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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

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Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

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Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: Are you ready for the word? Well, I'm gonna bring

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Speaker 1: it in just a moment, but first let me make

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Speaker 1: sure everyone is aware of what we mentioned earlier that

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Speaker 1: we are in a season of giving and generosity and

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Speaker 1: reciprocation and sewing. It's our year end offering time. Yo,

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Speaker 1: my class just got lower. We love to guill, We

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Speaker 1: love to gill. And y'all know, every year I ask

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Speaker 1: God to give us a word to rally around, just

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Speaker 1: something to believe that he's doing. We've had so many

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Speaker 1: different words through the years. But this year, the Lord

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Speaker 1: told me that we would focus on his favor. So

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Speaker 1: this is going to be our favor offering for twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's the year of the Lord's Favor. You're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: I didn't get that memo. Well. Luke four nineteen said

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Speaker 1: that when he unrolled the scroll, he said the spirit

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Speaker 1: of the Lord has anointed me, even in the midst

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Speaker 1: of great adversity, to declare blind eyes open, captives set free.

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Speaker 1: Where's my three people that came to agree with the

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Speaker 1: word of the Lord? He said, it's a year of

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Speaker 1: the Lord's favor. So you've got to choose how you

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Speaker 1: want to frame your life. Nobody can make that decision

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Speaker 1: for you. And I bet if you look back over

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Speaker 1: this last twenty four hours, you can frame it with

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Speaker 1: God's favor. If you look back over these last seven days,

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Speaker 1: you can frame it with God's favor. Can frame it

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Speaker 1: with frustration. Remember how the dishwasher broke and you called

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Speaker 1: your kids over and they wouldn't do it, so you

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Speaker 1: slapped them across the room and then you felt bad

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Speaker 1: about that. Or you can remember all the things that

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Speaker 1: it went right this week and hold on even when

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Speaker 1: you were wrong. Wow, but God's grace was there for you.

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Speaker 1: And that's what I like to do when we end

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Speaker 1: the year. So our global family, we're inviting you. December

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Speaker 1: thirteenth is the date that we've set. Of course, calendars

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Speaker 1: mean nothing in twenty twenty, the year of our Lord,

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Speaker 1: but it's still the year of the Lord's favor. So

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Speaker 1: between now and then, get your best gifts. Some of

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Speaker 1: you never give. You just consume, consume, consume. You're never

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Speaker 1: going to get much out of it. That way, you

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Speaker 1: get fat, but you won't get faith. We build our faith.

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Speaker 1: I know I said the word was coming, but that

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Speaker 1: felt like a word right there. So thousands will do it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you to all of our tithers who have enabled

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Speaker 1: us to go through with all of the plans that

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Speaker 1: God had this year to reach the world. Gospel is

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Speaker 1: bear and fruit, but our favor offering. You go to

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Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org for that and even just this week

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Speaker 1: our Convoy of Hope Outreach caravan. We get fifty thousand

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Speaker 1: dollars this week to help with Park two Honduras for

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Speaker 1: the category for Hurricane Now. Each week we're just going

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Speaker 1: to show you what God did through your giving and

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Speaker 1: I know that you'll respond. Happy anniversary. By the way

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Speaker 1: to our Blakeney location, it's ten years, ten years of

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Speaker 1: amazing ministers. Zeke, did you ever come over to Blakeney. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you're a newcomer, a mere babe, a mere babe in Christ.

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Speaker 1: You know we're at Blakeney, but we've had some amazing ministry. There,

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Speaker 1: shout out John and Beth Hargett, Dan and Diane Horner,

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Speaker 1: John and Denise Richter, Randy and Mary Angel. What's up

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Speaker 1: Randy Angel? That dude gives the most violent hugs. Randy

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Speaker 1: Angel just picks you up. And he's a chiropractor when

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Speaker 1: he hugs you. He's not licensed though, just breaks your

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Speaker 1: back when he hugs you. I'm so glad you're over

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Speaker 1: there today so you don't have to break my spine

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Speaker 1: with your hugs. And we thank God for our campus. Pastors,

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Speaker 1: Paul and Leah's your bid? Come on, let's thank God

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Speaker 1: for all of our location. Hey, what campus? Are you watching? Problems?

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Speaker 1: Put it right there in the chat. Put your city,

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Speaker 1: your state. It may not be an official campus, but

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Speaker 1: we ordain you today into the Gospel ministry to receive

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Speaker 1: the word of the Lord. How many are ready to

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Speaker 1: receive it? Amen? You're not gonna believe what God gave

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Speaker 1: me for today. Look at Isaiah fifty five and I'll

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Speaker 1: let you sit down. Hey, stand up, even if you're

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Speaker 1: in your living room. Get your heart ready. Send a

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Speaker 1: signal to your central nervous system system. We are about

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Speaker 1: to do something. We're not just gonna hear something. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna walk this out. So stand up wherever you are

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Speaker 1: and prepare your heart to hear God's word. I love

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Speaker 1: this in Isaiah fifty five, verse eight. For my thoughts

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Speaker 1: are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,

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Speaker 1: clears the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth,

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Speaker 1: so are my ways higher than your ways, and my

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Speaker 1: thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow

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Speaker 1: come down from heaven, and do not return to it

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Speaker 1: without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish,

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Speaker 1: so that it yields seed for the sower and bread

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Speaker 1: for the eater. So is my word that goes out

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Speaker 1: from my mouth. It will not return to me empty,

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Speaker 1: but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose

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Speaker 1: for which I scent it. As the rain, verse ten.

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Speaker 1: So is my word. And I want to talk to

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Speaker 1: you from an interesting thought today that the Lord gave me.

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Speaker 1: And I know he gave it to me, and I'll

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Speaker 1: tell you why in a minute. But I'm going to

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Speaker 1: call this sermon wasted rain. Wasted rain, please be seated. Oh,

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Speaker 1: the Lord gave me this one. He confirmed it. He

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Speaker 1: confirmed this message title wasted rain. I was kind of

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Speaker 1: feeling up in the air about it, and I'm recording

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Speaker 1: it on a day where I woke up and it

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Speaker 1: was really really rainy outside, and I thought, well, that

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Speaker 1: could just be a coincidence, do you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: Because I decided to preach about wasted rain. Then my phone,

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Speaker 1: I was looking for my scripture to look it over again,

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Speaker 1: and my phone did you just phones? Really now we're

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Speaker 1: recording this, maybe you're watching it much later. But it

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Speaker 1: came up it said emergency alert. I'm preaching on wasted rain,

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Speaker 1: and it says the National Weather Service is giving a

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Speaker 1: flash flood warning in effect for this area for the

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Speaker 1: next couple hours. Even the National Weather Service knew that

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Speaker 1: God wanted me to preach this to you today. Huh.

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Speaker 1: Rain Chunks was texting me, said I'm sorry about the rain,

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Speaker 1: as you know might be. I said, oh, don't apologize.

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Speaker 1: God sent this to confirm his word to you, and

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Speaker 1: he wants to talk to us today about wasted rain.

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Speaker 1: As the rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth.

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Speaker 1: So is my word, God says through the prophet Isaiah,

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Speaker 1: who prophesied. Of course, during the reign of the King

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Speaker 1: in the year King Uziah died. I saw the Lord

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Speaker 1: he prophesied rain during the reign of King Usiah. Now

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Speaker 1: it's interesting because I used to always pray this scripture

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Speaker 1: before I would preach. I still pray before I preach,

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Speaker 1: but I don't pray the scripture anymore. I'm gona tell

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Speaker 1: you why I was praying it, like it was a

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Speaker 1: magic trick. I would always before i'd come out to preach.

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Speaker 1: I'm a little superstitious, not necessarily because I believe it's

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Speaker 1: like luck to preach, but I don't know. I take

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Speaker 1: it seriously. I figured, like, if you came into church

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Speaker 1: and your life is in shambles and you need God

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Speaker 1: to speak to you, and then he puts up some

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Speaker 1: forty year old country boy from Monk's corner, we need

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Speaker 1: a miracle to get this done. I'm doing the math,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, I need you, Lord. So I

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Speaker 1: would always pray this so I could put the responsibility

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Speaker 1: on God that Lord, what they need you have, I don't,

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Speaker 1: but if you'll do it through me, I'll give it

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Speaker 1: to me. And you can use that little trip parenting

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Speaker 1: your kids, leading your team. Anytime you need to just

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Speaker 1: tell God this is big and I'm little. Will you

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Speaker 1: make up the difference? Clap those blessed, rainy wet hands

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Speaker 1: if you believe that God will make up the difference. Amen,

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Speaker 1: Your thoughts are not my thoughts, or ways are not

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Speaker 1: my ways. And I would always pray that, No, say Lord,

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Speaker 1: I thank you that as the rain falls from heaven

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Speaker 1: and waters the earth, so she would be the procease

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Speaker 1: for from your mouth. They accomplished what you sent to do.

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Speaker 1: And it was in King James, how I did it well.

