Pastor Hope Carpenter Fearless 2019 Conference

Fear. Fear. Thank you, Brandon. Fear. What is it? Fear. What is fear? We're all afraid of something, right? Me personally, I'm afraid of rats. Do not ever play a rat joke on me. You going down, somebody's going to get hurt. Rats, spiders, what heights. You know what you're afraid of. But that's not what I'm talking about. Those are chemical reactions that cause fight or flight, right? God gave you those reactions. That's a God given thing. That is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the spirit of fear. The spirit of fear that comes to paralyze your potential. You know the difference? Think about it. Now think. Think about how you feel when you see a spider. But think about the spirit of fear when it grips you. When you know God is calling you to do something and God wants you to be something and you're scared to death and you feel paralyzed. That is what I'm talking about. The King James translation for fear is the word timidity. The root word is what? Timid. And that comes from the word intima. Fear is the same as intimidation. When you're so convinced that you won't win that you don't even try. I've been there. Have you been there? It's like being bullied. Have you ever been bullied? Right, that's. The enemy's job is to put intimidation on you to keep you paralyzed so that you do not become what God has destined and ordained you to be. What lie have you believed to be the truth? That's a stronghold. That's what a stronghold is. I told them today in lunch, it's not fangs and fur up in the heavenlies. A stronghold. Demons all over. You know a stronghold is a lie that you've taken to be the truth. Like this. You were told you were never going to be good enough. You were told that your brother or sister's grades were better than yours. So you must not be smart enough. See, that's a stronghold. That's a lie that you've taken to be the truth. That's not the truth about your life. And that is not what God says about you. But that is the spirit of fear that comes to intimidate you and keep you locked in a box so that you never break out and become who you're called to be. That's what we're talking about. And I want you to do this out loud. I want you to say, the devil has lied to me way too long and I'm about to break free. Come on, do it. One more time. I'm about to break. One more time. The devil has lied to me and I'm about. Oh, you about to get it. The devil has way too long. I'm about to get mad. Come on. The devil has lied to me. I'm about to take my earring out so you can't fight with your earrings in. I'm about to get mad. Don't make me take my pins out my hair either. There's a story in the Bible in Second Kings, and Elisha the prophet was sending warnings to the king about where to go and where not to go to set up camp. And this made that king so mad because he was like, who's telling him what we doing? Well, Elisha is a. Okay, duh. He knew. So he's telling this king, said, don't go over here and set up camp. Don't do that. So the king got mad and he sent an army to surround Elisha. And Elisha's servants came to him, afraid. What do we do? What do we do? Look at all these big people. Look at all this around us. And Elisha said, lord, open his eyes so that he can see that there are more faith for us than are against us. Lord, open their eyes so that they can see that there are more for them than are against him. Well, their eyes were open. He's not talking about their natural eyes. He's talking about their spiritual eyes, their eyes of faith. Because, see, in the natural, they had a situation. You know what I'm saying? In the natural, they had a situation. And if you looked outside your bedroom window and you saw a gang of thieves outside your bedroom window with modern knives and guns coming for you, yes, that's the situation, right? That's what they were dealing with. He said, but, Lord, open their eyes to know that there is someone fighting for them, that they cannot see that we don't battle flesh and blood. We don't fight people. See, we think we fight people. We think we fight our mama and our dad and our husband and our children and our boss. We don't fight people. The enemy uses people. But we don't fight and we don't war people. But see, this is where we mess up. This is where we mess up. This is where the war starts. It's the enemy's job. It's his job description. John 10:10 says, the thief comes to what? To kill, to steal and to destroy from you. And if he was not doing these things, he would not be a very good devil. He is living up to his Job. It's the devil's job to put things in front of you that intimidate you. He's your adversary. He's your foe. He's your nemesis. The one who puts stumbling blocks in your way. The one who orchestrates sickness. The one who orchestrates rebellion in your children. The one who orchestrates temptation. He uses all the issues of life to make you have broken focus. Broken focus. And guess what? He usually has us wrapped around his finger, right? Think back over your life at how he just. He gets you good, right? You lose your temper and you say, man, gosh, how did I do? Why did I do that? How did I do that? Because you have an enemy, you have a foe, you have a nemesis who does that. Who taunts you, who pushes you, who makes somebody just get on your last nerve. You in this godforsaken San Jose traffic. And people, I call them. I'm not going to tell you what I call them. Well, I call them bandits. They traffic bandits and they will cut in front of you. Whoo. I said, lord, keep me near the cross because somebody is about to get hit on their bumper. Little things like that, just little things to grate your nerve. That's the enemy's job. And see, then we're told by God. This is what he tells us as born again Christians. He says you are to walk by faith and not by sight. Why? Because he knows the enemy's tactics. God knows how the enemy works. So he warns you not to get intimidated and distracted by it. But to do what? To look to the things. What? Not to look to things that are seen, but look to the unseen and pull on the word that's on the inside of you to fight the enemy with the word. Okay, so here's the