← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
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I want to say, if I haven't personally met you yet, my name's Ashley. I have had such an amazing time just meeting a whole lot of people here this morning. I also want to give a shout out. I met multiple women who took a paid vacation day just to show up this morning. If you took a day off today to make sure you were here today, can you raise your hand? Come on. Look at our people. That is amazing. Really. Some of you guys drove 45 minutes an hour just to be here today. The coordination that took place for you to show up today, I want to say it will be worth it. Whatever obstacle and hurdle you had to jump to be here this morning, it will be worth it. Whether it is practical hurdles or even just an emotional fear of coming out of hiding and saying, you know what? I am a human. I'm a daughter of God, and I need friends. Like, there's a number of you. I am so blessed. There is a number of you who shared with me today. Today was my day to come out of hiding. I won't make you raise your hand. That would be extra for you. It was already big enough for you to show up today. But can we give a round of applause for those who came out of hiding that are anonymous right now? All right, we can go ahead and turn down the music just a little bit. Again, thank you for coming to our pop up today. Our conversation today is going to be all about trusting God. How many of you guys have some things in your life that you could trust God with? Yes. Me too. Me, too. We're going to grow in our community and our relationship with one another, as well as our knowledge about what the word of God has to say about trusting God. My life has been changed in conversation. My life has been changed in meaningful and purposeful conversation. One of the best gifts that I could do for you as your pastor. Maybe you're visiting from another church. I want to let you know you belong here as well. Absolutely. But if you call victory home, can you make some noise? Where's my people? Amazing. My life has been changed in conversation. And one of the best gifts that I could give you is to create space for purposeful conversation. The discipleship that happens in my own personal life, the convictions that are birthed, the convictions that are strengthened, the convictions in my life that are actually challenged has come from meaningful and purposeful conversation. And believe me, I'm all about surface talk as well. I'm all about the shallow talk. We'll actually have a few shallow conversations that are not Necessarily life changing, but they'll let you meet one another. And then there's moments where I am ready to go deep and talk about something practical or something meaningful, something purposeful. And when you're in a meeting and you're connecting with one another, some of you, when you're relationally connecting, you're like, man, I could just keep it shallow. In fact, going deep is hard. And some of you just like, lose focus because you can't stay to have a shallow conversation. You're like, unless we're deep, unless we're crying, I don't know how to show up in life. Well, today we're gonna go back and forth in both things. I'm gonna how to. It teaches you how to be a better friend, a better conversationalist. Because the reality is a lot of us miss out on really good, meaningful, purposeful conversations because we don't know how to stay engaged in conversations and as well as be present and, and not just listen, but also share. Well, we're gonna move forward in conversations about trusting in God. And as I was asking the Lord, Lord, why would trusting in God be on your heart for me to host conversations about today? Because there was a few different categories I was thinking about. And honestly, as I began to pray, I was thinking about, oh, only you and God knows what you're up against and what you're walking through. Whether it's in marriage and finances with kids. Maybe you've recently lost a loved one, maybe something with your job. I mean, maybe honestly, you just. Again, I know I made jokes about it earlier, but getting yourself out of bed and out of your house and really knowing someone and making yourself known today, it was a huge step of trusting God that he was going to meet you where you're at. And I believe that God is wanting us to. You know, a conversation about trust really is a deeper invitation to experience the peace of God. The peace of God, where a feeling cannot steal it, where a circumstance cannot steal it. You know, there's moments in your life, my life, I'm sure in your life too, where it does not make sense in your mind to be able to trust God about whatever you're walking through. It doesn't even make sense to other people, well intended people. And I know my life, the peace that I have pursued, the peace of God that I have pursued, it has come at a cost. And not only do I have to work to attain that peace, but I also have to guard that peace. And I find that the more that I allow myself to trust God, Trust God at His word. Trust in the faithfulness of God, trust in the power of God, trust in his timing. The more that I experience a peace that goes beyond even a feeling. Do you know that you can talk yourself in to the peace of God and you can also talk yourself out of the peace of God? And so that's why I say trusting God, it actually comes at a cost. But also trusting God, there's a lot of reward on the other side of trusting in God. There's been seasons in my life where again, outwardly it does not make sense why I would be at peace. It does not make sense why I would be experiencing joy. But it comes from trusting God. In Psalms, it says, those who look to God, they radiate with joy. How many of you guys have seen that in your own life where you have radiated with joy and it did not make sense to your mind, it did not make sense to your circumstances, it did not make sense to your own feelings? Sometimes we talk ourselves out of peace because we're so amazed that we're actually in peace. And then we start getting overwhelmed by the things that. That we actually found peace in, because we keep it up here in our minds. And I think about you specifically in this room, something that I wrote down as I was praying for you about confusion. I wrote, could a lot of our confusion come from trying to understand everything? And the reality is, is that's true. And the more that we dive into Proverbs 3, 5 today, one of our last questions, but I was thinking about how we value understanding and is important. Like we seek to understand with one another. We seek to understand our circumstances. In a way, it brings peace. But I can't find my peace fully from understanding something because the reality is I'm not always going to understand something and understand why God does what he does, why things happen the way that they are, why there's transitions in friendships, why there's transitions in jobs, why. And so we spend so much time in our desire to understand that we actually become more confused. How many of you guys. That kind of makes sense to you? Like, okay, yeah, and my desire to understand. And some because God has put the desire in us to understand. It sounds so biblical and so spiritual. I just seek to understand, to seek to understand. But really we become constipated trying with confusion, just like trying to understand. And the reality is, is that we're going to limit the way that his love can actually take root, be deeply rooted in his love, be because of our need to understand. And the antidote to that is trusting God, Growing in our ability to trust God. You know, what does that look like? What does that feel like? We sing that elevation song. You know, I'm not gonna sing it right now, but I'm gonna wait on you. I'm gonna wait on you. You guys know that song I'm talking about? I will. I forget all the lyrics, but the whole thing is about waiting on God. The reality is, is we can sing wait on God in a matter of point something seconds. But what it looks like to wait on God takes some time. It takes some conscious effort to trust God. So what does it look like? What in our lives, what have been the testimonies of on the other side of trusting God? And what are the lessons that we had to learn as a result of not trusting God? So we're going to have those conversations at our table. And my prayer for you and I believe that this is microphone is just echoing the heart of God for each and every one of you here today, is that you would have a firmer grasp on what it means to trust in God. And that when we sing the lyrics of trusting God and we sing Wait on God and that it actually has weight, that it's more than just reading lyrics on a screen, but that you can actually look back in your life and think, man, today, yesterday, this is me. I'm trusting in God. Hey, when I want to pick up the phone. Oh, hey, Paul, how are you? Good to see you. Kids are good? Yep, they're good. See ya. Peace. They're just running around here somewhere. How many of you are parents in this room? Also shout out to all the moms who brought your babies today. I love it. I'm telling you, that is a life hack. If you have a newborn and your arms are hurt and you just come in a coffee and convos. Cause you have grandmas and grandpas and different ones in different seasons holding your baby. Come on. Free child care right here. A little break. But all that to say as parents, the invitation to be in a greater level of fear is real. When I became a mom one, I was looking at all the moms like, whoa, whoa, you did this? Like, wow. Oh my goodness, wow. And then the other realization is I felt like I also stepped into another level of fears that I didn't even know were even possible. And the reality is, when we're up against something bigger than ourselves or up against something that makes us feel helpless, there is a temptation to give into another level of fear. And there's also an invitation to Give into another level of trust. There are conversations I've recently had with our kids that I didn't know was going through their mind and their hearts Again, another invitation to trust God. But what does that look like? Because sometimes we go into our own hands. We take matters into our own hands. And there's things with my kids where I've been recently walking with. And man, I want to talk it all out. I want to get to the bottom of it. I want to, I want it. But honestly, just because I want to get to the bottom of it, when I want to get to the bottom of it, they may not be ready for that. So that's an invitation to trust God. There are so many opportunities for us to trust God, but if we can get a firmer grasp on it, it would be easier for us to really, what I call like spy in the wild. Like, oh, like, man, I spy an opportunity to trust God here. Man, this news that I just heard, what do I want to do? I want. I just heard this report from the doctor. I just had this symptom. What do all of us have to do to resist the temptation? Or sometimes we haven't, if we're honest, go to Google and we read the worst case scenario. Then we start calling everybody and writing letters because we think we're gonna die. And it's like, whoa, whoa. You know, like, man, we should at first. The things that we tend to trust the most, we tend to go first. You know, there's moments in my life where, man, I do, I trust my friends. But man, I don't want to be so co dependent on my friends that their advice is, is, is worthy of my trust and not first go to the word of God and go to the source of where I should be drawing my peace and my hope. And so we're gonna talk about this without shame or condemnation. Some of us are in this room, we've been a Christian for a long time. Some of us have recently came to the Lord and, and you know what I find really freeing in circles and conversation is that I can take a mask off. And just because I've been walking with the Lord for 20 plus years, that I can still have a seat at the table and I can still be honest with some moments in my life that are hard to trust. It's hard to trust God here. I mean, isn't it just freeing to kind of get that off your chest? Like, man, I'm having a hard time trusting in God. Like, it does not mean that I have walked away from The Lord, because it's hard to trust God. You know, there's moments in my life where I've taken matters into my own, into my own hands. What do I need to do? I need to repent and I need to say, God, I'm sorry that I ran ahead of you. And in that repentance I'm going to find refreshing. I'm going to find. I'm going to find the grace and the empowerment God to trust you. I mean, there's so much to trust. Do I trust that his peace is strong enough to sustain me? Do I trust that when I pray, he hears my prayers? You know, I can't give Victory kids enough shout outs. You know, I'm thinking about their latest series about prayer and with the, with first through, you know, kindergarten through fifth, about the prayer puppies. And I'm telling you, my six year old has really grabbed onto it. And, and so she is like, I mean, literally last night we're at Target, they were rolling down the windows, they kept going, hello, Holy Spirit. Hello, Holy Spirit. And then they were talking in conversations in the back and they go, do you know that you can say hello to the Holy Spirit? And then Ellie was coming up to me and she was like, you know what? I made a prayer chair in my room and I was like, let's pray together. Let's pray together. Pray together. And let's pray for your brothers. Let's intercede. You know, I hope that you get the same revelation, but. So, you know, and we were praying for some things last night and she said, I know, I know it's gonna happen. And I said, that is what it means to trust in God. That when we pray to God, he hears us. It doesn't mean it's always going to work out the way that we want. But my trust is in a father God who hears me. My trust is in if it didn't work out the way that I want. My trust is in the character. That my trust can be so strong in the character and the goodness of God that I could actually become grateful for the things that did not happen. Has that ever happened to you? There are closed doors in my life. There are transitions in my life that man I was sad about. But when I took it to the Lord because I trust. There's a scripture in Psalms that says everything he does is worthy of my trust. Because you're a good God. He's God, I am not. So I don't know what's best for me. I don't know the best timing and so, because I'm choosing to not trust in myself on my own timing, you guys are doers. You are movers and shakers. If you wanted something, you could make it happen. But the freedom is recognizing my life is not my own. The freedom is choosing to trust God in his timing. The freedom is man, I feel I need to do this. Well, someone said I need to do this, but the deadline says I need to do this. But what does trusting in God look like? I have learned so much even just in my own walk with marriage or parenting or here. I am not going to be led by need. I'm not going to be led by passion. I'm not going to be led by what somebody else says I should do. I'm going to lean into that counsel. I'm going to listen, but I'm going to be led by the Holy Spirit. Spirit, because I trust Him. Because what happens is then you resent the people who said you needed to do this, right? You resent other people in your life. And the reality is, is you have no right resenting those people because it was your choice to be led by how you feel, by what people say, or by the Holy Spirit. We. And so it's easier to have that conviction when we get a firmer grasp on what it looks like to trust God. And I believe that there is something represented in every person's life where he is wanting you to invite him into. He's wanting you to consciously invite him into a specific situation to trust him in. And lastly, before we dive in this conversation, I want to remind you, trusting in God is not in vain. I said it before. When we trust in God, it is not wasted energy. When we trust in God, it is not lazy. When we trust in God, it might be unnatural, it might be uncomfortable in the moment, but when we trust God, we. We're choosing to crucify our flesh, our desires, the way that Jesus crucified himself on the cross. Man. Can you think about the level of trust that Jesus had to have in his father God, to go to the cross? I mean, that should humble us to think, man, I'm going to raise from the dead. I mean, I am up here on a cross, like, like, I'm like, what you say is going to happen, the revelation of God, if you said it, it is going to happen. It is going to happen. I don't know. When I remember praying for my mom to get healed in the hospital, I honestly did not know what if she was going to get healed, if I was going to see her healing on this side of the eternity or the other side of eternity. And in the worst situation, I have grown the most in my faith, I'm telling you. And in your worst situations, when you choose to trust God, I am not thankful for her death in the sense of the story of how she died or her not being here. But what I am thankful for is what God has done on the other side of that. In praying for my mom's healing man, God, I honestly had to release. I was like, do I have lack of faith if I say I don't know if she's actually going to get healed here? Because, God, I do believe she's going to get healed, but I actually don't know for sure if she's going to get healed here on earth or if her healing is. Is in heaven. God, the results are up to you. And sometimes we get so focused on the results that we forget our part and we minimize our part where I my part. It felt so freeing for God to put in my heart, actually, Ashley, God, it's okay. God saying to me, ashley, it's okay. You're. You don't have lack of faith because you don't know where the healing is, when it's going to happen as far as here on earth or in heaven. You, you know that I'm your healer, but what's your part? Your part is while she's still on this earth and while there is breath in her lungs, you are going to believe God for a miracle. At the end of the day, God, I'm a faith girl. At the end of the day, my trust is in you. To where as I was praying for her healing, I had a divine revelation that when I get to heaven one day, God is not going to ask, well, you didn't heal her. The healing was not my result. It was man, well done. And my good, well done, my good and faithful daughter. The way that you stood in the gap for your mom, the way that you stood and prayed for her healing, that the way that we show up in the battles, it is a direct reflection of our level of how we trust in God, of our level of how we do, and even of our revelation. The Bible says we perish for lack of knowledge. Could you be missing revelation of what it looks like to trust in God? That's why God says to pursue wisdom. That is why we're having this conversation at the table, to take a deeper dive into what it looks like to trust in God. Because I guarantee you, the enemy comes in and he tries to deceive us. And he says, well, shouldn't you be doing more? Shouldn't you? I'm not saying there shouldn't be action on the other side of us trusting in God. But that is a slippery slope. If I do more. If I do more, I'll understand more. I'll understand more. If I do more. If I do more, I can control more. I can control more. And we're missing out. How many of you guys are recovering control freaks? How many of you guys are still at the altar of controlling me too? But controlling is an hindrance to our ability to trust in God. And it's a slippery slope to control things out here and then think that we don't try to control things here when the reality is we can't. We can't. God wants you to see the reward of what it means to trust God. He wants you to experience like, first John says he doesn't want you just read about it. He doesn't want you to just hear about it from Pastor Paul. He doesn't want you just to be inspired by someone else's testimony. He wants you to experience his personal love on a personal basis. And that comes from trusting. From trusting God. So our first question that we're gonna ask. Oh, I'm cueing these. These are your cards. We're gonna pass these out. I forgot to do this. We're gonna pass these questions out. And also on the other side is what we like to call process and personalize. It's an opportunity for you to take notes, to personalize what's being spoken. I really believe God's gonna speak to you even from other people at your table. You're gonna have exactly what you need to get a firmer grasp and revelation on what it means to trust God. And as those are being passed around, I'm gonna put up the first question. What's something you're trusting God with right now? What is something you're trusting God with right now? Or I added this. Or maybe what's something you need to start trusting him with again? Another challenge. Don't limit to what think about any who that you need to trust God with. Is there a person or is there a specific situation? What is something you're trusting God with right now? Or maybe what is something that you need to start trusting God with right now? So I'll give you guys a few minutes to talk about it at our table, okay? Ready, set, go. Okay, a few more seconds. If you think about it, you can also write down your answer on question number one. The whole point of that question was, yes, to talk about it, but also just to personally identify an area that the Holy Spirit was highlighting to you of trusting in God with or who. Or if you can't think of a specific situation but you think, honestly, I'm not used to really trusting in God. So that's what you're trusting in God with is the whole general concept. We're going to move to question two. Honestly, I hate to interrupt your heart. That's why I said my thing earlier, because what you're saying is very valuable. And I just want to say if that was hard for anybody here just to say, well done, well done. To share something vulnerable and near to your heart. Okay, question two. For those of you who got interrupted, you could be the first one. Or if someone didn't get to answer a question at your table, some of it might be overlapping here. But question two, when you think back on moments when you chose to trust God or when you struggle to, what's the testimony that came from it? Maybe if there's somebody at your table that'd be willing to share a lesson of what you learned of when you didn't really trust God or a testimony of what it looked like to trust God. Like I said, you might have already answered some of that in your first question, but we'll give you guys 10 minutes to talk about this question. Ready? Go. Highlight some scripture verses that have helped you personally when it comes to trusting in God. We gotta take it back to what the word of God says. Is there a specific Bible verse that comes to mind when you think about trusting God? Let's take a moment to read one together and talk about what it shows about trust. What I would want you to do right now, because I'm going to save this for the last question. And at the last question, I'm going to have the worship team come up. But if you can highlight a question, a Bible verse that helps you personally, and then everybody at your table can write down the reference. So we don't necessarily have time to go and find each verse, but if there's a verse that comes to your mind, maybe share what it says either by memory or use your phone or your Bible. So that way we have some practical tools to walk out of this conversation and some scriptures to go back to. So go ahead, share your verse that comes to your mind of what it looks like to trust God. Something that's helped you and anchored you. Okay, ready, set, go. We want to move forward. This last question on your paper, it actually Says there was a typo. It says, how do you apply Proverbs 3, 5, 6 to your answer? Yours says Question 4, but it's meant to say in question number one about something you are currently choosing to trust God with. I'm going to put up the Amplified translation and proverbs for Proverbs 3, 5, and I'm going to tell the table host because I really want to move into a time of just response and worship. And so this question, I'm going to have the table host be the one to verbally answer this question. But then also I'm going to give you some time to where everybody can take their process and personalized note section and be able to practically apply Proverbs 3, 5, 6 to what your question number one is. But I think it's really helpful to listen to the table host and think, okay, oh, this is how you are practically applying the Word of God. I've identified what I need to trust God in, who I need to trust God with. And in light of God's scripture, this is how I walk it out. We're talking about getting a firmer grasp. So I love the Amplified translation in Proverbs 3, 5. It says, Trust and rely confidently on the Lord and with all of your heart. Do not rely on your own insight or own an understanding. I love that. It's not discounting our insight and understanding that's valuable, but we're not meant to rely on it. We use insight and use experience, but we rely on God in all your ways, know and acknowledge and recognize Him. So what does it look like with your question number one? What does it look like to know and acknowledge and recognize him and he will make your path straight. This is a promise. As you do this, as you trust in me, with all of your heart, as you know, acknowledge and recognize him that this is a promise and God will make your path straight and smooth. What does that mean? He will remove every obstacle that blocks your way. I love it. This is my part to trust God to acknowledge Him. This is his part, his promise that he will make my path straight and smooth. And so I'm going to ask the table host to answer this question and then I'm going to have the worship team come up. And while the worship team begins to play, I'm going to. I'm going to have you guys write down personally your answer to this question. So how would you apply, in light of question number one, your answer to question number one. How would you apply this verse to what you are currently choosing to Trust God with. Okay, table host. You got it right? In light of what your table host just said, you might have thought of something differently or uniquely based on what they just shared or something like at your table, something that the Holy Spirit is dropping in your heart. But just begin to process and personalize what it looks like to trust God with your specific situation. Try to be specific. There's so many things, oh, I'm trusting God. It's general. But if you have a specific answer in number one or you didn't have one, and now the Lord's highlighting or again, a whole my husband, my kid, you know, listen to some stories I'm trusting for my brother's salvation. You know, that's a specific thing. So how are you going to take Proverbs 3 through 5? How would that look like to process that? And so go ahead and just take a few minutes to process and personalize what it would look like if you're done. Just as a sign of going deeper in your yes, authenticating your yes before God. When you're ready, I just want you to stand to your feet as a sign of surrender. As the worship team begins to play. If you want to sit in your seat and continue to reflect, you absolutely can. But she's. But the team is gonna worship and I'm just gonna pray right now. As we transition into this personal response time that you would hear from heaven, I also want to encourage you that as we worship now, if you need prayers about something specific or if you feel led to pray specifically for someone at your table, now's the time to do that. Again, I want to make space for the personal response. Maybe you just need to go before God or maybe you need the help of someone at your table. Lord, I thank you for what you're doing in this place, these conversations that are happening. God, God, the truth that's being revealed, the lies that are being exposed, the hindrances that have kept us from growing in our walk with you and our trust walk with you, Holy Spirit. Spirit, reveal areas in our life that you want to bring healing to and wholeness to. Lord, we choose today to make our yes fresh in the ways that we trust you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God, that you're speaking promises to our hearts. We are anchored in your promises. That allows us to trust you. I speak to any shame or condemnation that has settled in our hearts from where we've missed trusting in God. I pray, Father God, that you are a restorer. You are a redeemer of time lost when we went Ahead of ourselves, Lord, we went ahead of you. Turn it around. For your good, for your glory. Lord, we worship you right now. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. As you leave, you can grab one of these booklets. We have a limited supply, but you're welcome to grab one of those. But if you can stick around, I would just encourage you to turn to the people around you beside you again if you have time and say, hey, let me pray for you with what you're trusting God with. There's such a unity that happens when we pray for one another. And again, if you need to leave, I totally get it. If you're like, man, Ashley, I wish I had more time. Let me tell you, you can get a number next to you and you can go to lunch or you can go to coffee. Don't wait for the next coffee and convos to have your own coffee and convos. Get involved with a group. You can form a group. We have Valerie and Kay. They were in the same group the very first convo at the same table. That table has met every month since the first time they got connected at a table. So have some personal responsibility and skin in the game to stir up these conversations. But if you need to leave, I totally understand. And I want to thank all the volunteers who made today happen. Can we give it up for all the volunteers? Amazing. What a team. If you want to be a part of our team, we'd love your help to make these things happen. But we're going to do that song again. And if you have time, turn to the people around you beside you, say, hey, how can I pray for you today? And then when you're done, you can continue to enter into worship.