WEBVTT - Them Blessing Of Both 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.519 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.000 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.360 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.399 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.320 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:23.320 How awesome, How awesome, What a wonderful, wonderful time of worship. Amen, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.360 do me a favor real quick before you take your seat. 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.520 I'm kind of torn. I'm going to preach in just 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.880 a moment. I'm excited to preach. I'm in a little 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:38.960 bit of a dilemma. I have two different scriptures. One 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.680 is from the Old Testament and one is from the 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:46.279 New Testament, and I kind of can't decide which one 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.600 I want to give you. So I thought we put 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:56.880 it up for a vote. Huh. She said both. Well, 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.400 it's a good thing because my message today is the 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:11.319 blessing of both. Let's do it. Let's do it. You 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.040 may be seated. God bless you, God, bless you, Choir, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:19.200 God bless you, Anna, God bless you, Matt, God bless you. 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:21.720 Pastor Shawn see in the house from Athens Church. Let's 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.160 thank God for this great Man of God. Thanks for 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.480 stopping by. It's good to have my brother, Pastor Mike 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.320 Todd on the second row representing the Oakland Athletics. You're 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.760 not a fan at all, are you? Oh man, that's terrible. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.600 You just watch Moneyball and bought in Oakland A's had 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.679 Is that what happened? Oh man? This feels good. So 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.399 if I'm not preaching good I can throw the mic 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.480 on the first row the second row and somebody else 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.760 can pick it up. So good to be here and 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:53.320 just touch somebody and say. If Pastor had time, he 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.320 would say thank God for you and mention your name too. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:01.000 You do that if you had time, many wonderful things 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:03.000 to share from the Word of God. Hey, thank you 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.520 for serving this love week, whatever you did, if you 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.520 did something this week, or really what I like to 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.400 thank God for is consistency, because it's not just one 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.000 week out of the year that builds a great church. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:17.440 And so while this week there are many people we 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.480 could highlight and thank for their contribution, I want to 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:22.720 say thank you to those of you who never make 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.880 a lot of noise, but you just contribute in meaningful 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:31.400 ways prayer giving service. It's a big deal, and you 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:37.000 lead an e group, whether it's a spectacular thing, whether 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.720 it's forty people or four people, you just do it. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:42.560 That's really how you can know that you're doing it 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.800 for God and not for the approval of others or 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.520 the praises of people. It's just really beautiful and I 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.280 appreciate you. I don't know how to say it any 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.399 more than that, but I appreciate you, and I hope 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.919 you can feel that that's sincere from my heart. Thank 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.400 you to those of you. You don't blow a trumpet 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.360 or anything like that. You don't announce it, just do it, 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.359 and that means a lot. It's not just a Nike slogan. 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.200 It's the way that a great local church is built 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.480 when people are just willing to do it and not 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.079 necessarily have to be known for it. But I thank 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.480 God for each and every one of you on every location. 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.840 I just wanted to say that, and in the spirit 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.120 of love, I wore pink. Now let's get into the Bible. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:28.000 Let me read you this from Ecclesiastes, chapter eleven, verses 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:34.600 five and six. Now I'm gonna take my time because 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:39.240 I've been waiting to preach these passages since since the 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.640 beginning of June, and I couldn't figure out how God 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:44.560 wanted me to preach them. But today I saw it. 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:47.480 And I've just been pacing all day waiting for you 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.640 to put on your makeup and get here so we 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:53.400 could talk about it together. And now I can't find 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.080 Ecclesiastes in the Bible. Everything's falling apart. Here it is, 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.760 it's right there, I said. Verse five is you do 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.760 not know the way the spirit comes to the bones 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:05.640 in the womb of a woman with child. So you 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.160 do not know the work of God who makes everything. 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.040 In the morning, So your seat and at evening withhold 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.720 not your hand, for you do not know which will 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:21.800 prosper this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.919 There's our word both. Go over to Matthew chapter thirteen, 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.440 verse twenty four for my second scripture. You told me 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:38.040 you wanted both, so I'm fulfilling your request. He put 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.040 another parable before them, verse twenty four, saying, the Kingdom 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.760 of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.800 good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.600 his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weed and 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.239 went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, 0:04:56.640 --> 0:05:00.279 then the weeds appeared. Also. By the way, by the 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.880 time something destructive appears in your life has been planted 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.800 for a little while. There's a difference between the time 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:08.720 when it was deposited in the soil and the time 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.760 it showed up in your life. So when they woke 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.479 up to the weeds, he said, the servant said, Master, 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.039 did you not sow good seed in your field? I 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.039 thought you raised your kids right, you know things like that. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.360 I thought you went to church. I thought you prayed. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.960 But he said, if you sow good seeds, how then 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.680 does it have weeds in the field? And he said 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.440 to them an enemy has done this. So the servants 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:36.320 said to him, then do you want us to go 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.279 and gather them? Take care of it, sort it out. 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.120 He's like, no, you got to You got to be 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.839 careful because less gathering the weeds, you root up the 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:54.280 wheat along with them. Let both, everybody say both. Let 0:05:54.480 --> 0:06:01.120 both grow together interesting until the harvest. And at harvest time, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.839 I will tell the reapers gather the weeds first, bind 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.880 them in bundles to be burned, But gather the wheat 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:15.120 into my burn When Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.239 of God. It was a new phrase and an entirely 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.640 new concept for his hearers. It had never been said 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.479 that way before the Kingdom of God. Now, Israel thought 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.680 of themselves as a kingdom in a military and nationalistic sense. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.880 But to think of the Kingdom of Heaven or the 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:37.440 Kingdom of God in an invisible realm required Jesus to 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.839 not only explain it, but to demonstrate it. And both 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.920 are always necessary. Everyboy say both. That's why Love Week 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.080 was so important in our church. Those one hundred thousand 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.839 hours that we served validated the message that we preach. 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.400 It is one thing to explain love, but it's another 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.799 thing to hand somebody some warm food or a blanket, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.560 or to be with somebody in their time of need. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.080 And so Jesus had to do both. And he had 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.080 quite a challenge on his hands because he would demonstrate 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.080 something by working a miracle, but then he would have 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.640 to explain it, because the people who saw the miracle 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.320 would miss the point. I told you about one last 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.600 week when he took the happy meal and fed everybody, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.480 and they thought that the point of the miracle was 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.240 that their stomachs were full, and because they wanted him 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.400 to be their burger king, he had to shut that 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.600 whole thing down and say, eat my flesh, drink my blood. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.920 You've missed the entire point. So he's always having to 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.840 explain it. He was always having to demonstrate so they 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:39.840 could see it, and then explain it so they could 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.080 understand it. He said, if you see it but don't 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.040 understand it, it'll be like a seed that was sown, 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.120 but the bird snatches it up before it has the 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.320 opportunity to hit the soil. And so if you don't 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.920 get the lesson in your heart through the power of demonstration, 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.520 then you will miss the intention of the message. But 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.000 if you only see the demonstration and don't hear the explanation, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.920 then you'll understand the miracle on the wrong level, and 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.200 you'll always live your life thinking that the physical thing 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.240 is the real thing, and you'll not understand what's really 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.440 pointing to. So you'll engage in behavior modification to try 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:08.960 to fix your life, not understanding that every habit in 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.440 your life started with something in your heart. And until 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.680 God turns the soil of your heart and weeds out 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.840 the stuff that is choking the seed of his word. 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:23.480 Like I said, it's a lot in the text. And 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.360 Jesus must have felt overwhelmed because in the crowd he 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.960 had his disciples and he needed them to take the 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.960 message after he left. And then there were the people 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.520 who were just coming just to see the show and 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.680 just to eat the fries. And he had to separate 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.959 the two out, and he would often have to pull 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.400 the disciples aside and say, now, when I said this, 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.360 this is what I meant. He had to not only 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.320 teach to the crowds, but he had to teach his 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.200 disciples too. He had to do both. I relate to 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.880 that challenge because some of you in this church know 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.560 so much of the Bible. You know, I'm like, you 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:04.840 know Math thirteen twenty four wait in the tears, Wow. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.480 And then others are like Matthew, who is at his 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:10.800 brother's name? What are we doing? And it's like all 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.880 over the place in terms of knowledge and just frame 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:17.880 of reference, right. But Jesus was always able to speak 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.200 to both, unless they thought he could only do one 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.720 or the other. He'd do stuff like this, He'd say 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.199 to a paralytic sins, your friend, your sins are forgiven. 