September 27, 2024 • 48 mins
“Why am I anxious?” We’ve all had to ask ourselves that question, and thankfully, asking it is the first step. In this impactful message, Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church walks us through seven reasons we might be anxious –– and ways to lean on God in those moments.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We want to shift gears a little bit this week
and teach you a message.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That I taught our staff.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's a different version of it, but I was sharing
with our staff on the subject of anxiety.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
And the reason that I did that's.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Primarily because our staff is very young. Many of our
staff have never worked in another work environment than Elevation Church.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's a fast paced.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Environment, growth environment, and a lot of performance pressure, and
I felt like, as the under shepherd that serves to
oversee our staff, I wanted to share some very practical
principles on the subject of anxiety. Don't judge me for this,
but sometimes I do a YouTube search of myself my
(01:01):
own sermons.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The only reason I do it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hang with me for a second is when I want
to spot check and see, you know how I can
preach better, So do that. But also I want to
see what people are looking for what kind of help
they're looking for, what kind of subjects tend to draw
people in so that we can tell them the good
news about Jesus Christ. And in order to do that,
(01:25):
sometimes I'll look and see what are the top sermons
that have been watched that have been preached out of
this pulpit. Because we give them all the way for
free in as many different formats as we can, we
kind of embrace the day that we live in. And
so right now people are watching on Facebook Live and
YouTube live and and the Elevation Church app and just
(01:48):
watching you you'd be shocked, you would be so surprised
how many people are up in the middle of the
night in another part of the world and wanting to
tune into your church. And they write me from time
to time they tell me they're coming to church, like
Morgan Freeman, on.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
A bucket list to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And always thought that was cool because growing up, for me,
church was not a bucket list type thought what made
me want to die, but it didn't make me well,
I didn't want to do it before I die. So anyway,
what I thought, what I thought I would do today
for you to share from the top subject that I
preached on because in the top three sermons that I've
(02:33):
preached in terms of views, the subject was anxiety. And
I want to share a message with you today on
the subject of anxiety, and I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It from Psalm one point thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So we're somewhere near the middle of this series looking
at David's life and looking at the lyrics of the
psalms that he wrote, and we're making comparisons. We're saying
that David is the greatest rapper or MC of all time,
and I stand by that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I stand by that. I would say that David's.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Words in the songs are are divinely inspired to help
us search within ourselves. And one song I didn't tell
them this last night. The reason that I love Somealone
thirty nine, where I'm going to share with you from today.
The reason I love it is because the first time
I tried to write a Christian song, I wrote it
(03:29):
based on Someone thirty nine. And Holly's laughing because every
once in a while we'll mention this song.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's not a very good song.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm not going to go into it right now, but
it was based on psalmone thirty nine and it had
this cool little walk down in it. But other than that,
the song really wasn't very good. But I was only
sixteen at the time. And so it's a wonderful song
because it gives us a picture of both God's all
seeing I meaning that he is watching over our lives
(03:59):
in every situation in season, and the intimacy with which
God sees our lives. And so I want to pick
up in verse seventeen today and bring you into the
flow of the psalm a little bit. David says this
someone thirty nine verse seventeen. How precious to me are
your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
God? How vast is the sum of them?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains
of sand.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
When I awake, I am still with you.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
If only you, God, would slay the wicked away from me,
You who are blood thirsty. They speak of you with
evil intent, Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not
hate those who hate you Lord? And abhor those who
are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred
(04:51):
for them. I count them my enemies. Here comes the shift,
because David is focusing on external fact, and all of
a sudden he makes this move that we see him
make over and over again in his life, from dealing
with his.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Enemies to the inner me.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
And as much as that sounds like a little preacher thing,
let's see what you did there, it's really the most
important life skill because David is about to take responsibility
for his own anxiety. He's not going to put it
on the economy.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
He's not going to.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Put it on King Saul, who's trying to kill him.
He's not going to put it on his teenagers.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
He didn't have kids, but you know what I'm saying,
not at this point. He did have kids, and we'll
talk about them in a future week.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
But he's not putting it on anybody but himself.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Watch it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
In verse twenty three, he says, search me, search me.
Those two words would set you free from ninety percent
of the drama because some of you borrowed trauma trying
to look into.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Other people's lives. Clap like it's not you. No one
will know that's good, pastor tell.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Them search me God and know my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Did you notice the shift? Kill them?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
He's fussing and cussing about the way things are in
the world, these bloodthirsty men and all these selfish politicians
and all this corruption, the systemic corruption. God do something
about it. And then he shifts and says, search me.
Nothing changes until I do know my heart, test me
(06:54):
and know my anxious thoughts. That's where I want to
spend some time today. And I've been asking myself the
question lately. This is my sermon title, Why am I anxious?
Why am I anxious? Apparently, according to my non scientific
(07:14):
YouTube study, all of you are anxious, and so I
won't ask the question have you experienced anxiety in the
last week? Because we live in the age of anxiety.
Let's be honest about it. I mean, it is almost
marketed to us through the stations that are supposed.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
To be giving us our information, they actually.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Engage us using fear tactics so that they can sell
advertising time, often promoting the same drug and pharmaceutical companies
that are owned by the same conglomerates that push out
the information that is design.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
To make us anxious.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
But let's be careful because we sound like David now
in verse twenty two, kill them God.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But David came to a place.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Where he said, you know, it's not what's happening out
there that makes me anxious. It's what I allow in here.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
To go undetected and unchecked. It's my thought process.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He uses an actual Hebrew word that means disquieting thoughts.
It's translated as closely as it can be into English
anxious thoughts. So David is saying, now, it is not
what is happening that is creating anxiety. It is the
way I am thinking about it. Look at verse twenty four.
(08:38):
I know that David didn't know about neural pathways, but
it sounds like he did, because he said, I want
you to look inside God and see you got twenty four.
If there is any offensive way in me? And now
we know that when we think something long enough, it
creates a four eighty five in our minds, a seventy
(08:58):
seven in our minds.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What's the highway in Toronto, l J the four oh one.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For our Canadian friends and Drake, there's a there's a
there's a process by which I get stuck in a rut.
And so David is saying, see if I've been thinking
in a way that has allowed the enemy to traffic
in my mind where I've just been letting him in.
And that's what I want to do today. I want
to take you through a seven point test answering the
(09:27):
question why am I anxious and hopefully help us to
get past this point of answering that question with somebody
else's name, and hopefully get us past the point of
answering that question by by mentioning something that is happening
that is outside of our control, and hopefully to get
us to the place where we can see that not
(09:47):
only is God watching over my life. That's what David understood,
is that when Saul is trying to kill me, God
is watching over me. God has this surveillance system every
situation of my life.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
He will not suffer my foot to be moved.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
The Lord which keep a thie, He's got twenty four
to seven surveillance on me. To somebody say you better
be nice to me. God is watching how you treat me.
God is watching how you talk to me. And God
likes me. How do you parents like it when somebody
(10:25):
talks about one of your kids. God feels that way
about you times a thousand, and he's watching out for you.
So why am I anxious? If my father knows my needs?
Why am I anxious? If he's numbered the hairs on
my head? Why am I anxious if he promised to
supply every need and I got to get honest about it.
(10:49):
I'm not necessarily referring to this in a medical sense.
Please don't take this to mean that I'm saying that
your sin or or behavioral choices are always responsible for anxiety.
