This Won't Take Me Out

We're gonna go hungry for the presence of God. (audience applauding) Oh man. He's in the room. He's in the room. Yeah, don't you love it when the presence of God is in the room? Wow. Well, hey, as you're being seated, let me know what your neighbors have. I'm hungry for the presence of God. You can be seated. (upbeat music) Well, what an honor it is that I get to preach the word of God. I never take this lightly. It is an honor. It is a privilege that I get to open up the scriptures with you today. And I'm just so honored. I wanna take a moment before I get into my message today. Can we honor our lead pastor, Pastor Brad, and Pastor Tasty Wilkinson? Come on, give it up for him. (audience applauding) I know you know this, but we are blessed. We're blessed to be pastor by some of the most amazing individuals, people on the entire planet. I'm grateful to you, Pastor Brad,

because you are safe. Because you're genuine. Because you're authentic. Because you care. I wouldn't even be playing this. I know you're like, what are you doing right now? But I've been in the room when tears have come to your eyes as we've been petitioning or praying over members of the church. And I've seen your heart, and I'm a better man because I've been able to follow you. And so I honor you today. I love you. (audience applauding) All right, enough of all this sappy stuff. We're gonna start crying over here. All right, all right, let's open up our Bible is to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four, verse 11 is where we're gonna start. Hey, let's do this. I know that I just had you sit down and go ahead and stand to your feet so we can read the word and we can just honor this. I promise you, it won't be a long portion of Scripture. And I won't have you standing and sitting all night. But I wanna read Philippians chapter four, a very familiar verse. I'm gonna start in verse 11, halfway through it.

Paul says this. And how about, how about we do this? How about we read it together? Whatever word I don't say, can you say it for me? Is that okay? All right, let's just read it, okay, sir. I'm not gonna read it for you. For I have learned to be... Good stuff. Whatever the circumstances, I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want, I can do this through him who gives me strength. God, I thank you that your strength is coming over your people in this room right now. God, I thank you that these words are penetrating into our hearts and they are changing, not only the way that we think, but they're changing the way that we think. I don't want to come in here and leave the same way I came in today. I want to have an encounter with you in the room today, in the name of Jesus, we pray Amen and Amen. You can go ahead and be seated at this moment. Have you ever just had one of those days? Like when nothing was going right in your life.

You ever had one of those days where it just seemed like bad thing after a bad thing after a bad thing, we're just compounding on top of one another. Like from start to finish in your day, maybe I don't know you. You woke up late, you're slept through your alarm, maybe you have kids and you're trying to get some moody kids out of bed to make sure that they got to church on time or got to work or to school on time, maybe on your way in to work you. You had a flat tire, which is terrible. It's the worst thing in the whole entire world. If you're learning worse than a flat tire, it's getting a ticket. I don't know, maybe you agree or you don't agree, but I hate getting tickets. I always have a reason. You know, I always have a reason why I shouldn't have got the ticket. I'm like, man, you know, I didn't see that sign right there. And he's like, yeah, it was right there. It's right in front of you. And I'm like, ah, I don't know why I missed it, right? But have you ever just had one of those days where, well, this seemed like everything was going terrible. Like that one annoying coworker was just extra terrible today, they're just extra annoying. You're like, well, you just stopped speaking right now. You ever just had just one of those days where nothing was going right.

I don't know, you're looking at a bank account and it was drained because like someone had stolen, you know, your credit card or your debit card. So you spent half a day, right? Trying to get your money back and get it put back on your account. And like, you just had one of those days. Things just aren't working. And you get to a point in the day and you're thinking, you're saying, this day just might take me out. You ever felt like that before? I'm a human, I'm real, maybe you feel the same way. Where it felt like seeing after thing after thing just kept going wrong. Where it felt like all hell was breaking loose in your life. Where it seemed like you just couldn't catch a break. You ever felt that way before? I remember a moment in my life where I felt that way. I felt like I couldn't win at anything. I felt like I was failing at everything. It felt like anything that could go wrong in my life was going wrong at that time. And I'll never forget calling my mother. Don't you love a good praying mom? Anybody love a good praying mom? I remember calling my mother and she said these words to me and she would always tell me these words. They were so comforting and yet encouraging at the exact same time. What she would say to me is she would say, "Samuel,

