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Speaker 1: Hey there. Before we jump into the amazing message today,

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Speaker 1: we wanted to let you know about our upcoming tour.

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Speaker 1: The starting end just a few days. We're heading out

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Speaker 1: in the month of August with our friends Carrie, Joe

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Speaker 1: and Codycarnes, and we're coming to a city near you.

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Speaker 1: We're going to have an amazing time in the presence

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Speaker 1: of God. Every single time we gather, He's faithful to

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Speaker 1: meet with us and do something new and fresh in

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Speaker 1: our hearts. So we hope you'll join us. Yes, we're

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Speaker 1: going to be in Dallas, San Antonio, Omaha, We're going

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Speaker 1: to be in Toledo, Dayton. We're coming to you, Knoxville, Huntsville. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we're also going to be in Louisville, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,

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Speaker 1: and New York. So come out join us, bring your friends,

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Speaker 1: bring your family. Everything you need tickets and information is

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Speaker 1: at Elevation Worship dot Com. We'll see us here. You

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Speaker 1: know what used to be when I would take a

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Speaker 1: little summer break the day we would get to our

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Speaker 1: vacation as a family, and we haven't been on one

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Speaker 1: long vacation, but normally we'll go away for a little

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Speaker 1: while and I would say, start thinking immediately about the

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Speaker 1: next sermon. So it's weird because I preach, you know,

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Speaker 1: week after week after week, and I'd be like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: in a few weeks, i'm gonna get a little break.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have to tell anybody what to do

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Speaker 1: for a little while. I could just focus on myself

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Speaker 1: and get myself right. And so I would start thinking

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Speaker 1: about the next sermon. And the Lord told me one

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Speaker 1: day that that was stupid, because he said that if

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Speaker 1: I'm always thinking about talking to others, how can I

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Speaker 1: hear from him? And that some of the best stuff

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Speaker 1: that God speaks in your life doesn't happen when you're

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Speaker 1: straining to hear it, but just when you're open to

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Speaker 1: receiving it. So I wasn't trying to think of a

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Speaker 1: sermon to preach about. Matter of fact, I was on

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Speaker 1: a bike ride with Holly. Now we had a big

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Speaker 1: celebration since I saw you, our twentieth wedding anniversary. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think I need to do a marriage series just

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Speaker 1: to give you all the stuff that I've taught her

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Speaker 1: in those two decades and then unpack that for you. No,

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Speaker 1: I've missed y'all. It's good to see you again. But

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Speaker 1: we were riding bikes to breakfast one day and I

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Speaker 1: had asked the Lord, I'm not going to try to

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Speaker 1: write a sermon or a series, but if you say

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Speaker 1: something to me, I'll write it down. We were riding

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Speaker 1: a breakfast and I felt like the Lord gave me

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Speaker 1: what we needed to talk about when we got back together,

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Speaker 1: so I could say this discermon today is been a

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Speaker 1: few weeks in the making, and I really think it's

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Speaker 1: been a few years in the making. A subject that

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Speaker 1: I never spoke directly about before in this church, not

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Speaker 1: because I was scared to, but because I didn't think

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Speaker 1: I was ready to. But I'm gonna speak about it today.

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Speaker 1: I've talked indirectly about these things. I probably mentioned it,

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Speaker 1: But in sixteen years of pastoring Elevation Jurch, I think

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Speaker 1: I've never put this word in a sermon title until today.

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Speaker 1: This is historic and the word is happy. When the

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Speaker 1: Lord told me riding my bike that he wanted me

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Speaker 1: to preach about happiness, I laughed. I laughed because I thought, Lord,

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Speaker 1: you must be confused. Here on vacation. We talk about

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Speaker 1: holiness in church, not happiness. And if we're going to

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Speaker 1: talk about happiness. Then we shouldn't talk about happiness. We

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Speaker 1: need to talk about joy because you know, joy and

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Speaker 1: happiness aren't the same thing. You know, you hear Christians

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Speaker 1: sometimes make weird distinctions. Well, I'm not happy, but I

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Speaker 1: have joy, the doctor joy joy Joy, Oh, joy, down

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Speaker 1: in my heart? Where zone in my heart? This is

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Speaker 1: not on your face? And added to that all the

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Speaker 1: pharisees that watch my YouTube just to say mean things

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Speaker 1: to me in the comments. I thought, how can I

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Speaker 1: preach my happiness? So I start doing a little research.

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Speaker 1: I thought, if I'm a preacher about this, let me

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Speaker 1: do a little research. But I'll do it informally, because

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Speaker 1: I told the Lord I wouldn't work on a sermon

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Speaker 1: before I came back to the church, so I would

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Speaker 1: ask people questions. I asked the family at lunch one day,

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Speaker 1: I said, who's the happiest person? You know? I didn't

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Speaker 1: tell them this was a preamble to my sermon in

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Speaker 1: a few weeks. I just said, who is the happiest

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Speaker 1: person you know? Ah, Dad, that's a dumb question. How

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Speaker 1: can you answer that? You don't really know if people

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Speaker 1: are happy or not. Ah, Maybe that'll preach, But then

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Speaker 1: they started listening to happiest people that they knew, and

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Speaker 1: none of them said you dad. I mean, I eat

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Speaker 1: it up. You know I'm paying for lunch. I ordered appetizers.

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Speaker 1: I let everybody get real drinks. I didn't make them

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Speaker 1: just drink water. And nobody said it's you. I even listen,

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Speaker 1: how bad listen how God pray for me and my family.

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Speaker 1: Because even right before it got to Holly's turn, I said, Holly,

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Speaker 1: you're the happiest person I know. She said that's so sweet,

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Speaker 1: and then she said somebody else's name, and I'm thinking, well,

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Speaker 1: of course, if I was married to me, i'd be

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Speaker 1: the happiest person I knew too, and she really is.

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Speaker 1: Holly is a happy person. So I said, Louri, if

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Speaker 1: we're gonna preach about happiness, you will have to show

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Speaker 1: me how, because there's gonna be people that listen to

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Speaker 1: me preach about happiness, and they they say, I do

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Speaker 1: not want to be in one of those feel good churches.

