WEBVTT - God’s Got The Hard Part! 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.440 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.280 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.640 Anybody online watching this, remember when you had to buy 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:24.479 the cassette tape of the sermon. Yeah, man, you have 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:26.760 to wait. If you wanted a sermon online, you had 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.200 to order it. There was no online. You had to 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.640 call up and order it and wait six weeks. But 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.200 I got good news. You don't have to wait six weeks. 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:38.320 Welcome to our EPAM all over the world. 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.960 Come on, Balantine, help me. Welcome our EPAM all. 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:51.800 Over the world. Perchance you missed it. We're celebrating the 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.800 end of the year. We're not dreading the holidays. We're 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.200 just getting ready to give God praise and thanks. Here 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.720 at our church, we end our ye with a year 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:03.560 end offering. And I want all of you to be 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.680 a part of it. And you say, well, I don't 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:06.440 live in Charlotte. 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:07.120 You don't have to. 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:09.600 You say, well, I don't have much to give you 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.640 don't have to have much to give. I want everybody 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:15.560 to be a part of it. And our culmination Sunday 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.320 is on December the eighth, So between now and then, 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:20.520 I want you to pray and ask God how he 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.680 would have you to be a part, and if the 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.680 way that He would have you to be apart is 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:26.480 just to keep coming to church. I want you to 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:29.480 know we will always be here for you, whether you 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.160 give anything to this ministry or not. 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:39.959 You ought to clap about that, because they don't tell 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:40.720 you that. At the gym. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:42.559 You can just come in and lift our weights, whether 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:44.080 you ever give anything or not. Do that. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:45.759 When's the last time you. 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.480 Went to a restaurant and they said, whether you ever 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.240 give anything or not, we'll always have fresh bread for you. 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:53.960 But the Lord is like that, and I want to 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.240 say something else. There are thousands of people who are generous. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:57.520 In this church. 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.960 And they give, and they and they sow, and they 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.720 believe and they're consistent. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.720 And I thank God for each and every one of you. 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.120 I'm so grateful to. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:15.560 Trust me when I step up to this pulpit. I'm 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.600 never stepping up here by myself. I mean, there's an 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:21.760 army of people in this church who love Jesus, who 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.000 love the Kingdom, and who are committed to His purpose. 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.799 And so we want to invite all of you this 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.520 is a time to begin giving if you've never done that, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.079 or to give above and beyond. And I'm excited to 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.359 see what God will do again. That's December the eighth, 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:41.520 December the eighth, Sunday, December the eighth, and between now 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:42.359 and then you can give. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.040 Okay, now, I want to share with you. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.639 I got all the preliminary out of the way what 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.000 the Lord has given me to say to you today. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.200 And I have tossed and turned over this message, not 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.720 because it's controversial, just because I want to be very 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.400 sure that I had from God what he wanted to 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:06.160 give to you today. 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.720 And last night when I went to bed, I thought 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.520 I had it, woke. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:17.680 Up at three it wasn't it, And I had the right. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:18.560 Passage of scripture. 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.520 But the Lord wanted me to give it to you 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:21.960 in a certain way, and I didn't know how that 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.200 was yet, but I heard from him now, I don't know. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:26.919 A few weeks ago, if you were here when I 0:03:27.000 --> 0:03:30.480 preached on God can use this too. Put that in 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.120 the chat real quick, say, God can use this too, 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.920 And then I preached a follow up message about how 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:39.000 God will work it in. 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:41.480 God will work it in. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.160 And I was talking about how God is a master 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.800 of taking those things in our life that we maybe 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.720 didn't see coming or maybe we wouldn't have chosen to experience, 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:52.520 and we don't know what to do with it, but 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:57.880 God does, Like God is a master of improv because 0:03:57.880 --> 0:03:59.240 he's not making it up as he goes, so it 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.720 doesn't take him by so it's a surprise. 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.480 To you, but as strategic to him. 