1
00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,480
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

2
00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe

3
00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: so we can get you these new sermons every week.

4
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:23,799
Speaker 1: I hope you're blessed today. And now, as promised, I

5
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,079
Speaker 1: am going to pick up right where I left off.

6
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,640
Speaker 1: Last week. We got to get Gideon out of this

7
00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,280
Speaker 1: wine press. We got to get you out of your

8
00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:38,720
Speaker 1: wine press too. Been whining about things, been depressed about things.

9
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:44,199
Speaker 1: But last week I preached when God goes in, and

10
00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,639
Speaker 1: we had a powerful time in God's presence, so powerful

11
00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:49,839
Speaker 1: that I only got to one of my five points.

12
00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,720
Speaker 1: But good news for my job is every six days,

13
00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,400
Speaker 1: another Sunday, another opportunity to help you fight whatever devil

14
00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,520
Speaker 1: that you've been facing. So I believe God gave me

15
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,039
Speaker 1: something for you today. Let's go back to Judges six.

16
00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 1: After I read this scripture, you can be seated, but

17
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,840
Speaker 1: not before just stand up for the word of God.

18
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: Let's give our attention now to what he wants to speak.

19
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:31,800
Speaker 1: He has a word for you. I'll read you verses

20
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:46,039
Speaker 1: eleven through fourteen. For now, Verses eleven through fourteen. The

21
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:49,880
Speaker 1: Angel of the Lord came and sat down under the

22
00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:53,000
Speaker 1: oak in or I always say it wrong? Can I

23
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,520
Speaker 1: start the whole verse over? The Angel of the Lord

24
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,360
Speaker 1: came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that

25
00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,320
Speaker 1: belonged to joe Ash the abbiez right where his son

26
00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,080
Speaker 1: Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep

27
00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,000
Speaker 1: it from the Midianites. And when the Angel of the

28
00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:14,200
Speaker 1: Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you,

29
00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:22,200
Speaker 1: mighty warrior. Pardon me, my lord? Gideon replied, but if

30
00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,560
Speaker 1: the Lord is with us, why has all this happened

31
00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 1: to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors

32
00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,680
Speaker 1: told us about when they said, did not the Lord

33
00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,360
Speaker 1: bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord

34
00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.

35
00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:48,120
Speaker 1: And the Lord turned to him and said, go in

36
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:54,520
Speaker 1: the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand?

37
00:02:54,880 --> 00:03:02,640
Speaker 1: Am I not sending you? And with that question, I

38
00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,480
Speaker 1: want to give you a title today. The subject is

39
00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:14,040
Speaker 1: make peace with your strength. This is what I intended

40
00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,320
Speaker 1: to teach you last week before the Holy Ghost blew

41
00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:21,400
Speaker 1: my notes off my pulpit and took over on my

42
00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,440
Speaker 1: first point. But I'm going to teach it today. God

43
00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:30,160
Speaker 1: helping me make peace. God said his time to make

44
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,560
Speaker 1: peace with your strength. You have spent so much of

45
00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:40,320
Speaker 1: your life at war with your weaknesses, wishing you weren't

46
00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,480
Speaker 1: something that you are, wishing you are something that you're not.

47
00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 1: But today God wants to help you make peace with

48
00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:57,360
Speaker 1: your strength. Spirit of God, reconcile your people to yourself today.

49
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 1: Use me as a vessel, a conduit, a bridge builder.

50
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 1: Whatever I need to be, I'm available to you. So

51
00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,720
Speaker 1: speak those words that only you can whisper to each

52
00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:10,080
Speaker 1: and every man and woman, boy and girl. I give

53
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,480
Speaker 1: you praise for it in Jesus' name. Amen, oh subtitle.

54
00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 1: On your way down, tell your neighbor I'm going in.

55
00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:25,680
Speaker 1: I'm going in. We'll get back to that. We'll get

56
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:31,440
Speaker 1: back to that. You want to know my vote. Gideon

57
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:37,120
Speaker 1: is the greatest judge in the Book of Judges, the

58
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:41,040
Speaker 1: greatest judge of all time. Do you know how they

59
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,360
Speaker 1: have debates about the greatest of all time, with like

60
00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:50,560
Speaker 1: basketball players and guitar players and rappers and stuff like that. Well,

61
00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:54,599
Speaker 1: I got to say to me, fresh off of a

62
00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,560
Speaker 1: study of all the different judges, Gideon is the greatest

63
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,520
Speaker 1: of all time they call that the goat. Who's the

64
00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 1: goat the greatest of all time? I think Gideon is

65
00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,920
Speaker 1: the greatest of all time, the greatest ever to do it,

66
00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,680
Speaker 1: the goat. And I want to speak to you a

67
00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,040
Speaker 1: little bit about Gideon, the young goat. Now he's the

68
00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,680
Speaker 1: youngest in his family, but that doesn't stop God from

69
00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 1: using him. His family is the least in their whole clan,

70
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,840
Speaker 1: but that doesn't stop God from using them. Their tribe

71
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:31,960
Speaker 1: is the least of all the tribes, but that doesn't

72
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: stop God from using them. Are you seeing a pattern here?

73
00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,160
Speaker 1: Nothing stops God from using who he wants to use.

74
00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,320
Speaker 1: So Gideon is a goat, but God is getting him

75
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,880
Speaker 1: ready because you're not looking much like a goat at

76
00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,159
Speaker 1: the moment. He's not looking like the greatest. He's not

77
00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,719
Speaker 1: thinking like the greatest. He's not speaking like the greatest.

78
00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:53,880
Speaker 1: He's not moving like the greatest. He's not doing what

79
00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,839
Speaker 1: the greatest would do. But God is preparing him for

80
00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,920
Speaker 1: something very amazing. Not just a new house, not just

81
00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,080
Speaker 1: a new boat, not just a new car. There is

82
00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,400
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with any of those things that I listed,

83
00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,440
Speaker 1: But for a great purpose, say this out loud. God

84
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:18,000
Speaker 1: is preparing me for a great purpose. That was about

85
00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:22,640
Speaker 1: forty percent participation. Let's try again. God is preparing me

86
00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,000
Speaker 1: for a great purpose. And maybe the reason you're hesitant

87
00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:29,400
Speaker 1: to say that is because you don't like talking out

88
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 1: loud in church, and you a little bit defying and rebellious,

89
00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:33,320
Speaker 1: and you're like, you can't make me say anything. Well

90
00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,760
Speaker 1: I can't. That's true. But maybe the reason you had

91
00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,280
Speaker 1: a hard time saying it is because it doesn't feel

92
00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:47,480
Speaker 1: like preparation. It feels pointless. I'm trying to adopt the

93
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:52,120
Speaker 1: mindset in my life more and more that everything is preparation.

94
00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:57,320
Speaker 1: If God is sovereign, and if He has a plan,

95
00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,479
Speaker 1: and if all things work together for the good of

96
00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:07,440
Speaker 1: those who love God, who are called according to His purpose,

97
00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:11,920
Speaker 1: than all things are preparation for the purpose that he

98
00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:16,080
Speaker 1: called me to. Because I love Him and I'm called,

99
00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,960
Speaker 1: I'm called, I am called by God. I've never been

100
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:23,880
Speaker 1: more convinced than my life of what my calling is.

101
00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:26,840
Speaker 1: I got it down to a sentence. Now there's my

102
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,040
Speaker 1: relationship with Holly as her husband. My call there is

103
00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 1: just to be the simply amazing man that I naturally am.

104
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,080
Speaker 1: Every day when I wake up, let her bask in

105
00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,000
Speaker 1: the glory of that. But when it comes to what

106
00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,560
Speaker 1: I do with you each and every week, whether you're

107
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:43,840
Speaker 1: part of our e fam online or our local church,

108
00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,080
Speaker 1: my job. God showed me what my job is here. Yeah.

109
00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,120
Speaker 1: I have to make leadership decisions and be a leader. Yeah.

110
00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,679
Speaker 1: I have to have vision and strategy and tactical stuff.

111
00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,040
Speaker 1: And there are so many wonderful people who do that

112
00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 1: because my job, my priority, my focus, is to put

113
00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:10,560
Speaker 1: God's words in people's hearts. If it's a sermon, if

114
00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,880
Speaker 1: it's a snippet of a sermon, if it's a song,

115
00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,640
Speaker 1: if it's a line in a song, I might spend

116
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,880
Speaker 1: nine months trying to get the line better because I

117
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,120
Speaker 1: feel like, if that thing gets in you right, oh,

118
00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:28,920
Speaker 1: it could be dynamite, it can be the power of God.

119
00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 1: It is the power of God if you believe it.

120
00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:38,560
Speaker 1: And so my job is to help you hear it.

121
00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,560
Speaker 1: Faith comes by hearing the word of God in a

122
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:46,440
Speaker 1: way that you can receive it, digest it, and do it,

123
00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:52,600
Speaker 1: and do it and do it. This is what we

124
00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,320
Speaker 1: understand that God is always doing in our lives because

125
00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,000
Speaker 1: we see him do it so many times through the

126
00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,480
Speaker 1: characters that he raises up in scripture is that he

127
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:08,760
Speaker 1: is preparing you. He sends words to prepare you, he

128
00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:13,880
Speaker 1: sends people to prepare you. But when you compare you,

129
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:22,960
Speaker 1: when you compare you to others, or when you compare you.

130
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,920
Speaker 1: I was thinking about this, We either compare ourselves to

131
00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,200
Speaker 1: people who make us feel better about where we are.

132
00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,200
Speaker 1: At least I'm not you know, I'm not doing good,

133
00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,080
Speaker 1: but hey, at least I'm not that bad off of

134
00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,360
Speaker 1: you that you can always find somebody make feel little

135
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,920
Speaker 1: better or to make ourselves feel just worse about it.

136
00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,360
Speaker 1: But in the passage that I read you, there's something

137
00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,720
Speaker 1: kind of weird going on, because Okay, you've got God

138
00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:56,960
Speaker 1: calling Gideon a warrior, and you've got Gideon who is hidden,

139
00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,640
Speaker 1: who is heroic. He's about to go on. If I

140
00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:03,079
Speaker 1: told you all the things he's about to do, you

141
00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,000
Speaker 1: wouldn't believe it. Looking at him right now. If you

142
00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,680
Speaker 1: memorize him by his lowest moment, you've missed the point.

143
00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:18,120
Speaker 1: Because Gideon is not sinning in this passage. He's threshing

144
00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,360
Speaker 1: wheat in a wine press. Last week, I tried to

145
00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,240
Speaker 1: illustrate that not only is he threshing wheat, but God

146
00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,240
Speaker 1: is threshing him to get you to see that in

147
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,280
Speaker 1: certain seasons of your life, God is allowing things to

148
00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:40,720
Speaker 1: be added or subtracted, given or taken away, people in

149
00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,480
Speaker 1: your life to be coming or going. But everything is

150
00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:53,560
Speaker 1: preparation when it passes through his hands, his hands, somebody

151
00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:58,080
Speaker 1: say his hands. Now the Bible says that they were

152
00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,240
Speaker 1: in Midian's hands, that was their enemy. And my friend

153
00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,560
Speaker 1: told me, this week slowed down a little bit. When

154
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,640
Speaker 1: you're giving us this background. You act like we have

155
00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,000
Speaker 1: all week to study this stuff, and we don't, and

156
00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,240
Speaker 1: you do, so break it down. So I'm gonna break

157
00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,120
Speaker 1: it down. My friend said, the only thing I know

158
00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:22,120
Speaker 1: about Gideon is the Bibles, little Gideon's Bibles that they

159
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,520
Speaker 1: hand out. I said, really, you don't know anything about

160
00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,320
Speaker 1: Gideon other than the Bibles. He said no. I said,

161
00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,959
Speaker 1: you don't even know that the Angel of the Lord

162
00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,560
Speaker 1: sent a word into a wine press and called him

163
00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:36,280
Speaker 1: a warrior while he was down there scared that the

164
00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,520
Speaker 1: swarms of Midianites were gonna come get what he planted,

165
00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: so we had to hide it. You don't understand that

166
00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,880
Speaker 1: Gideon the Great Warrior took on the Midianites with just

167
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 1: three hundred men who were laughing water like dogs. You

168
00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,800
Speaker 1: don't know Gideon had that dog. Gideon had that dog.

169
00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,679
Speaker 1: Gideon had that I'll do it with who I've got,

170
00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,720
Speaker 1: where I am with the God I know. You don't

171
00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,520
Speaker 1: know a Gideon could get up with a jar and

172
00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:05,000
Speaker 1: put a lamp in it, and break the jar and

173
00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,120
Speaker 1: blow a trumpet and say, we're coming for you. We're

174
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:12,080
Speaker 1: three hundreds strong, but with God, we're a majority. He said, No,

175
00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:17,720
Speaker 1: I didn't know any of that, and especially I didn't

176
00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:21,160
Speaker 1: know that before he did any of that, he was

177
00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:28,959
Speaker 1: hidden in fear and hidden in a certain place within

178
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:33,360
Speaker 1: his family that nobody expected him to be the one.

179
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,760
Speaker 1: A word from God just came through me. For somebody.

180
00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:45,840
Speaker 1: You're not insignificant because you're hidden. Nobody sees me, nobody

181
00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:51,920
Speaker 1: notices me, nobody appreciates me. Do not confuse your hiddenness

182
00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:59,800
Speaker 1: with your significance. The significance of Gideon's life and your life,

183
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,080
Speaker 1: my life, and what's happening in this season cannot be

184
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:09,440
Speaker 1: discerned just by looking at us in this moment. We

185
00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,480
Speaker 1: have to read a little further. There's so much more

186
00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:18,600
Speaker 1: to the story. So when Gideon is hidden, he is

187
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:25,720
Speaker 1: not sinning, but he is shrinking. The picture we get

188
00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:31,199
Speaker 1: of Gideon is not of a sinner, but of a survivor.

189
00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:39,840
Speaker 1: Are there any survivors at elevation Valentine? Not on the

190
00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,840
Speaker 1: front row? Y'all didn't make it through anything? Because when

191
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 1: I say survivor, I don't mean you had a headache

192
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,360
Speaker 1: and you took two and then it went away, and

193
00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:52,800
Speaker 1: then you went to work anyway and you didn't get fired.

194
00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:57,560
Speaker 1: That's not the kind of surviving I mean. I'm talking

195
00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:03,400
Speaker 1: about you almost lost your faith. You almost said is

196
00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:08,240
Speaker 1: there a God? But something like the hand of God

197
00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:15,480
Speaker 1: snatched you from the hand of your own doubt, something

198
00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,160
Speaker 1: like the hand of God. It was invisible, so you

199
00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,960
Speaker 1: can't exactly prove it and say, well, it was on

200
00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:25,760
Speaker 1: this date at this time. But for everybody who knows

201
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,400
Speaker 1: that I was in the in the hands, in the grip,

202
00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:33,280
Speaker 1: in the stronghold of the feeling that I might not

203
00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:37,480
Speaker 1: make it, and something snatched me. And I can't show

204
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:40,720
Speaker 1: you what snatched me because it wasn't a person. I

205
00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,680
Speaker 1: can't show you what snatched me because it wasn't just

206
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 1: one event. I can't show you what snatched me because

207
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:51,080
Speaker 1: it wasn't just one date. It was the hand of God,

208
00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,160
Speaker 1: That's what it was. It was him that snatched you

209
00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:02,800
Speaker 1: because he has something for you, something to do, something

210
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:07,560
Speaker 1: to build, something to be, something to do, something to build,

211
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,840
Speaker 1: something to be. I got all free, I got something

212
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,240
Speaker 1: to do. I've created for good works, something to build,

213
00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:19,640
Speaker 1: I can't stay torn down, and something to be. I

214
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:28,480
Speaker 1: am becoming the new creation and crime high five. Somebody

215
00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 1: say I got something. I got something, something to do,

216
00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:38,160
Speaker 1: something to build, something to be. Don't memorize me down here.

217
00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 1: I know I look shrunk in right now, but there's

218
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:48,880
Speaker 1: a good reason for that. See, I'm a survivor. I'm

219
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,240
Speaker 1: a survivor. I'm a survivor. Saying I'm a survivor, even

220
00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:53,440
Speaker 1: if you have to say it under your breath because

221
00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:54,560
Speaker 1: you don't want the devil to hear you, because you're

222
00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:55,920
Speaker 1: scared if he hears you say it, he might attack

223
00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,040
Speaker 1: you again. But saying I'm a survivor, I'm a survivor,

224
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:01,520
Speaker 1: I'm a survivor. I'm a survivor. I'm a survivor. I'm

225
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,120
Speaker 1: a survivor. My buddy who fights in the UFC, he said,

226
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,920
Speaker 1: you got to survive the assault and work the cut.

