Burnt Turkeys and Crazy Uncles - Part Three - Stressful Times

[Music] one night [Music] all right welcome everybody to part three of this series called burnt turkeys and crazy uncles want to say hello to all of our campuses all of you watching live online and then of course all the correctional facilities across the state church would you put your hands together and welcome one another today yeah go ahead and grab something to take some notes with we love to study god's word here at i town and we believe the holy spirit will speak to us so important that you take notes as we take this spiritual journey together so you can reference what the lord is speaking to you in your life couple of quick housekeeping things before we jump into the word today first of all we are already in our i town christmas eve services they are amazing we're going to have 18 of them and we had one on friday and it was absolutely a blast i want to make sure that you jump online and grab your tickets we have worked really hard this year in the midst of all of this pandemic to make sure that this year's service is especially uplifting and full of joy and i promise that you'll have an amazing time but i want to remind you that this is a wonderful opportunity for you to invite people to come to church i know it's been a year that a lot of people have been out of church and that's why we're doing so many services spread out throughout the entire month to give you lots of empty seats and lots of opportunities for you to bring people because we want to share the life of the gospel with them and we had 28 people make decisions on friday night alone come on somebody isn't that amazing praise god for that so this is a good time of year to invite people to church bring them to one of those christmas eve services jump online and grab your free tickets they get you in the room a little bit early if you end up having to come to a service that you didn't get tickets for that's totally fine we will find space for you but it becomes increasingly difficult as we get closer to actual christmas eve so just keep that in mind but again 17 more opportunities for you to come also want to remind you about our random acts of kindness cars we gave these out to you a couple of weeks ago and i want to remind you to make sure you have a plan to use them sharing god's love with people that you know in your world whether you bake something for someone cook something for someone or door dash something to someone that's more my flow uh and then give them one of these acts of kindness cards that just says hey god loves you and we just want to do something for you to express god's love and of course there's a qr code there that attaches to a video kate and i shot that has the gospel to it and invites people to come to church and it's a wonderful way to just show god's love during a very stressful season and then next saturday december 12th we have our winter wonderland outreach this was our version of angel tree this year we adopted over 600 kids that are a part of the foster care community in our area here in the greater indianapolis area and they are all going we've already purchased the toys and you guys did a great job shopping for them they're going to come with their families on december 12 and they'll drive through the property and experience this whole interactive world of christmas and we're of course going to share the gospel nettie's going to be there it's going to be a great time we would love for you to serve alongside of us at the end we are going to of course have a presentation of the gospel and lead people to jesus and then we're slipping the presents into the back of the cars so the parents can give them to their children on christmas and be the hero not our church because it's not our job to be at the center of all that we just want to facilitate what god's doing in those families yeah praise god for that and so if you'd like to be a part of it come join us on december 12th and then the next day next sunday will be our vision sunday and i'm going to be unveiling a lot of what our 2021 vision is and the things that the lord has put on our hearts to do next year it's going to be an exciting year and there's a lot of amazing things that we can't wait to accomplish together but we also have our vision offering hopefully you've heard me talk about this for the last several weeks but it's one of our traditions we always love to give a christmas present to jesus above and beyond our normal tithes and offerings and i think it's significant because we use it to accelerate the center of god's heart which is reaching his lost kids with the message of the gospel so we use it to accelerate the things we're doing here at i-town specifically to reach lost people we don't use it for salaries operations we use it for reaching people and then we partner with local organizations national organizations and international organizations that are doing the very same thing and we bring a christmas blessing to all of them and it is so much fun and i'm going to show you why in just a minute but also we have in preparation for that what we call our vision recap and so if you want to see how this year went in preparation for next weekend jump on the i-town church app at the top banner you'll see the vision recap tile there click on that it'll give you all the statistics of all the things we've seen god do this last year we get to in a humble way celebrate the amazing things that god has helped our church accomplish and it has been a crazy year but man i couldn't have been prouder