← ONE | A Potter's House Church
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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our Services from One in la. If you haven't been to one, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to One the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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Judges 5 Woo. And I got a lot of words to read and a lot of words to teach you this morning. Will you stay with me? They try to tell us preachers that after 30 minutes you lose everybody, but I don't believe that y' all ain't never left me yet. So here we go. Judges, chapter 5, verse 12. We're going back to Deborah's story. Last week. I preached to you victory by design. So let's go back to her story. It would not let me loose this week. Judges 5, verse 12. Awake. Awake. Deborah. Awake. Awake. Sing a song. It was singing a song that made a difference. We got it. We got it. That's why we sing. Arise Barak and lead your captives away, O son of Abinuam. Then the survivors, any survivors? Hey. The survivors came down, the people against the nobles, against power, against those who were above them. And the Lord came down for me against the mighty. Skip to verse 15. And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah as Issachar, so was Barak sent into the valley under his command. I'm going to stop right there. Has anybody been in a valley this year? Child, look at your neighbor. We don't do enough of those. Look at your neighbor and say, victory in the valley. Oh, come on, come on, come on. Victory in the valley. I'm gonna be a Valley girl today. Hey, like, there's totally gonna be victory in the Valley. Grab your seats. Let me preach this message to you. Victory in the valley. I spent Thanksgiving in my home alone. I did. It's okay. And I treated myself to, like, some childhood favorite foods, you know, because since then, nobody was there. I didn't have to cook for anybody. I was like, I'm gonna. I wanted something bad, you know, greasy bad, But I didn't want to cook a whole lot. And you can't cook a little bit of macaroni and cheese. You know what I mean? You can try, but there'll be two pounds of cheese left in the refrigerator. And what am I gonna do with that? So I was trying to figure out, like, what do I want to cook? And so I ended up making. This is my childhood struggle meal. Pork and beans and fried hot dogs. It was so good. Like, I never make that. I would, but I was sitting there thinking about all my childhood moments and what used to just put a smile on my face. And I was like, pork and beans and fried hot dogs. You know, burnt the hot dog a little bit. And I did. And I made cornbread, and I made myself a chocolate cream pie, and I ate the whole thing, which is why I'm wearing these loose pants today. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Elastic waist. But before I ate, I spent some time on a zoom with other members of One, who let us know that they were going to be alone on Thanksgiving. So we got together as a community and we played Thanksgiving bingo. So I threw out some bingo topics, and we did what we were grateful for every time some came up on the bingo card. But after the game was over and Sister Shayla won, I didn't have a prize for her. So there you go, your acknowledgement as the winner. And then I asked the people, what happened in 25 that was not on your bingo card? And let me tell I hear it right. What happened? Did anybody have a few things happen in 25 that were not on the bingo card and were not welcome on the bingo card? 2025 has been a wild ride. There's been some good stuff, but there has been some stuff Kyle was preaching. 2025 tried to take a lot of us out. We have spent time in 2025 in the Valley. And maybe you didn't realize that's where you were, but now, as I say it, you like facts, facts, facts. So how do I get victory in the valley? Because Deborah and her armies were victorious in the valley. Well, first of all, let's clarify what a valley is. A valley is low ground. It means everything around me is higher. I am disadvantaged in this space in some way. I don't have what I need. Sometimes the valley is defined by what I need that I do not have. Valleys are also formed by pressure, something stronger than that space, pressed, carved, cut into the earth. Has anybody been in a place where it Felt like the pressure was stronger than you because it has been sustained over time. See, a valley is not formed the first time something puts pressure on you. That first time, you kind of like, I got this. You know, you maybe you took a hit, you gave a hit, you came out, but the enemy looked like they was in a fight. You didn't just totally lose. But that second time and that third time and that fourth time, when the thing that is pressing on you, that is pushing you, cutting you, carving you open, and it happens over a sustained period of time, a valley is formed. You may have so many mountains in your life that you have topped. You have your faith solid in giving. You have your faith solid in healing, or your faith solid in your relationships. But there's some other area that you just always seem to feel vulnerable because something has pressed you and carved out that space over and over again. It may have been one of the examples I just used. Somebody has. Their faith is solid. They're mountaintop when it comes to their giving. But for you, there's been five different times where you really believe God told you to sow something special. And not only did not get the harvest that you wanted and expected or imagined, but it actually looked like it was a bad