WEBVTT - This Is Then (God Uses Stupid) 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:06.560 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:09.920 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:11.959 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:17.680 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:22.760 Nothing like the Lord, Nobody beside him, nobody like him. 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:27.240 Can't contain him, can't describe him. You know, I can 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.120 tell you about the river, or we can just step 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.120 right in. And that's the way it is with the Lord. 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.360 I can tell you, but sometimes you've got to taste 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:42.480 and see that the Lord is good. Open your mouth 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.560 wide and let him feel it today. Come on, open 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.680 your mouth wide and let him feel it today. Glory, Glory, glory, glory. 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.640 Thank you Jesus. Thank you for my health. Thank you 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.720 for my strength. Thank you for my salvation. Thank you Lord, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.280 thank you for keeping me. Thank you for my sanity. 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.480 Thank you for clothes on my body. Thank you for 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.560 food in my belly. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.640 Thank you for my wife. Thank you for my three kids. 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.240 Thank you for my mom. Thank you for this church. God, 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.000 thank you for the ministry that goes forth from this place. 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:25.520 This is holy ground. You're a worthy God. You're a 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.480 mighty God. You're a magnificent God. You're an all sufficient God. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:35.319 You're a wonder working God. You're away making God. There's 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.679 nothing too hard for you. I trust you, your God. 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:48.440 I love you, your God. I'll worship you. I believe you, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:02:00.480 take you at your word, I respect you. I need you. Come, 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:05.960 Holy Spirit for the moments that we share together. Speak 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:09.960 to every heart. I give you all the credit in advance. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.560 I know that anything good that happens today won't be 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:15.880 because of an idea that I had from my human mind. 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.120 It'll be because you used my vocal corese and my 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.320 lips of claim. But God, they've got to have an 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.880 open heart. Won't do any good for us to sing 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.720 all this beautiful music and say all the profound words 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.880 with all of the correct theology if their heart isn't open. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:44.280 So I thank you that heaven is open. May our 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:53.120 hearts speak to every distraction. Every disappointment. Got to go 0:02:53.160 --> 0:03:00.840 out the room right now, because Jesus is here. You 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:08.560 have our attention. Lord, have your way Jesus' name, and 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.160 all God's people sit together. Come on from Valentine to riverwalk. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:17.720 All God's people said together all over the world, our evam, 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:21.480 we want you to know you're welcome here, welcome to church. 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.079 Come on, Valentine, let's send the amnesphe are for all 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:31.760 of those words joining us today. I want to go 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:35.400 back to Genesis chapter twenty eight as we study God's 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.920 word together today. I'm so excited about the word that 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.520 the Lord has given me to gift to you. I 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.839 pray that I won't mess it up. I don't want 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.600 to dilute it. I don't want to pollute it. I 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:48.480 don't want to take from it. I don't want to 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.440 add to it. Just what he said. And I pray 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:54.080 that in these moments that you would just create that 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.960 quiet place inside of you, away from all the noise. 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.800 I know you got three people you need to text back. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.560 I know you've got somebody you don't want to see 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.120 that you got to meet up with it two forty 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.960 five today. None of that matters. Right now. The Lord 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.520 is in this place and wherever you are, I say 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.440 it with equal confidence. You say, well, I'm not in 0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:20.000 a church building. The Lord is in that place. You say, well, 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.680 I'm not in a really good place. Right now, man, 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.680 I really haven't been doing good. I've really just been 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.040 struggling back with some old things. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.760 Again, the Lord is in that place. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.280 So as we receive God's word and we stand on 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.360 God's promise, and we thank him for his presence, let's 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.320 study together in Genesis chapter twenty eight thirteen. Y'all think 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:43.040 when I preach a scripture two weeks in a row, 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:44.960 it's because I didn't want to study the second week. 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:46.599 It's really just because I didn't get it done the 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.839 first week. I'm going to read some of the first 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.200 half where Jacob is running from his brother Esau, who 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.200 wants to kill him. And Esau is good with the 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.440 bow and arrow. By the way, Jacob is good with 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:03.479 kitchen utensils and good with weapons. So when Jacob steals 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:09.560 the blessing from Esau, he gets blessed. But have you 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:17.680 ever been blessed? But that's why Thanksgiving is a complicated holiday. Man. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.599 It's such a blessing to have all of our family together. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.360 But well, I'm gonna let y'all sort that out. On Thursday, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.920 this is the day that the Lord has made everybody 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.560 put in the chat blessed. But tell your neighbor real quick. 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:38.000 I'm blessed, but he's blessed, but he's also in the 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.839 time of isolation. And he's on his way four hundred 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:43.360 miles from his father's house to stay with his uncle 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.440 Laban for a little while till he figures out exactly 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:48.839 what he's going to do next. And I preached last 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:53.400 week on your next messy step, just to let you 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.360 know that it's not always clear, and that's okay if 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.360 you just be strong and courageous every place you set 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.200 your foot, God will give it to you as you go. 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.240 But you can't get paralyzed now, and you can't let 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:07.640 the fact that you can't see the next five hundred 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.960 steps keep you from taking the next one. Now, as 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.440 Jacob is trying to get some sleep on the hard 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.720 ground with a pillow made out of a rock under 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.400 his head, the Bible says that there was a ladder 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.600 that came from heaven, and there above it verse thirteen 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.600 stood the Lord, and he said, I am the Lord, 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:32.800 the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.280 Notice he does not yet say I'm the God of Jacob, 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.880 because Jacob has not made that decision yet for himself. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:44.360 That's what we're going to find out. Is he going 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:52.120 to be your God too? And he told him, I'm 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.440 the generational God who made a promise to your grandfather 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.880 and your father. I will give you and your descendants 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.479 the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:03.479 be like the dust of the earth, and you will 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:08.600 spread out to the west and to the east, to 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.720 the north and to the south. It makes me think 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:15.360 chunks about all these campuses that God has given us 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.040 all over the place. The Lord even gave us one 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:24.240 in Canada Happy Month, late Canadian Thanksgiving, to our Toronto campuses. 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.880 But just God is going to do something so mind blowing, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.640 something so much bigger than just our church or our campus. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.560 Is this is God's original promise to his people, to 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.400 his nation Israel. And now, of course we're standing in 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:40.880 that promise today as most of us who are maybe 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.920 gentiles by birth or grafted in through Christ. So that 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.040 promise is being spoken over Jacob. He said, You're gonna 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.320 spread out like dust. It's gonna be messy, but I'm 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.840 going to do it. It's gonna be dirty, but I'm 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.640 going to do it, and all peoples on earth will 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:01.840 be blessed through you. When are you gonna stop just 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:06.040 coming to church to be blessed and start asking God, 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:10.040 make me a blessing. I want to be a blessing 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:15.000 today to somebody. God, he said, all the nations of 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.480 the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring, 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.160 even though you don't have children yet. God will speak 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.600 about things that have not even started yet in the natural, 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.960 and he'll speak it supernaturally. And this is the promise 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:30.480 I want you to receive for yourself today Verse fifteen. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.080 I am with you and will watch over you wherever 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.240 you go, and I'll bring you back to this land. 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.000 I will not leave you until I have done what 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.000 I promised you. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:51.560 surely the Lord is in this place. Just took me 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.679 a while to catch up with it. He was afraid 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.559 and said, how awesome is this place? This is none 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.800 other than the House of God. This is the g 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.960 of Heaven. Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.640 he had placed under his head and set it up 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.440 as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:12.199 We didn't talk about any of this last week. We're 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.040 gon't talk about all of it today. He called that 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:19.720 place Bethel, which means house of God. Yeah, that's not 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.360 just a worship ministry out there in California. That's in 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.360 the Bible. The place was called the House of God. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.920 That's what it's named after. And it's not just in 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.800 one location, it's anywhere that God visits. Yeah, he called 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.600 that place Bethel though the city used to be called 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:40.520 LUs and LUs means almond tree. Wow, that's a big 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:45.000 jump from a nut tree to the House of God. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.640 Tell somebody next to you, this is crazy. This is crazy. 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:52.280 This is crazy now Verse twenty. Then Jacob made a 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.120 vow saying, if God will be with me and will 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.560 watch over me on the journey I am taking, and 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.640 will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.520 so that I return safely to my father's household, then 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:11.040 the Lord will be my God, and this stone that 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.400 I have set up as a pillar will be God's house. 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.080 And of all that you give me, God, I know 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.080 you're my source. Of all that you give me, I 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:22.880 have nothing without you. Of all that you give me, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:32.559 I will give you a tenth amen. Verse eleven is 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:35.240 where I want to take my title from so that 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:37.720 I return safely to my father's household. Then the Lord 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.320 will be my God. Then the Lord will be my God. 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.079 Then the Lord will be my God. The Lord told 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:47.800 me to preach to you today three words. This is, then, 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:56.240 this is then. And I can tell that's a little 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.600 bit like mystical or whatever. So just turn to your neighbor, 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:05.680 give them my subtitle. Tell them God uses stupid. Yeah, 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.360 tell them this one might be for you, because God, 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.640 I have a strong feeling. Father, if you can speak 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.880 through a donkey, speak through me in Jesus' name, Amen, 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.320 touch three people, say this is your word today, This 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:29.200 is then? God uses stupid Now, Pastor Steve, I wish 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.240 you wouldn't say words like stupid up there in the pulpit. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.680 That's not a sanctified word, and I don't appreciate it. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.719 I'll bring my kids into service. Well, you ought to 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.000 drop them in E kids. We have excellent volunteers and 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:48.640 juice boxes. Do we give them juice boxes and E kids? 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:53.720 I don't know. I hadn't checked. You know how our 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.600 ministry seems so strategic when you see it up there 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.160 on the screens, and we have E groups and E kids. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:06.080 And eteams and E bikes and no E cigarettes yet 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.559 in the church, but it sounds so strategic. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.000 I said something last week and I got a testimony 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.120 of a miracle from one of our campus pastors. So 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:17.360 I want to say it again to you, because miracles 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:21.040 are already happening in this season. Miracles are already happening 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.160 in this season. And he was telling me a very 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.760 difficult season that he's been through, and then God began 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.920 to bring some resolution and he saw it. And the 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.920 thing that I said that helped him for his faith 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:37.520 is that a lot of times what you explain later 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:43.520 as strategy, you experience as surrender. How many heard me 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.319 say that last week from this very pulpit, and I'm 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.240 gonna say it again. You experience a lot of things 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.040 as surrender in real time. What I mean by surrender, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.320 you don't know what else to do, and then when 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.360 you get through it, you look back and you start saying, well, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:07.120 step one, step two, step three, step four. You know, 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:09.760 somebody else might struggle with an addiction that you came through, 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:11.400 and you're kind of coaching them later. And now you're 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.400 kind of arrogant because you got, you know, nine or 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.520 ten years under your belt, and you're like, well, the 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:17.800 first thing you need to do, and then the second thing. 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.360 And I found it very helpful. And you may mean, well, 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.040 but just make sure you tell them that the first 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:27.160 thing you do is help God. I need you. I 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.960 don't know what to do without you. And some of 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.480 the things that look strategic in your life you actually 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.720 stumbled into. If you'll be honest about it, it was 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.559 the hand of God guiding you. It was the voice 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:42.480 of God calling you. It was his net that caught you. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:47.800 It was his word that kept you. Many of the 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:51.400 things in our ministry that felt very strategic in year 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:54.720 five and in year ten were actually things that at 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.760 the time just felt like, what do we do next? God, 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.240 we are a multi let's welcome all of our locations today, 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:07.560 all twenty locations our EPAM all over the world. We 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.840 strategically place these locations on a multi site church with 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.360 the campuses that we have in the model that we have, 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.880 so we could reach people. Right, it was strategic, No, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.360 it was surrender. We were out of space, no more 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.720 room to put people. What can we do, Well, maybe 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.280 we can get another high school auditorium down the road. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.880 It was surrender. What do we do? Who do we bribe? 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.800 Who do we pay off, How can we get that 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.920 other auditorium? Why isn't the video working? Why isn't the 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:35.440 video working again the next week? 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.600 And it's messy like that, and his steps like that, 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.800 and it's trusting like that, and is falling like that, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.000 and it's standing like that, and it's waiting like that, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.560 and it's moving like that, and it's zigging and it's zagging. 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.560 Remember, and it's zigging and it's zagging, and it's having 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:53.920 and it's losing and it's getting back. And this is 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:58.840 what growth feels like, more like surrender, less like strategy. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:00.720 Later you can explain it a you can write your 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.480 book Seven Steps to a Healthier Marriage. But the truth 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:07.480 is you got down on your knees that third month 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.720 of marriage and said, God, I don't believe in divorce, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:13.840 but I don't know where I am a murder. And 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.080 if you don't help me with this white man. 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:30.040 And the strategic explanation off in camouflages the surrendered experience, why. 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.400 Tell me that? Because I know right now you don't 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.160 know what to do about this thing in your life. 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.840 And yet I would suggest to you personally and pastorally 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.600 that God has already already done enough for you to 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.600 trust him. I met with a financial adviser and the 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.280 first time I met him, he said, I just need 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:52.080 you to trust me. I said, whoa bukaroo. We ain't 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.040 about to build a trust off of one meeting when 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:59.320 you get paid on commission. The only way trust is 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.320 going to be building this relationship is through results, and 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.800 that's gonna take years, not months. So if you need 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.960 me to trust you from this meeting, just know I 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.160 don't trust you one bit. I don't trust you. I 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.840 don't get paid to trust you. And as a matter 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:16.320 of fact, I want you to know that I am 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.520 operating from a fundamental distrust of you because I am 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:22.960 not going to work this hard to provide for my family. 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:25.200 And then just because you have a nice smile and 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.600 a button down shirt, I'm supposed to just trust you. 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:31.280 I got button down shirts. Serial killers have button down shirts. 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:35.200 I don't trust you. You got to show me something 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:40.640 to trust in. Is that good wisdom for business? Is 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.640 that good wisdom for faith? Jacob seems to be saying 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:49.080 here at this threshold of his own journey, I don't 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.680 know if I can trust you yet. God, I don't 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:56.920 know you like that. I don't know yet if I 0:16:56.920 --> 0:17:00.840 can fully believe what you say to me. Oh, Shacob, 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:09.040 how dare you doubt the sovereignty of God? People? He's 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.280 far from home, he doesn't have a Bible to read. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.200 He just had a dream or a vision in which 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.200 he saw a staircase that went from earth to heaven. 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.359 And he's supposed to just wake up and say, let's 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.240 go God, wherever you take me, I'm with you. So 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.400 he does something very interesting, and I want to show 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:29.520 it to you because as I studied it, two words 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.240 stood out to me in the text. And a lot 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.000 of you have been listening to me preach for a 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.640 long time. Show of hands or just put a raised 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:37.520 hand in the chat. How many of you have been 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.239 listening to me preach for at least one year? How 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.520 many have you been listening to me preach for about 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:45.719 three years or more? Raise your hand, keep them up 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.280 five years or more? How many you started listening to 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.360 me preach before you wanted to? But somebody in your 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.040 house had me preaching and you had to listen to 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:57.119 him because they wouldn't turn it all. That's all right too. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:58.840 I am not going to take this a step further 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.520 and ask if you even want to be here today. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:05.240 I'm drawing the line, but by the time you've heard 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:07.520 me preach, maybe you can pick up my rhythm. There's 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.280 something Jacob says, and I want you to catch it. 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:12.600 It's two words. It's kind of like a continuum that 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.480 he establishes here, and I believe it's the continuum that 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.639 we're living in as well. In verse twenty, Jacob makes 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.720 a vow, and in that vow he said, if God 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:24.480 will be with me and we'll watch over me on 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:26.800 this journey I am taking, and will give me food 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.919 to eat and clothes to wear so that I returned 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:32.240 safely to my father's household, then the Lord will be 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.040 my God. The two words are in those two verses, 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.000 and I wonder if you've been listening to me preach 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:43.080 Jim and Livy for like thirteen, fourteen, eighteen years, can 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.480 you guess which words just went to me? Because I'm 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.560 picturing this congregation that I'm preaching to remember, some people 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.000 lost their job this week, some people got a promotion. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.359 Some people are complaining about their job. Some people would 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.480 love to snatch up the job that that person is 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.600 complaining about. Somebody right here this week is saying I 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.720 got to lose some weight. Somebody's trying to put on 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.800 some weight, drinking all the protein they've got. Somebody is 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.680 wishing they were single again. Somebody is saying, God, rescue 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.600 me from this season of singleness. Somebody is saying, God, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:14.320 I don't know what to do. Somebody is saying, God, 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:15.639 I know what to do, but I don't want to 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:17.199 do it. Someone pretend like I don't know what you 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:18.960 want me to do, so I can continue to pretend 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.600 like I'm waiting for direction when really I'm procrastinating my 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.480 faith and calling it patience. Everything is happening in this room. 