WEBVTT - The Mystery Of Potential 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.600 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.960 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:12.000 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:18.280 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:23.040 Let's take just a moment Valentine and engage our responsibility 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:26.800 and privilege to welcome our efam watching around the world 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:36.159 on the Elevation app, YouTube, Facebook. I want to see 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.559 who's watching. Somebody bring me a phone with YouTube on it. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.720 I did this at eleven thirty last week. It was 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.240 I must see if you'll trust me with your phone. 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:47.760 Do you know how much trouble I could get you 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.479 in with your phone in five minutes? How many texts 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:57.200 I could send on your behalf, how many bad influences 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.880 I could block off your phone. Give me five minutes 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:02.680 with your phone. I'll fix your future. I'll get you 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:08.360 into college. I'll break up with him so you don't 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:15.360 have to. I'll put a kissy face on it. Let's 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.280 see YouTube. Tell me where are you watching from in 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:24.120 the world? Just put your city, state, hamlet. How many 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:28.399 y'all grew up in a hamlet. Don't we love this 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.320 choir and the energy that they bring. Hello, Puerto Rico, Iowa. Whoa, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.160 it's going fast, New Zealand. Oh, I can't keep up. 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:44.280 Look how fastest scrolling Gaithersburg, Maryland, New York City, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Brussels, Houston, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:50.960 North Dakota, Miami, Ridgeland, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, South Korea, Missouri, 0:01:51.680 --> 0:02:06.320 all kinds of countries, Pakistan, Oregon, South Africa, India, Singapore, Guatemala, Milwaukee, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:15.560 Las Vegas, Topeka, Indonesia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Chattanooga, Vermont, Philippines, Charlotte, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.720 North Carolina. We'll bring you greetings in the name of 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:33.200 Jesus Christ. Scotland, China, Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Lithuania, Costa Rica. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:38.359 You got a message. I'm gonna give this back. Now, 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.520 come take this. Come on, Let's thank God for all 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:46.959 those all over the world joining. I said, worship, Thank you, lou. 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:50.120 She's gonna be preaching soon. I'm gonna give her the 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.880 mic soon and turn her loose, but not today. Today. 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.440 I got this. You can relax. How many are ready 0:02:55.440 --> 0:03:03.560 for the word of God. I want to encourage you 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.760 to stay up late on this Thursday night Eastern Standard 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.960 time midnight the beginning of one thing, the end of another. 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.320 And we're releasing five songs called at Midnight because Paul 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.000 and Silas knew what to do in a desperate situation. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.000 And when we sing together and join together and praise 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.200 God together, it creates freedom and our spirits, and it 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.520 often creates change in our situation. But I want you 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.240 to be a part of that. All of our watch 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:31.440 parties around the world at midnight, I'm going to need 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.680 you to caffeinate and plan accordingly. For some of you, 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:37.600 it's going to be a bigger miracle than a jail 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.560 break for you to stay up till midnight. But we're 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.200 believing God for supernatural energy for you, and stay up 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:48.240 at midnight and put it on Instagram and Facebook, put 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:54.320 it on MySpace. You hear me, young people, and let 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:59.520 us know where you're watching. From Ecclesiastes, chapter eleven, I 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.880 want to ten year conversation that I began with our 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.600 Matthew's campus on Thursday night. This message is called the 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:11.400 Mystery of Potential. How many no God has put things 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:16.720 inside of you that your eyes haven't seen. Yet God 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.200 put things inside of you that your parents didn't even 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.560 know about. And so I want to speak on those 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.120 things today. From Ecclesiastes eleven, verse five and six. As 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.120 you do not know the way the spirit comes to 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.240 the bones in the womb of a woman with child, 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.479 So you do not know the work of God who 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.720 makes everything. In the morning, sow your seed, and at 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:41.680 evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.880 He said that in both verses it must be important. Solomon, 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.880 the wisest man in the world, speaking about human ignorance, 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.600 that even after all he learned, accomplished, and every success 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.800 that he achieved. His common theme in this book is 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:02.960 you do not know a mystery. And he said that 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.000 one might prosper that you count out. And so since 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:11.840 you don't know, keep sowing. Since you don't know, keep sowing, 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.320 for you do not know which will prosper this or that, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:21.120 or whether both. Somebody say both, whether both alike will 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:25.479 be good. Lord, This is your word, and so we 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:29.200 do not ask you to make it true. It already is. 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.160 Get it in our hearts, past all the falsehood distractions 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.960 and deceit, so it can become flesh in our lives. 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:45.960 In Jesus' name, Amen, you may be seated in using 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:52.200 these two different analogies for the revelation of potential. The 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:55.880 commonality is that there is a process by which anything 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.719 must be fertilized. Whether it's human life or whether it's 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:06.960 a seed that will become sustenance, it must undergo a 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.719 process of fertilization. And I don't think I need to 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.599 have the birds and the bees talk. If your parents 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.680 didn't do that by now, it's not my job. But 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.599 he talks about how in the womb of a woman 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.200 there is a process and a part of human pregnancy 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:27.720 that can be explained or that can be anatomically identified. 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.000 And then there is another part which he calls the 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:34.359 spirit entering the bones or the breath the Rua and Hebrew, 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.320 it's the same word. When you hear spirit of God, 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.799 you can also think breath of God. Both are correct, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.800 and it's the same word because it's the same process. 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.280 Anything God breathes on comes to life. And if there's 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.600 anything you need God to breathe on today, you are 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.800 in His presence and anything is possible. As a matter 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.280 of fact, the way this whole project called you got 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:00.760 started was God breathed on something dirty, the dust of 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.560 the earth, And when he breathed on it, he breathed 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.400 into man the breath of life. So there is the 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.680 bones and there is the breath. One of those can 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.400 be explained and perceived with human eyes. And if there's 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.720 anybody in overflow, I don't know if there is. We 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:18.240 got two premium seats on the landing at Valentine. So 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.880 bring in two people who traveled and had to sit 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:23.280 and overflow and give them those seats. If it's a 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:25.960 husband and a wife, or if it's two single people 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:28.080 that look like they like each other out there in overflow, 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.560 put them in those two seats. Let's see what God 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.960 can do. Because when God brings things together and breathes 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:39.840 into things, the limit of God's potential is only your belief, 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.680 because God is so big and so great, and the 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.320 only thing that ever limits him is what you believe 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.119 he can do. And you know a lot of people 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.680 will say, well, nothing limits God. He's God, and of 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.720 course he is God. But God breathes into things. And 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.600 when God breathes into things, it's so important that we 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:01.640 receive it. When he breathes. Amen, how many of you 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:06.160 are firstborn children. Firstborn children. Come on, let's give it 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:12.400 up for ourselves. Come on, give it up for me 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:20.360 and you because we were our parents' experiment. I think 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.720 when you're having a child, and I don't have a 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.040 lot of parenting advice, but this is one thing I 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.160 do think is pretty good and I may write a 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:31.240 book about this. When you have your first child, you know, 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.800 you create a college fund for your Yeah, you create 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.240 a college fund for your kids, but for your firstborn, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.440 you need to also create a therapy fund. Just go 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:43.720 ahead and start it. Put it in a put it 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:48.560 in an index fund or something. Because you are you 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.480 are learning things on them that the other ones. I mean, 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:54.960 it's kind of rough with your firstborn because you put 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.880 all your hopes and dreams and fantasies and projections of 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.760 parenthood on that poor I'll never forget when Elijah, you know, 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.440 he's coming home from the hospital, I'm driving seventeen miles 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.520 an hour on four eighty five, just you know. And 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.080 by the time I became who was the third you know, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.880 I just center home in an uber It's just because 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.680 I got this now. But on the first one, you're 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:24.319 learning everything, so you're like totally overprotective, and sometimes you're 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.880 overly ambitious, and so anything the kid does, you're like, oh, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.200 my god, did you He just played the piano like 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.640 walks by and bangs it, and you think he's Mozart 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.800 because you see potential. Sometimes it's not there. When Elijah 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:39.200 first started playing baseball, I remember when he was on 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.400 this coach pitch team, and the coach pitch league is 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.120 kind of deceptive because the pitcher is working with you, 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.360 which is the opposite of real baseball, but the pitcher 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.080 wants you to hit it. And I was trying to 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.600 figure out how to help Elijah with baseball because I 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:57.600 played baseball a little bit. My dad coached me, but 0:09:57.679 --> 0:09:59.400 I don't know a lot about it. And I found 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.880 out one of the grandparents there was a former scout 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.480 for minor league baseball, and he walked over to me 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.360 one game in the middle of the season and goes, hey, 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.199 that's your boy out there. I said yeah. He said 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:18.200 he's pretty good. It's got potential, and I was like, 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:27.760 for real, like how much potential? You know, like you 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.760 think he's like like a future And I couldn't even 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.840 get the whole sentence out, and he interrupted me and 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.080 said something to me, I believe God wants to say 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.800 to some of you. He said, it's too soon to tell. 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.720 In other words, I was just trying to be polite 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.480 and say that your kid has a good swing and 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.440 encourage you to keep it up as a dad. It's 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.240 way too soon to tell you know, whether or not 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.440 you should start looking for an agent. Okay, he's just 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.800 got a good swing, But don't we always want to 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.440 know so soon. How we post stuff and if people 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.400 don't like it in two minutes, we feel the pressure 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:11.440 to delete it because maybe the picture wasn't as good 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:13.600 as I thought it was, you know, like it's the 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:15.800 worst thing in the world. How we live in this 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:20.679 age of instant validation where we just expect every opinion 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.160 to be accepted just quickly. And if it doesn't happen quickly, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.000 if it doesn't happen just like that, if it doesn't 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.000 just turn around by Friday, if within our first week 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.400 back at the gym in January it doesn't melt off, 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.560 we will cancel the gym membership and talk about the 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.599 fact that the machines weren't right. But it wasn't the machines, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.480 it was our consistency and our deep down need to 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.680 see it happen so quick. The man said, it's too 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:51.480 soon to tell, and Solomon said the same thing. He said, 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:53.840 there are some things in your life that are like 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.240 the bones that are waiting on the breath, and you 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.600 don't know the way God is going to work in 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:03.240 your city situation. And it is always too soon for 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.960 you to quit on something that God put on the 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:09.120 inside of you. If He gave you a dream, is 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.960 too soon to walk away from it just because it 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.200 doesn't manifest in three dimensions by the time you get 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.640 done praying about it. So that's what we talked about today, 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:24.800 the mystery of potential and how it's too soon to tell, 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.920 and how the only way that potential can be revealed 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:36.880 is for process to be embraced. Y'all with me today. 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:42.560 I never know. I never know how a sermon is 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.959 going to affect people, and even after I preach it, 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:51.160 it's difficult for me to discern the impact of it. 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.160 I guess I could go off of a reaction base. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.640 But I went to a Panthers game one time and 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.720 a lady was in front of me yelling the whole time. 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:01.920 But she left in the fourth quarter, because sometimes the 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:06.360 loudest or the first to leave. So I don't know 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:08.840 how hard a sermon hit by how loud somebody gets 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.720 about it. Feel free to be loud. I mean I 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:13.640 like it loud. I really do like it loud. I'm 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:15.360 a punk rocker at heart. But I don't know by 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:20.240 how loud is, how deep it goes, is whether or 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.160 not you get nicer to your wife after I preach. 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:28.800 That shows how good my message got on love. I 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.280 thought I would have a few amens from the higher 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:41.240 register of the octave range. But you don't know. You 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:47.600 really don't know. And the idea of human potential and 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.079 a limitless God comes together in this text in a 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.040 way that you can see several times throughout scripture in 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.080 several examples. And whether we would talk about Peter who 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:00.959 had to cast as an on the other side of 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:04.720 the boat after he's spent all night catching nothing. The 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:10.000 potential was there, but until the command was given from 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.640 Jesus at the place of his frustration. I called this 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.720 message the mystery of potential because I thought it sounded good. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.920 I could have just as easily called it the misery 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:24.320 of potential, and we could preach about that too, because 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.880 when you're young and people tell you you have potential, 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:31.120 it's a compliment and it makes you feel hopeful. By 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.000 the time you're sixty five and people are saying, you know, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:38.920 you have a lot of potential, it's depressing because by 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.240 the time I'm sixty five, I don't need potential. I 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:46.040 need kinetic. Potential doesn't pay the bills. Potential doesn't put 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:47.760 a ring on my finger. Oh, you're going to be 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:49.400 a good wife. Well, I'd like to be a good 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:51.480 wife three years ago. If I'm a good wife, where's 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.480 my good man? I come to church and I walk 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.920 past all these men, but they're all past a bunch 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.440 of Christian men. We'll never give anybody a hug praying 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:00.760 for a wife instead of asking one out there Starbucks. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:06.800 I can't do anything in potential that seemed like that 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:16.040 one hit. You know, you can never know the potential 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:23.080 of a seed by looking at it, Hey, little seed. 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.880 You know, you pray over a seed, you still won't 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:32.440 know its potential. You can study the history of seeds, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.360 and although you might intellectually grasp its potential or comprehend 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:40.720 what it contains, the only way to really know the 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:46.200 potential is to plant it, and could it be that 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:50.120 in your life and in my life right now there 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:55.640 is potential that has not been planted. And so while 0:15:55.680 --> 0:16:00.280 we are frustrated about what our lives are missing, it's 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:05.080 already in us in an immature form, and until we 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:11.000 sow it, we will never know what it could have been. Now, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.480 I believe all over this house today there are starving seeds. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:21.800 There are things, gifts, abilities, thoughts, ideas wisdom that God 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.800 has put in us, but it will not be shown 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.760 until it is sown. Can I preach like I'm Doctor Seuss. 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.160 My rhymes are on points so far you will never 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:39.080 see it until you sow it. And so while we're praying, 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.000 God show me my potential, and we're taking personality test 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.760 which are fine. God bless Myers Briggs, whoever he is. 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.320 God bless the Enneagraam Holly reads all that stuff to me. 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:53.880 She tells me, I'm a one and she's a nine, 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.480 and the one in the nine go together, and my 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.160 one and her nine make a perfect five or something 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.840 like that. Know how it works. I like all of it. 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.439 But the truth of the matter is you can't bubble 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.760 in a test and find out what's in you. You 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:10.680 can't go on a journey of self discovery and find 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.760 out what's in you, because watch this. Until the seed 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:18.080 is sacrificed, until it goes into something bigger called the ground, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.840 until it breaks open to accomplish something, you'll never know 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:27.560 what was in it. And when you live a selfish life, 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.280 a safe life, and you don't sow it, you will 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:35.840 never know. The enemy has got some of us so selfish, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:42.080 so discouraged, that our seeds are starving not for the 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.760 lack of potential, but for the lack of process. So 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.159 like think about Elisha plowing in a field in One 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:54.280 Kings nineteen, just as an illustration, and he's plowing verse nineteen. 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.200 He's plowing in a field with a yoke of oxen. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.200 There it is. He's plow with twelve yokovocxen in front 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.600 of him. He's not posing in front of the plow. 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:22.520 He's not posting on my plow. He's just plowing. He's 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:27.159 just plowing. And a lot of times we will confuse 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.640 the fact that we don't have good ground in our life, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.719 that is good opportunities. But maybe it's good ground and 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:39.840 it's just unplowed and I wonder sometimes the things that 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.480 we go through that are hard for us is not 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.280 the enemy attacking us, but it is God plowing us 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.800 to make the ground ready, to make our hearts ready, 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.240 to make our wills ready. So we won't be arrogant 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.800 and prideful, but we will have a plowed heart. And 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.160 I don't know who this is for, but a lot 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.800 of the things that you been praying away, God is 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:07.080 plowing into and it's God's plowing process, just like Elisha 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.119 had been plowing the crown. I believe God had been 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.359 plowing Elisha, and I believe he's been plowing some of 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.479 us and getting our ground ready and getting our hearts ready. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.800 Because sometimes if God visits us too soon with an 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.400 opportunity that life has not prepared us for, we will 0:19:24.440 --> 0:19:27.200 not only ruin the opportunity, but we will hurt others 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.240 in the process. So I don't want my heart to 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.600 be unplowed ground. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:42.520 because this message is not just about plowing, it's about planting. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.199 And really, what I wanted to say is you have 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.960 no idea what your encouragement can be until you plant it, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:20:01.000 what your smile can be until you plant it and planted. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:09.960 For me, it's theoretical for a farmer, it's practical. I 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.800 read it as a metaphor planted. But really, this process 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.600 Solomon is describing in an agricultural society would hit home 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.400 like it would be like saying, like an iPad because 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.000 there were so many more. You got to understand. The 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.520 Bible was written in the context of its culture, and 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:29.960 so it'd be like Sam'd be like this, I would 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:31.639 sit next to a man on an airplane and this 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.720 actually happened, Okay, true story. And I just got my iPad. 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.399 This was years ago, and I was so proud to 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:40.959 be one of the first people with an iPad and 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:44.560 it had just come out, and we sent an intern 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:48.280 to the Apple store to get one of the first iPads, okay, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.000 and I let them buy themselves something too, Okay, so 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:53.280 I hooked them up. But the thing is I wanted 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.680 to have one of the first iPads because Levi Lusco 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:58.159 was telling me, you got to get an iPad. Bro. 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:00.719 He's like, totally. You know my friend Leve, he's been 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:02.640 here to preach. You got to try, sir, Rocha, Bro. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.120 You got to get this new bracelet for your workout, Bro, 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:06.800 you got to get an iPad. He's always telling me 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.560 to get something I'll already have. Always make me feel 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:10.119 like my life is missing something. He's some kind of 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.200 marketer from the pit of Hell. My loving You gotta 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.959 get an iPad, bro, It's beautiful. It's just the technology 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:19.680 is beautiful. So I have my iPad and the guy 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.080 next to me had an iPad too, and so we 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:26.359 felt like a connection. And he goes, how you like 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.760 your iPad. I was like, I don't know. I just 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:33.280 got it. He goes, I've had mine a week. I 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:36.480 was like, they just came out yesterday. He said, I 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:42.280 got Connections and Apple. I was like, oh, I got 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:47.280 an intern send him to the Apple store. He goes, 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.159 so what are you planning to use it for. I 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.520 was like, well, I'm a preacher, so I'm a preacher 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:59.560 my sermons from it. He goes, what else. I was like, 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:03.359 I don't know what else. That's it, really, I guess. 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:10.760 And he got this look on his face, like disgusted, 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.920 like disappointment in somebody that a minute ago he felt 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:21.159 an affinity for, but now he just felt nothing but 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.479 deep total sadness and loss at what could have been 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:31.200 a great relationship. He goes, you are using that device 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:35.879 so far beneath its potential, and we didn't speak the 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.280 rest of the flight. I didn't know what to say back. 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:43.399 I'm so sorry, man, I just don't you know. Every 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:45.960 time I opened the iPad, I think about what it 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.520 could do, and I think about what's on it and 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.080 what it could connect to through the Wi Fi connection. 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.720 I think about everything that it could do that it's 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.080 not doing. I think about the potential of it. I 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:02.199 think about everything that's in some of the people that 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:06.679 I get to preach to, everything that is in you 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:10.879 that you haven't accessed, and everything that's in you that 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:14.640 got buried, that got covered up. But the thing about 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:18.440 dirt is it can also bring out potential. The thing 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:21.240 about a seed when it goes into the ground, Remember 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:24.640 it doesn't go into the ground to die. It goes 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.720 into the ground to multiply. Some of y'all know what 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:30.640 I'm talking about, because you had a failure in your 0:23:30.680 --> 0:23:34.040 life and people wrote you off, and people walked away, 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.840 and it seemed like it was over. But you gave 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:39.320 it a little time, and you gave it a little water, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:41.920 and you gave it a little trust, and you kept 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.080 coming to church, and somehow, some way God turned pain 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.240 into potential. Now, if you ever fished all night and 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:52.280 caught nothing, but you cast your nets on the other 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:55.480 side and hauled in a bucket full, I need you 0:23:55.520 --> 0:24:04.320 to shout right now that there's so much more. It's 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:10.720 the mystery. Elisha is flowing and Elijah says something to him. 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:13.280 He says, well, actually he says it with an action, 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:19.600 not with words. He throws his cloak on Elisha, which 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:27.119 represents the potential for miracles. And when Elijah's cloak, remember 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:34.080 he's the great miracle worker who stood before Ahab, who 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:39.920 ran from Jezebel, and who found Elisha plowing in a field. 0:24:40.720 --> 0:24:48.040 And he throws his mantle, the symbol of potential. I 0:24:48.080 --> 0:24:50.000 don't know who this is for, but God is throwing 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:54.080 something your way today. I wish I could throw this 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:56.680 microphone right at your forehead so you would just get it. 0:24:58.240 --> 0:25:05.800 But it's expensive, and he doesn't say much about it. 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:13.600 It's very mysterious. It's very mysterious. And when Elisha receives 0:25:13.640 --> 0:25:16.760 that mantle, he doesn't immediately perform a miracle. In fact, 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.359 let me tell you how mysterious potential is We don't 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:27.960 hear Elisha's name again until Sewod King's chapter two, which 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:33.879 many tell us was thirteen years after his potential was 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:38.720 first suggested. But his potential was not revealed until he 0:25:38.760 --> 0:25:42.840 would take that same cloak and strike the water with it. 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:49.800 After a long season of obedience, y'all got to know 0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:54.800 where to shout. That's where to shout, because that's where 0:25:54.800 --> 0:26:02.480 potential is proven. When it is planted. Planted, it's on 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:05.800 the device, but it can only be retrieved from the 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:10.719 device through a process of connection. And this process of 0:26:10.800 --> 0:26:16.000 connection in seed speak, revolves around planting, which makes me 0:26:16.080 --> 0:26:19.280 think first of all, of the sower, because when the 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:23.880 sower plants a seed, Remember, farmers don't have funeral over 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:29.000 seed that they scatter. Instead, they have expectation to see 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:32.520 it again in a greater form later. So you're never 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:35.680 really saying goodbye to anything that you give to God. 0:26:36.359 --> 0:26:40.919