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Speaker 1: This is a feel goods uh huh. And the same

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Speaker 1: people who say that get massages, eat donuts, do all

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Speaker 1: kinds of things to feel good, but when it comes

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Speaker 1: to my faith, I don't want to feel good at all.

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Speaker 1: Stank me. You are weird everywhere else, but spiritually you

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Speaker 1: want to feel good. You got butt warmers in your

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Speaker 1: car and you come to church like kick my butt.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what I need to hear, make me feel

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Speaker 1: like God is old and mad and slow, and we'll

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Speaker 1: have some scriptures about that as we go, because I

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Speaker 1: think it's gonna take a few weeks, but I want

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Speaker 1: to jump right in. I didn't want to preach a

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Speaker 1: little you know, welcome back, sir, and I wanted to

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Speaker 1: get right into what God told me to preach. I

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Speaker 1: argued with him. I told him I was a hypocrite

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Speaker 1: because I'm not the happiest person and I have a

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Speaker 1: they call it RBF resting blessed face, but I don't

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Speaker 1: have one of those. I typically I look mad, I

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Speaker 1: mean mug. But the Lord said, okay, then then preach

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Speaker 1: it like this, talk to the people about the hard

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Speaker 1: work of happiness in Psalm one twenty six. Y'all open

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Speaker 1: your bible. Y'all didn't bring your bible. I'm gonna make

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Speaker 1: you feel bad about it, since that's what you came

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Speaker 1: to church for and you bring your paper bible, you

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Speaker 1: digital demon, all right, I'll put it on the screen.

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Speaker 1: Someone twenty six, did y'all miss me? That's that guy

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Speaker 1: with the big arms from that baptist picture? Was that

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Speaker 1: you up there? They were talking about a baptism earlier

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Speaker 1: at Valentine's six year anniversary, and Graham, they were over

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Speaker 1: here celebrating baptism, new life in Christ. And all Graham

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Speaker 1: said was, Dad, look at that guy's arms on the screen.

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Speaker 1: You are a distraction, sir. Let me read you this.

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Speaker 1: Y'all stand up. We need to reset and get serious.

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Speaker 1: Now here we go. Tell somebody I'm happy to be here.

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Speaker 1: Put it in the chat. I'm happy to be here.

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Speaker 1: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were

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Speaker 1: like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter,

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Speaker 1: our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said

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Speaker 1: among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.

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Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us, and we

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Speaker 1: are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, Lord like streams,

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Speaker 1: and then negaf those who sow with tears will reap,

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Speaker 1: will reap the songs of joy. Yeah, those who go

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Speaker 1: out weeping carrying seed to sew, will return with songs

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Speaker 1: of joy, carrying sheaves with them in that cool it's

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Speaker 1: called a psalm of a scent. Going up to Jerusalem.

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Speaker 1: They had songs for the three festivals that they would

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Speaker 1: go to, and they had songs for what we would

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Speaker 1: call celebration. And then there are two there's fifteen of

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Speaker 1: these songs songs of a scent. Two of them are

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Speaker 1: called songs of lament. And in that interesting how they're

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Speaker 1: going up to Jerusalem, which is high in elevation physically, geographically,

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Speaker 1: where the temple is, where they're going to worship and

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Speaker 1: celebrate these festivals, but they're singing a song of lament

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Speaker 1: can be associated with mourning or grief and repentance, whether

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Speaker 1: it's over sin or devastation. And this is one of

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Speaker 1: the two songs of lament within the fifteen songs of

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Speaker 1: a sin. That they would sing this, or that they

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Speaker 1: would share this, or that they would declare this, or

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Speaker 1: that they would pray this on their way. Right in

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Speaker 1: the middle of it, it says those who sow with

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Speaker 1: tears will read with songs of joy. What really gets

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Speaker 1: me about that is that somebody on your row, somebody

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Speaker 1: three seats from you, somebody that's just one room over,

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Speaker 1: somebody that's just separated by very little physical space from you,

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Speaker 1: is experiencing something in between those two extremes. As I

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Speaker 1: speak today, sewing with tears, songs of joy. You know

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Speaker 1: a lot of times when we come to church, I

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Speaker 1: think we asked the question, does God have a word

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Speaker 1: for me today? God speak to me? This is a

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Speaker 1: community song because when they would come together like this,

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Speaker 1: they realized it's not just about me. It's not just

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Speaker 1: about me. This might be for somebody that I know today.

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Speaker 1: This might be for somebody that I don't. You have

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Speaker 1: no idea what's going on on your row right now?

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Speaker 1: Or in the words of my kids, how do I

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Speaker 1: know who's really happy? I don't really know them. Now,

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Speaker 1: look at your neighbor and say I don't know you.

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Speaker 1: I don't know you. Like that, sit down and look

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Speaker 1: at your other neighbors, say I don't know you. I

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Speaker 1: don't know you. You don't know what's going on on

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Speaker 1: your row. You have no idea what's going on on

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Speaker 1: your row? Well, they didn't lift their hands at all

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Speaker 1: during worship. They must not really love the Lord. They

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Speaker 1: might have a shoulder injury, a rotator, cuffed hair. You

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying like they barely got the church.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't even drive because they're shoulder and you're judging

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Speaker 1: them because they didn't lift their hands. You don't know them,

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Speaker 1: You don't really know. This is why it's so hard

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Speaker 1: to preach about happy because you say who's the happiest

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Speaker 1: person that you know? And someone will mention the funniest

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Speaker 1: person that they know. I didn't ask you who's the

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Speaker 1: funniest person that you know? You ever met a comedian,

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Speaker 1: These are some of the saddest people. It's true. The

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Speaker 1: reason they're making all these jokes is because sometimes they're

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Speaker 1: not all the time, but sometimes they're compensating for something

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Speaker 1: on the inside that's not right. That's why we can't

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Speaker 1: believe it when somebody who has everything that we think

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Speaker 1: is supposed to make you happy is in a headline

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Speaker 1: saying that they took their own life. How could they

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Speaker 1: make me so happy as an actor but they couldn't

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Speaker 1: make themselves happy in life. I understand there's mental illness,

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Speaker 1: I understand their issues that are beyond the control of

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Speaker 1: life decisions. But I think according to someone twenty six,

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Speaker 1: there are some decisions that you can make in the

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Speaker 1: dry places of your life that will lead you, no

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Speaker 1: matter where you're starting from, into a place a super

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Speaker 1: natural happiness. Super natural happiness. The Lord doesn't care if

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Speaker 1: I'm happy. What The Lord doesn't care if you're happy.

