In 2019. The New York Post ran a story that took place in 1918. Four men were going across Pennsylvania in a Model T Ford. And the Model T Hit a rock, rock blew up or jumped up and blew out the radiator. And they went over to a mechanic, and the mechanic looked at the car.
and said, you can't repair this. There's no way this thing can be repaired. It's done. And as a crowd was gathering around, A 55-year-old man spoke up and said, You know. I actually think I can fix this thing.
The mechanic said, You can't fix it. He said, No, actually, I think I can. He said, If you give me a pocket knife and a soldering iron, I think I can do it.
So this man started working on this thing, and in a short amount of time, He had this thing fixed. And the crowd just started clapping for him. A crowd had gathered around him. And they said, How in the world? Did you know how to fix this thing?
The man said, well, my name is Henry Ford. I invented this thing. The man who invented it It's a man who knew how to fix it. Listen to me. God invented marriage, He invented family, He invented your life.
God is the one who designed all this. Don't you think the one who designed it knows how to fix it? We've been talking about last week, this week, and for the next several weeks, how to live. A good life. How to live the kind of life That you wake up in the morning just excited about living.
How to live the good life. And I am just convinced. See, this doesn't come from me, this comes from God. But the God who invented your life, your marriage, your family, He knows the best way for it to be run. Y'all believe that?
And so, when we talk about living the good life, let's do a quick review because we're in 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 3. We've been going through the book of 1 Peter. Keep in mind when I say living a good life, That does not mean, number one, a problem-free life. See, when I say living a good life, y'all are like, good. I'd love to live a life with no problems.
No, you're going to have problems. Remember, Peter is writing this letter. to a group of people Who are about to go through persecution? He's writing this in the early 60s AD, 64 AD. There's mass.
Persecution. On the part of the Roman Empire, trying to destroy Christians.
So he's writing to people. They're going to have problems. You don't know the kind of problems they're having. You've never experienced the kind of problem they're experiencing. And yet, God is still telling them through the Apostle Peter how to have a good life.
despite problems. Secondly, when I said a good life, I don't mean money. Because when I say good life, I'm going to tell y'all how to live a good life. You're like, great. Chad's going to tell me how to make a lot of money.
No? Peter's talking to people. Half of his audience, maybe a third of his audience, are probably slaves. They ain't got any money. And so that tells me, living the good life doesn't have anything to do with money.
Some of y'all think if I could just get to this level of income, I'd live the good life. Peter's like, no, this has nothing to do with money.
Now let me remind you again. That this doesn't work for everybody. This only works for those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to those of you who understand that man, Jesus, the God-man, the one who never sinned. He took my sin, my wickedness, my filth on the cross.
He died in my place. He was buried. He was risen from the dead three days later. And when you turn from your sins and trust in Jesus Christ, Jesus comes into your life. You become his, he becomes yours.
And now this works for you.
Now you so much have. I want the good life. But I'm not born again. I don't belong to Jesus.
So, what advice would you give me? My advice is get saved. Get saved, get born again, and this will apply to you, okay? And so look, if you would, at 1 Peter 3, verse 10. Remember, Peter is reaching back into the Psalms, Psalm 34.
He's taking the advice of Psalms and he's now applying it to his audience, and he says. He who would Love life. How many of y'all want to just love living? You just enjoy life. He who would love life and see good days, you wake up in the morning, ready to take on the days.
Just life is good.
Okay, if that's you you want to live like that Let him refrain his tongue. From evil. And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
Three things right here. Let him watch his mouth. Remember, I told you last week: living the good life, it begins with the words you speak. Y'all have been trying to watch the words you spoke this past week as a result of last week's sermon. Oh, yeah.
That's one of the hardest things to control. It's easier to break a meth habit than a bad talk habit. Say the right things. Stop speaking the wrong things. That's the first step.
We hit that last week. And the number two is: all right. Turn away from evil and just start doing good. We'll hit that for a few minutes today. And then the third thing, if you want to kind of, if you want to live the life I'm talking about.
The kind of life where you wake up in the morning, ready to take on the day, you just love life. Number three, then you run after peace. Seek peace and pursue it. And so we hit number one last week. Let's go to number two.
You want to live a good life? Turn away from evil and do good. Look at verse 11. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Chad, what does that mean?
