Peace In My Pocket

bring a gift to my own birthday party. And there was only one person that I wanted to preach this weekend. And if he would have said no, then I would have quit returning his text messages for at least three months. But Pastor Carl Lynz is really one of the most christ Like people that I know. He is not afraid to be inconvenienced or controversial if it means bringing Jesus into the lives and hearts of people. I want to

be more like that. I've noticed him being willing to associate with anyone and everyone on the same level, and I want to be more like that. I noticed that he is relentless in his drive to connect with people, and at times that means sometimes at great expense to himself. And I want to be more like that. So I thank God for having a brother who can also be

an example. We love you and Laura. It's been a joy to ride with you, just even in the very back of the bus on the journey of Hillsong, New York, since the very beginning. And we have been friends for a long time now, and I love you more every day that I know you. In this last year, we've grown closer than ever before. So for the next you know, three or four hours, we don't have a team in the game tonight. For the next few moments, don't get

nervous hyperbole. For the next few minutes, treat this like this as your elevation church. We certainly consider you family. Welcome to the stage at every location EPHAM around the world. Pastor Carl Z. Before we sit down, I just want to say it never gets old to me being a part of your church. And when your pastor says that they've been a part of this for a long time, and I should have asked if I could tell this story, if I'm just gonna do it and you could just

delete it from the record. But when we first started Hillsong New York City, we didn't really know each other that way. I knew him from a forest, even in Holly. But he came to hang out in New York for something else and we had dinner and it was there was a catastrophic storm coming. This is like year one of Hillsong New York City, and we had to cancel our services, and I think he could see it. It was really heavy on my heart. I didn't know what

to do. And when you started early church, every weekend really matters. And I don't know what the myth is of church plants, but sometimes if you've got to shut it down for a week, it could really hurt you. And he looked at me and he just goes, you know, God's gonna come through. He's gonna come through. Just keep your head up. And I was like, it's easy for you to say. You know, you have your own planet at elevation and everything you do is incredible, like we're

brand new. And he came back later that night at dinner and he said, hey, you know, I feel like God's gonna answer your prayer and I'm like, that's great. He's like, you told me how much money it would cost to run your church for that that weekend, and he's like, our Elevation Church believes in church plants, and we're going to sew this into your church. And I remember calling my pastor. I said, you know this, these

Verdict people. Do you know anything about this? Elevation Church have a fund that helps churches like ours, and we were able to keep it going. I don't know what would have happened had God not sent y'all in the form of your leadership in that moment. And so, whether you like it or not, you're with Hillsaw, New York City forever. Over two hundred thousand people have gotten saved. Who knows how many lives have been transformed, And we don't even know what we're doing yet, but thank you.

And it's one day one year. It's like a one birthday party we get to have. So I'm gonna take an extra second here because it is true. We always talk about how some cultures are really weird with honor. For whatever reason, people get freaked out. It's okay to honor people who God loves and who he's touched. And I tell Steven and Holly this, who are so much fun.

By the way, Laura and Holly are fast friends because me and Steven are relatively serious at times, and both of our wives are really much cooler than both of us. But Lebron James, I don't know if you guys know who that is. This guy is so good that what it used to be exceptional has just become normal. So if you look at what Lebron James does on any

given night, you're like, oh, what do you have? Thirty seven seventeen, sixteen, fourteen and three steals and he gave them nine people water, and you expect you just expect Lebron to do that. The first couple of times he did it, people are like, Wow, that's amazing. Then you start expecting Lebron to do that, and what used to be special is no longer special. I think that we got to do a great job just in general, of honoring the amazing things that God puts in our lives

and keeping them special, and that includes your pastor. Let me tell you something, this is not normal. It's not normal to walk into a church that is incredible. It's excellent. They work hard. All they do is exist to bring people to and just the preaching alone. Most pastors preach two good messages in their whole life. He just wrote a new one for next week right now. That'll be better than anything else somebody else could construct. All that to say, when you walk into this church, don't take

the ushers for granted. Don't take these musicians for granted. Don't take the fact that you have lights on for granted. Don't take the fact that people are getting saved for granted. And don't take your pastors who are supernaturally special for granted. Can we show them some love on this thirteen year celebration? Need you give somebody a quick high five and a hug and you take your seat, and we're gonna get

