This Isn't Working | Pastor Stephen Chandler

[Music] you guys have Matthew chapter 17 God is good before we do that can you just do me a favor I know it's a little bit dark oh the lights on in a second as I read this first can you just slide in cuz this is a little crowded up in here people are still coming we gonna get y'all seat so we gonna get you all the way in the building if you have a purse or bag code and a seat or a child just go ahead and move them do you guys enjoy New Year's Eve the viewer here it was insane he reliable to be sitting in the parking lot I mean there's people on the floor people on the platform people out in the windows it was like that Bible verse you know Jonathan guess they focused cuz you don't know when I'm gonna come back see here this bracelet about where they said the house was so packed there were people that were sitting in the windows to hear Paul preach I promise he was a little boring so some kid fell asleep and fell out the window and broke his neck yeah that's a boring message you fall asleep and break your neck that's a boring message that's when you don't you don't fall asleep on them like you know powerful men of God though cuz Paul brought him back to life and then the funniest thing in scripture she said he went on preaching I was like it's not even long enough we'll just raise him from the dead and keep on going so it was a great time at New Year's Eve and I'm just excited for what God's gonna do this year cuz it's getting crazy at destiny Church and I'm up for y'all up for come on now Matthew chapter 17 verse 15 if you haven't say here let's read this together lord have mercy on my son freezin epileptic and suffers severely pray often falls into the fire and often into the water so I brought him to your so I brought him to your brought it to your disciples but they could not cure him I don't have time to preach that message so I'll just kind of give it to you and then I'll fly by that there's only one reason that we come to church somebody say one reason it's not for his disciples it's for Jesus you know so often you can come into a place and you can interact with an intermediary and not quite get what you're looking for and then you can be disappointed because you have to understand that's not the person you came for you came in an environment with other believers listen to me I know that you love me you may be here for the first time you still love me we never met before but how many just tell you you love me because I'm lovable but listen Ian come hear me preach today you don't come to destiny Church for Steve and you come to destiny Church for Jesus I didn't come for an intermediary I came to see the one who knows me who called me by name and has a plan and a purpose for my life and I wish I had 50 people in this room that refused to settle for anything less than an encounter with Jesus I love the worship team I love the lights I love the lyrics but I didn't come for all of that you guys sound amazing singing but I didn't come here to hear you sing I came here to encounter is there anybody in this room that you came just to touch the King of Kings and the Lord of lords because you understand that just one touch from him can transform my life man you guys aren't with me yet but we're gonna get there by the end of this one but jesus answered and said o faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you that that's Jesus talk for how long have to put up with you he said how long shall I bear with you bring him here to do with me and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour then the disciples came to Jesus privately that's how they talked so jesus said to them because of your unbelief he didn't even like you know how you have like the correction sangwich you say something good about somebody then you rebuke him and then you say he and even do what I just said because you have enough faith in the unbelief for surely I say to you if you have faith as 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 however this kind is not go out except by prayer and fasting father God we're excited we're grateful because you're here the only reason you would be here is to speak to us and a transform our lives so God our ears are turned are focused on you move in our midst Jesus name we pray amen a name if we sit down high five to people tell somebody this isn't working come on now tell somebody tell somebody tell somebody tell somebody tell somebody tell somebody this is this ain't working I ain't working before I jump into the message I just want to get you caught up we're doing a brand new series starting on February 3rd called the jungle somebody say the jungle what in the world is a series called the jungle gonna be about oh it's gonna be a four-week relationship series if you are single if you're dating if you're married if you are newly single I am Telling You it is gonna be a series for you we are gonna attack one of my favorite topics because it's opportunity to laugh and all that other good stuff but also to bring a vision and healing to an area that so many people are just unclear about I hear so many people say pastor you I'm looking to date but I've never dated as a Christian and I know what it looks like to date in the world but now that I'm following Christ I'm not really quite sure what that looks like am I allowed to flirt as a Christian like can i howl at her like how does it work in church and all that other good stuff so we're gonna bring some clarification to that and really bring some definition to our marriage is so many of us we're trying to duplicate the marriage that we saw in our parents or we're trying to not duplicate the marriage that we saw in our parents and here's the thing what you don't want to be is not enough of a vision for your life so many of us the only vision we have for our life is I don't want to do that great but what do you want to do and God has a vision for every single area of our lives now it's not just gonna be a