Lions & Lizards & Lies

You may be seated. Welcome to week one of a brand new sermons series called Triggered, and we're going to be discussing some things, some different teachings to help you take your mind back and not just give territory over to the devil in the area of your imagination and so that he fills you with all of these hypothetical scenarios that may or may not ever happen, keeping you from enjoying the life God has given you, more importantly, stewarding the life that God has given you for His glory.

And we're so excited to get it started today. And I want to make the best use of our time possible. I know here at Valentine they were saying it was kind of difficult to get in, probably not at all the campuses, but there was more traffic than usual, and so you should thank God for that, because not only is that more people hearing the message of Jesus Christ, but it's also a good preparation for a sermon about anxiety. And so we're just looking out for you and helping

you get in the right mind frame. But let's go to the word of God now. And obviously I'm no psychologist. I'm just a Bible preacher from Monks Corner, South Carolina, And with a little bit of knowledge that I have about the scriptures and life experience, I want to show you something today that I think will be so helpful from on Peter chapter five, verses five through nine. And I'm going go and tell you there's only one verse

in this whole passage that I actually like. I believe all of it, and I know that I'm supposed to do all of it. But from the natural standpoint of my mind, there's only one verse that appeals to me. And you'll see what I'm saying when I read it. Of course, we can't talk about triggered without paying a visit to Peter. Easily the most triggered to disciple that Jesus called cussing and cutting off people's ears and stuff.

But he's calmed down by the time He writes this letter to the Gentiles who are assimilating into the Greco Roman world, and he has some great advice for us concerning our anxiety and our cares. Not that you have any, but someone on your row worries too much. Not that you do, but they think about stuff. They make little movies in their minds, and they edit together things that didn't actually happen, and then they tell themselves that that's how it really is. So that's what I'm helping today.

I'm sorry you had to come here a sermon design for someone else, But Peter was actually talking to a church that was undergoing a great deal of persecution, and he has some experience from wisdom, and I want to share his words with you today and pray that God will speak to you personally. He says, first Peter, Chapter five, verse five, Humble yourself. What did I say? Verse five? In the same way, you who are younger submit yourselves to your elders. Almost skip that verse, But it's great

verse that I like as a parent. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Because God opposes the prow but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand. I like how he says that. He says God lines up on the other side of human pride. So if you want to be on the same side of the ball as God, you gotta make sure that you come in at the right level and realize that you are not him, that you are the creation,

not the Creator. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. If ever there was a verse to cross stitch and to put on a coffee mug, it's one Peter five seven. That's the one I like, in case you're wondering, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Really enjoy that verse feels good. Be alert. Verse eight

I don't like so much. And of sober mind your enemy, the devil brows around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And I want to stop right there and talk to you for a few moments today. In this opening, foundational session in our study called triggered on this subject, I want to talk about lions and lizards and lies. Lions and lizards

and lies. And before you say, oh my, put you in the frame of mind of me five or six years ago when I called a pastor who is older and wiser than me. And I wasn't having like a nervous breakdown from a clinical standpoint, or a panic attack, as I understand a panic attack, but just feeling overwhelmed. Not in the clinical sense. Was I experiencing anxiety, but in the everyday sense of adulthood. And I think sometimes we say we're suffering anxiety when we're really just suffering adulthood.

And I called him in my driveway in the house we lived in at the time in mint Hill, and I was doing this thing that I was doing a lot during that period where I would sit in the driveway between work and home because my kids were really small, and I couldn't figure out which one was more work or home because at work I'm the boss, and at home my kids weren't calling me pastor at that stage.

And so I was sitting in the driveway and I thought, you know, I'm just gonna call him, and I'm gonna ask him, and I don't care what he thinks, because you get to a certain point of being overwhelmed, it

just all spills out. And when I started talking to him, I started, you know how when you're trying to tell somebody you're struggling, and you share with them in little slivers, and you try to see if anything you say shocks them, and if it feels like it shocks them, you back up and you go, well, I'm not struggling with that, but I'm saying like some people do, and you kind of feel your way into a conversation, at least I do.

