WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Faith is more than a feeling or a theory. It's 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:06.059 a decision that moves your feet, opens your hands, 00:00:06.219 --> 00:00:09.019 and activates God's promises. In our brand new 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.820 book, Faith Act, Jeffrey and I take you on a 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:13.839 powerful journey through some of Scripture's 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:16.800 most transforming moments, where ordinary people 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.699 dared to obey and saw heaven move on their behalf. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.140 Order your copy of Faith Act today on Amazon. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.480 Week number four in a series that we've entitled, 00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:36.600 Not Mine, But God's. Not mine, but God's. So 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:41.439 far we've looked at this, having the mind of 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:47.079 Christ. Everybody say, mind of Christ. I hope 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:49.219 I can remember all three of them. We've talked 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:55.609 about having the strength of God. And we've talked 00:00:55.609 --> 00:01:01.929 about following the will of God. Not our mind, 00:01:01.990 --> 00:01:08.829 not our strength, not our will, but God's. And 00:01:08.829 --> 00:01:11.049 that's the way, everybody say, that's the way. 00:01:11.969 --> 00:01:17.730 That's the way that we're going to rise up above 00:01:17.730 --> 00:01:24.030 just the best we can do on our own. You might 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:25.950 ask, why is there a rock and why is there a diamond 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:28.090 up here? I mean, it's not a real diamond. It's 00:01:28.090 --> 00:01:32.409 a piece of glass from Amazon. It's a paperweight. 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:38.189 Well, I'll go ahead and fill you in on that. 00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:42.849 This represents us and the best that we can do 00:01:42.849 --> 00:01:48.750 on our own. Following our, you know, just the 00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:51.870 best us. A lot of times we spend a lot of time. 00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:54.969 polishing and trying to be the best us that we 00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:58.769 can be. But there's something greater than that. 00:02:00.049 --> 00:02:03.090 A lot of times we ask God, listen, a lot of times 00:02:03.090 --> 00:02:10.069 we ask God to polish us up. But God wants us 00:02:10.069 --> 00:02:15.430 to exchange. He doesn't want to polish us up. 00:02:15.430 --> 00:02:17.710 He doesn't want us to polish up ourselves. He 00:02:17.710 --> 00:02:24.919 wants us to be in Him. to trade, to exchange 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:33.840 our mind for His, our strength for His, our will 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:41.419 for His, instead of us just working to make this 00:02:41.419 --> 00:02:47.419 look more spiritual on the outside. I know that's 00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:49.060 a lot. Look at the person beside you and say, 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:54.340 that's a lot. Hopefully, We'll be able to grasp 00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:58.939 and apply. So here's the question. Who or what 00:02:58.939 --> 00:03:01.740 is your source? We talked about God being our 00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:05.639 source during the offering, but it's more than 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:07.099 that. Look at the person beside you and tell 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:10.960 them it's more than that. It's more than resources. 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:20.379 Who is your source? Who do you run to? Who do 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:25.780 you depend on? Who's your source? What is your 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:32.379 source? Many believers love God and trust Him 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:36.680 with their eternity, but they don't trust Him 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:41.379 with their everyday. It's very common for people 00:03:41.379 --> 00:03:46.419 to have a religious box, a God box. And if you 00:03:46.419 --> 00:03:47.639 don't know what I'm talking about, I'll give 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:50.979 you a picture. Men and women think differently. 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:58.789 Has anybody figured that out yet? Gaina and I 00:03:58.789 --> 00:04:03.229 will be talking. And all of a sudden she will 00:04:03.229 --> 00:04:06.330 say something. I have no idea what she's talking 00:04:06.330 --> 00:04:14.069 about. Because I just, I'm in this box and she's 00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:17.509 already pulled out another box. And she's talking 00:04:17.509 --> 00:04:20.629 about another box. She'll say something else. 00:04:20.649 --> 00:04:22.589 I have no idea what she's pulled out another 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:25.389 box. She's dealing in three boxes all at the 00:04:25.389 --> 00:04:34.769 same time. I'm just simple. Let's have one box. 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:36.970 Let's try to stay in one box and let's announce 00:04:36.970 --> 00:04:45.129 when we move to the next box. Is that fair? Because 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:47.629 we want to be in the same box. We do. We want 00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:50.889 to be in the same box. But we have to know what 00:04:50.889 --> 00:04:58.649 box it is. I mean, I'm amazed that people can 00:04:58.649 --> 00:05:04.430 be in three to five boxes at the same time. I 00:05:04.430 --> 00:05:06.189 just need to know which one we're in at the moment. 00:05:10.589 --> 00:05:14.470 Let's apply that to our faith. A lot of us, I 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:18.480 know I'm guilty. I'm trying not to be as guilty 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:25.620 as I used to be, but, you know, it's real easy 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:31.480 to have a God box or even a Sunday morning box 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.399 or whatever you want to call it and just pull 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:39.980 it out when you're thinking about spiritual things 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:46.529 and then put it back. until next Sunday morning. 