if I had the opportunity to go back and tell past me any piece of advice what would that advice be and I concluded the advice would simply be this it's never too early nor too late to listen follow and build your life Upon Jesus put Jesus first when you wake up in the morning put him first when you're tired put him first you've got to put Jesus first before your job before your desires before your dreams put him first put him first in your schedule then put him first in your finances put him first put
Jesus first because I I've come to tell you that when you put Jesus first he's able to do a sudden and he is able to do a radical and a complete change when you put Jesus first he's able to affect a fundamental change in your life he's able to overthrow certain powers that rule the decisions in our in our and our ways of thinking and our Direction when we put Jesus first that means that when you and I get depressed and hurting and broken and lost Jesus came to rescue us Jesus says it this way
for the son of man that's what he called called himself came to seek and to save what was lost and if you follow Jesus you'll find Healing if you follow Jesus he will lead you to Hope if you follow Jesus he will lead you to experience Everlasting joy that is on the horizon but we get so consumed with our own circumstances get this that we never look up I'm here to tell you got some good news for you today I've read the end of the story it's a spoiler alert we win now I know that
there's pain going to be pain and it's difficulty now and I know that you and I will both have life wrecking days in our life but we just need to keep our eyes up because in the end we win that God has promised to set everything right in the end and if it's not right it's not the end if it's not good he's not done that's right and one of the things that Jesus teaches you and I to do is make sure that we build our lives upon him to where he becomes our secure foundation
and this is what people have unfortunately done instead of making him our secure Foundation some of us for one reason or another have decided to substitute Jesus for other things in this life we we've made our careers our secure Foundation we've made our finances our secure Foundation we've made our relationships a secure Foundation we've made our status and life life a secure foundation and let me tell you if you're here today and you have not made Jesus your secure Foundation you are playing a very dangerous game here's the one thing that I can tell you
about life life can get difficult as a matter of fact Jesus made us a promise he said in this life you will have trouble but there's something amazing when you look at the difference between the person whose life is going through trouble and they have built their life on career and finances and uh relationships and all that stuff versus the person who has built their lives on Christ the solid rock it is a game Cher and I want you to see what Jesus says in the next verse he says in the next verse verse number
25 he says though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house it won't collapse because it is built on Bedrock from this day forward I'm going to listen follow and build my life on Jesus don't make the mistake of being so comfortable that you fail to make Jesus a priority in your life you know how we know what our priorities are what do you put your time into if you don't have time to spend with Jesus I'm talking regularly I'm not talking occasionally I'm talking regularly and
you don't give him leftovers you give him the best put him first in everything that you do and you know what some of the upside down things in your life will turn right side up a lot quicker than you think they will man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God Jesus taught us to pray give me today my daily bread it's like the Mana in the wilderness that was provided for the Israelites every day it is a daily provision it is not a lifetime supply
pray about everything so if you're a novice of prayer let me suggest you begin by carving out 15 minutes at the beginning of every day you get in a secluded spot where you're not going to be interrupted you go down to your knees and you pray out loud and you review everything that happen yesterday that you can remember pray about everything and thank God that he got you through then you go to today and you list what's on your calendar and your thoughts and say Lord anoint me and prepare me for the things that I
have today and when you pray about everything you come your thinking changes God's taking care of me yesterday I believe he'll take care of me today so you got to carve out time you've got to make a moment in your day 10 15 15 20 30 minutes whatever it is for you to say I going to put everything to the side phones family job all that stuff and say I'm going to sit and meet with the Lord I'm going to retreat to Jesus you have to open up your heart and ask Jesus to be your
lord and your savior Romans chap 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved Revelations 3:20 says behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the do I will come in to put him first we need to follow him to follow him to have friendship and fellowship with him and ultimately to put your faith in him you've got to seek Him Matthew chapter 6:33 but seek first the kingdom
of God and and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you Proverbs 8177 I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me Isaiah 55:6 says seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Hebrews 11:6 says he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him what does this mean this means that we've got to make every opportunity possible to seek the Lord see here's the thing don't grow distant from Jesus all of us have friends all of us have people