But what I want to show you today, regardless of
where it's coming from. Because I'm not a doctor, you
have to talk to Stacy if you want some help
with that.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But maybe there are some ways in me.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That are making me vulnerable to the way that things
are and allowing me to remain anxious when the Bible
says do not be anxious. I don't think it means
that we can never feel anxiety. It is when we
stay anxious. It doesn't mean that there won't be moments
and seasons.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
In your life where your hands are shaken.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Dimi Levado couldn't sing the national anthem without her hands shaken.
I don't know if you saw it. She's sanging a
lot in front of a lot of people. That's not
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this pervasive sense
of when things are going right, you can't even enjoy
them because it probably won't last long.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I mean looking around every corner for what's going to
happen next.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And I want to take you through something quickly today.
It's kind of a sermon slash seminar from Psalm one
point nine.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It's a salmonar. I thought you'd like that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It's a salmonar, and pay attention and write this down.
If you don't write this down, you're not going to
sleep any this week. And I have horrible stomach pains
while you try to sleep. But write this down, and
got to bless you. Number one. When I am anxious,
ask somebody next to you, why are you anxious?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
The first thing to check is your intake. The first
thing that I consider when I'm anxious is how full
I am of what? Because I found out that anxiety
and cellulite have one thing in common. You can't pray
either one of them away.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
They are both about intake.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They showed me this new feature on my phone the
other day.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Can I show you?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
My kids are always showing me stuff, and so they
showed me a feature on my phone the other day.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh, I got a text from Holly.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Okay, she just told me this should be my next
book okay, but let me show you something else. Right now,
you know all these great functions on the iPhone?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
This is what is this? A seven?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
A seven that the iPhone seven has this function? And
I want to show it to you if you hit
this button and hold it on the side, and then.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
You'd be shocked. How many y'all don't want to y'all
don't want to learn nowting today, you would be shocked
because I'm gonna tell you a secret.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There is no way that we can take it to
Somebody says too much. We can't take it all in
and still have room for the piece of God you're
praying for the peace of God.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
God doesn't have anywhere to put it. Your mind is
too fool.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You were not designed to have the entirety of the
conversation of the whole human race buzzing on your back pocket,
on your butt phone, just walking around like snipers.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What did they say?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Where did they go on vacation? What about that press conference?
It was not supposed to be this way. Of course
we're freaking out. Of course we're zombies. Of Course we're
numbing ourselves and drinking and smoking and popping. Of course
we can't stop it would the devil's got a shock
collar on our back.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Pocket and we don't even know where.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Now are messing up my seminar, sithown my salminar. So
you want me to give you inspiration for forty five
minutes every week, and you're gonna lay it over top
of seventeen hours of media that is designed to hardwire
(15:20):
the way you think, Yes, what hope?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Do we have to have peace if we don't make
a place for it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And they used to teach me in youth camph this
saying called garbage in, garbage out, and it was basically
a way of saying, don't listen to rock and roll
music and watch bad movies.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And there's some good to that too. I think you
got to be.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
In tune with your conscience in terms of what creates
a sense of darkness, and you have to know that,
and we should make rules for each other. But say,
God search me. I think that's very good. But I
also think that sometimes what we don't take in is
just as fatal to our faith as what we do
take in. I think some of us are on a
(16:18):
spiritual starvation diet.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And we don't even know.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
It, and so we have faith that we don't feed,
and then we cannot access strength that we actually possess
if we feed it. And so you've got to get
your intake levels up.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You've got to buck.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
When he first started trying to get me to work
out more, he said, the first thing I want you
to do, Because he was telling me the only way
for me to get the result I wanted, he said,
you got to.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Do two things.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
What was that little cheesy motivational poster you had up
in your gym. You can't out train a bad diet,
is that what it said? And he was like, so
I want you to keep a food law and write
down everything you eat. And I didn't do it, but
I thought it's a good idea because before I can
change what I take in, I need to know track
what I take in. I wonder what it would look
(17:14):
like if you kept a thought log of just what
you let in. So if you let the enemy in
and then pray for God to drive him out, it
creates a cycle where you are creating your own state
of mind that you're trying to pray away. So there
has to be a knowledge search me God. You have
(17:37):
to let God show you. You have to let his
eye see what it is that you're taking in. And
I even mean this in terms of relationships. Some of
the people that you are around are draining your faith.
And I know you have to be around them a
little bit, but you might need to put on a
little protective yeah, like UVS seventy five, seventy five spiritual
(18:03):
protection seventy five, just to get around them. And I
think it would be good sometimes for us to check
our intake levels. Oh well, you know what, I didn't
read a Bible verse since the last time they put
one on the screen for me at Elevation Church. I
(18:27):
got all these apps on my phone, and ninety seven
percent of them are empty calories A mastered Candy Crush.
I'm not saying don't play Candy Crush because Hollywood leave
me if I put that out there in the universe.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
She loves candy Crush. But I'm pretty.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Concerned sometimes that we're filling ourselves with empty calories and
then so we're weak in the battle, and we wonder,
why check your intake. It's good, isn't it. It's good
teaching because your intake, your intake levels have to be balanced.
The second thing I want you to write down is imbalance.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Check for imbalance. I don't mean chemical imbalance.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
That's beyond my purview, but I do mean that when
you don't have a sense of what's important in your life,
when you don't have a sense of priority in your
life and everything feels urgent, it's a sign that you
haven't figured out what's really important. Now you are open
to everybody's demand, and they all take up equal space.
(19:37):
And so by saying yes to people who don't really matter,
you say an automatic no to those who do. By
saying yes to people who essentially are using you in
order to achieve their own goals, now you find yourself
unable to give because you are a limited resource to
the people that God has entrusted to your care the most.
(20:00):
So I have to have watched this a sense of balance.
I could preach about balance. You know, you've got to
work out and pray and eat and all of that,
but this is not that kind of seminar. What I
mean is you've got to be balanced in what you
give weight to. That's what I mean is that sometimes
(20:21):
we are stressed out because we are giving too much
weight to the wrong words and not enough weight to
the right words. And so we're out of balance because
we have this feed, and everything on our feed is
the same size, and because it's all the same size,
(20:42):
we think it carries the same weight. So we live
in a state of stress because we haven't learned how
to weigh it out. You've got to weigh it out
when someone doesn't like you. Sometimes it doesn't matter depends
on who they are. Well are pulling on me. I'm
(21:02):
gonna start telling you things I shouldn't. The other week,
someone was telling me that there was somebody who hated
our church and came and said it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I said, I don't care. I knew it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
In fact, not only was it not that bad, it's
freaking awesome. Tell him, I said, I didn't need them
to validate something that I.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
See every week. Thank you very much. I already know
God is in this place. I already know He is
glorious in this place. I'm glad you think it's not
that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But I wasn't really waiting for you to hand me
the award for not that bad. It was not that
bad before you decided it was not that bad. And
so I was talking to a guy one time about
something here at the church that was complicated, and I
(22:03):
gave him a thirty minute speech asking for his advice.
I got my notebook ready to hear what he would
tell me. After I listed everything that was happening, and
he goes, He goes, Steven.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So I wrote that down, you know, point one, because
I need you to tell me what to do. And
do you know he didn't say another word. It just
turned to the person next to you and look at
him and say their name. If you know their name,
say Stephen. Tell them it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
No, you got to tell him with that a little
bit of.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You gotta do it from your diaphragm ready, tell them
it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Now what you just said.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Is true about ninety nine point nine nine nine nine
nine nine nine nine nine nine nine seven three percent
scientific number of what they're staying up worried about. And
one time I was laying in my bed at night
and worrying about something and God spoke to me through
(23:22):
his spirit. You're staying awake worrying about something that I've
already worked out. Now, when you give weight to that
promise from God, when you give weight to the right things.
