1 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 2: new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: So good to be with you guys today. My name 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: is Jonathan. Everyone calls me JJ. I get to serve 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: here as our Valentine campus pastor, and I'm grateful to 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: be able to share God's word with you today. You know, 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: I'm so we're just thinking God, I'm just grateful for you, 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: and I feel so grateful this week, not only grateful 11 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: for the opportunity to share God's word. 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 3: But I was just thinking too. 13 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:47,880 Speaker 1: In just a couple of weeks, we'll celebrate ten years 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: since this Valentine location opened. Isn't that crazy? Ten years already? 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: And even as I look around this room, I'm so grateful. 16 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: I see people who have, you know, come at different 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: points along the journey, but so many OG's in the room. 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: Katrina and Antonio all ten years you've been serving with 19 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: us here. Yeah, and whoel Tom and Lisa are on 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: the floor and Craig name you've been here all ten too? 21 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, it's amazing. 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: Thank you, And Anna said in the car, She's like, 23 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: can you believe that you were just twenty nine years 24 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: old when Pastor Steven asked you to come help launch 25 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: this Valentine campus. And I don't know what he was thinking, 26 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,319 Speaker 1: but I'm so glad that he saw something in me 27 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: and believed. I'm so grateful for a pastor who would 28 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: let me grow with the ministry, and these last ten years, 29 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: being able to be a part of so many of 30 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 1: your lives has been such a privilege, and I want 31 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: to thank Pastor Stephen for the opportunity to preach today. 32 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,119 Speaker 1: And even as I look back over this ten years, 33 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: I've been a part of the church longer than that, 34 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: but so many moments where the messages that God gave 35 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: him hit me exactly in the place that I needed 36 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: the most. Even on this Father's Day weekend, I was 37 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: getting teary thinking about how my firstborn, when I first 38 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: became a dad. Just a week later, we ended up 39 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: back in the hospital with him. Remember turning on ugh, 40 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: oh man, excuse me, but. 41 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 3: Turn it on the stream in. 42 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: That hospital room, watching Pastor preaching a series called How 43 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: to Be Brave, And at a moment where I needed courage, 44 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: how his words gave me courage and so many other 45 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: moments along the way when I wanted to give up 46 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: and he preached moments sermons like staying power, or where 47 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: I felt. 48 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 3: Lonely and he preached lonely places. 49 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: All these amazing messages that have just carried me through 50 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: season to season, glory to glory, strength to strength. 51 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 3: Or He's so grateful for our pastors. 52 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: Can we thank the Lord for them? And this whole 53 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,079 Speaker 1: summer has been amazing so far. I mean, we've had 54 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: so many great people bringing the Word of God to us. 55 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: Pastor Jabon preached a powerful word for us last week, 56 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: and Pastor Robert mcdou what was that mess? 57 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 3: Unbelievable? And who else I'll be preached one weekend I'll be. 58 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: At a great word for us and Priscilla Shire like, 59 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: what was Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. 60 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 3: So but I have a scripture I'm excited to share 61 00:02:58,040 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 3: with you today. 62 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,280 Speaker 1: I've never preached on a psalm, and I just came 63 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 1: across the Psalm in my daily reading and administered to me. 64 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 3: So much that I thought I want to preach that. 65 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: And as I begin to study this passage, the Lord 66 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: begin to reveal more and more to me through it 67 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: and really challenged me in a way that was pretty 68 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: profound and personal. It's a long passage of scripture. You 69 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: good to stand for a little bit while we read 70 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: this together. I want to read Psalm one thirty nine, 71 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: and it's so rich. I don't know what the sermon 72 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,239 Speaker 1: will bless you today, but I know this passage of 73 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: scripture will bless you today. Let's read this together. The 74 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: Psalmist said, you have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 75 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: You know when I sit and when I rise. You 76 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and. 77 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 3: My laying down. 78 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word 79 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: is on my tongue, you Lord know it completely. You 80 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: hem me in behind, and before you lay your hand 81 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too 82 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: lofty for me to obtain. Where can I go from 83 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,120 Speaker 1: your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? When 84 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: I go up to the heavens, you are there. If 85 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 86 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if 87 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: I settle on the far side of the sea, even 88 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: there your hand will guide me. Your right hand will 89 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: hold me fast. If I say surely, the darkness will 90 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 1: hide me, and the light become night around me. Even 91 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: the darkness will not be dark to you. The night 92 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: will shine like the day, For darkness is as light 93 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: to you. For you created my inmost being. You knit 94 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because 95 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 96 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 3: Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. My 97 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 3: frame was not hidden from you when I. 98 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,239 Speaker 1: Was made in the secret place. When I was woven 99 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw 100 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were 101 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: written in your book before one of them came to be. 102 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: How precious to me are your thoughts? God, How vast 103 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: is the sum of them. Where I had to count them, 104 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake 105 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: still I am with you. Search me, God, and know 106 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See 107 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: if there is any offensive way in me, and lead 108 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: me in the way everlasting. Before I give you my title, 109 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: would you just make David's words your prayer this morning? 110 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: Would you just say, search me God. Now say it 111 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: to your father in heaven, say search me God. The 112 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: title of my message today is I left that out. 113 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 3: I left that out. You may be seated. 114 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: This is always a big week in our household. Two 115 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: of my kids had birthdays this week and of course 116 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: Father's Day, and then just a week ago, me and 117 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: Anna celebrated sixteen years of marriage. Praise the Lord. They 118 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,920 Speaker 1: said we wouldn't make it look at us. One of 119 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: the things we've really made a priority in our marriage 120 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: and our life over the last several years now is 121 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: doing a marriage counseling together. So helpful. 122 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 3: Every time I say that, people go like, oh, no, 123 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 3: what's wrong, But for. 124 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,280 Speaker 1: Us, it was, you know, we just saw, wouldn't it 125 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: be good to talk with someone regularly, get perspective, get 126 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: healthy before something goes wrong, you know, especially as life 127 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: becomes more complex, is we're trying to raise kids and 128 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: all that, and so we've been doing this for a 129 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,360 Speaker 1: few years now and it's been so helpful for us. 130 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: Ninety nine percent of our time with the counselor is 131 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: Anna working through things. 