Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
Speaker 2: Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today.
Speaker 2: All right, I want to do something today a little
Speaker 2: different than I normally do. Give you my title and
Speaker 2: my subject, and then I'm going to sit you down
Speaker 2: and tell you a story from the Bible that I
Speaker 2: don't think you've ever heard before.
Speaker 1: It's what I call a deep cut.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I like these Bible stories that we haven't heard
Speaker 2: a million times, like Moses in the Red Sea and
Speaker 2: David Nglet those are good too. Jesus getting up from
Speaker 2: the Grave, that's the best one. But there are these
Speaker 2: little stories. And there's one little story that I've been
Speaker 2: living in for the last few weeks and I want
Speaker 2: to share it with you.
Speaker 1: But first let me tell you.
Speaker 2: What we're going to talk about today is something that
Speaker 2: the Lord told me to.
Speaker 1: Tell you, a charge that he wants me to give you.
Speaker 2: And today I want to teach you how to challenge
Speaker 2: the shadow. Challenge the shadow, and just give your neighbor
Speaker 2: that title. On your way to your seat, say challenge
Speaker 2: the shadow and put it in the comments. If you're online,
Speaker 2: you may be seated. Challenge the shadow, and this is
Speaker 2: going to help us today. Challenge the shadow. In Second
Speaker 2: Kings chapter twenty there is a story of a king
Speaker 2: named Hezekiah. He was the greatest king since David in
Speaker 2: the time where many of the kings were wicked.
Speaker 1: It wasn't perfect. No human king is.
Speaker 2: That's Jesus' job when he comes onto the scene in
Speaker 2: the Book of Matthew. But Hezekiah did pretty good, and
Speaker 2: God helped him in a great way. He accomplished a lot,
Speaker 2: He defeated and subdued a lot of enemies. But the
Speaker 2: Second King's chapter twenty verse one, just after God has
Speaker 2: given Hezekiah a great victory, something kind of crazy happens,
Speaker 2: and I want to tell you about it today.
Speaker 1: The Second King's chapter twenty verse one.
Speaker 2: The scripture records in those days Hezekiah became ill and
Speaker 2: was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son
Speaker 2: of Amas went to him and said, this is what
Speaker 2: the Lord says. Put your house in order, because you're
Speaker 2: going to die. You will not recover. Thanks a lot,
Speaker 2: Prophet Isaiah appreciate that. Can we get another prophet in here.
Speaker 2: How about Micah Nahum, how about it zephy Andiah. But
Speaker 2: this word from God comes through the prophet. You're gonna die.
Speaker 2: You won't recover. Now look at this. In verse two,
Speaker 2: Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to
Speaker 2: the Lord.
Speaker 1: Remember, Lord, how I.
Speaker 2: Have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and
Speaker 2: have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah
Speaker 2: wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the
Speaker 2: word of the Lord came to him. Go back and
Speaker 2: tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, this is what
Speaker 2: the Lord, the God of your father David says. And
Speaker 2: Isaiah's like, I already told him, he's gonna Die've got
Speaker 2: to get his estate planning done.
Speaker 1: Now go back and tell him.
Speaker 2: Go back and tell Hezekiah, I have heard your prayer
Speaker 2: and seen your tears. I will heal you on the
Speaker 2: third day. From now you will go up to the
Speaker 2: temple of the Lord. Now I will add fifteen years
Speaker 2: to your life, and I will deliver you in this
Speaker 2: city from the hand of the King of Assiri. I
Speaker 2: will defend this city for my sake and for the
Speaker 2: sake of my servant David. And then Isaiah said, prepara
Speaker 2: poultic of figs, and they did so and applied it
Speaker 2: to the boil, and he recovered. Hezekiah had asked Isaiah,
Speaker 2: what will be the sign that the Lord will heal
Speaker 2: me and that I will go up to the temple
Speaker 2: of the Lord on the third day from now? And
Speaker 2: Isaiah answered, this is the Lord's sign to you, that
Speaker 2: the Lord will do what he has promised. Shall the
Speaker 2: shadow go forward ten steps? Or shall it go back
Speaker 2: ten steps?
Speaker 1: You choose, And.
Speaker 2: God might be saying to somebody today you choose. You
Speaker 2: might be praying about something, and crying about something, and
Speaker 2: wondering about something, and God might be saying to you
Speaker 2: today you choose. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps?
Speaker 2: Or shall it go back ten steps? It is a
Speaker 2: simple matter for the shadow to go forwar? Or were
Speaker 2: ten steps, said Hazekiah, Rather have it go back ten steps.
Speaker 2: Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the
Speaker 2: Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it
Speaker 2: had gone down on the stairway of a has Say
Speaker 2: amen for a god who can do anything, Say amen
Speaker 2: for a God who.
Speaker 1: Can do anything. Yeah, he can do anything.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I'm trying to learn in
Speaker 2: my life is the difference between times where I'm supposed
Speaker 2: to accept the way that it is and face it,
Speaker 2: and the times that I'm supposed to reject the way
Speaker 2: that it is and change it by faith. We have
Speaker 2: a workout room in my house, and all over the
Speaker 2: walls of that room I have written different quotes over
Speaker 2: the years. Lived in this house for ten years, so
Speaker 2: there's a lot of little things on the wall, and
Speaker 2: I write things on the wall. Sometimes they're just inside jokes.
Speaker 2: Sometimes they're little motivational slogans. The name of the room
Speaker 2: is called the Pound. It's an acronym. It stands for
Speaker 2: the place of Ultimate natural Development.
Speaker 1: I think you made that up. I give Chunks credit
Speaker 1: where credit is due. He's a genius and he's a
Speaker 1: fiscal therapist. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the things that it says on the wall
Speaker 2: in the Pound, it says, no challenge, no change. You
Speaker 2: know when I wrote that up there, when Elijah started
Speaker 2: working out with me. My oldest son turns eighteen in
Speaker 2: just a few weeks. He's in Orlando. Shout out to
Speaker 2: Elijah b Verdict, my workout partner. He's been lifting with
Speaker 2: me down there in the pound for three years. And
Speaker 2: you know, he used to get in there and do
Speaker 2: ten reps when he could do fifteen. He'd do fifteen
Speaker 2: when he could do twenty. And I had to teach
Speaker 2: him the principle of growth for our muscles is that
Speaker 2: if it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you. So
Speaker 2: I just wrote that up on the thing. I know
Speaker 2: it's not that deep, but I just wrote it up.
Speaker 2: There no challenge, no change. Now. The funny thing is
Speaker 2: Elijah is actually his personality is a challenger. They have
Speaker 2: all these personality tests and one of them, Holly says,
Speaker 2: she studies all the personality tests.
