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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

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Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

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Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: Let's take just a moment Valentine and engage our responsibility

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Speaker 1: and privilege to welcome our efam watching around the world

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Speaker 1: on the Elevation app, YouTube, Facebook. I want to see

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Speaker 1: who's watching. Somebody bring me a phone with YouTube on it.

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Speaker 1: I did this at eleven thirty last week. It was

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Speaker 1: I must see if you'll trust me with your phone.

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Speaker 1: Do you know how much trouble I could get you

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Speaker 1: in with your phone in five minutes? How many texts

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Speaker 1: I could send on your behalf, how many bad influences

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Speaker 1: I could block off your phone. Give me five minutes

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Speaker 1: with your phone. I'll fix your future. I'll get you

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Speaker 1: into college. I'll break up with him so you don't

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Speaker 1: have to. I'll put a kissy face on it. Let's

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Speaker 1: see YouTube. Tell me where are you watching from in

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Speaker 1: the world? Just put your city, state, hamlet. How many

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Speaker 1: y'all grew up in a hamlet. Don't we love this

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Speaker 1: choir and the energy that they bring. Hello, Puerto Rico, Iowa. Whoa,

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Speaker 1: it's going fast, New Zealand. Oh, I can't keep up.

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Speaker 1: Look how fastest scrolling Gaithersburg, Maryland, New York City, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Brussels, Houston,

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Speaker 1: North Dakota, Miami, Ridgeland, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, South Korea, Missouri,

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Speaker 1: all kinds of countries, Pakistan, Oregon, South Africa, India, Singapore, Guatemala, Milwaukee,

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas, Topeka, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Chattanooga, Vermont, Philippines, Charlotte,

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Speaker 1: North Carolina. We'll bring you greetings in the name of

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Scotland, China, Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Lithuania, Costa Rica.

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Speaker 1: You got a message. I'm gonna give this back. Now,

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Speaker 1: come take this. Come on, Let's thank God for all

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Speaker 1: those all over the world joining. I said, worship, Thank you, lou.

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Speaker 1: She's gonna be preaching soon. I'm gonna give her the

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Speaker 1: mic soon and turn her loose, but not today. Today.

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Speaker 1: I got this. You can relax. How many are ready

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Speaker 1: for the word of God. I want to encourage you

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Speaker 1: to stay up late on this Thursday night Eastern Standard

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Speaker 1: time midnight the beginning of one thing, the end of another.

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Speaker 1: And we're releasing five songs called at Midnight because Paul

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Speaker 1: and Silas knew what to do in a desperate situation.

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Speaker 1: And when we sing together and join together and praise

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Speaker 1: God together, it creates freedom and our spirits, and it

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Speaker 1: often creates change in our situation. But I want you

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Speaker 1: to be a part of that. All of our watch

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Speaker 1: parties around the world at midnight, I'm going to need

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Speaker 1: you to caffeinate and plan accordingly. For some of you,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be a bigger miracle than a jail

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Speaker 1: break for you to stay up till midnight. But we're

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Speaker 1: believing God for supernatural energy for you, and stay up

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Speaker 1: at midnight and put it on Instagram and Facebook, put

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Speaker 1: it on MySpace. You hear me, young people, and let

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Speaker 1: us know where you're watching. From Ecclesiastes, chapter eleven, I

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Speaker 1: want to ten year conversation that I began with our

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Speaker 1: Matthew's campus on Thursday night. This message is called the

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Speaker 1: Mystery of Potential. How many no God has put things

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Speaker 1: inside of you that your eyes haven't seen. Yet God

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Speaker 1: put things inside of you that your parents didn't even

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Speaker 1: know about. And so I want to speak on those

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Speaker 1: things today. From Ecclesiastes eleven, verse five and six. As

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Speaker 1: you do not know the way the spirit comes to

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Speaker 1: the bones in the womb of a woman with child,

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Speaker 1: So you do not know the work of God who

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Speaker 1: makes everything. In the morning, sow your seed, and at

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Speaker 1: evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know.

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Speaker 1: He said that in both verses it must be important. Solomon,

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Speaker 1: the wisest man in the world, speaking about human ignorance,

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Speaker 1: that even after all he learned, accomplished, and every success

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Speaker 1: that he achieved. His common theme in this book is

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Speaker 1: you do not know a mystery. And he said that

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Speaker 1: one might prosper that you count out. And so since

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Speaker 1: you don't know, keep sowing. Since you don't know, keep sowing,

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Speaker 1: for you do not know which will prosper this or that,

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Speaker 1: or whether both. Somebody say both, whether both alike will

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Speaker 1: be good. Lord, This is your word, and so we

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Speaker 1: do not ask you to make it true. It already is.

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Speaker 1: Get it in our hearts, past all the falsehood distractions

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Speaker 1: and deceit, so it can become flesh in our lives.

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Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated in using

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Speaker 1: these two different analogies for the revelation of potential. The

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Speaker 1: commonality is that there is a process by which anything

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Speaker 1: must be fertilized. Whether it's human life or whether it's

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Speaker 1: a seed that will become sustenance, it must undergo a

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Speaker 1: process of fertilization. And I don't think I need to

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Speaker 1: have the birds and the bees talk. If your parents

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Speaker 1: didn't do that by now, it's not my job. But

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Speaker 1: he talks about how in the womb of a woman

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Speaker 1: there is a process and a part of human pregnancy

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Speaker 1: that can be explained or that can be anatomically identified.

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Speaker 1: And then there is another part which he calls the

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Speaker 1: spirit entering the bones or the breath the Rua and Hebrew,

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Speaker 1: it's the same word. When you hear spirit of God,

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Speaker 1: you can also think breath of God. Both are correct,

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Speaker 1: and it's the same word because it's the same process.

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Speaker 1: Anything God breathes on comes to life. And if there's

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Speaker 1: anything you need God to breathe on today, you are

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Speaker 1: in His presence and anything is possible. As a matter

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Speaker 1: of fact, the way this whole project called you got

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Speaker 1: started was God breathed on something dirty, the dust of

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Speaker 1: the earth, And when he breathed on it, he breathed

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Speaker 1: into man the breath of life. So there is the

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Speaker 1: bones and there is the breath. One of those can

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Speaker 1: be explained and perceived with human eyes. And if there's

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Speaker 1: anybody in overflow, I don't know if there is. We

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Speaker 1: got two premium seats on the landing at Valentine. So

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Speaker 1: bring in two people who traveled and had to sit

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Speaker 1: and overflow and give them those seats. If it's a

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Speaker 1: husband and a wife, or if it's two single people

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Speaker 1: that look like they like each other out there in overflow,

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Speaker 1: put them in those two seats. Let's see what God

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Speaker 1: can do. Because when God brings things together and breathes

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Speaker 1: into things, the limit of God's potential is only your belief,

