We would be so glad to pray for you and rejoice over what God has done in your life! [email protected]
hey family i’m pastor torre
i’m pastor sarah and listen you’re
getting ready to hear an incredible word
for the lord i believe it’s going to
bless you
i believe it’s going to be timely do me
a favor
share the message if it moves you share
the message and then also you have an
opportunity to be a part of
not only helping to spread this message
but to be a part of our outreaches
we’re doing a lot of practical things to
be a blessing to someone so feel free if
god so moves you
to use the information here in the video
to support what we’re doing we’re being
a blessing not just people spiritually
we’re being a blessed people practically
we love you get into this message
and change your life
hallelujah hallelujah well god bless you
we greet you in the name of jesus
whose name is above all names and i just
thank god for that name for me
the name of jesus means peace it means
victory it means hope it means
purpose it means strategy
god says for i know the plans that i
have for you that’s a strategy
plans to prosper you and not to harm you
to give your future and
hope and so so that name comforts me
that name calms me that name gives me
peace and that name lets me know
that god is behind the scenes in every
season
working things together for our good god
bless you i pray
that that’s your testimony as well well
today as some of you know we’re going to
do things a little differently
i’m here with the incredible and amazing
love of my life and
first lady of our movement pastor sarah
is uh is joining us here today and
joining me here today and we haven’t
done this
in in quite a while you know we used to
do in fact our first time ministering
together
yeah was in a context similar like this
similar to this it was
and it was right here on this very state
can you believe that but so much has
changed
oh my god a lot has changed and
you know we just had this idea we
we we love each other for real and and
not only is she
she my bride but she’s my best friend
and we’re always
talking about things um there’s nothing
that transpires in life and and even in
one another’s life in our family
that we don’t talk about and so
obviously
2020 has given us much to talk about
and what i love about our conversations
is you know we’re one because we’re
husband and wife but we are different
uh we have uh unique perspectives and
um i always say like if i miss it
she’s gonna get it and vice versa for
sure that’s totally our testimony that’s
why the kids are always watched no
matter what’s happening because we’re
both looking from different perspectives
but i think it’s also what helps us in
every part of our life our business our
ministries that we’re able to just look
at things from different perspectives
for sure and we’ve been talking about a
lot of serious things lately
uh obviously we’re in a very serious
moment in our country serious moment in
our world
uh there is a lot of distrust
unrest a division
anger just a ton of things going on
confusion
it is so crowded and cloudy right now
there’s such
a fray in our world and uh
and we you know we we wrestle through
things
wrestle through issues and and we
thought you know instead of you know
doing a series on all the topics and all
the things that are going on
that we would essentially bring you into
our pillow talk
and bring you into our conversation
bring you into the things that we’re
praying about
the things that we observe in our own
wrestling what should we be doing
you know in the season about what’s
going on and we’re going to move
through as much as we can topics or
conversation about the church
about culture about you know politics of
course is a very
uh political time and then also new
normals as
as 2020 has brought us and so this is
going to be really informal
uh we didn’t come here to preach to you
we will have a time of prayer at the end
and of course you know we cannot close
out our service without amazing worship
to steal everything that takes place but
but we just want to bring you into our
conversation and honey i just want to
kind of kind of start with you you know
what what have been
some of your reflections of late when
you consider what’s happening in our
world
from your perspective you know babe i
think one of the things that i’ve had to
do
in 2020 that has been challenging for my
personality type
is to really adjust to a new rhythm
being set
every day i think that when we like
start off a new year we think to
ourselves okay this is going to be my
rhythm for the year
but the way 2020 has worked is that
you’re setting a new rhythm literally
every morning it’s like i don’t know if
this is a slow dance i don’t know if
this is fashions is this a salsa
and i think that that has been really
challenging for me because so much of
our world has shifted
that it has made a demand on who are you
going to be today
and recognizing that who you were
yesterday may not be effective for
today’s situation
and so i’ve had to be more sensitive
than i’ve ever had
and fight to not feel paralyzed
because when you’re receiving so much
information so many things that can take
away from your hope
to get to a place where you feel like i
still have a place in this world and i
can affect
change has been one of the things that
i’m constantly boiling
things down to when i get finished
processing all of my feelings and
emotions
yeah i i can completely agree you know i
was talking to
um one of the pastors here at the church
and to your point about
uh and first of all if you don’t know my
wife
pastor sarah she likes everything like
structure like do not deviate from the
plan
i’m spontaneous no spontaneity like
none of that she’s just like you know
which is great because
um you know she’s effective at what she
does
and this year has probably challenged
her but i was talking to one of the
staff pastors recently
and it’s challenging me too because i’m
like that but i have a degree of
spontaneity i consider a degree
but so so my thing is
i have that i’m just willing to shift it
so when i have a sp spontaneous moment
and i put that out there