Speaker 1: I don't read them. I really don't put a lot
Speaker 1: of stock in that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: And so I guess I'm a challenger if I'm challenging
Speaker 2: the validity of a personality test. But she says that
Speaker 2: my son is also a challenger, and he is. I'll
Speaker 2: tell you how much a challenger he is. When we
Speaker 2: first started bench pressing in the pound, he said this
Speaker 2: actual sentence. He said, I don't think I don't think
Speaker 2: bench really works your chest.
Speaker 1: Let me explain something to you, ladies.
Speaker 2: There is no more time honored principle among men than
Speaker 2: that a bit press will grow your chest and become
Speaker 2: the ultimate expression of your value as a human being.
Speaker 1: That that number is so significant.
Speaker 2: I was so excited for him the other day he
Speaker 2: hit two twenty five on bench.
Speaker 1: Y'all want to see the video. I pulled it right
Speaker 1: before I came out.
Speaker 2: He was he was actually in Florida this a few
Speaker 2: weeks ago and they were out there for a trip.
Speaker 1: Shown the video there's my boy.
Speaker 3: Off count down my way, that way, that way.
Speaker 2: So he's he actually made the beat that went behind
Speaker 2: that video too.
Speaker 1: So he's really really a.
Speaker 2: Manifold accomplishment, and I'm so proud of him, Like, hey, yeah,
Speaker 2: you got into college.
Speaker 1: Put your bitch to twenty five. Ask my boy.
Speaker 2: You love Jesus, but you bitch two twenty five is
Speaker 2: to plates is kind of a big deal. It's kind
Speaker 2: of ride a passage for all men.
Speaker 1: No challenge, No Change.
Speaker 2: The most significant part of that repetition was the part
Speaker 2: where he wasn't gonna get it and then he got it,
Speaker 2: and all of that testosterone in the room and the
Speaker 2: video camera going I'm sure helped him to push through.
Speaker 2: No challenge, No Change, the boy who didn't believe that
Speaker 2: bench press worked your chest is now benching two twenty
Speaker 2: five plate by plate. And sometimes, you know, using just
Speaker 2: a stupid example from the weight room, our lives can
Speaker 2: encounter situations where we are making decisions we don't even
Speaker 2: realize we're making the decisions. Whether the situation as it
Speaker 2: is presented to us is all that it can ever be,
Speaker 2: or whether there is the potential for us to push
Speaker 2: through in that moment and see something come to pass
Speaker 2: that would have seemed impossible from a human perspective.
Speaker 1: Challenge the Shadow.
Speaker 2: I thought that was a unique title that God gave
Speaker 2: me because in our passage of scripture today, the king
Speaker 2: Hezekiah is experiencing the announcement of the end of his life.
Speaker 2: And I don't mean to make light of that or
Speaker 2: to put it on the level of trying to exercise
Speaker 2: your body. The fact is there are some listening to
Speaker 2: me today who have heard a bad report in an
Speaker 2: area of your life. It may not be the end
Speaker 2: of your life, but just like the prophet's word came
Speaker 2: to signal to Hezekiah, this is the end.
Speaker 1: There is a parallel in this scripture. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you noticed it.
Speaker 2: But when God wanted to give Hezekiah a sign that
Speaker 2: he was going to heal him, even though at first
Speaker 2: the prophet said it couldn't happen.
Speaker 1: But Hezekiah challenged.
Speaker 2: What the prophet said, God gave him the sign of
Speaker 2: a shadow. And I promise you this is significant because
Speaker 2: in this day they didn't have fitbits and roll exes,
Speaker 2: so in order to tell what time it was, they
Speaker 2: would have kind of a sun dial system, And as
Speaker 2: the sun would come up over the temple, then the
Speaker 2: shadow would go down. The lower that the sun got,
Speaker 2: the later that it got in the day, the shadow
Speaker 2: would go down the steps of the temple as the
Speaker 2: sun is going up, and then back down. The longer
Speaker 2: the shadow goes down the steps, the later it is,
Speaker 2: the longer the shadow gets going down the steps.
Speaker 1: Can you picture it.
Speaker 2: It signifies that the day is drawing to a close,
Speaker 2: just as the shadow in the passage LinkedIn's on the
Speaker 2: steps to announce that you're running out of time. The
Speaker 2: prophet comes to announce to Isaiah, you're running out of time,
Speaker 2: or to Hezekiah the prophet Isaiah.
Speaker 1: They had a partnership.
Speaker 2: Now I want to talk about this partnership between the
Speaker 2: prophet and the king, because it's one thing when your
Speaker 2: enemy tells you that it's over. It's a different thing
Speaker 2: when your buddy. These guys were tight. They had to
Speaker 2: be because when an opposing king would come to fight
Speaker 2: against Israel, the prophet would come and tell the king
Speaker 2: what to do to be victorious. So the king and
Speaker 2: the prophet, when they were both looking to God, and
Speaker 2: when the king was listening to the prophet and the
Speaker 2: prophet was listening to God, things went well.
Speaker 1: And that didn't always happen.
Speaker 2: In the nation of Israel, and so they would get
Speaker 2: invaded and they would get defeated because.
Speaker 1: The king wouldn't heed the word of the prophet.
Speaker 2: The prophet would say, put your idols away, and the
Speaker 2: king would keep worshiping idol.
Speaker 1: Or the prophet might say.
Speaker 2: You really need to turn to the Lord and not
Speaker 2: fight this battle, but let God fight it. Can go
Speaker 2: into battle anyway, trying to fight his battles and his
Speaker 2: own strength, and he'd ended up dying. But when it
Speaker 2: was right, the relationship between the prophet and the king
Speaker 2: was a special thing. And Isaiah and Hezekiah have this
Speaker 2: kind of relationship. So while Isaiah is over prophesying. Hezekiah
Speaker 2: is dying of a sickness that we learn results in
Speaker 2: boils all over his body.
Speaker 1: This is a humiliating disease.
Speaker 2: A painful disease, a progressive disease, and in his urgency
Speaker 2: and desperation, he finally says, go get Isaiah, he's my dude.
Speaker 2: In chapter nineteen, Isaiah prophesied the defeat of Senecareb, who
Speaker 2: was an enemy of Israel. And Senekareb didn't even get
Speaker 2: into camp because Isaiah said, he's not coming in here.
Speaker 2: This is God's battle. You are God's king, This is
Speaker 2: God's nation. And when God says the enemy can't get
Speaker 2: any farther, he doesn't just put up an electric fence,
Speaker 2: but he puts up a word that becomes a wall,
Speaker 2: and the enemy cannot touch what God has spoken. This
Speaker 2: time Isaya comes and Hezekiah says, tell me what to do,
Speaker 2: and Isaiah says, you're gonna die.
Speaker 1: And it's like that until verse three until verse three.
Speaker 1: Actually some in verse two where it begins.
Speaker 2: Where it says, Hezekiah did something that I want to know,
Speaker 2: would you be willing to do today? Verse two, Hezekiah
Speaker 2: turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord.
Speaker 2: Now I don't know who this is for, but I
Speaker 2: really didn't come up here to talk about Hezekiah today.
