Insights from Gateway Church Service

Jesus, I'm the visitor. I am an instrument of exaltation, and I was born to lift your name above all names. You hear the melody of all creation. But there's a song of praise that only I can bring. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only in Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. You are the infinite, God of the ages. Yeah, you chose to make my heart a dwelling. You heal my brokenness, show me your glory. So I have songs of thanks, not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. Only you Jesus Who else is worthy Who else is worthy There is no one Only you, Jesus Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood Proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift our eyes Lifted up, holy, holy. Let our God know it's one. One. Seated on the throne above, holy, holy. His water shed His blood, proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy. There on high. Come to us and follow us now Jesus Christ, be lifted up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Jesus, who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? Jesus, it's just Jesus. Only Jesus, Jesus. Welcome to Gateway Church. We're so glad you're here. Hey, we're going to do this a little bit out of order that we typically do at our service. Will you turn around and greet one another? Let's be the church early on in service. Say hello. We're so glad you're here. We're here, everybody joining us online, our gatherings, our prison campuses. Thanks for tuning in today. It's gonna be a great day at church. Hey, we've got pastors. I'm gonna have Pastor Levi Lusko in the building today, bringing the word. But before we do that, we're gonna go into worship, and I told our team in the back, we're just gonna take the next 25 to 30 minutes and have uninterrupted worship today as a church, and we're gonna press in, and we're gonna believe God's gonna move. So why don't you just lift your hands with me? And God, we're gonna welcome you in this place today. Holy Spirit, come inhabit the praises of your people. Today as a church, Lord, we give you glory, we give you honor. and we give you praise in Jesus'name. Amen. Let's worship together. I'll try, I'll freeze when I'm been surrounded My head and me, as long as I'm breathing I've got earth to pray, Lord Oh, my soul, soul He's still in control, yes he is Oh my soul Hello! Praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign, praise cause you rose, come on! I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true, praise cause there's nobody greater, I praise! Praise God, praise God, praise God. He reigns. Praise God, He rose and defeated. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Praise God, He's faithful. Praise God, He's true. Praise God, there's somebody greater than you. Oh my soul Oh my soul Generations Fallen down Sing the song of ages to the Lamb And all of it Sing the song of ages to the Lamb Your name Your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all, stands above them all. Creation cries, holy, you are lifted high, holy, oh, I think you've been forgiven. If you've been redeemed, sing the song forever into the land. If you're walking free, if you bear His name, sing the song forever into the land. Yes, we will. We'll sing this song forever and amen. And the angels cry, Lord, lead our creation to God. It's the highest, your name, your name, stands above the whole, all throne, and it's the nation's, your name, stands above the whole. Jesus, can we just close our eyes here in this place? You know, our God is holy, he's set apart. His ways are higher than the earth. our ways, his thoughts, high above our thoughts. But you know, the Bible says that he revealed them to us through his spirit. Do you know that we are holy, that we are made righteous, that we are made holy because of our God? So can we just lift our holy hands in this place? Lord, today we lift our hands, Lord. God, as a sign, Lord, just we welcome you in, Lord, right now. Lord, your sweet presence has filled this room, Lord, and today, God, we just welcome you in. Lord, we're here for your presence. We're here to commune with you. Young people down front, can I just encourage you just to run after Jesus today? The depths in worship that exist in these times, just pour your heart out, open your heart. Give everything that you have. Say, Jesus, I just welcome you into everything. Every good situation, every bad situation, everything that I'm in, Lord, I place that in your hand. Lord, you are holy. Lord, today you have called us righteous and pure by the blood of Jesus. Thank you, God, for your presence, Lord, in this place. I see your eyes in victory Open your eyes to majesty Oh, them now Oh, King of Preference, as the train of Europe fills this temple As the train of Europe fills this temple You're a- We crown you with many crowns, with every crown Sing, O King. O King of heaven, we bow in reverence As the train of your robe fills the stand With adoration, we're pouring out our praises As the train of Europe fills its temple As the train of Europe fills its temple This time, this time, I am lost in Jesus, Jesus, how I trust, how I prove. And more and more, Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace To trust Him more Oh Jesus, Jesus How I trust Him How I prove Him more Jesus, Jesus, so precious Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him more Oh, for grace to trust Him more Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Hallelujah, hallelujah. For the Lord God Almighty reigns, Alleluia, Holy is the Lord. You are holy, holy, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. At the same time, the author and finisher of our faith, the Prince of Peace, how can someone be so strong yet so gentle? Because today, whatever you lack, He is full of. What I lack today, He is full of. full of. Will you just bow your heads and close your eyes with me? Will you open your hands? And today we say, God, thank you for being what we need today. God, thank you that you see what no one else sees and you still choose us. Thank you that we don't have to hide from you. that today as a church body we can say all hail King Jesus because it was never about us in the first place. It's all about you. Thank God that today I'm not in control. Thank God that today we are not in control. God we give you glory, we give you honor, and we give you praise in this place. In Jesus name, amen. Will you give a shout to the Lord today? Well, hey, it's already been a great, a great service, but we've got Pastor Levi Lusko in the building today, bringing the word, a friend in his house. And I also want to say before we turn around and greet one another, I think you can feel what God did at the marriage conference this week at Gateway. For all the couples, can we give it up for all the couples who chose to be here this past week? Well, do me a favor, turn around, greet each other. We're so glad you're here. Welcome to Gateway Church. If I'm running to Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author of the Nishramukha, and Jenny's trying to get close to Jesus, guess what happens? Getting close to each other automatically is what God wants for your marriage. cares about how we love each other and he has put incompatibility and differences between men and women for one reason so that it's impossible to have a great sex life without learning to be unselfish if you handle your responsibility. God will open the door to give you more opportunity. Watch this, because he can trust you. That's what's more powerful than the strategy of the enemy, the power of God's grace working through humble people. Hey Gateway family, we're so glad you're here. At Gateway, we're all about people because we know that God is all about people. If you're a guest today, please know that we would love to get to know you. You can meet us in the lobby at Connect Central after service or text CONNECT to 71010. We have tons of ways for you to connect with God and with others. No matter what stage of life you're in, we believe there's something for you. Here are a few things happening we want you to know about. Giving is at the core of who God is. We believe that we're called to reflect His heart by being givers ourselves. If you'd like to give today, you can give through our website, the mobile app, or in an envelope in any of our campuses. Remember to follow us on social media or join your campus Facebook group to stay up to date with everything that's going on. Thanks again for joining us. Do you feel like God has put a call on your life for ministry? What if a church and its leaders were willing to come alongside you and give you access to themselves and the ministry they do? What if you had the opportunity to be a part of a team where you received hands-on experience in the areas you feel called to serve? Could something like this even exist? It does now. Let us develop what God has destined you to do. I've been struggling with fear, anxiety, and a lot of this. I originally came to camp just for fun. Never intended to meet Jesus again. Pastor Abram, he goes and says, stand up just for this one song. So I stand up, and then all of a sudden, I feel this overwhelming, this peace, this warmth, and I'm bursting into tears because I know that's how I met Jesus. In the first session, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and I got filled with the Holy Spirit, and everything's just more alive. I'm definitely coming back next year. I'm coming back. I'm bringing my friends. I'm bringing my friends. And if they have the summer one, I'm coming for summer. Yeah, we're coming for every single thing. Everything. Everything. All right, Gateway Church, how are we doing this weekend? Well, that's wonderful. Now let's make some noise for King Jesus, who's in the building. Come on. And every time he's in the building, everyone's hands go up and they stay there in Jesus'name. It is such an honor to get to open up Scripture with you. My wife, Jenny, and I had such a joy being a part of the Love Always Marriage Conference and thrilled to be a part of this weekend as well. If you have a way to get on to the Scriptures, we're going to be in Haggai. Chapter 2, someone's like, that's a book of the Bible. Yes, it is. It's actually the third to the last book of the Old Testament. So if you just find Matthew, pro tip, and just go three books to the left, that's probably the easiest way to get there. Haggai chapter 2, in just a moment. The title of the message this weekend is, My Trauma Is Not My Template. Come on, do you receive it in Jesus'name? My trauma is not my template. We do want to greet you at every location, those of you watching online. Come on, let's show some love to those in all the different places. Amazing. Have you noticed how much easier it is to see someone else's dysfunction? And there's a reason for that, and it's simple. The longer you tolerate dysfunction in your life, the more it begins to feel normal to you. One quick cheesy example from my life, we a couple years ago bought a couple of those plugs that you can plug anything into and then Alexa can control that device. And it was around the holidays and so I thought, man, I don't want to have to lean. down, because I'm, you know, in my 40s now, so leaning down. I don't want to lean down every morning and plug in the Christmas tree, so I'll just plug this little thing into the Christmas tree, and I'll just, in the morning when I come down to make my coffee, and there's nothing like Christmas quiet time with the tree on. Anybody with me? Right, just the best. And so I'll just be able to say, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree while I'm making my coffee. Coffee, and it worked, man. It was amazing. Best holiday advent advice I could give you is plug your Christmas tree into Alexa. Get her involved into the 12 days of Christmas. It'll be amazing. But Christmas came and went, and the Christmas tree had to come down. What goes up has got to come down, so we put the Christmas tree away. And somehow or another, this little particular Alexa plug got plugged into a lamp. But no one went into the Alexa app and changed the setting for it to be living room lamp and not Christmas tree. And we realized that had happened, and we just that day said, oh, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree. And the lamp turned on, and we laughed like, that's silly. We need to get around to changing that, but didn't. And it just became normal for us to use that prompt anytime we needed that lamp on, as opposed to going and fiddling with the... It probably would have taken like 11 seconds, just the worst part of it all. I probably could have told Alexa to change the prompt, and she would have done it, but I didn't. And so we stopped even noticing we did that, because it was just normal for us to do that. And then one day, it was like summertime, you know, it's like 4th of July, and somebody in the living room said, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree. And there was someone in the house... who wasn't aware of how crazy we were. And she looked around like, where's the Christmas tree? And then she was even more confused when none of us were weirded out by it. Nobody was phased because we were used to that. Well, that's how you turn on the living room lamp, right? Of course, it makes perfect sense when you're numb to the dysfunctional. behavior. And of course, that's a joke and a silly little example, but it can become in our lives far more serious and far more problematic the deeper it goes. And that's what we find going on in Haggai chapter 2. We're going to jump in in verse 3, where it says, who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua. Son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work, for I, look at this, am with you. says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you. Do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. Does anybody feel thankful for scripture? Anybody feel thankful for God's word? It's living, it's powerful, it's active, it's sharper than the division of, than a two-edged sword, pierces to the division of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so, Lord, we pray you would have your way. with your word in our hearts, in our lives. You know what we need. You see what we lack. And whether it's comfort, God, that we need for our affliction or affliction we need for the areas of our life where we are comfortable, we ask for you, the great physician, to see our need. We're not going to argue with you like a child that says, I don't want shots or I don't want this procedure. We just say, God, have your way. you need to, Lord, feel free to put us to sleep like you did to Abram or to Adam and do exactly what you need. We're not going to argue, God. Do what you want to do in our hearts and lives, God. We say, not our will be done, but yours. For you know better. You are better. And we ask that if even one of us today coming into this moment does not have a saving relationship with you through your son Jesus, that by your spirit you would draw them. to yourself as salvation rises in the mighty name of Jesus. And we said together, all they had was an altar. They had been in the land for 16 years. The year is 520 BC. Of course, the context for the book of Haggai is the Babylonian captivity. This period where the Jews were forced to live outside of their promised land, outside of the land of Israel. They lived in Babylon. They lived in Assyria. This period of time was going to be in all from when they left Jerusalem. 70 years they would have to live outside of the promised land because they had turned their hearts from God. They had failed to keep the covenant, and he had warned them that this would happen, that they would be driven out of the land that is theirs perpetually. Everlasting is the covenant, but their occupation of this land was conditioned upon their behavior and the failure to keep the Sabbath and the failure to keep God as their only God and the way they abused marriage and all of these different things that they, Jeremiah says, had committed two evils. that they had turned from him the fountain of living water, but hewn for themselves also broken cisterns that could hold no water. They had, you know, Fiji in the bottle, but they were drinking from the toilet, baby. That's exactly what was going on. And so to wake them up, it would have been unloving for God to allow them to live. any more than a parent would see their child, the two or three-year-old holding a knife and go, yay, he likes that toy. Like, no, no, no. You would need to do something that even would feel scary for the child to take it away in a way that would actually be in their best interest. And so God drove them from the promised land and off they went to Babylon and that 70 years was going to tick away. And then of course, we know that all through the captivity, they had prophets prophesying to them. They had prophets. prophets hiding to them before they went to the captivity. Those are the pre-exilic prophets, and there were prophets who ministered to them during the midst of the captivity, and there was also post-exilic prophets. Once the return to the land had begun, there were prophets who were going to minister to them during this period, and there were three of them. One of them is Haggai, the other is Zechariah, and then the final one is the prophet Malachi. who's the second to the last Old Testament prophet. The last Old Testament prophet is, of course, John the Baptist. Even though he shows up chronologically in the New Testament, according to Jesus, he is the final of the Old Testament voices before the New Testament age of grace, the age of the Gentiles, is ushered in. Are you tracking with me? In all that we're reading in the book of Haggai, this post-exilic prophet, timeline-wise, it lines up to the events that take place in the book of Esther, in the book of Ezra, and in the book of Nehemiah. There's a man named Zerubbabel, and this isn't going to be on the test, but Zerubbabel was appointed to be the governor and the leader of a group of 50,000 Jews who were going to leave Persia. You're like, wait a minute, I thought they went into Babylon. Regimes change all the time, right? And of course, in Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar drunkenly toasts to the God of the Bible and says, look at these cups that were stolen from the Holy of Holies. I'm drinking and toasting to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I'm worshiping the gods of silver and gold and sex. Bad move, bro. As the finger of a man's hand began to write on the wall, meanie, meanie, tuckle you, farson. You have been weighed, you have been counted, you have been found wanting. Belshazzar, when he saw it, his knees began knocking. In the King James, it says his knees smote one against the other, right? His bowels were loosened. And that very day, his life was taken from him. His kingdom that was his kingdom was given to another. Because newsflash, the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wishes, right? And so that's why We pray for our country. We vote according to scripture. But we always know that our allegiance is to God's kingdom. That supersedes every kingdom of man on the earth. And so the Babylon Empire, that Babylonian Empire is no more. And Cyrus comes into power, the king of Persia. Now the crazy thing about all this, someone say, what's the crazy thing? is that Isaiah chapter 45, written 100 years before Cyrus, king of Persia, is ruler of the known world, Isaiah prophesied that one day that there was going to be a guy in charge of the world named Cyrus. And when he came to power, one of the first orders of business on his to-do list was going to be to allow the Jewish people to leave an exile they hadn't even fully gone into yet. And this guy named, look at Isaiah 45, named as Cyrus, God's servant. He's going to order Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem and begin the work of rebuilding the temple that had been torn down under Nebuchadnezzar. So Cyrus comes into power all of a sudden. Now there's a guy ruling the known world named Cyrus. And you know what the Jewish people do? They're like, bro, you got to read this. And they do exactly what you and I should do to everybody in our lives. You got to read this. They turn their attention to scripture. They're, bro, you're going to want to check out Isaiah 45. Sucker is cray cray, right? This chapter is wild. And he's reading this about Cyrus. He's reading this about himself. And he says, when was this written? And they go, oh, about 100 years ago. He fell to his knees and lifted up a voice of worship to the God of the Bible. And he, of course, said, y'all can go build whatever you want to build. So he authorized Zerubbabel to lead the charge with 50,000 other Jewish people. and to head to Jerusalem. And do you think they were excited? Oh my gosh, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It was like the seven dwarves heading into the mine. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the temple we go. And off they went to go rebuild this temple. They were so excited, and they got started. They started with the altar. And after they had finished the altar, they started marking out where the foundation, because it was just rubble. It was just stones. It was all burned. It was all a mess. It was all loss. It was ground zero the morning after September 11th. And so they're marking out where the temple's going to be. And this is going to be so exciting, can't you imagine? And no sooner had they finished the altar than Cyrus had died. And while they had his protection and operated under the cloak, the hem of his garment was over them. They were safe. No one could really touch them. All the neighbors, specifically the Samaritans who hate the Jews, they kind of wanted to do something, but they knew they couldn't because Cyrus would knock their heads together. Now, all of a sudden, what Cyrus said, they start raising a fuss. They start telling lies about the Jewish people to the new leader in Persia, and the work comes grinding to a stop. And for 16 years, Zero progress has been made. Like I said a moment ago, an altar was all they had, which is pretty dysfunctional when they had one job, literally one job. Guys, go build the temple. Go rebuild the temple. And after having marked out like the little surveyor's lines, and chalk line on the ground. This is where it's going to go, the court of the Gentiles, court of the women's, where the Holy of Holies is going to be. This is all, this is going to, can you imagine what it's going to be like? A light to the world, right? Blessing to all nations. And they just have this crude altar and a bunch of like markings of where it's going to be one day. And 16 years, nothing's been done. Well, not nothing. They all, read Haggai sometime, built really nice houses for themselves. And when that was done, they added a hot tub. And that was done. They repaneled with cedar. When that was done, oh man, everything. But nothing had been done to move the ball down the field in the very purpose they were back in the promised land for. Can we agree that that is the height of dysfunction? Because something operating outside of its intended purpose is by definition dysfunction. They had, so question, question, question. Why weren't they building the temple? Because they were traumatized. They were traumatized. They were traumatized by all the excitement, and then all of a sudden everything comes screeching to a halt because someone they trusted was gone. Everything came screeching to a halt, and they were no longer doing what their intended purpose from God to do was because they had hit some bumps, and it was difficult, and it was hard. And I don't want to make light of that. That's real. And in their heads, they're thinking, oh my gosh, it's happening all over again. And now all of a sudden, the Babylonian captivity and being by the river Kibar and hanging their harps up and not worshiping God in a foreign land. And all they're thinking, oh my gosh, it's going to happen again. We're going to be out of here. The Samaritans are going to drive us out. This was probably a mistake. We never should have tried this. So now they're sort of like just sort of living kind of between. They're not in Babylon, but they're not really back in the land of peace. Their trauma had become their template. And every time we face something that's traumatic, something that's difficult, something that scars us, something that scares us, we then, moving forward, have a similar choice. For every wound inflicted upon us, we have to choose to do something about it. C.S. Lewis said, when you go through grief, crying is fine in its own way while the tears last, but eventually, you're going to have to decide what you're going to do. So our trauma then provides for us a crossroads, a choice. And it's easy to be so paralyzed by what was inflicted upon us. that we are neutralized in the forward progress that God has for us. You can end up once stung and twice shy. My daughter Clover and I, along with my son Lennox, had taken a trip to California, and we had gone to Disneyland while I was preaching there to just have a couple hours and get to enjoy a little bit of the happiest place on earth, most expensive place on earth, I mean, and off we went. And I said, oh, that's that Autopia ride. I have great nostalgia for that ride. Let's go do the Autopia ride. It's like, you're going to pretend like you're driving, the whole deal. And Clover, Clover goes, she's 11 at the time. She goes, oh, no, no, no, I'm not going on that ride. And I could see, like, there was a strong reaction. She was triggered by it. I said, honey, why? She goes, I went on that ride one time, and I got stung by a bee. I go, you did? I can hardly even remember that had happened. She goes, apparently a couple years back, we had been on Autopia. A bee smacked, flew right into her forehead and stung her. And like, it was almost like it was fresh. She was taken straight back to the initial trauma. She's like, I'm not going to that, right? That's where the bee stings live. The bee stings. And then I said, okay, are you sure? She goes. It's time I conquered that fear. And we got on that ride and she was so wary. You've never seen someone driving down the road so vigilant, right? And of course, a bee did not come out because what a fluke thing. I mean, you have to ride that ride every day for the rest of your life to even ever get stung by a bee again. You know, it's preposterous. And yet we can do the same thing. We can end up in a shame spiral. Because the longer we're living away from purpose, the more we believe the lies that shame speaks. But it doesn't just say you have done bad, but it says you are bad. And so we can end up once stung, twice shy. We can end up, you know, reticent to get into a relationship because of what happened over here. We can end up reticent to move into this new season of life because of some injury that's happened back here, some abuse that took place back here. And again, we're not belittling any of the hard things we face. But we can end up like clover. We might not know to verbalize it, but when we sense the Holy Spirit calling us to move back into that purpose and to use those gifts and to take some ground and to advance and charge, we think to ourselves, oh, We'll just go and just sort of do a little home upgrade thing over here. We can end up in a place where we're living outside of the purpose of God on our lives. If you're taking notes, here's the choices that we must choose to do whenever we have a wound that we're dealing with. I made a little list. Number one, every time we have a wound in our life moving forward, we can choose to be defined by our wounds. to be defined by everyone. This to me is the mistake that Gideon made when God came to him and said, mighty man of valor, come on, let's go, let's go drive the Midianites out. What did he say? Now my clan's the weakest in Manasseh. I'm the weakest in my... family tree. He started just making all the reasons why he couldn't because of what he wasn't. His trauma, the difficult things he had gone through had become his identity. God said, are you kidding me? I'm the angel of the Lord. I'm here with you right now. Let's go. And he said, how can I really know? And if God really is good, then why has this happened? And why has that? He had so internalized. He had identified now. He had become his wounds. And we can do the same thing. I think about Naomi in the book of Ruth. She had lost a husband. She had lost two sons. And then she changed her name. Naomi means pleasant or sweet. Think about what a beautiful name. And when she came back to Bethlehem. She said, don't call me pleasant because life has not been pleasant. Call me Mara, for I am bitter. Mara means bitter. So here's what happened. Life was bitter, so she said, I have to choose to be bitter. But here's a revelation. Life can be bitter, but you can still choose to be sweet, powered by the Holy Spirit walking in your destiny. So cancel the name change. You don't have to be defined by your wounds. Secondly, we can choose to run from our wounds. We can choose to run from our wounds. This is what Jonah did when he ran away from Nineveh. No doubt he had had friends and family die at the hands of Ninevites. So he ran from his wounds. We can do that when in our life we're trying to avoid triggers. I can't do that. My anxiety would kick up or this PTSD would kick up. We can end up avoiding life decisions that God's calling us into because we're afraid of what it would stir up, what connotations, what associations. I can't ever go to... this sort of a situation again, because, you know, there was this experience for me, and real talk, and where there's hurt that has happened in church, it can be difficult for us to not so completely wrap that up in our experience with church. And we can feel, how can I move forward with a whole heart into what God has for me, when it is going to bring this up as well? We can choose to run from our wounds and try and live a life where We don't ever access those painful things, which of course doesn't deal with any of those things. They're still just gonna be there waiting to be dealt with. Try as you might to run as you might. Number three, we can of course choose to numb them. We can numb our wounds with a variety of substances. I think we're seeing a bit of numbing in the book of Haggai where they're trying to distract themselves with consumption and with the materialism. And if this house feels this way, then I'll be deflected away from the fact that I know deep down on the inside. I'm running from my purpose, but I just get to keep buying stuff on Amazon because it sure does feel good to know there's a package waiting for me when I get home. Why would I have to feel my feelings? I can just shove the calories down, have a few extra drinks, and I won't even at least notice. Number four, we can choose to pass the blame for our wounds. This is where we creep into a victim mentality. And this is conflated and conflicting because at times there are very real blames to be pointed, right? I think about the man in John 5, though, and I think about how easily we can miss out on the miracle that's in front of us because of our focusing on who's at fault. Jesus said to the man who has been lying 38 years paralyzed, he said, do you want to be made well? What did the guy say? Thank you, Jesus. Yes, I do. Matter of fact, no, he said, I don't have anybody to help me. Other people are faster than me. Other people are quicker down. Here, someone else stole my miracle last Thursday, right? But here's the deal. Whenever you focus on passing the blame, you remain the same. You can be right and end up wrong. This man missed the chance, almost missed the chance to get up into his destiny because he was so fixated and becoming poisoned and polluted by that root of bitterness that can spring up and defile many. That victim mentality will cause you to develop a victim community, by the way. That's why Jesus said, pick up your mat. You're not coming back here. You can't be surrounded by people who think the way you're thinking. If you get the victim community, you're going to end up with more and more of a victim destiny on your life. Because if you show me your friends, Pastor Craig Groeschel likes to say, I'll show you your future. So you surround yourself with critical and jaded and gossipy type people. That's where you're heading. So Jesus said, pick up that mat. You're not coming back here. You can't be around this crew. You need to get a new crew. And then, of course, Jesus did say, sin no more, lest a worst thing had come upon you. insinuating that some part of what he was experiencing had come as a direct result of his choices. And so the man was focused on who else in his life was keeping him from his miracle. And Jesus says, some of the blame at least does need to rest with you. Number five, when we have a wound in our life, we can choose to then perpetuate them. We can perpetuate our wounds. What does this mean? This means if we don't heal the things in our life that are dysfunctional, We run the risk of passing them on to those who are coming in the successive generations after us. Abraham lied about his wife. Isaac lies about his wife. Jacob lies about everything. You see this in the patriarchs, and God did in fact warn that the sin of the fathers will be visited on the third and the fourth generation, but he visited... He visits righteous on thousands, okay? So what does that mean? His goodness is unconditional. That can run roughshod. What we can do for Jesus, his name, we believe will run into eternity, that God is faithful to keep his covenant to a thousand generations, but God has put some sort of a built-in limiter on how sin can transmit. But it will generationally pass on unless it's stopped either by a bloodline in the sand, or it will time out at that third and fourth generation because God, otherwise wickedness would just perpetuate forever. And that's why at the fourth generation, what do we see? Bing, Joseph. And he just out of nowhere, he's just like, yeah, I'm not going to do what my forefathers had done. I'm not going to choose to lie. I'm not going to. When Potiphar's wife says, hey, bro, let's get it on. He says, God would see. How are you talking about God would see? Your brothers have turned on you. God's clearly not got your back, dude. And yet he says, yeah, God's with me. And she says, dude, be my side piece. And he goes, I'm actually about inside peace. Not side piece. So God would see. And so he says, no, this is a bloodline in the sand. It cancels out after that fourth generation. And God begins to do something new and he'll do it through you if you don't perpetuate these things on. And you go, well, no, I'm not going to become like my parents. I'm the exact opposite of my parents. They hurt me. Yeah, yeah. So you're going to create your kids that are basically your parents by you trying to be the exact opposite of your parents. And then your kids are going to try and be the exact opposite of you, right? And that's why Pete Scazzaro was so wise when he said, Jesus might be in your heart, but grandpa's in your bones. And if we don't let God heal these deep down parts of us, we're going to see it continue to ripple out. So of course, all of these things, let's see our list on the screen, are things we do not want to do. But what do we want to do? Hello, somebody. We want to let God heal them so that they can be used to help other people. This is what we want to be the outcome of our woundedness. This is the choice that we all must make. I've got a wound. I've got pain. I've got trauma. It was traumatic. It was traumatizing. It was hard. It was difficult. So am I going to do these things up here, run from them and numb them and pass the blame and have a victim mentality and pass them on one way or another, or am I going to choose to let God heal the wounded parts of my heart so that those clean and healed wounds can help other people in Jesus'name? This is the power of the gospel. This is the power of the cross. This is what Isaiah 53 verse 5 says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are, say it with me, healed. Jesus chose to see his wounds, inflicted, no excusing the evil, as having a higher purpose. His wounds were used to do great things. And so can yours. And when you allow him to do that, and I believe that's part of the reason he chose to keep them on his resurrected body. For in heaven, Revelation 5 verse 6, though he's introduced as the lion of the tribe of Judah, when we see him, he will be seen as the lamb slain from before the foundations of the earth. Translation, he will still bear the wounds of the cross. And you go, Jesus, you could do anything. You could have a body that doesn't have them. Why would you still want to have the wounds? Why would you still want to have the hole in your side and the hole in your feet? I don't know. I think he might look down and go, I kind of like them. Because they're your ticket to ride. You couldn't be here without them. If I ended up with a wound in my body that got on me from saving my son's life and my daughter's, one of my daughter's life, or helping my wife, I would wear that wound as a badge of honor. So what I'm trying to get you to see is that the devil's trying to take your pain, and something needs to stiffen in your spirit where you say, devil, you can't have my pain. It belongs to Jesus. It's not going to accomplish what you want through it. It's going to accomplish heaven's will. Come on, it's going to accomplish heaven's will. You can't have my trauma. God's going to heal it. My trauma is not my template. God's truth is my template. And if his wounds could do great things, then that means my wounds can be used in his wounded hands to do great things. things too. That's how Paul in the book of Philippians could say, guys, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have happened for the furtherance of the gospel. For my chains are in Christ. You're crying for me, praying for me. I'm actually rejoicing because there are people coming to know Christ in Caesar's household. Why? Because I got incarcerated. Come on, somebody. His trauma wasn't his template. God's truth was his template and God's truth can't be chained. So Paul knew if I have it. I have it in the will of God. If I'm a prisoner, I'm a prisoner in the will of God. If I've been through abuse, if I've been through neglect, if I've been through a divorce, if I've been lied about, if I've experienced hurt, I've done so in the will of God, and I can choose to believe what the devil meant for evil, God's going to use for good. Devil, you can't have my pain. You can't have my hurt. You can't have my wound. They're not going to fester. They're not going to be pussy. They're not going to be infected. They're going to be cleansed by fire. They're going to be washed with the hand of God. hands that died on the cross for me. I remember when our daughter passed away. She went home to be with Jesus five days before Christmas in 2012 on a date night. It was a night where Jenny and I would go on dates. Every Thursday night since we've been married 20 years or so, we've had a Thursday night date night just about every week. And she went home to be with Jesus on a Thursday night. Flash forward to after the funeral, flash forward to after all the cards and kind things stopped coming. And now it's C.S. Lewis time. The tears have come and they've gone. Now what are we going to do about it? Because this little girl, by the way, this is our little linea line waiting for us in heaven. We brought a photo. She was five years old. She was in kindergarten. And she's with Jesus now. And when the next date night came, it was like, what are we going to do? The pull was there to do what the people in the book of Haggai did, roll up the construction equipment. We can't do it. That's too traumatizing. The trauma then can become the template. I'm going to just, no, we can't face a date night, right? Like some of you, I can't. How can I still be part of this church? What it's going to trigger? Some of you are on the fence about all that. I don't know. How can I? And so you might even quiet quit, still be here, but not give your heart to what God's doing. And you won't do so because you're bad. You'll do so because you're conflicted of what it's going to pull on and what it's going to mean and what it's going to bring up from your past that's hard. And I get it. I have lived that. The next year, the dilemma of do we put up Christmas decorations when it's going to always for us trigger all these hard things. We felt the Holy Ghost tell us, run toward the roar. Run toward the roar. What you're scared of, it's because the devil's trying to talk you away from your calling. So run toward what you're afraid of. I told that to my counselor. Deborah Felata has for many years counseled Jenny and I. She's a prolific author as well as a counselor. And she said, it sounds to me, when you say run toward the roar, what you're trying to say is that your trauma is not going to become your template. And I go, that's not what I was saying. That's better than what I was saying, but I sure as heck, I'm going to steal that and preach that. And I have by giving her credit. And I believe the Holy Spirit of God is today in this moment, seeking for some of us to be brought to the crossroads. of choosing to not let the trauma be the template, but to let God's truth be our template. And God's truth and our trauma, how these things can reconcile, we're just going to submit them to the hands of Jesus, the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, who today in this very moment is standing here with his nail-scarred hands like he did in John 20, 20, and he's showing you his nail-scarred hands, and he is saying, peace. He spoke peace to you, to the disciples, who were rattled, and they were traumatized, and he showed up walking through walls to say to them what he says to his church as we gather in his name right now in this moment. I speak to you, peace. I speak to you, peace. For the people in the book of Haggai, an altar was all they had. Turns out an altar is all we need. An altar is all we need. Because the king's among us. I close, and my wife Jenny is going to join me on stage here as we pray. Remember Jurassic Park in 1993? Not the new ones with Chris Pratt. I'm talking about the old school Jurassic Park. Remember that scene? where they're on that tour. It's like right at the beginning. They're on that tour of the park. The little kids, the little boy, little girl are in the car with the lawyer. And when the tyrannosaur attacks, the lawyer runs off and tries to save his own self. And he ends up sitting where? Where? Where does he sit? In the toilet. And he gets eaten by a tyrannosaur. That's what he gets. Not for being a lawyer, for abandoning the children. And then the car gets knocked off the cliff, and it's in the tree, and Alan Grant comes down to save him real quickly. He's trying to get him out of the car before the car falls. They're going to die, and the little girl's hyperventilating. She's having a panic attack, right? You can see the scene. He's saying, you've got to get out of the car. You've got to trust me. Come to my arms. Come, come to me. Trust me. I know what I'm doing, and she just keeps going, he left us. And he calms her down by saying to her these words that Jesus speaks to you right now. He says, but that's not what I'm going to do. Cyrus the king was dead. Haggai too is him saying, long live the king, King Jesus. We welcome you here, Father. If this message has touched you in a way that you would say, I want to welcome the Lord to come into my trauma so it's not my template, but God's truth can be. I want him to heal my wounds. And I want to say to God, don't let the devil have my pain. You use it, Jesus. If that's you, I'm describing. If that's the cry of your heart, every location, every single person under the sound of my voice, I want you to raise up your hand if that's you I'm describing. The trauma that you have faced when you were a child, the trauma you're facing currently in this season, and you're saying, I want to give it to you. With your hands raised, Would you pray for the people? Yes, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for your words. That you tell us that that's not what you're going to do. That you're with us. And even when you were on this earth and you said, my peace I give to you. And I pray for those raising their hands right now. Or that you would overwhelm them with your peace. Overwhelm them with your love. And as their hands are even open to you. Like a little kid that's just saying, hold me, hold me, dad, hold me. Lord, that they would see that you're looking at them with kind eyes, the heart of love, because you designed them, you created them, and you desire for them to run to you. So I pray that as they look to you, their eyes fixed on you. that the trauma, that the pain, yes, it's there, yes, it's real, but that it would melt away in your presence and that you would heal, that you would strengthen the weak arms that hang down, that you would lift up, that you would lift up their chin and that they would see you and that they would know that they are loved by you. and known by you, and that they are not alone. Thank you, Jesus, for what you're doing in this place. Thank you, God, for your healing touch. Thank you, Lord, that you are our good shepherd who leads us and who loves us and who guides us, and we rest in you. Yes, God, we trust you for the, not the latter glory, not the former glory, but the latter glory. God, not what's behind us, but what's in front of us. We focus on you, Prince of Peace. You can put your hands down, and I want to now invite anybody who's not trusted Christ for salvation. Jesus died on the cross for you. He rose from the dead, and if you trust him, you'll receive new life in his name. There's no way to God except through Jesus. There's no way to wholeness. There's no way to heaven but through Jesus. And if you're here and you've not trusted him or you have wandered from him, today could be your day of rededication. I'm gonna pray a prayer and I'm gonna ask you to pray it with me. Church family, pray it with us. No one praying alone. If you're ready to surrender your life to Christ, say these words. Dear God. I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself. I ask for you to fix me. Be my Lord. Be my Savior. Thank you for new life. I give you mine. In Jesus'name. With heads still bowed and eyes still closed, if you trusted Christ at every location, church, online, I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, as a symbol of your soul being surrendered, I want you to raise your hand up in the air. One, two, three. Shoot your hands up. Shoot your hands up. Praise God. Come on, church, celebrate with me. Hands going up all across the room, every location. You can put your hands down. Campus pastors, you may take your services. Let's stand up together and let's worship God. Come on, the King is among us. We worship you, God. Thank you, God. To the same... of the world. Oh, Hail King Jesus. Oh, Hail Lord of heaven and earth. Oh, Hail. Oh, Hail. Oh, him, Satan Jesus, this you alone, God we give you everything, all we are is yours, be the Lord of our lives, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. God, we thank you for doing this. We love you. In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine. In the soil I now surrender. Cause you are breaking new ground So I yield to you until you're careful When I trust you I don't need to understand So make me your vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me to be. I came here with nothing, but all that you have given me. Jesus, bring me wine out of me. Make me a groundhog, so make me a vessel for suffering. Make me whatever you want me to be, but only you. Freak Me Make me free, came here with nothing, Jesus bring new life, out of me, we sing Jesus bring new life Out of me, oh Jesus, bring new wine We're going to take this moment and invite our altar ministry team up to the front. If you're on the altar ministry team or our staff at Gateway, you come down here to the front. This is a group of people that love you and care about you, and this is a moment of our service. that isn't just another moment of our service, but sometimes the most pivotal moments that we talk about next week are what happens right now. We're gonna stay here as long as we can. Even after I get through announcements and do all the things, we wanna be sensitive to the moment. moment and we'll stay here as long as we need. If we could just play and sit in this moment, even as we exit, if you need to come down, if you gave your life to Jesus for the first time, please come down here and let us partner with you in prayer. Let us put a Bible in your hands. If that message stirred something up, there was hands all over this room of people. of people who the trauma in your life that it's been affected and you want to leave that behind we'd love to pray with you and this altar is going to be open so please even as i go through announcements even as we dismiss these lights will come up everything will change but we will still be down here and we want to pray with you it will not be any rush at all i know pastor levi he might be here i think he still is right over there can we give it up for pastor levi for that word that he gave us today It's incredible. As we dismiss, I've got a couple of things I want to tell you. I know announcements is everybody's favorite thing, but I do have a couple of really important ones that I want to make you aware of. The first has to do with the South Lake Campus right here. If you don't know this, this coming up Wednesday is our fall festival. It's our Fall Fest Community Night. We've got hot dogs. We've got things for the whole family. It's going to be a ton of fun. We'd love for you to come and be a part of our Fall Fest Community Night. Community is a part of who we are. Gateway and groups is a vital part of that. As you head out today, you'll see. a groups booth out there where our team would love to connect with you and get you plugged in to a group. Operation Christmas Child, this is something we do every single year at Gateway. And this weekend's the last weekend you can pick up your boxes to then put together and bring back. So as you head out this way, you'll see our team out there. Pick up a box. We love to partner with Operation Christmas Child. And last, but certainly not least, we need to vote. If you haven't voted already, we need to vote. This country needs to hear the voice of the church, and early voting is open in Texas. So if you haven't voted, get out and vote. Let me pray for you before we leave. Father, thank you so much for who you are. God, I pray that even through the end of this service, through announcements, that what you did in people's hearts today, God, that they wouldn't rush out of this room. God, I pray that what they have experienced, the word that you put on their heart from Pastor Levi or through worship, that they would feel the courage and the bravery. They wouldn't believe the lie of the enemy that they can't come forward, that they can't talk to someone. So God, we receive. all that you're doing in our lives today. God, we receive what you're doing in our church and we give you glory, we give you honor and we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen, amen. Thank you so much for being here. Have a great rest of your weekend.

Who else is worthy? There is no one, only in Jesus. Who else is worthy?

Who else is worthy? There is no one, only Jesus. You are the infinite, God of the ages. Yeah, you chose to make my heart a dwelling.

You heal my brokenness, show me your glory. So I have songs of thanks, not even angels sing. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one, only Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy?

There is no one, only Jesus. Only you Jesus Who else is worthy Who else is worthy There is no one Only you, Jesus Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come Seated on the throne above Holy, holy Righteous one who shed his blood Proved to us the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift our eyes Lifted up, holy, holy. Let our God know it's one. One.

Seated on the throne above, holy, holy. His water shed His blood, proved to us the Father's love. Jesus Christ be lifted up, holy, holy.

There on high. Come to us and follow us now Jesus Christ, be lifted up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Jesus, who else is worthy?

Who else is worthy? Jesus, it's just Jesus. Only Jesus, Jesus.

Welcome to Gateway Church. We're so glad you're here. Hey, we're going to do this a little bit out of order that we typically do at our service. Will you turn around and greet one another?

Let's be the church early on in service. Say hello. We're so glad you're here. We're here, everybody joining us online, our gatherings, our prison campuses.

Thanks for tuning in today. It's gonna be a great day at church. Hey, we've got pastors. I'm gonna have Pastor Levi Lusko in the building today, bringing the word. But before we do that, we're gonna go into worship, and I told our team in the back, we're just gonna take the next 25 to 30 minutes and have uninterrupted worship today as a church, and we're gonna press in, and we're gonna believe God's gonna move.

So why don't you just lift your hands with me? And God, we're gonna welcome you in this place today. Holy Spirit, come inhabit the praises of your people. Today as a church, Lord, we give you glory, we give you honor.

and we give you praise in Jesus'name. Amen. Let's worship together.

I'll try, I'll freeze when I'm been surrounded My head and me, as long as I'm breathing I've got earth to pray, Lord Oh, my soul, soul He's still in control, yes he is Oh my soul Hello! Praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign, praise cause you rose, come on! I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true, praise cause there's nobody greater, I praise! Praise God, praise God, praise God. He reigns.

Praise God, He rose and defeated. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Praise God, He's faithful. Praise God, He's true. Praise God, there's somebody greater than you.

Oh my soul Oh my soul Generations Fallen down Sing the song of ages to the Lamb And all of it Sing the song of ages to the Lamb Your name Your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all, stands above them all. Creation cries, holy, you are lifted high, holy, oh, I think you've been forgiven. If you've been redeemed, sing the song forever into the land. If you're walking free, if you bear His name, sing the song forever into the land. Yes, we will.

We'll sing this song forever and amen. And the angels cry, Lord, lead our creation to God. It's the highest, your name, your name, stands above the whole, all throne, and it's the nation's, your name, stands above the whole.

Jesus, can we just close our eyes here in this place? You know, our God is holy, he's set apart. His ways are higher than the earth.

our ways, his thoughts, high above our thoughts. But you know, the Bible says that he revealed them to us through his spirit. Do you know that we are holy, that we are made righteous, that we are made holy because of our God? So can we just lift our holy hands in this place?

Lord, today we lift our hands, Lord. God, as a sign, Lord, just we welcome you in, Lord, right now. Lord, your sweet presence has filled this room, Lord, and today, God, we just welcome you in. Lord, we're here for your presence. We're here to commune with you.

Young people down front, can I just encourage you just to run after Jesus today? The depths in worship that exist in these times, just pour your heart out, open your heart. Give everything that you have.

Say, Jesus, I just welcome you into everything. Every good situation, every bad situation, everything that I'm in, Lord, I place that in your hand. Lord, you are holy. Lord, today you have called us righteous and pure by the blood of Jesus. Thank you, God, for your presence, Lord, in this place.

I see your eyes in victory Open your eyes to majesty Oh, them now Oh, King of Preference, as the train of Europe fills this temple As the train of Europe fills this temple You're a- We crown you with many crowns, with every crown Sing, O King. O King of heaven, we bow in reverence As the train of your robe fills the stand With adoration, we're pouring out our praises As the train of Europe fills its temple As the train of Europe fills its temple This time, this time, I am lost in Jesus, Jesus, how I trust, how I prove. And more and more, Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh for grace To trust Him more Oh Jesus, Jesus How I trust Him How I prove Him more Jesus, Jesus, so precious Jesus Oh, for grace to trust Him more Oh, for grace to trust Him more Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

For the Lord God Almighty reigns, Alleluia, Holy is the Lord. You are holy, holy, worthy is the Lamb, worthy is the Lamb. At the same time, the author and finisher of our faith, the Prince of Peace, how can someone be so strong yet so gentle? Because today, whatever you lack, He is full of.

What I lack today, He is full of. full of. Will you just bow your heads and close your eyes with me?

Will you open your hands? And today we say, God, thank you for being what we need today. God, thank you that you see what no one else sees and you still choose us.

Thank you that we don't have to hide from you. that today as a church body we can say all hail King Jesus because it was never about us in the first place. It's all about you. Thank God that today I'm not in control.

Thank God that today we are not in control. God we give you glory, we give you honor, and we give you praise in this place. In Jesus name, amen. Will you give a shout to the Lord today? Well, hey, it's already been a great, a great service, but we've got Pastor Levi Lusko in the building today, bringing the word, a friend in his house.

And I also want to say before we turn around and greet one another, I think you can feel what God did at the marriage conference this week at Gateway. For all the couples, can we give it up for all the couples who chose to be here this past week? Well, do me a favor, turn around, greet each other.

We're so glad you're here. Welcome to Gateway Church. If I'm running to Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author of the Nishramukha, and Jenny's trying to get close to Jesus, guess what happens? Getting close to each other automatically is what God wants for your marriage.

cares about how we love each other and he has put incompatibility and differences between men and women for one reason so that it's impossible to have a great sex life without learning to be unselfish if you handle your responsibility. God will open the door to give you more opportunity. Watch this, because he can trust you. That's what's more powerful than the strategy of the enemy, the power of God's grace working through humble people. Hey Gateway family, we're so glad you're here.

At Gateway, we're all about people because we know that God is all about people. If you're a guest today, please know that we would love to get to know you. You can meet us in the lobby at Connect Central after service or text CONNECT to 71010. We have tons of ways for you to connect with God and with others. No matter what stage of life you're in, we believe there's something for you.

Here are a few things happening we want you to know about. Giving is at the core of who God is. We believe that we're called to reflect His heart by being givers ourselves. If you'd like to give today, you can give through our website, the mobile app, or in an envelope in any of our campuses. Remember to follow us on social media or join your campus Facebook group to stay up to date with everything that's going on.

Thanks again for joining us. Do you feel like God has put a call on your life for ministry? What if a church and its leaders were willing to come alongside you and give you access to themselves and the ministry they do?

What if you had the opportunity to be a part of a team where you received hands-on experience in the areas you feel called to serve? Could something like this even exist? It does now.

Let us develop what God has destined you to do. I've been struggling with fear, anxiety, and a lot of this. I originally came to camp just for fun.

Never intended to meet Jesus again. Pastor Abram, he goes and says, stand up just for this one song. So I stand up, and then all of a sudden, I feel this overwhelming, this peace, this warmth, and I'm bursting into tears because I know that's how I met Jesus. In the first session, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and I got filled with the Holy Spirit, and everything's just more alive.

I'm definitely coming back next year. I'm coming back. I'm bringing my friends. I'm bringing my friends.

And if they have the summer one, I'm coming for summer. Yeah, we're coming for every single thing. Everything. Everything. All right, Gateway Church, how are we doing this weekend?

Well, that's wonderful. Now let's make some noise for King Jesus, who's in the building. Come on.

And every time he's in the building, everyone's hands go up and they stay there in Jesus'name. It is such an honor to get to open up Scripture with you. My wife, Jenny, and I had such a joy being a part of the Love Always Marriage Conference and thrilled to be a part of this weekend as well.

If you have a way to get on to the Scriptures, we're going to be in Haggai. Chapter 2, someone's like, that's a book of the Bible. Yes, it is. It's actually the third to the last book of the Old Testament.

So if you just find Matthew, pro tip, and just go three books to the left, that's probably the easiest way to get there. Haggai chapter 2, in just a moment. The title of the message this weekend is, My Trauma Is Not My Template. Come on, do you receive it in Jesus'name? My trauma is not my template.

We do want to greet you at every location, those of you watching online. Come on, let's show some love to those in all the different places. Amazing.

Have you noticed how much easier it is to see someone else's dysfunction? And there's a reason for that, and it's simple. The longer you tolerate dysfunction in your life, the more it begins to feel normal to you. One quick cheesy example from my life, we a couple years ago bought a couple of those plugs that you can plug anything into and then Alexa can control that device. And it was around the holidays and so I thought, man, I don't want to have to lean.

down, because I'm, you know, in my 40s now, so leaning down. I don't want to lean down every morning and plug in the Christmas tree, so I'll just plug this little thing into the Christmas tree, and I'll just, in the morning when I come down to make my coffee, and there's nothing like Christmas quiet time with the tree on. Anybody with me?

Right, just the best. And so I'll just be able to say, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree while I'm making my coffee. Coffee, and it worked, man. It was amazing. Best holiday advent advice I could give you is plug your Christmas tree into Alexa.

Get her involved into the 12 days of Christmas. It'll be amazing. But Christmas came and went, and the Christmas tree had to come down.

What goes up has got to come down, so we put the Christmas tree away. And somehow or another, this little particular Alexa plug got plugged into a lamp. But no one went into the Alexa app and changed the setting for it to be living room lamp and not Christmas tree. And we realized that had happened, and we just that day said, oh, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree.

And the lamp turned on, and we laughed like, that's silly. We need to get around to changing that, but didn't. And it just became normal for us to use that prompt anytime we needed that lamp on, as opposed to going and fiddling with the...

It probably would have taken like 11 seconds, just the worst part of it all. I probably could have told Alexa to change the prompt, and she would have done it, but I didn't. And so we stopped even noticing we did that, because it was just normal for us to do that.

And then one day, it was like summertime, you know, it's like 4th of July, and somebody in the living room said, Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree. And there was someone in the house... who wasn't aware of how crazy we were. And she looked around like, where's the Christmas tree? And then she was even more confused when none of us were weirded out by it.

Nobody was phased because we were used to that. Well, that's how you turn on the living room lamp, right? Of course, it makes perfect sense when you're numb to the dysfunctional.

behavior. And of course, that's a joke and a silly little example, but it can become in our lives far more serious and far more problematic the deeper it goes. And that's what we find going on in Haggai chapter 2. We're going to jump in in verse 3, where it says, who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now?

In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua. Son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work, for I, look at this, am with you.

says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you. Do not fear.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.

And in this place, I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. Does anybody feel thankful for scripture? Anybody feel thankful for God's word? It's living, it's powerful, it's active, it's sharper than the division of, than a two-edged sword, pierces to the division of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And so, Lord, we pray you would have your way.

with your word in our hearts, in our lives. You know what we need. You see what we lack. And whether it's comfort, God, that we need for our affliction or affliction we need for the areas of our life where we are comfortable, we ask for you, the great physician, to see our need.

We're not going to argue with you like a child that says, I don't want shots or I don't want this procedure. We just say, God, have your way. you need to, Lord, feel free to put us to sleep like you did to Abram or to Adam and do exactly what you need. We're not going to argue, God.

Do what you want to do in our hearts and lives, God. We say, not our will be done, but yours. For you know better.

You are better. And we ask that if even one of us today coming into this moment does not have a saving relationship with you through your son Jesus, that by your spirit you would draw them. to yourself as salvation rises in the mighty name of Jesus.

And we said together, all they had was an altar. They had been in the land for 16 years. The year is 520 BC. Of course, the context for the book of Haggai is the Babylonian captivity.

This period where the Jews were forced to live outside of their promised land, outside of the land of Israel. They lived in Babylon. They lived in Assyria.

This period of time was going to be in all from when they left Jerusalem. 70 years they would have to live outside of the promised land because they had turned their hearts from God. They had failed to keep the covenant, and he had warned them that this would happen, that they would be driven out of the land that is theirs perpetually. Everlasting is the covenant, but their occupation of this land was conditioned upon their behavior and the failure to keep the Sabbath and the failure to keep God as their only God and the way they abused marriage and all of these different things that they, Jeremiah says, had committed two evils. that they had turned from him the fountain of living water, but hewn for themselves also broken cisterns that could hold no water.

They had, you know, Fiji in the bottle, but they were drinking from the toilet, baby. That's exactly what was going on. And so to wake them up, it would have been unloving for God to allow them to live. any more than a parent would see their child, the two or three-year-old holding a knife and go, yay, he likes that toy.

Like, no, no, no. You would need to do something that even would feel scary for the child to take it away in a way that would actually be in their best interest. And so God drove them from the promised land and off they went to Babylon and that 70 years was going to tick away.

And then of course, we know that all through the captivity, they had prophets prophesying to them. They had prophets. prophets hiding to them before they went to the captivity.

Those are the pre-exilic prophets, and there were prophets who ministered to them during the midst of the captivity, and there was also post-exilic prophets. Once the return to the land had begun, there were prophets who were going to minister to them during this period, and there were three of them. One of them is Haggai, the other is Zechariah, and then the final one is the prophet Malachi.

who's the second to the last Old Testament prophet. The last Old Testament prophet is, of course, John the Baptist. Even though he shows up chronologically in the New Testament, according to Jesus, he is the final of the Old Testament voices before the New Testament age of grace, the age of the Gentiles, is ushered in.

Are you tracking with me? In all that we're reading in the book of Haggai, this post-exilic prophet, timeline-wise, it lines up to the events that take place in the book of Esther, in the book of Ezra, and in the book of Nehemiah. There's a man named Zerubbabel, and this isn't going to be on the test, but Zerubbabel was appointed to be the governor and the leader of a group of 50,000 Jews who were going to leave Persia.

You're like, wait a minute, I thought they went into Babylon. Regimes change all the time, right? And of course, in Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar drunkenly toasts to the God of the Bible and says, look at these cups that were stolen from the Holy of Holies.

I'm drinking and toasting to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I'm worshiping the gods of silver and gold and sex. Bad move, bro. As the finger of a man's hand began to write on the wall, meanie, meanie, tuckle you, farson.

You have been weighed, you have been counted, you have been found wanting. Belshazzar, when he saw it, his knees began knocking. In the King James, it says his knees smote one against the other, right? His bowels were loosened.

And that very day, his life was taken from him. His kingdom that was his kingdom was given to another. Because newsflash, the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he wishes, right?

And so that's why We pray for our country. We vote according to scripture. But we always know that our allegiance is to God's kingdom. That supersedes every kingdom of man on the earth. And so the Babylon Empire, that Babylonian Empire is no more.

And Cyrus comes into power, the king of Persia. Now the crazy thing about all this, someone say, what's the crazy thing? is that Isaiah chapter 45, written 100 years before Cyrus, king of Persia, is ruler of the known world, Isaiah prophesied that one day that there was going to be a guy in charge of the world named Cyrus. And when he came to power, one of the first orders of business on his to-do list was going to be to allow the Jewish people to leave an exile they hadn't even fully gone into yet. And this guy named, look at Isaiah 45, named as Cyrus, God's servant.

He's going to order Jewish people to go back to Jerusalem and begin the work of rebuilding the temple that had been torn down under Nebuchadnezzar. So Cyrus comes into power all of a sudden. Now there's a guy ruling the known world named Cyrus. And you know what the Jewish people do?

They're like, bro, you got to read this. And they do exactly what you and I should do to everybody in our lives. You got to read this.

They turn their attention to scripture. They're, bro, you're going to want to check out Isaiah 45. Sucker is cray cray, right? This chapter is wild. And he's reading this about Cyrus.

He's reading this about himself. And he says, when was this written? And they go, oh, about 100 years ago. He fell to his knees and lifted up a voice of worship to the God of the Bible. And he, of course, said, y'all can go build whatever you want to build.

So he authorized Zerubbabel to lead the charge with 50,000 other Jewish people. and to head to Jerusalem. And do you think they were excited?

Oh my gosh, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It was like the seven dwarves heading into the mine. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the temple we go.

And off they went to go rebuild this temple. They were so excited, and they got started. They started with the altar.

And after they had finished the altar, they started marking out where the foundation, because it was just rubble. It was just stones. It was all burned.

It was all a mess. It was all loss. It was ground zero the morning after September 11th. And so they're marking out where the temple's going to be.

And this is going to be so exciting, can't you imagine? And no sooner had they finished the altar than Cyrus had died. And while they had his protection and operated under the cloak, the hem of his garment was over them.

They were safe. No one could really touch them. All the neighbors, specifically the Samaritans who hate the Jews, they kind of wanted to do something, but they knew they couldn't because Cyrus would knock their heads together.

Now, all of a sudden, what Cyrus said, they start raising a fuss. They start telling lies about the Jewish people to the new leader in Persia, and the work comes grinding to a stop. And for 16 years, Zero progress has been made. Like I said a moment ago, an altar was all they had, which is pretty dysfunctional when they had one job, literally one job. Guys, go build the temple.

Go rebuild the temple. And after having marked out like the little surveyor's lines, and chalk line on the ground. This is where it's going to go, the court of the Gentiles, court of the women's, where the Holy of Holies is going to be. This is all, this is going to, can you imagine what it's going to be like? A light to the world, right?

Blessing to all nations. And they just have this crude altar and a bunch of like markings of where it's going to be one day. And 16 years, nothing's been done.

Well, not nothing. They all, read Haggai sometime, built really nice houses for themselves. And when that was done, they added a hot tub. And that was done.

They repaneled with cedar. When that was done, oh man, everything. But nothing had been done to move the ball down the field in the very purpose they were back in the promised land for. Can we agree that that is the height of dysfunction? Because something operating outside of its intended purpose is by definition dysfunction.

They had, so question, question, question. Why weren't they building the temple? Because they were traumatized. They were traumatized. They were traumatized by all the excitement, and then all of a sudden everything comes screeching to a halt because someone they trusted was gone.

Everything came screeching to a halt, and they were no longer doing what their intended purpose from God to do was because they had hit some bumps, and it was difficult, and it was hard. And I don't want to make light of that. That's real. And in their heads, they're thinking, oh my gosh, it's happening all over again.

And now all of a sudden, the Babylonian captivity and being by the river Kibar and hanging their harps up and not worshiping God in a foreign land. And all they're thinking, oh my gosh, it's going to happen again. We're going to be out of here. The Samaritans are going to drive us out.

This was probably a mistake. We never should have tried this. So now they're sort of like just sort of living kind of between. They're not in Babylon, but they're not really back in the land of peace. Their trauma had become their template.

And every time we face something that's traumatic, something that's difficult, something that scars us, something that scares us, we then, moving forward, have a similar choice. For every wound inflicted upon us, we have to choose to do something about it. C.S.

Lewis said, when you go through grief, crying is fine in its own way while the tears last, but eventually, you're going to have to decide what you're going to do. So our trauma then provides for us a crossroads, a choice. And it's easy to be so paralyzed by what was inflicted upon us.

that we are neutralized in the forward progress that God has for us. You can end up once stung and twice shy. My daughter Clover and I, along with my son Lennox, had taken a trip to California, and we had gone to Disneyland while I was preaching there to just have a couple hours and get to enjoy a little bit of the happiest place on earth, most expensive place on earth, I mean, and off we went.

And I said, oh, that's that Autopia ride. I have great nostalgia for that ride. Let's go do the Autopia ride.

It's like, you're going to pretend like you're driving, the whole deal. And Clover, Clover goes, she's 11 at the time. She goes, oh, no, no, no, I'm not going on that ride. And I could see, like, there was a strong reaction. She was triggered by it.

I said, honey, why? She goes, I went on that ride one time, and I got stung by a bee. I go, you did? I can hardly even remember that had happened. She goes, apparently a couple years back, we had been on Autopia.

A bee smacked, flew right into her forehead and stung her. And like, it was almost like it was fresh. She was taken straight back to the initial trauma.

She's like, I'm not going to that, right? That's where the bee stings live. The bee stings. And then I said, okay, are you sure? She goes.

It's time I conquered that fear. And we got on that ride and she was so wary. You've never seen someone driving down the road so vigilant, right?

And of course, a bee did not come out because what a fluke thing. I mean, you have to ride that ride every day for the rest of your life to even ever get stung by a bee again. You know, it's preposterous. And yet we can do the same thing.

We can end up in a shame spiral. Because the longer we're living away from purpose, the more we believe the lies that shame speaks. But it doesn't just say you have done bad, but it says you are bad.

And so we can end up once stung, twice shy. We can end up, you know, reticent to get into a relationship because of what happened over here. We can end up reticent to move into this new season of life because of some injury that's happened back here, some abuse that took place back here.

And again, we're not belittling any of the hard things we face. But we can end up like clover. We might not know to verbalize it, but when we sense the Holy Spirit calling us to move back into that purpose and to use those gifts and to take some ground and to advance and charge, we think to ourselves, oh, We'll just go and just sort of do a little home upgrade thing over here.

We can end up in a place where we're living outside of the purpose of God on our lives. If you're taking notes, here's the choices that we must choose to do whenever we have a wound that we're dealing with. I made a little list. Number one, every time we have a wound in our life moving forward, we can choose to be defined by our wounds.

to be defined by everyone. This to me is the mistake that Gideon made when God came to him and said, mighty man of valor, come on, let's go, let's go drive the Midianites out. What did he say?

Now my clan's the weakest in Manasseh. I'm the weakest in my... family tree.

He started just making all the reasons why he couldn't because of what he wasn't. His trauma, the difficult things he had gone through had become his identity. God said, are you kidding me? I'm the angel of the Lord.

I'm here with you right now. Let's go. And he said, how can I really know?

And if God really is good, then why has this happened? And why has that? He had so internalized.

He had identified now. He had become his wounds. And we can do the same thing.

I think about Naomi in the book of Ruth. She had lost a husband. She had lost two sons.

And then she changed her name. Naomi means pleasant or sweet. Think about what a beautiful name. And when she came back to Bethlehem.

She said, don't call me pleasant because life has not been pleasant. Call me Mara, for I am bitter. Mara means bitter.

So here's what happened. Life was bitter, so she said, I have to choose to be bitter. But here's a revelation. Life can be bitter, but you can still choose to be sweet, powered by the Holy Spirit walking in your destiny.

So cancel the name change. You don't have to be defined by your wounds. Secondly, we can choose to run from our wounds. We can choose to run from our wounds.

This is what Jonah did when he ran away from Nineveh. No doubt he had had friends and family die at the hands of Ninevites. So he ran from his wounds.

We can do that when in our life we're trying to avoid triggers. I can't do that. My anxiety would kick up or this PTSD would kick up. We can end up avoiding life decisions that God's calling us into because we're afraid of what it would stir up, what connotations, what associations.

I can't ever go to... this sort of a situation again, because, you know, there was this experience for me, and real talk, and where there's hurt that has happened in church, it can be difficult for us to not so completely wrap that up in our experience with church. And we can feel, how can I move forward with a whole heart into what God has for me, when it is going to bring this up as well? We can choose to run from our wounds and try and live a life where We don't ever access those painful things, which of course doesn't deal with any of those things. They're still just gonna be there waiting to be dealt with.

Try as you might to run as you might. Number three, we can of course choose to numb them. We can numb our wounds with a variety of substances. I think we're seeing a bit of numbing in the book of Haggai where they're trying to distract themselves with consumption and with the materialism.

And if this house feels this way, then I'll be deflected away from the fact that I know deep down on the inside. I'm running from my purpose, but I just get to keep buying stuff on Amazon because it sure does feel good to know there's a package waiting for me when I get home. Why would I have to feel my feelings? I can just shove the calories down, have a few extra drinks, and I won't even at least notice.

Number four, we can choose to pass the blame for our wounds. This is where we creep into a victim mentality. And this is conflated and conflicting because at times there are very real blames to be pointed, right? I think about the man in John 5, though, and I think about how easily we can miss out on the miracle that's in front of us because of our focusing on who's at fault.

Jesus said to the man who has been lying 38 years paralyzed, he said, do you want to be made well? What did the guy say? Thank you, Jesus.

Yes, I do. Matter of fact, no, he said, I don't have anybody to help me. Other people are faster than me. Other people are quicker down.

Here, someone else stole my miracle last Thursday, right? But here's the deal. Whenever you focus on passing the blame, you remain the same. You can be right and end up wrong. This man missed the chance, almost missed the chance to get up into his destiny because he was so fixated and becoming poisoned and polluted by that root of bitterness that can spring up and defile many.

That victim mentality will cause you to develop a victim community, by the way. That's why Jesus said, pick up your mat. You're not coming back here. You can't be surrounded by people who think the way you're thinking. If you get the victim community, you're going to end up with more and more of a victim destiny on your life.

Because if you show me your friends, Pastor Craig Groeschel likes to say, I'll show you your future. So you surround yourself with critical and jaded and gossipy type people. That's where you're heading. So Jesus said, pick up that mat.

You're not coming back here. You can't be around this crew. You need to get a new crew.

And then, of course, Jesus did say, sin no more, lest a worst thing had come upon you. insinuating that some part of what he was experiencing had come as a direct result of his choices. And so the man was focused on who else in his life was keeping him from his miracle.

And Jesus says, some of the blame at least does need to rest with you. Number five, when we have a wound in our life, we can choose to then perpetuate them. We can perpetuate our wounds.

What does this mean? This means if we don't heal the things in our life that are dysfunctional, We run the risk of passing them on to those who are coming in the successive generations after us. Abraham lied about his wife.

Isaac lies about his wife. Jacob lies about everything. You see this in the patriarchs, and God did in fact warn that the sin of the fathers will be visited on the third and the fourth generation, but he visited... He visits righteous on thousands, okay? So what does that mean?

His goodness is unconditional. That can run roughshod. What we can do for Jesus, his name, we believe will run into eternity, that God is faithful to keep his covenant to a thousand generations, but God has put some sort of a built-in limiter on how sin can transmit.

But it will generationally pass on unless it's stopped either by a bloodline in the sand, or it will time out at that third and fourth generation because God, otherwise wickedness would just perpetuate forever. And that's why at the fourth generation, what do we see? Bing, Joseph. And he just out of nowhere, he's just like, yeah, I'm not going to do what my forefathers had done. I'm not going to choose to lie.

I'm not going to. When Potiphar's wife says, hey, bro, let's get it on. He says, God would see. How are you talking about God would see?

Your brothers have turned on you. God's clearly not got your back, dude. And yet he says, yeah, God's with me.

And she says, dude, be my side piece. And he goes, I'm actually about inside peace. Not side piece.

So God would see. And so he says, no, this is a bloodline in the sand. It cancels out after that fourth generation.

And God begins to do something new and he'll do it through you if you don't perpetuate these things on. And you go, well, no, I'm not going to become like my parents. I'm the exact opposite of my parents.

They hurt me. Yeah, yeah. So you're going to create your kids that are basically your parents by you trying to be the exact opposite of your parents. And then your kids are going to try and be the exact opposite of you, right?

And that's why Pete Scazzaro was so wise when he said, Jesus might be in your heart, but grandpa's in your bones. And if we don't let God heal these deep down parts of us, we're going to see it continue to ripple out. So of course, all of these things, let's see our list on the screen, are things we do not want to do. But what do we want to do?

Hello, somebody. We want to let God heal them so that they can be used to help other people. This is what we want to be the outcome of our woundedness. This is the choice that we all must make.

I've got a wound. I've got pain. I've got trauma.

It was traumatic. It was traumatizing. It was hard.

It was difficult. So am I going to do these things up here, run from them and numb them and pass the blame and have a victim mentality and pass them on one way or another, or am I going to choose to let God heal the wounded parts of my heart so that those clean and healed wounds can help other people in Jesus'name? This is the power of the gospel.

This is the power of the cross. This is what Isaiah 53 verse 5 says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are, say it with me, healed. Jesus chose to see his wounds, inflicted, no excusing the evil, as having a higher purpose. His wounds were used to do great things. And so can yours.

And when you allow him to do that, and I believe that's part of the reason he chose to keep them on his resurrected body. For in heaven, Revelation 5 verse 6, though he's introduced as the lion of the tribe of Judah, when we see him, he will be seen as the lamb slain from before the foundations of the earth. Translation, he will still bear the wounds of the cross.

And you go, Jesus, you could do anything. You could have a body that doesn't have them. Why would you still want to have the wounds? Why would you still want to have the hole in your side and the hole in your feet? I don't know.

I think he might look down and go, I kind of like them. Because they're your ticket to ride. You couldn't be here without them.

If I ended up with a wound in my body that got on me from saving my son's life and my daughter's, one of my daughter's life, or helping my wife, I would wear that wound as a badge of honor. So what I'm trying to get you to see is that the devil's trying to take your pain, and something needs to stiffen in your spirit where you say, devil, you can't have my pain. It belongs to Jesus.

It's not going to accomplish what you want through it. It's going to accomplish heaven's will. Come on, it's going to accomplish heaven's will.

You can't have my trauma. God's going to heal it. My trauma is not my template.

God's truth is my template. And if his wounds could do great things, then that means my wounds can be used in his wounded hands to do great things. things too. That's how Paul in the book of Philippians could say, guys, I want you to know that the things that have happened to me have happened for the furtherance of the gospel. For my chains are in Christ.

You're crying for me, praying for me. I'm actually rejoicing because there are people coming to know Christ in Caesar's household. Why? Because I got incarcerated. Come on, somebody.

His trauma wasn't his template. God's truth was his template and God's truth can't be chained. So Paul knew if I have it. I have it in the will of God. If I'm a prisoner, I'm a prisoner in the will of God.

If I've been through abuse, if I've been through neglect, if I've been through a divorce, if I've been lied about, if I've experienced hurt, I've done so in the will of God, and I can choose to believe what the devil meant for evil, God's going to use for good. Devil, you can't have my pain. You can't have my hurt.

You can't have my wound. They're not going to fester. They're not going to be pussy.

They're not going to be infected. They're going to be cleansed by fire. They're going to be washed with the hand of God.

hands that died on the cross for me. I remember when our daughter passed away. She went home to be with Jesus five days before Christmas in 2012 on a date night. It was a night where Jenny and I would go on dates.

Every Thursday night since we've been married 20 years or so, we've had a Thursday night date night just about every week. And she went home to be with Jesus on a Thursday night. Flash forward to after the funeral, flash forward to after all the cards and kind things stopped coming.

And now it's C.S. Lewis time. The tears have come and they've gone. Now what are we going to do about it?

Because this little girl, by the way, this is our little linea line waiting for us in heaven. We brought a photo. She was five years old.

She was in kindergarten. And she's with Jesus now. And when the next date night came, it was like, what are we going to do? The pull was there to do what the people in the book of Haggai did, roll up the construction equipment. We can't do it.

That's too traumatizing. The trauma then can become the template. I'm going to just, no, we can't face a date night, right? Like some of you, I can't.

How can I still be part of this church? What it's going to trigger? Some of you are on the fence about all that.

I don't know. How can I? And so you might even quiet quit, still be here, but not give your heart to what God's doing.

And you won't do so because you're bad. You'll do so because you're conflicted of what it's going to pull on and what it's going to mean and what it's going to bring up from your past that's hard. And I get it. I have lived that.

The next year, the dilemma of do we put up Christmas decorations when it's going to always for us trigger all these hard things. We felt the Holy Ghost tell us, run toward the roar. Run toward the roar.

What you're scared of, it's because the devil's trying to talk you away from your calling. So run toward what you're afraid of. I told that to my counselor.

Deborah Felata has for many years counseled Jenny and I. She's a prolific author as well as a counselor. And she said, it sounds to me, when you say run toward the roar, what you're trying to say is that your trauma is not going to become your template. And I go, that's not what I was saying.

That's better than what I was saying, but I sure as heck, I'm going to steal that and preach that. And I have by giving her credit. And I believe the Holy Spirit of God is today in this moment, seeking for some of us to be brought to the crossroads.

of choosing to not let the trauma be the template, but to let God's truth be our template. And God's truth and our trauma, how these things can reconcile, we're just going to submit them to the hands of Jesus, the nail-scarred hands of Jesus, who today in this very moment is standing here with his nail-scarred hands like he did in John 20, 20, and he's showing you his nail-scarred hands, and he is saying, peace. He spoke peace to you, to the disciples, who were rattled, and they were traumatized, and he showed up walking through walls to say to them what he says to his church as we gather in his name right now in this moment. I speak to you, peace.

I speak to you, peace. For the people in the book of Haggai, an altar was all they had. Turns out an altar is all we need. An altar is all we need. Because the king's among us.

I close, and my wife Jenny is going to join me on stage here as we pray. Remember Jurassic Park in 1993? Not the new ones with Chris Pratt. I'm talking about the old school Jurassic Park. Remember that scene?

where they're on that tour. It's like right at the beginning. They're on that tour of the park. The little kids, the little boy, little girl are in the car with the lawyer. And when the tyrannosaur attacks, the lawyer runs off and tries to save his own self.

And he ends up sitting where? Where? Where does he sit? In the toilet. And he gets eaten by a tyrannosaur.

That's what he gets. Not for being a lawyer, for abandoning the children. And then the car gets knocked off the cliff, and it's in the tree, and Alan Grant comes down to save him real quickly.

He's trying to get him out of the car before the car falls. They're going to die, and the little girl's hyperventilating. She's having a panic attack, right? You can see the scene.

He's saying, you've got to get out of the car. You've got to trust me. Come to my arms.

Come, come to me. Trust me. I know what I'm doing, and she just keeps going, he left us.

And he calms her down by saying to her these words that Jesus speaks to you right now. He says, but that's not what I'm going to do. Cyrus the king was dead. Haggai too is him saying, long live the king, King Jesus. We welcome you here, Father.

If this message has touched you in a way that you would say, I want to welcome the Lord to come into my trauma so it's not my template, but God's truth can be. I want him to heal my wounds. And I want to say to God, don't let the devil have my pain.

You use it, Jesus. If that's you, I'm describing. If that's the cry of your heart, every location, every single person under the sound of my voice, I want you to raise up your hand if that's you I'm describing.

The trauma that you have faced when you were a child, the trauma you're facing currently in this season, and you're saying, I want to give it to you. With your hands raised, Would you pray for the people? Yes, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for your words. That you tell us that that's not what you're going to do. That you're with us.

And even when you were on this earth and you said, my peace I give to you. And I pray for those raising their hands right now. Or that you would overwhelm them with your peace.

Overwhelm them with your love. And as their hands are even open to you. Like a little kid that's just saying, hold me, hold me, dad, hold me.

Lord, that they would see that you're looking at them with kind eyes, the heart of love, because you designed them, you created them, and you desire for them to run to you. So I pray that as they look to you, their eyes fixed on you. that the trauma, that the pain, yes, it's there, yes, it's real, but that it would melt away in your presence and that you would heal, that you would strengthen the weak arms that hang down, that you would lift up, that you would lift up their chin and that they would see you and that they would know that they are loved by you. and known by you, and that they are not alone.

Thank you, Jesus, for what you're doing in this place. Thank you, God, for your healing touch. Thank you, Lord, that you are our good shepherd who leads us and who loves us and who guides us, and we rest in you.

Yes, God, we trust you for the, not the latter glory, not the former glory, but the latter glory. God, not what's behind us, but what's in front of us. We focus on you, Prince of Peace. You can put your hands down, and I want to now invite anybody who's not trusted Christ for salvation. Jesus died on the cross for you.

He rose from the dead, and if you trust him, you'll receive new life in his name. There's no way to God except through Jesus. There's no way to wholeness. There's no way to heaven but through Jesus.

And if you're here and you've not trusted him or you have wandered from him, today could be your day of rededication. I'm gonna pray a prayer and I'm gonna ask you to pray it with me. Church family, pray it with us. No one praying alone.

If you're ready to surrender your life to Christ, say these words. Dear God. I'm a sinner.

I can't fix myself. I ask for you to fix me. Be my Lord.

Be my Savior. Thank you for new life. I give you mine.

In Jesus'name. With heads still bowed and eyes still closed, if you trusted Christ at every location, church, online, I'm going to count to three. And when I get to three, as a symbol of your soul being surrendered, I want you to raise your hand up in the air.

One, two, three. Shoot your hands up. Shoot your hands up. Praise God. Come on, church, celebrate with me.

Hands going up all across the room, every location. You can put your hands down. Campus pastors, you may take your services. Let's stand up together and let's worship God.

Come on, the King is among us. We worship you, God. Thank you, God. To the same...

of the world. Oh, Hail King Jesus. Oh, Hail Lord of heaven and earth. Oh, Hail.

Oh, Hail. Oh, him, Satan Jesus, this you alone, God we give you everything, all we are is yours, be the Lord of our lives, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. God, we thank you for doing this.

We love you. In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine. In the soil I now surrender.

Cause you are breaking new ground So I yield to you until you're careful When I trust you I don't need to understand So make me your vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me to be. I came here with nothing, but all that you have given me. Jesus, bring me wine out of me.

Make me a groundhog, so make me a vessel for suffering. Make me whatever you want me to be, but only you. Freak Me Make me free, came here with nothing, Jesus bring new life, out of me, we sing Jesus bring new life Out of me, oh Jesus, bring new wine We're going to take this moment and invite our altar ministry team up to the front. If you're on the altar ministry team or our staff at Gateway, you come down here to the front.

This is a group of people that love you and care about you, and this is a moment of our service. that isn't just another moment of our service, but sometimes the most pivotal moments that we talk about next week are what happens right now. We're gonna stay here as long as we can. Even after I get through announcements and do all the things, we wanna be sensitive to the moment. moment and we'll stay here as long as we need.

If we could just play and sit in this moment, even as we exit, if you need to come down, if you gave your life to Jesus for the first time, please come down here and let us partner with you in prayer. Let us put a Bible in your hands. If that message stirred something up, there was hands all over this room of people.

of people who the trauma in your life that it's been affected and you want to leave that behind we'd love to pray with you and this altar is going to be open so please even as i go through announcements even as we dismiss these lights will come up everything will change but we will still be down here and we want to pray with you it will not be any rush at all i know pastor levi he might be here i think he still is right over there can we give it up for pastor levi for that word that he gave us today It's incredible. As we dismiss, I've got a couple of things I want to tell you. I know announcements is everybody's favorite thing, but I do have a couple of really important ones that I want to make you aware of. The first has to do with the South Lake Campus right here. If you don't know this, this coming up Wednesday is our fall festival.

It's our Fall Fest Community Night. We've got hot dogs. We've got things for the whole family.

It's going to be a ton of fun. We'd love for you to come and be a part of our Fall Fest Community Night. Community is a part of who we are. Gateway and groups is a vital part of that.

As you head out today, you'll see. a groups booth out there where our team would love to connect with you and get you plugged in to a group. Operation Christmas Child, this is something we do every single year at Gateway. And this weekend's the last weekend you can pick up your boxes to then put together and bring back. So as you head out this way, you'll see our team out there.

Pick up a box. We love to partner with Operation Christmas Child. And last, but certainly not least, we need to vote.

If you haven't voted already, we need to vote. This country needs to hear the voice of the church, and early voting is open in Texas. So if you haven't voted, get out and vote.

Let me pray for you before we leave. Father, thank you so much for who you are. God, I pray that even through the end of this service, through announcements, that what you did in people's hearts today, God, that they wouldn't rush out of this room. God, I pray that what they have experienced, the word that you put on their heart from Pastor Levi or through worship, that they would feel the courage and the bravery. They wouldn't believe the lie of the enemy that they can't come forward, that they can't talk to someone.

So God, we receive. all that you're doing in our lives today. God, we receive what you're doing in our church and we give you glory, we give you honor and we give you praise in Jesus name.

Amen, amen. Thank you so much for being here. Have a great rest of your weekend.

Transcript for:Insights from Gateway Church Service

Transcript for:
Insights from Gateway Church Service