Best summer ever. Can we thank the team for that incredible rendition?

I feel like Elijah might have borrowed Pastor Sheila’s cropped leather jacket on that one. The business in the front, the party in the back. Wow. Wow. Wow.

That was incredible. Thank you, worship team. Thank you all of you. All of our locations.

Absolutely incredible. Thank you for the team for making church fun. Welcome to Champion Center. It’s great to be with you. My name is Troy and I am the Belleview location pastor and it’s great to be here today and see all of you. Um, I’ll be honest with you, it’s an honor to step on this platform and speak to you. We’re so thankful for all of our locations joining us right now. Uh, if you are in Yaka, thanks for being here.

Dupont, thank you so much for being here. All of my people up in Belleview, we love you so much. I hope you’re having fun and help me preach it in Belleview. And then all of you here in Tacoma, it’s so great to be with you here today. I’d also like to welcome our online audience for joining us whenever you’re watching this back. I hope you enjoy today. This is week three, week three of summer playlist. We’ve been having fun around here. We want to thank Pastor Roger and Pastor Kevin for the last couple weeks.

Pastor Roger two weeks ago taught us to beat it, to run from temptation and not to fight it. And then last week, Pastor Kevin, he taught all of us, don’t be a Karen. Don’t be a Karen.

Lose control. Trust in God. And today, we get to do one of the greatest songs ever written. I’m so honored to do Journeys Don’t Stop Believing.

I know that gave you all the vibes, all the feels. Um, here’s a couple interesting things about Journeys Don’t Stop Believing. Let me just rattle them off for you. It came out in 1981. Anybody alive back in 1981?

Okay. Okay. Okay. One of the most iconic songs ever. It has an unbelievable melody and we heard it. Steve Perry. Chris and Elijah have one of the greatest rock voices in history. And yet, when it first came out, it wasn’t even a hit. But over the next four decades, it became an anthem for an entire generation and then another generation and then another generation. And here’s the deal. We hear it at weddings. We hear it at sports stadiums, bars, if you into that type of thing.

Every cover band has ever done this before. And today, it’s one of the bestselling rock songs of all time. Why? Because every one of us knows what it is like to fight a battle. And I’m so excited to wrap up this week’s summer playlist with Don’t Stop Believing.

Another classic. Go ahead and give your neighbor a high five or a fist bump and go ahead and grab your seat here this morning.

If you have your Bible, uh, go ahead and turn with me to Romans chapter 4. It’s going to be on the screens behind us if you don’t have your Bible. But it’s really cool because Paul, he’s looking back at Abraham’s life and he shows what it means to really never stop believing.

So turn to Romans chapter 4 and we’re going to read verses 18-21 this morning. Romans chapter 4:verses 18 through 21. We’re going to start in 18.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations. Just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be.

Without weakening in his faith or his belief, without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

Yet, he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God. I’m hoping you get encouraged today that God has not forgotten about you either, but was strengthened in his faith, in his belief, and gave glory to God. Verse 21, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. Amen.

The title of my message today is the battle for belief. The battle for belief. Hit your neighbor and say, “Don’t stop believing.” Let’s invite God into this moment like Pastor Kevin does. So, just repeat this after me. Say, “My heart is open.” My mind is ready. Make me better, God.

By your word, I receive it and I believe it. I will never be the same again in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

A couple weeks ago, I sent a text. I sent a text to our Belleview team and I asked them this one single question. I wrote in bold letters. Don’t stop believing.

When you hear those words, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Go.

The responses started rolling in. People said, “Hope, faithfulness, God is more than able. You win if you don’t quit. Faith over fear. Your miracle is on the way.” I love those. One person wrote, “You can’t control life, but you can control your belief.” As I read through all of these responses, something struck me in that moment. Nobody answered the same.

Everybody hears something different in that song. Don’t stop believing. And in that moment, I realized that’s because every one of us is listening to that song through the lens of whatever battle we’re currently fighting. A parent, a parent hears one thing. A student, don’t stop believing. A student hears a different thing. Some someone is believing for for healing and here’s something completely different. Somebody maybe walking through a divorce, somebody grieving loss, somebody waiting through that for that breakthrough. We all hear something differently in that song. But the one thing that every one of us at all of our locations have in common is every one of us is fighting a battle. And if you don’t remember anything else that I say this morning, please remember this one thing. This is this is going to be our big idea today.

