Today we continued our new series called, “Finish Strong.” Our word as a church at the beginning of the year was, “STRONGER!” Even though this year hasn’t been what anyone expected, we still need to FINISH STRONG! Pastor Charles Metcalf taught us today that our external strength is connected to our internal source, which is Jesus! If 2020 has you discouraged, watch this message and be encouraged to Finish Strong regardless of what you are going through in this season.
welcome to church we are so glad that
you’re here
no matter where you’re watching from i’m
believing today that you are here
on purpose you’re here for a reason and
i’m believing that god wants to speak to
you
today like he never has before listen no
matter where you’re joining from
i just want to take a moment and welcome
you my name is charles i get to serve as
one of the pastors here
and on behalf of our pastors pastors
michael and natalie todd
our entire team we just want to say
welcome today we are so glad that you’re
here we don’t take it lightly
that you would take time out of your
sunday morning to spend it with
us and i’m believing that today god is
going to speak to you and
here’s what i know regardless of this
first thing i need to say
is i just i miss everybody like i really
do
like right now we are um in the arena i
can hear my voice echoing because
there’s not
you’re not here that’s why but what i
know is that
um just because the doors are closed
does not mean the church has been
stopped
come on regardless of what’s going on
regardless of of what comes our way the
church is still strong because the
church is not a building
the church is not confined to four walls
but you are the church
and so as long as there’s breath in your
lungs as long as you’re still alive
as long as we are still breathing the
church is still
alive and i just came to remind somebody
who felt like the presence of god
is confined to this room it’s in your
room right now it’s in your home with
your children
with your family in the middle of the
stuff you’re going through come on
god’s anointing and his favor is there
so i just need somebody
in the chat to type amen to type come on
i can feel it come on we are stirring up
the atmosphere
come on what the enemy meant for evil
god is turning
for good and i’m believing that today
regardless of what you’re going through
the spirit of god is coming to bring
hope
he’s coming to bring restoration and he
is right
there with you listen today is going to
be a great day
it’s a beautiful day to be in church a
part of church and here’s what i need
you to do i need you to participate
some of y’all i you act like we can see
you we got technology where we can see
you
you just be sitting there like um that’s
so good no i need all the energy you got
so i need you to stand up
i need you to yell the eight people that
are in here with me all my homies i need
y’all’s help today
um hey listen before we jump into the
word today i’m really excited because
um our pastors are rested and i’m
telling you
next week next that’s how excite like
next week we start a brand new series
and it is going to be so
so powerful pastor michael he shared
with me just the direction of how we’re
going to finish strong this year
and what god has given to him and i am
so excited and just anticipating what
god’s going to do through the rest of
this year so i need you to get ready
some of y’all been asleep during fun
month in august i see you it’s okay
we can see when you’re not here but
that’s okay god still loves you
um but listen next week we’re back with
a brand new sermon series it’s gonna be
amazing so make sure you’re getting
ready for that
and then tomorrow everybody say tomorrow
tomorrow we start seven days of prayer
and fasting now listen some of y’all are
like what are you talking about
listen we do this every single year
during this time as we’re going to
finish this year strong come on somebody
say finish strong
listen we’re going to finish this year
strong we’re not going to do it in our
own power we’re not going to do it in
our own ability we’re not going to do it
by just willing ourselves but what we’re
doing is we’re taking time
to focus in on god to silence all the
other voices
to silence the distractions and we’re
going to hear clearly from god and so
some of you maybe this is your first
time you’ve never participated
in something like this what we’re doing
is we’re pushing fasting it literally
means to cover the mouth so
fasting i got a little pet from pastor
brenda this is just me and you are
locked in on this some people be like
i’m fasting
you know from uh you know watching tv
that’s great that is great but that’s
the word fast
means to not eat food so anyways but um
listen i want to encourage you
regardless of that i just want to
encourage you to really ask god hey god
what would you ask me to give up
so i can hear from you what would you
ask me to push away what would you ask
me to cover up so i can hear
from you more than ever before we need
to hear from the voice of god we don’t
need opinion
we don’t need good ideas we don’t need
good concepts but we need wisdom
from the holy spirit and so i want to
invite you to join us we start tomorrow
if you need resources you can go to our
app our website we’ve got some things
there to help you in this journey
but listen today i need you to get ready
because i got a word it’s going to be
powerful turn in your bibles