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Speaker 1: You take your kids on a trip and they're sitting

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Speaker 1: there mad and screaming and yelling and crying, Well, you

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Speaker 1: don't care if they're happy. It's just for the experience. No,

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Speaker 1: you care if your kids are happy. You're just not

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Speaker 1: willing to sacrifice their long term good or their short

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Speaker 1: term happiness. And that's what God is like. So when

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Speaker 1: we see in Psalm one, this is not happy clappy,

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Speaker 1: this is not you know, the shortcut to feeling good.

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Speaker 1: This is actually a spiritual path for the daily decisions

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Speaker 1: that we can make in the dry places of our life.

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Speaker 1: So I want to give you today yellow right if

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Speaker 1: I teach? I got notes everywhere for this one because

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Speaker 1: the sermon came to me in the restaurant after riding

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Speaker 1: my bike. My notes were on receipts and I didn't

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Speaker 1: even move them over to my iPad because I wanted

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Speaker 1: to preach from the receipt I thought that'd be cool.

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Speaker 1: I'll be hardcore. I thought, make it feel authentic and gritty.

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Speaker 1: He was preaching from receipts. My taster never takes a break.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I'm priding myself on that for years, right,

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Speaker 1: because I'm good at hard work. Now ask my kids

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Speaker 1: who's the hardest working person? You know? They better sing

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Speaker 1: me because I'm the one who paid for everything they

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Speaker 1: called drip. If it isn't for my busset, they don't

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Speaker 1: have any drip. I might not be happy, but we

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Speaker 1: got central heating and air in the house, don't we

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Speaker 1: And the fridge is full and you're not hungry. I

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Speaker 1: prided myself on that for years. I kind of don't

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Speaker 1: remember the story. I'm gonna get to someone twenty six,

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Speaker 1: but don't remember the story of the prodigal son in

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Speaker 1: the Bible. I hadn't been gone six years, y'all. Y'all

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Speaker 1: remember the Bible, right, So the one boy goes and

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Speaker 1: he spends all of his father's money and he rolls

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Speaker 1: around with pigs and lays around with prostitutes and squanders

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Speaker 1: his fortune because he just had to have it now.

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Speaker 1: He just had to be happy. He just had to

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Speaker 1: go get it. He just had to go see. And

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Speaker 1: we preach about that boy, not realizing that wasn't the

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Speaker 1: point of the story Jesus was telling. It was his

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Speaker 1: older brother back home, who was home but not happy.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't happy when his brother came back. He was

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Speaker 1: mad that it had dipped into his college fund with

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Speaker 1: his brother's dumb decisions. In fact, in Luke fifteen, I

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Speaker 1: should have prepared this for the screen, but I forgot

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Speaker 1: when the father started throwing a party for the son

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Speaker 1: who came home, who was lost. He said, he was dead,

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Speaker 1: he's alive, he's lost. His family have to celebrate. The

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Speaker 1: older brother said, I've been slaving for you all these years,

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Speaker 1: and you never did any of this for me. I

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Speaker 1: always thought I didn't really relate to that story because

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Speaker 1: I wasn't that wild in college. I never had this

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Speaker 1: season of my life where I developed a horrible addiction

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Speaker 1: to a substance. And the Lord started showing me recently,

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Speaker 1: you are often like the brother who stayed home, working

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Speaker 1: for something that is already yours. I put a lot

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Speaker 1: of my worth in my work, put a lot of

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Speaker 1: worth in my work. I remember many times when we

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Speaker 1: were starting in the ministry, thinking if I get there,

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Speaker 1: I will be happy. Legitimate real One of my Buddies

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Speaker 1: has a church here in the area, and he had

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Speaker 1: two thousand people coming. I remember going to see him

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Speaker 1: one time. Now, at this point in our church, we

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Speaker 1: had twenty about twenty thousand, twenty people like that row,

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Speaker 1: and five of them were the same ones that are

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Speaker 1: there right now. I'd be happy if I had two thousand.

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Speaker 1: And Since we're taking a psalm of assent and we're

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Speaker 1: talking about the lament within the song, I want to

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Speaker 1: point the fact out that you can be on your

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Speaker 1: way up and still have to deal with being down.

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Speaker 1: Like watch it in the text. Watch it in the text.

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Speaker 1: I want to ground this thought in the text so

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Speaker 1: you don't think I'm off on a tangent here. Instead

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Speaker 1: of talking about truth, I'm talking about feelings. No, watch it,

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Speaker 1: he said, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

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Speaker 1: we were like those who dreamed. We were shocked. They

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Speaker 1: have been in Babylon for almost fifty years and God

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Speaker 1: brought them back. They have been captives in a strange

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Speaker 1: land for almost fifty years, since five eighty seven, when

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Speaker 1: Babylon came and got all of the Jews, and the

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Speaker 1: ones they didn't kill they deported, and the ones that

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Speaker 1: they deported, they detained, and for fifty years the people

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Speaker 1: of God had to live in the patterns of Babylon.

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Speaker 1: But now we see that they have been brought back.

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Speaker 1: That's what he means when the Lord put Verse one

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Speaker 1: up there again, when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.

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Speaker 1: This is a past tense event that he's remembering. When

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Speaker 1: the Lord brought us back, we were shocked. We couldn't

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Speaker 1: believe it had actually happened. It had been so long

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Speaker 1: since we had expected this result that when we actually

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Speaker 1: experienced it, it didn't even feel real. Sometimes you can't

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Speaker 1: even be settled into your own blessing because you have

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Speaker 1: gotten so adjusted to a negative experience. This is it,

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Speaker 1: This is it. This is a decision that you have

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Speaker 1: to make in the dry places of your life if

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Speaker 1: you are to really be lastingly happy, last say, lasting happy,

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Speaker 1: supernatural happy. What the Bible says as joy, unspeakable and

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Speaker 1: full of glory in the holy ghost, holy ghost, happy

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Speaker 1: Jesus joy. The world didn't give it, and the world

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Speaker 1: can't take it away. Your boyfriend didn't give it, and

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Speaker 1: your boyfriend can't take it away. Your ex sure didn't

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Speaker 1: give it, and your ex can't take it away. Situational

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Speaker 1: happiness has no interest in the Kingdom of God. It

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Speaker 1: is too cheap and Jesus paid too much for me

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Speaker 1: to need for my life to be going a certain way,

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Speaker 1: to feel a certain way. So part of the process

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Speaker 1: of coming to church and listening to sermons and having

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Speaker 1: your mind conform not to the patterns of this world,

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Speaker 1: but transformed to have a new mind, is this decision.

