Search the transcript 0:00 This is kind of a left turn from the discipleship series, but it is also at the same time, it could be a part of that because I believe that any word that we receive from the heavens to be released into the earth is part of our discipleship path. It's part of our discipleship journey. Amen. 0:18 So I want to teach this morning on this subject. You need only to be still. Everybody say that. Look to the person beside you and say to them, you need only to be still. Boy, I'm telling you what, that is easier said than done. I mean, we are a busy and fast-moving people, aren't we, Tamara? I mean, it is... 0:50 When someone says, well, let me back up. Let me say this. So I'm married. So I sleep with my wife. So the other night we went to bed and she's never done this. In 34 years of marriage, she's never done this. She's never said this to me. But evidently I was moving too much. And she said, babe, can you please be still? And I thought, she's never said that to me before. I'm annoying my wife because I'm moving around. 1:23 But she said, please be still. And I know that in our lives, oftentimes, like me the other night with my wife, oftentimes there's so much activity and movement in our lives, we don't even realize it until someone brings it to our attention. We get so busied up. We get anxious about things. We get preoccupied with 10 different thoughts. Therefore, we can't complete any one single thought. 1:52 So there's so much that's going on and so much shifting that's happening that we find it difficult to really be still and listen and pay attention to what is most important. So again, when I say you need only to be still, this is the title that I'm going to be focusing on today, the subject I'm going to be focusing on today. 2:17 But I will say this, not just for you, but for me and for anyone, anybody who's breathing air, this is a statement that is easier said than done. I want to read this morning out of the first testament. I want to read the first... 2:36 portion I'm going to read is in Exodus chapter 14. I want to read 14 verses there because it's important for you to know something. So Exodus 14 beginning with verse 1. Keep in mind this is a period when they were just coming out of Egypt. The Israelites were just coming out of Egypt. There was a lot of 2:58 There were a lot of challenges. There was a lot of lack of faith. Well, keep in mind, they didn't need to depend on God up until this time. Suddenly, they're having to depend on a God that was really distant from them, and they're really unaware of how to live for Him because they were subject to the rules and the laws of the Egyptians. So this is when they're coming out, and this is what it says in Exodus 14, beginning with verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses... 3:25 Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi-hahiroth between Migdal and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zaphon. And then he goes on and he says, and Pharaoh will think. Everybody say, Pharaoh will think. This is important. Say it again. Say, Pharaoh will think. Pharaoh will think. 3:54 So he says to Moses, I want you to go and encamp in this area that seems landlocked. It looks like you've come into a trap. In the natural, in this area where he sent him, there is no escape. And the father, I want to tell you something. Listen to this. This is not where I'm going, but I'm going to insert this this morning. Sometimes God will ask you to move into a place where there is no apparent escape. You feel trapped and he did it on purpose. 4:25 So that you have to depend on him and not your own wiles. And that's what he did here. So he says, they are to encamp by the sea directly opposite Baal Zephan. And Pharaoh will think the Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion and they are now hemmed in by the desert. They're stuck and they don't even know it. This is what Pharaoh will think. And then he says, God says, and then I will harden Pharaoh's heart after he believes that you are trapped. 4:59 I'm going to harden his heart and he is going to pursue you because he doesn't believe you have a way out. Sometimes the father will put you in a place where the enemy doesn't believe you have a way out and he believes he's got you. But then the father goes on and tells Moses, but I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army. And then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. 5:38 I'm going to hem you in and then I'm going to show you how to get out, but not a way you could get out. You can't swim across the Red Sea and you can't walk across the desert. If you go try to cross the Red Sea on your own authority, your own power, your own might, you're going to drown. You try to cross that desert on your own without me providing for you, you're going to die. You're going to die of thirst. You're not going to make it. I'm going to hem you in and then I'm going to do something miraculous so that the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. 