i’m a stickler to that spontaneous
moment but i don’t have a problem being
spontaneous but you know i was thinking
and here is one of the things that i
believe that god is doing
sometimes our commitment to structure
gets in the way of what god wants to do
because
god is a god he is god is fluid
you know he he is lucid and sometimes he
has to wait for us because we’re stuck
in our rhythm so i think that
in the season one of the things that god
is doing is he is breaking us
out of our need to have it all figured
out
and to be in control and to really
be sensitive to god in the moment by
moment
to be so submitted i mean think about
jesus
the spirit for a perfect perfect example
is a spirit there’s a path of scripture
in john 3 that talks about is when jesus
was
working with nicodemus and he talked
about how
how you cannot see where the spirit
comes from or where the wind comes from
or where it goes
you know and so is the spirit you know
so the spirit
i’m not saying the spirit is
disorganized or the spirit is chaotic
but i think that one of the things that
we’ve been forced into is
this posture of waiting
and and being flexible enough to move at
any moment in any instant
in a changing world i think i think
god’s getting us ready for something i
totally agree
and when you said that because i mean
he’s talking about me i
i struggled with you know moving things
along
once it became evident that everything
was changing because like he said i do
like to stay within the comfort of my
structure
but when you were speaking it made me
realize that god breaking me out of my
rhythm and structure no matter how
traumatic it felt in that moment
revealed to me a deeper level of
capacity that i would have never
realized i had
unless he broke me out of it and so i
think as much as it is
god’s will to make sure that his plan is
fulfilled
regardless of our desire to be
comfortable it is also an opportunity
for him to introduce us to a deeper
level
of our identity and capacity it’s almost
like
he’s been saying all 20 20 like come
here i want to tell you something i want
to show you something and you can only
do that if you’re willing to break out
of what has become comfortable for you
to completely agree sameness is a
destiny killer
like like sameness is why one of the
reasons why jesus was rejected when he
came
he came preaching what’s interesting is
he was
preaching a similar message to what the
religious people at the time were
preaching
but he was preaching with authority and
he was healing and the people
at the end of the day didn’t like change
and so
so i am very suspect of of sameness and
we all are creatures of habit
same is safe but at the end of the day
um man if you become a lover of sameness
you will miss the myriad of things that
god has for you
i won’t say that i’m a lover of sameness
because i don’t want to we’re not
talking about you no more no yeah no no
no no
no no but i’m just saying you know i
don’t want to say i’m a lover of
sameness
you know but i will say my social media
lately has made me wish
that everyone would just be the same and
by the same i mean agree with what i say
so that they don’t get blocked i feel
like we have more time to have opinions
we have more time to express those
opinions we have more time to break the
rules of minding your business
ministries
and it is showing up on social media to
the point where it is stressful how do
you balance this idea of
diversity yeah uh when it comes to
thoughts and opinions that are being
expressed especially in this season well
i think
for me i don’t mind
a different opinion than mine i have no
problem listen
no one has a corner on everything
you know everyone is entitled to their
opinion
uh including me my issue comes in
when you attack my opinion
or no no not even when you attack my
opinion when you attack me
because of my opinion uh you know i
posted one of my friends posted
something on social media
um just the other day and and i
commented and literally
and it was a it was a photograph of
brianna taylor and there were words
basically about
justice it was a very nice encouraging
empathetic article and i just posted i
i put i liked the the picture and i put
prayer hands on there
and two uh two comments came in from my
prayer hands i didn’t say anything but
prayer hands and they had clown face and
uh the little little poop symbol and you
know
all this kind of stuff and i’m like what
and then then the funniest thing is you
go to their profile and it says child of
god
it’s not like what god you know but um
so but but for me i mean i’m glad you
asked this question because
i am coming to a place this this crazy
uh uh divisive season of much
vitriol hate anger has made me a better
lover
because it has forced me to either
submit to being like god or allow the
poison that’s being spewed on me to
contaminate me and cause me to be less
effective
and so um for the first time i’ll be
honest with you because
normally you know i got that little clap
back spirit amen
and uh and i was getting ready to clap
back and then i said no
no no no don’t even fight you know first
of all
these people are unreasonable
let me tell you something here is a
quotable never fight a battle
where there is no spoil never fight a
battle where there’s no spoiler if
you’re not
what i mean by spoil it’s a biblical
term people would go to war they would
overcome whoever they were overcoming
and they would get the reward they would
get the trappings of that
right so what spoil what am i going to
receive
by arguing with someone who is
unreasonable there is nothing so i would
rather
have them on that page very high profile
page on that
page looking stupid for attacking me for
nothing
then to engage but to to your question
in particular
my love tolerances i’ve been exercising
on my rowing machine
all that kind of stuff but i’ve also
been exercising my love
because we’re going to need a lot of it
in this season i totally agree i think
one of the things that’s helpful as well
because i found myself like
stretching myself to realize like
everyone doesn’t think the way that you
do they are just as passionate about
what they believe
as you are about what you believe so i’m