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Speaker 1: Write this down you're ready. Negative is not my normal.

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Speaker 1: Negative is not my normal. Help me, Holy Angels of God.

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Speaker 1: I feel like a hypocrite saying that, because honestly, my

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Speaker 1: first view of a situation, and I need you raise

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Speaker 1: your hand if you like me, because I feel awfully

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Speaker 1: lonely up here. I don't even have a collar on

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Speaker 1: this jacket to keep me company up here. I feel

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Speaker 1: all alone with y'all looking at me so judgmental. Right now,

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Speaker 1: My first instinct in the situation is to see vulnerabilities, liabilities,

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Speaker 1: and even sometimes hypothetical liabilities. Oh, I am a creative

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Speaker 1: finder of things to fear and dread. Y'all pray for Holly,

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Speaker 1: the happiest person that I know. This is what she

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Speaker 1: has to live with. I came by some of it. Honestly.

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Speaker 1: I was born into a family called the human race.

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Speaker 1: My first parent, Adam, he screwed up real bad. He

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Speaker 1: had the whole thing on luck, walking around with plenty

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Speaker 1: to eat and no clothes on, and a woman that

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Speaker 1: he said was very good, and he had to have

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Speaker 1: an apple. That was my first father. So I came

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Speaker 1: by this. I can't really be too hard on myself,

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Speaker 1: because the Bible says that all have sinned and falls

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Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. The prophet Jeremiah took

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Speaker 1: it further and said that the heart is deceitfully wicked

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Speaker 1: above all else who can know it. That's why I

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Speaker 1: had you tell your neighbor, I don't know you. I

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Speaker 1: don't know you like that. I don't know what you

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Speaker 1: cry about behind all that clapping that you do when

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Speaker 1: we're in church together. I don't know you like that.

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Speaker 1: And really it takes a while before you know yourself

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Speaker 1: well enough to ask the question, do your patterns match

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Speaker 1: your prayers? Someone twenty six is not only a song,

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Speaker 1: it's a prayer. It's a petition. Lord restore to us

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Speaker 1: the fortunes of Zion. Lord restore our fortunes Lord, restore

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Speaker 1: us to the state, the state that we were intended for. Now,

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Speaker 1: I want to make this clear if you are a Christian,

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Speaker 1: that it is not normal for you to be ruled

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Speaker 1: by the same cynicism that you see seething from this

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Speaker 1: angry world. It is not normal for you, if you

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Speaker 1: are a Christian, to spend all of your time running

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Speaker 1: after solutions to problems that God is not staying up

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Speaker 1: late about, pacing the halls of Heaven wondering what He's

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Speaker 1: going to do about them. Furthermore, for those of you

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Speaker 1: who might have grown up in an atmosphere, in a

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Speaker 1: family or an environment where you say, like everything was pessimism,

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Speaker 1: how I grew up, Well, you know what. That might

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Speaker 1: have been your background, that might be your default setting,

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Speaker 1: but it is not your destiny in Christ. Hey, spoiler alert.

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Speaker 1: That's why I named the Church Elevation because I think

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Speaker 1: you're going up. Because I think if Christ is seated

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Speaker 1: in heavenly places, you are not going to spend all

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Speaker 1: your days down here on this earth, wallowing around in

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Speaker 1: stuff that God has called you to win over. I

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Speaker 1: don't believe it. I'm not settling for it, and I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to be the older son like standing around, going, well, God,

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Speaker 1: I'm serving you and it sucks. But one day in

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Speaker 1: heaven I'll get wings and sing and play harps, and

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Speaker 1: then I'll be happy. You won't be happy playing a harp.

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Speaker 1: We're not supposed to be happy till we get to heaven. Well,

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Speaker 1: if heaven is happy and they let you in with

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Speaker 1: that attitude, it won't be happy once you get there.

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Speaker 1: So you're not going because it would ruin the whole program. Negative,

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Speaker 1: say it negative is not my normal? No, no, no, no, no.

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Speaker 1: It might be. It might be natural, but it's not normal,

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Speaker 1: not for a believer. Because my Bible says if anyone

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Speaker 1: is in Christ, he is a new creation. That means

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Speaker 1: I've got a new nature. That means the way I

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Speaker 1: wake up in the morning doesn't determine how I walk

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Speaker 1: through the day. I gotta get my mind right, my

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Speaker 1: heart right. How many of y'all are over forty Wave

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Speaker 1: at me real quick? How many of y'all have to

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Speaker 1: stretch before your maximum capacity could be achieved? If it's

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Speaker 1: true and the body is true in the spirit, you

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Speaker 1: really wake up in the morning and consult how you

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Speaker 1: feel in your mind to see what kind of day

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Speaker 1: you're gonna have. So the psawmist begins this prayer. He says,

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Speaker 1: there's two things going on in the song you study it.

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Speaker 1: There's what God has done and what God hopefully will do.

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Speaker 1: And in the middle of all of that, there's an

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Speaker 1: amazing verse. I need to show you this. Slow. Can

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Speaker 1: I go slow? Oh man? We might take We might

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Speaker 1: take a week, or three weeks or five weeks. I

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Speaker 1: might preach this to everybody in the church. Gets happy.

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Speaker 1: I might preach this to everybody in the church. Touch somebody, say,

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Speaker 1: get your happy back, get your happy back, get your

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Speaker 1: happy back. It's been a long time since you had

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Speaker 1: what Psalm one twenty six is describe. Our mouths were

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Speaker 1: filled with laughter. There was no room in your mouth

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Speaker 1: for laughter. This week. You were complaining so much that

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Speaker 1: there was nothing to laugh about. It wasn't funny to you.