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.120 And then when the people doubted if he had the 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.079 power to forgive sins, he would tell him, now get 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.840 up and take up your bed and walk. The reason 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:37.400 that he told him to get up and take up 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.480 his bed and walk was to give them a physical 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:47.200 demonstration of his spiritual authority. So it's demonstration and explanation, 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.640 and Jesus is doing both. In the context of the 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.199 Kingdom of God. He would often have to teach this 0:09:54.600 --> 0:10:01.160 principle of the already and not yet eschatological twenty dollars word, 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:07.199 the eschatological tension of the Kingdom of God. And so 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.560 it simply means that some things have already come, the 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:13.640 Kingdom of God is here, and then some things are 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:18.000 still coming. Isn't it that way in our life to 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.920 know that if we have trusted in Christ, we are saved, 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.600 We have been saved, and yet we are being saved, 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:30.920 and we will be saved. Because there are certain things 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.520 in my life right now that God has already done. 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.000 I can see the fruit of it, but there are 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.640 other changes that are still taking root in my life. 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.240 And what I've noticed about this is that as my 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.800 devotion to Christ grows, so do the things that distract me. 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.920 To try to pull me away from that pure devotion 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:58.040 and simple childlike faith in the grace of God. And 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.559 Jesus is using a parable so he can use an 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.920 earthly symbol to convey a spiritual truth. He said, it's 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:10.240 like if a man was planting weed, weeds with the 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:14.400 plural Uh. Yeah, it might be legal, but it isn't 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:18.040 always just the best thing to do. But that's a 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.920 different sermon. But he said, it's like if he was 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.440 planning wheat and then somebody else planted weeds. He said, 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:32.200 I want you to know that both grow together, which 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.720 is symbolic of how as the ministry of Jesus increased, 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:43.120 so did the opposition. The more that his popularity grew, 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:50.920 the more vocal his opponents became, because both grow together. 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.240 In the church. I grew up in Monks Corney United 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.000 Methodist Church. We used to go upstairs to the youth room. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.280 Rick Burnett would lead us in praise and worship songs 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.800 like it only takes a spark to get a fire going. Shine, Jesus, Shine. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:10.520 What was the other one he used to love so much? Oh, 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.840 I remember the other one. I'm not gonna tell you 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.840 what it was. I'll tell you know, how James Taylor 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.760 sang the Carol King song You've Got a Friend. He 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.640 would do, You've got a friend, but then he would 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:23.840 go into what a friend we have in Jesus, and 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.080 it was like a medley, and then he would stop 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.840 after he played the songs. And it was only about 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.640 ten of us in the youth group, but he would 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:34.960 always say, and now it's time for praise reports and 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:40.559 prayer requests. So it's a bunch of teenagers, right, So 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.839 what you would usually happen is everybody that would raise 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.760 their hand would raise their hand and say, I have 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:56.480 an unspoken unspoken is code for is probably about a girl, 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.800 or it's about a guy. I have an unspoken But 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.480 you know, maybe every once in a while, somebody will 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:07.640 raise their hand and give a praise report about a 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.280 test that they passed, or a prayer request about a 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.679 test that they were taking. Here's what's weird, and I 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:17.120 wonder if you've experienced this in your life, is that 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.280 in our lives we will often see the cycle that 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.920 what will be our prayer request in one season of 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:33.440 our life will become our praise report in the next season, 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:42.719 only to become our prayer request again. There's probably a 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.040 couple in here who right now is pregnant with child, 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.040 and you probably prayed that God would enable you to 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.720 have a child, and maybe in like five months, three months, 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:59.760 seven months, you will give birth to your prayer request. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.319 You had your friends praying, probably even in a crowd 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.600 this size, somebody who had trouble conceiving, and maybe even 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.520 through the course of many different miscarriages. This may be 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.800 the third or fourth or fifth time you tried, and 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.040 now you're on the way to giving birth to what 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.160 you prayed about. Others are still waiting for that, and 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.600 we're all at different places. But let me tell what's 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.640 going to happen. Because I've had She's had three babies, 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.160 and you pray for it, and then you have it, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.040 and you praise God for it, and then you start 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.720 praying about it all over again. So watch this, y'all. Pray. 