Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church,
Speaker 1: and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it
Speaker 1: builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to see
Speaker 1: God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Those
Speaker 1: of you who are here in the room, be seated.
Speaker 1: Let's get started. And those of you who are a
Speaker 1: part of our EFAM, our global extended family, or as
Speaker 1: we call it these days, everybody family, because none of
Speaker 1: us are really you know, it's kind of been weird.
Speaker 1: I always have the worship team come back out here
Speaker 1: and sit with me while I preach. One of my
Speaker 1: preacher friends was like, why do you have the worship
Speaker 1: team up there? And I was like, it's lonely up here, man.
Speaker 1: And especially it's kind of ominous preaching in an empty
Speaker 1: auditorium because we built this room for, like, I don't
Speaker 1: know one hundred times the amount of people that we're
Speaker 1: allowed to put in here right now, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of it's kind of creepy. I mean, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: anything bad about those of y'all who are here, but
Speaker 1: it just looks like the rapture happened, and y'all weren't
Speaker 1: living right when it did. We all missed it. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of lonely up here on preaching. Are y'all
Speaker 1: the only ones coming back today? There's more coming? Yeah,
Speaker 1: even since the first week of when we went into quarantine.
Speaker 1: I was like, if y'all could just keep some stools
Speaker 1: back there, and when you put your mics down, grab
Speaker 1: a stool and come sit with me, because it'll just
Speaker 1: help me to not feel lonely. And you wouldn't think
Speaker 1: the pulpit would be a lonely place, but sometimes it
Speaker 1: can be because you're bearing your soul for everybody to see,
Speaker 1: and especially some people have these facial expressions when you're preaching.
Speaker 1: They look at you with a very I don't want
Speaker 1: to be judgmental in the way I put this, but
Speaker 1: they look at you like they never did anything wrong
Speaker 1: in their life, and they look at you like they
Speaker 1: might have something better to do. Not not everybody looks
Speaker 1: at you that way, but sometimes when you're preaching, it's
Speaker 1: like you're trying to give out a bunch of love,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you don't get the same amount of love back.
Speaker 1: So in an empty room. It's different or an almost
Speaker 1: empty room. I don't know what you can see, but
Speaker 1: all these seats are empty. It's kind of lonely. You know.
Speaker 1: It's kind of lonely lately. It's been kind of lonely lately,
Speaker 1: hadn't it. It's been kind of lonely. And we used
Speaker 1: to get to come to church, and this was one
Speaker 1: place where we could come. You know, whether you were
Speaker 1: going to a rock Hill formerly rock Hill now known
Speaker 1: as Riverwalk Campus, or whether you were going to our
Speaker 1: Gaston campus or Blakeney Campus or Valentine here where I preach,
Speaker 1: or Raleigh Durham or Morrisville or Greenville or Greensboro. We
Speaker 1: had all these campuses, and the idea was where you
Speaker 1: could come out and be with others and to know
Speaker 1: that you're not alone in this thing called faith. You're
Speaker 1: not alone in this battle called life. Somebody say it
Speaker 1: in the chat, I'm not alone. I'm not alone, and
Speaker 1: just make eye contact with somebody, if anybody's there, and
Speaker 1: tell them you're not alone, You're not alone, You're not alone.
Speaker 1: But right now it's kind of harder for us to
Speaker 1: do that because even if you were here, I couldn't
Speaker 1: have you touch your neighbor. I used to have people
Speaker 1: touching their neighbor all the time during church, and somebody
Speaker 1: would say that's obnoxious and touch my neighbor. I am
Speaker 1: touching my neighbor. I don't touch my neighbor. I don't
Speaker 1: even know my neighbor's ends have been. I don't know
Speaker 1: if my neighbor you high five my neighbor. I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to catch anything. Well, now it's almost illegal to
Speaker 1: touch have them touch your neighbor is so it's really
Speaker 1: really different. It's kind of been lonely. Do you all
Speaker 1: remember when we recorded the Blessing, the song the Blessing.
Speaker 1: I went to watch the video the other day of
Speaker 1: the song the Blessing, and it was amazing to me, how, how,
Speaker 1: what was such a joyful moment when we recorded that
Speaker 1: song with our church had a little bit of sepia
Speaker 1: to it, a little bit of sadness, just a little
Speaker 1: bit of melancholy to it because we didn't know that
Speaker 1: a couple weeks after we released The Blessing that the
Speaker 1: buildings where we used to gather would sit empty. And
Speaker 1: when I watch it back, man, I feel kind of homesick.
Speaker 1: I was telling Holly that the other night, I said,
Speaker 1: I feel kind of homesick, I kind of miss some things.
Speaker 1: It's kind of lonely, and I want to preach to
Speaker 1: you along those lines today. From Mark chapter one, verse
Speaker 1: thirty five through forty five. I asked the Lord what
Speaker 1: I could give you today that would help you, And
Speaker 1: he knows that I don't know what you need right now,
Speaker 1: but he's gracious, and so I believe that he gave
Speaker 1: me something that is beyond my limitations of human understanding,
Speaker 1: that's going to reach right into your spirit and speak
Speaker 1: to you. I want to encourage you to share this
Speaker 1: message with somebody. While we cannot convene physically, It's never
Speaker 1: been easier for you to share the Word of God
Speaker 1: with somebody in that awesome So right now, you could
Speaker 1: click a share button wherever you're watching this, or you
Speaker 1: could text a link. You could reach out to somebody
Speaker 1: and say there's a message that's going forth right now,
Speaker 1: and I want you to be a part of it
Speaker 1: with me. Just because we are physically alone doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that we have to be spiritually. And that's why we're here,
Speaker 1: and that's why we keep coming out every week, no
Speaker 1: matter how crazy it gets outside. No matter how uncertain
Speaker 1: it is in the world, We've got to keep coming together.
Speaker 1: We've got to keep coming together, and it's so important
Speaker 1: that we do, and it's so important that we continue
Speaker 1: to come around God's word, which never changes in a
Speaker 1: world that has never been more unstable. So today's message
Speaker 1: comes from Mark, chapter one, verse thirty five through forty five,
Speaker 1: and the Bible says that very early in the morning,
Speaker 1: while it was still dark, Jesus got up, very early
Speaker 1: in the morning, while it was still dark. Jesus got up,
Speaker 1: very early in the morning, while it was still dark.
