Check Yourself | Part Four

Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center podcast.

Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you.

For more information on KCT and how to connect, visit us at KCC.net.

It is good to be in church.

You know, we've been going through a series, Pastor Brody and the team have been going through a series this last month on check yourself.

And it's uh taking an inventory about what's going on inside and putting us in the right perspective to so we see God's ways, right?

What God is saying and what he's doing in our lives.

And and uh, you know, this morning we have the privilege of having Pastor Sean come and he's gonna be sharing with us.

And I just want to say, you know, Pastor Sean and Val have worked in the church here for about five years or more.

And uh, how many of you have been blessed by him, by them?

Yeah.

I know that we have been as a team, I've been thoroughly blessed by their servant heart, their creativity, their heart for God.

And uh, if you want to know what Sean is like, just talk to Malachi or talk to somebody that's been touched by Sean's passion for Jesus, his passion for the word, his uh his obsession with bringing God into every dark place.

And uh we love them as a family, they uh have labored and uh here we love them so much, and I count this as a privilege.

Sean, why don't you come?

It's gonna take you a minute.

You take a minute.

You gotta sing.

I gotta sing.

Oh man, you don't want to the church will empty out, Sean, and there'll be nobody here to listen to you preach.

You know, I believe that in times like this we want to take take note and listen to what Sunshine's heart.

Um it's one thing to to minister out of uh lots of things going the way you like them to go.

How many of you pray, Lord bless me?

Huh?

How many of you pray, Lord bless me?

Every day, right?

Are we grateful for our car?

Are we grateful for our home?

Are we grateful for our house?

Lord bless me.

How many of you feel blessed?

Yeah, it's another thing to pray, Lord bless me, when nothing's going right.

Right?

It's another thing to ask the Lord for strength for today, faith for today, hope for today.

Amen.

And so we're just so blessed.

Do you need this?

Would you just stretch your hands towards the sky?

Father, we thank you for Sean.

We thank you for your messenger this morning, we thank you for the Spirit of God that rests upon him.

We thank you for the word that you have put in his heart.

And we open up our hearts this morning to receive from you through him in Jesus' name.

All right.

Good morning.

Uh I've been uh listening to always get emotional.

I've been listening to the preaching online here.

These guys are doing really good, eh?

Let's give them a clap.

I'm proud of you, man.

Um, I thought I'd just uh start by uh just doing a little um joke that I found online.

Where's that people who joke about cancer have no sense of tumor?

I uh asked the Lord to find a way to lose weight.

I'm a hundred and forty, un I've lost a hundred and forty pounds.

I think we're at the ridiculous stage now, God.

I could start uh maybe gaining um gaining some more muscle back.

Um what I've learned one thing I've learned about having cancer is that it can rob your body, but it can't rob your spirit.

And uh we mess up our spirit on our own.

Um I got uh I got some bad news I can tell you about.

I'm gonna tell you about it, because uh, you know, everybody likes to complain now and then.

Um so the bad news is is uh I have uh I got a report from the doctor that my tumors have grown.

Um I I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but the doctors say that um there's nothing really more they can do for me.

Uh I have a clogged artery, um, which is not in a main artery, thank God.

Um so we're keeping a c they're keeping a close eye out on that.

Uh I have a hernia, which is kind of an interesting thing to have.

Um uh I've been having a lot more troubles breathing.

Um I and I suffer occasionally with um pain in my liver, and uh and uh I find it hard to get out of bed sometimes and do stuff with my family.

So um the good news, here's good news.

The good news is uh the pain hasn't been consistent as consistent as it was before.

I've been seeing, I've been having some some times where you know um I'm not in as much pain.

Uh God is providing all my needs.

Um I have real we have really amazing people in our lives.

Uh some some of you are here today, just so amazing.

I have an amazing church, I've had amazing support.

Uh I've had a wonderful community around me to support me.

Um and uh, you know, when we're doing a fundraiser, we're gonna we're gonna we have a next step, which is uh, you know, a really good thing because if you don't have a place to go or a vision to go to, it's hard.

Um I just wanted to show you this slide quickly.

Um so you know, basically I have stage four.

People are always asking me, uh, you know, what kind of type of cancer do you have?

I have stage four cancer that is spread to near nearby, they say it's spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body.

So basically, my my cancer is not contained in my liver, is basically what the what the doctors are saying, and that's why I can't get a liver transplant because um the tumors are are have grown outside my liver.

So I just wanted you to get an idea of where I'm at and uh what I deal with every day.

Um and I I titled this sermon Can you can we go how to get through hard times.

And I and I know uh we want to talk about, you know, in getting through hard times, uh we dispel fear.