problem. Problem number two. If you don't know the word, then you going down every single time. You have no weapon to fight the enemy when these things happen. See, that's. That's. We used to call them spooky Christians, but it really is how it's supposed to work. It really is. You don't have to be weird, you know, to be saved. I believe that with all my heart. But seriously, when the enemy comes, the only way to stop the enemy is with the word. And I'm not talking about the devil dressed up in a red suit and a pitchfork. I'm talking about when the enemy comes through your husband, when the enemy comes through your job. When the enemy comes through traffic, when the enemy comes through your children acting just like their daddy. So here's what happens? Something happens. Problem issue. Temptation. It causes intimidation. It causes fear. And so you have a choice. You have a choice to fight with the word of God or focus on the negative and the obstacle right in front of you and be defeated. And if you have no words, you're not going to win. Bottom line, the Bible says, hide God's word in your heart so that you don't slip up, so that you don't get messy, so that you don't slip. And do you know what? Whatever you do, for instance, your tire goes flat. Oh, man, I can't get ahead for nothing. Bill comes, I just ain't never getting out of debt. I just. I give up. I'm never getting out of debt. Fight with your husband. My husband will never change. I'm in a ball and chain relationship. My husband ain't never gonna change. I'm too old. She's too old to get in shape. I'm never gonna find a good man. See, we start saying, she wants a good man. Somebody put your hand right over here. She wants a good man. Boaz, come forth in Jesus name. The rest of y' all who want one say, boaz not broke ass. Boaz, not drunk ass, not drug addict ass, rich ass. Boaz, come forth in Jesus name. Hallelujah. So be it. Jesus. Look, I got bills, you got bills all God children got. Somebody gotta pay them. Might as well be him, right? I'm sorry. I ain't sorry. I'm for real. See, that's what we do. We start saying what we see. And we are commanded not to live by sight. We start saying out of our mouth what we see, start saying what we see, doing the direct opposite of what the word says to do. So we're in direct obedience. So how can God bless a disobedient child? Born again Christians living by sight, not by faith. How foolish are we? How different would your life look if we knew the word and we operated in it on a daily basis? How different would your health be? How different would your mind be? How different would your attitude be? How different would raising your children be? How different would your marriage be? How different would your sleep be? You have a promise. The Bible says I will lie down and I will sleep, and I will sleep in peace. The Bible says, sweet will be your sleep and undisturbed will be your composure. You do not have to toss and turn all night. Sleep. Speak the word over your sleep. Sweet will be my sleep and undisturbed will be my composure tonight. See, that's the word of God. But the Enemy comes to keep you up at night. But you got to know the scripture, you got to know the word on it. I got word on it. Not five on it. I got word on it. I got word on it. I got word on it. Hey, you can live like that. I believe there is a life that God has planned for us that we haven't even tapped into. We haven't scratched the surface on. We have not even tapped into it. We know more about Mork and Mindy, those of you who are my age, than we do Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You can quote every song by Prince and Michael Jackson, Jay Z and Beyonce, but you can't quote five scriptures. And you want to know why God hadn't blessed you. People think I'm weird because I don't listen. Although I used to listen. See, I used to know. I got found. I used to know it, but I don't listen to that anymore. I don't even watch TV because I know how important it is, what goes in here. Because I know what goes in here is going to end up here. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, speaks. And my mouth is what's making my life the issues of my life. Looking around the issues, you got issues. You know, the issues you got, they came out of your mouth. Oh, look at somebody and say, she beating the tar out of us tonight. She beating the tar out of us. Bible says a parent chastens those he loves, right? And I want you to be everything God's called you to be. I want you to have everything God wants you to have. And you're not going to have it when you're lazy and you don't know the truth of God's word. How different would your lives be if you knew the word and operated in it? What would your life look like on the other side of fear and intimidation? Think about it. What could your life look like? What would you do with your life if you weren't intimidated and an immature Christian? You know what? I got so much cellulite on my thighs, it looks like hail damage, but I don't hate it bad enough to do something about it. It's the same way with our life, our spiritual life. When are you going to hate the situation and the condition that you are in right now that you are willing to do something about it? Y' all looking at me real mean. I know it's harsh, I know it sounds hard, but see, when you're about to die in the er, what do they do? They have to come and do a shock treatment on you to bring you back to life sometime. We need that in our life. There's a life of freedom that God has called us to that only comes from knowing the truth of God's word. See, we want 16 steps to freedom. We want a financial class. We want a marriage conference. If you knew the Word, you know how to treat people. You know what forgiveness is. You know how to speak the truth in love and not cock your neck and snap your finger and throw his stuff out and all that stuff and call him names. See, if we knew the Word, we already got our manual for life. And we would know how to trust God. When everything we see is opposite. See, we get so frustrated and flipped out. When everything we see is opposite. You have to understand that is his job. That's the enemy of your soul. We are in a war. We are in a war. That's why the Bible tells us to put on what our armor. Because we are in war. And if you would learn this, you would get up in the morning and you would not be caught off guard because you already know. You already know what's about to happen. So you ready? You're armed with the word? Come on, Satan. Come on, Satan. I'm ready for you. Whatever you throw at me today, I got you. I see you. I know the word. I know how you work. I know what you gonna do when my husband gets home. I know how you work. And I'm ready for you. Instead of being caught off guard and flew, oh, I can't believe this happened. Why can't you believe it? You have an enemy who hates you, who wants to destroy you. Jesus. Jesus paid way too high a price for your freedom. It's almost like a slap in the face to Jesus when we do not rise to the potential that he's put on the inside of us. He paid way too high a price for your healing. He took stripes on his back on the road called the Via Dolorosa, called the way of suffering. Why? So that you and me would not have to suffer. The price for healing has already been paid. There's a piece of paper in your seat. Little piece of paper, white piece of paper. Nicole Crank did. She almost stole my sermon this morning about shut her down. There's a piece of paper and I want you to write down what's holding you captive. What's holding you back from being the best version of you. The best version of you. What is it? What's holding you back? Is it bitterness? Unforgiveness? Shame? Death of A loved one, and you blamed God. You got stuck in a divorce. You never transitioned out. You got stuck in grieving, addictions, feeding the flesh, sinful habits, laziness. I could keep going all day. What is it that's holding you back from being everything that God wants you to be? And most of it is this. We're just flat out lazy and immature. We don't want to do what we know to do. If you've been raised in church any amount of time, you know what to do. This is not news to you tonight. Some of you, it might be shock treatment, but it's not news what's holding you captive. And I want you to write that down. You ain't got to think about it. Y' all looking at me like, what is it? Hmm? So write it down. It could be two or three things. It doesn't matter. It's not that. I just want you to get it out. I want you to say it out of your head or onto the paper, being honest. Say, this is what I struggle with. This is. This is what I'm dealing with. And we were going to go out tonight at the after party outside, and we were going to have fire burning, and we were going to burn it. But it's a no burn day in San Jose. Thank you very much, Devil. I said, I got plan B. So that box that's out there, where that girl's been in the box the entire time, with all the labels on her, that has kept her bound. The ushers are going to take up these tonight. They're going to take them up in just a minute, and they're going to take them and throw them in that box. And when it's not a no burn day, the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. Stop right there. I'll Instagram it for you. So what does the truth of God's word say about you? What does it say? It says that you are more than a conqueror. You're not just a conqueror. You are more than that. You are more than a conqueror. You are the head. You are not the tail. You don't belong at the back of the line. You belong at the front of the line, favoring compasses around about you like a shield. I believe I walk in such a favor that whatever I need, God's going to give it to me. If they turn me down at one bank, I'm going to another, and they going to say, my God, I don't know, your papers don't even look good. But I'm going to give you the loan. That's who God says you are. You are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath. You are the lender and God does not want you begging. You are supposed to be the lender and not the borrower. You are strong and you are not weak. You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you not in your own strength, but in God's strength. With God you can do anything. His truth is your shield and your buckler. Do you understand what that means? The truth of God's word keeps you. It shields you from harm. It shields you from sin. He is your shield and your buckler. Hebrews 13 says, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. Fear what what man can do to me? Hebrews 13. The Lord is my helper, I will not what man can do to me. Psalm 91 says, Whoever dwells in the city, secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And I will say of the Lord what He is my refuge, he is my fortress. In him do I put my trust. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots. But we trust in the name of the Lord God Almighty. Do you want to be free from fear? Do you want to not be moved by what you see? Who have you believed in? Have you believed the lies of the enemy about your life? You are not who your grandmama says you are. You are not who the school teacher says you are. You are not what your grade book says you are. You are not what your bank account says you are. Even if you got a good hefty bank account, God says you're more than that. You're more than that. I believe that it is my call, that it is my mandate to raise up fearless women who know who they are in Christ. I've lived in intimidation. I've lived beneath. I have lived bound by fear and anxiety where I was on a treadmill of performing and I was whoever, whoever wanted me to be at that time because I was fearful of being rejected. But he who the Son sets free really can be free. You can be free. I have people look at me and say, I just don't know if I can be free. The devil is a lie. You can be free. But I'm going to tell you this. It's not going to come by you coming to an altar and me putting my hand on your head and shamalama ding donging and you falling out and getting back up and ain't nothing changed. This is a work between you and the Lord. This is not anything I can do for you. This is what you got to do for yourself. You can't get my cellulite off. There ain't no cream made who can get my cellulite off. They lie to me at Estee Lauder. They lied to me at Dior. There ain't no cream you can rub on this butt that'll make it stand up. There ain't nothing, nothing, nothing. Except for me to get in the gym and me to get busy. Get busy, get busy, get busy. There is. God's not gonna do it for you. You can't come up here and cry and pray because you got high blood pressure, but you cram McDonald's down your throat every day. I'm not praying for you for high blood pressure till you lay off M Ds. You got to do it yourself. I done got mad, it's true. Because we're lazy. We want everybody to do the work for us. And Jesus said when he got off that cross, he said, it is finished. Period. Everything has been done for us to live victorious. And we've got 66 bags of seed in that. Word of God. It is our life's manual. People say, there ain't no manual on how to raise kids. Yes, there is. It's the word of God. There's not a manual to how to have a happy marriage. Yes, there is. It's the word of God. There's not a manual on how to get out of debt. Yes, it is. It's the word of God. His word leads us and guides us. His word is a lamp unto my feet. It's a light unto my path. What does a lamp do? It turns the light on so you can see clearly so you don't stumble in the dark and you don't stumble and mess up in your life. It is the light that leads you and guides you in your life so that you can walk without stumbling. Who wants to walk without stumbling? Who wants to quit tripping up all the time? It's only by the truth of God's word. I know this. I'm passionate about it because I saw it work. In my life, I have never read more books than I have read in the last seven years. Never. I have become a bookworm. I am a nerd, officially. I spend more money on my mind than I do anything else I do. I spend more money on my mind. I pay for counseling. I go to conferences. I read books. I do podcasts. I am constantly learning every great Leader I know is a reader. If you're not a reader, you need to become one. You say, well, I don't like it. Sorry, I can't help it. You need to be a reader. I put books on my Instagram all the time. What I'm reading, you say, I don't know what to read. I got books on my Instagram. Go. Follow me. Pastorhopec. I can mentor you from afar. We can't mentor everybody one on one. But until you become a lifelong learner and a lifelong reader and a disciplined person, God can never move you from where you are right now to the greatness that he has on the inside of you. You can't be lazy and be great athletes who are wonderful. They're not lazy. They've practiced their field and they've practiced their sport over and over and over and over. Musicians who are great do not just wake up one day and come sit down and can shred a guitar. No, they take lessons, they practice. They're great. They're disciplined. And Christians who are great know the word of God. It is our life. There's not a. There's not a formula I can give you to be fearless, but there is a formula I can give you to be everything God's called you to be. To have everything God wants you to have and to do everything he's called you to do. And that's being a disciplined, obedient Christian. Period. Come on, ushers, I want you to come get these things. Are you ready, ushers? Have you got your papers ready? They're going to come pick them up, they're going to come dump them out. And we have something so exciting to show you. And after that, I'm going to meet every one of you outside. I want you to get out there as quick as you can. We're going to have an after party. We got sparklers, we got fun. We're going to dance it up and we're going to have a great time. We're going to do the cha cha slide and all that good stuff together. Good and sweaty before you go home. Lord, I thank you for every woman in this room. We all deal with things, God. We all deal with things. We all have our own issues. Private. Some of them are out there for everybody to see. But, God, I thank you for their obedience tonight and their courage to step up and to write these down and say, God, I give them to you. And God, I'm going to do my best to not believe the lie of the enemy, but know the truth of God's. Word and what it says about me. I'm going to be willing to fight, going to be willing to have my weapons ready so that I can be an overcomer. I thank you, God, that this has been a life changing conference, that you've done things that we have not seen and you're going to do things that we'll continue to see weeks and months from now. I thank you, Lord, that when we gather here together next year for our conference that we're going to look different, that our marriage is going to look different, that our health is going to look different, that our bank account is going to look different, that our attitude's going to be different. We're going to be sweeter and nicer and kinder and more patient and loving. I thank you, God, that you love us so much that sometimes you send hard words to shake us and jolt us. I pray for every woman in here tonight who's hurting. Who came here hurting. God, I've been there. I've sat in rooms like this and felt like I was levitating over a crowd because I just felt like I was so numb. I wish that I could feel what I saw other people feel. I wished that I could have a tear running down my face like other people had. But God, I didn't even feel. My heart was so hurt and my heart was so calloused that I didn't even feel so. God, I pray for those women in here tonight who. Who might be in that situation. God, I pray that you'd pour in the oil and the wine tonight that you would let somebody breathe life into them. God, that you would do something that no man could do for them. That you would crack open those dark places and those heavy places and those hurt places and you would send real friends and real genuine people into their lives to love them back to life. Thank you, God, that you are very close to those who are brokenhearted. You're close. You're right there. You're right there. Wrap your arms around them tonight. Wrap your arms around them. Let them feel your presence. Let them know that you hadn't left them. Let them know that they hadn't gone too far. God, do it in this place.