Okay. If you don't hear anything else from me, it's this: stop complicating the Christian life. Christian life is not that complicated. The Bible only gives us a few general principles, it just gives us those principles over and over and over again, using different words. Turn away from evil, do good.
That means stop doing bad things, start doing good things. For example, God is the mechanic. He is your, I guess, spiritual Henry Ford. He designed you. And he said, I did not design you to run on pornography.
Some of y'all are loading up on pornography. That's like trying to put gasoline in your gas tank. It doesn't work that way. That's not how I designed you. Do you know that psychologists are now finding a connection connection between Social anxiety, people are anxious all the time.
and watching pornography. God's like, the reason your life is miserable is you're doing bad. Stop doing bad. That's not how I designed you. Hey, here's another one.
I'm so tired of talking about this. Stop living together. That's not how God designed marriage. You say, well, Pastor Chad, I got to do a quick test drive for a couple months to make sure we're compatible. You can use all the euphemisms you want.
You know what the Bible calls it? It's called fornication. Stop doing it. In fact, even social scientists like Rosenfeld and Rosler, they study, they've done a longitudinal study of marriage. And they have found that individuals who cohabitate before marriage have a higher rate of divorce.
Why? Because God said, that's not how I designed this thing. I didn't design it for you to live with your significant other and then get married. The way I designed it is, you get married first. Stop doing evil start doing good now Most of us don't really deal with overt Sinful, wicked stuff.
Let me tell you what most of us deal with. We deal with these quote-unquote Gray areas. That really aren't technically sin. But they're bad for us. You say, Chad, where is that in the Bible?
I want you to look, if you would, at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. These are the author of Hebrews 7.
Now, this is so important. He said, let us lay aside every Wait, okay. And The sin which so easily ensnares us, and let's run with endurance the race that is set before us. Do you see what the author of Hebrews just did? He differentiates.
There are some things in your life that are, they're sinful, they're wrong. You can't do it. There's no doubt pornography is wrong. Adultery is wrong. Having an affair is wrong.
That's sin. But you see the second category? He said there's also things that aren't technically sin, but they are weights. They're not good for you. I'm going to give you an example.
Social media is not a sin. Honestly, I can't find a verse that says social media is sin. But some of y'all are destroying yourself through this all day long. Even neurologists are saying the act of doing this and dopamine and all this kind of stuff, it's destroying our brains. And so all day long, you're looking at Facebook and this and that.
Or chat, tape it to the chapter and the verse that says it's wrong. Can't take you to a chapter and verse. It's not in the Bible. But I will say this: over time, this thing is a weight and it is weighing you down. Can you do this for me?
One we just tried this week. Take two days and stop doing this. Stop scrolling social media. I'm just asking you, two days.
Well that's it, I don't know if I could do that. All right. If I were to ask you. Can you put the beer down for one day this week? And you told me, Chair, I don't think I can stop drinking one day this week.
Okay, do you know what we call that? You're an alcoholic. You tell me you can't put this down for a day or two, there's something wrong. Again, I can't take you to the chapter and verse. I'm just telling you, that's a weight and it's weighing you down.
And so what God is saying is, look. If you want to live the good life. Stop doing the bad stuff. And then start doing the good stuff. Turn away from evil and do good.
What do you mean? What kind of stuff you talk about with good?
Well, here's one: you're doing it right now. Go to church. Honestly. We go to church to worship God, okay? But God is so good, He's like, You come to worship me, but I am so good to you, I am going to bless you for coming into my presence.
In fact, the Wheatley Institute Just did a, they released kind of a meta-analysis of 1,000 sociological studies on church attendance. I didn't know there were a thousand studies on church attendance. They did a meta-analysis, and here's what they found: they said the evidence is overwhelming. Going to church helps your mental health dramatically. And they said, in particular, two areas: if you're struggling with depression, go to church.
If you're wrestling with suicide, go to church. But they said the benefits are absolutely amazing. When the Bible says, stop doing bad. Start doing good. You've already done part of that.
You're coming to church. I know. It'd be easy just to stay in bed and watch Joel Osteen from the bed. I get that. But that's not church.
Not speaking against Joel Osteen, I'm just saying that's not church. This is one of those things where God says, I know it takes some effort. I know the hurricanes played till late last night, and you're tired and you don't want to get up early in the morning. I get it, but get up and go to church because it's good for you. Stop doing evil, start doing good.