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.880 So we had God can use this to God will 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.920 work it in. And this is going to be a 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.440 little bit like in that same flow or in that 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.360 same rhythm. And I want you to look at your 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.400 neighbor and give them my title. Tell them God's got 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:21.560 the hard part. Yeah, yeah, yeah, God's got the hard part. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.400 Father. I thank you for your word. Every time that. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.000 We bow before your word, we get better. Every time 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.520 we bow before your word, we get better. Now, if 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.800 we just consider it like an opinion, not much changes. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.760 But if we bow before it like you're a great king, 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.839 we receive so much more than we could ever give. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.320 Thank you for bringing us here today. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.479 Thank you for each person, whatever state that they're in, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.640 whatever they're going through. I thank you that you've got 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.200 the hard part and we believe it by faith in Jesus' name. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.960 Amen, you may be see to tell your neighbor God's God, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:05.720 this God's got the hard part. Well, we're going to 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:07.400 study in Mark chapter four. 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.240 A little story really is a story sandwiched between two 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:14.120 other stories. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.159 And it's a made up story. But it's not fiction. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.440 You say it's a made up story, that's not fiction. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.040 Well, when Jesus teaches it, it's truer than a true story. 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.920 He used these things when he talked, called parables. Everybody 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:31.520 say parable, and the parable wasn't so much so he 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:32.400 could keep it simple. 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.280 I've heard people say that, Well, Jesus told stories. 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.880 To keep it simple. How are you doing. You've been 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:39.719 coming so faithfully for ten years. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.960 I am so thankful anytime I see somebody that I never. 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.839 Got to meet you right there but under the camera. 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.440 Yes, yes, yes, yes yes yes yes yes, yes, thank 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.400 you Okay, So it's amazing. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.520 They say that Jesus would teach. 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:53.960 A lot of times just to say you know, I 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:55.520 know you can't get it on a deep level. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.080 So let me just make it surface level. It's actually 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:58.839 the opposite. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.120 He taught using parables or stories, so that people who 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.200 were just on the outside trying to misuse his teachings 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.840 or think that they could just apply an external law 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:10.440 and be more religious and more pleasing to God, they 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.000 wouldn't get it. But he wanted you to have to 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.200 dig for it, so that you couldn't just take one 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.000 of his teachings and use it how you wanted to, 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:21.960 but you actually had to take the teaching and then 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.359 he has to explain it to you or you. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:24.880 Don't get it. 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.720 So what I take from that is that I can't 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.240 just take the teachings of Jesus and be transformed. I 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:36.240 have to have a relationship with Jesus. And in the 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.040 relationship with Jesus not. 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.080 In a physical body. We don't have him here. 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:42.880 With us physically today, but through the Holy Spirit that 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.960 he sent, he can take a teaching and transform us 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.760 through it. So you got to wonder when people say 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.599 things like, boy, it would have been nice to be 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:56.560 a disciple where Jesus could have taught you face to 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.320 face and you could have been with him physically in 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.479 his presence. It really have been as nice as we 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.120 think it would be. When I read about the disciples 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.720 following Jesus. Honestly, to me, it feels like it would 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:12.320 have been really hard because of what I just told you. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.600 He's always saying things that make no sense on the surface, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:19.760 and then you have to be the one in the 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:25.440 class who asks, teacher, I don't mean to slow the 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:26.880 class down, but what did you mean by what you 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.320 just said? Now? One of those situations was in Mark 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.720 chapter four, and I just want to read. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:33.680 You these four verses. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:38.760 There are three parables or stories about seeds, and this one, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.480 this one is right in the middle. So it's like 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:46.880 a parable sandwich that Jesus is giving the disciples, and 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.640 he's helping them to understand what the Kingdom of God 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.000 is like. And this is the second of three examples, 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:54.000 so it's the meat in the middle of the sandwich. 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.640 So it's a real good one. Look at Mark chapter four, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.360 verse twenty six. He also said, this is what the 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.520 Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:10.040 the ground night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:15.960 the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:16.160 All by itself. 