6:08 So the Israelites did this. And when the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, what have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services. See, that's what I was avoiding this morning when I was talking about serving. I was not going to let the Israelites go and lose their service. Calling you home. 6:36 So he had his chariot made ready and he took his army with him, Pharaoh. He took 600 of the best chariots along with all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops, 7:01 And the Israelites were terrified, and they cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the desert to die? 7:39 What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt and into this landlocked place where we're about to be destroyed? Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians? How many people in the body of Christ today? Here's another story, another message, another series I preached years ago, making bricks for the Egyptians. 8:13 But how many people in the body of Christ today are saying the same thing? Why did you lead me into this place that seems landlocked with no possibility of escape, making me anxious and nervous and afraid and fearful, not knowing what to do next? Why would you bring me here when you could have let me simply live with the Egyptians? They said it would have been better for us, Moses, to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. 8:45 Keep in mind this desert place that they're referring to is exactly where God put them. So in other words, let me read it differently. Moses, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to be where God put us. It would have been easier. Less fear, less anxiety, less unknowns. I wouldn't have needed faith. I wouldn't have needed the trust if you'd have just left us to the Egyptians. And Moses answers the people and he said, listen, I'm only going to say this once. 9:28 Do not be afraid. Stand firm. Everybody say, stand firm. I'm going to say it different. Say this with me. I will stand firm wherever he puts me. Unshaken, unmoved, unfearful, full of faith, trusting him. So Moses answers the people and he said, do not be afraid. 9:59 Stand firm and you will see the deliverance that the Lord will bring you today. And this is a powerful statement. And he says, the Egyptians, you see today. If you will trust God, you will never see them again. The Lord will fight for you. And then he says, you need to be still. 10:38 Say this with me. The Lord will fight with you, for you. You need to be still. Say it like this. The Lord will fight for me. I need only to be still. Oh, I'm going to say it again. Moses said, the Egyptians, the enemy that you see today encamped around you in the landlocked place that God has you, those Egyptians... 11:28 That you feel like have gotten you hemmed in. They're on the authority of the Father. They're not the ones that hemmed you in. God did. Then they aligned with his hemming so that he could show himself mighty and faithful and powerful and all purpose for you. He said, the Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. Look at your neighbor and say, you need only to be still. Amen. 11:59 It's like my wife the other night. Babe, be still. I should have said, is the Lord fighting for me? He is. Those words, you need only to be still, are words that every single person hearing me today, including me, these are words every single one of us need to hear. Not just this morning. 12:35 But every single time you are anxious or afraid, fearful, nervous about anything, we need to hear it over and over and over again. The Lord will fight for me. I need only to be still. Say it with me again. I need only to be still. 13:08 When I've been the most anxious personally, I have made the wrong decision almost every single time. Almost every single time that I've ever made a decision out of my anxiety, out of my fear, out of my sense of feeling that I have to make a decision right now. It must be made within the next five minutes. Every time I've ever done that, almost every single time, I've made the wrong decision when I've done it that way. Almost every time. But when I was able to be still... 13:40 And I was able to trust the Father. Example is this building. Example is the building you're in right now, 19 years, 20 years ago when we started all of this. When I was able to get through my anxiety, when I was able to get through my, are you really there? When I was able to get through that and say, I'm going to sit here. When I was at a point, when I was... 13:57 There were things going on in my body physically, and I needed a miracle. It would have been easy to get anxious and to get fearful, and there were moments that I did. And yet, I was every single time reminded, Steve, sit still, be still, and see the glory of God. Do not make a single decision out of your anxiety. Do not make a single decision out of your fear. Do not make a single decision because outside sources are pressuring you and telling you, you better make it today because tomorrow that deal will be done. Somebody needs to hear me today. Amen. 14:29 Wrong decisions made out of anxiety produce failure every single time and they are always costly. Does anybody know what I'm talking about this morning? How many have ever made a wrong decision based on because you were anxious, you were nervous? And then it results in a failure, it results in something that costs you something. It's expensive to make decisions out of anxiety, but right decisions made out of stillness always produce life and they are always, always, always rewarding. Just this morning, just this morning, 15:00 I'd said something to my wife, let me say this, I said something to my wife I think Monday or Tuesday of this week and I was contemplating some things. I actually was doing the daily Bible reading that we do in the app, I hope you do that too. And there was a statement that was made in that and as soon as I heard that statement I thought, oh my goodness, man that really applies to me because I made a commitment to someone recently. 