Centered! -- Bishop Dale C. Bronner
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00:00This is Bishop Dale Broder. Thank you so much for joining our YouTube channel today.
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00:30Our scriptural text today is just one verse of scripture.
00:34It's not about how much you read. It's how far you go.
00:38It's about how deep you go, like when you go fishing.
00:41We're going deep sea fishing today.
00:44This is Psalm 118 and verse 8.
00:48This is the central verse of the whole Bible.
00:52It's the center, literally the center of the Bible.
00:55This is the center.
00:57It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
01:05It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
01:14So I'm speaking today from the subject centered, centered,
01:19because this literally is the central verse. It is the center of the whole Bible.
01:25Psalm 118 is the central chapter in the scriptures.
01:29There is an even number of chapters before this and an even number of chapters after this.
01:35In fact, Psalm 117 that precedes it is the shortest chapter in the whole Bible.
01:44And Psalm 119 that follows it is the longest chapter in the whole Bible.
01:51But here we are in the center of the book.
01:55And God hid for us a central message that ought never to be lost in Psalm 118 and verse 8.
02:06To trust. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
02:12And this is not gender specific. He's talking about mankind.
02:16In other words, human being.
02:19God allows us to see failure and frailty in human beings
02:25so that we do not put a trust and a confidence in another two-legged human being that only belongs to God.
02:33I mean you can think the world of your mama and your daddy
02:37and as you get older you begin to start seeing, you know, cracks in their armor.
02:42Anybody that you've ever said, you know, when a mother has a child
02:46she just thinks that her baby is just God's gift to the whole world.
02:49And after a while that baby will grow up and start saying something and give her some looks
02:54and leaving his or her room dirty and failing to take the trash out and to do some things.
02:59And the very child that brought you so much joy will let you down.
03:03And when the school has to call you and embarrass you
03:06and then now you've got to threaten the child, don't let the school call me again.
03:11And your lips boil up and you know.
03:15And this was the very child that brought you so much joy.
03:19And this is the only reason why God says put your trust in the Lord and not in man.
03:25Don't put your confidence in man but trust in the Lord.
03:28He says this at the center of the whole book and I don't know why
03:33but sometimes we think that some star has risen.
03:36There's going to be the game changer, the gift of the whole world
03:40only to discover that they are flawed.
03:43As we all are for all have sinned.
03:46All, all, A-double-L means to the exclusion of none.
03:50All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
03:55So God says listen, save yourself some disappointment.
03:59Nobody is disappointed by what they find in life.
04:02We're only disappointed by what we expect to find.
04:05And if you expect some man to be your answer
04:09and to never misstep, never do anything that defends you,
04:13to never, you know, fail to remember some important thing,
04:16to never talk to you in a tone that doesn't...
04:19Listen, grow up, grow up.
04:22If you think that this woman is God's gift to you
04:25and that she's all of this and she's just perfect, tread lightly.
04:33Because while she's beautiful and smiling here,
04:37the witch has a broom.
04:47It goes both ways. Listen, he's just saying listen,
04:50don't put your confidence in flesh.
04:53They have something that's going to rub you the wrong way.
04:56There's something that's going to say, oh, you know,
04:59there are certain things that I'm convinced
05:01that God will hide from you before you commit to a person
05:05because if you knew all of everything
05:08that you were going to discover ahead of time,
05:11there's no way you would sign up for it.
05:14So God hides certain things for your own protection.
05:18But just know, don't expect a human being
05:22to be God in your life.
05:24They will always let you down.
05:26They will always come short.
05:29They are not God.
05:31We are all flawed. We all have history.
05:34We've all had trauma.
05:36And we all are broken, but beautifully broken
05:39when we have submitted ourselves to Jesus Christ.
05:42Our love for people is not based on their perfection.
05:46It is based on the grace of God
05:49that enables us to be able to love them
05:51and see beyond their thoughts
05:53and see needs that we are beautifully
05:55and uniquely qualified to meet in them.
05:58So God has created us to be able to love
06:02and for people to love us.
06:05He's given someone, in spite of you, the grace.
06:09When God uniquely joins you together,
06:12God will give your real mate the grace
06:15to be able to handle your imperfections.
06:18They will have the grace to handle your imperfections.
06:22But we're talking about being centered,
06:25being centered in a way to where you realize
06:28that it is better to trust in the Lord
06:31than to put confidence in man.
06:35Can you imagine what Joseph felt like
06:38using his gift, his prophetic gift
06:41of the ability to interpret dreams
06:43in prison while he was in prison?
06:45And he interpreted a dream for both the butler
06:48who was in jail and the baker who was in jail.
06:51He interpreted both of their dreams
06:53and he said, listen, if y'all get out, tell them about me.
06:56He blessed them, he helped them.
06:59When they got out, they forgot about it.
07:02Well, of course, one was put to death
07:04because he was telling him, you know,
07:06that was the interpretation of his dream.
07:07Dude, you're going to die.
07:10But the other one, the prophetic message in the dream
07:13was you're going to be restored back to your position.
07:15And he says, when you do get back there, remember me.
07:18The man got back there.
07:20He had just bled him, he let him down.
07:22And he went some more years and forgot about him
07:24until the king had a haunting dream.
07:27And all of a sudden, this dude said,
07:29mm, that dude that interpreted the dream for me
07:33over there in cell D, in cell block D.
07:35He said, yeah, he...
07:39And so he told the king about the man
07:41and they said, go there and get him.
07:43And he changed his clothes.
07:45Isn't it amazing that when you've got a gift,
07:47God will create a problem in somebody
07:50who has the ability to bless you
07:52for where your gift is the answer to what they need.
07:59And so God still had him, his confidence.
08:02This man never became bitter.
08:04Joseph never became bitter.
08:07May I explain to you one of the main reasons
08:10that Joseph never became bitter
08:12is because when he was a child
08:14and God gave him that dream,
08:16God never showed him the trouble that he would go through.
08:19He only showed him the glory that he would go to,
08:22not the trouble that he would go through.
08:24He never showed him his brothers betraying him
08:27and plotting to kill him, putting him in a pit
08:30and then selling him into slavery.
08:32He never showed him part of his wife lying on him
08:34and winding him up in jail.
08:36He never showed him the pit.
08:38He never showed him the prison.
08:39He only showed him the palace.
08:41So one of the things that Joseph knew
08:44based on his dream is that it cannot stop here.
08:48Touch somebody and say it cannot end here.
08:51It cannot end here.
