WEBVTT - My Confidence Is Coming Back 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:04.840 Church and. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:05.840 This is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.719 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.440 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.720 Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.360 Are you excited for the Word of God today? Let's 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:25.640 get to it. Look at Hebrews Chapter ten, verse thirty 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.240 five through thirty seven, and this is a scripture that 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:31.520 is so loaded with power. I almost feel like I 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.120 could read it, drop the mic, walk off the stage 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:36.400 and not even say anything about it. 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:37.720 But I'm not going to do that. I'm and keep 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:39.200 the mic and talk about it for a little while. 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.080 Let me read it. 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:45.720 It says, so, do not throw away your confidence. It 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:53.560 will be richly rewarded. Now you need to perseverere so 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.560 that when you have done the will of God, you 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.960 will receive what He has promised. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:06.319 Four in just a little while. Touch your neighbors say. 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.440 It won't be long now, It won't be long. Now, 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.480 in just a little while. 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:20.800 He who is coming will come and will not delay. 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.000 Instead of giving this message a title, I just want 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.919 us to make a faith declaration together. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:26.440 You're ready. 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.400 Now, I need you to say this loud and proud, 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:33.320 so you convince the devil that you mean business. Shout 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.640 out so loud your neighbor gets startled when you say it. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.320 You're ready, Come on in every location, Are you ready? 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:39.600 Say this? 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:45.640 My confidence is coming back. Tell five people yours is too. 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:53.840 Yours is too my confidence. You may be seated, God bless. 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.600 You coming back. 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:04.880 It's coming back quickly. That God kind of confidence, not 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:08.560 that Instagram confidence posting something taking it down four times 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:09.320 if it doesn't. 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:10.640 Get enough likes in three minutes. 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:13.840 Letting half my body hang out of my clothes so 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:15.400 somebody will tell me I look good. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:22.600 That's not confidence, that's compensation. I want a God kind 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:23.480 of confidence. 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.799 It's important that I say that because confidence has a context. 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:30.600 If I were to say it in a Biblical context, 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.760 it would mean something different than in a Kardashian context. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.200 You just want to get no slightment to any Kardashians. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.280 No Kardashians were harmed in the making of this sermon. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.640 I'm just saying that context is important, and the writer 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.760 of Hebrews has a daunting task in that he is 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:50.960 trying to strengthen and reconstruct, in some ways, the confidence 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:56.920 of a group of Christians who are in crisis. In 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:04.919 order to do this, he employs to rhetorical devices. He 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:15.240 uses contrast and context. Contrast and context. He's speaking to 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.520 them in the midst of a trial, really a crisis 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.880 of confidence, and he's trying to get them focused on 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:30.600 Christ in their crisis. Because remember when Peter did that, 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:35.400 when he focused on Christ in his crisis, he transcended 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:36.640 the laws of buoyancy. 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.960 And it's amazing what you can get up above when 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.080 you focus on Christ in your crisis. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.840 In order to bring them to this focal point of 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:51.360 Christ in crisis, he starts in Hebrews chapter one by 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.880 giving them a context of the superiority of Christ and 0:03:55.960 --> 0:04:00.400 the New Covenant in this setting. In this context, he 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.400 presents them with a picture of a Christ who is better, 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:09.640 better than the angels theological term the superiority of Christ. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.200 But we would just say he's better. He's better than 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:16.480 anything you can name. He's better than anything you can inhale. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.800 He's better than anything you can snort. He's better than 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.720 anything you can chug. He's better than anything. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:22.960 You can date. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.760 He's better than anything that you can give your life to. 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.200 He's better. Somebody's shout, he's better. 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:31.480 He's better than the mediator of the old covenant. 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:32.200 That's Moses. 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.800 And it is in this context that he must present 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:40.240 to the people a motivation for perseverance by establishing their 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:45.400 confidence in crisis. And so not only does he provide 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.520 a contrast the mosaic sacrificial system and the. 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.920 Temple cultic law to the hope that we have in. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.280 Jesus Christ, that the sacrifice has been made once and 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.159 for all. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:58.839 You know how I know it's been made once and 0:04:58.880 --> 0:04:59.200 for all. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.760 I saw your car coming into the parking lot today, 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:05.040 and I didn't see any bulls or oxen on. 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.120 The bike rack of your vehicle. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.360 I didn't see you with the knife to slit their 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:11.719 throats so that you could make atonement for your sins. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.839 Why because you came in with confidence that Christ is enough, 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.600 that Christ is enough to atone for my sin and 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:23.080 to make write all of my mistakes. And the author 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:27.159 of Hebrews is re establishing the confidence of people who 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.719 have lost their confidence. I found out in life you 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.520 can lose a lot of things and get them back 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:36.000 if you keep your confidence. The devil cannot take your calling. 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.479 The Bible says that the gifts in calling of God 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:40.560 are without repentance. 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.000 He doesn't change his mind when you lose your way. 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.360 So since the devil can't take your calling, he attacks 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:51.840 your confidence because if he can get you to give 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.680 him your confidence, he can keep you from functioning in 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:56.279 your calling. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:58.720 If he can get you to believe that. 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.680 You're raising your kids just like your mom raised you, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.120 and your mom raised you in a way that was 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.560 detrimental and destructive, he can get you to repeat the 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:13.920 patterns and miss the opportunity for progress. Because he stripped 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:16.840 you of your confidence. You can have a great calling 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.880 and no confidence. Joyce Meyer says, and she's coming for 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.920 a Code Orange revival, so maybe she'll tell you when 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.520 she comes. She said, a believer without confidence is like 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.880 a jet without fuel, sitting on the runway. All that equipment, 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:32.360 but no power to get up above the circumstances. That's 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.760 how sister Joyce said it. Ask your neighbor got confidence? 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:38.800 Remember they used to have got milk? Well, I want 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:43.800 to know got confidence? Christians without confidence? It should be 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.880 an oxymoron. I mean, the whole context of the Gospel 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:53.040 is confidence. If it doesn't make you more confident, it's 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.240 not the gospel. If you ever heard something preached to 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:00.160 you and you walked up from it like crap, you're 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.359 the gospel in the correct context. And the author of 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.280 Hebrews is giving some context to the crisis, perhaps he 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.840 should preach to our nation right about now, because I 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.280 hear people saying weird stuff. They say, this is the 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:20.200 worst it's ever been. Really, really, it's worse than it's 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.960 worse than slavery, worse than it's ever been. I mean, 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:25.400 there are some things that are bad, but can we 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.760 put it in context. One time I was at a 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.920 pastor's roundtable and a young white pastor who wasn't much 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.640 older than me spoke up and said, our nation is. 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.160 More divided than it's ever been. 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.320 And he shouldn't have said that in that context because 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.880 there was an older African American pastor, probably over the 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.400 age of seventy, who had lived through segregation. And he 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.840 spoke up and said, young man, I appreciate your sentiment, 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:55.720 but allow me to provide some context. And about fifteen 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.360 minutes later, that white guy wanted out of the room. 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.840 Asked me the other day he said, Daddy, are all 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:08.120 presidential elections this crazy? Because he's only ten and he's 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.720 looking for some context. And of course it took me 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.840 a moment to think through all of the presidential elections 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.040 that I've witnessed. In two thousand, it was pretty crazy. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.520 We barely found out who was the president by the 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:24.280 time their term was over. I don't know if anybody 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:28.760 remembers that, but it was. It was crazy then. And 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.240 I've explained to him how in the context of you know, 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.000 other parts of the world, we have a pretty peaceful 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.080 transition of power when you put it in context, and 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:42.240 some cultures power doesn't change hands unless blood runs in 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:46.160 the street. So I want to give him a context. 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:51.040 Sometimes you've lost your relationships because you've lost your context. 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.079 That is, someone will do one thing to offend you, 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:56.600 and in the light of that one thing that they 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.480 did to offend you, you will walk away from the 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.880 hundreds of things that they did that caused you to 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.640 love them. The devil is a master of trying to 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.680 create a crisis in your life by causing you. 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:10.239 To lose your sense of context. 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.280 I'm laughing because a lady over on my right side 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:14.600 was hitting a man I don't know what that was about. 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.720 But touch somebody and say, keep it in context. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:19.280 That's what you. 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:21.800 Gotta do, Eve, because the serpent will come up to 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.000 you and say, did God really say you can't eat 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:26.240 from any tree in the garden? And you got to 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:27.959 remember God didn't say he can't eat of any tree. 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:30.079 He said, don't eat of that tree. But the enemy 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.280 wants to take it out of context, to get you 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:33.720 to look at all the things you can't do and 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.000 miss all the things you can do, and to get 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.640 you to think that Christianity is boring, or that it's 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.880 about rules and regulations, to take it out of the 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.840 context of relationships. But how many of you know that 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:49.040 we have a great high priest whose name is Jesus, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.760 and the author of Hebrews wants to help you get 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:57.959 your confidence back. But you can't have confidence without context. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:02.880 Could I would love to back up just a few 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:08.520 verses and provide a context for this admonition where he says. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:15.520 Do not throw away your confidence see us a pretty powerful. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:22.440 Admonition exhortation within itself, but when you give it its 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.080 full context, it's even more powerful. Would it be all 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:26.840 right if I backed up just a few verses and 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:27.840 give you some context. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.040 I would love to give you the whole Book of Hebrews. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:32.640 I didn't think it'd be good for us to do 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.800 the whole book in one day, but maybe we could 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.959 hit verse nineteen real quick, where he's encouraging this community 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:45.280 of faith that is an identity crisis, losing friends because 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:50.439 of their faith, suffering loss in their personal life, in 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.920 their relationship with their possessions because of their faith. And 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.720 he says, therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have somebody shouted, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:01.559 we have confidence. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.720 Now. We may not be accessing our confidence right. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:08.640 Now, but we have it. How many of you have 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.240 a phone? How many of you are talking on it 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.559 right now? Just because you have it doesn't mean you're 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.280 using it. Sometimes we think we need more confidence, when 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.719 all we really need to do is use the confidence 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:29.079 that we already have by virtue of the power of 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:29.920 Christ in us. 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:31.240 I feel like preaching a. 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:35.840 Little bit today because somebody's going to get their confidence back. 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.480 By the time I put my microphone down, the Lord 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.600 told me some of you have been losing your confidence, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.520 but he wants you to know that you have confidence 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:51.080 to enter the most holy place that was the place 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.600 where only the high priest could go. And even he 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.040 couldn't go in the wrong way, or he wouldn't come out, well, 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.440 he would come out. Body would have to drag him out, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.640 because the presence of God was so strong in the 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.920 most Holy Place that if you. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.239 Didn't go in ceremonially clean. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.320 You would fall down dead in the presence of the 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:15.679 glory of God. How many are glad for a new Covenant? 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.720 I think the whole top section of Blakeney would fall 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.640 over dead if you had to be clean to come 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.920 to church today, I think the whole I think the 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.480 preacher would fall dead on the stage if you had 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.760 to be clean to come to church. And so he's 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.920 he's talking about this new Covenant and he's excited about it, 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.120 telling them come on in to the most Holy Place. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.480 How do you come in by the blood of Jesus, 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.439 by a new and living way open for us through 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.880 the curtain that is His body. And since we have 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.360 a great high priest over the House of God, let 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.120 us draw near to God with the sincere heart and 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.560 with the full assurance that faith brings our hearts sprinkled 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.520 to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:07.680 And having our bodies washed with pure water. 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:09.960 I was only going to read verse nineteen, but the 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.520 context of this is so powerful. I think I ought 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.280 to keep going? How many think I ought to keep going? 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.839 Come on, this is the covenant, the promise of God. 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.200 This is your relationship with him. Describe to find and 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:22.600 elaborated upon. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.040 Let us hold. 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:28.439 Unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:32.959 is faithful, He who promised is faithful. You hadn't always 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.560 been faithful to him, but he's always been. 