WEBVTT - Lions & Lizards & Lies 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:04.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:06.960 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:10.320 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:12.360 it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:17.080 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:19.239 You may be seated. Welcome to week one of a 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:25.360 brand new sermons series called Triggered, and we're going to 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.319 be discussing some things, some different teachings to help you 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.520 take your mind back and not just give territory over 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.960 to the devil in the area of your imagination and 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.760 so that he fills you with all of these hypothetical 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.839 scenarios that may or may not ever happen, keeping you 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.440 from enjoying the life God has given you, more importantly, 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.559 stewarding the life that God has given you for His glory. 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.959 And we're so excited to get it started today. And 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.440 I want to make the best use of our time possible. 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:55.680 I know here at Valentine they were saying it was 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.000 kind of difficult to get in, probably not at all 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:01.720 the campuses, but there was more traffic than usual, and 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.280 so you should thank God for that, because not only 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.199 is that more people hearing the message of Jesus Christ, 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:11.040 but it's also a good preparation for a sermon about anxiety. 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.720 And so we're just looking out for you and helping 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:16.520 you get in the right mind frame. But let's go 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:20.560 to the word of God now. And obviously I'm no psychologist. 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:25.200 I'm just a Bible preacher from Monks Corner, South Carolina, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.119 And with a little bit of knowledge that I have 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.440 about the scriptures and life experience, I want to show 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.160 you something today that I think will be so helpful 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:38.880 from on Peter chapter five, verses five through nine. And 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:40.559 I'm going go and tell you there's only one verse 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.600 in this whole passage that I actually like. I believe 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.959 all of it, and I know that I'm supposed to 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.400 do all of it. But from the natural standpoint of 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.120 my mind, there's only one verse that appeals to me. 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:54.520 And you'll see what I'm saying when I read it. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.440 Of course, we can't talk about triggered without paying a 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.320 visit to Peter. Easily the most triggered to disciple that 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:06.000 Jesus called cussing and cutting off people's ears and stuff. 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.760 But he's calmed down by the time He writes this 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.320 letter to the Gentiles who are assimilating into the Greco 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:17.160 Roman world, and he has some great advice for us 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.160 concerning our anxiety and our cares. Not that you have any, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:27.120 but someone on your row worries too much. Not that 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.800 you do, but they think about stuff. They make little 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.480 movies in their minds, and they edit together things that 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.320 didn't actually happen, and then they tell themselves that that's 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:39.840 how it really is. So that's what I'm helping today. 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:41.919 I'm sorry you had to come here a sermon design 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.560 for someone else, But Peter was actually talking to a 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.440 church that was undergoing a great deal of persecution, and 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.440 he has some experience from wisdom, and I want to 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.079 share his words with you today and pray that God 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.760 will speak to you personally. He says, first Peter, Chapter five, 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.560 verse five, Humble yourself. What did I say? Verse five? 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.720 In the same way, you who are younger submit yourselves 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:08.680 to your elders. Almost skip that verse, But it's great 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:11.840 verse that I like as a parent. All of you 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:17.160 clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Because God opposes 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:23.520 the prow but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.560 under God's mighty hand. I like how he says that. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.440 He says God lines up on the other side of 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.080 human pride. So if you want to be on the 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:36.360 same side of the ball as God, you gotta make 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.840 sure that you come in at the right level and 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:44.360 realize that you are not him, that you are the creation, 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.960 not the Creator. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:52.880 that he may lift you up in due time. Cast 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:59.240 all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.760 If ever there was a verse to cross stitch and 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.200 to put on a coffee mug, it's one Peter five seven. 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.320 That's the one I like, in case you're wondering, cast 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.880 all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:18.040 Really enjoy that verse feels good. Be alert. Verse eight 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.080 I don't like so much. And of sober mind your enemy, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:26.080 the devil brows around like a roaring lion looking for 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:31.040 someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.920 because you know that the family of believers throughout the 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:39.560 world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And I 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.000 want to stop right there and talk to you for 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.240 a few moments today. In this opening, foundational session in 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.640 our study called triggered on this subject, I want to 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:55.520 talk about lions and lizards and lies. Lions and lizards 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.359 and lies. And before you say, oh my, put you 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.000 in the frame of mind of me five or six 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:08.480 years ago when I called a pastor who is older 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.360 and wiser than me. And I wasn't having like a 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.280 nervous breakdown from a clinical standpoint, or a panic attack, 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.160 as I understand a panic attack, but just feeling overwhelmed. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:25.120 Not in the clinical sense. Was I experiencing anxiety, but 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:30.160 in the everyday sense of adulthood. And I think sometimes 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.880 we say we're suffering anxiety when we're really just suffering adulthood. 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.120 And I called him in my driveway in the house 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.920 we lived in at the time in mint Hill, and 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.400 I was doing this thing that I was doing a 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:46.680 lot during that period where I would sit in the 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:51.760 driveway between work and home because my kids were really small, 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.120 and I couldn't figure out which one was more work 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.080 or home because at work I'm the boss, and at 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:03.039 home my kids weren't calling me pastor at that stage. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.960 And so I was sitting in the driveway and I thought, 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:08.440 you know, I'm just gonna call him, and I'm gonna 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.960 ask him, and I don't care what he thinks, because 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.680 you get to a certain point of being overwhelmed, it 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.920 just all spills out. And when I started talking to him, 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:19.719 I started, you know how when you're trying to tell 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.760 somebody you're struggling, and you share with them in little slivers, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.200 and you try to see if anything you say shocks them, 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.520 and if it feels like it shocks them, you back 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.080 up and you go, well, I'm not struggling with that, 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.719 but I'm saying like some people do, and you kind 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.160 of feel your way into a conversation, at least I do. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.320 And it's like I was telling him I'm kind of overwhelmed, 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.360 and he didn't judge me, and I said, and this 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.240 is how I feel, and he didn't judge me. And 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:46.640 so every time he didn't judge me and I didn't 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.560 feel like he was surprised, I would share a little more, 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:51.640 and share a little more, and share a little more. 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:53.560 And by the end of it, I'm in my driveway 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:57.160 crying on the phone to him, telling him how overwhelmed 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:01.559 I feel being you know, just in my early thirties past, 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.640 during a church that was larger than the town I 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:10.720 grew up in. Imagine that, and then with kids and 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.560 he and he actually laughed in the middle of me 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.920 crying to him. He laughed, and I can't explain why, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.200 but it was the most comforting thing he could have 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.720 done in that moment. And what he said next is 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:25.920 just what I needed to hear, and I know God 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:28.200 put it in his mouth so I could hear it. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.480 And he said, I'm not surprised that you called me 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.520 and said this. I'm not surprised that you're melting down. 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:42.760 I'm surprised you didn't call me sooner. And partially he 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.600 was saying that because, you know, as our church grew, 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:50.040 obviously the pressure's mount with it. And he was also 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.680 saying it from a stage of life standpoint that look, 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.120 every father feels relatively worthless at some point in the 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.680 early stages of their children's visit to pl planet Earth, 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.920 and it takes time to learn how to interact with aliens. 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.520 And by the end of the call, I just felt better, 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:14.320 just because he said it's supposed to be this way. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:19.360 You're supposed to struggle. And when he said I was 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:23.920 supposed to struggle, the struggle didn't go away, but the 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.920 fact that I was no longer surprised by it made 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.720 me more able to deal with it. And God has 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.599 been speaking to me recently that I am too surprised 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:39.360 by my struggles, and part of the reason that I 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.280 struggle so much is because I'm surprised when I do. 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.160 It's as if we've set an expectation of salvation that 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.520 if we come to Jesus and lay all our burdens 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.360 at the foot of the cross, that none of them 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.680 will climb back in the car with us and go home. 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.800 But how many have ever laid your burdens down in 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.480 church and found out that they followed you home with 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.960 the few friends you never met before. And it's like 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.640 I came to Jesus to get rid of my struggles, 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:12.920 But my struggle didn't even start until I came to Jesus, 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.400 Because before I came to Jesus, if I wanted to 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.240 cuss you out, I just cussed you out and I 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:23.000 felt better. Didn't care how you felt or what God thought. 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.839 I felt better and that's all that mattered. But now 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.240 I got this Holy ghost on the inside of me, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:30.800 and when I cuss he makes me feel bad about it. 