Stop Hiding What God Put In You | Feat. Pastor Daryl Black

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins. I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you. Because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience his presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.

♪ I'll trust in God, my Savior, the one who'll never fail. ♪ ♪ He will never fail. ♪ ♪ I'll trust in God, my Savior, the one who'll never fail. ♪ ♪ He will never fail. ♪ Come on. ♪ I'll trust in God, my Savior, the one who'll never fail. ♪ ♪ He will never fail. ♪ Hold on, I want to stop y'all right here because here's what I believe. I believe that this service is the most exciting service of all the services. Like this, this room, this room, this room, this room. I mean, for all of you that made it to church at 8.30, it means that you were up by 6.30. So you have energy. You've had coffee. You've had your orange juice. You've had your tea. You've done some stretches. You've had a bowl of cereal and a donut. You've done all those things, so you ready to sing. So you ready? ♪ I'll trust in God, my Savior, the one who'll never fail. ♪ ♪ He will never fail. ♪ ♪ He will never fail. ♪ You too, sir, come on. ♪ I'll trust in God. ♪ Don't just look at me. ♪ My Savior, the one who'll never fail. ♪

♪ He will never fail. ♪ Well, give yourself a hand right there. Now give God a hand of praise right there. There we go. God, we honor you. We thank you. We bless you for your presence in this place, not just today, but every day of our lives, for covering us and keeping us. So right now we open up our hearts, our minds and our ears to receive everything that you have for us. We're believing that we will not leave this place the same way that we came in. We believe better, brighter, stronger, more courageous than when we walked through those doors to do what you've called us to do. In Jesus' name, amen. I bring you greetings from Grace Family Church in Tampa, but also by way of my beautiful wife. It's because of her that I get to do this. And so we've been together for almost 32 years. We have five children, yes. The quiver is full. We have five children and we. Regularly make our children uncomfortable because the honeymoon has never stopped So but I'm excited and glad to be here and glad to share the Word of God with you on today So I hope you are ready and I'm gonna tell you something right off the back the more noise you make the better I preach So if you're if you're quiet, I'm gonna think you don't hear me so then I'm going to preach until the next service But if you're getting this and it makes sense be like, oh, yep, that's me. Mm-hmm. You're right pastor. Ooh, so let's just start right now

Amen Hallelujah. Oh, that was good. Oh, that was for me. Okay there. There we go. We're ready. We're ready If you have that journal, I love this thing I look I don't know how many of you have the journal but we're going to be looking at Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 20, we actually won't make it through all of these but I'm looking forward to sharing with you what God has given me today Jesus says this Matthew 13. He says you are the salt of the earth But if the salt loses its saltiness How can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot This is a pretty hard words from Jesus Then he says you are the light of the world a town built on a hill cannot be hidden Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead They put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven With this message today and in the season you all have been in is better and brighter. Everybody say better and brighter and But I understand that better and brighter is what happens when you stop living From anxiety and you start living from identity Anxiety has written risen in our world more than it's ever been before anxiety and depression the Great Depression that happened in the 40s from Around the time of the Great Depression depression was at an all-time high of 4% 4% across the entire nation and it was called the Great Depression and It was only at 4% We are not that far away from it and now depression is at 27% 27% 27% that's that's where we're living now and most of that is Anxiety based it is fear base And I love what Jesus says I believe Jesus is talking even in the middle of this when Jesus stands on a hillside And he's given the greatest sermon that's ever been preached. He's talking to people who are just like you and me

He's talking to people who go to work every day people who have a nine-to-five people who have children some people who love their Children some people who don't like their children You know, that's why you laugh so People who are struggling people who are dealing with life and death people who are struggling with trying to make the bills meet people who are trying to figure out what their Retirement plan is going to be about it is the harvest going to come through Jesus is talking to the same people and he says to these same people in Matthew 5 13 20 He says wherever you go life should get better and brighter It should get better and brighter not because you're perfect not because you're loud and not because you're religious but because Jesus Changes the atmosphere around you When Jesus is in you everything around you should change if your Christianity does not impact Everything around you you might not be carrying Kingdom. You might be carrying religion Well, why would you say that pastor there here's why I would say that because when Jesus Changes you internally it changes everything externally around you Life changes Can I just for a moment? I want to I want to pause in this area. Jesus starts verse 13 by saying you are You are These two words I can preach the whole sermon on just these two words you are Say it with me You are you are he starts with identity you are You are this is an Identifying statement you are when Jesus says you are he's not just giving you a goal, he's giving you identity, and identity is powerful, because identity determines behavior. You will always live in alignment with who you believe you are.

