WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.409 --> 00:00:04.710 Sometimes in your life, you're gonna be so weak, you 2 00:00:04.750 --> 00:00:08.070 can't even pray. Sometimes in your life, you're gonna be 3 00:00:08.169 --> 00:00:10.839 so weak, you can't read the Bible. You can't go 4 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:11.619 to a Bible study. 5 00:00:11.699 --> 00:00:12.439 You can't work. 6 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:14.919 You can't do anything. What do you do in those moments? 7 00:00:14.939 --> 00:00:19.219 You're just laying there in bed so weak. I rest 8 00:00:19.980 --> 00:00:22.800 in the strength of the Lord, in his arms like 9 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:27.730 a little child, and I trust. You see, weakness can 10 00:00:27.890 --> 00:00:30.199 actually be a good thing in your life. if it 11 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.600 causes you to depend on God. Look at this verse 12 00:00:32.659 --> 00:00:33.420 up here on the screen. 13 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:36.000 This is from St. Paul. 14 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:40.539 Paul says this, 2 Corinthians 12. Three times I begged 15 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:42.700 God to take away my weakness. Now you got some 16 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.899 weaknesses you'd like God to take away. You've probably asked 17 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:49.159 him to. And each time God said, my grace is 18 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:54.500 all you need. My power works best in your weakness. 19 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:56.240 So you don't need anything else. 20 00:00:56.259 --> 00:00:56.820 You just need me. 21 00:00:57.609 --> 00:01:00.530 My power works best in your weakness. So, Paul says, 22 00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:04.420 I now gladly boast. I boast about how weak I am. 23 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:06.599 I used to hide my weaknesses. I used to be 24 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.000 ashamed of my weaknesses. Paul says, not anymore. I'm proud 25 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:13.700 of my weaknesses. Why? Because when I'm weakness, when I'm weakest, 26 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:17.799 the power of Christ works in me and shows up 27 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:23.939 through me. And when I'm weak, then I am strong. See, 28 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.829 that's the paradox. of depending on God. The more you're weak, 29 00:01:28.109 --> 00:01:30.019 the more you depend on God. The more you depend 30 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.540 on God, the stronger you get. To be blessed by God, 31 00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:36.400 I depend on God's wisdom and I depend on God's strength. 32 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:39.439 But the third thing is I depend on God's timing, 33 00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:45.090 not mine. I depend on God's timing, not mine. 34 00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:50.950 The older I get, the more I understand how timing 35 00:01:51.010 --> 00:01:53.659 is so important in every area of life. Look at 36 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:56.120 it in sports. You can see it easily. The difference 37 00:01:56.140 --> 00:01:59.599 between a professional pitcher and an amateur is timing. The 38 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:03.579 difference between a professional golf player and an amateur is timing. 39 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:06.640 You can see it in things like cooking. A professional 40 00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:09.159 cook knows that it takes 37 seconds in the toaster 41 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:11.659 for the perfect Pop-Tart. They know that if they're a 42 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:13.919 real professional. You just see it in all kinds of 43 00:02:14.020 --> 00:02:17.659 areas of life. You see it in your life. God's timing, 44 00:02:17.719 --> 00:02:20.810 the right timing, is God working in the right way 45 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:23.490 in your life. The Bible's really clear about the fact 46 00:02:23.530 --> 00:02:26.560 that there are seasons to our life. And the fact, 47 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:28.360 I don't like this, but the fact is one of 48 00:02:28.379 --> 00:02:30.800 those seasons that God talks about again and again is 49 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:34.259 the season of waiting. He is working in our lives 50 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.419 during this season of waiting. While you're waiting, God is working. 