Focus Your Faith

and Toronto, Toronto, Toronto, Toronto Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets right now, or you're gonna be sad because they're gonna sell. You'll be standing out there in the parking lot talking about a breakthrough. But God gave you one and you didn't take it when he gave it. Gets your ticket, Get your tickets, Get your tickets. Get your tickets at Elevation Nights dot com dot com dot com. Oh God, are y'all gonna put up with me like this all day? Oh? Man? I think it's the bandana?

Did it tell me I need a bandana? Good to have you, Joel, Hey, I'm excited about the Elevation Rhythm album. When are we putting that out? Oh? That thing is it's called this is the Gospel, and I think you are going to find it to be very very good. So that'll be coming soon from Elevation Rhythm. God is doing a new thing, new songs, new season, new strength, new series. I start in two weeks ago. Now I kind of head faked you. I said I'm starting a series. Then I was gone. But now I'm back and I'm

ready to bring it Joshua. Chapter one, Chapter one, new chapter. Somebody say that out loud, new chapter. We're preaching from this thought, there's so much more to the story and believing that for every family, every business, every person who maybe is recovering from a heartbreak or you're hoping for freedom from an addiction in your life. And we took that specific line from a song we've been singing around here called More than Apel, and it says, there's so

much more to the story. You're not done with me yet? How many are glad that God didn't throw you away? Oh so the people that aren't clapping didn't make mistakes, y'all. They are in pristine condition. But some of us did so much stuff. God could have junked us and just written us off, but he didn't. And there's a reason for that. If you're breathing, there's a reason for that. If you're here, there's a reason for that. There's a reason for it. I believe there's a reason God sent

you to this message today. You got on this YouTube channel and you were looking for a cooking video. Well, I've been cooking all right, the bread of life. The Lord wants you to receive this word. Now, let's go to Joshua Chapter one, verses seven through eleven, and I'll pick up one other verse as well. It's one of those scriptures got to breathe before you read it, because it's good. God is coaching up Joshua to do with it. He has to do that Moses couldn't do, but Joshua's

called to do it. Break limitations and break barriers and lead the people into something great to glorify his name. So let me get ready for this verse seven. Be strong in my imagination, when I said that, y'all are like shouting and stuff. So we're gonna talk about your attitude when we appreciate this message. Be strong and very courageous, be careful to obey all the law. You're like, well, that's mine, the careful part. I'm the careful one. You

don't normally see those two together, courageous and careful. Usually it's like, don't climb up there on that thing, You're gonna break your neck. That's the first thing our parents start telling us is all this stuff we're gonna break our neck doing and get killed doing so. I thought it was fascinating that they're right there together. Be courageous, not just courageous, but very courageous, and be careful. Isn't that interesting? I love these little tensions in the text.

That's what helps me to really see the truth in it. Be very courageous and be careful to obey all the law. My servant Moses gave you, do not turn from it to the right or to the left. That you may be successful. Well, brother Steve, the Lord doesn't care if we succeed, does he not? Did he say that you may be successful? I mean, I want this sermon to succeed today. I hope you do too. I don't want to just talk and you get put down three notes and lose the note sheet before you even get to Tuesday.

I want this sermon to get in your heart, and I want you to succeed. I want this sermon to work when you have to go to court next month. I want this sermon to work when you have to negotiate. I want this sermon to work when you have to say no to the thing you've been saying yes to for the last seventeen years. I want this to work for you in your life. He wants you to be successful wherever you go, and look at this. Keep this

book of the Law always on your lips. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, For the Lord your God will be with you wherever. Oh, that sounds like a blank check to me. Wherever you go, who We're going to test the limits of that in

a moment. You'll see verse ten. So, Joshua, last time I preached, I preached now, Joshua, right, God is bringing something into your life now, and God is always bringing something new into your life. So Joshua ordered the officers of the people. Go through the camp and tell the people. Get your possessions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land. The Lord your God is giving you for your own. Drop down to chapter two, verse one,

last verse. Then Joshua, son of None secretly sh sent two spies. Secretly, secretly sent two spies from shie Em. It's a long eye, very important, shteem, y'all are so bad kind of church is this? Secretly sent two spies from Shiam. Go look over the land, he said, especially Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a prostitute

named Rahab and stayed there. Very interesting. The title of this message is focus your faith, and that's what I want to teach you about today, how to focus your faith. And then the little subheading is do the thing that you would do, Do the thing that you would do. Tell your neighbor, do the thing that you would do, Do the thing that you would do. Father, I thank you for what you spoke. Help me just to step aside now and let you deliver your word. But you

can use me. God. I'm available to you in Jesus' name, aymn, tell somebody focus on your way down to your seat, Focus your faith, Focus your faith. I don't know if you got to hear my last sermon, but I was saying, how I've been reading through the Bible real slow. With my oldest boy. We had this conversation where he asked me, shouldn't every Christian be required to read through the whole Bible at least once before they die. He said, it's so much better when you take the whole thing in

and kind of you get invested in it. And he said, I realized that now I just used to pick little scriptures and this would definitely be one to pick. Right, be strong and courageous. The Lord will be with you wherever you go. It's like, all right, going to the club, I'm going out here. And isn't it crazy that right after God said that I'll be with you wherever you go, they went to a prostitute's house. I guess they were checking this out like like really like everywhere we go.

