What To Do In A Low Place | Derek Carr

hey welcome to church lv online thank you so much for inviting us into your home really believe that god has a word for you today really quick if it's your first time here go ahead and grab your phone text church fam to the number 94 000 wherever you are you can get connected with us here at church lv really believe that god has a word for you today we believe here at church lv our mission is to lead people to encounter new life in jesus and wherever you're at god can bless you today let's grab a notebook let's get ready lean in because we're excited for what god wants to do in your life today god bless i'm going to be in acts 16 if you guys want to grab your bible so i'll let you grab your bibles get ready get comfortable and then i'm going i'm going to be i'm going to start in verse 16. i'm talking about paul and silas see i had a lot of things that i have been have been learning okay uh over the past couple months you know i've been i read my bible every day and i'm trying to study and i'm always just trying to be ready in season in and out you know if i come into contact with someone they have a question well man wow i just read about this let me teach you what what god is showing me and i try i try every single day to stay true to that and things like that and i've been learning some really cool stuff in the in the old testament which is actually a good thing the old testament's a good thing if y'all didn't know that it's a good it's a good story y'all should y'all should read that too you know uh the old testament i've been learning some really cool things about joseph i had these great ideas these great thoughts i'm like man i'm gonna share that and i'll never forget the first time i sat in church lv i sat there and the lord told me said you're gonna i didn't tell you this but he said you're gonna speak there and when and when you do you're gonna talk about paul and silas so out of all the great ideas that i had out of all the great ideas that i had i have to do what the lord says because he has a word for you not me and so we're going to start here on verse 16 okay y'all ready you excited how many raider fans all right all right how many chief fans two of y'all you're a chief fan you can sit in the back no i'm just kidding we love them too we'll be all right we'll be we'll be christian today huh all right steal oh come on steelers all right all right stop verse 16. one day as we were going down to the place of prayer we met a demon-possessed slave girl she was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters she followed along behind us shouting these men are servants of the most high god and they have come to tell you how to be saved but stop right there you see forever i've read this story and at the end like in the middle of the story there's like this great revelation the lord gave me and it's beautiful and i've always wanted to share it but i've never taught on this because i never understood this first part this demon-possessed fortune teller slave girl is saying the truth she's saying the right things this bugged me because what happens next is this in verse 18 it says this then this went on day after day until paul got so exasperated that's a big word i went to fresno state that's a big word for me all right paul got so exasperated that he turned and he spoke to the demon within her i command you in the name of jesus christ to come out of her he said and instantly it left her this blew my mind i was like why this is like i don't know if you guys have businesses or what you do this is free marketing right like this if you you probably need an econ class to teach you that this is not a bad thing like she's doing this for for free for you to tell everybody right and in my brain this was messing with me because i didn't understand why why does he turn around and say this to her and what what the lord revealed to me over the past few days with this story because you know i was nervous when he told me i was going to speak on this because i was like i still don't understand this part and i'm not going to stand up there i don't want to look stupid i always say he said don't worry about all that i got that right i'ma look silly regardless right i'll throw an interception and you guys can boo me then i'll look silly but god's got this okay and what he showed me is this you can be right you can say the right thing but you can be in the wrong spirit see this this to me was was a revelation that i i needed to hear you see i've always been a people pleaser i love people i really do i love people um you know i'm thankful for everyone that loves my jersey and wants to wear it once autographed some pictures and like all that's cool and i'll do it but the the real thing is i just want to talk to you like i i've always been that way my mom would get so mad you know she's like son you in the mall you can't just go over to strangers and sit at their table you know i was like but they look so nice you know and and i this is true stories my mom would say this all the time and and i would do these things and uh but anyway uh you can say the right thing but have the wrong spirit right and what was so crazy about this is i started to think right what was she doing she was a fortune teller right she her business basically was telling fortunes or creating commotion creating chaos so to speak so people would listen and then they're they'd pay to it right they'd pay to it then their masters would get wealthy right her master would get wealthy and as i began to think about i said this is kind of familiar in my brain this fortune telling probably doesn't make that much money anymore but media does blogs do youtube does right your words in someone's life carry a lot of weight right and i started to think about this thing social media right all these things and as a people pleaser why i brought that up is i so badly just wanted to please everybody and so when i got in this football business i was like well i'm gonna i'm gonna outwork everybody that's no problem i got some talent i'm gonna give it my all right and when i get out there i'm going to do the right things on the field i'm be a man of integrity i'm going to work hard i'm going to say the right things because i believe it not just because it's what you're supposed to say and all of these things and i still found out that people don't like me how about that right i was like and this tore me up for years it really did it tore me up for years and because they were sometimes people were even saying the right things about me but they were doing it in the wrong spirit and it began to tear me up and rip me up and it began to bug me a little bit happens a lot with preachers blogs written all the time uh instagram you know you post a video of something he said and uh and and someone may even critique it and be right but their own div they're creating division and the very words that they're speaking as soon as they come against that pastor all i don't know if you're like me i don't read a lot besides my bible i've probably finished like two books okay okay and i have a degree all right all right and don't tell fresno that but thanks but what's crazy is is is this is as i began to search this thing out as i began to see it play out in my own life i began to see that other people's words even though they may be right or i may oh man he was right i didn't do that right it began to tear me open but what it did was it started to create this division it's either you choose him or you don't right it's either you're a derek carr fan or you're not