Heal My Unbelief | Jennifer Toledo | Expression 58

hi guys that was a long morning well I'm morning getting here it was good though so good well I have the amazing privilege of getting to share this morning and I always feel so incredibly honored whenever I get to just bring the word I never take it for granted it's something that I just feel like it's such a privilege and an honor to be able to to share the Word of God and so I'm happy to be here this morning this mid lunch time well as as Honus said you know we just recently got back from a a purge retreat we were up in Idlewild and Idlewild is beautiful you guys been up there so beautiful and okay it was kind of interesting because some of you guys may know these stories but we had heard these kind of crazy stories about Idlewild like maybe 15 years ago and I've kind of always been like that was real I don't know that's crazy what and and so every time we're in I - well it's like fresh and we're like I want to find like is this really you know who can we talk to like and so we were kind of hunting people down while we were there and just try to hear stories and stuff but there's this crazy kind of history and story of Idlewild and basically it's that back in the early 30s students were coming out of Life Bible College under Aimee Semple McPherson and they were just full of the Holy Spirit in radical wild and and this crew moved to Idlewild and they had a very distinct call where they felt like God was saying that they weren't called to like public ministry but they were gonna do like they were called to just they called it highest praise like they were just to give like just daily meet together and just praise and worship and seek God and intercede so it really was mainly a group about 40 to 50 women and now this is like during the Great Depression this is like Bob you know a lot of poverty and and they would just gather together these women in this basement here's where the stories are crazy okay I don't know I wasn't there I'm just gonna tell you the stories okay just a tiny bit of the stories you can decide what you want to do with that but here's what the stories are okay so the stories are that this group of women and this is all there's actually different various accounts of this one of which is James Maloney who has written books on this but they called themselves the golden ladies and their ministry was called the there you go ladies of gold there's one of the books and their ministry was called the lamp stand candlestick thank you somebody's reading the book is it on there oh yeah okay so okay hold on this is what this these stories are so these ladies would gather in this little basement and every day for like two decades they are three decades like they would pray like an intersession and they would just begin to worship and just focus on Jesus and begin to worship well crazy things would begin to happen begin to happen then you know it starts with like all of a sudden they'd be kind of like all raptured up and these like angels singing with them and and crazy things happening in the room and and then all of a sudden like through time like crazy things aren't happening so they tell these stories granted believe this if you want or not but these are the stories they would tell these stories at the house several people would literally be like raptured out of the room I don't even know the right word transported out of the room and they would end up in another country on this like crazy God mission and the people left in the room were like they're gone like not oh I was somewhere in the spirit no like your body left do you know like and then people would come back like two days later and literally be wearing like crazy things that they got in these other countries and at times they would have these heavenly encounters they would come back there were ladies ago so they'd be coming back with like clothing that was literally stitched with like real gold like crazy things crazy things okay um so they would tell these you know these things were they be during world war ii praying and asking god for all these things and God would give them things to intercede for they'd intercede for and all of a sudden you know two of them would be standing somewhere else and you know go through here go through there go right and it's like the general of an army like and they'd give this down from the Lord about this thing there did I mean crazy stuff like these are the stories okay and we'd heard these stories so this kind of happened all through the 30s 40s 50s and we'd heard these stories from like really old prophetic people a long time ago and we're like this is crazy and you know just so like amazed by it but one of the things that was so profound is so all these these things are you know a lot of them are documented and and by the kids and people you know they were around and that community during this time that you know know about this and one of the things that was so profound was you know some of the things like materialistic kind of evidence that these things were happening so for example these women there was no other explanation other than the explanation they gave that like an angel would literally walk in the room like two men would walk in the room hand them like hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Great Depression and they said that these this little group of 40 poor little women were funding over a hundred missionaries paying for all these orphanages hunt they were sending out hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and people were like where are you getting this money and they're like the angel showed up and gave a mate like crazy right so I don't know like whatever but either way it was like there was some real fruit out of this that was crazy that was happening so um you know we were there and of course like trying to hunt down this house and whatever and really thought this is crazy so whatever you believe about that whatever you believe about that um you know last week we were talking about taking God risks and I just want to remind you that our God is pretty crazy and even if you don't believe that you need to believe the Bible and in the Bible in case you forgot it rained manna from heaven like heavens opened up pita bread I don't know what it was like Miss Scotty like gluten free I'm sure you know whatever like it rained bread from heaven right water went came gushing out of a rock or how about when two guys taken our an entire army or virgin birth or the dead being raised or this sea being split in half and the people of God walking through it these are not just made-up stories we were watching this documentary which is super