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:28.720 And what I saw in the text, it was just 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.160 two little words. Let's read it again. He said, if 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.280 that was the first one, if God will be with 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.600 me and will watch over me on this journey I 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:46.200 am taking, and will give me food to eat and 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.560 clothes to wear. And now, remember God just told him 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:54.480 I'm gonna give you the north, the south, the east, 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.080 and the west. But that's gonna come later. Jacob says, 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.120 I don't even need need you to give me real 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:05.359 estate right now. If you will just give me food 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:11.760 to eat and close to wear. Everybody say if, if 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.439 you'll do that for me, if you will be with 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:18.480 me and give me food to eat and close to wear, 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:21.359 If you will be with me, give me food to 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.920 eat and close to wear, so that I return safely 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:31.480 to my father's household, then the Lord will be my God. 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:42.879 The second word is then if then if then sounds 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:46.840 like the boy thinks he can bargain with the most high. 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:49.600 Sounds like the boy thinks that God is trying out 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:52.760 to be his financial adviser. Here's what we're gonna do. 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.320 We're gonna sit there and have a quarterly meeting, and 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:57.600 if you profitable to me, then I'll serve you. I 0:20:57.600 --> 0:20:59.919 don't read it that way at all. At this date 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.399 age in my life. I think Jacob is saying, it 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.720 doesn't take much for me to trust you. I just 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.520 need you to show me enough, just enough that I'll 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.919 know three things. One that you're with me, One that 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.199 I've got something to eat and something to wear. I 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.439 can't run through this desert naked, and I can't go 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.320 to the next stop hungry. So I need you to 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.240 be with me. I need you to feed me, and 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:28.760 I need you to watch over me. I need you 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.080 to be with me. I need you to watch over me. 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:34.119 I need you to feed me. And if you'll do 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.439 that that much, that much, if you'll do that much, 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:44.439 then you'll be my God. If you'll be with me. 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.840 That's a prayer for God's presence. When you pray your 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:53.240 Thanksgiving prayer this week, thank God for his presence. When 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:55.439 you sit down to eat a big old ham, what 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:57.800 you're gonna have this week? You know by coming to 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:01.000 church the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Your calori these are automatically 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:04.280 divided by three. Give the Lord a praise for that 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:09.000 fake word I just gave you. I say that every 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.199 year on this Sunday. Every year, on this Sunday, for 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.959 every amen that you say, all of the sugar is 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:20.760 translated into protein to build your wouldn't that be cool 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:25.800 if it worked like that? And when you sit down 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.080 to pray, whoever's going to pray, say, Lord, I want 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:33.560 to thank you first of all for your presence. You've 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.880 been with me. How many know the truth that God 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:41.000 has been with you when nobody else was. You might 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:44.160 be there right now, It might have been last night 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.480 you were saying, God, I sure am lonely, but even 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:50.879 in your greatest loneliness. There was light, wasn't there come on? 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:52.560 Even when you were a little girl and you were 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:54.919 twelve or thirteen years old and you just felt so 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:57.439 weird and so strange, there was something inside of you 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:00.119 that you knew you weren't alone, even though you felt alone, 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.040 that even though you didn't get invited to the parties, 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.719 there was something in you that knew that I have 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:08.560 a purpose. You were never alone, not for any of it. 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.879 He is present, and I don't need a feeling to 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:17.119 prove his presence. You know, I don't need more proof 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.399 of his presence than I already have. He told me 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.400 he was with me, So he is with me. It's 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:25.080 just a matter of me becoming aware of it. Surely 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:26.639 the Lord is in this place, and I was not 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:30.800 aware of it. So thank God for his presence. Number two, 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:39.160 Thank him for his protection, his protection. He said, Lord, 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:41.960 if you'll be with me, and if you'll watch over me, 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:46.320 if you'll protect me. God. What does it mean that 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:49.280 God protected me? It doesn't mean that you never broke 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:52.239 your toe and set out. It doesn't mean that he 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.800 kept every weapon from being formed. It means that, in 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:59.439 spite of whatever weapon was formed, you had the faith 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:02.920 to endure it. And I want you to thank Him 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.359 for your shield and your buckler. I want you to 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:08.679 thank him that there have been angels around you that 0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:11.240 kept you from car accidents that you didn't see come in. 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.600 I want you to thank him for slow drivers that 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:18.040 got in front of you and you cussed at them, 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:20.600 and they kept you from getting to the next intersection 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:22.959 where there was going to be a drunk driver. But 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:25.480 you were too busy cussing at the slow driver to 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.080 know about the drunk driver. So I want you to 0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:31.760 thank God for the protection that you haven't even recognized yet. 0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:34.800 I want you to just go back over your life 0:24:35.480 --> 0:24:38.120 and realize that there were some things that God did. 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:41.000 I want you to praise him for the crazy person 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.199 that you asked him to make fall in love with you, 0:24:43.520 --> 0:24:45.760 because you had not turned the corner and seen there 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.119 crazy yet. And you found out four years later that 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:53.359 when God said no, when you said please, God was 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:56.560 doing you the greatest favor of your life. He was 0:24:56.680 --> 0:25:00.879 protecting you. Don't you see that He wasn't punishing me 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.199 because he hated me. He was punishing me to protect me. 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:08.560 There is a punishment, a discipline that comes from God 0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:11.720 that is meant to protect. If God is convicting you 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:13.840 right now of a sin in your life, I want 0:25:13.880 --> 0:25:17.400 you to praise Him for his protection. He's looking out 0:25:17.440 --> 0:25:20.320 for you. He hasn't given up on you. He's not 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:22.920 gonna let your heart get so hard that you keep 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:25.360 on doing it till you die from it. I want 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.560 you to praise God for his protection. I want you 0:25:28.640 --> 0:25:31.240 to thank him that he kept your mind from going 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:36.679 absolutely buck wild over twenty twenty five. Your mom lost 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:40.720 her mind. You didn't lose yours. You kept your sanity. 