And it's like I was telling him I'm kind of overwhelmed, and he didn't judge me, and I said, and this is how I feel, and he didn't judge me. And so every time he didn't judge me and I didn't feel like he was surprised, I would share a little more, and share a little more, and share a little more. And by the end of it, I'm in my driveway crying on the phone to him, telling him how overwhelmed I feel being you know, just in my early thirties past, during a church that was larger than the town I

grew up in. Imagine that, and then with kids and he and he actually laughed in the middle of me crying to him. He laughed, and I can't explain why, but it was the most comforting thing he could have done in that moment. And what he said next is just what I needed to hear, and I know God put it in his mouth so I could hear it. And he said, I'm not surprised that you called me and said this. I'm not surprised that you're melting down.

I'm surprised you didn't call me sooner. And partially he was saying that because, you know, as our church grew, obviously the pressure's mount with it. And he was also saying it from a stage of life standpoint that look, every father feels relatively worthless at some point in the early stages of their children's visit to pl planet Earth, and it takes time to learn how to interact with aliens. And by the end of the call, I just felt better, just because he said it's supposed to be this way.

You're supposed to struggle. And when he said I was supposed to struggle, the struggle didn't go away, but the fact that I was no longer surprised by it made me more able to deal with it. And God has been speaking to me recently that I am too surprised by my struggles, and part of the reason that I struggle so much is because I'm surprised when I do.

It's as if we've set an expectation of salvation that if we come to Jesus and lay all our burdens at the foot of the cross, that none of them will climb back in the car with us and go home. But how many have ever laid your burdens down in church and found out that they followed you home with

the few friends you never met before. And it's like I came to Jesus to get rid of my struggles, But my struggle didn't even start until I came to Jesus, Because before I came to Jesus, if I wanted to cuss you out, I just cussed you out and I felt better. Didn't care how you felt or what God thought. I felt better and that's all that mattered. But now I got this Holy ghost on the inside of me, and when I cuss he makes me feel bad about it. Now I can't sleep till I apologize to you. And

it got harder, So Peter says. Peter says, everybody's struggling. Everybody around the world is suffering. You have to take the two together. You can't come to a cross for salvation where the Savior suffered for you and never expect to suffer in your desease. Tire to follow him and be like him. Tell the person next to you, You're supposed to suffer some that's what Jesus said, That's that's that's what the CEO said, CEO of the Galaxies, the Seat the Man said that the Master of the Milky

Way said that. He said, if they hated me, what makes you think you're always going to be popular and liked and accepted. So I pray that's inspirational for you to know that you are supposed to suffer. But it helps us. It helps us because the enemy often operates in our lives, in the secrecy and in you know, it's very sneaky. The enemy's sneaky, and so he wants to sneak up on you. And you think life is supposed to be easy because life looks easy for everyone else,

but you don't know you have no idea. It is easy for you. It's easy for you, preacher, when you get up here and preach. You know you don't know, and I don't know your struggle, but I know I know that there are some struggles and some sufferings that come with the package. And so the call to follow

Christ comes with a cross. We get that, and especially in this time, Peter is like, look, you want to be a part of this movement, The only way to really see the glory of God revealed is to suffer sometimes, to suffer, to sit with your suffering and even with your sadness. Now we're setting the wrong expected. We're teaching people they can get swollen without getting sore. Supposed to hurt, sometimes,

supposed to strain. Sometimes that's the spiritual muscle fibers breaking down so they can grow back together stronger, or something like that. I don't know. And so what surprises me is that knowing that we must suffer sometimes because our saviors suffered. And let's be honest, some of our suffering is not because of our Christian faith, it's because of our You said it, he said, because we're stupid. I didn't say that. I wasn't gonna talk to the guests

like that. It's a lot of first timers here today. I was gonna say, sometimes we suffer because of poor decisions and we were ill equipped to fit. But you said stupid, so I'll go with that. Sometimes we suffer because we're stupid. And it surprises me that with all the suffering that we already have to deal with, that we somehow as a species, will invent new ways for ourselves to suffer and experience pain and call it progress. As if it's not enough to worry about in the world,

we invent, you know, torture device. I mean communication devices that keep us constantly connected to everyone's opinion, everyone's offenses, and we feed on stuff. The enemy's looking for someone to devour. We feed on stuff, and we feed our minds with things that eat our peace alive. And then we pray for God to give us peace after we open the front door and let the enemy show us

things and stood right there. So I'm really praying. I'm really praying that God would show us a strategy for this, because it seems to me that some suffering is inevitable, but certain suffering, like the suffering of our shame and the suffering of our sin that Jesus already paid for is dealt with, And so wouldn't it be unthinkable for us, as God's children to suffer under pressure that He never intended for us. We live in a culture of performance.

