Finding your Stronghold || Pastor Conway Edwards

Welcome to the Lesse podcast. Here at Lesse, we seek the loss,

teach the found, and send the disciples. We truly hope you're encouraged by

this week's message. Hey, it's good to have fun in church, and

we appreciate. I am so extremely excited. Last year I asked my friend

and he graciously accepted, and have been anticipating this day. You're going to

be introduced to Conway Edwards. And he's an amazing pastor in the Dallas Fort

Worth area. He's got five booming locations. He's an author, he's a

pastor amongst pastors who gives a leadership away. And you're going to be blown

away with the way he articulates the Gospel in such an amazing format that challenges

our heart and heals and delivers us. Say, a father, a father

of two, he's a husband, and you guys are just in for an

amazing, amazing treat. And by the way, we won't hold it against

him. He is from the land of Jamaica. Let's give a surrounding applause

for Conway Edward says, he comes. Come on, somebody, no problem

man, everybody, Chris today. Good to see you in the House of

the Lord. Thanks for hanging out with us on today. Now I need

you to do me a favorite, because when you've had thirty years of faithfulness

serving in the local church, you've been through a whole lot of storms and

God has seen you through them all. Will you help me honor your pastor

your shepherd, the guardian of your soul. We appreciate you, my friend.

Thank you, thank you, Thank you for your faithfulness, and thanks

for demonstrating what it looks like to be a man who's in love with God,

a couple that's in love with God and shows it off to a dark,

dark world. We appreciate you and we love you for that. Thank

you, my friend. Thank you, Adam, thank you for your leadership

as well. You may be seated. I'm gonna ask you to stand up

in about six seconds. Hold your seat. We're gonna read the Word of

the Lord today. And I heard, just like at our church, you

stand the praise the Lord for churches that still stand to honor the word of

God. So if you don't mind, let's read Second sam World, chapter

five, verses one through five, and then we're gonna read verse seventeen to

twenty, and so we should be all right. Look at your neighbor,

and sa neighbor, we read the Bible in this church, look at the

other one, and say that means you read. Here we go. If

you're marking your bibles, you need to take it out because we're gonna walk

through this text here a real quickly. A second Samuel chapter five. The

context is Saul is now dead. David was over Judah, he was not

yet over all of Israel. It is in this passage that he is now

king over all of Israel. So read it with me, everybody. Let's

see what God has to say to us today. Here we go. Let's

read then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebrew. Stop right

there. I want you, if you're writing your bible, circle your bible,

put a number one this word Hebrew, and you're gonna see multiple times.

Put a number one right here, so that you know this is an

important word, because it's repeated over and over again. Come on and said,

behold, stop right there. Whenever you see the word behold in the

text, whenever you see it, something big is coming after it. So

they want you to be jolted. So you should make a little sound like

this whenever you read the word and behold. So do that with me.

Let's practice it. Everybody, Come on and behold you almost there some people

in the back still not following me. Here we go a big dee.

Every time you see it in the word of Gone. Every single time it's

something big, something important is coming after it. Here we go. And

so when you hear the when you read the word behold, then when I

do, you're gonna all say together, so behold you got it. Here

we go and behold, we are your bone and your flesh. Previously,

when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out

and in come on, let's read again, keep going next passage. Here

we go, and the Lord said to you, you will shepherd mom people

Israel, and you will be a leader over Israel. So all the elders

of Israel came to King at at At. That's why it's important. And

King made a covenant with them before the Lord in Then they David king over

Israel. Let's go all the way down to verse number seventeen. Let's pick

it up there and see what the Lord has to say to us. Here

here we go. By the way I know we have some English teachers in

here, and so some people call this philistines. Some people call it Philistines.

Today I'm the English teacher. We call in it Philistines. Can I

get a witnessed somebody? Here we go, Here we go, Come on,

let's go now. When the did hurt that they had king over Israel?

All the Philistines or stop right there? Very important phrase in the text,

Very important phrase. You've never seen this phrase anywhere else except here.

It says, usually here some of the Philistines. Usually here a segment of

the Philistines. Never have you been written in the text until this passage where

the text says, all the Philistines went up to seek out David, So

everybody, they're throwing everything at him at this point, when he was just

king over a small group of people, no problem. When you become king,

when you get your promotion over a lot of people, all of a

sudden, all, can you say the word hell in here? Oh?