0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:44.520 He brought you here, He woke you up, look at 0:25:44.560 --> 0:25:48.440 your neighbor and say, you know what's crazy. I woke 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:53.680 up this morning, food on my table, close on my back. 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:57.480 I thank God for his prisoness w I thank God 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:01.159 for his protection, and I thank him for his provision. 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:04.280 How many no? God to be a good good father 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:09.080 brains on the righteous and the unrighteous, the just and 0:26:09.200 --> 0:26:12.400 the unjust. He blessed me when I did it right. 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:16.520 He blessed me when I turned left. He provided for me. 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:20.679 He gave me some things. He opened some doors and 0:26:20.800 --> 0:26:25.159 nobody could shut. He closed some doors and nobody could open. 0:26:25.600 --> 0:26:29.080 He provided for me. He didn't always give me what 0:26:29.200 --> 0:26:32.639 I wanted, but he gave me what I needed. He 0:26:32.880 --> 0:26:37.000 is my Jehovah Jyra. I had to blade in the air, 0:26:37.480 --> 0:26:40.640 but there was a ram in the bush. God made 0:26:40.680 --> 0:26:43.680 a way for me. Didn't look like it would work, 0:26:44.320 --> 0:26:48.760 felt like it shouldn't work, probably wasn't gonna work. Already 0:26:48.880 --> 0:26:51.959 planned out my speech, but he left me in the 0:26:52.000 --> 0:26:54.760 middle of the road, and he gave me a ring, 0:26:54.840 --> 0:27:01.480 and he gave me a row. Praise him for his 0:27:01.600 --> 0:27:04.040 pro Oh yeah, I'm trying to get you to praise God. 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:08.000 I'm trying to get you to praise God. I'm trying 0:27:08.000 --> 0:27:11.800 to you know how they use rage bait to try 0:27:11.840 --> 0:27:14.720 to get you to go off and crash out. You 0:27:14.760 --> 0:27:18.040 know that rage bait. How my kids will rage bait 0:27:18.080 --> 0:27:20.639 each other. Well, the Lord told me today, I have 0:27:20.720 --> 0:27:23.680 an assignment for you, Fordick. I want you to praise 0:27:23.800 --> 0:27:29.080 bait my people and try to find if you can 0:27:29.160 --> 0:27:32.160 finally push the button, because some of them are waiting 0:27:32.480 --> 0:27:35.840 like they don't have anything to praise me for. But 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:39.440 if you can get them to look back. Don't even 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:43.840 have to look back that far. Just look back over 0:27:43.920 --> 0:27:51.919 your last step and you'll see that isn't it have nothing? 0:27:53.280 --> 0:27:56.080 Come on high five three people and say I'm passed. 0:27:56.119 --> 0:28:01.199 Do I'm pasted, dou I'm passed to what you mean? I? 0:28:01.400 --> 0:28:11.280 Oh God, this praise. I'm a praise bader, trying to 0:28:11.320 --> 0:28:13.959 get you to think about how good he is, trying 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:16.160 to get you to think about the mercy he showed you, 0:28:16.520 --> 0:28:18.920 Trying to get you to think about what you have left, 0:28:19.280 --> 0:28:21.560 Trying to get you to think about how the rain 0:28:21.760 --> 0:28:25.719 came and the wind blew and the storm rolls by 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:30.359 my house. Didn't know by a surviser. I'm bad not 0:28:30.640 --> 0:28:45.600 bade praise, and now I'm praising you. Know, somebody probably 0:28:45.600 --> 0:28:49.120 thinks you look stupid praising him like that. Somebody probably 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:52.240 thinks you look stupid praising him like that. But look 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:57.360 at your neighbor and say, after all I've seen, I'd 0:28:57.360 --> 0:29:03.640 be stupid not to after all he does for me, 0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:08.360 I'd be stupid not to say thank you. I'd be 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:30.400 stupid not to get an I'd be stupid. Looks pretty 0:29:30.440 --> 0:29:33.600 stupid if you hadn't seen him make away. But if 0:29:33.640 --> 0:29:35.960 you were coming up on something and you didn't see 0:29:35.960 --> 0:29:39.480 it away, and all you had in your hand was 0:29:39.520 --> 0:29:45.400 a staff and you saw him take something as stupid 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:49.600 as a staff and split something as big as a se. 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:54.880 It'll make you shake your tambourine when you get on 0:29:55.040 --> 0:30:01.000 the other side. And by the way, one time, the 0:30:01.040 --> 0:30:04.720 Lord really spanked me, The Lord really checked me. The 0:30:04.760 --> 0:30:07.360 Lord really corrected me. Yeah, he's got to ride in 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:10.400 a staff. One is to comfort and one is to confront. 0:30:12.200 --> 0:30:14.080 And I was telling the Lord one day, I'll be 0:30:14.320 --> 0:30:18.080 so thankful when I get through this. When I get 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:20.560 through this, then I'll be so thankful. The Lord says, 0:30:20.600 --> 0:30:27.959 switch it. When you get thankful, you'll get through this. 0:30:30.320 --> 0:30:34.480 Because the way you're thinking right now, you ain't gonna 0:30:34.480 --> 0:30:37.800 make it. You ain't gonna make it unless you get 0:30:37.800 --> 0:30:39.720 a little crazy, you get a little stupid, start thanking 0:30:39.760 --> 0:30:44.640 God for stupid stuff. Uh huh. And I want to 0:30:44.640 --> 0:30:46.800 take it a little bit further. Not only did the 0:30:46.840 --> 0:30:48.959 things in my life that now look the most strategic 0:30:49.560 --> 0:30:55.040 at the time seem the stupidest, but some other people 0:30:55.080 --> 0:30:58.920 said they were stupid. Well, I told my friends that 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:02.760 want named the church Elevation. And you know, now we 0:31:02.800 --> 0:31:06.120 got a lot of cool church names, but they weren't 0:31:06.200 --> 0:31:08.760 churches called things like Elevation, not that many. I'm never 0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:12.120 there with some. I'm not saying I'm the originator, but 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:14.040 I just thought, Wow, it'd be great to call it elevation. 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:19.720 You know, lift up, Jesus, lift up people, you're going high, 0:31:20.080 --> 0:31:24.640 you know, elevation. Remember one dude looked at me and said, 0:31:25.040 --> 0:31:27.240 sounds stupid. It sounds like the name of a youth group. 0:31:29.880 --> 0:31:31.760 It sounds like if you two had a youth group. 0:31:32.440 --> 0:31:37.160 That's what he said. It's a fine line. I said. 0:31:37.200 --> 0:31:38.840 I like it. I like it. I like it. I 0:31:38.960 --> 0:31:43.560 like it. There's a stupid name for a church elevation 0:31:43.720 --> 0:31:48.160 that never worked. I had a flashback the other day. 0:31:48.160 --> 0:31:51.320 I don't know if y'all remember this Janet this dude, 0:31:51.320 --> 0:31:53.680 because think about now. You've got Jacob and he says 0:31:53.720 --> 0:31:58.600 this thing. I'm gonna take this rock and I'm gonna 0:31:58.600 --> 0:32:02.440 pour oil on it, freaking out man, And this rock 0:32:02.520 --> 0:32:05.640 is gonna be your house. God, I'm gonna turn this 0:32:05.800 --> 0:32:08.560 stone into your house, and of everything you give me. 0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:12.080 I mean, he's just disoriented. He doesn't know what to do. 0:32:13.160 --> 0:32:15.040 So he just says, if you will show me enough, 0:32:15.280 --> 0:32:18.280 if you give me your presence, your protection, your provision, 0:32:18.920 --> 0:32:22.560 I will trust you. And he pours this oil on 0:32:22.680 --> 0:32:26.120 a rock. Well, it made me think about some of 0:32:26.160 --> 0:32:27.840 the things we did that seem stupid at the time 0:32:27.880 --> 0:32:30.120 when the church was young, because I want to share 0:32:30.160 --> 0:32:32.840 it with these lovely people, because God still wants to 0:32:32.920 --> 0:32:38.160 use stupid today in your family, in your athletic career, 0:32:38.240 --> 0:32:41.000 in your business, and your spiritual life, in your emotions. 0:32:41.280 --> 0:32:45.920 God wants to use what people call stupid. One of 0:32:45.920 --> 0:32:48.400 the first things that I remember was when the man 0:32:48.480 --> 0:32:54.040 came to give us a strategy on giving. He said, 0:32:54.040 --> 0:32:56.320 the strategic move when you're starting a church. Now, listen 0:32:56.320 --> 0:32:58.760 to this. Tell me this doesn't sound strategic on the surface, 0:32:59.200 --> 0:33:01.720 because the world's with them sounds strategic on the surface. 0:33:03.200 --> 0:33:04.440 Is how do it? And this is what you get 0:33:04.520 --> 0:33:09.000 right and then you'll be blessed. But so here's what 0:33:09.040 --> 0:33:10.320 he said to do, and to me it felt like 0:33:10.320 --> 0:33:12.960 a compromise of my integrity. He said, you're not going 0:33:13.040 --> 0:33:15.800 to have any money. That was true. He said, you 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:18.280 don't have that many members, and that was true. He said, 0:33:18.320 --> 0:33:20.080 so each of you know somebody who is a member 0:33:20.080 --> 0:33:22.720 of another church, asked them for the next twenty four 0:33:22.720 --> 0:33:25.960 months to redirect their tithe that they would give to 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:29.160 their church and give it to you instead. Their church 0:33:29.200 --> 0:33:32.520 won't miss it, and it'll make or break you. I 0:33:32.560 --> 0:33:34.479 thanked him for his time. At the time, we were 0:33:34.480 --> 0:33:36.120 so broke. I didn't even have any money to pay 0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:38.520 him to come and give us the speech. So I 0:33:38.560 --> 0:33:41.320 gave him a Chili's gift card and I said thank 0:33:41.320 --> 0:33:43.920 you for coming. I saw broke. We were so In 0:33:43.960 --> 0:33:47.080 a way, what he said sounded really good. I do 0:33:47.160 --> 0:33:49.360 know some people I've been traveling doing ministry. I've got 0:33:49.640 --> 0:33:51.320 some contacts. Maybe I should reach out and do it 0:33:51.320 --> 0:33:54.240 that way, but the spirit of the Lord wouldn't let 0:33:54.320 --> 0:33:58.680 me do it like that. You ever had the spirit 0:33:58.760 --> 0:34:02.400 tell you to do something that seems stupid? See that 0:34:02.480 --> 0:34:06.000 seems smart. But here's what the Lord told me to 0:34:06.000 --> 0:34:07.840 tell our team Instead. I shut the door, I let 0:34:07.920 --> 0:34:10.360 him leave. I said what he just said. If we 0:34:10.480 --> 0:34:12.840 do it that way, it might work for a while, 0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:18.719 but it's going to set up a pattern where we 0:34:18.760 --> 0:34:24.279 did not build it on the rock. We got to 0:34:24.320 --> 0:34:28.959 trust God. Tell your neighbor. I got to trust God, 0:34:30.120 --> 0:34:31.840 