132 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 3: But now and then there's. 133 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 1: Something that comes up that pertains to me and anyone 134 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: who knows this knows that's very far from the truth, okay. 135 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: But one of the things that the counselor's been really 136 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: trying to work with me on that I can tell 137 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: she keeps nudging and it's taken me a while to 138 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: get the hint, is just being more open and being 139 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: a little bit more vulnerable. I can be a pretty 140 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: guarded person. I'm a nice person, but I can be 141 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: a pretty guarded person. And I can tell the counselor's 142 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: been working with me, trying to work with me on that, 143 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 1: because even in mine and Anna's relationship, it's like I'll 144 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: come home from work and I'm so interested in her 145 00:06:58,160 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: day and what the kids are up to, and we'll 146 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 1: listen to her stories from throughout the day, and when 147 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 1: she asked me, how was your day, I normally give 148 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: her this answer it was good, it was good, and 149 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: it's not a lie, it's just limited. That's kind of 150 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: all I give her. And then I'm realizing something's wrong 151 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: with me when I see her using little tricks on 152 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: me that she uses on our boys, Like she'll ask 153 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: them around the dinner table, what were your highs and lows? 154 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: And they seemed to talk a little bit more so 155 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: when she started asking me what was your highs and lows? 156 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: I go, oh, my goodness, I need to grow. God 157 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: help me. And so the counselor's been she's been trying 158 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: to help me in this. And I had a friend 159 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: this week he said it this way. He said, full 160 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: intimacy requires full access. Full intimacy requires full access. 161 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 3: And even as I. 162 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: Think about it in my relationship with Anna and other 163 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: relationships in my life, I'm realizing more and more that 164 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: even when it comes to my relationship with God, there's 165 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: a lot of things that I leave out when it 166 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: comes to my prime and prayer with Him, my walk 167 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,640 Speaker 1: with him. Thing is that I think, oh, that's just 168 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: too small for God to care about. Other people are 169 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: going through way harder things than that. Why would God 170 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: care about this? I'll just leave that out. Or things 171 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: that I feel are too messy, too shameful to bring 172 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: to God, so I just leave that out. But more 173 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: and more I'm realizing that to have an intimate relationship 174 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: with God, to really know him, it requires that I 175 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: give him full access to my life. This time last year, 176 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: I'm father's dad preached a message called All I Know. 177 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:28,560 Speaker 1: It was about personally experiencing the power of God, the 178 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: testimonies we build through. That really is such a theme 179 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,560 Speaker 1: of my life because I think that deep down I 180 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: have such a desire to know the Lord. One of 181 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 1: my favorite scriptures my life Versus Philippians three ten, where 182 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: Paul says, my one purpose is that I would know Christ. 183 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 3: It resonates with me. That really resonates with me. 184 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: And yet I think, as deeply as I desire to 185 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: know the Lord, there's a part of me that really 186 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: hesitates to let the Lord know me. But full intimacy 187 00:08:56,400 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: requires full access. This psalm is so beautiful because David 188 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,600 Speaker 1: is laying forth a theology that tells us so much 189 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: about God. There's a simple structure to this. It goes 190 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: six verses, six verses, six verses. For the first six verses, 191 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: he's talking about this simple idea that God knows everything. 192 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: The theological term for that is God is omniscient, means 193 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 1: there's nothing that he doesn't know. David says, you know, 194 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: you know when I lie, You know the words I 195 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: speak before they even come out of my mouth. Let 196 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: your neighbors say, God knows everything. God knows everything. So 197 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: he spends six verses talking about how God knows every 198 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: single detail of your life. And then the next six 199 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,199 Speaker 1: verses he talks about the how God is everywhere. The 200 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:41,199 Speaker 1: word for that is He's omnipresent. Everyone say, God is everywhere. 201 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: He says, Even if I go to the darkness, you're there. God. 202 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 3: It becomes light to you. If I go to the heavens, 203 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 3: You're there. 204 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: If I go to that, there's nowhere I can go 205 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: that your presence doesn't go with me. 206 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 3: And then for the next six. 207 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,240 Speaker 1: Verses, David begins to talk about the power of God. 208 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: He's omnipotent. He says, God, you're the one who made 209 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: me in the depths. Only you can for me and 210 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: declare over me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 211 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: David gives this beautiful structure. God knows everything. God's the 212 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: one who created me. God is everywhere. And yet so 213 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,000 Speaker 1: I read through this psalm as beautiful as it was. 214 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:15,319 Speaker 1: You know, every single one of these lines you could 215 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: put on a T shirt and sell them, and sell 216 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: them and sell a coffee mug, sell a T shirt. 217 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: It filled with so many amazing verses. And yet as 218 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:23,599 Speaker 1: I was reading this Psalm, I don't know if you 219 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: notice but there is a part that I left out 220 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: when I read it to you. I left it out 221 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: because it was dark. I left it out because it 222 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: gets messy. I left it out because, honestly, as I 223 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: read through this psalm, I thought, I don't know how 224 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: that'll work on a Sunday morning. I left it out 225 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,599 Speaker 1: because it almost feels so random, like David goes just 226 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: right off track. 227 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 3: In the midst of all these beautiful words. 228 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: That David is saying, you know, he ends in verse eighteen, 229 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,199 Speaker 1: where where I had to count them, they would outnumber 230 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: the grains of the sand. When I awake, I am 231 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: still with you. And then here's what I left out. 232 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: If only you God would slay the wicked away from me, 233 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: You who are blood thirsty. They speak of you with 234 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: evil intent, Your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not 235 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,199 Speaker 1: hate those who hate you Lord? And abhor those who 236 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,439 Speaker 1: are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred 237 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: for them. I count them my enemies. Search me, Oh God, 238 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:19,839 Speaker 1: and know my heart, Test me and see you're like 239 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: whoa David once gets aphrenic them. 240 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,479 Speaker 3: David, where did that? Where did that come from? 241 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: All this amazing scripture telling us about who God is, 242 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 1: how God knows everything, the intricate details of my life. 243 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: There's nowhere I can go know where I can run 244 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:35,680 Speaker 1: that God isn't with me. And then you're going into 245 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: I hate my enemies. I wish you would kill them, David, 246 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: Where did that come from? And yet I'm so thankful 247 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: that God didn't leave that part out. So I was 248 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: thinking through, how do I preach this message. I'll just 249 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: have to leave that part out. God began to speak 250 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: to me more and more he goes, no, no, no, no. 251 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: I left that in for a reason. I'm so glad 252 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: he left that part in because it teaches me something 253 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: about how I relate to God. 254 00:11:59,040 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 3: I wonder if, when. 255 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: God was putting together the scriptures through the inspiration of 256 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:04,839 Speaker 1: his spirit, whether they were the ones writing it or 257 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: whether someone was writing it. How many times some of 258 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: these Bible characters are like, hey, God, can you leave 259 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: that part out? Like? I wonder if Moses was like cool, 260 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: tell them about how I was rescued out of the basket. 