0:00

Hi, Chris Felton here. Welcome

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to my podcast where I hope to inspire

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you to walk in your royal identity in

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Christ and experience God's goodness in every

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area of your life. I hope you enjoy this

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message today. And if you're looking for more

0:12

resources, check out chris

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valleton dot com.

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Thank you very much. My

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any insecurities I have are solved

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and finished fixed, so

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good to be here. How many of

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you are first year students?

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How many of you are second year students.

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Wow. Amazing.

0:47

We're gonna have a fantastic year. It's

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already you know, start out

0:52

pretty crazy. Well, let me

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pray. Why don't you grab your hand? Holy

1:06

Spirit. We just

1:09

ask that you move powerfully tonight Among

1:12

the congregation here, those are watching

1:14

by online. We just we

1:16

pray for you just to touch people deeply.

1:20

Lord, we pray for you to save people and

1:22

deliver them and heal them, restore

1:24

them, promote them,

1:28

protect them, Lord.

1:30

We just we pray for an extraordinary night

1:32

tonight. Jesus

1:35

name, Amen. Alright. I

1:43

had a really strange thought

1:46

when we were worshiping. I just is

1:49

anybody here ever been hit by lightning?

1:52

You're in the room. You've been hit by lightning. Would you

1:54

stand up? got you. Would you stand up, please?

1:57

Yeah. Two

1:59

people? Wow.

2:01

That's amazing. Do you have any side effects

2:04

from the either one of you have side

2:06

effects from that at

2:07

all?

2:09

No. Do you? Yes.

2:12

This is yes. This is no. No. Okay.

2:15

So stay standing, please. I

2:18

felt like the Lord was marking you

2:20

with lightning. felt

2:22

like that lightning would be a

2:26

I saw you like tattooed on

2:28

your arm as an

2:30

experience that not only

2:32

you survived, but gave you authority

2:35

and power And I

2:37

felt like the scripture where Jesus

2:39

said to the disciples, I saw

2:41

Satan falling like lightning. I

2:44

saw you doing so much damage

2:46

to the devil's kingdom, that

2:49

everywhere you go, there was like a lightning

2:52

storm And I believe

2:54

that your lives are gonna be marked with

2:56

with lightning. And I

2:58

had a a I'll tell you this quick story

3:02

I had a season. It was about

3:05

maybe eighteen or nineteen months that

3:07

every time I traveled when the when

3:10

the plane would land, there would be an earthquake.

3:13

And and I I landed in Romania

3:15

and the Lord's like, there's gonna be an earthquake

3:17

when I landed romaine, nothing terrible,

3:19

no no damage. And I'm like,

3:21

what's that mean? And the Lord's like, I'm changing

3:23

the tectonic plates the spiritual

3:26

dynamics of this nation,

3:28

of this city, this And I feel like

3:31

lightning is gonna strike at

3:33

times when you enter a place,

3:36

a city, and it's gonna be

3:38

a sign and a wonder that the Lord

3:40

is anointing you drive out

3:42

the demonic forces in that

3:44

city, in that region. And

3:47

so just put your hands out right now. Laura,

3:49

we anoint these

3:51

two men right now as

3:53

disciples who

3:55

do deliverance in a way, the

3:57

Satan falls like lightning and

3:59

I released holy spirit power

4:01

on both of you right now. May

4:04

you be like the sons of thunder in Jesus'

4:06

name, like James and John, I

4:08

released that to you in Jesus' name.

4:10

Amen.

4:17

So chances at two people in one service

4:19

been hit by lightning. Right? And

4:21

I felt like the Lord wanted to deliver someone

4:23

from drugs you're

4:25

addicted to drugs. Would you stand right now? Lord's

4:27

gonna deliver you right now. You've been

4:30

addicted for a long time and the

4:32

Lord's just brought you here tonight specifically

4:34

to deliver you and give you freedom. If

4:37

that's you, I don't have any any

4:39

desire to shame you. but I

4:41

want to see you free right now. If

4:43

that's you, would you stand up, please? Is

4:47

there somebody standing right there?

4:49

Okay. Would you just put your

4:51

hands on her right now? Mhmm. I

4:53

wanna tell you this story while you're praying for

4:55

her. I called this man out.

4:57

This is probably one of the very first times

4:59

they ever spoke in gospel church, and

5:01

he was sitting at the in the back row,

5:04

not as far back as she is, but right

5:06

in front of that. And

5:08

it was the last word I gave and I said to

5:10

this young man, we'd stand up and he stood

5:12

up. And I gave miss word about being a

5:14

holy man and that he was a

5:16

no man, a holy man. I gave him

5:18

his full word about nobility and about

5:21

the old testament Nazarites who

5:23

were dedicated to the Lord. Anyway,

5:25

I I didn't know anything about

5:27

him. I've never seen him before as far as I

5:29

knew, and about seven or

5:31

eight years later, this man comes

5:33

up to me and he says, do you remember me?

5:35

No. I honestly don't. He

5:37

said, eight years ago or seven years ago,

5:39

however long it was, years, you

5:41

call me out of the back room on a Sunday night,

5:44

and you said I was a holy man. And out out

5:46

of hundreds of words I've given, I remember

5:48

that night. I said, I remember that.

5:50

He said, what you don't know is that I was heroin

5:52

addict. He said, my

5:54

friends drug me to the meeting. I'd been a

5:56

heroin addict since I was thirteen, and at the

5:58

time he was like, thirty six or

6:00

eight. And he said, I've never worked a day

6:02

in my life. He said, I've been in

6:04

and out of rehabs from the time

6:06

in and out of juvenile hall, then he rehabs

6:08

He said when you said I'm a holy man,

6:10

he said he said I was high that

6:12

night and something like he said something

6:14

like electricity hit me. He

6:17

said I got instantly delivered from heroin.

6:19

I got instantly sober.

6:22

And he said I I I've never gone

6:24

back. He said I got a job six months

6:26

later, and then he had a woman with her with

6:28

him. And he said, this is this is

6:31

this is my wife. He said

6:33

two years ago, I brought her forward. You probably

6:35

don't remember that. and I don't. You prayed for

6:37

her. She had hepatitis the kind that isn't

6:39

curable. Said you prayed for

6:41

her for her for her hepatitis.

6:44

and she got totally delivered. She went back to the

6:46

doctor that cannot find hepatitis that she's

6:48

ever had it. And we

6:50

got married. And I

6:52

just released right now that same

6:54

anointing on that young man that night,

6:56

on this beautiful woman in Jesus' name

6:58

that the Lord would completely and

7:00

totally restore you right now.

7:03

And he would take away any desire

7:05

that you have. He put a wall of fire

7:07

around you. that you would be

7:09

a woman walking in great faith.

7:11

And, Lord, I thank you that even in this

7:13

condition that you have led this woman by

7:15

your holy spirit, because of her love for

7:17

you. You've brought her here. And Lord,

7:19

you brought her into this family and

7:21

you've given her the gift of

7:23

freedom. And Lord, you said, whoever the

7:25

sun says free is free indeed.

7:27

And so, although we just release freedom,

7:30

we release peace in her,

7:32

re released, Lord, we changed her body's

7:34

chemistry, so it no longer

7:36

needs, even needs that that drug.

7:39

And we pray God for strength

7:41

And though we take away insecurity and

7:43

rejection and abandonment, we

7:46

break the power of a childhood

7:48

trauma and and

7:50

and abandonment and rejection

7:52

and all the other things I see in the

7:54

spirit that we won't talk about.

7:56

And I just right now, I pray for inner

7:58

healing right now. And Jesus is

8:00

saying that you would heal her from the

8:02

top of her head all the way through her heart,

8:04

all the way through her toes, that

8:06

she would know peace. She

8:09

would know peace right

8:11

now in Jesus' name. She

8:14

with no peace in Jesus' name. Some of

8:16

you might wanna just stay and minister her,

8:18

that'll be great. Amen.

8:20

Lord, we just prayed tonight too for

8:22

that you would just release revelation

8:24

in the room as we interact.

8:28

Amen. Amen.

