Victim to Victor - Mike Neto | Church ONLINE

[Music] so [Music] [Music] he gave us a reason to dance this morning he gave us a reason to shout this morning thank you [Music] that we might become his righteousness his body was broken for our transgressions but i'm so glad that's not where the story is hallelujah [Music] we might be [Music] [Applause] [Music] hallelujah i wonder if we could dance in this place this morning today [Music] hallelujah [Music] foreign is is [Music] right here is [Music] foreign i'm dancing out of my grave clothes whom the sun sets free you know there's freedom in this place this morning gave us a reason to dance if you have breath in your lungs this morning he gave you a reason to dance if you have the ability to move around this morning he gave you a reason to dance amen so i've seen that today [Music] i'm glancing out of my grave clothes whom the sun sets free [Music] whom the sun free is hallelujah how many people in this house are so grateful for the mercy of god the mercy of god us getting getting the things that we that we absolutely can't even understand the goodness and the greatness that god has given us the mercy that we don't deserve things that we don't deserve and he keeps us from things that we don't want to bring your eyes have seen every part but still my best you your choose still reaches me oh we thank you jesus person still reaches me cause in my darkest night when hope is still reaching me your mercy still reaches me [Applause] you're there every [Music] has to flee your mercy still reaches me is matter oh i am oh oh [Music] [Applause] me is your mercy still reaches is tell me thank you jesus thank you jesus for we are standing around [Music] all around [Music] so let us [Music] in his presence [Music] cause in his presence oh there is joy beyond mercury there's peace of mind that still can be found so if you ever need i know he has the answer [Music] so just reach out and claim it oh we are standing under [Music] so just reach out and claim it for we are standing on hold on we're so grateful for that [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] sickness [Music] seek your faith come and make your throne upon our praise here in this place half your way the moment that we see you we are changed [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] let every burning heart be holy [Music] oh [Music] here us [Music] foreign [Music] oh foreign [Music] and not be aware of it right now god i pray lord jesus you help us understand we're in the presence of a healer o god that god right now when we mention your name oh jesus chains have to fall in this place oh god fear has to leave in this place right now oh jesus you changed everything whole life oh they're here today and hope [Music] and is oh jesus you change everything jesus you changed everything change every day [Applause] [Music] [Applause] everything every day oh let's keep it going just a little bit we feel in the presence of god right now and in his presence there is fullness and joy in his presence fear does foul sickness does flee it's subject unto him so lord right now i decree your sovereignty alone lord i speak your presence right now as we yield to you as we submit to you god lord i pray that anxiety would be destroyed i pray against fear right now i stand against depression i stand in the name of jesus against every sickness every emotional need every every god anxiety depression fear lord you are almighty and we are in the presence of the almighty right now god that's why we come to you today because prayer is our anchor and you are almighty so lord i pray right now for every situation on the screen behind me lord i pray god for every situation in front of me i call out to you god right now very lord heal is back restore and repair him right now lord in the name of jesus god damn your way today have your way oh in the mighty name of jesus touch every person in this room god for you are sovereign and righteous jesus in your name upgrade almighty god in your name i pray oh isn't it incredible that when we gather together and we offer praise and worship and in prayers unto the lord he promised that he would inhabit the praises of his people there's nothing different about this ground but when god shows up something happens to the ground when god shows up it becomes holy and when he shows up anything is possible anything is possible as you make your way back to your seats if you're a guest with us today we want to say thank you so much for being with us we are glad that you decided to come be a part of our worship experience here at first church and if you are a guest online with us thank you so much for being with us to our first church friends and family thank you for being with us we love you and we miss you uh perhaps you have some questions about who we are as a church what we believe maybe you'd like to get involved here at the church uh perhaps a prayer request we have something we call a connect card for those of you in person it is found in our lobby on our guest reception desk for those of you online that is found on our website firstchurchsterlingheights.com fill one of those out i promise you somebody from our church staff we'll reach out to you this week and make sure that we're taking care of you it's at this time we have one of our values around here we like to celebrate the wins and this is something some of the fun stuff we get to do here at first church but to chad and kristen who have elizabeth here elizabeth god has blessed you with a new baby girl and we celebrate with you today chad and christian kristen thank you so much for being a part of our first church family tomorrow night is monday night prayer and it is nothing short of extraordinary and i i don't have enough adjectives to describe monday night prayer but if you can be there tomorrow night at seven o'clock i promise you god is doing something very special um specific to this church in this city for this time and for this hour and and something shifted in the spirit on our monday night prayer meetings so if you can be here monday night prayer don't just hear the stories about what god is doing here be a part and have your own stories of what god is doing here and be a part of reaching our city and reaching our world so come to monday night prayer at seven o'clock uh life groups how many people are looking forward to the next semester of life groups super excited here at first church for our life groups it's a chance