00:05:48.170 --> 00:05:55.529 That's real easy. God wants me in every box. 00:05:58.269 --> 00:06:00.670 There shouldn't be boxes that we pull out that 00:06:00.670 --> 00:06:06.410 detach us from who God is. Shouldn't be so focused 00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:13.560 on something that God is not involved. Because 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.259 so many people love it. They say they love God. 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:19.259 They say they trust God even with their eternity, 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:24.040 with their salvation. But God doesn't have anything 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:29.459 to do with their everyday. We've talked about 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:32.120 this every week. We depend on and we display 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:38.319 who or what we draw from. And by drawing from, 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:42.439 I'm saying our source. Whoever our source is 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:47.300 or whatever our source is, that's who or what 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:50.560 we're depending on, but that's also what we display. 00:06:54.759 --> 00:06:57.800 Somebody smile. Y 'all are thinking way too hard. 00:06:59.339 --> 00:07:03.319 And one week, I did something crazy. I plugged 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:07.560 in the display wire to the computer. We taped 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:13.620 it down. ran the whole thing, curtain up, turned 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:18.800 on the projector, but I had the display plugged 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:21.879 into here and the source plugged into there. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:27.500 Now, short HDMI wires, the signal will go both 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:31.360 ways. But guess what? When you get over a certain 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:35.800 length, I don't know how this works, but the 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:39.329 signal only goes one way. That's why, If you 00:07:39.329 --> 00:07:41.149 come up here and look, it's got source written 00:07:41.149 --> 00:07:44.350 on this red plug and it's got display written 00:07:44.350 --> 00:07:46.949 on that red plug. And if you plug it up backwards, 00:07:47.089 --> 00:07:51.269 it will not work. And we've been doing this for 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:54.970 years, but I plugged it up wrong just two weeks 00:07:54.970 --> 00:07:58.589 ago. Had it all taped. You know, we like to tape 00:07:58.589 --> 00:08:01.930 up the wires real neat and straight. Had to rip 00:08:01.930 --> 00:08:09.220 it all up and do it again. Listen. Whatever or 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:13.199 whoever you're plugged into as your source will 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:20.040 be on display for everybody else to see. If you 00:08:20.040 --> 00:08:23.759 consider yourself and your talent and your abilities, 00:08:23.819 --> 00:08:28.500 the source that you're drawn from, when everybody 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:30.300 looks at you, whether you're a believer or not, 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:31.819 when everybody looks at you, they're going to 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:37.649 see you. Look to the person beside you and tell 00:08:37.649 --> 00:08:42.610 them, not good. Because as ambassadors of Christ, 00:08:42.690 --> 00:08:44.750 when people look at us, they're supposed to see 00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:49.929 Jesus. That's what the word Christian means, 00:08:50.090 --> 00:08:54.490 actually. It means a little Christ. And that 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:59.529 doesn't just apply to Sunday morning. It's supposed 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:03.429 to apply to every day. Because how is the world 00:09:03.429 --> 00:09:06.970 going to hear? If we're just displaying ourselves 00:09:06.970 --> 00:09:14.929 all the time. I don't know if that's still in 00:09:14.929 --> 00:09:21.590 or not. I just dropped the mic. All right. Now 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:26.629 you might say, well, Dean, I've got a job, you 00:09:26.629 --> 00:09:30.990 know, and I get a paycheck every week. Well, 00:09:31.009 --> 00:09:32.909 here's the deal. We're not supposed to look at 00:09:32.909 --> 00:09:38.220 that as our source. After all, God is the one 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:41.220 who's given you talents and abilities and even 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:48.399 breath. Listen. Is the Bible true when it says 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.860 that every good thing, everybody say every good 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:55.080 thing. Every good thing that's coming to your 00:09:55.080 --> 00:10:02.600 life has come from God. Is the Bible true? Well, 00:10:02.700 --> 00:10:05.360 then that means God should be our source. God 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:11.100 uses avenues. All right? So we have avenues. 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.879 But it's God who is using the avenue to bring 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:21.600 blessing into your life. The avenue is not the 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:24.139 source. We need to make sure we keep those things 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:30.059 separate. The avenue and the source. In everyday 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:33.399 life, we should learn to rely on God's supply. 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:37.980 and God's ability instead of our own. Here's 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:41.519 the problem. Ever since we were born, we were 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:46.159 trained to rely on our own supply or someone 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:49.580 else's supply, our own ability or someone else's 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:54.840 ability other than Christ. But we need to learn 00:10:54.840 --> 00:11:00.840 to rely on him in every area. Acts 17, 28 says 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:04.309 this, in him, everybody say in Christ. In Christ, 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:15.450 we live and we move and we exist. In Christ is 00:11:15.450 --> 00:11:20.549 where we're going to find life, right? In him 00:11:20.549 --> 00:11:26.549 is where we move. In him is where we exist. After 00:11:26.549 --> 00:11:29.990 we come to Christ, our existence should be in 00:11:29.990 --> 00:11:36.450 him. This is a lot. Some of you are going to 00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:38.870 have to go back and listen to the podcast from 00:11:38.870 --> 00:11:45.669 the three previous weeks. Okay? Jesus is our 00:11:45.669 --> 00:11:51.169 example. He's our example. He came to this earth. 