Your Deepest Fear Is Not That You Are Inadequate

TRANSCRIPT

So we've been in this thing at the movies and we started with Ice Age and of course that that movie was really all about me getting to the point where helping you understand the mission really, really matters. It matters to God because at the end of it, it's about lost children. His lost children help having being helped back into relationship with him.

But at the same time, the dynamic is when you fully embrace. Mission. You actually go from an outsider to an insider. You become part of the team, you become part of the family, and then we just. People look at us and go, well that is just a really weird herd, but it does seem to work. And then of course, Pauline talked on hook last week and you, if you didn't see that, you should go and have a look at it.

Uh, that's helping us understand, you know, like we could do this mission, but we have to learn to fly. And if you're not careful, life can cause you to forget everything that's important. Forget who you are and what you can do. And when you lose that position, everybody suffers. So today I wanna talk a little bit about how do you practically, uh, or what are kind of the key components to making sure we don't end up in Peter's case and make sure that we fulfill the mission.

So this come might come as a surprise to some of you. Uh, in my previous church that I was the associate pastor, they actually used to call me Peter Pan. They used to call me Peter Pan because they said I was the little boy that would just never grow up. I refused to grow old in my thinking. It can't stop the aging process, as you can tell, but you can refuse to grow old in your thinking.

Now the the dreadful thing with that, if you think you're someone like that, is that you feel like you don't actually belong everywhere. And every time you come up with something, you come up with something new and nobody likes it. So therefore it's like everybody kinda like drives you down and you feel like you, after a while, you just don't belong.

You feel like you're trapped. I actually felt like that as a pastora. God called me to pastor a church, but my idea of what I thought a pastor was, I was just gonna teach people how to love God and love each other and go make disciples. But then when I got into the system. The religious system of churches, I did not do well because I just felt like everywhere I looked there was something that was like keeping me down and stopping me from going somewhere.

And then it frustrated me because it seemed like good people were getting hurt in this system. Uh, but nobody seemed to either, could see that it needed to change or wanted to change. So it was frustrating like that. So I had this feeling of like, I know the mission, I know what I'm supposed to do, but I'm powerless to actually get there.

So that's what the film is we're gonna look at this morning called Coach Carter. It's a true story and it's about some young men in Richmond that play basketball, but these young men, they are trapped by invisible forces. They're held hostage to mediocrity. And Coach Carter has graduated from this school.

He's made some success in life and he's been asked to come back and help these young men, and when he gets there, he discovers incredibly gifted athletes, extraordinary guys, but they're living like they've got no potential whatsoever. They have a glass ceiling that is over them. They're stuck. These boys, they're stuck in a system.

They're stuck in a story. They're stuck in a narrative that has been delivered to them that they've grown up in. Not of their own fault, but they're stuck in it and it's Christ created this glass ceiling that they cannot seem to get through. What they needed was a coach. So lemme talk a little bit about glass ceilings.

We all have glass ceilings. Some of you'll have had a glass ceiling at a time when you've had a job and you thought it was gonna go a certain way and this is a great job. And then you realize it's not going that way and there's no way to go forward. There's no way to go back. But I got mortgages and I can't get out and I'm stuck.

And glass ceiling, I don't know how to get through it. You can get glass ceilings in relational patterns. In Ipswich, I, uh, counseled a young lady and she'd had three bad boyfriends, I think three in a row, bang, like drugs, alcohol abuse, three in a row. Like, she's like, what are your magnet for these things?

And we finally sat and we talked and I said, something is wrong here. And she said, yeah, it is. And I don't know why. I don't know why, but I keep picking these guys. And so I sat with her. I said, tell me about your dad. And she goes, my dad talk to me. I never want a guy like him. He's abusive. He's a drunk. He is this, and he rattled off in the middle of talking it through.

She went, oh my gosh, I've got this glass ceiling where all I keep seeing is my dad. My dad. So every guy I pick is like my dad. See, our subconscious is a very tricky thing to work with. It doesn't pick. Up on yes or no. It picks up on the emotive thing. So her completely saying, man, I don't want a guy like my dad.

Subconscious goes, oh, I'll get you a guy like your dad. And that's the way it keeps going. A glass ceiling. You can get glass ceilings in versions of yourself. Some must me think like, man, I was so, so bad at soap devotions last year. I'm gonna do one every day this year. I'm gonna do a whole year of this.

