Order In The Chaos (January 11, 2026)

If life feels loud, rushed, and oddly empty, this conversation offers a reset: chaos usually doesn’t mean God vanished; it often means we pushed Him to second place. We explore how peace follows order and order follows surrender, using everyday snapshots—from locked church closets to Nerf-strewn basements—to expose how we create the very storm we dread. With candor and warmth, we name the idols that sneak in through “good things” like work, platforms, or even ministry, and we show how alignment with God outperforms raw ambition every time.

We trace a biblical arc from Genesis—where God spoke light before He formed anything—to Elijah, who repaired the altar before the fire fell. The takeaway is practical: speak God’s authority into confusion, then live righteously. That looks like word before news, prayer before plans, and honesty over “I’m fine.” We tackle conviction vs. condemnation, the pull of gossip, and the courage it takes to let Jesus be Lord, not just Savior. For men and families, we talk about leading with humility and prayer, replacing control with trust, and building homes where peace is the default, not the exception.

You’ll hear straight talk about misplaced priorities, how good things become idols, and why God won’t compete for first place. Expect clear steps to realign your days, repair the altar of your heart, and recover a focused devotion that steadies your mind. If your calendar is crowded and your spirit is thin, this is your invitation to reorder what matters so peace can take its rightful seat. If it resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review to help others find their way back to first things.

Transcript

Prayer And Framing The Message

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Father, we thank you and we praise you for your presence in this place today. Lord, we came expecting and you showed up and we thank you for that. Lord, it is wonderful to serve such a good, good God. A Father who will never leave us nor forsake us. Lord, we thank you and we praise you. God, as we move forward with this service, I pray that you lead us and you guide us. Father, cultivate our hearts, allow our ears to be prepared to hear. Give me guidance and direction today, Lord. We turn all of this over to you. Not for our gain, but for yours, Lord. Father, we thank you and we praise you. We give you honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. You know, one of the things that I love most about one of the things that I love most about what God does in this house is when he brings confirmation, he brings it in some of the most unique ways that you really honestly can't plan for. So this morning my message is called order in the chaos, putting God first in every area. Now, many of you don't realize the chaos that ensues in this building pre-service, right? So, like we have a structured way of doing things and we allow the Holy Spirit to lead, but there is also a level of structure that has to happen in order for the building to operate, right? And if you walk through the building, you notice there are a lot of locks on doors. And I had somebody say to me once, why is everything under lock and key? Can I tell you why? It's because stuff walks away. Right? And so this morning I walked past a door that was unlocked that should have been locked, and I thought, well, now what is going on? So I went to the person who normally unlocks that door and I said, Did you open the door? And they said, No, but I noticed that some of my things are missing. And I thought, now why in the world would anybody feel so entitled to take things that don't belong to them? And I realize that God is saying, because there is chaos in your midst. Hallelujah. Now listen, you're sitting in your seat and you're going, Well, I don't experience chaos. It's because you are the chaos. Can I be honest, right? Like, I know that sometimes I'm like a tornado in my house. So here's what happens: my kids will be playing in the basement. Our basement is a playroom, it's a family room, it's designed for the kids to play. Hence the name playroom. Right? And so they do things like build forts and have nerf gun fights. And then I walk down there and I lose my ever-loving mind because this place is a disaster. I don't ever go down there. Why do I care what it looks like? Right? So then I become the tornado and I'm yelling for kids and I'm making them pick up after themselves. You pick up the nerf darts, you tear down the right? No, the kids are just having fun. Right? I I used to be a kid. I used to like to have fun, but then I've created this chaos inside of my house. See, sometimes when you think you're trying to make things better, you are the chaos. Sometimes you are the chaos. So it is not a secret, and I don't think anybody would argue with me that we live in a generation that is loud, busy, rushed, and overwhelmed. Anyone sitting here overwhelmed today? Lord, I am always. And you know, the crazy part is I often do it to myself. Right? I find something to fill that time with. You know, if that time spot is open, I've got to fill it with something. Um, my wife and I, my family and I, we did four Elvis shows last week. Four of them. None of them were less than an hour and a half away from our house. So we leave an hour and a half early. We're there for two hours, we drive an hour and a half home. Oftentimes we were leaving by noon and not getting home until seven and eight o'clock at night. We found a way to fill every space of time last week with something. That is chaos that we have inflicted upon ourselves. Amen. That's chaos that we choose to live in. Now I thrive in chaos. I love to change things up, I love to shake it up, I love to move things around, I love for things to always feel like they're on the move and growing, but sometimes that causes us to feel rushed and overwhelmed. And I need to explain something to you because the chaos does not equal an absence of God. Can we agree on that? Chaos does not equal an absence of God. Chaos is often a sign that God has been misplaced. Okay, we we wrote that down, that's why nobody got excited, right? Okay. Because here's what happens we find all of these things to fill our time with. You know, Emmett loves going to Elba shows. That's his favorite thing to do. He loves it so much it's what he's fasting. He told me that. He was