Built For More Book Launch

Uh today is a special day for me i i

mean it might not be for you but today is

a special day after 30 years in ministry there's not

a whole lot of firsts left come on now you

know i mean this gray hair means i've experienced a

lot of things um pastor clay and spencer and those

guys they you know they've put me through a lot

um and um And I'm coming here, but you all

got a first today. I'm releasing my very first book

this morning. I'm so happy to do that with you guys,

the people that I love. Got so many people that

I love, you know, that don't normally come here, family.

And it just means so much that you're here with

me today. Some great friends. So thank you guys for

being here and making this part of your life today.

I'm going to go ahead and do this because then

we're just going to get back to what we normally do. Amen.

At the conclusion of service, you can buy the book

out there in the foyer. It has a 90-day journal

that goes with it, so you can get both. You

can get just the journal, although I don't know how

much that will help you. But if you just want

to figure out this, go ahead. I mean, yeah, have

at it. Holy Ghost is a really good teacher. So

if you want to buy the journals, $ 15, $ 20, both

for $ 30. And however you want to pay, we'll figure

out how to take your money. Come on, somebody. We will,

if you want to trade chickens, we'll talk about it.

I mean, but here's the thing. Now listen, if you

don't have the money, if you don't have the money,

don't let that stop you. I want you to have

the book because what I'm preaching today is the framework

of the book, the what, and this walks you through

the practical steps of what I'm going to preach today.

So don't leave here without it. Even if you can't

afford it, don't worry about that. Now listen, if you've

got a million dollars in the bank, pay for the book. Okay?

If you got $ 30 in the bank, pay for the book.

But don't let the cost let you leave here without it.

I want you to have it. Amen. I want you

to have it. So they're going to be available for

you out there. And thank you just for being here today.

Some of y'all have been more excited about the book

than I am. So thank you for that. It has

been amazing, all the prayers and the support, people saying

how much they love me and appreciate me. And if

for some reason you want me to sign the book,

I will. Feels weird? Exceedingly weird, but you guys have

asked for that. So if you buy the book, I'll

sign it out there. Now listen, if I sign your book,

do not come up next week and say, is that

really your name? But you won't be able to read it.

You're not going to be able to read a thing.

It's going to look like a kid got your book

and scribbled in it. It's the way I write. Come on, somebody.

Just be glad I typed the book or it wouldn't

do you any good. I want to read too fast. Oh,

don't forget that this Wednesday is first Wednesday. So we'll

be having our first Wednesday worship experience. If you don't

know what that is, kind of acoustic worship, more just

kind of laid back teaching. We're in a series about

the Holy Ghost, the person of the Holy Ghost. So

if you're, not the things he does, who he is.

Because if we can fall in love and understand who

He is, the things He does, feels very natural. But

you've got to first understand who He is. The third person,

the third person in the Godhead. Holy Spirit. Our comforter,

our counselor, our ever-present help. So if you're into that,

be here. 6.30pm. Is that right? 6.30 on Wednesday night.

Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your mercy and

your grace. I thank you for who you are and

all that we can be in you. Over these next

few minutes together, I pray, Lord, that you illuminate our path.

Your word is the only change agent on the face

of the planet. And I pray that it takes residence

deep at the foundation of our soul. It brings a

harvest of life. Lord, we give you glory and honor

and praise. In Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 8. John

John 8 · chapter mention John 8:31

chapter 8 verse 31. I want to read from two

different places. Then we're going to preach a while. Then

we'll read some more. John chapter 8 verse 31. If

John 8:31

you're there, say amen. Y'all are on it today. John

John 8:31

chapter 8 verse 31. It says, Then Jesus said to

those Jews who believed him, If you abide in my word,

you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth,

and the truth shall make you free. Then let's jump

over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 2.

Romans 12 · chapter mention Romans 12:2

We read this last week, so you should be able

to find it pretty quick. Romans chapter 12 verse 2.

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your mind. that you may

prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will

of God. You know, have you ever asked yourself why

you love Jesus? Why you know his word, but you

still respond some ways and it baffles you why you

respond the way you respond? That if the truth is

the truth, why do I still respond the way I,

why do I, when somebody pulls out in front of me,

why do I do the things I do? Amen? I had, listen,

we got stickers, car window stickers, right? Let me tell you,

if you put a cornerstone sticker on your window, at

least if you're not fully discipled yet, come on now.

at least drive with the window up. So not everybody

can see and hear what you're doing. Amen? Amen. But

why do we do that? You know, I had an experience,

really kind of the catalyst, the birth of this book.

