Speaker 1: So incredibly honored to be home, y'all, my cousin and them, Now,
Speaker 1: what's up, family, So so honored to be here, and
Speaker 1: I've got a pause for the cause and just celebrate,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, not just one of the greatest preachers
Speaker 1: I've ever heard, but one of the greatest people I've
Speaker 1: ever met, and that is your incredible pastor, my friend
Speaker 1: and brother, Pastor Steven. We celebrate him and this incredible church.
Speaker 1: And to the Dream Team, to volunteers. I've learned this
Speaker 1: a long time ago. You don't go as far as
Speaker 1: your dream, you go as far as your team. So
Speaker 1: come on, let's make some major noise for dream Teams
Speaker 1: in every location and online. Epham excited. I'm a part
Speaker 1: of the e fam because between my services, I'm pulling
Speaker 1: up on YouTube. But just incredibly excited to be here.
Speaker 1: I heard y'all talk back to the preacher at this church,
Speaker 1: so there's some on my heart I want to share.
Speaker 1: I want to read just a couple of verses of
Speaker 1: scripture from a story found in the Old Testament. It's
Speaker 1: captured in a book called First Samuel. First Samuel seventeen,
Speaker 1: and I want to read just a couple of verses
Speaker 1: beginning at verse thirty nine, and I'm reading today from
Speaker 1: the new International version of the Scriptures, and this is
Speaker 1: what first Samuel seventeen, verse thirty nine says. It says
Speaker 1: David fastened on his sword over the tunic, and he
Speaker 1: tried walking around because he was not used to them.
Speaker 1: I cannot go in these, he said, Tasaul, because I'm
Speaker 1: not used to them. So he took them off. Then
Speaker 1: he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth
Speaker 1: stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of
Speaker 1: his shepherd's bag, and with his sling in his hand,
Speaker 1: he approached the philistine. I want to read verse forty
Speaker 1: if I can one more time. Verse thirty nine inns
Speaker 1: with saying, so he took them off. Then he took
Speaker 1: his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from
Speaker 1: the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag,
Speaker 1: with his sling in his hand, and approach of the philistine.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna read that one more time. Verse
Speaker 1: thirty nine says, so he took off Saul's armor, And
Speaker 1: then verse five forty said, not only did he take
Speaker 1: off SAAL's armor, but then he took his staff in
Speaker 1: his hand. He chose five smooth stones from the stream,
Speaker 1: put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag, with
Speaker 1: his sling in his hand, and approach the philistine. I
Speaker 1: want to stop reading right there, and I want to
Speaker 1: tag a title to this text. I want to talk
Speaker 1: from this subject in our time together today. This doesn't fit,
Speaker 1: This doesn't fit. If you're excited about God's word, let's
Speaker 1: clap our hands wherever we are family. I want to
Speaker 1: start this sermon with a statement. It's a statement that
Speaker 1: I think is extremely important, yet often overlooked. And here
Speaker 1: it is, how far you go and how much you grow?
Speaker 1: It's not just determined and by what you believe about God.
Speaker 1: It is equally impacted by what you believe about you.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that one more time. How far you
Speaker 1: go and how much you grow is not just determined
Speaker 1: by what you believe about God. It is equally impacted
Speaker 1: by what you believe about you. A sage named Solomon
Speaker 1: framed it this way in a book of the Bible
Speaker 1: called Proverbs. Solomon says this, as a man or woman
Speaker 1: thinks in their heart, so is he notice now? Notice
Speaker 1: what Solomon did not say, He did not say, as
Speaker 1: a man, watch this or excuse me. As God thinks
Speaker 1: about a man or a woman, so is he, he says,
Speaker 1: as a as a man thinks in his heart, so
Speaker 1: is he. In other words, you will always behave in
Speaker 1: a way that is consistent with how you see yourself.
Speaker 1: Meaning there it is possible for there to be some inconsistency,
Speaker 1: some dissonance, a gap between what God thinks about you
Speaker 1: and what you think about yourself. And what God is
Speaker 1: attempting to do on our journey of spiritual growth is
Speaker 1: aligned what He thinks about us with what we think
Speaker 1: about ourselves, so we can behave in a way that
Speaker 1: is consistent with what He thinks about us, and not
Speaker 1: just what we thinks about what we think about ourselves.