And of course they weren't in the prostitute's house for any other reason than the fact that Rahab's resume included a history of hiding men. This is what I mean by the Bible is so cool when you read it, why Rayhab's house? And then on one hand you think maybe they're sinning, but they're not. They're going to a place that seems unlikely, in a territory that is full of enemies, and so they go to Rahab's house the Prostitute. Now, I don't want to speak much about Rehab the Prostitute

this week, but maybe should show up next week. This might be a two week or or something like that. I really want to get on this motivational thing where he said, be strong and very courageous, be careful to obey, do not turn from the right to the left, that you may be successful. And then did you notice how he said in verse nine, do not be afraid, do

not be discouraged. I love that sermon I did a few weeks ago where I had Graham come up here and put his forearm on my neck, and I was saying how at a wrestling match I heard a woman's screaming stand up, and like, how hard it is to do these things that we read about in the scripture. And I have not had so much feedback on a sermon in years as I got just going around people saying I loved when Graham was on top of you for like seven minutes, just grinding you into the ground.

That was awesome. That was your best sermon ever. I'm like, do you remember the scripture? No? But that was really cool how Graham was like, because because I feel like that, because I feel like that in my life, and I can't say I ever could really name it, but when you acted it out, I was like, yes, exactly. You're like, don't be afraid. It's like, dude, you talk to people about God for a living. If you went to work where I went to work, you would understand my fear.

So I think we found a point of connection there that is kind of crazy sometimes in your life. And so when when he says, don't be afraid, and then he says God says, not me. God says to Joshua, don't be discouraged. I'm really thankful that he said that to Joshua, who had to lead millions of people into a brand new land to fight a great, big enemy. Because you might be able to tell me I don't have a right to say it, and you might be right, but how many of you have this level of stress

in your life? You are leading millions of people into a land that you have no real map for, and you're fighting enemies that are twice your size and experience. So then this applies to you. Do not be afraid.

I was talking to a friend the other day who studies sociology, and he said, the thing that has been different the last few years in the people that he's worked with, whether they're millionaire CEOs are people that he's working with within the prison system, is that fear comes first when something changes in your life, and then comes discouragement. He's telling me this on the phone. Remember you came over the other day and I was like, I got this phone call and y'all were talking. I was like,

I gotta go. I got a phone call. So I get on the phone with this guy. We had an appointment. He said, I've been noticing as we help people that we need to deal with the discouragement because fear is, oh no, it's changing. I don't know what to do. I better adapt. But after you've spent a season trying to adapt and it doesn't work, fear turns into discouragement. I said, say that again. He said, fear turns into discouragement.

Fear comes first. And then when you've tried to stabilize through a turn or a transition, or some change, whether it's big picture change or little picture change in your life, or just trying to make a change in your life from the inside. At first you're afraid. But then after the fear has run his course and you've done all that you know to do to make this work and it didn't, then the fear turns to discouragement. And I interrupted him. I said, that's Joshua one nine. He said,

is what now? Because he's a Christian, but I preach the Bible, and he's more fluent in the human mind. I said, that's Joshua one nine. That's what I'm gonna be preaching in a few weeks to my church. They're in the same verse. Y'all aren't gonna believe this, because anytime that the Bible says what we're just now finding out makes me think God's pretty smart, makes me think God knows stuff, makes me think I can trust him. How many know you can trust him? In the transition?

Have I not commanded you verse nine? Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid, Do not be afraid, Do not be discouraged. When you go into this land, you're gonna be afraid. But when you get in, because God knows what's ahead in this story. He knows that after they all get circumcised, they're gonna be hobbling over trying to walk around the walls of Jericho, trying to fight the Battle of Jericho after that surgery. You didn't know they did that after surgery. See, there's more to the story.

Come back, I'll teach you. I'll teach you all the cool stuff in the Bible that they didn't put in your Sunday school. They always taught you to blow the trumpet around the wall of Jericho. They didn't tell you you've just been circumcised before you start walking. There's so much more to the story. This is not a boring story, and yours isn't either, which means it's gonna have twist and turns, which means that God is bringing you into a place. But the plot, okay, learned, I've learned this.

He said, you're gonna be afraid, and then you're gonna fight some battles that you're gonna win. The first one was Jericho, first one. The second one was called I it's spelled A I I, and they did it wrong and they got beat. So now I'm thinking that what God knew when he's talking to Joshua is the first one, you're gonna be afraid, but it's gonna work. The second one you're gonna go in a little overconfident. It's not gonna work, and you're gonna be on your face. So

don't be afraid, don't be discouraged. And so y'all have a good week. Don't be discouraged, and we just all go out and we don't be discouraged. Just don't be just don't be don't be discouraged. Does that mean I should never feel like like I'm taking for granted. No, you're gonna feel like you're taking for granted sometimes. And Moses led to people forty years and all they did was holler at him when they got thirsty. And then when Joshua took over they were like, hey, just like well, Moses,