I had just become the lead pastor here at Cornerstone,

about 27 days into the job. And I pulled up

in front of our old gym building at our other location.

I pulled up and I was sitting there and I

do this thing where I just kind of say, just breathe.

Just breathe. Just breathe. And I pulled up just to

breathe because the reality of that moment, while I was

about to walk into a staff meeting of people who

were fired up and ready to go and take over

the world for Jesus, But I knew that over $ 120, 000

a year had walked out of our budget over the

last 27 days. Now I want you to think about that.

If somebody told you that you were going to... You

just have to give them a hundred... You take $ 127, 000

a year pay cut. And as I pulled up and

I was thinking about that, something caught my attention out

of the corner of my eye. There was some movement

and I turned and looked and there was this old

dumpster cat. And it jumped up out of the dumpster

in the opening and it had a french fry hanging

out of its mouth. Now I know God speaks to

me in strange ways. This cat sitting on this dumpster

with his french fry hanging out of his mouth and

I thought to myself, that's me. I had just preached

a message on faith two days before, and now I

am commiserating, identifying with a dumpster cat eating a four-day-old

French fry, and I'm thinking, that's me. And immediately, immediately,

it sent me back to some moments where formation happened

before faith happened. Because the reality is all of us

are walking through formation every single day. We're being formed

in one way or the other. Before we ever come

to faith, we've already walked through formation. We've already got

those underlying beliefs, those things that we believe keep us safe,

those things that draw us towards comfort, those things that

make us feel good about ourselves or make us feel

good about somebody else. It's belief systems that run and

we develop those. We see it, especially in early childhood,

a baby's born and it cries. And when it cries,

it gets fed. Listen, if your baby cries and you

don't feed it, you're not helping it with formation. You're

just not a good parent. Come on, somebody. Stick a

bottle in his mouth. Let it get big. It's okay.

They don't need to worry about exercise when they're an infant. Amen?

They cry. When they want to be picked up, they cry.

When they need something, when they feel unsafe, they cry. Amen?

It's their communication strategy. And every time they cry, they

get a response. and something happens. And this belief system

begins to grow in children. Now let's jump ahead until

they're three or four years old. How many of you

have ever been in a store and there's a four-year-old

kid and they don't get what they want and they cry?

Because it is a belief system that's running that was

trained in them from the beginning. And what they're used

to having, they do this and they receive this. And

the same thing happens all through our lives. And in

that moment, with this pressure that I felt on my chest,

of all these things that were happening in the invisible,

nobody else knew they were happening. These things began to

spin and they began to happen. And I identified with

that cat because earlier in my life, I identified as

someone who was not as good as. Come on, somebody

that didn't deserve anything. Grew up and other people had

more things than I had. And suddenly in that moment,

those belief systems that were formed early in my life,

they sprang to life even though I knew that Jesus

was provider. Even though I knew the things of faith.

In that moment, in that moment, my beliefs outran my

faith to the moment. And in the same instance as

I thought about all that, my mind went back to

that family farm that I grew up on. For some reason,

that cat in the dumpster with that french fry hanging

out of its mouth and all of my insecurities and

all of my fears and all of my worries and

all of those things, I remembered this closet. This closet.

That we had, and listen, I don't know why. I

don't know why we kept food in the living room closet,

but we did. That's just where it was. That was

what we called the can closet. It's where the food

that we can. We took it out of the garden.

We did the thing, put it in a can closet.

There was this closet and I would always get in

trouble because I would like to climb and glass jars

and that doesn't match, right? And I saw this image

and I thought, you know what? I didn't have as

many things as other people that I saw had, but

I also never went without, right? There was always this

underlying safety. There was this thing and it was God

teaching me these principles the entire time that he is

my provider, that he's watching out. And just because it

might not look like somebody else, it's still good enough.

And he supplies our need according to his riches in glory.

But you know, you can know the truth completely and

still not live from it. You can know the truth

completely and still not live from it. In Romans 8,

Romans 8:11

verse 11, it says, But if the Spirit of Him

who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He

who raised Christ from the dead will also give life

to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. See,

it's life. It's life. It's life. A lot of times

we think that spiritual life is the only thing that

He gives us, but He gives us life and life

more abundantly. It's not just the spiritual thing. You know,

when we read that first, when we really look at

that first passage of Scripture we read, and we all

quoted it, and you shall know the truth, and the

truth shall set you free. It's a good Pentecostal shouting.

