WEBVTT - Be Careful What You Copy 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.720 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:07.200 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.560 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:12.600 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.480 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.680 Before we get into the word, let me mention that 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.840 we're getting really excited about Elevation Nights. We're going on 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:29.200 tour October twenty sixth through Thursday, November third. Now listen 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.360 out everybody online, put in the comments in the chat 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.320 where you're watching from today, what city, what state? And 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:38.000 let me tell you where we're coming. It's going to 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.839 be me and I might let Chris Brown come. I 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:43.680 hadn't decided about it yet. You think I should let 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.520 him come to be? You want to share a bunk 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:53.199 with him? You want the top bunk. So we'll be 0:00:53.240 --> 0:01:04.520 in Atlanta, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fort Worth, Texas, Houston, Texas, Orlando, Florida, Sunrise, Florida, 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:09.240 and Jacksonville, Florida. If you are within five hundred miles 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:15.600 of Atlanta, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fort Worth, Texas, Houston, Texas, 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.320 or Lando, Florida, Sunrise Florida, or Jacksonville, Florida. We would 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:24.120 love to see you. That's October twenty sixth through November third, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.280 and you can go to Elevation Nights dot com to 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.400 get your tickets and information and we'll be there. I 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.520 was thinking today, other people will drive two hundred miles 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.360 for what we have right here in our backyard, the 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.200 presence of this amazing community of believers. And I'm excited 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.400 today when lady told me one time that she drove 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:48.800 twelve hours to come to church, and she said it 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.320 was on my bucket list. And I stood up and 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:53.600 told the church, you see what's on her bucket list 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.480 is in many of our backyard. So you just have 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.880 to keep that perspective. God is doing an amazing work 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.280 at all of our locations and all around the world. 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.760 Give God a praise. Come on, Let everything that has 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:12.799 bread praise the Lord that has a new significance in 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.760 the time of COVID. Right. Let everything that has breath 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:18.519 that we appreciate more that God gave us another day 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:20.400 and that we're here to praise him. And we want 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.200 to take full advantage of that. Are you ready for 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:28.440 the word of God? It doesn't matter if you are. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.160 I am, so I'm excited enough for all of us. 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:36.840 I want to share with you from Hebrews chapter eight today, 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:44.959 verses three through seven. I think I'm done with Joe. 0:02:46.840 --> 0:03:02.200 Thanks Hebrews chapter eight. Pat had a long decay. Hebrews 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:09.720 chapter eight, verse three through seven. Ready, every high priest 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.960 is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:19.960 it was necessary for this one, Jesus, to also have 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.400 something to offer. If he were on earth, he would 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.600 not be a priest, for there are already priests who 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.120 offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:36.240 a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:40.800 what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.440 when he was about to build the tabernacle. See to 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.360 it that you make everything according to the pattern shown 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.160 you on the mountain. But in fact, the ministry Jesus 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:56.119 has received is as superior to theirs, as the covenant 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.200 of which he is mediator is superior to the old one. 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:05.880 Since the new covenant is established on what better promises. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.080 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant. 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:15.040 No place would have been sought for another. Back to 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.160 verse five. They serve the high priest in the levitical 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.919 line from the lineage of Erin. They serve at a 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.040 sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.919 is in heaven. So this is why, this is why 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:35.760 Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.800 They serve in a sanctuary that is a copy. This 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:43.400 is why Moses was warned. See to it that you 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.560 make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:49.960 The Lord told me to give you the sermon in 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.520 the form of a warning today, and the warning is, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:05:02.599 be careful what you copy. Be careful what you copy. 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:11.200 You may be seated. Be careful what you copy. I 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.720 didn't say not the copy. That's dumb. People will tell 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.599 you sometimes don't copy being original. No, you need to 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:23.279 copy a little bit, right. You need to copy through 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:28.880 certain developmental stages. Our kids copy, you know, our kids copy. 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.920 That's how they put one foot in front of the other. 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.200 Learn to walk. You don't teach your kidnaw. If you 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:36.760 don't want to walk on your legs, you know you 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.000 might want to try walking around on your hands. They copy, 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.640 They copy sounds phonetically. It's a part of the developmental 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:48.120 process to copy. You copy. If you're learning an instrument, 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.440 you would copy the scales. If you were learning a language, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:52.320 you would copy the alphabet. You don't make up a 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:58.159 new alphabet, you just you shouldn't stop with the copy. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.360 That's the thing write in anything. You shouldn't just stop 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:07.599 with the copy. So in raising three of my own, 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.360 now I'm sitting here thinking like what do I want 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.520 them to copy of me? And what do I want 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:21.160 them to cast out. I feel like, since they have 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:27.240 my genetics, it's my job to help shepherd them through 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:32.359 some of this stuff, and it's really important that I 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:37.680 disciple them. As a dad. I want to disciple my kids, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.840 not through a class. I don't really think they need 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.080 another class for me, especially since I'm a preacher. They 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.680 get to hear my words a lot, but in what 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.279 I do and what I show them, and not just 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.159 about Bible verses. I don't just want to disciple my 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.640 kids and what they think about Greek or Hebrew. In 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.880 a Bible text, the original word is epic. I want 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.600 to talk to him about some other words too, Some 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:05.920 words that we might not be allowed to say in church, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:11.080 especially now Graham's thirteen and Elijah sixteen. One thing I 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:13.960 really thank God for is I've had the opportunity to 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.960 work out with Elijah the last couple of years, and 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.240 I'm glad that it's going to be at least two 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.440 more years before he can catch me on bench press. 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:26.200 But I kind of turned the workout room that's in 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.560 our house into a little bit of a seminary study, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.280 like a laboratory, where I'm not only showing him how 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:36.440 to do certain exercises. But I don't know if I 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.560 told you this way. I've been taking him through the 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:44.440 top one hundred rock albums of all time. Right, strain 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.240 up a child and the way that they should go, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.680 and the way that they should go is led Zeppelin. Right. 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.040 We listen to Grades in the gardens to an old 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.320 church basement, but then sometimes sometimes we listen to other albums. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.760 Something funny happened to the other where we were listening 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:06.240 to Jimmy Hendrix Little Wing, one of the greatest guitar 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.840 intros of all time. I learned it when I was 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:12.840 fourteen and LJ Elijah says to me, this guy sounds 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:22.120 like Pearl Jam. He thought Jimmy nineteen sixty nine was 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.600 copying Stone Gossard and Mike McCready in nineteen ninety one 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.560 because he didn't know who was coffy a new and 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:35.120 I said, no, boy, you don't have to grow up 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.080 and be a Christian, but you will know that, Jimmy Hendrix, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.440 there are some things that are not negotiable. They're coffy 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.000 and Jimmy, Jimmy's not coffy in them. And give me 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.400 that what I handed you before we walked up. I 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.960 disciple him in so many different ways. I'm pretty proud 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:58.680 of myself. I show him, I show him technological advancements 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.920 that have happened in the field of audio recording. I 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.800 explained to him how like downloading songs or streaming songs 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.839 is a relatively new phenomenon, and that when we wanted 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:15.920 music from our friends, we had to copy. But where 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.079 it was bad, you would put this cassette tape in 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.240 another cassette with it, a blank one with it. That 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.280 wasn't the problem. The problem was when you had to 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:32.080 copy a copy of a copy of a copy, Because 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:36.120 every time you copy a cassette tape, the quality drops 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:42.080 of the copy in Hebrews, chapter eight, y'all thought this 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.760 was story time. This is a story time I set 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:49.760 up for my servant. The writer of Hebrews is understanding 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:54.640 that as generations have passed from Moses, the quality of 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.640 faith has dropped within the religious system of his day. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.320 He does something kind of crazy in order to bring 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.360 these new believers into an understanding of the process of 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:12.120 emulating and imitating Christ. He points to somebody that they 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:16.160 never met Moses to explain about somebody that they never 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.439 personally met Jesus. He talks about a tabernacle. You got 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:22.880 to remember, these people never saw the tabernacle that they 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.480 carted around the wilderness. It's been many years since they 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.720 were setting up that tabernacle. It's been replaced now, not 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.280 only by Solomon's temple, but that one's been destroyed. There's 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:37.400 been another temple built. So they are generations removed from Jimmy. 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.600 I like Pearl Jam. I'm a Pearl Jam fan. But 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:46.240 he realizes that with every generational transference there has been 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:50.520 a loss in quality, and he says things in Hebrews 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:55.000 like you need to persevere. Y'all give up too quick. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.280 He's gonna fuscin at him. So he brings in examples. 