Speaker 1: Welcome to the Elevation Church podcast. Today, Larry Bride, the
Speaker 1: Elevation Matthew's campus pastor, shares a special message called the
Speaker 1: Other Side of the Promise. We hope you enjoy this message.
Speaker 1: I want to speak today on the subject of promises.
Speaker 1: If you remain standing for just a few more seconds,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get to my text, and I specifically
Speaker 1: want to speak a message to anybody who feels like
Speaker 1: God's made you a promise and you're on the outside
Speaker 1: of it looking at it. I just feel like there's
Speaker 1: some people under the sound of my voice, maybe in Colombia,
Speaker 1: that are standing outside of something they feel like God
Speaker 1: called them into. I want to speak specifically to you today.
Speaker 1: The main text we're going to jump into is going
Speaker 1: to be in First Chronicles eleven, verses one through five.
Speaker 1: He says this. This says all Israel came together to
Speaker 1: David at Hebron and said, you are our own flesh
Speaker 1: and blood. In the past, even while Saul was king,
Speaker 1: you were the one who led Israel under military campaigns
Speaker 1: and the lords. Your God said to you, you will
Speaker 1: shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.
Speaker 1: When all the elders of Israel had come to King
Speaker 1: David and Hebron. He made a covenant with them at
Speaker 1: Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel,
Speaker 1: as the Lord had promised through Samuel. David and all
Speaker 1: the Israelites marched to Jerusalem, that is Jeebus. The gb
Speaker 1: Sites who live there said to David, you will not
Speaker 1: get in here. Nevertheless, I love that word. Nevertheless. David
Speaker 1: captured the fortress of Zion, which is the city of David.
Speaker 1: The title for today's message is this the other side
Speaker 1: of the promise. Say to your neighbor, the other side
Speaker 1: of the promise. Look on the other side of your
Speaker 1: neighbor and speak over them the other side of the promise. Hey,
Speaker 1: why don't you high five at least three people on
Speaker 1: your way to your seat? Think you worshiped team? And
Speaker 1: I want to jump into this topic of promises today.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting the text we have going on in
Speaker 1: First Chronicles, there's actually two promises that God is fulfilling
Speaker 1: in this moment. One of them is easy to read
Speaker 1: because it's said in the text. And the Lord fulfilled
Speaker 1: his promise to David as he had spoken through Samuel.
Speaker 1: And so the first promise that was fulfilled in this
Speaker 1: is the one that David was walking in. The other
Speaker 1: promise is a promise that God is fulfilling to nation Israel.
Speaker 1: Two promises going on in the same moment. Do we
Speaker 1: sometimes realize that as we're going through life, God is
Speaker 1: doing more than just me. Sometimes I'm going through life,
Speaker 1: I get so focused on me. I don't see the
Speaker 1: bigger picture that God is drawing in the world. And
Speaker 1: all of us are individual threads that God is weaving
Speaker 1: together to put together a beautiful tapestry of His glory
Speaker 1: to the world. And all of these promises are happening.
Speaker 1: One was in motion for twenty years, David. The other
Speaker 1: one four hundred and eighty years. On your row today
Speaker 1: is somebody who's walking in a promise today, somebody who's
Speaker 1: going to see a promise fulfilled, or something's being spoken
Speaker 1: over them. It might have been something that was spoken
Speaker 1: over them ten generations ago that will find fulfill film today.
Speaker 1: All of God's promises are yes and amen in Christ.
Speaker 1: I believe that, and some of us have forgotten the
Speaker 1: promises that God has spoken over our life today. And actually,
Speaker 1: actually the first word I want you to write down
Speaker 1: is the word promise. Write down the word promise. Say promise.
Speaker 1: I was thirty two percent participation here at Valentine. Let's
Speaker 1: try it again, say promise much better. You need to
Speaker 1: get a little attitude about it, because you're blessed, you're
Speaker 1: highly favored, and some of you are taking way too
Speaker 1: much of a passive voice in the promises of God
Speaker 1: and your standing back maybe if it no, no, no,
Speaker 1: God's promises that you would step into something. And that's
Speaker 1: what I'm speaking over with you today. But this story
Speaker 1: in First Chronicles eleven did not start in verse in
Speaker 1: First Chronicles eleven. It actually started back in Exodus chapter three.
Speaker 1: I'm going to rewind a little bit to give you
Speaker 1: some context for the story we're going to look at today.
Speaker 1: In Exodus three seventeen, it says, and I have promised
Speaker 1: to bring you out of your misery in Egypt, into
Speaker 1: the land of the Canaanites, of the Hittites, Amorites, Parizites,
Speaker 1: hip Bites, and Jebucides, a land flowing with milk and honey. God.
Speaker 1: I heard the cries of Nation Israel as they were
Speaker 1: under the oppressive thumb of the Egyptian slave masters, and
Speaker 1: he heard their cry and he said, I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: something about it. I will take you from slavery and
Speaker 1: into the promised life. That is a promise that God
Speaker 1: has spoken over you. Over you too, He's gonna take
Speaker 1: you from those slave habits, those slave thoughts, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna take you into promised land thinking and his promises. Yes,
Speaker 1: and they met, and He's spoken it over you, and
Speaker 1: it's flowing with milk and honey. I love that. When
Speaker 1: I first came to faith in Jesus, some of you
Speaker 1: career Christians would talk in ways that I would not understand.