51 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:42.129 Don't think that the season of waiting means that God 52 00:02:42.169 --> 00:02:45.210 has stopped working. He's still working. He's just taking us 53 00:02:45.229 --> 00:02:48.210 through a season of waiting because of timing, because of 54 00:02:48.250 --> 00:02:50.289 what he's doing in our lives, because of what he's 55 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:53.930 doing in circumstances. So that's why the Bible says in 56 00:02:53.949 --> 00:02:57.430 Psalm 31, 14, and 15, I trust in you, O Lord. 57 00:02:57.830 --> 00:03:03.599 You are my God. My times are in your hands. 58 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:08.750 You're going to spend a lot of life waiting. And 59 00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:10.969 if you don't figure out how to trust God while 60 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:12.449 you're waiting, you're going to spend a lot of life 61 00:03:12.490 --> 00:03:15.080 not trusting God. Because there's a lot of life where 62 00:03:15.099 --> 00:03:17.680 we are in God's waiting room. You ever been in 63 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.080 a hurry when God wasn't? That happen to anybody else 64 00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:22.280 I'm talking about? I mean, you want it to go along, 65 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:24.780 but it's just not going along. God is never in 66 00:03:24.819 --> 00:03:29.560 a hurry. God is never in a hurry. Because he's eternal. 67 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:32.810 And he is watching, he is working, he is seeing 68 00:03:33.050 --> 00:03:35.189 how and when you will trust him as you're waiting. 69 00:03:35.370 --> 00:03:37.550 We're saying, when, Lord, when is it gonna happen? And 70 00:03:37.610 --> 00:03:40.370 God's saying, what am I doing in your life? You 71 00:03:40.409 --> 00:03:43.580 can trust me with this. Now, the problem with waiting 72 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.099 is our human nature and the culture around us, everything 73 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:50.000 about it says don't wait. Get things as quickly as 74 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:52.120 you can. And when we have fast track and fast 75 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:55.280 passes and one of the best business magazines is Fast Company, 76 00:03:55.530 --> 00:03:58.030 everything is fast. When I go through the drive-through, I 77 00:03:58.030 --> 00:03:59.949 don't know if you guys are like this for getting food, 78 00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:01.990 I like to give my food at the first window 79 00:04:02.229 --> 00:04:03.750 and I want to see the bag come out so 80 00:04:03.770 --> 00:04:05.750 I can just sort of keep driving by and grab 81 00:04:05.770 --> 00:04:07.180 it as I go by. I don't want to even 82 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:09.740 wait 20 seconds. That's the way we tend to be 83 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.849 wired in our culture and it goes against it goes 84 00:04:12.909 --> 00:04:16.589 against God's blessing in our lives. Because God's blessing comes 85 00:04:16.629 --> 00:04:21.649 through these times of waiting. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, God has 86 00:04:21.730 --> 00:04:27.000 set the right time for everything. Now I know some 87 00:04:27.009 --> 00:04:28.949 of you right now, you are in a time of waiting. 88 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:33.519 Maybe it's for school to end. Maybe it's for a 89 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:35.639 man or a woman to come into your life. Maybe 90 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.439 it's for a marriage to happen or for a baby 91 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:39.899 to come. You're in this time of waiting in your life. 92 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:43.379 And If you were honest, you would say, I'm frustrated 93 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:46.579 right now with how slow this is working. We've all 94 00:04:46.620 --> 00:04:49.339 been there at times. There's a promise in the Bible 95 00:04:49.379 --> 00:04:51.759 that tells you not only that God is working, but 96 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:54.579 also how God is working. It's an important promise to 97 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.120 understand for how God works in our lives during these 98 00:04:57.160 --> 00:05:00.990 times of waiting. Isaiah 60 verse 22 says, I am 99 00:05:01.050 --> 00:05:04.290 the Lord, and when it is time, I will make 100 00:05:04.370 --> 00:05:09.449 these things happen quickly. Here's how God's worked. working in 101 