8:31

Last

8:36

week, I shared

8:38

a message Out of

8:41

an experience I had, I I wanted to

8:43

share that again and share a few the

8:45

rest of the message, at least what

8:47

I I didn't get to

8:49

share that night, but I'll for those of you

8:51

that weren't there, I'll I'll just pretend like none of

8:53

you were there for this first part

8:55

of it so that you don't wonder

8:58

what the heck I'm talking about. But

9:00

on Tuesday, August thirtieth

9:03

thirtieth, I woke up to an encounter

9:05

early in the morning

9:07

And the Lord said to me, give

9:09

me your ashes.

9:13

Give me your ashes. And

9:22

Alright. Understood.

9:25

that and we'll read description in a

9:27

little bit out of out of

9:29

Isaiah sixty one where

9:31

the Lord says, I create

9:34

beauty out of ashes.

9:36

I I wanna point

9:39

out that the Lord doesn't create

9:41

beauty out of nothing,

9:43

but he creates beauty

9:46

out of ashes. I

9:48

just wanna say that Sometimes

9:51

we spend a lot of time trying to hide our

9:53

ashes. Pretend

9:55

we don't have them. or

9:58

spend our life reacting

9:59

to the

10:01

ashes of yesterday. But

10:04

I am

10:07

had encountered with a young

10:10

mom many years ago. She

10:12

was she came into my office. This is

10:14

when I used to do counseling. So it had to

10:16

be like, at least twenty years

10:18

ago. She came into my

10:20

office and she was really hurting.

10:22

She had four kids. I

10:24

think four or five kids and her

10:26

husband had been killed in a car accident.

10:28

All the kids were a

10:30

little and he had passed, like,

10:32

about three years before. And

10:34

she came in to ask me if I would pray

10:37

and she wanted counsel over a

10:39

certain thing. that wasn't related

10:41

to that at all. And I had I

10:43

had actually never met her before.

10:45

And so she's telling me

10:47

the story But as she's

10:49

telling me the story, I'm

10:51

like, have you ever listened but you're

10:53

not really listening? Not because

10:56

you're not present, but because

10:58

something else is going on in your spirit.

11:00

And I see this woman,

11:02

and she's telling me, like, this

11:04

other, like, a minor issue

11:06

compared to what she's been through. And

11:09

I asked her the question. I said,

11:11

have you ever mourned your husband's

11:13

death? which has nothing to do with what she

11:15

asked for. And she

11:17

looked at me, and I

11:20

said, I just saw you

11:22

with four little kids

11:24

that I just wondered if

11:26

you ever actually had the time to

11:28

mourn. your

11:30

husband's death because you had to be a strength

11:32

for your children. And she

11:36

looked at me and started wailing and

11:38

ended up in my arms. And the

11:40

whole hour session was just her weeping in

11:42

my arms. No words.

11:47

And then she came in again about a week

11:49

or two later. I don't know. It's memory's

11:51

not great for sure. But

11:53

it was soon after again and

11:56

she cried through that whole session. And

11:59

then the third time she

12:01

was getting well, but Jesus said,

12:03

bless her of those who mourn

12:05

for they shall be comforted.

12:09

And III feel

12:11

like for

12:13

me that I remembered that

12:15

that woman, I I

12:19

didn't know if I'd know or if I met

12:21

her now, but remember

12:23

that story, so it had such a huge

12:25

impact on me. And

12:28

when the Lord said to me, give me your

12:30

ashes. I honestly

12:32

haven't recounted that story in fifteen

12:34

years. I haven't thought of that story for

12:36

fifteen years. And then

12:39

I immediately that

12:41

morning, early in the morning, recalled

12:44

that story of that

12:46

young woman who had to be

12:48

strong for her four little children

12:50

and didn't have time to stop to

12:53

mourn. I was thinking

12:55

about how soldiers who lose

12:57

the comrade in the middle of a battlefield

13:00

and the midst of intense battle have no

13:02

time to mourn the loss of their friend.

13:05

because they're in the middle of a fight. And

13:09

all these things were running through my mind when

13:11

the Lord said, give me your ashes.

13:14

And I

13:18

for the last

13:21

year, I have proactively

13:26

externally processed about retiring.

13:30

I I don't need the money

13:33

that I get paid here, Beth will take such

13:35

good care of us, and the Lord

13:37

takes such good care of us.

13:41

And I've been talking about it for

13:43

months, more and more

13:45

intensely in the last

13:47

six months. And I,

13:50

that night when the Lord said, that morning when

13:52

the Lord said, give me your

13:54

ashes. I

13:56

realized that Sometimes

13:58

we do things that help

14:00

relieve the pain

14:03

in our lives.

14:07

And it's

14:10

sometimes we don't realize that

14:13

what we're saying doing

14:15

processing is not

14:17

so much about what we wanna do, but

14:19

it's the way that we think

14:22

this pain could be over quickly.

14:26

And I Sout

14:29

with the Lord, and

14:32

I and the Lord just continued,

14:34

give me You're ashes.

14:40

And I recalled I

14:42

started to recall to my mind some of the

14:44

things that I've experience

14:46

in the last three years, four,

14:48

five years even, that

14:52

we're hard

14:56

I'm I'm

14:56

an old man, so I I've been through

14:58

a lot. I

15:01

grew up

15:03

really

15:04

tough home. And

15:09

probably like anybody who's

15:11

this age, Jesus

15:13

said in the world you have tribulation and I

15:16

certainly have

15:18

had

15:19

a share of it. somebody

15:21

asks, you know, you guys don't teach on suffering.

15:24

I'm like, you don't have to teach on

15:26

suffering. You have to

15:28

teach on hope. because

15:31

you would just live long enough and you

15:33

love long enough and you

15:35

have a big enough circle of people

15:37

around you that you love You're

15:40

like, you're like, well, I haven't been through anything

15:42

hard. You don't If you

15:44

love people and you enough,

15:46

it doesn't have to be you that

15:48

goes through it You know,

15:50

one of one of

15:52

the attributes of love in first Corinthians

15:54

thirteen is love suffers

15:56

long. So, you

15:58

know, when somebody that you love is going through

16:00

something hard, it

16:03

says, if your you know, Jesus said,

16:05

mourn with those who mourn, I don't think you met,

16:07

you know, you walk hospital room, you give it a tear, and

16:09

you walk out, I think that you really when

16:11

you're carrying people,

16:15

When you really love

16:17

people, no one

16:19

has to teach you about suffering. Yeah.

16:21

One of the things the Lord told

16:23

me when one of my family members was suffering,

16:25

he said to me, no one

16:28

should ever suffer alone.

16:31

You know, you probably know this, but a few

16:34

several years ago, Kathy was diagnosed

16:37

with Parkinson's. That

16:39

was very

16:42

hard. Very

16:45

tough. By the way, she's doing

16:47

good. I I should say

16:49

this, you know, like, you know, three weeks

16:51

ago, she went hunting with a bow and

16:53

killed a bear it with a bow in

16:55

our alley. Seventy four yard.

16:57

She is a bad woman.

17:08

killed an out the year before. I

17:10

don't hunt or fish.

17:13

She has a bass boat. And I've said this so many times

17:15

lately, but, you know, if someone breaks into our house, I wake

17:17

her up, like, go down there and check that out.

17:20

I'll call the

17:22

police. And so she's

17:24

not a victim.

17:26

But nevertheless, one

17:30

person that you've spent your life with that

17:32

you love more than anyone

17:34

but Jesus has a

17:37

diagnosis like that. me

17:39

just say, it's not

17:42

something that you take lightly. And

17:45

then, you know, You

17:47

may not know this, but you had a

17:49

COVID-nineteen virus. And,

17:56

you know, I've

17:59

I've led things for a lot of years, but I've

18:01

I've never experienced

18:03

anything like that. I

18:05

mean, the virus itself, of

18:07

course, but I've

18:09

never led in a situation

18:12

where you know, the people

18:14

that you love. Thank

18:17

you. I didn't wear Levi's tonight, so

18:19

I needed this.