Speaker 1: I would simply ask, how you doing today, blessed and
Speaker 1: highly favored brother, And I'm like, what understand the lingo?
Speaker 1: What do you mean? And they would use things like
Speaker 1: I just can't wait to get to the other side
Speaker 1: milk and honey, baby, it's flowing with milk and honey.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what on earth are you talking about? Flowing
Speaker 1: with milk and honey. Oh, it's this thing of when
Speaker 1: I get to the other side of this thing, life
Speaker 1: gets better over there. So if I to the other
Speaker 1: side of this, life is better over there. And what
Speaker 1: I took that to mean for Christianity is it will
Speaker 1: just suck here until I get over there. This is
Speaker 1: just going to be miserable. No, that's not the life
Speaker 1: you are called to live under the authority of Jesus Christ. Oh.
Speaker 1: I rechecked that thinking the other side of the promise.
Speaker 1: If I can just get to the other side of
Speaker 1: the promise, life is going to get better over here.
Speaker 1: And what I would speak over every one of you
Speaker 1: is is to remind you that God has made you promises.
Speaker 1: I want you to think very personally about a promise
Speaker 1: that God has made you. It might be some of
Speaker 1: you are here today and the promise you feel that
Speaker 1: God has made you that you will have that child,
Speaker 1: but it's been fifteen years. Some of you, the promise
Speaker 1: that God has made you is your marriage will be fruitful.
Speaker 1: Some of you feel like the promise that God has
Speaker 1: made you is that that son that's on that opioid
Speaker 1: addiction he will be freed from those things. Some of you,
Speaker 1: the promise is that when you lay your head down
Speaker 1: at night, you won't be dominated by the shame that's
Speaker 1: been this dark cloud over your life for all these years.
Speaker 1: And sometimes what happens is the longer we live outside
Speaker 1: of something, the more we believe we don't belong in
Speaker 1: that thing. I want to remind you that the promises
Speaker 1: of God are yes and Amen. He has spoken it
Speaker 1: over you, and in fact Tewod Corinthians one twenty says,
Speaker 1: for no matter how many promises God has made, they
Speaker 1: are yes in Christ, and so through him, Amen is
Speaker 1: spoken to us by the glory of God. I want
Speaker 1: to remind you what is the promise that God has
Speaker 1: made over your life? Is it joy? Is it peace?
Speaker 1: Is that He'll never leave you, never forsaken you. For me,
Speaker 1: the promise that God has spoken to me that I've
Speaker 1: been claiming for a long time in my life is forgiveness.
Speaker 1: What's yours? What's your promise? And I want to remind
Speaker 1: you today that you need to start getting an attitude
Speaker 1: about yourself that you will see that promise come to
Speaker 1: pass in your life. You don't need to settle for
Speaker 1: second rate, second class Christianity. You are his first choice.
Speaker 1: You are not leftovers because of your choices. You are
Speaker 1: a first option because you are the bride of Christ.
Speaker 1: But milking honey, baby, milking honey. It's funny because if
Speaker 1: I teach you a very shallow version of Christianity. It
Speaker 1: wouldn't be that. It's just milking honey, come to Jesus
Speaker 1: and everything gets better. That's not real. It's mostly me
Speaker 1: milking honey. And then you get slapped with a problem.
Speaker 1: You're like, WHOA, what was that? I didn't It's kind
Speaker 1: of like when I got married to my beautiful wife, Janet,
Speaker 1: almost nineteen years ago. I walk into this beautiful thing
Speaker 1: and we became wedded, and I'm looking like, baby, milking honey,
Speaker 1: let's go, and then we got married. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that marriage came with some misery, like
Speaker 1: not not you, But I didn't know that the promise
Speaker 1: came with problems. And some of us walk away from
Speaker 1: promises because you're expecting milk and honey and you get
Speaker 1: something that looks very different. Second word I want you
Speaker 1: to write down is possess. Say possess. God gives you
Speaker 1: the promise, but he wants you to possess it because
Speaker 1: there's another side of this promise. In Deuteronomy seven, what
Speaker 1: says when the Lord God brings you into the land
Speaker 1: you are entering to possess and drives out before you
Speaker 1: many nations now who's gonna drive him out? God will
Speaker 1: God said, he'll drive him out. Who needs to possess it?
Speaker 1: You and me, Our job is to possess. God's job
Speaker 1: is to drive out. But he said many nations, the
Speaker 1: hit sites, the Gergoshites, Amorites, Canaanites, Parasites, hit bites, Jebusites,
Speaker 1: seven nations larger and stronger than you. Time out. Now, God,
Speaker 1: you said I'm gonna get into the Promised Land. But
Speaker 1: there's a problem with the promise because the promised Land
Speaker 1: is inhabited by nations larger and stronger than me. Oh,
Speaker 1: I thought it was milk and honey. God, but you're
Speaker 1: telling me it's actually larger and stronger. And some of
Speaker 1: the reasons I think we walk away from promises is
Speaker 1: because I'm expecting milk and honey, and I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do when I get large and stronger. Because
Speaker 1: God said, this is the Promised Land, but you're standing
Speaker 1: in it. You're a big dude. This isn't what I
Speaker 1: thought it would look like. God. I thought I was
Speaker 1: looking at milk in the honey, but now I'm looking
Speaker 1: at larger and stronger. I'm like, I'm just to stand
Speaker 1: in that land, but there's a big problem in the land.