Speaker 1: And this may be the reason that God regularly and
Speaker 1: repeatedly and consistently all throughout scripture reminds us of who
Speaker 1: we are. When you really go from Old Testament to
Speaker 1: New Testament, it seems a bit excessive. You will see
Speaker 1: God regularly and repeatedly telling you who you are, salt, light, royal, chosen, peculiar, beloved,
Speaker 1: special annointed head, not tail above only not beneath am
Speaker 1: I'm making sense. So if I am that, why does
Speaker 1: he have to keep telling me that? Because he knows
Speaker 1: who I am is my truth, that's his truth, but
Speaker 1: his truth and always my experience. So he says, that's
Speaker 1: who you are, that's truth, that's truth, that's what I know.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't become what you experience until you believe it.
Speaker 1: If I'm making sense, say yes, and what I want
Speaker 1: us to see here? When we get this revelation, it
Speaker 1: should cause a revolution because when the enemy cannot change
Speaker 1: what you think about God, his next step is to
Speaker 1: try to change what you think about you. But I've
Speaker 1: got good news elevation. I said, I've got good news elevation.
Speaker 1: They would say it this way in the church I
Speaker 1: grew up in. The devil is a liar. Now, no,
Speaker 1: this is what that means. It doesn't mean he just
Speaker 1: doesn't tell the truth. It means he can't tell the truth.
Speaker 1: Jesus said the truth is not even in him, which
Speaker 1: means whatever he is telling you about you can't be true.
Speaker 1: So instead of panicking based on what he's telling you
Speaker 1: about you, you ought to start praising based on what
Speaker 1: he's telling you about you. Because whatever he is telling you,
Speaker 1: the very opposite is true. And so if he's telling
Speaker 1: you you're not gonna make it, you're getting ready to
Speaker 1: make it. If he's telling you you not coming out,
Speaker 1: you're getting ready to come out. If he's telling you
Speaker 1: it's over, it's just beginning. And I know, is there
Speaker 1: anybody online, anybody at the locations that will just pause
Speaker 1: and give God a praise? Because the devil is a liar.
Speaker 1: He's a liar, and one of the things he wants
Speaker 1: to lie to us about is our identity. There's this.
Speaker 1: Some embrace it, some don't. It's this principle of biblical interpretation.
Speaker 1: We will call it a hermaeutic. It's called the law
Speaker 1: first mentioned, which means that that very often, specifically in
Speaker 1: the Book of Genesis, if you see something mentioned for
Speaker 1: the first time, that might be a picture or a
Speaker 1: pattern of how that thing's going to be seen throughout
Speaker 1: the thread of scripture. And when we see the enemy's
Speaker 1: interaction with the human species for the very first time,
Speaker 1: what did he try to create? He tried to create
Speaker 1: an identity crisis when he is engaged watching this. Remember so,
Speaker 1: so whether this is literal, literal, or metaphorical, this is
Speaker 1: what's happening in the garden. There's a snake and why
Speaker 1: why is the snake significant in the garden. It's significant
Speaker 1: because you wouldn't be surprised to see a snake in one,
Speaker 1: because sometimes the devil shows up looking like he belongs. Right,
Speaker 1: So he's he's engaging in conversation with Eve, right and
Speaker 1: telling Adam and Eve listen, no, no no, no, it's okay,
Speaker 1: you can you can eat that. You can eat that,
Speaker 1: And this is what he says. He says, he says,
Speaker 1: God knows if you eat that, you'll be like him.
Speaker 1: That's what he said, right, God knows if you eat that,
Speaker 1: you'll be like him. Well, you see this, this engagement
Speaker 1: happening in Genesis three. But you go all the way
Speaker 1: back to Genesis one, you'll see when God's having a
Speaker 1: conversation about creation. He says, let us make man in
Speaker 1: our image and likeness. So Satan tells Eve, god knows
Speaker 1: if you eat that you'll be like him. But in
Speaker 1: Genesis one, when he created Adam and Eve, he created
Speaker 1: them in his image and likeness. They weren't God, but
Speaker 1: they were like God in some ways. So she's trying
Speaker 1: to become what she already is. Did you hear what
Speaker 1: I just said? I said, she's trying to become what
Speaker 1: she already is. Because what the enemy does is he
Speaker 1: can't take your worth, but he can't take your awareness
Speaker 1: of it. He can't take your value, but he can't
Speaker 1: take your vision. He can't take your gift, but he
Speaker 1: can't take your grit. But I just believe I just
Speaker 1: feel something in this room and in your living room
Speaker 1: and that every location. I believe there are some people
Speaker 1: that are getting ready to make an exit and the
Speaker 1: exodus out of your identity crisis. And you're gonna start
Speaker 1: saying to yourself, I am who he says I am.