18:24

Well, let me just say this. No matter what you

18:26

did, you couldn't keep everyone couldn't keep

18:28

anyone happy. And,

18:30

you know, while we love

18:32

we love our church,

18:35

but half of our churches have mattered

18:37

to us, half the

18:39

time. And they, you know, they swapped

18:41

places. So sometimes they were

18:43

happy and these guys were

18:45

mad, then sometimes we made these guys

18:47

happy and these guys were

18:49

mad. And it was a very

18:52

difficult, very difficult season.

18:54

I remember that our

18:56

governor decided to

18:58

close all schools and

19:00

churches six weeks before we

19:02

graduated two thousand six hundred

19:04

students seventy -- from

19:06

seventy two nations, nine

19:08

sixty seven -- sixty two of them were

19:11

from international -- were

19:13

international's and we had

19:15

no online platform

19:18

and we had four days to

19:21

find one. that was not

19:23

easy. And our students

19:25

were so gracious and

19:27

so kind. They finished school. We

19:29

the graduation was they

19:32

drove through the parking lot as we handed

19:34

them their diploma. Yeah. I

19:36

mean, it's one thing if you come knowing that's

19:38

going to happen. It's another thing

19:40

that if you make this sacrifice, some of our students had been

19:42

here for three years. And

19:44

after three years, they got a hand handed

19:48

diploma. to say

19:50

it was hard,

19:53

is it understatement. And every

19:55

day, the situation changed. And

19:57

we got colors I

20:00

never thought I'd hate to color purple,

20:03

but I think purple

20:05

was when you couldn't do

20:07

anything. And then our school

20:09

went from twenty six hundred to sixteen

20:11

hundred students in thirty days,

20:14

which by the way, if anyone thinks

20:16

anything about finances, that's five point five million

20:19

dollars That's half of

20:21

our income, almost half of our income

20:23

dropped in the school ministry. And,

20:26

you know, this is just like the beginning

20:28

of the fun.

20:33

And on top of that, our

20:35

staff rotated in and out

20:37

with COVID, with

20:39

quarantines that were ten days

20:42

long and I'm fourteen days long at

20:44

first. And

20:46

if you got COVID, you were out, but if

20:48

you were like inside their breathing

20:51

zone, you you were out to. And we

20:53

were literally trying to scrap worship teams

20:55

together and school teams and

20:57

everybody covered everybody. If you were

20:59

healthy, you're pretty much led.

21:01

If you weren't, it

21:04

was crazy. And the mist

21:06

of that, I got COVID for us.

21:09

six weeks and was sick for nine

21:11

days in bed, got out of bed just

21:13

in time to do my grandson's wedding. It

21:16

wasn't easy. And, you know, it's hard

21:18

to make the right decisions

21:21

when you don't know what's

21:23

what's gonna change tomorrow.

21:26

And we spent twenty two years building

21:28

a relationship with our city, and I was concerned

21:30

about our congregation, but

21:32

our influence is greater than our

21:35

congregation. and I wanted to make sure that

21:37

we honored our city

21:40

officials in the relationships that we had built

21:42

for years and years and years and not

21:44

destroy them in a year of

21:46

virus, but you couldn't

21:48

make anybody happy. And we

21:50

were in the midst of that and then the social

21:52

justice things began. and

21:55

that was very difficult. And we had

21:57

thirty seven black people

21:59

on our staff. I say black and not

22:01

African American because many of them were not

22:03

and Americans, but they were black. And

22:06

many of them couldn't come out of their homes. We

22:08

had we had staff that were

22:10

so so traumatized by

22:13

that event that happened

22:15

when the police officer killed that

22:18

that man that they literally could

22:20

not come out of their homes. And

22:23

then we get to do that while

22:25

we're doing COVID while

22:27

we're trying to make sure that we have our

22:30

staff paid, while we're

22:32

trying to defend

22:34

ourselves from the city that we love. We've

22:37

loved. So well. And

22:40

about a year and

22:42

a half into that, Eric and Kenneth announced

22:44

that they were leaving.

22:47

And of course, that's that

22:50

was hard. The timing was

22:52

very hard. And obviously,

22:54

Bill was grieving. and

22:57

the week that they were supposed to leave, Benny

22:59

was diagnosed with four stage cancer,

23:02

the week they were leaving.

23:05

So and

23:07

then obviously eighteen months later, we

23:10

she goes home to be with the Lord.

23:14

And then we decided to build a hundred million

23:16

dollar building in the middle of it just in case there's

23:18

not enough to do, not

23:20

enough things to believe

23:22

for. And

23:25

that's, you know, by the

23:27

way, if none of that happened, this is already a

23:29

pretty stressful job. You

23:32

might not think this is, but this is kind

23:34

of a stressful job. And

23:37

if anytime, you know, you

23:40

you You have to

23:42

have the grace of god to

23:44

stay in a place like this.

23:46

No, not because of the people, just

23:48

because there's a lot everybody thinks

23:50

they know what you should be doing.

23:53

And when you have a

23:55

job that, you know, I don't

23:57

know if seventy five or eighty people trying to

23:59

get to you in a day and you can do

24:01

fifteen of them, you always lay your head

24:03

on

24:04

the bed. knowing

24:06

that more people who there

24:08

was more people that needed touch

24:10

than you could possibly

24:13

touch. unless you

24:15

were God himself. And

24:18

that's just the normal of our

24:20

job. That's not that's without a pandemic,

24:23

without racial attention. Oh, by the way,

24:25

in the middle of that, it started to give this

24:27

great, prophetic word. Donald

24:30

Trump. Let's not

24:32

forget that. That was

24:35

really one of the joys of my life right

24:37

there. So

24:41

I'm not saying any of this so you all

24:44

feel sorry for me, but

24:46

just to know that

24:48

I have ashes too.

24:57

Ana.

25:00

John Maxwell made a statement. He said, when leaders

25:03

lack confidence, the people

25:05

that commitment. and

25:07

I realized like that woman,

25:09

that young mother with

25:11

four children in

25:14

my office more than twenty years

25:16

ago, I realized

25:19

that I didn't have time in the

25:21

morning.

25:22

Yeah. We

25:28

were carrying a

25:31

whole movement.

25:33

We didn't

25:35

have time to be weak.

25:40

but something happens in

25:43

you when you don't

25:45

mourn because

25:47

Jesus said, blessed are those who

25:49

mourn? for they shall be

25:52

comfort. Morning is

25:54

the natural ecosystem

25:57

of comfort our little children know,

25:59

you know, all those we have two

26:02

two young ones. Right? Not three young ones, but two

26:04

that are just lived down the street.

26:07

my my granddaughter, Eddy, can

26:09

be crying one second, and

26:11

then she's good. Like,

26:14

she's in a full meltdown over

26:17

she didn't get the kandi or

26:21

whatever it was. She wanted and

26:23

literally two minutes later, she's

26:25

warned and she's good. On

26:28

our kids, you know, we used to shut them down

26:30

and say, I'll give you something to cry

26:32

about. Come over here. Stop crying.

26:35

Not realizing that

26:37

when we shut people

26:39

down, they don't they don't

26:41

understand like, there's just the natural process

26:44

that I weap and then I

26:46

I'm warned and then I'm comforted.

26:49

But sometimes we get

26:52

situations where maybe

26:55

maybe this is you. But

26:58

where you just don't have the

27:00

privilege of mourning because

27:03

of

27:04

The responsibility

27:07

that you carry.

27:12

And that

27:15

day, that morning, the Lord

27:17

said, bring me urashes. And

27:23

and to be honest, at first, I was kinda

27:25

like, here's a few. The

27:28

Lord's like bring me your ashes.

27:30

And I began to

27:32

bring him my

27:35

ash heap I'm like, Lord, don't

27:37

have ashes. I have the ash heap.

27:39

I have all these things.

27:44

that are back here that I haven't

27:46

had time to even think about

27:48

because these people are my responsibility,

27:50

not just mine alone. there

27:53

are our responsibility, all our leaders.

27:56

And I felt

27:59

like the Lord said to

28:01

me,

28:02

I make beauty,

28:07

but it's out of ashes. And

28:09

if you don't give me your ashes, I can't make

28:12

it beautiful.

28:15

And so I began to give the Lord

28:17

my ashes and I realized that

28:20

my conversations about

28:23

retiring were not because I didn't

28:25

think I wasn't supposed to be here anymore,

28:27

but because it

28:29

made me feel comfortable thinking I could

28:31

get out of this pretty quickly.