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Speaker 1: You've been going through some things now. This psalm is

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Speaker 1: interesting because it gets to a point where it says

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Speaker 1: that God restored the fortunes and brought us back to

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Speaker 1: the land, and then verse three he makes a declaration,

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Speaker 1: the Lord has done great things for us. The Lord

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Speaker 1: has done great things for us. Stand up if that

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Speaker 1: verse is true in your life? Sorry, I wasn't smiling

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Speaker 1: when I asked you that I would looking at you

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Speaker 1: like that. Did the Lord do anything great for you? She?

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Speaker 1: My default is color. Sometimes I have to remind myself

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Speaker 1: that the Lord has done great things. Okay, stay standing,

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Speaker 1: I'm far from done with this lower illustration. How many

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Speaker 1: of y'all think they were telling the truth when they

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Speaker 1: said that the Lord has done great things for us?

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Speaker 1: Put it back up. They just got out of fifty

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Speaker 1: years in Babylonian captivity. Is that true? They don't have

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Speaker 1: a temple to worship and yet it's still destroyed in

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Speaker 1: lying in ruins. Is it true they don't even have

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Speaker 1: a wall around the city yet. Nehemiah hasn't even showed

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Speaker 1: up yet when someone twenty six is ready, So they

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Speaker 1: have no infrastructure, so they are exposed to enemy attack

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Speaker 1: from all side. Is it true? Is this? Is this

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Speaker 1: a Bible verse or a hallucination? Is this just positive thinking?

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Speaker 1: Is it just center around? Is this a yoga class?

427
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 1: What is this? What is what is he talking about?

428
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us? Is that

429
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 1: a fact? No? No, I'm asking him for real? Is

430
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:30,080
Speaker 1: that a fact? Now? In your life. Is that a fact?

431
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,200
Speaker 1: Is it? Oh, you come mom? Your mom got diagnosed

432
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: with Alzheimer's last year. Is that a fact? But we

433
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: aren't reniate a minute. Your job, your job? You hate

434
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: your job? Is this? I figured that what hit everybody

435
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: in the room at least one day this week. The

436
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: Lord has done. And you stood up so quick. You

437
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: just stood up so quick. That kid was sleeping and

438
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,959
Speaker 1: he stood up automatically. I think his mom yanked him.

439
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: But you stood up so quick. You stood up like

440
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:07,480
Speaker 1: something was on fire. I said, the Lord has done

441
00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: great things for us. You didn't hesitate. You didn't pull

442
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: out a calculator. You didn't check a bank balance. You

443
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: didn't start reading a report. You didn't pull up CNN

444
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 1: or Fox News. You weren't checking anything. Something instinctively in

445
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,560
Speaker 1: you knew. Wait a minute. If I don't stand up

446
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: on this verse, I have to explain to these exiles

447
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: who were taken out of their homeland why I'm not

448
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: standing up to say God has been good to me.

449
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: And I don't want to have to explain to them

450
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: who are trying to figure out how to settle back

451
00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: in after fifty years of being gone. After that's half

452
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: a century. Some of their kids have never even seen Canaan,

453
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,000
Speaker 1: and now they got enemies on every side, and not

454
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: everybody likes them being backed, and not everything is finished yet.

455
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: Kind of like your life, you got some walls that

456
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: are down, you got some altars that are dismantled. You

457
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 1: got some habits that have you by the throat, kind

458
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: of hung up on, some stuff, kind of can't get over,

459
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 1: some stuff kind of weeping over. Some seasons that got

460
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: past you and got away from you, and some opportunities

461
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: you didn't seize, and some loyalties that were not made

462
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 1: good on, and some checks that weren't cash, and some

463
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: promises that are partially fulfilled. Yet something in your soul

464
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: knows that God has done great things from me because

465
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 1: when I really when I when I really when I

466
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:41,160
Speaker 1: really focus, when I really focus, when I really focus, see,

467
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: it's a fact when you focus, if you focus, it's

468
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 1: a fact, not a feeling, not a feeling. Because the

469
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: whole time we've been sitting here talking, your heart has

470
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 1: been pumping blood. And that's why your fingers aren't blue.

471
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: Because the Lord has done great things for you. The

472
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: whole time we've been talking, We've still been making our

473
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 1: little trip around the sun, and nobody needed you to

474
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 1: make sure to press the gas pedal or fill the tank.

475
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 1: Because God has done great things for you. Some of

476
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: y'all are standing next to the great thing God has

477
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 1: done for you. Some of y'all are standing next to

478
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: the praise report that is currently your prayer request, that

479
00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 1: is going to be your praise report again in the

480
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 1: near future. Just don't die, Ah, But you got to

481
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,280
Speaker 1: make some decisions in dry places, because look, he said,

482
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 1: the Lord give me the verse has done great things

483
00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:46,920
Speaker 1: for us. Is that true for you? How about the

484
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,240
Speaker 1: next part? And we no, no, no no, the next part

485
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: of the same verse. I don't even need the next verse.

486
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 1: I'll do it off of this verse. I'll set you

487
00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: up and we are filled with joy. If you struggle

488
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: with that second part, sit down, I do. I'm gonna

489
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 1: sit down. How could God be so good to me?

490
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 1: You're honest? How could God give me all of this?

491
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 1: And I'm not happy now. When I told you I

492
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 1: started writing the sermon on the bike, that wasn't the

493
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 1: whole truth, partial truth. I started writing this sermon four

494
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 1: years ago. Two things happened that scared me a little bit.

495
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 1: One was here and one was on an island, and

496
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:42,240
Speaker 1: they both had one thing in common. In both situations,

497
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 1: I was in the middle of something that I had

498
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 1: told myself at one point in my life would make

499
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 1: me happy, and I wasn't happy one was here. I

500
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 1: can't ever decide how much to tell y'all. I don't

501
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: want to freak you out, but I want to be real.

502
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 1: I was getting ready to come out here and preach.

503
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 1: In the room was crazy, like packed out. People were coming.