15:26 And when I made that commitment to them, I don't know, maybe February or March, I made a commitment to them to be a part of something that they were doing. It's in another place. It's a ministry. And I was invited to teach in these different churches and groups and what have you. And I was invited to do that. And I made a commitment to this person. And I said, I will do that. And it's in another country and what have you. And here's the crazy thing is I made this commitment first. 15:53 And ever since I made that commitment, not a single time that I've considered that commitment have I had a piece about that commitment. Not one time. And yet in me, every single time I thought about that commitment, I thought to myself, well, I committed to this. I've already said I would do this, so therefore I'm going to see this thing through. And then as we were doing the Bible reading, or I was sitting on my porch with the Bible reading this week, and I was listening, and there was a scripture that came across through the Bible reading, and I read that, and it spoke to that part of my spirit that I 16:25 Was battling between a commitment I had made and the lack of stillness I was capable of operating in. Related to that commitment. That commitment had removed my stillness. And I said something to my wife and I just shared with her. I said, you know what, I just, I don't think I'm going to do that. And I want to do this right, but I don't, I just don't believe that that's the purpose of God for me to be a part of that. 16:57 And I went back and forth throughout the week and each day as I considered this, whether I should reach out to this person or just wait and see. And so I did. I sat still. And I sat and I sat and I thought, I'm not doing anything until I know in my spirit exactly what the Father wants me to do. Because I felt hemmed in. Not because they were hemming me in. They weren't doing it. These people are amazing. And they're doing incredible work. They didn't hem me in. But I felt hemmed in because I was hemmed in between a commitment I had made 17:28 An anxiousness, an anxiety in my spirit that I couldn't find peace in. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Have you ever been there? And it wasn't until this morning I got up. I get up every day around 6 o'clock or a little before, sometimes a little after. I always try for the after, but it usually doesn't go that way. And I got up this morning. It was about 10 till 6. And as soon as I got up, I'm literally walking out of my bedroom and I'm walking into the kitchen and Holy Spirit said, today's the day. You're not going. I don't want you to go. This is not the time. 18:05 So I immediately went into the office at my house, and I got on my computer, and I got on the email, and I reached out to this person, and I said, I know that there's a commitment. I made a commitment to you. I apologize for making that commitment prematurely, but I want you to know that as much as I believe in what you are doing and what's going on there and the people that you have shared, that I would be coming to teach in their churches and in their places with those people and meeting all of them. It would have been a wonderful opportunity, an expression of the kingdom of God, but I have no peace. 18:35 And I cannot go, and I removed my commitment to go, and I will not be going there in the spring. I said, I don't know if that will change in the future. All I know is that this time I love you, and I'm thankful for what you do, what you're doing, but I cannot be a part of that personally. Now, I can tell you I love to teach. 18:56 I love to teach. I could teach all day, every day, and be happy with it. I love it. I love to break down the scripture. I love to break down what God is doing. I hope that you know that through what I do here on Sunday mornings, but I love that. So in my mind, I felt like, well, you know what? This is something I love. This is something that God put in me. Why wouldn't I want to go over there? Because I also like to share the kingdom of God with people wherever they are. And I think about, for me, I would rather be still and know. 19:27 I've heard the voice of God and I'm doing the right thing, then be anxious and do what I believe is the purpose of God and then miss it altogether. Do you hear me this morning? I'm trying to teach you this morning. So I sent that email and I just said to them, I'm not going at this scheduled time, maybe another time, but I'm going to be still. And before I make another decision to do it, I will know that I've heard the voice of God because I could go in March and 20:03 with a measure of anxiety in me. It's not anxiety because I'm afraid of the people. It's not an anxiety because of any of that. It's an anxiety that isn't purposed because when I love, I love to teach that anxiety is Holy Spirit saying to me, you need to pay attention, Steve. When we ask Holy Spirit to speak to us and to lead us and guide us, when he does, don't ignore it. If he does rattle your chain, don't try to hold the chain so it doesn't make noise. 