Sunday message but it's gonna be a month full of events so some dates to write down just the kind of mark your calendar on February 8th we are having as singles and dating event here it's a Friday night we haven't come up with a name for it yet it's not as singles mingle because that's corny it's not speed-dating because that doesn't quite sound biblical but we are gonna figure this out my goal is that Valentine's Day is a week later and your pastor is gonna do everything he possibly can to make sure that you're not dating Jesus this Valentine's Day because Jesus is already married so we're gonna help you out who's Jesus married to the church the Bride of Christ so get your own it's a homeboy you've been stalking that girl for six months now you sit three rows behind her every Sunday we're going to give you an opportunity to get them digits and to see where this things goes and then February 15th somebody say February 15 February 15th is gonna be a destiny kids parents night out some of you parents have three-year-old children and you haven't been on a date night in three years well we are gonna help you out with that there's gonna be free childcare that Friday destiny kids is gonna cover that for you whether you're a parent whatever it may be bring your children don't bring your nieces and nephews bring your children drop them off and you can go do what else you want you go home and take a nap you go make another kid if you want you go on a date night do whatever you want to do just make sure at the end of the night you come back and pick up the kids you already made we go watch them for that night not for the rest of your life and then February 22nd somebody save him in February 22nd February 22nd is gonna be our marriage conference it's gonna be that Friday night we are throwing a conference for the married folks or I'm engaged or I want to know how to be married right the first time whatever it may be we're gonna have a time to dance and laugh and to celebrate but also to encourage each other there's a there's a heartbreaking statistic that the divorce rate in the church is the same as a divorce rate outside of the church it should not be that way so how many people know it should not be that way the only problem is sitting in a church doesn't make it work Jesus said this he said you have to renew the way that you think because you can be a Christian sitting in church and still thinking the way that the world thinks and you can mess it up the same way because it is made if you allow me to change the way that you think and see it the way that I've created it to be whether it's your first marriage or your second or whatever it may be this one will be different because you're doing it God's Way with someone who is committed to doing it God's Way amen so invite somebody a month of February gonna be amazing you guys ready to preach starting a brand new series today called unusual somebody say unusual and I'll tell you might but for weeks my entire goal throughout this series is to get you to give up on usual to get you to give up on normal usual is literally just the habits that you've always done the actions that you've always done that have brought the results that you've always gotten but you have to understand it does not matter how good your 2018 was God has something more for you in 2019 the Bible says that God's desire is that you would go from glory to glory to glory sometimes we can almost feel um what's the word that I'm looking for entitled or selfish to expect more from God when our life is not bad you know I mean you can sit here and say you know I don't really have much to complain about I have health finances are taking care of my relationships are good I really I mean there's stuff that could be better but I'm not miserable I'm not living a bad life I'm grateful for what God has done listen to me you can be grateful and not content in the same emotion God is thankful that you are thankful for what he's done in your life but he has more for you and my goal is to shake you over the next four weeks and it gets you disgusted with normal disgusted with usual not because you're ungrateful but because he didn't die for you to live a normal life Jesus didn't die on the cross for you to have a normal marriage for you to have normal finances normal friendships he did not die on the cross for you to have a normal relationship with him he said I want to do exceeding and abundantly above all that you could ever acts think or imagine can you take about 10 seconds and praise God if you're believing for 2019 to be just a little bit more than it was in 2018 can I give you what normal looks like can I can't say what a normal marriage looks like a normal marriage or two people and I'll tell you honestly probably 90% of marriages are this way where we love each other like we really love each other it's not like we can't stand each other and I like we hate we love each other I'm glad I married him I'm glad I married her or whatever it may be and we're excited about where we're going there's just a few major areas in our life where we don't agree it may be how to raise the kids it may be how we deal with money it may be faith where we're in church every Sunday but my wife's not really or my husband's not really or whatever it may be and to avoid those knock-down drag-out fights that take three days to resolve and I'm lonely and scratching all night long what I'm gonna do is we're just gonna live those parts of our lives separately so what we've done is we removed the discussion in any area of our lives where we don't agree so if we don't agree about money we just do it differently if we don't agree about kids agree about faiths we just do it differently and listen to me that's normal but Jesus didn't die for normal do you know what being married and doing money differently is like or being married and having different approaches to raising your kids or different approaches to career or faith or whatever it's like having a six