to this word And it was worth it. However time, however much time you got to take off that clock, do it. But it's an honor to be able to be here on a special day. And LJ you're sticking with me, my brother, Thank you phenomenal. Do you like who you're sitting next to. I wouldn't have been mad if we just kept singing that powerful? How good is worship in church? It's cool? Everywhere, but there's something special

about it. I had a friend of mine who just doesn't get charismatic worship at all, and he was like, it just seems so weird to me, and I'm like, yeah, but have you ever seen yourself in the clubs you go to. You're weird too. But I explained to him. I said, we don't lift our hands because it's charismatic. We don't lift our hands and do stuff because a worship leader says stuff. It's just a desperation thing. When I first started coming to church, I would barely muster

a worship frisbee. And then the more desperate I got, the less I cared about what anybody else thought. And I'll sing if I can't sing, lift my hands if I have to. There are some weeks where I don't do that. But the point is this, it's pretty incredible to be able to just come and do a place like this and worship free. I don't take it for

granted to you, hope not. Do you like career sitting next to right now, look at them deeply in their eyes and tell them I prayed all day that I would sit right next to you and then look at them and say, God loves Tom Brady board than everybody else. These are facts. I'm just kidding. I have no dog in that fight. I don't care at all. Plus, it's not really gonna be a game because of Tom Brady. Only two types of people in this world Tom Brady fans and I'm kidding. Okay, let me stop with the

football believe them. For Cam to have a breakthrough year, can I get a Carolina panther? Amen? Anybody need more peace in your life? Anybody ever struggled with fear, anxiety, worry, pressure, nobody? Wow, this place is really put together. Pastor, I think Jesus had a lot to say about it. And I'm gonna read you a scripture that really brings peace to my soul. And a huge shout out to Columbia Uptown, Morrisville, Concord, Blakeney, Raleigh.

I am an NC state alone. Shout out to the NC state well fact, Winston, Salem Riverwalk, you see Asheville, Matthew, Toronto, Gaston, laken I know this is the top of my head. Roanoke Online, Melbourne Valentine. Jesus said this, and he's talking to guys that are headed into pretty uncertain futures, and he's letting them know what they can expect, how to live what's gonna be coming their way. And I love

what he says because they can. This scripture alone can get you through this week and get you through your whole life when you realize what you have in you who are God is? And he says this, Now you finally believe in me. And the time has come when you will be scattered, and each one of you will go your own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am

never alone, for the Father is always with me. And everything I've told WW ought you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world, you will experience trouble, and you will experience sorrows. But you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world. The world called this message with the twenty minutes I of remaining peace in my pocket. Look at somebody who say I got peace in my pocket.

You find it funny how when you are under pressure or under stress or dealing with anxiety, you're just not yourself. You don't say the things you normally say. You don't act right. It just kind of makes you different than normal. Who knows what I'm talking about, Like, if you're under pressure, anxiety is hitting you. For me, the way that outworks itself stress is that I just forget stuff. You have

any friends here know what I'm talking about. Like, when you're under pressure, you forget stuff and you're looking for things that you don't even know if you really ever lost them in the first place. Recently, I was under some pressure, regular life stuff like all of us, and I was trying to find what I needed to just get going with the rest of my day, and my wife was not in the house or right away. I'm in trouble, and I am searching everywhere for two things

that I needed, my phone and my keys. And after uprooting the whole house, losing my faith a few times, getting saved again, and sitting there just depleted after I couldn't find it, my wife walks in. She goes, what you're looking for? I said, I'm looking for my keys and I'm looking for my phone. Have you seen them? Because I know you moved them? You know, to start blaming people when you under pressure? Was you? And she goes mate, because she's Australian mate, did you check your pocket? Smack?

And I looked at her and I'm like, yeah, sure enough, phone here, keys here. And I looked at her and I was like, that's just making sure you knew where they were. And I left and shame, and I thought about how interesting it is that if we're not careful, we can forget the fact that Jesus actually said in John sixteen that we have peace because of him, and if he is with us, that also means that peace is with us. And we have people who don't understand that.

