STUCK

Look at all y'all's pretty faces.

Woo yeah.

Some of y'all's spouses need to be more excited.

I know why you're not because you're coming up on February.

You're going to have to spend all that money.

Some of y'all don't know how blessed you are.

So today, allow me to remind you.

If you will stand most of you know the routine by now if you'll stand for the reading of God's word, if you have your Bible, get it out.

If you got an app, open it up.

I believe God is going to give you a transforming word today and we are at the finish with our 21-day fast.

Some of y'all between Saturday and today, y'all are carb loading, pigging out whatever you want to call it.

So if you look in Philippians, chapter 3, we're going to be coming from verses 12 through 14.

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

Just a couple of verses, but these verses motivate me because if Paul can write on all the things that he went through that he has not yet done in the race, I have no obligation and no right to stop in the middle of running.

Verse 12, it says I don't mean to say that I've already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection, but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed for me.

So what he is chasing after has already went through the hands of Jesus.

Verse 13, it says no, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing I forget the past and I look forward to what lies ahead.

Verse 14 says I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize of which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.

Let's pray, father, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you for your presence that has been so evident here in this place already.

I ask you, god, that nobody leave here today without the word of God penetrating their hearts, changing our lives, transforming the very way that we think about the things that we face every day, that we know that through you and through the Holy Spirit, we have the power to persevere and to not give up and to press on to the purpose that you have for us.

We speak life over this place today and over every person here and watching online.

In your name, we pray Amen.

You may be seated.

So, if you haven't heard already or seen any kind of pictures, our normal drum player, josh, their son.

They got a baby boy.

So far, pastor Aaron and Sister Michelle and Josh and Ashley are the only ones literally growing this church.

We need to start praying for miracles.

You, no, okay Me.

We need to start praying for miracles.

You, no, okay me.

Come on, yes, lord.

I texted Josh yesterday and I said you know, I'm pretty sure it's our turn, right?

He's like yes, lord, yes, lord, no, we, we, we do plan to have kids one day.

She says, when I stop acting like one I'm just kidding, she didn't say that In so many words.

No, her silence says more to me than her words.

It's like that calm before the storm, when you know it's about to hit and you're like, oh, start putting wood on the windows.

The ground is about to hit.

And you like, oh, start putting wood on the windows.

The ground is about to shake and the earth wake beneath my feet.

So continue to pray for them.

They are sending their prayers for the service today.

Josh was just miserable yesterday because he couldn't make it, but his joy outweighed his suffering on what he was having in his arms.

Joy outweighed his suffering on what he was having in his arms.

So just to get serious for a second, I want to, with great regret I have to make an announcement and God's been convicting me of this.

I'm not perfect.

Some of y'all that just ruined your week coming up.

I apologize, I just had to get that off my chest.

I'm not perfect.

My wife tells me daily hey, buddy, get in your lane.

She actually yelled that to me this morning, I think.

When I drive I swerve all over the road mentally emotionally and she reminds me to get back in my lane.

But I'm not perfect Now.

I'm not Now.

This is a matter of fact.

This is not a guesstimate.

This is not a roundabout way for me to get back in my lane.

But I'm not perfect Now.

I'm not Now.

This is a matter of fact.

This is not a guesstimate.

This is not a roundabout way for me to say something else.

I am not perfect.

Is there a perfect person in the house besides my wife?

See, that's called damage control.

Some of y'all understand that very well.

Nobody in here is perfect.

Nobody who has ever lived since the beginning of time was perfect.

Even the perfect creation of Adam and Eve, they still sinned against God.

The only perfect ever to pass through our world was Jesus Christ.

So when I think of that and I say over myself.

I'm not perfect.

You know what that does for me in here, and in here it takes the pressure off.

Has anybody stuck with the thing you set out on December 31st to do in 2022?

Or have you fallen off the wagon a little bit?

I have.

The 21-day fast really helped me get in the right mindset.

I'm not perfect.

I do not have it all figured out, I don't have all the answers and I can't always understand or see when God is doing something.

The lack of communication between me and God is not the lack of him doing something.

Sometimes, when God is quiet, it's to get you back to listening, because I know for a fact that when my wife speaks to me, if she's yelling, I don't receive it.

So well, I don't.

I want to bow up like you're not going to tell me what to do, and if I'm talking to her that way, she's not going to receive it.

Well, I've done something with my child.

Y'all know this.

He's crazy.

But what I've started doing is stop the loud talking at him and start a soft talking to him, and when I start to do this, first of all he doesn't bow up or start well, I'm not.

And he starts arguing.

There's nothing to argue with.

I'm just coming with a still small voice and through this I have learned that, oh my goodness, god does this to me.

I think he's not talking, but I won't shut up to hear him.

When I really begin to confess these things over me, it takes the pressure off and then I start to realize that maybe, just maybe, god's got this.

Just maybe he knows what he's doing.

Just maybe, in the depths of my sin, he saw me ahead of time in the time and space and saw me in my lowest of lows and still came and died for me.