that that time and life has kind of gotten in the way and and things have grown distant maybe literally distant or or or maybe just emotionally or or but don't grow distant from Jesus don't grow distant from Jesus I don't care how young you are I don't care how old you are it is never too early nor too late to start listening following and building your life on [Music] Jesus anybody have anything in your past that has caused you even a little bit of Shame at all at ever in your life I believe the overwhelming
burden of our past is the one thing that can be most difficult to break to be free from and it will often keep us from being as effective as we could be in the present and I I I just want to start with this statement know this he has forgiven you of all your sin amen Colossians 2 he forgave us all our sins having canel the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us he has taken it all away nailing it to the cross and no matter how many times you've dropped
it our God has forgiven us and the truth is sometimes we haven't forgiven ourselves I feel like look the Lord laid just a few things on my heart for you today and honestly for me today and the first is this if you want to be free really free you have to start by accepting what cannot be changed you have to accept what cannot be changed the pain of Life the things that we wish to God that could be changed but cannot be changed we did something and we want to undo it but it can't be
undone or we said something and we want to take it back but it seems too late now or we didn't say something and we wish we would have but now it seems too late we missed our opportunity or we didn't do something and we should have and and now the weight of what we didn't do feels so heavy it's always weighing us down and holding us back it is the chain of regret and it follows us everywhere and you don't even know what it is to be free from it it's just become normal or maybe
that change chain from the past is the chain of bitterness and anger because of what was done to you and it wasn't right and somebody owes you something they owe you an explanation or they owe you a childhood or they owe you a marriage or they they owe you an apology they owe you something and you're just carrying that you owe me chain around with you everywhere you go and it it's just become part of your life but what the enemy wants to do to you is to accuse you and the primary lie is he
wants you to believe that your your past defines you and that your past determines your future he wants you to believe that your past defines you that you are your Affair that you are your bankruptcy that you are your failure that you are your sin that you are your broken promises and yet the Bible that's called condemnation that means unfit for use and yet the Bible says therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus so are you going to believe the accusations of the enemy or are you going to believe
the truth of the word of God that you were bought to you were paid for that you were clean you were redeemed you were holy you were blameless that you are more than a conqueror that there's nothing nothing nothing that can separate you from the love of God that's who you are in fact I'll say this the enemy of your soul loves to leverage your past against you he's an accuser what does an accuser do he brings accusation he points the finger he brings up the past and the devil loves to speak of our guilt
to God you know I'm not trying to shame anybody but all of us can look back in our past and see man I wish I would have done that differently I wish I would have said that different I should have handled that in a different way we are guilty and this is where it starts but it's not where it stops guilt then produces what's called shame cuz I know a lot of believers who are locked in this Vault of Shame Shame produces feelings of worthlessness you you feel so ashamed of of what you've done it
starts with guilt and the enemy accuses us look how guilty they are but if we're not careful guilt produces shame watch this guilt has to do with what we've done shame has to do with how we see ourselves guilt gives way to shame shame produces regret and then we end up in fullblown condemnation we are just so condemned we feel like God is mad at us that God's waiting for us to mess up we feel unworthy before him I can't raise my hands I mean there's no way I can worship God if if people in
this church only knew about me what God knows about me and the enemy tries to use condemnation to keep God's children from walking in the fullness of their freedom are you catching this I I was visiting a man not long ago who um knew he didn't have much time left and he was trying to get things made right in his life and he had some really beautiful examples of things he had done just being intentional and and he had written letters to his daughter just asking for forgiveness and trying to own some things he had
written a letter to his ex-wife extending forgiveness and asking for forgiveness he he had he had really worked hard at making sure all the finances were in order and he had next to him a folder with all the forms that needed to be filled out and and here's how everything can be transferred over and he he made sure everything was made right but he said to me I I just I just want to make sure I make myself right with God before I die and I said well you can't do that you cannot make yourself
right with God doesn't matter how in order you get your paperwork that's not what it's going to get he's not going to when you get to heaven he's not going to say let me let me see the paperwork let me just make sure everything's in order you can't make yourself right with God but Jesus is our justifier and our reconciler he's the one who makes us right with God so that chain that you've been carrying around that I got to make myself right with God chain he breaks it that chain that sometimes gets labeled as