Speaker 1: The other side of the promise is it's larger and stronger.
Speaker 1: And some of us that have been following Christ for
Speaker 1: a while know that when you get into this new opportunity,
Speaker 1: it comes with a new opponent. It's got seven nations
Speaker 1: larger and stronger than you. And actually, the way that
Speaker 1: the text is written, it goes from big, it's a
Speaker 1: bigger and it's like, God, I just got done with him,
Speaker 1: and now he's bigger than the last one seven nations,
Speaker 1: like oh, I'm exhausted before I even show up who
Speaker 1: and some of us are defeated. And that's why we
Speaker 1: don't move towards possession, is because we're looking at the
Speaker 1: enemy rather than the promise. We're looking at what's inhabiting
Speaker 1: it rather than the one who gave it to me.
Speaker 1: Seven nations and each one he's big, like he's real big.
Speaker 1: And then oh God, and now I'm up here praising
Speaker 1: on Sunday the Lord is and then like, I'm good,
Speaker 1: where's my defl like the enemy, look, I got you.
Speaker 1: But then the closer you get and you're like, oh snap,
Speaker 1: he's a lot bigger. The closer you get to it.
Speaker 1: And some of the reasons we don't possess the promises.
Speaker 1: We're intimidated by the inhabitants that are in the land.
Speaker 1: And God says, this land is yours. I've promised it
Speaker 1: to you, but there's a problem with it. It's not
Speaker 1: yes it's flowing with milk and honey, but yes, they're
Speaker 1: larger and stronger than you. That's why the Israelites where
Speaker 1: they got into problems. They came out of Egyptian slavery
Speaker 1: and they were going to go towards the promised land.
Speaker 1: Moses dispatches twelve spies, all twelve of them came back
Speaker 1: after surveying, and I say, yep, milk and honey, absolutely
Speaker 1: milk and honey. Only two of them thought they could
Speaker 1: actually inhabit the land. God said, I didn't ask you
Speaker 1: all that. I told you you were gonna get in.
Speaker 1: Quit telling me what you can't do, and start realizing
Speaker 1: what have already done for you, because your job is
Speaker 1: not to drive them out. I will take care of that,
Speaker 1: because our pastor taught us that if it's bigger than me,
Speaker 1: it's not my battle, that's the Lord's. This is my land,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna possess it. I know you're big, and
Speaker 1: I need to teach you to size up your opponent
Speaker 1: because every level is a new opponent and at this level,
Speaker 1: with this opponent, this opponent will develop things in me
Speaker 1: that can only be developed in this level. At this level,
Speaker 1: there is a level. How do you size up your opponent? Now,
Speaker 1: Once upon a time, I'm a fighter, I'd be like,
Speaker 1: all right, how do I size how? How How am I
Speaker 1: gonna take him? I can't take him. I can't give
Speaker 1: me four other guys. That dude's like bigger than the sun.
Speaker 1: He's like shot. He's like, ah, it's not my job
Speaker 1: to fight him, but to size him up. The size
Speaker 1: of my opponent shows me the size of my promise.
Speaker 1: Whoo if you're that big, oh, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see the size of the promise that's waiting for me
Speaker 1: right there. Thank you, guys, And some of you have
Speaker 1: walked away and you're not possessing the promise because you've
Speaker 1: been intimidated by the inhabitants. We get this in video games.
Speaker 1: We understand that in video games, every level gives you
Speaker 1: a new opponent, each one's tougher than the last. The
Speaker 1: greatest video game of all time. Mike Tyson Punch Out,
Speaker 1: Oh My Soul, absolutely amazing. Level one Glass Shoe. He's
Speaker 1: one ninety nine pop out step back, pop out step,
Speaker 1: And that's how you beat him, really easy, thirty two seconds.
Speaker 1: You can do it every time you get into the
Speaker 1: second level. Ah now I'm von Kaiser. Then I'm gonna
Speaker 1: move up to Piston, Honda, bald Bull. I'm working through
Speaker 1: all fourteen fourteen of these levels just to get to
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson. But I had played this game the other
Speaker 1: day with my son, and I let him know a
Speaker 1: secret that all of us gamers know about that if
Speaker 1: you've ever played the game before, they have these codes,
Speaker 1: these cheat codes. There's a cheat code in in Mike
Speaker 1: Tyson punch Out zero zero seven three seven three five
Speaker 1: nine sixty three that if you type that code in,
Speaker 1: it will cheat you through fourteen levels and take you
Speaker 1: right to Mike Tyson. So I had this dad moment
Speaker 1: the other day and I'm like, boy, type in the
Speaker 1: cheat code, and he did, and he's standing there ding
Speaker 1: ding ding. The round starts one punch three seconds He's
Speaker 1: knocked out flat, Like there are no cheat to the
Speaker 1: promises of God, you cannot bypass levels. You gotta go
Speaker 1: through every one of them. Deuteronomy seven twenty two says this,
Speaker 1: The Lord, your God, will drive out those nations before you.