to jeremiah 17 5. jeremiah 17
5 is where we’re going to be if you’ve
got a real bible at home and you open it
up you
automatically get more points in heaven
god told me that this morning while i
was in prayer so just want to let you
know that
i’m joking it’s okay um jeremiah 17 5
this is what the amazing word of god
says it says
this is what the lord says
now this scripture right here is strong
be ready cursed are those
who put their trust in mere humans
who rely on human strength and turn
their hearts away from the lord
they are like stunted shrubs in the
desert now god he’d be kind of
disrespectful with the word of god
sometimes
not only you’re a shrub so you’re a
shrub you’re a small plant but you a
stunted small plant
and you’re in the desert so god bless
you with no hope for the future
they live in barren wilderness in
uninhabited
salty land but blessed
but blessed are those who trust in the
lord and have made
the hope the lord their hope and
confidence they are like trees
planted along a riverbank with roots
that reach deep into the water
such trees i thought about calling this
sermon such trees i almost did it i
didn’t do
such trees are not
bothered that was my second sermon title
i’m not bothered by it come on anything
can happen but i’m not bothered by it
the government can go down but i’m not
bothered by it you can talk about me
but i’m not bothered by it that’s not
the title though
such trees are not bothered by the heap
by the i can’t even say what i’m saying
by the heat or
worried by long months of drought such
trees they’re not bothered
they’re not bothered by the heat they’re
not bothered by a pandemic they’re not
bothered by who’s in office they’re not
bothered by
come on they’re not they’re worried
they’re not worried about long months of
drought
their leaves stay green come on their
spirits
stay joyful their attitude stays good
come on their hope
stays alive their leaves stay green and
they
never stop producing
fruit that is some good bible we can
shut the show down right now if we
wanted to
but i believe that god wants to speak to
us i’m going to ask you to join us in
prayer wherever you are right now
lord god we come to you and we thank you
that your presence is here
lord and wherever here is for every
person under the sound of my voice lord
in their homes lord god
in the middle of a tough situation lord
jesus in the middle of things that we
may not have seen coming lord god i
thank you that
your presence your anointing your glory
is
resting here lord i thank you that today
lord jesus we would hear directly from
you
we don’t need just another talk we don’t
need just um
good points lord god but we need a
revelation from the holy spirit
holy spirit i thank you that you would
speak through me to your people i thank
you god that you are in control have
your way it’s in the beautiful name of
jesus we pray and everybody said
amen amen amen amen hey um so
i always start my sermons off with a
story it’s just how i roll i stole it
from a pastor when i was 19 and learned
how to write sermons and he started
sermon off with the story so now i start
my sermon off of the story so
um it’s really not that uh complicated
but in high school
um i ran track my junior year of high
school i
uh i did triple jump long jump and then
i ran the four by one
i want to talk to you about this triflin
race called the four by one
um the four by one what it is there’s
four people and this is where you see
them passing the baton like they they
they’re four by one means four people
running a hundred meters each
so the track is 400 meters if you don’t
know that so the straightaway is a
hundred the turn’s a hundred you get it
so i would normally run the four by one
and i was decent they put me on the
third leg i don’t know where you put the
bad people
like that may be where you put the bad
people because they’re like surely too
good they i definitely wasn’t the anchor
that’s for sure cause i
i just didn’t have it in me but i was
the 4×1 so i ran the 4×1 at our track
meet and i did decent i honestly don’t
think we won but i felt great about my
part
which shows you how immature i was
because i was just worried about how i
did
i won my part that’s all that mattered
anyways but the coach he said hey
charles the guy who normally runs the
4×2
is out so we need you to jump in and i
thought of course you need me to jump in
i’m about to kill this thing
so i get in the 4×2 is four people
running running 200 meters each so
there’s the first
100 and then either a turn or a
straightaway
of the second hundred so here’s what
happened we start off strong
and i i knew how to run a four by one i
could run a hundred meters and i was
pretty cold with it too so i took
off and i’m just dusting i’m the third
leg i’m dusting my dude
i’m on the turn and boy i’m telling you
i’m like at a 45 degree angle like i’m
so into that turn i’m just like pow pow
pow
i got my arms locked in i’m swinging the
baton and in my head i’m like y’all are
trash
i’m dusting every one of y’all i don’t
even run this race like that like y’all
must be scrubs
or i’m that good it was a combination of
both but i’m in the turn
and then i start kind of leveling out
for the last hundred meters and guys
when i tell you
that last straightaway it was like
a bear came and grabbed both of my legs
and was just whole like literally my
feet started getting all heavy
and i’m like slowly and then it looks
