Is God Still Good?

Everybody's pretty tired and fatigued. So I'm leading the march

so you get to hear me again. You know, last

week I kept asking a question as I was teaching

throughout the time, and the title of this teaching is

actually in a question form.

Is God still good? Right?

And that is the perfect answer, and it is true.

But if we're honest with ourselves in moments like this,

we can have thoughts and feelings that actually betray that confession.

And what we believe about the Father and his nature

isn't just a little important, It is everything. It's the

very foundation of our relationship with him. What we believe

about his goodness will absolutely determine our longevity and walking

with him. And over the next two and a half hours,

I hope I can unpack this revelation.

What's ahead?

Yeah, this year and four scores for those of you

that were wondering. Marks asked if he could order pizza.

We're gonna be here that long. So in Exodus thirty

three eighteen to twenty three, Joslyn, you're not alone, and

you don't have to grieve and process alone.

The Lord sees you.

He knows what you're thinking and feeling, and what you're processing.

That's why I encourage you to let him in. Don't

get stuck. Do so it makes sense you're loved.

Oh okay, I wanna start crying. I never cry, as

you all know, so that's very unusual. I came in

Thursday night before worship practice and Danny looks.

At me and she goes, justin, are you okay? And

I'm like, oh no, not okay.

Exodus thirty three eighteen to twenty three, and he said,

please show me your glory. Then he said, I will

make all my goodness pass before you. There is no

separate his glory from his goodness. His goodness is as

glory as glory is as goodness. And it's the reality

of this goodness that passed by Moses that literally left

him radiating for the rest of his days. It wasn't

gold dust, it wasn't gold flakes on him. He was

literally radiating the literal glory, the goodness of God.

And I'll never forget.

I think I've said this before, but I was on

my John Deere tractor mowing the lawn John Bigger and

I was mowing, and the Lord posed a question to me,

obviously not audible but you know how many?

In your spirit? It's very loud.

And the question was, do you want to know why

Bill Johnson moves in the miraculous realm the way he does?

And this literally came out of nowhere. I was listening

to worship music.

Hanging out and how many do you know?

If the Lord asked you a question, you don't know

the answer, even if you think you know the answer,

let me give you a pointer, say, I don't know, Lord,

kind of like when the Angel shows up, do you

know why this is here? Nope, proceed that's wisdom, and

I go why, And he's as clear as day said

because of the revelation of my goodness that he carries.

And I can't think of another time than right now,

with everything swirling and everything we're going through. And then

we turn on the news and France is on fire,

Greece is on fire, Milwaukee flooded, Tennessee flooded. I mean,

it's you have this, this turbulent time, of these these

perfect storms and birth pains coming together tighter and tighter,

and regardless of your eschatology, you must admit that things

are shaking, things are getting closer, and the return of

Jesus is absolutely getting closer.

Now. However long that is, I don't know. It may.

I mean, many believe it will be in our lifetime,

and it very well could be. In the way it's looking,

hello people, I mean it very well could be. Our

assignment does not change regardless of how long He tarries,

and regardless of your pre tribe, post tribe, pan tribe,

a millennial, pre millennial, post millennial, doesn't matter. It doesn't

change the Great commission. It doesn't change the reality that

we're supposed to be advancing the Kingdom of Heaven and

making disciples of all nations. But we literally, in this

moment have people coming from all over the country into

this region. And for decades, a couple of decades, and

we've talked about this a lot, that God has predestined

this region to be an Apostolic cub in the last days.

It is a modern day Antioch, and you will begin

to see more and more or fivefold leaders coming and

establishing and sending people out. And this is part of

cross Kingdom's mandate, part of our vision is to see

that reality come to pass. It's one of the reasons

why I guess the Lord saw fit to give us

twenty five acres when I was like, Lord, four acres

is plenty. Let's keep a nice little tiny building here.

And I'm good, And he was like, can I tell

you why that's not gonna happen?

Sure, Lord, I don't know.

But the reality is people are coming from all over

the place. We literally just met with ADR. I'm learning all.

These acronyms in this last six weeks.

ADR is Austin Disaster Relief and there's a whole bunch

of spirit filled leaders that make up that organization. And interestingly,

there's another organization. I forgot the name of it, but

we met with them yesterday and it's actually a Buddhist organization.