If he would do that for a sinner, we need to see that, the people we are fighting against and struggling with through that same lens, because, guess what?

Jesus also saw them.

Jesus also loves them.

God also loves them.

So God can begin to work.

When I get out of the way, when I do this and I say I'm not perfect, all of a sudden it wants me to stop taking my hands and putting it in God's business.

So have you fallen off the wagon yet?

We're what, 20, 23 days in?

Has it been difficult so far to stick to your goals when we declare and we demand in in 2022, I'm going to eat better.

I'm going to get a gym membership.

I'm going to go to Planet Fitness and live there.

I'm going to get my mail forward to the gym because I'm going to keep going all the time and stick with it.

This year, I'm going to stop arguing with everybody.

I meet my brother.

If you're watching, brother, that was for you.

I'm going to love my neighbor, no matter how terrible of a neighbor they are.

If they let their cats out and they get in my yard, or they walk their dogs in front of my yard and they poop in it Like I see you, bro, I got windows.

I know you got a yard.

I know you live.

Maybe you want to do something more serious and you want to stop smoking, you want to stop drinking or you want to.

Here's one.

Now, this is something that we all have to work on, because even the Bible says that a small rudder of a ship can still get it way off course.

Stop cursing.

That was a big one for me.

You know I talk a lot.

If we talk for a while, I'm going to keep jabbing at you, me and Brother Howard.

Last night we were talking on the phone for like two hours.

I got off the phone I was like that was a two-hour conversation.

Yeah, it was like one hour and 53 minutes and I was like whoa, I was wondering why it got dark outside.

You want to stop cursing?

Maybe this year you're going to step out in faith and be more generous.

Maybe you're going to step out even further in faith and start paying tithes.

Now, this is my policy for as long as I'm pastor here.

This is the policy I have.

If you think this church is for your money and you think the principle of tithes is my rule or this church's rule, the board's rule or whatever, pay your tithes for three months to another church of your choosing and see what God does in your life, because it's not my principle.

God doesn't need your money, he wants your heart.

I'm going to leave that right there.

Or maybe maybe one of the toughest things you've had this year so far is sticking with the challenge of 17.

You remember five minutes in prayer, five minutes of reading your word, five minutes of praise.

If you start your day off like this, it may not change what will happen to you throughout the day, but it will change your mindset and whatever comes your way, you will be able to face it because you've already prepared for the battle.

No one practices after football season.

You practice before you go into the game.

You know the plays before you go to play.

So if you can get your praise right before you leave the house, it don't matter what the devil tries to set traps for you.

You know that you can conquer because you've been reading the word of God and his promises are not a lie.

15, five, five and five, and then one small act of faith every day and invite one person to church every week.

These things right here will make you step out boldly in faith and will make you to stop being a consumer Christian and start contributing to what God's called you to do, and will make you to stop being a consumer Christian and start contributing to what God's called you to do, because we can have a church full of people in the pews but empty converts.

Where do you fall into that category?

Do you come to get?

Come on, now it's Sunday morning, y'all Guess guess what.

I've talked with some of the worship team and I understand that the church service begins with them.

How the church is going to be for that sunday morning is going to reflect what we are up here.

The same thing echoes throughout your life and in your jobs, and in your families and in your homes.

Whatever you set the tone for is what your day is going to be, because you're setting up legacy echoes throughout people's lives that you touch every day, and every single person has some small or large circle of influence every single day.

You may be a single parent with one child and you have an influence.

When we start thinking of all these things that we're wanting to do, it can become overwhelming.

And when we get this sense of overwhelming, sometimes we can get in this place that today, in the title of my message, is called stuck.

Have you felt stuck?

Have you felt like this poor little turtle on there?

Have you felt stuck?

Have you felt like this poor little turtle on your back?

And you're all help?

You're screaming for help.

You're trying your best and the very thing that was sent to protect you on your back is now keeping you from progress being stuck.

Being stuck can mean a lot of different things, but right now you may be feeling mentally stuck.

Anybody ever been there, anybody feel like that.

The end of 2019, 2020, and 2021 was kind of a fest.

I mean, come on, I've heard some people refer to it as a dumpster fire Just not a whole lot of stuff going on except for fear and anxiety and depression.

And now we've got to cut ourselves off from everybody and I don't know what to do.

And then we had to empty our churches for a while and do it only online and all these things that everybody's telling us what to do.

And then we wonder why is everybody so mentally unstable?

Because we keep trying to scare them.

You can't walk around.

That's why the bible, over and over again, talks against living in fear, because when you live in fear, the devil is going to be at your doorstep every day, because he can trip you up to not believe what god says about fear.

Fear is a liar.

The devil is the father of liars and that's his baby.

If he can produce that fruit of fear in you, he can keep you from progress and you will keep feeling stuck.

You may be feeling mentally stuck or physically stuck at your job.

Maybe you've done something for years and you're like I am done and you may be only 26.

Am done and you may be only 26.

I get it.

You may be ready for something else to come, but you don't know what to do.

