WEBVTT - Breaking The Bondage Of Wrong Belief

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

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<v Speaker 2>this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

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<v Speaker 2>gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

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<v Speaker 1>Enjoy the message.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought you were going down, but you're not anymore.

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<v Speaker 2>Howa flathose hands and give God praid. He didn't lead

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<v Speaker 2>me where I was like I was, and I believe,

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<v Speaker 2>somebody shout, I believe that I'm not leaving like I came.

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<v Speaker 1>Today, It's time for the Word of God. Put your hands.

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<v Speaker 2>Together and welcome Ebath all around the world.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's go.

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<v Speaker 2>Into the Word of God. This word that God gave

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<v Speaker 2>me today. He began to speak to me on March seventh,

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty three, and it has taken me that long

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<v Speaker 2>to figure out how to share it with you. Today,

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<v Speaker 2>the Lord has released me to share it. I'm thankful

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<v Speaker 2>and excited and expected about the implications to your life.

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<v Speaker 1>In Judges chapter.

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<v Speaker 2>Six, verse twenty two through twenty nine, there is an

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<v Speaker 2>encounter with God between the Angel of the Lord and

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<v Speaker 2>a man named Gideon, and the Bible says in verse

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<v Speaker 2>twenty two, when Gideon realized that it was the Angel

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<v Speaker 2>of the Lord, he exclaimed, a last sovereign Lord, I

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<v Speaker 2>have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.

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<v Speaker 2>But the Lord said to him, peace, do not be afraid.

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<v Speaker 2>You are not going to die. That's a good thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh he's good to know. And I'll explain why he

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<v Speaker 2>said that in a moment. But look at what the

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<v Speaker 2>Lord said to him, Peace, do not be afraid, you

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<v Speaker 2>are not going to die. So Gideon built an altar

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<v Speaker 2>to the Lord there and called it the Lord is Peace.

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<v Speaker 2>To this day, it stands in Ophrah of the Abiez Rites.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, that same night.

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<v Speaker 2>The Lord said to him, take the second bull from

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<v Speaker 2>your father's herd, the one seven years old.

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<v Speaker 1>Tear down your father's alter.

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<v Speaker 2>To bail and cut down the ascheropole beside it.

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<v Speaker 1>Then build a proper kind.

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<v Speaker 2>Of altar to the Lord, your God, on the top

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<v Speaker 2>of this height, using the wood of the asheropole that

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<v Speaker 2>you cut down, offer the second bull as a burn offering.

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<v Speaker 2>So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as

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<v Speaker 2>the Lord told him. But because he was afraid of

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<v Speaker 2>his family and the townspeople. He did it at night

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<v Speaker 2>rather than in the daytime. Now you call him a whimp,

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<v Speaker 2>I call him wise. He did it how he had

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<v Speaker 2>to do it, And sometimes you do man. Sometimes you

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<v Speaker 2>have to sneak in those victories at midnight. It's not

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<v Speaker 2>always going to be some huge triumph and amazing things.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometimes the victory is going to be that you made

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<v Speaker 2>it through the night and you woke up the next

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<v Speaker 2>day and you got to learn to praise God because

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<v Speaker 2>of those two. So look what happened in the morning,

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<v Speaker 2>verse twenty eight. When the people of the town got up.

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<v Speaker 2>There was Bale's altar demolished, with the Ashero pole beside

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<v Speaker 2>it cut down in the second bull sacrificed on the

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<v Speaker 2>newly built altar.

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<v Speaker 1>Last verse for now, verse twenty nine.

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<v Speaker 2>They asked each other who did this. When they carefully investigated,

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<v Speaker 2>they were told, Gideon, son of Joe Ash did it. Gideon,

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<v Speaker 2>son of Joe Ash did it. Now I want to

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<v Speaker 2>speak to you from this subject today. I want to

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<v Speaker 2>talk to you about breaking the bondage of wrong belief.

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<v Speaker 2>Breaking the bondage of wrong belief. And that's not one

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<v Speaker 2>of those titles you can say to your neighbor. So

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<v Speaker 2>let me give you a say to your neighbor.

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<v Speaker 1>Title.

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<v Speaker 2>Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, I know I

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<v Speaker 2>look a little different. I know I got a little

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<v Speaker 2>extra pep in my style. Tell them I know I'm

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<v Speaker 2>smiling more than the last time you saw me. But

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<v Speaker 2>it's because me and God got back together. Yeah, me

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<v Speaker 2>and God got back together. You may be seated. Me

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<v Speaker 2>and God got back together. Thank you Lord for this word.

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<v Speaker 2>I know he meant well, but I completely disagreed with

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<v Speaker 2>his method. The preacher stood before a room full of

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<v Speaker 2>professing Christians and asked a question, on a scale of

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<v Speaker 2>one to ten, how close would you say you are

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<v Speaker 2>to God right now? I gave him ten minutes, twenty minutes,

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<v Speaker 2>thirty minutes benefit of the doubt, even to the end

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<v Speaker 2>of his message, because I just knew that he wasn't

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<v Speaker 2>going to give the people a scale to determine how

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<v Speaker 2>close they were to God.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet he did.

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<v Speaker 2>I was waiting for the twist where he talked about

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<v Speaker 2>the grace of God. And you know in the Bible,

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<v Speaker 2>this one man prayed and he said, Lord, I thank

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<v Speaker 2>you that I'm not like this. Enter over here praying

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<v Speaker 2>next to me, and the sinner was beating his breast, saying,

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<v Speaker 2>God have mercy on me. And Jesus said, the one

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<v Speaker 2>that beat his breast was the one that went home

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<v Speaker 2>justified because he had faith to believe that he needed God.

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<v Speaker 2>And the one who thought he was so great, he

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't so great because he was actually not close to

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<v Speaker 2>the kingdom. But the preacher didn't do that, he continued.

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<v Speaker 2>I asked Holly if she remembered it, and she remembered

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<v Speaker 2>it too. Simon, just make this up to tell the

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<v Speaker 2>people everything they could do. Watch this to move from

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<v Speaker 2>a four to a five. You know, there's there's this

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<v Speaker 2>big line, this linear approach to knowing the Lord. And

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<v Speaker 2>you can go from four to five if you read

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<v Speaker 2>the Bible daily, you go from four to six if

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<v Speaker 2>you make it through the Book of Leviticus bonus point

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<v Speaker 2>for certain Bible books. And he goes through everything that

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<v Speaker 2>you can do to.

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<v Speaker 1>Get closer to God.

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<v Speaker 2>Now here's why I thought that the exercise was ridiculous

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<v Speaker 2>respect to the person doing it, because I've done some

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<v Speaker 2>ridiculous things and I'll probably say something ridiculous in here,

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<v Speaker 2>and then I get up in ten years and tell

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<v Speaker 2>you it was ridiculous. I'll tell on myself. It's ridiculous

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<v Speaker 2>because it's relative how close are you to God right

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<v Speaker 2>now compared to what compared to Jesus, who always knew

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<v Speaker 2>the will of his father, who is supposed to be

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<v Speaker 2>my standard. So if we're going by that, I'm staying

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<v Speaker 2>zero until I die and compared to who I mean.

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<v Speaker 2>I just don't even think the question is like you

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<v Speaker 2>can rate a restaurant? Can you relate a rate rather

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<v Speaker 2>a relationship with the eternal God who's spoke into nothing

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<v Speaker 2>and there was something with the invisible God who exists, immortal,

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<v Speaker 2>not seen to humanize, but known by the spirit, not

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<v Speaker 2>by the flesh.

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<v Speaker 1>I can't rate something like that.

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<v Speaker 2>That's another thing is not only is it relative how

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<v Speaker 2>close you are to God compared to what you think

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<v Speaker 2>other people might be praying or doing or whatever, because

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<v Speaker 2>you don't really know what the other people around you

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<v Speaker 2>are like, and you judge yourself off of your delusions

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<v Speaker 2>of them.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's kind of dumb. But also also I.

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<v Speaker 2>Didn't think it was a very good exercise because of

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<v Speaker 2>something called recency bias.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you know what recency bias is?

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<v Speaker 2>It's when the last thing that happens carries the most

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<v Speaker 2>weight with you, and you judge an entire thing off

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<v Speaker 2>of the most recent thing that happened. So you begin

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<v Speaker 2>to kind of act like the way it is right

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<v Speaker 2>now is the way that it always is.

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<v Speaker 1>And the way that it always was. But it's not true.

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<v Speaker 2>And what I'm really trying to say, I guess I'm

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<v Speaker 2>using fancy language to say that if you answer that

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<v Speaker 2>question at a time i'm close to God, I'm a ten.

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<v Speaker 2>It wouldn't really take that much to put you at

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<v Speaker 2>a two. I can't figure out what happened to my church,

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<v Speaker 2>because my church used to be real and honest.

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<v Speaker 1>But I'm looking at a bunch of tens today. Okay, ten.

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<v Speaker 2>There are days where at ten am you are a ten.

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<v Speaker 2>But if I caught up with you at two, because

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<v Speaker 2>at two you've had to deal with some people, and

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<v Speaker 2>it can move you right back down the scale. Some

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<v Speaker 2>of you are one text away from going from ten

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<v Speaker 2>to two.

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<v Speaker 1>Some of you are just.

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<v Speaker 2>A little bit of traffic from a ten to a two, riding.

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<v Speaker 1>Down the road.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh my god, you sure big got.

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<v Speaker 1>Of my way.

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<v Speaker 2>Ten to two, just like that, not ten and two,

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<v Speaker 2>ten to two, just some traffic no cross, no persecution,

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<v Speaker 2>no martyrdom, just forty five ten to two like that.

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<v Speaker 2>So stun question because it's relative. Who am I comparing

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<v Speaker 2>myself to? Oh, I'm a two compared to Holly, Ali's amazing,

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<v Speaker 2>Allie's perfect, Allie's wonderful, comparing myself to who I mean

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<v Speaker 2>comparing her.

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<v Speaker 1>To who's she? Not Mother Teresa, but she's great.

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<v Speaker 2>So you see, I didn't really appreciate the guy saying

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<v Speaker 2>you can move to a four from a three if

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<v Speaker 2>you just make five minutes a day with the Lord.

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<v Speaker 1>I thought that was so ridiculous.

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<v Speaker 2>But the real reason that I thought it was so

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<v Speaker 2>ridiculous is because it was a room full.

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<v Speaker 1>Of people who are believers in Jesus. So why are

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<v Speaker 1>we pulling out.

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<v Speaker 2>A scale to try to measure something in our own

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<v Speaker 2>minds and our own feelings based on our own experience.

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<v Speaker 2>It's based on our own moods. How close are you

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<v Speaker 2>to God? It depends if I had my coffee, Yet,

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<v Speaker 2>it depends did I open a bill or did I

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<v Speaker 2>open a check that was made out to me? Why

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<v Speaker 2>are we measuring this on a scale that is subject

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<v Speaker 2>to situations and self righteousness? Because I can always find

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<v Speaker 2>somebody that I think I'm doing better than when I

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<v Speaker 2>belong to Jesus, who already taught me that my relationship

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<v Speaker 2>with him is not something.

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<v Speaker 1>That is achieved but received. It's a gift. Somebody shouted,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a gift.