00:11:51.210 --> 00:11:54.830 He stepped down out of heaven from the right 00:11:54.830 --> 00:11:56.889 hand of the Father at just the right time, the 00:11:56.889 --> 00:11:59.629 Bible says. He stepped down out of heaven and 00:11:59.629 --> 00:12:05.039 he added humanity to his deity. And when he did 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:09.960 that, he laid down some of the things that he 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:12.539 had in heaven. He laid those things down in order 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:17.980 to be our example. So on earth, he operated as 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:23.639 a man that was completely connected to the Father 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:27.879 and empowered by the Spirit. That's the way he 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:32.700 lived his life. He tells us this, John 14, 10. 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.679 He even brings it this far. He says, the words 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:43.679 I speak are not my own. But my Father who lives 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.159 in me does His work. The work's not His own either. 00:12:48.299 --> 00:12:50.980 The Father who lives in me does His work through 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:56.679 me. Do you see it? Look to the person beside 00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.419 you and ask them, do you see it? Do you see it? 00:13:00.840 --> 00:13:03.820 Jesus wasn't speaking his own words. He wasn't 00:13:03.820 --> 00:13:07.740 doing his own deal. He was speaking the words 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:10.759 of the Father, and the Father was doing his work 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:17.200 through him. 1 Corinthians 3 .9 says this, we 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:21.580 are God's fellow workers. If you're in Christ, 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:26.019 you are God's co -workers. Anybody ever had a 00:13:26.019 --> 00:13:31.519 co -worker before? Some co -workers. It can be 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:34.019 hard to work with some of them. Are you with 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:36.700 me? It can be hard to work with some of them. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:40.460 How many of you are happy when you go to work 00:13:40.460 --> 00:13:44.519 and you get assigned to a person that is as good 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:47.059 as you or more committed than you? That makes 00:13:47.059 --> 00:13:50.179 for a good day, right? It's hard when you get 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:52.519 assigned to an area where there's a person who 00:13:52.519 --> 00:13:55.860 likes to not work and go hide. Then you've got 00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:58.539 to do double work. Know what I'm talking about? 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.860 Here's the great thing about being God's co -worker. 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:11.460 Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is 00:14:11.460 --> 00:14:19.360 light. So when we're co -workers with God, it's 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:24.340 like, does everybody know what a yoke is? Maybe 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:30.620 everyone doesn't. You take two oxen. You can 00:14:30.620 --> 00:14:32.899 call them big cows if you want to, but you take 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:38.980 two oxen, and there's a wooden piece, and you 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:42.700 team them up together. So it's a team. So two 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:47.700 big strong oxen put their heads in a yoke, and 00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:50.620 then the farmer, this is before tractors, the 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:54.909 farmer stands behind them with a plow. And then 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:57.669 both of those oxen work together. Now, it's really 00:14:57.669 --> 00:15:01.049 difficult for one oxen to pull a plow, even though 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:04.490 some people do that. But when you have two, it's 00:15:04.490 --> 00:15:08.590 a lot easier. So they put their heads in, and 00:15:08.590 --> 00:15:11.389 they both pull together, and there's a chain 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:13.570 or a rope going back down to the plow, and they're 00:15:13.570 --> 00:15:15.230 pulling together, and they're plowing the ground. 00:15:16.929 --> 00:15:23.769 And Jesus said, my yoke is easy. And my burden 00:15:23.769 --> 00:15:28.870 is light. So when we are co -workers with him, 00:15:29.110 --> 00:15:35.570 hey, get this. When you put your head to be a 00:15:35.570 --> 00:15:39.610 co -worker with God in Christ, when you put your 00:15:39.610 --> 00:15:44.309 head, when you yoke up with him, you just yoked 00:15:44.309 --> 00:15:56.710 up to omnipotence. That means all power. You 00:15:56.710 --> 00:16:01.929 just yoked up with him. So his yoke is easy. 00:16:04.870 --> 00:16:08.789 If you're positioned correctly in Christ, it's 00:16:08.789 --> 00:16:10.710 so easy you don't even know if you're doing any 00:16:10.710 --> 00:16:17.830 work or not. 2 Corinthians 6, we then are workers 00:16:17.830 --> 00:16:23.059 together with Christ. So we are joined with him. 00:16:23.139 --> 00:16:26.100 As co -workers with God, we have the opportunity 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:30.159 to exchange our natural. Everybody say natural. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:34.399 We're going to exchange it for his supernatural. 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:37.840 Everybody say supernatural. We're going to trade 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.559 what we have so it won't be mine, it'll be his. 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:49.980 Not mine, but God's. God did not take up residence 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:55.580 in us. For us to live our lives apart from him. 00:17:00.820 --> 00:17:03.980 And that may be why we have so much difficulty 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:06.099 sometimes because we're trying to do it apart 00:17:06.099 --> 00:17:10.140 from him. And then pulling out that God box just 00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:17.000 when it's time to go to church. Remember, it's 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:19.660 not by working to be the best person we can be. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:27.619 but allowing God's life to flow through us. Amen. 