When when I give weight, when I have a clear
sense of priority in my life, I'm okay if people
are angry if I say no, because my no is
(23:46):
a yes to something that.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I already decided was more important.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Than what any given demand might require of me at
any given moment. And this is the thing that that
I'm coming.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
To realize is that Christ is the solid rock. But
if you don't know how to stand on that rock.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
With the right balance, the devil will push you around,
and you will always steel unsettled, and you will always
feel tossed in turn. But when you make up your
mind what does matter and what doesn't matter, let me
help you out a little bit. What doesn't matter, what
they think? What does matter? What God knows? Search me,
(24:32):
God know my mind, tests me, You see you sneak
to me.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
He was so right what he was talking about didn't matter.
In fact, I thought about writing a book and calling
the book it doesn't matter, And I've already got my
subtitle figured out, really, and my first chapter will be
called at all. I feel somebody getting their balance back,
(25:09):
getting your equilibrium back.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You're seeing it right now. For what it is, This
doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This matters that I keep my faith, that I keep
a grateful attitude, that I don't let my situation contaminate
my spirit.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This matters, not that. This matters, not.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
That, because if you don't sort this out, you will
live in constant imprisonment to your own indecision. Put that
one down as number three. We're making terrible time. Indecision
is a prison. So I want you to make three
(25:51):
decisions before Wednesday. If you're watching this in a MIDWEK
worship experience, you're running short on time. The clacus counting.
I want you to set a d day. All you
procrastinators and you're claiming to be thorough, I want you
to make I want you to make three decisions this week.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I want you to do it. I want you to
set aside a day this week.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Sit down, have four cups of coffee so you numb
your rationale, rational thinking processes, and go in.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And just make them. Just make the decisions.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And if you make dumb ones, apologize, But.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Make the decision.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
My god, fifteen minutes to decide chicken or shrimp in
a restaurant.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm serious.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You've been dating her seven and a half years and
you can't decide if she the one.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, if she's not, get.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Out of the way. Oh I'm prison Now I dis
got somebody in Diamond.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
You want to name your kids Stephen, do it or
go do it? Or do.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Buy the house or dope sell the house or dope
stay in Raleigh or dope do it or don't.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You can always move back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And now we're making up more stuff to give us
opportunities for anxiety, and we call it options. I don't
know if it was just growing up in Monk's Corner,
you didn't have to decide where to send your kids
to school.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
There were two. I moved to Charlotte. I never saw
anything like it. It's crazy. It's killing too many options.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I just want gash not a surpee, not a car wash,
not a pack massage, just Gashy's some many OSSes.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I did it this week.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I went in I was I was selling that anxiety.
And I told Jess to send over my notes for
my Why am I anxious?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Teaching? Because I felt like I needed my own notes.
And I don't keep them.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
After I write them, I give them a scratch them
down and then give them away. But somebody else keeps them,
and so I said, give me.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
The notes and send them over. I need them. She said,
are you gonna teach it? I said, no, I need
to live it. I was feeling all unsettled, and.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I went through my list and I found this one.
And the Holy Spirit hit me and said, you're very
indecisive right now.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Everything everybody asks you, you're going, hey, when do we get
back to that.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I'm gonna go through the roo a few Then you're
not going through a few things. You're not talking, you're
not praying anything like that. Just wait until it comes
around again. And it was because I mean the way
that I was handling things, and so I just came
in that day.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I made three decisions. I felt I felt like.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I felt like I had spent a day at a
spa just by making three decisions.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
And they all started with and ended with oh, And
it felt so good. It felt so good. No, try it,
try it one, two, three.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, Now, this only works.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
This only works if.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You are living with integrity. This only works if you
are living with integrity. And sometimes my anxiety as a
result of a compromise in my integrity, it's kind of
hard to have a peaceful heart. When you're hiding secrets
and feel like a hypocrite. It's kind of hard to
(29:54):
have a peaceful heart when you're having to hope that
your wife doesn't check your phone.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
To see certain text message. It's kind of hard to
have a peaceful heart when.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You have three snapchats and the one that your parents
think is your snapchat is just a decoy.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And now you're asking God.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
To give you peace, but your life is so many
different pieces.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
The word integrity means whole whole.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Like in math class they taught us about integers, whole numbers,
whole integrity, everything all one person, all the time. And
when there are three different means that I have to
manage for every different situation, it's kind of hard to
(30:46):
pray to panic away.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
When my own lifestyle is creating it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
When I'm trying to figure out which mask to wear
at church and no one will see into my situation
at home, when there's work me and after work me,
and Friday night me and nine thirty Sunday morning me,
(31:15):
it's kind of hard for me to have peace when
my foundation is cracked. It's kind of hard for me
to manage all those different means because I might send
out the wrong one at the wrong time.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Have you ever done that?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh, I'm at the same preacher me out there right now.
It's kind of hard for me to ask God to
bless a life that is divided in so many different directions. Now,
I don't mean by this that you have to interact
with everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
On the same level. For instance, if we were to meet.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
At Pizza Hut, I wouldn't talk at this volume.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Do you know I would modulate.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
People say, well, you should be the same on stage
that you are out in public.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, that would be obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Can you imagine touch three people at the baseball field?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Scandalous? Touch?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What what I am saying is that although you might
bring a different approach to different situations, that the essential
nature of who you are remains unchanged in every encounter.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So it shouldn't be like that for my family to
watch me preach and go like who was that? It
shouldn't be like that. It should feel like a continuation.
Somebody shouldn't see you on the television program and go
you go to church. I heard you say hallelujah on
(32:57):
the church service, but I hear you say some others
and is costing you your peace. I'm not condemning you.
I'm telling you you might be anxious sometimes because you
are trying to manage so many different versions of you.
And if you would bring it all together and just
(33:18):
be honest before God and just ask God what David
search me, know my heart and if the way I'm
doing it is wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I want to be changed.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I'm already accepted because of what Jesus Christ has done
for me. Now, God, help me to align my life
with what you made me to be so that I
can be the real me. I want to be the
real me, the highest version of me, that called me,
that chosen me, that secure me, that stable me, that
(33:52):
God loves me. And I don't have to prove anything
to anyone.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
This is my child with Him, with her.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I well, please, I don't have to be anybody else.
And my cortisol levels just dropped just by being the
real me because all that other layers of stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
And all that anger, that's not the real you, not
in Christ. That's what David is getting to the bottom of.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Did you notice that all of my points are starting
with the same letter, the letter I.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I figure that's.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
A common denominator in a lot of our anxiety, search
me God, your eyes can see God's eyes.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
God see beneath the surface of what the situation is.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Anxious because of my money, and I'm anxious because of
my help, and I'm anxious because my mom.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
No no, no, no no. That might trigger it.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
But the truth of God's word can enable your heart
to transcend. This is what the New Testament preaches, is
that the peace of God will actually pass all understanding
and guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So,
no matter what triggers the anxiety in any situation, David said, search.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Me and know me.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
And sometimes I have to fix my intention. Sometimes I
can reduce my anxiety just by shifting my intention, just
by going from you know, how how are people thinking
about me?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
To realizing they're not.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Maybe if I would think about others, you know, why
didn't she speak to me?
