Infections of Deception

Y'all ready?

Y'all ready for the word today?

Psalm 51, 2 through 8.

Wash me clean from my guilt.

That's a big one.

I don't know about you, but even after you ask for forgiveness, you still have to walk in that guilt.

Purify me from my sin.

That's a daily process.

I know I don't want to drink water that's purified only once a year.

Verse 3, for I recognize my rebellion.

Lord, I see that there is a problem.

It haunts me day and night.

Verse four against you and you alone have I sinned.

I have done what is evil in your sight, but you will be proved right in what you say and your judgment against me is just.

Whatever you say, lord, I yield to your command.

Verse six or verse five but I was born a sinner, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

Verse six.

But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.

Purify me from my sins and will be clean.

Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

Verse 8, oh, give me back my joy again.

You have broken me.

Now Listen to this.

You have broken me now.

Now let me rejoice, because there becomes a peace and a new joy when you allow your spirit to become broken before an almighty God.

Let's pray, father.

We thank you so much for your presence, already so evident, here today.

I pray that even as we begin this services, healings and miracles begin to break out, the very words that we have spoken for people standing in the gap.

We begin to see progress.

In the name of Jesus, let it happen right now, as we continue on in this service.

In your name, we pray.

Amen.

You may be seated in the presence of the Lord today.

Now, if you are new to our church, or you have or you want to be in leadership here, we have a process called growth track.

Who's been through growth track?

Yeah, there's my people, y'all growing.

So we want you to sign up for our growth track because we want you to be on the same page as we are and what we believe, how we believe the authority that you are able to walk in by the Spirit of God, and you need to know core values and core beliefs of the church.

We're getting some spiritual high fives all around.

Come on somebody, and so, if you have not signed up everything that we mentioned there's always in the corner out there a signup sheet.

If you want to know and be a member here.

Go through this class, the second part of this class.

First you know who we are and then the second part.

You get to find out who you are spiritually.

We take a little booklet test thing.

There's no wrong answers, so don't be afraid If you're not a good tester.

I had to cheat off Sister Jessie, but I understand your pain.

But you are not going to have to cheat because this is something from your spirit and you can give the top three and top four of and you can see yourself spiritually.

And speaking of seeing yourself, you know I talk about self-examination a lot.

Today we're going to be talking about toxic behaviors.

I had the Pentecostal four points for my sermon and I got through the first one.

And I know, like y'all may not know this, I've talked to some of the men at the men's breakfast because I laugh about it.

But I need this, I need structure.

I'm a very structured individual because if I don't, you know already I'm like this.

I need something to follow step by step, and so I write out almost every word that I say and I study it and you won't know, but I'm actually going through my notes right now.

I know it's weird.

He said he knew a preacher.

Brother Rusty said he knew a preacher that did that.

I said well, all right, since you said that I do the same thing, I go down every single thing.

Same thing, I go down every single thing.

So today we're going to start our detox series and I don't know about you, but in the last few years it seems like there's more and more toxicity in our culture that is trying to infiltrate the church and I say trying to infiltrate very lightly, because in a lot of cases it's already there and then it ends up planting seeds in our spirit and we carry on the behaviors of the world instead of ridding ourselves of fleshly desire and ambition.

So last week, if you were here last week, if you don't know, our church does have a YouTube channel.

If you ever want to go and listen back to messages, you can always go to YouTube and type in Connect Church, longview and it will pop up and you will see the church logo that's always up there behind me.

See, I even did my points.

I forgot to erase that.

I sent it already.

It was too late there behind me.

See, I even did my points.

I forgot to erase that.

I sent it already.

It was too late, so that's what we'll be covering, but today we're going to be talking about infections of deception.

Last week it was kind of a precursor to what we're going to start talking about through this detox series, because there's a lot of things in our life that we let grow in the gardens of our heart and we never actually get rid of it and it ends up choking the life out of our spirits.

For instance, my wife and I, we rest in different ways, very different ways.

I get my soul filled when I'm around people, hanging out with people I love and trust, and laughing and having a good time.