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.520 Now I can't sleep till I apologize to you. And 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:44.760 it got harder, So Peter says. Peter says, everybody's struggling. 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:50.800 Everybody around the world is suffering. You have to take 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.120 the two together. You can't come to a cross for 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:58.080 salvation where the Savior suffered for you and never expect 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:02.280 to suffer in your desease. Tire to follow him and 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.600 be like him. Tell the person next to you, You're 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:14.079 supposed to suffer some that's what Jesus said, That's that's 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:20.400 that's what the CEO said, CEO of the Galaxies, the 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:25.440 Seat the Man said that the Master of the Milky 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:29.480 Way said that. He said, if they hated me, what 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.400 makes you think you're always going to be popular and 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:41.440 liked and accepted. So I pray that's inspirational for you 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:48.280 to know that you are supposed to suffer. But it 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:53.640 helps us. It helps us because the enemy often operates 0:10:53.640 --> 0:11:00.200 in our lives, in the secrecy and in you know, 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.200 it's very sneaky. The enemy's sneaky, and so he wants 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.800 to sneak up on you. And you think life is 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.240 supposed to be easy because life looks easy for everyone else, 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:14.120 but you don't know you have no idea. It is 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:18.840 easy for you. It's easy for you, preacher, when you 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:26.040 get up here and preach. You know you don't know, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.640 and I don't know your struggle, but I know I 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:33.040 know that there are some struggles and some sufferings that 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:38.880 come with the package. And so the call to follow 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.640 Christ comes with a cross. We get that, and especially 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:46.480 in this time, Peter is like, look, you want to 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.600 be a part of this movement, The only way to 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:54.600 really see the glory of God revealed is to suffer sometimes, 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.640 to suffer, to sit with your suffering and even with 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.920 your sadness. Now we're setting the wrong expected. We're teaching 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:16.880 people they can get swollen without getting sore. Supposed to hurt, sometimes, 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:21.720 supposed to strain. Sometimes that's the spiritual muscle fibers breaking 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:25.120 down so they can grow back together stronger, or something 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:31.720 like that. I don't know. And so what surprises me 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:37.320 is that knowing that we must suffer sometimes because our 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:41.400 saviors suffered. And let's be honest, some of our suffering 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.160 is not because of our Christian faith, it's because of 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:49.280 our You said it, he said, because we're stupid. I 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.920 didn't say that. I wasn't gonna talk to the guests 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.040 like that. It's a lot of first timers here today. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.480 I was gonna say, sometimes we suffer because of poor 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.240 decisions and we were ill equipped to fit. But you 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.280 said stupid, so I'll go with that. Sometimes we suffer 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:05.360 because we're stupid. And it surprises me that with all 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.800 the suffering that we already have to deal with, that 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:14.920 we somehow as a species, will invent new ways for 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:19.839 ourselves to suffer and experience pain and call it progress. 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.400 As if it's not enough to worry about in the world, 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:30.760 we invent, you know, torture device. I mean communication devices 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:38.800 that keep us constantly connected to everyone's opinion, everyone's offenses, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:45.040 and we feed on stuff. The enemy's looking for someone 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:49.280 to devour. We feed on stuff, and we feed our 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.520 minds with things that eat our peace alive. And then 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.040 we pray for God to give us peace after we 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.240 open the front door and let the enemy show us 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:06.839 things and stood right there. So I'm really praying. I'm 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.520 really praying that God would show us a strategy for this, 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:14.079 because it seems to me that some suffering is inevitable, 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:20.560 but certain suffering, like the suffering of our shame and 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.960 the suffering of our sin that Jesus already paid for 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:32.520 is dealt with, And so wouldn't it be unthinkable for us, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:35.760 as God's children to suffer under pressure that He never 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.160 intended for us. We live in a culture of performance. 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.720 The interesting thing about First Peter five point seven is 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:50.440 that it preaches so well as a singular verse. Even 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.720 when I was a little boy, my mom used to 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:57.640 play me this tape of Salty the Singing Songbook, salty 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:02.840 like psalms ps salty like your teenageer salty, but like salt. Yeah, 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:06.880 not like that girl work, but salty the Singing Songbook. 