Speaker 1: Hey, don't start clicking off. I promise we're going to
Speaker 1: get to the preaching in just a moment. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this. This is a very special tradition at Elevation,
Speaker 1: and we want to speak to all of you who
Speaker 1: call our church home, especially our extended family, our EPAM
Speaker 1: around the world, because once a year we have a
Speaker 1: special series. It's really more than a collection of teachings.
Speaker 1: It's a faith experience for all of the people who
Speaker 1: are part of our ministry at Elevation, and this year
Speaker 1: our theme is game Changer. I think one of the
Speaker 1: most exciting things that God is doing in our ministry
Speaker 1: is to open the doors of our ministry beyond our walls.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is we are amazed at
Speaker 1: the thousands and thousands and thousands of you who are
Speaker 1: letting us know that you're impacted by this ministry in
Speaker 1: another zip code, in another state, in another country, maybe
Speaker 1: eventually on another planet. But what I wanted to mention
Speaker 1: to you is that you can be a part of
Speaker 1: this beyond just consuming. Many of you have been blessed
Speaker 1: by God to be a blessing, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask today would you be willing during this special time
Speaker 1: of year to make a one time donation to the
Speaker 1: ministry or maybe partner with us on a monthly basis
Speaker 1: through recurring giving. I believe God could use your gift
Speaker 1: to enable this ministry to continue to reach, to continue
Speaker 1: to break paradigms, to continue to lift up Jesus. And
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you personally to go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org and you can see the ways to give there.
Speaker 1: But most importantly, know that we feel a tremendousness of
Speaker 1: responsibility to minister the word of God, not only to you,
Speaker 1: but to challenge you to partner with us in reaching
Speaker 1: people for the Gospel. I believe your gift today could
Speaker 1: be a game changer, so don't put it off right now.
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org you can find all of the details.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this message and thank you for
Speaker 1: being a part of the family. I'm going to continue
Speaker 1: this series from Matthew chapter six. I don't know if
Speaker 1: i'll preach it all from the Sermon on the Mouth,
Speaker 1: but it's a very good place to start, A very
Speaker 1: good place to start. What's that from? Let's start at
Speaker 1: the beginning, A very good place to start. What's that from? Okay?
Speaker 1: Sound of music? That was unintentional. I don't like sound
Speaker 1: of music. But anyway, we're gonna we're gonna look at
Speaker 1: Matthew six, which I do like, and these profound, powerful
Speaker 1: words from Jesus. And last week's message was intended to
Speaker 1: help you evaluate your values. I was thinking that a
Speaker 1: lot of times, if we if we play the game,
Speaker 1: and even if we play the game well, but we
Speaker 1: win at things that are not true to our values,
Speaker 1: eventually we will get good at winning. But what are
Speaker 1: we winning at? And what have we won? And so
Speaker 1: in order to try to avoid all of this, this
Speaker 1: empty sense of chasing after victories that are not meaningful,
Speaker 1: we're getting into God's definition of success, God's idea of
Speaker 1: what is worth winning at. And we're looking at this together.
Speaker 1: And it was cool to me. When I was in
Speaker 1: the airport Monday, I got the opportunity to meet one
Speaker 1: of our new church members. He said, I've been coming
Speaker 1: for a little while, been going to church all my life,
Speaker 1: been learning a lot. It's been helpful. I said, what
Speaker 1: did you learn yesterday? I put him on a pop
Speaker 1: quiz and he said, oh, yeah, that was good yesterday.
Speaker 1: When you said, shallow values produce empty victories. I was like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: you got it exactly right. Usually people when they quote
Speaker 1: back your sermon to you, they mess it all up
Speaker 1: and they don't make it rhyme, and they switch the
Speaker 1: words all around. Makes you mad. But he got it
Speaker 1: just right. Then he started preaching other parts, and he said.
Speaker 1: I went home and I told my wife and my kids,
Speaker 1: I love y'all, but leave me alone the rest of
Speaker 1: the day. And he's a successful person in his field.
Speaker 1: His name is Stephen. I knew he was a great
Speaker 1: man of God from that fact. And he said, I'm
Speaker 1: really just dealing with emptiness. And in that emptiness, I
Speaker 1: realized it's a lot of times because my values are shallow.
Speaker 1: So I've been listening. I've been spending just since you reach,
Speaker 1: he said, I've been thinking about my values, not what
Speaker 1: I think they should be, not what I want them
Speaker 1: to be, but what are my values, and then aligning
Speaker 1: those values with God's values. So let's continue the process.