Don't get me wrong.

She loves doing the same thing, but that's not how she rests, that's not how she feeds her soul.

Now let me challenge you with something.

If maybe you're worn down and you're always tired, you may not be feeding your soul properly and toxins are taking over your spirit, because you're not purifying your heart in the proper way that feeds you.

Because if you're not getting fed, eventually you will starve, wither and die.

But last week we talked about leaving it.

Because if you want to detox, you have to leave your past hurts.

You have to leave your loneliness, your anxiety, your depression and sometimes and most times, if you want to really be free and have freedom in your lives and in your minds and in your hearts, you have to cut ties to relationships.

They will drag you down faster than anything.

There's a well-known saying show me your five closest friends and I'll show you your future.

I tell my son all the time and he's found this out at school if you are just close to the people that are getting in trouble, you are now in the group of trouble, because what you allow to be inside of your influence circle will eventually influence you and rub off on you.

But you have to leave all of that behind so that you can grow forward.

Failure only happens when you stop.

And you know what I found.

Here's the truth.

You ready that if you've been hurt by somebody and you carry that around with you, you eventually become the thing you hate.

If you have been hurt and you have had toxic relationships and circumstances in your life and you allow them to resonate in your heart, you allow them to be seeds planted in the garden of your heart you will eventually become the toxic plant to someone else's garden.

Misery loves company, and it's weird how loneliness doesn't like being by itself.

So we end up becoming the very thing that we hate and what has left such a scar in our hearts and our very souls.

You've been so hurt that it rocked you to your core, like, all the way down to where you didn't know if you would ever be able to repair or restore where you have been hurt.

And then it becomes your anthem because it hurts you so deep.

You never let it go and stop talking about it.

And if you're constantly feeding that monster, eventually it grows into a beast and you start to devour other people's joy with your sad heart.

I'm not making light of what's going on in your spirit, but I'm saying that there is freedom and there is hope for you today, that you do not have to leave the way that you've come in today.

The things that have scarred you, the things that have hurt you, the things that have tormented your soul and contaminated your mind is not where you have to stay, because there is power in Jesus' name and who the Son sets free is Free.

Indeed, if we're not a church of freedom, we are pointless.

If we come in and we have members but no true converts, our job is not done.

Jesus said, to start making disciples.

And if we listen, whether you're trying to or whether you are not, whether you're doing it from the word or from your past hurts.

You are making some sort of disciples.

And let me heed this warning to you Even if you're not trying to, you will.

You will make disciples of what you are.

We end up becoming toxic when we have toxicity inside of us.

Like I said last week, what is inside of you, what you are consuming, what you are intaking, is eventually what you will outtake, what will be expelled from you.

When the enemy starts to squeeze you, what is inside of you will start to come out.

And my challenge for you, these next few weeks, as we're on this series of doing a detox, we need to get the things that we have allowed to make camp in our hearts out.

We cannot walk around being true willing vessels of God if we're already so full.

It's hard today.

Today, in this moment in time, there is so much technology and all of us are carrying around little computers in our pockets.

Well, we don't even have to search for things, it will just come to us.

So this morning, if you're taking notes, we will be covering four things in these next four weeks, if there's as much meat, I'm telling you.

I walked out of my office and I said Jessie was cleaning the house or doing something, I don't know what she was doing.

I said, baby, I have four points and they were good.

And I got to one.

She was like, well, it looks like it's going to be a summer series.

I said, all right, but today's title, this I don't know.

This month, I don't know June coming up, whatever Toxic behaviors.

First we're going to talk about infections of deception, which is going to be today Telling ourselves the truth and dealing with self-deception.

We are really good at convincing ourselves that we don't need work.

Everybody else does.

I don't have the problem, they're the problem.

That's the problem.

Number two, next week is going to be septic thoughts overcoming our false beliefs.

Lethal language experiencing the power of life-giving words.

The Bible says that, the very word I believe God, when he started the Bible, like in Genesis, when he said the word we spoke, there's power in our words.

There's power when you speak.

It could be power of life or power of death, but when you're always being negative, you are speaking death into existence.