religion he sets you free from that that that chain that is guilt and shame and you've got to you've got to be good enough to make up for what you did he sets you free from that burden many of us think I've let God down but I got good news for you you can't let someone down who you weren't holding up in the first place we don't hold God up he holds us up and he makes us new if you want to make peace with your past you know how to do it you take your
pieces from the past and you hand them to him and God's not done with you either and Satan will whisper and try to get you to throw in the tow he'll try to get you to quit he'll try to get you to think that everything's over but just remember this never place a period where God has chosen to place a comma I just want to encourage some of you if you've been living with a lifetime of pain there is still reason to live there's reason to be free not every painful thing we go through is
the result of something that we've done God is not a tit fortat God thank God for that I I may have I may have made some mistakes but I am not a mistake so we must remember that God Is Bigger Than Anything You face in the past or will encounter in the future our God is Not distant he knows your pain and hurt and while you're in your difficult Seasons he may seem silent but he is still present and he is still in your life and he will make things right in this life or the
next life he will remove the pain heal the hurts and change your life forever there's a wonderful scripture in Proverbs that's helped me a lot and it says this Proverbs 24:16 it says the righteous person falls or fails seven times and rises again the perfect the the person that's close to God the the righteous person the holy person you know Falls fails seven times that's a multiplicity of times but he rises again in other words it's okay to fail it's okay to to have this fear of failure but you know we will rise again imagine
if it said the stupid person or the idiot falls seven times okay it doesn't say that it says the holy person the righteous person the person that's close to God Falls or fails seven times but rises again so that's a that's a wonderful promise so maybe you fallen down maybe you're not happy where you are in life may maybe you have all of these regrets and say oh yes I I deserve it you know look I'm in this dead end life nothing's working out for me but it says that you will rise again okay in
fact I think our dreams are always on the other side of our failures when and if you fail Jesus right hand still wholly is adequate to save though the righteous man falls seven times the Lord will uphold him there is no mistake you can make that puts you outside of the grace the strength and sufficiency of jesus' right hand 7th chapter of Micah verse number8 Rejoice not against me oh mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Proverbs 24:16 for a just man
falleth seven times and riseth up again but even a just man falth seven times not a wicked man a just man not someone who's not trying but someone who's giving it their all this this life is just more than I can handle properly I'm telling you this this life is a constant reminder that I can't stand unless God upholds me amen but the passages we read this morning they don't have to do with not falling they don't even have to do with falling they have to do with what will become of you after you fall
what will become of me after I fall it's not a question of will you fall it's not a question of will your faith be shaken it's not a question of will you make some mistakes in your life the question is will you allow God to work in your life after you fall as surely as you allowed him to work in your life when you thought you would never fall will you allow God to take what has been broken and and mend that thing will you allow God to take your failure and turn it into into
Victory or will it be the end of you and your testimony and your and your Christian walk in the Micah passage look at that again when I fall I shall arise it I I don't find any option for not falling but I do find an option after one has fallen to get up or stay down Micah says when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me it might be emotional Darkness might be physical Darkness it might be spiritual Darkness it might be self-imposed Darkness it might
be a circumstance beyond your control in which you find your yourself but there will be dark days in your life be dark seasons in your life what I want to know is will the Lord be a light unto you so many people so many people make their boast in the Lord on the Mountaintop and forget all about him in the valley praise the Lord Jesus Christ when the sun is shining and then enter into despair when the sun's sets this man said there is a light that drives out the darkness in my life he didn't
say there'd be no darkness in my life he said I have a light Micah said Rejoice not over me my enemies when I fall for I shall arise he wasn't complaining about the trouble he wasn't discouraged over being knocked down he understood this principle that there was bounceback in his spirit in the middle of the difficulty he was speaking Victory if you're going to come out of that challenge you have to do like Micah this problem didn't come to stay it came to pass God being for me is more than the world being against me
I shall arise Proverbs says a good person falls seven times but they Rise Again get your fire back get your passion back nothing you've done is too much for the mercy of God he knew every mistake we would ever make he's already taken them into account he has a plan even for the Times where we've missed it you may be down but that is not your final destination God is saying get ready to rise the question is when you going to get up when are you going to get up but I want you to understand
that falling is is a part of learning to walk what child learns how to stand without falling when a a child first pulls themselves up on furniture and when they're able to stand they the first thing that they do they they just start standing and it's it's a real unstable kind of a stance they they start like almost like a a Weeble wobble but they don't fall down but they they they're sort of Staggering almost like a drunk person and then they this all of a sudden just collapse and fall to the ground it's a
