Transcription
I came to bring you a hope injection. Are you guys okay with that?
So, um, yeah, hope is the confident expectation of good. I think a lot of people think it's like the wishing well. "All we can do is hope." Well, has it come to that? And let you know, like, we were at that last level. And so hope is, is more than that. It's that confident expectation of good because of who God says He was. Again, who He says He is.
So here's the good news: there's no hopeless situations, only hopeless people. God's not up to looking at your situation like, "Oh man, we need to have an emergency meeting of the Trinity. Like, we did not see, we did not see COVID coming. North Korea, what's happening? The economy? Oh no." And so there's, there's no hopeless situations and the only hopeless people. And when you change your beliefs, you change your situation.
And so a stronghold is anything that's normal for you that's not normal for the kingdom. A stronghold is like some demon wrapped around your brain. It's a, it's a wrong pattern of thinking. And it's anything that's normal for you that's not normal in the kingdom. Here's something, um, fear, doubt, and anxiety are not normal in the kingdom. Like, the atmosphere of heaven is filled with peace and confidence. And you're always going to reflect the world that you're most aware of. And so if you're breathing this world, there, listen, if you're feeding yourself on the "Ten Spies Network," that's what I call the news, the "Ten Spies Network," there's giants in the land, there's this and that. Listen, if you're feeding yourself on that, then you're gonna reflect the nature of that world that you're most aware of. But if you're feeding yourself on righteousness, peace, joy, what God says. I'm not talking about bearing your head in the sand and act like everything's okay. I'm talking about bearing your head in another realm. And when you do that, you're able to bring heaven to earth.
How are we doing? So turn with me in your iPhones to Genesis chapter three. As I said, turning your Bibles. I never hear pages wrestling. And it's okay. It's all right. So Genesis chapter three, uh, we're gonna start in verse one. I'm gonna be reading from the New American Standard Version.
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'"
There's two main temptations in the Bible, and they both happen in the, in the Genesis account here. One was to get them, Adam and Eve, to get to doubt what God said. And the other one was to get Adam and Eve to doubt who they were. Okay? And so we're not going to deal with identity today. I want to deal with the "Has God said?" "Has God said?" I tell you, what if you can, if you can take on this question of questioning your identity or questioning God's word, you can handle just about any situation.
So let's look at "Has God said?" Let me read it to you again. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'"
Now, here's the thing. God had just clearly said, listen, even in Adam and Eve, they wake up to a whole park full of food. There's no scarcity in the kingdom, right? And so they wake up and God said, "Look, you can eat of any tree and accept this one." Did God really say that? Listen, this is what the enemy loves to do. Loves to take a clear word from God and get you to just, I don't know, I'm not sure if he did. He really mean it? And he makes it even more personal. Is it, did he say that to me?
Now, here's the thing. Deception doesn't come up to you like, "Hey, I'm this demonic power of deception, and I'm the father of lies, is my boss." And another, like, they don't come up there like that. I don't see that movie. Inception? Oh, yeah. All that guy's movies are mind-benders. I'm not sure how he makes those movies and stuff. But, uh, the idea behind the movie was to try to get that person to place a thought in someone's mind, but to get them to believe it was their thought. And that's what the enemy does. You don't feel like it's this outside thing coming. You, you're being attacked. It's from the inside. It's, "Ah, man, I don't really know about this thing."
So let me talk to you about God's word. What am I talking too fast? I get excited about these things. And plus, it's a little chilly, and I'm from the Midwest. And so I should tell you something here. So I guess it's because my body fat's so low. Yeah.
So Jesus is the word of God. So anytime God's, anytime you're hearing God's voice, you're having an encounter with Jesus. Here's what God's word is. It's literally, it's the force that's holding the universe together. Listen to Colossians chapter 1, verse 17. "And Jesus is before all things, and in Jesus all things are held together." So Jesus is the word of God. He's holding all things together. Here it is from a different angle. Hebrews 1:3. "Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power." That's pretty powerful. It's the word of God. That's the, like, we don't, like scientists can't explain the attraction between atoms, the force, what it is. And the Bible tells us it's the word of God. The chair that you're sitting on, it looks solid, but it's actually a relationship of atoms that are actually moving around together. And with that, that force that's holding them together is the word of God.