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.720 He talks about it in Hebrews chapter eleven, different people 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.120 in the faith who endured, some people who were cut 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.320 in half for their faith. And so he's kind of 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.560 trying to say, like, you think is bad because somebody 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.320 didn't like your comment on Facebook, has been a lot worse, right, 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.079 And if I could talk to you today, I would 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:23.120 use this subject, be careful what you copy, because what 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.320 happens to a lot of us is we're not even 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.040 conscious of what we're copying in our behaviors and even 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:32.520 our faith, and even our concept of God sometimes came 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:37.160 through so many generations who put their own concept of 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.439 God on top of the biblical concept of God. You 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.120 got to think somebody did that to them, who did 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.760 that to them, who did that to them, who did 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.160 that to them? And by the time it gets to them, 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.560 they say, I'm not sure I want anything to do 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.080 with God. But it's not God that you want nothing 0:11:53.080 --> 0:12:00.760 to do with. It's the copy of God, the copy 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:02.600 of the copy of the copy of the copy of 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:07.839 the copy of God through all these generations. So he's 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.480 pointing to something that they've never personally seen. Get this 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.240 an experience. They never had this tabernacle that God commanded 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:20.080 Moses about to build with very specific dimensions. And when 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.800 God called Moses to build a tabernacle, he did it. 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.760 While Moses was on a mountain. He spoke to Moses 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:31.440 face to face as a man speaks. Well, actually he 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.760 spoke to Moses. But then Moses had to go speak 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.520 to the people. And sometimes when Moses would speak to 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:39.720 the people what God had said, as he would say 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:41.880 what God had said, they would twist it and make 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.040 it something else. That has now been happening. In Hebrews 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:50.480 chapter eight for hundreds of years. See he talks about 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.480 the covenant that was given, the old covenant, the covenant 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.679 of Moses, that God promised to be with his people 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.840 if they kept his commands. But he said, how Jesus 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.520 brought a better covenant, so he didn't tell us to 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:09.719 build a tabernacle. He became the tabernacle. He was the 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.960 dwelling place of God. And rather than a high priest 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:15.280 bringing an offering like an animal or a bull or 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.120 a goat to shed the blood of something else to 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.760 a tone for your sin, Jesus shed his own blood. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.199 He offered himself as a gift. He is a great 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.560 high priest, a better high priest, a better covenant. But 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:30.520 he understands something about the people that they are attempting 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.840 to copy a lesser covenant, a covenant that depends on 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:40.920 your behavior, not grace. And let's be honest. They came 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.160 by it honestly because we are all influenced by culture. 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:49.120 If you don't believe me, I'll say this the same 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.640 way that we sometimes can't even get from church to 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.720 Monday morning. You know how church you can sometimes have 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.559 these mountaintop experiences and Lord, I'm gonna serve you, and 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.920 I'm gonna pray with my wife and I and I'm 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.280 gonna wait on you, And then that message doesn't even 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.320 make it through Monday traffic. You don't even get to 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.439 the office right from the mountain to Monday. I could 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.439 preach about that, how do I get God from the 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:17.120 mountaintop of inspiration to Monday morning. So he's understanding that 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.960 they're going to need something to help him get there, 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:24.040 and he understands that you have to be careful what 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.080 you copy. Because when Moses went up to get the 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:32.120 instructions from God on the ten commandments, remember those come 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.880 on you broke all of them. I know you remember them. 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:40.400 You have to understand by the time Moses got back down, 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:45.600 they weren't waiting on the Lord. They were worshiping a 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:50.920 cow that they made out of golden earrings. He was 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:55.240 only up there forty days. They would wander in the 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:59.880 wilderness forty years because after they came out of each 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:05.479 they couldn't get Egypt out of them. And I'm concerned 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.680 that sometimes we are so controlled by culture. This is 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.320 what God said, see to it. Pay attention is a warning, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.640 he said. Moses was warned, see to it that you 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.400 make everything according to the patterns shown you on the mountain, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.720 because when you get down off the mountain, the children 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:25.920 of is Wyo are going to be naked dancing around jewelry. 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.240 So you have to sew hear from God and know 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:32.360 what he showed you, and nobody spoke to you, and 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.920 know what He is doing in your life. Not somebody 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.640 else's know what he's doing in your life, not the 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.560 neighbor next door to know what he's doing in your 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:46.440 life in this moment that you build that so be 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:51.400 careful what you copy from the culture around you. Be 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.760 careful what you copy from the culture around you that 0:15:54.960 --> 0:16:01.000 keeps you from discovering the kingdom within you. It's fasterphernic. 