That's identity. Most people are trying to become something, and Jesus starts by telling you who you are. This is why so many people are anxious. This is why so many people are exhausted. This is why anxiety is at an all-time high, because anxiety at its core is often an identity issue. It's an identity issue. Most people don't know this, but the father that raised me is not my biological father. He's technically my stepfather, but he's the only father that I've ever known. This, what you see right now, is his fault. My father was, he was a pastor. He passed away not too long ago, but he was a pastor, and after my mom died, my mother died when I was seven years old, and my father got remarried some years later. And we don't share the same last name. His last name is Bethany, my last name is Black. He never changed my last name, which didn't bother him, so it didn't bother me. But when he goes to be remarried again, he tells me and one of my brothers, he says, go downstairs and sit at the head table. This is at the wedding. The reception is downstairs in this church. And he tells me and my brother, go downstairs, my brother's older than me, he says, go downstairs and sit at the head table.

Well, back then, you did what your parents said. So we went downstairs, and we walked to the head table. Well, there was an usher, a lady there, that says, who are you? She didn't know who we were. She knew my father, but she didn't know us. She says, who are you? My brother said, I'm Chris. I said, I'm Daryl. She said, what's your last name? Our last name is Black. She said, well, y'all going to sit at the table in the corner. So we did what grown folks told us to do, and we went and sat at the table in the corner. My father comes downstairs, and he goes to the head table, and me and my brother are not sitting at the head table. We're over in the corner. So my father comes over to the corner and says, why are y'all sitting over here? I told you to sit at the head table. And we said, yeah, but that lady told us to sit in the corner. And it was the first time that I ever saw my father so visibly angry. And he said, nobody puts my boys in the corner. Y'all are, this is what my father, he says, y'all are Bethany boys. You come over here to this head table. It was one of the first times in my life

where I understood identity. I should have said to the lady when she said, what's your name is? I should have said, we Charles' kids. But I only identified with what I knew, but my father reminded me, no, no, no, you a Bethany boy. My identity changed in that moment because of what my father said. I got my identity not from my habits or from my issues or not even from my last name. I got my identity from my father. So many issues can be resolved in your life if you resonated with your real identity. Some of us are resonating with the identity of anxiety. We are calling ourselves by the symptom. Anxiety is a symptom. It's not the identity. Depression is a symptom. It's not the identity. Your past, your upbringing is not the identity. Your identity is you are. He says, oh, ooh, ooh, I'm trying to. Some of the challenges that we have when it comes to identity is that we're trying to manage pressure under a wrong identity. You're trying to manage pressure because you think your label is father. You're trying to manage pressure because you think your label is mother.

You think your label is broken. You think your label is alcoholic. You think your label is anxiety and depression. Oh, you know, I got OCD. I have to put all, stop it. Why I do it like this, because my mama used to, your mama not here. Stop it, stop it, you're trying to manage pressure under these wrong labels, on these labels that God never calls you. He calls you salt and light. He calls you chosen, peculiar, special. He calls you a bag of chips and all that. He says how peculiar and wonderful that you are. He says that you are courageous, you are his, that you are fearfully and you're wonderfully made. What are you? You are his son, you are his daughter. You are not your problems. You got to deal with them. You got to manage them, but I'm not it. You are not your past. You are not your brokenness. Every time you fall, stop identifying yourself with, well, that's just the way I am. Well, you know, that's just my culture. You know, we Italian, you know, we just got, you know, we just got bad attitudes. Stop it, no, you got a bad attitude. You are a child of God.

Say you're a child of God. Point to the person next to you. Say you're a child of God. Now point to the person on the other side who's your second choice and say, you're a child of God, too. You're a child of God. If you pay attention, when you read Matthew 5, 13-20, when you pay attention, Jesus is doing, he goes from identity to visibility to responsibility to activation. He's taking you on a journey. He starts by telling you that you are something and he uses these two seemingly mundane things. He uses salt and light, salt and light. He gives this, it's intentional. Everything that Jesus does is intentional. Nothing he does is random. Salt and light, they're ordinary, they're overlooked, but they're both essential. You think about it, you don't think about salt until it's missing. Right? And you don't notice light until it's gone. The most powerful things in your life are often the ones that you don't notice until they're not there. And Jesus chose salt and light because salt and light does not exist for themselves. They exist to affect everything around them.