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Speaker 1: because God is so big and so great, and the

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Speaker 1: only thing that ever limits him is what you believe

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Speaker 1: he can do. And you know a lot of people

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Speaker 1: will say, well, nothing limits God. He's God, and of

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Speaker 1: course he is God. But God breathes into things. And

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Speaker 1: when God breathes into things, it's so important that we

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Speaker 1: receive it. When he breathes. Amen, how many of you

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Speaker 1: are firstborn children. Firstborn children. Come on, let's give it

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Speaker 1: up for ourselves. Come on, give it up for me

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Speaker 1: and you because we were our parents' experiment. I think

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Speaker 1: when you're having a child, and I don't have a

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Speaker 1: lot of parenting advice, but this is one thing I

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Speaker 1: do think is pretty good and I may write a

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Speaker 1: book about this. When you have your first child, you know,

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Speaker 1: you create a college fund for your Yeah, you create

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Speaker 1: a college fund for your kids, but for your firstborn,

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Speaker 1: you need to also create a therapy fund. Just go

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Speaker 1: ahead and start it. Put it in a put it

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Speaker 1: in an index fund or something. Because you are you

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Speaker 1: are learning things on them that the other ones. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of rough with your firstborn because you put

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Speaker 1: all your hopes and dreams and fantasies and projections of

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Speaker 1: parenthood on that poor I'll never forget when Elijah, you know,

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Speaker 1: he's coming home from the hospital, I'm driving seventeen miles

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Speaker 1: an hour on four eighty five, just you know. And

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Speaker 1: by the time I became who was the third you know,

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Speaker 1: I just center home in an uber It's just because

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Speaker 1: I got this now. But on the first one, you're

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Speaker 1: learning everything, so you're like totally overprotective, and sometimes you're

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Speaker 1: overly ambitious, and so anything the kid does, you're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: my god, did you He just played the piano like

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Speaker 1: walks by and bangs it, and you think he's Mozart

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Speaker 1: because you see potential. Sometimes it's not there. When Elijah

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Speaker 1: first started playing baseball, I remember when he was on

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Speaker 1: this coach pitch team, and the coach pitch league is

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Speaker 1: kind of deceptive because the pitcher is working with you,

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Speaker 1: which is the opposite of real baseball, but the pitcher

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Speaker 1: wants you to hit it. And I was trying to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to help Elijah with baseball because I

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Speaker 1: played baseball a little bit. My dad coached me, but

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Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about it. And I found

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Speaker 1: out one of the grandparents there was a former scout

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Speaker 1: for minor league baseball, and he walked over to me

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Speaker 1: one game in the middle of the season and goes, hey,

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Speaker 1: that's your boy out there. I said yeah. He said

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Speaker 1: he's pretty good. It's got potential, and I was like,

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Speaker 1: for real, like how much potential? You know, like you

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Speaker 1: think he's like like a future And I couldn't even

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Speaker 1: get the whole sentence out, and he interrupted me and

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Speaker 1: said something to me, I believe God wants to say

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Speaker 1: to some of you. He said, it's too soon to tell.

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Speaker 1: In other words, I was just trying to be polite

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Speaker 1: and say that your kid has a good swing and

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Speaker 1: encourage you to keep it up as a dad. It's

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Speaker 1: way too soon to tell you know, whether or not

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Speaker 1: you should start looking for an agent. Okay, he's just

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Speaker 1: got a good swing, But don't we always want to

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Speaker 1: know so soon. How we post stuff and if people

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Speaker 1: don't like it in two minutes, we feel the pressure

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Speaker 1: to delete it because maybe the picture wasn't as good

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Speaker 1: as I thought it was, you know, like it's the

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Speaker 1: worst thing in the world. How we live in this

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Speaker 1: age of instant validation where we just expect every opinion

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Speaker 1: to be accepted just quickly. And if it doesn't happen quickly,

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Speaker 1: if it doesn't happen just like that, if it doesn't

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Speaker 1: just turn around by Friday, if within our first week

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Speaker 1: back at the gym in January it doesn't melt off,

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Speaker 1: we will cancel the gym membership and talk about the

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Speaker 1: fact that the machines weren't right. But it wasn't the machines,

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Speaker 1: it was our consistency and our deep down need to

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Speaker 1: see it happen so quick. The man said, it's too

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Speaker 1: soon to tell, and Solomon said the same thing. He said,

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Speaker 1: there are some things in your life that are like

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Speaker 1: the bones that are waiting on the breath, and you

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Speaker 1: don't know the way God is going to work in

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Speaker 1: your city situation. And it is always too soon for

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Speaker 1: you to quit on something that God put on the

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Speaker 1: inside of you. If He gave you a dream, is

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Speaker 1: too soon to walk away from it just because it

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Speaker 1: doesn't manifest in three dimensions by the time you get

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Speaker 1: done praying about it. So that's what we talked about today,

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Speaker 1: the mystery of potential and how it's too soon to tell,

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Speaker 1: and how the only way that potential can be revealed

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Speaker 1: is for process to be embraced. Y'all with me today.

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Speaker 1: I never know. I never know how a sermon is

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Speaker 1: going to affect people, and even after I preach it,

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Speaker 1: it's difficult for me to discern the impact of it.

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Speaker 1: I guess I could go off of a reaction base.

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Speaker 1: But I went to a Panthers game one time and

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Speaker 1: a lady was in front of me yelling the whole time.

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Speaker 1: But she left in the fourth quarter, because sometimes the

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Speaker 1: loudest or the first to leave. So I don't know

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Speaker 1: how hard a sermon hit by how loud somebody gets

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Speaker 1: about it. Feel free to be loud. I mean I

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Speaker 1: like it loud. I really do like it loud. I'm

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Speaker 1: a punk rocker at heart. But I don't know by

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Speaker 1: how loud is, how deep it goes, is whether or

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Speaker 1: not you get nicer to your wife after I preach.

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Speaker 1: That shows how good my message got on love. I

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Speaker 1: thought I would have a few amens from the higher

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Speaker 1: register of the octave range. But you don't know. You

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Speaker 1: really don't know. And the idea of human potential and

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Speaker 1: a limitless God comes together in this text in a

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Speaker 1: way that you can see several times throughout scripture in

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Speaker 1: several examples. And whether we would talk about Peter who

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Speaker 1: had to cast as an on the other side of

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Speaker 1: the boat after he's spent all night catching nothing. The

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Speaker 1: potential was there, but until the command was given from

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Speaker 1: Jesus at the place of his frustration. I called this

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Speaker 1: message the mystery of potential because I thought it sounded good.

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Speaker 1: I could have just as easily called it the misery

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Speaker 1: of potential, and we could preach about that too, because

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Speaker 1: when you're young and people tell you you have potential,

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Speaker 1: it's a compliment and it makes you feel hopeful. By

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Speaker 1: the time you're sixty five and people are saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: you have a lot of potential, it's depressing because by

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Speaker 1: the time I'm sixty five, I don't need potential. I

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Speaker 1: need kinetic. Potential doesn't pay the bills. Potential doesn't put

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Speaker 1: a ring on my finger. Oh, you're going to be

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Speaker 1: a good wife. Well, I'd like to be a good

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Speaker 1: wife three years ago. If I'm a good wife, where's

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Speaker 1: my good man? I come to church and I walk

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Speaker 1: past all these men, but they're all past a bunch

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Speaker 1: of Christian men. We'll never give anybody a hug praying

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Speaker 1: for a wife instead of asking one out there Starbucks.

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Speaker 1: I can't do anything in potential that seemed like that

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Speaker 1: one hit. You know, you can never know the potential

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Speaker 1: of a seed by looking at it, Hey, little seed.

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Speaker 1: You know, you pray over a seed, you still won't

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Speaker 1: know its potential. You can study the history of seeds,

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Speaker 1: and although you might intellectually grasp its potential or comprehend

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Speaker 1: what it contains, the only way to really know the

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Speaker 1: potential is to plant it, and could it be that

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Speaker 1: in your life and in my life right now there

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Speaker 1: is potential that has not been planted. And so while

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Speaker 1: we are frustrated about what our lives are missing, it's

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Speaker 1: already in us in an immature form, and until we

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Speaker 1: sow it, we will never know what it could have been. Now,

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Speaker 1: I believe all over this house today there are starving seeds.

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Speaker 1: There are things, gifts, abilities, thoughts, ideas wisdom that God

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Speaker 1: has put in us, but it will not be shown

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Speaker 1: until it is sown. Can I preach like I'm Doctor Seuss.

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Speaker 1: My rhymes are on points so far you will never

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Speaker 1: see it until you sow it. And so while we're praying,

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Speaker 1: God show me my potential, and we're taking personality test

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Speaker 1: which are fine. God bless Myers Briggs, whoever he is.

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Speaker 1: God bless the Enneagraam Holly reads all that stuff to me.

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Speaker 1: She tells me, I'm a one and she's a nine,

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Speaker 1: and the one in the nine go together, and my

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Speaker 1: one and her nine make a perfect five or something

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Speaker 1: like that. Know how it works. I like all of it.

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Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is you can't bubble

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Speaker 1: in a test and find out what's in you. You

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Speaker 1: can't go on a journey of self discovery and find

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Speaker 1: out what's in you, because watch this. Until the seed

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Speaker 1: is sacrificed, until it goes into something bigger called the ground,

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Speaker 1: until it breaks open to accomplish something, you'll never know

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Speaker 1: what was in it. And when you live a selfish life,

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Speaker 1: a safe life, and you don't sow it, you will

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Speaker 1: never know. The enemy has got some of us so selfish,

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Speaker 1: so discouraged, that our seeds are starving not for the

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Speaker 1: lack of potential, but for the lack of process. So

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Speaker 1: like think about Elisha plowing in a field in One

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Speaker 1: Kings nineteen, just as an illustration, and he's plowing verse nineteen.

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Speaker 1: He's plowing in a field with a yoke of oxen.

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Speaker 1: There it is. He's plow with twelve yokovocxen in front

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Speaker 1: of him. He's not posing in front of the plow.

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Speaker 1: He's not posting on my plow. He's just plowing. He's

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Speaker 1: just plowing. And a lot of times we will confuse

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Speaker 1: the fact that we don't have good ground in our life,

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Speaker 1: that is good opportunities. But maybe it's good ground and

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Speaker 1: it's just unplowed and I wonder sometimes the things that

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Speaker 1: we go through that are hard for us is not

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Speaker 1: the enemy attacking us, but it is God plowing us

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Speaker 1: to make the ground ready, to make our hearts ready,

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Speaker 1: to make our wills ready. So we won't be arrogant

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Speaker 1: and prideful, but we will have a plowed heart. And

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Speaker 1: I don't know who this is for, but a lot

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Speaker 1: of the things that you been praying away, God is

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Speaker 1: plowing into and it's God's plowing process, just like Elisha

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Speaker 1: had been plowing the crown. I believe God had been

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Speaker 1: plowing Elisha, and I believe he's been plowing some of

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Speaker 1: us and getting our ground ready and getting our hearts ready.

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Speaker 1: Because sometimes if God visits us too soon with an

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Speaker 1: opportunity that life has not prepared us for, we will

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Speaker 1: not only ruin the opportunity, but we will hurt others

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Speaker 1: in the process. So I don't want my heart to

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Speaker 1: be unplowed ground. But I'm getting ahead of myself here,

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Speaker 1: because this message is not just about plowing, it's about planting.

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Speaker 1: And really, what I wanted to say is you have

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Speaker 1: no idea what your encouragement can be until you plant it,

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Speaker 1: what your smile can be until you plant it and planted.

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Speaker 1: For me, it's theoretical for a farmer, it's practical. I

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Speaker 1: read it as a metaphor planted. But really, this process

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Speaker 1: Solomon is describing in an agricultural society would hit home

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Speaker 1: like it would be like saying, like an iPad because

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Speaker 1: there were so many more. You got to understand. The

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Speaker 1: Bible was written in the context of its culture, and

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Speaker 1: so it'd be like Sam'd be like this, I would

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Speaker 1: sit next to a man on an airplane and this

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Speaker 1: actually happened, Okay, true story. And I just got my iPad.

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Speaker 1: This was years ago, and I was so proud to

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Speaker 1: be one of the first people with an iPad and

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Speaker 1: it had just come out, and we sent an intern

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Speaker 1: to the Apple store to get one of the first iPads, okay,

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Speaker 1: and I let them buy themselves something too, Okay, so

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Speaker 1: I hooked them up. But the thing is I wanted

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Speaker 1: to have one of the first iPads because Levi Lusco

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Speaker 1: was telling me, you got to get an iPad. Bro.

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Speaker 1: He's like, totally. You know my friend Leve, he's been

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Speaker 1: here to preach. You got to try, sir, Rocha, Bro.

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Speaker 1: You got to get this new bracelet for your workout, Bro,

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Speaker 1: you got to get an iPad. He's always telling me

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Speaker 1: to get something I'll already have. Always make me feel

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Speaker 1: like my life is missing something. He's some kind of

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Speaker 1: marketer from the pit of Hell. My loving You gotta

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Speaker 1: get an iPad, bro, It's beautiful. It's just the technology

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Speaker 1: is beautiful. So I have my iPad and the guy

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Speaker 1: next to me had an iPad too, and so we

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Speaker 1: felt like a connection. And he goes, how you like

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Speaker 1: your iPad. I was like, I don't know. I just

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Speaker 1: got it. He goes, I've had mine a week. I

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Speaker 1: was like, they just came out yesterday. He said, I

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Speaker 1: got Connections and Apple. I was like, oh, I got

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Speaker 1: an intern send him to the Apple store. He goes,

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Speaker 1: so what are you planning to use it for. I

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Speaker 1: was like, well, I'm a preacher, so I'm a preacher

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Speaker 1: my sermons from it. He goes, what else. I was like,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what else. That's it, really, I guess.

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Speaker 1: And he got this look on his face, like disgusted,

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Speaker 1: like disappointment in somebody that a minute ago he felt

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Speaker 1: an affinity for, but now he just felt nothing but

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Speaker 1: deep total sadness and loss at what could have been

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Speaker 1: a great relationship. He goes, you are using that device

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Speaker 1: so far beneath its potential, and we didn't speak the

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Speaker 1: rest of the flight. I didn't know what to say back.

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Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, man, I just don't you know. Every

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Speaker 1: time I opened the iPad, I think about what it

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Speaker 1: could do, and I think about what's on it and

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Speaker 1: what it could connect to through the Wi Fi connection.

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Speaker 1: I think about everything that it could do that it's

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Speaker 1: not doing. I think about the potential of it. I

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Speaker 1: think about everything that's in some of the people that

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Speaker 1: I get to preach to, everything that is in you

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Speaker 1: that you haven't accessed, and everything that's in you that

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Speaker 1: got buried, that got covered up. But the thing about

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Speaker 1: dirt is it can also bring out potential. The thing

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Speaker 1: about a seed when it goes into the ground, Remember

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Speaker 1: it doesn't go into the ground to die. It goes

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Speaker 1: into the ground to multiply. Some of y'all know what

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about, because you had a failure in your

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Speaker 1: life and people wrote you off, and people walked away,

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Speaker 1: and it seemed like it was over. But you gave

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Speaker 1: it a little time, and you gave it a little water,

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Speaker 1: and you gave it a little trust, and you kept

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Speaker 1: coming to church, and somehow, some way God turned pain

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Speaker 1: into potential. Now, if you ever fished all night and

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Speaker 1: caught nothing, but you cast your nets on the other

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Speaker 1: side and hauled in a bucket full, I need you

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Speaker 1: to shout right now that there's so much more. It's

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Speaker 1: the mystery. Elisha is flowing and Elijah says something to him.

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Speaker 1: He says, well, actually he says it with an action,

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Speaker 1: not with words. He throws his cloak on Elisha, which

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Speaker 1: represents the potential for miracles. And when Elijah's cloak, remember

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Speaker 1: he's the great miracle worker who stood before Ahab, who

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Speaker 1: ran from Jezebel, and who found Elisha plowing in a field.

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Speaker 1: And he throws his mantle, the symbol of potential. I

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Speaker 1: don't know who this is for, but God is throwing

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Speaker 1: something your way today. I wish I could throw this

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Speaker 1: microphone right at your forehead so you would just get it.

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Speaker 1: But it's expensive, and he doesn't say much about it.

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Speaker 1: It's very mysterious. It's very mysterious. And when Elisha receives

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Speaker 1: that mantle, he doesn't immediately perform a miracle. In fact,

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Speaker 1: let me tell you how mysterious potential is We don't

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Speaker 1: hear Elisha's name again until Sewod King's chapter two, which

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Speaker 1: many tell us was thirteen years after his potential was

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Speaker 1: first suggested. But his potential was not revealed until he

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Speaker 1: would take that same cloak and strike the water with it.

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Speaker 1: After a long season of obedience, y'all got to know

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Speaker 1: where to shout. That's where to shout, because that's where

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Speaker 1: potential is proven. When it is planted. Planted, it's on

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Speaker 1: the device, but it can only be retrieved from the

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Speaker 1: device through a process of connection. And this process of

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Speaker 1: connection in seed speak, revolves around planting, which makes me

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Speaker 1: think first of all, of the sower, because when the

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Speaker 1: sower plants a seed, Remember, farmers don't have funeral over

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Speaker 1: seed that they scatter. Instead, they have expectation to see

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Speaker 1: it again in a greater form later. So you're never

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Speaker 1: really saying goodbye to anything that you give to God.

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Speaker 1: You're really just opening your hands, which means that before

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Speaker 1: you can receive anything, you have to release something. For

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Speaker 1: those of you who like to take notes, you can

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Speaker 1: write down the word release because process is revealed in potential,

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Speaker 1: and potential is revealed in process and it comes a

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Speaker 1: little bit along and along. But the first is to

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00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: release the sewer. Must release the seed to see what

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00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: it could be. I'm just wondering, is there something that

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Speaker 1: you need to release in your life today? And could

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Speaker 1: it be possible that you are looking at something, praying

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Speaker 1: about something and trying to manipulate something that God wants

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Speaker 1: you to release so that it can mature and manifest.

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Speaker 1: And this is for all of us who are control freaks,

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Speaker 1: because until we release it, it can't grow. Look at

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Speaker 1: your neighbors, say let it go, tell them watch it grow.

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Speaker 1: Let it go, watch it grow. But it can't grow

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Speaker 1: if you're trying to control it. Right, is starving seeds

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Speaker 1: and then is strangled seeds holding on so tight. Oh

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Speaker 1: it's my time, it's my money. I feel so sorry

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Speaker 1: for people who aren't generous. I feel so bad for

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Speaker 1: you because all stinginess does is strangle to see that

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Speaker 1: God has given you And if you could let it go,

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Speaker 1: who knows what it could be. What if I just

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Speaker 1: preach that sermon in the mirror, it would bounce right back.

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Speaker 1: But if I put it out through that camera, it

426
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:32,919
Speaker 1: might hit Botswana and help somebody in their life. Or

427
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:36,360
Speaker 1: Bamberg South Carolina. I don't care. It is God's business

428
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: where it goes. It's my job to sew it. And

429
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:41,920
Speaker 1: you got to sew it in the morning, sow it

430
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: in the evening. So it when you feel it. Sow

431
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 1: it when you don't. So when they cheer for you,

432
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: So when they criticize you, sow it when they hosanna,

433
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 1: and ShW it when they want to string you up.

434
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: So when they notice, sow it when they don't, sow it,

435
00:28:53,400 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: sew it, sew it. But just like you can't live

436
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: your life not accessing everything that's on the device and

437
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 1: expect to be a reflection of the image of God.

438
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: You also, and I want to say this is so

439
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: important because when we talk about potential, a lot of

440
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,600
Speaker 1: people start trying to produce something that God did not

441
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 1: put inside of them. We got oranges wanting to be apples,

442
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 1: Apples wanting to be kumquats, not a kum quat. You

443
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 1: are a delicious red apple. You're gonna be a big,

444
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: juicy red apple, but you want not be a kumquat. Yo.

445
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: My barber told me a story the other day. His

446
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 1: name is fly Ty. That's who you want to cut

447
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,400
Speaker 1: your hair he put fly in his name. I trust

448
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 1: him with my f fade because he's fly Tie and

449
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 1: he's been cutting my hair now he attends our University

450
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: City location. I asked his permission to tell you this

451
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,720
Speaker 1: because I didn't want to embarrass him. But y'all, he

452
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: told me the dumbest story ever the other day. And

453
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: he was cutting my hair. And he has this bad

454
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 1: habit of stopping cutting my hair while he tells me

455
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: a fifteen minute story. And he needs to go to

456
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: multitask school because I got things to do. He's cutting

457
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 1: the clippers off and talking. But it's fine because I

458
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 1: usually like his stories and his anecdotes, but this one

459
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,440
Speaker 1: was dumb. Listen this. He told me a story. And

460
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly what the year was, but years

461
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: ago he was hosting because he's not only a barber,

462
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: he's a host, a radio personality. He works for the Hornets.

463
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: He's very involved in the community. He speaks to little kids,

464
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 1: like every time he comes to cut my hair. He's

465
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 1: recently spoken to a group of kids that same day,

466
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: Anti DJ at a wedding, Anti cured cancer, and he

467
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: fought a fire on Providence Row. And he's just everywhere

468
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: all the time. But he's sitting there telling me the

469
00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 1: story because we're talking about potential and what God has

470
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: put in you, and we talk about this a lot.

471
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: We talk about God. And I guess because my dad

472
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: was a barber, I had just have a love for

473
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: barber's and so the clippers start going, we start talking

474
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: and we're talking about it, and he told me a

475
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: story that jay Z came to a concert. I guess

476
00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 1: it was like in the nineties, before he was as

477
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 1: popular as he is now, and the concert was half full,

478
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 1: and fly Tie was one of the hosts for the concerts,

479
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 1: and he said he observed jay Z during the concert

480
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: talking to one of the members of a female group

481
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 1: who was also on the concert bill called Destiny's Child,

482
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 1: and he said that the concert was half full because

483
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 1: jay Z was just on the come up, which would

484
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,480
Speaker 1: lead him to be some would say the greatest rapper

485
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: of all time, depending on how you quantify that, it's

486
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: a very strong case. But he said, I've since thought

487
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 1: back to that day because jay Z and Beyonce were

488
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 1: back there and I was watching their relationship develop before

489
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 1: my eyes, and he's my same age, and I think

490
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 1: often to myself. Look what he's done with his life

491
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: and what have I done with mine? Now, of all

492
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 1: the people in the Milky Way, for you to choose

493
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: to use as a standard of how successful your life is,

494
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: you just had to go get jay Z jay Z,

495
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 1: not even not even Lil Wayne jay Z. You had

496
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 1: to pick the most influential rapper of our lifetime. So

497
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 1: here's what he did. He just wanted to feel small

498
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 1: so bad, rather than focusing on Look how gracious God

499
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,640
Speaker 1: has been to me. I asked his permission to say this,

500
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:09,000
Speaker 1: and he said I could, Instead of I'm gonna preach

501
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 1: to him through the camera. He's listening right now instead

502
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 1: of picking Look where I could have been if it

503
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,120
Speaker 1: hadn't been for the grace of God. Look how he

504
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: raised me up. Look how he kept me alive. Look

505
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: how I wasn't a statistic. Look how he's using me

506
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: in ways I never could have imagined. Look how he

507
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: could a gift in me. Look how he's been good

508
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: to me. You are not jay Z. You are not

509
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 1: supposed to be. So tell your neighbor you are not

510
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: beyond saying. Tell him what I am Destiny's child and

511
00:33:55,960 --> 00:34:00,720
Speaker 1: what God could inside of me? I said, what God

512
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 1: put inside of me is looking for a place to grow.

513
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 1: I'm going back to my school like a seed ready

514
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,280
Speaker 1: to grow. And don't judge the significance by the size

515
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: of the seed. I'm fly freaking tie clippers in one

516
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:25,680
Speaker 1: hand and microphone in the other. I got potential, but

517
00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: I gotta let go of what I think I'm supposed

518
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 1: to be to become what I am. You know how

519
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:43,000
Speaker 1: sometimes you get this parental guilt, this feeling of like

520
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: I watched a football game with the boys last night

521
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,040
Speaker 1: and I came to tears because there was a commercial

522
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: of a man taking his sun fishing. I was choked up.

523
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: I said, I'm so sorry, boys, I never took you

524
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,920
Speaker 1: fishing because I'm thinking that's where the lessons of life

525
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:05,080
Speaker 1: need to happen. On the boat, were like, it's okay, dad,

526
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 1: it's fine Swiss football, but it can just always make

527
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 1: you feel like, well, I need to be a dad

528
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 1: like that. You know. The truth of the matter is,

529
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 1: Holly was telling me how her dad used to take

530
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:22,520
Speaker 1: her out on the boat all the time. I was like,

531
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: do you ever feel like you've married the wrong guy

532
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,520
Speaker 1: that I've never taken our family out on a boat once.

533
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:31,440
Speaker 1: I don't even know how to drive a boat. She said, No,

534
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,799
Speaker 1: I hated it on the boat. My dad liked the boat.

535
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 1: See how I did it though, I got to take

536
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:38,600
Speaker 1: my kids out on a boat to be a good dad.

537
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:41,120
Speaker 1: It's just a small thing. I understand. It could be

538
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: much deeper than that. You can start thinking when you

539
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 1: are supposed to have a family, buy anything. I am

540
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: supposed to be further along in my career. But when

541
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: you let go of what is supposed to be in

542
00:35:54,960 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 1: your mind, when you let that go, and the sower

543
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,360
Speaker 1: has to release the seed. I feel God calling some

544
00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 1: of us to release some things, even to release bitterness

545
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 1: some of us. If we would release that root of bitterness,

546
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 1: we would reap a harvest of peace. And it has

547
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: to be released. God is calling me to release some things,

548
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:40,000
Speaker 1: release some expectations, and released my white knuckle ane agram

549
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 1: ie perfectionist ideas. Did I get it right one? Yeah?

550
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: I don't know. All I do know is this, Sometimes

551
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,319
Speaker 1: I cut off my circulation and strangle the seat of

552
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 1: opportunities because of my need to control it. So when

553
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,239
Speaker 1: you throw your net on the other side, what I

554
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: love about sewing, you don't have to be in a

555
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:08,399
Speaker 1: good mood to do it. The seed doesn't care if

556
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,919
Speaker 1: you've carefully dropped it or threw it and walked off.

557
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 1: Is still where it's supposed to be. Peter said, we've

558
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 1: worked hard all night and caught nothing, but because you

559
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,720
Speaker 1: say so, And he got blessed while he was rolling

560
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,920
Speaker 1: his eyes, because he had the faith to do what

561
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 1: Jesus said. You got to sew it when you feel it,

562
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 1: and sew it when you don't. Now, from the seed's perspective,

563
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: being planted as a different experience, because the sower has

564
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:50,880
Speaker 1: to release, but the seed has to remain, and both

565
00:37:51,560 --> 00:38:00,799
Speaker 1: are so important, so important mean to do that, I

566
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:10,640
Speaker 1: promise so important to remain thirteen years before he knew

567
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:18,400
Speaker 1: what that mental meant, thirteen years of being planted, correctively speaking,

568
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 1: Why does Peter get so much airtime in pulpits for

569
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 1: stepping out of a boat. That same thing that made

570
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: him step out of the boat made him run when

571
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 1: Jesus went to the cross. How about John who stayed

572
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: in the boat and when Jesus was on the cross,

573
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,479
Speaker 1: stayed by his side to take care of his mom.

574
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 1: But we don't celebrate those who stay. We don't celebrate

575
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 1: those who who just do it. We make a tagline

576
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:52,919
Speaker 1: out of it for a shoe company, but we don't

577
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:58,760
Speaker 1: celebrate it. In other words, the seed has to remain

578
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: in order to reproduce. Now, I wonder why we think

579
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: that God can grow what he wants to grow in

580
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,919
Speaker 1: our life when we keep uprooting what he's doing every

581
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:19,120
Speaker 1: time it gets uncomfortable. And the soil is so important

582
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: to the growth of the seed that you can have

583
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,640
Speaker 1: a really good seed and it can become nothing, not

584
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 1: because it was nothing because it was surrounded by something

585
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,880
Speaker 1: that wasn't worthy of its presence. You can put a

586
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: really good seed. This is the power of environment that

587
00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:42,160
Speaker 1: what is around the seed determines whether what is within

588
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:49,560
Speaker 1: the seed comes out of the seed. And I don't

589
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: know if this is pertinent to anyone in the area

590
00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:54,799
Speaker 1: of who you spend the dominant amount of your time

591
00:39:54,840 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 1: hanging out with, but what's around it eventually determine whether

592
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 1: what is within it comes out of it. You can

593
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:08,280
Speaker 1: have really good stuff in you, but if everything around

594
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 1: you is just dark and noise, and everything around you,

595
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,800
Speaker 1: if there's no light to it, if there's no hydration

596
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 1: to it, it won't take root, and so if it

597
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,439
Speaker 1: doesn't take root, it can't come out. As a matter

598
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 1: of fact, God sent me to speak to some people saying,

599
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,239
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with the seed. There's nothing wrong with

600
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,400
Speaker 1: who you are. It's just what you've surrounded yourself with

601
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,040
Speaker 1: in your mind, in your heart, on your feed, in

602
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 1: your time, on your schedule. I'm looking for plow ground.

603
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,359
Speaker 1: I want other people in my life who can help

604
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 1: bring out I want to join an eGroup. Oh watch

605
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:48,839
Speaker 1: that plum. This dude's a professional. I want to get

606
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,760
Speaker 1: around some good soil because I want the good stuff

607
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: that is in me to come forth out of me.

608
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 1: How many of y'all if you could put your kids

609
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:03,839
Speaker 1: around the right people, you just know your kid would

610
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:10,239
Speaker 1: be a doctor. I know they would. It's the environment.

611
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:13,760
Speaker 1: But watch this, Why do we think God can bless

612
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: us to grow when every time the soil gets uncomfortable,

613
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:25,200
Speaker 1: we go to another church. You feel that tension shift.

614
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: I did when I see people in this church who

615
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 1: have been here ten years. When I see people in

616
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 1: this church who would be planted, I realized that the

617
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 1: potential of what is in someone can only really manifest

618
00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,480
Speaker 1: when it has time to mature, and when we walk around.

619
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,160
Speaker 1: You know, Oh, I don't like that. You know, I'm

620
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,880
Speaker 1: going over here to a new church. I don't like

621
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:53,920
Speaker 1: the way they talk to me. I'm going over here.

622
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make some new friends. You know what, you

623
00:41:56,239 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 1: are taking the old you to the new friendships. And

624
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,359
Speaker 1: so whatever, y'all like this, y'all like this at all.

625
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: I'm gonna solve this seed anyway. I'm gonna hit some

626
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:10,640
Speaker 1: good ground with this seed. It's so important that you

627
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 1: stay sometimes, and I know sometimes you gotta find better ground.

628
00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:18,800
Speaker 1: But sometimes it's our inability to just let what God

629
00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,320
Speaker 1: is doing in our life work. He uses some uncomfortable things.

630
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 1: But if you never stay, you'll never see it. If

631
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:28,879
Speaker 1: you just keep moving to a new city every time,

632
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 1: you make a mess out of your relationships so you

633
00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,800
Speaker 1: can start over with the same seed that you carried

634
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:38,480
Speaker 1: in the last relationship, you will never see the potential

635
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 1: of it. So I gotta I gotta stay. I gotta

636
00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 1: stay in faith. I gotta remain in the vine so

637
00:42:55,840 --> 00:43:00,840
Speaker 1: I can bear my shrewe, so I can become what

638
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: I already am in potential form. And only God knows

639
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:10,120
Speaker 1: how long it's going to take for me to become

640
00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 1: all that I am. When John was writing about it

641
00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:18,400
Speaker 1: in his epistle, he said, see what great love the

642
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,120
Speaker 1: Father is lavished on us, that we should be called

643
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 1: the children of God. And I watch this in verse two, beloved,

644
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 1: we are God's children. Now. Now when I am forgiven,

645
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:42,840
Speaker 1: I'm full of the Holy Spirit, I am well abeled,

646
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:48,759
Speaker 1: I am strong and courageous. That's in me now. But

647
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:55,640
Speaker 1: what we shall be has not yet appeared, and it

648
00:43:55,680 --> 00:44:02,080
Speaker 1: can only appear if it remains. It will be revealed

649
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:11,000
Speaker 1: if you remain thirteen years for potential to be reviewed.

650
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 1: Most of us won't do it for thirteen days, thirteen

651
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: years to see what it is, thirteen years of being planted.

652
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 1: And then he did watch this, Elisha did twice as

653
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:39,640
Speaker 1: many miracles as Elijah did. You don't know what's in

654
00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:43,560
Speaker 1: you yet. You don't know what the broken bread of

655
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:46,520
Speaker 1: your disappointed expectations is going to multiply into if you

656
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 1: leave it in God's hands a little while. You don't

657
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:54,279
Speaker 1: know yet. The enemy can't remove anything that God put

658
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:56,239
Speaker 1: in you, But if he can keep you from sewing it,

659
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 1: you will never know what it would have been. If

660
00:44:59,560 --> 00:45:03,080
Speaker 1: he can get to quit give up in your life

661
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 1: stop hoping, turn into a cynic. If he can get

662
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,799
Speaker 1: you to stop sewing. I'm preaching to people who have

663
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:13,759
Speaker 1: stopped sewing because of what you didn't know. Because you

664
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: didn't know, they quit too soon. It's too soon to

665
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,360
Speaker 1: tell what it's going to be. It's too soon to

666
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,319
Speaker 1: tell if it made a difference. Is too soon to

667
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: tell whether or not it was worth It is too

668
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:29,960
Speaker 1: soon for you to start. Every time you take the

669
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 1: seed and pluck it out, to look at it and

670
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: judge it, you interrupt the process by which it grows.