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:33.940 Galatians 2 .20. Let's continue. I've been crucified 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:41.019 with Christ, and I no longer live. This is what 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:43.519 Paul is saying about himself, but it should be 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:47.000 what we're saying about ourselves. I've been 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.819 crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Christ 00:17:50.819 --> 00:17:56.680 lives in me. The life I now live in the body, 00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:00.359 I live by faith. Everybody say faith. Faith in 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:04.019 the Son of God who loves me and gave himself 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:10.680 for me. That should be a description of the life 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:16.460 of a Christian. And when we live that way, we're 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:20.599 going to display, not ourselves, We're going 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:28.380 to display Christ. But you might say, boy, that 00:18:28.380 --> 00:18:36.819 don't look like my life today. John 16, 33. Jesus 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:39.200 gave us something wonderful that we can celebrate. 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:44.940 Because if you think what I'm talking about is 00:18:44.940 --> 00:18:46.420 you're never going to have a struggle, you're 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:48.519 never going to have any... you're never going 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:51.259 to face any difficult situations because I'm 00:18:51.259 --> 00:18:54.180 in Christ, right? Life's going to be a better, 00:18:54.299 --> 00:18:56.960 not a better roses because they have thorns, 00:18:57.019 --> 00:19:04.119 but life's, I don't want to lay on thorns. Here's 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:06.839 what Jesus tells us. In this world, in the world, 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:14.680 in this fallen, broken, messed up world, you 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:20.230 will have tribulation. Oh, gee. Thanks, Jesus. 00:19:23.710 --> 00:19:25.490 You're going to let me know that I'm going to 00:19:25.490 --> 00:19:30.670 have some problems. I'm just going to float around 00:19:30.670 --> 00:19:32.710 on a cloud and eat bonbons all day. There's going 00:19:32.710 --> 00:19:37.190 to be some challenges in my life. Because we 00:19:37.190 --> 00:19:42.029 live in a fallen, broken world. Now, has anyone 00:19:42.029 --> 00:19:46.589 in here ever had a problem before? Some of you 00:19:46.589 --> 00:19:48.769 did not raise your hands. I think it's amazing 00:19:48.769 --> 00:19:54.150 that you have never had a problem. In the world, 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:56.910 you have tribulation. It goes on to say, but 00:19:56.910 --> 00:19:59.509 be of good cheer. I have come to overcome. I 00:19:59.509 --> 00:20:02.849 have overcome. Not come to overcome. I have overcome 00:20:02.849 --> 00:20:06.390 the world. Read it right, Dean. That word tribulation, 00:20:06.589 --> 00:20:10.269 that's the Greek word. I'm not going to try to 00:20:10.269 --> 00:20:14.170 pronounce it. Here's what it means. In this world. 00:20:15.049 --> 00:20:18.150 Everybody say, in this world. In this world, 00:20:18.269 --> 00:20:23.750 we're going to face some pressure. We're going 00:20:23.750 --> 00:20:27.390 to see some affliction. We're going to experience 00:20:27.390 --> 00:20:32.450 some anguish. Might even have a burden or two 00:20:32.450 --> 00:20:35.809 or ten. We're going to face some persecution. 00:20:36.750 --> 00:20:38.609 If we're living for Christ, we're definitely 00:20:38.609 --> 00:20:42.430 going to face some persecution. There's going 00:20:42.430 --> 00:20:45.670 to be some tribulation. There's going to be some 00:20:45.670 --> 00:20:49.990 trouble. Has anybody ever ran into trouble before? 00:20:50.910 --> 00:20:55.549 Trouble, trouble, trouble. In this world, we're 00:20:55.549 --> 00:21:02.390 going to face that. But Jesus said he has overcome 00:21:02.390 --> 00:21:05.450 the world. In the world, we're going to face 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:09.750 some trouble and some pressure. But Jesus said 00:21:09.750 --> 00:21:13.390 he overcame it. Everybody say, Jesus overcame 00:21:13.390 --> 00:21:18.680 it. That word is coming from the Greek word that 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:24.940 Nike tennis shoes are made from. And Jesus says, 00:21:25.140 --> 00:21:29.599 you're going to face some trouble. I just want 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.420 you to know I've conquered it. I just want you 00:21:32.420 --> 00:21:35.319 to know that I've overcome it. I just want you 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:38.980 to know that I prevail over it. I have gained 00:21:38.980 --> 00:21:46.460 victory over it. That's what Jesus said. How 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:50.079 many of you believe Jesus told the truth? Okay. 00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:56.519 And because he has overcome it, he tells us to 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.660 be of good cheer. Look to the person beside you 00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:04.920 and tell them, cheer up, buttercup. Be of good 00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:12.400 cheer. Here's what that word means. Good cheer. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.240 Be of good cheer means to take courage. Everybody 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:19.420 say, take courage. Be of good cheer. Everybody 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:23.359 say, be of good cheer. Be confident. Everybody 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.079 say, be confident. What are we taking courage 00:22:28.079 --> 00:22:35.500 in? That Jesus has already overcome. That's what 00:22:35.500 --> 00:22:37.440 we're taking courage in. That's what we're being 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:46.599 confident in. So here's my question. When trouble 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:51.700 or pressure comes your way, who is your source? 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:04.119 I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Whoever your source 00:23:04.119 --> 00:23:11.109 is, is going to be displayed. I'm going to go 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:12.509 ahead and get this straight. I'm not talking 00:23:12.509 --> 00:23:14.529 about faking it until you make it. What I'm talking 00:23:14.529 --> 00:23:18.789 about is a real deal. It's a real spiritual position. 00:23:20.470 --> 00:23:27.670 It's not make -believe acting. So when pressure 00:23:27.670 --> 00:23:34.210 and trouble comes, what is displayed? If there's 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:38.609 confidence and courage displayed, that means... 