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Speaker 1: I stopped praying that when I realized that for many

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Speaker 1: years I had been praying it a little bit out

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Speaker 1: of context. The prophecy in Isaiah fifty five is written

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Speaker 1: to a specific people who will be taken into captivity,

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Speaker 1: and they're being prepared for what they're not even going

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Speaker 1: through yet. Now in the text I read is very beautiful.

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Speaker 1: It's very peaceful as the rain falls from the heaven.

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Speaker 1: You know, so beautiful, so peaceful. If you're like me,

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Speaker 1: rain is depressing, but Holly thinks is peaceful. We argue

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Speaker 1: about this all the time. It's just stay in bed

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Speaker 1: to well. Anyway. We have different we have different interpretations

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Speaker 1: of the rain. But in this passage. It says that

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Speaker 1: the rain makes things grow, and it compares God's word

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Speaker 1: to that. So it would be easy to read this

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Speaker 1: scripture thinking that the context of it is God's promise

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Speaker 1: for revival, and it is, it is, it is. He's

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Speaker 1: the God of revival, He's the God of resurrection, He's

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Speaker 1: the God of renewal. He's the God who sends the

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Speaker 1: rain into the par arched areas of your life and

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Speaker 1: brings about things that your mind cannot conceive by the

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Speaker 1: power of his spirit. That's all true. But I guess

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Speaker 1: I just saw a few years ago that it's less

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Speaker 1: about what I say when I'm preaching and more about

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Speaker 1: what you hear and then what you do with what

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Speaker 1: you hear. Because in verse six, let's go to verse six,

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Speaker 1: just before the passage I read, the prophet says, seek

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Speaker 1: the Lord while he may be found. Listen to this

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Speaker 1: call on him while he is near. Let the wicked

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Speaker 1: forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Everybody say thoughts.

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Speaker 1: Say it again, say thoughts, type it into chat thoughts,

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Speaker 1: and put a little light bulb emologie or a mind

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Speaker 1: blow emoji, just to confirm that you heard that he said,

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Speaker 1: Let the let the wicked forsake their ways and the

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Speaker 1: unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord. This

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Speaker 1: is the biblic picture of repentance, to turn around the

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Speaker 1: Old Testament maneuver by which we align our hearts with God.

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Speaker 1: Thank you Lord for showing me that, because I thought

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Speaker 1: that the context of this was revival. But the context

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Speaker 1: of revival is repentance. Before the rain comes the repentance,

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Speaker 1: he said, let them turn to the Lord, and he

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Speaker 1: will have mercy on them, and to our God, for

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Speaker 1: he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

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Speaker 1: neither my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher

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Speaker 1: than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

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Speaker 1: and my thoughts than your thoughts, says the rain and

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Speaker 1: the snow. But look at it again, he said, verse seven,

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Speaker 1: Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.

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Speaker 1: So here's what I want to say to you. How

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Speaker 1: many of you love the Word of God. How many

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Speaker 1: of you believe the word of God can change your life?

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Speaker 1: How many want the Word of God to work inside

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Speaker 1: of you today? Yeah? All right, Well, I want to

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Speaker 1: tell you this first point, God's word does not override

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Speaker 1: your thought process. He said that before the earth is

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Speaker 1: filled with the rain, that will bring forth the purpose

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Speaker 1: for which the word was sent. First, there has to

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Speaker 1: be a forsaking before there can be a filling. There

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Speaker 1: is a forsaking before there is a filling. And the

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Speaker 1: reason that helped me is because I realized that a

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Speaker 1: lot of times God has wanted to speak something to me,

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Speaker 1: but I did not have room to receive it. So

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Speaker 1: let me ask the question again, how many of you

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Speaker 1: want to receive a word from God today? I do?

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Speaker 1: I need his word. I don't just want it. I

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Speaker 1: don't just want. I want to quest cookie after I preach.

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Speaker 1: It would be nice, but I don't need that. I

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Speaker 1: need God God's word. I need God's word for my dysfunction.

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Speaker 1: I know you drop down out of the second cloud

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Speaker 1: right there behind Gabriel and put your harp in the

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Speaker 1: closet for church today. That's all right. I need God's

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Speaker 1: word and I need God's to get God's word to

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Speaker 1: give me direction. I really do, because I don't want

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Speaker 1: to spend any of my time making decisions that I

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Speaker 1: will spend more time cleaning up because I didn't first

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Speaker 1: seek the Lord how many of you wasted some days

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Speaker 1: because you didn't get God's direction for your life. You

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Speaker 1: would have never had to delete their name out of

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Speaker 1: your phone if you would have prayed before you anyway.

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Speaker 1: So we understand this on one level that in order

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Speaker 1: to receive God's word, there are some of our own

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Speaker 1: thoughts that we have to forsake. God's word is free.

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Speaker 1: Aren't you glad you don't have to pay for this?

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Speaker 1: In fact, that's the context of Isaiah fifty five says

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Speaker 1: you have no money, come, but it will cost you

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Speaker 1: your thoughts. It will cost you your will, it will

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Speaker 1: cost you your opinions, it will cost you your preferences.

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Speaker 1: The word of God, somebody just put that in the check.

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Speaker 1: The word of God, the Word of God. I love

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Speaker 1: the Word of God. I don't know why. I've always

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Speaker 1: loved it since I was a little boy. I liked it.

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Speaker 1: It felt like, even if I couldn't understand what the

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Speaker 1: preacher was saying, it just felt different than everything else

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Speaker 1: everybody else was saying. Sometimes I slept through it, but

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Speaker 1: when I woke up, I still liked it. And now

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Speaker 1: I'm coming to the point of my life where I

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Speaker 1: value it and I realized that God's word in different

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Speaker 1: seasons of my life will come to me in different

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Speaker 1: ways through different people. And well, the Bible tells us

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Speaker 1: so much about the Bible. The best way to know

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Speaker 1: about the Bible is read what the Bible says about

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Speaker 1: the Bible. And yet at the same time, God's word

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Speaker 1: can be so plentiful and our lives can be so pitiful.

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Speaker 1: I read something. I normally don't believe anything I see

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Speaker 1: in newspapers, and you shouldn't either, But I read something

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Speaker 1: and this sounded accurate, so I'm gonna read it to you.

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Speaker 1: This was from the La Times last year in February,

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Speaker 1: and they were talking about a state that is so

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Speaker 1: prone to droughts. You know, those of you who live

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Speaker 1: in California, this may really hit home for you. But

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Speaker 1: in February of twenty nineteen, this writer Hannah Fry, She

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Speaker 1: said that California's wet winter has dumped you ready for

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Speaker 1: this and estimated eighteen trillion gallons of rain in February

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Speaker 1: alone in the state, eighteen trillion gallons in that month alone.

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Speaker 1: But listen to this. Much of it is simply going

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Speaker 1: down the drain. I'm about to preach the la times.

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Speaker 1: I'm just warning you. And then she goes on to

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Speaker 1: say she quotes this expert and his name is Mark Gold.

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Speaker 1: He said, when you look at the Los Angeles River

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Speaker 1: being between fifty and seventy percent full during a storm,

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Speaker 1: you realize that more water is running down the river

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Speaker 1: into the ocean than what Los Angeles would use in

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Speaker 1: close to a year. Did you hear that? And he

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Speaker 1: said that it's He said that it's a waste of

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Speaker 1: water supply, that so much water in a land that

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Speaker 1: is so concerned about drought is going down the drain.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know anything about environmentalism, but I've been

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Speaker 1: preaching God's word long enough to God's people to know

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Speaker 1: that some of you you have about eighteen trillion gallons

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Speaker 1: of notes in your sermon notebook. Eighteen gallon, eighteen trillion gallons.

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Speaker 1: Some of you, you know who you are. I know

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Speaker 1: some of you just turned off for the first time.

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Speaker 1: You weren't even trying to watch church today. It came

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Speaker 1: up in your feet and you didn't know what it was.

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Speaker 1: And here you are. But some of you, you've got

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Speaker 1: eighteen gallon trillion, eighteen gallon eight how many eighteens? I

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Speaker 1: can't say eighteen trillion gallons of truth? But what are

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Speaker 1: you doing with it? What am I doing with it?

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Speaker 1: I want a revelation. I want a revelation. God speak

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Speaker 1: to me today, show me today, and he has and

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Speaker 1: he will and he does. But so much of it,

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Speaker 1: this is what the article was saying, because the systems

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Speaker 1: can't handle because they don't know what to do yet

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Speaker 1: with the runoff. And they said in the article they're trying.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if they're doing it yet or not.

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Speaker 1: I didn't look at the update, but they said until

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Speaker 1: they can get the supply to the place where it

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Speaker 1: needs to be, there can be eighteen trillion gallons of

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Speaker 1: downpour and still a drought. There can be eighteen trillion

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Speaker 1: gallons of truth. Oh yeah, God's been trying to encourage

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Speaker 1: you all week and you're discouraged. Why Why Because it

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Speaker 1: went down the drain? And I wonder what God has

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Speaker 1: spoken over your life in this season or a previous

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Speaker 1: season that you've been letting it go down the drain.