part of their learning to stand and until you learn how to stand you can't learn how to walk I need a Grace until I've learned to stand stably and then take a few steps and then fall it's a part of the learning process of how God teaches us and grows us and develops us Proverbs chapter 24 and verse 16 says that the Godly May trip seven times or fall seven times but they will get up again but no one but one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked you see but God helps us that The
Godly may fall seven times seven times but they'll get back up again we get back up we fall but we get back up how many you got children when your children were babies they crawled around and then one day miraculously for the first time ever they stood up on their own two feet what was the exact next thing they did fell down but not one of you said oh stay there baby did you what did you say get up come to Mommy come to Daddy and baby get up and fall down you say do it
again and take a few steps get up and fall down and you say do it again now sometime the baby fell on their backsides but sometime the baby fell on their face and you not only allowed them to fall on their face you encouraged them to do it again cuz you knew if they never fell and got up they never learned how to walk they never fell and got up they never learned how to run they never fell and got up they never learned how to maximize their potential but some of us in this room
today have fallen down or we've been knocked down and life has not been fair and we've stayed in that down position and I'm saying to you today it's time to get up and fly like you were born to fly a setback is nothing but a set up for a comeback this could be the start of your comeback that no matter how bad it looks we're never out of the race that somehow an even hopeless situation can turn around this could be the start of your comeback because God is the true author of The Comeback story
he's the God who can flip the script he's the God who can change things up he's the God who can take you from feeling defeated and bring you to victory because time and again what we've seen in the Bible is that God does not give up on us we may give up on ourselves we may feel like quitting but God doesn't quit on us and you know what when we come back to him we find that God's right there waiting for us and in reality much closer than we thought but you got to remember with
God there's always hope he wants to to write a new ending to your story even if you feel hopeless even if you feel like you're in a place where you can't see God he's coming after you because he wants to write a new ending to your story that's not about defeat that's not about failure but it's about Victory and it's a victory that comes when you simply come back to him when you return to him and listen and realize that he's there waiting for you he wants you then all of a sudden you realize that
there's hope because I'm telling you the truth you are never too defeated you're never too broken you're never too lost and you're never too far away to come back to Christ and you're never too in that position where you're too deep to not be brought to a Victorious ending I don't know where you sit right now I don't know what what failure or what Devastation I don't know what has happened in your life that has created a sense of hopelessness that's created a sense of fear here but what I do know is that we serve
a God who can take your moment of deepest hopelessness of deepest failure of deepest disaster and he can turn it into your greatest Victory he is the god of the comeback despite your failure your comeback story could be right in front of you and it could be huge could be huge what are you right now what are you fighting what are you fighting for what are you fighting against cuz we're broken people living in a broken World which means we're all fighting something it's just how life works until heaven for some of you maybe it's
I'm fighting for freedom from things like anxiety and depression and insecurity loneliness and self-doubt for some of you maybe you're fighting for a loved one for them to experience some freedom for them to find Jesus for them to experience life change maybe some of you are praying about starting a family maybe some of you are fighting to keep a family together fighting for your marriage fighting for a dream fighting against the diagnosis whatever it is like this is us right and what happens is is life happens and we get tired and sometimes we get discouraged
and sometimes we get frustrated and what we're tempted to do is if not permanently at least temporarily just sort of give up I'm just done I'm done praying for this cuz look nothing's happening I'm done trying to trust God because look around it's not working I'm I'm done believing that he's got something I'm done trying to obey I'm done giving serving showing up inviting people to church sharing my faith sharing my story taking what God has given me in my life and turning around and trying to make a difference in this world and share it
with somebody else like nothing's going my way I'm done you ever felt that I know I have and and Paul's writing to Timothy because that's exactly how Timothy feels he's struggling stop it you were not given a spirit of fear that word actually means cowardice says Timothy stop stop acting like a coward God put a fighter spirit inside of you now you don't have a spirit of fear but Power love and a sound mind now now if you want to experience the plans that God has for you you're going to have to do what I
