WEBVTT - Wasted Rain 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.640 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.479 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.560 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.759 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:20.400 Are you ready for the word? Well, I'm gonna bring 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.680 it in just a moment, but first let me make 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.480 sure everyone is aware of what we mentioned earlier that 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.080 we are in a season of giving and generosity and 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:34.680 reciprocation and sewing. It's our year end offering time. Yo, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.559 my class just got lower. We love to guill, We 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:44.239 love to gill. And y'all know, every year I ask 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.199 God to give us a word to rally around, just 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.199 something to believe that he's doing. We've had so many 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.280 different words through the years. But this year, the Lord 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.480 told me that we would focus on his favor. So 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.960 this is going to be our favor offering for twenty twenty. 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.679 You know, it's the year of the Lord's Favor. You're like, oh, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:11.280 I didn't get that memo. Well. Luke four nineteen said 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.440 that when he unrolled the scroll, he said the spirit 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.279 of the Lord has anointed me, even in the midst 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:22.399 of great adversity, to declare blind eyes open, captives set free. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:25.880 Where's my three people that came to agree with the 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.200 word of the Lord? He said, it's a year of 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:36.040 the Lord's favor. So you've got to choose how you 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.680 want to frame your life. Nobody can make that decision 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.280 for you. And I bet if you look back over 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:44.520 this last twenty four hours, you can frame it with 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.640 God's favor. If you look back over these last seven days, 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:49.520 you can frame it with God's favor. Can frame it 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.360 with frustration. Remember how the dishwasher broke and you called 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.040 your kids over and they wouldn't do it, so you 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.560 slapped them across the room and then you felt bad 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.840 about that. Or you can remember all the things that 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:04.280 it went right this week and hold on even when 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:08.120 you were wrong. Wow, but God's grace was there for you. 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:10.560 And that's what I like to do when we end 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.359 the year. So our global family, we're inviting you. December 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.400 thirteenth is the date that we've set. Of course, calendars 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.440 mean nothing in twenty twenty, the year of our Lord, 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.400 but it's still the year of the Lord's favor. So 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.720 between now and then, get your best gifts. Some of 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.359 you never give. You just consume, consume, consume. You're never 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.359 going to get much out of it. That way, you 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:32.360 get fat, but you won't get faith. We build our faith. 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:38.360 I know I said the word was coming, but that 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:43.000 felt like a word right there. So thousands will do it. 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:45.760 Thank you to all of our tithers who have enabled 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.120 us to go through with all of the plans that 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:51.239 God had this year to reach the world. Gospel is 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.840 bear and fruit, but our favor offering. You go to 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.720 Elevationchurch dot org for that and even just this week 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:02.160 our Convoy of Hope Outreach caravan. We get fifty thousand 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.080 dollars this week to help with Park two Honduras for 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.960 the category for Hurricane Now. Each week we're just going 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.919 to show you what God did through your giving and 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.799 I know that you'll respond. Happy anniversary. By the way 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:20.560 to our Blakeney location, it's ten years, ten years of 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:29.120 amazing ministers. Zeke, did you ever come over to Blakeney. Yeah, 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:33.800 you're a newcomer, a mere babe, a mere babe in Christ. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.480 You know we're at Blakeney, but we've had some amazing ministry. There, 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:41.280 shout out John and Beth Hargett, Dan and Diane Horner, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.640 John and Denise Richter, Randy and Mary Angel. What's up 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:50.760 Randy Angel? That dude gives the most violent hugs. Randy 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.000 Angel just picks you up. And he's a chiropractor when 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:56.600 he hugs you. He's not licensed though, just breaks your 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:58.600 back when he hugs you. I'm so glad you're over 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.040 there today so you don't have to break my spine 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.480 with your hugs. And we thank God for our campus. Pastors, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.520 Paul and Leah's your bid? Come on, let's thank God 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.920 for all of our location. Hey, what campus? Are you watching? Problems? 