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visitwilliamsburg.com. What's

0:34

up, Well That's Good fam? Happy Wednesday,

0:36

everybody. I hope you're having a good

0:39

week. But per usual, it is about

0:41

to get so much better. I am

0:43

so excited about today's podcast. You guys

0:45

are going to freak out because

0:48

we have an awesome message coming

0:50

from the one and only, Pastor

0:52

Steven Furditt. Welcome

0:54

to the Well That's Good podcast. Hey, Sadie.

0:56

Hey, everybody. Thank you. Thank

0:59

you so much for having me, Sadie. I am so

1:01

excited. You're on. I'm so excited for this new book.

1:03

Do you have a copy with you? Oh,

1:06

yeah. I might just have one. Come on.

1:08

Show it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's

1:10

up? So. Do the

1:12

New You. Do the New You. It's so

1:14

good, everyone. I can't wait to chat about

1:17

the book right here, right now,

1:19

before we even get started. Do yourself a favor

1:21

and go buy this book. If you're not convinced

1:23

yet, we got a whole podcast to talk about

1:25

it. Pastor Steven, I got to

1:27

ask you the question that everyone gets asked when

1:30

they come on the Well That's Good podcast. And

1:32

it's interesting because you actually talk about

1:35

in your book your son asking you

1:37

a very similar question, which is awesome.

1:39

So what is the best piece of

1:41

advice that you've ever been given? I

1:45

couldn't believe that's the first question you wanted

1:47

to ask me because that's literally how the

1:49

book starts. The first sentence

1:51

is my 18-year-old son, Elijah, right

1:53

before he went to college. He

1:55

goes, all right, out of everything you taught me,

1:58

what's the best advice you can right

2:00

now. And then I describe

2:02

how that's such a crushing question, like

2:04

18 years of parenting. Now, just

2:06

say it in a sentence. Give me one

2:08

thing that rhymes and give me

2:10

one alliterated piece of advice. So that's literally

2:12

where the book starts. All

2:15

right. But I want to be true to the spirit

2:17

of what that's good. And I want to answer the

2:19

question directly, not just use it as a segue. And

2:22

the thing that I thought about, I don't

2:24

know if it's the best advice, but it's from

2:26

my best advice giver from

2:28

Holly. And it

2:31

came, can I set it up a little bit? Yes, please

2:33

do. We love a story on what I

2:35

know. You have these preaching engagements, Sadie, where

2:37

you just feel like it was so much

2:39

better in your head. Oh, yeah. Yeah,

2:42

I've never got to talk to you about that. I

2:44

mean, when you preach it, you always

2:46

look like you're doing what you meant to do. But

2:49

a lot of times we had a completely

2:51

different sermon and it was so much better

2:53

how God gave it to us than how

2:55

we feel like we gave it to the

2:57

people. Yeah. So I was beaten up on

2:59

myself one Sunday and kind of wandering around

3:01

like, Oh, that didn't, that was terrible. I

3:04

thought that was going to be so good

3:06

and it didn't connect. And I felt like

3:08

I failed. So I,

3:10

I was telling Holly, I just can't

3:12

believe after all these years of preaching

3:14

that I could still fail that hard

3:16

in the pulpit. And

3:18

she goes, maybe

3:20

you didn't fail. Maybe you

3:23

just didn't finish. Maybe

3:26

you should just give a little more next week. And

3:29

the reason I've wanted to use it as

3:31

my best advice is because it

3:33

really speaks to the way that

3:35

I tend to look at things as being, you

3:38

know, so performance based and my

3:41

perfectionism and she lives with me. So Holly,

3:44

I jokingly call her the Holly spirit. Some people

3:46

are offended by that. I don't, I don't mean

3:48

it in any real serious way, but it's just,

3:50

God uses her to speak to me so many

3:52

times. And when she said that,

3:54

maybe you didn't fail. Maybe you just didn't finish.

3:57

I think about that constantly. That was

3:59

a few years. ago when I feel like, oh,

4:02

that didn't turn out how I wanted in a conversation or,

4:04

you know, like I'll have this

4:06

bad parenting moment and I'll feel like, well,

4:08

I blew that. And it's a way of

4:10

seeing that there's grace for those moments too.

4:14

And then I'm going to get another chance at this. So I know

4:17

it isn't technically like advice. It was

4:19

just a perspective shift that

4:21

I really needed. Maybe you didn't fail. Maybe

4:24

you just didn't finish. Maybe there's more. Maybe

4:26

there's going to be another chance. And so that's

4:29

what came to my mind. What's what's yours? Did

4:31

anybody ever ask you your best advice? See, I

4:33

love it. Whenever people like you come on

4:35

and hit me back with my own questions,

4:37

actually, no, no one in the podcast has

4:40

asked me back. Um, but in five

4:42

and a half years, I don't know that anyone's asked

4:44

me back, which is kind of funny, but I will

4:46

say before I answer this, what's really cool

4:49

is that I was listening to a message

4:51

of yours recently or an interview that you

4:53

had and you shared the story and I

4:55

wrote it down in my notes because I'm

4:58

like, I need that. Like I needed that

5:00

advice because I'm the same way.

5:02

Like it can be so hard to, you

5:04

know, not put that perfectionism on yourself or the

5:06

performance. Whenever you feel like God gave you a

5:09

word and you want to steward it so well,

5:11

and then you go and you

5:13

preach the word and you just kind of fumble

5:15

through it. Or you're like, man, that went way

5:17

better in my head. Or recently, you

5:19

know, I thought I had all this context

5:21

and all these things and then I went for

5:24

it and I was 10 minutes in and I

5:26

was like, Oh shoot, I already said like everything

5:28

I was kind of trying to say. Where

5:30

were you? Didn't you say, where was this? Oh

5:33

man. Okay. Well, this is

5:35

the thing. Yes. I was recently

5:37

at this event. It's called life surge, which is

5:39

awesome and amazing event, but it was a little

5:41

bit different for me because it's one my dad's

5:43

a huge part of and it's helping people in

5:46

business, but it has a huge

5:48

faith-based component to it. And

5:50

so this is like not my typical crowd, you know, it's like, oh,

5:52

I'm going to do this. All

5:55

ages, business minded people. And I'm

5:57

preaching and normally it's Priscilla Shire,

5:59

which. She's like my favorite person

6:01

to listen to, you know, those are big

6:03

shoes to fill. And so I feel like

6:05

God gave me a specific word for this

6:07

group of people. And it

6:09

felt good. It felt right. I had it going on

6:11

in my head. I felt like I was like, this

6:14

is going to be great. And

6:16

man, 10 minutes were great. And then

6:18

I started kind of being like, oh,

6:20

shoot, I kind of got out the

6:22

main part that God gave me. And

6:25

there's, I got, you know, 25 more minutes. But

6:28

I mean, God is so good.

6:30

And I was able to share the story

6:32

about being in Guatemala recently that was extremely

6:34

powerful that I had personally been impacted by.

6:36

And I think in those moments, I'm like,

6:38

okay, God, what are you teaching

6:40

me right now? You know, and sometimes those overflow

6:43

moments where you just share what God's teaching to

6:45

you connect with people even more,

6:48

which is amazing. But then still you kind of

6:50

beat yourself up after it. And you're like, Oh

6:52

man, I didn't communicate very well. I didn't steward

6:54

that as well as I could have. And especially

6:56

right now, like having two little ones, I have

6:59

a almost three year old, almost one year old,

7:01

they're with me at the event. So I was

7:03

a little distracted that morning. I just felt like,

7:05

Oh, I could have done better. And

7:08

I love when, so when I heard you say that

7:10

advice, I wrote that down because I need that.