like that my i think i was on a
treadmill on my lane
because i started slowing down and
literally all other six people
started coming up closer to me and i was
like what is happening like
and as i kept going literally by the end
of it i started off at first
i was in sixth place when i handed my
baton to the person
and i just felt so ashamed i felt
embarrassed i felt like what in the
world happened
but what i realized is my legs could
only take me
as far as my heart could carry me
that’s got a transition if you never see
what what what
what i realized is that the external
strength that i had the strength of my
legs was
actually connected to the internal
source
that that had been conditioned that had
been that had been training
and the issue was i was running a race
that i hadn’t conditioned for
i was doing something that i wasn’t
prepared for
and i realized and today i came to
encourage somebody and really to help
you
um with a story that applies to running
races but it really applies to your life
that your external strength is always
connected to your internal source
always and many times what happens you
know when this when pastor michael first
said stronger i was like
bet come on we’re all getting ripped
this year like we’re all gonna look like
i don’t know what like i was just
excited about it and what i realized is
2020
is not as much about your outternal or
your external strength
as it is about testing your internal
source
2020 didn’t come to test your strength
it came to check your source
it did not come to test how strong you
were on the outside it came to check
what are you connected to
and this year has came to honestly
expose a lot of our sources
this year has come to test a lot of what
we really put our hope in who we really
trust who we really decide that is going
to be the end-all be-all in our life
and what happens is at the beginning of
the year we were all chilling it was
good and then stuff started going wrong
and what we realized is maybe we don’t
have the source that we thought we had
maybe our roots aren’t as deep as we
thought they were
maybe everything isn’t as perfect in our
marriage as we thought it was
maybe we don’t have the strength that we
thought we did and what i realized
is for us we have to understand that
this year did not come to challenge your
strength but it’s really challenging
your source
and if you don’t realize that you’ll
make corrections on the outside that
don’t change anything on the inside
you’ll start doing things on the outside
to try to make up for something that
really the issue is deep down
and until you as long as you keep
covering it up as long as you keep
acting like everything’s okay
what god is doing as he came this year
said i want to do something on the
inside
because what’s inside will always affect
what’s on the outside
and god this year he wants to do
something deep in your life that we’re
going to finish strong this year because
god’s gonna do a work on the inside
that not everybody can see you can’t
post your character on instagram
come on you can’t post that you got
delivered from anxiety on instagram
but what god’s gonna do this year is
he’s gonna heal you on the inside
and what happens on the outside it’s
going to be totally different what if
god is using this year
just to condition you what if god loves
you so much
that he says you know what there’s a
race that i have for you to run in 2021
but before i put you in it i’m going to
prepare you for it
see many times we want god to put us in
something that we’ve never been prepared
for
but what if this year god is using it to
prepare you for what he’s got in front
of you
you see what i realized is that your
season always exposes your source
your season always exposes your source
let’s talk about a maple tree in a pine
tree
these two trees are built different one
when the winter comes
the season exposes its source so what ha
what does it do it starts losing it
leaves it starts having bringing all its
energy to the center because
there’s not enough source to go around
for everybody there’s not enough there’s
not enough to go out to the end of
everything that it touches
or it’s fruit or it’s leaves but there’s
a different kind of tree a pine tree
regardless of what season comes
its source is always the same regardless
if winter comes it’s green
if summer comes the trees green if fall
comes it’s green if spring comes it’s
green
what i’m telling you is god wants to be
your source so that in every season you
can be green come on when the economy’s
good you’re green when the economy is
bad you’re green
come on whoever’s in office you’re still
green and you’re good because you have
a different source
i think this year has really challenged
what our source is
and what you need to understand is some
of you you have forgotten and there have
been times in my own life where i’ve
forgotten
the difference between these true trees
or what exposes their source is one is
just built different
like what they’re the same they can go
through the exact same thing
they can be in the exact same situation
they can be in the exact same cold
weather they can be in the exact same
season but one responds differently
because it’s been built different
i came to remind somebody you’re built
different you’re not built like
everybody else come on there’s something
different on the inside of you and even
though the enemy has challenged you even
though he’s came against your thoughts
