1
00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:02,800
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

2
00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,800
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

3
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:07,720
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

4
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:09,520
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you.

5
00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:10,680
Speaker 3: Hope it builds your faith.

6
00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:12,840
Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving

7
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:13,399
Speaker 2: in your life.

8
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:29,480
Speaker 3: Enjoy the message.

9
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:42,000
Speaker 4: Isaiah forty three, Isaiah Chapter forty three, Isaiah Chapter forty.

10
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:54,800
Speaker 5: Three, Verse number nineteen, nineteenth Anniversary.

11
00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:57,680
Speaker 1: The nineteenth verse.

12
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:06,200
Speaker 4: Of Isaiah Isaiah forty three, Verse nineteen.

13
00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:16,000
Speaker 1: See I am doing a new thing.

14
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:17,200
Speaker 3: Now.

15
00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,080
Speaker 4: Pastor Holly already told you we're entering our twentieth year

16
00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,880
Speaker 4: of ministry today, but before we go to year twenty,

17
00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,520
Speaker 4: the Lord wants to give us something from verse nineteen. See,

18
00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:33,199
Speaker 4: I am doing a new thing. Everybody shout the next word.

19
00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:39,480
Speaker 4: Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I

20
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:44,480
Speaker 4: am making a way in the wilderness and streams in

21
00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:46,080
Speaker 4: the wasteland.

22
00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 1: Today.

23
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,640
Speaker 4: I want to talk to you from a formal sounding topic,

24
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:52,960
Speaker 4: but I'm going to make it really plain in just

25
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:54,640
Speaker 4: a few moments I have. I want to talk to

26
00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 4: you on our nineteenth church anniversary at Elevation as we

27
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:04,080
Speaker 4: enter our twentieth year of ministry about our future and

28
00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:11,440
Speaker 4: our former, our future and our former. And I don't

29
00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:13,760
Speaker 4: know if that title is going to hit like I

30
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,440
Speaker 4: wanted to, So let me give you title number two.

31
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:26,440
Speaker 1: New number, same name, new number, same name. Father. I

32
00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 1: thank you for your word.

33
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:29,919
Speaker 4: As it goes forth, May it go forth with penetrating

34
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:34,000
Speaker 4: insight with Holy Spirit power. May it go forth with

35
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:36,400
Speaker 4: healing medicine to those who need it, who are standing

36
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,359
Speaker 4: on the brink in the precipice of the new season

37
00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,800
Speaker 4: of their life, asking you what's next, and feeling nervous.

38
00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:44,519
Speaker 4: Perhaps they're concerned for one of their friends, one of

39
00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:47,800
Speaker 4: their children. Perhaps they're concerned for their mother, their father,

40
00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:49,880
Speaker 4: someone who's not in this room with them. Perhaps they're

41
00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,160
Speaker 4: concerned about their own health. Perhaps they're thinking about this

42
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 4: job that they've just taken and whether it was the

43
00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:56,839
Speaker 4: right one, or whether they're going to get the call back.

44
00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,679
Speaker 4: Perhaps they're praying their way through a season of loneliness

45
00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,360
Speaker 4: those needs. But from this place, this pulpit that you

46
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,400
Speaker 4: have entrusted to me for these moments, I decree and

47
00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,359
Speaker 4: declare that the eternal wisdom of Almighty God will go

48
00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:12,359
Speaker 4: for it. It will not be checked by a demon

49
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,160
Speaker 4: it will not be hindered by Satan. It will break

50
00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 4: through and penetrate the life that it was intended to effect.

51
00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,120
Speaker 4: And I give you the glory in advance because it

52
00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,800
Speaker 4: is your word, and it is your work, and it

53
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,720
Speaker 4: is your church, and so it is your praise in Jesus' name.

54
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:32,720
Speaker 1: Amen.

55
00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:46,320
Speaker 4: Amen, you may be seated. Of all of the questions

56
00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,880
Speaker 4: people ask me before a church anniversary, this has to

57
00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:55,360
Speaker 4: be the dumbest. I say that lovingly when they say,

58
00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:58,440
Speaker 4: if you could go back and start all over.

59
00:03:58,320 --> 00:03:59,280
Speaker 1: Again, would you do it?

60
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:05,240
Speaker 4: No? And sometimes they say it even more extreme than that.

61
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:07,800
Speaker 4: Don't you just sometimes want to go back to the

62
00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,040
Speaker 4: early days and start the church all over again. No,

63
00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 4: don't want to do that again, back to those days

64
00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,920
Speaker 4: when you weren't here. It was terrible before you got here.

65
00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:22,320
Speaker 4: Let me tell you, it's terrible before you got here.

66
00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,039
Speaker 4: Till a person next to you, This church sucked before

67
00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:30,120
Speaker 4: you showed up. Tell them that on every location Riverwalk

68
00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:37,080
Speaker 4: University City. One of the things that I always aim

69
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,400
Speaker 4: to do as I stand before you, and I hope

70
00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:41,160
Speaker 4: that you sense this.

71
00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:45,120
Speaker 1: Is give you a good grounding in.

72
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,800
Speaker 4: The context of this scripture before moving to the application

73
00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,159
Speaker 4: because I understand that you can pretty much make the

74
00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:57,120
Speaker 4: Bible say something that it never really meant to.

75
00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 1: Say or was intended to say.

76
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,720
Speaker 4: And although I read you that verse about I'm doing

77
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,200
Speaker 4: a new thing for verse nineteen, and I am going

78
00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 4: to preach that verse today.

79
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:07,599
Speaker 1: I thought'd be.

80
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:09,599
Speaker 4: Helpful if we establish a little bit of context and

81
00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,400
Speaker 4: go back to the top of this to get a

82
00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,680
Speaker 4: sense of who is Isaiah and why is he saying this,

83
00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,039
Speaker 4: and who is he saying it to. So I want

84
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,440
Speaker 4: to back up to verse sixteen. I gave you to

85
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,520
Speaker 4: verse fifteen in the back, but I'm going to go

86
00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,720
Speaker 4: to verse sixteen for now. And this first sentence, this

87
00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,240
Speaker 4: is something I really feel strongly about. He said, This

88
00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,159
Speaker 4: is what the Lord says. Now, I think you should

89
00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,559
Speaker 4: circle that in your Bible or highlight it or something,

90
00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,360
Speaker 4: because that's what we're trying to get to every time

91
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,640
Speaker 4: we come together as a church. This is what the

92
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 4: Lord says. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's

93
00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 4: never been harder to hear from God, not because we

94
00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:56,160
Speaker 4: don't have access to his word, but because we have

95
00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,280
Speaker 4: so many voices attacking his voice, to the point where

96
00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,440
Speaker 4: many of us are confused and we can't tell what's

97
00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:11,039
Speaker 4: God and what's the algorithm. Sometimes we can't tell what's

98
00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,560
Speaker 4: God and what's just us worrying and calling it prayer.

99
00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,800
Speaker 4: The biggest wrestling match of my life standing before you

100
00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,479
Speaker 4: each and every week, is to figure out what comes

101
00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:24,440
Speaker 4: after this phrase.

102
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says.

103
00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,600
Speaker 4: Notice that the text doesn't remark this is what the

104
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:32,920
Speaker 4: Lord said.

105
00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:38,400
Speaker 1: It would be one thing.

106
00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,440
Speaker 4: For us to just gather together weekly, have a short

107
00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:45,320
Speaker 4: history lesson on people who lived in the past that

108
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,680
Speaker 4: is designed in order to keep us from ever feeling

109
00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 4: challenged to bring the Word of God into our everyday life,

110
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,279
Speaker 4: so that God just remains a mere superstition in our life,

111
00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,640
Speaker 4: someone that Grandma used to talk about that we run

112
00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,000
Speaker 4: to for comfort when our lives feel unstable. But the

113
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,719
Speaker 4: cutting edge ministry of gospel preaching is to come with

114
00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:10,320
Speaker 4: the Word of God, timeless and eternal, written in the

115
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 4: pages of Scripture, not to be altered, taken away from,

116
00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,240
Speaker 4: or added to. Not one jot nor one tittle from

117
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,760
Speaker 4: this thing is supposed to be altered, and to bring

118
00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:24,080
Speaker 4: it into the contemporary experience of a diversity of personalities ethnicities.

119
00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,440
Speaker 4: This is what the Lord says, and I never feel

120
00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:30,680
Speaker 4: ready to preach just because I have three points. I

121
00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,080
Speaker 4: never feel ready to preach just because I have a story.

122
00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:35,800
Speaker 4: I never feel ready to preach just because my voice

123
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,840
Speaker 4: feels strong. I only feel ready to preach when I

124
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:43,640
Speaker 4: can feel you getting what you need from your God.

