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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik.

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Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

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Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

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Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy the message. Slap your neighbors say, wake up, Here

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Speaker 2: comes the word of God. I hope you didn't take

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Speaker 2: that literally when I said slap him. We don't have

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Speaker 2: that kind of insurance coverage at the church. What a

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Speaker 2: privilege it is to share God's word with you today.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate on this passage of scripture since twenty eighteen. Wow,

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Speaker 2: and this is one of my absolute favorites. The Lord

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Speaker 2: will surely meet us here. Look at Genesis chapter twenty eight,

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Speaker 2: verse ten through twenty two. The Bible says Jacob left

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Speaker 2: Beersheba and set out for Huran. When he reached a

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Speaker 2: certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun

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Speaker 2: had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put

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Speaker 2: it under his head and lay down to sleep. He

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Speaker 2: had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting

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Speaker 2: on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and

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Speaker 2: the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

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Speaker 2: There above it stood the Lord. I like that. I

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Speaker 2: like that God is above whatever I'm going through. That's

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Speaker 2: just a good reminder, refresher for my faith and encourages

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Speaker 2: my heart. Today there above it stood the Lord, and

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Speaker 2: he said, I am the Lord, the God of your

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Speaker 2: father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give

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Speaker 2: you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.

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Speaker 1: Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and.

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Speaker 2: You will spread out to the west and to the east,

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Speaker 2: to the north and to the south. All peoples on

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Speaker 2: earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

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Speaker 1: And listen to this promise, and let it get in

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Speaker 1: your heart for a moment.

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Speaker 2: Today. I am with you and will watch over you

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Speaker 2: wherever you go, and I will bring you back to

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Speaker 2: this land. I will not leave you until I have

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Speaker 2: done what I promised you. When Jacob awoke from his sleep,

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Speaker 2: he thought, surely the Lord is in this place, and

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Speaker 2: I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said,

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Speaker 2: how awesome is this place. This is none other than

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Speaker 2: the House of God. This is the Gate of Heaven.

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Speaker 2: Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had

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Speaker 2: placed under his head and set it up as a

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Speaker 2: pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called

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Speaker 2: that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

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Speaker 2: Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be

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Speaker 2: with me and will watch over me on this journey

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Speaker 2: I am taking, and will give me food to eat

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Speaker 2: and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to

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Speaker 2: my father's household, then the Lord will be my God,

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Speaker 2: and this stone that I have set up as a

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Speaker 2: pillar will be God's house. And of all that you

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Speaker 2: give me, I will give you a tenth Say amen

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Speaker 2: for the word of God. Go back to verse fourteen

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Speaker 2: for a moment. Your descendants will be like the dust

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Speaker 2: of the earth, and you will spread out. Your descendants

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Speaker 2: will be like the dust of the earth, and you

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Speaker 2: will spread out. So we've got dust and expansion in

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Speaker 2: the same sentence.

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Speaker 1: And what I want to.

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Speaker 2: Talk to you about today is your next step. But

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Speaker 2: very specifically, for those of you who are in a

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Speaker 2: season of uncertainty or confusion or fear, I want to

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Speaker 2: talk to you about your next messy step, your next

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Speaker 2: messy step. Father, We roll up our sleeves today to

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Speaker 2: dig into your word to see what you might say

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Speaker 2: to each and every one of us. I ask now

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Speaker 2: that you would use me. I am nothing without you.

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Speaker 2: But if you breathe through me, speak through me, this

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Speaker 2: could be monumental. In these moments, God, we stand before

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Speaker 2: a person in a passage of scripture who lived hundreds

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Speaker 2: of years ago. But he faced the same things that

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Speaker 2: we face. He needed direction and provision from you, and

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Speaker 2: so do we. So we ask now, God that you

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Speaker 2: would speak to us no less than you spoke to Jacob.

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Speaker 2: Remind us what you're doing, reveal to us who you are,

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Speaker 2: have your way, and give us the courage to respond

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Speaker 2: to what you say. In Jesus' name, Amen, you may

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Speaker 2: be seated your next messy step. I wrote that phrase

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Speaker 2: down today to use as a title, your next messy step.

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Speaker 2: And I want to talk for a moment about what

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Speaker 2: it's like for me as a pastor when we go

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Speaker 2: down the memory lane of different things that have happened

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Speaker 2: in this church and talk about all the things that

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Speaker 2: God has done.

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Speaker 1: See when we're showing a.

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Speaker 2: Highlight video like we showed earlier, of all the amazing

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Speaker 2: things that God did in this church, there's a part

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Speaker 2: of me that celebrates and I can clap for it now,

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Speaker 2: But a lot of the things that I can clap

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Speaker 2: about now I cried through then. A lot of times

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Speaker 2: I'm hesitant to teach leadership to other pastors, not because

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Speaker 2: I don't care for them, but because it's a lot

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Speaker 2: different to explain something than it was to experience it.

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Speaker 2: And I never just want to be one of these

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Speaker 2: hypocrites who gets up here and hides the humanity of

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Speaker 2: the struggle, of the steps that I've taken in my

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Speaker 2: life in order to just accentuate and elevate the heavenly

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Speaker 2: parts of our journey where God moved. The truth of

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Speaker 2: the matter is, every time God has greatly moved in

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Speaker 2: our ministry and in my life, it was messy. I

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Speaker 2: don't remember one time that God really moved where there

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Speaker 2: wasn't a real mess. I don't remember one thing that

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Speaker 2: God did in this ministry that was significant that was

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Speaker 2: not sacrificial. I don't remember one time when I did

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Speaker 2: something for God and my hands weren't shaking before I

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Speaker 2: came out and steadied myself behind this pulpit and announced it.

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Speaker 2: I don't remember many times when I opened my mouth

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Speaker 2: to preach to you that I didn't feel like I

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Speaker 2: wanted to throw up and swallow it back down before

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Speaker 2: I did. That is true to this day. And y'all

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Speaker 2: don't like that kind of stuff when I talk about

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Speaker 2: throwing up this early in my sermon, because you just

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Speaker 2: want the message, you don't want the mess. But the

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Speaker 2: fact of the matter is there is no message where

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Speaker 2: there is no mess. It's true of your life. You know,

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Speaker 2: the ways that we asked God to use us, in

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Speaker 2: the ways that we ask God.

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Speaker 1: To bless us, we kind of want the blessing without

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Speaker 1: the mess.

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Speaker 2: In Jacob's life in Genesis chapter twenty eight, you could

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Speaker 2: say it was the best of times because he just

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Speaker 2: met God.

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Speaker 1: You could say it was the worst of times because

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Speaker 1: he met him on the run.

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Speaker 2: It was the blest of times. It was the mess

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Speaker 2: of times. Jacob has made a mess of his family situation.

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Speaker 2: When I read the context of the passage only to

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Speaker 2: refer to the blessing, I left out the mess so

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Speaker 2: that we could talk about it together right now. I

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Speaker 2: told you that Jacob set out for a place called Hauran,

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Speaker 2: but I didn't tell you that he ran to Haran.