did and it starts with this fight the fight he says I have fought the good fight Timothy fight the fight it's going to be a fight but you can do this fight the fight finish the race I have fought that fight and I have finished the race Paul says listen because there's opposition and because you're you're human there's going to be times when you want to quit and he says but you can choose not to you can choose to finish a lot of people start very few finish he said you want to experience everything God
has for you you got to decide I know I'm stepping into opposition cuz I got a fighter spirit inside of me and I can't choose whether or not I experience opposition but I can choose whether or not I quit I'm going to finish this race do not become weary in doing good for at the proper time you will reap a harvest in if you do not give up you can't quit you got to stick with it these faithful actions that we take these faithful little drops over time make a tremendous difference being faithful in the
little things is a really big thing whether you realize it or not we are in a fight every day sometimes it's just to fight just to keep your sanity you have to keep on fighting keep on fighting please understand this please remember this victory victory victory without exception is always on the other side of a battle it's always on the other side of a fight Victory is always on the other side of a fight here's how the word of the Lord puts it in Galatians chapter 6 and ver9 let us not be weary in well-doing
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up because there's always a tempt ation to give up when you have setbacks when you get tired be not weary he says don't be weary in doing good yes you can get tired because you feel like nobody's acknowledging it and sometimes it's you you do things for people and then they don't even acknowledge you you get weary and it's like why am I doing this we're doing it because it's right the Apostle Paul writing to the church at galatia said to them
in Galatians CH 5 and: 7 he said says you were running well who hindered you from obeying the truth but see if the devil can get you discouraged and keep you discouraged he can get you derailed so that you quit yeah that's the issue Theodore Roosevelt said this he says courage is not having the strength to go on it's going on when you don't have the strength when you got to keep going even when you feel like you don't have the strength to go on you I mean how many times have you just said to
a person you know I'm I'm I'm finished I'm not I'm not doing it I'm not doing it how easy it is to get discouraged because things don't happen fast enough for us and we become discouraged listen don't be weary and well-doing cuz you're going to reap in due season if you don't get weary because there is a reward and so I just tell you stay faithful stay faithful there was a day when you were so sure you were so confident that what you envisioned for your life was going to happen that nothing or no one
was going to keep you from that nothing was going to deter you or stop you keep you from doing or becoming what you had set out to go after it was already yours so what happened what happened and here's what one writer in the Bible he asked the question a really similar way he says this he says it is for Freedom that Christ set us free that's a vision I want my life to be about Freedom that's right that's a vision for my life stand firm that's Relentless conviction stand firm then and do not let
yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery and then he just gets right to it you were running a good race you were doing so great remember who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth what happened that kind of persuasion that cut in on you does not come from God the one who calls you you're doing great we were doing great you had a plan you had a vision what happened he I'm going to throw this out here's what I think the answer is real life happened reality happened or to
quote the great Theologian Mike Tyson he said it this way everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth can I get an amen that's just true right that quote came from an interview right before Tyson uh fought uh Evander Holyfield right the guy doing the interview when when Tyson said that he said he says what I what I like so much about that quote is that the application stretches far beyond boxing it really has meaning in any area of life whether the blow comes from a health issue or losing your job or
making a bad investment or a traffic jam whatever and he said this it's how you react to that adversity that defines you not the adversity itself and you know what we want to feel like and I don't think it's wrong you just want to feel like you're doing good in life you just want to feel like you're on a you're you're keeping a good pace you're on a good path you're making a difference and every once in a while you want to know that you're passing a few people you know I don't even know what
that means passing if you but you just want to feel like you know I'm kind of around in the corner here and I'm I'm kind of on my way making a difference and then what happens life life I've quoted Mike Tyson and this one quote so many times I quoted it yesterday we were doing an interview with some friends and I said Mike Tyson always said and he meant this about his fighting I love this statement he's like everyone's like Mike what are you going to do you know so and so is going to fight
you are you worried he's like everybody's got a plan these dudes can plan but the plan's out the window when they get punch in the face sounds like life right everybody's got big plans and all of a sudden we got punched by life it's going to happen and all a sudden you're like well that big old punch in the face wasn't in the plan what do I do now and all of the sudden it's like well I think maybe All Is Lost and I'll just go ahead and give up you can't you can't think of