7:12

And I've actually told other people that things similar to

7:14

that, like when people are writing their first book or

7:16

people are preaching and they ask me advice. And I

7:19

always say like, don't try to

7:21

put like your whole life message in this one

7:23

book or like this one sermon, because

7:25

like this isn't your only

7:27

opportunity. I hate how people say, Oh, it's

7:30

your 15 seconds or minutes of fame or

7:32

whatever. It's like, no, you have an entire

7:34

lifetime to live. You know, it's not like

7:36

these, Oh, that was my moment. If

7:39

dancing with the stars, which could have been like my

7:41

moment of fame, that that was my moment. I would

7:43

have been sad for me. I was 16, 17 years

7:45

old. You know, like there's more to come.

7:47

And so I love that. Like you didn't fail. You're

7:49

just not finished. So I'm gonna keep working on that

7:51

message. I preach at life surgeon. I'm gonna circle back

7:53

to that one. Cause I guarantee

7:56

you the seed of something else amazing

7:58

was in what you didn't. or

8:00

what you didn't do. Like, Sadie,

8:02

I was just working on a song yesterday

8:04

that we're about to record. And

8:06

it's been on my phone for a year.

8:09

But it needed a new bridge. And I knew it

8:11

and one of the other writers that was writing it

8:14

with me knew it. And I'm

8:16

telling you, I went almost insane trying

8:18

to practice bridge. And

8:21

the moment that I finally found

8:23

the right bridge for the song, I

8:25

knew it was alive. And I knew that it was, it

8:28

was time for that song to be completed. So

8:31

it's just another example of it

8:34

wasn't that you failed in that moment.

8:36

It wasn't that you wasted the days

8:38

you spent writing that song or, you

8:40

know, having those conversations, you show up for a meeting,

8:43

you show up for something you thought it was going

8:45

to actually lead to something and it

8:47

leads to nothing. But I found that

8:49

the seeds of tomorrow's success

8:52

are often in today's failure. And

8:55

so it's something that you glean from that you

8:57

perceive it as a failure. I don't think God

8:59

does. Yeah. And you call it a

9:01

failure and you label it. But be

9:03

careful labeling those things because it

9:06

may have been the thing that you said

9:08

that you were forced to say because you

9:10

ran out of content that you hear in

9:12

two years. Somebody says Sadie, do

9:15

you remember at life surge when you said blah,

9:17

blah, blah. And you're like, yeah, that's when my

9:19

notes had run out. I

9:21

was just trusting the guy. Yeah, yeah. Well,

9:23

the Lord spoke to us and we adopted

9:25

a kid and here he is and, you

9:27

know, and he's going to be a doctor

9:29

and he's curing every disease. You know, it

9:31

doesn't even have to be that big. We

9:33

can just walk with confidence that a

9:36

lot of times what we think is a failure

9:38

is just unfinished business. And that's our room for

9:40

growth. And that's where God's grace is going to

9:42

show up. Great. That's so good. I guess

9:45

I can't wait to dive into that more.

9:47

You know, if you ask

9:49

me my best piece of advice and it's

9:51

crazy because the whole reason this podcast started

9:53

was based off of this question that I

9:55

got. But now since that question was asked,

9:58

I've gotten to do five years. over

10:00

200 episodes of hearing good advice,

10:02

I could go on and on and on.

10:04

I should probably do a whole episode later

10:07

about all the good advice that I've gotten

10:09

over the years in these moments. But it

10:11

all started originally with my great grandma. So

10:13

my great grandma is a legend, she's awesome.

10:16

She's still living, and when I

10:18

say living, I don't just mean alive, she is

10:20

living. Like she has her community group, she's 92

10:22

years old, about to be 93. She

10:25

has a community group, she's at church every

10:27

Sunday, she is just rocking. And

10:29

she gives such sound advice, like she's the

10:31

kind of person that, if I feel overwhelmed by the

10:33

world, it's like I just kind of want to go

10:35

sit at her feet and listen to the advice that

10:38

she has. But a long time ago

10:40

I came in, I was riled up about something, I was

10:42

like, oh so and so did so, what, blah, blah. And

10:44

I was just kind of like, what am I going to

10:46

do in response to what this person did to me? And

10:49

she looked at me and she just like, I

10:52

mean, as quick as whip, she said, Sadie,

10:54

you are not kind because other people are

10:56

kind to you. You are kind because that

10:59

is who you are. And

11:01

that's just like stuck with me. I mean, it was

11:03

just one of those moments where I'm like, wow, you

11:05

know, I'm going to take that, I'm going to live

11:07

with that. And you know, over the years, that's

11:10

actually become maybe even a

11:12

lot harder because I feel

11:14

like now I have a lot more, that

11:16

was the moment in high school, you know,

11:18

that meant nothing. And now I have a

11:21

social media following and I have all these

11:23

things and so many opinions and it can

11:25

be hard when you feel like you're getting

11:27

attacked or you're misunderstood or all these things.

11:29

And it's like, what am I going to

11:31

do to respond? But my response is in

11:33

a reaction to what I'm getting. I'm responding

11:35

out of who I already am. And

11:39

that's just like a lot better way to

11:41

live. And someone texts me actually lastly

11:43

Shelly Giglio, mutual friend. And

11:45

I was kind of same thing. I was

11:47

dealing with some social media stuff and I

11:49

just said, man, I'm struggling. And she just

11:51

said, keep thick skin and

11:54

a soft heart. And I just love

11:56

that. You know, you

11:58

guys say who you are. how you're

12:00

gonna respond. So much about

12:02

this book is about who you

12:04

are, who you are right now. And

12:07

so to segue into that, Do the New

12:09

You, this isn't like a self-help book, your

12:11

typical self-help book. It might look like that

12:13

by the title, but this is a lot

12:15

deeper than that. Can you explain a little

12:18

bit about what it means to do the

12:20

new you? Whenever

12:25

I think back to my pregnancies, I

12:27

just love the memories of seeing my

12:29

ultrasounds and just a special

12:31

time of feeling them kick inside of me. It

12:33

really is the most magical time. I absolutely love

12:35

being a mom, but there are a lot of

12:38

women out there who find themselves with an unplanned

12:40

pregnancy with nowhere to turn and no one to

12:42

support them, which is so hard, I cannot even

12:44

imagine. And that is where our partners at Pre-Born

12:46

come in. And I'm so excited to be telling

12:49

you all about this. Pre-Born provides mothers with unplanned

12:51

pregnancies with free ultrasounds so that they can meet

12:53

their babies for the first time. So

12:55

once a mom hears the baby's heartbeat, they're

12:57

actually twice as likely to choose life, which

12:59

is so amazing and I can definitely understand

13:01

why. Pre-Born gets no government funding,

13:04

so their work depends on people like us

13:06

and the per life community coming together. They've

13:08

helped mothers choose life for over 280,000 babies.

13:12

Plus, Pre-Born can provide love, support, and

13:14

counseling for up to two years for

13:16

free, which I think is so amazing

13:18

because I know those first two years

13:20

can be really rough on a new

13:22

mom. So I'm really thankful that Pre-Born

13:24

is helping mothers during that time because

13:26

I actually went through a postpartum anxiety.

