Erwin McManus — The Way of the Warrior

I was so excited when pastor rich reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I could come and the timing worked perfect for the day I just released a new book called the way of the warrior a couple of weeks ago and I'm real excited because I think it's a message that is really needed in this moment and and I know even personally he was needed for my own soul and one of the crazy things about being a writer is how things form and come together in your mind and and sometimes it feels as if the book is just demanding its voice out of your life and my wife and I were driving through Hollywood I was driving on vine we were both having a moment just of quietness and and also now I heard this inner voice just say to me the warrior is not ready for battle till they've come to no peace this is the way the warrior I had no idea where they came from I I wasn't thinking about any theme that connected to this but the words were so stark inside of my own soul that I wrote them down and I remember the moment I heard it I leaned over to my wife Kim and I said I know what my next book is and I know what the first line is I had no idea what the second language be and eyes began to write this book it took me places I did not expect I didn't think that I would be diving into depression and anxiety and stress and panic attacks and then her battles of our souls these are battles that I'm all too familiar with I was in a psychiatric chair by the time I was 12 years old and in that of a hospital as a kid and in my inner world was always in turmoil and there were times in my life I didn't know if I would ever find my way through to wholeness and health in Los Angeles is a city that that permeates that kind of story it's amazing how cities take on a particular character like Miami or New York or Chicago or LA LA has this unique ability to draw the most creative people in the world who have the same dream and so you have all these talented gifted intelligent beautiful handsome arrogant narcissistic people coming to LA to pursue a dream but the problem is it's a hundred thousand people pursuing the same dream and where they were the best where they came from now they're just average because everyone is beautiful and talented and intelligent and gifted and awesome and narcissistic and so they're all there together being the best of the best of the best and if you look at them from the surface you think oh these are the people that have it made these are the ones that that have the life we all want and yet when you just dig just a little bit beneath the surface you find an overwhelming epidemic of depression and anxiety and panic attacks and 24-year olds who are medicated for depression then twenty eight year olds who are struggling and paralyzed with panic attacks and 15 year olds who are having suicidal thoughts and it began that just war against my own soul how many people I've watched and I've lost over the years somehow we have to have an open conversation about what's going on inside of us and we can see it everywhere in our culture we see the rage and the anger we see the violence we see the terrorism we see wars everywhere and yet what we have really in many ways ignored is that the reason we have a history of wars is that we have a hard war that the reason there are Wars at rage all around us is that there are Wars it rage within us and I wrote this book with one specific conviction that we will never have a world peace until we have inner peace yes there we humans are kind of an extraordinary species yeah you're pay attention and you humans are amazing I've always loved watching humans from a distance and I mean think about this of all the species that are out there you're the only species that ever harnessed fire and even with thousands of years to catch up no other species has pulled it off I mean no other species knows how to capture fire they just run for a matter get consumed by but we create fireplaces to put them in our homes she goes we're not afraid of fire we're the species that took light and took mastery over we put lights into bulbs and told it what to do that's almost like a superpower right we're the species that harness nuclear energy and solar energy we're the species who invented the internet and learned how to communicate sounds across invisible waves that could travel across the world and into space oh we're the species that could travel into space and into the ocean depths we invented the television and the telephone and we invented pizza [Applause] and to be fair we also invented Donuts there's no other species it has a resume like that you're the only species on the planet that can ever claim any of that so if you ever feel like your resume isn't really impressive just put down things my species has done and yet as developed and complex and amazing as humans are the one thing we've never been able to do is create world peace don't you think it's a bit odd that we invented these ships that can fly into space and take us from LA to Miami in just a few hours but we cannot figure out how to bring world peace we can't even isolate one section of the world the Middle East and figure out how to bring peace even though everyone prays for it and many visualize it and others have fought for it we can't seem to find a way to it the reason we cannot bring peace on earth is you cannot create what you do not have you cannot bring to the world what you do not have to bring to the world and so the only way we're ever gonna have