challenging myself to make space for
other people’s opinions and perspectives
but i’m also learning when i can’t be
exposed to everyone’s thoughts and
opinions
and i think that’s really important too
as we navigate social media
especially when we’re navigating
delicate issues
it’s coming to a place where we realize
until i come to a place where i feel
healed enough to allow for this exposure
then maybe i need to distance
my exposure to other people’s thoughts
and opinions
you know i took some time away from
social media last week just to kind of
like
collect myself and figure out how i was
feeling on the inside
and the moment i opened up social media
again i breathed in everyone’s pain
and trauma from you know the decision
that was made in the brianna taylor case
and i felt the weight of the world
but i can carry the weight of the world
when i’ve had an opportunity to be
strengthened within
my own meditation prayer and walk with
god so i think really be intentional
about soul care in this season because
this season is after your soul
it’s not just after your hope it’s not
just after you feeling good it’s after
your soul because from your soul as your
soul is prospering
you’re able to produce the types of
things that establish god’s kingdom and
allow us to go into dark places and
and to shed our light but it’s difficult
to do that when you’re constantly
exposing your soul and you brought up an
incredible point and this uh if there
were one take away we’re gonna get to
some questions in a little while
but if if you got nothing else out of
our conversation today
other than to take heat to your soul
in this season to take heat to your
spirit your mind
and your body in this season that will
be worth you know the half an hour we’re
going to spend here together because
it is so important there’s so many
assaults against the soul
you know one of the things that i’m
concerned about quite frankly is the
church
and uh and i am you know i was talking
to my staff here
uh last week and uh when we were
recording
and and i almost broke down uh in tears
i had to push it back because you know
you know crying and stuff like that but
but
um the disunity that’s happening in the
church
right now um over
political leanings and uh and and
cultural
um situations um
hurts um to see
leaders who once had sweet fellowship
around the gospel and sweet fellowship
around their mutual love for jesus
to see them now uh packing up their toys
and going to their own corners
watch this over an election uh
is disheartening um and
you know i’ve got a message to the
church you know there’s a passage of
scripture it talks about marriage or
whatever
it says what god has joined together let
not man put asunder
well i had a thought also what god has
joined together the church that god has
joined together
let not politics on election
divide and i think that if we
allow as the church if we allow our
differences
in opinion concerning candidates
concerning policy concerning anything
divide us as the the church that
that jesus set up the church that jesus
prayed that we would be one
if we allow that to happen we will have
completely missed god
and handed a victory over to satan
because a house divided against itself
can’t stand and let me say something i
talked about this last week if you
missed the message last week it was
called
a time to lean in i said this i said the
ecclesia the called out ones
i said not everyone in the ecclesia
votes the same way
because that is caesar’s business i i
am adamantly opposed to someone
telling someone that this is the only
way
to vote for god that is a lot i rebuke
it and i have friends who believe that
way and i love them
but i rebuke that notion because i can
tell you right now
i can see god in a lot of things
don’t make me i’m going to go there okay
there’s a passage of scripture
there’s a past of scripture uh in
matthew
23 where jesus is berating the pharisees
and the scribes those are the religious
people
and he says something powerful and he
basically talks about how
they have you know they got all the
religious stuff worked out but they
haven’t but they have neglected the
weightier matters of the law
and then he talks about what the
weightier matters of the law is and he
says the weighted matters of law
are first of all a justice
b mercy and that greek word literally
means compassion
and faith so so the weightier matters of
the law are
justice compassion
and faith this was out of jesus mouth as
he is
basically reprimanding the church so
whichever way you swing maybe you know
however you swing at the end of the day
no one has a corner on god’s way to vote
i rebuke that and i’ll tell anybody to
their face even the people that i love
dearly
and we’ll go have lunch after this but i
think that that is divisive
i think that it it it makes jesus
a democrat or a republican it makes god
a democrat or republican and let me tell
you something god is operating in a
frequency that is so much
higher than politics it literally is
insulting to the kingdom
to bring it down to such i love that you
went there
because this is an area where i find
myself
really challenged to grow because i i
heard what you said earlier about
sameness
and there not being division and the
church is really important
how do you think we can come to a place
where we can
not see someone’s difference of opinion
as an
assault against our identity or our
you know ability to grow or our
community’s ability to become better how
do we see that just as a difference of
opinion
you got to understand in the church even
in the bible and i’m going to go broader
in a minute but in the bible the
disciples weren’t in agreement about
everything
they were you know peter and them and
you know who should be
you know should the gentiles be
circumcised should they not be
circumcised can the gentiles be a part
of this thing or can not be a part of
these things the the the uh the
inconsistency the inconsistency of
agreement
in theology is as old as theology
there’s a passage of scripture where
jesus’s disciples went out
and they found some disciples out in the
field and and and jesus disciples the