Speaker 1: Let's go right on to Matthew chapter six, verse twenty five.
Speaker 1: A very relevant scripture today that I want us to
Speaker 1: look at together. Matthew six twenty five Jesus speaking Therefore,
Speaker 1: I tell you, do not worry about your life what
Speaker 1: you will eat or drink, or about your body what
Speaker 1: you will wear is not life more than food, and
Speaker 1: the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of
Speaker 1: the air. They do not sow or reap or store
Speaker 1: away in barns. And yet I love that, somebody say,
Speaker 1: And yet I don't deserve the grace of God. And
Speaker 1: yet I don't have the educational background. And yet nobody
Speaker 1: in my family ever broke this barrier. And yet I
Speaker 1: made some mistakes in my life. And yet I just
Speaker 1: like little stuff like that. When I'm reading the Bible.
Speaker 1: Y'all do what you want to do. I'm gonna stop
Speaker 1: for those little phrases and point them out to you.
Speaker 1: And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
Speaker 1: much more valuable than they? Tell? Somebody next to you say,
Speaker 1: I'm better than a bird. I might not be better
Speaker 1: than you, but I'm better than a bird. I'm worth
Speaker 1: more than a bird. I know that much. Are you
Speaker 1: not much more valuable than they? We're gonna come back
Speaker 1: to that. Can any one of you, by worrying at
Speaker 1: a single hour to your life? No, but you can
Speaker 1: take some off or you can wish you were dead,
Speaker 1: because more peaceful than being in this living hell called
Speaker 1: your mind. Sometimes, so he asked a question, and I
Speaker 1: notice how it starts with a command and then it
Speaker 1: turns to a question. He said, do not worry. And
Speaker 1: now he says, and why do you worry? Why do
Speaker 1: you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the
Speaker 1: field grow. They do not labor or spend. Yet I
Speaker 1: tell you that not even Solomon and all his gucci,
Speaker 1: was dressed like one of these. If that is how
Speaker 1: God closed the grass of the field, which is here
Speaker 1: today tomorrows stone in the fire will heat not much
Speaker 1: more cloth, you, oh you of little fate. So do
Speaker 1: not worry. Stop telling me that you know. The worst
Speaker 1: thing you can tell somebody when they're worrying is what
Speaker 1: don't worry unless you know something that they don't. Because like,
Speaker 1: I was watching a football game the other day, but
Speaker 1: it was recorded because I missed it. But the person
Speaker 1: that was watching it with me check the score, and
Speaker 1: we were cheering for the same team. So while I
Speaker 1: was watching the game, I was also watching them, and
Speaker 1: when it got a little scary, I just watched them.
Speaker 1: But when they didn't look scared. I didn't get scared.
Speaker 1: So when Jesus says don't worry, I figure he's already
Speaker 1: seen how this thing turns out. Come on this early
Speaker 1: to have church. But if you are grateful that the
Speaker 1: one who knows the end from the beginning is already
Speaker 1: prophesied to this current moment and declared that God is faithful,
Speaker 1: come on, give him a shout of praise. Don't worry
Speaker 1: saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: hallelujah is right. That's the only thing you can say
Speaker 1: when you think about this. This is good. This preaches itself.
Speaker 1: I don't need to make a comment. I could just
Speaker 1: read this over and over again for fifty minutes. We
Speaker 1: go home. So do not worry saying what shall we
Speaker 1: eat or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?
Speaker 1: For the pagans run after all these things. These are
Speaker 1: allow values. This is what the world worries about. You
Speaker 1: want to worry about something, worry about something, worrying about
Speaker 1: worry about teen suicide rates, You just gotta worry worry
Speaker 1: about that. Worry about racism. You want to worry about something,
Speaker 1: worry about that. I want to worry about something. Worry
Speaker 1: about this crazy cycle of fear that we're all living in.
Speaker 1: If you want to worry about something, but don't worry
Speaker 1: about this, for the pagans run after all these things.
Speaker 1: Your heavenly father knows that you need them. But see
Speaker 1: versus kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will
Speaker 1: be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry
Speaker 1: about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day
Speaker 1: has trouble enough of its own. The word God gave
Speaker 1: me to give to you today is reverse your worry.
Speaker 1: Reverse your worry. We're gonna get this thing turned around
Speaker 1: for lunchtime today. Reverse your worry. Came in thinking one way,
Speaker 1: going to go home thinking another. Reverse your worry. Turn
Speaker 1: to somebody and say it's time to turn it around.
