How to Add

He says: whatever you have bound on Earth. Well, whatever you bind on Earth shall have already been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on Earth shall have already been loosed in heaven. The reality is, for those of us who have trusted in Jesus, there's a certain level of authority that he's given us to cast out things in our own minds that are not necessary or helpful. God has given you an authority in your life, those of you who have trusted in Jesus, to start casting out or down some of those things that are plaguing you, those things that are keeping you from what God has called you to.

And when I started to recognize what that really meant in my life, I said: you know what? Maybe I got ADHD, but I can deal with that in the name of Jesus, and maybe some medication if I need it. You know what I'm saying. I've got some personality defects, but in the name of Jesus, those things do do not hold me down any longer, because I have someone who can heal me and help me, and that's what I want you to know today is that the God that that we serve is a God who can heal you and help you. You don't have to be stuck, you don't have to be limited.

We've all got our limitation. We've all got those thorns in our side that are keeping us from what God has called us to do. But as you continue to follow Jesus, adding him into every aspect of your life, you'll find that he gives you Clarity on where you should go and in the direction you should go. He enables you to get there, and for years of my life, I, I struggled, I did. How old was I, mom, when, when I got diagnosed with ADHD- like eight or nine, something like that- I was eight or nine- got diagnosed with ADHD.

They gave me that medication. I think it was riddlin- she's shaking her head in the back. Yeah, it was definitely ridling. She remembers that whole season. I couldn't pay attention to nothing.

And then, you know, it really affected me in school and so we went off of it, and so I spent about, 25 years of my life trying to manage something that was naturally inhibiting me. And in my life I, I, you, if you notice this. You do not have permission just because I'm being vulnerable with you right now. You don't have permission. Anytime I, like the ADHD kicks in to like snap your fingers at me and talk to me like I'm a kid anymore.

You can't do it. Don't talk to me like I'm a kid. But at the same time, I wanted to be vulnerable with you, because that is something that has impacted me significantly throughout my life. That that, that add. But what I've Lear learned is just like there is something plaguing me with that there's also something that God intended through that and that there's always a positive side to the thing that you feel like you wish you didn't have in your life.

And so, for years and years and years, there was something that the Lord did as I began to wrap every aspect of my life around him. Somehow he took this, this guy who could, couldn't, pay attention to anything, and made me attentive to his word and truth. And then, over the years, as I've continued to be attentive to his word and Truth, he gave me a calling and I started to walk in that calling. Why do I say all of that? I say that because today I want to talk to you about the idea of adding God to every aspect of your life.

Adding God to every aspect of your life. It's funny because I was reading the text and we've been in the book of Acts. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Acts, chapter 2, it'll also be on your screens. And, I preached over the past couple of weeks about how, in chapter one, Jesus, he had died and was resurrected three days later. And he did this thing called the Ascension.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

He ascended to the father. He leaves his disciples and he says: stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit's going to visit you. And so he goes to. They go to Jerusalem. They're hanging out in an upper room.

Peter talks for a little bit, they elect a new disciple to replace Judas and then, about 7 to 10 days later, they're sitting in this Upper Room, praying together, spending time focusing and devoting themselves to the Lord. And then, all of a sudden, around the time of Pentecost, when tons of people from the Roman Empire had come into the city, the Holy Spirit decides to show up. There were tongues of fire and they were speaking in the person's language that was listening. Right, everyone listening could hear what they were saying in their own language. And the people there were like: aren't these galileans?

These people from The Boondocks up in Galilee? Why? Why are they speaking in my language? They only know Aramaic. They only know a little bit of Hebrew.

They might know a couple words in Greek. How are they? How are they hearing? How are they speaking my- like Syriac language? Right?

So this crazy moment happens. Then Peter gets up, as he always does, he preaches a really cool message and at the end of that message we see what was happening in the church. The church was every day going to the temple, every day meeting in each other's homes and devoting themselves. And last week we talked about the idea of moving from emotion, which is good but limiting, to a true Devotion to God. And this week what I wanted to do was let me go and read this text for you.

In Acts, chapter 2- I believe it is verse 47, the second portion. It says: and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. And I planned I plan to come in here like. This is what happened. I read that and I said: and the Lord added to their number daily.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I'm going to go preach to these guys about inviting this week. That's what I was going to do. When they showed up, the Lord did a work in their life and there is a truth to that right. I could preach that message to you today? I can tell.