28:33

And I was

28:36

thinking that I was

28:38

thinking about maybe you do the

28:40

same. Maybe your conversation

28:43

isn't about isn't something the Lord's

28:45

asking you to do, but it's the way you comfort

28:47

yourself because you've never stopped long enough

28:49

to actually give the Lord your

28:51

ashes. when we start these

28:53

conversations, like, maybe

28:56

you threatened for divorce, not because you want

28:58

a divorce because but just the

29:01

fantasy of not being in this hard

29:03

marriage gives you peace even though you

29:05

don't ever plan on leaving. Maybe

29:08

it's your job. You're like, I'm just

29:10

gonna quit this job, but in fact, you know

29:12

God's called you there. And maybe you have

29:14

no intention of quitting, but it's the

29:16

the way you're relieving the pressure. Like, I

29:19

could just leave this job and

29:21

then I could

29:23

fantasize about not being here. I

29:25

have con to confess that I've

29:28

I have done that very thing.

29:31

I fantasize what it would be like, I had

29:33

two weeks off no,

29:35

a month ago. First

29:38

time I've had off in a while and actually

29:40

worked probably four days of it

29:42

just because of where we're at

29:44

right now. But I would

29:46

just went up, we had a little farm. I went up to a

29:48

farm, and I would just lay it on the couch and I'm like,

29:50

oh, gosh.

29:52

Nobody even knows here except for the people who took pictures of

29:54

me at the wedding.

29:59

Funny story. had

30:02

to be there and

30:05

just begin to fantasize what it would be like

30:07

to have no responsibility Chris,

30:09

then I said to myself, then you'd have no

30:12

significance. And then what would you be doing?

30:14

I'm trying to get a job as a janitor at

30:16

Bethel. That's what you'd be

30:18

doing. Before

30:25

we go on, I've done -- we've did

30:27

this in four services last

30:29

week, but I feel again to do it

30:31

if you have ashes that

30:34

you've

30:34

been carrying Maybe

30:37

you'd like to

30:37

stand up and get

30:40

healed.

30:44

Don't stand because anyone else stands. It's just a bad plan

30:46

to do it out of

30:48

wanting to look like somebody

30:51

else. I know that pressure so

30:53

well. just do it. Just

30:55

stand if the Lord's talking to

30:58

you like he is me. And

31:00

maybe you've got those behavior

31:02

things going on like I do. talking,

31:05

you're externally processing, you're trying

31:07

to relieve the pressure. And

31:10

maybe

31:10

you have no intention of leaving that marriage

31:12

or doing that thing you're talking about, but it

31:14

just it's just the way you relieve

31:17

pressure from the ashes

31:18

you're carrying. I'd

31:22

like you just to

31:24

close your

31:25

eyes. I I don't think there's anything

31:27

spiritual about closing your eyes.

31:29

just helps us to imagine sometimes. And I'd like to

31:32

just take take your hands and cup them in

31:34

front of you. And would

31:36

you just Would you

31:38

just

31:38

imagine your ashes?

31:41

I told

31:41

you what mine are.

31:44

Would you just imagine

31:46

your ashes right

31:49

now?

31:49

Things you carrying

31:51

that are They're

31:54

actually affecting

31:56

you. Maybe you

31:58

don't even know it, but they're affecting

32:01

you. And I

32:02

want you to imagine that Jesus is standing

32:04

right in front of you.

32:07

And

32:08

he's saying when he said to me

32:11

that morning, give me those

32:14

ashes.

32:14

Give them to me.

32:16

And I want you to make

32:18

a gesture right now, and I want you just to hand

32:21

Jesus your ashes right now. And I want you to

32:23

say Jesus, these

32:25

are the ashes I know about. If

32:28

there's others, You

32:30

can have them too.

32:33

And Lord I ask you to

32:35

take something beautiful the

32:38

broken part of my life.

32:40

I pray for your

32:43

grace to heal my heart Give

32:46

me hope, and

32:48

Lord, and restore these

32:51

broken things. in my

32:53

life. I have no

32:55

power to fix these

32:57

things. And Lord,

32:59

I know that this prior

33:01

season has

33:03

really weighed on my soul.

33:05

And, Lord, I

33:08

feel so deeply

33:10

that I need you to restore my soul

33:13

so that I could live

33:15

without pain. live

33:17

full of hope and no

33:20

longer live my life reacting.

33:23

to this former season. And

33:26

I thank you god right

33:29

now. I trust you. that

33:31

over the next days,

33:33

that you'll begin to heal me,

33:36

heal my soul, heal my

33:39

relationships and give me

33:41

faith that you're in

33:44

the mist. of

33:46

this crummy season that

33:48

I'm coming out of

33:50

in Jesus' name. Amen.

33:52

That's a good word. You can sit down.

33:59

I'm gonna read you the

34:02

scripture that I just talked about just a

34:04

minute ago, then we're gonna move on.

34:06

Isaiah sixty one, You know, when I

34:08

got saved, the Lord gave me the

34:10

scripture, the first year I got saved. I know he

34:12

may have gave it to you, but I'm older so

34:14

then I got

34:16

it first. two of my

34:18

grandkids have the scripture

34:20

tattooed on their arms. I have no

34:22

tattoos. I don't think that's a

34:24

great plan. but they do. And they

34:26

have a tattooed on there because they this

34:28

is my scripture. The spirit of the

34:30

Lord God is upon me for the Lord has

34:32

anointed me.

34:34

to

34:34

preach the good news to be afflicted. He has sent me to

34:36

bind up the

34:37

broken heart to pray proclaim liberty to

34:39

captives and freedom to

34:42

prisoners the favorable year of the Lord, the day of vengeance of our God,

34:44

and to comfort all those who mourn,

34:46

to grant them, who mourned and

34:48

Zion, given them a garland.

34:50

the garland instead

34:52

of ashes, the oil of

34:54

gladness, instead of mourning, the

34:56

mantle of praise, instead of

34:59

the spirit of fainting, so

35:01

that they would be called oaks of rice, just the planting of the

35:03

Lord that he'd be glorified. So

35:06

that's just

35:06

a good word. I I know tell

35:09

you the story The Lord has I

35:11

don't know why people think couples

35:13

weird, you know. I mean,

35:15

maybe Bill, I don't

35:17

I don't know. But

35:20

the Lord has spoke to us for

35:22

years. Feel

35:24

like we have our own like language. You know, like

35:26

tribes have their own language?

35:28

Like, usually, you're you're talking about, like, the of English

35:30

or Spanish or some some

35:33

language. But I feel like

35:35

the Lord gives different tribes

35:37

like different ways of hearing god.

35:40

And from the very beginning, since

35:42

since I've been

35:44

here, we Our language has

35:46

been birds. Okay. Here we

35:48

go. I know. I preached a

35:50

message about three months ago. Bethel's gone

35:52

to the birds, and I've told these So

35:54

I'll I'll tell them briefly. But years

35:56

ago, Bob Jones came here. It was in

35:58

nineteen ninety nine, I believe. he

36:01

came here and he said that he saw three

36:03

Eagles Nest in America and that we were

36:05

an Eagles Nest and that we would raise

36:07

up prophets and prophetesses and that

36:09

we were we were the governmental there's three Eagles

36:11

Nest and Beth Redding was one of

36:14

them and that Redding was the

36:16

governmental Nick Eagles Nest and we'd

36:18

raised up Eagles and eagles that would actually go into

36:20

government and they would influence

36:22

the governmental world. And

36:24

so for a long time, we talked about being

36:26

eagles and

36:28

obviously, we started school of prophets because of that prophetic word, which we've

36:30

been doing for seventeen years. And we

36:33

literally have raised up hundreds and

36:35

hundreds of prophets and prophets

36:38

And and then one day, the Lord gave me a

36:40

prophetic word personally. And he said, we're move

36:43

you're moving the the mascot for Bethel is

36:45

moving from Eagles to

36:48

owls And I'm like, okay, the Lord said to

36:50

me that owls can see in

36:52

the night. They're nocturnal. like

36:56

owls were created for them dark. And the

36:58

Lord said, I'm gonna take this movement

37:01

into the darkest places of

37:03

the planet. But I'm making you

37:06

like owls where you can see through

37:08

the darkness. Yeah. And you're

37:10

wise like

37:12

an owl. and owls also kill

37:14

snakes. And here's

37:17

my favorite one.