you can't be a raider fan you can't be both it's either you root for that or you root for this right and i began to see it and it began to it really began to wear on me until until i started to really dive in and hold on to this thing because it happens in pastors like i said you i just read like i said i don't read the whole article i just read the headline and as soon as that headline pops up boom there's there's notifications there's people they're commenting and all of a sudden they have a thought about that pastor whether you've met him or not whether you know his heart or not i remember a couple uh a couple months ago so there's been a lot of this but some pastors have been tweeting some pretty crazy things right and and i began i so like in righteously right in my mind righteously wanted to like rebuke it right and i was like man i have a platform i can send this message and i can people will be like yeah derek you're right right i can correct it but my heart was all wrong my heart was in a selfish place and what i saw was i went to my mentor and i said man this guy can you believe this guy said this he has thousands of hundreds of thousands of followers and they're going listen to this that is not even true this is this is a this is so against uh theology it's not even funny you know and i want to correct it and he says well tell me five good things you know about him i was like i don't know the guy like that he said then you probably shouldn't say it out loud he said you should probably just show with your life the right thing to do and let god be the judge [Applause] so even though even though your rebuke may be strong or or or you feel righteous about something sometimes it's best to just let god handle what he's gonna handle sometimes it's best to let god just hold them accountable sometimes it's best and this is more for leaders and trust me i'm gonna get to something here in a second but if you're in a business or things like that or you got people coming against you right just remember that sometimes people can say the right thing in the wrong spirit and i don't want you to take it personally i don't want you to take offense to it but at the same time there comes a time like this where it's time to cast that thing out and send those words back to hell where they came from you see what i'm saying [Applause] i told you man i'ma be honest with you i used to live a life that was counter to what this book said and i grew up in the church i was smoking weed sleeping there doing this partying this doing all that selfish prideful full of all of those things i was saying the right thing with the wrong intentions all the time until jesus stepped in and said that's enough he said that's enough and you know how he did it with her he put that woman in my life and it changed my life in the course of our family's life forever her master's hopes verse 19 her master's hopes of wealth were now shattered so they grab paul and silas and drag them before the authorities at the marketplace the whole city is in an uproar because of these jews they shouted they are teaching the people to do things that are against roman customs a mob verse 22 of mob quickly formed against paul and silas and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods they were severely beaten and then they were thrown into prison sounds like a rough day right that's kind of how i feel after some of these games physically right emotionally mentally beat up but i'ma get here in a second there is a freedom that i carry that even in those lowest places other people need it and the reason that some of these things happen the reason that some of these things happen you wonder why that so and so you lost a loved one you wonder why that relationship didn't work out you wonder why because there's somewhere in the bottom of your mess that your the freedom of jesus in you is needed by somebody else i i asked i asked myself all the time i was like i see guys that no offense don't work as hard or things like that and they win this or do that and i'm like i told my wife all the time like oh my goodness what else do i have to do right i asked her i was like what else do i have to do why did you send me of all places to oakland and then las vegas i like the city of houston you know there's some nice places in florida too like i'll live there you know growing up in california i was like man like i just didn't know if i wanted to live in the bay area if that was for me right the houses you can touch your neighbor when you wake up right like las vegas sin city i was like what and i started to realize i was like the reason i was sent there is because there's people in those places that need the freedom i carry and the freedom that i carry is only and only this and it's jesus the freedom that you carry and can carry from this point forward in your life no matter what you go through is him there's no other name to call on there's nothing else to hold on to i hear pastor benny talk about all the time you republican democrat i'm sure someone will tweet about that i just said those words now oh you know oh my goodness right i don't hold on to those things my hope and my faith is in jesus and he wins every time [Applause] so they were severely beaten they were thrown in jail look this all happened because they cast the demon out of this girl they were just trying to do the right thing you ever been in the wrong place you end up in the wrong place but you were trying to do the right thing you ever have the opportunity to cut the corner or cheat or do something to get to the top i it happens all the time in my profession take this do this you get a little stronger get a little faster do it this way wear that do this there's certain things you could do to get around things and i'm sorry for you raider fans that want me to do it but i just can't right this is what god gave me i'm gonna max this out okay until the wheels fall off literally okay and at 30 i still feel like i'm 22 so we're good [Applause] but in the lowest places or i should say it this way because sometimes we do the right thing we end up in the lowest places you ever been there you always say the good guy finishes last i don't say they finished last sometimes you're at the bottom that doesn't mean you're going to stay there because my bible tells me that either good things happen or the good things are about to happen does that make sense so the jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape i love the jailer in this by the way verse 24 so he took no chances put them into the inner dungeon and clamp their feet into stocks pastor benny's probably mad at me he wanted to clamp my feet in some stock so i look at the camera i'm sorry ikea think about it right they're thrown into the to the worst place they're in the very bottom okay they're in the worst moment i want to take you somewhere right now and it may get tough i want you to think of some of your worst moments that you've been in in your heart for me there was a game where we lost and i i was like i was at the bottom like why do i even do this why do i put this much effort and this is the result i'ma get why do i do this like i've had those thoughts i i've gotten to that place we all have and if you if you say you haven't you're a liar i'm gonna tell the truth if you say you haven't been to the bottom i'm sorry but i think that we've all let our mind get there at some point i know i have when i lost my grandpa the greatest man i've ever known in my life pastor forever my cousin dallas here he knew him he's a great man just like uncle wayne great man