one story or one person you've not watched one movie or read a book there's no person in your life who has done or is currently pursuing something significant who at some point didn't get smashed in the mouth they all did be that by life or a circumstance what be the common storyline shared between all great people who accomplish great things and experienced Abundant Life what do they all have in common here are some incommon things that would not be on the list okay um they all experienced a smashin the mouth free life that's how they
had good life no they all they all made a rigid plan years ago and everything always went exactly as planned without the need to flex or risk or or adapt anything that's their key to success do you know anybody like that their recipe for growing success in their life was making excuses and blaming other people and playing the victim card and rarely doing what they said they were going to do that was their road to Greatness how about everybody and every voice in their life agreed with him every day and supported them all along the
way is that anybody's Story how about they did it all by themselves and didn't need help from anybody else no you can't name one person who's living a significant life who didn't run into a wall called well that's not how I thought it was going to be and then had to figure out and be willing to go with a new plan we all have to do that right didn't have to shake off blame and excuses and disappointment by and from the most heartbreaking sources in their life and and point to their story and say I'm
not going to quit I'm not going to give up I'm going to keep going they all had to do that what do you think separates average people from amazing people what do you think separates those who are really fulfilled in life from those who are often empty the difference is their perseverance it's their perseverance it's their willingness to stick to it it's their grit to finish it is their drive to persevere it is their refusal to quit I love how uh Pastor Craig illustrates this many many times there this story about a donkey that fell
into a hole and uh some guys walk by and they look down there they're like ain't no way we can get this donkey out of this hole and we might as well make it short and sweet for him we'll just bury him alive and so they start taking shovels of dirt and they throw it down on his donkey and this donkey the dirt would hit the donkey and then he would Shake It Off and he'd step up right and they throw some more dirt and he would Shake It Off and he'd step up and eventually
over time maybe it wasn't the 10th shovel or the H hundredth maybe it was the thousandth or the 10,000th but he would shake it off he steps up and eventually over time that pit got shallower and shallower until the day where he could just walk out of it but you got to shake it off and you got to step up you got to stay resilient [Music] it's time to get up off the mat if you've been knocked down if you've been through something if you've been through financial setback or some kind of terrible thing has
hit you in your health and or or something's happened to your family we need to believe that it's time for a comeback it's no time to quit it's no time to give up it's no time to moan and groan we may be down but we're not out because we serve a comeback God quitting is easy that's why so many people do it but you're not one of them don't ever quit Micah 7 and verse 8 Rejoice not against me oh my enemy for when I fall I shall arise you might get knocked down by the
enemy but it's not over God will never say it's over until you win Hallelujah so if you get knocked down get up the Bible says in Proverbs 24:16 a righteous man falleth seven times but riseth again all you got to do to beat the devil if you get knocked down seven times get up eight amen never give up never give up never give up never quit see the pain of quitting the pain of throwing in the towel the pain of regret is always greater than the pain of perseverance we say it one more time the
pain of regret is far greater than the pain of perseverance and God is saying if you persevere today I will reward you but there's only one way that you can do it there's only one way that you can continue on do not quit continue to show up you cannot keep a person down who won't stay [Applause] down it's one thing to be knocked down but the problem problem is you won't stay down there are already Witnesses in this room who are testify it's not that I haven't been knocked down but God keeps giving me the
strength the energy the wherewithal the anointing the power to not stay down that every time something or somebody knocks me down God keeps raising me back see ladies and gentlemen life is not about not getting knocked down life is about not stand down you can't quit you come too far to quit now you have to fight for it there's nothing that you can't over come in his name amen you want to throw in the towel I know what that feels like but don't do it remember that God is in your corner and like he said
to Peter he's praying for you that your faith may not fail so let him encourage you go to him he's in your corner and I promise you you will [Music] when and I want to speak to somebody today who feels like life is crushing you how many of you would say honestly I feel like I'm in one of the low seasons of life right now okay that's who this message is for anybody feel like that's where you are today circumstances went sideways things started happening in your life that you didn't have control over things have
been done things have been said you've been mistreated and that nobody understands what it feels like to you that life is crushing you you just want to quit what do you want to quit on maybe a marriage you're just ready to be done you quit on your kids want quit on God maybe you just just quit on yourself I'm so thankful that Jesus didn't quit on us and he loves you way too much to quit God loves you so much and um I know it's hard to think about this right now now but someday he's