20:36 Find out why the chain's making noise and correct it. So I'm going to ask you a question this morning. Can you unwind your mind? Can you unwind your mind? Because what happens is when things are going on around us, everything is moving so quickly nowadays. The world, your world is moving. Every single person, and it doesn't matter how old you are, even our children. Everything in your life is moving so quickly. 21:05 Your pressure to make this choice, your pressure to make that choice, your pressure to do this, your pressure to do that. There's things just bombarding you every day and there's this sense of obligation to meet the demand of every single voice that is screaming into your ear. You need to do this at this time, you need to do that at that time and so on and so forth. I want to tell you something today. Not a single voice, not a single voice, not a single voice except for the voice of God is all. 21:30 all they do not have the authority to make you do anything that's outside the purpose of God for you meaning this if you have 50 voices saying if you don't do this you're going to lose your job if you don't do this you're going to have to make this decision today you're going to have to do this today I'm going to tell you in the middle of the deepest and the most difficult pressure that causes tremendous anxiety I'm going to tell you to you need to only be still and see the deliverance of the Lord 22:01 See, because the Israelites did not see what Moses saw. I'm not even sure that Moses saw it at the moment. I'm pretty confident he didn't. Hey, there's a big sea in front of us. What are we going to do with this? We're hemmed in. But see, when everything's going around you, our first thought is, well, this is all coming at me. Somewhere I have to make a choice. I have to make a decision. I'm going to tell you something today. I need you to hear me right now. There is nothing you're going to do in a hurry that God can't do in a delay and do it better. 22:42 I would rather miss the moment altogether believing that I am waiting on God than to be premature and enter into something that was never meant for me in the first place. It doesn't matter what it is. I'm talking about anything. It doesn't matter if it's your job, your neighbor, your choice, your buying or whatever. It doesn't matter. If it creates anxiety in you, sit still until Holy Spirit removes that anxiety and you can make a choice by the Spirit. 23:12 So I'm going to ask this question again. Can you unwind the mind? And that's what we have to do. We have to get to this place where we are able to unwind the mind because our mind immediately, it's that Adam part of us, our mind immediately goes to, even now, even in this room right now, many of you, if not all of you, are thinking about things and decisions that you've got to make just because of what I'm teaching already and you're trying to sort out, well, do I sit still on this one? Do I sit still? Already you're doing that. 23:37 Already. You're doing that. Do I sit still on this one? Well, can I put this one off? The answer is yes, yes, and yes. I want to tell you, He goes before you. But it requires you to have faith to believe that He does. It requires you. It requires me. It requires us to trust Him. 24:00 And we have to literally unwind the mind. And when I say that, I mean we have to find that place where we can be still. I'm going to ask a question, and I don't want you to answer it to me. I want you to answer it to yourself. Is there any place you go... First, let me do it different. You can go, and if you have a place... 24:21 Do you go to that place ever where there is absolute silence, nothing is there that can cause your mind to go crazy? Do you have a place that you can say, this is my closet? Answer yourself. This is where I can be still. I was riding down the road. My son had an appointment. I was taking him to the appointment the other day, and I listened to classical music in my car that doesn't have any voices. I don't want voices. I don't want people singing. I just want music. 