And the main lady, she had a dream of the

flood and she literally heard the kids in the dream screaming,

and she was sharing this with us in absolute tears

coming down her face, and said that they had to

come here, The Buddhists had to come here because of

how it affected them.

And they've never.

Seen a she specifically said, she's never seen a region. Yeah,

have this much support and compassion, and the Lord is

drawing people from all walks of life, all different faiths

right now and you get to be a part of

being the light and salt and get them the truth.

In the midst of all this.

And as she shared that dream, I said, hey, can

I pray for you?

And she goes. She goes okay.

And as she as I began to pray for her,

I said, Lord, will you go into her dream with

her and remove the torment from.

The scream of the kids.

And then I talked to her about dreams and visions

and her creator and God being light. Because you have

to understand how to speak language. You can't speak Christianese,

and it was obvious her spirit is open and the

goodness of God is being revealed to her. And most

churches probably wouldn't even take a risk of even trying

to figure out because it doesn't fit right because different faith.

But if you have eyes to see and you think

like Jesus, then you recognize the holy spirits drawing on

a person's life, and then you begin to speak their language.

And I be honest with you, I'd rather talk to

a new ager all day long than a religious spirit.

I'll move on.

But the reality is we're going to gain a greater

revelation of His goodness and it's not optional. If you

want to walk with peace and joy, if you want

to have hope against all hope like Abraham, then you're

gonna have to get a greater You're gonna have to

get a two point oh revelation of the goodness of

God in the midst of crisis, in the midst of tension,

in the midst of things not working out the way

that you thought they were going to, or even that

you were demanded that they happen in a certain way.

And it's in that tension when things don't work out

the way you think they should, is the real test

of what you believe about God. And if you truly,

in your heart of hearts, believe that He's good, and

it's his goodness that draws us to repentance. Listen, I

don't care what's in your heart. He already knows what's

in your heart. So don't be religious. Have a brave

conversation with him and get real, because he sees it.

You're not hiding. Oh, he can't see me.

I'm angry. You can't see the anger. No, that's not

how that works. Do you like that illustration?

One day? Maybe I'll be an actor.

Maybe not Okay, moving on, and I will make all

my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name

of the Lord before you.

I will be.

Gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have

compassion on whom I have compassion. But he said, you

cannot see my face, for no man shall see me

and live. And the Lord said, here's a place by me,

and you shall stand on the rock, which is a

prophetic picture of Jesus. So it shall be while glory

passes by, while my glory passes by, that I will

put you in the cleft of the rock. I will

put you in Christ and will cover you with my

hand while I pass by. Then I will take away

my hand and you shall see my back, but my

face you shall not shall not be seen. Could you

imagine being Moses in that moment, just for a second,

unpack that.

Think about that.

You're literally you're talking to the God of the universe,

who did not teach or speak to him in parables

and not ties, but spoke to him face to face,

mouth to mouth. That level of intimacy. He saw the

form of the Lord and literally as he goes by,

What did it feel like for the Father to put

his hand over his face. What did it feel like

to go inside of the cleft of the rock and

then imagine the radiant light that's coming through the Father's hands,

his fingers, and it's literally permeating every fiber of his being.

It's changing his DNA to such a degree that he

would have lived forever had the Lord not say die.

And he radiated the goodness of God. It was the

revelation of his goodness that was radiating off of his

face to such a measure that he had to cover

his face because it terrified Israel. Now you get that

measure of his goodness. And then when you see cancer

in front of you, you see this in front of you,

You see that in front of you, all of a suddenly,

impossible is possible because you've been transformed by His glory.

And it says, all of us right now, in this moment,

are supposed to be going.

From glory to glory to glory.

So what is supposed to be unpacked Number one in

your life? Right now, in this moment, you're supposed to

be getting ruined by the goodness of God. And the

moment you think you can't take anymore, here's another measure.

It's another upgrade of how much better he is than

what you just thought he was two seconds ago. And

it's because of that revelation of his goodness, all of

a sudden you begin to reverberate and release his goodness

from you, even when you're not even trying to. So

we have to reconcile that God is good even in

the midst of crisis, even in the midst of things

not working out.

The way that they should.

And we still have this apostolic mandate over our lives

that we are to pray on earth just as it

is in heaven. Anything you see on earth, in a

person's life in front of you, that is not in Heaven,

you've already got the green light to go after it.