we're gonna obey you. I'd be like, no, thanks, you show some gratitude. You're gonna be taking for granted. Every mom say amen, this is my early Mother's Day message. You're ready, the sign that you're good is that they take you for granted. How many of y'all think the person who turned on the lights in the church today. Nope, they just do it, so you don't never say thank you. They're that good. Sometimes you're taking for granted because you're that good at it. Sometimes we take God for granted

because he's that good. If God made you do fifty push ups before every breath he gave you, you'd start thanking him for the breast to see if you get down to forty, you start bargaining with God. But he's come on, y'all, he's that good. He's that good all the way from the back to the front. Say he's that good. Yeah, he's that good at his job. So he doesn't want us to take his presence for granted. And he enunciates said clearly, so there can be no

mistake about who's doing the work. I the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. And truthfully, that's why you're here because He was with you. That's why you survived everything you survived because He was with you. It really is the only reason that we made it through because He was with us. Let's give God praise that he's with us. When he says do not be afraid,

then he must not be talking about a feeling. Why would he tell me to do something that I can't help be like put me out in the rain and telling me, don't get wet. Where's my umbrella. I'm not giving you one. Don't get wet. Well, I got to go inside. Don't go inside, but don't get wet. So go into the promised land. Fight the enemies. Don't be afraid,

don't be discouraged. Keep showing up doing the thing that you know you're supposed to do, but feel like it's not going anywhere, and you just keep let your big balance go down instead of up, going the wrong way instead of the right way. But keep showing up and don't be discouraged. Keep on loving people who are unlikable, but don't be discouraged. Let me do this for myself. Keep on preaching, and keep on preaching and preaching and

preaching and preaching and preaching and preaching. And know that some of the people that you preach to are never going to listen to it, but don't be discouraged. Some will, some won't. Don't be discouraged. Keep sowing words of encouragement. Don't be discouraged. Keep on trying to do the Okay, I got to bring it up, the eating right thing, step on the scale. Don't be discouraged, keep doing it. And so I realized that God is not talking about a feeling here at all. He's talking about a folk.

That was the breakthrough for me. As I thought about what to teach you about when you feel discouraged, I realize that God is not commanding Joshua or Jimmy saying don't feel discouraged. He said, don't be discouraged. That means there must be a big difference to God between what I feel and who I am. Between what I feel and who I am. I'm depressed right now. I've got joy inside. I just have to learn how to bring the joy from the inside out forward into my life.

This condition is not my identity. I'm glad about that, because I feel some funny feelings. Sometimes I feel some freaky stuff. Sometimes I feel sometimes some stuff makes me so frustrated and discouraged. And God says, that's fine, you feel it, but don't be it. That's fine that you feel it, but you don't have to behave like it. You don't have to believe everything fear tells you. You don't have to believe everything that you think. Just because you think it doesn't mean you have to believe it.

You can check that out. You know, they have like airport security, and certain stuff doesn't get through. Certain stuff you can say to your mind, Ah, that's not coming through today, not today, Come again tomorrow. Maybe there'd be a different TSA agent at the gate. I don't know. Maybe you can get it through tomorrow, but not today. Because I'm in a season that God is doing something and especial in my life, and I can feel it.

It's coming from my spirit. And I don't have everything in the spirit worked out yet in my situation, but I'm not limited by my situation. And even the very language that I use has to be very peculiar in this season, because what I say in this season is going to determine what I step into. Do not be discouraged, Do not be afraid. You have seen glimpses of yourself that reveal your God's potential. You've seen them in certain moments where you were kind, You've seen them in certain

moments where you were hospitable. You've seen it in certain moments where you said, no, that's fine, you right in the front seat, I'll sit in the bag. Not only did that once in nineteen eighty eight, but you did it once. You have seen seasons when you were disciplined. How many of you have gotten a glimpse of yourself that went like, oh, that must be the me that God sees when he says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Now I'm not saying that you don't five minutes later

below the whole thing. But you've seen it right, You've glimpsed it. Come on, don't leave me up here. You've seen it right. I've met myself strong. Have you met yourself strong? I have? I like that guy. Let me tell you about strong Stephen gets about strong Stephen, he doesn't have to prove his point and win every argument because he's coming from a place of strength, not neediness. So he can listen to somebody and go like, Okay, wow,

that's crazy. Let me think about that week. Stephen sounds strong because he argues, and a lot of times he wins because he's good with these words, mama. But even though I win, it's really weakness because when I'm coming from a place of strength. I don't need to teach you a lesson because it's in God's hands. But weak me week Stephen. He's a different He's a whole different situation.

