Spring Broke - Week 3

Ephesians chapter five, verse fifteen. Visians chapter five, verse fifteen. You've

already heard this a couple of times this month. Let's read it one more

time. See then that you walk circumspectully, not as fools, but as

wise redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be

unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Father, We

thank you for your word, see only change agent on the face of the

planet. And I pray that today your word would take root deep in our

being. It would bring a harvest of life that brings the fruit of the

Spirit into every person here in Jesus' name, Amen, Amen, and amen.

You know we read, we read that one phrase, or we say

that one phrase, we talk about that one phrase, the will of the

Lord, the will of the Lord, and we all get these these usually

singular connotations in our mind. What is the will of the Lord? I

could ask each one of you what is the will of the Lord, and

I'm gonna get multiple answers, several of them are going to be the same.

And if you if you're around a ministry like ours, where we're always

community focused, we're always we're always out there first, right everything we do

is about out there first and then here. You know you're gonna answer that

question say, oh, well, it's to win the lost, and that

is the will of the Lord. Amen, Oh well, it's to it's

to see the it's to see the broken healed and mended, and that is

the will of the Lord. There's but but the the will of the Lord

is not singular. Let me say that again. The will of the Lord

is not singular. It's multifaceted. And the will of the Lord for the

lost is different than the will of the Lord for the believer. The will

of the Lord for the lost is that they are saved. Come on,

somebody, the will of the lost for for or the believer. It's different

for the different parts of our lives. And I want to kind of shift

some focus and look at what the will of the Lord is on the spirit

level of who we are. You know, we spend a lot of time

talking about the soulish part, the mind, the will of the emotions.

We talk about the flesh part. We talk about pushing away evil, we

talk about the things that we do. But there are some things that should

be present in our lives at the spirit level, at the spirit man,

and those things are pretty easy to see in scripture Galatians chapter five, verse

twenty two. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace,

long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.

Against such there is no law. We read them again. Love, joy,

peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self

control. Those all sound like good things, right and at the spirit level,

at the spirit man, those are the things that the Lord wants manifested

in our lives. Those are the things that make us say me complete and

whole. Now, a lot of times we talk about we, we talk

about they, but we don't usually talk about me. But there are some

things you need wholeness in your life so you can be effective to reach the

other people around you. And in this series Spring Broke, we talked about

we talk about maximizing the time we have in order to leverage today to help

tomorrow be better. And we've talked about building success over the last two weeks.

But what if it's not. What if we're not just looking at success,

but what if we find ourselves in brokenness. What if today we woke

up and we realized, Wow, I'm just not really in a great healthy

place. I've got some brokenness down deep on the inside of me, and

there's the reality that the enemy either drives us there or finds us there.

But it's always a place he's looking to exploit. In other words, sometimes

sometimes the enemy will affect us and drive us to a place of brokenness.

Come on, somebody, Sometimes he finds us in a place of brokenness.

In other words, he didn't even have to get involved. We were already

doing a good job on our own. How many obvious say, the devil

don't even have to mess with me to get me in a bad spot.

I know how to do that. Amen. Yeah, I mean you know

that's I can get myself all worked up and he doesn't even have to get

involved. I can get myself there so he may find us there. And

I I would say that over fifty percent of the conversations I have with people

when they express some kind of brokenness and some kind of hurt in their lives,

really stems from a couple or three issues. They're wide sweeping in our

society right now. Depression, anxiety and stress. Depression, anxiety and stress.

Come on, somebody, those things have become I don't even know that

you can call it epidemic. It's much larger than that. But there are

those three things, and those three things go right back to the root.

To battle against the things that the spirit wants to manifest in your life is

fruit. Those things battle against those core fruits that keep us in a healthy

place. And if our core, if those core things that want to manifest

themselves in our lives, if we can't allow those things to manifest, then

it allows us and opens us up to brokenness and hurt and vulnerability in other

areas of our lives. If he can get you so sick of waiting that

you're no longer long suffering, if you reach the end of your patience,

then all he has to do is give you an opportunity to make a bad

decision. Amen. So it's about us and when we look at our core,

are we healthy? And really there are? There are three different ways.