going to make it all right he's going to make it all right and right now it's not all right and there are people in this room that are going through just just stuff they should never go have to go through and you're just going God I I'm following you but it's hard down here and he's and your father just wants you to know that he will never leave you and I know you feel like running right now and I know you feel like taking control but I'm telling you your heavenly father has his hand on
your shoulder and he loves you so much it's not always going to be like this I promise you but in the meantime let's just stay steady let's just keep taking the steps we're not going to overreact we're not going to jump to conclusions jump to decisions we're going to be who God has called us to be friend you are loved more than you could ever comprehend there is a God who is so in love with you and he is so invested in you and he is so involved with you the scripture says the name of
the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and their safe I'm going into my strong tower and this thing it could crush me but there's no way it's crushing Jesus and I am hidden with Christ in God and God is greater and so many of God's people often times they want to give up and quit and I'm saying do you don't give up and quit we make the choice we make the choice of how we live through the difficult times in life I would plead with you don't walk away don't quit
don't give up but just tell the Lord Lord I'm going to trust you to see me through this I don't know how but I'm going to trust you because you said you will never leave me nor forsake me and God I believe you always tell the truth in this world you will have trouble but take heart I have overcome the world you serve a God who is bigger than any problem difficulty obstacle or struggle that you have faced that you are facing or you will face people who come against you need to realize that they're
not just coming against you they're coming against the God who created you and loves you and stands with you and walks with you and will carry you through to the other side James chapter 1:12 blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he stood the test he will receive the Crown of Life God has promised to those who love him one day I want to stand beside you in heaven and together receive the crown of life because when difficult times came we stayed faithful if you're going through a struggle if it feels like
everything's going wrong if life is falling apart and you don't know why remember this you can trust him he's been there he's sees you you're not alone stay faithful because even when people lie about you Jesus knows the truth and because he's been there and because he sees you and because he knows the truth you don't have to fear God is going to reward your faithfulness listen to me look at me you are going to make it through this you're going to make it and on the other side you're going to receive the reward God
has promise you I know it feels like you're losing you feel defeated but the day is coming when you'll be Victorious and you will stand and declare the faithfulness of your God and you'll celebrate that he brought you through he says I'll never leave you nor forsake you as long as you and I are walking in his will and his way it doesn't make any difference how tough it gets if we don't give up we're going to be rewarded no matter what you're going through what you're facing you have have the strength of God within
you because you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you that's what you and I should start every day with the awareness that God is with us today and that we have the strength of God to face anything and everything and anybody and everybody no matter what the situation is because listen it isn't our strength it's his strength if they go on my strength or your strength some days we wouldn't get up but it's the strength of the Lord that is it's watch this it's the Divine energy of God it's the power of almighty God
within us and that doesn't mean you won't have difficult situations and circumstances but he will enable us to live through it no matter what when you're under attack it's easy to think I can't go on the LIE Satan wants you to believe is it's not worth it it's not worth it you can't keep doing this his lying voice says you can't keep going it's too difficult you can't do this that Li is is most powerful when you're lonely and tired when you can barely sum of the strength to get up let alone keep going have
you ever been there maybe you're there now don't quit don't bind the lie that you can't make it God knows what you're going through and he'll give you the strength to make it if you quit you'll never receive the reward Satan wants you to quit before the Harvest don't do it don't quit don't become weary in doing good for at the proper time at God's time there will be a harvest if you don't give up don't quit the Lord directs people's steps but if I could just get you to think about the next step maybe
you'll take it and keep going what's your next step what's your next step what's your next step now plans will change so how will you please hear me take the next step the moment you realize the next step isn't going to kill you and that next step is the first step to evolving changing growing and learning and becoming literally the best version of yourself that's the most beautiful thing it's not going to kill you and putting yourself in the game you're giving yourself an opportunity to achieve something that everybody else said was impossible come on
you might be one step away from a breakthrough this is not the time to quit this is not the time to sit down and complain this is not the time to blame everybody else this is not the time to be offended at God this is the time for you to look to the Lord for Hope in a world full of Despair so when people say well you know if you just understood what I was going through well maybe I do maybe I don't I know somebody who does and that's God and God understood whatever you're