He is a whole different case study. And that's why I was encouraged by verse seven and nine, because I thought, like, Oh, Joshua isn't just strong, because God wouldn't tell him not to be afraid, and he's not just encouraged or God wouldn't tell him don't be discouraged. And it gave me hope for what I've been preaching to you all year about do the new you. This passage to me communicates the belief of a coach that God had in the ones that He's chosen, and it also features some correction

that's going to help us today. How many of you want this help that God has for you today. It's going to help us today to understand how to track back your discouragement and get back on track with what God's called you to do. Some of you are completely off track right now in your life. You know it. You're discouraged, and you know it. You're down, and you

know it. You're defeated, and you know it. But if you track it back, this is what came to me, and y'all are going to think, wow, that's not very deep. But if you track back your discouragement, it usually has to do with your discussions, not just with other people, but the conversations that happen inside of your own soul. You expect God to give Joshua all the military strategy in Joshua one, and yet he focuses way more. I mean,

he gives him the whole picture. He says, I'm gonna give you from the desert to Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean. To me, that's like the opening scene of a movie where the drone is flying over the whole land, or they're showing us one specific place and they're giving us a setting. Ah. But then after the setting there has to be a good script. And so he's given him this script so that he can live

the story that God wants him to live. And the Lord sent me to say some of you, the reason that your story feels such a dead end story is because your script sucks. Tell your neighbor, if you're not afraid they'll punch you, say your script sucks. Holly listen Holly. Y'all pray for Holly because she says inappropriate things to me. She says that I'm a bad actor. Anytime I try to like pull a little you lie to the kids and make them think something, she's like, you are such

a bad actor. You're a horrible actor. Like we should be glad about that. It means I can't get away with anything. She's like, yeah, but you're such a bad actor. And so I always be like, well, test me. Give me a scene to do, and I'll come in the room and do it. So she'd give me something crazy, like somebody just died that I love or something, and I'll come in the room and she's like, and you just got the phone call and they died, And so I'll come in and the thing that I do every time,

I start laughing. I cannot I cannot do it without laughing. And we play this game often and she's like, you're terrible, You're so horrible. Why do you keep making me do this? This is so bad, this is so dumb. You laugh every time. And one time I looked at her because she's like, you're a bad actor, and I was like, I need better lines. It's your fault. You didn't give me any lines. You didn't give me any you didn't

give me anything to say. So you know, you gave me a setting, you gave me a kind of like a scene to work out, but you didn't give me a script. Give me a better script, and I'll be a better actor. At least that's my excuse, right. So God says, I'm going to give you the strategy for each city in your life. But first, before I give you the strategy for it, I want to give you the script so that when you get into it, what you say on the inside will empower you to face

what's on the outside. Joshua, this is going to be an inside job. Yes, you're going to face giants. Yes, there is going to be dry terrain. Yes, there are going to be screaming, whining people that will remind you of toddlers that you will have to lead. But Joshua, be strong and very courageous. How do I be very courageous? God, be very careful, be very careful what you let in you, and you will be very courageous when you face what's in front of you. We keep trying to fix what's

in front of us. Oh, if they would change. Oh, if I were single three years ago? You said if I were married? Which one is it? Because we keep talking about situations changing, but God is talking about conversations changing. The Lord said to Joshua, am I preaching? Or am I crazy? Because I think you might be discouraged not because of something that you're facing or feeling, but because of something that you are saying about what you were facing.

So here's what you gotta do, Joshua. What do I do? Do I shoot them? Do I kill them? Do I stab them? Do A choke them? All? Right, before we get to all that, because we're gonna do all that. Verse eight, keep this Book of the Law. Now, Joshua is jealous of you because he had the Book of the Law Genesis exits number it's Leviticus Stuteronomy. You got the whole story. Hold on, let me see real quick, because you got something Joshua doesn't have. And I just

want to make sure real quick. Oh yeah, you win. Spoiler alert. I didn't mean to mess it up for you because I know you were gonna read it this week. But you win. We win. The grace of God's people be with you. Amen, you win. Come Lord Jesus, we win. He's already here with us. You win. Wherever you step your foot, he's already there. You win. There's fifteen people who felt that. When I said it, it's like, oh yeah,

I read this one. This is a good one. We gotta fight a lot, but we're going to have faith, and we're not going to feel it every time, and we're not going to see it every time, and we're not going to always know how. But He always makes a way. And we know this by faith because we have his word's exceeding great and precious promises. When author called down the living Word of God, which never returns void, is in your heart. We thank you for your word. Lord.

I thank you for your word. Lord. I thank you for the promises that I have in spite of the problems that I face. I thank you Lord. Now with Joshua, the instruction is simple. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips. Meditate on it. And it sounds Eastern meditation. Isn't that Buddhist or something? Is this a yoga class? We need to quit given our definitions of words to the world and let them take it from us.

The Bible is Eastern, dude, I told somebody one day, I was like, I'm concentrating on breathing more these days. They're like, oh, that's new age. I thought God did that in the garden, like the very first page of the story. I thought, that's what the word for spirit meant when the spirit ruac. God started this. So we need to take some of this stuff back, just like success when I read that, or prosper, Oh God, let

a preacher say prosper, Oh God, God said prosper. And if you think that refers only to cars and places that you can go on vacation, you just need a bigger definition of God, because it includes your peace, it includes your freedom, it includes the richness of your interior life.

All that, all of that, all of it. Now, he said, let's fix this script you got going on, Joshua, before I take you into this place, before I give you this strategy, before I can get you this success that I want you to have, which is not necessarily the success that you imagine. It's going to be much deeper. He said, do this, keep this book of the Law always on your lips, meditating on it day and night, which does not mean hear me, please to quote scriptures

obnoxiously at people when they're going through stuff. Just for a cautionary moment in this sermon, he said, be careful. Okay, I'm gonna be careful. This does not mean you walk around the house and your kid is like I had a bad day. Well, all things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to His purpose. For those he for knew, he also predestined, and those he predestined he also justified, and those he just shut up say I'm sorry you had a bad day.