00:05:09.589 --> 00:05:11.069 how he works in our lives, and it will drive 102 00:05:11.100 --> 00:05:14.100 you crazy. You wait and wait and wait for something, 103 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:16.100 and then all of a sudden, God just gives it 104 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.139 to you all at once, and it's just overwhelming, and 105 00:05:18.180 --> 00:05:20.079 you say, I was asking for it, but could you 106 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:23.639 slow it down a little bit now? This can happen with, 107 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:25.939 I know a lot of people who've been through adoptions 108 00:05:25.990 --> 00:05:29.250 like this, where they've started the adoption process, and they 109 00:05:29.269 --> 00:05:30.790 thought the adoption was going to go through in a 110 00:05:30.829 --> 00:05:33.629 few months, and they waited months and months, and sometimes 111 00:05:33.689 --> 00:05:36.110 years and years, and thought it never was going to happen. 112 00:05:36.310 --> 00:05:38.569 And then they get the phone call. And the phone 113 00:05:38.620 --> 00:05:41.399 call says, okay, we got the baby for you. Are 114 00:05:41.420 --> 00:05:43.259 you ready in two days? And you got to go 115 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:45.279 pick him up in another country. Can you do that? 116 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:47.920 That's how God works many times. That's how God works 117 00:05:48.459 --> 00:05:51.689 in sending Jesus into this world. The Bible tells us 118 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:54.290 that the world waited thousands of years for Jesus to 119 00:05:54.329 --> 00:05:57.069 come the first time. But at the right time, Jesus 120 00:05:57.089 --> 00:06:00.110 came into the world. And we've been waiting 2,000 years 121 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:02.209 now for Jesus to come again. When's he gonna come again? 122 00:06:02.589 --> 00:06:06.230 God's right time. That's when he's gonna come. You might 123 00:06:06.269 --> 00:06:08.730 write this down in your outline, just this sentence. A 124 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:13.879 delay is not a denial. Just remember that a delay 125 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:18.240 is not a denial. We think God is saying no, 126 00:06:18.300 --> 00:06:21.160 but really God is saying not yet. Will you keep 127 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:24.519 trusting me through this? And this has to do many 128 00:06:24.579 --> 00:06:26.079 times with how we talk to God about it, how 129 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:29.259 we pray. Sometimes when we pray about something, we say, God, 130 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:31.240 it's like, I wanna give you first option on this. 131 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:32.860 Can you do this really fast? If you don't get 132 00:06:32.899 --> 00:06:34.899 it done, then I'm gonna go get it done myself. 133 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:36.300 I don't care what I have to do, I'm gonna 134 00:06:36.339 --> 00:06:38.959 get it done. And God's saying, no, are you trusting me? 135 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:44.170 Micah talked about that. Micah 7 says, I trust the 136 00:06:44.230 --> 00:06:47.170 Lord to save me, and I will wait on him. 137 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:49.750 I'm not gonna go out and get it myself. I'm 138 00:06:49.769 --> 00:06:52.629 not gonna accomplish this myself. I'm gonna wait on him 139 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:57.470 to answer my prayer. That is the kind of faith 140 00:06:57.889 --> 00:06:58.649 that God blesses. 141 00:07:01.129 --> 00:07:03.860 You know, one of the things that Tom just said, 142 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.480 and I didn't see anybody writing it down, and it's brilliant, 143 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:07.560 so you need to write this down. 144 00:07:08.019 --> 00:07:11.660 While I'm waiting, God's working. You need to write that down. 145 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.660 He said, while I'm waiting, God's working. A lot of 146 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.240 times we think, while I'm waiting, nothing's happening. But God 147 00:07:18.279 --> 00:07:21.899 is often working behind the scenes in ways you can't 148 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:24.879 even see to get you ready for the answer to 149 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:28.550 your prayer. While you're waiting, God's working. It's not like 150 00:07:28.569 --> 00:07:32.209 God's waiting. While you're waiting, God's working. Now let me 151 00:07:32.230 --> 00:07:35.149 just give you a little lesson. God always gives his 152 