During anxious times and pressure and fear, sometimes we end up looking for stuff we never lost. We start wandering in the areas we have been freed from. We start going to other sources, trying to find things that are clearly already in our possession. If there is somebody in here who feels like you've lost your peace or you can't find your peace and you're desperate for more of it, I would tell you today you have more peace in your pocket in your life than you think you do.

Maybe you just need to start asking the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes and show you just how much He has put inside you. Maybe you forgot about it, maybe you haven't learn how to pull it out yet. But if you lost your peace, that would have to mean that Jesus has abandoned you. And I got good news. He doesn't leave us, he doesn't forsake us, he doesn't leave us high and dry. So therefore your peace is in you, because Jesus is with out. If you thought

you lost your peace, you did not. If you thought that somebody had access to more peace than you, they do not. Some of us are just quicker to remember the fact that Jesus told us he's with me. Therefore peace is in my soul. Take a deep breath that it feels good to know that you're a Christian. Therefore peace is with you. I'll break it down in two quick ways. It helps me. It's one thing when we talk about peace. It's one thing to understand that making

your peace with God important step. But it's a whole nother ballgame to be able to find your peace in Jesus' daily Can I break this down for you? We got four hours, so get comfy. It's one thing to make your peace with God. I don't love that term, but it's a term that people kind of understand, because I feel like God made his peace with us by giving us a chance to get saved through Jesus. But making your peace with God is typically the only part of

peace people really understand. We call this salvation. So if you're new to this church and you have yet to make your peace with God, that's going to change in approximately seventeen minutes. But this is when we bow our knee and we realize that God has saved us and he has set us free. We can have peace today knowing if our lives ended now, we would be with Him someday in heaven, not because of what we've done, but because of the beautiful thing Jesus did on the

cross and his grace set us free. In fact, it's the case if you need to hear it, Romans five says this. This is mind blowing. It says our faith in Jesus transfers God's righteousness to us, and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. Anybody wake up today Elevation Church and go, oh, that's how good God is, flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us.

Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness, and it's given us a perfect relationship with God. So now we've made our peace here, right, There's a lot of people who still don't get this. And even though you're sitting in church, I'm not doubting your faith, but I know people who have yet to understand. You need to make your peace with the fact that God has made his peace with you because of Jesus. You can't outsin this grace. You can't out backslide the love of God.

I know people who get saved in church every week. I have a friend who's the first hand to go up every altar call we do. And I finally was like, my man, just so you know, you can get saved all you want, but you have bowed your knee, you have confessed your sin. You are rejecting your old sinful ways. You are saved. God loves you. He goes, yeah, but I had a really rough week. I said, Mama, Yeah, thank God, it's not about our Our peace comes from Jesus.

So some of y'all might need to make your peace with that today. But There's this other thing called finding your peace in Jesus daily that we probably need to talk about, because this is where you walk with it, and you talk with Jesus and you know his voice and you know his tempo, and you know what it feels like to be surrounded by him. This is when you have so much peace you can give it away. This is when you have so much peace you can

access it at any time. There are so many people who only know the peace of God eternally, maybe, but they don't know anything about the fact that God did not just save us so we can have some weird eternal security. God saved us and Jesus gave us peace so we could live differently while we're here. I don't want to just get saved and just exists, knowing someday I'll be in heaven. But while I'm here on earth, I got to go through what everybody else is going through.

No way, I need to know what I have access to. Come on, I'm preaching to you, so at least seven people in here, mainly in this area right here, this is the faith filled people. How I just don't want to be a victim of not knowing what I had access to when it comes to the things of God means I got to work at It means I got

to go explore this. It means I have to outside of my church experience, get on my own knees, sing my own songs, pray my own prayer, try to know who Jesus is for me so I don't get lost in all this stuff. Yeah, three hallelujahs. That's what I always say when I'm preaching this. I mean, I have a phone like everybody in here, and I don't know about you, if you're tech savvy or not. I'm not very tech savvy. My daughters make fun of me all