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:36.640 Faithful to you. 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.280 And let us consider how we may spur one another 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:45.960 on toward good deeds, not giving up meeting together as 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:51.480 some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:56.000 And all the more as you see the day approaching. 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.760 And so he's helping me before he tells me to 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.720 keep my confidence, He's helping me to see where my 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:09.439 confidence comes from. Let's talk about where Christian confidence comes from. 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.559 Because there are three things he mentioned in the text 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.400 I just read, and they all start. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:13.679 With the letter C. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.120 At least they will when I get done with them. 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:26.360 Helps me remember them better. He mentions, your conscience, it's 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:30.000 kind of hard to have full confidence when you have 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:36.720 a troubled conscience. It's kind of hard for me to 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.080 get up and preach to you when I have things 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:43.040 in my life, areas in my life where I haven't 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.240 been obedient. You know, there have been time before I've 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.040 been getting ready to preach, and before I could come 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:49.600 out on the stage, I had to make a phone 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.040 call and get something right, because if I come up 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:56.560 here in my conscience isn't clear. I don't mean that 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.280 I have to be perfect when I get up. If 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.720 that were the case, only J than Joseph will be 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:06.200 allowed to preach at Elevation Church. But I'm saying some 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.800 of you lost your confidence because you violated your conscience, 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.600 and so now in relationships you can't really look people 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:20.240 in the eye because of what you're hiding, because of 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:28.040 text messages you hope your wife doesn't see, because of 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:33.600 unresolved bitterness and forgiveness that God has initiated but you 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:38.360 have not completed. The devil is really masterful at this, 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.000 because if he can't get your calling without your confidence, 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:46.200 he'll get to your confidence through your conscience. So then 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.280 he will tempt you with something that he knows will 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:54.160 define or defile rather your conscience. And now, because you 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:58.440 have a defiled conscience, you have no confidence. To come 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.280 into the presence of God requires confidence. The presence of 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.760 God is the only place where your conscience can be cleansed. 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.000 We just read it in Hebrews. 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.680 He said that the most holy place the presence of God, 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.520 that place of surrender, that place of contact with God. 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:16.760 That's the place where the blood of Jesus is sprinkled 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:21.040 to purify your conscience. But if you don't have confidence, 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.240 you won't come in. So now the only place where 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.080 God can heal your conscience you don't go into. 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:28.600 Because you've lost your confidence. 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.320 You stop coming to church at the time when you 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.040 needed church the most. I'm gonna look at the camera 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:40.040 because somebody's watching me online today. You almost came, but 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:42.840 you felt guilty about something, and you let the devil 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.160 tell you that you couldn't come. But the context of 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.880 my relationship with God is not my behavior, is the 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.920 blood of his son. It was already shed. And when 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:58.440 those drops hit the crowd, mercy hit my life. Grace 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:03.360 covered my sin, His compassion cover all the wrong things 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.400 I had done, will do, and even the things I'm 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.600 doing right now, so I can come on in to 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.359 the presence of God with my head held high like 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.439 a child of the King. I'm not a slave to fear. 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:19.520 I'm a child of God, my spirit Christ. 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.800 How I'm a father. I needs your help. I'm in 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:24.720 a crisis. Come on in. 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:32.640 Hear the voice of God saying to somebody, come on in, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.800 Come on in. I know what you did last summer. 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.320 Come on in. I know what you did in your twenties. 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:41.119 Come on in. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.640 I know what you did at nine forty seven am. 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.600 Come on in. Tell somebody say, come on in. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.440 We need you to know that the context of Christian 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.480 confidence is not your ability to conform to a set 0:17:57.520 --> 0:17:58.440 of behaviors. 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:00.640 That's the old covenant. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.680 That's bringing a turtle dove to church and sacrificing it. 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.320 But we have a great high Priest, and he is 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:15.520 the context of my confidence. A context of my confidence 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.840 is a clear conscience. And then you know what else 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:25.480 I need. I need a community. I know your confidence 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:26.520 has been shaken lately. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:33.080 That's why you need some people. Would you tell the 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.520 person next to you, I need people like you in 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:44.400 my life. I really do, I really do. 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.160 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:50.120 in the habit of doing. 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:57.240 I need people in my life because. 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.000 I really believe if I hadn't grown up at Monk's 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.480 Corner United Method Church and it Jackie didn't tell me 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:03.280 God has a special plan for your life. When I 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:05.240 first got saved, I might have gone right back to 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.840 the way I was living. The temptation that is being 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.800 countered by the author of Hebrews is the temptation to 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:16.159 turn back that no sooner do you get started in 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.840 the pursuit of a promise from God than you lose 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.439 your confidence and turn back. You lose your confidence because 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:26.439 certain people don't like it. Certain people don't understand it. 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.440 Certain people aren't going the same way as you. Certain 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.639 people don't support or endorse your decision to be a 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.120 disciple of Jesus Christ. 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:39.520 That's why you need certain other people, certain other people. 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:41.640 You can't do this alone. 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.359 I like to say, back in the early days when 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.600 I first started preaching, you have to follow Christ for yourself. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:50.600 But you cannot follow Christ by yourself. 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:54.600 So I need a new community. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.560 I need a new community, somebody to look me in 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.320 the eyes from time to time and say I think 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:02.160 you still got it. 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:04.560 I think you ought to press on. 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:07.560 If you don't have those people in your life, there 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:09.720 is no hope for you holding on to your confidence. 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.880 Because everybody in their head has a little confidence committee. 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.800 They sit around that table, and you have the committee 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:23.440 member called past experience. 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.480 And boy, he'll speak up real quick when you decide 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.439 to do something for Gott. You tried that once, how'd 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:31.800 that go? 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:36.000 He'll show you the treadmill that you bought, it's now 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:43.920 a cote rack. And then there's past experience. And let's 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.240 see who else sits at the table. You got past experience, 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:50.720 and maybe you got the committee. 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:55.080 Member of self loathing and doubt and all these people. 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.919 If you don't have one time the profit. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:05.400 Elisha needed to teach his protege faith because they were 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:10.719 surrounded by enemies. And that's all that the protege could see. 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.240 That's all he could see, what was against him. I 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:18.080 took away his confidence. He cried out, oh my Lord, 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:23.320 what shall we do now? Sometimes that's that's the only 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.000 prayer you can pray. 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:31.679 And Elisha gave him a different context. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:36.719 When he prayed, open his eyes, Lord, that he may see. 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:39.680 And when he blinked and opened his eyes again, nothing 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:41.600 had really changed except. 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:44.520 His vision opened his eyes. 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:47.680 The second time he saw that what was surrounding them 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.200 was surrounded by the armies of the Living God. 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.040 You know, I believe. 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.680 God wants to bring people in your life who can 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:04.800 surround what surrounded you until you see the protection, the provision, 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:11.240 and the promise of God coming to pass in your life. 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:12.119 I'll be honest. 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.480 There are certain people I look for when I preach 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:16.800 because they boost my confidence. 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:23.440 Certain people I look away from real quick Taylor secret. 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.720 The right side of this Valentine campus is really spiritual. 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.760 They will shout you down, only to be matched by 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:33.359 this intersection. 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:35.440 And the people in the. 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:40.240 Back as well as the left side of the room. Look, 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:41.880 give me a wide shot. Can you show the other 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:44.639 campuses how we built this room. We built this Valentine 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:51.000 campus where you can't sneak in, you can't fall asleep. 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:55.760 Somebody will see you. We wanted you to know when 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:56.360 you come to. 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:01.960 Church you're surrounded, because you might up to church in trouble, 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:06.800 and we and tempted and tested and try, but somebody 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:12.360 shall I'm surrounded. Come on, tell seven people you're surrounded. 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:15.280 Even if you want to go back, I won't let you. 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:18.040 Even if you want to fall short. I'm not about 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:21.280 to let you quit. You've come too far by faith. 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.160