00:23:39.459 --> 00:23:42.640 That Jesus, who has already overcome, is your 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:49.859 source. Hallelujah. I might just run around the 00:23:49.859 --> 00:23:54.359 gym. What does this look like? This be of good 00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:57.380 cheer. This is what it is. God is empowering 00:23:57.380 --> 00:24:02.740 the believer with a bold inner attitude. You 00:24:02.740 --> 00:24:04.960 know what attitude is, because all of us have 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.680 attitude every once in a while. but we're talking 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:13.140 about a bold inner attitude based on who God 00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:15.599 is and what God has done and what God has made 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:19.900 available, who he says I am, what he says I have. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:23.960 Now I've got a bold inner attitude about it. 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:31.440 It's God, it's us displaying boldness, but it's 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:36.869 a boldness that's coming from... An inner confidence. 00:24:37.990 --> 00:24:42.109 An inner bolstering. This is in the word help 00:24:42.109 --> 00:24:45.089 study of this word. I didn't just write this 00:24:45.089 --> 00:24:50.150 myself. And that displaying boldness is spirit 00:24:50.150 --> 00:24:55.710 produced. It's not flesh produced. It's spirit 00:24:55.710 --> 00:25:01.109 produced. Remember, we are spirits. We have a 00:25:01.109 --> 00:25:04.450 soul, a mind, a will, desires, and emotions, 00:25:04.650 --> 00:25:10.650 but we are spirits. And our spirit, who we are, 00:25:10.670 --> 00:25:13.609 is who connects to the Holy Spirit. The Holy 00:25:13.609 --> 00:25:16.190 Spirit comes to live on the inside of us, and 00:25:16.190 --> 00:25:18.569 that's our divine connection where we're going 00:25:18.569 --> 00:25:21.390 to draw this strength from. It's not going to 00:25:21.390 --> 00:25:29.799 come just in our human reasoning. That's not 00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:32.880 where it's going to come from. Now you can say, 00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:37.539 God, you know, and this is what most of us have 00:25:37.539 --> 00:25:39.500 done all of our lives, even when we're trying 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:45.160 real hard, we're asking God to make us and our 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:52.400 situations, God, I want you to make mine look 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:57.470 like yours. And God is saying, Just lay yours 00:25:57.470 --> 00:26:00.750 down and pick up mine. That's what God is saying. 00:26:02.269 --> 00:26:09.390 Hallelujah. This is the result of the Lord infusing 00:26:09.390 --> 00:26:14.470 His strength in us, and we receive that through 00:26:14.470 --> 00:26:19.630 faith. So this bold inner attitude, this inner 00:26:19.630 --> 00:26:23.680 confidence is infused strength. It is spirit 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:28.299 produced and received by faith when we exchange 00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:36.079 ours for his. It's all his. Look at the person 00:26:36.079 --> 00:26:38.420 beside you and say, it's all his. I mean, the 00:26:38.420 --> 00:26:41.539 Bible talks about the challenges we face and 00:26:41.539 --> 00:26:45.740 the fight that we're fighting. And sometimes 00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:49.930 we try to engage in the fights from the... from 00:26:49.930 --> 00:26:55.009 the pressure and the trouble and the enemy. Most 00:26:55.009 --> 00:26:58.170 of the time, we're just trying to engage out 00:26:58.170 --> 00:27:04.869 of our souls and out of our flesh when we are 00:27:04.869 --> 00:27:09.390 spirits. Because ultimately, it's all God's armor. 00:27:11.589 --> 00:27:15.309 It's His. Look at the person beside you and say, 00:27:15.349 --> 00:27:21.109 it's His. It's His armor. It's his armor. Let's 00:27:21.109 --> 00:27:23.369 look at it real quick. Ephesians 6, 10 through 00:27:23.369 --> 00:27:27.009 18. If we're going to walk in God's victory, 00:27:27.130 --> 00:27:29.410 we're going to have to be clothed in his armor. 00:27:31.710 --> 00:27:34.630 Be strong in the Lord. And in his, guess whose 00:27:34.630 --> 00:27:39.910 power it is? It's his mighty power. It's not 00:27:39.910 --> 00:27:42.750 be strong in the Lord and your own power. It's 00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:45.390 be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 00:27:46.309 --> 00:27:49.230 And then it says, put on all. of your armor no 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:51.029 it doesn't say put on all of your armor it says 00:27:51.029 --> 00:27:54.009 put on all of God's armor so that you will be 00:27:54.009 --> 00:27:59.089 able to stand stand firm against the strategies 00:27:59.089 --> 00:28:05.630 of the devil that's how we stand for we're not 00:28:05.630 --> 00:28:08.490 fighting against flesh and blood most of the 00:28:08.490 --> 00:28:10.630 time we think that we're fighting against flesh 00:28:10.630 --> 00:28:16.259 and blood We're not fighting against flesh and 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:19.880 blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities 00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:23.019 of the unseen world, against mighty powers in 00:28:23.019 --> 00:28:25.960 this dark world, against evil spirits in the 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:33.099 heavenly places. The fear that we experience 00:28:33.099 --> 00:28:35.859 so often is not from God because He's given us 00:28:35.859 --> 00:28:53.640 a sound mind. Listen, it's his. Jesus said it's 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:56.039 the enemy who's coming to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:28:57.140 --> 00:28:59.480 It's the thief who's coming to steal, kill, and 00:28:59.480 --> 00:29:04.039 destroy. So if that's your pressure, if that's 00:29:04.039 --> 00:29:07.960 your trouble, isn't it very obvious where it's 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:15.000 coming from? Jesus said he came to give his life 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.849 to the fullest. Everybody say life. We can take 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:26.849 hold of his life. Therefore, put on every piece 00:29:26.849 --> 00:29:32.829 of whose armor? God's armor. So you'll be able 00:29:32.829 --> 00:29:35.049 to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then 00:29:35.049 --> 00:29:37.109 after the battle, you will still be standing 00:29:37.109 --> 00:29:39.670 firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt 00:29:39.670 --> 00:29:43.710 of truth. And the body armor of God's righteousness, 00:29:43.970 --> 00:29:47.130 not my ability to keep all the rules, but God's 00:29:47.130 --> 00:29:50.630 righteousness for shoes put on peace. Where does 00:29:50.630 --> 00:29:53.990 that come from? It comes from God's good news 00:29:53.990 --> 00:29:56.789 so that you will be fully prepared. In addition 00:29:56.789 --> 00:30:01.049 to all these, hold up the shield of faith to 00:30:01.049 --> 00:30:05.569 stop the fiery arrows of the devil. He's talking 00:30:05.569 --> 00:30:08.049 about a big shield that you can stand behind, 00:30:08.130 --> 00:30:13.410 not a little arm shield. Full and complete protection. 