Speaker 1: He's repeating it again. It's not your job to fight it,
Speaker 1: but it is your job to possess it. He will
Speaker 1: drive them out before you, little by little. You will
Speaker 1: not be allowed to eliminate them all at once. How
Speaker 1: do we possess the land little by little, little by little?
Speaker 1: Because the Lord said, if I allow you to eliminate
Speaker 1: them all at once, you don't develop the gifts that
Speaker 1: can only be developed through that opponent. And if you
Speaker 1: bypass that opponent, You're going to miss a gift that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring to you. And some of you get
Speaker 1: confused because you think, when I get to the other side,
Speaker 1: then I'm standing in the promise. No no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no. The very fact that I start playing
Speaker 1: the game facing my first opponent means I'm already in
Speaker 1: the promised baby, and I go from promise to glory,
Speaker 1: to glory to glory, strength to strength. That's what it
Speaker 1: means to grow in the promise of God. I don't
Speaker 1: get to the promise, I grow in the promise I
Speaker 1: grow in it. It's not when you get to the
Speaker 1: other side. You're standing in in now. I got to
Speaker 1: understand milk and honey, larger and stronger, But every one
Speaker 1: of these builds a dependence upon the Lord. The greatest
Speaker 1: gift that God can give you is dependence upon Him.
Speaker 1: Third word I want you to write down is the
Speaker 1: word persevere. Say persevere. First word was promise, Say promise.
Speaker 1: Second word is possessed, say possess, say persevere. Really, well
Speaker 1: done here, Valentiner. I like that Hebrews ten thirty six.
Speaker 1: It says you need to persevere so that when you
Speaker 1: have done the will of God, you will receive what
Speaker 1: he has promised. Because what I've realized in my own
Speaker 1: life is sometimes if it's not looking like I expect
Speaker 1: did I'm expecting milk and honey, but I get larger
Speaker 1: and stronger. I will stand over here and say, God,
Speaker 1: did you forget your side of the deal? Here? Where
Speaker 1: are my promises? At you forgot? And I'm trying to
Speaker 1: remind him of the other side of the promise. And
Speaker 1: I get this picture in my head that God is
Speaker 1: standing over here and he's looking back at me saying
Speaker 1: I have now forgotten mine, because it is yes and amen,
Speaker 1: and it is always available to you, he says, I
Speaker 1: think you've forgotten. You're a part of the promise, and
Speaker 1: you're a part of the promises. Perseverance, You're part of
Speaker 1: the promises. To keep moving towards the possession of the promise.
Speaker 1: But how do we persevere? Little by little, little by little.
Speaker 1: Perseverance is one of the greatest gifts. And I'm praying
Speaker 1: a spirit of perseverance would bust out in this place today.
Speaker 1: Perseverance towards the promises of God, by the saints of God. Perseverance,
Speaker 1: because when I start interpreting the promises based upon the scenery,
Speaker 1: I stop moving towards the possession. I start holding my
Speaker 1: finger up. The winds have promise, where are they flowing today? Well, God,
Speaker 1: I guess you're just not really in my favor today.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no no, no no no no no. God's
Speaker 1: promises are yes and m and in spite of in
Speaker 1: place of irregardless of what circumstances are going on around you.
Speaker 1: And some days when it looks like milk and honey,
Speaker 1: you're just skipping towards the promises of God. You're just
Speaker 1: woo and some days, when it's larger and stronger, you
Speaker 1: just stop moving. Possession is not a passive experience. It
Speaker 1: is an active participation. The other side of the promise
Speaker 1: is my perseverance. How do I persevere when I don't
Speaker 1: even want to keep moving? How do I persevere when
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been forgotten? I got knocked down God,
Speaker 1: and he says, get back up? He said, I've been
Speaker 1: down for very long. He said, then roll forward. You
Speaker 1: just gotta keep moving towards possession. And for me, I
Speaker 1: think one of the things that that I get real
Speaker 1: confused with with perseverance is I think I've got always
Speaker 1: got to have the greatest motives and motivations in life,
Speaker 1: because imbalanced teaching will just say, well, you just do
Speaker 1: it all for the glory of God, brother, And I
Speaker 1: don't know, do you know how some of you might
Speaker 1: struggle with this, Like you ever get in a situation
Speaker 1: that you start telling a lie, and you tell it
Speaker 1: long enough you just start to believe it is the truth,
Speaker 1: like you might do that. I struggle with that and
Speaker 1: the other side of it. Sometimes I will pray about
Speaker 1: something so long that I'll just assume it's a promise.
Speaker 1: That God has made. I get promises, I get prayers,
Speaker 1: and I get my preferences all mixed up, and sometimes
Speaker 1: I get in a world that I cannot discern between
Speaker 1: my preferences and his promises. Here's what I do know.