You don't need an angelic visitation to go pray for something.

And you get in agreement with Heaven, You get in

agreement with the King of kings, and you pray for

everyone as if God's will is to heal them or

to break through and bring change in their life, and

you leave the results up to him. You give up

your right to be right, you give up your right

to understand. You live in the tension of ministry of mystery,

and you allow another measure of his glory to come

in and saturate you. So what comes into our minds

when we think about God as the most important thing

about us? When the poop hits the fan? Who do

you accuse? Think about that? Who do you accuse? When steal, kill,

and destroy comes into your life? Where are you putting

that category? Who's the author of that? Yeah? But he

is so good at jacking us up all the time

that he comes in. He steals, he kills, he destroys

in our life. And then he gets us to partner

with him to accuse God of the author of it.

And then, and when we meditate on that agreement, that

accusation against the Father and his goodness, we fall into

a pit of hopelessness, depression, bitterness, offense. Offense belongs in

a ranch, not in your heart. There yet, jump back there,

play for my drums, Luke two thirteen and fourteen. And

suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the

heavenly host, praising God and saying glory to God in

the highest and on earth peace good will toward men.

We need a constant reminder that God is still good.

We need a reminder every day. I was reading the

Deuteronomy in my reading plan a couple days ago, and

he literally tells them, you're to taught. You're to read

in the morning, You're to talk about this during the day.

You're to talk about this in the night. You're to

think about this when you wake up, and you're to

think about his word when you go to bed. He's

painting this picture that we're not after a visitation. He's

after habitation. And that's why he lives in sight of you,

not just upon you.

You're saying, come Lord, and he's already here.

And many times the simple reality is all we have

to do is surrender to the reality of his presence

inside of us, because he's the hope of glory. And

when you meet people that get in front of you Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

whatever day of the week, when people are in front

of you, they need an encounter with Jesus. The only

way to be enlightened is to have the light of

the world come in y'all, Like, there is a visitation here,

there's an invitation, and I do not want.

Us to miss it.

Like it's so important that we stay sensitive right now

that we understand the times and seasons we're living in,

and we understand what is happening in this moment. It's

fragile and it could disappear if we don't steward it right.

James one thirteen says, let no one say when he's tempted,

I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted

by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone.

Y'all. He has nothing to do with evil.

And when evil happens, we have to understand that's not him,

that's the other guy.

That's the one who.

Likes to steal, kill and destroy and gets you to

blame the Lord for it. It's the accusations, the insinuations,

the inferences of the evil one towards your life.

And what's he do.

He's going to get you to question the goodness of

God when things don't work out the way they should,

because we live in a fallen world and we're in

a battlefield with spiritual warfare fighting. And the beauty of

Psalms twenty three is that he wants to restore our soul.

He wants to lead us besides still waters green, shepherd

us with green pastures, and he wants to in the

midst of your test, in the midst of your battlefield.

He wants you to see the table of.

The Lord and actually come up, sit down, take a

seat at his table in the presence of your enemy,

and commune with him.

That's what Psalms twenty three says.

When I was a kid, I always equated Psalms twenty

three with funerals, and I honestly did not like Psalms

twenty three at all, Like I really didn't, and I

had no idea that.

You know, because that was my experience.

In Psalms twenty three is a powerful psalm. There's restoration

of the soul that needs to take place this morning.

It's so vitally important that we do not get stuck

in grief, that we don't pause the mourning process, that

we actually mourn with health like healthy. And how do

you mourn with health? You keep your hope. If you

mourn without hope, you go into unbelief.

And it makes your.

Heart sick and the next thing you know, you will

be blaming God for everything. So glad you're all are excited,

so good to be here this morning. So when evil spreads,

it's not because the Lord is causing it. When someone

sends against you and causes horrible trauma to your heart,

the Lord had nothing to do with that. And do

you want to know if you're still blaming him?

Do you want to know when you say.

I just don't know why he let it happen, the

moment you said don't know why he let it happen,

you're still fully holding him responsible for that situation. One

of the hardest things in our minds is to understand

things happen on planet Earth. Evil happens, and he has

nothing to do with that evil. So many times things

happen because the unregenerated heart is evil is all get out,

and human beings have the capacity to do the most

horrific stuff. We even create evil. Scripture says we create ways.

That's the wrong creativity, y'all, Like we want to have

creativity for evangelism, not.