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<v Speaker 2>I know y'all are looking at me funny because I'm

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<v Speaker 2>trying to get from a seven to eight. I'm trying

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<v Speaker 2>to be a better man. I'm trying to be a

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<v Speaker 2>better mom. Good try. I'm trying too. But understand that

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<v Speaker 2>there is nothing that you will see on your reel

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<v Speaker 2>and put into practice in your life. Some advice that

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<v Speaker 2>you will scroll past and finally click with God, and

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<v Speaker 2>God will say, oh, I've been waiting.

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<v Speaker 1>For them to get to six. They've been stuck at.

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<v Speaker 2>Five point nine. This is not the Olympics, and God

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<v Speaker 2>is not watch this. God is a scale. God is

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<v Speaker 2>not a religion. God is a person. His name is Jesus,

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<v Speaker 2>and I got him.

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<v Speaker 1>So I don't mind telling you.

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<v Speaker 2>Ask me the question, pastor, how close are you to God?

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<v Speaker 2>One to ten?

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<v Speaker 1>A ten because of him, because of what he did.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a ten because my relationship is not based on

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<v Speaker 2>what I did what I didn't do. My relationship with

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<v Speaker 2>Him is a covenant. A covenant is not like the

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<v Speaker 2>relationships that we run around trying to build our lives

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<v Speaker 2>on these days. The covenant that I have with God

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<v Speaker 2>is not established based on the principles or the precepts

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<v Speaker 2>that I find myself willing or able to obey. No,

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<v Speaker 2>I am in covenant with God, God on the basis

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<v Speaker 2>of the death of his dear son, who loved me

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<v Speaker 2>enough to shed his blood for me on a hill

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<v Speaker 2>called Calvary.

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<v Speaker 1>And it's a ten high five.

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<v Speaker 2>Somebody say, it's a ten. You can put your scale away.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a ten. He loves me, you can put your

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<v Speaker 2>scale away. It's a ten. He wants to hear me pray.

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<v Speaker 2>You can put your scale away. It's a ten. God

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<v Speaker 2>wants to hear me sing. I'm singing because He likes

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<v Speaker 2>to hear me, not because you like to hear me.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's a ten when I say because God hands

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<v Speaker 2>me a mike and says, keep singing.

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<v Speaker 1>That's my kid, that's my girl, that's my boy. I

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<v Speaker 1>want to hear them praise me. Only they can praise

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<v Speaker 1>me for what only I could do for them.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a ten hot five. Your neighbor both hands, says say,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm in It's a ten. I'm in covenant. I'm in covenant.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm in covenant, not contract.

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<v Speaker 3>Hey, if I break it, he already bought me.

0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.800
<v Speaker 1>It's a ten because of him. It's a ten when

0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:12.800
<v Speaker 1>I act like it too.

0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:19.920
<v Speaker 2>Nevertheless, the Book of Judges demonstrates to us the unfortunate

0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:23.920
<v Speaker 2>reality that we can be in covenant with God and

0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:29.600
<v Speaker 2>still in captivity. That seems contradictory. How could you be

0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.760
<v Speaker 2>in covenant with a God who knows no boundaries but

0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:38.200
<v Speaker 2>be in captivity. Last year, I preached to you a

0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.280
<v Speaker 2>series of messages about one of these rulers that God

0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.160
<v Speaker 2>raised up to deliver his people, the nation of Israel,

0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.479
<v Speaker 2>from the hands of a an oppressive enemy called the Midianites.

0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.680
<v Speaker 2>I don't expect you to remember about the Midianites, but

0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.479
<v Speaker 2>I do expect you to be honest today to admit.

0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:00.920
<v Speaker 1>That you have your own version of them.

0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:02.960
<v Speaker 4>No.

0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:11.200
<v Speaker 2>I love messages when I hear them personally, that first

0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:17.960
<v Speaker 2>of all, give me permission to admit my Midianites. If

0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:21.560
<v Speaker 2>I can't admit that I'm fighting the battle, how can

0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:26.480
<v Speaker 2>I see clearly enough to take the shot? So I

0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:29.800
<v Speaker 2>have learned that you know for each and every one

0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.120
<v Speaker 2>of us. And I'm just going to take my time

0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.040
<v Speaker 2>today because this message has been building in me for

0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:34.800
<v Speaker 2>over a year. So I'm certainly not going to rush

0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.680
<v Speaker 2>this revelation because I think it's life changing. The idea

0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:40.400
<v Speaker 2>that I could be in covenant with God and He

0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.840
<v Speaker 2>could be completely committed to me, and I could still

0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:46.720
<v Speaker 2>be in captivity. While a seeming contradiction on the surface

0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.440
<v Speaker 2>is an experience that we all know too well, it

0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.560
<v Speaker 2>is when you know that you are saved by grace

0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:55.960
<v Speaker 2>through faith Ephesians two eight and nine. In fact, let

0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.880
<v Speaker 2>me give you that Ephesians that other Ephesians first, I

0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:00.400
<v Speaker 2>meant to show you this a moment to go. I

0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:01.760
<v Speaker 2>forgot Ephesians to y'all.

0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:03.880
<v Speaker 1>It says, but.

0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:08.360
<v Speaker 2>Now in Christ, you who were once far away, have

0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:14.160
<v Speaker 2>been brought near by the blood of Christ. So to

0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:18.360
<v Speaker 2>be a ten in my relationship with God because of

0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:21.840
<v Speaker 2>Him does not mean that there will not be times

0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:29.200
<v Speaker 2>in my relationship that I feel too right. And the

0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:33.920
<v Speaker 2>reason for this will never be because God's commitment to

0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.840
<v Speaker 2>me has wavered. What I'm trying to say to you

0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:44.640
<v Speaker 2>is you may try to break up with God, but

0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:45.520
<v Speaker 2>God won't let you.

0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:50.280
<v Speaker 1>The Book of Judges proves it.

0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:52.280
<v Speaker 2>And you know what, some of you don't need the

0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.320
<v Speaker 2>Book of Judges or a man named Gideon to prove it.

0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:56.400
<v Speaker 2>You have spent your whole life stacking evidence for the

0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.960
<v Speaker 2>fact that you can try to break up with God.

0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:06.200
<v Speaker 2>You can flip your middle finger to your faith, and

0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:11.880
<v Speaker 2>your faith will still stay inside of you, flicking you back,

0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.600
<v Speaker 2>even if it's just a little flicker of a flame.

0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.280
<v Speaker 2>Some of you tried to be a really bad kid,

0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:23.280
<v Speaker 2>and all that did, all that you trying to be

0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.200
<v Speaker 2>a really bad kid did. All that did was make

0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.240
<v Speaker 2>your mom pray more. What you didn't know even your

0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:36.679
<v Speaker 2>bad behavior was your Oh let me say this was

0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:40.080
<v Speaker 2>your mom's answered prayer because she was praying for more faith.

0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.560
<v Speaker 1>So she was praying for more faith.

0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.200
<v Speaker 2>So God gave her your bad behavior to give her

0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:47.720
<v Speaker 2>more faith.

0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:54.960
<v Speaker 1>This is how amazing God is. We don't believe God

0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.800
<v Speaker 1>is sovereign anymore. We think that.

0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.840
<v Speaker 2>There is something we could do to push him back,

0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.399
<v Speaker 2>and He would go, oh, never mind, can't use you.

0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.280
<v Speaker 2>I'm looking for a ten. I'm looking for a ten, looking.

0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.440
<v Speaker 1>For a ten? Do I have an eye? Can I

0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:08.840
<v Speaker 1>get anye?

0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:09.359
<v Speaker 2>Can I get an eight.

0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:10.200
<v Speaker 1>Can I get a seven?

0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.040
<v Speaker 2>Twenty twenty four of God might might take a six?

0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.840
<v Speaker 2>The world is really going downhill. The Lord will really

0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:16.800
<v Speaker 2>lower his standards.

0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:18.040
<v Speaker 1>No, look at the verse.

0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.960
<v Speaker 2>He says that Efesius two thirteen good news, but now

0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:23.399
<v Speaker 2>not when I get it together.

0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.159
<v Speaker 1>Ephesians two thirteen showing guys. But now put him on

0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:27.560
<v Speaker 1>the screen.

0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.920
<v Speaker 2>But now I'm shouting now and I'm having to wait.

0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.919
<v Speaker 2>In Christ, Jesus, you were once far away.

0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:44.600
<v Speaker 1>I was. I feel far from God, but I'm not

0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:50.080
<v Speaker 1>far from God. I was. Somebody say it with all

0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:51.560
<v Speaker 1>three notes.

0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:55.600
<v Speaker 2>I was put it in a chat right now, I was,

0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:04.080
<v Speaker 2>But I was. But the nation of Israel was slipping

0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:08.720
<v Speaker 2>away from God, serving other gods, prostating themselves to the

0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:13.680
<v Speaker 2>gods of the Canaan culture, and completely disregarding the covenant

0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:17.200
<v Speaker 2>they had with Yahweh. Well, the Bible says that these

0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:21.600
<v Speaker 2>Midianites were the instruments that God used to bring his

0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:26.640
<v Speaker 2>people out of captivity, But they were also what God

0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:27.840
<v Speaker 2>used to take them captive.

0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:30.480
<v Speaker 1>And that is an interesting dynamic too.

0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:34.680
<v Speaker 2>Isn't it that the Lord allowed the Midianites to oppress

0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:39.119
<v Speaker 2>his people to bring his people back to him. Now

0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.840
<v Speaker 2>we know that God uses all things. Even though God

0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:47.800
<v Speaker 2>doesn't do all things. God doesn't do evil. But we

0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.200
<v Speaker 2>have a God who, when evil is done, can use

0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.720
<v Speaker 2>the transformation process that happens through that evil that was

0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.040
<v Speaker 2>done in order to bring about His purpose in the

0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.480
<v Speaker 2>earth for which you were born. And although Midian is

0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:11.119
<v Speaker 2>oppressing the Israelites, God is using Midian as well. And

0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:15.200
<v Speaker 2>it's so cool how Gideon's name rhymes with Midian in English.

0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:16.639
<v Speaker 1>Now this wouldn't work if we.

0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:18.840
<v Speaker 2>Were reading it in the original Hebrew, but we don't

0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.560
<v Speaker 2>know Hebrew, so it works really well for us Gideon

0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.080
<v Speaker 2>and Midian, and it's a total mismatch.

0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.320
<v Speaker 1>Midian has all these troops. Midian has all this power.

0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:29.720
<v Speaker 2>Every year they come in, they raid the Israelites, they

0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.880
<v Speaker 2>take their crops, they take everything of value, They plunder

0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.080
<v Speaker 2>the people. But what are we going to do? We

0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.280
<v Speaker 2>are powerless to do anything about it. So now we've

0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:43.520
<v Speaker 2>got people who are identified as God's special possession being

0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:48.240
<v Speaker 2>plundered and feeling powerless. We have got people who have

0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:53.320
<v Speaker 2>been identified as God's special possession who are being plundered

0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.960
<v Speaker 2>and feeling powerless. There are some people listening to me

0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.240
<v Speaker 2>today who are God's special possession because he bought you

0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.560
<v Speaker 2>with his blood. You're in It's a ten. You are

0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.760
<v Speaker 2>his possession, but you are being plundered. The enemy keeps

0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:14.400
<v Speaker 2>taking your peace, your joy, your focus, your commitment to service,

0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.400
<v Speaker 2>and others, even your very sanity. Somebody in this room

0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:21.159
<v Speaker 2>feels like you've been going crazy today. But you have

0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.560
<v Speaker 2>the mind of Christ. But you feel like you're going crazy,

0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:27.960
<v Speaker 2>and you feel powerless to do anything about it. To

0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.800
<v Speaker 2>the point that when we meet Gideon, he is threshing

0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.480
<v Speaker 2>wheat in a wine press when God calls him a

0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.840
<v Speaker 2>mighty warrior. This juxtaposition has been preached famously, not only

0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:45.160
<v Speaker 2>many times from this little pulpit, but everybody who's picked

0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:47.879
<v Speaker 2>up a microphone in a Bible has had something to

0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.160
<v Speaker 2>say about a God who will call you a warrior

0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:52.919
<v Speaker 2>while you're acting like a wimp.