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Speaker 2: He ran to Haran not because he was going on

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Speaker 2: vacation there. He ran there because his brother Esaul wanted

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Speaker 2: to kill him. His brother Esau wanted to kill him

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Speaker 2: because Jacob stole his blessing from their father Isaac, who

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Speaker 2: was going blind. And Genesis twenty eight starts out with

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Speaker 2: Jacob moving to a new place, not because he made

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Speaker 2: a decision that would benefit his career or his future,

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Speaker 2: but because he had no other options. Jacob is in

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Speaker 2: a place of vulnerability. He has come to the end

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Speaker 2: of himself and he has to relocate in the middle

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Speaker 2: of his life to a place he's never been before.

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Speaker 2: This is the context of the blessing of God on

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Speaker 2: the life of Jacob. And now looking back on Jacob's life,

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Speaker 2: we know that he became a great nation called Israel.

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Speaker 2: The twelve tribes of Israel were born from the twelve

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Speaker 2: sons that would be born to him in the place

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Speaker 2: where he was going. When he got where he was going,

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Speaker 2: he would meet his wife Leah and his wife Rachel.

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Speaker 2: Don't do that. Those were different times, and the Bible

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Speaker 2: says that after they had birthed all of those babies.

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Speaker 2: In the messy sibling rivalry of two sisters who were

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Speaker 2: trying to prove that one was more productive or more

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Speaker 2: loved than the other. A nation set out and Jacob

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Speaker 2: became that nation twenty years later. I'm telling you all

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Speaker 2: of this because we can see now the strategy of

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Speaker 2: God and how he birthed the nation through Jacob. But

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Speaker 2: as I've already told you at the beginning of my sermon,

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Speaker 2: what is explained as strategic is often experienced as surrender.

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Speaker 2: And the reason I don't really like to teach pastors

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Speaker 2: about church growth or leadership or strategic objectives is because

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Speaker 2: I can explain it as the steps that we took

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Speaker 2: to get where we are. But at the time I

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Speaker 2: was not experiencing it as steps, not in the strategic sense.

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Speaker 1: I was experiencing it as surrender.

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Speaker 2: What I'm trying to say to you is most everything

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Speaker 2: I've ever done right in my life was me doing

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Speaker 2: what I thought God was telling me because I didn't

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Speaker 2: have anything else to do, because everything else I had

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Speaker 2: tried to do didn't work, so I finally had to

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Speaker 2: give up and do it God's way. So I can

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Speaker 2: explain it to you strategically. You know, how do you

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Speaker 2: start a worship ministry like elevation worship I can tell

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Speaker 2: you strategic about a record label. I can tell you

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Speaker 2: strategically about DSPs and streaming services, and I can tell

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Speaker 2: you strategically about anthems that are written for the church

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Speaker 2: and touring strategies. And I can tell you strategically about

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Speaker 2: putting together a team. And I can tell you strategically

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Speaker 2: about bands and sounds and systematations, systems and systems and

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Speaker 2: strategies and all of that. But the real secret to

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Speaker 2: all of it was surrender. That at the beginning of

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Speaker 2: starting our ministry, I said, Lord, I believe you want

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Speaker 2: us to have a worship ministry that will touch the world.

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Speaker 2: And that's where it started with surrender because I knew

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Speaker 2: I didn't have the skills to do it by myself,

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Speaker 2: so God sent others. I knew I wasn't smart enough

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Speaker 2: to do it by myself, so God gave wisdom. I

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Speaker 2: knew that I could not figure it out on my own,

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Speaker 2: so God by faith did what I could not do

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Speaker 2: by flesh. And so you explain things as strategic, but

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Speaker 2: you experience them as surrender. You look back and you say, well,

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Speaker 2: here's how we raised our kids.

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Speaker 1: See, when they were five, taught them about them.

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Speaker 2: Then and when they were seven, we moved them onto

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Speaker 2: the blank and the nine.

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Speaker 1: We taught them about the nine. And when they were eleven,

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Speaker 1: we taught them.

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Speaker 2: About the And in stage one you're more like a coach,

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Speaker 2: and in stage two you're more like a consultant, and

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Speaker 2: then in stage three you're more like a confidant.

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Speaker 1: And here are the.

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Speaker 2: Stages and the steps for raising godly kids.

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Speaker 1: And there's really only one.

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Speaker 2: You're God one step to raising godly kids. Here, God,

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Speaker 2: They're yours. Parenting can be explained strategically. I mean, you

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Speaker 2: can write a book about it all you want, but

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Speaker 2: the truth is, you really know that if God didn't

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Speaker 2: give you what it took to raise those kids, you

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Speaker 2: would have lost your mind a long time ago. So

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to get you to see that in this

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Speaker 2: journey called faith, what we explain as strategy, we experience

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Speaker 2: as surrender.

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Speaker 1: Why is that important for our lesson today?

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Speaker 2: In case you don't know what God is calling you

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Speaker 2: to do next, and you think that because you don't

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Speaker 2: know the next step, that means that God is not

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Speaker 2: in it. That's not true. Everything God is ever in

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Speaker 2: feels uncertain. Look at Genesis twenty eight, verse ten. The

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Speaker 2: Bible says that Jacob set out for Haram. Verse eleven

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Speaker 2: says when he reached a certain place, everybody say a

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Speaker 2: certain place. Now. Isn't that ironic that the Bible calls

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Speaker 2: it a certain place and Jacob's life has never been

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Speaker 2: more uncertain? How many of you feel like? I'm in

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Speaker 2: an uncertain place right now in my life?

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Speaker 1: Come on, I'm.

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Speaker 2: Uncertain about who to talk to. I'm uncertain about who

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Speaker 2: to trust. I'm uncertain if I'm in the right job.

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Speaker 2: I'm uncertain if I'm at the right school. I'm uncertain

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Speaker 2: if I have what it takes. I'm uncertain whether God

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Speaker 2: is calling me to step out the boat or stay

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Speaker 2: in the boat. I'm uncertain about whether God wants me

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Speaker 2: to quit because this is not him, or he wants

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Speaker 2: me to persevere because it is. I hear you talk

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Speaker 2: about how you can tell you're in God's will when

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Speaker 2: the enemy attacks. But I'm not so sure if it's

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Speaker 2: an attack from the enemy, or if it's actually a

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Speaker 2: bad decision I made that I need to go back

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Speaker 2: and remake. I'm uncertain. Raise your hand again. I'm in

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Speaker 2: an uncertain place now. I tell your neighbor don't feel bad.

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Speaker 2: I don't know either. When we started the church, one

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Speaker 2: of the books they told us to read was pretty good.