13:28

Did not expect that to happen to

13:30

me. I don't think anyone

13:32

expects that to happen, but it's so hard.

13:34

And if you're already walking through this alone,

13:37

it can feel even harder. And so I'm

13:39

so grateful that this is a great option

13:41

to actually get help and community and counseling.

13:43

So one ultrasound is just $28 and

13:46

a gift of $140 can help save the lives of five babies. So

13:51

five lives can totally change the world. And I

13:53

know that we can step in and help. And

13:55

this is gonna be one of those things that you

13:57

might not know the impact your money has. until

14:00

heaven, right? But it's gonna be a huge

14:02

impact. I think that it would be so

14:04

awesome if the Well That's Good fam rallied

14:06

around this mission to help women, to help

14:08

moms. And so I would love to see

14:10

you guys come together and do this for

14:12

so many different people and babies that you

14:14

might not ever meet, but you help through

14:16

their life. So together, you and I can

14:18

help mothers choose life. Please join us in

14:20

the fight. All gifts are tax deductible. To

14:23

donate, dial pound 250 on your cell and

14:26

say the keyword baby. That's pound

14:29

250 and use the keyword

14:31

baby or

14:33

go to

14:35

preborn.com/Sadie. That's

14:37

preborn.com/Sadie. I'm

14:42

so thankful for you Sadie, the way you set

14:44

that up. That's exactly how I wanna talk about

14:46

it because I follow your

14:48

ministry and I see

14:50

the kinds of messages God puts on your heart. You

14:53

know, the 18 year old that asked me, what's

14:56

the best advice, Elijah? He's

14:59

at Liberty University now, all right? And I

15:01

watched you preach there the other day and it was

15:04

so amazing what you shared. And you

15:07

know, I think about the way that God

15:09

has given you a passion for truth. The

15:11

reason I wanted to talk to you about this book

15:13

is because of something that you actually said in a

15:16

sermon. You were talking about living

15:18

your truth. And it's

15:20

probably been a few years ago. That

15:22

phrase was really, really hot a few

15:24

years ago and it still is.

15:26

And I don't have a problem

15:28

with the phrase. Like I'm sure that you

15:31

also think that if what

15:33

we mean by live your truth is the

15:37

embodied truths of Jesus Christ that have

15:39

been spoken in scriptures and impressed

15:41

upon you by the Holy Spirit and confirmed,

15:44

then yeah, live your truth, great. That's what

15:46

we want. But the idea that

15:48

I heard you talking about was your

15:50

truth doesn't set you free. The

15:52

truth sets you free. And

15:55

when I heard you preaching that, I mean, it must've been two

15:57

years ago. Maybe you're still out preaching that.

15:59

I hope you are. because it's such

16:01

an important message. So let me tell you why this

16:03

is different than self help. Do

16:06

the new you isn't just, you

16:09

know, get your abs right, get

16:11

your nutrition right, count your

16:13

macros, it's not that. And

16:15

it's also not just do you,

16:18

you know, like express your uniqueness, however,

16:20

that comes out. Because,

16:22

as I say in the opening of the book, when

16:25

my son said, what's the best advice you

16:27

can give me now? I say I

16:29

didn't know what the best advice was. But I know

16:31

what some of the worst advice would be, just do

16:33

you, just do you like, and

16:36

we use that to talk about when people

16:38

I don't know, they get a new hairstyle. One

16:40

of our staff members came up on stage with

16:42

a man bun the other day, and the rest

16:44

of the staff was totally divided, like, I

16:47

thought it looked good. And somebody's like, well, yeah, do

16:49

you I wouldn't I wouldn't wear that man bun, I

16:51

wouldn't wear those crocs. But you know, that's

16:53

fine when it comes to like, whether

16:56

or not you have a certain hairstyle. But

16:59

when it when it comes to your your

17:01

mindset, and your identity, I think

17:05

that's a trap. I think to tell

17:07

somebody, just do you. It kind

17:10

of suggests that the most authentic version

17:12

of you is the most

17:14

automatic version of you. And

17:17

automatic does not equal authentic,

17:20

not in God's word. It's good.

17:22

Yeah, it's, it's so important we get

17:25

this like thinking Ephesians four, you asked

17:27

me why this isn't typical self help.

17:29

Okay, Ephesians four talks about not

17:33

indulging in your sinful desires,

17:36

which are being corrupted, but

17:38

to live into the new self, which is

17:40

created to be like God and true righteousness

17:43

and holiness. So take those

17:45

two words like corrupted and

17:47

created. One is the

17:49

original version of you that God made the

17:51

one that he's calling for. And

17:54

the corrupted you it's deceived.

17:57

So you think that's you because

17:59

that's what you feel like. Like, I

18:01

was doing me, I just go off on people. I'm just,

18:03

that's just me. I just gotta be me. I just gotta

18:06

say what I think. No, you don't have to say everything

18:08

you think. You don't have to do everything you feel. You

18:10

don't have to give into everything that you like. That's

18:13

a recipe for a prison ministry

18:15

from inside the prison. If

18:17

you just, if you just do you. So, I

18:20

call that the trap, Sadie, the trap.

18:23

When you call it your truth, but

18:26

it falls short of what God says about you.

18:28

It's not truth, it's a trap. And

18:31

I think a lot of people are trapped in what

18:33

they call their truth. And what

18:35

if what you call your truth really isn't

18:37

true? What if it's just your experiences, your

18:40

beliefs? And I think

18:44

a lot of people are cheating

18:46

themselves because they're just doing you,

18:48

just doing me. But then

18:50

you get into a lot of stuff where you go, okay,

18:52

I want to get better. I want to get my momentum.

18:54

I want to get my flow. And

18:57

then you get out of the trap of do you.

19:00

And you get onto the treadmill of future you.

19:03

So everybody's been there before like,

19:06

okay, there's this future version of

19:08

me I gotta be. And it's

19:10

usually, it's usually not even a

19:13

future version of you that you're chasing. It

19:16

is a highlight reel

19:19

of what you think everybody else has life that

19:21

shows up in your feed shows you what you

19:23

think you're supposed to be, to be

19:26

happy, to be successful, even

19:28

for me to be an effective

19:30

minister, preacher, husband, right?

19:32

So you've got do you, which

19:34

is the trap of just, I'm

19:37

just going to do what I feel, I'm just going to live my truth.

19:40

And then you've got the treadmill of

19:42

future you, which is

19:44

chasing something. So

19:46

the first one is cheated. The second one is chasing.

19:49

And for three weeks, I'm doing good

19:51

with this. But now I'm exhausted. I

19:53

bought every Bible study book, I'm listening

19:55

to every podcast. I'm only listening to

19:57

worship music. No more hip hop for

19:59

me. I'm going all worship music

20:02

But if that is chasing something that you

20:04

don't truly believe you already are it's

20:06

gonna end in exhaustion Yeah, and there's

20:09

no grace of God in that there's

20:11

no reliance on the Holy Spirit in

20:13

that So do the

20:15

new you is actually a

20:17

word play. I Used

20:19

the word new in ew, but I

20:22

know a lot of people be listening to this So I can't like write

20:24

it down and show you If

20:26

you put a K in front of

20:28

that K in ew the new you

20:30

in Jeremiah 1 5

20:33

God tells Jeremiah before I formed

20:35

you I knew you K

20:37

and ew Before you were

20:39

born. I set you apart so

20:42

the me that God is calling me to be

20:45

Isn't something that I have to chase after

20:48

and it isn't just settling into the lowest version of

20:50

who I am It's

20:52

actually who he made me to be all along So

20:56

I I say to my son not just

20:58

do you do the new

21:00

you the you that God knew before

21:03

trauma caused you to go back to

21:07

Patterns that are so far beneath who God says

21:09

you are do the new you

21:11

the you that God knew then the you

21:13

that God is Calling you to become isn't

21:16

some future thing. You have to chase You're

21:18

already chosen to be that and

21:21

God will not ask anything from

21:23

you That he didn't first

21:26

put inside of you Yeah, so that's where

21:28

my passion comes from Sadie because I'm seeing

21:30

a lot of people go I just got

21:32

to do me and that's an excuse for immaturity.

