Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: You may be seated. Welcome to week one of a
Speaker 1: brand new sermons series called Triggered, and we're going to
Speaker 1: be discussing some things, some different teachings to help you
Speaker 1: take your mind back and not just give territory over
Speaker 1: to the devil in the area of your imagination and
Speaker 1: so that he fills you with all of these hypothetical
Speaker 1: scenarios that may or may not ever happen, keeping you
Speaker 1: from enjoying the life God has given you, more importantly,
Speaker 1: stewarding the life that God has given you for His glory.
Speaker 1: And we're so excited to get it started today. And
Speaker 1: I want to make the best use of our time possible.
Speaker 1: I know here at Valentine they were saying it was
Speaker 1: kind of difficult to get in, probably not at all
Speaker 1: the campuses, but there was more traffic than usual, and
Speaker 1: so you should thank God for that, because not only
Speaker 1: is that more people hearing the message of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: but it's also a good preparation for a sermon about anxiety.
Speaker 1: And so we're just looking out for you and helping
Speaker 1: you get in the right mind frame. But let's go
Speaker 1: to the word of God now. And obviously I'm no psychologist.
Speaker 1: I'm just a Bible preacher from Monks Corner, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: And with a little bit of knowledge that I have
Speaker 1: about the scriptures and life experience, I want to show
Speaker 1: you something today that I think will be so helpful
Speaker 1: from on Peter chapter five, verses five through nine. And
Speaker 1: I'm going go and tell you there's only one verse
Speaker 1: in this whole passage that I actually like. I believe
Speaker 1: all of it, and I know that I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: do all of it. But from the natural standpoint of
Speaker 1: my mind, there's only one verse that appeals to me.
Speaker 1: And you'll see what I'm saying when I read it.
Speaker 1: Of course, we can't talk about triggered without paying a
Speaker 1: visit to Peter. Easily the most triggered to disciple that
Speaker 1: Jesus called cussing and cutting off people's ears and stuff.
Speaker 1: But he's calmed down by the time He writes this
Speaker 1: letter to the Gentiles who are assimilating into the Greco
Speaker 1: Roman world, and he has some great advice for us
Speaker 1: concerning our anxiety and our cares. Not that you have any,
Speaker 1: but someone on your row worries too much. Not that
Speaker 1: you do, but they think about stuff. They make little
Speaker 1: movies in their minds, and they edit together things that
Speaker 1: didn't actually happen, and then they tell themselves that that's
Speaker 1: how it really is. So that's what I'm helping today.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry you had to come here a sermon design
Speaker 1: for someone else, But Peter was actually talking to a
Speaker 1: church that was undergoing a great deal of persecution, and
Speaker 1: he has some experience from wisdom, and I want to
Speaker 1: share his words with you today and pray that God
Speaker 1: will speak to you personally. He says, first Peter, Chapter five,
Speaker 1: verse five, Humble yourself. What did I say? Verse five?
Speaker 1: In the same way, you who are younger submit yourselves
Speaker 1: to your elders. Almost skip that verse, But it's great
Speaker 1: verse that I like as a parent. All of you
Speaker 1: clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Because God opposes
Speaker 1: the prow but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
Speaker 1: under God's mighty hand. I like how he says that.
Speaker 1: He says God lines up on the other side of
Speaker 1: human pride. So if you want to be on the
Speaker 1: same side of the ball as God, you gotta make
Speaker 1: sure that you come in at the right level and
Speaker 1: realize that you are not him, that you are the creation,
Speaker 1: not the Creator. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand,
Speaker 1: that he may lift you up in due time. Cast
Speaker 1: all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
Speaker 1: If ever there was a verse to cross stitch and
Speaker 1: to put on a coffee mug, it's one Peter five seven.
Speaker 1: That's the one I like, in case you're wondering, cast
Speaker 1: all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Speaker 1: Really enjoy that verse feels good. Be alert. Verse eight
Speaker 1: I don't like so much. And of sober mind your enemy,
Speaker 1: the devil brows around like a roaring lion looking for
Speaker 1: someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith
Speaker 1: because you know that the family of believers throughout the
Speaker 1: world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And I
Speaker 1: want to stop right there and talk to you for
Speaker 1: a few moments today. In this opening, foundational session in
Speaker 1: our study called triggered on this subject, I want to
Speaker 1: talk about lions and lizards and lies. Lions and lizards
Speaker 1: and lies. And before you say, oh my, put you
Speaker 1: in the frame of mind of me five or six
Speaker 1: years ago when I called a pastor who is older
Speaker 1: and wiser than me. And I wasn't having like a
Speaker 1: nervous breakdown from a clinical standpoint, or a panic attack,
Speaker 1: as I understand a panic attack, but just feeling overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: Not in the clinical sense. Was I experiencing anxiety, but
Speaker 1: in the everyday sense of adulthood. And I think sometimes
Speaker 1: we say we're suffering anxiety when we're really just suffering adulthood.
Speaker 1: And I called him in my driveway in the house
Speaker 1: we lived in at the time in mint Hill, and
Speaker 1: I was doing this thing that I was doing a
Speaker 1: lot during that period where I would sit in the
Speaker 1: driveway between work and home because my kids were really small,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't figure out which one was more work
Speaker 1: or home because at work I'm the boss, and at
Speaker 1: home my kids weren't calling me pastor at that stage.
