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Speaker 1: Hey, did you hear the news. Elevation Nights Spring twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two tour April twenty sixth through May fifth. Oh

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Speaker 1: you gotta come. I mean, you really gotta come. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be preaching, Holly's going to be sharing Elevation Worship.

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Speaker 1: Your favorite songs, old songs, new songs, kind of old

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Speaker 1: new ish songs. I want to see you if you

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Speaker 1: are anywhere near these cities, I want to see you.

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Speaker 1: No excuses, no delay. Get your ticket right now. Let

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Speaker 1: me know in the comments what night I'm going to

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Speaker 1: see you, and what's your name? So I can try

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Speaker 1: to shout you out, but I'll probably forget. But this

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Speaker 1: is going to be amazing, the best night of our year.

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Speaker 1: Go to Elevation Nights dot com right now, get your ticket,

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Speaker 1: leave a comment. Let's go to the Word of God.

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Speaker 1: So good to be in the Lord's House. Do me

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Speaker 1: a favor. As you find your seat, just look at

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Speaker 1: your neighbor and say, it's so good to see you

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Speaker 1: in church. Say I'm happy I'm sitting next to you.

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Speaker 1: I'm happy I'm worshiping next to you. Everybody online right now,

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Speaker 1: just tell us where you're watching from right now in

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Speaker 1: the Chat, people all over the world today joining us.

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Speaker 1: They brought me the real pulpit today. This is the

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Speaker 1: real pulpit. I haven't preached behind a pulpit in a

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Speaker 1: long time like this. So good to be at Elevation Church.

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Speaker 1: How may all love your church make some noise no

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Speaker 1: place like Elevation Church. And what an honor, what a

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Speaker 1: privilege it is for me to be back here in

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Speaker 1: Charlotte at one of my favorite places in all of

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Speaker 1: the world. And a really special weekend if you don't know,

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Speaker 1: because yesterday your pastor, he celebrated his birthday, and I

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Speaker 1: think it's important on birthday weekends that we let Pastor

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Speaker 1: Stephen rest. And I love Pastor Stephen Verdick so very

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Speaker 1: very much, and what a voice he has been in

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Speaker 1: my life, What an impact and inspiration he has made

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Speaker 1: on my life and our family. And I just counted

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Speaker 1: an honor to not only get to follow behind him,

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Speaker 1: but also to get to call him friend. And today

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Speaker 1: on his birthday weekend, I just think that all of

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Speaker 1: us in this place we should be praying for Pastor

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Speaker 1: Stephen Hawley. We should be sending all the love. If

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Speaker 1: you're in the Chat right now, just put it in

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Speaker 1: the chat. Happy birthday, Pastor Stephen. We love him so

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Speaker 1: very very much. Come on, if you love Pastor Steven,

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Speaker 1: can we go ahead and make some noise and just

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Speaker 1: thank God for who he is and no one like him,

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Speaker 1: no one like him. I seemed to be under his preaching.

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Speaker 1: What a blessing to be under his leadership. I learned

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Speaker 1: a long time ago it matters what you get under

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Speaker 1: in life. It really matters. Because I'm telling you there's

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of people in life they never get

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Speaker 1: over what God's placed under them because they never got

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Speaker 1: under what God placed over them. And I think getting

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Speaker 1: under the right spiritual authority and the right spiritual council

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Speaker 1: makes all the difference. And so I love you and

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Speaker 1: love this church honestly. Just being here today nothing like

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Speaker 1: the presence of God. I'm thankful for the presence of

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Speaker 1: God and he's here today. And recently, last time I

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Speaker 1: got to be around Elevation Worship, they were in Miami

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Speaker 1: on an elevation night. Wherever you're at in the world

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Speaker 1: right now, I know they're about to get out all

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Speaker 1: over the places in April. I think in May, I

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Speaker 1: think I'm getting the dates right if they're coming to

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Speaker 1: your city, if they're in a five hour radius drive,

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Speaker 1: you ought to make it there because I'm telling you

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Speaker 1: there's something on these nights that you're going to get

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Speaker 1: in that room, and power of God is there, and

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Speaker 1: I sense it here today in the house. Anybody ready

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Speaker 1: for God's word today? Tewo. Corinthians, chapter twelve. I'm just

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of gushing up here, but I got a

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Speaker 1: word on my heart, and I came to preach today,

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Speaker 1: and so I like a little bit of response. You

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Speaker 1: could say, amen, you could say I like that. You

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Speaker 1: could say preach it, white boy. I don't really care.

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Speaker 1: But you are going to tap into your inner Pentecostal

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Speaker 1: wherever he or she is today, and we're gonna have

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Speaker 1: some church and we're gonna believe that God's Spirit's going

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Speaker 1: to meet us right what we are. Second Corinthians, chapter twelve,

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Speaker 1: verse six. This is the apostle Paul writing, he says,

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Speaker 1: even if I should choose to boast, I would not

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Speaker 1: be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth.

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Speaker 1: But I refrain so no one will think more of

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Speaker 1: me than what is warranted by what I do or

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Speaker 1: what I say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore,

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Speaker 1: someone say, therefore, therefore, in order to keep me from

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Speaker 1: becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,

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Speaker 1: a messenger of Satan to torment me three times. Someone

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Speaker 1: say three times three times. I pleaded with the Lord

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Speaker 1: to take it away from me, But he said to me,

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Speaker 1: my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is

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Speaker 1: made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the

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Speaker 1: more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may

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Speaker 1: rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I

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Speaker 1: delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

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Speaker 1: For when I am weak, then I am strong. I

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Speaker 1: came to Elevation Church today to encourage somebody. I don't

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Speaker 1: have a doom and gloom message. I don't think church

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Speaker 1: is to be endured. I think it's to be enjoyed.

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Speaker 1: And I got one mission, and that is to make

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Speaker 1: sure you walk out of this room feeling better, believing

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Speaker 1: for more, knowing that God wants to work in your life.

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Speaker 1: I want to preach for the next two hours. I

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Speaker 1: want to preach the next thirty minutes or so from

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Speaker 1: the subject, work your weakness. Look at your neighbor, say neighbor,

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Speaker 1: work your weakness. Look at your other neighbor, say other neighbor,

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Speaker 1: work your weakness. Hopefully in your living room. You're talking

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Speaker 1: to somebody right now, would you prayer one were talking

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Speaker 1: with LORDI thank you so much for your word. We

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Speaker 1: thank you that it's sharper than any double edged sored.

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Speaker 1: We believe that today God, it brings truth, Lord to

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Speaker 1: our chaos. It brings truth, Lord of the lies that

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Speaker 1: the enemy wants to put in our mind. I pray

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Speaker 1: that today Lord, as we know your truth, we walk

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Speaker 1: into true, real freedom through the power of Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for being here with us today. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for meeting us here. We thank you in advance for

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Speaker 1: the transformation that's about to occur. If you agree with

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Speaker 1: that prayer, all of God's people said, all of God's

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Speaker 1: people said, and if you love Jesus one more time,

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Speaker 1: go ahead and make a big, big shout of praise

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Speaker 1: all over this place. Y'all. Don't make it fair up here.

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Speaker 1: They just keep playing stuff. It sounds way too spiritual

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Speaker 1: with these guys. I just got done at our church

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Speaker 1: doing a seven week collection of talks on mindsets, the

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Speaker 1: power of the mind, And I came across this this

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Speaker 1: study that was done in two thousand and five by

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Speaker 1: the National Science Foundation, and it was a study of

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Speaker 1: the brain, and I found the research to be really interesting.