world peace is if we fight for inner peace and we bring a peace from within us to the world around us and then there's another layer that becomes even a more difficult obstacle is if a person doesn't believe in God and they have never trusted their life to Jesus they don't have anything to lose when they say I'm depressed see they don't have anything to hide when they say I'm struggling with panic attacks I'm dealing with anxiety I have an anxiety disorder in fact the more you have of something in any culture the more language you have to describe it I'm from El Salvador we don't have a lot of cold things so we have one word to cover snow and ice cream neither is it we only need one word for cold things but I interviewed once in anyway s commode he had over 30 words for snow because he had a lot of snow experiences when I moved to North Carolina from Miami I had snow experiences the first time I went o snowy think when those are just flurries I snow without ambition right and I was like oh stop no that's sleet that's just snow and then that timers stuff so don't no no that's hail that's angry snow and I kept learning about different kinds of snow because they had different experiences think about how many words we have now for mental illness how many words we have for phobias see I'm a lot older than most of you so we only had one word when I was growing up you're either sane or insane or you a creep just crazy but then now you're you're manic depressive you're bipolar you have eighty the ADHD year OCD and all those initials actually mean something to you because you have a PhD level knowledge of phobias because it's become the cultural norm in our society and so we can talk about panic attacks and social anxiety disorder we can talk about depression we talk about those things because they've become the common language because the more a culture has or something the more language it has to describe it but then you see if you believe in God and you believe in Jesus you're not allowed to have these problems because after all in fact I I'm not supposed to do it but I read book reviews and so I was on Amazon and I was reading the reviews for the way of the warrior and the best review I got was from a guy who said I don't even believe in God but I love this book he said he and he said it's effin good and the worst review I got the two-star I'm still bitter but so I'm a Christian and she said we're not supposed to battle for inner peace this isn't supposed to be a war Jesus just gives us peace why doesn't he talk about that scene this is the problem we keep trying to do with deep human issues with spiritual cliches and so the moment you open yourself up and say I'm struggling with depression I'm struggling the anxiety or I'm I'm having panic attacks they just gave you a verse to memorize tell you pray about it just trust Jesus after all he gives you peace and so you can't ever bring it up again because otherwise you'll be giving God a bad name and I want you to understand that that struggling with your inner world is not a sign of your lack of faith is that a sign that you are weak it's a sign that you are human and if you step into this battle it doesn't make you a coward and actually makes you a warrior because it's the most courageous thing you can do to go to war for your soul [Applause] and I didn't think any guy would read a boat that said help me I'm hurting worse much better the way of the warrior and I know that women are actually the greatest warriors out there so I wanted to give them a manual so what I want to do is I want to take a few moments I want to step into the life of someone we consider heroic and peel back the facade to see what is real have you ever heard someone say oh I wish I could live like David or Joshua or Moses or Deborah Esther Ruth in the climate just wish I could have that kind of life that's how I know a person has never read the Bible because if you ever want to be like somebody in the Bible you have not read the Bible you're only hearing the stories of their highlights and the problem the reason we get so depressed the reason we feel so inadequate is that we keep measuring their highlights to our real life and our real life will never match up to someone else's highlights says this moment in the life of Elijah now if you don't know who Elijah is Elijah is x-men before there were x-men before Xavier ever rolled in his chair Elijah existed before Wolverine or magneto before DC or marvel or marvel Elijah existed before Stanley ever wrote a page there was Elijah on the page utilize it would be like the classic superhero he has a superpower it says he prayed and for three and a half years it did not rain then he prayed again and it rained it tells us that he prayed and fire came down from heaven that's kind of epic and there's a story behind that that he was going up against almost a thousand false prophets and and he said look you're leading everybody astray let's solve this right now you build an altar I'll build an altar you know the story many of you you prayed your gods and you asked him to bring fire I'll pray to my god I'll ask him to bring fire who's ever God brings fire this got everybody worship every said awesome so they went first they built their altar and they prayed out to their God and Elijah he's sort of like a kostik Howard Stern Jewish little cynical brutal maybe even unkind and Elijah's like you need to pray louder because your God clearly cannot hear you it's hard when your God goes deaf but it's really hard for a god that