Recover All | Jabin Chavez | City Light Vegas

All right, we are in week seven, week seven of winning the war within. And I do wanna remind you, because somebody asked me out in the lobby, all of our sermons are free on YouTube, all of our sermons are free on podcast channels, wherever you listen or watch podcasts. So someone said, this was week one for me, but you said you've had six other weeks of this. How do I, can I buy them? I said, you can't buy them, they're free. And so hug a tither, because they're free because of the generosity of God's people, but they're all free on YouTube, all free on all your podcast channels. So we're now in week seven. And by the way, we should have shown the picture. Somebody so impacted by the series, they got that logo right there with the guy with the scribble in there, and he tattooed it on his arm. Yes, and so I text our team, our staff, and I said, I expect this level of loyalty. The JR wrote, I'm gonna get it right on my forehead, pastor. Amen, praise God. No, don't do that, but it's pretty amazing, crazy. David is entering back to his hometown of Ziklag, and he's coming back with his men, his 300 warriors. And as he's coming back, they find that their city has been ravaged by an enemy.

The children and the wives have all been stolen, they've all been taken, and the city's been burned down. And now we are here, 1 Samuel 30. Now it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites invaded the south of Ziklag and attacked Ziklag, they burned it with fire. They had taken captive the women and those who were there from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken. Then David and the people who were there lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives, two wives, this is the Old Testament, amen. Don't get any, don't get any bright ideas, fellas. This is the Old Testament, we don't do this anymore. Hallelujah. Two wives, two mother-in-laws, amen, all right. Woo! One's enough, amen. I love my mother-in-law, she watches every stream. I love you, Barb. But I only want one. They were taken captive.

David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke stoning him. His men now want to kill him. Watch this, because the soul of the people were grieved. Now watch why they're grieved, because of their sons and daughters. They're grieving for the right reasons. They're not grieving in a bad way, they're sad. They've lost their sons and their daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord as God. Then David said to Abathur the priest, please bring me the ephod. And Abathur brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I pursue this troop, shall I overtake them? Now notice that, see, not every battle's your battle. Not every fight's your fight. The Bible calls it the good fight of faith. There is a good fight of faith to fight, and there's some fights that you don't need to fight. Wisdom is knowing the difference. But in this case, God says pursue. And he answered him, pursue, the Lord said, for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail, recover all, recover all. I wanna talk from that subject this morning, recover all, recover all. Father, thank you that you are a God of restoration, you're a God of recovery. You're a God of the future.

You're a God who still has a plan for the second half of our life, and we are leaning in to what you have for us today. Speak, Lord, we're listening, in Jesus' name. Come on, if you believe it, say amen. Let's praise God one more time. Come on, clap your hands. Amen. We're talking about winning the war within, and we're about to see a man who won the war within. David is obviously having issues on the outside. Their city's under attack, their families are under attack. There are many issues going on around him. But what we're gonna find is that there was an inner life that David tapped into that would ultimately dictate his entire life. I wanna submit to you that what is going on in you matters more than what is going on around you. That pressure does not change you, it reveals you. that life, good or bad, does not change you, it reveals you. You know, money can't change a person, it can only reveal a person. Man, that person got money and they changed. No, they were just too broke to act new. Come on, somebody. Oh man, I married that person and they changed. They didn't change. Marriage doesn't change a person, it reveals a person.

Pressure doesn't change a person, it reveals a person. Blessing doesn't change a person, it reveals a person. The battle does not change you, it reveals you. And we are about to see that David had victory on the inside that was gonna bring victory on the outside. Do you remember when Jesus was in the storm with his disciples and as soon as the wind blows and the rain falls, the disciples say, Jesus, we're gonna die and you don't care. That's internal. Jesus comes out of a slumber and says, peace! And the storm stops. Same circumstance, different internal life. I wanna tell you, I know you're working on the outside and I know you're praying for a better outside and I know you're trying to change the circumstance on the outside and all of that's fine, but please don't ignore who you really are on the inside because ultimately, your life is gonna look like who you are. Your circumstances will eventually look like you're in, we are inside out people, not outside in people. So while most of the American church is praying for a change on the outside, God is trying to transform us on the inside so that when blessing does come, breakthrough does come, victory does come, you can actually carry and not squander the goodness of God. I'll take my first amen of the day right there. Say amen, everybody. So there is recovery for you, there is restoration for you.