So I asked him, didn't I said, so, can we 0:34:31.880 --> 0:34:34.800 do this instead? While we're still at this church waiting 0:34:34.840 --> 0:34:36.920 to go start our church? We were being sent from 0:34:36.960 --> 0:34:39.440 a church with permission and blessing. I said, while we're 0:34:39.480 --> 0:34:42.000 still under the covering of this church, let's keep giving 0:34:42.040 --> 0:34:45.000 ten percent of our income to this church, and let's 0:34:45.040 --> 0:34:49.080 give an additional ten to the one we're starting. And 0:34:49.120 --> 0:34:52.480 they all did it. As far as I know. I 0:34:52.480 --> 0:34:57.080 didn't check the W two's to do the math, but 0:34:57.120 --> 0:35:00.760 they all did it. So when I said you today 0:35:02.920 --> 0:35:04.799 that it is my desire as a pastor that every 0:35:04.800 --> 0:35:07.279 single family in this church, every single individual in this church, 0:35:07.640 --> 0:35:11.960 would put God first through the tithe and give ten percent, 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:16.279 I'm not telling you that because of a need we have. 0:35:17.320 --> 0:35:20.719 I'm telling you that because it's the foundation that everything 0:35:21.000 --> 0:35:25.080 you see today was built on. And I say it 0:35:25.120 --> 0:35:32.120 with confidence and I say it with clarity. Well, I 0:35:32.239 --> 0:35:34.080 like that first part of the sermon you were preaching, 0:35:34.120 --> 0:35:37.520 Pastor Steve, and that was really good and fun, like 0:35:37.640 --> 0:35:41.040 that calorie cancelation blessing. Can we go back to that? No, 0:35:41.200 --> 0:35:43.080 we can't, because now I got to talk to you. 0:35:44.320 --> 0:35:47.080 We all love the part where God said to Jacob, 0:35:47.120 --> 0:35:48.919 I'll be with you. But what about the part where 0:35:49.000 --> 0:35:52.960 Jacob said to God, if you'll be with me, then 0:35:53.000 --> 0:35:58.640 I'm with you. I always thought ten percent sounded like 0:35:58.680 --> 0:36:01.080 a lot until I figured out it all came from God, 0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:05.040 and maybe the ninety that he lets me keep is 0:36:05.080 --> 0:36:07.960 a lot, and maybe the ten that he asked me 0:36:08.000 --> 0:36:11.680 to give isn't that big. Right, I'm just talking to 0:36:11.719 --> 0:36:18.680 you about trust in God. Trust in God is not 0:36:18.719 --> 0:36:22.680 because you sang the chorus really loud. Trust in God 0:36:22.760 --> 0:36:24.799 is not because you clapped your hands on the beat. 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:27.799 Trust in God is not because you have a good 0:36:27.840 --> 0:36:31.080 feeling about this. Trust in God is when you say 0:36:31.120 --> 0:36:35.520 I'm in and I know it looks stupid, but you 0:36:35.560 --> 0:36:39.319 gave it all to me. You gave it all to 0:36:39.360 --> 0:36:43.520 me anyway, another stupid thing. Can I just tell you 0:36:43.600 --> 0:36:46.120 a little bit of a testimony of stupid stuff that 0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:49.080 God used in our life? This might help you. How 0:36:49.080 --> 0:36:51.520 many of y'all are kind of newly married, like you say, 0:36:51.560 --> 0:36:54.000 like a year or two or something like that. Just 0:36:54.080 --> 0:36:56.960 raise your hand at me real quick, newly marry? How 0:36:56.960 --> 0:36:58.719 many of y'all hope to be raising your hand when 0:36:58.760 --> 0:37:03.160 I asked that question years from now? All right, check 0:37:03.160 --> 0:37:06.280 out the market research in here. This is a great 0:37:06.280 --> 0:37:08.799 place to come to meet all of your life needs. 0:37:11.920 --> 0:37:14.640 I came to her and I said, woman, the Lord 0:37:14.719 --> 0:37:17.319 don't want us to be in debt. The Lord don't 0:37:17.320 --> 0:37:19.799 want us to have cars we can't afford. The Lord 0:37:19.800 --> 0:37:21.760 don't want us to have furniture that we haven't paid 0:37:21.760 --> 0:37:24.000 for yet. What's the thing that they have where you 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:26.240 can pay for a jacket and put it eighteen dollars 0:37:26.280 --> 0:37:30.239 a month and be paying for it for eighteen years. Klarna, 0:37:31.160 --> 0:37:37.959 he says, it's called klarna. You said karma. I said, 0:37:37.960 --> 0:37:40.480 We're not clarna. We're not laying away. The only way 0:37:40.520 --> 0:37:43.000 we're going to buy for something is if we can 0:37:43.040 --> 0:37:45.480 afford it. And that meant that our house was filled 0:37:46.080 --> 0:37:50.040 at the beginning of our marriage with furniture that came 0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:56.000 from Eric's dad's trailer and he was over the trailer park, 0:37:56.160 --> 0:37:59.360 so he would repoe people's furniture and save it. And 0:37:59.440 --> 0:38:02.400 so our marriage was built on the foundation of furniture 0:38:02.440 --> 0:38:04.759 from the trailer park that was repoed from people who 0:38:04.760 --> 0:38:09.080 didn't pay the rent. That's who your pastor is. That's 0:38:09.080 --> 0:38:12.760 how smart I am. Follow me? Is I follow christ? 0:38:13.239 --> 0:38:17.000 That's who I am, buddy. That's who I am, buddy. 0:38:17.640 --> 0:38:19.879 But I paid for everything we ever put in our house, 0:38:19.920 --> 0:38:21.400 and I don't mean that to say, if you're in 0:38:21.440 --> 0:38:23.719 debt that you did it wrong. I'm just telling you, 0:38:23.800 --> 0:38:25.800 as a matter of fact, it would feel stupid sometimes. 0:38:25.840 --> 0:38:27.479 When I knew we could just put it on a card. 0:38:28.520 --> 0:38:34.160 See what the world calls, Wyse, what the world calls strategic, 0:38:34.239 --> 0:38:36.359 God calls stupid, And what the world calls stupid God 0:38:36.440 --> 0:38:40.360 calls strategic? Ain't that crazy? And as a matter of fact, 0:38:40.360 --> 0:38:43.799 once brother Dave Ramsey got me convinced on the emergency fund, 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:47.239 how many of y'all did the emergency fund that Dave 0:38:47.320 --> 0:38:49.880 Ramsey talked about. It's a great practice, man. It's like, 0:38:50.520 --> 0:38:53.160 save what is it, three months to six months of 0:38:53.160 --> 0:38:56.440 your living expenses and put it away so that when 0:38:56.520 --> 0:38:58.440 the tire goes flat, you don't have to go in 0:38:58.480 --> 0:39:01.200 debt to replace it. Did that like in our first 0:39:01.239 --> 0:39:03.839 two years of marriage. And I was so proud when 0:39:03.840 --> 0:39:06.000 that number hit. I figured out what the number would be. 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:08.200 Boom boom, boom boom boom this how much we need 0:39:08.239 --> 0:39:10.880 to save? Saved it up got to the level and 0:39:10.960 --> 0:39:12.400 that night when I went to tell her in the 0:39:12.480 --> 0:39:15.160 kitchen that we've hit our emergency fund, go, I felt 0:39:15.160 --> 0:39:17.720 a prompting from the Lord that I tried to rebuke 0:39:17.800 --> 0:39:24.560 as Satan, and the prompting said give it all away. 0:39:26.239 --> 0:39:29.919 I said, that's stupid, Not to the Lord. I thought 0:39:30.000 --> 0:39:32.120 it was the devil. I thought it was the devil 0:39:32.280 --> 0:39:40.279 because Dave said I had to save it. I full disclosure. Now, 0:39:40.480 --> 0:39:42.839 many times over the Lord has blessed us, and I 0:39:42.880 --> 0:39:45.640 have not kept my savings at Zero's every time since 0:39:45.640 --> 0:39:49.319 that day. But I remember walking in and saying, you 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:56.560 know that emergency fund, it's about to be a missions gift. Stupid, 0:39:56.560 --> 0:39:59.319 isn't it. I don't know. You tell me because when 0:39:59.320 --> 0:40:02.280 we wrote those checks at that kitchen table, I remember 0:40:02.320 --> 0:40:04.279 the place, so you never forget the place where God 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:09.160 makes you a promise. That's why Jacob named the place Bethel. 0:40:09.239 --> 0:40:12.200 He said, this is God's house. You say it's stupid 0:40:12.239 --> 0:40:13.919 to call a rock the house of God. Not when 0:40:13.960 --> 0:40:17.799 God spoke to you there. Stupid unless you had God 0:40:17.840 --> 0:40:21.000 speak to you there. And the Lord spoke to me 0:40:21.000 --> 0:40:23.719 two sentences. He said, if you keep your hands open 0:40:23.840 --> 0:40:27.280 to me, then you will always have everything you need. 0:40:28.239 --> 0:40:30.480 You will always be able to do everything I've called 0:40:30.560 --> 0:40:35.560 you to do. He spoke that to me at that 0:40:35.640 --> 0:40:41.440 kitchen table that came from the trailer park, repossessed furniture 0:40:42.200 --> 0:40:45.279 that was scratched up and dinged up, and I had 0:40:45.320 --> 0:40:47.399 money to buy a new one, and the Lord said, 0:40:47.400 --> 0:40:49.680 this time, I want you to give it. We didn't 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:52.960 have kids yet. It wasn't like we were being irresponsible. 0:40:53.000 --> 0:40:56.440 You're like, I can already see people misapplying this message. 0:40:56.480 --> 0:40:58.960 Do you know what I mean? Like the Lord says, 0:40:59.160 --> 0:41:02.880 the Lord said he would use stupid. Baby, that's the 0:41:02.960 --> 0:41:05.880 word I've been waiting for. Did you hear what pastor 0:41:05.960 --> 0:41:10.560 said today? I'm getting a boat. I'm getting a boat. 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:15.800 Man of God said I could get a boat. Don't 0:41:15.840 --> 0:41:19.759 pervert this word. You know what I'm talking about. Keep 0:41:19.800 --> 0:41:24.840 me in context. And I want to ask you a question. 0:41:26.120 --> 0:41:30.879 Was it stupid? I don't know. One of the things 0:41:30.880 --> 0:41:42.880 we gave to was this. Look around. Some of your 0:41:42.960 --> 0:41:47.000 kids have been baptized here. I don't think it was stupid. 0:41:48.280 --> 0:41:50.560 Some of you had your life put back together here. 0:41:51.600 --> 0:41:53.640 I don't think it was stupid. Some of you afraid 0:41:53.719 --> 0:41:57.960 to receive Christ here. I don't call that stupid. He 0:41:58.200 --> 0:42:01.640 is no fool who he gives what he cannot keep 0:42:02.280 --> 0:42:06.280 to gain what he cannot lose. You call it stupid. 0:42:08.320 --> 0:42:14.360 I call it surrender. And Jacob takes the oil. Remember 0:42:14.680 --> 0:42:17.640 he has very little with him. He's on the run, 0:42:17.840 --> 0:42:20.120 and he takes the little bit of oil that he 0:42:20.200 --> 0:42:24.360 has and pours it on the rock. The rock is stupid, 0:42:24.640 --> 0:42:27.720 The oil is stupid. The whole thing is stupid unless 0:42:27.760 --> 0:42:33.480 God is in it. But God uses stupid and he 0:42:33.520 --> 0:42:34.000 says this. 0:42:34.080 --> 0:42:37.440 He says, I'll trust you, and I'll give to you 0:42:38.120 --> 0:42:42.000 if you will be with me, and if you will 0:42:42.000 --> 0:42:45.080 give me food, and if you will give me clothes. 