Here's another one, do good. Be nice to people. Honestly, just just be nice to people. In fact, it's interesting, in John chapter 13. Jesus has just given an object lesson.
He's brought his disciples together. He said, Take off your shoes. Everybody takes off their shoes. And Jesus, the second person of the Trinity. gets on his hands and knees and he starts washing everybody's feet.
He gives them a lesson on being, look, watch this: being others-focused, not self-focused.
Okay. He just gives them that lesson. And then here's what he says in John 13:17. He says, This: If you know these things, if you know you're supposed to be. Others focused and bless others and help others.
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Now, that word blessed, if you do a word study on that, the Greek word is makairos. Um Blessed is kind of an old English word. Makairos. Can I tell you what blessed literally means in English? It means happy.
Jesus just said. If you'll be others focused and blessed to others and be good to others, you will be happy, is what he's saying. It's pretty amazing, isn't it? In fact, I was reading a study this past week. The sampling was huge.
70,000 people, longitudinal study over 20 years, and it just basically boiled down to this: people who volunteer. Have much, much, much happier demeanors, outlooks on life than those who don't volunteer. It's exactly what Jesus said: you be good to others, you bless others, you be nice to others, it makes you happy. Just be nice. Just be nice.
Look, I know the jerk saw the same sign you did that lane ends in a quarter of a mile, and he probably should have just merged with everybody else. I know the jerk's trying to get to the front of the line. I get it, but just let him in. You don't need to teach them a lesson. You don't need to whatever.
Just be nice. This be nice. The most miserable people on the earth are the meanest people who say, I want to teach him. He'll never try to cut through traffic again. I'm going to show him a listen.
Okay, you. Fantastic. You've taught them a lesson, caused a major accident, and now you're more grumpy and angry than you were before all this. Jesus said, look, this is simple. Real simple.
Stop doing the bad stuff. Start doing the good stuff, okay? And so do you want to love life? Starts right here, the words you speak. I'm trying, I'm trying.
by the power of the Holy Ghost. to guard my words. Number two. Um stop doing bad stuff, start doing good stuff. And then, number three, and this is where we'll park maybe for a week, maybe two, maybe three.
We'll just see. Number three is run. Run. After peace. Hey, back on doing the good thing, this just hit me as well.
I'm not trying to get you money, but I'm saying this. I tithe my income to the Lord. 10% of my income goes directly to the Lord. Cad, why is that?
Well, because the book tells her to. I've also found That when I handle my money God's way, I just do good with my money, God honors it. My wife and I were watching, we'll get to number three in a second. My wife and I were watching the Today Show years ago. I don't watch liberal media anymore, but years ago we were watching the Today Show, and they had a.
financial planner on there. And it's like, I think it's the beginning of the year, and they always do these stories on how to start your new year right. And it was a financial planner: 10 steps to financial freedom for the new year. And, you know, it was obvious stuff: budget, don't spend more than you have, all this kind of stuff. And then the very last one, it's really interesting, number 10 said this.
Give away your income. This financial planner is not even a Christian. He said, we don't understand it. But people who give actually do better financially than those who don't give.
Well, I can understand it. It's part of God's economy. It's in the Word.
So there's a lot of things that you don't need to be doing because they're making your life miserable. God, the master mechanic, saying you're ruining your engine. Don't do that. And then there's some other things, just basic things like go to church, be nice, tithe your income that God honors. All right, so the third thing is this.
All right. Number one, watch your mouth. Number two, stop doing bad stuff, start doing this stuff. And then, number three, y'all ready for the third one? This is, I love this one.
Run after Peace. Let him seek Peace. and pursue it.
Now, this is where we're going to be because this is so important. You need to run after peace. Seek peace.
Now, some of you are saying.
Well, doesn't everybody want to have a peaceful life? Chad, you're stating the obvious. Look, you're right here. I've pastored for a long time, and I'm going to tell you something definitively: not everybody wants peace. There are people, I call them crisis Christians.
You ever met somebody like this? They are miserable if there's not a crisis going on in their life. They love the adrenaline rush of a crisis. And if they're not. If there's not a crisis going on, then they'll manufacture a crisis, but they are miserable if there's not a crisis.
You know, I want to ask them something that Jesus asks in the New Testament. It's always bothered me. Have you read this before? Be a man laid out on a mat. He's not walked in 30 years.