Speaker 1: And so I was sitting in the driveway and I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna call him, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ask him, and I don't care what he thinks, because
Speaker 1: you get to a certain point of being overwhelmed, it
Speaker 1: just all spills out. And when I started talking to him,
Speaker 1: I started, you know how when you're trying to tell
Speaker 1: somebody you're struggling, and you share with them in little slivers,
Speaker 1: and you try to see if anything you say shocks them,
Speaker 1: and if it feels like it shocks them, you back
Speaker 1: up and you go, well, I'm not struggling with that,
Speaker 1: but I'm saying like some people do, and you kind
Speaker 1: of feel your way into a conversation, at least I do.
Speaker 1: And it's like I was telling him I'm kind of overwhelmed,
Speaker 1: and he didn't judge me, and I said, and this
Speaker 1: is how I feel, and he didn't judge me. And
Speaker 1: so every time he didn't judge me and I didn't
Speaker 1: feel like he was surprised, I would share a little more,
Speaker 1: and share a little more, and share a little more.
Speaker 1: And by the end of it, I'm in my driveway
Speaker 1: crying on the phone to him, telling him how overwhelmed
Speaker 1: I feel being you know, just in my early thirties past,
Speaker 1: during a church that was larger than the town I
Speaker 1: grew up in. Imagine that, and then with kids and
Speaker 1: he and he actually laughed in the middle of me
Speaker 1: crying to him. He laughed, and I can't explain why,
Speaker 1: but it was the most comforting thing he could have
Speaker 1: done in that moment. And what he said next is
Speaker 1: just what I needed to hear, and I know God
Speaker 1: put it in his mouth so I could hear it.
Speaker 1: And he said, I'm not surprised that you called me
Speaker 1: and said this. I'm not surprised that you're melting down.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised you didn't call me sooner. And partially he
Speaker 1: was saying that because, you know, as our church grew,
Speaker 1: obviously the pressure's mount with it. And he was also
Speaker 1: saying it from a stage of life standpoint that look,
Speaker 1: every father feels relatively worthless at some point in the
Speaker 1: early stages of their children's visit to pl planet Earth,
Speaker 1: and it takes time to learn how to interact with aliens.
Speaker 1: And by the end of the call, I just felt better,
Speaker 1: just because he said it's supposed to be this way.
Speaker 1: You're supposed to struggle. And when he said I was
Speaker 1: supposed to struggle, the struggle didn't go away, but the
Speaker 1: fact that I was no longer surprised by it made
Speaker 1: me more able to deal with it. And God has
Speaker 1: been speaking to me recently that I am too surprised
Speaker 1: by my struggles, and part of the reason that I
Speaker 1: struggle so much is because I'm surprised when I do.
Speaker 1: It's as if we've set an expectation of salvation that
Speaker 1: if we come to Jesus and lay all our burdens
Speaker 1: at the foot of the cross, that none of them
Speaker 1: will climb back in the car with us and go home.
Speaker 1: But how many have ever laid your burdens down in
Speaker 1: church and found out that they followed you home with
Speaker 1: the few friends you never met before. And it's like
Speaker 1: I came to Jesus to get rid of my struggles,
Speaker 1: But my struggle didn't even start until I came to Jesus,
Speaker 1: Because before I came to Jesus, if I wanted to
Speaker 1: cuss you out, I just cussed you out and I
Speaker 1: felt better. Didn't care how you felt or what God thought.
Speaker 1: I felt better and that's all that mattered. But now
Speaker 1: I got this Holy ghost on the inside of me,
Speaker 1: and when I cuss he makes me feel bad about it.
Speaker 1: Now I can't sleep till I apologize to you. And
Speaker 1: it got harder, So Peter says. Peter says, everybody's struggling.
Speaker 1: Everybody around the world is suffering. You have to take
Speaker 1: the two together. You can't come to a cross for
Speaker 1: salvation where the Savior suffered for you and never expect
Speaker 1: to suffer in your desease. Tire to follow him and
Speaker 1: be like him. Tell the person next to you, You're
Speaker 1: supposed to suffer some that's what Jesus said, That's that's
Speaker 1: that's what the CEO said, CEO of the Galaxies, the
Speaker 1: Seat the Man said that the Master of the Milky
Speaker 1: Way said that. He said, if they hated me, what
Speaker 1: makes you think you're always going to be popular and
Speaker 1: liked and accepted. So I pray that's inspirational for you
Speaker 1: to know that you are supposed to suffer. But it
Speaker 1: helps us. It helps us because the enemy often operates
Speaker 1: in our lives, in the secrecy and in you know,
Speaker 1: it's very sneaky. The enemy's sneaky, and so he wants
Speaker 1: to sneak up on you. And you think life is
Speaker 1: supposed to be easy because life looks easy for everyone else,
Speaker 1: but you don't know you have no idea. It is
Speaker 1: easy for you. It's easy for you, preacher, when you
Speaker 1: get up here and preach. You know you don't know,
Speaker 1: and I don't know your struggle, but I know I
Speaker 1: know that there are some struggles and some sufferings that
Speaker 1: come with the package. And so the call to follow
Speaker 1: Christ comes with a cross. We get that, and especially
Speaker 1: in this time, Peter is like, look, you want to
Speaker 1: be a part of this movement, The only way to
Speaker 1: really see the glory of God revealed is to suffer sometimes,
Speaker 1: to suffer, to sit with your suffering and even with
Speaker 1: your sadness. Now we're setting the wrong expected. We're teaching
Speaker 1: people they can get swollen without getting sore. Supposed to hurt, sometimes,
Speaker 1: supposed to strain. Sometimes that's the spiritual muscle fibers breaking
Speaker 1: down so they can grow back together stronger, or something
Speaker 1: like that. I don't know. And so what surprises me
Speaker 1: is that knowing that we must suffer sometimes because our
Speaker 1: saviors suffered. And let's be honest, some of our suffering
Speaker 1: is not because of our Christian faith, it's because of
Speaker 1: our You said it, he said, because we're stupid. I
Speaker 1: didn't say that. I wasn't gonna talk to the guests
Speaker 1: like that. It's a lot of first timers here today.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, sometimes we suffer because of poor
Speaker 1: decisions and we were ill equipped to fit. But you
Speaker 1: said stupid, so I'll go with that. Sometimes we suffer
Speaker 1: because we're stupid. And it surprises me that with all
Speaker 1: the suffering that we already have to deal with, that
Speaker 1: we somehow as a species, will invent new ways for
Speaker 1: ourselves to suffer and experience pain and call it progress.