You want to talk about it. That's not what the word always on your lips means. Somebody said, man, I'm really struggling. Well, Judas went and hanged himself, So you see how can backfire if you hear me wrong. So what does he mean when he says meditate? I got a picture of him. I got the picture about seven years ago, but I didn't realize it was a picture of meditation at the time. I thought it was a NASCAR race. I went to a NASCAR race to see Joey Logano, the champ, the two time champ, and his

number on his race car is twenty two. Like Taylor Swift. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling twenty two. I know we got a lot of drivers in the church, but Joeoe is my guy and I will always cheer for him. And he said, come out and see me race. I said, I want to. I said, I respect what you do, but that sounds really boring. He's like, bring the kids, they'll like it. I promise we'll take care

of them. So, man, they treated us so good. As soon as we got there, they gave us these little uh like look like a walkie talkie and shout out Warren. He gave each of the kids one and we all had one and on it we could hear. But show them the picture of Abby because we have one of Abbey holding it, just to kind of bring it into the scene that. Yeah, they gave me a hat, a shirt.

I think those are Joey Logano jeans or something Joey Logano underwear somewhere in there too, and then those yellow Joey Logano headphones and all of this that you know, because we're right by the track, and we're standing by the track and you see that little thing that Abby's holding, Do you see it? You see it? Talk to me, Okay, that thing is uh, hand it to me, just just yeah, just hand it to me. Yeah, yeah, thank you, baby.

She called, next sermon illustration is me. When I had Grandma up here, she said, hey, next sermon illustration is me some kind of multitask and parenting and preaching right now? All right? So we had this, and I promise you this is not a made up sermon illustration because it's going to sound like, oh, that's just too perfect. You made that up. But I promise you. We had a video of it too, but I didn't want to show

you the video. Abby's five years old and she's holding this thing and she's standing there because on this you can hear the crew chief of the driver and the spotter telling Joey what to do, and you can hear what they're saying to him. Is amazing. It's made it really fun for me. Give it helped me understand a

little bit more of what was going on. But Abby, she thought that Joey could hear her too, So she's standing over there now really how there's cars going fast and what they do at NASCAR and she's going five years old. Joey Wigano, Joey Wigano, Joey Wigano. Can you hear me, Joey Wiggano, Joey Logana. And we let her do it for like an hour because it was so cute. I know we're going to hell because we let her sit there for at least forty five minutes going, Joey Wiganeo,

joe Ogano? Is that you, Joey wigane Can you hear me? Joey Wigano. And finally, after I got the video in the picture and we left left and left and left, I say, he can't hear you, baby, This is a one way device. But what if he could just come with me real quick from Palestine to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. I'll take you on the journey right now. What if Joey did from Joshua to Joey what if he did?

What if they met every fan at the gate and said, here you go, now put this on, and the driver has a headset too, and you could put this on. Don't want me to put it on. He's gonna mess my hair up? Right that way? I should have practiced this is it on wrong? It's upside down? What you mean? Oh? Strapping the bell? Thank you? Like that? Is it right? I can't really hear y'all, these are really really it's wrong. Okay. I tried so, but you saw it. Good grief, Okay,

come back to the Bible. So he's like, Joshua, there are certain things that need to be in your heart that will enable you to fight the good fight when you are discouraged and afraid. Now watch this. What if Joshua, when God spoke to him, instead of Verse ten, says he went around and told all of the people, get ready, get ready. In three days, we're going in. Hey, hey, officers go around telling people get ready, get everything packed, get your shoes laced, get everything ready. We're going in

in three days. We're going in in three days, three days. I don't know how we're getting across the Jordan. Joshua will tell us. I guess we're going in. How are we going to get over the walls of Jericho. I don't know. Just get ready, We're going in in three days. Imagine if he had gone around asking them what'd you think? And then I remember they tried that forty years earlier. They tried that. The whole nation started saying to Moses, we can't do that, we can't be that. We can't

defeat that, we can't beat them now. And you're like, this does not sound like Canaanites and land I understand that. It sounds like change you need to break. It sounds like impact that you know you can make. It sounds like that thing that you have been avoiding that you know God is calling you to engage, and you know what it is. So imagine Joey meets everybody at the gate and says, here, just tell me when you think I should turn. Here's your device. Just tell me what

to do. Because see when you're in the car and there've been in one bit. This is what he told me. He said, you can only look forward. You can't turn your head at all. So that's why the spotter has to tell him. Here's what's ahead of you, here's what's behind you, Here's what's going on around you. Oh, they're about to wreck up there. This is where we need to be. That's why the crew chief. Now the crui chief doesn't talk as much as the spot but he

could talk to He could tell him stuff too. But imagine if every single NASCAR beer drinking NASCAR fan and five year old girl got a device, got a device, got a device, got a device to talk to the driver. And here we are trying to steer our lives in a season we've never been in before. And yet the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning, Oh what do they think? Oh where are they today? Oh where are they vacationing? Oh what is this political party up? To? Shut it down? And look up and

see what God's doing? Lauren, Glory, Glory, Glory, Gord. In times of transition, you gotta keep it tight. You gotta keep it tight. Touch three. People say, keep it tight right now, keep it tight, right now, keep it tighter. I'm not saying don't make new friends. I'm not saying don't read books. I'm not saying don't take a class. I'm not saying don't have counsel on the multitude counselors their safety. I know the Bible versus two. But what