21:34

That's not authenticity. I'm never gonna grow up I'm

21:36

just gonna be like this. I got to do

21:39

me. That's fine when it

21:41

comes to your fashion Maybe but that

21:43

is not fine when it comes to your faith And

21:46

then I see a lot of people just run

21:48

and run and running after something that God

21:50

didn't even call them to be But when

21:52

you know that you are chosen and

21:54

called by God You are growing into

21:57

what he already spoke and he'll help you do that

21:59

step by step Yep, gosh, that's so

22:01

good. I love that so much. It's so

22:03

true It feels like you have to run

22:05

and run and chase and chase whenever you're

22:07

striving for something But whenever you're resting in

22:09

who God is it is that it's restful

22:12

I love I think it Psalms 127 where

22:14

it says unless the Lord builds the house

22:16

the labors labor labor in vain eating the

22:18

bread Of anxious toil, but he gives his

22:20

beloved sleep and I love that and I've

22:22

experienced that like when I'm trying to build

22:24

house When I'm trying to build the thing

22:26

when I'm trying to become you know Whatever

22:29

it is that I want to become because I've

22:31

seen someone else do it. It is like anxiousness

22:34

and striving and never enough and constantly

22:37

failing because you're comparing yourself to someone

22:39

else you're always gonna be underneath that

22:41

because that's what God has for Them

22:44

and man when I started being like

22:46

hey God, you're building the house Like

22:48

my foundation is set on you alone

22:51

and there's so much peace in that and I think that's

22:54

when you get out of that Oh, it's got my you

22:56

know, 15 minutes of fame. I got to capitalize. I gotta

22:58

do it It's like no I just have to be and

23:01

it's been so cool over the years and in

23:03

my life to see what God has done with

23:05

that and You know the ministry

23:07

that you know I do live original to

23:09

be like your original self and not compare

23:12

yourself to someone else like you got to

23:14

sit in that and let God fully nurture

23:17

that and unit and just be

23:20

studying that because it is

23:22

so easy to conform to the pattern of

23:24

this world But whenever you actually just let God

23:26

make you all that you are all that

23:28

he's establishing you since before time It's the

23:30

most amazing thing to get to

23:32

experience. It's so much freedom There's so much confidence

23:34

and if some of you listen and you might

23:36

be like, this is so foreign, you know You've

23:39

been scrolling social media. You've been looking around

23:41

you've been trying to become all these things

23:43

and There's so much there's so

23:45

much grace in what Stephen saying There's so

23:47

much beauty in this message because it's not

23:50

that you have to do anything to become

23:52

Greater to become better to achieve

23:55

the thing. It's right here right

23:57

now realizing that who God formed

23:59

you to to be before the foundation of

24:01

the world begin is enough. And you

24:03

right where you're at, right where you

24:05

are right now listening to this podcast,

24:07

God loves you, God sees you, he

24:09

approves you, he's proud of you. And

24:11

yes, is there ways to improve on

24:13

that? Yes, Steve is not saying stay

24:15

where you're at, be exactly who you

24:17

are, no, be the best of who

24:19

you are, be all that God originally

24:22

created you to be. This message is

24:24

so, so good. Speaking on

24:26

the your truth, the truth, all this stuff.

24:28

I love that you brought that up because

24:30

whenever I did that

24:32

message, yes, at the time and

24:35

still is that phrase like your truth was

24:37

such a big thing and it still is

24:39

such a big thing. And the danger of

24:42

it is that people are saying to people,

24:44

you know, your truth will set you free.

24:46

And that sounds good. And

24:48

that sounds encouraging and all this stuff.

24:50

But the truth of that statement is

24:53

that Jesus said those words and you

24:55

will know the truth and

24:57

the truth will set you free. The context

24:59

of the word, you know, in the

25:01

Bible it says, Jesus is the way,

25:03

the truth and the life. And no

25:06

one gets to the father except through

25:08

him. And so the truth he

25:10

was talking about was not your

25:12

truth you identify with, it's the

25:14

truth in who he is. He

25:16

is the truth and he's able

25:18

to set you free because

25:21

Jesus is the only one that conquered

25:23

the grave. And so he can set

25:25

you free of your sin. So

25:28

it's dangerous when you hear something like the

25:30

truth will set you free out of context

25:32

and you think any truth will set you

25:35

free. You think your version

25:37

of truth will set you free when

25:39

your truth isn't capable of bringing that

25:41

freedom. The truth in who Jesus is

25:44

is what brings that freedom. And

25:46

so I love that you brought that up and

25:48

you actually say a quote, I think it's in

25:50

the book too where you

25:52

talk about how truth you say, or not

25:54

truth or you're talking about good advice. And

25:56

you say, sometimes good advice sounds good but

25:58

if it's not. sound, it's a

26:00

problem. Can you speak a little bit? Because

26:03

we have a lot of people in our

26:05

day, especially in social media, I mean,

26:07

TikTok is probably the biggest thing that we're

26:09

seeing this on, where people are really good

26:12

at saying things that sound good. But

26:14

in the day, they're not sound. And so

26:16

you do have all these self self help

26:19

things. And it's like, it's

26:21

helpful-ish. And it's

26:23

sounding good, except for the fact that

26:25

it's not rooted in truth is leading

26:28

people astray. How do you guard your

26:30

heart towards that? And how do you

26:32

as you scroll social media, make sure

26:34

that you're not truly being influenced by

26:37

these things that sound good, but may

26:39

not be rooted in actual truth. Y'all

26:46

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Yeah, I don't think there's

28:40

anything more important than what you're asking

28:42

right now, because what we don't realize

28:45

is we're kind of

28:47

just assimilating and aggregating a lot

28:49

of times points of

28:51

view by either people that we don't know

28:53

or people that we don't know the full story of. You

28:56

know, I was I was thinking about live your truth

28:59

and how good that sounds, right? Okay, well, let's break

29:01

that down. There was

29:03

a time in your life where you probably thought

29:05

that when you lost a tooth, that

29:08

during the night, somebody

29:12

like an angelic fairy type presence

29:14

found your tooth valuable enough to

29:17

come and leave $1 or $5 or whatever. I think by the time Sadie

29:21

by the time Abby was

29:24

coming along, I was like putting $10

29:26

because she was my first girl. She

29:28

got younger. So it was really it

29:30

got ridiculous. Now it got cost prohibitive.

29:32

But there was a time where each

29:34

of my kids and probably you thought

29:37

that somebody thought your tooth was valuable enough

29:39

to exchange for $1 for a $5 bill.