37:20

owls know Who's who?

37:28

I think that part was the lord also.

37:31

And we begin to have an Al hoot hooting

37:33

outside of our house

37:37

And so I first time I ever shared

37:39

that publicly was at

37:41

school of

37:44

worship. And I was in the podium when I was sharing this story. I just

37:46

had the counter, like, a week or two before.

37:48

And Jen Johnson ran up

37:50

to the podium as I finished, says,

37:53

only she can do. So so

37:56

relaxed and mellow.

37:57

It's not gen at all. It's

38:00

totally

38:00

exuberant, and she said, When

38:02

I got done saying that, she said, that

38:04

day or the day before one of the worship

38:06

leaders who was leading worship at

38:09

school of worship was coming to school to

38:11

the school and a little baby Al was on

38:14

the road as I think he lived

38:16

on a gravel road and

38:18

it just and and he beeped at it and it wouldn't move. So he picked it up, he

38:20

took it home with him. That

38:22

day. I think it was that day or the

38:24

day before. And

38:27

so we just had this whole thing about owls and then we had

38:29

a road runner. I don't know

38:31

why people think we're a cult. I don't get

38:33

it at all. And

38:36

we had a road runner that would

38:39

come to the prayer room

38:41

every time we prayed with a

38:43

lizard in his mouth, I

38:45

I know you can't make these stories

38:47

up. Literally every

38:50

time we prayed. As a matter of fact,

38:52

we started praying towards

38:54

the window And if you had a

38:56

prayer meeting where the where the roadrunner wasn't there, you're like, oh my lord, I don't think the spirit

38:59

is here. But

39:01

he eventually show up. had

39:03

a lizard in his mouth, and then that went on

39:05

for, I don't know, eight months or something.

39:07

It wasn't like a week. It was

39:09

months and months. And he were always talking about it. You see the

39:11

roadrunner day? Yeah. You know, lizard in his mouth. One time he came

39:14

without a lizard. We were like

39:16

unsuccessful kill. And

39:18

and then he got in the he got in

39:20

in those double doors when one of the

39:22

janitors, one of the maintenance people were cleaning.

39:24

He got in the double doors, got disoriented,

39:27

try to fly out, hit the window, and

39:30

die. Yeah. Bill tried to raise him from

39:32

the dead. But

39:35

let me say that roadrunner got a noble funeral. I'll tell

39:37

you that. And

39:40

the Lord

39:42

told us, we asked the Lord, what did it what did it because was months

39:44

of a roadrunner, then he died inside

39:46

and the Lord said to us that

39:48

our movement is becoming ingrown. And if it

39:50

doesn't get out of

39:52

this house, if this movement doesn't get out of this house and

39:54

into the streets in the highways and

39:56

byways that it was our movement was going

39:58

to die. And

40:00

that very month, we took over a ministry called frontline ministries, which

40:02

we still have the teams that were reaching

40:04

out in the streets, and that ministry

40:08

was going broken. So we

40:10

took them over that very much. We made that

40:12

decision because of the roadrunner

40:14

thing. And then about a

40:16

year ago

40:18

I looked out my bedroom I mean, my

40:20

kitchen window and there was a peacock

40:22

out there. Yeah. Now

40:24

Kathy thought it was a turkey.

40:26

Big Hunter lady, you know, she should know. I

40:30

no. No. I know. She's she's saying,

40:32

I didn't see it, but

40:35

I said, I saw a peacock this morning, you know, and it went

40:37

like that. And

40:40

it's like, you know what I'm saying?

40:42

Did that thing? It's

40:45

it's like that. And she's

40:47

like, that's not a she she didn't see it.

40:49

She said, oh, that's not a peacock. It's a turkey.

40:51

I said, that that's a

40:54

freaking peacock. So we went around and

40:56

around and I'm like, it's a peacock and

40:58

I saw it several times.

41:00

And then my neighbor came over after I

41:02

preached it

41:04

on Sunday morning. He said it was a peacock. And he's like,

41:06

yeah, our neighbors have peacocks and one got out of

41:08

the cage and was in his yard. I'm like, see, that was

41:12

a peacock. I'm right. A

41:14

lot more than she thinks I am.

41:16

I wanna tell you that. And I

41:18

was in Thursday morning right

41:22

after I saw it, it was in

41:24

Thursday morning staff meeting with with the

41:27

school, and I was telling about

41:29

I saw this peacock And

41:31

when I saw his peacock do that thing with

41:34

it has, you know, eyes on its

41:36

wings, asked the Lord

41:38

when it met, he said, I'm about to show off in

41:40

glory. that the

41:42

next move of God will be in glory.

41:44

But the glory of the Lord,

41:46

the the knowledge of the glory

41:48

of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover

41:50

the sea. And when I was sharing that story,

41:52

one of our team said, it was Leslie.

41:54

She said, I preached about the peacock last

41:57

week in school ministry. and

41:59

somebody else said, well, I was here on

42:01

Saturday for the and at the

42:03

prayer rooms, which, you know, there's hundreds of people

42:05

at the prayer rooms. and there was a

42:07

little boy, little, I don't know, young

42:10

boy dancing right there on

42:12

stage and a peacock feather fell from

42:14

the the sky,

42:16

big one. and landed on the ground and they go,

42:18

wow, how that happened? So they went

42:20

back and ran it on on they

42:23

had filmed it. They had film. They

42:25

were filming the whole thing. And they looked back and the peacock feather didn't fall from the

42:28

sky. It appeared in the middle of the

42:30

room and

42:32

fell. And what no one noticed

42:34

was over here, this gal was artist

42:37

was painting a peacock. better

42:40

than the Trump word. I gotta tell you that right there.

42:50

And we and we

42:51

believe that the lord is Isaiah

42:54

sixty, you know, arise

42:56

and shine for your

42:56

lightest come. The glory of the Lord upon

43:00

you, and we believe that this is a season of glory. But

43:02

we've had this

43:03

other thing happen lately.

43:08

and it's up upstairs where we

43:10

often meet and pray.

43:12

A little bird comes. And

43:14

I I thought it's the only one

43:16

who saw it comes to the same window.

43:18

And it's this little brown,

43:20

like, you know, it's not a beautiful

43:22

bird. It's just a bird.

43:25

And I

43:25

went up there and I saw it and was sitting

43:27

on the window seat. Okay. More of flu in the window seat.

43:29

I'm like, that's kinda cool. And I happen to be up

43:31

there a couple days later, and I I looked out

43:33

the window. And just as I looked out, it came in flew and

43:36

landed on the window of steel and I went, oh, it's kinda

43:38

cool. And then I started doing that.

43:40

Like, how probably up there fifteen times and every time it flew and came in the

43:42

windowsill and I'm like, what is

43:44

that? So I said to

43:45

Ben, Ben Armstrong, you know, he's

43:47

like a animal lover person. I

43:49

said, what is that? He said, oh, it's a bird.

43:51

I'm like,

43:53

kind of bird

43:55

is it? He said,

43:57

that's a cardinal. It's a

43:59

cardinal bird. And

44:01

most cardinals are red, but I guess

44:03

the males are red and

44:05

the

44:05

females are

44:07

brown. And

44:07

I was like, oh, that's really cool.

44:10

And then Bill said, yeah, I saw

44:12

that cardinal. He comes in there every

44:14

time I pray. I

44:16

thought it was my

44:18

personal, you know, like, Elijah had the

44:20

Ravens. I'm like, I got me a brown cardinal

44:22

that

44:24

shows up. Anyway, it's

44:28

been doing it. It's it's still does it. It's been

44:30

doing it for months and I I

44:32

looked up the word cardinal and it

44:34

means hinge like a door hinge.

44:36

And it speaks of This

44:38

is what it says. It speaks of

44:40

it represents a shift in seasons And

44:44

it means to be blessed and favored, and

44:47

it also means a gate,

44:49

a door between heaven and open,

44:51

heaven and earth have open.

