TRIGGERED: Taking Back Your Mind In The Age Of Anxiety Part I | Pastor Steven Furtick

you may be seated welcome to week one of a brand new sermon series called triggered and we're gonna be discussing some things some different teachings to help you take your mind back and not just give territory over to the devil in the area of your imagination and so that he fills you with all of these hypothetical scenarios that may or may not ever happen keeping you from enjoying the life God has given you more importantly stewarding the life that God has given you for his glory and we're so excited to get it started today and I want to make the best use of our time possible I know here at Valentine they were saying it was kind of difficult to get in probably not at all the campuses but there was more traffic than usual and so you should thank God for that because not only is that more people hearing the message of Jesus Christ but it's also good preparation for a sermon about anxiety and so we're just looking out for you and helping you get in the right mind frame but let's go through the Word of God now and obviously I'm no psychologist I'm just a Bible preacher from Moncks Corner South Carolina and with a little bit of knowledge that I have about the scriptures and life experience I want to show you something today that I think will be so helpful from first Peter chapter 5 verses 5 through 9 and I'm going to tell you there's only one verse in this whole passage that I actually like I believe all of it and I know that I'm supposed to do all of it but from the natural standpoint of my mind there's only one verse that appeals to me and you'll see what I'm saying when I read it of course we can't talk about triggerd without paying a visit to Peter easily the most triggered disciple that Jesus called cussin and cutting off people's ears and stuff but he's calmed down by the time he writes this letter to the Gentiles who are assimilating into the greco-roman world and he has some some great advice for us concerning our anxiety and our cares not that you have any but someone on your row worries too much not that you do but they they they think about stuff they make little movies in their minds and they edit together things that didn't actually happen and then they tell themselves that that's how it really is so that's what I'm helping today I'm sorry you had to come hear a sermon designed for someone else but Peter was actually talking to a church that was undergoing a great deal of persecution and he has some experience from wisdom and I'm gonna share his words with you today and pray that God will speak to you personally he says first Peter chapter 5 verse 5 humble yourselves what did I say verse 5 in the same way you who are younger submit yourselves to your elders almost skip that verse but it's great verse that I like as a parent all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand I like how he says that he says God lines up on the other side of human pride so if you want to be on the same side of the ball as God you got it you got to make sure that you come in at the right level and realize that you are not him that you are the creation not the Creator humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you if ever there was a verse to cross-stitch and and and to put on a coffee mug it's it's first Peter 5:7 that's the one I like case you're wondering cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you I really enjoy that verse feels good be alert verse eight I don't like so much and of sober mind your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings and I want to stop right there and talk to you for a few moments today in this opening foundational session in our study called triggered on this subject I want to talk about lions and lizards and lies lions and lizards and lies and before you say oh my let me put you in the frame of mind of me five or six years ago when I called a pastor who is older and wiser than me and I wasn't having like a nervous breakdown from a clinical standpoint or a panic attack as I understand a panic attack but just feeling overwhelmed not in the clinical sense was I experiencing anxiety but in the everyday sense of adulthood I think sometimes we say we're suffering anxiety when we're really just suffering adulthood and I called him in my driveway in the house we lived in at the time in mid Hill and I was doing this thing that I was doing a lot during that period where I would sit in the driveway between work and home because my kids were really small and I couldn't figure out which one was more work work her home because at work I'm the boss and at home my kids weren't calling me pastor at that stage and so I was sitting in the driveway and I thought you know I'm just gonna call him and I'm gonna ask him and I don't care what he thinks cuz you get to a certain point of being overwhelmed it just all spills out and when I started talking to him I started you know how when you're trying to tell somebody you're struggling and you share with them in little slivers and you try to see if anything you say shocks them and if it feels like it shocks them you back up and you go well I'm not struggling with that but I'm saying like some people do and you kind of feel your way into a conversation at least I do and it's like I was telling them I'm kind of overwhelmed and he didn't judge me and I said and this is how I feel and he didn't judge me and so every time he didn't judge me and and and I didn't I didn't feel like he was surprised I was and share a little more and share a little more and by the end of it I've been my driveway crying on the phone to him telling him how overwhelmed I feel being you know just in my early thirties pastoring a church that was larger than the town I grew up in imagine that and and then with kids and he and he actually laughed in the middle of me crying to him he laughed and I can't explain why but it was the most comforting thing he could have done in that moment and what he said next is just what I needed to hear and I know God put it in his mouth so I could hear it and he said I'm not surprised that