I'm gonna be so good. Four days in, it's all gone. Glass ceiling. Why? Why do I keep getting stuck? What keeps stopping me? Churches get it. Churches get it. We hear, we come here, we hear about the power of God. God's power. We sing about victory and freedom, and then we go home and live under the struggles and the glass ceiling like the Richmond boys with all our potential, but we're living like we don't have any potential.

So you can have a theology, which is a belief system about God's power, but you've gotta have the opr, an outworking of that power. Otherwise, it's just theory, it's just knowledge, and it doesn't do you any good. Now, our enemy doesn't need to stop you from learning and getting knowledge about God's power.

He doesn't care. There's podcast, there's books, there's articles, it's everywhere. He doesn't care about that 'cause having the knowledge is not enough. What he is gotta do is stop you from accessing that knowledge. He's gotta stop you in a belief system that makes you think you can't go there. He can't, he, he just, he's not worried about convincing you that God can do miracles.

Like you read your Bible, you see miracles all the way. I know God can do miracles, but he puts this thought process in. Yeah, but he's not gonna do miracles for me. Why would he do miracles for me? I'm not worthy of that. See, the Richmond guys knew that Champion teams existed. They knew they were there.

They seen the trophies on the wall. They seen the names of great players, but they didn't believe that they could ever be, that team didn't ever believe they could be it. So power was available, but there was a gap between what was possible and what they believed.

For those of you that's been in church life for a while, we just started our sub devotions on the Book of Acts. Acts is about the birth of the local church, how it came about, and how the function was. It was written by Luke, who was a doctor. He also wrote the book of Luke and, uh, he, he liked to write orderly accounts so the people with a little bit more education that are looking on could really understand that this is a legit thing.

But anyway, if you look at acts as you read it, you're gonna see there's healings, there's miracles, there's transformed communities, there's supernatural power and you're gonna read it and then what you're gonna go, yeah. But that was then, that was then, and that was them. It's not us. Why? Why not us? It's a belief system.

It's a glass ceiling. The problem is we haven't embraced the coach and we haven't found our place in the team, and we haven't submitted to the process that is essential to break through glass ceilings. God's got a lot to say about this. Coach Carter did not give these boys potential. They already had it.

All he did was help them see it. He helped them see the potential. And then he helped them believe it,

and then he taught them how to access it. And that's exactly what God does with us all the time. You gotta see. Think it's one thing, then you gotta believe it. You gotta actually believe it, but then you gotta know, how do I access it? How do I actually make it happen? Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus.

He's been working with them, helping 'em understand who they are in Christ and what are some of the traps and that to look out for, and it gets towards the end and he prays this prayer over the people. And I want you to catch it, and I've, I've kind of paraphrased it downward to the section, so for the sake of time, but this is what he says.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Now just stop right there. Your heart sees it has eyes. And when you're enlightened, that's, have you ever seen someone that's trying to figure something out and they can't figure it and then they close their eyes and goes, oh, I see. Well, how can you see?

You just close your eyes. There are eyes that look in the natural world and there are lot eyes that bring enlightenment. So he says, I'm praying that your heart would be enlightened. What for? That you may know. Here's incomparably great power for us who believe so. The most important thing in this for you, if you're sitting here and you don't know Christ, is that you won't be able to see that 'cause it's only for believers.

You must first believe. Then you get to the point where you can actually see otherwise you got a glass ceiling that's sitting there that actually stops you from even seeing God keep going. The power is the same as the mighty strength that God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead. Now, let me ask you a question.

When it comes to power, what did Paul pray? Did he say, God give them power? No. What did he say? He said, I prayed that they may know the power. It's already there. Particularly if you started following Christ, it's already there but you can't see it, or you can't, or you can see it, but you don't believe it for whatever reason.

'cause you've got wrong beliefs and you have no idea how to access it, but you already have it. You're not waiting for it. It's already yours. It's above the glass ceiling. So you, this is why you, you can have that glass ceiling, and then this is why people can say they have power, but they don't have any expression of that power within their lives.

It's like, I hear you saying that, but your life looks completely different. So they don't know it's there or they don't believe it's there or they can't access it. So early in the film, coach Carter brings the team together and he gets the boys together and they have this conversation and he says, what's your plan?

