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 your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: And today I am starting a new teaching that is
Speaker 1: really just a continuation of what I've been teaching. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna talk about the free best questions that you can
Speaker 1: ask in your life. Only if you're confused, uncomfortable, or uncertain.
Speaker 1: If you are none of those three things, check your
Speaker 1: pulse and watch something else. But if you've been asking
Speaker 1: some questions lately and the answers are slow in coming,
Speaker 1: God has a word for you. And this begins a
Speaker 1: new teaching today. And to introduce it to you, I
Speaker 1: wanted to show you a video that I made with
Speaker 1: Abby when I showed her what my next sermon was
Speaker 1: going went to be and I caught her reaction on
Speaker 1: my iPhone. Check this out. Many sermon series. Run Control,
Speaker 1: Run Control, Run Control. Look at it again? Are you
Speaker 1: in control? Are you paid? My gosh, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. It's awesome. Put it on the screen. Let's
Speaker 1: go are you in control? Because haven't we kind of
Speaker 1: wonder that lately? Are you honest? Are you? Are you?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you money? And you don't really say
Speaker 1: it like that, You don't. You don't ask the Lord
Speaker 1: if he's in control. You're scared to give you a
Speaker 1: lightning bolt or a flat tire or hemorrhoid or something
Speaker 1: like that, So you don't really say, Lord, are you
Speaker 1: in control? You just kind of secretly wonder, like, Lord,
Speaker 1: is still you on the thrown up there? Right? They
Speaker 1: didn't They didn't kick you off, because it can make
Speaker 1: you wonder. And even though we don't really put those
Speaker 1: words around it, the question that we want to talk
Speaker 1: about today is are you in control? And I want
Speaker 1: to write it down just like that how it said
Speaker 1: put it up one more time? Are you? And that's
Speaker 1: how the Lord gave it to me. I put my phone.
Speaker 1: I made a list of questions on my phone. I
Speaker 1: was like, I wonder, what are the best questions in
Speaker 1: the Bible? Because I got on this trajectory of realizing
Speaker 1: that watch this, making progress in your relationship with God
Speaker 1: usually looks like having less answers and better questions. So
Speaker 1: how do I know if I'm growing in my relationship
Speaker 1: with God? Usually you will know you're growing in your
Speaker 1: relationship with God and your maturity in this world when
Speaker 1: you have less answers and better questions. So the way
Speaker 1: that I wanted to give it to you one more time,
Speaker 1: I did it like that, are you in control? Because
Speaker 1: it looks like run And the Lord showed me that
Speaker 1: there are three questions that are running in the background
Speaker 1: of your mind all the time, that are determining or
Speaker 1: driving your state of mind. And to get there, we've
Speaker 1: got to go all the way back to the prison
Speaker 1: where Paul wrote Philippians. And I don't know what my
Speaker 1: favorite book in the Bible. You know we're talking about questions.
Speaker 1: I have been asked before, what's your favorite book of
Speaker 1: the Bible. I don't know what's my favorite. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're supposed to have a favorite book of
Speaker 1: the Bible. But the most functional for me in the
Speaker 1: last few years has been the Book of Philippians. Of
Speaker 1: all four chapters in the Book of Philippians, the most
Speaker 1: functional chapter. What I mean is it's been working for me.
Speaker 1: It's been working for me when I ran out of answers.
Speaker 1: It helped me with my question. And I'm gonna show
Speaker 1: you today the three questions. We won't get to all
Speaker 1: of them today, but we're gonna look at three questions
Speaker 1: that are controlling your life. And so when I asked
Speaker 1: the question, are you in control? You're like, no, God's
Speaker 1: in control. Let's go home, let's go eat some pot
Speaker 1: roast and all that. But you do know that God
Speaker 1: is in control. You're like, you're sitting me up or something. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm setting you up, because what I want to know is,
Speaker 1: if God is in control, then why would anybody ever
Speaker 1: be overweight? If God is in control, why would anybody
Speaker 1: be addicted? If God is in control, why would anybody
Speaker 1: ever be abused? And you wonder that too, but you
Speaker 1: just don't ask it. You don't ask it because you're
Speaker 1: scared to ask it because you think that God is
Speaker 1: insecure like you are, and if you question him, he
Speaker 1: won't have the answer. But God has the answer, so
Speaker 1: he's not intimidated by your questions. What insults God is
Speaker 1: when you think that he is so small and he
Speaker 1: has some kind of ego where he can't handle your questions.
Speaker 1: When you think about that question and I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to share this with you because I believe as we
Speaker 1: get this, it's going to be one of those series
Speaker 1: I want you to I want you to give me
Speaker 1: all all three weeks. I think it's gonna take three weeks,
Speaker 1: maybe two, maybe four. Maybe I'll just do it the
Speaker 1: rest of the year. But when I started asking the
Speaker 1: question are you in control? God? I realized that it's
Speaker 1: a complicated answer. Yes, he's sovereign. How can he be
Speaker 1: so sovereign and I feel so stuck? How can he
Speaker 1: be so sovereign and some suffer so much? How can
Speaker 1: he be so sovereign and some struggle so long? Of course,
Speaker 1: I'm not confident enough in my professional competence to answer that.
Speaker 1: That's why we're going to Paul in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But realize that, God, maybe I could give it you
Speaker 1: this way. Here's the first thing you could write them.
Speaker 1: God is always in control, but he doesn't always take control.
Speaker 1: It's like when I gained fifty pounds in the first
Speaker 1: eighteen months of being married. God never took any macaroni
Speaker 1: off my plate. He let me eat as much macaroni
Speaker 1: as I wanted to eat, and I was thinking about eating.
Speaker 1: And I've said it a few times now because I'm
Speaker 1: a little hungry, as I preached to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: But the real reason I thought of it was portion control, right, Like,
Speaker 1: God's not going to control the portion of food that
Speaker 1: you eat or the portion of news that you consume.
Speaker 1: Are you ready? He's not going to control the portion
Speaker 1: of the Bible that you read. God will let you
Speaker 1: watch as many episodes. What's that show Outer Banks, He'll
Speaker 1: let you watch that is at the right show. He'll
Speaker 1: let you watch. He'll let you watch every episode and
Speaker 1: not read your Bible one time. God will let you watch.