ones that have been directly with jesus
were like hey y’all come with us
and they’re like no we’re good doing it
the way we’re doing it and then they go
back and they tell jesus
jesus you know there was some some
people and they didn’t come with us
should we command
fire to come down on them jesus says you
don’t know what type of spirit you are
so i think that first of all to
understand
that as the as the apostle paul said we
all are seeing in part no one is seeing
in completion we all are seeing in part
and we need as paul also talked about
all of the other parts
and all their perspectives so first of
all from the church’s perspective
if we understand that and we embrace
that that that
that my brother and my this is what
unites us what unites us
is we believe in jesus christ and him
crucified at the end of the day
that’s what is our bond not theology not
certainly not politics that is not what
binds us together
and so and then for me
i understand that you you may know what
a person did
but you don’t know why they did it you
may
know why a person may lean toward a
candidate that you don’t agree with
but you don’t know the reasons for us
and you’re not gonna get in any
candidate watch this
salvation and i was talking to my good
friend the other day
and one of the things that he said was
for anyone to say
that a political party or political
candidate
can save the nation is willfully
participating in idolatry
because the only one who can save a
nation is god
i love what you said there because it is
such a reminder to me
to assume a posture of humility
that i think sometimes i feel like
because i believe differently that i
believe
better than the other person does and so
because i’m better than you when it
comes to this issue i’m better than you
when it comes to that issue and i think
that it does puff me up with pride
and so to be able to have my belief
without feeling like my belief makes me
better than someone
is really important it’s really hard to
to have humility
you know when it comes to these
differences of opinions especially when
they’re so pivotal to what’s taking
place in the world but
i i get it i love that you’re right we
have to approach
everything humbly uh i’ve already picked
my candidate and i have my reasons for
it
but i don’t use my my my platform i
don’t use this
platform this this gospel
kingdom building platform to promote my
opinion i haven’t
i have i have my opinions and i have my
beliefs and i have my
my ideas about what this country needs
right um separate i’m talking about
politically
separate from what i know this country
in this world needs
and um i just uh you know i don’t want
to keep going back to it but i just i
just
i’m concerned about
christianity being hijacked and and i’m
concerned about that
and and i just just the hate and the
vitriol you know somebody the other day
um sent me a dm and uh
and essentially was mad because i talked
about
um i put a post the rams one
last weekend glory to god and uh
and i put a post up congratulating them
and it was also the same day
that two sheriff deputies in los angeles
were ambushed and got shot and so i also
put kind of a sub note in there and hey
you know praying for these deputies you
know and basically called it wrong or
whatever
and i don’t keep there’s certain posts
that i don’t keep up for a long time for
a number of reasons one if they don’t
get a lot of traction
there’s there’s no this if there’s a
real message in there that i want to get
out i need to get out another way so
i’ll delete the post
and so this individual and she with good
intentions and and she was polite and
everything
said you know you’re taking sides you
know why are you only one sided you post
about
you know ahmad arberry brian brianna
taylor and all these people and you’re
taking sides
what she didn’t know was that i actually
picked that issue back up
on sunday where there will be tens of
thousands of people watching and
experiencing it via youtube where i can
make a bigger impact
but people are so quick to to
judge you and to to label you and i
think to your point
uh humility has to say
and some people make it difficult for
you to say this i will admit
but humility has to say that
there is good in there somewhere and and
maybe i’m so consumed by
my disagreement or or my opinion about
that individual not
their action but their poli or their
policy but the individual
that i’m missing the good that could be
there the bible says esteem
others more highly than yourself it’s
hard to do let me tell you something all
the stuff i preach all the things i tell
you
i never ever once preached that it was
going to be easy
it’s hard but if we’re going to save
um the the if we’re going to be the
united states
then we’re going to have to definitely
demonstrate humility and think the
highest thought when it comes to others
i knew you were going to say that think
the highest thought thing that is
one of the greatest struggles but
necessary
uh components to really surviving these
this new normal i feel like in general
between the pandemic the racial unrest
politics
that idea of thinking the highest
thought when it feels like literally all
hell is breaking loose around us has
taken a toll on so many people’s
mental health it’s taken a toll on their
ability to show up
and really think that there’s still good
that can come out of this
and so i know one of the things that
i’ve been practicing once again
is like coming back within myself not
exposing myself to everyone’s thoughts
and opinions but also being really
really intentional about what is the
highest version of myself
i may not be able to control what’s
happening around me but if i can think
the highest thoughts when it comes to
myself then perhaps that can echo
throughout the world we’re in this new
normal we’re hoping to have an
echo of good things and positivity what
does thinking the highest thought look
like for you when all of this chaos has
taken place
you know i just think a negative thought
in a negative way doesn’t serve me
you know i got to tell you man this
country
over the past four years have
be has become
a negative nasty
divisive hateful country and people say