of god they love the lord they serve the lord for their whole life and to watch him die of cancer right from me and i prayed as hard as i could for him and he wasn't healed but this man that's dying told me that if i ask jesus it'll happen and i had to struggle with this you see what i'm saying that's a bottom that's a low point everything i read everything i was taught now i'm seeing it happen finally it's happening to me you ever see when something happens to you now now something's really tested if you really believe it or not i think i was about 8 17 or 18 years old when he died i'm 30 today and just a few years ago probably five years ago was the first time so probably seven eight or whatever after my grandpa died was the first time i saw with my own eyes someone healed right in front of me imagine that time going on where i had to believe all those times he told me no it does happen because there's plenty of times it doesn't happen right but i chose to believe in a god that was alive and real i chose to stand on his word even in the lowest points and i have seen physical healings with my own eyes right in front of me i've seen it happen so no one can come to me and tell me it doesn't happen you're a fool how could you ever believe that magician type stuff or whatever man that doesn't happen man it just whatev you can't tell me anything else because i stuck and stood on the word of god and didn't let anything detour me in the lowest point at the bottom it doesn't matter where my mind goes my heart is always willing to do the right thing my heart my heart's posture is always willing to choose the truth you see what i'm saying around midnight so think about that for a second before i get there think about that moment that you're maybe you're in that moment right now maybe you i have been in churches where i've prayed with three people that were gonna commit suicide three but they chose to come that day and they left in tears saying thank you for telling me about jesus maybe you're at that low point maybe you're there and i'm going to tell you through my experience and through what the word of god says what i have found to be true every single time and it's this around midnight paul and silas after everything they just went through paul and silas were praying and singing hymns to god and the other prisoners were listening suddenly there was a great earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundation and here it is all the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off let me tell you this that it doesn't matter what you're going through it doesn't matter where you're at or where you've been i'm telling you right now your life is so much more important than just you your life is about so much more than just you in their lowest point they chose to say no god you are the god that i'm gonna serve at my lowest you are the god that can do all things you are the god that can set me free you are the god of my ancestors you are the god of yesterday today and forever and i'm gonna choose to sit here and i'm gonna worship you in my lowest point and all of the doors off every prisoner begin to fall chains began to fall everything began to fall off of them because two people decided in their lowest point that jesus was enough that he was enough that he could do it because two people i play in front of hundreds of thousands of people i pre i've preached in front of rooms that are of stadiums of people and i tell them every single time i don't need all of you okay god can do what he wants to do i just need about one or two of you that's all i need that are really committed to doing this thing because i've seen too many people get to the bottom and say i'm done i tap out i'm gonna tell you right now it's not gonna be me it's not gonna be my wife it's not gonna be my kids there if i do anything right if i do anything right if no one is accepts jesus today but my wife and my children go to heaven and i did my job because they see me at my worst today i put a no put on my nice pants you know i'm from california so i wore my vans you know what i'm saying i wear a watch that doesn't even work i don't think i have a watch that works but i wear them because my wife said they look nice [Applause] yeah it's 11 15 right now they see me at my worst they see me when my heart is broken they see me when i'm crushed what am i running to what am i running to the bottle am i running to rolling that next joint am i running to someone else am i running to my friends am i running away from them am i being divisive to them am i am i being rude to my wife don't don't get me wrong i'm not perfect i i do have a short fuse okay what what you mean oh you were being nice so no but i'd say you know [Applause] that's when that's when the old me comes out huh yeah i'm just kidding she's laughing because she's like you're an idiot there's times in her life i guarantee she's walked into the room and i'm praying with a buddy i'm teaching them the word of god there's three dudes that i mentor she comes in all the time about to tell me dinner's ready she just listens to the door now she's so used to it but we're pre we're praying we're i mean we're going i mean holy ghosting you know what i mean together all right i don't know about y'all but i grew up in a pentecostal church so i'm i'm a little different but in my lowest points they see where i run and it's always to my face it's always on my knees crying out to god saying not please get me out of no gods you are enough no god you are the one that can get me through this you are the one that can heal my body you are the one that restores my soul you are the one that makes me white as snow as if i didn't sing you are the one that pulls me out of the valley if this doesn't bless you it blessed me at my lowest point man i just keep it simple i'm not i'm not going to blow your mind with so many things but in my lowest points man i just run to god i go to jesus that's the message he's put on my heart forever is that i just proclaim his words and i know i know that he does a couple things he loves me he loves you also he loves us right he can save us and he can heal us and my mentor told me he said i said why would god i feel this urge to preach right and he's put it on my heart i'm evangelist so as soon as i see tears i mean that's like gasoline on a fire for evangelist you know what i mean like oh i'm get jesus now you know you're coming yeah yeah some of y'all know what i'm talking about and and for me for me i tell you this right now that people coming to jesus is what i live for people people finally experiencing what i've experienced he told my mentor told me just preach what you know and that's all that i know is what i've experienced and what i've read and in their lowest point they served him they seeked him and in my lowest points i have served him i have seeked him i may not have a trophy or a ring on my finger but no one cannot tell me i'm not a champion not one person you may not have that job promotion you may not have that relationship that you wanted that family member may not have come home but that doesn't mean your story's over that doesn't mean that you haven't won that does not mean for one second that it is over because god is the final say he is the ultimate judge and until there's no breath in your lungs your story is still being told i believe this with everything in me i've lived it out i've lived the other way so i can talk about it i've been there i've been in that depression i've been in that emptiness that loneliness i've been in the bottom in my own life not just about