Speaker 1: God will let you scroll Instagram until you throw up
Speaker 1: pictures of somebody else's vacation. He won't stop you. He's
Speaker 1: in control. That doesn't stop you from scrolling, even Instagram.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time God I felt sympathetic when
Speaker 1: Instagram told me you're all caught up. I was like, there,
Speaker 1: Facebook is trying to save me. They legally have to
Speaker 1: tell me you've seen this crap already. So God doesn't
Speaker 1: stop you from scrolling. God will not so so so
Speaker 1: God is always in control, and I'm grateful, but he
Speaker 1: doesn't always take control. Isn't that what we really want
Speaker 1: is like a remote control God who we can tell
Speaker 1: him what to do with other people, and from his
Speaker 1: holy heaven he will make everybody do everything we want
Speaker 1: to do. He is not a remote control God. He
Speaker 1: is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us
Speaker 1: so that his spirit could live within us. And maybe
Speaker 1: I could illustrate it this way for everybody who is
Speaker 1: confused uncertain, like Paul was in prison. I came out
Speaker 1: earlier and I said, let's show them with the cameras
Speaker 1: to set up this idea of are you in control?
Speaker 1: Like in the room right now, there are I think
Speaker 1: eight cameras, maybe more. I don't know how many hidden
Speaker 1: cameras there are security cameras, but I think there's eight,
Speaker 1: so that this message can be brought to you you in
Speaker 1: high definition, high fidelity, the Word of God and all
Speaker 1: of his clarity. Right. But let's say like the way
Speaker 1: it works, like there's different cameras that I look at,
Speaker 1: and the way it works is like here's camera one,
Speaker 1: and I think that's Bowser on camera on. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: Bowser taking a break from throwing hammers at Mario for
Speaker 1: a minute running the camera Jay Bowser, everybody. That's called
Speaker 1: camera one. And I don't know if they call it
Speaker 1: camera one because he's the most important one, but it's
Speaker 1: right there. And if they put a scripture up, I
Speaker 1: can see it and it's great. Okay, So that's camera one,
Speaker 1: all right. And then over here on this camera it's
Speaker 1: camera four or five or something like that doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: The point is who's running this one today, Abraham, okay, Abraham.
Speaker 1: And Abraham is over here. And if I go to
Speaker 1: this camera right, you can see me. Now I'm looking
Speaker 1: at the camera, and this is the way God gave
Speaker 1: it to me, like a picture, just to make it
Speaker 1: simple for what we're going to talk about over the
Speaker 1: next few weeks. If Abraham's camera goes out of focus,
Speaker 1: go ahead and make it blurry real quick, because sometimes
Speaker 1: this happens as I'm moving around and everything like that,
Speaker 1: and they have to focus the camera right, okay, and
Speaker 1: so you can't see me real good, and that's distracting,
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh God, that looks horrible. It was
Speaker 1: tithing elevation, but now I'm gonna give it somewhere else.
Speaker 1: They don't even get the money in the equipment. So
Speaker 1: then so then I'm like Bowser and I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the camera, but nothing changed. What you have to understand
Speaker 1: is he's behind the camera, but he's not controlling the camera. Furthermore,
Speaker 1: let me come back over here where it's blurry. See
Speaker 1: how you can't really see it, Like how your life
Speaker 1: feels right now, how your plans feel right now, how
Speaker 1: your future feels right now, how the outcome of certain
Speaker 1: things in the United States of America feels right now,
Speaker 1: How what God is doing in the world feels right now.
Speaker 1: This house felt for a little while. And so Bowser
Speaker 1: is on camera one, and it's like, Bowser, come on, man,
Speaker 1: do your job. I'm looking at that camera. Give me
Speaker 1: that camera. But he can't control that camera. That camera
Speaker 1: is controlled in another room. The name of the room
Speaker 1: is the control room. In the control room, somebody named Chelsea.
Speaker 1: Chelsea has a headset and Bowser does not have the
Speaker 1: capability to switch to that camera without Chelsea saying the
Speaker 1: following words, take it. When Chelsea says take it, there
Speaker 1: it is in focus. Now he's on the camera, but
Speaker 1: he doesn't control the camera. So if I'm over here,
Speaker 1: make it blurry again. Make it real, blurry, Abraham, make
Speaker 1: it real blurry and is blurry and I look over here.
Speaker 1: Come on, Bowser, do your job. Come on, Bowser, what's
Speaker 1: wrong with you? Come on, Bowser? Are you distracted? Come on, Bowser,
Speaker 1: just sleep in today forget to show up front. Come on, Bowser,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go. I can yell at him all
Speaker 1: I want, but he's not controlling the camera. Until Chelsea says,
Speaker 1: watch this, take it now. God says, you can stay
Speaker 1: in a state of confusion. Make it blurry, Abraham all
Speaker 1: you want, and you can complain about me all you want.
Speaker 1: But God says, until see. God can give you a promise,
Speaker 1: but until you take it, you gotta God to give
Speaker 1: you peace. But you will feel unclear until you take it.
Speaker 1: And I hear the spirit of God saying today I
Speaker 1: have given you retention, restoration, and purpose, but you got
Speaker 1: to take it. Are you in control? So there are
Speaker 1: three questions in Philippians one that I think will help
Speaker 1: us with our focus. For me, in the last six months,
Speaker 1: focus has been a matter of survival. For the first
Speaker 1: week of the global pandemic, I had news stations on
Speaker 1: all around. I had to turn them off because I
Speaker 1: realized that if I kept watching their news, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to preach good news the gospel. And I
Speaker 1: found out why they call it breaking news, because it
Speaker 1: will break your brain. So Paul is going to talk
Speaker 1: to us today in a situation where it seems like
Speaker 1: God is maybe not in control? Are you in control? God?
Speaker 1: Because here I am in prison and here you are sovereign,
Speaker 1: and here I am stock. So this really helped me.
Speaker 1: All right, you'll pray for me. I can read the
Speaker 1: whole thing with no interruptions. How many believe that God
Speaker 1: will give me the willpower to read all fourteen verses
Speaker 1: and not stopping and rent around? Y'all don't believe I'm
Speaker 1: gonna prove you wrong? Okay? How many of y'all on
Speaker 1: the chat believe in me? Say? I believe in you, Pastor.
Speaker 1: I don't care about these other people. Fire them all,
Speaker 1: fire your staff. We believe in you. Believe in Steve.
Speaker 1: Here we go Philippians one twelve. Now, I want you
Speaker 1: to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to
Speaker 1: me has actually served to advance the gospel as a result.
Speaker 1: He's not okay, okay, just one, He's not focused on
Speaker 1: the resistance. He's focused on the results. It has become clear.
Speaker 1: It has become clear, Abraham, it has become Take it clear.