the time. But I recently had a iPhone breakdown and that frustrates me because they're far too expensive to not work all the time. And so I was like, you know what, I want to actually talk to the maker. I want to talk to the people who are taking my money. So I went into Apple and I went up to this guy and I'm like, Sir, my new iPhone that you forced me to get by giving me updates that have bugs in it in my text freeze, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, that one it's

not working, and I needed to work. He goes, oh, great to have you at Apple today, Sir. We're glad so you have problems with your phone. Okay, cool, If you can just go back there to that line and make your appointment at the Genius bar, one of our geniuses will be with you very soon. I'm like, nah, I didn't come here talk to a genius. I came here to get what I'm owed. Okay, I don't want to talk to a genius. I want you to fix my phoney. He's like, it's great to have you. That's

what we do. We go to the line and I just thought, you know what, I will see this thing through. And I sat in the line and I made friends with people in the line who were also frustrated. And I finally got there and the guy starts breaking down my phone for me. He's like, man, you have a lot to learn about this phone, sir. And I'm like, really, I don't want to learn about my phone. I just wanted to work. And he goes, I said, what are

my options? Like, well, you could leave here now and just have a phone that doesn't work right, or you can let me explain it to him like you. And I sat there not for that long, and he just lit broke down stuff I didn't know, and I started taking a little bit of enjoyment, started to have a little bit of faith rise up in me because I'm like, wow, I didn't know this. I left there and I FaceTime

multiple people. I was like, using features, I didn't know we're there, and I thought, Wow, fifteen minutes with the guy who knows more than me, and I'm more productive just like that. But yet, we're gonna put it on our pastors to teach us how God's gonna do this. We're gonna try to get on some conference to make sure we know who God is for us. I came to tell somebody right now, you have as much access to the peace of God as anybody else does. But

it's gonna take your work. It's gonna take your passion to say. I don't want to look back on my life and find out that I had peace that I didn't use, confidence that I didn't use. All I had to do was go to the maker and say, Lord, teach me your what come on, somebody? I got peace in my pocket and I don't want to leave it. Oh, somebody's gonna leave here today. Accessing more of the peace of God than you ever have before in your life is gonna change because of it. You believe that you

believe God is that good. Here's why we need it. I'm gonna fly through this because I asked your pastor, I said, can we go old school Pentecostal. At the end of this, we're gonna bring out the animals, really get the blogs going, pray for people, push them over modesty blanket. The paramount reason why I think we need more peace is because uncertainty is not going anywhere. And I get to talk about this on your thirteen year

birthday celebration. Guess what the future holds more uncertainty. As awesome as these thirteen years have been, I came to tell you if you're thinking stuff's gonna smooth out now, Pastor Stephen, and how they gonna chill out a little bit, we get to have some I hate to break it to you, doesn't work like that. The grace of God doesn't work like that. Part of the foundation of our faith is the ability to not understand where we're going,

but go anyway. So if we cannot have a gift of being able to find our peace in uncertain waters. We're gonna have a very boring nominal American Christianity where you show up and you don't look any different, you don't sound any different, year after year after year, and your only Christian involvement is your one time of week at church. Visit Now, I feel like God has called us to so much more in our lives, and we got to know how to find peace in the middle

of it. It's like a new parent. Have you ever seen a new parent who as an infant and they don't know all the rules of the game just yet, and you can see they haven't slept, and they're like, I can't wait until my child grows up a little bit and then I'm gonna get some of my sleep back. And you look at them like, so cute. Day's never gonna come. You better find out how to get your rest because those two and grow up and they stay

complicated the whole way through. Yet we keep thinking there's gonna be this mythical season of Christianity where the job is right and I'm right and everything certain, then I'm gonna find my piece doesn't work like that. God's actually called you to thrive in the middle of waters. You do not understand. And here's how we know it. Can I take you to the Book of Matthew real quick, you guys know it by heart. Okay, it's a dead joke.