Speaker 1: As if it's not enough to worry about in the world,
Speaker 1: we invent, you know, torture device. I mean communication devices
Speaker 1: that keep us constantly connected to everyone's opinion, everyone's offenses,
Speaker 1: and we feed on stuff. The enemy's looking for someone
Speaker 1: to devour. We feed on stuff, and we feed our
Speaker 1: minds with things that eat our peace alive. And then
Speaker 1: we pray for God to give us peace after we
Speaker 1: open the front door and let the enemy show us
Speaker 1: things and stood right there. So I'm really praying. I'm
Speaker 1: really praying that God would show us a strategy for this,
Speaker 1: because it seems to me that some suffering is inevitable,
Speaker 1: but certain suffering, like the suffering of our shame and
Speaker 1: the suffering of our sin that Jesus already paid for
Speaker 1: is dealt with, And so wouldn't it be unthinkable for us,
Speaker 1: as God's children to suffer under pressure that He never
Speaker 1: intended for us. We live in a culture of performance.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing about First Peter five point seven is
Speaker 1: that it preaches so well as a singular verse. Even
Speaker 1: when I was a little boy, my mom used to
Speaker 1: play me this tape of Salty the Singing Songbook, salty
Speaker 1: like psalms ps salty like your teenageer salty, but like salt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not like that girl work, but salty the Singing Songbook.
Speaker 1: And he had one song on there, and I used
Speaker 1: to fall asleep to this song. If I can remember,
Speaker 1: I will cast it was on this verse all my
Speaker 1: cares upon you, I ley all of my burdens down
Speaker 1: at your feet. And any time I don't know what
Speaker 1: to do, salty falsetto uh, I will cast all my
Speaker 1: cares upon you. Boom boom, walk down. I will cast
Speaker 1: all my cares upon you. Could you play it? I
Speaker 1: lay all of my burdens down at your feet. In
Speaker 1: any time I don't know what to do, I will
Speaker 1: cast oh my cares so I start saying that this
Speaker 1: is so sweet. I like verse seven. I like verse seven.
Speaker 1: I wish I didn't have to be bothered with six
Speaker 1: and eight. You know, these Bible verses were not in
Speaker 1: there when Peter wrote the letter. It was just a letter.
Speaker 1: It was one thing. In fact, let me show you something,
Speaker 1: and I showed this a few years ago to the church,
Speaker 1: but you weren't here yet when I was teaching this,
Speaker 1: and we need to catch up because this is one
Speaker 1: of the craziest, most mind blowing things God ever showed me.
Speaker 1: And I actually I brought two Bibles to church today. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. I'm gonna preach twice as long. No, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get you out on time. But this is a
Speaker 1: double barrel revelation that God gave me, and one translation
Speaker 1: of it, it breaks it up the one that we
Speaker 1: read from. Put that one up there again from the
Speaker 1: new International version. He says, cast all your anxiety on
Speaker 1: him because He cares for you. And it's a capital C,
Speaker 1: and it's a new sentence and a new thought, and
Speaker 1: it's a promise that we can claim, or rather it's
Speaker 1: the command that we can obey. And I like it.
Speaker 1: I like casting all this stuff. I like casting all
Speaker 1: these cares, like Salty said in the King James version,
Speaker 1: I like casting all of that on him, all the
Speaker 1: stuff that I don't want to deal with, and all
Speaker 1: the stuff that I can't control anyway. I like to
Speaker 1: just give that over to the Lord. I like to
Speaker 1: just lay it all at his feet. But in the
Speaker 1: original language of the Bible, and this is what God
Speaker 1: showed me a few years ago, is that verse seven
Speaker 1: was not a new sentence. It was a continuation of
Speaker 1: verse six. And when you read it as a continuation,
Speaker 1: it helps you to understand why sometimes we're trying to
Speaker 1: cast our anxiety on God and they keep coming back
Speaker 1: like a boomerang with extra velocity, because we are trying
Speaker 1: to skip to seven, which we want, without six, which
Speaker 1: we resist. Now, Verse six starts by saying, humble yourselves. See,
Speaker 1: I don't like that. I want to be the star
Speaker 1: of the production. I want to be the MVP of
Speaker 1: the game. I want everybody to accommodate my preferences. I
Speaker 1: want people to read my mind. I want to be
Speaker 1: the center of other people's affection. I don't want to
Speaker 1: humble myself. I'm not even sure I really know what
Speaker 1: it means because all I ever see humble is a
Speaker 1: hashtag where people are bragging about something and then hashtagging
Speaker 1: it humbled, like that makes it humble when you follow
Speaker 1: your bragging with a hashtag. But for Peter, humble was
Speaker 1: not a hashtag. Peter said, humble is a way of
Speaker 1: seeing the hand of God in history that knows, I'm
Speaker 1: just a small part of this. I'm just a little dot,
Speaker 1: I'm just a little I'm a little tiny, I'm a
Speaker 1: little bitty, little bitty, little bitty, little bitty child of
Speaker 1: God in his big strong hand. So humble yourselves, therefore
Speaker 1: under the mighty hand of God, so that at the
Speaker 1: proper time He may exalt you. What a relevant verse.
Speaker 1: I feel like Peter must have been able to see
Speaker 1: into the year twenty eighteen and see that we would
Speaker 1: be living in an age of self promotion, See that
Speaker 1: we'd be living in an age where, rather than praying
Speaker 1: for opportunities, we would post before we prayed, Rather than
Speaker 1: sitting back and listening and learning from people who have
Speaker 1: something to teach us, we would be so intoxicated on
Speaker 1: our own opinions and our own point of view, and
Speaker 1: we would be so sucked into algorithms and echo chambers
Speaker 1: of people who think just like us and speak just
Speaker 1: like us, and before long we would be inebriated by
Speaker 1: our own vantage point, inebriated by images. He says, humble
Speaker 1: yourself under the mighty hand of God, so that at
Speaker 1: the proper time he may exalt you. And then if
Speaker 1: you're willing to go through six, you get to seven.
Speaker 1: And they're not separated by a period, just a comma lowercase. See,
Speaker 1: if you will humble yourself, this is the foundational message
Speaker 1: for this series. To take back your mind. You got
Speaker 1: to humble your heart. And when you do that, when
Speaker 1: you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, what
Speaker 1: does that mean? What kind of image is Peter trying
Speaker 1: to vote well for a Jewish person? The hand of
Speaker 1: God recalls the sovereign act of God when he rescued
Speaker 1: his children from Egyptian slavery. And there when God spoke
Speaker 1: to Moses, he said, you know, Pharaoh is not going
Speaker 1: to let the people go unless a mighty hand compels him.
Speaker 1: This is Exodus chapter three, unless a mighty hand, there's
Speaker 1: the phrase, compels him. And so the hand of God
Speaker 1: for us is mostly a comforting image sentimental but symbolically.
Speaker 1: For the people reading this who had a little bit
Speaker 1: of background, they would know that the hand of God
Speaker 1: is confrontational, that God opposes the proud but gives grace
Speaker 1: to the humble, and they come from the same hand. See,
Speaker 1: God will use the same hand to oppose the proud
Speaker 1: that he will use to distribute grace to the humble.
Speaker 1: And my question is what do you want to be
Speaker 1: on the receiving end of the posture of your heart
Speaker 1: determines that. And yet there's a little bit of confusion
Speaker 1: because you know, it seems like we want God's hand
Speaker 1: to do certain things for us, Like I like the
Speaker 1: hand of God when it is filled with his provision,
Speaker 1: you know, like I want what is in God's hand
Speaker 1: that I can't give myself. Just a show of hands
Speaker 1: while we're talking, my hands, how many have seen God
Speaker 1: provide for you in a special way and you were
Speaker 1: suspecting this had to be God, This could not be me,
Speaker 1: This could not be people. Wave your hand if you've
Speaker 1: ever seen God provide for you, And I don't just
Speaker 1: mean money to make a car payment or to you know,
Speaker 1: make the deposit on the apartment when you first got married.
Speaker 1: It could be God gave you energy when you were
Speaker 1: so exhausted and you didn't even know how you were
Speaker 1: still going and people would ask you how, and you
Speaker 1: would make something up. But deep down you knew if
Speaker 1: I really told him how, they wouldn't understand it, because
Speaker 1: there's an invisible hand of God that is making things
Speaker 1: happen that I can't even explain. So I like the provision.
Speaker 1: You know how he broke the bread in his hands,
Speaker 1: and Peter was there when Jesus broke the bread and
Speaker 1: with his hands, So he might have been flashing back
Speaker 1: to that incident when he said, the mighty hand of
Speaker 1: God that can provide for you, or maybe he was
Speaker 1: thinking about the hand of God in terms of God's protection.
Speaker 1: How God drove back the sea with his hand so
Speaker 1: as people could cross through till they got safely through. Now,
Speaker 1: if you've ever had God protect you from you, you're
Speaker 1: grateful for the hand of God. If you've ever had
Speaker 1: God protect you from people that were in your life.