piston engine and you're only running off of five pistons it takes a whole lot more energy to go the same distance what you could have gone further faster if everybody was on the same page the Bible says how can two walk together unless they agree the only problem is it's normal and it's what everybody else looks like so it's what we've accepted is our reality I say what normal finances look like I mean I am anyway but it makes me feel better if you say yes before I can go they're like why do you keep asking us you're gonna do it anyway I know it just makes me feel we're having a conversation normal finances are pastor we're making it like I mean we're not laying on our bills we're actually not struggling we're doing we're doing pretty well we would travel once a year we go out the country go on vacation we're good we have good jobs we're saving for retirement we're doing well but God help us if we lose our job if this job goes away I don't know how long I can keep up this mortgage I don't know how long I can keep this debt at bay we're we're doing fine and it's not quite paycheck to paycheck but it's like pay period to pay period it's literally like we're fine now as long as nothing changes but if anything changes we're in trouble that's normal Jesus didn't die for normal somebody said keep going I can't tell you what a normal friendship is like man I love my friends we remember a college freshman roommates ten years ago we've we've moved to different cities but we're still connected we love each other we do life together we travel together but if I were to be honest I'm not really upfront or transparent with my closest friends because their major focuses and aspirations in life are not my major focuses and aspirations in life they're not passionate about the things of God that I'm passionate about and they're not really Equipe to encourage me to be all that God's called me to be but to have people around me that make me laugh is better than being alone so I keep them around knowing that they're not really pushing me in the right direction but it's better than being alone so I'm gonna keep them around listen to me it's not bad it's just normal Jesus didn't die for normal can I tell you what normal faith looks like I really love Jesus and I know that he loves me the only problem is there's inconsistencies in my life and sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing a good job proving to God that I love him so my major focus is not necessarily how close God is or the goodness of God but the major focus in my life is trying to prove to God that I really do love him and I really do care about him and and I really am grateful for what he did on the cross and if I were to be honest with you I'm a little bit concerned about his perception of me I know that he loves me and he cares for me but I also think that he's a little frustrated with me because I don't always keep my word and I'm not as consistent as I wish I was I feel like this is where I should be spiritually and this is where I actually am yes I experienced some blessings in my life but to be honest with you my spiritual journey is a lot more frustration if I shouldn't have responded like that I should be better here I should do this or I should do that listening that is normal and the biggest problem with normal is it's not bad is it if you have a miserable life and you you you just like I can't take this no more I can't deal with this or whatever it may be that misery begins to stir something inside of you where you're like I'm a pray I'm a fast I'm gonna kick Heaven's doors down I'm gonna find something I am NOT doing this again we are gonna figure this out there's something motivating about misery but there's something inoculating about normal and you almost feel see expecting for more because it's what everybody around you is experiencing listen to me that's not what God died for Paul said this he said your problem is you compare yourself by yourself in other words he's saying you're looking at other people that are just as inconsistent and just as flawed as you are and because your marriage is a little bit better at your finances are a little bit better your faith is a little bit better you feel like I'm doing okay because I'm better than that cousin or whatever it may be Paul said listen to me they are not your comparison your comparison is your sibling Jesus Christ he is the one that you're pursuing is the image that you're looking to have in your life so to be honest with you over these four weeks I'm not really gonna help you much get you to a place where you're doing abnormal or unusual things my whole goal over these four weeks is just to get you sick and tired of the usual and sick and tired of normal so you can extend your faith for God to do something extra no ordinary in your life somebody shout Amen in this place this father with his son at some point he got sick and tired of normal normal for him was watching his son 3 4 5 6 7 weeks at a time be fine and be healthy but have this paranoia that at some point he's gonna have an episode at some point he's gonna be in trouble and then then they would go another three or four months and then he would have another health concern or whatever it may be and at some point this man said I am sick and tired of waiting for another tragedy or waiting for another problem I'm gonna do something about it and he took his son to Jesus for most people when we're trying to change our lives or we're trying to shift something we do one of two things we either try harder or we change up our approach am i right if you're trying to make more money you're gonna shift something I work 9:00 to 5:00 I'm gonna work 8:00 to 8:00 see if I can get a little bit of a head start see if I'd get notice here I got a new contract see if my boss would notice or whatever it may be or you say okay this job ain't gonna work out so I need to find me another one I'm gonna switch up my approach if you're trying to lose and you've been going