It's right there on Stephen's pool pet. Jesus said this because as I read it, I want you to think about where do you go for your peace? Where do you go for your peace of mind? Where do you go when anxiety strikes? Here's what Jesus said. He said, are you weary? Are you carrying a heavy burden? Then come to me and I will refresh your life. I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways, and you'll discover that I'm gentle and I'm humble,

and I'm easy to please. You'll find refreshment and rest in me. Break this down for you real quick, because it's that important. Jesus often said come and follow me, but in this text he specifically says, come to me. What's the inference when we're talking about peace. I'm gonna make this different than everything else. I want you to come to me, meaning I am your peace, I am your sustaining joy, I am your supplier. So when you're at your wits, and the only place that's gonna fulfill you,

it's gonna be me. I wonder where you go because there's people who are still looking for peace where maybe they have it and they don't know it yet. I read this and I go, wow, it would have been cool, Jesus if you would have told us where we head after that. Wouldn't that be cool? If the Bible threw in some directions once in a while, maybe an eta, maybe a roadmap. Wouldn't it be cool if Jesus said, come to me elevation and I will give you rest,

and then we're gonna head to Tahiti. Whoo. But Jesus doesn't say anything. Why the silent inference is that I am enough? And if you would focus more on who you're going with rather than where you're headed all the time. Maybe the point is that because you're with Jesus, he can sends you in directions you would never go on your own. He can sends you into places you would never choose to go without him because God is with you. Now, you're not trying to go to places that you can

go to. You're trying to go into places that only God can sustain you. In. That's where miracles lie. That's where the great zone is, and people who have peace end up there all the time. We know right away, peace is not a feeling. Peace is not a place. Peace is a person. And if you get this today, I'm starting to walk too fast. But if you understand this now, you stop looking for the perfect situation and you go, I have the perfect savior. Put me in

the worst situation, and I'm bringing peace with me. I'm bringing hope with me. There are so many people are like, where's the peace? You're supposed to bring it with me? Can you imagine that? Y'all know that panic is contagious, but so is peace. They ever seen people panic? It's like those Christmas target videos where they open up the doors and people are just like trampling other people. Panic is contagious. Are cultures filled with it? Social media? Panic,

the news? Panic? What's going on? Panic? Can you imagine if there was a revival of Christians that were so peaceful that people who couldn't find peace anywhere else, they're like, man, I think it's you. And they might think that for a little bit and they get a little bit closer and say, where do you find your peace. You get said, Oh I got saved Jesus, He's my peace, and you can have the same piece in your marriage and your life. The best evangelistic weapon in the Christian Kingdom. It is

not a fancy church. It is not a cool sir, it is not flashy music. It is Christians that have the peace of God in the middle of the work. I just don't want to be a Christian that can only function when everything is functional. I'm tired of that. That's been me too often. You know what I mean by that? Like I'm awesome if everything's awesome, but the moment something goes wrong, I forget I'm a Christian, lose my faith, question God. Seven o'clock, gotta repent again. Eight

o'clock might get saved again. Nine o'clock, get ready to start all over. Like I'm good if it's all good, but if one thing goes bad, I can't function. I actually believe God has called us to be the opposite, because otherwise we're going to be mountaintop Christians where we're all just celebrating on the good days. Who can't have peace when you're holding the trophy? Who can't have peace

when all your money's in your account. But the reality of the Christian life, y'all, it is not the mountaintops. Hate to break it to you. The reality of the Christian life. It's valley valley darkness at times. I'm alone at times. I'm fighting for my faith at times. And if we can't find out how to function when everything is going crazy around us, it's not going to be

the life God has planned for us. And I came to tell this whole amazing church on the ed of this brand new season for y'all as you go into year fourteen, who God has something for you? But when he opens up doors you do not recognize? Look around and say, even though it doesn't look like I can make it in there, that means God is going to lead me through it. Come on, I'm preaching to somebody's faith, Gene right now. I want to function when it's dysfunctional.