where we get together out of these walls and we live life together and we strengthen one another we we forge really really great friendships and we grow spiritually with one another but a date to keep in mind is august 22nd that's when sign ups begin so pay attention august 22nd it'll come quick because we're already august 8th so keep that in mind sign ups can fill up quickly so make sure that you're being aware of that sign up for a life group get connected with the body of christ here in sterling heights uh if you are not on a serve team what are you waiting for what in the world are you waiting for we believe that everybody has a god-given gifting and a purpose and god has positioned and planted you here in sterling heights to help the body of christ reach and impact our world and so we have something we call growth track it's just two classes that happen on the third and the fourth sundays of every single month get connected join a serve team be a part of our mission to reach our world and to impact somebody else at this point i'd like to go ahead and set an expectation for the remainder of the service um i'm very very excited um to share with you all pastor mike will be speaking to us today and uh it's a it's an incredible message but god positioned that and ordained that throughout this past week and and he might share a little bit about that but it's a fantastic message so expect that we will return a tithe and offering unto the lord there will be a three-minute time of connection on the screen behind me uh we have a value here at first church that says we live modestly to give radically and that's what we do it's not something we say there's a there's a verse says don't just be doers don't just be hearers of the word but be doers of the word and so we can't just get up here and say hey we give radically if we're not given radically and so that's why we build you know church plants and we build bible schools and we support other pastors in our area support a bunch of missionaries throughout the globe um and so your faithfulness and your returning of the tithe and offering helps us to impact the kingdom of god at a global scale so thank you for your faithfulness lord we are so honored and blessed mighty god to to be in your presence lord where there is truly fullness of joy in a world of chaos and confusion you are a god of order and of peace and love so lord we thank you for that presence that we feel right now god i i pray god that you would bless these amazing people as the tithe and the offering is returned to you lord i'm hoping and i'm praying god that you will allow us to have wisdom and understanding to spend it wisely and appropriately lord for what you design and for what you order my god lord i pray for the people lord that we haven't met yet i pray for the souls god that we have yet to encounter i pray for their hearts and their minds lord i pray that you would cultivate them lord prepare them lord to meet you to meet the body of christ that they might lord receive the amazing gospel of salvation and we'll all see you together one day mighty lord around your throne in jesus name i pray amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning how's everybody doing this morning wonderful well that's incredible it is a good day and um as pastor john had alluded to this morning a couple days ago i got a call from pastor and any time it starts with boo then yeah you know it's like what what's up i got the bow um i need some rest me and uh me and the family we're gonna take a little bit of time off so i'll need you to cover sunday and i said great hung up and uh if you know my story i said awesome who can i call so i figured i'd call pastor john and in my mind he was out of town and so i said well that's not an option i said pastor kento and as you can see there's a large hole in our church and that's because all of our students are coming back from retreat this weekend so he was not an option and uh so i said well who else can we call and there's really no time to call anybody with no notice so i said all right lauren apparently it must be me and so uh lucky god had been dealing with me uh over these last several weeks and so as i started preparing and praying something quickly obviously came and i just felt that i'm gonna i'm just gonna talk to you from my heart on where i am and uh what i feel that the church could value from from where i am and where we as a body there's a pulse you can typically feel and uh i felt that this was kind of in line just through prayer and different conversations i've had so um you know i do want to publicly thank uh pastor kento and bianco what they have done with our students all the effort they work full-time work they're such incredible leaders that uh this church really is blessed with some amazing people and so we're we're grateful for pastor kintu and his wife and of course for pastor hoffman and his wife thank you to first church for rallying around them just with the service with this daddy and watching his daddy graduate to heaven um you know they say you can prepare right you see it coming but when it happens it's it's nothing like you thought would be uh and so i know they've had to process a lot and so pastor we love you sister hoffman we love you and we're praying for you and this church will stay committed behind you and so um with that being said i would like for us to stand as we just have a few scriptures to read it's in acts chapter 27 verses 37 through 44. it says we were in all 276 persons in the ship and when they had eaten enough they lightened the ship throwing out the wheat into the sea now when it was day they did not recognize the land but they noticed a bay by with the beach on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore so they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea at the same time loosing the ropes that tied the rudders then hoisting the for sale to the winds they made for the beach but striking a reef they ran the vessel aground the bow struck and remained immovable and the stern was being broken up by the surf the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away and escape but the centurion wishing to save paul kept them from carrying out their plan he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for land and the rest on planks or pieces of the ship and so it was that all were brought safely to lands lord i am asking this morning as i navigate through these circumstances and your word that