227
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,160
Speaker 1: I said, what does that mean? He said, there's gonna

228
00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,680
Speaker 1: be around every time you fight, unless you get lucky

229
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,360
Speaker 1: with a spinning heel kick in the first round, where

230
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,800
Speaker 1: it's gonna come on like a storm and the only

231
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:26,480
Speaker 1: goal in that round is to survive it. But then

232
00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:31,400
Speaker 1: he said, there will be an opportunity to go on offense,

233
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,280
Speaker 1: and when you cut him, I feel my Rocky for

234
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,120
Speaker 1: anointing coming on me today. I'm scared of it. I'm

235
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,240
Speaker 1: really scared of it. I'm really scared of it because

236
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,840
Speaker 1: if it comes on me, I might shout Drago, I

237
00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 1: might shout Devil. I might start doing some stuff. I

238
00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:53,840
Speaker 1: might start swinging. Because there comes a time when survival,

239
00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:11,399
Speaker 1: survival becomes selfish, when God gives you an opportunity to

240
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:15,320
Speaker 1: do the good that He created you to do, and

241
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,240
Speaker 1: you shrink down. Now, sometimes when we shrink, get the

242
00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,080
Speaker 1: picture of Gideon in the wine press, getting out of

243
00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:29,280
Speaker 1: the sight of his enemy, the Midianites, shrinking down in

244
00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,520
Speaker 1: a low place where we discovered last week there is

245
00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,800
Speaker 1: no wind to blow the chaff away, where the devil

246
00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:39,720
Speaker 1: pushes you down, where there is no fresh air of

247
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:44,400
Speaker 1: God's spirit, where you get in a place thought patterns

248
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:52,840
Speaker 1: and thought processes. That feels safe because you are a

249
00:17:53,240 --> 00:18:01,720
Speaker 1: stuck survivor, a survivor who got stuck in a season

250
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,000
Speaker 1: of survival. Now, how is that selfish? Because God did

251
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:12,800
Speaker 1: not just come to get you through it. He came

252
00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:22,399
Speaker 1: to get it through you. Yes, yes, we need that

253
00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,320
Speaker 1: revelation for all of the survival sermons that we've heard

254
00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,400
Speaker 1: that are saying you're going to make it, which are

255
00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,520
Speaker 1: wonderful when you need them. But if every six days

256
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,160
Speaker 1: the only word that you can receive is you're gonna

257
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,639
Speaker 1: make it, and then six days later you're gonna make it,

258
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:46,719
Speaker 1: and then six days later you're gonna make it, and

259
00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,159
Speaker 1: God is getting you ready. And six days later God

260
00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,320
Speaker 1: is getting you ready, and six days later God is

261
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,679
Speaker 1: getting you ready. Meanwhile, your teeth are gonna fall out

262
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:02,680
Speaker 1: while you're waiting, hogd read God, Oh God, get me ready.

263
00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:09,080
Speaker 1: You're gonna have a back back when he finally does so,

264
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: then the key becomes watch this. We can't just stay

265
00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:20,800
Speaker 1: here shrinking in survival forever. At some point God is

266
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,800
Speaker 1: going to give you a survival word when you need it,

267
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:29,639
Speaker 1: and then he will give you a stretching word to

268
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:36,080
Speaker 1: call fourth something dormant in you to call forth something

269
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 1: holy in you. If we were to put a new

270
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 1: Testament verse here, I would recommend for your consideration Ephesians

271
00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:50,960
Speaker 1: three twenty, which states, now somebody shout, Now, don't leave

272
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,600
Speaker 1: that word out. It's important because it doesn't say in

273
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,480
Speaker 1: three years. It doesn't say when you get out of rehab.

274
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 1: It doesn't say when they come back, I can start

275
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,719
Speaker 1: living with you again. It doesn't say when the doctor

276
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,800
Speaker 1: tells you if it's a tumor or not. It says, now,

277
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:13,800
Speaker 1: unto him who is able to do, how much more,

278
00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:21,359
Speaker 1: immeasurably more, you got an immeasurably more anointing. But sometimes

279
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:29,480
Speaker 1: we have a depressingly low view of ourselves. Keep going.

280
00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,360
Speaker 1: The best part of the verse is at the end,

281
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,800
Speaker 1: more than we ask or imagine, according to His power,

282
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:38,919
Speaker 1: which we love. Oh, it's his power. Yes, it is

283
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,320
Speaker 1: comes from him, every single time. All power comes from him,

284
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,080
Speaker 1: all power. No more than we could unplug this sound

285
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 1: system and the microphone still get a signal over the camera.

286
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,000
Speaker 1: Can I preach this word without his power working? But

287
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,439
Speaker 1: watch where it works, Watch where it works. It is

288
00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:05,600
Speaker 1: at work within us. The contrast is not only that

289
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,879
Speaker 1: it's his power and it doesn't come from me. The

290
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:16,120
Speaker 1: contrast is that it doesn't work from without, it works

291
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:22,600
Speaker 1: from within. Can I go a little bit deeper with

292
00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: this word? Oh, I'm going in. I studied too much

293
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,639
Speaker 1: to preach this thing like it was third grade class.

294
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,679
Speaker 1: I am going to teach the Bible to three people

295
00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: today who want to go into God's word and get

296
00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 1: what he has for you so you can be what

297
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,080
Speaker 1: he called you to be, build what he called you

298
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 1: to build, and do what he called you to do.

299
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,639
Speaker 1: Somebody shout, go, that's the key, because you're going to

300
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: see this like y'all play pick a ball. God and

301
00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: Gideon go back and forth for a moment where Gideon

302
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 1: doesn't know it's God. You usually don't at first. You

303
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:07,399
Speaker 1: usually don't at first. Usually God first appears as something

304
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 1: that you fear. It's a ghost. Peter said, No, it's God.

305
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 1: Gideon thinks he's got an interrupt or maybe even thought

306
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 1: it was the enemy coming to get some of his

307
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,680
Speaker 1: wik But it was an angel. And the angel starts

308
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:29,080
Speaker 1: talking to Gideon, which happens every day. No, No, this

309
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: is an unusual occurrence for the word of God to

310
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,960
Speaker 1: come to Gideon. There is there is a sense when

311
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,320
Speaker 1: I read this passage. The reason I use pickleball is

312
00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 1: because it's got this back and forth to it that

313
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 1: I want to show you where Gideon is asking God

314
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 1: to pardon him while God is trying to empower him.

315
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,680
Speaker 1: So God keeps human say that again. Okay, she's gonna

316
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 1: say that again. Well, I say, does anybody know I

317
00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,479
Speaker 1: was going to the next thing? You know, No, it

318
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 1: was Gideon is saying pardon me, and God is trying

319
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,680
Speaker 1: to empower him. Gideon, the next thing I was gonna

320
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,239
Speaker 1: say before I got interrupted by the Holy Spirit. It's good.

321
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell a story about you in a minute

322
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:22,600
Speaker 1: if I remember. But when Gideon is saying pardon, God's

323
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,400
Speaker 1: trying to give him permission to get out of that,

324
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: and Gideon keeps saying pardon me. Now, the first thing

325
00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 1: he does is he shrinks his view of God down

326
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:43,000
Speaker 1: to his experience. He shrinks his view of God down

327
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 1: to his experience. Look at verse thirteen, pardon me Lord.

328
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,640
Speaker 1: But if the Lord is with us, God just said

329
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: he's with you. Well, if that's true, then why has

330
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,720
Speaker 1: all this happened to us? Because he's looking to external

331
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 1: events and personal experience for his definition of who God is.

332
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 1: And that's the wrong starting place. God doesn't start with

333
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:12,560
Speaker 1: your experience. He was God before you got here. He'll

334
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,120
Speaker 1: be God when they lay your body in the ground.

335
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: He'll be God when everybody's eating chicken. Five minutes after

336
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: they all cry that you're gone, everybody's moving on, everything

337
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:27,959
Speaker 1: is coming, everything is going, And he is still God.

338
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,359
Speaker 1: He's big, he's mighty. He's not as small as one

339
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:37,320
Speaker 1: little life, one little lifespan, one little opinion, one political party,

340
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 1: one view of seeing things, one color, one ethnicity, one denomination.

341
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 1: God is bigger than any of this stuff that we

342
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: fight about. So watch Gideon. He's not sinning, but he

343
00:24:52,480 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 1: is shrinking. He's shrinking. If God is with us, why

344
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: has all this You're gonna put it up? Or okay,

345
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our

346
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 1: ancestors told us about. Get the questions, get your list going. Okay,

347
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 1: you got your little list for God? Okay, this is

348
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,600
Speaker 1: why is my daughter struggling in school? And why am

349
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 1: I always having to go down there? And why don't

350
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,480
Speaker 1: I have a husband when you know that I am chased? Okay,

351
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: your words, your list. I'm just using some Bible words,

352
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: all right, And you know she's not And so why

353
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,120
Speaker 1: does she have a husband? And I don't have a husband.

354
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: When I was a lady in waiting, I got three

355
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 1: promise rings, purity rings, promise rings. I am a Proverbs

356
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: thirty one woman and I'm thirty one years old and

357
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 1: I don't have a man. Why all right? So, but

358
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 1: all of that is just experience. All of that is

359
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: just events. All of that is external, all of that

360
00:25:56,720 --> 00:25:58,439
Speaker 1: is outside. All of that as well. I see all

361
00:25:58,480 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 1: of that as well. I know all of that is

362
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: what I understand. So watch God kick the verse up, y'all?

363
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,200
Speaker 1: Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about?

364
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 1: We said, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt?

365
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:16,080
Speaker 1: I love what God does here. This angel is amazing

366
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: verse fourteen. Now the Lord is man. I said, hand,

367
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: it's give him a hand of mine. Okay? Now verse fourteen.

368
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: And the Lord turned and said, no, he answers none

369
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:36,639
Speaker 1: of it. God's like. The reason I call it pickleball

370
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,439
Speaker 1: is because Gideon is like, Okay, you are calling me

371
00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: a mighty warrior and you're saying this about me, Then

372
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,960
Speaker 1: how about this thing that I struggle with, and how

373
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 1: about that thing that I deal with? And how about

374
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: the other thing that they did to us? And how

375
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:54,960
Speaker 1: about what I heard that you would do that you

376
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: haven't done. And that's why I'm down here in this

377
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 1: wine press. And so you expect God right to Gideon

378
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: goes why, and you expect God to go, well, you know,

379
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,440
Speaker 1: here's the reason. And then you expect Gideon to hit

380
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,000
Speaker 1: it back over the net. Well, then what about And

381
00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: then God's like, yeah, so about that? And you expect

382
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: us to go back and forth. And You're kind of

383
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,600
Speaker 1: waiting for this back and forth. And God's like, uh, go,

384
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 1: because we don't have time for you to figure out

385
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: and work through every single weakness that you've got some

386
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: of You have taken every personality test that they sell

387
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 1: in the personality test store and department, and you are

388
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 1: more confused than ever. And you have read every book,

389
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: you have eaten, you have prayed, you have loved, you

390
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 1: have searched, you have tested, you have Myers Briggs, you

391
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: have discs, you have any of Graham. You have done

392
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,200
Speaker 1: it all, and those are all wonderful things. But God

393
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,040
Speaker 1: is like, by the time you finish the tests, the

394
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 1: lesson will be over, and the blessing will be passed.

395
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,880
Speaker 1: And at some point, and it might just be while

396
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen is preaching today, we've got to go. We

397
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,280
Speaker 1: have got to go at some point. Do you know

398
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: how much more I could have put in this sermon

399
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 1: if I didn't have to preach it right now? But

400
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 1: at some point I gotta preach it. A lady got

401
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:33,359
Speaker 1: in an elevator one time at a conference. I was

402
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: going to the forty thousand people at the conference. She said, hey, Stephen,

403
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 1: are you ready? I said, what's ready got to do

404
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: with it? I've never been ready to preach a day

405
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: in my life. If I'm about to have the microphone,

406
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: So I guess, yeah, pray for me. Whatever kind of

407
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: prayers you do, praying for me, this one, the one

408
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 1: in tongues. Any Oh, I'll take all of them. I'll

409
00:28:53,720 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 1: take every single prayer. So we at a restaurant Friday,

410
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 1: and the lady was so nice to us. It was

411
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: the restaurant that the Jonas family owns. What's it called Nellie's.

412
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,880
Speaker 1: It was good, but the server was really nice. She

413
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 1: came over and she's I think she listens to our

414
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 1: I know she listens to our messages, and so she

415
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: was extra nice and I tipped her extra big. So

416
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 1: if you're a server and you go to this church,

417
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,400
Speaker 1: tell me and I do a little, you know, let

418
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 1: me take it up alot. We could do it. Just

419
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:32,320
Speaker 1: keep the diet coke coming and don't judge me by

420
00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: how many I'd drink, and I'll take care of you. Now.

421
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: I could drink a lot worse things than diet coke.

422
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,720
Speaker 1: I think you know what I'm talking about. Na. The

423
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: lady is like, do you have any questions about the menu?

424
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 1: And I'm like, she does. Holly loves menus. I just

425
00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: love full. It's not that deep. Does it have onions?

426
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: If no, bring it to me, that's all. If it

427
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: doesn't have carbs and it doesn't have onions, bring it

428
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: to me. But not Holly, not my Holly, Oh not

429
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: my Holly. So she said, do y'all have any questions?

430
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 1: I'm like, go ahead, babe. Have had her looking at

431
00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 1: Stephanie like you asked for this. Just remember you asked

432
00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: for this. So then the whole quiz started, the whole test,

433
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:41,560
Speaker 1: the whole final exam started, like we are buying a ranch.

434
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 1: So the meat loaf. What's the meat loaf like? And

435
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 1: I'm so bored because I didn't bring my phone because

436
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: I was trying to be focused on our day together.

437
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 1: I wish I had my phone. I took her phone,

438
00:30:55,640 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 1: start playing with her phone. Then after after I guess

439
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: it was only about ninety seconds, but it felt like

440
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: longer because I'm hungry. And she said, now they're talking

441
00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: about the dumplings and the diameter of the dumplings. And

442
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, but think I think I think we

443
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: I think you know enough to get go on, move

444
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 1: far with this, linch. You think we can go ahead

445
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: and do it now? We can go in order. Now, Stephanie,

446
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: we're good. She's got gut enough information. And Stephanie goes, no, no,

447
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 1: I don't mind. I don't mind. And I said, none

448
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 1: of Stephanie, you don't understand. This could go on a

449
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: long time. I know this woman. This could go on

450
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: and on. When does your shift in, Stephanie? This could

451
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: be she loves menus. If we do this, you know,

452
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: what about the dumplings? What about the meat loaf? What

453
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: about the other stuff? About those dumplings again, are they

454
00:31:55,040 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 1: like dumpling dumplings or dumpling dumplings, Like, because dumpling dumplings?

455
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: Are they chewy chewy? Or are they? We gotta ee.

456
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: I don't have a phone. I'm a dopamine addict. And

457
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:13,240
Speaker 1: there's nothing interesting on your text messages. I've looked. Let's

458
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: just do it. I feel like God, God is saying,

459
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 1: get in. We could do this all day. I could

460
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: give you twenty reasons why you're struggling. What good would

461
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: it do? Just an endless awareness of your weakness. That's

462
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: what God saved you for. Just an endless awareness of

463
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: who hurt you. Well, they hurt me, and they wounded me,

464
00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:43,920
Speaker 1: and they hurt me, and I have church hurt, and

465
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,360
Speaker 1: I have job hurt, and I have marriage hurt, and

466
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 1: I have relationship hurt. And I got burned over here

467
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 1: and burned over there, and burned over here and burned

468
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 1: over there. And God's like, that's cool. I'm fire. Let's

469
00:32:54,840 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: burn different Noweah. Yeah, if the fire shows up, I say,

470
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 1: fight fire with fire. If you got burned, let's call

471
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: on the God who answers bought fire. I feel fire.

472
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: I feel fire falling from heaving fresh strike. Now, yes, Lord,

473
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:25,560
Speaker 1: God says, I'm going in right now to the strength

474
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 1: that you have. Now, this is a word for a

475
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,880
Speaker 1: person who you've been going back and forth in your mind,

476
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: back and forth. Well, if I do that, then they

477
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 1: might say that. And if I go there, then they

478
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,240
Speaker 1: might do this. And if I go there, it is

479
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:46,720
Speaker 1: the pickleball game from hell. And you're hungry, and meanwhile

480
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 1: God is like, would you like me to bring you

481
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:50,840
Speaker 1: something off the menu so I can show you who

482
00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:52,760
Speaker 1: I am and what you have? Or you just want

483
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 1: to go back and forth like this. I thought about

484
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: bringing out a pickleball paddle and tell you to give

485
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: it back to God, like, man, whatever, whatever it is,

486
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,920
Speaker 1: it is what it is, and let's do what we

487
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: can do with what it is because we know who

488
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: God is. Which is actually the turning point of the passage,

489
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:20,879
Speaker 1: if you want to know truth about it, it's when

490
00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: God says, go in the strength that you have. Say that,

491
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 1: go in the strength that you have. Let's get that

492
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 1: verse on the screen. Get it real deep in your spirit.

493
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,760
Speaker 1: When you don't feel strong, when you don't feel kind,

494
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:42,800
Speaker 1: when you don't feel backed, when you don't feel endorsed,

495
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: when you don't feel important, when you don't feel significant,

496
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 1: when you don't feel like turning off the thing and

497
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,839
Speaker 1: not snoozing it the seventh time. Snooze at six and

498
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,799
Speaker 1: get up and go with the sleep that you have.

499
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,800
Speaker 1: Can we all stop saying tie as our primary identification

500
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:08,319
Speaker 1: of what we are. I wonder what God feels, who

501
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: never sleeps, norse slumbers when we take his name. I

502
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 1: am and put tired after it all the time. I mean,

503
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:19,319
Speaker 1: I'll take a nap whatever, or I won't. But is

504
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,640
Speaker 1: this really gonna be my primary identity in life? How

505
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: are you just tired? Man? Wow? I gotta take charge

506
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: of some things on the inside of me, starting with

507
00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: what I say, Starting with what I say, and say

508
00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:41,360
Speaker 1: things that make me feel stronger. I'm collecting little mantras.

509
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put a lot of them in a book

510
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 1: that I'm working on that you can get in your

511
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 1: spirit and say things like He's in it with me,

512
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: working through me, fighting for me. That started as a

513
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: mantra that I told myself driving up to church, didn't

514
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,520
Speaker 1: start as a song, became a song. You know what,

515
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 1: that's a weird thing. For years years of my life,

516
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:07,759
Speaker 1: I resisted the gifts that I had been given. I

517
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: didn't know that's what I was doing. I thought I

518
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:15,239
Speaker 1: was being self aware, right, which is a very good

519
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:20,239
Speaker 1: thing to be, by the way, But if self awareness

520
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:27,280
Speaker 1: doesn't lead to spirit dependence, it has its limits. Self

521
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 1: awareness is meant to get you to the place not

522
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:34,879
Speaker 1: only of being at war with your weaknesses, but being

523
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 1: aware of your strengths. For many years, when I went

524
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,960
Speaker 1: into a songwriting situation, I would think I'm a preacher,

525
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 1: not a songwriter. The reason I probably felt that way

526
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 1: is because, over the course of giving up things to

527
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:55,840
Speaker 1: God that he had given me, I felt like maybe

528
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 1: in preaching I was giving up this love that I

529
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,280
Speaker 1: had for music. I never will forget Israel Holton's standing

530
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:05,799
Speaker 1: on a sidewalk in Sydney, Australia telling another pastor what

531
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 1: an anointed songwriter I was, You know, I say I am.

532
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: I wasn't being false humble. I literally didn't feel like

533
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,799
Speaker 1: I was one. In fact, it was reinforced by the

534
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:19,920
Speaker 1: fact that a lot of people would tell me I

535
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:21,919
Speaker 1: heard you just put your names on the songs because

536
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 1: you're the pastor and you don't really write them. So

537
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,279
Speaker 1: now I got a couple things going on. One is

538
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:35,399
Speaker 1: people God love them. You know how easy ministry would

539
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: be if people weren't in it. I'm kidding. I love people,

540
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: But it gets in you, doesn't it. You ever have

541
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: something to get in you that you believe about yourself,

542
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 1: especially now man not only on songwriting, but if I

543
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 1: could just share with you honestly, there's a lot of

544
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,879
Speaker 1: fear for everybody who is a public figure these days,

545
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,520
Speaker 1: with cancel culture and the way that things get clipped,

546
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:06,959
Speaker 1: taken out of context, abuse be rated, and nobody even

547
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,440
Speaker 1: bothers to read the story. They look at a headline,

548
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: or they hear a headline that was passed on to

549
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: them by someone else. They put that headline in their

550
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: heart and they define you by something that they heard

551
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 1: that somebody else didn't even read. They skimmed and for

552
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 1: a couple of years, the last few years, it has

553
00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:32,799
Speaker 1: been a wrestling match for me. On one hand, I

554
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:37,040
Speaker 1: want to spread the gospel, put God's words in people's hearts.

555
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:40,840
Speaker 1: On the other hand, I find myself wanting to shrink

556
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:48,440
Speaker 1: because when you talk into a microphone for people, you

557
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 1: become a target. Every word you say, every syllable. Look

558
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 1: how he mispronounced that, Oh look how he said that?

559
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:56,399
Speaker 1: And it doesn't even have to be what you really said,

560
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,280
Speaker 1: because they don't have to take the ten seconds before

561
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 1: you said it. They can chop it, drop it, and

562
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,040
Speaker 1: drop it, and then the next thing you know, people

563
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 1: will say, oh, well, you know he's a this or

564
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:07,520
Speaker 1: he's a that, or she's a this or she's that.

565
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 1: It's just a real thing. Now you deal with it

566
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:11,400
Speaker 1: on your own level. I deal with it on my

567
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:14,040
Speaker 1: own level, but sometimes it makes me want to go

568
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: Maybe I don't even want these sermons to go online.

569
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: I drove by this little Baptist church one time. I

570
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,040
Speaker 1: was like, I think I'm gonna just go over there

571
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 1: and preach and not tell anybody I'm preaching, so I

572
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:26,880
Speaker 1: can still help people, but I don't put it online.

573
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make sure there's no internet connection, collect everybody's

574
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:32,640
Speaker 1: phones at the door, and just preach like it's nineteen

575
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 1: thirty seven. And that fear is real. Man. That probably

576
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,160
Speaker 1: happens to you in some way where you feel like, oh,

577
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:48,319
Speaker 1: I feel like if I really step forward with me

578
00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 1: to be who I believe God is calling me to be,

579
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,760
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm probably gonna get like either attacked

580
00:39:53,800 --> 00:40:00,880
Speaker 1: or misunderstood or criticized, or I might fail to stay safe.

581
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: I shrink this day safe. So I feel like the

582
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:07,319
Speaker 1: Lord will say, tell me to say something, but I'm

583
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: not gonna say it because what if it comes out

584
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,600
Speaker 1: the wrong way. What if it comes out the right

585
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:13,920
Speaker 1: way and somebody takes it the wrong way. Well if

586
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:15,320
Speaker 1: it comes out the right way and somebody takes it

587
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:16,759
Speaker 1: the right way, but twist it the wrong way because

588
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:25,280
Speaker 1: they don't like me. We could do this all day, Stephanie.

589
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 1: But there comes a time when God gives a word,

590
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 1: and the word is did you just say, come on, verdict,

591
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:39,600
Speaker 1: call me by my last name? What's wrong with you?

592
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: What if this is a turning word for you today

593
00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 1: that God is saying the answer is not for you

594
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:56,400
Speaker 1: to shrink yourself. It is to depend on Him and

595
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 1: step into it. Now. I see you shrinking, and you

596
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,239
Speaker 1: have your reasons. You don't have a college education. I

597
00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: see you shrinking, and you have your reasons. You don't

598
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,240
Speaker 1: have a support system in your life. I see you shrinking,

599
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,799
Speaker 1: and you have your reasons. The business fail and you're embarrassed.

600
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 1: I see you shrinking, and you have your reasons. The

601
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,840
Speaker 1: addiction really has its clause in you. You feel like

602
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 1: you're in the hand of Midian. I see you shrinking,

603
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,719
Speaker 1: and you have your reasons. You have been diagnosed with

604
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: something that you don't know if you're going to live

605
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,160
Speaker 1: or die in this body. I see you shrinking, and

606
00:41:34,239 --> 00:41:37,240
Speaker 1: you have your reasons. You're really worried about your kids.

607
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:41,879
Speaker 1: So now life is just survival. And you're stuck here

608
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,399
Speaker 1: and you can't move here, and you feel like if

609
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: I shrink, I'll be safe. And if I'm not safe,

610
00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:51,439
Speaker 1: at least I feel safe. Because see when I take

611
00:41:51,480 --> 00:41:55,080
Speaker 1: these pills, I feel safe. I'm not really safe, but

612
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,440
Speaker 1: I feel safe. I'm not talking about medication that a

613
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,760
Speaker 1: doctor prescribed you. I'm talking about when you get in something,

614
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,000
Speaker 1: when you shrink yourself down to stuff that God is

615
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:09,399
Speaker 1: setting you free from. You're shrinking to feel safe. But

616
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:11,399
Speaker 1: the Lord told me something, and I want to give

617
00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 1: it to you. God said, you keep shrinking, thinking that

618
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:18,880
Speaker 1: it'll make you safe. But the answer to your fear

619
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:23,399
Speaker 1: is not to shrink yourself down. The answer to your

620
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:27,400
Speaker 1: fear is not to shrink yourself. The answer is to

621
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: get moving. When they do security training, touch somebody say

622
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,160
Speaker 1: get moving, get move, and get move and get moving.

623
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:41,279
Speaker 1: Because when they do security training, they teach you. The

624
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:45,960
Speaker 1: worst thing you can be is a sitting target. You

625
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:50,200
Speaker 1: have got to get moving in this season of your

626
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,239
Speaker 1: life and not just sit in the thoughts of what

627
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:57,440
Speaker 1: could go wrong. We could do this all day. I

628
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 1: can give you a list of ten more things to

629
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 1: be scared of, but you don't even know to be

630
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:06,279
Speaker 1: scared of. We can do this all day, or you

631
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: can go in the string that you have now. The

632
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,880
Speaker 1: problem is that doesn't feel like a lot right now.

633
00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 1: The wisdom you have doesn't feel like a lot right now,

634
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,160
Speaker 1: and there are some facts to back that up. So

635
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:25,800
Speaker 1: now I just want to stay shun But the problem

636
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:29,080
Speaker 1: is you are a sitting duck for the devil down there.

637
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: You're not serving anybody. You're not encouraging anybody. Some of

638
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:37,640
Speaker 1: you quick giving because you started watching the news. Are

639
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:42,720
Speaker 1: you crazy? It's called currency. I've got to generate something

640
00:43:43,080 --> 00:43:47,280
Speaker 1: through my giving so I can receive something as I'm wait.

641
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 1: You gonna sit down there and die down there? Get

642
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 1: going in the string you have. Gideon has a dilemma.

643
00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:06,640
Speaker 1: He's in a real pickle. He's down low. God is

644
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: calling him up high. He's down low. God is saying

645
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:12,799
Speaker 1: you're a mighty warrior. Now here's the word of the

646
00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:18,759
Speaker 1: Lord for you. You might be. You might be think

647
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 1: about that. You might be in a hard place. You

648
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 1: might be alone, living by yourself. You might be in

649
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:31,240
Speaker 1: a very difficult dilemma. You might be in a situation

650
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:36,320
Speaker 1: where the odds are against you. But you are still

651
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:43,480
Speaker 1: a mighty warrior. If God is within you, he is

652
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:51,000
Speaker 1: more than anything that is against you. Go in the

653
00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 1: strength that you have, and the strength that you have

654
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:01,520
Speaker 1: will become the strength that you need for what is next.