671
00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:42,240
Speaker 1: So stop judging it, and keep watering it, and keep sewing,

672
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 1: and keep trusting. Because Elisha goes on not only to

673
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:50,839
Speaker 1: part the waters of the Jordan River, which was his

674
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: first miracle, but then he gets to Jericho and they

675
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,280
Speaker 1: need a healing in the water, and so he heals

676
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: the poisonous waters his second miracle. And then he calls

677
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,359
Speaker 1: she bearers out of the woods to kill some little

678
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: boys because he was still working this thing out. Because

679
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 1: potential can be tricky at first, and so you can

680
00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 1: misuse your power in an earlier stage of your life.

681
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:13,160
Speaker 1: Never forget that the thing that makes you powerful makes

682
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: you vulnerable and unguarded strength as a double weakness. It's

683
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: all about potential. But everything he did was about potential.

684
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:22,920
Speaker 1: From the moment he was plowing. It was about potential,

685
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:25,719
Speaker 1: from the moment that he told the kings, hey, dig

686
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:29,360
Speaker 1: the ditches in preparation for the rain that is not

687
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: coming from a natural source, but God is going to

688
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 1: send it. When you do a natural thing, it was

689
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 1: preparation for the potential of the power of God. Like

690
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 1: the woman's oil. See, you never judge what can be

691
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,840
Speaker 1: in the resource by the size of the current supply.

692
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,560
Speaker 1: So the woman's like, oh, it's not much. Oh I'm

693
00:46:47,560 --> 00:46:50,200
Speaker 1: not very good. Oh I'm not very much. Oh I'm

694
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:52,759
Speaker 1: not very known. Oh I don't have many followers. Oh

695
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: I'm not Jesus jay Z. Oh I'm not Beyonce. Say,

696
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:57,879
Speaker 1: oh I don't have that. I can't sing like that,

697
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:00,319
Speaker 1: I can't move like that. But a little bit of

698
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 1: oil flowed into a lot of jars. Wasn't about the

699
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:08,359
Speaker 1: amount of oil. It was about the amount of jars.

700
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:14,920
Speaker 1: When the Shunamite woman made him a guest room, he

701
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: prophesied she would have a baby. She had given up

702
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:20,440
Speaker 1: on that. She didn't even believe that was possible. She

703
00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:22,799
Speaker 1: didn't even know that was in her until the Word

704
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:25,240
Speaker 1: of God spoke it over her. You don't know what's

705
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:29,959
Speaker 1: in you. You don't know what's in your kids. Don't

706
00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 1: judge it too soon. They might turn out better than

707
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:37,040
Speaker 1: all the straight A students. The straight A students might

708
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:40,720
Speaker 1: be working for them. You don't know yet. It's too

709
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:49,359
Speaker 1: soon to tell. My God, who is this for? God

710
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 1: is just all over me for somebody today. I know

711
00:47:53,520 --> 00:47:55,960
Speaker 1: when He's fixed through me like this. That is for

712
00:47:56,080 --> 00:48:00,680
Speaker 1: one person. I don't know who I'm sewing this, but

713
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:06,000
Speaker 1: it'll come back. I'll hear about it. I release this

714
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: word over your life today. I release it over your

715
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:15,400
Speaker 1: life like Elijah released a mantle on Elisha's shoulders that

716
00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: when this word hits you, the potential of what God

717
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:23,760
Speaker 1: has put in you, every gift, skill, experience, plan, everything

718
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 1: that God has brought you through, even all the pain,

719
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:33,799
Speaker 1: that's a potential miracle. That's a seed of the word

720
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:39,319
Speaker 1: of God. The seed seeds a small thing. Elisha told

721
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:42,040
Speaker 1: name and go down to the Jordan dip seven times.

722
00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:44,359
Speaker 1: You know when he was healed, Not on the first time,

723
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:46,680
Speaker 1: not on the second time, not on the third time,

724
00:48:46,840 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 1: on the seventh time potential is revealed in process. One day,

725
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:05,840
Speaker 1: a young prophet was chopping some wood to build a

726
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 1: school for the prophets, and the axe had fell in

727
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:10,799
Speaker 1: the water. Elisha showed him where. When the young men

728
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 1: showed him where it had fallen, something came on the

729
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:17,400
Speaker 1: axe head. It floated to the surface. The potential for

730
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:19,919
Speaker 1: God to speak to a small thing in your life,

731
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:22,279
Speaker 1: it's just as easy as it is for him to

732
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:26,200
Speaker 1: speak to a big thing. See all that was on

733
00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:33,680
Speaker 1: Elisha in potential form, and all of it manifested when

734
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:38,919
Speaker 1: he planted himself in the purpose of God. So good

735
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 1: to me. There's so much still in you, man, there's

736
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:47,680
Speaker 1: so much still in you, but you won't know if

737
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: you stop sewing. So now follow Elisha all the way

738
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:56,760
Speaker 1: to the last miracle he performs. The Bible records, depending

739
00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:02,239
Speaker 1: on how you divide it, like fifteen miracles that Elisha performs.

740
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:07,759
Speaker 1: Elijah performed eight, so it's roughly doubled the amount of miracles.

741
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 1: The double portion that Elisha asked for, he got it.

742
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,759
Speaker 1: And the last thing we see him do, he's with

743
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:21,160
Speaker 1: this king who's being attacked him. He tells the king

744
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:24,240
Speaker 1: to take these arrows in his hand and start striking

745
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:28,279
Speaker 1: the ground with the arrows. Every time he struck the

746
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 1: ground with an arrow as an act of faith that

747
00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,080
Speaker 1: represented a potential victory that God would give him. And

748
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:39,000
Speaker 1: when he struck the ground three times and stopped, it

749
00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:47,080
Speaker 1: upset Elisha. And Elisha said, you were using this device

750
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:54,800
Speaker 1: so far beneath its potential. And he was angry because

751
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:57,960
Speaker 1: he saw the victories that could have been if the

752
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 1: king had believed in his potential. And you know what's

753
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 1: really weird. After everything that Elisha did one miracle short

754
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 1: of exactly twice as many miracles as his mentor, Elijah

755
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:18,640
Speaker 1: did eight Elisha did fifteen. The king strikes the ground

756
00:51:18,719 --> 00:51:26,040
Speaker 1: and stops and forfeits his potential, and Elisha is angry.

