REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Trust God, Not Feelings (June 30, 2025)
Have you ever made a decision based purely on emotion, only to regret it almost immediately? You're not alone. The human heart—our emotional compass—can lead us astray when we trust it blindly.
In this powerful examination of emotions versus spiritual discernment, we dive deep into the biblical story of Jacob and Esau to uncover a profound truth: feelings can be manipulated, but God's word remains steadfast. Through Isaac's deception, we witness how physical senses—touch, smell, taste—were all used to mislead him into blessing the wrong son. Not because Jacob wasn't meant to be blessed, but because Isaac never consulted God about his intentions. His emotional attachment to Esau overrode what God had already decreed.
This message challenges the popular notion of "following your heart" with Jeremiah's sobering reminder that "the human heart is the most deceitful of all things." Instead of allowing emotions to dictate our spiritual lives, we learn practical guidance for testing feelings against Scripture, submitting our hearts to God's examination, and seeking godly counsel from mature believers.
Perhaps most liberating is the understanding that emotions don't always need to be resolved—they simply need to be felt. Many of us carry emotional burdens because we believe every feeling requires immediate action or resolution. But sometimes the most spiritual response is acknowledging the emotion, laying it at the foot of the cross, and continuing to walk by faith rather than feeling.
Whether you're struggling with emotional decision-making or seeking greater spiritual discernment, this message offers biblical wisdom to help separate what feels right from what is spiritually true. Stop letting your emotions drive your spiritual life and start trusting the facts of God's word.
from worship through music to worshiping through the word. I pray that you continue to move inside of this house, that you bless the people sitting in the sanctuary abundantly with your word, father, that it is directly from you and not of me. Father, god, lord, that you would soften hearts, prepare ears, lord, give us a desire to hear the word of God, not just so that we might hear it, but so that we may absorb it, so that we may live it today. Father, god, change our hearts. Allow us to leave this place new and different from how we came in, lord, different from how we came in, Lord. Make our lives pliable, lord, allow us to adjust our mindset to be spiritual and not physical. Lord, I thank you for attentive hearts. I thank you for attentive minds. Father, to you be all the glory. We give you praise and honor this morning in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:I have a question for you real quick. How many of you had a hundred reasons not to come to church this morning? Right, you wake up in the morning, especially on Sunday, and it's so easy to say I've got a hundred things I need to get done. Right, the grass needs to be mowed, or you know, I haven't done laundry all week. Right, there's always a reason. Some of us haven't done laundry all month, but there's a reason. All of the sudden, on Sunday, we feel like we have to get it all done. Right, there's always a reason to not be in church on Sunday, and it's always interesting to me because that feeling will sometimes override our logic, because we know we need to be here. Right, Our brain knows we need to be here, but our logic, our feelings, our emotions tell us that we don't. Now I have another question why is it that we come to church and then we talk through worship, right, you finally get the desire to be in the house. You wake up feeling like, okay, I'm going to go to church today, and then we talk through worship. We talk through music ministry, right, or we're chit-chatting with the people sitting next to us during the message.
Speaker 1:I wonder every day, why do we do that? And I personally think it's because we haven't prayed our way into church for the day. Right, we get up in the morning and we want to go put a check in the box. There's a soft spot in the floor right here, roger, and I'm telling you now, because I'm going to go through it, especially if I keep jumping on it like this. If I keep doing this, I'm definitely going to go through it. Yeah, right, no kidding. Yeah, because that'll be dangerous for me. Yeah, we won't, we won't, no, here's what we'll do when I fall through it. We'll just blame Roger Deal. Here's what I think happens.
Speaker 1:I think we get up on Sunday morning and we want to put a check in the box and say we went to church. Right, I got to go to church this week. I got up and I went to church, but the problem is is we don't come in prepared for what God is preparing to do in our lives. So when I say, pray your way into church, when I get here on Sunday mornings, usually I'm the first one in, if not the first one, fairly close to the first one, and the first thing that I do is drop all of my stuff off and then I walk through the sanctuary and I pray over all of the chairs and then I just take time for myself. I don't get to worship the same way everybody else does on Sunday morning, because usually I'm helping in the tech booth, directing, making adjustments on the fly as things change. But what I know is that I have to find that time for myself. Otherwise I step into the pulpit unprepared for what God is wanting to do Amen. And so I spend that time intentionally preparing my heart and my mind for what God is going to do in this place.