He's lame? He has to beg, smelly, his existence is bad. And Jesus would come up to that lame person. Here's what he asked: Have you read this before? Do you want to be made well?
I said, Lord, why aren't you asking that? Obviously, the guy wants to be made well. One day the Lord spoke in my heart and says, No, not everybody wants to be made well. There are some people who want to be known as the lame man. There are some people who want to sit around in misery, sad, sick, and sorry, and have everybody feel sorry for them.
Chad, don't just assume everybody wants to be made well.
Some people don't want to be made well. Hey, the Lord doesn't doesn't everybody want peace? No. Not everybody wants peace. Do you want to remember?
Do you want to live in peace? We're going to talk about peace for the next week or two. What do I mean by peace? I love doing word studies. You know what I mean by a word study?
I go in the Bible, I see a word, and I'm like, I'm gonna look that up in the Hebrew or Greek and kind of parse and see what it meant. I love doing word studies. Jeff and Liz caught me in the green room before the first service. I was doing a quick word study on a Hebrew word. I love doing that.
Now what I could do is a word study.
So Everybody, we're going to talk about peace. Here's what I mean by peace. Here's a word study. I don't think I'll do that. I don't think I'll give you a definition that you can write down.
I want to give you some two pictures right now of what I mean by peace.
So, in the next couple weeks, when I talk about peace, and I'll keep revisiting these two pictures, here's what I mean. First picture: when Dawn and I take people to Israel. And when we're through, we ask them, what was your best part of the trip? A lot of people say this: we love going on the Sea of Galilee. I mean, it is beautiful.
We're that might be the boat we ride in. We ride in a boat. And always, people have fun. It's always people do the same corny jokes every group that we take. Hey, if the boat breaks down, maybe we can walk on the water back on the shore and ha, all this kind of stuff.
We have a great time. We'll do praise and worship music out on the boat. When I talk about peace. This is a story. of a hurricane that comes up.
while Jesus and the disciples are in the Sea of Galilee. This is not a normal storm. In fact, I believe this storm was probably sent by Satan. You know, if you look at the Gospels, Satan, from the time Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill him. Jesus is a little baby.
Satan inspired his townspeople to try to throw Jesus off the cliff. I can go over and over and over. This is not a normal storm. This is a storm that is so bad. That fishermen who have spent decades on that lake.
They're losing it. They're about to wet their pants. They're screaming. They're crying. This is not a normal storm.
And then somebody says, Wait a second, we got the Son of God in our boat. Maybe He can help us out. Hey, where's Jesus? Do you know where Jesus is? He's in the back of the boat.
You know what he's doing? He's asleep. It's interesting. Maybe I'm reading into this. Why the stern of the boat?
Do you know those boats were steered? At the stern. That's where the tiller is. That's where the rudder is. You steer the boat.
You control the boat at the back of the boat. I wonder if the Bible is saying Jesus Christ, the one who controls everything, is sitting at the place of control.
Well, he's in the back of the boat. And they wake him up. And here's what they ask them. Hey, don't you care, Jesus? We're about to die.
We're perishing. Don't you care? Yeah. I think this is where you might see the humanity of Jesus because he was 100% God. Do y'all know that?
And 100% man. You say, Chad, that's that's 200%. Explain it. I can't just accept it and go on with it, okay? He's 200%.
Heat. He wakes up and he rubs his eyes. And I wonder if Jesus is just a little bit grumpy. Because here's what he does. It says he.
Rebuke. Fussed at The wind and the waves.
So imagine he is asleep in the middle of a hurricane, they wake him up, he rubs his eyes and he says to the wind and the waves: Hey, be quiet, I'm trying to get some sleep here. You know what happens to the wind or the waves? They cease. But that's peace. Everything is breaking loose around you.
The hurricane has hit your life. The doctor's report isn't good. The lawyer is saying she wants to file for divorce. Your friends have defriended you. There's a storm in your life, and yet you have this peace that passes all understanding, knowing he's in charge, he's in control.
I'll get my sleep. God knows what he's doing. That's peace.
Now here's what y'all say. Yeah, but that's okay. That's Jesus. He's the Son of God.
Okay. Well, let me give you an example of somebody who's not Jesus. Another place that we'll take you to in Israel is Herod's Fortress. We think this might be where Peter was put in prison. It's right outside the Jaffa gate.
