was who God created me to be came alive. Because the cave, in that cave, I was not being who God called me to be.
[01:44:52] I wasn't being my true self, my genuine self. And when I went out there and those stars shining and this breath came into me, it caused me to come alive as a human being, the person that God called
[01:45:04] me to be. And that's really it, y'all. When that happens, when God breathes his breath into you, you will come alive and who you really are will be awakened and then you can really then you're
[01:45:18] going to start knowing some things you will know what to do you will know you will know you'll begin to hear the Lord a lot clearer than you've heard him and that's really what he wants to do
[01:45:28] so Lord I just pray that I pray that for everybody's anybody in this room feel like they are in that moment where they've just felt some chaos in there well I think we already prayed
[01:45:37] that didn't we maybe we did y'all said we did okay i want to pray it again if that's you though if you feel like that's where you've been you see elijah's life didn't end in that cave he went from
[01:45:50] that place and for had purpose he did a lot of amazing things and you know he got the greatest departure ever on the planet of anybody who's died he didn't really die he just got in this whirlwind
[01:46:03] and went up to heaven.
[01:46:04] That's how he went to heaven.
[01:46:06] I mean, so he had a pretty spectacular ending.
[01:46:09] So it wasn't like his calling down fire was his greatest moment.
[01:46:12] He had bigger moments.
[01:46:14] God has bigger moments for us.
[01:46:16] Amen?
[01:46:17] So just reach your hand to heaven and say, Lord, Lord, awaken me.
[01:46:25] Lord, I'm asking you.
[01:46:27] I want to come out of this chaos that's around me all the time.
[01:46:30] I don't want to be stuck in the chaos of the world The thoughts of the world The pressures of the world The politics of the world All these things that are happening Lord I want to be able to step aside from that Lord
[01:46:44] And step out of that cave of that stuff And hear you And feel your breath on me Lord I pray you'd blow your breath Holy Spirit blow upon us again In the name of Jesus
[01:46:59] I thank you for that Lord Amen Amen. Amen. So do we have a ministry? Yeah. Come on, Corey, help us out here.

[01:47:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:47:10] That was awesome, Byron. Thank you so much. Well, we're going to have the ministry team come forward like we do. That's not any different. So if you have some stuff that you still need to deal with
[01:47:20] the Lord or want somebody to partner with you in prayer, we have some folks that are going to come up. They're going to have a little name tag on that says something. Prayer. Seems good. Prayer.
[01:47:30] That's easy.
[01:47:31] If you are done, bless you.
[01:47:34] Have a great day.
[01:47:35] Tori, who's our children's pastor, told me that I'm not allowed to kick you out of this room because that would be rude.
[01:47:42] But go ahead.
[01:47:44] I'm just kidding.
[01:47:45] All right, love y'all.

[01:47:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:47:46] Have a great day.
[01:47:47] Go enjoy your football.