261 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: That's pretty cool, and how I split the Red Sea, 262 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. 263 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 3: But the part where I got angry and just killed 264 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 3: the guy. 265 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,679 Speaker 1: Do you think we could leave that out, or Abraham, 266 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: the father of our faith, do you think he was 267 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: ever like, hey, do you think you could leave the 268 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: part out where I've mistreated Hagar and or when I 269 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: conceived I was too impatient to wait with Sarah, so 270 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,600 Speaker 1: I conceived the child with Hagar, Or how I lied 271 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: about who my wife was a couple of times. 272 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 3: Tell them the good things about how you know I. 273 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 1: Left the city I knew in faith believing God for 274 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: some tell him that part, but the parts about my mistakes? 275 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: Could you leave that out? Or if rehab was like, yeah, yeah, 276 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: tell them about how I helped rescue the spies, how 277 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: I helped save them, but about my career choices, do. 278 00:12:57,400 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 3: You think you could leave that out? 279 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:02,200 Speaker 1: Or even saw, Oh Paul, the guy who planted so 280 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: many churches and reached the gentile world with the Gospel, 281 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: do you think he was like, hey, yeah, tell them 282 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: about the leaders I raised up and the churches I planted, 283 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 1: But God, maybe don't tell them about how I was 284 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: the one standing there when they stone Stephen. All these 285 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:17,880 Speaker 1: moments in the scripture that people we read about. I'm 286 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: so grateful that God left those details in because it 287 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: tells me about tells me something about the way God 288 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: wants to relate to us. I'm so glad that David 289 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: left this part of the Psalmen in the midst of 290 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,719 Speaker 1: all his language about who God is and the characteristics 291 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: of God. I'm so grateful that he got to a 292 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: moment of vulnerability and honesty where he said, God, I 293 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: want to tell you where I really am right now. 294 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: It's so deeply personal that it almost feels like uncomfortable 295 00:13:46,440 --> 00:13:50,360 Speaker 1: for us on a Sunday morning. I hate the bloodthirsty people. 296 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: I wish you would kill them. God, You're like, what 297 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: What you have to remember is this is David's personal 298 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: diaries that they turned into songs that the whole nation 299 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: would sing. That's wild, y'all. Imagine coming to church on 300 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: a Sunday morning and tif gets done singing, God, You've 301 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: been so so good to me, and then we go 302 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: next song, and I grab Eric. Eric's journal would be 303 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: too messy, Okay, I grabbed Dianna's journal. I say, all right, 304 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: I throw these up on the screens. We're all gonna 305 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: sing it together, y'all. The whole nation would sing this 306 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: psalm And I'm so glad that David left it in 307 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: He left in the parts that we want to leave out. 308 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: And I wonder sometimes if the reason we come into 309 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: God's presence, the reason we come to church sometimes and 310 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: hear a powerful word and leave unchanged. I wonder if 311 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: the reason we leave unchanged is because we're leaving out 312 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: some of the things that we're meant to bring to God. 313 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: There's things that we left in the car this morning. 314 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: There's issues you're going through that you left at home. 315 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: And I wonder what it would look like for us 316 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: to bring those things into God's presence in prayer and 317 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: submission and worship. What would it look like to bring 318 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: the parts to God that were so tempted to leave 319 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 1: out time and time again because we think they don't belong, 320 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: because we think God can't handle it, because we think they're. 321 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 3: Too messy, too dark, too ugly. 322 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: What would it look like to bring those very things 323 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: into the presence of God and lay them down at 324 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: the altar and say, God, would you meet me in 325 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: this place where I need a touch of your presence 326 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: right now, where I need your healing power, where I 327 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: need your hand to deliver me. And yet the enemy 328 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: will fight so hard to keep us stuck, running and 329 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: running and running and hiding, and hiding and hiding, so 330 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: we never bring those things into the presence of God. 331 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: And like I said earlier, though, but full intimacy requires 332 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: full access. What does it look like to say, God, here, 333 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,680 Speaker 1: I am have everything. I want to relook at this 334 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: scripture together through that lens of some of the things 335 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: that we do, because one by one David is giving 336 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 1: us a theology that leads us to. 337 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 3: A place of honesty. See. 338 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: I read those verses and I thought those are too random, 339 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: And yet I realize everything David is laying out from 340 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: verses one through eighteen, He is laying a belief about 341 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: God that actually leads him to the place where he 342 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: can say those things. 343 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 3: Do you understand what I'm saying? 344 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: His theology, his view of who God was, let him 345 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: to the place where he says, God, I can trust 346 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: you with all this. I can tell you how I 347 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: really feel, I can tell you what I'm going through 348 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: right now. And so one by one he dismantles it. 349 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: And the first point that I want to talk to 350 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: you about from those first six verses is this. He says, Essentially, 351 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:27,840 Speaker 1: what's the point in hiding? If God knows everything? What's 352 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: the point of hiding. If God knows everything, One of 353 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: our tendencies in our relationship with God is to hide, 354 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: And David keeps going, why would you hide from God? 355 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: If he knows when you sit, he knows when you stand, 356 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: If he knows every word that comes out of your 357 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: mouth before you even speak it, what's the point in 358 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: hiding if God knows everything? When I read these verses 359 00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 1: to my oldest son on the porch one day, I 360 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: read those verses, said, and what do you think this means? 361 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: He goes? God sees everything I do. And he said 362 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: it like that, and he said, I don't know way 363 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: that I think a lot of us feel when we 364 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,959 Speaker 1: think about the omissions of God, how he knows everything. 365 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: We still think that God is like the n Essay, 366 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: just surveilling us, waiting. 367 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,680 Speaker 3: For us to mess up. Where he's Santa Claus. 368 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're away, 369 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: he knows if you've been bad or good. And we 370 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: think God is out to catch us, and so we 371 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: keep trying to hide, hide, hide from God because we 372 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:22,959 Speaker 1: think he's a father waiting for us to mess up 373 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,439 Speaker 1: so he can strike us. But that's not what David 374 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: is saying. He's saying God knows every God is so 375 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: intimately connected to our lives. When it says that you 376 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,880 Speaker 1: hen me in before and behind, some of us view 377 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:35,760 Speaker 1: that like a prison, but David wants you to see 378 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: this as an embrace. He's saying, God's right there with you. 379 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: Whatever you're walking through, whatever you're going through, He's right 380 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: in it with you. He knows everything already, So what's 381 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: the point in hiding. If God knows everything, you can 382 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: tell him the truth. He already knows everything you've been through, 383 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: everything you're going through, everything you're feeling. You can bring 384 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,400 Speaker 1: it to God. There's a story in John chapter four 385 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: where Jesus goes. He sits down at a well in 386 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: an area called Samaria, and at noon, in the heat 387 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: of the sun, a woman comes up to catch walk 388 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: kid to get some water. She's coming at noon because 389 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: she's hiding. She's hiding from people. She doesn't want to 390 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,679 Speaker 1: be seen by anybody else, so she goes to the 391 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: well at a time when she knows nobody else will 392 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: be there. She's hiding from her mistakes, she's hiding from 393 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: her past. And yet when she gets to this well, 394 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: Jesus is there waiting for her, and Jesus asks her 395 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,280 Speaker 1: a simple question, he says, as they're interacting, he says, 396 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: where's your husband? And she says, ah. He doesn't ask 397 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: her that question because he needs information. He's asking her 398 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: that question because he wants access. Access. Full intimacy requires 399 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 1: full access. 