00:30:15.390 --> 00:30:18.369 I have a picture somewhere of a Roman shield. 00:30:19.230 --> 00:30:21.670 Because there's different words describing different 00:30:21.670 --> 00:30:25.569 shields. And this shield is a big rectangle shield 00:30:25.569 --> 00:30:27.609 that goes to the ground that you can be behind. 00:30:27.769 --> 00:30:30.990 That will stop every fiery dart of the devil. 00:30:31.210 --> 00:30:35.710 Put on salvation. Who's that come from? Who's 00:30:35.710 --> 00:30:41.569 that of? Who is salvation of? Help me out, somebody. 00:30:44.190 --> 00:30:47.309 Put on salvation as your helmet. Take the sword 00:30:47.309 --> 00:30:50.430 of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Whose 00:30:50.430 --> 00:30:55.670 word is it? It's God's Word. So it's all His. 00:30:57.089 --> 00:31:01.589 And even when we're praying, it doesn't say pray 00:31:01.589 --> 00:31:05.990 as hard as you can. Come up with a big list of 00:31:05.990 --> 00:31:09.420 what you want from God and beg Him for it. It's 00:31:09.420 --> 00:31:12.960 not what it says. It says to pray in the Spirit. 00:31:16.380 --> 00:31:24.680 When? All the time. On every occasion. We need 00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:30.880 to be praying Spirit -directed prayers. Not our 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:42.100 soul prayers. Remember, you're a Spirit. And 00:31:42.100 --> 00:31:47.619 when we engage, we use God's weapons. Everybody 00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:50.740 say God's weapons. It's God's armor. It's God's 00:31:50.740 --> 00:31:56.640 weapons. We are human, but we don't wage war 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:05.099 as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not 00:32:05.099 --> 00:32:13.809 worldly weapons. God's weapons, well, I'm going 00:32:13.809 --> 00:32:15.750 to go ahead and tell you this. Putting on the 00:32:15.750 --> 00:32:20.109 armor of God is basically aligning yourself with 00:32:20.109 --> 00:32:26.150 the Word of God. Every day, in those areas, you 00:32:26.150 --> 00:32:30.890 align yourself every day with the Word of God. 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:34.230 And you stand in the Word. It's all about the 00:32:34.230 --> 00:32:35.609 Word. Everybody says it's all about the Word. 00:32:36.049 --> 00:32:44.069 It's all about the Word. Right? And listen, we've 00:32:44.069 --> 00:32:46.289 got to realize that the war, the battle that 00:32:46.289 --> 00:32:51.269 we're facing is not against other people, even 00:32:51.269 --> 00:32:53.170 though sometimes it feels like it really is. 00:32:53.750 --> 00:32:56.089 Who has some trouble and some pressure and you 00:32:56.089 --> 00:33:00.990 think, boy, that's coming from a person? Hello? 00:33:02.970 --> 00:33:05.029 Why is everybody looking at me like they don't 00:33:05.029 --> 00:33:09.569 know what I'm talking about? You got those faces. 00:33:13.420 --> 00:33:17.160 The mighty weapons of God, listen, they're not 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:27.099 worldly weapons. It's truth. It's his word. That's 00:33:27.099 --> 00:33:32.579 the weapons that we're engaging with. It's a 00:33:32.579 --> 00:33:36.000 faith fight. Fight the good fight of faith. To 00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:40.700 knock down. I'm going to go ahead and throw this 00:33:40.700 --> 00:33:42.519 out there. It's a bad confession, but everybody 00:33:42.519 --> 00:33:45.319 in this room has negative strongholds built up 00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:52.000 in your life. So we're in a journey to tear those 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:57.019 down to where there's no more negative strongholds. 00:33:57.819 --> 00:34:01.319 And we're in a fight to tear down. Everybody 00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:05.059 say tear down. Tear down the negative strongholds 00:34:05.059 --> 00:34:07.359 and then we're in a fight to build up. Everybody 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:11.639 say build up. build up some godly strongholds 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:17.320 in our lives and in our minds. So we're going 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:18.679 to tear them down. We're going to knock down 00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:24.420 the strongholds of human reasoning. We're going 00:34:24.420 --> 00:34:33.780 to destroy false arguments to obtain God's victory. 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:37.380 Everybody say God's victory. Because that's... 00:34:37.789 --> 00:34:42.610 That's where he wants us to live. Is in his victory. 00:34:44.409 --> 00:34:49.289 Because he's already overcome. And we can live 00:34:49.289 --> 00:34:57.630 in his victory. And all these things. All these 00:34:57.630 --> 00:35:01.929 things. We are more than conquerors. The word 00:35:01.929 --> 00:35:07.480 here is hyper Nike. It's even above. Just victory. 00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:14.219 It's more than victory. You want to know how 00:35:14.219 --> 00:35:18.679 to be more than a conqueror? I hadn't shared 00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:22.480 this in a while. Let's pretend that there's a 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:24.800 heavyweight boxer and he's training to fight 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:27.599 in the heavyweight championship of the world, 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:29.500 right? So he's training and he's training and 00:35:29.500 --> 00:35:34.619 he's training. And if he wins, after this year 00:35:34.619 --> 00:35:38.159 -long... training. When he wins, he's going to 00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:42.659 get a check for $25 million. That's a good prize, 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.780 right? So he trains and he trains and he trains 00:35:45.780 --> 00:35:48.460 and he gets ready and then he steps into the 00:35:48.460 --> 00:35:54.820 ring and he wins the fight. So they bring out 00:35:54.820 --> 00:35:59.420 a check for $25 million and they hand it to him. 