Speaker 1: It has become clear. Situation is uncertain, but my purpose
Speaker 1: has become clear throughout the whole palace, guard and to
Speaker 1: everyone else, that I am in chains for Christ. And
Speaker 1: because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters
Speaker 1: have become confident in the Lord, and they're all the
Speaker 1: more to proclaim the Gospel, the Gospel, the good News
Speaker 1: without fear. It is true. Somebody say facts that some
Speaker 1: preach Christ out of envy, and right, I will read,
Speaker 1: but others others out of good will. The latter do
Speaker 1: so out of love, knowing that I am put here
Speaker 1: for the defense of a gospel. The former preached Christ
Speaker 1: out of selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing they can stir
Speaker 1: up trouble for me while I am in chains. But
Speaker 1: what does it matter? The important thing is that in
Speaker 1: every way, and I've already given you the first question,
Speaker 1: there are three. I've already given you the first one.
Speaker 1: See if you can find all three. Two of them
Speaker 1: are right there in the text, and one is implied.
Speaker 1: He said, what does it matter? The important thing is
Speaker 1: that in every way, whether from false motives or true,
Speaker 1: Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice, Yes,
Speaker 1: and I will continue to rejoice. I'll rejoice in my bathrobe,
Speaker 1: watching church in my living room. I will continue to rejoice.
Speaker 1: I will rejoice without a job cut back on hours.
Speaker 1: I will rejoice even as I wake up in the
Speaker 1: middle of the night, in the middle of a full
Speaker 1: blown panic attack. I will praise my way back to sleep.
Speaker 1: I will breathe my way into peace. I will continue
Speaker 1: to joye for I know that, through your prayers and
Speaker 1: God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has
Speaker 1: happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I
Speaker 1: eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way
Speaker 1: be a shame, will have sufficient courage so that now
Speaker 1: as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether
Speaker 1: by life or by death. For to me, to live
Speaker 1: is Christ and to die is Gain. If I'm to
Speaker 1: go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful
Speaker 1: labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do
Speaker 1: not know. Torn between the two. Kind of want to
Speaker 1: get out of here. It's crazy, but it's more necessary
Speaker 1: for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this,
Speaker 1: I know that I will remain and I will continue
Speaker 1: with all of you for your progress, enjoy and the faith.
Speaker 1: Isn't it funny that he calls it progress? Well, he's
Speaker 1: in prison. He must be measuring something, he must be
Speaker 1: asking a different question, and he does not give them
Speaker 1: any of the answers that they would have asked for,
Speaker 1: because I'm going to tell you what they wanted to know?
Speaker 1: When are you getting out the church at PHILIPI is
Speaker 1: like your kids in the car. All they want to
Speaker 1: know is are we there yet? How many think that's
Speaker 1: the second most annoying question that your kids ask. You're like, well,
Speaker 1: what's the first? For me? Do we have to do?
Speaker 1: I have to? I feel the spirit of slap your
Speaker 1: tongue out of your mouth coming up? Do I have
Speaker 1: to unload the dishwasher? Okay, no, you don't have to.
Speaker 1: I will rip the dishwasher out, throw it in the yard.
Speaker 1: You can wash it all by hand, and then after that,
Speaker 1: your mom will cook for me and you will watch,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to. I used to hate it
Speaker 1: when staff members would say, do we have to come?
Speaker 1: Do we have to comb to Saturday night service. And
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes the Lord just has to take stuff
Speaker 1: away for a minute for you to appreciate it to
Speaker 1: get it back, and it's like, do I have to
Speaker 1: be there? It's like, oh God, can I please come?
Speaker 1: Can I please? And so that happens, that that happens,
Speaker 1: that happens in our life. So the Lord was telling
Speaker 1: me that there are some really bad questions that I ask,
Speaker 1: questions that either he doesn't want me to know. My
Speaker 1: mom used to always say, if I would have wanted
Speaker 1: you to know, I would have told you. And so
Speaker 1: the way Paul started the text, go back to verse
Speaker 1: twelve real quick, he said, now I want you to know.
Speaker 1: And then he doesn't tell them what they want to know.
Speaker 1: When are you getting out? He tells them what he
Speaker 1: wants them to know. That's like God. He tells you
Speaker 1: what he wants you to know. God controls the flow
Speaker 1: of information to our lives, and he doesn't owe us
Speaker 1: an explanation for everything. My amens are fading fast. Oh,
Speaker 1: my amens are fading fast. My amens are shutting down
Speaker 1: right now. I feel like I'm gonna have to come
Speaker 1: over here and preach this to Jenna now Jenna. I
Speaker 1: specifically asked if you could be out on the stage
Speaker 1: today because I was watching you worship the other day
Speaker 1: and I realize that you are an example of someone
Speaker 1: who never really asks for the spotlight. That blessed me.
Speaker 1: It blessed me because a lot of singers want to know,
Speaker 1: like when am I going to get that? You know,
Speaker 1: it's a dumb question, And I realized that the better
Speaker 1: question isn't when am I going to get credit? It's
Speaker 1: what is God calling me to do? Now? When God
Speaker 1: does not give you an answer? How many of you
Speaker 1: are waiting for an answer from God about something in
Speaker 1: your life right now? Okay, if you won't give you
Speaker 1: the answer, ask him for a better question. You want
Speaker 1: an example of this, when Moses asked God in Exodus,
Speaker 1: chapter four, verse one. You remember he's called by God.
Speaker 1: We discussed Moses a couple of weeks ago. I kind
Speaker 1: of finished my sermon talking about Moses and how if
Speaker 1: God asked you to do it, the proof that you
Speaker 1: have it in you is that He asked you to
Speaker 1: do it, because he won't ask anything from you that
Speaker 1: he didn't first put in you. And I'm just reminding
Speaker 1: you of that. But remember when Moses asked the first
Speaker 1: thing he asked, he said, he said, what if they
Speaker 1: do not believe me talking about the Israelites. Now, let's
Speaker 1: isolate those three words. What if they? Okay, that's a
Speaker 1: bad question. Anytime your question revolves around other people, it
Speaker 1: is outside of the realm of your sovereign control. What
Speaker 1: if they? I don't care what you say next, you
Speaker 1: can't control it. What if they is a bad question.
Speaker 1: So watch what God does. He answers Moses' question with
Speaker 1: a question, But it's an upgrade. When I saw this,
Speaker 1: I shouted, you ready, Moses, what if they? Look at
Speaker 1: verse two, The Lord said to him, what is that?
Speaker 1: So let's go. Moses said, what if they? God said,
Speaker 1: what is that? Moses is asking about what he can't control.
Speaker 1: He's asking about a hypothetical scenario that involves others, and
Speaker 1: God says, what is that? What is that? In your hand?
Speaker 1: God will always point you to what is at hand.