Speaker 1: If he promised it, and if it came from his mouth,
Speaker 1: it has the potential to be experienced in my life
Speaker 1: because it is yes and amen, and it is available
Speaker 1: for me to possess. But the promise he spoke that
Speaker 1: can be possess, I must persevere towards it. I gotta
Speaker 1: move towards If it's a prayer. Does He answer prayers
Speaker 1: sometimes like I want, sometimes not like I want, But
Speaker 1: none of those prayers will be experience unless you persevere
Speaker 1: to possess it. Preferences I don't know. Does he answer
Speaker 1: some of those? Maybe, Like I'm sure there's some young
Speaker 1: lady watching who's like, my preference would be a guy
Speaker 1: who's like six foot four and you know, loves Hallmark Channels,
Speaker 1: yet still manly enough to cut his own trees for
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving in the woods and you know, make six figures
Speaker 1: and loves my cat. You know, Like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Maybe God will give you that. Maybe the promise will
Speaker 1: come bald in five foot seven. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: do know this that my God, who's big enough to
Speaker 1: save me and redeem the world and bring Jesus back
Speaker 1: from the dead, is also good enough to purify my motives.
Speaker 1: If I just keep moving towards him. He is good
Speaker 1: enough and he's big enough, and he'll do that. I
Speaker 1: just gotta keep moving because there is some guy. The
Speaker 1: only reason you came to church today is some pretty
Speaker 1: girl invited you. Praise God. Wooh. I don't care what
Speaker 1: guy you here. He's gonna meet you here. And maybe,
Speaker 1: just maybe, even if I'm moving forward towards my preferences,
Speaker 1: I see God's promise and he upgrades my preferences to
Speaker 1: what he would prefer for my life. Maybe God is
Speaker 1: just big enough to do all that too. Maybe he can.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the reasons I think I love David.
Speaker 1: The character of David, I so resonate with him because
Speaker 1: in First Chronicles eleven, this is actually the third time
Speaker 1: he's being anointed. The first time he's anointed is in
Speaker 1: his teenage years, because at that point, about twenty years earlier,
Speaker 1: Saul had made some bad choices. Who was King of Israel.
Speaker 1: God's like, yo, we have picking somebody else. He's gone crazy,
Speaker 1: and so he tells his prophet Samuel go to Jesse's
Speaker 1: house and one of his sons, I'm going to anoint king.
Speaker 1: So Samuel shows up at uncle jesse house and Bo
Speaker 1: and Luke walk out. Different Jesse. Samuel shows up and
Speaker 1: actually Jesse's oldest son, Elieb, is outside mowing the lawn
Speaker 1: and the prophet sees him and he says, God, look
Speaker 1: at that guy. He's tall, he's good looking, he's muscular,
Speaker 1: he's amazing. Let's use him. And God says, nope, I
Speaker 1: don't pick based upon your criteria. I'm looking at the heart.
Speaker 1: I know you're looking for who could play the part,
Speaker 1: but I'm looking at the heart. That's great dating advice
Speaker 1: for some of you. You're looking for somebody who could
Speaker 1: play the part rather than at the heart. Anyway, he says, nope,
Speaker 1: not him. And so now the prophet has all of
Speaker 1: these seven brothers parade by the prophet, all seven brothers,
Speaker 1: and God's like, nope, nope, nope, and he says it
Speaker 1: seven times and they get to the end and the
Speaker 1: Dad's like, hey, this is all I got. And Samuel's like, sure,
Speaker 1: you got anybody else? Oh yeah, I got one boy.
Speaker 1: He's out in the back forty he's with the he's
Speaker 1: with the sheep. Bring him here and he comes up.
Speaker 1: He's a teenage boy that hadn't even been invited to
Speaker 1: the party. And God says, that's the one I've picked.
Speaker 1: He anoints him king over Israel, and he is king
Speaker 1: at that point, but he's still a teenage boy who's
Speaker 1: tending flocks. He had stepped into the promise, but for
Speaker 1: the rest of his life he was going to grow
Speaker 1: into the promise. And the next scene you see from
Speaker 1: David is he delivers bread and cheese basically a cheese
Speaker 1: pizza from Papa John's to his brothers on the battle lines.
Speaker 1: And he drops off the pie and he hears this
Speaker 1: giant haunting nation Israel. He's like, wha punk me this
Speaker 1: Old Testament translation. And most people don't preach this story
Speaker 1: correctly because as David starts running towards his promise, he says, hey,
Speaker 1: what will be done for the guy who kills him?
Speaker 1: It is what's in it for me? The whole motivation
Speaker 1: was selfish, is what's in it for me? And then
Speaker 1: the guy standing around, We're like, yo, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: a lot of money, a really pretty girl to marry,
Speaker 1: and you'll never have to pay taxes. So basically, this
Speaker 1: is a millennial's dream job right here. And he's like,
Speaker 1: I'll sign up for that. And his oldest brother, Eliab,
Speaker 1: remember the one that he thought he was gonna be king,
Speaker 1: He's already practicing his wave, the one who didn't get picked.