So I want you to get this picture. If, if the word of God were to be removed from our world, chaos would reign. Atoms would disintegrate. This building would fall apart. Your body would fall apart. And so Jesus is the word that holds it together. Okay? When the word of God is removed from your life, the word of God is what sustains you. It gives you hope. It gives you direction. And when it's removed from your life and you begin to doubt it, chaos begins to reign in your life.
I'm not sure, has anyone had this happen where you're, you're having almost like a mountaintop experience? God, you're in worship, God speaks a word to you, and there's some emotion with it, right? It's like, it's like it comes to you with a little bit of emotion. There's an excitement to it. And then when you come down off the mountain, you begin thinking, "Is, does God really say that to me?" You begin to doubt it once the emotion leaves, right? Has anyone had that happen?
Okay, let me, I'm just gonna hit this. Do not subject God's word to your emotions during periods of disappointment. Okay? Those mountaintop. I love the story of Moses. And so it kept saying this phrase, and Moses built according to the pattern that he saw in heaven. He built the tabernacle. He has this mount. He goes up to the mountain, has this incredible experience, and comes down, and he builds according to the pattern. He had an opportunity to get really distracted. It's one of the greatest passages in, uh, in the Bible for me. I just love it. So he has this awesome mountaintop experience. He comes down, and his family members are doing crazy things, and they're worshiping a golden calf. And this is one of the greatest excuses in the Bible. Um, this is from his brother Aaron. "I threw the gold into this fire, and out walked this golden calf." I mean, I just love that. It's like, really? That's what happened? All right.
And so he has this mountaintop experience, but it says he didn't, he wasn't moved by what was going on around him. He said he built everything according to the pattern that he saw. Listen, guys, everyone in here has had God speak to them, okay? Um, it says, "My sheep hear my voice." The problem is, he says, "We didn't say that." We always recognize it. A lot of times what happens is you hear God's voice and you say, "Oh, that was just me." Right? Well, let me just tell you, who "just me" is. "Just me" has been united to Christ. "Just me" has the mind of Christ. Don't take this too far, but if you want to hear God's voice, have some thoughts. I'm not saying don't test it against wise counsel. Don't test it against scripture.
Let's just do this. Everyone close your eyes for a moment and take out your wallets. I'm just kidding. That's a terrible joke, John. Okay. Terrible joke. Terrible joke. Okay. Just close your eyes for a moment. And when I count to three, I want you to say your first, middle, and last name in your mind, not out loud, okay? First, middle, and last name in your mind, not out loud. Ready? One, two, three.
All right, open your eyes. You know what God's voice is going to sound like? That because 1 Corinthians 6:16 says that your spirit and His spirit became one spirit. So His voice is going to sound like thoughts that are coming into your head. It's not going to be like, "I am your Father." You know, it's going to be like Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, King James English. If you're waiting for that, you could be waiting for a long time. But the supernatural is a lot more natural. I think we're waiting for it to have a lot more sizzle factor to it than it actually does.
So the enemy, he, you have this, you have this amazing time with God, and when the emotions die down, the enemy tries to get you to question it. The enemy wants to undermine your destiny and get you to be mediocre. And how does it get you to be mediocre? Sorry, I just did the three days of teaching morning through night, so with no microphone. So, okay, there we go. So, uh, yeah, yeah, help, help us, Jesus, right?