Hell, break loose in the name of Jesus. Come on. If you

can't say if I did something wrong a while ago, that's where we're going.

If you don't know Jesus. Anyways, here we go and went,

come on, read with me. Were almost done, and David heard about

it. He went, put a circle around this word stronghold. Say to

everybody's stronghold. Look at your neighbor and say do you have a stronghold?

Look at the other one and say do you have a stronghold. You got

it. Last phrase, Come on, let's go, let's finish it up.

Now, last phrase. Here we go. Now, the Philistines came

and over the valley of Raphaheim. Raphaheim put a number three decided rafter him.

So David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go up against

the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me? And the Lord said

to David, go up, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to

you. My god, my god, my god. One more phrase,

don't cop ye, don't The good news is coming next range, Here we

go, Here we go. Watch it. Then David came to bay All

Parisine, say that one more time, just get just get the word right,

bay All Paris, you got it, and defeated them there, and

he said, the Lord has broken through my enemies before me, like the

breakthrough of waters. Therefore he named that place bay All you may be seated

in the house of the Lord. Come on, somebody, give God to

a Roman of applause for his word today. By God, my God,

my God. Let's pray. Shall we heave any Father? I pray now,

God, that you will customize your word for every person in the house.

Make it seem God, as if there's nobody else here, and you're

speaking directly to our hearts. Soften our hearts. Remove all destructions so we

can hear from you. In Jesus's name, we pray, and everybody said,

Amen, Amen, Laden and gentlemen. You know I my son wants

me to play this game with him, and so I said, okay,

Son, let's go play this game. Never played the game before. It's

an Xbox game, So I said, okay, let's go. So I

said, okay, Son, how does this game go? He starts out,

he plays, and then he says that it's your turn. So I

said, okay, cool, let me go. And I'm playing this game

and I'm taking out some dudes, and all of a sudden, I said

to him, son, when does this game end? How does the game

end? I keep defeating guy, but it's as if it has no end.

He says that that's because you're in something now called survival mode. I

said, Son, what survival mode? That is? Where? He said

to me? He said that that's where you just keep on going and try

to survive. They keep coming at you, but your job is to survive.

I said, Son, back in the day, that's not how our

games were. The kind of games we played was Donkey Kong. The kind

of games we played was Miss pac Man. Those games I knew when I

was taking somebody out, when I was winning, and I knew what I

was doing. But Son, what's up with these games called survival mode?

Let me come by your street just a minute. Have you ever been in

a scenario where you go battle after battle, enemy after enemy, difficulty after

difficulty, trial after trial, storm after storm, and it seems like it

never ends. And what you're asking is, God, can I ever get

a break? Why is it that it keeps coming and keeps coming and keeps

coming? God? Can you give me a bright ladies and gentlemen. That's

where we find David today. David is he's taken on Goliath and he's defeated

him. He's now gone to Judah to a play over Judah to a place

called Hebron. Hebron's important because it's now his central city where he's running and

is king over Judah, ladies and gentlemen. David is like, God,

is it good? Now? Are we good? Are we done? Yet?

You remember the story David had three anointings. Some people don't notice he

had three annointing espect he had his private anointing that is where Samuel came to

his house. Then he had his public annointing. That's where it happened at

Hebron. And in this passage is where he has his pinnacle anointing, where

he's now given rulership over all of Israel. It is here that David now

says to God, God, okay, now I have this anointing. I'm

so grateful that I'm now over all of Israel. The problem is there is

a problem in the text. Here's why. Because it took seven years for

David to get to be over all of Israel. That means somebody in the

Israelites had what's called delayed obedience. Delayed obedience Saul reigned for forty years,

a Solomon forty years, David over all of Israel only thirty three years.

That means for seven years there was say with me, delayed obedience. I

wonder if there's anybody here today that's experiencing delayed obedience. Well, you know

what God has said for you to do, and you're still waiting to see

if it's the right decision. You're still waiting to see if you're comfortable with

God's choice. You're still waiting. So maybe it is that he's asked you

to leave your job and trust him, but you're afraid to do it.

Maybe he's asking you to stay at your job, but you're itching to go.

Maybe maybe just for you, he's saying to you, how long have

I told you to confess that sin? And you still don't want to confess

it, and you still don't want to come clean about it. And what

he's suggesting is, whenever you have delayed obedience, ladies and gentlemen, it

is going to cause delayed blessings. Whenever you have delayed experience, it sometimes

can cause death, It sometimes can cause devastation, It sometimes can cause absolute

destruction. The question on the floor is are you experiencing just like the children

of Israel did, delayed obedience. Let me give you some overarching concept before

a dive into the extext real quickly. First of all, I want you

to remember, whenever God's setting you up for something, He's got a way

to do it. So he says number one, distrus and destruction always follows

delayed obedience. Whenever you're delaying in your obedience, you need to know you're

doing it at your own peril. See part of a problem here that the

enemy don't have to worry about you if you're doing his work for him.

So there's a lot of us that the enemy just sits back because you messing

your own life up. He don't have to do nothing. He don't have

to say no demon after you because you messing yourself off, because you know

the word of God, but you know it and you ain't doing it.

Whenever you do, you're delaying the blessing God has for you. And my

encouragement to you today is that you take the time today to say God,

it will not pass today. I will begin the process of walking in your

ways, and I will no longer delay what I know to be the word

of God. The second thought, though, don't miss this one. Don't

miss this one. Second thought is here we go what God does for us

is never just for us. You're brave, is always somebody else breakthrough whatever

God's calling you to do. If you go through it, then you have

now set the table for somebody else, since you have modeled for them to

go through the very thing that you have gone through. But if you don't

take it on, and if you don't do what God's calling you to do,

then they have no model to watch a courageous leader like yourself break through

a situation that most people cower in those environments. You see, what we

have today in our culture is too many people that are setting up their own

kingdoms and forgetting the kingdom of God. God didn't call you to set up

your own kingdom. He called you to facilitate the kingdom of God. But

yet still, when our culture preaches, when a coach is all about you,

when a culture preaches to make yourself your own God, what it's suggesting

is don't worry about God's kingdom, worry about your own. God's reminding us

to this illustration of David. Hey, whenever I'm doing something, it's never

just for you. It's for the people that I watching you, that are

coming behind you. Number three, he continues, he says, your legacy

is someone else's destiny. Ah, your legacy, your a legacy Hebrew,

and Hebron said a word, Hebrin for me again Hebrin. Now Hebrin is

not a capital city for David where he's reigning as king. The problem is,

four hundred years earlier, there was an eighty five year old man.

You see, this wasn't just about the young people. It was about the

old people to preach pastor. So now here's here's Caleb going after a group

of people called the Nat and then he random out of there and take them.

They went to a place called Ghat. Listen to me. You know

what. Caleb took over Hebron. Caleb, four hundred years before David shows

up, takes over, dominates, conquers Hebrin. Caleb had no idea that

what would happen because of the fact that he took over Hebron, that later

on Absalom would go through Hebron and then David would go through Hebrid. All

he was doing is obeying God in the moment, and he had no clue

what he was setting up for all of Israel. I wonder what you're doing

today, and I wonder what God is doing through you that He's setting it

up not just for your family, but for everybody that's linked to your life.

You have no idea the battle you're facing right now that God's calling you

to win so that it can be easier for the next generation, or because

you went through your legacy if somebody else's destiny. And then lastly, he

says, last he said, it's just parenthetical thoughts. Here watches no God,

things and nations and generations. He said, what we do we thinking

in days and decades, but not so with God. God says, I'm

the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we do things, we

just do home here, let me make sure my kid's okay for this next

generation that's too small efficient for your God. You're not serving a God that's

only here for today. You're not serving a God that's only here for your

family. You're serving a God that wants to change all of California. And

the only way he can do it is if men and woman a God rise

up and fulfill the dream bigger dreams because of what God has for you.

Anyways, David is in survival mode, y'all. He's in survival mode on

because he is. David thought a couple of things. He taught. Number

one that since when I was running from Saul, there were about a year

and a half or so when he's running from Saul, and he went to

the Philistines, and he hung out there for a while, and he hobbnobbed

with the Governor, and he hobbednbed with the Prime Minister, and he hobbnobbed

with the President over the Philistine And he thought, because I had good working