If you partake in sinful nature, you will are speaking death into existence.

If you partake in sinful nature, you will be speaking that into existence.

That's why Jesus said if you look and lust upon a woman, you have already committed it in your heart.

Why?

Because if you take it in here and it starts consuming, it will infiltrate the heart and eventually play out in your actions.

Consuming it will infiltrate the heart and eventually play out in your actions.

Every time If you entertain sin, sinful nature will take over and week number four is going to be hazardous waste.

Uncovering our hidden sins.

I love it when David said created me a clean heart, oh God.

Now what does that mean?

Everything that's toxic inside of me.

And we know.

See, a lot of y'all, a lot of all of us.

We have sinful nature and sinful things that happen in private.

Can you imagine being David and his sins are being written down for generations to come?

Imagine if someone followed you around with a pad and pen Every single thing you did.

There is a witness.

You know.

The Bible says we entertain angels.

I'm going to leave that one marinated a little bit.

So, infections of deception telling ourselves the truth.

There was this popular TV show.

I don't know if it's still on, I don't care.

We don't have regular TV.

We have the Roku thing and I'm not paying for that junk.

Anybody have satellite.

You pay for 1,000 channels and you watch three of them.

You ain't getting my money.

I'm not paying that much money just to not have anything good to watch.

There's a show called American Idol.

You talk about self-deception.

Now some of the people coming through they're good.

You know what I mean.

They make it.

You know I would watch the finale and you got the big guys at the end and the men and women who are like you know all good and stuff and you know they made it that far.

They're giving them all.

They got a good track plan or a live band, I don't know, and they got the.

You know they got it going on.

They made it to that stage.

They've got something going on for them.

They actually have talent.

But this sounds mean.

But my favorite part is the ones.

Oh, they're terrible.

It's like watching a car crash in slow motion and it's painful to watch and you know people are hurting but you just can't look away and they sound like a coyote in a trash compactor and it's like I want to turn it off because it's so bad.

But I want to watch just to see what's going to happen, like those are my favorite things to watch.

That sounds mean.

I know that sounds mean, but when they go in for this audition, these people that are there took time off of work.

These people that are there, they traveled hundreds and some of them even thousands of miles to be in front of those judges.

They put everything on the line to go in there and sing and do a terrible job To get their three minutes in fame, hoping they would pass through each level of auditions.

Now, last week we talked about Moses and how Moses' mother said you're going to do great things, son.

Just like every mother has ever told their son and these same liars told it to these kids doing auditions You're going to do great.

Somebody told them and solidified their insanity and they told them that they could sing and they sacrificed so much to be there, some of them standing in line and not showering for a couple of days, wearing some of the weirdest clothes because they want to get noticed or it's just where they come from just to get up there and for Simon to rip them apart.

If you've seen the show, you know who Simon is and you know he's very blunt, know who Simon is and you know he's very blunt.

And some of these people are so shockingly bad there's not any nice words that you can really put on it.

That was the nicest way I had in my vocabulary.

Now let me ask you this has anyone seen that before, where they're just terrible on that show?

How many of them thought the judges were idiots and didn't know what they were talking about?

Professional people thought that they were stupid.

They had no clue what they were talking about.

I'm the best in my town.

Maybe you live in a town of horses and this is what we do to ourselves all the time.

Because when I was on drugs, living on the street, you know who hung around, people who solidified what I was doing and agreed with my behaviors.

If somebody even hinted and judged me for hitting a ball, I would never hang out with them again because I didn't want anybody to tell me that something was wrong with what I was doing.

Now listen to me, we do this all the time in our life.

You will probably have lifelong friends that you never second guess of keeping them around, but you are dying in a toxic swampland because it's familiar.

You understand it if some, and it's called trauma bonds, when you are in a relationship with somebody and you enjoy it and you hate it and you don't understand why you never feel fulfilled in life.

But here's the reality.

We are all sinners, we have all fallen short, all of us, every single one of us.

That's why we need the mercy and grace of God.

You know it says every day, mercy and grace is new.

