WEBVTT - The Guided Mind & The Guarded Heart 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.600 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.440 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.200 And I've been waiting to ask you, are you ready 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:25.320 for the Word of God? Not be really ready? Why 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.720 are you ready? Come on, y'all better stretch for this word? 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:36.760 All right, quit banging on those bongos and let me preach. 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.320 First Kings, Chapter twenty. First Kings Chapter twenty remains standing 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:45.560 for the reading of God's word. It's good to see 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.560 my niece Hattie with blonde hair. I barely recognized her. Wow, 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.520 a lot has changed. I used to have blonde hair, Hattie. 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.760 Look it up. It's on Google. First Kings, Chapter twenty, 0:00:56.440 --> 0:01:00.520 versus one through thirty four. You want to hurry today? Okay? 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:07.280 Are you hungry? Hungry for the bread of life, the 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:09.920 manna from heaven? I have food to eat that ye know, 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:15.479 not of Okay, King James, let's do it. One Kings 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.840 twenty verse one. Now ben Hadad, King of Aram, mustered 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:26.479 his entire army, accompanied by thirty two kings with their 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:30.120 horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.320 attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.920 King of Israel, saying, this is what Ben Hadad says. 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:44.560 Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:50.120 your wives and children are mine. And the king answered, 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.840 just as you say, my lord, the King, I and 0:01:55.040 --> 0:02:03.160 all I have are yours. How are you going to 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:11.640 give up that easy on what God gave you? I 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.480 and all that I have are yours. And the messengers 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.240 came again and said, this is what ben Hadad says. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.320 I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.440 and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.240 to send my officials to search your palace. In the 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.080 houses of your officials, they will seize everything you value 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.240 and carry it away. And the King of Israel summoned 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:33.680 all the elders of the land and said to them, 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.280 see how this man is looking for trouble. When he 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.000 sent for my wives and my children, my silver and 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.600 my gold, I did not refuse him. Let's key in 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:49.280 on these next verses. The elders and the people all 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:55.800 answered don't listen to him or agree to his demands. 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.600 So he replied to ben Hadad's messengers, tell my Lord 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.519 the King, your servant will do all you demand it 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.480 the first time, but this demand I cannot meet. And 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:12.400 they left and took the answer back to Benidad. They 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.760 left and took the answer back to Benadad. This demand 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:22.920 I cannot meet. Don't listen to him or agree to 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:27.360 his demands. Now that that scripture was probably unfamiliar to 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.080 most of you, how many you never heard that one before? 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.160 Don't remember hearing it? We can't start my first Sunday 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:37.480 back with y'all, lion right here in church. Come on, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:39.160 how many of y'all like I don't really know much 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.520 about Benadad. I'm gonna balance. I'm gonna balance this and 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.000 give you a familiar scripture, and then we'll preach. But 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:50.360 look real quick at Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four, 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:56.440 verse six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:03.720 every situation, by prayer, petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:09.680 to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:16.880 will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:23.120 So for the next few minutes, let's talk about the 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:30.159 guided mind and the guarded heart. And in case that's 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:36.520 too pretty, here's the other title. Take it back. Take 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.960 it back, Father, I thank you for this day of deliverance. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.880 Do what you said you would do. In Jesus' name, Amen, 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.760 on your way to your seat, punch your neighbor gently 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:50.960 if they are not COVID conscious, and say, take it back. 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.000 We need to get a new Touch your neighbor, Oh, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:05.360 touch your neighbors. Take it back. So I want to 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.640 make a confession to you. This is one of my 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:10.520 friends advised me not to share this. I'm gonna share 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.760 it anyway. About ten years ago, I went to have 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:20.280 a consultation for liposuction. Buck went with me. This is 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:24.599 not an endorsement or a negative publicity against cosmetic surgery 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.120 in any way. But I went to get an endorsement 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:32.240 for what do you call it? A consultation to see 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.560 if the doctor thought I should do liposuction. I didn't 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:37.719 do it. He talked me out of it. And the 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.719 reason I went is because I want to have abs 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.480 and I like fried rice, So that's why I went. 