You're out of Line || Pastor Marcus Dudley

You will find me safe in the presence of God. You will find me safe in the presence of God. You will find me safe in the presence of God. Hallelujah. Thank you so much. Heavenly Father, we thank you today that you remind us that we have a safe place in you. That in your hands we are safe. That in your hands we are secure. And God, we thank you for your hand of protection. We thank you for your hand of provision, God. And we thank you, God, for what your hand has blocked, God. And God, we celebrate you today that you are God that knows how to keep and sustain us. And so, God, we give you honor and we give you praise now. We thank you for this opportunity to stand before your people. And God, I pray even right now that you will send a word in this house. God, my prayer is that I'm not impressive, but you allow me to be impactful, God. I pray that your word will go forth with clarity. I pray that your word will go forth with power, God. That after hearing this word on today, God, we will know that we've spent time in your presence. This we ask in your son Jesus' name. And the saints of God shout it. Amen. Come on, if you love God, put those hands together in this place. We're certainly grateful and thankful for all of you, my father's children. It is certainly good to be here. How y'all doing this morning? Y'all doing all right? We certainly, again, we just praise and thank God for this opportunity to stand before you all. Listen, I don't take this for granted. I don't take this for granted. And so it is an honor for a pastor to thank enough of us to let us stand at this place. And with that being said, can we just take a moment to honor and celebrate our dynamic anointed pastors? Dr. Darius Daniels and Pastor Shumi. Come on, y'all. Let's celebrate them. Let's celebrate them.

Let them hear us wherever they are, that they are loved, that they are celebrated and that they are appreciated. Amen. Y'all heard the instruction from the pastor. Y'all going to help me preach today. Amen. Y'all going to talk back to me and talk with me. All right. Let's go to the word which we found in the gospel. According to Matthew, Matthew, the sixth chapter. And I want to begin reading at the 25th verse. Jesus is continuing what we know as the sermon on the mount. An extensive sermon. It is Jesus's trial sermon. It is his first public. It is his inaugural sermon. And he's basically telling us what it means to live third way. And in this 25th chapter, he picks up. And says, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink. Or about your body or what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns. And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about your clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow thrown in the fire. Will he not much more clothe you? You of little faith. So don't worry saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear?

For the pagans run after these things. And your heavenly father knows what you need. But seek first his kingdom. And all of his righteousness. And these things will be added unto you. 33rd verse simply says but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you and if y'all pray with me and pray for me I want to use these scriptures to talk from the subject you're out of line family from the time that we are children you know we are taught the importance of getting in and staying in line we stand in line at school we line up at the supermarket to purchase groceries we line up to board airplanes we have to deal with lines at the DMV we stand in line at the concerts and at the sporting events and whether you like it or not standing and staying in line is simply a part of life and I was reminded of the importance of staying in line recently at the airport while traveling after standing in line to get through the security check I finally arrived at my gate but when I arrived at my gate I was informed that my flight had been canceled and just like everybody else on my flight I found myself standing in that long customer service line trying to rebook my flight trying to get on another flight so I could continue my journey and while I was standing in that line I was agitated and frustrated but I was okay but after a while it seemed like the line I was in wasn't moving fast enough it seems like the gate agent were taking their time in my line and I'm just getting more frustrated and frustrated wondering why my line ain't moving but while I was looking and standing in my line I saw another line across the airport that looked like it was moving faster than mine and y'all know what I did y'all did the same thing I got out of the line that I was in to go and stand in the line that I felt was moving faster convinced and convicted that I did the right thing I went to stand in that line because I was worried that I may not be able to rebook my flight in time to make it to