I mean, you know, we like, whoo! But then we

look around and guess what? We're not free. We're bound

by all the fears and the insecurities. These belief systems

that we've created in our lives that run underneath the

current of the kingdom, that outrun our faith to the moment.

So many times we respond the way we... How many

times have you gotten a report and your immediate response

is fear and sadness? Or your spouse says something to

you and it's like reflex if it's anger. Because to

know the truth is not to hear the truth. Listen,

to know the truth, that word know actually means... to

have a working, living relationship with. That it's not just

to hear it, but it's to work with it and

have a relationship with it and allow it to impact

our lives. And it is a process of retraining our

minds from those belief systems that were there before we

came to Jesus to allowing the belief systems of Jesus

to dictate our lives. And it's a careful, methodical process

to get there because it does not come easy because

all of you have been alive longer than you've been saved.

Let me say that again. You've all, because some of

y'all are like, what? You've all been alive longer than

you've been saved. I saw this strange thing. I was

watching this show on TV and this guy said, I'm

half Muslim and I'm half Catholic. this character on TV.

And I was like, no, you're just zero. You're not anything.

Because we're not born into any spiritual relationship with God.

We're reborn into a relationship with God. And when we're reborn,

we start programming our minds and renewing our minds to

live according to Scripture. Now back to my story. $ 127, 000 gone.

And listen, every decision that I made along the way

that saw that money leave was the right decision. Here's

what gets hard. It's when we make the right decisions,

we know we're following God, but we still feel the

weight of the decision. I had one situation. Somebody just

went bankrupt and they were no longer able to give.

The other person wanted to dictate how things were going.

And we'd already heard from God exactly how. And you

have to go with what God calls you to do. Listen,

so many times ministry is lonely. Not because we're not

surrounded by so many people that love us. But because

we have to be obedient and so many people walk

away from you. That's why it's lonely because you never

know who God's calling somewhere else. And it's personal and

it hurts. And you have to work, not just pastors, anybody.

And you have to work through those things. Get to

those places that God's calling you to go. And we

work through. And every decision that we made along the

way was right. But yet they still cost money. There

was still an expense. Obedience is not an expense. It's

an investment. Listen, obedience is not an expense. It's an investment.

And the dividend of that investment is formation. The dividend

of every investment, of every hard thing, of every decision

you make, the dividend of that investment is that you

look a little more like Jesus at the end of it.

And that should be all of our goals, is to

look a little more like Jesus. If that means we're

sizing up, whoo! If we're sizing down, it might not

be as loud of a whoo, but whoo! But the

most important thing is at the end of my life,

my last day here, I look more like Jesus than

I have at any other point in my life. That's

what renewing our mind is. That's what living a life

of Christ is all about. It's not about things. It's

about Him. See, it's about living out those tensions in

real time. It's about realizing I'm that poor boy from

the country... but that God still provides and that can't

dictate who I am right now because God has positioned

me differently now than he has then. And let me

tell you something, that poor boy from the country still

shows up a lot. He still shows up a lot.

You know, my older cousin's here today and he used

to beat me in everything we did. he was just

he he was never better but he was bigger and

stronger I want to be clear he was never better

he was just bigger stronger amen we understand okay I

just want everybody have a firm foundation Better, not as big.

All right. So, yeah. And listen, all of that tension,

all of that struggle, all of those things had to

shape me in one direction or the other. It either

fueled me to move forward and get better and get

stronger and get faster and figure out a way to

get around the rules in order to win. Or it

pushed me further down. And those moments still make an

impact in my life today. The very first time I

beat my dad in basketball still is one of the

greatest moments of my life. Because it showed me that

I could And that I was no longer pressed down

by thought and an image. But the reality is that

God is bringing me closer to a finished product than

I've ever been before. Whatever is trained the most shows

up first. If we continue to lean back into our

old belief systems... If we continue to believe those things,

if we continue to rest on those things, then those

things will always show up first. Whatever we train the

most is going to show up first. But if you lean,

come on, if you lean into the things of the kingdom,

if you make the hard decisions, if you choose the

tough thing and you do it time and time and

time again, those are the things that start showing up first.

Faith leads the way rather than response. Faith becomes the

reflex rather than fear. And when we get to that place,

that's when we become shapers of our environment where we're

not shaped by it, but we cause it to move

and we cause it to respond because the God in

us is free because we're not limiting him by our

small beliefs, but we understand who he is so he

can be everything that he wants to be through us.

