No Bull | Step Up | Pastor Scott Thomas

welcome to Free Life Chapel where we

hope you discover and live the free life

in Christ my name is Kayla and I am so

excited that you decided to tune in with

us today why because you're in for a

treat with today's message but first go

ahead check out our website at freelife

chapel.org so that way you can see what

we're all about here which is Faith and

fun and because you're watching this

right now that means we're family and

here at Free Life Chapel we love family

so if you ever catch yourself in the

central Florida area go ahead stop by

that way we can connect with you right

here on campus in person but like I said

you're in for a treat with this message

so go ahead sit back relax and I hope

today's message encourages you just like

it encourages me we're continuing our

series called Step Up moving forward so

that we don't have a repeat of last year

but we actually go somewhere different

in this year how many of you want more

this year than you had last year where

are you were good would you turn in

nebor and tell them you got to up your

year up your year up your year be real

careful how you say

that up your year yeah yeah all that um

we we want to advance but that means

some things have got to change we've got

to advance we got to move forward in

what we're doing that means there's

going to have to be some change come to

your life different decisions different

responses to life and we're going to

continue our conversation on this today

Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 is a place

Matthew 6:33

that we're going to dive in I want you

to help me read this out loud read it

with your outside voice loud and proud

here we go more than anything else put

God's work first and do what he wants

then the other things will be yours as

well more than anything else that means

it just ran to the top of the

line put God's

work first

pral it's primary it's first it's the

highest priority God's work God's will

God's way and everything else you need

will follow after

that don't get it twisted order

matters and God's word is giving us a

principle that I want us to look at and

unpack today did anybody here in the

third service grow up on a

farm anybody we got one

farmer e i e IO and okay good what what

one anybody grow a garden anybody try to

grow a garden anybody grow a bunch of

weeds and you called it a garden okay

there a few of you there too yeah good

let me just kind of tell you so I grew

up you've heard me tell the story of my

uncle he had a 90 Acre Farm in Bristol

Virginia and uh he had about a hundred

cows uh he had pigs and chickens and and

and all of that I had a pony named

Buckshot that I would ride around on and

help him at least I thought it was

helping uh with all of that and along

with all of the a livestock and the

animals that that that we had there uh

in addition to that uh there was several

aspects several Acres of that 90 Acres

that uh included where uh some some

crops were planted so this area was

going to be hay we' uh grow hay to feed

the animals there was an area that was

just big for gardening potatoes were in

one area carrots green beans radishes

lettuce you name it I just for what it's

worth some of you all actually thought

that stuff comes from

Publix no that's grown in dirt somewhere

all right and so it's sent to can we

thank God for the farmers can we just

thank God for the who's out there

working yes yes so yeah they're not 3D

printing your meet at Publix no not yet

anyway one day now that that's that's a

someone's raising that so watch this my

Uncle my uncle and my mom and dad um

early on they fully believed in child

labor and so they had us out there in

the fields working on my hands and knees

digging potatoes out of the ground on my

during during uh corn when the corn was

coming in ripping corn ears off of the

stalks uh then after we har brought the

green beans in picking green beans if

you never picked green beans you haven't

lived yet if you picking green beans and

then you go in and you have to sit down

and begin to you to well they called

them um it just left my mind you had to

snap the beans and peel the little

string off string and green be you had

to get the strings off them and and then

they did this thing called canning where

they would boil them in jars and then

they the lid would pop when you knew

that it sealed and then you could store

green beans for like it goes on it this

is what we ate this is how we lived we

didn't live off of grocery stores we

lived off the farm we ate the food that

we grew and if it didn't grow

uh-oh like all we could do was put seed

in the ground all we could do is pull

the weeds out of the ground and and and

and

fertilize but if we didn't get the

rain if there wasn't enough Sunshine if

the weather didn't hit right it messed

with the Harvest because truly life and

the Harvest was out of our hands we

didn't control it we put the seed in the

ground but then the seed had to do what

it does and the soil had to do what it

does and the weather had to do what it

does in order for it all to actually

produce something in our life it

reminded us very quickly how out of

control we were in fact as kids uh when

it rained outside we'd be upset we'd be

mad ah it's raining and my uncle is

going thank God it's raining because he

knew it was going to produce the Harvest

that he had to have to keep the entire

Farm going I want you to understand that

there are some things that you are in