fascinating about how the see how the Red Sea were held that they've they're discovering like old kind of like fossils and things of like why are all these horse you know bones of horses under the sea and why are all these you know crazy weird helmets and things and it's like oh that's when the enemies of God passed through on dry land and then the sea crushed them and it's literally like these old chariots and stuff are like they're finding all the years like what our god is crazy the Bible's crazy it's crazy right or how about when you know Elijah is just taken away on a chariot of fire didn't have time to die I mean what just got whisked up into heaven like this really happened or how about when the angel shows up to Elisha and bakes him bread and then puts it on hot coals I mean and then wakes him from his nap hey I made you some bread you know like what what I mean these stories are crazy when you when you really think about what's in the Bible or when Jesus turns water to wine it's why he's my friend eleven Jesus turns water to wine burning bushes speaking to you pillar is a fire I mean do we really understand this Bible or a reading or how about when 300 guys defeat a hundred and thirty an army of a hundred and thirty five thousand with some horns and jars you know I mean really it happened or when the walls of Jericho came crushing down of a whole fortified city because the people of God shouted and declared in obedience to God that just doesn't make sense right don't worry there's so many stories how about when the donkey talks let's just talk about that for a second and most of us you know if somebody was like dude my dog was talking to me we'd be like you need help right a donkey straight starts talking I mean all throughout scripture the Bible is just full of all this crazy stuff visions prophecies miracles I mean on and on it goes and I want to just say this there there is no way you can extract the supernatural from the gospel there's no way there is no way you can take out the supernatural and the power from the message Jesus preached there literally is no way there is nothing about Jesus that's not supernatural if you believe that Jesus died and rose again that's supernatural if you believe that he saves you from your sins that's supernatural there is no such thing as Christianity light there's no such thing as this you know light version of Christianity everything about who our God is is crazy everything about the kingdom of God is wild unpredictable breaking the boxes I'm sure when donkeys are talking people are uncomfortable you don't I mean we look back Iraq oh that's happened and there are like dear God right like freaking out when when bushes are eternally on fire or whatever is happening like people it was uncomfortable it was out of their their element it was so unheard of this is the God we serve we cannot nor will we try to take the all-powerful God and put him into a nice little neat American box he cannot be contained Heaven loves to break into earth in weird ways sometimes it's just the nature of it it might make us uncomfortable but you know what that's really good that we have a God that's bigger than us it's a really good that we're not in control and that he is right and so you know I think a lot of times when I think about who our God is he is the God who just defies impossible he is I am he is the miracle maker he is the one we were singing praises to this morning who is so worthy he's so powerful and you know I think of many times how we're like in one place and we see this other place and maybe we've come to the end the edge the cliff of where we can go in our own strength you're at the point where this is all I can do in my own strength this is as far as my money brings me this is as far as modern you know medicine can bring me this is as far as my connections and my Stuben strength can bring me and you know what I'm not where I want to be I'm not I need to be there God said I can be there that's for me but I'm here and there's this huge chasm in between where I am and where I know I'm called to be and it says big divide and what do we do the only way to get there the only way is to build a bridge and that bridge is fate that's the only way faith is the only thing that bridges you from your current natural circumstances to the supernatural the gods dreams being manifested heaven on earth the kingdom on the earth right we were singing about that this morning the only way for that to be manifested in our life is that bridge of faith and without that bridge we will always be stuck in what we can just do for ourselves we will always be limited to just what humans can do but if we truly believe if we're truly willing to partner with heaven if we're truly willing to believe he is who he says he is all of a sudden a bridge is created to the impossible all of sudden the impossible can become your reality it's all throughout the Bible it's story after story after story generation after generation after generation who watched God break in and do the impossible when it made no sense when it was crazy that's why when I read the Bible and then I hear these stories about these you know these kind of famous stories about these ladies and I go out like Oh probably happened God's just crazy like that right I mean God's just wild all right if you have your Bibles turn with me to Matthew 17 we're gonna be in Matthew 17 in mark chapter 9 it's the same story two different accounts well read Matthew's version first Matthew 17 verse 14 and when they came to the crowd a man came up to him and kneeling before him said lord have mercy on my son for he has seizures and he suffers terribly for often he falls into the fire and often into the water and I brought him to your disciples and they could not heal him and jesus answered jesus is ticked Oh faithless and twisted generation how long am I to be with you how long am I to bear with you bring him here to me and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the boy was healed instantly then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said why could we not cast it out and he said to them because of your little faith for truly I say to you if he have faith like the grain of a mustard seed you will say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you let's read it again in mark 9 verse 14 and when they came to the disciples they saw a great crowd around them and scribes arguing with them and immediately all the crowd when they saw him were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him and he asked them what are you arguing about and greeted them I'm sorry what are you arguing about with them 4:17 and someone from the crowd answered