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Speaker 1: You know, how does it just goes down the drain

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Speaker 1: into the Pacific pessimistic Pacific ocean, the pessic It said

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Speaker 1: it all that water everybody say, all that water, what

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Speaker 1: a waste, What a waste, All that water down into

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Speaker 1: the pessimistic emotion ocean Pacific ocean, pessimistic emotions. I just

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Speaker 1: thought some of you had been wasting the words that

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Speaker 1: God has spoken over your life. It's one thing if

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Speaker 1: you don't need to pay attention to people, people are

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Speaker 1: always talking. You can even not pay attention to me.

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Speaker 1: But when God speaks, that's how he supplies all of

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Speaker 1: your needs. And yet so much of it goes down

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Speaker 1: the drain. You do know that by the time that

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Speaker 1: you finish hearing a sermon, the devil will have arranged

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Speaker 1: three clever distractions to get you from digesting what he

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Speaker 1: gave you and to drain you of the deposit so

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Speaker 1: that you stay dehydrated in a state of drought. And

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Speaker 1: I just needed you to know that it's not a

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Speaker 1: shortage of God's word. You know what's weird. When I

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Speaker 1: looked at that, I thought, yeah, listen, I want to

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Speaker 1: teach you a little bit. I thought, well, if God's

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Speaker 1: word comes, you know, like how we'd like to do.

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Speaker 1: We just quote scripture over the top of struggles that

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Speaker 1: we don't really deal with, and then God's word. Remember,

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Speaker 1: it's like the rain, the rain. God's word is like

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Speaker 1: the rain. Oh. By the way, it also says in

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Speaker 1: scripture that God's word is like honey. It'll brighten your

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Speaker 1: eyes God's word. When these are all things the Bible

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Speaker 1: about the Bible, because the Bible interprets itself if you

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Speaker 1: let it. And God's word is not only like honey.

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Speaker 1: But one writer said, it's like milk. It's like milk.

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Speaker 1: It's like pure milk. And so the pure milk of

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Speaker 1: the Word of God can come in and nourish you

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Speaker 1: in the infant stages of your faith. But then he said,

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Speaker 1: at some point, you can't just be hanging out, you know,

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Speaker 1: drinking that milk forever. You need to grow up in

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Speaker 1: mature and get off the bottle. Lord, I thank you

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Speaker 1: that the mature people can receive solid food. So the

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Speaker 1: Bible is milk, the Bible is meat, the Bible is honey.

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Speaker 1: You know what the Bible is this the food category. Everybody,

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Speaker 1: Thank God. Everybody who loves to eat. Thank God that

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Speaker 1: the word of God. Jesus said, man does not live

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Speaker 1: on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the

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Speaker 1: mouth of God. But think about it, that does no

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Speaker 1: good without digestion, just like the word of God cannot

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Speaker 1: do what it was meant to do if you have

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Speaker 1: a jacked up thought process. So if you are a pessimist,

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Speaker 1: you will hear God's word always like it's for somebody else,

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Speaker 1: or you will only hear the parts of God's word

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Speaker 1: that reinforce your emotional biases. So if your heart is

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Speaker 1: rooted in suspicion, you will transfer that same suspicion to

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Speaker 1: the scriptures. And you will come to the scriptures thinking

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Speaker 1: that you have life, but you will not know him.

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Speaker 1: So we think like, oh, well, God can just put

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Speaker 1: a word, and I can put it up on a

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Speaker 1: post it note on my mirror. That's fine on a

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Speaker 1: post it note on your mirror, but until it gets

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Speaker 1: into your thought process, which the Bible calls meditation. And

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Speaker 1: I just wonder what you've been doing with all the

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Speaker 1: water God's been sending you as the rain falls from

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Speaker 1: the heaven, as the snow. The Bible calls itself a sword.

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Speaker 1: Did you know that that means you can fight with it.

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Speaker 1: It's not only a sword you can fight your enemy with,

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Speaker 1: but it's a sword that pierces you. The scripture says

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Speaker 1: it's a double edged sword. So that means you don't

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Speaker 1: go around attacking others with scripture versus that apply to

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Speaker 1: their situations, the things you happen not to struggle with.

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Speaker 1: But you know those Bible verses. It means that the

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Speaker 1: Bible is at its best when it is dividing the

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Speaker 1: bone and marrow and the soul and the spirit. That's

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Speaker 1: what the Word of God can do. And I guess

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Speaker 1: that's why I love it because it cuts through all

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Speaker 1: the clutter, and it cuts through all the crap, and

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Speaker 1: it cuts through all the cynicism, and it reminds me

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Speaker 1: who I am apart from the layers of what life

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Speaker 1: has tried to label me with. And I love the

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Speaker 1: Word of God because it's a sword. Take up the

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Speaker 1: sword of the spirit. In that this church, Holly used

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Speaker 1: to do sword drills where yeah, and they would quote

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Speaker 1: scripture at each other, competing for God's love and to

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Speaker 1: see who could quote the most scripture like Pharisees. I'm kidding.

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Speaker 1: It's a good thing. Get the Word of God in

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Speaker 1: your heart any way you can. But it also says

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Speaker 1: watch this, Not only is the Bible carbohydrates like honey,

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Speaker 1: how many thank God that the Bible is carved that

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Speaker 1: don't make you fat. And then that the Bible is

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Speaker 1: a weapon. Not only it's a weapon, but it's a

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Speaker 1: surgical instrument. But then I love this because I was

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Speaker 1: reading about it and said it was a lamp. Thy

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Speaker 1: word is a lamp unto my feet. Can we spend

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Speaker 1: a little bit of time talking about why we love

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Speaker 1: the word of God? Well, the Word of God says

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Speaker 1: that the Word of God is a lamp unto my feet,

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Speaker 1: not a floodlight, just enough to show me the next step.

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Speaker 1: I love the Word of God like that. God can't

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Speaker 1: be memorized, calculated, or predicted. He certainly will not be

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Speaker 1: confined to the GPS coordinates of where we thought he

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Speaker 1: would show up at this age in our life. But

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Speaker 1: the Word of God is a lamp to my feet.

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Speaker 1: Jeremiah said it's like a fire. He also said it's

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Speaker 1: like a hammer. You want another one. There's so many

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Speaker 1: of these I go all day. The Bible also calls itself,

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Speaker 1: and some of these we love, some of them we don't.

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Speaker 1: It said, it's like rain, as the rains fall from

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Speaker 1: the heaven. I don't know if you can hear it. It

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Speaker 1: It was raining so hard before I came to appreciate today.

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Speaker 1: I thought it might make a backdrop for my sermon,

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Speaker 1: and I would just say, yes, Lord. Some people didn't

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Speaker 1: even come today because of the rain. The real ones came. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's why I like the rain in church. I thought,

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Speaker 1: you'll be happy. I was ragging on you. But but

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Speaker 1: but I gotta be honest with you. And I told

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Speaker 1: you this already. I like honey, I like a sword

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Speaker 1: if I'm the one holding it. I like all of

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Speaker 1: those things that we just mentioned. But that rain. And

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Speaker 1: then did you notice this? It said? And snow. We

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Speaker 1: live in North Carolina. This church is all over the world,

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Speaker 1: but in this part of the world, if you ever

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Speaker 1: come here, I'm not talking about like a blizzard. I'm

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Speaker 1: not talking about a blanket. I'm talking about not enough

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Speaker 1: snow to make a minuture. Snowman, you can't even make

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Speaker 1: a figureine. You came from Toronto, aren't you from Toronto?

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00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 1: Do you think it's hilarious when it snow's here? See,

427
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 1: y'all know what to do with the snow. We don't.

428
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: So I thought, I like the Bible being honey, and

429
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: I like the Bible being a sword. So I can

430
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: her like the devil. You picked on the wrong one today, devil,

431
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: not today's satan. I like all of that stuff. But

432
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:53,159
Speaker 1: the snow is inconvenient, the rain is inconvenience. So I

433
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: wonder will some of the most effective things that God

434
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: speaks over my life be some of the most inconvenient things?

435
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 1: And I wonder do we associate God's word only with

436
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 1: comfort and not realize that most of the words that

437
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,000
Speaker 1: He speaks that will really bring forth in our life.

438
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:25,199
Speaker 1: That's why they say they're going to bring forth if

439
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,120
Speaker 1: you forsake your thoughts. They're really good words from God.

440
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:33,359
Speaker 1: They're really good sermons. You have a hard time saying amen,

441
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 1: you'd be saying that other Hebrew were that oh crap

442
00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 1: Hebrew word You ever read that in Hebrew? That's when

443
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: God says something that you know. Now, I gotta change now.

444
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: I can't feel sorry for myself. Now. I can't just

445
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: be bitter. Now, I can't just hold on to this offense. Now,

446
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: I just can't hold on to this grudge. Now, I

447
00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: can't just make this excuse. Now, I just can't blame

448
00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: these other people thinking about how God's word is so powerful,

449
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 1: and yet I often feel so powerless, and I don't

450
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: want to bring it to condemn you. But remember, just

451
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: like the eighteen trillion gallons of rain that fell for

452
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: a land that needed a God is always speaking to

453
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:20,159
Speaker 1: your life, not just right now. God is speaking to

454
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 1: you through the insurmountable challenges that cause you to rely

455
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 1: on His grace, much like Paul's thorn that caused him

456
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 1: to call out to God. God is speaking to you

457
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: through the people that stayed with you in your life.

458
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,119
Speaker 1: He's showing you that He's always had you, He's always

459
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: got you. He's speaking to you. Are you wasting the rain?

460
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: Because if your thought process is programmed by the world,

461
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: you can't receive the word. So that's why I stopped

462
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: praying Isaiah fifty five. I stopped praying about the words

463
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,040
Speaker 1: I was going to speak so much, and I just

464
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: start praying God open our hearts to hear it so

465
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:10,000
Speaker 1: we don't waste the rain. It's so powerful. You know

466
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: that every time God speaks, it comes with a purpose.

467
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 1: That's what Isaiah said. He said, not only is your

468
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: thought process the way that you receive God's word, but

469
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: it is the purpose of God that is wrapped in

470
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: the word. So when God speaks to you, it's not

471
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,440
Speaker 1: just so you can. I don't know how we do

472
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 1: it sometimes like it's a sedative, but it's meant to

473
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 1: be surgical, right. And when God speaks to you, this

474
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: is what he said, As the rain and the snow

475
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: come down from heaven, and do not return to it

476
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: without watering the earth. And I heard one time somebody

477
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: said what are your thoughts? And they were asking me

478
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts? And I heard him say what

479
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,480
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? I was like, ooh, that's deep, you know,

480
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 1: because the thoughts that you water grow. I heard it,

481
00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: water your thoughts, like they were telling me. You know,

482
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: I had a picture in my mind, like, oh, yeah,

483
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to water my thoughts. When you water the

484
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: wrong thoughts and the wrong suggestions, they take over everything

485
00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 1: in your life. And this is why God sent me

486
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: to preach it to you today. He said, you waste

487
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:22,160
Speaker 1: the rain when your emotions are overrun with fear and

488
00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: doubt and anxiety. And he said, when God sends his

489
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: word verse eleven, because I like the sword, I like

490
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 1: the honey, I like all of those things, and I

491
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: prefer them. But he said, like the rain and the

492
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:40,480
Speaker 1: snow that you sometimes don't plan for. In the Old Testament,

493
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: they connected the weather to God's favor, and they did that.

494
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: So when the Lord is speaking about this, he's not

495
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: just talking about it ruined your day at the beach.

496
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 1: He has in mind the farmer who needs the early

497
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: rain in October and November and then the latter rain

498
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 1: in the spring, one to Germany and one to make

499
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: the harvest possible to be reaped. Both are necessary. So

500
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 1: the Lord is saying through Isaiah, as the rain falls

501
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,360
Speaker 1: from the heaven and does what it was meant to do,

502
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: So is my word that goes forth out of my mouth,

503
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: It will not return to me empty, or one translation

504
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: says void. Okay, So God's voice, when it speaks into

505
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: your life, it doesn't return to him void. It accomplishes

506
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 1: what he desires and achieves the purpose for which he

507
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: sent it. And I read that to you because a

508
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: lot of times the reason we will think we're receiving

509
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: the word of God is not the real reason, but

510
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,479
Speaker 1: we don't know that until later. So whatever God has

511
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: spoken over your life, and I don't mean like some

512
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: people say when I say that, they just have in

513
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 1: mind this very like this very Pentecostal version of God

514
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: speaking over your life and all of that. No, I

515
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 1: just mean the things that God has said about you

516
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 1: that are true, who you are, your identity, and him

517
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: as his child. The purpose is that He has for you.

518
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: I want you to know that when God sends a word,

519
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: he sends it for a purpose. I was talking to

520
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 1: somebody the other day, and I know you know this

521
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: about me, so please don't laugh when I say it

522
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: or hurt my feelings. But I have a tendency to ramble. Well,

523
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 1: I was rambling to this person the other day and

524
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: they looked so bored and I could feel it. And

525
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 1: do you ever just keep talking and you won't shut up,

526
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: and you know you should shut up, but you can't

527
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 1: shut up, and it's like where's my shut up button?

528
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: And then you can't find it. And I was telling

529
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: them all this stuff and it was really tm I too.

530
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,640
Speaker 1: I was telling him all about my past and when

531
00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 1: I was eight and all this stuff, and I didn't

532
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 1: even know him that well. I was just going on

533
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 1: and on and I said, I don't know why I'm

534
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:46,160
Speaker 1: even telling you all this, and they looked back at me,

535
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: like I don't either, But you know what. God never

536
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 1: says that. God never speaks to you and says it.

537
00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: I don't know why I'm telling you this. He's too

538
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: intentional to do that. He doesn't waste his word. As

539
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: the rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth,

540
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: God said, every word I speak now, get this, every vowel,

541
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: every consonant, every single jot, and every tittle. Look it up.

542
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,239
Speaker 1: That's the biblical language. God said, I will give you

543
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 1: eighteen trillion jockson tittles, and every one of them has

544
00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: a reason. Every one of them has an assignment. Now

545
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 1: I feel like preaching, even when God rambles its revelation,

546
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 1: even when God says them, and this happens, sometimes you're

547
00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: just like, oh, I don't know. Listen. When my phone

548
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:59,320
Speaker 1: went off with an emergency warning today, I took it

549
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:02,160
Speaker 1: like God might not have been God, but God used

550
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: even that. All things, all things, every word, all the rain,

551
00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 1: every drop, every drop. Listen to this, Listen to this,

552
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,040
Speaker 1: Lord David, to me like this. Every drop has a destiny.

553
00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 1: Every drop has a destiny. God did not send everything

554
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:27,400
Speaker 1: he sent into your life to leave you. Now have

555
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: you been wasting the rain? Have you been wasting the rain?

556
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: Have you been taking for granted what God has put

557
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: in your life. I do it all the time because

558
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: I think it's too accessible, and I think that makes

559
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 1: me less grateful. I think it's sometimes bad for me

560
00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 1: that there's so many different things I can listen to,

561
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,840
Speaker 1: too many different words to choose from. I got I

562
00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: got faith fatigue from too many options. And yet when

563
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 1: God was showing it to me that his word comes

564
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 1: with the purpose, I was like, well, yeah, of course

565
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,120
Speaker 1: it does. The destiny of the seed is depending on

566
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 1: the rain, and within that is everything we need to

567
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,279
Speaker 1: know about life, that there is a part of it

568
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:22,840
Speaker 1: that we can't control and a part of it that

569
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,279
Speaker 1: we can control. And in that marriage, listen everything that

570
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:33,400
Speaker 1: I told you. The Word of God is honey, milk, meat, bread,

571
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:37,000
Speaker 1: all of it. Sword One writer said that the word

572
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 1: of God is like a mirror. Everything I just listed

573
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:46,839
Speaker 1: does no good without a response. Everything I just listened

574
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,360
Speaker 1: to go through them. Honey doesn't feed you if you

575
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: don't eat it. Milk doesn't feed you if you don't

576
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 1: drink it. A mirror doesn't help you if you don't

577
00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 1: go back and change clothes for God's sake, brush your teeth,

578
00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,759
Speaker 1: and redo the thing that you need to do. That's

579
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,200
Speaker 1: what James said. He said, the perfect law that gets

580
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:05,560
Speaker 1: freedom is like a mirror and you look at it

581
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 1: and just walk away and do nothing with it. The

582
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:12,040
Speaker 1: Word of God, it's it is, it is, It is relational,

583
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:16,040
Speaker 1: and it is dependent on your response how powerful it

584
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 1: becomes in your life. This explains why some people will

585
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 1: sit through a sermon and look at their watch because

586
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 1: to them the word isn't worth very much. And other

587
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 1: people they'll cry through the whole freaking thing. Somebody was

588
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: on YouTube this week making fun of some of y'all.

589
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 1: They said, the crowd so excited and there it sounds fake,

590
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 1: sounds like sitcom. I don't know, it's not real, because

591
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 1: you know there's a few people in there helping me preach.

592
00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,000
Speaker 1: But I wish, I wish you could tell them what

593
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,279
Speaker 1: the Word of God means to you and how much

594
00:36:53,280 --> 00:37:01,439
Speaker 1: you need it. It is my necessary breath. So when

595
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: they say amen, when they shout, they're not shouting me.

596
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:10,280
Speaker 1: They're not shouting about a man. They're not shouting about

597
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 1: an opinion. They're not shouting about a rhyme or a

598
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:19,280
Speaker 1: hickory vickery dark. They're shouting because when that rain hits

599
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 1: your heart. It's been real dry this week, and I've

600
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,400
Speaker 1: been down, and I've been discouraged, and I've been in

601
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 1: the dark. So excuse me while I praise Him, just

602
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: for ten seconds, I gotta say amen, I gotta lift

603
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 1: my hands. I gotta clock my hands like the trees

604
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: of the field. When I receive the rain of the

605
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: revelation of God. Can't sit there with my arms crossed.

606
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,720
Speaker 1: Sometimes God will speak to you and you feel something

607
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: inside of you, something rising up from the inside, like

608
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 1: the belly of the earth produces the seed and the

609
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: form of a flower. Here comes the word producing in

610
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:05,920
Speaker 1: your Life's powerful because as personal, it's powerful because as personal,

611
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: God has spoken some things to you. So I'm sorry

612
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 1: for praising him. But the next time somebody criticizes you

613
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 1: for it, look back at him in your best Millie

614
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: Vanillion say, don't blame me. Blame it on the Blame

615
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:25,440
Speaker 1: it on the rain, Blame it on the word of God,

616
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 1: Blame it on the presence of God. I can't help

617
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 1: but get happy. Let me take this watch off so

618
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: I can clap right. I can't help but thank God

619
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:42,399
Speaker 1: for everything that he saw me through this week. And

620
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 1: when God sends a word, it serves a purpose. It

621
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:51,360
Speaker 1: serves a purpose because you serve a purpose. Because you

622
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: are assigned by God and anointed by God, and I'm

623
00:38:56,080 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 1: prophesying over your life, it will not reached. Boy, God

624
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:10,280
Speaker 1: doesn't waste words. God doesn't waste rain. He's got something

625
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 1: in the earth that he desires to bring forth, and

626
00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:16,279
Speaker 1: that's why he sent this word into your life. That's

627
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:20,359
Speaker 1: why you're watching. That's why you're watching so you can

628
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: be watered, so what's inside of you can be reviewed.

629
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:33,279
Speaker 1: So I found out rain brings revelation, the reign of

630
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:38,040
Speaker 1: God's word. It doesn't make something new appear, It shows

631
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 1: what was already there. That's why God's word comes alive

632
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,320
Speaker 1: in me. That's why I need to spend a little

633
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: time with God every day. So what's inside of me,

634
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,279
Speaker 1: not what's around me, can control me and guide me

635
00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:57,439
Speaker 1: and live in me, so I can forsake my thought

636
00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,400
Speaker 1: and receive his Now, God has been speaking to you,

637
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: but some of us can't receive it because we are

638
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: so full of insecurity. One of my good friends was

639
00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:09,960
Speaker 1: encouraging me the other day and I noticed on the phone.

640
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,160
Speaker 1: All I did the whole time was interruptive and try

641
00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: to change the subject. And this is somebody who's insight

642
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,480
Speaker 1: I greatly value. And they were telling me how far

643
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 1: I've come, how much He's going on and on and

644
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:26,879
Speaker 1: on and on, and I'm like, yeah, what about those patriots.

645
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: I don't even like the patriots anything to talk about.

646
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: How's Cam doing over there? Said, I'm anything I can.

647
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: I can't even take a compliment. I can't even receive

648
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:42,520
Speaker 1: encouragement because see, I'm too full of what I think

649
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:47,359
Speaker 1: I know about me and my limitation. So then watch this.

650
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,680
Speaker 1: This is what some of us have been doing. We

651
00:40:49,760 --> 00:40:53,760
Speaker 1: start limiting our opportunities to the level of our insecurities.

652
00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 1: And all week, I promise you, God has been speaking

653
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:02,360
Speaker 1: to me and to you, and he's been doing it

654
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,280
Speaker 1: through some people, but you've cut it off. You wasted

655
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 1: the rain. You wasted the rain. The only way that

656
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:15,640
Speaker 1: the rain doesn't work is that there's nothing in the

657
00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 1: ground to come forward, because the rain reveals what was

658
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: already there. God, have you been wasting the rain? God

659
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,480
Speaker 1: has been trying to water his thoughts in your life.

660
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,399
Speaker 1: I mean, that's why this year has been so weird, right,

661
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,479
Speaker 1: because it's been rainy, rainy, real rainy, not like rainy

662
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:45,720
Speaker 1: like Isaiah fifty five, rainy, rainy like Matthew chapter seven, rainy.

663
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:48,920
Speaker 1: Do you know the difference? All right, y'all need to

664
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: see this. Be seated, Be seated. Have you been wasting

665
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,359
Speaker 1: the rain? Because look at this in Matthew seven. I

666
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,919
Speaker 1: was connecting it in my heart because the Lord told

667
00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 1: me to talk to you about wasted rain. And then

668
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:08,280
Speaker 1: I saw the context in which Jesus said it. Isaiah

669
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: said that the rain came down like the word from

670
00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 1: God's mouth. What he speaks, his revelation, the truth of

671
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,399
Speaker 1: who he is, revealed fully in Jesus Christ, the word

672
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 1: in Karn, the word mad flesh. When that comes, it's

673
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,120
Speaker 1: like rain that brings forth what was already there. And

674
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:23,600
Speaker 1: that's how it works in our life. And it doesn't

675
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:25,920
Speaker 1: return void, no matter what the enemy tries to do,

676
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 1: no matter what happens in our life. But then I

677
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 1: read where Jesus said kind of something like Isaiah, but

678
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: it was a little different. I'm going to show you this.

679
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:37,480
Speaker 1: In Matthew seven, Jesus is closing a sermon we call

680
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:40,080
Speaker 1: the Sermon on the Mountain, and he's talking about the

681
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,960
Speaker 1: way God's kingdom works versus the way that the empires

682
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 1: of men work. And he's contrasting that. And he closes

683
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:48,640
Speaker 1: with a picture. And I want to give you this

684
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 1: picture and I want you to meditate on it today.

685
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 1: This word is for you. If you're receiving it right now,

686
00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 1: say this for me, This for me, This is for me,

687
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,880
Speaker 1: because listen, I know God's word is powerful. That's not

688
00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:02,520
Speaker 1: the question. Is it personal. Now Here's what it comes

689
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:07,200
Speaker 1: down to, and it's right here in the text. Jesus said, Therefore,

690
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 1: everyone who hears these words of mine, now you don't

691
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,799
Speaker 1: have any room for the words of Jesus if you

692
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:24,040
Speaker 1: are so full of the words of the world. That

693
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:26,319
Speaker 1: was a real fancy way of saying, turn off your

694
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:30,160
Speaker 1: phone every once in a while and hear the voice

695
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,120
Speaker 1: that speaks from within, so you don't waste the rain.

696
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,400
Speaker 1: So you don't waste the rain, he said, everyone who

697
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: hears these words of mine and puts them in to practice.

698
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:43,719
Speaker 1: The honey's no good if you don't need it. The

699
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:45,360
Speaker 1: lamp does no good if you don't walk by the

700
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,040
Speaker 1: light that it gives. The mirror does nothing but show

701
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,760
Speaker 1: you a reflection of what's there. It doesn't do the changing.

702
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,320
Speaker 1: It just gives you the opportunity for the change. Right,

703
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,319
Speaker 1: So the revelation requires a response. But that's what he said.

704
00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,200
Speaker 1: He said that everyone who hears these words of mine

705
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:01,960
Speaker 1: and puts them in to practice is like a wise

706
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: man who built his house on the rock. Underline rock

707
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,040
Speaker 1: in your Bible, put rock in the chat. Say rock

708
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:17,160
Speaker 1: to your neighbor. Rock. The rain came down. That's exactly

709
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 1: what happened in Isaiah fifty five. Right, the rain came down,

710
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:28,959
Speaker 1: God said, like the rain comes down from heaven. Jesus said,

711
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: the rain came down. The same thing happened, but the

712
00:44:33,080 --> 00:44:36,800
Speaker 1: context is a little different. See in Isaiah fifty five,

713
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:40,000
Speaker 1: he's talking about that prophet is talking about the rain

714
00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 1: that comes from God's mouth as his word or the truth.

715
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,359
Speaker 1: But Jesus is using a picture. He said the rain

716
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:52,160
Speaker 1: came down. He's talking about not the truth but the trials,

717
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:58,799
Speaker 1: and both are represented by rain. This is like honey

718
00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:01,399
Speaker 1: from the honeycomb. I'm telling you this is more worth

719
00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 1: than gold if you could get this. So the rain came.

720
00:45:04,080 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 1: Everybody say the rain came, And how many can say

721
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 1: the rain came to your life? This year. Yeah, how

722
00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 1: many can say the rain came inconvenience uncertainty? Now listen, listen.

723
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:18,880
Speaker 1: I know it's weird. Why are you clapping about that?

724
00:45:20,000 --> 00:45:26,319
Speaker 1: Because the same rain, the same rain that Jesus is

725
00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: talking about. Here, Isaiah says, the word the truth is

726
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,760
Speaker 1: like rain. But then Jesus says that the rain comes,

727
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,080
Speaker 1: You're gonna love this. And the streams rose, and the

728
00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:41,080
Speaker 1: winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did

729
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 1: not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. Now,

730
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 1: now listen to this. This rain represents the trials of

731
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:53,480
Speaker 1: your life. You can plug in a divorce, you can

732
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:56,200
Speaker 1: plug in an eating disorder, you can plug in a

733
00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:59,440
Speaker 1: wayward daughter who's not even returning your calls. You can

734
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:03,040
Speaker 1: plug in a emotional state that you yourself cannot untangle

735
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:06,240
Speaker 1: and you've been to three therapists and nobody can straighten

736
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,080
Speaker 1: you out. That's the rain. But God said the same

737
00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:14,360
Speaker 1: way that the rain that comes from his mouth reveals

738
00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:17,920
Speaker 1: what was in the dirt to begin with. The rain

739
00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 1: that comes through the trials of your life reveals what

740
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: was beneath the surface the whole time. So what I'm

741
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 1: really trying to say is rain brings revelation. Don't waste it.

742
00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:41,200
Speaker 1: Don't waste it. Don't waste it. See the same rain

743
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,719
Speaker 1: that we will shout about, Oh God, the rain of

744
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,719
Speaker 1: your word. And she said, uh huh, there's another rain

745
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:52,759
Speaker 1: that comes, and it is the rain that comes to

746
00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 1: test whether what you heard is really in your heart.

747
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:03,880
Speaker 1: I really don't want to stop preaching. Can y'all take

748
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,080
Speaker 1: a little bit more, just a little bit more, Just

749
00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:08,399
Speaker 1: a little bit more honey, just a little bit more bread,

750
00:47:08,640 --> 00:47:10,279
Speaker 1: Just a little bit more, just a little bit more.

751
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:13,920
Speaker 1: Somebody's saying the chat just a little bit more. I

752
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: promise you the way God showed this to me, he said,

753
00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: not only did I give you my words so that

754
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:22,480
Speaker 1: you could be a survivor of every storm that comes

755
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: in your life listen to this, but so that you

756
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:36,560
Speaker 1: could be a steward, a steward of every storm, so

757
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 1: that you don't waste the rain. Everyone who hears what

758
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,800
Speaker 1: God spoke and holds to it and builds by it

759
00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,879
Speaker 1: and won't let it go, I mean, just won't let

760
00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: it drain into the Pacific emotion, the pessimistic emotion, the

761
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:56,240
Speaker 1: emotion of oceans that waste, the drain pipe, that drain

762
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:59,919
Speaker 1: of discouragement, that drain of depression, that drain of the spirit.

763
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,160
Speaker 1: It's all been draining out. You can't even hold a

764
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:08,480
Speaker 1: word from God for five minutes, draining eighteen trillion gallons

765
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: of truth. God sin in Jesus Christ, his son, the

766
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:17,839
Speaker 1: word made flesh going down to drain. But the rain

767
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:22,719
Speaker 1: came to reveal what your house was really built on.

768
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 1: When you hit a storm, become a student, because the

769
00:48:33,160 --> 00:48:38,080
Speaker 1: rain will always bring your revelation. Isn't that crazy? Some

770
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:42,880
Speaker 1: things we only learn in storms, we really do. Some

771
00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:46,520
Speaker 1: things we only learn by sitting with that negative thing

772
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,600
Speaker 1: and not running from it. In their temptation to always

773
00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:54,120
Speaker 1: run from the rain, lenmpop this pill and I won't

774
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:55,359
Speaker 1: have to feel that. Then I won't have to deal

775
00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:58,960
Speaker 1: with what caused it. Let me just go over here

776
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,319
Speaker 1: to this Yeah yeah, ok, ok oh, there went. I'm

777
00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:06,359
Speaker 1: running from the emotion that God is trying to use

778
00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 1: to reveal what my life is really built on. Lord,

779
00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:13,360
Speaker 1: help me say it as the rain falls from the heaven,

780
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:16,960
Speaker 1: as the rank. The rain came to show you what

781
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 1: your house was built on. And it's been a rainy year.

782
00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,200
Speaker 1: I don't mean because you've heard a lot of sermons.

783
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:26,080
Speaker 1: I mean, because you've been through a lot of storms.

784
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 1: Are you gonna waste the rain? You gonna waste it?

785
00:49:33,160 --> 00:49:34,759
Speaker 1: Look what happened to the other men, Just to show

786
00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,560
Speaker 1: you how God's word is so powerful it can hold

787
00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:40,160
Speaker 1: your life together. And there's no really reason why your

788
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:42,719
Speaker 1: life should be together. How many of you have a

789
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:46,720
Speaker 1: piece you can't explain right now in your life. Yeah, Well,

790
00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:50,799
Speaker 1: when people ask you how are you so strong? Just

791
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,680
Speaker 1: blame it on the rain. I might retitle this sermon.

792
00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:56,759
Speaker 1: I might put Robin fab up there and put them

793
00:49:56,760 --> 00:50:00,719
Speaker 1: on the thing, and God said, are you real? Look

794
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 1: at this? Are you really gonna let this storm? That

795
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:08,359
Speaker 1: only serve the purpose to show you that from the

796
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:12,799
Speaker 1: foundation of the earth, from the foundation of the earth,

797
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 1: I was there holding your life, and I am what

798
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:20,000
Speaker 1: your life is built on. Because the same rain that

799
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:23,080
Speaker 1: showed the first man how strong this foundation was. Look

800
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:25,279
Speaker 1: what happened to the other man? Give me verse twenty six.

801
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:29,600
Speaker 1: But everyone who hears these words of mine and does

802
00:50:29,640 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 1: not put them into practice, everybody who sees the honey

803
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:38,120
Speaker 1: but is not strengthened by it. Everybody who smells the

804
00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:42,000
Speaker 1: bread but does not digest it. Everybody who fills sermon

805
00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 1: notebooks with cute sounding cliches, but never takes a moment

806
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:50,759
Speaker 1: just to walk it out in faith. Everyone who comes

807
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:57,720
Speaker 1: to church twenty years and still cherishes racism in their heart.

808
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,040
Speaker 1: Everyone who hears these words of mine men does not

809
00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:06,560
Speaker 1: put them into practice. Well, that's like a foolish man.

810
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:11,600
Speaker 1: That's like a foolish man who has all this information

811
00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:17,319
Speaker 1: no revelation. He built this house on the sand, and

812
00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: look what happened in verse twenty seven. The rain came,

813
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds will

814
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 1: and beat against that house, and it fell with a

815
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:33,520
Speaker 1: great crash. The rain came to show you that you

816
00:51:33,560 --> 00:51:38,200
Speaker 1: were building on the wrong foundation. Now, let me ask

817
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,400
Speaker 1: you that if something in your life is falling apart

818
00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 1: this year, week, this month, and God allowed a storm

819
00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:47,840
Speaker 1: in your life, he may not have sentate, but he

820
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:53,359
Speaker 1: allowed it and everything fell apart, are you really going

821
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:56,680
Speaker 1: to go back now and build on the same faulty

822
00:51:56,760 --> 00:52:02,040
Speaker 1: foundation that caused it to crash the first time? Are

823
00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:05,440
Speaker 1: you gonna waste the rain? Are you gonna get wisdom

824
00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:08,719
Speaker 1: from it? He said? The wise man went by. I said,

825
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:14,800
Speaker 1: I'm building you. Remember how the big, bad devil huffed

826
00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:20,160
Speaker 1: and puffed. You remember the story are you Gonna Waste

827
00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:26,440
Speaker 1: the Rain? One of my favorite Bible characters that illustrates

828
00:52:26,480 --> 00:52:32,799
Speaker 1: this is called Elijah the tish Bike from Tishbe, because

829
00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:40,840
Speaker 1: that's where tish bikes come from. My man spoke a

830
00:52:40,880 --> 00:52:43,839
Speaker 1: word that resulted in a three year drought. It had

831
00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:45,920
Speaker 1: already been dry six months. He said to Ahab, it's

832
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:50,080
Speaker 1: not going to rain. Ahab was the king who reigned R.

833
00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:54,040
Speaker 1: E I g N reigned, who has so much potential.

834
00:52:55,239 --> 00:52:59,560
Speaker 1: He was powerful. His military prowess was like Omri. His

835
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:02,040
Speaker 1: dad learned all of that from him, so he could

836
00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:04,719
Speaker 1: do what he needed to do. The Assyrians didn't. By

837
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:08,040
Speaker 1: the time the Assyrians were done with this king, this

838
00:53:08,120 --> 00:53:12,000
Speaker 1: King Ahab, they were putting his name on their monuments

839
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,399
Speaker 1: instead of attacking him. That's how powerful he was. That's

840
00:53:15,440 --> 00:53:18,640
Speaker 1: how powerful he was. He was so powerful his government

841
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 1: was always stable. But yet the Bible says that he

842
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 1: took a wife who worshiped a different god. And this

843
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:30,239
Speaker 1: is not a sermon about marriage. Don't worry about that,

844
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,919
Speaker 1: Just worry about the times where you've allowed your heart

845
00:53:35,120 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: to worship the wrong thing. That's what he did and

846
00:53:40,320 --> 00:53:43,600
Speaker 1: the whole nation started getting comfortable with Bail. Worshiped Bail

847
00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:47,399
Speaker 1: was the rain God. Bail was the Canaanite rain God.

848
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:49,680
Speaker 1: They thought he controlled the weather. He didn't. They found

849
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,439
Speaker 1: out real quick because when Elijah spoke the word of God.

850
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:55,759
Speaker 1: Somebody say the word of God, the word of God.

851
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:58,560
Speaker 1: When he spoke the word of God, the water stopped coming.

852
00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:02,759
Speaker 1: God will allow in certain seasons of your life for

853
00:54:02,840 --> 00:54:06,160
Speaker 1: things to be taken away so that you build back

854
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:10,680
Speaker 1: on the rock. Listen, listen. See if this hiss you,

855
00:54:11,360 --> 00:54:14,239
Speaker 1: If this hits you, write it down. The rain revealed

856
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 1: the rock. The rain came to reveal the rock. To

857
00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:21,680
Speaker 1: know that my life needs to be built on something solid,

858
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:25,000
Speaker 1: on something stable. God sent the rain so that I

859
00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:29,880
Speaker 1: wouldn't live in an unstable place. Yeah, that's why he

860
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:32,320
Speaker 1: allowed the rain to come, and that's why he allowed

861
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,120
Speaker 1: the rain to stop. Because he is God like that.

862
00:54:35,480 --> 00:54:40,279
Speaker 1: He is yahweh. That's what Elijah means. Eliyahu, My God

863
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:45,560
Speaker 1: is yahweh Oh. Elijah had faith because God knew how

864
00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:49,120
Speaker 1: to take care of him during the drought. Elijah never

865
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:52,800
Speaker 1: starved during the famine. Elijah never went hungry. He always

866
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 1: had something. God sent him to an exact coordinate where

867
00:54:56,239 --> 00:54:58,360
Speaker 1: he could be fed through the whole three years. And

868
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:00,799
Speaker 1: one day God said to a life, it's time now

869
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,880
Speaker 1: you go back to Ahab and tell him to stop

870
00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:10,799
Speaker 1: wasting his rain. Ri Ei g An, stop putting the

871
00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:17,080
Speaker 1: wrong person on the throne. You tell you tell my

872
00:55:17,200 --> 00:55:20,760
Speaker 1: child stop letting worry. Sit on the throne in your heart.

873
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:24,600
Speaker 1: You tell my child stop letting what this cynical, sick

874
00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:27,080
Speaker 1: world did. Y'all hear me last week? You stop letting

875
00:55:27,120 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 1: those words have the throne in your heart. And he

876
00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:34,120
Speaker 1: went up there on Mount Carmel, Elijah did and he

877
00:55:34,239 --> 00:55:38,080
Speaker 1: called down fire from heaven and he killed all the

878
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:41,320
Speaker 1: false prophets. And I'm really rushing through this part. And

879
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:43,239
Speaker 1: it's real good, and you can read it on your own.

880
00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:45,560
Speaker 1: You don't have to have the milk. You can chew

881
00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:47,560
Speaker 1: this for yourself during the week. It might be a

882
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:54,480
Speaker 1: good little Bible study. Bible summarizes it in James chapter five.

883
00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:58,120
Speaker 1: This is kind of a headline on it, where in

884
00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:01,680
Speaker 1: verse seventeen he says that Elijah was a human being

885
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:08,000
Speaker 1: even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would

886
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:12,640
Speaker 1: not rain, and it did not rain on the land

887
00:56:12,640 --> 00:56:18,680
Speaker 1: for three and a half years. James's being nice to

888
00:56:18,719 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 1: Elijah here, because next he tells us again, he prayed,

889
00:56:23,640 --> 00:56:30,279
Speaker 1: and the heavens rain. The heavens gave what heaven's gave rain,

890
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 1: and the earth produced its crops. And then he stops

891
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:39,839
Speaker 1: talking about Elijah. He said, he prayed and it didn't rain.

892
00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:45,200
Speaker 1: He prayed again, it did rain. But what he neglects

893
00:56:45,239 --> 00:56:47,520
Speaker 1: to tell you, for whatever reason, that he only records

894
00:56:47,560 --> 00:56:52,279
Speaker 1: this particular instance, is that Elijah prayed for rain and

895
00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:55,640
Speaker 1: the rain came, just like he prayed for the rain

896
00:56:55,719 --> 00:56:59,359
Speaker 1: to stop and the rain stopped, But then he ran

897
00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:06,480
Speaker 1: when the rain came. It's the strangest thing After God

898
00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:11,080
Speaker 1: showed who he really was to the nation, and Ahab's

899
00:57:11,120 --> 00:57:14,960
Speaker 1: wife Jezebel found out about it, she sent a word

900
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:18,400
Speaker 1: to Elijah. Now I'm asking you a question. If you

901
00:57:18,520 --> 00:57:22,760
Speaker 1: know the word that's powerful enough to control the weather,

902
00:57:24,360 --> 00:57:28,200
Speaker 1: why would you run from the words that came from

903
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 1: one human being? Isn't that amazing? What can make you

904
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:35,800
Speaker 1: back down? And that amazing? What can get you off?

905
00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:38,560
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? What one little thought can keep you

906
00:57:38,600 --> 00:57:41,080
Speaker 1: from trusting the God? Isn't it amazing? How we waste

907
00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:47,000
Speaker 1: the rain. Ahab wasted his rain r e I g

908
00:57:47,400 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 1: n because of the words that Jezebel spoke. Elijah almost

909
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:56,800
Speaker 1: wasted his rain our I A I in you'll pray

910
00:57:56,880 --> 00:57:59,760
Speaker 1: for me? I could spell it because of the words

911
00:57:59,760 --> 00:58:06,360
Speaker 1: that can from the same woman's mouth. What words have

912
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:11,240
Speaker 1: been sent into your soul to get you running from

913
00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:16,840
Speaker 1: the very thing that you prayed for? And the Lord

914
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:20,480
Speaker 1: sent me here for you. Do you know how personal

915
00:58:20,520 --> 00:58:25,800
Speaker 1: his word is? He sent me here for you to

916
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:29,880
Speaker 1: tell you to stop running from what you prayed for.

917
00:58:33,680 --> 00:58:37,560
Speaker 1: He fled forty days away from the place where God

918
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:40,200
Speaker 1: had sent the rain. Remember, this rain is what they

919
00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:44,240
Speaker 1: had waited for. This rain represented revival. He was needed

920
00:58:44,440 --> 00:58:46,880
Speaker 1: in this space. He was needed to proclaim the word

921
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:48,800
Speaker 1: of the Lord to bring the nation back to God.

922
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:51,800
Speaker 1: And the moment that the sky grew black with clouds,

923
00:58:52,120 --> 00:58:54,280
Speaker 1: he ran because of the words that were in the

924
00:58:54,320 --> 00:58:58,240
Speaker 1: mouth of his enemy. I wish he had remembered he

925
00:58:58,320 --> 00:59:02,840
Speaker 1: had a bigger sword. I wish we had remembered that

926
00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:06,000
Speaker 1: no weapon that has formed against you has the power

927
00:59:06,040 --> 00:59:08,840
Speaker 1: to withstand you. If the word of the Lord is

928
00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:13,600
Speaker 1: with you. Let every man, let every insecurity, Let every

929
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:18,680
Speaker 1: disappointment be a liar. I'm not running from what I

930
00:59:18,760 --> 00:59:24,000
Speaker 1: prayed for. I got so scared when churches started closing.

931
00:59:24,240 --> 00:59:26,880
Speaker 1: I didn't know what to do, but I decided, I'm

932
00:59:26,920 --> 00:59:29,960
Speaker 1: not running from the place where God put me for

933
00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 1: such a time as this. I'm not gonna waste what

934
00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:43,440
Speaker 1: God gave me. You pray too hard for this. You

935
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:47,920
Speaker 1: survived too much to not steward this storm. And by

936
00:59:47,960 --> 00:59:49,840
Speaker 1: the way, for every one of you who's been through

937
00:59:49,880 --> 00:59:53,280
Speaker 1: a real storm lately, and the devil's been throwing rain

938
00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:56,280
Speaker 1: at you left and right, and bad reports left and right,

939
00:59:56,400 --> 00:59:59,240
Speaker 1: and discouragement left and right, tell him he wasted his

940
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:03,800
Speaker 1: rain because the storm all the storm did. He wasted

941
01:00:03,880 --> 01:00:07,840
Speaker 1: his weapons, because all he did he showed me my rock.

942
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:18,640
Speaker 1: And I'm still standing. So stand up, Stand up? Are

943
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:24,520
Speaker 1: you wasting your rain? Are you wasting Some of you

944
01:00:24,560 --> 01:00:26,480
Speaker 1: will take this word and do something with it. Some

945
01:00:26,520 --> 01:00:28,120
Speaker 1: of you will take it and do nothing with it.

946
01:00:28,200 --> 01:00:30,200
Speaker 1: And what you do with it is everything about what

947
01:00:30,280 --> 01:00:39,000
Speaker 1: you get from it. The rain came one more time.

948
01:00:39,040 --> 01:00:40,560
Speaker 1: We did it earlier, but I want you to just

949
01:00:40,600 --> 01:00:44,160
Speaker 1: lift your palms again. Because there was a notice on

950
01:00:44,200 --> 01:00:46,200
Speaker 1: my phone that said there was a flash flood warning

951
01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:50,040
Speaker 1: in this area. And I believe that's coming to your

952
01:00:50,040 --> 01:00:55,360
Speaker 1: house right now in the best way. We wrote a

953
01:00:55,360 --> 01:00:59,520
Speaker 1: song a few years ago, said, hear the word roaring

954
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:06,080
Speaker 1: is stuff under with the new future to tell for

955
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:12,320
Speaker 1: the dry season is over. There is a cloud beginning

956
01:01:12,440 --> 01:01:17,960
Speaker 1: to swell to the skies, heavy with blessings. Come on,

957
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:23,480
Speaker 1: lift your hands, lift your eyes, offer your heart. Jesus Christ,

958
01:01:24,240 --> 01:01:26,800
Speaker 1: open the heavens. How many no, he rains, he rains,

959
01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:29,840
Speaker 1: he rains, he rains, he rains, he rains, he rains,

960
01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:34,000
Speaker 1: he rains, he rains, he rains. Ahef doesn't rain. Jesus rains.

961
01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:39,440
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, open the heavens. And now we receive the

962
01:01:39,560 --> 01:01:42,160
Speaker 1: spirit of God. Stay right there a minute. God said,

963
01:01:42,160 --> 01:01:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm trying to release it. You won't receive it. I'm

964
01:01:46,000 --> 01:01:47,680
Speaker 1: trying to love you. I'm trying to affirm you. I'm

965
01:01:47,680 --> 01:01:49,240
Speaker 1: trying to direct you. I'm trying to speak to you.

966
01:01:49,280 --> 01:01:56,440
Speaker 1: I'm trying to call you deeper. Every seed buried in sorrow,

967
01:01:57,840 --> 01:02:01,439
Speaker 1: you will call forth. And it's that's what the rain

968
01:02:01,600 --> 01:02:04,400
Speaker 1: is for, to show you what was there the whole time.

969
01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:11,080
Speaker 1: It's still there. The seed's buried, but it's still there,

970
01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 1: just needs water, just needs worship, just needs time. They

971
01:02:17,480 --> 01:02:20,440
Speaker 1: they waited upon the Lord shall renew their strength is

972
01:02:20,520 --> 01:02:26,440
Speaker 1: still there. It's not gone. It's growing. It's growing. It's growing,

973
01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:31,760
Speaker 1: it's growing. Ah. Here the sound, the abundance of rain,

974
01:02:32,120 --> 01:02:39,440
Speaker 1: the abundance of rain. You are lord, Lord of the heartbreak,

975
01:02:42,240 --> 01:02:50,160
Speaker 1: lord of the hardship, Lord of the storm. You tell

976
01:02:50,200 --> 01:02:55,960
Speaker 1: it when to stop. You are lord, Lord of the seed,

977
01:02:57,320 --> 01:03:03,600
Speaker 1: Lord of the harvest, calling our home now to rights.

978
01:03:05,400 --> 01:03:07,360
Speaker 1: I want you to get ready, because it's raining right now.

979
01:03:07,400 --> 01:03:10,240
Speaker 1: It's raining. It's raining. It's raining. It's raining, it's raining,

980
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:12,280
Speaker 1: it's raining. It's rain, and it's rain, and it's raining.

981
01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:15,040
Speaker 1: It's raining. It's rain and it's raining. It's raining. Those

982
01:03:15,080 --> 01:03:17,680
Speaker 1: aren't tears you've been crying. That's rain. That's rain. That's rain.

983
01:03:17,920 --> 01:03:20,680
Speaker 1: That's rain. That's rain. That's rain, that's rain. It's it's

984
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:22,920
Speaker 1: all right. It's all right to hurt, go stop, it's

985
01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:25,200
Speaker 1: all right to hurt, go run, it's all right to question.

986
01:03:25,680 --> 01:03:28,960
Speaker 1: Just you commit to it. I'm staying right here, and

987
01:03:29,160 --> 01:03:38,200
Speaker 1: with great anticipation we await the promise to come. Come on.

988
01:03:38,280 --> 01:03:45,400
Speaker 1: I need a band every day thay Jesus is a

989
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:58,560
Speaker 1: body say come on the world on forecast, savor nor

990
01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:09,280
Speaker 1: family paper in your process daper dora si that we received,

991
01:04:15,760 --> 01:04:26,560
Speaker 1: no wasting, no waisting. You see we received something. Visire

992
01:04:27,600 --> 01:04:42,560
Speaker 1: discuss eph rec know like that we received? Did you

993
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:46,360
Speaker 1: get the an out said it's a class flne. It's

994
01:04:46,440 --> 01:04:56,840
Speaker 1: a class flne. It's on the paper. FI we recee

995
01:05:01,240 --> 01:05:26,560
Speaker 1: I squeary see why the squeerie see explain I said

996
01:05:26,640 --> 01:05:38,880
Speaker 1: it down. We say where you rec You just say

997
01:05:40,240 --> 01:06:11,160
Speaker 1: we're receiving and received less said we received, were saved,

998
01:06:11,400 --> 01:06:21,120
Speaker 1: we received, we received, we said we are saved him,

999
01:06:23,080 --> 01:07:09,080
Speaker 1: were stay him? So do you receive it today? I mean,

1000
01:07:09,160 --> 01:07:12,800
Speaker 1: like really receive it personally for you that God's word

1001
01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:14,920
Speaker 1: is not going to return void, that He sent that

1002
01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:18,040
Speaker 1: word into your life for a purpose. You might just

1003
01:07:18,080 --> 01:07:20,640
Speaker 1: want to sit with that for a little while. Sometimes

1004
01:07:20,760 --> 01:07:22,560
Speaker 1: we hear a word from God and then we just

1005
01:07:22,680 --> 01:07:25,440
Speaker 1: move on to the next thing. Maybe just take a

1006
01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:29,440
Speaker 1: moment and let the reign of God's presence saturate your

1007
01:07:29,480 --> 01:07:32,520
Speaker 1: mind and your emotions and your will. And what step

1008
01:07:32,640 --> 01:07:35,320
Speaker 1: is God calling you to take? Maybe today is today

1009
01:07:35,360 --> 01:07:37,640
Speaker 1: you give your life to Jesus Christ. No more running.

1010
01:07:38,480 --> 01:07:41,720
Speaker 1: Maybe today is today that you commit that what is

1011
01:07:41,800 --> 01:07:43,920
Speaker 1: within you is going to come forth. Stop being so

1012
01:07:44,080 --> 01:07:46,920
Speaker 1: controlled and consumed by what's going on around you. But

1013
01:07:47,040 --> 01:07:49,400
Speaker 1: whatever that is that God is calling you to do next,

1014
01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:51,920
Speaker 1: I pray that He'll give you the faith. You know,

1015
01:07:52,080 --> 01:07:55,480
Speaker 1: when God's word is mixed with faith, that's when growth happens.

1016
01:07:56,240 --> 01:07:59,120
Speaker 1: And God is growing us in this season, he really is.

1017
01:08:00,000 --> 01:08:03,040
Speaker 1: I want to thank you because not only are we growing,

1018
01:08:03,120 --> 01:08:05,520
Speaker 1: but the Kingdom of God is growing. This ministry is

1019
01:08:05,600 --> 01:08:09,160
Speaker 1: growing every day. We're reaching thousands of people around the world.

1020
01:08:09,240 --> 01:08:12,600
Speaker 1: That's because of you who give. Don't forget that we're

1021
01:08:12,600 --> 01:08:14,960
Speaker 1: in the middle of our year end offering season. Rather,

1022
01:08:15,000 --> 01:08:17,120
Speaker 1: we're just getting started with it and you can give

1023
01:08:17,160 --> 01:08:19,960
Speaker 1: it Elevation Church dot Org. Some of you do that

1024
01:08:20,080 --> 01:08:22,320
Speaker 1: every week and that's why we're able to reach Some

1025
01:08:22,479 --> 01:08:24,200
Speaker 1: of you may want to begin to do that right now.

1026
01:08:24,280 --> 01:08:26,960
Speaker 1: Become a tither or a giver. We're giving around the

1027
01:08:27,000 --> 01:08:29,920
Speaker 1: word favor here for year in and if you haven't

1028
01:08:29,920 --> 01:08:32,840
Speaker 1: subscribed or ever shared a sermon, all those things do

1029
01:08:33,000 --> 01:08:34,960
Speaker 1: that because that's one of the ways that not only

1030
01:08:35,040 --> 01:08:37,080
Speaker 1: do we take the word in, but we get it out.

1031
01:08:37,200 --> 01:08:40,040
Speaker 1: So thank you for your partnership in the gospel, Holly,

1032
01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:42,200
Speaker 1: and I love you. What a privilege it is to

1033
01:08:42,320 --> 01:08:45,560
Speaker 1: minister God's word. And I declare over your life it

1034
01:08:45,640 --> 01:08:46,840
Speaker 1: won't return for it