fasting Elva shows because he thought we were gonna leave him home for him. It didn't happen. I realize that we've created that chaos in our own lives. And what we've done is we've misplaced our relationship with Christ in the midst of that chaos, right? Now, I'm not saying that about my family, but in those situations when we're rushing and doing and trying to get all of the things done. Maybe we're not taking time in the word, maybe we're not reading our Bibles when we're doing those things. We have created a chaos that misplaces God's importance in our lives. Now, God has never been intimidated by chaos, right? Because you've seen him show up in those places, right? We've I see him show up more often in chaos than I do in the good things. Because in the good things, I'm living fat and sassy, I'm happy, I don't need to worry about all of the other things that are going on in my life. But when there's chaos, I'm often searching for the living God. I'm often looking for some sort of reprieve or some sort of hope in the in the in the distance, and every time it's the same thing, and it's the light that has never gone out, but the light that I have covered. Because, see, when the light is on and I can see it, often the darkness has surrounded me, and I don't know what to do with myself other than to go towards the only thing that I know that will bring me hope, and that's Jesus, right? But when the lights are all on, we don't pay attention to the one solid light that truly brings us hope. He has never been intimidated by the disorder, by the chaos. He has never been confused by our confusion. That's good to hear, right? Because I'm confused all the time. Oftentimes, I am more confused than not. Again, self-inflicted confusion. He has never been confused by that. He always accounts for my confusion in his planning. See, when I make a mistake, he is always there to correct the mistake. Have you ever gotten off the wrong exit before and you're like, okay, we go to this one place in Columbus and we go there twice a year. We go every January and every August. We know this place like the back of our hand. I can get you there, but every time we use the GPS to come home, it takes us a different way. Now, this one time we went and we went around the same block at least five times. Because when you come around the turn, you need to be in the far left lane, but you come in in the far right lane. And if you've ever been in downtown Columbus, the traffic doesn't really flow easily, right? And so we kept going around the same block. And I finally said, we're gonna make a left instead of a right, right? Because we're why are we doing the same thing thinking it's going to produce a different result? That is called insanity, my friends. That is called insanity. So we take a left instead, and guess what? There's an exit to the interstate that we needed right there. Listen, the GPS isn't always right, folks. It's true. It thinks it knows how to get me there, but it doesn't. Listen, sometimes we have to listen to the still small voice inside of ourselves in order to get where it is that we know we need to go. We have to stop allowing confusion to author our lives and allow Jesus to author our lives. Listen, Jesus is never gonna complete compete for first place in your life. He's not gonna, right? Because if you don't want him in first place, he will be in second place. And he will remain there until your choosing. Amen. God does not, he is not going to force himself into that first place. Now, the thing is, it's gonna get dark for a minute, and you're gonna come crawling back to Jesus, right? You're gonna say, Lord, I never meant to put you in second place. And the minute that life gets good, what do we do? Put him back in second place again, by definition, insanity, right? But look at the Israelites, they did this exact same thing. Exact same, they would get it good, right? They would be living high on the hawk and have all the things that they want, and then all of a sudden, Lord, I know you've been feeding us, but can we get something different? Lord, we're sick of walking, we're not real sure if this guy knows what he's talking about. It is not with me that you are frustrated, it is with God that you are frustrated, right? It is not me that you are frustrated, it is with God that you are frustrated with. I need you to understand something. He is not going to compete for that first place spot because when God is first, everything else will find its place, right? Everything falls into place when God is first. When God is not first, everything else is going to fight for control. Okay, so you put God in second, all of those things that are third, fourth, fifth, they're battling in your life to take first place, right? And it might be your job, it might be money, it might be a relationship. It's gonna be some crazy stuff. It is gonna be some things that you never thought that you even really cared about. But I promise you, I promise you, you will all of a sudden care about those things. I have always cared what other people think about me. I hate when somebody does not like me. I hate it when I think somebody is upset with me, and I'll tell you that in the past six months, I've gotten over that real quick. Because here's what I said, and I told I told you guys this as a church. We're not babying you anymore. We're not babying you anymore. If you're gonna screw up, we're gonna call it, right? And you can be upset with me, that's okay, but I want you to understand, it is not me who you are upset with. It is not me who you are upset with, it is the spirit that lives within me. Because it's called conviction when there's a problem in your spirit. Iron sharpens iron, right? Listen, I'm never gonna come to you without coming to you in love, right? I'm gonna come to you and I'm gonna say, hey, listen, this happened and I don't like it. This happened and it is not of God. This happened, and you should really re-realign your relationship with Christ right now. And you can be mad about that. That's okay. People will leave the church because they are mad at their pastor, they're not mad at their pastor. They're not mad at that pastor. Don't get me wrong, there are pastors who do and say some stupid stuff. Hi. But that's not typically why you're mad. You're mad because your feelings are hurt, because you didn't get what you wanted. Can I promise you something? There is no person in this building who is in control of this ministry, including me. I follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in all things. Sometimes I get it wrong, but I lean into that and I say, God, whatever I did that wasn't right, I need you to teach me something so I don't do it again. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, and sometimes I learn it on the first time. Most of the time I don't. But I'm willing to grow in what God will bring to me. So many people are not. I'm mad and I'm gonna walk away because I'm mad. See, everything is gonna start to fight for control because all of those things desire your attention so that your attention is not focused on God. Now, if you're here and you have not accepted Christ into your life, if you have, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I want to tell you today's a great day to be in this church. Today's a great day to be in this church because I'm not gonna preach to you today. I'm gonna preach for you, but not to you. Okay? I want to preach to those of us who profess to be saved and know Jesus. Because can I tell you something? You're the reason that the other people don't know Jesus. Right? And I think we need to fix it. See, I think we need to realize that the chaos that we are allowing to consume us, people see it and they go, if that's what it's like to be a Christian, if that's what it's like to be a disciple of Christ, if that's what it's like to be saved, I don't want anything to do with it. I want to avoid listen, my life's already chaotic. Why do I need more? Right? Why will it listen? I thought I was gonna come to Jesus and He was gonna make things easy. Jesus will make things, it's not pretty all the time. I'm not making that promise to you, but I am telling you this that my my life has become easier with my hope in Jesus. Because when bad things happen to me, I don't blame the world, I don't blame myself, I don't blame my friends or my family. I look at it and I say, God will have glory in this situation. Regardless of the outcome, God will have the glory. See, God is a God of order, He is not a God of confusion, right? Satan is the author of all confusion, right? And so when we allow ourselves to be confused in the Word of God, all we are doing is submitting ourselves to the enemy and allowing him to reign in our lives. First Corinthians 14, 33. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the meetings of God's holy people. Father, right now I am binding the spirit of confusion in this place. The spirit of chaos, Lord, that tries to reign. Father, I am binding it in the mighty name of Jesus. Father, you tell us that anything that we allow on earth will be allowed in heaven. And Father, I am not allowing confusion in your house today. I am not allowing chaos in your house today. Father, we are speaking against any person who is sitting here who has a spirit of confusion or a spirit of chaos inside of them. Father, bind it right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I thank you, Lord. I thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. You know, it's so funny because when things like that, people are like, well, who's he talking about? Who's he talking? I don't know who I'm talking about. Sometimes I do. But I'm not trying to talk about anybody. But if you were feeling like, hey, is he talking about me right now? That's called conviction. And you need to take that and say, Lord, whatever it is that I am feeling right now, change it in me, oh God. Change it in me, oh don't allow me to be the confusion that sets the house back. Don't allow me to be the chaos that consumes the other people around me, right? One of the things that I can never understand. Typically in the morning, uh on Sunday morning, I'll stand in the sound booth for the first portion of worship. And it's so wild to me how many people wander around the building and talk during worship. Why are you doing like are you not preparing your heart for a message that God is preparing to deliver to you? Because, see, that's what music ministry does for me, right? It centers me on the Holy Spirit. It allows me to see Christ in real time and allow him to show up and be tangible in my life. But instead, I'm over here talking to somebody and just don't care what God is doing, right? We don't consider the people around us now. It is our own responsibility to focus on Christ, right? And not allow the confusion around us to interrupt what God is doing for us. But sometimes that's hard, right? If you've got two people that are sitting next to you talking or watching videos on their phone or whatever they might be doing, listen, I've seen it all. Right? I've seen people texting while I'm preaching. I don't understand it. If God is doing something in you today, your focus should be on Him, not on me. Let me be clear. I don't your eyes can look at me, but I need your ears to hear the Spirit of God. Right? If confusion is ruling your home and if anxiety is dominating your mind, if disorder is draining your joy, it may not be an attack from hell. It may be misaligned priorities. Right? Because you wake up in the morning and the first thing you do is you go to the coffee pot, you brew your pot of coffee, and then you go and you turn on the news and you're watching the TV. Has anybody watched the news lately? You find yourself getting angry? Even if you watch it on your phone, and maybe not angry but disappointed or hurt or broken, whatever your emotion might be. Why were you not grounded in the word of God first? Because, see, the problem is it's not an it's not an attack from hell. That emotion is not an attack from hell, it is a misaligned priority. Why didn't you go to God first before everything else in your dead? When your feet hit the floor, here I am, Lord, use me. Here I am, Lord, use me. I didn't say here I am, Lord, use me in the church. I didn't say here I am, Lord, use me in my ministry. I didn't say here I am, Lord, use me on a pedestal. I said, Here I am, Lord, use me. Right? And sometimes that's shaking somebody's hand and saying good morning because you don't understand the broken that they felt. Sometimes you speak to somebody and you say, Hey, good morning, or I've been praying for you. Have you ever sent that text to somebody? You don't understand what that means to some people because they don't have that happening in their life every day. Right? They're lost and they're broken and they're confused. We are the reason that the world cannot see Jesus clearly. Because as Christians, we don't convey Jesus clearly. Oftentimes, when we tell the world about Jesus, what do we tell them? Oh, he's so good to me. He is so, so he does all of these things for me. And you know, I have never been without, I have never needed anything. We don't look at him and say, when I went through that, God held my hand. When I went through that, listen, my testimony is wild, it's insane. But I can say that even when I didn't know it, God was carrying me through that situation. He was listen, I can brag about how good he is, but I have to tell people about all of the things that I have seen in his goodness. Even when he has been so, so good to me, I have seen broken, broken times. I have seen loss, I have seen confusion, I have seen chaos. But in all of those things, Jesus was right there with me. Let's go back to the beginning. I want to go back to Genesis 1 1. And it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. We all knew that, right? Then God said, Let there be light. Oh, I'm sorry, I skipped apart. Thank you for not skipping that for me. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Now, we need to understand something. Before God fixed anything, right? It's darkness, and we know that that's where the enemy likes to hide, right? In the cover of darkness. Before he fixed anything, first he spoke. He said, And let there be light. See, order begins. The earth was formed, light came to the earth when God spoke it into existence. Therefore, authority will not take place in your life until you speak it and give God authority in your life. Amen. Whenever I say, when I say, God, you are the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Father, I give you my whole heart. I give you everything that I've got. I have to mean it. With everything that is inside of me, not with some of what's inside of me. Because some of what is inside of me is only part of what he wants. He wants everything. Because if I only give him some, darkness will still exist. And if darkness exists inside of me, then the light cannot truly exist. Because light and darkness cannot be in the same place. If there is true light, there is light, right? If I have them flip on these lights right now, I will quickly be able to see who is sleeping and who is not. Because, see, in the light, all things are made clear. In darkness, things can happen that nobody may know about. Now, when I say darkness, it could be noon, middle of the day, broad daylight, and there is still darkness. Because the darkness does not just exist in the world around us. Sometimes that darkness exists inside of us. Right? And so when we find ourselves living in that darkness by doing certain things that we know we ought not to do, and listen, some of y'all try to hide that darkness and pretend like it's light. Right? What we'll do is we'll we'll we we can regurgitate the word. Right? You know, I've been really praying about this, and and I really just think that that that there is a spirit of of chaos happening inside of the church today. Come to me and tell me that once. Because you know what I'm gonna tell you? You've been praying about it? No, you've taken the words that you've heard in a sermon and you've tried to make it real. And the problem with that is that you are speaking it into existence. And what you're allowing to happen is that spirit of confusion to take a hold of the people around you, especially the people that you're spewing it into. And I'll call it spewing because that's what it is, right? They're lies. There are lies. Listen, there are there are bad things that happen in churches all over the United States, right? There are pastors who do terrible things. I've done some things in my life I'm not proud of, right? There are things that happen in churches all over. That does not mean that that house is not blessed and anointed, right? The problem is, is we oftentimes want to run a ministry into the ground based on something that we feel that has not been truly given to us from God. I'm gonna tell you something that won't take place in this house anymore. I'm not babying you. I'm not babying you. I'm telling you, God is moving in a mighty, mighty way. And every time he steps out and he says, I'm pointing this one out to you, we're gonna come at it head on. Because chaos has no place in the house of God. Confusion, not welcome here, right? It is not something that we need in the house of God. Chaos didn't stop God from moving when there was void, when there was darkness, right? Even when Adam and Eve sinned, God still moved. I think we need to understand how important it is that there is nothing in this world that will stop the move of God. You might get in his way for a second, but I promise you, he's gonna find a way around. Sometimes God is saying to you, I need you to step out and do, and you choose not to step out and do. He's gonna use somebody else. He is going to use that plan, it will not be stopped because of your inability to bend to the will of God. It is not, it's not gonna happen. He's not gonna stop making good things happen in the lives of the people around you because you choose to be negative or you choose to live in that chaos. Matthew 6 33. It says, seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything that you need. I want you to leave that up because it says, seek the kingdom of God above all else. But then the next line is where we're at today, right? Live righteously. What does living righteously mean? Right. It doesn't mean how you want to live, it means how God has called us to live, how he has ordained our steps, right? Listen, God doesn't want you to do things that cause confusion for the people around you. God doesn't want you to do things that hurt people around you. God doesn't want you to do things that cause people around you to stumble. Now here's the thing: I get a I get this a lot. People are like, well, Pastor Michael, am I allowed to have a beer? Listen, I am not the judge nor the jury. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I am not gonna drink a beer. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it because I know that one turns into two, two turns into four, four turns into eight, next thing I know, I'm in trouble. Right? And I don't mean just like I've probably gone to jail by that point, right? I've probably been picked up for something that I shouldn't have done in public, but moreover, I know that that is not what God has called me to be. Right? Now I know that we can look back at the Bible and we can see that uh we've got some heroes of the faith who might get drunk. Bad things happen in those situations. It is not good. Listen, that's not the only thing. There are many, many more. You cannot choose to do things that will trip up your brothers and sisters, right? It is our responsibility. Listen, if I come to your house and you say, Pastor Michael, you want a beer, I'm gonna politely say no, thank you. That's it, right? But not everybody has that ability. There are some people who are gonna say, Yeah, sure, why not? And the next thing you know, they're passed out on your living room floor. You gotta work in the morning and you can't get them up, right? Listen, I dated a girl that did that. She was like, I want you to meet my friends. And I said, Wonderful. I'm a worship team leader at this point. She says, I want you to meet my friends. Wonderful. So she has a party at her house, and there's like 15 people show up. And the next thing I know, they're showing up with cases of beer and bottles of liquor, and I'm like, this is not what I signed up for, right? At one point, I don't know how much of this I should share, but here we are, we're doing it anyway, right? She exposed herself to a group of the people. Somebody ripped the toilet off the floor in the bathroom. There were people strung out all over the house the following morning. And I looked at her and I said, Is this really what you want in your life? And she's like, I don't understand what you mean. Look, you got$300 to fix the toilet. There are people who should not have seen parts of your body that have seen parts of your body. What are you really wanting out of life? Because we are not on the same page, right? If I am not aligned with what God, you think God would have wanted that in my life? No, I am thankful every day that my wife stole me away from her. Listen, I am blessed beyond compare. I could have done some stupid stuff with my life, and yet my wife, God knew what he was doing when he sent her to me. Right? He was like, I gotta pull him out of this thing, and I don't know how I'm gonna do it. So I gotta send somebody that can talk some sense into this moron. And it's true, but here's the thing it tells us to seek God above all else, but some of us are asking us to bless a schedule that he has never approved, right? Some of us are asking him to bless a relationship that he never appointed, some of us are asking him to bless a lifestyle that he has never been invited to. That's not what we should be doing, folks. If you are saved, if you have committed your life to Christ and you are asking God, Lord, fix this person so that they can be in my life. No, Lord, lead me, guide me, and direct me. If it is your will, allow it to be done. But Father, move me to wherever you need me to be. Don't allow me to be caught in the snares of the enemy. Father, allow me to be blessed beyond compare. That is what we should be asking for. God blesses alignment and not ambition. Right? Some of us in this building are very ambitious, right? One of the things I hear a lot about are vacation Bible schools. Pastor Michael, we should do a VBS. That's a lot of ambition, folks. Because here's the problem on Sunday morning, we're begging for volunteers. It's true. Although I've learned that we can recruit volunteers with aprons in the cafe. Do you guys see the cafe aprons? People were like, how do I get one of those? I'm like, well, you volunteer in the cafe. They're like, Count me in. If you need an apron, I can take care of you. I don't know, it's a green apron with a logo on it. But hey, I'd love to sign you up. So he is not looking for people to simply this is something that I heard. And it really spoke to me because I think it's something I've been struggling with. Somebody said it was a men's group leader. He said, I don't ever want to hear the term men's group again. He said, It's wonderful that men come together and they they they fellowship. He said, That's wonderful. But the problem is, is oftentimes we want to put men eye to eye before we put them shoulder to shoulder. What does that mean? We want to the church wants men to come and sit in a room together, sing kumbaya, hold hands, and love one another, right? Men, how many of you are interested in that today? That's what I thought. Not many of us. Here's what we're interested in. We want to storm the gates of hell, right? We want to be we want to be shoulder to shoulder saying, if we're in this fight, we're in this fight together. We want to understand what prayer life means. We want to understand what it means to serve and serve well. The question becomes is the church man-friendly? Because most of us men don't want to serve in the cafe, right? It's true. I love it because I get to make myself a latte. I love a good latte. Also, by the way, for everybody who needs to know, specifically sitting in the front over here, I am working on perfecting the gingerbread chai at home. So when that happens, I'll let you know. But we need to be able to say, man, what is it that we want to do in the house of the Lord? How do we come together shoulder to shoulder so that then we can lead well in our homes? Right? Because what's happening in our homes is oftentimes we're turning over the reins to our wives because they are more spiritually led than we are. That that leads to a broken church, gentlemen. Can I tell you that? Because we are called to lead our families, but oftentimes we run from our leader. Oftentimes we are not submitting ourselves to God. We're looking to our wives to go to a prayer meeting, we're looking for our wives to go to the women of God group or to go to Table Talk or whatever it is and come home with something for our family. Men, it's time that we come home with something for our family. It's time that we decide that we are going to lead the charge in our households. See, God will bless alignment and not the ambition. When God is first, peace will follow. When God is first, provisions will follow. When God is first, direction follows. So, men, hear what I'm saying to you. Is God first in your life? Or is your job first? Is your wife first? This is the hard part. Good things will also replace God. I cannot look at my wife and say she is more important to me than my relationship with Christ. I love my wife endlessly, dearly. But if I put her above Christ, there will not be direction in our home. There will be chaos and there will be confusion. If I put my hobbies above God, there will be chaos and there will be confusion. Man, it is our responsibility to put Christ's life, Christ in our first in our lives, so that we may have clear direction for the families around us. Now I'm gonna tell you what that means though. Sometimes that means putting your foot down. Right? My wife and I, we have a rule. We'll have a conversation about anything. But if my wife says, I need you to trust me on this, if if my wife says to me, I don't like the way that this is turning out, I need you to trust me on, okay. I got you. Right? Because sometimes my leading comes from me and not from God. Because it's what I want, it's not what God has called. Right? Men were like that a lot. Because we heard another man say, well, I tell my wife I want dinner at six o'clock. Let me walk into my house and say that to my wife one time. I'm gonna tell you something. There will be a hole in my backyard, and you will not find me. Right? Because she's not gonna play games with that, right? There is a respect in my house for the sanctity of our marriage and what God has called us to be. See, we don't allow the confusion and the chaos in our house. We went through a tumultuous time just a few months ago, and in our house, it was chaos. I was I always felt like I was upset about something, and I don't mean mad upset, I'm talking like crying upset. I would go to the bedroom and I didn't want to talk to anybody because I was going through the situation. And my wife said, But you didn't do anything, right? I hear you, but I have to buy that for myself. But she had my back in that time of weakness, in that time of need. Gentlemen, your wife needs to pray for you, but you need to lead her well. If you don't lead her well, she cannot pray for you. Because if you're leading like, well, I almost said a swear word, and I'm really glad that God stopped me on that. But if you if you're leading like a real jerk, then God is not going to bless that, right? If you're walking into your house and you're saying, Why is there not dinner? If you're walking into your house and you're ignoring your wife whenever she walks back, listen, my kids get sick of seeing my wife and I kiss each other. I'm not talking gross PDA kiss, but we always like my kid, my kids will tell you that we fight all the time. They will, they'll tell you we fight. My kids have never seen us fight, not once. Right? They see us pick on each other, which my wife is really good at. I would never. When we put God second in our lives, men, women, it doesn't matter. When we put him second, our stresses will multiply, our fear will dominate, and confusion will begin to rain. And when that confusion consumes our lives, we will never find a clear path forward. It'll be like walking around in the darkness, right? We'll be bumping into things and trying to figure out why is that in my way? Why is this holding me back? Why am I not able to move forward in what God has called in my life? It is because you have put God in second place. Exodus 23. It's chapter 20, verse 3. Are you ready? This is an easy one. This is it. You must not have any other God but me. Now, for those of you who don't know, that's God speaking. In case you haven't figured it out. You may not have any other God but me. Now, I need you to understand something. I said this, but sometimes those good things will become idols in our lives. Right? When things are going well for us, can I tell you something? Ministry can be an idol in your life. Anybody ever served in ministry or has become an idol in their life? I only show up because I have to serve. I only show up because something is needed of me. Because I'll tell you what, if I didn't have to come in on Sunday morning and preach, I'd just sit on my couch, watch TV, Saturday morning cartoons, you know what I mean? We ever been there? It's hard to admit that you are putting things above God. It is hard to admit that even the good things can take the place of your King of Kings and your Lord of Lords. But I tell you, every day it happens. God isn't saying there won't be competing voices, because the one thing you are going to experience when you truly turn your life over to Him is that everything will be competing for first place. Right? If you've got a hobby that you love, you know there are some people that love to work on cars, then they go out and they're like, you know what, I just found a really good deal on this car. And I'm I'm talking about cars, not Elvis jumpsuits here, so don't hear me on this, okay? Hear what I'm saying, not what you're assuming I'm saying. And there's a really nice one out there, and I can get it for cheap. And if I buy it now, well, I don't really have the money for it. But if I put it on a credit card, right? This is my I can pay it off at tax time. Might have offended some people there. I don't mean to. I'm just saying, right? There's an excuse to have the things that we want. But there's never an excuse to have Jesus. Did you notice that? There's never an The only thing I want in my life is the one thing that is absolutely free. It doesn't cost me anything. It might cost me. What does this cost?$12,$15 now? You go to Walmart and pick one up for cheap. You go buy yourself a real nice leather-bound one might cost you$50, right? Free on your phone. Here's the thing: if you need one, call me. I'll get you one. I'd be happy to buy you one. Whichever translation you want, I'll buy it for you. Because the word of God should never be restricted by money. Because the word of God should be free to everybody around us. Because it's the one thing that we have that we can count on. It is the one thing that can eliminate the stress, eliminate all. Of the the discomfort, all of the confusion, all of the fear, it is the one thing that can do it at absolutely no cost. When those good things begin to attempt to take God's position, we have to understand how we stop them. We have to be willing to say that that we cannot allow this to take the place of God in our lives, and that we have to allow God to be more important to us than any anything else. Right? Now, I'm gonna jump for just a second because I had this this thought and I wrote it down. And it the Bible tells us that the word became flesh, right? The word became flesh. That means the Bible, the word of God became flesh and we call him Jesus. Right? And so then the church will always tell us we need to be in the word. Amen. You need to be in your Bible, you need to be reading your Bible. But when we say that you need to be in the word, we also mean that you need to be in Jesus. You need to be connected to Jesus. We shouldn't be reading to read, we should be reading to make connection and relationship with the one who died to save us. Because the word of God is Jesus Christ. He came to live this for us, and we should be seeking him in all things. I just scrolled and now I don't know where we are. Lord help me. Okay, 1 Kings 18:30. Then Elijah called to the people, Come over here. They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. See, before the fire fell, before the rain came, and before revival broke out, the altar had to be repaired. Some of us in this building are praying for revival right now, right? We are praying that God's holy fire will rain upon his people. Are you one of those people? Because that's what I want for you, right? I want the fire of God to fall so heavy in this place that you truly don't know what to do with yourselves. That you find yourselves laying on the floor on your face, thanking God for his goodness. The problem is, is oftentimes we can't even thank him for his goodness from our chairs. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if somebody walked into the building and we're all face flat on the ground? It wouldn't be embarrassing to me. It would say to me that revival is in the house. Amen. And that God is doing something good. But before that can happen, the altar has to be repaired. I don't mean this wooden thing that we've got to fix today. The altar of our heart. Right? The altar of our heart. God is calling us back to the altar. He is calling us back to the altar. Jesus has to be your Lord and not just your Savior. He is your Lord and Savior. Jesus came to die for your sins. He came to die so that you might have everlasting life. However, he needs to have reigning control over your life. So think about kings. You know what I mean? Like we've we've never experienced that, right? It's kind of hard to think about what that's like. And I'm talking like old-timey kings. I'm not talking like over in England kings today, because it's different. They've got power limit. King used to have all of the control, right? He decided what happened. He decided if land got sold, if land got he had control over everything. That is the kind of control God should have in your life. Not that girl you're dating, not that friend that you have, not that beer you want to drink. Those things should not control your life. Jesus Christ should control your life. I'm just gonna say this. The other thing that shouldn't control your life is your tongue.

unknown 44:30

Amen, man. What do I tell my back?

Alignment Over Ambition In Ministry

Men, Leadership, And Home Order

SPEAKER_00 44:33

It should not control your life. But oftentimes, so many of us, we will submit to the words that come out of our mouths as if they are true when we know the whole time that we're speaking them, they're absolute lies. Has anybody ever said to you, hey man, how you doing? Man, I'm talking to you. And you're like, oh, I'm great. Everything in my life is fantastic. I've got, you know, I've got everything is together right now. I got a good job, I'm making good money. Everything is working the way that it should, but on the inside, really, you're struggling. You know every word you're speaking is a lie. Every word that's coming, it's a lie from the pits of hell. And you know what? That guy said that to you, maybe he wanted to pray for you. But that is an immediate turnoff from prayer. Oh no, I'm perfect. I got everything together. I don't feel like you need prayer at that point, right? Well, good man, I'm so glad to hear that. I hope God continues to bless you. And you're thinking the whole time, man, I wish that person would have just prayed for me. But you didn't receive the prayer, you weren't willing to receive what God was doing in that moment. We have got to learn to be honest with one another about everything that's going on in our lives. You don't have to tell all of the truth, right? You don't have to tell the whole story. Listen, I have stuff happen to me. I don't have to come in here and tell you about it, but I have to trust that when I say, hey, I need some prayer today, I got some stuff going on, that you're praying God's perfect will in my life. Can I tell you something though? There are some people I don't tell what's going on in my life because what I find out is they just want the they just want the details. They just want the juicy stuff. So then they can go and tell everybody else. Did you know, Pastor Michael? Did you hear what happened at their house? Did you hear what he said? Lord bless those people. Bind their tongues, Father God. Allow them to see the things that they are doing, the chaos that they are causing, and the confusion that they are stirring. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Listen. Where were we at? Did we do Luke 6? Okay, we're gonna go to Luke 6 46. So why do you keep calling me, Lord, Lord, when you don't do what I say? Why do you keep calling, Lord, Lord, Father, help me? I'm struggling, Lord, Lord, why are you why are you not coming to me? And all the while the Lord is saying, stop, listen, hear my voice, and yet you lay on the floor and you whine and you cry because I'm not getting what I want. You're not getting what you want because you are not listening to the voice of God. You are listening to your own reason and your own sense. I'm telling you something today. God is not gonna respond to your whining, He is gonna respond to your pleas. Lord, here I am, use me. Father, here I am, guide me, Lord. This is not for me, but for you, Father God. But we don't. We whine and we belly ache and we cry because we don't get what we want. Colossians 1 16, or it's 1, 16 through 18. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made things we can see and things we cannot see. Can we understand that? There are things that happen around us that we cannot see. Amen. Such as thrones, kingdoms, and rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. I need you to understand something. That just told us that everything that we touch was created through Jesus, right? That God used Jesus through him, all things were created. That means that everything good has come from him. But he also understands and sees where the bad things are coming from, right? Because those things exist in his realm too. He has can you know, we know the end of the story, right? That hell is not victorious. So why are you living your life like hell is gonna win? Hell will only win if you give it the opportunity to win in your life. Hell is not victorious by nature, hell is victorious by choice. Hell is we don't even care. The church doesn't even care that we're gonna walk ourselves into hell. If hell opened up, if the gates of hell opened up right now, oh Lord help us. Because so many of us think I've made it, I have arrived, I've got it figured out. I don't need Jesus because Jesus has already finished his work in me. See ya later, alligator. I'm gonna tell you something. That work is never finished. That work will be finished when you see our Lord and Savior face to face. That is when that work will be finished in your life. Perfect peace does not come from perfect circumstance, it comes from focused devotion. Yes? When I focus on Jesus, then I know that that perfect peace will come. Even in the midst of the chaos, it will come. Proverbs 3:5. It says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take. Seek His will in all you do, not your will. You don't wake up today and decide, you know what? I'm gonna quit my job without first seeking the face of the King. Because sometimes we are too stubborn to realize the good things that we have in our lives. Amen. Have you any of any of you ever woke up and thought, you know what? I just need a change in my life. I'm gonna move. I'm gonna run from this life because I'm gonna pick up a life somewhere else, and you do it and it falls apart and it's chaos. It's because you didn't seek God first. You're trying to run from the conviction that has been been brought to your life, and you're trying to hide from God. And I promise you this He is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere. Florida might be warm, but I promise you God's gonna follow you there. Right? You might have an excuse for moving to California, but I promise you God's gonna find you there, and the conviction that rests in Ohio will rest there as well. You will still find a presence of the Holy Spirit in all of those places, and he is not going to stop pursuing that change in your life. He's gonna wait for you, but he is not going to stop desiring that change in your life. Order comes when trust replaces control. Can I tell you? Trust replaces control in your leaders. You can't you can't desire to control the people around you, right? This is something that I was I was saying to a friend of mine. Uh we were talking about the fact that there are some ministries who don't allow their worship teams to travel to other places or they don't allow their pastors to travel to other places and preach. And I have this theory, and it's this it's that good leadership is built on trust, right? And so, like I was uh I was sending Pastor Holly and Pastor Roger down to Cambridge to minister to the to the Cambridge Four Square Church for a couple of months. And we also went to Coshockton, the church in Keshocton that we helped out for a little while as well. And here's what we realized we're sending people down there, but it's built on trust. I trust that if Pastor Holly were offered a full-time position in that church, her and I would have a conversation before that happened, right? If I just say no because I don't want to risk losing Pastor Holly, then how am I? Listen, our our mission is to disciple and then deploy, right? If Cambridge called me today and said we have a full-time position and we want Pastor Holly, I would have a conversation with her. And if that's where she felt called to go, we'd miss her dearly. But if that's what God has ordained, right? And so it has to be built on trust. That means you have to trust me to do what is best for you. And I have to trust that you are doing what's best for the church. And I'm gonna tell you, it's hard to rebuild trust that's broken. It's hard to rebuild trust that is broken. All right. You guys good for about five more minutes? Okay, because here's what I want to do. I want to ask the tech team to turn on some soft worship music, and I want to open the altar up real quick. Because I need to remind you that if you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, hey, you're welcome at this altar to turn your life over to Christ. But today I am not asking for that. Today I am expecting believers who need realignment. Today I am expecting that you will appear at the altar if your life feels chaotic, if your priorities are out of order, or if God is being crowded out of your life instead of being crowned as King of Kings. Amen. Today is the day to say, Lord, you are first again in my life. I'm gonna pray. We're gonna open the altar. If you feel like you need to leave, hey, that's okay. But I'm gonna ask you to do it quietly, respectfully. Because this is a moment of solace. This is a moment for some of us to come to God with repented hearts. We don't need confusion, we don't need chaos. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you and I praise you for your move in this house today. Lord, for hearts that have been made new, for repentance that has been found today, Lord. Father, for those who are turning their lives over to you for the first time, Lord, I thank you for that. I thank you for the blessing of being able to help guide and facilitate salvation. Father, I don't save people. You save people. It is not my words, Father God, it is your words. Lord, I thank you for blessing this house. I thank you for the anointing of the message. I'm praying for conviction today, Lord. Allow us to explore our hearts. Allow us to be able to speak truth to one another with great, great love. Lord, I thank you and I praise you. I give you honor and glory this day in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. I'm gonna open the altar, and if you feel led to come and just