Speaker 1: So why do you worry? That's the question. The command
Speaker 1: is do not worry. And then the question is verse
Speaker 1: twenty eight. Let's see it again, why do you worry?
Speaker 1: And at this point, if it was anybody other than
Speaker 1: Jesus asking the question, I would say, sit down and
Speaker 1: let me tell you. You You know. Oh, I got a list.
Speaker 1: You want to know why I'll worry? Well, where do
Speaker 1: you want me to start, like, first of all, let's
Speaker 1: start with October in the stock market. If you want
Speaker 1: to talk about worry, you want to talk about the
Speaker 1: first week in November, you want to talk about if
Speaker 1: you want, if you want, if you want to know
Speaker 1: why I'll worry. Okay, I got I got a thirteen
Speaker 1: year old and eleven year old and a seven year old,
Speaker 1: and they have the Internet. That's why I worry, Jesus
Speaker 1: because something tells me that they are not yet of
Speaker 1: the emotional and mental health and capacity to have all
Speaker 1: of the information in the history of humanity in their pocket.
Speaker 1: And I'm worried about what they're going to access. And
Speaker 1: there's no Bible verse about how much time to give
Speaker 1: your child on Instagram if it is, I didn't find
Speaker 1: that somebody send me the scripture this week. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm worried. I'm I'm worried. You know, why do you worry?
Speaker 1: Put the verse up again? Why do you worry? And
Speaker 1: I think that's important that we stop and think about
Speaker 1: the reasons that we worry, Okay, the reason that we worry,
Speaker 1: and be really honest about it. Because what I worry
Speaker 1: about more than anything is not what's happening to me.
Speaker 1: But whether or not what's within me is enough to
Speaker 1: hand it is whether what's in me is strong enough
Speaker 1: to handle what happens to me. That's why I worry.
Speaker 1: I worry because as a pastor, I am concerned that
Speaker 1: maybe the way that I communicate would be more for consumption,
Speaker 1: and that people would come and hear the word, or
Speaker 1: tune in online and hear the word and then just
Speaker 1: click off. But you know, it seems like more and
Speaker 1: more that people are just coming to church for what
Speaker 1: to get out of it, or just you know what.
Speaker 1: I like that preacher, or I like that song, but
Speaker 1: that's a really shallow reason to come to church. And
Speaker 1: I worry that if people come from surface motivations, they're
Speaker 1: gonna get surface results in their life. And if people
Speaker 1: come from selfish motives, then they're gonna get empty, empty results.
Speaker 1: So why do you worry? Let's talk about it just
Speaker 1: me and you now it just us. Why do you worry? What?
Speaker 1: What do you worry about more than anything else? What's
Speaker 1: the thing that had you up at three point thirty
Speaker 1: this morning and your mind started spinning? Because this is
Speaker 1: what happens. Your mind starts spinning some of us get
Speaker 1: up to use the bathroom, and then we never quite
Speaker 1: make it back to a rested state because our bladders
Speaker 1: and our brains are both under demon possession, and so
Speaker 1: both of them are too full, And so we wake
Speaker 1: up in the middle of the night, and here we are.
Speaker 1: And this is how it happens. For me, my mind
Speaker 1: just starts spinning, spinning. And the way that it's constructed
Speaker 1: in the original language. I've studied this passage quite a bit.
Speaker 1: I've come back to it several times in preaching. Is
Speaker 1: that it says, do not worry, that's the command. Or
Speaker 1: take no thought. That's literal, take no thought. Think about that.
Speaker 1: He's saying, A thought that presents itself to you can
Speaker 1: start you spinning in a direction if you take it,
Speaker 1: but it can't start you spinning if you don't hold
Speaker 1: on to it. I appreciate the whole message. One time
Speaker 1: called hold that thought. Hold that thought, and you get
Speaker 1: a hold of a thought and you let it take
Speaker 1: you somewhere. But where you take that thought, eventually you
Speaker 1: find out it takes you somewhere. And for me, a
Speaker 1: lot of times I end up in this spin cycle.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I'm talking about? Talk to me
Speaker 1: the spin cycle of stress. I've noticed this about worry.
Speaker 1: Worry is circular. Worry is going round and round, is
Speaker 1: not being concerned about something. That's not what Jesus means
Speaker 1: by don't worry. This isn't Jesus Bob Marley moment, you know,
Speaker 1: because I was reading it, like look at the birds.
