Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message today.
Speaker 1: We're here together, sharing in God's presence, and I want
Speaker 1: you to go with me to John four. Of course,
Speaker 1: two weeks ago I preached a sermon about how I'm
Speaker 1: tired on the inside, and then I took a week off.
Speaker 1: I thought it was appropriate to preach I'm tired. And
Speaker 1: our friend Robert Madou preached such an excellent message last week,
Speaker 1: and I'm thankful for it. But God told me that
Speaker 1: we should go back to the well for Father's Day,
Speaker 1: and I thought, Lord, that's I don't mean to argue
Speaker 1: with you. You You are the Lord el should I the
Speaker 1: maker of heaven and earth? But it's Father's Day and
Speaker 1: John chapter four is about the woman at the well,
Speaker 1: So this is Lord, maybe an appropriate text for us
Speaker 1: to visit another time. But then he showed me that
Speaker 1: he's kind of smarter than me, and he kind of
Speaker 1: wrote the Bible and I I just preach it, and
Speaker 1: it's good to have my daughter, of course, Holly, but
Speaker 1: my daughter Abigail means father's joy. That's exactly exactly what
Speaker 1: you are. And I love you so much, and I
Speaker 1: love how you laugh at all. My dad jokes up
Speaker 1: here preaching it just encourages me because there's only I mean, really,
Speaker 1: there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seventy ninety. There's
Speaker 1: eleven people in the room. And so if they start
Speaker 1: getting rowdy, just know that they're trying to overcompensate and
Speaker 1: you'll probably hear LB get loud in a minute. Don't
Speaker 1: put any comments about he's too much, all right, The
Speaker 1: world is too much right now, so excuse us if
Speaker 1: we're too much trying to keep a little bit of joy,
Speaker 1: had a little bit of faith. So if you need
Speaker 1: to clear out a few chairs and do your think,
Speaker 1: because this message today, wow, this is really, this is
Speaker 1: really powerful. What God showed me. In John chapter four,
Speaker 1: we see Jesus going through an unexpected place, and the
Speaker 1: Bible says in verse four, now he had to go
Speaker 1: through Samaria. And last week we dealt with that extensively,
Speaker 1: or two weeks ago, rather the last time I was preaching,
Speaker 1: I said that Samaria is a geographical term, but you know,
Speaker 1: you could also use wordplay and say that we all
Speaker 1: have some area. And for the Jews, you know, they
Speaker 1: they kind of divided themselves and Samaria represented a place
Speaker 1: that they didn't want to go through, and they would
Speaker 1: often they would often double the time of their trip
Speaker 1: just so they wouldn't have to go through Samaria because
Speaker 1: it represented division and resentment. And not only was there
Speaker 1: ethnic tension in Samaria, but we are about to see
Speaker 1: Jesus break a religious boundary and a Gendrey bounder. So
Speaker 1: Jesus is a barrier breaker, and the sooner we realize that,
Speaker 1: the less disappointed we are going to be when He
Speaker 1: blesses and uses people that we don't even like and
Speaker 1: people that don't look like us. And so, if you
Speaker 1: want two points to write down just to get the
Speaker 1: momentum flowing today, you don't get to choose who God uses,
Speaker 1: and you don't get to choose what he does. And
Speaker 1: that is on full display in John four. Because he
Speaker 1: had to go through some area, and so do you,
Speaker 1: and so do I. We all have to go through
Speaker 1: some area, some areas the area of our life that
Speaker 1: we kind of want to keep, you know, beneath the
Speaker 1: surface that we kind of want to cover up, that
Speaker 1: we want to work around, walk around. You know, we
Speaker 1: develop all kinds of ways and coping meccan and excuses.
Speaker 1: We don't really have real relationships because to have real
Speaker 1: relationships we would have to go through some area where
Speaker 1: we've been hurt before, where before we've been disappointed, and
Speaker 1: so now to avoid being disappointed, we go around, we
Speaker 1: work around. We never really hope for anything, because if
Speaker 1: we don't really hope for anything, we can't be hurt
Speaker 1: by anything. We all have some area that we want
Speaker 1: to avoid. Jesus went straight through it. But I told
Speaker 1: you that two weeks ago, so I know you already
Speaker 1: mastered that class. The next versus may reward further study,
Speaker 1: though in verse five it says, so he came to
Speaker 1: a town in some area called Psychar, near the plot
Speaker 1: of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's
Speaker 1: well was there, and Jesus tired, Jesus exhausted. Jesus fully God,
Speaker 1: Jesus fully man, Jesus all authority, Jesus, all empathy, Jesus
Speaker 1: the word made flesh. Jesus who came through over forty
Speaker 1: generations just to be with us and to pay for
Speaker 1: our sin. Sat down by the well. It was about noon,
Speaker 1: and when a Samaritan woman verse seven came to draw water,
Speaker 1: Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink?
Speaker 1: And now they say Jesus is the answer, But the
Speaker 1: answer just asked a question. My God. This is getting
Speaker 1: this is getting rich. And in the tension of this text,
Speaker 1: John parenthetically inserts his disciples had gone into town to
Speaker 1: buy food. That was the biggest thing on their mind
Speaker 1: was a meal, but Jesus was looking for a harvest.
Speaker 1: They were thinking about a meal, and Jesus was thinking
Speaker 1: about a harvest. They were thinking about a burger, and
Speaker 1: Jesus was saying, thinking about a breakthrough. You know, God
Speaker 1: has Ephesians three twenty kinds of ways of exceeding your
Speaker 1: expectations and violating them in the process. Because nothing in
Speaker 1: this text was expected. Even the woman was shocked. In
Speaker 1: verse nine, she said to him, you are a Jew
Speaker 1: and I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me
Speaker 1: for a drink? For Jews to not associate with Samaritans.
Speaker 1: And Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God,
Speaker 1: and who it is to ask you for a drink,
Speaker 1: You would have asked him and he would have given
Speaker 1: you living water. Now, please skip with me all the
Speaker 1: way past the conversation, because it's a good one. It's
Speaker 1: a good conversation. This woman is not shy. This woman
Speaker 1: does not accept easy answers and cliches and slogans and
Speaker 1: bumper stickers and quotes on Pinterest. She just keeps asking questions.
Speaker 1: It's a deep well. It's a deep well. And I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about physically, although this well is one hundred
Speaker 1: and six feet deep. You know it is because it's
Speaker 1: still there. You can still go to Jacob's well to
Speaker 1: this day, and you can actually drink from Jacob's well
Speaker 1: to this day. But it's a deep well in her heart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a deep well in her belief. It's a deep well.
Speaker 1: And after Jesus kind of spends some time with this
Speaker 1: unlikely woman who was so ridiculed by society that she
Speaker 1: had to sneak to the well during the hottest part
Speaker 1: of the day, but so valuable to the creator that
Speaker 1: he went out of his way to speak with her,
Speaker 1: something pretty interesting happens in verse twenty seven, this is
Speaker 1: what I want to preach about. I thought you were
Speaker 1: already preaching, not at all. Just then, his disciples return
Speaker 1: and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
Speaker 1: But no one asked what do you want or why
Speaker 1: are you talking with her? Then you're ready leaving her
Speaker 1: water jar. The woman went back to the town and
Speaker 1: said to the people, come see a man who told
Speaker 1: me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?
Speaker 1: And they came out of the town and made their
Speaker 1: way toward him. Just then verse twenty seven, the disciples
Speaker 1: returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
Speaker 1: And I know it's an odd Father's Day text, but
Speaker 1: God told me to talk to you today on the
Speaker 1: topic plot twist, Plot twist. I am officially deeming twenty
Speaker 1: twenty the Year of the plot Twist. This year was
Speaker 1: written by Stephen King and directed by Lucifer the Year
Speaker 1: of the plot Twist. And you know, I was gonna
Speaker 1: ask you because the disciples thought that they were just
Speaker 1: going to get lunch, and they had no idea that
Speaker 1: Jesus was going to break cultural barriers and every taboo
Speaker 1: He was just gonna step through it like tick or
Speaker 1: tape and not even care about the expectations of the
Speaker 1: religious elite and talk to a woman as a Jewish
Speaker 1: man with a Samaritan. They just wanted to get some food.
Speaker 1: Plot twists. You know, just like we thought twenty twenty
Speaker 1: we were just gonna do some crunches and lose fifteen pounds.
Speaker 1: You didn't know you were gonna lose fifteen weeks. I
Speaker 1: didn't know I was going to be preaching in an
Speaker 1: empty room. For I don't mean that it's not empty, yell,
Speaker 1: aren't nobody. It's just emptier. I didn't applot twist though,
Speaker 1: plot twists. That's why I wanted to come out and
Speaker 1: preach the sermon early, because you know, following Jesus, you
Speaker 1: had to kind of like surprises to really follow Jesus,
Speaker 1: not to worship a religious tradition, but to follow Jesus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a difference, big difference everybody put in the chat,
Speaker 1: big difference with extra eyes in the middle of big
Speaker 1: big difference between you know, worshiping a tradition and pursuing truth.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus is Jesus is Ah. He's constantly keeping
Speaker 1: his disciples guessing, you know, constantly keeping God is constantly
Speaker 1: keeping us guessing, isn't he? Do you like surprises? You
Speaker 1: may have had a different answer if I had asked
Speaker 1: you six months ago do you like surprises? But now
Speaker 1: we're like, you know what, No, I'm good. I'm good
Speaker 1: on surprises until twenty thirty two. I'm good on surprises.
Speaker 1: But you're gonna be surprised about some things when you
Speaker 1: get to heaven. One thing you're gonna be surprised about,
Speaker 1: maybe is who is your neighbor in heaven next door
Speaker 1: in the condominium. And you might be surprised who has
Speaker 1: a bigger house than you in heaven. You know, who
Speaker 1: God really used on Earth will not always be whose
Speaker 1: name we knew, And even on earth, Jesus was, he
Speaker 1: was full of surprises. I like that the disciples were
Speaker 1: surprised because it lets me know that it's okay that
Speaker 1: sometimes I get caught off guard because I thought God
Speaker 1: was going to do this, and then he does that,
Speaker 1: and I thought my life was going to look like this,
Speaker 1: and then it looks like that, And I thought this
Speaker 1: person was always going to be my friend, but I
Speaker 1: didn't know they were gonna kind of stab me in
Speaker 1: the back and go take what I tried to give
Speaker 1: them and do something else with it. But that's okay
Speaker 1: because his disciples were surprised too, and God is constantly
Speaker 1: keeping us guessing. I almost wish I could read John
Speaker 1: chapter four again for the first time, because now I
Speaker 1: know how it ends, and it would have been cool
Speaker 1: if I could have kind of, you know, wiped your memory.
Speaker 1: Don't you wish you could see shawshank Redemption again for
Speaker 1: the first time. It would be amazing just to see
Speaker 1: Andy Defray crawl through the sewer to hear Morgan Freeman
Speaker 1: narrate the life of Tim Robbins again, just for the
Speaker 1: first time. It's still good, but I wish I kind
Speaker 1: of wish I could see it because I didn't see
Speaker 1: that coming the first time. Have you ever been watching
Speaker 1: a movie and you just thought you knew exactly where
Speaker 1: it was gonna go, but then you know, out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time I saw a Beautiful Mind?
Speaker 1: Did you see that movie? And I remember the first
Speaker 1: time I saw it, it messed with my mind. I
Speaker 1: did not see that coming. Have you ever been going
Speaker 1: through your life, going through your day, just minding your
Speaker 1: own business, like the disciples, trying to go get a burger,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, God disrupts your expectation of
Speaker 1: how your day was supposed to go. And sometimes God
Speaker 1: doesn't even let you know it's him doing it. Now,
Speaker 1: every disruption is not recognized as divine because the disciples
Speaker 1: had no idea what he wanted. They still thought he
Speaker 1: wanted Chick fil A closed on Sundays, but they didn't
Speaker 1: know he was doing something much bigger than the number one.
Speaker 1: He was doing something much bigger than a drive through.
Speaker 1: And don't you know that God has scripted a much
Speaker 1: bigger art for your life than how you feel this week. See,
Speaker 1: we never know any given day, any given day, we
Speaker 1: never know how any given we wake up, and we
Speaker 1: never expect. It's never. It's never the things you expect
Speaker 1: that set your life in a different direction. Have you
Speaker 1: noticed this, It's never the things you expect. When you
Speaker 1: came to that lunch and you sang me that song,
Speaker 1: and then you never knew that we'd be writing songs
Speaker 1: for elevation worship. You were just coming to the lunch.
Speaker 1: You were just a new staff member. It's just the
Speaker 1: little things. But you came to the lunch and you
Speaker 1: were one of the first twelve in there and I
Speaker 1: say who are you? And you say, and I say,
Speaker 1: how do you doing? You? I see you seen me
Speaker 1: a song, and you had a song. But you didn't
Speaker 1: know when you woke up this morning. You never know. See,
Speaker 1: that's why we have to continue to approach each day
Speaker 1: like it is the day that the Lord has made,
Speaker 1: because you never know. You never know. That woman didn't
Speaker 1: know she was about to meet her maker. She didn't
Speaker 1: know that she was about to meet a man who
Speaker 1: could not only tell her everything that she had done,
Speaker 1: but could show her what was within her that others
Speaker 1: did not see. Plot twist. You came to get water,
Speaker 1: but you're about to meet the well. Plot twist. Plot twist.
Speaker 1: You accidentally clicked on this YouTube channel, but you're about
Speaker 1: to get a word from God. You accidentally. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: it never ceases to amaze me the way that God
Speaker 1: kind of sets things up. And just about when you think,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's new, it's the hottest part of the day,
Speaker 1: there's nobody around, nobody's expecting it. Jesus isn't supposed to
Speaker 1: even be talking to this woman as a rabbi, And
Speaker 1: just when she expected it, the least she received the
Speaker 1: greatest revelation of her life. Now, for me, on Father's Day,
Speaker 1: my dad was crazy in a good way, in a
Speaker 1: bad way, It's like. And my relationship with my dad
Speaker 1: was really really great, and it was really complicated. And
Speaker 1: when he was diagnosed with als Lugarry disease and he
Speaker 1: realized that he would die, but we didn't have an
Speaker 1: exact timeframe for it, some really bizarre events transpired in
Speaker 1: our house. And I don't like to talk about all
Speaker 1: of it because it's not completely my story to share.
Speaker 1: But even within my mom's decision to forgive him for
Speaker 1: some things that he did during that period, there was
Speaker 1: a little while and I was just reflecting on this
Speaker 1: for Father's Day because me and Graham were throwing the baseball,
Speaker 1: and you know, you connect all of that like to
Speaker 1: when I was twelve and my dad throwing the baseball,
Speaker 1: But then also I connected it to when I was
Speaker 1: thirty two and we weren't even on speaking terms, and
Speaker 1: how one Father's Day I hadn't spoken to him in months,
Speaker 1: and every time we would speak, it would get into
Speaker 1: a shouting match. And I don't think I had the
Speaker 1: wisdom to know how to relate to him through his pain,
Speaker 1: and he was and he was being a jerk. I mean,
Speaker 1: I put that on the record. You know, he's in
Speaker 1: heaven now. He made it in but he was being
Speaker 1: a jerk and I was probably a little immature as well,
Speaker 1: and it put us in a weird spot. And do
Speaker 1: you remember where we were coming from? Was it Florida?
Speaker 1: And we were coming on Father's Day? And I asked
Speaker 1: you to drive and I made the list and I said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to write a list of you know, thirty
Speaker 1: two things that I remember from my dad that are good,
Speaker 1: and let's take it by his house. And we stopped by.
Speaker 1: And I won't tell the full story now many of
Speaker 1: you have heard me tell it before, how I kind
Speaker 1: of shove the list at him with a bad attitude
Speaker 1: of happy Father's Day, you know, And it opened the door.
Speaker 1: And really, through my mom's grace and compassion and forgiveness,
Speaker 1: I was able to be a part of his life
Speaker 1: like he was a part of mine as a boy
Speaker 1: in the very last days. But but what I wanted
Speaker 1: to tell you about, and I don't know who this
Speaker 1: is for, because I didn't want to preach a messag.
Speaker 1: It's just for fathers. But on Father's Day it got
Speaker 1: me thinking about the plot twists of our life and
Speaker 1: how important it is that we be attuned to what
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit is doing in us, because we never know.
Speaker 1: Because I was preaching in twenty thirteen on a series
Speaker 1: called the Expectation Gap, I shall probably pull that one
Speaker 1: back out, because that's where we're living right now, the
Speaker 1: gap between what you expect and what you experience. And
Speaker 1: listen to this, Lucius. I don't know if you've heard
Speaker 1: this story or not before, but it's the craziest story,
Speaker 1: maybe that I've ever experienced. Because I preached the nine
Speaker 1: thirty at Elevation Blatney and I usually preached the eleven thirty,
Speaker 1: and we were about to go on our family vacation
Speaker 1: for June, and something told me to just instead of
Speaker 1: preaching the eleven thirty, to run the sermon back. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't go with every idea that I had and
Speaker 1: just call it the Holy Spirit. I'd be in prison
Speaker 1: if I did that, because sometimes I think some really
Speaker 1: crazy thoughts and some days I'd never get out of
Speaker 1: bed if I just went with what I felt. Somehow
Speaker 1: one of those guys, but I just felt it. It
Speaker 1: was like, you need to just play the thing back,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know again, I'm arguing with God,
Speaker 1: you know, like you're not supposed to go through some
Speaker 1: Maria Jesus, we don't do that. I'm like, well, God,
Speaker 1: I'm going on a vacation for a few weeks. I'm
Speaker 1: about to get a break. I don't need a break
Speaker 1: at eleven thirty. So I just preached that and then
Speaker 1: I'll get a break. But something told me to leave.
Speaker 1: As I was leaving, something told me to stop by
Speaker 1: and see my dad and my mom. And when I
Speaker 1: walked in, my dad was so surprised. In fact, he
Speaker 1: was just completely confused because his disease had progressed to
Speaker 1: the point where he had very little movement, and my
Speaker 1: mom was kind of doing everything for him, and hospice
Speaker 1: was involved. But his mind was still very sharp. But
Speaker 1: he had his iPad out and he was watching he
Speaker 1: was about to watch the eleven thirty service of Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: sorry worship experience we call it. And just as on
Speaker 1: the iPad, I was coming on stage, I was walking
Speaker 1: in his house. Anyway, you know, he couldn't move his
Speaker 1: head around too much, but he looked back at the
Speaker 1: iPad and looked at me and looked at the iPad,
Speaker 1: and he said, how are you here? You're here, but
Speaker 1: you're there, But you're here. How are you who's preaching?
Speaker 1: If you're there? I said, Dad, I said, I decided.
Speaker 1: I just decided to come over and see you, and
Speaker 1: they're going to run back the nine thirty and I'm
Speaker 1: going to watch myself preach with you. Because one of
Speaker 1: the things that he had asked me for when we
Speaker 1: were not speaking to one another, just just before we
Speaker 1: stopped speaking to one another, he had asked me if
Speaker 1: I could show him how much he meant to me
Speaker 1: by canceling something that was important, to show him that
Speaker 1: he was more important. And I thought, well, that's childish.
Speaker 1: Of course I care for you. I mean, look at
Speaker 1: all I try to do for you, and I'm a
Speaker 1: good son and this and that I'm a good good son.
Speaker 1: This is who I am. He went having it, and
Speaker 1: when I walked in, I realized, this is that moment
Speaker 1: for me to be with him. And I sat on
Speaker 1: the edge of the bed and he watched the sermon.
Speaker 1: And it's really awkward watching yourself preach. It's painful. I
Speaker 1: don't like to do it, but I did it. And
Speaker 1: when I finished and walked off the stage, I promise
Speaker 1: you I'm going to go back to John four in
Speaker 1: a minute. But when I walked off the stage, my
Speaker 1: dad said, preach your man. Gone out the back door.
Speaker 1: Time for Hubacca because Larry Hubatka would come out and
Speaker 1: do the clothes and I'd go this way and Larrybaka
Speaker 1: would go that way. And I hugged him. I said,
Speaker 1: I love you. I'll see you when we get back
Speaker 1: from vacation. And my mom called me at one am
Speaker 1: and said, your dad only has hours to live. He's
Speaker 1: not speaking. You need to get here quick. And we
Speaker 1: got there in the middle of the night, and we
Speaker 1: sang his favorite hymns and then I ran out of
Speaker 1: hymns and I started singing CCR and I ran out
Speaker 1: of classic rock songs, and we sang and we sat
Speaker 1: with him and and we sat with him, and I
Speaker 1: was with him when he breathed his lass bread. But
Speaker 1: I told you that because you never know. That's why
Speaker 1: I told you that, Because you never know. You must
Speaker 1: go through some area and this woman who's just coming
Speaker 1: to get water finds out that while she's trying to
Speaker 1: fill her are God is trying to fill her, and
Speaker 1: she becomes the first evangelist to the Samaritans in the
Speaker 1: time of the ministry of Jesus. Plot twist, plot twist.
Speaker 1: But that's not really what I wanted to preach to
Speaker 1: you about today. What really got my attention for Father's
Speaker 1: Day was in verse five, because verse five says, so
Speaker 1: he came to a town in Samaria called Psychar, near
Speaker 1: the plot near the plot of ground Jacob had given
Speaker 1: to his son Joseph near the plot near the see.
Speaker 1: When I read that verse, I realized this is national.
Speaker 1: I mean, of all the sermons that I have heard
Speaker 1: preached about this woman who had five husbands and she's
Speaker 1: living with the six, and you know, she's loose and
Speaker 1: she's thirsty. And I realized that this did not start
Speaker 1: with her. I realized that the conflict between the Samaritans
Speaker 1: and the Jews did not start in John chapter four,
Speaker 1: and even the phrase it said on the plot of ground.
Speaker 1: And why would John, who only had so many chapters
Speaker 1: to tell, only twenty one chapters to tell us who
Speaker 1: Jesus was, his glory full of grace and truth. He
Speaker 1: only has so much room, and he stops to tell
Speaker 1: us that it happened. I mean, I know about the woman.
Speaker 1: I know about her past, I know about her history.
Speaker 1: I know that Jesus taught her that they that worship
Speaker 1: the Father must worship in spirit and truth. And I
Speaker 1: know it's not about whether you're worship on this mountain
Speaker 1: or that mountain. I've read all of that, but I
Speaker 1: never took the time to realize that it was near
Speaker 1: the plot of ground that Jacob had given his son Joseph.
Speaker 1: Now do you see why I called you together early,
Speaker 1: because it took me all the way back to remember
Speaker 1: that he called a man named Abram out of ear
Speaker 1: of the Chaldeens. Abram was too old to have children.