Speaker 1: He overhears what's happening with his Brother's like, I can't
Speaker 1: believe you're up here? How dare you do that? You
Speaker 1: look little punk and little and David, it says in
Speaker 1: the scriptures, he says, can I even talk? He turned
Speaker 1: his back to his brother and he said, again, what
Speaker 1: will be done for the guy who kills him? And
Speaker 1: the only reason, the primary motivation for him going to
Speaker 1: fight Goliath was selfish. It was all about what he
Speaker 1: was gonna get, and it was about his promise, and
Speaker 1: God blessed him. And if you're moving with bad motives today,
Speaker 1: God will upgrade those. As you keep moving forward, God's
Speaker 1: gonna meet you right where you're at. That's why I
Speaker 1: love David. He was just moving. You might not have
Speaker 1: been the best motivation. But at least he was moving.
Speaker 1: That's the thing I'm trying to speak over you. Perseverance
Speaker 1: keeps moving. It might be selfish, I don't care. God's
Speaker 1: gonna Upbrade as you go that as a teenager. The
Speaker 1: second time he's anointed is easy. In his twenties, about
Speaker 1: ten years have passed. What had happened at that point, Saul,
Speaker 1: who had been king, dies. There were the twelve tribes
Speaker 1: of Israel all decided, each one of them just figure
Speaker 1: out who they wanted to be their king. So they
Speaker 1: have an election in their state to see who they
Speaker 1: want to be their king. And only two of the
Speaker 1: twelve picked David. Ten of them picked one of Saul's sons.
Speaker 1: Sounds a lot like the spies in the Promised Land,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. Ten of them got it wrong. And here's
Speaker 1: what I want to speak over you today. Some of
Speaker 1: you are standing on the outside of a promise because
Speaker 1: you didn't get picked. I want to speak over you.
Speaker 1: Just because they didn't pick you means that God changed
Speaker 1: his decision about you. God's promised are still available to you,
Speaker 1: even if you've been overlooked. Even if you didn't get picked,
Speaker 1: they are still yes and Amen in him, and he
Speaker 1: is faithful. He's taking all of these small steps. Little
Speaker 1: by little. He is in his promise, but he's growing
Speaker 1: towards his promise little by little. And it brings us
Speaker 1: to First Chronicles eleven. He's in his thirties right now,
Speaker 1: some twenty years of past between the first time he's
Speaker 1: anointed and this third time he's anointed. And what you
Speaker 1: see is the fulfillment of the promise. But what's interesting
Speaker 1: about this In First Chronicles eleven, Verses three and four says,
Speaker 1: when all the israel the elders of Israel, had come
Speaker 1: to David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them
Speaker 1: at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed King David
Speaker 1: over Israel, as the Lord had promised through Samuel. David,
Speaker 1: and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem. That is jeebus.
Speaker 1: And what you start to see happening in the life
Speaker 1: of David, as you start to see him come to realize,
Speaker 1: is the only reason that God fulfilled his promise was
Speaker 1: so that the promise that God had made Israel could
Speaker 1: be fulfilled through him. God blessed David to be a
Speaker 1: blessing to Israel. And the very first time he's anointed,
Speaker 1: he goes running towards his promise. Third time, he knows
Speaker 1: it's not about him any longer, and he walks and
Speaker 1: he marches with the Israelites towards theirs. He starts to realize,
Speaker 1: I know I'm on the other side of the promise
Speaker 1: when I'm not at the center. In Christ, we know
Speaker 1: we're on the other side of the promise when it's
Speaker 1: not about us. Why do I put myself at the
Speaker 1: center of every single promise? I struggle with that. And
Speaker 1: as David is leading the Israelites towards gIBIS, now the
Speaker 1: context of the story is seven nations larger and stronger
Speaker 1: than you, David Israel. You can't defeat them, but I
Speaker 1: will drive them out. Little by little, four hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty years have passed from Exodus three to this moment.
Speaker 1: Little by little, twelve generations had passed bye. And God
Speaker 1: is faithful to fulfill his promises. Maybe, just maybe some
Speaker 1: of the promises I feel like God has given me
Speaker 1: will be experienced in the next generation coming after me.
Speaker 1: That's what David's realizing. Maybe it's for the nation, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's for the next generation. They don't all have
Speaker 1: to center around me. And he goes to Jeebis. Seventh,
Speaker 1: This seventh nation larger and stronger. And if you look
Speaker 1: at the map, each one of these seven nations held
Speaker 1: a different part of the town. The sixth, the Gurgoshites,
Speaker 1: the Amorites, the Pariziites, the Hivites, the hit Sites, all
Speaker 1: of them had been defeated. There's only one nation, larger
Speaker 1: and stronger, waiting to be displaced out of the Promised Land.
Speaker 1: And it is smack dab in the center of Israel.
Speaker 1: It's Jeebus. This is the hardest enemy to get out.
Speaker 1: They had been there for generations, thick fortified walls, never
Speaker 1: been defeated before. They had been there so long. The
Speaker 1: israel Lites, as they're marching towards the city are probably
Speaker 1: telling David, like, you know, David, you know they've been
Speaker 1: here forever, right, Like you know that your mama's mama's
Speaker 1: mama's mama's mama struggle with this too. You know that
Speaker 1: this one you're gonna be just like your daddy. This
Speaker 1: one's been here forever, This one you'll never get rid of.