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:50.599 That's what I told him. So when he heard me talking, 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:55.560 he said, oh, you're one of these guys, And I 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.320 said one of what guys? And Buck was there, so 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:01.599 he was there with me. He said, these guys you 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:06.680 just want to You want me to fix the fat, right, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.720 but you still want to eat the food, he basically, 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:12.320 And I think the guy had a lot of integrity 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:16.440 because he said, get out of here. He said, come 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.960 see me after you've changed your processes. Come see me 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.320 after you've changed some things, you know, maybe your diet, 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.120 you're exercising all that. Then if you still he said, 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.920 but but don't come to me asking me to fix 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:36.000 what you are unwilling to change. So I left and 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:37.839 I didn't do it, and I still haven't done it 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:39.240 to this day, but I might one day. I don't 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.680 know making any commitments like that. What I've noticed a 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:49.800 lot of times spiritually is that we bring God our problems, 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.680 and that's good. I want you to know you can 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.919 bring any problem that you ever have into the presence 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:02.719 of God. Your problems are welcome in God's presence. You 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.799 might as well bring him into the presence of God. 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.720 It's not like he doesn't know about them anyway. My 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:14.160 problems are welcome in God's presence. And that helps me 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.280 to know that there's nothing that I'm dealing with that 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:18.480 I have to carry by myself. I don't get extra 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:23.000 credit for holding it to myself. When I come to God, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:25.560 I can start talking about you know, like Paul said 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:30.400 in Philippians chapter four, anything he said, don't be anxious, 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:35.000 but instead pray. And I'm so grateful that there's nothing 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.320 that I have to hide from God. I can bring 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.280 him any problem that I have, not just a big 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.160 one but a small one. Not just a small one, 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:47.240 but a big one. God doesn't have a scale where 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.320 he weighs my problems and says that's too big. I'm busy. 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.640 And on the other hand, God doesn't have a must 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.680 be this tall to ride sign in his presence where 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.840 he says, if your problem isn't a certain amount, I'm 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.680 not concerned with it, because He's number the hairs on 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.480 my head. He cares about what I care about. But 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:05.880 lately I felt the Lord challenging me. And I'm want 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.120 to start this teaching with you today and this will 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.680 just really be the beginning of it. But God's been 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:17.320 challenging me instead of always just bringing me your problems, 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.280 which you're always welcome to do. Why don't you start 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:30.120 bringing me your thoughts instead of coming to me, you know, 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.560 like in an emotional state where you're all worked up 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:35.959 and you're so depressed, and you're so anxious and all 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:37.920 these other things that I know I'm not supposed to be, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.920 but I get there and then asking God, will you 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:46.240 please suck it out? It's been a while. Have y'all 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:50.000 prayed any prayers lately? God? Would you please suck this 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.959 out of me? Have you ever come to the Lord 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.120 for light? Bo is what I'm trying to say, where 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.199 I'm asking God to deal with the consequences, and that's fine, 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.600 and I would not discourage you from that. There's nothing 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.120 that you've brought in here today that God hasn't seen before. 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.880 Please don't ever be arrogant enough to think that you 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.520 have created a new category or species of sin that 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.160 God is somehow going to be repulsed or surprised by. 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:18.959 And please don't ever think that you're going to bring 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:21.480 God something that he would be intimidated or insulted by. 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.120 At the same time, wouldn't you like to find out 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.600 what it would be like that instead of letting the 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.880 problem get to the point where it's so tangled up 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:34.840 inside of you that you have to bring it to 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:38.520 God as a full grown problem. What if you started 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:44.360 involving God earlier in the process, at the level of 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:49.640 your thought. When I read you the scripture from One 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.360 Kings twenty, it was a surprising scripture for me that 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.600 God led me to to preach, because the main character 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.760 in the passage is not King David, or you know, 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.920 Man after God's own heart, or Moses who was no 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:09.160 ordinary child, but a king that we don't preach much 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.520 about named Ahab. Now, the only time you ever hear 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:16.280 Ahab's name is in connection with the problem that he caused. 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.360 And AaB caused a lot of problems in fact, for 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:22.040 any of you who feel like you're too bad for 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.480 God to bless you, or you can't like really give 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.840 what God has for you. The Bible says in One 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.360 King sixteen that Ahab was the most wicked king who 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:35.000 ever lived, all right, So that's who we're talking about. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:39.000 And the Bible says that thirty two kings came to 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.280 attack him, a confederacy of thirty two different kings led 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.040 by ben Hadad, who AaB fought three different times and 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.800 I'm just giving you all this background to remind you 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:54.240 that Ahab, in One Kings Chapter twenty, the king who 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:59.960 needed for God to do something. Let me read it again. 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.800 Isn't it crazy? I just read it again that the 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:18.480 king of Israel, the nation that belonged to God, didn't 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:25.880 even ask for God's perspective before he agreed to the 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:32.160 enemy's demands. If you notice, there is no section in 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.080 this scripture that Ahab stops and calls for a prophet. 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:39.360 There is no section in the scripture that I read 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.480 you that Ahab stops and says, well, let's see what 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.640 the Lord says about this. There is no there is 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:52.280 no indication see aep I hate Ab because he caused 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:55.880 all this trouble for the nation and then wanted to 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:00.360 blame the enemy for an agreement that he him elf 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:05.480 made with the enemy. How many times in my life, 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:10.280 in your life, have we asked God to deliver us 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.200 from an agreement that we made with the enemy without 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:22.240 consulting him. Oh, you're one of those kinds. The life 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.280 of suction doctor said to me, you just want me 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.480 to suck it out. You just want to bring me 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:30.360 the results of your habits and have me fix them 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:36.440 without adjusting any of them. AaB is so quick to 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:41.560 agree with the enemy. I wonder how many times in 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:48.040 your life have you agreed with the enemy without even 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.920 consulting God. You know what I mean by agreed with 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.720 the enemy. It comes along in the form of anxiety. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.400 I'm not one of these people who wakes up to 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:06.560 my first alarm clock. In fact, my default disposition in 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:13.040 the morning is despair and discouragement. Holly, that's too loud 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:14.360 of a laugh, and you just keep it down on 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.760 that front. Row my default position. And so in some 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.920 ways the verse I read you in Philippians. I know 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.120 you don't think these two scriptures go together, but I'm 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.160 going to show you how they do. Because Philippians four 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.280 six to someone like me is just about the most 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.280 annoying Bible verse in the Bible, where Paul says, don't 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.120 be anxious about anything. And I want to file that. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.560 My first instinct is I want to file that in 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:43.440 the court of useless advice. And I also want to 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.520 argue with Paul because his kids didn't have Snapchat, and 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:49.840 so when he's telling me don't be anxious about anything, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.800 he didn't even have kids, So how are you going 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:54.480 to sit here and advise me on a situation that 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.040 you never had firsthand experience of. And I want to 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:02.600 argue with Paul, don't be anxious about anything, because to me, 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:09.600 at first it seems like an impossible demand. So then 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.800 he says something else. He says, but in every situation, 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:18.440 by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.640 Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.680 by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now, 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.640 this is the end of a letter that Paul wrote 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:29.720 to the Philippian church. This is not the first thing 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.800 that he said to them. This is not your annoying 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.480 friend that gives you unsolicited advice. This is a church 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.800 that he had a great relationship with. This is in 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.080 a time of his own imprisonment where he has more 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.120 to worry about than they have to worry about. And 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:44.320 when we see the word anxious, I know you can't 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.280 relate to this. But a few people in the church 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:52.000 have had more anxiety in the past year than they 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.040 ever had before. There's a few people in the church, 0:14:56.000 --> 0:15:00.720 just a few dirty sinners. And what the to me? 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:05.400 Over the course of the pandemic is very interesting. It's 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:11.320 almost by getting me to indulge in the little thoughts 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.040 I noticed that he had. He had, he had tempted 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:20.240 me to make agreements that I didn't even know that 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:27.120 I made. That almost that almost caused me to give 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:33.320 up what God gave me, an agreement with the enemy. 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.040 So Ahab has a wife named Jezebel, and she has 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.280 taught him to depend on idols. She is a Phoenician woman. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.640 She does not serve the God of Israel. She has 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:46.200 taught them to serve the rain god. Bail the rain God. 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.600 But he has just been proven false on a mountain 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.760 called Mount Carmel under a prophet named Elijah. And now 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:55.280 after a state of famine, the nation is weakened, and 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.240 so Benedad makes a strategy. I will attack them while 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.480 they are still week from the famine. And it's not 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:04.920 just one enemy that you got to worry about. The 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:08.080 Bible says that he went and got thirty two other kings. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.560 Because you need to know before you agree with the enemy. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:18.000 He always brings company that you didn't count on an 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:23.480 agreement with the enemy. Have you made any agreements with 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:30.560 the enemy that need to be broken? Today before you 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:36.200 can move forward into the promise that God has for 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:44.240 your life, do not be anxious about anything. I don't 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:49.680 like that verse because frankly, I like my anxiety, and 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.000 I'm not talking about as a medical condition. You know, 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.080 terms get so culturally loaded. They mean different things to 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.000 different people. I am not telling you not to consult 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.440 a professional. That is not the point of this sermon. 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:05.960 But many of us have made an alliance with anxiety 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.520 somewhere deep in our hearts, and we have actually grown 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:16.120 so accustomed to our anxiety that it now feels normal 0:17:16.200 --> 0:17:20.879 to us, and peace feels foreign. And so now you 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.080 get used to just waking up feeling weird all the time, 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.320 and now you get used to feeling on edge all 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.600 the time, and you begin to think that it is 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:34.239 normal because it's all that you've ever seen. And I 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.040 love what the elders said to Ahab. This is what 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.600 I believe the spirit of God is saying to somebody today, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.719 and it's the message God gave me. Do not listen 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:52.080 to your enemy or agree to his demands. Just because 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:56.399 my enemy speaks something doesn't mean I have to agree 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:03.080 with it. After all, it is not the voice you 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:07.640 hear that determines the life you end up with. It's 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:13.280 the voice you believe, and before the enemy can get 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.879 you to agree with it, he has to get you 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.000 to believe it. So in order to get you to 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:22.520 believe it, he'll get somebody to say it. And how 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.520 many have found out you cannot believe everything you hear? 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.440 Not these days, I was reading the list of things 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.240 that Paul said that we should think about, because he's 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.439 trying to give us a new perspective. You have to 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.919 believe everything that crosses through your mind. You have to 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:41.880 accept everything that comes across your heart. He said, don't 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:46.720 be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. Now he says, 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:48.760 there are some things we should think about verse eight. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.399 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:54.879 is pure, whatever is lovely. But see, I stopped at 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.760 part one when he said, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.800 is true, think about such things, because I wondered, how 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:06.000 do I even know anymore what that is? How do 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:11.960 I even know what is true? How can I possibly know? 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:20.680 In this culture of headlines and highlights. Now you don't 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.960 even just believe the headline. You believe the retweet of 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:28.919 the retweet of the retweet of the retweet. How do 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.960 I even know what is true anymore? How do I 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:37.440 even know? Because if I make an agreement with the enemy. 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:40.560 That's why I was excited about uth X. I think 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:47.320 that if we can undo some of the untruths and 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:56.320 keep our young people from making some agreements with the enemy. Now, 0:19:56.560 --> 0:19:59.760 this is what I'm praying. This is what I'm praying, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.280 not only for this week, but I'm praying this for 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.720 my kids all the time. You'll know I've got a 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.959 good prayer life because I've got three children that are 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.159 still living in my house. You'll know I got a 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.679 good prayer life because one of them as his driver's permit. 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:15.919 You'll know I got a good prayer life because I 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.120 have a beautiful ten year old daughter. And oh, I'm 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:23.120 praying every day. Don't let my daughter, don't let my sons, 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:33.119 don't let me make agreements with the enemy. Don't let 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.720 me make an agreement with the enemy. You know, sometimes 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.880 you get in this self pity mode and you kind 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:41.680 of go with it and you start thinking, oh, I'm 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:43.760 just worthless, I'm just this, I'm just that, I'm just 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:45.399 the other. You know why you do that, because it 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:50.840 takes the pressure off for a minute. You know why 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:53.720 Ahab gave up his silver and his gold, and the 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:59.320 Bible said his best wives not you can have the 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:01.399 other ones, but Lord, let me keep the best ones. 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.360 I'm gonna take your silver and your gold, and I'm 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:06.240 gonna take your best wives and your best kids. In 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.080 other words, I'm attack the land. They have said, okay, 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.800 because if I agree with you, maybe you won't attack me. 