of our i-town church family as you served and as you gave you know we've given away over a million pounds of food just since march this year isn't that amazing everybody praise god for that so you truly have been a light in the darkness and it's so much fun to do this with you and next weekend as we give we're going to be taking those checks and blessing people that are our ministry partners to help accelerate their vision as well and every year we love to show you leading into the vision offering what that looks like because it's so much fun to be able to be a giver and so this last week once again we jumped the gun with some of the missions dollars we already have that you've already given and surprise some of our ministry partners check this out [Music] we are here at good news ministries in downtown indianapolis we're here at grayson mercy transitional housing in bluffton hey we're outside of the juvenile correctional facility here in pendleton where we partner with chaplain sean to help them facilitate services and help resource their students here and so hey on behalf of i-town church we actually want to provide you with a check just to cover the cost for that thank you so much thank you this is a blessing we're actually here to surprise you with a check to help sponsor your youth center and your after-school programming and that will help cover your after-school meals your programming for the students here in the inner city of indianapolis we actually wanted to present you guys with the check on behalf of i town this isn't what they told me on that email so to sponsor those families for their first year through everything right now we're standing outside of forgotten children here in bluffin indiana and forgotten children is an awesome organization they help take children out of situations where they're being abused and human trafficking and other things we are here getting ready to meet with brian from life centers we're getting ready to surprise him with a check for 2 500 to help with 50 baby bundles what life centers does is they come alongside mothers who are pregnant and deciding between abortion and life and they help them choose life hey everyone we're outside man for man ministries they help take men from rehab to finding jesus and finding a new life being able to work and what we're going to do is we're going to go inside give them a check for seventeen hundred dollars to give for all their men we love four man ministries so on behalf of python church we want to give you seventeen hundred dollars for the codes for the book oh man awesome yeah oh my gosh yeah we wanted to present you here with a check uh to help you guys uh move that project forward thank you help you know do what you're doing because we really love the ministry and all that thank you so much well it really means a lot it really does actually on behalf of i town church we want to go ahead and bless you guys with a check today oh 2500 to cover 50 baby bundles to help these mothers who are coming out of the hospital be able to clothe their babies and be able to share the gospel with these families oh thank you so much yes we're getting ready to go meet with roxy and jason from pre-born they're an evangelical pro-life ministry that helps sponsor moms from ultrasound through baby bundles this last year they've helped save over 31 000 babies and have helped led 6 500 moms to christ it's unbelievable what they're doing and so we want to be a part of that so we actually on behalf of italian church we have a check for sixty seven hundred dollars to actually help sponsor uh well we understand twenty children hey everybody we are about to jump online with mark from changing destiny in south asia and we are going to bless him with 3 600 that's going to take care of 20 children that are rescued from human trafficking today we're putting a check in the mail to cover 20 children and the services you provide for next year wow thank you so much mike we're so grateful that's that's a huge answer to prayer hey guys we're about to meet with amy from lifehouse ministries right here in noblesville lifehouse ministries is a ministry that provides 24-hour recovery to women who are in crisis and one of their biggest needs is transportation so on behalf of i-town church we are about to go surprise them with a brand new 12-passenger band let's go so today on behalf of i town church amy we want to present you a brand new van and uh let's step outside and look at it a brand new van thank you so much it's a little different than my little car oh my gosh thank you so much i town church um this is going to make such a huge difference in in the lives of all the women that we're trying to touch so thank you we'd like to thank the family of i town church to for your support and we couldn't do this without you i tell um thank you just for loving deeply and giving greatly you've changed the lives for many of these families and when you change one you can change a whole community and i just thank you deeply for what you've done here with generous donations such as this this partnership is only going to strengthen what we do locally it's heartfelt thank you very much we certainly appreciate it we thank you so much for all that you do we can't do this without the body of christ you are the baby's heroes we like the church are nothing but conduits to the work that god and the obedience of christ jesus has put in all of my friends that i tell and all my friends on the staff at i town and the abundance of people that have helped make this gift happen we want to thank