Speaker 1: You know, it almost sounds it almost sounds like Jesus
Speaker 1: is telling me not to not to pay my bills.
Speaker 1: Just look at the birds. Look at the birds and
Speaker 1: the flowers and beautiful. Isn't God good? Isn't he just
Speaker 1: the best? Don't you just love Jesus and his muchness?
Speaker 1: You know? So is not what he's saying, you know.
Speaker 1: You want me to be like a bird lord is no.
Speaker 1: I want you to observe the birds. I want you
Speaker 1: to consider what they know that you don't. And maybe
Speaker 1: what they know that you don't is because they live
Speaker 1: where you don't. At a higher altitude. Observe the birds.
Speaker 1: If I could title this message something other than reverse
Speaker 1: your worry, I'd call it look up, because in order
Speaker 1: to consider the birds, you got to stuff looking all
Speaker 1: around you to make sense of your life. You know,
Speaker 1: because as long as you look around you, you spin
Speaker 1: around and around and around and around. But when you
Speaker 1: break the cycle and consider that there is a God
Speaker 1: above you, who has gone before you, who lives within you,
Speaker 1: who is always for you, and that you are spoken
Speaker 1: for and known and named and called and chosen and
Speaker 1: set apart, you see your life at a different level.
Speaker 1: Can I praise a little bit? Because I've been doing
Speaker 1: this a lot. It's funny that I just finished the
Speaker 1: whole series about anxiety called Triggered, and here we are
Speaker 1: back in this same idea, still spinning. It's still spinning.
Speaker 1: Worry is is like this. It's around and around and around.
Speaker 1: But notice one thing about all my spinning, other than
Speaker 1: the fact that some of y'all are getting dizzy just
Speaker 1: watching me do this, imagine how it feels to actually
Speaker 1: do it. Imagine how it feels for me actually doing it. Well,
Speaker 1: this is what it feels like when you're spinning, spinning, spinning,
Speaker 1: lots of motion. But I keep ending up right where
Speaker 1: I started. I'm right back here, Only now I can't
Speaker 1: see straight. Now. That's what it's like to toss and
Speaker 1: turn over stuff you can't control. Because after you've spent
Speaker 1: all night spinning all day, spinning in your head, and
Speaker 1: what if they And you know it starts with the
Speaker 1: most innocent thought. It's not the devil. The Devil's been
Speaker 1: at this a long time, sweetie. He's not going to
Speaker 1: give you a bad thought. He's going to try to
Speaker 1: give you an innocent thought and get you to take
Speaker 1: it in the wrong direction. A scenario then, on the surface,
Speaker 1: doesn't seem that bad, but it's the way you spin it.
Speaker 1: It's like you know, Fox News and CNN, It's it's
Speaker 1: one story they're telling, but it's spinning different ways, and
Speaker 1: it's how you spin it that determines how you see it.
Speaker 1: I am preaching Matthew Chapter six like it's my last
Speaker 1: time today, because when you get in that spin cycle,
Speaker 1: it's just around and around and around and around, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't make any difference. I'm not getting anywhere, I'm
Speaker 1: not working on it, I'm not making progress anywhere. And
Speaker 1: the Devil gets me so dizzy that now by the
Speaker 1: time that I'm facing my real life challenges, I don't
Speaker 1: have the equilibrium to apply the effort in the direction
Speaker 1: that would create a result. Because I'm so dizzy, I
Speaker 1: can't find my balance and now I don't know who
Speaker 1: to trust, I don't know what to do. WHOA hang on,
Speaker 1: I need a minute, I need a minute. I've been spinning,
Speaker 1: by the way, That's why it takes you a few
Speaker 1: minutes when you get to church to get your heart
Speaker 1: in the right place for the caffeine to kick in
Speaker 1: and for you to stop spinning. Yeah, Jesus said, look
Speaker 1: up at the birds, and then look at the flowers.
Speaker 1: The flowers. So when we look up, you want me
Speaker 1: to look down. I want you to look both. I
Speaker 1: notice something that the flowers don't do that your mind
Speaker 1: has been doing lately, he said. When you look at
Speaker 1: the flowers, notice how they do not labor or give
Speaker 1: me the verse please twenty eight. They do not labor
Speaker 1: or and yet, your father, they don't spin, they don't sew.