24:58 And we were talking about the classical music, and I said to him exactly what I just said to you. He said, Dad, you're listening to the classical? I said, I do. I'm driving down the road because I unwind my mind. It's music. No one's putting words in my head. I don't have to think about anything else. I'm listening to classical music. They're playing that little piano, and it's ding, ding, ding. 25:19 And I'm unwinding my mind. Things are just flittering out of my mind. I'm not thinking about all the decisions, which I have a lot. I have to make every single day, just like you. I have a thousand decisions I have to make every single day. But I'm learning more and more every day. I only need to be still. And when the decision has to be made, he will say, now lift your staff over that. That looked like it was hindering you. But I'm turning that hindrance into a pathway. Amen. 25:53 You hear me today. I know it's impossible to believe. I know it's very difficult for people in this room or watching or listening today. I know it's hard for people to believe. Oh, you're telling me that if there's all these things that are going on in my mind, my heart rate's up, my life is in turn, it's just, I'm stressed all the time. You're telling me I can unwind my mind? I only need to be still? I can just be still and God's going to work on my behalf if you have a relationship with Him? I'm telling you that the answer is yes every time. Every single time. 26:27 Look at your neighbor and say this again. Say, you need only to be still. Now your neighbor might be saying in their own mind, yeah, well, do you know me? 26:39 It's not possible. I can't be still. I'm this, I'm that. I know people who their limbs are always shaking and quaking. They're always walking around. I've done it myself. I'll get into a... I remember when I had a situation many, many years ago, a long time ago before my father passed, and I was in a room, and there was a big choice that I had to make. There was something going on in my life that was intense, and I could not sit down. And my dad kept saying, Steve, sit down. This is before I knew how to be still. 27:09 And I could not sit down. And I was walking all over the, for, I don't know, a couple hours. And I'm just walking all over this, it was a large room. I'm walking all over this room. And then my brother came in and my brother said, Steve, sit down. And my dad just looked at him and he said, Junior, he's not going to do it. There was so much anxiety in my mind about what was happening at that time in my life. 27:34 So many things that had to be decided and dealt with and taken care of. And I was young. I'd gone AWOL. I'll just tell you. I'd gone AWOL. So there were a lot of things that were working in my world that needed to happen at that time on my behalf. And there was so much anxiety there, I couldn't find an answer. In the middle of all the thoughts, there might be an answer, but I would never be able to pull that answer out because I couldn't be still long enough to sort it all out. 28:06 When I said to Joshua, I said, I listen to that classical music because I don't want words. I don't want to hear people talking. I want to listen, and I do. And even on the way here this morning, and I listen to, many of you know, I enjoy classical music. And I listen to that, and it plays, and I just take it in, and it 28:23 It allows me to unwind this mind and I can hear clearly what I need to hear. So I ask you again, do you have a place where you can go where you can be still? And if you don't have that place, I encourage you today to find that place. Another thing that I do, and I can tell you, I'm using these examples because I want you to find this. 28:49 And I've said this many times before. Every single day, every day, I don't care if it's raining. I don't care if it's 98% humidity. I don't care what it is. Every single morning when I get up, the first thing I do, I go to my Keurig. I make me a little cup of Tipton. Is it Tipton or Tifton? What's that? Yeah, Tim Horton. I make me a little cup of Tim Horton coffee in my little Keurig. 29:19 And I take that cup of coffee, and I take my phone, and I take my dogs, and I go out on the front porch. And I sit down in my rocking chair. Now, you might say, Steve, you're sounding old. No, I'm telling you, I'm finding my still place. Because I want to know, Father, what's your word for today? Because I want to unwind my mind. I don't want to start my day with my mind all wound up. I need to find a place. And if I have to get up earlier to find that place of peace so I can hear the purpose of God about the day, I'll get up earlier to do it. 29:52 But I go out on that porch and I sit in that rocking chair and I watch my dogs run around and I watch the hummingbird come to my little butterfly bush and I watch the woodpeckers peck on all my trees and I listen and I watch a hawk come down and grab a snake, whatever. I'm watching all of this go on and it's so, I'm 30:07 I'm unwinding, watching the goodness and the faithfulness and the glorious nature of God being unraveled right in front of me. And there's so much peace. And it's in the middle of that the Father can say with a still small and sweet voice, Steve, this is what I want from you today. 30:24 Nothing else that's going on in your world that creates anxiety in you. Nothing else that you feel like has to be done today. It doesn't. It doesn't matter if 10 people, if the bank tells you, you got to sign this by four o'clock. You don't because they want your money. If someone says, if you don't get here by three o'clock, this is going to happen. It's not going to happen because I'm in charge. You need to hear me when I'm telling you this morning. You need to only be still. 