you know three days a week on your way back from Cheesecake Factory and you're like hey this isn't working out so maybe I'll go five days a week or six days a week that's to the gym that's a cheesecake and I'm gonna you know the drink water only or whatever it may be so often when we're trying to shift something we change our effort and we change our approach and there's nothing wrong with that but that's not where you start if you're looking to shift something in your life you don't start with the natural you start by addressing the spiritual the spiritual literally is the first step to any change to any transformation in your life write this down the spiritual affects everything the spiritual affects everything this father brought his son to the disciples and they said hey can you heal him can you cure him can you pray for him and the disciples were not ready for that encounter and because the disciples were not ready for that encounter they failed in the natural and they were completely confused one of the biggest lies of the enemy is that your life is compartmentalized the enemy wants you to think that your spiritual stuff is over here on Sunday mornings in your devotion time in the morning or whatever and then the rest of your life is over here and they are separated the enemy wants you to think that your success in your business in your career has nothing to do with your spiritual life like how I do at work has nothing to do with being spiritual has nothing to do with how competent I am do I know what I'm doing how hard am i working if I work hard and I know what I'm doing I'm gonna be successful I'm gonna move forward the only way the spiritual world works in like my career is like praying that God would open doors or praying that my boss would get fired and I'd get a new one or whatever it may be that he'd opened doors but I don't really think there's any connection between my spiritual life and my performance at work many people think that about the relationships that that I I know I need to be godly I know to be humble but but God's presence doesn't really affect my marriage or my relationships my kids what affects that is the way that I respond or how humble I am or how I serve what there's a disconnect er there's a change listen to me they are not disconnected they're one in the same in third John chapter 1 verse 2 it says this it says beloved I pray that all may go well with you somebody say oh I looked that phrase up in the original Hebrew and it said this and Ebonics it said everything if this was written in bold somewhere it would say I pray that everything will go well with you and that you may be in good health in other words John said this I pray that your entire life would move forward and I pray that your health would be good watch this as it goes well with your soul John said your spiritual life is a mirror of every other area of your life however your spirit goes is how your health goes however your spirit goes is how your money goes however your spirit goes is how your marriage goes how your career goes listen to Linda listen listen listen if there is any area of your life I'm not even saying it's bad it's just normal the issue is not the issue the issue is spiritual there is a spiritual something that is off track that is resulting in you and your spouse fighting all the time or you're not having favor at work or health concerns or whatever it may be John said listen I pray that every area of your life would prosper would move forward even as your soul prospers so watch this if I neglect the spiritual ultimately what I'm doing is I'm neglecting the advancement of every other area of my life can I just be too transparent or honest as a pastor one of the biggest fights in my life is for my time with God through prayer and reading my word as this church gets bigger there's a more and more demand on my time where I need to be in this meeting and that meaning I got to do this and I got to do this and I got to do that and it's amazing how God will bless you to a point where you feel like you don't even have time for him anymore god I'd love to pray I'd love to do this I'd love to do it boy say all right now when nobody used to come to destiny church I used to pray like three four hours a day I had nothing nobody wanted to meet with me there was no counseling there was nothing and nothing to do but to pray now if I don't guard my time with God with pit bulls and Doberman Pinschers around it it will get taken to good things but not God things second thing I want you to write down is this spiritual lows lead to natural losses spiritual those leads it okay the first service failed on this one and hopefully you don't this is the point I'm just gonna just give you the answer this is a point where you scream and shout and say Amen you guys ready here we go how many people you love your words you just love God's Word good job good job first service failed I was pretty ticked off at him I love I love the Bible I love its revelation I love how it transforms your mind but I also just love how ignorant and how funny it is like if you read it the right way the Bible was not like up there it's real life it says this but the disciples they try to heal the little boy and they couldn't so then Jesus comes down from the mountain and in about a second he heals the boy and the boy and his father go home and then it says this it says the disciples they pulled Jesus aside privately they were so embarrassed because you have to understand Jesus was on that mountain for three days it was the Mount of Transfiguration he went up there with Peter James and John that's when he lied you and Moses showed up and and they're just like we're not kind of sure where Jesus went so no telling how long the disciples were trying to cast that demon to hit what boy get free and I promise you they tried everything they had ever seen and televangelists do at 3:00 a.m. on TV when they shouldn't have been watching TV I mean they got water and they