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.360 The soil produces grain, first the stalk, then the head, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.480 and then the full kernel in the head. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.560 As soon as the grain is ripe. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.680 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:36.840 sickle to it because the harvest has come. Tell your neighbor, 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:42.040 God has a schedule for this. The schedule that God 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.160 has for your life and for his kingdom is compared 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:47.600 here to a seed. So go back to the first 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.200 verse and Justin, if you can try it out for me. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:51.480 We got a new thing we want to try to 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:52.240 teach you the Bible. 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:54.000 Just circle the word where it says. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:59.120 He also said in verse twenty six, circle the word also, and. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:00.920 Then where it says, this is what the Kingdom of 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:07.400 God is like. Circle the word like and good. Okay, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.440 that's cool. Look at Justin in the back. Give it 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.760 up for Justin in the back. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:17.600 That was good, Like Kirk Curve Street or something. Circle 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.160 and stuff on the screen in real time. I just 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.960 want to see that, because that looks terrible. How you circled. Also, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.760 by the way, Justin, I guess he's trying to copy 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.040 his pastor's handwriting. 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.480 If you've ever seen me, circle stuff. 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:35.640 But we'll get the bugs worked out. He's trying to 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.160 explain something to them. The Kingdom of God. Now this 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:41.480 was an original term with Jesus. This wasn't like a 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:45.120 thing to them. It wasn't a thing. Like when I 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:46.960 said earlier in the announcements, I didn't plan it, but 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:48.920 I was talking about cassette tapes. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.720 And some of you were like, is that a thing? 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:53.560 Is it still a thing? 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.679 And actually cassette tapes are making a comeback in the 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.800 vintage market, so maybe some of my stuff will be 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.920 worth money. But if you've never seen one, or you 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.280 didn't listen to one, or maybe you even have seen 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:05.920 one but you don't know how it works, you're like, 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.160 is that even a thing? And the Kingdom of God 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:13.800 was not even a thing. They knew the Kingdom of Israel, 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.800 but they didn't know the Kingdom of God. They knew 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.920 the Law of Moses, but they didn't know the Kingdom 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.840 of God. So Jesus is trying to take something that 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.160 they haven't seen and explain it to them, a concept 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.200 for which they have no context. And that's difficult to 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:38.360 understand a concept for which you have no context. It's difficult, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.320 I guess I would say it's difficult to know what 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:47.040 something is like when you haven't lived it, when you 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.920 haven't lived it. And see, Jesus did not start existing 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.400 when he came to earth. The Bible says, in the 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.640 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:01.760 and the Word was God. Now the Word of God 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.920 was made flesh and dwelt among us at an appointed 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:09.960 time in human history. But Jesus existed before he appeared 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.920 in an earthly body. So now you've got Jesus, who 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:18.839 has eternally existed from the beginning, speaking to people who 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.440 are moving through time, trying to explain to them what 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.600 it's like to wait for the promise of God, to 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.520 see the fulfillment of the promise of God, to know 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.760 that some parts of the promise of God will never fully. 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:32.840 Be realized on this earth. 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.160 Some of the things that are wrong with us on 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.360 this earth will only be righted in heaven. But here 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.920 on this earth, How do I get them to see 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.320 what it's like when they've never seen what I saw. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.400 Jesus was with God in the beginning before there was sin, 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.880 so he knows what sinlessness is. Jesus was with God 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.320 in heaven where nothing is broken, so he knows what 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.840 healing is Jesus was with God in heaven eternally when 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.360 he he was speaking in the world was existing, so 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.880 that things which are made were not made out of 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.280 things which do appear. So in the Word of God 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.880 shows up in human flesh. He has to bridge the 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.400 two worlds together, the one you can see and the 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.520 one you can't see, and he is reduced to something 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.520 that most of us learned in the second grade. Jesus 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:27.600 Christ has to speak in similes because I can't show 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:29.520 you what it's really like because you never saw it. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.640 So it's kind of like And he does three stories 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.360 and they're all about seeds. One he tells that seeds 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.680 fall in different places. Some get choked, some get gobbled, 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.600 some get scorched, and some grow. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:46.760 Which one do you want to be? He seems to be. 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.440 Saying, because he's saying, I'm teaching, and my teaching is good, 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.240 but it's got to fall on good soil. And then 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:56.560 after the one I read, I told you it's a sandwich. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.800 The other piece of bread on the sandwich is a 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.320 a small seed called a mustard seed that is the 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.959 smallest seed that you can see, but it becomes the 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.400 biggest tree where the bird's French. That kind of reminds 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.160 me of our church. You know, didn't start big, didn't 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:19.720 start big at all. Nothing that God does does I said, 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.880 nothing that God starts starts any other way than small, 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.680 whether that's your life in the womb, or whether that's 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.920 a dream in your heart, or whether that's freedom from addiction. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:37.760 It will always start small, say it. It always starts small. Now, 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.920 but touch your neighbors, say it doesn't have to stay small. 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.120 That's up to you. That's up to you. And so 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.000 we see in this parable. I don't know if you 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:52.959 noticed a partnership. We've got a man who is sowing seed, 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.720 or the NIV says scattering. I like that word scatter 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.440 better because it gets the point across that you have 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:00.840 to do a lot of it for any of it 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:01.200 to work. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:04.120 Some of y'all just give up the first time something 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:04.680 doesn't work. 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.400 The first girl that rejects you, you don't ask another 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.120 one for a date, And now you want to join 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.880 the monastery because the first one didn't work. A scattered that, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:17.640 I mean, that's how a lot of us feel, right like, 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.200 I'm trying a bunch of stuff and I don't know 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:20.160 which one's gonna work. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:21.960 Let me come to this side. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.040 I'm trying a bunch of stuff. Come on, I really 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.200 don't know which one's gonna work. I got this going on. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.280 Some of y'all got so many side hustles and back 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.880 hustles and forward hustles and top hustles. 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.560 And man, it gets kind of crazy. 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.200 But you have to feel for Jesus and the disciples 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:45.720 because in their unique situation, Jesus is trying to teach 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.600 them about something they've never seen, and they are trying 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.640 to receive something for which they have no frame of reference. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.920 I don't know which one's harder. Jesus breaks it down 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.480 to a level they can understand. He does what any 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.880 great teacher will do, is that to introduce you to 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:10.480 something foreign. He speaks of something familiar. The Kingdom of 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:17.120 God is like a man scattering see. But they don't 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:19.680 come from where he comes from. They come from where 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.840 they come from. They have their background, He has his 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:25.880 You think he's going to come down to their level. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.600 Well, in one sense, he does. He comes in flesh, 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.320 but he wants you to know I came down to 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.080 your level so I could raise you up to mine. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.320 Oh God, I feel the Holy Spirit all over my 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.800 body right now, running up and down my neck to 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.680 let you know, you're not staying down here in this 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:46.880 You're not staying down here. 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:48.320 In what was handed to you. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.840 You're not staying down here in your grandmother's addiction. You're 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.600 not staying down here in your daddy's way of thinking. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.480 You're not staying down here in the last three years 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.440 that you wasted. You're not staying down here. He came 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.520 down so I could come up. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.080 Shop. Come up. 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.800 You're not commanding anybody but yourself. Bless the Lord, oh 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.080 my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:23.120 holy name, come up and praise him. 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:27.600 And it's hard to explain what it's like if you've 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:32.280 never lived with it. So he's using okay, example, me 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.040 and Graham were having a friendly debate the other day. 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:35.040 It wasn't a heated argument. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:39.600 He wasn't being disrespectful, but I was right. And after 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:41.400 about three and four times back and forth, I don't 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.680 remember what we were arguing about, but it was something factual. 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:45.560 It wasn't an opinion. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.280 So we went where you always can go to get 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:54.880 the truth online, and after about two or three times 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.680 back and forth, I said, well, look it up, and 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.000 he looked it up. And I don't remember who was right. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.080 I just remember the conversation we had after Okay, I 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:03.760 said look it up. 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:04.960 He looked it up, and we were done. 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.040 It was hard for me to explain to him what 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.399 it was like to have a time when. 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:12.879 You couldn't do that. 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:20.280 In many ways, it was so much better because when 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:23.320 they couldn't look it up, you could make it up. 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.119 And it was whoever that was the most confident about it. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:32.359 That would win. 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.680 You can't ask Siri, you can't ask chat GPT, you 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:42.080 just asking, you know, just here's really what I told 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.760 him about it. I can't even explain it to you 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:50.199 because you have never experienced a time when you just 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.160 had to agree to disagree. 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.280 And somebody may go home and look. 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:02.200 It up in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This is a throwback Sunday. 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.640 This is turned it into a real old fashioned church 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.679 service today. Were getting old fashioned today, we got that 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:10.679 Ald time religion today. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:15.399 It's good for paulin Silas, it's good enough for me. 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.080 So listen to this. I said, I. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.000 Can't tell you really what it was like because you 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:27.560 didn't live it. You didn't live it. Don't judge what 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:32.199 people are like if you haven't lived it. I'm just 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.240 talking about some things that I know about. For all 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:39.119 of you who talk about pastors real bad, come be one, 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:43.920 Come be one twenty eight days, Come be one for 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.879 twenty eight minutes and talk to me about it. 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.359 And I would say the same about you. I don't 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.120 preach down to you. I never preach down to you. 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.840 I never pretend like your life isn't harder than mine 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:58.000 because or. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:18:59.560 That you're not wholly like me. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.199 Do that because I don't believe that, because my King doesn't. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:07.800 He's relatable. 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.960 He sees me in my struggle, he sees me in 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.520 the sickness of the cycles of my sin. He doesn't 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.800 stand up there and talk down to me. He comes 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.240 down there and brings me up with him, and I 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.680 am seated in heavenly places with Jesus high five. 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:28.920 Your neighbors say God's got. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:37.320 This all right. So so it's hard to know what 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:42.960 mental illness is like if you haven't lived it. It's 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.119 hard to know what abandonment issues are like if you 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.359 don't have them. Well, why do they keep pushing people away? 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:54.480 They learn to It was a survival instinct that was corrupted. 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:56.320 And prolonged. 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:57.639 WO. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:19:59.920 That's why I thank God. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.639 For Jesus teaching me about the seed, to let me know, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.280 give me my camera, y'all. It doesn't have to stay 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:11.000 this way. 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:15.000 It doesn't have to stay this way. 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.680 And I know it's hard, and I don't know what 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:19.800 your heart is, and I don't think we should just 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.920 start comparing different degrees of hardness. I don't think that 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.000 gets us anywhere. So, whether it's hospital visits that you're making, 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.000 whether it's doctor's appointments that you're keeping, whether it's racism 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.840 that you're battling, whether it's classism that you're battling, whether 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:36.880 it's your own stupid. 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.800 Stories that you tell yourself that you're battling. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:41.560 We all come to this place to know that God 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:54.879 is good, but life is hard, and Jesus is so high, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.840 but he came down and did something so hard. 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:03.080 What a savior. I feel like you already got your 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:07.480 gas money's worth I do. I feel like you already got. 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.399 You just to know that he's not so high that 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:14.359 he doesn't see how hard it is for you, and 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.520 you ever wonder this is something I think sometimes? Is 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:19.560 it as hard for everybody else as it is for me, 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.520 because everybody else like dealing with the same level of 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:30.160 distraction where I pick up my phone to send a 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.360 text and I end up ordering a dress. 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:37.760 And I'm a man, what happened? 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:43.960 It's hard to stay focused right now. And he's high 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.000