going through before you ever started going through it and listen he's ready and willing to equip you so that you won't give up right before the best happens in your life so I'm saying to you because God is saying to you whatever you are facing in life at this moment no matter how difficult it is how tough it is how discouraging it is and all the reasons and the evidence you have for walking away and all all the all the proof that you have that things are wrong remember there is a God in heaven and
if you saved he's living within you and that God will take you through whatever you're facing in life no matter what um we in our house we had a basement and I was scared to death of that basement all right in that basement was everything that was bad in the world I mean there was all kinds about things going on in my mind about what was going on in that basement down there but one day my dad realized uh he knew that I that I was just overwhelmed with fear and worry about what was going
on down in that basement and so one day he he came to me and said let's go down in the basement together and so we walked down to the down the stairs and instead of hitting the light switch he just kept it off and and he said hey let's walk over here for a moment and we walked across the basement just cold and it was dark and he held my hand and we just sat there on a couch for what seemed to be an eternity to me and he held my hand real tight he didn't
lecture me didn't shame me didn't make fun of me didn't tease me but we just sat there and we talked about my life as a little boy probably talked about baseball and sports and and as long as I sat there with him I didn't need to worry I didn't be didn't need to be afraid of what I thought was going on in that basement and I found out nothing was going on down there because my dad was with me his presence brought me peace listen the same is true with us and God The God Who
not only brings peace to us but Paul says is the God of Peace he holds our hand when we're worried and he says come on let's walk into this together okay may not take the problem away it's still dark but you know he's with you and he can handle it and you're good you have peace as long as you're partnered up to the God of Peace you can walk into your feet fears you can walk into your doubts you can walk into the things that overwhelm you that are going on with your kids right now
that just wear you out you just hold on to Dad's hand and you just walk into those things and you remind yourself of how big he is and how he's got it all under control just grab his hand and let him walk you into it he's a good father and he loves you the Bible says it this way in first John see what great love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God and that's what we are we are Sons and Daughters of the Living God and because we are
children of God he's got our back God has said never will I leave you never will I forsake you so we say with confidence the Lord Lord is my helper I will not be afraid what can man do to me how do you overcome fear by remembering that God is with you and God will protect you you are not in this alone you do not have to do this in your own strength even if you feel all alone you're not I will be with you Jesus is saying I'm here I'm right here what would happen
in your life instead of looking at fear you just called to Jesus Don't Be Afraid or discouraged listen to me for the Lord my God is with you and he will not fail you or what forsake you man isn't that incredible Psalms 91:2 this I declare about the Lord he alone is my refuge he is my place of safety he is my God and I will trust in him what's the opposite of fear it's trust even if the worst thing happened God would be with me in that too I'm going to do everything I can
to stop it I'm going to do everything I can to change it but see even if it happens I am is still with me you don't have to be afraid the father he loves his kids he loves it when we're close bride if the God who hung the universe the Stars the moon the sun if the God who has no equal if the God who who scripture tells us uses the Earth as a foot stol if he loves you what in the world are you worried about what are you fearful of I I mean if
if that's The God Who Wants to be in relationship with you and give you attention if that's the love that he is sharing what in the world are you scared of you're loved but Paul says be careful cuz fear wants you to forget that God's powerful forget that you're loved well we may not be able to see him but he's our everpresent help God is with us and just by remembering and dwelling on that fact that he's with us it'll help to calm our fears lordy we need that reminder sometimes when you feel all alone
in the midst of your worry and fear and anxiety God is with you God is with you but but I have in my years I have just noticed that people are scared about possibilities they can't see in the dark things that might happen they get scared of Winston Churchill was asked how he made it through World War II with all of its fears he said I act like I'm unafraid I choose not to fear I will not dread this I will walk as though I am not I'm going to trust God unhealthy fear keeps you
from taking steps of Faith you fear the unknown and you allow the wha ifs to stop you what is my fear stopping me from doing you will see time and time again that God is able to do abundantly more than we could ask or imagine your fear may be great but God is greater you don't have to be afraid because you serve the king of kings and the Lord of lords and the Lord is faithful remember who is in control life is kind of like a bumpy plane ride it's full of ups and downs and
smooth air and turbulence if you put your life in the hands of someone that you don't trust the result will always be fear but if you put your hands in your life with someone you can do trust you will always have peace if you are a follower of Jesus remember Jesus is in control you don't have to be afraid Jesus is with you