"this is just a moment." It brought me back to reality. What she was saying to me was, "Samuel, "this isn't forever. "This what you're enduring right now." It's only this moment right now. I know that it feels like things are not getting better for you. I know that you feel defeated. I know that it feels like you can't see a light at the end of the tunnel. I want to say, "Samuel, this is just a moment." I feel like someone in the room just needs to speak that over yourself right now because I don't know what you're walking through right now. But can we all just say that under our breath right now, this is just a moment. I promise you, my preaching tonight won't be extremely nuanced or complex. I want to preach a very simple message to you tonight. I want to encourage, I want to motivate, I'm going to tell you that right here and right now. I want to encourage you today that if you're walking through a season like that where it feels like the things are just getting worse and worse in your life, can I tell you, this is just a moment. When I felt like my mother was saying to me in that moment, was, "Samuel, this isn't going to take you out. "This isn't going to take you out. "You know, when you're in the middle

"of something going terrible in your life, "you think this is definitely going to take me out." Like when you're in the middle of the worst season of your marriage, you're thinking, "This is definitely going to take me out." When you're experiencing financial hardship, you're thinking to yourself, "This is going to take me out." I want to encourage someone. I thought I was writing this message. I was on a plane. And I felt like those are the words that God told me to tell you today, that this is not going to take you out. I hope that's encouragement for you. Matter of fact, the scriptures would support it. Scripture tells us greater is he that is on the inside of us than he that is living in the world. And so, it doesn't matter the challenges of today, this is not going to take you out. Scripture says that you are the head and you're not the tail. So it doesn't matter if you're falling behind. It doesn't matter if you're failing. This is not going to take you out. Scripture says that the weapon may be formed, but it will not prosper. I know it looks like the weapon has come against you. I know it looks like the weapon might take you out, but the word of God and the promises and the word of God

tell us this will not take you out. If someone's speaking over yourself, this won't take me out. Come on, that's the title of the message for today. This won't take me out. I told you it was going to be a simple message, but sometimes the most simple messages are the most prophetic. Hopefully you'll hear this beyond just the words that I use. I think this is the heart of Philippians, chapter four and verse 13. This is arguably one of the most popular scriptures in the entire Bible. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Every single one of us knows this scripture. We can repeat this scripture. We can recite this scripture. Every athlete has this scripture tattooed on their bodies. Any coach who claims to be a Christian is going to use this scripture to amp up his team. We put this scripture on the back of our trucks. We put this scripture on our shirts. We put this scripture on our bios. And I want to be completely honest with this tonight. I think that we may have missed the mark on the meaning of this scripture. I think that, I think that, let me be careful when I say this, I think we may have taken this scripture out of context.

Context matters. And I think that it's really easy to pick specific scriptures that feel good and we use them however we want to use them. So we've used this scripture as this motivational speech. Hey, if you have a dream in your heart, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. If you want to start that business, you want to be this athlete, if you want to be great, you can do all things in Christ who gives you strength. It's become almost this way of, whatever you put your mind to, you can do it. You work hard enough, you can become it. It's become this source of motivation. And can I tell you something? I do believe that God cares about our dreams. I do believe that God cares about the visions that he's put on the inside of our hearts. I do believe that he wants to give us the desires of our hearts. I do believe that God wants us to achieve and seek greatness in our lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So I don't think we're misinterpreting the scripture. I just think we're reading it out of context. Because if you actually read the context of the scripture, which is what we just did, that's not what Paul's talking about at all. This is no motivational speech to go become the greatest athlete in the world. Now what he's saying is,

I've been through some really hard things in my life. I've been through some trials and some tribulations. I've been through some struggles. And at the end of the day, here's what I know to be true that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I can endure the current season through Christ who gives me strength. I can go through hardship because it is he who gives me strength. Historical context, Paul, when he is writing this is in prison. He's actually potentially waiting to be executed in prison. I don't think that Paul wrote this and was like, yeah, I'm gonna write this cute thing so that people can put it on people's shirts. I don't think Paul was like, yeah, this is gonna make a really great bio one day. Like this is gonna make some really great designs in art one day. I think it was truly what he was feeling and what he was saying was, I'm enduring some really hard things right now, but this will not take me out because I've got a God who gives me strength. What is the context of the scripture? I think sometimes it truly, truly does matter that we actually understand the context of the scripture.