29:41

Okay. And, you know, there

29:45

are so many things like that one time I was

29:47

preaching it and I called it baby

29:50

truth, like baby tooth. And

29:53

it was my way of saying like, some

29:55

of that stuff needs to like fall out

29:57

like even even this, some of the

29:59

things that that were true at one time

30:01

in your life aren't true

30:03

anymore. Some of

30:05

the things that were true of you in one

30:08

stage of life are not true about you anymore.

30:11

For example, I have

30:14

a real hard time accepting

30:16

myself. Accepting

30:18

Jesus for me was

30:21

relatively easy. Once I understood the

30:23

gospel, I was 16 years old.

30:27

This is my story of how I came to Christ.

30:29

My mom raised me in church and at age 16,

30:32

I met somebody who shared the gospel with me

30:34

in a way that it registered that I needed

30:36

to make a decision to follow Christ. So

30:39

I went down the aisle at the Baptist

30:41

Church and I did all of

30:44

it. And it was amazing and I felt

30:46

a change. And my belief is that in

30:48

that moment, by accepting Jesus,

30:51

my sin was forgiven. I

30:53

was given a new nature. I

30:55

believe that I am completely

30:58

accepted and loved by God,

31:00

even as He continues to work on

31:02

me to make me to become

31:04

everything that He knows that I actually am. I

31:06

believe that, right? I believe I'm the righteousness of

31:09

God in Christ. I believe I'm a

31:11

child of God. But listen, I'm

31:13

also somebody who struggles so

31:16

much with

31:18

condemnation, with a talk that

31:22

goes on inside of my head that

31:24

knows all the reasons why I'm

31:27

not worthy of love, whether

31:29

from Holly, whether from God, whether from the

31:32

people that I minister to, all

31:34

the reasons that I don't feel qualified to

31:36

do this, to preach, right? And

31:39

so here's the thing, accepting

31:41

Jesus took a moment

31:43

to place my faith in Him. Accepting

31:47

Stephen, that's taken a lifetime. I'm

31:49

44 years old now. And

31:52

I'm still learning how to accept

31:54

Stephen. So to your question, how

31:57

do we get out of this trap? of

32:01

good sounding advice. One

32:03

of the mindsets, I do six mindsets in the

32:05

book to really align you with God's word. And

32:07

one of them that I think may be the

32:09

most important is this, Christ is

32:11

in me, I am enough. And

32:15

I explain how the first part of

32:17

that, Christ is in me, is

32:19

the basis for the second part of that. So

32:22

you're gonna love this Sadie, I think everybody will.

32:25

This thing of I am enough, you are enough, right?

32:27

You ever noticed how just by itself,

32:30

it can kind of feel empty? Because something deeper

32:33

down in you knows, no I'm

32:35

not. Like I am

32:37

not enough. Abby turned 13 this week,

32:41

and I'm looking at this little girl that

32:43

I am responsible to raise and set

32:45

a good example and show her what

32:47

a man is and try

32:49

to figure out how to navigate. When does she

32:51

get Snapchat? Does she get Snapchat? All the things

32:53

that I don't know how to do, right? So

32:56

to sit there and say, I am enough, you are

32:58

enough, I am enough, you are enough. I

33:01

don't buy it. It sounds

33:03

great. It feels good if I just

33:05

did something amazing. But what about the

33:07

times when I know I'm not enough?

33:10

So then I take you to this, if

33:13

Christ is in me, I'm sorry I'm preaching Sadie,

33:15

I'm just, this is my passion. I

33:19

wanna help people get from one extreme to

33:21

the other, right, there's a lot of people

33:23

just walking around going, I am enough, you

33:25

are enough, I am enough. And we don't

33:27

buy it. And that's why we still are

33:29

addicted and that's why we still scroll and

33:31

numb ourselves because we know deep down we're

33:33

on that treadmill. So if you

33:35

just take that, it's very hollow, isn't it,

33:37

to just go, I am

33:39

enough. I've never met anybody that can

33:42

sustainably just tell themselves that outside

33:44

of Christ is in me. But

33:47

the moment I get that, that the

33:50

same power that raised Christ from the dead

33:52

lives in me, that

33:54

He knows the plans He has for

33:56

me and that I am His handiwork,

33:58

that I'm His masterpiece. That he

34:00

has given me gifts and abilities and anointing and

34:02

I'm not just talking about me I'm talking to you

34:04

that God has given you everything you

34:07

need for the season that you're in

34:09

and that's the crucial part Sadie You're

34:12

not enough for what you're gonna face five

34:14

years from now. Yeah But

34:16

God is gonna make you that you were

34:18

not enough to do what you're doing

34:20

right now Sadie when you started it and The

34:23

process of dude the new you is

34:25

that you get to know that in every moment you

34:28

are enough for now Because

34:30

God is with me in this moment and

34:33

I want to encourage somebody Who's raising

34:35

a baby or a child on your own or

34:37

you're you're starting a business and you didn't learn

34:39

how to do all this Or you're launching a

34:41

ministry or you're just really trying to finish your

34:44

degree Or you're just trying to get your life

34:46

back on track after rehab I know all kinds

34:48

of people listen to you Sadie And

34:50

if we could get right now past this thing of

34:53

just you are enough but to

34:55

start from the foundation Christ

34:57

is in me. It's great. The Holy

34:59

Spirit Is in me God's

35:01

presence is with me now

35:03

I can say I am enough because you know go

35:05

back to Moses in the Bible Hmm, he's

35:08

standing there talking about well, God,

35:10

I'm not I'm not very good at

35:12

speaking and God says who made man's mouth Yeah,

35:14

I like the picture like this. I don't I

35:16

didn't put this in the book or anything But

35:18

we're just talking, you know Imagine God and Moses

35:20

going back and forth and and

35:22

Moses getting this command from God you're

35:25

supposed to be a leader of Millions

35:27

of people he's like, but I'm not and

35:30

and you're supposed to have everything that you that

35:32

you need to lead them out of Egyptian slavery

35:34

and And you're supposed to be

35:36

the mouthpiece of God to go to Pharaoh and tell

35:38

him let my people go But I'm not and I

35:41

picture God saying back. I

35:43

am yeah You know and

35:45

when you let that I am the great

35:47

I am God's I am Get

35:49

into your I'm not I'm

35:52

telling you even everything that you're not

35:54

right now This is what I want to get you to

35:56

see even your weakness even

35:59

the skill set that you don't have that

36:01

was underdeveloped. Even the training

36:03

that you didn't get, the opportunity that

36:05

you didn't receive, even those

36:07

things in the hands of God, I

36:10

promise you those are going to be some

36:12

of the greatest opportunities that he

36:14

is going to use to show

36:17

off who he is. So if you're like, well,

36:19

I'm not that, I could never do that, that's great. Because

36:22

now God gets to do it through you. That's

36:24

the confidence you're walking in. And that is a

36:26

game changer, because that never runs out. I learned

36:28

one thing about confidence, Sadie. Where

36:31

it comes from determines when

36:33

it runs out. Ooh, that's

36:35

true. Where it comes from

36:38

determines when it runs out. So if my

36:40

confidence is in the last sermon I preached,

36:43

oh, I got a lot of views on

36:45

YouTube. Okay, you're just one low viewed YouTube

36:47

sermon away from not feeling confident, if that's

36:49

where your confidence comes from. If

36:52

your confidence is from another person

36:54

giving you a compliment, that's fine as a

36:56

supplement, but that cannot be your diet. Because

36:59

if it comes from them giving you the

37:01

compliment, what are you gonna do

37:03

when they're distracted and they forget to tell you

37:05

that your man bun looks cute? Or

37:07

whatever. I

37:10

want you to think about where your confidence

37:12

is really coming from, because if it's up

37:14

and down, your confidence is probably in you

37:16

trying to convince yourself or getting so far

37:18

out into the future with what you're

37:20

going to do, rather than receiving it.