Speaker 1: In fact, sometimes the way that God will protect you
Speaker 1: is to reach down and remove you from situations that
Speaker 1: you like that you are actually praying for God to
Speaker 1: leave you in, and God will sometimes reach down and
Speaker 1: say I know more than you. I'm big, you're little,
Speaker 1: I'm wise, you're limited, I'm infinite, your finite, So come
Speaker 1: with me. I'm gonna put you over here because I
Speaker 1: know if you stay with them, I know where it's
Speaker 1: gonna lead. And Peter says, you can either fight that
Speaker 1: or you can go with it because it's the hand
Speaker 1: of God. It's the hand how many have ever had
Speaker 1: God protect you? And I want him to provide for me,
Speaker 1: and I want him to protect, protection and provision. But
Speaker 1: there's a third dimension of God's hand and that is
Speaker 1: his plan. And that's the part that I have a
Speaker 1: harder time with because I like my plan. Why are
Speaker 1: you looking at me like you totally trust God that
Speaker 1: his way is better than yours. You know, half of
Speaker 1: our prayer life is trying to convince God to get
Speaker 1: on the same page we're on so he can do
Speaker 1: what we want him to do that he should have
Speaker 1: already done, and he's running a little behind schedule. But
Speaker 1: we'll forgive you for that. Lord, if you just come
Speaker 1: on and do it right now, it's okay. You got
Speaker 1: a lot you're taken care of. I get confused, honestly,
Speaker 1: I get confused because sometimes I don't know what part
Speaker 1: is God's job and what part is my job. And
Speaker 1: it's not always so simple humble yourself under the mighty
Speaker 1: hand of God. But then you know, God told Moses,
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring you out with a mighty hand.
Speaker 1: It's going to be my hand that brings you out.
Speaker 1: And then he asks him, what's that in your hand?
Speaker 1: And so it seems to be like two hands at
Speaker 1: work here. And the issue is the issue is always
Speaker 1: who is in control. A lot of my anxiety comes
Speaker 1: because I get confused about who is in control, and
Speaker 1: I get responsibility confused with sovereignty. So I start thinking
Speaker 1: that because God has given me responsibility, that God has
Speaker 1: also given me control. And that's where I get stressed out.
Speaker 1: And a lot of my anxiety comes from making it
Speaker 1: about me when it's not about me, making it about
Speaker 1: my strength, when it's not about my strength. It's not
Speaker 1: by Mike nor by power, but by his spirit. But
Speaker 1: I know God's given me a job, like I know
Speaker 1: that when I stand before you like this and people
Speaker 1: in the room are suicidal, and people in the room
Speaker 1: are addicted not only to illegal drugs, but some are
Speaker 1: dependent on drugs that at first they were taking the
Speaker 1: recommended dosage, but now it's gone far beyond that. And
Speaker 1: when I know that there are some of you who
Speaker 1: have not slept in three nights except for a few
Speaker 1: minutes here and they're hearing this message, I know that
Speaker 1: I can't say the words that you need. I need
Speaker 1: God to speak through me to you. And I always
Speaker 1: pray for that because I know how disappointing it's going
Speaker 1: to be if I speak. I know that I need
Speaker 1: to move my mouth, and I know that I need
Speaker 1: my vocal cords need to rub together, and I know
Speaker 1: that I need to produce a sound. But I know
Speaker 1: that I need the substance of God behind the sound
Speaker 1: that I make. I need God to speak. I know
Speaker 1: you did not load up those demons. I mean, precious children, blessings,
Speaker 1: quiver full of arrows from the Lord, and get to
Speaker 1: this house of worship today in Gaston or you see,
Speaker 1: or Lake Norman. You did not log on to hear
Speaker 1: me speak. You need God to speak. And I believe
Speaker 1: that God will speak. Believe he is speaking. I believe
Speaker 1: he wants to speak. I believe he still speaks. I
Speaker 1: don't believe he spoke one time in the past, and
Speaker 1: now we got this dusty book full of principles that
Speaker 1: applied at one time but don't make sense in a
Speaker 1: modern age. I don't believe God is outdated or irrelevant.
Speaker 1: I don't believe I need BuzzFeed to tell me what's
Speaker 1: going on in the world. I got my Bible and
Speaker 1: it's living and it's active and it can penetrate through
Speaker 1: all the noise. So I know we need God to
Speaker 1: speak in his word doesn't return boy, and God will speak,
Speaker 1: but God won't study. I got to study. God won't
Speaker 1: show me whether the sentence was one sentence or two sentences.
Speaker 1: He gave me books for that and he inspired me,
Speaker 1: so I can't figure it out sometimes and sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm a control free and sometimes feel like
Speaker 1: gets in a way I really do. I feel gets
Speaker 1: in a way. I feel like I want to control things.
Speaker 1: I want to control people. I'm manipulative and I see
Speaker 1: it and I hate it, but I do. It is
Speaker 1: a habit. And I know that God's hand is the
Speaker 1: hand that has the is really moving things around, But
Speaker 1: you know, I want to put my hand on God's
Speaker 1: hand and just kind of nuts. I'm so holy. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes God needs a little help because he's
Speaker 1: just Peter is writing from experience. He didn't come by
Speaker 1: humility easy. That's why I like to listen to him,
Speaker 1: because he didn't always think this way. Like when Jesus
Speaker 1: was getting ready to go to the cross, he told
Speaker 1: his disciples, He's like, hey, come here, this is Matthew
Speaker 1: sixteen twenty one. Give it to us on the screen.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, I have to go to Jerusalem and suffer
Speaker 1: many things at the hands of the elders. At this point,
Speaker 1: Peter didn't think that the Savior was supposed to suffer.
