WEBVTT - While You Were Waiting (DawnCheré Wilkerson) 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.760 podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:11.480 Hope it gives your. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.560 Perspective to see God has moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:19.560 Enjoy the message. Would you remain standing for just a 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.080 moment because I just think this is the right posture. 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:26.280 I want to take a moment to honor this house. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.280 I am grateful for the faith of Elevation Church. I'm 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.440 grateful for the faith of this house that sent riple 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.200 riple waves around the globe and it's reached our house 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.400 in Miami. Our church is stronger because of your faith 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.599 and because of the faith of your leaders, Pastor Stephen 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.640 and Holly Ferdick. How many of you love your pastors? 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:52.440 Come on, can we put our hands together for them? 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:54.920 When I think about Pastor Stephen, I think of a 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.960 pastor to pastors, the way that he has led us, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.440 that he's spoken over our lives in so many different seasons. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.000 I'm constantly inspired. How when it comes to Pastor Stevens 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.280 walk with God. There's always more, There's more, there's more, hope, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.880 there's more faith, there's more creativity, and it inspires me 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.839 to dig deep and to believe God that there's always more. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.000 But I'm also really grateful for Pastor Holly. Come on, 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:26.560 do you guys love Pastor Holly. She's one of my 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.680 dearest friends in the world. And when she preaches the 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.520 Word of God, she preaches with power and authority. Shains 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.000 are broken. But it's not just what she says on 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:37.959 the Pulpit's the way that she leads her life. It's 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.600 the way that she leads her family. She's taught me 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.559 what it means to be a great friend, to stand 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.720 with people on mountaintops and in valleys. And I just 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.120 believe the best is yet to come for this house. 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:51.400 Come on, if you believe that today with you picks 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:54.480 her hands together with me, I believe it with all 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:59.000 Oh come on, elevation, I believe it with all my heart. 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.320 And before you're seated, I want to take a moment 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.440 because I'm fully aware that people walked in this room 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.400 or are watching online today and you are hanging on 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.200 by a thread. And I want to speak to your 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.440 soul today that before we even open up the Word 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.800 of God, if you feel like you are stuck in 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.720 the middle of a wilderness, if you feel like you 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.080 don't know what to do, where to go, or how 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:33.200 to even express the state of your heart today, if 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.840 you feel like, for the first time in your life, 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.000 you wonder if this whole thing is real, I want 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.639 to remind you today. I want to tell you today 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.200 that God sent me here with a message in my heart, 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.920 and that he brought you here because He wants to 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:51.640 meet you right where you are. If anybody can testify 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.840 that He did it for you, come on pict your 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.400 hands together. We serve a faithful God and he sees 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.440 you today. Hey, why don't you high five your neighbor, 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:07.600 grab your seat, grab your bibles. You can turn with 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:13.200 me to Isaiah chapter forty, verse thirty one. I brings 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.160 so much love from Miami and a little bit of 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:21.240 sunshine for you. Our church VUK church. We started it 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:26.040 ten years ago and God's been doing miracles. But I 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.520 believe that what God is doing in twenty twenty five 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.160 is unlike anything that's ever been seen in history. He's 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.520 doing a new thing. My husband rich since his love, 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.840 I've got four babies that I adore. Wyat wild Whalen 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:48.240 and Wolfgang seven, five, three and six months old. Oh yeah, 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:52.560 oh yeah, big families. We know there's a big party 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.080 when you're a part of a big family. You may 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.280 be wondering where are you actually from, Don Shri because 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:05.200 that accent does not sound like Miami. I am from Louisiana. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:09.600 I am a rage in Cajun. And you also may 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.000 be wondering what kind of name is Don Sherie, Like, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.120 where did that come from? Well, the story my parents 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.000 told me is that my dad wanted to name me 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.599 down my mom wanted to name me Sharie. And so 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:23.600 as they were sitting in the hospital room trying to 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.559 figure out who is this girl? The day I was born, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.279 my mom put the names together, wrote a love letter 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.159 from me and tucked it under the pillow where my 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.880 dad was sleeping on the couch in the hospital. And 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:41.640 Don Scherie's been my name ever since. That same day 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:43.760 that they named me is the day that they gave 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.080 me a life promise. And that's the scripture that I 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:51.120 want to read to you today. Isaiah forty thirty one. 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:57.240 They that wait upon the Lord, somebody say wait, they 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.920 shall renew their strength, They shall melt up with wings 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:07.240 like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:12.359 shall walk and not faint. I want to talk to 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.440 you for the next few minutes from this thought. While 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:20.520 you were waiting, Let's pray God, thank you for this moment, 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:26.760 thank you for this house. Thank you Lord, for what 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:31.120 you are doing in our hearts. Today. We pause, and Lord, 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:36.080 just like we sang, we breathe you in. Have your 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:41.000 way and our heart, Oh God, for you and you alone, 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:46.360 our souls wait. I pray that I would disappear, and Lord, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.800 that our eyes would behold your promise, that our hearts 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.359 would be filled with hope. Today. We love you, Jesus, 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:57.240 We're here for you. Come on, And everybody said, all 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:03.239 one more time. Everybody said amen. Well. Earlier this year 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.920 in Miami, my husband had his birthday. He turned forty one, 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.640 and we had a family dinner as you do. We 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.760 came back to the house after dinner and we set 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.359 out on our back dock in that humid Miami heat, 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:22.680 swatting the mosquitoes, just trying to have a calm conversation. 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.800 And on his birthday, we usually have a tradition to 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.200 start telling memories from over the years, and we started 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.839 sitting on that back deck, and we started early in 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.320 the night, and we went late into the night telling memories. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:39.320 And somewhere in that conversation it dawned on me, Rich, 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:45.760 I think that we cele debraded your birthday together. Twenty 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.960 years ago. We were in Cambridge, Cambridge University, we were 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.880 studying together, and I actually think I have a journal 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.520 to prove it. And I ran inside my house and 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.479 sure enough, I went through all my bookcases and I 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.720 found it. And I came running back out on the 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.560 deck almost near midnight. I said, I found it, and 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.640 we started to open it up, and I had so 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.960 many different memories. But as I started to read this journal, 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.640 I was laughing at the frame of mind of my 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:19.560 twenty year old self. I got to the end of 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.800 the journal from Cambridge and I was coming back to 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.320 Louisiana for the summer, and I had made a list 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:30.720 of twenty things that I wanted to accomplish over the summer. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.440 I mean, I brought this journal all the way from Miami. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.360 Is anybody would anybody want to know what a twenty 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:41.120 year old college student wishes to accomplish in one summer? 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.480 You want to hear it? Okay, This is about to 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:53.239 blow your mind. Things I want to do this summer. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:08:02.000 Number one read the entire Bible. Might job Number two 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:07.560 learn Spanish. Now, God was trying to prepare me for Miami. 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.360 Number three. Go to all the boys' games. Now five boys, 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.200 I mean my brothers. And that may seem like an 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.400 easy feet except for I have five brothers. That's a 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.280 lot of games in the summer. Number four. Become a 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:30.600 domestic goddess. That was a popular book. Okay, that has 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.240 just been released. Number five Read an etiquette book. Number six. 