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:07.520 I'm preaching. I'm already doing it now. We copy culture 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:12.000 around us, and what we don't realize, see, we we 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:17.680 don't realize that we're copying crazy. I know this because 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.840 when I tell people that I don't watch the news 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:26.200 very much, they look at me like I'm irresponsible. Well, 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:30.560 just because people want to make money off of twenty 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.680 four to seven news cycle doesn't mean that I have 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:36.240 to submit my mind to the stress that it cost us. 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:44.080 You I don't have to. Well, then then you won't 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:51.520 be informed, but I also won't be insane. Preach to me, 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.000 preach to me, freash to me. I need this, I 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:58.280 need this. They call it breaking news because it's breaking 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:05.000 your brain. Breaking news. You can't put out a bird feeder. 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.719 Did y'all see that? It was breaking news on my screen? 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.040 The birds are dying now and we got to take 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.560 our bird feeders down. Well, maybe we do, but that's 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.480 not breaking news about a bird bath. That's not a 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.199 pandemic about it. Did you see this? Did you see? This? 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:25.000 Is crazy? But we copied crazy, and so if everybody's 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.760 a zombie on the Walking Dead. If everybody's staring at 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:34.359 stuff and never looking at each other, be careful what 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:44.399 you copy. Come a golden cow from something that watched this, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.280 that you got out of the age, so that God 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:52.000 delivered you from And by the time Moses got down 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.080 the mountain, this is why God warned him in Exodus 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.520 twenty five, because God's telling him thou shalt not kill, 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:58.320 and thou shalt not commit adultery, and thou shalt not 0:17:58.359 --> 0:17:59.600 cove it. And if you live the way that the 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:01.719 first come, I tell you too, you won't cover anybody 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:03.760 else's life, because you'll be so content with your own 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:05.679 that you won't have to take your neighbor's wife, you 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.600 won't have to take your neighbor's ox, you won't have 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:09.480 to take matters in your own hands. And by the 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.440 time he gets down talking about contentment, they're dancing around 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:20.640 a calf. And I can relate so much to copying culture. 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.639 And then I miss Christ because the Kingdom is within me. 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:32.080 But that's the Old Testament, Pesters, Actually, no, it's not. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.560 It's in Hebrews, in the New Testament. And he said 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:37.840 in the New Testament that you need to be warned 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.399 sometime that if you don't build when you come down 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.159 the mountain in your everyday life, what God spoke to 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.119 you in those moments where He touched your soul, you 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:57.040 will miss the kingdom. By copying the culture, now people 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.280 can twist anything. So some people will say, like, well, 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:02.440 then you shouldn't have drums in church because you know 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.360 that's from the devil and from the world. You want 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:12.400 air conditioning in church because that's not in Exodus either, 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:20.600 That wasn't It's a way of thinking. It's what the 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.879 Bible calls the patterns of this world that we conform to, 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.280 and the world squeezes you into its mold so that 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.720 you start trying to have conversations with two hundred and 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.520 eighty characters, and then the medium becomes the mold that 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.920 we get squeezed into. So we can't know each other 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.080 as people who are created in the image of God 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.440 because we are conversing with each other on a platform 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:47.600 that was designed by people to get us to argue 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:53.679 too much too soon. This is point number one. Be 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:59.800 careful what you copy from culture. I'm not saying you 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:02.160 have to dress like you're out in nineteen thirty three 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.840 to be a Christian. I'm not talking about external stuff. 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:08.960 Neither was the writer of Hebrews. He was saying, the 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.200 external covenant is gone. Is the internal one that matters now. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.080 So our distinction and what makes us different is not 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:21.560 that we look weird, but that we refuse to conform 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.600 to crazy. Put this in the chat. I refuse to 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:31.440 conform to crazy. When I say put it in the chat, 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.040 you say it out loud too. It's kind of an 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:39.639 arrangement we have. I refuse to conform to crazy. Be 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.080 careful what you copy from a culture that has lost 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.879 its ever loving mind and is controlled by the prints 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.720 of the power of the air. Y'all believe in the devil. 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.120 If you don't believe in the devil after the last 0:20:52.200 --> 0:21:01.840 two years, so be careful what you copy. Be careful 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:09.800 who you envy. Some of us envy people who are 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:16.359 secretly miserable, but you don't know that. So this is 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:21.040 my second point. Be careful what you copy from other people, 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:27.879 because you don't see the full picture. I remember watching 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.560 the documentary last year, and I got so jealous of 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:35.239 the person that the documentary was about because he had 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:40.159 won something like sixteen Grammys whole time I'm watching them. 