00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:39.009 best to those who wait. And if you get in 153 00:07:39.050 --> 00:07:41.629 a hurry, you're gonna settle for second best in your 154 00:07:41.670 --> 00:07:45.879 life And before God brings the best man into your life, 155 00:07:46.209 --> 00:07:49.009 the best woman into your life, the best job into 156 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.300 your life, the best opportunity into your life, Satan's gonna 157 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:56.399 give you all kinds of detours. And he's like, hey, 158 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:59.199 see me over here, me over here. And you go, oh, 159 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:00.879 you know, I'm getting tired. Why don't we just pick 160 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:05.459 this one? And you settle for less than God's best 161 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:09.620 in your life. Don't do it. As your pastor who 162 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.490 loves you, I'm telling you, don't do it. If you 163 00:08:12.509 --> 00:08:16.449 will wait for God's best, God always gives his best 164 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:20.129 to those who leave the choice to him. But if 165 00:08:20.180 --> 00:08:23.680 you get frantic and you get nervous and you get 166 00:08:23.699 --> 00:08:26.379 in a hurry and you start trying to answer your 167 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:31.639 own prayer, you will have a fatal flaw and a 168 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:36.080 terrible mistake in your life. If you want God's blessing, 169 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:40.220 you gotta learn this truth very deeply. Spiritual poverty means 170 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:43.320 I don't do it myself. I depend on God's wisdom. 171 00:08:44.659 --> 00:08:48.539 I depend on God's strength. And I depend on God's timing. 172 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.909 And he'll answer it when he's ready to answer it 173 00:08:52.129 --> 00:08:55.789 and when he knows I'm ready for the answer. I'm 174 00:08:55.809 --> 00:08:56.529 gonna trust him. 175 00:08:57.610 --> 00:08:57.889 All right? 176 00:08:58.350 --> 00:09:00.309 Number four, let me give you another way to practice 177 00:09:00.350 --> 00:09:03.169 this week. To be blessed by God, I depend on 178 00:09:03.230 --> 00:09:06.549 God's wisdom, God's strength, God's timing, and I also depend 179 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:12.129 on God's defense, not mine. I'll explain this. But I 180 00:09:12.169 --> 00:09:18.570 depend on God's defense, not mine. There's always gonna be 181 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:20.730 people in your life who misunderstand you. 182 00:09:20.789 --> 00:09:21.509 Do you agree with that? 183 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:25.250 There'll always be people around you who misunderstand. There'll always 184 00:09:25.389 --> 00:09:27.960 be people who don't like you. There'll always be people 185 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:33.940 who criticize you, judge you, attack you, gossip about you, 186 00:09:34.019 --> 00:09:36.379 spread rumors about you. And a lot of people are like, 187 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:38.200 you know, if I could just be perfect, then everybody 188 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:42.110 would like me. Jesus was perfect and a lot of 189 00:09:42.149 --> 00:09:45.090 people didn't like him. So even if you were perfect, 190 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:48.120 even if you were Jesus, there would be people who 191 00:09:48.139 --> 00:09:52.639 are just not gonna like you. And so they're going 192 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:55.620 to attack and they're gonna criticize and they're going to 193 00:09:56.019 --> 00:09:58.500 try to get, and even in your closest relationships, those 194 00:09:58.539 --> 00:10:02.080 who love you most, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your husband, 195 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:05.259 your wife, those who love you most, you're still gonna 196 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:07.720 be misunderstood by them because we live in a broken world. 197 00:10:08.419 --> 00:10:12.200 And when you are misunderstood, you're gonna have a tendency 198 00:10:12.700 --> 00:10:16.860 to get in there and defend yourself. And when you're attacked, 199 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:19.799 your tendency is to attack back. When people criticize you, 200 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:23.529 you wanna criticize back. People slam you, you wanna slam 201 00:10:23.570 --> 00:10:27.669 them back. People insult you, you wanna insult them back. 202 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:31.210 You're out on the freeway, somebody expresses to you the 203 00:10:31.330 --> 00:10:37.970 international sign of displeasure. You wanna express the international sign 204 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:42.809 of displeasure back to them. Don't do it. Let God 205 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:46.710 be your defender. Don't defend yourself. God says every time 206 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:50.149 you get under attack, get criticized, get put down, get misunderstood, 207 00:10:50.610 --> 00:10:52.970 now you got two choices. You can defend yourself or 208 00:10:53.009 --> 00:10:55.820 you can let me defend you. What it'll be. Who 209 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:59.740 do you think can do a better job of defending you? Yeah, 210 00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:03.360 God can. Now, you are, listen to me very closely. 211 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:10.360 You're most like Christ. You're most like Jesus. When you 212 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:18.549 say nothing, in the face of attack, in the face 213 00:11:18.909 --> 00:11:23.460 of unjust, unfair criticism, in the face. 214 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:24.879 Of lies about you. 215 00:11:25.740 --> 00:11:28.759 You're most like Jesus when you say nothing and you 216 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.419 remain silent and you just say, I'm gonna put this 217 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:33.259 in the hands of God and let him be my 218 00:11:33.299 --> 00:11:35.879 defender and I'm not gonna try on myself and defend 219 00:11:35.929 --> 00:11:36.450 myself back. 220 00:11:46.519 --> 00:11:49.460 Do you know someone who's graduating this year? Maybe it's 221 00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:52.950 your son or daughter, a grandchild, or perhaps a neighbor 222 00:11:53.009 --> 00:11:57.250 or family friend. As you celebrate this important milestone and 223 00:11:57.330 --> 00:12:00.289 they begin the next phase of their journey, they need 224 00:12:00.330 --> 00:12:03.669 to know that God created them, loves them, and has 225 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:06.919 a plan for their life. That's why Pastor Rick created 226 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:11.600 a special resource just for graduates called The Purpose Driven 227 00:12:11.659 --> 00:12:15.789 Life Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduates. filled with 228 00:12:15.990 --> 00:12:21.149 inspirational scripture, biblical wisdom from Pastor Rick, and beautiful imagery. 229 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:25.720 This unique hardcover gift book provides a priceless reminder of 230 00:12:25.779 --> 00:12:29.220 the bountiful life God has planned for your graduate, and 231 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.519 it will inspire them to seek his unique plan and 232 00:12:32.659 --> 00:12:36.600 purpose for their life. Don't miss this opportunity to minister 233 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:39.450 to the graduate in your life today. We'll send you 234 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:41.850 a copy to say thanks when you give a gift 235 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:44.690 to Daily Hope to help share the hope of Jesus 236 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:46.970 Christ with people around the world. 237 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.500 In 1 Peter 2.23, we talked about last week Jesus' 238 00:12:54.519 --> 00:12:58.440 crucifixion and his resurrection. It says, when they hurled insults 239 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:02.850 at him, Jesus, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, 240 00:13:03.149 --> 00:13:08.009 he made no threats back. Instead, he entrusted himself to 241 00:13:08.090 --> 00:13:11.740 God to set things right. That means I depend on 242 00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:17.480 God to be my defender. You know, I told you 243 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.600 last week that they did six trials for Jesus, three Roman, 244 00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:22.960 three Jewish trials. All of them were sham trials. They 245 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:26.789 were all fake, phony trials. And one time, the religious 246 00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:30.210 leaders take Jesus to Pilate, who was the Roman governor 247 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:34.929 of Israel at that time, Palestine, and they bring him in, 248 00:13:35.070 --> 00:13:38.389 and they make a false charge of Jesus, and they said, 249 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:42.769 this guy's trying to overthrow you. He wants to be king. 250 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:48.039 He wants your job, Pilate. He wants to overthrow you. 251 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:52.759 He thinks he's the king. Pilate looks at him and goes, 252 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.139 is that true? He's asking Jesus, you want my job? 253 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:02.919 You trying to overthrow me? I'm the Roman appointed governor. 254 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:05.860 You claim to be the king of Israel? Not when 255 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.580 they don't have a king. You on my job? Is 256 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:11.480 that what you're saying? And the Bible says Jesus would 257 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:17.100 not even dignify that false accusation with an answer. It 258 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:22.049 said he remained totally silent. He spake not unto them. 259 00:14:22.830 --> 00:14:24.309 He said not a word unto them. 260 00:14:24.610 --> 00:14:29.289 You are most like Jesus when you face flack and 261 00:14:29.389 --> 00:14:32.649 don't defend it and don't attack back. 262 00:14:33.610 --> 00:14:34.629 Now here's an interesting thing. 263 00:14:35.129 --> 00:14:39.860 When people don't like you, They get what's called motivated reasoning. 264 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:44.230 And so often, if people don't wanna like you, they'll 265 00:14:44.269 --> 00:14:45.429 believe anything negative. 266 00:14:45.730 --> 00:14:46.289 Isn't that true? 267 00:14:47.090 --> 00:14:49.389 If people don't want to like you, they are quick 268 00:14:49.429 --> 00:14:52.090 to believe the negative and they do not believe anything positive. 269 00:14:52.789 --> 00:14:55.100 They only wanna believe the negative. Now here's the problem. 270 00:14:56.259 --> 00:14:59.879 Today on the internet, anybody can say anything about you 271 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:06.139 and it's global, it's searchable, and it's permanent. And it's 272 00:15:06.179 --> 00:15:08.480 never going off. So somebody can say something bad about 273 00:15:08.539 --> 00:15:11.120 you and it's there and nobody's ever taken it down. 274 00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:14.299 And 10 years from today, somebody can Google your name 275 00:15:14.610 --> 00:15:17.330 and find that. And it wasn't true today. It won't 276 00:15:17.350 --> 00:15:19.259 be true 10 years from today, but they'll believe it. 277 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:23.529 That's the kind of world you're gonna live in. So 278 00:15:23.549 --> 00:15:27.750 you gotta learn how to depend on God's defense, not 279 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:31.240 your own. Why? Because to be a leader is to 280 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:35.259 be misunderstood. If you're gonna be a leader in your home, 281 00:15:35.669 --> 00:15:37.990 if you're gonna be a leader at your school, in 282 00:15:38.009 --> 00:15:42.330 your community, in your church, or anywhere else, to be 283 00:15:42.370 --> 00:15:45.940 a leader means somebody's gonna misunderstand you. You can spend 284 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.039 all your time trying to correct those misunderstandings, but here's 285 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:52.100 what happens. If they don't like you, and they have 286 00:15:52.139 --> 00:15:54.240 motivated reason, a lot of people are like, well, if 287 00:15:54.299 --> 00:15:56.830 I teach them the truth, then they'll like me. But 288 00:15:56.889 --> 00:15:58.850 if actually you teach them the truth, it just makes 289 00:15:58.889 --> 00:16:02.759 them more mad. it makes them more mad because you 290 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.139 disproven they were wrong and now they really. 291 00:16:04.899 --> 00:16:07.120 Don't like you. And so they go out and they 292 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:08.279 find out something else. 293 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.879 The more effective you are in life, the more you're 294 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:17.210 going to be attacked. I decided a long time ago 295 00:16:18.330 --> 00:16:20.629 that I'm not gonna spend any of my time trying 296 00:16:20.649 --> 00:16:26.450 to answer every lie, every criticism, every rumor, every gossip, 297 00:16:26.809 --> 00:16:32.549 every false misrepresentation, You know, I'm just gonna leave it 298 00:16:32.590 --> 00:16:35.350 to God. Why? Because if I did spend my time 299 00:16:35.409 --> 00:16:37.309 trying to correct all those things, I wouldn't have. 300 00:16:37.250 --> 00:16:38.129 Any time for anything else. 301 00:16:40.929 --> 