you called me and said this I'm not surprised that you're melting down I'm surprised you didn't call me sooner and partially he was saying that because you know as our church grew obviously the pressures mount with it and he was also saying it from a stage of life standpoint that look every father feels relatively worthless at some point in the early stages of their children's visit to planet Earth and it takes time to learn how to interact with aliens and by the end of the call I just felt better just because he said it's supposed to be this way you're supposed to struggle and when he said I was supposed to struggle the struggle didn't go away but the fact that I was no longer surprised by it made me more able to deal with it and God has been speaking to me recently that I am too surprised by my struggles and part of the reason that I struggle so much is because I'm surprised when I do it's as if we've set an expectation of salvation that if we come to Jesus and lay all our burdens at the foot of the cross that none of them will climb back in the car with us and go home but how many have ever laid your burdens down in church and found out that they followed you home with a few friends you never met before and it's like I came to Jesus to get rid of my struggles but my struggle didn't even start until I came to Jesus because before I came to Jesus if I wanted to cuss you out I just cussed you out and I felt better didn't care how you felt or what God thought I felt better and that's all that mattered but now I got this Holy Ghost on the inside of me and when I clash he makes me feel bad about it nah can't sleep til I apologize to you and it got harder so Peter says Peter says everybody's struggling everybody around the world is suffering you have to take the two together you can't come to a cross for salvation where the Savior suffered for you and never expect to suffer in your desire to follow him and be like him tell the person next to you you're supposed to suffer some that's what Jesus said that's that's that's what the CEO said CEO of the galaxy's the cecum the the man said that the master of the Milky Way said that he said if they hated me what makes you think you're always gonna be popular and liked and accepted so I pray that's inspirational for you to know that you are supposed to suffer but it helps us it helps us because the enemy often operates in our lives in the secrecy and in you know it's very sneaky that the enemy's sneaky and so he wants to sneak up on you and you think life is supposed to be easy because life looks easy for everyone else but you don't know you have no idea is easy for you that's easy for you preacher it will you get up here preach you know you don't know and I don't know you struggle but I know I know that there are some struggles and some sufferings that come with the package and so the call to follow Christ comes with a cross we get that and especially in this time Peter is like look you want to be a part of this movement the only way to really see the glory of God revealed is to suffer sometimes to suffer to sit with your suffering and even with your sadness and then we're setting the the wrong expectant we we're teaching people they can get swole without getting sore [Applause] it's supposed to hurt sometimes supposed to strain sometimes that's the spiritual muscle fibers breaking down so they can grow back together stronger or something like that I don't know and so what surprises me is that knowing that we must suffer sometimes because our Savior suffered and let's be honest some of our suffering is not because of our Christian faith it's because of our you said it he said cuz we're stupid I didn't say that I wasn't gonna talk to the guests like that there's a lot of first-timers here today I was gonna say sometimes we suffer because of poor decisions and we were ill-equipped fit but you said stupid so I'll go with it sometimes we suffer because we're stupid and it surprises me that with all the suffering that we already have to deal with that we somehow as a species will invent new ways for ourselves to suffer and experience pain and call it progress as if it's not enough to worry about in the world we invent you know torture device I mean communication devices that keep us constantly connected to everyone's opinion everyone's offenses and we feed on stuff the enemy is looking for someone to devour we feed on stuff and we feed our minds with things that eat our peace alive and then we pray for God to give us peace after we opened the front door and let the enemy show his fangs and stood right there so I'm really praying I'm really praying that God would show us a strategy for this because it seems to me that some suffering is inevitable but certain suffering like the suffering of our shame and the suffering of our sin that Jesus already paid for is is dealt with and so wouldn't it be unthinkable for us as God's children to suffer under pressure that he never intended for us we live in a culture of performance the interesting thing about first Peter 5:7 is that it preaches so well as a singular verse even when I was a little boy my mom used to play me this tape of salty the singing songbook salty like Psalms PS salty not like your teenager salty but like salt yeah not like that girl work but salty the singing songbook and he had one song on there and I used to fall asleep to this song if I can remember I will cast it was on this verse all my cares upon you lay all of my burdens down at your feet and any time I don't know what to do salty falsetto I will cast all my cares upon you and boom walk down I will cast all my cares upon you can you play all of my burdens down at your feet and any time I don't know what to do I will cast oh my kids for something that is so sweet I like verse seven I like verse seven I wish I didn't have to be bothered with six and eight you know these Bible verses were not in there when Peter wrote the letter it was just a letter it was one thing in fact let me show you something and I showed this a few years ago to the church but you weren't here yet when I was teaching this and we need to catch