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.480 We're trying to have a baby. Y'all pray. We haven't 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:46.480 slept in thirty four days. Y'all pray. Our toddler is 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:50.400 now showing some developmental delays. Y'all pray. We're trying to 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.280 get him into this school, but we can't get him 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.480 with the right teacher. Y'all pray he's got his driver's license. 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.480 Y'all better pray for yourselves. As a matter of fact, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:58.880 y'all might want to stay off the road for the 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.680 next few years. Y'all pray. It was your prayer request 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.560 that became your praise report that turned back into your 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.080 prayer request. So here's what I'm trying to say. You 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:23.720 prayed for your problems, Yes you did. You prayed for 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:28.120 the promotion on the job, and the promotion came with people, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.880 and people are stupid and lazy and late and tardy. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.640 You prayed for that. Touch somebody say you prayed for it. 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.320 You asked for it. Don't get mad about it. Now. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.040 You prayed for it. You prayed for a man. I 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.200 heard one girl praying for a husband one time. She 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.200 was praying for a future husband. She had a whole 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.480 list about it. She was praying. She was like, God, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.400 I pray that he would be godly, and I pray 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:56.960 that he would be tall. But God, I'd rather than 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.200 be godly than tall. But God, if he could be both, 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:08.240 if he could be both, if he could be Oh, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:13.920 it's both. You need both. You need both. It's in marriage, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.680 Like you know, don't marry somebody you're attracted to. Marry 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:18.960 somebody that you know loves the Lord. You better be 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:26.560 attracted to him too. It better be both. Now, I'm 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:28.840 for real about this. Most preachers won't say these things 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.680 because they sound carnal and unspiritual, but it needs to 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.240 be both. You need to like to look at each other. 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.240 You're gonna be looking at each other all the time. 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:39.680 And this thing, you don't gonna be prayer partners don't 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.760 have to get married. You gotta have some chemistry and christ. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.200 So it goes back to the idea that humans are 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:57.280 always wanting to categorize, and we always want to divide things. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:58.960 You want us to get the you want us to 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.280 get the wheat, separate from the weeds. That's what we 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.600 always want to do. We always want to separate the 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.520 good from the bad. You know, we want to talk 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.120 about I'm in a season of blessing right now, or 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:14.119 I'm going through a really hard season right now. Let 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:16.760 me tell you the truth, all of us are going 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.080 through a season of blessing right now, and all of 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.119 us are going through a really hard season right now. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:27.200 It just depends on which angle that you catch me from. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.880 As to what season I look like I'm going through. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.399 If you see me from one side, from my good side, 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.639 I might look like the most blessed men in the 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:42.040 United States of America, in the continental United States of America. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.919 But on the other side, I yelled at one of 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.360 my kids, who shall remain nameless, right before I came 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.320 to preach to you. But you didn't have to see that. 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.080 So now I'm a man full of the spirit and 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.680 wisdom up here. Give him a praise. Let it be done, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.760 receive your reign. We're like a flood. I was coming 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.679 through like a flood, but a different kind of flood. 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:00.720 Just a few minutes before I out on the stage. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:05.200 Just both I could preach the Bible and want to 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.880 beat your behind, both in the same two hour period, 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:13.240 in the same one hundred and twenty minutes. Because I'm 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.560 a pastor, but I'm also a daddy, and if you 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.879 disrespect my wife, I will turn into something else. Because 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:26.320 I'm a transformer. I'm a go bart, I'm both. You 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:32.280 don't know how to be both? WHOA wasn't in my notes, 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.600 But he kept trying to describe the kingdom. He said, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:42.879 It's like the seed was good and the weeds were bad. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.800 But they both grow together. And that's so true. They 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:56.560 both grow together. The opportunities grow, and so do the responsibilities. God, 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.320 take me deeper in my walk with you. Okay, As 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:05.919 you go deeper, you're gonna gain intimacy with Christ. And 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.000 then you are gonna also gain awareness of your ignorance, 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.400 because the closer to Him you get, the more you're 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:18.040 gonna realize how much you don't know. So it's like, 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:19.800 I want to know you more, but the more you 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.919 come to know Christ, the more you're going to know 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:27.199 that you didn't know him at all. That's why I 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:33.480 like Ecclesiastes eleven. I was reading that how Solomon had 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:37.439 chased things that he called vanity or meaningless. It was 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.720 like the sense that, in the context of having success 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.960 and fulfillment, if you have one without the other as problematic, 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.159 what you really want is both. See like, if you 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.160 have success but not fulfillment or wholeness, that will feel 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:58.239 to you like the ultimate failure because to chase what 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.199 you thought you wanted and to get it and it 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.720 didn't do what you need to done makes you feel like, well, 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:06.679 what do I do now? That's the point that he 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:11.040 was writing from where he said that there are certain 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.280 things that you just don't know, and he mentions two 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.480 things an Ecclesiastes eleven. Because all of us struggle from 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:23.160 time to time when we are sowing, when we are investing, 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:25.240 when we are living our lives and doing the things 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:26.920 that we believe that God has called us to do, 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:33.720 without knowing whether it's making a difference at all. There's 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.000 so much you don't know. Solomon says, if you watch 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.600 the wind to see if it's blowing right, you will 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.760 never sow. And if you watch the clouds to see 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:45.800 if it's dry enough, you will never read. Your mind 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:50.000 will always find an excuse for you. We'll always find 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.040 a reason, will always find an indication that this is 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.360 not the right time. And so Solomon is giving advice. 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:02.400 He's saying, just like you don't know how the breath 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.600 enters the bones of a woman in the wound. Now, granted, 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:11.840 we have ultrasounds now, but it's still is still true 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.480 to be said today that there is a part of 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:19.000 the process of human life that we can't put on 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:24.520 a sonogram. There's a part of it, he says, there's 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.840 the bones, and then there's the spirit or the breath 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.400 Hebrew word ruha. It's the same way that God breathed. 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.879 It's the spirit of God, the ruh of God. In 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.600 the Old Testament, he said, there's the bones, and there's 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:46.639 the breath. There's the structure, and there's the spirit. And 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:50.640 if you have structure but not spirit, you don't have life. 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.800 If you have spirit but you don't have structure, you 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.760 don't have life. In a few weeks, I'm going to 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.800 be teaching our staff on our annual staff Advance, and 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.800 I'm doing a whole session just around this verse for leadership, 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.879 because in church you can pray for the spirit of 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:12.360 God to come. But if you don't have structure, if 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.920 you don't have any capacity to manage what God brings you, 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.199 it will simply be irresponsibility and wishful thinking. On the 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.760 other hand, you can have organizational charts and resources and 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.240 all of the things that would tend to make people 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.040 think you are successful, but without the spirit, just without 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:33.520 that thing that only God can do. Can I tell 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.320 you something? I can get up here with an outline 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.480 and an outfit and think that I have something to say, 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:41.479 but there's a part of me that knows because I've 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.800 been doing this for fourteen years now on this stage, 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:47.199 well not this when we had different buildings, but at 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.080 this church as the pastor, and there is a certain 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.040 thing that God has to do that I can't do, 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.880 and I don't always know what He's going to do. 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.520 So there's a part of me that came in today 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.480 excited to preach to you because I had a structure, 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:04.119 I have some scriptures. But there's a part of me 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:06.240 that knows that God, if you don't blow on this, 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:09.399 if you don't breathe on this, if you don't do 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:13.800 that thing that you do that I can't do, if 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:18.160 you don't tear open somebody's facade and speak down deep 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.240 in the places of their heart, then I'll just be 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:24.800 a clanging symbol. I'll just lose my voice, but I 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:27.720 won't say anything. God. I need you to breathe on 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:30.560 my life. I need you to breathe peace. I need 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:33.520 you to breathe joy because God, I can get a 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.199 big house, a nice car, the right clothes, and a 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.760 lot of people. But if you don't breathe, I won't 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:45.240 be fulfilled. If you don't do it, it won't be done. 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:50.480 I need both. I need the bones and the breath. 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:55.280 I need the structure and the spirit I need. Here's 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:57.600 what I love about it. I need the friends and 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:05.679 the enemies. I need both. I was amazed how Jesus, 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:10.399 when he was putting together his Kingdom dream team, knew 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:16.560 that one of them was a devil and kept him anyway. John, 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:22.160 I understand the disciple that Jesus loved, at least that's 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:29.919 what he put in his own bio. Of course you 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:32.920 chose John. He's going to take care of your mama 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:39.480 when you're gone. And of course he chose Judas because 0:24:39.560 --> 0:24:41.720 Judas was the one who got him to the cross 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:44.520