WEBVTT - Get Back In The Gate 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.760 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.760 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.800 When I was praying about how to start the year 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.680 and the theme we should start the year with, I 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.160 was led to Second Samuel nineteen, a scripture that originally 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:29.680 I was attracted to from a leadership perspective, but I 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:32.360 think it has implications for our church. As I set 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.199 this image before you, I invite your attention to Second Samuel, 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:41.120 chapter eighteen. Let's go eighteen, verse thirty three and get 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.800 the context and read down to chapter nineteen, verse eight 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:47.440 And so I know we were done with David because 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.440 we preached a whole series about him last year called 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.080 Bars and Battles. But last him when he come over 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.280 to twenty eighteen and help us start the year, and 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.320 so he said that he would. But there's going to 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.480 be a real dramatic difference between the David we saw 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.520 in First Sammuel nineteen and the David we see in 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.920 Second Samuel nineteen, because when we saw him in First 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.520 Samuel nineteen, he was on the come up and God 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.399 was really blessing him, and he had a lot of courage. 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.960 But now we're going to see him at a place 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.160 that is very unfamiliar to someone of his caliber, and 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:22.360 David's confidence is shaken. And so this would be a 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.480 very strange thing if you just picked up the Bible 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.240 and you heard about David from Sunday School and he 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.680 was killing Goliath and ripping off the heads of Philistines 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:36.679 and driving back the enemies of Israel. But now the 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.839 scripture says in Tewod Samuel eighteen thirty three, the king 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.520 was shook. I put it in a little bit of 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.720 a modernized translation. He was shook, and he went up 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:54.080 to the room over the gateway, and wept as he went. 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.640 He said, Oh, my son, Absalom, Oh my son, my son, Absalom. 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:03.800 If only I had died instead of you, Oh, Absalom, 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.640 my son, my son. Way to pick out an inspirational 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.880 scripture to start the year with Verdick, Chapter nineteen, verse one, 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.040 Joebb was told the king is weeping and mourning for 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:18.880 Absolom for the whole army. The victory that day was 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.839 turned into mourning, which is exactly the opposite of what 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:27.200 God does. God turns a day of mourning into a 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:28.840 day of victory. 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:31.200 Don't believe me, Just. 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.960 Ask those disciples who were gathered together in sorrow and 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.360 shame one Sunday, only to get the news that what 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.640 looked like Hell's final defeat of Heaven was actually the 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:44.160 starting point of salvation. God specializes in turning your day 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.240 of mourning into a day of victory. The enemy, however, 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.440 with desire to turn your day of victory, or your 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.080 position of strength into weakness and sorrow, and that's exactly 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:58.280 what has happened here. The whole army is experiencing mourning 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:00.639 in a time of victory. You know that you can 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:04.480 experience mourning in a time of victory. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.880 You can experience. 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.440 Depression in a place of provision. You can experience what 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.600 feels like failure in a season of success. So much 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:17.320 of life is determined not by the event, but by 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.840 our ability to process the event on the correct level 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:24.840 as to be blind to our own blessings. We have 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:28.000 many instances, but here David has lost so much in 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.440 the course of the battle that he cannot celebrate the victory. 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.080 He lost his own son, and we'll see how that 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.640 affects him. Now. The troops had heard it, said the 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:42.720 king is grieving for his son. And so the men 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:47.440 stole into the city that day as men steal in, 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:52.320 who are ashamed when they flee from battle. They actually 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:57.000 had defeated the enemy, but their heads were hung in shame. 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.920 There would be no parade this day for the king. 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:06.880 Verse four covered his face and cried aloud, Oh, my son, absalom, 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.800 oh absalom, my son, my son. 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.000 His focus is so narrowed. 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.160 To what he has lost that he is about to 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:23.040 lose what he has left. He cannot get over what's gone, 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.160 and he is about to step right over what is 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:30.560 and miss it because waiting for his support are all 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.040 of the troops and the resources for him to reclaim 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.080 his throne and get back where he belongs. But he's 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:41.120 not ready yet. He's weeping in isolation over the gate. 