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Why didn't you speak to her? How about that? Why
didn't you? Why didn't you? When when I'm when I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Up here, a lot of times I can get locked
into performance mode real quick, and it makes for a
thirsty sermon. It's not the best sermon. It's hard to
give living water when the preacher is thirsty. But when
I shift my intention and go and I hope this
doesn't offend you.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
But sometimes I make up stuff about you.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I just look in your eyes and pretend like you're
going through something horrible.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
I do. I just picture it like you, just do
it on the.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Verge, and just by wanting to help you rather than
perform for you.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
When I shift my intention, it just.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I just I feel something fall off when I do.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You can shift your.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Intention in any interaction, and immediately when you do, when
you step out of the center and try to see
how can I serve? I'll tell you what will go
when you step out of the ciner. The burden of
the weight of how you're coming across, the burden of
the weight of how you're being perceived, the burden of
(37:00):
the weight of what other people are and are not
giving you. You have got to get out of the
middle and see things from God's point of view. Search me, God,
Am I anxious because it's just the rhythms of life?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Then fine, I'll get through it.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Or am I creating more waves than necessary because.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
My eyes are not focused on Jesus?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I found out a lot of it is not even real.
Have you noticed that a lot of it is in
this sacred place that God has given.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Us by which he shows us who he is.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
It's the sacred space of your imagination. I want you
to reclaim your imagination.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
You hear me.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I want you to take back your most valuable asset.
I want you to tell take back that place in
you that used to be playful, and now it is
so it is so stressed and panicked, that that placed
in you that used to just make up games as
(38:14):
a little kid, just make up games, just would walk
up to anybody. I want you to get get back
that childlike faith. Just play around, just play around. See,
the devil wants to turn the place that was meant
(38:34):
to be your playground where you can enjoy God into
a battleground where you can't even.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Feel or experience him.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
When the enemy comes after your destiny, his first step
is to set up a stronghold in your imagination. The
enemy wants to make it where you can't stand to
be alone because you've got an internal isis that has
set up.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Terror at cells.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
And every time you go to think, you worry so
much about what might happen that you can't worship God.
So now you can't worship because you're so worried. But
God said, today we're gonna get this thing turned around
and recapture your imagination.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
To where you feel free again, to where you.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Can dream about something again, to where you can think
and think, think crazy thoughts, and just write stuff down
and just walk around seeing your stuff off tune, make
it up.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Words. You used to do that, you used to do that,
you used to walk around with just anything, but now anything.
I told the devil the other day, get your hands
off God's property. My imagination is God's house.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
My imagination was purchased with the blood of Christ.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
You can't set up camp here.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I got dreams to dream, I got visions to see.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I got a future to imagine.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
The good news is, if you're really good at worrying,
you're gonna be great at worship because all it is
is the same imagination serving the opposite purpose.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
So what I'm doing now, y'll help me preach. I'm
about the close. I'm about the close.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But before I close, God said, we need to we
need to reverse the cycle of the way that you're
thinking about things. We need to reverse the cycle. So
when you wake up in the morning, stop checking the
fear casts. Stop waking up in the morning and thinking
(40:56):
about how every possible meeting could go wrong, and you
don't have anything clean, and you wore that on Tuesday.
I promise you nobody has been keeping a spreadsheet.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Of your shoes.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Put on those same shoes you wore Tuesday, and walk
into your Thursday and expect to see the goodness of
the Lord where you have faith? People, Do I have
any faith casts in the house, David Saidema, take the wings.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Of morning, or dwelling the othermost part of the sea.
Watch this. Even there, your hand will lead me.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
In.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Your right hand will hold me.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Fast because God is watching over me, and he's looking
into me. I didn't check the fear cast this week.
I checked the faith cast. It's corny, but I bet
you it'll drive back depression if you check the faith.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Cast, because God has been too good for me to
stay anxious. How many did I give you? I heard
a sermon one time. It said doing stuff on six
(42:22):
So stand up. I'll tell you. Stand up. I'll tell
you the last thing.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
When you stand up, it makes me know I'm out
of time. Because the enemy wants to fight you in isolation.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Why am I anxious.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I think the answer to that question can often be
found right in the middle of the very word itself.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
The word anxious.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Right in the middle of the word is the letter I.
I was looking at it a few weeks ago, and
I was just looking at the word anxious, and I
was thinking, why should I feel discouraged?
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Why did the shadows come? Why should my heart feel lonely?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is hee
when his.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Eye is watching over my life.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
David said, you were there for my conception, and you
have been there for every conflict and every.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Season of my life.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
David wrote this beautiful song, although we cannot pinpoint the occasion.
Many think it was at the occasion of his coronation
as the king over both the Southern and the Northern Kingdom.
It really doesn't matter when he wrote it, because God
was watching over every stage of his process.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
And David says, God.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
I want you to show me what's really making me anxious,
so I don't spend the rest of my life waiting
for my enemies to disappear before I choose to have peace.
And I was looking at the very word, and I
saw something.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
That is right in the middle of anxious. But the
word ends with us, and.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
I was thinking about what we do in coming to church,
you know, for our weekly reminder that we're not the
only ones. We are not the only ones. You're not
even going to be able to leave church today without
(44:30):
having to make a decision whether to apply this message,
because many of you don't have the support system that
you need to walk in the peace.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
That you're praying for.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
When you walk out today, there's going to be balloons
and grown men in pink T shirts and youth in
white T shirts to sign you up for whatever age
or stage of life that you're in for these groups
that we put together within the church a place for
you to come and actually take the message water. What
(45:02):
good is the seed of the Word of God if
there's no water applied during the week, dying of thirst,
faith dehydrated. But it ends when I becomes us. Real
change happens there when you get in and say, you
(45:23):
know this week, man, I at this moment where I
almost said.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
It, And then the dude over there in the corner
who never speaks.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Speaks up and goes, yeah, me too, And you look
at him and you're so glad because.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
When you came in, you felt like it was just you.
But somebody say, it's not just you. It's not just you.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
We came into the presence of God today to be
surrounded by like minded people.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
But let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
You got to stay surrounded to say a peace. So
I want to challenge you this week to take my
ominar and go through it.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Why do you always.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Talk about Zaxby's on the way out of church and
never take a moment and just digest what you heard,
act on what you.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Heard, and ask God what David did? In fact? Can
we do it for a moment? Can we just be
still for a moment and even.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Lift our hands If you feel comfortable lifting your hands,
it puts you in a posture where you're no longer
self conscious, but you're more God conscious.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
And just pray this Father, show me.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
The ways that I'm thinking that are preventing your peace
from flooding my life.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Stay right there for a moment.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
I believe this week God is going to show you
decisions that need.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
To be made and how to make them. I believe
that when you will.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Get in His presence and ingest the.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Pure milk of the Word of God, the pure air
of worship.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Come out of the air of anxiety that the world
is suffocating with, and come up to an altitude where
you can breathe the breath and the grace of God,
that the peace of God that transcends all understanding with
God your heart and your mind. In Christ Jesus, I
(47:23):
declare this over you today, regardless of your situation. I
declare this over you today, regardless of your diagnosis. I
declare this to you today in the name that is
above every name, the name at which demons tremble. We
don't tremble before demons. Demons tremble before the name of Jesus.
(47:46):
And we speak peace to storms.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
In our soul today in the name of Jesus. Thank
you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you, this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church, Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
God bless you.
Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Church and.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is our podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving
in your life.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We want to shift gears a little bit this week
and teach you a message.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That I taught our staff.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's a different version of it, but I was sharing
with our staff on the subject of anxiety.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
And the reason that I did that's.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Primarily because our staff is very young. Many of our
staff have never worked in another work environment than Elevation Church.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's a fast paced.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Environment, growth environment, and a lot of performance pressure, and
I felt like, as the under shepherd that serves to
oversee our staff, I wanted to share some very practical
principles on the subject of anxiety. Don't judge me for this,
but sometimes I do a YouTube search of myself my
(01:01):
own sermons.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The only reason I do it.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Hang with me for a second is when I want
to spot check and see, you know how I can
preach better, So do that. But also I want to
see what people are looking for what kind of help
they're looking for, what kind of subjects tend to draw
people in so that we can tell them the good
news about Jesus Christ. And in order to do that,
(01:25):
sometimes I'll look and see what are the top sermons
that have been watched that have been preached out of
this pulpit. Because we give them all the way for
free in as many different formats as we can, we
kind of embrace the day that we live in. And
so right now people are watching on Facebook Live and
YouTube live and and the Elevation Church app and just
(01:48):
watching you you'd be shocked, you would be so surprised
how many people are up in the middle of the
night in another part of the world and wanting to
tune into your church. And they write me from time
to time they tell me they're coming to church, like
Morgan Freeman, on.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
A bucket list to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And always thought that was cool because growing up, for me,
church was not a bucket list type thought what made
me want to die, but it didn't make me well,
I didn't want to do it before I die. So anyway,
what I thought, what I thought I would do today
for you to share from the top subject that I
preached on because in the top three sermons that I've
(02:33):
preached in terms of views, the subject was anxiety. And
I want to share a message with you today on
the subject of anxiety, and I want to do.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
It from Psalm one point thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
So we're somewhere near the middle of this series looking
at David's life and looking at the lyrics of the
psalms that he wrote, and we're making comparisons. We're saying
that David is the greatest rapper or MC of all time,
and I stand by that.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I stand by that. I would say that David's.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Words in the songs are are divinely inspired to help
us search within ourselves. And one song I didn't tell
them this last night. The reason that I love Somealone
thirty nine, where I'm going to share with you from today.
The reason I love it is because the first time
I tried to write a Christian song, I wrote it
(03:29):
based on Someone thirty nine. And Holly's laughing because every
once in a while we'll mention this song.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
It's not a very good song.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I'm not going to go into it right now, but
it was based on psalmone thirty nine and it had
this cool little walk down in it. But other than that,
the song really wasn't very good. But I was only
sixteen at the time. And so it's a wonderful song
because it gives us a picture of both God's all
seeing I meaning that he is watching over our lives
(03:59):
in every situation in season, and the intimacy with which
God sees our lives. And so I want to pick
up in verse seventeen today and bring you into the
flow of the psalm a little bit. David says this
someone thirty nine verse seventeen. How precious to me are
your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
God? How vast is the sum of them?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains
of sand.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
When I awake, I am still with you.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
If only you, God, would slay the wicked away from me,
You who are blood thirsty. They speak of you with
evil intent, Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not
hate those who hate you Lord? And abhor those who
are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred
(04:51):
for them. I count them my enemies. Here comes the shift,
because David is focusing on external fact, and all of
a sudden he makes this move that we see him
make over and over again in his life, from dealing
with his.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Enemies to the inner me.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
And as much as that sounds like a little preacher thing,
let's see what you did there, it's really the most
important life skill because David is about to take responsibility
for his own anxiety. He's not going to put it
on the economy.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
He's not going to.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Put it on King Saul, who's trying to kill him.
He's not going to put it on his teenagers.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
He didn't have kids, but you know what I'm saying,
not at this point. He did have kids, and we'll
talk about them in a future week.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
But he's not putting it on anybody but himself.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Watch it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
In verse twenty three, he says, search me, search me.
Those two words would set you free from ninety percent
of the drama because some of you borrowed trauma trying
to look into.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Other people's lives. Clap like it's not you. No one
will know that's good, pastor tell.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Them search me God and know my heart.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Did you notice the shift? Kill them?
Speaker 1 (06:23):
He's fussing and cussing about the way things are in
the world, these bloodthirsty men and all these selfish politicians
and all this corruption, the systemic corruption. God do something
about it. And then he shifts and says, search me.
Nothing changes until I do know my heart, test me
(06:54):
and know my anxious thoughts. That's where I want to
spend some time today. And I've been asking myself the
question lately. This is my sermon title, Why am I anxious?
Why am I anxious? Apparently, according to my non scientific
(07:14):
YouTube study, all of you are anxious, and so I
won't ask the question have you experienced anxiety in the
last week? Because we live in the age of anxiety.
Let's be honest about it. I mean, it is almost
marketed to us through the stations that are supposed.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
To be giving us our information, they actually.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Engage us using fear tactics so that they can sell
advertising time, often promoting the same drug and pharmaceutical companies
that are owned by the same conglomerates that push out
the information that is design.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
To make us anxious.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
But let's be careful because we sound like David now
in verse twenty two, kill them God.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
But David came to a place.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Where he said, you know, it's not what's happening out
there that makes me anxious. It's what I allow in here.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
To go undetected and unchecked. It's my thought process.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
He uses an actual Hebrew word that means disquieting thoughts.
It's translated as closely as it can be into English
anxious thoughts. So David is saying, now, it is not
what is happening that is creating anxiety. It is the
way I am thinking about it. Look at verse twenty four.
(08:38):
I know that David didn't know about neural pathways, but
it sounds like he did, because he said, I want
you to look inside God and see you got twenty four.
If there is any offensive way in me? And now
we know that when we think something long enough, it
creates a four eighty five in our minds, a seventy
(08:58):
seven in our minds.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
What's the highway in Toronto, l J the four oh one.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For our Canadian friends and Drake, there's a there's a
there's a process by which I get stuck in a rut.
And so David is saying, see if I've been thinking
in a way that has allowed the enemy to traffic
in my mind where I've just been letting him in.
And that's what I want to do today. I want
to take you through a seven point test answering the
(09:27):
question why am I anxious and hopefully help us to
get past this point of answering that question with somebody
else's name, and hopefully get us past the point of
answering that question by by mentioning something that is happening
that is outside of our control, and hopefully to get
us to the place where we can see that not
(09:47):
only is God watching over my life. That's what David understood,
is that when Saul is trying to kill me, God
is watching over me. God has this surveillance system every
situation of my life.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
He will not suffer my foot to be moved.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
The Lord which keep a thie, He's got twenty four
to seven surveillance on me. To somebody say you better
be nice to me. God is watching how you treat me.
God is watching how you talk to me. And God
likes me. How do you parents like it when somebody
(10:25):
talks about one of your kids. God feels that way
about you times a thousand, and he's watching out for you.
So why am I anxious? If my father knows my needs?
Why am I anxious? If he's numbered the hairs on
my head? Why am I anxious if he promised to
supply every need and I got to get honest about it.
(10:49):
I'm not necessarily referring to this in a medical sense.
Please don't take this to mean that I'm saying that
your sin or or behavioral choices are always responsible for anxiety.
But what I want to show you today, regardless of
where it's coming from. Because I'm not a doctor, you
have to talk to Stacy if you want some help
with that.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But maybe there are some ways in me.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That are making me vulnerable to the way that things
are and allowing me to remain anxious when the Bible
says do not be anxious. I don't think it means
that we can never feel anxiety. It is when we
stay anxious. It doesn't mean that there won't be moments
and seasons.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
In your life where your hands are shaken.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Dimi Levado couldn't sing the national anthem without her hands shaken.
I don't know if you saw it. She's sanging a
lot in front of a lot of people. That's not
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this pervasive sense
of when things are going right, you can't even enjoy
them because it probably won't last long.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I mean looking around every corner for what's going to
happen next.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And I want to take you through something quickly today.