37:23

You know what, God gave me this day. That's

37:25

what I came on your podcast saying today,

37:27

Sadie. My prayer was, Lord,

37:29

let me and Sadie create something today with

37:33

you. This is my prayer. God, let

37:35

me and Sadie create something together with you

37:38

that will reach somebody right where they are, give

37:41

them the word that they need, the encouragement they need

37:43

for their next step. Why wouldn't

37:45

I be confident that God wants to help us

37:47

do this? Now I feel like let's

37:49

go. Now I feel like we got this because Christ

37:51

is in me. I am enough. providing

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39:50

So good Preach I Was so glad

39:52

you came on and started preaching You

39:54

know, I preached this message or shared

39:56

this message back in. It was more

39:58

of like a chill environment. Image right

40:00

in the middle at Alabama Sorority which I

40:02

saw him to a lot of girls who

40:04

are rushing and I got in front of

40:06

them and you know rush is a big

40:08

deal especially in Alabama and all the girls

40:11

are made up looking beautiful and trying to

40:13

you know be accepted by this sorority. They're

40:15

trying to get into this Greek life. the

40:17

there are put in of their best friend

40:19

as I get on the front of them

40:21

and I'm fully dressed in a radio that

40:23

degrees in as it is so I haven't

40:25

They got life and here. So.

40:27

And had a wife and she brought it out see

40:30

me as took on a that in front of them.

40:33

And I said if you put your

40:35

confidence. And. Things of this

40:37

world it would be as fleeting as

40:39

the foundation on your face. It's good

40:41

at Pratt, it's get a break at

40:43

the end of the day you're gonna

40:45

be back in the room and you're

40:48

going to face with who you really

40:50

are and then you gotta ask yourself

40:52

did now what am I thought for

40:54

the and as like unless you're foundations

40:56

and your confidence is and cries and

40:58

cries alone then it's gonna break. It's

41:00

gonna fall you know And and we

41:02

just had this wrong message of like

41:04

the Foundation of Christ. Be your confidence

41:07

to that When you're not accepted into the

41:09

sororities, you don't go home and say oh,

41:11

I'm not accepted, I'm I'm lovable. I'm not

41:13

enough. Know you are in the of because

41:15

cry says you're not and that's why you

41:18

know whenever you hear us talking about this

41:20

is not just self help. Some of my

41:22

civil what's wrong with Cel Top Not there's

41:24

something wrong with self help. It's just that

41:27

at the end of the day you so

41:29

that I help yourself at the end of

41:31

the day it's on you. It is you

41:33

to have to muster up this contradicts what

41:35

but. when it's and cries and

41:38

cries ensued then you go okay

41:40

even though i'm not enough i

41:42

am in cries even though i

41:45

might not feel able i can

41:47

be through christ he is my

41:49

strength even though i'm weak moses

41:52

is one of my favorite stories

41:54

to talk about because really relate

41:56

oh about i relate to that

41:59

so my because I felt like God was

42:01

trying to call me to something so much bigger than

42:03

I am. And I'm struggling with the

42:05

fact that it's bigger. And I'm like, God, I

42:07

don't, I don't think I communicate very well. And

42:10

then this is like back in the day, I'm

42:12

throwing out all the excuses. I felt like a

42:14

hypocrite because I was not living the best life.

42:16

And I just felt like, how, who am I

42:18

that I can go do this? And I'm like,

42:20

who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

42:23

And he's like, no, I am who I am.

42:25

And not about who you are. And then when

42:27

you go back with the grid, I am, and

42:29

people knew you for who you were. And

42:31

now they see you for who you are

42:33

in him, then they get to see that's,

42:35

that's your testimony. Then, then you get to

42:37

point people to Christ. And I have this

42:39

girl that listens to the podcast. She's become

42:41

a good friend of mine now. And she

42:44

said, she started listening because I had someone

42:46

on who actually writes self-help books. And she

42:48

said, I love self-help books. I buy

42:50

all of them. I just want to get better. And

42:52

I said, this great, you know, her intention for it

42:54

is great. She said, but then I kept listening to

42:56

the podcast time and time

42:58

again. And these people rooted in the words.

43:00

She said, I started reading the Bible. She

43:02

didn't read the Bible. She said, this is

43:05

the greatest self-help book of all time, because

43:07

it's rooted in truth and grace and love

43:09

and actual truth that brings freedom and in

43:11

Christ. And now her and her husband are

43:13

reading scripture together. And she said, now, every

43:15

time you have people on, like she's probably

43:17

going to go buy her books. She says,

43:20

I buy all their books and I've just,

43:22

it's changed their life. You know? And I

43:24

just think that's, that's just the coolest thing

43:26

ever. And hearing this message today is just

43:28

been amazing. And I love the mindsets that

43:30

you write in the book and how they, I know

43:32

you talk about, they were really for you first. These

43:34

were, you hadn't written a book in like eight years.

43:37

And I heard you talk a little bit about just

43:39

your hesitation to write a book. And it was kind

43:41

of, this message really was for

43:44

you before it was for anyone, which I

43:46

think that that's how most

43:48

messages are for me, at least how most

43:50

books are. Feels like you need to get

43:52

the message first and then it's like, okay,

43:54

now I'll put it out. But you know,

43:56

people look at you, Pastor Stephen, and

43:59

you are such an incredible pastor. You're

44:01

an incredible communicator. You're able to get people

44:03

through some of the hardest things. But at

44:05

the end of the day, you're human too.

44:08

And you go through hard things. You go

44:10

through those insecurities. Can

44:12

you speak a little bit to those insecurities about

44:14

writing a book and how you overcame it?

44:16

Because I know you talk about how you know

44:19

you're, you know you're a sermon tit, you can

44:21

write songs, but you were a little bit more

44:23

insecure when it came to writing a book, which

44:25

no one would think that about you because

44:27

people have gotten your books and loved them. What

44:30

was that challenge like facing it head

44:32

on and writing this book? It's

44:34

the same challenge I go through every

44:36

Saturday night. Yeah. Nothing different. I

44:39

don't ever live in a state of

44:42

uninterrupted confidence. I

44:44

wish I did. I wouldn't have had to write the book if

44:46

I did. I really feel like I

44:48

wrote this book to somebody who you

44:50

get glimpses from time to time of

44:53

who God has called you to be. And I

44:55

mean that not just with what you do,

44:58

you preach or you sing or you are

45:01

amazing in front of people or you're a great athlete, that

45:03

can be part of it, but the kind

45:05

of person that God has made you to be.

45:08

And you get glimpses of that. But

45:11

in the same way that you get glimpses of it and

45:14

then it kind of goes away, there

45:17

are ways that you can grow into that more

45:19

and more. With

45:21

the book, I mean, Holly,

45:25

I feel like I'm making Holly in this

45:27

thing like Adrian Taraki or something like that,

45:29

but she kind of is. That's great. And

45:31

she, we kind of got in a fight at

45:34

the end of, I don't remember if it was

45:36

the end of 2022. Yeah, it must've been 2022. And

45:39

I'm telling her, there's no more books in me. My

45:43

gift is more audible processing,

45:45

not written. And I don't have the

45:47

ability to write to the literary level

45:49

and all that. And she's like,

45:51

well, your words help people. And you

45:54

have said that God's calling on your life is to

45:56

put his words in people's hearts. That's what you're called

45:58

to do, to put God's words. people's hearts.