The interesting thing about First Peter five point seven is that it preaches so well as a singular verse. Even when I was a little boy, my mom used to play me this tape of Salty the Singing Songbook, salty like psalms ps salty like your teenageer salty, but like salt. Yeah, not like that girl work, but salty the Singing Songbook. And he had one song on there, and I used

to fall asleep to this song. If I can remember, I will cast it was on this verse all my cares upon you, I ley all of my burdens down at your feet. And any time I don't know what to do, salty falsetto uh, I will cast all my cares upon you. Boom boom, walk down. I will cast all my cares upon you. Could you play it? I lay all of my burdens down at your feet. In any time I don't know what to do, I will cast oh my cares so I start saying that this is so sweet. I like verse seven. I like verse seven.

I wish I didn't have to be bothered with six and eight. You know, these Bible verses were not in there when Peter wrote the letter. It was just a letter. It was one thing. In fact, let me show you something, and I showed this a few years ago to the church, but you weren't here yet when I was teaching this, and we need to catch up because this is one of the craziest, most mind blowing things God ever showed me. And I actually I brought two Bibles to church today. Yeah,

that's right. I'm gonna preach twice as long. No, I'm gonna get you out on time. But this is a double barrel revelation that God gave me, and one translation of it, it breaks it up the one that we read from. Put that one up there again from the new International version. He says, cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. And it's a capital C, and it's a new sentence and a new thought, and it's a promise that we can claim, or rather it's the command that we can obey. And I like it.

I like casting all this stuff. I like casting all these cares, like Salty said in the King James version, I like casting all of that on him, all the stuff that I don't want to deal with, and all the stuff that I can't control anyway. I like to just give that over to the Lord. I like to just lay it all at his feet. But in the original language of the Bible, and this is what God showed me a few years ago, is that verse seven was not a new sentence. It was a continuation of

verse six. And when you read it as a continuation, it helps you to understand why sometimes we're trying to cast our anxiety on God and they keep coming back like a boomerang with extra velocity, because we are trying to skip to seven, which we want, without six, which we resist. Now, Verse six starts by saying, humble yourselves. See, I don't like that. I want to be the star of the production. I want to be the MVP of the game. I want everybody to accommodate my preferences. I

want people to read my mind. I want to be the center of other people's affection. I don't want to humble myself. I'm not even sure I really know what it means because all I ever see humble is a hashtag where people are bragging about something and then hashtagging it humbled, like that makes it humble when you follow your bragging with a hashtag. But for Peter, humble was not a hashtag. Peter said, humble is a way of seeing the hand of God in history that knows, I'm

just a small part of this. I'm just a little dot, I'm just a little I'm a little tiny, I'm a little bitty, little bitty, little bitty, little bitty child of God in his big strong hand. So humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you. What a relevant verse.

I feel like Peter must have been able to see into the year twenty eighteen and see that we would be living in an age of self promotion, See that we'd be living in an age where, rather than praying for opportunities, we would post before we prayed, Rather than sitting back and listening and learning from people who have something to teach us, we would be so intoxicated on our own opinions and our own point of view, and we would be so sucked into algorithms and echo chambers

of people who think just like us and speak just like us, and before long we would be inebriated by our own vantage point, inebriated by images. He says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And then if you're willing to go through six, you get to seven. And they're not separated by a period, just a comma lowercase. See, if you will humble yourself, this is the foundational message for this series. To take back your mind. You got

to humble your heart. And when you do that, when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, what does that mean? What kind of image is Peter trying to vote well for a Jewish person? The hand of God recalls the sovereign act of God when he rescued his children from Egyptian slavery. And there when God spoke to Moses, he said, you know, Pharaoh is not going to let the people go unless a mighty hand compels him. This is Exodus chapter three, unless a mighty hand, there's

the phrase, compels him. And so the hand of God for us is mostly a comforting image sentimental but symbolically. For the people reading this who had a little bit of background, they would know that the hand of God is confrontational, that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, and they come from the same hand. See, God will use the same hand to oppose the proud that he will use to distribute grace to the humble.