control of and some things you are out

of control of and when it comes to your

life and what you and I get to to

experience that is beyond our pay grade

we do our part but the Bible says God is

the one who gives the increase in life

you you never know what's going to

happen you just got to trust God with it

throughout the Bible the Bible is filled

with people who were agricultural they

were farmers they they were people they

were keeping livestock Shepherds that's

who they were they didn't they didn't

have the internet they weren't running

around their phone taking wheezys they

weren't posting on Instagram they didn't

have a to check things they were out

there running in real time digging in

dirt planting that if it didn't grow we

don't eat it was hard it was real when I

tell you that they were depending on God

for everything they were depending on

God for everything unlike where we are

today if this doesn't work then we go

try this and if this doesn't work I can

call so and so if that don't work then I

got I got somebody over here and I got

my boy there like we got all these

things so that we don't need

God these folks in the Bible if God

didn't give it they don't have it there

was another level of dependence and the

Bible here talks about this agricultural

need that they had and there's almost a

hundred times in the Bible a famine is

talked about now you have to understand

if you're an agricultural people a

famine is bad right you don't want to be

around a famine because it means we

don't eat or our eating is limited

because we don't have anything and it

affects next year's crop because if we

don't get a good crop this year we don't

have enough seed for next year it was

bad there is a famous famine in the

Bible that God

started and there's a story and a

principle behind it that I want to share

with you in first Kings chapter 17 uh we

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

find out that there is this King over

Israel named King Ahab King Ahab was a

sorry spe specimen of a man he was sad

he was despicable it was horrible weak

just roll over I mean just just sad

couldn't make a strong decision cuz he

needed everyone to like him want to make

sure it was just are we okay and so that

that was King Ahab he's a Jewish guy

King Ahab and King Ahab married a lady

named Jezebel have you ever heard of

Jezebel don't look at your neighbor look

this way

Jezebel Jezebel uh the church I grew up

in everybody everybody called talk about

the spirit of Jezebel running here and

there well that's that's old school

Jezebel though was interesting she was

not Jewish and she was from another

country a country named

Ty and her dad was a priest in the

worship of a god named

Bell how do you spell Bell b a a l the

god

Bell in fact she was so steeped in it

she was so raised in it so groomed in it

Bell was her God

and Ahab the the the the Jewish King who

was there to worship the god of Abraham

Isaac and Jacob the one true and living

God you've got him and you've got his

wife Jezebel he's weak she's strong

she's making decisions all throughout

Israel because he had no backbone and no

opinion and so now baale is becoming

famous where God should have been the

focus in the warship it is a train wreck

in fact she was so Ste steeped in this

that her very name carried her God's

name

jezza

Bale this is how her world was wrapped

up and and absorbed into this God

worship so First Kings chapter 17 God

1 Kings 17 · chapter mention

says I'm going to deal with it and he

sends his Prophet his spokesman that was

known throughout the area he's not just

one random strange guy King Ahab knew

exactly who this guy was Elijah Elijah I

want you to go talk to King Ahab and

give him a message God gives Elijah the

message Elijah goes I got it let me go

talk to the king they announced to the

king Elijah's here wants to talk with

you the king always wants to hear from

the prophet because he might have

something to say about a distant army or

something that's going to go down he

didn't want to hear this message now

King Ahab steps out Elijah what do you

have for me he said God gave me a

message he said I'm ready he said I

don't think you are no I'm ready for it

here's the message King it won't rain

again until I say

so he dropped the mic and walked

out like that's boss right there it

won't rain until I give it

permission and then if you are an

agricultural nation and you're depending

on rain to eat depending on rain for

your strength because it grows the crops

you without the rain your nation gets

it's weak your warriors can't fight you

are disseminated you are a mess You're

vulnerable to every outside enemy three

no rain no rain guess what happened year

one the whole year no

rain year number two no

rain year number three no rain it never

rains in southern Cali no rain sorry you

no

rain three three years of no rain and

then all of a sudden God says Elijah

Now's the Time I've got everyone's

attention why is this such a big deal

because baale was the god of

fertility baale was the god of of

natural of human fertility whenever a

new baby was born or something like that

they worshiped Bale for the ability to

reproduce but also for the agriculture

of the land everything about growth and

new things Bale gets all the glor Glory

so when they would Bale is the one who

gives rain Bale is the one who gives

Sunshine Bale is the one who makes seed

grow they always worship Bale so when