Have you ever been in this spot where you know you need to do something but you don't know what?

You feel stuck, you feel you can't resign.

You feel like you can't get a better job or find another job.

Hey, if you don't like your job and you're happy at working at Wendy's, go to Wendy's.

Perhaps you just can't find happiness in your current job.

You may feel underqualified.

You may feel overqualified, underpaid, underappreciated and overworked.

Can I get an amen?

Where you work may have been your passion at one time and now you feel like it's pointless.

Amen.

We may have these same feelings and thoughts.

We had Josh and Ashley.

They have their first baby boy, woo.

They're excited and when he turns into a teenager know it all they're going to want to send him off somewhere else until he gets about 25, 26.

If you've had a child, you understand and you have been there Something you once loved immediately and held in your arms, and now you're like God.

What have you done to me?

The same little kid, but you may be feeling that way at your job, but you once loved going to work.

You would show up to work dressed up in your nines You'd be like what are we going to accomplish today?

What are we going to do?

I'm going to solve some problems.

Guess what that can wear you out.

That's okay, that's normal.

Can I tell you, preaching every Sunday, sometimes I can get worn out.

Was I not supposed to say that?

Y'all not know that about pastors?

We can get tired too.

I know we're supposed to rise up on the wings of eagles, run and not grow weary, the Bible says.

But sometimes when you're doing a task, even a task you love, even something you love being a parent is a great thing, but you can do something you love for so long and get worn out.

And when you start to have a teenager I'm preaching to myself today you can feel stuck because you're like God he didn't learn that mouth from me and he probably did, I just didn't know he was watching we can feel stuck.

You have a passion at one time and now it's just something mundane.

It's taxing, it's boring.

You feel like it's redundant.

Maybe your marriage has become this Uh-oh, uh-oh, it's okay.

You don't have to beat yourself up because you're not perfect Something you do daily, day in and day out.

Marriage is work.

Parenting is work.

A job is work.

Coming to church with different personalities and still hugging them and saying you love them is work.

But also the same things that can cause us the greatest grief can also cause us the greatest joy when we stop feeling like we're stuck and we start having movement in the right direction.

Maybe you're stuck with a problem that you can't.

You feel like you can't go through it.

You could be stuck in a relationship or you could be stuck in a friendship that maybe it's just time to cut those ties and I'm not speaking about marriage.

All right, you need to go to counseling.

Point that out.

Don't say Pastor Stephen said I can come home and cut ties.

Here's your stuff.

That's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is this is going to be a job for you.

If you follow I talk about this a lot I follow Dave Ramsey, I listen to his podcast a lot because and I actually just signed up to do some extra jobs at Jesse, actually just signed up to do some extra jobs at Jesse Really don't want me to do, but I don't care.

I'm getting out of debt.

And so sometimes in your life like bad habits of buying things that you don't need to impress people that you don't like.

Woo, come on.

It's the same thing.

We do things that we really don't want to do to impress people we really don't want to like, sometimes things that are infecting your garden, that are killing the fruit of the spirit in your life.

You need to cut and let go, and sometimes that comes in the form of people.

Sometimes that comes in the form of people.

Maybe you just can't bring yourself to do it.

It's hard to not be friends with people anymore.

Y'all probably know this from talking to me and obviously I'm wound up all the time.

But I am a people person.

My wife, she makes fun of me all the time.

She's like you feed off of it.

I know I love it, I love being around.

I see, when you learn yourself, you know what feeds you and feeds your soul, and so we go through these constant round and round.

We go and we never stop and take the time to do what feeds our soul.

Some of you that may be sitting at home curled up by the fire reading a book or watching TV or going fishing or something.

You need to figure out what that is for you and when you feel stuck, it won't be so miserable because you know that you can just step back, look at the problem as you do your thing.

That feeds your soul.

Mine is people.

She said you always want to be around people.

It just, it excites me, it gets me invigorated that people having conversations with other people like I love different personalities.

Are they hard to navigate?

Yes, but God gave me a gift that I don't get too mad at people.

But sometimes, sometimes you have to cut what is dragging you down.

You have to cut what is dragging you down Because if you don't mentally, even manifesting itself physically and we're in church, so we'll touch on it too spiritually can literally drown you and kill your spirit.

Maybe your definition of stuck is something a little less mental and more physical.

Have you ever been stuck at line at Walmart with someone who has like three baskets full?

First of all, I don't know how you afford that, ma'am.

I can barely afford the half cart that I got.

But you get stuck and then they start doing coupons.

Now, if you're a coupon person, don't get mad at me.

All right, let's throw it in another direction.

I don't know how many of y'all gamble, but that's what.

What do you call those cards at the gas station Lottery.

You can see I don't do it, but you're trying to just quickly get something in the store while your truck's filling up in gas and you're standing and they're going through all the lottery tickets and scanning theirs and seeing what's I'm like.

Come on, this is not the DMV.

You can get stuck in traffic and lose your religion.

That's probably a good thing that most of y'all don't have the church stickers on your vehicles, sitting on the interstate staring at brake lights.

I go to Tyler several times throughout the week for work and if I'm on I-20, listen, I know the route but I still put it in GPS because I'm usually going to a random house and I don't know where it is, but I know how to get to Tyler.

So if I get on I-20 and my GPS, I've learned this because I am so stubborn to stick to the path that I know and it got me staring at brake lights.

It was trying to tell me to get off and go the Overton Way and I'm like I know where I'm going, so I kept on driving the path and then it would try to course correct me and then it would snap and then it tried to tell me to get off another road up.

I know where I'm going.

I'm going to go all the way down 20, hit 49, cut across and I'll be there in no time.

And then I get locked up in traffic and every time I'm like why didn't I just listen to the instructions?

I even made her British and everything so I would take it easier.

Y'all didn't know that.

British people they tell you bad news and it's like oh, it's no big deal, try it, get a British doctor, just telling you worth it.

And I should have listened.

It was trying to course correct me and I knew better.

I already had it in my mind that I knew exactly where I was going.

I knew exactly where I wanted to be headed.

It bit me in the face and I had to sit there and I had nobody to be upset about except me.

A lot of times when we get stuck, the person is in the mirror that we need to blame.

So I'm with Brother Howard and we were talking back and forth and we said something about the devil and he was like yeah, you know, I think sometimes we give the devil more credit than he actually earns.

I was like you know what?

That's probably very true.

We get mad at the devil for our stupidity and he was just like I'm going to wind you up and watch you go, I ain't got to do nothing.

We make it so easy for the enemy to get credit and then when we do something good or things go right, we take the credit for that going right and forget about God.

So you're at home.

Has anybody here recently experienced this, where you're stuck at the house because of COVID, I hear the bitterness fill the room right now.

Yes, I have, I don't want to talk about it.

Well, you have no option but to stare at your walls and be alone.

Sometimes this is not your choice, but sometimes, especially if you're suffering inside, you make it your choice and you pull yourself back from the people you need.

So are you going through a season in your life right now where you feel like every ball thrown your way is a curve ball and you're swinging and missing Every single time the ball comes your way?

You know, I had this bad habit in baseball, which I'm actually pretty good at it, but it looks so stupid.

So I was on a few softball leagues years ago passing the time, and it did not matter how far out the guy threw the ball or girl threw the ball, I could hit it.

I would chase after that joker like this and pop it out in the field every single time.

And somebody told me he's like this and pop it out in the field every single time.

And somebody told me he's like man.

You could have been all the way around the bases by now if you'd have just let it go.

I have a hard time letting things pass me without controlling it.

Did that land for some of you?

I have a hard time when the ball's being thrown by me to not swing at it.

I want to give it all I got.

Even if I look stupid doing it, even if it doesn't make any logical sense.

I have to have my hand in it.

If it's coming by me, I'm going to do it.

Sometimes you've got to let the curveballs go.

Maybe your finances have spiraled out of control.

Anybody ever been there?

We don't have a lot of debt, but I've gotten so mad at my debt I'm tired of looking at it and all of my money going out for debt.

It's stupid Making.

Listen when I tell y'all before I don't preach or teach nothing that I'm not dealing with myself.

Make stupid purchases to make yourself feel better about yourself.

I'll just charge it.

I love shoes, but my wife loves money in the bank so I don't have very many.

But every once in a while the spirit of generosity gets on her and we go to the store and I get to shop for some shoes, and I don't know what it is about something material like that, but they make you walk different, especially if they're comfortable.

It makes you feel better about yourself.

It makes you feel like you're more than what you actually are.

And here's why this is bad, because we will paint ourselves up with all kinds of whatever and we can do that inside.

We try to put an exterior Band-Aid on an internal struggle.

Is that too hard?

You, okay, just breathe, Because I'm guilty.

I am guilty of making purchases.

I don't put things on credit anymore, but making purchases.

Just when I was a youth pastor, I bought Y'all know I wear skinny jeans, right, let's just get past that.

I bought everything I could to look younger because it made me feel younger.

It made me feel like I was something that really wasn't me, but it was just close enough.

Just close enough to me that I could pull it off, so literally like my wife, and were talking and we're like man.

It was when we started coming here as associate pastors and I said I got to buy some adult clothes.

Now when I say adult clothes, this is usually how I dress on a Sunday.

It's not that that big of a deal, but like everyday type clothes, like I had to.

This is going to sound stupid and weird.

I had to put on the Facebook marketplace because I had super skinny jeans.

I didn't get in front of a bunch of strangers in super skinny jeans, but back in the youth everybody else had them on too.

So I adapted who I was.

And then I found out I like skinny jeans, so eat that.

But I'm sure one day I found out I like skinny jeans, so eat that.

But I'm sure one day I'll grow up completely, but right now it ain't happening.

But I started spending money to make myself feel like I was fit for the environment that I was going to.

I was being stupid and I was being selfish.

Yes, you dress for the part that you play.

We all play a part in some way.

Or we wouldn't wear button-up shirts on Sundays.

We'd all be in T-shirt and jeans or whatever's comfortable.

We all play a part at some point.

There's politics in everything that we do in our life to a certain degree.

I'm not bashing this, but I'm saying be careful that you don't look in the mirror one day and you don't even recognize who you are, because that is an easy path to go down.

It is Maybe your marriage and relationships have taken a nosedive and you cannot figure out why.

Let me tell you the two things that will kill relationships that maybe God isn't done with yet, and this could go into marriage, or this could be just regular relationships or a church relationship.

Whether you want to come here, whether you don't, is pride and selfishness.

These two things right here will ruin every relationship you have because you'll be so focused on yourself.

You'll see what you want to see, you'll hear what you want to hear, and you will never you will never out of your mouth say I maybe am the problem.

Most of y'all know that I have been married before my first marriage.

I was never the problem.

Like I said in the beginning I know this is going to shock you.

I'm not perfect.

I've gotten to a place now to where if I do something or she does something to me, even if it's something that she is wrong I will go to her and apologize for my attitude, because it's not about right and wrong, it's about doing the right thing.

When I was a young child, I think I told y'all this this guy it was a deacon in the church, in my dad's church, and he broke drumsticks, threw them in my face because I was doing something he didn't like.

I was like seven or eight or nine maybe, and I stood there and cried because this grown man came up to me and broke drumsticks over his leg and threw them at me.

He said I told you to stop doing that and then stormed away.

Later, the same man choked me up against the wall.

My mother.

This is what she taught me, and now I apply it to my marriage.

Now and I'm married to my best friend because I go apologize even if I'm not wrong.

My mother said do you feel like you've done something wrong?

And I said well, I was doing something, but I was tapping papers with my drumsticks and he had an anger issue and much deeper roots and all that.

But she said then you need to go to him and you need to apologize.

I said but I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't break anything of his.

She said that's not the point.

The high road isn't necessarily doing right or wrong, it's doing what is right.

I did nothing wrong.

I was a child and he came and broke my drumsticks and threw them at me and stormed off Malvin.

My parents didn't see it, but you know what happened.

Women in the church did, but you know what happened.

Women in the church did you talk about a flock of hens?

They met him in the parking lot and gave him the what for, because they saw what happened.

My parents had no idea what was going on, but I had to swallow my pride and I had to go to someone who I didn't do anything to.

But there was something between the air and it's in the word of God that I need to fix it.

And what I would have done if I didn't go and ask for forgiveness is that I would have probably had a lot of unforgiveness in my heart.

And the Bible says that if we don't go and ask forgiveness of other people, he will not forgive us.

That's how serious forgiveness is.

That's how important relationships are to God.

Is that if we don't go and ask forgiveness of other people, he will not forgive us.

That's how serious forgiveness is.

That's how important relationships are to God is that even if you didn't do it wrong, you can always help make it right.

So maybe I mean I don't feel this from y'all, but I mean maybe y'all decided to leave the church because you don't like the guy preaching.

It happens every day.

Why does y'all get so quiet, hint taken?

Or maybe a close friendship has faded and it needs some mending.

Or maybe you've lost a loved one and you're dealing with some serious grief in your life because in that first year after you lose someone you have a lot of firsts.

Or maybe you've lost a loved one and you're dealing with some serious grief in your life Because in that first year after you lose someone you have a lot of firsts.

Do you feel stuck?

Do you feel like that you need a fresh start?

Are you tired of spinning your tires, feeling the same glimpse of traction, just to dig deeper and feel like you're stuck even more?

Maybe you're just not sure if you're stuck.

So let's go over some symptoms of being stuck.

What I like to do, if you don't know, is I like to read some scripture, start the service that way, and then I like to open some wounds so that God can begin to heal, because if you come in a church house and you've got your wounds covered up where nobody can see, I guarantee you they will get infected.

We have to expose what's there so that God and the Holy Spirit can heal it.

Sometimes he is the only one that can heal what's been hurt.

So symptoms of being stuck, constant, repetitive and negative thoughts, the inability to focus, brain fog, fatigue, lack of motivation, procrastination, restlessness, anxiety, depression these are symptoms that you may be feeling stuck, even if you don't understand why.

We're going to tackle it today, to where you can get out of it.

So can I tell you that being stuck does not mean that you're sunk.

There is still hope for you.

There is still hope for your loved ones.

A lot of times we just have to watch and look at our loved ones suffering and we can tell that they're stuck and they won't listen.

And we're trying to talk to them, we're trying to pray for them and they don't receive anything that we're trying to give them.

The Holy Spirit is sometimes the only thing that can penetrate those hard hearts.

But always remember, if you're dealing with someone who is stuck and they will not recognize, they will not try to go forward and make progress is that there's always hope, because we believe that there is power in prayer.

So I think fresh starts begin when we ask God to guide our steps.

It comes from the knowledge.

Through Jesus Christ, a fresh start is always available to us.

You ever been in the depths of your sin?

I know I have.

Y'all know my story of meth addiction and everything else that I did In the depths of your sin.

Right where you don't deserve God is where he ministers the most.

Right where we do not deserve his love, his grace and his mercy.

He still reaches down to where we are.

He still cares enough and loves us that even in our being stuck, he can bring to us a new hope.

So God is forging, or forgiving, and he acknowledges our setbacks, he forgives, he encourages us to try again.

I'm so, and it's like this God reminds me.

He gives us daily physical examples of spiritual things, like to understand that Jesus knew I was going to mess up and yet he died for me.

Understand that Jesus knew I was going to mess up and yet he died for me.

Or that God knows all, sees, all, is everywhere, and yet he still sent his son to be murdered for my sake.

But when a newborn child comes into your arms, you don't need to be coerced to love that baby.

There is a love that rushes over you like you have never felt before.

The same is with God.

He is forgiving and he encourages to keep trying, and I'm so thankful.

I am so thankful for God's second chances, the third chances, the fourth chances, the fifth chances.

Every single day he says his mercy and grace is new, because he knew that I would need it.

Every single day, and as many as it takes for us to learn the lesson, he still offers that chance to every single person.

Still offers that chance to every single person.

Even us stubborn, hard-headed, one-track, mind narrow-minded.

He still loves me enough to say, all right, get back up, let's try again, because every day is grace in his mercy anew, just as the father who nudges their young child who fell off the bike and scraped their knee to get back up and let's try again.

You cannot get to your purpose if you stay on the ground whining.

All right, all right.

God picks us up when we fall and he encourages us and loves us through when we fail.

If you need a fresh start and a fresh start is available in Jesus Christ Yesterday listen to this yesterday does not matter to God.

He is all about your future and he's willing to bless you now so that you can persevere.

Every day is a new day.

God does not keep a tally on your losses.

He's going to bring you to your wins because his grace is sufficient.

So, now that we've warmed up those brain cells, we're going to talk about four steps to getting unstuck.

This is simple, it's going to be fast, it's going to be quick.

Four steps to getting unstuck.

So, if you're taking notes, write these down, because this feeling and process can be physical and it can be emotional pain.

When you're deep into that feeling, it's almost debilitating when you feel stuck.

The most difficult part about being stuck is knowing that you need to do something, but you can't bring yourself to do it, or you don't have the courage to make that step in the right direction, or you don't know how to forgive, or you don't know how to make progress.

How do I do this?

Self-doubt is one of the enemy's biggest tools to keep you down.

You can and, better yet, god can.

So, if you're taking notes, four ways to get unstuck.

Number one is remember your ability to choose.

You have a choice.

You have a choice.

You do not have to sit down and lay down and let the devil run all over you and take what he's dishing out, because God has given you the authority through his Holy Spirit and if you have been filled, you should be on fire, and we know the devil don't like fire.

Remember, you have a choice.

Being stuck comes down sometimes to the power of choice.

It may be difficult to remember your ability to choose when you're feeling low, when you're feeling anxious, when you're feeling depressed.

However, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Though you can't always control your external circumstances, as long as you are still breathing, there is hope.

You are capable of surviving under extreme conditions and persisting through this the power of the Holy Spirit, the power, has been given freely to you.

Now you have to ask yourself do I want to keep feeling stuck?

The only person that can bring you out of the place of being stuck and complacent and stagnant is you, because God is a gentleman.

He is mighty, he is powerful, but he cares for you so much to let you make your own choice.

Remember, you have the power to make the choice to get you to where you want to be the power to choose and the propelling of the Holy Spirit, then make your choice.

This takes action.

No magical fuzzy feeling is going to happen when you wake up one morning oh my goodness, everything's perfect.

It happens on the movies, but not here.

It takes some serious action behind your words.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr said this if you can fly.

If you can't fly, then run.

If you can't run, then walk.

If you can't walk, then crawl.

But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.

Number two is stop listening and start witnessing and observing.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are constantly talking to ourselves.

Windows are open.

We see in Y' are constantly talking to ourselves.

Windows are open.

We see in.

Y'all been talking to yourselves.

Anybody have those conversations where you just solve the world's problems with yourself.

People driving by you in the car think you're on the phone, but you're just talking to yourself.

Woo.

But much of our self-talk is actually negative and unproductive.

One of the best ways to stop the thoughts that keep you feeling stuck is to pause and witness or observe them.

Y'all know I'm about being self-aware.

To stop, take personal inventory and let's see what's going on inside.

So what does this do?

It's a simple awareness tool.

This allows you to cut through the noise and take back control of your thoughts.

The day you decide you are more interested in being aware of the thoughts than you are in the thoughts themselves, that is the day you will find your way out.

In other words, being self-aware is so important.

This is why the Bible talks about opening up your heart.

Let God do a work on you.

Restore your mind, renew your mind every day, because the devil is constantly working on you.

You have to be renewed.

You have to find that thing that feeds your soul and do it.

We get so busy working in the field we forget to sometimes take part in its produce.

Being self-aware is important.