And I know that when you start talking about causes of things and all

that, I'm gonna get case studies, email to me. I'm gonna get

books, emails. You know it's okay. Just send up garyot ceased on

dot tv and I'll read everything you send. Gary at ceased on dot tv

that'll be the place to send those things too. But you know, I

find that there are three three causes of these things in our lives. There's

three different causes of depression, anxiety, and stress in our lives. We

want to usually pigeonhole them into one thing, but I think there's three different

causes for these things. The first one is medical. There's actually some medical

effect on us. Our body is very The Bible says, intricately and wonderfully

made the levels of all of the different hormones and things that are in our

eyes, that they that they live in such a beautiful balance. It talks

and speaks to the complexity of God and the beauty of his creation. And

when these things begin to get out of alignment, it can very much well

be a medical reason why the enemy Listen finds us in that place. He

didn't make that happen, but he will exploit it when it happens. The

effects of the world, the effect of sin just pressing in on creation,

causes those medical things to happen in our lives. He doesn't have a magic

wand and throw all those things together. That's just the presence of sin making

the world sicker and sicker and sicker and sicker. Amen. And then there's

also there's also spiritual depression, where the enemy literally vexes you with some kind

of some kind of of spiritual presence to bring you and to press you and

to drive you into a state of depression. And that is a that's a

very clear thing that we see in scripture as depression can be a spiritual issue

as well, completely spiritual, no medical reason for it, there's no situation

reason for it. The enemy has just piled on you to a place where

you feel pressed in upon and he's squeezing the hope out of your life.

Amen. And then there's situational I feel anxious because I'm in a situation that

makes me anxious, you know. I mean, I'm I'm I'm I'm visiting

my daughter in California, and I'm in traffic and everybody's blowing the horn and

I don't know why. At my chest feels tight, right, I want

to I want to start brother heard and start sweating out of places I didn't

I don't ever sweat. And it's situational anxiety or things are going bad,

many of if you've never been through a season in your life where it just

seems like things go bad and it drives me into this dark hole and I

feel depressed. It doesn't really matter how we get there, but when we

get there, that's the place where the enemy exploits us. Because it's not

just he's not happy with just making you broken. He wants to use your

brokenness to break other people. He wants to have you to sift you a

sweet He wants to use you as a tool against other people. And when

he finds us in these places, he will do everything he can to put

situations around us to make us say things that we will regret, regret that

we'll regret it, that will regret for the rest I just can't be serious,

can I? That will regret for the rest of our lives. We'll

do something that we regret for it's just him maximizing that moment. The reality

is that when we find ourselves there, we can't stay there. Let me

read Genesis chapter one, verse twenty seven. So God created man in his

own image, in the image of God. He created and male and female.

He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them,

be fruitful and multiply. I want you to underline this part fill the

earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over

the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the

earth. God created the garden of Eden, created it perfect. It was

the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine. But Eden lived within a set

of parameters. It was between situated between rivers, and it had clear defined

borders, and all of God's beauty and everything that God blessed and everything that

God wanted the whole earth to be was confined inside the garden of Eden.

And this is what he said to Adam. He said, listen, I

want you to take the beauty that's in the garden. I want you to

go and subdue and have dominion over everything else. I want you to take

what I created in the garden, and I want you to go make everything

else look like that. And he didn't tell him to fill the garden.

He told him to fill the earth. I want you to have so many

childrens. I want you to have so many kids that it fills the earth

up. I want you to take the beauty. I want you to take

Eden grapes and go plant them everywhere. I want you to take Eden bananas

and plant them everywhere that I bet the green beans and eden were unbelievable.

Go take those things. But here's what happens. Now. We don't know

the time frame here because a lot of times when we read scripture, if

it happens in the same chapter, we think it happens in the same moment.

And we read this account, it's like God put Adam and Eve in

the garden and bam, the devil shows up and they bit the apple the

same day they were created. But time did pass. We know time passed

because it says that it was God's custom to come into the garden and walk

with them in the still of the day, that God communed and spent time.

So time passed. But when we find Adam and Eve, when the

enemy comes to Adam and Eve, we know they're still in the center of

the garden. We know they're in the middle of the garden because that's where

the tree of good and evil was planted, and it was within arm's reach

of Eve. Come on, somebody. So he wasn't doing, he wasn't

performing, he wasn't living in God's will. He was just simply hanging out

where he found himself. And when the devil found him in a place that

he wasn't supposed to be. The devil exploited it. And I don't know

Eve personally. I've never met Eve. I guess i'll get to one day,

but I've never met her. But I think that Eve probably be like

most of you in this room. And I just trust, as your pastor,

I trust that if you go out into the backyard under the apple tree

and a serpent starts talking to you, that you run it, at least

calling somebody to catch it so that we can put it in a circus and

make a lot of money. Amen. It's not a normal thing for that

to happen, So there had to be some time where the enemy normalized the

situation. I don't think this was a one time conversation where he just said

heypes, hey, chick, come here, see that apple, trust me

take a bite. No, he slowly brought her to a place of vulnerability

when he found her in a place she never should have been. Love,

joy, Peace. It's not God's desire for us to live in brokenness,

to live in anxiety and depression, but sometimes we find ourselves there. Whatever

reason, it doesn't matter, but we find ourselves there. And that's not

God's will for our life, because that's the place where the enemy can exploit

us, because our natural defenses, the fruit of the spirit, have been

minimized in our lives. And listen, you shouldn't feel guilty about it.