him teacher I brought my son to you for he has a spirit that makes him mute and whenever it seizes him it throws him down he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid so I asked your disciples to cast it out but they were not able and he answered them Oh faithless generation how long am I to be with you how long am I to bear with you bring him to me and they brought the boy to him and when the spirit saw him immediately it convulsed the boy and he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth I told you the Bible is crazy and Jesus asked his father how long has this been happening to him and he said from childhood verse 22 in it and it has often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him but if you can do anything have compassion on us and help us and jesus said to him if you can all things are possible for one who believes immediately the father of the child cried out and said I believe help my unbelief and when Jesus saw the crowd came running together he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you mute and deaf spirit I command you come out of him and never enter him again and after crying out and convulsing him terribly it came out and the boy was like a corpse so that most of them said he's dead but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose and when he had entered the house his disciples asked him privately why could weak not cast it out and he said to them this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer what a powerful story you know here's a story of a father who's desperately seeking help for his son right the father who came to that cliff we've come to the end of ourselves like end of ourselves there's nothing we don't know how to help our son there's physical problems there's mental problems there's spiritual problems going on all kinds of stuff happening and he brings he brings the child to the disciples and we know earlier in Matthew 10 actually give you the first Matthew 10 the topper it says Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness so they had the authority they'd already been given the authority to deal with demons and sickness right they've been given the authority to do it and then here comes a situation and it doesn't work has anybody ever been in a situation like this in your life okay and then you're like side combo Jesus little private combo you Jesus come over here what the heck right anybody have found himself a little private combo with Jesus in the back room like kidding me what happened right having this little private conversation of what went wrong so most of us can relate to this story and I think Jesus's response is very very interesting because he's you know he's pretty intense he starts with you unbelieving and perverted generation you'll notice in scripture the only place you really see Jesus getting upset is when his disciples lack faith dang it get mad at other people right no the only time you see Jesus getting upset is you know who I am you've seen who I am why don't you still believe why don't you believe like for real belief and so he's frustrated I think it's interesting that he says unbelieving and perverted and I really think that unbelief leads to perversion it leads to our a perversion of how we think or how we see the world or how we translate information or how we love unbelief puts lenses on you it distorts it changes it twists and then all of a sudden you know you kind of have a distorted view of the world or of God and what happens your heart gets heart and we're gonna see that in a minute there's a there's this link in scripture between unbelief and a hardness of heart and so I do think it's interesting that Jesus says you unbelieving and perverted generation it's kind of like that's some strong language there Jesus but unbelief perverts twist distorts so you know they bring the boy to Jesus and he's healed Jesus cast this demon out Jesus went to the source the source of this problem was spiritual now every every problem is not does necessarily have a spiritual source you know don't just walk up to anybody who's sick and be like in the name of Jesus I cast this demon out like that gonna be really really hurtful for people just because somebody's sick doesn't mean they have a demon everybody shake your head you're in agreement okay yes okay you know we live in a fallen world where our bodies just don't do what they're supposed to do right so sometimes it's just because we live in a fallen world and our bodies just get sick right and sometimes it's just purely physical and then you know so there's that end of the spectrum but the other end of the spectrum is you can't just take everything at face value either you can't just assume that everything is physiological because you know are in a real spiritual war and so sometimes there are you know it's a it's a spiritual battle it's light and darkness at play like in this case this was a demonic spirit that was manifesting and you can read it several translations but the father says he has epilepsy he's mute you know these very he's he's a lunatic he's using words like this where where maybe you know from the outside it looks like you know something physical something mental whatever that's going on but Jesus recognized in this situation that there was a deeper root it was a spiritual issue you with me so we need to sermon we need to know how to walk with Jesus and lean in when to give ibuprofen and when to go after something that's attacking somebody you know what I'm saying balance it's all in the balance but what happens here I think is is interesting because you see Jesus not you know wishing away a demon not begging the demon to leave not having a little chitchat with the demon he's just telling the demon what's up and the demons leaving right he is just here's what's happening you're gonna go and you're not coming back boom right and so Jesus because he has full authority and full faith and who his father is he has the power to walk in the supernatural and so we see this happening but you know these disciples when I can so relate to this having this private conversation with Jesus we tried we really tried and I loved it they did try like they really were like probably like forever you know like and nothing was happening and and they come to Jesus and I think his response is interesting because in verse 20 he says it's because of the littleness of your faith he didn't say because you have no faith he didn't say that he said because your faith was too little the faith you had was not enough you did not have enough faith for the circumstance you were facing how many of us can relate to that right we have faith for certain other people we have