44:54

And so I just really believe,

44:56

you know, let me say let

44:58

me say this way. You know, when

45:00

the Lord shows up with a peacock,

45:04

It's kinda hard to miss. Or an

45:06

owl, you know, like big. You

45:08

know, I I think like big birds

45:11

for big seasons.

45:14

But then I was reminded

45:16

i was reminded that Elijah

45:19

had this experience

45:22

where the Lord wasn't in the

45:24

fire. He wasn't in the wind. He

45:28

wasn't in

45:30

the earthquake. And sometimes

45:33

the lord is in

45:35

a little burn. It's a metaphor. Are

45:37

you with me? Sometimes the

45:39

lord is in a little bird.

45:42

Sometimes the Lord

45:44

is in a voice. so

45:48

small.

45:48

small

45:49

And if you

45:53

don't listen closely, You'll

45:55

miss it. And I'd like

45:58

to point out that the most profound

46:00

words aren't carried by the biggest

46:04

birds. When

46:08

Elijah

46:08

was praying for rain, you'll remember it

46:10

hadn't rained in three and a half years

46:13

so bad that cat cat catabolism was

46:15

happening all throughout Israel. And he

46:17

went and prayed. And you

46:20

remember six times he had to serve and

46:22

go look.

46:23

marine. Was there a cloud?

46:25

No cloud. No cloud. No cloud six

46:27

times. No cloud. And

46:29

the seventh time he has

46:31

servant, go look and this servant came back and I'm sure the servant

46:33

was trying to be encouraging. And he

46:36

goes, I'll see a

46:38

cloud size of

46:40

a man's hand. And

46:42

Elijah said, go and

46:44

run until Ahab.

46:46

and he begins to run and he outruns ahab's chariot

46:48

and it begins to pour. My

46:52

point is I'm asking you

46:54

this question. See, sometimes the

46:56

Lord speaks to us in a way that

46:58

only the humble and hungry can

47:00

hear it.

47:01

And I to say two things that

47:03

are really super powerful to me,

47:05

but maybe hard to

47:07

communicate to you. I feel like

47:09

humility is the way forward, and I feel

47:12

like humility requires us

47:16

to look to look

47:18

closely closely to

47:22

listen

47:23

intently.

47:27

Sometimes it's

47:28

just the

47:31

little bird. Can

47:32

you hear

47:34

it? Sometimes everybody

47:36

else, you know, you get

47:38

I don't think this is a bad thing,

47:40

but sometimes we get We're

47:43

used to the big bird. It's a it's

47:45

a metaphor now. The

47:48

eagle, the

47:50

road runner that isn't Even

47:52

the it's not

47:54

even native to our area.

47:58

The owl, I mean,

48:00

something big

48:02

And the Lord's like, if you're

48:05

not careful, you'll

48:09

miss The powerful

48:10

thing I'm doing,

48:12

that's a little. It's

48:16

announced with a

48:18

little bird. And I believe

48:19

that we're in a

48:21

henge season. That

48:23

the Lord is

48:25

closing one door. Thank

48:29

god. And Jesus and the

48:31

Holy Spirit.

48:34

And he's

48:36

opening another. He's

48:38

closing one door and

48:41

he's opening

48:42

opening another.

48:46

I

48:46

I wanna reach you this eight Romans

48:48

eight thirty one. Are you guys okay?

48:50

I know this is like simple, but

48:52

I'm just trying to tell you what I feel Lord's

48:54

saying for the season. Eight thirty one,

48:56

then what shall we say then to

48:58

these things? If God is

49:01

for us, than who can be against us. He who

49:03

did not spare his own son that gave him up

49:05

for us all, how he not also

49:08

with him graciously give us

49:10

all things. and who can

49:12

bring any charge against

49:14

God's elect? Is God who

49:16

justifies? Who is he

49:18

who condemns? Jesus Christ is the one who

49:21

died, and more than that, who was

49:23

raised, and who is the right hand

49:25

of God who indeed interseeds for

49:27

us. and who shall separate us from the

49:29

love of Christ, shall tribulation

49:31

of distress, persecution or

49:34

famine or nakedness or

49:36

danger or sword. As it is

49:38

written for your sake,

49:40

we have been killed all day long.

49:42

We are

49:42

regarded as sheep to slaughter. No.

49:45

In all these things, we are more

49:47

than conquerors. Can you just say

49:50

more than

49:52

conquerors? through him who loved us. For I'm sure that neither

49:54

death or life nor angels nor

49:56

rulers nor things present nor things

49:59

to come nor powers nor

50:01

hide or death nor

50:03

anything else. No

50:05

any

50:06

anything else. in

50:09

all creation. I so messed that

50:12

up. We'll be able to separate us from the

50:14

love of God that is in Christ Jesus. I I

50:16

just wanna point out a few things before

50:18

I finish. The one thing is if more than a it means that are things

50:20

you're supposed to conquer.

50:22

And I I just like to

50:23

point out in in all of these

50:25

things that I share tonight, that

50:27

we were actually born to conquer

50:30

things. Like, it's in our

50:32

DNA to rise above

50:34

hard times. Like, we were

50:36

actually built for this. Like, we are not

50:38

victims. We are victims.

50:40

Like, we have an ecosystem in

50:42

which we deal with our ash and

50:44

what we should have all done, and I'm I'm the foremost of all, what

50:47

we should have all done is taken

50:49

our ashes daily and give and

50:51

give them to the Lord. so

50:53

that we don't have an ash heap that

50:55

we're underneath and that's

50:58

covering everything we do and we begin to speak

51:00

out of our ash heap, I'm speaking

51:02

of me, that we began to talk out of our ash heap, we began to think out of

51:04

our ash sheet because we are

51:06

supposed to be bringing our ashes to the Lord

51:08

every day. not

51:10

pretend we don't have them, not pretend like

51:12

we can do this. We got it because

51:14

God God fertilizes our

51:17

destiny with our crap. He

51:27

literally uses our crap to fertilize our

51:29

destiny. And so, you know, somebody I love this quote.

51:31

The brave man may not live

51:34

forever, but the cautious don't live

51:36

at all. And

51:38

I I just really believe that the Lord wants

51:40

to shift the season and he wants us

51:42

to come with with hope

51:45

and with courage to this next

51:48

season. Not dragging along.

51:50

Like, you know, I've got PTSD

51:52

from the last season and I'm afraid something

51:54

bad is gonna happen. And I wanna point

51:56

out that it is the fear of something

51:58

else happens that act that something else

51:59

is gonna happen, that actually attracts

52:02

the thing that that you you live in this ecosystem of

52:04

faith and faith

52:07

negative or

52:08

positive Right? Negative

52:10

or positive. Actually works forrester

52:12

against us. Job, let me see.

52:14

I know I have the scripture here. Job said

52:16

this. I hope I have it. Job

52:20

said, the thing that I

52:22

feared came upon me.

52:24

The thing that I feared

52:26

came upon me. Sorry. the scripture isn't

52:29

there, but it's actually there. You just gotta go find it. The thing

52:31

that I feared came upon me and what I'm

52:33

getting at is that fear is faith

52:35

in the wrong kingdom. when

52:37

we fear, and I've shared this so many

52:40

times, you know, it feels redundant.

52:42

But, you know, if if a little boy comes

52:44

up and says, I'm gonna beat

52:46

you up, I'm not afraid because I don't believe

52:48

him. If some big guy comes up says, I'm

52:50

gonna beat you up. I have anxiety. Why? because I

52:52

believe him. What I'm getting at is you can't have

52:54

fear without

52:56

faith. Because fear is faith, but it's in the

52:58

wrong kingdom. And what I'm getting at

53:00

is that part of the side effects of

53:03

carrying our ashes into each

53:05

season is that we begin to anticipate, get me,

53:08

anticipate is a fruit

53:10

of faith. We

53:12

began to anticipate something else is going to happen. I

53:15

remember in the middle of we

53:17

just we we're

53:20

in COVID And then we had Black Lives Matter and all of that to

53:22

navigate that well with nobility. And

53:24

I just remember saying to Kathy, what else

53:26

could happen? Then I thought, don't ask,

53:29

because something else will. And and

53:31

I I feel like in my own

53:33

life, I feel like that I was

53:36

attracting more

53:38

crap because I'd wake up with this foreboding spirit,

53:40

foreboding means an impending sense of

53:42

doom. And I began to anticipate

53:44

that something else was gonna happen

53:47

And sure enough, something else would happen. And

53:49

I I'm not saying that if I didn't think

53:51

of if I didn't have a foreburden

53:53

spirit, nothing would happen I'm just

53:55

pointing out that I'm actually feeding my fears

53:57

with

53:57

my faith.