Speaker 1: And the more your questions revolve around hypothetical situations that
Speaker 1: haven't happened and may not happen, the longer you are
Speaker 1: going to spend in the absence of an answer, which
Speaker 1: you will mistake for the absence of God. But God
Speaker 1: ask a better question. It's not what if they? What
Speaker 1: is that? When you focus on what God has given you.
Speaker 1: I love this. I spend so much time asking the
Speaker 1: question what if they or what if that? Or what
Speaker 1: if this? Or what if that? But God says, I've
Speaker 1: already given you a that no matter what they do. Ye, yes,
Speaker 1: all right. So that's an example of what I'm talking
Speaker 1: about the power of a better question. And so the
Speaker 1: proof of my progress and my relationship with God is
Speaker 1: I have less answers better questions. The three questions that
Speaker 1: are always running in your mind are what does it matter?
Speaker 1: What does it mean? And what shall I choose? All
Speaker 1: three are in the text. I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 1: The first one caught me off guard when I was
Speaker 1: just minding my own business preaching Philippians one, and I
Speaker 1: was standing on this stage. I will never forget I
Speaker 1: was standing on stage. I didn't study for it or anything.
Speaker 1: I was just reading through it. You know, there's some
Speaker 1: really good stuff in the Book of Philippians, some really
Speaker 1: famous verses. Being confident of this that he began a
Speaker 1: good work ca and you be faithful to complete it
Speaker 1: to the day of Christ. That's a great verse. One
Speaker 1: of them we read. For me to live is Christ,
Speaker 1: to die is game. How about this one? God has
Speaker 1: exalted Jesus the highest place, giving me the the names above,
Speaker 1: every name that at the name of ges every name
Speaker 1: to about and every time confessed geis Christ Lord, the
Speaker 1: glory of God the Father. These are like the famous
Speaker 1: verses in Philippians, and they're good. So I always thought
Speaker 1: those were the most important verses of the whole thing.
Speaker 1: And there's some other ones too that you know. You know,
Speaker 1: these verses I kind to myself to have apprehended. But
Speaker 1: this one thing I do forgetting what is behind and
Speaker 1: pressing toward was ahead. I pressed toward the margaret, the prize.
Speaker 1: You know how many times have you heard that on
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve or something like that. I'm forgetting what
Speaker 1: is behind, forget the past, pressed toward what's ahead. You know,
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Right,
Speaker 1: great versus in Philippians. And My God shall supply all
Speaker 1: your needs according to His riches in glory. All those
Speaker 1: verses I love. The one that jumped up and bit
Speaker 1: me was in verse eighteen, or yeah, verse eighteen of
Speaker 1: chapter one, where Paul says, what does it matter? And
Speaker 1: the Lord arrested me in the middle of my sermon.
Speaker 1: I was trying to get to another verse, and the
Speaker 1: Lord said, stop right there. If you get that question wrong,
Speaker 1: nothing else matters. So what does it matter? And then
Speaker 1: if you drop down a little bit to verse twenty two,
Speaker 1: Paul says, if I am to go on living in
Speaker 1: the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So
Speaker 1: what does it mean? And then he asked a question
Speaker 1: that you wouldn't think he's in any position to consider.
Speaker 1: What shall I choose? And I love it because Paul
Speaker 1: is such a control freak, and so am. I almost
Speaker 1: called this message and maybe I'll put it on the
Speaker 1: thumbnail to get some click bait and get people saved
Speaker 1: on the YouTube channel, but almost called it confessions of
Speaker 1: a control freak. I'm reading Philippians and I'm just going along,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, Paul is so used to calling the shots.
Speaker 1: He doesn't realize that he's not gonna get to be
Speaker 1: in charge this time. He's like, I've been thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I might want to stay. It's like Caesar's going to
Speaker 1: make that decision, buddy, And he's like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: it's the wrong question. I'm not talking about whether or
Speaker 1: not I'm going to get out of this situation. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about what God is doing in the midst of it. So,
Speaker 1: so the moment that you take control of the answer
Speaker 1: to these three questions, here they are again, what does it?
Speaker 1: What does it? What shall I? And you gotta say
Speaker 1: shall because it puts a little King James authority on it.
Speaker 1: What shall I choose? I'm telling you God doesn't control everything.
Speaker 1: He gives you choice. And Holly said last week that
Speaker 1: the word rejoice comes in the Book of Philippians, like
Speaker 1: how many times do you remember? Sixteen times? Joy rejoice?
Speaker 1: So I thought the theme of the Book of Philippians
Speaker 1: was joy, but I found out it's really freedom that
Speaker 1: he is, that he is still in control of his
Speaker 1: soul's state, even though he can change nothing about his circumstance.
Speaker 1: And the Lord told me to appreciate because these three
Speaker 1: questions are running your life in a back room. In
Speaker 1: a back room. Wow, So what's showing up on the
Speaker 1: screen right now is because somebody's on a camera. But
Speaker 1: the one who's on the camera is not controlling it. Okay,
Speaker 1: it doesn't start where you see it. You see it
Speaker 1: on the screen. It doesn't start on a screen. That
Speaker 1: camera has to capture this message and then send it out,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't control it. And the way the Lord
Speaker 1: showed me this, he was like, this is like your
Speaker 1: feelings or your state of mind, your thoughts. So Bowser,
Speaker 1: you're not God in this analogy, You're just my thoughts.
Speaker 1: And then, Chelsea is my questions. Every thought that I
Speaker 1: have started with a question. And if I ask a
Speaker 1: bad question, this is the worst question. What's wrong with me?
Speaker 1: That is probably the most frequently asked question. If you
Speaker 1: were to do a lobotomy of Stephen Verdicts FAQs, then
Speaker 1: I ask myself, just over and over again, what's wrong
Speaker 1: with you? What's wrong with you? Let me tell you
Speaker 1: what happens when you ask that question. All right, that
Speaker 1: question will attract a million answers because the devil has
Speaker 1: a list ready. Oh my god, that is the most
Speaker 1: magnetic question in the universe. The moment you say what's
Speaker 1: wrong with me, here comes every demon from the time
Speaker 1: that you were conscious, and they will line up with
Speaker 1: the list. Oh what's wrong with you? Okay, you want
Speaker 1: me to start? Okay, that's the physical appearance, okay, or
Speaker 1: you need to it's the wrong question. How many of
Speaker 1: y'all are like me? What's wrong with me? What's my problem? Be?
Speaker 1: So stupid, so stupid, so stupid, so stupid, so stupid.
Speaker 1: And the Devil's like, I can tell you, I can
Speaker 1: be so stupid. Your dad was stupid. Like, the devil
Speaker 1: has a list everything. He'll show you everything from your
Speaker 1: genetics to your jawline to everything. I mean, you just
Speaker 1: take everything, but your questions direct the integrity of your thoughts. God.