The mountaintop is, let me give you this. The mountaintop is where you see things you don't have the nerve to see when you're in the valley. The mountaintop is where you hear things that you wouldn't have the courage to dream about in the valley. Listen, nobody else can protect the word of the Lord over your life. Even well-meaning people are gonna listen. Fear often masquerades as wisdom. And as you hear from the Lord, you begin to share things from, even well-meaning people are gonna say, "Has God really said that?" I don't, listen, we've all been around those people who said they heard from God, and we knew God was nowhere near that thing. I'm not talking about that. No one wants to be that person. But, um, we, we have to, we can't be afraid of missing it. You're going to miss it. You're going to learn. It's all part of learning. Okay? I'm not talking about that. But you, uh, I love this phrase of Timothy. "You must guard the trust because you have to protect the word of the Lord over your life."
Now, obviously, I'm not athletic. And so the, um, uh, but I do understand a little bit about football. And in football, from, yeah, Ohio State, they're crazy up there. Um, and if we could get them to love Jesus the way they loved the Buckeyes, the, uh, the whole state would come for the Lord. But in football, obviously, the running back's got the ball. And when he's carrying it, he's protecting that ball. And then sometimes when the defense comes and they try to strip that ball from them. And I hate it where they do that. I feel so bad for the running back. They, they zero in on instant replay. They're like, "Zoom in." And there it is, "strip." And they come back in and out, you know, they're showing that exact moment we're hitting it out of his hand. And so that's what the enemy likes to do. He likes to come and just strip that out of you and make you think that's your identity right there. See, you missed it right there. You thought you heard God. And he just tries to get you to get your identity from a moment when your emotions were, "Oh no, that was just your emotions. That was just the pizza. That was just whatever else."
You and I, we can't make the word of God happen in our lives, okay? We can't. That creates Ishmaels. That creates copies of promises. But we can cooperate. We can renew our mind. We can write those things down. We can jealously guard what's been deposited. And we need to be think in terms of God's promises in terms of a lifetime. I mean, so many people, they believe God for three weeks and act like it's been three years. All right.
And so another illustration here. My wife and I, we just, uh, hired a kettlebell trainer. And obviously, it's been recently since we've done that. And I remember, you know, imagine if after like one week of the kettlebells, I'm like, "Stupid kettlebells, don't work. You call these abs? Like, this isn't working." Like, no one's expecting immediate results with those type of things. But sometimes when God gives us a promise, we're like, "It's been like three days. Like, I just don't see what's happened. What's going on?" Don't dig up and doubt what you planted in faith.
One of the pictures of the word of God is it's a seed. And it gets planted into a soil. No farmer is going to put it in there and three days later go home, "Let me see if this thing's working." "Oh, it's not working." "Oh, it's not working." But that's what so many believers do. The enemy comes, "Has God said it? Doesn't, doesn't look like it's working. Doesn't look like it's working." Don't dig up and doubt what you planted in faith.
The word of the Lord, you, is just like a marriage. You got to guard it. You've got to protect that thing. You got, you can't take it for granted. You can't just assume, "Oh, God said it, it's gonna, oh, she said, 'I do.' He said, 'I do.' Oh, we're fine for life." I can honestly say that my marriage at 27 years with my bride, Mary, where's my bride? The goodness of God in my life, sitting right here before you. And, uh, our marriage is the best it's ever been in every area. But we've had to guard it. We've had to protect it. We've had to be intentional about it. Right? You have to. Nobody else has the responsibility to protect the word of God over your life. And the enemy's going to come and say, "Has God said that? Has He really said this?" I don't know about you. I mean, it comes to you day after day.
I don't even need the devil to get me discouraged sometimes. I know there's some people that love to go deep. And I just, you know, I just love to go deep. And listen, guys, I've never like gone deep and looked within myself and came out encouraged. Like these people, they're just always like, "Looking at, am I doing everything right?" And listen, that, and like, like that's not gonna be helpful for you. All right? What's gonna be helpful is to keep your eyes on the Lord. To keep your eyes on what He has said. You become like what you behold. If you're beholding yourself and your inefficiencies, you're gonna be insecure. You're gonna be doubtful. You're gonna be fearful.