you for the bottom of our hearts we just love it and we will put this in good use today [Applause] yeah isn't that awesome praise god for the opportunities that we have together as the body of christ to make a huge difference in the world around us and i truly pray that every single one of you pass to the next life and stand before your savior and are actually blown away because it's so difficult for us to be able to communicate to you all that we're able to accomplish together not just in our own uh spiritual community but throughout the entire indianapolis area across the state around the country and around the world your giving makes such an incredible difference and i'm so honored to be your pastor it's been a significant year and the best is ahead amen everybody i'm excited about it all right grab your bibles grab something to take some notes with let's jump into god's word together today as we close out this series on the craziest year that any of us could have ever lived with we are now headed into the holidays with high expectations i feel like every one of us are now clark griswold we need the holidays to be amazing we're building things up to be great and the truth is we're still going to have burnt turkeys and crazy uncles and so this series is how do we deal with all of that how do we navigate this season and make sure that we don't get disappointed by the people around us in the world around us week one we talked about expectations in managing those last week pastor derek did a great job talking about relationships this week i want to pull all of that together and talk about some of the things that are happening in the world around us and what our response is supposed to be as christians and how we can protect our hearts we're gonna start in second timothy chapter three this is a prophecy about the end times it says mark this there will be terrible times in the last days why because people will be lovers of themselves lovers of money boastful proud abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful unholy without love unforgiving this is a picture of modern day culture it's almost like god is god and he actually knew what was going to happen and so here we look at this scripture and it kind of defines in so many ways the american culture that we live in all of these things are unfolding from people being boastful and proud being lovers of money and pursuing stuff and then disobedient to their parents we have kids that are running out of control and all of it is kind of summed up in these last four uns that i want to highlight for just a moment things that we should be aware of first of all the world is incredibly ungrateful now listen i want to pause for a moment as we jump into these and remind you never be disappointed when the world acts like the world never be disappointed that the world does what the world is supposed to do apart from christ this is just the devil at work in the world it's the same play he's run for thousands of years and people today just fall for it just like they did all the way back then what we have to make sure of as we work our way through these is that we are aware of what's happening in the world around us and we're not allowing it to impact us so we have to make sure that these things don't seep into church culture and the world is incredibly ungrateful especially in this season it's all about consumerism and materialism playing to that sense of greed trying to get you to be dissatisfied and unhappy with the blessings that god has brought into your life now i'm not saying there's anything wrong with stuff it's a material world and i'm a material girl it's okay to enjoy nice things in life and god is your father truly i believe wants you to be blessed i think you can see that in scripture but god doesn't mind you having stuff what he does mind is when stuff has you and it's so easy for us to become ungrateful for the good incredible blessings that god has brought into our lives so it can be easy to fall into the pattern of the world that's always looking for something bigger something faster something nicer something brighter something that makes everyone else think that we are successful and impressive it's so easy to become ungrateful and we see it in every area of culture in fact i often laugh when my kids are watching videos on a cell phone and they're like dad it's not loading fast enough it's like do you understand what you're saying when i was your age there wasn't television obviously there was but it was it was black and white when i was a kid i mean the one in the den was black and white i remember like our we got nicer color tvs i remember in college i was cool because i had a phone that came in a bag that you could plug into the cigarette lighter in the car oh yeah you need to call somebody well watch this i'm going to just huh you just drive around with that cell phone up to your ear because no one had one they'd be like wow look at that guy he's on the phone in his car another like this 4k streaming device is skipping with this high definition video ungrateful unholy men it's important for us to realize the world is growing increasingly wicked the bible says that sin is ever increasing and so we should expect for the world to grow more and more cold towards the lord and i know back 50 years ago even a good moral person in america looked pretty much the same as an average christian unfortunately today that divide has grown greater and now in america we we're so far from the principles of god's word and we're calling it progress we're saying that