I went to go, how many parents do we have in here? Well, that's a lot. How many single people do we have in here? Wow? Single people? Keep it up. Have a quick look around. Go ahead. I went to pick up my daughter from her normal bus stop, which I normally don't do. I made it a specific point to go pick her up because I felt like that's it's a normal, reasonable dad thing to do, and I

scheduled my whole day around it. But as it got time to that two point fifteen drop off, I realized I was stuck in traffic because New York City and I wasn't gonna be able to make it. And as I am lamenting my lack of planning, I can feel the pressure, the anxiety, the worry creeping up on me. I'm like, oh my gosh, she's gonna be sitting there on that bus stop by herself. Other parents are going to judge me. They're better than me, and they're gonna

know that I'm late. They already think I'm weird. Like all this stuff starts to swirl as I am getting closer to the bus stop, and apocalyptic rainstorm hits, and so now my hypothetical fears grow even further. I'm like, now she's gonna be sitting there in a puddle, just like people are gonna pick her up, and child Service can be like it's the weird past her dad, no more, you knowing. I come flying around the corner get out,

and half of my hypothetical was real. It was pouring, and she was by herself, and she wasn't a puddle, but she wasn't sitting there crying. She was just in this puddle like this. I come running around the corner. I'm like, Charlie, I'm so sorry, I'm late. I can't believe that I left you here. And she goes, Dad's cool. I knew you were coming. I knew something must have happened. But have you danced in the rain lately? How amazing is rain? Come here, Dad, get in this puddled I'm like,

these are Jordans, but ye. And she's in there and we're dancing in the rain, and she goes, Dad, it's been sunny for so long that I forgot how much fun rain can be. I mean, just feel a rain. It's really beautiful, isn't it. He looked at splash me. I splashed. And we sat there in the rain, and I'm glad it was raining because I was balling, because I thought, Lord forgives me. I want to be more like my daughter. I want to be able to smile when it's raining. I want to be able to worship

when I'm losing. I want to be able to love somebody in the face up there. Hey, let me be a Christian that loves you more than I love. Everything going right now is where the peace of God. God is still good when you're sick. God is still good when you're problem. God is still good when everybody's going the other way and you won't beware is everybody? God is there. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but hear me out. If you are in a season with rain on your face, I believe a brighter day

is coming. But why not defy the devil anyway and worship him? Like you know what, Even if Jesus never did another thing for me, which he will, he doesn't need to because he already saved my life. So I will worship him. I will lift my hands, I will love my enemy. I will do what God tells me to do anyway, because He is my peace. That's our goal, y'all. I want to function when it's breaking down all around me. Let me tell you how I got one thought for you.

And it's really simple. And I told your pastor, I said, there's no pressure to preach a good message at your church. You know why you're the best. So I can just come in and be normal And for all of you visitors who are bummed because Steven isn't here, I was kind of bummed too. Please come back next week and here one of the greatest preachers you'll ever hear in his own pulpit. Can I get a Pentecostal amen? It's okay to have friends that are better than you had stuff.

By the way, it's the essence of life. Here's one way. I feel like it's really practical. I mean, I passed her in New York City. We don't have a lot of time for fancy church stuff, so all of our points are small and practical. Hopefully you can deal with that because you're smarter here in Charlotte. I get it to the South. I'm from Virginia, so I have that bias. God loves us more down here. Can I get an amen?

Strike that from the tape if it's there. But I feel like we need to do a better job of letting people know if you struggle with anxiety and you struggle with worry, it's okay to talk about it. The church world for too long has put more more condemnation on people with awful stuff, like if you love Jesus more, you wouldn't feel like you feel, or the horrid pray through it. Prayer is incredible. I'm about to talk about it. But the truth is all answers start with Jesus and

end with Jesus. But in the middle there's doctors, and there's therapy, and there's connect groups, and there's recovery groups, and that doctor might even lead you to another doctor who can help you find something that can help you on your journey. So, if you've ever felt like you're a lesser Christian because you deal with pain that nobody can see, it's the same as anybody else with pain you can see, So shame off you, especially if you're

a man. By the way, men are a lot worse than women when it comes to being honest with what you struggle with, because we'll say things like a guy told me the other day, pastor, I struggle with anxiety. What's that anxiety? Is? Like? Yeah, anxiety? I want anybody to know. I'm like, trust me, they already know. Well, why would you whisper that to me? Because he's heard stuff like his whole life? Man up, what does that

even mean? We're a part of the new generation man down on our knees, waiting for God to do whatever he wants to do. I would rather be a man on my knees looking vulnerable than being a man on my feet living shaky because I don't want God to actually help me because somebody might know I don't have it all again, So shame off you. If you need