Let's jump ahead just a little bit because I told

you all about that hardship. But we had been pastoring

the church for a few years and it was another

difficult financial time. I like to write about finance because

I think people can relate to it. Amen. You know,

Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven

because it's what... It's what affects people. It's what impacts people.

And Jesus died for people. We'd gotten to the place

where it was tight. We had more bills than we

had money. And I remember Connie said, you know, what

are we going to do? And I said, what do

you mean? She said, well, I don't have the money

to pay all the bills. So I said, well, how

much money do we have? It wasn't much. Maybe. somewhere

between $ 2, 000 and $ 3, 000. She said, what are we going

to do? I said, I'll tell you what. Write a

check to, and I told her the name of the

church to write the check to. She said, how much?

I said, all of it. Now listen, I have some

theories that I live by that you should not live by.

I'm about to give you one, okay? I'm not teaching

you to do this. This was the philosophy that came

out of my mouth. I said, well, you know, if

you're drowning, it don't matter if you're an inch deep

or a mile deep, you're still drowning. But we have

to have seed in the ground because everything is seed, time,

and harvest. So write the check, mail it. I'm going

to call them and tell them it's on the way.

That way you have to do it. She wrote the check.

The next day, somebody didn't attend our church. They call

and say, hey, can I come by your office and

see you? And I'm thinking, usually it's not good. When

somebody calls and says, hey, can I swing by your office?

It's usually not good. And I'm like, yeah, sure. Just

pile it all on. Let's get it all over with

this week. Guy walks in. He had been watching our

lunchtime lives that we did. Every day at noon, I

would go live. I'd teach for about 15 minutes. We

did it five days a week. He came in and...

Took a check out of his pocket. He slid it.

He said, I just want to say thank you for

the teaching that you do. It has blessed me. I

just want to give a little something to the church.

And he walked out into the conference. And I opened

the check. It was a check for $ 100, 000. Now, hold on,

hold on, hold on, no, no, no, no, no. So

I went from the guy identifying with a cat in

a dumpster with a french fry hanging out of its mouth.

I'm going to live on crumbs to somewhere along the way.

And I don't know when it happened. I don't know

the moment the switch flipped. I tried to find it

so I could put it in the book, but I

don't know what the moment was. It was just a

process that grew where suddenly my kingdom thoughts... overpowered the

poor country boy thoughts. And now I'm thinking and I

realize what God says. I realize who he is. I

realize the cycle of blessing. So the only way to

get is to give. So we sowed a seed and

God showed up and it was the same person sitting

in almost the identical place to the one that was

impacted by the cat in the dumpster. Because my belief systems...

began to be retrained. See, here's the thing that you

need to understand. Pressure doesn't create beliefs. It exposes them.

When you find yourself in pressure, it will not create

a belief. When pressure shows up, that's not the moment

you find out you have faith. When pressure shows up,

it finds out the real belief that's underneath, that's been

running the whole time. Pressure puts a spotlight on the

whole and the broken parts of our lives. And it

illuminates them to the point where we can't ignore them anymore.

Some of you right now Feel pressure. You feel the

immense pressure of life. Financial, relational, spiritual, physical, emotional. You

feel the pressure and you don't know why you feel

the way you feel. You just know there's pressure and

it's exposing these belief systems because you don't want to

be angry, but you're angry. You don't want to worry,

but you worry. You don't want to quit, but you're quitting.

You don't want to run, but you're lacing up your

shoes because there's some beliefs that are in the way.

Of what God wants for you. And who he's calling

you to be in his kingdom. In Psalm chapter 51.

Psalms 51 · chapter mention

And the band can come and get ready. In Psalm

Psalms 51 · chapter mention

chapter 51. The psalmist says created me a clean heart.

Created me a clean heart oh God. And renew a

steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from

your presence. And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

And this is it. This is the underlying problem most

of the time. It's where broken beliefs infect everything else

that we try to do for God. Restore to me

the joy. This is the way we quote it. Restore

to me the joy of my salvation. That's the way

we quote it. I actually saw it written that way

in a devotional book one time. Restore to me the

joy of my salvation. But look what it says. That's

not what it says. It says, Restore to me the

joy of your salvation. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It's

not salvation. something you keep. It's not something you struggle for.