Speaker 1: I'm blessed, not cursed. I'm the head not to tell
Speaker 1: I'm above only not beneath. I'm not just a conqueror.
Speaker 1: We don't just barely conquer. I'm more than a conqueror.
Speaker 1: I don't just survive. I thrive. Who am I preaching
Speaker 1: to today? And it's an identity crisis? And one of
Speaker 1: the ways he orchestrates this, man, I've seen this. I've
Speaker 1: been seeing this so much recently. One of the ways
Speaker 1: he orchestrates this is by infecting us. Infecting us watch
Speaker 1: this with inadequacy, can we just talk we family, y'all,
Speaker 1: my cousin, right, Okay, So this is I want to
Speaker 1: say this. Let's talk. The same enemy that orchestrates arrogance
Speaker 1: is the same one that orchestrates inadequacy. But in a
Speaker 1: lot of our religious spaces, the emphasis is on arrogance.
Speaker 1: There is an obsession with arresting and addressing arrogance. Be humble,
Speaker 1: humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and due
Speaker 1: season he will exalt you. That's important, that's necessary. It's
Speaker 1: not incorrect. But if that's all we address, is incomplete
Speaker 1: because in some ways the enemy is working attempting to
Speaker 1: people to think too highly of themselves. But then in
Speaker 1: other ways the enemy is working causing people to think
Speaker 1: too low of themselves. And I am telling you that
Speaker 1: watch this, that inadequacy has assassinated just as many assignments
Speaker 1: as arrogance has. That the devil uses inadequacy just as
Speaker 1: much as he uses arrogance. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: very often, when we see people being called to do
Speaker 1: something significant in scripture, before they accept the assignment, God
Speaker 1: has to talk them out of inadequacy. It's all throughout scripture. See,
Speaker 1: just because you aren't thinking low about yourself doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you're thinking right. He called Moses. Moses responds with inadequacy.
Speaker 1: He says, Moses, I'm gonna use you. You're gonna go
Speaker 1: back to Pharaoh, and you're gonna be a leader. You're
Speaker 1: gonna lead people out of a place and a space
Speaker 1: and a state that's inconsistent with my intention for their life.
Speaker 1: And most like, wait a minute, time out, hold up,
Speaker 1: flagged on the play, Wait a minute. I don't you
Speaker 1: say I'm gonna I'm gonna go before Pharaoh and speak. No,
Speaker 1: I'm a background person, sus you're calling me to do
Speaker 1: something that is that watch this, that's in the exact
Speaker 1: area I feel inadequate in. He said, I'm slow a speech.
Speaker 1: I don't do that speaking thing. Moses is like, I
Speaker 1: can't do this without you, and God's like, exactly, that's
Speaker 1: why I picked you, because you know you can't do
Speaker 1: this without me, and you will never try to do
Speaker 1: this without me. What you feel like is inadequacy, Moses,
Speaker 1: it's actually insurance, Moses. It's insurance because now I'm insured
Speaker 1: or assured that you're always gonna lean on me, depend
Speaker 1: on me, trust me, look to me, consult me. He
Speaker 1: called Moses. Moses's inadequacy responded when he called a gentleman
Speaker 1: named Jeremiah. Jeremiah responded with inadequacy. He said, I can't
Speaker 1: do this. I'm but a youth. I don't have the experience.
Speaker 1: And we could take that same text and oh, Jeremiah
Speaker 1: talks about how young he is. We could take that
Speaker 1: text and just apply it generally to something called age
Speaker 1: in general, and some people would say, I'm too old,
Speaker 1: it's too late. He's calling him to do something, and
Speaker 1: he's and Jeremiah's using his age as a limitation inadequacy.
Speaker 1: He calls get in. Get in uses this family, he said,
Speaker 1: do you know who my cousin is? So you have
Speaker 1: generations of people who are waiting on them to unleash
Speaker 1: what God put in them. And because the enemy cannot
Speaker 1: ungift them, he arrests their ability to use their gift
Speaker 1: by causing them not to see the value of what
Speaker 1: God has put on the inside of them. But I
Speaker 1: came today to be a matchmaker, and I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about Christian mingo. I came to be a matchmaker to
Speaker 1: hook you up, not with somebody else. But to hook
Speaker 1: you up with you, I want to introduce you to
Speaker 1: a you you hadn't met yet, a stronger you, a
Speaker 1: wiser you, are more courageous you. There's some things on
Speaker 1: the inside of you that God wants to unleash and unlock.