Speaker 1: It did not jesus mission did not fit his mindset.
Speaker 1: He was still confused about whose hand was writing the schedule,
Speaker 1: and so Peter, in a younger version of himself, did
Speaker 1: not know how to humble himself under the hand of
Speaker 1: God or the plan of God. He liked the provision. Hey, Jesus,
Speaker 1: don't go die, Let's go feed some more people. That
Speaker 1: was awesome when you did it. That little boy, he
Speaker 1: was so happy, Jesus, it was amazing, And we got
Speaker 1: his stare. Everybody got it in the bag of leftover.
Speaker 1: So it's crazy. You don't have to die. Watch what
Speaker 1: Peter did. Jesus said, I gotta go. I gotta suffer.
Speaker 1: It's a part of the plan. I gotta fulfill the plan.
Speaker 1: I can't get caught up in my preferences. I can't
Speaker 1: get caught up in my ideas, my expectations, or the
Speaker 1: expectations of others. I didn't come to be an earthly king.
Speaker 1: I came to inaugurate a reign and a rule that
Speaker 1: is not the result of human hands. And Peter verse
Speaker 1: twenty two took Jesus aside, put Jesus in time out.
Speaker 1: The same dude that was saying, you know, humble yourself.
Speaker 1: This is like you telling your kids not to do
Speaker 1: exactly what you did when you were their age. Peter
Speaker 1: said to Jesus younger Peter, first half of life. Peter says, Lord, never,
Speaker 1: this shall never happen to you. I won't let it
Speaker 1: if they try. I got a sword, and they got
Speaker 1: an ear. And watch what I can do. I got
Speaker 1: a plan. Let's go work my plan. And verse twenty
Speaker 1: three says Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me. Satan, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's a downgrade. He went from Simon to Peter that
Speaker 1: was his first name. Simon is kind of like shifty,
Speaker 1: and Peter is the rock. So he goes from Dwayne
Speaker 1: Johnson in one verse to Satan in the next verse,
Speaker 1: and he says, you are a stumbling block to me.
Speaker 1: You do not have in mind in mind the concerns
Speaker 1: of God, but merely human concerns. You still think you're
Speaker 1: in control, and that's why your mind is a mess,
Speaker 1: because you are still trying to control things that are
Speaker 1: beyond your pay grade. Peter, You're confused. We get confused.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I don't know when to let go. I don't
Speaker 1: when Sometimes I don't do this very much because I've
Speaker 1: seen some really, really really horrific things happen on church stages.
Speaker 1: But sometimes I'll call somebody up on stage and have
Speaker 1: them share, and I don't know them, and I feel
Speaker 1: kind of like my response ability is to control whatever
Speaker 1: happens on the stage as the pastor. And so when
Speaker 1: they come up, uh, usually I'll call them up and
Speaker 1: I'll ask them to share something. And I do this
Speaker 1: even with our staff. I'll call them and ask them
Speaker 1: to share. But one thing I learned to do, I
Speaker 1: always keep keep the mic in my hands when they
Speaker 1: come up they think they're gonna take the mic, and
Speaker 1: but they're not. I'm the MIC's stand and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hold this mic. In case you decide that now would
Speaker 1: be a good time to say something weird, I can
Speaker 1: snatch a bat and I just like the feeling that
Speaker 1: it gives me of being in control. In case you decided,
Speaker 1: you know, I might ask you something. You say, well,
Speaker 1: when I was three, we don't have time for when
Speaker 1: you were three, and ask you all that, And I
Speaker 1: got the mic, give it back now. So gives me
Speaker 1: a good feeling. But the interesting thing is because there's
Speaker 1: Christians and sometimes when I call them up, I can't
Speaker 1: see their eyes, and when they get closer, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh god, I picked one of those and you don't
Speaker 1: see it from a distance. So I like to keep
Speaker 1: the mic and hold I like to hold the mic.
Speaker 1: And but now the interesting thing is I'm holding the mic.
Speaker 1: But there's a guy that you don't see named Neil,
Speaker 1: and Neil this week, among many others that are different locations,
Speaker 1: happens to be in the back of the room, sitting
Speaker 1: behind a console. And you know what's interesting, I'm up
Speaker 1: here talking and I'm I'm I'm holding the mic. But
Speaker 1: at any moment, Neil can decide. At any moment, he
Speaker 1: can decide, you know, maybe I fuss at him or
Speaker 1: something like that. He doesn't like it any moment. Here's
Speaker 1: the principle. I'm holding it, but I'm not controlling it.
Speaker 1: They got it last night. That's what I know about
Speaker 1: in my life. That's what I know about my time.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm learning about my money. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: learning about my children, my responsibility. I'm holding it, but
Speaker 1: somebody I can't see is controlling it. He's in control.
Speaker 1: He speaks in win's obeyed, he speaks in waves, tie down,
Speaker 1: he speaks in see split because what I can see
Speaker 1: is controlled by that hand that I can't see. And
Speaker 1: now I want to humble myself under that mighty hand.
Speaker 1: And I'm coming to the place in my life where
Speaker 1: I say, God, I don't even know what I need anymore.
Speaker 1: So I trust you and your timing, and I trust
Speaker 1: you and your heart, and I trust you and your wisdom.