00:16:43.649 The more influence you have, the more you're gonna be 302 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:44.879 criticized in life. 303 00:16:45.409 --> 00:16:46.389 Just count on it. 304 00:16:47.379 --> 00:16:50.259 And pioneers get the arrows in the back. If you're 305 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.340 gonna call the shots, you're gonna take the shots. So 306 00:16:52.659 --> 00:16:55.159 to be a leader in a business means you're gonna 307 00:16:55.179 --> 00:16:57.740 be criticized. To be a leader in a church means 308 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.639 you're gonna be criticized. Community, anywhere else. I want you 309 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:04.779 to be fearless. What God wants is a generation of 310 00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:10.440 fearless men and fearless women who say, I'm gonna do 311 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.170 the right thing. Doesn't really matter what anything else, because 312 00:17:13.250 --> 00:17:18.170 I'm living for an audience of one. Well done, now 313 00:17:18.210 --> 00:17:21.650 good and faithful servant. That's what I'm living for. Now, 314 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:25.410 you just leave it to God, because you can't correct 315 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:27.829 it all. And even if you did, they're not gonna 316 00:17:27.849 --> 00:17:30.569 change their attitude. Now let me show you a couple verses. 317 00:17:31.130 --> 00:17:34.210 Psalm chapter two, verse 12. 318 00:17:34.210 --> 00:17:40.849 God blesses and God protects everyone who runs to him. 319 00:17:41.089 --> 00:17:44.230 Not everybody who defends himself, not everybody who fights back, 320 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:49.140 not everybody who goes tit for tat and you hit me, 321 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.160 I hit you back. No, God blesses those who run 322 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:55.839 to him. So you let God be your defender against 323 00:17:56.059 --> 00:17:59.799 accusations and against critics. The next verse, Psalm 62, on 324 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:03.809 your outline, gives us five metaphors for God's protection. I 325 00:18:03.849 --> 00:18:07.869 want you to underline them. David says this, I depend 326 00:18:08.190 --> 00:18:12.829 on God alone. I put my hope in him. He 327 00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:19.309 alone protects, underlines. He alone protects. He alone saves, underline saves. 328 00:18:19.750 --> 00:18:23.250 He alone protects and saves me. He is my defender, 329 00:18:23.470 --> 00:18:27.529 underline that, my defender. I shall not be defeated, underline 330 00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:32.509 not be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God. 331 00:18:32.630 --> 00:18:36.329 What's your honor? It's your reputation. It's your reputation. 332 00:18:36.569 --> 00:18:42.210 My salvation and my reputation depend on God. He is 333 00:18:42.269 --> 00:18:46.299 my strong protector and he is my shield, underline shield. 334 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.940 underline my shield. Now notice the five metaphors. God says, 335 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:57.579 he's my protector, he's my savior, he's my defender, he's 336 00:18:57.619 --> 00:19:01.950 my victor, and he's my shelter. He's saying, let me 337 00:19:01.990 --> 00:19:05.190 handle it. When you do that, you are being poor 338 00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:08.309 in spirit. You're saying, God, I'm not depending on myself, 339 00:19:08.769 --> 00:19:11.930 I'm depending on you. I depend on your wisdom, I 340 00:19:11.950 --> 00:19:14.609 depend on your strength, I depend on your timing and 341 00:19:14.630 --> 00:19:18.130 your plan, And I depend on your defense, not mine. 342 00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:20.579 And when God sees a person like that, he goes, 343 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:23.359 that's my boy, that's my girl, that's who I want 344 00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:29.400 to bless. You're most like Jesus when you don't defend yourself. Now, 345 00:19:30.819 --> 00:19:32.799 one of the greatest sources of stress you're going to 346 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:37.650 have in your life is anxiety about money. In fact, 347 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:42.150 studies show it's the number one cause of divorce, financial pressure. 