relationships with the Philistines, when I become king, I can call on my

friends. See, that's why you gotta watch when you're in when you're in

survival mode, you gotta remember this. People, Please, I'm pleading with

you. There's no association that you have with other people that can keep you

away from the fight of your life when it's coming. You can havenob all

you want. You can think that you can follow the world when the world

says, hey, man, listen, fam listen, the world says,

hey, it's not what you know, it's who you know. But the

who you need to tell the world is Jesus. That you need to know

because Jesus is the only world that's gonna be with you in the middle of

the storm. Ladies, there's no association that can prevent you from the fight

of your life. The second thought is there, Listen, there is no

amount of affluence none, there's no amunta affluence that can keep you away from

the fight of your life. Listen to me. Now, many of us

think we used to be in the hood. Now we get done, got

a little bit of change, and now things go a little easier for us,

and so we think, oh, yeah, I have enough money that

I can handle any situation that shows up. David, when he has the

most power in his life, is most dependent upon God. He's over all

of Israel, now all of it. And when he's over all of Israel,

he's the most dependent. Be careful that you don't place your trust in

money and your security in your bank account, because if you do, then

when it's gone. Ladies and gentlemen, don't allow money to deceive you into

thinking it is your safety net. What it is is God's asking you to

be a good steward of what He's blessed you with. He didn't ask you

to depend on it for your life. Number three. Third thought, Number

one e time there's no association that can keep your way. Number two,

there's there's no affluence. And then number three, listen, listen, listen,

there's no anointing that can prevent you from the sight of your life.

There's none. David, he has his anointing now and all the Philistines still

come after him. He has there's normal to speak it incomes that's gonna prevent

you from the fight of your life. There's no amount a church attendance that's

gonna prevent you from the top, from the from the fight of your life.

Because my Bible says, in this life you will face struggle. My

Bible says, when you have the storm, what you need is Jesus in

the middle of the boat with you in the storm. Be careful, family,

be careful. So what does he do? That becomes the question.

Let's pick it up now in chapter five, verse seventeen, and let's see

what does David do when he gets there? What does David do? Let's

pick it up now, here we go verse seventeen. Here we go.

Now when the when the Philistines heard that they had an known to David,

king over Israel, all the Philistines went to seek out David. And when

David heard about it. Huh he went down. That should pique your interests.

Why is he going down? The place of priority is high, not

long. So first of all he went down, and then he went down

to the No, that's not everybody, everybody, come on, he went

down to the Huh. Now, the word stronghold means a trap. The

word stronghold means a snare. The word stronghold means and net. David helped

me out. Why are you going down to a trap? Why? David?

Why? Now? When when everything becomes unglued in your life, here's

the question, where do you go? David went to his stronghold. My

question is where do you go? No, if some of us have some

choice places to go, some of us go to go to alcohol because back

in the day, that's what you used to do. So even though you

know Jesus, some of you still saying the bottle is going. It's going

to help you medicinally, to take you through the difficult fight of your life.

There's some people that that don't do me, that don't do me,

that don't move me. So some of you get to business, so you

don't start working harder and harder and harder and harder, and think if I

just ignore it, it will go away. For some of us, you

go to your favorite based bedroom and Lord, have mercy. Can I say

that in this trust, Lord, there's a girl that you got fellas that

you know you can go to her and she will, she will, she

will, she will comfort you in the middle of your pain. It got

quite fast, dear, got quite the real quicken here. It got quiet.

And then there's some of you who love to go to eating. Don't

leave me out here by myself. I go to eating too. Don't leave

me out here by myself. The more worried I get, the more I

want some comfort foods to help me through the storm. That's not what David

did. He didn't go to comfort foods. He didn't go to his bad

he didn't go to the bottle. He went to his stronghold. David,

what you're doing in this stronghold? David, what are you doing in this

stronghold? What and why did you go to the stronghold? Come here with

me. So David had a stronghold, so he went down into by the

way. The only reason he knows about the stronghold is because when he was

in obscurity, and nobody knew his name. He went through this valley up

and down, taking his sheep, taking all the sheep and protecting them and

making sure they were safe, so that when he's at the top of the

field, he knows exactly where to go. Listen to me, Do not

belittle when God places you in obscure places. Yeah. Yeah, when he

places you on McDonald's and you're working on McDonald don't hurry up and get out

of mcdondhof. There's some lessons he wants to teach you in McDonald's that he's

going to use when you get to the top of the plane and you start

running your own company. Do not belittle working at Starbucks, because you're gonna

learn some stuff at Starbucks so that when you get to run your whole company

you can learn some lessons there A little bit. I know, when I

got here from Jamaica, I got a soccer sculture us playing soccer in San

Diego, and I'm hanging out there in a plane and we got a full

right scholarship the first year, two Jamaicans, And when we hung out there

for a little while the third second year, they decided that they didn't have

enough money, so we had to have tar Show scholarships. So then,

oh my god, we had to work in landscaping. So then no listen

for Jamaican where we get temperatures of ninety five degrees and above, it's great.

