In “Stop Talking To Yourself Like That,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church pulls back the curtain in our minds to reveal how negative our self talk has become – and how we can get back to seeing ourselves as God sees us.

Jesus was not driven by their opinions;
he was steered by the will of his Father.

Are you? Are you? If you’re not, you’re
going to be tossed and driven with the wind,

and your emotions are going to ruin your life, and
your cynicism is going to constrict your wisdom.

First John 4. Where do you come from?

You don’t even have to answer. I’m going
to answer it. Are you ready for this?

This is 1 John 4:4. I love this
Bible verse. I’ve quoted it a lot,

but I don’t think I ever understood it until this
week. First John 4:4: “You, dear children, are

from God and have overcome them,
because the one who is in you…” It’s

hard for me to say this like I want
to say it. It’s so powerful to me.

It reminds me of a lady. She came up to me
one time after I preached. She had a deep

Southern accent, and she said, “Aren’t you
from Moncks Corner, South Carolina?” I said,

“Yes, ma’am.” She said, “I’m from Summerville,”
which is only 20 miles from Moncks Corner or so.

That’s where my rival high school
football team is, the Summerville

Green Wave, so I said, “Well,
I won’t hold that against you.”

You know, that little small-town humor, you
know, give her that little Moncks Corner… I said,

“Well, I won’t hold it against you,” because I’m a
Berkeley Stag and they’re the Green Wave. I said,

“It’s all right.” She said, “Well, then I’ve got
a question for you if you’re from Moncks Corner.

Why don’t you talk like where you come from?”

She said this about my accent, but I
want to ask this about your attitude.

I just read you a Bible verse that said you
are a child of God. So why don’t you talk

like where you come from? You come from God.
You come from royalty. You flow from his side.

Talk like where you come from! Watch this. Let the
weak say, “I am strong.” I come from strength. I

come from the Rock. I come from the well. I
don’t come from Nazareth. I don’t come from

Moncks Corner. I didn’t come from Larry. I
came from the Lord. I have an inheritance.

Give God 20 seconds of praise

like you know where you come from! You are
a royal priesthood! You are a holy nation!

To declare the praises. Anybody can describe
the problem. To declare the praises.

It doesn’t take faith to be cynical. It doesn’t
take smart to be cynical. It takes faith

to contradict your circumstance
with your confession.

She said, “You don’t talk like you’re from
Moncks Corner.” Some of y’all don’t talk like you

know his blood was shed for you. You
talk to yourself like you’re worthless.

I’m not even talking about what you say to
other people. I’m talking about how we talk

to ourselves. I’m talking about the inside voice.

God said, “Let us make man in our image.”

You were made in his image. Paul
said you are God’s workmanship

created in Christ before the world got
started. What gave Jesus the authority

to focus on his assignment and what’s going
to help you do it as a mom, as a man, what’s

going to help you to still know who you are even
though the addictions you carry say otherwise…

I’m telling you, God knows what’s going on
inside of your heart today. I don’t; he does.

But even still, before any of that, before
any of those layers of life that labeled you,

you, children of God, dear children, have
overcome… Greater is he that is in you.

If I could teach you one thing about God today…

I can’t tell you who he is because that would take
the rest of my life to even read the introduction,

but I can tell you where
he is in one word: inside.

So, look at the rest of the text
in 1 John. It’s very powerful.

He said in verse 5, “They are from the world and
therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world…”

How can we have God’s Spirit
and speak Satan’s language?

How can Satan drive out Satan?
Cynicism is counterfeit strategy.

The real wisdom of God is peaceable and
pure, and it creates more faith, not less.

Who are you listening to?
Voices become viewpoints.

He said you come from God, but you
listen to the world. You come from God,

but you listen to the opinions of people
who don’t have your best interests at heart.

I know everybody is trying to read into
what I’m saying, because you can’t say

anything anymore without it being political.
I’m saying 1 John 4:5 is what I’m saying.

Worldly values have no place in the
heart of a Christian. “That’s right,

Preacher! That’s why I don’t smoke.” The
Bible doesn’t even have cigarettes in it.

This is not about the external stuff.
That’s not what he’s writing about.

He’s saying there are false prophets that
have come, and the way you can recognize…

He says they speak from the viewpoint
of the world. Voices become viewpoints.

What you hear gets in your heart.

What you scroll gets in your spirit. I’m helping
somebody in the most practical way today.

The Lord said, “This is why you’re stressed.”
Cynicism is not wisdom. It’s a sickness.

They are from the world. They speak like the
world. Why would we have the Spirit of God

and speak the language of Satan? Just the
things we say to ourselves about ourselves…

He said the world listens to them, but watch what
I found in verse 6. I love this. “We are from God,

and whoever knows God listens to us…”

That really got me, because I pictured
Jesus… There’s a crowd around him,

and they want something from him. How
many of you feel like there are people

who want things from you all the time?
I know you’re sitting next to them so

you can’t really raise your hand on that
point. I know. I hear your inside voice.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh,

the incarnate eternal (in itself that’s a
contradiction), is standing with a crowd

surrounded by scribes and even dealing
with the cynicism of his own family,

but he knew where he came from. We are from
God. This week, in your heart, I want you to

talk like where you come from. Or another
way to say it: use your inside voice.

The world is so loud you think it’s normal,
like Abbey. “This is my inside voice. I’m

just a pessimistic person. That’s just
the way I am.” What about the Great I Am?

I thought we just read a verse
that said, “Greater is he

that is in you than he that is in the world.” So
what about that? Voices become viewpoints. Right?

I thought you were seated in heavenly
places with Jesus where he reigns.

So what are you doing down
in the sewer of cynicism?

The real issue isn’t whether
our nation is divided.

The real issue is whether your heart is
divided. Do you really trust his authority?

Jesus had internal authority. Do you know what
that means? He didn’t need other people to tell

him who he was. That’s so cool. Wouldn’t you like
to get there? I would. Look at Jesus. In verse 28,

he says something. You can’t really get the
full sense of it in English. “Truly I tell you…”

This phrase is only recorded from the lips of
Jesus in the whole New Testament in this way.

Let me tell you what’s interesting about
it. Usually, when a priest or a prophet

would prophesy, they would say, “Thus saith
the Lord” and the people would say, “Amen.”

It was a response to what was spoken that
confirmed the truth of it. Oral witness.

In the text it says, “Truly I tell
you,” but the actual literal translation

is “Amen, I tell you the truth.” What’s
weird about it is he said “Amen” first.

He is the only one who does that. I don’t
mean to bore you today. I know you want to

get back to counting ballots, but can I
talk about the Bible for three seconds?

Can the Lord have three seconds of your attention?

All right then. See, let me read this to
you. Witherington said in his commentary…

I read this really expensive book to be
able to tell you the significance of this

moment. Jesus goes on to say this in Mark’s
gospel over and over again. The phrase is

“Amen, I tell you the truth. Amen, I say to you.”
This is the first instance in Mark. But listen.

This phrase, which was characteristic of Jesus,
suggests that he felt free to vouch for himself.

It was a really expensive book,
so I have to read it again.

This phrase, “Amen, I tell you,” suggests
that he felt free to vouch for himself

and the truth of his own word without requiring
external human testimony to his truthfulness.

I want you to learn how to say “Amen” from within.

What I mean is I want you to get to the point in
your faith, and I want to get to the point in my

life where I do not wait for humans to validate
my identity or for events to validate my optimism.

I want to be able to say “Amen” to begin
with. So say “Amen.” If you know who you are,

you can say that and not wait for anybody else to
say it for you. If you know what he has spoken,

if you know what he said, if you know
where you come from, you can start your…

This is so grammatically incorrect,
but theologically it’s so powerful.

Jesus wasn’t waiting on anybody else for an amen.

He had an amen that came from
within. I think we’ve lost that.

I think we are so consumed with the voices
of others we can’t even hear our Father,

and then we start asking God to take away things
we put in our hearts through the wrong voices.

But today the Lord said, “It’s
going to be a better week for you,

because you’re going to begin with ‘Amen.'”