Speaker 1: But he wants us to cultivate not arrogance, but confidence
Speaker 1: in the way you've been wired and how you've been crafted.
Speaker 1: And in my estimation, there are there is no better
Speaker 1: example of what I'm trying to articulate than the example
Speaker 1: that is seen in the life and in the leadership
Speaker 1: of a dude named David. We read a brief part
Speaker 1: of his story found in First Samuel chapter number seventeen,
Speaker 1: but contextually his story begins in First Samuel chapter number sixteen,
Speaker 1: when God is looking for a successor to a king
Speaker 1: named Saul, and in First Samuel sixteen, verse one, this
Speaker 1: is one of the most interesting parts of David's story.
Speaker 1: This is what it says. It said the Lord said
Speaker 1: to a civil and spiritual leader named Samuel, how long
Speaker 1: will you mourn for Saul? Since I rejected him as
Speaker 1: king over Israel? Samuel, how long are you going to
Speaker 1: nurture an emotional attachment to something I'm done with. Right,
Speaker 1: Saul represents an era of leadership in Israel. It represents
Speaker 1: a season, an age, and so it's like God's asking, Samuel,
Speaker 1: how long are you going to keep nurturing an emotional
Speaker 1: attachment to a season that I'm not going to revisit.
Speaker 1: It's like he's he's It's like you're saying, Samuel, now,
Speaker 1: if you're going to continue to walk with me, you
Speaker 1: have to master moving on without closure. Did you hear
Speaker 1: what I just said? Because if you're like me, you
Speaker 1: want closure. You want an explanation. If they hurt me,
Speaker 1: I want to know why. I want to know what
Speaker 1: you were thinking. And I want to know how could
Speaker 1: you do this to me based on what I've done
Speaker 1: to you? Right? I want closure, I want closure. I
Speaker 1: want explanations. But watch this where where where Where trust
Speaker 1: is present, Explanations aren't needed. God says, if you have
Speaker 1: an explanation, you don't need trust. But you need to
Speaker 1: trust my character and trust who I am when you
Speaker 1: don't understand what I'm doing. And He's like, Samuel, I
Speaker 1: know you enjoy this season with Saul, but this is
Speaker 1: done with I'm doing something new, So I want to
Speaker 1: know how long are you going to keep crying over this?
Speaker 1: Because your tears don't change my will? He said, Samuel,
Speaker 1: I need to know how long are you going to morn?
Speaker 1: And the reason is, Samuel, as soon as you start
Speaker 1: stop talking about what was, I can start talking about
Speaker 1: what is, Samuel. As soon as you start stop talking
Speaker 1: about what you used to have, I can start talking
Speaker 1: to you about what you're getting ready to have. As
Speaker 1: soon as you stop talking about how it used to be,
Speaker 1: I can start talking to you about how it's getting
Speaker 1: ready to be. Because the ladder is going to be
Speaker 1: greater than the flower. Let me just contemporize it. The
Speaker 1: best is not behind me, The best is in front
Speaker 1: of me. And God is saying I will never take
Speaker 1: something from you and give you something inferior in exchange.
Speaker 1: So if I took something you liked, I'm getting ready
Speaker 1: to give you something you lost. Somebody praised God in
Speaker 1: this room, in your living room, in every room, y'all. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm almost done. Okay, here it is. He says, how
Speaker 1: long verse thirteen, Verse one, How long will you mourn? Oversaw?
Speaker 1: Since I've rejected rejected him as king over Israel. Then
Speaker 1: he says this fill your horn with oil and be
Speaker 1: on your way. I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem.
Speaker 1: Watch what he says, fill your horn with oil, because
Speaker 1: I'm getting ready to send you to the right place
Speaker 1: to pour it. He's saying, your oil doesn't belong there anymore. See,
Speaker 1: you're trying to pour your oil on someone who no
Speaker 1: longer values it, no longer wants it, no longer respects it. See,
Speaker 1: your oil can represent your ability. The biblical word here
Speaker 1: is annaying, right, that's what it represents. And he says, listen,
Speaker 1: I don't want you to watch this. I don't want
Speaker 1: you to waste the oil that I've given you, So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you direction on how to use it
Speaker 1: in this season. I want to tell some of you
Speaker 1: nothing's wrong with your oil. You've just been pouring it
Speaker 1: in the wrong places. So Samuel obeys it. He goes down.