Speaker 1: The birds don't store away, the flowers don't spend. Yet
Speaker 1: look how God does that on that level? And if
Speaker 1: he made you in his image, what makes you think
Speaker 1: that you have to spin out in these cycles? You know,
Speaker 1: these tormenting cycles, these confusing cycles where you start thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, oh, oh my god, my my kid needs bracests,
Speaker 1: and you know it's the littlest things isn't it. It's
Speaker 1: the littlest things that gets you spending. My kid needs now,
Speaker 1: the kid's only two years old, but my kid's gonna
Speaker 1: need braceists because the first tooth grew in kind of crooked.
Speaker 1: And now you're looking at one crooked tooth and your
Speaker 1: two year old's got one little crooked tooth grown in.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, they're gonna need braces. Embracests with inflation
Speaker 1: is gonna cost four hundred and seventy three thousand dollars
Speaker 1: and I won't have any money to send them in college,
Speaker 1: so they're only gonna have to resort to gang violence.
Speaker 1: And then my child's gonna wind up in prison. And
Speaker 1: I'm a visit. Now you're in prison. Your kid is too,
Speaker 1: and your kids still too, and you didn't keep them
Speaker 1: out of prison, and they're still gonna need bracests. So
Speaker 1: you've been going around and around and around in circles.
Speaker 1: But God said today is your day to stop spinning.
Speaker 1: If your mind has been doing this, I came to
Speaker 1: preach to you, and the presence of the Lord is
Speaker 1: in this place, and your father knows what you need,
Speaker 1: So stop spinning. Stop worrying about what God is already
Speaker 1: working on and just worship him. Come on, take fifteen seconds.
Speaker 1: I know you can't do it all the time, but
Speaker 1: you're in the right place today. Let's give him praise
Speaker 1: and honor and glory that our needs are men for
Speaker 1: his need. This's great. That's all worship is. You know,
Speaker 1: worship is worry in reverse. See, worry is when I
Speaker 1: start with my situation and then I spin round and
Speaker 1: round and round and round and round and round and
Speaker 1: round and round. But God said, stop spinning, and instead
Speaker 1: of starting your meditation with your situation, start with your source.
Speaker 1: When you know who your father is, it sends you
Speaker 1: spinning in a different direction. Come on, I know who
Speaker 1: he is, I know what he's done, and I know
Speaker 1: what he's gonna do. And stop spinning. Find seven people.
Speaker 1: Tell him stuff. It's not working round and running circles
Speaker 1: like the Israelites for forty three years. Why are you worried?
Speaker 1: I would understand it if it was working. I wrote
Speaker 1: a country song one time, Well, not a whole song,
Speaker 1: just a chorus. Okay, well that's never happened before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's a ambrollor Father, bless me in the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus. Well, it's like that, you know, like
Speaker 1: worry is like that. It's like the and sometimes it's
Speaker 1: going off, but you can't you can't do anything about it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's like that. It's like think think about think
Speaker 1: about the day we live in where we're constantly being
Speaker 1: hit with breaking news, breaking news, Trump had lunch, breaking
Speaker 1: breaking news, and so it's almost impossible for us to
Speaker 1: have priorities because we're being fed so much fear. When
Speaker 1: your father feeds you, it builds your faith when you
Speaker 1: start with who God is. You know, when you start
Speaker 1: with that, when you start with your source, you end
Speaker 1: up where you started. And if you start with God,
Speaker 1: you end with God. If you start with fear, you
Speaker 1: end with fear. If you start with shortage, you end
Speaker 1: with shortage. If you start with your situation, you'll be
Speaker 1: like Elisha's servant in Second King sixth. This is a
Speaker 1: great Old Testament story to illustrate what I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: because the servant woke up one day and found that
Speaker 1: the camp was surrounded with the Aramians, who are the enemies,
Speaker 1: and he woke Elisha. He's like, oh, my lord, what
Speaker 1: shall we do. That's exactly what the Bible says, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what you've been saying. Oh, my Lord, you know,
Speaker 1: like I'm surrounded and now this preacher is talking about
Speaker 1: birds and lily's and petunias and chrysanthemums, and here I
Speaker 1: am trying to pay bills and my mom has Alzheimer's
Speaker 1: and this dude's up here talking about birds. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: Elisha could have prayed that God would destroy the enemies
Speaker 1: that were surrounding the camp, but he didn't. He didn't.