504
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: I started starting a new series. In fact, you know,

505
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 1: the day we opened this building at Valentine where I

506
00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: preached from, one of my best friends was being removed

507
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,240
Speaker 1: from his church and I was on the phone trying

508
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,680
Speaker 1: to help him because he was devastated the church he started.

509
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:31,200
Speaker 1: And I was coming out here, smiling at y'all, phraise

510
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: the Lord everybody. I was sewing with tears. I was

511
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:44,440
Speaker 1: sewing with tears. And the Sunday that I came out

512
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,759
Speaker 1: here to preach, and you would remember the Sunday Chunks,

513
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: because I think it's the biggest crowd that we ever

514
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: had at that point at least. I mean, this was

515
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,280
Speaker 1: not two thousand people. This was like thirty two thousand people.

516
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: In the building. And I'm not saying that the brain

517
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: I can send it to set. Of contrast, I couldn't

518
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 1: feel anything. I think I had set so much as

519
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:13,080
Speaker 1: a goal. Oh, if I had two thousand people in

520
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:18,839
Speaker 1: my church, I would feel like a real pastor, and

521
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 1: if I felt authentically valid as a pastor, I would

522
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:29,600
Speaker 1: be happy as a person. So why was I back

523
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: there feeling like I wanted to cry and having to

524
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: come out and say, y'all give the Lord a shout

525
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,160
Speaker 1: of praise. I'm not saying it was bad. Maybe I

526
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 1: was just tired. It could be that I was just exhausted.

527
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 1: But it scared me a little bit because I thought,

528
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:54,879
Speaker 1: if I don't feel happy now, when will I. Then

529
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:56,959
Speaker 1: the other one was a couple months after that, because

530
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: then I said, well, I just need a break. I

531
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,440
Speaker 1: just need a break. I just need to get away.

532
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,399
Speaker 1: We were on an island and we weren't even paying

533
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 1: for it. Somebody else was paying for it. Invited us

534
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 1: to an island to vacation for a week. And I

535
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 1: was so sad on the island like I was in

536
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:20,920
Speaker 1: a prison. I was in prison on the island, and

537
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:27,120
Speaker 1: it was beautiful and it was free and my brains

538
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 1: were there, and my wife was there, and I wasn't.

539
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,840
Speaker 1: I was there and not there, and it scared me.

540
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: You ever got scared because you had what you asked

541
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: for and you still weren't happy, And now you feel

542
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:57,080
Speaker 1: guilty because you're not happy and God gave you what

543
00:36:57,120 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: you asked for. Please don't know at this point, because

544
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:07,400
Speaker 1: your husband might think that you're talking about him. The

545
00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: best strategy for this part of the sermon is for

546
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:18,040
Speaker 1: you to look totally confused. Hello, what you're talking about? Aster?

547
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:22,439
Speaker 1: The joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, yes

548
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 1: it is. This is the day the Lord is made.

549
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 1: I will rejoice and be glad in it. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

550
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 1: So it goes like this. It goes like this. This

551
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:42,320
Speaker 1: is the hallucination of worldly happiness. And I want to

552
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: contrast it for you because it's not the same thing

553
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 1: to have your happiness in Christ and what he gives,

554
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:52,160
Speaker 1: as it is to put your hope in the things

555
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:58,279
Speaker 1: of this world which are really sinking sand. It's not

556
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:04,279
Speaker 1: the same. The one goes like this, if I had,

557
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:14,000
Speaker 1: I'd be happy. If I had, I'd be happy. You

558
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:21,399
Speaker 1: ever done that? That's a math equation for frustration. If

559
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:27,959
Speaker 1: I had kids, I'd be happy. Why did he laugh?

560
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: I'm asking, I'm asking, No, I'm asking if kids make

561
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: you happy? Did y'all hear him laugh? I heard a

562
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 1: peep out of that guy all service? He said, Oh,

563
00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:47,280
Speaker 1: go get your Some children are a blessing from the Lord.

564
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,239
Speaker 1: People who say that children are a blessing, they say

565
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,400
Speaker 1: it mad. I'm like, you don't sound convinced. They remind me.

566
00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:00,799
Speaker 1: There's an Old Testament character named Leah. She has sister

567
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:06,760
Speaker 1: named Rachel. Rachel was really pretty. Leah had a great personality.

568
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:10,359
Speaker 1: I said it nice. I said it nice, el Jay,

569
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:16,279
Speaker 1: I said it nice. She had a great personality. And

570
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:23,200
Speaker 1: Leah had a fruitful womb, and Rachel had a beautiful countenance,

571
00:39:23,680 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 1: but not a fruitful woman. They start going back and forth,

572
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:31,840
Speaker 1: these two sisters that were both married to Jacob Jacob.

573
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:37,040
Speaker 1: You recognize that name, the god of Abraham Isaac Jacob.

574
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:40,920
Speaker 1: So this is an important guy. And they're both married

575
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: to the same man, which is a recipe for happiness.

576
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,360
Speaker 1: And they're both trying to have his babies. And Leah

577
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: has about four and Rachel has none. And Rachel, according

578
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:57,400
Speaker 1: to the customs of this day, now this sounds sketchy,

579
00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 1: we hear it now. But she gave her maid servant

580
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,759
Speaker 1: to Jacob so that the maid servant could conceive for her,

581
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,480
Speaker 1: like as a stand in as a surrogant, and so

582
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 1: that works. But then Leah can't have any more kids,

583
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 1: so she gives her servant to Jacob. She already gave

584
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:17,399
Speaker 1: him four, but he done lover, He done lover. Oh,

585
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:19,920
Speaker 1: but I'll give him another one, and he's still done lover.

586
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 1: And so okay, I'll give him another one, and he's

587
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: still done lover. And she is trying to win the

588
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 1: love of someone who, up until this point in scripture,

589
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:36,040
Speaker 1: has given no indication that he even loves himself. In fact,

590
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 1: the whole reason he's there in the house is because

591
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,720
Speaker 1: he was running from himself, pretending to be his brother.

592
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:45,439
Speaker 1: So now you've got sister Rachel trying to pop out

593
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 1: babies like sister Leah, and Jacob loves Rachel, but he

594
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,160
Speaker 1: gets his babies from Leah. And I pulled this verse,

595
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:54,360
Speaker 1: just this one, from you, to show you something that

596
00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,879
Speaker 1: Leah did. And I've done this before, and you've done

597
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 1: this before, and how long will we keep doing this?