Speaker 1: He goes to Jesse's house. He said, Jesse, do you
Speaker 1: have any you're ridden? He said, yeah, I got, I
Speaker 1: got seven sons. And he called. He said, call the
Speaker 1: sons because the next king, Jesse is in your house.
Speaker 1: He say for real. He said, yeah, for real, for real?
Speaker 1: He said yeah. So he calls his sons and the
Speaker 1: first one walks up. His name is Iliab. He's swaggy.
Speaker 1: The Bible talks about his appearance and his vibe and
Speaker 1: his aura. He looks like what you think a king
Speaker 1: would look like. And Samuel looks at Iliab and say,
Speaker 1: this is surely this is the Lord's annoying. And God
Speaker 1: has to correct Samuel. He's a judge. He has what's
Speaker 1: called prophetic gifting. He's able to see things that were
Speaker 1: called seers, and the seer couldn't see. His attachment to
Speaker 1: the past was affecting his discernment in the future because
Speaker 1: ili Ab kind of looked like Saul. The Bible describes
Speaker 1: Saul that way. So his attachment to the past was
Speaker 1: affecting his discernment in the present. And God has to
Speaker 1: tell Samuel and remind him we don't use the same
Speaker 1: criteria when it comes to picking kings. He says, man
Speaker 1: looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart.
Speaker 1: There's heart criteria that I'm looking for to determine who
Speaker 1: I'm going to use. So he says, Iliab isn't it.
Speaker 1: So another son comes, he's not it. Another son comes,
Speaker 1: he's not it. Seven sons come to Samuel, and God's
Speaker 1: like no, no, no, no, no, no, no seven. And
Speaker 1: Samuel's confused, so he says to Jesse, he says, are
Speaker 1: these all your sons? He says, yeah, I got one more.
Speaker 1: But I know he's not the one. Samuel said, you
Speaker 1: got one more? Call him. We won't sit down until
Speaker 1: he gets here. And the Bible says, here comes David,
Speaker 1: and God says to Samuel, that's the one. Now wait
Speaker 1: a minute, I want you to catch this. Seven people
Speaker 1: got to Samuel before David. Seven people got to the
Speaker 1: opportunity before David. Seven people got to the door before David.
Speaker 1: Let's contemporarize it. Seven people met Samuel before David. Seven
Speaker 1: people applied before David. But God held it in place
Speaker 1: until David got there. Because when God has something for you,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter who gets there first. They can see
Speaker 1: it first, they can apply first, they can call first.
Speaker 1: But if your name is on it and God has
Speaker 1: assigned you to it, what God has for you is
Speaker 1: for you. Notice what the text says for Samuel sixteen thirteen.
Speaker 1: It says, so Samuel took the horn of oil and
Speaker 1: anointed him. Now I don't know. I love the Bible.
Speaker 1: I read the Bible. I try to read it objectively
Speaker 1: as I can. This seem a little petty to me.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it, though it's the pettiness
Speaker 1: for me, I just I love it. Here it is,
Speaker 1: he says, So Samuel took the horn of oil and
Speaker 1: anointed him. Listen to what the writer says, in the
Speaker 1: presence of his brothers. I don't see the necessity of
Speaker 1: that detail. I don't see how that's relevant to the story.
Speaker 1: It feels a little petty to me. But I'm here
Speaker 1: for it. I'm here for it all. He says. He
Speaker 1: anointed him in the presence of his brothers. So the
Speaker 1: same people that did not think enough of him to
Speaker 1: even invite him to meet Samuel are the same people
Speaker 1: that have to sit there and watch him get what
Speaker 1: they didn't think he'd deserted. And I think this is
Speaker 1: a powerful picture of divine retribution, or what the apostle
Speaker 1: Paul calls vengeance. See, vengeance is not God inflicting harm
Speaker 1: on your enemies. Vengeance is God empowering you to succeed
Speaker 1: in spite of what your enemies did, and then putting
Speaker 1: your enemies in close proximity, and their punishment is to
Speaker 1: watch you win. I want somebody online, somebody in every location,
Speaker 1: to give God praise because he's about to punish your
Speaker 1: enemies by making them what you win. Now, I want
Speaker 1: to tell somebody they watching. They're not commenting under the post,
Speaker 1: but they're watching. They're not pressing that light button, but
Speaker 1: they're watching. They're seeing everything God's doing in your life.