0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:55.880
<v Speaker 1>And this discrepancy when.

0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.080
<v Speaker 2>God calls you something that you don't feel like you

0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.440
<v Speaker 2>are right now, when God calls you to do something

0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.280
<v Speaker 2>that you don't feel like you have the power to

0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:06.439
<v Speaker 2>do right now, when God calls you to be something

0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:10.040
<v Speaker 2>that you've never even seen before with your eyes, is

0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.159
<v Speaker 2>at the heart of the Gideon narrative. Gideon is so

0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.639
<v Speaker 2>unconvinced about it. He starts asking questions that start with why,

0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.760
<v Speaker 2>Because when you're in a wine press, which is a

0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.159
<v Speaker 2>dugout place to hide, you will be so stuck in

0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:28.840
<v Speaker 2>why it happened that you will forget about who is

0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:31.280
<v Speaker 2>able to deliver you from the situation.

0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:35.400
<v Speaker 1>And this is the situation I feel. I preachi for Gideon.

0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:38.520
<v Speaker 2>Now the Lord doesn't tell him why all the bad

0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:41.560
<v Speaker 2>things have happened. But we know because a prophet has

0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.240
<v Speaker 2>come to the nation of Israel, and the prophet said,

0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:48.040
<v Speaker 2>you have forgotten what I did for you. You have forgotten

0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:49.880
<v Speaker 2>the God who brought you out of Egypt.

0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.800
<v Speaker 1>You have served the gods of the people around you.

0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:57.679
<v Speaker 2>You have adopted the practices of the pagan nations. You

0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.160
<v Speaker 2>have even started adopting their god gods as your gods,

0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:01.880
<v Speaker 2>not only.

0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:03.840
<v Speaker 1>Their practices as your practices.

0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.800
<v Speaker 2>So that if we look at the life of Israel

0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:10.520
<v Speaker 2>in this seven year period that they were oppressed by Midianite,

0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:13.640
<v Speaker 2>there is nothing to tell them apart from the nations

0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:16.960
<v Speaker 2>that surround them. They have come into a land whose

0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:18.200
<v Speaker 2>customs have.

0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:23.160
<v Speaker 1>Become their captivity. They have come into a land.

0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:27.399
<v Speaker 2>That God gave them and the customs of that land

0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:32.560
<v Speaker 2>become their captivity. The Lord says Gideon, I want to

0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:36.800
<v Speaker 2>use you to lead a revolt and a revolution. I'm

0:23:36.800 --> 0:23:41.240
<v Speaker 2>going to enable you and strengthen you and supply you

0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.960
<v Speaker 2>and give the enemy into your hand, and you will

0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:49.720
<v Speaker 2>strike them all down. And Gideon said me, I'm the

0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:53.000
<v Speaker 2>least in my family. My plan is the least in

0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:53.440
<v Speaker 2>the nation.

0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:54.960
<v Speaker 1>Why me?

0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:03.600
<v Speaker 2>God said, why you couse me? God turns twos into

0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:09.119
<v Speaker 2>tens instantly. Only God can do that. Nobody's helping me

0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:12.080
<v Speaker 2>preach because y'all don't believe it. You must be the

0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:16.360
<v Speaker 2>two God sent me to preach to today. Yeah, God sent.

0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:18.119
<v Speaker 1>Me to preach to you because you've been feeling like

0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:19.639
<v Speaker 1>a two. Now.

0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.760
<v Speaker 2>The beauty of this is God doesn't say, Gideon, I'm

0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:23.360
<v Speaker 2>gonna put you.

0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:27.520
<v Speaker 1>Through a preparation process. This is gonna take three years

0:24:27.560 --> 0:24:28.320
<v Speaker 1>to get it done.

0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:32.240
<v Speaker 2>He has actually been preparing Gideon while Gideon has been hidden.

0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:36.400
<v Speaker 2>Do you know that God has been preparing you while

0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:37.400
<v Speaker 2>you have been hidden too?

0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:41.119
<v Speaker 1>Do you know that God has been giving.

0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:48.120
<v Speaker 2>You tools, resources, lessons, words, confirmations while you have been

0:24:48.920 --> 0:24:50.639
<v Speaker 2>in the cave of what you perceive to be your

0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:52.240
<v Speaker 2>abandonment and wasted season.

0:24:53.480 --> 0:24:55.359
<v Speaker 1>So he tells Gideon to go.

0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:58.160
<v Speaker 2>He gives Gideon a sign, and we pick up where

0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:03.160
<v Speaker 2>I started today. The Angel of the Lord said to Gideon, peace,

0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:08.840
<v Speaker 2>do not be afraid. You are not going to die.

0:25:08.960 --> 0:25:11.840
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes when God shows up in your life, the first

0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:16.679
<v Speaker 2>thing you feel is fear. Feeling close to God is

0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:21.320
<v Speaker 2>not always. I'm sorry, Eagles a peaceful, easy feeling.

0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:25.320
<v Speaker 1>I love the song, but in my experience.

0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:27.960
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes the first thing I feel when God is doing

0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:30.600
<v Speaker 2>a work in my life is fear.

0:25:31.080 --> 0:25:33.560
<v Speaker 1>I feel safe in the cave or the wine press.

0:25:34.240 --> 0:25:36.520
<v Speaker 2>I feel scared when I step out to do the

0:25:36.560 --> 0:25:39.720
<v Speaker 2>next thing God has called me to do. And it

0:25:39.840 --> 0:25:43.119
<v Speaker 2>amazing that the Angel told him you are not going

0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:46.400
<v Speaker 2>to die, and Gideon didn't even ask, am I going

0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:51.479
<v Speaker 2>to die? Hmmm, something's happening here. He's preparing Gideon for something.

0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:53.560
<v Speaker 2>Gideon is so encouraged.

0:25:53.560 --> 0:25:54.280
<v Speaker 1>Can you feel it?

0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:58.520
<v Speaker 2>He's so encouraged. Wow, God sees me. God's got me.

0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:02.199
<v Speaker 2>God's with me. God came to me. God spoke to me.

0:26:02.480 --> 0:26:03.639
<v Speaker 2>God gave me a sign.

0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:07.320
<v Speaker 1>It's him. He is so enthralled by this experience.

0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:11.719
<v Speaker 2>In verse twenty four that impulsively he built an altar

0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:15.480
<v Speaker 2>to the Lord verse twenty four there and called it

0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:20.000
<v Speaker 2>the Lord is Peace. To this day, it stands in

0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:22.960
<v Speaker 2>Oprah of the abs Rights. That's as far as I

0:26:23.000 --> 0:26:28.359
<v Speaker 2>got when I preached last year, maybe because that's what

0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:31.800
<v Speaker 2>people want to hear of how it's going to go.

0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.560
<v Speaker 1>That God is going to bring you closer to Him

0:26:36.600 --> 0:26:41.720
<v Speaker 1>and fulfill his purpose for your life. But this is an.

0:26:41.280 --> 0:26:44.400
<v Speaker 2>Alter that Gideon decided to build, not one that God commanded.

0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:50.520
<v Speaker 2>This alter, while not evil in its own way, was

0:26:50.640 --> 0:26:53.840
<v Speaker 2>just his idea to commemorate the moment that he had

0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:58.679
<v Speaker 2>with the Angel. He lays down that night, probably feeling

0:26:58.920 --> 0:27:01.919
<v Speaker 2>nervous and excited. The Lord told me that I'm gonna

0:27:02.040 --> 0:27:04.560
<v Speaker 2>strike down the Midian Ice. It's going to be amazing.

0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:06.640
<v Speaker 2>I gotta start getting an army. I gotta start learning

0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:08.920
<v Speaker 2>jiu jitsu. I gotta start, you know, whatever. He's doing

0:27:08.960 --> 0:27:12.679
<v Speaker 2>to get himself excited about this big battle that is

0:27:12.720 --> 0:27:17.840
<v Speaker 2>before him. But that same night verse twenty five, the

0:27:17.960 --> 0:27:20.560
<v Speaker 2>Lord said to him, Now, the Lord's already been speaking

0:27:20.600 --> 0:27:23.119
<v Speaker 2>to Gideon for a while. It just took Gideon a

0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:26.400
<v Speaker 2>while to realize it. But that same night, the Lord

0:27:26.480 --> 0:27:29.760
<v Speaker 2>said to him, take the second bull from your father's herd,

0:27:30.280 --> 0:27:33.719
<v Speaker 2>the one seven years old. Tear down your father's altar

0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:38.320
<v Speaker 2>to Bail and cut down the ascher a pole beside it.

0:27:39.320 --> 0:27:43.040
<v Speaker 2>Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord,

0:27:43.080 --> 0:27:46.439
<v Speaker 2>your God on the top of this height, using the

0:27:46.480 --> 0:27:48.920
<v Speaker 2>wood of the ascher a pole that you cut down,

0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:53.360
<v Speaker 2>offer the second bull as a burn offering. So let's contrast.

0:27:53.800 --> 0:27:57.200
<v Speaker 2>Gideon says, Oh, I'm not gonna die. Let me build

0:27:57.200 --> 0:27:59.840
<v Speaker 2>you an altar God. I'm gonna call it the Lord

0:28:00.520 --> 0:28:05.000
<v Speaker 2>is Peace, Jehovah Shalom. I'm gonna name this altar the

0:28:05.160 --> 0:28:08.320
<v Speaker 2>Lord is Peace. Now I'm gonna go to sleep. It's

0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:10.560
<v Speaker 2>been a long day. This has been very traumatic. The

0:28:10.600 --> 0:28:13.280
<v Speaker 2>Lord wakes him up and says, your altar was nice,

0:28:14.880 --> 0:28:19.040
<v Speaker 2>but there's another altar. Touch your neighbors say, there's another altar.

0:28:20.680 --> 0:28:25.720
<v Speaker 2>There's another alter that is built not to Yahweh. It's

0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:29.560
<v Speaker 2>look at the wording in verse twenty five. Your father's

0:28:29.920 --> 0:28:35.119
<v Speaker 2>alter to bail and while get In is busy trying

0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:37.240
<v Speaker 2>to build an altar to God, like I see some

0:28:37.359 --> 0:28:39.719
<v Speaker 2>people that I preach to, you're trying to build your

0:28:39.760 --> 0:28:40.400
<v Speaker 2>life back.

0:28:40.600 --> 0:28:42.200
<v Speaker 1>You're trying to build your hope back.

0:28:42.360 --> 0:28:44.840
<v Speaker 2>You're trying to build your business back, You're trying to

0:28:44.840 --> 0:28:48.120
<v Speaker 2>build your family back, you're trying to build your sobriety back.

0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:50.320
<v Speaker 2>You had eighty one days and now you're back on

0:28:50.440 --> 0:28:53.280
<v Speaker 2>day two. But that's okay because as you are trying

0:28:53.320 --> 0:28:55.920
<v Speaker 2>to build it back, God wants to show you something

0:28:55.960 --> 0:28:58.280
<v Speaker 2>that will make sure that this time you build it,

0:28:59.240 --> 0:29:02.400
<v Speaker 2>what you build will stand the test of the battle

0:29:02.680 --> 0:29:03.360
<v Speaker 2>that you face.

0:29:05.120 --> 0:29:08.760
<v Speaker 1>Because because if.

0:29:08.600 --> 0:29:12.080
<v Speaker 2>All I do is build an altar while Pastor Stephen

0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:15.080
<v Speaker 2>is preaching, and if all I do is say, Okay,

0:29:15.280 --> 0:29:17.640
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna stack some new habits and I'm going to

0:29:17.720 --> 0:29:20.560
<v Speaker 2>do some new things, and okay, the Lord is peace.

0:29:20.680 --> 0:29:21.520
<v Speaker 1>I found out.

0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:26.000
<v Speaker 2>Something that you cannot have God's peace and keep it

0:29:26.840 --> 0:29:37.920
<v Speaker 2>without having God's priorities. God's peace without God's priorities is

0:29:38.000 --> 0:29:42.400
<v Speaker 2>always temporary. The kind of peace that you've been seeking

0:29:42.440 --> 0:29:45.160
<v Speaker 2>in your life, craving in your life, crying out for

0:29:45.240 --> 0:29:49.360
<v Speaker 2>in your life, that kind of peace, that permanent piece,

0:29:49.800 --> 0:29:53.600
<v Speaker 2>that storm speaking peace that lay your head on the

0:29:53.640 --> 0:29:57.400
<v Speaker 2>pillow of a lion's main kind of peace that I'm

0:29:57.400 --> 0:29:59.840
<v Speaker 2>in a fire, but I see the fourth man kind

0:29:59.880 --> 0:30:03.440
<v Speaker 2>of piece, the kind of peace that can know that

0:30:03.600 --> 0:30:06.160
<v Speaker 2>greater is he that is in me than he that

0:30:06.280 --> 0:30:08.240
<v Speaker 2>is in the world, And there's more with us than

0:30:08.320 --> 0:30:10.880
<v Speaker 2>with them, and I don't have to be afraid about

0:30:10.920 --> 0:30:11.440
<v Speaker 2>any of it.

0:30:14.440 --> 0:30:17.520
<v Speaker 1>That kind of peace only.

0:30:17.280 --> 0:30:22.400
<v Speaker 2>Comes from priorities. I don't know how to get you

0:30:22.440 --> 0:30:23.640
<v Speaker 2>to shout about priorities.

0:30:25.240 --> 0:30:30.480
<v Speaker 5>Breakthrough, Yeah, priorities.

0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:38.160
<v Speaker 2>I couldn't figure out how to make it sexy. I

0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:41.080
<v Speaker 2>couldn't figure out how to make a sing I figure.

0:30:41.160 --> 0:30:45.520
<v Speaker 2>Maybe if he played organ behind me priorities, maybe that

0:30:45.560 --> 0:30:47.800
<v Speaker 2>would trick you into thinking it was really sexier than

0:30:47.840 --> 0:30:48.120
<v Speaker 2>it was.

0:30:48.200 --> 0:30:49.680
<v Speaker 1>But any sexy.

0:30:50.560 --> 0:30:53.800
<v Speaker 2>Nothing sexy about putting stones on top of stones on

0:30:53.880 --> 0:30:58.760
<v Speaker 2>top of stones. And definitely watch this. There is absolutely

0:30:58.800 --> 0:31:03.239
<v Speaker 2>nothing convenient or appealing about what God told Gideon to

0:31:03.240 --> 0:31:06.000
<v Speaker 2>do next, you know, fighting a battle.

0:31:05.720 --> 0:31:06.560
<v Speaker 1>Against an enemy.

0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:11.400
<v Speaker 2>Well I got testosterone for that, taking an army and

0:31:11.440 --> 0:31:15.000
<v Speaker 2>seeing God through the impossible, which Gideon eventually did, by

0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:19.560
<v Speaker 2>the way, But before he did that.

0:31:19.680 --> 0:31:21.960
<v Speaker 1>He had to do this.

0:31:22.680 --> 0:31:26.920
<v Speaker 2>Take the second bull from your father's heard, the one

0:31:27.480 --> 0:31:33.640
<v Speaker 2>seven years old, And this must have been the hardest

0:31:33.680 --> 0:31:39.520
<v Speaker 2>thing for Gideon to understand. Tear down your father's altar

0:31:40.520 --> 0:31:49.800
<v Speaker 2>to bail Before Gideon can win the battle against Midian.

0:31:51.160 --> 0:31:54.040
<v Speaker 1>He must break the altar to Bail.

0:31:56.560 --> 0:32:00.560
<v Speaker 2>You've got a Midian in your life, an external enemy

0:32:00.600 --> 0:32:03.160
<v Speaker 2>that you so badly want to see God drive back,

0:32:03.200 --> 0:32:05.040
<v Speaker 2>and he can and he will, and he has plans

0:32:05.040 --> 0:32:06.920
<v Speaker 2>to do it and to use you in the process,

0:32:07.280 --> 0:32:09.440
<v Speaker 2>not just for you, but for everybody that God has

0:32:09.480 --> 0:32:10.400
<v Speaker 2>called you to impact.

0:32:10.640 --> 0:32:12.560
<v Speaker 1>That's all true.

0:32:12.760 --> 0:32:16.400
<v Speaker 2>But before you can defeat.

0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:20.920
<v Speaker 1>Midian, you must dethrone Bail.

0:32:25.120 --> 0:32:28.800
<v Speaker 2>Would it be helpful if I explain to your neighbor

0:32:29.240 --> 0:32:32.600
<v Speaker 2>what Bail is? I know you know all about Bail,

0:32:32.600 --> 0:32:34.480
<v Speaker 2>but maybe your neighbor doesn't.

0:32:34.840 --> 0:32:36.080
<v Speaker 1>He was the local god.

0:32:37.280 --> 0:32:41.400
<v Speaker 2>It's not even his name, it's his title because Bail

0:32:41.560 --> 0:32:46.920
<v Speaker 2>was said to control the fertility and the weather. Without

0:32:46.960 --> 0:32:51.800
<v Speaker 2>those two things, you can't eat or recreate. But we

0:32:52.520 --> 0:32:59.080
<v Speaker 2>understand Bail isn't real. We understand we have progressed as

0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:03.280
<v Speaker 2>a society. We are so advanced, and thank God that

0:33:03.320 --> 0:33:06.960
<v Speaker 2>we're alive at this time in the history, because we

0:33:07.160 --> 0:33:09.800
<v Speaker 2>no longer trust in stuff that claims to be God.

0:33:09.800 --> 0:33:10.160
<v Speaker 1>But is it?

0:33:13.240 --> 0:33:15.560
<v Speaker 2>Wake up, baby, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming.

0:33:17.040 --> 0:33:19.280
<v Speaker 1>I didn't start slow because I got nothing to say.

0:33:19.320 --> 0:33:21.200
<v Speaker 2>I just want to give you a minute to settle

0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:26.880
<v Speaker 2>in for this one. It's not like we have bales

0:33:26.880 --> 0:33:31.880
<v Speaker 2>in our culture, right. It's not like we have stuff

0:33:31.880 --> 0:33:33.080
<v Speaker 2>that controls.

0:33:32.680 --> 0:33:37.000
<v Speaker 1>Us in our culture. Right.

0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:40.560
<v Speaker 2>It's not like we're a bunch of zombies in the

0:33:40.720 --> 0:33:44.400
<v Speaker 2>zoo of twenty four to seven news cycles telling us

0:33:44.440 --> 0:33:45.520
<v Speaker 2>what's gonna happen in.

0:33:45.480 --> 0:33:46.760
<v Speaker 1>The world, when our.

0:33:46.640 --> 0:33:58.280
<v Speaker 2>Savior already told us I have overcome the world before

0:33:59.480 --> 0:34:05.960
<v Speaker 2>I can feet this army called Midian and have real

0:34:06.040 --> 0:34:09.319
<v Speaker 2>peace with God. That's what Gideon said. He said, the

0:34:09.400 --> 0:34:12.640
<v Speaker 2>Lord is peace. I'm gonna build an altar, and that's great.

0:34:12.760 --> 0:34:14.960
<v Speaker 2>And the Lord is peace. And he does love you,

0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:18.480
<v Speaker 2>and he will never leave you nor forsake you. In fact,

0:34:18.800 --> 0:34:22.400
<v Speaker 2>he loves you too much to leave you like he

0:34:22.520 --> 0:34:27.520
<v Speaker 2>found you. And when God comes into your life, not

0:34:27.719 --> 0:34:31.560
<v Speaker 2>only will he break through for you, but the next

0:34:31.600 --> 0:34:34.680
<v Speaker 2>thing that happens when God does break through for you

0:34:35.400 --> 0:34:39.120
<v Speaker 2>is God will call you to break up with something.

0:34:40.600 --> 0:34:44.680
<v Speaker 2>See how much we love to shout about breakthrough, But

0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:50.440
<v Speaker 2>what if there's a breakup before the breakthrough? Is that

0:34:50.520 --> 0:34:53.839
<v Speaker 2>why you've been feeling restless? Is that why you've been

0:34:53.880 --> 0:34:57.200
<v Speaker 2>feeling uncomfortable doing the things you used to do? Is

0:34:57.239 --> 0:34:59.719
<v Speaker 2>that why there has been a conviction in your heart that,

0:35:00.120 --> 0:35:02.920
<v Speaker 2>you know what, I'm not living like this anymore. You

0:35:03.000 --> 0:35:06.200
<v Speaker 2>know what, I'm not talking like this anymore. You know what,

0:35:06.520 --> 0:35:09.600
<v Speaker 2>I'm not walking like this anymore. You know what, I'm

0:35:09.640 --> 0:35:14.120
<v Speaker 2>not accepting this negativity that comes from my inner critic anymore,

0:35:14.320 --> 0:35:17.239
<v Speaker 2>because I need to hear what God says in this

0:35:17.360 --> 0:35:26.280
<v Speaker 2>season of my life. Maybe you're in a smashing season

0:35:26.320 --> 0:35:29.640
<v Speaker 2>of your own. Maybe there are some things that God

0:35:29.760 --> 0:35:32.720
<v Speaker 2>is breaking off of your life in this season.

0:35:33.239 --> 0:35:35.960
<v Speaker 1>Maybe there are some bails.

0:35:36.560 --> 0:35:38.799
<v Speaker 2>That you have been believing in that have let you down,

0:35:40.640 --> 0:35:50.719
<v Speaker 2>and maybe you're going through a breakup with bail. I

0:35:50.760 --> 0:35:52.560
<v Speaker 2>was talking to a lady the other day who had

0:35:52.560 --> 0:35:55.320
<v Speaker 2>a boyfriend. I said, how's he doing? She said, I

0:35:55.360 --> 0:36:00.040
<v Speaker 2>don't know. I quit answering his calls. I said, so,

0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:06.919
<v Speaker 2>y'all broke up? She said, I guess. I said, does

0:36:06.960 --> 0:36:15.919
<v Speaker 2>he know? And she said he will called ghosting. She's

0:36:15.960 --> 0:36:19.400
<v Speaker 2>just gonna ghost ghost the man how goes mad? When

0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:21.719
<v Speaker 2>I was a kid, the most cowardly thing you could

0:36:21.760 --> 0:36:25.799
<v Speaker 2>do is send somebody else to tell. Not that I

0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:28.600
<v Speaker 2>was traumatized by Melissa in fifth grade, but why would

0:36:28.640 --> 0:36:32.600
<v Speaker 2>you send Why would you send someone else to tell me.