598
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,000
Speaker 1: When she had about the fifth or sixth. Kid, look

599
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,760
Speaker 1: at this In Genesis thirty, throw it up there. Leah's servant,

600
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,280
Speaker 1: Zilpah board Jacob a second son. This is the second

601
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,880
Speaker 1: son the servant gave about the fifth or sixth that

602
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:15,760
Speaker 1: Leah has given in all next verse. Then Leah said,

603
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:25,320
Speaker 1: how happy I am? The women will call me happy?

604
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: So she named him Asher, which means gladness or happiness.

605
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: How happy I am? Who are you trying to convince?

606
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:42,239
Speaker 1: How happy I am? I did the funniest thing I've

607
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,920
Speaker 1: been researching for this series, the hard work of happiness.

608
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:49,120
Speaker 1: So I watched people take selfies over the last four weeks.

609
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 1: You know what the best moment of a selfie is

610
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,239
Speaker 1: when it's a group picture, watching the people who don't

611
00:41:54,239 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: want to be in the picture when they unsmile. I

612
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,800
Speaker 1: could tell how strong the manipulation was from the picture

613
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: taken by how quick you unsmile? I start pointing out

614
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,920
Speaker 1: to Abby, I said, Abby, watch how quick that that

615
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,279
Speaker 1: boy is gonna unsmile after this picture. He don't want

616
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 1: to be in that picture. His wife's making him take

617
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 1: that picture. He does not want to take a picture

618
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,440
Speaker 1: right now, and just as quick as the camera's over, boomed,

619
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,640
Speaker 1: which makes me wish that I could go home with

620
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:37,480
Speaker 1: you after church and see how quick you unsmile. Some

621
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:39,799
Speaker 1: of y'all cut out the middleman and you don't even

622
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:43,000
Speaker 1: smile at all while you're here. So you don't have

623
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 1: to change back into the Clark kid. You never go

624
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,839
Speaker 1: in the phone booth to start with. But I wish

625
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,680
Speaker 1: I could see how long does it take you? How

626
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,319
Speaker 1: long does it take you to unsmile? How long is

627
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 1: that happiness? Leah gonna last? Just see what she said?

628
00:42:59,760 --> 00:43:01,759
Speaker 1: How happy I am? What's the next thing she said?

629
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 1: Put it back up? The women will call me happy?

630
00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: What does your happiness have to do with what they

631
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 1: call you? Anyway? You're really gonna put your happiness in

632
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:26,360
Speaker 1: somebody else's hands. You do that with your phone. You

633
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 1: let a complete stranger either make you happy or make

634
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:35,879
Speaker 1: you miserable. That's a horrible strategy for happiness. But now

635
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,360
Speaker 1: your happiness is only a safe as the sanity of

636
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:42,040
Speaker 1: the person whose hands you put it in. And bonus notes,

637
00:43:42,160 --> 00:43:47,560
Speaker 1: people are crazy. What does it take for you to

638
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:51,400
Speaker 1: look She's she's having She's having babies left and right

639
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:56,320
Speaker 1: for the approval of someone who hasn't even truly met himself,

640
00:43:56,719 --> 00:44:01,080
Speaker 1: and so are many of us. I can't wait to

641
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:04,319
Speaker 1: preach at youth X this week. I can't wait to talk.

642
00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:07,400
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk to my sixteen year old self,

643
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:09,360
Speaker 1: because that's what I'm gonna do when I get up here. Okay,

644
00:44:09,480 --> 00:44:12,719
Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk to my sixteen year old self and say,

645
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,959
Speaker 1: there is no formula for happiness that starts with if

646
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:24,840
Speaker 1: I had, because it doesn't come from them. Because you

647
00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:28,320
Speaker 1: can be on an island, you can be in the

648
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 1: back room ready to preach the thousands. And God has

649
00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 1: had me on this journey. See you realizing that my

650
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: joy is my job. My joy is my job. I

651
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,560
Speaker 1: may never write another book again, but if I did,

652
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: that'd be a great title. My joy is my job.

653
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: And in fact, I I don't want to point at

654
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:05,440
Speaker 1: you today and say your joy, I'm gonna make you

655
00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 1: do it. Look at the person next to you and

656
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:14,360
Speaker 1: say you can't make me happy. Are they offended? I

657
00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: promise you if you said that to somebody that you

658
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 1: live with, they're relieved. Because you're heavy. You are heavy.

659
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:28,319
Speaker 1: They always gotta make you happy. It's not there. See,

660
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:32,880
Speaker 1: it's not their job description to make you happy. And

661
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:38,760
Speaker 1: it's not God's either. I lost them arow the turn chucks,

662
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:41,759
Speaker 1: I lost the lost God, so good look at it,

663
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:46,160
Speaker 1: case Ion, restore our fortunes. Lord like streams and the agaf.

664
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:48,800
Speaker 1: Now look, the Negev is the southern part of the desert.

665
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: It doesn't get any drier than that. To have a

666
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,920
Speaker 1: stream in the Negev only happens in the winter rain season.

667
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,359
Speaker 1: And when the rain comes in the in the winter

668
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,760
Speaker 1: season in the Negev, it floods the banks. Man, It'll

669
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,719
Speaker 1: tear up the bridges, it'll tear up the roads, it'll

670
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:06,880
Speaker 1: wipe out the livestock. You gotta be ready for the

671
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 1: rain when it comes. And some of us are praying

672
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 1: for things that we haven't built the infrastructure for. And

673
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:16,200
Speaker 1: even if God gives it, it will not feel like

674
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 1: a gift. It will feel like a burden. Because your

675
00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:26,280
Speaker 1: joy is your job, not an event, not a promotion,

676
00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 1: not knowledge, not in a mouth. Your bank account keeps

677
00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 1: going closer and closer to that level that you thought

678
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: that you would need to feel secure, and you are

679
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:43,320
Speaker 1: still scared. Because blessedness is not a state of affairs,

680
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: it is a way of life. M hm, m hm.

681
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:53,360
Speaker 1: We got some work to do, the hard work of happiness.