to get some help, get help. This church is filled with people that would love to get beside you and do whatever it takes to see God continue to heal your life one way and then we're out of here, I promise, Okay, and I've got seven closes. Don't get too excited. But those of you that want to access

more peace rather than just hear cheesy Christian answers. Isn't that funny when you tell a Christian like, hey, I got a problem with fear and worry and they say stuff like well, pastor Stephen, just don't worry worry less. It's like, thank you genius, never thought of that. Now. Thankfully Jesus gave us some recourse. And here's one big way ready if you want to access the peace that is in your pocket, that is in your soul. The King of kings. Control what you can control, Control what

you can, and then pray about the rest. Control what you can, which is your spirit, and then pray about the rest, which is your situation. Normally we get these things mixed up. There's so much about your situation that you cannot control. You can't always control your boss, can't always control what the world is doing to you. But we are Christians. What is happening to us does not have to change what is coming through us. We have the right to control our eyes. We can control our ears.

We can control what we consume, what we feed our soul with. We can control our declaration, we can control our confession. There is so much we can do. And when it comes to the stuff that we can't, God has it covered. And I'm gonna read you this scripture out of Philippians, which is just mind blowing. Can I read you one more scripture? What are you gonna say? Don't you love it when preachers ask you questions like you have any recourse? Guys, mind if I read this,

I'm gonna do it anyway. Remember, because Paul here is letting us know. God's not afraid of your worry. He's not afraid of what you have going on. But there's an order to this. Pray before you panic, Pray before you feel that pressure. He says this. Don't be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith filled request before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every single detail

of your life. Than God's wonderful peace that transcends human understanding. We'll make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ. So keep your thoughts you ready for this. This is convicting and comforting. Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic, all that is real, all that is honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. One might say get off Twitter.

One might say flee from anything that's getting your mind to go in a different direction. I don't know about you, but when it comes to controlling my thoughts, I got to make sure I understand that I want to fight this fear and anxiety wave that's plaguing so many people.

It's going to start with me going to the throne room, me getting down on my knees once in a while and saying, Lord, I am willing to do whatever I have to do to make sure that this stuff that I cannot control stays out and the stuff I can't control, which is focusing on you, how good you've already been. How many more songs can your team write to remind us that God has been so faithful? I mean they

say it different ways every time. The theme is this, how much more does God have to do to prove to us that it does no good to look at what he's not doing? Because there is so much that He is doing. It should take me forever to get through all my praise reports before I can even get out a problem, because that's how good God is bad. I'm almost done, Team Chris, y'all come up here. But

I promise you this works, y'all. I promise you. If you leave here today and you look at whatever was the biggest cause of your worry where you feel like you were empty pocketed, when it comes to your piece and you start making little small shifts and changes before you know it, it's like, Wow, this situation isn't so bad. I did this the other day in the airport, which is the number one cause for stress for most humans.

And I had stuff I had to get home to big weekend in church, had a date with my daughter, another date with my other daughter, and a date with my son. If that's weird, go ask me about later. I'll tell you why it's important and was supposed to be. That intent sounded really intense, and I just had stuff to do with my family. And I walk up to the gate and the guy says, yeah, your flight's been delayed any reason. And guy's of course not. And so

that's the kind of thing that gets me going. Right there, I'm like, great, that meeting's gonna be canceled. Lawd's gonna be upset. I won't be able to do that, won't be able to do that. And just my mind starts to raise and I remembered my own preaching, really my own preaching, remember what Paul said, And I thought, let me just take a moment here, because I cannot control this. I cannot control all this stuff, So what am I gonna do? I don't want to be like this guy

who's getting arrested for freaking out of the guy. Don't want to be like this passive aggressive lady who's just sighing. Sh So what can I do. I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna worship God. I'm gonna find something funny about this. And sure enough, there was a loud talker behind me, and my wife, for whatever reason, really loves to see loud talkers. So I'm like, I'm gonna make this funny

because I can't do anything else. And I filmed this person who was talking super loud, and the guy next to me sees me doing it and he's like, man, can you believe loud talkers? I'm like, no, bro from Virginia, I was training better. He's like me too, become fast friends. I said, where are you headed? He goes, I'm actually headed to New Jersey. I said where are you coming from? He's like, right here, my first day out of rehab. And I'm a little bit nervous because I know that