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:04.539 Everybody say a conqueror. He's a conqueror, 00:36:04.539 --> 00:36:08.420 right? Because he won. He obtained victory. He 00:36:08.420 --> 00:36:13.460 won. But here's what more than a conqueror looks 00:36:13.460 --> 00:36:17.780 like. He goes home. He walks in the front door. 00:36:18.219 --> 00:36:22.139 His wife is standing there. He hands her the 00:36:22.139 --> 00:36:31.139 check for 25 million. She didn't fight. She didn't 00:36:31.139 --> 00:36:37.369 win. But she just got to $25 million. That's 00:36:37.369 --> 00:36:41.750 what more than a conqueror is. That's the definition 00:36:41.750 --> 00:36:45.210 of more than. She's more than a conqueror. Here's 00:36:45.210 --> 00:36:47.929 the deal. God wants us to live in his victory. 00:36:48.510 --> 00:36:53.210 He's already won. And then he hands it to us. 00:36:54.670 --> 00:36:58.250 So we are more than conquerors. He is the conqueror, 00:36:58.449 --> 00:37:01.590 but now we are more than conquerors because we're 00:37:01.590 --> 00:37:11.920 in. Hallelujah. Why? Because he loves us. You 00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:15.280 are children of God, little children, and have 00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:18.079 overcome. Everybody say overcome. Everybody say 00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:21.840 obtain victory. You're of God, little children, 00:37:21.900 --> 00:37:28.639 and have obtained victory. Here's why. Because 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:32.170 he who is in you is greater. than he who is in 00:37:32.170 --> 00:37:36.889 the world. Just in case you don't believe those 00:37:36.889 --> 00:37:39.170 two, here's another one. 1 Corinthians 15, 57. 00:37:40.570 --> 00:37:47.630 Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through 00:37:47.630 --> 00:37:53.469 our Lord Jesus Christ. So our victory is given 00:37:53.469 --> 00:37:59.489 to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ, 00:37:59.809 --> 00:38:04.789 through... That's where real victory comes from. 00:38:07.730 --> 00:38:10.309 A couple of stories. Look at the person beside 00:38:10.309 --> 00:38:13.730 you and tell them to listen fast. Israel finds 00:38:13.730 --> 00:38:16.590 themselves, after they've left Egypt to go to 00:38:16.590 --> 00:38:18.650 the Promised Land, they find themselves trapped 00:38:18.650 --> 00:38:22.510 between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea. They're 00:38:22.510 --> 00:38:24.590 definitely in between a rock and a hard place. 00:38:25.349 --> 00:38:27.610 Does anybody ever find yourself in between a 00:38:27.610 --> 00:38:30.010 rock and a hard place? That's where they are. 00:38:31.210 --> 00:38:35.809 But this is what God tells them. And I believe 00:38:35.809 --> 00:38:38.610 that the Old Testament is there for us to see 00:38:38.610 --> 00:38:42.909 who God is and what God does. God told them, 00:38:42.969 --> 00:38:45.230 listen, because they were overcome with fear. 00:38:45.710 --> 00:38:48.969 God says, don't be afraid. Quit that. Everybody 00:38:48.969 --> 00:38:54.369 say, quit that. Don't be afraid. Quit that. And 00:38:54.369 --> 00:38:57.469 here's what he said. Stand still and watch the 00:38:57.469 --> 00:39:02.079 Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:06.400 today will never be seen again. The Lord himself 00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:13.239 will fight for you. And what are you supposed 00:39:13.239 --> 00:39:18.219 to do? Stay calm. Don't be afraid. Don't let 00:39:18.219 --> 00:39:25.440 fear overtake you. Be at peace. Awesome. Peace. 00:39:29.690 --> 00:39:35.869 Where's peace come from? Well, my peace depends 00:39:35.869 --> 00:39:44.650 on what's going on around me. My peace always 00:39:44.650 --> 00:39:47.989 looks like this because it's completely dependent 00:39:47.989 --> 00:39:54.570 on what's going on at the moment. And sometimes 00:39:54.570 --> 00:39:57.610 we say, God, polish my peace to make it look 00:39:57.610 --> 00:40:11.059 like yours. Let's go for his peace. Because his 00:40:11.059 --> 00:40:17.300 peace, the Bible says, Jesus says, my peace isn't 00:40:17.300 --> 00:40:20.119 like the world's peace. It don't matter how much 00:40:20.119 --> 00:40:21.800 you polish that rock, it's never going to look 00:40:21.800 --> 00:40:27.679 like that. Jesus said, my peace doesn't look 00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:33.380 like the world's peace. My peace is not dependent 00:40:33.380 --> 00:40:35.840 on what's going on in your life at any given 00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:40.690 moment. You can have my peace even when it looks 00:40:40.690 --> 00:40:46.809 like everything's falling apart. Because my peace 00:40:46.809 --> 00:40:50.989 surpasses human reasoning and understanding. 00:40:56.449 --> 00:41:02.530 Woo! Thank you for bringing that up. That gave 00:41:02.530 --> 00:41:05.019 me some more. You know, it made the message about 00:41:05.019 --> 00:41:06.739 two or three minutes longer, but how many of 00:41:06.739 --> 00:41:10.659 you liked it? All right. Here's another instance. 00:41:12.980 --> 00:41:18.780 David is standing in front of Goliath. Teenager. 00:41:19.739 --> 00:41:22.659 Standing in front of somebody. If this basketball 00:41:22.659 --> 00:41:25.340 goal was down, he couldn't walk under it without 00:41:25.340 --> 00:41:28.159 his head hitting the net. It's not him like reaching 00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.159 up or jumping. I mean, he has to. To dunk the 00:41:31.159 --> 00:41:37.500 ball, he's got to go down instead of up. David 00:41:37.500 --> 00:41:41.059 is standing in front of Goliath. This is what 00:41:41.059 --> 00:41:44.739 confidence looks like. This is what spirit -empowered 00:41:44.739 --> 00:41:51.920 confidence looks like. Everybody else, the king, 00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:56.400 all of God's people, they were shaking in their 00:41:56.400 --> 00:42:03.400 boots. Here's what God's victory looks like. 00:42:05.059 --> 00:42:07.079 Because Goliath had been talking a lot of junk. 00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:13.940 And David just said, look, big boy. You come 00:42:13.940 --> 00:42:16.139 at me with a sword and a spear and a javelin. 00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:22.360 But I come to you in the name of the Lord of 00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:28.019 heaven's armies. The God of the armies of Israel. 00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:33.019 Whom you have defied with your big old mouth. 00:42:35.139 --> 00:42:40.659 Today. Everybody say today. Today the Lord will 00:42:40.659 --> 00:42:49.500 conquer you. He's going to use me. But God's 00:42:49.500 --> 00:42:53.380 the one who's going to conquer you. He says today 00:42:53.380 --> 00:42:55.719 the Lord will conquer you. I will kill you and 00:42:55.719 --> 00:42:59.360 cut off your head. And then I will give the dead 00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:02.440 bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals 00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:06.780 and the whole world will know that there's a 00:43:06.780 --> 00:43:11.079 God in Israel. Everybody say display. Everybody 00:43:11.079 --> 00:43:15.219 say source. You see where his source is. You 00:43:15.219 --> 00:43:18.239 see where the source of his victory is. So now 00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:21.539 what's on display? His source is on display. 