Speaker 1: Jesus got up. No, your YouTube is not buffering. I
Speaker 1: read it three times on purpose. I wonder if that's
Speaker 1: foreshadowing something that's going to happen later. In the Gospel
Speaker 1: of Mark, very early in the morning, while it was
Speaker 1: still dark, Jesus got up. I'm gonna turn my chair
Speaker 1: around and preach back here and see if anybody knows
Speaker 1: the Bible back here. I just wondered if if Mark
Speaker 1: put that in because he was giving a little bit
Speaker 1: of foreshadowing of what would happen later. Very early, while
Speaker 1: it was still dark, Jesus got up, and so just
Speaker 1: pointing that out to you that God knows how this
Speaker 1: thing ends, that he knows how this thing turns out. Oh,
Speaker 1: you're not ready for me, Jean Lacky. Very early in
Speaker 1: the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up,
Speaker 1: left the house and went off to a solitary place
Speaker 1: where he prayed. Where he prayed, Simon and his companions
Speaker 1: went to look for him, and when they found him,
Speaker 1: they exclaimed, everyone is looking for you, and Jesus replied,
Speaker 1: let us go somewhere else, to the nearby villages, so
Speaker 1: I can preach there also. That is why I have come.
Speaker 1: That is why I have come. So he traveled throughout Galilee,
Speaker 1: preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons. A man
Speaker 1: with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees,
Speaker 1: if you're willing, you can make me clean. Jesus was indignant.
Speaker 1: He reached out his hand and touched the man. I
Speaker 1: am willing, he said, be clean. Immediately the leprosy left
Speaker 1: him and he was cleansed. Jesus sent him away at
Speaker 1: once with a strong warning. See that you don't tell
Speaker 1: this to anyone, but go show yourself to the priests
Speaker 1: and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing
Speaker 1: as a testimony to them. Instead, he went out and
Speaker 1: began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result,
Speaker 1: Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed
Speaker 1: outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to
Speaker 1: him from everywhere. That's my title today. It says Jesus
Speaker 1: could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside
Speaker 1: in lonely places. I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: lonely places today. Lonely places. Let's pray. God, you inhabit
Speaker 1: all things. You inhabit the praise of your people. You
Speaker 1: inhabit the broken and the contrite heart. Today, Lord, I
Speaker 1: pray that you would fill every kitchen where this word
Speaker 1: is going forth. That you would fill every bedroom where
Speaker 1: this word is going forth, every living room, every condo,
Speaker 1: every back deck, every car, every hospital room, every prison
Speaker 1: cell where this word is going forth. And everybody in
Speaker 1: this room is here to agree with me that you
Speaker 1: are filling all spaces right now with your glory. And
Speaker 1: we thank you that you are here. We thank you
Speaker 1: that we are never forsaken, never abandoned. We pray this
Speaker 1: and believe this because we have your word on it,
Speaker 1: a guarantee from Heaven that never will you leave us
Speaker 1: or forsake us. And we stand on that promise right
Speaker 1: now in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen in the chat. Amen,
Speaker 1: in the chat. Jesus is hiding from his disciples. Jesus
Speaker 1: is hiding from his disciples. Let's make all of a
Speaker 1: Catholic church for a minute and have a confession. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's turn this into a confession booth in the chat.
Speaker 1: How many parents have hiding places where you go to
Speaker 1: get away from your kids. There's a few hands going
Speaker 1: up in the room. Raise your hand in the chat.
Speaker 1: And I know y'all don't have kids yet. You don't
Speaker 1: have kids. You don't have kids, so you're judging this
Speaker 1: whole situation right now. Oh, if I had kids, I
Speaker 1: would be emotionally available so that they could see the
Speaker 1: heart of my good, good Father whose arms are open wide.
Speaker 1: But we have this workout, little workout room in my house.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for it. Sometimes I go in there for
Speaker 1: six hours, six hours and do ten bicep curls. It's
Speaker 1: really like a second office for me. I go in
Speaker 1: there to hide and I go in there, and you know,
Speaker 1: I'd be seven times bigger if I was actually lifting
Speaker 1: weights in there. But I go in there just to hide.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I have a whole desk right beside my pre
Speaker 1: workout is a and then a notebook. Especially in these
Speaker 1: last few weeks, I've had how many of you, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I see it in the chat from Jessica and Ivy
Speaker 1: and Jesse, all the hands raising, and all of you
Speaker 1: that are judging me with the captions because your kids
Speaker 1: are only six months old right now, and I just
Speaker 1: let this none of them all the time. And I
Speaker 1: speak this as a prophetic declaration into your future. If
Speaker 1: you watch this message, in five years, you will have
Speaker 1: nests within your home. If you parent long enough, you
Speaker 1: will do drive bys on your own house. When you
Speaker 1: come home from work. You will go to work to
Speaker 1: hide and rest from your children. Praise the Lord. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because, like I was saying, some of the
Speaker 1: places that we used to go to get away are
Speaker 1: now places where we can no longer go. And it's
Speaker 1: forced us to deal with some of the things in
Speaker 1: our own hearts that we used to be able to
Speaker 1: run from. Y'all didn't come to help me preach today.
Speaker 1: It's lonely in this elevation pulpit today. And Jesus, I
Speaker 1: don't feel so bad about hiding from my kids every
Speaker 1: now and then. And I really am a very very
Speaker 1: present dad. I don't want you to get the wrong
Speaker 1: idea every once in a while, like Jesus I got
Speaker 1: to get away from Peter. I thought it was so
Speaker 1: ironic because we talk about spending time with Jesus. I
Speaker 1: see all on Instagram, with your coffee mug and your
Speaker 1: journal and your amplified Bible, study scripture, three different translations,
Speaker 1: devotion books talking about spending it, you know, just spending
Speaker 1: some time with Jesus. And I thought it was cool
Speaker 1: that even Jesus needed to spend time with Jesus. This
Speaker 1: is really important because if you never spend any time
Speaker 1: disconnected from the external, you will always be driven by
Speaker 1: agendas that come from the outside. The life of Jesus
Speaker 1: models in so many ways the ability to live from within.