Speaker 1: Plot twist, You're about to have a baby. His wife's
Speaker 1: womb was as good as dad. Plot twist. God can
Speaker 1: bring forth a fruitful situation from a barren womb. And
Speaker 1: then there's the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It
Speaker 1: wasn't even supposed to be the God of Abraham, Isaac
Speaker 1: and Jacob. It was supposed to be the God of Abraham,
Speaker 1: Isaac and Esau. But plot twist. Just about the time
Speaker 1: you think you know, oh what God is going to do?
Speaker 1: I love the story because Jacob got blessed out of order.
Speaker 1: And some of you are in a season of your
Speaker 1: life where you have told yourself that the story is
Speaker 1: never going to be any different. You are like this
Speaker 1: woman who came out to the well in the heat
Speaker 1: of the day to avoid the attention and the accusations
Speaker 1: and the condemnation of other people. And they have made
Speaker 1: up their mind about you, and they have limited you,
Speaker 1: and they have put you in a box, and they've said, oh,
Speaker 1: you're just this, or you're just that. But the barrier
Speaker 1: breaking God who stepped through forty one generations, the God
Speaker 1: of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not Esau. Esau was supposed
Speaker 1: to get the blessing. But God has a way of
Speaker 1: putting his right hand instead of his left hand. The
Speaker 1: right hand is the hand of blessing. The right hand
Speaker 1: is the hand of authority. It's called a plot twist.
Speaker 1: Are you all ready for me? Did you get your
Speaker 1: Starbucks Vinti Grande extra Carmel fro Pacino? I hope you,
Speaker 1: I hope you're ready for me? Because it said this happened,
Speaker 1: this amazing event where this woman that nobody expected to
Speaker 1: be used, Oh, they used her they used her, they
Speaker 1: used her. But God says, I see people use in you,
Speaker 1: but they don't know what's in you. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: bless you in this season, even though you have told
Speaker 1: yourself this is all it can ever be. I mean,
Speaker 1: do you know how powerful that is? That this is
Speaker 1: the plot of ground that Jacob gave Joseph. It wasn't
Speaker 1: even supposed to be Jacob that the nation of Israel
Speaker 1: came through the plot twist you He didn't even get
Speaker 1: a high school degree plot twist. God doesn't need you
Speaker 1: to be educated, just available, just open, just humble, just
Speaker 1: a disciple, just committed plot twist, put it in the
Speaker 1: chat right now. He's the God of the plot twist.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to tell you how I know that
Speaker 1: he is. Not only does God bless the wrong people
Speaker 1: from an earthly perspective, like a woman at a will,
Speaker 1: or like a trickster named Jacob. Not only does he
Speaker 1: bring forth nations from people whose names carry baggage, or,
Speaker 1: in the case of the woman at the Well, people
Speaker 1: whose names we don't even know you ever thought about that?
Speaker 1: That wasn't on her birth certificate Woman at the Well,
Speaker 1: But God said, I'm going to take characters that other
Speaker 1: people think are just props, and I Am going to
Speaker 1: use them for a purpose that nobody can understand. You
Speaker 1: better get excited about this word, because God is using
Speaker 1: people in this season that we walk past. Now. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you want to hear this message or not,
Speaker 1: because we get pretty settled into our story, don't we,
Speaker 1: And we get pretty settled into our situation in our system,
Speaker 1: and we just want a burger, and we just want
Speaker 1: to drink, and we just want to survive it. And
Speaker 1: here we are in a year where most of us
Speaker 1: just want to go back to how it was, and
Speaker 1: how it is is not how it's supposed to be.
Speaker 1: And yet Jacob gave Joseph this plot of ground in
Speaker 1: psychcar near Samaria. Let me stop here for a minute.
Speaker 1: This is the area that everyone else avoided. It is
Speaker 1: the area that Jesus intended to go through. Jacob was
Speaker 1: the second born, Esau was the first born. God blessed
Speaker 1: the second before the first, and the last shall be first,
Speaker 1: and the first shall be last. You killed him by
Speaker 1: hanging him on the cross, but God raised him from
Speaker 1: the dead. Blood twist. That's all the gospel is. Let
Speaker 1: the weeks say I am straw blood twist. I love
Speaker 1: it. It It may be helpful for me to remind you
Speaker 1: at this point that the reason I look like I'm
Speaker 1: about to bust out of this suit with excitement, not
Speaker 1: with fat cells, not with cellulite, with excitement and enthusiasm.
Speaker 1: The reason I'm about to come unglued off this stage
Speaker 1: is because for twenty two years, Jacob thought Joseph was dead.
Speaker 1: So do you realize that the miracle happened through somebody
Speaker 1: that was as good as dead for twenty two years.
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to get in this mindset, not
Speaker 1: for twenty two hours, not for twenty two days, not
Speaker 1: for twenty two weeks, not for twenty two months. For
Speaker 1: twenty two years, Jacob thought I've lost Joseph. And Joseph
Speaker 1: was his favorite. Oh yeah, every parent has their favorite.
Speaker 1: It might change from moment to moment, but you have
Speaker 1: a favorite. You have a favorite, You have a favorite.
Speaker 1: My favorite is whichever one I'm talking to at that moment,
Speaker 1: telling them that they're my favorite. But Joseph had a coat.
Speaker 1: Joseph was the favorite. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers
Speaker 1: and left for dead, and when they went back and
Speaker 1: told Jacob that Joseph was dead, who was the first
Speaker 1: child of Rachel, who he really loved Joseph. Joseph is gone,
Speaker 1: meant to Jacob, I may as well die too, He said,
Speaker 1: you will bring my gray head down to the grave.
Speaker 1: So now do you understand that the plot twist in
Speaker 1: John chapter four wasn't just about a woman who came
Speaker 1: for a dream. It's about a god who takes things
Speaker 1: that you thought were dead, and things that you thought
Speaker 1: were over and things that you thought didn't matter, and
Speaker 1: things that you thought people people betrayed you, and people
Speaker 1: forgot about you, and people left you, and people ignored you,
Speaker 1: and people abandoned you. They betrayed Joseph. And so when
Speaker 1: it said that it was Jacob's well and that it
Speaker 1: was the well, the plot of ground that Jacob gave
Speaker 1: his son Joseph after twenty two years, can we visit
Speaker 1: the scene for a moment. It's in Genesis forty eight.
Speaker 1: It's really beautiful, man, because you got to think, like
Speaker 1: God sent Joseph to Egypt, and on one hand, his
Speaker 1: brothers betrayed him and they sold him. But on the
Speaker 1: other hand, Joseph saw after thirteen years of what seemed
Speaker 1: to be like a setback. And the reason I'm preaching
Speaker 1: it is because I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: feeling like life is just one giant setback right now,
Speaker 1: and things have stalled out for you and it's not
Speaker 1: moving forward and it's not happening, and the plans that
Speaker 1: you made all got canceled and all got interrupted. God
Speaker 1: said to tell you that he's the god of a
Speaker 1: plot twist that just about the time you are ready
Speaker 1: to turn the movie off, don't turn it off. Just
Speaker 1: about the time that you are ready to stop believing
Speaker 1: in God. Don't stop believing in God. Yeah, just about
Speaker 1: the time you're ready to say, I will never see
Speaker 1: Joseph again. Because see, it was a famine that hit
Speaker 1: Canaan that made Jacob's sons go and find Joseph. Do
Speaker 1: you remember this. And when they went and saw Joseph,
Speaker 1: they didn't even know was him at first, but then
Speaker 1: eventually Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and said, is me.
Speaker 1: It's me, the one that you left for dead. I'm
Speaker 1: the one that God is going to use to provide
Speaker 1: for you plot twist. You remember his most famous verse
Speaker 1: in Genesis fifty twenty. You meant it for evil, God
Speaker 1: miant it for good. What does that mean? That means
Speaker 1: he's the god of a plot twist. That means he
Speaker 1: takes what the enemy meant for evil and uses it
Speaker 1: for good in your life, in your bloodline, in your generation,
Speaker 1: in our church, in our families, in our nation, in
Speaker 1: our world on this continent. God is a generational God.
Speaker 1: And he goes through some area, and he takes us
Speaker 1: through some areas, and he does some things in our
Speaker 1: lives in disappointed places. And when Jacob was getting ready
Speaker 1: to die, he called Joseph to his bedside. It's a
Speaker 1: really beautiful scene. This is great for Father's Day, okay.
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter forty eight. He said, uh, He said, Joseph,
Speaker 1: come in the room. I want to give a blessing
Speaker 1: to my grandchildren. Now. Genesis forty eight eleven is the
Speaker 1: one I want to focus your heart on for a moment.
Speaker 1: Israel said to Joseph, You're like, wait a minute, I
Speaker 1: thought you were talking about Jacob. I am the one
Speaker 1: named Jacob was also called Israel. Jacob means heel grabber,
Speaker 1: plot twist. Israel means prince with God. I'm telling you, man,
Speaker 1: Jesus looked at that woman, and he didn't see a whore,
Speaker 1: that's all worshiper. He looked at Jacob, and he didn't
Speaker 1: see a heel grabber. He saw a prince. I love
Speaker 1: him for that. I love him for all the times
Speaker 1: that he could have just given up on me. I
Speaker 1: love him for all the ways. You know, I'm screwing
Speaker 1: up things left and right as a pastor, as a parent,
Speaker 1: as a husband. I know I get it so wrong.
Speaker 1: But go ahead and clap your hands and praise hand emoji.
Speaker 1: If you know you serve the god of the plot twist,
Speaker 1: if you know that he knows your real name, your
Speaker 1: real righteousness is in Christ. Wow, so Israel also called.
Speaker 1: Jacob said to Joseph, the one he never thought he'd
Speaker 1: see again, the dream that he thought had died, the
Speaker 1: thing that he thought was over. What is your Joseph,
Speaker 1: what is the thing that you have given up on
Speaker 1: in your life? And you've said the stories over and
Speaker 1: this is the way it's going to be. And I'm
Speaker 1: just always going to struggle this, deal with this. I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna get over this, and I'm never gonna get victory.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna sing the words to the song, but
Speaker 1: I don't really mean them or believe him anymore, because
Speaker 1: I'm just going through the motions and I'm just going
Speaker 1: through this. What is your Joseph? Now watch this Israel
Speaker 1: said to Joseph. I never expected to see your face again,
Speaker 1: and now God has allowed me to see your children too.
Speaker 1: He's the god of the blot twist. Not only did
Speaker 1: he let him see Joseph, but he used everything that
Speaker 1: Joseph had been through to save the whole family because
Speaker 1: he's the God of the blot twist. Not only did
Speaker 1: he minister to the woman, he sent the woman to
Speaker 1: go get the whole towel blot twist. He skipped the meal,
Speaker 1: but he reaped the harvest. God is the god of
Speaker 1: the plot twist. Now who is this for? If this
Speaker 1: is for you, just tell me right now, say this
Speaker 1: is for me. This is for me, This is for me,
Speaker 1: This is bred from heaven for me. God said to
Speaker 1: tell you that there's a plot twist happening in your
Speaker 1: life right now. He said to tell you that the
Speaker 1: things about you that you don't like, He's going to
Speaker 1: leverage them for greater grace to be released in your life.
Speaker 1: And I speak by the spirit of the Lord into
Speaker 1: your life. He is turning things around right now. And
Speaker 1: you will see Joseph again, and you will see provision again,
Speaker 1: and you will have joy again, and you will dance again,
Speaker 1: and you will shout again, and you will go to
Speaker 1: the House of God again, and you will rise again,
Speaker 1: and you will breathe again, and you will sing again.
Speaker 1: Thought I'd never see you again, Israel said to Joseph.
Speaker 1: It was the plot of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph.
Speaker 1: Never thought it would happen, but it did. God said,
Speaker 1: get ready for unexpected blessings in unlikely places. Through weakness.
Speaker 1: He is strong in your crushing oil comes forth. I
Speaker 1: know this is from God because he gave it to
Speaker 1: me so heavy I had to preach it early. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to forget how I felt when I read
Speaker 1: Jacob say to Joseph, I never expected to even see
Speaker 1: you again, and now I get to see your children too.
Speaker 1: God said, get ready for exceeding abundantly above all that
Speaker 1: you ever asked or imagine. And y'all, just in case
Speaker 1: you're new hero, I'm not necessarily talking about cars or
Speaker 1: raises or bonuses. God as much bigger than any of that.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about how God is renovating your heart in
Speaker 1: this season. It's a plot twist. God is setting me
Speaker 1: free from being so selfish. It's a plot twist. I
Speaker 1: thought it was about me, But Joseph was Joseph was
Speaker 1: still alive. Joseph is still alive. Yes, crazy thing, Jacob said.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't think i'd ever see you again.
Speaker 1: But bring me my grandchildren, Manassa and Ephraim. Bring me
Speaker 1: those voice and bring them over here so I can
Speaker 1: bless them. Bring them here so I can bless them.
Speaker 1: You know that's what God likes to do. Right, Come
Speaker 1: here so I can bless you. Come here so I
Speaker 1: can bless you. Come here so I can bless you.
Speaker 1: That woman at the well, come here so I can
Speaker 1: bless you. He asked her for a drink, but he
Speaker 1: really just wanted to give her one. Come here so
Speaker 1: I can bless you. If you knew who you were
Speaker 1: talking to, you would ask me, and I would give
Speaker 1: you the water that never runs dry, and it would
Speaker 1: become within you a source, a spring of living water.
Speaker 1: Bring them here so I can bless him. And then
Speaker 1: Joseph removed them from Israel's niece bowed down with his
Speaker 1: face to the ground, and Joseph took both of them,
Speaker 1: Ephraim on his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and
Speaker 1: Manassa on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought
Speaker 1: them close to him. All of this I saw when
Speaker 1: I saw it happened on the plot of ground that
Speaker 1: Jacob gave his son Joseph, and I thought about on
Speaker 1: Father's Day and every day, what am I giving to
Speaker 1: my children? What am I giving to the others in
Speaker 1: my life? I wonder what you're carrying. I wonder what
Speaker 1: the enemy is trying to convince you to give up on,
Speaker 1: because what you carry is so significant. I wonder. I
Speaker 1: wonder what's in your will. I wonder what wells you're
Speaker 1: digging in your life right now, through your worship, through
Speaker 1: your praise, through your prayers, through your study, through your commitment,
Speaker 1: through your openness, through the change that God is doing
Speaker 1: in your life. Now, watch this, he said, bring them here.
Speaker 1: I want to bless them. Joseph lining them up so
Speaker 1: that the oldest would get the right hand, Manassa the
Speaker 1: younger would get the left hand. They're both going to
Speaker 1: get blessed, but the oldest gets the bigger blessing? And
Speaker 1: what what Israel does? Verse fourteen, But Israel, but Israel,
Speaker 1: but God, but Israel. But God reached out his right
Speaker 1: hand and put his right hand on Ephraim's head, though
Speaker 1: he was the younger, though he didn't deserve it, though
Speaker 1: he wasn't supposed to be blessed first, though he wasn't
Speaker 1: expecting it, though it didn't make any sense, though it
Speaker 1: defied logic and customs and traditions. He had to go
Speaker 1: through Samaria. He had to keep you alive. You have
Speaker 1: to survive, you have to make it. You had to
Speaker 1: rise up. And he put his right hand on Ephraim's head,
Speaker 1: and he put his left hand on Manessa's head, even
Speaker 1: though mante what's the firstborn? And then he blessed Joseph
Speaker 1: and said, may the God before whom my father's Abraham
Speaker 1: and Isaac. Somebody shout, is generational, it's generational. It's generational.
Speaker 1: There's a bigger picture. I will not die here. I
Speaker 1: will not quit here. I will not become arrogant or
Speaker 1: discouraged or dismayed. I will not stop here. I gotta
Speaker 1: go through Samaria because the God of Abraham and Isaac,
Speaker 1: the God who has been my shepherd all my life
Speaker 1: to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from
Speaker 1: all harm. May he bless these boys. You want your
Speaker 1: Father's Day message, here's your Father's Day message. Get ready
Speaker 1: for a plot twist. You didn't have a dad, You're
Speaker 1: gonna be an amazing dad. Get ready for a plot twist.
Speaker 1: You gotta hurt in your heart that feels unhealed. God's
Speaker 1: gonna turn you into a healer. Get ready for a
Speaker 1: plot twist. You got some reasons why you don't feel
Speaker 1: like a very good person. Get ready for a plot twist.
Speaker 1: God loves Jacob. God loves Jacob. God loves Jacob. Jesus
Speaker 1: love that woman. God loves people just like you. And
Speaker 1: I know he's the God of the plot twist because
Speaker 1: his hands looked like this. Because his hands look like this.
Speaker 1: And when Joseph verse seventeen saw his father placing his
Speaker 1: right hand on Ephraim's head, he was displeased. I don't
Speaker 1: like this. You're not supposed to be doing this God.
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be still half my job. I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to steal God. This is not But look what his
Speaker 1: father said verse nineteen, I know my son. I know
Speaker 1: he too will become a people, He too will become great.
Speaker 1: God's gonna use it all. God's gonna use it all. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: his younger brother will be greater than he, and his
Speaker 1: descendants will become a group of nations. And he blessed
Speaker 1: them that day, And he blessed them that day. I
Speaker 1: pray that today would be a day of unexpected blessing
Speaker 1: in your soul, because you never know, man, you never know.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all are breaking curses and you don't even
Speaker 1: know it. You never know. You can't die, Joseph, you
Speaker 1: can't die. They're supposed to be a well with your
Speaker 1: name on it for a future generation. Yeah. I want
Speaker 1: to quit sometimes, but I can't. Yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: quit sometimes, but I can't. Yeah. Sometimes I hide under
Speaker 1: the covers, but I got to get out at some point,
Speaker 1: because this is bigger than me. This is bigger than me.
Speaker 1: It's bigger than air. It's about a harvest. Joseph was betrayed, abandoned.
Speaker 1: He said, you intended it for evil, It's all right.
Speaker 1: God used it for good. How did he know about
Speaker 1: the cross so much? Thousands of years before it happened.
Speaker 1: How did Jacob know Romans eight twenty eight all things
Speaker 1: work together for the good when it hadn't even been
Speaker 1: written yet, he knew that God is the god of
Speaker 1: a plot twist. And Jacob looked at Joseph and said,
Speaker 1: in your name, will Israel pronounce this blessing. May God
Speaker 1: make you like Ephraim and Manassa. And he put he
Speaker 1: from ahead of Manassa. And then Israel said to Joseph,
Speaker 1: I'm about to die, but God will be with you.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking to somebody. Tears are running down your face
Speaker 1: because that's God saying that to you. It's not a
Speaker 1: preacher saying that to you. A preacher can't say that
Speaker 1: to you. I'm not with you. God said, I will
Speaker 1: be with you and take you back to the land
Speaker 1: of your fathers. And to you I give one more
Speaker 1: ridge of land than to your brothers. The one who
Speaker 1: almost died got blessed double. This happened in Sidcar, near Samaria,
Speaker 1: on the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.
Speaker 1: I want to pray for you today. What I want
Speaker 1: to pray about is the fact that when Jacob spoke
Speaker 1: that blessing over Joseph. They weren't in Canaan, they were
Speaker 1: in Egypt. He was telling him about a land that
Speaker 1: he wasn't living in yet. And when we get up
Speaker 1: here and when we preach and when we say, God
Speaker 1: takes what the enemy means for evil and turns it
Speaker 1: for good. You know, that's really hard to receive when
Speaker 1: you look all around you and everything that you see
Speaker 1: is saying otherwise. But God said, I'm gonna bless you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bless you better than anybody else can curse you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bless you. When I make up my mind
Speaker 1: to bless you, when I make up my mind to
Speaker 1: use you, I will go through Samaria and send all
Speaker 1: the disciples to McDonald's just to meet with you, to
Speaker 1: show you what is within you. They call you Jacob,
Speaker 1: I call you Israel on the plot of ground that
Speaker 1: Jacob gave to Joseph. God, I thank you that there
Speaker 1: is an anointing on this word today to break generational
Speaker 1: bondage off of mindsets. I thank you that today new
Speaker 1: wells are being dug in this moment, not three months
Speaker 1: from now, when the country is in better shape or not.
Speaker 1: At some point in the future when we know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen with our career or our industry. Right now,
Speaker 1: I am blessed. Right now. The hand of the Lord
Speaker 1: is on me, the younger before the older. You are
Speaker 1: doing it in your time. It's gonna be beautiful in
Speaker 1: your time. God. And I thank you right now that
Speaker 1: from Sweden to Zimbabwe, right down to your county, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: your people are blessed, not just the fathers, but the
Speaker 1: sons and the daughters and the mothers, single baron woman. Ah,
Speaker 1: thank you that a well, it's springing up in the desert.
Speaker 1: And I bless your name today because your people are
Speaker 1: bless us. And when you bless us and when you stigure,
Speaker 1: it is established. It is done on earth as it
Speaker 1: is in heaven. Your kingdom. Come, your will be not
Speaker 1: fuck hollow. It be your day. You churn, bless the
Speaker 1: be gold h turny for yes, listen, say your name,
Speaker 1: fuckingay you turny, fucking day you turney. Fuck come on
Speaker 1: and you're not sweary fucker say your journal turnary evil.
Speaker 1: It's a port twisted fuck. It's not over you journey
Speaker 1: is not over. It's a pot twist shotinue your marry
Speaker 1: me for your ministry. Can you tell me in your life?
Speaker 1: Said she just a port twist. My hey, you jes
Speaker 1: do you take what you concernty fuck you thurny fuck
Speaker 1: on the plot of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph,
Speaker 1: that woman discovered living water. Today. I pray over every household,
Speaker 1: Oh God, cover them, Oh God, bless them. Indeed, Oh God,
Speaker 1: enlarge their hearts. Some things don't make any sense. Some
Speaker 1: things in our lives seem so hopelessly, hopelessly, ridiculously painful.
Speaker 1: I speak purpose over your people today. God, you sent
Speaker 1: me here with this water, You sent me here with
Speaker 1: this word. You are the water, You are the word.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you one more thing. I was gonna leave,
Speaker 1: but I gotta tell you this. She came to get water,
Speaker 1: but she left her jar plot twist. She was already
Speaker 1: carrying what she came for. I'm trying to say, you've
Speaker 1: already got it, You've already got it, You've already got it.
Speaker 1: You already are enough. You already are enough. You already are.
Speaker 1: I don't care what they said, I don't care what
Speaker 1: the devil's been telling you. You already got it. So Lord,
Speaker 1: confirm your word today with signs and miracles and wonders.
Speaker 1: We thank you that your cross and your blood speaks
Speaker 1: a better word in Jesus' name. Come on and give
Speaker 1: God the greatest shout of braves and say, I receive it.
Speaker 1: I received the living water. Singing a few more times
Speaker 1: you sing, couldn't you? God? It's turning it on? Fuck,
Speaker 1: get ready, turn get ready. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 1: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 1: more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends. You can click
Speaker 1: the share button, take a screenshot and share it on
Speaker 1: your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks
Speaker 1: again for listening. God bless you.