If you’re taking notes, I encourage you to write this down. Whatever voice gets your belief, eventually gets your life.

Whatever voice gets your belief eventually gets your life.

Why? We all believe something every single day. Some people believe in fear. Some believe shame. Some believe things are never going to change. Some believe God even forgot about them. Some believe that that me that marriage is never going to heal. The issue isn’t whether you believe. The issue is who gets your belief. And today we’re going to go on a journey. Pun intended. We’re going to go on a journey, okay, to discover how how that belief is formed. We’re talking about the battle for belief today. Okay?

So, we’re going to talk about how it is formed. You know, before ministry, before business, uh before any of that, I was working for the fire department.

Loved it. Had a career. Yes. Shout out to all the firemen, fire ladies. We appreciate you. We honor you. I loved it. I had a career. I had a future, a plan. I knew where my life was headed.

Or at least I thought I did. because then a thing called budget cuts happened and overnight I was unemployed completely gone out of a job and it wasn’t because I was not doing a good job it was nothing that I did it wasn’t because I wasn’t working hard budget cuts and in that moment everything changed

so Troy did what I think every one of you would do I started selling strawberries out of the back of my truck on the side of the road.

It’s what you do, right? I’m serious. It was not a farmers market, not at Whole Foods. Your boy was posted up on the side of the road. And I remember I remember standing there under that hot California sun in my neon red apron thinking, “God, this is not what I thought my life was going to look like.

This wasn’t the plan that we had talked about. This is what we strategized and prayed about as a kid. Have you forgotten me?” And while I was standing there, there were two distinct voices competing for my belief.

One said, one voice said, “Troy, you went backwards.”

The other voice whispered, “Troy, just trust me.” One voice said, “You’re a complete failure, Troy.” God whispered, “I’m not finished with you yet.

One voice said, “Dude, you totally missed that opportunity. You fumbled at the one yard line.” God whispered, “Hey, Troy, I am preparing you for what is next.” Church,

maybe this is the soundtrack in your mind today.

You know, standing beside that truck selling those strawberries, I had to decide what voice was going to get my belief. And today, you might need to make that choice, too.

Looking back, selling strawberries was never the battle. Losing my job wasn’t the battle. The b battle wasn’t happening around me. It was happening within me. And I had no idea that was only the first step in this journey. Tap your neighbor and say, “We’re talking about the battle for belief this morning.” If you’re taking notes, phase one, notice, not point one, because we’re going on a journey today. It’s a progressive journey today. Okay? So phase one in the process, the battle for your belief is you have to win the battle within.

You have to win the battle within. You see, every promise from God is followed by a battle for your belief.

The very first battle recorded in scripture was not over land, money, wasn’t over politics. It wasn’t over power. It was over belief. Genesis chapter 3, we see this. God said to Adam and Eve, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden except one.” That’s pretty simple, pretty clear. But another voice immediately enters the story. The serpent says, “Did God really say?”

Isn’t that interesting? Satan doesn’t start with destruction. He starts with doubt. The battle is always about our belief. If the enemy can change what you believe, eventually he’ll change how you live.

God says one thing. The enemy says another. The enemy could not force Adam and Eve to believe him. He could only invite them to. You see that? They had a choice of who to believe. That pattern didn’t stop in Genesis. It repeats itself all throughout scripture. I’ll run a couple off real quick, but the best example that we see is Abraham. In Genesis 12, God comes to Abram and says, “Hey, Abram, I’m going to make you into a great nation. and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars and the sky. Stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. Who wants some of that promise, right? You’re going to be blessed. It’s amazing. One minor problem. He had no children.

God says nation legacy. Reality says infertility.

God says, “This is my promise to you.” Circumstances say, “Impossible.” Now, the battle begins.

The battle to get Abraham’s belief. The battle for you and I to get our belief.

Can you imagine the voices that maybe Abraham heard? Um, maybe you misunderstood. Maybe God forgot about you. Maybe that promise really wasn’t for you. news for the dude next to you. Maybe it’s just too late now. You’re 100 years old. Sarah’s past birthing age.

Maybe you in this room today are watching online. Maybe the promise that you’re believing today feels impossible as well, just like it did for Abraham.

But I love how Paul looks back and he says this about Abraham’s life. He doesn’t focus on all of Abraham’s failures. He focuses on Abraham’s belief. Let’s go back to uh verse 18 in our scripture reading today. Verse 18, it says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” Have you ever been there? Where hope says, “Ah, it’s over.” But God says, “I’m not finished.” Paul continues, “Without weakening in his faith, without weakening in his belief.” Well, hold up, Troy. Wait a minute.

Genesis actually told us that Abraham had questions.

He even laughed at God when he told them about this promise. So what does Paul actually mean? It means this that Abraham refused to let another voice become louder than God’s voice.

You know, Abraham couldn’t choose the voices that he heard, but he could choose the voice that he believed. And I think the same is true for you today.

You can’t control every input. You can’t control every voice that speaks into your life, but you can make a choice.

You can make a choice today. Which voice gets your belief?

Paul goes on and he says this. He says, “Abraham was fully persuaded.”

Fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he promised. We’re going to come back to those two words fully persuaded in a moment. So, hold your place there. But let’s look a little bit more at the battle within. Okay? From some of our favorite church scripture leaders. Joseph had a dream. The pit said otherwise. David had an anointing. Saul’s spears said otherwise. Moses had a calling. His insecurities said otherwise. Different stories, same battle. The battle is always within. The battle is always within. Even Jesus. We find this in Matthew chapter 3. The heavens opened. What a moment. The father declared this. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Can you imagine that moment?

Before Jesus ever performed a miracle, before he ever preached a sermon, before he healed a single person, God settled his identity.

The very next chapter, the very next chapter, Matthew 4, Satan shows up. Hi, me again.

If you are the son of God, did you catch that? God says, “This is my son.” Satan says, “If you really are.” Jesus had a choice. Would he believe his father and what he declared over him or what the enemy said?

Two voices, one choice. The voice has always been whatever gets your belief. The choice has always been, the battle has always been, whatever gets your belief gets your life. And some of you, you know exactly what I’m talking about today.

Every day you are hearing voices that say you’re defeated. You are never going to get out of debt. Have you opened your bank account lately?

You’re never gonna buy a house. Look at the interest rates. Look, you’re in Seattle land.

You know what? You’re always gonna be alone. That’s just your lot in life.

Parent, your child, that prodal is never coming back. They’re lost. You’re never going to heal. God forgot about you.

Church, hear me this morning, please.

You don’t get to choose which voices speak to you, but you do get to choose which voice gets your belief.

And before God changes your circumstances, he often settles whose voice you’re going to have to believe. Are you going to believe fear? Easy. Sometimes it’s so loud barking at you. Or are you going to believe God? That little whisper? Are you going to believe your circumstances? Doesn’t look very good right now. Or are you going to believe his promises?

And I’m here to tell you, the moment that you choose his voice over competing voices, you’ve already started winning that battle within.

But then here comes the hard part. Phase two, the waiting. Okay, so we’ve we’ve navigated the battle within and now we go through a period of waiting. If you’re taking notes, phase two is called trust God in the waiting. Trust God in the waiting. That got a couple amens. I don’t know why they like to wait, but let’s be honest, I don’t think anybody likes waiting. We have same day shipping. We have instant downloads. We have drivethrus. We can even call ahead now at our Starbucks. We’re conditioned to believe if it doesn’t happen quickly, youth, if it doesn’t happen quickly, something must be wrong. News flash, God’s kingdom doesn’t operate on Amazon Prime.

Joni said, “Everybody wants a thrill.

We all want the miracle.” I think very few of us want the waiting. Not fun. Yet throughout scripture, God often does his deepest work in the waiting. And maybe you’re in a waiting season right now. As I’m talking to you, you’re like, “Yes, that’s exactly where I find myself on this beautiful July Sunday.”

What you’re believing God for is taking way too long.

not on your timeline.

I’m here to encourage you. Don’t assume God has forgotten about you. He actually might be doing his deepest work and that is in you because God often gives the promise in a moment and it fulfills over a lifetime.

I’m gonna say that one more time. God often gives the promise in a moment and fulfills it over a lifetime. Let’s go back to Abraham. He received the promise in Genesis 12. Isaac wasn’t born until Genesis 21.

That’s 25 years. It’s a long time to keep believing.

25 years.

Wow. Some of you aren’t questioning God’s power this morning. You’re simply questioning his timing. Journey says, “Living in a lonely world.” Yeah.

Joseph dreamed alone. David hid alone.

Abraham believed alone. Waiting can be so lonely. In fact, waiting it doesn’t create competing voices. is it actually amplifies them. Because when you’re waiting, fear gets louder, doubt gets louder, disappointment gets louder, and before long, you start hearing this voice. Just quit.

Just give up, man.

Just throw in the towel. And that voice oftentimes feels louder than the voice of God. But every single day, we must choose to trust God in this waiting season. remember me? Um, strawberry boy.

I’m back. I made another appearance.

Standing on the side of the road selling strawberries. There I am. Even though I went through a period and I settled whose voice that was going to get my belief, I still had to wake up the next morning

and drive my pickup truck to that dirt lot. Y’all, I put on that red apron. I sold strawberries day after day, week after week. For over three years, Strawberry Boy was still selling strawberries. And I had to trust God in this waiting season because choosing God’s voice doesn’t always change your circumstances, but it will change you.

Imagine after church today, I handed you a beautiful blueprint for your dream home.

Everything you’ve ever wanted. Just dream for a second with me. Keep believing. Don’t stop believing.

The kids’ room, the man cave, the workout room with the AC, the living room where you’re going to host family and friends, it’s all there on this beautiful blueprint.

And then we drive up to the property and we pull up.

Dirt. No foundation, no walls, no roof, no house, just dirt. Would you assume the blueprint was wrong? Of course not.

The blueprint hasn’t changed. The builder just isn’t finished yet. And some of you are living right there today between the blueprint and that finished house. You’re wondering if God changed his mind. I’m here to tell you he didn’t. You’re simply living in the construction zone because construction zones never look like finished products.

Looking back, I know God wasn’t wasting my strawberry season. He was actually doing his deepest work and that was inside of me. And maybe that’s exactly where you are today. God is getting you ready and you ready, Yakima. and you in Belleview and you in Deont and you in Tacoma, he is getting you ready for all that he has in store for you. Because just because you’re waiting doesn’t mean God is absent. The builder is still working. And sometimes God’s greatest work isn’t changing your circumstances.

Sorry, it’s changing you while you wait.

Okay, Troy, I’m listening.

Got my attention. What do I do in the waiting? I’m glad you asked.

You keep believing. You don’t stop believing. You keep showing up. You keep trusting. You get in God’s word. You start your day in God’s word. Before social media gets your attention, before the news gets your attention, before your feelings get your attention, open your Bible. Read his word. What is he saying to you? Pray. Speak the promises of God over your life. Maybe turn on that music. Turn on, God, I’m just grateful for you. Maybe you just say, “I love you, Lord. Just thank you so much.

I trust in God, my savior, the one.” Maybe that’s what you have to do. Maybe you maybe you crank that worship music in your life before you look at your bank account, before you look at your circumstances, before you look at what social media is telling you that you’re not good enough. You got to turn down the volume on everything that’s competing for your voice and turn up the volume on God’s voice. And little by little by little, our pastor spoke such a great message about little by little, you start to see God’s promises.

They start leading you. And one day, you look back at your strawberry season. You look back and realize something has changed. And that’s exactly what happened to Abraham. 25 years.

25 years. That’s longer than this entire section’s been alive over here. 25 years of trusting God produced two words.

Fully persuaded. fully persuaded.

It’s not something we naturally talk about, but this is the result. When you get your mind right and win the battle within and you trust God in the waiting season, you become fully persuaded.

Let’s listen to how Paul finishes describing Abraham in Romans chapter 4 20 and 21. It says this, “He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God.” Man, if we could just get there, don’t waver.

But was strengthened in his faith, in his belief, and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he promised. I just love those two words, fully persuaded. In the Greek, here’s what it literally means.

Fully convinced, completely certain and fully assured.

Think about think about the chair that you’re sitting in today. Okay? Um, no one inspected it before you sat down, unless you’re a Karen. If you’re a Karen, you might have inspected it and read the directions and did the Google review and the Yelp and all that, but for all of us non-Carons, you just trusted it. None of you asked what it was made of. You just simply sat down. Why? Because you were fully persuaded that it was going to hold you.

That’s what fully persuade. Belief always changes our behavior. And that’s exactly what Paul recognized in Abraham.

Paul doesn’t say that Abraham had all the answers. He doesn’t say that Abraham had like no doubt. He just said he became fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he promised.

You know, the moment that I became fully persuaded wasn’t at the strawberry stand.

It was 10 years later.

At that time, I was leading an incredible technology company. And one night our team uh we won the Stevie award for the best customer support organization in the entire world. After the award ceremony, a reporter came up to me and he said, “Hey, where did you learn how to care for customers like that?”

I didn’t have to think about it too long. My mind immediately went back to that dirt lot, that folding table, that red apron, selling strawberries in a hundred degree weather because that was the moment I realized God did not waste a single season in my life. That strawberry stand wasn’t a detour. It was actually the training ground.

And that’s when I became fully persuaded that God keeps his promises. And the same is true for you. One day, you’re going to look back at this very season that you’re in today, this exact day, and you’re going to realize that God was preparing you. But you have to choose to believe his voice above all the other competing noise. And you have to trust God in the waiting period because the battle is for your belief. Whatever gets your belief eventually gets your life.

You hear me today? So, no matter where you find yourself in today’s message.

I just encourage you, keep believing.

Don’t stop believing. Not because it’s easy, not because you have all the answers. Every need is met, but because God is faithful. You receive that today?

Journey. They told us to don’t stop believing. They just never told us who to believe.

The Bible does, and his name is Jesus.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.” That means that every promise, every waiting season, every unanswered prayer, every battle, every hope finds its yes in Jesus. Our confidence is not in our ability to believe. Our confidence is in the God that we’ve chosen to believe. He’s never broken a promise. He’s never failed his people. He’s never abandoned his children. He’s never lost. He’s the King of Kings. He’s the Lord of Lords. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. Maybe today you’re believing for healing.

Don’t stop believing God.

Maybe today you’re believing for your marriage.

Don’t stop believing God. Maybe you’re believing for freedom from that addiction.

Don’t stop believing God. Maybe you’re believing for provision to buy that house.

Don’t stop believing. God, church, don’t stop believing. If he made the promise, he is faithful to fulfill it. If he made the promise in your life, he is faithful to receive it. Amen.

There’s two groups of people I would love to to pray over today. Maybe maybe somewhere along the journey another voice has become louder than God’s voice.

But today, Jesus is inviting you to let his voice have that final word again.

Maybe you today need to make a fresh decision to believe God’s voice above all the other competing voices, all the doubt, all the whispers from the enemy. Maybe you need to choose his voice as the final voice in your life. I’m just going to invite you if that is you, if you’ve identified and connect with that today.

I’m just going to invite you maybe just raise a hand. I would be honored to pray over you today.

God, across all of our locations, even those online today, today we choose your voice over every competing voice.

God, forgive us for believing the voices that you never spoke.

Help us trust your voice above every other voice. strengthen every weary mind, every weary heart, every weary soul today and help us become fully persuaded that you have the power to do everything that you promised in our lives. We choose to keep believing you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

A second group I would love to pray for.

You might be thinking, Troy, um, you know, over the last 30 minutes, we’ve been talking a lot about maybe who gets my belief.

And before you can become fully persuaded of God’s promises, you have to believe the greatest promise of all, and that is Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth. and you. He died on that cross for you. He offers you forgiveness.

He offers you eternal life to anybody whosoever puts their trust in him. And I just felt coming into today that there might be some people that this is before you get to phase one.

This is where you need to make the decision today. and that is to put your whole faith, belief, and trust in Savior Jesus.

If that’s your decision today, you want to make Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life, will you pray this prayer with me while other people say it aloud? Just say, “Lord Jesus, welcome to my world.

Thank you for dying on that cross for my sins so that I could have new life.

Forgive me, make me new, and fill me with your spirit today.

Today I put my trust and my belief in you.

I boldly declare that you are the leader and the Lord of my life in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Church, welcome to the family of God. Keep fighting. Don’t stop believing. The battle for your belief.