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.359 And then verse five says that Joe ab his general, 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.440 had the guts to go into the house and say 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.320 something to the king that nobody else had the guts 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.640 to say. Sometimes you need to thank God for the 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.320 people in your life. Who say stuff that you don't 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.039 like to hear. Those are the ones who often really 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.440 love you. Sometimes I see every parent in this room 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.679 looking at their teenager. I caught you look at somebody 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.599 and say, tell me the truth. You are not my 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:18.080 friend if you don't tell me the truth. God uses 0:05:18.160 --> 0:05:21.240 Joe Ab to give David. Watch this the gift of confrontation. 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:24.920 You see how nobody said amen. If I would have 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.800 said the gift of comfort, you would have gotten it. 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.120 But sometimes the gift of confrontation is greater than the 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:36.080 gift of comfort. And Joe Ab challenges David, who goes 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.000 in a house the king, and says, today you have 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:44.200 humiliated all your men who have just saved your life, 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.400 and the lives of your sons and daughters, and the 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:49.320 lives of your. 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.080 Wives and concubines. 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.480 You love those who hate you, and hate those who 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:56.960 love you. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:59.040 Why do you keep. 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:02.640 Attaching yourself the stuff that is doing you no good? 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.560 Why do you keep running back to things that hurt you? 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.280 You love those who hate you and hate those who 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.320 love you. Why do you keep chasing that which is 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.080 trying to walk away at the expense of that which 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:23.440 God has given you? Or as David asked Samuel about saw, 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:25.720 how long will you mourn over what God has rejected? 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.720 You made it clear today that the commanders and their 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.200 men mean nothing to you. I see that you would 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.880 be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:37.560 us were dead. 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.880 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:41.320 the Lord. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:43.120 If you don't go out, not a man will be 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:44.560 loved with you by nightfall. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:46.520 This would be worse for you than all the calamities 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.240 that have come on you, from your you to mouth. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:56.080 So the king got up and took his seat in 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.839 the gateway. The king gotta and took his seat in 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.040 the gateway. That's our theme as we begin the year. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.440 So look at your neighbor and say neighbor, and force 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:10.360 them to make eye contact with you before you go 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:21.240 any further. Tell him get back in the gate. Get 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:27.000 back in the gate. If they're looking at you crazy, 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:28.720 it was the wrong neighbor. Turned to the other one 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:37.440 and say get back in the gate. Get back in 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:43.800 the gate. And so we could understand why David is shook, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.640 because we are seeing here the inextricable connection between character 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:53.080 and confidence. It is impossible to sustain your confidence. With 0:07:53.160 --> 0:08:01.480 a faulty character, you can hype yourself up, just bump 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.920 yourself in the mirror. You can even get abs and 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:09.400 feel good about those. But without the deep seated core 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.160 of character to sustain you in life, it is impossible 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.880 to maintain a sense of real confidence. 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:16.440 He shook. 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.920 He's allowed some things into his life that are now 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:24.480 overpowering him. He lets some things in little by little, 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.840 and now it's been years and years of dysfunction. It 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.280 wasn't so much the dysfunction that brought trouble to David. 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:34.640 It was the way he dealt with the dysfunction. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.640 God knew he was dysfunctional when he picked him out, 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.880 and he knew that he had father issues when he 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.640 picked him out, and he knew that he was quite 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:47.400 lustful when he picked him out. None of those things 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:49.800 stopped God from choosing him, and so they couldn't stop 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.760 God from using him. It is never your dysfunction that 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.080 stops God from using you. It is how you choose 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:02.040 to deal with the dysfunction. When David fought Goliath, he 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.000 fought him from a distance, which was a strategic thing 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:06.760 because if he came close to him, he would die 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.199 by his sword. Goliath was skilled in hand to hand combat, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.160 but David was a slinger. That was the way he 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.559 fought Goliath, and it was the way that he had 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.760 tried to live his life, and in certain situations it 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.800 worked for him until it came to the point when 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.440 you may remember this story. It's not told in vacation 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:33.040 Bible school because because it's rated in a it's more 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.160 like a Game of Thrones episode really than a Bible story. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.800 When David should have been a war and he wasn't, 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:43.960 and it wasn't where he was. It was where he 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:48.880 wasn't that got him in trouble. It wasn't what he did, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.240 It was what he didn't do that brought him to 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.160 a place. Until he had enough freedom of capacity to 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:56.800 entertain thoughts. 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:57.680 He wouldn't have thought if. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.360 He'd been doing what he should have done, wouldn't have 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:01.439 been tempted to do what he did. 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.080 But since he did what he did and. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.240 Ended up sleeping with a lady who has taken a 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:13.560 bath named Bathsheba, the Bible was full of these happy coincidences. 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.600 Where he messed up wasn't necessarily his sin which was wrong, 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.600 but it was the way that he compounded his sin 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:27.439 because he responded to his shame rather than receiving God's grace, 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.120 and so rather than deal with the dysfunction and the 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.040 decision of his disobedience, he piled several layers of shame 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:37.920 on top of his sin and ended up having her 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.160 husband killed. Well. When Nathan the Prophet came to David, 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.800 he said, because of the way you've acted, because of 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:46.760 the decisions that you've made, God is going to forgive you, 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:47.640 but you're going to. 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.120 Experience some consequences. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.760 Please write this down if you're under the age of eighteen. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:58.719 You can pick your decisions, but you can't pick your consequences. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:06.640 And he received grace, but it left a residue, and 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.560 the aftermath of david Sinn would play out through the 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.520 course of his family line. When his son Amnen raped 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.520 his half sister Tamar, and you thought your family was dysfunctional, 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.240 you could write a parenting book compared to David. I mean, 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:25.040 David's son raped one of David's daughters from another wife. 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.680 Are you following this? Do you feel like you left church. 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:29.520 And went to Jerry Springer nineteen ninety two. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:35.800 Hello and Absalom had. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.280 To do what David wouldn't do because David wanted to 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:42.839 deal with it from a distance rather than confront the dysfunction. 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:44.600 He kept it out here. But you can only keep 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:49.960 it out here so long, just like he did with Bathsheba. 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.040 He kept it out here, but only for so long. 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.520 It's just a matter of time before the dysfunction shows 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.559 up on your doorstep once you let it through the gate. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.520 And so now it's working his way through his family. 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:05.240 And because David will not stand in his place and 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.240 make a decision on how to deal with it, even 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.280 if it's the wrong one, he makes the greatest mistake 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:17.160 to become passive. The greatest trouble in David's life came 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:24.080 when he became passive, or you might say disengaged disengaged. 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:29.280 I have an Instagram account, and every month our social 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.800 media team brings me reports for the engagement on our Facebook, 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.600 the engagement on Twitter. The engagement on social media is 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:38.920 how we measure effectiveness. 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:40.280 How many people. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.720 Are commenting and liking and looking and sharing Engagement. Even 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.160 our evam online what's up epam? Maybe you got here 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.280 because somebody shared the link with you is called engagement. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:51.680 I don't think there's ever been a time in the 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.560 world where we've been more engaged on the surface and 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:59.560 more disengaged in our souls because we got all these 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:04.160 fake can and fake friendships and fake sexuality and fake 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.240 relationships and stuff that won't do you any real good 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:09.480 when the devil fights you in your life because you 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:13.480 are not engaged. Now, Absolom has taken matters into his 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.360 own hands. Years ago he killed him and on himself. 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.680 He went running, he wanted to come back. David wouldn't 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.400 see him. He kept him at a distance. And now 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.960 the battle has arrived on his doorstep because he would 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.880 not deal with it at the gate. He would not 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.600 deal with it when it showed up. So now it 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.200 has gained power, and Absolom has actually tried to overturn 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:36.600 his own father as king. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:38.960 Absolom was pretty smart. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.959 Bible says he was real good looking, had a lot 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:48.480 in common with Rick Parker except one thing. He had 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.640 so much hair. The Bible said his hair was so long. 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:54.280 When he would cut it off every spring, it would 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.760 weigh two pounds. So he would stand by the gate 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:02.080 with his luxurious locks, and when people would come to 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.120 see David, he'd say, oh, Dad's busy. 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:05.880 If I were king, I'd help you out. 