400 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 3: Where's your husband? She says, Oh, I don't have a husband. 401 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,840 Speaker 1: He says, you're right, You've had five and the man 402 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: you're living with isn't your husband. He didn't bring all 403 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: this up to condemn her, but he brought it up 404 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: so he could offer her something better. He offers her 405 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:56,720 Speaker 1: living water so that she wouldn't have to keep running 406 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: to other people to find satisfaction. He brings it up 407 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: to say, already know everything you've done. I already know 408 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: everything you're going through, so why don't you just be 409 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:07,320 Speaker 1: honest about it so I can give you this solution 410 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: to what you've been going through. And something so powerful 411 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,920 Speaker 1: happens in this story because after Jesus brings up everything 412 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: she's done, it says in John chapter four, verse twenty eight. 413 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,200 Speaker 3: Then leaving the water jar, the woman. 414 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: Went back to the town and said to the people, well, 415 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: what people, the very people she was hiding from. She's 416 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,360 Speaker 1: now running too, and she says, come, come and see 417 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: a man who told me everything I ever did, the 418 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:34,080 Speaker 1: very things that she was trying to hide. She says, 419 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:36,439 Speaker 1: come see a man who told me all about the 420 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: things I was trying to keep hidden. He already knew 421 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,239 Speaker 1: at all, She said, Could this be the Messiah? And 422 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: this woman who was hiding in shame became an evangelist 423 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: for the goodness of God? Is it possible today that 424 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:52,919 Speaker 1: the things that we're trying to leave out are actually 425 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: the places that not only does God want to heal, 426 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: but that God wants to use in our lives to 427 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: impact and reach other people. What does it look like 428 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: to bring the things that we've been hiding to God 429 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: and lay them out at his feet? 430 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:07,159 Speaker 3: But the enemy will tempt. 431 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: Us to view God the wrong way, so that we 432 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: keep things hidden because he knows that what goes in 433 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: the dark grows in the dark. And God cannot heal 434 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: what you keep hidden. So what does it look like 435 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: to bring everything to God? Because David says, he already knows. 436 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: He knows everything. Before a word ever came out of 437 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: your mouth, he knew about it. The next thing David 438 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: wants to confront is our tendency to run, and for 439 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: six verses he talks about how God is everywhere, Touch 440 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 1: your neighbor against say, God is everywhere, and what's the 441 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: point in running? If God is everywhere? All of us 442 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: have a tendency to run, whether that's from God, whether 443 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: that's from our reality, whether that's from our emotions or 444 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: situations in our lives that get heavy. But what's the 445 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: point in running if God is everywhere? You know, running 446 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 1: only where if there's a place that God can't go, 447 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,640 Speaker 1: And the Psalma says there isn't even if I go 448 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: into the depths, You're there, even darkness. 449 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 3: If you show up, it just becomes light. 450 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: There's nowhere I can't go that His presence hasn't already gone. 451 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: So what's the point in trying to run if His 452 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: presence goes with me? As I was reading this passage, 453 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: I don't know why. 454 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 3: I think it was the Holy Spirit, but it brought 455 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 3: to mind a memory of a woman I already mentioned, 456 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 3: a woman named Hagar. 457 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 1: Her story in Genesis is so powerful. Hagar was Abraham's 458 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: Egyptian slave. 459 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 3: She's an Egyptian. 460 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: She's outside of the Covenant, and Abraham and his wife 461 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: Sarah really mistreated her. And there's a moment in the 462 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: scriptures where she starts running to escape her situation. See, 463 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: sometimes we're hiding from the things that we've done. Other 464 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: times we're running because of the things that have been 465 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: done to us. She's running from the mistreatment, the betrayal, 466 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: the abuse, and she's on the run in the wilderness. 467 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: And even in her running it's so beautiful. God meets 468 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,080 Speaker 1: her there and he calls her in the wilderness and 469 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:01,919 Speaker 1: he says, Hagar, where are you coming from? 470 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 3: And where are you going again. 471 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,119 Speaker 1: He's not asking because he needs the information. He's asking 472 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,959 Speaker 1: because he wants access, and he encounters her in her running. 473 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: He encounters her in the wilderness, her trying to escape 474 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: everything that she's going through. God meets her there and 475 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: calls her by name, and she becomes the first person 476 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: in all of Scripture to give God a personal name. 477 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 1: She calls him el Roy, the God who sees me. 478 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: Not a priest, not a patriarch, not someone not a Hebrew. 479 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,360 Speaker 1: The first person in all of Scripture to give God 480 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: a personal name is an Egyptian slave who on the 481 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 1: run encounters the Lord and says, I found the God. 482 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 3: Who sees me. 483 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: How beautiful is that? And later she ends up going 484 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,400 Speaker 1: back to Abraham's household, and fast forward a little bit. 485 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: She has a son with Abraham and they're on the run. 486 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: Abraham and Sarah eventually kick her out of the house. 487 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: And this ministered to me so much when I saw it, 488 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: because she's back in the wilderness again, running, running, not 489 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: because it was her own fault, but just the realcy 490 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 1: of her life caused her to run, and she's running 491 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: out of water, and she realizes her son is about 492 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 1: to die, and so she places him under a bush 493 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: and walks away. 494 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 3: She wants to be. 495 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,439 Speaker 1: At a distance because she doesn't want to watch her 496 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: son take his last breath. And once again, the Lord 497 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: shows up for her in the middle of the wilderness, 498 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 1: because remember, friends, there's nowhere you can go that his 499 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: presence can't find you. And she says that look at this. 500 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: In Genesis twenty one seventeen, it says, and God heard 501 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: the voice of the boy, and the Angel of the 502 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,479 Speaker 1: Lord called the hagar from heaven and said to her, 503 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: what troubles you, hagar? 