To be stupid. You got it. I'm a preach to you.

When steel, kill and destroy happens, we must know what

category to place that in, Otherwise we will cultivate unbelief

in our heart by demanding that we know why it

was allowed.

When we give up our right.

Of understanding, then the peace of Christ rules and reigns

over our mind and heart, and so it says, let

the peace of Christ. The only way you let that

is if you give up your right to understand everything.

You're living in a fallen world, and we're living constantly

in attention of mystery when things don't happen the way

they should. Because we're contending to see Heaven established on earth.

That is your mandate. I don't care what you do

for a living, that is your mandate. You are here

the market, y'all. The Church has so minimized the marketplace

and business and it's and it and it's it's we've

fallen into the trap of the enemy.

The marketplace is everything.

If if, if the fiightful ministries equipping the saints for

the work of the ministry, where do you think that's

taking place.

It's taking place in the marketplace with what God has

called y'all to like.

I have to work hard to find people that don't

know Jesus because my primary calling is shepherding. Right, y'all

are my call, so blessed, feed and lead right, and

sometimes sheep bite I gotta and they bite hard.

By the way I got I got it. Somebody gave

me a T shirt that says, sheep happen.

There's a little play on words there that I cannot

expound at this very moment.

Don't be offended. I love you.

James one, fourteen and fifteen. But each person is tempted

when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin,

and sin, when it's fully grown, brings forth death. You

know how you stop this process. You know how you

stop that desire. You flush the thought that it started with.

It starts with a thought. Every cycle of defeat in

your life right now started with stinking thinking right here,

and you're like, oh, that's a brilliant idea, And all

of a sudden you realize that wasn't the great idea

that you thought it was. Any time we try to

preserve our life, we're going to lose it. Every thought

that you have of self preservation is going to bring loss.

But to the degree that you lose your life, it's

going to bring life. Because the doorway into the Kingdom

is crucifixion. We cannot forget that. We have to surrender

into freedom James one, sixteen and seventeen. Do not be deceived,

my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift

is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights,

with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change.

You know what I pray that the place that we

all get into is that when the poop hits the fan,

we're like, thank you Jesus, because it says gift, thanks

and all things. Lord, thank you that I'm a threat. Lord,

thank you that I'm a threat to darkness. Lord, thank

you that the reality of that attack just exposed the opposite.

It's always opposite day in the kingdom, right, you die

to live and.

You give.

All the principles with the measure you use that's measured back.

Are you all with me?

It's it's paradox paradoxical. You can have an opposite day

when you feel like punching somebody in the face. You don't,

that's opposite day. But it's so important that we come

into the reality to know when good gifts are coming

and we're not getting good gifts.

We know what to do with it.

We have to mourn with hope, and right now we're

walking through a mourning season over our region. It says,

But in Matthew five four, blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted. Matthew five four. Don't give

up your hope in the midst of mourning. And I

know that may be difficult, because I know some of

the things people are mourning right now.

Morning. It doesn't feel great.

But we have these promises of the Lord because of

his goodness, that he's working all things together for our good.

Every single thing is.

Being worked together for our good right now. And in

the midst of walking through all of these things over

the last couple of months, you may not feel it.

It doesn't make sense. We're in the tension of the unknown.

And yet we can hold on to the goodness of

God and to his eternal promises that he's working everything

together for our good and his glory. Every single thing,

every time, and every way in which the enemy overplayed

his hand in your life, He's working those things together

for your good. Every sin, every act of spirit is

stupid that you've done, He's working together for your good.

Can I get an aim in?

Yeah, You wake up every morning and his mercies are

new every morning. His mercies are new, and he's with

you in the valley. He's walking with you through the

darkest moments of your life. He is there, and even

when you can't feel him, you have the promise of

his word that he's with you, and you have the

comfort of his words.

You can pray his word.

You can strengthen yourself and the Lord, like David, by

recounting the testimonies of every time he showed himself strong

on your behalf, every time that he's come through. You

strengthen yourself with that. You feed on the testimonies of Jesus.

David said in the Psalms that he had more wisdom

him and his counselors because he meditated.

On his testimonies, the testimonies of the Lord.

So the next time the enemy overplays his hand, meditate

on what God has done. The next time you have

an accusation of the enemy, meditate on the opposite whatever

he's accusing you of. You automatically know the opposite is true.

Right, y'all seem.

Really excited about this right now, Like, please hold back

the excitement. Okay, y'all are getting out of control. Mourning,

so I want this is important. Mourning is the expression

of deep sorrow for someone who's died. For instance, Grief

is the emotion and physical response to loss. Grief and

mourning are related but distinct concepts. Grief is the internal

emotional experience of loss, while mourning is the outward expression

of that grief. Grief is a feeling in a mourning

I'm sorry. Grief is a feeling, and mourning is the

way you show it are In other words, grief actually

points to the depths of your love for something you lost.

So the deeper the grief, the greater the love you

have for what you lost. And grief is unexpressed loss.

So you need to take your grief to the Lord,

give that grief a voice so that you don't get

stuck in the morning process.

Does that make sense?

So we don't talk a ton about grief and mourning

in the church, right, we don't, not not into that depth.

And all of a sudden, here we are fast forward six,

you know, five six weeks into this thing, and literally,

guess what, uh tybees? Back to school hunt starts this Wednesday.

H Ingram High School starts Monday, and we're we're gonna

pray over all the kids. But there's one way in

and one way out to hunt, and there's a daily

reminder of that landscape and how it's changed, and that

is traumatic. We are mourning as a community.

Some of y'all.

We're already and well, we were all actually in mourning

even before this hit. And it's like this past Monday

and the staff meeting, we realized that none of us

had slowed down enough yet to even really begin to process.

To even give voice to that grief.

And the next thing, you know, we spent thirty thirty

five minutes as a staff boohooing and it was beautiful

and we just opened up and.

Talked and cried and.

We were able to process. God's doing a beautiful thing

right now in this moment. But make no mistake, there's

massive heartache that we've gone through and we're walking through.

And it's so important for us because it's clear.

Scripture is clear.

About the enemy comes at a more opportune time, and

this is one of those times where we have to

be very conscious of the reality that the enemy is

going to want to come at us. You married couples,

you all been snappier with each other lately a little

bit sometimes, Yeah, Lisa and I have been a little

grumpy pants with each other a little bit here in

the last few.

Weeks, I mean this last week, man.

It was brutal, like, oh my goodness, brutal and grieve

me as a pastor grieving on multiple levels, with multiple

different things and families going through crisis, and because all

that stuff keeps going even in the midst of us

with the recovery Isaiah sixty one. The spirit of the

Lord God is upon me. You need to personalize this, y'all.

Every one of you need to personalize this scripture. The

spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the

Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to Kerville.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of

the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the

year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance

of our God, to comfort all who.

Mourn in our region.

Give me a little freedom here, I'm ad libbing to

grant to those who mourn in Kerrville and beyond, to

give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. We've got

a dear friend that lost her childhood home right next

to the Casabanita cabins.

All that's leftist, two.

Foundations where her home was and where her garage was,

And she lost her sister and brother in law and

her sister's best friend.

Words don't make that go away.

When you lose, when you lose children, you lose spouses,

you lose loved ones.

You you hear all the stories of loss.

But blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

And if you're stuck in your morning process this morning

because you're afraid to mourn, you will be blessed when

you mourn, because the comforter is with you. And if

you take the bait and you suppress your mourning, it

will absolutely come back up later with a vengeance. Y'all.

It's not fun. Nothing's fun about mourning. Nothing's fun about grief.

But he gave us so many promises so that he says,

in this life you will have trouble. I always say

that should have been like capitalized big red, like just

one page, Jesus, in this life you'll have trouble. Nothing

else right, just that focal point on that page, because

it is there are moments where you're wondering if you're

gonna make it another day. And I can only imagine

when Jesus was in the garden literally praying and sweating

blood for us, and he says, Lord, if there's any

other way to redeem them, this is what he's talking about.

If there's any other way, Let's do it, Lord, any

other way. But nevertheless, not my will, Your will be done.

Surrender is the first step to freedom. It's always surrender.

That's always the first step. It's always the first step

to healing. It's always the first step to forgiveness. And

only you can make that choice in your own heart.

Where are you stuck this morning? Wherever you're stuck, you

need a greater revelation of God's goodness. Where you ticked

off this morning, you need a greater revelation of His goodness.