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.160 I would hear your matter if I were king, but 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.360 I'm not. With four years of that, and he won 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.280 their hearts. Be very careful who you let stand at 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.240 the gates. You got to be real careful who you 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.920 let represent you. And over the course of time, the 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.720 Bible says that the hearts of the people were with Absolom. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.800 It ended in a bloody result in the woods of Ephraim, 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:36.920 where Absolom was riding through the forest with his militia 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.640 trying to overtake David's men. Now David has crossed the 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:44.840 Kidrin Valley, he has left the throne. He is on 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:49.200 the run, just to survive. Absolom's men catch up with him. 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:53.360 There's only one problem. Absalom's hair gets caught in a tree, 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.880 snatches him right off of his horse. Why because the 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:03.520 thing that makes you great outwardly makes vulnerable inwardly. He 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.880 gets caught up in the thing that made him so attractive. 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.560 And as he is hanging there, Joe ab decides to 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.240 end his life. Three knives in him, calls ten men 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:15.440 to slice him up. They send the nudes to David 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.520 and he is shaken. He's shaken like any father would 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:23.480 be who lost a son, but perhaps even more deeply 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:28.720 because he feels responsible for it. I kind of wish 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.560 sometimes I could talk to my dad just one more conversation. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.120 And I know he's probably listening to this sermon on Heaven. 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:43.040 I know he's part of the Epham Eternal fam But 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.800 I wish I could sit down with him for real, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:47.320 and I would only tell him one thing. This would 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:49.040 be the whole conversation. I thought about a lot because 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.320 now I'm raising my own kids, and there are ways 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:56.400 that I judged him when he was raising me that 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:58.840 I would love to go back and say to him 0:15:59.280 --> 0:15:59.960 one thing. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:00.960 This is what I would say. 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.120 The title of our talk would be, I get it now, 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.880 because when I became a teenager, my dad went from 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:14.800 coaching my teams to going out drinking, and I didn't 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:19.440 see him much over those years, and I really thought 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:22.160 he was, to be honest with you, a pretty poor 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:24.200 father during those years. 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:25.320 Right. 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.800 It wasn't that I didn't appreciate the fact that he 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:30.680 did not have a dad to show him how to 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.960 do it. His father committed suicide, and so on his 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:40.200 ninth birthday, he found his father dead. So without any 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.200 frame of reference. He stayed around to raise me. But 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.000 what I would tell him now is I get it now. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.560 Because even as much as I love my wife, which 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.040 is more than you can possibly imagine, and I love 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.720 my kids and I am grateful for them, and we 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:59.720 enjoy some wonderful times together, but there have been times 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:04.119 that I have pulled into my garage, gotten out of 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:09.399 my Nissan Maxima, walked into my house, and fantasized about 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.919 getting back into my Nissan Maxima and going back to 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.639 work so I could get some rest. 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:17.160 I get it now. 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:23.720 There are times when the challenge of responsibility will make 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:27.639 you walk away from something that you actually love, and 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.360 people will judge you in that moment, and they will 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.639 think you're walking away because you're lazy. But you're not 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.640 walking away because you're lazy. You're walking away because deep 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.640 down inside, I don't know if I have what it takes. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.359 And this is the danger of disengagement. 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:47.720 It is when you find. 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:51.240 Yourself in a state of shame or fear, or trauma 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.280 or exhaustion and you walk away from what God gave 0:17:55.359 --> 0:18:00.280 you because you don't know how to manage it. It 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:05.240 is the danger of this engagement. It is the danger 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:11.159 of showing up in body and not in mind. I've 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:13.200 learned that there's a big difference between coming to church 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:18.639 and being in church. I've learned that there is a 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:26.080 big difference between coming home and being home. Y'all ain't 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:27.719 gonna say nothing to me all year? Is that how 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:29.680 it's gonna be. You're gonna look at me crazy all year? 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:36.199 Like that? There is a big difference between having a 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:43.880 child and being a mom. And sometimes the temptation is 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:49.440 not to exactly run away, but to just disengage. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:51.760 I'm disengaged, not. 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.960 Because I don't care, but just because I'm afraid. 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:59.320 I don't know if I have what it takes. David, 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.879 with shaking, the. 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.040 Death of Absalom represented. 