Let's get to know a little bit more about this Paul character. Let's go to Corinthians, second Corinthians, chapter 11 and verse 24. Second Corinthians, chapter 11 and verse 24. Let's see what kind of hardship Paul actually faced in his life. He says this in verse 24. Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. I don't know why he didn't say 39. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones, you haven't been pelted with stones. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers and danger from bandits and danger from my fellow Jews and danger from Gentiles and danger in the city and danger in the country and danger at sea and in danger from false believers. I've labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I've known hunger and thirst and I've often gone without food. I have been cold and naked. This is a terrible existence. This is a terrible life. Some of us miss breakfast and we're gonna move the whole day. Some of us if we don't get a coffee by 8 a.m.

We're wreaking havoc in our household. No one wants to talk to us. And in this moment, Paul said, I've been through all of these things and the conclusion that he actually comes to. And you read in more of Paul's letters and even if you read in chapter 12 here in 2 Corinthians, he says, but I don't boast in any of those things. I don't boast in my strength. I'm not boasting in my abilities. I'm not boasting in how good I am. I'm actually boasting in my weakness. Somebody say weakness. Why does he boast in his weakness? Because in his weakness, God's strength is made perfect in his weakness. God's strength shows up in a supernatural way. Did you know that in your weakness, it actually presents opportunity for God's supernatural peace to come into your life. Did you know that in your weakness, it presents an opportunity for God's supernatural hope to come into your life? Did you know that in your weakness, it presents an opportunity for God to miraculously move in your life. Maybe we've been boasting in the wrong thing. Maybe it's not to be boasted in our strength, but it's actually that we boast in our weakness as what Paul would say.

This is a terrible existence. This is a terrible way to live. Anybody ever been shipwrecked before? I don't think so. Okay, good. I was like, is somebody gonna be like, yeah, I have. Wow, girl, a trooper, come on. Cast away or whatever, I don't know. Yeah, anybody ever been pelted with rocks? Like, this is a terrible life to live. And yet, this is the exact same person who says, He said, "I can endure all of these things." You know what it tells us? It tells us that Paul has a high tolerance for adversity. Here's a high tolerance. He has a high tolerance for pain. Do you have a high tolerance for adversity in your life? Let me ask you that question. Like when things come your way, does everything take you out? Let's just have a real conversation. Like any time that things don't go your way, it's the worst ever. I hate my life. Like any time that something goes unexpected is, "Oh my gosh, my life is in shambles, terrible." Like any time, like something goes wrong in your life. It's like this is the end of the world. You're like in a field where there's a crime. Like what is your tolerance to adversity? It's clear that Paul in the Scriptures

has a high tolerance for adversity. And he's been through so many things and yet he can still stand up and say, "Oh, I'm in prison right now, but at the same time, "I do know that the God will give me all the strength "that I need." Yeah, I'm in prison right now, but I still have joy. Yeah, I'm in prison right now, but I still have peace. Do you have a high tolerance for adversity in your life? You know, I believe that you can actually build a tolerance to adversity. I believe you can build a tolerance to adversity. Do you know how you build a tolerance to adversity? You endure something. You go through something. Anybody who worked out or in the fitness world, or you lift weights a little bit, anybody, anybody? Okay, a couple of us, okay. Yeah, yeah, great. Great, we got a healthy church here. I'm just kidding, I'm kidding. Come on, come and see me, hi, hallelujah. Okay. So, what was I saying? Oh, yes, okay, so if you work out, you understand this concept. We're having fun tonight, is that okay? We're having fun. Do you understand this concept of tut? Somebody say, "Tut."

