So I just want to open up, and I think most of you would agree, when I say the world is moving faster than it ever has been before. Because of technology, innovation, and all of these different things, it was supposed to really simplify our lives, but in some ways it has actually had the opposite effect in making things more busy than they ever have been, adding to turmoil, adding to distractions of our mind. In fact, from the very moment that you wake up during the week, what do you have? The alarms going off, the ping notification, inboxes, Amazon packages at the doorstep. The busyness never ends.

I myself am sometimes guilty of getting caught up in it myself. But the Lord is calling the church to slow down when you're at home. When you're in your private time, to make that intimate time with God and to make sure that you don't miss out on those opportunities because it is truly there in the secret place, in your prayer room, that you will find God. That He will be more evident to you, that your ears and your mind will be more attentive to Him than ever before. That walk began for me when I was in high school, to shut myself off from the rest of the world, to close my closet door – because I had a walk-in closet at my mom's house – to lay on the floor and begin to talk to God. To know Him and to get to meet Him. You could be so busy in your life that you get so preoccupied that you miss out on God's hand. You don't see the little things that He's doing in the daily to bring you through, for He is so faithful and so kind to each and every one of you with a blessing of bringing somebody into your life that brought a word to you that you're overcoming, that you're not falling for the same tricks that Satan used to get you with.

We must acknowledge the work of God in our life. Now, if you know me, if you get talking with me, you're going to know that I just love reminiscing about the 90s.

I say that they're the greatest generation, and I'm sure that everybody says that about their own generation. The style, the music, to me, it was all a lot better. And what I loved about it is that it was such a simple time in comparison to today. So I can't tell you what I would not give to be able to shop and open up a JCPenney catalog and do my shopping in that way. I really enjoyed that.

You know, having no smartphones and the dial-up internet. But what was so depicting about that time is that we all had a lot more time on our hands. There was a lot more stillness in our minds. And I tell you, it is not a coincidence from Satan today. He is keeping us so busy in our lives today, you never have the opportunity to be still.

In fact, I would say that most of you are uncomfortable in the stillness. You're so used to the movement and the inflow of information and just the constant influx of what we have around us that we have a hard time being still. But in fact, the Lord has given you the moments of stillness, that prayer time to be the power of the Christian. It is in your prayer closet, it is when you sit and hear the voice of the Lord, that the battles are won. That the battle plan is given from God and that you will overcome every obstacle that comes in your way even while you're on your knees. Amen?

We have to come back to that power that God has given us. Where you sit in the presence of the God Almighty and you meditate on Him. Still your mind. Seize the distractions. Meditate on the fact that He is the Lord Almighty. His power, His majesty, and His authority over the whole earth, and most importantly, your life.

And when you have that mindset, when you have the mind of Christ, there is no obstacle that can overtake you. There is no spirit of confusion that can throw you in the wrong direction. Nothing is going to set your feet on the wrong path because it is God that you are elevating. And His way, which is the right way, there will be no distractions in your life. And I know for some of us, like my husband, it's really hard putting that cell phone down.

You know, letting it part from our hands, getting it out of our pocket. But that's what I'm encouraging you to do today. Get rid of the cell phone. Put aside the AI. Lose the agenda in your life and sit and see what God has for you this day.

If you would turn your Bibles to Psalm 46:10, I bet some of you could even guess what our verse is for the day. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in all of the earth.” This is a very popular verse.

People have it on mugs at home. You have it on frames, maybe a throw blanket over your couch at home. It's very popular. But what does God really mean? “Be still and know that I am God.”

Give over control to the Lord Almighty. Still your mind. Do not plot. Do not plan. Don't try to have it figured out on your own. And you will see the deliverance of your God today. For He is higher. For He is greater. For He is mighty to save us.

"It is in the stillness that the deliverance will come to you."

It is in the stillness that the deliverance will come to you. For God said, “it is not by power, but it is by my spirit, says the Lord.” There is nothing that we can do in our own strength, but the Lord wants you to be still, Church, so that you may see the deliverance that only God can bring. He brings the deliverance over your doubts, over your fears, over sickness this day. There is an epidemic in our country of mental illness, of bipolarism, depression, anxiety, split personality disorder, and the list can go on and on. But what is the epidemic?

What truly is the problem? And in some ways, I think you and I could both describe it as not being able to be still in the Lord. Not being able to still the mind, to be quiet before God and just exalt Him, that He would be larger than life, that He really is the Creator. If we could just wrap our minds around that truth, then our problems would shrink even before us. Even as we lay them down at our feet, they would not be the lofty mountains that they once were.

There is a war against our mind. You see, where God calls us to a sound mind, the world is constantly leading you to the chaos. Where God calls you to prayer, it’s calling after you to get caught up into an algorithm. And then when God says, “don't worry,” the internet has a plethora and a huge list of problems for you to focus on. The church must rise up in this season and take hold of the mind of Christ, the mind that is available to us in the Spirit, so that we may set the way for the future generations.

That we may look at the youth in this church and say, “follow me as I follow Christ. I set my mind on the things that are above, the things that are before me, the things that are heavenward, and I set my mind on Him.” Church, we have to not just be swept away by the things of Satan, but we must truly seek out God – what He has for us. The enemy no longer will have open season on our minds, for we will not allow ourselves to be such an easy target, for we are not ignorant to his schemes. This day we seek out the mind of Christ.

In order to be still and know that He is God, we must first surrender control to God. You see, we claim to give control to God when it comes to salvation. We put our trust in Him that He will one day take us to heaven. But there's often a disconnect about your life here on this earth. You can't trust God for heaven and not the obstacles that you face every day. We need to have an intimate life with God that is not compartmentalized.

Where I worship God here, and yet when I'm really going through my real life at work, then I'm not connected to Him. It must be one in the same. God wants us to trust Him with all aspects of our lives. Not just your eternity. Not just the future many years from now, but today.

With every obstacle that you face, God wants to be a part of them. And this kind of trust is built over time. through practice and through intimacy, where you learn to run to your Heavenly Father, telling him, this is what happened. This is what troubles me. Lord, would you go through this with me?

You were never called to face those burdens alone. Lay your burdens before God. You see, we fight with others out of fear that something is gonna be taken away from us. We panic because we think we're not gonna have enough and we lash out at others so that they don't do it against us first. These are all examples of how we're still in control.

"You were never called to face those burdens alone."

We're still trying to avoid those kinds of things happening to us. And Satan loves to keep us in fear, doesn't he? He loves to intimidate and to threaten you so that you will respond in a panicked response. What am I going to do? And then you run in action without seeking the Lord first.

He wants to get us to react without giving the control to God. I say to you today, stand your ground. Know who God has called you to be. Know that He holds your future in His hand. Know that He is the author and the finisher of your life, and He will see you through to the very end.

Eastern religion often named this centering yourself, finding your inner peace. We've all heard of that before, and we can imagine somebody doing that meditation but for the Christian we're not looking for peace from within. There's nothing in there that it's going to center you. We truly are trying to find the peace and to be overcome with the power of the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you you will have the mind of Christ and the mind of Christ will overcome all mindfulness of the flesh. The flesh is at war with God. The flesh is at war with the Spirit of God and it cannot please Him and so when trouble comes knocking at your door you must not react, you must not have that ungodly reaction, but you must wait upon the Lord and be overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit to guide your steps, to guide your words, and to see you through to victory!

All thoughts must be subject to Jesus Christ. The tongue must be tamed for what we speak, for you have been bought with the blood of Christ and you are not your own. You no longer belong to yourself. The reactionary response is one of the flesh, but you have been made new in the spirit. We belong to Him. Let your prayer this day say, “be Lord, have Your will be done in me that I may not sin against You. I am not willing to move on this occurrence in my life. I will not try to figure it out for myself. I will not take the control and try to plot and plan the answer to my problem, but I will sit in the stillness of my God and I will wait for Your deliverance.”

This is an intentional release over ownership. It is yielding to God's will in our life. It is ceasing the right to handle things on our own. This is the walk of the Christian, to release the tight white-knuckle grip on the situation that we don't want to give to God. He's asking it for you so gently today. The Holy Spirit is in the house this day, and He is asking for you to release control over that which you have tried to see through. We have no power to do it on our own. And when you're pausing, when you have a situation arising in your life, to the world it's going to look like you're not doing anything. It's going to look like stillness. It's going to look like laziness. But for the Christian, you are clearing the distractions, waiting on the Holy Spirit to overcome you and to direct your paths. This is the way that you should go. And you can have the assurance that God will lead you in the right way.

Isaiah 30:19-22 says, “People of Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be to you when you cry for help. As soon as he hears you, he is going to answer you. Although the Lord is the one who gives you this bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers are going to be hidden from you no more. With your own eyes, you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘this is the way, now walk in it.’”

He gives that promise to you that when you cry out to Him, when you lower yourself and your pride and you give Him your adversity, when you give Him those problems, He will answer you. Your teachers, it is the Holy Spirit. It's the many-faceted faces of the Holy Spirit. Those are your teachers: wisdom, insight, knowledge, truth. And they will be there for you to guide you in the right way.

As His voice rides up among the others saying, “now this is the way now walk in it,” we must follow and submit to the Lord in His leading. This is the way, take up yourself, and follow in the direction He is giving to you. It's difficult for us because it doesn't always fit our agenda and it doesn't always fit the timing that He wants to, but we must trust in the Lord. For the Word of God says, “lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”

I want to share with you a verse that's a little bit before this in the chapter – verse 15. It says, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says, the Holy One of Israel: in repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Imagine that in quietness and trust how many of us can really attest to living it in quietness. How many of us have a stillness in our mind?

Not many of us because of the busyness, but God wants us to live there, but we would have none of it. What that means is that we're always keen on having our hands in it. We have to dabble. We have to control. We have to fix. We have to be intertwined, but God wants complete control of your life this day. In the words of Carrie Underwood, “Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands. I can't do this on my own. I'm letting go.” Praise God.

I remember when I was working, I had this boss that from the moment she came on, she had it out for me. She didn't like me. And I would say, “Good morning!”, and she would just look me up and down. She'd just look at me and, you know, not respond appropriately.

In meetings, she would often be rude and condescending. I remember sharing it with my family, and it was coming to a head. This was going to have to go up the chain, but I remember bringing it before the Lord and just really trying to still myself. I was very worried, I was early in my career. “God, would you please help me? Would you please intervene in this?”

The next day they tell me, “you're going on training” and of course you're going with her. “Oh great!” You know? By the end of that trip, I remember walking through the parking lot of that hotel arm-in-arm with this woman telling her about the glories that had occurred through our missions in Honduras. God had laid it in my hands and she was so lovely and just so pleasing and wanted to hear all about it. And I'm thinking like as I'm walking with her, we're, you know, just she's got her arm wrapped in mine. I'm like, “Lord, You are so amazing what you can do, Father.”

When we trust in Him, everything is possible. And so we surrender this control to Him so that we can be still and know that He is God.

We also learn in order to know that He is the Lord, you must tune your ear to heaven. Now, one of the spiritual truths that I have learned is that God is always speaking. I hope that you know that today. God is always speaking. And if I make it like, you know, radio waves. When you were in your car in the 90s, you'd have to tune your radio to get your station in because you didn't want to hear the static that was there. And you had a station that you wanted to hear and so you'd have to make that adjustment. And I'm saying to you this day, in order to be still and know that He is God, you must tune your ear also to get rid of the static noise in your life.

All of the threats of the enemy, all of the noise that doesn't matter, the distractions of this world, and that negative internal monologue that likes to take real estate up in your minds. Turn your ear to hear the voice of the Lord this day, that He is the one that is going to direct you. When we have prayer sessions in church, often the person praying has to say, “I silence every other voice.” Why, in the church, are we not having the mind of Christ? Today, somebody is getting evicted! We must evict those thoughts this day.

Doubt, self-hatred, pessimism, these other voices who are not of the Lord cannot remain in the church. Christians must be able to hear the voice of God. The more you can hear the voice of God is the more Holy Spirit you have, and the Holy Spirit is the guide to teach you the ways of the Lord.

John 16, verses 13-14—we have been studying this lately. You've heard this before. “When he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He only speaks what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” I need that. “He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he makes known to you.”

The Holy Spirit and His responsibility is to reveal to you the truths about Jesus Christ. He wants to expose to you the personhood of Jesus, and He does so with absolute clarity in your mind. There is no confusion with the Holy Spirit, and He wants to be a part of your life.

And yet for many Christians, they will say, “I don't hear God. I don't hear the voice,” but I say to you, who picks up an instrument and knows the tune and knows the harmony and really can read those notes from the beginning? Of course not. But after much practice, after much intimacy with that instrument, many of the musicians we have can even look at a note without even playing it and know the sound before it is played. It is absolutely remarkable, and so it will be for the Christian with the practice of the mighty Holy Spirit.

He is the third person of the Trinity, and He is looking for that same relationship and intimacy with you. He will come to those who invite Him to come into their life with His guidance. Lord, I want to know what You have to say on the matter. And so He is a gentle voice and He will not come against any other voices in our head. Those must be silenced. He will not compete with them.

Sometimes I will pray for a whole day just trying to hear a couple words from the Lord. All I need is a few words from God and it is enough to deliver you. It is enough to set you free. It is enough to propel you forward for much time to come.

"All [you] need is a few words from God and it is enough to deliver you. It is enough to set you free."

Because one word from the Lord is all we need. We must fine-tune that hearing this day, that you would know the voice of God amongst every other. When Kris and I used to teach youth group, we would play a game where the kids would have a partner, and one of those partners would be blindfolded. They would be separated on different sides of the room, and there would be an obstacle course in front of them. And so you had to shout to your partner, and everybody shouted at the same time, the direction that the blindfolded person would go. And you yell, but the person with the blindfold would have to be able to tune out all other voices. And that's the only way that they would have success to get to the other side. So it is for you. Tune out every distraction for the world is trying to pull you in every other way. Tune your ear to heaven and listen for that still, small voice.

Just as it says in the Bible in John 10:3-5, “the gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out of the pen. When he's brought them out all on his own, then he goes ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize his voice.”

It is the Lord who goes before us leading you out of the pen. And the Lord Jesus today wants to bring you to those green pastures and to those quiet waters. Be still and know that I am God. We need that stillness. Just like those sheep needed quietness for them to feel comfortable, so do you. And He is the good shepherd to bring you to a place of safety.

What is miraculous about it is oftentimes we can lead lives that have many challenges, and they're not going to disappear. But in the midst of those challenges, God is bringing you to quiet waters, stilling your soul. That's the power of the Christian. The whole world could be burning down, and the Christian has a stillness and a peace inside of them that cannot be taken.

The shepherd goes before them, making sure that there are no dangers, and he sets the path for their steps. They follow their shepherd, the sheep, because they have a discerning ear and an obedient heart before God, where He will take them. And what I love so much about this is that they flee from danger and they dread from following any kind of stranger. They do not want to follow the voice of another, and that is for the church this day. We don't want to go in another way. We don't want to go even in our own way – only the way that God has given to us.

Do you understand the danger in not being able to discern the voices this day? For the world is trying to lead us astray—but God has called for us to be in the right path—to not be able to discern between good and evil in these later times, where even the elect would be deceived.

Do you have ears to hear the Lord today? For Jesus said, “whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” There were deeper insights. There were truths for those who truly wanted to receive and to obey God. And those truths would lead them to eternal life.

Maybe His voice has gotten very small in your life. Maybe it's very hard to hear His voice. Or maybe there are many voices going on. But this day, I encourage you to forsake all other voices and follow the One who will bring you to the path of peace.

Thirdly, we must understand that there is victory in the stillness of God! Victory in the stillness of the Lord. Stillness is not laziness. It is not apathy. It is not about not praising. It is not about not praying. But the Lord this day wants us to release control, the need to control the outcomes and taking matters into our own hands.

You see, we often make the situations worse because we're interfering with things of our own heart – fear, self-preservation, control. No good could ever come of this. In fact, with our eyes, you can only see the tip of the iceberg of what is truly going on.

Only God Himself knows the depth of what we face on the daily. Many of our struggles are a spiritual matter, where Satan wants to come against the people of the church and your families. And we must understand that the problems we face are of a spiritual nature. Ephesians 6:12, “For your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

We know that it is not just about a conflict face-to-face with people. It's not just about a boss. Truly, we have in this world darker realms, darker principalities that work against you because you are part of the Kingdom of God. And if, in fact, it is spiritual in nature, how can we face it alone? What power will you fight against Satan with? No, it is not of ourselves, but it is truly of the power of God that you must connect with so that He will bring deliverance in your life. Stillness brings deliverance! He promises to bring it in power, for he is mighty to save, mighty to rescue, mighty to conquer in our lives.

"He is mighty to save, mighty to rescue, mighty to conquer in our lives."

Be still and know that I am God, and you will watch the deliverance of the Lord this day. When Moses faced the biggest obstacle in his life, he knew this to be true more than anything. This situation, you knew it, Red Sea in front, Pharaoh's army behind. He is in a perilous situation and by the world's standards, he is toast. There is no hope for him. And yet he rises up in Exodus chapter 14, verses 13-14. And he says, “He answered the people and said to them, ‘do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance that the Lord will bring you today.’” Amen. “The Egyptians that you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.”

There is a command going forth to the church this day, and he says, “Do not fear. Stand firm and be still before your God.” In other words, don't panic. Still your racing heart. Dry out the sweaty palms. Relax the shoulders. For if you are still before the Lord, He will be mighty in deliverance. Do not fear. Do not respond to Satan's threats. But know that when God is for you, who could be against you?

The path of victory is ours today with starting with us today, giving up control. That which has had a hold on you that is stealing your peace this day, give it to the Lord. Stop the tossing, stop the turning, and give it to our God.

As we conclude, and we're coming to the end of this sermon, I just want to leave you with the parable of the sower. In that parable, we have the seed, which represents the Word of God, and the soil, which represents the hearts. Now, if you've been here a long time, I'm going to be nice, and I'm going to graduate you past the first two conditions of the heart. Right? Congratulations. But the threat for the church today, and where some of us risk missing out on it, is having the condition of the third heart.

It was the thorny soil, which because of the worries and the concerns of the world, it was choked out and was not able to be fruitful for God. And so church, we do have work to do this day. I am not willing to forsake what God has done, what he has poured in, the Word of the Lord, His salvation, the fruitfulness, salvation for our families, all because we could not give it to the Lord. He is mighty to save. He is mighty to conquer. He is mighty to take control of our lives.

I'm not willing to miss out because I am going to be that thorny heart, the one that just can't seem to overcome all of those things. For it's not your call to overcome them. We must give it to the Lord. And as the worship team comes up, I just want to give you this very last thought. Have you ever seen a movie thinking about the commander with his troop? Or with his soldiers, maybe a Roman army? And the commander will say as the enemy's coming, “Hold. Don't move. Hold. Or steady. Steady. Steady. Don't move.” And just at the right time, he says, “now go forth.” And they are able to win a great victory.

Be still, Church. Still your heart. Still your wandering thoughts. Still the mindset. Still everything that makes us not trust in God. We cannot trust Him just for salvation and think that that trust does not invade our whole lives.

This day, we will never be the same. If you are willing to transfer that control of your life and give it to the Lord. Or maybe today it's you with the other voices, to silence every voice that tells you that you're inferior. For no, God has chosen you from the beginning of time. He has anointed you and He has chosen you to be His from the very beginning and anything that comes against that truth must be brought low today.

"Search out that still, small voice in your heart and make it the resounding voice that you hear."

Silence the other voices. Search out that still, small voice in your heart and make it the resounding voice that you hear. “I am the Lord, and I have loved you, and I have given My life for you. I have died on the cross and shed My blood for you, that you would live and that you would live abundantly, that you would live in power, that you would be like Me, and that you would be a conqueror over every obstacle that you face.”