that you know what was always there is
come to the service you know i’ll give
you that that’s your opinion
but i think it’s worse i think i think
that
that some of the rhetoric that we’ve
seen in politics
and and some of the just the hate
that we’ve seen um in high places
at times
is not an unearthing entirely
i think it’s put something there because
i see people
who i’ve known that i’ve pastored
become the most negative nasty people
and look
i pastored you you should be doing all
right
but but have become the the most
negative
and the most hypocritical and the most
unreasonable people ever
and i’m concerned about that what
happened we’re not the united states we
we were we were
you know we had our issues we had our
divisions
but we were still the united states and
somehow some way
over the last four or five years we’ve
become the divided states of america and
i’m i’m i’m concerned about it
yeah i’m concerned too i think to your
point it was probably
you know i know a lot of people will say
it was always there
and so it has possibly been unearthed
but i also think that there’s an
element of validation that comes when
that that
which has been unearthed has been
validated from different places of
authority and position i think that that
can be challenging
and to constantly see it in the news and
play it out
over time it can be daunting to like i
said our mental health and stuff you
know what while you were speaking though
i was thinking about like all of these
headlines
all of these things that are so
discouraging and i was thinking to
myself i’m going to employ a new
practice and i want to invite you to
join me in employing this new practice
too
i’m going to create my own headlines i
think that there’s something to
looking at what god is doing in your
life because sometimes we look at the
world and we say you know what
there’s too much going on where is god
in the middle of this but if we took a
minute and looked at our own life to see
how
god is still providing to see how god is
allowing us to create and connect in
ways that maybe we would
not have done otherwise then we can see
god is still
in it and when we know god is in it then
we can trust that he’s going to see us
all the way through
but it might require we create our own
headlines to take our
attention back from what’s happening in
the news and what’s happening on social
media i’m not saying ignore it and don’t
pay attention to it
but i’m saying as loud as those things
are we should start making loud what god
has been doing
that has sustained us that has helped us
create and to really employ a new normal
because otherwise we are going to
continue to see and watch
other people’s narrative of what’s
happening in the world while ignoring
the transformation that could be taking
place in our life i completely agree
um i i couldn’t
agree more because if you’re not careful
you can be consumed with the moment
that’s going to come and go
yeah which is what what you’re saying
about politics at the end of the day
you know this is four years four years
is a long time we’re electing someone
for another four years which feels like
another long time but at the end of the
day to your point they’re not going to
be
in position forever which is why it’s
got to be what caesar’s versus what god
is doing in the earth
so to be consumed
is idolatry yeah to if all we’re doing
to your point if all we’re doing is
meditating on the pain and
meditating on the negative and
meditating on
the news how can we worship
so all of this all of this has affected
our ability to worship
and if we don’t worship we’re worshiping
something when we do that but if we
don’t worship god how can we get clarity
and if we don’t get clarity how can we
see
and and if we can’t see how will we know
what to do
and if we don’t know what to do then how
can we keep ourselves from being
controlled by others
and if we can’t keep ourselves from
being controlled by others
how can we keep ourselves from looking
up one day and be completely enslaved
i love what you said about worship it
just triggered for me how worship has
changed during 2020 and our ability to
have an encounter with god
and i think to your point you know we do
have to worship where we’re going to end
up worshiping what’s happening around us
and what’s taking place in this earth
but what i think it that 2020 has given
me as a gift
is a deeper connection with my own
ability to
tap in outside of the normal environment
that i’m used to
church has drastically changed you know
it is in our living room it is in our
kitchen and perhaps we talk about this
all the time
maybe that’s the way it should have
always been to begin with it wasn’t
necessarily about the big rooms and the
big buildings
but i think being intentional about our
worship life and
recognizing that whatever we’re paying
attention to is what we’re worshiping
so to shift our focus how has this new
normal with pastoring been for you
um you know it was i think it’s been
challenging just like
you know everyone else but i’ve been
more focused than i’ve ever been
my creativity for the kingdom and the
church
has gone to new heights um you know
the pandemic threw us lemons you know
the holy spirit said make lemonade
and we’ve made some pretty sweet
lemonade we’ve been able to reach more
people we’ve been able
to to feed more people um
you know because some of our expenses
went down
that were related to our facilities
we’ve been able to do
more financially and outreach and so i
think when
when the the numbers are all tallied in
and we look at
how we were able to do more in the midst
of the pandemic to help people more in a
time
when because of the pandemic they need
help all the more
um you know it’s making me rethink this
whole thing this whole model and so
you know for me you know to your point
i’ve had to exercise muscles that
sameness
uh would not allow me to exercise and so
you know i think i’ve become you know a
better leader i think i’ve become a lot
more focused see that that’s what i mean
like when you’re in a rhythm you don’t
have to focus all you got to focus on is
what you’ve always done but
but when god shakes your thing up and