doesn't exist to hear you and he just went on just kept taunting them they kept trying a praying they start cutting their bodies because that was the darkness of their faith don't let anyone tell you that all religions are the same they were cutting their bodies trying to get their God's attention and the lives over here still mocking them my favorite it's sort of translated in a soft way but he's actually saying maybe your gods constipated or has diarrhea you know he's indisposed it's a it's a terrible thing when your God is not available and maybe you need theirs wait well he relieves himself and can actually help you know nothing so after hours went by and they'd cut themselves so profoundly they had no strength left it was Elijah stir and then he had to sort of soup it up he could just pray bring fire he said just drench you with water over and over and over again seven times over again so the water was just drenching the altar then he prays a really simple prayer like God you've got this and then God sends fire from heaven and consumes all the water that altar the other altar and some people details and and then they wiped out all the false prophets and now we pick up after that now a habit told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets for the sword now if you don't know who a habbit Jezebel is there too malevolent leaders king and a queen and you can know how evil Jezebel was by the fact that no one ever names their daughter Jezebel okay and if your name happens to be Jezebel I'm so sorry for you but I would probably like pick a nickname and says that a have told Jezebel everything aloud you've done that he'd send fire from now I'm from heaven that he had consumed the altars and all their prophets were gone so it had told Jezebel all of this so Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say may the gods deal with me be it ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like one of them in other words Jezebel sends a messenger to say Elijah I'm coming for you and I'm gonna kill you if you didn't know how the story was gonna go and you had the right was gonna happen that she knew would you'd write write it be Elijah go on bring it up who do you think you are woman I am Elijah fire caller I just called fire down from heaven and consumed all your false prophets you think you have something bring it on but he doesn't he hears a threat from Jezebel it's not even Jezebel she's just sends a message I wanted to kill you it's not even a have and Jezebel just Jezebel and it says the first three Elijah was afraid and ran for his life because that's what every hero does after they pranked fire down from heaven I just thought if I could just have one miracle I would be good for like the rest of my life I gave her that you know the reason I I struggle with faith is because I haven't had like a big one if I could have one if I could just have one fire from heaven moment like I'd be good rest of my life I wouldn't need to ask anything else I just I believe I think if every morning fire like every day it doesn't matter how hard life wasn't fire cuz nothing could shake you right because you prayed and fire came down from heaven but Elijah prayed and had fire come and he's afraid and he runs for his life I mean I don't want I don't want to say something in the private but he's he's running from a girl which now my nose makes sense he was afraid and he ran for his life he did exactly the opposite of what heroes do have you ever realized that success doesn't seem to carry you very long and that success will never attempt you will never immune you from feeling like a failure there's something odd about the way we're broken I mean this is where you can see the brokenness inside of us that we could have success after success actual success and we will still feel insignificant we'll have success after success and we'll still feel afraid that no matter how much you accumulate you're always be afraid of losing what you have and they're in there some of you by every measure you're successful everyone wants your life everyone thinks you have it all together you're doing great no one could ever imagine you having an inner turmoil a struggle with your own sense of value and significance see no one can see inside of you but you're the one who knows that all success is just hiding your fear that you're a failure you'll never live the life you created to live and it's it's not usually sequential it's like I'm successful in Tuesday and I'm a failure on Wednesday it's almost like we're by emotional we can feel like a failure and the success at the same time you can't explain it everyone else would say you you have what you've always wanted and it is everything you've ever wanted and it's nothing you want so often times the things we we fight to get to have to own ends up owning us and it doesn't heal us and sometimes we have to do is we have to step I can realize why am i doing what am i doing what I'm doing why do I always have to have more why do I have to have more money why do I have to have more things what I have to have more power why do I have to have more prestige why do I have to have more fame why don't have to have more people why do I have to have more relationships why do I have to conquer more things and more people what am I trying to hide and Elijah ran for his life because he was afraid because he forgot who he was and who God was and so he was he was afraid of threats have you ever noticed that it's not usually the big thing that trips you up you can