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Speaker 2: It was about building your church with strategy. And they

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Speaker 2: gave me the book and I like most of it,

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Speaker 2: but there was one part. Matt, I couldn't stand this part,

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Speaker 2: and I did not adhere to it. It said that

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Speaker 2: when you bring people into discipleship in your church, it's

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Speaker 2: like taking them around the basis at a baseball game,

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Speaker 2: and when you go to the base one, it looks

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Speaker 2: like this, and this is what discipleship looks like with

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Speaker 2: first base, and then you take them to the second

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Speaker 2: and then this is what the second stage looks like,

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Speaker 2: the third base and the.

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Speaker 1: Home play, and then you get them all home and

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Speaker 1: they're all disciple.

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Speaker 2: I read that and I wanted that, and I would

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Speaker 2: like that because that would be cool if it was

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Speaker 2: that clear, not only for me as a pastor, but

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Speaker 2: for me as a person. See, your walk with God

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Speaker 2: goes like this. You do this, and then you do that,

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Speaker 2: and then you do that and then your home. But

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Speaker 2: home is called heaven and you have to die to

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Speaker 2: go there. So now, as long as we're on this earth,

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Speaker 2: I found that life is more like dirt and less

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Speaker 2: like a diamond on a baseball field.

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Speaker 1: It's more dirt less diamond.

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Speaker 2: Because my spiritual journey, I don't know about yours, has

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Speaker 2: not looked like home. My spiritual journey. If I'm really

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Speaker 2: telling you the truth, I could explain it that way.

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Speaker 2: I took step one. I accepted Jesus Christ as my

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Speaker 2: Lord and savior. I took step two. I was baptized

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Speaker 2: in his name. I took step three. I began to

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Speaker 2: share my faith with others. I took step four, And

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Speaker 2: now I am a wonderful, beautiful child of God with

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Speaker 2: absolutely no blemish and no flaw. But the fact of

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Speaker 2: the matter is that God formed me, and I'm flawed,

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Speaker 2: that I am following Jesus flawed, And so it has

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Speaker 2: not looked like this, And there have not always been

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Speaker 2: base coaches telling me is safe to come. It has

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Speaker 2: looked more like I should draw this for you. But

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Speaker 2: you'll get the picture. All the base path people. Teach

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Speaker 2: me how you know so clearly what to do next?

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Speaker 2: Teach me how you know so certainly what God is

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Speaker 2: calling you to do right now? Because most of my

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Speaker 2: discipleship has been through making the wrong decision, repenting, learning, trusting,

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Speaker 2: and growing. Most of my discipleship has looked like I'm

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Speaker 2: doing everything that I think I'm supposed to do.

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Speaker 1: And I'm all over the place, and I'm all over.

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Speaker 2: The map, and God, I going to do this and

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Speaker 2: that and finally just this. Okay, God and the true

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Speaker 2: everybody over fifty back your man up. Today it looks

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Speaker 2: like this. I'm up, I'm growing, I'm down. I feel

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Speaker 2: like I'm dying. I want to die. I'm back up,

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Speaker 2: I'm back down.

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Speaker 1: I'm left.

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Speaker 2: I'm right. I dated him. God said he was the one.

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Speaker 2: But that wasn't God talking. That was my loneliness. Back

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Speaker 2: down to singleness. Back up, here's another chance. Took that job,

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Speaker 2: looked like a good job, you know. I get a promotion,

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Speaker 2: got a new manager, wanted to walk out, stayed for

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Speaker 2: three years, wondered if I stayed thirty six months too long.

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Speaker 2: Don't even know right now what I'm doing. Not I

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Speaker 2: was gonna retire. Made an investment in crypto, Still learning

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Speaker 2: how to do it. It's like this, look at your

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Speaker 2: neighbor and make some swiggles and some scribbles and some

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Speaker 2: zigs and some zags and say it's like this. It's

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Speaker 2: like this and like that. It's like this and like that.

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Speaker 2: It's like this and it's like that. But everywhere I've gone,

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Speaker 2: I ran head on into grace. Everywhere I've been, I

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Speaker 2: ran right into God. Whether I went to the right

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Speaker 2: or to the left. Somehow I heard a voice saying, No,

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Speaker 2: this is the way. Walk in it. This is the way.

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Speaker 2: This is the way. I'm zigging, and I'm zagging, and

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Speaker 2: I'm up and I'm down and I'm back and I'm four.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if this is third base or second

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Speaker 2: base or the outfield. Sometimes I feel like I'm just

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Speaker 2: the dugouts. I'm gonna put me in coach. I'm ready

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Speaker 2: to play. Sometimes I feel like I'm eating a hot

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Speaker 2: dog in the Chief Seas. But I'm here for it

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Speaker 2: and I'm in the game, and God is with me.

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Speaker 2: That's what God told Jacob in verse fifteen. Show him.

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Speaker 2: He said, I am with you and will watch over

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Speaker 2: you wherever you go. You're not always gonna go like

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Speaker 2: this and like that. You're not always gonna even know

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Speaker 2: where homeplate is. Every umpire is not going to agree

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Speaker 2: with your opinion of a striking a ball. You're gonna

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Speaker 2: miss some stuff. You're gonna slide into some stuff.

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Speaker 1: But the promise is this, I will be with you, right,

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Speaker 1: I will be with you.

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Speaker 2: M He didn't say I will be with you, He

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Speaker 2: said I am with you. Which one would you rather have?

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Speaker 2: A God who will be with you or a God

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Speaker 2: who already is? So when it comes to your next

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Speaker 2: step that God has given you to take, and I

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Speaker 2: don't know if that's walking someone that you love through

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Speaker 2: a difficult medical procedure that may be your next step.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if that is working through this addiction

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Speaker 2: issue that's really really got you by the throat. I

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Speaker 2: don't know whether that's just you continuing to be faithful

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Speaker 2: in something that feels kind of boring and mundane. I

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Speaker 2: don't know if that's you getting together with all of

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Speaker 2: those people in a couple of weeks for a meal

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Speaker 2: without cursing any of them out. Whatever your next step is,

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Speaker 2: I want to talk to you about it, and I

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Speaker 2: want to let you know what God told Jacob. See,

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Speaker 2: Jacob is such a messy man, and I'm glad for

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Speaker 2: that because the Bible says that the steps of a

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Speaker 2: good man are ordered by the Lord. But Jacob shows

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Speaker 2: me that the steps of God's man, even if he's

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Speaker 2: not a good man, are ordered by the Lord too.