up because this is one of the craziest most mind-blowing things God ever showed me and I actually I brought two Bibles to church today yeah that's right I'm gonna preach twice as long no I'm gonna get you out on time but this is this is a double-barrel revelation that God gave me and one translation of it it breaks it up the one that we read from put that one up there again from the New International Version he says cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you and it's a capital C and it's a new sentence and a new thought and it's a promise that we can claim or rather it's a command that that we can obey and I like it I like casting all this stuff I like cast in all these cares like salty said in the King James Version I like casting all of that on him all the stuff that I don't want to deal with and all the stuff that that I can't control anyway I like to just give that over to the Lord I like to just lay it all at his feet but in the original language of the Bible and this is what God showed me a few years ago it is that verse 7 was not a new sentence it was a continuation of verse 6 and when you read it as a continuation it helps you to understand why sometimes we're trying to cast our anxiety on God and they keep coming back like a boomerang with extra velocity because we are trying to skip to 7 which we want without 6 which we resist now verse 6 starts by saying humble yourselves see I don't like that I want to be the star of the production I want to be the MVP of the game I want everybody to accommodate my preferences I want people to read my mind I want to be the center of other people's affection I don't want to humble myself I'm not even sure I really know what it means because all I ever see humble is a hashtag where people are bragging about something and then hash tagging it humbled like that makes it humble when you follow you're bragging with a hashtag but for Peter humble was not a hashtag Peter said humble is a way of seeing the hand of God in history that knows I'm just a small part of this I'm just a little dot I'm just a little I'm a little tiny I'm a little bitty a little bitty little bitty little bitty child of God in his big strong hand so humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you what a relevant verse I feel like Peter must have been able to see into the year 2018 and see that we would be living in an age of self-promotion see that we'd be living in an age where rather than praying for opportunities we would post before we prayed rather than sitting back and listening and learning from people who have something to teach us we would be so intoxicated on our own opinions and our own point of view and we would be so sucked into algorithms and echo chambers the people who think just like us and speak just like us and before long we would be inebriated by our own vantage point inebriated by images he says humble yourself under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you and then if you're willing to go through six you get to seven and they're not separated by a period just a comma lowercase C it you will humble yourself this is the foundational message for this series to take back your mind you got to humble your heart and when you do that when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God what does that mean but what kind of what kind of image is Peter trying to evoke well for a Jewish person the hand of God recalls the sovereign act of God when he rescued his children from Egyptian slavery and there when God spoke to Moses he said you know Pharaoh is not gonna let the people go unless a mighty hand compels him this is Exodus chapter 3 unless a mighty hand there's the phrase compels him and so the hand of God for us is mostly a comforting image sentimental but symbolically for the people reading this who had a little bit of background they would know that the hand of God is confrontational that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble and they come from the same hand see God will use the same hand to oppose the proud that he will use to distribute grace to the humble and my question is what do you want to be on the receiving end of the posture of your heart determines that and yet there's a little bit of confusion because you know seems like we want God's hand to do certain things for us I like I like the hand of God when it is filled with his provision you know like I I want what is in God's hand that I can't give myself just a show of hands what were to my hands how many have seen God provide for you in a special way and you you were suspecting this had to be God this could not be me could not be people wait your hand if you've ever seen God provide for you and I don't just mean money to make a car payment or to you know make the deposit on the apartment when you first got married it could be God gave you energy when you were so exhausted and you didn't even know how you were still going and people would ask you how and you would make something up but deep down you knew if I really told them how they wouldn't understand it because there's an invisible hand of God that is making things happen that I can't even explain [Music] so I like the provision you know how he how he broke the bread in his hands and and fed you Peter was there when when when Jesus broke the bread and with his hands so he might have been flashing back to that incident when he said the mighty hand of God that can provide for you or maybe he was thinking about the hand of God in terms of God's protection how God drove back the sea with his hand so his people could cross through til they got safely through now if you've ever had God protect you from you you're grateful for the hand of God if you've ever had God protect you from people that were in your life in fact sometimes the way that God will protect you is to reach down and remove you from situations that you like that you are actually praying for God to leave you in and God will sometimes reach down and say I know your little lies you're limited i'm infinite you're finite so come with me i'm gonna put you over here because i know if you stay with them i