And um Peter's been arrested by Herod. And Herod says, All right, Peter. Set your clock, because it's six o'clock in the morning. When that sun comes up, I'm taking you out in that courtyard, and I'm chopping your head off. My soldier's gonna kill you.
Now And then what would happen to me? I'm only afraid of three things. Number one, needles. Snakes. And I've always been like freaked out about decapitation.
Here's what I've always asked myself. I know this back. What, like when you're decapitated, how long does your brain know? Reality, like, how long is your brain functioning after your head is chopped off? Like, I'd read about the French Revolution.
And you know, they do the guillotine and they chop their heads off. I'd always wonder. How long were they still conscious after their head was chopped off? I mean, that's horrible. That's the stuff nightmares are made of.
But you can't tell me that they weren't conscious, at least for a few moments, as the blood was still circulating in their brain or whatever. Chad, we got kids here.
Well, that's why I tell you, bring your kids to the kids' area because I freak your kids out when you bring them here. Hey, so that's my big fear.
So, if I was Peter and I was told in a couple hours, you're going out of that courtyard, and they're going to chop your head off. All night long, Bill, okay. Am I going to be conscious for those few seconds afterward? Like, is it going to hurt? I mean, you can't ask somebody who got decapitated, did it hurt?
You can't ask them that. Is it going to hurt? Am I going to be conscious? And then I think I'm born again. I hope I'm born again.
But just to be on the safe side, because I'm gonna be seeing God tomorrow, I'd be going through the sinner's prayer over and over and over the whole night long, just to make sure I'm saved. Do you know what Peter's doing? He's chained up between two soldiers and an angel comes. To set him free. You know what Peter's doing?
He's asleep. And not only is he asleep, He is so asleep. That the angel shakes him and says, Peter, it's time to get up. You don't need to get up. Hey, Peters, time to get up.
Peter, he's just snoring, and the Bible says the angel smote him in the side. He literally went, hey, Peter, come, get up. We've got to get out of here. That's peace.
You may die tomorrow. You may lose your head tomorrow. And you're saying, well, then I got a long journey from here to there, and let me just get some good sleep because tomorrow I get to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the peace that passes all understanding that allows you to sleep in the midst of life's most trying circumstances. That's the kind of peace I'm talking about.
And what Peter is saying is, if you want to live the good life, You seek that kind of peace. And you pursue it. Because not everybody listening to me is doing that. I'm going to read a verse that's going to get in your business right now.
Some of y'all been wanting a prophetic word. I'm about to read you a verse right now that's going to make some of you agitated. You ready? 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11. Aspire.
And get as many people on Facebook to be your friends as possible. Aspire! To get more likes with this post than you got at your last post. Is that what it says? No.
Aspire to lead a quiet life. and to mind your own business. There's your prophetic word right there. Thus saith the Lord the God of hosts: mind your own business. That's what God's saying to some of y'all.
That is the antithesis Listen to me. That is the antithesis of the way some of y'all are living right now. No, no. Live a quiet life. Your goal is to live a quiet life and to mind your own business.
My wife is on this app. I won't tell you the name of the app. because I don't want to get in trouble or whatever, whatever. Uh it's an app. that deals with what's going on in the neighborhood.
This app. Tell you what's happening in the neighborhood. It's kind of a neighborhood type app. And every now and then, she'll show me something. And like a guy will post.
Here's my son's new bicycle, cute little eight-year-old kid with his new bicycle. And first comment, oh, that's great. Second comment, oh, good looking kid. Third comment, you better tell him to keep that bicycle off my yard. Yes.
Another comment, yeah, I'm tired of all these kids riding their bikes all over the yard. And then somebody commented on that. I know you're commenting about my kid because you commented on this last year about my kid. You better keep your mouth shut. And somebody else would comment, yeah, and I'm tired of these kids running through the neighborhood at 2 o'clock in the morning in their cars playing that loud hippity hop music, and everything just evolves into World War III.
And all the guy posted was, here's my son with this brand new bike. Let them do let the world do that. Y'all can do that. You you lead a quiet life. You mind your own business.
You don't stir things up. Seek peace.
And pursue it. And in fact, I'm going to show you why this is so important. James chapter 3, I cannot. I cannot emphasize enough how important this concept is for your day-to-day life. Look, if you would, at James chapter 3.
Again, this is scripture. This is inspired by God. James is actually a half-brother of Jesus Christ. And James himself says this. This is so important.