Do not subject God's word to your emotions during a period of disappointment. Man, that is just as powerful. Do not subject God's word to your emotions during a period of disappointment. You are a guardian over that thing that God has entrusted uniquely to you. God's word actually sustains life in this universe, and He's entrusting that same kind of word to you.
So I'm, I get them on three by five cards. My wife's got this, uh, this little three-ring thing with the three by five cards. And many times before bed, she's just reviewing what God has said. What are we doing? We're anchoring our mind in what's possible. We're anchoring our mind on what God says rather than just what we see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. Type them out if you have to. I'll write them in a journal. I remember the Lord told me, "The pastor of the church," from a journal. In other words, a journal is just simply a record of God speaking to you. Listen to monomer recorder. Sometimes we record prophetic words. And I remember I stuck a couple of them in a row. And I remember driving home one day, and there was about three or four prophetic words in a row. And I just wanted to keep on driving. I'm like, "This is absolutely amazing." Kind of like, I forgot. I forgot I needed to anchor myself in that realm.
If hearing God is important to you, then you have to protect what God has given you. And when you do that, it will attract more speaking. See, whatever you honor increases in the kingdom. And so when you honor what God has spoken to you by writing it down, by rehearsing it, by, by going over those things, God will, it attracts more speaking into your life.
I love this verse. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Is that active, ongoing speaking of God to you that sustains and actually becomes life to you? Listen, guys, I've done the "barely making it" thing. It's overrated. God wants you to be victorious. He wants you to, he wants you to feast on those words. He wants you to be more than conquerors. Survival has never been the goal of the kingdom. God's not like, you know, at the end of your life, you're gonna be able to write on your tombstone, "She paid her bills." Like, that's not, we're not going for like the "barely making it" thing here. You've got to protect the word of the Lord. You were born for the impossible. I think every Christian has that appetite to see impossibilities bow their knee to the name of Jesus. When you got born again, there was something put in your DNA that just says, you know what? I was born for more. To destroy the works of the devil. You know what this? You know what this church is? Is actually a terrorist training camp that's for the devil. Probably won't put that one in your banner, but that's what this is. They won't make it past the first part. Terrorist training? What?
When a verse leaps out to you, mark it in your Bible. Underline it. Circle it. Put a date by it. Put the situation that was going on so you can remember those memorial stones. God talks to you. And so what are you going to do with what He says? A lot of people are like, "Oh man, God spoke this is this cool word to me. You spoke it to me." And a week later, you don't even remember it. Not trying to make anybody feel bad. I'm trying to call us up to say, listen, God's putting swords and spears in the hands of champions. They want you to take it seriously because there's nobody else assigned to protect the word of the Lord over your life. Not your kids. Not your pastor. You can't do like a "word of the Lord tunnel" where you just like impart things and it's like, all of a sudden, you don't have to. No, it's there. Everyone that I know will love, everyone in my life that I love will affirm the word of the Lord in my life. But I'm the only one who can protect it. I can share it, and people will say, "Amen, Jim, that's so good." But I'm the only one who can steward that word.
I love this phrase from Bill Johnson. I love all of Bill Johnson's phrases. "I cannot afford to have thoughts about me in my head that God doesn't have in His." So how do I know what God thinks about me? Man, He's speaking to me in His word. And sometimes those words jump out at you. Those are the ones you write down. Those are the ones you begin to get your identity from. All of it's true. But there's times God's wanting to emphasize and highlight things.
Here's some good news, bad news. Every word of the Lord will be tested. The word of the Lord actually attracts conflict. You're like, "Jim, that doesn't even sound Christian." Mark chapter 4, verse 3. Jesus is telling the parable. There's one seed, which is the word of God. And there's four different soils, which are different heart conditions. Verse 3: "Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it." He gives the interpretation of that verse in verse 16. "And these are the ones sewn on rocky ground: the ones who, when they heard the word, they immediately received it with joy." They had a mountaintop experience. They had an emotional time that happened with this. "This is amazing." Verse 17: "But they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away." Persecution. I think at the end of, he says, "persecution arises because of the word."
