WEBVTT - Built Different 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.520 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:17.160 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.919 So right now in the chat, just say thank God 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.279 I'm here. Right, just look at somebody and say thank 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.440 God you're here. Oh. I've been waiting to see someone 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:38.320 like you all week, someone positive, uplifting, encouraging, well built, tall, sturdy. 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:42.960 I trust that you smell good. I trust that you're blessed. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.000 The best rhythm section in Charlotte, North Carolina, with Vinnie 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.080 and Shay. It's great to have Joel with us. Let's 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:58.040 thank God for Joel. We started dancing the other night. 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.280 We didn't even mean to. We've got this amazing collaboration 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:05.280 with Elevation Worship in Maverick City. Come in your way, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:12.720 somebody say when soon soon? And U Joelle will have 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:14.440 to have you come back and share the song that 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:17.920 you carried. Uh. It's about miracles and your life is 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.000 a miracle. And I can't wait for you to hear 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:22.760 that song and all the other songs. It's great to 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:28.280 have you, Tiffany, tell me about the leather. I'm a rocker. Now, 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:32.559 she's a rocker. Now, John South, she's a rocker. Now, Jenny, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:38.240 do you believe that? Okay, upon this rock, I will 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:43.679 build my church. How many? Thank God for it? Oh, 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.479 it's good to see. How did you get off work? 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.600 Good to see you. I miss you so much. Hey. 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:51.480 By the way, let us know in the chat who 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.280 you are and where you're where you're joining us from. 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.840 It's a worldwide ministry, and we thank God for you. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:58.160 But we will know you're here if you don't tell us. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:01:59.960 So tell me right now. I'm here, and my name, 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:02.040 and my favorite movie is, and my favorite food is, 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.360 and my favorite Bible versus, and tell me everything you 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.400 want to tell me about yourself. Okay, where is Cindy 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:13.480 from Chewies? Hey, Cindy, good to see you. I told 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:17.040 you I would find you. I told you. Now put 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.680 your name too so we can know you're here, all right. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.320 Cindy told me she was coming, and she came. It's nice. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:30.360 She's the one works at Chewies, nicest hostess I've ever seen. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.200 And we're all a hostess for the Holy Ghost. Today, 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.120 y'all be seeing it. This is getting ridiculous. This is 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.800 some very mediocre stand up. We better get to the 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:51.040 Bible verse first Peter chapter two, and let's really take 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.800 our time with this passage so we can taste it today. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:58.320 This is a delicious, delicious scripture, and I want us 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:11.440 to chew our food one Peter Chapter two. I'll read it, 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:15.040 then i'll break it down. Therefore, rid yourselves of all 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:25.120 malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Basically, 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.800 he's saying, delete all your social media accounts. Is how 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:32.160 I read that. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slam. If you 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:37.520 can't say amen, say ouch. I'll give you thirty seconds 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.680 to delete some things before we move on. In description, 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.320 he said, therefore rid yourselves. And that's what we've been 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:47.720 talking about the first part of twenty twenty one. The Lord, 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.760 all the years run together right now. The Lord was 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.480 saying that we need to have room to receive right, So, 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.280 how can I receive the love of God if my 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.280 heart is full of malice? How can I receive the 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.680 truth if my heart is full of deceit? How can 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.080 I receive the real me, the revelation of the real me, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.840 if I'm living in hypocrisy so determined to look better 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.040 than I really am. Hypocrisy isn't struggling with something that's 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:19.600 pretending like you don't envy slander. Now, if you can 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:21.839 do all of that, if you can get rid of 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:26.320 all of that, with all of your social media accounts 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:31.160 on your phone, you're just a better person than me. Okay, 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.520 but most of us have to make some decisions about 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.440 what we're going to allow to have access to us, 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.279 So maybe write this down. The first step to getting 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:47.680 ready is getting rid, get rid, get rid of these things. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.240 And none of the things that he talks about are 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:57.400 direct behaviors, their attitudes. So you've got a whole list 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.719 of what to do. Some of you logged on today. Lord, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:04.039 give me words, show me what to do, he just did. Okay, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.400 you've got plenty to do. You can turn me off 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:13.120 now and just get busy getting rid of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:14.840 and slander. I don't know what the Lord wants me 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.320 to do. First, Peter two to one just told you. 