you would cover us under your anointing your covering and that every ear that can hear will be open to listen and those that are aligned can feel what will be in this room right there in their living room wherever it is that they're listening in god but lord we're asking that you would reach and meet us in such a special way that when we walk out of those doors today that we'll have a little bit more direction and some clarity in our walk with you in the name of jesus we pray amen you may be seated it was july 15th at 10 p.m i was studying in my living room and if you have kids you'll know what that's like and i decided to go up to the bedroom to do a little bit more studying i felt god had given me something um through the dual nature of god and man studying that wonderful study i felt god showed me a little more clarity on his how he really manifested his deity even through adam and how he was formed and created and then he breathed into him and uh you can't separate the flesh and the oxygen and his spirit in adam and and even the words that adam would use to communicate and you go back to uh in the beginning was the word just great insight and i was enjoying that study but as i was sitting upstairs in my bedroom and i was um going over some notes and trying to dig in a little bit deeper the story that i just read to you came to mind and as i sat there and i read the scripture i said lord how does how does this even fit in to what i'm trying to convey to your people how does this fit in and like any preacher you just try to make it work somehow so you're pulling from angles you're trying to figure it out and and uh i wasn't really grasping how it would fit in and uh actually this this week i believe this week or next week will mark one year since i have experienced and have gone through covid and it's been a year and i still have no sense of smell well i do but it's it's still it's not correct and so i still struggle with scents and different smells and i remember sitting in in the bed with the laptop on top of me studying and i could smell something but i just assumed maybe it's my niece who had been with us for a couple of months maybe she's cooking something maybe it's the boys or bridget doing something and so i i disregarded it and shortly after that the smell got a little bit stronger and then i heard as soon as i was ready to react like that something's funny i heard smoke and i remember coming off that bed and going down the stairs and i remember looking through the office and i could see those flames that amber i seen that and i remember thinking okay i can control this and as i opened up our door wall which wasn't very far from where the origin of the fire had taken place i i ran outside i turned on the spike it came in with the holes and by the time i did that those flames were so big and the heat was so high i knew it was over i knew it was beyond my control so i remember throwing the hose on the ground on the floor and i started to yell i knew my wife and jordan were in the basement addison was of course with me i i knew dominic was probably in his room upstairs didn't know what was going on it was all chaotic it was all confusing and i just remember as i began to just panic and just scream out of the house out of the house the overwhelming sense that you can feel and the failed attempt to trying to put this fire out and so naturally we're trying to pull our pet out of the house we had just lost our older one so i couldn't bear for my boys to lose another pet and so i would i would go to the front door and i'm screaming for sky and still nothing there and then i would i would run over to the garage door i'd open that door and i would scream for her there hoping she would come out and i just remember sitting there and and and a memory of mine came to a message i i taught on hell's greatest fear which is the church when it realizes the power the church really has how hell really is afraid of us and and i remember studying what it what happens to you chemically when you start to inhale the sulfur and and the chemicals that are burning and the heat and i would come to the front door as i was getting ready to scream our little dog's name and and and i would try to inhale so i could scream but that heat was so high i couldn't get any closer and i was just doing the best i can and so naturally with time i found out that she was probably never going to come out i made it to the lawn where bridget and the boys were seeing the desperation in their eyes as everything they've worked so hard for and enjoyed was going before them and i just remember bridget coming up to me and a paramedic and said you really need to get checked out i was covered in soot from being at the doorways and and i didn't want to leave the family and so i fought it and fought it and finally they said you you really need to go because of you know it could go really south here really quick and so i remember leaving my family behind in an ambulance i made my way to beaumont where zach dies met me at the door and little did i know our dog sitter she had worked at troy boma i didn't know that later found out through social media she had reached out to my wife i came in as a john doe i didn't have any information and she said i didn't know that was your husband we actually thought he was an african-american male i was completely black covered and i was sitting in there as they started to treat me and they moved me into icu just to keep me overnight to make sure that i was safe my airways remained open and it was in that moment that the story i just read to you hit me in that icu that i now was in the storm of my life like paul was it was in the moment that i realized god was preparing me right before the event for the event don't ever discredit when god starts to speak to you and reveal things to you you might not understand it in the moment but i'm here to tell you that there is a reason that god speaks into your life and will place things on you and you need to guard that you need to guard that in here i begin to process what was going on and and this story with paul in this storm that he was in and here you have to understand that ships are not built alone these ships take several scale tradesmen to build you need plumbers electricians machinists grinders you need people that can work on the ballasts the rigors it takes many many people to build a ship you cannot build a ship on your own it takes a lot of people and a ship never travels