00:43:22.119 --> 00:43:26.659 God's on display. In the middle. Hey. No fighting 00:43:26.659 --> 00:43:33.260 has been done yet. How many of you think that 00:43:33.260 --> 00:43:35.480 there are hundreds and hundreds of people who 00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:40.619 have confidence in David? I would dare say not 00:43:40.619 --> 00:43:44.920 a one. David is the only one with a God -given 00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:48.039 confidence. His brothers are saying, well, go 00:43:48.039 --> 00:43:50.039 ahead and start writing the letter to dad that 00:43:50.039 --> 00:44:01.019 David died. The king says, you're just a boy. 00:44:01.800 --> 00:44:04.840 And he's been bigger than a grown man since he 00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:11.099 was a boy. Now he's not a boy anymore. No one 00:44:11.099 --> 00:44:17.780 had confidence in David except David and God. 00:44:23.179 --> 00:44:27.239 Everyone assembled here. will know that the Lord 00:44:27.239 --> 00:44:31.260 rescues His people. Listen to what he's saying. 00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:35.960 Listen to the confidence. Everyone here is going 00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:39.000 to know that the Lord rescues His people, but 00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:42.840 not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's 00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:52.619 battle. And He will give you to us. Did it happen? 00:44:53.940 --> 00:44:56.480 Did it happen? I mean, that's just him talking 00:44:56.480 --> 00:44:59.260 before it happened, but did it happen? Happened 00:44:59.260 --> 00:45:04.699 just like he said, right? Remember, you will 00:45:04.699 --> 00:45:13.780 display who or what you draw from. And here's 00:45:13.780 --> 00:45:21.079 my last point. It's God's armor. It's God's weapons. 00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:28.760 It's God's victory. But it's your choice. It's 00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:35.280 your choice. It's your choice. It's your choice. 00:45:37.739 --> 00:45:41.219 Here's what you can... Well, I got to move. Yeah, 00:45:41.300 --> 00:45:43.179 it's on the right side. It's on the wrong side 00:45:43.179 --> 00:45:47.059 right here. Display's reversed. You can choose 00:45:47.059 --> 00:45:53.420 pressure, affliction, anguish, burdens, persecution, 00:45:53.739 --> 00:45:56.449 tribulation, and trouble. You can continue to 00:45:56.449 --> 00:46:01.550 choose that if you want to. But you can choose 00:46:01.550 --> 00:46:05.630 to side with God and be in Christ. And you can 00:46:05.630 --> 00:46:08.809 choose courage, strength, confidence, peace, 00:46:08.989 --> 00:46:11.590 victory. You can take it up because that's His. 00:46:13.230 --> 00:46:19.789 And He's offering it to you. The battle you're 00:46:19.789 --> 00:46:23.510 fighting today may look impossible. Has anyone 00:46:23.510 --> 00:46:25.750 ever stared in the face of impossible before? 00:46:26.349 --> 00:46:30.030 To you, you've stared in the face of impossible. 00:46:31.190 --> 00:46:33.829 The battle you're fighting today may look impossible, 00:46:33.969 --> 00:46:35.989 but I want you to remember something. You don't 00:46:35.989 --> 00:46:39.190 have to fight for victory in this battle that 00:46:39.190 --> 00:46:43.090 you're facing. You can stand in Christ's victory. 00:46:46.329 --> 00:46:50.369 The cross was the turning point that made this 00:46:50.369 --> 00:46:53.179 available to you. Salvation. made this available 00:46:53.179 --> 00:46:56.400 to you. The resurrection of Jesus is your receipt. 00:46:56.659 --> 00:46:59.539 You can say that. You know, we're buying Christmas 00:46:59.539 --> 00:47:01.539 presents already and we've got to keep the receipt, 00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:07.340 right? Keep the receipt. The resurrection is 00:47:07.340 --> 00:47:11.900 your receipt that God has already purchased victory 00:47:11.900 --> 00:47:19.360 for you. And the Holy Spirit. Who is in you, 00:47:19.460 --> 00:47:21.539 sealing you until the day of redemption. He knows 00:47:21.539 --> 00:47:24.139 everything about everything. We need to acknowledge 00:47:24.139 --> 00:47:27.619 him on a daily basis, a moment -by -moment basis. 00:47:27.920 --> 00:47:31.780 He is in us. He is our comforter. He is our teacher. 00:47:31.960 --> 00:47:36.239 He is reminding us that our victory is in Jesus. 00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:44.980 But we have to acknowledge him. It's so easy 00:47:44.980 --> 00:47:53.860 to just keep picking it up. Here's my last illustration. 00:47:55.400 --> 00:47:59.059 A child learning to swim keeps thrashing in the 00:47:59.059 --> 00:48:05.039 water and sinking until the instructor tells 00:48:05.039 --> 00:48:12.500 them, stop fighting and float. Look to the person 00:48:12.500 --> 00:48:14.360 beside you and tell them, stop fighting and float. 00:48:15.340 --> 00:48:24.260 Stop fighting and float. Listen, when the child 00:48:24.260 --> 00:48:32.360 relaxes, the water begins to work for them. As 00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:37.719 long as they're thrashing and flailing, they're 00:48:37.719 --> 00:48:41.099 going to sink because they're changing up the 00:48:41.099 --> 00:48:43.420 laws of buoyancy or they're working with it. 00:48:43.460 --> 00:48:45.519 I mean, they're thrashing and they're like disturbing 00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:47.920 everything. The water's trying to help them. 00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:50.940 The water wants to help them float. But they're 00:48:50.940 --> 00:48:57.199 thrashing and flailing and they're sinking. When 00:48:57.199 --> 00:49:00.980 the child relaxes, the water works for them. 00:49:01.619 --> 00:49:09.179 It holds them up. Same is true with walking in 00:49:09.179 --> 00:49:15.420 Christ's victory. We stop flailing and start 00:49:15.420 --> 00:49:20.960 trusting. Based on who he is and his promises. 00:49:22.139 --> 00:49:26.460 When we start really trusting, it's one thing 00:49:26.460 --> 00:49:29.940 to know him. It's another thing to be established 00:49:29.940 --> 00:49:39.059 in them. When we stop flailing and start trusting, 00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:46.579 that's when we begin to walk in God's victory. 00:49:50.920 --> 00:49:56.599 Because God, Jesus, has overcome already. Right? 00:49:58.139 --> 00:50:03.960 As long as we want to take it on our own, you 00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:06.019 know, we're actually fighting against what He's 00:50:06.019 --> 00:50:09.159 already made possible for us. He's not working 00:50:09.159 --> 00:50:14.139 against us. We're fighting against Him by taking 00:50:14.139 --> 00:50:18.280 it up on ourselves. This online worship experience 00:50:18.280 --> 00:50:20.840 was brought to you by the friends and partners 00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:21.780 of Elation Church.