What's your plan for for life? Out beyond basketball, they don't have a plan. And he says, well, if you don't have a plan, you're just planning to fail and to be a statistic. And he's trying to highlight to them in that meeting, there is a difference between your potential that you want and the expectations that you have.

And so he does something really radical. He tells them You have to sign a contract if you wanna play basketball in my team. And they are upset. One guy bolts, he's out of there, Mr. Cruz, and we'll talk about him in a minute, but then he says, and your parents have to sign this too, because he realizes that the problem is not in the kids, it's actually in the parents.

So he gets 'em to sign this thing and they have to, to maintain an academic average of 2.3 or whatever it is in their grade, uh, if they want the privilege of playing basketball. Well, the one guy, Mr. Cruz, he's a drug dealer and he is a very angry young man, and he's very disrespectful. He thinks he can intimidate and strong arm the coach.

And, and so he kinda like, takes a swing at the coach. And so the coach throws him up against the wall and uh, he pulls the trick there. They all do today, who teaches aren't supposed to touch children. And coach just says, I'm not your teacher, I'm your coach.

And so he's not backing down. So he gets tossed out. He gets, he gets tossed out, and then what's left, coach Carter starts to work with and he starts to develop them. And he's starting to say, and he says, look, okay guys, uh, I've, I've seen you games. It's terrible. Basically it's terrible and, and he's basically saying to them, I can't even teach you guys.

You are so bad. I can't even teach you the fundamentals of basketball until you get in shape. So he says, here's what I want you to do, run. And they have to run suicides where they run one and touch the floor, and then they run back, back forth force and they, and they start running and they're exhausted and they're going, how?

How many suicides are we gonna do? He goes, let's see how many you can get done in an hour and a quarter. And they have to run, and they have to run and they have to run. And that's all they do is just run. And they're so frustrated because now they have to play their first game and they haven't practiced anything.

They haven't practiced anything and they're in their first game and they're feeling terribly under-prepared. So let's have a look at this first clip and see how the first one goes.

I know you're all concerned that we didn't work on our offense during practice. We have all season to do that, but what did we do in practice? Mr. Stone

Run.

That's right. So what do you think I want you to do on offense tonight? Run correct. Again, I want you to run. I want you to run every second. That clock is ticking all game long.

Excuse me.

Him

up right there. Oh yeah.

He's out of the game. Oh, Ralph, that's a stiff file coach.

Time,

sir.

Thanks.

Out is a jump ball. Damn

it.

Time out white. Come on fellas. Come on. Huddle up. Come sit up. Get over here. Alright, huddle up. Huddle up.

Carter, you're in.

Well coach here a freshman.

You want a coach? Alright, take a deep breath guys. Come on.

Deep breath. You tired?

No sir. No sir.

Those guys are exhausted. That's why the guy's gonna miss that free fly when he does worm and la. Our first option, push the ball. Go hard to the hole. Everybody attack the board. You got that?

Yes sir.

Alright. Richmond on three.

1, 2, 3. Richmond.

Holler. Let out. Come on. Here

we go.

Step it up. Let's go. This

is

live out there. Go God. Alright guys, you're in better shape than they are. Push it box out. Box out one shot.

Come on.

All he had them do was run. They won the game just simply 'cause they were in better shape. The other guys were out on their feet. Hmm. That's interesting. What an interesting place to start.

Perhaps, maybe, I don't know. Perhaps we can't do mission 'cause we're outta shape. Perhaps we're outta shape. Like our mission is to partner with the Holy Spirit. Teach people to love God. Love God, love others, and make disciples. That's the great commission. That's what Jesus said we have to do. No church, every church will have a different version of that, but that's the basic thing.

Our important part is who are we partnering with? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our coach. He's the head coach. John penciled down for us to remember something that Jesus said. He said, when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He'll guide you into all truths. Now, if you've made the decision to follow Jesus, you already have access to the greatest coach around.

He's right there in you. The question is, are you believing him or are you believing lies? Mr. Cruz that got thrown out. He realizes, oh, this coach is serious, and something is going on here. They're starting to push through. They're starting to bump through this glass ceiling. So he comes back with his tail between his legs.

He wants to give back on the team, but he's about to learn some more things from this coach. Things like consequences. Perseverance. Let's have a look at another clip and see how it pans out for Mr. Cruz.

Don, man, let's review the Hercules game, shall we?

Yo, y'all out my number, sir?

Uh, Mr. Worm, you were five and four.

No, sir. I have 12 points in eight assist, sir.

No sir. Mr. Worm, you had five turnovers and four miss free throws.

Now we're talking about fundamentals here. Until we learn them. I'm adding a practice every morning at 6:00 AM We shot 56%.

Mr. Cruz, are you lost, sir?

What I gotta do to play

Mr. Cruz? You do not want to know the answer to that question. Now, as I was saying, as a team, we shot 56% from the line. From now on before you leave my gym, you must pay an exit price of 50 made free throws before you can go. That's everybody.

Come on. That's a lot of free throws.

Okay, Mr. Cruz, before you can play on this team, you owe me

2,500 pushups. And 1000 suicides.

Damn. Damn.

Oh, and they must be completed by Friday.

He ain't finishing that by Friday. He ain't making

today's flavor offense. Now we talking now I have a sister. Her name is Linda. Linda is smart. She's political. Well, actually she's radical. Linda's got a big Afro. Linda is our pick and roll offense. Before we get into that, let's warm up.

Gimme a layup line. Let's go

battle. Let's do it. Hit this thumb. Damn. How many sisters he got? No.

Get two more over here. Go bring it out. Let's go guys Energy. Guys energy. We got this. Let's go. I'm open. Got I got him right here. Right here. I'm open. I'm open. I Alright. Alright.

Hey, hey, hey.

Come on. It's come.

He was early. Yes, it's important to move without the ball, but you gotta be patient on the weak side screen. Set up your man and come off his shoulder hard. Okay? Okay. Switch it

up. Come on. Do it. They call out them pics. Yeah. Alright. Damn. Move up.

What is your deepest fear, Mr. Cruz?

God

that you're inadequate.

Give up Mr. Cruz. Go home.

God.

All right. I want seven passes before you shoot. Seven.

Alright. I got it. I got it.

You know your task is impossible before Friday. Right.

In there. Yeah. Man, Bob show.

Hey, hey, hey. You know, get to your man stand. Watch the ball when the ball goes up. Get his good defensive position. Get your body on you, man, and explode to the ball. Alright, let's go. You got it.

Do it.

Pull your rubber. There you go.

Bring it in guys

up. Go hustle up. Yo. Bring it in, y'all luck.

Alright, that's it for today.

You have a game tomorrow, so get some rest tonight. And remember, ties and jackets tomorrow.

Mm-hmm.

Clay.

Mr. Cruz,

I'm impressed with what you've done, but you came up short. You owe me 80 suicides and 500 pushups. Please leave my gym. Thanks, Clyde. Gentlemen, see you tomorrow.

I'll do pushups for him.

You said we're a team. One person struggles and we all struggle. One player of triumphs, we all triumph. Right.

I'll do something. I'll run suicides too.

I do something too. Alright,

quiet. Let's keep counting. Call me when they're done.

There's so much in that, so much in that they're learning discipline and Mr. Cruz has to learn that there's consequences and there is some tough love to be there. But he, the coach is so clever because he gave him an impossible task at the start, and he knew something would happen out of that. They would either form and become a team or it'd all be over, and the result was, of course, they all jumped in and they all began to play a part in it.

I wonder how often we just. We are not accessing our team and we're not even being good to each other in team. Sometimes we allow each other to get away with things we shouldn't allow each other to get away with. We allow us to do things that we know things are not helpful to us and we should say something, but I don't wanna say something 'cause I don't wanna upset and ruin the relationship.

And then by not putting tension on the relationship, you could actually ruin a life as a result of this. They start winning everything. This whole thing turns around and everybody is so happy, and then something happens. The coach discovers that academically, the boys are failing. They haven't fulfilled their commitment to maintain their 2.3 average.

So he does something that makes him really unpopular. He changed the gym, gym up and says nobody is allowed to play basketball until the grades come up. Man, everybody is so unhappy. The parents, they come out, there's a wall. They're just angry at him and just saying, you can't do that. Basketball is the only thing our kids have got.

And which he says that's the problem right there. You think that's the only thing they've got? He said, you've got a system in here that is encouraging these guys and setting them up to continually fail. And he says, what is the point of winning at basketball if you lose at life? And so he holds this tough position.

He said, no one plays. You can get tutors in here. We're gonna do that, but nobody's playing a game until you get it up. He's a very unpopular person. Do you know Jesus does the same thing? Do you know what I mean? Yes. We come to Jesus at the start and it's like, oh God, help me, save me. Do this, make me do that, gimme this.

That kind of thing. And then Jesus comes along and says, like, I, I, I get all that stuff, but I'm gonna show you who you are. Do something better, who you are. And in Luke chapter 10, uh, Luke. It's, it's worth reading at some stage. Go on. Ready for self. Luke chapter 10, he's, he's sending out 72 of his disciples and he says, I'm sending you out on mission.

You know you're gonna be able to heal the sick, cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom. So he's giving us some authority. He's sending them out, they're on the mission, they're doing the thing. Anyway, they all come back and they are so excited because they're so excited. Why? Because the demons have actually like run away from them, bow down to them.

And Jesus' response is very interesting. Towards the end there, he says this to them, he said, I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy. Keep going. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that what your names are written in heaven. He's saying, don't get caught up on the stuff that you do.

You are not what you do and what you do, you only do because of whose you are. Who you are in Christ. So you're not powerful just 'cause you can go cast our demons. No, no, no. You are powerful because you belong to Christ. That's where it is. That's what's beyond the glass ceiling. Your powerful there and he's trying to help us understand it, like the coach trying to help them understand it.

Identity plus discipline equals breakthrough. He's forming their identity entity in something greater than what the whole of society has decided is. That's enough for you. You might win a few basketball games and that's it.

Hmm. Do you know the stats were on Richmond? The stats were that 80% of African American males ended up in prison. That was the stats. He was coming in, he was up against one in about six or seven, went to college out of this year of seasoned with his guys. He had, I think six of his team actually went to college and further careers and was successful.

Six of them. He helped them break through the glass, glass ceiling and Jesus does it to us. And there's a very specific thing that you need to understand and remember and keep in mind if you're gonna break through the glass ceiling. And it's found in, in Romans chapter eight, where Paul's talking to the church in Rome, and this is what he says, if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, let's stop there.

What's the most important part of that first statement? Which word is the most important spirit? I would say to you, it's if, it's if, if the spirit is living in you that raised Christ from the dead. If so, if you don't know Christ and I'm not being disrespectful and you're on your journey, you are exploring, you're gonna have problems.

Because if you don't have the spirit of God in you, you won't be able to punch through the glass ceiling. 'cause we human beings have a glass ceiling called sin and death and brokenness, and we're trapped under it. And we can't break that. That's gonna come from him. But if you receive GR price and you start to follow him, this says if.

The spirit that raised Christ of the Australian, then he who raised him from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. We're all looking for healing. We're all looking for stuff where he's saying this is part two, and it's contingent on part one. It's amazing because the spirit lives within you, the coaches helping them get in shape.

That's the first thing. Teaching him how to run, how to run, get your energy levels up, get fit for the job. Then he teaches them the fundamentals, passes, plays shooting, but mostly he's teaching him how to be a team, how to function, be a team that's a family. It's the same for us. The Holy Spirit wants the teachers to run, teach us to run.

Some of us don't do mission because we're just too tired. I don't have any energy. Go do mission. I had to do something weird for mission last night. I had a young lady said she would come and visit our family gathering. If I went to line dancing and danced,

I did it. Why? You become all things to all people. I don't care how I get someone to come and hear about Christ and hear about God's love them. You do whatever. But you gotta be fit enough. I only, I only did I dance and a half, just so you know. That was, that's all I could get out. I thought, man, I'm outta shape.

But part of the things that put us in shape is our family values, not just words on a wall. They form us and when you start to live them out, they come out of you and then you have to then display them to the world around you. We had a, an incident where three. E-bikes, which disrespectful little fellas around the house and chasing the other boys and around the neighborhood.

And Anita had a bit of an altercation with 'em, and then I had to come out and I'm thinking, we have to handle this. Well, they know what we're gonna do and we're gonna do this, this, this, and then we're gonna do that because they know what it's about. 'cause they're all over the place. But how do you try and do it differently?