It's kind of a sermon slash seminar from Psalm one
point nine.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It's a salmonar. I thought you'd like that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
It's a salmonar, and pay attention and write this down.
If you don't write this down, you're not going to
sleep any this week. And I have horrible stomach pains
while you try to sleep. But write this down, and
got to bless you. Number one. When I am anxious,
ask somebody next to you, why are you anxious?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
All right?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
The first thing to check is your intake. The first
thing that I consider when I'm anxious is how full
I am of what? Because I found out that anxiety
and cellulite have one thing in common. You can't pray
either one of them away.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
They are both about intake.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They showed me this new feature on my phone the
other day.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Can I show you?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
My kids are always showing me stuff, and so they
showed me a feature on my phone the other day.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh, I got a text from Holly.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Okay, she just told me this should be my next
book okay, but let me show you something else. Right now,
you know all these great functions on the iPhone?
Speaker 2 (13:16):
This is what is this? A seven?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
A seven that the iPhone seven has this function? And
I want to show it to you if you hit
this button and hold it on the side, and then.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
You'd be shocked. How many y'all don't want to y'all
don't want to learn nowting today, you would be shocked
because I'm gonna tell you a secret.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There is no way that we can take it to
Somebody says too much. We can't take it all in
and still have room for the piece of God you're
praying for the peace of God.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
God doesn't have anywhere to put it. Your mind is
too fool.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
You were not designed to have the entirety of the
conversation of the whole human race buzzing on your back pocket,
on your butt phone, just walking around like snipers.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What did they say?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Where did they go on vacation? What about that press conference?
It was not supposed to be this way. Of course
we're freaking out. Of course we're zombies. Of Course we're
numbing ourselves and drinking and smoking and popping. Of course
we can't stop it would the devil's got a shock
collar on our back.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Pocket and we don't even know where.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Now are messing up my seminar, sithown my salminar. So
you want me to give you inspiration for forty five
minutes every week, and you're gonna lay it over top
of seventeen hours of media that is designed to hardwire
(15:20):
the way you think, Yes, what hope?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Do we have to have peace if we don't make
a place for it.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And they used to teach me in youth camph this
saying called garbage in, garbage out, and it was basically
a way of saying, don't listen to rock and roll
music and watch bad movies.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
And there's some good to that too. I think you
got to be.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
In tune with your conscience in terms of what creates
a sense of darkness, and you have to know that,
and we should make rules for each other. But say,
God search me. I think that's very good. But I
also think that sometimes what we don't take in is
just as fatal to our faith as what we do
take in. I think some of us are on a
(16:18):
spiritual starvation diet.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And we don't even know.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
It, and so we have faith that we don't feed,
and then we cannot access strength that we actually possess
if we feed it. And so you've got to get
your intake levels up.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You've got to buck.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
When he first started trying to get me to work
out more, he said, the first thing I want you
to do, Because he was telling me the only way
for me to get the result I wanted, he said,
you got to.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Do two things.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
What was that little cheesy motivational poster you had up
in your gym. You can't out train a bad diet,
is that what it said? And he was like, so
I want you to keep a food law and write
down everything you eat. And I didn't do it, but
I thought it's a good idea because before I can
change what I take in, I need to know track
what I take in. I wonder what it would look
(17:14):
like if you kept a thought log of just what
you let in. So if you let the enemy in
and then pray for God to drive him out, it
creates a cycle where you are creating your own state
of mind that you're trying to pray away. So there
has to be a knowledge search me God. You have
(17:37):
to let God show you. You have to let his
eye see what it is that you're taking in. And
I even mean this in terms of relationships. Some of
the people that you are around are draining your faith.
And I know you have to be around them a
little bit, but you might need to put on a
little protective yeah, like UVS seventy five, seventy five spiritual
(18:03):
protection seventy five, just to get around them. And I
think it would be good sometimes for us to check
our intake levels. Oh well, you know what, I didn't
read a Bible verse since the last time they put
one on the screen for me at Elevation Church. I
(18:27):
got all these apps on my phone, and ninety seven
percent of them are empty calories A mastered Candy Crush.
I'm not saying don't play Candy Crush because Hollywood leave
me if I put that out there in the universe.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
She loves candy Crush. But I'm pretty.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Concerned sometimes that we're filling ourselves with empty calories and
then so we're weak in the battle, and we wonder,
why check your intake. It's good, isn't it. It's good
teaching because your intake, your intake levels have to be balanced.
The second thing I want you to write down is imbalance.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Check for imbalance. I don't mean chemical imbalance.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
That's beyond my purview, but I do mean that when
you don't have a sense of what's important in your life,
when you don't have a sense of priority in your
life and everything feels urgent, it's a sign that you
haven't figured out what's really important. Now you are open
to everybody's demand, and they all take up equal space.
(19:37):
And so by saying yes to people who don't really matter,
you say an automatic no to those who do. By
saying yes to people who essentially are using you in
order to achieve their own goals, now you find yourself
unable to give because you are a limited resource to
the people that God has entrusted to your care the most.
(20:00):
So I have to have watched this a sense of balance.
I could preach about balance. You know, you've got to
work out and pray and eat and all of that,
but this is not that kind of seminar. What I
mean is you've got to be balanced in what you
give weight to. That's what I mean is that sometimes
(20:21):
we are stressed out because we are giving too much
weight to the wrong words and not enough weight to
the right words. And so we're out of balance because
we have this feed, and everything on our feed is
the same size, and because it's all the same size,
(20:42):
we think it carries the same weight. So we live
in a state of stress because we haven't learned how
to weigh it out. You've got to weigh it out
when someone doesn't like you. Sometimes it doesn't matter depends
on who they are. Well are pulling on me. I'm
(21:02):
gonna start telling you things I shouldn't. The other week,
someone was telling me that there was somebody who hated
our church and came and said it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I said, I don't care. I knew it wasn't that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
In fact, not only was it not that bad, it's
freaking awesome. Tell him, I said, I didn't need them
to validate something that I.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
See every week. Thank you very much. I already know
God is in this place. I already know He is
glorious in this place. I'm glad you think it's not
that bad.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But I wasn't really waiting for you to hand me
the award for not that bad. It was not that
bad before you decided it was not that bad. And
so I was talking to a guy one time about
something here at the church that was complicated, and I
(22:03):
gave him a thirty minute speech asking for his advice.
I got my notebook ready to hear what he would
tell me. After I listed everything that was happening, and
he goes, He goes, Steven.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
So I wrote that down, you know, point one, because
I need you to tell me what to do. And
do you know he didn't say another word. It just
turned to the person next to you and look at
him and say their name. If you know their name,
say Stephen. Tell them it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
No, you got to tell him with that a little
bit of.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You gotta do it from your diaphragm ready, tell them
it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Now what you just said.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Is true about ninety nine point nine nine nine nine
nine nine nine nine nine nine nine seven three percent
scientific number of what they're staying up worried about. And
one time I was laying in my bed at night
and worrying about something and God spoke to me through
(23:22):
his spirit. You're staying awake worrying about something that I've
already worked out. Now, when you give weight to that
promise from God, when you give weight to the right things.