And my question is what do you want to be on the receiving end of the posture of your heart determines that. And yet there's a little bit of confusion because you know, it seems like we want God's hand to do certain things for us, Like I like the hand of God when it is filled with his provision, you know, like I want what is in God's hand

that I can't give myself. Just a show of hands while we're talking, my hands, how many have seen God provide for you in a special way and you were suspecting this had to be God, This could not be me, This could not be people. Wave your hand if you've ever seen God provide for you, And I don't just mean money to make a car payment or to you know, make the deposit on the apartment when you first got married.

It could be God gave you energy when you were so exhausted and you didn't even know how you were still going and people would ask you how, and you would make something up. But deep down you knew if I really told him how, they wouldn't understand it, because there's an invisible hand of God that is making things happen that I can't even explain. So I like the provision.

You know how he broke the bread in his hands, and Peter was there when Jesus broke the bread and with his hands, So he might have been flashing back to that incident when he said, the mighty hand of God that can provide for you, or maybe he was thinking about the hand of God in terms of God's protection. How God drove back the sea with his hand so as people could cross through till they got safely through. Now, if you've ever had God protect you from you, you're

grateful for the hand of God. If you've ever had God protect you from people that were in your life. In fact, sometimes the way that God will protect you is to reach down and remove you from situations that you like that you are actually praying for God to leave you in, and God will sometimes reach down and say I know more than you. I'm big, you're little, I'm wise, you're limited, I'm infinite, your finite, So come

with me. I'm gonna put you over here because I know if you stay with them, I know where it's gonna lead. And Peter says, you can either fight that or you can go with it because it's the hand of God. It's the hand how many have ever had God protect you? And I want him to provide for me, and I want him to protect, protection and provision. But there's a third dimension of God's hand and that is his plan. And that's the part that I have a

harder time with because I like my plan. Why are you looking at me like you totally trust God that his way is better than yours. You know, half of our prayer life is trying to convince God to get on the same page we're on so he can do what we want him to do that he should have already done, and he's running a little behind schedule. But we'll forgive you for that. Lord, if you just come on and do it right now, it's okay. You got

a lot you're taken care of. I get confused, honestly, I get confused because sometimes I don't know what part is God's job and what part is my job. And it's not always so simple humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. But then you know, God told Moses, I'm going to bring you out with a mighty hand. It's going to be my hand that brings you out. And then he asks him, what's that in your hand? And so it seems to be like two hands at work here. And the issue is the issue is always

who is in control. A lot of my anxiety comes because I get confused about who is in control, and I get responsibility confused with sovereignty. So I start thinking that because God has given me responsibility, that God has also given me control. And that's where I get stressed out. And a lot of my anxiety comes from making it about me when it's not about me, making it about my strength, when it's not about my strength. It's not

by Mike nor by power, but by his spirit. But I know God's given me a job, like I know that when I stand before you like this and people in the room are suicidal, and people in the room are addicted not only to illegal drugs, but some are dependent on drugs that at first they were taking the recommended dosage, but now it's gone far beyond that. And when I know that there are some of you who have not slept in three nights except for a few minutes here and they're hearing this message, I know that

I can't say the words that you need. I need God to speak through me to you. And I always pray for that because I know how disappointing it's going to be if I speak. I know that I need to move my mouth, and I know that I need my vocal cords need to rub together, and I know that I need to produce a sound. But I know that I need the substance of God behind the sound that I make. I need God to speak. I know

you did not load up those demons. I mean, precious children, blessings, quiver full of arrows from the Lord, and get to this house of worship today in Gaston or you see, or Lake Norman. You did not log on to hear me speak. You need God to speak. And I believe that God will speak. Believe he is speaking. I believe

he wants to speak. I believe he still speaks. I don't believe he spoke one time in the past, and now we got this dusty book full of principles that applied at one time but don't make sense in a modern age. I don't believe God is outdated or irrelevant. I don't believe I need BuzzFeed to tell me what's going on in the world. I got my Bible and it's living and it's active and it can penetrate through all the noise. So I know we need God to speak in his word doesn't return boy, and God will speak,

but God won't study. I got to study. God won't show me whether the sentence was one sentence or two sentences. He gave me books for that and he inspired me, so I can't figure it out sometimes and sometimes I feel like I'm a control free and sometimes feel like gets in a way I really do. I feel gets in a way. I feel like I want to control things. I want to control people. I'm manipulative and I see it and I hate it, but I do. It is

a habit. And I know that God's hand is the hand that has the is really moving things around, But you know, I want to put my hand on God's hand and just kind of nuts. I'm so holy. Sometimes you know, sometimes God needs a little help because he's just Peter is writing from experience. He didn't come by humility easy. That's why I like to listen to him,

because he didn't always think this way. Like when Jesus was getting ready to go to the cross, he told his disciples, He's like, hey, come here, this is Matthew sixteen twenty one. Give it to us on the screen. Jesus said, I have to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders. At this point, Peter didn't think that the Savior was supposed to suffer. It did not jesus mission did not fit his mindset.

He was still confused about whose hand was writing the schedule, and so Peter, in a younger version of himself, did not know how to humble himself under the hand of God or the plan of God. He liked the provision. Hey, Jesus, don't go die, Let's go feed some more people. That was awesome when you did it. That little boy, he was so happy, Jesus, it was amazing, And we got his stare. Everybody got it in the bag of leftover. So it's crazy. You don't have to die. Watch what

Peter did. Jesus said, I gotta go. I gotta suffer. It's a part of the plan. I gotta fulfill the plan. I can't get caught up in my preferences. I can't get caught up in my ideas, my expectations, or the expectations of others. I didn't come to be an earthly king. I came to inaugurate a reign and a rule that is not the result of human hands. And Peter verse twenty two took Jesus aside, put Jesus in time out. The same dude that was saying, you know, humble yourself.

This is like you telling your kids not to do exactly what you did when you were their age. Peter said to Jesus younger Peter, first half of life. Peter says, Lord, never, this shall never happen to you. I won't let it if they try. I got a sword, and they got an ear. And watch what I can do. I got a plan. Let's go work my plan. And verse twenty three says Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me. Satan, Oh, that's a downgrade. He went from Simon to Peter that

was his first name. Simon is kind of like shifty, and Peter is the rock. So he goes from Dwayne Johnson in one verse to Satan in the next verse, and he says, you are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns. You still think you're in control, and that's why your mind is a mess, because you are still trying to control things that are beyond your pay grade. Peter, You're confused. We get confused.

Sometimes I don't know when to let go. I don't when Sometimes I don't do this very much because I've seen some really, really really horrific things happen on church stages. But sometimes I'll call somebody up on stage and have them share, and I don't know them, and I feel kind of like my response ability is to control whatever happens on the stage as the pastor. And so when they come up, uh, usually I'll call them up and I'll ask them to share something. And I do this

even with our staff. I'll call them and ask them to share. But one thing I learned to do, I always keep keep the mic in my hands when they come up they think they're gonna take the mic, and but they're not. I'm the MIC's stand and I'm gonna hold this mic. In case you decide that now would be a good time to say something weird, I can snatch a bat and I just like the feeling that it gives me of being in control. In case you decided,

you know, I might ask you something. You say, well, when I was three, we don't have time for when you were three, and ask you all that, And I got the mic, give it back now. So gives me a good feeling. But the interesting thing is because there's Christians and sometimes when I call them up, I can't see their eyes, and when they get closer, I'm like, oh god, I picked one of those and you don't see it from a distance. So I like to keep the mic and hold I like to hold the mic.

And but now the interesting thing is I'm holding the mic. But there's a guy that you don't see named Neil, and Neil this week, among many others that are different locations, happens to be in the back of the room, sitting behind a console. And you know what's interesting, I'm up here talking and I'm I'm I'm holding the mic. But at any moment, Neil can decide. At any moment, he can decide, you know, maybe I fuss at him or something like that. He doesn't like it any moment. Here's

the principle. I'm holding it, but I'm not controlling it. They got it last night. That's what I know about in my life. That's what I know about my time. That's what I'm learning about my money. That's what I'm learning about my children, my responsibility. I'm holding it, but somebody I can't see is controlling it. He's in control. He speaks in win's obeyed, he speaks in waves, tie down, he speaks in see split because what I can see

is controlled by that hand that I can't see. And now I want to humble myself under that mighty hand. And I'm coming to the place in my life where I say, God, I don't even know what I need anymore. So I trust you and your timing, and I trust you and your heart, and I trust you and your wisdom.

And I humble myself. And as I humble myself, my anxiety goes out the door with my pride and my arrogance and my plan, and I become what Peter says is the goal of the Christian life in verse eight, which I don't like any more than I like verse six. But it's on the other side of seven, and I want the result of seven because I don't want to live with the weight of the world on my scrawny shoulders. So I got to be what Peter says strange phrase. He says, be alert and of sober mind. I didn't

even know I was drunk, but I am. Peter didn't know he was stumbling telling Jesus what Jesus needed to do. He was drunk on his own. You see how we get intoxicated in the age we live in. Is so much information coming at us. We're drunk and we don't even know it, and we can't defend ourselves, and we're getting eaten alive. God gives us peace, and the enemy eats right through it. Because he's a lion. At least that's what I always thought. I thought I thought he

was a lion. And this week I slowed down and read the verse, and I realized that the Bible never says the devil is a lion. He's a liar. I know he's a liar. Yeah, you can know when the devil's lion when he's talking. He's a liar, but he's not a lion. Give me the verse. Peter says watch out. One translation says pay attention, wake up, or be alert and of sober mind. Here's why your enemy, the devil

your enemy. God's enemy is pride. Your enemy is the devil who wants to fill your mind, as if we don't already suffer enough, as if we don't already have enough to deal with today. He wants to put you in a hypothetical tomorrow where things may or may not happen, or put you in a past replaying what you wish you would have said to the person who offended you, and how many come up with great comebacks about three

weeks too late. God, let me see them again. Please let me see them again, and let them say it just like they said it. I'm ready now. A devil's a lion, But he does not say watch out for the lion. The devil is not a lion. Was to say, your enemy prows around like he's not a lion. He's loud like a lion, but he's not as powerful as a lion unless you let him be and this is what I'm going to teach you in the series. Are

you coming back after this week? Because I really want to get into this and I want to look at some of the lies that we have believed in the realm of our mind. That's where the attack happens. We've been looking for a lion, but it's not a lion coming to attack us. It's our minds. It's in our minds, and we've been calling the wrong stuff the devil. I got a flat tire as the devil. It was a nail. There was a construction site. They're building houses across the street.

I hate a donut. It was the devil. No, it was delicious. It's a temple. It's the Devil's a devil. I'm under attack, a spiritual warfare. I need some devil's attacking me. We mean devil's attacking you. Well, my mother in law is coming to visit. That's not the devil. That's your prayer request. Remember when you ask those women to pray that you would have more patience. Well, God wrap patience in a package that looked like your mother in law, and she's about to get FedEx to your door.

Stewn God, delivers. That's not the devil. So now he's loud, but he's not a lion. What is he? I remember hearing years ago about the part of our brain. Again, bear with me. I know there's like neurologists in the crowd. You don't make me feel bad about that. I won't make you feel bad about the Bible. We just agree together that everybody's stay in their own lane. But I did hear something about in the phrase got my attention,

called the lizard brain. And I wrote a book one time about the chatterbox, and I think I was trying to talk about what they call the lizard brain. And I just remembered it the other day because Abby wanted to show her brothers. She's our youngest child and our only daughter, our smartest child. I'm just getting my sons in here. But she does have a little avantage over the boys because she's always had to stuff it up to keep up, you know, And she's superior by virtue

of being female. So she work in my pulpit when in some points she wanted to go all the way across the pool and hold her breath, which your brothers couldn't do till they were ten she's seven. So she's like, I could do it, I could do it. I do it, all right, let's do it. And she wanted everybody to see her. And I said, you could do it, but just know that the lizard, the lizard brain, is going to be telling you that you can't do it. But the lizard is lying. She said, there's a lizard in

my brain. I said, no, baby, and I you know she's seven. So I just pretended to be an expert. I said, the human brain, the human brain, and I gave her some outdated theory on the tryune brain that probably isn't even accepted anymore. But I was talking about that thing that is real in our brain that doesn't process at the level of wisdom, and doesn't process at the level even of emotion, but processes at the level

of fear. And they call it lizard brain, or they called it lizard brain because it's no different than a rep a snake or lizard. And so when I told her, don't listen to the lizard, I was explaining, you're gonna go down, and you're gonna think that you're gonna die, but you're not gonna die. Just don't listen to the lizard, and she went down under that water and she swam

clear to the other end. And she came up. She took the biggest gasp, the biggest gulp of air, and she was so proud, and she said, man, that lizard is loud. I said, well, what did you say back to him? She said, I told him, shut up, lizard. I'm doing this now. Hold on. I know the enemy has been telling you some stuff. I know he has because that lizard has been talking to me. But I came to tell you today that lizard has no power over you. He might bruise sore heel, but you're gonna

crush his head. In the name of Jesus, I am gonna make it hot shall living not time. I'm gonna raise my kids. I'm gonna make a difference in the world. Taking my mind back and over the next seven weeks, we're gonna learn how to do what Abby did. What Peter said, be of a sober mind. Tell that lizard. You can talk, you can scream, but I'm swimming to the other side. Now, everything in you has been telling you you're drowning, you're going down. But the lizard is

a liar. Your own mind is lying to you. And that's why God put it on my heart to do a whole series on triggered the things, the trauma that you went through that transports you back to a lesser version of yourself, and then you start reacting and responding out of anger because of rejection at the hands of

people who aren't even in your life anymore. I want to talk about that, and I respectfully request your presence and as many of these sessions as possible, But right now I want you to stand and no one leaving, because I just want to pray for open and humble hearts. We can't receive what God has in his hands when we're holding too tightly to what's in our hands. And when you're drunk on your own opinions and inebriated on your own ideas and ways of seeing the world, you

are not open to the wisdom of God. And you're stumbling. Jesus said, get that behind me. You're stumbling, you're tripping. Be of a sober mind because your enemy is trying to steal your attention. That's where the fight is, that's where the attack is. This is not out here. The attacks in our life are actually used by God. The trials are used to make us stronger. It's here and

that's what we want to pray over. And for too long the people of God have been equipped with a few cliches to make it until about Sunday at four, and we're being eaten alive in our minds and now we can't focus anymore. We live in the age of what one psychologist called constant partial attention, and we can't give ourselves holy to anything. But God has a word for us. And through this series we will meet several Bible characters who struggled with the same things we struggle

with today and suffered in many ways like us. And I know this is no substitute for doctors and counseling. That's not my goal in this series, but I think it would be good for us to begin this journey

together just in a posture of surrender. And I want to ask you to do something that Christians have done historically, worshippers have done through the millennia, and just lift your hands to God in his presence, because it's too much for you to carry, it really is, and you humble yourself under His hand and release what you're holding too tightly to then he is able to release his peace. And so we just speak peace over your life today. More than speaking it, father, I pray that we would

position ourselves so that we can receive your peace. And we repent of all the ways that we think things are supposed to be and exhausting ourselves endlessly trying to align our agendas with the reality of our lives rather than submitting to yours. So we stand here before you today, as humble as we know how rescue to fill our hearts with your peace. Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. If you did, there are just a couple things I'd love for you to do. Number one, subscribe

to our show. That way, the most recent episode will always be in your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly, if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to help us continue to reach others, you can click the link in the description and you can give now and I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast.