Life Preservers | Rev. Jimbo Yokum

so good to be here this morning in Maryville I give honor to your wonderful Pastor got to have dinner with him and his sweet wife last night and just tremendous people of God you're An Extremely Blessed people a first-class Church everything that I have seen has been first class um and and my wife and I are so grateful to give honor to your pastoral staff for the Erickson I give honor to Sister Hammond and the Hammond boys anyone else in the Hammond family besides brother Zach Hammond uh it's so wonderful to be here as he said I am an attorney so don't hold that against me I think it's funny that he's saying that I'm not a good witness like he knows anything about Witnesses um and uh so I I am an attorney so if you or someone you love is injured in an accident a tithe right right um so good to be here I told my October the carpenter last night my story was that all I remember is us praying and fasting for 18 weeks and uh and that's what I was sticking to it's not technically the truth but that's what we're going with um I can't tell too many stories on uh on brother Hammond because every one of them that I tell I was right there with him so I'd be you know kind of putting myself as an accessory so we won't go there but it's so wonderful to be here good to have my beautiful wife jessalyn with me um so excited to be able to travel with her usually she's at home with our babies they're right now with pop and darling back in Monroe we have a three-year-old named Zion and a 20 month old named Adonai we call her Addy and she's usually taking care of them but she wanted to come to Maryville and so she came with me and I'm so thankful it's just what a wonderful wonderful atmosphere in this place Jesus is in this house anything you need is possible anything you need is is nothing but a decision away it's all that stands between you and your Miracle is a decision it's a choice whenever a first responder comes on the scene of an accident and someone's there the first thing they do is they don't they come up and see if the person is responsive because response is indicative of life if they come up to you and you responding they know the emergency level has dramatically increased if you're non-responsive then it shows that they're this a high likelihood of a life-threatening issue the same applies spiritually your responsiveness to the move and enticement of God is indicative to your spiritual health so if you come into service after service and sit here and you're not moved I hate to break it to you but there are some life-threatening issues going on somewhere that need to be addressed you have to be responsive to the word of God even nature responds to his word and so if you don't respond to his word it's not natural you have to be responsive to the word of God and so I just I'm so incredibly humbled my wife said are you nervous or scared to be here I'm nothing to nobody I grew up on Tillman Street in Minden Louisiana both my parents are drug addicts got divorced when I was seven uh I'm not supposed to be here and so she said are you scared or nervous I said I'm called of God it's God's Divine appointment for me to be here I've been equipped to be here it's the Divine Purpose of God for me to be behind this pulpit this is what God has destined me for my entire life and yes I'm terrified let's jump directly into the word of the Lord the gospel of Genesis I know uh you think Genesis got the word gospel means good news and Genesis good news in the beginning he created it's kind of good news for you right uh Genesis the 45th chapter verses one through eight Genesis 45 verses 1 through 8. then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him and he cried because every man to go out from me and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his Brethren and he wept aloud and the Egyptians in the house of pharaoh heard and Joseph said unto his brother and I am Joseph that my father yet live and his Brethren could not answer him for they were troubled at his presence and Joseph said unto his Brethren come near to me I pray you and they came near and he said I am Joseph your brother and whom you sold into Egypt now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life for these two years hath the famine been in the land and yet there are five years in which there shall neither be earring nor Harvest and God sent before you to preserve you a Prosper a prosperity in the earth and to save your lives by great Deliverance so now it was not you that sent me hither but God and he hath made me a father to pharaoh and a Lord of all his house and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt I'd like to draw your attention to verse 5 it says that he had done this thing to preserve life I'd like to preach this morning with the help of the Holy Ghost on this thought life preservers life preservers father I love you so much I'm so tremendously thankful for this wonderful assembly of people this amazing Oedipus to your power and your kingdom but God most most amazingly to your spirit that is here I thank you for the move of your spirit that we experienced already God let me simply be the microphone of Heaven this morning amplifying your voice to your people use me God my lips of clay use them as an oracle of your word we'll give you thanks and praise and glory in Jesus name in Jesus name and everyone said amen as you see to turn to your neighbor and say life preservers life preservers and 278 BC an individual was born by the name of Archimedes in Syracuse what is now Sicily Archimedes was a renowned scientist the mathematician he had many inventions in discoveries but Chief amongst them was the discovery of what is called Archimedes principle Archimedes principle is is the basis for flotation or buoyancy you see there was a man at that time by the name of King herion who was the king of Syracuse who had commissioned the creation of a new crown and he was skeptical as whether or not it was pure gold and so he called Archimedes and asked him to determine it was pure gold now at that time there was no acetone testing or real technology to determine it and so this was a perplexing issue to determine if something was pure gold because only a way really to determine that would be to destroy the crown which obviously was not an option so The Story Goes Archimedes were sitting in a bath thinking about it and as he shifted he relies that the water spilled over the bath and it hit him that as he submerged himself lower into the water more water was displaced and that gave light to Archimedes principle that the surface of liquid pushes back upon the same equal amount of force as that is exerted down on it if you push down on Water the amount of water displaced is the same amount of water as is is the size of the object in the water so if I put my hand in water the amount of water displaces the same volume as my hand and water is pushing back up against me and so Archimedes principle says that in order to keep something afloat you must have something that pushes up the weight of it now this is what we call a life preserver this little orange thing has been in the front of every redneck boat since 1812. how many of you wearing something like this strangling you to death as your granddaddy taught you how to brim fish this thing is is nothing but orange vinyl material with cork inside of it but what it's meant to do is to keep you above water now in order to do that this has to produce the same amount of pressure or lift the same amount of weight as you this cannot hold 200 pounds but we must remember that in the water you do not weigh 200 pounds the average human in water weighs 7 to 10 pounds when you are in water you weigh approximately the same amount as an average newborn child and so this is designed not to keep 200 pounds above water in weight it's designed to lift between 7 and 15 pounds out of water and it's not designed to keep your body out of water it is designed with one thing in mind and that is to keep your head above water you see your head is the only part of you that has to be out of water for you to survive your head is the only thing that must be out of water for you to thrive and continue to live in the midst of an accident there was a man by the name of John Wilkins who in 1768 issued the first patent for what we call a life preserver it was really nothing but large pieces of court with with rope issued around it that you tie around your waist and under your arms but this became a staple upon every vessel and watercraft as history progressed now every boat every commercial liner has to have more life preservers on the boat than people because people understand that if you're in an accident or a wreck or a tragedy that you have to be have to have something that lifts you up lifts you up above the surface of the water I've come to preach to you this morning that God has divinely appointed you and has introduced you into areas in life and situations and circumstances that you feel are meant to drown you but God has done this to preserve life God has introduced you in the atmospheres that are inhospitable that you're not designed to thrive in it's not your natural habitat but God has a greater plan as Pastor mentioned this morning unanswered prayers God has a unique ability of understanding exactly what you need when you need it something to keep your head above water something to keep you in the area in place that you need to be we have to realize that that we must rely on God if you are in water you are relying on something you're on a boat you're relying that it doesn't sink you're on a raft you're relying on the fact that it doesn't have holes in it if you're in a life jacket you're relying that it's going to keep you out of water Reliance is the essential Foundation of Christianity Reliance is the essential foundation and is the prerequisite of faith in order to believe you have to learn to rely Proverbs said like this trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thy own understanding but in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He Shall direct thy path before he can direct your path you've got to learn to trust lean and acknowledge you got to learn to depend on something we have a dependency issue in our faith we have a we have an epidemic of of Independence we have an epidemic of people who don't feel like they have to depend on God and if you don't depend on him you're going to get out of him what you expect out of him you see you're going to get out of him what you expect out of him and so if you expect nothing from him guess what you get what you ask for dependence is the scourge of the apostolic faith and of Christianity abroad it's this mentality that I can make it on my own and you can make it on your own if you want to but you're not going to make it on your own in God's Kingdom you can make it on your own in the world you can drown in a world that you're not designed to live in and you can die spiritual death but if you want to keep your head above service at some point you're going to need something to hold you up at some point you're gonna need something to lift you up out of your circumstance at some point you're gonna have to depend on something Beyond yourself depend on something out of your control and out of your hands the strongest the strongest swimmer in the world can't make it in the ocean you can be the strongest swimmer in the world Michael Phelps out there dashing through the waves at some point he's going to give out at some point he's going to have to depend on something Beyond his strength well I can make it on my own you probably can for a little while you can swim a little bit the Bible says sin is pleasure for a season you see that type of lifestyle is seasonal it has a conclusion at some point you're going to have to look for something that can hold you up we have to learn to rely on God people that in the word of God that are what are known as kind of colloquially as The Heroes of Faith they have one common characteristic and that is reliance David was a murderer an adulterer but he relied on God Jeremiah was a crybaby but he was relied on God Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were liars and deceitful but they learned to rely on God and they built altars along the way Samson was was a man of low morals and characters but he learned to rely on God we have to understand this morning that Reliance is so necessary to preserve life but the question obviously is what must I rely on what is the thing that I can depend on God for if you're in a shipwreck and you have two things floating beside you which one are you relying on you're in the middle of the ocean waves crashing over you the boat sunk no one's around for Miles both of them Float by which one do you grab do you grab the one that was designed for recreational use or the one that comes out to save your life do you grab the one that's meant to keep your head above water or that are the ones that meant to keep you having an even tan this was made for recreational use this was made only for a hobby this is what you do when you're relaxing on Sunday or Saturday you're hanging out with the kids in the pool this is just something that's nothing but a novelty it's not intended to save your life in a storm but yet this is the type of faith that people seem to want to have this is the church experience that people seem to want to give they want recreational use only they want something that might keep them a little bit in shallow water and something that might hold them up a little bit in calm storms but they don't want to do what it takes to get a hold of God in a level and a dimension that keeps your head above water no matter the situation or the circumstance God help us if we settle for anything less than a life preserver God help us to be satisfied if we're satisfied with three dollars worth of Jesus on Sunday that doesn't keep us on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday something that doesn't hold us up throughout the week as the doctor gives you a diagnosis that's unfavorable and the banker tells you that you can't pay your bills next month or your children are running around acting a fool or your spouse is threatening to leave you then your house is about to be foreclosed on do you want to grab something that's Bound in faith and prayer and tried and true or will you be satisfied with an encounter with God that lasts 15 minutes on Sunday morning and then is in the rear view mirror we have too many people we have too many people that all they want is to check the box in their schedule on Sunday I'm a good Christian I go to church on Sunday morning if I'm really good I go on Sunday night and if I'm on fire I make it for Wednesday and all they want is the people that think that they have a hold of something that'll keep them afloat it's Optics they don't want to commit to to something like Joseph had to commit to you see life preservers are ones that are tried and tested and true it's something that's designed to keep you up out of the water in the worst of circumstances it's something that's designed to keep you out of Stormy waves and to keep you afloat this is not the type of faith that you need to Endeavor after this is not the goal of your life this is simply a novelty item and God help us and we're satisfied with an experience with God that is nothing more than meant to say to satisfy temporal satisfaction a temporal desire something that's going to scratch the spiritual itch on Sunday but not sustain us throughout the week God help us as an indictment against our faith it's an indictment against our faith if we're scared to pray for someone in Walmart on Monday or Tuesday it's an indictment against our faith if we're scared to stand up and testify about the goodness of God and biblical principles brother carpenters and indictment against our faith that the leaders that are opposing the transgender and homosexual movement are not churches but social conservatives and philosophers and people of Judaism and Islam it's an indictment against our faith that we won't stand up proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ it's an indictment against our faith if we're satisfied with looking like we can keep our head above water but the first time too much pressure is exerted upon this and the first time it gets put into a storm it'll sink you down like lead and we'll look at God and say I thought you were supposed to hold me up and he's going to wave it in our face and say I never told you to get this this isn't what I offered you this is your creation this is your compromise this is your settlement agreement this is what you made and manufactured you took advantage of the move of God you took advantage of of the worship service and you stopped at this when I was trying to give you this God help us God help us we've got to learn to live for God we've got to learn to thrive for God we've got to learn to depend on God we have to be able to to give ourselves holy to God we've got to be able to to survive in deep Waters inhospitable atmospheres Jesus said that if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall speak to this mountain and say remove hints from Yonder place and it shall be removed and nothing shall be impossible nothing shall be impossible unto you we look at that and we say well you got to have a little bit of faith we sing about it just a little bit of Faith the must receive the smallest seed that is not what that scripture was meaning it wasn't meaning that alone you can draw that conclusion I understand the metaphor but that Mustard Seed is what is called a black monster tree and the black mimosa tree is this little little weed looking tree that thrives in that area of the world have you ever seen an old abandoned in Walmart parking lot full concrete out the middle of it there's one little tree sticking up waving in the wind big weed looking thing that's a mimosa tree the black mimosa tree and we know it's this tree because in another reference to it it talks about birds nesting and the only Mustard Seed quote unquote that produces a tree big enough for birds to nest in is this tree the the the characteristic of the black mimosa tree that is most unique that is Jesus is referencing is that that seed can germinate and grow and prosper in areas where other seeds cannot survive uh it's not natural for a for a tree to grow in concrete but a mimosa tree can find roots and set roots and germinate in places that is not meant to and so what he's saying is if you have faith that can Thrive and survive in the most inhospitable environments if you have faith that can survive when the world's against you and your families against you and life's against you and the devil's coming in against you if your faith can Thrive and survive in that atmosphere in that environment if you can set roots and grow up and produce fruit there then you can move mountains and nothing shall be impossible I'm so sick and tired of seeing people that have circumstantial faith and the law we have what's called circumstantial evidence circumstantial evidence is not what is called direct evidence direct evidence is something that you can observe or see so for example a fingerprint is circumstantial evidence it does not show the pan touching it's not direct a picture of my hand touching direct evidence fingerprints is something that you use to draw a reference or conclusion to circumstantial so the fingerprint shows circumstantially that at some point my finger or hand was there we have what is circumstantial faith we have faith that is not founded on a direct impact with God we have it like this now in Acts 4 Peter said we cannot testify but to that which we have seen and heard we have experienced what he was saying is my testimony is is indicative of what I have firsthand knowledge of the problem with us today and the issue with all Reliance on God is we want to spend time talking about what God did through other people because we don't have anything personal to tell anybody my God he healed my grandmother back in 1982. my great-grandfather didn't have grown those stories are great but what story can you tell that of something you saw or heard we have circumstantial faith we have we have faith that is dependent on the situation if things are great my God our faith through the roof but if things are bad then God's against us that is the that is that is is something that is so deadly to to to the things of God it's it's against God God's your faith has to be a settled and established thing it's the yea though he slayed me yet will I trust him type of faith not as long as I have food on my table that that's not Faith that's just that's just observation that's just that that is that's not true Faith that's nothing but you giving thanks to something you got that's like Jesus said shall a man shall you call it a blessing for a father to give a son an egg no that's just natural being thankful as you get stuff is natural being thankful to God when you don't have anything is Supernatural we have to learn that we are so as Believers if you want to live in this world we are so dependent on God do you realize how how dependent people are every year when you file your taxes those little Rugrats that eat all your food and you gotta buy shoes for every two months they're what are called dependents you mark them as a dependent because you know they depend on you humans are extremely weak creatures we depend on our parents till we're 40 years old supposed to be 18 but it's not anybody who thinks it's over at 18 you got something coming we're dependent compare us to other creatures a deer or a cow when it's born within hours can walk it takes a human 10 to 14 months to learn how to walk a deer within a year it's away from his mom and it's self-sustaining and can graze and feed itself a human it takes decades to to 20 years 15 20 years for them to learn how to supply their own needs we are naturally dependent and that is a that is a mirror image of how it should be in the kingdom of God there is this father son relationship this parental obligation that we have to depend on him oh we have to learn to rely on him we have to learn to seek after his face we've got to learn to to pursue after his will and his ways you want to survive in this world that constantly is pulling down on you and dragging you down like the tide Waters of the ocean you have to have something that