you have to watch this focus
to see you know what i mean it’s like
like putting on binoculars or whatever
you use to focus and you got to just
keep
adjusting you know binoculars you got to
keep adjusting them to see
even as you move around i like that
because what that means is
because of this this this you know
traumatic and tragic year
my senses are better my focus is better
uh i think ultimately it’s made me a
better pastor
and there’s nothing like seeing people
who are coming to get the groceries who
are
showing up and able to serve and help
the community i think it has
empowered us to literally become the
church not just to have church but to
become the church
and i love the opportunity to think of
you say this all the time innovative
altruism
is that what you yeah that that term i
think has echoed so loudly
this year more than it has in any other
year because that
need has been highlighted and i think
you don’t know if you’re the church
until a need is highlighted and you’re
able to feel it
until then we are just having our
services and going out into our
respective worlds and doing what we feel
god has called us to do but when the
need is highlighted when god says hey
here are my people and they need help
and we have an opportunity to respond i
think that that has been
powerful to be a part of and so i thank
you i’m glad that you pivot quickly
because you were able to pivot quickly
we were able to help so many people
quickly as well
yeah i’m really uh it’s caused me to
rethink church
it really has uh because
there’s nothing that brings me more joy
than helping people
and and i got that from my mom my mom is
just like
she has a need to help people and and i
think i get that
uh from her and and then of course the
pandemic has brought these
new opportunities to help people i’m
saddened by the circumstances
that have created the need
for to receive help i’m saddened by that
but
but i’m also channeling that sadness
to stimulate my innovative you know
altruistic
uh personality and so um
and then how can you go back to that so
now you know
uh things go back to normal which is a
fallacy by the way
what is normal what will normal be uh
there is no such thing
as going back to normal it is about
embracing
new normals and future new normals uh i
think
that the god essentially
and we’re gonna get to questions in a
moment but god essentially
pause on how we were doing church
and and then pushed us
into this new way of doing church
anything that god
presses pause on
without our permission is something
that without him doing it we would have
continued in
even though it wasn’t effect
as effective as it could have been i
need to say that better
god essentially pushed pause on
something that we were weighing in too
high
on you track it with me because if it
was the most profitable thing the
all-knowing god would not have pressed
pause
so he pressed it so god press pause
press pause he points out that you think
it’s about buildings and crowds
and and and buildings are wonderful
we’ve done great things with our
buildings that’s that’s wonderful
but that’s not really what it is all
about i remember
you know i mean you know taking over
denver and getting this sprawling
you know 35 acre campus i mean it was a
you know a young pastor’s dream
you know uh to have you know buildings
but you know what
from the very beginning god told me that
it was never about big buildings it was
always about
building big people don’t big build a
big building big build a big people
now what if i had spent my entire life
building big buildings and put all of my
sense of value in the building
i drive right past my building today you
know and so
so i think that god disrupted
not that it was wrong but
he’s showing us i believe what’s most
important yeah
yeah i want to take some questions uh
and we got a few questions that came in
and i just want to want to take a few
uh before we pray close out and worship
um here’s one honey it says
how do you keep your head
during these times that’s a phenomenal
question
i think it goes back to what you just
said even about church i think that this
has
given us an opportunity to determine
what really matters
and i think that keeping my head for me
is coming down to what really matters
when it comes to church i’m a church
girl i’m used to being in church
all day on sunday and monday tuesday
wednesday thursday friday and saturday
for all of the other things
but keeping my head as it relates to
even this transition and my faith is to
your point it was never about that it
was about your relationship with god
so when it comes to my family when it
comes to my health the world has
drastically changed i’m not able to
connect with
my family in texas the way that i’m used
to but keeping my head says
what really matters is that you connect
in some way not necessarily the way that
you’re used to
and i have found that when i zoom out of
the picture and look at
what really matters that i’m able to say
you know what at the end of the day the
fact that you still have a parent to
call
in a pandemic where so many people have
lost their parents
means that you’re still doing okay the
fact that you still feel passionate
about what god has called you to do
means you’re still doing okay so it’s
almost like checking off these boxes
of what god is still doing in my life of
how i am developing
and growing and taking on new challenges
and overcoming that’s helping me see
that i’m making progress
even when the world is on pause because
the world is on pause
but just because the world is on pause
doesn’t mean that your growth and your
development
has to be on pause there’s still an
opportunity for us to grow and become
better and so assessing
instead of waiting for the world to pick
back up and go back to normal but to see
how can i progress
in this current condition has helped me
to keep my head
and carbs and carbs uh
yeah i i agree entirely i
totally agree i think for me keep in my
head you know what makes me lose my head
is fear
uh what makes me lose my head is uh
anxiety
and what makes me lose my head is
purposeless
right and so um so
in order to keep my head and i have to
rebuke fear