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:42.360 I don't know if you ever do this. I sit 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:47.439 there and compare my accomplishments to his accomplishments, and it's like, 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:49.719 we have a pastor, you touched souls for the Kingdom. Well, 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:52.240 I want a Grammy too, all right. So I'm sitting there. 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.680 I'm sitting there going I never won one Grammy. He's 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.320 got sixteen or whatever. But then it was like the 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:03.400 Lord spoke to me in the middle of the documentary 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:07.440 and said, wikiam So I put him in my Wikipedia 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.399 app and I donate to Wikipedia because they've helped me 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:15.280 so much with my research every year. And I put 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:17.800 his name in the thing and I saw, yes, he 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:23.399 has sixteen Grammys, but he also has had five wives. 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:27.640 So I didn't judge him. I didn't turn off the documentary. 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:30.600 I still admire him, but I realized that what I 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:36.159 had done in the process of admiring his accomplishments, I 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:42.359 had not considered the cost of those accomplishments. So I 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:47.760 want the Grammys, but I also want, you know, less 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:52.480 than four divorce proceedings and no judgment on the guy. 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:56.119 But isn't that what we do? We crop and copy 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:00.879 you know, you crop a picture. You know how when 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:02.639 that person in your life is no longer in your 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:05.399 life and you crop them out of the picture. We 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.160 do that when we're comparing ourselves to other people, right, 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.399 because we're copying something that's cropped. They're showing you what 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:17.080 they want you to see. Now you are copying a picture, 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:22.560 a form, a shadow, a crop picture. So you see 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:24.680 what they did and you go, well, I'm not doing that. 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:26.520 I'm not as good as them. I'm not. I can't 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:29.360 eve accomplish anything like them. And here's what I noticed. 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:31.560 Some of the people that we want to be like 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:40.879 are burning out influencers. Influencers that we see on social 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:44.520 media and after we have bought all their makeup product 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.840 and all their diet product and all their fitness stuff, 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:50.960 and then we see their post about y'all, I just 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:53.400 wanted to come on here today. People been asking that's 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.160 how every influencer post I've ever seen starts. And I'm 0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:57.919 not even on social media that much, but I got 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:00.600 that one memorized. I just wanted to come on here, y'all, 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.119 and I have people have been asking. Nobody's been asking you. 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:07.480 Two people I ask you. But now they're on a confession. 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:12.040 Now here's what's crazy. I've been copying somebody who comes 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:17.840 on and tells me I'm actually depressed, and I've been 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:22.080 copying you. I actually feel like I'm losing my mind. 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:27.359 I can't eat, I can't sleep. I was so busy 0:24:28.359 --> 0:24:33.399 envying your bag that I didn't realize that at the 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:35.280 bottom of it is a bottle of pills that you 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:44.080 can't function without. Now who I wish I could feel 0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:46.119 the energy y'all are putting on me right now? Is 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:48.040 it better a river walk? I might come over there 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:54.520 is not far. Be careful what you copy from another 0:24:54.600 --> 0:25:01.320 person's life, because you don't know what it costs them. 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:04.080 Remember I told you I told my father in law. 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:07.760 He's a cool guy, so I get to tell him 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:15.480 everything I told him. When he said, amen, I'm not 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:17.159 going to copy this humility though, I'll tell you that 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:21.719 right now he said, he said, one time we were 0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:23.639 talking about this one pastor, and we were taught different 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:25.720 people that discourage you along the way from ministry and 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:27.440 one guy that I met who had traveled the world, 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:29.680 and when I was like twenty years old, my dad 0:25:29.760 --> 0:25:31.320 had me go to promise keepers with him It was 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:33.639 actually in Charlotte, so I was in college and my 0:25:33.720 --> 0:25:35.520 dad was still a monk's corner. We met in Charlotte 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.359 for promise keepers, and you had to volunteer behind the scenes, 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:39.920 and I was running the clock and I already knew 0:25:39.960 --> 0:25:41.760 I was called to be a preacher. So this very 0:25:41.760 --> 0:25:44.160 famous preacher was back there and I walked up to him. 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:46.200 I said, I don't want to bother you before you preach. 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:49.159 He said, yes, you do. Apparently you do, because you 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:51.399 are right now. I said no, I just wanted to know, 0:25:52.640 --> 0:25:55.439 can you give me a piece of advice as somebody 0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:58.160 that I admire. You've written so many books and you've 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:01.359 shared the Gospel with so many people. What advice would 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:03.639 you have for me, for somebody who aspires to do 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:05.800 what you do? He said, you don't want to be me, 0:26:08.040 --> 0:26:09.600 and I thought it was rude at first, but he 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:13.119 was trying to tell me something. He was trying to 0:26:13.160 --> 0:26:21.240 tell me about the surcharge of sacrifice, that what I 0:26:21.280 --> 0:26:23.000