125
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,920
Speaker 4: When that happens, get out of my way. Get out

126
00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,720
Speaker 4: of my way, because once I sense that God has

127
00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:57,480
Speaker 4: given me what he wants you to have, Once I

128
00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,360
Speaker 4: sense that God has put something in my hear it

129
00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:05,960
Speaker 4: for your situation. This is what the Lord says, and

130
00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,200
Speaker 4: Isaiah goes on. We're going to follow his thought pattern

131
00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,320
Speaker 4: for a moment before we come to my main point today.

132
00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,200
Speaker 4: This is what the Lord says, he who made a

133
00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,280
Speaker 4: way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,

134
00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,000
Speaker 4: who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and

135
00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 4: reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished.

136
00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:32,240
Speaker 1: Snuffed out like a whit.

137
00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 4: Now we've gone two verses and we still haven't gotten

138
00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,840
Speaker 4: to what God says. Think of Isaiah as someone who

139
00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:46,160
Speaker 4: is introducing a guest speaker. If on our anniversary today

140
00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,920
Speaker 4: I was coming to bring up a guest speaker, I

141
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,400
Speaker 4: would come before you, and I would begin to give

142
00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:56,800
Speaker 4: background information on that speaker. The reason for giving background

143
00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,959
Speaker 4: information on the speaker you might lean in to hear

144
00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:02,960
Speaker 4: what they have to say, especially if you don't know

145
00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,400
Speaker 4: who they are, because I want you to know, Hey, no,

146
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:11,240
Speaker 4: Pastor Steven's definitely my favorite preacher. Pastor Holly's my second.

147
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,679
Speaker 4: I'm saying this facetiously. By the way, I don't care

148
00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,160
Speaker 4: who your favorite preacher is. It matters what God says.

149
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,280
Speaker 4: Anybody God wants to use in your life, that's fine

150
00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:23,960
Speaker 4: with me. But I would want to build credibility for

151
00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,199
Speaker 4: a speaker that you were not familiar with. So I

152
00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:31,520
Speaker 4: might say they've written three best selling books, or they've

153
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,320
Speaker 4: done amazing work with the homeless community in their city,

154
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,160
Speaker 4: or they have been recognized and regarded as one of

155
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,320
Speaker 4: the premier experts on or they've pastored their church thirty

156
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 4: seven years and they've been married thirty four years, happily

157
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,120
Speaker 4: married for thirty two of those thirty four years. And

158
00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:53,840
Speaker 4: I would begin to build your interest and your confidence

159
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,520
Speaker 4: in the speaker by giving you a bit of their background.

160
00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,400
Speaker 1: He says. This is what the Lord says.

161
00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:04,880
Speaker 4: Go back to verse sixteen briefly for me, please, I

162
00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,720
Speaker 4: want to break this down. And he proceeds not to

163
00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:12,079
Speaker 4: give the direct word of God, but indirectly he begins

164
00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:17,160
Speaker 4: to describe the works of God at a time that

165
00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,760
Speaker 4: was at least seven hundred years in the past. Now

166
00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,839
Speaker 4: every Bible student will know that this is a flashback

167
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 4: to an event in the scripture called the Exodus. This

168
00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 4: is when God brought his people out of Egypt. They

169
00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 4: did not get all the way to the Promised Land.

170
00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,439
Speaker 4: Their unbelief blocked them from that. But God brought them

171
00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:42,600
Speaker 4: through raging waters the Red Sea. He drowned the chariots

172
00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,839
Speaker 4: of the Egyptian pharaoh, and all of those chariots lay there,

173
00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,960
Speaker 4: never to rise again. It's as if Isaiah is bringing

174
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,640
Speaker 4: God into the frame for the people to hear from

175
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:57,360
Speaker 4: and he says to them, the Lord has a message

176
00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,720
Speaker 4: for you. And before I tell you what he says,

177
00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:06,600
Speaker 4: let me remind you what he does. This is not

178
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,160
Speaker 4: one of the gods of Babylonia who was crafted by

179
00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,240
Speaker 4: human hands. This is not one of the gods of

180
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,560
Speaker 4: Assyria that was dreamt up by a human imagination. This

181
00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,280
Speaker 4: is the God who's about to speak to you, who

182
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,640
Speaker 4: made a way through the sea a path through the

183
00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 4: mighty waters.

184
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: I'm about to preach, who drew.

185
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,600
Speaker 4: Out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,

186
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,680
Speaker 4: and they lay there, never to rise again. So before

187
00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,280
Speaker 4: you hear what God is about to say to his people,

188
00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,640
Speaker 4: remember what he did to their enemies, so that you

189
00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 4: have confidence that the God that is fighting your battles

190
00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:49,440
Speaker 4: today has been here before. God has been here before.

191
00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:53,040
Speaker 4: Even if you haven't been here before, God goes ahead

192
00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,680
Speaker 4: of you into everything you call today. In fact, when

193
00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:58,960
Speaker 4: you talk about the future, God doesn't have a word

194
00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,080
Speaker 4: in his vocabulary for that. That's in your dictionary, not his.

195
00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:09,080
Speaker 4: God doesn't talk about future. God talks about eternity. And God,

196
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:11,600
Speaker 4: who sits out of time, gives you a box called

197
00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:13,040
Speaker 4: time so you don't go crazy.

198
00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:15,320
Speaker 1: And he allows you to think about.

199
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,280
Speaker 4: The future because you cannot compartmentalize well, and so he

200
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,440
Speaker 4: allows you to think of something called tomorrow, even though

201
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,520
Speaker 4: to him God, tomorrow is already history.

202
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,280
Speaker 1: Let me remind you that God.

203
00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,319
Speaker 4: Who has already been into your future, has proven himself

204
00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:35,600
Speaker 4: faithful in your past. And that's what you'd expect me

205
00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:39,640
Speaker 4: to preach about on an anniversary Sunday, right, Look what

206
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,199
Speaker 4: the Lord has done. Right, that's what I want to

207
00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,040
Speaker 4: preach on an anniversary Sunday, because what he's done is

208
00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:52,640
Speaker 4: comfortable and comforting. What he's done, I have a frame

209
00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:57,480
Speaker 4: of reference for I never understood why people shouted over

210
00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:03,160
Speaker 4: Isaiah forty three nineteen. In verse nineteen, he says, see,

211
00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 4: I am doing a new thing, and everybody shouts, And

212
00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,040
Speaker 4: I think that's strange. In a couple of weeks, we're

213
00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,520
Speaker 4: going on elevation nights and we'll be sharing in different

214
00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,480
Speaker 4: cities the Love of Jesus and the Gospel of Jesus,

215
00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:17,199
Speaker 4: and we'll.

216
00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:18,000
Speaker 1: Be sharing songs.

217
00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:21,920
Speaker 4: And you know how to really lose a crowd in

218
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,160
Speaker 4: an arena like that, Just tell them we want to

219
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,600
Speaker 4: share a new song with you, the one you never

220
00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:29,240
Speaker 4: heard before.

221
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,040
Speaker 1: If they cheer for that, they're being polite. They don't

222
00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,280
Speaker 1: want a new song. I even see y'all do it

223
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,880
Speaker 1: on Sundays. Poor Chris.

224
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:46,360
Speaker 4: Can we give it up for Chris, the real Chris Brown,

225
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:54,840
Speaker 4: Our Chris Brown. I'm just getting to the point in

226
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,800
Speaker 4: my life where I thank God for consistent people.

227
00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:58,800
Speaker 1: And Chris is so consistent.

228
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:01,360
Speaker 4: Every week I'll watch him out here and and he

229
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,400
Speaker 4: has the hard line, the hardest line, to say, you know,

230
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:05,600
Speaker 4: we just finished singing.

231
00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,760
Speaker 1: Graves into gardens or gyra or.

232
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,800
Speaker 4: Something like that, and now he has to look you

233
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,320
Speaker 4: right in your eyes and say, are you all.

234
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:13,880
Speaker 1: Ready to sing a new song? Church?

235
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:19,880
Speaker 4: And y'all are faking it too, because you're you're.

236
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:20,640
Speaker 1: Polite and nice.

237
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, we want to sing a new song. New doesn't

238
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:34,600
Speaker 4: always feel improved at first, does it? New doesn't always

239
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:41,880
Speaker 4: feel improved at first. One of the things about God's

240
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,680
Speaker 4: word that is so wonderful to me is that although

241
00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:49,480
Speaker 4: it's foundational and does not change, it is always fresh.

242
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,440
Speaker 1: Therefore, it's always relevant.