is around you that can lift you back up you have to have something that surrounds you that can pull you back John the third chapter an amazing uh excerpt one the most the most quoted scripture in the Bible is located in there John 3 16. John 3 16 says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life but in order to get to John 3 16 you got to read verses 1 through 15. that's the end of a sermon that's the conclusionary statement let's start at the beginning or in that time there was a man a religion named Nicodemus Nicodemus came to Jesus by Night the same asking said Rabbi Master we know that thou are a man sent from God for we have seen the great works you have done and in Jesus sponsors verily verily I say unto thee lest a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus said we've seen a lot of stuff and he said you ain't seen nothing unless you've been born again well Europe we know that yeah we're a master a man of great faith or we have seen the works you hadn't seen nothing unless you've been born again Nicodemus obviously is perplexed what does Born Again mean the child in her second time in my mother's womb now a common denominator amongst Christianity most denominations is this term being born again you got to be born again Born Again Believers but there's only one biblical definition of the term being born again it's only mentioned one time John 3 and 3. he tells me I'll be born again so there's only one definition of it in three and five he says and verily verily I say in thee less a man is born of the water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God we've gone from seeing to entering now you gotta be born of the water and of the spirit how do you be born again you're born the water and of the spirit or otherwise you can't enter the kingdom of God for that which was born of the flesh is of the Flesh and that which is of the spirit born the spirit is of the spirit thou which is Born In the Flesh depends on the flesh but that which is born of the spirit depends on the spirit for the wind bloweth where listen no man knows where that cometh where they're going and Jesus proceeds to preach for a little while and he concludes and says that if you believe on me then you shall not perish but you'll have everlasting life when he said believe on me what he's saying is if you believe the full sermon I just gave you not believe in my existence not not believe in in Calvary hadn't even happened yet he wasn't saying believe in Calvary they didn't know what Calvary was they were going to fight tooth and nail to keep him off the cross he said if you believe what I've said if you believe on me this water and spirit birth what we have to understand is this eternal truism that us as Believers we as Believers live in Two Worlds we are in this world but not of this world when you're born again you're born into the kingdom of God you're born into the kingdom of God and now you are a citizen of a new kingdom you have a new citizenship your you're experiencing something that no one else has seen or heard you you are in a new world Jesus said any man that tries to come in except by me is a thief and a robber a thief and a robber is simply someone who didn't pay to get in you're going to get you gotta you want to get in the Kingdom there's a process you've got to be born again and now you live in these two worlds and so the question is is if I now and of this world what happens if I try to go back and live in that world if I'm now in this Kingdom if this is my new habitat and environment what happens if I try and go back the Bible says that we must be conformed to the image of Christ and that that we're renewed by the the we're transforming renewed by his the mind of Christ be not conformed this world but be transformed transformed by the renewing of your mind that word transformed the Greek is metamorphic where we get our word metamorphosis do you know frogs are amazing creatures frogs are some of the few species or a few animals that are born one creature and Die Another a frog is born one creature and dies a completely different creature you could say the same thing about butterflies except not to the same extent because a caterpillar and a butterfly both live on land a frog is born a tadpole has gills breathes under water eats algae as an herbivore as a as a tadpole for approximately three to four weeks it is nothing but a small fish but as it begins to transform in Metamorphosis it's reborn into this now amphibious creature that lives on land no longer does it have gills now it breathes air it doesn't eat algae now it eats insects it's gone from a herbivore to a carnivore listen to what I'm saying it's naturally born one thing that takes in Breeze one thing and eats one thing but after it's transformed it can't breathe what it used to breathe it can't eat what it used to eat it can't live where it used to live it can't go where it used to go it can't swim with the people it used to swim with it can't do those things it can it can dive back in from time to time but it's doing nothing but holding its breath for four to seven hours average frog can hold its breath but at some point it's got to go back to its world to breathe and when you're born again you are born into sin and shapen in iniquity you were born one creature but when you experience Calvary when you're born of the water and of the spirit when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the spiritual evidence or proof of speaking in an unknown tongue when that happens you're transformed to the renewing of your mind and the Bible says you become a new creature in Christ you can't go where you used to go you can't take in what you used to take in you can't say what you used to say and drink what you used to drink you can't do those things anymore it will kill you spiritually it's not your environment anymore it's not your habitat anymore you have to understand when you're born again you're in a whole new world we have to we have to realize and grab a hold of this eternal truism that when you get saved as we call it when you are born again you are no longer the person you once were and if you try and go back there it's unnatural you go stick your head under water and see if you can breathe take a deep breath tell me what happens why you can't make it there well I look down and I see the fish and they're doing fine I look down and I see Fish and they're swimming around they're having a good time that's fine they are designed to live that life and so when you look at the world people that are unsafe and they seem to be doing great that's fine they're living in a world that is not yours they're trying to get where you're at they're stuck in tadpole phase and so when you look at them and they seem so happy and so joyful you're from the outside looking in but where they're at they're looking at you thinking how can I get there consider the the gospel of The Little Mermaid I want to be where the people are walking on those what do you call them streets she wanted to be in a world that she couldn't get to when you're born again you can't go back there it's so fun to swim with the dolphins until you're swimming when you Shipwrecked you're not meant to live out there we have to realize that that we are meant to be metamorphosed transformed to the renewing of our minds do you realize that you have five senses you have touch hearing sight smell taste out of those five senses four of them are dependent on your head you have four senses