When you come to America and the temperature is seventy, we think we

have an arctic blast. That's called that's Golles, That's what happened to.

So we're out there and we're shivering at seventy degrees, trying to fake spies

and trying to taking out what to do. That's the days of obscurity.

Nobody knows your name, nobody cares about you. Nobody at all does.

But if you don't, God is teaching you something there that you have to

learn because he can see your future and he's taking you somewhere. I wish

I had a weakness. It's the reason why I don't need landscape designs anymore

because I can do my own because when I was in obscurity, I learned

what the boss did. I learned how to design like the boss design.

So that now when I come and they showed me a landscape design for the

next facility, we're gonna build. I said, I don't worry about I

got that part and it can save me a hundred thousand dollars all because when

nobody knew my name, I was learning. I didn't have a bad attitude,

but I wasn't learning because he's gonna use it later in life. I

wish I had a weakness. Anyways, come here, David goes to obscurity.

He goes obscurity, so he goes in his stronghold. So at his

stronghold, now David is saying, God, I need some health. God,

I need some health. I don't know what to do, but they're

all around me and God, I need your help in this situation. God,

what do I do? What does he need? In the stronghold,

He need inspiration, but it flows out of his intimacy with God. So

from intimacy with God, you get inspiration, you get insight, and you

get instruction. Ladies and gentlemen, you better have a stronghold where you can

go before God, where you can hang out with God, where you can

write songs of Zion, where you can say this is the day the Lord

has made. I know I have I know I have armies surrounded me everywhere.

But this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and

be glad in it. Jesus, you take the wheel God, see all

of us have something to learn. When you were going the stronghold, he

goes in there uncertain. He goes in there not knowing what's going to happen.

But he comes out and he comes out with a confidence that can only

come from God. Watch what the tech says. Now, watch what the

tech says. He pick it up for me again in verse numb A seventeen

and eighteen. Here's what he says. So he goes, Now, the

Philistines came and overran valley of Raphaheim. They overran it. Now they're surrounding

everywhere. So David in his stronghold inquired of the Lord, saying, shall

I go up against the Philistines? What a profound question? Second question,

will you hang them over to me? He asks about David gets in the

in the stronghold. David's motive is challenge and David's mental model is challenged.

Both of them are challenge, and he has God has to do a work

on him inside before he can go outside. Watch what happens. Pick up

my charts from me now, and let me show you what happens if you

lead anybody anywhere. You need to know this all right. So there are

four quadrants for this chart, and the first one is your motive. Most

people are driven by bad motives. The reason they do what they do is

because of happiness. The reason they do what they do is because of money.

The reason they do what they do is because of all these different things.

Influence notoriety, because they want to promote themselves. That's why they're doing

it. God says, if you're going my stronghold, I'm going to rearrange

your motives. Watch you come here, fan, when you go mental models,

The reason you behaved the way you behaved is because of your parents,

your role models, your history, your culture, and your mentors. No

God has given us this clearly. What did he do in the stronghold.

He had to re arrange God's David's priorities so he could think like you always

thought. What happens when you're driven by your motive and your mental models listen.

It then influences how you behave your methods and your manner. This is

so important. Before David got in there, he was fighting for success.

Before David got in there. He was fighting for significance. Before David got

in there, he was fighting for security. When he came out, he's

no longer fighting for that because God says, I will give them into your

hands. God says, you're not fighting for it. I have already given

it to you. So now you're fighting from it. Now you can come

out. Was the confidence of the Lord, knowing that the battle is the

Lord. I wish I had a witness in here today. Come here,

family. Ah. You see, if you're if you're if your internal motivation

is not right, then you're going affect how you treat people. Then it's

going to sect. Okay, you're not feeling me. Um last week?