and your mind you need to remind
yourself type it in the chat
write it on a sticky note i’m built
different come on the same spirit
that raised christ from the dead lives
on the inside of me come on he has plans
for me
he has a hope and a future not to harm
me but but to prosper me you are
built different and in this season i
believe that that what’s happening is
the seasons it is exposing
who our source is is exposing what we
put our trust in
that scripture is so powerful it says
and i want to help you with the
scripture because
um sometimes in church we we hear the
bible and because we don’t have full
understanding
we just try to edit out parts of it that
don’t make sense to us instead of asking
the god who wrote it to reveal it to us
so i’m gonna i’m this is when you read
your bible if you don’t understand it
don’t skip over it
that’s like when you get an instruction
from a friend or from a teacher
we i would do that in school maybe
that’s why we deal with the bible i
would do that at school if i didn’t
under understand instruction i was too
prideful to act like i knew didn’t know
what she was talking about so she was
like if you turn your pages we’re going
to study if she say some word i had no
idea and i’d be like oh great we’re
going to be studying that today i’d love
to yeah we’re just going to do that
and what happens is is what you don’t
realize is the knowledge of school every
year it builds upon the knowledge that
you were supposed to learn the year
before
so what happens is when you don’t ask
for understanding in 6th grade you’ll
end up in 12th grade confused hello
somebody that was me
and in the same way when you don’t ask
understanding of god’s word
in 2020 you’ll end up in 2025 confused
because god i don’t know where that is
from some of you you need to start
getting your roots in the word of god
and stop just thinking well i’ll just
read the scriptures that i understand
or that make me feel good but maybe god
wants to give you a deeper revelation
maybe there’s some roots that he wants
to grow down in his word to where
anything can happen
the wind can come come on the wind can
blow but you are rooted in
god the scripture says this is what the
lord says cursed are those who put their
trust in mere
humans i want to help you with the
scripture because sometimes we see
anywhere where the bible says cursed we
think of like snow white and seven
dwarves or like ah
like what a curse why would god here’s
the thing the natural state
of our world is fallen so because
in the garden of eden when adam and eve
sinned
sin entered the world hurt entered the
world pain entered the world
so that means the world as our natural
state is in a bad bend it has a bend
towards doing evil it hasn’t been
towards
bad things but what happens is is when
you surrender to god
what a curse is is saying god’s saying
hey if you can’t do it my way
if you won’t acknowledge me i can’t step
in and change how this world would
naturally be set up
so what happens is when the scripture
says curse what it really is
is you’re just left to your own devices
you’re in the state that you were born
into
you’re in the natural pain that you
experience in this earth the natural
loss and the scripture goes on to say
you have no hope for the future that’s
what happens when you don’t let god in
when you don’t acknowledge him it says
cursed
if you’re simply trusting mere humans
what it’s saying is is hey it’s going to
be a bad deal if you’re looking to other
people
to fulfill something that god can only
fix it’s going to be a bad deal if
you’re looking to the government
to give you peace or not it’s going to
be a bad deal if you’re waiting on a
pandemic to end to decide if you’re
really going to give yourself fully
to the plan of god come on it’s going to
be a bad deal if you’re putting your
trust
in humans but it says you’re blessed
when you this is what got me it says
blessed are those who trust in the lord
and have made the lord
their hope and confidence so many times
we downplay the part that we have to
play
and what we’ve decided is our hope and
confidence it says who have made the
lord that means you have to make a
decision
you have to make a decision that
regardless of what happens i’m making
the lord
my hope and my confidence you know i
want to keep moving on
in this you know as we think about the
source and really what god does
here’s what’s happened to me so many
different times there have been moments
even throughout this year
where i’ve been praying to god or
talking to god and i thought god you
really are my source you know like
you know you just i grew up in church
and so i know all the like prayers that
get you like the bonus points you know
what i’m saying like
the brother’s like god just i surrender
to you i trust you
have your way i’m putting my life in
your hands like all the
sunday school prayers that i know i just
start throwing them out they just come
up and
but literally i i had this thought where
god i was saying god you’re my source
and i felt like god said
you’re saying i’m your source but i can
see your fruit
like in many of us we say god you’re my
source
but we see the fruit and many times it’s
so
funny that we’ll stand up and say god is
my source but our fruit looks nothing
like what the source should say
many times we’ll say god is my source
but we’re angry and we’re worried and
we’re confused come on some of you if
you got up
if you walked up to a a uh if you walked
up to a tree and
let’s just say this is a random i’m just
making this up as i go you go up to this
street
and it says it’s supposed to be an apple
tree but there’s oranges on the end of
the tree
you would walk up to it and be like this
is this is an apple tree i swear
somebody’s telling you this is apple
tree i swear it’s apple tree that’s
apple tree it’s i swear that is an
apple tree but you’re like i can’t
separate
what i see from what you’re saying and
many times what god does he says i hear
what you’re saying
but i also see what you’re doing i hear
when you pray that you say i’m your
source and you’re trusting me
and you all your hope is in me but i
also see that really
when it gets down to it your peace does
not come from me
your peace comes from circumstances that
you create up
create and that you control and that you
let me let me tell you about something
god
gave me this idea of pieced together
peace
let me help you pieced together peace
p i
i got really insecure as i went to the
end of that word
piece together peace many of us the
scripture talks about that god will give
us a peace that surpasses all
understanding
many times instead of going to god who
is our source to get this peace
we piece together our own peace
so what happens is is when we say man
i’m in a really tough situation
or this bad thing has happened or or
maybe let’s find this many of us maybe
we’re tr
we’re in a season where it’s tough or or
maybe the the government is doing things
that we don’t agree with or whatever is
happening instead of going to god for
peace
we start creating scenarios well i read
my bible and i did this and i tithe
and i’ve been a good person and i said i
prayed the right prayer
so now and then also i’ve been doing
those things right and i’ve said and we
start piecing together these stories
that make us feel good that make us feel
like okay now i have peace
do you have peace or did you just piece
together a story that made you feel
better about your situation
god is saying i want to give you the
true
real and living peace that you desire
i want to be your source i want to be
the one that you can have something it
says a peace that surpasses
your ability to understand that means
you can have a peace that doesn’t need
to understand
that means that you can have a peace
that doesn’t need to know the outcome
that doesn’t need to know what’s going
to happen or
when are we going to be back in church
or when is this going to stop or when is
the you know when is my finances going
to get to the right spot you can have a
peace that surpasses your ability
to understand and what i’ve realized is
many of us when it comes to our source
many of our source is either on the
surface or it’s situational
our source of peace our source of joy
our source of hope
it’s really not god it’s a situation
it’s as long
as this thing is going good as long as
my business is going good
then i have peace from god do you have
peace from god though
because it’s dependent on a situation
and that situation changes
where is your peace if your joy comes
from how people think about you and how
much they love you and how they care
about you and what they say about you
and how many likes you get on instagram
that’s not the piece that surpasses all
understanding that’s a piece that is put
in mere humans
that’s a piece that can be controlled by
outward sources but what’s happening
is god is saying what if i brought this
year to bring you a peace
that’s on the inside what if i brought
you this year to bring you something
that was beyond an outward circumstance
but with something
on the inside of your life
your fruit always exposes
your roots you can’t
you can’t say man i i’m rooted in god
and my life is in him
but what happens is when we look at the
fruit of our lives we have to say god
this is showing a different story like
this is
this is not the same thing now some of
you are saying charles what what are you
talking about what do you mean by that
well in galatians 5 22 it says this
but the holy spirit produces this kind
of fruit
in our lives love joy peace
patience kindness goodness faithfulness
gentleness and self-control there is no
law
against these things
i was thinking about this year and uh
and really just how this year has gone
you know this this series where we’ve
titled it finish strong
and in this i’ve realized you know when
i think about this year and even
different things that i’ve experienced
in my life um
that desire to finish strong was almost
um similar to or or
at the same rate there was a desire for
me to finish first
like let’s talk about this even in that
race that i ran in high school
i wasn’t worried about finishing strong
i really wanted to finish first
i and many times the desire to finish
first inhibits our ability to finish
strong
when i started off that race i wasn’t
thinking about how i was gonna finish
strong
i was thinking about how i was gonna
finish first so all my energy
all my effort all the everything that i
had i put it into that first hundred
meters
because i wasn’t thinking about how i
was gonna finish strong and what i
realized is the temptation
to finish first will inhibit your
ability to finish strong
the ability that you have to finish
strong to finish well because many times
this is how it starts we started off the
year with all our new year’s resolutions
we started
off the relationship with with being
intentional all these different things
but again
our ability to to say i want to finish
first that i want to do this well in the
in the beginning
we’re not thinking about the end and
that’s why in this
series we’re saying hey we made a
decision that we’re going to finish
strong
and i’ve realized that really for me it
goes beyond
finishing strong and i felt like i was
talking to guys like okay
the sermon we’re going to finish strong
we’re going to finish strong we’re going
to finish wrong
strong and as i went through it i was
like okay then there’s this temptation
to finish first
and then i realized god said i want you
to finish strong
but also there’s something deeper the
temptation is i want you want to finish
first
but i found that many times god’s desire
is that we would finish
with fruit that’s the title of my sermon
today
finish with fruit
what if this year was not so you could
finish
first like every other year the reason
it feels good
is probably because there’s areas of
your life that you felt like
you finished first in i finished first
in my business
my business was successful it was better
than all businesses it was better than
than what we even planned for on the on
the fiscal calendar it was just it went
beyond everything
in in school i finished first i
graduated this way i went this way
in relationships i finished first but
what if god said hey this year you may
not finish first
but you might finish with fruit what if
this year what if we could shift
our perspective that god you know what
i’m not worried about finishing first
i’m not worried about it looking good
but god would you produce a fruit
in my life god i want to finish with
more love in my life i want to finish
with more joy
with more peace with more patience what
if this year came so that you could
finish
with fruit i just made a decision this
year that you know what if i’m going to
finish strong
i want to finish with the fruit of god
in my life
i want to finish loving my wife will i
want to finish serving people more i
want to finish with more joy
with more grace in my life and what i’ve
realized is
when it comes to fruit fruit is a focus
not a feeling fruit is a focus
not a feeling what i’ve realized is
these things that scripture talks about
love joy peace patience kindness
goodness gentleness self-control and
faithfulness
these aren’t feelings and i’ve realized
that this year
god used the the
the the toughness of the year the
changing of the year
all of these different things and i
realized what if god is using this year
to push past what we feel and ask what
are you focusing on
what if he’s pushing past the the
emotional
surface level sources that we have what
if he’s pushing past your
ability to just push past hard things
and feel excited or feel happy
what if he’s saying hey i want to push
past something and i want to ask what
are you focusing on
i realize that the fruit that is in our
life truly comes from what we’re
focusing on
it comes from who our source is and
today really
the the goal of this sermon today
is to ask you who is your source
what is your source where have you
placed your hope
where do you get your piece from
what is your life rooted in
because this year has really been
something that has it’s gone different
than how any of us planned it’s gone
different than
how we thought it’s gone different than
than maybe how we desired
but what i’m realizing is in the middle
of all of this frustration
in the middle of plans changing in the
middle of disappointment
god is producing fruit
and i just want to ask today what if
what would it look like if we made a
decision
what would it look like we said god you
know what i’m gonna submit
to this process because i know that
you’re building fruit in my life
i know that you’re building something
that’s deeper that’s that’s that’s
stronger that that’s more than than a
surface level thing
you know uh we had some time off um
uh in august because of our new baby
girl got here luna rose
she’s the bomb shout out to my shoddy
this is the first sermon i think she’s
heard me preach
wow that’s amazing is that true i don’t
know is that true babe
oh first sermon to my daughter she says
it’s good forget what y’all say
um but we had some time off in in august
and during that time
i was like all right god i’m re like
during this time i’m gonna spend time
with the family
and i’m just gonna you know i’m gonna
seek you and i was just i had this sense
that like
man i know god wants to do something in
my heart and in my life and there’s
it was almost like i had this sense of
like there’s gonna be this new level
like when i come back to work
i’m gonna be so anointed when i walk in
the offices people just gonna fall out
like i’m gonna
look this is so this is what i felt and
like part of it was like me trying to
discern what god was actually saying
but i had this sense of like god you
want to do something new like there’s
there’s something new that you want to
do in my heart there’s a new level of
focus there’s a new level
of discernment all these different
things and so i was journaling and i was
thinking about it
and no lie i get back to the office
after being gone for four weeks
with the baby and at home and i come
back in the first meeting i go to lee i
literally i could not talk i was like
tripping over my words
i was i got home from work i told abby i
was like i’m i’m god has lifted his hand
off my life like i don’t