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:20.840 So sometimes we find ways to make the attack stop 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840 that actually make the battle worse and weaken us on 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:31.560 the inside after the fact. This is the root of addiction. Oh, 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:33.600 I was praying for our kids when y'all were standing 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.480 up earlier. I was praying, God, don't let them make 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:41.600 an alliance with something early in their life. Don't let 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.440 them make an agreement with something. Some of us make 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:48.359 agreements with things that provide us with temporary relief. But 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.000 they are false gods. They cannot save, they do not 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.760 serve us, they do not satisfy us. They are broken 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:03.520 cisterns that cannot hold water. So if we're going to 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.920 preach about anything, if we're going to preach about repentance 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:10.600 from sin and dead works, we have to first understand 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.640 that before the problem, this is my sermon, before the 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.679 promise of God can be received, your agreement with the 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:27.160 enemy has to be broken. And there are things there 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.680 are things about you that are not true, that are 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:34.240 not right, that are not noble, that are not good, 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.760 report that are not virtuous, that are not praiseworthy, that 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.240 you have begun to believe, because sometimes it is easier 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.399 to believe the lie that looks like the evidence I 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:51.640 can see, then believe the truth that is new. And 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.760 it's easier for me to bring God my love handles 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:02.240 and ask him to suck them out. Have you ever 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:04.520 crawled up in the presence of God when it's so 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.640 bad that you can't even hardly pray anymore? After you've 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:15.880 been fifteen rounds with Oh God? And I've had God 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:18.720 help me in those times. To be honest with you, 0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:21.120 I wouldn't bear if he didn't help me in those times. 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:23.760 So there's nothing wrong with that. But I heard the 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.199 Lord say to me the other day, this would have 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:34.040 been easier if you'd have brought it to me earlier. Listen, 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:37.639 it starts before you see it. Say that out loud. 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:42.280 It starts before you see it again. It starts before 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:45.480 you see it. That's true for a leak in your roof, 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.639 that is true for an emotional state. I was so, 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:55.120 I was so obsessed with Paul's instruction to the Philippians. 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:58.760 He said, the peace of God will guard your heart 0:23:58.880 --> 0:24:00.840 and your mind. In Christ, he says, look at this 0:24:00.880 --> 0:24:03.159 in verse seven, and the peace of God. So I 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:05.160 want the peace of God. God, give me your peace. 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:07.399 I'm so stressed out, I'm so anxious. I don't know 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.160 what to do about it. And he said, well, if 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:17.240 you don't guide your mind, it's impossible for God's peace 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:21.840 to guard your heart. How many know your mind needs 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:25.439 to be guided. Oh? Let me, Oh, I need to 0:24:25.440 --> 0:24:30.160 break it to you. Your mind needs guidance. Your mind 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:35.440 is an undisciplined, rabid dog that will bite the whole neighborhood. God, 0:24:36.080 --> 0:24:39.399 your mind needs guidance. That powerful computer of your mind, 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:46.320 that mind needs guidance. Elon Musk didn't make a self 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:50.760 driving mind yet, y'all. I don't think there's one coming 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:56.680 on the market. So if I'm going to bring God 0:24:56.720 --> 0:25:03.359 into my problems but not bring him into my process, 0:25:04.040 --> 0:25:10.560 what's what's going to happen? Every single time? When the 0:25:10.640 --> 0:25:15.000 King said to the enemy ben Adad, I can't meet 0:25:15.040 --> 0:25:19.719 these demands. The Lord gave a promise in verse thirteen. 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:23.479 Listen to this. This is Firse King's twenty thirteen. A 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:27.360 prophet came to Ahab, King of Israel, and announced, this 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:32.040 is what the Lord says. Whoo, this is what the 0:25:32.040 --> 0:25:36.879 Lord says. I'm supposed to read what comes next, but 0:25:36.920 --> 0:25:41.840 that's where I'm stuck. This is what the Lord says. 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:47.800 Everybody say it. This is what the Lord says. What 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:50.880 did I come to church to hear what the Lord says? 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:53.240 What do I want to fill my heart with? What 0:25:53.280 --> 0:25:56.280 the Lord says? What do I want my kids to believe? 0:25:56.560 --> 0:25:59.520 What the Lord says? What am I building my life 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:02.359 on that can't be shaken with a storm? What the 0:26:02.400 --> 0:26:06.280 Lord says? What has the power to defeat and uproot 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:10.040 every lie? I believe? What the Lord says? What am 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:13.760 I steering my life according to what the Lord says? 0:26:14.080 --> 0:26:16.960 What has the final say over what happens to me 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:20.680 in this season of my life? What the Lord says? 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:25.960 What has divine power to demolish strongholds and defeat every 0:26:26.119 --> 0:26:29.720 devil in hell? What the Lord says? This is what 0:26:29.760 --> 0:26:33.720 the Lord says, I heard what you said, Nadadh. But 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:37.880 this is what the Lord says. Do you see this 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:42.600 vast army. Do you see these problems? Do you see 0:26:42.640 --> 0:26:46.840 this situation? This is what the Lord says. I will 0:26:46.920 --> 0:26:54.080 give it into your hand today. Then you will know. 0:26:55.440 --> 0:27:00.240 I am the Lord. Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply 0:27:00.400 --> 0:27:04.639 to me. I'm divorced, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply 0:27:04.760 --> 0:27:08.320 to me. I'm twelve, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:11.960 to me. I got a learning disability, Well Pastor Steve. 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:15.280