And it followed me.

You know why I think it follows me Because I make such a mess behind me when I travel through.

His mercy and grace always have to clean up after me, because I make a mess of everything when I try to do it on my own.

Now, this is funny when it's someone else, but if it's me, I'm not stupid.

The crazy thing is intelligent people.

Intelligent people.

They are so smart and we are so dumb that we can't see ours.

It's hard for you to see you.

It's hard for me to see me, but you can see me and I can see you.

We don't want, if we're honest, we don't want to know and we don't want to hear the things that we need to work on.

Am I the only one?

There's things that I know that I probably need to work on, but I don't want nobody to tell me.

I don't want nobody to bring this little lie to mind.

I'm going to let it shine on my problems.

You can keep that junk at the house.

We don't want to really see who we are in here and a lot of times we end up creating this prison in our mind, in our hearts, and we block out any joy that God's trying to give us.

Because when you understand, the Bible promises that you will have troubles.

It does not say when you come to Christ, you are going to be trouble-free since 93.

Come on.

It doesn't say that.

What it says is you will have trouble, you will have troubles, you will have trials and you will have things that you need to work on.

And since we see ourselves from only one perspective, it makes it incredibly hard to do a true self-examination.

You cannot see yourself from anybody else's perspective.

You only see you the way you see you.

It's incredibly hard to accurately get rid of and deal with self-generated toxins.

Psalms 36, two and three if you have your Bible, look, but it'll be on the screen as well.

In their own eyes, they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful.

They fail to act wisely or do good.

Sometimes we're our biggest fan and then other times we're our biggest critic.

This becomes a serious issue when you fall into this trap of self-deception.

You can't see yourself clearly.

You're never going to do wrong.

It's not me, it's you.

It's nearly impossible to be objective about yourself.

It really is, even if you would say that you know who you are.

Sometimes it's hard to see who you are.

Now.

Some of you may clearly know someone like this and some of you maybe all of you think this about somebody else.

Anybody got somebody in mind.

Come on, we can be honest in the house of the Lord.

Today.

You know somebody.

You know exactly who I'm talking about.

That person that you're thinking that just crossed your mind is never you.

I just tested you and you failed Truth.

You can't see yourself, even though oftentimes we think that we can't.

If we never identify the lies and replace them with a truth, we'll forever crave a healthy life on a diet of poison and always wonder why we're sick.

I'll say it again If we identify the lies, if we never identify the lies and replace them with truth, we'll forever crave a healthy life on a diet of poison and always wonder why we're sick.

God, why am I sick?

Well, you answer the phone at 10 o'clock at night for that booty call.

Uh-oh, some of y'all don't even know what that means.

Ask the younger kids oh, we're Christians, we're just going to Netflix and chill.

Some of y'all don't know what that means either.

Ask the younger kids.

They know Sexual immorality and we allow ourselves to be opened up to toxins all the time.

Don't answer that text.

If you're addicted to porn or you have issues with it, get off your phone, put the computer down.

When you open yourself up to channels where the devil can get to you on the path that you often take, run from it.

Like Joseph left his coat in Potiphar's house, he had to run from what he knew he was tempted with.

She was a beautiful woman.

He had to literally leave a blessing that was given to him by his father so that he did not sin.

What have you been holding on to?

Because it means something to you and you won't let it go, and it's causing you to repeat sins over and over and over and over self-inflicted toxins that we allow in our lives, that have taken control of our spiritual beings and they're running the castle.

The crazy people are running the asylum and we're just like, well, I don't know what to do.

Guys, stop blessing me today.

If God wanted me to not talk to her, he'd make my phone not work.

If God wanted me to not talk to her, he'd make my phone not work.

Well, if he didn't want me to eat, it shouldn't have been at the buffet, uh-oh.

Well, if doctors say my blood sugar, well, lord heals all.

We like to fit God into the mold that we provide him to come into.

That works out for us.

That fits us better.

See, we want.

Here's the problem.

We think God was made for us.

Think about it, the way we treat him.

We don't step up to him like a sovereign God anymore.