sprinkled water on the little boy they blew be healed no they did every trick that they I mean they did I mean they did it all and none of it works and they pull Jesus aside and they said Jesus we are so embarrassed what in the world happened we said it we said it in Jesus name the Bible says that the name of Jesus above every name how come it didn't work they had reached a point of embarrassment that put them in a place where they were ready to try something unusual III don't know if you know this but I pray over you is the attenders and members of Destiny Church so much and and I've been praying a prayer over you and you'll probably be offended by the prayer that I'm praying but I think it's funny I'm praying that God would frustrate you two people said no don't amen to that I'm frustrated anyway seriously I'm praying that God would frustrate and I dare say infuriate you with normal I'm praying that you would get to the place in your life for you are disgusted with average you are disgusted with status quo you are disgusted with predictable and normal and usual I can pray that you would get to a place where you would say I can't stands no more of this I am NOT gonna live an average life I know that God has for me and here's what I'm praying I'm praying it doesn't take a major moment of embarrassment that the disciples had to go through before they can somebody just say I'm gonna receive it right now get that revelation right now don't wait for the embarrassment don't wait to be out there caught like man I try to do something in Jesus name and it didn't work out no I want you to be in a place where your comfort in that I am NOT gonna see average results but I'm gonna see supernatural results I just have said Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus what happened and he said this Jesus said you wanna know why I didn't work he answers him he says this you faithless and perverse generation how long am I gonna have to put up with you I don't know what it was Jesus didn't have enough sleep maybe he was fasting cranky I don't know what was going on but he was just like you wicked and evil people like I'm tired of dealing with you and I was looking at this and he said you faithless and perverse generation he said here's why it didn't work for you because you didn't have enough faith and you were too perverted by the way that the world does things now when we think perverted we think sexual perversions and all that other kind of stuff and that's not the origin of the word that's just how we've used it perverted just means mixed not pure in other words what God is saying is you're lacking faith and you're perverted with the world's doubt and worry let me say it this way you're too in touch with the limitations of the world and you're too out of touch with the limitless power of God can't say it another way you are too aware of your personal inadequacies and too unaware of the God that dwells inside of you in which the Bible says greater is He that is in you than he that's in the world he said you are too aware of the natural and too unaware of the supernatural I don't know why I always end up in these super transparent moments kind of just to bring it - can I tell you what that means as a pastor preaching III I can't even explain to you and I'm doing better but the battles I go through after I step off of this platform and I'm literally I'm walking out that back door and I usually run out the black door cuz I don't want you guys to see me and I'm just like I can't believe I mixed up that word I can't believe I stuttered here I can't believe I mixed up this point or whatever it may be and here's why because I'm too aware of what I brought to the equation and I remember one time I was walking off the platform I had mumbled some words sound like I went to Howard instead of University of Maryland like I mean well it was fun but I remember I was walking off the platform I was just discouraged because I didn't it didn't come across the way that I wanted you to come across and I felt the Holy Spirit say do you think if you had said it right that more lives would have been transformed what transforms lives your grammar or the power of God that's back in the words inside of you you are more aware of what's coming out of your mouth and the power that is within you he said to the disciples here's the problem you're more focused on yourself then you're focused on the creator of the universe that dwells inside of you he said that's why you were ineffective can I preach for a second pastor what's the problem with my job the problem is when you walk in those doors on Monday morning you're more aware of your ability and your frustrations than you are aware of the God that walked through those doors with you and is giving you wisdom and understanding and power to overcome whatever you face pastor what's the problem in my marriage the problem in your marriage is you are more aware of what your spouse is not doing or how they're speaking to you or whatever you are then you are aware of the God who completes you and satisfies you so you don't really need anything from your spouse so that you can serve them with no expectations he said the problem to any problem is you are more aware of the natural than you are of the spiritual now watch this he said if you had faith the size of a mustard seed you can speak to that mountain and say be moved from there to there you haven't seen a mustard seed before I know we don't see seeds much we just go to Wegmans and get the product but a mustard seed is like that I mean it is miniscule it's not even like a peanut or it is I mean like half the size of an apple seed so often for us when we think about faith we think about big faith and we think about little faith we think you know it takes a little bit of faith to believe that God's gonna let me keep my job but it takes a lot of faith to pray for somebody to be healed from sickness or whatever it may be and I have no problem praying for this but there