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.720 Put it right there in the chat. Put your city, 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:17.640 your state. It may not be an official campus, but 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.560 we ordain you today into the Gospel ministry to receive 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.400 the word of the Lord. How many are ready to 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.280 receive it? Amen? You're not gonna believe what God gave 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.800 me for today. Look at Isaiah fifty five and I'll 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.040 let you sit down. Hey, stand up, even if you're 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.640 in your living room. Get your heart ready. Send a 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.440 signal to your central nervous system system. We are about 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.520 to do something. We're not just gonna hear something. We're 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:45.920 gonna walk this out. So stand up wherever you are 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.800 and prepare your heart to hear God's word. I love 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.880 this in Isaiah fifty five, verse eight. For my thoughts 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.760 are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:04.159 clears the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.560 so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:13.000 thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.280 come down from heaven, and do not return to it 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.000 without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.320 so that it yields seed for the sower and bread 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.440 for the eater. So is my word that goes out 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.320 from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:37.520 but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.080 for which I scent it. As the rain, verse ten. 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.800 So is my word. And I want to talk to 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:46.960 you from an interesting thought today that the Lord gave me. 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:48.280 And I know he gave it to me, and I'll 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.080 tell you why in a minute. But I'm going to 0:05:50.160 --> 0:06:00.200 call this sermon wasted rain. Wasted rain, please be seated. Oh, 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:05.400 the Lord gave me this one. He confirmed it. He 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:10.760 confirmed this message title wasted rain. I was kind of 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:13.240 feeling up in the air about it, and I'm recording 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.280 it on a day where I woke up and it 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.839 was really really rainy outside, and I thought, well, that 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:22.520 could just be a coincidence, do you know what I mean? 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:27.599 Because I decided to preach about wasted rain. Then my phone, 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.000 I was looking for my scripture to look it over again, 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:34.320 and my phone did you just phones? Really now we're 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.440 recording this, maybe you're watching it much later. But it 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:42.920 came up it said emergency alert. I'm preaching on wasted rain, 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.760 and it says the National Weather Service is giving a 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.719 flash flood warning in effect for this area for the 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:55.919 next couple hours. Even the National Weather Service knew that 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.360 God wanted me to preach this to you today. Huh. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.800 Rain Chunks was texting me, said I'm sorry about the rain, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.400 as you know might be. I said, oh, don't apologize. 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:12.000 God sent this to confirm his word to you, and 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.840 he wants to talk to us today about wasted rain. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.440 As the rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.360 So is my word, God says through the prophet Isaiah, 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:26.160 who prophesied. Of course, during the reign of the King 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.880 in the year King Uziah died. I saw the Lord 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:34.320 he prophesied rain during the reign of King Usiah. Now 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:37.560 it's interesting because I used to always pray this scripture 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:39.679 before I would preach. I still pray before I preach, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.840 but I don't pray the scripture anymore. I'm gona tell 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.360 you why I was praying it, like it was a 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.480 magic trick. I would always before i'd come out to preach. 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.760 I'm a little superstitious, not necessarily because I believe it's 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.160 like luck to preach, but I don't know. I take 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:57.960 it seriously. I figured, like, if you came into church 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:01.600 and your life is in shambles and you need God 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.120 to speak to you, and then he puts up some 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:08.320 forty year old country boy from Monk's corner, we need 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.720 a miracle to get this done. I'm doing the math, 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.640 and I'm like, oh, I need you, Lord. So I 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.880 would always pray this so I could put the responsibility 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.920 on God that Lord, what they need you have, I don't, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.120 but if you'll do it through me, I'll give it 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.160 to me. And you can use that little trip parenting 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.640 your kids, leading your team. Anytime you need to just 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.559 tell God this is big and I'm little. Will you 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:38.120 make up the difference? Clap those blessed, rainy wet hands 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.400 if you believe that God will make up the difference. Amen, 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.440 Your thoughts are not my thoughts, or ways are not 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.320 my ways. And I would always pray that, No, say Lord, 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.000 I thank you that as the rain falls from heaven 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:49.880 and waters the earth, so she would be the procease 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.640 for from your mouth. They accomplished what you sent to do. 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.120 And it was in King James, how I did it well. 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:56.640 I stopped praying that when I realized that for many 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.760 years I had been praying it a little bit out 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.000 of context. The prophecy in Isaiah fifty five is written 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.840 to a specific people who will be taken into captivity, 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.800 and they're being prepared for what they're not even going 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:15.600 through yet. Now in the text I read is very beautiful. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.000 It's very peaceful as the rain falls from the heaven. 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.599 You know, so beautiful, so peaceful. If you're like me, 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.400 rain is depressing, but Holly thinks is peaceful. We argue 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:29.040 about this all the time. It's just stay in bed 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.600 to well. Anyway. We have different we have different interpretations 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.679 of the rain. But in this passage. It says that 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.760 the rain makes things grow, and it compares God's word 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.640 to that. So it would be easy to read this 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.880 scripture thinking that the context of it is God's promise 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:52.080 for revival, and it is, it is, it is. He's 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:56.120 the God of revival, He's the God of resurrection, He's 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.920 the God of renewal. He's the God who sends the 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.680 rain into the par arched areas of your life and 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.800 brings about things that your mind cannot conceive by the 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.160 power of his spirit. That's all true. But I guess 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.400 I just saw a few years ago that it's less 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.240 about what I say when I'm preaching and more about 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.880 what you hear and then what you do with what 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.600 you hear. Because in verse six, let's go to verse six, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:28.480 just before the passage I read, the prophet says, seek 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:32.320 the Lord while he may be found. Listen to this 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.400 call on him while he is near. Let the wicked 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:42.360 forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Everybody say thoughts. 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.400 Say it again, say thoughts, type it into chat thoughts, 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.680 and put a little light bulb emologie or a mind 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.840 blow emoji, just to confirm that you heard that he said, 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:56.000 Let the let the wicked forsake their ways and the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.440 unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord. This 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.480 is the biblic picture of repentance, to turn around the 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:08.160 Old Testament maneuver by which we align our hearts with God. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:10.760 Thank you Lord for showing me that, because I thought 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:15.559 that the context of this was revival. But the context 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:23.840 of revival is repentance. Before the rain comes the repentance, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:27.040 he said, let them turn to the Lord, and he 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.560 will have mercy on them, and to our God, for 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.160 he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:35.800 neither my ways your ways. As the heavens are higher 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:37.720 than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.800 and my thoughts than your thoughts, says the rain and 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.640 the snow. But look at it again, he said, verse seven, 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:47.600 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:49.160 So here's what I want to say to you. How 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.320 many of you love the Word of God. How many 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.559 of you believe the word of God can change your life? 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.760 How many want the Word of God to work inside 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:01.679 of you today? Yeah? All right, Well, I want to 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.680 tell you this first point, God's word does not override 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:15.080 your thought process. He said that before the earth is 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.040 filled with the rain, that will bring forth the purpose 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.640 for which the word was sent. First, there has to 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:27.640 be a forsaking before there can be a filling. There 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:33.440 is a forsaking before there is a filling. And the 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.840 reason that helped me is because I realized that a 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.280 lot of times God has wanted to speak something to me, 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:45.200 but I did not have room to receive it. So 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.600 let me ask the question again, how many of you 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.280 want to receive a word from God today? I do? 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.720 I need his word. I don't just want it. I 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.199 don't just want. I want to quest cookie after I preach. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:59.280 It would be nice, but I don't need that. I 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.960 need God God's word. I need God's word for my dysfunction. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.600 I know you drop down out of the second cloud 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:10.840 right there behind Gabriel and put your harp in the 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.400 closet for church today. That's all right. I need God's 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:18.920 word and I need God's to get God's word to 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.760 give me direction. I really do, because I don't want 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.600 to spend any of my time making decisions that I 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:29.080 will spend more time cleaning up because I didn't first 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:33.199 seek the Lord how many of you wasted some days 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:41.480 because you didn't get God's direction for your life. You 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.439 would have never had to delete their name out of 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.400 your phone if you would have prayed before you anyway. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:53.640 So we understand this on one level that in order 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:57.120 to receive God's word, there are some of our own 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:02.079 thoughts that we have to forsake. God's word is free. 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:06.000 Aren't you glad you don't have to pay for this? 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.720 In fact, that's the context of Isaiah fifty five says 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.600 you have no money, come, but it will cost you 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:16.760 your thoughts. It will cost you your will, it will 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:21.280 cost you your opinions, it will cost you your preferences. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.040 The word of God, somebody just put that in the check. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.280 The word of God, the Word of God. I love 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:31.520 the Word of God. I don't know why. I've always 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.800 loved it since I was a little boy. I liked it. 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:36.960 It felt like, even if I couldn't understand what the 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.800 preacher was saying, it just felt different than everything else 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.120 everybody else was saying. Sometimes I slept through it, but 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.720 when I woke up, I still liked it. And now 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.440 I'm coming to the point of my life where I 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:55.760 value it and I realized that God's word in different 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.120 seasons of my life will come to me in different 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:05.120 ways through different people. And well, the Bible tells us 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.200 so much about the Bible. The best way to know 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:10.840 about the Bible is read what the Bible says about 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:17.080 the Bible. And yet at the same time, God's word 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.080 can be so plentiful and our lives can be so pitiful. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.720 I read something. I normally don't believe anything I see 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:32.680 in newspapers, and you shouldn't either, But I read something 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.520 and this sounded accurate, so I'm gonna read it to you. 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:39.200 This was from the La Times last year in February, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.080 and they were talking about a state that is so 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.080 prone to droughts. You know, those of you who live 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.400 in California, this may really hit home for you. But 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:54.360 in February of twenty nineteen, this writer Hannah Fry, She 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.360 said that California's wet winter has dumped you ready for 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:03.720 this and estimated eighteen trillion gallons of rain in February 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:11.440 alone in the state, eighteen trillion gallons in that month alone. 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.040 But listen to this. Much of it is simply going 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.640 down the drain. I'm about to preach the la times. 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.960 I'm just warning you. And then she goes on to 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:27.960 say she quotes this expert and his name is Mark Gold. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.440 He said, when you look at the Los Angeles River 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.000 being between fifty and seventy percent full during a storm, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:37.480 you realize that more water is running down the river 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.120 into the ocean than what Los Angeles would use in 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:46.640 close to a year. Did you hear that? And he 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:51.120 said that it's He said that it's a waste of 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:57.280 water supply, that so much water in a land that 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.280 is so concerned about drought is going down the drain. 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:09.199 And I don't know anything about environmentalism, but I've been 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.159 preaching God's word long enough to God's people to know 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:23.159 that some of you you have about eighteen trillion gallons 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:30.600 of notes in your sermon notebook. Eighteen gallon, eighteen trillion gallons. 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:33.320 Some of you, you know who you are. I know 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:34.679 some of you just turned off for the first time. 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.119 You weren't even trying to watch church today. It came 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:37.280 up in your feet and you didn't know what it was. 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:39.800 And here you are. But some of you, you've got 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:47.080 eighteen gallon trillion, eighteen gallon eight how many eighteens? I 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.479 can't say eighteen trillion gallons of truth? But what are 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:56.200 you doing with it? What am I doing with it? 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.879 I want a revelation. I want a revelation. God speak 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:04.960 to me today, show me today, and he has and 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.720 he will and he does. But so much of it, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.760 this is what the article was saying, because the systems 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.720 can't handle because they don't know what to do yet 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.000 with the runoff. And they said in the article they're trying. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:19.439 I don't know if they're doing it yet or not. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.760 I didn't look at the update, but they said until 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.679 they can get the supply to the place where it 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:31.720 needs to be, there can be eighteen trillion gallons of 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:38.679 downpour and still a drought. There can be eighteen trillion 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.360 gallons of truth. Oh yeah, God's been trying to encourage 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:48.320 you all week and you're discouraged. Why Why Because it 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:54.880 went down the drain? And I wonder what God has 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.000 spoken over your life in this season or a previous 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:04.600 season that you've been letting it go down the drain. 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:07.160 You know, how does it just goes down the drain 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:16.200 into the Pacific pessimistic Pacific ocean, the pessic It said 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:21.000 it all that water everybody say, all that water, what 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:26.200 a waste, What a waste, All that water down into 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:32.159 the pessimistic emotion ocean Pacific ocean, pessimistic emotions. I just 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:37.399 thought some of you had been wasting the words that 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.679 God has spoken over your life. It's one thing if 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:42.760 you don't need to pay attention to people, people are 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.879 always talking. You can even not pay attention to me. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:51.800 But when God speaks, that's how he supplies all of 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:55.120 your needs. And yet so much of it goes down 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:58.720 the drain. You do know that by the time that 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:02.120 you finish hearing a sermon, the devil will have arranged 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:06.959 three clever distractions to get you from digesting what he 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:10.679 gave you and to drain you of the deposit so 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:15.080 that you stay dehydrated in a state of drought. And 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.680 I just needed you to know that it's not a 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:27.960 shortage of God's word. You know what's weird. When I 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:29.800 looked at that, I thought, yeah, listen, I want to 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.000 teach you a little bit. I thought, well, if God's 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.320 word comes, you know, like how we'd like to do. 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:40.800 We just quote scripture over the top of struggles that 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.480 we don't really deal with, and then God's word. Remember, 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.600 it's like the rain, the rain. God's word is like 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.480 the rain. Oh. By the way, it also says in 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:55.760 scripture that God's word is like honey. It'll brighten your 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.439 eyes God's word. When these are all things the Bible 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.240 about the Bible, because the Bible interprets itself if you 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.359 let it. And God's word is not only like honey. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.080 But one writer said, it's like milk. It's like milk. 0:21:10.119 --> 0:21:13.399 It's like pure milk. And so the pure milk of 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.320 the Word of God can come in and nourish you 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:17.720 in the infant stages of your faith. But then he said, 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.760 at some point, you can't just be hanging out, you know, 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.359 drinking that milk forever. You need to grow up in 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:31.439 mature and get off the bottle. Lord, I thank you 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:35.639 that the mature people can receive solid food. So the 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:38.280 Bible is milk, the Bible is meat, the Bible is honey. 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.200 You know what the Bible is this the food category. Everybody, 0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:42.800 Thank God. Everybody who loves to eat. Thank God that 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.040 the word of God. Jesus said, man does not live 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.480 on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:50.520 mouth of God. But think about it, that does no 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:55.240 good without digestion, just like the word of God cannot 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:56.800 do what it was meant to do if you have 0:21:56.840 --> 0:22:02.520 a jacked up thought process. So if you are a pessimist, 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.280 you will hear God's word always like it's for somebody else, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.320 or you will only hear the parts of God's word 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:14.000 that reinforce your emotional biases. So if your heart is 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:17.080 rooted in suspicion, you will transfer that same suspicion to 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.920 the scriptures. And you will come to the scriptures thinking 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:23.320 that you have life, but you will not know him. 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:26.640 So we think like, oh, well, God can just put 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:27.840 a word, and I can put it up on a 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:29.600 post it note on my mirror. That's fine on a 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:31.520 post it note on your mirror, but until it gets 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:37.520 into your thought process, which the Bible calls meditation. And 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:39.159 I just wonder what you've been doing with all the 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.000 water God's been sending you as the rain falls from 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:48.359 the heaven, as the snow. The Bible calls itself a sword. 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.320 Did you know that that means you can fight with it. 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.359 It's not only a sword you can fight your enemy with, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.400 but it's a sword that pierces you. The scripture says 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:01.280 it's a double edged sword. So that means you don't 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:04.119 go around attacking others with scripture versus that apply to 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:07.719 their situations, the things you happen not to struggle with. 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.000 But you know those Bible verses. It means that the 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:14.480 Bible is at its best when it is dividing the 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:17.120 bone and marrow and the soul and the spirit. That's 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:18.960 what the Word of God can do. And I guess 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.760 that's why I love it because it cuts through all 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.239 the clutter, and it cuts through all the crap, and 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:28.480 it cuts through all the cynicism, and it reminds me 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:31.680 who I am apart from the layers of what life 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:34.240 has tried to label me with. And I love the 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.640 Word of God because it's a sword. Take up the 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:41.440 sword of the spirit. In that this church, Holly used 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.800 to do sword drills where yeah, and they would quote 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:47.960 scripture at each other, competing for God's love and to 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.600 see who could quote the most scripture like Pharisees. I'm kidding. 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:52.080 It's a good thing. Get the Word of God in 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:54.359 your heart any way you can. But it also says 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:57.920 watch this, Not only is the Bible carbohydrates like honey, 0:23:58.080 --> 0:24:00.399 how many thank God that the Bible is carved that 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:04.399 don't make you fat. And then that the Bible is 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:06.359 a weapon. Not only it's a weapon, but it's a 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:08.879 surgical instrument. But then I love this because I was 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:12.280 reading about it and said it was a lamp. Thy 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:15.720 word is a lamp unto my feet. Can we spend 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:18.400 a little bit of time talking about why we love 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:21.760 the word of God? Well, the Word of God says 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:24.439 that the Word of God is a lamp unto my feet, 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:29.879 not a floodlight, just enough to show me the next step. 0:24:30.640 --> 0:24:33.560 I love the Word of God like that. God can't 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:37.199 be memorized, calculated, or predicted. He certainly will not be 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:39.720 confined to the GPS coordinates of where we thought he 0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:43.240