we're so enlightened and we're so much smarter because now we don't see babies as a life we see it as a choice and that's that's women's health somehow and that i can choose who i sleep with and i can even choose which gender i want to be and all of it is just extreme confusion god made them male and female now we have like 17 different genders that you can decide to be that's confusing it's the devil it's it's just completely not god i and i'm not saying that because i'm mad at anybody am i truly my heart breaks for those of you who are believers that are walking through a loved one or a family member that's stuck in that crisis because the devil's really good at what he does but we have to back up from all that and remember that the world is acting like the world but we can't let the world impact the church god's word is the same yesterday today and forever he hasn't changed we can't change our theology to fit our reality we have to change our reality to fit our theology because god's word is unchanging his truth is the same and it'll always be the same so we can't let that unholiness get into the church and call it okay because we say god is loving no god is loving that's why we're trying to rescue people heaven and hell are reality and somebody has to pay for sin and jesus died if we'll just accept that but if we want to live in unrepentant sin you don't also get grace that's the bible so we have to be in a place where we understand what's right and wrong we can't let our moral compass be changed we're supposed to be agents of change in the world not let the world change the church we just have to be aware i'm just telling you we don't exactly know what's going to happen in january all of that is still up for debate as far as who our president is going to be but the incoming administration while they didn't campaign on anything are now telling people what the agenda is and in the first 100 days the first thing is they're going to take your tax dollars and put it towards abortion another top priority is what they call the equality act and you ought to study up on it because it's going to remove the freedom of religion for christian businesses and who they hire it will fulfill the entire wish list of the lgbtq community and little boys will be able to join your daughter's sports teams at public school and be in the locker room and showers with them that's a top priority now listen i'm not saying that the current administration is a picture of jesus everybody this is not a political statement this is an american statement our country is broken and hurting and sinful and far from god we need jesus to come and rescue our nation the answer is in him but again we can't allow it to get into the church another thing is that the world is growing increasingly unloving unloving we dehumanize people it desensitizes us to others and we already know this is true right when we drive our cars i don't know if you're like me but road rage is just like i'm driving i don't have road rages it's just how i drive and i can do some pretty horrible things as long as i don't make eye contact with the driver of the other car because it's not grandma who's just desperately trying to run her errands and get home without somebody like me running her off the road it's just that minivan that's in my way for the love of all that's holy why why would you drive less than the speed limit we all drive over the rest of us we all you're in the way i plan on getting there five minutes faster than is legal you're jamming up my plans here and as long as we don't look at them we don't humanize them and that's what the devil has done in our culture is we're d we've dehumanized people and reduced them to a political position or to an argument or to a problem and then we can just be really nasty towards one another and i'm i just want to pause for a minute and publicly say once again as we are in the rise of this pandemic thank god for our leaders and for our first responders that are putting their lives on the line to protect us and to fight for the marginalized i can't imagine i can't imagine how difficult it is and as hospitals are filling up and people are passing away it is horrific okay it is bad and we all probably know people that have been touched by all of this and families that have lost loved ones my heart breaks for you we're praying for you it's crazy times they're doing the best they know how to do one of the things they've asked is that we wear maths all the time and everybody has different opinions about all of that okay i'm not making a political statement about that but what i am saying is we need to be careful about the fact that mass do the same thing as cars i can't see if you're smiling i can't see your facial expression i can't hear what you're saying for the love of all that's holy i can't i don't know no i can't so when you go into any place of business and are required to wear a mask you don't see people we don't look into their eyes we don't have god conversations with the person at the checkout i just want this interaction to end because i'm just going uh-huh yeah because i don't know what anybody's saying because you can't hear we're not making eye contact we're not engaging in relationship any longer and we can allow it to impact us and all of a sudden we become more and more unloving more entrenched more isolated more disconnected just have to be aware the last thing is that the bible says people would be unforgiving it's amazing how much bitterness and pain even as christians we try to hang on to acting like somehow