i have to rebuke the notion
that things are out of control right for
me
what would make me afraid is if i felt
like
something negative was out of control in
my life and there was nothing that i can
do about it well i don’t believe that i
believe that even in this
i talked about it last week jesus said
all these crazy things are going to
happen
he says but but don’t be troubled
the end is not yet it says and those who
endure to the end
shall be saved that means that there’s
an end right this is not my demise
and then it also says that and this
gospel the kingdom shall be preached to
all nations so in essence god is saying
i completely know what’s going on
a b i’m completely in control
see you can handle it and
d if you are in purpose which for me is
the kingdom
then while all those things are
happening you’re gonna see
glorious transformation take place so
so for me keeping my head is is is me
staying true to purpose right for me
purpose is like this
i don’t care i’m a navy seal when it
comes to purpose i don’t care
about the bombs going off over there
purpose is why i was born purpose is why
i was created purpose is why god put me
in my mother’s womb before he put me in
my mother’s womb it was purpose that put
me there
and and as long as i’m breathing there
will be purpose and as long as there is
purpose i will be fine
and so i think that it is being real
about moments of anxiety
and moments of fear and moments of
feeling loss
and recognizing that none of those
things are true
i am not lost god knows exactly where i
am i
the lord is my light and my salvation
whom shall i fear
right and and why be anxious he said be
anxious for nothing and so
i combat the the encroaching
uh debilitating army
of of pressure with the truth of god’s
word
and i’m self-aware enough to know when
enough is too much and i will retreat to
your point earlier and go get myself
some soul care
because the moment that i feel like i’m
losing my head means that somehow
i lost the truth and i’ll pull back i’ll
go
and pray i’ll go take a motorcycle ride
i’ll do something
to uh to remind myself to get back
to my foundation yeah that’s great
next question we’re almost out of time
here we can take
one or two more that’s a good one honey
what to do
when you feel stagnant or stuck
due to what’s going on that’s great i
have struggled with feeling that way i
think definitely because of my
personality type
where i like things to kind of stay the
same but one of the things that i’ve
been doing is realizing that i’m not
saying the smallest things brought me
joy when the pandemic first happened
i would get up and i would brush my
teeth and i’d be like the pandemic
hasn’t changed that i’m making dinner
the pandemic hasn’t changed
that to realize that even in the middle
of all of the things that are
changing and that can be traumatic to
look at look at and face every day
that there are some things that haven’t
changed and then to ask myself well what
are some areas where i still have
control that i would like to see change
within my person
within my spirit within my relationship
with god and realizing that you can be
an active participant in the
transformation that you want to see in
the world
sometimes we feel stuck because we feel
out of control
but if we serve a god who is in control
and understands the plans that he has
for our lives then we get to go to god
in prayer
and say god what can i do today that
helps me get one step closer to
fulfilling that plan what do i need to
deny myself today
to get me one step closer to fulfilling
the plan and i have found the more that
i activate that
the more hope and joy that i feel in the
middle of my world in spite of what’s
happening in the greater
scheme of things i love it and
everything she said i mean that she said
it all i would just uh put in two words
i think um
um discipline and consistency
uh and what i mean by that is that find
something stagnation
is the the opposite of movement and
and so if you start practicing movement
consistently then you get into the
rhythm you get into the rhythm of
progress
and so kind of to your point you know um
what little
thing can i do uh today
or every day that will create movement
right
it could be reading a book it could be
walking taking a short walk in the
neighborhood
it could be praying but something one of
the one of the ways that we get stagnant
oftentimes is because um this sort of
depression sets in
because we’ve been taken away from our
norm
and we don’t have any rhythm right and
so
start creating rhythms right what what
rhythm
can i create i just need to you know i
just need to get moving they talk about
how
you know people ought to just move
sometimes you don’t have to exercise
just move
you know walk up the steps and do it
consistently and i think that that
uh can help break the stagnation i want
to take one more question
oh they say the best question for last
let me let you read that because you
you’re closer to jesus than me
i’m i’m gonna read the question so you
can answer okay the question says
how would jesus respond if he was here
in this time wow
um would he flip over tables absolutely
absolutely i think that i’m going to
give
i think two things based on my
interpretation of scripture
and my relationship with jesus first and
foremost he would be
greatly grieved right because remember
he looked i believe it’s in matthew
chapter nine he looks out
into the crowd right let’s just call it
a crowd of protesters
let’s just call the crowd of protesters
and and
the ones protesting the protesters right
that’s everybody right that’s not
partisan okay he looked out there
and he saw a bunch of confusion all of
them
everybody was confused a little bit and
it says
he looked out there he said because they
were sheep
without a shepherd we need leadership in
this country
and the bible says he looked out at that
crowd
and he was moved with compassion
upon the whole crowd democrats wear that
crowd
republicans were in that crowd blacks
were in that crowd
whites were in that crowd heterosexuals
in that crowd
gay and transgender were in that crowd
everybody was in that crowd
and jesus’s response to all of that
confusion