243
00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,840
Speaker 4: When God gets ready to speak to you about a

244
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,800
Speaker 4: situation in your life, he will remind you of some

245
00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:02,800
Speaker 4: of the roads that He's already led you through.

246
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:04,440
Speaker 1: But he doesn't stop there.

247
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,960
Speaker 4: Because after Isaiah reads the resume of this God we've

248
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,880
Speaker 4: come to worship and serve, mentioning the central event in

249
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:16,239
Speaker 4: Israel's history, the one that they couldn't stop celebrating about

250
00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,800
Speaker 4: seven centuries later. The first time that he speaks on

251
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:25,280
Speaker 4: behalf of God, because that's what prophets did. He says

252
00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,320
Speaker 4: a word we would not expect to hear in this context.

253
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,760
Speaker 4: For after he says, God drew your enemies out into

254
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,760
Speaker 4: the water, killed the horses and chariots of those who

255
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,840
Speaker 4: were chasing you, gave you a great and mighty deliverance,

256
00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,280
Speaker 4: made your way through clean so you could praise him today.

257
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:43,800
Speaker 1: Right after he says that, in verse.

258
00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,400
Speaker 4: Eighteen, he gives the first instruction from God. And it

259
00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,760
Speaker 4: is counterintuitive, and you are forgiven. If it's surprising to

260
00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:57,760
Speaker 4: you forget, well, then why are you mentioning it? Why

261
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,280
Speaker 4: are you mentioning what I'm meant to forget? And that's strange.

262
00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,960
Speaker 4: I love studying the Bible with y'all because we would

263
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:07,280
Speaker 4: just read write over this right.

264
00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:10,720
Speaker 6: God is doing a new thing. I'm gonna have a

265
00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,360
Speaker 6: new wife. I'm gonna have a new kid when I

266
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,560
Speaker 6: get home. I read a book one time. It was

267
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,280
Speaker 6: called how to have a new Husband in twenty one days. Hey, y'

268
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:20,560
Speaker 6: to talking about taking the same husband.

269
00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:21,880
Speaker 4: And if you do this, you can change him, and

270
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:23,600
Speaker 4: you can manipulate him and just compliment him when he

271
00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,320
Speaker 4: carries the groceries in, and he'll think he's strong and

272
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:26,360
Speaker 4: he'll carry the groceries more.

273
00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:27,560
Speaker 1: How to have a new husband in.

274
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:32,880
Speaker 4: Twenty one days, that is not Isaiah's message. In fact,

275
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,960
Speaker 4: Isaiah is saying, now that I have reminded you of

276
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:42,040
Speaker 4: all of these former things that God has done, Forget

277
00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:44,200
Speaker 4: the former things.

278
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:46,200
Speaker 1: Say that real quick.

279
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:52,800
Speaker 4: Forget the former, Forget the former Forget the dress you

280
00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:58,160
Speaker 4: used to fit into, the people you used to want

281
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,960
Speaker 4: to see at the party. Forget the drugs that you

282
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,760
Speaker 4: used to get high on. Right, that's what he's talking about. No,

283
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,800
Speaker 4: he's talking about things God did. Now, I get it

284
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,480
Speaker 4: if he's saying, forget the things that you used to

285
00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:13,680
Speaker 4: sin with.

286
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:16,240
Speaker 1: But he's actually.

287
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:20,440
Speaker 4: Saying, forget the things that you used to celebrate. And

288
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,800
Speaker 4: I studied it, and I studied it, and I said, well, Lord,

289
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:26,520
Speaker 4: should we not celebrate the anniversary? Should we not put

290
00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,320
Speaker 4: up all the old pictures of when you made a way?

291
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,359
Speaker 4: We had no money and we had no.

292
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,440
Speaker 1: Connections and you built this church? Is it a sin

293
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:38,240
Speaker 1: to celebrate what you did?

294
00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,679
Speaker 4: And so as I read it, it became clear to

295
00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:43,679
Speaker 4: me why so many of us stay stuck in the

296
00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:47,160
Speaker 4: past and we cannot grow. By the way, there is

297
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,200
Speaker 4: one thing that you can do that God can't do.

298
00:17:51,480 --> 00:18:05,320
Speaker 4: Grow grow you do, Graham said to me one time recently,

299
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:08,040
Speaker 4: He said, corn dogs fell off.

300
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,440
Speaker 1: I said, what does that even mean?

301
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,879
Speaker 4: Can you say that in English? He said, corn dogs

302
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:17,280
Speaker 4: used to be so big. Remember when corn dogs were

303
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:18,480
Speaker 4: big they fell off.

304
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,280
Speaker 1: And I told them they didn't. Corn dogs didn't fall off.

305
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:30,200
Speaker 1: You grew up. See the difference. He thinks corn dogs changed.

306
00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:34,199
Speaker 1: Corn dogs don't change. Corn day dogs. This is the

307
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:38,240
Speaker 1: Bible says it. Corn dogs are the same yesterday, today,

308
00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:45,480
Speaker 1: and forever. But you changed. You changed. And as we

309
00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:46,399
Speaker 1: are being.

310
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,440
Speaker 4: Changed by the glory of the Lord, we see more

311
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,600
Speaker 4: of his glory as we are changed by him, and

312
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,000
Speaker 4: we begin to realize that a lot of what we

313
00:18:56,040 --> 00:19:02,199
Speaker 4: call growth is forgetting what we thought we knew. So

314
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,280
Speaker 4: a lot of what we call going forward we will

315
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,400
Speaker 4: forget what we thought God had promised as we learn

316
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,800
Speaker 4: what he really promised. A lot of our problem is

317
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:20,120
Speaker 4: when we overlay our preferences on God's promises. And I'm

318
00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:21,960
Speaker 4: going to take that further, so you better let that

319
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,640
Speaker 4: one sink in. When you overlay your preference over God's promise.

320
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,560
Speaker 4: But here's the even worst part. You lay your preference

321
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,720
Speaker 4: over God's promise and then you attach God's promise to

322
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:35,240
Speaker 4: your plan.

323
00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:40,200
Speaker 1: And that's not how this works.

324
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,920
Speaker 4: So Isaiah is speaking to people about the exodus, which

325
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,680
Speaker 4: happened seven hundred years ago, and he's speaking to them

326
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,679
Speaker 4: about their exile, which they're currently in because they're in

327
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,400
Speaker 4: a place called Babylonia and they were taken there by Nebekinezer,

328
00:19:57,200 --> 00:19:58,240
Speaker 4: but they're going to be led.

329
00:19:58,119 --> 00:19:59,000
Speaker 1: Out by Cyrus.

330
00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:01,840
Speaker 4: And he says, I'm doing a new thing, but I

331
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:03,280
Speaker 4: want to remind you of the old thing. But no

332
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,199
Speaker 4: sooner does he remind them of who is speaking than

333
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 4: he says, this is what the Lord says, forget.

334
00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:12,919
Speaker 1: The former.

335
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:15,800
Speaker 4: And I don't think this means that we can't go

336
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:20,800
Speaker 4: shopping for Iron Maiden t shirts, as some of us

337
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,560
Speaker 4: are wont to do. I don't think that God is

338
00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,479
Speaker 4: against nostalgia. I don't think that God is against memory.

339
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,400
Speaker 4: But I'm very conflicted about those of us who are

340
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 4: staying stuck in a stage of our spiritual growth and

341
00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 4: calling it our whole story. Remember, the Red Sea was

342
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,359
Speaker 4: not the finish line for the people of God.

343
00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:47,359
Speaker 1: It was the foundation.

344
00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,919
Speaker 4: And is it possible that you've been taking something in

345
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,080
Speaker 4: your life that was meant to be a foundation and

346
00:20:55,160 --> 00:21:00,720
Speaker 4: treating it as a finish line. And I'll tell you

347
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:02,679
Speaker 4: some of the things that we say when we're trying

348
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 4: to take foundations. Nobody sees a foundation of a house

349
00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:07,640
Speaker 4: and then pays the builder.

350
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,400
Speaker 1: The full amount, unless you're a fool.

351
00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:12,520
Speaker 4: If you're building a house and they put up the foundation,

352
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:13,880
Speaker 4: keep a little of that money back.

353
00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:15,960
Speaker 1: Because they've got still more to do.

354
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 4: And when God lays a foundation in your life and

355
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,840
Speaker 4: you call it finished, you end up crossing the Red Sea,

356
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,399
Speaker 4: getting through the waters, and spending forty years in a wilderness.

357
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:31,680
Speaker 1: So I hear.