Speaker 1: So when Paul asked in Philippians one eighteen, what does
Speaker 1: it matter? He is setting the direction of his thoughts
Speaker 1: by controlling the focus of his priorities. What does it matter?
Speaker 1: What does it matter? In his case, he's talking about
Speaker 1: some people who are using his uniquely vulnerable situation as
Speaker 1: an apostle who is in chains to capitalize on the situation,
Speaker 1: you know. And he's like, ah, it doesn't matter, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes it does, Yes it does, because there's
Speaker 1: something in me that always wants to like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm real quick to get offended. I'm just getting it
Speaker 1: out there and telling you like this, so it's easier
Speaker 1: to preach when I'm not up here hiding stuff from you,
Speaker 1: so I am quick to get offended and I found
Speaker 1: out of fence blocks my flow. I don't like it.
Speaker 1: I don't like it. I wish I would have kind
Speaker 1: of wish I would have talked to Paul sooner, because
Speaker 1: he could have saved me so much time if he
Speaker 1: would have taught me that human opinion doesn't matter as
Speaker 1: much as I think it does. And it really changes
Speaker 1: through the years. You know, when you're in middle school,
Speaker 1: you're like that this is your biggest question, Like it's
Speaker 1: like everything from how you dress to what you say
Speaker 1: to what you don't say. It's like how can I
Speaker 1: fit in? And then watch this you go to apply
Speaker 1: for college. They're going to teach you how to put
Speaker 1: something on your application so you can stand out. It's
Speaker 1: like what to do? It's like all the questions are changing.
Speaker 1: When I started the church, it was like how can I,
Speaker 1: how can I how can I get people here right?
Speaker 1: And then people start coming. I was like, how can
Speaker 1: I keep doing this over and over against I don't
Speaker 1: let anybody down. The questions are shifting, but I want
Speaker 1: you to notice that that before he can get into
Speaker 1: what does it mean, what you're going through? And where's
Speaker 1: God in my situation? And God, what do you want
Speaker 1: me to do? The first question is what does it matter?
Speaker 1: What does it matter? I guess so distracted, I get
Speaker 1: so distracted, my focus gets so broken. Is actually even
Speaker 1: hard for me to sometimes look around the room when
Speaker 1: I'm preaching, because if somebody looks like I remember one
Speaker 1: time a guy looked really mad when I was preaching,
Speaker 1: and it put me in an anger vibe of a gear.
Speaker 1: I started pulling up Bible verses about wrath and judgment
Speaker 1: and the second Death. I didn't even know I knew
Speaker 1: those verses. I'm just going for it. And they got
Speaker 1: word to me later they said that man was going
Speaker 1: through a divorce. They said he was going through a divorce.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, okay, So I misinterpreted the situation
Speaker 1: because I was asking the wrong question because I was
Speaker 1: looking at him going like, why does he hate me?
Speaker 1: And really he hated his situation? But I asked the
Speaker 1: wrong question I was. I was starting with they why
Speaker 1: do they? Why did they all? Why did they always
Speaker 1: do that? Oh? You know, it's a bad question when
Speaker 1: it includes the word always, Why do they always? They
Speaker 1: don't always. Nobody always is what theology is better than
Speaker 1: my grammar. Nobody always is anything. So so the question
Speaker 1: starts with what does it matter? And this is where
Speaker 1: you have to write this phrase down, decide your distractions,
Speaker 1: decide your distractions to realize that in this moment, the
Speaker 1: only thing that matters in this moment to me is
Speaker 1: that you connect to God and get the word that
Speaker 1: He has for you. I would do anything to get
Speaker 1: it across. I'll do camera tricks, camera angles, I'll run
Speaker 1: around the screen. I would do anything to get it
Speaker 1: across because I have come past the point in my
Speaker 1: ministry now of thinking that the goal is to be impressive.
Speaker 1: The goal is not for me to impress you. It
Speaker 1: is to connect you to Heaven. If I connect you
Speaker 1: to Heaven, the ministry will flow through me and all
Speaker 1: of our needs will be mad. But it takes you
Speaker 1: a little while to find out what matters, and usually
Speaker 1: you don't even realize how much it matters until after
Speaker 1: it happened. It that is sad. You think the wrong
Speaker 1: thing matters until after it's over, and then you realize, oh,
Speaker 1: it really wasn't that important. It really wasn't that important.
Speaker 1: So I'm asking God to help me decide in advance
Speaker 1: what are my distractions? And here's what Paul taught me.
Speaker 1: Not every disruption is a distraction. Remember, this is the
Speaker 1: apostle that's taking the Gospel to the world, planting churches,
Speaker 1: and all of that progress has stopped. Apparently, Paul said,
Speaker 1: actually the gospel's moving forward. He decided what mattered? Did
Speaker 1: you or did you outsource your priorities to a broken
Speaker 1: world who doesn't know it's right from its left, it's
Speaker 1: up from its down. What does it matter? What does
Speaker 1: it matter? I wish I would have talked to Paul sooner.
Speaker 1: It would have been so good. I wouldn't have tried
Speaker 1: to chase people to get them to like me, because
Speaker 1: I would realize that it's not really what they think
Speaker 1: about me that matters. I would if I would have
Speaker 1: talked to Paul sooner, I could have realized that a
Speaker 1: human opinion is nothing compared to a divine seal. When
Speaker 1: God puts his seal of ownership on you, people can
Speaker 1: think what they want, say what they want. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you. If I would have talked to
Speaker 1: Paul sooner because I didn't know so because I didn't
Speaker 1: know I got petty. I got petty, I got jealous,
Speaker 1: I got worked up, I got freaked out. I thought,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I mean, how many things if we
Speaker 1: got to talk to Paul when we were starting the church,
Speaker 1: how much time could we have saved worrying about stuff
Speaker 1: that didn't matter? Y'all? I got so possessed by this verse.
Speaker 1: A couple of years ago, I made bracelets for the
Speaker 1: whole church. Instead of W WJD, I made it w
Speaker 1: D IM what does it matter? But you know what
Speaker 1: it's not if it's on a bracelet, it's in your brain.
Speaker 1: It is your thoughts. And I'm still asking it does
Speaker 1: it really matter? Does it really matter? Somebody told me
Speaker 1: you should do that day and decade test. I was like,
Speaker 1: what is that. They were like, well, if it won't
Speaker 1: matter in a day or in a decade, don't worry
Speaker 1: about it. That didn't help me too much, But here's
Speaker 1: what did help me. I didn't really get what they
Speaker 1: were trying to say, but here's what did help me.