504 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 3: Fear not look at this? 505 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: For God has heard the boy's cry from where he is, 506 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: from where he is. That blessed me to know that 507 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: God will hear you from where you are, not where 508 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: you pretend to be, not where you think you should be, 509 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: not with all your polished words that you clean up 510 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:57,160 Speaker 1: for church. God will hear you from where you are. 511 00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: Henry now, and he said it this way, I hope 512 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: I can find it in. He says, crying out to 513 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,400 Speaker 1: God is not a sign of weakness, It's a sign 514 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,480 Speaker 1: of faith. Cries out to God. I have heard the 515 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: boys cry from where he is. Just the other day, 516 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: it was such a God moment. I'd been reading this 517 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: psalm just personally, not knowing if I was going to 518 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,080 Speaker 1: preach it, and I decided to reach out to a 519 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:20,959 Speaker 1: friend of mine who lives in the UK. She used 520 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: to work for us here at the church. A few 521 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: years ago, while she was still here, her mom had 522 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaker 1: a brain aneurism and passed pretty quickly, so tragic. And 523 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:31,960 Speaker 1: I texted her the other day just to check in, 524 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: and she said, I'm so glad you've reached out. 525 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 3: I've been meaning to text you. 526 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 1: She said, my dad just got diagnosed with brain cancer 527 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: and had surgery on Wednesday. He just got out of 528 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: the hospital today. She said, they're giving them twelve months 529 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: to live. So I pick up the phone, I call her. 530 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: Parents were amazing, They've served their life, served God their 531 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: whole life. Their pastors over there, and I pick up 532 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,159 Speaker 1: the phone and I call her, and she's just talking 533 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: me through all the details, and she said, you know, 534 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,439 Speaker 1: my dad's so amazing. He's so full of faith right now, 535 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: believing that God is fully going to heal him. And 536 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,160 Speaker 1: she said, but I'm really struggling, she said, I don't 537 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:05,120 Speaker 1: feel like I have the faith he does. She said, 538 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: because when my mom got sick, I prayed and believed 539 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,919 Speaker 1: for her healing and God didn't heal her. So she said, So, 540 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,440 Speaker 1: if I'm being honest right now, I don't know if 541 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:19,919 Speaker 1: I believe God can heal my dad. And I said, Dear, 542 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:23,120 Speaker 1: she said, I know that kind of sounds like weak 543 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: faith a faith. I said, Gabby, that's not weak faith, 544 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: that's honest faith. And it blessed me to know that 545 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,880 Speaker 1: God will hear you from where you are, not where 546 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: you think you should be. See, sometimes when we come 547 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: to God, we think we have to have it all 548 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,159 Speaker 1: cleaned up, But God will hear your cry from the 549 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: realest place. God will hear your cry when you say, God, 550 00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: I don't know how to believe you for this right 551 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:48,360 Speaker 1: now because last time you left me disappointed. How powerful 552 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: is that to think that faith isn't just certainty and 553 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: his promises, It can be both. You can say, God, 554 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: I believe you have the power to heal. God, I 555 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,440 Speaker 1: believe you have the power to deliver. But if God 556 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: is big enough to do all those things, what does 557 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: it look like to trust his character and believe that 558 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: he's big enough to handle our doubts, handle our fears, 559 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: handle our questions, handle our concerns. 560 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,679 Speaker 3: Do you think God is big enough to handle all that? 561 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: And so I loved her honesty because she says, God, 562 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: last time I believed you for it, and you didn't 563 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: do it. So I'm struggling to trust you right now. 564 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,600 Speaker 1: That's the type of faith that God responds to. She 565 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:27,240 Speaker 1: gave him access. And God will always hear your honest prayer. 566 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 1: God will hear you church from where you are. And 567 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: David says, you don't have to keep running. You don't 568 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: have to keep running away from everything that you're facing. 569 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: Just bring it to God and he will meet you 570 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: in that place. Amen. Amen. That really ministered to me 571 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: because I think sometimes in church we can be come 572 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: so conditioned to always bring God the right answer. 573 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 3: You know. 574 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: It's like maybe there's someone in this room who time 575 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: and time again, it's been your fourth time going to 576 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,640 Speaker 1: the fertility doctor and they said not this time, and 577 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: your tendency is just to go God, I trust your timing, 578 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: And it's okay to say, God, I do trust your timing, 579 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: but I'm also really disappointed right now. It's okay to say, 580 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: and God, it's really hard for me to be happy 581 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: for other people while we're going through this ourselves. 582 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 3: God can handle all that. 583 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 1: Some of us come to church and we can't even 584 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,360 Speaker 1: lift our hands because we're white knuckling our way through 585 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: in an addiction. And God is saying, you don't have 586 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: to hide all that. You can say it over and 587 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: over again. God, I believe you for deliverance and it 588 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: didn't happen and I relapsed again. You can bring all 589 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 1: that to God, and I want you to know that 590 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: He will hear you from where you are. David says, 591 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: there's nowhere I can go that God isn't with me. 592 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: And then perhaps most powerfully David. In the next few verses, 593 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: he addresses our tendency to pretend, and he says, what's 594 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: the point in pretending? 595 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,719 Speaker 3: If God's the one who made me? 596 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: You created my inmost being, You knit me together in 597 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:55,840 Speaker 1: my mother's womb. 598 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:57,919 Speaker 3: Every day of my life. 599 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: Was ordained and written in your book of life. He's saying, 600 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,400 Speaker 1: God already knows everything about you. He's the one who 601 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 1: made you, So what's the point in pretending? You know, 602 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: pretending is some in some ways one of the most 603 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: sophisticated ways that we leave things out from God's presence. 604 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: You know, running running can be exhausting. The thing about 605 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: running is that we end up circling the same issues 606 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: and running away from the very person who can heal. See. 607 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 3: I don't know a lot about running. 608 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,240 Speaker 1: The one thing I know is and the most important 609 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: thing is that it's exhausting. We run. We run. Someone 610 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: just testified over there, Okay, can run, we can run. 611 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 3: We can try to hide. 612 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,479 Speaker 1: But maybe one of the most sophisticated things we do 613 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: is we try to pretend. And I think we do 614 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: it to preemptively avoid rejection. Sometime there's a belief that 615 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: if people really knew who we were, they would reject us. 616 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: And maybe we built that defense mechanism because it's true, 617 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: maybe people have rejected you. But what David wants you 618 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: to know is God will never reject you. He's the 619 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: one who made you, and when He created you with 620 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: all your quirks, he declared over you that you are 621 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: fearfully and wonderfully made. So when it comes to God, 622 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: you don't need to pretend. You don't need to act 623 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: like you have it all together. You don't need to 624 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: act like you don't have hang ups, you don't need 625 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,520 Speaker 1: to act like there's things that you're not ashamed of. 626 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,479 Speaker 1: You can bring it all to him because he created you. 627 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,400 Speaker 1: He kniche you together by his power and by his will. 628 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: He designed you, He placed you here and every single 629 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: thing you've gone through and every single day of your life, 630 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 1: he says it was written in his book. His sovereign 631 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: hand has been guiding you the whole time. And so 632 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: David's saying, you don't have to pretend. This is the 633 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: God who created you. And yet I think so often, 634 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: and maybe I'm just speaking for myself, I come into 635 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: church and I feel like I need to pretend with God. 636 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:44,840 Speaker 1: Anybody else that I need to act like I have 637 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: it all together. There's a parable that Jesus gives in 638 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: Luke chapter eighteen. He says two men went up onto 639 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: the temple to pray, one a pharisee and the other 640 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: the tax collector. 641 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 3: He's talking about the best and the worst. Right here, 642 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 3: he's given a contrast, and. 643 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: The pharisee good by himself and prayed God. I thank 644 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: you that I'm not like other people robbers, evildoers, adulterers, 645 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: or even like this tax collector. 646 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:11,200 Speaker 3: How awkward is this? 647 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:15,280 Speaker 1: The guy can probably hear him. God, I thank you 648 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: so much that I'm not an adulterer. I thank you 649 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: that I'm not a tax collector. I thank you that 650 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: I'm not a pharise to God. I thank you so 651 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: much that I'm not like Chris sitting over there. God, 652 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:24,800 Speaker 1: I just I don't know if I have a lot 653 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: to praise you for, but I'm just glad I'm not 654 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: like that guy. That's what he's doing. It's so arrogant, 655 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: it's crazy. He says, I'm thank you that I'm not 656 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: like this tax collector. I fast twice a. 657 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,960 Speaker 3: Week, and I give a tenth of all I get. 658 00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: Y'all He's treating his prayer time like a performance review. 659 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 3: He's coming to God and he's listing all the things. 660 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: Do you ever do that? Sometimes negotiating with God. Hey, God, Hey, 661 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:50,960 Speaker 1: I'm here, just checking in. I want to let you 662 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: know I've been doing I've been doing really good lately. 663 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: And God, I've been going to church a lot more regularly. 664 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: I even started tyed. I just signed up for an 665 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 1: e team. I'm going to start serving at the church. 666 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: And God just want to let you know. See what 667 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: the pharisees say. It is not a lie, it's just limited. 668 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: He probably did fast, he probably did tithe. The question 669 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: is not what he did. The question is what is 670 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: he leaving out? What were the secret things that he 671 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: was struggling with that he didn't bring before God? What 672 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,160 Speaker 1: about the pride he was carrying? You notice he left 673 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: that out? He says, God, I just think you that 674 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: I'm not like these other people. Look at all the 675 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,760 Speaker 1: things I do. And then Jesus, by contrast, shows us 676 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: the tax collector says he wouldn't even look up to Heaven, 677 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me. 678 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:34,479 Speaker 3: A sinner. 679 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: Jesus says, I tell you that this is the man 680 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 1: who will walk away justified? Why because he was honest. 681 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: One man came before God saying, Hey, God, this is 682 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: what I've done. 683 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 3: Look at me. But he left the lot out. 684 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: The other came before God and said, God, I just 685 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,080 Speaker 1: got to be real with you. I need your mercy. 686 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,240 Speaker 1: I need you God. I'm a sinner. I don't deserve this, 687 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 1: but this is who I am, and you know me. 688 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,480 Speaker 1: Would you meet me in this place just as I am? 689 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: One man walked away justified? And I think sometimes in 690 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,720 Speaker 1: our walk with God, we do the same thing where 691 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: we come before him and we feel like we need 692 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:11,360 Speaker 1: to pretend to earn his love. We feel like we 693 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 1: need to pretend to convince them that we're worth blessing. 694 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 1: We feel like we need to pretend to convince them 695 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: that we have it all together. And David saying, are 696 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: you joking me? He knitch you together in your mother's womb. 697 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 1: He knows everything about you. He saw when you stood up, 698 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: he saw when you laid down. He knows everything already. 699 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: So what are we pretending for? And I wonder what 700 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: encounter would look like, what kind of encounters with God 701 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: we would have, what kind of intimacy with the Father 702 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: we would experience if we came to God and refuse 703 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: to pretend. It's wild. It's wild. There's a story back 704 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,200 Speaker 1: to Genesis. You know I've mentioned Abraham. Abraham had a 705 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,479 Speaker 1: son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Tracking 706 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: with me. Jacob was the second born, but he wanted 707 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: the firstborn blessing, and there's a story in Genesis thirty 708 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,120 Speaker 1: two where he goes to his father, or sorry in 709 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: Genesis twenty seven, where he goes to his father and 710 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: he wants the firstborn blessing, and to get that he 711 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:07,640 Speaker 1: has to pretend. 712 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 3: To be his older brother, Esau. 713 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: So he puts fur on his back because his brother 714 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: was Harry. Abraham's gone blind at this point, but he goes, 715 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: if my dad touches me out, he'll feel the fur, 716 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 1: he'll think I'm Esau. And he changes his voice, and 717 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: so he goes to his father and he asks, and 718 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,520 Speaker 1: Jacob asks his father Isaac for the blessing, and Isaac go, 719 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: what's your name? Who are you? That's the question he asked, 720 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: and he answered, I'm Esau. He was pretending to be 721 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: someone else, and in his pretending, he's got his blind 722 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: father's blessing, But the rest of it, I don't know 723 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: if it was really a blessing, because he would spend 724 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: from that four point forward having to outrun and live 725 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,160 Speaker 1: in the consequences of his deceit, living in the consequence. 726 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 1: See the thing about pretending is you got to keep 727 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: up that image time and time of good day after day. 728 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 3: He had to keep it up. He spends his life 729 00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:57,239 Speaker 3: on the run. 730 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: But there's this beautiful moment of redemption that happens in 731 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,800 Speaker 1: Genesis thirty two, because remember when he went to his 732 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,440 Speaker 1: father with fur on his back, with his voice change, 733 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 1: pretending to be something else. His father asked him a 734 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,000 Speaker 1: simple question, who are you? And he said, my name 735 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: is Esau. But later in Genesis thirty two, God shows 736 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 1: up with him and is running and meets with him, 737 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: and they begin to wrestle in the wilderness. And as 738 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 1: they wrestle, as an angel of the Lord wrestles with Jacob, 739 00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:28,440 Speaker 1: he asks them the same question that his father asked him. 740 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: He says, what's your name? And this time Jacob. This 741 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 1: time he answers Jacob. The last time he was asked 742 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: this question, he said Esau. This time he's done pretending. 743 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 1: He says, my name is Jacob, and the scripture says 744 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 1: that God blessed him there. Because there is a blessing 745 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,320 Speaker 1: that you can only receive through being honest. There's a 746 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: blessing that you can only receive when you decide to 747 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: be who God really created you to be. Say, I 748 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,239 Speaker 1: want you to know today that God does not love 749 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,640 Speaker 1: the version of you that you created. He loves the 750 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:05,399 Speaker 1: version he created. That's the version God wants to counter. 751 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,279 Speaker 1: And Jacob says, my name is Jacob, and the Lord 752 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: bless them there. What a beautiful moment of redemption to 753 00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:17,759 Speaker 1: know that at any moment we can come before God 754 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: and be completely honest. God, I've been pretending. I've been 755 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: trying to have it all together. I've I've been wearing 756 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: a mask. I've been showing up time and time again, 757 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: trying to be something I'm not. But God, you created me. 758 00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:30,480 Speaker 1: You know me, You know exactly who I am, and 759 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: you love that version of me. So God, when you 760 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: ask me you're my name, I'm gonna tell you my name. See, 761 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: you might be able to fool your kids, you might 762 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,560 Speaker 1: be able to fool your spouse, You might be able 763 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: to fool your blind father. But you can't fool the 764 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 1: father who created your eyes. He knows exactly who you are. 765 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: And David says, if he knows you, what's the point 766 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:54,560 Speaker 1: of pretending you see? I think Dad's and maybe I'm stereotyping, 767 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: but I think sometimes as men, we have a tendency 768 00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: to do this more. And I want you to know, 769 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,919 Speaker 1: even on this Fire's Day weekend, that your kids don't 770 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: need you to pretend. We're so wired to pretend to 771 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: be strong, to pretend we have it all together, to 772 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 1: pretend like we have all the answers, and then our 773 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:11,399 Speaker 1: kids start to grow up and they start to see 774 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: through all those cracks, don't they They see it anyway. 775 00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:16,680 Speaker 1: And I've been really challenged because my kids don't need 776 00:36:16,719 --> 00:36:17,520 Speaker 1: to see my strength. 777 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,600 Speaker 3: Why am I trying to build their confidence. 778 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 1: Around my strength, my perfection, my ability. I want to 779 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,440 Speaker 1: be honest and show them my doubts, and show them 780 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: my fears and show them my struggles, so that their 781 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,480 Speaker 1: confidence isn't in my strength but in God's strength. That's 782 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 1: what it means to stop pretending and to just be 783 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:38,600 Speaker 1: honest and allow them to experience the blessing of the 784 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: Lord that comes from only from his hand. When we 785 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,759 Speaker 1: get real with him, David says, you search me, you 786 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: know me, you know my heart, you know when I 787 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: you know when I lie down. Says, if I go 788 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:50,959 Speaker 1: to the heavens, you're there. If I go to the depths, 789 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,480 Speaker 1: you're there. If I go to the edge of the sea, 790 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:54,879 Speaker 1: you're there. You created me in the depths, you knit 791 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:56,640 Speaker 1: me together in the secret place. God. 792 00:36:56,719 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 3: That was all you, That was all you. And then 793 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:00,839 Speaker 3: he gets to the point where he says, and so if. 794 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,879 Speaker 1: All that's true, if all that's true about you, God, 795 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: I might as well be honest, And he says, can 796 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,799 Speaker 1: I tell you where I am right now? Because it's 797 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: likely that David is writing this psalm while he was 798 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:12,920 Speaker 1: hiding in a cave from people who are trying to 799 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,880 Speaker 1: kill him. But even though he was hiding from people, 800 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,719 Speaker 1: I love that he refused to hide from God. And 801 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,719 Speaker 1: David begins to say, I hate these people who hate you, Lord. 802 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:24,799 Speaker 1: He starts processing what he's going through with the Lord. 803 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: You see, David's trying to say, I don't want the 804 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:30,040 Speaker 1: evil that's happening to me to become evil within me, 805 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:31,960 Speaker 1: So I need to bring this to you. 806 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 3: Lord, and he starts laying it all out there. He's 807 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 3: being honesty. 808 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: I love that the Bible says that David was a 809 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,160 Speaker 1: man after God's own heart. I always wrestled with what 810 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: that meant, because David had a lot of mistakes in 811 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: his life, the infidelity, a lot of poor decisions that 812 00:37:45,840 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: David made in his life, and yet scripture says he 813 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: was a man after God's own heart. And I think 814 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: as I read this passage, I'm starting to realize more 815 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: and more that what made David a man after God's 816 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 1: own heart is that he was a man who is 817 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: willing to let God into his And. 818 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 3: I want to be like that. 819 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:04,719 Speaker 1: I want to be the type of person who says, God, 820 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,120 Speaker 1: come on in and have all of me. So David 821 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: starts saying, God, I'm just gonna be honest. 822 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:10,200 Speaker 3: I hate them. 823 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 1: I wish you would kill them. That's where I am 824 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,040 Speaker 1: right now. But this is not a message about authenticity 825 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,359 Speaker 1: because David doesn't say all that to stay there. 826 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 3: He brings it to God so God can lead him 827 00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:22,839 Speaker 3: somewhere else. 828 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,440 Speaker 1: And he moves on from that place, and he ends 829 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:30,400 Speaker 1: with search me, God, and know my heart, test me, 830 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,160 Speaker 1: and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive 831 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,399 Speaker 1: way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting God, 832 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,280 Speaker 1: in my running? Would you find me in my search, 833 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: in my pretending God, would you see me in my hiding? God? 834 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 3: Would you know me? And God, would you lead me? 835 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 1: It's interesting this psalm ends similar to the way it begins. 836 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: At the beginning of the psalm, David says, you have 837 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:58,600 Speaker 1: searched me, and you know me. Now he ends the 838 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:02,239 Speaker 1: psalm with saying, so search me, God and know my heart. 839 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,480 Speaker 1: I wondered if David was saying it that way, because really, 840 00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:07,880 Speaker 1: when it comes to being honest with God, is not 841 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:08,799 Speaker 1: a one time thing. 842 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 3: It's a cycle. 843 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:14,120 Speaker 1: You search me once before, God, you knew me once before. 844 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,359 Speaker 1: I need you to seach me once search me once again, 845 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: know me once again. I wonder if that's the reason 846 00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:21,719 Speaker 1: he ended the psalm the same way he started it, 847 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:26,200 Speaker 1: or or isn't it interesting that what he first declared 848 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: as a fact about God, you have searched me, you 849 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: know me God, he now turns into an invitation. So 850 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:39,239 Speaker 1: search me, God, So search me God, and know my heart. 851 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 1: Test me, see lead me God, he says, God, I 852 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: want to invite you in. I want to give you 853 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: full access because I want to experience full. 854 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:50,719 Speaker 3: Intimacy with you. 855 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,800 Speaker 1: What does that look like for us to approach God differently, 856 00:39:57,719 --> 00:39:59,319 Speaker 1: not out of fear of what He might do when 857 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 1: he sees us, catches us, not trying to run, not 858 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,879 Speaker 1: trying to hide, not trying to pretend, but to come 859 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: before God and say, God, you already know, you already see, 860 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,879 Speaker 1: You're already with me. So here I am, and lay 861 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: those things down at the altar. Would you stand to 862 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:20,920 Speaker 1: your feet as I close? And I know we started 863 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:22,440 Speaker 1: this way, but one more time, would you make it 864 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,160 Speaker 1: a prayer? Would you say, search me God, Search me God. 865 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,080 Speaker 1: Tim Keller. He said, to be loved but not known, 866 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,919 Speaker 1: it's comforting, but superficial. You catch up. To be loved 867 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: but not known, it's comforting but superficial. To be known 868 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: and not love is our greatest fear. But to be 869 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: fully known and truly love, well, that's a lot like 870 00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:54,279 Speaker 1: being loved by God. What do you need to bring 871 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,359 Speaker 1: to the Lord today? What have you been leaving out 872 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 1: that you need to surrender in His presence today? What 873 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:01,920 Speaker 1: have you been trying to keep out of the story 874 00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:03,880 Speaker 1: because it was too dark, too messy. 