0:36:34.120 --> 0:36:36.000
<v Speaker 2>How do you think it's disrespectful to break up by text?

0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:36.959
<v Speaker 1>Raise your hand by text?

0:36:37.000 --> 0:36:37.480
<v Speaker 6>At least? All?

0:36:37.560 --> 0:36:40.200
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I think so too, if it's been over two

0:36:40.239 --> 0:36:46.600
<v Speaker 2>weeks in the relationship. We'll get into this later, but

0:36:46.800 --> 0:36:49.239
<v Speaker 2>here's what I want to say.

0:36:49.520 --> 0:36:50.920
<v Speaker 1>Israel has ghosted God.

0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:57.239
<v Speaker 2>When I said earlier you tried to break up with God,

0:36:57.280 --> 0:36:58.600
<v Speaker 2>You're like, Nope, nope, didn't do it.

0:36:59.320 --> 0:36:59.839
<v Speaker 1>Didn't do it.

0:37:01.520 --> 0:37:05.840
<v Speaker 2>I did not, you know, like like like what I

0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:08.720
<v Speaker 2>meant by that was that you did your a pentagram

0:37:08.760 --> 0:37:10.880
<v Speaker 2>on your wall, started listening to Slayer worshiping the devil,

0:37:10.920 --> 0:37:19.120
<v Speaker 2>And you know, I think sometimes we just stop answering.

0:37:22.160 --> 0:37:24.560
<v Speaker 2>Stay right there, stay right there, and act like I'm

0:37:24.560 --> 0:37:25.400
<v Speaker 2>not talking to you.

0:37:25.480 --> 0:37:27.160
<v Speaker 1>All you're doing is proven that you're the one. This

0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:27.799
<v Speaker 1>message is for.

0:37:29.000 --> 0:37:30.879
<v Speaker 2>Stay right there and act like you're always a ten.

0:37:32.280 --> 0:37:34.239
<v Speaker 2>The only reason you're a ten is because he kept

0:37:34.239 --> 0:37:40.279
<v Speaker 2>coming to get you. The only reason you're in is

0:37:40.320 --> 0:37:44.960
<v Speaker 2>because he kept coming, not because you did like you

0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:49.160
<v Speaker 2>always prayed, like you always did it right, like you

0:37:49.280 --> 0:37:53.879
<v Speaker 2>always deserved it, like you were always so wonderful, like

0:37:53.920 --> 0:37:55.600
<v Speaker 2>you always wrote around.

0:37:55.280 --> 0:37:56.560
<v Speaker 1>Singing way maker.

0:37:56.320 --> 0:38:01.000
<v Speaker 2>Miracle worker, like you always were kind like you always gave,

0:38:01.320 --> 0:38:05.240
<v Speaker 2>like you always forgave. The reason that I didn't break

0:38:05.280 --> 0:38:11.200
<v Speaker 2>down is because God wouldn't let me break up with him.

0:38:11.239 --> 0:38:12.839
<v Speaker 1>All Right, I'm gonna tell you a story. I'm gonna

0:38:12.840 --> 0:38:13.719
<v Speaker 1>take you a story I canna tell you?

0:38:13.719 --> 0:38:14.160
<v Speaker 7>Ready for it?

0:38:15.080 --> 0:38:17.520
<v Speaker 2>Did y'all know Holly tried to break up with me.

0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:22.520
<v Speaker 2>She tried to break up with me. Watch this for

0:38:22.600 --> 0:38:27.200
<v Speaker 2>the summer, for the summer. This has never been told

0:38:27.200 --> 0:38:31.160
<v Speaker 2>from the pulpit. It has only been discussed behind closed doors.

0:38:31.840 --> 0:38:33.719
<v Speaker 1>She looked at me seriously.

0:38:34.080 --> 0:38:36.440
<v Speaker 2>She was really thought this was gonna be something I

0:38:36.520 --> 0:38:40.200
<v Speaker 2>was gonna accept as a term of negotiation. She says, well,

0:38:40.239 --> 0:38:42.640
<v Speaker 2>you're going to do this this summer, and I'm gonna

0:38:42.680 --> 0:38:44.839
<v Speaker 2>do this this summer. What if we just see if

0:38:44.880 --> 0:38:46.640
<v Speaker 2>the Lord brings anybody else.

0:38:46.440 --> 0:38:56.560
<v Speaker 1>Into our lives? Can you believe I'm telling them this?

0:39:03.040 --> 0:39:07.640
<v Speaker 2>But she's on the front road because I, like God

0:39:08.120 --> 0:39:08.920
<v Speaker 2>wouldn't let her.

0:39:10.800 --> 0:39:13.719
<v Speaker 1>I always wanted to be God in an illustration. I'm

0:39:13.760 --> 0:39:16.480
<v Speaker 1>so far from God in my real life. I just

0:39:16.520 --> 0:39:19.560
<v Speaker 1>wanted like for fun, Usually she gets to be the

0:39:19.600 --> 0:39:22.400
<v Speaker 1>good one. I'm so happy that I said.

0:39:22.280 --> 0:39:25.640
<v Speaker 2>Now you're talking, I know what I gotten I wanted

0:39:25.920 --> 0:39:26.399
<v Speaker 2>and I.

0:39:26.400 --> 0:39:27.000
<v Speaker 3>Will not.

0:39:32.320 --> 0:39:40.080
<v Speaker 1>God. He didn't leave me like God.

0:39:45.960 --> 0:39:59.080
<v Speaker 2>And God feels this way about you, and he loves

0:39:59.160 --> 0:40:03.120
<v Speaker 2>you so much that he would let you be in

0:40:03.320 --> 0:40:08.160
<v Speaker 2>bondage for a little while rather than let you worship

0:40:08.239 --> 0:40:11.359
<v Speaker 2>bail for the rest of your life.

0:40:12.239 --> 0:40:16.239
<v Speaker 1>Bail is a false God. Bail is a God who

0:40:16.320 --> 0:40:17.600
<v Speaker 1>keeps you in bondage.

0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:21.200
<v Speaker 2>Bail is a God that you cannot appease even with

0:40:21.320 --> 0:40:26.560
<v Speaker 2>human sacrifices. Bail can't make it rain. Ask Jezebel. She

0:40:26.719 --> 0:40:29.760
<v Speaker 2>thought Bail could make it happen, but she was wrong.

0:40:30.200 --> 0:40:33.600
<v Speaker 2>She had to apologize before she died because she found

0:40:33.680 --> 0:40:40.919
<v Speaker 2>out that Bail is not God, and before Gideon could

0:40:40.960 --> 0:40:43.920
<v Speaker 2>build an altar to God. Before you can build a

0:40:43.960 --> 0:40:46.839
<v Speaker 2>new beginning in your life, before we can get past

0:40:46.880 --> 0:40:50.800
<v Speaker 2>this temporary behavior modification that doesn't last ten minutes after

0:40:50.840 --> 0:40:55.239
<v Speaker 2>we leave church, there might be something you have to

0:40:55.239 --> 0:41:01.879
<v Speaker 2>go home and Drake. If somebody sent you this YouTube link,

0:41:01.920 --> 0:41:11.120
<v Speaker 2>they might be breaking up with you, but it might

0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:15.960
<v Speaker 2>not be a relationship. Don't go quit your job talking

0:41:15.960 --> 0:41:20.080
<v Speaker 2>about I'm smashing my bail onto the I could just

0:41:20.080 --> 0:41:21.960
<v Speaker 2>see a kid, you know, Because people like to take

0:41:22.000 --> 0:41:24.000
<v Speaker 2>the message and twist it all up. I could see

0:41:24.120 --> 0:41:27.320
<v Speaker 2>a kid going home and smack take a baseball bat

0:41:27.360 --> 0:41:30.680
<v Speaker 2>to their parents' car. I'm smashing my father's alter to Bail.

0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:32.920
<v Speaker 1>I know you're not. You've about to you about to

0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:39.760
<v Speaker 1>feel the wrath.

0:41:43.440 --> 0:41:46.719
<v Speaker 2>Amazing, he said, Before you can go forward and fight

0:41:46.840 --> 0:41:51.080
<v Speaker 2>this battle, I need you to demolish your father's alter

0:41:51.200 --> 0:41:53.040
<v Speaker 2>for the purposes of the class that we're having today.

0:41:53.040 --> 0:41:55.160
<v Speaker 2>I do not want you to think about your father's

0:41:55.160 --> 0:41:58.239
<v Speaker 2>alter as being about what your family taught you Biologically.

0:41:59.400 --> 0:42:01.080
<v Speaker 2>That would be too limited, for it was not only

0:42:01.160 --> 0:42:03.840
<v Speaker 2>Joe ash that had erected an altar. He was just

0:42:03.880 --> 0:42:08.840
<v Speaker 2>the custodian of the cultural corruption. So what God was

0:42:08.840 --> 0:42:11.160
<v Speaker 2>really telling Gideon in this passage, what he's really speaking

0:42:11.200 --> 0:42:14.640
<v Speaker 2>to us as a New Testament church today, has nothing

0:42:14.640 --> 0:42:14.920
<v Speaker 2>to do.

0:42:14.880 --> 0:42:18.239
<v Speaker 1>With the family that you were raised in. It has

0:42:18.280 --> 0:42:19.520
<v Speaker 1>to do with the beliefs.

0:42:21.239 --> 0:42:28.120
<v Speaker 2>The belief everybody say, belief, the beliefs that you cherish,

0:42:28.480 --> 0:42:33.759
<v Speaker 2>the beliefs that you behave out of the beliefs that

0:42:33.800 --> 0:42:38.719
<v Speaker 2>are ingrained in you. The belief the beliefs, that's what

0:42:39.280 --> 0:42:39.880
<v Speaker 2>Bail was.

0:42:40.000 --> 0:42:43.720
<v Speaker 1>Bail was not just an idol you picture just the object.

0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:46.120
<v Speaker 2>The object was just pointing to the belief behind it,

0:42:46.239 --> 0:42:48.960
<v Speaker 2>that we need something other than God to make it rain,

0:42:50.480 --> 0:42:53.520
<v Speaker 2>that we need something other than God to give us life,

0:42:54.400 --> 0:42:57.120
<v Speaker 2>that we need something other than God to defend us.

0:42:57.440 --> 0:43:03.120
<v Speaker 2>How's that working for you? How is your bail doing?

0:43:04.600 --> 0:43:07.359
<v Speaker 2>Because you said if you succeeded this much, you would

0:43:07.400 --> 0:43:10.959
<v Speaker 2>be happy, and you got success. How did success serve

0:43:11.040 --> 0:43:14.640
<v Speaker 2>you when you made it a God? I guarantee you

0:43:14.680 --> 0:43:17.840
<v Speaker 2>it left you emptier because more success came with more pressure,

0:43:18.080 --> 0:43:20.200
<v Speaker 2>and you found out that there is nothing that can

0:43:20.239 --> 0:43:23.960
<v Speaker 2>make you feel full if you are empty without him.