my destination and I went and got in the line that seemed like it was moving faster because I thought it would get me to my destination quicker but what I didn't realize until I got in the line that I found out that there was the wrong line not only did I stand in this line longer but by the time I finally made it to the gate agent she looked at me and said sir this line is not for your flight and redirected me back to the line that I was standing in that wasn't moving fast enough that looked like we weren't going anywhere and said that is the line you got to get in if you want to rebook your flight and make it to your final destination and this is what I learned and I want y'all to get this this is what I learned I learned something I never will forget worrying about what you can't control will make you step out of the right line and get in the wrong line did you hear what I say word about what you can't control will make you get out in the line that you're supposed to be in and get in another line to leap and finally find out and realize you are in the wrong line and today I stopped by to let somebody know that staying in line is not just an airport lesson but I believe standing and staying in line is a spiritual lesson that all of us need to learn because staying in line is a spiritual weapon why because one of the most effective weapons that the enemy uses against believers is the weapon of worry that causes us to step out of line let me say that again the enemy uses worry for us to try to take our own matters in our own hand and try to do what we can't control and try to manipulate outcomes that God can only manipulate and bring out and what worry will make you do is simply this it'll make you get out of line worry will make you get out of line because this is what I learned that if the enemy can't make you worry or if he can't make you wicked he try to make you work. Did y'all hear what I say? If the enemy can't make you wicked he try to make you worry because worry will have you thinking that you're standing in the wrong line. Worry will have you believing that God's timing is too slow Worry will have you believing that God's process is taking too long and God's way

isn't the best way. Worry will have you misrepresenting God. It will have you treating God as if he's unaware, either he's unconcerned, either he doesn't care about you or either he's unable to fix your problem and before you know it worry will have you getting out of the line that God needs you in to get what God has for you. Worry will have you trying to carry weight and produce outcomes that only God can produce. Worry will give you a God complex and have you trying to play God and sometimes God looks at us and say if you gonna be God let me step back but if you gonna let me be God take your hands off of it get out of the way be still stand in line and let me handle it and the devil wants you to worry because he knows worry will pull you out of line. But I came to remind somebody today you in the right line. Come on don't touch it but look at somebody say you in the right line you in the right line you may not be moving as fast as you want to move but you in the right line you may not look like you're moving at all but I want somebody to understand that you are in the right line it may look like other people are passing you by but you are in the right line and you need to stay in line because the only way you can get what's in the line is you gotta stay in line. Did y'all hear what I said the only way you can get what's in the line is you got to stay in the line if you want peace you got to stay in the peace line if you want joy you gotta stay in the joy line, if you want breakthrough you got a stand a breakthrough line, if you want miracle you gotta stay in the miracle line because you can only get what's in the line if you stay in the line. Somebody shout I'm in the right line, I'm in the right line, I'm in the right line, I don't care what it looks like but I'm in the right line it may not feel good but I'm in the right line it may feel like I'm not going anywhere but I'm in the right I'm in the right line don't allow worry to get you out of the right line and I believe this is what Jesus is addressing in today's text not only do I believe not only is Jesus addressing what I'm calling the weapon of worry but I also believe Jesus is calling us as believers back to alignment not only is he addressing worry but he's calling us to get back in line with his

will and his way. Our text is found in the middle of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. This is Jesus's greatest sermon in his clearest picture of what life looks like and what it looks like to live under the reign and the rule of the kingdom of God. Throughout this sermon Jesus is teaching his disciples what it means to live third way because that change we do know there's one of three ways you can live your life. Come on class you can live what cultures way you can live or you can live come on y'all been listening y'all been listening you can live the church's way you can live cultures way or you can live what the Kings way and what Jesus is explaining to us in today's text he's trying to explain to us what it means to live third way he's trying to tell us that that that that that that that the way to stay in God's line is living third way and after he explains what third way giving is right because he said when you give third way you don't give and let everybody else know what you've done. Come on y'all know how it is sometimes somebody give you something you hate you took it from them because they let everybody know that they gave it to you you ought to tell me you could have kept that little five dollars if you're gonna tell everybody you gave it one it one little one i gave it to you but but jesus said when you give don't let anybody know what you give because what you give in secret god says i will do what i will reward you openly and can i put a parathetic pen right there because i want some us to understand that's why some people can't understand why god is blessing you publicly because they don't understand what you're doing privately y'all gonna talk to me in here see see that's why people don't understand how you are so blessed as you are but they don't know what you're doing behind closed doors they don't know what you're doing in your secret closet they don't know how you serving god and i just need somebody to know stop being as upset or stop being i stop being mad or stop at people who don't know understand what god is doing in your life say hey when you give don't let everybody know what you're doing and look at what jesus is doing i'm seeing in the sixth chapter of matthew god or jesus is not talking to first way people