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Speaker 1: They say that on average, that you and I we

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Speaker 1: have about forty thousand thoughts a day, and out of

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Speaker 1: those forty thousand thoughts, what we learned is that eighty

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Speaker 1: percent of those thoughts are negative. Watch this. This is

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Speaker 1: where I thought was really really interesting that ninety five

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Speaker 1: percent of your thoughts are the same thought that you

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Speaker 1: had yesterday. So what do we learn about humanity? We

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Speaker 1: learned that humanity tends to go negative, and humanity is

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Speaker 1: a broken record. Anyone out there, I'm not gonna get

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Speaker 1: you put your hand up anyone out there, like you

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Speaker 1: get on one song and you are on that song

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Speaker 1: till I don't play songs. I execute them, just over

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Speaker 1: and over and over and over again. And what I've

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Speaker 1: learned about myself, but what I've learned about pastoring people

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Speaker 1: is that we have a tendency to make much out

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Speaker 1: of our weaknesses and very little out of our strengths.

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Speaker 1: We have a tendency to focus on all that's missing,

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Speaker 1: rather than noticing all that we have. My wife, she's

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Speaker 1: here with me today, fifteen years of marriage. Holler at

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Speaker 1: your boy. And her name is don Shriie, and she

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Speaker 1: has a little bit of a struggle of her own,

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Speaker 1: and that is she's addicted to online shopping. My wife

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Speaker 1: makes you laugh because like she'll purchase something and she's like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, like the package, just like where did

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Speaker 1: this come from? I'm like, you bought it for yourself,

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Speaker 1: you know, And some of you girls are like, what

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Speaker 1: do I get for Valentine's that you got yourself? Okay?

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Speaker 1: She loves the online shop is always interesting because you

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Speaker 1: purchase something online and typically they'll send you like a

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Speaker 1: FedEx number, and if you ever take that fed X number,

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Speaker 1: you put it into the website and then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden a message pops up, and what does it say.

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Speaker 1: It says the package is in transit. And I think

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Speaker 1: it's such a word for all of us in this

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Speaker 1: place that if you have given your life to Jesus,

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Speaker 1: please recognize that two thousand years ago he purchased you

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Speaker 1: with his blood. But now all of us are in transit,

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Speaker 1: all of us are in process, All of us are

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Speaker 1: become mean who God has called us to be. I

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Speaker 1: am not perfect, but thank God, I am being perfected.

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Speaker 1: Anybody grateful out there that God has not done working

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Speaker 1: on you yet, that you are becoming something. I've been

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Speaker 1: purchased by Jesus. He owns me, but I have not

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Speaker 1: arrived yet. Therefore, watch this. I can be becoming and

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Speaker 1: struggling all in the same sentence. And we're gonna have

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Speaker 1: to learn, you and I that although we're struggling in

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Speaker 1: different areas, it does not negate the truth that we

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Speaker 1: are still becoming the person that God has called us

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Speaker 1: to be. I got to learn how to work my weakness.

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Speaker 1: I got to recognize that problems do not actually overshadow

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Speaker 1: God's purpose. You need to know today that you might

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Speaker 1: have some weaknesses, but God still wants to work in

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Speaker 1: your life. You're gonna have to learn that, yeah, you

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Speaker 1: have some deficiencies, but none of those deficiencies are gonna

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Speaker 1: delay the destiny that God has planned for you from

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Speaker 1: the beginning. Am I preaching to anybody today? Work your weakness.

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Speaker 1: You're becoming something in Jesus. You're becoming something in Jesus.

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Speaker 1: I love our passage of scripture. Today, we don't have

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Speaker 1: nearly enough time to truly put this text into its

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Speaker 1: full context, but it is important that we recognize that

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Speaker 1: Paul is writing to a church in Corinth. This is

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Speaker 1: a church that he started, and he's been gone from

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Speaker 1: this church for about a year and a half. And

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Speaker 1: as he's been gone, there have been some false teachers

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Speaker 1: that have snuck in and now they want to sway

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Speaker 1: that audience to follow them. And the way that they're

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Speaker 1: doing that is they're trying to discredit Paul. And they're

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Speaker 1: discredit him in all sorts of ways that they're lying

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Speaker 1: about him. They're really trying to challenge his integrity, and

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Speaker 1: so they're saying all sorts of stuff. They're saying that

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Speaker 1: he's got bad teaching, they're saying that he has moral failings,

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Speaker 1: that his motivations are impure. They even just say stuff like,

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Speaker 1: you know, he's just he's not a good preacher, Like

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Speaker 1: he's not eloquent, he don't have the gift of pastor Steven,

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Speaker 1: Like he's not good, you know. And so Paul is

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Speaker 1: coming back to this church, and as he writes this church,

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Speaker 1: he doesn't want this audience to be swayed into this

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Speaker 1: false thinking and this false teaching, and so he has

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Speaker 1: to defend his ministry. And as he becomes to defend

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Speaker 1: his ministry, you can see like his hesitation go back

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Speaker 1: to Second Corinthians ten, eleven and twelve, and he's kind

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Speaker 1: of going through it and there's like a it's almost

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Speaker 1: annoying to Paul that he has to do this because

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Speaker 1: he doesn't want to give his resume, and he kind

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Speaker 1: of starts by giving his strengths, and it kind of

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Speaker 1: starts by sharing all the things that he's done. But

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Speaker 1: then like halfway through, as you get into chapter eleven,

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Speaker 1: what you see Paul's he flips the script. He's like,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm done going this route. If I'm

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Speaker 1: really gonna try to impress you, let me just be

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Speaker 1: honest with you. What's really impressive is not my strengths.

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Speaker 1: What's really impressive is all that God has done despite

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Speaker 1: my weaknesses. That if God's really gonna get glory and

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Speaker 1: if you're really gonna witness the supernatural power of God,

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Speaker 1: it will not happen because you witness and testify all

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Speaker 1: the areas about my life that are strong. But rather

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Speaker 1: when you recognize all of the gaps and the deficiencies

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Speaker 1: that I have. And so Paul begins to talk about

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Speaker 1: this thing he calls the thorn in his flesh. It's

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Speaker 1: amazing because as we go through it, scholars have talked

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Speaker 1: for many, many, you know, years about what is Paul's thorn?

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Speaker 1: And there's lots of things we could just spare you,

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Speaker 1: but they, you know, they talk about maybe it's his eyesight,

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Speaker 1: maybe it's the shame of his past. You know, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't just tough things that were happening to Paul. Paul

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Speaker 1: did some really bad things. He killed Christians. That's why

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Speaker 1: I always think for people in church, like I don't

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Speaker 1: know if God can use me well, like like like

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Speaker 1: what have you done? Bro? You know? Like and so

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Speaker 1: really they talk about that, they think maybe it could

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Speaker 1: be a physical thing. What I love is is that

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Speaker 1: none of us actually know what Paul's thorn in his

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Speaker 1: flesh was? And how do you know that? This is

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Speaker 1: both merciful and quite instructive. It's merciful that we don't

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Speaker 1: know what Paul's thorn is because how me all know,

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Speaker 1: I just know how we are. If we knew what

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Speaker 1: Paul's thorn was, we would all be comparing our thorn

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Speaker 1: to his thorn. Some of y'all be like, oh wow,

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Speaker 1: like Paul, you struggle with that, not me, superiority would

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Speaker 1: hit your life. Others of you be like, that's your thorn, Paul,

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Speaker 1: Oh man, I'm really jacked up. And then inferiority would

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Speaker 1: hit your life. So it's merciful that we don't know

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Speaker 1: what it is. But it's also instructive because apparently the

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Speaker 1: point is not the thorn, but rather it's the purpose

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Speaker 1: of the thorn. What's the purpose of the thorn? For

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Speaker 1: a lack of better terms, today, just as we're talking

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Speaker 1: about this idea of Paul's thorn, let's just use this

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Speaker 1: word weakness that every one of us in this room

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Speaker 1: and all of us watching online today, we have some

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Speaker 1: sort of weakness. We have some sort of gap, some

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Speaker 1: sort of deficiency, some sort of struggle, fear, worry, anxiety,

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Speaker 1: something that our brain loves to replay, something that our

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Speaker 1: brain told us yesterday. And if we're not careful today,

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Speaker 1: even on the Lord's Day, we will walk out of

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Speaker 1: here still rehearsing and playing the broken record. But I've

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Speaker 1: come today to encourage you that you're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: work that weakness, that you might be weak, but God

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Speaker 1: still wants to work in and through your life. How

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Speaker 1: do y'all know? Like, when it comes to this idea

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Speaker 1: of weaknesses, the first step about our weaknesses is that

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Speaker 1: we have to stop denying our weaknesses, Like you can't

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Speaker 1: denying your weakness isn't going to solve your weakness. And

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Speaker 1: sometimes church like it teaches us how to be like

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Speaker 1: professional mask wears, Like we come in, we play the part,

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Speaker 1: how you doing, brother blessed and highly favored, Like we

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Speaker 1: just say it's this funniest stuff at church that you

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Speaker 1: don't say on Mondays at the cubicle, you know. And

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Speaker 1: if we're not careful, we just project all of our

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Speaker 1: strength and all that's going good as opposed to exposing

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Speaker 1: the weak areas of our life. I think many times

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Speaker 1: we don't expose our weaknesses because honestly, just we're afraid

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Speaker 1: to be embarrassed by them. When I was in Bible college,

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Speaker 1: I was eighteen years of age and I was really

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Speaker 1: on fire for Jesus. And I had started this Bible

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Speaker 1: study at my Bible college that's funny and winning my

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Speaker 1: Bible college to Jesus. And I decided that that summer,

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Speaker 1: I wanted to like kind of go, you know, on

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Speaker 1: the road doing some ministry. My dad's a preacher, and

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Speaker 1: so I said, Dad, I want to go and preach

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Speaker 1: and somebod. Dad called all his pastor friends and like

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Speaker 1: booked me all up and down, you know, the East

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Speaker 1: Coast preaching these little youth ministries. And so we got

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Speaker 1: a mini van and we got a trailer. And I

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Speaker 1: quickly realized I was like, yo, I'm gonna need some help.

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Speaker 1: And so I can't just go preach. I'm gonna need,

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Speaker 1: you know, like a like a worship team. And so

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Speaker 1: we put a group together. Our group was called Broken.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's no elevation nights, but I mean Broken

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Speaker 1: coming to a town near you, you know, you know it.

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Speaker 1: It was a wild summer. We had this little van

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Speaker 1: and this blue trailer and we just drove everywhere. And

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Speaker 1: I remember one time I drove across the state of

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Speaker 1: Georgia five hours to get to a youth ministry that

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Speaker 1: had five people in the audience. I still used a

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Speaker 1: microphone because I didn't see five people. I saw five thousand. Okay,

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Speaker 1: true story though. Anyways, I remember we would go to

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Speaker 1: these places that I would preach and stuff, and so

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Speaker 1: we were like real like into it. And I used

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Speaker 1: to I used to wear this little microphone under my

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Speaker 1: shirt because I wanted to replay and listen to my

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Speaker 1: sermons and try to get better at them. And so

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Speaker 1: I remember at the time there was this big Michael W.

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Speaker 1: Smith song out there called Here I Am to Worship,

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Speaker 1: and there was this part on the bridge that said,

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Speaker 1: some of y'all remember it's like, oh, never know how

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Speaker 1: much it costs to see my sin upon that cross.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, so all glory to him. Honestly, honestly, it's

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Speaker 1: not about me. It's not about me. Shut up. And

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Speaker 1: I uh I remember. I remember like sometimes when I

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Speaker 1: get preaching and I get real annointed, shut up, and

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Speaker 1: the spirit of worship would like come upon me, you know.

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Speaker 1: And so uh I remember, in particular, we had this

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Speaker 1: little leap ministry and like I was off the microphone,

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Speaker 1: but now I'm like praying for students and like this song,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Michael W. Smith was on, and so

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Speaker 1: I'm like singing. And so we get in the car

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Speaker 1: the next day and I know this is super strange,

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Speaker 1: but we would like always recap the night before, and

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Speaker 1: so we're driving to the next town, and we put

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Speaker 1: on the tape to listen to the sermon. We're all

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Speaker 1: gonna evaluate it, we're all gonna like talk about it

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Speaker 1: and give feedback. And the sermon's over. But now it's

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Speaker 1: like in the ministry time, and so I'm praying for students,

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Speaker 1: and so I'm not on the microphone, but you can

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Speaker 1: still hear the recording, and that song comes on. And

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Speaker 1: when that song comes on, I'm I'm praying for people,

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Speaker 1: but I begin to sing that song in a register

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Speaker 1: that certainly does not belong to me. And and it

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Speaker 1: wasn't that I was like opposed to everybody laughing in

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Speaker 1: the car. It was just after twenty minutes of still

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Speaker 1: laughing that the embarrassment hit my life to a point

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Speaker 1: that how ma y'all know that was the last time

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Speaker 1: I asked for feedback from those guys with my message.

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Speaker 1: Why because many times what happens is is that once

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Speaker 1: we expose the weakness, shame hits our life. Listen to me,

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Speaker 1: you will always be as sick as your secrets. God

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Speaker 1: can't heal what you just continue to hide. And so

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Speaker 1: what happens is if we're not careful, we start to

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Speaker 1: close up and we start to hide the weak areas

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Speaker 1: and we just start to play church and we just

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Speaker 1: start to play Christianity, but all the while we're not

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Speaker 1: finding encouragement. Listen to me loud and clear. Don't expect

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Speaker 1: someone to weak courage that which you do not expose.

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Speaker 1: We have to be people that are least willing to

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Speaker 1: expose the weak areas of our life because just denying it,

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Speaker 1: I'm never ever gonna find freedom from it. I have

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Speaker 1: to come to terms with it. I have to bring

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Speaker 1: it to the light. I have to showcase my friends,

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Speaker 1: my pastors, those around me, because if I want God

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Speaker 1: to work, I'm going to have to get comfortable to

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Speaker 1: realize that although I have a weakness, he's not done

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Speaker 1: working on me yet. But I have to expose it.

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Speaker 1: So here's the apostle Paul, Like he's like you and

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Speaker 1: I and he's writing, he's defending his ministry, and now

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Speaker 1: he gets to this area about his weak area, and

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Speaker 1: he's trying, I think, to encourage you and I that

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Speaker 1: although he's weak, God still working. But he kind of

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Speaker 1: just testifies about his story about his weakness, and he

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Speaker 1: genuinely says out loud he says, three times I pleaded

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Speaker 1: with the Lord to take it away from me. Three

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Speaker 1: times I ask God, take this weakness away. Is there

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Speaker 1: something in your life today that you are convinced that

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Speaker 1: you know better than God? God? If you would just

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Speaker 1: do that, then I could do this. God. If you

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Speaker 1: would just take away that thing, I could be so

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Speaker 1: much more effective for you. God. If you just gave

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Speaker 1: me that promotion, then I would actually be happy. God.

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Speaker 1: If you would just give me a spouse, I'm a Yeah,

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Speaker 1: people coming alive this morning. And sometimes we say we

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Speaker 1: want God's will, but really we just want our will,

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Speaker 1: and we want to call it God's will. And so

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Speaker 1: here's the apostle Pau and he's like, He's like, if

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Speaker 1: you'll just take away this thorn, I just know then

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Speaker 1: I could three times I've pleaded with the Lord. I

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Speaker 1: think the most beautiful thing about that passage is that

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Speaker 1: at least Paul is bringing the weakness to God. At

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Speaker 1: least Paul is praying about the thing. How mey ell know,

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Speaker 1: if you've got time to complain about it, you got

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Speaker 1: time to pray about it. I'm not sure. I think

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Speaker 1: some people they don't actually want resolve. Some people just

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Speaker 1: want attention. But if you actually want something to change,

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Speaker 1: if you want something to turn around, don't just talk

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Speaker 1: about it to your friends. Don't just talk about it

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Speaker 1: to your therapist. You bring that thing before and Alrighteous God,

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Speaker 1: and you bring it before him saying God, I need

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Speaker 1: you to turn something around. Three times, I'm pleaded with God. Yo.

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Speaker 1: If it's worth praying, it's worth repeating. Repeat those prayers.

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Speaker 1: Bring those prayers before God. There's a story in Luke

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Speaker 1: chapter eleven that Jesus is teaching about prayer, and it's

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Speaker 1: one of the most peculiar stories in all the Bible.

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Speaker 1: You ought to go back and look at it. I

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Speaker 1: preach the message one time entitled the Art of ba God,

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Speaker 1: because the entire parable is all about this guy waking

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Speaker 1: up in the night to a man on the outside

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Speaker 1: knocking on the door who would not stop knocking, and

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Speaker 1: finally the man answers his request, not because he loves

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Speaker 1: the man, not because he enjoys the man, but because

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Speaker 1: the man would not stop bothering him. I have a son.

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Speaker 1: His name is Wild. That was a mistake to name

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Speaker 1: him Wild. And this boy, I don't care what time

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Speaker 1: of day it is. We wake up seven thirty am.

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Speaker 1: Dead dead, dead dead ice cream ice cream, ice cream,

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Speaker 1: ice cream, ice cream ice cream, Shut up, wild ice

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Speaker 1: cream ice cream, ice cream ice cream. The other day,

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Speaker 1: his mom was still in bed and I was up.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't even eight am. His kids like ice cream,

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Speaker 1: ice cream, ice cream. I was like, fine, you say, Richie,

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Speaker 1: did you give that boy ice cream because you love him? No,

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Speaker 1: quite the opposite. I gave that kid ice cream because

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Speaker 1: he would not stop asking. And I want to say

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Speaker 1: to some of you out there right now, if you

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Speaker 1: got something that's that important you keep repeating that prayer.

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Speaker 1: I don't care what it is. You bring it before

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Speaker 1: God and you ask him to do something rich You

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Speaker 1: can't pray about ice cream. That's shallow. No, there's no

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Speaker 1: such thing as shallow prayers, only shallow people. If you

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Speaker 1: walk up to a pool, every pool that I've almost

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Speaker 1: ever been around has some sort of a shallow end somewhere.

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Speaker 1: But no one looks at a pool that's got a

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Speaker 1: shallow end and a deep end and says that's a

428
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 1: shallow pool. They simply ask the question, does it have

429
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: a deep end? And so all of your prayers are

430
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,960
Speaker 1: about ice cream. I don't think that's just a shallow prayer.

431
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 1: I think you're a shallow person. The question is do

432
00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,479
Speaker 1: you have a deep end. In the deep end is

433
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:06,359
Speaker 1: when you bring your weakness, your fear, your struggle, your insecurity,

434
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: your anxiety. Those of us in the room today, we

435
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: don't just come in here and play church. We come

436
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 1: to God and we bring the totality of our self,

437
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,160
Speaker 1: the light side and the dark side, the good and

438
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 1: the bad, the positive and the negative, and we're saying,

439
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: God today, we want to transfer our thoughts, and we

440
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:28,679
Speaker 1: want your thoughts. Three times I've pleaded with the Lord.

441
00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:31,800
Speaker 1: What I have learned about God when it comes to

442
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 1: this idea of working my weakness is that unanswered prayers

443
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,480
Speaker 1: are not unmet needs. And you gotta get this because

444
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: here's Paul. Three times I've pleaded to take that thorn away.

445
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 1: I was sure if he would just take the thorn away,

446
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 1: I could be effective. I could really plant these churches.

447
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,920
Speaker 1: Three times I've pleaded with God. I prayed it, I

448
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 1: prayed it. I prayed it. I prayed it, I prayed it.

449
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: So here's God, God, here's Paul's prayer. I love it,

450
00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:59,120
Speaker 1: and you can hear see God. He's like yeah, Paul,

451
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 1: I hear you. Here's what we do. I'm going to

452
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: meet your need by not answering your request. No, no no, God,

453
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: I don't think unerstood. I'm down here trying to do

454
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: your work, and I got this struggle. I got this thing,

455
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: this thorn that is wearing me out. Could you just

456
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: relieve me of that so I could be more effective

457
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 1: for you? Paul, I heard you. I'm going to meet

458
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 1: that need by not answering your request. Some of y'all,

459
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: y'all know this to be true about God. How may

460
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 1: y'all know that one of the most merciful things God

461
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: can do is not answer all your requests. I was

462
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:44,880
Speaker 1: seventeen years of age. I had an encounter with Jesus.

463
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,520
Speaker 1: My life was radically transformed, turned upside down. I was

464
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 1: full on for Jesus. I was seeking God. I was like, Lord,

465
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: I know you're calling me. I can hear. Yes, Lord,

466
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to go to school in Los Angeles. I

467
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: live in Miami. You're calling me this school in LA

468
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 1: And so in my house, my dad he is twofold,

469
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 1: he is both priest and king. And so I remember

470
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 1: coming to my father, and you know, I curtseyed and

471
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 1: I beseech the father on behalf of the brethren. My

472
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,959
Speaker 1: brother's The Lord is speaking to me. I am supposed

473
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 1: to go to college in Los Angeles and might have

474
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,640
Speaker 1: said no, no, no, no, you are not. I said,

475
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: excuse me. He said, no, you're not going. You're not

476
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: going to college in Los Angeles. That is not the

477
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 1: Lord's will for your life. You're going to school in Cleveland, Tennessee.

478
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 1: It's one thing not to go to Los Angeles. It

479
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 1: is a whole other thing to be sent to Cleveland, Tennessee.

480
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 1: Not Cleveland, Ohio. You need Cleveland, Tennessee. I was like what.