Speaker 1: I did some flashbacks to stuff that frustrated me so badly,
Speaker 1: and some stuff that had me so afraid that never happened.
Speaker 1: And as I was doing those flashbacks and realizing God's faithfulness.
Speaker 1: It was an exercise for me. It was an exercise
Speaker 1: in asking a better question. The question what does it matter?
Speaker 1: Will eliminate ninety five percent of my prayer requests right there,
Speaker 1: just by asking God give me your priorities. It will
Speaker 1: direct my resources. But it will start with the question.
Speaker 1: It is a clarifying question. Make it blurry, Abraham, Come on, Abraham.
Speaker 1: You remember Abraham and Sarah in the Bible. This is
Speaker 1: kind of crazy. In Genesis eighteen, Sarah was laughing because
Speaker 1: God said that she was gonna have a baby. This
Speaker 1: is Genesis eighteen twelve, and it says that Sarah laughed
Speaker 1: to herself. So she did an lol. She how would
Speaker 1: I go? Lth? She lth? Do you see it on
Speaker 1: the scripture? She laughed to herself, And look at this,
Speaker 1: she said, after I'm worn out and my Lord is old,
Speaker 1: will I have this pleasure? I don't see how this
Speaker 1: could happen now? And then the Lord said to Abraham
Speaker 1: take it. Why does Sarah laugh and say, well, I
Speaker 1: really have a child now that I am old? And
Speaker 1: here's a better question. Is anything too hard for the Lord?
Speaker 1: See how that clarified it? You don't need an answer.
Speaker 1: You need to quit caring about stupid stop hey, because
Speaker 1: I can worry about some stupid stuff. I can worry
Speaker 1: about some stupid stuff like ho and when and what
Speaker 1: are they gonna say? And what if they That's what
Speaker 1: Paul was saying. It really doesn't matter what their motive is.
Speaker 1: It matters what God's purpose is. If it is God's
Speaker 1: purpose in my life being accomplished, it doesn't matter. I
Speaker 1: feel something on this say I got too much purpose
Speaker 1: to be petty. I got too much purpose to be petty.
Speaker 1: I got too much purpose to be petty. Here was
Speaker 1: the key phrase to me, Are you ready? He said,
Speaker 1: I am put here for the defense of the Gospel.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that phrase. Who put this table here?
Speaker 1: You don't even know what was it put here for?
Speaker 1: That's the important thing. Yeah, it was put here so
Speaker 1: I could preach, So write this down. Who put it
Speaker 1: here isn't as important as why it was put here.
Speaker 1: When Paul says I am put here for the defense
Speaker 1: of the Gospel, he could have just as easily said
Speaker 1: I was put here by Caesar because Rome is so wicked.
Speaker 1: But he didn't say any of that. He said Rome
Speaker 1: might be the reason I got here from a human standpoint. Now,
Speaker 1: this is for anybody who's trying to figure out why
Speaker 1: this happened and why that happened. That is a bad question.
Speaker 1: The better question is God, what are you doing right
Speaker 1: now in my life? And not how long are you
Speaker 1: gonna leave me here? You notice Pauline asked that one time,
Speaker 1: how long is God gonna leave me here? Instead, he
Speaker 1: asked the question what am I put here for? I
Speaker 1: wonder what would happen if you asked that about your life?
Speaker 1: What was I put here for? Not who was I
Speaker 1: put here by? That's gonna make you bitter because you're
Speaker 1: gonna start blaming people. You're gonna start blaming people who
Speaker 1: didn't support you. You're gonna start blaming people who didn't
Speaker 1: encourage You're gonna start blaming people who should have been
Speaker 1: there for you. But what you were put here matters
Speaker 1: more than who you were put here by. I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: I just feel like God is annoying this message. God said,
Speaker 1: put a shrug emoji in the chat. He said, that
Speaker 1: is the official emoji of Heaven. Over most of the
Speaker 1: stuff you're stressed about. The Lord said, I need you
Speaker 1: to make a list, not a bucket list like I
Speaker 1: don't care list, like a list of like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: quit caring about this so i can focus on that
Speaker 1: because I cannot care about everything. You know that, right?
Speaker 1: You know you were not designed to care about everything. Well,
Speaker 1: if you don't watch the news all the time? Oh,
Speaker 1: are you gonna be informed? My sanity matters more than
Speaker 1: my informdness. Talk to me back row, talk to me
Speaker 1: back row. And I'm gonna tell you another thing that
Speaker 1: Holly said last week. She said, are you trying to
Speaker 1: prove your point or you're trying to keep the relationship.
Speaker 1: See Paul said, I don't matter. It doesn't matter what
Speaker 1: their motive is. It matters what God's mission is. So
Speaker 1: you got to decide in your life. You got to
Speaker 1: decide what's gonna matter to you, what's going to matter
Speaker 1: to you in this season, what's going to matter to
Speaker 1: you in this moment? And you might have to come
Speaker 1: back to that a thousand times, Like I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: sometimes I just have to do this over and over
Speaker 1: and over again. And I've got a flip phone. I've
Speaker 1: got a flip phone. I don't have a side chick
Speaker 1: It's not some sketchy thing like that. It's just like
Speaker 1: I got a flip phone. Because sometimes I just can't
Speaker 1: care about and process everything all the time, because it
Speaker 1: matters more to me to be available to God than
Speaker 1: accessible to everyone else. So I just can't care about everything.
Speaker 1: What does it matter? People ask me sometimes, you know,
Speaker 1: like did you see what they said? I'm like nope,
Speaker 1: and they're like do you want to know? No, they
Speaker 1: saw this thing about you, and you want to hear. No.
Speaker 1: I don't hear control alt delete, control all delete, the
Speaker 1: spiritual command function right control alt delete. So I have
Speaker 1: got to change some priorities if I am going to
Speaker 1: expect God's resources and they are connected. When Paul says
Speaker 1: I expect that through your prayers and the provision of
Speaker 1: God's spirit that what has happened to we will turn
Speaker 1: out for my deliverance, that doesn't happen unless he correctly
Speaker 1: answers the question what does it matter? What does it matter?
Speaker 1: The stupid stuff me free because I used to think
Speaker 1: I embarrassed myself. I'd be like, oh, man, I said this,
Speaker 1: or I said that. I'm embarrassed. They don't care. People
Speaker 1: are paying way too much attention to themselves, to care
Speaker 1: about anything you mispronounced or said wrong. It's true. The
Speaker 1: greatest way for you to stop being so self centered
Speaker 1: is to realize how self centered everybody else is. Everybody's
Speaker 1: walking around going God, I can't believe I said that,
Speaker 1: Like they're going home and studying the scripture of what
Speaker 1: you said. What does it matter? I preached one week
Speaker 1: and my button was undone, and I didn't realize my
Speaker 1: button was undone, And I bet I stressed about that
Speaker 1: for three days, like the button police were watching my YouTube.