30:57 In Psalm 46, verse 10, it says this, it says, be still and know, and know. Everybody say, and know. Everybody say it this way, say, in my stillness, I can know that he is God. He said, be still, it's when you're still that you know that I'm God. You can't, you're not going to find me in your anxiety, you're not going to find me in your fear, you're not going to find me in your difficult, you're going to find me when you're still. When you say, you know what, I have this faith, I have this faith. Even if I don't have all the answers, I have this faith, the answer's in you. 31:27 And I'm going to be still long until you tell me to move. I'm going to be still so that you can give me the right path. He said, I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth. Be still. Everybody say this. Be still and know. In stillness, there is a knowing that happens in you and me through the impartation of the Spirit of God, Holy Spirit. 31:59 He sent Holy Spirit to you and me to guide us, to instruct us, to enable us, to equip us, to help us overcome, to teach us, to train us, to rebuke us. Sometimes in our anxiety, we're going to go do something that's going to be a big mistake. And if we're still long enough, He will say, Holy Spirit, go and let them know that's a bad choice they're about to make. See, a lot of times the choices we make, we make because we haven't been still long enough for Him to tell us the right answer. We just hurried up and made the choice of our own. 32:31 Are you willing to be still? Isaiah chapter 30 verse 15 says this, says, For thus says the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved. Now this is a season where, I can't go back to the three chapters before this, you can later if you want to, but basically Israel is finding their way. Let's just put it this way. The people of God are finding their way. And in that, they're not finding it very well. 33:04 And so choices have been made. Things have happened that have created conflict and issues. And he says this in Isaiah 30, 15. Isaiah says, For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest, this is actually the Lord saying this, Isaiah is repeating it. In returning and rest, you shall be saved. In returning and, in returning and, in returning and, in returning and, you shall be saved. Wow. 33:35 He didn't say, let me tell you something, people of God. In your anxiousness, in your anxiety, in your fear, in your hurry up and do this, in your full mind, in your rushing to this thing, in your rushing to that thing. Sorry, camera. In all of that that you're doing. He didn't say in that you're going to find rest. In that you're going to find your answer. No, no, no, no, no, no. In returning and rest, you will be saved. In quietness... 34:15 and in trust you will find strength we think i'm just busy for god i'm busy about his business and all the while the father's saying i just need you to be still for me i need you to be still and stop trying to make it all work just be still and when i ask something of you do that if i'm not asking it of you don't worry about it 34:51 Just because I asked the person on the other side of the church to do X and I asked you to do C, don't try to do X. You do C and in that salvation will come to you. Not necessarily a salvation where you know Christ, you may already know Christ, but a salvation that says in this moment in your rest, by resting in me, you will find the answer that you're looking for. 35:17 In quietness and in trust will be your strength. But then he goes on and he says to them, and this is the part that's hard for all of us. Because again, this is a season when there was a lot happening. So there was an out between them and the Father, between his people and himself. And he says this, he says, if you will do these things, rest, be quiet, and trust me. He said, I'll save you and I'll give you strength. 35:59 But then he goes on and he says, but you were unwilling because you thought you had a better way because you let the voices, every other voice matter more to you than you let my voice. I'm talking to people in this room this morning. It's in quietness and rest that you will be saved and find your strength. It's in being in that place where you need only be still and let God begin to do for you what God wants to do for you. I'm saying to you today, there's a need. 36:37 For some of us to simply say, Father, I repent because you'll tell me. You'll give me 10 things. And I'm going after it right now. But it wasn't meant for me to go after right now. I need to be still. And one thing at a time. When you order this step, I'll take it. When you order that step, I'll take it. And I'm not comparing my steps to the steps of this one over here. I'm not comparing my steps to the steps of this one over here. 37:09 My journey may be a little bit more winding than theirs, may have a few more hills than theirs, but whatever my journey looks like, if I'm still in you and I trust you and I'm faithful to you and I don't let all the thoughts that are in my mind control me, but instead let your voice lead me and guide me, it doesn't matter what the hills are, how windy the path is or straight the path is, it doesn't matter. 37:41 Because ultimately it's the right windy path or straight path or hilly path, whatever it is. He said, but you were unwilling. He said, I've given you opportunity, people, but you were unwilling. I'm thankful that they came around later. I'm thankful that they said, you know what, you're right. We depended on everything, Father, except for your provision. We try in the body of Christ to make living for God so difficult. We do our very best to 38:16 To make people believe this is a hard... I've heard preachers say it before. Living for Christ is so hard, but you can do it. And I'm thinking, what Christ are you living for? It's not because I live for Him that it's difficult. It's because I'm living for me, trying to apply Him to me, instead of me being applied to Him. Are you hearing me this morning? So I'm going to ask you a question. How often in your moments, frustration, anxiety, what have you, how often... 38:55 In the same way that he says of his children that Isaiah is speaking of, how often have you found yourself to be unwilling? Father, I can't wait on you. Your answers just aren't coming fast enough. I've been still long enough. I'm going to take it into my own hands. How often have you been unwilling to wait, unwilling to trust? 39:22 How often have you been unwilling to be still? Even in this room right now, there are things that are going on in your world, in your mind, and the people in this room. Right now, you simply, all he's waiting on you to do is be still so he can provide for you the answer you need. And yet, you haven't been still long enough for him to do a single thing because he can't insert his purpose through all the thoughts and the plans that you have devised for your own answer. He can't get in there. 39:50 Because your anxiety has mucked it all up and he says, I need, going back to the word, unwind the mind. Stillness allows you to consider not only the cost of what he's asked of you, but the consequences. As I said, when I started today, I've made choices that were made out of nervousness or fear or what have you that did not end well. 40:22 And then I've made those choices that I knew I had the word of the Lord. I knew this was exactly what he wanted me to do. This was his provision for me. I knew, or this house or whatever it might've been. And I did that. And I knew even if it didn't come when I wanted it to come, the answer always exceeded what my expectations were every single time. And see, being still, if I can say to myself, I'm going to, in my case, I'm going to use me. I'm going to sit on my front porch. There's a lot going on. 40:54 I've received 32 emails today telling me by 4 o'clock today I have to make all these decisions. But you know what? I'm going to close my computer. And I'm going to go out and I'm going to sit on that porch and I'm going to sit in my chair and I'm going to say, Father, I'm going to be still. And I'm only going to respond to what you tell me needs to be responded to. And if every deadline crosses or gets passed, it's irrelevant to me. What's important to me is that I am still and I can see the glory of God. 41:26 The things that look like hindrances to me, the deadlines, the timelines, those are hindrances. And the Father says there's no hindrance. There's no parameter. There's no wall built around you that He cannot divide. He cannot make a way through. But it is through stillness that God shows Himself the strongest. Through your stillness. When I'm still, I can consider if what is in front of me is for me or if it is against me. I just read the other day, a couple days ago, 42:08 about a woman somewhere, I don't know where she was, but a woman who received a call from, I think it was Citibank or maybe Chase Bank. She had saved up 50-some thousand dollars for a down payment on a home, and it was her dream, you know, to have this home. And I don't know if she's married or not, but it was her dream to have this home. And she received a call from somebody that said they were with Chase Bank, and they pressured her. And you've gotten some of these similar calls, I'm sure. I try to always tell my kids, hang up, hang up on these people. And they called Chase Bank. It was Chase. 42:42 Said, we need you. There was fraud on your account and had the last four digits of her account number. I don't know how they got them. It's irrelevant. They had them. Which made her believe, if they know my account number, then it must really be them. So we need you. We're going to send you a link to your email and we need you to click on that link and we need you to transfer all your money into this other account so that we can clear up the current one. She transferred. She clicked on that link. She transferred all her money. I just read this Thursday or Friday. Transferred all her money into that fraudulent account 43:17 And then got an email, we got you. Fifty some odd thousand dollars. And then the arrogance to say we got you. I'm going to tell you something. See, pressure, you know what pressure will do? It will cost you everything you've got. Every single time. Paying attention to pressure that the Father's not sending. Because let me tell you what God will not do. He will not send pressure. Not the kind that creates fear. If He's sending pressure, He's sending the kind of pressure that will create change. Every time. Every time. Stillness allows me to consider... 