situations but i've been there without jesus not being a christian is just separation from god i've been separate from god and i've been near to him and i tell you what there's no touchdown in the world there's no win i've ever had that feels like his presence [Music] there's nothing i play football i've been able to make money i've been able to be famous all over the world i mean we go to everywhere and people are like you know we go to mexico cairo you know i'm like whoa god bless you dios de vindiga you know everywhere and it's crazy right and all that stuff is cool but all that stuff is here today and gone tomorrow at some point i'm not going to be a quarterback anymore i'm going to be a christian man i'll be a husband i'm gonna be a father and i'm not gonna waste these days today and wait for those days to come then i'll get it right now i gotta get my job right then i'll be a good husband now i gotta get i gotta get my finances in order then i'll be a good employee you know i don't need to work that extra bit they're not going to pay me actually i don't need to do that you know and in our lowest points you have two choices to make you either choose the selfish side or you choose whatever god is saying at the root of it is selfishness whatever you want to look at it that side whatever it is you're lazy you're tired you're bored whatever it is okay over here is freedom over here is his glory over here is abundance i'm not talking about money i'm talking about love talk about joy i'm talking about peace i see people in our profession all the time they're at their lowest points all the time and they say man i got all these things in the world i've achieved everything that the world has to offer i've achieved it but i have nothing inside my heart and i am here to stand here and tell you that you can keep working as hard as you want i'm still going to outwork you someone out there is going to try and outwork me we're going to work as hard as we can we're going to achieve everything that we can and at the end of the day once we get there it will not be enough it will not fill that void that is in your heart there's a guy that was very famous in what i do and he's he's won some super bowls and all these kind of things made some money his wife has made some money they're very successful people in the world's eyes and they asked him in an interview they say what's what's next you know and he goes you know i don't know he just i feel like something's missing i don't know what it is but i feel like something's missing and i'm like bro right bro i got you all the doors flew open the jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open he assumed the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself but paul shouted don't do it we're all here trembling with fear the jailer called for the lights isn't it crazy that when you're trembling with fear that you call for the light i'm telling you right now [Music] i'm asking you don't let it get to that point don't let it get to that point you came here today for a reason god sent me out of fresno california i was born right there at the same hospital saint agnes is it i was born in saint agnes hospital in fresno california been in the nfl for eight years are you kidding me little kid out of fresno had a dream in his heart to play football and i and he brought all of us here today if you came to hear pastor benny i'm sorry if you came here to hear some football stories i'm sorry also because when you get me you get jesus he ran to the dungeon and fell down before paul and silas he brought them out and asked sirs what must i do to be saved this guy's job was to keep them imprisoned and because because god showed up he's now asking them what do i got to do to get what you got and i know this to be true because jesus is alive and well and he comes where i go i know that some of y'all came for one reason but you're going to leave with something else i i know that god's already beginning to work and make you uncomfortable in your seat he's working on your heart your heart's beating fast you're sitting by people that you don't know what they're gonna think i don't know if you saw it but during worship time i i know about one percent of you people and i love you already but we were worshiping and god brought me to my knees and put tears filled my eyes with tears and my flesh was like what will people think and i said i don't care [Applause] because there's something about just obeying what he's asking you to do there's just something about his presence that nothing else is gonna fill up for you so they replied to him i'm gonna tell you this if the worship team doesn't mind joining me up here for a second they replied believe on the lord jesus and you will be saved along with your entire household then they shared the word of the lord with him and all who lived in his household that same hour the jailer washed their wounds and everyone in his household were immediately baptized they didn't put it off how about that pastor they said i want to follow jesus then i'm all in they didn't sit on the fence they said you told me about this jesus then i want to be all in and it's easy to be bold in here but when we leave these doors can you still be bold about it then he brought them into his house and set a meal before them he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in god i want to tell you something man there is power in the name of jesus we sang that song oh it was on my heart this morning i text pastor benny i said they gotta play that song i don't know why i like there's a lot of song it's not even my favorite song you know what i mean like but man they were singing that thing right but it wasn't even about that see i could tell because this worship team who they're coming right they got my back that's how i go i'm just kidding huddle huddle they're coming i'm uh look at that [Applause] sorry i can't help myself but make jokes but what i love about them is you can feel their heart they're here they're worshiping to god they're not performing for you they are interceding on your behalf they are worshiping to god on your behalf to open up a pathway for you to see his face like john the baptist is my favorite story in the bible he said with all these people around us he's baptizing people he's he looks in the crowd and until this time everyone said the messiah is coming the messiah is coming the anointed one he's coming someday someday but john had the benefit for the first time to say behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world there he is for the first time there he is he showed up and he showed up jesus i promise you he is here today i will i will be i will say it till i'm blue in the face jesus is here in this place today hey thank you so much for joining us for church today i want to give you a couple of ways to stay connected here at church lv first one is if you need prayer go ahead and visit us at the prayer link at churchlv.com prayer a member of our team is waiting and ready to pray with and for you second way is to join a small group if you're not in a group already get connected into community go ahead and visit churchlv.com groups last way to stay connected is to follow us on instagram on instagram is where we're going to be posting all upcoming events and everything you need to stay connected with us here at churchlv on our way out today i want to declare some truths over you god you are in control we cast our anxieties on you because you care for us may the lord bless you may the lord keep you and may he make his face shine upon you god bless