from here up 90 percent of your body is is only exposed to one-fifth of your senses and that's touch every other sense is up here and so when you're trying to be kept above water the only part that has to be kept above water for you to survive is the part that has intake intake is everything what you put into yourself cannot be under surface or it will kill you you're not designed to live there the only thing that's not up here is touch the Bible says that the heart is deceitfully wicked Above All Else and who can know it the heart there is not the the organ in your bumping in your chest it's your emotions your feelings your touch the parts of your senses that you cannot trust at all is how you feel the touch what you feel that will lead you into places of darkness and despair because that is temporal I can trust what I can hear see smell taste those experience appear much more than I can trust what I feel and if you think that you that that your spiritual health is dependent on how you feel you're in for a long long road I don't feel God as brother Arnold you say well I don't feel married but I am what does married feel like I don't feel this or feel that as I said at the beginning of this message salvation is not a feeling it's a decision you are deciding it you can hear God's word faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God the Bible says taste and see us two more that the Lord is good the Bible talks about the incense of worship the smell of it those things are up here but what you feel can be below the surface what you feel can be from an environment that you're not meant to survive or live in we have to learn to control our minds we have to keep our head above the thought process of a Believer is everything his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts that's why I said you had to be conformed to the renewing of your mind for the carnal mind is death or to be calling the mind is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace you have peace because you have life that's a spiritual mindset not a spiritual feeling not a spiritual encounter it's a mentality but a carnal or worldly mindset is death for the economy minded is death his spiritual Minds life peace for the carnal mind is that enmity with God and is not subject to the law of God and neither indeed can be it cannot be subject to God's laws and so when you look at how God does things the laws of his kingdom if you're looking through a world a world view a carnal mindset your mind cannot subject itself to those thought processes it won't make sense it's not natural it can't be subjugated or submit itself to the jurisdiction of Eternity to the kingdom of God it doesn't comprehend it it doesn't compute it it's against this enemy or enmity and so we have to learn that the first thing that the devil attacks is our minds Eve is in the garden the serpent comes to her and says half God said that you can't heal the tree of the knowledge of every tree of the garden no God said we can eat free leaves it's not free the knowledge of Good and Evil we can't partake or that day we can't touch it or eat of it that they will surely die the first thing he asks her or confronts her with is her knowledge of God and his word as God said this that and the other what do you know about what God Said Eve what do you know about what God's told you to do and not to do he immediately attacks our perception of God first he attacks the knowledge and then he attacks the motive I told you that because he knows the day you do you'll be asked Gods knowing good from Evil his motives are insincere and so the first thing is that we attack there's there's seem to be attacked is our knowledge of God and then our understanding of God those are two different things knowledge and understanding are two different things understanding is based on experience I can know baseball's rules but until you've got up their plate and seen someone throw a ball at you 80 miles an hour you hadn't understood it I can know that my wife can be mad at me but until I've been on the other side of it I hadn't understood it my dad used to say well when you explain it to me that way the knowledge and understanding we have to realize that spiritual warfare is so so mind heavy he's not trying to to drag you down all the way he just has to get your mind into his world spiritual warfare is not him trying to get your feelings down and your emotions down he's trying to get you into his world if he can drag your mind there second Corinthians the 10th chapter brother Zach give me second Corinthians 10. they told me he was reading for me and I said I was not aware he could read those Georgia fans just kind of assumed easy I have a mic too I feel I'm in the home of Tennessee football the land of mediocrity that's the best response y'all giving me all day long second Corinthians chapter 10. let's go uh verses uh start with verse two and we'll go to like seven or eight and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spiritual that's he's right I can't read second Corinthians 10. that is my case but I beseech you that I've not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh they think that we walk a court they think about us like we walk according to the flesh that's what they think of us keep going for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh they think we're in the flesh but we're not for the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal But Mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations imaginations and every High thing that exalted itself against the knowledge every High thing that exalts itself against what the knowledge the knowledge of God and bring it into captivity every thought everyone thought and thought in The Obedience of Christ they understand how we think they think we think like they do but we don't think like that they see one thing because they look at our life and they say it must be miserable but they don't think like we think they don't see what we see and so we're talking about spiritual warfare he said that for for for the weapons of our Warfare not carnal but our Mighty through God to the pulling down the strongholds we're talking about spiritual warfare casting down imaginations what is an imagination it's a thought an imagination is nothing but a thought it is a false reality it is you projecting or predicting an outcome that you have no basis for it's an imagination of a whole world your thoughts is is an opportunity for you to create your own world in your mind is your own world you determine the worlds you see in your mind in your mind you can fly don't think so have a good dream they're flying anybody ever tried it when they woke up no one here right a guy on the neck braces like but in our mind we we are in a war in our dreams in our mind we're in a world that is our own and so what he said is you have to cast down those imaginations and they're bringing the Captivity every High thing that exalts itself everything that pushes up and exalts itself against the knowledge of God and and every thought you have to bring every thought into The Obedience of Christ we have to realize that our mind has to be subjugated to the laws of God because if you let your mind run wild you'll wake up in a cold sweat wondering if your baby's gonna make it home at night you know they're not living right and they're lying to you like a dog when they tell you that they're at the friend's house because you can look online 360 and I