When when I give weight, when I have a clear
sense of priority in my life, I'm okay if people
are angry if I say no, because my no is
(23:46):
a yes to something that.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I already decided was more important.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Than what any given demand might require of me at
any given moment. And this is the thing that that
I'm coming.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
To realize is that Christ is the solid rock. But
if you don't know how to stand on that rock.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
With the right balance, the devil will push you around,
and you will always steel unsettled, and you will always
feel tossed in turn. But when you make up your
mind what does matter and what doesn't matter, let me
help you out a little bit. What doesn't matter, what
they think? What does matter? What God knows? Search me,
(24:32):
God know my mind, tests me, You see you sneak
to me.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
He was so right what he was talking about didn't matter.
In fact, I thought about writing a book and calling
the book it doesn't matter, And I've already got my
subtitle figured out, really, and my first chapter will be
called at all. I feel somebody getting their balance back,
(25:09):
getting your equilibrium back.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You're seeing it right now. For what it is, This
doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This matters that I keep my faith, that I keep
a grateful attitude, that I don't let my situation contaminate
my spirit.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
This matters, not that. This matters, not.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
That, because if you don't sort this out, you will
live in constant imprisonment to your own indecision. Put that
one down as number three. We're making terrible time. Indecision
is a prison. So I want you to make three
(25:51):
decisions before Wednesday. If you're watching this in a MIDWEK
worship experience, you're running short on time. The clacus counting.
I want you to set a d day. All you
procrastinators and you're claiming to be thorough, I want you
to make I want you to make three decisions this week.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I want you to do it. I want you to
set aside a day this week.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Sit down, have four cups of coffee so you numb
your rationale, rational thinking processes, and go in.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
And just make them. Just make the decisions.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And if you make dumb ones, apologize, But.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Make the decision.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
My god, fifteen minutes to decide chicken or shrimp in
a restaurant.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
I'm serious.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You've been dating her seven and a half years and
you can't decide if she the one.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Well, if she's not, get.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Out of the way. Oh I'm prison Now I dis
got somebody in Diamond.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
You want to name your kids Stephen, do it or
go do it? Or do.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Buy the house or dope sell the house or dope
stay in Raleigh or dope do it or don't.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You can always move back.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And now we're making up more stuff to give us
opportunities for anxiety, and we call it options. I don't
know if it was just growing up in Monk's Corner,
you didn't have to decide where to send your kids
to school.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
There were two. I moved to Charlotte. I never saw
anything like it. It's crazy. It's killing too many options.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I just want gash not a surpee, not a car wash,
not a pack massage, just Gashy's some many OSSes.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
I did it this week.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
I went in I was I was selling that anxiety.
And I told Jess to send over my notes for
my Why am I anxious?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Teaching? Because I felt like I needed my own notes.
And I don't keep them.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
After I write them, I give them a scratch them
down and then give them away. But somebody else keeps them,
and so I said, give me.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
The notes and send them over. I need them. She said,
are you gonna teach it? I said, no, I need
to live it. I was feeling all unsettled, and.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
I went through my list and I found this one.
And the Holy Spirit hit me and said, you're very
indecisive right now.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Everything everybody asks you, you're going, hey, when do we get
back to that.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I'm gonna go through the roo a few Then you're
not going through a few things. You're not talking, you're
not praying anything like that. Just wait until it comes
around again. And it was because I mean the way
that I was handling things, and so I just came
in that day.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I made three decisions. I felt I felt like.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
I felt like I had spent a day at a
spa just by making three decisions.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
And they all started with and ended with oh, And
it felt so good. It felt so good. No, try it,
try it one, two, three.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, Now, this only works.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
This only works if.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You are living with integrity. This only works if you
are living with integrity. And sometimes my anxiety as a
result of a compromise in my integrity, it's kind of
hard to have a peaceful heart. When you're hiding secrets
and feel like a hypocrite. It's kind of hard to
(29:54):
have a peaceful heart when you're having to hope that
your wife doesn't check your phone.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
To see certain text message. It's kind of hard to
have a peaceful heart when.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
You have three snapchats and the one that your parents
think is your snapchat is just a decoy.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And now you're asking God.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
To give you peace, but your life is so many
different pieces.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
The word integrity means whole whole.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Like in math class they taught us about integers, whole numbers,
whole integrity, everything all one person, all the time. And
when there are three different means that I have to
manage for every different situation, it's kind of hard to
(30:46):
pray to panic away.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
When my own lifestyle is creating it.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
When I'm trying to figure out which mask to wear
at church and no one will see into my situation
at home, when there's work me and after work me,
and Friday night me and nine thirty Sunday morning me,
(31:15):
it's kind of hard for me to have peace when
my foundation is cracked. It's kind of hard for me
to manage all those different means because I might send
out the wrong one at the wrong time.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Have you ever done that?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh, I'm at the same preacher me out there right now.
It's kind of hard for me to ask God to
bless a life that is divided in so many different directions. Now,
I don't mean by this that you have to interact
with everybody.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
On the same level. For instance, if we were to meet.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
At Pizza Hut, I wouldn't talk at this volume.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Do you know I would modulate.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
People say, well, you should be the same on stage
that you are out in public.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well, that would be obnoxious.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Can you imagine touch three people at the baseball field?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Scandalous? Touch?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
What what I am saying is that although you might
bring a different approach to different situations, that the essential
nature of who you are remains unchanged in every encounter.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
So it shouldn't be like that for my family to
watch me preach and go like who was that? It
shouldn't be like that. It should feel like a continuation.
Somebody shouldn't see you on the television program and go
you go to church. I heard you say hallelujah on
(32:57):
the church service, but I hear you say some others
and is costing you your peace. I'm not condemning you.
I'm telling you you might be anxious sometimes because you
are trying to manage so many different versions of you.
And if you would bring it all together and just
(33:18):
be honest before God and just ask God what David
search me, know my heart and if the way I'm
doing it is wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I want to be changed.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I'm already accepted because of what Jesus Christ has done
for me. Now, God, help me to align my life
with what you made me to be so that I
can be the real me. I want to be the
real me, the highest version of me, that called me,
that chosen me, that secure me, that stable me, that
(33:52):
God loves me. And I don't have to prove anything
to anyone.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
This is my child with Him, with her.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
I well, please, I don't have to be anybody else.
And my cortisol levels just dropped just by being the
real me because all that other layers of stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
And all that anger, that's not the real you, not
in Christ. That's what David is getting to the bottom of.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Did you notice that all of my points are starting
with the same letter, the letter I.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I figure that's.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
A common denominator in a lot of our anxiety, search
me God, your eyes can see God's eyes.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
God see beneath the surface of what the situation is.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Anxious because of my money, and I'm anxious because of
my help, and I'm anxious because my mom.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
No no, no, no no. That might trigger it.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
But the truth of God's word can enable your heart
to transcend. This is what the New Testament preaches, is
that the peace of God will actually pass all understanding
and guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So,
no matter what triggers the anxiety in any situation, David said, search.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Me and know me.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
And sometimes I have to fix my intention. Sometimes I
can reduce my anxiety just by shifting my intention, just
by going from you know, how how are people thinking
about me?
Speaker 2 (35:39):
To realizing they're not.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Maybe if I would think about others, you know, why
didn't she speak to me?
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Why didn't you speak to her? How about that? Why
didn't you? Why didn't you? When when I'm when I'm.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Up here, a lot of times I can get locked
into performance mode real quick, and it makes for a
thirsty sermon. It's not the best sermon. It's hard to
give living water when the preacher is thirsty. But when
I shift my intention and go and I hope this
doesn't offend you.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
But sometimes I make up stuff about you.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I just look in your eyes and pretend like you're
going through something horrible.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
I do. I just picture it like you, just do
it on the.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Verge, and just by wanting to help you rather than
perform for you.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
When I shift my intention, it just.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I just I feel something fall off when I do.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You can shift your.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Intention in any interaction, and immediately when you do, when
you step out of the center and try to see
how can I serve? I'll tell you what will go
when you step out of the ciner. The burden of
the weight of how you're coming across, the burden of
the weight of how you're being perceived, the burden of
(37:00):
the weight of what other people are and are not
giving you. You have got to get out of the
middle and see things from God's point of view. Search me, God,
Am I anxious because it's just the rhythms of life?