faith for certain areas that you've seen breakthrough in before you got faith for that but you don't have faith for this other thing and Jesus is going after this and his disciples and he's beginning to take to really challenge them to look at the littleness of their faith the reason they failed was their power of unbelief and the reality is your faith will determine your experience or your lack thereof of the supernatural your faith will determine that your faith will determine that either you get a bridge or you don't it's faith right and Jesus begins to teach them and he says you have the faith the size of this mustard seed if you have faith the side of this mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible so he's saying you need mustard seed faith to deal with mountain sized problems but it's kind of confusing cuz you're like well they had some faith so it seems like their mustard seed wasn't enough anybody ever read that go I'm more confused right but it's not so much the size of the seed I think Jesus is using this as an example because the mustard seeds obviously very very small it's not the size of the seat it's the life potential inside the seed right the mustard seed is a tiny sea but the mustard tree what's in that is the capacity to grow into a 15 to 20 foot tall tree or how huge is a is an oak tree and all the potential of that is in a tiny acorn here's the reality it's not it's it's not necessarily the size of your faith it's is your faith alive even the smallest dose of living faith is it alive because the reality is if you plant that it's gonna keep growing and growing and growing it's not a dead seed it's a living seed you can have the biggest hugest seed but if it's dead there's no life in it it's not going to grow anything what Jesus is saying is as long as there is light if you are if there's real-life connection to the spirit it doesn't matter how small it is I can burst something crazy out of it I love this many of us are facing huge mountains things are believing God for addiction this foster care issue in our city like whatever it is and I have been so surd and I I felt to bring this word zigs I feel so challenged and stirred in my spirit the expression here me as a community we are about to move some mountains we're about to move some mountains but to do that to do that we have to get this unbelief cast out of us anywhere where there's lingering unbelief we've got to get it dealt with in our hearts we've got to get our faith alive because we're about I just feel this wooing this invitation from God for us to do some crazy things and he's so kind he's so kind to let us get this worked out in here before we're there he was so kind to give David that time on the back side of the hill that he probably thought was a waste of his time you know I'm sure the end he was like you're so awesome why are you ever here doing nothing right it was the mercy of God to give him that time in that space to get that faith worked out because you you don't all of a sudden figure that out when you're standing before the giant you better have that figured out you better know who your God is you better you better be rooted deeply in that place of faith before you're in front of the giant right and I just feel this invitation from God about we're about to step into the ring and see some mountains moved and he's just igniting our faith for real you know I think it's interesting because Jesus is he's talking about this with them he says you know but this kind does not go out by prayer and fasting and you know maybe he's talking about the demon maybe but I actually think he's probably talking about their unbelief you know the disciples were worried about the demon Jesus was like demon whatever I'm worried about the unbelief in your heart that was Jesus's issue Jesus wasn't worried about the demon he was worried about the unbelief in his disciples cuz he knew if they could get that sorted everything would take care of itself right and so when he says some of some of these things have to be worked out in prayer and fasting I don't think he means I need you to go pray and fast so that you can you know strong army and wrestle me to move on your behalf Jesus wants people set free you don't need to beg him he wants the sick healed you don't need a beggin he wants transformation and revival he wants all of that we don't need to beg him we don't need to like run the heavens to see it happen I think why we need to go away and you know cut off some of our selfishness and the fasting or whatever and pray and press in it so that we can connect that place of faith in us that we can awaken our faith we can cast out our unbelief so that we can step in and see all that he's called us to do and so I think that's what Jesus is going after when he's like some of this only gets sorted out in prayer and fasting I think he's talking about our own hearts sometimes I wonder if there's too many unbelieving believers we believe Jesus for salvation but it kind of ends there and I wonder what would really be what would the world look like what would this city look like if just the believers just the people that already profess to follow Christ who believe he is a son of God begin to truly let him root up and root out unbelief in their heart and they just got ignited with faith I wonder how many Christians are walking around saying I tried it didn't work so I'm gonna reduce my fee all I'm gonna change my theology I'm gonna build bad theology around my black of faith and we begin to preach a powerless gospel lest anybody get discouraged as if God cannot defend his own character in his own nature rather than recognizing like Jesus with his disciples saying guys the only problem is with you you didn't believe I loved the response of this father he says I believe but heal my unbelief I wonder how many of us can really say that to the Lord like in honesty like Jesus I believe but heal my unbelief because there's still this place in me that wrestles heal our unbelief Jesus and he's so faithful to do it I love that Jesus had such compassion on this father hearing him say that and he heals his son right you know I think sometimes we think oh well if I saw miracles like that too I believe no you wouldn't you wouldn't look at the Israelites right they saw the manna though they saw at all and because their hearts were hardened in unbelief you can translate trans you know take that information and totally I've done this myself where I literally have seen God do something crazy a miracle in my life and then I'll get into like a funk and I'll be like oh yeah whatever that's probably just because dead it and you start rationalizing it somehow maybe ever done