we're punishing someone else oh i'll show them i'll give them the silent treatment i'll cut them out of my life block on social media that'll teach them and the truth is we're really only hurting ourselves and it's just this toxic pattern of behavior that jesus prophesied would take place in the end times which i don't know if we're the last generation but we're getting pretty close everybody we look at the world today and biblical prophecy is coming to pass and so we have to ask ourselves the question what is our role in the midst of all of this as the world continues to get darker and as they continue to follow what the devil's trying to manipulate the world into how do we respond well proverbs chapter 4 gives us this incredible insight above all else like the most important thing you can do with your life is to guard your heart why because within your heart determines everything else it's the wellspring of life and so as believers we have this responsibility to guard our hearts for two reasons number one because we can't let the world impact us we can't be salt and light if we believe like the world act like the world and look like the world will make no difference in the world we can't allow culture to change us we're here to change culture so we have to make sure that we stand on the principles of god's word but at the same time we have to be vigilant to make sure that we don't hate the world for being the world it's that jesus didn't come to condemn the world he didn't make he didn't come so that people would feel guilty or be sorry he came to set them free and it's our job to be a part of that so we can't just sit in our soapbox and yell at everybody we do have to make sure that the line is clear hey the bible's the same that's still sin and we don't hate you for it in fact we love you and god wants to set you free i'm not hating you by telling you that sin i'm actually loving you by telling you that sin because i actually care about you i don't care about my point i care about your soul i care about your future i care about your destiny i care about the fact that every single person will slip from this life into the next and give an account for how they live their life and either they will pay for their sins or jesus will pay for their sins and that is the most important thing about this life we have to keep that in mind so we've got to guard our hearts to make sure that we can make a difference in this season of burnt turkeys and crazy uncles we've got to make sure that our heart is in the right place because we're not supposed to engage in a bunch of fights and political arguments we're supposed to help people see the truth of jesus so what do we do about that let's go to philippians chapter 4. i want to give you some very practical probably some of the most practical things that you can get out of scripture to help you in the midst of this very trying season and i just want to preface this with the fact that i'm probably not going to say anything that you've never heard before i'm just going to say a bunch of things you're probably not doing myself included it's a good reminder the bible says in verse 6 of chapter 4 do not worry about anything now i know this is really deep but that word anything means anything do not worry about anything number one jot it down if you're taking notes stop stop worrying because that's bible the bible says don't worry about anything there's nothing in this life that you should be worried about matthew chapter 6 jesus said it this way so don't worry about these things saying what do we eat what do we drink what do we wear where do we go what is safe how do we protect ourselves what about our finances what about our relationships what about our life no jesus says don't get yourself all caught up in those things the world obsesses over it dominates the thoughts of unbelievers but your heavenly father already knows all of your needs isn't that an amazing thing that your heavenly father knows every time you pray god's not like oh man i wish you'd have just told me i had no idea i could have fixed that a long time ago no he knows what you need even before you ask and so we have to understand when we worry it's actually showing us something what you worry about the most reveals where you trust god the least and unfortunately so many christians in different degrees choose to not trust the lord could be in our marriage could be in our finances it could be with our children maybe it's with our health that's a big one so we say you know what i'm gonna control that part of my life god i'll trust you for everything but these few things so i'm going to do what i want i'm going to live how i want i'm going to spend my money how i want i'm going to treat my wife how i want i'm going to raise my kids how i want i'm going to protect my own health how i want i'm going to do whatever i want doesn't matter what your word says i'm going to do it my way well the bible says you need to be careful because it's easy for our hearts to be weighed down with the dissipation drunkenness and anxieties of life and it says that day will come in expectedly like a trap in other words there's this dissipation there's it's like an evaporation it's a small bit at a time there's this slow process you get cooked like a frog you don't even know your values are changing your world view's changing your life is changing your morality is changing your trust in god is changing until one day you wake up and realize i am stressed out all the time you know what it's an indication you're not trusting jesus because the