and all of that that dysfunction
and all of that need
was not some of the things that we see
today
the bible says he was moved with
compassion
because they were scattered
like sheep without a shepherd
and he looks out and he keeps doing his
thing he’s only one person
he looks out and he says the harvest is
plenteous
but the laborers are few it was all
about the people
it’s all about the people it wasn’t
about policy it wasn’t about religion
it was about the people so one he would
be moved with compassion
and then two i think he would be
disappointed
with the disunity in the church
particularly
disunity around something
that will not save a nation i am all for
voting
absolutely i will be there ringing bells
and i will encourage everybody to vote
but one thing i know is that although
the right laws can
help in many ways i agree with that
but laws don’t change hearts and laws
don’t necessarily change minds
and laws do not advance the kingdom i
know that
and so i think that he would be
discouraged
at how we have allowed
and when i say we i’m talking about the
church we have allowed politics
to divide us
i think this is a good place to pray
i didn’t realize that hurt was in there
yeah
what i do know is that our country
needs a shepherd now the chief shepherd
we have and he is jesus
and we as pastors as pastors
have to shepherd people to the true
shepherd
i’m praying for this election
i’m praying for these times but more so
i’m praying for the church
i’m praying that we would rise above
petty politics
and petty division and set our eyes on
the kingdom
everything that can be shaken will be
shaken that’s
bible so that that which cannot be
shaken
can remain and he tells us what that is
that’s in hebrews
he says it’s the kingdom the kingdom is
the only thing that can’t be shaken
i pray that god would make some great
changes in our country
that we would have leadership that
reflect the heart of god
that reflect the weightier matters of
the law which is what jesus talked about
justice compassion
and faith but above all
i pray the same thing jesus prayed
that at the end of the day we would be
one and you know why jesus said it’s
important that we’re one
he says until we are one the world won’t
know
that he’s real and we have an
opportunity
despite of our differences and our
political leanings we have an
opportunity
to show a miracle to show a united
church
that differs in beliefs
as it pertains to politics and even some
religious things
and if we show it and if we show it well
i believe we’ll show the face of jesus
in difficult times this is my hope
honey can you pray for
anything that’s on your heart but our
country man for the people that are in
the streets i’m hurt
as as a black man as an african-american
man
i’m hurt over brianna taylor i’m hurt
over
a lot of things i’ve been my heart’s
been broken so much i can’t even believe
i still have
there have been so many pieces it’s just
the love of god holding it together
but pray for me pray for pastors pray
for the church
pray for the families of those who lost
loved ones pray for young people that
don’t know what to do with their hate
excuse me with their anger and some with
that anger turn hate
pray baby pray
[Music]
god your word says that you are near to
the brokenhearted
and without a doubt we are more
brokenhearted than we’ve ever been
father as we’re watching this message as
some are watching from home as they even
saw my husband
be vulnerable towards you father i feel
like that’s what you’re calling us to
to come to a place where we can be
honest and vulnerable about how we feel
so that you can be near
and so father i’m asking that you would
bring us all to the feet of jesus
that we would bring all of our opinions
and thoughts and hurts and emotions to
the feet of jesus
so that he could look at us with
compassion father and then transform us
into those who don’t mind being laborers
father i’m praying for your church
that you would give us unity like never
before that we would get back to the
heart of the matter god
that we would see that we were here to
bring souls back to you father that we
are the answer that when we stand up and
who we are called to be that we bring
hope to our criminal justice
justice system we bring hope to our
nation we bring hope to families we
bring hope
to those who are hurting and strung out
and homeless father we are the ones who
have the answers and so father
i’m asking that if you’re handing out
keys that you would bring them to those
who understand that this is the moment
for us to rise up
not shrink down father i’m praying for
those of us who are so
angry and so hurt because of everything
that we’ve seen displayed
father i ask that you would reach past
our hurt and our pain and that you would
remind us
that you have made us passionate so that
we can produce
change father we need our humility
we need to humble ourselves and pray so
that we can connect with you in a new
way
father we know that this moment did not
take you by surprise
you knew that we would all be in our
corners ready to
walk away and yet you have empowered us
to be alive in this moment give us
vision
that we may see the role that we are to
play
grant us humility father that we would
not puff up ourselves with what we think
is right but that we would rather make
room for all of us to be on a journey
growing and becoming better
and father i pray for our leadership not
just
political but for our church leaders for
my husband for my father for all of the
pastors
all around the world father who are
struggling who are struggling to know
what to say who are struggling to know
how to lead who are struggling
to lead us in the right direction father
i ask that you would light a fire a new
fire in them father
for the kingdom that the kingdom would
come and that it would never be
eradicated or
hijacked again father we ask all of
these things
in your son’s name because we know that
when we say it in the name of jesus that
where we lack he fills in the gap
father we ask that you would bless us
that you would heal us that you would
touch
us and that we would be like a city upon
a hill
father do it in jesus name amen
amen
you