Speaker 1: Here this from I want to see. It's here. None
Speaker 1: even President's brothers. That's not all it says. And from
Speaker 1: that day on, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully
Speaker 1: on David. You gotta see that. So it says, from
Speaker 1: that day on, the spirit of the Lord came powerfully
Speaker 1: on David. From that day on, spirit of the Lord
Speaker 1: came palp up David. Okay, but then this was this
Speaker 1: said this confusing to me. It says Samuel then went
Speaker 1: to rama. This is the one point in the sermon.
Speaker 1: I'm okay. If you confused, I want you to be
Speaker 1: confused right now because this is I want you to
Speaker 1: picture this. Let's use imagery. Here. David is sitting outside greasy.
Speaker 1: He's just greasy, just allly everywhere greasy, right, Daddy, hugging him.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be king. I'm so proud of you. Samuel
Speaker 1: puts all this all on his head, has him greasy.
Speaker 1: Then leave now, you're not just about to greeze me
Speaker 1: up and leave me. If I'm David, I'm like I'm
Speaker 1: the next king, right, Yes, you got all this oil
Speaker 1: on me. Yes, I'm sitting here cooking into crisco. Right,
Speaker 1: So so you're leaving? So what you know? You're gonna
Speaker 1: send the uber. You're gonna send the chariot uber back
Speaker 1: to get me because I'm annoying it to be king,
Speaker 1: my annoying has changed the spirit of the Lord came
Speaker 1: up on them that day powerfully. My ability has changed,
Speaker 1: but my responsibility Hadn't you mean you annoyed? You mean
Speaker 1: you annoyted me for something I'm not about to do yet.
Speaker 1: Have you ever felt like your oil is greater than
Speaker 1: your assignment? Have you ever felt like your ability it's
Speaker 1: greater than your risk responsibility? You like? How am I
Speaker 1: sitting here this greasy and have to go right back
Speaker 1: to tending to my father's sheep? Because all of us
Speaker 1: go through seasons where our ability and our responsibility don't match.
Speaker 1: That's not listen to me. That is not punishment. That's purposeful.
Speaker 1: It's what I call the God gap, and it's a
Speaker 1: gift to you, he says, because what I need to
Speaker 1: do is I need to use this length of time
Speaker 1: where your ability and responsibility don't match to do some development,
Speaker 1: not just on what you can do, but development on
Speaker 1: who you are. Because when you get to the palace,
Speaker 1: there's more than a throne waiting on you. There's a
Speaker 1: jealous ex king Saul. So I need to develop the
Speaker 1: character in you, David, so that when you get to
Speaker 1: where I'm taking you, you have the character to handle
Speaker 1: what's about to happen to you. Because I know you,
Speaker 1: and I know you, and I know you defeated a
Speaker 1: lion and a bear with your bad hands. I know you,
Speaker 1: and I know if I don't deal with you. When
Speaker 1: Saul throw that first spear, you throwing one back. Let
Speaker 1: me see who's going to be honest at elevation, he says.
Speaker 1: He said, you're gonna get okay, Saul, I respect you
Speaker 1: and everything, but we we got one more time to
Speaker 1: throw a spear. It's the God gap, he says. It's
Speaker 1: the time I use to get you ready for what
Speaker 1: you're ready for, but you're not ready for You're ready
Speaker 1: for it, like I'm ready, he says, but you're not
Speaker 1: ready for it because there's a backside to this. There's
Speaker 1: a front side to the blessing, that's the promotion. There's
Speaker 1: a backside to it, that's the pressure. And he says,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna use the gap to You're ready for the
Speaker 1: front side, but I need the gap to prepare you
Speaker 1: for the backside, because when you get to destiny underdeveloped,
Speaker 1: what should feel like a blessing starts feeling like a curse.
Speaker 1: And so God, God uses it's just a supernaturally like
Speaker 1: arrange his circumstances to get David in the palace and
Speaker 1: actually gets in the palace by working for Saul as
Speaker 1: a musician, and Saul loves David so much he moves
Speaker 1: in from musician to what's called an armor bearer, a
Speaker 1: person who would literally bear and carry and take care
Speaker 1: of the king's armor. And David would work for Saul
Speaker 1: and then go back home and tend to his father's sheep.
