Staying Calm In The Crisis Pt 1 -Pastor Hope Carpenter

Come on, come on, come on. Give God some praise. In this place, hadn't God been good to you, he's been better to you than you've been to yourself. I'm coming into your house today. I'm gonna bring you a word. I'm gonna lift your soul not by what I say, but what the word of God says to us. So come on and give God praise. Stand up right where you are. Shout it out. You gotta give voice to your praise. You gotta give words to your praise. Just tell him how good he is. He' good to us. And Lord, we thank you for being good to us. Jesus, we love you. Be with us in this moment right here as we go into the hearts, into the homes of these people. Lord, just use this word, save, set free and transform. God, set us free to be everything that you've called us to be in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Guys, it's gonna be so good. So happy to be in your home today, wherever you are, all over the world. I don't know where you are, but I just know that the Lord told me to come preach this word and he was going to use it to set people free today. So today I'm going to talk about being anchored, having your soul anchored. You know, we live in crazy times, right? There's a lot going on in our world and we can get all flipped out. How many of you have ever just lost your emotions? From time to time, you just kind of like wig out on us, you know, Just flip a bird or say an ugly word or slap your children or throw a shoe or something, you know? No, none of y' all have ever done that. That's just us up here on stage, right? Okay. Tell the truth, shame the devil. But you know what? God wants our emotions to be anchored. He wants us to be men and women of God who have our emotions up under control even when all hell is breaking loose. I believe there is a place that we can live. There is a way that we can live. We can operate our lives in such a form, in such a fashion that we are so anchored in the word of God that we don't let our situations and our circumstances dictate how we react. Man, that's tough. I know you're saying, hope that's a mouthful. I know it is. Been there, done that, got the T shirt, ate the chips, all that stuff. Drank the Kool Aid. I know it's hard to live like that, but it is possible that we can live like that. So get your Bibles out, get Your notebooks out. They got theirs out here. Don't think they're texting. They're not texting. This is just how the cool new little millennials, you know, take notes. So here I am. I'm 51. I think there's one notebook back here. Beady has a notebook. Yay. But, you know, these people have their cell phones out taking their notes however you do it. Let's take some notes. Psalm 91 says this, and we got it on the screen. He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Stop right there. Go back. He who dwells. What does the word dwell mean? Yes, you stay there. Who lives there? He who lives in the secret place the most high God shall abide. Stay under the shadow of the Almighty. Next verse. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and he is my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Now, I believe that the word of God is alive. I believe that it's powerful. I believe that it cuts and it divides and it sets. And it shows you where you are from where you are not. It shows you the place that you are to where God wants you to be. It is challenging. The word of God is challenging. It challenges me every single day. And this word shows us how to be anchored, how to keep our soulish man anchored in the word of God. You know, our body is. We're three parts, right? We're body, soul, and spirit. Correct. We have a body, we have a soul, and we have a spirit man. If we're saved, it comes alive. Before you're saved, your spirit man is dead. But then when you become saved, you ask Jesus into your heart, your spirit man comes alive. It does not change what your body can do. It does not change your soulish man. Yet, just because you accepted Jesus into your life, the only thing that changed is that your spirit man woke up. He's alive now. He's aware. He's wanting to be in charge. He's wanting to lead. But for all those years, the other two parts have been in charge, the other two parts have been leading. So, you know, it should tell you right now that you're in a battle. You don't just get saved and you stop desiring sin. You don't just get saved, and your language changes. You don't just get saved, and you stop liking margaritas. None of that changes. Your spirit man just comes alive. And then when you're going through a storm, that's what I'm talking about. Challenges how to anchor your soul in storms. When you're going through storms, you have two choices. Your soul is going to speak to your body or your spirit is going to speak to your body. And usually you'll hear both voices. Your soul's going to start speaking, and then your spirit, Jesus, Holy Ghost, is going to lead you and guide you into all truth. But you have a choice which one you're going to listen to and which one you're going to obey. Right? So this is how I explain it. This is very elementary. This is the way I explained it to my children. You know, have you ever seen the old school scales? Both sides, okay? Here is your spirit man on one side, and your soulish man is on the other side. Okay? When trial and tribulation comes, whichever one is the strongest will be the one that's going to lead you. Okay? So how do you make it strong? It's which one that you sow into, which one that you feed. If you feed yourself secular things on television, if you feed yourself secular music, if you feed yourself secular Netflix series all day and all night, and that's all you listen to. You're never in the Word. You don't listen to Christian music. You're never in prayer. Who's going to win when trouble comes? Who's going to be the loudest voice? It is your soulish man that's going to win every single time. And then there is the battle. There's the frustration when you're sitting there saying, oh, man, I did it again or I messed up or. And you get mad and you say, the devil made me do it. No, the devil did not make you do it, Flip Wilson. It is not the devil. It is you. The Bible says in James, when we mess up, says we're dragged away by our own evil lust and desires. It's already on the inside of us. But see, that is why we have to take the word of God every single day. The Bible says that we renew our mind. Why? How? By the washing of the Word. By the washing of the Word. That's how you renew your mind. So the word of God is like soap for your soul. See, people say, well, why do I have to read the Word? Why do I have to be in the Word? It just doesn't make sense to me. It's soap for your soulish man. It takes the old way of thinking and it cleans it up. It challenges you when you open the word of God and you start reading it and you say, well, you know, when they tick me off I'm just going to give them a piece of my mind. Well, the word of God doesn't say that, it says. No, it says turn to cheek. Right? If they slap you on this one, I'm going to kick them in the back. No, the Bible says turn the other cheek. It says bless those who curse you. Oh, you would not believe the times God has asked me to send flowers to people who hate me. It's hard, it's challenging, it's powerful. It's like a two edged sword. It cuts and it divides and it washes your mind. Your old way of thinking, it is contrary to the way that the world thinks. It's absolutely opposite to the way the world thinks. So the soul speaks to the body or either the spirit speaks to the body and whichever is stronger, that's going to be your loudest voice. So most of the time what do we do? We allow our soul to speak to us and we just go off on whatever we think, whatever we feel, whatever we want. We're selfish. I know y' all aren't. It's just me. We're selfish. We want what we want, right? So we allow our soul to speak based on what we feel, what we think, what we feel, what we believe up to that point. So this is what we say, man. Struggle hits. I don't know what I'm going to do. I just don't know how I'm going to make it. We don't have enough money to pay. We'll never be a homeowner in this condition. Oh, I'm just scared to get out. There's too much sickness and disease out here. I'm just afraid. I'm scared there's a virus, I can't go out. I'm sick of this man. He will never change. So I think I'm going to get a divorce. I what voice is that speaking? That is our soulish man. That's what we think, what we feel, what we believe. But that's why we get into so much trouble. We are not led by the spirit of God. We are led by our stinking flesh. We're led by our flesh. We're led by our emotions, we're led by what we feel at the time instead of knowing what God's word says about that stuff situation and that circumstance. Listen, there is a difference in responding and reacting. There is a huge difference in responding and reacting. Reacting is flesh led, it's panic led. It is what if led, that is reacting. It's panic led. It brings fear. It's what If. But responding is always spirit led. It has peace attached to it. It is. I don't know what's going on, but this is what I know about God and what he says about my situation and what he says about my circumstance. It is not based on what you think or feel. It is based on what you know about the word of God and the promises of God that are yes and amen over your life. This is what I know. How many of you ever been driving on an icy road? Not many of you Californians have ever driven on an icy road. But other people all over the world may have driven on icy roads. And there are rules, okay? To driving on slippery, icy roads. And see, most people when they hit that black ice, they will fall into their normal instinct. They will fall into what they feel like panic hits. Ah, they start turning or hitting the brakes, right? That is not the rules for driving on icy, slippery roads, okay? That is a reaction. You hit the brakes, you scream, you go out of control. But the correct thing is a calm, normal reaction. You respond by steering in the direction of the skid. It's proven, it's tested. It's been tested on multiple forms of ice. It's been tested with different cars. It is proven that you turn your steering in the direction of the skid. It is taught and retaught. And this is the thing. No matter how many times you know it's true, if you continue to respond by what you think and feel, you will just be a reactor. You'll just be a reactor and God will never get a chance to show up in your life. It'll go from failure to failure to mistake to mistake. A learning experience over and over and over again. My husband always says this. There's two ways to learn in this world. Do y' all know what they are? By experience or a mentor? A teacher. And usually experience always brings trouble into our life. And it's harsh and it's hard. And you're like, man, I'm not gonna go through that again. Cause it caused me a lot of pain. But if we had a ment in our life, if we had a teacher who would teach us, we could avoid so much trouble. Guess what, guys? You have a mentor. You have a teacher. You have a guide. It is your manual. It is your blueprint. I've heard people say all the time, they say, well, there is no God to raising children. Man, I wish there was a manual. Yes, there is. We have a manual to raising children. We have a manual for our marriage. We have a manual for Our faith. We have a manual for sickness. We have a manual for trial and situations and circumstances. God's word is our manual. We just got to know it. We got to consult it, we got to know what it says. If you don't know what it says, you won't know how to use it. And if we know more about Netflix than we do about Deuteronomy. When trouble hits, you're going to skid. You're going to skid off the road on that black ice. I've done it many times. How many of you? No, not y'. All. Just me. Remember, it's proven, it's tested. This is how we are to respond. This is how when trial hits our life, when trouble hits our life, when anxiety hits our life, when panic hits our life, we are to respond in the spirit, like David did, by saying this, like the scripture I just read. I will say of the Lord. I won't say what Hope thinks. I won't say what Andrew thinks. I won't say what Jasmine thinks. I will say of the Lord. What does the Lord say concerning your situation and your circumstance today? Stop looking at what you see. What does God say about your situation? What does God say about your circumstance? What does God say about your health? What does God say about your marriage? What does God say about your money? What does God say about your peace? What does God say about your mind? What does God say over your life? Not what you think, not what you feel. I will say of the Lord, he is my strength. God wants us to direct our mouth to say what he is saying over our life, not what our situation and our circumstances. Proverbs 18:21 declares this. It says, life and death. Life and death are in the power of just your little tongue, life and death. So if we go back and examine everything that we said today, how much life are you speaking over you? How much life are you speaking over your family? How much life are you speaking over your children and your health and your situation and your circumstances, or how much death are you speaking? Anything contrary to the word of God is death. And it's the same force of faith, but it's putting faith in the negative. It's the same force that you would use if you did it positively. But you're putting the same amount of force in death over your life. I think many of us need a good muzzle. What you think till we get this down pat instead of a mass during COVID we just need muzzles in our mouth until we get this down pat? Because really, we are speaking Death into our life and our situation and circumstance. And then we get mad when it hits us, right? We get so angry when we have to walk out what we've already brought into our life. Jesus said this. He said, walk by faith. Never, never, never by reacting to what you think or feel. He said, walk by faith. He said, without faith, it is impossible to please me. If you are not stepping out in faith moves, if you are not calling things and situations in your life that by faith, if you are not looking at the situation in your life and saying, yeah, I might be going through hell right now in my finances, I might not have two nickels to rub together. But by faith, I am an overcomer. By faith, I know that tomorrow's gonna be better than today. By faith, I know that when I obey God and I sow and I give and I plant my seed, I know that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him and do what's right. And you don't speak what you see, you don't speak what you feel. You operate in faith. You got to shake yourself sometimes. You just got to slap yourself in the mirror and say, girl, you need to get yourself together. You need to get yourself together. You need to stop all this negative talk. You know, our self talk is so important. We hear about this in counseling. I went through many years of counseling. I even studied many years to counsel. Self talk is so important. You know, it really doesn't matter what other people say about you. It really matters what you say about yourself to yourself. Because you're bringing it to pass in your life. You're speaking it over your own. You're speaking out your own destiny. Every day you just need to look at somebody and say, you need to talk to yourself better. You need to step your game up, girl. You need to talk to yourself the way God talks about you, man, he thinks you're amazing. He thinks you're awesome. He laid down his life for you. He took stripes on his back so that you could be. Well, the Bible says it is his will that you prosper and that you be in help, comma, even as your. As your soulish man prospers. It's parallel whatever direction your soulish man, your mind, your will, your emotions, your intellects, your thoughts, your feelings are. That is the way your life's going to be. He said it's his will that you prosper. That's your money, that's your finances. That's and be in health. But it's always going to parallel your soulless man. It's going to parallel what you say about yourself. It's going to parallel what you believe to be true. It is his will. He wants so much for you. God wants so much for you. He wants you to soar. He says you're more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. He says you're the head and not the tail. God's got good things planned for you. God doesn't have one bad day planned for you. Not one bad day. He says I came. That you may have life and you may have it abundantly. Abundant life. But it's all in the power of your tongue and what you say about yourself to yourself. Your world will always parallel. God wants you anchored. God wants your soul anchored. Sure. Have you ever been out in a boat and they threw out the anchor? You could lay out in the sun. You could go get on a float. You could lay in the water if you held onto that line because you knew what. You weren't going anywhere. You were sure you were anchored, you were safe, you were secure. You. God wants your soul, your emotions, your mind, your. Your intellect, the way you think and feel to be anchored. But it's all in what you're looking at. It's all in what you believe to be true. What are you doing today to anchor your soul? Get out of the flesh. Get in the spirit. Balance your scales. Get them focused on the right thing. Get out of the flesh. Get off. Get off of Amazon. Get off of all the shopping networks and get some word in you that will anchor your soul when trouble hits your house. It is possible. You can do it. You can have an anchored soul.