I'll just tell you. I'll preach the message really quickly in about 15 seconds. Hey, oh, OHA, is it gone? Is it gone? Yes, all right, where's the other microphones?

Did the battery die or something? All right, hey, this is like I got you. There we go. It's the last week of practice. This can't happen.

Next time, oh o. Next time it's the them. You can preach the good news of Jesus to them in their home or in your home, and they can trust in him and their life can be changed. But God has ordained that God's Church would be the vessel through which he would reach the world, and so I want to encourage you that, as you are God's Church in the community, you would invite them to be a part of this church together, and the launch day is a really good opportunity to invite them, cuz there's going to be a bunch of people here and it's going to be a fun moment. There's going to be a photo spot-, there's two services that they can make.

There's going to be great child care. We've even got a church called North Valley. They're going to send like 10 to 15, maybe even 20 people over here to help us serve that day, so we're going to be able to connect with them and kids and watch their kids. We're going to be able to reach them in a different way and then people from all over the country- actually just a couple- are going to come over here. They're going to help us serve and they're going to be there to interact with people who are coming for the first time.

It's going to be a really fun experience, expence, and so I want to encourage you, invite your friends, because you never know what God might do if they're sitting here under the worship, under the word and around God's people. Amen somebody. All right, but as I was going to preach that to you, what the Lord revealed to me is what he says first, and y'all say this with me. It's the first four words, and the Lord, my brain, decides it's going to add stuff. Well, I'm supposed to be listening to the person who's talking to me about something boring that I don't necessarily care about, but I need to be actively listening.

But then the Lord throws in: oh man, you forgot to turn your light off in your room. Oh man, did you unplug the lights in the backyard? Because the neighbors are going to get you or get not going to get me. They're not the Boogey Man, but they're going to get frustrated. They're going to get frustrated at me because they can't fall asleep for some reason, because they can't close their blinds.

I hope they're not here today, but, like, right, like that's the kind of stuff that's popping into my head. Or did I remember to invite this person? Or did I remember to send the volunteer invite out to this person? Did I remember to- cuz I do this sometimes- did I remember to charge the batteries to that thing that I desperately need to use, called my iPad? On Sunday morning I forgot, so I borrowed raised Bible because my iPad wasn't charged.

Right, did I remember to do this? All this stuff is going through my brain while I'm trying to be focused. I am so used to adding things to my life. That's just me. You might not be add, or ADHD, but you're probably right.

Just shake your head. You add stuff to your life, don't you? You add, you're so used to adding stuff to your life, right, like if, as if our lives weren't busy enough, we decided that we needed to. You know, I was single one time. Then I got married.

I added a full person to my life and now I got to do what they want to do. Sometimes that was crazy to me. And then, all of a sudden, my life will not be complete without kids. And then I added kids to my life and I love them. I love them more than I love you, I love more than I love anything, but they were an addition to my life.

Those are really good things. But then I have kids, and each one of those kids I need to add things to their schedule. He's my son's seven years old and he's now playing coach pitch baseball and I looked at the practice schedule. I thought I was adding one game a week or two games a week, but it's like five days a week. We got to do something for that and that's just one kid at 7 years old, not to count club and all these other busy things that we add.

There's another thing that we add right, because these aren't bad things. It's not bad for us to add stuff to our life, but so often we find ourselves culturally add, because we start doing something and then we're like squirrel I, I should do that too. Oh man, I went to that leadership conference, so now I need to learn how to be a leader, or I went to that church, and now I need to add all of these things to my schedule. But I don't want to take everything else off of my schedule, and maybe you don't add things to your life- not physically- but there's one thing I definitely know we add to our life. We add concern for things that we can't control right.

So I've got my busy schedule, I've got my natural ADHD- you don't have ADHD, that's just me, you're perfect. But you've got these other things you're adding to your schedule. And then you're thinking about it's 2024. I wonder what our country's going to look like next year. I guess I got to think about who I'm going to vote for in the primary or who I'm going to vote for in the presidency.

And then I guess I got to think about all these other political things that are happening and the media wants me to care about, the Russia, Ukrainian situation. The media wants me to care about the stuff that's happening in another state or another city. Everything that I am inundated with causes me to not just add it to my plate but add it to my mind, and now my mental bandwidth is so strapped with things that I can't control, but are in there anyway and so I might not add a whole bunch of stuff. Some of you sitting there, you got plenty of time in the evening and you're chilling, but you're thinking about something you shouldn't be thinking about. I'm sorry I'm being too harsh on you guys, that's just me.