He says. But if you have Bitter envy. And self-seeking in your hearts. Do not boast. and lie against the truth.
This wisdom does not descend from above. No, it's earthly, it's sensual, and it is what? Demonic. Verse 16. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil.
thing Are there? I'm going to stop right there. Here's what this is saying: watch this. Because he calls it demonic and he calls it evil. Here's what he's saying.
Demons Operate in an atmosphere of confusion, bitterness, anger, strife. Demons love that. That's why demons love some of your homes. Because your kids are taking their cues from mom and dad. They watch the way dad talks to mom.
And mom talks to dad? And the kids talk to each other like that. There's a war going on in your house. Your kids are all the time bickering, fighting, fighting, bickering, bickering, fighting. Mom and dad can't get along.
The kids can't get along. And demons say, I love that house. I want to live in that house. I want a bedroom in that house. I want my own bathroom in that house.
I love living in that house. Demons operate in an atmosphere of strife, confusion. But look at verse 17. But the wisdom That's from above. is first pure Than what, church?
Peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. In what? Peace by those who make peace. Here's what verse is saying. Demons operate in an atmosphere of strife.
God operates in an atmosphere of peace. That's why Jesus says, Look, watch this. Here's what some of y'all need to do today: you need to say to your family, Kids mom and dad repent. We've allowed a lot of anger and animosity into this house. We've not talked to each other the way we should have talked to each other.
But beginning this day, this is going to be a home of peace. We're going to anoint this home with oil. We're going to pray over this home. We're going to set this home apart. And the peace of God is going to dwell in this home.
Jesus said to his disciples, When you go into a home, the first thing you do is you speak your peace over that home. Satan operates in an atmosphere of strife. God, He operates in an atmosphere of peace. And that verse right there says, If you sow, If you sew, You put seed in, you sow in an atmosphere of peace. You will, watch this, you will harvest a harvest of righteousness.
Every Every good thing I have in my life. that I sowed in my life that's good, it was sown in an atmosphere of peace. This is so critical right now. I'm now to the point in my life, so when people ask me, Chad, how do you get direction for our church and make decisions, whatever? Obviously, it goes back to this: I don't contradict the Bible.
First thing I do is go to the Bible. Do you know there are decisions you and I have to make? that you can't find the answer in the Bible. A lot of practical stuff.
So here's what I'm starting to do. Psalm 85 says this: God speaks peace. to his people. Colossians 3 says, Let the peace of Christ be the umpire in your heart. I am now, a lot of decisions that I'm making.
If I'm starting to make this decision, And I don't sense the peace of God. I said, whoa, God's not in this. I back up. I make this decision and I sense the peace of God. That's the Spirit of God saying, move forward because I speak peace to my people.
Whether it be leading your family, leading your business, making decisions, it all comes back to having an atmosphere of peace. I'm not mad at you, not mean. But I'm just telling you There are some demons that feel very comfortable in your life right now because you have an atmosphere of confusion. You start sowing in an atmosphere of peace. Watch God do some big things in your life.
2002. was the um It was the biggest harvest on record for tomatoes. I don't think there's ever been a recorded year in America where we've had a better tomato harvest than 2002. I did a little bit of research on that. Do you know why we had such a great Tomato harvest.
Or to our Benson campus, Mater Harvest. Oh. Why has there been maters in 2002? What in the soil?
Soil is the same. What in the seed? It's the same tomato seeds. It was the atmosphere. In 2002, the sun was just right.
The temperature was just right. The rainfall was just right. The atmosphere was perfect. And tomato seeds sown in that atmosphere was a bumper harvest. Atmosphere is everything.
I guarantee you, the peace of Christ become the atmosphere in your life. You walk around under the atmosphere of peace, you're going to start seeing God do great things in your life. There'll be a beautiful harvest of righteousness in your life. The atmosphere of your home, let it be an atmosphere of peace. And you start operating your family and your marriage in an atmosphere of peace.
Watch the blessings of God, the harvest of God, just have super abundance in your life. It goes back to living in an atmosphere of peace. How did I get it? We'll hit this next week. Let me give you a little preview.
How do you get it? You already got it. 2,000 years ago, Jesus said, My peace I give to you. Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. Peace.