that and they were like what am i doing why am i trying to disprove God's hand in my life you know like we have a need we pray so-and-so comes over and says you know I want to give you this or whatever and we get this like off for this amazing guest or to me and it just takes care of the need and then you know the reality is God just did that completely and yet we're like oh that person's just really nice really no they're not it's true right even if they are really nice like God stirred on their hearts isn't so I think so often the condition of your heart whether it's tender or it's hard is translating that information in your environment and and so I love this where he says I believe but heal my unbelief and I think it's time for us to cross over you know our gifts our skills our favor your money your connections can only take you so far and I feel this invitation of work what we're called to do cannot be done with human hands it cannot be done in your strength and your own connection if what you're believing for you can build yourself cool go do it but that's not what biblically we're called to do because you yourself cannot pull heaven to earth you yourself cannot manifest the kingdom of God on the earth right so to see that happen if that's what we're going for if we're going after seeing God get his glory we're going after lies transformed broken systems healed you know issues of injustice transformed that can only come by the power of the Holy Spirit in our life that can only come as God infuses us with his strength right it takes faith so I'm talk about unbelief for a moment what is unbelief unbelief is believing something other than what God has said about a situation somebody was showing me a picture earlier it's like Christian atheists you know believe for salvation but don't believe for anything else or whatever like that it's like oh wow okay do we really believe he is who he says he is do you really believe the Bible do you really believe his promises do we really believe that and so I want to talk about just kind of having a hardened heart for a moment so I think it's an I think it's important especially because Jesus in mark 9 where he says because if you can believe all things are possible here's why rooting up unbelief is important because if we can believe all things are possible all things are possible all things are possible connects with connects with belief faith right unbelief is the thing that breaks the all things are possible unbelief is the thing that burns down your bridge unbelief is the thing that stops have been breaking in and you're like I don't know about that let me just give you a few examples Matthew 13 58 Jesus Christ right Jesus case you were confused which one Jesus in his hometown right it says that he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith Jesus was limited in the miracles he could do in his hometown because of their lack of faith that's a weird verse Matthew 9:25 when Jarius his daughter died Jesus had to send everyone out of the room before he could raise her from the dead why didn't he let all these you know people who don't believe why didn't he let them see the miracle with his own eyes he had to cast the unbelief out so that the miracle could happen Jesus Peter did the same thing in acts 9 verse 40 Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed and turned to the body this dead girl and he says to have atha arise and she opened her eyes and when she saw Peter she sat up Jesus taught as his disciples a lesson you have to cast the spirit of unbelief out and when you do nothing will be able to stand against you I wonder how many of us have been crying over a dead body if you will crying over something that feels immovable that feels dead that feels hard that feels impossible and Jesus is saying I want to do that but you've got to cast your unbelief out so this miracle can happen you've got to get rid of that that rooted you know those deep places of roots that are still in you of unbelief before you're gonna see this mountain move Hebrews 3:12 says see to it brothers and sisters that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God many translations talk about an unbelieving heart you'll see the same words it translated many times a hard and unbelieving heart a hard and unbelieving heart that leads to disobedience hard and unbelieving heart leads to disobedience when our hearts are hard it produces unbelief in us right it's that distortion that perversion of our lens what is hard-hearted a hard-hearted person feels dry like they can't feel God a little spiritually distant foggy demanding hard to please cynical nobody can relate to this ever I know you know their typical responses y'all right I don't believe it right weather towards people you know not believing the best in people not believing the best in God it's just that kind of place where your heart has just doesn't feel tender anymore towards God or towards people calloused unfeeling you know I think one way that we would describe this as cynical I think many times I think there's a lot of Christians right now that are very cynical cynical towards God cynical towards the church most of us have you know if not all of us have probably gone through seasons where we have felt our own heart kind of hard or kind of cynical or kind of like doubt it you know just kind of that edge like not really feeling the compassion we used to feel for people just a little calloused a little and you can put a pretty bow on it you can call it like compassion fatigue you can call whatever you want either way your heart still hardened and needs some reviving right yes no nobody okay y'all are like pokerface to the max you're all like I don't even know what she's talking about I'm like well I am the only one okay um the enemy wants to conditioned us to make our hearts our hearts hard and we have to ask God to keep us sensitive and tender before him Matthew 11 jesus said take my yoke upon you i'm humble gentle meek lowly despite the betrayal despite all the junk he had to deal with right Jesus kept his heart tender in the invitation for us is can we keep our heart tender in a harsh and brutal world when people are mean when when things we don't you know are crazy mysterious God sometimes does things that we don't understand or in ways we don't understand can we keep our heart tender you know it's it's the fight of the faith we hear about in Scripture it's the great fight of the faith can you keep a place of faith in connection even when you don't understand because let me tell you God is crazy and he's gonna do things you don't understand you know back in the day it was the donkey talking what's what's the donkey talking for you today what's the way that God is doing something that is just makes you mad donkey shouldn't talk I don't like it it makes me uncomfortable what is that area in your life would you were like I was hoping for a prophetic word an angel to come down and bake me bread and I got a freaking talking donkey you know what I mean and we're mad at God about it I got the talking donkey I asked for that I asked for that gift I asked for that anointing I got a donkey getting mad at me because I'm whipping him too hard when I'm right you know like that's really what happens a donkey's like hey you know simmer down what'd I do to you but I wonder how many of us are having a current talking donkey moment in our life and we're questioning God is sovereign and powerful just as good we just don't understand it right so this hardness of heart leads to unbelief it leads to disobedience we have to keep our heart tender Hebrews three I'm gonna read more of that verse Hebrews 3 7 through 11 says so as the Holy Spirit says today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness where your ancestors tested and tried me though for 40 years they saw what I did that that is why I was angry with that generation I said their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways so I declared an oath in my anger they shall never enter my rest I think this is very very interesting and then it continues on it says in Hebrews 4 3 says they who have believed do enter the rest of God so here's what you see unbelief results in not being able to enter into God's rest are you with me when you are in unbelief in the core of your heart you're always gonna be anxious you're never gonna really be at rest you're never gonna really be able to enter into peace it requires faith those who believe faith is the the key that unlocks the door to rest faith in him is what actually brings rest into you body soul and spirit faith is the thing I'm wondering with the anxiety epidemic in our nation if the antidote to that is not faith coming back to understanding casting out unbelief and reconnecting in faith to who our God is that will bring peace and rest into our homes and our lives and our bodies I want to give you quickly here I want to give you six keys to cultivating a soft heart if you're like me and I think my heart is a little hard nobody okay well take notes in case this ever happens to somebody else you can tell them how to work on that heart heart okay I'm saying this was I really really feel like I said we are about to see some mountains move but we've got a key we got a cast me got to make sure there is no unbelief left in us and that we are full of faith in our heart is tender before God because we're about it's about to get real we're about to see some stuff like what right and I want to be David in the ring singing the giant fall not the guy on the side wishing I was dead because I'm too afraid I want to be the one that's watching I want to be first hand in there watching God get his glory in our day right okay so six keys to cultivating a soft heart and I just want to remind you having a soft heart helps protect you from unbelief okay number one awareness the biggest barrier to dealing with a toughened heart is realizing that we are the one with the problem when you have a hard heart it's their fault and their fault and the church and God and everybody else right so the first thing is awareness recognizing maybe there's a problem here in me sometimes the shift to emotional distance is so gradual we don't even recognize it that we're just kind of distant emotionally with God in your marriage and your parenting in your career you just kind of kind of went into it just coasting right so awareness just kind of some tips on that loneliness can be a sign many times that we are that we've stopped giving out emotionally that we stop connecting so awareness looks at some of those things like why am I feeling lonely why have I stopped actually connecting for real with people when did I stop getting vulnerable okay so where and it kind of takes you on that journey of self exploration like David said search me oh god no my heart trying me and know my anxious thoughts so number one is awareness pressing in for that number two repentance and forgiveness repentance is just saying God you know I realize I'm Connie I've kind of been cynical my heart got a little hard like that past season was rough would you forgive me would you forgive me for disconnecting would you forgive me for kind of just giving up on your church and it concerns me genuinely concerns me how many Christians I know that are like I love God I hate his church have you ever seen a man in love what would happen if you walked up to him and said I really like you I hate your wife I wouldn't work at my family it wouldn't right what kind of loving good bridegroom is to be like cool we'll hang out when she's not around you know like she's messy you're messy it's us we're messy we're not always pretty but we're gonna have to learn to repent for hating his bride or judging his bride right so repentance is a big part of that of letting our hearts get soft again recognizing I'm part to blame here my pride my judgment my whatever right so repentance but also forgiveness forgiving the people that have hurt you that kind of made you want to put those walls up forgiving yourself because many times I find people who've got a hard heart these walls up what they're actually there there's so much shame sometimes that they're just trying to protect themselves somehow from all this shame that they're feeling inside of them so forgiving yourself and forgiving others this is a huge part in keeping your heart tender before God number three bring your disappointments your loss and your portrayals before God listen you don't have to act like everything's cool like it's all great like I love the disciples pull Jesus into a private room and we're like wth heck what the heck right I love that they're having this honest wrestle and conversation with Jesus you don't need to be so like oh I can never question God and like he is not afraid of your honest questions in your wrestle he's he can hand God can handle it he is a big boy he can handle it right he can handle that you can bring your disappointments your confusion your loss your betrayals before God and you know instead of talking about that with somebody else how somebody you know the church betrayed you or people did that or people whatever instead of talking about it with somebody else or posting about it on Facebook bring it to God bring it to God that's what's gonna help your heart but we got to get those calluses off so that we can be tender so pick me full