Speaker 1: What he's teaching us here is not just the importance
Speaker 1: of getting up early. And thank God, because I'm not
Speaker 1: a morning person. I think it's hilarious that I have
Speaker 1: to preach these messages in the morning, because a lot
Speaker 1: of mornings, I don't even feel like a Christian until
Speaker 1: about eleven AM. It takes me that long to get
Speaker 1: saved again. It takes me a cup of coffee and
Speaker 1: a diet coke just to feel the Holy Spirit in
Speaker 1: the morning. But Jesus got up early why to pray,
Speaker 1: to align himself with his purpose. And it's never been
Speaker 1: more important because Jesus is at the height of his popularity,
Speaker 1: and he understood that popularity and purpose don't often work together.
Speaker 1: In fact, in fact, can I preach like I did
Speaker 1: to the young people? Can I preach like I did
Speaker 1: to the young people? I was telling them not to
Speaker 1: confuse fame with fruitfulness, not to confuse being noticed with
Speaker 1: being known. When I came and preached to the young
Speaker 1: people on Friday to close youth X, I was telling
Speaker 1: them how Jesus refused to be controlled by popular opinion
Speaker 1: or external agendas. And for this reason, the Bible says
Speaker 1: that he snuck away from Peter James, John Andrew Bartholomew
Speaker 1: went to a solitary place. The Bible calls it. It's
Speaker 1: the same phrase that you would see to mean wilderness
Speaker 1: or wasteland or desert. Jesus apparently had a secret spot
Speaker 1: that he liked to go and recharge and spend time
Speaker 1: with Jesus. Jesus had to go spend some time with
Speaker 1: Jesus and with his father, and the Bible calls this
Speaker 1: prayer not just a time for him to read through
Speaker 1: his list of things that he'd like God to do
Speaker 1: for him, but a place for him to get his
Speaker 1: orders on the inside what God wanted him to do
Speaker 1: that day. Now, if you do not have this place
Speaker 1: in your life where you go and you are willing
Speaker 1: to be alone for a little while, you will spend
Speaker 1: your entire life scrolling through screenshots of everybody else's idea
Speaker 1: of purpose. But Jesus understood that it is important to
Speaker 1: get alone sometimes, to get alone sometimes. And I found
Speaker 1: out that we're living in a time where it's never
Speaker 1: been more difficult to really be alone. I mean really alone.
Speaker 1: I don't mean that there's no other human bodies around.
Speaker 1: That's pretty easy right now, but I mean to really
Speaker 1: just be alone and to really seek God. What do
Speaker 1: you want me to do? That's hard to do because
Speaker 1: I'm bombarded. It's hard to do because you know, if
Speaker 1: I'm reading my Bible or if i'm watching a sermon
Speaker 1: on the same phone where I have my Bible app,
Speaker 1: there's all these other apps. It's never been harder to
Speaker 1: be alone. Have you noticed this? Even when we're alone,
Speaker 1: we are flooded with voices. Even when we are alone,
Speaker 1: there is an abundance of noise. And so Jesus had
Speaker 1: a spot, and you have to have a spot. And
Speaker 1: I wish they made an airplane mode switch on my mind.
Speaker 1: You know how they have it on the phone where
Speaker 1: you can turn off the connection and just be with
Speaker 1: what's really on the device. I wish there was one
Speaker 1: for my mind, but I can't find it in my mind.
Speaker 1: And I find that even when I'm all alone physically emotionally,
Speaker 1: it's a crowded space. Right now, one of the issues
Speaker 1: of our day is going to be that we are
Speaker 1: going to become numb to the things that really matter,
Speaker 1: because we are so bombarded and constantly connected to the
Speaker 1: things that are peripheral that buy for our attention that
Speaker 1: are not really essential. I'm preaching Caroline, I'm preaching Melissa,
Speaker 1: I'm preaching nel Yes, I am. Jesus got alone. He
Speaker 1: chose to go get along. Now. It wasn't easy for
Speaker 1: him in fact, the Bible says that Peter came looking
Speaker 1: for him. Peter came looking for him. You know all
Speaker 1: my kids have started doing now, They started facetiming me
Speaker 1: in my own house. Yes, they have face time in
Speaker 1: me in my own house, looking for me, like I'm
Speaker 1: on their payroll. So Peter tracks Jesus down. And listen
Speaker 1: the Greek. You can look this up on a study
Speaker 1: Bible if you want to. The Greek where it says
Speaker 1: that he went looking for Jesus. When Jesus went to
Speaker 1: his little spot. You know, Jesus had a little spot
Speaker 1: where he could get along, just be alone, hear what
Speaker 1: the father says, and get away from all the distractions,
Speaker 1: and get away from all the opinions, and get away
Speaker 1: from all the twenty four hour cycle of depression and
Speaker 1: anxiety and craziness that they feed to us. And they
Speaker 1: give us our fear in the form of entertainment, and
Speaker 1: we didn't even realize we're hooked on stuff that is
Speaker 1: designed to keep us in a state of needing, the
Speaker 1: very thing that is killing us. Jesus got away and
Speaker 1: here comes Peter. Here comes Peter. The Greek says he
Speaker 1: tracked him down, almost like he was a stalker, almost
Speaker 1: like how the devil will track you down, almost like
Speaker 1: how anxiety will track you down, almost how something that
Speaker 1: happened two years ago will track you down and try
Speaker 1: to keep you from enjoying this present moment. And Peter's
Speaker 1: like a rabbi. Everybody's looking for you, as if Jesus
Speaker 1: was going to conform to the expectations of others when
Speaker 1: he came from God for a purpose that was innate
Speaker 1: to his very nature. They're looking for you. Man. You
Speaker 1: gotta get out there. Do some more of this exorcisms,
Speaker 1: these demons casting out. This is playing really well in
Speaker 1: the polls. People say that they'd be more likely to
Speaker 1: vote for you if you would do more of these exorcisms.
Speaker 1: You know, Jesus is at the height of his popularity,
Speaker 1: but he chooses to be alone and watch what he
Speaker 1: does next. And this is what you can do when
Speaker 1: your intention is set from within. Here's what I mean
Speaker 1: by that, seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Speaker 1: Here's what I mean from that, you operate from a
Speaker 1: place of peace, not a place of pressure. Here's what
Speaker 1: I mean by that. You let the world be as
Speaker 1: crazy as it wants to be. But you have something
Speaker 1: that transcends understanding to guard your heart and mind in Christ, Jesus,
Speaker 1: here's what I mean by that. You set up boundaries
Speaker 1: and you say, this is the scope of what I'm
Speaker 1: willing to give my attention to. You set your focus
Speaker 1: and your eyes on what is eternal, not what is temporal,
Speaker 1: and Jesus saying, I'm glad they're looking for me, but
Speaker 1: right now I need to be alone, So let's go.