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.400 Have a good job. We don't want an ordinary job. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.120 Can I get an amen? We want a good job? Right? 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.360 I do want a good job for the summer. Number seven. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:50.160 Visit my best friend from college. Number eight exercise dash 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:57.080 arms defined. Number nine, Sing in the choir. Number ten, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:04.000 Get involved with youth ministry. Hello. Number eleven. Record a 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:10.760 worship album. Yeah, let's throw that one in. Yes. Number thirteen. 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.600 Surprise Mom and Dad on their twenty fifth anniversary with 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:19.360 a love song concert with my brothers. Number fourteen. Interview 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:24.200 my grandpa and my grandma about their life story. Number fifteen. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.679 Hang out with my great grandfather and my great grandmother. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.800 Number sixteen, go to the hospitals with my papa to 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:36.280 pray for people. Number seventeen, make a scrap book of 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:41.600 the summer. And number eighteen Can I get a drum roll? Please? 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:48.840 We've got none other than orthodonist. Figure out a way 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:56.080 to straighten teeth without bracket braces. If you think that's 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.280 a pretty good list, come on, pick your hands together. 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:05.320 That's a pretty restive list, friends, What was I thinking? 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:12.040 That is a setup for disappointment. You've got eighteen things 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.760 that you want to accomplish in one summer. That is 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.240 not a list for a summer. That is a list 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:24.200 for a decade twenty years later to the year. I 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.280 am just now stepping into some of the things that 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:32.760 I put on that list. I'm just now stepping into them. 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:34.280 And friends, I don't know if I'll ever be a 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:44.840 domestic goddess. Like everyone's story, mine has involved years and 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:49.680 years of waiting. I know that you have your list too. 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.200 We all have our list of what we are waiting 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:57.080 to step into, waiting not just to step into, but 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.760 what we're waiting to finish. And when we look at 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.120 the story of God, we see that God uses large 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:09.079 spans of time, not just a single summer to accomplish 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:13.760 His will in his people and in your very life. Today. 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:15.720 Come on, if you believe it today, why don't you 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.600 put your hands together. We serve a God that is 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:24.600 faithful every step of the way. And Isaiah prophesies they 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:28.400 they that wait for the Lord, They that wait for 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:33.520 the Lord, shall renew their strength. This is not a 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:38.080 birth verse. This is a life verse, because I need 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.720 the promise that as I wait upon the Lord, he 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.920 will renew me, not just to start the journey, but 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.600 right there in the middle of the journey and until 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.480 I see him face to face. And I don't know 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.680 about you, but I'm right there in the middle. I 0:11:54.760 --> 0:12:01.880 turned forty this year. You know, scripturally forty represents trials 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:06.120 and testing. Oh praise God, what a great word to 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:11.000 speak over my life this year. That's exactly what I 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.680 was going for. But you look throughout scripture and you 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:17.320 see forty represent trials and testing. You can look at 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.440 the life of Moses. You know, Moses spent forty years 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.239 in Egypt. Then he spent forty years in the wilderness. 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.360 And you may think he was at the end, but 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:30.520 he has a burning bush experience that then catapults him 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.640 into the most important forty years of his life as 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.960 he leads God's people. And you may be like Moses. 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.600 You may be like Moses, thinking, oh, I'm at the end, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.360 the great things of God are behind me, when you 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.720 have no idea You're just about to step into the 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.680 very calling and purpose of God that He ordained for 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:58.319 you before your life began. You have no idea what 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:03.560 He's prepared for you. He prepared it for you. Or 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.680 maybe you know good and well that you're in the middle. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.480 You know that you are right there in the middle 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:15.960 of the story, and friends, you are miserable. Can I 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:20.160 tell you today that I operated with this perspective for 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.320 many seasons in my life, moving to a city where 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:28.160 I didn't know anyone, walking through eight years of infertility, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.480 starting a church. There have been many seasons of waiting 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.800 that I just wanted to fast forward through, that I 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:39.800 just wanted to get to the other side, though I 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:43.280 may not have admitted it or even been able to 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.880 articulate it until God got a hold of my heart 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:52.040 with a game changer. Waiting is not a season. Waiting 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.440 is life. So the question you and I have before 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:02.559 us is this, will we live in the wait because 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.679 there is life, and life abundantly, not at the finish line, 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.680 not ten years from now, but right here, right now. 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.040 If you believe it today, somebody give God praise. In 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:21.800 this house we can live while we wait. Waiting isn't 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:27.720 a curse. Waiting is an invitation. It's an invitation from 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.280 the throne room of heaven. Charles Swindle once put it 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:36.680 like this. We don't like waiting, but that's when God 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:43.800 does some of his best work on our souls, some 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:49.440 of his best work. Hold up, wait, are you serious? 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:56.840 God does some of his best work while we wait. Well, 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:01.320 if that's the truth today, then how do we actually wait? 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:03.920 How do we live in the wait? How do we 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:09.200 embrace the weight? And if waiting is truly life, then 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:16.280 how do we live right here, right now? Back in Louisiana, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:21.200 I grew up with bonfires. Now I've had to explain 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.640 this to the people in Miami because bonfires are illegal 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:29.760 in Miami. But I have hope in you today. I 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.120 believe you know exactly what I'm talking about when I 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.320 say a bonfire. This is my favorite Friday night pastime. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.320 We would pull the trucks up, We would pull the 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.200 chairs out, you get a lot of wood, you light 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:46.080 that thing on fire, and that bonfire is the center 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:51.240 of attention. Everyone is facing the fire, and as it burns, 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.760 you make memories and you don't want the night to 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.520 end because you've been looking forward to Friday night all 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:02.080 week long. Can I just tell you today, we are 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:08.080 conditioned in culture to live for the bonfire moments. We 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:13.040 are conditioned in culture to wait for the bonfire moments 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.640 that say, Oh, I'm just gonna wait until I get 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.560 to the other side of this trial. I'm just gonna 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.160 wait until I get through this wilderness. When my life 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.960 is a bonfire, when I'm blazing with the glory of God, 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:32.560 light me up. I'm on fire. But friends, what if 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.560 your walk with God was purposed to look more like 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:42.680 smoke than a flame, because you seem I grew up 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.560 with bonfires. I love bonfires. But my husband, when I 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.120 met and when we were seventeen, he loves to burn incense. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.320 For the last twenty three years, we've been burning incense 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.400 in our house. People walk into my home to this 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:04.560 day and the first thing they say, they don't notice 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.840 the furniture, they don't notice the decor. They say, what 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:15.960 is that smell. It's not what they see, it's what 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:21.280 they sense. It's not anything that they notice with their 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:26.640 physical eyes, but it's a fragrance that is intoxicating. They 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.080 can't even find out where it is or where it's burning, 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.480 but they notice it from the moment they walk through 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.520 the door. You know, the word incense comes from the 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.960 Latin word incend there and it simply means to burn. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.920 Do you know? The incense is found throughout the scriptures 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.640 that in the very beginning that God speaks to Moses 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.040 in the books of Exodus, and he tells Moses, he says, 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.199 I want you to set up an incense altar in 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.640 my house, and every morning and every evening, I want 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:04.520 you Aaron the priest, to bring an incense offering. So 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:09.679 every morning there would be an altar in the Holy Place, 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.879 and in the Holy Place, Aarin the priest would bring 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.439 the incense and he would pour the incense on the altar. 