idea. Oh, I came to be real today. Cause ain't no lies in the valley. Maybe you prayed for healing. Maybe grief hasn't lifted off of you. Maybe your career just always seems to hit a hard stop point. And over time, you have tried to believe God, but it has carved a space in you that feels lower than the rest of your life. Has anybody been in their valley in 2025? I definitely been there. Valley. If you don't know where your valley is, it's the thing, when it happens, you say, here we go again. That's your valley. Get that thing on your heart this morning because I'm gonna preach a word of victory to your valley. Get your. Here we go again. Not one more time. Not. I can't take it no more. Get that up here. You gotta bring it with you. Don't leave it outside, because we're gonna get victory in that valley. The other thing about valleys is they gather water. Water, throughout scripture in the gardens represents our emotional life. It flows through the soil and waters everything that we think and do. We see that in our bodies when we are crying, when we're sad or excited, water comes out of our eyes. When we're working hard or we're anxious, water comes out of our skin. We start sweating and water disappears from our mouth. It gets dry. Water flows in the direction of our feelings. And the thing about valleys is that they are easily flooded, because as soon as you get that here we go again, all the emotions from every other time just rush in there and wash it out. You can stand on some other topics, you can stand on some other words, but when this here we go again thing comes, that has carved this cavern in your life, the water just rushes in and you just collapse. You have been flooded. They don't realize it, but that's why psychologists call being overwhelmed with emotion being flooded. They don't even know they're speaking God's word. Anybody been flooded this year? Be honest. I've been flooded this year. I have experienced the flood. And this flood was not a flood of blessing. It didn't feel like. Felt like, here we go again. And I had never had the capacity to handle this, and I don't now. So I'm not even going to fight the flood. I'm just going to let it take.
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Because it ain't worth swimming against this current when it always ends up the same way. Anybody? Anybody? I know that don't sound like good gospel news, but it will be. But first, we got to be real. The last thing that happens in Valleys that's critical to what so many of us have been walking through in 2025 is that in valleys, sound is amplified. It's loud. Every sound bounces off the sides of the mountains and comes back, so everything sounds louder. And when you're already in a here we go again, you're already in a place where you don't feel like you've seen God show up. You're already struggling not to be flooded, completely wiped out by the flood. And now you can't even hear the word of God. Even in your own mind. It is quiet. And so all that's coming out of your mouth is why and when and God, how. And I can't. I can't take it. And I don't have enough. And I never win this. And it just echoes because valleys amplify sound. So whatever thing you believe, because we speak what we believe, sometimes out our mouth, sometimes just in our heads, it will be amplified in the valley. So the valley is a difficult situation. But God sent me here to tell you today we're going to have victory in the valley, because Valleys also, after all the water has passed away, become very fruitful ground, because the water that finally leaves has brought all kinds of minerals and good things to the ground. And so when it goes out, the valley is actually a fruitful place. It is possible to bear fruit in the valley, but first you have to recognize where you are. You have to let the floods go by. And then you have to recognize what destroys fruit. Deborah, judged from the Ephraim, that word means double fruitfulness. So that's a theme in this battle. What destroys fruit? What will stop you from being fruitful in the valley? Go to Luke, Chapter 8. The Parable of the sower is here. Y' all should know this by heart, because I'm always going to return to this baseline because it is a description of how we are as human beings after the fall. There's that wayside soil that's sad. There's that stony soil that's angry. But I wanna focus on that thorny ground today, because the thorny ground actually is the problem. It says that when the seeds fall on stony ground that the. I'm sorry, thorny ground, that they do start growing. God's word starts growing. It's headed towards bearing fruit in your life. But something else is also growing in the space. And it's plants that have thorns on them that are dangerous. And those thorns grow up and they choke the fruit. Now, let me explain how that word chok, works. Because it's not choke, like I grab you around the neck. Exactly. And choke you out. It does take air out of lungs, though. It actually translates to drowning. They were drowned, and you do choke. You asphyxiate when you're drowned. So it does take the breath. But it's important to recognize that it's done by water. Because what happens is those thorny plants have such strong roots that they start breaking up the soil where God's words, seed is growing. And when it breaks up the soil and the water comes, it just washes everything away. And so we have to work on what is in our thorns, what's our thorny ground that may choke the fruit, that allows the flood to actually wipe me out. And In Luke chapter 8, verse 14, three kinds of thorns, it says. Now, the ones that fell, the ones being the seeds among thorns, are those who, when they heard, that's us, we heard, we go out and are choked with cares, riches, and the pleasures of life and bring no fruit to maturity. It's not the enemy in the valley that's going to kill you. It's your cares, riches, and the pleasures of life. Now, don't get scared. I'm not saying everybody has to take a vow of poverty. I'm going get there. See? But if that made you nervous, we. That should mm Cares, riches and the pleasures of life. Now, it's important to understand that the soil in thorny ground is fearful. So these are three manifestations of how we address fear in our lives. Read Genesis chapter three again. Later we know that after the fall happens, it says that the ground grew thorns and thistles. That's the first time thorns appear in the garden. Fear comes in. We see the crown of thorn on Jesus head, the thorn in Paul's side. Thorns represent fear. But these are three ways that fear will manifest. Not just in your heart and your emotion, but these are the thoughts, these are the plans, these are the strategies that fear will breed in you. Cares, riches, pleasures of life. That word cares means anxious thought patterns. Some Bible translations just call it says anxieties choke that fruit. And some of us have a tendency to be anxious. Not all of us, but some of us. I'm one of them. Anybody else? Where are my anxious people? Yes. I'm not thinking. You make a bad confession. Let's say this. Where are my people who have been anxious in their life until this day? But God, okay, My body, the soil, the dirt that I'm made out of, has a predisposition to produce the thorns of anxiousness. Anxiousness says I am not safe unless I manage every danger. I must manage every danger. So first, that means I gotta know where the danger is, which means I'm always looking for it. We call it being prepared. We call it being proactive. We don't like to use the language of the truth. If right now you're thinking, well, you're just supposed to just ignore stuff and let stuff happen, you may be one of us because the idea that you would not constantly be scanning for what could go wrong sounds crazy to you. Because the soil that you're made out of is predisposed to produce this weed. And you know how weeds are. You pull them. And what happens? You put that black tarp down to stop them from growing. And what happens? They are vicious. And so when something is that vicious and cyclical, this is the actual consequence of something sin that matters the most. That when the fall happened, our bodies were changed in such a way that they produce constantly, cyclically, something that cannot be satiated. I will always chase it if I believe in it. Anxiety is not solvable. You may solve one thing for the moment, but something else grows up. And so anxiety is one of the types of thorns that choke fruit. It is about worrying about survival to make sure that I will survive. Where do we see this overcome in a Valley. Psalm 23. Say it with me. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The thorns of cares and anxiety are always lack focused. I shall not want. That word translates to I have no lack. He makes me to lie down. He gotta make you lie down. Because anxious people, we don't lay down. We don't rest, we don't stop. He makes me to lie down. In green pastures, he leads me beside still water. What did I say? Water represents emotion. I need to be next to some still water. He restores my soul. That's my heart and my mind. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. For his name's sake, stop trying to do it right. For your name's sake, get it right. Protect it, cover it. His namesake. Yea, though I walk through what valley? The valley of the shadow of death. There is victory for you in the valley of the shadow of death. Some of you are grieving. Some of you are worried about your dreams dying. Your mortgage dying. Your rent dying. Your paycheck dying. You are worried about not being able to have your needs met. Constantly lack focused. And these fears are based on something that's actually observable. That's the thing, you know, people say, oh, fear, false evidence appearing real. No, it's not false. I see. Is not false that my rent is due on the 1st and today's the 30th, that's not false. That's facts. I'm not here to give you your church words today. I'm here to tell you the truth. That's facts. And so that's why. Why anxiety is often so hard to get rid of. Because you can see tangible things, see, touch, sound. Here, that is actually real. And this is the problem of the fall. Because in Genesis 3, when it says that their eyes were opened after they ate the fruit they shouldn't have, for the knowledge of good and evil, that word, that phrase, eyes opened actually means their senses were heightened. So what they see, what they hear, what they feel, what they taste, what they touch is louder. It's out of balance with what God said. And so you can say what I see is real, but the way that I'm experiencing it through my senses is louder than what I know God said. God said, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Anxiety tends to make us think we're on our own. It says, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Anxiety wants comfort, but it doesn't even chase comfort. It seems to chase pain. Because comfort Feels uncomfortable because if I relax, what if I miss something? And so I need his rod and his staff to comfort me. Now, that sounds kind of crazy at times because rods and staffs are not pillows and blankets. They are direction and correction. See, I will be comforted in my anxiety if I listen to his direction and I allow him to correct my course. But when we are anxious, we don't want to be limited by anything. We want to tell with this, deal with this, deal with this, deal with this. Instead of just standing on what God said, he said, I will know no lack. And I'm going to say it until it echoes across this valley. If it's going to be a loud sound of echo, I'm going to walk and say, no, no lack. No, no lack. No, no lack. No, no lack. His rod and staff. He comforts me. Comfortable, comforts me. He lays me down, lays me down, lays me down, lays me down until all that's echoing in my ear in the valley is the word of God. That is how you get victory in the valley of the shadow of death. Fill your mouth, fill your ears, fill your eyes. All of your senses. Worship. Read the word, repeat it. Take your mind out of the equation. That's the only way to get victory in this valley. Because the things that you see are real, but they're not as powerful as my God. And so that sense of living under threat that so many of us have been breathing in in 2025, because it has been again and again and again, declare right now, I have victory in the valley. Amen. If you can't remember a scripture later, just say, I have victory in the valley. That survival fear, that fear of catastrophe, that fear of harm, it will keep you from moving through the valley and keep you stuck in the valley because you're battling everything instead of moving forward. Stop worrying. The book of Matthew says who by worrying can add 1/2 an inch to their height. You can't do anything anyway. But when you worry, you are repeating ideas in your head. You are reviewing possible scenes and that is what's echoing and it's making noise. If you want to get through this valley, you cannot collapse into your own devices. This is the enemy trying to get Jesus to turn stones into bread. Use your power to make something work for what you need. That was the temptation. It wasn't wrong. Jesus was actually hungry. That was real. He actually didn't have food available. That was real. But he did not take the opportunity to try to use his own power to make something happen for himself immediately. Y' all you somebody just. Okay, yeah. Because we want out of the valley. And so we will call that God. Well, let me see if God will help me do this. Well, let me grab these stones and see if they turn to bread. Maybe that's how God's working. Oh, well, let me call this person and see if they can come over, help me. Maybe that's how God's working. Oh, maybe I can turn that old school script into a new script and turn that upside down. And maybe if I get these clothes. And that's how it's working because you got your hands all over things trying to figure out how you can make it happen instead of waiting for God and so powerful that he says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You have to also in the valley, change your definition of living. What does it mean to live? Life and death must be redefined in this valley. I remember reading some research years ago that when people who are called, identify as Christians, go to church, follow Jesus Christians. It was a grief project that people who are Christians, churchgoing, active, participating Christians, actually have a harder time with grief during the first year than people who don't know Jesus. Now, why in the world would that be true? We who are supposed to have. I'm not saying we should not grieve, but I don't think we should be doing far worse than people who don't know Jesus. That drives us to the question, not that do we know Jesus, but why did we want to know him? I'm a wait for that to settle. Mm. I would like a protect me from all pain, God, please. I would like a never have anything go wrong, God, please. I would like. If I follow Jesus, I'm good to go. Because what's happening to those people will never happen to me, God. That's why some of us came to the altar in the first place. Don't lie. And that's an entry level. But as we grow in God, we find out that the God who stands with us in pain is the God that we have. And so, no, I can't promise you that everything's always going to be all right. The Bible says their trials and tribulations will come, but they will give you experiences that work patience. And patience gives hope. And hope doesn't leave you ashamed. The rest of the world will be left without hope. But I will have it. Not because I didn't have the pain. It's a victory message, I promise. But one of the reasons we're Left in the valley sometimes too long is because of the ways that we're wrestling with what we want to believe about pain. I'm not supposed to feel this. If God was in it, where is he? Baby, you got to get that old calendar that they had at the Bible study when you was a kid. There was 22 pairs of footsteps walking down the beach. And it seems that when I got to the hardest point in my life, there was only one set of footprints. And I said, God, why did you leave me at my hardest times? And he said, baby, it was then that I carried you. Would you get into his arms, please? Would you remember that God is who he says that he is? But the echo in the valley is he left me. And why? And I don't know. Shut up. The power of life and death is in your tongue. Get a hold of it. Now you can be honest. You know that I'm honest. God, this hurts. It hurts so bad that it's tempting me to give up. But I confess that I do not give up. Jesus, get into the arms of Jesus. Look at the places that he's carried. You go backwards and rewrite the story, because here, one of the problems. I'm only on my first valley. I'm here. So much trouble. One of the problems is when we get into that. Here we go again. Did you write a story about the last five times that was accurate? You may need to go back and check that one set of footprints where you assumed he had left you, and that's why you fall away and get flooded. And here we go again. Go rewrite those stories so that when they come up now, you're like, oh, wait a minute. He got me through that. Oh, wait a minute. But did you die? No. Oh, wait a minute. I need soldiers. Soldiers get victory. Soldiers get victory. Soldiers get victory. He's been too good to me, Better than I've been to myself. And that's a fact. Oh, Jesus. Weed number two. Fear number two. I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. Is anybody getting some freedom this morning? Oh, I know the devil wants to keep you in the valley. I woke up, I went to bed excited about the word. Woke up with this heaviness. And I said, mm. Woke up in the valley. Went to bed on the mountaintop. Woke up in the valley. But the enemy wanted to. Don't want this word to come out. Oh, I'm feeling good now, though. All right. Riches. How are riches a manifestation of the human posture of fear? Because, make no doubt about it, we are born in sinfulness. Shaped in iniquity. And one of the main ways that that comes out is we are predisposed to fear, which means we are predisposed to scan the environment for things that are more powerful than we are and try to equalize it. Fear is a response to a threat, and a threat is only a threat because it's more powerful than me or I don't have the weapons. And so we're all predisposed to it, but have a natural bend towards achievement and control. And so the pursuit of more than enough. And it's not just money, it's capacity, gifts, what I've achieved, what I've checked off. If I could just get this done, if I could just get that done when I was still working full time in academia, right after I finished my postdoc. If you know anything about the academic world, you are only worth the number of research articles that you are published. You have published. That's it, you ain't got no articles. Move along. If you haven't published research articles and you want to be a professor, you will have to teach at a teaching university, not a research university. And that's considered. Let me teach you all something that's considered a little lower. So you meet somebody and you have this achievement thing and they say and say, where do you teach? And they tell them to say, well, I haven't heard of that. Oh, it's a teacher teaching university. That means I haven't published any articles and they don't require me to try. But at a research university, they want you doing something that contributes to the field, that advances the field, that will not only add to your name, but the name of the university that you work for. So why should we bring you here? If you're not going to get glory for us, then why are you here? And so research articles are riches in this field. And so I was so desperate, I was like, I know God's not going to let me stay in academia forever. I knew it. And so I was like, if I could just get three, three research articles. I was killing myself. And I got them. And when I tell you the absence of fulfillment that I experienced, it was so depressing. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Every now and then I still go to pubmed and just put in. Then it was Graham Phillips and I put in my name and I watch them pop up, they're still there. And I just am like, I don't feel anything. Because so often we think that what we can attain, what we can acquire. My mentor had 150 articles just for comparison. And it takes, like, two years to get one out. So this is not writing a research paper at school. It takes, like, two years from when you start till it's actually published. She had 150. I was like, can I just. God, if you just let me get three. But the riches didn't help me because they weren't linked to what God had for me to do. Go to Joel, chapter three. In Joel, chapter three, we're gonna see another valley. We're gonna find out that riches, God will give us riches. There is power to get wealth. I have no problem with whatever riches means to you in your life, but we have to be sure that we don't use it to help us get through the valley, because that's not how God ordained it. Joel, chapter three, starting at verse seven, I'm not gonna give you the whole backstory. This is Israel in trouble again, okay? They're being oppressed again. Behold, God says, and they're being oppressed by people who are exploiting them for wealth. And because the Bible is true, in every season, you'll probably hear some common themes, even in the moment where we live. Behold, I will raise them out of the place, them being Israel, out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your retaliation upon your head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah. And they will sell them to the Sabians, to a people far off. For the Lord has spoken. Israel has had their sons and daughters sold for money by this enemy. And he's saying, I'm going to get you back. Verse nine, he tells Israel, proclaim this among the nations. Prepare for war. Prepare for war. Prepare for war. I don't want to be on a soldier's list. Tough. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up, Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say what? Y' all didn't sound like it. Let the weak say what? I am strong. Jesus, you gotta yell that in your valley sometimes if you don't do nothing, lay on your bed, I am strong. Some of you, that might be where you need to yell it from. That bed, I'm strong. Somebody else's bed, I'm strong. Jump out and get out. I'm strong. Strong. When you're looking at that bank balance, I'm strong. Let the weak say I'm strong. Assemble and come all you nations and gather all around because your Mighty ones. Cause your mighty ones to go down there. Oh Lord, let the nations who are against you be weakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all of the surrounding nations. Skip to verse 14. Multitudes. Multitudes. Where? In the Valley of Decision. For the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision. Let me tell you what the Valley of Decision is. It's not your decision, it's God's decision. The reason that the Valley of Decision is here, not the Valley of Death, is because here it has been a war between those who have the wealth and those who do, do not. And we can come to believe that if we have the wealth, the resources, the accolades, the ticks on our resume, that if I keep chasing those things because God told me I was going to win and he's going to give me wealth. And we're twisting scripture around to cover the fact that we use our achievements and our control to feel safe. You will never actually experience the emotion of fear if you're one of these people, because you won't feel it until you lose everything. So you'll say, I'm not scared. But you know what I say? It's like a lion tamer saying, I'm not scared of lions. But you got a whip, a chair, and the lions in a cage. I'm not scared of lions. Oh, really? Give me the whip, give me the chair, give me the cage, and let's see how it goes. Your achievements, your money, your good name, your gifts, your skills is not enough. When it is time for God to make a decision, he will rule on your behalf. If your heart has remained with him and not because you have more than them. In the Valley of Decision, he intentionally brought the riches out of the world alongside the children of God in a moment when they didn't have what the world had and he made a decision on their behalf. If power is how you protect yourself from fear, your valley probably is the place where the only decision that can be made is by God. Sometimes that's a repentance place for us. God, I've been trying to build what I want. And I've been. Every single fight, I've made it about what I want. This takes us back to James, where it says, you war, you kill. You ask, but you don't get because you want to consume it on your own lust. What is your heart towards it? Are you seeking those things from high ground? Where's our heart in it? But here he shows. When the children of Israel was broke, He Ruled on their behalf. Anybody walking through a valley of decision where all the power that you have is not working. Jesus God came to tell you today you are going to have victory in the valley of decision. Okay, I'm super late, I'm PT late. But you know, his anointed is on the house and I feel it. All right, all right. Last place. Let us go to those pleasures. Oh, this is a big one. Pleasures. When it shows up to protect us from fear, it is avoidance, relief seeking, comfort based thought patterns. All I want to do is feel okay. And so in this valley where pleasures threaten to choke the work of the Lord in my life is because I don't want to feel bad. And so I am becoming the silver lining girl, the silver lining guy. But it's going to be okay. Because you know what? This still went great. You got to think positive. Just look at the bright side. Don't worry about it. The opposite of the anxiety, people, you at the opposite extreme. You making up good stuff that ain't even you making it up because you just want to feel good. As long as you can get your hands on a little bit of feel good, you believe everything is all good. So pleasures we seek. Sometimes it's just our favorite scriptures. Oh, y' all love a positive scripture. Y' all love it. You're quoting it. But you're also avoiding the faith fight that God has called you to fight. And sometimes you will have to approach the hard thing. Let me show it to you in the word. Oh, let me show you. I always got a word. 2 Chronicles 20. The children of Israel are in trouble again. You read it later. Read it later. It says it happened after this, that the people of Moab, with the people of Ammon and the others with them, besides the Ammonites came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat saying, a great Jehoshaphat is the king. By the way, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria. And they are in Hazazon Tamar, which is in Gedi. God help me. And Jehoshaphat feared. The king was afraid. Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord. And from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. Okay, now this is a whole sermon in itself, but I must crush it in here. So you know what's going on. Jehoshaphat is a king. He's a good king. He is the descendant of the tribe of Judah. They mention the name Tamar in here. This matters because the original Judah. Judah means praise. And so they are the praisers. The original Judah had an issue with pleasures. He avoided pain at every cost. He had a son who was married to a woman named Tamar. The son died, and so, as the tradition was, they passed the woman to become the wife of the next son. And then that son died. And so he was so scared to do what he was supposed to do and give Tamar to the next son because he didn't want his next son to die. Like, as if it was Tamar's fault. It wasn't Tamar's fault. The Bible says that he had allowed his sons to be wicked and God was judging them for being wicked to her. But he blamed the woman. That's another message, too. So he blames the woman. He doesn't give the son to her. And now she's turned out in the street. She has nothing. And so she poses as a prostitute because she knows that Judah likes the lady. And so Judah comes by, sees her, sleeps with her, gets her pregnant. She gets his driver, let's just say his driver's license. Something that identifies him because he didn't have no money on him. But when she finds out she's pregnant, then he's like, oh, she a ho. She a hoe. Throw her out. I'm telling you the fast story. This is Anita's version of the Bible. Throw her out. And then she said. Because he said, she won't say who the father is. And then she hands the ID in an envelope and says, take this to him. And when he opens it, he'll know who the father is. And when he opened it, it was his driver's license. That's basically how it happened. And so Judah calls her righteous, but it shows something. He avoids emotional pain. He avoids pain. He avoided the pain because he was afraid that his wicked son would be judged. He did not want to do the right thing because that would have been painful to him. So he did the wrong thing to this woman. And he doesn't want the discipline that causes us to worship Judah, praise in spirit and in truth. So he's sneaking around the side, going to see the prostitute because he needs a little relief. He needs to feel good right now. Oh, don't act like you ain't never. Some of you fall again and again in sin because you want to feel better, and you want to feel better right now. And so you're scared to stay in a painful place. So I'm a smoke one more time. The pain. I can't go where the pain is. God hasn't solved the problem. So I got to not feel bad. So I'm going to go over there one more time. I'm gonna drink it one more time. I'm gonna lay here and watch Netflix for 12 hours instead of pray one more time. Judah had a problem. He is supposed to be leading praise and worship in the kingdom of God. But when the pain is presented, he would dodge it. Oh, Jesus. And there's so many creatives in this room. I can tell you this is a high commonality among the personalities that tend to overlap creativity. So I was quiet. Woo. The pin drop situation. Because that desire to create, there's so much joy in that. And it feels like the real you in those moments when that thing. I know what it feels like. I'm a creative, I'm a research creator. I know it's weird, but I feel it. It's like, yes. And that rush and anything that threatens that we'll try to find something else to feel better so we can get back to the space. And so your desire to stay away from your fear of pain will make you chase a pleasure that has you lying about what God's word really says. Oh, the devil tried to tempt Jesus with this when he said, jump off the temple and see. Don't God help you? Doesn't the Bible say that if you fall he will catch you and let you hurt your foot? That's us. Because we just want to feel good. Oh my God. But what happened? What happened? Skip down to verse 12. Oh God, will you not judge them, for we have no power now. They mad. God, why don't you do anything? We have no power against this great multitude that's coming against us. Nor do we know what to do. There's a powerlessness and a fear that comes with this pleasure seeking thing. I just feel so intimidated. I feel backed into a corner. You're just there waiting to die. Then the spirit of the Lord. I'm going to skip that one because it's too many names, right? But the Spirit of the Lord said something, verse 15. And he said, listen, all of you, Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat, the Lord says to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours but God's you. Verse 17. You will not need to fight in this battle. So you're terrified of the pain. You won't need to fight but you will need to position yourself. That means you have to go where the pain is. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear. Be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them. The Lord is with you. Go to where the thing is that's scaring you to death. The Lord is with you. Stop avoiding it. Stop skipping over it. Go forward. The Lord is with you. Stop trying to explain it away. Stop trying to find the silver lining, find the black lining and walk right over to it and say, the Lord is with me. And they did that. And God showed up in a valley called Barakah, which means the Valley of Blessing. My God, I gotta stop. Stand to your feet. Listen, we have spent valley time this year. There is victory for you in the valley. In every one of these valleys, the message was, do not fear. We cannot allow fear to instruct how we move. You may feel some fear, but don't let it instruct how you move. Do not let fear take over your plan and process and your strategic work so that the cares of this world choke the fruit that could be born in this valley. Do not allow your achievements and your gifts and your wealth to be the thing that you go to first when the threat comes. Go to God first, because he will decide. Lord, make your decision. Make a decision in this valley. Do not allow your desire to feel better. Make you unfruitful in the valley. Oh, my God. Unfruitful in the valley. Chasing the pleasures as numbing agents for the pain and the fear that you're experiencing in the valley. He said, I will fight the battle, but you have to go where it is. Some of you's legs will be shaken as you walk and approach what you actually needed to do. Some of you have gotten direction. I hear this prophetically, direction from God, and you have not done it. You haven't applied for the thing, you haven't submitted the thing. You haven't picked up the phone call because it scares you to death. And when your stomach gets a little tight, you move away from it. Well, if it's God's will, then he'll just take care of it. You're not in the Valley of decision. You're in the valley of Blessing. But in order to do that, you have to go where the battle is. If you don't have a clear feeling right now like, you know, oh, I know which valley I spend most of my time in. Ask God to reveal it to you, because you'll pick the one that seems the easiest. You'll pick the one that requires the least change from you. We can get out of the valley. We're just passing through. We will have the victory that Deborah and her armies had when she said, go down. Because God shows up in the valley every time. But why does he let us walk through the valley? Well, for one, it makes us better. Because when I learn there's only two ways to get rid of fear. To change how you see it, or to know that you survived it. That's it. And God is too good of a parent to let you live your life gripped by fear. You wouldn't do that to your child. You'll be like, no. Now, I know you scared. But we're still going to do this because you're going to find out you don't need to be scared. A good parent. Now, I say you kick the child into the middle of the street. And some of you feel like that's what God's doing to you. But he will put us in position to get over the thing that scares us the most. Oh, my God. Can anybody remember a time when he did that for you? You went through a thing that scared you, and now when you look back, it's not as scary as it was. Yeah. If you have that test, remember that when you go back into the valley. If you don't have it yet, this is your moment. 20, 25 is your moment. We're going to be in here on December 31st. Yes. We're going to be in this room. I think we're starting at 10 o', clock. And we are going to worship and praise. I'm going to preach and prophesy, and we are going to resist the enemy and we are going to know what God has brought us through. By December 31st, be in this room that night. You are about to come out of the valley that you have been in. You're going to get victory in this valley by December 31st. I need you in the room on that night. But the difference between that prophetic word coming to pass in your life or not is whether you allow fear to choke your victory, who refuses to let it happen. Amen. If you're in this room and you do not know Jesus, I know we're late, but I cannot not ask you that. If you're watching online and you are not locked in with Jesus, maybe you were once and you unlocked yourself. Too many valleys left you believing he wasn't with you. Or maybe you chased cares and riches and pleasure so much that it absorbed, it ate up your relationship with With God. I want to invite you to know Jesus or to come back to Jesus. Is there anyone who needs that today? I never want to assume that everybody knows Jesus. Does anybody need to be locked in with Jesus? You want to accept him as your savior today? I believe in them that everybody in here is either knows him or God is whooping you real bad. And you'll be back next week to say, I changed my mind. If you are one who needs a little prayer for the valley, just slip your hand up. Worship team, come on up, because I want them to walk out on fear. Not when I tell you Kyle did not know what I was preaching about today. That worship set is all that if you need a little help in the valley, just slip your hand up. I need some. I need some. You know, the thing about the valley is you got to keep your eyes forward to where you're going to come out at. Looking over your shoulder is dangerous because you have not yet written the correct story about the valley. You're in because you're not out. You have not yet seen what God will do. So don't start writing the story about what it means and where you are until God has brought you out and shown himself strong. Because if you start writing the wrong story now you're checking over your shoulder, you've got to say, sound echoing in this valley. That is not his word. Father, those who have their hands lifted, those whose hearts are lifted in the room and online, thank you for what you have already done for us in the valleys of our lives. Thank you that we don't wait until we are on the mountaintop to proclaim victory. But we have victory in the valley right now. In the the name of Jesus, we have victory over fear. I speak quiet to the minds of those who are anxious. I speak rest and calm to those who are grasping for more power and more capacity to deliver themselves. God, let them be still as you make your decision in their valley. I plead the blood of Jesus over those who are too terrified to get in the fight. God, let them declare, we are strong. In the name of Jesus, I speak. We are strong over them. When every lie that the enemy has ever planted in their heart is echoing in the valley that they're in when his sound is amplified, let them hear this. We are strong. May your word silence every other voice in the name of Jesus, we have victory over fear. We feel it, but we don't allow it to do the planning. We don't allow it to define our lives, and we don't allow it to predict the outcome of the battle. We are winners. We have victory in the valley. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Fear not. Fear not.
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Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast. Cash. You can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Ture Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call. Much blessings to you. We'll catch you next time.