You shouldn't feel like it's your fault. Because the enemy is good and what

he does. The devil is good at deceiving, he's good at hurting and

breaking. He is the ultimate terrorist, and he will use whatever he can

to birth fear in you and the people around you, because fear is the

enemy of faith, and faith is the currency of the kingdom. Madam and

Eve, they found themselves here in the center of the garden because Adam wasn't

doing He wasn't taking the life that was there, he wasn't planning the seeds,

he wasn't expanding the borders of Eden, and the enemy maximized he moved

into and exploited that moment in their lives. If you find yourself hurting and

broken right now, if you find yourself living in a place of unforgiveness,

if you find yourself battling depression and anxiety and stress and all of those things,

I want you to know that the enemy has either already spotted you there

or he will find you if you don't begin to create some movement in your

life. And I know what you're saying. You just don't understand, pastor

you don't understand. I just wake up and I feel sad, and I

can't do anything about it. I agree, you wake up and you feel

sad. I agree with that. I'm one of those people that, until

just recently, I had never and y'all are gonna be like, oh,

you're lying, you're lying, making that up. Until I'm very recently,

I never experienced stress or I didn't know what it was. As a matter

of fact, I used to make statements to the people close to me,

I don't know why they get stressed out about things, just don't worry about

it, because that's the state that I lived in. But suddenly, I

don't know why, But because of situations and circumstances, I just had this

moment where I thought I was dying. I don't mean I felt uncomfortable.

I mean suddenly I felt like I'm I'm this is it? You know.

It was like it was like Sanford and Son, this is a big one,

Elizabeth, I'm on my way, you know. I this was I

thought, this is it and I and I looked at my wife and I

said, Babe, I think I'm I think I think I'm dying. I

don't know what to do. And listen, my wife is the only person

in the world that knows how to handle me. And she just looked at

me as she went. That was her response to me dying, she said.

She said, that's just stress and anxiety. I said, this is

stress and anxiety, and I've made fun of those poor people that are suffering

from it. This is what it feels like. She said. Yeah,

let me tell you what I didn't do. Receive this how you want,

send me ugly emails. It's okay. I didn't stay there. I did

not stay there because I didn't like that. So I said, oh no,

I've got to position myself differently. I've got to in the spirit world.

I have to create a different geography in which I don't have a high

advantage point to see what's happening. So I've got to move myself to a

different place. And I think we read things in scripture and we think that

these are all things that God does. But let me read Psalm chapter one

eighteen. We'll start in verse twelve. We're gonna skip around just a little

bit. Saw on one eighteen, verse twelve, it says they surrounded me

like bees. That is absolutely horrifying. They surrounded me like bees. I

saw this video of this bee keeper. Joe keeps bees, and you know

he's not afraid of them. I'm afraid of him. But I saw this

video on the internet and there was this beekeeper and he was trying to get

this swarm. He was trying to capture this swarm, and they were all

over him, and he was walking around and he was just one big bee.

He couldn't see. It was darkness closing in completely, had cut off

his vision and is being able and his ability to see or hear. That

sounds like where I found myself when I suffered from that anxiety moment and I

couldn't see anything beyond the moment. I couldn't hear anything beyond the moment I

was encapsulated in this moment of darkness and pressure. He says, they surrounded

me like bees. They were quenched like a fire of thorns. For in

the name of the Lord, I will destroy them. Listen to what the

enemy did. Then you pushed me violently that I might fall, But the

Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has

become my salvation. The enemy surrounds you and he pushes you violently towards something

you know you don't want, but it's that pressure, and he's always keeping

you just off ballast, and you can't hear, and you can't see,

and you're battling this, this brokenness that's on the inside of you. Then

we drop down to Psalm one eighteen, chapter twenty four, and we read

this passage of scripture that we quote all the time, but now let's put

it in context of what's happening. That the enemy is absolutely attacking and closing

the ability to see, and he's forcefully pushing the Psalmist off balance. And

this is what he says in verse twenty four. This is the day that

the Lord has made. Listen. Today is the day that the Lord has

made. Every one of us will encounter different challenges within the same day.