are some things that I'm not gonna pray because my faith isn't that big jesus said if you have faith the side of a mustard seed you can move an entire Mountain how many people know that that's not big faith because faith doesn't come in sizes or proportions you either have it or you don't it's not that you believe bigger you believe a little you either believe or you don't it's either God I believe that you're gonna heal this relationship or you do what the Bible says in James your double minded we're on Monday you believe it's gonna happen Tuesday you're not sure Wednesday you believe it's gonna happen on Thursday you're like there's no way is that you're tossed to and fro and you will not get what you're believing for God says you have to get a faith that you said God said it I believe it and that settles it cannot can I throw out just a little fun kind of archeological deal so we were in Israel two years ago we had to see you know great timing we're on the tour and all that and we kind of talking through this passage and our tour guy was saying hey do you want to know why Jesus said if you have faked the size of a mustard to you that you could see that mountain move from here to there the reason why he said it is because the king of that time was named Herod and Herod was one of the greatest architects literally to this day art modern architects are trying to figure out how he constructed some of the palaces and the temples that he built well during this time Herod was built in his retirement home it was the mother of all palaces I mean it was the first infinity pool there ever was I mean he was balling the only problem was there was a mountain that I was obscuring the view from his bedroom to the ocean so this joker hired as they hired they were slaves got him thousands of slaves to away at this mountain and to literally move this mountain from obscuring the view from his bedroom so when Jesus said if you have faith the size of a mustard so you can speak to this mountain and see it move from there to here what Jesus was saying what your faith can do is equivalent what it takes the world thousands and thousands of employees just to pull off they have to put effort in time and money into it you can accomplish it just by your faith your response is not inadequate to how great that revelation was somebody shot a man like that was really cool last thing I want you to write down is this it's a two-part solution okay so I get the problem I'm too connected to my flesh and I'm too disconnected to God but how how do I get how do I shift it how do I move this thing in a direction where I'm not losing where I'm not seeing normal but I'm actually seeing heavens response in this area so watch this they come to Jesus and they said why didn't it work and he says because you're unbelieving and you're too diluted or you're too perverted by the mindsets of the world so he goes on talking and then the last verse says this he said however this kind only works through prayer and through fasting Jesus I'm confused you said it's because I have no faith and I'm perverted but now you're saying I need to pray and fast which is it was it a faith issue was it a perversion issue or is it a prayer and fasting issue sometimes they both the issue was faithlessness and perversion watch this the solution is prayer and fasting jesus said the issue is your faith isn't where it needs to be but here's a solution you need to spend time in prayer because the more you pray the more your faith increases because prayer is simply speaking in spending time with God and there's no way that you can spend time with God and you not increasing your confidence in his ability to move in your life but he said the perversion side of thinking and acting like the world that doesn't change from prayer that changes from fasting we have this misconception and I don't know what your experience with fasting is maybe you you never faster it wasn't part of your kind of upbringing or a culture whatever it may be I grew up in one of those cultures where you fasted a lot and it was miserable borderline torture it's like what are we fasting from we're fasting from air for the next 21 days you will not breathe in the name of Jesus we're we're nothing about Daniel fast we're not talking about six to six we mean skip breakfast no no we're gonna skip days we're just not gonna show up for entire days that's the type of fasting and somehow we've got this mindset that the whole thing of fasting is that somehow God is amused with how much I torture myself and he's like oh you're miserable oh you're miserable i'ma send you a blessing look how miserable you are oh that you you really want it now cuz do you know fasting has nothing to do with God here's what fasting is fasting is telling your flesh meeting your desires will not be my primary focus in this season you have no greater desire than food there's a lot of desires in life but there is no greater desire any human has than food and when you deny your flesh of food what you're telling your flesh is your cravings do not make my decisions watch this how powerful is it should be to live a life that you're not dictated by your cravings so many people a lot of us have like an addictive personality it may not be addictive in a way that's sinful or illegal or whatever it may be but it's just like hey when I like it I'm gonna indulge or whatever it may be I'm telling you the solution for that is fasting a solution addicted to food addicted to pornography addicted to power addicted or whatever it may be you can't pray that stuff away it's a when I deny my flesh I'm telling my flesh hey you don't call the shots in my life you're unplugging from the natural but when you couple it with prayer you are now plugging into the spiritual I have a lot of issues as you guys know after me preaching one of the things I like to do I don't know why it's just kind of how I am I like plugging I don't like it I just do it subconsciously plugging like a million