And I just want to start off by saying that, you know, when you get through a hard time, you can't really have fear if you're through the hard time.

And uh one thing that really uh has helped me is I'm gonna I'm gonna do points.

So for you guys from downstairs, I have seven points.

This is the number one point.

You need all seven to get your chocolate bar.

So you gotta pay attention.

Uh the number one thing is uh enjoy every moment.

I I was I was uh driving with Val, and I I just look at this picture, and it's a you know, the first thing that kind of comes to your mind is there's a guy with a knife.

But uh behind him there's a beautiful mountains.

And uh I was driving with Val one day and I was in pain.

I was mad at the traffic because my wife had to stop all the time.

I was just so angry because I was in pain.

And uh I just decided to to look at the mountains.

And you know, and I said, God, like I can take in that beauty, but I have to allow you to deal with this guy here with a knife because I really have no strength to do it.

And uh there's a great scripture um that goes along with this in Philippians 8 9.

It says, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things.

Whatever you have, sorry, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you.

If you have pain in life, I would recommend finding someone who loves you or who you love and just taking their hand and just finding joy in that moment.

Um, number two is uh, sorry, I'm giving it to you old school today.

We're going one, two, three, you know, we're just giving it to you old school.

Um number two is just deal with or recognize old habits you have let back in your life.

When I uh first got diagnosed with cancer, I have to say I did some murmuring and I did some complaining, and uh I realized that by doing that I opened up a gateway in my life again of things maybe that you know I had let back into my life, and uh, you know, we let old habits into our lives, like God, you know, may have delivered you from smoking back in the day, but all of a sudden you you are angry one day and you feel you're like, why do I feel like having a cigarette?

Right?

Or you know, God has you know relieved you of of you know alcoholism, and then years have gone by now, and you're like, well, it it won't really hurt if I go back and have that one drink.

If you have kids, I think this is a common thing that I've heard is if you have kids, and a lot of adult kids aren't really getting a revelation of who God is or a proper understanding of who God is, they have questions for God.

They're like, Who is God?

I still have questions, and we go to our kids and we're just like, you know, we really want them to catch that fire of God, but they don't.

We start questioning our own experiences as a teenager or our own experiences of Christ, saying, Did those things really happen to me?

Because they're not happening to my kids.

I don't see that revelation of God taking hold of my family like it took hold of me.

And we can start um that can start letting old thinking and old habits and old patterns back into our lives, and we need to take in in the midst of any turmoil that you're going through in your life, do not compromise on the things you know that God has done for you already.

Ephesians 4.22 is okay, we're gonna read some scripture.

I'm trying to keep on time.

Ephesians 4.22, 24, but that's this is the message, sorry.

This is a good this is a good version though.

Ephesians 4.22, 24, but there's but that's no life for you.

You learned Christ.

My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth, precisely as the as we have it in Jesus.

Since then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance.

Everything, and I do mean everything, connected with the old way of life has to go.

It's rotten through and through.

Get rid of it and take on an entirely new way of life, a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

So we've all let stuff in.

We've all let stuff in our lives.

It doesn't take much to get rid of that.

You can repent and you can start asking God's power just to come in there.

And uh, and for you kids who have questions for God and about if he's real and and about the Holy Spirit, because I mean once you've had a uh moment with the Holy Spirit changed.

Anyway, let me keep going.

Number three is don't give up.

I like the little yeah, that guy.

Again from the message Bible.

I don't know, man.

I just look them up in all versions and I'm like, this one's awesome.

So we're not giving up.

How could we?

Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, and on the inside, where God is making a new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace.

These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times.

The lavish celebration prepared for us.

There's far more here than meets the eye, and things we see now are here today and gone tomorrow, but the things we can't see now will last forever.

And I'm preaching to myself here today, too, guys.

Come on, like it's hard sometimes.

But we need to we need to practice this stuff.

Number four, there's seven points, by the way.

We're on number four, so we're doing pretty good.

Find your community.

You can't get through hard times alone.

It's biblical.

Um, humble yourself and uh, you know, be vulnerable with somebody.

Get to a place where there's someone you can trust that you can actually talk to.

And I mean, you know, you'd be surprised how hard that can be in the church sometimes.

I'm not joking.

But uh if you have to go beyond the four walls of this place and call somebody randomly, talk to a lady last week, I didn't know she got healed of cancer, I don't know her from Adam, and we ended up praying on the phone together.

So you need to be vulnerable and get your story out there.

Ecclesiastes four, nine to twelve.

This is an NIV version.

There are there are two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

But pity the fool.

Anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

Also, if the two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

My wife is definitely one of my strands.