know where it's gonna lead and peter says you can either fight back or you can go with it because it's the hand of god it's the hand how many I've ever had god protect you [Applause] and I want him to provide for me and I want him to protect protection and provision but there's a third dimension of God's hand and that is his plan and that's the part that I have a harder time with because I like my plan why are you looking at me like you totally trust God that his way is better than yours you know half of our prayer life is trying to convince God to get on the same page we're on so he can do what we want him to do that he should have already done and he's running a little behind schedule but we'll forgive you for that Lord if you'll just come on and do it right now it's okay you got a lot you're taking care of I get confused honestly I get confused because sometimes I don't know what part is God's job and what part is my job and it's not always so simple humble yourself under the mighty hand of God but then you know God told Moses I'm gonna bring you out with a mighty hand it's gonna be my hand that brings you out and then he asks him what's that in your hand and so it seems to be like two hands at work here and and the issue is the issue is always who is in control a lot of my anxiety comes because I get confused about who is in control and I get responsibilities confused with sovereignty so I start thinking that because God has given me responsibilities that God has also given me control and that's where I get stressed out and a lot of my anxiety comes from making it about me when it's not about me making it about my strength when it's not about my strength it's not by might nor by power but by His Spirit but I know God's giving me a job like I know that when I stand before you like this and people in the room are suicidal and people in the room are addicted not only to illegal drugs but some are dependent on on drugs that at first they were taking the recommended dosage but now it's gone far beyond that and when I know that there are some of you who have not slept in three nights except for a few minutes here and there hearing this message I know that I can't say the words that you need I need God to speak through me to you and I always pray for that because I know how disappointing it's gonna be if I speak I know that I need to move my mouth and I know that I need my vocal cords need to rub together and I know that I need to produce a sound but I know that I need the substance of God behind the sound that I make I need God to speak I know you did not load up those demons I mean precious children blessings quiver full of arrows from the Lord and get to this house of worship today in Gaston or UC or Lake Norman you did not log on to hear me speak you need God to speak and I believe that God will speak I believe he is speaking I believe he wants to speak I believe he still speaks I don't believe he spoke one time in the past and now we got this dusty book full of principles that applied at one time but don't make sense in a modern age I don't believe God is outdated or irrelevant I don't believe I need BuzzFeed to tell me what's going on in the world I got my Bible and it's living and it's active and it can penetrate through all the noise so I know we need God to speak in his word doesn't return boy and God will speak but God won't study I got to study God won't show me whether the sentence was one sentence or two sentences he gave me books for that inspired beside I can't figure out sometimes and sometimes I feel like I'm a control freak and something gets in the way I really do like it's in a way I feel I going to control things on control people I'm manipulative and I see it and I hate it but I do it it's a habit and I know that God's hand is the hand that has the is really moving things around but you know I want to put my hand on God's hand and just kind of but so holy sometimes you know sometimes God needs a little help because he's just peter is writing from experience he didn't come by humility easy that's what I like to listen to him cuz he didn't always think this way like when Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross he told his disciples he's like hey come here this is a matthew 16:21 give it to us on the screen jesus said I have to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders at this point Peter didn't think that the Savior was supposed to suffer it did not Jesus mission did not fit his mindset he was still confused about whose hand was writing the schedule and so Peter in a younger version of himself did not know how to Humble himself under the hand of God or the plan of God he liked the provision hey Jesus don't go die let's go feed some more people that was awesome when you do that little boy it was so happy I got it the bag of leftovers it's crazy you know that die watch what Peter did Jesus said I gotta go I gotta suffer it's a part of the plan I gotta fulfill the plan I can't get caught up in my preferences I can't get caught up in in in my ideas my expectations or the expectations of others I didn't come to be an earthly king I came to inaugurate a reign and a rule that is not the result of human hands and Peter verse 22 took Jesus aside put Jesus in timeout the same dude that was saying you know humble yourself this is like you telling your kids not to do exactly what you did when you were their age Peter said to Jesus younger Peter first half of life Peter says Lord never this shall never happened to you I won't let it if they try I got a sword and they got an ear and watch what I can do I got a plan let's go work my plan and verse 23 says Jesus turned and said to Peter get behind me Satan oh that's a downgrade he went from Simon to Peter that was his first name Simon is kind of like shifty and Peter is the rock so he goes from Dwayne Johnson in one verse to Satan in the next verse and he says you are a stumbling block to me you do not have in mind in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns you still think you're in control and that's why your mind is a mess because you are still trying to control