know you're live and you're on your knees praying and your mind will take you places you gotta bring that down what the devil does is he tries to challenge your knowledge of God those imaginations those thoughts will entice you I was praying this morning I feel this so powerfully I don't know if I came for all of you but I know I feel on the prophetic realm that there's one person here and you're you're contemplating suicide you're you're thinking about ending it all let me tell you something baby life may not always be worth loving but it's always worth living you can either get a hold of your thoughts the only reason you're in that state is you can't bring your thoughts down to what God has said about you my question is what do you know about God I know God is faithful so any thought that comes and challenges the faithfulness of God I bring it down I know that God's A Healer so any thought that challenges that knowledge I gotta bring it down I know that God's a savior so any thought that tries to push against that I gotta bring it into captivity what he's trying to do is pull your head below water and to get you to think under the water and drown you in thoughts and imaginations it's fear it's fear and nothing else but fear the Bible says for God has not given us the spirit of fear but a power and love and of a sound mind the thing fear attacks is three things power you're you'll feel powerless and you can't do anything love you feel like nobody loves you and you reject it and your sound mind it gets in your thoughts and it starts wrecking your brain it's trying to drag you under the surface and drown you in fear but hear what the psalmist David said Psalm 64 and 1 he said hear my cryo God and this is my prayer that you may preserve my life from the fear of the enemy he didn't say from the enemy he said from the fear of the enemy preserve me from thinking about it preserve me from going there in my thoughts and getting my mind in places that you're not at foreign I've come to tell you this morning I don't know what you got going on in your life I don't know what your home and work life looks like I don't I don't know very few people here but I've come to tell you better learn to think like God wants you to think you better understand that that trusting God is you taking at face value what he said how do I do that brother what do I need to do to do that you get in the word of God and you begin to learn some things about God and know God you get in there and start saying the word of God you see the Devil comes to Jesus in the wilderness and he begins to tempt him and test his knowledge of who he was and what he did was he responded by telling the devil who he was I'm the word we can't live there we can't Thrive under the surface anymore we can't eat those things we can't take those things in Jesus said take my body into bread take the bread my body and break it take the blood and drink it he says I am the bread of life what he's saying is is I am now what you consume and live off of you got to learn that God is everything you need and anything that tells you otherwise is fear and lies it's from something from another world trying to bring you down to its way of thinking it's something trying to drag you down you need to check yourself if you need to check your thought processes you need to check what you believe and what you see around you and who you surround yourself with do you know what this is this is everything you need to survive but right here in this state this thing will drown you like a lead weight this looks like everything you need and it's only missing one key ingredient air the Bible says that God breathed and demand the Breath of Life a Man became a living Soul if anyone offers you something to save you and there's no spirit in it I don't care what it looks like I don't care how much potential it has I don't care what how how wonderful it could be if God's not in it it will drown you it will not help you it will it will Quicken the process quit relying on things that God's not in quit quit relying on things that God's not a part of and his spirit's not in it acts chapter 2 says and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as a rushing Mighty Wind it needs the Breath of God in it to hold you above water gotta have something spiritual inside of it to get you in the kingdom of God and without that spirit inside of it is nothing but a weight around your neck you got to get a hold of it you got to get a hold of something that's got the spirit of God in it I'd rather have an old prayer Warrior that looks like this thing than any old old spiritless Faith leader book writer author preacher motivational preacher he looks great he looks everything but he can't hold me above water but mama can't give me a good clear sentence but she's been holding her head above water for a long time it may not be fashionable it may not look great it may not be what you choose but baby it does the job don't you don't you buy into this trash don't you buy into that stuff that that tries to look good but doesn't have God in it David comes to Saul King Saul he's ready to fight man he's ready to roll Giants out there he's cursing God he and David's offended comes to Saul Saul's hiding in his tent Saul sells if you want to fight that's fine and then what soul do he tries to put his armor on David David put this on go fight what he's saying is is if you're going to go fight let me tell you what you need if you're going to win let me tell you what you need you're going to need this you're going to need to put this on you can do this this and this ever take advice from someone of how to win a fight if that person is hiding you don't you don't you don't let them tell you how to live life and how to overcome your devils and demons if they're still under the water don't let them tell you how to swim and keep your head above water if they drown a long time ago the Bible says that Saul was Head and Shoulders Above the Rest if anybody was qualified to fight a giant it was Saul but he's hiding back in there behind his men and behind behind the shrouds of his tent and then as the audacity to tell this young man what he needs to do I'm going to step on some toes here brother Carpenter just because it worked in one generation doesn't mean it's going to work in the next Saul said I follow a lot of people on this thing and one David said this doesn't work for my age group I'm not talking about faith I'm not talking about spiritual truisms I'm talking about method he he says whoa I can't move in this I can't walk in this and so David goes out and he fights Goliath now goliath says you come at me you look you send a boy to fight me and he has this sword and a spear he says I'm gonna I'm gonna feed him to the dogs David you think when he says you come at me with sword and spear the natural follow-up is I come at you with a sling and a stone we're talking about weaponry you got a sore in the spirit it's cool I gotta explain the stone but that's not what he says because David wasn't fighting that fight Saul thought or I have thought they were in a fight with swords and Spears David said this has nothing to do with physical fighting you've misunderstood everything and that's that's why he got so insulted because when when he heard Goliath out there yelling and cussing and fussing he he took it not as you're insulting me you're insulting my god I've been on the hillside picking my heart singing songs to him that's my friend that's my buddy we're close that's my that's my God the rest of them it was and then he was he was insulting a belief system but with David he was insulting someone he knew and so he comes out and says you come to me with sword and spear but I come at you in the name of the Lord what he's saying is you don't you you don't think correctly about this battle I do this is a spiritual battle and I don't have a soul I don't have a stone and a sling what I have is a thought process I have a spiritual outlook on this the young man comes to the old Prophet says we're surrounded by these syrians the goddess they got us hemmed up man we're trapped and he says God I pray that you would open your eyes open his eyes he looks up and he sees an Angelic hosts surrounding all of them he said how long have they been there they've been there the whole time you just didn't look at the situation properly you had the wrong Outlook listen to this preacher don't you rely on things that that look good but can't hold the weight of you if they can't hold the weight of your problems if they can't hold the pressures of your life then they're gonna drag you down to a surface that's going to drown you in fear and anxiety and depression and will kill you you've got to learn to keep your head above water you gotta learn to preserve life huh Peter's walking on water looking at Jesus and he's doing something he's not supposed to do the problem is is that as long as he's looking at Jesus and connected to Jesus then he's not in this world but the moment he gets breaks that connection it goes back to the Natural State it goes back to its natural state and so whenever he quits looking he undergoes the same outcome every other human that ever undergone he sinks because he went from a spiritual encounter to a physical experience and if you look at God in a church as a physical experience you will never come out of the natural reaction you'll never come out of Nature's natural habitat it's environment but whenever you learn to fixate yourself on a savior and you block eyes with the Savior and with nail scarred hands reaching out to you you'll learn to rise above everything in this world and you'll walk in places that no one else can walk in and you'll go places that no one else can seem to go and they look at your life everything's falling apart that everything is going wrong and they think you should be sinking but yet you're just a dancing on on what what other people would think on you're trotting like it's hardwood baby why is that it's because I'm not in this world I'm not of this world I'm in a different environment how can you walk where no one else can walk how can you rise above what no one else can seem to rise above it's simple I have something no one else seems to have I have a savior oh I want to transform someone's thinking this morning I want to challenge your faith this morning you need to you need to take a reevaluation of everything in your life you need to realize that all that bad stuff that's happened to you and on that turmoil and trial and tribulation you think it's trying to drown you what God is saying is I'm just giving you something to walk on I'm giving you something to stand on I'm giving you something to dance across Joseph was 17 years old he's arrogant and cocky and his brothers hate him he's the the at that time the only child of Rachel Jacob's beloved who had worked 14 years for he had other brothers sons of Leon vilba and Silva the handmaidens but he was he was mama's boy has his dream and his coat and and they get tired of it so they're out in the field one day his daddy says go out there and check on them and so he goes out to where they're supposed to be in zote them but they're not in South and they end up being somewhere else and so they they find him and they they're saying you know it's a good opportunity let's kill him kind of a overreaction but hey whatever that kind of escalated a little bit but Reuben says whoa guys we can't kill our brother why don't we just throw them in that pit over there and come back for him later that way we have to deal with him while we're out here working doing our business throw him in the pit the pack and play for all the parents you've done it don't tell me you hadn't let's put him over there we'll come back for him while he's over there and Judah has an idea Judah says let's sell him here come the ishmaelites in the midianites and we got him right there let's just sell him so they sell him Reuben comes back empty pit what have you guys done he tells me I told you what where is he what'd you do and so now Joseph goes from being mama's favorite the dreamer to being a a slave he sold into Piper's house you know Story part of his wife accuses him falsely and he ends up going to prison he rose to the top of pot of his house rose up above water gets pulled back down goes into prison once again Rises up a Believer you can't keep a good believer down you can I don't care what you put him in they'll rise up someone who knows God's gonna rise above it something you can put them in a pit they'll rise above it you can put them in slavery they'll rise above it you can put them in a prison they'll rise above it so he rises above it he ends up in Pharaoh's house turbot's a dream tells him about seven years of famine where we read today in Genesis 45 two years into the famine his brothers come to him and and and they don't realize it's him now Joseph recognized them but they didn't recognize him be very careful if someone looks the same they did 20 years ago that means they haven't grown any you should never be the same person you were 20 years ago you're not growing you ever see someone you're like man that dude he ain't changed a bit that's not a good thing I told him last night what I love about brother Hammond is over the three years it's been since fear interns plus a decade he has grown so much I hope I have to I think I did grow a little bit I think I was like five six then I'm like five seven be very very leery of people that that that look the same but they recognized didn't recognize him he eventually reveals himself to him and they are obviously distraught because you know it's the Scooby-Doo moment rule uh something bad's about to happen we sold him to slavery and now our lives depend on him and so they're in fear and he tells whoa whoa whoa guys you're not thinking about this correctly but for you betraying me but for your betrayal but for you raising your hand against me our family would die like everyone else is dying in this famine but God has done this thing as a life preserver when you realize that God will position you not only to keep yourself above water but to pull other people up above the water that's when you become a life preserver why am I going through all this what did I do to deserve this what did what did I do to deserve a pit in a prison and betrayal what did I do to all that at some point Joseph's thought processes shifted I think it's the moment his brothers walked in and and realized that that famine was written at his hometown I think at that moment it shifted he thought oh my God if it weren't for that thing that I took as the biggest betrayal of my life my family would die and I would die I'm a life preserver I'm bringing them up the ultimate test of a believer is your willingness to hurt and endure and be subjugated to terrible terrible things that that you don't deserve for the benefit of another it's one thing to do when you're benefited from it it's another thing to do when you don't benefit from it but I've come to tell you you are never more like Christ in that moment because not only did he not deserve Calvary he also didn't need Calvary he didn't need saving he didn't benefit from it he wasn't dying for his sins he wasn't dying to save himself he got no benefit other than reconciliation and Redemption for you and whenever you learn that God will put you in places and and make you endure things and go through things with the sole purpose of lifting others up that's the moment that you have realized I'm a life preserver I'm an Avenue of Salvation I'm a conduit to Eternity I'm a I'm a means to an end I I'm a way for people to drag other people up out of their depths of their despair I I can lift them up Paul's on the ship they hit a storm full of prisoners God had told him that no one else is going to die begins to break apart he tells them don't worry God told me everyone's going to live in this day if the ship broke apart you died there weren't life preservers Lifeboat you died he said don't worry guys we're all going to make it in Acts it says that they all went to shore on planks and broken pieces God will get you there it just may not be on the vessel you intended you might get to heaven on a broken life you might get to heaven on bow legs and blind eyes you might get to heaven with problems in your health and your family it might be on broken parts and portions of your life he never promised he was going to get you there on a cruise liner with valet service he said I'll get you there and they tell you something when you're in a storm in the ways of life are crashing over you you are not too picky about which plane to grab a hold of which vessel do you pick I pick the one that's going to keep me above water I challenge you this morning as we stand across the house the Lord and as the musicians make their way I pray that the spirit of God would sweeping across this house I came all the way from Bossier City Louisiana I came a long ways to tell maybe it's just one person get your head above water whatever it takes you're drowning your life is surrounding you and you go to breathe but you can't that's because you're trying to live in the past but she can't do that you can't live there it will kill you for principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places nothing can separate you from the love of God not things which are or to come but conveniently missing from that list of tenses is the past things which are present and are to come cannot separate you from love of God but your past can because your path going going into your past is something that only you can do only you can fish that out from under the blood because it's in your mind and you're going back into a world that you no longer can live in and expecting to be the same person you were but that person died in a watery grave of baptism you're a new creature in Christ don't you go there anymore can't do what you used to do be around who you used to be around I'll call you you say my life's wrecked apart everything's going wrong I'm telling you you better grab a hold of a plank better get a hold of something don't don't get a hold of something that God's not in don't get a hold of recreational Christianity that'll keep you afloat in the shallow calm Waters but not through the storms you better get a hold of an encounter with God that's meant to keep your head above water you better get a hold of an experience with God that's a life preserver that'll keep you from the fear of the enemy we've got to get a hold of it in April of 1912 this boat called the Titanic took three years to build in five years to sing or five days to sink you know the story well you got the museum there in Pigeon Forge over 2 200 people on the boat only 20 lifeboats out of the 20 life boats on the boat on the 18 were successfully deployed over two-thirds the people on that ship died in Frozen Waters for one reason and one reason only there weren't enough votes there there wasn't something there when they walked across that Gangplank onto that grandious ship huge Monument to the engineering marvels of man the problem is that no one took time to learn where the lifeboats were never crossed their mind they were on an unsinkable ship and there are people in this town of my voice that you think your faith in your life is Unsinkable and you've never taken the time to to get a hold of God enough to have a Lifeboat if you need it but let me tell you something I've learned across the way there's no such thing as an Unsinkable life every person if you're breathing you are you are subjectable to sin and failure and storms and tragedy that will endeavor to pull you under the surface I challenge you this morning do not wait until your life is sinking to try and figure out where the Lifeboat is don't wait until the waters are rising up over your body to look around and say where is a savior you better you better right now you better right now begin to take an inventory saying God if everything falls apart can I still be can I still have you if Peter you're gonna deny me three times no God no matter what happens oh you don't know Peter you don't know just a few hours later you'll be trying to go back and live where you once lived you'll try and go back and fish again and cuss again but you can't do it Peter you can't live there you better find an exit plan a Lifeboat Paul told Timothy he said Demas having loved this present world has forsaken me he must have tried you they send me somebody else Timothy Demus went back to where he came from he missed out on being an apostle he missed out on planting the church and now the only thing we know about him is that he forsook the gospel get a Lifeboat right now every head bowed and every eye closed I'm not going to all open these altars because these altars are never closed I'm gonna ask you I don't care if you've been in church for a hundred years I want to know are you thinking about God correctly are you looking at your life through eternity's eyes not worried about degrees and jobs and and and promotions but worried about salvation saying I'll do whatever I got to do to keep my head above water and I'll do whatever I got to do to keep my family above water I'll be a life preserver I'll endure I'll I'll I'll go through it I'll fight the good fight of Faith I'll make it but I've just got I'm drowning in my world but God can you save me I wanna get my eyes back on him this morning I want to realign my focus with him this morning will you respond to the word of God do you have any life in you will you respond oh the tears blow let the tears flow this morning it's God Breathe Into You the Breath of Life inflates you again where you can rise above it inflates you again where you can Rise Above It Rise Above That betrayal and that fear and that depression rise above those financial problems those marital problems how do I do it it's simple you just rely on God's faithfulness and he'll make a way he said cast your care upon me for I care for you rely on me I want to lift you up I care I care I care about you let a roar raise up a roar of intercession and travail who is it that you can pull up out of the water who is it in your family or your work that you can pull up out of the depths of despair it's your experience to drag up out of fear and depression and anxiety reach out a hand and say I'll help you up I'll help you get to this part I'll pull you above water where you can breathe again