The Fear of Man is a Trap - Part 2 | Pastor Carline Lorenzo

>> The thing that we're going to hear today that's going to shape us, heal us, convict us, correct us, and lead us down the right path, Lord. We give you all the glory, honor, and praise for this teaching, and Jesus' name and the entire church and SOR says together, amen, hallelujah. So the enemies studied agreement before you did. This is the wrong teaching, sorry. Let me open the right one. Give me one second. [ Silence ] My daughter was in my iPad, so I really hope she didn't delete this. Give me a minute, everyone. Salah, grace, Lorenzo, the snare, there you go, there you go. Praise God, it's here, thank you, Jesus. Okay, how the snare closes around you. The fear of man can make you believe and still refuse to confess it. We're going to go to John chapter 12, verse 42. It says, "Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue." So many people believed in Jesus, but they were so fearful of what the Pharisees would say that they did not want to confess that they believed in Jesus. So the fear of man, well, you'll believe in something, you'll believe in who you are, you'll believe in what you're supposed to do, but because you're focusing and paying attention to what people seize you as, you'll become

someone else, you'll operate differently, you'll talk differently, you'll serve differently, and it's not onto the glory of God, not it's onto the glory of man, right? And so many people that saw Jesus' ministry, that encountered the Lord, knew that he was real, believed in him, but then we're afraid of how the Pharisees will perceive them, we'll see them, and so because of that, they never fully sat out of their mouth and declared that they believed in Jesus. This is one of the saddest verses in the gospels. These men actually believed in Jesus, the faith was real, but the fear of man sealed their mouths. They would not confess what they believed because they were afraid of being put out, afraid of the loss of status, position, and belonging. The snare does not always stop you from believing. Sometimes it just stops you from obeying what you believe. Unless you have private, it lets you have private conviction and public silence at the same time. You ever been in a situation where you have conviction, let's say you have a friend that you've liked in the world, and that friend is still smoking weed or drinking, and you know, you feel that conviction, I should not be around this person because they are not like me anymore. I have received the Lord. I believe in Jesus. I know that the way that they're operating is wrong, but because you like them so much, and you want their approval so much that you, even though you feel privately convicted about what they're doing, you're publicly still interfering

with that type of lifestyle. So it's the same way. Well, you'll feel conviction in serving in a department at the church, but then you'll publicly, publicly, at a different way because you're so invested and interested in who seen you serve where, and so now your serving hood is not really on to the Lord is on to man and who can see me do what, and maybe if they see me, then they could tell by a syringe that they see me serve so well so I could become a leader, right? Maybe if they see me that they could give a good word for me, but it's not really on to the Lord, and then the Lord convicts you like, what are you doing? You should be doing this on to me, but still because you're still stuck in that snare, you're still trapped in the fear of man that you can't fully walk out what you're convicted with in the secret in public, right? And what we spoke about last week was that God looks at the inner man, he's more interested in the heart, he's not interested in what you're doing publicly, outwardly. Even if you're a person that everyone sees that's always it to be seen, that's exactly what it's going to be. You're just doing it to be seen, right? And you'll never get fulfilled because then if you don't get seened and God will probably make sure that because you're not doing it unto him in the first place, then you get offended and now you're out the church because you were in the church for people, you weren't in the church for God, right? So you have to make sure that that's not happening. And so the snare does not always stop you from believing. Sometimes it stops you from obeying what you believe. It lets you have private conviction in public silence at the same time and a faith that fear keeps hidden bears no fruit because a very confession that would have set them free was tangled by what people might do. And the Greek word is homologio. It means to confess, to say the same thing, to agree openly. It means to speak out what you truly believe. The fear of man attacks the homologio.

The open agreement, leaving you believing inside while denying outside. That feels like a trap. You're believing inside, but you're a different person than the outside. You feel stuck. Like, what do I do? At that point, you're being controlled, right? Think about you being inside of a capsule, just losing your mind literally because you just, you believe in one thing, but then you can't do it. If you ever been that way where you believe, oh my gosh, I know I'm supposed to do this, but why every time it's an opportunity for me to do what I know I'm supposed to do, I don't do it. You start questioning, like, what is going on? It's because when you start to get around people that has you, when the fear of the man has you trap, like, you're trapped. Literally, you're being controlled by the fear of man. When you get around people, that's what's controlling your actions. It's not what you believe. It's not what's coming from the inside out, not what's the outside in, right? You cannot please people and serve God at the same time. The snare forces a choice. We're going to go to Galatians chapter 1 verse 10. It says, for do I not persuade men or God? Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you've never asked yourself that question, I want you to ask it right now. Even here in School of Revival, ask yourself that question. Do I persuade men or do I persuade God? Are you asking? Because everybody's just staring at me. I don't have the answer for you. You have to ask. You've got to ask yourself. Do I persuade men or do I persuade God? Look at your fruit and look at the things that you've done and evaluate yourself. Do I seek the approval of man or do I seek the approval of God? And you don't even have to seek the approval of God. He already loves you. He already approves you. Or do I seek to please men? Who am I in Christ for? Am I in Christ to please men or am I in Christ to please God? For if I still please men, I will not be a bond servant of Christ. So if after you look at yourself and you start to evaluate your actions and you say, man, and you'll feel it. Even if you might want to say, no, I serve God. You'll feel that conviction because you've got the Holy Spirit. And those people will be like, you'll feel it, you'll know. But then this is the heart attack. Okay, well, then if I'm not pleasing God and I'm seeking to please men, then I'm not a bond servant of Jesus Christ. That's the hard pill to swallow. He's either going to do one thing. It's going to convict you so bad that you're going to repent right then and there, or you're going to get really condemned and leave the faith. But you're not condemned anymore. He already did everything. He forgave you. But that's a different type of teaching. That's when, you know, pride and all these things comes in because condemnation ties

in with pride when you can't receive the forgiveness of the Lord is prideful because you want to feel like you did something. But you didn't do nothing. He did everything. Right? And so that's a different teaching. But that's the question. Paul draws a hard line. The fear of man does not want you to see. He says, "pleasing men and being a servant of Christ cannot both sit on the throne of your life." One of them has to lose. The reason is simple. The moment pleasing people becomes your aim, you will bend God's truth to fit their comfort and a bent truth is no longer the gospel. Once you bend the truth for people, it's no longer the gospel. This is how the snare corrupts even ministry. avoid what God commanded, and flatter where God will confront, all to stay light. Some of you probably have been in a church that's like this, and I'm not here to shame any other churches, or talk bad about any other churches, but some of you have experienced being in a church where they're just telling you all these beautiful things. God loves you, he does. You know, come as you are, he says that. It's okay, you can take your time. It's a process to forgive. Some people are just giving you all this cookie cutter Christianity. God does love you, but he hates to sin. God does say to come as you are, but you will not stay the same. You're supposed to change, because that's his ministry. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to correct. He corrects you, he convicts you, he comforts you. So if you're in a church where the Holy Spirit is the one that's leading, you're gonna feel convicted

and you will not stay the same. You either change or you're gonna leave that ministry. But if you yourselves are living a people-pleasing lifestyle and you go into a people-pleasing church, you will stay the same. You will never change. Then 50 years go down the line and you haven't done nothing and you're wondering why. What is because you're in this Christianity lifestyle, you're having this lifestyle for people. You're not living this lifestyle for God, because if you are, if you are sick, this is why it goes back to the same question. I ask this question every time I teach. Why are you saved? And when I ask people that question, they started telling me how they got saved, because I was so broken, I didn't ask you how you got saved. I said, why? They'll answer how, but they'll never tell me why. And I have to bring them back. That's not what I ask. I said, why are you saved? What's the reason? Somebody raise your hand and tell me, why are you saved? Because what? Because of what Jesus did on the cross? Okay? 'Cause that's why. Okay?

Why are you saved? I would say because God's mercy, that's who He is. He loves us. Okay, that's how you're saved. Oh, I know, I know. You know what I mean? Why are you saved? Why, not how, why? You've ever asked yourself, why am I in Christ in the first place? I could've heard this gospel and I could've said, oh, that's cute. Great, do you believe, I believe? So why, why did you make the decision to give your life to Jesus? What was the reason? We have a hand over there. Oh, you have a mic, go ahead. Sorry. To glorify Christ and to fulfill our purpose that He has for us. Okay, so you're saved to glorify Christ and fulfill, how do you do that? By a ban, the word? How do you obey the word? By just staying in the word and worshiping and coming around people at the kingdom. How do you know all of that? Yes. By being faithful and not pleasing man.

Can you do it by yourself? No, we have to do it with His strength 'cause He gives us the strength to do it. So how do you do it? How do you get His strength? How do you, how do you be that? I mean, I do it by worshiping and reading. How do you worship God just like that? Because then everybody in the world will be able to worship God. Yeah. So what makes you different from somebody else? My faith and I've experienced Him and I know Him. But how? Anyone? The Holy Spirit makes you the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the living God lives inside of you. To do what? No, to do what? To do what? The Holy Spirit lives inside of you to do. To make you become like Him. Why are you saved? To become like Him. You're born again. Do you understand? You're born again. You've already been born. You're sitting right here. So what does it mean when you're born again?

You're a new creature. Which creature? Like Christ. 'Cause you can't fulfill your calling if you don't become like Him. How can you worship a God you can't see? The disciples who are walking with Jesus for three and a half years denied him. What makes you think that you can just believe in a God you cannot see when they walked with him? How are you able to do that? By the spirit of the living God. If you did not have the spirit of the living God, you would not be in Christ. That is why it's so hard when someone's not baptized in the Holy Spirit, it's hard for them to walk righteous. Because you're supposed to be led by who? The spirit. Can we say it like we know it? We're supposed to be led by who? The spirit of the living God. But yeah, we don't talk to the spirit of the living God. We don't think about what the spirit of God wants. How the spirit of God wants us to dress. How the spirit of God wants us to talk. How the spirit of God wants us to be in his church. We don't think like that. We don't talk like that. We don't act like that. We're so focused on what people say about me.

How should I talk to please people? How should I talk to be seen by people in the spirit of God resides inside of you. The same spirit who rose Jesus Christ from the dead wants to change you and you're not focused on him, you're focused on other people. You're gonna stay the same, you're not gonna change. You gave you a gift. Do you have to do anything to receive a gift? You could just, you receive it. If I buy you something, you don't have to do anything for me to give you a gift. That's exactly what happened. God gives you his spirit, which is a gift. You didn't have to do nothing and you're telling God, "I don't really want this gift right now. "I want their gift. "I want their applause. "I want them to see me. "I want Pastor Rich to lay hands on me "and cast his demon out, "even though you can't do it in the secret place. "I want a word from the pastor." Is that a problem? It's not, but if that's what you're seeking, you're not gonna get it. Because you can receive a word from the Word of God. Open the Word. Open the Bible and you'll find it. Well, we start walking in the fear of man

and then it comes to idolization and all these things. Does God use a man to, you use a man to feed, to pour into you, to disciple you? Yes, of course, absolutely, but you don't focus on that. You come to a church because I want to be like Jesus. I believe that this church has the Holy Spirit and I wanna be led by the Spirit. So I'm gonna come over here and I'm gonna seek what the Spirit of God wants me to do in his church. It just so happens that he ordained a wonderful man of God and that's amazing, I love that. But even if that man of God wasn't the one leading this church, I still believe that it's you that's doing it, Lord. What do you want me to do, God? Does that make sense? But if we're coming in here, I wonder if I'm gonna get to talk to Pastor Rich today, it's never gonna work. Right? Let's keep going. This is how the snare corrupts even ministry. I read that a man, please, it will soften what God said, avoid what God commanded and flatter where God would confront, all to stay liked. Paul had to settle it once and for all and so does every believer. You are either aiming to please the crowd or to please Christ and you cannot serve two audiences. The Greek word is arresco.

So please, so accommodate, to strive to satisfy. You're striving to satisfy. You ever felt like you're striving? That's because you're trying to satisfy. Aaron is like, I know, it's so disgusting. When you think about it, you're like, ew, I don't wanna. So you mean to somebody I'm being used by people to satisfy them? Like, ew, exactly. Ew, that's just, that's nasty. I'm not trying to do that. Like I'm being used as a tool to satisfy other people. Brooklyn? I don't think so, right? Let's keep going, where am I at? The man, please, it lives, it carries the idea of adjusting yourself to when someone's favor. The man, please, lives in constant arresco, reshaping himself around people and cannot simultaneously be a bond-servant of Christ. So if you're striving to satisfy people, what time do you got for you to be able to please the Lord? [BLANK_AUDIO] because your heart is to serve men before it is to serve God. So then you start striving, working hard because your heart's not fully devoted to God in the first place. And like I said last week, because I like to get to the root of things. If you ever hear me teaching or you ever know who I am, I'm the type of person I pray.

I say, God, show me the root. Show me exactly what it is so I can go in there and pluck it out. I love to know what the root is. Because once we get the root and we pluck it all the way out, that thing not going to grow back. I'm not just trying to squeeze it because it's going to grow back. I don't want to just cut it out. I want to pluck it out. I want a shirt that says pluck it out. I want to pluck that thing out. I want to grab-- because you know roots, they grow deep. I want to take it out and look at it and be like, ah, got you out. Right? And it's going to hurt. But when it comes out, you're like, oh, you're about a splinter. And you're like digging, but I'm going to get this thing out. Even if you got just a tip out, it's still going to hurt. Because it's still in there. But when you get the whole thing out, you're like, ah, I got it out. Right? You feel like satisfied. That's what we-- that's what we need to do. We need to literally yank the whole thing out. And the root of it is, is that it's about you. That's the root. Why do you have the fear of men? Because you want to be liked. It's about you. You want to be seen. You want to be worshiped.

You have taken the position of Christ. You want to be liked. You want to be worshiped. You want to be praised. Right? Who else did that? Say louder. I'm sorry, what? Satan did that. Most beautiful angel was making music for God, looked down at himself, saw his jewels, and how beautiful he was. And then he said, I want to become like God. You don't want to be like that. I want to be like you so I can serve you. I don't want to become above God so that people could worship me. Oh, I'm annoying to if you didn't know. Oh, I could prophesy. Oh, I'm a good preacher. Oh, I'm the evangelist. That's great. Lord, Lord, I prophesy. I cast it out demons. I evangelized. Oh, depart for me. I don't know you. You did it for me, and you didn't do it for me. You wanted to be loved. It was about you.

But you're so trapped, you'll feel the conviction, but outwardly you won't change because it's about you. We don't want to be like that, right? What? OK, I'm just making sure you're here. Amen. The snare feeds on comparison because you can only fear the approval of people you are measuring yourself against. John chapter 12, verse 43 says, they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. What I just said, right? So you want to be praised instead of giving the praise to God. So you're a glory thief. You ever prayed for something? The Lord convicted me with this two years ago. You ever prayed for something? Let's say if I'm praying for somebody to stop smoking weed, for like three, four months, right? And finally, they stop smoking weed. And I hear the testimony, and I say, oh my gosh, I prayed for this. Who did I just give the glory to? Or I could say, wow, that's amazing. And I love God. That's crazy. God, thank you. And then later on in the secret place, you're like, oh my gosh, God, like, you listen to me. He's like, yes, I love you.

But you are in public. I prayed for this. I knew this, yes. You just stole the glory. God told me that one day and I said, oh my goodness, I cried so hard. I said, Lord, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna do that again. Like, no, that is so disgusting. I am not going to do that. Why for what? Because I'm so rejected. It's so about you, Carleen, that you just have to let people know that you prayed for it, okay? You'd still didn't do it. It was still God. He just needed you to partner with him. Is this helping you? Do you understand what I'm saying? All right. John finishes the thought about those secret believers with the real diagnosis. They loved the real diagnosis, the root. Say, I wanna get to the root. They love the praise of men, that's the root, more than the praise of God. This is the engine underneath the fear of man, okay? It is not only fear of rejection. It is love of approval. You fear losing what you love,

and if you love human praise, you will fear human disapproval. That is why the snare tightens most on the people, most addicted to being admired. So you might not feel like you love being admired, but you really do and it might stem from the rejection, but that's the root. And it might have been because you weren't, you didn't get that from your parents. Or the opposite, you got it too much in the world and now you're expecting it in Christ. Right? And notice the comparison built into it. They weighed the praise of man against the praise of God and the human praise won because it was closer, louder and more immediate. The snare offers you the applause you can hear now in exchange for the well done you would have to wait for. You can get an applause right now or you can wait and hear well done my faithful servant from the one who truly matters. And that checks me so many times. Every time I can feel the snare of the fear of man, try to grab me, I think about that day. What is the Lord gonna tell me? I wanna hear well done my good and faithful servant. That's gonna mean the world to me. It's gonna mean everything to me. Like you're actually pleased. Yes, I've been waiting if I don't know whatever years

for me to hear this and I'm finally hearing it from the one who was and is to come. What? Yes, I can wait. Or I can just get a great job. And that's it and then nothing else. Then I go to heaven and God's like the part for me. I don't know you. You know how hard, like how hard that is? How heartbreaking that is? To think everything you've been doing down here is forgotten and God looks at you and tells you the part for me. I don't know you. But I got, I got, I said, I demons in your name. I preached every Sunday, I had a mic, I evangelized. I want so many people to cry, it's praise God, but I don't know you. That's hard. It's really, really hard. The Greek word is doksa. It means glory, praise, honor, opinion. It is the same word used for the glory of God. They chose the doksa of men over the doksa of God, trading eternal weight for temporary applause. Whatever doksa you crave is the snare you are most vulnerable to. The same thing that traps you is the same thing that could set you free and it's what you trust. So if you're trusting in the applause of a man, that's what you're going to be trapped in.

But that same applause from God can set you free. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 25 says, the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. Whoever trusts in the Lord. You want to know how the Lord really wants you to trust him? It's like being diagnosed with breast cancer when it's a triple positive breast cancer, which means triple positive hormone breast cancer, which means your entire hormones as a woman is what feeds the cancer. And women's have two hormones. They have estrogen and progesterone. And then there's another hormone that attached to the cancer cells that's feeding it. And then the Lord tells you, do you trust me and you say, yes, Lord, I trust you. He tells you don't do anything for three and a half years. And then you get pregnant twice. And when you're pregnant, your hormone levels, they multiply, especially when you're pregnant with a woman. for three and a half years, but you're bleeding out of your breast for almost three years, and you don't know what is about to happen if you get an MRI or a PET scan or anything. You have no idea, but you're just trusting in God. That's how God wants you to trust Him. (audience applauding) But is it easy?

No, it's not easy. It's not easy, especially when you have your mother, your father, your husband, his mother, your sister telling you, "Go do radiation, go do chemo and remove your breast," but God told you not to. And then finally, when the Lord says, "Now you go remove your breast," then when it would be biopsy, they realized that cancer stayed at stage zero for three and a half years. Like, and I'm not saying it for like, like saying it to get an applause. I'm trying to help you understand, just how deep God wants you to trust Him. Because there's been so many thoughts that ran through my mind. Like, what is happening? What's gonna happen? Am I going to die? All my children gonna make it? Is my baby's gonna come out with cancer? Like, I don't know what's going on in my body. Are they gonna say that it's everywhere? Are they gonna say it's stage four? It's been three and a half years. What's gonna happen? But God, I trust you. You ask me if I trust you, and I said yes. So now I got to prove that I actually trust you.

I can't just say it. I got to actually prove it. I got to actually live it. I got to actually walk in it. I can't be double-minded. I can't say I trust you with my lips, but I don't really trust you with my heart. I can't have the fear of man with water people gonna think, "No, God said don't do nothing." So I'm not gonna do it, but was it easy? No, it was not easy, it was hard. But I had to be a woman of my word and say, "No, I trust what God said in the word." It's either he's real or he's not. It's either by his stripes, I'm healed or I'm not. But what happens if you die? Well, I guess I'll just go to heaven early. But is that easy to think? No, but I had to die to myself. Because if I love myself so much, then I got to do something, because then I'm gonna die. I got to take care of me. But if I'm dead to myself and I said, "I'm already yours anywhere. "You do what you want to do with me." This is your body anyways, you do it. Then I can be safe. Because if I'm the one that goes and handles it and takes care of it myself, or I'm done,

I don't know this body the way the Lord knows this body. He created this body. I didn't create this body. I'm just in a vessel. But this vessel belongs to God. God, what do you want to do with this vessel? What do you want to do with this body? What do you want me to do? And then trust that he's gonna do it. But that's what God wants. You can't fear man and trust God at the same time. It's not gonna work. You can't, because then you can't hear God, right? We return to the anchor verse because the second half holds the escape. Whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. And the Hebrew for safe means to be set on high. Lift it up out of reach. Picture it. The snare is on the ground down where the prey walks, but the one who trusts God is lifted above the level where the trap can't even reach. Trust is what raises you out of the snare's range. The fear of man keeps you low, walking the ground where the traps are laid. The fear and trust of God lifts you to a place where people's approval and disapproval can no longer catch your feet. And it was a real test for me. My parents would cry on the phone.

Why don't you just do the surgery and do keep more radiation? My sister would cry. As a matter of fact, I had to go to one of my cousins, funeral who died of breast cancer and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had to sit there in that place, watch her on that coffin dead. Literally died of breast cancer. And my sister starts crying in front of the whole family saying this is what's gonna happen to you if you don't do something. Do you know what I did? I said it's not gonna happen. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna worship. And I sang at the funeral. But in my heart, was I scared? I was, but I had a decision. I had a decision. I could have been like, oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm gonna do something. Or I could say, no, I know what God said and that's it. I'm not doing it. Sometimes we go through things because God wants to see like, do you really trust me for real? Like you say you do, or you just act them. Do you really trust me for real? Are you really in Christ because you wanna be like me for real? Are you just doing it because you think

you're gonna gain something? Are you in Christ because you wanna be seen? Are you in Christ because you wanna serve me? 'Cause you have reverence for me. Because that was me having reverence for what he said. Even though I don't know what it looks like, I would cry every day, God, I don't know. It's been two, three years, like what's going on? Like what's happening? You're like, hello, do something, every day, do something. And the only thing I would hear is wait, wait. My husband would be like, what are you gonna do? I'm gonna wait, what do you mean you're gonna wait? I'm gonna wait, God said to wait. And he would be like, what is going on? 'Cause he didn't even understand. And then he sometimes God would tell him, like my daughter's healed, stop, wait. It was a hard season, but it was a testing for both me and him, like, okay, God, I'm gonna trust that he's she heard from you, and that's what I'm gonna do. And there's some things that I haven't gone through that you guys have gone through, that you have shown God that you can trust in him and that maybe I might have struggles in, I don't know. But that's just us remembering what that scripture says. Like man, like I'm gonna fear the Lord. I'm going to literally trust in God and have reverence for what God said, no matter what the circumstances are saying, no matter what other people are telling me,

I'm not gonna fear man, I'm not gonna look for the approval of man, I'm gonna look to God. What did you say about this situation, Lord? Okay, this, okay, I'm gonna stick to it, that's it, because I wanna please you, because it's about you, it's not about other people. Does that make sense? The Hebrew word is sagab, it means to be set on high, to be lifted up, to be inaccessibly safe. It is safety by elevation, being raised above the reach of the danger, trusting God lifts you above the ground where the snare of man is set. I wanna ask you guys this question, what would change this week if you truly trusted God to be your safety instead of managing what people think of you? What would it look like? Right, it's like Sarah, it's like Abraham and Sarah. If you guys know the story, the first time when the Lord told Abraham you're gonna have a child, Sarah's like, ah, okay, okay, well, the sleeper haggard, that's the only way, 'cause I gotta do something about it. I guess that's what God meant. Let me intervene and do something about it. God never said, you're gonna have a child, go sleep with haggard, God said you're gonna have a child. Just wait. But Sarah said, no, no, no, no, this is exactly what God meant. God literally meant for you to sleep with haggard. And then he comes back around and he says,

by this time next year, Sarah's gonna have a son, after he done had hischmill. And Sarah laughed. And then he said, what is your wife? And she was like, I didn't laugh, he goes, you did laugh. And there's nothing that's impossible with God. But they sound around, you're gonna have a child. So you have two, and then she was called the mother of faith. Okay, so you're thinking, how was she called the mother of faith when she denied God the first time? Well, because the second time came around and she had to just wait. She waited. What happened? She had Isaac named him laughter. Isaac means laughter, so that's why she laughed. So she didn't have to go to any of the whole things that she went through. Now ischmill is literally, if you guys went down the history, they're basically the Muslims, they're lying. Yeah, go look it up. Because God literally told haggard, like, I will bless, like your son will have generations. Because of Abraham, because Abraham was already, but like God already gave him the promise. So now he had two sons, so he had to keep his word. So now you have a bunch of generations in the Muslim, then you have the Christianity. What's the closest to Christianity to the Muslims? But it's all perverted.

Do the history, but all of that happened, because haggard, I'm sorry, all of that happened because Abraham, Sarah did not trust in God the first time. Whether he redeemed it, she trusts in God, now she's the mother of faith. So what would happen if he's just trusting God? What would that look like? Go ahead. - So I would say from personal experience, right? Like, I laid down YouTube and it was a hard thing for me to do. Like, very hard. And I actually was rebelling against God for a while and I didn't get a regular job when he told me to. He would send pastors, he would speak to me through leaders. And I was just like, nah, I got YouTube, right? So I held down to it. And then eventually, the scene, the fruit of that, we almost got evicted twice. We had an eviction notice twice. And then that's when I woke, like, my eyes opened, like, yo, like, what am I doing, right? And then the Lord was like telling me, like, that I had that self-examination point in my walk where I was like, yo, like, what am I doing? Like, am I serving Christ? Like, am I being obedient? Like, did I truly give my life to him? - Right. - And he would just bring me back to the altar moment when I went to the altar.

And, like, all the things that I would say in prayer and worship and, like, when I would come to church or everything out of my mouth, I was saying I wasn't living. And it broke me. Like, and that's when, you know, I went to go get a job and then just threw out that whole process of working at Roadhouse. It's about to be a year now that I've been there. And there's been times where I'm like, like you said, like God, like when, like, we're making just enough money to pay bills and that's it. But we coming from having more, like, a lot more than enough, right? So, it's just like, he would give me dreams of me having a podcast. And then, like, in those dreams, I was interviewing, like, big influencers and they were giving their life to Christ, like, on the YouTube channel. So, like, he gave me that promise. Like, he's shown me earlier, earlier on in my walk, these things, but then he, the media assignment was to read John, and before I wouldn't really take heed to assignments like that, and I had a repent, 'cause the Lord was showing me, like, a lot of the things that he has for us to grow is gonna be through this ministry. - Right. - So, I started taking heed. And John seven, when Jesus's brothers were trying to get him to go to Judea, back to Judea, when he said, I'm not going back there

because they sought to kill him, and it wasn't his time yet, they were focused more on, like, oh, if you're doing these miracles, go back to Judeaia, so people could see you. - That you're doing. - Yeah, like, I noticed that throughout John, like, Jesus was presented things like, way more than we are. - Wow. - Like, Satan brought him to the top of the mountain and offered everything, like, so I was just, I was able to relate to that because throughout my walk, I would have even believers or people from the church, just everybody, my family members telling me, you have seven million, what are you doing? But God told me to lay it down. And like, I knew that it wasn't time, it wasn't time yet, so like, I just could relate to Jesus, well, yeah, I could relate to what Jesus went through so much, because he would always tell people, it's not, it's not, my time has not yet come, it's not the Father's timing. So like, I stand on that, like, whatever the Lord tells you, obviously you honor your leaders, there's safety in the multitude of counsel, but would the Lord show you that epic no-schools, that knowing in your spirit, from intimacy with him, we gotta hold on to that. - Yeah. - You have to hold on to that. - Amen.

(audience applauds) - Yeah, it was deep, that was deep, seven, imagine you have seven million followers on YouTube, you're like famous, like people know you, in the world, and then you meet the Savior, and he says, lay it down. And all you know is YouTube, and those seven million people following you and watching you, and he's like, no more. And you're like, whoa, hold on, what do you mean, no more? This isn't my life, like God. And he's like, did you trust me? What's seven million to God? He could give you 70 million. Seven million of things to God. We think that God has to work so hard to get us one million followers, just like, it's just a little, messes up the algorithm a little bit. And all of a sudden you wake up one day, 70 million followers, you're like, wait a second, what happened, whoa. But he wants to get you to the point where you don't even look at the 70 million, you're like, wow, praise God. 70 million people are gonna know about Jesus. Because when they see me, they see Jesus. Because when they hear me, they hear Jesus. Because when they watch my podcast or they watch my YouTube, they're gonna be like, feeling the presence of God, because God's gonna anoint it.

'Cause you could be anointed with influence, but what are you gonna do with it? So that's big, thank you for sharing, Drew. Really, really big. Let's see what we got. Anybody from SOR before we leave, raise your hand. Anybody has their hand up then we'll like to talk and share. Go once, go in twice, amen. Anybody here wants to share real quick? What would that look like if you trusted in God fully and not what people are going to say? Yes. Aaron, they're bringing your mic. I would say to just hold everything very loosely, like to just not hold onto anything and just allow things to just be seasonal. A lot of things to be what, the last word? Allow things to be seasonal, to not always think everything is forever. Yeah. There's actually a scripture that talks about that, I have to find the verse, but there's a verse that talks about that, like where Paul is saying the things that has happened to look at them as if they're nothing. He says all these things that's happened, all these wonderful things that's happened to you in ministry, look at them as if they're nothing. Because if you can't look at them as if they're nothing you're going to hold on to them and that you can't see the promises that God has for you in the future, how can you receive something better that God has for you if you're holding on to past blessings? I know when I got that, I got so convicted, I was like, dang, that was a lot of good moments in those seasons that you just want me to let it go. Yeah, look as if it's nothing, because I got so much more. So sometimes you're in the season that you're in right now, because you're holding on for

dear life to something that you're like, oh my God, this is so good, I don't want to let it go. I got so much more for you and you don't have any little hands for you to take it. Can you let this go? It's like that little picture that you guys see with the little girl, God, I really like it. And God has it this huge teddy bear, he's like, give it to me. I got this huge teddy bear, you need both hands, just give me the little teddy bear. I think about that all the time, I'm like, okay, okay, I want the big teddy bear, right? So, amen. I'm praying that when we come here with these teachings that even the fear of the Lord will definitely drop on you guys, so come prepared to receive, to learn, come with your Bible, come with the notebook, come with the pen, come with listening hearts. Did you guys hear me say listening hearts, not listening ears, because you can listen here or you can listen here? I don't usually listen here, listen here. Because when the heart changes and the body follows, everything else follows, don't just listen here, don't be a tingling-eared person I like to hear the good things, and then you leave and you don't change, right? Listen in your heart, you guys understand what I'm saying? First of all, I was just going to thank Drew for sharing that testimony because there's a lot of that stuff, stuff that I've been struggling with recently, and one of the things that I realized is that I was condemning myself for a lot of things, because I was reading my Bible, I was praying, I had all these things, but I didn't allow God into my finances, and I then began to feel like I had to fix that area of my life by myself, and I rejected God outside of that area of my life, and then what I started to realize is all those other things that I was doing onto God now started being taken over by anxiety, by stress, by fear of the finances, and so I started to kick God further and further away by thinking I had to do it on my own, and now it's like, man, I've been doing this on my own because I felt like I let God down, and now it's like, man, God, I never let you down, you just wanted

me to give it to you in the first place, and I just held on to it because I felt like this was a burden I had to carry, and so now I'm like really just letting go of that and allowing God to take over that area, and what I've realized is I'm not just allowing God in that area because I've let go of that area, everything else is aligning better in my life, because I was telling Brother Michael the other day, we were having a talk, I was like, I know that God doesn't condemn me, but in my mind, I'm condemned because it was like I was here at one point, and now I feel like I fell five steps back, and now it's like, I didn't fall five steps back, I just hitting a wall, and I just got to open the door and let God in that area. Yeah, yeah, and even to get deeper, like you said, or were you taking the glory? Because that's the root. The root is the reason why we don't allow God in a certain area is because we know we're going to have to give Him the glory for it. And subconsciously, we want to get the glory. I did this. I got to that point. I worked hard and it's not in a way of condemning it all or it makes you seem like you're a bad person. It's just realizing that snare, realizing for people to be like, "Wow, Eddie, you're doing such a great job. You're handling your finances so well." Instead of giving it to God and saying, "God, I need you to do it." And then when somebody says that, you say, "All the glory to God for real." Because sometimes people will say, "All the glory to God, but it's coming out of their lips. It's not really coming out of their heart." But the little key, they're like, "Yeah, I did it." But they're like, "Oh, glory to God, that false humility, that false humility will get you." It's not hidden. You have to really, really, really believe and know, "Glory be the God for real because I can't do it." So then when you're not in that position, the fear of man is going to be such a snare that's going to bring you love for you to come into humility and say, "I really don't want to get the glory. God, you have to do it." For me, I feel like the root for me was rejection because I felt like in my finances weren't doing well. And I felt almost like let down because I was doing good in other areas. But what I realized is that God wasn't letting me down. I was letting me down because God didn't have that to let me down. Yeah. Think about rejection. What kills rejection?

Humility. Like, let me ask the word better. Let's say if you're a person that's dealing with rejection. If somebody comes and starts praising you, do you feel rejected? No. I see it. Right? I didn't say it at all. You're rejected. But the moment somebody says, "Oh, my gosh, you're amazing. Wow, you're doing so great." You're like, "Wow." Because you want to get praised. Right? That's the root. We have to not want to get praised. You don't want to be praised and you want God to be praised. That kills rejection so much faster. Then you can really receive your identity. It goes to the one who gives it to you. It doesn't go to you. So you could go through things in your past that caused the rejection, but you have to remember, "I got to give God praise. I got to worship God through it. He gets all the glory. He gets all the praise. I don't need to be praised. I don't need to be seen. I don't need to be worshipped." Because the moment somebody goes, "Oh, my gosh, you're so amazing." You're like, "Really? Thanks." Or you could be like false humility. Thank you. Or you could be like, "Amen. Glory be to God. Praise the Lord. He did it. And you be real about it." Right? All right. Let's pray. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Come on, let's stand and give reverence to the Lord. Hallelujah. Yadda tired? Come on, little ones. Yadda, a lot of energy. Come on. So Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your word that never returns void and does exactly what you're sent it to do. I want you guys to put your hands up. Father, I thank you that the spirit of the fear of man is not on your people and is not in your church. Father, we come against that spirit in the name of Jesus. We thank you that we are not a people that seek to be praised, that seek to be worshipped. You are the only one worthy of all the worship and worthy of all the praise. Father, we thank you that our hearts, Lord God, will be realigned with this course, Lord, that every single time that we come in, we're going to come in. We're reverence to the Lord, reverence to what you're teaching, reverence to what you're saying, reverence to your spirit, Lord. We're going to be sensitive to the voice

of the Holy One, the voice of the One who wasn't is to come, the voice of the One who died on that cross for our sins. You are the One that's worthy, and Lord God, you still do not seek for the approval of man, but only the approval of the father. So we are wanting to be like you. We are becoming like you. We are becoming like Christ. Say, I am becoming like Christ. I do not seek the approval of man. I trust in the Lord, and I shall be safe in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Esau our family, for joining us. I'll see you next week. to 5 p.m. We're gonna go