alone if you look at a shipping container those ships they employ anywhere from 20 to 30 employees at a time whenever they're traveling if you look at the an air force carrier an aircraft carrier it employs roughly 5 500 on board and if you look at the average cruise ship it employs nearly 223 employees the point is the ship was never meant to be alone it was never meant to be built alone it was never meant to be traveled alone and of course the design of the ship is to transport cargo from a to b and as paul is sitting on this ship you have to wonder he is feeling safe he is of course on this boat with with a ton of uh convicts and he's on his way to rome he's trying to meet and and clear his name and so as they're going on this ship as they're traveling um the storm comes and they thought they could make it but instead they they they run into a reef the the boats are ground and the bow is stuck and yet the back of the ship is broken up it's broken up and here paul is telling them listen guys you need to if you can swim jump from the ship and swim to safety if you cannot then you need to grab onto these broken pieces of the ship and use that to swim use that to swim and so you could imagine paul in the middle of a storm it would have been bad enough if he was just experiencing the storm if he was just experiencing a storm but to run aground and to watch everything that was holding you safely to your destination get ripped from you it took it to a whole nother level and as i sat in the icu room my mind kept clicking off the different images that i had just witnessed and actually there were a lot of conversations that were brought up in my mind as i'm laying there dead silence just the beep of the machine feeding me oxygen and remembering different stories different needs even here at first church and i've seen the relevance of this storm i seen the relevance of the storm and i started to think what do you do when the very thing that's been carrying you for so long is broken what do you do when the very thing that you've been traveling on that you have relied on for years it's built it was built by many it traveled with so many and yet for the first time you think this is bad this is bad it is all falling apart and here for paul to say listen if you can swim swim if you can't grab on to the ship how difficult is it for the survivor that is sitting on those planks of the ship while others are swimming past him how difficult is it when you have to tread lightly and you're frustrated because everybody else seems to be passing you up everyone else seems to be cruising through their problems but yet you are in the battle of your life you're in the storm of a lifetime while everybody else is swimming right past you several months ago i taught a lesson on the ambidextrous god i pulled it from psalms 111 chapter verse 7 the works of his hands are verity and judgment all his commandments are sure hands plural the hands of god they're plural see verity in hebrew means truth and judgment means to move into place with harmony with truth in other words it works hand in hand with truth and i can tell you we can go over scripture after scripture on the right hand of god ephesians 1 verses 20 and 21 says which we wrought in christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is not only in this world but also in that which is to come his right hand is known for his power his right hand is known for his authority and dominion it is well known in scripture what the right hand of god really is defined as but when you get to job the story of job what a tragedy is as job is going through the fight of his life boils loses his children loses everything he has and the friends that remain are questioning his own integrity what did you do what happened what did you what sin is in your life and his own wife is looking at him and tells him to curse god and die the people that are left in his corner the people that are distracting him and discouraging him from even seeking counsel and finding rest and in verse 9 of chapter 23 behold i go forward but he is not there and backward but i cannot perceive him on the left hand where he doth work but i cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that i cannot see him i don't have the time to go in depth between the right hand and the left hand of god but i can't tell you through the scriptures which i read the right hand are the absolutes of god and the left hand is where he does the work it's how the right hand is revealed you can't have a deliverance if you do not have a need you cannot have a healing if there is no sickness no peace without anxiety joy without depression it's all too often in the storm that god reveals his right hand with what he is doing on his left hand how he is working in your life will ultimately reveal who he is in your life and we have a choice to make we can be bitter you can be frustrated like so many men on that ship with paul as they began to swim and the rest were holding on for dear life through the broken pieces of all they had left and you can become so frustrated that god how is it that they can get to safety first with the global economy that we're facing the political scene with everything that is going around us and everyone else has tragedy in their life i am no foreign to the idea that i'm the only one that is going through something everyone in this room has something that they're facing that is just as real to you as my issues are real to me but you can get into a place where you get so frustrated in your life with the issues that you're dealing with now you can become so jealous you can become upset you can become bitter with those that seem to be swimming right by you and all you have left is this broken piece of wood that you're holding on and trying to make it to shore it's all there but we oftentimes look at where we are and forget to focus on where we really are in the grand scheme of things we need to learn how to stop focusing on what we have lost and start focusing on what is left all too often all we can see is what was what could have been and god is saying but look at what's in your hands there are some things i've still given you in your hand stop looking behind you and look at what's in front of you and move forward but all too often the enemy wants you to look back and think those were the best of times that is what it was the best that's what i made the most money that's when my kids were the safest that's when me and my wife