358
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,320
Speaker 4: Christians often say things like I'm just a sinner saved

359
00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,639
Speaker 4: by grace. I saw a bumper sticker one time that

360
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:43,639
Speaker 4: said Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven. Now I understand the

361
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 4: heart of that. We're saying we're not better than you.

362
00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:47,879
Speaker 4: It's not like we don't cuss our kids out, we

363
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:49,040
Speaker 4: just don't do it in church.

364
00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: This is the praise in church. I forgot.

365
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,520
Speaker 4: But when you say Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven, if

366
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,880
Speaker 4: that helps you to receive God's grace for where you're at,

367
00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:08,199
Speaker 4: that is a wonderful truth.

368
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:10,560
Speaker 1: But if it causes you to.

369
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 4: Remain or the way the prophet Isaiah put it, he said,

370
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 4: don't dwell on it. Don't dwell on the past. Let

371
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,200
Speaker 4: me show you this in verse eighteen. It's right there

372
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,880
Speaker 4: in the text. He says, forget the former things.

373
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:27,600
Speaker 1: Do not dwell on the past.

374
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 4: Then why did you spend two verses telling me about

375
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 4: the past if you don't want me to dwell on it?

376
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 4: So God says, I gave you those experiences to draw from,

377
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:45,200
Speaker 4: not to dwell on. The difference, I gave you those

378
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:46,640
Speaker 4: experiences to.

379
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:49,000
Speaker 1: Draw from, not to dwell on.

380
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 4: To dwell in it is to live in something that

381
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 4: God intended to be temporary.

382
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:57,440
Speaker 1: Okay, when there is.

383
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,040
Speaker 4: A truth spoken over your life concerning what God has

384
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 4: given you, concerning who God has called you, concerning who

385
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,440
Speaker 4: He has, who He has made you to be, let's

386
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,119
Speaker 4: get that phrase embedded. Who He has made you to be.

387
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,119
Speaker 4: When God has planted that truth inside of you, that

388
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:19,199
Speaker 4: is a foundational truth. But the foundation is not meant

389
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 4: to be the finish line of your faith. And so

390
00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:26,080
Speaker 4: then if you just imagine this, you're building a house,

391
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,160
Speaker 4: they pour the foundation, You set up tents and pay

392
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 4: them full price, and you have no indoor plumbing, and

393
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,119
Speaker 4: you certainly have no marble countertops, and you paid for

394
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 4: him and you got no run in water and you

395
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 4: paid for it is paid for, but you're.

396
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 1: Not living in it. It's paid for, but you said no,

397
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 1: I'm a live in this tent.

398
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,440
Speaker 4: See a lot of Christians and they don't realize what's

399
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,159
Speaker 4: already been paid for. So now I'm living down in

400
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 4: something that Jesus' glood already purchased more than. But I

401
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 4: can't see past what I've been through. So I figure

402
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,679
Speaker 4: this Red Sea was meant to be the result. The

403
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 4: Red Sea was just the road to get where I

404
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 4: was going. It wasn't the place I was meant to stay.

405
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna fight every single one of you that says,

406
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,280
Speaker 4: men the good old days of Elevation Church, back when

407
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 4: we used to be at Providence High School.

408
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:32,000
Speaker 1: Providence High School.

409
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 4: If you think the good old days of Elevation Church,

410
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,200
Speaker 4: you were not setting up at Providence High School or

411
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,760
Speaker 4: tearing down. All that shows me is you were in

412
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,280
Speaker 4: a volunteer. That's why you thought it was the.

413
00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:44,040
Speaker 1: Good old days.

414
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 4: It is a perspective of praise that you get when

415
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:55,119
Speaker 4: you see, Oh God brought me through that, but he

416
00:24:55,200 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 4: did not lead me to that as my destination. I

417
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 4: declare over your life today, that everything you have seen

418
00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:08,240
Speaker 4: God do was a foundation. He is not done building

419
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 4: in your life. He is not done building in your

420
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 4: blood life. He is not done building on your experience.

421
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 4: He is not done building through your pain.

422
00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 1: Forget how far you've come. What I thought I was

423
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:30,159
Speaker 1: supposed to remember how far I've come.

424
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,640
Speaker 4: And last week I did a good little message because

425
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 4: I preached on look forward, not far, and I was

426
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 4: illustrating that when we tend to get too far out

427
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 4: ahead of ourselves. Man, I prayed before our twentieth year

428
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:44,879
Speaker 4: of ministry started, I said, Lord, let me give him

429
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 4: the plan for the next twenty years of the church.

430
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 4: I started praying that in January. I was praying it

431
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 4: up till.

432
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:51,800
Speaker 1: Nine twenty nine.

433
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 4: Church started at nine thirty. And the lawyer said, Nope,

434
00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 4: not twenty years. How about twenty minutes. How about twenty minutes.

435
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 4: Get up and preach the word. This is what the

436
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 4: Lord says for your current situation. You know why we

437
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,400
Speaker 4: want God's plans to be so far in the future,

438
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:15,880
Speaker 4: because we're not committed to His presence in our daily life.

439
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,439
Speaker 4: This is what the Lord says. This is what the

440
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,520
Speaker 4: Lord says. Now, the Lord's going to speak to you

441
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 4: in many ways through your life. I didn't give them

442
00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 4: Hebrews one one, but it came up in my spirits.

443
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,120
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna find it in my own big fat

444
00:26:28,119 --> 00:26:31,679
Speaker 4: bible and read it to you right now, my small

445
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 4: print bible, my bible that I could read nineteen years

446
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 4: ago when we started this church, back when I could

447
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 4: find the Book of Hebrews chapter one. It begins our

448
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 4: twentieth year ministream. In the past, God spoke to our ancestors.

449
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 4: I'm not being this is the scripture for really. In

450
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 4: the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets

451
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,719
Speaker 4: at many times, in various ways. That's what I want

452
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,040
Speaker 4: you to get at many times, in various ways in

453
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,159
Speaker 4: the past verse two. But in these last days he

454
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:20,360
Speaker 4: has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed

455
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 4: heir of all things, and through whom he also made

456
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,160
Speaker 4: the universe. Now what that makes me think is God's

457
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:31,960
Speaker 4: been doing this a long time. He's consistent. Say that

458
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 4: out loud. God is consistent. Put it in the chat.

459
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 4: God is consistent. The worlds were framed by the word

460
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 4: of God. So when Isaiah says, this is what the

461
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 4: Lord says, God didn't just start speaking, you just started listening.

462
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 4: He's just waiting for us to tune in when we

463
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,919
Speaker 4: start our worship service at church bridges joining of what

464
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 4: Heaven is doing around the clock. Because he's consistent. He's

465
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 4: consistently holy. That's why the angels call him Holy, Holy, Holy.

466
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:03,640
Speaker 4: When you say it three times, it underscores not only

467
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 4: the significance of it, but the consistency of it. God

468
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 4: doesn't take an off day from doing the right thing.

469
00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 4: Jesus was without sin, and yet he was made to

470
00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 4: become sin so that we who had sinned could become

471
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 4: the righteousness of God through him. That's what he means

472
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 4: by his son, who created the universe. Jesus did not

473
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 4: become God when he was born. He was always God.

474
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 4: He will always be God. He is Alpha and Omega.

475
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,399
Speaker 4: He's consistent. He was there from the foundation of the world.

476
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 4: The world was framed by the very word of God

477
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 4: that is coming into your heart today.

478
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: He's consistent. Say it again. He's consistent.

479
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 4: He didn't just start feeding his people when he gave

480
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 4: them manna in the wilderness.

481
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 1: He's consistent. He'd been feeding them all of their life.

482
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 4: He's consistent. God can find so many ways to feed

483
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 4: his children. If it's not manna in the wilderness, it

484
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 4: will be the fruit of Canaan. But I'll tell you

485
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 4: one thing. He's consistent, and he'll feed you. Whether it's

486
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 4: ravens bringing you food which were considered unclean, bring into

487
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 4: a Hebrew prophet a bird that was considered unclean by

488
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,280
Speaker 4: the Jewish religion. God can feed you anywhere you are,

489
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 4: and he can find you anywhere you are, and he

490
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 4: can fill you anywhere you are because he formed you. Now,

491
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 4: whoever forms you knows what to fill you with. Whoever

492
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 4: forms you knows what to fill you with.

493
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 1: And the one who.

494
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 4: Knows your future formed you before your future begin. Because

495
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 4: the prophet Isaiah said, and excuse me, the prophet Jeremiah,

496
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,240
Speaker 4: his buddy, said, in Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, before

497
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 4: you were born, I formed you in my mother's womb.