Don't let your thoughts talk you out of what you know.

A couple weeks ago, we talked about the difference between facts and feelings.

Sometimes our feelings can run us into the ground because we let them drive the bus when, in reality, the facts are facts and they're not relative.

Truth is not relative.

What we feel does not manipulate what are facts.

So when you're doing your 15 every morning and you're digging into the word of God, you have your facts before you allow the devil to get into your feelings.

That day, I can sometimes feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to do something, and before I take action I can think my way out of it.

Don't let your mind tell you what to do.

You are in control of your thoughts.

You have the power of choice.

Number three is take immediate action.

If you've decided how you want to feel and you want to get unstuck, the time to act is now, and you're aware of the thoughts hindering you from getting back into the flow.

So now it's time to take that action.

Sometimes, the quickest way to get unstuck is to do something unexpected or seemingly counterproductive.

Has faith ever looked in a way, counterproductive?

Has something that God has told you to do seem like?

Wait a minute.

God, you're telling me to go give this person a gift of money and I don't have money to pay my bills.

God, you're telling me to go give this person a gift of money and I don't have money to pay my bills.

Lord, you're telling me to give you 10% and live on 90, when I'm barely cutting it in 100?

God will test your faith by saying for you to do something that doesn't make logical sense.

Faith is illogical.

It's hope.

Hope isn't based on facts.

Faith is illogical.

So, doubt, feeling stuck.

Have you ever felt stuck?

Or you felt in a place you call it a rut, you call it whatever you want to but you felt like you've been stuck in this place and you did not have the option to get out, that there was no hope where you are.

But doubt can only be removed by action, even if you do something.

That's why I say, every single day, do a small act of faith, because those small little steps, those small little steps in the right direction, every single little small step you take of faith, will lead to larger amounts of leaps in faith later.

Simple actions will reinforce your internal power over your external reality.

I'll say it again Simple actions, simple little steps, simple little acts of faith, simple little actions will reinforce your internal power.

When you start to act out something, pretty soon you'll begin to believe it.

When you start stepping out in faith, pretty soon what you're having faith for, you start to believe it.

That's why the Bible tells us to gather together, lay hands on and pray.

When we lay hands on something, every person around is facing the same direction.

When we put our faith together and we hear other people praying and we start believing together.

Faith produces faith, just like doubt produces doubt.

Negativity produces negativity.

Simple actions will reinforce your internal power over your external reality.

Number four reflect, refine and repeat.

You all know how important I think self-examination is.

Just as important is self-reflection.

You all know how important I think self-examination is, just as important is self-reflection.

Reflect on the process and notice what went well and what could be improved.

We do this in the church business.

We look at things of how it went last year.

In any kind of business, you look at last year, you see how it went, whether you're following money, whether you're following attendance.

You have these metrics that you're looking at to say, well, this worked, so let's do it again this year and try to amp it up.

This didn't work we had three people show up, so let's not do that this year.

You have to weigh out what works and what doesn't work.

You have to do this in your mind and in your heart, daily basis, every week, to make sure that you keep moving forward, because what you will end up doing is you will not cut things that need to be cut and you will weigh yourself down to where you can make zero progress.

You have to self-reflect what can be improved.

Refine your thinking and action-taking.

Practice being unattached to your thoughts, while remembering they do not define you.

Your thoughts can keep you locked up in your own mind and God can be trying to do something right in front of your face, and you won't stop overthinking.

Your thoughts can keep you locked up in your own mind and God can be trying to do something right in front of your face, and you won't stop overthinking it.

Do I have any overthinkers in the place?

Overthinking will keep you under the devil's thumb.

Do not overthink the process.

When we do this, it focuses too much on the problem and pulls your mind further away from the progress.

Don't overthink the process.

It focuses too much on the problem and pulls your mind further away from the progress.

Evaluate your actions and your emotions and your thoughts whether they align with your goals and, more importantly, does it align with your goals and, more importantly, does it align with the will of God?

Is anyone guilty of praying for things after you've already made the decision?

What we do is we take our will to the altar and ask God to put his stamp of approval on it.

Guilty as charged.

Brother Howard and I were talking last night we were talking about.

Sometimes, when we pray, it's like, okay, let's give a real world example of right here, right now.

Some of you maybe did not prepare your hearts all last week for this Sunday.

You come in and you want this to prepare your heart for the battles to come next week.

That is backwards.

How you tell, is he okay?

We come in here to be filled, right.

It's good to come in and be refreshed and feel the move of God.

But what we do is we leave it at the door on our way out and then wonder why our week is so weak and we feel so drained by the time we get back to Sunday.

It's because our preparation is in reversed.

When we come up here on Sunday morning, we've already practiced on Thursday.

Sunday morning we get here at 9.30, and this is more of our run through to check sound and everything.

We've already done all the work Thursday nights at practice.

When are you, when are you preparing your heart for the path that God is trying to walk you down?

When are you setting yourself up for failure because you won't get real with God on a day other than Sunday?

And so then we have here's what we have.

We have these Sundays that are like this.

They're like here's where God is living, here's where the Spirit is moving, and we come in and we're way down here and by the third song we get right here and then, oh, it's time to do the offering and oh, it's offering time, let's go back.

All right.

Well, pastor's preaching.

All right, it's all right, it was all right, all right.

We have this roller coaster of emotion and we get excited and there's no real progress and growth in our hearts because we're expecting it all to happen in two hours on Sunday.

We are robbing God of the glory in our church because we only expect things to happen on Sunday.

Read throughout Jesus' ministry.

First of all, he was a very young minister.

He died at 33.

And as far as we know that it's written, three years of that was ministry A little bit when he was a teenager that we have a glimpse of.

But other than that, we only know of three years and in these three years we are still talking about it today 33 years of his life, of preparation.

How old are all of you in here and how much are you not doing?

If we live longer than let's just say I know Jesus was perfect.

None of us are perfect, but we read in the beginning that we are pushing towards this prize.

We have not reached it yet, but some of us are sitting on the sidelines just like drinking water, watching everybody else run.

Hey, bring your knees higher and God's like there is so much that I have for this church.

There is so much that he has for you individually.

When the people of God start individually at their house revival, breaking out, this church cannot contain what God will do, but it starts with you personally when you're not here.

Can I say it again, guilty as charged.

We want God to bless everything in our lives.

We love blessings, but we're fighting the battle wrong.

You don't get the blessing without the battle.

You don't.

You don't get to get into the promised land without first going into the wilderness.

Jesus himself was led into the wilderness to be tested by the Spirit.

We want to fight the wilderness.

We feel like God is working against us if we're in the wilderness.

But right in the wilderness is where the testing comes, and in through the wilderness.

When the children of Israel were out there, they were still taken care of.

They wanted for nothing.

They had to spend 40 years to get rid of old habits and attitudes before God brought them into the promise.

Get rid of old habits and attitudes before God brought them into the promise.

How long are you going to allow?

How long does God have to have you in the wilderness before you start dropping the old stuff?

How long does God have to drag you through the wilderness before you learn what he's trying to teach you?

If you can't receive God's love, if you can't receive God's correction, if you can't receive God's love, if you can't receive God's correction, if you can't receive what the Spirit of God is trying to do in our hearts today, you cannot live it out, you can't.

You can't give out what you don't have yourself.

Psalm 119.11 says this I've hidden the word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

I was listening to a a I think it was billy graham.

It was an interview and I was so checked in my spirit.

I study hard for the message, but there's only so much time in the day in the week, and they asked him.

They said how do you study for your messages?

Like, how do you deliver it?

Like that he says I study seven different sermons and then, when I preach, the rest is the overflow.

How much am I not doing?

How much of the relationship between me and God have I let slide and I've lost my focus?

I've lost my wife.

She has this word for this year.

I hope it's okay if I share it.

I'm going to.

She's been married to me long enough.

She knows, and her word for this year for 2022, is intentional.

I think that this word has been lost on the church.

It's been lost in our relationship between us and God.

It's been lost with our relationships between each other.

This is a very tight-knit church, like.

There's not a whole lot of drama, there's not all kinds of junk that a lot of churches have.

Y'all are a very loving church, but are you still being intentional with each other?

Because when you're not, things start slacking.

When we take the time to hide God's word in our heart, we are prepared to not sin.

See, here's the thing.

We're doing it again.

We do it backwards.

We sin and we ask forgiveness.

We sin and we ask forgiveness.

It's time that we start preparing our hearts and our minds that we will not sin, so that we can stay away from the sinful nature to, every single day, put our flesh to the cross and kill it.

Every single day is mercy is new, but every single day we have to refresh what's in our minds and refresh what's in our hearts, to renew our minds so that we can stay sharp and vigilant.

We hide God's words in our hearts so that we can repeat it over and over, and over, and over and over and over until we're tired of it.

But then we start noticing that we're living it.

The repetition keeps us focused and helps us to stay vigilant in our walk.

So I want to end the service with this question Sister Barbara, if you come up, have you been feeling stuck In whatever capacity that word means to you?

Whether you have grown stale in your relationship with God?

Whether you have become a consumer in the house of God and you don't contribute?

Whether you have become a consumer in the house of God and you don't contribute?

Or maybe you've been scared of the purpose God has placed in you from a young child and you are not living in it right now?

You may think you're too old.

You may think you're too young.

I do not find a retirement plan in the Bible.

Come on, even the old priest would go back and serve underneath the younger priest that were in charge.

Now are you stuck?

Maybe you've allowed others to assign your definition.

Maybe you've allowed others to assign your purpose and you've listened to them more than you've been listening to God.

You know what God's placed in your heart, you know what you're supposed to do, and we've allowed the world, the culture, to manipulate what we do in the church house.

It's time that we start affecting what they do.

It's time that they stop being scared of putting up the Ten Commandments in places of law.

Your self-definition and your purpose.

That right of defining you in that way only belongs to God.