I have plans today, but has to go take a nap. That might

not be your plans, it's my plans. I will encounter different pressures and

situations and circumstances that you will yours what could be heavier or lighter than mine.

But he says, listen, this is the day that the Lord has

made. Remember what we read in our very first scripture, redeem the time

for the days or evil, the plan of the enemy, For you are

evil, and he wants you to live in the day of evil. But

the Bible says, every day the Lord maid every one of them created by

the hand of a good, good Father who loves you and wants the best

for you. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the

day. And then I make a choice to rejoice and be glad in it.

Now, this word rejoice is we need to deep down, just a

little bit deeper. Band come and get ready. I'm preaching myself out of

time. The word rejoice in Hebrew. When we say rejoice, this is

what we do who But literally, the word rejoice in Hebrew means to jump

up and down and spin about feverishly. Jump up and down, spin about

feverishly. In other words, do something that takes effort, that puts the

spotlight on you and other people will see it. When King David came in

before the arc, he was rejoicing. He was jumping up and down and

spinning about feverishly. The Lord says, listen, wake up, and even

if you don't feel like it, do something to rejoice in the fact that

I made this day, and today it can be the day that your healing

begins if you just move, just choose to change your situation. Oh but

I'm still depressed. Yeah, but right now you're not. In this moment,

I'm not. And maybe in this moment, because I've pressed the darkness

situational, medical, or spiritual away, maybe faith can rise up just enough

that I can grab my miracle. And then if I wake up tomorrow and

I'm gripped with anxiety, listen, if you come in dancing it's spinning.

I just know you having a bad day, right, and that's okay.

You have been given a song that the angels cannot sing. You have been

given the song of the Redeemed. When Israel found themselves in captivity to Babylon,

it says they took their hearts and you hung them on and they hung

them on a tree because there was no song in their hearts. God wants

to put a song in your heart today. He wants you to know that

your condition is not forever, your brokenness is not forever. It's temporary.

It's momentary. And he wants you to gain some movement, some traction today

and drop a song in your heart that over the top of your dysfunction and

your insecurity and your brokenness and all of those things. Maybe you can just

muster just a few words. Maybe all I can say is nothing but the

blood of jeezs Us, And that's enough, just to fool the plans that

he can absolutely maximize his moment of destruction in you and through you. Delay

it, because the vision will come. It is for an appointed time.

Your healing is on the way. Just keep pushing back. In Psalm chapter

thirty, verse five, it says, for his anger is but for a

moment, His favor is for life. Weeping may endure for a night,

but joy, But joy comes in the morning, because this is the day,

This is the day that the Lord has made. And I will decide

to rejoice and be glad in it. And where there's joy, love and

peace and long suffering and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and self control, they're

not far behind it, because those are all partners that travel together and if

you can just muster just a little bit of joy this morning, the fruit

can begin to blossom and drop their seeds in your life so that you get

in that cyclical blessing of God. Then he heals you from the moments of

total despair. Everybody's staying with me all over the room. Listen, if

you're getting baptized this morning, if you want to go and get changed and

get ready to do that, that would be fantastic. You can go ahead

and do that already ready, But listen, I believe right now that and

listen. I don't even have to I don't even have to pray to know

this. I don't even have to listen to the voice of the Lord to

know this. When you get this many people in a room together, somebody's

struggling with depression, somebody struggling with anxiety, somebody is stressed out beyond belief.

Those are just things statistics tell us. So I know you're here,

and I've been asking the Lord all week prepare this moment right now to meet

you here and drop a song in your heart. It'll give you just a

little bit to sing about. You can push him back and get a little

space. So some fruit can grow on the count of three. If you're

here and you need the Lord to meet you right here at this altar.

I'm tired of being depressed. I'm tired of anxiety. I'm tired of those

things. I'm ready to live in freedom from those things. This is your

moment. Alter team, come unless you need to respond to the altar called

that, don't come now. I'm on the count of three, one,

two, three, Step out and move right now. Where are you coming,

sir? I'm stressed out, I'm anxious. I don't know why.

I feel like the world's closing in around me for no reason. I don't

know why I'm depressed. Listen, don't don't sit there and think, Oh,

they're gonna think bad of me. Don't sit there and think, oh,

I'm not gonna make it if I if I go, oh, They're

all gonna think something's wrong with me. No, this is your moment for

freedom. This is your moment. Don't sit there and allow your anxiety and

your fear, and your depression and your stress hold you in place right there

at home. If you want to be free, say set me free the

Lord right there in the comments, set me free, Lord Man, Clint,

go ahead. These are the altars are open. You're free to come

any time. We're here and we're praying for you.