i don’t have it anymore i can’t preach i
can’t she was like stop
and i was just i was so confused because
i had this expectation
that god you were going to do this thing
and it was going to feel like this it
was going to be like this
and i was going to be able to speak
easier and i was going to have more
wisdom and all these different things
and i was literally driving in my car
like frustrated with god
like god you said that there was going
to be a new level and i was going to be
able to do all this stuff and i realized
and god said something
it was literally in the still small
voice that scripture talks about he said
i did it
but you’re looking in the wrong place
he said charles i did it but it’s not a
new level
it’s deeper he said i did it but it’s
deeper and many times
when we look for the fruit
of god’s anointing on our life we look
for the higher thing
we look for the the new thing we look
for the thing that feels
above that that is this other thing but
i realize the power of god
is not only in the things that are
higher but it’s also in the things that
are deeper
it’s when god gives you something that
is so secure that is so rooted in him
that no matter what comes on the outside
no matter what comes
that you are rooted in christ
and i realized that the guy was saying
hey like when you’re looking
for that thing that i really did say
that was going to happen it’s
it’s something deeper and what happens
is what i realized is god
what he does i realized if he put
something let’s think about it
um as like a shelf or or um
i literally am thinking through through
but literally i realized in my spirit
that god was saying hey
when i do something deeper that means
there’s things that you’re going to have
to work through
and get past and go around and that
you’re going to be forced to deal with
to get to what i’ve done
so what he was saying was is when i put
this thing deeper in your life and in
who you are
if i just put it on the outside you
don’t have to deal with all the internal
issues
you don’t have to deal with the things
that are there that are keeping you but
i did that because i would force you to
have to deal
with the things that weren’t like me so
you could find the thing that is truly
rooted in who i am
today i want to i want to kind of close
out with this thought
that um i really believe that god wants
to do something deeper in your life
i really believe that this year was not
random it was not an accident
it wasn’t something that just happened
but it was something that god has done
deeper
for a reason and i want to close out
with this
with this scripture it’s in hebrews 12
and production if you’re looking for the
scripture you don’t have it because i
didn’t give it to you
this is what it says it says as you
endure this divine discipline
remember that god is treating you
as his own children
who ever heard of a child who is never
disciplined by his father
if god doesn’t discipline you as he does
all his children
it means that you’re illegitimate and
not his children since we respect our
earthly fathers
who disciplined us shouldn’t we submit
even more to the discipline
now let’s get down to verse 11. no
discipline
is enjoyable while it’s happening
2020 may not be enjoyable
while it’s happening the the tension
in the relationship may not be enjoyable
while it’s happening the pressure may
not be enjoyable
while it’s happening in fact the
scripture says let me just tell you
it’s painful god’s scripture is so good
because he says hey
there’s a discipline and i’m not going
to chalk it up that it’s going to be
easy
says no discipline and enjoyable while
it’s happening
but afterward there will be a peaceful
harvest of right living for those who
are trained
in this way
so take a new grip with your tired hands
and strengthen your weakness
mark out a straight path for your feet
so that those who are weak and lame will
not fall
but become strong
i came to remind you today that what
you’re going through
right now the pressure
thank you holy spirit some of you right
now you are
you’re looking at the current state of
your life
and then you’re also looking at the
picture of where you thought you would
be right now
and as you’re looking at this it’s
creating this frustration towards god
it’s creating all these things but
really what god is saying hey
i what i’m doing right now you may not
have the perspective to see it
you may not have the perspective to
understand why it’s happening
but what happens is is if you would
allow me to give you a new perspective
if you would allow me to show you that
hey this is something i’m doing
in you and i’m developing in you and it
may not be enjoyable right now but what
i’m doing is i’m producing a peaceful
harvest i’m producing a peaceful
harvest in your life today i want to
take a moment
and uh i just want to take a moment to
pray over you i want to take a moment
that
god would truly show us who our source
is where we get our peace
where we get our joy where we get our
hope and i’m believing that today
that we’re going to realize that what
god is doing it’s not just something on
the surface
our source will no longer be in mere
humans our peace will not no longer be
from outward sources but god is going to
develop a fruit in us
he’s going to develop something so deep
in our hearts that we will be able to go
through every season and that is my
prayer that
as we go to the end of this year that as
