Guest Speaker: Omar Rios
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So good morning everybody. How are you guys? All right, cool. Let's go ahead and start this teaching. Pastor Jerry asked me a while ago to go ahead and teach, and he said, hey, what would you like to teach about? And usually when. I like to teach or go over things with people. It's things that have really helped me impacted my. Things that have had a substantial change inside of my heart and in my mind, and one of those things was learning about emotions, about who you are in this world. How do you exist with these things inside of you that sometimes, honestly, it feels like we're not in control? Sometimes it feels like you're gonna go crazy because of all these things that you feel inside and you know, some of us are different. Some of us are more emotional than others, right? Some must have moments in time where we just feel them more. Intensely so, this is a topical message, but in a topical message, it's important to think about how a specific topic throughout the whole entire Bible is from the beginning to the end. You can see how this message, how this one topic carries on from Genesis. All the way to the Book of Revelation. So that's how we know when God is in that topic. How that's how God is in that word, how is God is in that message is that we can see it flow throughout the whole entire Bible from beginning to end. And we can see the examples that. That has, you know, the set in front of us when we read through his through his word. That's why it's important to read the Bible from beginning all the way to its end. Because we can pick up on these message. But when you just read the Bible a little bit here a little bit. There you go back and forth. You miss just man. You missed so many this big picture. The big pictures and you can see those throughout the whole Bible. So I'm going to be talking about what I could call the gospel of emotional intelligence. And it's something that's, you know, gospel means the good news, right. So this is the good news of emotions. This is the good news that we are in control, that God created us with emotions, that they're good, that they're not bad, but it's how we choose to direct those emotions. How we choose to use those for his service. For his glory and also. Some of the things that. We can do practical things that we can. Do on a day-to-day. That will help us be more aware that will help us move forward in looking for God, you know, because a lot of people like to think that like. You know, our emotions are like the weather. You know, there's they're there, but there's not much we can do about them, right, like, well, they're just there. It's kind of like the weather and this is something that my and my mentor, his name is Mike Davis. Really good guy. He he's the one that taught me all about this. He's the one that really. Showed me because before knowing this, you know I used to some of you might know. I come from like a really, really crazy church background and we weren't taught a lot. We weren't taught about how God's grace and how we can use our emotions, and I feel like a lot of people are taught that either because, you know, usually we have this understanding through our culture. Right culture dictates a lot on how we deal with people, how we deal with our children, how we deal with everything, money, everything. But when we come to Christ, we are new things. We are new creature, we are made new. We are made to be his image. So yet sometimes we still hold on to our preconceived notions of what some things are, right we still hold on to our culture. Like me Hispanic, you know, sometimes like, oh, I'm the man, you know, that's usually like the Hispanic. Thing I'm the man I lead. I'm gonna do this. You do this, you do that, you know. And so that's how we come in to Christ. We're saved, right? God cleanse us. God renews us. But some of those things, like we just don't hold on to them, right? Maybe because we don't know better, maybe because we haven't been taught. But God, he teaches us in his word that we are to no longer identify as our color, our race, our culture. We are to identify as his image. We are to identify as a believer in Jesus. That's who we're to identify as. And so we're all a work in progress. I'm a work in progress. That's why we come here right on Sunday mornings because we want to learn. We want to be better for our families. We want to be better for our children, for our friends, for our coworkers. We want to be better for God. We want God to use us. So we're here. All learning together and so it says in Philippians 1/6 and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in. It to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, so he began a good work and it's and it's with God's grace and our desire that. He will see it through. So, you know, broke it up into three points, just simple beginning, middle and end. It says let's go into our first point, which is created in God's image. Kind of a little bit of what I was telling you about before. You know, we're created in God's image in the Book of Genesis. Chapter one, verse 26. It says. Then God said. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. And God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. So when God created man, women, God created the heavens and the earth. It was all good, right? Everything was good. God created us with everything we are now. And it was good. So it's been good since the beginning. It's good now. So what happens is that. You guys know what happened next in the Bible, it talks about that the serpent, right came deceived men and women and got kicked us out of the got kicked us out of the the garden. And why did this happen? We were emotionally manipulated right into believing that we could become God. But guess what? God already had created us. Created US perfect, created us perfect in his way, created us very good. God had already created us with everything that we needed so that we can make the Earth the Garden of Eden. Like heaven, we could. Create a whole. So he created us with that, with that desire in our hearts he created with everything that we needed inside of us. But the problem is that. You know, we were deceived. We were manipulated into thinking that we could be God, that we knew more than God that. We could be like God's, and that's where I guess everything just started going downhill. It's still the problem today. You can see the world how it just is when people have this desire to be like God. When people have that desire to just. Create their own heaven on Earth. Create their own kingdoms here on Earth you can. See how the. World is just completely mad and completely destroyed. So God intended us to be his full representations on Earth, to mirror his celestial Kingdom. And so God created us with this free will he created with emotions curated us with imagination. You can see that also in the Bible. It talks about how the angels, you know, how when you read the Bible, the messenger is the angels, all these creatures that God has created. He also created them with emotion. He also created them with free will. I think Satan was able to rebel. You know, so he created them in his image too. There's a good example here. It says when the morning star sank together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So these angelic beings were shouting for joy. Joy is an emotion, right? They were all happy that when they saw that God created everything like wow, amazing. So you can see how God likes to mirror his image onto his creation, and there's tons of other examples you can just read throughout the Bible. And so so. God gave us free will, emotions and imagination. We are using them. Mankind has used them to blasphemy his name since then. Mankind has been using his imagination has been using his free will and his emotions to do what? To go against God, just read the Bible from beginning to end. All those examples of every single person that has been using what God has given us, his attributes in US. To just make a complete mockery of his name and in return, what do we do? We're destroying our communities. We're destroying our families. We're destroying ourselves because we are not. We're not realizing that everything we need God has already given to us. It's inside of us, but we just have to direct them using use them for his, for his glory, you know. So that's why Paul, he reminds us to serve God with all our members to serve God with all that we are. It's, he says in Romans. 613 do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. So what he's talking about here is that. We should have present our Members, our bodies, to sin as instruments from righteousness, right. So in ancient times the body was thought it was thought as being interconnected. So right now, through science and everything, you know we we have a full breakdown of the human body. We have a brain, we have a heart. And we understand these things scientifically. In the past, there was this understanding that your mind, that your body, your soul, was all one the. It was interconnected that your emotions like that's why sometimes you read in the Psalms that their emotions would come from their stomach, you know, and sometimes you read that your emotions would come from your brain. And sometimes you read that your emotions would come from your heart, because to them it's all interconnected to the Jewish mindset in the past. It was all interconnected. It was all one thing, because we are one thing. So our Members, that's why Paul says, our Members, our body, our hands, our feet, everything, not just the physical aspect of us but our imagination, our free will, our emotions have to be directed towards God. So our emotions are meant to be our allies, not our enemies. And how many times? Do we feel? Feel that we can't control ourselves, that we can't, that our emotions are out of control. But if Paul is telling us this, it's for a reason, right? If the Bible says something, it's for a reason. If the Bible tells us promises us that we should submit these things, that means it's possible. Maybe we just don't know how. Maybe we've never learned. Maybe we've never experienced that fullness, so how do we present ourselves to God? Again, Paul tells us in Romans 1212. Says I appeal to you. Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, and you and he reiterates that in Ephesians 2 he says again and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. So like I said. The word, mind, mind in the Greek is referring to direct our intellect, our will and emotions towards. So you want to be renewed, you want to be transformed when we come to Christ, Christ forgives us, he cleans us. He makes us new, right? But like I said in the beginning, it's still a work in progress, right? And God gives us the tools God already gave. Us everything we need. To continue being renewed. So how do we renew our mind? How do we come forward with him? The way we renew our minds is by understanding that we have control, that our emotions, that our free will. It's up to us that we have that power because God gave it to us and so it says we can direct our intellect and emotions towards the flesh. Or the spirit. It's the same emotion, but it's how we direct it that makes a difference. It's all about direction, you know, it's imagine kind of think of it like a car, right? You're inside your car and you can either do good with your car like you know, take your mom to the grocery store or, you know, take your kids to school. You can do good in it, right? But what can you also do? You can do. Evil with it. You can just easily see somebody walking and turn the steering wheel and take somebody. Out. That's evil. So is it the car that's the problem? No, it's not the car. It's the person in the car. It's the will. It's our direction, how we direct ourselves, how we conduct ourselves in that moment. So directing our emotions. So we need to learn the to differentiate between the feelings and emotions and desires. So like during it. In Christianity, the way I grew up, I'll give you an example myself. The way I grew up, I grew up thinking that and being taught in the old church that I was in that. There are carnal emotions and that there are spiritual emotions. You know that there are emotions or feelings that are of the flesh and that there are emotions and feelings that are of the spirit and that we can't do anything about it. And so I grew up with this mindset that well, you know, if I'm angry, there's. I can't feel angry because that's not of God, you know or no. I can't feel this emotion because you know that that's not what God wants. And so you kind of like, close yourself down. You kind of like, feel like, oh, you start praying. Lord, I don't want to feel that. I don't want to feel that. You know, because you feel like these emotions come from. I don't know. And something negative but. It all has to do with how we choose to direct them again, so we can say that, hey, you know that's, we can say, oh, that's a carnal emotion, spirit, joy. Well, that's spiritual, obviously, you know, love. Well, that's a spiritual emotion. Oh, well, that's a carnal. And so we we break these things down into categories. But in Romans 12/9 it says let love be genuine abhore what is evil? Hold fast to what is good. Amos 515 says we are told to hate evil and love what is good. So the Bible was telling us to hate. What is evil? But isn't hate a negative emotion? Isn't hate a bad thing? Well, like I said before, it's context, it's direction. God wants us to hate, and this word hate here refers to inner feeling of detail. Meant so detach ourselves. That's what the word hate means to detach ourselves from what is causing grief in our hearts, detach ourselves from what is causing pain in our hearts, and to love. Love what is good and love. He refers to a strong emotional attachment. And desire for something to be in your. Presence. That's why. You love God. That's why you love your children, right? You want to be in their presence. You love your spouse because you want to be in their presence. So to love and hate involves not only will and action, but also feeling and emotion. So we are to strongly desire what is good and of God and pursue it. So that's why and also in Romans 85 it says for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flu. But those who? Live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit so you can see here. That Paul uses. That word minds again right minds to set our minds on the things of the spirit, set our emotions. Set our imagination set our free will into the things of the spirit. There's lots of examples in the Bible. Of people using their emotions in a negative manner. Do you guys remember when David was up on the roof with Bathsheba? Right. He was up there on that roof with Bathsheba, and his emotions came in that moment, right? But he chose to set his mind, not just his intellect. Because he knew what was wrong. Right? I'm pretty sure he knew what was wrong. I mean, he wrote psalms he wrote like he'd been falling God for a long time. Up to this point. So he knew in his mind, man, this is wrong. So, but his emotions, his emotions. Were there, but he chose to follow them. You know, he chose to follow that. Pathway to sin and destruction. So it's very important. How am I using or directing my emotions towards and you can just think about it. Think about it. Right now, all the times you've read in the Bible and maybe even in your own life, you know, maybe even in your own life, how have been, how have you been using your emotions? How have you been directing them? Examples of like how. If your kids get frustrated at you, you know if your kids start just running around and doing things, how have you chosen to react to that? Remember, like I've said in the past, it's a choice. It's a choice how we choose to like you have free will, right? We all have free will and nobody complains about it. Well, I was. I was manipulated. Or I was like. Yeah, it was manipulated into doing this. You know, I was, I have no free will or the devil made me do a lot of people, you know, might say that the devil made me do it. We use our. Free will and we know we have it because we choose to do things. Maybe we haven't thought that emotions are the same thing. Our emotions are also a choice, and so how am I using them? How am I choosing to react to my child, to my spouse, to my coworkers right at work because? You know you might work with non believers and man sometimes you know it's just it gets it can get out of control. It can get out. Of hand but. Your example will shine a light. Your example on how you choose to be in that moment how to react in that moment to certain situations can make all the difference. Quick example like. And I'm still learning all of this. Mind you, I'm like I've been. I'm a work in progress. Just like all of you guys, right? But I've had a little bit more time to. Really think about what I say before I do. So there was this girl I remember one time and at work and this this young girl and she was working at. I used to work for for a soda company, Coca-Cola, and there's this big machine in the back that you have to load a bunch of trash. Cardboard, paper and things like that. And then it compacts it. So I remember that I was gathering all of my cardboard and leaving it there just because it was full. So I'm like ohh, just wait till somebody finishes, empties it and then I'll throw my stuff in. Well, this girl comes in. I don't know. She's maybe having bad days. She comes in and young girl and she. Just start like yelling at me, screaming like. Hey, what are you doing with? All this trash, I'm not your. I don't work for your company, you blah blah blah, you know. And at that moment, I. Mean, you know. You can choose to say hey, wait a minute. You know, start yelling back. It's the normal reaction, right? Because yeah, in that moment I got upset. I got upset. Like, why is this young? Woman yelling at me. I didn't do anything, man, so I'm in the right to yell back or to raise myself, but I just. I just chose. I thought about it and I got angry and I chose and I thought about like, wait. OK. I'd let her say her piece. And then I said, well, you know, this machine wasn't working right now, so I'm waiting for it to be empty. She's like, well, and she left. Well, the next day she comes back and she's like, hey, I want to say sorry and like for what? I forgot about it. It's like for what she's like because. You reacted in such a weird way, like you weren't mad. I was yelling at you. I was having a bad day and I told her and she said, well, why did you not yell back at me? And I said. Well, first of all, I told her I love God. Second of all, I don't know what was going on with you. You know, you don't know. Dog might have died that day and you were just upset. And you wanted to. Get it out on the world. So I just chose not to react in that way. She's like, she's like, thanks a lot. Was having a bad day and and that was that. Conversation, but I felt. That that had an impact on her. You know that that had a positive impact in her mind and in her heart because man, we don't always have to. Talk to people like hey, are you saved? Hey, are you saved? Hey, do you want to know about Jesus Christ? Knock on somebody's door most of the times in my life, I've experienced that. It's through our actions. It's through our words. It's through our behaviors that we really, really impact the life of somebody you know. That we really show God. Through us, we let God shine. We let his image remember. I was talking about. Images we really let. God shine through us to that person. Like I said, it's a choice, you know. I want to talk a little bit about the UM, how sin. So now that we know how to differentiate right between our emotions and we know that there are, there is no such thing as a carnal emotion and there's no such thing as a spiritual emotion. They're all emotions. Just like free will. It's just one solid thing. And think about right now in. Your lives about. How sin you know, missing the Mark sin. Separating yourself from God. How it's always precluded by an emotion. It's that feeling, that emotion, that you get that pulls you in. Remember the serpent? When he told Eve. It's like, could God really say that that doubt said you will be like gods, what did that stir? And Eve, what kind of emotion? Remember, David, when he's looking at Bathsheba. He had a choice, but what pulled him in that feeling? That lust, that desire. So think about it in your lives. Think about it, how all these sins that we've commit that you continue to commit, that we continue to commit sometimes like man, you pray and you pray and you pray God, why can't I get rid of this God? I've been a Christian. For 1020 years Lord, I want you. I need you and you praying. You praying. You pray God deliver. Me from this. Why am I like this? Why am I like this? Sin is always precluded by an emotion. What is that feeling that you get before you? I don't know. Drink a bottle of alcohol or get mad at your wife. Get mad at your kids, you know, yell. Be little people smoke. Lust all these things. What are those emotions that you're feeling? If you, if we can understand why? The why of why I'm feeling this. Maybe it's because, you know, you grew up, feel you grew up seeing that and it brings back a good memory. Maybe because you're you grew up in that environment. Maybe because, yeah, it makes you feel good. But just because it makes you feel happy doesn't mean it's good, right? It's a direction. It's going to make you feel happy. But what is the direction so that direction is what makes us fall into sin. Not sorry, not fall into sin makes us commit sin, and we don't fall into. We choose to commit sin, so we're choosing it. So think about it right now. Maybe you've been struggling with something. You know, they've been struggling with something and it's just it's so hard. It's so difficult to get rid of. It's so difficult, whatever it may be. If it's because there's no larger little sin, it's all sin. It's all just there, you know, and sin impacts our life more than we like to think. It impacts our marriage, it impacts our kids. It impacts our family, our neighbors, our community, our country, it it's it grows and it expands everywhere. So if you want this freedom, if we want this freedom from this sin that we can't get rid of, think about the emotion that's behind. Think about it clearly. Ask God to reveal God. Why do I like this? Or maybe you don't like it? Maybe you don't like it, but you do it anyways. Think about it. What's this feeling? What's this feeling inside of me that's making me do this? What's guiding me forward and God will reveal it to you. God is wonderful that if you pray for something, he'll give it to you. If you pray for Patience, Boy, will he put a lot of things in your life to make you impatient. You know he will. It's like God doesn't just poop. Here you go patient. Poop. Here you go, love. Poop. Here you go. This. No, it's more like you want patience. You want love. Let me put all these things so you can work on it so we can create it because we're all a work in progress right up until his Kingdom. So that's how God is going to reveal himself. To you and. If you want that, do it, do it. He'll show himself to you and man, once you are free from that sin. Once you're free from whatever it is that hate that anger, pain, pain is such. Pain is such a devastating emotion. That I think it's so not looked at. When we have pain in our hearts. That pain can lead us to do so many things. Man, that pain can just lead us to destroy ourselves. Lead us to addictions lead us to yelling at our kids, yelling at our wives, our husbands yelling at our family because we have pain and we don't even know why we have the pain and sometimes just feel pain might be pain through abandonment might be pain because your mother, your father treated you a certain way and you've never overcome those emotions. Pain because society doesn't see you the way you want to be seen. You can see that right now with all the youth, with all the craziness that's going on. You think those people are are are yelling are yelling in the streets and making all this commotion that. Because they're happy. Look at them. They're in pain. They're in pain. It's like it's like when you see a, when you see a feral animal or a dog that's in pain, you come up to it and he's gonna bite you because he's in pain. So where is this hurt coming from? Where is this her coming from? If you can. If you ask God, Lord, reveal to me. Where is this pain coming from? Why do I lash out when I don't want to? I know it's wrong. You know, but reveal it to me. Show me God is merciful. God is good and he will show you. But then it's up to us to put in the work to say, OK, I'm going to work on this. I'm going to move through this. So let's meditate, you know, let's meditate on that. Where will this emotion take me? Where are these feelings guiding me? Are they guiding me towards good things towards God, or are they guiding me towards negative things? That's why the Bible gives us examples. It says in Micah, one and Micah 2. Woe to those. Who devise wickedness and work evil on their on their beds? That word work is equivalent to meditating imagination with emotion. Genesis 65 the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the Earth, and that every intention of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. So again, thoughts of the heart. How can you think with your heart? To make sense, right? But it does. It's an emotion. So their emotions, their imaginations, was just evil continually. So you see how those two examples are negative? We're using what God gave us, our image, his goodness in us. We're using him for something negative. Now let's look at something positive. Philippians 48 finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just whatever is pure or whatever is lovely. Whatever is commendable. If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise. Think, meditate about these things. So he calls us, God calls us to meditate. To think about these good things. Romans 68 for to set the mind on the flesh is death. There's that word again, mind. But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. How many times have we wanted? To do what is good. But we just can't. How many times have we, man? I'm going to come on Sunday, man. I'm going to start reading my Bible, man. I'm going to start doing this more for God, I'm going to start helping out more. I'm going to do more. I'm going to do more. But our emotions aren't there. I just don't feel it. Because we haven't been setting our minds on those things because we've been doing other things. And so we can't, you know, we can't serve 2 masters, just plain. We just cannot serve 2 masters. Serve the world. The things of the world, and we cannot serve God. It's either or, and if you're stuck in the middle of man, boy is that hard. That is hard to do. Because you're split, you're split, and you're always going to live that Christian lifestyle of what if? What if I just? Just, you know, just gave myself more to God. And you want to and you're. Always being pulled. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we still love these other things more. We want them in our lives. I guess this is the human experience. I guess that's just the human. Our fallenness, if you will. You know that's just our our battle with the flesh, our battle. But that doesn't mean it has to win. Right? Battle in the flesh doesn't mean it has to win. So the last one it says Acts 16 about midnight. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. Do you remember that that part in the Bible where where Paul and Silas, they were beaten right for preaching the word, they were tortured and they were thrown in jail? Man, these guys have. All the reasons to be mad, they had all the reasons, all the reasons. When was the last time we were beaten for our faith? When was the last time we were thrown in jail for our faith? I don't think I've never have I made. Made fun of oh, there. Goes that Christian guy. Ohh God my heart, you know. There's those things. You know, Bible thumper or, hey, you. But man, when was the last time you were beaten because you were Christian? When was the last? Time we were mocked, ridiculed and thrown into jail because of our faith. You know, I know people in North Korea, China, places like that, they they'll go through that. But these guys, they just chose to sing. They had all the reasons to be negative to place that hate, that fear, the pain and the anxiety into something negative, but they. Chose to sing. Do you think it was easy or hard? I was thinking about that. Was it easy for them or was? It hard for them to choose them. Whatever it was, they did it. They did it and they sang and God delivered them. That's a good example, man. That's a good example of where I want to be to be able to choose no matter what the circumstances in my life. You know, to choose God instead of being bitter. So we can use our imagination for the flesh, but you can also use it for good. We need to learn to properly meditate. We've heard, meditate, I've heard meditate my whole entire Christian life, you know, meditate on the word of God, meditate on what is the Bible tells you to meditate so much. But what does it? Mean have ever thought about that? What does it really mean to meditate? To meditate on something. How many of you had had a fight with somebody who wasn't in the room with you? Think about it. You know what I'm saying? How many of you have had a fight with somebody who wasn't in the room with you? Probably driving on the way to work on the way to church today. Like man, you're all thinking already mechanizing things in your head when I get home, I'm going to think about, you know, I'm going to say this. I'm going to say that that's meditating, you know? That is meditating. How many times? Have you had an argument with somebody and then left? Man, I should have said this man. If I only said this, I would have gone him there and he would have said and they would have said and I would have come out victorious. And you think about that man and just think about it and you think about it, sometimes you don't want to, but it's there. You can't help it. Sometimes it's just there. That's meditating, guys. That's the biblical definition of meditating. Biblical definition of meditating is imagination is using pictures, sounds, words sense in your brain to meditate. That was a Jewish custom. The Jewish people. That's what they did. They did that since the beginning. To do it to this day, it's a Jewish custom to meditate in sounds, feelings, emotions, desires and will. That's what meditating is. And so let's talk about practical ways that we can use our emotions, things that help us. That's what I love about the Bible. So the Bible will give you. It won't give you a problem, but it'll show you something about yourself, right? It'll reveal something to you, but guess what? It'll also reveal to you the solution. If you read the Bible enough, it'll show. You where you're wrong, but. It'll show you the. God always does that. God just doesn't. God just didn't build you and say, there you go, guys. Go out into the world and figure it out. If you wanted to, you could build robots, but he created us in his image. He created us like him and he gave us all the tools necessary right to move forward. He gave us all the tools necessary to overcome all these obstacles in our world. Because remember, he overcame the world, right? We we can use meditation in a positive manner. We can meditate on what is honest, beautiful, virtuous. So instead of meditating on. Having that discussion with somebody in your car or at home or wherever with your kids, with your, with your husband, you know, get home and you're like Maddox, her husband. He doesn't even know why you're like, why you mad at me? Because you've been. Fighting with him for like 30 minutes on the way home. You know, so he doesn't even know and vice versa too. It works that way. You know, like I'm mad at my. I'm going to. And then you get home. Like, why are you mad? But uh, because I've been fighting with you for the last half an hour. So how can you use that in a positive way? What if I was to meditate? You know well, why is my wife? Why is my husband feeling like this? What's going on with them? Maybe they had a bad day at work. Maybe they're going through something that they don't want to tell you. Maybe they're feeling. Maybe your kids are going through something and you think, man, man, why are my kids? But if you meditated on. When I come home, I'm going to be loving to them. And you meditate? How can I be loving to them? Oh, I'm going to make them their favorite dish or I'm going to sit down with them and talk to them, or I'm going to sit down and watch a movie with them. Imagining the good things for them, right. That is how we overcome that is one way. A good way of using what God has given us, our imagination, our free will and emotions. To move forward into something. And I've experienced this many, many, many times in my life. I've done this so many times where. Where I'll meditate on what is good instead of choosing to meditate on what is bad, it's hard. It's difficult, of course, but what all but what things that aren't worthwhile in life aren't difficult, right? He suffered biggest example. He suffered died on the cross, beaten, tortured. But he died for us, the ultimate sacrifice. It was difficult, of course. He didn't want to do it. But he said, father, let your will, not mine. And sometimes man, we say let my will be done, not yours. And that's when we start going into problems. That's when we start going down roads of justice boom, one after another after another after another. So now we're just stuck in a hole and we. Can't get out of it and we don't know why. That's the reason why because we meditate on things that start good. So let's use that, Paul tells us to meditate on these things. Read the Bible. All the New Testament Old Testament. It's imagine things. And this is not. Some new age practice. OK, this is not some. Weird hippie. Imagine name it and claim it. Imagine you have $1,000,000 you meditate on $1,000,000 and these $1,000,000 will come to you. It's not that, right? It's completely different. I've done lots of research onto the new age, into weird things like that, and it's nothing like that. The biblical aspect of meditation is. God-given it's in US and it's for a reason. And just like everything else that. God gives you the world. Loves to manipulate it, right? God gave us. Meditation and the world says what name it and claim it right? Think of $1,000,000. And God will. Give you the secret man that was really popular a bunch of years ago. You know, it's like, oh, he had you just have to think about the things you want. In life, and God will give them to you. Or the universe will give you this again. And usurping, destroying, making filthy what God gave us. It's always the same thing, man. The devil just loves to work in that way. Manipulate, change, extort the goodness. The beauty of God. So like I said, it's always been a practice in Jewish tradition to meditate on God's law and word and the things of God, and remember that simply reading the Bible, simply reading the word is not meditating. We we you can read that you can read the Bible from beginning to end. Jehovah's witnessed to it. You know, Mormons do it. Lots of other weird cult churches do it. Reading the Bible is simply not meditating, grabbing that verse, grabbing that scripture, reflecting it. Imposing it into your own life and thinking and imagining, how would my life look if I put this into practice? How would my life look if I did this with my wife, with my kids, with my coworkers, with everybody around me? How would my life be that is meditating? So when we read the Scripture, let's meditate on. So meditate how you want to respond. How will be like if you're like, if your wife, like, if you love your wife like Christ, loved the church, your children, family and strangers. Especially the strangers, that's where it can get really iffy too. You know, people, you don't know, people just walk around the street, man. It's so easy to dismiss them. It's so easy to dismiss the stranger. So easy to just coworkers. People who aren't Christians. Sometimes we get stuck in the cycle of bubbles of being around only Christians. And we dismiss the stranger. So you know, we need to be loving towards them too. So if you want to know what you're meditating upon, you look at what you're doing consistently. Sports, movies, social media, politics, relationships. That's a form of meditation too. What are you constantly thinking about? What are we constantly thinking about? Hobbies are cool, you know, hobbies are fine, but what is your mind being consumed by? And then sometimes we like to complain. Man, I got all these problems or man, I have all these things going on. Why isn't God helping me? Where are you God and backslide? You know the whole well, God didn't help me, or God wasn't there where God wasn't. And we we, we, we we grab all of our problems and we toss them into God's lap and we fold their hands like a 2 year old. And sit down and say, well, God didn't help me. Meanwhile, we had all the resources. We have all the resources to do that. Look for the solution in God. I'm not saying that. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that. We don't need God. Of course we do. We need God. We need God to help us and to guide us. But I feel like so many of the times we put all. This unnecessary burden. On this unnecessary burden unto God, where it's something that's in our own control. We love to make our own problems, right. We love to make our own life miserable sometimes. And it's maybe we don't know. Maybe we just don't know. It maybe weren't taught properly. Maybe we haven't read that in the Bible yet. But God is teaching us right now, right? God is showing us. God is revealing to us through his word. How we do have that exercise of power, that free will, that emotional direction that we can choose to do these things with God's help with his grace, with his love and his mercy, we can move forward. We can't come out of these problems. We can. So another good way of using emotions in a positive manner is through memory. Memory is very important. This is my last point too. Memory is very important. Deuteronomy 717 it says if you say in your heart these nations are greater than I, how can I dispose of them? Remember when Joshua was trying to go into the promised land, there was so giants. There was walls, man. There was so many people. Moses was gone. Like, what's going on? It says you shall not be afraid of them. But you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh. And to all of Egypt that would remember. The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God to all the peoples of whom you are afraid they were afraid. But what did God do? What did God tell them? In that moment they were afraid. There were plenty of afraid and afraid is an emotion. It's an emotion. We can't help sometimes, right? A dog comes out. What is that? You know, we react, we react, but sometimes we tend to stay in those emotions. Something is happening to you in your life. Really, really bad. And you are afraid and you can't help but to feel afraid because it just comes. Out of you. It comes out of you. What did God tell them to do? It's right there. Says, but you shall remember what the Lord your God needs of Pharaoh. Remember all the wonders? Remember the great things that God did for you. So why are you afraid, man? That's pretty much what he's telling you. Like, why are you guys afraid? I'm with you guys, remember? So you have. There is no reason to fear there is no reason to live in this fear. Remembering moves your emotions and builds confidence. If you're here. God has done something in your life. Remember, in this moment, take a second and remember. Remember when you thought all was lost? Maybe you've been a Christian for 10 years. And it was something happened to you right in the beginning of your Christian walk. And that's what propelled you. That's what pushed you over to accept Jesus. Remember that in this moment. Remember those good moments that God has done in you. I'm sure we can if I ask every one of you. I'm sure everyone here has the moment in their life where God's goodness, grace and love was so overwhelming with so much. That he showed you that he showed you. That he was there. So what does God tell? Us to do remember that in those moments when you fear. David, remember how he killed the lion and the bear right before he killed Goliath, right? Remember that part where? Where it's like you're just the boy. And he said, man, I've killed lions and bears. Like, I've killed all these things. If God was with me, then he's with me now. And what did he? Do he went out and boom, he killed Goliath. Jesus said to remember his sacrifice every time he partake his communion. The Jewish people had Passover to remember what God did for them, and many other festivals. So when you're feeling anxious when you're feeling down, when you're feeling. Hopeless in pain when you're feeling like there is no out. Remember how God has been good to you in the past and he is faithful because he's God. He's not us. To always be there with you. Sometimes it might be in the way we want it, right, because we have like, oh, this solution is going to come like this. But God comes it through another way. For our sake, for our sake, because he knows everything. My sister recently was. She had a premature baby and I thank you guys for praying for her. Thank you so much for praying it. The baby is doing much well. She's in her house. She's screaming all the time. She's eating all the time. She's healthy, you know, and God is working through her and through my family. So I think you guys so much. But during those times, my sister said that she was going into labor and man, it was hard. It was hard. I was feeling anxiety. I was feeling fear. I was feeling all these emotions inside of me and my wife would talk to me. She's like, hey, it's going to be OK. It's going to be good. And we were praying together. And then I remember too. I remembered that I needed to remember, and I remembered. Hey, remember when God was with you? When your own daughter was going through medical problems, when your own daughter was, the doctor said she was going to be born like this, but she wasn't. Remember how God was so good to you? Then he got you out of that. And then I remembered when God pulled me out of my old church. And then I remembered when God delivered me from death. This time and then I I started remembering man all the good things that God had done in my life. I felt good afterwards. I'm like, yeah, man. God, I remember these things. So if you didn't abandon me, then why am I letting my emotions take control of me? To use me right to use me to think negative things. No, you're faithful. You're never gonna abandon me because you're with me. If anybody is gonna abandon somebody, it's me to God. And that's when people backslide. That's when people give up on God. That's when people give up on their faith because they have so many problems. They have so much anxiety, so much fear, in their heart. That these seem that there's no way out. So instead of searching forward and looking. Forward, they go back. Instead of remembering, instead of remembering how God good is, how good is God? Sorry, I have allergies terrible, so remember that. It says in first Corinthians no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can endure it. You know what the way out is you're choosing. You know what's the way out? You know, what's the way out? That's the way out. So don't choose fear. Don't choose anxiety. Don't choose pain. Don't choose any of those things. Our motions are God-given because we are his images on Earth. Remember, you have everything you need inside of you. God already gave it to you by existing by being a human being and walking on this earth, you have everything you need to overcome. We only have one set of emotions and we can choose how to direct them. There's no negative. There's no, there's no carnal. There's no spiritual emotions. They exist for a reason, and God created us perfect for that reason. So we can meditate on Word of God and recall to direct those emotions. So just start a little bit. At a time, right? That's how things work. How that's how we form habits. Just start a little bit of time, 30 seconds. So when you go home instead of fighting with your husband or your wife or your kids in the car on the way home in your mind because they're somewhere else. To meditate on what is good for them. Be intentional on a daily basis. Let's go out. And use our emotions, our free will, our imagination for the Kingdom of God. Let's go out and do this so we can serve him. And praise them with our lives. So we all have thoughts and feelings, but what are we going to do with them, right? So let's let's do this. It's 1155. I think we're still good with. Right. Michael, let's go ahead and pray. Let's end this. And if you guys have any questions, any concerns you guys want to learn more, I'm always free. I'm not an expert on this, I'm a work in progress like all of you guys and if you guys have seen me get mad, just tell me. Hey man, you. Got to meditate bro. Trust me, I will meditate. I will think of good things. Alright, so let's help each other out. Let's be loving. Let's continue working on this. So if you guys want to ask me questions or anything like that, we can get more information. Please come to me. There's books, there's things like that that you can read. It's all biblically based. I will never give you anything that's, you know, from the world. It's all biblically based. So come to me and talk to me. So let's pray. Lord, in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, father, I want to thank you so much for this privilege. I want to thank you so much for this opportunity, God that you have given me in this moment. OK. God, just thank you so much. I can't believe that you have given me this privilege, this immense blessing, to be here. I'm so blessed to be able to give a word of encouragement to all my brothers and my sisters. Thank you so much, Lord. I ask you that we can leave here with these things in mind that we can leave here with these things in our heart and that we can use them to affect our families, our children, our wives, our husbands. Our family members, everybody around us, can be affected by how we choose to display your image, how we use to display who you are in us. To the world. Thank you, Father God so much. Bless everybody that can everybody have a great day. A blessed day in Jesus name. I pray this. Amen. Thank you guys.