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.680 When you get those five, then come back and then 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.400 ask me about the Book of Daniel in the Book 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:28.920 of Revelations. So that's first one. We've got nine more, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.400 all right, get rid to get ready. It's like clearing 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:35.960 out a space that you know God is going to 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:43.320 fill with something better. Keep going ford Like newborn babies 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.280 crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.720 grow up in your salvation. Now that you have tasted 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.359 that the Lord is good, let's go slow through this 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.600 as you come to him. Verse four, The living stone? 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:02.640 Who is him? Not a trick question, It's totally Jesus. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.280 Let's run it back as you come to him. Who 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.880 is him? Right right, right, good job. The living stone 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:19.480 rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:24.720 and precious to him. You also, like living stones, are 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:30.040 being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:36.279 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.479 love it for in scripture, you love when scripture. Quote scripture. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.920 In scripture, it says, see, I lay a stone in Zion, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.520 a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:56.039 in him will never be put to shame. Now to 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.599 you who believe this stone is precious. But to those 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:05.120 who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.520 become the cornerstone, and a stone that causes people to stumble, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:14.240 and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:18.000 they disobey the message, which is also what they were 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:25.320 destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:31.880 a holy nation, God's special possession. Not the beaters, the 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.280 shoes on the top shelf, he doesn't just wear every day. 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.760 That you may declare the praises of Him who called 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:42.000 you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.440 were not a people, but now you are the people 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.600 of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:55.600 you have received mercy. That's enough, let's stop Verse five. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.760 You also, like living stones, are being built into a 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:03.760 spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:08.080 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I want to use 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:15.600 for a topic or a title, built different, built different. 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:22.160 What you're getting here in one Peter is sort of 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.080 a synopsis of a salvation experience, and it kind of 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.560 reminds me of some of the time lapse videos that 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.080 I see on YouTube where they'll show a man. I 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.880 saw this series of videos and somebody told me they 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:37.680 weren't real. I don't know if they're real. Where he 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.440 was like building a swimming pool with a stick. Have 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.120 you seen these? I thought about playing one, but I 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.680 thought it might be copyright protected or something like that. 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.800 Google might come shut the church down if I've showed it, 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.600 or get demonetized or something like that. Unordained. I don't 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.800 know what happens if you play somebody else's YouTube video, 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:00.559 but they had all kinds. I kind of went in 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:05.480 a time lapse wormhole preparing for this message. I was 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.960 watching people build legos. I remember several years ago I 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.920 wanted to do an illustration how God is doing things 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.960 in our life that our purpose appears in pieces. So 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.360 I brought up a box of legos and I really 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:21.000 milked the illustration. I had the box and I pulled 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.080 it out and I spilled all the pieces everywhere, and 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.880 I said, oh no, it's broken. And my point was, 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:29.200 it doesn't look like it looks on the box until 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.080 it's fully built, and kind of how we have this 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.960 vision for our life, for our family, our relationships, and 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:37.520 we want to take it back to God because it 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.200 doesn't look like what was on the box. But it 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.559 has to be built. It has to be built. That's 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:45.920 the whole point of the legos you're paying. So there 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.160 was this nine year old on YouTube, and I may 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.120 show him if we can get the copyright cleared before 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.520 we put this message on YouTube. Look into it. He 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.400 built this lego whole Star Wars lego thing. I don't 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.000 know what it was, but it was so big. But 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:01.560 it only took me about ten minutes to watch him 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.800 build it. It was crazy. And I noticed he changed 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.280 outfits like six times in the video, so that makes 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.400 me think it went on over several days. And I 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:17.800 was watching that thinking about how when somebody tells you 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:24.560 their testimony about their relationship with God, or or when 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.800 they tell you their testimony of how they got set 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:32.000 free from something in their life, it's usually a time 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:38.960 lapse testimony it, which is what Peter's doing here, right. 