He's now something in our back pocket that we can talk to when we want him like a sovereign God anymore.

He's now something in our back pocket that we can talk to when we want him.

He's not the Lord of our lives anymore.

He's just an addition to the other guys that we've been serving.

And we wonder why there's not purity coming out of us Like God.

Why are you not moving in our services, god?

Why, when I pray, you don't heal the sick.

God, why are you not pouring out your spirit like you did and he's saying today?

Because you have toxins you won't let go of, because God's sovereignty and his holiness and his glory will not be tainted by your toxins.

So how can we get past this?

First, we have to identify.

Like I said, we have to identify.

What have the lies been in your life?

What have the toxins been in your life?

What have the impurities been allowed to be in your life?

And it's time for you to get rid of them.

You may need to change out your filtration system.

You may need to change out your filtration system after a while.

It builds up so many toxins.

You got to change it out.

If not, there's no point in even having the filter.

The Bible says renew your first fruits, renew that filter.

Let God become new and fresh.

Do you remember the first time you came to God and you were excited and you were on fire?

And then now it's 10, 15, 20 years later and you haven't even told a soul about Jesus?

And you come to church and you check it off your list like you're doing something good.

Y'all got quiet on me.

I know you're thinking.

This is not something that I'm saying to you pointing my finger.

This is something God's checked me about.

Because we become so busy working in the field, we forget to feed the hungry, we forget to serve others, because we have a job to do Replacing it with truth.

So how do we do this?

It is through the process of listen to me, of listen to me.

Ruthless self-examination.

Ruthless leaving nothing in the tank, leaving no weeds in the garden.

Psalms 139 says this.

Verses 23 and 24,.

Search me, oh God, and know my heart, test me, hold up.

I don't want God to test.

I hate tests.

I told y'all earlier I have to cheat off of her on every test that we take, on anything.

I know who's the smart one in the relationship.

Just God made her dumb for a few months so she would say yes to marrying me and then she's back.

I mean, there's no mystery to me.

I know how God works, amen.

I mean there's no mystery to me.

I know how God works, amen.

Verse 23 and 24 of Psalm 139, search me, o God, o God, know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Has anybody in the last couple of years had some anxious thoughts.

Some of you may have lost your jobs.

Some of you may have had to change your jobs.

Some of you may have lost your jobs.

Some of you may have had to change your jobs.

Some of you have lost people and loved ones in your life and you're still trying to rebuild that.

You're still trying to heal from that.

God wants to know your anxious thoughts.

Confess it to him.

Verse 24 says point out anything in me that offends you.

Now listen to this I've heard.

I don't know why.

It's a celebrity thing, I guess because no one wants to offend anybody.

But celebrities are talking about well, I guess not talking about truth and they want to say that them and God like me and God's relationship like the way.

There's only one way that you can have a relationship with God and that's through Jesus Christ.

One way that you can have a relationship with God and that's through Jesus Christ.

You don't mold him to fit into what you want and take pieces of the Bible out and trade it for what you like and what you don't like.

Whatever offends God, whatever is inside of me, lord, purify me and cleanse me so that I am in right standing with you.

Just because Jesus makes us right with God does not stop us from working to be holy before him.

We are to be clean vessels for God to pour into, and you lead me along the path of everlasting life.

There's a process to the path and a lot of times the path is pain.

To get to the promise that has to go from where you started.

Through that process, the process is hard, the process is tough, the road sometimes can be dark and lonely, because narrow is the path.

Narrow is the path that you usually have to walk down to find true healing and to get rid of toxins.

Now, anybody ever went camping before?

Okay, if you're out in the woods, what's one of the one things that?

And listen, if you go, listen, I'm not going to tell you what camping is, but it's not going to a hotel.

So if you just said yes to camping, you're talking about like a five-star hotel or the Ritz or whatever.

You ladies like I don't know, but actual camping campfire.

You can smell that smell in all of your clothes for weeks.

It's a good smell, something, something's burning.

You walk in, you walk in the campsite and you, you smell neighbors and you're like, oh, they're cooking some.