46:00

That's like how you have Live Original.

46:04

One of my taglines to remind me what I'm here

46:06

for is putting God's words in people's hearts. Once

46:08

I start thinking of it that way, I was

46:11

like, alright, I can write a book like

46:13

if I was writing it to myself in

46:15

my low moments, like if I was

46:18

writing to my son, like if I was writing to

46:20

my daughter, like if I could sit

46:22

down with you and it wasn't just a podcast

46:25

and I could coach you. But

46:28

when you say coach, people go, no, wait a minute,

46:30

wait a minute. That's not the gospel. Okay, here's how

46:32

I think about that, Sadie. We

46:35

need the truth and we

46:37

need the tools, right?

46:39

There's a lady that works with

46:41

us who told me I

46:43

got up to preach a few weeks ago

46:46

and she got so angry in the first

46:48

five minutes of my sermon. She said, because

46:50

I knew everything you

46:52

were challenging me with was true. But

46:55

I sat there and said, but tell me

46:57

what to do about it, Pastor. Because

46:59

I got these four kids and I got

47:01

this mortgage. And I

47:03

think sometimes what you're really

47:05

lacking in your life, it may be truth

47:07

that you haven't heard what God says about

47:09

you. But I have just

47:11

as much of a passion to bridge the gap the

47:14

other way, right? Not just that we

47:16

need to realize that we can't do it without God,

47:19

but that there is a process that God takes

47:21

us through where the truth becomes

47:23

real. So I wrote the book

47:26

in a simple way where I

47:28

basically put stuff on post-it notes for myself.

47:30

The first one is, I'm not stuck

47:33

unless I stop. The second

47:35

one is, Christ is in me, I am enough.

47:38

The third one is, with God there's always a

47:40

way and by faith I will find it. The

47:43

fourth one is, God is

47:45

not against me, but He's in it

47:47

with me, working through me,

47:50

fighting for me. So can't

47:52

you just see yourself saying that to yourself one day

47:54

like, everything is going wrong.

47:56

You're like, in your case Sadie, maybe

47:58

it's like... You accidentally

48:00

saw a comment on

48:03

social media and you weren't even trying to look

48:05

at the comment. You were just checking to make

48:07

sure the video was up, right? You're

48:09

not even trying to bathe in that stuff and something

48:11

just jumps up and bites you. And

48:13

so now all of a sudden it feels like

48:15

everybody's misunderstanding your heart and they didn't hear you

48:17

correctly. And you know, it's crazy how much people

48:20

don't think those little seeds get in us, but

48:22

they do. So you have

48:24

to have a process where you go, wait a minute, wait a

48:26

minute. God is not against me. That

48:28

person may be. And they're not

48:30

even really against me. They're just interpreting what I

48:32

said. But I believe he's in

48:34

it with me, working through me, fighting for me. The

48:36

fifth mindset is my joy is my job. The

48:39

sixth one is God has given

48:41

me everything I need for the season I'm in. I

48:43

already preached that one earlier. But every

48:45

single one of these over the last eight

48:47

years, I've written down for myself somewhere. I've

48:51

written down for myself to preach to myself because

48:53

let's go back to Moses for a

48:55

moment. It is

48:58

in the conversation with God that

49:00

Moses realizes his calling. And

49:04

you are having a conversation

49:06

constantly about your calling. You're

49:09

like, no, I'm not. I'm not a missionary. I'm not

49:11

a worship leader. I'm not writing books. Okay.

49:14

But you still have a calling. God

49:16

has called you to where you are. That's

49:19

why he put you there. Spring

49:25

is a great time to start something new,

49:27

right? So whether it's cleaning or a new

49:30

hobby or a new audio book, a good

49:32

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49:34

a new journey. And Audible has all that

49:36

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49:38

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49:41

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49:43

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some of your into you know thrillers cry

50:46

mystery and I be honest as not really

50:48

been my see such whole Bella Bella tell

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me what I can like listen to that

50:52

would scare me but I would like be

50:54

into her and she told me about this

50:56

title called the Last Thing he told me

50:59

by Laura Daves. And so I started

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and the i'm just not in the

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51:35

I did a thing you took your

51:37

makeup off one time and I do

51:39

that every week home so that as

51:41

a really really of the doesn't really

51:43

work for me to done when he

51:45

says as well as is as I

51:47

think this of a gutsy brilliant illustration

51:49

of the hollywood do that honestly and

51:51

part that spirit of papers you would

51:53

do would look great as he did

51:55

it but I don't. I

51:59

did something. time along these same lines

52:01

that I just remembered. And

52:03

I hope the audience will enjoy us

52:06

just going through some things that we've shared

52:08

that are meaningful to us and maybe hear

52:10

it in a fresh way because I

52:12

was getting up to preach about Moses during the

52:14

pandemic when there weren't that many people in the

52:17

building and it was just staff and my

52:19

oldest son again was sitting next to me

52:21

on the front row. And

52:24

just before I went up to preach, Sadie,

52:26

because I was really spontaneous during the pandemic

52:29

because everything felt so unpredictable. So it's kind

52:31

of like one of those last minute decisions.

52:34

I wanted one more way to drive home the

52:36

thought that you're

52:38

not but God is. Whatever it

52:40

is, I'm not capable. I'm not a good

52:42

speaker. I'm not able

52:44

to, you know, I don't

52:46

have the wisdom for it. Well, God does. You're not

52:49

God is. So I basically right

52:51

before I went out, gave my

52:53

wallet to Elijah. Didn't tell him why. I

52:55

just said, hold this. Thanks. I

52:57

just don't want to carry it up there on stage and forgot to leave it in

52:59

the back. And

53:01

I knew exactly down to the dollar how much money

53:03

was in the wallet when I gave it to him.

53:06

And I don't remember the number now, but it was like $432

53:08

or something like that. Like I had a lot of cash in

53:10

there. And I

53:13

finished my sermon and I'm talking about Moses standing

53:16

there and all the things he can't

53:18

all the things he's not. Maybe you relate. Maybe you've

53:20

been given God a list in your heart. All the

53:22

things you're not. All the

53:24

things you can't. And maybe the enemy

53:26

is even suggesting those to you. Maybe

53:28

even today you were just overwhelmed by

53:30

those thoughts. I can't. I'm not.

53:33

Okay. Stop. Let's think about

53:36

this. God wouldn't ask it

53:39

from you if he didn't

53:41

put it in you because

53:43

he knew you before he formed

53:45

you. So if God

53:47

is asking it from you, he put it

53:49

in you. Now if he isn't asking it

53:51

from you, then that's just social

53:53

pressure. If he isn't asking it from

53:56

you, then that's just you on

53:58

a treadmill. If he isn't asking... it

54:00

from you, you just need to release it. But

54:02

if he's asking it from you, if he put

54:04

you in that assignment, he

54:07

put it in you. So at this point in

54:09

my sermon, Sadie, it's like the sermon is over,

54:11

everybody thinks it's over. The band's playing, you know,

54:13

they're singing gyro or something like that. And

54:17

I say, Elijah, come here, come here. And he

54:19

comes up just kind of confused, like you were thinking the sermon's

54:21

over too. And I'm like, I need $432 right now. And I

54:24

wish I could put the sermon

54:28

clip up right now, because you can see the

54:30

moment where he's like, what?