I love her, and she's been doing such a good job.

If we can give my wife a clap.

So you need to do this one.

Number five, get negative people away from you.

Right?

And uh, you know, even though he was a little weird, Al Albert Einstein had a good quote.

He said, stay away from negative people, they have a problem for every solution.

Get them away.

If they uh if they yank your spirit the wrong way, just learn how to say, have a nice day.

Or God bless you, but go away.

Please get lost.

But have a nice day.

Proverbs 1320 says, Become wise by walking with the wise, hang out with fools, and watch your life fall into pieces.

You know, there are so many.

I know right now you can think of a person in your mind who has creativity, smarts, you know, has everything going for them.

Even the right, born the right, like, you know, they have muscles, they didn't even want muscles, they just lift their coffee cup and they have an ab.

And they just hung out with the dumb, negative people, right?

And if they weren't, there would have been so much, like there's if they just would stop, even, you know, God could just perform such their greatness, you know, and and and people like that, you know, we know we feel this there's this greatness inside of us, something that God really wants us to accomplish.

Some of us look into scripture for that.

We study scripture, we think the more scripture we can study, you know, the more closer we'll become to God and the more perfect I'll be.

Well, that it's great to study scripture.

I love it with all my heart.

I don't think it's the only thing we need to work on, right?

We need to be careful who we hang out with.

1 Corinthians 15 33 says, Do not be misled.

Bad company corrupts good character.

Number six, pray and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8 to 6.

You have Christ living inside of you.

If you've asked God into your heart before at any time in your life, you feel He's given you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And I just uh this is powerful scripture, so let's read it.

Because through Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law was powerless to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

And so he condemns sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might fully be met in us, who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Those who live according to their flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires.

But those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires.

The mind is governed by the flesh.

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit of life and peace, life and peace.

You know, and it's not boring to follow the Holy Spirit.

You know, it sounds we've made it sound in church like, oh, you know, forget the fun.

And now get on your knees and you know cry out.

Well, yeah, there's a point to that.

Yeah, we have to leave our sin behind.

But once we start actually tapping into that power of the Holy Spirit, uh that's when mountains begin to move.

And we always read that scripture.

Oh yeah, let's move mountains, but at the same time, are we, you know, are we following what the Holy Spirit is actually saying?

I don't know how many supplements I've been recommended or cancer cures.

And uh not that I'm not taking a million in one pills, I am, but not everything resonates with me.

There's been some weird stuff, man.

And not everything resonates with me.

So okay, so the last one, the last one, um, just uh to close off, and this is kind of the really important one that I've this is a really well they're all important, but this is a really important one.

Um we'll start with Psalms 13, 1 to 6.

It says, How long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle through my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Oh Lord my God, give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.

My enemy, my enemy will say, I've overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love, and my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

I want you to know that David wrote that scripture, and he wrote a lot of other psalms like that too.

And he was kind of you know a whiny baby.

And uh he was, and he he was he, I think he was angry, but he I think there were so many emotions going on when I see the different psalms that uh he wrote.

There was so much going on there.

Turmoil, uh thoughts about, you know, be better off if I was dead, that sort of thing.

But uh, and I used to always, as a pastor, my one, my one go-to all the time was it's okay to be mad at God.

It's okay.

God, God can take it.

Like God's a big God.

God can handle you being mad.

And I and I and I was always like that because I I didn't want I didn't want people to have to walk around being hypocrites, right?

I didn't want someone to have to walk around mad at God, but having to be around church people pretending they're not mad at God.

What's the point of that?

Then then we've made people if we if we're if we're always answering people with a pat answer as Christians, well, cheer up, son, because God is good, you know, or put a smile on that face.

You know, when we make our kids, I make Quintin, I'm like, you're not happy.

I am happy.

You you're not, you're you're not happy, you're not, I'm happy, and I'm like, well, then smile, and it's so hard for him to smile, but once he smiles, he's a little bit happier.

But that just doesn't deal with the whole problem.

When we treat people like that every day, we treat each other like that every day because sometimes we ask, How are you doing?

and we don't really want to know the answer.

It was we hope it's a one-word answer.

Great brother.

Oh, good, yeah, me too.

You know, but if it's any kind of other things, like, okay, we gotta schedule a coffee for this one.

Like, because you know what I mean?

People are you're you're afraid of of what you're gonna get.

And so I used to, I used to say, well, you know what, just be mad at God and and and and let it go.

But then I realized, you know, I have people in my life, it just works out simultaneously that you know, when God speaks to me sometimes, he'll speak to somebody else, and then he'll speak to somebody else, and he'll speak to somebody else, and then I'll come to you.

So God was speaking to me about this, and I realized, like, you know, through uh reading um stuff on David and Job and Jonah, who was angry with God, as he was kind of funny, these are guys in the Bible.

Um, and there's some of the other men who suffered and overcame in the Bible.

I believe the the Lord the Lord knows that uh He He does not want us to pretend that we're mad at Him uh when we are, pretend we're not mad when we are.

But uh But God doesn't want us to stay mad at Him.

And we and we really as Christians, if we want to tap into that power of God, like the Holy Spirit, if we want to actually tap into His His power, His healing power.

Uh I don't know, I've been reading some different commentaries.

There's a huge debate on this topic, but I really believe that we need to start reconciling with God and deciding this is who we're going to serve, this is who we're going to depend on, this is who we're going to believe.

And we're not gonna believe God mixed in with our own philosophies.

We're actually gonna start to believe God who has wrote these scriptures in the Bible for us and these promises in the Bible for us, because we can't comprehend sometimes why God would do this and why God would do that, and why God would allow this and allow that.

But what I've realized is that if you're tapped in, if you want to know the answers to those questions, and I believe that they're there in certain situations and for certain certain circumstances, I believe that God wants to answer your whys.

Some of you have had whys for years, it's just sitting back there.

Why did that happen?

You know what?

My faith is okay, my walk with Jesus is alright, but there's still that question back there.

Why did that God?

Or why did, or I was believing so hard for it and it didn't happen, you know, and I think we need to start resolving our issues with God and bringing those little things back around, you know, and as I did that, I did some repenting on my own because it's hard, it's hard not being mad, it's hard not being upset, it's hard not questioning God, but if you realize that if you lay that defense down, a lot of us here are very strong people.

So to lay our to lay our defense, our even to lay our beliefs down for a second and say, God, if there's something more there that I need to learn, that I need to evaluate here, I need to, I need you, God, for this.

Because I believe some of you are on the verge of your breakthrough, but you won't break through.

Because you'll still leave that question there, or you'll still leave that doubt there.

And it's not our job to doubt, it's not our job to know why all the time, it's our job to believe in the scriptures and the Bible, and believe what God says is gonna happen, and that he's gonna use a bad situation for the good.

Right?

Whatever happens.

And that's for your life.

That's not for my life, that's for your life.

God wants to, you know, you say, well, it's been too long.

I've screwed things up, I've messed things up, or I'm too down that road of disbelief.

You know, sometimes we've filled our minds with so much knowledge, but I realized that there's not much wisdom attached to that knowledge.

Do you remember that we're supposed to ask for wisdom up there?

That wisdom doesn't come from here.

Knowledge comes from here.

It's good to know some things, isn't it?

It's especially good to know some things when other people don't know it, and you're like, I know that, but you don't.

You could learn from me.

But knowledge, knowledge, but wisdom, that's how come, that's how come, even though some Christians aren't that smart at all, they still they don't go to, they don't go here for the wisdom.

They go there for the wisdom.

You know, have you ever met someone before and you're like, who does this person think they are?

And then they tell you something, like, you know, they read your mail or they tell you something profound, and you're like, where did they get that from?

Like, you're just in utter shock.

No, it's just me that that's happened to.

But uh, but they know the same God I know.

You know, they're getting their wisdom from on high.

You know how many men in here have started a job before, not you know, you go to the boss and it's like, do you know how to do this?

Yep, do you know how to do that?

Oh, yeah, I know how to do that.

You know how to do this?

Oh, sure, I got that down fat.

You got a certificate?

It's coming in the mail.

Okay, you start tomorrow, you get there, you have no idea what you're doing.

You watch the guys, you pick it up, and you go, right?

So uh wisdom comes from on high.

Um, okay, so what we're gonna do is we're not gonna do anything uh you know, super we're actually gonna, because I'm sitting, we're gonna just lower the lights here for a second.

Actually, maybe it'd be cool, Bernice, if you came up.

Is she here?

Yeah.

We're just gonna spend a moment with God, is that okay?

Together.

And uh, and there's no pressure here.

I'm gonna talk.

You can bow your heads and you can close your eyes.

And I'm just gonna say a few words over you today.

And uh if you want to agree with them, do it.

If you don't, it's okay with me too.

It's fine.

Just think about your favorite song in your head or something.

All right.

Well, God, we we come to you today, Lord, and we search our soul.

We don't really have to search that far if we're honest with ourselves.

We know where we've allowed doubt and condemnation and questioning of who you are and and and your word.

And uh, and father, we've even come up with some of our own philosophies about Christianity.

Uh, because uh there's always a YouTube video and a Google that's gonna support our weird thinking.