481
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: I was like, God, where are you? Why have you

482
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: forsaken me? You know. About a month and a half later,

483
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: I was in Nashville, Tennessee. I met this beautiful blonde

484
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:05,400
Speaker 1: head girl named don Scherie durn Thank you, and man,

485
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 1: it's excited for me. And we started talking and you know,

486
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: just you know how it goes. And I said, what

487
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 1: are your plans for the fall? She said, my plans

488
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: are I'm making music and I'm going to be right

489
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 1: here in Nashville, Tennessee. I said, how far of a

490
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:36,959
Speaker 1: drive is Nashville, Tennessee to Cleveland, Tennessee. She said, it's

491
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,960
Speaker 1: about two hours. I said, I know what God's will

492
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:49,239
Speaker 1: is for my life. Anybody thankful? God then answer all

493
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 1: your requests. Anybody thankful that God still met your need

494
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 1: although he didn't answer your prayer request in the way

495
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: you wanted him to answer it. Come on, tell me

496
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: all you wanted that new job, but had you gotten

497
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 1: that new job, you would have never found that new passion.

498
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 1: You prayed for a promotion, but had you gotten the promotion,

499
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:13,520
Speaker 1: you would have never found yourself on that new path.

500
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: Some of you beg God, God, do not let this

501
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: relationship fall apart. But God had to let that relationship

502
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 1: fall apart to expose to you that thing was broken

503
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 1: from the day you started it. Come on, some of you.

504
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: All you said, God, show up in my life, But

505
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 1: God says, I'm gonna make you wait so you can

506
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 1: develop some inner strength. Some of you wanted breakthrough last year.

507
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: You didn't know it was all a setup for breakthrough

508
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: this year. Oh wait a minute, God has been meeting

509
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: my needs. He just didn't answer the request the way

510
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 1: I wanted it. God, God, I just know if you

511
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,479
Speaker 1: just solve this thing I could be more effective for you,

512
00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: And God's like, you have no idea how you'll be

513
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: effective for me. I don't pick people like you do

514
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 1: at recess when you line them all up for dodgeball,

515
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,360
Speaker 1: because y'all know what you do at dodgeball. You look

516
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: at people and you judge them from their past performance,

517
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:19,239
Speaker 1: or you look at people you say, I wonder what

518
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 1: they look like, they got some potential. But when God

519
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,840
Speaker 1: lines up humanity, he's not looking at past performance. He's

520
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 1: not looking at your strength of today. When God looks

521
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 1: at you, he says, I chose the foolish things of

522
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: this world to shame the wise. I chose the weak

523
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 1: things of this world as shame the strong. I chose

524
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: the lowly things, the things that are despised, the things

525
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,760
Speaker 1: that are not, to nullify the things that are. Why

526
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 1: because God only gets glory when you're broken. It's in

527
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: your brokenness that His glory and power shines through. Paul.

528
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: I'm going to meet your need by not answering your quest.

529
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: I'm gonna leave that thorn in place because actually I'm

530
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 1: going to get more glory from your life with this weakness.

531
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 1: Oh okay, God, So I'm pleading. I'm pleading. God actually

532
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 1: does answer him, he just doesn't answer him the way

533
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: that he wants him to answer him. The scripture says

534
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 1: that Jesus, this shows up in red letters now in

535
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: the Bible, if you've got the red letter edition second print.

536
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: Things right there, Jesus he speaks, and he says, my

537
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made

538
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 1: perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more

539
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 1: gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest

540
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: on me. What I have learned about God over and

541
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,360
Speaker 1: over again is that God's grace will fill the space.

542
00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 1: We have a difficult time in twenty twenty two because

543
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: now more than ever, we don't just have one person

544
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 1: we're comparing our lives to. We have categories of people

545
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: that we're comparing our life too. Right, Like, so you've

546
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: got somebody in your life, is like, that's the spiritual person.

547
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:55,960
Speaker 1: Like you come to church, like look at them, they're

548
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: just so free, they're just oh man, look at like

549
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 1: they just have their hands are up. Wow, I'm over here.

550
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: I feel weird like here and they're there, and uh,

551
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: I'm less than we got we got, you know, relationships

552
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: like married people. Oh man, look look at him. I

553
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 1: just know. I just know he loves her like Christ

554
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: loves the church guys. Oh man, look at her. I

555
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,000
Speaker 1: just I just know she's just I bet she she

556
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: just always submits. Like what bro We got people we

557
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,239
Speaker 1: compare our kids to look at look at look at

558
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: their kids. Oh they're perfect. Mine are demon possessed and

559
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: they're perfect physicality right like, oh man, look at it,

560
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 1: he's got apps. I just I have a tire around.

561
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do, like, God help me.

562
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 1: And this comparison culture just kills our contentment, robs our joy.

563
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: Watch this the grace that God has it fills the

564
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:07,719
Speaker 1: space in our life. But you got to see this.

565
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: The space in my life is not the space between

566
00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: you and me. This is what happens. A lot of

567
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 1: this is like, in fact, I don't get any grace

568
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,520
Speaker 1: for the space between me and you. The fact the

569
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: space that God's filling my life is not between me

570
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 1: and you. The space that God is filling in my

571
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 1: life is who I am today and who He purchased

572
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 1: on Calvary's Hill. It's the space from where I'm at

573
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: and who I'm becoming tomorrow. And you have to learn

574
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 1: this because the only grace you get is is for

575
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,719
Speaker 1: that space. It's for that. It's not the space between

576
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 1: me and you, oh how much. It's the space between

577
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: where I am today and who I'm becoming tomorrow. He says,

578
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 1: my grace is sufficient. I like words, and words are

579
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:56,560
Speaker 1: always interesting me. I've read that word. That's the word

580
00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 1: that gets used a lot in church. Christ is sufficient,

581
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: the sufficiency of Christ. We just throw that word around.

582
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,640
Speaker 1: Do you know what sufficient means? By definition, sufficient means

583
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:11,200
Speaker 1: adequate for its purpose? Okay, hold on it because I

584
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: want to help somebody. God's grace is adequate for your purpose. Adequate?

585
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,080
Speaker 1: That's interesting one. You know what that word means, just

586
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 1: the right amount? How may all know? We all need

587
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:36,399
Speaker 1: different measures of grace. There was one measure of grace

588
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,839
Speaker 1: I needed when I was single and secure, new book

589
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: dropping tomorrow. There was a different measure of grace that

590
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,399
Speaker 1: I needed when I got married to Don Cherie. There

591
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 1: was a different measure of grace that I needed when

592
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,880
Speaker 1: I started pastoring to church. Oh my goodness, we have

593
00:34:54,040 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: three kids now. More grace, grace, And the scripture is

594
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: saying that God has just the right amount of grace,

595
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: not for your neighbor's purpose, but for your purpose. So

596
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:14,239
Speaker 1: run your race, because it's about your race. He has

597
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: grace for your race and for the space in your life.

598
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: My grace is sufficient for you. I'm thirty seven years

599
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 1: of age, and I have been doing ministry now since

600
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 1: I was eighteen years of age, but full time in

601
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 1: ministry since I was twenty three. And I told you,

602
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 1: I started going to school up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and

603
00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 1: it ended up becoming one of the greatest joys and

604
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 1: blessings of my life getting to go to school there,

605
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 1: and I learned how to lead there. I learned how

606
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 1: to start preaching there. And I remember down the street

607
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia, there was this big ministry taking place

608
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: called seven twenty two and there was a pastor there.