Elijah walks in and goes no rain until I

say so basically what it was saying was

I'm calling Bale out we're exposing Bell

for the lie that he is and so Bell if

he's all that he'll make it rain but he

can't take the authority from the one

true and living God so there's a

standoff now we'll see who the true God

is after this three years goes down now

Elijah steps in and he starts to speak

to all the people of Israel and the

Bible says in First Kings chapter 18: 21

check this

out Elijah stood up in front of all the

people and asked them how long will you

try to have it both ways if the Lord is

God follow him if Bale is God follow him

and the people didn't say nothing

they had no

response they're so called out and so

stuck I'm trying to play

both the other day I was in the kitchen

going to The Pantry cuz how many you

know we keep things in the pantry that's

really

good like we put the fruit and and the

proteins and the vegetables out where

everybody can see but in the pantry

you got those you got those what what

are they

called nerd clusters like little just a

little bag just a little bag and there

might be a reesei cup or two like stuck

away somewhere that nobody sees you know

and so as long as you just grab a

handful it's called uc's undocumented

calories it doesn't matter as long as

it's just a handful don't put it on a

plate if it go if it goes on a plate you

got to count it just a handful so I'm

walking I'm making my way to the pantry

just to check and make sure everything

is okay in there and in the process I

had a thought I need to get something

out of the out of the refrigerator and I

literally was walking and I just kind of

got stuck and I'm like what I'm I'm

headed towards there but my my thought

and I stopped mid-process and I looked

like I was in The Matrix and I was in a

glitch like like like what what in the

world is going on like I'm stuck here

and like stop it stop it and I like it

was the weirdest thing I had to I had to

laugh I'm by myself thank God send you

didn't see it I had to laugh I I was

watch I was stuck between two

directions and when I had two thoughts

and two directions going on in my mind

at the same time I was going

nowhere I got

stuck it's possible for you and I to get

caught in a

glitch and not be moving forward because

I've got both God in my mind and I've

got my own way of doing things in my

mind and I'm frustrated because I'm not

going anywhere and I'm just

like you you in that glitch right there

where I was because it's not working the

Bible says a double-minded person is

unstable

in all of their ways nothing is working

good intention good heart but nothing's

working because you're trying it both

ways that's exactly what Elijah's doing

I'm calling you out you tried it both

ways you're caught in a glitch you're

going nowhere and it's time to deal with

this whole it's time to settle the score

and so y'all he did he goes meet me on

the top of Mount Carmel show down at

Mount Carmel pay-per-view right here

we're going to do this thing and so it

is on

850 of Bell's prophets show up 850

that's just the prophets that's not the

nation of Israel showing up to watch

what goes down because here's what

Elijah's challenge was we're both going

to build an altar on the top of Mount

Carmel and we're going to ask the true

the one true and living God the one that

shows up with fire to consume the

sacrifice will be the true God if Bale

is God then he'll be able to consume it

with fire if he can't Jehovah will my

God will and he called him out so it's

on like Donkey Kong y'all it is on right

now so they Elijah goes y'all go first

go hit it all of Bill's prophets go to

the top they build this rock they build

this rock altar lay wood on it cut an

animal open and lay the animal on top of

the of the uh The Altar and the Bible

says it's literally written in the Bible

this is in First Kings

18 they start all of Bill's prophets

start marching and dancing around the

altar trying to get Bell's attention for

fire to fall and consume the sacrifice

the Bible says they literally start

cutting themselves they're they're

mutilating themselves now they're

bleeding like this it it it's a mess

going on in order to try to get their

God's attention is anybody glad that you

don't have to hurt yourself to get God's

attention aren't you glad that God loves

you like that's called

foolishness

foolishness they're dancing around this

is going on for a couple of days Elijah

goes y'all I got a plane to catch we got

to get this thing done he said this is

not working and Elijah starts smack

talking it's one against 850

and Elijah blows up and starts smack

talking him just just just just just

just dropping bombs on them and here's

what he says um maybe you're God's on

vacation like you got to read it in the

original language in the original

language he says this maybe your God is

in the bathroom and he can't hear you

right right I love how the King James

will put it maybe he is easing himself

anyway I like he just call he just calls

him out so I mean it's it's on now it

it's on and so Elijah goes get out of

the way it's my God's turn Elijah goes

in he tears down and removes their alter

and then he sets up his own stones and

then he lays his own wood and then from

there he puts his own sacrifice on and

then Elijah does something that nobody

saw coming this was out of the this was

you got to be kidding me what are you

doing you're setting yourself up for

failure Elijah why would you do this he