0:42:44.880 --> 0:42:47.640 And if you will watch out for me and watch 0:42:47.719 --> 0:42:51.000 over me, if then you will be my God. So 0:42:51.040 --> 0:42:53.400 I want to ask a question, and I need some 0:42:53.480 --> 0:42:57.120 participation on this. How many of you, if we take 0:42:57.280 --> 0:43:00.480 Jacob's rubric, if we take Jacob's grid, if we take 0:43:00.560 --> 0:43:04.000 Jacob's prayer, if we take Jacob's not negotiation, but if 0:43:04.040 --> 0:43:07.040 we take Jacob's surrender to the Lord as a template, 0:43:07.400 --> 0:43:10.439 how many of you would say that God has been 0:43:11.120 --> 0:43:19.759 with you? Make some noise? How many of you would 0:43:19.800 --> 0:43:27.359 say that God put food on your table. You're cheering 0:43:27.400 --> 0:43:31.280 a little soft about that one. Maybe you're hungry right now, 0:43:31.840 --> 0:43:34.320 but I'm saying you're gonna have something to eat before 0:43:34.320 --> 0:43:38.200 the sun goes down. How many of you have clothes 0:43:38.600 --> 0:43:43.160 on your body, even if the waist fits a little 0:43:43.200 --> 0:43:46.480 tighter in November than it did in January. Come on, 0:43:46.680 --> 0:43:49.640 I got clothes on my body, food on my table. 0:43:50.120 --> 0:43:59.360 How many would say God has kept me alive. Jacob said, 0:43:59.480 --> 0:44:03.600 if you will be present, if you will protect, and 0:44:03.680 --> 0:44:07.839 if you will provide, if verse twenty one, then you 0:44:08.400 --> 0:44:11.879 will be my God. And the Lord said to tell 0:44:11.920 --> 0:44:15.880 you if he's been with you presence, if he's provided 0:44:15.960 --> 0:44:19.239 for you food and clothing, if he's watched out for 0:44:19.360 --> 0:44:23.840 you protection, if he's done that for you, then this 0:44:25.200 --> 0:44:32.680 is then. You don't need more proof. This is then 0:44:33.280 --> 0:44:38.160 say it. This is then, and I know you've been 0:44:38.200 --> 0:44:42.800 postponing your joy. Oh I'll be happy then. No, this 0:44:43.920 --> 0:44:47.239 is then when my kids come back to God, I'm 0:44:47.280 --> 0:44:49.640 gonna throw a big party and celebrate. No, no, no, 0:44:49.880 --> 0:44:53.080 God is working in their life right now. I'm gonna 0:44:53.120 --> 0:44:56.719 go down this road with the praise for the prodigal 0:44:57.120 --> 0:45:02.040 because this is then when I get this amount in 0:45:02.080 --> 0:45:05.200 the bank, I'll be secure. No, you won't. You'll pay taxes. 0:45:05.840 --> 0:45:09.280 So the fact that you have enough, you had gas 0:45:09.280 --> 0:45:12.200 in the tank to get here. You had energy in 0:45:12.280 --> 0:45:21.640 your body to get here. This is then you better 0:45:21.680 --> 0:45:25.160 take that rock that you got and that oil that 0:45:25.239 --> 0:45:29.000 you got and pour what you've got on where you're 0:45:29.040 --> 0:45:33.160 at and praise God at a kitchen table that was 0:45:33.200 --> 0:45:40.080 repowed from somebody's trailer park and ask God, what would 0:45:40.080 --> 0:45:45.200 you have me to do next for you? Wow? This 0:45:45.360 --> 0:45:49.360 is then the Lord made Jacob a promise. I'm gonna 0:45:49.360 --> 0:45:54.200 bring the blessing of the Lord through your offspring. He 0:45:54.239 --> 0:45:59.000 had no kids, but then he had twelve, and then 0:45:59.000 --> 0:46:03.200 those twelve has some and those became nations, and the 0:46:03.280 --> 0:46:06.600 nations became a tribe. Each of the nations became their 0:46:06.640 --> 0:46:10.319 own tribe. And then those tribes they took the land 0:46:10.360 --> 0:46:13.000 that God had promised to Jacob, that he had promised 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:16.279 to Isaac, that he had promised to Abraham. God is 0:46:16.280 --> 0:46:19.760 a prophise keeper. He's a promise keeper in your life. 0:46:19.840 --> 0:46:22.480 He's not just getting started in your life. Is already 0:46:22.480 --> 0:46:25.440 in progress. The thing that you're praying about is already 0:46:25.520 --> 0:46:28.320 in progress. The thing that you're worried about, He's already 0:46:28.320 --> 0:46:31.080 working on the thing that you need. He already knows it. 0:46:31.520 --> 0:46:34.239 The thing that you lack, he already supplies the thing 0:46:34.280 --> 0:46:37.160 that you're not. He already is. God's already worked in 0:46:37.200 --> 0:46:41.920 on this, because then that nation gave birth to a savior. 0:46:42.040 --> 0:46:45.279 Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, and the Messiah 0:46:45.400 --> 0:46:48.239 was born, and the Messiah died on a cross. And 0:46:48.280 --> 0:46:51.680 the Bible says something very interesting from Jesus's own mouth 0:46:51.960 --> 0:46:55.160 in Matthew twenty one, Verses forty three and forty four, 0:46:55.320 --> 0:46:57.200 he said to them, have you never read into Scriptures 0:46:57.960 --> 0:47:03.359 forty two? The stone? What did Jacob lay his head on? 0:47:06.360 --> 0:47:20.840 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Somebody shout, 0:47:20.920 --> 0:47:25.680 the Lord has done this, And it is marvelous in 0:47:25.719 --> 0:47:30.759 our eyes. I see it now. I see that Jacob's 0:47:30.840 --> 0:47:35.600 rock was pointing to Jesus. I see that Jacob, who 0:47:35.719 --> 0:47:38.480 was the second born, not the chosen one, was the 0:47:38.480 --> 0:47:42.279 one who was blessed, was pointing to Jesus, who was 0:47:42.360 --> 0:47:45.600 born of a virgin, who became the rock on which 0:47:45.719 --> 0:47:49.280 the church was built. And now I see what Jesus 0:47:49.320 --> 0:47:53.799 means when he says that God selected what man rejected, 0:47:54.640 --> 0:47:57.920 because Jesus was what the people rejected, But it's what 0:47:58.000 --> 0:48:01.960 God wanted all along. So Jesus is saying that the 0:48:02.040 --> 0:48:04.080 thing that you need is right in front of you, 0:48:04.520 --> 0:48:07.719 but you are rejecting it, and you cannot expect the 0:48:07.800 --> 0:48:10.279 blessing of God and reject the way he sends it. 0:48:11.680 --> 0:48:14.280 So God says, I know you're in a hard place 0:48:14.360 --> 0:48:17.600 right now, a rocky place right now, a place that 0:48:17.680 --> 0:48:21.120 you can't fully call home right now. I understand that. 0:48:21.600 --> 0:48:22.879 Look at me, Look at me, Look at me. I've 0:48:22.920 --> 0:48:25.279 been praying for you this week. I've been praying that 0:48:25.320 --> 0:48:27.719 God would say what it is right now that he 0:48:27.800 --> 0:48:31.040 wants you to anoint, because you can anoint a rock 0:48:31.560 --> 0:48:34.239 and it can become a place where God meets with you. 0:48:34.920 --> 0:48:38.120 That means you're anointed for the hard place. That means 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:41.600 you're anointed for the difficult thing. That means God is 0:48:41.680 --> 0:48:45.359 teaching you to trust him in transition. And I hear 0:48:45.400 --> 0:48:48.840 the spirit of the Lord saying, what more do I 0:48:48.920 --> 0:48:52.799 have to do to get you to trust me? When 0:48:52.880 --> 0:48:56.839 is it going to be then for you? If experience 0:48:57.000 --> 0:48:59.359 was going to teach us to trust God, we would 0:48:59.400 --> 0:49:02.680 have trusted him by now. He's done enough for you 0:49:02.760 --> 0:49:06.840 to trust him. He's done enough for you to trust him. 0:49:07.239 --> 0:49:10.000 He can be trusted the fact that he put you 0:49:10.080 --> 0:49:13.399 on this planet, the fact that he kept you to 0:49:13.440 --> 0:49:17.200 this day, the fact that he provided for you through 0:49:17.280 --> 0:49:21.799 every season of your life. He's done enough. And if 0:49:21.840 --> 0:49:26.480 he never does anything else, I trust him. If he 0:49:26.640 --> 0:49:30.799 never goes any He died for me, he forgave me, 0:49:31.280 --> 0:49:36.120 He cast my sins from the east to the west. 0:49:38.680 --> 0:49:42.640 And you don't need more proof to trust him. You 0:49:42.880 --> 0:49:52.279 just need more practice. You need more practice saying God, 0:49:53.440 --> 0:49:58.720 I trust you. You know how we get through something 0:49:58.760 --> 0:50:01.920 really hard, and we get through it and then we 0:50:02.080 --> 0:50:04.839 forget that. We told God if we got through it, 0:50:05.320 --> 0:50:10.960 we would serve him. Not this time, baby, This is then. 0:50:11.480 --> 0:50:14.120 You said if God would give you the responsibility, you 0:50:14.160 --> 0:50:16.600 would shoulder it. Well, this is then. You got it. Baby, 0:50:16.760 --> 0:50:18.759 You're the one for the job. You said that if 0:50:18.760 --> 0:50:20.640 God would give you the blessing, you would take care 0:50:20.680 --> 0:50:23.120 of it. This is then, and God is calling you 0:50:23.200 --> 0:50:26.120 to trust him with it because it didn't start with 0:50:26.239 --> 0:50:31.799 you and it's not on you to sustain it. But 0:50:31.880 --> 0:50:33.280 I'm praying that you would show. 0:50:33.160 --> 0:50:38.120 Up with oil to every hard place in your life 0:50:38.200 --> 0:50:41.960 this week, and I'm praying that you would do something 0:50:42.680 --> 0:50:47.280 stupid to see God do something supernatural. 0:50:50.600 --> 0:50:55.320 That is the word of the Lord. Give him praise 0:50:55.360 --> 0:51:01.160 and glory in this house. Give him praise and glory 0:51:01.840 --> 0:51:08.960 and thanks. If he's been good to you, then lift 0:51:09.040 --> 0:51:14.799 up a shout of praise for your own self, for 0:51:14.960 --> 0:51:23.160 your own journey. Everyone's standing, no one moving. We'll dismiss altogether. 0:51:26.040 --> 0:51:38.719 This is then. This is then. Jacob said, if you'll 0:51:38.760 --> 0:51:43.680 just be with me, watch over me, and provide for me, 0:51:44.560 --> 0:51:46.520 then you'll be my God. And I'm here to tell 0:51:46.520 --> 0:51:52.160 you He's done all three for me. Thank him for 0:51:52.200 --> 0:51:58.400 his presence, Thank him for his protection, Thank him for 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:03.080 his provision. Everybody in this church that ain't a tithe 0:52:03.200 --> 0:52:05.239 ought to be online setting up your tithing when I 0:52:05.239 --> 0:52:07.640 finished this message, and I ought not have to beg 0:52:07.719 --> 0:52:12.480 for it. God's been too good to you. What would 0:52:12.480 --> 0:52:14.440 it take? How much more would God have to do 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:17.880 to get you to trust him? I can't afford not 0:52:17.960 --> 0:52:23.000 to trust him. He's my God, He's my God. I've 0:52:23.040 --> 0:52:30.960 seen too much. This is the Lord's doing, aren't you glad? 0:52:31.000 --> 0:52:34.719 God uses stupid that I don't have to figure it out. 0:52:34.920 --> 0:52:39.240 Just have enough faith to move forward. I want to pray. 0:52:39.800 --> 0:52:41.800 I was thinking about how do I close this message. 0:52:41.800 --> 0:52:45.920 This is such a personal thing to talk about. It's 0:52:45.920 --> 0:52:50.480 such a festive season to be in. It's festive, it's fun, 0:52:50.520 --> 0:52:54.800 it's all that, but it's also so full. Start getting 0:52:54.800 --> 0:52:57.160 panic attacks just seeing Rudolph, you know what I mean, 0:52:57.800 --> 0:52:59.960 Just want to shoot Rudolph and be like, leave me alone. 0:53:00.080 --> 0:53:02.160 Come back next December. I'm not ready for you yet. 0:53:05.200 --> 0:53:07.280 And I know we're all feeling all those different things. 0:53:07.719 --> 0:53:11.560 And here I am challenging you. You're like this, this dude, 0:53:11.840 --> 0:53:15.399 this preacher coming up, You're talking about giving to God. 0:53:15.719 --> 0:53:19.759 Doesn't he understand how stretched we already are? Exactly That's 0:53:19.800 --> 0:53:23.680 why you need God in this situation. And until you 0:53:23.719 --> 0:53:28.359 put him first, you're never going to figure it out. 0:53:29.760 --> 0:53:32.040 I think it's significant that Jacob had to anoint what 0:53:32.080 --> 0:53:34.080 he had before God could give him what he promised. 