handle the big stuff you're ready for the big problems so the big challenge it's that small little insignificant things that no one else sees that just tripped you up leaves you flat on the ground and I remember even writing this book how I felt the inner struggle even within me and when the book came out I had to call my wife from New York and Sam I'm having panic attacks I don't even know what's going on and and the terrible thing about it is they see when you when you're afraid when you're gripped by fear it's that actually rooted in reality it's rooted in impossibilities and this is the strange thing about it is that but even for people who don't believe in God I have so many friends or atheists or agnostics and you know tell me you know Irwin we're just too evolved to have faith we've outgrown faith we're too educated for faith faith is superstition and I'll say well have you outgrown fear because way before I outgrow faith I'd like to outgrow fear how about you see I don't see the huge benefit outgrowing faith when that's a positive view at the future I see a huge benefit now growing fear well that's a negative view of the future see the reality is that if you're living in fear your act living with the negative side of faith his fear is faith in the worst possible future it hits you young it's all gonna get worse he ran for his life and be careful that when you're running for your life you're not running from your life because whenever you're afraid you've actually hit the boundary of your freedom and if you'll step past that fear you will actually step into your future so Elijah stepped into the boundary of his fear he decided to run in the other direction and then he says they went on he went to Bruce Eva and Judah and he left a servant there and while he himself went on a day's journey into the wilderness they came to a broom bush sat down under it and prayed that he might die now you need to be careful because when you're in your darkest moments you will become a self-fulfilling prophecy have you ever noticed that when you're full of despair you actually create an environment of despair when you become hopeless you begin to eliminate all the hope in your life Elijah felt alone we find out he tells God later I'm alone I'm alone I'm alone in the world I'm alone in this battle I'm alone in this fight I want you to know you're not alone in this fight and by the way if you're here and you don't feel like you're strong enough to fight just let us fight for you if you don't have the strength to fight for yourself let us fight for you and he runs for his life and he feels alone so he leaves the search behind and he travels alone he literally created in his external world what he was feeling in his internal world he felt alone so he made sure he was alone he was in a desert so he ran into the desert he was in a wilderness they went into the wilderness if you're not careful when you feel that you're alone you will cut off every relationship in your life when you feel like you're not worthy of love you actually cut up everyone who loves you when you feel hopeless you will disconnect to everyone who's hopeful when you're drowning in despair you will avoid everyone who could actually bring you joy [Applause] have you ever wonder why word but it was so drawn to cutting everyone out the moment we does certainly need to let everyone in the fact that you're here in this moment means you have an opportunity to redirect your life and find hope by community to find a family to find a future and then he said under the tree the bush and prayed that he might die now I'd say that's the most untreated prayer I've ever heard I mean think about this this is the only prayer you can think up I want to die god this is the guy who prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years stopped raining I want to die rain died fire from heaven died really you had all these epic prayers and all you can think of praying right now is God kill me what about like God send the tornado it's whoop up just about that's the creative prayer God opener swallow her up and close the earth I'm just saying another creative prayer or God just do it in a humiliating way send a goat just sampler or God changed Jezebel's heart and turn her into Deborah or Esther or Ruth God show her new way and make my enemy my Ally there could be so many creative prayers but the only prayer he could pray is God I want to die and there is sort of and I know it's hard to see but there's humor here the it's it's hard because you're not Jewish so it's a cultural human here because okay cuz alright why is he running cuz Jezebel says I'm gonna kill you so he runs and runs Iran's Iran's and hides and eyes and hides they says God kill me it's like I took care of that over there if you really want to die just go back he doesn't really want to die cuz I barely wanted to die you just go back to decimal if you really thought she was gonna kill him she should he should just go face Jezebel I got your answered prayer and you ran from that you should be glad God has not answered all your prayers God will never affirm a prayer that says there's no hope in the future and then he says God take my life I'm no better than my ancestors I've had enough I go really Elijah you've had enough this is where he feels a little whiny dear had a friend like just whining about their life when their life is better than your life I don't know why I have to go through this yeah me neither I mean when you're single is is irritating you hear like your