were the the healthiest and he keeps looking at it but we always look through it with the eyes of the current situation and god is trying to teach us stop focusing on what's lost and focus on what's left hold on to what is left psalms 126 verses 5 and 6 says they that sow in tears shall reap enjoy he that go forth and reapeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him we preach about that all the time if you will just sow in tears you'll reap enjoy but there's the key to that verse that we often overlook he that goeth forth and reapeth all too often we are so focused on our tears it matters where you reap your tears it matters where you are shedding your tears are your tears real are my tears real absolutely but if all we do is sit in the same place and we begin to cry over the same things there is no joy in that all you begin to do is sow your tears if all you do is sow your tears over despair then all you will do is reap disparity if all you do is sow your tears in frustration then all you will reap is frustration if all you can do is sow your tears over the memories of once was then all you will have is disappointment at what's in front of you it's very important to see how you are sowing your tears but this is why i love scripture when it says but he that goeth forth and reapeth if you are tired of sowing and reaping disparity frustration depression anxiety then i'm asking you this morning to move forward if all you are doing is sowing your tears over what is happening and you have settled in to your current circumstances and i'm asking you can you move forward with where you are can you use those tears to sow into the kingdom you have to move forward you have to move forward you have to move forward once you move forward you'll start to bear precious seed again you'll start to rejoice again but you have to sow your tears somewhere and as i begin to look at the tears that i've sewn i can tell you i can wallow in my tears all day i can sit here and tell you i am wearing the same suit i've had for one week this is what i have i can sew my tears that i don't even have a forwarding address yet i could sow my tears that i don't have hardly any more childhood memories left but i can't come to these altars and sow my tears over somebody else i can come to this place on a monday night prayer and begin to sow my tears into someone else's life into someone else's issues i can't use these tears to worship but it's a decision that i must make will i sit where i am and sow my tears in disparity or will i begin to sow my tears into someone else's life but this is how this is how the kingdom can use your prayer how it becomes a weapon the enemy the enemy will take what was meant for bad we sing about all the time but he'll turn it for good and i can come in this house and i can i can pray disparity all day i can say god why did this happen to me i don't understand it what grave sin is in my life lord how could everything i've i have in my house go up in flames when i am virtually in this house almost every day counseling and praying and studying how could this happen to me what did i do wrong but i'll tell you what instead i've learned is when i take those tears that are very hurtful in their and and they're very real in the situation that i am in but two days later after fire i made my mind i was going to be in service and i was going to worship because i wasn't going to allow the enemy to dictate my future i wasn't going to allow something to hold back the worship and to hold back being kingdom minded so i began to pray i came in the house and i worshiped with everybody else because he deserves the glory regardless of my current circumstances he deserves the glory and what the enemy meant to defeat me will now become a weapon that he didn't see coming i now can come into this house and my prayer don't have to be lord how does this happen to me how am i going to recover how am i going to bring this back i can go to somebody else and say god i don't know why you brought me through this but lord i'm asking that what i'm going through that you relieve them of this god that the grace and the mercy that you showed me that night god i'm asking you take that grace and you give it to them i begin to pray for somebody else and now what the enemy meant to destroy me is now impacting the kingdom and bringing somebody closer to him my prayer became a weapon and all of hell is regretting setting my house on fire because now i can come in and pray for somebody else and pray through their grief with them and be on their side and help them fight through it i have a choice that i can make it's your weapon let your lead your prayers over someone else through the experience of what god has brought you through when you're on this ship you're never alone the storm can't take you alone you have to stay with the ship remember in mark jesus enters the boat he's with his disciples all knowing gets on the boat no he knows there's a storm coming do you think jesus was ready to commit suicide no that's ludicrous right that's crazy he wouldn't get on the boat knowing he was going to die but he got on that boat because he knew when he was with his men he was going to make it out of that storm and so you're in the storm of your life now's not the time to abandon the ship now's not the time for us to walk away let down our guard and say lord i can't this is too much for me i i just can't see my tomorrow what that looks like stay with the ship it might be broken pieces of it but i promise you all around there are other broken pieces with you you're not the only one in the battle i'm not the only one in the storm there's some others in this storm so you know what i say hey i'll come bail water for you you come bail water for me how about i pray for you and you come pray for me how about i check in on you and you keep checking in on me we are the body of christ we are better together we are one tree but many branches of it and so god is trying to tell us listen it might be fragments of the but we're still together we're still swimming together we're still pulling together but when all you see are the reminders of what was the most difficult part of the process for me was the first four to five days i'd walk into that house all i see is soot i'm walking through the house i'm stepping over my memories i'm stepping over 21 years of just a wonderful marriage of pictures that have disintegrated from the walls to the floor and i'm literally having to