What is tut? "Tut" is time under tension. So in order for a muscle to grow, a muscle to increase in size, a muscle to increase in strength, it has to undergo a specific amount of time under tension. Are y'all with me, y'all follow me? Oh, y'all know where I'm going. It's the total amount of time that a muscle stays activated, loaded, and engaged during a single exercise. And so the more time that your muscle stays under tension, the more than it's broken down and then it grows back and it becomes stronger. I believe this is the same way with our faith. I believe this is the same concept as endurance, that when you go through a trial and you remain under the pressure, when you go through a trial and you endure the hardship, when you go through a trial, you say, "I'm not going to quit. "This isn't going to take me out. "Guess what, you get stronger and stronger and stronger." You need a biblical backing for this? Of course, James chapter one, verse two. James chapter one, verse two, go to it. I love the book of James. James chapter one, verse two. Reads like this, "Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters.

"Whenever you face trials of many kinds, "because you know that the testing of your faith "produces what perseverance "let perseverance do what finish its work "so that you may be mature and complete, "not lacking in anything." Doesn't this sound a lot like time under tension? That when you allow yourself to endure, the reason why this matters is because we live in a world that would rather escape than endure. We live in a world where when things start getting hard, it's way too easy to throw in the towel. We live in a world where when things start getting challenging in our lives, we'd rather just numb our brains out. We'd rather just be intoxicated. We'd rather just mindlessly scroll so we don't actually have to embrace the situation and the trial and the hardship that we're going through. We live in a world where we would rather escape than endure, but when you escape, you don't grow in strength. When you don't allow yourself to walk through, and when I'm saying walking through and enduring something, this is not walking through something on your own, this is walking through something with the Holy Spirit. Some of us lack. because we won't walk through something with Him. You know, when you walk through something with a friend, something that's really challenging, something that's really hard, it actually grows your bond.

Scripture even tells us there's a proverb that's specifically about this, that when you go through something with a friend, it grows your bond together. And for some of us, when things get hard, we don't walk through the hardships of life with the Holy Spirit, and so we question why, why can't I hear your voice, God? Why don't I have an intimacy with you? Why don't I feel like I know you? Can I tell you right now? My relationship with Jesus has grown so much more in the valley than on the mountaintop. My relationship has grown way more with Jesus in the moment of disappointments, and I've experienced disappointments. My relationship with Jesus has grown more with unanswered prayers than answered prayers. (congregation chattering) My relationship with Jesus has grown more when I was in tears, and at the end of myself, than when I was jumping and shouting for joy. When you endure something with the Holy Spirit, you grow a closeness with him. You learn to rely on him. You learn, you learn what Paul has learned because he's been sitting in prison cells. You only learn this by enduring with the Holy Spirit. This is the only way, or he's a madman. We either admit Paul is a madman.

He's crazy. He's cooked, we either admit that, or he said there's something about his trials that when he was going through the trials and he could have escaped, he said I'm gonna actually lean into these trials, and I'm actually going to endure, that when I went through trials, it wasn't my strength that got me through it. It was actually my weakness and my determination to depend on the strength of God. Come on, I wonder if there's anybody in the room who says I don't wanna do trials in my own strength. I don't wanna do them in his. (audience applauds) How do you grow in time and attention you endure? It's time to be people who endure, listen. Some of the things that have been taking you out, they've been taking you out for years. It's time for us to mature. The word of the guy says that when a perseverance finishes, it's work, we're mature. This is a maturing process. Like we're not throwing fits anymore. We're not getting up and leaving churches because we don't like the way that something sounded to us anymore. Like there's a level of maturity. Can we just all agree that we wanna mature to a level? Like we're not just throwing in the towel

when things get hard anymore. (audience applauds) So how do we endure, how do we endure? How do we do this? Let me just walk us through three different things that we're gonna do. The first thing is we're gonna learn to be content. Somebody say be content. This is exactly what Paul says in the scriptures. Let's go back to, there we go, see. Philippians four, right? He says this in verse 12, I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. What has he done? He's learned to be content. Like contentment is just like this supernatural piece in situations that are good or bad. It's like this supernatural balance where you can be in the worst season of your life or in the midst of the best season of your life, but you just have a level of balance. Like you just content, you live a life of content. He says it, I've had a lot and I've had a little. So this doesn't matter about how much you have. You be rich and still not be content. You can be poor and still not be content. I was speaking with a guy recently, he was hanging out and he was just telling me