So the word of God attracts chaos in your life. Like, why on earth would God have that happen? God wants you to know the strength of that word by experience, and not just by theory.
Okay, I'm going to say something shocking, and I'm going to pause for a dramatic effect. You guys ready for this? The Bible does not say that the truth will set you free. That's John 8:32. John 8:31 says, "If you continue in My word, you will know the truth, then the truth will say..." That's the truth that you know will set you free. What does it mean to continue in His word? It means to put it into practice. It means you're guarding that trust. It means you're keeping it before you. "If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. Then you will know the truth." That word "know" means to come to know by experience. It's only the truth that's experienced that sets you free, not the ones that are more like theories.
So what God does is, He's going to put you in the exact opposite circumstance, or allow circumstances to come in your life that are the exact opposite of that, so you can experience the truth of that. Imagine if someone said, "Jim, I am giving you a super suit that protects you from ninjas, missiles, and White Castle hamburgers." You guys have White Castles down here? Yeah. I just, imagine your colon begging for mercy. All right. So just so you'd be like, "Oh, cool. I got this. I got this super suit. This is amazing." Like, you wouldn't know the strength of it until like a ninja attacks you with nunchucks, and you're like, "Oh, that tickles." Like the missile hit you and it didn't do anything. And you ate the White Castle hamburger and you weren't doubled over with cramps 30 minutes later. Like, now you know, "Oh, this super suit really works." God wants you to know the strength of that word by experience.
Listen, guys, Jesus did not die on the cross, raised from the dead, ascend into heaven, and send the Holy Spirit, make you one with Jesus, give you authority over every sickness, every disease, every evil spirit, tell you to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, cast out demons, raise the dead, tell you all these things so that you could have a comfortable life and have church every Sunday. That's not why He gave your word. So He can have this American dream and nice things. He wants His planet back. This planet does not belong to the devil. The devil does not win in the end. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever through His people. You are Plan A. There is no Plan B. This is it. And so He gives us His word, this powerful seed from another world that will not return void when it's mixed with faith.
There is something that can neutralize the, the power of the word of God. It's in Mark 7:13. It says, "through the religious traditions that made the word of God of no effect." So religious teachings, those things that put the emphasis on what we must do rather than the things that Jesus has done. I can't go into that right now. Well, that'd be a whole other message.
Here's the reason God gives you a promise. You guys ready for this? God is coming to you from your future, where you already have the breakthrough, into your present, giving you the word that you need to get into that future breakthrough. That's a powerful picture there. And so the enemy knows this. And so when this word from the future, where you, where you have the breakthrough, comes to you, the enemy's gonna go, "Did I really say that?" Because if he can get you to mix it with doubt. What is doubt? Doubt means to judge oneself as outside of, uh, outside of that promise. It means, "Yeah, yeah, I know that's the Bible. I know that. But I just don't know if it's true for me." What are you doing? You're doubting it. You're disqualifying yourself from the promise. Because, "I'm not good enough. I'm not this." And this. You know what? You're not good enough. You're not believing enough. But Jesus believed enough, and He was good enough, and we're getting in on His coattails, not your performance.
See, you've entered into a realm called righteousness, where God is no longer dealing with you based on your behavior. He's dealing with you based on Jesus' behavior. He's not looking at you, seeing if you're worthy to say yes. He already said yes and amen to His Son. He puts you into the safest place you could ever be. Puts you into His Son. And now He's treating you as if you were Jesus. And you can believe and receive, or doubt and do without. But that's the message for the next service. Okay, there we go.