08:53Listen, God never ends on a negative.
08:55If you're in a down position, just realize God is not through.
08:58God is not through.
09:00He will, in his time, make all things beautiful.
09:03He has the ability to bring you beauty out of ashes.
09:07Somebody has had something that has burned to the ground,
09:10that has messed up, and you wonder, can I live again?
09:13Will I ever be able to rise again?
09:15I've lost everything that I have.
09:17Who am I talking to?
09:18But I'm just telling you, God will make you like the phoenix
09:21that rises up out of the ashes.
09:23Where he will, out of the ashes, he will bring beauty.
09:26Beauty out of your ashes.
09:28You're wondering, I've been set back by what happened in my life,
09:31but listen, it's not over.
09:34It's not over.
09:36It doesn't end here.
09:38It doesn't end here.
09:39You're in a pit.
09:40It doesn't end here.
09:42You're on lockdown.
09:43You can't move the way that you really would like to move.
09:46It doesn't end here.
09:48You're under a legal suit.
09:50Somebody has got you paying all kind of money that you can't afford.
09:53It doesn't end here.
09:56You've been diagnosed with a medical condition,
09:58and they don't really have a cure,
10:00and you're just living along, dealing with symptoms every day.
10:05It doesn't end here.
10:07It doesn't end here.
10:09It doesn't end here.
10:12Prophesy to yourself and trust in the Lord
10:17and do not put your confidence in man.
10:26We're talking about being centered.
10:28Being centered means being focused on principles of God's truth
10:33that guide our faith,
10:35that guide our ethics,
10:37that guide our morality,
10:39and it gives us meaning and context from the past.
10:44It will give you composure for the present,
10:47and it will give you courage for the future
10:50when you are centered on the principles of God's truth.
10:55Being centered is about being aware of what's happening around you,
11:00but more importantly, about being aware of what's happening in you.
11:05It is the thermostat of God's Word
11:07that helps you to keep your cool when you're in a hot situation.
11:11And so being centered means that you are able to stay cool, calm, and collected
11:16when you are being stressed out.
11:19And so it is God's way.
11:21It doesn't mean now that because you are centered and cool, calm, and collected,
11:25it doesn't mean that you're going to be happy all of the time
11:27and that you never get upset
11:29because the devil will always keep somebody in your world
11:32that knows how to push your buttons.
11:34I'm just saying somebody.
11:36And you know who that person is.
11:38You know who that person is that can just push your button
11:42and they can switch you on a dime.
11:44But the Bible says,
11:45Be angry and sin not.
11:47So see, you can have anger to come,
11:50but it doesn't have to stay.
11:52See, some people will make you mad as a six-shooter.
11:55I'm telling you, they will make you mad.
11:58And you'll get mad.
11:59Feel it and then let it go.
12:01Let it go.
12:02Don't let it spoil your day.
12:03Don't let it ruin your life.
12:04Listen, I absolutely refuse to let something that happens in two minutes
12:09ruin the rest of my day.
12:12Something that happens at the beginning of the week ruin my whole week.
12:16Something that happens at the beginning of the month ruin my whole month.
12:19I refuse absolutely to let one incident become the thing that will determine
12:24how the rest of my life will turn out.
12:27Yeah, I might have shot a bad shot getting started in the game,
12:30but that is not a prediction of how my game is going to end.
12:35That God has the ability to take even a bad shot.
12:38You can take what looks like a bad hand and God can give you wisdom
12:42to know how to play the bad hand.
12:44And you know you don't really have that much,
12:47but the confidence that you have.
12:49They don't know what's in your hand.
12:51And if you just act, sometimes just keep your mouth closed,
12:55they won't really know what you have and what you don't have.
12:59God will give you wisdom to say, hey, hey, hey, hey.
13:02And you don't want to do that.
13:04You ready to lose your money?
13:07And sometimes you've got to be ready to call a person's bluff
13:10by the confidence that God.
13:13Did you know what the word confidence means?
13:15It is the word confideo.
13:17It means with faith.
13:19It's not confidence in our own ability.
13:21It is our confidence that the God who called me,
13:24the one that gave me destiny, the one that gave me purpose,
13:27I'm doing this with faith.
13:29With faith. Confidence with faith.
13:32Confidence with faith.
13:34I'm able to speak with confidence because I have faith
13:37that God's word is greater than my thoughts.
13:40That God's word is greater than my emotions.
13:43That God's word is greater than any demon that is on assignment
13:47trying to derail what God is doing in my life.
13:50I believe God's word!
14:02It's amazing that the Bible says
14:05in Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2,
14:08revive us, O God, in the midst of the years.
14:12Revive your works, O Lord, in the midst of the years.
14:16You know what Habakkuk was asking God to do?
14:19When you say revive your works, revive means to live again.
14:22He's saying, God, do it again.
14:25Do it again.
14:27When my children were young, we'd throw them up in the air.
14:29They said, do it again, Daddy. Do it again.
14:31And they're just giggling and laughing.
14:33Do it again.
14:35But you know how do you throw up so many pounds so many times?
14:41Your muscles will burn out.
14:43I mean, I felt like I was in high-intensity interval training.
14:48And so they're like, do it again.
14:50And they're still laughing because they're not lifting the weight.
14:52You are.
14:54And isn't it amazing that as long as you're carrying all the weight,
14:56they're doing all the laughing.
14:58They're enjoying all of the fun, but you're carrying all the stress.
15:02Your muscles are being stressed out, and they're just looking at you, do it again.
15:06Because this is not cautioning them anything.
15:08They're enjoying the ride, and they're just saying, do it again.
15:11Habakkuk is in a situation now
15:14where they need this, like, I'm down right now,
15:18and I need you to give me a little lift up, God.
15:20And they said, revive us in the midst of the years.
15:23In the midst of the years.
15:25The midst of the years means the middle.
15:27It's what we call a midlife crisis.
15:30The American Psychological Association
15:33says that midlife crisis is experienced
15:37by adults between the age of 35 and 65 years old.
15:43You can have a midlife crisis.
15:45I know some people that have had a midlife crisis at 78.
15:48But you can have a midlife crisis normally between 35 and 65.
15:54A midlife crisis.
15:57Isn't it crazy that as soon as you get out in the middle,
16:01as soon as you've taken the loan, now you've opened a business,
16:04now you're in the middle of this thing.
16:06That's when the storm comes.
16:08Once you said, I do, in the marriage,
16:13once you're in the middle of it,
16:15you've already left the shore, the honeymoon is over.