Speaker 1: This is what he said to Peter, to some of
Speaker 1: the other villages in towns, because this is what I
Speaker 1: came for. This is what I came for. Somebody in
Speaker 1: the chat say, this is what I came for. This
Speaker 1: is what I came for. When you know what goes
Speaker 1: on the other side of that, this is what I
Speaker 1: came for. Like, Okay, to church today, what did you
Speaker 1: come for? What did you come for? What did you
Speaker 1: log on for? What is your purpose in being here?
Speaker 1: My purpose today is to preach the word of God
Speaker 1: to you. I'm not able to change you. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just a person, so I'm not even able to
Speaker 1: give you the illumination to the issues that plague humanity
Speaker 1: is to be. But I know what I'm here for
Speaker 1: I am here to speak a word from God, and
Speaker 1: I believe that He has given me a tongue to
Speaker 1: sustain the weary. And the Lord sent me today for
Speaker 1: an assignment for somebody who's been in a lonely place.
Speaker 1: I wanted you to notice that Jesus chose to go
Speaker 1: to a lonely place. Jesus chose for a season to
Speaker 1: separate himself from all of the stress. Jesus chose to
Speaker 1: separate himself from all of the drama. Jesus chose to
Speaker 1: separate himself from all of the demands that were surrounding him,
Speaker 1: and he had to save the world. And maybe in
Speaker 1: this season, the reason that some of us have been
Speaker 1: so stressed out is because we don't know why God
Speaker 1: put us here. We have been so busy chasing after
Speaker 1: things like popularity, status, achievement, recognition. We have been so
Speaker 1: busy chasing after those things. But Jesus withdrew to a
Speaker 1: lonely place so he could be reminded of his assignment
Speaker 1: and aligned with the reason that God sent him. He said,
Speaker 1: let's go to some of the other towns. He said,
Speaker 1: I didn't come to impress people. I didn't come just
Speaker 1: to do spectacular things so people would see how great
Speaker 1: I am. I didn't come for that. Let me go
Speaker 1: do what I came to do. Everybody in this room,
Speaker 1: do what you came to do today. You shouldn't need
Speaker 1: an instrument. If you came to worship him, then worship him.
Speaker 1: If you came to worship him, I don't want a
Speaker 1: single guitar or a kick drum or an organ. In fact,
Speaker 1: right now in your home, do what you came to do.
Speaker 1: If you logged onto this sermon today just to be entertained,
Speaker 1: then sit there. But if you came to praise the
Speaker 1: Lord and you don't care how it looks or how
Speaker 1: it feels, but you know that real worshipers can worship
Speaker 1: him anywhere, anytime, with anything, then let everything that asks
Speaker 1: for id praise the Lord. Ten seconds to do what
Speaker 1: you came to do. Five seconds to do what you
Speaker 1: came to do. I came to praise you, Lord, I
Speaker 1: came to magnify you. I came into somebody's home today
Speaker 1: on this stream to remind them that you are with
Speaker 1: them in the lonely place, that you are with them
Speaker 1: in the dark place, that you are rising right now
Speaker 1: in the spirit of everyone who will set their intention
Speaker 1: in the direction of their destiny and not the distraction
Speaker 1: of this moment. Jesus said, let's go do what I
Speaker 1: came to do. So let's see what he came to do.
Speaker 1: I know what I came to do. Come on, tell
Speaker 1: somebody next to you. I don't know what you came
Speaker 1: to do, but I came to glorify God. I don't
Speaker 1: know what you think your life is about, but God
Speaker 1: put me here so the world could have a picture
Speaker 1: of him. I am made in the image of God.
Speaker 1: I have a purpose from Almighty God. He said, let's
Speaker 1: go do what I came to do, not what others
Speaker 1: expect me to do, but what I came to do.
Speaker 1: And then the Bible says that in verse forty, a
Speaker 1: man with leprosy came to Jesus. He said, let's go
Speaker 1: do what I came to do. And then a man
Speaker 1: with leprosy came to Jesus. Did the man come to
Speaker 1: Jesus or did Jesus come to the man? Jesus said,
Speaker 1: let me show you what I came to do. And
Speaker 1: a man with leprosy came to him and begged him
Speaker 1: on his knees. A man in a desperate situation, a
Speaker 1: man who had a skin condition that the dermatologists couldn't fix,
Speaker 1: a man who had been quarantined outside the camp. See
Speaker 1: a lot of things we can go through. We think
Speaker 1: they're new. So most of us just found out about
Speaker 1: social distancing a few months ago. Social distancing is in
Speaker 1: Mark chapter one and Leviticus thirteen. The challenges we face
Speaker 1: are nothing new to God. They're new to us. The
Speaker 1: thing you're dealing with right now is nothing new to God.
Speaker 1: What you think you have some some struggle or some
Speaker 1: sin that's just so innovative. You think you're like that
Speaker 1: creative of a sinner, that God has never seen your
Speaker 1: sin before. Man, we often forget that He came for
Speaker 1: the things that we try to hide. That's why I came.
Speaker 1: He said, let me do what I came to do. Jesus,
Speaker 1: everybody's looking for you. You got a book signing it one.
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan's got you on the podcast today. This is big, Jesus.
Speaker 1: This could be a big moment for your ministry. And
Speaker 1: a leper came to Jesus. A leper came to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Before we gloss over the power of that sentence, I
Speaker 1: want you to understand that Jesus had the legal right
Speaker 1: to pick up the first stone that he saw and
Speaker 1: throw it at the leper, because according to vitical law,
Speaker 1: if a leper gets within fifty paces of someone who
Speaker 1: has been deemed clean, the clean has the right to
Speaker 1: throw at the unclean a stone. So when it says
Speaker 1: a leper came to Jesus, I want you to pause
Speaker 1: and think about the tremendous risk that was represented in
Speaker 1: this man's decision. He had a way that he could
Speaker 1: live with leprosy, and we are given no detail to
Speaker 1: how the condition appeared or when it spread. It's kind
Speaker 1: of interesting that we don't even know this man's name,
Speaker 1: just his issue. We don't know his hopes, his dreams,
Speaker 1: just this issue. We don't know his children's names, or
Speaker 1: how long it may have been since he got to
Speaker 1: hold his daughter in his arms, just as issues. We
Speaker 1: don't get to know all the people that he had
Speaker 1: helped at one point in his life that would no
Speaker 1: longer come near him anymore, because to do so would
Speaker 1: to be exposed himself to a disease that was deemed
Speaker 1: very contagious at this time. We just know him by
Speaker 1: his issue. Isn't it awful to be defined by your issues?
Speaker 1: Isn't it terrible when something takes over your life to
Speaker 1: the point where it seems to overshadow all the good
Speaker 1: things about you, and now all you're known by is
Speaker 1: your issues. Isn't it a horrible thing when you go
Speaker 1: to try to think about something good, but all of
Speaker 1: the issues of everything that is wrong clouds out all
Speaker 1: the things that are right. It's a horrible thing to
Speaker 1: be known by your issues. And some people will define
Speaker 1: you by your issues to hide the fact that they
Speaker 1: don't have issues. They have a whole subscription. Love Dad
Speaker 1: jokes in my sermon, just to lighten the mood. It's
Speaker 1: a horrible thing to be known by your issues and
Speaker 1: to have your issue come into the room before you do.
Speaker 1: That's what it was like to be a leper. If
Speaker 1: you were a leper, you were required by law to
Speaker 1: walk into a space where you were intending to get
Speaker 1: in the distance or vicinity of anyone who was not
Speaker 1: a leper. You could live in a leper colony. You
Speaker 1: could live with other people who had the same skin
Speaker 1: condition as you, but you were confined to that place.
Speaker 1: If you wanted to come out of that place, you
Speaker 1: had to say this at least two times. Unclean, unclean.
Speaker 1: You don't get to announce yourself by your name. You
Speaker 1: don't get to announce yourself by the fact that you
Speaker 1: have a good heart. How lonely would it be if
Speaker 1: you were only known by your issue and nobody really
Speaker 1: ever saw the real you. Now there's a there's a
Speaker 1: contrast here. Jesus was becoming known by his gift. The
Speaker 1: man was known by his issue. I've met a lot
Speaker 1: of famous people who are known by their gift, but
Speaker 1: they are never accepted for their personhood. So they are
Speaker 1: lonely because they are only known for what they do,
Speaker 1: not who they are. Jesus resisted that, But here comes
Speaker 1: a man who's willing to say, I got oppressed past
Speaker 1: my issue. I want to be touch, I want to
Speaker 1: be known. I want to feel again. I don't want
Speaker 1: to live like this on the outside. I don't want
Speaker 1: to have to scream every time I walk in a
Speaker 1: room unclean, unclean, unclean, unclean. What if you had to
Speaker 1: announce in the chap what you struggle with to keep
Speaker 1: streaming this sermon? Would you say? What if y'all had
Speaker 1: to come in here to and before they let you
Speaker 1: in to record this worship. They didn't just take your
Speaker 1: temperature with that little gun they put in tested your temperature?
Speaker 1: What did they put a little thermometer to see? What
Speaker 1: was your biggest temptation that you gave into last week?
Speaker 1: Would you come in if they could scan you for that?
Speaker 1: Would you come in? Elijah was asking me the other
Speaker 1: day if every thought that you had went on the
Speaker 1: screen during worship, like the lyrics to the song, would
Speaker 1: you still have a job. I said, nope. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have any friends. I wouldn't have a job, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have anything. I said, how about you, would you have
Speaker 1: any friends? Would you put it on the screen? He
Speaker 1: said nope. He said, I said what would what would
Speaker 1: come on the screen if we could see your thoughts?
Speaker 1: He said, I'm not telling you. I'm gonna telling you either.
Speaker 1: And we just kept kept moving right along. But Jesus,
Speaker 1: when the man came to him, y'all think this is
Speaker 1: dangerous because we're supposed to be social distancing, punishable by death.
Speaker 1: Here comes this man who all of his life has
Speaker 1: had to walk around identified by his issue. Or maybe
Speaker 1: it wasn't all his life, Maybe it's more recent nobody
Speaker 1: really knows. When you got to spoil on your skin
Speaker 1: as a leopard, you had to come to the priests,
Speaker 1: the sons of Aran, and you had to show them
Speaker 1: the spot that was developing on your skin. And when
Speaker 1: you show them the spot that was developing on your skin,
Speaker 1: if it was if it was just on the skin,
Speaker 1: that was a scab. And if it was just a scab,
Speaker 1: then you could stay integrated into society. But if it
Speaker 1: had gotten into the skin, or if the coloration continued
Speaker 1: to spread all across your skin, then they would confine
Speaker 1: you for seven days and check you out again. So
Speaker 1: when this man first saw a spot, maybe it was
Speaker 1: something he could cover up for a little while, because
Speaker 1: you know how it is when when something first starts
Speaker 1: in your life, you could cover it up for a
Speaker 1: little while and transfer something and checking in savings and
Speaker 1: Peter and Paul and all of that and not really
Speaker 1: have to identify it. But the thing about it is,
Speaker 1: eventually it had spread to the point where the man
Speaker 1: could no longer cover it and live normally because it
Speaker 1: began to cover more and more of his skin, until
Speaker 1: the point where it had spread so far on his
Speaker 1: skin that it had pushed him out of the spaces
Speaker 1: where people tended to live. And I thought that this
Speaker 1: might be for some of us, how shame operates for
Speaker 1: a lot of us. What keeps us isolated is and
Speaker 1: something on our skin, it's something in our souls. When
Speaker 1: I was reading about the lepre coming to Jesus, I
Speaker 1: started to see myself. See, my spots aren't on my skin.
Speaker 1: My spots aren't visible to you. It be better if
Speaker 1: they were, because usually we address what others can see.
Speaker 1: So we get really good at fixing stuff. Whether it's
Speaker 1: a hairline, you know, whether it's a whether it's an
Speaker 1: external cosmetic sequence of events that are designed to restore
Speaker 1: your youth, or whether it's a way that you dress
Speaker 1: to impress people. We're usually pretty good at covering up
Speaker 1: the outside stuff. But what do you do when the
Speaker 1: spots aren't on your skin, rather they're on your soul.