Speaker 1: He prayed something more powerful. And what he said is
Speaker 1: what I'm praying for us in this game Changer series,
Speaker 1: because this is the game changer, not that God takes
Speaker 1: your enemies away, but that he enables you to see
Speaker 1: beyond them, not that he takes your problems away, but
Speaker 1: that he enables your faith to see beyond them. Now,
Speaker 1: the first circle is the enemies, and they were real.
Speaker 1: But Elisha prayed, Lord open his eyes that he may see,
Speaker 1: that he may see what that there are more with
Speaker 1: us than with them. So the first circle says, I'm overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: The first circle says I'm outnumbered. The first circle says
Speaker 1: there's nothing I can do. And on the surface, this
Speaker 1: is the truth. But the second circle. When the servant
Speaker 1: opened his eyes, he saw what had been there all along.
Speaker 1: There was a host of angel armies surrounding the first circle,
Speaker 1: and what was on the outside was greater than what
Speaker 1: was on the inside. Whatever is surrounding you, God is
Speaker 1: already surrounding it. And so much of our peace is
Speaker 1: depending on whether we can perceive the second circle. When
Speaker 1: you live in the first circles, it's always it's always
Speaker 1: never enough. If you start with not enough, you end
Speaker 1: with not enough. If you start with El Shadai, who
Speaker 1: is more than enough, you end with more than enough.
Speaker 1: So reverse your worry. My Father knows what I need.
Speaker 1: I have needs, but I don't start with the need,
Speaker 1: because if I start with the need, I'm gonna end
Speaker 1: with the need. But if I start with a God
Speaker 1: who knows what I need, I will end with a
Speaker 1: God who knows what I need. He is Alpha and Omega,
Speaker 1: the beginning in the end, the first in the last.
Speaker 1: So reverse your worry. Jesus says, look at the birds,
Speaker 1: look at the flowers. You are more valuable than them,
Speaker 1: and yet your father cares for the lesser. Will he
Speaker 1: not much more take care of you? Means this, if
Speaker 1: God is doing this level of detail. Don't you think
Speaker 1: that he has already determined your expected end. If he
Speaker 1: can do that, surely he can do this. If he
Speaker 1: did that, he can do this. So there are some
Speaker 1: things in my life that God did, and if he
Speaker 1: did that, he can do this. This is the second circle,
Speaker 1: and this is where we've got to live. But in
Speaker 1: order to do it, we'll have to reverse it, because
Speaker 1: when we start with shortage, we end with shortage, time, energy, money,
Speaker 1: any of it. Jesus says, here's the game changer. One
Speaker 1: of the most famous verses in scripture, by the way,
Speaker 1: But now that you've got it in context, I hope
Speaker 1: it comes a life for you in a new way.
Speaker 1: He said, if God cares for the lesser, he will
Speaker 1: take care of the greater. If he takes care of
Speaker 1: the little, he'll take care of the lot. You're the lot.
Speaker 1: You're valuable to him. But you verse thirty three, seek
Speaker 1: first the Kingdom and his righteousness, not your own, not
Speaker 1: your own ideas and appearances. What shall we eat? What
Speaker 1: shall we drink? What shall we eat? What shall we drink?
Speaker 1: And it funny that we're still posting today, two thousand
Speaker 1: years later about the same stuff that Jesus said not
Speaker 1: to worry about. In Palestine, what we ate and what
Speaker 1: we wore is so circular, you know, like we're still
Speaker 1: worried about the same things. How am I going to
Speaker 1: make it? How am I gonna pay? How am I
Speaker 1: gonna this and that and the other? You know? And
Speaker 1: I've got my income taxes now went up in a bracket,
Speaker 1: and God blessed me. But now I've got more taxes
Speaker 1: or I'm waiting on God to bless me. What shall
Speaker 1: we eat that survival? What shall we wear? That status?