Speaker 1: I mean I did, but that's a history lesson.
Speaker 2: I didn't come up here to talk about a bench
Speaker 2: press record today. Although I'm glad to be able to
Speaker 2: brag about my boy. You know, I could be putting
Speaker 2: up pictures of him. He's in prison, y'all, pray for
Speaker 2: Elijah to get out. I'm pretty proud that he's bench
Speaker 2: pressing and he's at uthex instead. But I didn't come
Speaker 2: up here today to talk about those things at all.
Speaker 2: I came up here to use it as a lesson
Speaker 2: today that whether it's the worst news of your life,
Speaker 2: or whether it's the setback that you're facing and you're
Speaker 2: trying to decide is this just how it is? Or
Speaker 2: is there something that God would say that would change it.
Speaker 1: There is an opportunity for you by faith in this.
Speaker 2: Moment, should you choose to receive it, and should you
Speaker 2: choose to enter into it, to take.
Speaker 1: The situation as it has.
Speaker 2: Been present to you, and bring it before the Lord
Speaker 2: for further consideration. A lot of us are stuck in
Speaker 2: what we call acceptance, but it has become apathy because
Speaker 2: sometimes you just have to accept the way it is.
Speaker 1: But sometimes you will feel something in.
Speaker 2: Your heart that will say, wait a minute. The prophet
Speaker 2: said I have to die. But even the prophet has
Speaker 2: a boss. And I don't know if you've ever been
Speaker 2: on a customer service call and you realize you were
Speaker 2: talking to somebody who was an employee but not the owner,
Speaker 2: and maybe in that frustration you said something like this,
Speaker 2: I'd like to speak.
Speaker 1: To your supervisor.
Speaker 2: So imagine this your hazekaya and you are dying, and
Speaker 2: you're a husband, and you're hurting, and you've turned to people,
Speaker 2: and you've turned to a therapist, and you've turned to
Speaker 2: a bottle, and you've come to a doctor, and you've
Speaker 2: run to.
Speaker 1: A well and that well ran dry.
Speaker 2: But I feel somebody turning their face to the wall
Speaker 2: today is saying, God, it's me, the one you chose,
Speaker 2: the one you called, the one you raise, and I
Speaker 2: need you right now. Can I speak to a supervisor?
Speaker 2: And he prayed, he prayed about it, and he cried
Speaker 2: about it. Now here's where we have to get into
Speaker 2: the imagery of the techtile. This is so good. Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: So the prophet comes to announce it's over. The best
Speaker 2: thing you can do is just go ahead and accept
Speaker 2: the fact that it's over. That is sometimes exactly right.
Speaker 2: I remember when a certain thing was happening in my
Speaker 2: life and a friend of mine advised me, you have
Speaker 2: to have a funeral for your expectations, because I was
Speaker 2: trying to get somebody else to change, and I can't
Speaker 2: change anybody else. Certain things we have to accept. I
Speaker 2: have to accept, and it's a very hard thing for me.
Speaker 2: My height, all potential of my NBA career has faded
Speaker 2: into the shadows of the Sundial of As, along with
Speaker 2: Hezekiah's health. Now you got to understand about this passage, man,
Speaker 2: This passage doesn't give us a picture of somebody who
Speaker 2: turns his face to the wall in perfect faith. For
Speaker 2: the Bible says that he began to ask God, remember
Speaker 2: all that he has done, not all that God has done.
Speaker 1: Haskaia said, remember Lord, how I have walked.
Speaker 2: With you faithfully in wholehearted devotion and have done what
Speaker 2: is good in your eyes. But then the next part
Speaker 2: is important because it says that he wept bitterly now
Speaker 2: mark this down. You can weep bitterly and still pray faithfully.
Speaker 2: You can weep bitterly and still wait expectantly. You can
Speaker 2: accept what it is but still believe that.
Speaker 1: It can be something greater.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at some people today who have accepted some
Speaker 2: things in your life as all that they can ever be.
Speaker 2: And when you accept the announcement of the shadow, you neglect.
Speaker 1: The presence the source. Let's talk about the Biblical image
Speaker 1: of a shadow.
Speaker 2: It is mentioned in the Bible, both literally, like the
Speaker 2: shelter or the shadow that Jonah sat under. It is
Speaker 2: mentioned metaphorically many times in a positive sense. One of
Speaker 2: my favorite scriptures says he that dwelleth in the secret
Speaker 2: place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow
Speaker 2: of the Almighty. You know that verse. Love that verse.
Speaker 2: It lets me know God has me covered. It means protection.
Speaker 2: It means that His presence is my protection. Write that
Speaker 2: down and go back to it this week when you
Speaker 2: get in trouble. His presence is my protection. Anywhere I go,
Speaker 2: God is with me. Anywhere I walk, God went there
Speaker 2: before me. And if He got there before me, then
Speaker 2: I am protected and sheltered in the shadow of the
Speaker 2: most high, and I will abide under his shadow. And
Speaker 2: I will not fear the arrow that flies by day,
Speaker 2: nor the pestilence that flies by night.
Speaker 1: The shadow.
Speaker 2: Perhaps one of the most famous Biblical images of the
Speaker 2: shadow comes through David, who said, yay, though I walk
Speaker 2: through the valley, now, this is a different kind of shadow.
Speaker 2: He said, I walk sometimes through the valley of the
Speaker 2: shadow of death, I will fear no evil. That's an
Speaker 2: amazing verse to me because it lets me know that
Speaker 2: what David was going through in that moment felt like death,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't death.
Speaker 1: It was the valley of the shadow of death.
Speaker 2: Sometimes what you're going through it feels like the end.
Speaker 1: It is a valley. But one thing you got to
Speaker 1: remember about a valley.
Speaker 2: The only way there can be a valley is that
Speaker 2: there is a on either side of it. That is
Speaker 2: the very essence of a valley. So the thing that
Speaker 2: you're going through right now in your life, while the
Speaker 2: enemy would love to use it as evidence that God
Speaker 2: has left you, it is actually the evidence that God
Speaker 2: has something ahead of you. In the meantime, we must
Speaker 2: believe God in the shadows to be who he told
Speaker 2: us he was in the light. This image of the
Speaker 2: shadows shows up in psychology as well. If you remember
Speaker 2: from your freshman's psych class, you remember that they talked
Speaker 2: about the shadow self, the parts of your character that
Speaker 2: you would just assume, disown, not deal with, not acknowledge,
Speaker 2: And depending on which psychological theory you adhere to, some
Speaker 2: people would say that, no, you've really got to bring
Speaker 2: out that shadow self and deal with it in many
Speaker 2: different way ways, because you know, if you kind of
Speaker 2: take the embarrassing, shameful parts of you and don't deal
Speaker 2: with them, they will eventually get stronger and overpower you
Speaker 2: and show up in ways you don't want them to.
Speaker 2: That's why I'm really glad for the cross of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: because he showed me on his cross what to do
Speaker 2: with my shadow that there is nothing I ever have
Speaker 2: to be ashamed of in his presence. He already knows it,
Speaker 2: he already paid for it, and he nailed it to
Speaker 2: his cross, so.
Speaker 1: I'll never have to be ashamed.
Speaker 2: I would never have to like stay away from God
Speaker 2: because oh he might see who I really am. I
Speaker 2: would never have to go well, I could pray about it,
Speaker 2: and I would pray about it, but I can't pray
Speaker 2: about it because I have these things in my life.
Speaker 2: The things in your life are the things you need
Speaker 2: to pray about, So you drag it out of the
Speaker 2: shadows and into His presence. Quick tip next time you're
Speaker 2: in church and we're singing and you're like, man, I
Speaker 2: can't sing that I trust in God because I'm doubting.
Speaker 2: Sing I trust in God even louder, because what singing
Speaker 2: that will do. It will tell you what I do,
Speaker 2: if it will drag it out of the shadows, and
Speaker 2: it'll take that doubt.
Speaker 1: Out of the shadows.
Speaker 2: And the Devil's like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: please don't bring it in the light.
Speaker 1: If you bring your doubt in the light, your doubt will.
Speaker 2: Disappear in the presence of a God whose.
Speaker 1: Name is greater than anything.
Speaker 2: You can name, any disease you can name, any disorder,
Speaker 2: you can name anything a doctor can diagnose you with
Speaker 2: ha no, a PhD ha no, perfectly holy dny no,
Speaker 2: A great God who can.
Speaker 1: Raise you up. Kezekiah said, I don't want to.
Speaker 2: I don't want to. I don't want to have a
Speaker 2: conversation with you about I've got to pray about this
Speaker 2: one I've got to turn.
Speaker 1: My attention to a higher authority.
Speaker 2: I've got to get my focus off of what was spoken,
Speaker 2: even though the prophet wasn't wrong. Y'all is hard enough
Speaker 2: not to believe the enemy when he tells you you're
Speaker 2: gonna die. What would you do if it was Isaiah?
Speaker 1: It is not the lies that the enemy.
Speaker 2: Tells us that keep us in defeat. It is the
Speaker 2: things that get whispered to us that we secretly believe
Speaker 2: are true. Oh God, but sometimes God will call you
Speaker 2: to accept it.
Speaker 1: My dad died.
Speaker 2: Of als and no amount of prayer reversed it.
Speaker 1: Some Oh, As a matter of fact, every time we die,
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of when.
Speaker 2: It's not like Hezekiah lived to be three thousand and
Speaker 2: ninety three. He died, but he didn't die here because
Speaker 2: God had.
Speaker 1: More for him to do.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you let things die too soon in your life.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you let dreams die too soon in your life.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you let relationships die too soon in your life
Speaker 2: because of what you won't work through, because of what
Speaker 2: you won't pray through, because of what you won't face.
Speaker 2: And God sent me today to give you this message
Speaker 2: that some of the stuff.
Speaker 1: That you have been allowing in your life.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that if you have sickness it's a
Speaker 2: lack of faith.
Speaker 1: That's not my belief system.
Speaker 2: I don't believe you can support that from the Bible
Speaker 2: or from life. I am saying this that sometimes what
Speaker 2: you accept as the consequence of a hardship is actually
Speaker 2: the opposite of what God intends to give you through
Speaker 2: the hardship, so that sometimes you go through the breaking,
Speaker 2: but you don't get the benefit. Sometimes you go through
Speaker 2: the problem, but you don't access in that problem the
Speaker 2: power that you could have if you learned what I
Speaker 2: want to teach you today.
Speaker 1: Because what I want to teach you today.
Speaker 2: Is no matter what has been spoken over you or
Speaker 2: inside of you, if it does not align with the assignment.
Speaker 1: That God has placed on your life.
Speaker 2: The moment you decide to focus your faith and drag.
Speaker 1: It out of the shadows and into the light. Things change.
Speaker 2: Things change, say it out loud, things change. Things change.
Speaker 2: They really do.
Speaker 1: Things change. They really do.
Speaker 2: People still do get married in their forties, They really do.
Speaker 2: People still do live after experiencing the worst tragedy.
Speaker 1: Things change.
Speaker 2: People who formerly were so depressed that they couldn't even
Speaker 2: get out of bed, go on to found companies.
Speaker 1: They really do.
Speaker 2: People who get fired from jobs for being incompetent later
Speaker 2: get celebrated for being innovative once they find their fit.
Speaker 1: Things change. Say it out loud. Things change, They really do.
Speaker 1: Things change. People who once struggled with sin.
Speaker 2: To the point that they identified themselves as a recovering
Speaker 2: alcoholic become mentors for other recovering alcoholics.
Speaker 1: Things change, they really do.
Speaker 2: Families where nobody ever went to college, families where nobody
Speaker 2: ever really got out of high school go on to
Speaker 2: produce some of the greatest leaders that you've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Things change, They really do.
Speaker 2: I don't know who this is for because it's not
Speaker 2: in my nose, but the Holy Ghost got a hold
Speaker 2: of me to tell you things change.
Speaker 1: They really do. I'm not preaching fairy tale. I'm not
Speaker 1: preaching sweethearts. I'm not preaching Papa promise, get a blessing.
Speaker 1: I'm preaching that when.
Speaker 2: You turn your face to the wall and turn your
Speaker 2: attention to the heavens and walk away kind of the
Speaker 2: shews of what has been there is a lie. God said,
Speaker 2: let there be light, and there was well.
Speaker 1: I reckon whatever he speaks still worse.
Speaker 2: So if he says, let there be joy, get ready
Speaker 2: to get happy.
Speaker 4: If he says let there be be, get ready to see.
Speaker 1: The storm start to be still? Five three people say
Speaker 1: things change? They really do. You're standing next to a
Speaker 1: living witness that things change. You're standing next to an
Speaker 1: exhibit a that things change.
Speaker 2: You're standing next to somebody who one time thought I
Speaker 2: wasn't gonna make it.
Speaker 4: But hey, Hanzakiah, I say, get back, puse. God says
Speaker 4: you're over rule the set up, can't have.
Speaker 1: You yet, Hey, I say out, get back here. God
Speaker 1: said I can.
Speaker 3: Look.
Speaker 1: Hey, I say, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying God change his mind. I'm just saying I'm said,
Speaker 1: by faith, there's a wisdom to die. I should warn you,
Speaker 1: as I preached this, that i'm preaching to you what
Speaker 1: I have walked through.
Speaker 2: You say, Pastor, we didn't hear that you had boils
Speaker 2: on your body? No, No, not talking about boils on
Speaker 2: my body. I'm talking about beliefs that I carried. Oh God,
Speaker 2: oh God. I mean these beliefs. They were painful, they
Speaker 2: were progressive. There were times that I believed things about
Speaker 2: myself that I was beyond love. There were times I
Speaker 2: believe things about myself that I was beyond help. There
Speaker 2: were times I believed things about my thought patterns that
Speaker 2: they were just genetic and they couldn't be changed. There
Speaker 2: were times I believe things about my potential that I
Speaker 2: wasn't the one for the job even though God had
Speaker 2: called me to.