348 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:47.980 It's the number one anxious, anxiety-producing issue. Money, am I 349 00:19:48.019 --> 00:19:50.349 gonna have enough to survive? Am I gonna have enough 350 00:19:50.410 --> 00:19:53.710 to make it? Financial worries. It keeps people awake at night, 351 00:19:54.309 --> 00:19:57.710 and it causes people to do all kinds of stupid 352 00:19:57.730 --> 00:20:01.980 things because they start worrying about money. So let me 353 00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:04.380 just give you one more way to depend on God, 354 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:08.359 and that is this. Number five, I depend on God's wealth, 355 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:14.309 not money. Mine, for my own safety, for my own security. 356 00:20:14.950 --> 00:20:19.990 I depend on God's wealth, not my wealth, for my security. 357 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.380 If you put your security in your bank account, you 358 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:27.319 are an insecure person, because you can lose everything you 359 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:29.980 got in the bank. If you put your security in 360 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:33.420 your job, you are a very insecure person, because you 361 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.589 can lose your job. If you put your security in 362 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:40.809 your investments, you're a very insecure person, because you can 363 00:20:40.849 --> 00:20:43.799 lose your investments. You have to put your security in 364 00:20:43.859 --> 00:20:47.539 something that cannot be taken from you, and that is God. 365 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:51.259 Here's what the Bible says about God's wealth, not yours. 366 00:20:51.960 --> 00:21:00.579 Philippians 4.19, and my God will supply all my needs. 367 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:06.549 My God will supply all my needs, From his abundant wealth. 368 00:21:06.619 --> 00:21:09.410 Circle that. It's God's wealth, not your wealth, that makes 369 00:21:09.470 --> 00:21:14.410 you secure. From his abundant wealth. Because of what Christ 370 00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:19.430 Jesus has done for me. So I depend on God's wealth, 371 00:21:19.950 --> 00:21:22.839 not my wealth. I depend on how much God's got, 372 00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:25.900 not how much I've got, to be secure and to 373 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:28.519 not be anxious. I want you to write this down. 374 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:32.930 Write it down on your outline. My job is a channel, 375 00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:37.190 but God is my source. Let me explain, it's very important. 376 00:21:37.410 --> 00:21:40.450 If you understand this, you'll have so much less stress 377 00:21:40.509 --> 00:21:45.809 in your life. My job is a channel, but God 378 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:50.109 is the source of my supply. Let me give you 379 00:21:50.130 --> 00:21:54.079 an example. If I were to go home from this service, 380 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:59.180 and I were to turn on the faucet in our kitchen, 381 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:02.180 and no water came out, What would I do? 382 00:22:02.859 --> 00:22:07.180 Would I say, oh my, the world has run out 383 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:07.740 of water. 384 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:13.490 There's no more water left in the whole wide world. 385 00:22:13.829 --> 00:22:16.809 I turned on the faucet, there is no more water left. 386 00:22:16.950 --> 00:22:17.569 Of course not. 387 00:22:18.809 --> 00:22:21.609 I know the problem is not with the source. The 388 00:22:21.690 --> 00:22:27.119 problem is with the distribution point. The problem is not 389 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:29.880 the source. There's plenty of water in the world. The 390 00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:34.970 problem is the channel. The channel has gotten blocked one 391 00:22:35.009 --> 00:22:35.609 way or another. 392 00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:37.609 And you know what? 393 00:22:37.950 --> 00:22:40.670 If one channel gets blocked in your life and this 394 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:44.099 faucet stops working, God can turn on another faucet just 395 00:22:44.140 --> 00:22:49.279 as easy. And if God closes a door in your life, 396 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:53.609 he can open another door. And if another door closes, 397 00:22:53.670 --> 00:22:55.960 he can open a window and you can crawl through it. 398 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:02.440 God is not limited to your ability and capacity. 399 00:23:03.259 --> 00:23:04.539 Your job is a channel. 400 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:08.019 If you think that your job is what keeps you 401 00:23:08.099 --> 00:23:13.640