Jesus Christ is our people. When you have Jesus, you have peace. You already have the piece, now you gotta figure out how to access that piece, okay? Uh Well, I uh All week. Yeah.
I've been praying about this altar time because I really felt like God was going to Going to do something big today. Remember what I told y'all last week? There is a spirit of depression. Over our land. Did y'all hear me talk about that?
And unfortunately that That depression. has infiltrated the body of Christ. Do you know the second leading cause of death? for men under age 45 now. Suicide.
What? We're in the most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. We're killing ourselves. Barn, no, yeah, gallop, sorry, gallop. They've studied depression for decades.
They said, we have never seen a level of depression like we're seeing now in America. It's everywhere. In fact, I know, look, I'm not a doctor. I'm not telling you flesh and meds. That's not my wheelhouse, okay?
I'm just telling you what I'm seeing. Y'all seen these commercials on TV now? It says this. If your antidepressant isn't working, Take this because it actually boosts your antidepressant. Implication: the medicine isn't working, so get some medicine to boot some medicine to.
I don't know. It's just this weird. Yeah. Depression. I think God wants to break that in some of your lives today.
I think the day is your day. for depression. To be broken in your life. God spoke to me. He showed me today three people in our church.
That there's a generational spirit in their home of suicide. Great grandpa committed suicide, grandpa committed suicide, dad committed suicide, and now I'm wrestling with suicide. I know some, whatever, I know it's multifactorial and all that kind of stuff, but I do believe that there is a generational assignment from the demonic that is targeting some of our families. And did you know that generational curse can be broken by you today? God wants to do it.
In Isaiah chapter 61, verse 3. Isaiah says this. God wants to Exchange A spirit of depression. A spirit of heaviness. It's interesting, that word Hebrew in Hebrew means to dim.
I used to have this light and joy and this light shining in my life, and now it's dim. I'm depressed. God wants to exchange a spirit of depression. For a garment of praise. Yeah.
So all week long, I've been saying, here's what I've been saying. Because I tell you, I love Sunday. This is my highlight of my week. I love Sunday. I would be here even if you didn't pay me.
Don't test me on that, but I would be here even if you don't baby. All week long, I've been asking the Lord this.
Well then Lord, do we break that in prayer? Before the song or after the song? Like you understand, like, do I pray for people with depression and this suicide spirit? Do I pray for them before the song? Do I pray after the song?
All week long I've been debating on that. Holy Spirit spoke to me and says, no. You pray for them during this song because today the Spirit of God is going to be moving so powerfully as people begin to praise God that while they're praising God, they're going to find the spirit of heaviness replaced with a garment of praise. I'm going to do a supernatural work while they're raising their hands and praising my name while they're doing that. I'm going to do something supernatural.
In just a moment, if you're dealing with depression or there's a suicide spirit in your family. I want you to come. And I'm gonna do a quick prayer for you, but while we are praising God, something's gonna happen.
Something's going to be broken.
Some kind of yoke of the enemy will be broken. Look at me. Praise doesn't prepare you for spiritual warfare. Praise is spiritual warfare. And as you're praising God, something happens in the spirit realm, something's broken, and a garment of praise takes the place of a spirit of heaviness.
And I know it's going to be loud, and so as that music is hitting your chest, just imagine God's breaking off that depression in your life. But I'm telling you, while God's people praise Him, Something's going to happen in this place. I want you to stand with me right now.
Now Before you come forward, I want three groups of people coming forward, okay? Those of you dealing with depression In just a moment, I want you to come forward. Those of you who have wrestled with suicide, or there's a suicide curse in your family, I want you to come forward and we're going to break that.
Now somebody pointed out to me after the first service. Do you know the least likely person to come forward and say, I am depressed or I'm suicidal? Do you know the most less likely person to do that? It's somebody who's depressed and suicidal. They don't want everybody to know.
That makes sense.
So I want a third group of people. I want those who just love praising the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to come forward in just a moment. What's it going to do is that's going to help those who are depressed and suicidal feel comfortable coming forward. In other words, come forward, not for you.
I need some warriors.
Some praise warriors and some intercessors, even if you're not dealing with suicide and depression. I need you to come forward in just a moment to make those who are dealing with this more comfortable coming forward. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? So, right now.
Right now. If you're dealing with depression, If you're dealing with suicide, Where there's a suicidal lineage in your home, and we're gonna break that family curse, or you just wanna come and minister. And make those who are coming forward feel comfortable. I want you to come right now. Can I get some praisers forward here?
