WEBVTT - Come Out Of The Cave (Daniel Floyd) 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:06.280 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.360 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:10.000 Be sure to. 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:13.720 Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:20.079 I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:23.959 So good to be in church today. My wife is 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.479 with me, two of the four or with me. We 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:33.400 have four kids sixteen, fourteen, six and four and yeah, 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:40.440 same wife, so we think us too. No same and 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:43.280 we just took a break and took a long break 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.920 in between there. And the two little ones they don't 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.720 sit still long enough to get traveling rights, so they're 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.519 at home. But we're just honored to be here. If 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.240 you're ever in the Fredericksburg Richmond area of Virginia, come 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:59.920 say hello to us sometime. We would love to host you, 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.040 and I'd love to have you visit sometime. Honored to 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.720 be here, I would be remiss if I didn't say 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:11.080 at the onset that this house and the leaders of 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:16.240 this House have made such a difference in our lives, 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.959 as I think all of us can testify to. Moments 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.280 setting over there, hearing a message called take your seat 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:30.080 at the gate that marked me at an inside elevation 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:36.759 a moment before service praying together at Providence High schools. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:41.280 We all remember Providence that marked me just moments throughout 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:45.200 where something Pastor Stephen said in a phone call, something 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.000 in a message. I think we'd all have the testimony 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.360 some lyric that carried us through a moment of a song. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.240 And I just want to say how much we love 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.840 your pastor's pastor Stephen, Pastor Holly. What a gif they 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:00.000 are to you, but what a g if they are 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.560 to the body of Christ. Come on, can we put 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.840 our hands together and thank God for our leaders today? 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.160 What an incredible gift. Well, are you ready for the 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.160 Word today? Come on? I know this is a house 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.000 that loves the Word of God. And so if you 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.640 have a Bible with you. Judges, chapter six, We're gonna 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.920 get to it and get to work. And I'm believing 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:26.280 that God wants to say something to you today. Judges 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:31.360 Chapter six. Start in verse one. Read to about verse six. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:35.480 It says again the Israelites did evil in the eyes 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.679 of the Lord. It's a great verse to start with, right, Hey, 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:44.280 welcome de elevation. Eve Israel did evil. I'm not smart. 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.840 Guest speaker guy says in for seven years he gave 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.080 them into the hands of the Midianites. Everybody shout Midianites. 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.880 And because the power of midian was so oppressive, the 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:02.720 Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.880 And whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalakites 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.640 and other Eastern peoples invaded the country and they camped 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.120 on the land, and they ruined the crops all the 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.960 way to Gaza. They did not spare a living thing 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.360 for israel neither sheep, nor cattle, nor donkeys. And they 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.639 came up with their livestock and their tents like swarm 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.040 of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.799 their camels. They invaded the land and they ravaged it. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:38.520 Midians so impoverished the Israelites. One translation says they reduced 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:43.240 them to starvation that they cried out to the Lord 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.920 for help. I want to bring a message today. If 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.960 you're a note taking typewrite this down. If you're not, 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:52.680 go ahead and write it down. Called come out of 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.880 the cave. Come out of the cave. Let's pray together, Father. 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.440 Our hearts and minds are open to hear from heaven today. 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:05.120 We haven't come to do some religious ritual, but we 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.680 believe the Word of God is powerful and alive and 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.600 can change our lives today. So do that, do what 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.560 only you can do in our hearts and our minds. 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:20.440 We pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said a big amen. Amen. 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.839 So not too long ago, my oldest owen who's with us, 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.880 he's sixteen, starts driving next month. Everybody pay for my 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.480 insurance bill. Please say a prayer. Add that to your 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.840 prayer list. He comes up to me out of the 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.599 balloon and he says, hey, Dad, did you ever pull 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.680 an all nighter? And I was like, yeah, there were 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.800 several times in college that I pulled all nighters. Anybody 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:42.600 else in the house, come on, every campus, e fam, 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.680 you pulled a nine nighter. Okay. I don't know if it's, 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.760 you know, justification for my procrastination, but I just kind 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:53.479 of like to say that I enjoyed all nighters. I 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:55.520 had all nighters back in the day where you went 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.560 to the computer lab. Come on, somebody, you didn't have 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.080 no laptop in your room with you? Talking about spoiled 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:06.320 went to a computer lab with my disc Can I 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.200 get an amen in the House of God today, my 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.560 disc put that in the slot, had to wait for 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.839 a spot for all the other procrastinators that were in 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.160 the computer lab, and then I'd work on that thing 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.560 until about seven in the morning, run and get some breakfast, 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:25.080 head to class, acting like I had that thing done 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.080 for two weeks. So he was like I said, yeah, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.440 I pulled several all nighters. And at the same time, 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.000 in my mind, I'm trying to calculate weight. I think 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.480 he's trying to get approval for waiting until the last minute. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.400 Come on, have you know your sins will catch up 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.080 to you at some point in your life and your 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.480 parenting usually trying to get justifications so at some point 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.680 he can put things off till the last moment. But 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:52.320 I kind of liked the pressure. I kind of enjoyed 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.279 the pressure. Actually I fed off of it. I thrived 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.440 off the pressure, honestly a little bit. I kind of 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.839 think that I'm a little more creative when I'm under pressure. 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:02.440 I think I write a little better when I'm under pressure. 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.680 I think I perform a little better. Anybody else with me, 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.200 like you kind of like the pressure the rest of you, 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:10.520 Like I've just triggered something on the inside of you, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.640 Like you're gonna go to in therapy this week. We 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.040 all need some therapy. You're gonna be talking about how 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.800 like it brought up things of you. You know, some 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.080 of you dream that you showed up to class without 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:25.080 a paper and it was the nightmares. But I kind 0:06:25.080 --> 0:06:28.200 of like the pressure. And you know, pressure is really 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.240 interesting in life because we all face it, do we not. 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:33.520 We all go through some pressure. Some of you get 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:38.000 under immense pressure right now in this moment, the pressure 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.919 to perform. We all face pressure. We face the pressure 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.760 to to to act like we've got it all together 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.400 when we're falling apart on the inside, face the pressure 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.760 of how will my kids turn out? We all face pressures, 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:58.599 financial pressures, relational pressures. But we all face pressure in life. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.640 And whether you're tuning in today and you believe in 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.560 Jesus and God and the Bible and all those things, 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.520 or you don't, the commonality of the human experience is 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:13.440 that we all face pressure. Somebody shall pressure. And I 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.760 found that pressure usually comes from a couple of different 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.160 places in our life. How many of you know, life 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.920 just happens that sometimes it's the choices of other people 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.880 that cause pressure in your life that sometimes it's just 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.560 life circumstances. Just out of the blue. You didn't wake 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:29.600 up and plant it, you didn't wake up that day 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:34.160 hoping for it, but just out of nowhere, pressure came 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.440 on you. And how may you know that, if we're 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.360 real honest, sometimes the pressures in our life come because 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.840 of the choices that we made, that we did something, 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:48.760 we said something, we sewed something so many years ago 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.680 and we're reaping that thing now. And sometimes pressure is 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.400 just let's be real, God didn't do it, your mama 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.760 didn't do it. I did it. Are y'all? Track it 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.600 with me? Comes from a couple of different places. But 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.080 when we read in this story right now, the Israelites 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.360 under immense pressure, and they're under immense pressure from this 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.520 group called the Midianites, this group of people that have 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.520 put the full force and the full weight of themselves 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:24.040 on Israel. And pressure can be debilitating, it can be overwhelming. 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.040 It can back you into a corner and make you 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.280 feel like I have no other option and I have 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.680 no other way out. This is what pressure will do 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.559 to you. And I have found in life that pressure 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.480 will do one of two things to you. It will 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:41.720 either refine you or it will confine you. Are y'all 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.760 following me so far, We're going somewhere, we're just building. 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:51.560 It'll either refine you or it will confine you. You know, 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.160 pressure can be powerful to refine something. I was reading 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:59.720 this week, Not that I'm a scientist whatsoever. Those all 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.760 nights were not scientific papers. But I found that whenever 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.080 carbon atoms are put under seven hundred and twenty five 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.440 thousand pounds of pressure per square inch and the right temperature, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:17.920 they produce a diamond. Seven hundred and twenty five thousand 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.960 pounds of pressure per square inch. That's a whole lot 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:25.680 of pressure. So that pressure is refining a little carbon atom. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.559 Now that little carbon atom isn't going. This is awesome. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.160 I don't know how carbon atom's sake. I just see 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.040 my mind. You know, this is wonderful. I just love 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:37.400 this person. I love that I'm under pressure and that 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.760 I'm hidden, that nobody can see me, and that I'm 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.080 down in this dirt and all this pressure is on 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.520 top of me. I'm just loving this right now. Thank 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.280 you Jesus for your faithfulness. But I'm under the pressure 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:52.040 right now. But that pressure is refining to produce something. 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.439 How may you know that? I found that whenever I'm 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.080 under pressure, it feels like I'm hidden because whatever is 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.240 weighing down on me is high me. It feels like 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:03.720 no one. Whenever you're under pressure, you can feel like 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.200 no one sees you, that no one knows you. You 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.360 wonder if God is even in the building with you 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.160 in the moment? Does God even know what I'm going through? 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:13.840 But I would propose to you that there are some 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:18.480 things in your life that can only be developed under pressure. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.920 I'm not saying that God sends the Midianites into your life, 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:25.679 but I'm just saying that He has a way of 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.319 working all things together and that if you will allow him, 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.920 the pressure can refine that there are some character traits, 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.320 that there are some faith that needs to be built. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.480 That you don't see the diamond in you, but God 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.520 sees the diamond in you. And on the other side 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.920 of the pressure. I wonder if I got anybody that's 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.319 been through some pressure in your life, and you can 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:51.280 testify today that on the other side of the pressure 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.360 there's some greater faith that on the other side of 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.600 the pressure you learn to worship Him like you've never 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:04.160 worshiped him before that on the other side, because pressure 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:11.160 will either refine you ord we'll confine you. Pressure has 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.480 a way of molding something on the inside of you. 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.280 Pressure has a way of working out some of the 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:19.520 things in you that need to get out of you. 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:32.920 Pressure can refine you. Somebody shout pressure, but pressure can 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:39.959 also confine you. And this is what's happening to Israel. 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.720 In the text that we just read, the Bible says 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:49.160 that again Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:54.280 Somebody shout again. If you want a store, if you 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:56.280 want to overview the Old Testament, can we go to 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.120 Sunday School real quick? Let me give you Old Testament survey. 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.880 God chooses Israel. Israel's happy and worshiping God blesses Israel. 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:09.240 Israel's living in the blessing of God. Israel's like we 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.680 bless I don't know we need God anymore. And Israel 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.600 walks away from God and starts doing life on their own, 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.040 and they face all the consequences of it, and not 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.080 because God is beating them up. Because when you choose 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:21.760 your own, God's let go ahead. I'll leave the light 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.680 on for you. I'll be right here waiting when you 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.120 get back, when you figure out this don't work your way, 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.240 when you figure out doing life your way, when you 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.160 figure out having any bad attitudes, living degative unforgiveness, when 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.760 you figure out it don't work that way, I'll leave 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.120 the light on. I'm right here waiting on you. They 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.400 cry out to God, what does God do? Because he's 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.640 a good god, he rescues Israel, then he blesses Israel, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.240 and then Israel is like, I don't know that we 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:46.400 need God anymore. I'll start doing in my own way. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.720 And then they get the consequences of it. Repeat, repeat, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.760 Are y'all tracking with me? And this is where we 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.160 are in the story right now. It says that Israel 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.920 again again, Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.160 And so they're in one of these cycles. Man, this 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.319 kind of sounds like us sometimes, doesn't y'all? Remember the 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.680 old hymn, This is my story, this is my song, 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.000 praising my save. I'm not your pastor out. I can't 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:23.640 write lyrics. Ain't nobody like him, says praising my Savior 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:30.920 all the day long. I'm like, no, that's not my story. 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.160 Some days it's praising them all day long. Some days 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.839 it's I think I could do it on my own. Oh, 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.720 we got the saints in the house today, Well just 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.760 for me, for anybody that ain't wearing the saint halo today, 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.600 for me, it's like, no, this sounds like my story 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:51.560 sometimes Israel that sometimes I'm going all in for God, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.400 and sometimes I got days where it's like I thank God, 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.800 I can do it on my own. And this is 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.959 the cycle that Israel's in. And so when Israel decides 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.720 to do it on their own, God's like, okay, do 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:07.200 it your way. And as a result, Midian comes in. 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:12.040 These Midianites, they come in and they begin to attack Israel, 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:19.080 and they begin to confine Israel. Because pressure will either 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:25.320 refine you or it will confine you. You know, what 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.120 I found this week that I'd never seen before is 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.440 that Midian was a thorn in the flesh to another 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.520 follower of God by the name of Joseph. I don't 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:41.880 know if you know this Genesis chapter thirty seven, it 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:43.480 won't be on the screen for you. I'm just gonna 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.080 tell you. Have to trust me that I'm giving you 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:50.600 the correct Bible verse. But the Bible says that Joseph's brothers. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:52.280 If you remember this, the cot of mini colors. They 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.120 didn't like him. They threw them into the pit. You'll 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:55.840 track him with me. They put him into the pit. 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.280 And then whenever there was some Ishraelites came along, but 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:05.480 they were israel that were Midianite traders. So same group 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:14.560 of people, same pressure. Joseph determines that no matter the 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.880 circumstance or the situation, whether I'm in the pit, or 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.560 I'm in Potiphar's house, or i am in the prison, 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.120 the Bible says the hand of the Lord was with him, 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.440 and that he rows to the top in the middle 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:31.000 of every situation because pressure will either refine you or 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.920 it will confine you. Now we get over here to 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:36.480 Judges chapter six, and we see the Midianites as a 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.600 thorn in their flesh again. And what happens is that 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:45.880 Israel begins to retreat because when pressure confines you, it 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:51.360 will shrink you. And when the pressure of life comes 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.480 on you will either say, okay, God can work all 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:56.800 this together for my good, or you will begin to 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:01.040 shrink back. And the Bible tells us that physically, geographically, 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:06.960 the Israelites begin to shrink back. They begin to shrink back. 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.960 It says they they made shelters in caves and in 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.720 the clefts and in strongholds. They physically shrink back. I 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.720 think it's a metaphor for what you and I do. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.560 Whenever pressure comes on our life, they begin to shrink back. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.600 They begin to make themselves small. They begin to limit 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.480 their thinking. They begin to limit the possibilities in their life. 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.160 They begin to settle in for what they thought could happen. 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.040 They begin to settle in for what they thought was 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:38.600 the right solution. In the middle of this difficulty in pressure, 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:43.600 they begin to shrink themselves. And whenever pressure comes on us, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.560 we will begin to shrink our dreams. We'll begin to 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.920 shrink our faith down. We'll begin to shrink the possibilities 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.040 down in our life. We'll begin to settle in for 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.640 less than our inheritance as children of the living God. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.680 We'll begin to believe the lie of the enemy, that 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.239 it's always gonna be this way. We'll never get out 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:08.000 of this situation, will never be moved beyond this circumstance. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.880 We begin to shrink ourselves. I wonder, not out loud, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:14.520 but if you wouldn't answer inside, what part of your 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.600 life have you shrunk down, because here's the deal. The 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.040 enemy doesn't have to steal your confidence. He just has 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.359 to put enough pressure on you, and you'll give it 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:29.439 up yourself. The enemy doesn't have to rob you of joy. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.200 He just has to put enough pressure, enough financial pressure, 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:37.639 enough relational pressure, enough parenting pressure on you. He doesn't 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.160 have to get The enemy can't come and take anything 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:45.920 from you. We give it up ourselves because of the pressure. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:52.760 And it shouldn't be this way. Israel forgot who they were. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:18:00.879 Shouldn't be this way. The Bible says that they made 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:08.680 shelters for themselves in caves. It didn't say Minian built 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:14.040 shelters for them in the caves. When the pressure comes on, 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:19.160 we will build our own shelters in caves. Israel should 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.320 have been living in wide open spaces. They're the children 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.520 of promise. They're the nation God's chosen people. They're all 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:31.080 following me. They are God's people. They shouldn't have been withdrawing, 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.760 living below their level, getting up and putting themselves in caves. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:39.320 It shouldn't have been that way. But we will make 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:44.160 caves for ourselves. We will make our own prisons. When 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.560 the pressure comes on in our life. This is what 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:52.200 Israel's doing, and it shouldn't have been this way. They're 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.880 the children of the Most High God. I mean, how 0:18:55.960 --> 0:19:01.240 much previous in their story. They're a They're a narrative, 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:06.600 they're a storytelling culture. This is how they're passing down 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:10.760 things from generation to generation. So this group of people, 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:15.960 you know, heard about the Red Sea crossing. This group 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.720 of people you know, had to hear about the cloud 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.520 by day and the fire by night. They had to 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:26.040 hear about the plagues that allowed Pharaoh calls him to go. No, no, no, 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:27.720 you guys, go ahead and go. I want you to leave. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.119 Like they had heard the stories of how God was 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:37.480 working among them. But yet they're making shelters for themselves 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.560 in caves, and it shouldn't have been that way. They 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:45.400 limited the God that they served, because when you see 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.320 your self as small, you see God as small. And 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.280 they saw themselves as only able to live in caves 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.639 and to back up and to shrink themselves down. And 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.040 when you look at God through the lens of you, 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:03.200 you always limit God. Let me say that again, when 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.919 you look at God through the lens of you, you 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:12.320 will limit God. I think about naming, naming The Bible 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.840 says that he went, you know the story, and he 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:16.640 was going to dip seven times. But when he went 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.480 to the prophet. This verse always gets me. He got 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.280 angry when the prophet said go to the Jordan and 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:30.160 dip in it seven times, he got angry. And then 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:35.000 the text says this. It says, I thought he would 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:39.240 come out, wave his hand over me and speak over me, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:43.600 and then I would be healed. The first two words 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:52.200 in that sentence are his problem, I thought, I thought. 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:56.200 And then he said how God would do it? And 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:02.160 what God would do. When we limit God by what 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:06.720 we think can happen, we bring God down to our level. 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:10.800 In other words, we limit God to the level of 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:15.880 our imagination. We limit God to the level of can 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:18.600 I think it up? Can I dream it up? Can 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.520 I design it up? Can I scheme it up? And 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:24.000 then go God, can you do this? But I think 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:26.240 the apostle Paul is the one who wrote, but my 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.280 God is able to do himmeasurably more than I can 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:36.119 ask think or or what or what or imagine that 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.040 we serve the God that is outside of our imagination, 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.359 and if he's the God that can part the Red 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.920 Sea and if he is the cloud by day and 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:46.880 fire by night. If he's the God of the Ten Plagues, 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:49.240 if he's the God that met Moses on top of 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:51.520 the mouth Sia and I. If he's the God that 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.800 took down Goliath through the Rock of David. If he 0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:57.640 is that God, then why would we limit him by 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.679 the level of what we can think, what we can imagine. 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:07.080 Israel was limiting God because they had forgotten who their 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:12.960 God was. In any time we distance ourself from God, 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:19.880 we forget who God is anytime we put diance. This 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:21.720 is why it's so important to be in the House 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:25.200 of God every Sunday. This is why it's so important 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.800 to connect Epam every single Sunday. Why because you don't 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.760 what distance between you and God. This is why time 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:34.720 and the world is so important every day. This is 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.080 why being on a team, being in an e group. 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.040 Why because it's so important to be around the family 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:42.520 of God and the people of God that are gonna 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:46.440 help you seek God whenever it's clouded in your perspective. 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:48.880 You need some people in your life that no no, no, no, 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:51.119 no no no. He is the God that brought you 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.480 out before. Then he's the God that did the miracle before. No, 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.119 he's no. Let me remind you. So you've got a 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:05.560 little bit of amnesia right now, because you'll turn caves 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:14.120 into prisons. And the Midianites didn't lock them up. They 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:26.560 locked themselves up. They made for themselves shelters in the caves. 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:30.280 Midian doesn't need to do it when we'll do it 0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:35.320 for ourselves. We give the devil too much credit. The 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:39.760 devil didn't do it, just the pressure was great enough. 0:23:40.760 --> 0:24:00.359 Sometimes we do it caves into prisons and stay in 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:04.120 a cave long enough. Not only he does it turn 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:09.119 into a prison, it turns into a tomb. The text 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:14.320 said that in the in the King James, that's what 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:16.200 I grew up. I'm a church kid. I grew up 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:22.479 on the King Jimmy somebody the Yea's and the thou Ford, 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:26.760 and there shall too. If you really get preaching, you 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.119 quote the King James, you feel a lot more spiritual. 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:37.800 It ain't true, but you feel it. Come on, it 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:44.160 says it reduced them to starvation. Reduce them to starvation. 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:46.480 I don't think it does any disservice to this text 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:48.400 to say that there's a good chance that people died 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:53.400 in the caves. If you're starving and everything is getting plundered, 0:24:55.760 --> 0:25:00.760 it's it doesn't stretch too much. I don't think to 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:03.119 say that some people probably died in the caves. And 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:07.800 I'll be honest with you, I kind of understand. I 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:12.800 kind of understand because the Bible says that they would 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:16.600 go out and they would sew crops, and then the 0:25:16.640 --> 0:25:21.040 Midianites would come and wipe the crops out, and then 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:24.760 they back in the caves, and then they go out 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:26.920 and try to sew again over this seven year period, 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:29.199 and then the Midianites would come and the Amelekites and 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:31.560