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.079 He says it so simply, and the way he says 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.400 it it sounds so sudden, and I want to point 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.920 that out to you again. He's like, get rid of 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.160 all the bad things in your life and grow up 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.000 in your salvation. That's the first two verses, but he 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.600 uses the image of a baby to let me know 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.720 that God's kingdom and the way that it is built 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.400 will be different than the way the time lapse video 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.280 works on YouTube. And so when you hear somebody say, 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.520 you know, oh, I gave my life to Christ and 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.679 it was wonderful, and I used to live in the darkness, 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.800 but now I live in the light. And you know, 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:24.080 I used to be bound by sin, and I was 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.240 served only the false gods of Babylon and myself. They 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:30.520 still go see those gods sometimes, but they don't tell 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.000 you about that in their testimony. Right. What they're doing 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.600 is there fast forwarding past all the stumbles. Right, Oh, well, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:40.720 all of our kids just grew up to serve the Lord, 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.800 and we just love the Lord. We taught them to 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:44.640 pray when they were early, and we used to pray 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:48.240 the blessing from number six of the Ironic Blessing. And 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.760 I would they leave out? So much is so fast. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.559 You can barely watch the three years that their kid 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.160 was on drugs. You barely saw the three years that 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.640 they slept in separate beds. Oh, we've been happily married 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.520 thirty two years. But you didn't know there were eight 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:15.360 other years. That's called a time lapse testimony. It's not untrue. 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:22.960 It's just you're hearing it so quick. And the hard 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:29.120 part becomes when we compare our real life process to 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:38.719 somebody else's time lapse testimony. Built different, It's something that 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.160 I heard my kids say kind of ironically, you know, 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.520 I make fun of their hair or something like that. 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.360 I remember one of them was saying to somebody, you 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.959 never cry, and the guy say, ah, I guess I'm 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.640 just built different. Man. I was like, that's cool, that's 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.600 something you'll say. This is why I do all the time. 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.720 I'm trying to crack the code of how to reach 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:06.560 the youth, you know, sermon research. And I even said 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.679 it the other day, Where's Buck? Is he back there somewhere? 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:16.320 But y'all know Buck? But Buck He sent us a 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.600 workout the other day, me and Elijah, and told us 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.479 to put only here's how the workout goes, superset superset, 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:27.160 superset superset, where you don't have any rest between Then 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.679 he said, after doing four super sets and not resting, 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:35.880 to only rest two minutes between sets. So I told 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.160 Elijah what Buck wanted us to do. And I told 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.920 him what we were gonna do. And I said, because 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:51.040 Buck's built different. Some would call him a psychopath and 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:53.520 some would call him an athlete. Here's a fine line. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:59.360 I just built different. He just built different. And if 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:03.120 I try to do what Bug does, it's gonna end 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:13.959 in vomit injury. She said, manslaughter. I'm not that bad. 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:17.480 I wouldn't kill him. I went in through that. That's 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:23.560 all you. What's what you would do? Said, She's built different, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:29.000 watch out for that one. Now. I was studying the 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.640 scripture and I was reading how Peter said, uh, and 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:35.760 as you come to him the living stone, rejected by humans, 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.760 chosen by God, precious him. You also like living stones 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.640 are being built. This is verse five. Police into a 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:46.560 spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:53.200 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Time lapse testimony, like 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.400 it's just all one thing, Like it's just all one moment, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.920 like I have decided to follow. Jesus says it all, 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:04.520 God said it. I believe that settles it. Yeah, I 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:11.240 feel you. But why did Jesus use the illustration of 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:15.800 a mustard seed to describe how His Kingdom grows in 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:22.360 our life if we expect salvation. Like when I gave 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.080 my life to Christ. My mom had been planting seeds 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:29.040 for years, right, She'd been planning, and so for me, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.760 I experienced that suddenly. But she had been sewing that 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.760 from the time she was singing to me as a baby. 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:40.200 So when I would share my testimony, I'd be like, 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.000 on such and such date, when I was sixteen years old, 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.000 That's how old I was when I kind of made 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.480 my own decision to follow Christ and it was real. 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.080 But for me to just skip to that and say, 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.360 when I was sixteen, I went down forward at this 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.720 Baptist church, first Baptist Church, Monk's Corner, gave my life 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.360 to Christ. That's how I told my testimony for years, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.440 But that was the time. That was just when what 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.480 she was sewing into me finally caught up with what 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:13.400 God was doing all along. Right. That really blesses me 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.520 as a parent now to know train up a child 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:19.320 in the way they should go, and when they are old, 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:25.480 they won't depart from it. So everybody wants to skip 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.360 telling you about the stuff that doesn't make them look 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.680 so spiritual. That really bothers me that little crackle in 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.440 the microphone that isn't planned, So somebody needs to fix it. 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:38.880 Come fix it, y'all are like he's doing an illustration. 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:44.160 No I'm not. It's a malfunction. Now let's back up 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:48.080 all the way and talk about how God built a nation. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:53.080 How God, when he decided to build a nation, he 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.680 found a man with a wife who had a barren womb. 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.480 We should have known from the very beginning that this 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.640 nation is going to be built different, right, because you 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:10.000 don't build a nation through a woman's barren womb, right, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.040 That's not how you do it. But God was sending 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.800 us a signal from the very beginning that this nation 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.879 will be built different. It will be built in the 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.639 face of impossible odds, through even what seems to be 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.760 a physical impossibility. So if that's you today and you 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.800 have an impossible situation, that should be a great encouragement 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:35.640 to you, right because God doesn't need God doesn't need 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.520 to have the finished product in hand to fulfill his 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.320 promise to you. I'm just trying to say that the 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:47.119 way God works, he builds different than how people build it. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:48.840 Is there any way to get this fixed or just 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.200 keep going with the hen help. Okay, I'm gonna take 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.520 this off. Somebody put in the chat while I'm stalling 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:59.040 a little bit. I'm built different. I'm built different. I'm 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:03.360 built different. So when Jesus chooses his disciples, right, you'll 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.840 remember Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John who wrote the Gospels. Well, 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:13.119 there's James and John, the sons of Zebedee. There's Peter, Peter. 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.760 We should have known from the moment that Jesus picked 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:26.400 Peter that whatever team Jesus is building, I mean, Peter 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.679 is so far off the scouting report for all the 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.840 professional Christians. And he's not even in rabbi school. He's 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.800 a fisherman. So if you're going to the if you're 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:42.280 going to the fishing boat to pick your team to 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.199 change the world, you must not be building according to 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:54.439 the values and the systems of this world. Holly preached 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:59.040 about Gideon last week. Did you hear it? How Gideon 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.400 had too many men to fight the battle? She didn't 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.000 get to that part. This is a sequel, how he 0:19:04.040 --> 0:19:07.000 got down to three hundred men to attack the Midian Ice. 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.880 She just mentioned that part. But you know what's crazy 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:15.199 about that? That is, if you're building an army and 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:20.520 you go from thousands to hundreds. That's called building backwards. 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.760 Has God been building backwards in your life over the 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:33.720 past year so that sometimes He is stripping and subtracting 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:39.119 more than he is adding and multiplying. I mean, really, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.639 the whole clue is built into the text that I 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.120 read you before you can be ready for what God 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:51.000 is building. You've got to get rid to make room. 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.679 But what drew me to it more than anything, and 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:56.720 I'd love to get your attention on this verse please, 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:02.640 is one Peter two four. He says that this living stone, Jesus, 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:08.800 who we worship, who is perfect, was rejected by humans 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.359 but chosen by God. I don't know if you've ever 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.280 heard me say this before, but it seems to be true, 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:20.240 whether you're talking about Moses or Peter or Mary who's 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:25.560 a virgin, or whether you're talking about you know, pick 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:30.359 your Bible character right, the overlook the unlikely, the little 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.440 boy with the lunch that wasn't even included in the 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:41.840 crowd count that God selects what man rejects. In this passage, 0:20:41.840 --> 0:20:45.640 we're given a picture of Jesus. He's what God put 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.160 on the box to show you what your life can 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:52.040 look like. And he's so kind, and he's so powerful, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:57.439 and he's so perfect. He's like big enough to do miracles. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.119 And then he's also a ten enough that when a 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:03.120 child wants to come up and sit on his laugh, 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.760 he makes time. He is, you might say, the new 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:14.199 blueprint for humanity, God's second atom, the way to do 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.119 it right. And he's using Jesus as an illustration to 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.800 say that when God sent perfection into the world, people 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:27.240 didn't recognize it. Let me give you a theology lesson 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.840 on why people did not recognize perfection when it came. 