Some people, listen, guys, "Has God said?" So you doubt this thing. And some people, they give this thing when they miss it, they're like, "You know what? If I missed it on that one, then maybe I've never heard from God in my whole life." Let's not do that. That's not gonna be helpful to just take it to these ridiculous extremes. Listen, we've all thought we've heard from the Lord, and we've all been wrong. Admit your mistakes when you're wrong and move on.
Okay, I remember standing over a lady's bed. Now, she was dying in this hospital bed. I felt like I heard the Lord say, "She will live and not die." And I declared it. And with everything I thought I had within me, I believed. And she passed away anyway. And so, listen, what do you do when you miss it? You say, "God, I thought I heard from You. I didn't." And so, uh, help me learn, right? You know what? Since then, I could have just, I got my identity from that. "Oh, man, I should, I can't go for it anymore. And what if I do that again? It's embarrassing. And I, and I feel bad. Me, me, me." And, you know what? Since then, I've stood by people's bedsides who are dying, and I've seen many recover because I didn't partner with that disappointment. I didn't partner with that unbelief.
You know what happens in some of those situations? Imagine you're trying to push a 500-pound boulder up a hill, and it just doesn't work, right? But what you don't realize is you're actually building a strength. And so now you can push those 100-pound boulders a lot more easily. Even when you miss it, if you'll still fail forward, you'll have a strength for the next situation.
So here's the deal. God speaks to you. How valuable is that word of God to you? Are you willing to jealously guard that trust? I grew up in an amazing Christian home, loved God. He just demonstrated the goodness of God. But we didn't grow up in a home where miracles were normal. It was just kind of, um, I mean, it wasn't overtly taught, but it was like, miracles are for those special class of people, right? It wasn't that. And so, um, I mean, yeah, yeah. And so the word of the Lord came. I began to wake up to the reality of healing. And it was like, "Wow, I think God wants to heal." And so, uh, do you think just everyone just started getting healed as soon as we realized God wants to heal people? He's like, "No." Like, we're praying for them, and they're getting sicker. And more like catching their sicknesses. I'm like, "This is terribly discouraging." Has anyone ever gone after healing like had that happen? Right? And so, but, but, you know, miracles were in the Bible, so we're going for it. And we had this word. And people are like, "Jim, you know, you're supposed to go after healing more." And so we're going after it. And right in the middle of that, um, it was May 2009. Our church was seeing wonderful miracles. May 2009, my sister is in the hospital with cancer, and she ends up passing away. And I can remember being in the basement at her house, you know, I'm getting ready to do her funeral. And, man, the enemy came. Is like, "Man, you need, you need to quit going for it. This is like, it obviously didn't work." You know? And you just need to, you know, take your foot off the gas pedal. And man, there was, I would, I remember it. It was like, in my flesh, it would have felt so good to partner with that disappointment. To just, it would have just almost been a relief to say, "Fine, I don't have to go. I don't have to push past this disappointment." And, um, I mean, I just remember wrestling with this. And I don't know how long it was, but it just seemed, it seemed like a while. And finally, I was, it was like, it was like the Lord's goodness broke through. I remember some of those words of the Lord. I was like, "No, no, no, no. I don't care what I see, taste, hear, smell, or feel. If it's in the word of God, it has to be in my life." And so I stood up, and that I preached on healing at her funeral. The first Sunday back, our church was just grieving with us. And it was kind of like this attitude like of, "Are we still going to go for it?" It was like, you know, and they were waiting to see. I taught on healing. Her, my first Sunday back. I think that summer, our church saw 800 miracles that summer. And it wasn't because we did anything amazing. It's because Jesus did something amazing 2,000 years ago on the cross. And we refused to get our identity from our disappointments.