things that are beyond your paygrade Peter you're confused we get confused sometimes I don't know when to let go I don't when when sometimes I don't do this very much because I've seen some really really really horrific things happen on church stages but sometimes I call somebody up on stage and have them share and I don't know them and I feel kind of like my responsibility is to control whatever happens on this stage as the pastor and so when they come up usually I call him up and I'll ask him to share something and I do this even with our staff I'll call them and ask them to share but one thing I learned to do I always keep keep the mic in my hands when they come up they think they're gonna take the mic and but they're not I'm the mics in and I'm a hold this mic in case you decide that now would be a good time to say something weird I can snatch it back and I just like the feeling that it gives me of being in control in case you decided you know I might ask you something you say well when I was three we don't have time for when you were three and ask you all that and I got the mic give it back now so gives me a good feeling but the interesting thing is cuz there's crazy Christians and sometimes when I call them up I can't see their eyes and when they get closer I'm like oh god I picked one of those and you don't see it from a distance so I like to keep the mic and hold I like to hold the mic and but now the interesting thing is I'm holding the mic but there's a guy that you don't see named Neil and Neil this week among many others and our different locations happens to be in the back of the room sitting behind a console and you know what's interesting I'm up here talking and I'm I'm holding the mic but at any moment Neil in the Sun at any moment he can decide you know maybe I flush at him or something like that he doesn't like any moment here's the principle I'm holding it but I'm not controlling it they got it last night [Applause] that's what I know about my life that's what I know about my time that's what I'm learning about my money that's what I'm learning about my children my responsibility I'm holding it but somebody I can't see is controlling it he's in control he speaks and wins obeyed he speaks and Wayside down he speaks and c.split because what I can see is controlled by that hand that I can't see and now I want to humble myself under that mighty hand and I'm coming to the place in my life where I say god I don't even know what I need anymore so I trust you and your timing and I trust you and your heart and I trust you and your wisdom and I humble myself and as I humble myself my anxiety goes out the door with my pride and my arrogance and my plan and I become what Peter says is the goal of the Christian life in verse eight which I don't like any more than I like verse six but it's on the other side of seven and I want the result of seven because I don't want to live with the weight of the world on my scrawny shoulders so I got a B what Peter says strange phrase he says be alert and of sober mind I didn't even know I was drunk but I am Peter didn't know he was stumbling telling Jesus what Jesus needed to do he was drunk on his own you see how we get intoxicated in the age we live in is so much information coming at us we're drunken we don't even know it and we can't defend ourselves and we're getting eaten alive God gives us peace and the enemy eats right through it cuz he's a lion at least that's what I always thought I thought I thought he was a lion and this week I slowed down and read the verse and I realized that the Bible never says the devil is a lion he's a liar I know he's a liar yeah you know in the devil's lion when he's talking he's a liar but he's not a lion give me the verse Peter says watch out one translation says pay attention wake up or be alert and of sober mind here's why your enemy the devil your enemy God's enemy is pride your enemy is the devil who wants to fill your mind as if we don't already suffer enough as if we don't already have enough to deal with today he wants to put you in a in a hypothetical tomorrow where things may or may not happen or put you in a in a past replaying what you wish you would have said to the person who offended you and how many come up with great comebacks about three weeks too late God let me see them again please let me see them again and let him say it just like they said it I'm ready now Devil's alive but he does not say watch out for the lion the devil is not a lion what's it say your enemy prowls around like he's not a lion he's loud like a lion but he's not as powerful as a lion unless you let him be this is what I'm gonna teach in the series are you coming back after this week because I really want to get into this and I want to look at some of the lies that we have believed in the realm of our mind that's where the attack happens we've been looking for a lion but it's not a lion coming to attack us it's our minds it's in our minds and we've been calling the wrong stuff the devil I've got a flat tire it's the devil it was a nail it was a construction site they're building houses across the street ate a doughnut it was the devil no it was delicious the temple it's the devil's the devil I'm under attack a spiritual warfare I need you Devils attacking me we mean Devil's attacking you well my mother-in-law is coming to visit that's not the devil that's your prayer request remember when you asked those women to pray that you would have more patience well God rapped patients in a package that looked like your mother-in-law and she's about to get FedEx to your doorstep God delivers that's not the devil so now he's loud but he's not a lion what is he I remember hearing years ago about the part of our brain again bear with me I know there's like neurologists in the crowd you don't make me feel bad about that I won't make you feel bad about the Bible we just agree together that everybody say in their own lane but I did hear something about in the the phrase got my attention called the lizard brain and I wrote a book one time about the Chatterbox and I think I was trying to talk about what they call the