took three buckets three barrels of

water and poured on top of the sacri

rice the Bible says that the water

filled the trenches around the Altar and

you're this is supposed to be who is

going which God can consume with fire

the the the sacrifice but he poured

water on everything what are you doing

after he poured water he backed up and

prayed a

63w

prayer and the Bible says the fire of

Heaven fell in such a way that it

consumed the sacrifice burnt up the wood

burnt up destroyed all of the bricks and

licked up all the water and Elijah

folded his arm and he says How You Like

Me Now

right done just like that obviously it

was a throat punch to Israel to be

reminded that there's only one God

there's only one source there's only one

resource in life what's the message of

the story it's this God was battling

watch this for Israel's Tri trust right

stop trying to trust in two different

things right I need you to put all of

your trust in my care stop stop playing

with who I am watch this this is

interesting names have meanings and tell

a story bail the word Bell means master

or Lord so there is something else that

is trying to present itself as your

master as your lord in life and and and

and Jezebel her name her name means Bale

elevates or exalts in other words not

God but baale does that's what her name

is but then Elijah his name means my God

is Jehovah do y'all see a battle going

on here of like all this and then from

there they're battling where on Mount

Carmel y'all this is this is this is

next level y'all got to go with me in

November to Israel because we're going

to to be on Mount Carmel I will show you

where this went down it's crazy Mount

Carmel is interesting it literally means

God's

Vineyard God's Garden that's what Carmel

means so watch this they're standing in

God's

garden and Bale is trying to say he's

not Lord I am Jezebel is the one who's

saying baale is the one who's going to

lift you up Elijah is saying my God is

the a real God and The Showdown is

happening and only Elijah's God showed

up and Elijah had all the other prophets

false prophets killed to eradicate The

Voice from Israel right let me ask you

who's the Jezebel voice in your life

that's trying to lead you from trusting

God all right who is the voice trying to

tell you that there's another way it

doesn't take all of that you don't need

to go to church every weekend you don't

need to worship you don't need to give

you don't need to do life you don't need

all of everything that's trying to lead

you away it's wrapped up inside of that

same voice that same intention that same

Spirit you've got to be careful how is

it how in the world do you live in God's

Garden but trust Bale for the

resource that's like eating at Chipotle

and paying at Taco Bell that doesn't

work y'all yeah you you can't you that

doesn't equate do you understand no God

is the only source God is the only one

who deserves the attention the worship

the praise Elijah if he were here today

he would be he say Scott Free Life

Chapel got a message for you choose who

you're going to trust in 2025 right

right you can't do both choose one don't

get get out of the

glitch get out of the glitch so you can

move your life if you're going to step

it up then you got to make a

decision you see here's what what you

have to

understand Israel was

struggling with this idea of Baal being

the answer because they've been

struggling a long time with bail this

wasn't the first time bail came along

y'all remember y'all remember when when

Israel was in Egypt y'all remember when

Israel was in

Egypt do you have that do you have that

little ancient you have that that

ancient yeah that that is what the god

of Bale

look like he was a bull and families

would have these little statues at their

house to remind them that we serve Bell

that was the idol that they would carry

representing him

strong fertile muscular can handle

whatever this is what they dealt with

over and over watch this but they were

Israel was in bondage in Egypt y'all

remember that 400 years this is before

the story I just told you and do you

know that Egypt was a major worshipper

of

Baal Baal got ingrained into them that

he is an option there's another way

other than God if I don't like God's

decision then I'll do it Bell's way and

if I don't like Bell's way then I'll

just come back to God I'm just going to

keep playing both and we'll see how this

works out because you know if I don't

get it when I want it I prayed and asked

God he didn't do it so let me do it

myself right

or they treated me wrong and it's wrong

God sick

them and if you see somebody who who who

treated you wrong and and and you're

upset because God's not dealing with it

you're going to deal with it

yourself we we have this playing back

and forth this glitch that we get caught

in in life and so Israel had been in

Egypt and they had learned about Bell in

Egypt in fact in

fact when they came out of Egypt and

went to the top Moses went to the top of

Mount Si to get the Ten Commandments he

was up there for 40 days and Israel as a

nation began to wonder is he even coming

back does God even care so when they

started questioning God you know what

they did they built a

golden

calf which the word in Hebrew is

bull they built a God to bail they built

an idol to bail that's what they built

down there they went back to we'll

handle it oursel we'll just do it oursel

we'll take matters into our own hands

and that was the battle they were facing

now now we here we sit in 2025 and we

are so much more

educated and we're so much more

spiritually Advanced oh those Petty

Jewish people struggling with their

issues don't they know that God is

God how could they struggle over that

and we can so look down on them and just

just down our long noses from 2025 all

the way back there but can I tell you

that in America we also have our own God

to Bell all right all right all right oh

yes in fact this God to Bell is a

prominent figure that that stands that

none of you even think of you don't look

at it this way but the roots of it come

straight out of and is conditioned from

from Bell because America's tripping to

look at this picture let me show you

Bell in America all

right that's on Wall Street Ladies and

Gentlemen the ball right the charging

bull on Wall Street why did they choose

the bull because when the market crashed

in the late 80s they put the bll there

to say we will stand up we can handle

this we will do this we will come back

our strength is here we have F fertility

inside of us it had nothing to do with

worshiping God will'll turn to our own

abilities and we will turn this around

it's right back to a worship of bell

ladies and Gentlemen The Same Spirit is

Alive and Well in America today and

maybe it's crept into our lives in ways

that we don't even understand what is it

that you're depending on for your

financial strength your

education what what is it that you're

depending on to to produce for your life

your name your contacts who you are your

career I need just more money I need

more followers on inag if I could just

get known than this what is it that

we're turn into other than God seek

first the kingdom of God and his

righteousness and everything else will

be added order matters get the order

down seek him first and then move

forward can I tell you what the what the

idea of bail means for you and I today

anything that replaces my dependence on

God all right right is an idol in our

lives anything that I grab for other

than him to move me forward to put my

trust my hope my Reliance my strength to

find security peace Joy anything that is

it a relationship that has turned into

bail in my life is it a job is it is is

it my how much money I have in the bank

what is it that brings me security

outside of God what is

that it becomes an idol and in 2025 if

we're going to step up and move life

forward we can't be taking Bell with us

no Bell needs to die in January so God

can come alive and move for the rest of

the year with

us in other words you'll be full of God

or full of bull

right Matthew chapter

Matthew 6:33

6 verse

33 but seek first his kingdom and his

righteousness and all these things will

be added here's the principle I'm

wrapping this up this is my first

closing here's the

principle honoring God releases

everything else that I

need honoring

God honoring God releases everything

seek first God's way God's kingdom

everything else flows that means if I

put it in proper order if I honor him

and give him full attention with my life

put my trust in him then he will be the

supplier that's exactly right if he

doesn't he's a

liar if he doesn't he's a false god if

he doesn't go try

Bell but you better put your full weight

on him if you're going to find out how

real he

is can you can I just tell you something

Matthew chapter 6 verse 31-33 in the

Matthew 6:31–33

message version really puts this plain

watch watch what it says here what I'm

trying to do here is to get you to relax

chill out turn to someone tell them just

relax just relax just just just chill

I'm trying to get you to relax to not be

so preoccupied with getting so that you

can respond to God's

giving people who don't know God and the

way he works fuss over these things but

you know both God and how he works so

steep your life in God reality God

initiative God Provisions don't worry

about missing out

you'll find all your everyday human

concerns will be

met run around with

fomo so fomo leads me to

bail because I'm trying to get it trust

God ladies and gentlemen if you're

trusting God if you're seeking him with

all your heart and there's something

that you don't have in your life that

means you don't need it right

now God is not late right he knows when

an absolutely positively has to be there

overnight he's better than FedEx and

Amazon do you understand if you need

something he will get it to you right on

time he knows what he's doing I've got

to trust his timing because it's

possible for you to put your hands on

something too early wasn't that as bad

but if you get it too early and you get

it out of order it will hurt you and set

you back that's why the Bible says that

when God blesses you he adds no sorrow

to it in other words there's some things

you can get that you're enjoying but if

it's got to if it's going to cost you on

the backside it was never worth getting

your hands on in the first place but if

you get it God's way it's not going to

chase you down and cost you later it's

only going to continue to add to your

life and God goes and I've even got ways

to bless you that you haven't asked me

about yet I'm able to do exceeding

abundantly above all you could ever ask

or think God's not Twisted in this he

knows what he's doing we got to trust

him I hope today's message encouraged

you just like it encouraged me for more

encouraging messages to check out our

website at freif choa.org until then I

hope you have an amazing day