Where are you stuck with unforgiveness? You need a greater

revelation of His goodness. And that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us. We have been totally forgiven. So

we must totally forgive. So His spirit is upon us,

and it's upon us for others in this moment, and

we're called to preach the good news to everybody around us.

He's sent you to see.

The broken hearted healed, to see those in captivity set free,

and to see those that have been put into the prison.

You'd rip those stick in prison doors off in the

name of Jesus and say, come out, because this is

your calling over your life, every one of you.

And to comfort all who mourn.

To grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give

them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of

gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of

a faint spirit. I can't tell you how many times

people have come back to us over the weeks and

they're like, hey, you prayed for us, and when you prayed,

I feel different. Still, y'all, that's how it's supposed to work.

You're not supposed to pray for somebody. And they're like, man,

I feel worse. I wish you never prayed for me.

That's not how that's supposed to work. It says taste

and see the Lord is good. It says they will

be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord,

that he may be glorified. And when we have this

divine exchange from Isaiah sixty one and we begin to

go out with a mandate, which that is Isaiah sixty one.

It's part of our mission see the heal the broken heart.

That is part of our mission that is pulled from

our vision that the Lord's given.

Us over this region.

And when we do this, then we get to do

something that's amazing and so fitting in this moment, and

that's this. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they

shall raise up former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities.

They will repair Kerville, they will repair Center Point, they

will repair fill in the blank, the devastation of many generations.

So not only do we get to see the literal

county rebuilt, the literal homes rebuilt, literal build business is rebuilt,

but we have this invitation of the Lord in this

moment to see generations restored, to see generational curses broken,

to see families that have been destitute to actually come

to know the Lord, and generational curses stop right then

and there, and they're bloodlined.

This is the scripture, This is.

The spirit of the Lord is upon you to preach

the good news because every one of you has been

given the eternal Gospel of the Kingdom. That is the

power under salvation for everyone. And right now, all eyes

all over this country have been on this region, and

people are coming from all over the place. People are

being drawn right now to come and help, and they

don't even understand. But the bigger revelation of it, the

greater reality, is that the Holy Spirit is drawing these

people for a divine purpose to get the eternal Gospel

into them so that their lives can be transformed and

they go back to their regions and begin to multiply.

Like we don't even have to go anywhere right now, y'all.

We're building in our backyard and people are coming. Do

you realize this, Like this is an invitation of the Lord.

This is you getting to see the justice of God

come back into our region. Romans twelve fifteen says, rejoice

with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep,

And literally it feels like a roller coaster scripture right now,

like the reality of this, because we're rejoicing with so

many people who've shared so many testimonies of how God

has literally miraculously saved their lives. We're listening to one

story the lady literally was in a chair and the

floods came up in her house and shot her through

the house, and had she gone right instead of left,

she would have gone under this furniture and it would

have drowned her. Instead, she was shot down the shot

through the house, shot left down the hallway, and she survived,

and she recognized the hand of the Lord on her life.

And we're hearing all of these, all of these testimonies

of the Lord and his mercy, and then you turn

around and you and you, and you hear a testimony

of loss, complete loss, and so on one hand, you're

rejoicing with people that are being spared and they're here

and and they're so thankful.

You know. It's interesting.

Julie Alexander, our administrative assistant, said something that really clicked

with me Friday. She goes, you know, justin all the

people that are calling and filling out applications for financial help, which,

by the way, we're handing out about four hundred thousand

dollars in cashiers checks over fifty some families Monday and Tuesday.

So we.

After that, we are we are literally paused again praying

for another influx of cash because we have another stack

of at least twenty five families, and they're coming in daily.

But we have been able to be a part of

giving out roughly six hundred and seventeen thousand dollars into

the flood victims.

But she said, you can tell she goes. You can

see she goes. It's she goes.

It's so so funny, not in a funny way, but

she's like all the families that have legitimately been affected.

They're so humble, they're so gracious for the help. And

the ones that are trying to be scam artists, they're

very demanding and prideful and arrogant. I said, well, yeah,

I said, because the motive of the heart cannot hide.

And he's the one that tries. He's the one that

tries the reins of our hearts.

Right.

And so the people that come in, all puffed up

and arrogant and demanding, we find out that their story

is hogwash, crapola, sheep ula. But bless them, Like, what

in the world's happened to them that they would be

willing to go that low in life in a moment

like this?

Whoo not good Luke six twenty one to twenty three.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will

be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep, now, for you

shall laugh. It says, though weeping endures for a night,

joy comes in the morning.

Y'all, we will get through the morning.

We may walk with a limp, but we will get

through it, and we will be able to minister to

those in the future that have gone through things, and

will be better equipped to be able to minister the

heart and compassion of the Lord to those. You know,

Lisa and I were a couple of nights ago we

were watching I watch YouTube. I don't have cable, and

I was watching a show and it was I don't

know if it was grease or what, and it's just

this beautiful mountains and the city. You know, the town

is built into the edge of the of the mountain

and the ocean. And literally we're both sitting there thinking,

I wonder if that would flood.

And we were not.

Kidding because after what we just went through, everything you

think about changes. That week before last, when we were

at the beach for a couple of days.

Trying to get some rest. Two hours after we were

there on.

Monday, that's think an apocalyptic sandstorm hit us.

And I was just like, are you kidding me?

And then you just you view things differently, And of

course it doesn't help now that every time it rains

they automatically put the flood warning up. Nowepp, we will

get one sixteenth of an inch, there is a possibility.

And I'm like, y'all, but because of the trauma, it's

a trauma response. You have a hypervigilance, You're you're viewing

things different because trauma hard wires Thank you, there we go,

I'm back. It hard wires the brain until that's healed.

You have that neural pathway that goes straight to that memorial.

You understand. That's what trauma's like.

When you have trauma in your life, it is a

loop on a subconscious level that's playing NonStop.

That's why you have anxiety.

Remember those old Fisher Price tape recorders way back in

the day, So I was. I had a little Fisher

Price tape recorder. My grandmother and mom and all their girlfriends.

They would play cards, right, they would gamble, okay, And

I was like four or five years old, maybe kindergarten,

and I understood very quickly that whoever didn't make it

to the card game that night was the one that

got trashed.

They were trash talk them, I mean like a boss.

So I thought, you know what, I think they should

learn that how they sound, because this is probably they

probably don't realize how they sound talking about their friends.

So at five years old, I take my Fisher Price

tape recorder and I record all their conversation for like

fifteen minutes. And then the next day I go to

my grandma and my mom is there and I hit play,

and I think it was like my grandmother trash talk

and whatever friends. Now I didn't get a whipping. I

had to erase it, you know. But the point is literally,

with trauma, it's like a tape playing over and over

and over. And what happens is when we go back

to traumatic moments without Jesus, it's torment. But the hook

is that if we keep going back to this place,

somehow we will figure out how to get out of

that pain, not understanding that the way out of that

pain is that we surrender our life to the Lord

Jesus in that place of pain and allow him to

come in and heal and bring truth. So any place

that any traumatic event that you go back to without him,

you will continue to be tormented in that place in

your heart and mind because it becomes a memorial in

the mind because it hard wires. And that's what we're

gonna address here in a minute. We are literally gonna

do a corporate mini session to address trauma and grief.

Y'all with me, y'all want you wanna upgrade a peace?

Would y'all like an upgrade of peace?

Okay?

But it says, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are

you who weep? Now for you shall laugh? Blessed or

you when people hate you, and when they exclude you

and reval.

You, whoa.

And spur your name is evil on account of the

Son of Man, rejoice in that day and leap for joy.

That's what it says, y'all. I mean, I know I

didn't jump high, but.

Leap for so their fathers did to the prophets, Can

you hold on to hope in the midst of loss?

Can you hold on to the reality of the goodness

of God and type grip it and no matter what

comes your way, and not let go of the reality

of who He is and who He desires to be

for you, because your ability to discipline your disappointments and

stay focused on the reality of the very character and

nature of God, and know that He's working on the

behalf of those who wait for him. Whether you see

it or feel it or not, is gonna determine the

longevity of your relationship with Him in the days ahead.

Where's Micah? Can I my son?

Micah?

Can I get you on the keys? Okay?

I want y'all to just close your eyes for a minute.

I'm gonna describe some things to you, and then I

want you to mark as I begin to describe these

the fruit of this whatever resonates with your soul. I

want you to stay in that place, Okay.

Intrusive memories.

Memories that come back to you that you don't want

them to come back. Intrusive memories startle response. Maybe it's

the ambulance, Maybe it's the fire truck. Maybe it's a

state trooper with the sirens and you startle. I don't

know about you all, but every time I hear helicopters

and sirens lately, I know where my mind has.