I'm telling you is God is your spotter. Oh I got a better one, and Jesus is my CRUSI there's more than the story. Baby zas on. What's the only one? God sat? Cause three days later, Jesus saying, we're going across this sortid, We're crossing over this Cancel from dead to life, from dead, so alive, from the long to praise? He yes, Lord, But what do you think I should do? How do you think I should raise my kids? What do you think I should should do? Keto? Should do?

Should do it? What do you should do? What should I feel? What should I feel? It is so crazy that we've got so many voices. Some of them aren't on our phone. Some of them are from our family, from people who are dead, who raised us, still talking. I can make the message real simple. Who's in your headset? Who? Who gets to you? I don't want to I don't want to be stuck up. Then you'd rather be stuck I'm not saying don't listen to other people's point of view.

That is not this message. But the Lord said in Transition times you only need to listen to two. How many spies did Moses send into the Promised Land? No, Moses, Yeah, he sent twelve too many? Too many. Joshua knew that's ten too many. Joshua was one of the two. Y'all are never gonna forgive me up here in this headset with a wired dangling around, looking like I'm five years old and I can't even put it on correctly. You are never gonna forget this sermon. And that's just the

way I want it. So the next time that you got ten telling you we can't do it. The next time you got Twitter telling you who to hate and who like, the next time you got Facebook all up in your face, sap in your faith making you a friend. You remember that preacher. You remember Fredick was up there telling me I just need two. I just need my spoder that's God. I need my cru sees, that's Jesus. And if I got the Holy Spirit, I got an

engine that will never turn out. And so watch me make this turn, watch me turn this corner, watch me do this thing, watch me reinovent in this season, discern a greater purpose. Watch me be a mentor, watch me be a single mom. Watch me break out of these things, watch me grow this sort of sada the god. So sus us us all yeah, I've been discouraged to change the discussion. Get a different scrapped. I got one. I got one for you. I got one for you. Gosh,

that make it per so for? I said, how personal? Lord? He said, real personal? I said, embarrassing? He said, as deep as you can go without getting fired. I said, all right, I share this Richard watch, watch Rotch, watch Roger. I've been driving up to this church to preach for over seventeen years now, never even really understood that the meditation, And I don't want you to use that word like um, think of those, think of those the headset that'll help

you better to understand what I'm saying. Because I said, how faster are you going out there? He said two hundred miles an hour? I said, wow, Then you can't really afford to just have Uncle Billy weighing in on what Joey should do. Turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left. That's what Uncle Billy knows about racing. Come on. The fastest car Billy ever had was a Maxima. You're gonna let Billy tell you how to drive. You're gonna

get Billy of device. Here you go, Here you go, Culture, here you go, CNN, here you go, Fox News, here you go, Elon, here you go, Kanye. I don't care who it is. If they're not the spotter, if they're not the crew teeth, I can listen, but I gotta keep it tight wide because we're in a season right now where we're all trying to turn the corner. Oh, are we getting set up for Jericho where you're gonna have to go around and around and around and around

and around and around seven times? And it isn't working. And so I'm discouraged. So when you get discouraged and you wonder, what's this really? God? Am I really valuable? Will I ever heal? Is it gonna get better? Should I even live? Am I gonna make it? Is it gonna work? Can I recover? Is there still time? As you're making those turns? You need to learn how to talk with the one who is watching you and who knows every hair on your head because he's with you.

I need two of you. I need a spotter and a crew chief. I need goodness and mercy. I need to I need to. Everybody get two fingers up. They say that's the peace sign. Well, for right now it is gonna be the peace sign. It's gonna remind you that when you are discouraged is often because you're distracted. Stuff it don't matter, stuff is passing. I know exactly who I'm saying this for. Right now, you've been telling

your stuff, craziest stuff. You don't like your story, then Why are you sticking with the script that was given to you? Why are you letting a five year old tell you how to drive? Yeah, I'm talking Paris. I don't want to go to bed. Okay, stay up forever and die, Like what kind of parenting is that? You gotta hand that over? So I was driving up to preach every week. You know what, My meditation was not um and it was worse some weeks than others, but

many seasons it ran through the background. I hope I'm not a disappointment. I never would have known how to name it as I was feeling. See, that's why you come, so we can put a name on some of the stuff that's going on in here. And you go, oh yeah, oh yeah, that's a five year old talking to me. That's an earlier version of me somewhere. I'm scared of

letting these people down. That's not where God put me now, That's not who I am now, and recently, very recently, but long enough ago that I've been working on it so I can share with you you this didn't just happen this week. I'm preaching about stuff while was that fresh. I drove up to the church and the Lord said, change the whole thing that you're thinking, changed the whole meditation and say this. Okay, the first part came like this took me a minute. I just sat there. He