How do you live different values so you don't escalate it? That's the part you, that's part of being in game ready and staying in your soap devotions, that you're sitting at Jesus' feet every day. So he's speaking to you and he's given you the plan of how to punch through the glass ceiling. That's really important.

And then up all the way he's doing that. He does it in community. And then you learn to be a great team together. Coach, head assistant coaches. Our assistant coaches are us. The Holy Spirit's, the head coach, and then we coach each other together in community. Why it's so important to do this thing in community.

And that's when you get breakthrough. That's when you breakthrough. Now these guys we're almost through the ceiling. They were almost through it. Uh, and then the parents did weren't happy with the coach. They did a run around him and they got to the principal and. Got the change taken off the gym. And so coach did what he said he would do.

He said, I'm not gonna buy into this lie. This is terrible what you're doing. I quit. And so we'll pick up the last, last clip where he's actually just picked up his stuff and he's heading out through the gym one last time. As he's exiting the building. Let's see what happens,

sir. They can cut the chain off the door. But they can't make us play.

We've decided we're gonna finish what you started, sir.

Yeah. So leave us beat Coach.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us. It's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Sir, I just want to say thank you.

You saved my life.

Thank you, sir.

All of you

where Mr. Cruz actually delivers that speech to that poem at the end, that's that particular thing that coach has been asking him all along. What is your deepest fear? And no one, none of the players knew what it was. And then eventually it culminated in this. But his, him saying that was for him because this particular guy, uh, he was in the drug trade and he had a cousin in the trade.

So what led up to this final thing was the fact that, uh, his, a drug dealer had gone bad and his cousin had been shot and and killed. And so he kind of died in his arms. So his covered in Blade doesn't know where to go, so he goes to the coach. And that's how he makes his way back into the team for the second time.

It's amazing. He taught them, he's been teaching 'em how to see differently. And for us it's to see that incomparably great power that's there, and then to believe that it's actually is there for you. But you gotta have some determination. You gotta have some persistence to break through, and it is discipline.

Discipline is the thing that makes the differences. That's what it's Mr. Cruz's big issue was his uncertainty about the future. He was terrified of the unknown and what might be if I actually believe that I could change this circumstance. So, so he stays trapped in the narrative that they're all trapped in.

But this time now they've found the way out. The coach has helped 'em find the way out. So let me ask you a question.

Knowing this, that there is great power for you above the glass ceiling breaking through, would you still stay trapped in an addiction thinking that this is it, I'm just stuck here. I could never get out of this. Would you allow, still allow anxiety and fear to dictate to you what you can and can't do, and someone's put a label on you or would you punch through that?

Would you punch through with discipline to something different? Would you still allow someone to say, well, you are not qualified. You don't have the qualifications to do this. Would you stay trapped in there knowing what you know now? That there is this incomp comparably great power available to you now, not something you gotta work towards.

If you are in Christ, it's now the Holy Spirit is the coach. Galatians tells us Now we, since you have the Spirit walk in step with the spirit, but you can only do that if you will do the discipline of getting in shape. If you'll regularly spend some time in Jesus round the soap devotions and journal it down.

Some people say it's, oh, it's so simple, and I'd rather read other people's revelations. That's just silly. That's just silly. That's like me going to a restaurant and saying, I'm not gonna buy my own meal. I'll just wander around and eat a bit off everybody's plate. That's disgusting. You think of what is that?

It's disgusting. You have to sit. At Jesus' feet and allow the Holy Spirit, the coach, to speak to you directly, your revelation. 'cause that's the only thing that will change you. Once something happens in here and you get it. That's what gives you the grit that's necessarily to discipline yourself, to allow that great power, then to flow through you to change.

Your circumstances. That's what all of bits and pieces that we have. Soap, devotions, family gatherings, where you get to learn different plays, and then villages, you get together and you outwork those plays and you find different ways of doing things and living mission and our values. All these things are designed to turn us into a team, a family, a weird mob.

I guarantee you feel like you're part of a weird mob, but that's kind of how it is. So I'd like for you guys this week to identify one glass ceiling. One glass ceiling in your life right now that you know, man, I am believing this narrative, this thing that's been spoken over me my entire life, and that's it.

I'm done. We're not doing that anymore. And then pick the discipline, the play that God shows you, and you will break through. You will break through. And you'll experience that power because we are all trapped. All trapped under sin and death. If we don't know Christ, if we have received Christ that's taken away, but we are still trapped out of our families of origin and the areas that we grew up.

And probably, I'm gonna take a punt that most of us probably didn't grow up with. Healthy approach to relationship with God and healthy witness of that. We probably grew up with a little mix and match and not so good. So lemme read to you the full poem as for closing. This is it. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It's our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, or fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world we were born to make.

Manifest the glory of God that is within us and in everyone. As we let our light shine, we give others permission to do the same. As we libert liberated from our fear, our presence then liberates others. This is how you break through. This is how we achieve the mission that we're called to achieve. This is how we don't get trapped like Peter Pan in a substandard life.

'cause he's forgotten who he is and what he's about. It's identity and discipline that brings breakthrough. What a cool series. Huh? What a cool series. When God spoke to me about those three movies, I, I, I got the first two. But I didn't, I couldn't really land on what he wanted to do with this one, and I kept saying, I'm gonna switch this last one around.

He said, don't you dare. He said, don't you dare. I felt the coach going, mm-hmm. You don't do that. So, and, and now seeing it and then experience working through it. I get now why he tied it up like this. This positions us perfectly for the word for the year. Next week. God wants, so three movies. Ice Age, got a mission, get the kids home to our Heavenly Father.

We do it as a team. We become out from go from outsiders to insiders inside hook. Don't become like Peter Pan. Don't forget who you are and don't forget what abilities you have and live a substandard life. 'cause everybody then loses. And then Coach Carter, you gotta coach. He's saying get in shape. Don't, don't worry about all the fancy, apologetic stuff.

Just get in shape, run, start running, get in shape. Then learn the plays, the basic plays. There's only a few basic plays. Your soap devotions is a very important play for you sitting a Jesus feet living mission. Learning how to share the faith that you've got with others, a port and play family values.

Things that hold you rock solid and make you look different to anybody else in the world. Those all help you punch through the glass ceilings of unbelief that you have that has been put on you by previous generations. And as we are liberated, we get to liberate others and help them find Jesus. So no more living under the lies of what you think or what you've been taught.

Allow the Holy Spirit, allow the coach to discipline you and push you through. Into above the glass ceiling. Where's this incredibly incomparably great power that is available to all of us? Let's pray. Father, I just thank you that, uh, the way you position our hearts and, uh, it's perfectly in the space for next week now where you want to go.

Help us understand that most of us have got a narrative that has been spoken over us over our lives. And if we're not careful, if we believe that narrative, we will sit in a substandard place instead of allowing you to break us through and live above that glass ceiling. Lord, you're the coach. You are the coach, you're the head coach, and we acknowledge that we need each other 'cause we need assistant coaches to help us and process things and learn to do the plays and that.

So Holy Spirit, my prayer is that you would just help us just to learn to trust you. And Lord, if there's anyone here that's never surrendered their life to Christ and you're watching online or in here this morning, what a great way to start the year. Get rid of that ceiling there. The ceiling of sin and death and brokenness and separation, and just decided, you know what?

I'm not doing that anymore. I'm gonna trust Jesus. I'm gonna follow Jesus. I'm gonna acknowledge I'm broken, and I'm gonna trust him to put me back together better than I ever was before. So I'm just gonna leave you in a prayer before, um, Sienna's gonna sing that song. Yes. Again, it's a prayer I pray on a regular basis.

Prayed at first time at 21. And then probably once a week, depending on how things are going, and it's a prayer that just goes like this. I'm just gonna pray it slowly. And if you are in the room or you're online and you say, you know what? I want 2026 to be different, then you pray this alongside after me, and then God will come.

He will meet you, and things will begin to change. So this is my prayer. Heavenly Father, I know that I'm broken. And I know I cannot fix myself. I am so grateful that you sent Jesus to punch through this glass ceiling of sin and death that I may enter back into a relationship with you, that I might then reach my full potential and live a life that is above the glass ceiling.

So Holy Spirit. Please come into my life now. I surrender to you as my Lord, as my savior, as my king, and then knit me around people that are gonna help me be coached to continually break through in areas where maybe my thinking is seriously holding me back. So Holy Spirit, have your way, we pray in Jesus' name.

Just allow the team to sing this over you and allow God to speak to you about what's the ceiling that you're gonna deal with.