54:01

Alright. Am I making any sense to anyone

54:04

else? And I'm like, we

54:06

one of the worst things that happens

54:08

when when we go through a crisis

54:10

is not the crisis, but the attitude

54:12

and the anticipation that it creates for

54:15

tomorrow, that pretty soon we're

54:17

we're looking at tomorrow through

54:20

the ash sheep of last of the last season and

54:22

wondering why this the season

54:24

that we went through becomes a

54:28

lifestyle. Oh,

54:28

okay. Let me say it differently. Remember,

54:30

Psalm's twenty three, probably most people in here

54:33

almost have that memorized. The Lord

54:35

is my shepherd. Right? It

54:38

makes me lie down and greet passengers. He leaves you by Still Waters, restores

54:40

my soul. And I memorized this in

54:42

King James. And King James that

54:45

says, Yay. Though I walk through the belly of death, we know

54:47

that's not a good translation because

54:49

nobody freaking says

54:52

Yay. when you're going

54:54

to the value shadow of death unless you're idiot.

54:56

But he says, lie down.

55:00

sits by, still waters lie down the green pastures, but when

55:02

he gets to the valley of the

55:04

shadow, he says, when I walk, through

55:08

the belly of the shower. And my point is, is that you can't avoid

55:11

tribulation, but you certainly can make

55:13

a lifestyle out of it. You

55:16

make a

55:16

lifestyle out of tribulation by doing what you

55:18

did in the last season. I sat by the Still

55:20

Waters. I was, you know, in the

55:24

green and then I decide to camp and build a

55:26

home in the Valley's

55:28

shadow

55:28

of death. And I'm like, no, no, keep

55:30

going. Keep going.

55:32

Are you with me? And did you

55:34

ever notice that the next scene is that

55:36

he sets the table before me?

55:39

Did you get that? What's the rest of that

55:41

verse though? In the

55:42

presence of my enemies? And

55:45

what I'm

55:45

getting at

55:48

is that If

55:48

you are demon conscious, you

55:50

can't even have a meal

55:52

with the Lord in

55:55

peace. because you

55:57

see who's watching you. And I'm saying it's an honor

55:59

to

55:59

have him

56:02

the devil. be

56:03

a guest at your kitchen table while you

56:05

sit at the Lord, that you while

56:07

you feast with the Lord, I I said that

56:09

wrong. But what I'm getting at is

56:11

Have you ever been in

56:14

a season where you're demon

56:17

conscious? Yes.

56:18

I have. There's a demon under every

56:20

rock. I remember I got delivered

56:22

three and a half years

56:24

of torment. I finally got delivered

56:27

And after I got delivered from demonic spirit, I mean,

56:29

I actually had a deliverance, you know, you were

56:31

a Christian and you possessed by demons, and I

56:34

wasn't possessed by demons, but I

56:36

was oppressed. Well, that wouldn't be me.

56:38

Well, why do you have armor if you're not in the battle?

56:40

I don't know. Christians

56:42

say stupid things. Devil Double

56:46

can't attack me. Well, maybe you're not doing anything attackable. I

56:54

know. I see Christians all the time, spiritually in swing suits. Like,

56:57

I'm doing good. Wait. You're not doing anything worth

57:00

resisting.

57:03

I live

57:03

in peace. You live in peace because you

57:06

carry no responsibility.

57:08

Devil don't wanna

57:09

mess with you because he he

57:11

might actually get upset and do

57:13

something. I love Bill's point. You said, if you don't run into a demon once in

57:15

a while, you might be going the

57:18

same way.

57:22

But

57:27

when I've pointed

57:29

out, when I'm sometimes When

57:31

you get free, then you think everything's a

57:34

demon. I have a bad

57:35

relationship with that person. I say,

57:37

the demon's God here. My

57:40

wife's mad because I didn't pick up my underwear and he just got evil spirits

57:44

on her.

57:48

Everything's a demon. There's a demon under every rocks. Like, how about thought?

57:52

Do Those

57:54

Christians, they're like, they're always running fun.

57:58

pray for me bro. Pray

58:00

for me. What's wrong? The devil's after

58:02

me. I'm like, something wrong with this

58:04

role. He was defeated on the cross.

58:06

He has

58:08

no authority. You

58:11

have all authority, and somehow

58:13

you will pray to him. You know

58:15

the only reason that the lord put the devil on you on the planet

58:17

at the same at the same time in the same

58:19

place is not for him to

58:22

torment you. for you to torment him before he gets thrown in the lake

58:24

of fire.

58:29

I'm

58:32

just pointing out that you were born for

58:34

battle, you were born to win, you were born to

58:36

be a Victor, not a victim.

58:38

And I just told you that I ended up in the ashkeep. And I'm

58:40

saying, we end up in ashkeeps and we

58:42

don't more and give the Lord our

58:44

ashes as we go

58:46

through things. and we go wait

58:48

three years like me and I'm like, here's my

58:50

ashes, but I I gotta back a dump

58:52

truck up and go, here's my

58:54

oh, you wanted my ashes. Hang on. I'll be

58:56

back. and collected them out there and asked you.

58:58

You know, you get

58:59

to a place, you wonder how

59:02

you

59:02

even survived, carrying all that crap

59:04

around. But

59:07

I'm telling you, you should see the garden. I'm growing

59:10

now. I

59:16

mean, I got enough that I are you a manure I could

59:19

plant a forest?

59:24

By the way, that was Job three thirty five,

59:26

the scripture I was supposed to tell you about. First Corinthians

59:28

nine twenty four, are you guys okay?

59:30

First Corinthians nine twenty four,

59:34

Do you not know that all those who run-in race all run,

59:37

but only one receives a

59:39

prize, run-in such a way that you

59:41

may win? I wanna point out we

59:43

are not training to be runners. We're training to

59:45

be

59:46

winners. We're not

59:48

training

59:48

to be runners. We're training to be winners.

59:51

I'm supposed to run-in a way that I beat

59:54

you. It's Michael.

59:56

During

59:58

my race, can be second, but I'm gonna be first.

1:00:01

I'm training to be first. That's supposed to be

1:00:03

funnier than it came out.

1:00:06

But anyway,

1:00:08

You know, sometimes we do things that

1:00:11

are necessary in

1:00:14

hard times. they're

1:00:16

actually giving birth to the next

1:00:18

season. And sometimes what we think here

1:00:20

is ashes, God thinks, is the

1:00:22

sperm for the

1:00:24

next season. is the impetus for the next

1:00:26

season. I was thinking

1:00:28

about story. I like Elon Musk, by the

1:00:30

way, don't send me any nasty now.

1:00:32

I don't

1:00:34

I truly don't wanna hear it. I truly don't wanna hear it.

1:00:36

I've heard all all of it already.

1:00:38

But I I love you and Musk.

1:00:42

I I'm praying, obviously, for Jesus

1:00:46

encounter. But IIII

1:00:48

love him. I love leadership and III

1:00:51

love his brain. I love that he has

1:00:54

one. I love people

1:00:56

who think out of the box. I've

1:00:58

been spent the last twenty years trying to get Christians to think like, whoa.

1:01:02

And, you know,

1:01:02

and they keep like,

1:01:04

is that in the bible?

1:01:07

It's

1:01:09

not not

1:01:13

in the bible. air conditioning news in

1:01:15

the bible, but you seem to turn it on and enjoy

1:01:18

it. Alright? the

1:01:22

way people have this weirdly, really weird way they relate to the kingdom

1:01:25

like. So on the Bible, I

1:01:27

don't believe it. k.