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.840 And as he poured the incense on the altar, on 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.800 the heat source, that is the altar, an amazing thing 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:31.840 would happen. A fragrance would begin to rise, smoke would 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:36.239 begin to rise, and Jewish tradition tells us that this 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.520 smoke didn't just fill the Holy Place, but it filled 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.919 the entire surrounding area up to a quarter of a mile. 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.920 The smoke was so thick that every single person who 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.800 came to worship God, as they worship God, the fragrance 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:55.119 would soap into their clothes and they would go about 0:18:55.200 --> 0:19:00.320 their daily duties carrying the fragrance of God. The molk 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:06.119 represents the worship and the prayers of God ascending to 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:11.560 Heaven every morning and every evening. That as you laid 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:15.920 down your little what you think doesn't have any worth, 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.320 what you think isn't a bonfire blazing with the glory 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.679 of God. I've got news for you today. All He 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.520 asks for you to do is release what is in 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:30.480 your hand, and it becomes a fragrant sacrifice that permeates 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:35.959 the air, touching everything in its midst. You have the 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:43.239 ability today in the weight to bring your little and 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:49.200 you can watch it rise. The priests would set their 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.240 incense on the fire, and when they did, it would 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:57.600 release an aroma and the smoke would lift high towards Heaven. 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:04.800 Scripture us that our life is like a vapor. It's 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.760 a vapor. It's here today, it's gone tomorrow a lot 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:16.920 like the smoke of incense. Here's the invitation. Bring what 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.720 you have to God in the weight and watch as 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:25.680 he transforms it, because the powerful thing is that incense. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:30.879 It is not the fire, but when it's placed on 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.000 the heat source, the very chemical components of what is 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:40.000 laid down transforms into a completely different thing. You are 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.320 looking at your little in the weight, going, this is 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.080 all I'll ever have, God is going, Will you release 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.520 it to me and watch what I can do with it? 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:52.040 Because they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.200 They will mount up with wings alike eagles and romans. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.959 Reminds us. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and so, in 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:07.520 view of God's mercy, to offer your body as living sacrifice, 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:12.320 holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:17.800 proper worship. You're a living sacrifice. You want to know 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:20.400 how to live in the weight. You gotta lay your 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.879 life down as a sacrifice, because it's only when you 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:28.520 become a sacrifice that you actually live. You see, we 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.920 want the fire, but God says, I want the surrender. 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.320 We want to receive, but God says, first, you've gotta 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.400 lay it all down. We want to see the end 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.240 of the story. But God says, will you see what 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.520 I want to do right here, right now, in and 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:50.040 through you come on, If anybody's got a praise in 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.240 the house, why don't you lift up a shout of 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:59.200 honor to God. He's here right now, He's here in 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:06.240 the weight, he's here in the wait. It's a slow 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:13.439 burn for those that wait. I grew up celebrating the 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:17.600 fourth July with a million fireworks. My brothers and I. 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:19.600 We jump in the car, we drive down the street. 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:22.639 Stop it a little set up on the side of 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:26.200 the road by everything that we could afford. Come back 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:30.560 to the house and set those babies off. Now, the 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.679 scariest thought is when you light a firework and then 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:36.399 you step back and you're waiting for that thing to 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:46.000 pop off, and you go, is that thing lit? And 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:49.120 what do you do? You don't run up. You tiptoe up, 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:55.960 cause you know it may be a slow burn, but 0:22:56.119 --> 0:23:01.159 it is burning towards an expected outcome that is gonna 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:08.639 exchange everything. I want to speak faith to your heart today, 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:16.800 your life, your faith, your perseverance, your trials, your wilderness 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:20.600 is not the end game. You are burning towards an 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:26.280 expected outcome. God has already authored the end of this story, 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:28.800 and you don't have to wonder if he's gonna carry 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:33.000 it through, because he comes through every single time. But 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:39.200 maybe today you're tiptoeing forward and it's not with expectation, 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:47.320 it's with a heart that has become disappointed in the way. 0:23:48.160 --> 0:23:50.879 Have you ever wondered if your faith was still ignited? 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:56.959 Have you ever wondered if you actually have what it 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:01.800 takes to get through the wilderness of the weight, to 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:04.960 get through the slow burn when life seems to be 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:08.639 crawling and all you want to do is accelerate and 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:12.800 move forward. I've got good news for you today. You 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:16.040 may feel burned out, You may feel like you don't 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:19.520 have what it takes. You may be asking yourself today, 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:23.280 is my faith still lit? Good news for you today 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:27.160 is you're not the fire, and you can get reignited 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:33.080 every single moment of the journey. All you gotta do 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:36.520 is get back to that altar and lay your life 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:41.600 down once again, and the ignition is on. The fire 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:47.880 starts to blaze, the faith starts to rise. Today, God says, 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:52.400 I want to light the fire within you every moment 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.800 of the slow burn, Come on giving praise in this house. 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:04.359 He's with you. He's with you, He's with you. You 0:25:04.359 --> 0:25:07.280 don't want to be the fire, then the pressure is 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:11.160 on you to sustain it. No, we're not the fire. 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:16.439 He's the fire. He's the all consuming fire. We just 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:20.600 bring our little every morning, throughout the day, and every evening, 0:25:20.640 --> 0:25:25.359 and we watched as he transforms it. They that wait 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:31.879 again and again and again and again. As you find 0:25:31.960 --> 0:25:38.479 yourself surrendering to him, you will renew your strength. But 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:41.680 what is this offering that we bring? I think it's 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:46.240 interesting what God tells Moses to bring. Exodus, chapter thirty, 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:51.000 verse thirty five speaks very specifically of what our offering 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:55.480 should be. The fragrant sacrifice of incense was to be 0:25:55.640 --> 0:26:03.400 three things, salted and pure and sacred. Friends. If God 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:07.960 said the offering should be salted, pure and sacred in Exodus, 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:11.720 I think it's pretty incredible that today that's what our 0:26:11.920 --> 0:26:16.080 very lives should also be. That our very lives, our 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:20.600 offering is sacred. Friends, There is only one blend that 0:26:20.720 --> 0:26:23.800 was allowed in God's house. You couldn't burn it anywhere else. 0:26:23.840 --> 0:26:26.440 If you were burning in your house, you got cut off. 0:26:26.520 --> 0:26:29.480 But I know when it comes to my offering for God, 0:26:29.640 --> 0:26:32.200 there's a peace in my heart that only belongs to him. 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.840 He is the central focus of my life. That sacred 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.439 space is reserved for him and him alone, and in 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:44.440 the weight I keep him front and center. It's not 0:26:44.480 --> 0:26:48.199 just sacred, it's pure. See our offering to God. It 0:26:48.280 --> 0:26:51.840 isn't a supplement in the slow burn. It's not just 0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:56.159 a piece of encouragement or a crutch. No, friends, this 0:26:56.359 --> 0:27:00.600 is pure and complete surrendered to God. This is not 0:27:00.840 --> 0:27:06.840 Jesus pless, self help, Jesus pless, horoscopes, Jesus pless this 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:12.359 or Jesus pless that. It's Jesus and only Jesus that 0:27:12.600 --> 0:27:17.080 breaks the shames, that creates the community of life, that 0:27:17.320 --> 0:27:23.879 frees me from my bondage. It's a pure sacrifice. But 0:27:24.000 --> 0:27:27.639 it's not just sacred, and it's not just pure. It's salted. 0:27:27.800 --> 0:27:34.520 Somebody says, salted salt is actually the ingredient that allows 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:41.120 it to keep on burning. Salt is a preserver. The 0:27:41.160 --> 0:27:45.600 salt keeps it as a steady slow burn that lasts 0:27:45.720 --> 0:27:51.040 and elongates the fragrance impact. God says that we're the 0:27:51.080 --> 0:27:54.240 salt of the earth. Maybe today in the slow burn, 0:27:54.320 --> 0:27:56.199 you go. I don't know. I feel like I've lost 0:27:56.280 --> 0:28:02.040 my saltiness. Do you know how long salt lasts? In fact, 0:28:02.119 --> 0:28:06.840 let me ask you, when does salt expire? Have you 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:18.480 ever googled it? I did. Never. Salt never expires. You 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:22.600 think you're past your prime, You're just getting started. You're 0:28:22.640 --> 0:28:28.119 gonna be fresh at twenty, fresh at thirty, fresh at forty, freship, 0:28:28.320 --> 0:28:34.959 fifty freshed sixty every season of your life, your offering 0:28:35.080 --> 0:28:39.120 is gonna bring a freshness to the world. You were 0:28:39.280 --> 0:28:45.040 created to last because your very life is a preserver, 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:49.120