Churches in Royal Oaks

“Now prayer doesn't always fix the problem right away. Okay? And when I call the altar call, if you have a prayer need, come up. We're gonna pray for it. But don't go home and think, like, oh, my prayer was that my neighbor moves away. Don't think you go home and you find that your neighbor's all packed up and ready to leave. Okay? First, that might be the wrong prayer. Instead, if I pray, God, I hope my neighbor gets to know you more, and use me so that he gets to know you. Okay? But prayer doesn't always change our situation immediately, but prayer does change our perspective. It's the way you see the situation you're in. Prayer can change that. When you pray to God, God will begin to change your mind. Spending time with God reshapes our priorities.”

“Prayer produces peace before it produces answers. You have a worry? You have anger? You have doubt? Pray. And God's gonna give you peace before he even answers the worry, the anger, and the doubt. He'll give you peace about it first. God prepares us for the blessings before he provides it. You know, maybe you're not ready right now for the blessing that you want, but he's preparing you for the moment that you get the blessing. The greatest miracle of prayer is it always change circumstances. Here's the greatest miracle of prayer. Right? It's not just because your sir your circumstance changes. The greatest miracle in prayer is that your heart changes. Amen. Amen. When you pray, your heart begins to change.”

“A lot of times we treat prayer like an emergency button. I'm in trouble. Let me hit the prayer button. Okay. Father God, I need you right now. Right? Prayer was not meant as a lapse opt last option for us. Prayer was always meant as the first stop, the first invitation to get to know who Jesus is. Every worry is an invitation to pray. You have a worry today? Guess what? Pray. You know what, God? I'm worried about this. God, I got a bill due next week. I'm worried about that bill, God. Take this worry from me. And as I say, God, I'm gonna give the bill to you. And then let God deal with it. Let him deal with it while he's also dealing with you. But prayer is always the first invitation. It's not an emergency button.”

“``Sometimes we spend so much time asking God to change our circumstances that we miss, how he's changing us through that whole time. Prayer is not informing God. You know, God, let me check-in with you today just in case you don't know. This is what I'm going through. It's not informing God because he already knows. Instead, prayer is inviting God into the situation. God, I'm going through this. Step into it for me. Invite him into your worries. Invite him into your your decisions. Right? Before you jump in and make a choice, invite God into it.”

“But Paul begins with these words. Be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Notice. He doesn't say be strong in yourself. Okay? He doesn't say, okay. Now go lift weights and be strong in yourself, and you're gonna be able to beat everything. He doesn't say be strong in your experience. God's not waiting for you to have all the biblical experience in the world so that now you're ready. He doesn't say be strong in your talents. He's not waiting for you like, okay. Me fine tune all my talents, and now I'm ready. He's saying be strong in the Lord. You where your strength comes from? Your strength comes from God. Now I'm not saying don't exercise. Alright? I'm not saying don't don't, go fine tune your talents. I'm not saying don't go and practice your spiritual gifts. Do those things, but your strength comes from God. And then you go and you can fine tune the rest of it, but you always have to realize your experience will not get you anywhere. Your talents won't get you anywhere. But if you're strong in the Lord, that will get you everywhere.”

“Never leave home without your helmet. Never leave home without the breastplate of righteousness. Right? Never leave home without the sword of truth. Okay. Never leave home. You need all these pieces to be protected, and the kids learn this. Your children don't need stronger opinions. Now we live in a culture where you teach your kids, you have to have a strong opinion. Whatever somebody tells you, have a a better opinion than them. Your kids don't need that. When they go to school, they need the armor of god. They don't need stronger opinions. The world's full of opinions. And your opinion doesn't matter too much to another person that's out in the world. You have to understand this. Why? Because demons love opinions.”

“``So the world, though, looks for an impressive resume. Right? The better your resume, the better chance you got a good job. Right? The the the more pay that you could get. That's what the world looks at. It looks at your resume. What have you done in the past? God looks at what are you gonna do in the future. Whatever God's looking at, it's not even on your resume yet, but God knows it's gonna show up one day. You see, God's not looking for impressive people. He's just looking for people that are available, and Samuel was available.”

“The Christian life isn't a playground. You don't become a Christian, and now you're getting nothing but slides and amusement parks. Right? The only amusement park, part of a Christian life is a roller coaster because you got your highs, then you hit down lows. And sometimes those lows go real, real, real, real, real low. And then you hit a high, then you go back down to a low. But the Christian life isn't a playground. It's a battleground. Once you accept Christ as your savior, now you're a warrior for God.”

“See, God didn't just come in. Okay. You wrestled. You won. Let me give you better circumstances. God gave Jacob a new name. Jacob entered the encounter with God, and Jacob knew what his past had done. He left that encounter with what God has declared over his life. Jacob said, I am Jacob. Well, what's your name? I am Jacob. And God tells him, no. Now you're Israel. This is what grace does. Grace, it doesn't deny your past. Okay? God's grace, it doesn't deny what you have done in the past. Instead, it refuses to let your past define who you are. That's grace. It looks at your past. It refuses to recognize your past, and it does not your past does not have the final word. God does. That's his grace. Amen. That's what grace does.”

“Transformation does not mean you will never feel afraid again. Jacob was still afraid. He left as Israel, and still he had to go face his brother. His brother was still coming. God didn't make his brother disappear. His brother was still coming to meet him. He still had some fear, but fear did not direct his direction. He could have said, okay. I have fear. I've got a new name. I could hide. My brother will never find me, but he kept going towards his brother. He faced what he could not avoid. Some of us you today, some of us need to face what we can't avoid today. Yes. We need to understand that a new name must produce a new walk, a new identity must produce new obedience, and a new future begins when we stop returning to our old patterns. After encountering God, you should not keep walking in the same direction.”