he's talking to second way he talking to church people because the biggest enemy of third way is not first way way the biggest enemy of third way is second way because jesus constantly had to save people in scripture from church people y'all do remember i'm blind bottom as the bible said that when jesus was coming through jericho the bottom man started hollering jesus name said jesus son of god have mercy on me and it was the church people the disciple that was with jesus that was telling bottom ass to be quiet and shut up and bottom man said hey i can't shut up you don't know what i need you don't know what i need god to do for me and if i got to holler i'm gonna holler and if i got to run i'm gonna run and sometimes you gotta let people know it may not take all that for you but for me whatever i gotta do to get what i need from the lord see god had to rescue people from church people it was the church people who tried to stone the woman who was caught in adultery and jesus had to walk down and say he who have not sinned cast the first stone i get so mad and upset with people who forget what it took for them to come into church i know you all say it i know you sanctified now i know you speak in tongue and will shout and dance at the holy spirit gave you utterance but you ain't been saying all your life i need somebody to say i ain't been saying all of my life i am a grace case if it had not been for the grace of god if god had not put his hands on me if god had not led me if god had not walked with me and talked with me i would still be somewhere long losing my mind i'd be locked up and the truth of the matter is if it wasn't for god i knew you in church now but if it wasn't for god you wouldn't be here now come on i wish y'all would testify and say i ain't been saying all of my life hey hey i'm a testimony that god can take bad boys and bad girls but when god put his good hand on bad boy and bad girls god can get good out of a bad jesus he's he's he's he's saying what third way living looks like and one of the things he said that if you're going if you can live your life one of three ways you can handle worry one of three ways you can handle worry the world's way and you can just try to grind harder or chase a bigger bag because the world's way say if god don't do it i gotta do

it for myself and so the world's response to worry is just to work hard oh you can do it the church's way which is to spiritualize while you work and what spiritualizing will do is it will paralyze you it will have you doing nothing waiting on God but y'all do know that when you wait on God that's an active way it is not an inactive way while I'm waiting on God I'm a still witness while I'm waiting on God I'm still gonna work in the church while I'm waiting on God I'm still gonna worship it and in the midst of me working witnessing and worshiping God it's going to move it's not me saying God I'm gonna let you do everything and I just sit here and do nothing you can have a word with the third way and this is what Jesus is showing us in today's text and the first way I believe Jesus is showing us to handle worry the third way is he says in order to stay in line and in order for worry not to take you out of line the first thing you got to do is redirect your look right because after he says don't worry he says look at the birds he says look at the flowers because Jesus understands that our temptation to worry is rooted in our will it is rooted in us looking at other folk life it is rooted in us looking at the wrong evidence and the wrong examples the truth of the matter is the reason some of us are worried is because we're looking at influences on Facebook we're looking at people Facebook stories and they're real and they're highlights and we're trying to compare what God is doing in their life with what God is doing in our life and when I look at what the wrong examples and the wrong evidence it calls me to get in what I call the comparison trap and I want you to know that when you compare yourself to other people you end up allowing the enemy to steal your joy and your peace and I need somebody to understand what God has for you is for you your route is your route your path is your path what God has for you is for you I don't care what he's doing for your neighbor but what God is doing for you is for you he said look at the birds because before Jesus can change your outlook he first got to change what you're looking at notice what Jesus told him to look at he didn't tell him to look at people he told them to look at birds and look at the flowers he said

I want you to look at the birds and I want you to look at the flowers and I want you to follow their example hallelujah I want you to look at a bird and see how they don't work but I'm still taking care of them I want you to look at the flowers and see they don't twirl and spin but see how I clothe them and I want y'all to understand I've been living a little while now y'all correct me if I'm wrong but I've never seen a bird have a nervous breakdown I never walk by a flower garden and seeing and saw a flower smoking a cigarette why because they trust God enough to know that if I keep flying and if I keep chirping God is gonna take care of me they know that if I keep growing and I keep blooming then God is going to take care of me and the reason that some of us are worried is we looking at the wrong thing so look at the flower you worry look at the flower look how I take care of the flower not only do I need to redirect my look the second thing I need to do is I need to reevaluate my worth right he said look at the flowers because you're looking at the wrong thing now reevaluate your worth because you're looking at yourself the wrong way because when God told them said look at the flower he didn't ask the question are you not more valuable than they so sometime worry is a worth problem sometime we work because we don't believe God loves us enough to take care of us. Sometimes we worry because we're looking at ourselves the wrong way. And notice what Jesus did here before he changed our situation. He first got to address our sight. He got to address the way you see you because it doesn't matter how God sees you if you see yourself wrong you still miss what God has for you. So God says I want you to see yourself because I didn't tell you to look at the flowers and the birds to give you a biology or a botany lesson. I told you to look at them to give you a lesson on identity and worth because Jesus does understand that life has a way of making you forget who you are. What my honest section is, is there anybody in here you've gone through a season of your life you thought you knew who you were you were shouting I am a child of God but there's a storm and a season that hits your life that you woke up