0:53:35.480 --> 0:53:38.040 Even if all you have isn't that much. What did 0:53:38.120 --> 0:53:40.399 Jesus say when the disciples said, we don't have enough 0:53:40.400 --> 0:53:45.799 food to feed all these what do you have? Bring 0:53:45.840 --> 0:53:49.120 them here to me? And when they brought him the 0:53:49.200 --> 0:53:50.719 fish and the loads, he took it, he blessed it, 0:53:50.760 --> 0:53:52.239 he broke it, he gave it to them, And the 0:53:52.239 --> 0:53:56.640 Bible says, then they gave to the people as much 0:53:56.640 --> 0:54:03.160 as they wanted. The Lord said, this is then on 0:54:03.200 --> 0:54:05.239 December the fourteenth, we'll be taking an offering for our 0:54:05.239 --> 0:54:08.359 expansion and our outreach, and it'll be wonderful, but we're 0:54:08.360 --> 0:54:11.719 really taking an offering for your faith. Don't wait to 0:54:11.760 --> 0:54:13.680 do tomorrow what God is telling you to do right now, 0:54:14.719 --> 0:54:16.560 whether it's in the area of your finances, which is 0:54:16.640 --> 0:54:19.040 thousands of you. There are thousands of people connected to 0:54:19.080 --> 0:54:21.560 this ministry who do not yet trust God in this way. 0:54:21.680 --> 0:54:25.400 Today is your day. But as I was praying how 0:54:25.400 --> 0:54:28.280 to close it, the Lord said, don't pray about the money, 0:54:28.440 --> 0:54:34.640 pray about the trust. Pray about the trust. That you've 0:54:34.640 --> 0:54:37.759 seen God do enough to trust him. What else would 0:54:37.800 --> 0:54:40.920 he have to do? Come here. This is my best 0:54:40.960 --> 0:54:43.080 friend since high school. You'll give him a hand. Eric Phillips. 0:54:49.880 --> 0:54:51.800 When we were boys, I gave my life to Christ. 0:54:52.440 --> 0:54:59.239 He was still he was still building his testimony. I 0:54:59.280 --> 0:55:01.600 love him to death. Man, he was wild buck wild. 0:55:01.600 --> 0:55:04.320 I sat down with him, and this was on Black Friday. 0:55:04.760 --> 0:55:07.560 We were sixteen years old, and I remember I was 0:55:07.560 --> 0:55:10.520 a very very passionate evangelist, even before I had a church, 0:55:11.680 --> 0:55:14.279 always telling everybody that they needed to get right or 0:55:14.280 --> 0:55:18.479 get left, turn or burn. And I'm telling this guy 0:55:19.160 --> 0:55:20.879 right across the table, I'm like, you know, the Lord 0:55:20.960 --> 0:55:22.680 wants you to get saved, and you can't keep living 0:55:22.760 --> 0:55:25.440 like this. I said, what's it going to take for 0:55:25.480 --> 0:55:26.640 you to give your life to the Lord. What's it 0:55:26.640 --> 0:55:28.919 going to take for God to get your attention? He said, 0:55:28.920 --> 0:55:31.040 I don't know. I'm having a lot of fun living 0:55:31.080 --> 0:55:32.319 my life. I think he's going to have to do 0:55:32.360 --> 0:55:37.200 something pretty dramatic. I said, if he does something dramatic, 0:55:37.200 --> 0:55:41.560 then will you give your life to Christ? If then 0:55:43.800 --> 0:55:45.640 the next night he went out and got so drunk 0:55:46.360 --> 0:55:48.160 he had to go to the emergency room. Members died 0:55:48.160 --> 0:55:51.400 of alcohol poisoning. The next Monday, we were sharing a 0:55:51.440 --> 0:55:53.880 testimony at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where everybody was 0:55:53.920 --> 0:56:03.520 crying about how Doc came into his life. A week later, 0:56:03.560 --> 0:56:05.960 he was back running from God again because the temptation 0:56:06.120 --> 0:56:09.000 was too strong. Two or three years later, he came 0:56:09.040 --> 0:56:10.880 and said, I'm finally ready. Now, I'm finally ready to 0:56:10.880 --> 0:56:12.600 give my life to Christ. I'm finally ready. I said, 0:56:12.600 --> 0:56:14.239 I've seen this song and dance before. You have to 0:56:14.280 --> 0:56:16.920 prove it to me. This time. So I'm really ready now, 0:56:16.920 --> 0:56:20.200 I'm really ready. I'm really ready to receive Jesus and 0:56:20.239 --> 0:56:24.120 we pray and he was one of the first people 0:56:24.120 --> 0:56:26.600 who came here to start the church with us, and 0:56:26.640 --> 0:56:37.520 he's still here. But but I heard the question, what's 0:56:37.560 --> 0:56:40.719 it going to take for you? What's it going to take? 0:56:41.600 --> 0:56:43.480 How much more will God have to do? And I'm 0:56:43.520 --> 0:56:46.040 asking you now, how much more is God going to 0:56:46.080 --> 0:56:49.879 have to do to get your attention? How much more 0:56:49.960 --> 0:56:51.799 is God going to have to show you that he 0:56:51.800 --> 0:56:54.920 can be trusted and others cannot. How much more is 0:56:54.960 --> 0:56:56.719 God going to have to do to get you to 0:56:56.760 --> 0:56:59.440 see that He has you where he wants you and 0:56:59.520 --> 0:57:02.319 you are the one he chose for that situation. How 0:57:02.400 --> 0:57:04.960 much more is God going to have to do? What 0:57:05.080 --> 0:57:10.400 is your if? Hasn't He already done it? Hasn't he 0:57:10.400 --> 0:57:13.400 already proven to you his love. Hasn't he already shown 0:57:13.400 --> 0:57:16.640 you through every season of your life that He's enough. 0:57:17.760 --> 0:57:20.560 Didn't you have warmth in the winter? Didn't you have 0:57:20.640 --> 0:57:24.600 cool in the summer? Didn't you have his hand undergirding you. 0:57:25.600 --> 0:57:29.080 Didn't you have his love calling you back home? Do 0:57:29.120 --> 0:57:30.960 you not have the forgiveness of your sins. Do you 0:57:30.960 --> 0:57:33.120 not have the assurance of your salvation? What more would 0:57:33.160 --> 0:57:36.080 God have to do to get you to trust him? 0:57:36.320 --> 0:57:42.240 I'm telling you this is Then goal your head and 0:57:42.240 --> 0:57:45.800 close your eyes. Thank you. I wanted to give that 0:57:45.840 --> 0:57:49.880 picture because there's somebody who's there right now. You need 0:57:49.880 --> 0:57:51.760 to give your life to Jesus. You need to trust 0:57:51.800 --> 0:57:54.240 him with your life. Some of you you've trusted him 0:57:54.240 --> 0:57:56.480 with your life, but you're just not trusting him with 0:57:56.560 --> 0:58:02.200 this part of it. Going to say that again, that 0:58:02.400 --> 0:58:04.720 was the word of the Lord to somebody's heart. You've 0:58:04.760 --> 0:58:07.920 trusted him with your life, but not this part of it. 0:58:09.760 --> 0:58:11.120 How much more is he going to have to do 0:58:11.160 --> 0:58:15.000 to show you He's the God of every season, the 0:58:15.080 --> 0:58:19.919 God of every generation. I pray that you would trust God. 0:58:22.760 --> 0:58:25.560 Why don't you just lift your hands to him right now? 0:58:26.760 --> 0:58:29.400 You don't have to. I can't make you, nobody can 0:58:29.400 --> 0:58:34.480 make you surrender. But if you will, if you give 0:58:34.480 --> 0:58:37.280 it to God, he tell you what he told me. 0:58:37.320 --> 0:58:39.000 If you'll keep your hands open to me, you will 0:58:39.040 --> 0:58:42.200 always have everything you need to do everything that I've 0:58:42.200 --> 0:58:46.080 called you to do for every season of your life. 0:58:46.360 --> 0:58:48.200 I speak that over you right now in the name 0:58:48.200 --> 0:58:53.480 of Jesus. So Father, here we are rich and poor, 0:58:54.200 --> 0:58:59.480 great and small, happy and sad, gathered together against all odds, 0:58:59.480 --> 0:59:03.200 built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, the one 0:59:03.240 --> 0:59:06.760 foundation that the storm can't shake, the foundation of your name. 0:59:07.800 --> 0:59:10.560 We came to say that this is then we're not 0:59:10.600 --> 0:59:12.600 going to trust you in rejoicing you and praise you 0:59:12.640 --> 0:59:14.800 and worship you and serve you when everything looks good, 0:59:15.000 --> 0:59:18.680 sounds good, feels good. No, no, right now, not when we 0:59:18.720 --> 0:59:21.720 see how it turns out. Right now, you're good. So 0:59:21.800 --> 0:59:23.600 I give you this right now, and tomorrow I'll give 0:59:23.600 --> 0:59:25.960 it to you again, and five minutes later I'll give 0:59:26.000 --> 0:59:30.120 it back to you. Surrender. With every step you can 0:59:30.160 --> 0:59:32.280 put your your hands down, but keep your head balant 0:59:32.320 --> 0:59:34.280 and your eyes closed. I want to pray for somebody 0:59:34.440 --> 0:59:38.360 who needs to give your life to Jesus Christ. Please, 0:59:38.480 --> 0:59:41.840 right now, don't let this moment pass you by. What 0:59:41.920 --> 0:59:43.680 is God going to have to do to get your attention? 0:59:46.280 --> 0:59:47.720 What is God going to have to do to show 0:59:47.720 --> 0:59:49.480 you how much He loves you? He brought you here 0:59:50.840 --> 0:59:52.560 so right now I want to lead you in a prayer. 0:59:53.440 --> 0:59:56.560 This prayer is you expressing to God your faith in 0:59:56.680 --> 1:00:00.680 Jesus Christ. It's not a magical prayer, but aracle happens 1:00:00.680 --> 1:00:03.000 when you pray it. For the Bible says that if 1:00:03.040 --> 1:00:06.080 you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and 1:00:06.120 --> 1:00:08.320 believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, 1:00:08.680 --> 1:00:12.040 you will be saved. It'll happen right now. This is 1:00:12.120 --> 1:00:14.800 your then, this is the moment for you to give 1:00:14.800 --> 1:00:18.480 your life to Christ. Stop running and believe, Stop doubting, 1:00:18.520 --> 1:00:21.400 and have faith. God is here and he loves you 1:00:21.520 --> 1:00:24.040 so much. We're going to pray out loud as a 1:00:24.120 --> 1:00:26.800 church family for the benefit of those who are coming 1:00:26.880 --> 1:00:30.120 to God, are coming back to God. Repeat after me, 1:00:30.240 --> 1:00:35.160 Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior, 1:00:36.200 --> 1:00:40.960 and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 1:00:41.000 --> 1:00:46.520 God and the savior of the world. And today I 1:00:46.640 --> 1:00:51.240 make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he 1:00:51.360 --> 1:00:57.040 died that I would be forgiven and rose again to 1:00:57.120 --> 1:01:02.600 give me life. I receive this new life. This is 1:01:03.480 --> 1:01:08.240 my new beginning. I am a child of God. On 1:01:08.360 --> 1:01:11.320 the counter, three shoot your hand up one two three. 1:01:11.360 --> 1:01:15.240 If you've prayed that prayer, praise the Lord. I knew 1:01:15.240 --> 1:01:17.000 it would be a lot today I could feel up 1:01:17.040 --> 1:01:21.840 what I preach. This is your homecoming, man, this is 1:01:21.840 --> 1:01:25.919 your homecoming. I praise God for you, so do all 1:01:25.960 --> 1:01:29.680 of these people. We welcome you to the family of God. 1:01:30.840 --> 1:01:39.160 Come on, give the Lord of great soul of praise. Hallelujah. 1:01:41.960 --> 1:01:44.520 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 1:01:44.560 --> 1:01:47.560 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 1:01:47.600 --> 1:01:50.520 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 1:01:50.560 --> 1:01:53.800 link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation 1:01:54.000 --> 1:01:57.600 Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if 1:01:57.640 --> 1:02:00.919 you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share 1:02:00.920 --> 1:02:03.160 it with your friends. You can click the share button, 1:02:03.200 --> 1:02:05.640 take a screenshot and share it on your social stories 1:02:05.640 --> 1:02:08.400 and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. 1:02:08.440 --> 1:02:14.000 God bless you.