44:02 Whether what's in front of me is from God or for a very real enemy that's after my peace. And many in this room right now have made choices based on anxiety, based on fear, based on pressures, the voices in your ear telling you it had to be done today or it has to be done tomorrow or if you don't do this, you're going to miss an opportunity. And you've bought into that. And all the while, the Father's saying, would you just be still? And let me close with this. Are you talking to the right person? And Philippians 4, 6 says this, do not be anxious about anything. 44:37 but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to who? Do not be anxious about what? Do not be anxious about what? But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. The right person... 45:22 To be talking to is Yahweh God. And Holy Spirit is that part of Him that will lead you on. You're willing to be led. If you're willing to be led. So when I say today, the message of this today, you need only to be still. When I say that to you today, I don't say that because it's a cute little title. I say that because you need only to be still. Because that's what He said. He didn't say you need to get nervous. He didn't say you need to get into a... 46:10 whatever, a tense moment. He didn't say you need to get worried. He didn't say you needed to do any of that. He said, you need only to be still and then watch what I can do. He said to the Israelites first, he said, you are unwilling, but I'm going to say to you today, I'm going to ask you today, are you, are you willing to only be still? 46:34 To put down all of those things that you're constantly picking up. I've got to do this. I've got to do that. I've got to take this on. I've got to take that on because this is what a good person does. This is what this does. This is what's required of me. This is what's needed of me. Are you willing to say, I'm simply going to be still. I am going to be still. And I'm going to let the Father unwind my mind. And I'm going to find my compass. I'm going to find my moment. I'm going to find my center in Him. Amen. 47:09 In him. So I'm going to say this today. There are people listening to me this morning. And there are decisions and things that people have asked of you and put on you. I'm going to ask you to do this today. Now this sounds contrary to success. But I'm going to ask you, if you don't have an answer, don't just come up with one. Reply to their email and say, not going to happen today. I'll get back with you when I can. Things that are being thrown at you that are must-dos right now, 47:46 Unless you have been still long enough to hear the voice of God about it, let those people who are requiring those things of you know it's not going to happen today. Well, if you don't do it, the Egyptians are right behind you and you're hemmed in on every side. If you don't do it today, if you don't do it by this timeline, you're hemmed in. And I'm telling you, we've got you. They don't. They don't have you. Look at your neighbor and say, they don't have you. Tell them again, say, you need only to be still. 48:32 You know, when we receive Jesus Christ, He comes and introduces us, reconciles us back to the Father, back to Yahweh God, changes our life, gives us opportunity to be reborn, renewed in our mind, renewed in our spirit. He gives us opportunity, Jenny, to get to that place where we no longer have to be measured by what we did yesterday or the day before, but Christ is 49:19 literally saves us, transforms us, leads us right into the throne room where the Father is and says, here's your son, my brother. Here's your daughter, my sister. 49:39 And then the Father says, okay, now what I want you to do is I want you to know now that we're reconciled, man, I have great news for you. I'm going to send you out in all the earth with all the tools and everything that you need because Holy Spirit, my Spirit, is going to be in you. And my Spirit is going to equip you with everything that you need to demonstrate that you're never without an answer, that you never have to be without peace, that you never have to be without hope. My Spirit is in you to let you know 50:16 That you don't have to pay attention to all the voices that come at you from every single side. But what you can do is simply find a place to be still in me. And let me just walk you through it. Talk you through it. Show you the way. And if I don't confirm in you that this is the moment or this is the hour or that's the time, then please don't get ahead of me and confirm it with somebody else. But Daniel, he wants to give you 50:56 It's His pleasure. It's His joy to give you the yes when the yes is needed. The time when the time is needed. The answer when the answer is needed. So I ask you today, can we be a people this morning that do what I said a while ago and that's unwind the mind. And that we come back to Him and we say, Father, we come to You. We come before You. We choose to be still. I need only to be still. 51:37 And that's what I choose today. All the clutter, all the stressful things, all the chaos, and all the things that fill our mind and make us uncomfortable or nervous and give us high blood pressure and all those things. Father, today we choose, we choose, we choose to be still in you. Transcript generated automatically from the audio, so a few words may be off.
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