WEBVTT - How To Handle A Setback (Daniel Floyd) 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.880 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.960 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.720 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.160 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.760 In your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.880 Boy, how are you thankful for just a place where 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.119 you walk in and doesn't matter what you carried in, 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.440 just a moment in the presence of God, can change 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:32.000 your perspective, can lift the burden, can give you a 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:36.200 new look outlook on the day. And how about how 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.879 your church served all those in western North Carolina. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:42.280 I mean, how amazing. 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:48.319 I know you celebrated it, but I just think that's 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:49.159 the way it ought to be. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:51.120 That that when. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.720 There's hurting, the church ought to show up, that when 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:58.080 people are in need, and all across the world you showed. 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.480 Up in an amazing way and making a difference. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:03.320 You know, you gave a couple of cold water, as 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.160 the New Testament says, in the name of Jesus. And 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:08.759 I love what they said in the video that we're 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:09.560 gonna give them some coat. 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:10.960 We're gonna give them Jesus too. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.600 We're gonna pray, We're gonna believe with them, We're gonna 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:14.360 stand with them. 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.080 What an amazing thing. So honored to be back at elevation. 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.920 I love your your pastors, and I know everybody does, 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.360 but I love them on another level. I was thinking 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:30.080 before we got on the plane yesterday and made our 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.880 way down, I was thinking, I've been coming down to 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:37.480 Charlotte to set in a room, to set in a 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.880 life recording, to set in a revival, all these kind 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:48.120 of services for I think about eighteen years now and 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.200 in this place. I know has marked your life, but 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.800 I want you to know it's so deeply marked my life. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.280 There's been so many turning points, so many moments. I 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.600 know we could all give our own testimony of how 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.240 it was a it was a song, it was it 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.880 was something that carried you in a season. It's something 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.720 that caused you to make a decision. And that only 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.040 happens because two people with a vision said yes to God, 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:14.680 laid it all on the line. Come on, can we 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.000 put our hands together and thank God for our pastors. 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:20.320 What a gift they are to the body of Christ. 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.800 Are you ready for the Word of God today? Are 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.919 you ready? Let's go once you have a seat. Tell 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.080 somebody beside you. I'm glad you set by me. I'm 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:38.520 glad you set by me. I bring greetings from the 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.160 great state of Virginia that is showing off right now. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.680 It's fall in Virginia. Doesn't get much better. And my 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:51.920 wife Tammy, our four kids. It's a lot, y'all, and 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:57.519 we're grateful for them most days. And I'm kidding Acts 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:03.239 Chapter twelve, verse five. And I was telling chunks earlier. 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:05.560 The later I get in my forties, the smaller the 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.720 print on my Bible keeps getting. I think someone is 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.200 switching it out. So I have to wear these now. 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:14.040 Acts Chapter twelve, verse five says this. It says, so 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:19.160 Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:24.920 somebody shall earnestly praying to God for him. So Peter's 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.960 in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.200 for him. I want to bring a message entitled how 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:36.440 to handle a setback? How to handle the setback? Let's 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.280 pray together, Father, we have our hearts and minds open. 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:39.680 We pray. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.640 Holy spirits speak to us. We haven't come just to 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:45.000 do church. We've come that we might hear from heaven. 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.280 So we believe your word has the power to change 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.680 us and transform us, and so do that in these moments. 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.960 We asked this in Jesus' name. Everybody said Amen. Amen. 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.240 So I was thinking the other day about middle school. 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.200 So you're thinking, why would you do that to yourself? 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.080 But I was thinking about I grew up in East Tennessee, 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:09.480 and I went to this middle school called Lyndby Middle School. 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:10.760 And I don't know how it is today. 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:12.280 It's not like this in my kid's school, so I 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.080 don't know if it is across the board. But in 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.719 East Tennessee, football was everything. Because the town was so small, 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:20.160 we had nothing else to do, so we might as 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.200 well watch football, all right. And so middle school, while 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.160 I was on Thursday night and after every Thursday night 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:29.160 football game, there was a dance every home game, and 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:31.360 uh it was. It was less like a dance and 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.760 more like a standoff. It was like, guys on one 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.880 side of the gym, come onyo with me, girls on 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:38.680 the other side of the gym, and you just kind 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:39.919 of stood there and stare at each other. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:40.839 There was always a few. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.520 Brave people that got out in the middle, but that was. 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:44.320 Not your boy here. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.159 But there was this girl I had a crush on, 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.919 and I was like, this is the moment, this is 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:51.880 my moment. I'm gonna go over. I'm going to ask 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.200 her to dance. And that was even a big step 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:55.400 for me because I grew up in. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:55.880 A very. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.240 Conservative Denomination church and I I was for sure that 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.440 I'd have to go get repentance for the dance. But 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.600 it was worth to try, or y'all try like it 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:08.839 was worth the experiment. And so walked all the way 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.159 over the long walk, all the way over to the 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.240 other side of the gym, and went up made the request. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:16.640 I don't even remember what I said. I think I 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:23.479 kind of blacked out, and she graciously declined, thank you. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:24.560 Thanks. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.719 A lot of counseling later, I'm over it, but I 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.760 appreciate this sympathy. And so then I make the long 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.119 walk back right to the other side to trash talking 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.279 from guys who realized that I got rejected for the 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:40.400 dance invitation, and just in my middle school life, that 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:44.359 was a major setback. Hello, somebody, major setback in my 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.440 social climate, in my personal identity, self esteem, you know, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.479 all those major setback and how many of you know 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:54.279 that life is full of setbacks. If you've lived any 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.160 bit of life at all, you know that life is 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.800 full of setbacks. It's moments where you feel like I'm 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.680 take making five steps forward and then it feels like 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.920 sometimes it's eight steps Backwards's I feel like I'm things 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:08.760 are going well, and then it's the phone call out 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.479 of nowhere and you feel like, wow, there's a major setback. 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:15.040 It's the relational issue where you felt like, man, we 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.520 were getting traction and now feels like a major setback 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:18.960 in life. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:20.839 And life can be full. 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.000 Of setbacks, and I would propose that the text we 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:29.000 just read is a major setback in the New Testament Church. Now, 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.159 can we go to Sunday school for a minute? Okay, 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:32.760 a few of you. 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.479 That's great. A confidence is real high right now? All right, 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:38.080 So here's. 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.920 What's happening in the context of what we just read 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.240 in Act chapter twelve, verse five, is this is the 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:44.680 New Testament Church is growing. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.320 I mean it's gangbusters. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:50.839 It's day one, three thousand people come to faith in 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:53.680 Christ and there's the birth of the New Testament Church. 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:55.920 What a great launch day, right, I Mean that was 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.840 a great campus launch, like three thousand in one day. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:01.159 Here they all are for getting baptized. 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.000 I mean, it's just people are overflow, over overflow. 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:05.239 It's going great. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.520 And then the Bible says they're being added to their 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.880 number daily. Wow, I mean not just on Sundays, but 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:12.560 they're being added to the number every. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.520 Day of the week. People are coming to faith in Christ. 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.280 This movement is growing, This thing across Christianity is expanding, 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.280 and in the middle of that, it's disrupting and upsetting 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.160 all of the religious social political climate of the day. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:27.560 They are not all about this new movement that has 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:31.480 started called Christianity. And so King Herod, who is the 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.280 current king, decides he's going to start eliminating some of 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:39.040 the leaders from the church. Now, this is Herod a 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.040 grip of the First. Am I going too far into 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:43.680 Sunday school. Okay, heard a grip of the First which 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.280 is the grandson of Herod, who was alive whenever Jesus 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:49.440 was born. Here's all you need to know about the Herods. 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.920 They all crazy, y'all, all of them. They all crazy. 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:55.040 They all want to kill people. They're just all a 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.320 little off in their mind. This is that Herod, and 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.600 so he gets James, not James, the brother g James, 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.920 the brother of John, and he kills him. So a 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.440 major leader in the church in Jerusalem is now dead. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.640 And the Jews are really happy because it is disrupting 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.640 everything going on around them. Are off tracking so far, saymen. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.760 So Harod goes, okay, that grained me favor. I want 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.320 to get more favor with the people, and so he goes, 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:22.200 I'll go after. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.080 Peter and I'll arrest Peter. 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.480 Now he arrested them during a week of celebration for 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.880 the Jewish people, so he couldn't bring him up to trial, 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.199 which the trial would just be a sham. And most 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:33.960 likely what was happened is Peter was going to have 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.400 the same fate as James. And so this is where 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.480 we come into the text. Peter is kept in prison. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:45.160 He's kept there because the celebration hasn't ended. But the 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:50.600 church was praying. This isn't a complex message. When you 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.280 face a setback, prayer is a great place to start. 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.480 But I want to go a little little word nerd 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.520 on you for a moment. I love I really parked 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.560 on the word, but the conjunction. But now I grew 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.080 up in East Tennessee. So language wasn't my strongest suit. 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.400 But I do know this about conjunctions is that they 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:19.000 bring together two phrases that are in contrast. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:19.080 To one another. 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.240 Some would say some won't go this far, but some 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:26.160 would say in contradiction to one another. Or the second 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.160 phrase is the exception to the first phrase. So that 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:33.240 means what's happening on this side of but is contradicted 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.000 or contrasted to what's happening on. 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:35.600 This side of but. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.600 And we see this in the text that it says 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.120 Peter was kept in prison. And there could have been 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.560 a whole lot of options for the text to say 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.800 after that. It could have said, it could have used 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.800 another conjunction, and it said and. 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:50.760 The church is depressed. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.720 It's could have said Peter was kept in prison and 0:09:54.080 --> 0:09:57.439 the church was beginning to plan the funeral, Peter was 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.319 kept in prison, and the church was going under and hiding. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:03.880 And sometimes is this not true in our life? That 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:07.160 the setback comes in our life and our first response 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.080 is not always to go to God in prayer. Often 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.120 it is to go down the rabbit hole of the 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.720 darkest thing that could turn out. I don't know about you, 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.040 but I'm preaching to me today. My mind when I 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.199 get the phone call, when I get the bad news, 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:21.360 in my mind, I end up going down the dark 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.640 rabbit hole of how everything could go wrong. But the 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.200 church decided to pray. I want to encourage you today 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.080 that when the setback comes, you get to choose what 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.360 is on the other side of the conjunction. That you 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:36.480 get to decide what is on the other side of 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.000 the butt, that you can go, Yeah, I got the 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.760 phone call and it's not looking good. But I serve 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.880 a God that is greater than any circumstance I'm going 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.400 through that you can get the bad news and go. 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:49.480 This year may not be going the way I want. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.120 It to, but I serve the God of the breakthrough. 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:54.440 You get to determine if you want it to be 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.440 an end or you wanted to. 0:10:56.400 --> 0:11:00.000 Be a butt. The church was prayed. 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:03.880 They could have gone a whole lot of directions, but 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.120 they said, no, we're gonna We're gonna pray. And the 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.800 Bible says that they were earnestly praying. In other words, 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.360 they went to they went to battle on this thing, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.960 which tells me that they really believed in the power 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:23.080 of prayer. They didn't see prayer as the last resort. 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.560 They saw it as the first option that they ran 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:31.280 to God first. I've been in situations where I've thought 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:32.800 to myself, WHI I've done everything I know to do. 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:36.480 Now I'm gonna pray. It's not great for a pastor 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.760 to say, right, but no. They believe there was something 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:43.120 powerful about prayer. They believe that whenever they prayed, that 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:46.800 Heaven listened. Evidently, they believe that whenever they prayed that 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.959 God moved on their behalf. That maybe they believe that 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.120 Old Testament verse that says the ear of God is 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.640 not death, that he can't hear your prayers, nor is 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.040 his arm too short that he can't reach down and 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:58.240 change your situation. 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.080 They believed what all Spurgeon. 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.440 Said, that prayer is what touches the slender nerve of 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:06.800 omnipotence that begins to move. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:07.520 In our life. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.640 That God actually responds to prayer, That I want to 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.960 shake something up on the inside of you that that 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.000 goes no, no, no no. I may be going through a 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.559 battle right now, but if I'll call out to God, 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.319 God is able to work on my behalf. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.520 And they earnestly prayed. 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:28.959 It wasn't It wasn't a nice little prayer. It wasn't acute, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:30.280 like well phrased prayer. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:31.160 You know what I'm talking. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.680 About, Like, Lord, we just pray that if you might 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:36.640 consider please. 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:37.880 No. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.200 I have this picture in my mind that it's like 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:43.920 ugly cry pray. Y'all try it. It's the I'm gonna 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:46.040 I'm not getting up God until you do. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.720 Something kind of prayer. There was something that rose on 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.760 the inside of them. I was thinking about this. My 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.840 wife and our kids. We were years ago when we 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.760 called the bigs in the littles there. They're seventeen, fifteen, 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:03.360 seven and five. Same wife. Just want to claire that 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.120 for everybody. Don't want y'all thinking anything, posting anything. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:08.400 Same wife. 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:12.959 We just took a big break. So our school picture 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:21.840 this year was senior kindergartener. I will live forever my 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:25.120 oldest son could bring my grandson to my youngest son's 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:26.080 high school graduation. 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.040 Let that sink in yell. Some of you are like, 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.520 what were you thinking? I wasn't. I like my wife, 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:34.559 I wasn't thinking. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:40.160 Okay, we were at this water park when the bigs 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.680 were smaller. You called the bigs in the littles whenever 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.079 the big kids were smaller. We were at this water park, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.520 and which is from the devil in general, going to 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.240 a water park as a family. You don't know what's 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.920 in that water. I mean, I don't care how much 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.680 chlorine you put in it. But we were there. Anybody 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:58.440 else with me in the House of God, go on, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:00.680 I felt the Holy Ghost on some of y'all. 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.040 Are like, yes, I felt that Jesus all right. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:06.720 We were at this water park and the kids come over, 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.160 you know, they're just their kids, and they run over 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.640 and they jump on these chairs. And what they didn't 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.800 know is that there was another lady with her kids 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.640 walking towards those chairs. We saw it, and before my 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:21.960 wife could get out of her mouth, her kids jump up. 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.400 They were already heading towards those chairs. The lady makes 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:33.560 some smart comment about it. Well, my wife is a 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:42.680 real Christian. Most days. Before I could get her like, 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.280 come on your talking about for I could be like, 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:50.000 let's act like we've been here before, something rose up 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:54.160 out of her comments, came out of her. 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.640 Are y'all following me? They earnestly prayed. 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.080 On the inside of them, came up out of them 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:05.520 and begin to come out of their mouth. I'm talking 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.800 about a Jacob. I'm gonna wrestle with you until you 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.680 bless me kind of prayer. Did you know that the 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:13.040 word that is used there earnestly is only used one 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.800 other time, and Luke, the author of Acts, used it 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.200 in the Book of Luke's when it describes Jesus praying 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.600 in the garden against simony. This was that kind of prayer, 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.600 this kind of God. I'm not getting up until you 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:25.160 touch me. 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:25.680 God. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.040 I'm not letting go until there is a breakthrough. 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:29.760 God. I'm not gonna stop. 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.000 Calling on your name until you move on, my behalf. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.080 Can I tell you there are some setbacks in our 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.760 life that they don't need some nice little prayer. They 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.480 don't need some nice little patty Cake prayer, some little, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:41.840 nice little Paul's prayer. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.320 They need God. I'm getting on my knees, on my face. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.720 And until you touch, until the spirit of God shows up, 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.760 until you give me a breakthrough, until I feel a 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:53.120 release in my spirit. 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:57.280 God, I'm not letting go. And some of you, instead. 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:02.880 Of pressing in, you've got stuck because the setback will 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:08.200 either cause you to lean in or shrink away. And 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.840 for some of us we just accept the lot in life. Well, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.960 this just must be how life is going to be. Well, 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:17.800 this just must be how it's going to turn out. 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.200 For me, Well, some of us we believe the life 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.560 of the enemy. This is what I deserve. And can 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.960 I tell you that we serve the God that is 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.160 able to do exceedingly, abundantly and above all that we 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.800 can ask, think or imagine. So here's what that means 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.720 is that if you are if you are only expecting 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.880 what your imagination can create, you are limiting God by 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:41.280 the ability of your intellect. And my God is not 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:45.760 limited by my imagination. That's why Paul said more than 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:47.160 I can ask, think or. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:49.320 Imagine. 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.080 So they earnestly prayed. I'm hoping some this sparks the 0:16:57.360 --> 0:17:01.280 spirit of God. Something on the inside of you goes no, no, no, 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.920 I'm gonna less. I'm gonna I'm gonna let that fire 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.680 reignite on the inside of me. God I'm calling, I'm 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.879 I'm gonna lean back in like I've never some of 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:12.879 you you've just you're like, well, I've just given up 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.280 on the prayer. No, no, no, no, It's time to re 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.399 engage it. It's time to lean back into it and 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:24.320 go God, I'm not leaving you alone. I'm gonna keep 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:30.120 knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking. Well, God, 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.760 what if God does answer after knock ten, the knock eleven, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.560 knock eleven, I think somebody preests the message one, don't 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:40.040 stop on six because it may be that next knock. 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.560 It may be that next thing that causes the breakthrough 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.919 in your life. And you know what's powerful about prayer 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.560 is that prayer is get you in agreement with God. 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.879 It gets you in agreement with God. There's real power 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:56.480 in agreement. 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:02.520 Agreement means I'm gonna have the same opinion as whoever 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.199 I'm coming into agreement with. And I think one of 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:08.119 the one of the greatest schemes of the enemy in 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.479 our life is he gets us in agreement with lies. 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:16.959 He gets because we live out of the agreements that 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:20.360 we make. And if he can get us agree with 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.000 him about a situation. And I know we're thinking I 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.560 would never agree with the devil. I don't think we 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:30.080 wake up and we like make this volitional, intentional decision 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.000 that I'm I'm gonna come agreement with what the devil 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.359 is saying about my life. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:38.199 But enough lies spoken over our life. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.240 We begin to adopt that lie and come in and 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:43.879 we begin to align our decisions and our life with 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.320 that lie. And so a setback comes into our life, 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:49.960 and we can begin to believe the negative narrative in 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:54.720 our mind that this will never change. And how do 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.840 you know we come into agreement because we stop fighting 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.719 for the change. I'll never use God can never use 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:03.520 me that way, God can never love me that whatever 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.200 you want to fill in the blank with. We begin 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.000 to come into agreement with those things, and then we 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.080 begin to live out of that place of agreement instead 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.920 of agreeing with God. And so no longer, no wonder 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.080 we don't see breakthrough in life. No wonder we don't 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.400 see the miracle that we want to see because God 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.240 is still working that way, and God is still doing 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:22.359 those things in the earth. 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.159 It's because we've come in agreement with the wrong things. 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:29.000 I would like to break. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.560 The agreement of the enemy over your life today and 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.040 go The lie of the enemy is not not what 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:36.119 you should be agreeing with. 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:37.440 It's the truth of God's word. 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:40.520 But you may be thinking, pastor, but what I what 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:43.399 I see and what is tangible and what is front 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:44.919 of me is not great. 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.080 I get that. I'm not saying I'm. 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:49.760 Just saying, don't go with what you see, go with 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:50.879 what God said. 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.040 That you can go with what you see. 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.520 And it's and it's challenging in faith because it's all 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.080 around you, it's right in front of you. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:00.280 I walk into that. 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.720 Situation every day, or I wake up every morning with 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.800 that challenge, or I step into that. I feel it, 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:07.240 I see it. It's all around me. 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.959 I get it. I get it. But there has to 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:10.840