I know they got hot dogs over there.

Yeah, somebody's got some hamburgers makes you a man want to light something on fire and watch it blow up.

Do not do that with a can of beans.

I have done it and it will put holes in your tents.

Stupid idea.

Thank God for maturity, right, Sorry?

And after you come in from camping, you've come back to the house.

What do you do Normally?

What do you do?

You have to check for ticks.

When I was a child, my grandparents in Arkansas.

They had I don't know several acres.

They had a little pond out there and it was tall grass everywhere except for where the little yard was.

And I'd go out there.

Man, I'm face-to-face with some geese.

They'd scare the mess out of me and have to run.

That's a little thing, talk about you think a devil's in a bird.

My grandpa would tell me he would scare the life out of me.

Don't get close to those geese, they'll bite you in the face.

So what do I have to do?

I have to test my manhood and see how close I can get before I get bit.

Well, I'm out here playing in all this tall grass and I was not aware of ticks or chiggers, found out what a peroxide bath was and bleach to get rid of those chiggers.

Itching my ankles would be all red.

I'm not going to go into detail, but my grandmother had to check me for ticks and found one in a very inconvenient place.

And this is oftentimes how toxins get in.

Just like you come out from the woods and you got to check yourself, you've got to do the same thing with toxins in your life.

They will be in the most inconvenient and embarrassing spots, but you have to address the problem.

Why?

Because if you leave the poison, if you leave the tick there, they can cause you tremendous physical issues, even death.

Toxins are the same.

It's something that does not belong inside of you.

But we oftentimes will leave it there because we don't want to be vulnerable and inconvenience anybody else or include them in our pain, because we want to come to church and say, oh, praise God, everything's good, god bless us, amen.

And then go home and cry ourselves to sleep.

And the devil wants you to feel like you are by yourself, because if you don't have a purification process, you'll end up perishing.

There's a reason the Bible says confess your sins one to another, because when you get it out and you say it out loud, it purifies, you're releasing it into the air because, like I said earlier, there is power in your words.

When you release a word into the air, it changes the atmosphere.

When you get those toxins out of you and you release them into the air, it changes your spiritual atmosphere to where you no longer are bound by what is ailing you but you have found freedom in Christ, because you have the power, through the Spirit, to live and walk toxic, free in the Spirit of God.

If you don't seek out these things, if you don't try to expel them from who you are, you will become contaminant to other people, because loneliness breeds loneliness, anxiety breeds anxiety.

We were at a graduation party yesterday and y'all know I love music, obviously, but they had some jazz going on.

You know it's kind of all or whatever.

I'm like obviously, but they had some jazz going on and you know it's kind of all or whatever.

I'm like man.

That makes me anxious Because I'm trying to follow the.

You know the notes or what I listen to, and it's like I'm like oh, my goodness, my head's going to explode.

Why is this music?

It was just kind of random and I mean, they know what they're doing, they're more professional than I am, but it caused me stress.

It's like man just give me four chords and a solid beat and we're good, just like a tick.

Toxic behaviors if they're left unexamined, they can be a disease in the body of believers.

So here's what happens you have toxins in you and you will pass that on to others, and then the church house becomes a toxic environment full of toxic behaviors, and then people start choosing sides.

The church house becomes a toxic environment full of toxic behaviors, and then people start choosing sides and then people start placing their loyalties.

Well, I agree with what they're saying.

I don't, I don't.

Surely that didn't happen.

They didn't say that.

And then, all of a sudden, you got a church split before the church actually breaks apart and there's division in the body.

That's why it is important for you, for yourself in your house, to get out the toxins, because if you do not, they will end up being a part of the church body and bringing toxins into the church house, into the church house.

So I'm going to give you a list of five things that is evidence that you may have toxic behavior in your life.

Number one you may say this I don't have a problem with this.

Has anybody ever presented to you before something You're like I don't have a problem with that, that's not my problem.

Number two it's really no big deal.

This is just the way I cope or deal with things.

Or here's the comparison issue.

I'm not as bad as some people.

Anybody, I'm really guilty of that one.

I'll justify my sin in a heartbeat and compare it to somebody else's so I feel better.

Number four I can quit if I want.

Yeah.

Number five and this is a pretty common one this is just the way I am.

This is how God created me To be sour and bring truth to the body.

Shut up no, he didn't.

You're causing division because you won't shut your mouth.

The Bible's about restraint.

Sorry, did that offend y'all?

I don't care.

Those who are most offensive are oftentimes the most guilty.

In Matthew 26, this is a story about some serious self-deception from Peter.

Peter gave us a lot of good examples of things to do and things not to do.

Jesus predicts Peter's denial in Matthew 26, verse 31.

Matthew 26:31

Then Jesus told him this very night, you will all fall away on account of me.

For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered Verse 32, but after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.

Peter replied even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.

He's given an absolute that he can't even back up.

That very night Verse 34,.

And Jesus says all right, well, if you're going to speak out like that, let me tell you something.

Boy, truly, I tell you, Jesus answered this very night, before the rooster crows you will disown me three times.

Verse 35,.

Peter declared even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.

And all the other disciples said the same thing, and we all know the story.

He not only disowned, but he ran and hid, like the rest of the disciples.

The shepherd was struck and the flock scattered.

There have been times in my life where I said God, I will never do this again.

I will never betray you again.

I will always speak truth.

I will always be loud and proud of your resurrection power.

I will not be ashamed of speaking in tongues.

Resurrection power.

I will not be ashamed of speaking in tongues.

But we hold back who the Bible calls us to be.

Here's what I believe with all of my heart that every person here has a purpose.

But every person here is also at a different point in the progress, but at the end of every single process you have a promise.

God has not called you to come and spectate.

He has not called you to consume.

He has called you to come and spectate.

He has not called you to consume.

He has called you to contribute.

And God speaks to us through many ways.

He speaks through his word, he speaks through circumstances, he speaks through his spirit and he speaks.

This is the tough one, because it's something in front of our face.

He speaks through people.

If people are trying to speak into your life and you know that they love you and would not try to harm you with their words, that they are people who believe that words matter when they are spoken, that you know they've been praying and seeking God on their own behalf, surely they will do it for you.

They are in the word and they try to speak truth into you.

And you resist.

You may be resisting the very word that God is trying to speak into your life.

You may be resisting the very truth that God is trying to open into your life.

You may be resisting the very truth that God is trying to open you up to a world of blessings and you won't accept it because it's someone saying it.

And as you begin to seek God, listen carefully to what he might be saying through people.

And as you begin to seek God, listen carefully to what he might be saying through people.

It may be a stranger.

I oftentimes have found that God speaks through our children Because they say truth.

They're just speaking truth.

There's no unnecessary filters, there's no lifetime of trauma and pain for it to filter through.

They're just speaking what they feel God moving in.

This is why we need to be children of God, not to be childish, but to be childlike, to where we pretend just for a second that everything that has been becoming toxic in our life and all these toxins that have been surrounding our minds and our lives and our hearts, all the pain, all the loneliness, all the betrayal, all these things inside of us that we hold on to.

Let them go so that you can really hear and get rid of all distractions, so that when God speaks truth to you, no matter what channel he speaks it through, you are willing and able to listen to his voice.

But we are so full of distractions today that we can't hear the voice of God anymore.

We can't hear when God speaks because we've got so many things grabbing for our attention, so many problems, so many toxins that have diluted and polluted what God has been trying to pour into you.

Proverbs 15, 31 and 32, it says if you listen to constructive criticism you will be at home among the wise.

If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself.

But if you listen to correction, you grow in an understanding.

I want to grow deeper into an understanding of God.

I want to be coming more mature in God.

So what does that mean?

You cannot both hold maturity and immaturity in the same basket.

If you have a bad fruit, it will end up making the others bad, these toxins in your life that you've been holding on to.

God has a cloak of righteousness that he wants to put onto you today, but you need to shed everything else that you're trying to wear.

Take off the pain, take off the hurt.

Take off the hurt, take off the depression, take off the anxiety, take off the uncertainty, take off the ground-shaking, crippling loneliness that sometimes we can experience in a crowded room, and pick up the cloak that God has for you today, because if you try to put on that over top of everything you're already wearing.

It will become a weight that you cannot bear, because the glory and majesty of God bears much weight.

Allowing people to speak real truth in your life can be severely difficult.

Sometimes it can be a hard pill to swallow, but we have to allow truth to be spoken into our lives if we want to live a life of truth.

However, god chooses to get that delivery to you, I want to challenge you today to start shedding your self-deception.

Take a long, real look, not in anybody else's mirror, but in the mirror that God presents to you and say search me, oh God, what is it inside of me?

All of us have something.

All of us have something that we deal with, that we struggle with, that we're uncertain of, that we don't believe, or that we believe that the enemy has been telling you this lie, that no one cares if you even exist.

Let me tell you today someone cares and loves you.

He saw into the future and knew that you would need a savior, that in spite of your sin, you can receive salvation.

In spite of your loneliness, you can receive his love.

You can receive his love and in despite of self-deception, you can receive his undivided attention and dedication to who you are.

The Bible says that he knows the very number of hairs on your head.

Some of us that's more than others.

The baby ones, count, count y'all.

But he cares that much for you that he would take the time to design you for the purpose and calling that he has on your life.

Everyone here is called to something.

You may not be on a stage, you may not be singing behind a microphone, but you have a place to serve in the house of the Lord.

Everyone has a place and a position.

Sometimes you don't like where you're planted, but you need to grow anyways.

Sometimes growth is uncomfortable.

You may be in a flower bed that you don't like, but the position of the seed is only the responsibility of the planter.

So, wherever you are, grow faithfully and receive what God is trying to speak to you to get the toxins out.

We all have behaviors that need to go away.

Can I be honest with y'all?

One of mine is anger.

I know I laugh a lot.

I have a good time If I get lost with directions.

It's like Jacqueline Hyde.

I become a different person when I rip the steering wheel off, which will make us crash, but in the moment that feels like it would be better.

If I can't find where I'm going, we're all going to die.

I don't know why.

I don't know why my wife is like baby, you need to calm down, you calm down.

And if I'm sitting at a red light and we're trying to figure out where to go and she has not got me the directions yet or the address, all of a sudden she's my enemy and only one of us is making it out of this car alive.

That's a little harsh, but it's about 98% true.

I have a problem.

I see some fingers getting pointed and some laughing going on, because apparently I'm not the only one.

And while I'm on traffic, if you're in a two lane, you know, and there is.

Let me just preach for a second Spirit of God.

Come on, let me just preach for a second Spirit of God.

Come on, you are in the way.

If the speed limit is 55 and you're going 35 in the left lane, that's for passing, for passing, for passing.

Come on, now we're feeling the Spirit.

Now we're feeling the Spirit.

Come on, somebody, move over and let the Pentecostal people through, trying to get to church and do God's work.

You had to know I had that old school in me, did you?

I would never be able to talk if I did that all the time.

I love having fun in church.

I love y'all.

Now there's nothing more pivotal in your life than to stop and really look at who you are.

Because when you do this, see, we can't, as the church, speak out against sin if we are doing it ourselves.

I'm not saying any of us are perfect, but when you bring up yourself in maturity, in the spirit, you start to realize that when you have a sin, you confess it and you work on it.

You don't just cover it up, because sin creates wounds.

That's why God tries to protect us from this and say do not even think about it, Because if you entertain that thought it will get to your heart and when those roots take place it will come out in your actions.

God is trying to protect us from the damage that sin does.

And if you cover up a wound and never let it breathe and never let it be exposed, it will become infected.

Toxins create wounds.

God wants to do a miraculous healing in our spirits.

We have so many churches around here, but most of them were birthed through pain and suffering, through splits.

This is a remnant of one right here.

We cannot go to where God is trying to lead us to if we keep holding on to where we come from, to remember and let it make us wise, but not control and dictate where God leads us to.