Speaker 1:I would suspect many of you don't do that same thing. You just show up and you sit in the seat and you expect well, god will just take care of that. But all the while you're thinking about what you've got to do after church, right Right, how many of you are already thinking about lunch right now? It's a fair statement, like I'm not saying, like I didn't eat breakfast this morning. So I'm already thinking about what am I going to have for lunch today. But I can't let that emotion, that feeling, override what the Holy Spirit wants to do in my life today, right Now.
Speaker 1:Sometimes when I come in and preach, he wrecks my lives and you guys leave and you're like I didn't get anything out of that. It's not always for you guys. It's not always for you individually. Sometimes what God is doing is for somebody else, but your inability to pay attention to what God is doing makes it hard for other people to absorb that. Now, we shouldn't be concerned with what other people are doing. Right, we try to set that atmosphere by keeping the lights low and doing all of the things. The problem is is you can't help it. Right? When I was praying and all of those babies were crying, how many of you noticed? Right, it's easy to hear it, but I don't have to focus on that. I still center myself on what God is doing in that moment. Right, those distractions can't be how we identify ourselves with ministry. We can't always worry. Well, I can't go to church on Sunday morning because I don't want to listen to those babies cry. Right, if you're a lady, chances are your husband's going to cry or at least whine at home. Right? What's for lunch? I'm hungry? Right? What Garden needs water? Exactly, that's what I'm saying, like, we've always got something.
Speaker 1:My point is is that we have to make decisions based on logic and not emotion. I want to start with a passage of scripture that is not going to be incredibly popular, but I just need you guys to ride with me for a second. And I also want to point out the one song that we sang this morning had the line that says I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. And I want to point out that it does not say that I sought the Lord and he told me what I wanted to hear. I sought the Lord, he heard and he answered. Right, we don't always think about that that way. I sought the Lord and he didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, so I'm not listening to the Lord. Amen, amen, all right. Here's the first passage of scripture, jeremiah 17, 9.
Speaker 1:It says the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? And I started with that because I want to talk about this first. Oftentimes, we talk about heart posture, right, and your heart posture has to be right in order to observe the word or in order to absorb the word. The human heart is the most deceitful of all things. So this seems counterintuitive, right, but it's not. What I'm saying to you is that when your heart posture has to be right, your heart has to be focused on the right things, which is being in relationship with Jesus Christ. It cannot be focused on whatever it is that the world is doing around you. Heartbreak is real and it happens every day. The problem is is. That is the flesh and not the spirit. God is not actively working to break your heart. God is actively working to mend your heart. He is pursuing your heart. He desires to be in relationship with you so that he can mend said broken heart. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, broken hearts come in a lot of ways. It comes from death, it comes from the end of a relationship, it comes from watching your children grow up. Broken hearts aren't always a bad thing. It's a change of life, right, like when you realize that you're too old to do certain things. You feel that, right, dale, are you hot? Buddy, I am sweating to death up here, but they're telling me it ain't hot in here. So, all right, I'm just saying. I'm just saying the room is split on the temperature of the room. All right, maybe we need to get dual air conditioners. The hot people sit on one side, the cold people sit on the other. I don't know. You got it. Do you have a little fan back there here? I'm going to turn this over here to me. We're going to crack that bad boy up to two. There we go.
Speaker 1:So I want to be clear that, as the scripture says that the human heart is the most deceitful thing. We still have to treat the human heart with the respect that it deserves by saying that, so long as its posture is focused on Jesus. Now, when we talk about the human heart, we think of that cute little right, that's not what it is. It's an organ inside of our body and, because our bodies feel a certain way, we think that's what our heart is telling us. That is not true. Those are emotions, right, those are emotions. Can I tell you something about emotions? Emotions don't always need to be resolved, they just need to be felt. Amen.
Speaker 1:Just because I'm emotional about something doesn't mean I have to fix it. I need to feel it, take it for what it is and I need to move on with my day. I need to be able to look at God and say I know that you've got this, lord, and my heart is burdened. I'm feeling heavy with this, but I know that you are going to turn this into something great. Amen. That is good heart posture.
Speaker 1:If you feel emotion and somebody says something to you and you don't like the way they say it and you're like you know what? I'll fist fight you. Right now, stephanie and she's shaking her head, yes, because she knows, it's true, that's probably not healthy heart posture, right? And so you have to come back and say God, what is it that I'm doing that you want to change in my life? Now the problem is is this is when God is going to speak to you and you're going to want to ignore it, Right, because this is when God is going to. I asked the Lord, I sought the Lord, and he heard and he answered, but what he told me I didn't like. So I'm going to ignore it when God says remove yourself from such a place, take yourself out of that. And, steph, I'm going to use you as an example this morning, just as I'm rolling. It's working okay.
Speaker 1:Stephanie just left a job. It was her first job, wasn't it? It was her very first job. How long did you work there? Just shy of seven years. She worked there for seven years, Her very first job ever. That's impressive. How many young people do you know that have kept a job for seven years? Very few. Stephanie is the only one that I know For seven years. That's a long time. And finally, god said it's time to go and he pulled her from that place and planted her in a place that is better for her emotionally, spiritually, financially, maybe not physically because she's operating a saw. Might lose a finger. Your arm says otherwise, okay, so we're not going to use physically. So you're still doing good. You got 10 digits, you can still wave, right, you count to 10 on your fingers.
Speaker 1:God did not do that by accident.
Speaker 1:None of that was by accident, because when you seek the Lord and he answers, he will tell you what to do.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you don't like it. Stephanie, did you like that transition? Not at all. I remember, as a matter of fact, that you stood here and cried when you were telling me that you were going to have to leave your job. You know what you're afraid of when you make big choices like that Losing friends, losing favor. Let me tell you something You're not losing friends, you're not losing favor. You're gaining friends and gaining favor. Right, and we have to change the way we look at it, because we're allowing our emotions to describe and to dictate how our lives operate.
Speaker 1:Now I have made plenty of emotions, or plenty of decisions based on emotion solely, and almost immediately regret it once those things have come to take place. Right, you say something to somebody that you think might be helpful, or you say something to somebody that might even not be helpful, and you say it thinking well, what does it matter? And pretty quickly it comes back to bite you and you realize, man, I should have never done that. I probably should have sought God and asked what is it that you would have me do? See, feelings are powerful and God created all of us with feelings Amen. Now, I have less feelings than most people, but I do have feelings. It might be a single feeling. It's pretty hard to hurt. I don't get emotional. I'm a fairly logical person.
Speaker 1:But God created us with emotions and because they are powerful, oftentimes we think that they were meant to navigate morality, right? So when somebody says or does something to us that hurts our flesh, we think that that helps us to navigate. Well then, that person is a bad person, right? When they do something that is inherently wrong, that person is a bad person. Our morality should not be dictated by feelings. Our morality should be shaped by the word of God, right? So here's the thing. This is one of the things I think about often People who don't believe in the Bible, who believe that the whole ministry of Jesus Christ is made up and that God doesn't exist I have to often ask where does your moral compass start?
Speaker 1:What do you decide is good? What do you decide is bad? Right, can we all agree that murder is bad? Right, okay, I'm the only one going to put my hand up, though, right, everybody else is like, no, we're good, we're cool with that. My question is somebody who doesn't believe in God also typically believes that murder is bad. How do we find out that murder is bad? Well, no, okay, that you went to like zero to 10, real quick, joe. He says step in front of a gun. That's not what I meant. I don't recommend that for anybody. Let me be clear. I'm not condoning that. Thou shalt not kill. It's one of the 10 commandments.
Speaker 1:Now, if you don't believe in God and you don't believe in the Bible, how can you decide that that is morally correct? Right, let me tell you how. Because the Word of God is morally correct, and even if you don't believe in God, you believe in the Word of God to some degree. It's hard to convince people of that, and I don't try anymore. What I do is I ask questions and allow them to realize oh no, I agree with him. Because that's a scary thought for them, because they look at me as maybe radicalized or somebody who only wants to use the word of God to convince people that they should be different in life. I don't want the word of God to do that. I want that to be a natural emotion from having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, today we're going to look at a story. This is I want to tell you that when I wrote this message, it was not entirely mine Pastor John Stevenson from Bethel Worship many of you know him. He shared a quote with me that I just thought was mind-blowing and I thought I have to write a message about that, and that's exactly what I did. And so we're going to start in a story that will be a story that we all know. We're going to talk about Jacob and Esau. Everybody knows who Jacob and Esau are. Right, we're going to read it so you don't have to know all of it, but we're going to focus on how Isaac was deceived by Jacob.
Speaker 1:Okay, so if you have your Bibles, we're gonna start in Genesis 27. We're gonna start at chapter one Genesis 27, chapter one. Genesis 27, chapter one. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yes, verse one. I'm sorry. Chapter 27, verse one. Thank you, everybody there.
Speaker 1:I still hear Bibles. Oh, it's Adeline's Bible is flipping. She's got to follow along. She likes to highlight in her Bible. She can't read, but she follows along better than some adults do, huh?
Speaker 1:It says one day, when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said my son, yes, father. Esau replied I am an old man now. Isaac said, and I don't know when I may die, take your bow and quiver full of arrows and go out into the open country and hunt some wild game for me, prepare my favorite dish and bring it here for me to eat. Then I will pronounce the blessing that belongs to you, my firstborn son, before I die. I liken this to giving your inheritance right, to passing along that inheritance.
Speaker 1:You know, maybe my parents are going to leave me with junk is what they're going to leave. My mom has so much stuff. But the trick is, the rule is, when something happens to my parents, I have to first, before I do anything, go through all of my mom's coat pockets and purses, because she stashes money in them and then she forgets about it. She said don't sell anything without opening it first. That's what she told me, but I always joke that my mom is going to leave me with all of this stuff. They aren't going to leave me with money. They're going to enjoy their money. Right, I'm okay with that. I want them to. They've worked hard all their life.
Speaker 1:But in this case he's saying go and do this for me and when you return I will give you the blessing that is due to you. My first son. But Rebekah overheard. Now Rebekah is Isaac's wife, but Rebekah overheard what Isaac had said to her son, esau. Esau is the older of the two boys. So when Esau left to hunt the wild game, she said to her son, jacob, the second son, listen, I overheard your father say to Esau bring me some wild game and prepare me a delicious meal, then I will bless you in the Lord's presence before I die.
Speaker 1:Now, this is where it gets fun. She says now, my son, listen to me, do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two fine young goats and I will prepare your father's favorite dish. Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. Now what just happened? They have decided that they are going to deceive Isaac. Right, they have decided that Esau is not worthy of said blessing and they are going to manipulate the situation for their gain. Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. But look, jacob, replied to Rebecca. My brother, esau, is a hairy man and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He'll see that I'm trying to trick him and he'll curse me instead of blessing me.
Speaker 1:Now they're thinking this through. This is premeditated, right? This isn't just like oh, it happened and we let it happen. This is premeditation. But his mother replied then let the curse fall on me. My son, just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me.
Speaker 1:So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebecca took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it. Then she took Esau's favorite clothes, which were in the house, and gave them to her younger son, jacob. She covered his arms and the smooth part of his. Can we all just agreeably say, ew, right, that seems kind of nasty, but all in the name of a good blessing, right, amen, amen. Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including the freshly baked bread. So Jacob took the food to his father, my father. He said yes, my son.
Speaker 1:Isaac answered who are you, esau or Jacob? Now remind you he is almost blind at this point, right? Jacob replied it's Esau, your firstborn son. I've done as you've told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat so you can give me your blessing. And Isaac asked how did you find it so quickly? My son, the Lord, your God, put it in my path. Jacob replied oh, this ain't. This is not good. This is not good. Then Isaac said to Jacob come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you are really Esau. So Jacob went closer and his father, isaac, touched him. The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's, isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy, just like Esau's. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. But are you really my son, esau? He asked yes, I am Jacob replied. Then Isaac said now, my son, bring me the wild game, let me eat it, and then I will give you my blessing.
Speaker 1:So Jacob took the food to his father and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said to Jacob please come a little closer and kiss me, my son. So Jacob went over and kissed him, and when Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he was finally convinced and he blessed his son. He said ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed, from the dew of heaven to the richness of the earth. May God always give you abundant harvests of grain and bountiful new wine. May many nations become your servants and may they bow down to you. May you be the master over your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. All who curse you will be cursed, and all who bless you will be blessed. That was a lot of scripture.
Speaker 1:To make a simple point, this entire chapter unfolds to show us that we can't always trust our feelings. Amen. Now we're talking about a physical touch. Right Now, if you blindfolded me and each of you walked up to me, I would have no idea who you were. Why is that? Because I don't touch you. I don't walk around feeling your faces, right. So when you take that sense away from me, I know what Ashley looks like. Now, if she was ever in a police lineup, I wouldn't be able to describe her, because my brain doesn't work that way, right. But I know what she looks like and I would be able to spot her in the distance.
Speaker 1:But Isaac is blind and he has no way of knowing other than through touch, and he feels the hairy hands and he smells the clothes, and so he continues to pour out the blessing upon his second oldest. What's interesting is that God had already called that to be. In Genesis 25, he speaks that into existence amen. How many of us remember that? Let's jump there real quick. What is it? It's Genesis 25, 23.
Speaker 1:Now this is as they're being born, and the Lord told her the sons in your womb will become two nations From the very beginning. The two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other, and your older son will serve your younger son, isaac, nearly blind in physical, but more blind in spiritual. And I say that because when Jacob disguised himself as Esau and provided the food, isaac never went back to the Lord and asked about this blessing. He spoke the blessing without consulting God, amen. And so Jacob was able to steal the blessing from Esau. Now that didn't end well for Jacob. Amen. What happened to Jacob? He was exiled. He had to leave. He was never able to see his mother again. He had to leave his homeland.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine being so blind to what God would have for your life that you steal or rob because your feelings or your emotions tell you that this is what's correct or this is what is good? Can I tell you that feelings can be manipulated? See our emotions. They run rampant all day, every day, right, you know? Have you ever woke up and you think of a person that you really can't stand and you're like man, I really don't like that person. Tyler, that was too quick, yeah. And then you run into that person and you're like now, god, why did you wake me up with that person on my mind and then make me see them in Walmart, right? And now you're like now, god, why did you wake me up with that person on my mind and then make me see them in Walmart, right? And now you're upset because you're saying God, what are you doing?
Speaker 1:Can I tell you that God is trying to soften your heart, for whatever reason, whatever you're holding on to, that unforgiveness, that disdain, that hurt, whatever it is, that is the poison that is deriving your life. And God says if you want what's best, you have to lay it at the foot of the cross. He's calling you to give it back, to give it up. I'm telling you, the emotion is too heavy to carry. Sometimes we like the emotion, though, right, we like the fight. Sometimes we fight for the sake of fighting, argue for the sake of arguing. I want to get a t-shirt that said arguing with me is pointless. I knew 10 minutes ago I was wrong. I'm just trying to make you mad. That's one of my favorite things to do with my wife. She's way smarter than me. She's almost always right, but sometimes I just like to see how mad I can get her Right. Ashley's saying she would fist fight me if she were. My point is sometimes we're like that. Sometimes the emotion is what we want to hold on to, because the emotion is what drives us. It's what drives the flesh.
Speaker 1:How great would your life be if you could just sit and bask in the glory of God, saying that everything that comes your way is God's problem and not yours. Your way is God's problem and not yours. There is nothing in your life that you will be able to resolve better or faster than God will. Nothing in your life. You got the hiccups. Pray about it. You think I'm kidding I ain't. You can drink water upside down all day long, you can hold your breath, you can have somebody scare you, you can do all of the things. But I'm telling you, god is good, right, my thing is it sounds silly and I know it does, but I don't do anything without asking God for it and sometimes, when I do that, I regret it real quick.
Speaker 1:You ever said something to somebody that you know you probably shouldn't say, share information, you maybe shouldn't share, and you're like probably shouldn't have done that, right, thank you Jesus. Thank you, jesus. Cover that in the blood, because I'm going to pay for it later. Give me grace and mercy, amen. The problem is we treat grace and mercy as a license to do whatever we want, right? See, we think that we can allow emotion to drive us and that we can just keep coming back and trying to resolve. Listen, when we are covered in the blood, we should be separating ourselves from the sinful nature of the flesh. I'm not saying you won't fall short of the glory of God, but when you are willingly choosing to live outside of the glory of God. That's the problem. You allow your emotions to dictate how you live your life.
Speaker 1:I, again, am not an emotional creature. I don't often get emotional, and I'm happy with that, because I feel like if I do get too emotional, I can't see clearly what God is trying to do in my life, right? And so when I have there's one particular person in the church who gives me a hard time about the gym project, and I always think to myself every time they open their mouth, I think God treat this person like you did the lion when Daniel was in the lion's den and just shut its mouth. Because here's the reason I say it when we get that emotion and we disagree with somebody on something and we feel like we constantly have to talk about it, what are we trying to do? We're trying to poison the people around us. We're trying to allow our emotions to determine what the rest of the world should think about something or someone.
Speaker 1:I don't need you to tell people what to think about me. I need God to do that. I don't need you to tell me what to think about one another. I need God to do that. Listen, you will always have grace in my presence, because that's what I allow God. I have grace in God's presence, and so I want you to have that same feeling in my presence. Amen, I'm going to tell you Marcus isn't here. So I want you to have that same feeling in my presence. Amen, I'm going to tell you Marcus isn't here so I can tell this story.
Speaker 1:Hopefully he listens to this message because it was fun. So anybody who knows me knows that there's a three to five business day turnaround on a text message. Sorry, I love you guys, but if you text me while I'm at work, I probably am not going to see it, right. And so he sends me a text that he wasn't going to be here today. He was blessed enough to get tickets to take the boys to a drag race in Sandusky I think Is that the drag races Norwalk. So he was blessed to be able to take the boys to those races. So he texted me and told me he wasn't going to be here. I was driving when he texted me. I didn't respond, and then I had asked him to come and help me with a project at the church. But when I got to the church the project was already done, thanks to Pastor Roger. So I texted him and said, hey, never mind on that, it's already finished, all right.
Speaker 1:So now what's happening to your emotions, right, I've ignored you and I'm telling you you don't have to come and help. You're starting to feel a little bit left out. You're starting to feel like maybe Pastor Michael's mad at you, right? So that's how he started to feel. Well, jenny was at my house yesterday morning and she mentioned it and I'm like, oh, so I sent him a text. No, well, he didn't answer right away, but I sent him a text, said hey, boo, boo, bear, jenny says you're missing me. And I just went on and it was obviously a joke and I realized that it's very easy for our emotions to get the best of us, to think that somebody is upset with us or doesn't like us or is mad at us because of something so simple. Now, what bothers me is that when people do that to me, I don't know how to. How do you fix it right? I can't sometimes. Oh, real quick, I'm gonna pause. It's really random.
Speaker 1:Today's, vicky Hickey's birthday. What are you 21 now? 21?, 22?, 22? Yeah, okay, you're looking good for 22. Looking good.
Speaker 1:And listen, not all of you get that from me, but let me tell you a little secret. The reason that Vicki Hickey I love her so very much is there are few people in the church who literally were here before and have seen me through, and she texts me regularly to tell me that she loves me and she's thankful for me. It's just a blessing. It's a blessing to have you here. We miss you when you're not. So, happy birthday.
Speaker 1:I would get you a cake, but then I would have to eat part. She says no, but then I would have to eat part of it. And well, yeah, she says eat all of it. Hey, I'm okay with that. What was I saying before that? Can anybody bring me back?
Speaker 1:Oh, marcus, so it's hard when people feel that way about me, when they think that I'm upset with them. Here's my wife's rule If he's ignored you, chances are he's not mad at you, because if he's mad at you, he'll tell you. You're gonna know he's not gonna hold it back. And listen. There's plenty of you that I've sent text messages to or called and said, hey, listen, not okay with that or not happy with that, or hey, we need to talk about this. And it's never because I'm upset, but because we need clarification, right, because that emotion of being angry or upset or hurt. I told you guys weeks ago I'm letting all that go. I'm going to be debt-free when it comes to emotions. I don't need to carry that weight because it does me no good and it doesn't do any of you any good. Sometimes you think it does, but I promise you it doesn't.
Speaker 1:Feelings can be manipulated. Rebecca and Jacob intentionally manipulated Isaac's feelings to get what they wanted. Jacob willingly disguised himself to feel like Esau. He knew that his father would want proof. He knew that his father would want proof, so he willingly disguised himself to feel like Esau. The food tasted like Esau's hunting. Now there's only one person that could pull that off, and that would be Rebecca.
Speaker 1:Right, my wife probably knows what I like to eat better than I know what I like to eat. We go to a restaurant and I tell her what I'm going to get. She's like really, you don't like that. That's a fair statement. I was telling some people this morning I also can't eat steak when I'm with my wife because I choke on it. She laughs at me, tells me to knock it off. Real life story, folks. It's not funny. I thought I was going to die and she was telling me to knock it off. It's for real. It is kind of funny, it is. It's okay, I'm going to tell the story anyway.
Speaker 1:So we had gone to that new steakhouse in Philly yeah, it's a real fancy one. And we go there and I order a steak and I take a bite. Now again, this is, I'm picky. I'm a picky eater, so she knows that. So I take I'm probably two bites in on this steak and I start coughing and gagging and she's swatting at me, telling me to knock it off. Now I'm legitimately choking at this point, all right, and she thinks that I'm being ridiculous and that I don't like the taste of the steak. So I have to grab the napkin, put it around my mouth, pull the steak out with my fingers so that I can breathe again. And I finally tell her I was actually choking and she's like oh, I thought you were just being dramatic. So now, whenever we go out for dinner and we get a steak, emmett always says don't choke, dad, and Alyssa always asks if she needs to cut it for me. It's not funny folks, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It really is.
Speaker 1:The smell of Isaac's clothes brought back emotional memories, the feelings of what he thought he was feeling was easily manipulated. As he's touching Jacob's hand, thinking that it's Esau, as he's smelling what he assumes is Esau standing next to him. He knows that there is an emotional attachment oh, your clothes that smell like the wilderness. He's reliving memories with his son, esau. Those emotions are easily manipulated.
Speaker 1:I just watched a documentary that teaches that our emotions are easily manipulated when it comes to shopping. It's true, it's very true, and this documentary was fantastic because it taught that we are taught to consume more and more. Every day. Everything is throw away, like they glue the backs of your phones on now so you can't replace parts inside of your phone, you just have to throw it away and get a new one. That's crazy, right, but do we see it happening every day? No, it's not. Until the world looks like WALL-E maybe you've seen WALL-E that we know we've got a problem.
Speaker 1:Our emotions are easily manipulated by the things we see in the world. The world does not want you to find Jesus. The world buries Jesus at the bottom of the stack because if you find Jesus, you become content in the spirit, and being content in the spirit will make you become content in the flesh, because your flesh has no desire anymore. Your body has overcome your spirit, has overcome the flesh. Satan is a master manipulator. He wants to distort how you feel so that you can misinterpret what is true. Amen. He wants to manipulate how you feel so that you will misinterpret what is true.
Speaker 1:Isaac blessed the wrong son because he didn't consult God. He trusted his senses. God has spoken the truth, but Isaac let his son, esau, cloud his discernment. He felt Esau's I'm sorry. He felt Esau deserved the blessing but ignored what God had already called him to do. He should have blessed Jacob in the first place, but he allowed his emotion, his attachment to Esau, to tell him to bless Esau and in turn, jacob steals the blessing and becomes banished. Now he knows that Jacob is going to be a great leader and yet he chose, because of his emotions, a desire to bless Esau instead.
Speaker 1:Again, jacob did receive the blessing, but at a high cost. He had to flee home, never to see his mother again. He had a pattern of deceit set in his life. He would be deceived by Laban. Later on, esau was enraged and threatened to kill him. That's called prison time right In life. Now, when you threaten to kill somebody, when we let our feelings rule our lives, the result is not peace, it is confusion, it is brokenness, it is hate, it is disdain.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 24 says there is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. What seems right emotionally is not always spiritually safe. Do you hear me, amen? What seems right emotionally may not always be spiritually safe. Now, my question today is how do we guard against the deceit of our feelings? And this is a simple response. You should be testing every emotion against the word of God. Amen. Because if this is your moral compass, like it should be, every emotion should be tested against the word of God. Psalms 119, 105 says your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. If you are making decisions without first consulting God, you are doing yourself a disservice, because God wants to be part of that decision. Now you're gonna screw some stuff up in life. He is going to take that and turn it for good, amen. But I will tell you that the path, if followed by the word of God, will be much shorter and much easier to live by. It's not going to feel chaotic.
Speaker 1:How many of you live chaotic lives? How many of you hate chaotic lives, right? I don't know many of us that live in chaos and love it. I thrive in it. In the workplace. I love the challenge of a new acquisition, or whatever the case may be, but there is still something about it that says you know, if I could just get up and work a nine to five, monday through Friday, that paid good money, I'd be content. Right 10, right. God has called me to something greater. I just have to be willing to fight the chaos with the word of God Every day.
Speaker 1:You should be submitting your heart. Search me, oh God, and know that my heart and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts Psalms 139, 23. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalms 139, 23. Search me, o God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. I don't want anxious thoughts for any of you, because anxiety inside of your life drives feelings and emotions that are not in line with what God would have you do every day. Seek godly counsel. Surround yourself with mature believers who help you discern the truth. What does that mean?
Speaker 1:There are some young Christians who are still being raised up and they think that they should go and give advice to people who they have no right to give advice to. Frankly, right Sometimes. That's not based on age. We're not talking about physical age. We're talking about how long you've been a Christian, how long you've been serving God, how long you've understood what God is speaking into your life. And so when people come to me, I talk to Pastor Holly and I talk all the time and she'll ask me for interpretations of dreams and things like that. I'm not older than her, she is much more mature. She's been in ministry far longer. She's probably been in ministry longer than I've been alive and God bless her for that. But she also knows that sometimes we have to ask those questions, right? But then there are some people who are six years old, thinking in the Lord, thinking that they can give advice to somebody who's 50 years old, in the Lord, in the Lord, thinking that they can give advice to somebody who's 50 years old in the Lord. You don't even understand what God has done in their lives, right? You also can't seek out advice from young Christians who don't understand.
Speaker 1:The Bible tells us to go to the elders, right? It doesn't tell us to go to the person that just walked into church for the first time. Why? Because chances are they aren't going to give you godly advice. They're going to give you worldly advice, fleshly advice. Listen, it may sound good, your emotions, it'll make you feel good, but it will not be spiritually in line with what God wants in your life today. It will not be. And I'm not saying you have to come to me. Sometimes I don't want you to, okay, but I want you to know that I love you enough to tell you the truth. When you do. We'll have hard conversations. We'll look at each other and say I don't like what you just said and I'm going to say I don't need you to like it. I need you to know that its foundation is in the word, that its foundation is in the word Amen.
Speaker 1:The story of Jacob and Isaac is not just a lesson about deception. It's a warning about how easily we can be misled when we trust our feelings over the facts. Right, we trust our feelings over the facts, right. We cannot always worry about how we're feeling. Emotions don't always need to be resolved. They just need to be felt. Just because I'm emotional about it doesn't mean I have to have a solution for it. It means I need to feel it and I need to move on with my life. I'm feeling anxious about this new job. Lord, I'm laying this down at your feet. Stephanie did all of the right things when she was feeling anxious. She talked to all the right people. I stood here was it last Sunday? We prayed together, steph, or was it the Sunday before Last Sunday? And I said we're going to pray right now and I just wrapped my arm around her and we just prayed that God was going to continue to give her favor in this new phase of life. I believe that God heard that. I believe that we sought the Lord and he heard and he answered. Now here's my favorite part of that story, and it's the perfect way to button up this message.
Speaker 1:She goes to the place that she's going to work at, which happens to be Provia. How many of you know about Provia? Heard of it? Been there, maybe worked there at one point. It is a faith-based organization. So she goes in and she sits down for her training, for her orientation, and she sends a text to the young adult group and says dude, they're playing Christian music in here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know right, because God was saying you can't remain where you don't have favor. He's saying I'm pulling you from that place to put you in a place that is better suited for your spiritual growth, not just your financial and physical right. God is not going to allow you to live somewhere that is not good for you. He's going to continue to pull you out and place you in new places. Sometimes it takes a while.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it requires you to step out in faith and say I know God is going to do something good for me. Trust me, we're going to celebrate your win and we're going to pray through whatever it is that you're working on. Lord, let your perfect will be done in this situation. I know that you've got something greater. You will not leave us nor forsake us. Amen.
Speaker 1:Your emotions cannot keep you where you are. Let go of the emotion. Feel it. Let it go. Lay it at the foot of the cross. Move on and allow God to work in your life today. Amen, the foot of the cross. Move on and allow God to work in your life today. Amen. Let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, I thank you and I praise you for an amazing move of the Spirit today.
Speaker 1:Lord, I pray that your word comes alive in the lives of the people who are sitting here and in the lives of anybody who may listen to this message in the future.
Speaker 1:Lord, I pray that you bless them abundantly in the future.
Speaker 1:Lord, I pray that you bless them abundantly. Allow us to seek your face in all things. Allow us to desire your hand in our lives, father, that we would lay the emotions down at the foot of the cross and we would pick up the facts. We would pick up the word, we would lean on it, we would believe in it and we would call up the word. We would lean on it, we would believe in it and we would call it the truth, so that our emotions cannot be manipulated by the world any longer, that the enemy will have no strongholds in our feelings. That, lord, we will continue to thrive in the presence of the Almighty. Lord, bless us as we leave this place. Bring us back at our next appointed time. Lord, bless us as we leave this place. Bring us back at our next appointed time. Lord, we thank you for the anointing on all of our lives. Continue to lead us, guide us and direct us In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen, love you, guys. We'll see you on Wednesday.