gave it to me. Say this, God is not against me, and I'm like, well, that's weird. I'm not worried about you being against me, God, I'm worried about them being against me. The other one said, I'm scared of letting down. What if I say something stupid? That's not really a what if? Is it? That's kind of just a baseline requirement for me to grab this mic? But what if I try to let the Holy Spirit flow? If I miss it? See all that? You know what else Joey

told me. He said, one thing about racing is if you don't want to hit the wall, don't think about hitting the wall, because you hit the wall. And I don't know what we're preaching about today, are we Are we preaching about a new creation in Christ or a NASCAR? You're preaching about all of this because this is you. Life is going fast, and not everybody else out there is for you. Some of them are against you, but

God is not. See I'm talking about the secret things, not the things that the enemy shouts, the things he whispers, sh secret things you can't even you can't even name them with language because they're happening at the level of a feeling. So you don't even know how to process it. You don't even know how to process it. You just you're just turning here when you should turn there, and you're crashing, and you're losing opportunity, and you don't know

why and the reason why. I was showing up a lot of times so anxious, I must have secretly thought that God didn't want to work with me that day to communicate his word to people because I study, I prayed. I'm not perfect, but I'm sincere. I am passionate. So if I gave it to him, and I gave him the time that week, and I'm not running around being an idiot and blaming it on the sovereignty of God that I didn't have a sermon Lord speak, He's like

I was trying Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You were distracted. If I've been with him, and even if I haven't, he wants to speak to you more than he wants me to study. So even at that moment when you screw up. You still got to believe He wants to

work with you. How can you possibly get up and preach or parent, or run a small business, or graduate from school, or go back and get your degree, or fight diabetes or can and you to show up and see your mom three times a week at the nursing home and know that she doesn't even know who you are. How can you possibly push through that kind of discouragement if you don't believe that God is with you and for you? He said, sind two spies, not too many. You don't need a whole bunch of this right now.

You need to focus on what God spoke to you. So here's the question I want going through your mind. What is something I know God spoke that I can obey today? Get it? What is something I know God spoke that I can obey today? Do you see how different that is than what we run around managing a lot of times we run around thinking like, oh, I got to get my life together. If you do it like that, you're gonna fall apart. That's too much. Now. The enemy's just listing stuff you need to fix in

your life. You need to fix your attitude. You need to fix your relationships. You need to fix your money. You need to fix your kitchen, sink and a toilet too much. Watch what Joshua said in chapter two, verse one. He said, go to spies. It's an inside job. We're gonna We're not gonna make a big deal about this. We're just going to focus our faith right now. I not only feel that God called me to impart faith to you today in this series, but also to impart focus.

What is the next thing you need to face? Just that? What is the one thing? Because Jericho was like the key city, it was the strategic command center. It's like your mind is to your body. If they got in Jericho, they could take the rest of the land. And I am telling you the enemy is trying to get you to focus on too much so that all you want to do is go take a nap and do it tomorrow. But no, who cannot call to What can I do today? Oh? Well I don't have money. Well what would you do

if you did have money? Do a little bit of that. I don't have time to go work out? Well you know, I do it. I don't have time. You got ten minutes, Yeah, I got ten minutes. Do ten minutes. I would work out for an hour. Okay, do the thing that you would do for an hour for ten minutes. You don't get it. I heard a guy say the other day, if I was a billionaire, i'd build orphanages in Africa. I said, do you support the outreach ministry of your church?

You can go over here. So what in offensive? He's like, not explicitly. I'm like, what does that mean? Not explicitly? All the stuff we say to avoid doing stuff, you wouldn't do it at a billionaire level. If you won't do it at this level, that's deception. And this goes deep, right because the things that you're really discouraged about are running deep. And so you're like, if I had I would do that. Okay, do the thing that you would do if you had that. What would you do if

you did? Okay, I don't have Let me make up another one. I don't have kids right now, and I want kids, Okay, what would you do with your kids if you had them? I would love them? Then who can you love? I don't have prayer time in the morning because I have to leave it at five point thirty for my job. The car is the sanctuary. Do the thing that you would do sitting there at the table anyway, and do it on the road, and plug the iPhone in and put me in your device, and

I'll be your spotter. I'll start talking to you. I will preach this same I'll make a deal with you. I will meet you tomorrow morning and preach you this same sermon word for word on your device. I'll be your spotter, and see can be your crutieth. And together we're going in to something amazing. So get ready for it, get strong for it, and be careful what you led in your heart. I've met week Stephen. I've met strong Stephen. And you know what the Lord is teaching me to do.