step in my memories literally stepping in what is the storm of a lifetime for me and i'm looking at it and i remember seeing everything just charred in black you've seen those pictures and i remember talking to the contractor and i said it's over you're gonna bulldoze this down i said not sure mr neto just give us a couple of days to clean up but day after day i would go to the house to see if there was any progress and day after day i'm reminded of my past day to day i'm revisiting something that i haven't cleaned up yet we talk about faith without works is dead if you're in a storm it seems like everything else has been shattered and broken and maybe your dreams have been burnt up you're gonna have to do some work you can't just pray it all out god will meet you where you are but we're gonna have to do some work together somebody's gonna have to pick up the shovel and start hauling some debris out of there and start to say hey what's going on here but every day i would walk through there and i would look at the memories the smells that trigger things now remember even now in the middle of the night i wake up i wake up and i can see i see my curtains burning i wake up i see the eyes on my niece who was there for vacation i could see this disparity on my wife's face and my boys i i see i the smells are triggered the smells are triggered i was in pastor's house for for a meeting i went to use their restroom they had a candlelit i blew the candle out i've never cared about candles i couldn't stand seeing a candle in a bath i blew the candle out crazy and i would remember i i can't tell you when the last time i slept over six straight hours seven straight i can't tell you because i wake up in the middle of the night and there'll be those those trigger moments where i remember things and i can't sleep then god brought me back to romans 12 2. do not conform to the pattern of this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind there are two parts that really affect the thought patterns of your minds the amygdala is the part that stores your emotions when you get scared or something happens to you and you feel that anxiety which in itself can be healthy it can shift you and make you shy away from something dangerous but it captures that emotion and it stores in the short term part of your memory bank and then it captures that that emotion that's tied to that picture and after a while it leaves the amygdala and it goes to the hippocampus part of your brain where now it starts to translate short-term memory into long-term memory and that's where it becomes scary because instead of feeling anxiety because something's dangerous or feeling afraid because something's not safe you begin to operate and make decisions out of those emotions now instead of saying hey you know what i'm i'm afraid when i get to a street somebody's gonna hit with the car now i just don't even wanna leave the house because i don't want the danger of even getting close to a street so nothing happens to me you start living your life through the emotion because your brain will send you these triggers and i started thinking about that scripture and every time every time i i wake up in the middle of the night and i have a thought i'm quoting philippians 4 8 whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest are just are pure are lovely good report virtue and praise think on these things i shift my mind from what is holding me captive and i begin to think of the good things of god i begin to think of the things he's brought me and my wife and my boys out of i began to think of different miracles we've had in our past i began to put some music on i walk out of that bedroom door and i begin to pace that room and i begin to pray because i will not allow the enemy to use my current certain circumstance to dictate how it will operate i will not allow it you have to transform your minds and when you're in a battle you all every one of us have trigger points memories associated with pain things that the enemy will continue to bring up to you he wants you to see the darkened walls he wants you to see the charred flooring the buckled forest from all the water he wants you to see that to hold you captive but i'm here to tell you if you would start to take your mind and start planting it on higher things if you start to focus on the things of god and healthy thoughts and and the right music and the right messages and the right words surrounding yourself with the right people you can walk out of it untouched just like they did in the furnace with those three guys something starts to shift when you see what's behind the surface the enemy will try to tell you it's over and you're washed up but when you start peeling back the layers you quickly see what is important is still standing you can walk into a room and it looks like it's done it's trash there's nothing left i can look at the room and remember where the floor joists were soft you can walk into any part of your life and you can see where the hurt is whether it's church or whether it's your personal hurt something in your family you can see it all and the enemy wants you to declare and stay in the soot he wants you to stay there and just focus on what is broken what is burnt up what is gone but i have something to tell you if you start doing a little bit of work and start peeling some things back if your marriage is in trouble and you start listen we focus so much on the surface that dry will look terrible but as soon as you start peeling back that drywall that lumber looks really good those floors are still solid the roof is still standing so if you're fighting in your marriage and you think there's no way start peeling some of that debris back if your children are lost start peeling the debris back if you are fighting an addiction start peeling the debris back because i promise you what god has in store for you is solid it's still standing we still have a firm foundation of stands stop looking at what everybody else is doing and focus where you are if they're swimming past you that's fine let them keep swimming but you keep praying you keep reading your word you keep coming to church you stay connected in the body find yourself in growth track get in the life group plug into this place in the darkest of nights it'll be the brightest of lights jesus i can look at that timber and i can say you know what i'm still standing i may have lost what's on the surface but look at what's most important i