we finish strong in this year that we
would realize
that the fruit of our life is because
our roots are in christ
that the fruit of being able to finish
strong the fruits of not only being able
to finish strong but to finish with
fruit
are because we have decided that god is
our
source i want to take a moment right now
and just pray over you
to pray that we would have the
perspective to understand that god you
know what i
i may not understand why you’re doing it
this way or or why plans have changed
but god i trust
that you’re developing a fruit in me i
trust lord god that you’re
that you are developing something in me
that that the wind and the waves can’t
change
you’re developing something in me that
the government can’t change
that that that education can’t change
you’re developing something in me so
strong
you’re developing something in me lord
that is beyond my circumstance
and it’s deep in my life right now holy
spirit
we invite you in holy spirit we
ask right now that you would expose to
us the places
where our lives have not been rooted in
you
the places where our source has really
not been
god our source hasn’t been
really in you lord god our source has
been other people
our source has been ourselves our source
has been
other things and lord god i just thank
you right now that you are showing us
lord jesus you are exposing
the things that are not like you are
exposing where our roots lord god have
not been
in god lord jesus but i thank you right
now we are making a decision
to put our trust in you
we’re making a decision lord god to put
our hope in you lord god we’re making a
decision lord god to put everything lord
god
we’re putting our hope and our lives in
you lord jesus
right now lord jesus i thank you for
perspective lord i thank you that you
are allowing us to see lord jesus that
even though
it may not be enjoyable for this time
lord god but you are developing
something in us that is so much deeper
holy spirit i thank you right now for
every person who’s listening
that you would give them perspective on
what they’re going through lord god you
would give them perspective
for the pain or god perspective for the
frustration and they will be able to see
your grace your anointing your peace in
their lives as we continue to pray
i want to ask you just to focus in for a
moment and see where you are in your
relationship with god
maybe some of you right now if you’re
honest with yourselves the reason that
you’re not able to have peace the reason
that you’re you’re so shaken by this
year is because you’ve realized that
your source it hasn’t been god
your source has been something else your
source has been your job your source has
been your spouse your source has been
other people’s perspective of you your
source has been what other people think
about you but today you can make a
decision
to say you know what i’m putting my life
in christ i’m making him
my hope and confidence and there are
some of you right now that the reason
you’re watching today
the reason that you’re here is not just
to hear a sermon or a message or to hear
some worship but it’s surrendering
your life to jesus i’m believing today
that some of you you’ve ran out of all
other options you’ve tried everything
else
you’ve tried putting your hope in
everything else you’ve put your hope in
humans you’ve put your hope
in so many different things but today
you can put your hope in jesus and it’ll
change your life
forever if you’re listening right now
and you say you know what i want to make
that decision i want to give my life to
christ i want to surrender to him what
i’m going to do is i’m going to pray a
prayer
as i pray this prayer i’m believing that
something miraculous is going to happen
in your life the bible says if you
believe in your heart and confess with
your mouth that jesus is lord
you shall be saved i’m believing today
that if you would surrender your life to
him
everything you’ve been looking for the
things that you’ve been trying to to go
to other things
to find god can give it to you in this
moment
right where you are if you want to
accept jesus into your life i’m going to
ask you to repeat this prayer
after me say dear heavenly father thank
you for loving me
dear jesus i admit
i’ve made mistakes i pray that you would
save me
that you would change me that you would
make me new
in the name of jesus i pray
amen hey listen if you just made that
decision that is the best decision that
you could ever
make in your life the bible says when
one person comes to christ
that all of heaven stops and they start
celebrating and we are celebrating
with you hey listen we want to send you
some resources if you’ll text the word
saved
to the number that is on the screen we
want to send you some things just to
help you
in your journey of following jesus as we
give our lives to him that truly he’s
going to speak things into your life
he’s going to give you the wisdom that
you need the discernment that you need
everything that you need is found in
making him your
source lord god we thank you for your
presence we thank you for your grace for
your love for your anointing
lord we thank you lord jesus that today
we are making a decision that you
are our source lord god that you are
everything that we need lord we thank
you for who you are it’s in the
beautiful name of jesus we pray
amen thank you so much for watching this
message
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