Speaker 1: And I humble myself. And as I humble myself, my
Speaker 1: anxiety goes out the door with my pride and my
Speaker 1: arrogance and my plan, and I become what Peter says
Speaker 1: is the goal of the Christian life in verse eight,
Speaker 1: which I don't like any more than I like verse six.
Speaker 1: But it's on the other side of seven, and I
Speaker 1: want the result of seven because I don't want to
Speaker 1: live with the weight of the world on my scrawny shoulders.
Speaker 1: So I got to be what Peter says strange phrase.
Speaker 1: He says, be alert and of sober mind. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know I was drunk, but I am. Peter didn't
Speaker 1: know he was stumbling telling Jesus what Jesus needed to do.
Speaker 1: He was drunk on his own. You see how we
Speaker 1: get intoxicated in the age we live in. Is so
Speaker 1: much information coming at us. We're drunk and we don't
Speaker 1: even know it, and we can't defend ourselves, and we're
Speaker 1: getting eaten alive. God gives us peace, and the enemy
Speaker 1: eats right through it. Because he's a lion. At least
Speaker 1: that's what I always thought. I thought I thought he
Speaker 1: was a lion. And this week I slowed down and
Speaker 1: read the verse, and I realized that the Bible never
Speaker 1: says the devil is a lion. He's a liar. I
Speaker 1: know he's a liar. Yeah, you can know when the
Speaker 1: devil's lion when he's talking. He's a liar, but he's
Speaker 1: not a lion. Give me the verse. Peter says watch out.
Speaker 1: One translation says pay attention, wake up, or be alert
Speaker 1: and of sober mind. Here's why your enemy, the devil
Speaker 1: your enemy. God's enemy is pride. Your enemy is the
Speaker 1: devil who wants to fill your mind, as if we
Speaker 1: don't already suffer enough, as if we don't already have
Speaker 1: enough to deal with today. He wants to put you
Speaker 1: in a hypothetical tomorrow where things may or may not happen,
Speaker 1: or put you in a past replaying what you wish
Speaker 1: you would have said to the person who offended you,
Speaker 1: and how many come up with great comebacks about three
Speaker 1: weeks too late. God, let me see them again. Please
Speaker 1: let me see them again, and let them say it
Speaker 1: just like they said it. I'm ready now. A devil's
Speaker 1: a lion, But he does not say watch out for
Speaker 1: the lion. The devil is not a lion. Was to say,
Speaker 1: your enemy prows around like he's not a lion. He's
Speaker 1: loud like a lion, but he's not as powerful as
Speaker 1: a lion unless you let him be and this is
Speaker 1: what I'm going to teach you in the series. Are
Speaker 1: you coming back after this week? Because I really want
Speaker 1: to get into this and I want to look at
Speaker 1: some of the lies that we have believed in the
Speaker 1: realm of our mind. That's where the attack happens. We've
Speaker 1: been looking for a lion, but it's not a lion
Speaker 1: coming to attack us. It's our minds. It's in our minds,
Speaker 1: and we've been calling the wrong stuff the devil. I
Speaker 1: got a flat tire as the devil. It was a nail.
Speaker 1: There was a construction site. They're building houses across the street.
Speaker 1: I hate a donut. It was the devil. No, it
Speaker 1: was delicious. It's a temple. It's the Devil's a devil.
Speaker 1: I'm under attack, a spiritual warfare. I need some devil's
Speaker 1: attacking me. We mean devil's attacking you. Well, my mother
Speaker 1: in law is coming to visit. That's not the devil.
Speaker 1: That's your prayer request. Remember when you ask those women
Speaker 1: to pray that you would have more patience. Well, God
Speaker 1: wrap patience in a package that looked like your mother
Speaker 1: in law, and she's about to get FedEx to your door.
Speaker 1: Stewn God, delivers. That's not the devil. So now he's loud,
Speaker 1: but he's not a lion. What is he? I remember
Speaker 1: hearing years ago about the part of our brain. Again,
Speaker 1: bear with me. I know there's like neurologists in the crowd.
Speaker 1: You don't make me feel bad about that. I won't
Speaker 1: make you feel bad about the Bible. We just agree
Speaker 1: together that everybody's stay in their own lane. But I
Speaker 1: did hear something about in the phrase got my attention,
Speaker 1: called the lizard brain. And I wrote a book one
Speaker 1: time about the chatterbox, and I think I was trying
Speaker 1: to talk about what they call the lizard brain. And
Speaker 1: I just remembered it the other day because Abby wanted
Speaker 1: to show her brothers. She's our youngest child and our
Speaker 1: only daughter, our smartest child. I'm just getting my sons
Speaker 1: in here. But she does have a little avantage over
Speaker 1: the boys because she's always had to stuff it up
Speaker 1: to keep up, you know, And she's superior by virtue
Speaker 1: of being female. So she work in my pulpit when
Speaker 1: in some points she wanted to go all the way
Speaker 1: across the pool and hold her breath, which your brothers
Speaker 1: couldn't do till they were ten she's seven. So she's like,
Speaker 1: I could do it, I could do it. I do it,
Speaker 1: all right, let's do it. And she wanted everybody to
Speaker 1: see her. And I said, you could do it, but
Speaker 1: just know that the lizard, the lizard brain, is going
Speaker 1: to be telling you that you can't do it. But
Speaker 1: the lizard is lying. She said, there's a lizard in
Speaker 1: my brain. I said, no, baby, and I you know
Speaker 1: she's seven. So I just pretended to be an expert.