things into the same circuit so I'll have you know a heater plugged into an outlet and I'm vacuuming the house at the same time I got a popcorn machine going on the TV's on and all that other kind of yellow look at me like you trying to burn your house to the ground you know trying to get insurance money but anyway probably shouldn't said that but so often I'm like you know all these different things are going on back you and then what happens the power surges right and normal people what you do is you go to the power box and you flip it off you put it back on that's not me that takes too much time what I do is I unplug that vacuum cleaner and I plug it into every single outlet until I find one that's not on that circuit and it has power when I plug it in there I keep on going on about my business yeah so judgmental yeah just like buddy you have issues watch this some of you are plugged into dead circuits some of you are plugged into things that you think are going to give you power for life and it's been dead a long time ago and what fasting does is it unplugs you from ineffectiveness and what prayer does is it plugs you in to a power source that is limit less as we embark on these next 21 days of prayer and fasting that's why it's a partnership it's coupling I'm not skipping out on food or whatever it may be because I want Jesus to see how miserable I am I'm skipping out on those things because I'm ready to unplug from ineffectiveness and I'm ready to plug in to the power of God somebody say Amen tell you this story and then I'll close here I've always I've always been kind of an overachiever I was actually taking uber ride somewhere Saturday and the driver was like man how's college going at first your mother ii pray for me i survive event in college in ten years do I look that young is like really you look like 20 and your mother but um I look y'all got mine I'm almost 32 32 in February guys it's coming up and you know but I've always been like this overachiever always been the youngest person to do whatever whatever maybe and and that's just kind of always that way so I was 22 instead of getting an apartment like normal people I said I want apartment want to buy a house so I went and I bought me a house now it was not a full house it was like half a house it was one of those fixer-upper houses and my goal was to fix it up but what ended up happening is I fixed like one room a year so I'm moving to this house and I'm feel like a man got my own place and I was like I stuff I'm 22 years old and then about four or five months in I realized I bit off more than I could chew and I couldn't quite afford to make that mortgage payment every single month but how many people know whether you can afford it or not it is coming around every single mom so I start doing with the old folks called robbing Peter to pay Paul Yano know about that cause y'all bulla y'all never live like that that's when you start paying your bills late not so late that you get the late charge but late enough so you keep that money to pay there and you're kind of y'all not in me like you've been there you just kind of dancing around with this thing trying to keep your head above water and I knew I was in trouble and I'll be honest with you because I'm so even keeled this is I'm just chilled it's kind of just how I am sometimes I don't even know when I'm stressed I realize when I'm stressed when I'm not sleeping at night and I'm tossing and I'm turning and just like I'm in trouble I don't know what to do and I hate to say this is your pasture but I went three months like this just trying to figure it out and I could not figure out anything I finally got to the place where I was so desperate I said you know and i'ma pray and fast about this so I took three and I wasn't playing cuz I lose my house I didn't like water no food just like Jesus help spend three days no food and I mean it wasn't like a fun sexy fast it was like I can't move my breath stinks like it was bad so by that third day I wasn't eating now spending the time that I'd normally crane and on that third day I'm praying all of a sudden I'm just sitting there and I know it now to be God a friend of mine just came into my mind and a conversation that we had had a long time ago just pops up and I remember that friend saying hey I'm moving out and I'm looking for an apartment and it was just say accident they want to rent a room so I finished up prayer I called them up said hey wondering if you're interested in moving in with me you could rent a room here's what I charge or whatever you think oh my gosh this is an answer to prayer I was kind of looking for a situation like that it works out perfectly in three days of fasting and one second problem solved but then I was like hold on there's four bedrooms in this house there's only two of us so when it caught me two other friends I said hey I got to open rooms would you be interested I filled up every single room in that house I went from not being able to pay the mortgage to being able to save every single month and be able to build towards my future listen to me what could not be solved in three months of banging my head against the wall and trying to figure out a solution literally when I unplugged from my limitations and plugged into the heavenlies in three days God brought a solution watch this that was exceeding and abundantly what I could have even asked for I wasn't looking for profit I was looking for survival why do I say that I want to give you a normal story so you don't feel like praying and fasting is for super spiritual people that want to walk around healing the sick and raising the dead and all that other good stuff no whatever area in your life where you're sick and tired of normal I am Telling You prayer and fasting is your breakthrough

Channel: Union Church

Views: 8,054

Rating: 4.939394 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 4jhFC5C0Pxc

Length: 44min 41sec (2681 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019