bible says don't worry about anything and before you know it you're trapped so our scripture in verse 6 says don't worry about anything instead pray about everything that word everything i know this is deep again it means everything so stop worrying number two start praying i know right now you're thinking man this dude is deep this is deep deep isn't hard to understand deep is hard to do start praying in every situation the bible says pray about everything i have to take a minute to brag on my wife because she's the best at this she she'll stop and she'll just have a moment of prayer i'm honestly i'm ashamed to admit this as your pastor but i'm i lean more towards the natural reaction like we're going to work really hard we'll find a solution we'll figure it out you know and we'll include god you know i mean i know it's terrible kate's always like spiritual first which i'm really trying to be more like her she prays about everything and one of the things we laugh about is she has what i call the parking anointing like even in the craziest of seasons she'll pray every time she goes to the store and that woman never parks at the back of any parking lot in her life every time she parks right next to the handicapped spot that very first one that's legal it's amazing it's like the other day i took her we were on a little day date and we went to target to do some shopping and uh and we pulled in and and there was no spot available i was like what's this about i'm with you i always park at the front when i'm with you she's like i'm sorry i forgot to pray i just park in the back i don't even try i know god doesn't love me it's just like because i know some of you are like you're that parking spot hunter you're in the parking lot for like you're jamming up the rest of us looking for a spot you could have parked literally at the business next door and walked in by the time it takes you to find a spot okay she's just right up front why because she prays about anything the bible says don't get to the place that you're stressed out all the time because that shows that you're not putting your trust in god so instead of worrying about anything in life pray about everything let's go back to the matthew passage remember he says hey don't worry about the temporal stuff what you're going to eat drink where the physical protection safeties of life the world obsesses over that but your father's got it he knows what you need here's the key verse 33 seek the kingdom of god above all else and live righteously and then he will give you everything you need now there's a secret here that we often miss it's not saying to seek the presence of god it's saying to seek the principles of god and there's a difference the kingdom of god is his government his structure the law that he's put in place that governs the earth of how we are to be blessed and jesus said to his disciples i've given you the keys to the kingdom in other words i've given you the secrets of how to unlock the governance of this earth but too many of us we want god's presence and we want his peace but we don't want his principles so it says you can see god's presence that's great there's wonderful things in store for you but if you want sustained peace if you want provision in your life you've got to get his kingdom his kingdom treats it tells you how to treat your wife and how to raise your kids and how to handle your finances and how to live righteously so it's not my righteousness it's not how i determine what's right and wrong it's what god's word says and so god says you want to have a blessed marriage then love and serve your spouse like christ gave his life for the church don't pray about her serve her don't ask me for a miracle in your finances when you've been robbing for god all year long and not honoring me in the tithe because there's a principle there that you'd be blessed if you just follow and so we have to understand that there's a kingdom in place there's principles that govern the earth and you and i need to submit to those principles stop stressing about everything pray about everything so prayer is not letting god know prayer is letting my way go prayer is saying god i admit that i do not know how to do this because i still have this problem in my life and what i'm doing isn't working my plan for my safety my plan for my family my plan for my provision is not gonna work out i'm gonna submit to what your word says i'm supposed to do and i'm gonna give and i'm gonna love and i'm gonna serve and i'm going to worship and i'm going to do what god has called me to do and i'm not going to let anything else in this life dictate it even myself i'm going to submit to god's word it's how we ought to live our lives we're not supposed to do we're supposed to do the best we can to follow our leadership and to follow the government and to follow the policies and the procedures until they come in conflict with god's word and then as believers we should hold it to the highest standard and we follow that above everything else in this life so i'm going to let my way go i'm going to pray and and admit god what i'm doing isn't working so i'm going to submit to what you have asked me to do and you can build your faith to pray as we go back to our text by telling god what we need by also thanking him for all he's done i want to challenge you for a minute to set aside a portion of your devotional time with the lord which you should have even if it's just five minutes every day acknowledge the presence of god in your life spend a little time in the word and pray but spend at