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Speaker 2: Because for Jacob to steal Esau's blessing and his name

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Speaker 2: literally to mean trick, it means he was messy. He

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Speaker 2: is at this point in his life grown enough to

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Speaker 2: know better, and he should be mature. But we see

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Speaker 2: three things in the passage that may be going on

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Speaker 2: in your life too. One is a mistake, one is

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Speaker 2: a middle, and the other is a move. A mistake,

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Speaker 2: a middle, and a move, all in one passage, all

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Speaker 2: happening in the life of one man. You may say

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Speaker 2: it wasn't a mistake for him to steal Esau's blessing,

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Speaker 2: because God is sovereign, and the Book of Romans says, Jacob,

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Speaker 2: have I loved and saw, have I hated? And it

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Speaker 2: was predestined by God. Yet be that as it may

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Speaker 2: he went about. It wasn't right. He lied to get

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Speaker 2: this blessing. He's blessed, but it's messy. He's successful, but

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Speaker 2: it's messy. He is increasing, but he's isolated. That's a

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Speaker 2: crazy place to be where you find yourself in a

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Speaker 2: certain place because of a mistake. You know, as we

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Speaker 2: talk about God. We say things like where God guides,

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Speaker 2: he provides, But in this specific situation of Jacob's life,

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Speaker 2: we get an indication that even if it wasn't God

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Speaker 2: guiding you there, he will provide for you there if

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Speaker 2: you will turn to him and trust him. I don't

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Speaker 2: know who this is for, but you need to go

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Speaker 2: ahead and own the mistake that you made. Don't even

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Speaker 2: blame the devil for it. The devil didn't make Jacob

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Speaker 2: dress up and take his brother's blessing. He decided to

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Speaker 2: do it, and it was his mom's idea. He was

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Speaker 2: seventy one years old when he did it. It's too

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Speaker 2: late to blame your mom when you are seventy one

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Speaker 2: years old. So sometimes you got to come to the

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Speaker 2: place and say, God, I'm in this place because of

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Speaker 2: my mistake. Not all four jobs that you lost in

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Speaker 2: the last eight years were the result of the devil

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Speaker 2: attacking you. If it was one job in eight years,

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Speaker 2: maybe it was the devil. If it was four jobs

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Speaker 2: in eight years, maybe there are some decisions, not just devils.

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Speaker 2: They don't like me today, not one bit in the

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Speaker 2: world today. How can the grace come until the mistake

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Speaker 2: is acknowledged and accept it. So I'm in this mess.

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Speaker 1: God, I'm in this mess.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what to do about this mess.

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Speaker 1: God, it was my stubbornness that got me here.

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Speaker 2: I think it's so great when we preach about Jonah,

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Speaker 2: you know, because he's an example of somebody who made

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Speaker 2: his own mess. But so is Jacob. In fact, Jacob

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Speaker 2: literally made his bed and had to lie in it.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if you noticed this or not. It

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Speaker 2: said that when he got there to the place in

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Speaker 2: verse twelve, in a certain place that wasn't so certain,

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Speaker 2: he had a dream on which he saw a stairway

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Speaker 2: resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven.

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Speaker 2: But go to the verse before that so we can

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Speaker 2: get the full context. When he saw this beautiful dream,

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Speaker 2: It says he reached a certain place stop for the

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Speaker 2: night because the sun had set, and taking one of

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Speaker 2: the stones there, he put it under his head and

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Speaker 2: lay down to sleep. He is literally in a hard place,

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Speaker 2: and it's not hard because of God. It's hard because

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Speaker 2: of him. This is not in my notes, So bear

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Speaker 2: with me and be patient. Sometimes it's not him making

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Speaker 2: it hard. Sometimes it's us and our decisions making it hard.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes it's our being pair in the past that's making

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Speaker 2: it so hard. Sometimes it's our grabbing after things that

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Speaker 2: God told us to give up that makes it hard.

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Speaker 2: And the problem with preaching is that people will clap

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Speaker 2: for the clips that we put on the Internet that

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Speaker 2: say that if life is hard for you right now,

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Speaker 2: it's because God has something great for you. But sometimes

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Speaker 2: we need to also say, if life is hard for

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Speaker 2: you right now, it might be because God is trying

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Speaker 2: to change you. It can be both. It can be both.

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Speaker 2: Waking up with a hangover every morning is not God

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Speaker 2: testing you or the devil attacking you. Getting yourself excluded

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Speaker 2: from each opportunity because you are never on time is

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Speaker 2: not the devil attacking you. The devil is not in

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Speaker 2: the traffic. You cannot rebuke traffic. The remedy for traffic

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Speaker 2: is not rebuke. Remedy for traffic is ten minutes earlier.

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Speaker 2: Now y'all want me to move on, clap a little louder,

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Speaker 2: and I'll think about it. I'm not playing with y'all

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Speaker 2: no more. I'm not playing with y'all no more. Because

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Speaker 2: you have to admit I am why I'm here. I

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Speaker 2: am why I'm here. You know, God sends some opportunities

435
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,680
Speaker 2: for me to have some friends, but I wasn't friendly.

436
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 2: He's saying, rejection is God's protection. Maybe it's a maybe

437
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,959
Speaker 2: it's a bad personality. Maybe you need to be nicer,

438
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 2: Maybe you need to ask other people how are they doing?

439
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,920
Speaker 2: They rejected me, that was God redirecting me. No, they

440
00:25:48,040 --> 00:26:00,120
Speaker 2: rejected you because you're mean, because your drama, because you're messy.

441
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 2: And before you just ghost them and move your mess

442
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 2: around to the next person who hasn't figured you out yet,

443
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,199
Speaker 2: take some time to say, Hey, God, is there a

444
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,840
Speaker 2: reason why I don't have the same friends at the

445
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 2: end of every year? Hey, God, is there a reason

446
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,159
Speaker 2: why I continue to fly off the handle with my

447
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 2: temper and think about how others made me lose it.

448
00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:32,880
Speaker 1: I didn't even intend to preach like.

449
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 2: This today, but notice in the mistake that Jacob made,

450
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:48,919
Speaker 2: God gets in the middle of Jacob's mistake. Well, that

451
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 2: really blessed me, because you would think that if you

452
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,680
Speaker 2: got yourself here, you've got to get yourself out of this.

453
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 2: Or I would at least think that if Jacob wanted

454
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 2: God to visit him, he would have to pray and

455
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 2: ask him to come show me in Genesis twenty eight

456
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:09,680
Speaker 2: where Jacob prayed, it's not there. Show me in Genesis

457
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:14,199
Speaker 2: twenty eight, where Jacob repented it's not there. Show me

458
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 2: in Genesis twenty eight where Jacob took seven steps to

459
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:17,440
Speaker 2: get his life together.

460
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: Show me where Jacob set up on the base path.

461
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 2: And the first step, and the second step and the

462
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,120
Speaker 2: third step. I burned that book when I read it.

463
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 2: I was like, people aren't coming to church because they're

464
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 2: in a baseball game. They're coming to church because they're

465
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 2: in a battle. It is a battlefield, and it looks

466
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 2: like this, and it looks like that, and it looks

467
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,120
Speaker 2: like this, and it looks like that, and get this

468
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,400
Speaker 2: little league Christianity out of your mind. God will meet

469
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 2: me in the middle, right on the mound. God will

470
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,080
Speaker 2: set up and throw me another pitch, no matter how

471
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 2: the last one went down. That's what I see in

472
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 2: Genesis twenty eight. The Bible says in verse eleven that

473
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,399
Speaker 2: with Jacob's pillow being a rock, this is horrible for

474
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 2: your posture and the sun being set, because not only

475
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,879
Speaker 2: does God come into the middle of hard places, he

476
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,879
Speaker 2: comes into the middle of dark places. God does some

477
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,520
Speaker 2: of the best stuff in the dark, and Jacob stops

478
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 2: in a place he doesn't even know the name of.