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Then fine, I'll get through it.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Or am I creating more waves than necessary because.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
My eyes are not focused on Jesus?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I found out a lot of it is not even real.
Have you noticed that a lot of it is in
this sacred place that God has given.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
Us by which he shows us who he is.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
It's the sacred space of your imagination. I want you
to reclaim your imagination.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
You hear me.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
I want you to take back your most valuable asset.
I want you to tell take back that place in
you that used to be playful, and now it is
so it is so stressed and panicked, that that placed
in you that used to just make up games as
(38:14):
a little kid, just make up games, just would walk
up to anybody. I want you to get get back
that childlike faith. Just play around, just play around. See,
the devil wants to turn the place that was meant
(38:34):
to be your playground where you can enjoy God into
a battleground where you can't even.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Feel or experience him.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
When the enemy comes after your destiny, his first step
is to set up a stronghold in your imagination. The
enemy wants to make it where you can't stand to
be alone because you've got an internal isis that has
set up.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Terror at cells.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
And every time you go to think, you worry so
much about what might happen that you can't worship God.
So now you can't worship because you're so worried. But
God said, today we're gonna get this thing turned around
and recapture your imagination.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
To where you feel free again, to where you.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Can dream about something again, to where you can think
and think, think crazy thoughts, and just write stuff down
and just walk around seeing your stuff off tune, make
it up.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Words. You used to do that, you used to do that,
you used to walk around with just anything, but now anything.
I told the devil the other day, get your hands
off God's property. My imagination is God's house.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
My imagination was purchased with the blood of Christ.
Speaker 2 (39:59):
You can't set up camp here.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I got dreams to dream, I got visions to see.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
I got a future to imagine.
Speaker 1 (40:12):
The good news is, if you're really good at worrying,
you're gonna be great at worship because all it is
is the same imagination serving the opposite purpose.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
So what I'm doing now, y'll help me preach. I'm
about the close. I'm about the close.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
But before I close, God said, we need to we
need to reverse the cycle of the way that you're
thinking about things. We need to reverse the cycle. So
when you wake up in the morning, stop checking the
fear casts. Stop waking up in the morning and thinking
(40:56):
about how every possible meeting could go wrong, and you
don't have anything clean, and you wore that on Tuesday.
I promise you nobody has been keeping a spreadsheet.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
Of your shoes.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
Put on those same shoes you wore Tuesday, and walk
into your Thursday and expect to see the goodness of
the Lord where you have faith? People, Do I have
any faith casts in the house, David Saidema, take the wings.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Of morning, or dwelling the othermost part of the sea.
Watch this. Even there, your hand will lead me.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
In.
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Your right hand will hold me.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Fast because God is watching over me, and he's looking
into me. I didn't check the fear cast this week.
I checked the faith cast. It's corny, but I bet
you it'll drive back depression if you check the faith.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Cast, because God has been too good for me to
stay anxious. How many did I give you? I heard
a sermon one time. It said doing stuff on six
(42:22):
So stand up. I'll tell you. Stand up. I'll tell
you the last thing.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
When you stand up, it makes me know I'm out
of time. Because the enemy wants to fight you in isolation.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Why am I anxious.
Speaker 1 (42:45):
I think the answer to that question can often be
found right in the middle of the very word itself.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
The word anxious.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Right in the middle of the word is the letter I.
I was looking at it a few weeks ago, and
I was just looking at the word anxious, and I
was thinking, why should I feel discouraged?
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Why did the shadows come? Why should my heart feel lonely?
Speaker 1 (43:11):
When Jesus is my portion, a constant friend is hee
when his.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Eye is watching over my life.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
David said, you were there for my conception, and you
have been there for every conflict and every.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Season of my life.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
David wrote this beautiful song, although we cannot pinpoint the occasion.
Many think it was at the occasion of his coronation
as the king over both the Southern and the Northern Kingdom.
It really doesn't matter when he wrote it, because God
was watching over every stage of his process.
Speaker 2 (43:41):
And David says, God.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
I want you to show me what's really making me anxious,
so I don't spend the rest of my life waiting
for my enemies to disappear before I choose to have peace.
And I was looking at the very word, and I
saw something.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
That is right in the middle of anxious. But the
word ends with us, and.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
I was thinking about what we do in coming to church,
you know, for our weekly reminder that we're not the
only ones. We are not the only ones. You're not
even going to be able to leave church today without
(44:30):
having to make a decision whether to apply this message,
because many of you don't have the support system that
you need to walk in the peace.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
That you're praying for.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
When you walk out today, there's going to be balloons
and grown men in pink T shirts and youth in
white T shirts to sign you up for whatever age
or stage of life that you're in for these groups
that we put together within the church a place for
you to come and actually take the message water. What
(45:02):
good is the seed of the Word of God if
there's no water applied during the week, dying of thirst,
faith dehydrated. But it ends when I becomes us. Real
change happens there when you get in and say, you
(45:23):
know this week, man, I at this moment where I
almost said.
Speaker 2 (45:26):
It, And then the dude over there in the corner
who never speaks.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
Speaks up and goes, yeah, me too, And you look
at him and you're so glad because.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
When you came in, you felt like it was just you.
But somebody say, it's not just you. It's not just you.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
We came into the presence of God today to be
surrounded by like minded people.
Speaker 2 (45:50):
But let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
You got to stay surrounded to say a peace. So
I want to challenge you this week to take my
ominar and go through it.
Speaker 2 (46:04):
Why do you always.
Speaker 1 (46:05):
Talk about Zaxby's on the way out of church and
never take a moment and just digest what you heard,
act on what you.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
Heard, and ask God what David did? In fact? Can
we do it for a moment? Can we just be
still for a moment and even.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
Lift our hands If you feel comfortable lifting your hands,
it puts you in a posture where you're no longer
self conscious, but you're more God conscious.
Speaker 2 (46:32):
And just pray this Father, show me.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
The ways that I'm thinking that are preventing your peace
from flooding my life.
Speaker 2 (46:47):
Stay right there for a moment.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
I believe this week God is going to show you
decisions that need.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
To be made and how to make them. I believe
that when you will.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Get in His presence and ingest the.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Pure milk of the Word of God, the pure air
of worship.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Come out of the air of anxiety that the world
is suffocating with, and come up to an altitude where
you can breathe the breath and the grace of God,
that the peace of God that transcends all understanding with
God your heart and your mind. In Christ Jesus, I
(47:23):
declare this over you today, regardless of your situation. I
declare this over you today, regardless of your diagnosis. I
declare this to you today in the name that is
above every name, the name at which demons tremble. We
don't tremble before demons. Demons tremble before the name of Jesus.
(47:46):
And we speak peace to storms.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
In our soul today in the name of Jesus. Thank
you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (47:55):
Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
this ministry. Is because of you, this ministry is possible.
You can click the link in the description to give
now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast.
Speaker 2 (48:08):
For more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you
can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
share it on your social stories and tag us at
Elevation Church, Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 2 (48:20):
God bless you.
Host
Steven Furtick
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