one morning say I don't know who I am I don't know where I am I don't know what I can do because some situations will have you doubting who you are. Come on, come here. I got Bob. Somebody shout he got Bob. He got Bob. See God knows identity and value is a problem for us that's why he constantly reminds us who we are in Scripture. He had to remind Gideon who he was in 6. The Bible said that the angel of the Lord came to Gideon what he was to call him to what God wanted him to be and he found Gideon hiding in a wine press and these are the words that the angel of the Lord said to Gideon. He said Gideon you mighty man of valor even though you weren't acting like it I'm trying to call you what you are to raise you up to what you will be. I know where you are now but what you are is not who you are and I gotta speak life into you to raise you to who God says you are because you have worth and value. He said this is what God, the angel of the Lord told Gideon you mighty man of valor and then Gideon did what we did. We start talking back with God as if God don't know what he talking about. Start hitting God with the butts. Told him you a mighty man of valor but I'm from the smallest tribe and the weakest clan. You are a mighty man of God and every time God tried to raise his awareness of his worth Gideon had an excuse and maybe your problem ain't what you're going through. Maybe your problem is who you think you are, is who you think you are while you going through. So look at the birds, look at the flowers. See how I take care of them. See how they don't tour nor spin. See how they don't work but I take care of them. Look at the flowers. Are you not more valuable than they? So I gotta redirect my look. I gotta change who I'm looking at because some of us on the verge of nervous breakdown because we too busy looking at folk that God didn't tell us to look at. We too busy trying to follow an ungodly example. Y'all do know they say Facebook highlights for a reason, right? Because people always give you their highlights. They never give you access to their lowlights and you can't tell everybody but everybody needs somebody they can be transparent with because the enemy will have you thinking you the only one dealing with what you're dealing with and you scared to say something because you think if you say something they're

gonna think you crazy. So I gotta redirect my look. I gotta re-evaluate my worth and the last thing I got to do is I got to realign my priorities because what Jesus was basically saying is you don't have as much of a worry problem As you do an alignment problem He's saying when you get your priorities in order your pursuit Reveals what you prioritize He said the gentiles run after money clothes and cars That's what they chase after But if you are a child of god And if you are third way then rather than chasing it when you line up and when you seek my kingdom first And all of my righteousness The stuff that you are chasing will begin to chase you That's what deuteronomy said that you can get in a place in god Where the blessings of god will literally run and take you and tackle you and overtake you That's what the deuteronomy blessing said i'll be blessed in the city and blessed in the field blessed in my coming And blessed in my going everything I put my hands on will be blessed when you get in line And when you make god a priority god will make you one And today some of us You're worried Not necessarily because of what you're going through but you're worried because Worry has caused you to get out of the right line God says jesus was mind us in scripture this morning that your clothes is in the line Their provision is in the line Their protection is in the line That whatever you need me to do Is in the line And I don't know who i'm talking to this morning But maybe you're worried

And maybe you didn't know what to do before you came in this morning and god is simply Want me to remind you Right that what you're looking for is already in line So what line are you in this morning That's it that's what i'm talking about Are you in the world's line Are you in the church's line Or have you made up in your mind That i'ma stay up in the king's line Then no matter what it looks like i'm not moving No matter how it feels i'm not going anywhere But i'ma be like the tree planted by the rivers of water And I will not be moved I will be immovable Steadfast always abounding in the word of the lord Get in line Get in line there may be somebody here you never