Speaker 1: And David just he didn't really listen to all that
Speaker 1: It's funny because the picture of the physical land really
Speaker 1: represents the spiritual condition of a lot of our hearts.
Speaker 1: Is because there's one space right in the center of
Speaker 1: the promised land that's still enemy held parts of my heart,
Speaker 1: parts of my mind, parts of my relationships that are
Speaker 1: still enemy held territory. And God is saying enough, that
Speaker 1: is my promised land I've made available for you. I
Speaker 1: know nobody in fourteen generations has lived in it, but
Speaker 1: you're going through. It's time for us to deal with
Speaker 1: that jeebus, that that thing. I'm talking about, that thing
Speaker 1: because the first six had been defeated and they're moving
Speaker 1: on towards the seventh. I think they listened to Pastor
Speaker 1: steven sermon, don't stop on six, because they're going right
Speaker 1: in to number seven, and it's fascinating. Seven means complete,
Speaker 1: it means whole. God's greatest promises that He will fulfill
Speaker 1: in your life for not the ones you drive, not
Speaker 1: the ones you cash, not the ones you live in,
Speaker 1: but they're the ones that make you whole. The enemy
Speaker 1: has been stealing your joy too long because there's enemy
Speaker 1: held territory that's right in the center, and nobody will
Speaker 1: see it. Because this one. Looking from the outside, no
Speaker 1: one would even know. You look like you got it
Speaker 1: all together. You roll up in a nice car, dressed
Speaker 1: in the nicest things, but inside you're dying. Inside, you
Speaker 1: feel like you're leaking. Inside, You're doubting whether or not
Speaker 1: God even exists. I'm talking about that place. God wants
Speaker 1: to make you whole. That's his desire. In this place,
Speaker 1: he wants to make you whole. And I identify with
Speaker 1: this because I think all of us have those battles
Speaker 1: we've been facing for a long time. Earlier, I mentioned
Speaker 1: that one of the promises I'm believing God for is
Speaker 1: is this promise of forgiveness, very specifically forgiveness for the
Speaker 1: relationship with my father. You see, my dad was handed
Speaker 1: a generational thing of alcoholism because his dad and his
Speaker 1: dad's dad, and you go back as far as we
Speaker 1: can look, there was this thing that when you see
Speaker 1: somebody living an alcoholic lifestyle, often the choices and the
Speaker 1: chaos and the calamity come with it. I grew up
Speaker 1: in a world that was extremely chaotic and abusive, grew
Speaker 1: up a lot of my young adulthood hating my father.
Speaker 1: If I'm being really honest, with you, this isn't sugarcoated.
Speaker 1: And I grew up being so angry, and most of
Speaker 1: my adult life I was working on trying to forgive
Speaker 1: my dad, and I was a desire of my heart
Speaker 1: and it really felt like God had made me a
Speaker 1: promise to forgive my dad. But it had to go
Speaker 1: through these levels, these opponents of forgiveness, because forgiveness is
Speaker 1: not a moment, it is a process. It is something
Speaker 1: you walk out little by little, and it's taken me
Speaker 1: forty years because it started at this level of just
Speaker 1: being angry at my dad. Then it moved into another
Speaker 1: level of lovel just being angry at everybody, and I
Speaker 1: was like, that's not fun for anybody, because now you're
Speaker 1: just angry at everybody, you don't even know why you're angry.
Speaker 1: And then slowly you start to deal with your own
Speaker 1: anger issues. That's a level, and then there's a level
Speaker 1: of actually admitting that it wasn't right, And then there's
Speaker 1: a level of actually saying to your dad, this isn't right.
Speaker 1: But then there's a level of saying, Dad, because of
Speaker 1: your choices, I actually can't see you. So I went
Speaker 1: for about a four year period where I didn't talk
Speaker 1: to my dad or see them because I said, because
Speaker 1: of the destructive behaviors you're choosing to live in, I
Speaker 1: can no longer let there be a part of my life.
Speaker 1: And it was a level. And then God said, no,
Speaker 1: you got to advance out of that level because there's
Speaker 1: another level after that, and you actually have to forgive
Speaker 1: your father. You just can't pretend like it didn't exist
Speaker 1: and separate. That's not forgiveness. That's forgetting. Forgetting will never
Speaker 1: get you into the Promised land. Little by little, and
Speaker 1: then I had to actually ask my dad for forgiveness.
Speaker 1: But then God said, now you need to ask him
Speaker 1: for forgiveness because I built up these walls and it
Speaker 1: was punishing everybody else around. And I had to say
Speaker 1: to my dad, would you forgive me for building up
Speaker 1: these It's a process. It's little in his heart. And
Speaker 1: my dad got some bad diagnosis a year ago and
Speaker 1: he went into some ill health and I went to
Speaker 1: see him last November. And this is a picture of
Speaker 1: me with my father. His name is Leon Charles Brye.
Speaker 1: We share the same middle name. And that's the first
Speaker 1: picture that I've ever taken with my dad that actually
Speaker 1: felt like I've forgot given him. It's the first photo
Speaker 1: I've ever taken where I actually love him. I wasn't
Speaker 1: embarrassed by him, and I wasn't ashamed of him. And
Speaker 1: God really showed me in that photo. You're on the
Speaker 1: other side of the promise, the thing, the promise that
Speaker 1: made you. You're on the other side of it was
Speaker 1: a process, and they're on the other side of it.
Speaker 1: And I said, moment, I treasure And I was at
Speaker 1: noon that day. Six hours later at dinner, we're sitting
Speaker 1: at my mom's kitchen table and we're looking through this book.
Speaker 1: This is a book my cousin put together of my
Speaker 1: grandma's journals. Grandma Agnes, my dad's mom. It's her recipe book.
Speaker 1: It's a journalist started back in nineteen fifty nine, did
Speaker 1: it all the way into the nineties when she passed away.
Speaker 1: Simple farm woman from Minnesota, I mean, didn't get into
Speaker 1: her plumb until the late eighties. You know, some days
Speaker 1: the entries would be it's thirteen below, we picked the eggs,
Speaker 1: build the hay, things like that, and it was just fun.
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there going through this story with my mom
Speaker 1: and it's just incredible. Just you know live in that
Speaker 1: promised land. And I come across this entry from November
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy eight. I would have been eight years
Speaker 1: old at that time, and it says Dorothy calls at
Speaker 1: about four o'clock in the morning, Dorothy's my mom, Like, Mom,
Speaker 1: what's this? Like? What was that about? She goes, you
Speaker 1: don't remember. I'm like, Mom, No, I don't what are
Speaker 1: you talking about? She goes, I can't believe you don't remember.
Speaker 1: I'm like, Mom, Now you're kind of freaking me out.
Speaker 1: Like she goes, that was when your dad was having
Speaker 1: the affair. Oh. And as she said those words, it's
Speaker 1: like a flood of memories just downloaded, and it started
Speaker 1: to remember all of the chaos that was around that moment.
Speaker 1: God had covered it so that I wouldn't see it
Speaker 1: until forty years later. His grace covered me until I
Speaker 1: was ready to see it. But in that moment, if
Speaker 1: you don't understand the struggle, you won't possess the promise.
Speaker 1: In that moment, I felt like I forfeited all of
Speaker 1: this promised land territory and I'm back at level one.
Speaker 1: And God says, no, no, no, you have forgiven your
Speaker 1: father and you've walked it out and it's been a
Speaker 1: little bitter little and I know it's been forty years,
Speaker 1: but you have forgiven him. And I'm not telling you
Speaker 1: you lost all that territory. I'm just showing you more
Speaker 1: territory you can possess. It's little by little, And I
Speaker 1: felt God speaking into my spirit saying this, this is
Speaker 1: a jeebus. This is a generational thing that's been there forever.
Speaker 1: And he says, this one is about the next generation.
Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with you. And God spoke
Speaker 1: into my spirit says, if you face this unforgiveness issue.
Speaker 1: Because I didn't want to face it, my dad passes
Speaker 1: away two months later after that photo. I didn't get
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to him about like why this happened. Dad.
Speaker 1: I didn't get a chance to make that resolution with him.
Speaker 1: But God's working on me, and I didn't want to.
Speaker 1: And God said, listen, this isn't about you. This is
Speaker 1: about your kids. And he says, if you face this one,
Speaker 1: they'll never have to. And so what it means is
Speaker 1: you got to take your kids back through all of
Speaker 1: these levels. Don't just pretend like it didn't happen. You
Speaker 1: walk them through that so that you can show them
Speaker 1: the next level they get to stand in. And I
Speaker 1: realized that I'm on the other side when I'm not
Speaker 1: at the center. That's what David realized with the Israelites,
Speaker 1: and he moves towards Jeebus and the Jebisides who live
Speaker 1: there said to David, you will not get in here.
Speaker 1: And that's what the devil has been telling you for
Speaker 1: a long time. You'll never stand in that promise. You'll
Speaker 1: never get there. And I'm so glad that David was
Speaker 1: there in that moment because his response is our response.
Speaker 1: It is the attitude of perseverance, and it's the word
Speaker 1: that I speak over you. And this next word is
Speaker 1: the word that absolutely can change your life. This next
Speaker 1: word is the word that when you come up against
Speaker 1: opposition and you don't think it's ever going to happen,
Speaker 1: you speak to the thing as David did. And David said, nevertheless, nevertheless, Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: I know it doesn't look like you should be successful. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: I know you're tired and exhausted and frustrated. Nevertheless, I
Speaker 1: will move forward. Nevertheless. It's the sound of perseverance. It
Speaker 1: is the attitude of a follower of Christ. Who's going
Speaker 1: to move into the promised land, who will possess the
Speaker 1: promises that God made for you? But you will never
Speaker 1: possess it if you don't persevere toward it. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who
Speaker 1: give generously to this ministry. Is because of you that
Speaker 1: this ministry is possible. You can click the link in
Speaker 1: the description to give now or visit Elevation Church dot
Speaker 1: org slash podcast for more information and if you enjoyed
Speaker 1: the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it with
Speaker 1: your friends. You can click the share button, take a
Speaker 1: screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag
Speaker 1: us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.