498
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 4: I was knit together because he was formed. And so

499
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,560
Speaker 4: all of my days he has been faithful all my life.

500
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 4: He has been so so good. That's the consistency of God.

501
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 4: He is a consistent friend. He doesn't duck out when

502
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 4: it's a liability to know your name or your number.

503
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 4: He's a consistent stint friend. He's a friend that sticks

504
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 4: closer than a brother. He knows how to celebrate your

505
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 4: wins with you because he's consistent. He's not intimidated like

506
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 4: some of your friends when you're doing good, and they

507
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 4: only want to come around when you're doing bad, because

508
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,040
Speaker 4: misery loves company.

509
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 1: He's consistent.

510
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 4: He'll step into your good moment and he can be

511
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 4: proud of you pass the point where other people can

512
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 4: because he has no insecurities. He's consistent, he has no insufficiencies.

513
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:27,160
Speaker 1: He's consistent.

514
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 4: He doesn't run out of energy. He doesn't get tired

515
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 4: of carrying you. He doesn't say, because you pray to me,

516
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 4: tomorrow is kind of late right now, and I'm not

517
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 4: really a night person.

518
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: He's consistent.

519
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 4: He's not waiting for you to get the eyeboogers out

520
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 4: of your eyes. He's a morning person too. He's consistent.

521
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 4: He doesn't sleep, he doesn't slumber. He's consistent. He doesn't

522
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 4: come off his throne when one party wins an election

523
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 4: or another one wins the next one. He's consistent. He's

524
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 4: Israel's king and your creator. He's consistent. He is consistent,

525
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 4: so consistent that he'll walk with you, not only through

526
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 4: the joys and the outain tops of your life, but

527
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 4: in the sorrows of your life. He's not ashamed to

528
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 4: be associated with you. He's consistent. If you hadn't caught

529
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:08,480
Speaker 4: any fish, he'll tell you where to throw the net

530
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 4: out again.

531
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: Because he's consistent.

532
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 4: He's so consistent he's worthy of praise when your feelings

533
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 4: are telling you that you're not worthy of his love.

534
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: He's consistent. He's consistent.

535
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 4: He relates to you on the basis of what he

536
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 4: did for you, not what you do for him. So

537
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 4: even if you hadn't done it right lately, he's consistent.

538
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 4: When people walk out of your life, they walk out

539
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 4: of your life for different reasons. He stays in your

540
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,360
Speaker 4: life for one reason, because you're his. He's consistent. He's

541
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 4: a good father. He's consistent. If your father wasn't a

542
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 4: good father, he'll pick up where your father and your

543
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 4: mother forsake you, then the Lord will take you up

544
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 4: because he's consistent. I'm celebrating today that he's consistent that

545
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 4: I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor is seed begging bread.

546
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,840
Speaker 4: He's consistent, So there's never been a time that I

547
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 4: called to him, and he was busy with another one

548
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 4: of his kids that he liked more. Even when I

549
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 4: was trying to run away to Tarsus, she got me

550
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 4: to nineveh in the belly of a whale, because he

551
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 4: has many vehicles to get his voice to where he

552
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 4: wants it to go.

553
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:10,640
Speaker 1: He's consistent.

554
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 4: If there is one thing I love about God is

555
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 4: that he's consistent. How many have found him to be consistent,

556
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 4: and you can testify and come into agreement that he's consistent.

557
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 1: But he's also creative.

558
00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 4: And I don't know if you know any creative people,

559
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 4: but sometimes creativity and consistency don't get along so well.

560
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 4: If you've ever lived with an artist, sometimes they don't

561
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 4: know how to.

562
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 1: Make their bed up.

563
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 4: If you've ever lived with somebody who was creatively gifted,

564
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 4: sometimes they're a little sporadically wired. God is consistent, but

565
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,680
Speaker 4: he's also creative. And I was praying, Lord, give me

566
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 4: something special to show them today. This is our anniversary,

567
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 4: it's the beginning of our twentieth year of ministry.

568
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 1: I want us to have a twenty twenty vision. Come on, Lord,

569
00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 1: And what he spoke to me was something beautiful.

570
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 4: He began to speak to me as I was falling

571
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 4: asleep and waking up, and he took me to a

572
00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 4: text because I think at my heart I'm a storyteller.

573
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 4: If you ever do the math on my sermons, a

574
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,920
Speaker 4: lot of them are based around stories. And so the

575
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 4: prophetic declaration of Isaiah and the story of the people

576
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,920
Speaker 4: coming through the Red Sea, and the mention of the

577
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,480
Speaker 4: author of Hebrews about the supremacy, the superiority, the efficiency

578
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 4: of Jesus Christ, our Savior, it all kind of finds

579
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 4: a unity point in my mind in two of the

580
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 4: miracles that Jesus did, and I won't belabor them, but

581
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 4: I do want to show them to you in their entirety.

582
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:55,520
Speaker 4: In Mark chapter eight, Jesus heals a blind man. Now

583
00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 4: what drew me to this passage initially was the Lord

584
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 4: told Isaiah.

585
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: See, I am doing a new thing.

586
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 4: And so I started realizing a lot of us don't

587
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,879
Speaker 4: have a supply problem, we have a site problem. It's

588
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 4: not that God hasn't spoken, we just can't see. And

589
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:19,280
Speaker 4: realizing that one of the most frequent miracles that Jesus

590
00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:21,760
Speaker 4: performed in the scripture was the healing of blind eyes.

591
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 4: I went and studied different people that he healed of blindness,

592
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,760
Speaker 4: because I believe we all have spiritual blindness, blind spots,

593
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:30,719
Speaker 4: things that we say, Well, if I could go back,

594
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 4: i'd do it different. But I didn't know that five

595
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 4: years ago. I didn't know that I was hurting my child.

596
00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 4: I was trying to discipline them. But now I see

597
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 4: that I was too harsh.

598
00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to. I was trying to.

599
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,360
Speaker 4: I was trying to provide for my family, but I

600
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,799
Speaker 4: ended up kind of abandoning them emotionally and in an

601
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 4: attempt to give them what I didn't have, which was

602
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:50,360
Speaker 4: money growing up, I didn't give them what I did have,

603
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 4: which is love. And I'm looking back, and I was

604
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 4: blinded by that. And so the healing of the Savior

605
00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 4: and the new thing that God is doing often brings

606
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 4: restoration of spiritual sight what Paul called the eyes of

607
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,799
Speaker 4: your heart being enlightened. And in Mark chapter eight, there

608
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 4: is a mention of a man I don't believe we

609
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 4: get his name in the scripture, but Jesus did something

610
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:14,320
Speaker 4: amazing for it.

611
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 1: Now.

612
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 4: I don't know when you're watching this, but if you're

613
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 4: about to go to lunch, this might ruin your appetite.

614
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,720
Speaker 1: It's kind of gross Mark Chapter eight please.

615
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 4: They the disciples in Jesus came to Bethseta, and some

616
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 4: people brought a blind man to Jesus and begged Jesus

617
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,400
Speaker 4: to touch him. Pay attention to every detail that you can.

618
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,239
Speaker 4: It will reward your attention if you'll pay attention to

619
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 4: every detail in this little story. He took verse twenty

620
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 4: three the blind man by the hand let him outside

621
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 4: the village. When he'd spin on the man's eyes and

622
00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:54,840
Speaker 4: put his hands on him, Jesus asked, do you see anything?

623
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:57,319
Speaker 1: I told you this is.

624
00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 4: Not a very appetizing miracle. I need to read that again,

625
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,560
Speaker 4: because you didn't even react to it. And it's so weird.

626
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 4: When he had spit on the man's eyes, we just

627
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 4: glossed over that, like that's just something people do, like

628
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 4: he did a hail Mary over him or something. He

629
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,960
Speaker 4: spit on the man's eyes and then put his hands

630
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 4: on him, and Jesus asked, do you see anything.

631
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,960
Speaker 1: He looked up and said, you did pretty good. I

632
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 1: see people.

633
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,640
Speaker 4: They look like trees walking around. Now I'm gonna point

634
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,640
Speaker 4: out to you real quick. The fact that he knew

635
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:33,080
Speaker 4: what trees looked like means that he had been able

636
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:38,720
Speaker 4: to see it sometime in the past, so he's restoring

637
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:39,959
Speaker 4: his sight some things.

638
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 1: God wants to bring.

639
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 4: You back to you really do know what it means?

640
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 4: And he said, I see it, but it's blurry. Have

641
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 4: you got any blurry blessings in your life right now?

642
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 1: I see it, but it's blurry. It's working, but it

643
00:36:55,280 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 1: seems a little off. Can can you?