Speaker 1: I said, the human brain, the human brain, and I
Speaker 1: gave her some outdated theory on the tryune brain that
Speaker 1: probably isn't even accepted anymore. But I was talking about
Speaker 1: that thing that is real in our brain that doesn't
Speaker 1: process at the level of wisdom, and doesn't process at
Speaker 1: the level even of emotion, but processes at the level
Speaker 1: of fear. And they call it lizard brain, or they
Speaker 1: called it lizard brain because it's no different than a
Speaker 1: rep a snake or lizard. And so when I told her,
Speaker 1: don't listen to the lizard, I was explaining, you're gonna
Speaker 1: go down, and you're gonna think that you're gonna die,
Speaker 1: but you're not gonna die. Just don't listen to the lizard,
Speaker 1: and she went down under that water and she swam
Speaker 1: clear to the other end. And she came up. She
Speaker 1: took the biggest gasp, the biggest gulp of air, and
Speaker 1: she was so proud, and she said, man, that lizard
Speaker 1: is loud. I said, well, what did you say back
Speaker 1: to him? She said, I told him, shut up, lizard.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this now. Hold on. I know the enemy
Speaker 1: has been telling you some stuff. I know he has
Speaker 1: because that lizard has been talking to me. But I
Speaker 1: came to tell you today that lizard has no power
Speaker 1: over you. He might bruise sore heel, but you're gonna
Speaker 1: crush his head. In the name of Jesus, I am
Speaker 1: gonna make it hot shall living not time. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: raise my kids. I'm gonna make a difference in the world.
Speaker 1: Taking my mind back and over the next seven weeks,
Speaker 1: we're gonna learn how to do what Abby did. What
Speaker 1: Peter said, be of a sober mind. Tell that lizard.
Speaker 1: You can talk, you can scream, but I'm swimming to
Speaker 1: the other side. Now, everything in you has been telling
Speaker 1: you you're drowning, you're going down. But the lizard is
Speaker 1: a liar. Your own mind is lying to you. And
Speaker 1: that's why God put it on my heart to do
Speaker 1: a whole series on triggered the things, the trauma that
Speaker 1: you went through that transports you back to a lesser
Speaker 1: version of yourself, and then you start reacting and responding
Speaker 1: out of anger because of rejection at the hands of
Speaker 1: people who aren't even in your life anymore. I want
Speaker 1: to talk about that, and I respectfully request your presence
Speaker 1: and as many of these sessions as possible, But right
Speaker 1: now I want you to stand and no one leaving,
Speaker 1: because I just want to pray for open and humble hearts.
Speaker 1: We can't receive what God has in his hands when
Speaker 1: we're holding too tightly to what's in our hands. And
Speaker 1: when you're drunk on your own opinions and inebriated on
Speaker 1: your own ideas and ways of seeing the world, you
Speaker 1: are not open to the wisdom of God. And you're stumbling.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, get that behind me. You're stumbling, you're tripping.
Speaker 1: Be of a sober mind because your enemy is trying
Speaker 1: to steal your attention. That's where the fight is, that's
Speaker 1: where the attack is. This is not out here. The
Speaker 1: attacks in our life are actually used by God. The
Speaker 1: trials are used to make us stronger. It's here and
Speaker 1: that's what we want to pray over. And for too
Speaker 1: long the people of God have been equipped with a
Speaker 1: few cliches to make it until about Sunday at four,
Speaker 1: and we're being eaten alive in our minds and now
Speaker 1: we can't focus anymore. We live in the age of
Speaker 1: what one psychologist called constant partial attention, and we can't
Speaker 1: give ourselves holy to anything. But God has a word
Speaker 1: for us. And through this series we will meet several
Speaker 1: Bible characters who struggled with the same things we struggle
Speaker 1: with today and suffered in many ways like us. And
Speaker 1: I know this is no substitute for doctors and counseling.
Speaker 1: That's not my goal in this series, but I think
Speaker 1: it would be good for us to begin this journey
Speaker 1: together just in a posture of surrender. And I want
Speaker 1: to ask you to do something that Christians have done historically,
Speaker 1: worshippers have done through the millennia, and just lift your
Speaker 1: hands to God in his presence, because it's too much
Speaker 1: for you to carry, it really is, and you humble
Speaker 1: yourself under His hand and release what you're holding too
Speaker 1: tightly to then he is able to release his peace.
Speaker 1: And so we just speak peace over your life today.
Speaker 1: More than speaking it, father, I pray that we would
Speaker 1: position ourselves so that we can receive your peace. And
Speaker 1: we repent of all the ways that we think things
Speaker 1: are supposed to be and exhausting ourselves endlessly trying to
Speaker 1: align our agendas with the reality of our lives rather
Speaker 1: than submitting to yours. So we stand here before you today,
Speaker 1: as humble as we know how rescue to fill our
Speaker 1: hearts with your peace. Well, I hope you enjoyed the
Speaker 1: podcast today. If you did, there are just a couple
Speaker 1: things I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe
Speaker 1: to our show. That way, the most recent episode will
Speaker 1: always be in your feed, waiting for you ready when
Speaker 1: you are. And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you
Speaker 1: and you'd like to help us continue to reach others,
Speaker 1: you can click the link in the description and you
Speaker 1: can give now and I'll see you next time on
Speaker 1: the Elevation Podcast.