of faith number four choose to initiate and invest invest in people until you until you feel affection for them when your hearts tough you need to initiate many times when our heart is tough we we want to kind of isolate well if people care about me they would call me why has nobody called me why is gonna be checked in on me that sounds like a hard heart you want to break that in you you go and invest you initiate yeah cause it requires humility it's gonna break the hardness of the pride right so you initiate you invest invest break saying sometimes you got to give your way out of something what does that mean scripture says where your treasure is there your heart will be also if your hearts not somewhere you want it to be start putting your treasure there until your heart follows if you're having a hard time you know with whatever start investing in relationship financially time in that place your heart will come alive to it your heart will begin to feel again your heart will begin to value again choose to initiate and invest number five cultivate gratitude one way to break hardness of our heart is just to begin to focus on what God is doing stop focusing on what he's not doing focus on what he is doing [Laughter] focus on what he is doing for the people in the back needed a little louder okay um focus on what he's what he's currently doing focus on the good focus on where he's come through you know it's so easy to get caught up in oh my gosh how am I gonna see this thing happened it's crazy to just stop stop the madness stop in that moment stop the swirl and just begin to go he came through there and he came through there and he came through there and it came through there and he's been faithful and I thought it was gonna die a million other times and I haven't died yet right like all these things I thought were it's like all these fears and it's just silence have been remind remind your mountain who your God is remind your circumstances how faithful and good your God is remind your soul right cultivate gratitude instead of falling into the drama and the you know emotional whatever stop just stop and start cultivating gratitude just praise your way out begin to think begin to praise begin to focus on him because it puts your attention your focus on the one who can fix your problem rather putting your attention on your problem which does not deserve your beautiful attention right cultivate gratitude and then the sixth thing is connect you are designed for connection with God and with people when we have hardened hearts we begin to push people out and it might be for self-protection that's how you got there but you're gonna be all alone and miserable if you get those same walls that protected you don't come down to let people in to help heal you right you are made for connection it's gonna require vulnerability it's gonna require pressing into a community again letting people in connecting connecting with God connecting with people even when you don't feel like it because guess what our feelings are not our boss lord help me if I did what I felt like doing all day every day right we don't live by our feelings so here's six I think practical things that we can do if you're fining yourself my heart might be just a little harder than I'd like it to be you guys it's time for the crazy miracles it's time for the crazy stories I want to hear I can't wait to be like seriously what like crazy like I want that's the kind of Christianity I signed up for that's the kind of God I believe in the God who does just crazy things the God who blows our mind the God who breaks in it's time for mountains to move it's time for demons to go it's trying time for you know demonic strongholds in society that just keep replicating injustice at times it's time for that to end it's time for these things to happen but we've got to work we've got to make sure that we don't show up to the fight with little faith we got to make sure we show up to the fight with the kind of faith that moves mountains and here's the reality it has nothing to do with you and me it has everything to do with him so it's just getting our focus on him letting our hearts be tender even if you've been like man I have been in this battle and I am go through that list keep going through this list you never arrived you get it just take seasons and go through this list and keep working it out on your heart so that your heart stays tender before God so they can be full of faith it's time for all things are possible for those who believe right last week we talked about taking risks when we take these God's God risks we've got to show up with the faith gotta take the risk with the faith you can't just take a crazy risk and be you know have a bunch of unbelief in your heart that's not gonna work out well take the risk with faith so I just want to end with this I want to remind you I want to remind you who Jesus is I love this is just some of the names of who Jesus is every one of these has a scripture backing it Jesus is the Almighty one the one who was and who is to come he's the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last the beginning and the end he's your advocate he is the author and perfecter of your faith he has all authority in heaven and on earth he is the bread of life he said I'm the bread of life whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty he's the beloved son of God he's the bridegroom he's the chief Cornerstone he's her deliverer he is faithful and true he's your Good Shepherd he's the great high priest he's the head of the church he is I am he is Emmanuel God with you he is God's indescribable gift he is your faithful judge he is the king of kings he's the Lamb of God he's the light of the world he's the Lion of the tribe of Judah he is the Lord of all Philippians 2:9 says for this reason God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so the the name of Jesus every knee will bow of those who are on heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father he's your mediator he's your Messiah he's your mighty one he's the one who sets free he's your Living Hope he's your peace he's your prophet he's your Redeemer he's your risen Lord he's your rock he is the sacrifice for your sins he's your Savior he is the son of the Most High God he is supreme creator over all by him all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth visible and invisible whereas Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him he is before all things and in him all things hold together he is the resurrection and the life he is the door he is the way he is the word he is the true vine he is the truth he is the victorious one he is the wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father Prince of Peace [Applause] that is who are jesus' that's the godly serve we need to get that so rooted in us so deeply rooted in us that when we see a mountain we walk in like David we're like you're gonna fall say goodbye right like literally we've got to be so focused on who he is get that true so in us that unbelief has no place to land in us amen [Applause] here at expression we are a church that is we're pushing our chips all the way in we're going for it we are going for it in the season we are believing God for crazy things we are literally wrestling with heaven how can we impact culture how can we see your kingdom come to the earth we are going for we are we're just so believing God for radical things in our day and we as a community this is not something that just a few people can do this is something all of us are called to all of us we are a city on a hill every one of us burning brightly every one of us your faith ignites my faith my faith ignites your faith it's together we're one body the days of just a few kind of spiritual superheroes is over it's all of the people of God taking their place knowing who they are taking ground for the kingdom every one of you is so vital in the kingdom of God literally from the time you were in your mother's womb and he was crafting you in designing you and setting up circumstances in your life that we're gonna shape you even though maybe they were hard and and giving you the personality he gave you giving you the community he gave he gave you in the history he gave you you are the best person on the planet to handle certain mountains there is nobody else that will handle that as well as you are so divinely crafted to take down that mountain or to shift things for the kingdom he is deeply involved in crafting your life he has set things before you that he just can't wait to do with you sure he could do it with some yells but he wants to do it with you he's such a good faithful friend and we are so excited about this season and where we're going and where God is leading us and I I'm so stirred and I want to encourage you I would encourage you get in this fight of faith deal with any unbelief in your heart like let's get that out of us because we're about to run we're about to run keep your heart tender if the enemy has really been coming after your heart and trying to get a heart know that he is terrified of you he is terrified of you and he can't take your authority so he's just thinking man if I could get their heart calloused he'll take their own authority away if I can just get their heart callous enough that they let some unbelief in they become you know void of power don't don't drink the kool-aid don't do it cast out the unbelief so that the miracles and the life and the power can flow out of your life amen I'm gonna pray for us in a moment but before I do I really want to encourage you if this is your church if if this is your home this is your community and you're not already serving I would encourage you get plugged in because what we're going for here it's gonna take all of us it's gonna take all of us like you know the reality that you're here right now even getting to receive this word or having this worship it's because you know all these things happen because of volunteers this whole church is built on volunteers we are all in this together and so I want to encourage you there's so many different places you know after service we have our volunteer fair we're actually gonna go right out through these doors and there's music already starting there's there's opportunities but you can just figure out okay how can I get plugged in if this is my church like I want to be a part of this I don't want to just be on the on the you know fringe on the outside or maybe it's kind of that Callos place of like yeah I think I've taken advantage of in churches before I don't want to get involved this is one of those opportunities invest this is one of those opportunities where you break that place in you I'm just saying I'm gonna I'm gonna invest and I'm gonna love again I'm gonna open up again right and so I want to encourage you to take the opportunity to to head out there hear all the different areas you can get plugged in and just get to know this community and be apart for real in this community all right would you stand I'm gonna pray for us Jesus you're amazing god I pray for every person in this room right now Jesus we just come before you and we say we believe but please heal our unbelief God heal my unbelief Lord heal the places in me that just got a little calloused or got a little self focused or got a little doubting Lord I pray that you would heal my unbelief lord I pray for all of us or that you would give us just childlike faith would you just wave of your holy spirit after wave Lord I pray thee would wash over this room right now and that you would just tender eyes any place in us that's hard god soften our hearts before you would you root out any unbelief god god we want to be people of faith not just because we want to see cool things God because you're worthy you are worthy of us believing you god you're good and you're faithful and you're just and you're powerful god I just pray for every person in this room that this would be a season god of making our own history with you of making our own stories with you God that we wouldn't be satisfied with just other people's stories but that this would be a season God where we truly begin to see mountains move God I pray for an igniting of faith in our spirits today God we just asked that he would root out any unbelief in us Holy Spirit we want to run we want to believe you for the big things we want to take risks God heal our unbelief Jesus we invite you just to come in to our hearts and our lives like never before God I pray that you would remind us how wild and crazy you are and how wild and crazy you want to be in us we gave you permission to have your way whatever it looks like god we don't want to control it we don't want to manipulate it god we just want you to be you have your way Jesus we disagree together that we're running we agree together that we are not going to run away from Giants and mountains but this is our season to see them move in Jesus name for your glory for your glory in Jesus name we pray [Music]

Channel: Expression 58

Views: 9,049

Rating: 4.8526316 out of 5

Keywords: jennifer toledo, jen toledo, jona toledo, shawn bolz, cherie bolz, expression 58, expression58, e58, heal my unbelief, unbelief, church, glendale, los angeles, revival, justice

Id: W1G15ThMYW4

Length: 65min 22sec (3922 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 26 2018