I don't about you, but it's me. I'm always adding. I don't. I'm not good at adding, so my, my sermon, my sermon title for today, I want to call it how to add. How to add.

It's funny. I was, before this, I was a, what's it? Called an auditor. It's been a long time since I was an auditor, and an auditor I don't mean an IRS auditor, so don't think of me that way. But it was close and what I would do was I would go over to all these other businesses and I would check their financial statements, go sit in their break room or office or closet, wherever they would put me, and I would bother them with that.

That was my job and, I got about eight months into that job and I was sitting with our team. Now, just to be clear, financial statements, right. So you need to be good at certain things like math, right. So, anyways, I was sitting about 6 months in at a restaurant I'll never forget. It was Ruby Tuesday.

I had some of them- good biscuits that they have- and at the end of it I paid for the bill. And when I got the bill back and when we were leaving, my supervisor looked at me counting on my fingers and she said: did you really just count on your fingers? It was really embarrassing, because you're supposed to be good at math. I learned in that moment, very clearly and audibly from my supervisor: I'm not good at math, and so that was one of the days that I decided. There were many days I decided I was going to leave accounting, but that was one of the days I decided I was going to leave accounting and do something that was more beneficial for me and more helpful, right, and so that was.

That was a huge moment for me, and I know this about myself. I cannot do math well, and here's something I know about our culture: we do not add well when it comes to the things that we add into our lives. Not only do we add too much stuff, but often we add the wrong things, thinking they will help us. And my first point is: do you add? Well, what does it say?

What's that first point? I think I screwed it up. Can you add? That was it. I knew I messed up the question.

Can you add? And I think the short answer is yeah, I mean, everybody wants. I mean I know you want me to say, I mean I know it sounds like I want you to say no, but you can add. You do it all the time. You struggle up and down with the things that you've been adding to your life.

In fact, many of you are like man, I added church about 6, 8, 2 months ago, and now I got to be here at 5:00 in the morning. Right like I added that that makes me tired every single Sunday. Now, right, like we, we keep adding things to our life, and if you've been to college, there's one thing that they tell you that you don't learn until you figure it out yourself. It's that when you get there, they inundate you with so many things to add and you add too much to your plate, and so I want to encourage you. You can add, but there's a more helpful way to be a part of this addition process.

Man, there's so many things that I could list when it comes to adding. But the Lord convicted me to talk to you guys specifically about the idea of the worries that you're adding. About a year ago, we came out here and, we started the process of planting this church. It was just my wife and I and ended up being about 10 to 12 adults who moved out from different parts of the country, to start this church. And so we got out here early March.

We started meeting people and then in July, we had our first social. Some of you were at that social- and then we had a couple more socials and as we have those socials, people begin to ask you questions. They say, hey, are you going to have this, are you going to have this? They're like, hey, when are you going to have have small groups? Or, hey, do you have this?

It never failed. We said, hey, this is the first event that we've ever done as a church. Someone reaches out and they ask me if we have this super established product of ministry that we're probably not going to do in the first couple of years. It's not wrong on their part, it's just one of those things, and I have been tempted to consistently add physical things. But you know what is the most tempting?

How many people are going to show up at the social man? I hope enough people show up. Man, I hope people buy into the vision that we communicate to them. Cuz, cuz, that's what we're here for. Man, I hope that person liked the way that I talked.

Or, man, I hope the person liked the way that we did kids. Or I hope those people like the way that we did worship. Or I hope these people, like the way that I dressed, even though it really doesn't matter that much. You know, like, I hope I get the right haircut. I hope that this looks proper.

I hope that people are okay with the location. I hope, I hope this, I hope this and I hope this. And then, as you keep going, people let you know that their preferences were like, involved the entire time. Some of them will leave and they'll say, hey, well, you guys just didn't have this, or you guys did this and I typically like this, or you guys just weren't established enough for- and I keep- I'm just going down the list because I want you to know. Every time that's spoken, it comes into my mind and my natural tendency is to think on those things.

I ignore what the Scriptures say. Naturally, naturally I- I try to change it, right- but naturally I ignore what the Scriptures say. What do the Scriptures say? Philippians 4 tells us to think on the things that are true, right, honorable, pure, lovely and of good repute, and that's how the peace of God will overflow into your life. Right, that that's what he wants you to think on, but I tend to think on all of these things.