Can I get some people wrestling coming forward right here? God's about to do something in this place. God is about to break something once and for all in this place. Hey, God, come on, come on down here. God wants you to know something.
He didn't cause your depression. That's the enemy. Right now, we're gonna go back to the enemy's camp. And we're going to take back what the enemy stored for us. Hey, here's what God says.
I'm going to repay you for the years that the locust devoured your lives. I'm about to repay you right now for that.
So we are about to engage in spiritual warfare. As you are singing, and as our prayer team begins to lay hands on you, and please, only people that tags lay hands on people. As our prayer team begins to pray for you, as you begin to praise in the spirit realm, something's going to be broken. The enemy's power over your life will be negated. That suicide spirit will be broken.
That generational curse will be reversed. God is about to do something while we are singing and praising. He will replace the spirit of heaviness with a garment of praise. He will, in the next few moments, break the yoke of the enemy. He will repay the years that the devourers stole from you in the next few moments.
Father, in the name of Jesus, we roll up our sleeves. We put on the armor. We go to the enemy's camp. We do warfare right now. We claim what is ours in Jesus Christ.
May the people of God lift their hands and lift their voices. And let's praise the Lord right now. Colored. Oh my god. I went to the enemy's camp and I took back what he stole from me.
I went to the enemy's camp and I took back cause he brought my feet under my feet under my feet. I said that Satan I went to the enemy's i went to the enemy's camp I took back what he stole from me And he is hell. Can't I? I should be what is yours. You don't know.
He's under my ear. You don't know me. Satan is under my. Can you believe it? Can you believe what the Lord has done in me?
Can you believe it? Can you believe it? Can you believe what the Lord is on me? I'm here to testify. Save me, cleanse me, turn my life around.
On the solid ground, can you believe what the Lord has done in me? Can you believe it? Can you believe it? Oh, can you believe that? The Lord has done in me.
Nobody ought to testify. Can you believe I can believe what the Lord has done in me? I'm here to turn you. Save me, Clissy, turn my life around on the solid ground. The Lord has done in me.
Look what the Lord look what the Lord has done. We see, look what the Lord has done. Oh, He healed my body. He healed my body. I'm going to praise His name.
Come on, you want to praise His mighty name. Come on and praise Him. We give you all the praise, Lord. Come on and praise Him. Look what the Lord has said today.
Look what the Lord has done. Look what He has done. Just as born of praise. He saves us the dead. I know we should close this out, but I don't know.
Miracles are taking place right now. She can chilies and applebees. A cracker barrel. Hold off for a few more moments. Why the Holy Ghost starts to do things in these people right now?
The Holy Spirit is moving in the name of Jesus. Here's your voice. Shout to the Lord. Let's say it again. God's doing something right now.
See this. What? The Lord has done the What the Lord has done. He healed my body, He touched my mind. He saved me and worshiped.
Just in time, oh, I'm going to praise His name. He takes us to praise. Come on and praise Him. Come on, and praise Him. Look what the Lord has done.
Look what the Lord has done. Oh, look what the Lord has done. Oh, somebody wants to test it. Oh, He healed my body, He touched my mind, He saved me in and worshiped. He takes us to stay.
Come on and praise Him. Look what the Lord has done. Saint Jesus. Same Holy Spirit, same Satan he's breaking. Thrown apart.
Things haven't changed in the last few thousand years. It's the same thing. The same Jesus who crushed the head of the serpent then, he is now crushing the head of depression and suicide right now in this place. But here's what I want us to do. In just a second, I'm going to say goodbye to y'all.
I want y'all. To stay down front? until the Holy Ghost tells you to go. Hey, it took you about 30 years to get into this depression. It might take you more than 25 seconds to get out of it.
So y'all got it? I'm gonna pray. Dismiss And we're going to just stand down front and keep having this big hallelujah hullabaloo and big Holy Ghost tow down and just keep praising God and watch miracles happen. Hey, for the rest of y'all. You have record Adam 9, peace with Record.
Isa Adonai ten Abaleka, Basim Lachashalon, which means the Lord bless you. Lord keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you. And be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom.
Peace, wholeness, mind, body, soul, spirit. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen and amen. God bless you. Y'all can go.
Y'all keep praising the Lord Jesus. Yeah.