girlfriend going oh he's just not paying attention to be anymore and just not loving like at least you have a man it's you complain about your job to the person who just wants any job and he says I've had enough I'm going Elijah you've had a better life than everyone I know but you see when you're struggling in that darkness you don't remember all that God has done you just remember everything you've been through you need to be careful because the way you remember your past is the way you will create your future [Applause] and then he says it says that he laid down under the bush and fell asleep what do you do when you're depressed sleep eat not eat some of you when you're depressed you can't eat some of you in depressed you just can't stop eating some of you depressed you sleep some of you when you're depressed you sleep you eat and you can't eat all at the same time it's but here he goes to sleep in fact about a month ago right when the book is coming out I was feeling really stressed out and and I said to my wife Kim hey let's go get pizza she was kind of surprised because I tried to be healthy and and she goes okay so we went got pizza I ate like this giant pizza and I shared a little bit and after we finished the Peet's I said let's go get ice cream so we're next door okay and that's been like 10 years since we I've done that maybe never and and got ice cream and then I'm thinking pink boxes we should go get some donuts okay you ever noticed that sometimes when you're depressed you just trying to feed it or you're stressed you're trying to feed it but you can't you can't feed it because you can't you have to starve it but here's here's but maybe not it says he it an angel touched him which by the way is a beautiful thing because God caresses him when he's depressed he caresses him when he's afraid he caresses him when he was running he caresses him when he's paralyzed he doesn't slap him around said get up you lazy worthless I'm grateful he just he just caresses him he goes get up and eat I love the fact that the first thing God does is he helps restore his health he helps restore it strain and this is beautiful I don't know if you ever seen this before and there by his head was some baked bread over hot coals and a jar of water now go with me hot coals with baked bread God's cheffing baked bread a little marinara a little mozzarella mushrooms and pepperoni he got pizza this is God making pizza and then app is a second time baked bread little hole in the middle little cinnamon or chocolate you twist it up if you want to make a fancy donuts don't let anyone tell you that God does not use carbs to bring you back to health [Applause] don't judge me when I'm letting God heal me and the jar of water I'm sure it was sparkling the little twist the lime and he ate and he drank and he laid down again because he didn't have the strength to live there's some of you you can't go to sleep at night and you can hardly wake up in the morning and you barely have the strength to get up and just love you're just existing you're just surviving just make it to the day and then the angel came back a second time and touched them and said get up and eat for the journey is too much for you and here's a beautiful thing about God says I know where you're at I know the journey is too much for you but by the way guy will never call you in a journey that's too little for you he's gonna call you always - a journey that's too much for you because in that he's gonna be the much for you [Applause] but I bet I love how he's already telling his story he goes the journey is too much Elijah is not thinking about a future journey he's thinking about ending his story and gotta say you think this is the end of your story this is the beginning of your new story we're just getting going and some of you you need to realize that because you are in the hands of the creator of the universe who is writing your story there's always another page you should never give up on the story of you because God is right here and I'm so sick and tired of losing people I love to suicide I'm so done losing people I love because they did not believe that tomorrow could be better than today that they could be better than they are that the world can be better than it is and God says I have for you a future and a hope and I want you know there will never be a moment in your life no matter what you see no matter what you think no matter what you feel no matter what you're in they'll never be a moment in your life there's I the future and a hope waiting for you but to have to be willing to fight for it doesn't come to the passive it comes to the person decides that life is worth fighting for and then he got up and he ate and drank and then it says strengthened by that food he travelled 40 days and 40 nights until you reach toward the mountain of God I want you to notice something when he was running from God he only had the strength for one day but now that he's walking with God he has a strength for 40 days and he walks to the mountain of God the moment you find your intention the moment you returned back to the purpose for which God created you you will find the strength you thought was lacking it was there all the time [Applause] he says go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by see this is what God will not do God will not sit there while you sulk he will not stay in your despair he will not stay with you and your anxiety because he doesn't want you to stay there he says the Lord is about to pass by he is moving and calling Elijah into his future and I love the question God asked him is such a telling question this is Elijah what are you doing here now that's a rhetorical question by the way the God did not intend it for Elijah the answer he knows why Elijah is there and he knows how he got there but he's actually asking it's a wide shot why have you given up on your life why have you given up on me well I have you walked away from your future and drifted backwards Elijah what are you doing here and he says I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty the Israelites have rejected your covenant tore down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword I'm the only one left and now they're trying to kill me too that's what I'm doing here do you have any questions God and the Lord said go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord I'm gonna pass by and then a great and powerful wind toward the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before they were before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind there was an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake was a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and Elijah knew the fire of God but he had forgotten the God who sent the fire see and I think a lot of us we keep thinking inner peace is gonna come by God doing something spectacular by God performing a miracle that that piece is gonna come in just an instant but I want you to know that Jesus who is the Prince of Peace Jesus who came to bring your peace is not going to bring it in an instant because peace isn't a place it's a person who takes you on a journey and that piece will come in the middle of the chaos that piece will come in the middle of the battle and as long as you're here on this earth as long as you're taking a breath you're called to be in this battle and to fight for peace code one of the way of the warrior is the warrior fights own land for peace and the peace begins in us and after the fire there came a gentle whisper when Elijah heard that he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave then a voice said to him what are you doing here Elijah I remember when Robin Williams ended his life I remember the deep sense of sorrow I felt maybe it's because I loved him as an artist or because I had a brief encounter with him one time outside of a men's room and while we're standing in the hallway he began just talking in began a monologue of such genius and brilliance that we were all laughing hysterically how a person could bring such joy could see the world with such beauty and Wonder and be so tormented and broken and empty and it was Robin who said this I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone to end up all alone it's not the worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone I want you to know that you're not alone and if you feel alone it may be because you're with the wrong people and you've run from the wrong one say a lot of times when we're in pain a lot of times when we're hurting a lot of times when we're at war we run from God when we need to be running to him and that's why it's not the earthquake it's not the wind it's not the fire it's just his voice calling you intimately tenderly to him we're on vacation my wife Kim and Aaron and Mariah our son and daughter and her husband Jake and and his parents were there his brother and his wife and we had like this family day and we were at this cafe but but our kids didn't want to sit with us so they set another table and then we said this other table and and then there's all these people talking in between and we were talking and they were talking but we couldn't hear them and they couldn't hear us and suddenly Jake's mom Susan one to get Mariah's attention and she goes Mariah Mariah Mariah Mariah and Mariah I just kept on talking and engaging over there she couldn't hear a thing and Suze it was Mariah and then I just had this thigh I just went and she turned around looked right at me she said what and Susan Goss looked at me and said I can't believe that just happened I wouldn't have believed if I had not seen it I'm gonna remember that the rest of my life and I'm pretty sure I just went it was just a whisper but I knew she would hear me in the middle of the crowd because even though she loves Susan she knows me and she knows my voice and there's something you hear right now you know what you need you don't need the spectacular from God you don't even need quote the miraculous from God you don't need God to show off you know what you need you need God to whisper it to your soul I love you I've got you we're gonna take on this battle together you guys the battle for peace the peace of your soul you're the only one who can go there I can't help you no therapists can help you because the battle in your soul you're the only one who can get there oh except for one other his name is Jesus if you vitam if you invite him into your life if you give him access to you if you open up your life to him if you give him your life let him give you his life he will fight that battle for peace and he will never leave you and he will take you on the path to inner peace and he is the warrior who will fight for you

Channel: VOUS Church

Views: 29,262

Rating: 4.9074831 out of 5

Keywords: vous, erwin mcmanus, way of the master, mosaic, preaching, miami church, church in miami, jesus, message, samurai, samurai preaching

Id: zhd8kouO-7A

Length: 41min 20sec (2480 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2019