Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
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Speaker 2: I hope you're blessed.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 3: We want to welcome our EPAM around the world, our
Speaker 3: global community of men and women, boys and girls, cats
Speaker 3: and dogs, fish and lizards. Whoever's watching, all of y'all welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Let us know where you're watching from in the comments.
Speaker 3: I have a word for you today. God has really
Speaker 3: been speaking to me. I shared last week a message
Speaker 3: about how God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
Speaker 3: and then I said he's the God of also also,
Speaker 3: meaning that God is bigger than your box, whatever you
Speaker 3: have seen him as so far. He's more than that.
Speaker 3: Your past is not greater than your potential. He's the
Speaker 3: God of also who you are still unfolding, you're still becoming,
Speaker 3: and that God's purpose is bigger than your plan.
Speaker 1: And so we talked about the God of also.
Speaker 3: This week, I'd like to continue in that same theme
Speaker 3: and so also, not only is he the God of also,
Speaker 3: but there's another thing I want to show you and
Speaker 3: the Holy Spirit showed me how to do it.
Speaker 1: He told me to use one verse and that this
Speaker 1: one verse would help me launch my talk.
Speaker 3: And then we'll talk about it, and we'll talk about
Speaker 3: some more, and we'll talk about some more. But the
Speaker 3: verse I want to show you to get started is
Speaker 3: John chapter twenty one, Verse one.
Speaker 1: Just real quick, setting this foundation, the writer says.
Speaker 3: Afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea
Speaker 3: of Galilee.
Speaker 1: It happened afterward Jesus appeared again.
Speaker 3: So today I want to talk to you about the
Speaker 3: God of Again, the God of Again. I think this
Speaker 3: is going to help you with some of the heaviness
Speaker 3: you've been feeling from regrets and fears. He's the God
Speaker 3: of also, and he's also the God of again, Spirit
Speaker 3: of the Living God. Have your way now. I yield
Speaker 3: myself to you. You are the music. I am the
Speaker 3: instrument reach your people through me. I offer myself to you.
Speaker 3: Speak to them through me. You get the glory, you
Speaker 3: get the praise.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, and they be seated. Just
Speaker 1: something I don't normally do.
Speaker 3: I'm going to give you all three of my points
Speaker 3: at the beginning of my message. Number one God is
Speaker 3: really into repetition. That's point number one. I'll give you
Speaker 3: a minute to write that down. God is really into repetition.
Speaker 3: All right, you got that number two, God is really
Speaker 3: into repetition.
Speaker 1: And point three, God.
Speaker 3: Is really really really really really really really really into repetition.
Speaker 1: Prove it to you.
Speaker 3: We'll go to Jericho and ask the Israelites if God
Speaker 3: is into repetition. When they had to walk around those
Speaker 3: walls not only seven times, but seven days, Boom taking
Speaker 3: a lap seeing nothing happen, Boom taking a lap seeing
Speaker 3: nothing happening. Boom taking a lap seeing nothing happen, like
Speaker 3: on that fourth day. Are you sure you heard from God, Joshua?
Speaker 3: Or are we marching around the right walls? But God
Speaker 3: is really into repetition?
Speaker 1: Or if you don't.
Speaker 3: Believe those people that God is really into repetition, ask
Speaker 3: name in the Syrian commander who had leprosy.
Speaker 1: You know I'm going with this. He had to dip
Speaker 1: in the Jordan river seven times to be healed of
Speaker 1: his leprosy.
Speaker 3: You know about the fifth dip, you'd be kind of
Speaker 3: embarrassed if you still had the same spots on your
Speaker 3: skin that you had when it got started. But God
Speaker 3: is really into repetition. Or ask that servant of the
Speaker 3: Man of God, Elijah. Now this story is in one
Speaker 3: King's eighteen. There's been a drought and Elijah, the prophet, says, hey,
Speaker 3: there's a cloud starting to fill up with rain. And
Speaker 3: the man is like where. He's like, go look, He's like,
Speaker 3: there's nothing there. It's like look again, It's like there's
Speaker 3: nothing there. It's like, look again, there's nothing there. Seven
Speaker 3: times he looked seven times. God is really into repetition.
Speaker 3: I bring it up because maybe you're frustrated that you're
Speaker 3: still going through something in your life that you thought
Speaker 3: you would have gone through by now.
Speaker 1: No zero percent frustration at Elevation Church today, just me.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna repeat that again. Maybe you're frustrated because there's
Speaker 3: something in your life. Maybe you're like Graham. Graham's real picky.
Speaker 3: Holly is such a good cook that our kids have
Speaker 3: gotten really picky.
Speaker 1: Let me think how that works. She's too consistent in
Speaker 1: the kitchen.
Speaker 3: I told her to clear the pantries and shut down
Speaker 3: the kitchen for a month to get Graham to shut up,
Speaker 3: because she said the other day, we're having chili tonight,
Speaker 3: and he goes really again chili, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: really again, chili. The chili is good if she wants
Speaker 3: to cook it every night. But he's gotten picky because
Speaker 3: she's too consistent. She's so consistent that he's gotten picky
Speaker 3: with it. And the truth is, some of us God
Speaker 3: has been too good to us, if I can say
Speaker 3: it that way, that he's so consistent and he's so
Speaker 3: good at being God that it's hard for us to
Speaker 3: stay grateful because of all the stuff he just did.
Speaker 1: They're like the sun came up the morning and nobody
Speaker 1: praised him for it. I mean, most of us walked
Speaker 1: into church today.
Speaker 3: Our legs got us in here, and you know, and
Speaker 3: then three songs in my feet are hurting.
Speaker 1: When are we gonna sit down?
Speaker 3: Are we gonna sing the same thing over and over
Speaker 3: and over?
Speaker 1: How much more? Does he know? Much more? How much more?
Speaker 1: Much more? I don't know much more? Tell me how
Speaker 1: much more are we gonna sing?
Speaker 3: But God is into repetition, So sometimes I think it's
Speaker 3: good when we just sing and give thanks to the Lord.
Speaker 3: You know, Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always again.
Speaker 3: I say rejoice, And sometimes we have to rejoice again
Speaker 3: and again in order to remind our souls that God
Speaker 3: has been good again and again. I mean, how many
Speaker 3: have the testimony that he kept on blessing me. He
Speaker 3: kept on blessing me many times. I even tried to
Speaker 3: push God away, but he kept on blessing me. Sometimes
Speaker 3: I ran so far I thought I couldn't receive it.
Speaker 1: But he.
Speaker 3: A lot of times, I was actually living a life
Speaker 3: that was completely contradictory to the character in his word.
Speaker 1: But he.
Speaker 3: I'm using repetition to talk to you about the repetitious
Speaker 3: nature of the grace of God. I mean, thank god,
Speaker 3: he's into repetition. Thank God he's into continuing to wake
Speaker 3: me up every morning and start me.
Speaker 1: On my way.
Speaker 3: Thank God, he's into just over and over again. Watch
Speaker 3: this breathing out so that I can breathe in. And
Speaker 3: that's why I don't mind praising him, because let everything
Speaker 3: that has praise the Lord, and I figure that if
Speaker 3: He's good enough to give the breath, I ought to
Speaker 3: be grateful enough to give it back. I don't mind
Speaker 3: giving him glory. I don't mind singing it one more time.
Speaker 3: God is really into repetition.
Speaker 1: If you don't ever know what to say to God.
Speaker 3: Just start saying thank you Jesus, and then just say
Speaker 3: it again, thank you Jesus. And then if you can't
Speaker 3: think of anything to thank him for, it to say
Speaker 3: thank you Jesus for your love, thank you Jesus for
Speaker 3: the cross, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: Because God is into repetition.
Speaker 3: Now I don't just mean vain repetition where we just
Speaker 3: say a lot of stuff, but I mean that kind
Speaker 3: of I need to slow down. God is into repetition,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad that he is because the fact that
Speaker 3: he's into repetition means that he will keep on sustaining
Speaker 3: me and keep on blessing me over and over again.
Speaker 1: That's why I read you the scripture that I read you.
Speaker 3: That afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples. I prayed
Speaker 3: today that he would show up again to you. I
Speaker 3: assume that you want to be his disciple and that
Speaker 3: you want to see him, so I prayed that he
Speaker 3: would show up again.
Speaker 1: Everybody say again, that's the thing about it.
Speaker 3: He's resurrected from the dead, and he already showed up
Speaker 3: two other.
Speaker 1: Times to his disciples.
Speaker 3: They were kind of scared, so they were hiding behind
Speaker 3: locked doors and he just walks through.
Speaker 1: So he shows up.
Speaker 3: Again to see Thomas because Thomas wasn't there the first time.
Speaker 3: And then John said afterward, Jesus appeared again to his disciples,
Speaker 3: which kind of makes you wonder, how many times do
Speaker 3: you have to show up after you're raised from the
Speaker 3: dead to get somebody convinced that you're the son of God.
Speaker 3: We remembering in a funny memory with Elijah this week
Speaker 3: because he turned eighteen and we're to my lawlest birthday
Speaker 3: parties in the past, and that guy was talking about
Speaker 3: family pictures and that made me traumatized. I hate nothing
Speaker 3: more than taking family pictures. I'm telling you, man. I Well,
Speaker 3: I'll just tell you one example. There was one time
Speaker 3: when they were real little and Elijah kept picking on
Speaker 3: Abby and Holly looks at him. And you know, when
Speaker 3: Holly's in front of y'all, she's very sweet, there's another side.
Speaker 1: She looks at him, and I was scared. And she
Speaker 1: wasn't even talking to me.
Speaker 3: She said, how many times do I have to tell
Speaker 3: you keep your heads off your sister? He's terrified. He's
Speaker 3: only like, you know, seven at the time. He's terrified.
Speaker 1: He looks at her goes three times.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, it's so funny. Three times, Like.
Speaker 3: How many times will it take for you to hear
Speaker 3: the words that are coming out of my mouth?
Speaker 1: He's like, oh no, maybe three red.
Speaker 3: And I wonder how many times does God have to.
Speaker 1: Tell us certain things? Why'd you just squeal? Maybe God
Speaker 1: has been trying to tell you something. And this is
Speaker 1: a central question I really want to ask.
Speaker 3: This will probably send some of you off and you
Speaker 3: won't hear anything else in the sermon, But it's fine
Speaker 3: because I want to give it to you. What does
Speaker 3: God keep repeating that you keep resisting?
Speaker 1: He said, say it again. I love when people say
Speaker 1: that in my sermon. Like sometimes they'll say say it again,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't know what I just said.
Speaker 3: I'm just following the Holy Spirit, but I will say
Speaker 3: that again. Ask God been repeating that you have been resisting.
Speaker 3: In the passage that I read you, Peter has gone fishing,
Speaker 3: even though God is going to call him to be
Speaker 3: a great apostle, Like Peter is going to go on
Speaker 3: to be kind of like a pope to the.
Speaker 1: Church in that day. You would have seen it that way.
Speaker 3: Peter is going to go on to preach on the
Speaker 3: day of Pentecost.
Speaker 1: None of that has happened yet. The Holy Spirit hasn't come.
Speaker 3: He's already seen Jesus, but Peter still needs something else,
Speaker 3: and it's called.
Speaker 1: Restoration. Restoration.
Speaker 3: Not only does he need to see that Jesus is resurrected,
Speaker 3: but he needs to personally be restored. The Holy Spirit
Speaker 3: said that I would be ministering to people today who
Speaker 3: you have seen the revelation of God, meaning that you
Speaker 3: know you've experienced Him in your life. He has seen
Speaker 3: you through certain seasons, but you are finding yourself in
Speaker 3: a season today as I speak this message that things
Speaker 3: have been so different and so difficult that you need
Speaker 3: to see Him again in order to go forward. And
Speaker 3: the good news is he is the God of again.
Speaker 3: He's the God who will show up once and walk
Speaker 3: through locked doors, show up twice, so doubting Thomas can believe.
Speaker 3: And if that's not enough, he'll show up.
Speaker 1: How many times? Three times? Three times? If that's what
Speaker 1: it takes.
Speaker 3: To get Peter to see not who Jesus is. Peter
Speaker 3: already saw that, But what if what Peter needs to
Speaker 3: see in this moment is who Peter is? There are
Speaker 3: times in your life where God needs to show you
Speaker 3: again who you are.
Speaker 1: Because you forget.
Speaker 3: God needs to show you what you're capable of because
Speaker 3: you've talked yourself out of it. God needs to show
Speaker 3: you that there's a future ahead of you, greater than
Speaker 3: anything that is behind you. He's the God of again,
Speaker 3: and he will tell you as many times as he
Speaker 3: needs to tell you in order to get you to
Speaker 3: see this truth. And that's because he's full of grace
Speaker 3: and he's full of mercy, and he will bless you
Speaker 3: again and again.
Speaker 1: The same thing that is.
Speaker 3: True of the blessing of God is also true of
Speaker 3: the lessons of God. He will do it over and
Speaker 3: over again until you get it. God will teach you
Speaker 3: things over and over again until you learn them.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you want to hear that or
Speaker 1: not he will.
Speaker 3: God will allow certain things in your life to stay
Speaker 3: that way until you finally learn what He actually wants
Speaker 3: you to learn.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: God doesn't cancel the class because you burn the books.
Speaker 3: God doesn't avinst you to the next level because you're tired.
Speaker 3: There are certain things in our lives that God will
Speaker 3: teach us over and over again.
Speaker 1: In this passage.
Speaker 3: Here is a pretty cool example of that, because let
Speaker 3: me read a little bit more of it. It said, afterward,
Speaker 3: Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the sea of Galilee.
Speaker 1: It happened this way. I read you that verse. But
Speaker 1: let's hear what happened.
Speaker 3: Simon Peter Thomas, also known as Didamus Nathaniel, from cana
Speaker 3: and Galilee. The sons of Zebedee and two other disciples
Speaker 3: were together. I'm going out to fish, Simon Peter told them,
Speaker 3: and they said, we'll go with you. So they went out,
Speaker 3: got in the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
Speaker 3: Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but
Speaker 3: the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Speaker 1: He called out to them, friends, haven't you any fish?
Speaker 3: No, they answered. He said, throw your nets on the
Speaker 3: right side of the boat and you will find some.
Speaker 3: When they did, they were unable to haul the net
Speaker 3: in because of the large number of fish. Then the
Speaker 3: disciple whom Jesus loved as John, who's riding this gospel,
Speaker 3: said to Peter, is the Lord you think? As soon
Speaker 3: as Simon Peter heard him say it's the Lord, he
Speaker 3: wrapped his outer garment around him, for you're taking it off,
Speaker 3: and jumped in the water. The other disciples followed in
Speaker 3: the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they
Speaker 3: were not far from shore, about one hundred yards.
Speaker 1: And when they landed they saw a fire of burning coals.
Speaker 3: There with fish on it and some bread. And Jesus
Speaker 3: said to them, bring some of the fish you have
Speaker 3: just caught. So Simon Peter climbed back in the boat
Speaker 3: dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish,
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty three. But even with so many,
Speaker 3: the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come
Speaker 3: and have breakfast. None of the disciples dared ask who
Speaker 3: are you? They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came,
Speaker 3: took the bread, gave it to them. This wasn't the
Speaker 3: first time they'd seen him do this. By the way,
Speaker 3: Jesus came, took the bread, gave it to them, did
Speaker 3: the same with the fish. This was now the third
Speaker 3: time Jesus appeared to the disciples.
Speaker 1: How many third time? Three times?
Speaker 3: This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples
Speaker 3: after he was raised from the dead. When they finished eating,
Speaker 3: Jesus said to Simon Peter. Now here's the moment, Simon,
Speaker 3: son of John, do you love me more than these?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: Lord, he said, you know I love you. Jesus said,
Speaker 3: feed my lambs verse sixteen. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son
Speaker 3: of John, do you love me? And Peter said, yes, Lord,
Speaker 3: you know that I love you. Is this like a
Speaker 3: riddle or something? Pete and repeat, We're on a boat,
Speaker 3: Pete fell off?
Speaker 1: Who was left? Pete and repeat? Were on a boat?
Speaker 1: Pete fell off? Who was left? Pete and repeat, We're
Speaker 1: on a boat. Are you messing with me? Jesus? Is
Speaker 1: this a riddle? No, it's not a riddle. It's a restoration.
Speaker 1: Paul me follow me.
Speaker 3: How many times did Peter deny Jesus? So how many
Speaker 3: times does Jesus restore.
Speaker 1: Him to his first love? Somebody shout again.
Speaker 3: I hear God saying again, over your life again, We're.
Speaker 1: Going to do this until you get it.
Speaker 3: I'm going to prove that I'm powerful until you believe
Speaker 3: me to be faithful. I'm going to show you that
Speaker 3: there's nothing too hard for me. Until you stop worrying
Speaker 3: about stuff that I'm already working out in your life.
Speaker 1: Shout again, Shout again, shout again.
Speaker 3: I'm using the message to preach the message because I
Speaker 3: want you to get.
Speaker 1: This word in your spirit. He's not the god of
Speaker 1: one time. You better get it right.
Speaker 3: He's not the god of Well, if you haven't learned
Speaker 3: it by now, I guess.
Speaker 1: You're just stupid. I mean, in that what we tell ourselves.
Speaker 1: That's what I tell myself sometimes. How do I not
Speaker 1: know this by now? How am I not over this
Speaker 1: by now? How can I not do this by now?
Speaker 3: That's usually why we stop getting smarter, because we stop
Speaker 3: asking stuff because something in us thinks I should know
Speaker 3: this by now.
Speaker 1: That's why we stay.
Speaker 3: Broke, because we think we shouldn't know this about money
Speaker 3: by now, so we pretend like we know, rather than
Speaker 3: admitting that we don't know. And because we think we
Speaker 3: should know by now, we never know because we won't
Speaker 3: ask because we think.
Speaker 1: That God is frustrated with us.
Speaker 3: And you know, we get this for a good reason,
Speaker 3: because we're frustrated with us. So then we project the
Speaker 3: same attitude on God that we carry within us. And
Speaker 3: for many of us, the figure of God that we
Speaker 3: have is an exasperated father saying, really again, you're praying
Speaker 3: to me about this again. You lost your temper again? Really,
Speaker 3: you're asking me to help you with this again. That's
Speaker 3: kind of how God sounds in my mind when I'm
Speaker 3: in a bad place, when I haven't been spending time
Speaker 3: in his presence, when I've just been letting the devil
Speaker 3: get the best of me.
Speaker 1: It's like I.
Speaker 3: Almost want to go to God for stuff, but I
Speaker 3: almost picture him going again. You need me to feel
Speaker 3: you again. You mean to walk you through this again?
Speaker 3: How many times are you gonna come to me and
Speaker 3: ask me to forgive you for this? But I found
Speaker 3: out that every time I come to God, it's a
Speaker 3: compliment to him.
Speaker 1: This changed my life.
Speaker 3: Because when I come to Him and say, oh, I
Speaker 3: need more grace, he goes, I'm good at grace, And
Speaker 3: when you ask me for grace, you presume my power
Speaker 3: that I'm.
Speaker 1: Good at what you asked me for.
Speaker 3: High five the preacher jed Johnny some encouragement out there,
Speaker 3: because when I come to God, he's not up there
Speaker 3: going again.
Speaker 1: I gotta show you again how to go and apologize.
Speaker 3: I gotta show you again how to work through this insecurity.
Speaker 3: I've been teaching you this since you were fifteen. Are
Speaker 3: you stupid. That's not the language of Heaven. God goes.
Speaker 1: Again. You hear the difference. Jesus appeared again again again.
Speaker 3: One of my kids, who shall remain nameless, asked, probably
Speaker 3: when they were really little, she was telling them, when's
Speaker 3: the last time.
Speaker 1: You changed clothes? They said four days ago? And she said,
Speaker 1: does that include your underwear? And this particular kid of
Speaker 1: ours said, you.
Speaker 3: Mean I have to change my underwear every day. When
Speaker 3: you do something over and over again in behavior, it's
Speaker 3: called a habit. When you do something again in music
Speaker 3: and it's a pattern that is pleasing, it's called a hook.
Speaker 3: When you do it again and again and again and again,
Speaker 3: it's a hook. And it just so happens that I'm
Speaker 3: preaching today about fishing, and they weren't fishing with a hook.
Speaker 1: They were fishing with a net.
Speaker 3: The principle is the same, is that God wanted Peter
Speaker 3: to know I've hooked you, I've got you.
Speaker 1: I'm not letting you go. I'm not letting you off
Speaker 1: the hook. And you keep coming back to God, telling
Speaker 1: him over and over again in your mind.
Speaker 3: Why he should choose someone else, And as many times
Speaker 3: as you give him an excuse, he's going to give
Speaker 3: you a truth again and again and again and again
Speaker 3: and again and again and.
Speaker 1: Again and again. How many times are you gonna say it, Preacher?
Speaker 1: As many times as it takes for you to respond
Speaker 1: to this word that I'm feeling in my heart, and
Speaker 1: again and again and again.
Speaker 3: Oh there's a famous quote that they attributed to Albert Einstein,
Speaker 3: but I looked into it and I don't think he
Speaker 3: really said it, but still a great quote. Insanity is
Speaker 3: doing the same thing over and over again expecting a
Speaker 3: different result. Okay, I got a different version of that quote.
Speaker 3: Immaturity is doing something once in a while and wondering
Speaker 3: why it didn't work.
Speaker 1: If God is the.
Speaker 3: God of again, what makes you think you're gonna quote
Speaker 3: one scripture and the Devil's gonna run off of everything
Speaker 3: in your life you need.
Speaker 1: Him to leave? Come on?
Speaker 3: If God is the God of again, what makes us
Speaker 3: think we could just come to church once on Sunday
Speaker 3: and put a space of six days between us and
Speaker 3: God and just be Okay, I'm gonna need God to
Speaker 3: get in the gaps between Sundays for me to fight
Speaker 3: against the stuff that I'm struggling with, because he's the
Speaker 3: God again. That's not put these messages on YouTube for
Speaker 3: free so you can get it.
Speaker 1: And and some.
Speaker 3: Of you don't like you talk to you fast when
Speaker 3: you firally need the slow down. No, you need to
Speaker 3: rewind to get it again.
Speaker 1: YouTube even has a slowdown flumption.
Speaker 4: There's no excops, slow me down and get this world.
Speaker 6: I'll go as slow as you need me because I
Speaker 6: got something for you and I want you to get it.
Speaker 3: Oh, sometimes he will leave you in a season a
Speaker 3: little longer, and you'll think that he's being slow. But
Speaker 3: what you call his slowness is actually his love, because
Speaker 3: his slowness, as you perceive it, is his steadiness to
Speaker 3: prepare you, by his sovereignty for something that your eyes
Speaker 3: cannot see. I'm preaching he's the god of Again, don't
Speaker 3: be so discouraged by what you're still working through, because
Speaker 3: I guarantee you it takes all of us time. It
Speaker 3: takes everybody time. In marketing, they used to have a
Speaker 3: rule called the rule of seven.
Speaker 1: Have you ever heard of this?
Speaker 3: This is way back from like the thirties and stuff,
Speaker 3: way before social media. They said you have to touch
Speaker 3: somebody seven times with the message before they act on it.
Speaker 3: Seven times seven times before they see the product, and
Speaker 3: you have to show it to him. Here, show it
Speaker 3: to them there, show it like this, show him that.
Speaker 3: They said, on average this isn't completely scientific, but on average,
Speaker 3: it's at least seven. The walls of Jericho, it's at
Speaker 3: least seven. Name in dipping in the Jordan, it's at
Speaker 3: least seven. There's a cloud the size of a man's hand,
Speaker 3: it's at least seven. So do you want to dabble
Speaker 3: in seeking God? Because Hebrews eleven six says without faith
Speaker 3: it is impossible to please God. Because he who comes
Speaker 3: to God must believe that he is, and that He
Speaker 3: is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Knocked
Speaker 3: them that haphazardly dabble in him. They don't like me today, Hollyford.
Speaker 3: Do you want me to say that again? Should I say
Speaker 3: it again? Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete
Speaker 3: fell off, who was left all right? Peter was following Christ.
Speaker 3: Peter fell away who came to get him? And how
Speaker 3: many times did he come back for him? How many
Speaker 3: times did he restore him? I would suggest to you
Speaker 3: that even if you are not diligently seeking God, He's
Speaker 3: diligently seeking you.
Speaker 1: Don't you see it?
Speaker 3: How he kept coming for you all your life? Don't
Speaker 3: you see it? How when people gave up on you,
Speaker 3: he was there. Don't you see it? How even when
Speaker 3: your nets came up empty, even the empty nets were
Speaker 3: preparation for the greater blessing. Don't you see how even
Speaker 3: the rejections in your life were making room for something
Speaker 3: you did.
Speaker 1: Not know to expect that was next. Somebody shot next.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: What's next, but I get a sense in my spirit
Speaker 3: that God is getting somebody ready for next, because he's
Speaker 3: the God of again. I don't think he brought you
Speaker 3: this far to leave you. I don't think he gave
Speaker 3: you this much to abandon you.
Speaker 1: I don't think he brought.
Speaker 3: You into this earth to step back from you and.
Speaker 1: Have you figure it out on your own.
Speaker 3: I think He's gonna show up in a great way
Speaker 3: in this next season of your life. So I was
Speaker 3: talking to this friend the other day and they were
Speaker 3: stuck in regret, and they just kept expressing over and
Speaker 3: over again their regret, and they said decision term.
Speaker 1: They said, I just feel like it's the one that
Speaker 1: got away. It's the one that got away.
Speaker 3: Now they were taking this as a sign that it
Speaker 3: was over and they would never get it back, and
Speaker 3: it was painful. And I could tell it was painful
Speaker 3: because it was an opportunity that they lost, and they
Speaker 3: couldn't get over what they lost, and they couldn't even
Speaker 3: think about what they had.
Speaker 1: Left because of what they lost. And I never liked to.
Speaker 3: Just say stuff that sounds like a fortune cookie, because
Speaker 3: I'm a preacher.
Speaker 1: I don't talk in sound bites.
Speaker 3: If you ever meet me and you say I'm having
Speaker 3: a hard day, I will not say rejoice on the
Speaker 3: Lord always again I say rejoice. I do that up
Speaker 3: here because I have a different roll up here. But
Speaker 3: this was a friend I was talking to, and I'd
Speaker 3: walked with this friend through some of it, and I
Speaker 3: could see that while they were saying the one that
Speaker 3: got away, they were literally.
Speaker 7: Like Peter fishing, fishing, fishing, like empty, empty, empty, and
Speaker 7: they couldn't find an explanation and they couldn't find a
Speaker 7: way forward.
Speaker 1: And so I let them say it a few times
Speaker 1: and I just listened.
Speaker 3: But like on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh
Speaker 3: time they said the one that got away, something hit
Speaker 3: me and I said it, and I don't know if
Speaker 3: I made it up. I don't know if God gave
Speaker 3: it to me. I don't know if it was arrogant.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it was right or good or whatever.
Speaker 3: But the Lord said to say it to you today,
Speaker 3: so I'm gonna say it to you. They said, I
Speaker 3: just keep feeling like this is the one that got away.
Speaker 1: And I looked back and said, stop saying that. It's
Speaker 1: not the one that got away.
Speaker 3: It's the one that got you ready, got inside it.
Speaker 1: It's not the one that got away.
Speaker 3: Every time you let the nuts down and it came
Speaker 3: up empty, and you let him down, and it came
Speaker 3: up empty, and you let him down and it came
Speaker 3: up empty. All it was doing was holding the place.
Speaker 3: So when Jesus shows up, you'll be.
Speaker 5: Ready for what's on the other side. From the boat,
Speaker 5: somebody shot, I'm ready.
Speaker 3: I'm ready.
Speaker 1: High five seven. People say you're ready.
Speaker 3: Now you're ready.
Speaker 5: Now you're ready, Now you're ready.
Speaker 1: Now your nets are ready, your heart is ready.
Speaker 4: You're humble.
Speaker 1: Now you're wise, sir. Now you're with it. Now you're
Speaker 1: wider than sill.
Speaker 5: Now you're once, Now you're clean, Now you're open now
Speaker 5: you're humble. Now I'm already now.
Speaker 1: Glory to God. High five of them again and say
Speaker 1: I'm ready now, I'm ready now. In basketball they say
Speaker 1: nothing but net.
Speaker 3: And that's what Peter had as long as he was
Speaker 3: fishing without Jesus.
Speaker 1: But when he got to the other side of that bone,
Speaker 1: watch this.
Speaker 3: I came to say, stop focusing on the one that
Speaker 3: got away.
Speaker 1: God said to tell you, don't focus on anything in
Speaker 1: this season.
Speaker 3: Nothing but next, because what's coming, what is yet to be?
Speaker 5: He's great up, Oh, somebody's shut again. He's gonna do
Speaker 5: it again, but it's gonna be bigger. He's gonna do
Speaker 5: it again.
Speaker 1: What is gonna be greater? I'm gonna preach this thing
Speaker 1: till you believe it.
Speaker 3: How many times will he have to part water before
Speaker 3: you take the step when your ankle deep?
Speaker 1: How many times will he have.
Speaker 3: To kill Goliath before you get your rock and start
Speaker 3: swinging at everything in your life that is in front
Speaker 3: of you. There is something that God already did will
Speaker 3: not do it the same way, So stop expecting.
Speaker 1: To part seas with rocks. The rock is for Goliath,
Speaker 1: the staff is for the sea.
Speaker 3: God will use different tools in different seasons. But there
Speaker 3: is no one that got away, not with God. Prove it, Pastor.
Speaker 3: He came back to get Thomas. He didn't let Thomas
Speaker 3: get away, and he won't let you get away. And
Speaker 3: anything that's truly for you in your life, God won't
Speaker 3: let get away either. I think my favorite passage about
Speaker 3: the God of again, and I probably should stop preaching
Speaker 3: right now because I think you already got enough. You know,
Speaker 3: one of the biggest things that God has been teaching
Speaker 3: me lately is we can come back together next Sunday.
Speaker 1: And we could do it again. But I can't let
Speaker 1: you go because you might. You know, you might, you might,
Speaker 1: you might sleep in next Sunday. So I got to
Speaker 1: give you this while I got you picture with me.
Speaker 1: I give you this. You came all the way from
Speaker 1: New York for this? Did you really all right? New York?
Speaker 3: So I'm in a reference with a familiar Bible story.
Speaker 3: You probably heard it before, but you need to hear
Speaker 3: it again. There were two sons, one father. The younger
Speaker 3: son went to his father and said, I want my
Speaker 3: inheritance now, and he left and started living wild. This
Speaker 3: in Luke chapter fifteen. How many of you have heard this?
Speaker 3: Story before the story of Practison, Well you need to
Speaker 3: hear it. So this young man goes off, spends everything
Speaker 3: that he has. Once he sees that his friends aren't
Speaker 3: really his friends, but they are only with him as
Speaker 3: long as what is attached to him is flowing.
Speaker 1: Once that falls.
Speaker 3: Away, he realizes, Man, I'm living way beneath what I
Speaker 3: had back home. He goes home with the speech prepared,
Speaker 3: and he's really worried because he's been gone a long time,
Speaker 3: long enough for his dad to assume that he's dead.
Speaker 3: The older brother's back home doing his job when he's
Speaker 3: getting to the place, and I want to start at
Speaker 3: about verse twenty one of Luke fifteen. If I don't
Speaker 3: finish this today, i'll put it on YouTube this week
Speaker 3: for you and me and Holly. I'll sit down and
Speaker 3: break it down. I've been doing these little sermon breakdowns
Speaker 3: on YouTube, and I might do one on this.
Speaker 1: And you're going to listen to the message again Monday. Anyway.
Speaker 3: Right now, this is something that this is something that
Speaker 3: is really pivotal to me, me explaining and unpacking to
Speaker 3: you what I mean when I say he's the god
Speaker 3: of again, because the contrast of it is found here
Speaker 3: when this younger son who has run away from home
Speaker 3: is thinking about coming back, like you might be thinking
Speaker 3: about coming back today, Like I'm gonna try to get
Speaker 3: sober again. I'm going to really try this thing again
Speaker 3: of opening up to in my life. I'm going to
Speaker 3: really commit to this path again. I'm gonna pick up
Speaker 3: my Bible and to start simple reading Bible plan again.
Speaker 1: Whatever.
Speaker 3: It doesn't have to be so deep, but whatever it
Speaker 3: is that you're about to do again, this is this
Speaker 3: boy's fear.
Speaker 1: He has a hurdle across because he's.
Speaker 3: Thinking about his father and all the harm that he's caused.
Speaker 3: So he's getting to the place verse twenty one. Please,
Speaker 3: the son said the father, I have sinned against heaven
Speaker 3: and against you. I am no longer worthy to be
Speaker 3: called your son. Notice the word there in the verse against.
Speaker 1: Against.
Speaker 3: In his mind, he has made his father out to
Speaker 3: be against him, against him, against him, he has something
Speaker 3: against me. In this case, it's true, the father could
Speaker 3: have very easily chosen to disinherit this boy.
Speaker 1: He had the legal right. So he's thinking about what
Speaker 1: his father has against him, and that's what stops us.
Speaker 3: We think about what's against us and if we assume
Speaker 3: that at the heart of it all, God is actually
Speaker 3: against us, or life is against us, then we turn
Speaker 3: against ourselves. So we don't try again because of what's
Speaker 3: against us. Watch the story unfold because it's shocking. Verse
Speaker 3: twenty two. But the father said to his servants, quick,
Speaker 3: bring the best robe and put it on him. Put
Speaker 3: a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet.
Speaker 3: Next verse, bring the fat and calf and kill it.
Speaker 3: Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of
Speaker 3: mine was dead and is alive.
Speaker 1: Say it, Say it again, Say it again.
Speaker 3: He thought he was coming to the god of against,
Speaker 3: but he found the God of.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 3: Give him his road back, give him his ring back,
Speaker 3: give him his name back, give him his seat back.
Speaker 3: For this son of mine was dead. Wait, no, he
Speaker 3: wasn't dead, but I thought he was. And now he's alive.
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 3: Some of the things that God wants to bring alive
Speaker 3: again in your life.
Speaker 1: They're not really dead.
Speaker 3: They're just waiting for you to recognize them. Sometimes it's
Speaker 3: not about something that God needs to add.
Speaker 1: To our lives.
Speaker 3: It's about something that we need to remember again. So
Speaker 3: as many times a day as you need to say
Speaker 3: to yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm fully given by the blood of Jesus. Say it again.
Speaker 3: If you leave church in five minutes after Pastor Stephen.
Speaker 1: Is preaching, your cuss and ask.
Speaker 3: God for forgiveness again and again and again mid cuss word,
Speaker 3: cut yourself off between syllables and say, Father, help me
Speaker 3: not cuss like that anymore. I know my tongue needs
Speaker 3: to be tamed. Payment again, Taman takes time. Help me
Speaker 3: with this again, and God doesn't go again.
Speaker 1: He goes again again. Let's get you walking right again.
Speaker 1: Let's drill this again.
Speaker 3: If God is a good teacher, that means he knows
Speaker 3: how to get through to me.
Speaker 1: That means he knows how to make the adjustments.
Speaker 3: If God is a loving father, that means he will
Speaker 3: never run out of what I need more of. So
Speaker 3: when I come to him, he doesn't stand against me.
Speaker 3: He is there again for me as many times as
Speaker 3: I know need so. I stumbled upon something in my
Speaker 3: own life to help me recognize what God has already
Speaker 3: done for me.
Speaker 1: I share it with you in the spirit of encouragement.
Speaker 3: Many days in my life I have a complaining and
Speaker 3: grumbling spirit, and that leads to my anxiety, and it
Speaker 3: leads to me feeling resentful of all of the pressures
Speaker 3: in my life.
Speaker 1: I've had to learn how to deal with that again
Speaker 1: and again and again. I thought by now it would
Speaker 1: be easy. It still isn't. I thought by age.
Speaker 3: Forty three I would have a permanently set perspective. Maybe
Speaker 3: it happens when you turn forty four, but it definitely
Speaker 3: doesn't happen at forty three in my case. So I
Speaker 3: have to make all of these things that I say
Speaker 3: to myself again and again and again. Now, notice what
Speaker 3: the boy in the story was saying to himself again
Speaker 3: and again walking to his father. I'm not worthy, I'm
Speaker 3: not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.
Speaker 3: When you walk around saying that in some form to
Speaker 3: yourself day after day, year after year, you begin to
Speaker 3: become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat.
Speaker 1: Shall I say that again?
Speaker 3: You become what you believe, and you believe what you repeat,
Speaker 3: especially what you repeat within yourself. But the father gives
Speaker 3: him a better word, and he says, come back home again.
Speaker 1: He was dead, and now he is alive again. Let's celebrate.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you have to celebrate what remains in order to
Speaker 3: move forward and what hasn't been revealed, So I go
Speaker 3: into this place and forgive me if this is kind
Speaker 3: of dark or weird.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I ask myself the question, if I lost what
Speaker 1: mattered most to me, what would I give to have
Speaker 1: it back?
Speaker 3: And it's a next size that I do, and I
Speaker 3: find it helpful because in that what matters most to me.
Speaker 3: I start, of course with my salvation that Jesus paid
Speaker 3: the price for me, and that I I don't have
Speaker 3: to go to Hell, I don't have to live in condemnation.
Speaker 3: I don't have to carry the shame of the things
Speaker 3: that I've done.
Speaker 1: I can't think of a better gift, can you? Can you?
Speaker 1: If you can come up here and tell me.
Speaker 3: About it, just to know that it's all paid for
Speaker 3: by him. Yeah, And I go down the list and
Speaker 3: I get like technical because like right behind Jesus's Holly,
Speaker 3: they're kind of they're kind of similar. They're both always
Speaker 3: there for me, they're both amazing to me, they're both
Speaker 3: better than me. And then you see I'm earning points
Speaker 3: multitasking up here in this microphone and think about my wife.
Speaker 3: I think about my kids, and I think, if I
Speaker 3: lost them, what would I give to have them back?
Speaker 1: And the answer is everything? So what do I already have?
Speaker 3: Maybe like, well, I have lost this person in my
Speaker 3: life and I can't say that you still have his grace?
Speaker 1: What would you give to have that grace back if
Speaker 1: it went away? Everything? So what do you have right now? Everything?
Speaker 1: Sometimes you just need to remember again what you've already
Speaker 1: been given.
Speaker 3: Isn't it good for us to sometimes just stand in
Speaker 3: a situation and say, lord, I don't know what you're
Speaker 3: going to do next, but you already did this. You
Speaker 3: already gave me that, and if you did it before,
Speaker 3: it stands to reason you're gonna do it again.
Speaker 1: But even until you do, if I already have you,
Speaker 1: I already have everything.
Speaker 3: Try it sometime this week when the enemy starts speaking
Speaker 3: to you about how you're not going to make it
Speaker 3: and this time it's different and you can't recover from
Speaker 3: this and it will never be the same, and they're
Speaker 3: the one that you needed and you can't live without them,
Speaker 3: stop and say, wait a minute, if I have him,
Speaker 3: I have everything. That's what the father did with his
Speaker 3: older son because the older son, who stayed home, he
Speaker 3: was mad about the party. He said I'm not coming
Speaker 3: in there to celebrate this hooligan. He spent half our inheritance.
Speaker 3: Now you're spending money on beef patties, making them some
Speaker 3: brisket out here. I'm not coming in to eat the brisket.
Speaker 3: I hate my brother. And the Father said, look a
Speaker 3: verse thirty one. This is so powerful, he said, my son,
Speaker 3: you are always with me and everything I have it's
Speaker 3: already yours.
Speaker 1: Verse thirty two.
Speaker 3: But we had to celebrate and be glad because this
Speaker 3: brother of yours was.
Speaker 1: Dead and is alive again.
Speaker 3: And the God of again is standing over your life today.
Speaker 3: I promise that he is. I don't know what you
Speaker 3: got to walk through in this season. I don't know
Speaker 3: what doctors have told you, lawyers have told you, what
Speaker 3: the devil has told you, what insecurity has told you.
Speaker 3: I don't know what any of the symptoms in your
Speaker 3: body are saying, or any of the emotions in your
Speaker 3: soul are saying.
Speaker 1: But I know what the Father is saying again again again.
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, let's just walk back and
Speaker 3: look at it.
Speaker 1: If he told the sun when to rise.
Speaker 3: And it did, he will again, how many believe he
Speaker 3: will again? Somebody shout he will again. And if he
Speaker 3: told the storm to be still and it did, he
Speaker 3: will he will. I need the whole church to agree
Speaker 3: with me. If he told the sea where.
Speaker 1: To split and it did, he will.
Speaker 3: And if he told the walls when to fall and
Speaker 3: they did, he will again.
Speaker 1: And if he told the change winsor.
Speaker 3: Break and they did, he will again.
Speaker 4: And if he told the bones come alive and they did,
Speaker 4: he will again. And if he told the stone roll
Speaker 4: away and it did.
Speaker 1: He will again.
Speaker 5: And if he told the grave let it go and
Speaker 5: it did, he will again and again and again and again.
Speaker 8: And again and again and again. It's not the one, no, no, no, it's.
Speaker 1: Not the one that got away.
Speaker 3: It's the one that got you ready for what's on
Speaker 3: the other side. I speak to every lost opportunity, every
Speaker 3: broken heart, every child of God standing in need of
Speaker 3: restoration through the Holy Spirit because of the regrets of
Speaker 3: your past. He is a redeemer and a rewarder of
Speaker 3: those who diligently seek him. And if he told the
Speaker 3: sun wind arise and it did, he will again. He
Speaker 3: will again.
Speaker 1: And if he told the storm to be still and
Speaker 1: it did, he will again.
Speaker 3: And if he told the seat where to split and
Speaker 3: it did, he will again.
Speaker 1: And if he told the.
Speaker 3: Wall seven times, when the fall seven times, and they did,
Speaker 3: he will again.
Speaker 1: And if he told the chains when to break and
Speaker 1: they did, he will again.
Speaker 4: And if he told the balls come alive and they did,
Speaker 4: he will again.
Speaker 5: And if he told the soul go away and it did,
Speaker 5: he will again.
Speaker 1: And if he throw the gray let it brow and.
Speaker 5: It did, he will again and again and again.
Speaker 1: Had a can't hand.
Speaker 5: A cat and a can't had a cat and a
Speaker 5: can't hang a cat, had.
Speaker 1: A cat hand jack, he's.
Speaker 5: A con came how gay trust.
Speaker 1: If he told the.
Speaker 5: Sun win the rots and the kid, he will again.
Speaker 5: He will lookad.
Speaker 1: And if he told the sun.
Speaker 5: So be steep and it did, it will again. He lookin.
Speaker 1: And if he told the.
Speaker 5: Seat where the slid, and it dan and he tip
Speaker 5: and will again he again.
Speaker 4: And if he told the walls you don't worry, he.
Speaker 5: And the kick, he will look at. And if he
Speaker 5: tore the chase, when the bray right right, and if
Speaker 5: they can't, we will again. If you do the falls
Speaker 5: to shop and they did, he will look at.
Speaker 1: And if he tell the song.
Speaker 5: Fell away, he he he will look on the play many.
Speaker 1: Man, you come man, he go again, you get back again, you'll.
Speaker 5: Get he will against you.
Speaker 3: Can you.
Speaker 5: Roll eyes and you can you will again. And if
Speaker 5: you do the sky again, he'll be steal a cat.
Speaker 5: And he did, he will look at. And if he
Speaker 5: don't the sea when the stick and you did, he
Speaker 5: will look at. And if he told the walls wait
Speaker 5: a did and he didn't give me he will a
Speaker 5: kid say, say he's lead the brooks, and they did.
Speaker 5: He will again if he call me to souls coming
Speaker 5: to hide, and they said, he will again, and I
Speaker 5: become a nothing the.
Speaker 1: Same that he can give me a again.
Speaker 5: And if you talk not so dang, you in let
Speaker 5: me down a kid, leave me daddy again. Leave him there.
Speaker 5: You can leave her there. We can live her there,
Speaker 5: you can.
Speaker 3: I know we will look at.
Speaker 5: Leave him again him here again, live a trapic t the.
Speaker 1: Water's loga there are cool.
Speaker 5: After milto of ch after ruche here it calls, so
Speaker 5: give day bart.
Speaker 3: Done one doesn't. Hey.
Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if
Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part
Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again
Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message,
Speaker 2: and subscribe.
Speaker 1: God bless you.