Speaker 1: So no matter what happened outside his father's house, he
Speaker 1: was still faithful to the father's house. God blessed him
Speaker 1: outside the father's house. But he's still faithful to the
Speaker 1: father's house because he recognized I got found in the
Speaker 1: father's house and and he so he goes back to
Speaker 1: the father's house and one day he's getting ready to
Speaker 1: go to work, and his dad tells him, take this
Speaker 1: food to your brothers who are on the who are
Speaker 1: in the military when you go back to work. So
Speaker 1: David is taking this brother's food. And while he's taking
Speaker 1: his brother's food before he gets ready to go to work,
Speaker 1: he hears this nose this talking. He said, what is that?
Speaker 1: And it's this philistine giant named Goliath who's just insulting Israel.
Speaker 1: And David's dropping off the ham sandwiches. He say, David
Speaker 1: start looking around. He say, uh, y'all, don't hear that?
Speaker 1: Nobody has a problem with that. Why are we just
Speaker 1: letting him talk to us like that? This is what
Speaker 1: I call unique agitation. That God not only gives us anointings,
Speaker 1: he gives us customized agitations. That you and I can
Speaker 1: walk in the same room and you can see something
Speaker 1: and it bothers you, and it not bothered me. Because
Speaker 1: the problems that bother you the most are the problems
Speaker 1: that you're being created to solve. Purpose is an answer
Speaker 1: to a problem. And so did you hear what I
Speaker 1: just said? So God has to give you an agitation
Speaker 1: for the thing that you've been called to do something about.
Speaker 1: And the reason other people could live with what Goliath
Speaker 1: was doing is because they weren't born to take him out.
Speaker 1: And there are some golias that exists in our communities,
Speaker 1: that exist in culture that you've been called to address
Speaker 1: and dress. And God gives you a unique agitation for
Speaker 1: the whose things? They say, who is this? It's feel
Speaker 1: estate who dares to defy the armies of the living God.
Speaker 1: He said, y'all scared? I'm not scared. Word gets back
Speaker 1: to the king that David was in a fight. The
Speaker 1: King tries to talk David out of it, and David
Speaker 1: convinces the king. So the King says, all right, you're
Speaker 1: ready fight to life. This is no problem. Take my armor.
Speaker 1: This is the best in the land. I want you
Speaker 1: to wear this. Take my sword. It's the best sword available.
Speaker 1: I want you to use this. It's the King's army,
Speaker 1: it's the best. It was probably battle tested, it was
Speaker 1: probably something that was successful for Saul. Are you following me? Elevation.
Speaker 1: But just because it worked for Saul doesn't mean it
Speaker 1: fit David. So in order for David to accomplish his assignment,
Speaker 1: David had to recognize what doesn't fit him. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine the tension he's dealing with with a king that
Speaker 1: he respects so much and honors and loves, and he
Speaker 1: has to tell a king. I know that's the way
Speaker 1: culture does it. I know that's the way everybody says
Speaker 1: it has to be done, and I know many people
Speaker 1: have done it that way and been successful, But that
Speaker 1: is not the way God wired me. And I am
Speaker 1: telling you. One of David's most courageous acts wasn't just
Speaker 1: fighting Goliath. One of David's most courageous acts was rejecting
Speaker 1: that armor, because it took courage for David to say,
Speaker 1: everybody uses a sword, but I'm gonna use a rock
Speaker 1: because my rock will work if I work it right.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says that David goes out against that philistine,
Speaker 1: and that philistine is thinking he's about y'all excuse me.
Speaker 1: I grew up watching wrestling, not this new wrestling. I
Speaker 1: grew up watching real wrestling, that old school wrestling. The
Speaker 1: Hulk Hogan Wrestling, the Ultimate Warrior Wrestling. I'm about to
Speaker 1: date some of y'all's. It's too old for some of y'all.
Speaker 1: The junk Yard Dog, Okay, okay, the Superfly, Jimmy Snooker.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the role warriors wrestlings, right, And so
Speaker 1: I can imagine Goliath thinking I'm about to put him
Speaker 1: in a headlock. I'm about to I'm about to do
Speaker 1: him like Jake the Snake Robert. But he doesn't watch this,
Speaker 1: He doesn't realize. Goliath doesn't realize his advantages only work
Speaker 1: in close. Comebat, that your sword only works in close. Comebat,
Speaker 1: that your strength only works in close. Comeback, that the
Speaker 1: spear only works at a distance. So what some people
Speaker 1: saw in David as a disadvantage was actually his advantage.