16:18You're in the middle now.
16:20Now comes the storm.
16:22That's the time that you're going to need to say,
16:25Lord, do it again.
16:27My joy has run out, and I need you to, Lord, revive your works,
16:31the things that you do, your works that are redemptive,
16:35your works that are restorative,
16:37your works that are healing,
16:39your works that are directional, that are guiding.
16:41Lord, do it again.
16:43Make me laugh again.
16:45Make me, throw me up, lift me up out of this pit of depression.
16:48Lord, lift me up out of this stressful situation.
16:51Do it again. Do it again.
16:53That's all that he was saying, Habakkuk,
16:55was saying Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2.
16:57Revive thy works right in the middle of the years.
17:00You need a revival when you get in the middle of something
17:03because you've been doing it a while.
17:05You've been dog paddling out there in the water.
17:07As soon as you get out of the middle of it,
17:09you're too far to go back,
17:11and you can't rush to the other side.
17:13And now you're under stress and wondering,
17:16Lord, how can I make it?
17:18It is always, whenever you get stressed out,
17:21ask God to revive his works.
17:23Ask God to revive his works.
17:26I've been still praying to God regularly.
17:29Lamentations chapter 5 and verse 21.
17:32Turn us back to you, O God.
17:35Turn us back to you, O God.
17:37Renew us. Restore us, O God.
17:40Back in your ways.
17:42Lord, we need you to do this again.
17:44Our culture has gotten too far off center.
17:47Why is it that we've got to go extreme left or extreme right?
17:51Why can't we just be moderate
17:53and walk like we've got some sense
17:55and keep our head about us
17:57without acting like a bunch of animals and immature children?
18:01Name calling.
18:02Why can't we just grow up
18:05and be moderate
18:07and act like we have some temperance
18:09and be centered
18:11instead of driven by extremes?
18:14Extremes do not give you a proper picture of reality.
18:19And it's so deceptive when somebody shows you a product
18:22and then they'll show somebody that had exceptional results,
18:26giving you the impression that if you take it for two weeks,
18:29you're going to look just like that.
18:32But that was an extreme case.
18:35And those are not typical results.
18:37And then when you do it,
18:39again, that's why he said,
18:41don't put your confidence in man,
18:43because they will lie to you
18:44and make you think that this is going to happen.
18:46You take this pill and you can still eat what you want to eat
18:48and still be healthy and look fine.
18:50No.
18:52Your sugar is going to be high.
18:54Your blood pressure is going to be nearly at stroke level.
18:56You better ask God to revive His works
19:00in the midst of the years.
19:01Lord, take me back to Whole Foods.
19:09It's amazing.
19:11But he reminds us here,
19:13whenever you begin to feel the symptoms of a midlife crisis,
19:18go back to the center of the Bible,
19:20Psalm 118 and verse 8.
19:23It is better to trust in the Lord
19:26than to put confidence in man.
19:29It is better, it is better, it is better
19:33to trust in the Lord
19:35than to put confidence in human beings.
19:38And listen, our trust in God
19:41is based on and backed by God's character,
19:45and that gives us hope.
19:47Hope is the anchor of our soul
19:51because it keeps us from drifting.
19:54You need an anchor.
19:56Hope is the anchor of our soul.
19:58Trust is based on and backed by God's character.
20:03You can't trust people whose character you don't know.
20:06Trust is based on and backed by character
20:10and that gives us hope.
20:12And hope is the anchor of our soul
20:14and it keeps us from drifting.
20:16If you'll notice Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18 and 19,
20:20so God has given both His promise and His oath.
20:24This is why we can trust God.
20:26You can trust God.
20:27He's given us His promise and His oath.
20:30And these two things are unchangeable
20:33because it is impossible, it is impossible,
20:37it is impossible for God to lie.
20:40It is impossible for God to lie.
20:42If God has told you something,
20:44it's impossible for God to lie.
20:46He can't lie in His Word and He won't lie to you.
20:49Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge
20:53can have great confidence
20:56as we hold to the hope that lies before us.
21:00This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.
21:05It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary.
21:10You see, you can trust God
21:12because you can trust His character.
21:14His character is stable.
21:16God has a history.
21:17You can never go back and find an instance
21:20in His history book where God failed.
21:23Man has failed that He gave an assignment to,
21:27but God has never failed.
21:29God never fails.
21:32God has never lied.
21:34He will speak something and if it were not so,
21:37it would become created
21:38because God's Word cannot return void,
21:41but it will prosper in the things whereto He sent it
21:44and accomplish that which He pleases.
21:47It's amazing that this is a power that belongs only to God.
21:52And the moment that human beings begin to take on
21:56the kind of God authority that God reserves for Himself,
22:00corruption sets in.
22:02You see, power tends to corrupt
22:05and absolute power corrupts absolutely
22:08is what Lord Acton said.
22:10He's an English historian.
22:12As he wrote this to a bishop many years ago
22:16and he said especially concerning the popes
22:19and he noticed that these people that had absolute power,
22:23it corrupted them absolutely
22:25because it put them in a place of God.
22:28And the Bible says, you know,
22:30trust in the Lord,
22:31but no confidence in flesh, in humanity.
22:35And I'm telling you,
22:36the greatest curse in our world today
22:39is egotistical and egocentric leaders
22:44who are in a position and they use their power
22:47to get people to serve them
22:49instead of using the power to be able to serve the people.
22:53Leadership is about servanthood.
22:56You want to be the greatest of all,
22:57become the servant of all.
22:59And so we serve them.
23:01We bring something to them that adds value into their life.
23:04And so we're supposed to be rooted and grounded
23:07and centered in Jesus Christ.
23:10He's the one who anchors us
23:12and that's supposed to be evidenced
23:14by our humility and by our love.
23:17That's how you know that a person is anchored in God.
23:20It bothers me when I see people preaching righteousness
23:24and it seems like they are angry.
23:28It seems like they don't have any love in their heart.
23:32And I'm telling you, people are drawn to the light,
23:36but they will stay where the love is.
23:40See, light is attractive.
23:42I mean, it'll draw you.
23:44And it's not merely the light that actually keeps them.
23:49The light draws them, but it's actually not merely the light,
23:54but it's the warmth that the light gives off,
23:58which is a symbol of the presence of love.
24:01And if you have nothing but revelation but no love,
24:05if you have nothing but law but no love,
24:09if you have nothing but rules and regulation but no love,
24:13if you have nothing but contractual stipulations
24:16but no love,
24:18it makes the relationship seem very contractual.
24:22And God says, I want you to choose to love me.
24:25I don't want you to love me because of what I have,
24:28because of my bank, and because I can bless you and heal you.
24:31I want you to love me for me.
24:34Just like he said, I love you for you,
24:36God loved us while we were unlovable.
24:39He loved us. He made an investment.
24:41It wasn't because of what we could do for him.
24:44God loved us because that's who he is.
24:47God is love, 1 John 4, 8.
24:50But notice Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14 through 19.
24:54Notice the apostle Paul writing to the church at Ephesus
24:56and says that when I think of all of this,
24:58he said, I fall on my knees and pray to the Father,
25:00the creator of everything in heaven and on earth,
25:02and I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources,
25:06and you see that God has unlimited resources,
25:09he will empower you.
25:11He will never run out.
25:13He will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
25:17God says, I got the power you need.
25:19You plug into me, and God says, I'll charge you up.
25:22I'll charge you up, but here's the key.
25:24If you really want to plug into God's power,
25:26you got to unplug from the world.
25:29The more you stay plugged into social media and to television
25:32and all of this junk and hype and the politics,
25:35he says unplug, the way to recharge with God
25:38is to unplug from the stuff that saps your energy.
25:41All of these energy drainers, and you got to get something
25:43that becomes a fountain of life in your life
25:46and starts pouring into you.
25:48He says unplug from that, and then, you know,
25:50you'll find your strength.
25:52God will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.
25:54And verse 17 says,
25:56then Christ will make his home in your hearts
25:58as you trust in him.
26:01And notice what he says,
26:03your roots will grow down into God's love
26:06and keep you strong.
26:08I'm going to get you grounded and centered.
26:10And may you have the power to understand
26:12as all God's people should
26:14how wide, how long, how high,
26:16and how deep his love is.
26:19And he said, may you experience the love of Christ
26:21though it is too great to understand fully.
26:24Then you will be made complete
26:26with all the fullness of life
26:28and the power that comes from God.
26:31This is why we've sang the song today,
26:34Jesus, you're the center of my joy.
26:37I want to be centered in you.
26:39I want to be centered.
26:40Jesus, you are the center.
26:42You are the center.
26:43You got to be the center of my heart.
26:45You got to be the center of my affections.
26:47You got to be the center of my marriage.
26:49You got to be the center of my family.
26:51Jesus, you got to be the center of my business.
26:53This thing is centered on you
26:55and on your principles and on your word.
26:57And it's amazing that sometimes
26:59when you get centered on God,
27:01most people will think then
27:02that you are in some way radical.
27:05The word radical comes from a word called radicalis.
27:10Radicalis literally means rooted.
27:15It literally means rooted.
27:17Anytime that you get rooted in God,
27:20you will begin to produce radical fruit.
27:25When you are rooted,
27:27God will make sure that you are fruited.
27:30See, that's the sign that I'm plugged into God,
27:34that if God is love,
27:36and if I'm rooted in God,
27:37then I am a loved person
27:39and people ought to be able to feel His love
27:41bearing fruit through my life.
27:45See, if there is no love, there is no God.
27:47I've got to be able to see the fruit of my Father
27:50who is love.
27:52If you're rooted in Him,
27:54if you're grounded in Him,
27:56the depths, the height, the width of life,
27:59all of that rooted and grounded,
28:01if I am centered in that,
28:03it is God's love that keeps us centered.
28:06When you become profit-driven instead of love-driven,
28:10you will lose your balance.
28:14You will come off balance,
28:16and so He's calling us to be centered,
28:18to be centered, to be centered
28:20on the things that are about love.
28:22So He's centering us.
28:24He's calling us simply to be centered.
28:27The early Christians were called radical
28:30only because they were just obeying what the Bible said.
28:32They were not extreme.
28:34They were just doing what the Word said,
28:36and because of other people who are marginalized
28:39and who are lukewarm,
28:40see somebody doing the Bible,
28:42and all of a sudden, they call you radical.
28:45Radical means rooted.
28:47It doesn't mean wild and ungrounded.
28:49It means that because I understand this truth
28:52of what God says, my soul has been set on fire,
28:55and now I am producing a fruit of love in my life
28:59because I am rooted and grounded in Him.
29:02Remember now, He said,
29:04it's better to trust in the Lord
29:08than to put confidence in human beings.
29:11Remember this very familiar passage,
29:14Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 and 6,
29:16trust in the Lord with all your heart
29:19and do not lean to your own understanding
29:22because you don't understand everything.
29:24You don't know the background.
29:25You don't know the back story.
29:26You don't know what this person has been through.
29:28You don't know what they overcame.
29:30How dare you try to judge somebody
29:32when you don't know their story?
29:34Don't lean to your own understanding.
29:36In all of your ways, acknowledge Him that,
29:38hey, that if it were not for the grace of God,
29:40that could have been me.
29:41How dare you judge somebody else?
29:43In all of your ways, acknowledge Him,
29:45and He will make your path straight.
29:49We are called to be centered.
29:51Even in the Old Testament,
29:52you'll discover that God's pattern for His people
29:55was for their lives to be centered around Him.
29:58I want you to notice what the Bible says.
29:59You want to get the pattern of God,
30:01go back to the Old Testament
30:02where God put it into position.
30:05Numbers chapter 2, notice verse 1 and 2.
30:07It says,
30:08God gave these instructions to Moses and Aaron.
30:10He says,
30:11When the Israelites set up camp,
30:12each tribe will be assigned its own area.
30:16The tribal divisions will camp
30:18beneath their family banners
30:21on all four sides of the tabernacle.
30:24How many sides?
30:25Four sides of the tabernacle,
30:27on every side,
30:28but at some distance from it.
30:31See, this is about organization and orderliness.
30:35It's for God's people
30:37because God's, the tabernacle of Moses,
30:41which was in the wilderness,
30:43it was God's tabernacle
30:45and it represented His physical presence
30:48among His people in the earth,
30:51which was about His,
30:52for His direction and God's will.
30:54Let me give you a little picture of that
30:55to show you what the tabernacle of Moses looked like.
30:58Take a look at that.
30:59You see in the center where that smoke is coming up,
31:01that's the tabernacle of Moses.
31:03That's the tabernacle.
31:04And all around it,
31:05remember He said on four sides,
31:07on the north, the south, the east, and the west.
31:09If you will notice,
31:10He said they were to be lined up
31:12according to the families.
31:13You see the families,
31:14Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun on one side,
31:17Dan, Asher, Naphtali on the other side,
31:19Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin on the other side,
31:22and Reuben, Simeon, and Gad on the other side.
31:25Close around,
31:26the only tribe that was left out
31:27is the tribe of Levi.
31:29But those are the ones
31:30that are centered directly around
31:33because they were the Levitical priesthood.
31:35So they were assigned to take care
31:37of the tabernacle of Moses.
31:39They were the closest to the tabernacle.
31:42So all of the people,
31:43this is what city planning looked like
31:46from a godly perspective.
31:48That God put His tabernacle
31:50in the front of everything
31:52so that when they got up in the morning,
31:55they were all facing the tabernacle of God.
31:58Every tribe,
31:59standing with their family,
32:00rooted and grounded.
32:01They were centered on the tabernacle of God.
32:05It was at the center of the city.
32:07That was the center of the city
32:09when they went to bed at night.
32:11It was the last thing that they looked at
32:13because they were centered on it.
32:15Everything God wanted the tabernacle
32:18to be in the center of their thoughts.
32:20He's like, you know,
32:21because out of sight, out of mind.
32:23And now if you'll think about
32:25how our cities are arranged,
32:27you go to small towns,
32:29and at the center of that little town
32:31is City Hall.
32:33And City Hall is surrounded by other little stores.
32:36It's by retail stores.
32:38And there they are.
32:40It's political power.
32:42City Hall is a picture of political power.
32:45And the stores, the retail stores,
32:47is a symbol of economic power.
32:50It's not that either one of them is evil.
32:52They are necessary.
32:54But when you put them at the center,
32:58it says something about their preeminence,
33:01their focus, their importance.
33:03And now the tabernacle has been pushed to the suburbs
33:08outside of the view of the people.
33:10So they are not waking up
33:12and thinking about the tabernacle.
33:14They're not going to bed and thinking about the tabernacle.
33:16Now God is out of sight and out of mind
33:20because they took their focus off of Him.
33:23And He said, listen,
33:24I want to stay in the center of the focal point of My people.
33:28I want them to think about Me.
33:30They can't go to work without having to think about My temple.
33:33I want them to realize that My presence is with them
33:36in their community, with their families.
33:38How are you going to get crazy
33:40as a single person
33:42because you're centered in a family?
33:44He said get under the family banner.
33:47It's hard to lose your mind
33:49when you're still there centered with your family.
33:52It's easy.
33:53Some of y'all came from the backwoods of Mississippi and Alabama
33:56and down in Georgia.
33:58I'm in some real places in the country,
34:00in Tennessee and South Carolina and North Carolina.
34:02And you know some backwoods
34:04that you're almost embarrassed your town is so small
34:06you got to tell them that you're from the county.
34:09I'm talking about when you're from the sticks,
34:12back in the boondocks.
34:14You know, you out there in the...
34:16You know, when you didn't have any services that came out there.
34:19And when you're from these kind of places,
34:22you had family though
34:24that kept you rooted and grounded.
34:26And you didn't go wild and out
34:28because you knew mom and daddy were around the corner.
34:30And big mama and auntie.
34:32And they would use anybody in the family
34:34to discipline you and then call your mama.
34:36And then your mama would beat you
34:38and say wait till your daddy gets here.
34:40And it was that community.
34:42He said that's why you have to be centered
34:44with your family. It's hard to go crazy
34:46when you got a family
34:48that's holding you accountable and keeping you grounded
34:50and reminding you
34:52of the heritage of who you are.
34:54They've got a community down in Africa
34:56and that whenever somebody misbehaves
34:58and breaks the law,
35:00all of the elders from the tribe,
35:02they will come there with the person
35:04and they will speak to that person
35:06about their destiny and about their history
35:08of where they came from
35:10and remind this person of who they are.
35:12So once they have misbehaved,
35:14now they break that pattern.
35:16They center that person in sobriety
35:18of thought and the principles
35:20of who God has really made them
35:22and called them to be to remind them
35:24you're not out here acting as a silo.
35:26You're a part of a family.
35:28You gotta go and make your family proud.
35:30This is not just about you.
35:32We're in too much of a selfie generation
35:34where they're looking at themselves
35:36and now you came in the suburb
35:38in the country. Now you done moved
35:40to New York. You moved to Chicago.
35:42You moved to Philadelphia.
35:44You moved to Dallas.
35:46You moved to Los Angeles and you done
35:48lost your mind
35:50because you disconnected from the people
35:52that remind you of who you really are.
35:54No wonder
35:56identity is confused.
35:58You need to be with somebody
36:00that understands the heritage
36:02that through many dangerous toils and snares
36:04I have already come.
36:06That you are not here by yourself.
36:08If you went to school, it's because somebody
36:10sacrificed to be able to help
36:12you to get to where you got to
36:14and they didn't want you to get some education
36:16and then lose your mind
36:18and get off centered from the
36:20God of our fathers that brought your
36:22mama and your daddy, your grandmama,
36:24your great granddaddy. When they
36:26didn't have education, they realized
36:28God helped us. He kept food
36:30on the table. He kept the lights on.
36:32He kept water.
36:34He healed us when we got sick.
36:36They may have been home remedies, but we
36:38made it. We made it. We made it.
36:40You gotta have somebody that
36:42reminds you you got too much heritage
36:44in you for you to die
36:46like this with crack going up in your
36:48nose and in your veins.
36:50You got too much destiny to be
36:52snorting something up and to be
36:54drunk out of your mind. Who remind
36:56you that centers you
36:58and calls you back in the
37:00name of Jesus to say
37:02you are better than this. You are better than
37:04that. This is who you
37:06are grounded,
37:08centered in the love of
37:10Jesus Christ.
37:24I remind you of this, that the farther
37:26that we move from the center,
37:28the more we lose consciousness
37:30of the values and the virtues
37:32of the center, which is the heart
37:34of the matter. The farther
37:36that you move from the center,
37:38the more you lose consciousness of the values
37:40and the virtues of the center.
37:42That's why God says, turn your attention back to me.
37:44Make Jesus the center.
37:46Make Jesus to be Christ-centric,
37:48Christ-centric, Christ-centric,
37:50Christ-centric.
37:52I love the words of G.K. Chesterton.
37:54He says, do not
37:56remove a fence until you know why it was
37:58put up in the first place.
38:00Don't change stuff that you don't understand.
38:04Seek to understand
38:06why it was put up. Maybe there's
38:08a reason that there's a fence there. There could be bad
38:10dogs behind it. It could be some
38:12poisonous snakes behind it. It could be
38:14poisonous plants behind it.
38:16Maybe you need, before you try to just take down
38:18the fence to do something that's cute,
38:20you better ask Grandpa,
38:22why is this fence up there?
38:24Because there's a story to it.
38:26You may not know the story,
38:28but it can become great danger to your life
38:30for you to pull down something
38:32that's designed for your protection.
38:34See,
38:36if you don't understand it, you will think that this
38:38is prohibiting me, but God says, no, no,
38:40I'm protecting you.
38:42I'm protecting you. I am
38:44protecting you. And I want
38:46you to notice
38:48the premium benefit
38:50of remaining centered
38:52on the Lord. Isaiah chapter
38:5426 and verse 3 and 4.
38:56You will keep in
38:58perfect peace all
39:00who trust in you. Remember, trust
39:02in the Lord. Don't put your
39:04confidence in man. You will keep
39:06in perfect peace
39:08all who trust in you,
39:10all whose thoughts are
39:12fixed on you.
39:14Trust in the Lord always
39:16for the Lord God is the
39:18eternal rock.
39:20There's something about trusting in
39:22God that shifts
39:24your perspective and brings in
39:26the peace. And there are too many people
39:28that are looking for peace in a bottle and peace
39:30at the ranch and peace
39:32through some deviant
39:34forms of pleasure. They are
39:36looking for peace.
39:38The Bible says you'll get this peace
39:40when you put your trust
39:42in God. And it's a peace
39:44that will last. He will keep
39:46you in perfect
39:48peace
39:50whose minds are
39:52stayed on the Lord, who trust in you,
39:54whose thoughts
39:56are fixed on you, who keep your mind on
39:58Jesus. Keep your mind
40:00centered on Jesus.
40:02Because I will say this to you that when self
40:04becomes the center instead of
40:06Jesus, implosion becomes
40:08inevitable. You will collapse
40:10from the inside. Whenever
40:12self becomes the center
40:14instead of Jesus, implosion
40:16becomes inevitable. You
40:18will implode. And I want you to
40:20notice what John the Baptist said in St. John
40:22chapter 3 and verse 30. He must
40:24increase. Jesus must become
40:26more important while I become
40:28less important. The King James Version said
40:30He must increase as I must decrease.
40:32He must increase as I
40:34must decrease. He must increase as I
40:36must decrease. That's the way
40:38it works. That's the way it
40:40works. He must increase.
40:42I must decrease.
40:44And so
40:46as God anchors
40:48us, as He centers us, we're
40:50saying God more of you, less of me.
40:52More of you. I want to focus on
40:54you. I want to focus on
40:56you.
40:58It reminds me of
41:00when you really have your life focused on
41:02Jesus, centered by
41:04Him. This doesn't
41:06mean that you're a fanatic, but it means
41:08that I'm centered, I'm grounded, I'm rooted in love.
41:12Reminds me of the words
41:14of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that said that your life
41:16as a Christian should
41:18make non-believers question their
41:20disbelief in God.
41:22You ought to live in such a way that they
41:24say, you know what, only God, there must be a God if you did
41:26this.
41:28People ought to be able to look at your resume and say, you know
41:30what, it wasn't because you went to the right schools, because you had
41:32all the right education, because you had enough to
41:34collateralize this loan. I don't know why
41:36sometimes God will bless you and these people will say, I don't know why
41:38I'm doing this for you.
41:40Because based on your credit score, I shouldn't
41:42be.
41:44And it is God's way of
41:46saying that you ought to be able to live your life as a Christian
41:48so that non-believers
41:50will question their disbelief in God.
41:52They better say, you know, I mean, where God
41:54wants to be able to bless you in such a way
41:56where there's no human
41:58explanation as to how you were able to do this,
42:00when they look at your life, they got to say
42:02but God. There must be a God.
42:04If this, if
42:06so-and-so did this,
42:08there must be a God.
42:10There must be a God.
42:14You ought to live in such a way, let your light
42:16shine in such a way
42:18that people know that
42:20this must be God, this must be God.
42:22You see, ego
42:24is self-centeredness, but we are
42:26called to be Christ-centered.
42:28And I want you to,
42:30if you have ever questioned something,
42:32always go right to the center of it, just like
42:34we went right to the center of the Bible and we saw
42:36the message that it said.
42:38Put your trust in God and not
42:40confidence, have no confidence in
42:42man, in humanity.
42:44But if you'll look at certain things
42:46and go right to the middle, you'll see where the problem is.
42:48I want you to write down a few words.
42:50The first one is
42:52sin, S-I-N. Look what's
42:54in the middle.
42:56You notice that?
42:58Notice this.
43:00Write down the word lie,
43:02L-I-E. Notice
43:04what's in the middle of every lie.
43:06You're trying to cover your own
43:08behind.
43:10When you start lying, it's so you can keep
43:12yourself out of trouble.
43:14Isn't that amazing?
43:16So he's
43:18trying to tell us something.
43:20Write the word obedience,
43:22O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E.
43:24Right
43:26smack in the middle is the word I.
43:28And then if you'll look
43:30at all three letters that's
43:32in the center, it's the word D-I-E.
43:34You can't walk
43:36in obedience to God until you die to yourself.
43:38There's
43:40an I right in the center, but D-I-E.
43:42You have to die
43:44in order to walk,
43:46you have to die to yourself in order to walk in obedience
43:48to God.
43:50Then write this word down, pride.
43:52P-R-I-D-E right in the center.
43:54I is right in the middle of pride.
43:56Notice that. Notice that.
43:58And then write this
44:00word down, guilt.
44:02G-U-I-L-T.
44:04I is right in the middle of guilt.
44:06And guilt is based on guile.
44:08You know what guile is? G-U-I-L-E.
44:10I is right in the center.
44:12Guile is deceit.
44:16It is dishonesty.
44:18It is the opposite of
44:20integrity.
44:22So when you have guile
44:24live by deceit and
44:26dishonesty,
44:28it will put you in guilt.
44:30G-U-I-L-T.
44:32I is right in the center
44:34of these things, and if you ever
44:36want to break some of these
44:38issues that hold you bondage,
44:40you've got to die to yourself.
44:42Take I
44:44out of it. Lay I on the
44:46altar. Present your bodies, the living
44:48sacrifice, holy and
44:50acceptable unto God, which is your
44:52reasonable service, spiritual worship.