0:43:24.040 --> 0:43:28.320
<v Speaker 1>Mm hmmm hm. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

0:43:29.600 --> 0:43:33.040
<v Speaker 2>That's what I'm saying smashing Bail's alter. This isn't you

0:43:33.160 --> 0:43:36.680
<v Speaker 2>going home and deleting Facebook for a week. It may

0:43:36.760 --> 0:43:39.360
<v Speaker 2>include that, but that is not what I'm trying to

0:43:39.440 --> 0:43:43.319
<v Speaker 2>achieve by preaching this message. When I say there may

0:43:43.360 --> 0:43:47.200
<v Speaker 2>be a breakup with Bail that needs to happen, what

0:43:47.320 --> 0:43:51.360
<v Speaker 2>I actually picture in my spirit is a kid going

0:43:51.400 --> 0:43:55.640
<v Speaker 2>back to school this week and there are things that

0:43:55.719 --> 0:44:01.120
<v Speaker 2>you believed last year. But God has been working on

0:44:01.160 --> 0:44:04.799
<v Speaker 2>your heart not only in this message, but in this

0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:08.200
<v Speaker 2>season and when you go back to your school in

0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:10.920
<v Speaker 2>a few days, or if you've already gone back to school,

0:44:11.080 --> 0:44:14.640
<v Speaker 2>when you walk in tomorrow. You walk in, and after

0:44:14.719 --> 0:44:17.880
<v Speaker 2>a while people notice that you are not as easily

0:44:18.000 --> 0:44:21.480
<v Speaker 2>drawn to and seduced by the things that you were

0:44:21.560 --> 0:44:26.000
<v Speaker 2>drawn by, seduced by, duped by, and destroyed by in

0:44:26.040 --> 0:44:27.000
<v Speaker 2>a previous season.

0:44:28.320 --> 0:44:29.920
<v Speaker 1>And they begin to say things to.

0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:34.480
<v Speaker 2>You like you've changed, you're different. Maybe they even make

0:44:34.520 --> 0:44:37.520
<v Speaker 2>it a little bit meaner. And they start calling you

0:44:37.680 --> 0:44:40.920
<v Speaker 2>names because you won't have sex, and they start leaving

0:44:40.960 --> 0:44:43.319
<v Speaker 2>you out because you won't go places.

0:44:43.280 --> 0:44:46.239
<v Speaker 1>And you have the audacity, Gideon, to.

0:44:46.320 --> 0:44:50.359
<v Speaker 2>Look at them and say, yeah, I know I look

0:44:50.400 --> 0:44:53.600
<v Speaker 2>a little different, and I know I act a little different,

0:44:54.360 --> 0:44:57.200
<v Speaker 2>And it's not that I'm better than you, but it's

0:44:57.280 --> 0:45:00.920
<v Speaker 2>just that something happened to me over the summer that

0:45:01.000 --> 0:45:03.840
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if I told you about this, but

0:45:03.920 --> 0:45:09.960
<v Speaker 2>I've been through a break up. Me and Bail broke up.

0:45:11.680 --> 0:45:15.320
<v Speaker 2>I decided he wasn't doing it for me. I decided

0:45:15.360 --> 0:45:18.359
<v Speaker 2>that living to be popular was costing me too much

0:45:18.400 --> 0:45:25.600
<v Speaker 2>peace ma I decided that living for pleasure cost me

0:45:25.719 --> 0:45:29.560
<v Speaker 2>too much paint. On the other side, I decided that

0:45:29.760 --> 0:45:35.280
<v Speaker 2>not having God's priorities. Men, I can't have God's peace.

0:45:35.520 --> 0:45:38.520
<v Speaker 2>So y'all be anxious. If you gotta be anxious, y'all

0:45:38.560 --> 0:45:41.480
<v Speaker 2>be crazy. If you got to be crazy, y'all be hateful.

0:45:41.520 --> 0:45:44.000
<v Speaker 2>If you gotta be hateful, y'all call me what y'all

0:45:44.040 --> 0:45:44.759
<v Speaker 2>gotta call me.

0:45:45.120 --> 0:45:50.800
<v Speaker 1>But the one who called me is more important than you. Haddah.

0:45:52.719 --> 0:45:54.880
<v Speaker 2>High five of your neighbors say, I'm breaking up with Bail,

0:45:56.480 --> 0:45:58.799
<v Speaker 2>so I might not look the same next time you

0:45:58.880 --> 0:46:01.840
<v Speaker 2>see me. Use I'm gonna be going through a breakup,

0:46:02.480 --> 0:46:05.319
<v Speaker 2>and it might be a painful breakup, and I may

0:46:05.400 --> 0:46:08.239
<v Speaker 2>have to relearn some things, and I may have to

0:46:08.239 --> 0:46:11.640
<v Speaker 2>be alone sometimes, and I might have to cry some

0:46:11.920 --> 0:46:16.120
<v Speaker 2>nice but I'm determined to see this through. Why because

0:46:16.239 --> 0:46:20.239
<v Speaker 2>after the breakup there will be a breakthrough.

0:46:22.040 --> 0:46:26.120
<v Speaker 5>Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.

0:46:26.200 --> 0:46:30.400
<v Speaker 2>Get happy because I'm gonna cry for a little while.

0:46:31.480 --> 0:46:36.239
<v Speaker 1>But we've been may endure for a night.

0:46:37.480 --> 0:46:42.960
<v Speaker 2>But high five your neighbors say, after the breakup, when the.

0:46:43.040 --> 0:46:48.799
<v Speaker 3>Sun came up, When the sun came up, when the

0:46:48.840 --> 0:46:57.440
<v Speaker 3>sun came up, there it was the altar of fan demolished,

0:46:57.520 --> 0:47:02.640
<v Speaker 3>the pieces broken to pieces, sash the basis, find the

0:47:02.840 --> 0:47:10.120
<v Speaker 3>power oh God, hot pot ten. People say I'm a

0:47:10.320 --> 0:47:13.439
<v Speaker 3>tam right now, I'm a tin right now.

0:47:14.360 --> 0:47:15.680
<v Speaker 2>I'm all Sein right now?

0:47:17.280 --> 0:47:21.360
<v Speaker 3>Who almost said I'm all him?

0:47:21.760 --> 0:47:33.000
<v Speaker 5>How thoughts you are too hollahs. But me and God

0:47:33.480 --> 0:47:34.600
<v Speaker 5>got back together?

0:47:34.960 --> 0:47:45.600
<v Speaker 3>How how whoa? That's why I'm president sow whoa? How good?

0:47:45.680 --> 0:47:47.000
<v Speaker 3>You are falling apart?

0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:47.920
<v Speaker 5>Hollow?

0:47:50.120 --> 0:47:51.800
<v Speaker 1>But me and God.

0:47:56.040 --> 0:48:00.480
<v Speaker 2>In fact, I'm not even telling Bail myself. That's gonna

0:48:00.480 --> 0:48:08.200
<v Speaker 2>send him a message. Why are you breaking up with

0:48:08.280 --> 0:48:12.360
<v Speaker 2>me because you're not God? Stop thinking this is a

0:48:12.360 --> 0:48:16.080
<v Speaker 2>marriage seminar. I'm not talking about a divorce from your spouse.

0:48:16.440 --> 0:48:20.440
<v Speaker 2>I'm talking about a divorce from your belief system that

0:48:20.640 --> 0:48:27.000
<v Speaker 2>is keeping you stuck. You might have a better spouse

0:48:27.040 --> 0:48:31.440
<v Speaker 2>if you had a different belief system about marriage, and.

0:48:31.440 --> 0:48:32.919
<v Speaker 1>It might not even be a different one.

0:48:34.080 --> 0:48:37.680
<v Speaker 2>So before you take the bat to the marriage, take

0:48:37.719 --> 0:48:39.080
<v Speaker 2>the bat to Bail.

0:48:40.480 --> 0:48:42.600
<v Speaker 1>And all of that. I was gonna preach to you

0:48:43.880 --> 0:48:44.239
<v Speaker 1>all of.

0:48:44.200 --> 0:48:53.200
<v Speaker 8>That, and then I realized it wasn't about that alter.

0:48:54.840 --> 0:48:56.319
<v Speaker 8>It was about what was on it.

0:48:58.840 --> 0:48:59.480
<v Speaker 1>Read it with me.

0:49:00.160 --> 0:49:03.360
<v Speaker 2>I'm almost done. Don't even sit back down. Put the

0:49:03.400 --> 0:49:06.840
<v Speaker 2>pressure on me to be expedient and concise. By standing

0:49:06.880 --> 0:49:12.200
<v Speaker 2>on your feet he said, I want you to tear

0:49:12.239 --> 0:49:17.359
<v Speaker 2>down your father's altar, the one to bail, the cultural

0:49:17.520 --> 0:49:22.440
<v Speaker 2>crap that you keep doing. I want you to clear

0:49:22.440 --> 0:49:24.440
<v Speaker 2>your algorithm this week for what you think is a

0:49:24.480 --> 0:49:30.799
<v Speaker 2>normal attitude. I want you to I want you to

0:49:30.880 --> 0:49:35.880
<v Speaker 2>smash that so that I can do something amazing through you.

0:49:36.280 --> 0:49:38.120
<v Speaker 1>That's what this is about. In your life.

0:49:38.320 --> 0:49:42.120
<v Speaker 2>You think every season of breaking is contrary to the

0:49:42.160 --> 0:49:43.200
<v Speaker 2>season of blessing.

0:49:44.800 --> 0:49:49.600
<v Speaker 1>But after the breakup there's always breakthrough. Well, no breakup,

0:49:49.680 --> 0:49:52.839
<v Speaker 1>no breakthrough. You will keep.

0:49:52.600 --> 0:49:54.960
<v Speaker 2>Going back to bail, and you know what you'll do.

0:49:55.200 --> 0:49:59.720
<v Speaker 2>You will blame it on Midian You will keep thinking

0:49:59.719 --> 0:50:01.759
<v Speaker 2>the the problem is what is against you that you

0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:05.719
<v Speaker 2>can see. But the problem isn't what I can see

0:50:05.760 --> 0:50:09.040
<v Speaker 2>that's against me. It's what I keep abandoning that is

0:50:09.080 --> 0:50:09.520
<v Speaker 2>within me.

0:50:12.040 --> 0:50:13.279
<v Speaker 1>Because greater is He.

0:50:13.719 --> 0:50:15.560
<v Speaker 2>I don't know who this is for, but this thing

0:50:15.640 --> 0:50:18.880
<v Speaker 2>is burning a hole in me today. It is not

0:50:19.000 --> 0:50:21.920
<v Speaker 2>the Midianites to keep defeating you. It is not the

0:50:21.960 --> 0:50:25.920
<v Speaker 2>addiction itself. It is the altar to bail that keeps

0:50:25.960 --> 0:50:30.360
<v Speaker 2>you believing that you need something other than God.

0:50:33.280 --> 0:50:34.120
<v Speaker 1>And the Lord.

0:50:33.960 --> 0:50:38.799
<v Speaker 4>Challenged me to read this scripture again and again, and

0:50:38.840 --> 0:50:42.600
<v Speaker 4>I said, okay. God, he got up and he built

0:50:42.640 --> 0:50:45.480
<v Speaker 4>a new altar, and he tore down the altar to Bail.

0:50:45.840 --> 0:50:49.040
<v Speaker 4>I begin to study about the altar the proper, because.

0:50:48.760 --> 0:50:52.280
<v Speaker 2>In verse twenty six it says, build a proper kind

0:50:52.640 --> 0:50:55.360
<v Speaker 2>of altar to the Lord, your God.

0:50:55.400 --> 0:50:58.320
<v Speaker 1>What is the proper altar that you would build?

0:50:58.480 --> 0:51:01.600
<v Speaker 2>Well, it was uncut stone so that no human hand

0:51:01.600 --> 0:51:04.800
<v Speaker 2>could defile it. It was piled up and made ready

0:51:04.840 --> 0:51:08.239
<v Speaker 2>for the sacrifice, because the altar was a place to die.

0:51:08.280 --> 0:51:11.040
<v Speaker 2>But then I realized that there was one altar that

0:51:11.239 --> 0:51:14.280
<v Speaker 2>was smashed the next morning, and there was one altar

0:51:14.520 --> 0:51:17.400
<v Speaker 2>that was standing. But the thing that made the altar

0:51:17.520 --> 0:51:22.360
<v Speaker 2>proper was not what it was made of, as.

0:51:22.280 --> 0:51:23.600
<v Speaker 1>Much as what was on it.

0:51:25.600 --> 0:51:32.120
<v Speaker 2>The Lord told Gideon, get a bull from your father's

0:51:32.760 --> 0:51:37.000
<v Speaker 2>heard a bull was a common sacrifice. So far we

0:51:37.080 --> 0:51:40.720
<v Speaker 2>see no real revelation as to what needs to happen next,

0:51:40.800 --> 0:51:44.240
<v Speaker 2>but there is significance in this detail. The second bull,

0:51:45.719 --> 0:51:51.720
<v Speaker 2>the one seven years old, smash the altar to Bail,

0:51:53.400 --> 0:51:56.800
<v Speaker 2>build the altar to God. And after you have taken

0:51:57.040 --> 0:52:01.800
<v Speaker 2>the asherah poll which was an idolatry.

0:52:01.160 --> 0:52:05.680
<v Speaker 1>And you put the second bull as a burnt offering

0:52:06.200 --> 0:52:15.239
<v Speaker 1>wait a minute, The bull is not random in this passage.

0:52:15.480 --> 0:52:16.279
<v Speaker 1>The bull.

0:52:18.080 --> 0:52:29.000
<v Speaker 2>Represents Bail, not just because they sound alike, but all

0:52:29.040 --> 0:52:33.279
<v Speaker 2>of the false gods of the Canaanites had mascots.

0:52:34.960 --> 0:52:38.480
<v Speaker 7>For Astrarah, who was their sex god, the mascot was

0:52:38.520 --> 0:52:42.440
<v Speaker 7>a pole, But for Bail, who was the weather in

0:52:42.520 --> 0:52:50.160
<v Speaker 7>fertility god, the mascot was a bull. So when the

0:52:50.239 --> 0:52:54.680
<v Speaker 7>Lord told Gideon, I want you to take the bull

0:52:55.640 --> 0:52:59.880
<v Speaker 7>on the altar that you build to God and smash

0:53:00.160 --> 0:53:04.359
<v Speaker 7>the altar that your father built to Bail, what God

0:53:04.480 --> 0:53:08.839
<v Speaker 7>was saying is I want you to believe Me more

0:53:08.840 --> 0:53:09.880
<v Speaker 7>than you believe Bail.

0:53:15.160 --> 0:53:16.520
<v Speaker 1>And it is very.

0:53:16.239 --> 0:53:20.680
<v Speaker 2>Simple to say, but very hard to apply, because the

0:53:20.840 --> 0:53:23.719
<v Speaker 2>enemy will lie to you and lie to you, and

0:53:23.880 --> 0:53:27.520
<v Speaker 2>lie to you and feed you with beliefs about the

0:53:27.560 --> 0:53:31.560
<v Speaker 2>way things are, about what is important, about what really matters.

0:53:31.800 --> 0:53:35.640
<v Speaker 2>He will feed you as much bull as you will

0:53:35.640 --> 0:53:41.439
<v Speaker 2>listen to. But the Lord said, today is the day

0:53:42.440 --> 0:53:45.320
<v Speaker 2>for you to put the bull on the altar.

0:53:46.800 --> 0:53:47.880
<v Speaker 1>You hear what I'm saying.

0:53:49.160 --> 0:53:52.799
<v Speaker 2>You hear what I'm saying online, touch your neighbors, say,

0:53:52.840 --> 0:53:57.920
<v Speaker 2>put the bull on the altar. Every lie you've believed,

0:53:58.280 --> 0:54:01.279
<v Speaker 2>every stronghold you've exceed every.

0:54:01.120 --> 0:54:04.760
<v Speaker 1>False god you worshiped. Put the bull on the altar.

0:54:07.960 --> 0:54:12.319
<v Speaker 2>As long as we keep building altars to things that

0:54:12.400 --> 0:54:15.960
<v Speaker 2>we ought to let die, we will be in covenant

0:54:16.000 --> 0:54:21.040
<v Speaker 2>with God, but be in captivity in life.

0:54:21.320 --> 0:54:23.200
<v Speaker 1>You have got to put the bull.

0:54:22.960 --> 0:54:25.279
<v Speaker 2>On the altar. I mean, they're playing slow music behind me,

0:54:25.280 --> 0:54:27.759
<v Speaker 2>but I feel like I'm really preaching. Every time the

0:54:27.760 --> 0:54:30.880
<v Speaker 2>devil lies to you, put that bull on the altar.

0:54:32.680 --> 0:54:36.120
<v Speaker 2>Every time he tells you you're insignificant because you're not famous.

0:54:36.360 --> 0:54:39.680
<v Speaker 2>Put that bull on the altar every time he starts

0:54:39.680 --> 0:54:42.239
<v Speaker 2>trying to tell you and attict is all you'll ever be.

0:54:42.600 --> 0:54:45.520
<v Speaker 1>Put that bull on the altar. Whom the sun sets

0:54:45.560 --> 0:54:46.760
<v Speaker 1>free is free.

0:54:46.840 --> 0:54:56.959
<v Speaker 2>Indeed, put that bull on the altar. I heard about

0:54:56.960 --> 0:55:01.120
<v Speaker 2>a basketball game where Michael Jordan scored sixty nine points

0:55:01.120 --> 0:55:01.680
<v Speaker 2>in the game.

0:55:02.440 --> 0:55:04.680
<v Speaker 1>There was a rookie who was interviewed after the game.

0:55:04.719 --> 0:55:05.160
<v Speaker 7>It was his.

0:55:05.160 --> 0:55:07.920
<v Speaker 1>First game in the NBA. This was nineteen ninety.

0:55:08.160 --> 0:55:11.080
<v Speaker 2>They said, what are your comments on your first game

0:55:11.080 --> 0:55:12.160
<v Speaker 2>in the NBA.

0:55:12.160 --> 0:55:14.800
<v Speaker 1>And he said boldly, I'll always.

0:55:14.400 --> 0:55:17.400
<v Speaker 2>Remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I

0:55:17.600 --> 0:55:31.000
<v Speaker 2>combined to score seventy points. He said that because when

0:55:31.000 --> 0:55:33.200
<v Speaker 2>you're connected to the right one.

0:55:34.000 --> 0:55:35.879
<v Speaker 1>I'm not talking about a bull. Now, I'm not talking

0:55:35.880 --> 0:55:36.439
<v Speaker 1>about a bull.

0:55:36.880 --> 0:55:42.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm talking about the spotless, perfect lamb of God. Slay

0:55:42.760 --> 0:55:43.919
<v Speaker 2>from the foundation.

0:55:45.360 --> 0:55:45.680
<v Speaker 1>Wah.

0:55:51.880 --> 0:55:54.799
<v Speaker 2>So the Lord says to get in. You are not

0:55:55.480 --> 0:55:59.239
<v Speaker 2>going to die. But there are some lies that you

0:55:59.280 --> 0:56:03.399
<v Speaker 2>have believed that must die so you can live. There

0:56:03.440 --> 0:56:07.600
<v Speaker 2>are some lies that you have believed that must die

0:56:07.840 --> 0:56:08.759
<v Speaker 2>so you can live.

0:56:08.840 --> 0:56:12.320
<v Speaker 1>There are some lies you have believed that must die

0:56:12.440 --> 0:56:19.280
<v Speaker 1>so you can live. What that bull on the altar.

0:56:20.719 --> 0:56:24.400
<v Speaker 2>Stop thinking that there's something that will fulfill you or

0:56:24.440 --> 0:56:25.680
<v Speaker 2>complete you outside of God.

0:56:25.719 --> 0:56:29.520
<v Speaker 1>There is nothing. It's nobody else's job to complete you.

0:56:30.280 --> 0:56:33.520
<v Speaker 1>It's nobody else's job to fulfill you. It's nobody else's

0:56:33.600 --> 0:56:37.520
<v Speaker 1>job to make you happy. That's God's job. Let him

0:56:37.560 --> 0:56:38.960
<v Speaker 1>do it. Build a proper altar.

0:56:39.920 --> 0:56:43.960
<v Speaker 2>Let God fill those deep places in your life. And

0:56:44.080 --> 0:56:49.960
<v Speaker 2>remember this that there is nothing you can do that

0:56:49.960 --> 0:56:55.279
<v Speaker 2>would separate Him from you. Every time the devil tells

0:56:55.320 --> 0:56:57.560
<v Speaker 2>you you're too far gone. Now, remember you serve a

0:56:57.560 --> 0:57:00.799
<v Speaker 2>God who can make a two to ten by his blood,

0:57:03.480 --> 0:57:06.960
<v Speaker 2>and me and Michael Jordan can score seventy points together

0:57:07.600 --> 0:57:11.320
<v Speaker 2>on a single night, and God can use you to deliver,

0:57:11.400 --> 0:57:13.120
<v Speaker 2>and God can use you to be a blessing, and

0:57:13.160 --> 0:57:15.200
<v Speaker 2>God can use you to give wisdom, and God can

0:57:15.320 --> 0:57:17.120
<v Speaker 2>use you to build it up, and God can use

0:57:17.120 --> 0:57:20.360
<v Speaker 2>you to tear it down. But it's going to be

0:57:20.360 --> 0:57:25.280
<v Speaker 2>because of Him. And when they investigated in the daylight

0:57:25.320 --> 0:57:27.160
<v Speaker 2>to see who had done it in the night, they said,

0:57:27.920 --> 0:57:28.760
<v Speaker 2>Gideon did it.

0:57:30.080 --> 0:57:34.560
<v Speaker 1>Gideon. Isn't he the one who was hiding in the

0:57:34.600 --> 0:57:40.680
<v Speaker 1>wine press? I like to imagine at that moment Gideon says, yeah,

0:57:40.800 --> 0:57:41.439
<v Speaker 1>I was.

0:57:44.280 --> 0:57:53.720
<v Speaker 4>But me and God God back together, and we have this.

0:57:53.720 --> 0:57:55.240
<v Speaker 1>Ministry of reconciliation.

0:57:58.800 --> 0:58:00.400
<v Speaker 2>I know what you've done alone, and I know what

0:58:00.440 --> 0:58:02.200
<v Speaker 2>you've done in your own strength, and so do you.

0:58:02.600 --> 0:58:04.560
<v Speaker 2>I know that bail has failed you. He fails all

0:58:04.600 --> 0:58:08.040
<v Speaker 2>of us. I know how your faults, bail leafs, have

0:58:08.160 --> 0:58:11.760
<v Speaker 2>led you to a place of codependency with substance. Mail

0:58:11.840 --> 0:58:15.439
<v Speaker 2>always does that. I know how thinking that somebody needs

0:58:15.480 --> 0:58:17.480
<v Speaker 2>to approve you before you can be worthy of love

0:58:17.600 --> 0:58:19.800
<v Speaker 2>has left you running drinking salt water in an ocean

0:58:19.800 --> 0:58:20.280
<v Speaker 2>that you're.

0:58:20.080 --> 0:58:27.440
<v Speaker 1>Already drowning in. That's what bail always does. Break that alter, break.

0:58:27.160 --> 0:58:30.720
<v Speaker 2>That altar, Delete every opinion that tells you what a

0:58:30.760 --> 0:58:33.120
<v Speaker 2>young lady is supposed to be like. And ask your

0:58:33.160 --> 0:58:35.560
<v Speaker 2>father what a woman of God looks like. And put

0:58:35.600 --> 0:58:40.240
<v Speaker 2>your virtue on and where your values proudly. And when

0:58:40.240 --> 0:58:42.240
<v Speaker 2>they say you don't post no more, tell him Yeah.

0:58:42.720 --> 0:58:46.080
<v Speaker 2>Me and Bail broke up, and me and God got

0:58:46.120 --> 0:58:46.880
<v Speaker 2>back together.

0:58:47.360 --> 0:58:48.600
<v Speaker 1>That altar is gone.

0:58:48.840 --> 0:58:54.800
<v Speaker 2>I'm ant worship at it another day. I want you

0:58:54.840 --> 0:58:56.560
<v Speaker 2>to grab the hand of the person next to you

0:58:56.640 --> 0:58:58.919
<v Speaker 2>because they're in a battle right now.

0:58:58.920 --> 0:59:03.480
<v Speaker 1>They're in a breakup right now. Now stand through your feet. Everybody.

0:59:03.480 --> 0:59:04.440
<v Speaker 1>I thought y'all were standing.

0:59:04.480 --> 0:59:07.440
<v Speaker 2>I was preaching so hard. Only ten percent was the

0:59:07.440 --> 0:59:11.520
<v Speaker 2>front road. Fooled me again. Squeeze their hand right now,

0:59:11.560 --> 0:59:15.160
<v Speaker 2>because they're in a battle. Squeeze their hand because they're

0:59:15.200 --> 0:59:18.040
<v Speaker 2>in a battle. I want you to squeeze their hand

0:59:18.040 --> 0:59:22.600
<v Speaker 2>to let them know you didn't die. That's how you

0:59:22.640 --> 0:59:25.320
<v Speaker 2>know that the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and

0:59:25.400 --> 0:59:28.000
<v Speaker 2>Jacob is with you too. Even though it was seven

0:59:28.080 --> 0:59:31.560
<v Speaker 2>years of sin. Isn't it weird that the Bible said

0:59:31.600 --> 0:59:35.000
<v Speaker 2>Graham it was a seven year old bull, which was

0:59:35.040 --> 0:59:37.560
<v Speaker 2>the exact length of time they had been in captivity.

0:59:39.120 --> 0:59:42.280
<v Speaker 1>It was the bull that kept them in bondage.

0:59:43.520 --> 0:59:46.840
<v Speaker 2>You can be free the moment you come into agreement

0:59:46.920 --> 0:59:50.560
<v Speaker 2>with God what he says about you. So you can

0:59:50.600 --> 0:59:53.520
<v Speaker 2>be free from the moment that you decide there is

0:59:53.560 --> 0:59:55.800
<v Speaker 2>no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. Jesus

0:59:55.800 --> 0:59:57.600
<v Speaker 2>cuts through Christ. Jesus the low spirital life. Set me

0:59:57.600 --> 0:59:59.520
<v Speaker 2>free from the lost, sin and death. You don't have

0:59:59.560 --> 1:00:03.200
<v Speaker 2>to stay in this another seven years. You can be

1:00:03.320 --> 1:00:08.760
<v Speaker 2>free the moment you believe. Put that bull on the altar,

1:00:09.080 --> 1:00:12.800
<v Speaker 2>by a new bull. Believe you believe in him, you

1:00:12.880 --> 1:00:16.320
<v Speaker 2>will be saved. And right now there's somebody in this

1:00:16.440 --> 1:00:18.480
<v Speaker 2>room who needs this message as a matter of life

1:00:18.560 --> 1:00:18.960
<v Speaker 2>and death.

1:00:19.240 --> 1:00:22.720
<v Speaker 1>You're not gonna die. You're not gonna die.

1:00:23.880 --> 1:00:26.440
<v Speaker 2>But Thomas said, I would have despaired unless I believe

1:00:26.480 --> 1:00:28.200
<v Speaker 2>that I would see the goodness of the Lord in

1:00:28.240 --> 1:00:30.200
<v Speaker 2>the land of the living. You're gonna see it. But

1:00:30.280 --> 1:00:32.480
<v Speaker 2>there's some altars you've been running to in the land

1:00:32.520 --> 1:00:35.040
<v Speaker 2>that you've been occupying, that have been keeping you from

1:00:35.120 --> 1:00:37.200
<v Speaker 2>being the person God sees.

1:00:37.280 --> 1:00:41.400
<v Speaker 1>But you're a warrior in this wine press, always have been.

1:00:43.280 --> 1:00:47.800
<v Speaker 2>He knows there's a better you. He loved me like

1:00:47.880 --> 1:00:54.200
<v Speaker 2>I was, but he didn't leave me like I was Lord,

1:00:54.240 --> 1:00:56.080
<v Speaker 2>I thank you that you loved me like I was.

1:00:58.040 --> 1:00:59.320
<v Speaker 2>You didn't see me as a two.

1:00:59.400 --> 1:01:00.440
<v Speaker 1>You turn me to a ten.

1:01:01.800 --> 1:01:05.840
<v Speaker 2>Woo. I get grateful when I think about your grace.

1:01:07.120 --> 1:01:09.680
<v Speaker 2>I don't have to think about my car. I appreciate it,

1:01:09.880 --> 1:01:12.160
<v Speaker 2>my house, I love it. I don't have to think

1:01:12.160 --> 1:01:14.680
<v Speaker 2>about any of these things, just to say thank you

1:01:14.720 --> 1:01:15.400
<v Speaker 2>for your grace.

1:01:15.480 --> 1:01:18.840
<v Speaker 1>Lord. Why don't you pray that thank you for your grace? Lord?

1:01:21.400 --> 1:01:22.880
<v Speaker 2>I thank you that all I have to do to

1:01:22.920 --> 1:01:26.160
<v Speaker 2>be closer to you is believe that you're already here.

1:01:27.320 --> 1:01:30.120
<v Speaker 2>Like that angel was staring at Gideon, and Gideon finally

1:01:30.160 --> 1:01:30.720
<v Speaker 2>realized it.

1:01:31.120 --> 1:01:33.240
<v Speaker 1>Maybe today is today we finally.

1:01:32.920 --> 1:01:39.800
<v Speaker 2>Realize that the lies belong on the altar before your presence. God,

1:01:40.480 --> 1:01:43.440
<v Speaker 2>I ask you to set your people free today.

1:01:45.040 --> 1:01:46.680
<v Speaker 1>Now drop the hand, but keep your head bout in

1:01:46.720 --> 1:01:48.160
<v Speaker 1>your eyes closed, no one moving around.

1:01:48.160 --> 1:01:49.920
<v Speaker 2>There's somebody in this place who needs to give their

1:01:49.960 --> 1:01:53.439
<v Speaker 2>life to Jesus Christ today. When you do, you don't

1:01:53.480 --> 1:01:55.120
<v Speaker 2>go from a one to a two and spend the

1:01:55.160 --> 1:01:57.160
<v Speaker 2>rest of your life going three, four, five, six.

1:01:57.120 --> 1:01:58.120
<v Speaker 1>Seven, eight, nine, ten.

1:01:59.160 --> 1:02:01.200
<v Speaker 2>You don't start perform and God will see if you

1:02:01.240 --> 1:02:06.000
<v Speaker 2>can really do a triple double Somersault split spiritually the

1:02:06.040 --> 1:02:08.080
<v Speaker 2>God we Sir said, I will not only give you

1:02:08.400 --> 1:02:10.960
<v Speaker 2>the grace, but I will give you the faith to believe.

1:02:12.240 --> 1:02:14.360
<v Speaker 2>So right now, if you know that today is your

1:02:14.440 --> 1:02:16.320
<v Speaker 2>day and God is calling you to bring your life

1:02:16.920 --> 1:02:19.800
<v Speaker 2>to his altar, I want to lead you in a prayer.

1:02:20.960 --> 1:02:25.240
<v Speaker 2>This prayer is an expression of faith, believing in what

1:02:25.400 --> 1:02:28.479
<v Speaker 2>Jesus has already done for you. And if you're ready

1:02:28.520 --> 1:02:31.440
<v Speaker 2>today to repent of your sin and make Jesus the

1:02:31.480 --> 1:02:34.200
<v Speaker 2>Lord of your life, I want you to repeat after me.

1:02:34.400 --> 1:02:36.440
<v Speaker 2>We're all praying this out loud for the benefit of

1:02:36.440 --> 1:02:39.040
<v Speaker 2>those who are coming to God or back to God.

1:02:39.120 --> 1:02:45.440
<v Speaker 2>Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation.

1:02:46.600 --> 1:02:49.480
<v Speaker 2>I am a sinner in need of a savior.

1:02:50.520 --> 1:02:52.160
<v Speaker 1>I believe that.

1:02:52.240 --> 1:02:56.720
<v Speaker 2>Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior

1:02:56.760 --> 1:02:57.320
<v Speaker 2>of the world.

1:02:58.320 --> 1:03:03.840
<v Speaker 6>And today make Jesus the Lord of my life. I

1:03:03.920 --> 1:03:08.440
<v Speaker 6>believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose

1:03:08.480 --> 1:03:14.920
<v Speaker 6>again to give me life, and I receive this new life.

1:03:15.160 --> 1:03:20.040
<v Speaker 1>This is my new beginning. Thank you for joining us.

1:03:20.360 --> 1:03:22.800
<v Speaker 2>Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

1:03:22.880 --> 1:03:26.360
<v Speaker 2>this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

1:03:26.840 --> 1:03:29.000
<v Speaker 2>You can click the link in the description to give

1:03:29.120 --> 1:03:33.240
<v Speaker 2>now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more

1:03:33.280 --> 1:03:37.080
<v Speaker 2>information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

1:03:37.360 --> 1:03:38.680
<v Speaker 1>You can share it with your friends.

1:03:38.960 --> 1:03:41.240
<v Speaker 2>You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

1:03:41.320 --> 1:03:43.400
<v Speaker 2>share it on your social stories and tag us at

1:03:43.440 --> 1:03:44.280
<v Speaker 2>Elevation Church.

1:03:44.360 --> 1:03:51.000
<v Speaker 1>Thanks again for listening. God bless you.