God's going to do great things. I just my first day out. I'm like, man, that's crazy because I know a lot of people coming out of rehab who are now running rehab centers. Like God's going to use your life. Have no fear. We start to just and he looks at me this is great, though, And I was preaching out a church to night before and it goes to me, it's like so funny because I had to pack all

my stuff and everybody else from my rehab. Last night, they went to this church conference in Florida and here's some guy named Carl or some Hillsong thing, and it sounded like he was preaching something just like that. I was like, dude, I know that guy, and I'll tell you exactly what he said. What he said last night was that God can use people that are broken to

shine a light through. So no matter how bad you think your life is, hey, guess what, every single crack is a way for God to get the message out. So just be open with who you are. Let him do what he was. And me and this guy exchange numbers. We just talked today. He kind of lives closer than I thought. And before you know it, in that one moment of just choosing not to go in because that's

what anxiety does, that's what fear does. God use me in a random airport, and I thought to myself, how many times might I have been so focused on my fear that God was not able to lift my head even for a moment. How many people are around us right now that we don't even know God wants to use us in their life because we're so focused on what's not happening in our life. Y'all, as you go forward Elevation Church, my I would plead with you. Yes, God has done a lot, but there is more in store.

The best is yet to come. And if you can learn how to say Lord here I am. I am not gonna focus on the wrong thing. I'm gonna focus on the right thing. Watch what God will do with people like you because He is our portion. He is our sustainer, he is our strong time to all, I'm gonna leave you with this. I'm gonna hand this back over to the Bishop of Charlotte, the Queen City. Peace is your portion, accept nothing less. Can you say this with big Peace is my portion? How do we know that?

Because Jesus said it. I pray that the peace that is in me will be in you. That means if there's any area in your life that does not have God's peace in it, fight for it because your portion is peace. I've met too many Christians. Maybe it's just New York, but people who just accept it. It's just the way I am. This is just what life has dealt me, so I might as well just deal with it. This is who I am. I'm always gonna be depressed, and I'm always gonna have broken relationships, and I'm always

gonna have this kind of drama in my life. And I always say, who said that? Because Jesus said something different. Just because somebody sent it does not mean you have to accept it, digest it, and actually let it take root in your life. We don't do this in any area of life except for Christians. If you went to a restaurant today and you ordered some lava cake, who doesn't love lava cake? And the waiter came up to you and they handed you a kale salad, what would

you say? You would say, sir, I appreciate you, but I did not do I look like a kale salad person. I ordered a lava cake, brownie, ice cream fudge, So respectfully, could you please go back to the kitchen where you came from and let them know the order has been mixed up. I'm gonna sit here until I see the lava cake come out and the kale go back to where it came from. This is what it's like to

be a Christian. Every single time that the devil throws something on your plate that is not from God, that is not from peace, that is not from love, you have the right to say, respectfully decline that this is my portion. I'm gonna send it back, and I'm gonna keep fighting, and I'm gonna keep worshiping, and I'm gonna keep on in god glory until I get exactly what he says is my portion, and my portion is peace, My portion is healing, my portion is God's good. Fight

for it gonna get you to bow your head. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna hand this back over to you. Peace in your pocket, Peace in your soul. Keep fighting for those of you that have given up in the name of Jesus. Fight again. Those of you who feel like the die has been cast in the name of Jesus, it has not. Peace will be your portion. Those of you that can't sleep at night and you're just giving up on that fight in the name of Jesus, Peace will be your portion. Father, I pray that you encourage

people today. Jesus, you are a gracious God, You are a gracious Save you Lord. I pray today. Wherever there is unrest, in the name of Jesus, we speak peace. Where there is sickness and people are waiting for their healing, in the name of Jesus, we speak peace. Where people are overwhelmed, Lord in the middle of it, remind them you are are peace. Can we give you praise ahead of time for all you're gonna do in Jesus name,

Elevation Church. If you believe it, can we stand to our feet and just give God the biggest shot of praise. If you believe that peace is your poorchol come on, let them know. Scream it over you. We hope you enjoyed the podcast today, and 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.