609
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,240
Speaker 1: But they have Pastor Louis Giglio. Come on, somebody shout

610
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:53,600
Speaker 1: out to Louis. Just giving shout outs, you know, and

611
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,959
Speaker 1: those of you who don't know. Louis leads a church

612
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 1: called Passion City Church. And he's actually a very good

613
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,760
Speaker 1: friend of mine now at this point my life, but

614
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 1: especially back then. I mean, he's a hero today, but

615
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 1: he was certainly. Like back then, I was like, this

616
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,880
Speaker 1: guy is amazing. And if you know anything about Louie's

617
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,960
Speaker 1: like really smart, you know, and his hair is like,

618
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 1: you know, speckled gray, and he like preaches about all

619
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 1: sorts of different stuff like this guy can like you know,

620
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 1: he preaches about the stars and like reveals like Christ

621
00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 1: in the stars, you know, like how would go? He's like,

622
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 1: that's Oryan's belt, the Belt of Truth. I'm like, oh

623
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: my god, you know whoa like? And see the Big

624
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: Dipper then the Resurrection, I'm like, oh my goodness. I

625
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: never saw Christ there before and I was blown away. Man,

626
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 1: and I would drive down to Atlanta. He hid thousands

627
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:43,239
Speaker 1: of twenty somethings on a Tuesday night he was preaching,

628
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,760
Speaker 1: and I would just go, I'm like, oh, man, Louis Louie, Man,

629
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 1: oh Louie. So I finally graduated from Bible College. I

630
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 1: moved to Miami and my dad said, rich, what do

631
00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,160
Speaker 1: you want to do? I said, I want to preach

632
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 1: to young adults. He said why, I said, because Louis

633
00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:07,959
Speaker 1: Giglio preaches to young adults. He said okay, he said, well,

634
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:09,879
Speaker 1: what night do you want to hold the service? I said,

635
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 1: I want to preach on Tuesday nights. He said why,

636
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 1: I said, because Louis Giglio preaches on Tuesday nights. Very

637
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,239
Speaker 1: true story. We started a ministry called the Rendezvous on

638
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:25,000
Speaker 1: Tuesday nights, and for the first six months of that

639
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 1: ministry I would get up with a laser pointer and said,

640
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 1: you see Oryan's belt right there. I did everything I

641
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: possibly could to preach and teach and behave just like

642
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 1: Louis Giglio. But no matter what I did, how may'all know?

643
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:50,360
Speaker 1: I am a very bad version of Louis Giglio. I

644
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 1: don't get any grace to be Louis Giglio. I love Louis,

645
00:37:56,760 --> 00:37:59,920
Speaker 1: no disrespect to Louis. I'm just a really bad copy

646
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,839
Speaker 1: of Louis Giglio. But the good news is I am

647
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 1: the best Rich Wilgerson Jr. You have ever met in

648
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:16,320
Speaker 1: your entire life. Come on, somebody, be you run your race.

649
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: God has grace for your space. Be you. Everybody else

650
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:30,080
Speaker 1: has already taken, and his grace is sufficient. It's going

651
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 1: to fill that space. Work your weakness, someone say, work

652
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:39,319
Speaker 1: your weakness. James Chapter four, verse six says that he

653
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:43,240
Speaker 1: has more grace. Someone say, more grace. God has grace

654
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,760
Speaker 1: to spare all your mistakes, all your mishaps, all your faults,

655
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: all your failures. He has more grace, more grace, more grace,

656
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 1: work your weakness. You are on the journey of becoming.

657
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,120
Speaker 1: It's not the point that he has a thorn. The

658
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,359
Speaker 1: point is the purpose of the thorn. So what is

659
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,279
Speaker 1: the purpose of the thorn? Well, Paul actually answers it

660
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 1: as we get ready to close the day. Paul says,

661
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 1: I was given a thorn. Isn't that amazing? I was

662
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: given a thorn? Meaning some of the weaknesses in your life,

663
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,319
Speaker 1: he didn't cause them. You didn't ask for them, You

664
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: didn't want them, he says, a messenger of Satan to

665
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:29,359
Speaker 1: torment me. He even tells me you didn't ask for it,

666
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 1: but God's going to use it. It even tells me

667
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 1: that God will use the devil. He'll use the devil

668
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:40,279
Speaker 1: to accomplish his will in your life. But notice what

669
00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 1: he says. He says, to keep me from becoming conceited,

670
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,359
Speaker 1: To keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a

671
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 1: thorn in my flesh. There's that word becoming. Who are

672
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:58,799
Speaker 1: you becoming today? Because who you're becoming, I actually think

673
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:02,839
Speaker 1: is more important than who you are today. Where you're

674
00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 1: headed is more important than where you are. Direction has

675
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:11,160
Speaker 1: always been more important than speed. And Paul answers the question.

676
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 1: He says, why was I given this thorn? It was

677
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 1: to keep me from becoming conceded, Meaning anything that keeps

678
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 1: you humble in this life is a gift from God. Ah. No,

679
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,399
Speaker 1: that is not something that we like. But it's very

680
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:37,600
Speaker 1: true that pride comes before the fall. And the enemy

681
00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: is looking to trip us up in life, and he's

682
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: looking for ways, and he's looking for opportunities for us

683
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 1: to fall. C. S. Lewis called pride the great sin

684
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,400
Speaker 1: that truly at the heart of all of our mistakes,

685
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 1: and our sin is our ego and our pride. And

686
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,120
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that God sometimes will give you a

687
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,720
Speaker 1: weakness because the weakness keeps you humble. The weakness reminds

688
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: you that God is working despite and inspite all of

689
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 1: your deficiencies to keep me from becoming conceited. I was

690
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:14,880
Speaker 1: given a thorn in my flesh. God's keeping me humble.

691
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 1: God's reminding me where my strength comes from. James, in

692
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 1: that same passage in chapter four, he says there's more grace.

693
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: But he says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace

694
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,439
Speaker 1: to the humble. Do you know how you get into

695
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: opposition with God? Pride? That's how we oppose God. Because

696
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,319
Speaker 1: when God sees a person full of pride, it's a

697
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 1: person who's saying, God, I don't need your grace, and

698
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: it reminds him of someone he don't like very much,

699
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:44,839
Speaker 1: which is the enemy. Because the enemy at one point

700
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 1: was leading worship and then he fell like lightning from

701
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:50,000
Speaker 1: the sky because pride rose up on the inside of him.

702
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:52,640
Speaker 1: And every time we operate in pride, we look like

703
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,879
Speaker 1: the enemy. Therefore, anything we don't turn to praise will

704
00:41:55,920 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: turn to pride. That's why we can't help but walk

705
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:10,439
Speaker 1: into God's house and say, I am only here by

706
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 1: the grace of God. So what is the reason for

707
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 1: the thorn and the weakness. It's because we have all

708
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:22,440
Speaker 1: been pierced, pierced for a purpose. You see, you have

709
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:25,440
Speaker 1: a calling in Jesus Christ. He purchased you with his

710
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 1: blood two thousand years ago, and your calling and the

711
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:31,240
Speaker 1: dream he has for your life and your future is beautiful.

712
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 1: In fact, I would liken it to a rose if

713
00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 1: you ever look at a rose. A rose is beautiful,

714
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:40,960
Speaker 1: but on that stem of the rose are thorns. And

715
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 1: why are there thorns on that rose? Because the thorns

716
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 1: prevent predators from destroying the rose. And why does God

717
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: give us a thorn in our flesh? Because pride is

718
00:42:55,120 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: the great predator of our potential, and my thorn prevents

719
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:05,320
Speaker 1: pride from destroying the calling and the purpose and the future.

720
00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:08,840
Speaker 1: Then Y has for me. I'm going to use you.