Speaker 1: And there were times I believe things now. The thing about.
Speaker 2: Believing the thing that isn't true is that you don't
Speaker 2: know what it wasn't true, because once you know it
Speaker 2: wasn't true, you don't believe in it anymore. So you don't
Speaker 2: know that it isn't true while you're believing it. The
Speaker 2: moment you know it's not true, you stop believing it.
Speaker 2: That's why I love this passage. Because the devil didn't
Speaker 2: tell Hezekiah you're going to die.
Speaker 1: The prophet did.
Speaker 2: And this is where we have to get more sensitive
Speaker 2: to the Holy Spirit than we are to our senses.
Speaker 2: Even if the sickness doesn't go away in your life,
Speaker 2: through your suffering, God is going to be glorified.
Speaker 1: More than you could ask her imagine.
Speaker 2: And I know that that doesn't really like get the
Speaker 2: same kind of relief that it does. When Isaiah tells
Speaker 2: them to get some figs and rub that what they
Speaker 2: call it the poultice. Did you see that word from
Speaker 2: verse seven? I thought that was a crazy word. And
Speaker 2: then Isaiah said, prepare a poultice a figs. I had
Speaker 2: to look that one up. It's an ointment. That poultice
Speaker 2: is annointment. But that I thought was powerful too, because
Speaker 2: for the healing that we need in our lives, it's
Speaker 2: not just the prayers, it's the poultice. It wasn't just
Speaker 2: he said you're going to live and he waved a
Speaker 2: wand there was a process involved in that. So I wonder,
Speaker 2: sometimes are we taught that it's all about what we do,
Speaker 2: and then other times we're taught it's not about what
Speaker 2: we do. And somewhere in this message today, God wants
Speaker 2: you to hear that you have to choose to challenge
Speaker 2: the shadow or the shadow will swallow you.
Speaker 1: Think about it. Go with me.
Speaker 2: Can you go with me back in history just a
Speaker 2: few hundred years, go back and see that shadow stretching
Speaker 2: down the steps and see the prophet's word coming to
Speaker 2: announce it's over for you, Azekiah.
Speaker 1: And I wonder have you felt.
Speaker 5: That shadow stretching over an area of your life lately,
Speaker 5: And has God brought me to your life today.
Speaker 2: To give you a prophetic word for that situation.
Speaker 1: That you think can't change.
Speaker 2: Even if the situation doesn't change, the way.
Speaker 1: You see it must.
Speaker 2: That is the first step, not that the situation would change,
Speaker 2: but that the way you see it would change everything.
Speaker 1: God gave me this one time too.
Speaker 2: He said, everything you're praying about today as a burden,
Speaker 2: you were thanking me for as a blessing before it
Speaker 2: got heavy, Everything in my life that I was praying
Speaker 2: about as a burden. Oh God, this is so hard,
Speaker 2: This is so heavy. What's something God gave me that
Speaker 2: I asked him for? It was just growing bigger. Everything
Speaker 2: has to start with how you see it. That's what
Speaker 2: a prophet does.
Speaker 1: He's a seer. Is say, I had the ability.
Speaker 2: To see hundreds of years into the future where he
Speaker 2: prophesied the birth.
Speaker 1: Of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: So how just Hezekiah and his tears and his prayers
Speaker 2: stop a prophet as powerful as Isaiah? In his tracks,
Speaker 2: Isaiah is walking back, He's all the way to the
Speaker 2: middle court. He's like, well, God, I really didn't want
Speaker 2: to tell him that, but and he can't take another step,
Speaker 2: got something arrest him.
Speaker 1: Now he doesn't know what it is yet.
Speaker 2: All he knows is I told Hezekiah he was gonna die.
Speaker 2: I turned my back, I went back to go home,
Speaker 2: and something stopped me. What he didn't know was at
Speaker 2: the moment. I believe at the moment that Hezekiah's tears
Speaker 2: were hitting the pillow, his feet got heavy, and he
Speaker 2: couldn't take another step.
Speaker 1: Now, what are you saying, pastor Stephen?
Speaker 2: Are you saying that if I cry enough, God will
Speaker 2: change my situation?
Speaker 1: Or that if I just pray.
Speaker 2: This prayer, Can we pray that prayer from Hezekiah and
Speaker 2: get it back and get it restored?
Speaker 1: And can I pray this prayer from Hezekiah and get
Speaker 1: everything that was in my life that was missing put
Speaker 1: back together again. I do not believe that.
Speaker 2: It was the formula of his prayer that brought healing.
Speaker 1: I believe it was the change of his focus.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I believe that when
Speaker 2: he wept bitterly and he prayed fervently, when he chose
Speaker 2: to rehearse truth through tears.
Speaker 1: Everybody say truth through tears.
Speaker 2: That is a valuable valuable, valuable confession. It is one
Speaker 2: thing to quote truth when you have evidence that absolutely
Speaker 2: supports that truth, but truth through tears is a completely
Speaker 2: different level of trust in God, and that kind of
Speaker 2: trust in God. Will say to the shadow, hey, you
Speaker 2: say it's over. God says, it's a new beginning. And
Speaker 2: I believe that's what happens in our life when we
Speaker 2: really make the shift into faith, is that God shows
Speaker 2: us that what we've called an ending.
Speaker 1: Is a beginning. Do you believe that? Because if you don't,
Speaker 1: you're not a Christian.
Speaker 2: Because that's all the Resurrection was was a redefinition of
Speaker 2: what men call endings. I know that you've been worried
Speaker 2: about it. I know that you've been burdened by it,
Speaker 2: bothered by it, broken by it. That is not the question.
Speaker 2: The question isn't will you cry? It's what will you
Speaker 2: confess as you do? Because I think there are times
Speaker 2: in all of our life when the shadow comes to
Speaker 2: announce it's over, but.
Speaker 1: The shadow is not the source. Will you challenge the shadow?
Speaker 1: Imagine this.
Speaker 2: They rubbed this ointment all over Hezekiah's body, and he says, okay,
Speaker 2: I need a sign that this is gonna work, and Isaiah,
Speaker 2: you gotta get in this.
Speaker 1: Get in this image. It's so cool.
Speaker 2: Isaiah goes, all right, you want to sign, I'll give
Speaker 2: you a sign because you don't really believe it yet.
Speaker 2: So the shadow is gonna move so God can show
Speaker 2: you that you've got more time. Shall I go forward
Speaker 2: ten steps or shall it go back ten steps? Now,
Speaker 2: let's work work this out real quick. The sun comes
Speaker 2: up over the temple, The shadow goes down the steps.
Speaker 2: That is the natural pattern of things.
Speaker 1: I said.
Speaker 2: If the shadow keeps going down the steps, that's what's
Speaker 2: supposed to happen.
Speaker 1: How will I know.
Speaker 2: That God can do it if it goes exactly how
Speaker 2: it's supposed to.
Speaker 1: Maybe this is why certain things in our life.
Speaker 2: Don't go exactly how they're supposed to, because how would
Speaker 2: you know that it was God if it just went
Speaker 2: how was supposed to. If people just recognized you like
Speaker 2: they were supposed to, how would you know that it
Speaker 2: is God.
Speaker 1: That promotes you? If everybody supported you and endorsed you,
Speaker 1: that was supposed to support and endorse you, How would
Speaker 1: I know it was God? If the shadow just did
Speaker 1: what shadows do.
Speaker 2: I got another one for you. If it happened when
Speaker 2: you wanted it to, you would have thought it was you.
Speaker 2: So God said, I got to do something real quick.
Speaker 2: I gotta make the shadows stretch out so that you
Speaker 2: get in a position where you won't say, oh, I
Speaker 2: was really smart, Oh I was really clever.
Speaker 1: Oh I was really faithful.
Speaker 2: Notice while Hezekiah was talking about his faithfulness, Isaiah kept walking.
Speaker 2: But when he cried a tear and said, God, if
Speaker 2: you don't.
Speaker 1: Do it, it will not get done.
Speaker 2: Isaiah said, WHOA, that's faith, roll, that's trust. WHOA, that's
Speaker 2: somebody who has come to the end of himself. That's
Speaker 2: somebody who has seen the shadow but will still come
Speaker 2: back to the source. What y'all looking at? He loves
Speaker 2: good preaching. You see people stand up in a football game.
Speaker 2: This is better than a football game. This is a
Speaker 2: church of the Living God. Thank you Jesus. They think
Speaker 2: it's crazy when we get excited about the Word of God.
Speaker 2: I see people get excited about somebody in some mesh
Speaker 2: shorts running up and down some hardwood floors bouncing.
Speaker 1: A ball into a hoop.
Speaker 2: I think I can get excited when the Word of
Speaker 2: the Lord comes to me and starts telling me this
Speaker 2: shadow is not going to consume you. Yes, Lord, Why
Speaker 2: are you scared to praise God? Why are you scared
Speaker 2: to give him glory? Why are you quiet when you
Speaker 2: come in here? You better get rydical about this thing.
Speaker 1: Tom's running out.
Speaker 2: Baby. You can't afford to sit there and wait for
Speaker 2: a feeling.
Speaker 1: This is a Lord and a feeling. This is the
Speaker 1: worst of Almighty God. If you don't cry out the rocks.
Speaker 6: Well, if you don't cry it out, am I saying?
Speaker 7: Somebody released the sound of words of the will, the pumping.
Speaker 1: In his fast and say get back here, I'm on.
Speaker 4: Whooo all right, go all right, I thought.
Speaker 2: Somebody say I'm back, I'm fast. Now Watch the shadow,
Speaker 2: Watch the shadow, Watch the shadow. Verse eleven. Isaiah said, Okay,
Speaker 2: you need a sign. The shadow is going to stop
Speaker 2: going forward, and it's gonna do something that will always
Speaker 2: prove the presence of God. You're ready to shout over this.
Speaker 2: You're gonna love this. Verse eleven. He said, he made
Speaker 2: the shadow go back up the steps again. For everybody
Speaker 2: who's looking at something right now that looks like it
Speaker 2: is over Watch what God did for Hezekiah when Hezekiah
Speaker 2: called on him. He made the shadow go back up
Speaker 2: the steps, And I thought, God, this doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: Shadows don't climb stairs exactly, not until you challenge them. See,
Speaker 2: as long as we just let it be whatever way
Speaker 2: it is and go, okay, well.
Speaker 1: That's just how it is, or that's just how I am.
Speaker 2: And we never challenged the shadow by coming back to
Speaker 2: the source, It's just gonna keep going down, down.
Speaker 1: Down.
Speaker 2: Have you been depressed, have you been discouraged? Have you
Speaker 2: given up on your dream that God put inside of you?
Speaker 2: Is the shadow going down the steps in your life?
Speaker 1: Challenge it.
Speaker 2: Whatever that looks like for you, God will reveal it
Speaker 2: by his spirit.
Speaker 1: I hear God saying challenge that. I wish I had a.
Speaker 2: Flag like they have on football, so I could throw
Speaker 2: the challenge flag on some situations in your life.
Speaker 1: So stuff you're complaining about, hey.
Speaker 2: Stop complaining about stuff you can change. Stop complaining about
Speaker 2: stuff you can change.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, let's do it. Let's do it.
Speaker 2: Let's get practical. Let's get practical. Holly loves it when
Speaker 2: I get practical. She's very literal. I'm very figurative. I
Speaker 2: am a songwriter. She is a teacher. She taught school
Speaker 2: while I was learning to write songs. So I'm like,
Speaker 2: challenge the shadow, and she's like, hallelujah, howe, how many
Speaker 2: I need some help with hallelujah? How Like I feel
Speaker 2: y'all believe you? Okay, okay, okay, what are you saying?
Speaker 2: The shadow came back, like, what does that mean? Does
Speaker 2: that mean you want me to go out to the
Speaker 2: graveyard And I've had a family member that's been dead
Speaker 2: and pray for the person to get up from the
Speaker 2: dead and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: No, I've never done that in my life. That's not
Speaker 1: the kind of faith that I have. But I do
Speaker 1: have this kind of faith, and this is a practical faith.
Speaker 2: It is the ability for me to see that sometimes
Speaker 2: in my life when I am complaining that I don't
Speaker 2: have something, it is a product of the way that
Speaker 2: I see something. So challenging the shadow could be as
Speaker 2: simple as this, in the last week, raise your hand
Speaker 2: if in the last week, and I would have you
Speaker 2: close your eyes and just like for privacy sake, but
Speaker 2: we're gonna do it. Looking all around, you have said
Speaker 2: I do not have enough time. Say it, raise your hand.
Speaker 2: I don't have enough time. But Warren Buffett did I'll
Speaker 2: have enough time.
Speaker 1: But Jesus only lived to be thirty three and saved
Speaker 1: the world. Yeah, but that's different. It was Jesus. Yes, different.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't even have a car and he still did it.
Speaker 2: Jesus couldn't even get an airplane and he did it.
Speaker 2: You don't have time now. We just compressed so much
Speaker 2: stress into a shorter time spend that we have no
Speaker 2: ability to prioritize. So sometimes challenging the shadow is this
Speaker 2: mentality that you have when you wake up any given
Speaker 2: day and you go, I'm not going to be able
Speaker 2: to get it all done. No, not with everything that
Speaker 2: you do that nobody told you to do. You do
Speaker 2: not have enough time to do your job and Bob's
Speaker 2: job and God's job. As long as you keep running
Speaker 2: around with the s on your chest that you think
Speaker 2: stands for savior, but it really stands for stressed, the
Speaker 2: shadow grows down the steps and so you end each
Speaker 2: day going, I don't have enough time. I need to
Speaker 2: check your Netflix que to see if God really accidentally
Speaker 2: skipped some time he was supposed to give you. Challenge
Speaker 2: the shadow Do you see what I mean? It sounds
Speaker 2: so big, like Wow, we're reading this passage about this
Speaker 2: king who was about to die, and God said, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give him fifteen more years. Sometimes it's not about
Speaker 2: fifteen years, it's about fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1: I learned. If I take fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2: And seek God first in my day, the whole day
Speaker 2: gets longer.
Speaker 1: It's almost like the shadow.
Speaker 2: Goes up the steps if I seek him first. But
Speaker 2: if I'm not focused, then I'm gonna end the day
Speaker 2: not enough time. I'm gonna start the day, not enough sleep.
Speaker 1: And the shadow will swallow me. How about this one? Wow,
Speaker 1: we're at it. I feel like I need to put
Speaker 1: on some rubber gloves, so I go this deep. All right,
Speaker 1: this is this crazy stuff right here. Boo.
Speaker 2: This is a big one for a lot of us.
Speaker 2: It's the idea that it's too late for me. Now,
Speaker 2: how about that one? Anybody? Anybody? He said, that's real? No,
Speaker 2: it's a shadow feels real. It feels real, especially in
Speaker 2: this day in time, man, because they are trying to
Speaker 2: wheel us to the nursing home when we're forty five?
Speaker 1: Am I right? Have you said? The other day?
Speaker 2: Mom? If you die, can you write right down to
Speaker 2: the boys and let them know I'll take care of
Speaker 2: your closet.
Speaker 1: She is killing my wife in the prime of her life.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm still buying holly clothes and jewelry, and
Speaker 2: Abby's already claiming it because she'd ride on the doorstep
Speaker 2: of death and tell you what. And that's funny until
Speaker 2: it's not. I remember a guy told me one time
Speaker 2: songwriting is a young man's game.
Speaker 1: He was forty, and in a sense.
Speaker 2: He's right, because most people who write pop songs and
Speaker 2: all different kinds of music, they write it when they're
Speaker 2: in their twenties or even younger than that. And he
Speaker 2: had kind of resigned himself to the fact that he
Speaker 2: wasn't gonna write any more good songs.
Speaker 1: He went on to write a few good ones.
Speaker 2: But I bet you're somewhere in him dealing with that
Speaker 2: because he was saying that out of his own fear
Speaker 2: he was over forty.
Speaker 1: I bet somewhere in his fear of that.
Speaker 2: He had to turn his face to the wall and ask,
Speaker 2: got is that really true? Because normally, yeah, people do
Speaker 2: their best work early, but this is not the NBA.
Speaker 1: Why have we let our culture turn into this. Once
Speaker 1: you're over thirty, you're worthless. The devil is a liar, y'all.
Speaker 1: Here's how much I don't believe that.
Speaker 2: I won't even I won't even let them put my
Speaker 2: sermons online that I preached when I was thirty because
Speaker 2: I did not know anything when I was thirty.
Speaker 1: And I'll probably take this one down.
Speaker 2: When I'm sixty because I intend to keep living, and
Speaker 2: I intend to keep learning, and I intend to keep
Speaker 2: contradicting myself as long as it takes to grow. So
Speaker 2: if God shows me something different, the shadow can roll back.
Speaker 2: I can admit my ignorance and go, I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: Then I'm growing.
Speaker 1: Now. Why have we given ourselves no grace to grow?
Speaker 2: Why do we define what can come next by what
Speaker 2: has already been?
Speaker 1: Is that not a step?
Speaker 2: Was it? Every mistake that you made up to this
Speaker 2: in your life a step toward wisdom?
Speaker 1: So watch this if you can receive it.
Speaker 2: Everything you thought was a step down from God's vantage point,
Speaker 2: it was a step up. That's what it means when
Speaker 2: God makes the shadow go backward. But you've got to
Speaker 2: challenge it.
Speaker 1: You've got to get in the face of your failure
Speaker 1: and say, oh, guess what you are failure? You are
Speaker 1: a foundation.
Speaker 2: I saw something online the other day and said, you're
Speaker 2: not starting over, You're starting from experience.
Speaker 1: How about that?
Speaker 2: Young people, all my forty three year old senior citizens
Speaker 2: make some noise with me.
Speaker 1: I'm a pert pid mom.
Speaker 2: It's so crazy, how quick we give up on what
Speaker 2: might have been the greatest season of your life. I declare,
Speaker 2: your grandkids need you to grow into it. If for
Speaker 2: nobody else, do it for what's coming after you.
Speaker 1: A girl that worked for me turn thirty.
Speaker 2: I said, congratulations, She said, oh no, please, don't speak
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: I said, speak of what she said. I can't stand
Speaker 1: to think about it. Turning thirty. Imagine that.
Speaker 2: Imagine that the enemy is so good at getting us
Speaker 2: to die that we just stay stupid. We won't learn,
Speaker 2: We won't challenge anything. We won't challenge a prejudice. We
Speaker 2: won't challenge a preconceived notion of ourselves.
Speaker 1: We won't challenge an insecurity. We won't challenge a hobby,
Speaker 1: we won't challenge an interest. We just live in it.
Speaker 2: Because Hezekiah called the prophet back with his tears, I reckon,
Speaker 2: you can rebuke the enemy off of your life with yours.
Speaker 2: It changed my life when I realized that the God
Speaker 2: said let there be light. Verse also points to the
Speaker 2: fact that the God who said let there be light
Speaker 2: also controls the shadows. The author of truth is the
Speaker 2: controller of time. I just speak this message today from
Speaker 2: my heart to yours, that sometimes you need to stand
Speaker 2: in the shadows and speak to the source. Isaiah sa.
Speaker 2: I can make it. I can make it keep going down,
Speaker 2: which is what it naturally does. Or if you really
Speaker 2: want to see what God spoke come to pass, here's
Speaker 2: what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: What was supposed to stay down, He's gonna go back up. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't know what brought you down in your life,
Speaker 2: and I can't know what's bringing you down in your soul.
Speaker 2: The promise of God is not just limited to some
Speaker 2: obscure old Testament king. As a matter of fact, this
Speaker 2: whole story isn't really a story. It's a shadow. The
Speaker 2: prophet said, in three days you will arise. I read
Speaker 2: my Bible some I seem to remember another thing about
Speaker 2: three days.
Speaker 1: And rising.
Speaker 2: You remember anything in that Bible about three days in rising?
Speaker 2: You remember in John chapter two where Jesus came through
Speaker 2: the temple and he was like, this is all out
Speaker 2: of order, and I feel God going.
Speaker 1: Through somebody's temple today and clearing.
Speaker 2: Out everything that doesn't belong and wiping out every shadow
Speaker 2: that has tried.
Speaker 1: To eliminate your purpose and your peace.
Speaker 2: And those gathered that day said, what will be Look
Speaker 2: at this in John chapter two, verse E. You're going
Speaker 2: to love this verse He said, what sign can you
Speaker 2: show us to prove your authority to do this? Nineteen
Speaker 2: is all the answer I need. Jesus answered them, Destroy
Speaker 2: this temple and I will raise it. You already there's
Speaker 2: about to be a resurrection.
Speaker 1: Destroy this temple.
Speaker 2: Take away my good name, Jesus said, Hang me up
Speaker 2: on a cross, call me the king of the Jews.
Speaker 2: As you mock me with the crown of thorns, plunge
Speaker 2: a Roman sphere into my side.
Speaker 1: You can destroy it, but if you do, you.
Speaker 2: Should know I will raise it again in three days.
Speaker 1: That's why he died to challenge the shadow.
Speaker 2: That's why he rose to challenge the shadow.
Speaker 1: That's why he ascended to the right hand of God.
Speaker 1: To let you know that even the grave and even
Speaker 1: the keys.
Speaker 3: Of dead in hell or in his.
Speaker 7: Half, Why would I die in the shadows.
Speaker 6: When I know the source? Here's the source of my strength.
Speaker 6: He is the strength of my life. Hey, has Akiyat,
Speaker 6: you shall not die.
Speaker 7: You show live, live, live, he live out of the shadows,
Speaker 7: into the light, out of the past, into the promise.
Speaker 1: You shall live.
Speaker 2: Because the one who controls the sun and spoken into
Speaker 2: its place can certainly bring the shadows back. The one
Speaker 2: who sees you and that pit can certainly pull you out.
Speaker 1: The one who gave.
Speaker 2: You your unique composition as a child of God can
Speaker 2: certainly bring you into your purpose. No matter how much
Speaker 2: time has passed.
Speaker 1: Even Isaiah had.
Speaker 2: To turn around when Hezekiah cried, Even the prophet had
Speaker 2: to turn around and say, there is a better word.
Speaker 2: Even God waits for your faith, no challenge, no change.
Speaker 2: If the shadow just went down the steps and it
Speaker 2: was easy, you wouldn't know he was God. You were
Speaker 2: in this moment, in this season of your life. Not
Speaker 2: only because life is hard, that's one reason. Not only
Speaker 2: because bad things happen, that's another reason, but because God
Speaker 2: is using this as a sign. I pictured all week
Speaker 2: that shadow coming back up the steps.
Speaker 1: I thought, what would that be like to watch something
Speaker 1: that looked like it was over.
Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, step by step come on
Speaker 2: get your feet moving.
Speaker 1: Onward, Christian soldiers, step by step.
Speaker 2: Wait a minute, Shadows don't walk up steps. They do
Speaker 2: when God speaks, stone stone, roll from full graves they
Speaker 2: do when Jesus speaks. Sins can't be forgiven, the past
Speaker 2: can't be undone.
Speaker 1: The record can't be a raise, it can't win. The
Speaker 1: blood speaks.
Speaker 2: I need everybody who's believing for a better word, to
Speaker 2: stop the prophet in his tracks right now.
Speaker 1: And begin to praise God.
Speaker 2: When you praise him, the shadow falls back.
Speaker 1: When you brace him, the shames fall off. When you
Speaker 1: praise him, the darkness.
Speaker 2: Starts to scatter and disciminate and disappear.
Speaker 1: I declare, it's coming back. It's coming back.
Speaker 2: It's coming back to you now to wait on the Lord,
Speaker 2: so remove their strength.
Speaker 1: It's coming back right now. It's coming back with every step.
Speaker 1: It's coming back with every brace, It's coming back with
Speaker 1: every breath. It's coming back with every tear. Come back,
Speaker 1: come back, shit back here. I say, yeah, speak the
Speaker 1: word that day. Say listen, this.
Speaker 3: Should not come with.
Speaker 7: You're not done with me, You're not.
Speaker 3: Done with me.
Speaker 6: I don't know what you're suffering from, but I say, room,
Speaker 6: listen I.
Speaker 1: Don't know what's your valley.
Speaker 6: Shot, but I know the luth of the other shine
Speaker 6: calls out bread you hear up time with me.
Speaker 2: It's not done with you.
Speaker 1: You're not done with me. You got fit see years pay.
Speaker 7: So much.
Speaker 2: His life?
Speaker 1: Who hear it in that setting? With walking?
Speaker 7: Yok it? Walk in it?
Speaker 1: F Kennedy. Walking t't a robbing you're rather.
Speaker 6: Foot step can't to lift this your side that it's
Speaker 6: your signal.
Speaker 7: This is your step, this is your word.
Speaker 1: Step away you make the true he's coming. Yes, he's gone.
Speaker 1: Can you look back? We talk about the step and
Speaker 1: the room? What the lord to?
Speaker 7: What the hood?
Speaker 2: Can't you?
Speaker 4: He's gonna down, So set away, make it through.
Speaker 1: He's gonna lett be like he's coming.
Speaker 2: Who let them be? Let to me?
Speaker 1: It's passigle. You got pors on. Anything is PASSI this
Speaker 1: is the table lord.
Speaker 2: That's man.
Speaker 7: Anything is possible, I will retorted, hide s.
Speaker 1: Did die with the normal. I'm coming out to.
Speaker 4: Anything is possible, anyth Anything is possible.
Speaker 1: What's that design? Anything? Anything? It's possible? Who went by?
Speaker 1: She did die with thee? Anything is my stiffer he
Speaker 1: gets you?
Speaker 2: Anything?
Speaker 1: Anything is possible? Who went by to did die.
Speaker 2: What the.
Speaker 8: It's turning around? He's turning around. I say, it's turning around.
Speaker 8: He's turning around. Somebody says, turning around, it's turning around.
Speaker 8: Us three people tell him it's turning around. It's turning around.
Speaker 8: It's turning around.
Speaker 1: It's turning around. It's turning around. Come on, move a
Speaker 1: little bit. It's turning around. It's turning around. God said
Speaker 1: his turnaround.
Speaker 2: Time.
Speaker 1: What you're gonna do with the base you have left?
Speaker 1: What you're gonna do with the wisdom you've got?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do with the breakthrough he made?
Speaker 1: What are you gonna do.
Speaker 7: With your open door?
Speaker 1: It's time.
Speaker 2: It's time.
Speaker 1: It's time to find out why you're still alive. It's
Speaker 1: time to pray.
Speaker 6: Say while you're still got breath, I mean for the
Speaker 6: sun goes down.
Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation,
Speaker 2: whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or
Speaker 2: just share these messages. It's because of you that we're
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Speaker 1: God bless you.