What are the things for you that you naturally think about? You think about man. I didn't even invol. I just talked about the church. Right?

I didn't talk about how it feels when the, the teachers, reach out to you about your kids' Behavior, how it feels when you went to that social event and you thought you were perceived in a particular way, or maybe you did something that could be perceived as embarrassing and people made a comment to you about it, and now you're sitting there constantly thinking about it. Or maybe you just woke up and you just opened up Instagram and you saw that person that you haven't talked to in six years, but it seems like their life is awesome and your life is mid or below mid and you're just like, ah, man, I wish my life was better, or I wish I was as good at them as or as good at that as they are. All these things are just they're filling my mind and they're filling your mind. And so when that verse says, and the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved, I just got stuck on. The Lord added: we can add everything we want to our life, but we don't add.

Well, there's a Scripture, it's in Matthew. It's a really helpful Scripture and here's what it says in Matthew, chap 6: , 33 and 34. This is in his really powerful Sermon on the Mount. He's speaking to a bunch of people and he says this. He says in verse 33: but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care about itself. Each day has enough trouble on its own. So, while you can add anything you want to your life, here's the sad truth, and I'm speaking to myself as I'm speaking to you: if whatever you add to your life is not predicated by a conversation you have with your creator, then that very thing thing is not going to add what you want. Amen, Let me. Let me say that again, maybe a little more simply, without big words like predicated and stuff like that.

If you try to add something without a conversation with your creator, it will not go as well as you desire. Now. Can you retroactively fix some things? Absolutely. I've seen the Lord do constantly things in people's lives.

Right, people got married without even thinking about the Lord and the Lord radically shifted the, the, the style of their marriage. I've seen people who didn't know him and had their kids and it shifted the style of their parenting. I, I mean God can do things in post, but what I want to encourage you to do, starting now, is to start talking to God about it now. This is with big things, right, some of you are praying about what God's calling you to do when it comes to your career. Some of you are thinking, man, I, I don't like currently what I'm doing.

I want to make a big shift. If you don't talk to God about it, you're going to be stuck in your own head, head and with whatever maybe your friends are telling you and that is not going to be as sufficient as what God would tell you- it won't. Some of you are thinking about your marriages or your relationships and your gut might tell you to get out of something that God would tell you to stay in. And if you're looking at what you feel right now versus what the Lord would tell you and you don't have a conversation with the Lord about it, you might make the wrong decision. Many of the people who are coming to church- some of you, some of the people who will come in the next couple of weeks- the one reason they're coming it be is because their life is not where they expected it to be and they're hoping that by having a conversation with God, it might radically shift the trajectory of their life.

And that is the truth. But so often people come in with that expectation and they leave and go back into their normal life and they're like: well, I feel a little bit better after the inspiring m message, I feel a little bit better after hearing God's word, I feel a little bit better after the worship. And so they start going and making decisions without God. I love the people that I've interacted with in my life who, every time I ask them if they want to do something, if they're married, you know what they say. They say: let me talk to my spouse.

I'm not smart like that, right, Hannah? I'm not. Someone asked me if I want to do something. I'm like, yeah, sure, and then I'll check the calendar and talk with you later. I'm working on that, but I love it when people do that, because it signifies to me that they have a priority in their life that is greater than me and whatever that thing is that I invited them to do.

And when we go to God first, when it comes to everything, not just the big stuff, but even the small stuff. Right, when you wake up in the morning and you're like, how should I spend my day today? I would start it in a conversation with God, because if you start putting God at the beginning of your conversations, then the things that you add will look much different. And then, when you've had a conversation with the Lord and you go in the direction he's called you to do, you know what's not added: the fear, the worry, the stress, because I had a conversation with God about this. It's like you and he are going out and you're going to tackle the word world.

It's like, Lord, you and I had a conversation about this and now I'm interacting with this and I feel in and start stressing out about: oh my gosh, maybe we should change this, or maybe we should change this, or or maybe I should be better as a human being, or maybe I should go to therapy so I can just be a better preacher, Pastor, talker, nice person. Maybe I should get on some meds so I stop being ADHD in a conversation and offending that one person because I look the other direction for a millisecond right. Maybe I should freak out about all of the things that I am because one person said something. But what? What has happened?