Last week, last week, I'm coming from West Palm and I'm headed to

Dallas. Right. I did some I did a service in West Palm and

to that, so I'm coming to and then. But when I'm in West

Palm Beach, Florida, I love mangoes. So I I got about thirty

mangoes that would probably last me four days. So so so I have these

mangoes and I have him in a bag, and I'm taking them with me,

true story. I'm taking them with me back to death. So I

have them in num back. I have a have a flat jacket, backpack

and my mangoes. Of everything on me. The most important thing are these

mangoes, okay, because they don't make them like that in Dallas. They

can't grow them or anyways. So so I'm coming back. So I'm on

the flight, I come off the flight, I'm walking back, and I

have my flat jacket and I have my backpack, and I reached the car

to go in, and then it dammed at me. You forgot your mangoes.

No, that's like losing your wedding ring. That's some important mangos aret

of me. Okay. So anyways, so so so I'll go back and

I say, hey, many, Yeah, I left something on the plane.

I said, Nidia get He said, yeah, just go to those

guys the attendance a ticket on her and they'll go back there and get it

from you. True story. So I walk up to a young lady,

really attractive young lady. She's reading a book, which means there's nobody in

line. So I walk up to her and said, hey, oh my

gosh, I forgot a bag. She said, what's in the bag.

I made the mistake and told her mangoes. She looked at me, and

so we're talking about mangoes, really mango, I said, woman a God.

Well, I didn't even know if she was a woman of God,

but I said, I just need my man. Can you don't, she

says, I called. I called nobody answers I'm sorry, I can't get

your mangoes. I said no, but the guy told me that you can

get it, and you will go around there, go on the plane getting

I'm bringing back from me. Said yeah, I'm just I'm just not feeling

that activate activate, Holy ghost activate. But that's what the young people do.

I looked further over and I saw a season saint. She was over

fifty five. So I went over to the season saying and I said,

excuse me, but I learned my lesson. Don't make the same mistake Blue,

I said, excuse me, woman of God? Can you please?

Um, I left a bag with something very very valuable in it. She

says, um, what what? What? What? Whatsoever? I said,

it doesn't even matter what. It's just very valuable to me. Don't

made the same mistac Anyways, I'm so so, she says, Okay,

let me check. She calls nobody answered. She pickures of her cell phone,

personal cell phone calls. Nobody answered. So then she went out,

brings it back and bring it to me. I said, Oh, my

gosh, isn't she loved anyways? Um so, so, so so so.

Then so then I got my mangoes and the American Airlines counters right here,

right And so I have my mangoes and I'm walking back past the first

one. But since my motive self, since I needed to prove to her

that I got what I wanted, I put my mangos right here. I

had my cell phone right here, and I walked right by her, and

I looked at her, looked at my I'm walking in the flesh, by

the way, I'm walking in the flesh, looked at her, looked at

my mangos, looked at her, and took a picture. And everything in

me says, the CEO of American Airlines is going to know this. WHA

Because I had valued mangos more than a person. Why because my agenda was

more important than praying for this woman, even though I didn't know if she

was saved or not saved. Watch it what was driving me, ladies and

gentlemen. I had a motive that was Jack, and I had a model

that was Jack. And because I treated her indifferently and it doesn't matter.

Test is not on her. The test is on me. You are a

believer, therefore, how are you gonna respond? It's driven by your man?

Come me, I'm not done yet. Come so then what should your

motive be? The Bible tells you the badger of a Christian is love.

The Bible tells you your your your your your master's Jesus, he didn't come

to be served. He came to serve and to give his life. What's

God working out inside of me? In that moment he says, no,

no, no, no, no no, you walking into the flat.

I needed to change your your mental madline. I need you to change your

motive so that you can treat her the way she ought to be treated,

so that you can then lead her the way I would lead her. You

see, everybody's okay when somebody, when somebody um, when you said I'm

a sorry, yeah, I'm just a servant leader, until they treat you

like one, and then all of a sudden you get mad, ladies and

gentlemen, What did you have to learn in here? He had to learn

that the battle was already won. He had to learn that his job was

to come out of here now and then mop up what God had already do

done for him. He had to change his mindset, He had to change

his motives so that he can walk in the victory that God has already called

him to do. I wonder if there's anybody here that's still walking around with

a wrong motive, that's still walking around with a wrong mental model and expecting

God to bless you in the wild ways. God says, I've already given

you the victory. You don't have to, you know, listen, If

you don't have the victory, then you'll use people. If you don't have

success, and if you don't have significance, and if you don't have security,

then you're gonna use people to give that to you. But if you

know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and save, you already have it in

Jesus. So now you're free to serve the people of God. What we

have is today is a generation of people growing up that only believe I gotta

get what's mine. You have no idea what you're talking about. When Jesus

hung on the cross, He's secured your success. He's secured you're significant.

You're not a significant because of the house you live in. You're not significant

because of the car you drive. You're significant because of the Jesus that you

know. My God, my God, my God, my God, my

God. Come on, I gotta go. I gotta go. I gotta

go. I gotta go, y'all, May him preach for forty minutes.

I preach for our But here we go. Come on, family, let's

go. Here we go, Here we go. Here go you. So,

now, if David does something that blows my mind, and you have

to read the text a couple of times to catch it. So he comes

out of the stronghold, and then let's go back to the text. Watch

what he does he verse number, verse number seventeen to the end. What's

what he does? He says, um um, this is verse twenty right.

Yeah. So then David came to bay All Parisine and defeated them there,

and he said, the Lord has broken through my enemies before me light

the breakthrough of the waters. Therefore he named that place bay All Parrazin.

You missed it, h street it one more time. David came to the

thea came to bayl Parizine. Huh, David, but I thought it was

called the Valley of Raffaee. David called it bay All Parizein before he had

the victory that God had called upon him. Watched the text. The text

says, David came to bay All Parisine, but it's down here that he

says. Therefore he named that place bay All Percy. The name of the

place is the Valley of Raffaeen. So when Felisetes walking around and say,

oh, yeah, that's the valley, that's the valley, not David.

When David walked on, he says no, no, no, no,

no no. Once he came out of his stronghold. Now he calls it

by all Parisine. Wants to be a persin me. The Lord made a

way, the Lord made a breakthrough. It's so when they're calling it,

when they're calling it the value of giants, David calls it the value of

breakthrough, and he calls it that before the breakthrough shows up. Ah um,

um um, we're doing We're doing three services in a hotel about eleven

years ago. And um, I'm saying, God, I'll managing now.

Um this is killing us. God, we can't handle this. It's a

hotel room, it's all packed. What you're doing. We need a place

to stay. You this is your church. Is ain't my church. You

need to give us a place, and we need a place to stay.

I had a place across the streets from where this hotel was. I marched

around. I had the whole church montro seven times. The Lord's gonna give

us the breaks, or gonna give us the breaks or no watch it.

I was so stupid. The place couldn't even hold two hundred parking spots.

But I'm praying that craving that anybody in here glad when God don't answer prayer?

So then so then I'm driving down. Y'all true story on a street

called one twenty one, And I'm driving down after me and God wrestled and

um, and I said, God, really, this is not cool.

You're gonna look foolish that we can't even hold the people that are leaving.

Come on, we have people on a boat. We have the middle school

ministry was on a school bus every service driving around because we had no space

for them. God, this is your church, what you're doing? So

I'm driving This is an absolutely true story, I'm driving down and um,

there's a church. There's a church that's in the center of the four fastest

growing areas in the entire DF double area, right there, sitting at the

corner of all four of them. And I'm driving down and he says,

they're going your church, and I'm but I God, oh look, there

ain't no for sale sign and nobody calling me and tell me what's to say

the people meeting in their God. You can't just kick out a church.

What the god are you? He says. All I want you to do

is go and share with them what I told you. So I go,

I'm gonnever I go play some in a short. So I'm walking up in

a shorts all that I'm chilling, and I said, and I see and

I see three guys up there. Executive fast into it and said, hey,

this is very weird. I don't know how to tell you this,

but the Lord sent me by and I paused, to which they then said,

send you by for what, to which I said, Um, I'm

trying to discover that. You catch it. I'm trying to discover that.

They said, Hey, man, listen, we had a meeting last night.

Listen, hey, listen, to these words. We are building rich

but ministry poor, and we cannot afford it anymore. Three months later we

were in that building. No, listen to me, listen, that's the

point. Ain't the points what God did? When God shows you something,

you have to you have to walk in obedience, even though it makes no

sense to walk in obedience, And you have to go up to the door

and knock on the door and says, could it be that God is up

to something completely different? All right, I gotta go. Um. I

know what somebody say in past. Ain't nobody got that kind of faith passing

you? Oh no, it's just tough for us. And so let me

remind you of something. Let me remind you of something, um um.

A number of years, about about a year and a half ago, now,

I went to Paraguay. And in Paraguay, um the first place we

went, it was a big amphitheid. It was amazing. And as we

walked in there was a whole symphony playing on this side, and it was

incredible to hear these guys right they're playing. It was beautiful. It was

incredible and and and I was just in awe. There's a lake of sorts

ahead of us, they're seating, and then there's the orchestra. What we

did not know was that every last person in that orchestra came from the poorest

city in Paraguay, the poorest city. So every last one of them,

this was their ticket out. They were they were dirt poor, but somebody

gave them the uniforms to dress up in and the instruments. What I didn't

know was that every last one of these instruments, every last one watch us

now, of these instruments came from a dump that was beside the lowest city,

the lowest poorest city in Paraguay. And every one of them were playing

these instruments and we're making an incredible sound, and we were mesmerized by it,

only to find out that every last one of those instruments came from a

dump. And so if you look at this violin today, you will see

that the back of it, it's nothing but a trey for paint to go

into. You will see that the front of it, that's nothing but a

fork that holds the strings together. And ladies and gentlemen, when they put

their instruments together, they made the most amazing sound you have ever heard.

They travel all over the world with pieces of trash that make a great sound.

Can I remind you of something today? Can I remind you of something

today? I don't care how you started. I don't care what your past

has done to you. I don't care who your mama and daddy is.

I don't care where you grow up. I don't care the trash you've been

through. What I know is when you're in the Master's head, he can

take trash and turn it into something beautiful. What I know is that your

God specializes in taking the things that are foolish to the world and confounding the

wife. He wants to play your life. He's calling you to play your

life, and he says it doesn't matter. The shame, it doesn't matter,

the guilt, it doesn't matter because He's gonna use it all for his

glory and for your good. Will you pray with me? Family? Will

you pray with me? Heavenly Father? I ask right now that if there's

somebody here that does not know you, that feel like they're not good enough

to have a relationship with you, will you remind them that the reason you

die, it's because you wanted a relationship with them. God, I pray

for the person who else walked away from you and is coming back today.

I remind please God, will you remind them that your arms are wide open,

and you said, if you just come, I will show you the

melody I can play through your life. Father God, I pray for the

leader that's here today that has to be a servant and not a superstar.

Will you help them flip that around and have the right mental model and the

right and motive as he leads his organization, as he leads this corporation,

as she leads her organization, as she leads her corporation, And show them

how you, as a servant let us and how that's now how we ought

to lead others. Will you? Will you do it only you can do,

God, And that is to turn broken hearts and make them hold again.

Will you do what only you can do God, and that is to

take a loss person and show them that they can be found? Will you?

Will you? Will you do it? Only you can do? God?

And I stake somebody who's the shame and the guilt has so grit them

that they think God can't use them anymore. Will you show them that if

you did it for David you can do it for them. If you did

it for Samson, you can do it for that. You did it for

Esther, you can do it for us. If you did it for me,

you can do it for anyone. In the name and buy the blood

of Jesus Christ touch every heart. Now we pray in Jesus's name. Everybody

said, come on, give God a round of appla somebody. If you

hear today and you don't know Jesus, I'm just telling you Heaven rejoices when

one person decides that they're going to accept them as personal Lord and savior.

And so if that's you today and you want to know how do I begin

a relationship with Jesus Christ, then today's your day. Just get the Cure

of Code off the screens and then they'll send you a book and we'll talk

through it. If you hear today and you want to come back to God,

are you looking for a church home, then I'm just I'm just pleading

with you. There's the enemy specializes in isolated individuals. But once you're in

the community, once you're in the fold, want you in the flock.

Now you're protected better than anybody else. So if that's you and you want

to come on back home, then just look at the Cure of Code to

keep bringing down to the website and just click on it and it will take

you there and you'll get all the information that you need there. But let

me tell you something, family, You're brave is somebody else's breakthrough. Don't

cow away, storm ahead at whatever it is God's calling me to do.

Thanks everybody, Love you guys. We really hope you enjoyed the message.

And if you said yes to Jesus, we just want to say congratulations and

give you a free devotional to help you walk out your faith. Click the

link in the description or head over to grow dot Faith to download your devotional.

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