Gone to.

Shame or self hatred, panic attacks, emotionally overwhelm, chronic pain

or headaches, eating disorders, substance abuse, self destructive behaviors, little

or no memories, hypervigilance, disassociation, depression, irritability, loss of interest, numbing, insomnia,

decreased concentration, hopelessness. This all points back to unresolved trauma.

That's what happens when trauma comes.

So just right now, Jesus, would you, by the power

of your spirit, begin to meet with every single person

in this room right now, exactly where they're at.

Lord, what resonated with them? Lord?

Would you bring that part of their soul, the very

core of who you created them to be. Lord, Bring

that part forward, Lord, right now, And I ask that

you would meet with them, Lord, that you would exchange

the lies and the hopelessness, and the trauma and the pain, Lord,

the buried grief because they didn't know how to process

the deep loss, And that you would begin to minister

to their heart's Lord right now, that you would minister

to their minds.

Lord, that you.

Would remove trauma, because trauma must go now in the mighty.

Name of Jesus. Grief you must release.

Right now, And I break memorials of torment off the

minds of these people right now, in the mighty name

of Jesus, and I say, no more torment. The fiery

darts must come out of their minds right now. In

Jesus' name, Lord, I asked that you would expose the

lies that have held them back and kept them in

so much pain, and kept them stuck in cycles of defeat. Lord,

that you would break panic, that you would break depression

right now in this moment, Lord, that you would just

begin to literally hover over every single person in this room,

and that you would bring order out of chaos, Lord,

because the chaos has to leave, that the very shalone

would begin to permeate their minds and their hearts right

now in this moment, Lord. For the ones that are

struggling to forgive, right now, in this moment, Lord, I

thank you for the grace to forgive. For the ones

that are saying, what is the point of this? I

have done this so many times. I have thought I

forgave this person so many times, and every time I

see him, I want to strangle them.

Lord, shown the lies are still believing. Show them what's upholding.

That false shield over their heart. But you don't know

what they did to me. You don't know the amount

of pain that I've carried. You're right, Jesus does, and

I know the amount of pain that he went through

to redeem you. And you no longer have a right

to be wounded. You have a right to behold. Lord,

I asked that you would break spirits of addiction in

this place right now, that you would reach in and

rip out every spirit of addiction in this room that

has come to steal, kill and destroy against these people.

Right now, Lord, that the vengeance of God, the justice

of God, would flow this morning with power and authority.

We say not on our watch. The enemy doesn't get

the last word in this region. The enemy doesn't get

the last word in your bloodline. The enemy doesn't get

to continue to steal, kill and destroy and keep you

in a place of hopelessness. Because the God of Hope

is here and he wants to bring healing and restore hope.

He wants to lift trauma, he wants to lift grief,

he wants to lift depression. He wants to break self hatred.

So Lord, for those that have a hard time remembering,

remove the fear of remembering again. Lord, break the disassociation

that has helped people literally stay trapped and checked out. Lord,

break it in the mighty name of Jesus. Right now, Lord,

I'm asking for miracles this morning. I'm asking that you

reach in and literally bring healing. Lord, I'm asking that

you would heal diseases this morning, that you would heal

chronic pain, that you would open back up and restore healing,

hearing in the name of Jesus.

Lord, right now, that people all.

Over this room would experience your presence in ways they

have never even dreamed possible. That you would invite them

into dreaming with you. That you would restore their ability

to dream again. That they would give their ashes to

you and you would give your beauty to them this morning,

Lord Father, that you would lift every burden in this

room right now, that every single person would walk out

of here feeling light as a feather because of who

you are and what you've done. That you would glorify

your name Jesus this morning, Lord breaks self pity, deliver

them from a victim's spirit in the name of Jesus,

and remind them who they are and you why they're

here at this point in history. Remind them who you

created them to be.

Not what the enemy wants to say they are.

Restore hope restore hope, Restore hope, restore hope, restore hope.

Let us taste and see that you are a good Lord,

and your mercy endures forever. Establish an unquenchable fire for

you inside of every one of us.

Lord.

And Jesus Mighty name, Amen. Yeah, h.

Who feels lighter, Who doesn't know what they feel? Who's

going what just happened,