44:54Give it to God. Die to
44:56yourself. Lay it down.
44:58Then God can help you. Then
45:00God can help you. So He's just
45:02telling us. He's walking us here
45:04through a process.
45:06I want you to realize that you have to
45:08be very, very careful about what
45:10or who gets you off center.
45:14You can have a person that's
45:16working on their schooling
45:18and all of a sudden they meet somebody and all of a
45:20sudden now they're off center
45:24because somebody came in as a distraction.
45:26Galatians chapter
45:285 and verse 7 says this.
45:30You were doing so well until
45:32someone made you turn
45:34from the truth.
45:36I bet every time that you got
45:38off track and start doing some crazy stuff,
45:40you can always trace it back. You know who
45:42that joker was. You know who that girl was.
45:44You know it can always
45:46be traced back to a
45:48who. That you were
45:50doing so well until
45:52someone made you turn
45:54from the truth. And listen,
45:56you are so prone
45:58to consume
46:00lies whenever your
46:02heart is hungry.
46:04I cannot tell you the number
46:06of
46:08women that I have seen
46:10deceived by the devil
46:12because she had
46:14her career on track. She had her own
46:16house. She had her own car, her own
46:18clothes, her own jewelry. She could fly
46:20and take herself places. She was
46:22living large.
46:24And then the devil
46:26called in agent 54.
46:28Her heart
46:32was hungry. She had a house.
46:34But it wasn't a home.
46:36Her heart was hungry.
46:38Her heart was hungry.
46:40Women of destiny.
46:42Women of purpose. But if you
46:44got a hungry heart,
46:46it's the same slew foot.
46:48Let me holler at you.
46:50That got
46:52her off center.
46:54If your heart is hungry,
46:56it's easy to be
46:58led away. And that's why
47:00you got to be rooted
47:02and grounded.
47:04And see, that can happen
47:06when you are disconnected
47:08from your family
47:10that is centered around the presence
47:12of God.
47:14Because once you fall in love and you all,
47:16you can't see the trees for looking at the forest.
47:18Big mama
47:20ain't in love like that.
47:22And
47:24they can see more than what you realize.
47:26And when you go to see them,
47:28they may not have been on FaceTime
47:30with you. You may not have been on a telephone.
47:32But there's some kind of way that God gives
47:34them an ability to be able to just look at you
47:36and tell you, baby, something about you ain't right.
47:40They can look at you and tell when your life
47:42is off kilter. They can look at
47:44you and tell when you're not eating. Something's worrying you, baby.
47:46Something in
47:48your life is not good.
47:50They didn't have to see the freakish stuff you were doing.
47:52They can sense it.
47:54You got a certain age.
47:56You don't have to see what you can
47:58sense.
48:02One day
48:04when our dog was in the house
48:06and he had done number two somewhere,
48:08I didn't know
48:10where it was.
48:12I couldn't see it, but I could
48:14sense it.
48:16And sometimes God will give
48:18people that have a little age
48:20on them some discernment
48:22to be able to sense. And they know
48:24when you're under stress and you're
48:26not looking like yourself.
48:28You're looking in the mirror. You got your eyelashes
48:30on, your weave on and everything. You think
48:32you're looking. Your lipstick is popping.
48:34Your face is beat. You think you're
48:36doing it. And you go home
48:38and they say, baby, you know
48:40you can talk to mama.
48:44They can sense something
48:46that they may not be able to see.
48:48But God gives them an ability
48:50to be able to help to center us.
48:52Thank God. That's why he put them in
48:54families. The Bible said in Psalm 68
48:56that God sets the solitaire,
48:58the single person, in families.
49:00It's to give them accountability
49:02and stability in their life.
49:04Stability. It doesn't mean
49:06that everybody needs to be married, but it
49:08does mean that everybody needs to be connected to a family.
49:10Because
49:12through Abraham
49:14shall all of the
49:16families of the earth be
49:18blessed. You don't have to be married
49:20and have a boatload of children, but you
49:22do need to be connected to a family.
49:24God will graft you
49:26in. And somebody will bring
49:28you in and treat you like you
49:30were born there, that you were raised there
49:32and love you and build you
49:34and pour into you and help you.
49:36But we need to shift
49:38from being egocentric to being
49:40God-centric. And here is
49:42what God-centric people ask
49:44when they're in a situation, here's what God-centric
49:46people ask.
49:48They ask this question, how will this make
49:50God feel? If I do this,
49:52how will this make God feel?
49:54They ask, what does God
49:56want me to do in this situation?
49:58What does God want me to do
50:00in this situation? They ask,
50:02how can God be glorified
50:04through what has happened? Something bad happens?
50:06Ask, how can God be
50:08glorified through what has
50:10happened? Then they ask this,
50:12how do I serve God in my
50:14current position? I may not
50:16be where I want to be, but how can I serve God
50:18in my current position?
50:20They ask this question,
50:22how does this affect what God wants
50:24to do in and through my life?
50:26Whatever has happened, how does
50:28this affect what God wants to do in
50:30and through my life? They ask
50:32this question, what would Jesus do?
50:34What would Jesus do?
50:36And then they ask this question, what does
50:38God's words say about this?
50:40I'd encourage you to screenshot
50:42that and just rehearse
50:44these questions in your
50:46minds because when you ask the right
50:48questions, the right questions can
50:50help bring clarity to confusion.
50:52They can help clarify
50:54what's really important
50:56at a certain time. Ask questions
50:58that put you back
51:00in a biblical lens to be able
51:02to see this thing through the Word of God
51:04and from God's perspective.
51:06When your life is centered on Jesus
51:08Christ,
51:10it allows you to be able to remain
51:12under the cloud of God's glory.
51:14When you, like the children of Israel coming
51:16out of Egypt, they were under
51:18God's cloud, the pillar of cloud
51:20by day and the pillar of fire by night.
51:22Two things happened under that cloud.
51:24God's provisions were dropped
51:26to them, manna and quail
51:28came under the cloud and
51:30they had divine protection.
51:32The cloud was to keep them from the
51:34sun causing them to pass out
51:36during the day and then in the desert
51:38at night time it gets terribly cold.
51:40He was a pillar of fire that warmed
51:42them so He protected them from the cold
51:44in the day and protected them from
51:46the cold in the night and He protected them from
51:48the blast of the heat in the day.
51:50So God was both their
51:52provider and their protector
51:54but they had to be
51:56under the cloud.