Speaker 1: This man broke through shame, This man broke through excuses.
Speaker 1: This man broke through tradition and came all the way
Speaker 1: to Jesus and fell down at his feet and said,
Speaker 1: if you are willing, you can heal me. Now, a
Speaker 1: surface reading of this text, let me teach you I'll
Speaker 1: make me feel like I got to close right now,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to close. In this text, we
Speaker 1: know too much. We know that Jesus ends up healing
Speaker 1: the man and goes on to have a great ministry.
Speaker 1: But if you put yourself in the original context, this
Speaker 1: is not only a risky move for the leper, it's
Speaker 1: a risky move for Jesus. And I want to make
Speaker 1: sure we understand why, because this is really going to
Speaker 1: help somebody. The levitical law prescribed that not only should
Speaker 1: the leper stay away, but if a priest touch something
Speaker 1: that is deemed unclean, then the clean becomes unclean. Essentially,
Speaker 1: the leper is saying to Jesus, if you are willing
Speaker 1: to be dirty by association with me, it's going to
Speaker 1: cost you. But if you are willing, see, he's not
Speaker 1: just moving this man out of the way to get
Speaker 1: to something more important. Remember what he just said, Let's
Speaker 1: do what we came to do. So this is not
Speaker 1: an interruption. This is the assignment. This is not an interruption.
Speaker 1: This is the assignment. Sometimes we get confused and we
Speaker 1: start pushing away the very thing that God brought to
Speaker 1: us that we could do, the thing that we came
Speaker 1: to do. So we're pushing to the side the very
Speaker 1: thing that is our purpose. But you said, this is
Speaker 1: what I came for. I am willing be clean. I
Speaker 1: speak that over every shameful heart today, be clean. I
Speaker 1: speak that over every sorrowful past. Today, be clean, be healed,
Speaker 1: be washed, be sprinkled with the water of this word,
Speaker 1: be clean. But Jesus didn't just speak it. See, he
Speaker 1: could have healed him just with a word. He did
Speaker 1: it for the official son. He sent his word and
Speaker 1: healed him. Jesus didn't even have to be in the
Speaker 1: same neighborhood to healing. He could have spoken to the leprosy.
Speaker 1: But he didn't just want to speak it. He wanted
Speaker 1: to show it. And he did something so dramatic. He
Speaker 1: did something so costly, He did something so dangerous. Hear
Speaker 1: me today, I don't know who this is for. You've
Speaker 1: been in a lonely place. It's a lonely place, not
Speaker 1: just a little bored a lonely place, A lonely place.
Speaker 1: You think this message is just for single people. It's not.
Speaker 1: I think it's the loneliest thing in the world to
Speaker 1: have people around you. But you can't really touch them
Speaker 1: and connect with them for who you really are, because
Speaker 1: you just keep trying to give them who you think
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be. That's a lonely place. You think
Speaker 1: I'm talking about people who don't have followers on in,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I think we all have spots. I think
Speaker 1: we all have spots. I used to not think that.
Speaker 1: I used to think certain people didn't. I used to
Speaker 1: be embarrassed because I thought I was the weird one.
Speaker 1: But I think we all have spots. I think we
Speaker 1: all have insecurities. We don't wear them on the outside,
Speaker 1: so the priests can't see them. We don't wear them
Speaker 1: on the outside, so sometimes even the people who love
Speaker 1: us can't see what we really wrestle with. We all
Speaker 1: have spots. And now here you are in a pandemic
Speaker 1: and you can't even come to church like you used to.
Speaker 1: That used to be the one time every week where
Speaker 1: you could get around other people and sing and let
Speaker 1: somebody's fathe carry you. And now you're even having to
Speaker 1: have church in your lonely place. But God gave me
Speaker 1: a word for you today in the lonely place. He said,
Speaker 1: I will, I will, And then he did. He didn't
Speaker 1: just speak it. He didn't just say it, He demonstrated it.
Speaker 1: Be clean and put the verse on the screen if
Speaker 1: you can, and he touched the man. Remember what I
Speaker 1: told you if the clean touches the unclean, what did
Speaker 1: I say? That the clean becomes unclean? But this is
Speaker 1: not just any priest. We don't come to a high
Speaker 1: priest who is unable to be touched by the feeling
Speaker 1: of our infirmity. One of the first things that leprosy
Speaker 1: would attack was your ability to feel. One of the
Speaker 1: first indications that you had leprosy wasn't on your skin.
Speaker 1: It was the fact that you lost the ability to feel.
Speaker 1: It's a bacterial infection that touches the nerve system. So
Speaker 1: now this man who is unable to feel is being
Speaker 1: touched by a priest who is feeling for him. Splug
Speaker 1: needs some eidh. The Bible says, Jesus felt for him.
Speaker 1: He feels for you. He sympathizes with you, He sits
Speaker 1: with you, he lives with you, he weeps with you,
Speaker 1: he walks with you, he gets angry with you. He
Speaker 1: feels what you feel. He said, I will, and he
Speaker 1: touched the man. Now here's the interesting thing about the text.
Speaker 1: We expect now that Jesus the Great High Priest, becomes
Speaker 1: unclean and is disqualified because he touched something that was defiled.
Speaker 1: But since this isn't just any priest, since this priest
Speaker 1: does not originate from men, since this priest did not
Speaker 1: come from earth, since this priest is without sin, the
Speaker 1: thoughtless lamb of God, since this is not just any priest.
Speaker 1: When the unclean touches the clean, the clean does not
Speaker 1: become unclean. The unclean becomes clean. And immediately that man
Speaker 1: slept forcy fell off, And immediately shame is broken off
Speaker 1: your life. And immediately what used to hold you doesn't
Speaker 1: hold you anymore. Give God praise if you know Touch
Speaker 1: them God, Touch them. God, They've been a lonely place. God.
Speaker 1: They don't even like themselves anymore. But touch them God.
Speaker 1: They're so sick of this God. But touch them. They're
Speaker 1: wondering how much longer? God, Well, my kids ever go
Speaker 1: back to school? Will I ever be able to go
Speaker 1: out again? Touch them like you touch that man, Touch
Speaker 1: them beyond the issues that they face, and remind them
Speaker 1: that you came to touch what others would push away.
Speaker 1: And you are not intimidated by our spots. Oh God,
Speaker 1: whatever has been keeping them at a distance, I prayed
Speaker 1: that they would have the courage to come close to
Speaker 1: you today. You've been in a lonely place because we
Speaker 1: all got spots. We all got spots. We've all got insecure,
Speaker 1: insecure places, inadequate places. We've all got spots. When he
Speaker 1: touched that man, this is so beautiful. When I was
Speaker 1: texting my friend about it, I started to cry. I
Speaker 1: was just texting the idea, how when this passage started,
Speaker 1: the leper was in a lonely place. I'm going to
Speaker 1: imagine thousands of people who are living in a lonely
Speaker 1: place today, and maybe nobody even knows that you. You know,
Speaker 1: in the Bible, the lepers had to stay outside in
Speaker 1: the camps. Leviticus thirteen forty five says that anyone who
Speaker 1: has this defiling disease on their skin has to wear
Speaker 1: torn clothes. We do that by choice. Now for fashion,
Speaker 1: all these little worship leaders with their skinny jeans and
Speaker 1: the holes. But when you dressed in these clothes, it
Speaker 1: was to identify you from a distance as somebody who
Speaker 1: couldn't come close. You identify yourself as someone who can't
Speaker 1: get close. Some of You can't get close to others,
Speaker 1: you can't get close to God. You can't really pray
Speaker 1: because you're not even praying about the real things. You're
Speaker 1: pretending to be somebody in God's presence that you're not.
Speaker 1: And he can't touch that. He can't touch that. But
Speaker 1: these lepers, see, they were identifiable from a distance because
Speaker 1: their clothes were torn, and the Bible says that they
Speaker 1: had to have unkempt hair. I was like, dang, this
Speaker 1: is like it was written in twenty twenty. You see,
Speaker 1: you see it. All the barbershops were closed, and the
Speaker 1: Bible says that these lepers. This gives us a picture
Speaker 1: of what the man had to live like. Unkempt hair,
Speaker 1: torn clothes, and they had to cover the lower part
Speaker 1: of their face. The Bible's not relevant, is it? The Bible?
Speaker 1: The Bible is very relevant to the moment where you
Speaker 1: got to cover your face and cry out with your
Speaker 1: mouth unclean, unclean, and as long as they have the disease,
Speaker 1: they remain unclean. They must live alone. When this passage started,
Speaker 1: the leper was in a very lonely place, identify by
Speaker 1: his issues. And that's where some of you have been.
Speaker 1: What brought a tear to my eye. Is how the
Speaker 1: passage ended. Because the Bible said that when Jesus healed
Speaker 1: the man, he told him, don't tell anyone what I
Speaker 1: did for you. That's the opposite of what we teach
Speaker 1: you in church. We tell you click share and if
Speaker 1: you have a testimony, and praise the Lord and what
Speaker 1: has he done for you. But Jesus was governed by purpose,
Speaker 1: and he knew that if people started coming to him
Speaker 1: just to perform external miracles, it would miss the intention
Speaker 1: for which he came. When he told the man not
Speaker 1: to tell anyone, the Bible says he gave him a
Speaker 1: strong warning. And the Hebrew image here is that his
Speaker 1: nostrils flared. Y'all ever heard a savage Jesus? How about
Speaker 1: snorting Jesus. I know y'all saw sweet Jesus, sweet little
Speaker 1: baby two six d eight pounds six ounds Jesus. You know,
Speaker 1: superstitious Jesus, Little stitious Jesus. I know you've seen all
Speaker 1: of those Jesuses. But this is snorting Jesus. And he
Speaker 1: gave the man a warning. He said, don't tell anybody
Speaker 1: what I did. The first thing the man did after
Speaker 1: he got healed, was go tell everyone, And I thought, well, now,
Speaker 1: come on, Jesus, you know the future. You knew the
Speaker 1: man was gonna go tell everybody, and it was gonna
Speaker 1: cause you to have to go out, and it was
Speaker 1: going to cause you to have to move on. And
Speaker 1: he went and did exactly what you told him not
Speaker 1: to do. You knew he was going to be disobedient.
Speaker 1: Why did you heal him? And he said, I wanted
Speaker 1: to let you know. I'll do it anyway. Come on, now,
Speaker 1: I need you to know this. You think when God
Speaker 1: saved you, he didn't know what you were still going
Speaker 1: to struggle with. But I got news for somebody in
Speaker 1: this chat today. He did it anyway. If you know
Speaker 1: that God saved you and you still struggle with some things,
Speaker 1: but you can still come close to him and depend
Speaker 1: on how just put this in the chap right now.
Speaker 1: He did it anyway. He called my name, he gave
Speaker 1: me grace, He filled me with his spirit. He did
Speaker 1: it anyway. He didn't have to. I couldn't buy it,
Speaker 1: I couldn't earn it. I don't deserve it. But he
Speaker 1: did it anyway. Come on, let's give him anyway grace.
Speaker 1: He did it anyway, anyway, anyway, anyway, anyway, come on,
Speaker 1: This is a message for the levers. This is a
Speaker 1: message for the levers. How do you get to Jesus? Anyway?
Speaker 1: You can whatever it takes. I'm going forward. I'm not
Speaker 1: backing up. I'm not dying alone. I'm not going down.
Speaker 1: I'm coming alive anyway. Anyway. I know I'm not supposed
Speaker 1: to touch you, but I'm gonna touch you anyway. I
Speaker 1: know i'm not supposed to use you, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: use you anyway. I'm gonna do it anyway. I hear
Speaker 1: God saying about twenty twenty. I know it's been a
Speaker 1: live in hell, but I'm gonna grow your faith anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna raise you up anyway. I'm gonna get disgustbel
Speaker 1: out anyway anyway, WHOA. I know it's only forty people
Speaker 1: in the room, but I'm about to preach anyway. He
Speaker 1: did it anyway. I'm not perfect, buddy. He likes me anyway.
Speaker 1: Now I've got some obnoxious parts of my personality. Buddy, Buddy,
Speaker 1: he likes he likes me with rough edges. He's a carpenter.
Speaker 1: He's gonna do it. You missed it, you missed it.
Speaker 1: He's a carpenter. He needs something to work on. He
Speaker 1: needs an object lesson. He needs something that looks so unclean.
Speaker 1: He needs somebody so messy, he needs a six awation
Speaker 1: so desperate that he can say, this is what I
Speaker 1: came to do, This is what I came to do.
Speaker 1: When the Passage started, the leper was in a lonely place.
Speaker 1: This man runs around, running his mouth telling everybody about Jesus,
Speaker 1: and now everybody wants to go see it. But Jesus
Speaker 1: didn't come for that. He came for something deeper. He
Speaker 1: didn't come just to fix what's on the surface level.
Speaker 1: So he look at verse forty five. He could no
Speaker 1: longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in lonely
Speaker 1: places when the passage started. Josh, this is what got me.
Speaker 1: When the passage started, the leper was in a lonely place.
Speaker 1: But when the passage was over, Jesus was in a
Speaker 1: lonely place. It's not just that he touched that man,
Speaker 1: is that he traded places with him. You've been in
Speaker 1: a lonely place. I know you have. God showed it
Speaker 1: to me in the spirit. He didn't have to show
Speaker 1: me your lonely place, because I know mine. Preachers get lonely.
Speaker 1: Pastors get lonely, parents get lonely, kids get lonely. Married
Speaker 1: people get lonely. Jesus chose his loneliness. The leopard didn't
Speaker 1: choose his, And so some of you are sitting in
Speaker 1: a loneliness that was not chosen in this season of
Speaker 1: your life. The Lord wanted me to tell you. Give
Speaker 1: them the scripture again from verse forty five. This is
Speaker 1: my message today. He stayed in lonely places, yet the
Speaker 1: people still came to him from everywhere. God said to
Speaker 1: tell you He'll meet you in your lonely place. Lift
Speaker 1: your hands, he said, you don't have to hide that
Speaker 1: from me. I'm willing to touch you. You don't have
Speaker 1: to stay away from me. You might be having to
Speaker 1: distance from people right now, but you can just come
Speaker 1: closer to me. He's near to the broken heart. He
Speaker 1: gave us a gospel lesson that he went outside the
Speaker 1: camp so we could come in. That he became sin,
Speaker 1: who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness
Speaker 1: of God. So he said, he wants to meet you
Speaker 1: in your lonely place. You know that place. You know
Speaker 1: that spot. You know that thing you keep trying to
Speaker 1: fix and you can't. He is how I'll meet you
Speaker 1: in your lonely place, God of all comfort, Spirit of grace.
Speaker 1: I thank you for what you showed us in the
Speaker 1: text today, that Jesus traded places with the leper who
Speaker 1: was lonely, and God, I thank you right now that
Speaker 1: you invite us into your presence so that we never
Speaker 1: have to be alone. This building right now has a
Speaker 1: lot of empty seats in it, and it's good because
Speaker 1: now it forces us to put this message into the
Speaker 1: lonely places, the lonely places as they lift their hands God,
Speaker 1: whether they're one of the few in this room or
Speaker 1: one of the hundreds of thousands all over the world
Speaker 1: who are receiving this message today. I asked that you
Speaker 1: would fill every lonely place, and that we would have
Speaker 1: the courage to come close to you, real self, true self,
Speaker 1: honest self, let you into our emotions and let you
Speaker 1: into our situation. That the clean would touch the unclean,
Speaker 1: and that just like that man's leprosy fell off of
Speaker 1: his skin, I pray that shame would fall off of
Speaker 1: your sons and daughters right now, in the name of Jesus,
Speaker 1: I break the power of shame off of the life
Speaker 1: of everyone who is lonely in the shadows, hair, unkempt,
Speaker 1: dressed in torn clothes, known by their issue. Speak to
Speaker 1: that identity that is not sullied by shame, with no
Speaker 1: layers of pretension. We come before you in your presence,
Speaker 1: God is fullness of joy. Help us to be here
Speaker 1: and just write in that space, right into that home,
Speaker 1: if they're the only one there, if they're surrounded by
Speaker 1: people and they're feeling lonely. God fill the lonely places.
Speaker 1: Let's we worship you now. Cheez geez, oh, geez cheez
Speaker 1: its would you mean to here? It came to them
Speaker 1: in a lonely place. You meet me here. Now you
Speaker 1: could come to them in a lonely place with your
Speaker 1: clothes torn. Unless you come, Will you meet me? He said,
Speaker 1: will you? If you're willing, you can make it. You
Speaker 1: can make it stop. You can stop the spread, because
Speaker 1: is all you. Will you meet me? Okay, So you
Speaker 1: are naughty unless you come. You need me here, okay,
Speaker 1: he said. I took your place, I took your shall want.
Speaker 1: This is what I came for. He's all you Come on,
Speaker 1: bring it all into my presence. This is what I
Speaker 1: came here. Okay, this is what I came for. That
Speaker 1: part of you, this is what I came for it.
Speaker 1: Thank you Lord. Unless you come where you meet me here,
Speaker 1: he's really I hope that it hit home for you too,
Speaker 1: just to know that Jesus is with you in your
Speaker 1: lonely place, that God is able to be accessed anywhere,
Speaker 1: and there's no part of you that is too shameful
Speaker 1: to bring into His presence. You're not alone. And I
Speaker 1: hope you know that our ministry is here for you.
Speaker 1: It's been a lot different, not gonna lie. We never
Speaker 1: really imagined that we would be ministering in such a
Speaker 1: unique time, but God knew, and I believe He placed
Speaker 1: this ministry here for you and for others and also
Speaker 1: share the message. Subscribe, you know, so you can get
Speaker 1: these messages every week. We need to keep God's word coming,
Speaker 1: not just once in a while. But you know, we
Speaker 1: can't live off bread alone. We got to live off
Speaker 1: everywhere that comes from the mouth of God. So make
Speaker 1: sure you subscribe so that we can continue to remind
Speaker 1: you of the truths that God has spoken over your life.
Speaker 1: I'm going to leave you for now, but thank you forgiving.
Speaker 1: Thank you for praying for me and Holly and Elijah
Speaker 1: and Graham and Abbey in our family. We pray for
Speaker 1: your family as well, that God would show up in
Speaker 1: amazing ways in your life this week. For supporting this ministry,
Speaker 1: I see Sue