This is God's will for your life and I'm gonna show you how to do it. Firstly, in order to recover, you actually gotta start here, you need to feel. You actually need to give yourself permission to feel and David was greatly distressed. Emotions are not evil, emotions are not satanic, emotions are not even fleshly, emotions are a gift from God. God gave you emotions. Let's just start here, God has emotions. God feels things, God feels love, God feels anger, God feels grief, you can grieve the Holy Spirit. God feels joy, God feels things. Emotions, good, are good, emotions are a gift, emotions are from God. Let me just say this, emotions are a gift from God and when you feel a feeling, feel it, faith is not pushing down emotions or ignoring emotions, faith is submitting emotions to the Holy Spirit. Emotions are a gift from God but now listen, they all have to be submitted to God. Just catch that, I think we think of faith as meaning I can't feel and we become Christian robots and that is not the plan of God. It is to feel what you need to feel and then give it to God and let God do something with your feeling. Let me say it like this, our response to justifiable emotions determines our future. David's grieving because he lost his family

and the men are grieving because they lost their family. Y'all tracking with me? They had a right to grieve, the problem was the men's response. So the men lose their family and they go, let's kill David. Not a great way to respond, right? Who can we kill? Who can we be mad at? Who can we blame? David feels emotions and he says, I need to seek the Lord. Same emotion, they were both distressed, radically different response. They couldn't help the feeling they were feeling but they could help what they did with what they felt. So never beat yourself up for feeling, never beat yourself up for being human. Never beat yourself up for having an emotional response but take it and do the right thing with it. Some of y'all think, man, I'm sad, I need a drink. Others of you think, man, I'm sad, I need a sermon. A sermon will. to do better than sangria. You tell me I can't drink? I'm not, you're an adult. I'm telling you, your response to what you're feeling will determine your future. Man, I'm tempted. I guess I just need to give in. No, no, no, I'm tempted.

I need prayer. Man, I'm feeling depressed. I'm gonna take the weekend to just Netflix and pizza and popcorn and M&M's and ice cream. Maybe find someone to chill with. I'm just gonna live on my couch for the weekend because I'm depressed. How about, man, I'm depressed. I need to go to the gym. I need to go on a walk. I need to get some sunshine on this vampire face. I need to get outside and I need to go pray and I need to go worship God and I need to get to church. Same feeling. See, y'all look at me and you think I don't feel things. I'm a mess. Ask my wife. I'm a feeler, man. I'm a musician. I wanna write songs. Talk about how hard life is. That's my natural intuition. But I've learned how to take that and not deny it. I've learned how to take it and give it to God and let God turn it into art and let it turn into sermons and let it turn into ministry and let it turn into tools. I'm not up here because I have it all together.

I'm just up here because I've learned how to take the mess that's in my mind and win the war within and then give you some tools to do the same thing. But you gotta start with feelings. See, you need a feeling. Number two, you need a friend. See, seemingly, everybody wanted to kill David. Seemingly. But not everybody, because he had one guy, Abathar, that didn't wanna kill him. You don't need everybody. You just need somebody. You just need one faith friend. David's looking over at 300, 299 men that are all like, we're gonna kill you. And he finds one guy smiling, and he's like, hey, let's go pray. That's how I preach. I just look for a smiling face, and then I preach to you. And then I just tell myself, everybody loves this sermon. Everybody, everybody loves this sermon. Everybody likes me. You just gotta find a faith connection. See, every king needs a priest. Every king needs a priest. Every king needs a priest. Every Christian needs a pastor, and every Christian needs Christians. Every believer needs believers. Everybody needs a friend that when it feels like

the whole world is against you, you can go inquire of the Lord with another person. See, we've made this whole verse about David encouraged himself in the Lord. If you ain't got nobody to encourage you, you can encourage yourself. That's not true. He had Abathar. He didn't have everybody, but he had somebody. He sought the Lord with somebody. He had a, who can you call? There is healing in community. There is healing in fellowship. There is healing in friendship. There is healing in a church family. There is healing in being around other people. Man, you need a friend, y'all. You need a friend that can pray with you, laugh with you. You need a friend that you can send memes to that aren't totally 100% sanctified. I must let you judge me for a second. You better have one person you can send a meme to and go, language, before they open it. Michelle, you got caught just now. Language. I'm not endorsing cussing. I'm just saying they're cussing on the video, but it's really funny. So if you can get past the language, you're gonna laugh. That's all I'm saying.