51:58And sometimes
52:00while you're panicking and you're frightened in
52:02situations because inevitably
52:04God will plant some situations in
52:06your life that scare you that you
52:08cannot solve without His help.
52:10And you'll have to come and talk to Big Daddy
52:12to help
52:14you to get through this because
52:16you're freaking out and you're afraid.
52:18And I want to
52:20remind you at a time like that is when you
52:22need to remember the words of David in
52:24Psalm 27 verse 13
52:26and 14. David said
52:28yet I am confident
52:30that I will see the Lord's
52:32goodness while I am here
52:34in the land of the living.
52:36Wait patiently for the
52:38Lord. Be brave and
52:40courageous. Yes, wait
52:42patiently for
52:44the Lord. He said
52:46I'm confident that I will see the Lord's
52:48goodness while I'm here in the land
52:50of the living. You need to
52:52be confident that God wants to bless you
52:54while you're down here, not just pie
52:56in the sky, it's pie on your way to the
52:58sky. God doesn't
53:00want you to live in depression and sickness
53:02and bound and misery
53:04stressed out down here
53:06until you die and get to heaven. God
53:08says no, no, no. I want to bless you in the land
53:10of the living. God loves His
53:12children. God wants something that
53:14is good for you. He wants to be able to
53:16strip that stress out of you and bring
53:18you into a place of blessedness
53:20down here so that you see
53:22the goodness of the Lord. I
53:24pray that God will empower you to be able to
53:26live the way you see your situation
53:28turn around, that you come out of your
53:30struggle and from living from hand to mouth
53:32and as soon as you get this
53:34fixed, something else breaks down and takes all
53:36of your money that God will give you to
53:38be able to see the blessing of the Lord in the
53:40land of the living.
53:42May I remind you of this
53:48that you have to come to
53:50that place to where you say that
53:52you can
53:54prophesy over your own life
53:56and you can say this
53:58is not how my story will
54:00end.
54:02You have the authority to be able to prophesy
54:04that this is not
54:06how my story will end.
54:08My story will not end in disgrace.
54:10My story will not end in failure.
54:12My story will not end in debt.
54:14My story will not end in addiction.
54:16This is not
54:18how my story
54:20will end. And then
54:22you turn the page
54:24and you begin to write a new ending
54:26by the way that you live your
54:28life. And let me just say this
54:30the fastest way back into the joy
54:32of the Lord, the fastest way
54:34for you to get joy back into your life
54:36is through the road called
54:38obedience.
54:40Obedience.
54:42It is the fastest way. You'll never get joy
54:44unless you finally submit and do what God
54:46has told you to do.
54:48You really want to have your
54:50joy restored. There's something that you've
54:52got to obey God and do.
54:54You've got to obey. It is the fastest
54:56way to get joy
54:58restored. You can't just do
55:00it just through repentance alone.
55:02It is obedience. It's obedience.
55:04It is the fastest
55:06road to restore your joy
55:08is to obey.
55:10Listen, some of you are waiting
55:12for money to come to you. Money is not coming.
55:14Listen,
55:16money waits for you in a place
55:18called obedience.
55:20When you do
55:22what God has called
55:24you to do, then money will come.
55:26When you do,
55:28money does not come to you. Money waits
55:30for you in a place called obedience.
55:32What is it that God has called you to do?
55:34What is it that God
55:36has put in your heart as a longing,
55:38as an urging?
55:40What dreams, what visions has God
55:42given you that he's waiting on
55:44you to obey him?
55:46Most of the time that we're sitting back
55:48waiting on God, God's really waiting on us.
55:50And the
55:52fastest way that I know
55:54to get back into joy
55:56is through the road of obedience.
55:58It's just doing what God has called you to do.
56:00It's yielding to something.
56:02There's something. Listen, sometimes you
56:04can't go forward until you go back
56:06and remember what God told you to do.
56:08When you do what I told you to do,
56:10I'll shift this thing for you.
56:12I'll shift it.
56:14Let your mind run back. If there's some
56:16promise that you've made to God and you've not
56:18fulfilled it, obedience is the fastest
56:20way to get back to joy.
56:22When you go back to whatever God has required of you
56:24in his word, he's just asking you to just
56:26go back, go back, go back.
56:28You have the authority to begin to declare that this
56:30is not how it will end.
56:32This is not how it will end.
56:34You prophesy a brand new
56:36ending. Turn the page.
56:38Listen, may I remind you of this?
56:40A bend in the road is not the end
56:42of the road.
56:44God never ends on a negative.
56:46He never ends on a negative. God will
56:48turn it around. If you yield yourself to
56:50him and you say, God,
56:52I've made some mistakes. I've done a lot of foolish
56:54things in my youth, but God, I don't
56:56want to end the same way that I was
56:58in my earlier years. I want
57:00to have a different ending.
57:02Listen, you can't turn the hands of the
57:04clock back. You can't
57:06turn them back, but you can wind it up
57:08again. And you can say,
57:10please empower me
57:12to be able to write a brand new end
57:14that I want this thing to end in glory.
57:16Listen, there is glory in every story.
57:18Don't you stop
57:20living your epic that God
57:22is writing in your life
57:24until you strike the glory.
57:26When the glory,
57:28when the glory
57:30falls,
57:32when the glory comes,
57:34it is
57:36not what it looks like.
57:38You can prophesy
57:40that your end
57:42is going to be better than
57:44this. You're going to be like
57:46the Phoenix rising up out of the ashes.
57:50That just when they had written you off,
57:52God says, you know what?
57:54Now I can get glory out of that.
57:56Now I can get glory.
57:58God wants you to shine.
58:00He's made some things
58:02that have happened, and some of you have been survivors
58:04to some incredible things,
58:06to some painful things
58:08that other people didn't understand.
58:10But I want you to remember the central text
58:12again, Psalm 118
58:14and verse 8. It is better
58:16to trust
58:18in the Lord than to put
58:20your confidence in man.
58:22And he's calling us to say, listen,
58:24I want you to put your confidence
58:26back in God.
58:28He says, listen, your life does not
58:30have to be defined
58:32by your failures.
58:34You are not
58:36what you have done. You are what you have
58:38overcome. He's
58:40just reminding you it doesn't have to end
58:42like this. He
58:44allows you to be able to turn the page and write
58:46a brand new ending. To say,
58:48God, I was counted
58:50out, but I'm now
58:52yielding to you.
58:54We hope that you enjoyed
58:56that message. Don't forget to like
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