least a few moments of that prayer time reflecting because we have lost the discipline of reflection in our culture how many times even as christians do we pray and even fast or weep and cry out to god to do something in our lives and then he actually does and we forgot that we prayed about it and we never give god the glory for the good things he's done for us how many of us here today have prayed that god would set us free from debt or get us into a better financial place and you are today and never recognize all the steps in the journey that were ordained by god that brought you to the place that you are and instead of celebrating the blessings that god has brought into our lives we're complaining about the things that we still don't have so let's take a minute to reflect because it gives us faith for what god is going to do the best way to build your faith for what he will do is to remember what he has done it's important for us to thank him for all he's done let's redevelop that attitude of gratitude god i'm so thankful how many of us woke up this morning and said praise the lord i did it again i woke up thank god that's amazing because the breath of my lungs is a gift from heaven and today is a gift from the almighty god and i'm going to live it as a gift i'm thankful that i get another chance his mercies are new every morning great is his faithfulness praise god for another day we should be thankful and the bible says in verse 7 then if you'll do these things you'll experience god's peace then you'll experience this peace stop worrying start praying stop worrying start praying the bible says in this environment stop worrying every time you start to worry oh i'm trying to be in charge look i'm not i'm trying to step into ruler of the universe i'm trying to carry this weight that's not mine to carry i gotta pray lord jesus i'm stressed about this would you come you have the solution you have the power you have the strength make sure that you pray and then you'll experience god's peace and it's so much better than anything you can understand here's what it does his peace guards your hearts and minds as you live in christ jesus above all else guard your heart because it's the wellspring of life but here it adds this idea of also guarding your thoughts number three we're gonna have to fix our thinking we gotta fix our thinking in romans the bible says stop processing everything like the world instead romans 12 2 let god change you to a new person by changing the way you think isn't that fascinating let god change you to a new person by changing the way you think do you know that all spiritual warfare happens in the mind that's why the weapons of our warfare tear down thoughts that exalt themselves arguments that exalt themselves against the knowledge of god so we've got to do some spiritual warfare and life and allow god to change our thinking here's how we do it in verse 8 the text we've been reading fix your thoughts on what is true fix your thoughts on what is true fix your thoughts on what is true listen to me church if you don't watch the news you are uninformed if you do watch the news you are misinformed we live in a culture of front page news and back page retractions because the pressure is to be first not to be right and a lot of what you're being told is just for the power of getting your attention and selling something to you because you're a unit not a person the media in our culture i know wonderful people in the media who are part of our own church i do not include them in my mind in this but the media by and large the national media that controls the narrative of america is not out for your good you can't be surprised by them lying to you you know why because they're not surrendered to the lordship of jesus these people don't love the lord and jesus looked at people in that condition and said you're of your father the devil you are liars because he speaks his native language when he lies he is the father of lies and everybody who follows him lies why would you ever expect them to tell you the truth that's why we have the power of the holy spirit and god's word because it is the highest truth that's why you have god's presence in your life so you can see what is true and what is wrong we have to be people of the spirit so we can understand what's happening fix your mind on what is true what is honorable what is right what is pure what is lovely what is admirable think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise we got to fix our thoughts we got to make sure that we are not worrying i am praying i'm going to fix my thinking i'm going to think about the right stuff i'm gonna meditate on the right things and then the last thing as we close keep putting it into practice number four you need to keep practicing because guess what none of us are good at this as soon as you leave this place you're gonna have the chance to start worrying because the devil loves confusion and fear he's controlling and manipulating even christians in our culture today through the power of fear and misinformation and so we have to get to the place that we just practice every time worry comes into our lives there are a lot of temptations to do that i'm going to stop worrying i'm going to start praying i'm going to fix my thinking i'm going to stop worrying i'm going to start praying i'm going to fix my thinking i'm going to stop worrying start praying fix my thinking over and over and over practice is what makes perfect you got to do it time and again so it becomes second nature until we train ourselves out of