757
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:29,160
Speaker 1: And the next verse says, in One Kings thirteen twenty,

758
00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:37,040
Speaker 1: Elisha died and they buried him. Only this he wasn't buried,

759
00:51:37,760 --> 00:51:41,480
Speaker 1: He was planted because there was still one more miracle

760
00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:51,440
Speaker 1: left in him that hadn't been tapped yet. There is

761
00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:57,040
Speaker 1: someone who still has a miracle in your bones. And

762
00:51:57,280 --> 00:52:01,240
Speaker 1: something that you have buried is trying to come alive.

763
00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 1: While I'm preaching today, Something that you have buried a

764
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:08,960
Speaker 1: hope or a character, element of your character, or something

765
00:52:09,000 --> 00:52:11,960
Speaker 1: that you have believed God for and is still in

766
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:16,120
Speaker 1: your bones. So they buried Elisha and one day, the

767
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 1: Bible says, as they were conducting a funeral, Oh, so

768
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:24,000
Speaker 1: much potential in this room. There is so much potential

769
00:52:24,040 --> 00:52:26,759
Speaker 1: in this room. You have no idea the potential that

770
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:29,920
Speaker 1: is in this room. As they were conducting a funeral,

771
00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:34,799
Speaker 1: the Bible says that every springtime the Moabite raiders would

772
00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:38,560
Speaker 1: come in and they would invade the land during harvest time.

773
00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:42,759
Speaker 1: Isn't that interesting that the attack always happens when the

774
00:52:42,800 --> 00:52:48,600
Speaker 1: harvest is coming. Y'all sleeping on the preacher. Now, I

775
00:52:48,640 --> 00:52:50,680
Speaker 1: know I'll wear you out, but stay with me three minutes,

776
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,760
Speaker 1: and I promise you I'm gonna close this. The attack

777
00:52:54,000 --> 00:52:57,360
Speaker 1: always happens the enemy. If he can't keep you from sewing,

778
00:52:57,640 --> 00:52:59,879
Speaker 1: he wants you to walk away when you're about to reap.

779
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:02,760
Speaker 1: He wants you to walk away just at the moment.

780
00:53:03,160 --> 00:53:06,360
Speaker 1: And if you stop now, you won't know what could

781
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:13,600
Speaker 1: have been. So the Bible says that there was a

782
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 1: man that was being buried. There was a funeral in progress.

783
00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:20,160
Speaker 1: Verse twenty one says that when the band was coming,

784
00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:22,640
Speaker 1: they got in a hurry and they threw the man

785
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:26,600
Speaker 1: watched this on the grave of Elisha. Now, when they

786
00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 1: did that, it messed up the funeral, because when they

787
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:34,840
Speaker 1: buried Elisha, he still had one more miracle in his bones.

788
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:40,680
Speaker 1: So now when the dead thing hit the bones of Elisha,

789
00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:43,960
Speaker 1: watch what God's about to do in your life. As

790
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,399
Speaker 1: soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he

791
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:51,840
Speaker 1: revived and stood up on his feet. What are you saying, preacher,

792
00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,120
Speaker 1: I'm saying, if you'll throw it on the bones, if

793
00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,880
Speaker 1: you will believe in the power of God, if you

794
00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:03,800
Speaker 1: will declare resurrection power over everything you've sown, nothing is wasted,

795
00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:08,320
Speaker 1: nothing is over, nothing is finished. If God is in it,

796
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:13,320
Speaker 1: it's shot. Come Lord, come on, give him a great praise.

797
00:54:25,239 --> 00:54:30,760
Speaker 1: I believe in resurrection. I believe God is a grave ropper.

798
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:35,040
Speaker 1: I believe that the bones of Elisha still have power.

799
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:37,799
Speaker 1: I believe that the word of the Lord can still

800
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,480
Speaker 1: hit a bear and wound. I believe that the seed

801
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,759
Speaker 1: that you have sown, it was not buried, It was

802
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:48,480
Speaker 1: planted in the soil of God's faithfulness. Come on, let's

803
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:53,160
Speaker 1: touch the bones today. Let's go let's touch the bones.

804
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:57,040
Speaker 1: Let's go to the empty grave where they bury Jesus.

805
00:54:57,480 --> 00:55:02,600
Speaker 1: But God was planting him. He was the firstborn. Come on, minnie, brethren.

806
00:55:02,920 --> 00:55:05,960
Speaker 1: And when he went down, it to the earth. When

807
00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:11,520
Speaker 1: he went down it to the earth, how many no army?

808
00:55:11,640 --> 00:55:17,200
Speaker 1: Once Sunday he didn't stay there, but he got up

809
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:36,560
Speaker 1: and our kids up to come on, desers. If you

810
00:55:36,719 --> 00:55:45,520
Speaker 1: received this word, gets your hands out, Come on every location,

811
00:55:46,239 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 1: get up. I need us to keep our hands lifted,

812
00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 1: because we believe in resurrection. We believe in second chances.

813
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:02,680
Speaker 1: We believe in New Bocano. We believe. Does anybody believe this?

814
00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:08,919
Speaker 1: Does anybody believe what this verse says? The tomb where

815
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:18,600
Speaker 1: soldiers watch in van was bowed for he day stay

816
00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:31,280
Speaker 1: down right there his body? Man, Oh God, I was praying.

817
00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:41,799
Speaker 1: I was praying last night about this gospel message. And

818
00:56:41,840 --> 00:56:45,239
Speaker 1: I had to tell you what God showed me that

819
00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:54,480
Speaker 1: it wasn't a grave, it was a garden, the tum

820
00:56:54,640 --> 00:57:05,720
Speaker 1: where soldiers watched in vans Fuda. And after three days

821
00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:09,960
Speaker 1: what happens? By how many of you believe in resurrection?

822
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:14,160
Speaker 1: I need every hand lift and every voice raise is wrong?

823
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:26,160
Speaker 1: The O God is wrong. The fra. Yes, it's coming up.

824
00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:40,280
Speaker 1: It's coming up. Julie, Julie, He's get to all praise.

825
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:49,600
Speaker 1: We rise to consul, keep your relate, ju He's be

826
00:57:52,360 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 1: all prace. We're oh. Thank you for join. Special thanks

827
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 1: to those of you who give generously to this ministry.

828
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You

829
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:09,680
Speaker 1: can click the link in the description to give now,

830
00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information

831
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:17,840
Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You

832
00:58:17,880 --> 00:58:19,920
Speaker 1: can share it with your friends. You can click the

833
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,240
Speaker 1: share button, take a screenshot and share it on your

834
00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:25,240
Speaker 1: social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again

835
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:31,440
Speaker 1: for listening. God bless you