Speaker 1: You know how stupid is that? Here I am preaching
Speaker 1: the Bible, telling people that Jesus Christ is Lord and sovereign,
Speaker 1: and I'm stuck on a button. Now y'all are looking
Speaker 1: awfully judgmental. I bet you've gotten stuck on stuff. So
Speaker 1: God said he will not control everything. He will not
Speaker 1: control your priorities. You will. You will decide what matters
Speaker 1: to you. What does it matter? What does it matter?
Speaker 1: Everything else is a distraction, you know? Does it matter?
Speaker 1: I'm so overflowing with things to tell you about this,
Speaker 1: Yet it would be irresponsible for me to not tell
Speaker 1: you that that can work both ways, because just like
Speaker 1: you care too much about some stuff, there's some other
Speaker 1: stuff that you don't care enough about. Like for Paul,
Speaker 1: he had it clear. Remember he said, it's clear to me.
Speaker 1: The important thing is Christ is preached, good news, gospel, purpose,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Well, I think if the devil can't
Speaker 1: distract you, he'll discourage you. I don't think he really
Speaker 1: cares how he takes you out. He just doesn't want
Speaker 1: you to know why you're here. In my study of
Speaker 1: the scripture, pulse attitude reminded me a little of another
Speaker 1: prophet from the Old Testament called Elijah. He was really
Speaker 1: powerful dude, but he had a lot of insecurities, I think,
Speaker 1: And I think that because it manifested in him tending
Speaker 1: to perform well in public, but to have problematic conversations
Speaker 1: and ask the wrong questions in private. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if you can relate to this, but he looked
Speaker 1: really good on the outside, right, you know, it looked
Speaker 1: really amazing on the outside, and he looked really powerful
Speaker 1: on the outside. But there is a scripture that was
Speaker 1: playing in my head and I couldn't figure out why.
Speaker 1: I kept thinking about it until I realized that that
Speaker 1: just like you need to ask what does it matter
Speaker 1: about some certain things and push them to the side
Speaker 1: in the season of your life. And I would ask
Speaker 1: that what do you need to push to the side
Speaker 1: that doesn't matter, that doesn't matter, that doesn't matter, that
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, to make room for the things that do.
Speaker 1: There are also some times where the devil will try
Speaker 1: to convince you that something doesn't matter that actually really does,
Speaker 1: like when Elijah called down fire on Mount Carmel and
Speaker 1: the false prophets for all put to death with the sword.
Speaker 1: You may know the story or you may not. Really
Speaker 1: does it really doesn't matter if you know all the details.
Speaker 1: There was one specific moment that was really on my
Speaker 1: heart to talk to you about because he went all
Speaker 1: alone after this great victory in his life, and he
Speaker 1: went to a cave and he spent the night in
Speaker 1: a cave, and the voice of the Lord came to
Speaker 1: him in the cave. And you got to remember, the
Speaker 1: Lord didn't really shout. He whispered. And a lot of
Speaker 1: times the Lord will be like a whisper, you know,
Speaker 1: he'll be like a whisper. He's not a remote control god.
Speaker 1: He's an up close god, so he'll be like a whisper.
Speaker 1: And the question that he asked Elijah, not with a
Speaker 1: lot of decibel's, but with a lot of clarity. He said,
Speaker 1: what are you doing here? And what Elijah said next
Speaker 1: reflects where his heart was at. He said, I have
Speaker 1: been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites
Speaker 1: have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, put your
Speaker 1: prophets to death with the sword. I am the only
Speaker 1: one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.
Speaker 1: I hear in his response the words of a man
Speaker 1: who has done all that he can do and come
Speaker 1: to the conclusion that none of it matters. I hear
Speaker 1: a man that is at the end of his energy,
Speaker 1: who has given everything that he can for the people
Speaker 1: that he served. And I hear him, almost like the
Speaker 1: opposite of Paul saying, what doesn't matter, It's never gonna
Speaker 1: get better, doesn't matter. Why even try you Remember when
Speaker 1: you preached, I'm tired of trying to change. I heard
Speaker 1: Elijah saying that I'm I'm sick of this. It's not
Speaker 1: it's outside of my control. I'm done, I'm drained, and
Speaker 1: I'm the only one left. The irony of it is
Speaker 1: that he had enough faith for his words to control
Speaker 1: the weather system. He had enough faith to command the drought. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the question that would bring him out of depression
Speaker 1: is the question you must ask, what am I doing here?
Speaker 1: Paul asked that question, and he decided, I'm here for
Speaker 1: a purpose. And you know, that's a decision, that's an
Speaker 1: interpretation that is not a fact on the surface, that
Speaker 1: is a product of his faith. He decided that. He
Speaker 1: decided that he could have said I'm here because it's unfair.
Speaker 1: I'm here because the system is broken. But focusing on
Speaker 1: what is broken will never set you free. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it again, focusing on what is broken will never
Speaker 1: set you free. So as long as your question is
Speaker 1: why today? And when will they? And how will they?
Speaker 1: God said, what is that? What have I called you
Speaker 1: to do? What has God called me to do? What
Speaker 1: has God given me in this season that can't be
Speaker 1: taken away? What can I control? What can I speak?
Speaker 1: What can I activate? How can I move it forward?
Speaker 1: What are the advantages? Who is this uncircumcised philistine who
Speaker 1: dares to defe the armies of the Living God. They
Speaker 1: saw Goliath and said, how can we kill him? He's big?
Speaker 1: David said, how can we miss him. He's big. All
Speaker 1: you gotta do, listen to me, Challigard. All you gotta
Speaker 1: do is change the question, even if you don't know
Speaker 1: all of the answers. And I feel like preaching because
Speaker 1: God said, no, I'm not gonna give you an answer.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a better question. What are you
Speaker 1: doing here, you mighty man of valor? What are you
Speaker 1: doing here? You unique daughter of God? What are you
Speaker 1: doing in this place? After you've seen me time and
Speaker 1: time again? Roll back the heavens and rend the sky
Speaker 1: and come down and crush your enemies? What are you
Speaker 1: doing here? See? He really wasn't running from Jezebel, who
Speaker 1: threatened his life. He was running from himself because he
Speaker 1: had gotten the question wrong. So I can't distract you,
Speaker 1: he'll discourage you. And I want to minister to the
Speaker 1: distracted people today and tell you that some stuff doesn't
Speaker 1: matter as much as you think it does. Oh, but
Speaker 1: I want to talk to some discouraged people today. You reckon.