When I'm weak, say I'm strong, and do the thing you would do if you were strong. When you get this going in your life, you're going to be able to do everything that the Lord commanded you to do, not everything he commanded somebody else to do, and not everything you're in laws think you should do, and not everything that your mom or your dad hoped that you would do that they didn't do, so they're taking it out on you. But the thing that God made you to do, core you. I speak to that you today,

who's in your head? Say let's get the Holy Spirit in there for a minute, telling you, hey, I'll be with you. Come on, y'all. They went to Jericho and God was with them to knock down walls. You think he's not with you. They went to a prostitute's house, stayed there. God used even the enemies to confirm his purpose. You think he's not with you. So I started showing up to the church and I started saying this. I say it out loud because there's nobody with me in

the car. Well. Shoot, if there was somebody, i'd tell him, hey, watch this. I don't care anymore. I would rather look crazy than be crazy. But that's just the point in my life I'm at. I say, God is not against me. He is in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. God is not against me. Do the thing that you would do if you believed God was not against you. Do the thing that you the one God knows, the knew you the Jeremiah one to five. You do

the thing that you the kind, you, the whole. You do the thing that you would do, one step at a time. Joshua told the spies, just Jericho, don't look around at the whole land. You're going to get discouraged. Just Jericho and do the thing that you would do if you knew what to do. Do the thing that you would do. Take a step in that direction toward God, because I see people in my spirit right now who need to take one step forward. And so let's change

your not medication, but your meditation today. Let's do it real quick, say it out loud. God is not against me. I really need you to feel that, because if you're just like, okay, if we say it, he'll let us go, and I'm hungry, then nothing happened. But I want you to get this in your headset so I can get in your mindset, so it can get in your mouth, so it can get in your life, so it can get in your marriage, so it can get all up in your business. God is not against me. Jesus died

for me. God sees me through eyes of love. He looks at me with the very same affection that he looks at his son, who gave his life for me. So I know he's not against me. If he was against me, he would already because I saw what he did to Pharaoh. He was against Pharaoh he not against me. God is not against me, but he's in it with me. He said, I'll be with you wherever you go. Now put that in your heart. God is in this with me. God is in this with me. You say that when

you come to church. I need you to say it as you're walking out of here into it. God is in this with me. God is in it with me. God is in it with me. God is in it with me. Three thirty in the morning. Oh, I'm going to be in front of that board on Tuesday, and God is going to be in it with me. God will already have the coffee made when I get there because God is in it with me. He will be with me wherever I go. He's already preparing for me what He is preparing me for. God is in it

with me. I want it to get in your head. I want it to get in your heart. God is in it with me. But I'm not selfish. He's working through me. God wants to flow through you. God wants to use you, and he's fighting for me. I want you to get this in your heart so deep this week. Put in in that chorus for make Away that you can almost make a song out of it where you could just walk around. I don't remember how the chorus went at the moment, but I was just hearing it,

like God is not against me. God is not against me. That's the key, right, because if I just say it, they'll forget it. But if I sing it, we might remember it. God is not a guesst me. God is not guesst me. I'm gonna do the whole thing. Put it on the screen, y'all. Let's turn this real quick. I talked to doctor God on your behalf. He said, you've been discouraged and it's becoming a disease. So he said that you need to come. I'll be the pharmacist.

He said, this is the pharmacy. He is the doctor, and he wants to change not your medication, but your meditation. Once you walking around all week saying stuff like this to yourself. God is not against me. Let's say it. But he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. Again. God is not against me, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me again. God is not against me. I want to see it all in the chat. But he's in it with me,

working through me, fighting for me. You feel that faith coming right now. Let's do it a couple more times. Let the Canaanite snow, let the Hittite snow, Let the Jebusite snow. Let the anxiety I know, let the depression I snow, Let the loneliness I know. Let him know. God is not against me, but he's in it with me. He's working through me, fighting for me. Again, God is He's not against me, He's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. One more time. God is

not against me, but he's in it with me. Do what you would do if you believe God was in it with you? How would you praise him right now? If you believe He was in it with you? How would you stand in the fire if you knew he was in it, if you knew that not only was He in it with you, but He was working through you, flowing through you, setting generation free through you. I feel God working through me right now to come through that camera and tell you God is not against me, but

he's in it with me. He's working through me, and he's fighting for me. Do what you would do if you believed it shound like you would shout. If you believe it, shout like you wouldn't shout in your film, that's you do, not you doing? Come on doing what you would do if you know do what you would do, you would do it, if you will make all right, Let's get this medical Let's get this meditation, medication to go down. Say, I guess me, but he's in it

with me, working through me. It's fighting for me. You know it's not against me, but he's in it with me, fighting for me. Only got two? How are we doing? God is not against me, but he's in it with me, working through me, fighting for me. Like that. Here we go turn this man's wake up. Let's get some meditation. Meta follow me. Let's get this discouragement out. God not again me, but he's in it with me. You're working through me, fighting on the screen, y'all? What it off there?

God is not right down with me, working through me, fighting for me. Sa sa sa sa. Same. God is not again me. Why he's anyway with me, working through me, fighting for me? Why know God is not again, but he did it with me, working through me. Fight. Oh wait all week thinking out all way. God is not agay me, but he's doing with me, working through me. Fight ball of me God is not again for me, But he's in it with me working. Do me fight, Yes, he's in it with me working, doom me fighting, ball me.

I know that he's in it with me working. Do me fighting? No knowing me working fight. Yes, he's being with me working, Do me fighting? Call me well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You can also help us reach others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org. Slash GiB and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast