The Process of Sustained Change

I want to kind of work on a problem today that actually Jesus gives us some really practical help with.

But I think it's something that all of us have had happen in our lives, and maybe uh some of us more than others, but uh something that that that I see and it really has bothered me.

You know, uh people ask me from time to time, how do you come up with your messages and what how do you decide what you're gonna talk about?

And uh there's a variety of ways I kind of end up there, but one is I just I I watch and I listen and I look at where the struggle is and where the challenges are, and I go to God's word and I'm like, Lord, what do you have to say to us about this?

And one of the things I've noticed is um is the the phenomenon where somebody will come to a a church service and they will essentially have a divine encounter.

It's uh an intersection of their life and God's word.

And maybe you've been in a time where you you showed up at a service, and man, it was like whoever was talking, it's like they were talking right to you.

It was like they had been reading reading your text messages, or uh maybe someone had had asked them to talk about something.

It was almost like they'd been maybe even reading your mind, and so you you felt very seen.

Um you you felt very hopeful.

In fact, maybe you showed up feeling hopeless, and yet through the course of that opening of God's word and and some of the things that were said, it was just too much to be an um a coincidence.

And and so there was something that was birthed in you, there was uh an optimism, there was a hope, and maybe it was even emotional.

Maybe you found tears running down your your cheeks, and and so you're bursting at the seams, and so it's like this breakthrough moment.

And and of course you hear a scripture like anyone who's in Christ is a new creation.

The old is gone and the new is here, and so you're going, This is this is that, and and I'm hitting the reset button today, and I'm believing, hope for the future.

And so maybe you even make uh uh uh proclamations and deals with God, and Lord, I'm gonna I'm gonna do this, and you're so sincere, very sincere, and you leave uh the auditorium or you leave the moment, and so you are very sure that the old is behind you and now it's a new thing, and and so then you start living it out, and and then at some point you encounter regression.

So it's like maybe you took two steps forward and then you took a step back, and that's demoralizing.

You know what's even more demoralizing?

Taking one step forward and two steps back, right?

It's one thing to go back to where you were, but some of us have gone forward only to go not just back to where we were, but to a worse place.

And so if you've had that happen a few times and you start to recognize that pattern, it can be tremendously discouraging.

And of course, it gives the enemy a foothold in your mind to be able to say, you see, it would you just got emotional.

You you see, uh, it's just a uh uh superstition.

It it's not, it doesn't last.

Or maybe to talk to you about you.

See, you are incapable of change.

It's only a matter of time before the other shoe drops.

It's only a matter of time before you go back to failure because that's what you are.

And so it gives this foothold and it gives us a body of evidence uh to be able to often uh stay stuck in lies and and to not get out of what we want to get out of, not break through what we want to break through.

Um, Jesus talks about this, by the way.

In Mark chapter 4, um starting in verse 14, uh Jesus, by the way, it says in I this won't be up on the screen, but Mark 4, 34 says that Jesus never taught publicly without using parables.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

And then it said after he would use parables or allegories or metaphors, he would take those and he would sit down with his disciples and he would explain.

Here's what I meant by that, and here's what I meant by that.

And so a lot of Jesus' metaphors dealt with the economy of the day.

So he would, there was a lot of agricultural uh metaphors because they were in agrarian society.

And so uh here's one of those.

In Mark 4, this is earlier, Jesus gives the uh parable, and then this is him explaining it to his disciples in verse 14.

He said, A farmer plants seed by taking God's word to others.

So it's uh he talks about a farmer scattering seed.

So, like, for example, right now I'd be like a farmer and I'm putting seed.

What's the seed?

The seed is the word of God, and so a farmer throws out seed, I'm throwing out seed right now, and you, the listener, are like soil.

And so he says, you know, the seed is good, it's good, it has all the potential in the world to produce a harvest, but sometimes it doesn't produce a harvest, even though the word is good.

Why?

Because of the soil.

So it's really a parable about what type of soil we are.

Okay?

So look at this, verse 15, it says, The seed, some of the seed fell on a footpath, which represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away.

In other words, they heard something, it was true, but it didn't set them free because they didn't cling to it.

At some point, a temptation uh overtook them, or at some point um a fear overtook them.

Something the enemy uh got into their ear, uh started reminding them of a lie, something happened, and so it was snatched away.

The second is uh, it says in uh verse 16 another type of seed on rocky soil, rocky soil.

So picture the footpath, there was not really no soil, it was just rock, but this is soil, there's some soil, some rock, and it represents those who hear the message.

Look at this, immediately receive it with joy.

So they heard the message, they're like, Yes! That's that's a word, that's a word for me.

Thank you, God.

I I feel seen, I feel like you, I feel hope.

Now look at this.

But since they don't have deep roots, they don't last long.

Watch this.

They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God's word.

Uh the soil took a little bit, it started to grow, and they were emotionally excited, pumped up, feeling optimistic, goosebumps, adrenaline rush, but once the feelings went away, the roots were so shallow, the whole thing gets uprooted.

And I see this oftentimes, and it's it's people, even smart people, even like grown-ups that somehow believe that if I follow Jesus and I have a moment in a service that out of here it's gonna be like a Disney fairy tale where we all live happily ever after, and every stoplight's gonna be green, and and my my husband and I, or my wife and I prayed together and we cried together, and so we're gonna leave, and we're not gonna trigger one another anymore.

And there's not gonna be any more fights and there's not gonna be any more tension, and and and we're okay, uh what what are you what are you talking about?

What are you talking about?

Paul talks about this.

He says, hey, if we're destitute or persecuted or in pain, does it mean that God no longer loves us?

He's like, of course not.

Of course not.

Um, okay, I I've had people ask me from time to time, because you know, I have two boys both on the autism spectrum.

I've had people ask me, were you mad at God?

Were you mad at God?

No, honestly, I wasn't mad at God.

I wasn't mad at God.

I don't think that because I love Jesus, I'm a relatively good dude, and I preach God's word that somehow the Ford family now gets a pass on hardships.

Okay?

No, I don't, I don't, I wasn't mad at God.

I was a little confused on some things like why God has the antidote to autism and he's not giving it to my son no matter how much I pray, it made me question some things and wrestle some things about prayer.

It made me wrestle some things about his goodness, it made me ask him for a greater perspective.

What it actually did was drove my roots deeper, my faith deeper.

So if you have shallow roots and you think that that you're exhilarated emotionally because that word was for you, and then you're gonna walk out, and now it's all gonna be harmonious.

You have shallow roots, and the moment the feeling gets bad, you you you cave in.

Let's keep going.

Verse 18 it said, then some of the seed fell on thorns, thorns, which represent, look at this, those who hear God's word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth and the desire for other things so that no fruit is produced.

In other words, while I was focused on it, I could see the perspective.

I had a much bigger view, I had a divine perspective.

Once I left, I got back to work.

I lost track of what happened yesterday.

I just moved on.

I had a deadline staring me in the face.

I had a problem I had to solve, I had something.

Life got busy, and all of a sudden I started going back to maybe some shallow priorities, and I lost a big perspective because the tyranny of the urgent.

Something important's in your face, and so now I'm focused on that, and I lose my bearings as to the bigger picture, the message that God, the thing God did just yesterday or the day before.

Okay.

So that's how we end up regressing.

Verse 20 says, but then there was this seed, it fell on good soil, it represents those who hear and accept God's word and produce a harvest of 30, 60, even a hundred times as much as been planted.

Well, we're all like, Yeah, I want to be that one, right?

I don't want to be the footpath, I don't want to be the rocky soil or the th thorny soil, I don't want things crowding it out, or I don't want to be shallow or whatever.

How would I go about doing this?

Okay, Jesus goes on.

If you keep following the flow of Mark 4, he gets to verse 26, and Jesus says, uh, the kingdom of God, uh, this is what the kingdom of God is like.

A man scatters seed on the ground, night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

All by itself, the soil produces grain.

In other words, there's some of this that's somewhat mysterious, it's a work of God.

And but look at this, he says, first the stalk, then the head, then the then the full kernel in the head, and as soon as the grape is ripe, he puts a sickle to it because a harvest has come.

What he's describing to them is something that would have been very, very logical to them, which was when you plant a seed in the soil, that's an event.

It connects to the soil, but it doesn't become a harvest overnight.

That there's still work to be done.

Um, I spent more time on farming websites this week than I normally do.

And I came to you today with a diagram.

So go ahead and check this out.

This is off of one of the farming websites, okay?

A little diagram.

Okay, and what what we see here is an event like this, the words going forward, some of you today, God's gonna speak something to you about you, and if you're fertile soil, that seed hits and it starts to grow, but you can't even see it yet.