Speaker 1: Paul knew that we would make bumper stickers out of
Speaker 1: stuff he wrote in prison. He didn't even know how
Speaker 1: much it mattered, and neither do you. So stop waiting
Speaker 1: on your seven year old to tell you you are
Speaker 1: a father who is leaving a legacy, and everything you
Speaker 1: are doing for me is good seed. And if you
Speaker 1: train me up in the way that I should go,
Speaker 1: when I am old, I will not depart from You
Speaker 1: won't know how much it matters until after. So you
Speaker 1: have to control your focus now. And as we minister
Speaker 1: this word to you today, I wonder has the enemy
Speaker 1: got you in a place where you started to believe
Speaker 1: that I don't matter. I rebuke the spirit of rejection
Speaker 1: off of your life. Right now, in this moment, by
Speaker 1: the power vested in me by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: I minister to you that you matter so much. You
Speaker 1: might not even know how much you matter until after,
Speaker 1: but you got to have faith to believe in. Right now,
Speaker 1: with everyone standing, your head bow your eyes closed, I
Speaker 1: want you to realize that some of the stuff that
Speaker 1: you think matters so much, it doesn't actually matter. Because
Speaker 1: I want you to get your brain back so you
Speaker 1: can enjoy some things. I want you not to take
Speaker 1: it personal when people take out their pain on you.
Speaker 1: I want you to stop thinking that everything that you're
Speaker 1: missing is a mistake. Listen to me, child of God.
Speaker 1: Some thing's God leaves out on purpose. Paul said, I'll
Speaker 1: put here on purpose. I know what I'm doing here
Speaker 1: because I decided that. I decided that everything else is
Speaker 1: a distraction. Paul said, I know what's important. My peace
Speaker 1: is more important, my joy is more important. I am
Speaker 1: not going to let anything distract me from what matters. Now.
Speaker 1: These questions are running in your mind all the time,
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about them in the next
Speaker 1: few weeks. As we continue to minister this message to you,
Speaker 1: you have assumed that maybe maybe God is not working
Speaker 1: in your life, or he doesn't see you in your situation,
Speaker 1: or maybe you've made a mistake so bad that he
Speaker 1: can't use you anymore. That's all alive and the past
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You're in the presence of God. Now I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you something about him. He can take things
Speaker 1: that happen to you. He can take the time that
Speaker 1: you think you lost, and he is a multiplier and
Speaker 1: he can give it back to you. But you got
Speaker 1: to take it. Just like she tells the camera operator,
Speaker 1: take it. I hear the Lord saying I want you
Speaker 1: to have peace, but you got to take it. If
Speaker 1: your mind is on the things that don't matter in
Speaker 1: this season. You're gonna be so distracted. Oh God, it's
Speaker 1: going to destroy you. But my peace is available to you.
Speaker 1: What are you doing here? Never thought you'd be here,
Speaker 1: You've certainly never been here before. What are you doing here?
Speaker 1: Pull said, I decided I'm here for Christ? What have
Speaker 1: you decided that? How amazing would the shift be? Can
Speaker 1: you imagine if you just decided I'm here for Christ?
Speaker 1: If you just started asking God, what are you doing
Speaker 1: in my life? Right now? God? What do you I
Speaker 1: can't control all of the input, but God, I can
Speaker 1: control my response. So Lord, here's my life. Here's my
Speaker 1: little prison, sell, here's my little limitation. All right? What
Speaker 1: is that in your hand? It matters. It matters what
Speaker 1: you say, It matters what you believe, It matters what
Speaker 1: you take in. It matters what you meditate on. It
Speaker 1: matters every second of your life, every season of your life.
Speaker 1: You're answering the question what does it matter? And to
Speaker 1: every thought that has told you lately, it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: and nobody would miss you, and the world wouldn't even all.
Speaker 1: It's all a distraction. The devil doesn't want you to
Speaker 1: know that what is inside of you is so much
Speaker 1: greater than what is against you. Who is this uncircumcised philisty? Father?
Speaker 1: I come into agreement with each person today to realize
Speaker 1: the infinite significance of their life. That Jesus Christ would
Speaker 1: die for them, how much they matter. Your blood told
Speaker 1: me that once and for all, how much they mattered
Speaker 1: enough for you to make them You need custom, desire,
Speaker 1: custom tailor. Thank you, Lord. I am put here for
Speaker 1: a purpose, and today we speak to each situation. In fact,
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, I want to give you just a moment
Speaker 1: to give them a better question instead of why did
Speaker 1: this happen to me? And why does this always happen
Speaker 1: to me? What can you do through it? And as
Speaker 1: you shift these questions, we expect to release from heaven
Speaker 1: in our life. We thank you, Lord that your invitation
Speaker 1: stands open for us, and if we ask, we will receive,
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name, Amen, the power of a better question.
Speaker 1: Give God praise in the place if you receive his word,
Speaker 1: Come on, give him praise on every location, large or small.
Speaker 1: Why not just offer God the space? Why not just
Speaker 1: offer him a praise? Come on, He in habits the
Speaker 1: praises of his people. He will set up shop anywhere
Speaker 1: there is worship. Thank you Lord, How many are ready
Speaker 1: for some better questions? What does it matter? What does
Speaker 1: it mean? What shall I choose? So let me ask
Speaker 1: you a question. Did you get something out of that?
Speaker 1: I want to thank all of you who get to
Speaker 1: this ministry so we can reach people on behalf of
Speaker 1: everybody who was set free or delivered or encouraged or
Speaker 1: inspired or led to Jesus through this ministry. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Your giving matters when you share the link, it matters.
Speaker 1: Every little bit makes a difference, And so I want
Speaker 1: to thank you so much for being connected to this ministry.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about going deeper into the teaching. I hope
Speaker 1: you are too. God is always in control, but he
Speaker 1: doesn't make our decisions for us. And I think you
Speaker 1: made a good decision today to get God's word in
Speaker 1: your heart. Now make sure that you obey what he
Speaker 1: spoke to. You have the courage to take that step
Speaker 1: whatever he's asking you to do. You know that He's
Speaker 1: a rewarder of those who seek him. So I pray
Speaker 1: for you in Jesus' name that this week will be
Speaker 1: the week that you will ask better questions. God What
Speaker 1: are you doing in this moment? What are you doing
Speaker 1: in my life right now? And I pray that you'll
Speaker 1: see him all around you as he presents you with
Speaker 1: new opportunities to know him and make him know. We
Speaker 1: love you, Holly, and I are praying for you. I'll
Speaker 1: see you next time.