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.560 And he had one song on there, and I used 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:11.440 to fall asleep to this song. If I can remember, 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.760 I will cast it was on this verse all my 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:20.640 cares upon you, I ley all of my burdens down 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:26.720 at your feet. And any time I don't know what 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:34.360 to do, salty falsetto uh, I will cast all my 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:39.800 cares upon you. Boom boom, walk down. I will cast 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.240 all my cares upon you. Could you play it? I 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:53.920 lay all of my burdens down at your feet. In 0:15:54.240 --> 0:16:05.480 any time I don't know what to do, I will 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.080 cast oh my cares so I start saying that this 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.360 is so sweet. I like verse seven. I like verse seven. 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.600 I wish I didn't have to be bothered with six 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.000 and eight. You know, these Bible verses were not in 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.080 there when Peter wrote the letter. It was just a letter. 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.240 It was one thing. In fact, let me show you something, 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.120 and I showed this a few years ago to the church, 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:25.960 but you weren't here yet when I was teaching this, 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:27.680 and we need to catch up because this is one 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.880 of the craziest, most mind blowing things God ever showed me. 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:34.520 And I actually I brought two Bibles to church today. Yeah, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.880 that's right. I'm gonna preach twice as long. No, I'm 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.200 gonna get you out on time. But this is a 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.680 double barrel revelation that God gave me, and one translation 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.320 of it, it breaks it up the one that we 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:49.480 read from. Put that one up there again from the 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:53.760 new International version. He says, cast all your anxiety on 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.440 him because He cares for you. And it's a capital C, 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.320 and it's a new sentence and a new thought, and 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.040 it's a promise that we can claim, or rather it's 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:05.240 the command that we can obey. And I like it. 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:10.160 I like casting all this stuff. I like casting all 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.560 these cares, like Salty said in the King James version, 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.639 I like casting all of that on him, all the 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:18.760 stuff that I don't want to deal with, and all 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.840 the stuff that I can't control anyway. I like to 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.359 just give that over to the Lord. I like to 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:28.040 just lay it all at his feet. But in the 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.800 original language of the Bible, and this is what God 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.520 showed me a few years ago, is that verse seven 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.520 was not a new sentence. It was a continuation of 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.040 verse six. And when you read it as a continuation, 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.040 it helps you to understand why sometimes we're trying to 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:50.439 cast our anxiety on God and they keep coming back 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.520 like a boomerang with extra velocity, because we are trying 0:17:55.560 --> 0:18:00.280 to skip to seven, which we want, without six, which 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:06.200 we resist. Now, Verse six starts by saying, humble yourselves. See, 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.639 I don't like that. I want to be the star 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.719 of the production. I want to be the MVP of 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.080 the game. I want everybody to accommodate my preferences. I 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.679 want people to read my mind. I want to be 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.800 the center of other people's affection. I don't want to 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.760 humble myself. I'm not even sure I really know what 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.320 it means because all I ever see humble is a 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.919 hashtag where people are bragging about something and then hashtagging 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.919 it humbled, like that makes it humble when you follow 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.119 your bragging with a hashtag. But for Peter, humble was 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.320 not a hashtag. Peter said, humble is a way of 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.200 seeing the hand of God in history that knows, I'm 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.920 just a small part of this. I'm just a little dot, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.679 I'm just a little I'm a little tiny, I'm a 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:57.159 little bitty, little bitty, little bitty, little bitty child of 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:04.720 God in his big strong hand. So humble yourselves, therefore 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.359 under the mighty hand of God, so that at the 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:15.560 proper time He may exalt you. What a relevant verse. 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.280 I feel like Peter must have been able to see 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.040 into the year twenty eighteen and see that we would 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:27.399 be living in an age of self promotion, See that 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.679 we'd be living in an age where, rather than praying 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:37.040 for opportunities, we would post before we prayed, Rather than 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.000 sitting back and listening and learning from people who have 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:45.280 something to teach us, we would be so intoxicated on 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.159 our own opinions and our own point of view, and 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.560 we would be so sucked into algorithms and echo chambers 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:54.920 of people who think just like us and speak just 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:59.080 like us, and before long we would be inebriated by 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:04.760 our own vantage point, inebriated by images. He says, humble 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.200 yourself under the mighty hand of God, so that at 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:13.919 the proper time he may exalt you. And then if 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.919 you're willing to go through six, you get to seven. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:23.119 And they're not separated by a period, just a comma lowercase. See, 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:28.360 if you will humble yourself, this is the foundational message 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.800 for this series. To take back your mind. You got 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:40.320 to humble your heart. And when you do that, when 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.560 you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, what 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:50.399 does that mean? What kind of image is Peter trying 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:54.679 to vote well for a Jewish person? The hand of 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:59.560 God recalls the sovereign act of God when he rescued 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:05.879 his children from Egyptian slavery. And there when God spoke 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.359 to Moses, he said, you know, Pharaoh is not going 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:14.040 to let the people go unless a mighty hand compels him. 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:17.720 This is Exodus chapter three, unless a mighty hand, there's 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:21.720 the phrase, compels him. And so the hand of God 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:28.320 for us is mostly a comforting image sentimental but symbolically. 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.359 For the people reading this who had a little bit 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.959 of background, they would know that the hand of God 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:40.240 is confrontational, that God opposes the proud but gives grace 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.320 to the humble, and they come from the same hand. See, 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:47.080 God will use the same hand to oppose the proud 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.200 that he will use to distribute grace to the humble. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.720 And my question is what do you want to be 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:58.320 on the receiving end of the posture of your heart 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.680 determines that. And yet there's a little bit of confusion 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:05.400 because you know, it seems like we want God's hand 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:11.280 to do certain things for us, Like I like the 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:15.800 hand of God when it is filled with his provision, 0:22:17.520 --> 0:22:21.240 you know, like I want what is in God's hand 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:26.320 that I can't give myself. Just a show of hands 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:28.800 while we're talking, my hands, how many have seen God 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:33.200 provide for you in a special way and you were 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.320 suspecting this had to be God, This could not be me, 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:39.080 This could not be people. Wave your hand if you've 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:41.520 ever seen God provide for you, And I don't just 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.879 mean money to make a car payment or to you know, 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:47.280 make the deposit on the apartment when you first got married. 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:49.960 It could be God gave you energy when you were 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.680 so exhausted and you didn't even know how you were 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.359 still going and people would ask you how, and you 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:58.080 would make something up. But deep down you knew if 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:01.240 I really told him how, they wouldn't understand it, because 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:05.280 there's an invisible hand of God that is making things 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:12.760 happen that I can't even explain. So I like the provision. 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.679 You know how he broke the bread in his hands, 0:23:15.680 --> 0:23:19.240 and Peter was there when Jesus broke the bread and 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:21.480 with his hands, So he might have been flashing back 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.520 to that incident when he said, the mighty hand of 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.359 God that can provide for you, or maybe he was 0:23:26.400 --> 0:23:30.480 thinking about the hand of God in terms of God's protection. 0:23:32.080 --> 0:23:34.760 How God drove back the sea with his hand so 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:38.680 as people could cross through till they got safely through. Now, 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:43.800 if you've ever had God protect you from you, you're 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:47.159 grateful for the hand of God. If you've ever had 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:51.000 God protect you from people that were in your life. 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:54.320 In fact, sometimes the way that God will protect you 0:23:54.960 --> 0:24:00.600 is to reach down and remove you from situations that 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:07.560 you like that you are actually praying for God to 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:10.639 leave you in, and God will sometimes reach down and 0:24:10.680 --> 0:24:17.040 say I know more than you. I'm big, you're little, 0:24:17.560 --> 0:24:22.240 I'm wise, you're limited, I'm infinite, your finite, So come 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.560 with me. I'm gonna put you over here because I 0:24:25.640 --> 0:24:28.280 know if you stay with them, I know where it's 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:32.000 gonna lead. And Peter says, you can either fight that 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:35.400 or you can go with it because it's the hand 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:38.439 of God. It's the hand how many have ever had 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:46.680 God protect you? And I want him to provide for me, 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:50.639 and I want him to protect, protection and provision. But 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:56.239 there's a third dimension of God's hand and that is 0:24:57.040 --> 0:25:01.399 his plan. And that's the part that I have a 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:07.239 harder time with because I like my plan. Why are 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:11.520 you looking at me like you totally trust God that 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:15.119 his way is better than yours. You know, half of 0:25:15.160 --> 0:25:17.360 our prayer life is trying to convince God to get 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:19.119 on the same page we're on so he can do 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:21.840 what we want him to do that he should have 0:25:21.880 --> 0:25:24.520 already done, and he's running a little behind schedule. But 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:26.320 we'll forgive you for that. Lord, if you just come 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:28.840 on and do it right now, it's okay. You got 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:34.080 a lot you're taken care of. I get confused, honestly, 0:25:34.960 --> 0:25:38.880 I get confused because sometimes I don't know what part 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:43.520 is God's job and what part is my job. And 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:48.560 it's not always so simple humble yourself under the mighty 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:51.080 hand of God. But then you know, God told Moses, 0:25:51.119 --> 0:25:52.720 I'm going to bring you out with a mighty hand. 0:25:52.760 --> 0:25:54.520 It's going to be my hand that brings you out. 0:25:55.160 --> 0:25:58.000 And then he asks him, what's that in your hand? 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:02.119 And so it seems to be like two hands at 0:26:02.160 --> 0:26:06.800 work here. And the issue is the issue is always 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:11.040 who is in control. A lot of my anxiety comes 0:26:11.119 --> 0:26:15.040