This entire message is a reminder that you were never created to live a self-contained life. And that's where Jesus starts. You are the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth. Why are you salt? Because salt makes things better. It just, it makes things better. Salt preserves, it purifies, it heals. While it's healing, it stings. You ever got some salt in a wound? Which means, here's what that means. It's essential, but it's not always comfortable. You're going to have to have some salty conversations with some friends and family. And it's not always going to feel good. It's not always going to be comfortable, but that doesn't mean it's not right. So it heals, even though it stings. But my most important one is that it also adds flavor. Yeah, salt, Jesus is saying you add flavor. I mean, think about it. Have you ever walked into a meeting and it wasn't going right until you showed up? Because the salt showed up. Me and my wife, we love watching cooking shows and Chef Ramsay and stuff like that. We love those kind of shows. And oftentimes, they're cooking and someone will bring a good meal

and they will say, man, this was really good. It was just missing a little bit of salt. If you had just a little bit of salt, it would have been better. That salt doesn't change the meal. It makes it better. That's what you do. This is what Jesus is saying about you and I. You're a salt. Everywhere you go, you should be making things better. Salt doesn't panic. Salt stabilizes. Salt stabilizes. It stabilizes the environment that it's in. It preserves things. This is why the world hasn't fallen apart right now, because you exist. This is why everybody at your job hasn't lost their mind, because you exist. This is why your spouse hasn't lost their mind, because... You exist. You exist. You exist. Now, I need to say this. This is not even a part of the notes. I do need to say this. You have to manage your saltiness. You got to manage, you got to manage your saltiness, because even too much salt can become too salty. Because you can have the right intention.

I meant right, it just didn't come out right. I love you, but, okay, I'm going to talk to spouses. Are there any spouses in here? Can I talk to spouses, or want to be spouses, or pretend to be spouses? You love your spouse. You want to do all the right things for them, but has it ever gone wrong when you were trying to do right? Come on, there should be some more hands and some toes. You got to manage your saltiness just a little bit better. Say I'm salty. I'm salty. You're salty. You carry something that this world could not function without if you weren't here. But your salt doesn't work if you keep it to yourself. Salt in the shaker is just salt in the shaker. Salt in the shaker is just decoration. And how many of us have the ability to preserve and heal and to stabilize environments, yet we're quiet? We're too reserved. Or we say, that's not my business. Well, they'll figure it out. Well, I'm just going to wait till the Lord tells me to say something, and then that's when I'm going to say something. Mm-hmm, yeah. Responsibility. You are responsible for every environment that you're in, because you're salt.

You're responsible. They don't even know how much they need salt. You do. You know the flavor that you bring. You know the style that you bring. You know the information and the ingenuity that you bring to the situation. I know you know it because you was at home overthinking it. If they would just, if they would just listen to me, you know why they don't listen? Because you don't talk. Or, or, maybe you have talked, and then they shut you down, and now you gave up. Well, I'm not saying nothing no more. Can you see me? Am I in this thing? Stop it. Stop it. How many of you, how many of you have ever used too much salt? Okay. How many of you have ever used too much salt more than once? Okay. How many of you have stopped using salt because you used salt bad five, 10, 20 times? You've been like, I'm just never using salt again. There's one lady, and I feel bad for your food, ma'am. I'm sorry. But just because it didn't go well once,

it doesn't mean that you stop. You go again, because it's your responsibility. It's your responsibility to stand up and speak and be the flavor that the room needs. Say, I'm salt. He says, salt, and then he says, you are light. This is identity again. You're light. Salt is good. Salt makes things better, but light makes things brighter. So you need both. Light reveals, it guides, it exposes, it warms, it creates. It's visibility, it gives directions. It changes environment simply by being present, light. Here's the thing about anxiety, anxiety thrives in the dark. But when you expose it, everything changes. Confusion lives in the dark, fear lives in the dark. Overthinking lives in the dark. But when light shows up, you start to see clearly. You start to see brighter. And Jesus says, you are the light of the world. You are the light, you are light. Isn't it interesting that Jesus calls you the thing that God spoke in Genesis one? Before sun, moon, and stars, he says let there be light. Which means light is not a created thing. Light is from the, it resonates from who God is. It is a part of him. God is not saying create light,

God is exposing what he already is. So when he says let there be, he's saying let it flood everywhere. And he says that's what you are. You're not reflecting the sun, S-U-N, you're reflecting the sun, S-O-N. He says you are light, this is what you are. And you are the light of the world, unlike salt, which you need up close. Light even works at a distance. When my sons were young, we have two boys, three girls, but when my son were young, they loved reading chapter books. Big novels and stuff like Aragon and other types of chapter books. They loved reading books so much that when we would ground them, we'd be like, you can't read. They're like, no! He's like, no, you can't read. Which is an insane thing to do, right? It's like to think your kid loves to read so much, you take the books away. But they loved reading books so much that we would catch them at one or two in the morning in their bedroom, underneath their blanket with a flashlight, reading books. And it was the wildest thing. It's the crazy thing to have to yell at your kid about. But what they didn't know was, even with the door closed, I could see the light under the door.