721
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,040
Speaker 1: You're right where I need you to be. I'm gonna

722
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:16,400
Speaker 1: use your life. I purchased you. You are in transit,

723
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,520
Speaker 1: you are in process. Quit rehearsing all that you're not

724
00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:24,360
Speaker 1: and start focusing all that I am. My little boy, Wyatt.

725
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:28,360
Speaker 1: We have three children. My firstborn's name is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson.

726
00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,400
Speaker 1: My second born's name is wild Wesley Wilkerson. And then

727
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:33,680
Speaker 1: my favorite child, who was born in July. She's a girl.

728
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 1: My daughter. Her name is Waylan Wesley Wilkerson. And just

729
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, Wyatt had to have his

730
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: first surgery. My four year old son, he was three

731
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: at the time, hit a little birthmark that had to

732
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,680
Speaker 1: be removed, and it was you know, it was a

733
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:53,040
Speaker 1: difficult thing for us parents taking him into the doctors.

734
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:55,279
Speaker 1: And we came over there, and because of all the

735
00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:57,399
Speaker 1: COVID stuff, only one of us could go, and I'm

736
00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,240
Speaker 1: the favorite parent, and so I went with him, of course,

737
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 1: not about me though, And as the worship team comes up.

738
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:07,560
Speaker 1: I took Wyatt to the hospital and we got there

739
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 1: and when we came in, the doctors came and told us.

740
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 1: They said, mister Wilkerson, we're gonna have to take him

741
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:15,840
Speaker 1: back alone to get anesthesia, which I didn't know. I

742
00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 1: thought I was gonna be with him the whole time.

743
00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:18,880
Speaker 1: And they had to put him under for this surgery

744
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:20,840
Speaker 1: take place. And so this little three year old boys

745
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:22,960
Speaker 1: just like, you know, he's freaking out and he's scared,

746
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:26,200
Speaker 1: and you know why. It's like, Dad, you know, why

747
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:27,920
Speaker 1: can't you go with me? You know, I want you

748
00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,080
Speaker 1: to go with me, And like son, you know, hippolaws

749
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 1: and whatnot, I can't, you know. And so it's like

750
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 1: way too much information for the kid, you know. But

751
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,759
Speaker 1: with all my kids, I have these sayings that I

752
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:44,080
Speaker 1: teach my boys, especially my boys, every night we say

753
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 1: the same thing. There's a whole long list of them.

754
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,719
Speaker 1: I'll spare you all of those, because those would help

755
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:50,719
Speaker 1: these sermons themselves. But one of the things I've I've

756
00:44:50,760 --> 00:44:55,200
Speaker 1: taught my boys is that going, hey, guys, whenever you're scared,

757
00:44:56,080 --> 00:45:01,880
Speaker 1: you can always ask Dad to borrow some courage. And

758
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 1: so whiff like, d I don't want to hear this

759
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:05,680
Speaker 1: right now, they say that either way. I wanted to

760
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: Spider Man and I said, Wyat, what does Dad say

761
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:18,440
Speaker 1: when you're scared? He's like, ah, well, Dad, can I

762
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:25,279
Speaker 1: borrow some courage? I said, of course, of course I

763
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 1: got some. I got some courage. Despare See, in our weakness,

764
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 1: we must be reminded that you and I we don't

765
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 1: find encouragement in our strength. We find encouragement in Christ strength.

766
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:44,279
Speaker 1: Look at what Ephesian chapter six says. It says, finally,

767
00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:51,280
Speaker 1: be strong in the Lord, and then in his mighty power,

768
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:53,000
Speaker 1: put on the full armor of God, so that you

769
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:54,920
Speaker 1: can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Know what

770
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,399
Speaker 1: the devil's scheme is. The devil scheme is in your mind.

771
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:04,839
Speaker 1: You you are less than you are, disqualified, your mistakes,

772
00:46:05,200 --> 00:46:09,959
Speaker 1: you're past, your shame disqualifies you. Play that record over

773
00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:14,879
Speaker 1: and over, but it's in that moment that I gotta

774
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 1: lean up to heaven, and I got to ask my

775
00:46:17,120 --> 00:46:19,960
Speaker 1: heavenly father, God, can I borrow some courage right now?

776
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,320
Speaker 1: I don't take courage of my strength. I take courage

777
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: in his strength. See, the enemy does not defeat us

778
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 1: because we are weak. The enemy defeats us because we

779
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 1: think we are strong. We think we're strong. We think

780
00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:42,160
Speaker 1: we can walk out of this place today and face

781
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:45,640
Speaker 1: the world in our own strength. But we need to

782
00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 1: come back to that child like faith. I have been

783
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:51,120
Speaker 1: pierced for a purpose. I have been given a thorn

784
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 1: to keep me humble, to keep me close to God. God,

785
00:46:54,719 --> 00:46:58,319
Speaker 1: can I borrow some courage? Every night, before I leave

786
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:00,720
Speaker 1: the boy's room, we have this little santus say all right, boys,

787
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 1: are you strong? And they're respond back to me, Dad,

788
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:08,680
Speaker 1: if you are strong. And so they took Wyatt and

789
00:47:08,719 --> 00:47:11,880
Speaker 1: they started putting him down on the stretcher, taking him

790
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:13,640
Speaker 1: down the hospital and he's sitting there with this big

791
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 1: spider man kind of crying. I say what I said,

792
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 1: are you strong? He looked back at the death. If

793
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:31,200
Speaker 1: you're strong? And I want to let you know today

794
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 1: that wherever the enemy is attacking you wherever he is

795
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:40,279
Speaker 1: lying to you, And you said, I don't know how

796
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:42,160
Speaker 1: to go one more step. I don't know how to

797
00:47:42,200 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: move forward. I don't know how to step into the future.

798
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 1: I don't know how to become all these called me

799
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 1: to become. And when God looks down at you and says,

800
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:54,040
Speaker 1: are you strong? Just like my boy Wyatt, just look

801
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:58,759
Speaker 1: back to God and say, God, if you're strong Lord,

802
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: if you're strong and keeps staying. Then, if you're strong, up,

803
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: keep walking. If you're strong, up, keeps serving. If you're

804
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 1: strong up, keep worshiping. If you're strong, I'll keep moving forward.

805
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work my weakness God, I'm gonna work it.

806
00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 1: Work your weakness over rich. You don't know about my thorn, yo.

807
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:27,080
Speaker 1: Something tells me if Jesus Christ could handle a crown

808
00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:30,200
Speaker 1: of thorns, he could manage your little thorn. You keep

809
00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:36,960
Speaker 1: surrendering over to him. News flash, Jesus doesn't need your strength.

810
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:41,839
Speaker 1: He needs your surrender. And when you give up, that's

811
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:45,840
Speaker 1: when God shows up. That's when God shows up. As

812
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,919
Speaker 1: everyone's standing their feet today, it's a simple call. Work

813
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 1: your weakness. Don't stop working in spite of your weakness.

814
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:58,160
Speaker 1: God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. You're

815
00:48:58,200 --> 00:49:01,960
Speaker 1: becoming something in Jesus been pierced for a purpose. It's

816
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,719
Speaker 1: to remind you. It's Jacob walking with a limp. I

817
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 1: wrestled with God and he was stronger than me. I

818
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:13,440
Speaker 1: know the one who's greater than me. I know the

819
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,879
Speaker 1: one who's greater than me. God. Can I borrow? Can

820
00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:21,440
Speaker 1: I borrow some courage? Certainly? Are your strong son, are

821
00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:27,480
Speaker 1: your strong daughter? If you're strong, If you're strong, I'm strong.

822
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:33,120
Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend the other day and

823
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:35,960
Speaker 1: he's kind of struggling with his faith. He said, rich.

824
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 1: The thing about you, man that just keeps annoying me

825
00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:39,960
Speaker 1: is that I feel like I know. I was like,

826
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:42,880
Speaker 1: there's a lot, man, so just line up. You know.

827
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:45,360
Speaker 1: The thing about you, man, it just keeps annoying me,

828
00:49:45,440 --> 00:49:47,600
Speaker 1: is I feel like you use Jesus as a crutch.

829
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:52,760
Speaker 1: You just use him as a crutch. It's like anything

830
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:57,239
Speaker 1: challenge he just us, Jesus. Anything, just Jesus. Listen to

831
00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 1: all your sermons, Jesus. I said, I hear you, man,

832
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:08,759
Speaker 1: I said, but you have half a truth. So you're

833
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:10,399
Speaker 1: right in one way, but you're wrong in a totally

834
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:16,279
Speaker 1: different way, Jesus is not a crutch for me. It's

835
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:25,160
Speaker 1: way bigger than that. He's a stretcher. Oh come on,

836
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,879
Speaker 1: I need somebody in this room who can just take

837
00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:31,839
Speaker 1: about ten seconds right now, and who can testify, who

838
00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,040
Speaker 1: can stand right down the place that you're standing, say,

839
00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:36,160
Speaker 1: I would not be here if it was not for

840
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,879
Speaker 1: the grace of God. Come on, somebody in this room.

841
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:42,000
Speaker 1: Let praise or rup from the inside. He hasn't just

842
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:45,799
Speaker 1: been something you've leaned on. He's been carrying you. He's

843
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:48,920
Speaker 1: been walking with you. Yay. Though I walk through the

844
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 1: valley of the shadow of death, I'm not gonna fear

845
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:55,680
Speaker 1: any evil. My God has been faithful. I'm gonna work

846
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,200
Speaker 1: de fight my weakness. Come on, Church, lift your heads,

847
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:07,479
Speaker 1: Come on, joys kean live. You'll be had it. See

848
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:12,920
Speaker 1: first the king he o, you'll be what's you see first?

849
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: The king know this? Carry yat. Oh we'll be yead.

850
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:24,320
Speaker 1: Oh he'll be had it. See first, the king he

851
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: will be yd and sa first. The king pato, you'll

852
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:36,000
Speaker 1: be hot sae first, the king heat o, you'll be had.

853
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:43,920
Speaker 1: Oh we'll be had. Oh we'll be Can we put

854
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:51,320
Speaker 1: you first? Can we lean on you? God? Today we

855
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:55,880
Speaker 1: know your truth, Your grace is sufficient. Just with your

856
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:58,040
Speaker 1: head bowed and your eyes closed those online right now,

857
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:01,239
Speaker 1: at all of our other locations in the room. What's

858
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:04,480
Speaker 1: the area today that you're afraid to expose. What's the

859
00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:06,759
Speaker 1: area that you just complain about but you don't pray about.

860
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:08,839
Speaker 1: What's the area to day that you're comparing your life

861
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:13,640
Speaker 1: to someone else's. It's that thorn that keeps you humble,

862
00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 1: It keeps you close to the foot of the cross,

863
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:18,280
Speaker 1: it keeps you close to Jesus. He's more than a crutchy,

864
00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:23,359
Speaker 1: he's a stretcher or your weakness. God, I just pray

865
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:27,560
Speaker 1: for people all of this room right now online, Right now, God,

866
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 1: areas Lord, where the enemy is lying to them. God,

867
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:36,080
Speaker 1: areas today where the enemy Lord is putting shame on

868
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:41,759
Speaker 1: them and anxiety and depression and fear. Greater is he

869
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 1: that is in me than he that is in the world. God,

870
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:49,719
Speaker 1: we aren't survivors. We're more than conquerors. All glory and

871
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:51,800
Speaker 1: praise to you. I just pray right now or that

872
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:55,160
Speaker 1: you just meet people, meet them where they are. You

873
00:52:55,239 --> 00:52:58,440
Speaker 1: could borrow some courage today. Be strong in the Lord,

874
00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:02,520
Speaker 1: be strong in the heads are bout your eyes a

875
00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:05,040
Speaker 1: closed wherever you're at, whatever location online. If you're here

876
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 1: today and you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, doesn't

877
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:12,759
Speaker 1: need your strength. It's your surrender for you here today,

878
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,440
Speaker 1: and you're ready to give up and give into Jesus.

879
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:18,320
Speaker 1: You want to make your peace with God? How do

880
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:20,200
Speaker 1: you do that? You do that through relationship with Jesus.

881
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,279
Speaker 1: Get to all who received him and believed in his name.

882
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:27,000
Speaker 1: He gave them the right to be called children of God.

883
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:29,800
Speaker 1: So with your head bound in your eyes closure, on

884
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,360
Speaker 1: the count of three. If that's you, I'm ready today

885
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:34,960
Speaker 1: to give my life to Jesus. I believe he is

886
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:36,360
Speaker 1: who he said that he is, and I want to

887
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:38,320
Speaker 1: follow him. On the count of three. Would just be

888
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:39,839
Speaker 1: bold with your hand of high enough and long enough,

889
00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:41,760
Speaker 1: just so I can see it. I want to include

890
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,560
Speaker 1: you in this prayer of salvation. Ready. One, Bible says

891
00:53:44,600 --> 00:53:47,440
Speaker 1: today is the day of salvation. Two. Don't look at

892
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:50,000
Speaker 1: your neighbor. It's not about your neighbor. It's between you

893
00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:53,080
Speaker 1: and Jesus. Ready, one, two, three. If that's you, liften up,

894
00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:56,840
Speaker 1: that's me. That's me. That's me. That's me, that's me.

895
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:06,200
Speaker 1: That's me. That's me. Oh, it's beautiful church. Can we

896
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:09,040
Speaker 1: just all lift our hands towards heaven. Would you just

897
00:54:09,120 --> 00:54:11,279
Speaker 1: repeat this pray after me? The Bible says, believe in

898
00:54:11,320 --> 00:54:14,759
Speaker 1: your heart and confess with your mouth, and you shall

899
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,320
Speaker 1: be saved. Let's all pray it together. Say, Dear Jesus,

900
00:54:18,000 --> 00:54:22,480
Speaker 1: today I surrender. I give you my life, my past,

901
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:26,840
Speaker 1: my present, even my future. I give you all of

902
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:31,279
Speaker 1: my weakness, all of my shortcomings, all of my sin.

903
00:54:32,400 --> 00:54:36,040
Speaker 1: I surrender it to you God, replace it with your strength.

904
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:41,400
Speaker 1: I believe Jesus, you are who you said that you are,

905
00:54:42,040 --> 00:54:46,719
Speaker 1: and today I'm declaring I want to follow you. Thank

906
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:51,320
Speaker 1: you for loving me. I love you, Jesus in Jesus

907
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:55,440
Speaker 1: Mighty name. Everybody said, come on, Elevation Church. Can we

908
00:54:55,520 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 1: give Jesus the highest praise? Hallelujah. Well, if you enjoyed

909
00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:03,640
Speaker 1: today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd love

910
00:55:03,719 --> 00:55:06,840
Speaker 1: for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and

911
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:10,080
Speaker 1: review this podcast. You can also help us reach others

912
00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:14,120
Speaker 1: by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB and

913
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:16,840
Speaker 1: thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast