1
00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:02,840
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

2
00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:05,840
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

3
00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,360
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

4
00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,080
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

5
00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,480
Speaker 2: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

6
00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:23,479
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.

7
00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,960
Speaker 2: I thought you were going down, but you're not anymore.

8
00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:44,240
Speaker 2: Howa flathose hands and give God praid. He didn't lead

9
00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,520
Speaker 2: me where I was like I was, and I believe,

10
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 2: somebody shout, I believe that I'm not leaving like I came.

11
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,920
Speaker 1: Today, It's time for the Word of God. Put your hands.

12
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,160
Speaker 2: Together and welcome Ebath all around the world.

13
00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:04,920
Speaker 1: Let's go.

14
00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:12,280
Speaker 2: Into the Word of God. This word that God gave

15
00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,639
Speaker 2: me today. He began to speak to me on March seventh,

16
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,319
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, and it has taken me that long

17
00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 2: to figure out how to share it with you. Today,

18
00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,560
Speaker 2: the Lord has released me to share it. I'm thankful

19
00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,399
Speaker 2: and excited and expected about the implications to your life.

20
00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:34,160
Speaker 1: In Judges chapter.

21
00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,440
Speaker 2: Six, verse twenty two through twenty nine, there is an

22
00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,880
Speaker 2: encounter with God between the Angel of the Lord and

23
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,760
Speaker 2: a man named Gideon, and the Bible says in verse

24
00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,960
Speaker 2: twenty two, when Gideon realized that it was the Angel

25
00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,680
Speaker 2: of the Lord, he exclaimed, a last sovereign Lord, I

26
00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,360
Speaker 2: have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.

27
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,400
Speaker 2: But the Lord said to him, peace, do not be afraid.

28
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,519
Speaker 2: You are not going to die. That's a good thing.

29
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 2: Oh he's good to know. And I'll explain why he

30
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,000
Speaker 2: said that in a moment. But look at what the

31
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,120
Speaker 2: Lord said to him, Peace, do not be afraid, you

32
00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:28,000
Speaker 2: are not going to die. So Gideon built an altar

33
00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,600
Speaker 2: to the Lord there and called it the Lord is Peace.

34
00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,120
Speaker 2: To this day, it stands in Ophrah of the Abiez Rites.

35
00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,960
Speaker 1: Now, that same night.

36
00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,960
Speaker 2: The Lord said to him, take the second bull from

37
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,240
Speaker 2: your father's herd, the one seven years old.

38
00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: Tear down your father's alter.

39
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 2: To bail and cut down the ascheropole beside it.

40
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:52,600
Speaker 1: Then build a proper kind.

41
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,119
Speaker 2: Of altar to the Lord, your God, on the top

42
00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:56,680
Speaker 2: of this height, using the wood of the asheropole that

43
00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:01,120
Speaker 2: you cut down, offer the second bull as a burn offering.

44
00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,400
Speaker 2: So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as

45
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:10,320
Speaker 2: the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of

46
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,480
Speaker 2: his family and the townspeople. He did it at night

47
00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,040
Speaker 2: rather than in the daytime. Now you call him a whimp,

48
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,639
Speaker 2: I call him wise. He did it how he had

49
00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,360
Speaker 2: to do it, And sometimes you do man. Sometimes you

50
00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 2: have to sneak in those victories at midnight. It's not

51
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,519
Speaker 2: always going to be some huge triumph and amazing things.

52
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,799
Speaker 2: Sometimes the victory is going to be that you made

53
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,320
Speaker 2: it through the night and you woke up the next

54
00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,600
Speaker 2: day and you got to learn to praise God because

55
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:41,440
Speaker 2: of those two. So look what happened in the morning,

56
00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,120
Speaker 2: verse twenty eight. When the people of the town got up.

57
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:50,080
Speaker 2: There was Bale's altar demolished, with the Ashero pole beside

58
00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:53,200
Speaker 2: it cut down in the second bull sacrificed on the

59
00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,160
Speaker 2: newly built altar.

60
00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:57,280
Speaker 1: Last verse for now, verse twenty nine.

61
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:04,840
Speaker 2: They asked each other who did this. When they carefully investigated,

62
00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:12,080
Speaker 2: they were told, Gideon, son of Joe Ash did it. Gideon,

63
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,040
Speaker 2: son of Joe Ash did it. Now I want to

64
00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,039
Speaker 2: speak to you from this subject today. I want to

65
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,480
Speaker 2: talk to you about breaking the bondage of wrong belief.

66
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:29,800
Speaker 2: Breaking the bondage of wrong belief. And that's not one

67
00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:31,599
Speaker 2: of those titles you can say to your neighbor. So

68
00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:33,480
Speaker 2: let me give you a say to your neighbor.

69
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:33,800
Speaker 1: Title.

70
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,080
Speaker 2: Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, I know I

71
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,839
Speaker 2: look a little different. I know I got a little

72
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:45,360
Speaker 2: extra pep in my style. Tell them I know I'm

73
00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:50,880
Speaker 2: smiling more than the last time you saw me. But

74
00:04:50,960 --> 00:05:01,800
Speaker 2: it's because me and God got back together. Yeah, me

75
00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,240
Speaker 2: and God got back together. You may be seated. Me

76
00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:11,720
Speaker 2: and God got back together. Thank you Lord for this word.

77
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:17,120
Speaker 2: I know he meant well, but I completely disagreed with

78
00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,200
Speaker 2: his method. The preacher stood before a room full of

79
00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,640
Speaker 2: professing Christians and asked a question, on a scale of

80
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 2: one to ten, how close would you say you are

81
00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:36,159
Speaker 2: to God right now? I gave him ten minutes, twenty minutes,

82
00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,480
Speaker 2: thirty minutes benefit of the doubt, even to the end

83
00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,839
Speaker 2: of his message, because I just knew that he wasn't

84
00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:46,120
Speaker 2: going to give the people a scale to determine how

85
00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:47,279
Speaker 2: close they were to God.

86
00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:49,280
Speaker 1: Yet he did.

87
00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,040
Speaker 2: I was waiting for the twist where he talked about

88
00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,919
Speaker 2: the grace of God. And you know in the Bible,

89
00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:58,840
Speaker 2: this one man prayed and he said, Lord, I thank

90
00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,000
Speaker 2: you that I'm not like this. Enter over here praying

91
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,080
Speaker 2: next to me, and the sinner was beating his breast, saying,

92
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,360
Speaker 2: God have mercy on me. And Jesus said, the one

93
00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,200
Speaker 2: that beat his breast was the one that went home

94
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,279
Speaker 2: justified because he had faith to believe that he needed God.

95
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,159
Speaker 2: And the one who thought he was so great, he

96
00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:16,039
Speaker 2: wasn't so great because he was actually not close to

97
00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 2: the kingdom. But the preacher didn't do that, he continued.

98
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,119
Speaker 2: I asked Holly if she remembered it, and she remembered

99
00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:24,880
Speaker 2: it too. Simon, just make this up to tell the

100
00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,520
Speaker 2: people everything they could do. Watch this to move from

101
00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,400
Speaker 2: a four to a five. You know, there's there's this

102
00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,680
Speaker 2: big line, this linear approach to knowing the Lord. And

103
00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,760
Speaker 2: you can go from four to five if you read

104
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,320
Speaker 2: the Bible daily, you go from four to six if

105
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,440
Speaker 2: you make it through the Book of Leviticus bonus point

106
00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:52,280
Speaker 2: for certain Bible books. And he goes through everything that

107
00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:53,040
Speaker 2: you can do to.

108
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,480
Speaker 1: Get closer to God.

109
00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:59,240
Speaker 2: Now here's why I thought that the exercise was ridiculous

110
00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,159
Speaker 2: respect to the person doing it, because I've done some

111
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:04,360
Speaker 2: ridiculous things and I'll probably say something ridiculous in here,

112
00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:06,000
Speaker 2: and then I get up in ten years and tell

113
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,280
Speaker 2: you it was ridiculous. I'll tell on myself. It's ridiculous

114
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:17,840
Speaker 2: because it's relative how close are you to God right

115
00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:24,400
Speaker 2: now compared to what compared to Jesus, who always knew

116
00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,520
Speaker 2: the will of his father, who is supposed to be

117
00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,600
Speaker 2: my standard. So if we're going by that, I'm staying

118
00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:38,400
Speaker 2: zero until I die and compared to who I mean.

119
00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,080
Speaker 2: I just don't even think the question is like you

120
00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,280
Speaker 2: can rate a restaurant? Can you relate a rate rather

121
00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:50,280
Speaker 2: a relationship with the eternal God who's spoke into nothing

122
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,720
Speaker 2: and there was something with the invisible God who exists, immortal,

123
00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,360
Speaker 2: not seen to humanize, but known by the spirit, not

124
00:07:58,480 --> 00:07:59,640
Speaker 2: by the flesh.

125
00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,840
Speaker 1: I can't rate something like that.

126
00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 2: That's another thing is not only is it relative how

127
00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,480
Speaker 2: close you are to God compared to what you think

128
00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,320
Speaker 2: other people might be praying or doing or whatever, because

129
00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 2: you don't really know what the other people around you

130
00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,280
Speaker 2: are like, and you judge yourself off of your delusions

131
00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:21,720
Speaker 2: of them.

132
00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,560
Speaker 1: So that's kind of dumb. But also also I.

133
00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,720
Speaker 2: Didn't think it was a very good exercise because of

134
00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:29,120
Speaker 2: something called recency bias.

135
00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:30,560
Speaker 1: Do you know what recency bias is?

136
00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,920
Speaker 2: It's when the last thing that happens carries the most

137
00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:41,200
Speaker 2: weight with you, and you judge an entire thing off

138
00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,559
Speaker 2: of the most recent thing that happened. So you begin

139
00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,760
Speaker 2: to kind of act like the way it is right

140
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:50,760
Speaker 2: now is the way that it always is.

141
00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:52,640
Speaker 1: And the way that it always was. But it's not true.

142
00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:55,000
Speaker 2: And what I'm really trying to say, I guess I'm

143
00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,040
Speaker 2: using fancy language to say that if you answer that

144
00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,360
Speaker 2: question at a time i'm close to God, I'm a ten.

145
00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:05,240
Speaker 2: It wouldn't really take that much to put you at

146
00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,520
Speaker 2: a two. I can't figure out what happened to my church,

147
00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:11,720
Speaker 2: because my church used to be real and honest.

148
00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,520
Speaker 1: But I'm looking at a bunch of tens today. Okay, ten.

149
00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:21,240
Speaker 2: There are days where at ten am you are a ten.

150
00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,720
Speaker 2: But if I caught up with you at two, because

151
00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,520
Speaker 2: at two you've had to deal with some people, and

152
00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:34,760
Speaker 2: it can move you right back down the scale. Some

153
00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:36,880
Speaker 2: of you are one text away from going from ten

154
00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:37,240
Speaker 2: to two.

155
00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:39,880
Speaker 1: Some of you are just.

156
00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,520
Speaker 2: A little bit of traffic from a ten to a two, riding.

157
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:43,840
Speaker 1: Down the road.

158
00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,760
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you sure big got.

159
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:47,960
Speaker 1: Of my way.

160
00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,120
Speaker 2: Ten to two, just like that, not ten and two,

161
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:55,839
Speaker 2: ten to two, just some traffic no cross, no persecution,

162
00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:01,199
Speaker 2: no martyrdom, just forty five ten to two like that.

163
00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,160
Speaker 2: So stun question because it's relative. Who am I comparing

164
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,960
Speaker 2: myself to? Oh, I'm a two compared to Holly, Ali's amazing,

165
00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,040
Speaker 2: Allie's perfect, Allie's wonderful, comparing myself to who I mean

166
00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:13,720
Speaker 2: comparing her.

167
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,600
Speaker 1: To who's she? Not Mother Teresa, but she's great.

168
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,760
Speaker 2: So you see, I didn't really appreciate the guy saying

169
00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,840
Speaker 2: you can move to a four from a three if

170
00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:24,760
Speaker 2: you just make five minutes a day with the Lord.

171
00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:26,559
Speaker 1: I thought that was so ridiculous.

172
00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,800
Speaker 2: But the real reason that I thought it was so

173
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,360
Speaker 2: ridiculous is because it was a room full.

174
00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:39,400
Speaker 1: Of people who are believers in Jesus. So why are

175
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:40,320
Speaker 1: we pulling out.

176
00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:45,520
Speaker 2: A scale to try to measure something in our own

177
00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,160
Speaker 2: minds and our own feelings based on our own experience.

178
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,440
Speaker 2: It's based on our own moods. How close are you

179
00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:53,640
Speaker 2: to God? It depends if I had my coffee, Yet,

180
00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:57,640
Speaker 2: it depends did I open a bill or did I

181
00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,320
Speaker 2: open a check that was made out to me? Why

182
00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:04,400
Speaker 2: are we measuring this on a scale that is subject

183
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,319
Speaker 2: to situations and self righteousness? Because I can always find

184
00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:13,959
Speaker 2: somebody that I think I'm doing better than when I

185
00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:18,840
Speaker 2: belong to Jesus, who already taught me that my relationship

186
00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,160
Speaker 2: with him is not something.

187
00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:28,680
Speaker 1: That is achieved but received. It's a gift. Somebody shouted,

188
00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:29,240
Speaker 1: it's a gift.

189
00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,120
Speaker 2: I know y'all are looking at me funny because I'm

190
00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,160
Speaker 2: trying to get from a seven to eight. I'm trying

191
00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,160
Speaker 2: to be a better man. I'm trying to be a

192
00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,200
Speaker 2: better mom. Good try. I'm trying too. But understand that

193
00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 2: there is nothing that you will see on your reel

194
00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,400
Speaker 2: and put into practice in your life. Some advice that

195
00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,840
Speaker 2: you will scroll past and finally click with God, and

196
00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:51,920
Speaker 2: God will say, oh, I've been waiting.

197
00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,640
Speaker 1: For them to get to six. They've been stuck at.

198
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,120
Speaker 2: Five point nine. This is not the Olympics, and God

199
00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 2: is not watch this. God is a scale. God is

200
00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:06,679
Speaker 2: not a religion. God is a person. His name is Jesus,

201
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:11,520
Speaker 2: and I got him.

202
00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:12,760
Speaker 1: So I don't mind telling you.

203
00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:18,640
Speaker 2: Ask me the question, pastor, how close are you to God?

204
00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 2: One to ten?

205
00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:27,880
Speaker 1: A ten because of him, because of what he did.

206
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:34,520
Speaker 2: It's a ten because my relationship is not based on

207
00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:38,800
Speaker 2: what I did what I didn't do. My relationship with

208
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,400
Speaker 2: Him is a covenant. A covenant is not like the

209
00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,080
Speaker 2: relationships that we run around trying to build our lives

210
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,839
Speaker 2: on these days. The covenant that I have with God

211
00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,479
Speaker 2: is not established based on the principles or the precepts

212
00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:57,960
Speaker 2: that I find myself willing or able to obey. No,

213
00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,400
Speaker 2: I am in covenant with God, God on the basis

214
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,360
Speaker 2: of the death of his dear son, who loved me

215
00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:07,360
Speaker 2: enough to shed his blood for me on a hill

216
00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:08,280
Speaker 2: called Calvary.

217
00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,680
Speaker 1: And it's a ten high five.

218
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,840
Speaker 2: Somebody say, it's a ten. You can put your scale away.

219
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,679
Speaker 2: It's a ten. He loves me, you can put your

220
00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 2: scale away. It's a ten. He wants to hear me pray.

221
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:24,959
Speaker 2: You can put your scale away. It's a ten. God

222
00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:29,640
Speaker 2: wants to hear me sing. I'm singing because He likes

223
00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:32,080
Speaker 2: to hear me, not because you like to hear me.

224
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,680
Speaker 2: But it's a ten when I say because God hands

225
00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,320
Speaker 2: me a mike and says, keep singing.

226
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,240
Speaker 1: That's my kid, that's my girl, that's my boy. I

227
00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,360
Speaker 1: want to hear them praise me. Only they can praise

228
00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:47,760
Speaker 1: me for what only I could do for them.

229
00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,480
Speaker 2: It's a ten hot five. Your neighbor both hands, says say,

230
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:55,160
Speaker 2: I'm in It's a ten. I'm in covenant. I'm in covenant.

231
00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,559
Speaker 2: I'm in covenant, not contract.

232
00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:02,559
Speaker 3: Hey, if I break it, he already bought me.

233
00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,800
Speaker 1: It's a ten because of him. It's a ten when

234
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:12,800
Speaker 1: I act like it too.

235
00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:19,920
Speaker 2: Nevertheless, the Book of Judges demonstrates to us the unfortunate

236
00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,920
Speaker 2: reality that we can be in covenant with God and

237
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:29,600
Speaker 2: still in captivity. That seems contradictory. How could you be

238
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,760
Speaker 2: in covenant with a God who knows no boundaries but

239
00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,200
Speaker 2: be in captivity. Last year, I preached to you a

240
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:42,280
Speaker 2: series of messages about one of these rulers that God

241
00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,160
Speaker 2: raised up to deliver his people, the nation of Israel,

242
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:50,479
Speaker 2: from the hands of a an oppressive enemy called the Midianites.

243
00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:54,680
Speaker 2: I don't expect you to remember about the Midianites, but

244
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,479
Speaker 2: I do expect you to be honest today to admit.

245
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:00,920
Speaker 1: That you have your own version of them.

246
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:02,960
Speaker 4: No.

247
00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:11,200
Speaker 2: I love messages when I hear them personally, that first

248
00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 2: of all, give me permission to admit my Midianites. If

249
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,560
Speaker 2: I can't admit that I'm fighting the battle, how can

250
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:26,480
Speaker 2: I see clearly enough to take the shot? So I

251
00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,800
Speaker 2: have learned that you know for each and every one

252
00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,120
Speaker 2: of us. And I'm just going to take my time

253
00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 2: today because this message has been building in me for

254
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:34,800
Speaker 2: over a year. So I'm certainly not going to rush

255
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:38,680
Speaker 2: this revelation because I think it's life changing. The idea

256
00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:40,400
Speaker 2: that I could be in covenant with God and He

257
00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:42,840
Speaker 2: could be completely committed to me, and I could still

258
00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,720
Speaker 2: be in captivity. While a seeming contradiction on the surface

259
00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,440
Speaker 2: is an experience that we all know too well, it

260
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,560
Speaker 2: is when you know that you are saved by grace

261
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:55,960
Speaker 2: through faith Ephesians two eight and nine. In fact, let

262
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,880
Speaker 2: me give you that Ephesians that other Ephesians first, I

263
00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:00,400
Speaker 2: meant to show you this a moment to go. I

264
00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:01,760
Speaker 2: forgot Ephesians to y'all.

265
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:03,880
Speaker 1: It says, but.

266
00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,360
Speaker 2: Now in Christ, you who were once far away, have

267
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:14,160
Speaker 2: been brought near by the blood of Christ. So to

268
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,360
Speaker 2: be a ten in my relationship with God because of

269
00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,840
Speaker 2: Him does not mean that there will not be times

270
00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:29,200
Speaker 2: in my relationship that I feel too right. And the

271
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,920
Speaker 2: reason for this will never be because God's commitment to

272
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,840
Speaker 2: me has wavered. What I'm trying to say to you

273
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,640
Speaker 2: is you may try to break up with God, but

274
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:45,520
Speaker 2: God won't let you.

275
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:50,280
Speaker 1: The Book of Judges proves it.

276
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:52,280
Speaker 2: And you know what, some of you don't need the

277
00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:54,320
Speaker 2: Book of Judges or a man named Gideon to prove it.

278
00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,400
Speaker 2: You have spent your whole life stacking evidence for the

279
00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,960
Speaker 2: fact that you can try to break up with God.

280
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:06,200
Speaker 2: You can flip your middle finger to your faith, and

281
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:11,880
Speaker 2: your faith will still stay inside of you, flicking you back,

282
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,600
Speaker 2: even if it's just a little flicker of a flame.

283
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:19,280
Speaker 2: Some of you tried to be a really bad kid,

284
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,280
Speaker 2: and all that did, all that you trying to be

285
00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,200
Speaker 2: a really bad kid did. All that did was make

286
00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,240
Speaker 2: your mom pray more. What you didn't know even your

287
00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:36,679
Speaker 2: bad behavior was your Oh let me say this was

288
00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,080
Speaker 2: your mom's answered prayer because she was praying for more faith.

289
00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:43,560
Speaker 1: So she was praying for more faith.

290
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:47,200
Speaker 2: So God gave her your bad behavior to give her

291
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:47,720
Speaker 2: more faith.

292
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:54,960
Speaker 1: This is how amazing God is. We don't believe God

293
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,800
Speaker 1: is sovereign anymore. We think that.

294
00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:00,840
Speaker 2: There is something we could do to push him back,

295
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,399
Speaker 2: and He would go, oh, never mind, can't use you.

296
00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,280
Speaker 2: I'm looking for a ten. I'm looking for a ten, looking.

297
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,440
Speaker 1: For a ten? Do I have an eye? Can I

298
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:08,840
Speaker 1: get anye?

299
00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:09,359
Speaker 2: Can I get an eight.

300
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 1: Can I get a seven?

301
00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,040
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty four of God might might take a six?

302
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 2: The world is really going downhill. The Lord will really

303
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:16,800
Speaker 2: lower his standards.

304
00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:18,040
Speaker 1: No, look at the verse.

305
00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,960
Speaker 2: He says that Efesius two thirteen good news, but now

306
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:23,399
Speaker 2: not when I get it together.

307
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,159
Speaker 1: Ephesians two thirteen showing guys. But now put him on

308
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:27,560
Speaker 1: the screen.

309
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,920
Speaker 2: But now I'm shouting now and I'm having to wait.

310
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,919
Speaker 2: In Christ, Jesus, you were once far away.

311
00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:44,600
Speaker 1: I was. I feel far from God, but I'm not

312
00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 1: far from God. I was. Somebody say it with all

313
00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:51,560
Speaker 1: three notes.

314
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,600
Speaker 2: I was put it in a chat right now, I was,

315
00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:04,080
Speaker 2: But I was. But the nation of Israel was slipping

316
00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:08,720
Speaker 2: away from God, serving other gods, prostating themselves to the

317
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:13,680
Speaker 2: gods of the Canaan culture, and completely disregarding the covenant

318
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:17,200
Speaker 2: they had with Yahweh. Well, the Bible says that these

319
00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,600
Speaker 2: Midianites were the instruments that God used to bring his

320
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:26,640
Speaker 2: people out of captivity, But they were also what God

321
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:27,840
Speaker 2: used to take them captive.

322
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 1: And that is an interesting dynamic too.

323
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,680
Speaker 2: Isn't it that the Lord allowed the Midianites to oppress

324
00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:39,119
Speaker 2: his people to bring his people back to him. Now

325
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,840
Speaker 2: we know that God uses all things. Even though God

326
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,800
Speaker 2: doesn't do all things. God doesn't do evil. But we

327
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,200
Speaker 2: have a God who, when evil is done, can use

328
00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,720
Speaker 2: the transformation process that happens through that evil that was

329
00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,040
Speaker 2: done in order to bring about His purpose in the

330
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 2: earth for which you were born. And although Midian is

331
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:11,119
Speaker 2: oppressing the Israelites, God is using Midian as well. And

332
00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:15,200
Speaker 2: it's so cool how Gideon's name rhymes with Midian in English.

333
00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:16,639
Speaker 1: Now this wouldn't work if we.

334
00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,840
Speaker 2: Were reading it in the original Hebrew, but we don't

335
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,560
Speaker 2: know Hebrew, so it works really well for us Gideon

336
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,080
Speaker 2: and Midian, and it's a total mismatch.

337
00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,320
Speaker 1: Midian has all these troops. Midian has all this power.

338
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 2: Every year they come in, they raid the Israelites, they

339
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,880
Speaker 2: take their crops, they take everything of value, They plunder

340
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 2: the people. But what are we going to do? We

341
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,280
Speaker 2: are powerless to do anything about it. So now we've

342
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:43,520
Speaker 2: got people who are identified as God's special possession being

343
00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:48,240
Speaker 2: plundered and feeling powerless. We have got people who have

344
00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:53,320
Speaker 2: been identified as God's special possession who are being plundered

345
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 2: and feeling powerless. There are some people listening to me

346
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:01,240
Speaker 2: today who are God's special possession because he bought you

347
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 2: with his blood. You're in It's a ten. You are

348
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,760
Speaker 2: his possession, but you are being plundered. The enemy keeps

349
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:14,400
Speaker 2: taking your peace, your joy, your focus, your commitment to service,

350
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:18,400
Speaker 2: and others, even your very sanity. Somebody in this room

351
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,159
Speaker 2: feels like you've been going crazy today. But you have

352
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:24,560
Speaker 2: the mind of Christ. But you feel like you're going crazy,

353
00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,960
Speaker 2: and you feel powerless to do anything about it. To

354
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,800
Speaker 2: the point that when we meet Gideon, he is threshing

355
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 2: wheat in a wine press when God calls him a

356
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 2: mighty warrior. This juxtaposition has been preached famously, not only

357
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:45,160
Speaker 2: many times from this little pulpit, but everybody who's picked

358
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,879
Speaker 2: up a microphone in a Bible has had something to

359
00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,160
Speaker 2: say about a God who will call you a warrior

360
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:52,919
Speaker 2: while you're acting like a wimp.

361
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,880
Speaker 1: And this discrepancy when.

362
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 2: God calls you something that you don't feel like you

363
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:01,440
Speaker 2: are right now, when God calls you to do something

364
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 2: that you don't feel like you have the power to

365
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,439
Speaker 2: do right now, when God calls you to be something

366
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,040
Speaker 2: that you've never even seen before with your eyes, is

367
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:14,159
Speaker 2: at the heart of the Gideon narrative. Gideon is so

368
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 2: unconvinced about it. He starts asking questions that start with why,

369
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 2: Because when you're in a wine press, which is a

370
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,159
Speaker 2: dugout place to hide, you will be so stuck in

371
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 2: why it happened that you will forget about who is

372
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,280
Speaker 2: able to deliver you from the situation.

373
00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,400
Speaker 1: And this is the situation I feel. I preachi for Gideon.

374
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 2: Now the Lord doesn't tell him why all the bad

375
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 2: things have happened. But we know because a prophet has

376
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 2: come to the nation of Israel, and the prophet said,

377
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,040
Speaker 2: you have forgotten what I did for you. You have forgotten

378
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:49,880
Speaker 2: the God who brought you out of Egypt.

379
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,800
Speaker 1: You have served the gods of the people around you.

380
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,679
Speaker 2: You have adopted the practices of the pagan nations. You

381
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,160
Speaker 2: have even started adopting their god gods as your gods,

382
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:01,880
Speaker 2: not only.

383
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,840
Speaker 1: Their practices as your practices.

384
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 2: So that if we look at the life of Israel

385
00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 2: in this seven year period that they were oppressed by Midianite,

386
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 2: there is nothing to tell them apart from the nations

387
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,960
Speaker 2: that surround them. They have come into a land whose

388
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:18,200
Speaker 2: customs have.

389
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:23,160
Speaker 1: Become their captivity. They have come into a land.

390
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,399
Speaker 2: That God gave them and the customs of that land

391
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 2: become their captivity. The Lord says Gideon, I want to

392
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 2: use you to lead a revolt and a revolution. I'm

393
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 2: going to enable you and strengthen you and supply you

394
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 2: and give the enemy into your hand, and you will

395
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 2: strike them all down. And Gideon said me, I'm the

396
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:53,000
Speaker 2: least in my family. My plan is the least in

397
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:53,440
Speaker 2: the nation.

398
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: Why me?

399
00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 2: God said, why you couse me? God turns twos into

400
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:09,119
Speaker 2: tens instantly. Only God can do that. Nobody's helping me

401
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 2: preach because y'all don't believe it. You must be the

402
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 2: two God sent me to preach to today. Yeah, God sent.

403
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,119
Speaker 1: Me to preach to you because you've been feeling like

404
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 1: a two. Now.

405
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 2: The beauty of this is God doesn't say, Gideon, I'm

406
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:23,360
Speaker 2: gonna put you.

407
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,520
Speaker 1: Through a preparation process. This is gonna take three years

408
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 1: to get it done.

409
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 2: He has actually been preparing Gideon while Gideon has been hidden.

410
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,400
Speaker 2: Do you know that God has been preparing you while

411
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:37,400
Speaker 2: you have been hidden too?

412
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,119
Speaker 1: Do you know that God has been giving.

413
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:48,120
Speaker 2: You tools, resources, lessons, words, confirmations while you have been

414
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 2: in the cave of what you perceive to be your

415
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 2: abandonment and wasted season.

416
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: So he tells Gideon to go.

417
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 2: He gives Gideon a sign, and we pick up where

418
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:03,160
Speaker 2: I started today. The Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, peace,

419
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 2: do not be afraid. You are not going to die.

420
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 2: Sometimes when God shows up in your life, the first

421
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:16,679
Speaker 2: thing you feel is fear. Feeling close to God is

422
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 2: not always. I'm sorry, Eagles a peaceful, easy feeling.

423
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: I love the song, but in my experience.

424
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 2: Sometimes the first thing I feel when God is doing

425
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 2: a work in my life is fear.

426
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:33,560
Speaker 1: I feel safe in the cave or the wine press.

427
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 2: I feel scared when I step out to do the

428
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 2: next thing God has called me to do. And it

429
00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:43,119
Speaker 2: amazing that the Angel told him you are not going

430
00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,400
Speaker 2: to die, and Gideon didn't even ask, am I going

431
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:51,479
Speaker 2: to die? Hmmm, something's happening here. He's preparing Gideon for something.

432
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:53,560
Speaker 2: Gideon is so encouraged.

433
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: Can you feel it?

434
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 2: He's so encouraged. Wow, God sees me. God's got me.

435
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,199
Speaker 2: God's with me. God came to me. God spoke to me.

436
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:03,639
Speaker 2: God gave me a sign.

437
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 1: It's him. He is so enthralled by this experience.

438
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:11,719
Speaker 2: In verse twenty four that impulsively he built an altar

439
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 2: to the Lord verse twenty four there and called it

440
00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 2: the Lord is Peace. To this day, it stands in

441
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 2: Oprah of the abs Rights. That's as far as I

442
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 2: got when I preached last year, maybe because that's what

443
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 2: people want to hear of how it's going to go.

444
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: That God is going to bring you closer to Him

445
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 1: and fulfill his purpose for your life. But this is an.

446
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,400
Speaker 2: Alter that Gideon decided to build, not one that God commanded.

447
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 2: This alter, while not evil in its own way, was

448
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 2: just his idea to commemorate the moment that he had

449
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,679
Speaker 2: with the Angel. He lays down that night, probably feeling

450
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,919
Speaker 2: nervous and excited. The Lord told me that I'm gonna

451
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 2: strike down the Midian Ice. It's going to be amazing.

452
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,640
Speaker 2: I gotta start getting an army. I gotta start learning

453
00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 2: jiu jitsu. I gotta start, you know, whatever. He's doing

454
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,679
Speaker 2: to get himself excited about this big battle that is

455
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 2: before him. But that same night verse twenty five, the

456
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 2: Lord said to him, Now, the Lord's already been speaking

457
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 2: to Gideon for a while. It just took Gideon a

458
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 2: while to realize it. But that same night, the Lord

459
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 2: said to him, take the second bull from your father's herd,

460
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:33,719
Speaker 2: the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar

461
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 2: to Bail and cut down the ascher a pole beside it.

462
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 2: Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord,

463
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,439
Speaker 2: your God on the top of this height, using the

464
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 2: wood of the ascher a pole that you cut down,

465
00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 2: offer the second bull as a burn offering. So let's contrast.

466
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,200
Speaker 2: Gideon says, Oh, I'm not gonna die. Let me build

467
00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 2: you an altar God. I'm gonna call it the Lord

468
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 2: is Peace, Jehovah Shalom. I'm gonna name this altar the

469
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 2: Lord is Peace. Now I'm gonna go to sleep. It's

470
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 2: been a long day. This has been very traumatic. The

471
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 2: Lord wakes him up and says, your altar was nice,

472
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 2: but there's another altar. Touch your neighbors say, there's another altar.

473
00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 2: There's another alter that is built not to Yahweh. It's

474
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,560
Speaker 2: look at the wording in verse twenty five. Your father's

475
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 2: alter to bail and while get In is busy trying

476
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 2: to build an altar to God, like I see some

477
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:39,719
Speaker 2: people that I preach to, you're trying to build your

478
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 2: life back.

479
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: You're trying to build your hope back.

480
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 2: You're trying to build your business back, You're trying to

481
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 2: build your family back, you're trying to build your sobriety back.

482
00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 2: You had eighty one days and now you're back on

483
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 2: day two. But that's okay because as you are trying

484
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 2: to build it back, God wants to show you something

485
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 2: that will make sure that this time you build it,

486
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 2: what you build will stand the test of the battle

487
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 2: that you face.

488
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 1: Because because if.

489
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 2: All I do is build an altar while Pastor Stephen

490
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 2: is preaching, and if all I do is say, Okay,

491
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 2: I'm gonna stack some new habits and I'm going to

492
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 2: do some new things, and okay, the Lord is peace.

493
00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: I found out.

494
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 2: Something that you cannot have God's peace and keep it

495
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 2: without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's priorities is

496
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 2: always temporary. The kind of peace that you've been seeking

497
00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,160
Speaker 2: in your life, craving in your life, crying out for

498
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 2: in your life, that kind of peace, that permanent piece,

499
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 2: that storm speaking peace that lay your head on the

500
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 2: pillow of a lion's main kind of peace that I'm

501
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 2: in a fire, but I see the fourth man kind

502
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,440
Speaker 2: of piece, the kind of peace that can know that

503
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 2: greater is he that is in me than he that

504
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 2: is in the world, And there's more with us than

505
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 2: with them, and I don't have to be afraid about

506
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 2: any of it.

507
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: That kind of peace only.

508
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 2: Comes from priorities. I don't know how to get you

509
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 2: to shout about priorities.

510
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 5: Breakthrough, Yeah, priorities.

511
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 2: I couldn't figure out how to make it sexy. I

512
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 2: couldn't figure out how to make a sing I figure.

513
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:45,520
Speaker 2: Maybe if he played organ behind me priorities, maybe that

514
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 2: would trick you into thinking it was really sexier than

515
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 2: it was.

516
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 1: But any sexy.

517
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 2: Nothing sexy about putting stones on top of stones on

518
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 2: top of stones. And definitely watch this. There is absolutely

519
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,239
Speaker 2: nothing convenient or appealing about what God told Gideon to

520
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 2: do next, you know, fighting a battle.

521
00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 1: Against an enemy.

522
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 2: Well I got testosterone for that, taking an army and

523
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 2: seeing God through the impossible, which Gideon eventually did, by

524
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 2: the way, But before he did that.

525
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: He had to do this.

526
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 2: Take the second bull from your father's heard, the one

527
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 2: seven years old, And this must have been the hardest

528
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 2: thing for Gideon to understand. Tear down your father's altar

529
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 2: to bail Before Gideon can win the battle against Midian.

530
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 1: He must break the altar to Bail.

531
00:31:56,560 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 2: You've got a Midian in your life, an external enemy

532
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,160
Speaker 2: that you so badly want to see God drive back,

533
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,040
Speaker 2: and he can and he will, and he has plans

534
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:06,920
Speaker 2: to do it and to use you in the process,

535
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 2: not just for you, but for everybody that God has

536
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:10,400
Speaker 2: called you to impact.

537
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:12,560
Speaker 1: That's all true.

538
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 2: But before you can defeat.

539
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: Midian, you must dethrone Bail.

540
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,800
Speaker 2: Would it be helpful if I explain to your neighbor

541
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 2: what Bail is? I know you know all about Bail,

542
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 2: but maybe your neighbor doesn't.

543
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 1: He was the local god.

544
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 2: It's not even his name, it's his title because Bail

545
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 2: was said to control the fertility and the weather. Without

546
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:51,800
Speaker 2: those two things, you can't eat or recreate. But we

547
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: understand Bail isn't real. We understand we have progressed as

548
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 2: a society. We are so advanced, and thank God that

549
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 2: we're alive at this time in the history, because we

550
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 2: no longer trust in stuff that claims to be God.

551
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:10,160
Speaker 1: But is it?

552
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 2: Wake up, baby, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming.

553
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 1: I didn't start slow because I got nothing to say.

554
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 2: I just want to give you a minute to settle

555
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 2: in for this one. It's not like we have bales

556
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 2: in our culture, right. It's not like we have stuff

557
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 2: that controls.

558
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: Us in our culture. Right.

559
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 2: It's not like we're a bunch of zombies in the

560
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 2: zoo of twenty four to seven news cycles telling us

561
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 2: what's gonna happen in.

562
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 1: The world, when our.

563
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 2: Savior already told us I have overcome the world before

564
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:05,960
Speaker 2: I can feet this army called Midian and have real

565
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 2: peace with God. That's what Gideon said. He said, the

566
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,640
Speaker 2: Lord is peace. I'm gonna build an altar, and that's great.

567
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 2: And the Lord is peace. And he does love you,

568
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 2: and he will never leave you nor forsake you. In fact,

569
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: he loves you too much to leave you like he

570
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:27,520
Speaker 2: found you. And when God comes into your life, not

571
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 2: only will he break through for you, but the next

572
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 2: thing that happens when God does break through for you

573
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,120
Speaker 2: is God will call you to break up with something.

574
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 2: See how much we love to shout about breakthrough, But

575
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:50,440
Speaker 2: what if there's a breakup before the breakthrough? Is that

576
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,839
Speaker 2: why you've been feeling restless? Is that why you've been

577
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,200
Speaker 2: feeling uncomfortable doing the things you used to do? Is

578
00:34:57,239 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 2: that why there has been a conviction in your heart that,

579
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm not living like this anymore. You

580
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 2: know what, I'm not talking like this anymore. You know what,

581
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 2: I'm not walking like this anymore. You know what, I'm

582
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 2: not accepting this negativity that comes from my inner critic anymore,

583
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:17,239
Speaker 2: because I need to hear what God says in this

584
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 2: season of my life. Maybe you're in a smashing season

585
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 2: of your own. Maybe there are some things that God

586
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,720
Speaker 2: is breaking off of your life in this season.

587
00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 1: Maybe there are some bails.

588
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,799
Speaker 2: That you have been believing in that have let you down,

589
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 2: and maybe you're going through a breakup with bail. I

590
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 2: was talking to a lady the other day who had

591
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 2: a boyfriend. I said, how's he doing? She said, I

592
00:35:55,360 --> 00:36:00,040
Speaker 2: don't know. I quit answering his calls. I said, so,

593
00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:06,919
Speaker 2: y'all broke up? She said, I guess. I said, does

594
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:15,919
Speaker 2: he know? And she said he will called ghosting. She's

595
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 2: just gonna ghost ghost the man how goes mad? When

596
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 2: I was a kid, the most cowardly thing you could

597
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 2: do is send somebody else to tell. Not that I

598
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 2: was traumatized by Melissa in fifth grade, but why would

599
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 2: you send Why would you send someone else to tell me.

600
00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,000
Speaker 2: How do you think it's disrespectful to break up by text?

601
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:36,959
Speaker 1: Raise your hand by text?

602
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 6: At least? All?

603
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too, if it's been over two

604
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 2: weeks in the relationship. We'll get into this later, but

605
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 2: here's what I want to say.

606
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 1: Israel has ghosted God.

607
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 2: When I said earlier you tried to break up with God,

608
00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:58,600
Speaker 2: You're like, Nope, nope, didn't do it.

609
00:36:59,320 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 1: Didn't do it.

610
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:05,840
Speaker 2: I did not, you know, like like like what I

611
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:08,720
Speaker 2: meant by that was that you did your a pentagram

612
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 2: on your wall, started listening to Slayer worshiping the devil,

613
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:19,120
Speaker 2: And you know, I think sometimes we just stop answering.

614
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,560
Speaker 2: Stay right there, stay right there, and act like I'm

615
00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 2: not talking to you.

616
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: All you're doing is proven that you're the one. This

617
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: message is for.

618
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,879
Speaker 2: Stay right there and act like you're always a ten.

619
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 2: The only reason you're a ten is because he kept

620
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:40,279
Speaker 2: coming to get you. The only reason you're in is

621
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,960
Speaker 2: because he kept coming, not because you did like you

622
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 2: always prayed, like you always did it right, like you

623
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:53,879
Speaker 2: always deserved it, like you were always so wonderful, like

624
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 2: you always wrote around.

625
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 1: Singing way maker.

626
00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 2: Miracle worker, like you always were kind like you always gave,

627
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:05,240
Speaker 2: like you always forgave. The reason that I didn't break

628
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 2: down is because God wouldn't let me break up with him.

629
00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:12,839
Speaker 1: All Right, I'm gonna tell you a story. I'm gonna

630
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:13,719
Speaker 1: take you a story I canna tell you?

631
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:14,160
Speaker 7: Ready for it?

632
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,520
Speaker 2: Did y'all know Holly tried to break up with me.

633
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 2: She tried to break up with me. Watch this for

634
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 2: the summer, for the summer. This has never been told

635
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:31,160
Speaker 2: from the pulpit. It has only been discussed behind closed doors.

636
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:33,719
Speaker 1: She looked at me seriously.

637
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 2: She was really thought this was gonna be something I

638
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,200
Speaker 2: was gonna accept as a term of negotiation. She says, well,

639
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 2: you're going to do this this summer, and I'm gonna

640
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:44,839
Speaker 2: do this this summer. What if we just see if

641
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 2: the Lord brings anybody else.

642
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:56,560
Speaker 1: Into our lives? Can you believe I'm telling them this?

643
00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 2: But she's on the front road because I, like God

644
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:08,920
Speaker 2: wouldn't let her.

645
00:39:10,800 --> 00:39:13,719
Speaker 1: I always wanted to be God in an illustration. I'm

646
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,480
Speaker 1: so far from God in my real life. I just

647
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,560
Speaker 1: wanted like for fun, Usually she gets to be the

648
00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,400
Speaker 1: good one. I'm so happy that I said.

649
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:25,640
Speaker 2: Now you're talking, I know what I gotten I wanted

650
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:26,399
Speaker 2: and I.

651
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 3: Will not.

652
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: God. He didn't leave me like God.

653
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:59,080
Speaker 2: And God feels this way about you, and he loves

654
00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 2: you so much that he would let you be in

655
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:08,160
Speaker 2: bondage for a little while rather than let you worship

656
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 2: bail for the rest of your life.

657
00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:16,239
Speaker 1: Bail is a false God. Bail is a God who

658
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 1: keeps you in bondage.

659
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 2: Bail is a God that you cannot appease even with

660
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 2: human sacrifices. Bail can't make it rain. Ask Jezebel. She

661
00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:29,760
Speaker 2: thought Bail could make it happen, but she was wrong.

662
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 2: She had to apologize before she died because she found

663
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:40,919
Speaker 2: out that Bail is not God, and before Gideon could

664
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,920
Speaker 2: build an altar to God. Before you can build a

665
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,839
Speaker 2: new beginning in your life, before we can get past

666
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:50,800
Speaker 2: this temporary behavior modification that doesn't last ten minutes after

667
00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:55,239
Speaker 2: we leave church, there might be something you have to

668
00:40:55,239 --> 00:41:01,879
Speaker 2: go home and Drake. If somebody sent you this YouTube link,

669
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 2: they might be breaking up with you, but it might

670
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 2: not be a relationship. Don't go quit your job talking

671
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:20,080
Speaker 2: about I'm smashing my bail onto the I could just

672
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 2: see a kid, you know, Because people like to take

673
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 2: the message and twist it all up. I could see

674
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,320
Speaker 2: a kid going home and smack take a baseball bat

675
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 2: to their parents' car. I'm smashing my father's alter to Bail.

676
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,920
Speaker 1: I know you're not. You've about to you about to

677
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:39,760
Speaker 1: feel the wrath.

678
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:46,719
Speaker 2: Amazing, he said, Before you can go forward and fight

679
00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 2: this battle, I need you to demolish your father's alter

680
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,040
Speaker 2: for the purposes of the class that we're having today.

681
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 2: I do not want you to think about your father's

682
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,239
Speaker 2: alter as being about what your family taught you Biologically.

683
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 2: That would be too limited, for it was not only

684
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 2: Joe ash that had erected an altar. He was just

685
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:08,840
Speaker 2: the custodian of the cultural corruption. So what God was

686
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:11,160
Speaker 2: really telling Gideon in this passage, what he's really speaking

687
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 2: to us as a New Testament church today, has nothing

688
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:14,920
Speaker 2: to do.

689
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 1: With the family that you were raised in. It has

690
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: to do with the beliefs.

691
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:28,120
Speaker 2: The belief everybody say, belief, the beliefs that you cherish,

692
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:33,759
Speaker 2: the beliefs that you behave out of the beliefs that

693
00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:38,719
Speaker 2: are ingrained in you. The belief the beliefs, that's what

694
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 2: Bail was.

695
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,720
Speaker 1: Bail was not just an idol you picture just the object.

696
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:46,120
Speaker 2: The object was just pointing to the belief behind it,

697
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:48,960
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to make it rain,

698
00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to give us life,

699
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,120
Speaker 2: that we need something other than God to defend us.

700
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:03,120
Speaker 2: How's that working for you? How is your bail doing?

701
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:07,359
Speaker 2: Because you said if you succeeded this much, you would

702
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,959
Speaker 2: be happy, and you got success. How did success serve

703
00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 2: you when you made it a God? I guarantee you

704
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:17,840
Speaker 2: it left you emptier because more success came with more pressure,

705
00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,200
Speaker 2: and you found out that there is nothing that can

706
00:43:20,239 --> 00:43:23,960
Speaker 2: make you feel full if you are empty without him.

707
00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:28,320
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm hm. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

708
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying smashing Bail's alter. This isn't you

709
00:43:33,160 --> 00:43:36,680
Speaker 2: going home and deleting Facebook for a week. It may

710
00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,360
Speaker 2: include that, but that is not what I'm trying to

711
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,319
Speaker 2: achieve by preaching this message. When I say there may

712
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:47,200
Speaker 2: be a breakup with Bail that needs to happen, what

713
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:51,360
Speaker 2: I actually picture in my spirit is a kid going

714
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,640
Speaker 2: back to school this week and there are things that

715
00:43:55,719 --> 00:44:01,120
Speaker 2: you believed last year. But God has been working on

716
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 2: your heart not only in this message, but in this

717
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,200
Speaker 2: season and when you go back to your school in

718
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:10,920
Speaker 2: a few days, or if you've already gone back to school,

719
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 2: when you walk in tomorrow. You walk in, and after

720
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:17,880
Speaker 2: a while people notice that you are not as easily

721
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,480
Speaker 2: drawn to and seduced by the things that you were

722
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 2: drawn by, seduced by, duped by, and destroyed by in

723
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 2: a previous season.

724
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:29,920
Speaker 1: And they begin to say things to.

725
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 2: You like you've changed, you're different. Maybe they even make

726
00:44:34,520 --> 00:44:37,520
Speaker 2: it a little bit meaner. And they start calling you

727
00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 2: names because you won't have sex, and they start leaving

728
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,319
Speaker 2: you out because you won't go places.

729
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 1: And you have the audacity, Gideon, to.

730
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,359
Speaker 2: Look at them and say, yeah, I know I look

731
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:53,600
Speaker 2: a little different, and I know I act a little different,

732
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 2: And it's not that I'm better than you, but it's

733
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,920
Speaker 2: just that something happened to me over the summer that

734
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,840
Speaker 2: I don't know if I told you about this, but

735
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:09,960
Speaker 2: I've been through a break up. Me and Bail broke up.

736
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:15,320
Speaker 2: I decided he wasn't doing it for me. I decided

737
00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:18,359
Speaker 2: that living to be popular was costing me too much

738
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 2: peace ma I decided that living for pleasure cost me

739
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 2: too much paint. On the other side, I decided that

740
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:35,280
Speaker 2: not having God's priorities. Men, I can't have God's peace.

741
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:38,520
Speaker 2: So y'all be anxious. If you gotta be anxious, y'all

742
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,480
Speaker 2: be crazy. If you got to be crazy, y'all be hateful.

743
00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 2: If you gotta be hateful, y'all call me what y'all

744
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 2: gotta call me.

745
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:50,800
Speaker 1: But the one who called me is more important than you. Haddah.

746
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:54,880
Speaker 2: High five of your neighbors say, I'm breaking up with Bail,

747
00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 2: so I might not look the same next time you

748
00:45:58,880 --> 00:46:01,840
Speaker 2: see me. Use I'm gonna be going through a breakup,

749
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:05,319
Speaker 2: and it might be a painful breakup, and I may

750
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:08,239
Speaker 2: have to relearn some things, and I may have to

751
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:11,640
Speaker 2: be alone sometimes, and I might have to cry some

752
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:16,120
Speaker 2: nice but I'm determined to see this through. Why because

753
00:46:16,239 --> 00:46:20,239
Speaker 2: after the breakup there will be a breakthrough.

754
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:26,120
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

755
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 2: Get happy because I'm gonna cry for a little while.

756
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:36,239
Speaker 1: But we've been may endure for a night.

757
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 2: But high five your neighbors say, after the breakup, when the.

758
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:48,799
Speaker 3: Sun came up, When the sun came up, when the

759
00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 3: sun came up, there it was the altar of fan demolished,

760
00:46:57,520 --> 00:47:02,640
Speaker 3: the pieces broken to pieces, sash the basis, find the

761
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 3: power oh God, hot pot ten. People say I'm a

762
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:13,439
Speaker 3: tam right now, I'm a tin right now.

763
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 2: I'm all Sein right now?

764
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:21,360
Speaker 3: Who almost said I'm all him?

765
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:33,000
Speaker 5: How thoughts you are too hollahs. But me and God

766
00:47:33,480 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 5: got back together?

767
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:45,600
Speaker 3: How how whoa? That's why I'm president sow whoa? How good?

768
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:47,000
Speaker 3: You are falling apart?

769
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:47,920
Speaker 5: Hollow?

770
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:51,800
Speaker 1: But me and God.

771
00:47:56,040 --> 00:48:00,480
Speaker 2: In fact, I'm not even telling Bail myself. That's gonna

772
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:08,200
Speaker 2: send him a message. Why are you breaking up with

773
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:12,360
Speaker 2: me because you're not God? Stop thinking this is a

774
00:48:12,360 --> 00:48:16,080
Speaker 2: marriage seminar. I'm not talking about a divorce from your spouse.

775
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 2: I'm talking about a divorce from your belief system that

776
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:27,000
Speaker 2: is keeping you stuck. You might have a better spouse

777
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:31,440
Speaker 2: if you had a different belief system about marriage, and.

778
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:32,919
Speaker 1: It might not even be a different one.

779
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 2: So before you take the bat to the marriage, take

780
00:48:37,719 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 2: the bat to Bail.

781
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,600
Speaker 1: And all of that. I was gonna preach to you

782
00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:44,239
Speaker 1: all of.

783
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 8: That, and then I realized it wasn't about that alter.

784
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:56,319
Speaker 8: It was about what was on it.

785
00:48:58,840 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: Read it with me.

786
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,360
Speaker 2: I'm almost done. Don't even sit back down. Put the

787
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,840
Speaker 2: pressure on me to be expedient and concise. By standing

788
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:12,200
Speaker 2: on your feet he said, I want you to tear

789
00:49:12,239 --> 00:49:17,359
Speaker 2: down your father's altar, the one to bail, the cultural

790
00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:22,440
Speaker 2: crap that you keep doing. I want you to clear

791
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,440
Speaker 2: your algorithm this week for what you think is a

792
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:30,799
Speaker 2: normal attitude. I want you to I want you to

793
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 2: smash that so that I can do something amazing through you.

794
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: That's what this is about. In your life.

795
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 2: You think every season of breaking is contrary to the

796
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 2: season of blessing.

797
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 1: But after the breakup there's always breakthrough. Well, no breakup,

798
00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:52,839
Speaker 1: no breakthrough. You will keep.

799
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 2: Going back to bail, and you know what you'll do.

800
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:59,720
Speaker 2: You will blame it on Midian You will keep thinking

801
00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:01,759
Speaker 2: the the problem is what is against you that you

802
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:05,719
Speaker 2: can see. But the problem isn't what I can see

803
00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:09,040
Speaker 2: that's against me. It's what I keep abandoning that is

804
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:09,520
Speaker 2: within me.

805
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:13,279
Speaker 1: Because greater is He.

806
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 2: I don't know who this is for, but this thing

807
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:18,880
Speaker 2: is burning a hole in me today. It is not

808
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,920
Speaker 2: the Midianites to keep defeating you. It is not the

809
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:25,920
Speaker 2: addiction itself. It is the altar to bail that keeps

810
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 2: you believing that you need something other than God.

811
00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 1: And the Lord.

812
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:38,799
Speaker 4: Challenged me to read this scripture again and again, and

813
00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:42,600
Speaker 4: I said, okay. God, he got up and he built

814
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:45,480
Speaker 4: a new altar, and he tore down the altar to Bail.

815
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:49,040
Speaker 4: I begin to study about the altar the proper, because.

816
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:52,280
Speaker 2: In verse twenty six it says, build a proper kind

817
00:50:52,640 --> 00:50:55,360
Speaker 2: of altar to the Lord, your God.

818
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 1: What is the proper altar that you would build?

819
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:01,600
Speaker 2: Well, it was uncut stone so that no human hand

820
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:04,800
Speaker 2: could defile it. It was piled up and made ready

821
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:08,239
Speaker 2: for the sacrifice, because the altar was a place to die.

822
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 2: But then I realized that there was one altar that

823
00:51:11,239 --> 00:51:14,280
Speaker 2: was smashed the next morning, and there was one altar

824
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,400
Speaker 2: that was standing. But the thing that made the altar

825
00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:22,360
Speaker 2: proper was not what it was made of, as.

826
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:23,600
Speaker 1: Much as what was on it.

827
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:32,120
Speaker 2: The Lord told Gideon, get a bull from your father's

828
00:51:32,760 --> 00:51:37,000
Speaker 2: heard a bull was a common sacrifice. So far we

829
00:51:37,080 --> 00:51:40,720
Speaker 2: see no real revelation as to what needs to happen next,

830
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:44,240
Speaker 2: but there is significance in this detail. The second bull,

831
00:51:45,719 --> 00:51:51,720
Speaker 2: the one seven years old, smash the altar to Bail,

832
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:56,800
Speaker 2: build the altar to God. And after you have taken

833
00:51:57,040 --> 00:52:01,800
Speaker 2: the asherah poll which was an idolatry.

834
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:05,680
Speaker 1: And you put the second bull as a burnt offering

835
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:15,239
Speaker 1: wait a minute, The bull is not random in this passage.

836
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:16,279
Speaker 1: The bull.

837
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:29,000
Speaker 2: Represents Bail, not just because they sound alike, but all

838
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:33,279
Speaker 2: of the false gods of the Canaanites had mascots.

839
00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:38,480
Speaker 7: For Astrarah, who was their sex god, the mascot was

840
00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:42,440
Speaker 7: a pole, But for Bail, who was the weather in

841
00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:50,160
Speaker 7: fertility god, the mascot was a bull. So when the

842
00:52:50,239 --> 00:52:54,680
Speaker 7: Lord told Gideon, I want you to take the bull

843
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:59,880
Speaker 7: on the altar that you build to God and smash

844
00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:04,359
Speaker 7: the altar that your father built to Bail, what God

845
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:08,839
Speaker 7: was saying is I want you to believe Me more

846
00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:09,880
Speaker 7: than you believe Bail.

847
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:16,520
Speaker 1: And it is very.

848
00:53:16,239 --> 00:53:20,680
Speaker 2: Simple to say, but very hard to apply, because the

849
00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:23,719
Speaker 2: enemy will lie to you and lie to you, and

850
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:27,520
Speaker 2: lie to you and feed you with beliefs about the

851
00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:31,560
Speaker 2: way things are, about what is important, about what really matters.

852
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:35,640
Speaker 2: He will feed you as much bull as you will

853
00:53:35,640 --> 00:53:41,439
Speaker 2: listen to. But the Lord said, today is the day

854
00:53:42,440 --> 00:53:45,320
Speaker 2: for you to put the bull on the altar.

855
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:47,880
Speaker 1: You hear what I'm saying.

856
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:52,799
Speaker 2: You hear what I'm saying online, touch your neighbors, say,

857
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:57,920
Speaker 2: put the bull on the altar. Every lie you've believed,

858
00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:01,279
Speaker 2: every stronghold you've exceed every.

859
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,760
Speaker 1: False god you worshiped. Put the bull on the altar.

860
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:12,319
Speaker 2: As long as we keep building altars to things that

861
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:15,960
Speaker 2: we ought to let die, we will be in covenant

862
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:21,040
Speaker 2: with God, but be in captivity in life.

863
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:23,200
Speaker 1: You have got to put the bull.

864
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:25,279
Speaker 2: On the altar. I mean, they're playing slow music behind me,

865
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:27,759
Speaker 2: but I feel like I'm really preaching. Every time the

866
00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:30,880
Speaker 2: devil lies to you, put that bull on the altar.

867
00:54:32,680 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 2: Every time he tells you you're insignificant because you're not famous.

868
00:54:36,360 --> 00:54:39,680
Speaker 2: Put that bull on the altar every time he starts

869
00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:42,239
Speaker 2: trying to tell you and attict is all you'll ever be.

870
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,520
Speaker 1: Put that bull on the altar. Whom the sun sets

871
00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:46,760
Speaker 1: free is free.

872
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:56,959
Speaker 2: Indeed, put that bull on the altar. I heard about

873
00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:01,120
Speaker 2: a basketball game where Michael Jordan scored sixty nine points

874
00:55:01,120 --> 00:55:01,680
Speaker 2: in the game.

875
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:04,680
Speaker 1: There was a rookie who was interviewed after the game.

876
00:55:04,719 --> 00:55:05,160
Speaker 7: It was his.

877
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 1: First game in the NBA. This was nineteen ninety.

878
00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:11,080
Speaker 2: They said, what are your comments on your first game

879
00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 2: in the NBA.

880
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:14,800
Speaker 1: And he said boldly, I'll always.

881
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:17,400
Speaker 2: Remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I

882
00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 2: combined to score seventy points. He said that because when

883
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:33,200
Speaker 2: you're connected to the right one.

884
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:35,879
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about a bull. Now, I'm not talking

885
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:36,439
Speaker 1: about a bull.

886
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:42,480
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the spotless, perfect lamb of God. Slay

887
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:43,919
Speaker 2: from the foundation.

888
00:55:45,360 --> 00:55:45,680
Speaker 1: Wah.

889
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,799
Speaker 2: So the Lord says to get in. You are not

890
00:55:55,480 --> 00:55:59,239
Speaker 2: going to die. But there are some lies that you

891
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:03,399
Speaker 2: have believed that must die so you can live. There

892
00:56:03,440 --> 00:56:07,600
Speaker 2: are some lies that you have believed that must die

893
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:08,759
Speaker 2: so you can live.

894
00:56:08,840 --> 00:56:12,320
Speaker 1: There are some lies you have believed that must die

895
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:19,280
Speaker 1: so you can live. What that bull on the altar.

896
00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:24,400
Speaker 2: Stop thinking that there's something that will fulfill you or

897
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:25,680
Speaker 2: complete you outside of God.

898
00:56:25,719 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 1: There is nothing. It's nobody else's job to complete you.

899
00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:33,520
Speaker 1: It's nobody else's job to fulfill you. It's nobody else's

900
00:56:33,600 --> 00:56:37,520
Speaker 1: job to make you happy. That's God's job. Let him

901
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:38,960
Speaker 1: do it. Build a proper altar.

902
00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:43,960
Speaker 2: Let God fill those deep places in your life. And

903
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:49,960
Speaker 2: remember this that there is nothing you can do that

904
00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 2: would separate Him from you. Every time the devil tells

905
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:57,560
Speaker 2: you you're too far gone. Now, remember you serve a

906
00:56:57,560 --> 00:57:00,799
Speaker 2: God who can make a two to ten by his blood,

907
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:06,960
Speaker 2: and me and Michael Jordan can score seventy points together

908
00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:11,320
Speaker 2: on a single night, and God can use you to deliver,

909
00:57:11,400 --> 00:57:13,120
Speaker 2: and God can use you to be a blessing, and

910
00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:15,200
Speaker 2: God can use you to give wisdom, and God can

911
00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:17,120
Speaker 2: use you to build it up, and God can use

912
00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:20,360
Speaker 2: you to tear it down. But it's going to be

913
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:25,280
Speaker 2: because of Him. And when they investigated in the daylight

914
00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:27,160
Speaker 2: to see who had done it in the night, they said,

915
00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:28,760
Speaker 2: Gideon did it.

916
00:57:30,080 --> 00:57:34,560
Speaker 1: Gideon. Isn't he the one who was hiding in the

917
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:40,680
Speaker 1: wine press? I like to imagine at that moment Gideon says, yeah,

918
00:57:40,800 --> 00:57:41,439
Speaker 1: I was.

919
00:57:44,280 --> 00:57:53,720
Speaker 4: But me and God God back together, and we have this.

920
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:55,240
Speaker 1: Ministry of reconciliation.

921
00:57:58,800 --> 00:58:00,400
Speaker 2: I know what you've done alone, and I know what

922
00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:02,200
Speaker 2: you've done in your own strength, and so do you.

923
00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:04,560
Speaker 2: I know that bail has failed you. He fails all

924
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:08,040
Speaker 2: of us. I know how your faults, bail leafs, have

925
00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:11,760
Speaker 2: led you to a place of codependency with substance. Mail

926
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:15,439
Speaker 2: always does that. I know how thinking that somebody needs

927
00:58:15,480 --> 00:58:17,480
Speaker 2: to approve you before you can be worthy of love

928
00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:19,800
Speaker 2: has left you running drinking salt water in an ocean

929
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:20,280
Speaker 2: that you're.

930
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:27,440
Speaker 1: Already drowning in. That's what bail always does. Break that alter, break.

931
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:30,720
Speaker 2: That altar, Delete every opinion that tells you what a

932
00:58:30,760 --> 00:58:33,120
Speaker 2: young lady is supposed to be like. And ask your

933
00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:35,560
Speaker 2: father what a woman of God looks like. And put

934
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:40,240
Speaker 2: your virtue on and where your values proudly. And when

935
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:42,240
Speaker 2: they say you don't post no more, tell him Yeah.

936
00:58:42,720 --> 00:58:46,080
Speaker 2: Me and Bail broke up, and me and God got

937
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:46,880
Speaker 2: back together.

938
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:48,600
Speaker 1: That altar is gone.

939
00:58:48,840 --> 00:58:54,800
Speaker 2: I'm ant worship at it another day. I want you

940
00:58:54,840 --> 00:58:56,560
Speaker 2: to grab the hand of the person next to you

941
00:58:56,640 --> 00:58:58,919
Speaker 2: because they're in a battle right now.

942
00:58:58,920 --> 00:59:03,480
Speaker 1: They're in a breakup right now. Now stand through your feet. Everybody.

943
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:04,440
Speaker 1: I thought y'all were standing.

944
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:07,440
Speaker 2: I was preaching so hard. Only ten percent was the

945
00:59:07,440 --> 00:59:11,520
Speaker 2: front road. Fooled me again. Squeeze their hand right now,

946
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:15,160
Speaker 2: because they're in a battle. Squeeze their hand because they're

947
00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:18,040
Speaker 2: in a battle. I want you to squeeze their hand

948
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:22,600
Speaker 2: to let them know you didn't die. That's how you

949
00:59:22,640 --> 00:59:25,320
Speaker 2: know that the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and

950
00:59:25,400 --> 00:59:28,000
Speaker 2: Jacob is with you too. Even though it was seven

951
00:59:28,080 --> 00:59:31,560
Speaker 2: years of sin. Isn't it weird that the Bible said

952
00:59:31,600 --> 00:59:35,000
Speaker 2: Graham it was a seven year old bull, which was

953
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:37,560
Speaker 2: the exact length of time they had been in captivity.

954
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:42,280
Speaker 1: It was the bull that kept them in bondage.

955
00:59:43,520 --> 00:59:46,840
Speaker 2: You can be free the moment you come into agreement

956
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:50,560
Speaker 2: with God what he says about you. So you can

957
00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:53,520
Speaker 2: be free from the moment that you decide there is

958
00:59:53,560 --> 00:59:55,800
Speaker 2: no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus

959
00:59:55,800 --> 00:59:57,600
Speaker 2: cuts through Christ. Jesus the low spirital life. Set me

960
00:59:57,600 --> 00:59:59,520
Speaker 2: free from the lost, sin and death. You don't have

961
00:59:59,560 --> 01:00:03,200
Speaker 2: to stay in this another seven years. You can be

962
01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:08,760
Speaker 2: free the moment you believe. Put that bull on the altar,

963
01:00:09,080 --> 01:00:12,800
Speaker 2: by a new bull. Believe you believe in him, you

964
01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:16,320
Speaker 2: will be saved. And right now there's somebody in this

965
01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,480
Speaker 2: room who needs this message as a matter of life

966
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:18,960
Speaker 2: and death.

967
01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:22,720
Speaker 1: You're not gonna die. You're not gonna die.

968
01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:26,440
Speaker 2: But Thomas said, I would have despaired unless I believe

969
01:00:26,480 --> 01:00:28,200
Speaker 2: that I would see the goodness of the Lord in

970
01:00:28,240 --> 01:00:30,200
Speaker 2: the land of the living. You're gonna see it. But

971
01:00:30,280 --> 01:00:32,480
Speaker 2: there's some altars you've been running to in the land

972
01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:35,040
Speaker 2: that you've been occupying, that have been keeping you from

973
01:00:35,120 --> 01:00:37,200
Speaker 2: being the person God sees.

974
01:00:37,280 --> 01:00:41,400
Speaker 1: But you're a warrior in this wine press, always have been.

975
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:47,800
Speaker 2: He knows there's a better you. He loved me like

976
01:00:47,880 --> 01:00:54,200
Speaker 2: I was, but he didn't leave me like I was Lord,

977
01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:56,080
Speaker 2: I thank you that you loved me like I was.

978
01:00:58,040 --> 01:00:59,320
Speaker 2: You didn't see me as a two.

979
01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:00,440
Speaker 1: You turn me to a ten.

980
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:05,840
Speaker 2: Woo. I get grateful when I think about your grace.

981
01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 2: I don't have to think about my car. I appreciate it,

982
01:01:09,880 --> 01:01:12,160
Speaker 2: my house, I love it. I don't have to think

983
01:01:12,160 --> 01:01:14,680
Speaker 2: about any of these things, just to say thank you

984
01:01:14,720 --> 01:01:15,400
Speaker 2: for your grace.

985
01:01:15,480 --> 01:01:18,840
Speaker 1: Lord. Why don't you pray that thank you for your grace? Lord?

986
01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:22,880
Speaker 2: I thank you that all I have to do to

987
01:01:22,920 --> 01:01:26,160
Speaker 2: be closer to you is believe that you're already here.

988
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:30,120
Speaker 2: Like that angel was staring at Gideon, and Gideon finally

989
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:30,720
Speaker 2: realized it.

990
01:01:31,120 --> 01:01:33,240
Speaker 1: Maybe today is today we finally.

991
01:01:32,920 --> 01:01:39,800
Speaker 2: Realize that the lies belong on the altar before your presence. God,

992
01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:43,440
Speaker 2: I ask you to set your people free today.

993
01:01:45,040 --> 01:01:46,680
Speaker 1: Now drop the hand, but keep your head bout in

994
01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:48,160
Speaker 1: your eyes closed, no one moving around.

995
01:01:48,160 --> 01:01:49,920
Speaker 2: There's somebody in this place who needs to give their

996
01:01:49,960 --> 01:01:53,439
Speaker 2: life to Jesus Christ today. When you do, you don't

997
01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:55,120
Speaker 2: go from a one to a two and spend the

998
01:01:55,160 --> 01:01:57,160
Speaker 2: rest of your life going three, four, five, six.

999
01:01:57,120 --> 01:01:58,120
Speaker 1: Seven, eight, nine, ten.

1000
01:01:59,160 --> 01:02:01,200
Speaker 2: You don't start perform and God will see if you

1001
01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:06,000
Speaker 2: can really do a triple double Somersault split spiritually the

1002
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:08,080
Speaker 2: God we Sir said, I will not only give you

1003
01:02:08,400 --> 01:02:10,960
Speaker 2: the grace, but I will give you the faith to believe.

1004
01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:14,360
Speaker 2: So right now, if you know that today is your

1005
01:02:14,440 --> 01:02:16,320
Speaker 2: day and God is calling you to bring your life

1006
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:19,800
Speaker 2: to his altar, I want to lead you in a prayer.

1007
01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:25,240
Speaker 2: This prayer is an expression of faith, believing in what

1008
01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:28,479
Speaker 2: Jesus has already done for you. And if you're ready

1009
01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:31,440
Speaker 2: today to repent of your sin and make Jesus the

1010
01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:34,200
Speaker 2: Lord of your life, I want you to repeat after me.

1011
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:36,440
Speaker 2: We're all praying this out loud for the benefit of

1012
01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:39,040
Speaker 2: those who are coming to God or back to God.

1013
01:02:39,120 --> 01:02:45,440
Speaker 2: Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation.

1014
01:02:46,600 --> 01:02:49,480
Speaker 2: I am a sinner in need of a savior.

1015
01:02:50,520 --> 01:02:52,160
Speaker 1: I believe that.

1016
01:02:52,240 --> 01:02:56,720
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior

1017
01:02:56,760 --> 01:02:57,320
Speaker 2: of the world.

1018
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:03,840
Speaker 6: And today make Jesus the Lord of my life. I

1019
01:03:03,920 --> 01:03:08,440
Speaker 6: believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose

1020
01:03:08,480 --> 01:03:14,920
Speaker 6: again to give me life, and I receive this new life.

1021
01:03:15,160 --> 01:03:20,040
Speaker 1: This is my new beginning. Thank you for joining us.

1022
01:03:20,360 --> 01:03:22,800
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

1023
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,360
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

1024
01:03:26,840 --> 01:03:29,000
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give

1025
01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:33,240
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more

1026
01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:37,080
Speaker 2: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

1027
01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:38,680
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.

1028
01:03:38,960 --> 01:03:41,240
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

1029
01:03:41,320 --> 01:03:43,400
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at

1030
01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:44,280
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.

1031
01:03:44,360 --> 01:03:51,000
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.