the culture of fear and lies that we live in today so that we can make a difference because remember we're guarding our hearts so that we can be a blessing to the world around us we got to keep practicing this because listen heaven and hell hangs in the balance our world is broken and confused and hurting and jesus is the answer and if you and i don't have our heads screwed on straight they're going to die and go to hell so we can't get wrapped up in all of that and we can't be mad at them for being hurt and confused we have to stand in the gap between the living and the dead and preached the good news of the gospel that jesus died in your place it's not your fault that you're confused the devil has blinded your mind but you can be set free because god is for you and not against you and your best days are ahead that's the message of the gospel that's what god has called us to be ambassadors of light listen at every turn there will be moments and times that let you down the holidays will be full of burn turkeys and crazy uncles but don't let that get inside your heart let's be the kind of people that truly make a difference by guarding our hearts stop worrying start praying fix your thinking practice it every day and you and i can be salt and light to the world around us with every head bowed and every eye closed i know some of you are here and maybe you've fallen for the trap you know it's so easy to become full of worry and anxiety and fear it's so easy to be tempted to try to be a god to ourselves because it feels so safe to be in control and so we fall for the trick of the enemy we push god away or maybe we never get close to him and we try to mitigate risk we try to control everything in our lives but the truth is when we do that it never works we only find ourselves in this miserable place that the bible prophesied we'd be in unloving unforgiving unholy maybe you're experiencing some of those things in your life and the pain that it brings because sin doesn't work maybe the devil has sold you with the confusion and the lies but religion tells you that if you're in that place that god's mad at you that he wants to punish you judge you get even with you and that's not true at all the miracle of christmas is that jesus came to rescue all of us because we are all broken we all fall short of god's standard and grace is what god gives to us to restore that relationship with him you don't have to pay the price for your own sin you could be forgiven set free restored and made new all by surrendering to jesus we can do that today with a simple prayer don't leave here broken and confused and hurting because jesus loves you and what he's done for me he will do for you if you just surrender to him i'm not going to make you stand or come to the front any of our campuses i just want you to pray right where you're at if that's you today and you say dave i identify with that i have allowed worry or confusion or fear to control my life and i find myself in the condition that you're talking about i desperately need jesus to rescue me i don't want to embarrass you at all i'm not going to stand come to the front i just want to pray with you if that's you would you take the bold step of faith just one thing and lift your hand up high at every campus as no one is looking around to say would you count me in come on right now just put your hand up high he said that's me awesome that's amazing so proud of you all across the room yeah yeah yeah all right you can put your hands down it's so cool what an honor to be a part of this moment together here's what we'll do we're going to pray and i'm going to give you the words you can pray it quietly in your heart because it's between you and the lord you just need to mean it just tell him lord jesus forgive me i repent today for all of my sin for trying to be in charge of my own life today i surrender i believe that you died to set me free so today make me brand new heal me change me help me to live this life for you in jesus name i pray god i'm so thankful for every person here and for the light that you have called us to be we thank you for the honor that you have given us the opportunity to live during these challenging times so that we can make a difference in our family at our school in our community and in our country god i pray that you would empower us all week long remind us of the principles of your word that we're not supposed to be in charge we're going to stop worrying and carrying that on our own and we're going to give it to you god we're going to pray about it and we're going to meditate on things that are true and honorable and praiseworthy god when we miss it we're just going to start back over at the beginning thank you that your mercies are new every morning thank you that you're so faithful to forgive god there's no one like you what an honor it is to serve we love you today in jesus name we pray and all god's people said amen amen come on you take a minute to celebrate with those who prayed that prayer [Applause] [Music] thank you so much for joining i town church online today we would love to have the chance to meet you and your family in person at one of our campuses or of course you can join us streaming live online this weekend now for more details about times and locations and even some of our streaming options you can go to itownchurch.com i sure hope to see you soon and god bless you

Channel: ITOWN Church

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Id: dHqjlmbXf_E

Length: 46min 46sec (2806 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020