Listen, I don't care what your track record is. I don't care if you swing and miss every time you're up to the plate. The point is, you've got this word. You've got this promise. And sometimes those promises are so big, God wants you to become the kind of person who can carry the weight of that assignment without it crushing you. So sometimes there seems to be, never delay. Delayed answers are never for punishment. They're to build character. They're for greater blessing. It means the answers are only gaining interest. You're a prisoner of promise without a promised land. You have nowhere to go. You're just wondering. So I'm speaking to a house of promise. I'm speaking to people who have destiny. I'm speaking to people who, you've had dreams for years, and God said, "It's only gaining interest." Jesus prepared 30 years for three years of ministry. Come on, somebody. Maybe we need to have 30-year Bible colleges instead of three-year ones. No, I'm just used to it.
So you were not born to just occupy turf. You were born to be a frontiersman, to find new land. And that promise is going to pull you into those new territories. I was a bit of a Pharisee in college. And so, I don't know, I like to argue with people. I was stupid. And so God gave me a wife who would shave that stuff off me. But, but one of my favorite verses for some reason was Romans 3:4. And it says, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." Let me just say this: some of you are facing impossible situations in your business. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Some of you are facing hopeless situations in your body. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Some of you battled an addiction, and the lies, "You're never going to be free." Let God be true, and every man a liar. God's told some of you about your destiny to shake cities and influence nations, and you feel stuck. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Some of you want to be married or have a baby, and it seems hopeless. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Some of your finances seem like a disaster. Let God be true, and every man a liar.
Let that word of God come in there and hang on to that thing. There is no hopeless situations, only hopeless people. And when you begin to hope again, your situations cannot help but change. Every word is going to be tested so that you'll know the strength of that word. But God has come from your future with information that you need to get into that breakthrough.
So when you're saying, "Will you jealously guard it? Will you treasure that word? Will you write it down? Will you declare it out loud? Will you get a t-shirt made if you have to? Will you make it the screensaver on your phone so every time you go to check social media, you've got that promise reminding you?" You begin to renew your mind with that. Instead, that's an assignment for somebody in here. I don't care what I see, taste, hear, smell, or feel. I will not be moved by the things of this world. I'll be moved by what God says.
Here's what I'd like to do real quick. Is, um, I want you to just check in with the Holy Spirit. That same voice that you just heard in your head that sounded like you. I want you to just close your eyes for a moment and say, "God, where do I need to let You be true and every man a liar? Is there an area where I'm hopeless? Is there an area where I'm feeling defeated?" That's an indicator where God wants to speak some truth. So let Him speak that area. "God, where in my life do I need that truth? Where am I feeling hopeless? Where do I need You to speak into?"
Here's the second question: "Holy Spirit, what's the truth that I need to remember?" Maybe He's going to bring you a fresh truth. Maybe He's going to bring you a reminder, something from a journal. But He's exposing that lie, that hopelessness. "Holy Spirit, what's the truth You want me to know?" You need to write it down. Type it in your phone. Treasure it in your heart. Whatever you need to do. Now, whatever God spoke to you, don't dig up and doubt what He's planted in faith. Come into agreement. Don't just intellectually take it. But right now, let's just take a moment and say, "God, yes. I may not understand the bigness of it. I may not, forgive me for forgetting. That I'm not going to get in guilt and condemnation. But I'm saying a fresh yes to that word."
Some of you, it was ministry things. Some of you, it was, uh, situations in your family that God wanted you to believe for. Some of you is a promise of you getting healed, and it's been, I mean, I get it, guys. The heroes in our church are the ones who pray and don't get, they don't get breakthrough, and they don't get offended. They come to the Lord afresh.
So, Lord, I bless these people. God, You're raising them up to be champions in this region. I just thank You, God. This is going to be a church full of hope, confident expectation of good, because they know the size of their God. These are people who are going to jealously guard the word of God over their life. They're going to see impossibilities bow their knee to the name of Jesus. I thank You that You're putting swords and spears in the hands of champions. I think that You're raising up a terrorist training camp to destroy the works of the devil. I thank You for greater miracles. God, I thank You for greater influence. I thank You for greater finances. That You're finding a people that You can rest upon and say yes to. So I bless this house in the name of Jesus. Amen.