And it's thanks to people like my boy, Ray right here, and people who remind me to go to the Lord with things, and I'll go back to God and he'll remind me every single time. Matt, I called you to do this. I formed you in your mother's womb. I knew you before you knew you. I knew you before your mom knew you.

I knew you before anyone even thought you were a possibility. I know every aspect of your personality, your char character. I know what I've called you to. I know what you've been through. I know everything about you and I have still called you to do this very thing, and when I feel that from the Lord, you know what that enables me to do?

Shake the Dust off my feet When someone tells me something. And this is what a conversation with God will do for you. You wake up in the morning. You think, oh, my boss hates me, or this person hates me, or I'm not good enough. And if you go to the word and if you have a conversation with God, he will remind you who you are in Christ Jesus.

And when you're reminded, you're much more confident, aren't you? You ain't stressed, you're not worried. Why would I have to fear? All I have to do is lift my eyes to the hills. Where my help comes from.

Where does it come from? It comes from the Lord. He's the maker of heaven and Earth. He has got me covered. He is there for me when I need him.

He's there for me even when I don't think I need him. He is constant amen. He is everywhere. And when I make him the center of my everything, he makes me confident enough to add the right things and to not add the fears and worries he says. He says he said God doesn't give us a spirit of fear, but of Power, of Love, of self-control or a sound mind, depending on the translation, and right here in Matthew, chapter 6, he tells us: seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, he says.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

So don't worry. He says tomorrow's got enough stuff to today is enough for you to deal with. Tomorrow's got enough stuff. Don't even think about that stuff. Let tomorrow take care of itself and let me take care of you today.

And so my first point was: you know how do you add? I want you to process through. That tendency is: we don't add. Well, my second question is: can the Lord add 100%? He can add, I'll give you, I can.

I. Can I go into the minutia for a second? The Lord is so much better at math than you. I know he created logic and everything like that, and this is like a point duh, he's better at math than me. He created the whole construct, right?

Yeah, no, he's so good at it. He. He created Humanity in the beginning, Adam and Eve. He says: go forth and multiply. And he added to their family.

He added to everything that existed at the time. He says it was chaos. And what did he add? He added structure. He added the constr conru in which we could live, the entire logic that we live in.

God created when Abraham was old and he didn't have a kid. But God had promised him a kid. What did he add? He added a kid, he added a bunch of kids. Eventually, you see, constantly through Scripture, you see that when Caleb and Joshua are entering the promised land, that God can even add time to the Day.

Scriptures tell us he made the sun stand still. The Psalms tell us that the joy of the Lord, the song Just we just sang, told us the joy of the Lord is our strength, that even in the midst of a difficult circumstance he can add joy to us. The Bible tells us he can add peace to us. In the beginning of Luke, chapter 1, you see this guy named Zacharias, who doesn't have a kid, who has no clue what's going to happen in the future, who's just awaiting the promised Messiah, and God adds to him a kid. You see in Acts 2: 47 that the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

The Lord, Lord, is so gifted at adding. God added the Holy Spirit to his disciples and God will add something special of value to your life. God is so good at adding, and I could keep going through the list of things that he did in Scripture and the things that he's done in my life and the things that he has done in your life. But we know this: would you let the Lord do the work? Would you hand your worries over to him?

Would you have a conversation with him before you enter into something that could derail you and see what he thinks about it? What's it say again: seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And the new Americans standard tells us- because NV doesn't say it this way and I just wanted to pull. He says: and everything else will be added. Don't you know that if you can hand everything to God, he is a good father and he wants to add the proper things to your life.

He wants to add the things to your life that add value. He wants to add the things to your life that reduce worry. He wants to add the things to your life that are energizing and he wants to reduce the unnecessary things in your life that are draining. God wants to take your entire energy level and give you Joy. He wants you walking around like I walk around, sometimes angry, sad, frustrated, deflated.

No, he wants you to have joy and the Bible says that he can add it, we have to go to him first, though. Go to him first and he will provide you the wisdom to move forward effectively. And- and I want to be very clear, because sometimes, when I tell people not to worry, I feel like they get the impression I'm telling them not to do anything right, because so often people say, mad, don't worry about it. Well, it's my worry that got me into the place where I was hustling to create the result that I'm intending. Does that make sense to anybody, right?