Speaker 1: And we go round in these circles over and over
Speaker 1: and over and over and over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: But if I start with the kingdom, God will give
Speaker 1: me the things seek first His kingdom give them the
Speaker 1: scripture verse. I want you to see this. More than
Speaker 1: see it, I want you to believe it. If you
Speaker 1: seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, all these things
Speaker 1: will be given to you as well. See you protect
Speaker 1: what you prize, and your peace ought to be important
Speaker 1: to you. But the only way to live in God's
Speaker 1: peace is to have God's priorities. Now in my life,
Speaker 1: every time that I have had a lack of peace,
Speaker 1: it was because something was wrong with my priorities. And
Speaker 1: the reason that I can prove that now is because
Speaker 1: it wasn't the presence of problems that created the absence
Speaker 1: of peace. Sometimes in the midst of my greatest problems,
Speaker 1: I had the greatest peace. That makes no sense, I understand,
Speaker 1: but it's true. Nonetheless, in some of the seasons of
Speaker 1: my greatest problems, I experienced my deepest peace. I think
Speaker 1: that's because sometimes problems help us to clarify priorities. If
Speaker 1: my priorities, if I don't seek first the kingdom and
Speaker 1: I'm seeking the things, I will run after all the
Speaker 1: same things that the pagans run after, and it will
Speaker 1: be like I don't even have a God in my
Speaker 1: real life. Thanks Mom. That's like this. Somebody give me
Speaker 1: your phone, Give me your phone. Somebody with an iPhone?
Speaker 1: What is it now? Ten super another way for Apple
Speaker 1: to get my money by changing the way I charged
Speaker 1: this stupid device. You're a note taker. Oh thank God
Speaker 1: for this guy. Will you send me these when the
Speaker 1: servant's over. My notes are terrible. I don't even look
Speaker 1: at them. They're horrible. Your notes are good. Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask you something. If you left your phone at church,
Speaker 1: would you come back and get it? How about if
Speaker 1: you left your phone an hour away, would you drive
Speaker 1: an hour to get it? Two hours? Three hours? This
Speaker 1: phone is important. I'm starting to wonder what you got
Speaker 1: on this phone, what kind of business transactions? You trust
Speaker 1: me a lot? Hand me this phone and you come
Speaker 1: back and get it. But I noticed people will leave
Speaker 1: their peace just anywhere, and we would run back. I
Speaker 1: see some of you while I'm preaching. You can't even
Speaker 1: sit through a fifty minute message without reaching for your phone.
Speaker 1: You breaking out, rashes, coming all up on. You can't
Speaker 1: check your phone, the phone's buzzing any fun. But you
Speaker 1: leave your peace just anywhere, and we would put more
Speaker 1: importance on a possession, and we'll go back and get it. Oh,
Speaker 1: I lost my phone, my phone, like you're not wearing
Speaker 1: pants out the house or something like that. But you
Speaker 1: won't even apologize to get your piece back and seek
Speaker 1: the kingdom. Come get this phone. You got a snap
Speaker 1: coming through that's from AA Steph. I don't know who
Speaker 1: she is, how she's cute. So somebody shout, I want
Speaker 1: my peace back, And the only way for that to
Speaker 1: happen is for you to get your priority straight, friends
Speaker 1: and family. This is why I teach tithing. Woo, A
Speaker 1: wave of silence visited the church, because when I put
Speaker 1: God first and I prioritize His purpose in my life.
Speaker 1: Don't you see that in any aura of my life?
Speaker 1: When I start with God, I end with God. So look,
Speaker 1: it's not some Old Testament principle. It is a principle
Speaker 1: that when you trust God, you invest your treasure in
Speaker 1: the one that you trust. So when I say God,
Speaker 1: this portion has set aside for you. Guess what. I
Speaker 1: start my resources spinning in the direction of God's kingdom,
Speaker 1: and then I can trust him to take care of
Speaker 1: my needs. That's why we bring the offering at the
Speaker 1: end of the year. It's about trust. It's about training
Speaker 1: my heart to trust God. Aren't you sick of spinning
Speaker 1: like this? Just like the world spins? I mean, really,
Speaker 1: people of God, if we are if we're gonna worry
Speaker 1: like the world worries, how are we going to win
Speaker 1: the world that we worry? Just like I think the
Speaker 1: distinguishing mark of the people of God and the day
Speaker 1: that we live in is a supernatural peace that will
Speaker 1: become so attractive to people in the world that we
Speaker 1: won't even have to preach to them. They will see
Speaker 1: our peace and they will want to meet the author
Speaker 1: of the giver of peace, the Prince of peace, whose
Speaker 1: name is Jesus. And so in this season, I've been
Speaker 1: asking God to start me spinning in the right direction,
Speaker 1: even the way I start my day. I need to
Speaker 1: start my day spinning in the right direction. You know,
Speaker 1: I really don't need to read the news within the
Speaker 1: first thirty minutes that I'm awake. And by the way,
Speaker 1: there are certain people that I don't need to talk
Speaker 1: to for the first hour I'm at work because they
Speaker 1: might start me spinning. Ah, tell somebody, stop spinning and
Speaker 1: learn what the flower learned. If I stay planted, learn
Speaker 1: what the bird learned, If I stay above it, then
Speaker 1: my guy will supply all my needs. Let's give him
Speaker 1: praise for it today. Come on, give him a good
Speaker 1: praise like you think he deserves. Matthews, give him the
Speaker 1: prace you think he's worthy of, aw proved him and
Speaker 1: or oh Jesus, Jesus, Prastus Jesus, Oh for grace. Now listen,
Speaker 1: how many of you would say, everyone's standing now, no
Speaker 1: one leaving, please? How many would say I am a
Speaker 1: war old class worrior, like I am an Olympic level warrior.