still have foundation around me i still have the walls are still standing we can rebuild this thing it's not all that bad it's all on your perspective so if you're in the war this morning if you feel like you're at sea and all you have are these broken pieces of the boat that ship has sailed and it's just all in dysfunction you're sitting there with the ship it's there to bring you from a to b and you can feel safe on that ship you feel safe on it but when it starts to break apart we value the broken pieces left in the whole piece itself we start to devalue the little pieces that kept it all together and as you begin to look and say god how could this happen to me and i'm holding on not a beautiful piece of shiplap it's broken there's splinters it hurts but why would i abandon the ship now is holding me afloat if the ship represented peace to you it's not all over there's still peace in your hands if you had if you had protection on that ship it might look broken to you but there's still protection in your hands when you're holding on to the ship keep holding on and keep fighting through the nights it's not time to stop but it's time to hold on it's time to press forward it's time to keep swimming it's time to move towards shore now it's not the time for us to relax but it is time for us to move forward in the pain that we are in every victor is a victim about something in their life some of it you can't control some of it you can but every victim is a victor first peter chapter one verses 3-7 because jesus was raised from the dead we've been given a brand new life and have everything to live for including a future in heaven and the future starts now god is keeping careful watch over us in the future the day is coming the day is coming where you will have it all life healed and whole i know how great this makes you feel even though you have put up with a lot of kind of aggravations in the meantime pure gold put in the fire comes out proven pure genuine faith through this suffering comes out proven genuine when jesus wraps this up it's your faith that not your goal that god will have on display as evidence of his victory there is coming a day we're going to stand around that throne together and it's going to be your faith that's on display it's not going to be the stuff you lost it won't be the aggravations you had to deal with they won't be the sorrow it will be the hurt it will be the frustration it will be the faith that you possess that you display that will be in heaven in front of you i want us to stands you're in this room you're no different than me different circumstances different issues situations but yet we all still face something we have a decision we can make if i sow my tears where am i sowing my tears have we spent so much time sowing our tears over what was lost sowing our tears over what could have been sowing our tears because the movement isn't fast enough for us or are we sowing our tears into someone else's life are you sowing your tears in a prayer meeting worshipping him see we often say just pray you gotta praise him through it we're gonna we're gonna worship and praise him through it i believe you can't learn how to praise unless you learn how to worship if you don't know who he is then you don't know how he'll do it if you can't declare him as a healer then he can't heal you if you've never seen how sovereign and powerful he is then you can't pray to him and believe that he's going to pull you through it but when we learn to worship together and we begin to put our attention on him when the when the power come when when the problems come and and the issues that we're dealing with happen then i promise you when you begin to praise him it's because you already know he can do it the faith is high in the room it's evident in your life it's a culture in your family and so if you're in this room and it looks terrible you can't see your tomorrow it's not making sense to you my challenge is can you go forward my challenge is can you come to a monday night prayer and start praying with somebody else can you lift up your head and take another step and say god i'm in the middle of my own storm but so is somebody else and so how can my prayer aid somebody else's mess how can i get in the seat with somebody else and learn how to pray for them i believe that god has given me in this season and this time that i'm fighting with this for a reason because ultimately he gets the glory out of my story he's going to get the glory out of my story you're not going to catch me missing a monday night in prayer meeting you're not going to catch me missing a life group or a sunday morning service i'm in it here because i believe that when you start praying and you start sowing your tears while you're moving forward if you could come to the front maybe you're here and you say that's all fine i get it but you know how bad my marriage has been you have no idea the strain of my children in my life you have no idea the financial disruption that's happened in my household you have no idea how high my anxiety really gets you have no idea how low my depression really gets you're right i don't i don't know what it is for you but i know what you can do you can look at that black and drywall and you can start pulling some things down you can look at the house that you have built or the house that you have lived in and you can start pulling some things down and then you can say this is workable this is salvageable he's going to help me through this he's going to help me get out of this this is okay but it's going to take some work and so are you in this room are you able to work are you ready to actually put some effort to this and grab a shovel and start digging some new wells are you ready to start digging in and saying god i'm cleaning this up because i believe lord that you have a plan for my life that there is a reason that i am going through this we want the big ark of the covenant but we build such small altars we want to see signs and wonders but we really don't want to pay the price for them we want to experience the amazing presence and manifestation of his power but we can hide behind the stained glass prayers that we have done over the years but in order for us to see the miracle there has to be a need and in order for you to behave properly through the need it's going to take some tears that are shed but it's going to tell it's going to take how long will you sit and wallow i have every right to be frustrated i