Speaker 1: The thing most people would have had inadequacy about is
Speaker 1: the thing that made him uniquely capable of taking out Goliath,
Speaker 1: because no one probably could have got him with hand
Speaker 1: to hand combat. But David didn't fight him close up.
Speaker 1: David fought him at a distance because of your rock
Speaker 1: has been designed to work against the giant. You've been
Speaker 1: called to knock down. And if you don't use your
Speaker 1: rock you lose your advantage. I want to tell you
Speaker 1: you must be willing to live through a season where
Speaker 1: you feel weird so God can push you in a
Speaker 1: season where you feel relevant. The same thing that makes
Speaker 1: you feel small in one season, it's the same thing
Speaker 1: God will use to enable you to do something big
Speaker 1: in another. And I just came to tell my cousin
Speaker 1: and my friends and my family at Elevation, your rock works.
Speaker 1: And don't you allow anybody, any enemy or the inner
Speaker 1: you to talk you out of using what God has
Speaker 1: given you. You stir up the gift of God on
Speaker 1: the inside of you, and you will knock your giant
Speaker 1: down because of your rock works. Your rock works, your
Speaker 1: rock works. I'm done. I came for people today like
Speaker 1: me who for most of my life didn't quite feel
Speaker 1: like I ever quite fit in anywhere. Came for people
Speaker 1: like me who felt like I wondered was there something
Speaker 1: wrong with me because I felt so weird. Came for
Speaker 1: people like me who wrestled with inadequacy, and inadequacy is
Speaker 1: an inside job. I got a bunch of degrees I
Speaker 1: feel like a thermometer, but none of them made me
Speaker 1: feel any better about me. Just felt different, felt weird.
Speaker 1: Even when I got called to ministry, I learned something.
Speaker 1: Your calling is not your healing. And I saw the
Speaker 1: way other people were approaching pastoral ministry and I was like,
Speaker 1: that's so amazing and it's working. I can't wear that
Speaker 1: though it doesn't fit. I gotta lead, but I gotta write,
Speaker 1: and I gotta lead, but I gotta teach. And I
Speaker 1: felt so weird until I got to a season where
Speaker 1: God began to show me that what makes you feel
Speaker 1: weird in one season is what makes you relevant in another.
Speaker 1: You aren't weird. You're right because difference makers are different.
Speaker 1: So today I'm challenging you. I'm challenging us to embrace
Speaker 1: your unique design. I'm telling you that there are people
Speaker 1: depending on you to be you and use your rock,
Speaker 1: and I'm getting ready to pray for you that God.
Speaker 1: You know, we talk about miracles, but I think some
Speaker 1: of the most significant miracles are emotional ones. Is when
Speaker 1: God does something in my heart in a unique and
Speaker 1: accelerated way. They're calling me epiphanies and culture a light bulb.
Speaker 1: I'm praying for that because your problem in this season,
Speaker 1: because I've been there. It's not that you aren't seeing
Speaker 1: God right, it's you're seeing you wrong. Number thirteen. We
Speaker 1: were like grasshoppers in our own eyes. You're not losing
Speaker 1: to the giant out there. You're losing to the grasshopper
Speaker 1: in here because you're grasshopper. It's bigger than your giant.
Speaker 1: So I want to pray for you for a miracle
Speaker 1: in our hearts. So Father, in this room, online, at
Speaker 1: every location, I pray for spiritual epiphanies. You did it
Speaker 1: for Gideon, you did it for Jeremiah, you did it
Speaker 1: for Moses. I pray that you do it for us.
Speaker 1: That you give us the courage not to wear what
Speaker 1: doesn't fit us, but to be uniquely who you've called
Speaker 1: us to be, and to do what you've called us
Speaker 1: to do the way you've called us to do it.
Speaker 1: May our eyes be open to see us as you do. Lord,
Speaker 1: open our eyes. This is my prayer for your people,
Speaker 1: and as we see ourselves correctly. May it be said
Speaker 1: of us as it was said of the early Church.
Speaker 1: These are they that have turned the world upside down
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast,
Speaker 1: there are a couple things I'd love for you to do.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You
Speaker 1: can also help us teach others by investing today at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again for
Speaker 1: joining us on the Elevation Podcast