479
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:25,639
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you a story about that in a minute.

480
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,440
Speaker 2: Look at this story, he said. He took one of

481
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,200
Speaker 2: the stones, put on his head, laid down to sleep,

482
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,879
Speaker 2: and verse twelve, he had a dream in which he

483
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 2: saw a stairway pay attention resting on the earth, with

484
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 2: its top reaching to heaven, and the angels were going

485
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 2: up and down on it. That's what he saw with

486
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 2: his eyes closed, that's what he saw. Laying on a rock,

487
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 2: That's what he saw in a hard place, trying to

488
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 2: decide which set the stairs to come over to. This

489
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 2: one feels right today. This is the right one. It

490
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 2: went up and down the angels. Now the angels are

491
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 2: moving Jacob, isn't Jacob is stopped because the sun is set.

492
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 2: But just because the sunset stopped you doesn't mean to

493
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 2: stop God. Oh, I love to make the Bible come

494
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 2: alive for people. Can you see it? Isn't it crazy?

495
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 2: In all of Jacob's scheming, he got blessed by his dad,

496
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 2: But in Jacob's sleeping he got blessed by God. And

497
00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 2: the angels are moving up and down and up and

498
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 2: down because life ain't always like this, it's up and down.

499
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:06,240
Speaker 2: So the angels are doing what life does, ascending, descending.

500
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 2: The angels are doing what your bank account does. The

501
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 2: angels are doing what your mood does. Am I not

502
00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 2: preaching this thing? I haven't preached this since twenty eighteen,

503
00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 2: so I've been waiting to get back to it. Up

504
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 2: and down and up and down and up and down

505
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 2: like your life, and Jacob isn't moving because God shows

506
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,840
Speaker 2: up in the middle of his mistake, and in the

507
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 2: middle of the night, and in the middle of sleep.

508
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 2: So that you and I know that it is not

509
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,719
Speaker 2: when we get there that God shows up. It is

510
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 2: not when we accomplish that that he shows up. It

511
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,200
Speaker 2: is not when we reach the place of our goal

512
00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 2: that we meet God. God meets me in the middle.

513
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 2: And this is the a I sermon where you touch

514
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 2: five people and say He met me in the middle,

515
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 2: and you.

516
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 1: Don't have to say any more than that.

517
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:08,760
Speaker 2: You don't have to say what it was the middle of.

518
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 2: If it was the middle of a divorce, if it

519
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 2: was the middle of a diagnosis, if it was the

520
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 2: middle of a battle with sickness, if it was the

521
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 2: middle of a season of depression, if it was the

522
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 2: middle of you losing your mind, if it was the

523
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 2: middle of a nervous breakdown, if it was in the

524
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,640
Speaker 2: middle of the street when you sit there and said, God,

525
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 2: I don't know which way to go. I'm too young

526
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 2: to be old, I'm too old to be young. God

527
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 2: met me in the middle. I'm too happy to be sad,

528
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,280
Speaker 2: too sad to be happy. And he met me in

529
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 2: the middle. I can't quite name this place yet, but

530
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 2: God met Jacob in the middle. And Jacob did not

531
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 2: even know the name of the place where he was.

532
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 2: But he didn't have to know the name of the

533
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 2: place because God knew his name. There is a woman

534
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,240
Speaker 2: who brought me a letter in Atlanta, Georgia. Her name

535
00:31:58,320 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 2: is Lish.

536
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: She's watching on line right now from Atlanta.

537
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 2: Everybody say, hey, Lish, I want to show you her

538
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 2: picture so you can see who we're talking about. This

539
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 2: is Lish getting baptized just recently at one of our

540
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 2: pop ups at Elevation, Atlanta pop up.

541
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: Did y'all know our church has to pop ups?

542
00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 2: Did you know we have pop ups? We go to

543
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 2: different cities. We popped up in Riverside, California today, we're

544
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 2: having a pop up You could take the picture down

545
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,400
Speaker 2: right now. Why do we have pop up church because

546
00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 2: we have a pop up God. Because the devil is

547
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 2: a pop up devil, and the devil will just pop

548
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 2: up at times you don't expect him. So we just

549
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,320
Speaker 2: take church wherever people are and God will pop up

550
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 2: in the middle of a place. God will pop up

551
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 2: in the middle of a struggle. God will pop up

552
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 2: in the middle of a panic attack. Have you ever

553
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 2: had God just pop up for you? Black boom, zam,

554
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 2: wig wock. There it is, Sam. God just popped up.

555
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 2: Looked like it was over looked like it was done,

556
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,560
Speaker 2: felt like it was over. He felt like it was done.

557
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 2: Thank God popped up. He turned a grave into a garden.

558
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 2: They were weeping for Lazarus, but Jesus popped up, and

559
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 2: Lazarus popped up when he said his name. So we

560
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 2: baptized her.

561
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:17,920
Speaker 1: It to pop up.

562
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,280
Speaker 2: But she told me I haven't always been on such

563
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 2: a good track. Listen what she told me. She said,

564
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 2: I had opened several doors to the enemy through the

565
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,000
Speaker 2: course of my life, and because of that, I ended

566
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 2: up on the run from many abusive situations, and one

567
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 2: in particular She didn't tell me what those situations were,

568
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:39,719
Speaker 2: but she told me that it got so bad for

569
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 2: her that she was going.

570
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,280
Speaker 1: From place to place to place.

571
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 2: Now stop, you're thinking, well, my life isn't that bad,

572
00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,479
Speaker 2: is but we go from place to place to place.

573
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:54,360
Speaker 2: She was doing it physically, but some of us do

574
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:59,200
Speaker 2: it emotionally. From place, come on to place. I'm going

575
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,840
Speaker 2: to preach to everybody in this church will admit that

576
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 2: is this, and it's that is this, and it's that

577
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 2: is this and it's that. So she wrote me this

578
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 2: letter and she gave it to me, and she said

579
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 2: it got so bad at one point that I had

580
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 2: to go live with a friend and my friend would

581
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: always play Christian TV and it was so annoying.

582
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,200
Speaker 1: And one night I walked in and this guy was preaching.

583
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 2: She was talking to me, and it really spoke to

584
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 2: my situation, and it spoke so straight to me. I

585
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:32,920
Speaker 2: felt like I didn't even know what to call it,

586
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 2: because I wasn't yet a Christian, but I felt something.

587
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 2: I didn't know what it was called. I just felt something.

588
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:40,320
Speaker 2: She said I had to leave there suddenly, and I

589
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 2: didn't get to ask my friend what was the name

590
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:43,760
Speaker 2: of that Preacher that we watched.

591
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 1: She said, for three years, I would think about it.

592
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 2: Well, I kept making the wrong decisions for three years,

593
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 2: and my situation didn't get better. It got worse.

594
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: Eventually, she said, I was in a car wreck and

595
00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:58,280
Speaker 1: I wasn't.

596
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 2: Able to walk for six months after it. She said.

597
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,360
Speaker 2: During the six months, I would try to watch the

598
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,600
Speaker 2: Christian TV anywhere I was, but I couldn't find that

599
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,359
Speaker 2: preacher again. And the other stuff was good, she said,

600
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:11,439
Speaker 2: but there was just she said. I wish I could

601
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:12,799
Speaker 2: say that it got better from there, but it didn't

602
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:14,359
Speaker 2: get better from there. As I went from safe house

603
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:15,919
Speaker 2: to safe house. At one point it got so bad

604
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:17,759
Speaker 2: that I thought, I don't even know if I want

605
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,719
Speaker 2: to go on living anymore. What is my life worth

606
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,399
Speaker 2: when I'm just going from place to place to place

607
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,359
Speaker 2: to place to place to place, she said.

608
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: One night at the safe house, I just decided to.

609
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,200
Speaker 2: Turn on the old clock radio. It was the only

610
00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 2: thing in the room, and I turned it on. I

611
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 2: wanted to hear some music, and some music started playing

612
00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:37,360
Speaker 2: and it was very beautiful, but I didn't know what

613
00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 2: it was. And then they started saying the name of

614
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,880
Speaker 2: Jesus on the song she said, and I reached to

615
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 2: grab for the dial because I was not trying to

616
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:46,399
Speaker 2: listen to Christian music.

617
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,240
Speaker 1: But before I touched the dial, the most beautiful.

618
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 2: Thing that I've heard happened, and she played played the

619
00:35:53,640 --> 00:36:04,600
Speaker 2: intro real quick to more than Able. She said, the

620
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 2: most beautiful music that I've heard came on the radio,

621
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 2: and she said, the presence of God looking back. I

622
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:13,560
Speaker 2: didn't know what to call it when the presence of

623
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:15,560
Speaker 2: God met me in that room, and I began to

624
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 2: cry and I began to weep, and she said, I

625
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 2: honestly feel that God came into my life when that

626
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 2: song was playing, and it said, I've come a long way.

627
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,959
Speaker 2: I've seen how you work. There's so much goodness and grace,

628
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 2: much more than I deserve. And I know who I am,

629
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 2: and I can't stay where I'm at. We've come this

630
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 2: far by faith, and I just can't turn back because

631
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 2: you're not done with me yet. I listen, she said,

632
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:48,920
Speaker 2: I'm crying, and when the DJ comes on after the song,

633
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,040
Speaker 2: he says, that was elevation worship with more than Abel

634
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 2: and she said, I thought to myself, what is an

635
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:59,800
Speaker 2: elevation worship? That's literally what she wrote me. In the note,

636
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 2: she said, I thought to myself. This is her note.

637
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:07,439
Speaker 2: She said, I literally thought to myself, what is an

638
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 2: elevation worship? I borrowed a computer from the counselor the

639
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 2: next morning and googled what is an elevation worship? This

640
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,600
Speaker 2: is what Lich said in her letter to me, and

641
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 2: I was led to the Elevation Church website. After years

642
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 2: of looking for you, I found you. But I want

643
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 2: to say something. Don't clap for that. It's not after

644
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 2: years of looking for me. She found me. It's not

645
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 2: about finding me at all. It's after years of running

646
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 2: God found her. I messed up by showing you the

647
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 2: first picture before I read you the letter, because you

648
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,319
Speaker 2: would have just thought that she went like this and

649
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:05,400
Speaker 2: like this and like this and now she's home. But

650
00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:07,359
Speaker 2: she told me that it was like this and like this,

651
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:11,560
Speaker 2: and like this and like this and like this, and

652
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 2: then with a clock radio, the Lord found her. She said,

653
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 2: she's doing good now. She said. The Lord is working

654
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,640
Speaker 2: in her life. She said, she teaches at a Christian school.

655
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: Not like this, but like this and like this and

656
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 1: like this and like this and like this.

657
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 2: I came to find somebody today who has been doing

658
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 2: all of this and this and this and this and

659
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 2: this and this and this and this and this and this,

660
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,800
Speaker 2: and I came with an announcement. The Lord is in

661
00:38:53,920 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 2: this place, and it's messy. I know it is. But

662
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,680
Speaker 2: we're celebrating a holiday called Christmas in a few weeks.

663
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,880
Speaker 2: And it kind of proves that the greatest miracles start

664
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 2: in the messiest situations. After all, why will millions of

665
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 2: people sing all around the world of a baby who

666
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,719
Speaker 2: was born in a manger, who was really the king

667
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 2: of kings. Now you may say, what does that have

668
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 2: to do with me? Because I see you trying to

669
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 2: make your next step. I saw it when I was

670
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,960
Speaker 2: praying about this message. I saw people like Jacob who

671
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,919
Speaker 2: know I have made this mistake and I don't really

672
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,080
Speaker 2: can't go back to where I came from. I can't

673
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 2: really figure out where I'm supposed to God? What is

674
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,959
Speaker 2: my next step? And the Lord said it is going

675
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 2: to be your next messy step. And what messy means

676
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,880
Speaker 2: is you're not going to know if it's the right one. Oh,

677
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 2: you'll look back and you'll say, this was my path,

678
00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 2: But what is it explained as a path? Later? Was

679
00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:07,000
Speaker 2: really experienced as a problem in real time. Everything that

680
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,400
Speaker 2: God ever did for me that later I could be like.

681
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:13,839
Speaker 2: And then God directed my path. It was really this

682
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 2: and this and this and this and this. I don't

683
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 2: know what kind of day you're having today. You might

684
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 2: be doing like this and your life. That's wonderful for

685
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 2: that lady, But what does it mean for me? I'll

686
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 2: tell you what it means for you. It means that

687
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:30,520
Speaker 2: you cannot forget the God who brought you this far

688
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:37,839
Speaker 2: when you remember that you started at rock bottom. You

689
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 2: can't come all this way and say look what I did. No,

690
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,360
Speaker 2: if it had not been for the Lord, come on,

691
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,080
Speaker 2: if it had not been for the Lord on my side,

692
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:53,240
Speaker 2: I would be I would be down, I would be over.

693
00:40:54,440 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 2: But God is Abel. But God is Abel. So you

694
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 2: have Jacob lying on the ground, and you have God

695
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 2: speaking to Jacob, and you have both things happening simultaneously.

696
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:15,600
Speaker 2: You have the nation of Israel in this man who

697
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:19,400
Speaker 2: is lying on the ground with no one, with nothing.

698
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:23,399
Speaker 2: God is speaking of his descendants and he doesn't even

699
00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:27,239
Speaker 2: have one child. God is speaking of his future and

700
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 2: he doesn't even have a single friend. God is speaking

701
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,920
Speaker 2: to you about things that you can't see in your life.

702
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 2: But notice what verse fourteen says. It says that there

703
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 2: was a ladder that started on the earth and went

704
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,680
Speaker 2: to heaven, and a voice from the Lord who stood

705
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 2: over it, and he said, your descendants will be like

706
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:48,440
Speaker 2: the dust.

707
00:41:51,080 --> 00:42:04,080
Speaker 3: God does stuff in dust. God does stuff in dust.

708
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 2: Y'all, I'm having a moment right now where I know

709
00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:12,839
Speaker 2: I'm preaching to a lish I am preaching to somebody

710
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 2: who is going to write me a year from now

711
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 2: and say I was in the dust. Well, that's how

712
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 2: your whole life got started. Did you ever read the

713
00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:35,360
Speaker 2: Book of Genesis. We talk about destiny. I'm talking about destiny, huh.

714
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:38,360
Speaker 2: I'm talking about God knows the plans he hasks for you,

715
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:41,480
Speaker 2: plans to give you a hope in a future. I'm

716
00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:44,240
Speaker 2: talking about God speaks to the youth that he formed

717
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:47,600
Speaker 2: from the dust, and he breathed the breath of life

718
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:50,319
Speaker 2: into him, and he formed you from the dust. And

719
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:54,120
Speaker 2: now you are following the God who formed you from

720
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 2: the dust. And it's going to be messy. Sometimes it

721
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,640
Speaker 2: was messy for the disciples following Jesus. Air up and

722
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:04,440
Speaker 2: we're down, and we're here, and we're there and it's

723
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:07,880
Speaker 2: working and it's not, and Hosanna and crucify him and

724
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 2: we get it and we don't and we understand and

725
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:17,920
Speaker 2: we're confused. And that's okay because God leads people through

726
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:24,160
Speaker 2: messy next steps, just a messy next step. It doesn't

727
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:26,759
Speaker 2: have to be a beautiful next step. You don't have

728
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,640
Speaker 2: to have a choreographed next step. You don't have to

729
00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 2: dance into your future. You can just absolutely, Okay, God,

730
00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,280
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna call it Christian counselor.

731
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:40,920
Speaker 2: I don't even know if this's the right one. If

732
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:43,799
Speaker 2: they're weird, I'll fire him and get another one. There's

733
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 2: a whole lot of counselors, and chat GIVT doesn't count

734
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 2: as a counselor. So I'm gonna get a real human being,

735
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:56,439
Speaker 2: a real human being, because I'm gonna take that messy step. See,

736
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 2: a controlled step is you keep trying to deal with

737
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:02,000
Speaker 2: things that the love well, you can see things. But

738
00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 2: what if the next step for you is that God

739
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:08,040
Speaker 2: wants to show you a staircase. Remember, God can do

740
00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:11,239
Speaker 2: more while you're sleeping than you can do while you're striving.

741
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:15,359
Speaker 2: It is not It is not you figuring this out.

742
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:20,719
Speaker 2: It is you following Jesus into the mess. When Jesus

743
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:25,400
Speaker 2: called his disciples, he called one disciple named Nathaniel, and

744
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,440
Speaker 2: Nathaniel was confused. He was like, how do you know me?

745
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:30,920
Speaker 2: How do you see me under the fig tree? How

746
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,759
Speaker 2: did you know who I was? And in John chapter one,

747
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:37,160
Speaker 2: verse fifty Jesus said to Nathaniel, you are amazed and

748
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:39,799
Speaker 2: believed because I saw you under the fig tree. You

749
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 2: will see greater things than that.

750
00:44:41,719 --> 00:44:43,759
Speaker 1: Watch this skinner verse fifty one.

751
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,840
Speaker 2: He said, very truly, I tell you will see heaven

752
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:54,240
Speaker 2: open and you will see the angels of God. Watch

753
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:59,040
Speaker 2: this flashback Genesis twenty eight. He said, you will see

754
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 2: the Angel of God Us sending and descending, not on

755
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,719
Speaker 2: Jacob's ladder. But Jesus said, you will see the angels

756
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:14,759
Speaker 2: Us sending from a versa voice and descending on the

757
00:45:14,760 --> 00:45:19,479
Speaker 2: son of Man. Who's the son of man? Jesus, who

758
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 2: is the ladder that appeared to Jacob in the wilderness. Jesus,

759
00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 2: who is the one who is calling to you in

760
00:45:26,719 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 2: this season of your life, saying we can do this,

761
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:32,880
Speaker 2: we can move forward in this. And I came to

762
00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:36,320
Speaker 2: declare to you that it is not your next step

763
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:40,280
Speaker 2: that matters. It is the step that God has already

764
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:54,319
Speaker 2: made toward you. It's a mistake, it's a middle and

765
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,839
Speaker 2: it's a move. But it wasn't Jacob's move that saved him.

766
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 2: It was God's move. God is moving in your situation. Man.

767
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,279
Speaker 2: You say I can't see him, that's because he puts

768
00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:12,360
Speaker 2: you to sleep to do it. You say I can't

769
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:16,680
Speaker 2: see it, that's because it's covered in dust. But whether

770
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 2: it's Genesis or whether it's Jesus who been down in

771
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,280
Speaker 2: the dirt when a woman who committed adultery was about

772
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 2: to be stone, God does stuff in the dust. Your

773
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:37,600
Speaker 2: next messy step, that's all it's going to take. It's

774
00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:43,040
Speaker 2: just your next messy step because God has already done

775
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,239
Speaker 2: the real work. Now you will know what it is

776
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:47,960
Speaker 2: today that the Lord is speaking to you about. How

777
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:49,719
Speaker 2: could I now? God?

778
00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:52,440
Speaker 1: You will know the place in your life where he

779
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 1: has felt like.

780
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm speaking to somebody though, who you

781
00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 2: thought you had arrived and now you've been in a

782
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:07,640
Speaker 2: setback and you're surprised by it a little bit. Well, surprise,

783
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:13,200
Speaker 2: God is in the setback too, because this is this

784
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 2: is this is this is this everyone's standing all over

785
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 2: this auditorium and nobody moving to leave at this moment.

786
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,399
Speaker 1: Where did the Lord find you today?

787
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,719
Speaker 2: Was it like this where you're like, yo, man, I

788
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:36,800
Speaker 2: don't even see a way forward? Or is it like

789
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 2: Jacob who should have been at the top of his

790
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,520
Speaker 2: life but was empty inside.

791
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 1: This is a moment for you to decide.

792
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 2: Is he your God? And do you trust him? In

793
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:53,080
Speaker 2: verse fifteen, he told Jacob, I am with you, and

794
00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 2: I will be with you wherever you go, and I

795
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,560
Speaker 2: will bring you back to this land. I will not

796
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 2: leave you until I have done what I have promised you.

797
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:04,719
Speaker 2: You know, the Lord didn't say he was going to

798
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:06,560
Speaker 2: do everything that we prayed for. He said he would

799
00:48:06,600 --> 00:48:14,799
Speaker 2: do everything that he promised. Who is that for? And

800
00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:17,719
Speaker 2: you think for you to take the next step, God

801
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 2: has to answer your last prayer. No, he's already done enough.

802
00:48:21,760 --> 00:48:23,319
Speaker 2: And if the next step he called you to take

803
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,920
Speaker 2: is just stand still, then you do that. Because the

804
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 2: Lord is in this place. Father, I've administered your word

805
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,239
Speaker 2: with the grace and conviction with which you ministered it

806
00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:40,720
Speaker 2: to me. Now put it in your hands.

807
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:47,120
Speaker 4: These are your children, these people, they're precious to you.

808
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:48,839
Speaker 4: You see where they're running to, you see what they're

809
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:52,880
Speaker 4: running from, and you know where you're leading them. I

810
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 4: believe that your hand is on each and every one

811
00:48:55,520 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 4: of them, none too dusty, none too dirty, none too messy,

812
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:02,520
Speaker 4: none too far gone. I believe there are some people

813
00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 4: God who have accomplished a lot in earthly standards.

814
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:08,600
Speaker 2: There is a spiritual vacuum, and they're starting to feel it.

815
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:13,279
Speaker 2: Right about now, Lord, would you meet that person in

816
00:49:13,360 --> 00:49:13,880
Speaker 2: that place?

817
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 1: And there's somebody listening to me God at a point.

818
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:22,200
Speaker 2: In between, like ah, I just don't feel like I

819
00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:25,080
Speaker 2: know what God has called me to do next. I

820
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 2: pray that heavens would be open over them, even if

821
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 2: it's just for thirty seconds while I'm praying this prayer,

822
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:37,319
Speaker 2: and they would know that angels are coming up and

823
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:41,120
Speaker 2: down for the high times, for the low times, that

824
00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:45,160
Speaker 2: this staircase, this step did not start with them, as

825
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,680
Speaker 2: started with you. And now Father, we commit our lives

826
00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:52,920
Speaker 2: to your grace. Like Jacob said, I will make you

827
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:57,880
Speaker 2: my God, I will follow you forward. I thank you,

828
00:49:57,920 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 2: Lord for what you know about them that they don't

829
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:01,319
Speaker 2: know about. I thank you for what you see in

830
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 2: them that they've lost sight of. I thank you for

831
00:50:03,640 --> 00:50:06,919
Speaker 2: what you're doing that I just can't perceive. Now, lift

832
00:50:06,960 --> 00:50:08,840
Speaker 2: your hands just a little bit and give that situation

833
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:09,480
Speaker 2: to the Lord.

834
00:50:10,120 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: Surrender it. You know what it is. I want you

835
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 1: to have a strategy.

836
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:16,279
Speaker 2: I want you to have a plan, but I want

837
00:50:16,320 --> 00:50:20,080
Speaker 2: you to have His presence, so you could just surrender

838
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,239
Speaker 2: it to him. Every time in the church I didn't

839
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,720
Speaker 2: know what to do, I did this, and God did something.

840
00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:28,560
Speaker 2: Every time with my kids, when I don't know what

841
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:30,279
Speaker 2: to do, I do this, and I trust God to

842
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:32,560
Speaker 2: do something every time in my life when I don't

843
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 2: know what to do, I do this. Because it's not

844
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:41,359
Speaker 2: strategy that blesses your life. It is surrender. Father.

845
00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,640
Speaker 1: You see all these hands lifted to you right now.

846
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:49,719
Speaker 2: Everything they're caring, every burden that they bear, we place

847
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 2: it on Jesus. We see angels ascending and descending on

848
00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:58,280
Speaker 2: the son of Man. Jesus, the burden bear, the shame remover,

849
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:02,480
Speaker 2: the way maker, the God who is always with us.

850
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 2: Put your hands down for a moment. If your head's

851
00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:08,520
Speaker 2: bowed and your eyes closed, is there one here today,

852
00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:11,759
Speaker 2: even just one who God brought you here and met

853
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 2: you here? Because you need to give your life to

854
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Maybe you've been running from God, or maybe

855
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:22,560
Speaker 2: you've never really even stopped to consider it. But I

856
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:24,319
Speaker 2: believe that God brought you to this moment so that

857
00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:29,440
Speaker 2: you could give him your heart. Right now, in the

858
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 2: stillness of this moment, I want to lead you in

859
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,239
Speaker 2: a prayer, and if you are ready to give your

860
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:38,960
Speaker 2: life to Jesus Christ, I want you to repeat this

861
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:41,040
Speaker 2: prayer after me. Now, the prayer is not magical. The

862
00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,600
Speaker 2: prayer does not save you. God saves you. The Bible

863
00:51:44,640 --> 00:51:46,720
Speaker 2: says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus

864
00:51:46,800 --> 00:51:48,799
Speaker 2: is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him

865
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 2: from the dead, you will be saved. So right now,

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00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:54,160
Speaker 2: this is your day, and God is calling you home.

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00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:56,360
Speaker 2: I want you to repeat after me. We're going to

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00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 2: pray it out loud as a church family for the

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00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:01,680
Speaker 2: benefit of those who are coming to God. Repeat after me,

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00:52:01,920 --> 00:52:06,720
Speaker 2: Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a savior,

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00:52:07,719 --> 00:52:12,200
Speaker 2: and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of

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00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:17,520
Speaker 2: God and the Savior of the world. And today I

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00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:22,000
Speaker 2: make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he

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00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:27,239
Speaker 2: died that I would be forgiven and rose again to

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00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 2: give me life. I receive this new life. This is

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00:52:33,440 --> 00:52:38,360
Speaker 2: my new beginning. I am a child of God. On

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00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 2: the counter, three, shoot your hand up high in the air.

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00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:42,680
Speaker 2: If you prayed that one. Two chree.

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00:52:42,719 --> 00:52:43,880
Speaker 1: I want to celebrate with you.

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00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:51,960
Speaker 2: Praise the Lord. That's awesome. Less God, come on, let's go.

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00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:57,640
Speaker 2: That's amazing. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to

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00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:00,560
Speaker 2: those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is

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00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:03,600
Speaker 2: because of you that this ministry is possible. You can

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00:53:03,640 --> 00:53:06,480
Speaker 2: click the link in the description to give now or

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00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:10,920
Speaker 2: visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information and

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00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 2: if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can

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00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:16,640
Speaker 2: share it with your friends. You can click the share button,

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00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,120
Speaker 2: take a screenshot and share it on your social stories

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00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:20,799
Speaker 2: and tag us at Elevation Church.

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00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:21,880
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.

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00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:27,520
Speaker 2: God bless you.