54:33

And then his eyes, when he

54:35

remembers, Oh, my

54:39

dad handed it to me right

54:41

before I came up. And

54:43

it's the, it's the favorite picture I

54:45

have, I have this picture outside in

54:48

the hallway, when you come preach for me

54:50

at elevation really soon, right before

54:52

you walk out to the stage. And it's

54:55

the picture of him in that moment where he

54:57

has a little smirk and a little sparkle where

54:59

he realizes just before he realizes, Oh,

55:01

he gave it to me. That's why

55:03

he's asking it from me. And so

55:06

I want to minister to this in

55:08

everybody's life who feels like there

55:10

is a demand on you right now. And

55:13

you don't have it. Check again.

55:16

Because before God ever put you

55:18

in that situation, he

55:20

gave you the strength for the situation.

55:22

Sometimes we just forget. Sometimes

55:25

we just overlook. Sometimes we don't reach

55:27

for it. I promise you, God

55:29

has given you the wisdom you need for right

55:31

now. But if you are worrying

55:33

about 17

55:36

steps ahead, no, God didn't promise you that

55:38

his word is a lamp unto your feet,

55:40

a light unto your path. He is going

55:42

to give you the revelation for your next

55:45

step. And that's my constant belief

55:47

about God is that you have

55:49

it in you. You have it on you because

55:51

he put it on you. Even the language Sadie

55:53

do the new you in

55:55

Ephesians four, Paul says put on the

55:58

new self. That means there's decision

56:00

I have to make. Yeah, if you say

56:02

and put it on, that's something I got

56:04

to take off first. Yeah. So what am

56:07

I taking off? The old belief. Yeah. Old

56:09

pattern. The old self-righteousness. The old way of

56:11

trying to work my way to God. What

56:13

am I putting on? My acceptance in Him.

56:17

My full approval because of His righteousness

56:19

in me. And I have

56:21

to do that every day. I have to do that

56:23

every moment of every day. I don't just get to

56:25

do that once like the old infomercial. This was before

56:27

your time, Sadie, but they used to have one that

56:29

said, set it and forget it. And

56:32

I always wanted my mindset to be like that.

56:34

Like you hear the truth, you know the truth.

56:36

It sets you free forever. No, you

56:38

know the truth. You walk in the

56:41

truth. You do the truth. You

56:44

do the truth in times of tension. You

56:46

do the truth under pressure. You

56:48

do the truth in times of temptation. You fall

56:50

short. You come back to the truth. You

56:52

do it again and again. And eventually you

56:54

grow into everything that God has given you a

56:57

glimpse of. Great. That's so good.

56:59

Guys, this podcast has been absolutely incredible.

57:01

I'm going to personally go back and

57:03

listen to it. I know so many

57:05

of you have been so encouraged today

57:07

with this word. And if you don't,

57:09

you know, if you haven't read his

57:11

books, if you haven't listened to the

57:14

sermons that he's putting out, I remember

57:16

Pastor Stephen during the pandemic, I listened

57:18

to you so much because, you know,

57:20

everything's shut down. Everything's crazy. And I

57:22

would be like walking the treadmill, listening

57:24

to your servants, which by the way,

57:26

he's like the best pastor to listen to

57:28

when you work out because your energy is like

57:31

10 out of 10. And

57:33

then, you know, y'all put out the blessing

57:35

and then I'm listening to the blessing. I'm

57:37

running on the treadmill, which is not like

57:39

me. I am like getting it. And so

57:41

go, go listen to his talks. But I

57:43

actually remember something that you said during the

57:45

pandemic that I continue to tell people because

57:47

it just inspired me a lot. And you

57:50

were talking about how so many of us,

57:52

like we want to go back to how

57:54

it was before. And, you know,

57:56

this hit a lot probably stronger when we were right

57:58

there dead in the middle because now we've kind of

58:00

come at it, but you were saying like, no, we don't want to

58:02

go back to how things were before. Like

58:05

were things even great before? Like we

58:07

want to go into what God has

58:09

for us now in the next. And

58:11

I know you were doing an illustration

58:13

on Paul and everything and it's interesting

58:15

because yesterday I

58:17

was talking to a girl and she's going through a

58:19

very unique sickness. She just got diagnosed

58:22

with a very unique thing that's very

58:24

rare. And she's been in the hospital

58:26

a lot for it. And she was out this

58:28

week and we were chatting and she said, you

58:31

know, I was just really discouraged because they told

58:33

me, they said, you know, you

58:35

kind of have this ABC in life. And the doctor

58:37

said, you have your A and that's who you were.

58:40

He said, you have your B and that's where you're at

58:42

now with the sickness. And you have

58:44

your C and that's who you can eventually become

58:46

and it will never be your A again, but

58:48

it'll be, you know, C. And

58:50

she said, and I'm just so discouraged because I

58:52

want, I want my A back, you know, and

58:55

I'm never going to have my A back. And

58:57

I was thinking about that sermon you preached and I

59:00

was kind of encouraging her through it. And then

59:02

actually Christine came, preached a sermon at Passion this

59:04

year. And she was talking about behold, I'm doing

59:06

a new thing. Remember not the former thing. And

59:09

I love the illustration Christine says, she says, Hey,

59:11

God's saying he's going to bring rivers into

59:13

a desert when back in the day, you

59:15

know, he was drying up, you know, rivers.

59:17

And now he's saying he's going to bring

59:19

them. So your C, even though it's

59:22

not going to be your A, it's going

59:24

to be better because it's going to be different. It's going to

59:26

be new and it's going to be the now. And

59:28

I just think about this word for people

59:30

as they're maybe feeling that in life, you

59:33

know, I'm not who I used to be.

59:35

I'm not where I want to be. I'm

59:38

going to become something. And right

59:40

here, right now, as you decide to

59:42

be the new you stepping into that

59:44

C version of you, it's

59:47

not going to be, yeah, the past. Don't compare it to

59:49

the past. It's not A to be the now. It's going

59:51

to be what has for you, what God

59:53

has for you right now. And

59:55

everything that you've said has been just the

59:57

most encouraging thing, but more than encouraging. It's

1:00:00

passed with truth. I love how you

1:00:02

back up everything with scripture, biblical teaching,

1:00:04

and that's how you discern between good

1:00:06

advice that sounds good and actually sound

1:00:08

devices when it's rooted in the Word.

1:00:10

So thank you for being a pastor

1:00:12

who preaches the Word. Thank

1:00:14

you for being someone who is putting God's

1:00:16

words into our hearts. We're grateful for it.

1:00:18

And I'm just so thankful for this podcast.

1:00:20

So friends, you know what to do. Go

1:00:22

pick up Stephen's new book, Do the New

1:00:25

You. Thank you, Pastor Stephen, for being on

1:00:27

the web. Let's give high cast and drop

1:00:29

in some truth bombs. Thank

1:00:31

you, Sadie. Let's write a song together. Let's get

1:00:33

you to preach at Elevation soon. Let's do everything.

1:00:36

Let's go everywhere. Do it all. Done.

1:00:38

Love it. Thank you.