about how much money that he made. He makes a lot of money. I'm not gonna talk about it right now, but anyways, you know how you talk to somebody? And you're like, we're clearly in different brackets. We're in different world. So you're like, oh yeah, for sure, for sure, yeah, yeah, like you're trying to keep up and you're like, no, we're not in the same, not whatsoever. That many zeros, never seen that. Okay, so we're talking, and he's talking to all this money that he's made. And then he gets to this point, he said he looks at me with so much seriousness. And he says, yeah, I had more money than I ever had, but I had no peace. I still felt empty on me inside. I still felt like I was lacking something. Okay, I'll tell you the really cool thing about this person's story is that's what actually led him to Jesus was the realization that it didn't matter how much that he had, it didn't matter how much money he had, he still lacked a peace, he still lacked a joy until he had an encounter with a man named Jesus. And his life's been changed ever since. You know what I think the key to contentment is, the key to contentment is realizing that you have everything you need. It doesn't matter how much money you got in your account. It doesn't matter how many possessions you have.

You have everything that you need. You know that there's an adversary that's trying to convince someone in the room right now, you don't have what you need. Like you get so trapped. of I just don't have enough resources, I don't have enough money, I don't have the right opportunities, I don't have the right people around me. Like, you can get caught up in that perspective of your life that I just don't have enough. Somebody needs to realize something that in God you have everything you need. - Right. - Like once you, I was going down, so many rabbit trails tonight. I've been looking for these running shorts and I'll purchase a pair of running shorts, and I've been talking about it, looking it up. So obviously my Instagram, my YouTube, all the marketing is showing me all these different running shorts. And so I purchased the running shorts, and then I saw all the other running shorts coming in, and I was like, "Did I purchase the wrong ones?" Like, you know, like that feeling where you're like, "I'm kind of regretting this, "can I get my money back?" Like, you're like walking through all the different thoughts and scenarios,

like, "Maybe I should have got those, "maybe I should get more, like I'm sitting here." And once I was content with something, when I thought, "This is exactly what I needed." But the moment my eyes started looking around and saying, "Well, I need that, and I need that, and I need that, "I need that, and I need a little bit of that, "and maybe I need that right there." The contentment left me. And so I believe that the key to being content is actually like realizing that you have everything you need. Somebody say, "I have everything that I need." Come on, somebody say, "I have the peace I need. "I have the joy I need. "I have the resources I need. "I have the wisdom I need. "I have the answers I need. "I have everything I need." Come on, okay, the second thing that we're going to do is we're going to speak life. Speak life. We know what the scriptures say. There's the power of life and death in the tongue. And my concern is that God just might be trying to bring life to you, but because you speak so much death, you kill everything he brings to you. He's like trying to bring things to you, but everything that comes out of your mouth is a complaint. Everything that comes out of your mouth is negativity.

Everything that comes out of your mouth is gossip and slander. Everything that comes out of your mouth is, "Well, I wish I had that and I wish I had that." And he's like, "Don't you see I'm trying "to bring something into your life, "but you kill it with your words." Somebody say, "Speak life." It's time for us to start speaking. Speaking life is unpopular. You'll have way more friends when you speak death. Just look at social media. You'll have way more, like your friends will really like you when you get around them and you know that's like, I've been there before, let me just admit. You get together with your friends and like, you find out like you start complaining and then an hour goes by and you're like, just saying all the negative things. Well, I wish this and like, you just realize we just spent a whole entire hour like complaining. And you know what the world calls it now? Like, we're just trauma bonding. No, you know what you're doing? You're actually speaking death over yourself. (laughs) Let's just call it what it is. Let's just call it what it is. Anyways, I digress. Speak life, you need to learn how to speak life.

Stop speaking so negatively about your situation. Here's your deal, you don't have to deny the reality of your situation. Hey, things are hard right now, but I know God is working on my behalf. Yeah, my marriage looks bad right now, but I believe God is restoring it. Yeah, right now, the job has been lost, but I believe he's bringing me another job. Someone needs to learn how to start speaking life. Hey, let me give you some homework. Hold your, if you're married or you're dating or anything else like that, hold your partner accountable to speaking life. Let me tell you, just let me just tell you right now. They're not gonna like it at first. How dare you? (audience laughs) Well, you just don't understand me. I'm giving you permission right now. When your partner, you leave this auditorium worship center, you get in the car and there's traffic getting on the Westgate 'cause they're doing, I don't know what they're doing, they're tearing up the ground out there. We got transformers, decepticons rolling through. Yes, Optimus Prime, just ripping it up. On the '90s kids, we'll get that reference. We got crazy stuff happening on the street. When we get on that street,

oh my gosh, what up, they're sittin' this, hey, speak life. You're lookin' for a restaurant to go to tonight? Why, there's no restaurants open. I don't like goin' to PTaries. PTaries did, I like, get to the, yeah, yeah. Speak life. All right, all right, all right. I'm gonna get somebody in trouble. I'm gonna see y'all in like, mayoral counseling. Oh my gosh, did you hear what he told me? Speak life. Okay, so, where are ya, where are ya? Oh, Randy's like playin' something, so we can get done with this thing. Okay. All right, all right, number three, number three. Somebody say, "Choose joy." Oh, I love this one, "Choose joy." Can I tell you something? James says this, he says, consider it. He doesn't say feel it. He doesn't say like, think it. No, no, no, consider, choose joy. Choose to see your circumstance through the lens of joy. Choose to see your life through the lens of joy. Choose joy is going to be a choice for you. This doesn't come naturally to us. Especially when you're in a moment of hardship in your life. This doesn't come naturally.

And so I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to have to choose it before you feel it. Fresh trade right now. OK, I'm going to choose joy. I'm going to choose joy. Your joy matters. You walking around with joy in your heart. Guess what? It's not only infectious to others, it's infectious to you. When you choose, you say, you know what? I'm getting out of bed today. Somebody, I just feel this in my spirit. Someone's just been laying in bed, not getting out of bed. So I'm just-- and here's the deal. I understand there's so many different circumstances here. But someone, your faith step today is I'm getting out of bed and I'm choosing joy. I'm going to choose joy to love. When you get home tonight, you're not just going back to the bed and getting in your covers. Now, I'm going to choose joy today. We've got to be a people who say, I'm going to-- I don't feel it right now. I suffered extreme anxiety for a long period of my life. And I never found joy until I started choosing it. I didn't feel it until I started choosing you. We're going to have to choose joy. What do you stand to your feet right now? Someone say, this is only a moment.

Someone say, this won't take me out. Come with seriousness, lean over to the person that you came with and say, this won't take you out. Say this right here. Say this. I'm going to be content. I'm going to speak life. I'm going to choose joy. I told you, this is going to be a simple message. But this is for someone in the room. Because walking into this room today is hard for you. This is for someone in the room because getting out of bed today was hard for you. This is for someone in the room because you just got some really devastating news in your life. Troubles will come. Heartship will come. Loss of family members will come. Finances will come and go. Opportunities will be lost. Relationships will be severed. We've got to be a people who say, I know I'm in the middle of it right now. I know it feels terrible right now. This is just a moment. This is just a moment. Because I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength. Every hand raising the room right now.

I'm praying right now with the authority and the power of the name of Jesus. A supernatural strength that would be a wave that would just cross over this room right now, God. I'm praying for the person who came into the room, who was fatigued. I'm praying for the person who came into the room, who was wore out, who feels like they're at the end of themselves, who's grown hopeless, who's looking at their situation and saying, this might take me out. Right now, I speak in the name of Jesus prophetically. This will not take you out. This will not take you out right here. And right now, I'm believing it. That we're going to hear testimonies from this moment. People are going to come back and they're going to say, man, I thought that was going to take me out. But I'm still living. I'm still breathing. I'm still raising my hands. I still got a smile on my face. God has restored to me everything that was lost. Because this will not take me out. I speak it over someone in the room right now. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen and amen. Come on, put your hands together right now. Come on, put your hands together. Go, go, go, go, go. Hallelujah.

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