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:36.960 Because people are dumb, because people look at all the 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:41.320 wrong stuff all the time. So we will find a 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:46.239 celebrity to emulate and not even take into account that 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:50.159 that celebrity is miserable, and we will model our life 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:56.439 after somebody who is secretly miserable. Meanwhile, God puts people 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.240 in our life that are actually good, you know, examples 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:02.640 in our life that are actually good, and we call 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:04.879 them old heads, and we don't like them because they 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.840 don't wear the stuff that looks attractive. But it's okay, 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:15.320 because here's here's a message. Jesus was rejected. Jesus was rejected. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:23.000 Can you believe that the eternal word of God, the pure, thoughtless, 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:28.959 without blemish, lamb of God, Jesus, the Alpha, the Omega, 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:34.639 and everything in between. Jesus was rejected. But that in 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:40.800 the chat Jesus was rejected. He's talking about Jesus. He said, 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:45.320 the stone that the foundation on Christ, the solid rock, 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.919 eyes stand, the thing that everything was built on, the 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.200 word that is eternal, that was spoken from the portals 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:56.840 of eternity into the labor pangs of time. That Jesus 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.080 was rejected. He came to his own, and his own 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:01.960 received him not. He was despised and rejected. A man 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:06.600 of sorrows and acquainted with greed. Jesus was rejected. What 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:15.119 made you think you would never be He was despised. 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:16.800 Why do we always think we're going to be so 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:23.879 well liked? Hmm? Jesus was rejected. I don't think we 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.960 get that message very much anymore. We get Jesus was resurrected. 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:35.760 But before he was resurrected, the only reason that he 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:39.919 needed to be was that he was rejected by the people. 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:44.639 He came to say, And that's a very painful thing, y'all. 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:49.119 There's not a person under the sound of my voice. 0:23:49.480 --> 0:23:53.720 Who hasn't experienced Maybe you don't call it being rejected. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:58.720 Maybe it just feels like being ignored. The popular term 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:03.120 now is unseen. I need to feel seen, And it's 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.280 like you change your hair color and all that stuff, 0:24:05.320 --> 0:24:08.600 and nobody even cares about it much. And you know, 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:10.800 you bought those shoes on a credit card you can't afford, 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:13.240 and me paying them off till you're raising your grandchildren 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:18.160 and nobody even cares about that. And so yeah, I'm 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.520 trying to be seen. But really, if I come to 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:26.320 the theological truth that's in the text, it's nothing new. 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:30.920 Jesus was rejected. So I was sixteen when I gave 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:33.399 my life to Christ. The language that we used was 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:37.600 I accepted Jesus. I remember that's what the preacher said, 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:41.520 if you would like to accept Christ as your I 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:45.200 think he said your personal Lord and savior. And you're saying, 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:47.240 make a decision, you know, put your faith in Christ, 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:50.800 put your trust in him. And when I did that, 0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:54.000 I meant it. And I would say I've never looked back. 0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:57.399 I've looked back plenty, but I've tried to keep moving forward, 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:01.119 or at least get back up when I fall down, right, 0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:05.000 So you know the time life testimony is, I gave 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:06.639 my left to Christ when I'm sixteen, and here I 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:10.520 am today preaching the word of God. Shout out in Nairobi. 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:17.080 Shut out Buttswana, shout out ben Burke, South Carolina, keep 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:18.960 saying things that start with A be unto your shot. 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:28.200 Shout out Valentine. All right, but accepting Jesus was easy. 0:25:30.240 --> 0:25:36.000 What's not to accept? I mean, He's gonna pay for 0:25:36.119 --> 0:25:43.920 my sins, not my bill at Chewies, my sins, my wrongs. 0:25:45.400 --> 0:25:48.359 He's gonna take away my shame. He's gonna stand in 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:50.440 the place where I deserve to stand. He's gonna die 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:53.600 for me. He's gonna put his resurrection power of me. 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:56.159 He's gonna pray for me to the Father. When I 0:25:56.160 --> 0:26:01.160 don't have the words to say, I'll take it. I'll 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:06.160 take it. This is a good deal. I'm accepting Jesus. 0:26:08.280 --> 0:26:11.399 That happened when I was sixteen. This week I turned 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:18.080 forty one years old. That's about It's about the right 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:24.280 amount of applause, somewhere between pity and celebration. That's how 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:30.320 I feel. That means it's been twenty five years since 0:26:30.359 --> 0:26:37.440 I accepted Jesus. That's a quarter of the century since 0:26:37.440 --> 0:26:41.760 I accepted Jesus. When I accepted Jesus, I bet it 0:26:41.800 --> 0:26:44.000 took me twenty five seconds to walk down the aisle 0:26:44.720 --> 0:26:50.760 Boom boom, boom, prayed this prayer. I accepted Jesus twenty 0:26:50.760 --> 0:26:56.440 five seconds. But what's taking me twenty five years is 0:26:56.480 --> 0:27:06.959 accepting Stephen. Oh, my Lord, that hasn't been as easy. 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:15.520 He's not perfect, he's not always forgiving, he doesn't have 0:27:15.560 --> 0:27:21.760 all wisdom, he doesn't have a lot of things. He's 0:27:21.800 --> 0:27:25.560 five foot eight and a half. People say things when 0:27:25.600 --> 0:27:27.679 they meet him, like you look taller on the screen. 0:27:29.640 --> 0:27:45.080 That's appropriate. Accepting Jesus took a moment. Accepting me is 0:27:45.160 --> 0:27:53.280 taking a lifetime. And the longer I live with Stephen, 0:27:53.320 --> 0:27:57.680 the sicker of him I get. You know, every day 0:27:57.720 --> 0:28:00.359 with Jesus sweeter than the day before. There was a 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:03.359 hymn that went like that. I changed the melody a 0:28:03.400 --> 0:28:08.800 little bit. Every day with Steven, I discover a new 0:28:08.880 --> 0:28:12.280 depth of the depravity. You know, there's good stuff too. 0:28:12.320 --> 0:28:14.200 I'm not up here just self flagelatd like, oh I'm 0:28:14.240 --> 0:28:16.480