644
00:36:57,400 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 4: I don't want you to spit on me again, but

645
00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 4: can I get a second touch?

646
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:04,080
Speaker 1: Can I get a second touch?

647
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 4: The Bible says something very powerful once more, Jesus put

648
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:10,120
Speaker 4: his hands on the man's eyes, and then his eyes

649
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 4: were open. His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

650
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,360
Speaker 4: Jesus sent him home, saying, don't even go into the village.

651
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 1: What a great story.

652
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 4: If that were the passage we were preaching from, we

653
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:26,680
Speaker 4: would say every miracle is messy, Every miracle is messy.

654
00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:28,960
Speaker 1: Spit in your eyes is messy.

655
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,560
Speaker 4: We would also say that many miracles in your life

656
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,399
Speaker 4: happened over the period of time because there were two

657
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,840
Speaker 4: touches involved. But we're not viewing this miracle in isolation,

658
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 4: because Jesus is consistent, but he's also creative. And here's

659
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,920
Speaker 4: what I mean. Go to Mark chapter ten. Another blind man,

660
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:55,920
Speaker 4: this one whose name we do know. Give me my

661
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 4: Mark ten.

662
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 1: Please.

663
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,440
Speaker 4: Then they came to Jericho. Is a different town, beth

664
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:07,680
Speaker 4: sta mark a Jericho Mark ten. As Jesus and his disciples,

665
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 4: together with the large crowd, were leaving the city, a

666
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:15,320
Speaker 4: blind man, same condition. Bartimaeus which means son of Timaeus,

667
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 4: was sitting by the roadside begging next verse when he

668
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,759
Speaker 4: heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. He could hear,

669
00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 4: but he couldn't see. He began to shout because he

670
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,880
Speaker 4: could shout though he couldn't see. He's using everything that

671
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:29,839
Speaker 4: he has available.

672
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:34,440
Speaker 1: Jesus. He calls the name, son of David, have mercy

673
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 1: on me.

674
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:37,600
Speaker 4: Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but

675
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,359
Speaker 4: he shouted all the more, Son of David.

676
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 1: Have mercy on me.

677
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,240
Speaker 4: I'm using restraint because everything in me wants to preach.

678
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 1: Don't you let them shut you up. Don't you let

679
00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: them shut you down. Don't you let them call you crazy.

680
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,360
Speaker 4: They tried to do it to me for almost twenty years,

681
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 4: and if I had listened to everything they said about me,

682
00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:00,040
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be here preaching to your beautiful self, I

683
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:09,239
Speaker 4: should dare miss what God has for you down the road. Man,

684
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,439
Speaker 4: y'all are easy to preach to today. Come back next week.

685
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 4: Somebody in here is making a difference. What verse were

686
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:18,560
Speaker 4: we on? Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet,

687
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:20,400
Speaker 4: but he shouted all the more, son.

688
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:24,000
Speaker 1: Of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said,

689
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: call him.

690
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,839
Speaker 4: So they the disciples, you're ready called the blind man

691
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 4: called the blind man, share up on your feet.

692
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:41,920
Speaker 1: He's calling you. Throwing his cloak aside. He jumped to

693
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: his feet and came to Jesus. What do you want

694
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,200
Speaker 1: me to do for you? Jesus asked him, and.

695
00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 4: The blind man said, Rabbi, I want to see now.

696
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,000
Speaker 4: I can't prove it in the text because the text

697
00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 4: says that the blind man threw his cloak. I can't

698
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 4: prove it in the text because the text says that

699
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:01,320
Speaker 4: he shouted loud. I can't prove it in the text.

700
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 4: But I think when he said I want to see,

701
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,799
Speaker 4: Peter and the other disciples backed up a little bit

702
00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 4: because the last time Jesus did what he's asking him

703
00:40:16,520 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 4: to do. And maybe they even said to the God,

704
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,920
Speaker 4: hey man, you might want to. You got a change

705
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 4: of clothes, you know, just to prepare you. This can

706
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 4: be kind of traumatic if you're not expecting it, just

707
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:32,560
Speaker 4: to let you know.

708
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: But watch this. Jesus is a healer. He's consistent.

709
00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:40,600
Speaker 4: He doesn't tell the man Now I don't feel like healing.

710
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:41,560
Speaker 1: Check back Thursday.

711
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:46,080
Speaker 4: Thursday is my healing day because he's consistent. But the

712
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 4: same Savior who is consistent is also creative, which means

713
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:55,319
Speaker 4: he is not constrained, which means he doesn't have to

714
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:59,880
Speaker 4: do the same thing this time that he did last time,

715
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 4: which means.

716
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: That he's gonna heal the man. But this time, watch,

717
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:13,120
Speaker 1: it's a little different. Jesus just said, go verse fifty two,

718
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,719
Speaker 1: your faith has healed you. And immediately he received this

719
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:22,040
Speaker 1: side and followed Jesus along the road. And barthol of

720
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: You and.

721
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,280
Speaker 4: Andrew and John and James and Peter are like, wait, Jesus,

722
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 4: you forgot to spit.

723
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:30,640
Speaker 1: You gotta spit.

724
00:41:30,719 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 4: Remember the chapter eight when Jesus did, I mean, when

725
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 4: you got to spit on him like that, He's not

726
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:39,359
Speaker 4: gonna work if it doesn't spit.

727
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 1: I mean, you spin on that guy and you still

728
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 1: had to do it. Twice.

729
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:44,480
Speaker 4: If you're taking notes of as a disciple, here's what

730
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 4: you're writing down, because you've never seen anything that's amazing before. Right,

731
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:48,880
Speaker 4: she's walking on healing blind eyes and stuff. So you're

732
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:50,520
Speaker 4: keeping notes. Okay, we're gonna have to do this without

733
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 4: him one day.

734
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 1: So what does he do? Okay?

735
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:55,319
Speaker 4: So he spits and then the first touch doesn't really work,

736
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,720
Speaker 4: so you got to do it twice, okay.

737
00:41:57,960 --> 00:41:59,279
Speaker 1: And then Jesus walks right.

738
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 4: Up on this man name Bartimas, and the man's screaming,

739
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:04,320
Speaker 4: and they're like, you're not supposed to scream, and Jesus like,

740
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 4: I don't mind him screaming, don't bother me.

741
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:08,799
Speaker 1: And the man throws his cloak, and Jesus like, let

742
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 1: him throw off anything he wants to.

743
00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:19,120
Speaker 4: And Jesus looks straight at that man and heals him

744
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 4: how he wants to, how he chooses to. He's healing you,

745
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 4: but maybe not how you want him to, maybe not

746
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 4: how you're used to. Isaiah said, remember when the sea split,

747
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 4: it's not gonna split this time right instead, Verse nineteen.

748
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:49,319
Speaker 4: I'm doing a new thing. Even now. It springs up

749
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 4: the song you're singing from seven hundred years ago. The

750
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:54,800
Speaker 4: sea split.

751
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 1: This time the water.

752
00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,839
Speaker 4: Isn't gonna split, It's gonna spring, but it's still water.

753
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:04,879
Speaker 4: And I wonder, is this not the wisdom of God?

754
00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 4: Because he knows we'll get addicted to miracles.

755
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: And not be dependent on him.

756
00:43:12,360 --> 00:43:15,240
Speaker 4: So he says, you wanted me to do it like that, Nah,

757
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 4: I'm not splitting to see this time. This time is

758
00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 4: coming from a different place. Now you assume that God

759
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:25,240
Speaker 4: isn't speaking, I wonder, are you just not seeing?

760
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:28,080
Speaker 1: And he's speaking?

761
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,880
Speaker 4: Because the same Savior that spit in the man's eyes

762
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 4: didn't spit this time. This time he just spoke because

763
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 4: he's creative, so he doesn't have to spit. He can speak,

764
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:47,239
Speaker 4: he can spit. He can spit while he speaks. Like me,

765
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:52,000
Speaker 4: A lady told me one time, I sit on at

766
00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:54,279
Speaker 4: least the fourth throw because watching you preaches like be

767
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:55,719
Speaker 4: in a sea world. I gotta get out of his

768
00:43:55,760 --> 00:44:00,439
Speaker 4: flash zone. She said, you spit when you speak. And see,

769
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,440
Speaker 4: God doesn't always have to spit when he speaks. He's consistent,

770
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 4: but he's creative. And sometimes the fact that he is

771
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,880
Speaker 4: so creative causes you to forget how consistent he is.

772
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,239
Speaker 4: Because while you're waiting for him to spit. He's just

773
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:21,840
Speaker 4: speaking one word. Go, one word from God. This is

774
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,799
Speaker 4: what the Lord says, Go. And I came into the

775
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:30,280
Speaker 4: first weekend of our twentieth year of ministry to declare

776
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,680
Speaker 4: to you that not only is this the praise Church,

777
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:38,800
Speaker 4: but this is the proclamation church. This is the proclamation Church,

778
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:42,840
Speaker 4: where the word of the Lord reaches beyond the barriers

779
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:47,000
Speaker 4: of a physical campus or location, beyond the demographic of

780
00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 4: a certain socioeconomic stratus or class, beyond the backgrounds that

781
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,160
Speaker 4: we've all experienced up to this point. God said, forget

782
00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:58,759
Speaker 4: all of that. I am not defining your life by

783
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:01,919
Speaker 4: the former. This is the most beautiful thing he gave

784
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 4: me in so long, because after he said forget the

785
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:11,319
Speaker 4: former thing Verse twenty, he said, even the wild jackals

786
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,319
Speaker 4: and the owls know how to honor me, because I

787
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 4: provide water in the wilderness.

788
00:45:17,719 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: The sea is not splitting this time.

789
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 4: It doesn't need to the same people aren't going to

790
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 4: call you this time.

791
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:27,359
Speaker 1: They don't need to. It's not going to feel the.

792
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:29,960
Speaker 4: Same way this time. It doesn't have to. He said,

793
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:34,400
Speaker 4: I provide water in the wilderness, and so the animals

794
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 4: honor me, and waiting for the verse to come back

795
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:40,000
Speaker 4: up so I can finish it out and streams in

796
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:42,160
Speaker 4: the wasteland to give drink.

797
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:45,640
Speaker 1: To my people. Watch this, my chosen.

798
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:52,279
Speaker 4: That's who you are, my people, my chosen Verse twenty one,

799
00:45:53,160 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 4: the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my.

800
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 1: Praise.

801
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:08,480
Speaker 4: Leave the verse un let's splash around in this water

802
00:46:08,560 --> 00:46:12,640
Speaker 4: for a minute. He said, I want you to forget

803
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 4: the former because you are the people I formed for myself.

804
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,680
Speaker 1: And since he is God and is not limited by time,

805
00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,000
Speaker 1: he formed you for a future that only he knows.

806
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:30,000
Speaker 4: So everything you feel insecure about let it go is

807
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 4: not going to matter.

808
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:36,520
Speaker 1: Because he is your former. What do you mean former?

809
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 4: The same Hebrew word that Isaiah uses for former is

810
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:46,479
Speaker 4: translated as potter and planner. So what's he saying? Let

811
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 4: go of your plan so I can show you my purpose.

812
00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,480
Speaker 4: Let go of every plan that you made without God.

813
00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 4: Let go of every plan that you made by consulting

814
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 4: your past. Let go of every plan that.

815
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:06,920
Speaker 1: Was limited to the people you have around you.

816
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:13,320
Speaker 4: Right now, there's new rivers, new streams, new blessings, new wells,

817
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:19,080
Speaker 4: new beginnings.

818
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:25,879
Speaker 1: And what has stayed the same for.

819
00:47:25,719 --> 00:47:31,319
Speaker 4: Twenty years now in this church is the name, the

820
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 4: name of Jesus the Great. I am in flesh, incarnate

821
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:40,320
Speaker 4: in action the name of Jesus.

822
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:47,440
Speaker 1: The numbers have changed, The numbers have changed greatly. I

823
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:51,720
Speaker 1: used to preach to a room full of nineteen people.

824
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:57,800
Speaker 1: My passion wasn't lower. I didn't talk softer.

825
00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:04,560
Speaker 4: I'll scream louder because I was desperate and youthful.

826
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 1: Nothing changed about that when the numbers changed. But it's

827
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 1: an amazing thing.

828
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:18,040
Speaker 4: How sometimes God is speaking to you but you.

829
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,719
Speaker 1: Don't recognize him because it doesn't come from where you

830
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:22,200
Speaker 1: expect it.

831
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:22,759
Speaker 3: Wow.

832
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:27,839
Speaker 4: I have one friend in my life who changes his

833
00:48:27,880 --> 00:48:35,120
Speaker 4: phone number about every ten months. Every time he changes

834
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:38,360
Speaker 4: his number, and he knows exactly who he is. I

835
00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:40,920
Speaker 4: don't even bother anymore to replace his old name with

836
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 4: his new name. I just put a year out beside it,

837
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,279
Speaker 4: and let's say his name is is John. I have

838
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:55,719
Speaker 4: John twenty nineteen, John twenty twenty, John twenty twenty one,

839
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:59,840
Speaker 4: first quarter, John twenty twenty one, second quarter.

840
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:01,040
Speaker 1: In my phone.

841
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:05,880
Speaker 4: I got his name like fourteen times, but he hasn't changed.

842
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:15,640
Speaker 4: Just where he's calling me from.

843
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 1: Same name, new number, same name, new number.

844
00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 4: I commit to you afresh and anew on this the

845
00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 4: beginning of our twentieth year, and anybody who needs to leave,

846
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:33,160
Speaker 4: I'm gonna give you a second to do it before

847
00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:37,200
Speaker 4: I close this message. Thank you so much. Now, y'all

848
00:49:37,239 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 4: look at me.

849
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:42,600
Speaker 1: I don't care how many or how few God sends us.

850
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:45,799
Speaker 1: There is one name that is able.

851
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:50,080
Speaker 4: To save in this ministry. There is one name that

852
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,879
Speaker 4: is able to heal in this ministry. There is one

853
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 4: name that is able to get your kids off drugs.

854
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:59,479
Speaker 1: In this ministry. There is one name that is able

855
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,120
Speaker 1: to put your arn't back together in this ministry.

856
00:50:02,880 --> 00:50:06,040
Speaker 4: And as long as the name of Jesus is being proclaimed,

857
00:50:06,800 --> 00:50:11,120
Speaker 4: this is what the Lord says. There will always be

858
00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:15,440
Speaker 4: a current word over this house. There will always be

859
00:50:15,520 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 4: a fresh word over your life. And Father, I just

860
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 4: thank you today for your word in our wilderness. You

861
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 4: showed me before I stood up to preach God that

862
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:33,720
Speaker 4: this is what you have to say to this people

863
00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:37,200
Speaker 4: on this day, and you gave me a word for

864
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:37,880
Speaker 4: this occasion.

865
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:40,600
Speaker 1: But I don't believe it was just for our church anniversary.

866
00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:43,600
Speaker 4: I believe in my heart because I know you to

867
00:50:43,640 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 4: be good, that you are too consistent to ever change,

868
00:50:49,320 --> 00:50:51,640
Speaker 4: and you are too creative to do the same thing

869
00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:55,280
Speaker 4: the same way twice. So we thank you that although

870
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 4: our world feels unstable, unsteady, and changing all around us,

871
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:04,959
Speaker 4: never been a more important time for us to look

872
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:06,080
Speaker 4: toward your faithfulness.

873
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:09,680
Speaker 1: With your head's bowed and.

874
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:14,160
Speaker 4: Your eyes closed, there's somebody here that God is calling

875
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,319
Speaker 4: to for salvation. I would like to give you the

876
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:20,960
Speaker 4: invitation today, whether online or in the room, to receive

877
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord. There is no

878
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:29,680
Speaker 4: more important decision than this. There is no more important decision,

879
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,040
Speaker 4: not where you're gonna live, not who you're gonna marry,

880
00:51:32,239 --> 00:51:35,040
Speaker 4: who your heart belongs to, who you trust in for

881
00:51:35,280 --> 00:51:38,040
Speaker 4: the salvation of your soul. This is the most important

882
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:41,480
Speaker 4: decision you will ever make. This has always been a

883
00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:43,680
Speaker 4: church where people are welcome to come as they are,

884
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,040
Speaker 4: But it's also a church where God's not gonna let you.

885
00:51:47,040 --> 00:51:48,160
Speaker 1: Stay that way.

886
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,920
Speaker 4: He wants to change you called you chosen, so right now,

887
00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:56,239
Speaker 4: heads bowed, eyes closed. If this is your moment and

888
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:58,680
Speaker 4: you're ready to commit your life to Christ or recommit

889
00:51:58,719 --> 00:51:59,880
Speaker 4: your life to Christ, I'm gonna.

890
00:51:59,719 --> 00:52:00,520
Speaker 1: Lead you a prayer.

891
00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:07,360
Speaker 4: This prayer is not magical, but the power of God

892
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 4: when you pray this prayer is miraculous. And right now,

893
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:15,439
Speaker 4: in this moment, if you're ready to come to God

894
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:17,880
Speaker 4: and be forgiven of your sins, I want you to

895
00:52:17,880 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 4: repeat after me, and the whole church is going to

896
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 4: pray with you. Pray this Heavenly Father. Today is my

897
00:52:24,880 --> 00:52:30,239
Speaker 4: day of salvation. I am a sinner in need of

898
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 4: a savior. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the

899
00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 4: Son of God and the savior of the world. And

900
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:45,600
Speaker 4: today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. I

901
00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:50,200
Speaker 4: believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose

902
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:52,920
Speaker 4: again to give me life.

903
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. I am a child of God.

904
00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:00,719
Speaker 4: If you pray that, sh at your hand up on

905
00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:04,480
Speaker 4: the count of three, one, two, three, and we're praising God.

906
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 1: With you, praising God with you.

907
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:16,320
Speaker 4: Awesome man, awesome on every location. We celebrate you on

908
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:18,440
Speaker 4: every come on. This is the praise Church.

909
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:21,560
Speaker 1: This is the praise Church.

910
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:28,680
Speaker 4: You know, we gotta do right.

911
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:32,440
Speaker 1: You know what we gotta do right. We gotta give God.

912
00:53:32,320 --> 00:53:34,960
Speaker 4: The biggest praise we've given him in our twentieth year.

913
00:53:35,800 --> 00:53:53,759
Speaker 1: Five four three, twenty seconds to break brow pass those

914
00:53:53,840 --> 00:53:54,720
Speaker 1: bibles around.

915
00:53:56,440 --> 00:53:59,239
Speaker 4: Yeah, take that Bible, man, get in it. Find out

916
00:53:59,320 --> 00:54:03,040
Speaker 4: this is what the Lord says. Never wait till you

917
00:54:03,080 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 4: get to church to hear what the Lord says. The

918
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,160
Speaker 4: devil follows you around all weeks, so don't wait till

919
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:12,600
Speaker 4: Sunday to suit up. What a privilege, What an honor.

920
00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,399
Speaker 4: I love being your pastor. Holly loves it too. Coming

921
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:20,680
Speaker 4: up with me, Bebe, I got you.

922
00:54:24,520 --> 00:54:25,320
Speaker 1: I'll tell you one.

923
00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,040
Speaker 4: More story I left out of my sermon, and then

924
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:29,360
Speaker 4: I'll let the campus pastors all close.

925
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:33,880
Speaker 1: You mind if I close here? Okay, take this for

926
00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:36,920
Speaker 1: me real quick. I was going to tell you this,

927
00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:38,680
Speaker 1: but I feel like maybe it was for this moment.

928
00:54:41,239 --> 00:54:43,640
Speaker 4: When we were in Los Angeles a couple of years

929
00:54:43,640 --> 00:54:47,080
Speaker 4: ago doing one of our elevation nights, I found myself

930
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:49,160
Speaker 4: on the brink of something like what I've heard a

931
00:54:49,239 --> 00:54:51,240
Speaker 4: panic attack is before I went out to preach.

932
00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 1: Now, I begin to understand.

933
00:54:53,160 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 4: That because of the adrenal fatigue of doing that so

934
00:54:56,239 --> 00:54:58,000
Speaker 4: many nights in a row, I really have to manage

935
00:54:58,000 --> 00:54:58,560
Speaker 4: my energy.

936
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,239
Speaker 1: But there was a moment before I went out to preach.

937
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 4: To the people of God, and I thought, I'm not

938
00:55:02,719 --> 00:55:05,360
Speaker 4: going to be able to do it tonight. Combined with

939
00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:07,880
Speaker 4: fatigue was the fact that I was a little bit

940
00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:10,200
Speaker 4: awe struck by how many people were coming to be

941
00:55:10,239 --> 00:55:12,520
Speaker 4: a part of the ministry. And it blew my mind.

942
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 4: And it didn't make me think I'm the man, look

943
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:17,600
Speaker 4: at me now. It made me think, God, what in

944
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:20,239
Speaker 4: the world am I doing here? And I began to

945
00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:23,560
Speaker 4: remember my past almost so vividly that, although I'm thankful

946
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:26,040
Speaker 4: for it, it kind of became a limitation on what

947
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:28,600
Speaker 4: I thought the Lord could do through me, because what

948
00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:31,120
Speaker 4: is a boy from a town of six thousand people

949
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:35,399
Speaker 4: doing preaching to fourteen thousand in LA And it kept

950
00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:38,040
Speaker 4: getting worse because they kept telling me about different people

951
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:40,279
Speaker 4: that were coming that night, and some of them were

952
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:43,600
Speaker 4: very well known. And as I was just freaking out

953
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:46,040
Speaker 4: with God for a moment, hollywalked in.

954
00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:47,680
Speaker 1: When she did, I.

955
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 4: Had a sort of flashback of all of the ministry

956
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:53,359
Speaker 4: that we've done together since we were eighteen years old,

957
00:55:54,440 --> 00:55:56,280
Speaker 4: and all of a sudden, I was no longer in

958
00:55:56,440 --> 00:56:00,799
Speaker 4: Los Angeles, California, preaching to fourteen thousand. I was back

959
00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 4: in a little town called Loris, South Carolina, preaching to

960
00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:09,279
Speaker 4: fourteen I was no longer in California at all. I

961
00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:14,480
Speaker 4: was in Cowpins, South Carolina, preaching to six and I

962
00:56:14,520 --> 00:56:16,960
Speaker 4: realized something in that moment that gave me confidence that

963
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,320
Speaker 4: I've held on through many situations in my life, and maybe.

964
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:21,640
Speaker 1: It'll bless you too.

965
00:56:21,880 --> 00:56:25,040
Speaker 4: I realized that although the numbers are much bigger, the

966
00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:29,920
Speaker 4: faithfulness of God has always been the same. And as

967
00:56:29,960 --> 00:56:34,680
Speaker 4: I looked at Holly and I began to remember all

968
00:56:34,719 --> 00:56:36,640
Speaker 4: of those times that we stood and saying, Lord, I

969
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,480
Speaker 4: lift your name on high, and every move I make

970
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:42,240
Speaker 4: in you, I make in you, make me move Jesus,

971
00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 4: and Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary. And as

972
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:49,640
Speaker 4: the deer panted for the water, and I realized I

973
00:56:49,680 --> 00:57:04,520
Speaker 4: got the same girl and the same God. So after

974
00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 4: I say this, I'm going to dismiss you, So campus pastors,

975
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:07,640
Speaker 4: you better take.

976
00:57:07,520 --> 00:57:08,080
Speaker 1: It right now.

977
00:57:09,239 --> 00:57:11,320
Speaker 4: I don't know what this new season of your life

978
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:13,680
Speaker 4: is intimidating you with, threatening you with. I don't know

979
00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:16,000
Speaker 4: what's in your past that haunts you or what you

980
00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:17,160
Speaker 4: wish you could go back to.

981
00:57:18,600 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 1: But I declare Isaiah.

982
00:57:20,200 --> 00:57:24,880
Speaker 4: Forty three nineteen over every man, woman, boy, girl and

983
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 4: family in Elevation Church today. See I am doing a

984
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:32,320
Speaker 4: new thing.

985
00:57:33,440 --> 00:57:37,360
Speaker 1: Now it springs up. Now it springs up. Do you

986
00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:40,840
Speaker 1: not perceive it? And what's what God is doing? I

987
00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:41,720
Speaker 1: am making a.

988
00:57:41,680 --> 00:57:47,160
Speaker 4: Way in the wilderness and streams in the way slang.

989
00:57:48,040 --> 00:57:50,640
Speaker 4: So everybody believes that the God who was with you

990
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:55,000
Speaker 4: then is with you now. Give him an eternal praise.

991
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,600
Speaker 1: I love you, God, bless thank you. Let's do this

992
00:58:01,800 --> 00:58:04,600
Speaker 1: twentieth year right. God is with you.

993
00:58:05,200 --> 00:58:08,720
Speaker 4: God is for you. Have a great day. Happy annivers

994
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:09,280
Speaker 4: for Church.

995
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:13,880
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.

996
00:58:14,200 --> 00:58:16,640
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

997
00:58:16,720 --> 00:58:20,200
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

998
00:58:20,640 --> 00:58:22,840
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give

999
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:27,080
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more

1000
00:58:27,080 --> 00:58:30,920
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

1001
00:58:31,200 --> 00:58:32,520
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.

1002
00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:35,080
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

1003
00:58:35,120 --> 00:58:37,240
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at

1004
00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:38,120
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.

1005
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.

1006
00:58:39,240 --> 00:58:44,800
Speaker 3: God bless you.