It's something you surrender to and you fall into with

everything that you are. You wake up and you think

to yourself, salvation is the only thing I have and

it's the only thing I need. I'm just looking for

Jesus to show up in my life today. That's all

I need. The psalmist says, listen, create a clean heart

because I want the joy of your salvation. Listen. Help

me get rid of all the polluted thinking because I

want the joy of the salvation that I experienced in

that moment. I had so many people explain when they

get saved in an altar, they feel like, oh, it

feels like a million pounds has been lifted off of

my shoulders. That's what salvation feels like every day. If

we do the mind work, if we understand that we're

not to be conformed to this world and think about

the systems of this world and the things that we

think keep us safe and the things that we've tried

and that we've done, Those are the worldly systems. But

be transformed. Become something new by the renewing of your

mind and experience. John chapter 10 verse 10. Life and

John 10:10

life more abundantly. Church, it's not your fault the way

you were formed. It's not your fault the trauma you've

been through. Look at me. It's not your fault, the

hurt you've experienced. The brokenness that has surrounded you. The

consequences of the poor decisions you've made. That's just formation.

What's our fault? What? is that we're not retraining the

brokenness into healthy kingdom living. That's our responsibility. He said,

Restore unto me the joy of your salvation and uphold

me by your generous Spirit. You don't wonder... today. Maybe

you're here. You feel this pressure. You feel just the

weight of decisions from the past. Those things that you

didn't even have a say in. The trauma that has

defined you for years. I'm going to give you this

for free. This is not even part of the message.

Your trauma does not get to define you. The person

that meant evil for you does not get to define you.

Jesus says that you're more than a conqueror. He says

you're the head and not the tail. You're above and

not beneath. That greater is He who is in you

than he who is in the world. He looked at

everything else he created and he said it's good. But

when he created humanity, he said it is very good.

You're the pinnacle of his creation, the apple of his eye.

You're his prince, you're his princess, you're his everything. And

all you have to do is come to him and

give him all the pressure and all the brokenness and

he'll begin to build you from the ground up. He'll

begin to stop those responses that lead you down the

wrong road and start pointing you towards the blessings of

the kingdom and the things that He is. Every challenge

will be taken in a different way because it doesn't

feel like God's against me. It feels like that He

trusts me to go through something hard so that I

can lead the way for others to follow. Now this

moment is very pivotal for you. Because we don't think

about We don't think about it this way usually, but

we either receive, we either jump in, or we deny.

Here's your opportunity to jump in and surrender. Here's your

opportunity to trust Jesus with everything. Everybody stand with me

all over the building. Altar team, you can come. If

you're here today, every head bowed, every eye closed. If

you're here today, you'd be honest with yourself. And say, Lord,

I got some stuff I need to turn over to you.

The pressure's too much. I want my response to be

a kingdom response. And I know that there's some brokenness

I need to address. Some things I need to repent of.

Some sin I need to get rid of. If that's you,

just slip your hand up and say, that's me, Pastor.

Pray for me. I got some stuff and I need

to let it go. I got some hurt, some trauma,

some pain, some insecurity, some fear. Amen. You know, maybe

you're here today, though, and you've never made a decision

to trust Jesus as your Savior. You've never asked Him

to truly forgive you of your sins and be the

Lord of your life. But today you want to do that.

The Bible says that until you do that, you're living

in darkness. He'll move you into the kingdom of light.

So if that's you and you want to surrender your

life to Jesus, ask Him to forgive you of your sins.

If that's you, slip up your hands and ask me, Pastor,

pray for me. I want to give my heart and

life to Jesus today. Put your hand up, put it

right back down. That's all you need to do. Amen. Amen.

Lord Jesus, have your way in this place right now.

Have your way in this place right now. We love

you and we thank you. Every eye open, every head

looking around. If you raise your hand to either one

of those things, I'm going to count to three. And

when I count to three, if you raise your hands,

I want you to step out and come. Listen. Listen.

Don't look around to see. It doesn't matter if anybody

else comes. This is about you and your relationship with Jesus.

That's all it's about. Everything else is irrelevant in this moment.

So on the count of three, if you raise your hand,

I want you to step out. I want you to

make your way to the front. These men and women,

they're going to pray for you. When you step out

and come, if you need to push somebody to get

at you, this is important. Come. And as you come,

the band's going to sing. People are not going to

watch you and gawk at you. They're going to worship.

And you're going to have a grace collision with Jesus

this morning. He's going to set you on the path

to wholeness. So when I get three, you guys can

just go, okay? On the count of three. One. Two. Three.

Step out and come right now. Come on. If you

lifted your hand. We love you. We're for you.