875 00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:04,400 Speaker 3: Too shameful. 876 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 1: Maybe it felt too small, Maybe it's too hard to pray. 877 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:09,000 Speaker 1: What were the things that you've been leaving out that 878 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: you need to bring into God's prices today so that 879 00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:13,000 Speaker 1: he can touch it, so that he can heal it, 880 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:15,160 Speaker 1: so that he can redeem it, so that he can 881 00:41:15,239 --> 00:41:17,640 Speaker 1: set you free. Just with your hands out where you 882 00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:22,320 Speaker 1: are right now, just bring that thing to mine. Not 883 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,279 Speaker 1: going to make you tell your neighbor right now, it's 884 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:25,799 Speaker 1: not for them to know. But you can let your 885 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:29,600 Speaker 1: father know, can't you Just lay that thing before him 886 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: and say, God, I trust you, I trust your character. 887 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:36,360 Speaker 1: The things I believe about you lead me to the 888 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,480 Speaker 1: place where I can be confident God that you are 889 00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,640 Speaker 1: compassionate enough and big enough and merciful enough that I 890 00:41:41,719 --> 00:41:44,080 Speaker 1: can be real with you and bring these things to you. 891 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: There's someone in the room it's so hard to show 892 00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:49,160 Speaker 1: up to your married e group and have conversations because 893 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,239 Speaker 1: you and your spouse haven't talked for three weeks. There's 894 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:54,719 Speaker 1: someone in the room who feels like they can't be 895 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:56,800 Speaker 1: used by God because you keep going back to the 896 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 1: same thing over and over again. 897 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:00,960 Speaker 3: What's that thing that you've been trying to leave out? 898 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 3: Would you bring it to the Father today. 899 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:06,960 Speaker 1: So, Father, we want to give you full access to 900 00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:08,719 Speaker 1: our lives, full access to our hearts. 901 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:09,640 Speaker 3: You're the one who made us. 902 00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,480 Speaker 1: You're the one who knows us, and you declared over 903 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,480 Speaker 1: us that we're fearfully and wonderfully made. You love us, Lord, 904 00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,719 Speaker 1: You love us, Lord, So we don't have to hide, 905 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:19,080 Speaker 1: and we don't have to be ashamed. 906 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,040 Speaker 3: We don't have to keep pretending to be something that 907 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:22,400 Speaker 3: we're not. 908 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:22,839 Speaker 1: God. 909 00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 3: But Lord, we know that you bless us when we 910 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,359 Speaker 3: come before you just as we are. 911 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:28,399 Speaker 1: God. 912 00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:31,000 Speaker 3: I want to know your heart, and so today I 913 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 3: invite you to know mine. 914 00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:34,040 Speaker 1: Hmmm. 915 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:36,000 Speaker 3: Bring these things before you. 916 00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:36,239 Speaker 1: God. 917 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,399 Speaker 3: I refuse to keep putting fur on my back. 918 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: I refuse to keep trying to trick other people. God, Lord, 919 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:43,799 Speaker 1: I want to come to you just as I am 920 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:45,840 Speaker 1: and ask that you would meet the real me, the 921 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:46,440 Speaker 1: version of. 922 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:48,240 Speaker 3: Me that you made in this place today. 923 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:51,360 Speaker 1: I don't know what's coming to mind for people in 924 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,520 Speaker 1: this room, God, but with our hands out, we just 925 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:56,839 Speaker 1: lay them at the altar before you, and we ask 926 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: God that these would be the places that you would touch, 927 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: that you heal, that you administer to in your perfect presence. Today. 928 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:08,719 Speaker 1: Thank you Lord. Right now, I want to give an 929 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:10,799 Speaker 1: invitation to someone who's been running from God. 930 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,879 Speaker 3: You've never made a decision to place your faith in Him. 931 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: And maybe the message today was simply to let you 932 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,239 Speaker 1: know that you have a father in heaven who's never 933 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,439 Speaker 1: left your side. Maybe you thought you were too far gone. 934 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:24,840 Speaker 1: Maybe you thought the things that you've been through, the 935 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,359 Speaker 1: mistakes that you've made, made you unlovable, and that God 936 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:29,279 Speaker 1: couldn't find you there. But the word of the Lord 937 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:32,279 Speaker 1: for you today is that God's been there the whole time. 938 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: And I want to give you an invitation to make 939 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 1: a decision to surrender your life to Him. When you 940 00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,799 Speaker 1: give your life to Jesus because of what He did 941 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: for us on the cross, when he died for the 942 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,960 Speaker 1: forgiveness of our sin. It wiped the slate clean his 943 00:43:48,360 --> 00:43:51,720 Speaker 1: His death on the cross is what makes you righteous 944 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:52,799 Speaker 1: because of what he did. 945 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:54,560 Speaker 3: And the Bible says that if. 946 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:56,120 Speaker 1: You are in Christ, one day, you're going to get 947 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,960 Speaker 1: the heaven up and you're going to stand before God, 948 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,280 Speaker 1: and God's not going to bring up all the mistakes 949 00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:02,799 Speaker 1: you made. He's going to look at you and say, 950 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 1: well done, good and faithful, servant, You're gonna be like God. 951 00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:07,640 Speaker 1: You left some things out, and he said no, no, no, no, no. 952 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: Well done, good and faithful servant. Not because of anything 953 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: we've done, but because of His grace, his mercy, and 954 00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,080 Speaker 1: the work of Jesus on the cross. If you've been 955 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:20,319 Speaker 1: far from God, you've been running, you've been hiding, you've 956 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,879 Speaker 1: been pretending. But today is your day to come into 957 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:26,719 Speaker 1: a relationship with your heavenly Father, who knows you, created you, 958 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:28,920 Speaker 1: and loved you. I want to give you an invitation 959 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: to receive the gift of his grace and mercy. We're 960 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,080 Speaker 1: gonna pray out loud together as a church family today 961 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,680 Speaker 1: for the benefit of those who are making a decision 962 00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:39,600 Speaker 1: to come to Christ. Can we pray together with heads 963 00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,239 Speaker 1: bowed and eyes closed, repeat out there me say, I 964 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 1: believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and 965 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:51,440 Speaker 1: the Savior of the world. I believe he died and 966 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:56,120 Speaker 1: rose again to forgive my sin and give me life. 967 00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:01,520 Speaker 1: I receive your grace by faith, Come into my life 968 00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 1: and make me new. 969 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:05,680 Speaker 3: Head still bowed, eyes still close. 970 00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:07,799 Speaker 1: If you just made that decision today, when I count 971 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:09,880 Speaker 1: the three, would you throw your hand up in the air. 972 00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:12,040 Speaker 1: I want to celebrate the work the Lord has done 973 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:14,719 Speaker 1: in your life today. Don't hesitate even online. Let us 974 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 1: know in the chat at other campuses. Shoot your hand 975 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,200 Speaker 1: up in the air there too, one, two, three. If 976 00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:23,160 Speaker 1: that was for you today, hands up in the air, yeah, yeah, yeah, 977 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,759 Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. God bless you, God bless you. 978 00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:27,960 Speaker 3: Yeah. 979 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:29,560 Speaker 1: Keep your hand up, God bless you as. 980 00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,279 Speaker 3: Our awesome coming around with the gifts for you. 981 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,239 Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 982 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 983 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,080 Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as 984 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,840 Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and 985 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:47,760 Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. 986 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,560 Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 987 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 988 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if 989 00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,200 Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part 990 00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:04,120 Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again 991 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:07,120 Speaker 2: for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, 992 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:07,960 Speaker 2: and subscribe. 993 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:08,920 Speaker 3: God bless you.