655
00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 1: If I am prophesying this word for you, put it

656
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,960
Speaker 1: in the chat. It's for me. I need to get moving.

657
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: It's for me. I need to get step in It's

658
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,759
Speaker 1: for me. I need to get back in it. I

659
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:17,399
Speaker 1: need to step back into it. I need to get

660
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,440
Speaker 1: out of this place of feeling sorry for myself. I

661
00:45:21,480 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 1: need to get out of why and step into what

662
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 1: God called me to be. He's able according to his power.

663
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,520
Speaker 1: This fellow named Trenton, I hope he's there right now.

664
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,360
Speaker 1: Wrote me this week and he serves at Lake Norman

665
00:45:39,719 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: on a week he serves. You know, Trenton sent me

666
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,520
Speaker 1: a text. What meant the most to me is where

667
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:49,960
Speaker 1: he sent it from sitting in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy.

668
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:55,240
Speaker 1: He said, thank you, Pastor Stephen for preaching about Gideon,

669
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: and thank you for the song more than Abel because

670
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:03,960
Speaker 1: it means a lot to me because I'm disabled and God,

671
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:07,440
Speaker 1: God started speaking to me, he said. And God started

672
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:12,439
Speaker 1: speaking to me that I'm disabled. But when you said

673
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:17,400
Speaker 1: go in the strength you have, and I'm sitting in

674
00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 1: this wheelchair listening to that word, I realize if you

675
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:28,520
Speaker 1: take disabled and put go in front of it, help

676
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:33,280
Speaker 1: me preach this, Treton. If you take disabled and put

677
00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:38,520
Speaker 1: go in front of it, what does this smell? I said, what? Trenton?

678
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:44,160
Speaker 1: He said, God is able. I declare it where you're at.

679
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 1: I declare it over your life. God is abled. I

680
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: declare it over your life. God is abled. I declare

681
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:54,399
Speaker 1: it over your paralysis. God is abl I can declare it.

682
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:57,800
Speaker 1: I declare it. I declare it. I declare it, I

683
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:11,920
Speaker 1: decree it. I establish it now unto him. So thank

684
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,759
Speaker 1: you Trending for that truth. If you can say it

685
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 1: from a wheelchair, I can say it in my weakness too.

686
00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:21,840
Speaker 1: If you can smile in that wheelchair, I can smile

687
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: through my storm too. The problem is not what you have.

688
00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:36,120
Speaker 1: It's what you don't know about what you have. You

689
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 1: won't know what it is if you don't go in it.

690
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,760
Speaker 1: I promise you that, I promise you that, I promise

691
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:44,280
Speaker 1: you you will always You have not yet made peace

692
00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:48,759
Speaker 1: with the strength God has given you, because you're not

693
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:53,400
Speaker 1: yet good with what He didn't give you. And we

694
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: could do this all day, all day long. You could

695
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:03,239
Speaker 1: wish that you were taller. I never seen anybody grow

696
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:09,680
Speaker 1: us in a meter all day long wishing they had

697
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:14,200
Speaker 1: stayed with you. They didn't, and they're only pretending to

698
00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 1: be happy in those pictures you see on Facebook. They

699
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: miss you a lot. Okay, she's giving me a little

700
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:21,799
Speaker 1: spiritual hug there. You can wish this stuff all day.

701
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: We could do this all day, Stephanie. We can do

702
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 1: this all day. Tom we can do this all day.

703
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 1: Get in, or you can go with what I gave

704
00:48:32,760 --> 00:48:38,120
Speaker 1: you and go in the strength you have. Somebody say it,

705
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 1: I'm going in. I don't know what day had happened,

706
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: I don't know what we could happen. I don't know

707
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:45,080
Speaker 1: what month had happened. But at some point I came

708
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:48,800
Speaker 1: to this in my spirit that as I preach God's

709
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:50,400
Speaker 1: word and teach God's word and put God's word in

710
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:54,279
Speaker 1: people's hearts. There may come a day where I fail.

711
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:58,640
Speaker 1: I'm sure I've already had many of those days where

712
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:02,480
Speaker 1: I failed. I will have them anymore. I don't know

713
00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 1: the future of my life anymore than you know the

714
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,880
Speaker 1: future of your life. I don't know the future of

715
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 1: this church anymore than you know the future of you

716
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:14,080
Speaker 1: ain't even decided where you're going to lunch yet today. Okay,

717
00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:16,000
Speaker 1: so let's don't pretend like you got it all mapped

718
00:49:16,000 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 1: out either. What's the ten year plan for the minute?

719
00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:20,960
Speaker 1: What's your ten minute plan? Let's talk about your ten

720
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:29,200
Speaker 1: minute plan. So God gave me a thought, and I

721
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:36,520
Speaker 1: say it a lot. It may, but I won't And

722
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:40,360
Speaker 1: specifically it goes like this. It may end in failure.

723
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:44,560
Speaker 1: I can't control that, but I will not live in fear.

724
00:49:48,160 --> 00:49:51,840
Speaker 1: I don't know who this is for, but the Lord

725
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:53,640
Speaker 1: released me to share that with you. And that is

726
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:57,759
Speaker 1: from my own personal wine press. That's from the grapes

727
00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:00,840
Speaker 1: of my own heart. That God has had to stump

728
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:03,960
Speaker 1: out a whole lot of insecurity to get me to

729
00:50:04,040 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 1: a place where I can tell you you need to

730
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:10,360
Speaker 1: make a decision, Gideon, are you gonna live in fear?

731
00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 1: And I just decided, I'm gonna have moments of fear.

732
00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:16,839
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have days of fear. I'm gonna sometimes draw back,

733
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:21,640
Speaker 1: but I am not gonna live in it. I'm going in.

734
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:28,920
Speaker 1: I'm going in. I told Holly, I'm going to write

735
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: a song today. She said, I hope you get something good.

736
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: I said, well, I don't know if I will, but

737
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:35,160
Speaker 1: I know I want. If I don't go, let me

738
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 1: give you a success rate on seeds that are not

739
00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:44,840
Speaker 1: sown zero percent, one hundred percent mortality rate on unsown seeds.

740
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 1: So I'm going in, but we don't. We don't go in.

741
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:54,719
Speaker 1: Watch what Gideon did. God said, go in the strength

742
00:50:55,280 --> 00:51:00,000
Speaker 1: you have, and Gideon says something else Verse fifteen. He said,

743
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 1: pardon me, We're still doing this. We could do this

744
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:09,040
Speaker 1: all day. You can make excuses all day. You can

745
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: list reasons all day. You can talk about why you

746
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:14,360
Speaker 1: won't forgive all day. It'll make a wonderful book. Write it,

747
00:51:14,440 --> 00:51:18,160
Speaker 1: sell it. I'll buy it. But at some point, at

748
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:21,080
Speaker 1: some point, you got to receive the power and make

749
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:24,239
Speaker 1: peace with the power that God has put inside of you.

750
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:27,479
Speaker 1: Because God is trying to give you permission to live again,

751
00:51:28,360 --> 00:51:31,759
Speaker 1: to love again, to breathe again, to open your heart again,

752
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:35,200
Speaker 1: to trust again, to move again, to flow again, to

753
00:51:35,239 --> 00:51:38,040
Speaker 1: see him move a mountain again, to walk through an

754
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:41,600
Speaker 1: open door, to believe him for better days ahead, to

755
00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:43,359
Speaker 1: tell the devil that he's a liar. And I will

756
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:45,839
Speaker 1: not live in this wine press. I will not live

757
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:48,720
Speaker 1: in the wine press of why me? And why it didn't?

758
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 1: But it's so amazing how he kept going back to

759
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 1: this thing about what's happening outside. Pardon me, Gideon replied

760
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,200
Speaker 1: verse fifteen. But if the Lord is with us, why

761
00:52:01,239 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 1: has all this happened to us? And then the Lord said,

762
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:06,320
Speaker 1: go in the strength that you have and save Israel

763
00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:09,520
Speaker 1: out of Midian's hand? Am I not sending you God's

764
00:52:09,560 --> 00:52:14,240
Speaker 1: like I? I thought it was me that you trusted,

765
00:52:15,200 --> 00:52:17,840
Speaker 1: not them. And then Gideon says versus the pardon me.

766
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:20,640
Speaker 1: But how can I wait? Wait, wait, wait, how can

767
00:52:20,719 --> 00:52:23,520
Speaker 1: I say this reel? My plan is the weakest in Manassa,

768
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:27,560
Speaker 1: and I am the least in my family. This is

769
00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:34,000
Speaker 1: the wrong I am? God said? Am I not strong

770
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:39,000
Speaker 1: enough to do it? Am I not able? Am I

771
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:44,719
Speaker 1: not enough? Am I? Not God. Gideon's like, yeah, but

772
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:52,080
Speaker 1: I am we Gideon. We can do this seven more years,

773
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 1: or you can get up right now and go in.

774
00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:03,600
Speaker 1: I'm going in. You gotta go in. Watch what happened.

775
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:05,799
Speaker 1: The Lord answered verse sixteen, I will be with you

776
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:08,400
Speaker 1: and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.

777
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,279
Speaker 1: And Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in

778
00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 1: your eyes, give me a sign. Oh, come on, like

779
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:19,719
Speaker 1: you wouldn't need one too. Some of y'all need to

780
00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:22,359
Speaker 1: sign to join an e group. He was taken down

781
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:25,400
Speaker 1: a nation. Let's give it up for Gideon. At least

782
00:53:25,400 --> 00:53:31,040
Speaker 1: he was honest. Oh Gideon, I get it. I get it.

783
00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:33,400
Speaker 1: I need a sign too. Angels don't show up and

784
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:35,640
Speaker 1: talk to me every day. Bro, I would need to

785
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:38,480
Speaker 1: know too before I'm gonna do this. Show me this

786
00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:43,240
Speaker 1: use So watch what Gideon did. He said, please verse eighteen,

787
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:47,440
Speaker 1: do not go away until I come back and bring

788
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:53,040
Speaker 1: my offering and set it before you. And the Lord said,

789
00:53:53,640 --> 00:54:00,600
Speaker 1: I will wait until you return. What a word? God said,

790
00:54:00,719 --> 00:54:05,240
Speaker 1: I'll wait, Remember, the Bible said the Angel was sitting.

791
00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:10,360
Speaker 1: He knew it would take a while. He knew it

792
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:12,480
Speaker 1: would take you to get in your thirties to learn this.

793
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,200
Speaker 1: He knew some of you'd have to be seventy six

794
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: before you got it. He knew. So he's sacked and

795
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:25,920
Speaker 1: he waited and he spoke. So he sat and he waited,

796
00:54:26,280 --> 00:54:33,759
Speaker 1: and watch what get In did next. Yeah, that baby

797
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:36,480
Speaker 1: is excited for a reason, because this is a good word.

798
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:39,760
Speaker 1: God said, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting to see

799
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:41,600
Speaker 1: if you want to hide here the rest of your life.

800
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:43,880
Speaker 1: I'm waiting to see if you're going to arise and

801
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:46,360
Speaker 1: try again. I'm waiting to see if you're going to

802
00:54:46,440 --> 00:54:49,719
Speaker 1: receive what I'm speaking. God is waiting. I'm waiting on God.

803
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:54,160
Speaker 1: He's waiting on you. He gave you a spirit, he

804
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:57,719
Speaker 1: gave you a son. He's done a lot. He said,

805
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,759
Speaker 1: I'll wait till you return. And Verse nineteen is the

806
00:55:01,880 --> 00:55:06,120
Speaker 1: climax of this text, for it says that after Gideon

807
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:11,920
Speaker 1: asked his questions, after Gideon second guest himself, after Gideon

808
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:15,800
Speaker 1: told the angel, I can't do it, and the angel said, no, Dice,

809
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:19,480
Speaker 1: you gotta go with what you've got, the Bible says

810
00:55:19,560 --> 00:55:25,479
Speaker 1: verse nineteen, get ready, Gideon went in, is somebody shot?

811
00:55:25,560 --> 00:55:30,920
Speaker 1: I'm going in. I'm going in. Gideon went inside. Now

812
00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:34,120
Speaker 1: to go inside the house, he had to come out

813
00:55:34,120 --> 00:55:37,720
Speaker 1: of the wine press. So that means God is bringing

814
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:41,200
Speaker 1: you out of some things to bring you into some things.

815
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:45,400
Speaker 1: Help me, Holy Spirit, I only got four minutes left,

816
00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:48,759
Speaker 1: and I don't think they're ready for this. Gideon went

817
00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:54,560
Speaker 1: in and watch this, He went inside prepared a young goat.

818
00:55:55,280 --> 00:56:00,240
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, that's not only what Gideon did, That's

819
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:05,200
Speaker 1: what God is doing. I told you when I started

820
00:56:05,239 --> 00:56:10,200
Speaker 1: my message that Gideon was one of the greatest of

821
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:15,439
Speaker 1: all time. That means he's a young goat. So when

822
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:20,279
Speaker 1: the Bible says that Gideon went in and prepared a

823
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:24,040
Speaker 1: young goat, it is nothing more than a picture of

824
00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 1: what God was doing in Gideon. Now, somebody shout, God

825
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:35,560
Speaker 1: is getting me ready for this. God is getting me

826
00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:40,640
Speaker 1: ready for this. God is raising me up for this.

827
00:56:41,600 --> 00:56:45,960
Speaker 1: God is strengthening me for this. God is breathing new

828
00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 1: wind into me for this. God is preparing me for this.

829
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 1: I didn't see it coming, but God did. He's preparing you.

830
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:04,920
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a goat, the greatest of all time,

831
00:57:05,320 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: the greatest, what the greatest me? God called me to

832
00:57:09,080 --> 00:57:13,839
Speaker 1: be the greatest dad Elijah and Abby and Graham ever

833
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,520
Speaker 1: had the greatest husband. Holly ever laid her eyes on

834
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 1: the greatest builder up of elevation Church that could stand

835
00:57:22,120 --> 00:57:24,880
Speaker 1: in a puppet till I'm not no more, but I

836
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:28,200
Speaker 1: will not live in fear of what I'm not no

837
00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:36,320
Speaker 1: I am. You gotta get this, Come on, you gotta

838
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:39,560
Speaker 1: get this. He's getting you ready. I know it's painful,

839
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:43,760
Speaker 1: but he's getting you ready. He's preparing you. He's preparing you.

840
00:57:44,040 --> 00:57:48,880
Speaker 1: He's preparing you. He's preparing you. That's preparation. That thing

841
00:57:48,920 --> 00:57:53,040
Speaker 1: that hurts you, that's preparation before they do surgery. They

842
00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:56,360
Speaker 1: prepare you for surgery. God is working on your heart

843
00:57:56,440 --> 00:57:59,680
Speaker 1: in this season. God is making you ready. In this season.

844
00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:03,720
Speaker 1: God is unzipping everything that wasn't you so you can

845
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:07,840
Speaker 1: come out strong and worsip Him again and praise him

846
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:18,760
Speaker 1: again and thank him again. You're going in. You're going

847
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:20,880
Speaker 1: in with what you got, You're going in with who

848
00:58:20,920 --> 00:58:23,520
Speaker 1: you are, and it's gonna be enough because He's with you,

849
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:26,880
Speaker 1: and you're gonna strike down every swarm, every locust. The

850
00:58:27,040 --> 00:58:29,400
Speaker 1: lying on the inside of you is gonna roar like

851
00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:33,440
Speaker 1: never before. God is getting you ready for this, for this,

852
00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:36,600
Speaker 1: for this, I don't even know what it is yet,

853
00:58:36,640 --> 00:58:40,240
Speaker 1: but God said, for this, his preparation for this, his

854
00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:43,600
Speaker 1: preparation for this. It's an open door. Are you gonna

855
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:46,600
Speaker 1: go through it? You're gonna stand there looking at cracked windows?

856
00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,160
Speaker 1: Or are you gonna walk through this door? This is

857
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:53,040
Speaker 1: a season He's strengthening you. It's not just your biceps,

858
00:58:53,320 --> 00:58:56,200
Speaker 1: it's your belief. You gotta get it back. You gotta

859
00:58:56,240 --> 00:58:58,760
Speaker 1: get it back. You gotta get it back. You gotta

860
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:01,840
Speaker 1: take hold of it. You got a gold kidion. God

861
00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:14,320
Speaker 1: is able preparation. The pain is preparation. The pain is preparation.

862
00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:18,800
Speaker 1: God is gonna multiply what you have left in this season.

863
00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:26,840
Speaker 1: You are not left with nothing. Go in and we don't,

864
00:59:27,400 --> 00:59:30,919
Speaker 1: we don't go. In this story about the young goat,

865
00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:34,800
Speaker 1: you'll be seated a moment. It reminded me of another

866
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:43,080
Speaker 1: scripture that I saw in Luke fifteen. Gave me chills

867
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:49,760
Speaker 1: to think about this about another young goat, Another young goat.

868
00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:55,919
Speaker 1: This young man he belonged to a very wealthy home,

869
00:59:56,800 --> 00:59:59,040
Speaker 1: but he decided at one point to leave his father

870
00:59:59,120 --> 01:00:02,360
Speaker 1: and see what life would be like outside. And he

871
01:00:02,440 --> 01:00:05,840
Speaker 1: found out fast his heart out of here, his heart

872
01:00:05,880 --> 01:00:10,400
Speaker 1: out under the Father's protection. Have you found that out lately,

873
01:00:10,440 --> 01:00:16,720
Speaker 1: that your strength runs out? Talk to me Elevation, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian,

874
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:24,240
Speaker 1: Catholic Church. Talk to me and found out fast that

875
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:28,640
Speaker 1: where it comes from determines when it runs out. And

876
01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:30,640
Speaker 1: get your strength from the wrong places. You won't have

877
01:00:30,680 --> 01:00:35,960
Speaker 1: it when you show up for your purpose. That's why

878
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,680
Speaker 1: God is trying to give you his strength. But this

879
01:00:38,800 --> 01:00:41,240
Speaker 1: young boy, Luke fifteen twenty eight. I asked him to

880
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:43,720
Speaker 1: prepare the scripture for the screen so we could close here.

881
01:00:47,760 --> 01:00:49,760
Speaker 1: He finally came back home to his father, and his

882
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:53,680
Speaker 1: father threw a party, and then he had this older brother.

883
01:00:53,800 --> 01:00:56,440
Speaker 1: So we got the young boy who ran away and

884
01:00:56,480 --> 01:01:01,840
Speaker 1: came back, the older brother who represented the nation of Israel,

885
01:01:01,840 --> 01:01:03,960
Speaker 1: who didn't want the gentiles to come into the kingdom.

886
01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:06,360
Speaker 1: But Jesus is using a personal example, just like I

887
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:09,640
Speaker 1: am today, he said the older brother, when he saw

888
01:01:09,680 --> 01:01:14,240
Speaker 1: his young brother come back, look what he did. He

889
01:01:14,360 --> 01:01:21,800
Speaker 1: became angry and refused to go in. He didn't go in,

890
01:01:23,440 --> 01:01:27,840
Speaker 1: and neither do we. Sometimes he refused to go in.

891
01:01:29,320 --> 01:01:32,280
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't you go into the Father's house. Why wouldn't

892
01:01:32,320 --> 01:01:34,440
Speaker 1: you go into this next season of your life full

893
01:01:34,440 --> 01:01:36,920
Speaker 1: of faith and confidence and hope. Why wouldn't you go in?

894
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:39,520
Speaker 1: Why didn't you sing today when we were singing because

895
01:01:39,600 --> 01:01:41,880
Speaker 1: there were new songs. I didn't know them. They're not

896
01:01:41,920 --> 01:01:47,080
Speaker 1: that easy to learn. Okay, okay, you have a point.

897
01:01:48,600 --> 01:01:51,000
Speaker 1: But why are you even fighting what I'm saying right now?

898
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:54,640
Speaker 1: Why are you distracting yourself checking a stupid snap right

899
01:01:54,760 --> 01:01:57,880
Speaker 1: now while I'm preaching a word that can set you free?

900
01:01:58,120 --> 01:02:02,280
Speaker 1: Why don't you go in? What do you think you're

901
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 1: gonna find if you do? I think sometimes we don't

902
01:02:07,720 --> 01:02:11,120
Speaker 1: go into God's presence because we think we're not worthy.

903
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:15,080
Speaker 1: But that's what the blood of Jesus was for. So

904
01:02:15,160 --> 01:02:20,360
Speaker 1: you can go in knowing God is me again. Yeah,

905
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:22,840
Speaker 1: but I'm not worthy, may man. We could give unworthy

906
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:27,800
Speaker 1: reasons all day here, but God did not ask you

907
01:02:27,840 --> 01:02:32,640
Speaker 1: about that. He just said, what do you have? Now?

908
01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:37,040
Speaker 1: Watch this? The older brother refused to go in, like

909
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:42,840
Speaker 1: so many of us, so his father went out. Oh,

910
01:02:42,920 --> 01:02:45,040
Speaker 1: he wouldn't go in, So the father went out. Is

911
01:02:45,080 --> 01:02:46,960
Speaker 1: this a picture of a God who will come down

912
01:02:46,960 --> 01:02:49,560
Speaker 1: from heaven to die for a sinner and shed his

913
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:54,520
Speaker 1: blood for someone, oh send against him. Is this a

914
01:02:54,560 --> 01:02:57,640
Speaker 1: picture of an angel who will speak into a wine press,

915
01:02:58,440 --> 01:03:03,520
Speaker 1: of a god who will make your strength affect in weakness? Yeah.

916
01:03:04,120 --> 01:03:08,120
Speaker 1: So his father went out and pleaded with him, and

917
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:12,760
Speaker 1: verse twenty nine says that he went back and forth

918
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:15,960
Speaker 1: with the father. Look, all these years I've enslaving for you.

919
01:03:15,960 --> 01:03:18,240
Speaker 1: You're not gonna believe what it says. Yet. Next, and

920
01:03:18,360 --> 01:03:21,720
Speaker 1: never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even

921
01:03:21,880 --> 01:03:29,480
Speaker 1: a young goat. Can you believe that's in there? So

922
01:03:29,680 --> 01:03:32,840
Speaker 1: Gideon goes in and gets a young goat and brings

923
01:03:32,840 --> 01:03:36,320
Speaker 1: it to the angel, lays it down. Fire from heaven

924
01:03:36,360 --> 01:03:39,920
Speaker 1: comes up, and he builds an altar, and he names

925
01:03:39,920 --> 01:03:48,120
Speaker 1: the altar the Lord is Peace Jehovah Shalloh. But this boy,

926
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:54,920
Speaker 1: he said, thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus. That's all

927
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:58,200
Speaker 1: right with me. Go in, Go in. Well, that truth

928
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:00,040
Speaker 1: hiss you. You shouldn't be quiet. You don't have to

929
01:04:00,080 --> 01:04:02,920
Speaker 1: be quiet in my church. Just don't come down here

930
01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:08,080
Speaker 1: and tackle me. All right, touch somebody and say, do

931
01:04:08,120 --> 01:04:10,640
Speaker 1: what you want. I'm going in. I'm going in. I'm

932
01:04:10,640 --> 01:04:14,160
Speaker 1: going in because there's a celebration in my father's house,

933
01:04:14,440 --> 01:04:17,120
Speaker 1: because there's strength in my father's house. Thank you. There's

934
01:04:17,240 --> 01:04:20,760
Speaker 1: joy in my father's house. There's freedom in my father's house.

935
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:24,720
Speaker 1: There's forgiveness in my father's house. I'm going in. I'm

936
01:04:24,760 --> 01:04:28,600
Speaker 1: going in. I will not die out here, I will

937
01:04:28,640 --> 01:04:32,880
Speaker 1: not stay out here. I'm going in. I'm going in.

938
01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:40,919
Speaker 1: So watch this, watch this. He said, you never gave

939
01:04:41,000 --> 01:04:45,800
Speaker 1: me a young goat. Oh, I feel so bad for

940
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:49,560
Speaker 1: him that he never got to go. But you never

941
01:04:49,640 --> 01:04:53,280
Speaker 1: gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with

942
01:04:53,360 --> 01:04:56,400
Speaker 1: my friends. Verse thirty. Let's go. But when this son

943
01:04:56,440 --> 01:04:59,960
Speaker 1: of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home,

944
01:05:00,360 --> 01:05:02,560
Speaker 1: you kill the fat and calf for him. And here

945
01:05:02,720 --> 01:05:04,560
Speaker 1: is the word of the Lord. Stand up and receive it.

946
01:05:04,600 --> 01:05:07,280
Speaker 1: Stand up and receive it for the father said to

947
01:05:07,320 --> 01:05:10,480
Speaker 1: the older son what he said to the younger son,

948
01:05:10,800 --> 01:05:17,080
Speaker 1: My son, you are always with me, and all that

949
01:05:17,200 --> 01:05:22,600
Speaker 1: I have is yours. Lift your hands, the father says,

950
01:05:23,440 --> 01:05:28,959
Speaker 1: all I have is yours. Now go with what you've

951
01:05:29,000 --> 01:05:32,440
Speaker 1: got and be who I made you to be, and

952
01:05:32,640 --> 01:05:35,760
Speaker 1: do it for my glory. And move in what I

953
01:05:35,920 --> 01:05:40,640
Speaker 1: gave you, and flow in your anointing and bring me glory.

954
01:05:41,200 --> 01:05:47,160
Speaker 1: For all I had is yours. I fit do all

955
01:05:47,240 --> 01:05:52,800
Speaker 1: things through him. PLU gave me strength, lift up, a

956
01:05:52,880 --> 01:05:56,560
Speaker 1: shot of praise and I hope you enjoyed the podcast,

957
01:05:56,640 --> 01:05:59,200
Speaker 1: and if you did, make sure to share it and

958
01:05:59,280 --> 01:06:01,840
Speaker 1: subscribe so we can get you all of these new

959
01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:04,880
Speaker 1: messages as soon as they're available. I also want to

960
01:06:04,880 --> 01:06:06,880
Speaker 1: take a moment and thank all of you who are

961
01:06:06,880 --> 01:06:10,400
Speaker 1: a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially, or

962
01:06:10,560 --> 01:06:14,120
Speaker 1: serve with us, or just share these messages, it's because

963
01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:16,760
Speaker 1: of you that we're able to reach people all around

964
01:06:16,760 --> 01:06:19,760
Speaker 1: the world. And if you want more information on how

965
01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:22,440
Speaker 1: to be a part of Elevation, click the link in

966
01:06:22,520 --> 01:06:25,280
Speaker 1: the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave

967
01:06:25,280 --> 01:06:37,680
Speaker 1: a review, share the message, and subscribe. God bless you.