1:01:29

I hope you don't use a

1:01:32

hairdryer or an oven

1:01:34

or electricity.

1:01:37

But I was

1:01:40

watching did I say this? I was watching

1:01:42

the interview with Elon Musk

1:01:44

and he was the interviewer was saying, I

1:01:47

heard that you slept for three

1:01:49

and a half years on the

1:01:51

floor of your production plant

1:01:53

in Fremont, your Tesla production

1:01:56

plant. And I'd like to know

1:01:58

if that's true and why you

1:02:00

did it. And he

1:02:01

said, yeah, we were he said I was down to just a few

1:02:03

million dollars left, had very

1:02:05

little money left, and Tesla was about

1:02:07

to go bankrupt.

1:02:10

And he

1:02:11

said, I he said, I so

1:02:14

I decided that the

1:02:16

situation was

1:02:18

so desperate that I needed

1:02:20

to show my

1:02:21

team that that

1:02:24

there's no way that they're more

1:02:27

committed to the success of this business than mine. So I put

1:02:29

a sleeping bag on the floor, the production floor

1:02:31

and I slept there for three and

1:02:33

a half years. and

1:02:36

he said, so that they would know that I'm

1:02:38

I'm in the fight with them. And

1:02:42

I

1:02:42

started to cry.

1:02:46

And I

1:02:46

know I know from this man's mouth that he

1:02:48

does at this point doesn't know Jesus.

1:02:50

But I thought that is

1:02:54

brilliant leadership. that if

1:02:56

you, Bill

1:02:57

said, if you want your people

1:02:59

to bleed, you better

1:03:02

hemorrhage. And

1:03:04

sometimes, the things the Lord

1:03:06

calls us to that we think are

1:03:08

ashes. The Lord goes, that's beautiful.

1:03:12

We're like Lord, these ashes, I slept on the production floor for three

1:03:14

and a half years, and the Lord said you

1:03:17

were inspired of movement. And

1:03:20

I think some of what I'm trying to say is

1:03:23

this, some of

1:03:24

what we think is ashes.

1:03:26

The Lord goes, no, I led you to do

1:03:28

that. that was a beautiful

1:03:30

act of sacrifice, and that is not

1:03:32

part of your ashkeep. That's actually part

1:03:35

of the of the

1:03:38

gold silver precious metals.

1:03:40

That's part of what you'll

1:03:42

get credit for in heaven. And

1:03:46

I wanna say that there are things

1:03:48

that you have done in sacrifice

1:03:51

that were hard and you

1:03:54

think they were part of your trial

1:03:56

and the Lord's like, no, they're part of your

1:03:58

reward.

1:04:00

And I I wanna say that tonight, I feel I

1:04:02

didn't share this before, but because I'm just

1:04:04

getting it out. But I feel like the

1:04:06

Lord is saying to many of you what

1:04:08

you counted as an asheve, I

1:04:11

counted as a treasure. What you counted

1:04:13

as a problem, I have actually

1:04:15

awarded to treasure in heaven

1:04:17

because of what

1:04:20

you sacrifice. And I

1:04:22

just wanna say to all of you

1:04:24

that the Lord remembers

1:04:26

your sacrifice. The things you

1:04:28

did in secret, the things no one

1:04:30

knows about, the conversations you

1:04:32

had, the people you reached out

1:04:35

to, and oftentimes, it's

1:04:38

the little birds in our life. that

1:04:40

nobody knows about that the Lord has given us the

1:04:43

greatest reward over. I'll

1:04:45

just finish now.

1:04:50

I'll

1:04:55

finish. Why

1:04:57

don't you stand?

1:05:23

I have this strong

1:05:26

impression that there's two people in this room that

1:05:28

are going through a divorce, and the Lord said he's

1:05:30

not in the divorce. No.

1:05:32

I have a couple

1:05:34

of kids who have been through the horses, so

1:05:38

You understand there's no condemnation is. But

1:05:40

I want you to know that the Lord says he's gonna

1:05:42

restore your marriage. There's two people in this room and

1:05:44

there's one person that's gonna watch this

1:05:47

two weeks from now on video, and the Lord

1:05:50

says, he's not in your

1:05:52

divorce. And this is

1:05:54

what the Lord told

1:05:56

me the two people in the room and for the person who's gonna watch

1:05:58

later, humility is the way

1:05:59

forward, and you having to be right is

1:06:02

killing your

1:06:04

marriage. And if you'll humble yourself,

1:06:06

if you'll both humble yourself, the Lord

1:06:08

will not only restore restore your marriage,

1:06:10

but you'll be a model

1:06:12

of what God can do with brokenness. And so I

1:06:15

just wanna bless that right now. If anybody's bold

1:06:17

enough, the wants to raise your hand, you can do that,

1:06:19

and I'll pray for you right now. you

1:06:21

don't need to. Here's one, here's two

1:06:23

right here. So Lord, moreover

1:06:25

there. Well Lord, I'll just release right

1:06:27

now this word

1:06:30

over them. in Jesus name that the lord would heal your

1:06:32

marriage, that he would restore your

1:06:34

soul, that he would

1:06:38

break the and one

1:06:40

of them there has

1:06:42

been unfaithfulness. And I just feel

1:06:45

that this conviction of the Lord on the on

1:06:47

that person and I see the a restoration

1:06:49

happening even at

1:06:52

midnight tonight. and Lord, I just

1:06:54

released right now this prophetic

1:06:56

declaration over these people that you would

1:06:58

restore their marriage. I pray that

1:07:00

that phone call would come right before

1:07:02

midnight tonight and it'd be it

1:07:04

was be a a call of repentance,

1:07:06

a call of true transparency

1:07:08

and honesty, and a restoration

1:07:10

of these of these families. Lord, even more than

1:07:13

three, we just pray, whoever raised their

1:07:15

hand, Lord said, I have faith for that.

1:07:17

My marriage is in trouble. We say we

1:07:19

say yes to that too. We say yes to even the ones the

1:07:21

Lord wasn't speaking of. He's speaking

1:07:23

to you too. Laura, we

1:07:25

just we pray for a total

1:07:28

restoration of that in Jesus'

1:07:30

name. We release that over them

1:07:32

right now. Thank you,

1:07:34

Lord. And there's somebody in a

1:07:36

lawsuit over here, and the Lord

1:07:38

is he's gonna bring

1:07:40

justice Isaiah

1:07:42

fifty nine he's gonna bring justice to victory, and

1:07:44

he's gonna close this case before the

1:07:46

month is over. And so I just

1:07:48

released who is there somebody here who wants to

1:07:50

say they're in some sort of a

1:07:52

lawsuit. Okay. Who is that? There's

1:07:54

somebody over

1:07:54

here? Where? Here?

1:07:57

Okay. Bless you. And while we

1:07:59

release that right here for him in Jesus

1:07:59

name, that you would bring justice

1:08:02

to victory in Jesus

1:08:04

name, that you would be

1:08:06

the judge. and the

1:08:08

jury. And, Lord,

1:08:10

that you would render him

1:08:14

innocent in Jesus name. There's somebody over here though,

1:08:16

right over there. Is there someone else

1:08:18

that's in a lawsuit

1:08:19

over here? Okay. Can

1:08:22

you

1:08:22

raise your hand, please? Okay. Lord,

1:08:25

I just released the same. Right here,

1:08:27

Justice, in Jesus name. I pray

1:08:29

for

1:08:30

a complete closure of this

1:08:32

case. that keeps

1:08:34

keeps going on and on like a merry go round. And I just break the merry go round right now in Jesus and

1:08:36

I pray for justice to come to

1:08:38

victory and for you to be found

1:08:43

innocent, you to be found. This is like an awarding

1:08:45

of Matthew Luke eighteen, the judge

1:08:47

and the widow, and I

1:08:49

just pray in Jesus' name that it would

1:08:51

be found in in in your favor, and justice

1:08:53

would be rendered for you in Jesus'

1:08:56

name. Thanks so much for

1:08:58

listening to my podcast. If you wanna find out more, read

1:09:00

my blog or listen to

1:09:02

the previous podcast episodes. Go

1:09:04

to chris fealton dot com.

1:09:07

Have an awesome

1:09:08

day.