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.080 His own failure. If only did you hear him? 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.600 If only I had died instead of. 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.480 You, It's my fault. I didn't give you what. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.280 You needed, And it's my fault you're dead. And now 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:21.840 it's caught up with him, and he's shaken, and he's disengaged. 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:28.119 He's not defeated, he's disengaged. He has the victory, but 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.880 he's not acting like it. He's the king, but he's 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:37.200 not where the king is supposed to be. See he's 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.640 lost his sense of passion because he's moved from his position. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.280 In ancient times, the cities were well guarded by gates. 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:50.159 Now David is in Mahanaim, which is not Jerusalem, the 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.440 capital city, Absolom is there, and he's going to drive 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.080 him out, but not yet. The first thing he has 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.959 to do is relocate himself around the city. Are two gates, 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.840 everybody say, two gates. Our theme for the new year 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.160 is gates. I want you to pay great attention right now. 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.840 This is very important. In each city there would be 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.760 an outer gate that everybody saw. We all have one 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.520 of those. We all have the outer gate that people see. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.160 It's our personality that we project into the world, so 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:23.440 people won't judge us, so we will appear successful. Then 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.520 there is the inner gate. It's the second line of defense. 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.280 We all have one of those two. It's our actions. 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:42.800 Two gates, two gates, two gates, two dates, two gates, and. 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:51.040 The action happens. Watch this between the gates. The Bible 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.040 does not say, put my verse up again, it's my 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.800 theme verse that David took his seat. As verse eight 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.520 at the gate, it says that he got up and 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:07.639 took his seat what where now. Up until this point, 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.000 he's been near the gate, but he wasn't in it. 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:13.920 He was in isolation. 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.320 Above the gate, like a lot of us live our lives, 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:22.160 watching events unfold, but not taking responsibility for our outcomes. 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.919 When we live online in an. 0:21:26.800 --> 0:21:32.560 Ecosystem of pretension and narcissism and opinions, but don't really 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:34.600 make a commitment to make a difference in the world, 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:36.880 and we show up in the places that are most 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.480 convenient to our ego, but refuse to confront the issues 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:42.119 that sabotage our soul. 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.240 The action happened between the gates. 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:55.560 Not outside and not inside, but often between the gates, 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.040 transactions would be made. It was like a marketplace of 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:01.800 the day. Between the gates of the city. There would 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:07.120 be buying and selling, a negotiation between the gates. Profits 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:12.400 like Amos would prophesy to maintain justice in the gates. 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:17.960 In the gates when Ruth, if you remember the Old Testament. 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:21.600 Story was claimed by Boass her kinsman redeemer, he did 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:24.879 the deal in the presence of ten witnesses in the gate. 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:27.639 When Abraham bought the burial ground for Sarah and the 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.560 Old Testament, he bought it in the presence of witnesses 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:35.000 in the gate. It's where the witnesses were, It's where 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:39.160 the judges would sit, It's where negotiations happened. It's where 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:42.440 the conscience of the nation was developed. It's where Absalom 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:45.800 would stand at the gate and before people could go through. 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:46.720 Turn them back. 0:22:48.359 --> 0:22:53.959 After he had promoted his own agenda, and everything changed 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:58.520 for David when he did something so simple. The Bible 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.639 says that after all he had lost, and after all 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:05.160 the tears he had cried, and after all the mistakes 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:10.400 he had made, he did something so simple and so profound, 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:19.320 the king got up, left his chamber. 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:29.440 And took his seat in the gate. 0:23:31.560 --> 0:23:36.240 In other words, I hear David saying, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:50.280 I'm back. My heart is broken, but i'm back. I 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:56.880 made some mistakes, but i'm back. I wish I could 0:23:56.960 --> 0:23:59.200 go back and change some things, but I can't. 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:01.520 But I'm back. 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:09.800 I'm devastated about what happened, but I'm back. I'm uncertain 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:10.960 about the future. 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:13.520 I don't know where it's going to go from here. 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:19.240 I'm a long way from home, but i'm back. Now. 0:24:19.280 --> 0:24:23.960 What I picture in my mind is today, thousands of 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:29.919 people who have gathered to hear this message online or 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:34.479 in person at every location. And I see you getting 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:39.040 up from the failure and the shame and the regret 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:44.960 that has kept you paralyzed, and taking your stand in 0:24:45.080 --> 0:24:51.280 the gate of praise and entering His caates with thanksgiving. 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:55.919 I wish seventy people would sup up on your feet 0:24:56.040 --> 0:24:59.280 right now and shout at the top of your lungs, 0:25:01.440 --> 0:25:02.080