Come on, we're in Ohio.

You've been by a field with corn, you've been by a field with wheat, right?

You know what this is.

They they plant, they scatter the seed, and the field just looks like a big empty field, but it's alive.

If you'll stick around to the 4th of July, you'll find it'll be knee high.

Come on, somebody.

Knee high by the 4th of July.

That's not word, but it'll preach.

You know what I'm saying?

You can't just, the day you plant it, you don't expect to harvest.

It's gonna take some time, some cultivation, some consistency, some patience.

It's gonna take some more work.

And so the seed is planted in your mind, in your hearing, and yet then the stalk, which ultimately the stalk feeds nutrients, right?

There are leaves that come off, which are part of photosynthesis.

Eventually, something new forms.

You you gotta think about this when you hear anyone who's in Christ is a new creation.

Because often what God will do is he'll ignite something or he'll connect seed to soil, but he'll give you a vision of a harvest.

But the harvest doesn't just happen.

You can see the harvest, but the harvest is not yet here.

It's gonna take a while.

The stalk has to feed nutrients, the leaves have to do photosynthesis, and ultimately a new creation forms at the top of this crop that eventually can be harvested and ultimately bring a return.

Okay, well, what does this look like in the life of a believer when you're in a moment like this and the seed of the word hits your heart?

What does this growth process look like?

It starts with see it.

See it.

There are some truths, some truths that are hiding in plain sight.

And in moments like this, often there will be something as you slow yourself down and make yourself receptive to what God would say.

There are moments like this, if you could see it, light bulbs are going on in the room.

Light bulbs, God's showing you something.

He's showing you something, he's showing you maybe a lie you've been believing, he's showing you a pattern that you need to shake, he's showing you uh something, a belief that needs to be revisited, something's you see it.

Once you see it, then there's a process of believing it.

This this is one of the issues I think with a lot of people, especially if you've been around church a while, is you start to learn the right answer.

And just because you know the right answer doesn't mean you believe it.

Just because you can answer with it, and you you can answer with it with chapter and verse, like you know you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

But do you believe it?

Like, I mean, I know that's the right answer.

But do you believe it?

I know I'm the head and not the tail, but I feel like the tail.

I I know that the spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of me.

Do I believe that?

Then why do I always feel like I'm at such a disadvantage?

If I've got the spirit that raised Jesus up out of the grave, is pumping through my veins?

Why am I acting like I'm a second-class citizen?

Why do I slump my shoulders when I walk in the room?

Why do I have all these self-defeating things about what I can't do if I actually believe that?

I mean, you know the right answer.

Greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world.

I just don't know if you believe it.

I know you know it.

I know you can quote it.

We can do that.

Do you believe it?

So to go from I see it, I see it, I see it, I felt like I had no value, and then I see that I'm God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, to do the good work that He planned for me to do long ago.

If I believe I need to believe it, and this is a problem, is because for many people, the actual crops that are growing up in your mind are things that have been there a long time.

Some things that were planted directly and some indirectly.

Somebody told you you weren't valuable, maybe they literally said that, or they showed you by their behavior you had no value.

So this God's masterpiece, which one are you?

A mistake or a masterpiece?

Which one?

Uh am I the righteousness of God?

Did God make Jesus who had no sin to be sinned for me that I might become the righteousness of God?

Or am I the sum total of my failures?

So you gotta go from uprooting the lie, because by the way, this whole process of seed, stalk, head, harvest, James talks about this in James chapter 1 when he says he says, temptation is like a seed.

James 1 · chapter mention

And when it grows, it leads to sinful action, and sinful action, when it's fully formed, produces a harvest of death.

So there's all kinds of things that can grow up in a harvest, and this is why often people feel the exhilaration of the event of the seed hitting the soil, and they feel something alive beneath the surface, but they don't take it all the way to harvest.

And so they walk out and they allow the cares of life and things to crowd it out, and you see what I'm saying?

Past behaviors, lies that the enemy puts in your head, to now those lies have given you a body of evidence that gives you something you believe, and so that the seed has no place to grow.

So I gotta go from seeing it to believing it to living it.

To live it.

So if I see it and I believe it and I live it, oh now I gotta play on words here, then I have it.

Come on.

Come on, help me out, help me out.

I'm a dad, a little dad joke here and there isn't gonna hurt anybody, okay?

Look at this Philippians 4, 8 and 9.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.

In other words, the seeds of truth.

But you gotta fix your thoughts on it.

You gotta see it, you gotta believe it, you gotta repeat it.

Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable.

Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Verse 9, look at this.

Keep putting into practice all that you learned and received.

Live it.

Keep living it, and eventually it becomes a habit.

And so if I'll see it, I'll believe it, I'll keep repeating it, I'll keep living it, and it turns into a habit, then I become it.

We tend to expect going right from see it to become it.

I see the vision, now I am the vision.

I see the healing, now I am the healing.

I see the transformation, I am the transformation.

Romans 12, 2.

Do not be conformed to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing.

Renewing of your mind.

You think renewing of your mind was that one time at that one service when you saw the light?

No, man.

That's like tomorrow.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, three times a day, five times a day, ten times a day.

However, many you need to plant a new field that produces a new harvest.

So this is I'm tired of watching the enemy snatch up people's seeds.

I'm so tired of it.

I'm so sick of it.

I can't, I can't see it one more time.

Of somebody who allowed it to be crowded out and then went back and said, Oh, it was bad seed.

Oh, au contraire, it was not bad seed.

The seed was fine.

The word is true, but the truth doesn't set you free unless you let it get all the way up and grow full grown.

And by the way, you are not a bystander in this process.

Yeah, there's some mystery in the soil.

Yeah, there's some ecosystem things that God makes happen and it's all Him.

But God expects you to participate in your own growth if you don't keep the thorns out and the rocks out and you don't fix your thoughts.

I mean, Paul takes a lot of time here to explain to us how we need to be thinking and doing so that this thing can grow to full maturation.

Okay?

Okay, I'm gonna share a story.

It's a little embarrassing, but it's true, and this is really how this has really helped me.

This is my journey with it.

Just don't judge me.

And and um, and and please uh, you know, take me out of the story at the end and put you in because this is about you.

Okay, so um when I was growing up as a kid, I had a little issue with my temper.

I would go off, I would get upset, I started a young age, and and so when I was little, it would manifest in like Super Mario Brothers.

You know, I'm playing, I'm ticked off because I died or whatever, and I throw the controller across the room or something, right?

I would get in fights in the schoolyard and all these different things.

And so um, generally a good kid, but for the most part, I I was good, but I would have these outbursts, these temper issues.

As I got older, it got a little more serious because you're getting bigger and now the fights are getting bloodier and you got this kind of stuff.

And I went off to college my freshman year to play football at a school here in Ohio called Mount Union.

I was there, and while I was at school, I got away from home, wasn't really in the word, wasn't going to church, I was just kind of doing my own thing, and I started getting into partying quite a bit, I was drinking quite a bit, and so I would I would end up in a fight.

Like every time I went out to a bar or a nightclub or a fraternity party or something, it was like nine times out of ten, I ended up in some fight.

To the point that my coach calls me in and he's like, My man, I don't know what you think you're doing, but I keep finding out, I keep hearing you're getting in fights, you need to figure this out.

It was a problem.

And so uh that summer after my freshman year, uh, I gave my life to Christ and I felt led to do what I'm doing now.

I didn't see all this, but I just felt led to go in that direction.

So my expectation was a new vision for my life.

If anyone's in Christ, They're a new creation, and I just assumed that I would go from ruffian to gentleman overnight.

And so I was a bit surprised while I'm in Bible school learning how to preach and how to serve and how to do all this.

That I still wanted to fight people.

And I'll tell you, like I I wanted to act it out physically.

Also, I'm a verbal dude.

And I know some really colorful things I can say.

And so here I am.

I'm in Bible school.

I'm studying the Bible.

And I played football my last three years of the school in Texas.

You know, I'd end up on a skirmish out in the field, and there's stuff coming out of my mouth, okay?

That if I told you, it would clear the place, okay?

But this stuff's coming, I'm got stuff coming out of my mouth.

Now I feel like a total hypocrite.

Like, who what am I doing?

Not only do I feel like a hypocrite, because I'm here learning, trying to become a pastor, a preacher, and I'm gonna set all this crazy stuff on the field.

But on top of that, I became very discouraged.

Like, dude, what are you doing?

This is not for you.

You can't do this.

You're a hothead, dude.

Eventually you're gonna screw this whole thing up.

It's just a matter of time.

Somebody says the wrong thing at the wrong time.

But I'm like, you know what?

It's probably all just gonna go away and melt under the heat of the gospel, you know.

Well, it didn't happen.

Didn't happen.

And so what I learned to do was kind of cope with it.

So if I was in a situation, I started to feel my blood boil, I would just evacuate, I would just disappear.

What happened to Greg?

I don't know, he's gone.

Like I would just get, I gotta get out of here because if I don't, I'm gonna do something stupid.

And so I was coping with it, but the feelings were still there.

And so I brought him all the way to Columbus, Ohio with me.

And one day, uh, you know, we we plant one church and things are going good.

And I go to preach at a church in Cleveland.

I get invited to come speak at this church.

I'm preaching in Cleveland, I'm driving down 71.

I'm minding my own business.

I think I was listening to worship music and cruise control in the fast lane, maybe three miles an hour over.

Apparently not fast enough for the guy next to me, who pulls up next to me in a pickup truck.

He gives me the finger, okay?

He mouths words that I could totally read his lips.

He had a woman in the passenger seat, and and and he just like, you know, just really attacking verbally, whatever, and then he speeds up and cuts me off.

I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no.

Not today, not today, not today.

And so I I literally I had this rage go through me, and for a few seconds, I was I was on my way to figure this out with this dude in the ditch.

I'm going up to wave him, I'm going to wave him over.

And this is God's honest truth.

I just preached in Cleveland on the Good Samaritan.

You can't make this stuff up.

The story of a man who beat up a man in the ditch, and I'm on my way to do it, you know.

And so then, as I'm on my way, I get this like moment of rational thinking, and it's like, dude, what are you doing?

This is stupid.

You have so much to lose.

You know, number one, you don't know this guy.

He might have a gun, you know, he'd kill you on the side of the road, make your kids orphans, your wife a widow, really?

For all this, for what?

And so I so then I back off, right?

And he gets away, and then I feel bad that he got away with it.

Some of you are totally judging me right now, but some of you feel very seen.

Some of you feel very seen right now.

I was, I, it was like the ultimate catch 22.

I felt bad that he got away with it.

I felt like a coward for not, you know, thrashing him and leaving him in a ditch.

And then I felt bad that I even wanted to.

And I'm like, Lord, you know my heart.

I want to be mature.

I really do.

I really, really do.

I want to be so classy.

I want to be so mature that when someone does that, I'm like, God bless them, you know.

Like, I you, God, you know my heart.

You know how bad I want to be classy.

You know how bad I just want to think, you know, I wonder what they've been through in their life, you know?

What would lead you to do that?

I'm going three over.

Come on.

Like, what's going on in that?

Like, maybe even pray for them.

I wasn't there.

I wasn't even close to there.

And so, all that to say, this landed me in a counselor's office.

And I basically explained the whole thing, and I'm like, look, I gotta find some freedom here.

Yeah, I gotta find, I'm tired of coping.

Yeah, I wanna be a I really do want to be a new creation.

Yeah, yeah.

But it but whatever I'm doing, like I'm just hoping it's gonna happen, and I'm a bystander to my healing.

I don't think so.

Like, I need to do something different.

So I'm talking to this counselor, and the counselor's like, when's the first time you felt this way?

And I'm like, I went all the way back, you know, early in life, as early as I can remember.

And she took me through a conversation of like, you know, all the way back to the origin, and I realized where it started, and then she said, Hey, well, how did you feel when that thing happened?

And I said, Well, I felt angry.

It's like, no, that's not the answer.

Angry is a secondary emotion.

What else were you feeling?

So I got all the way into where I could name it, and I named it, I felt um small, I felt vulnerable, and I felt insignificant.

So anytime somebody makes me say something or does something that makes me feel small, vulnerable, and insignificant, it triggers me.

So if you're condescending, I want to be condescending back to you.

If if you you talk down to me, I want to talk down to you even more.

If if you physically are imposing or you pose a threat, I want to ball up my fist and show you that I'm not scared, and I want to show you that I'm not small, and I want I want to show you and me.

So I get this revelation.

Didn't get it in a church service, didn't get it in a worship set, didn't get it in a Bible study, got it in the counselor's office.

It had been hiding in plain sight for almost 40 years.

So I saw it.

Did I become it overnight?

No.

I didn't even expect to wake up the next day and not ever feel triggered again.

Since from then till now, do you know how many times I've wanted to cuss somebody out?

No, I'm just being, I'm not trying to be cute.

I'm not must I've been pretty good about discipline of not doing it.

But what I'm saying is, have I wanted to?

Absolutely.

I could wear you out with stories.

Have I wanted to get physical?

Absolutely, I have.

The trigger's been there.

But once I see it now, the event, the seed hit the fertile soil because Lord, I want to be a new creation.

And I want it bad enough, I'm willing to go through the process.

Do you want it that bad?

To dig into the dark stuff, to get the true stuff, to name the stuff, so that you can put the word on it.

So think about this now.

I'm afraid of being small, and I'm afraid of being insignificant, and I'm afraid of being vulnerable.

So now I put the word on it.

What do I want to be?

I want to be honorable, I want to be great, I want to be powerful, I want to.

Those aren't bad things to want, but how are you gonna get it?

So I put the word on it.

Look at this stuff like this.

James 4 10.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, he will lift you up.

Look at James 4 and 6.

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

So now think of it.

Think of this.

If my fear is being small, and whenever I'm triggered to feel small, I power up and I fight, it would lead me into things like fighting someone on the side of a road and leaving them in the ditch.

Is is that big man behavior or small man behavior?

Small man behavior.

If every person that verbally comes at me, I just power up and enter in and get into a verbal scuffle, is that big man behavior or is that small man behavior?

That's small man behavior.

And so the very thing that I'm most afraid of becoming, my flesh is tempting me to walk into until I see a revelation and I take the word on it and I say, No, I'm not gonna power up.

I'm gonna humble myself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift me up.

I I look at Jesus, who says in the book of Luke, he says, Who's greater?

The one who sits at the table, the one who serves.

I'm among you as one who serves.

You want to be great, you feel a need to puff your chest out, you feel a need to do this?

Oh, have the discipline to humble yourself because if you'll humble yourself and serve your way out of the insignificant feeling, you'll see it, you'll believe it.

If you live it, it'll become a habit, you'll become it.

This is how you become great.

Look at this Proverbs 29, 23.

Pride ends in humiliation.

My pride was welling up out of a fear of being small and insignificant and vulnerable, and it was gonna lead me into something that was going to humiliate me.

While humility brings honor.

What do you really want?

I really want to be honorable.

I really do.

Psalm 139, 6.

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

Friend, I I just want to encourage you not to lose hope if you've had some false starts.

I want you to not lose hope if you've had seed that's planted and you felt the exhilaration of that good seed hit that good soil and something's alive.

No one can see it but me.

I can feel it.

It's beneath the surface, it hasn't even come through the soil yet.

There's no harvest yet.

I can see a vision for harvest, but if you've had a few of those that ended up with the seed getting snatched away or getting crowded out or getting choked out, today I want to offer you some real hope.

And that real hope is going to come through you actually living this thing out the way you're supposed to, and it's not that you're a bystander to your growth.

There's some things only God can do, but there's some things you can do.

And one thing you need to do is reset your expectation about what this is gonna look like.

These moments are the beginning of the breakthrough, and it's it gives you something to look at and look forward to and fix your eyes on.

But it's not done now.

You've got to go live it out.

You've got to be willing to uproot lies, you have to be willing to walk in the truth, you have to be willing to confess it and say it and repeat it and repeat it till it becomes a habit and live it when you don't feel it, but you live it anyway, and you make the right decision out of discipline.

I'm gonna discipline myself.

I really want to go off, but I'm not going to.

I really want to act out, but I'm not going to.

I really want to quit and leave, but I'm not going to.

I'm not going to do the stuff that led to the harvest that I don't want anymore.

I don't want that harvest.

I'm tired of that corn.

I'm tired of that wheat.

I don't want to eat that anymore.

I want to eat something new.

There's new seed, but you got to cultivate it all the way up to the harvest.

And so let God restore some hope in your heart.

I shared with you what was my revelation and what God illuminated in my mind.

Yours might be something around forgiveness.

Yours might be something around your value and who you are in Christ.

For some of you, it might be the lie that you're not loved or you don't matter.

Like there, there could be all kinds of things.

Go to Google and find you a verse and dig into that verse and devour that verse and eat that verse and let that verse digest into your system and become you and live it and exercise that verse day in and day out.

Pretty soon you'll have a harvest.

And you won't be surprised when that harvest comes because you've taken it all the way through from the seed hitting the soil to where it's ready to become a harvest.