Channel: ChurchLV

Views: 7,842

Rating: 4.9703703 out of 5

Keywords: christian, church, Las Vegas, Benny Perez, Wendy Perez, christian church, Holy Spirit

Id: ugVQGdJExUg

Length: 33min 35sec (2015 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 12 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/honkinbooty]

I’m not religious either. But I enjoyed watching this. Because, again, it shows his heart and his leadership. That’s awesome to see with so much negativity these days. Beliefs aside, watch the video and be impressed.

[u/lhoyle0217]

IIRC, he has stated before that he will be a preacher after football is done.

[u/not_beniot]

I'm not religious, but there are much worse things a QB can do than preach. I dunno, like sexual harassing women in bathrooms or being a serial sexual assaulter of massage therapists.

[u/PostGraduatePotUser]

As a former believer I can say, he appears to believe the message. That is all you can ask from someone. Be courageous in your convictions, especially when it flies in the face of convention or ridicule.

Just like any piece of fiction, there can be good gleaned from it, and there are some valuable life lessons that can be passed on to the next generation. The Koran, the Mahabharata, etc. all have great life lessons if folks chose to see them.

[u/DaughterOfGod7]

He’s a man of faith. I admire him for setting an example for a lot of people.

[u/Kriscolvin55]

Meh. But to each their own.