lizard brain and and I just remembered it the other day cuz Abby wanted to show her brothers she's our youngest child and our only daughter our smartest child I'm just kidding my sons in here but she does have a little Vantage over the boys cuz she's she's always had to stuff it out to keep up you know and she's superior by virtue of being female so she worked at my pulpit went in some points she um she wanted to go all the way across the pool and hold her breath which her brothers couldn't do til they were 10 she's seven so she's like I could do it I could do it alright let's do it and she wanted everybody to see her and I said you could do it but just know that the lizard the lizard brain is gonna be telling you that you can't do it but the lizard is lion she said there's a lizard in my brain I said no baby and I you know she's seven so I just pretended to be an expert I said the human brain the human brain and I gave her some outdated theory on the triune brain that probably isn't even accepted anymore but I was talking about that that thing that is real in our brain that doesn't process it at the level of wisdom and doesn't process at the level even of emotion but processes at the level of fear and they call it lizard brain or they called it lizard brain because it's no different than a than a reptile a snake or a lizard and so when I told her don't listen to the lizard I was explaining you're gonna go down and you're gonna think that you're gonna die but you're not gonna die just don't listen to the lizard and she went down under that water and she swam clear to the other end and she came up she took the biggest gasp the biggest gulp of air and she was so proud and she said man that lizard is loud I said well what did you say back to him she said I told him shut up lizard I'm doing this now hold on I know the enemy has been telling you some stuff I know he has because that lizard has been talking to me too but I came to tell you today that lizard has no power over you he might bruise your heel blue but you're gonna crush his head in the name of Jesus I am gonna make it I'm gonna make a difference in the world taking my mind back and over over the next 7 weeks we're gonna learn how to do what Abby did what Peter said be of a sober mind tell that lizard you can talk you can scream well I'm swimming to the other side now everything in you has been telling you you're drowning you're going down but the lizard is a liar your own mind is lying to you and that's why God put it on my heart to do a whole series on triggered the things too you know the the the trauma that you went through that transports you back to a lesser version of yourself and then you start reacting and responding out of anger because of rejection at the hands of people who aren't even in your life anymore I want to talk about that I respectfully request your presence and as many of these sessions as possible but right now I want you to stand and no one leaving because I just want to pray for open and humble hearts we can't receive what God has in his hands when we're holding too tightly to what's in our hands and when you're drunk on your own opinions and inebriated on your own ideas and ways of seeing the world you are not open to the wisdom of God and you're just stumbling Jesus I get that behind me you're stumbling you trippin be of a sober mind because your enemy is trying to steal your attention that's where the fight is that's where the attack is it's not out here the attacks in our life are actually used by God the trials are used to make us stronger is here and that's what we want to pray over and for too long the people of God have been equipped with a few cliches to make it until about Sunday at 4:00 and we're being eaten alive in our minds and now we can't focus anymore we live in the age of what one psychologist called constant partial attention and we can't give ourselves wholly to anything but but God has a word for us and through this series we will need several Bible characters who struggled with the same things we struggle with today and suffered in many ways like us and I know this is no substitute for doctors and counseling that's not my goal in this series but I think it would be good for us to begin this journey together just in a posture of surrender and I want to ask you to do something that Christians have done historically worshippers have done through the millennia and just lift your hands to God in his presence because it's too much for you to carry it really is and you humble yourself under his head and release what you're holding too tightly to and he is able to release his peace and so we just speak peace over your life today more than speaking it father I pray that we would position ourselves so that we can receive your peace and we repent of all the ways that we think things are supposed to be and exhausting ourselves endlessly trying to align our agendas with the reality of our lives rather than submitting to yours so we stand here before you today as humble as we know how rescue to fill our hearts with your peace hey thanks for watching the Elevation Church YouTube channel if you enjoyed this message take a minute click the subscribe button on your screen that way you won't miss a single video and if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to partner with us to continue to reach others you can click the link in the description below to give now thanks again for watching and don't forget to subscribe

Channel: Elevation Church

Views: 1,169,194

Rating: 4.8942237 out of 5

Keywords: Elevation Church, Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church sermons, Pastor Steven Furtick sermons, Sermons 2018, Steven furtick 2018 sermons, triggered sermons, triggered, steven frutick triggered, elevation church triggered, lions & lizards & lies, lions lizards lies steven furtick, lions lizards lies elevation church, the elevation church, elevation church 2018 sermons, triggered part 1, TRIGGERED: TAKING BACK YOUR MIND IN THE AGE OF ANXIETY PART I

Id: dou08jkxPJk

Length: 48min 29sec (2909 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 13 2018