Because the light exposes things that are not even next to you. Light has distance. They're with a flashlight under a blanket, yet it's still shining through the door. You'll get it on the way home. The light in you has distance. Light should effect, oh, oh, oh, let me say this right. Your light should be so effective that even when you're not around, people see it. Yes. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. What I love about light is, light doesn't stress. Light doesn't panic. Light doesn't try to be light. It just is. Have you ever turned a light switch on and the light bulb said, hold on a minute. I need to get dressed. No, it's just, it's just light. Light just shows up. Light is never late. It's always on time. I don't know that anyone's ever looked at your watch

and been like, man, when is the sun going? When is the sun going to get here? It's going to get here right when it's supposed to be here. Light shows up where it's supposed to, when it's supposed to. It exposes thing. And I think, here's why I want to say this, because I think sometimes we want to control our light. We want to control it. This is why Jesus says, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Identity, visibility. A city on a hill can't be hidden. If it can't be hidden, then Jesus, why would you even bring it up? Why are we even having this conversation if it can't be hidden? And then he doubles down by saying, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket. Jesus is saying, this is ridiculous. He's talking to people who are believers. He's saying, it's ridiculous, guys. He's saying, guys, you have light that you're not sharing, responsibility. You have a light that you're trying to cover, and it makes as much sense as turning on a flashlight and putting it in your pocket. He says, why would you take this incredible thing you have and then hide it? And he's saying, don't hide what God put in you. What God put in you is too valuable for you to hide it and tuck it away. This is why the anxiety is at an all-time high, because you're trying to hide the very thing that Jesus is calling you. Why? Because somebody's going to say something? Somebody's going to call you the crazy Christian?

Be the crazy Christian. First of all, all of y'all are weird. You're not crazy, but you're weird. You woke up on a Sunday morning to do this, to sing some songs, to worship God, yet we go to our schools, we go to our employments, and we're like, I don't know. We don't invite people to meet Jesus. We don't have conversations about how wonderful he is. We're just like, well, I'm just going to wait until they come to me. God is constantly telling you, no, be light in the room. When you show up in the room, things should change. When you show up in the room… We've all been in the place where you walk into a place and the atmosphere shifts, like a certain boss will walk in and everybody's like, oh, Lord, he's here again. You've experienced that, where somebody walks into the room and it feels like a dark cloud has come in with them? Sometimes it's you, but you should be the light. When you show up, everybody should go, yay. Things are about to change now. Things are going to be different now. We're going to get some things done now. Why? Because James is here. Lisa showed up. Why? They're salt and light. I can't even identify everything they are, but I understand that when they show up, things are different. What does it look like showing up as salt and light? It looks like showing up to work early. It looks like showing up early, not on time, early.

Why are you always here early? Because I'm salt and light. When everybody else is cutting corners, you're showing up with integrity. When no one has ideas, you have ideas. Because I'm showing up, I'm representing God. I'm walking around being who my father calls me. I'm representing Jesus in everything that I do. When I go to work, I represent Jesus. When I play pickleball, I'm representing Jesus. When I'm on video games, I'm representing Jesus. When I'm hanging with my wife, I'm representing Jesus. Why? Light shouldn't hide. Light should expose. This is what I want for us. This is what I want for you. Light is going to expose the fear that you have in your life. What are you anxious about? Anxiety begins to take a hold because we push it down. We don't talk about it. We stick it in our pockets, and we just get up for another day, and we grind it out again. Why? Because we've got to grind it out. Why? Because bills have to get paid. Kids have to get fed. Stuff has to happen, so I just keep grinding it out. You keep grinding it out, and you're wondering, why does my spiritual life feel so weak? You just keep grinding it out. I'm going to church, and I'm even doing Bible study.

I'm even in a small group of people, but what is it that I don't feel like I'm being fulfilled? It's because you just keep grinding it out. Because the parts of you that need to be exposed, you're hiding. You're hiding, and they look good behind the smile. You think no one cares, but they do. They're waiting on you to say something, and you'd be amazed the moment that you open up your mouth and you say, I'm afraid of that. to somebody else is going to say, me too. I struggle with that too. I have issues with that too. This is why Jesus wants us to be light. He wants us to expose the areas that we have hidden in our life. This is where your anxiety is living. This is where your overthinking is living. Let me say this, overthinking is anxiety in a hoodie. Overthinking is making you believe it's something that is not. You actually think that overthinking is productive. It's not. It's procrastination and it's disobedience. Amen. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay, I got to stop. I got to stop.

I got to stop. Jesus goes from identity to visibility to responsibility, don't hide it, to activation. Activation. Let your light so shine before men. Why? So that they may see of your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Let your light shine before men. This is the movement part. This is the movement. You want to release some of the anxiety? Move. Anxiety loves to stay still. It loves to keep you stuck. It loves to keep you thinking that this thing will never change, that this is just the way I am, that this is just the life I have to live. And that's not true. And God says, move. Do you know that you don't have to believe everything you think? 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse five, it says, take every thought captive. Check this out. Ooh, take this note. Take every thought captive so that it follows Jesus.

Every thought, every thought. How many thoughts? Every thought, every thought, every thought. Should I wear these pants? Take it captive. What should I eat? Take it captive. You got to take, it says take every thought. And I think sometimes we think that and we go, well, he don't mean every thought. Yes, every thought. When you take something captive, you know what you do with it? You interrogate it. Why are you here? Who brought you? Where is this coming from? Why do I have this presupposition? Why am I believing that I can't when God says I can? Why am I walking in guilt when the Bible says there is no condemnation? Why am I thinking this way if this is not the way of thinking that God has given me? You have to take it captive. Everything you're thinking, take it captive. I would even encourage you to do this. Start writing it down. Why do I like my eggs over easy? I don't, let me write this.

I know that sounds a little bit funny, but we really have to identify where this thinking comes from. Because we live here, but there's a whole lot of stuff that happened before here that got you here. There's a whole lot of past. There's a whole lot of evolution that happened before you got here. You didn't just wake up one day thinking, I need to lose 10 pounds. You didn't just wake up one day thinking, I'm not good enough. I'm not strong enough. I'll never do it. I'm a failure. This is just the way it's going to be. You didn't wake up one day believing that. Something got you there. Paul says, take it captive. Interrogate it. Prose and condens it. Look at what God says about you and what you're thinking. Ask yourself, do they match? Because if they don't match, then somebody's speaking to you and it's not God. Amen. Amen. Good job. Good job. All right, better and brighter.

Better and brighter isn't just what you bring to the world, it's what happens inside of you when you actually believe who you are. I want to say this. This is all good and dandy, but it means nothing if your identity is not secure. You cannot resonate with a godly identity that you do not have. The most important relationship in your life is your relationship with Jesus Christ, everything starts from there. Not only does it secure your eternity, but it makes life better. Jesus says, I come that you might have life that's eternal, and that you will have it more abundantly. That's right now. So he's come so that your eternity is secure and that your present is good, but if you don't have him, you won't experience it. And I think I can say this in a room full of people who are at church. You can come to church and still not know Jesus. For some of us, that's where the anxiety lives. I grew up in church, I know church, I can do church good. I still had anxiety. Not because I didn't like singing the songs or hearing the sermons, but I hadn't really surrendered my life to him. I'd said I did, but I knew I didn't. But when I did, everything changed. I still had to process through my issues and my stuff, but there was a shift that happened in my soul that said, hello. The chains were broken. I wrote this book, You're Not Crazy, Everyone Gets Anxious, not because I struggled with anxiety, but because I overcame it.

I'm glad we're together today in this space. My name is Mark Cummins, and I'm the pastor at Church of Hope. And if you're a regular attender, welcome. So glad that week after week, we join together in this space. And if by chance, this is your first time, I'm really glad that we're beginning our friendship today. Understand that this broadcast literally goes around the world for free. See, we believe that life's at its best when people discover hope in Christ. There are people who give generously so this broadcast can be reached across every continent. If you've never given, I would invite you today to give. You can go to our webpage, HopeInOcala.com and drop down on the giving bar and give a one-time gift. Or you can give generously beyond just today. And if God's blessed you, help us as we give hope around the world. But for now, I want you to open up your heart and your mind. Let Jesus speak to you because what I believe is that when we open up our minds and let Jesus speak to us, life doesn't become perfect and all the problems don't go away, but you experience His presence in you, with you, and for you. Open up your heart. Let Jesus speak to you today. Peace.