have every right to fight depression i don't sleep well it's been the tough last several weeks and it's going to be a long road ahead of me but i'll tell you what i'm not doing i don't get up in the middle of night frightful anymore i get up when those images hit my head i start singing i start worshiping i'll start walking i'll start reading i'll start doing something because i refuse for the enemy to distract and to destroy me because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world and if the enemy can think he could come in and set my house on fire and disrupt my whole life he's got something coming because i got some new prayers for the kingdom i got some new prayers for somebody i've got some things that pull me out of and so i want us to start singing here and if you're in the fight of your life if you are fighting something you are in the middle of a battle a storm then i want you to look at those walls that seem to be a destructive mode and i want you to start saying all right god today is the day i'm pulling the drywall out today is the day i'm ripping the electrical out today is the day i'm sweeping up the floors today is the day i'm reaching heaven with my words and i'm going to start praying for other people i'm going to commit to this thing and change my mindset amen because if i don't do that then i will be the victim without victory but if i can be the victim of whatever it is in your life and god can start to move through you and you start to pray for other people you start to come here every monday night and you're praying you're praying in your household you're reading your word you'll no longer become a victim but you'll be the victor those prayers the enemy will regret the day he messed with your wife he messed with your husband he messed with your kids he messed with your finances all across this room i want us to start praying and if you're in a battle this morning i want you to start talking and say god i need you to reveal something to me what am i supposed to be cleaning up this morning what do i need a hole out of here what is it that needs to get out of this house god because i refuse to be the victim here i am going to learn how to turn my prayer into an effective weapon in the kingdom to shift and change somebody else's life [Music] surrender [Music] [Applause] [Music] my is is [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] jesus [Music] make all things you make all things you [Music] you forward you make all things [Music] [Music] oh all things [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] cause i'm gonna see your victory [Music] victory [Music] i'm gonna see a victory [Music] [Music] hands when i lift up my voice foreign foreign foreign [Music] is that's what you do victory [Music] [Music] you're coming out of the situation before we see it before we get to it we declare it over our lives we declare it over this church come on just one more time use your [Music] voice [Music] for the best [Music] oh cause this is [Music] come on do you believe that this is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] it may look like i'm [Music] when i look around i'll see your goodness [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i choose to find this is it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded it may look like i'm surrounded but i'm surrounded by you it may look like i'm surrounded [Music] the bible says that god is not the author of confusion so if god's not the author of it why is our world so confused it's coming from the other side but i believe that we can turn that around and make him a little bit confused he doesn't understand this because when god blesses you or you get a raise or you get a financial blessing and your mindset goes to how can i bless somebody and and who can i impact and how can i use this to to grow the kingdom of god he says okay i can kind of understand that but when your house burns down and you seemingly lose everything and you say how can i bless somebody here how how can i use the situation i'm in right now to to grow the kingdom of god and to try to invest a seed into somebody else i'm telling you satan doesn't understand that and we have taken the confusion that he is trying to operate in and we've turned it around and we've made him confused he will never understand that and so one of the hardest things for people to do is to get up in front of an audience and speak public speaking by far the number one fear in people that's hard enough but to get up in front of all of us as pastor mike has just done to lower the veil and to be transparent before all of us it reminds me of a verse it's in revelation it says that we have overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony think of how powerful your story is that god has ordained it to be in his word in the very same verse as the blood of the lamb and so i look forward to watching you overcome and to watching you and bridget and dobb and jordan reap and that's not a prophecy that's just a biblical truth you're going to reap enjoy lord we are so thankful mighty god for what you have done today the amazing presence that we feel this great word lord from our executive pastor pastor mike lord what an honor it is to serve you what an honor it is lord god no matter the mountain or the valley god you're showing us mighty lord that you are faithful through it all and you're not limited to our situation god you can reach and impact our world no matter the season or the trial in our life god you must be glorified lord the house has to be full when you return lord i pray today that you would lead and guide this group this assembly lord god bless our pastor while he's away god i'm asking you holy god help us to reach a pile of people lord a multitude of people that your name would be famous in sterling heights now and forevermore in the name of jesus i pray in the name of jesus i pray thank you lord thank you lord please be here tomorrow night at seven o'clock and uh while you're you're hanging around and lingering just a little bit i would like everybody to know today is josh blasic's birthday we love you we are a better church because of you and your amazing family so if you can stop in and wish him a happy birthday god bless you see you tomorrow seven o'clock you

Channel: First Church Sterling Heights

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Id: R9s8tPjnVR0

Length: 89min 0sec (5340 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021