Like? My worry and my fear causes me to hustle, and so sometimes, when I'm communicating that, or someone's communicating that to me, I feel like they're saying, Matt, don't worry about it, don't stress about it, and what I hear- and this might be for some of you Martha's in the room- you don't understand that passage maybe, but anyways, those people who like to work- this is me- and when they say don't worry, I'm like, okay, I guess I'll chill, I guess I won't worry about it. Like every time someone tells me not to worry about how many people are going to show up, my, my tendency is to be like, okay, I guess I won't worry about it, which causes me sometimes, if I'm lazy it's? Ah, maybe I won't post as many times on Instagram, or maybe I won't call as many people beforehand, or maybe I won't go sit in the coffee shop and try to start up random awkward conversations with people, right like that's what happens. They say: don't worry about it, God's going to add to the growth.

There was actually a pastor, a pastor. There been a million pastors over the years, with itty bitty churches, and they'll say: well, if the Lord wants it to grow, then it'll grow. They always say it with a Southern accent- I apologize for utilizing it for a second- and I'm like that's true. However, that doesn't mean like your lack of worry should never cause you not to work in tandem with God's calling on your life. So what I'm not saying is that you should be apathetic.

I'm not saying you should quit everything you're doing because you're too stressed. It's not about. It's not about just getting rid of the things that that cause you frustration, and it's not just about, not ever thinking about the things that you're worried about. It's about admitting something very crucial: it's admitting that you're not in control of everything and that God is in control of everything. See, recognizing that God's in control doesn't make me lazy.

In fact, it gets me excited. Amen, somebody, when I recognize that God's in control of the outcome. It means I can work, but not worry, amen. It mean I'm G. Say it again.

It means I can work without stress. It means I can work knowing that I am doing everything I possibly can in order to be faithful to my God, so that he looks at me one day he says: well done, my good and faithful servant. And I don't want him to look at me and say, Hey, you worked really hard, but to handle what only I can. This is how we need to operate as a church and this is the best way for you to operate. As a human being, a husband, a wife, an adult, a male, a female, a citizen of this country, we do everything that God called us to do diligently, but at the end of the day, we say, Lord, here's what I did.

Now I need you to take over. And from the first month, which was March, all the way to this month, my prayer and I always pray in the shower. I don't know why. It's just comfortable relaxing, the water's hitting my back and I'm like it's a good time to pray, right? You ain't doing nothing else, right, just standing there.

So I pray and, well, I do clean myself, just want to be clear. But what too much info. That's the add kicking in. But you know what I'm doing, what I can, Lord, you help me with the rest. So what the Lord reminds me of every single time that I'm praying is, Lord, I, I've done what I can.

Now I'm trusting that you're going to step in. Amen. That might be need to be a daily prayer for you, Lord. I've done what I can, and sometimes I'm like I've done what I can, Lord, and he's like: no, you didn't. No, you slept in today.

You weren't diligent, you spent too much time having conversations with people, not enough time jumping into the computer and prepping this or that, or doing this, or preparing for the next six months, or developing your onboarding process. Right, like sometimes the Lord will remind me. The Lord's good. Like that he'll remind you. Like you're blaming him.

He like, oh, Lord, I need you to step in. He's like: nope, nope, no, I gave you the tools to do it, you just got to use them for a second. But as I'm talking to God about it, that's when he reminds me. And then I'm like: okay, Lord, tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up and we're going to be more diligent in this specific area. But there are other things the Lord knows and I deep down know, and you know, that you can't control.

When you're praying to God, say: Lord, you know I can't control this, so I'm just going to be patient and wait on you to control with. Only you can control. But, Lord, I do pray, whether it's selfish or not. I pray that you would redeem me from this problem. God, I pray that you would help me battle these thoughts that come into my head.

God, I pray that you would help me be diligent, because you know I wake up in the morning, need weit too much coffee, and I'd rather wake up in the morning being productive, talking about, in order to get done, what God is calling you to do. It takes connection with you and him, and if you don't have that connection, there's always going to be something radically wrong in your life. You might not even be able to put a finger on it, but there's something wrong. And so, for those of you in this room who have not forged that connection with God, God has already provided a way for you to have access to him, and it was through his son, all those years ago, 2,000 years ago, who lived a life that was perfect. He died on a cross that he didn't deserve and rose again 3 days later.

The reason he did that was so that he could forgive you of your sin and so he could raise you to walk with less worry into abundance. And the way that we have that connection with God Is by simply confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. That is the only way you can come to a connection with God. There's nothing else that's going to do. That's it.

But I'll tell you what it's made all the difference for me.