Speaker 1: Those of you here, if you could stand, I'm about
Speaker 1: to pray for people. Thank you. I'm a wor waving me.
Speaker 1: If you're a world class warrior like, they need to
Speaker 1: write a front page Sports illustrated about good news. Good news.
Speaker 1: If you are a world class warrior, you have the
Speaker 1: potential to become a world class worshiper. Because worship is
Speaker 1: worry in reverse. Come on, spin around one good time.
Speaker 1: If you know God's got this. I'm not looking at
Speaker 1: tomorrow worried about it. I will be confident in this,
Speaker 1: but I will see the goodness of the Lord. Come on,
Speaker 1: take a good spin man. If you can stay, please stay.
Speaker 1: I want to pray a blessing over you. When you
Speaker 1: start with God, you end with God. And the situation
Speaker 1: that you're facing today is not necessarily going to lift
Speaker 1: or remove. But the second circle is what God is
Speaker 1: already doing. And I just thought it'd be good to
Speaker 1: join our faith together today. You know, I really want
Speaker 1: to treasure these moments to minister, and that's why I've
Speaker 1: been asking, hey, if you don't have to leave, If
Speaker 1: nothing is like going to burn your house or anything
Speaker 1: like that. While we're in here, please stay with us
Speaker 1: because sometimes you hear the word, but you don't seal it,
Speaker 1: and you just let the devil take it, just take it,
Speaker 1: just take it. You just let him take take your
Speaker 1: word and snatch it and snatch it. But snatch it back,
Speaker 1: snatch it back. This is a moment for you to
Speaker 1: take your peace back. This is a moment for you
Speaker 1: to take your focus back. And I want to pray
Speaker 1: for that. But peace only comes through correct priorities. It's
Speaker 1: not a feeling. It's a sense of ordering your life.
Speaker 1: Jesus said, if you build your life on the right foundation,
Speaker 1: you can withstand any storm. And I just feel today
Speaker 1: that as I've been ministering, the spirit of the Lord
Speaker 1: has been translating my feeble attempts to get this message preached,
Speaker 1: putting it in the exact frame where you need to
Speaker 1: see what God is doing in your life. And I
Speaker 1: want to ask you today if you have been spinning
Speaker 1: around trying to solve things in your own strength, and
Speaker 1: you want to steal your heart in the presence of God.
Speaker 1: One thing I love to do is lift my hands
Speaker 1: to my Father in heaven. Would you do that right
Speaker 1: now and close your eyes, Oh you of little faith,
Speaker 1: When you have a father how to feed you, you
Speaker 1: don't have to run to the world for scraps, and
Speaker 1: you have a father who knows what you need, you
Speaker 1: can trust your deepest desires are being met in each moment.
Speaker 1: Greater than the breath that we breathe, greater than the
Speaker 1: song that we sing. The grace of God is in
Speaker 1: this moment, Holy Spirit. I thank you for this ministry
Speaker 1: that has gone forth today. I asked that you would
Speaker 1: now enable it to become active in our lives, that
Speaker 1: not only would we be hearers of the Word, but
Speaker 1: doers also, and that this week you would show us
Speaker 1: how to reverse. Instead of starting with what's wrong, what's missing,
Speaker 1: what's not, what's gone, we would start with who you are,
Speaker 1: and that the peace of God that transcends all understanding
Speaker 1: would guard our hearts and minds. In Christ Jesus Well,
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did,
Speaker 1: there are just a couple things I'd love for you
Speaker 1: to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. That way,
Speaker 1: the most recent episode will always be in your feed
Speaker 1: waiting for you. Ready when you are. And secondly, if
Speaker 1: this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help
Speaker 1: us continue to reach others, you can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description and you can give now and I'll
Speaker 1: see you next time on the Elevation podcast