And uh, and so Father, we just we lay we lay that before your feet today.

And uh and we just uh some some of you can just picture just laying that at God's feet.

You know, when the when the church, when the Pentecostal church started, it was a really cool fact I learned.

When the Pentecostal church started uh back in the day, they used to come to the front and and and most of the service used to be lamenting, actually crying out uh, you know, about sin and repentance and sin of others, and just asking God to crying out and crying out and crying out, just asking God, God, come heal, heal me, you know, and and allowing people to really have that moment of vulnerability with God.

And I feel like we've lost that a bit in our own lives.

And so, Father, today we're we're just humans, we have we have big obstacles, we have problems, Lord.

But uh, we just want to say we're we're gonna just put that these things back in your hands.

And uh we're gonna begin to not not let not let the enemy distract us anymore.

We're gonna start to look at the mountains, and we're gonna start to concentrate on those, and we're gonna put our faith towards those things because ultimately our victory lies in a belief in you and knowing that you have the power through us to move any mountain in our lives.

And so, Father, we just thank you today.

We thank you, we thank you, and now we just want to thank him for his power that is now coming into you.

Thank him for the Holy Spirit that is now coming to you because you've allowed God back in that area, back in those areas again, and you're not gonna question him, you're just gonna believe in him.

And then in that in that belief, you're going we're going to see his power come and his wisdom come.

And some of those questions that you've been asking for years are going to, the answers are going to come.

The answers are gonna come in at night, the answers are gonna come through scripture, the answers are gonna come through a friend, the answers are gonna come, start to begin to unfold so that we can start to actually grab a hold of our God destiny.

And we can grab hold of the thing that God wants us to be, knowing that it's great, that it is not substandard, that it is amazing and beautiful and wonderful because that's how you've made all of us here today.

And Father, we think of our loved ones that are struggling as well.

And we pray, Lord, that revelation of your power would just fall on them.

Even right now, God, that they would know that you are with them.

Lord, that they that you that they would know that you care for them.

And I just pray for anyone here who has doubt.

I just pray, God, that you would help them.

Help them find someone they can trust, that they can trust, and that they can ask some hard questions to.

Lord, I just pray for everyone here that you would do that for them.

And that you would just surround them with the community like I've been surrounded with, even the disenfranchised people, even the ones that you know have gone off and done their own thing, but you know, something's happened and they've come back or whatever they're doing.

Lord, we just pray, Lord, your peace and your revelation and your power and the hope of community.

We pray for Pastor Dave as well, that he would rise up, that he wouldn't believe, that he would start looking at the mountains, and that he would rise up.

And for anyone else, Father, who's suffering with sickness today, that they be at peace.

And I just thank you for everybody here in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hi.

My name is Sean Lalande, and I'm Valerie and we just really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your help so far.

Our GoFundMe has raised over$28,000 in the last 10 months.

And uh my wife's gonna tell you what we've used some of the money for.

Thank you so much.

Over the last four uh 10 months, we've used the money for natural treatments, around$15,000.

Uh Sean has changed his diet to an organic diet, and we spent about$4,000 on that.

We've done some travel for medical procedures.

He had a taste procedure and clinical trial, and we spent about$5,000 on that.

And then an income supplement.

We've both been off work and are making less than half our income, so we've used the rest for that around$5,000.

Sean was diagnosed in December 2017 with stage four liver cancer, and at that time the doctors wouldn't even sign his EI forms because they said he wouldn't live longer than a couple weeks.

Uh, it's now 10 months later and he's still fighting.

Um, we've gone we've pursued the medical field for the last 10 months trying to get into clinical trials and do different things here in Canada.

But in on August 30th, after trying to go to a clinical trial, we were denied that, and um the doctors have basically said there is nothing more that they can do for Sean.

We are now asking for your help again uh to pursue what I feel is the last option of treatment.

Um we are pursuing a special uh medical facility in Mexico called Chipsa.

Um it's uh able to provide naturopathic uh treatments to shrink my tumors.

Uh the cost of the treatment is going to be$33,427 US, not including travel expenses, etc., which works out to approximately around$40,000.

And that's for three weeks, right?

A three-week treatment course?

Yeah.

And so we are increasing our GoFundMe.

Um if you see our GoFundMe is being increased, we are increasing it because I really want to fight to stay alive, and I feel like this is, after doing research, the best option uh so far.

We are a family of seven, and we I really want to fight this and uh be stage four liver cancer.

Thank you.

Again, thank you so much for your support.

Sean has been fighting hard for 10 months and wants to continue to fight.

He wants he's doing this for our family.

We have five kids.

If you can give in any way, any amount, helps.

So thank you so much.