I'm really into these scary videos, scaring videos. You know, people walk into their bathroom or whatever and they're, ah, you know, ah. They don't always go, glory to God. You know, sometimes they, sometimes they say other things. I love those videos. So I'll send them to a friend, but I'll put a little, language. Don't open it in front of your kids. Okay. You're a pastor, you're supposed to be. Yeah, I know. Sometimes you gotta laugh. Had a husband getting scared, trying to walk into the bathroom. All I'm saying, you need a friend. You need someone you can complain to and they can listen to you complain. And then they can go, are you done? I guess. All right. Move along. Anyone among you in trouble, let them pray. Anyone among you happy, let them sing songs. Praise, let's just stop there. You could do both of those things alone, you could. But it's better in community. I think you should pray alone. I do, I do every day.

But I love to pray with the saints. You can worship God alone, I do. But there's nothing like being in the house of God, worshiping. Now watch this, both of those things can happen privately and corporately. But then there are some things that demand a corporate faith. Look at this, anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. So now there's some things that are gonna need agreement. Some things you can't do alone. Are you saying I can't pray for myself or anoint myself with oil? Of course you can. My point is, James is saying there are gonna be times that you're gonna need to call, let them call. Verse 14, let them call. Let them, who can you call? When we arrived in Macedonia, there was no rest for us. We faced conflict from every direction with battles on the outside and fear on the inside. Notice, outside and inside. Now, you shouldn't beat yourself up if you felt this because this is Paul, y'all. He wrote the majority of your New Testament. This is a man of God. This is the greatest theological mind and greatest apostle that ever lived.

And he's saying, man, I had issues. But God, everybody say but God. Come on, say that, but God. But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us through prayer, no? Through speaking in tongues, no? Through a 40-day fast, no? Through a vision, no? Through a dream, no? Jesus showed up in my room, no? All those things are great. I hope all that happens for you. That's not how it happened. The head of the church used the hands and feet of the church. And God encouraged Paul through the arrival of Titus. Man, I love this. Watch this, watch this, because this is so powerful. Encouraged us by the, not by the encouragement of Titus. Yep, yep, come on, come on, come on. 90% of it's just showing up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Are y'all tracking with me? You don't need a scripture. You don't need a word. You don't need a Bible reason

why they're going through hell. You just gotta show up. Say, you wanna eat? You want coffee? You wanna just sit? You wanna watch the Kardashians? You wanna? Is that even still a show? I don't know, but. You know what I'm saying? It's just, Titus just showed up. And Paul said God used his arrival. Not his words, not his wisdom, not even his prayer, just, he just showed up. Just presence. Presence matters. And that's why, that's why I believe you need a church because there are gonna be days that you just need to be in the presence of God's people. And by the way, by the way, why we need you to serve is because people need to be in your presence. You never know, you're just out there holding a sign, but your presence was a joy. You're just helping someone get a seat, but your presence was a joy. You were just helping someone get checked into kids ministry, but your presence was a joy. You're just up here singing on the worship team, but your presence was a joy. We had a little Isabella Clark.

She's 16. She's up here on the worship team today. And I just saw a little 16-year-old girl. She started coming here when she was 10 years old. Now she's on the worship team. I looked, I just said, your presence is a joy to me. How cool. What an awesome thing. I asked her in the back, I go, how did it feel to be up there? She goes, this is the greatest thing ever. This is the greatest thing ever. Somebody say, show up. Come on, say that, show up, show up. You need a friend. You cannot recover alone. Never forget that. I know we're on the West Coast and I know we're independent and I know we're Americans and I know we got it all worked out. You cannot recover alone. There is a certain level of your life that can only be apprehended and inherited with others. Thirdly, I'm gonna have the team come. You need fresh faith. You need fresh faith. The first two, the feelings and the friendship, that can all happen in the natural, but now we have to go spiritual. You must inquire of the Lord.

David puts on an ephod. This was the priestly garment that the priests would wear. Here's what David's saying. I need a personal word from God. Let me just explain that to you. I don't have some like senior Holy Spirit and y'all have like junior Holy Spirit. I don't have special access to God that you don't have. I'm not a super Christian and you're a junior Christian. I have a gift to be a pastor, but that does not mean that I have access to God that you don't have and any religious system that tells you that you have to get to God through a man is lying to you to control you. I'm not judging them, whoever they are. That's a lie from hell because he has made us a kingdom of priests for God, his father. Look at that revelation chapter one verse six. He's made us a kingdom. You are a kingdom of priests. You are a priest under yourself. I know you're a businessman, but you're a priest. I know you're a stay-at-home mom, but you're a priest. I know you're a college student, but you're a priest. I know you're a male, but you're a priest. I know you're a female, but you're a priest. I know you're married, but you're a priest. I know you're single, but you're a priest. You're a priest under your God.

And here's what priests do. They talk to God and they hear God. And every Christian can talk to God directly and hear from God directly. Hallelujah. David said, I don't need a sword. I don't need a spear. I don't need a weapon. I need an ephod. This is how I fight my battles. I'm going spiritual. The horse is prepared against the day of battle. In other words, there is something we do in the natural, but victory is of the Lord. I need God in this. And David said, God, are you in this fight? God said, I'm in this fight. Pursue, overtake, recover all. Recover all. Ooh, this is for somebody today. Say it out loud, everybody. Pursue, overtake, recover all. Come on, one more time. Pursue, overtake, recover all. You gotta get your pursuit back. You gotta get your pursuit back. Life has a way of stripping you of that edge to lean into your future. Yeah, and it has to be pursued. Trials, tribulations, temptation,

different things happen in your life. Calamity comes into your life, and you lose that thing to pursue what God has for you. Never lose it. You're not too old to pursue your future. And I'm talking to 70-year-olds, and I'm talking to 20-year-olds, because the lie of the devil is the same for every person in this room, which is you're too far gone, you've made too many mistakes, you missed your moment, you missed your opportunity, it's too late now, and the devil is a liar. You can pursue that thing that God put in your heart. Come on, somebody. I believe the rest of your life is gonna be the best of your life. Best days, blessed days, better days. Somebody praise God with me right now in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah. Pursue. Overtake. The thing that has overtaken you, you're gonna overtake it. The thing that has had authority over you, you're gonna have authority over it. The thing that has dominated you, you're gonna dominate it. That addiction that has kicked your spiritual tail,

you're about to kick it out of your life for good in the name of Jesus, because God's giving you overcoming power. My God, I feel that. And you're gonna recover all. Recover all. When God restores, never forget this. When God restores, He always restores more than you lost. I'm not trying to be all churchy, but I feel the Holy Ghost on me right now. I feel God on me right now. here's why see anything you give to God anything you sow to God anything you even even pain and tragedy even even tough seasons of life anything that you will hand over to God and say God it's now a seed he will never let you out give him one two anything the devil stole he will never let the devil take more from you than he's going to give to you so any subtraction in your life God will respond not with addition this is smart class today y'all getting an a-plus today but with multiplication i'm gonna let somebody praise God for that right there i'm gonna let somebody have your own little revival right now that God is gonna cause your life to recover oh oh watch watch watch you can stand sit do jumping jacks run i don't care whatever you're comfortable with but i like i like a couple people to just stand and i like that just give me a little ugly preaching face just you preaching good pastor watch watch watch the bible says when you catch a thief when you identify loss when you identify a thief proverb 630 631 excuse me he will have to pay back seven times i want to declare today seven times the health seven times the joy seven times the prosperity seven times the provision seven times the fire seven times the strength

seven times the peace seven times the hope and the love deuteronomy 28 says the enemy comes at you in one direction it doesn't even make sense but he flees seven different directions so like cockroaches the devil has to he always restores more than you lost and i declare that over you in the name of Jesus