682
00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:58,360
Speaker 1: And look what it looks like. He said, the Lord

683
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,520
Speaker 1: can do a miracle in it, like streams and the

684
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 1: negav which is a completely supernatural phenomenon. That's not an

685
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,880
Speaker 1: ordinary thing for the Lord. And we need to pray,

686
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:12,400
Speaker 1: Lord restore my joy. But watch what the Psalmist instructs

687
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 1: us to do. And I don't know if you're ready

688
00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:17,120
Speaker 1: to do this or not. And for many years of

689
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:20,160
Speaker 1: my life I wasn't ready to do that because I

690
00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:29,239
Speaker 1: was addicted to self pity, too confusing or too real.

691
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:35,960
Speaker 1: That was my addiction. It was my addiction. In fact,

692
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:39,040
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful things the Lord ever told

693
00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:43,440
Speaker 1: me was, you have let your mood become your master.

694
00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: And I read in the Bible about Pharaoh, and the

695
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:57,520
Speaker 1: Lord will say, you have let your feelings become your Pharaoh.

696
00:47:57,800 --> 00:47:59,799
Speaker 1: Tell you when you can go, and what you can

697
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:03,399
Speaker 1: do and what you can say. When did you get

698
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 1: the idea that your feelings are in charge of your

699
00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:13,400
Speaker 1: obedience to God? And Someone twenty six is a picture

700
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 1: not only of what God is going to do, because

701
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 1: I have a feeling that God is in the process

702
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:25,520
Speaker 1: of restoring someone's joy even as I speak. But it

703
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 1: won't look like it, because what he said is those

704
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:35,799
Speaker 1: who sow with tears will reap with joy. What's that about.

705
00:48:36,719 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: I thought we were talking about happiness, but the Bible

706
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,160
Speaker 1: says that in order to get to that place of

707
00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 1: happiness that will last, not to get a high. You

708
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 1: can get a high. Hey, if we all want to

709
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:53,160
Speaker 1: feel happy, we should have skipped church and met at

710
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:57,520
Speaker 1: Chrispy Kreme because we could have got happy fast. It's

711
00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,960
Speaker 1: called hot now, and it could do it all whole

712
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:03,839
Speaker 1: lot quicker than someone twenty six. Oh yeah, I don't

713
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 1: need a Bible verse for that. I just need some sugar.

714
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 1: I could get happy real quick. There's a better way

715
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,399
Speaker 1: to get happy than to come do this. But if

716
00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:16,120
Speaker 1: you wanted to last where the enemy can't unsmile you

717
00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:24,319
Speaker 1: fifteen seconds after it happened, then we will have to

718
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:27,719
Speaker 1: learn watch this the hard work of happiness. What's that

719
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:34,920
Speaker 1: sewing with tears? That means faith is in charge, not feelings.

720
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:41,760
Speaker 1: Faith is in charge, not feelings. I'm sewing with anticipation,

721
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:45,200
Speaker 1: even though I'm having a hard time even believing as possible.

722
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:49,320
Speaker 1: I'm getting in this spot. I'm showing up for this task.

723
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,680
Speaker 1: I was going for a song right the other day

724
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:54,040
Speaker 1: and I didn't feel like going, and I said, I

725
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:56,839
Speaker 1: start saying out loud, good things happen when I show up.

726
00:49:57,840 --> 00:49:59,799
Speaker 1: Good things happen when I show up, saying I love.

727
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 1: Good things happen when I show up. Now say this,

728
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:11,920
Speaker 1: nothing good happens when I sleep in. Good things happen

729
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:16,600
Speaker 1: when I show up. You keep hiding your talents in

730
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:21,440
Speaker 1: the ground. You know why you do that because you

731
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:25,000
Speaker 1: don't really believe that God has joy to give you.

732
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:28,480
Speaker 1: You don't rebelieve it. In the Parable of the Talents

733
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: in Matthew twenty five, there was a man who had

734
00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 1: five talents that were given to him. That's like a

735
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:35,680
Speaker 1: bag of gold, a measure of money. The one that

736
00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 1: had five talents to give went out, invested it, doubled it,

737
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:42,440
Speaker 1: turned it to ten. The master was like, that's good. Now,

738
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:48,000
Speaker 1: here's what's crazy. To another, he gave two talents. The

739
00:50:48,120 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 1: dude with the two talents had every right to say

740
00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,880
Speaker 1: to the master, according to our human view, where's my

741
00:50:54,920 --> 00:51:02,080
Speaker 1: other three? But instead of doing that lies something that well,

742
00:51:02,120 --> 00:51:04,400
Speaker 1: I think it's a cultural lesson that needs to be spoken.

743
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:11,000
Speaker 1: And jealousy is the enemy of joy. Right, I don't

744
00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:13,799
Speaker 1: need anybody else to tell me I'm blessed. If I

745
00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: have peace and contentment in my heart with God, I

746
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:25,239
Speaker 1: am blessed. I love Abby because it's hard to compliment her,

747
00:51:26,000 --> 00:51:30,040
Speaker 1: not because she's like insecure. It's the opposite. She's like, oh,

748
00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 1: I know years you look you look good today, Abby, Oh,

749
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:40,040
Speaker 1: I know, Like is this good Lord? That? Ain't the

750
00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:43,600
Speaker 1: ring this in a little bit. It's like, no, I don't.

751
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,719
Speaker 1: I don't want her to need somebody else to tell

752
00:51:46,719 --> 00:51:54,640
Speaker 1: her what she is. Shout, I know. The Psalmist said,

753
00:51:54,760 --> 00:51:57,640
Speaker 1: then the nations will say, the Lord has done great

754
00:51:57,640 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: things for us, And the Salma said, the Lord has

755
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: has done great things for us. Whether you like my

756
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:05,520
Speaker 1: post or not, whether you like my car or not,

757
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:08,799
Speaker 1: whether you see my value or not, whether you think

758
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,320
Speaker 1: I'm worth calling back or not, whether you like my

759
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 1: ministry or not, whether you think I know God or not,

760
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:16,880
Speaker 1: whether you agree with my decision to pull aside and

761
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:19,440
Speaker 1: get my heart right or not, whether you want to

762
00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:21,720
Speaker 1: go the next mile with me or not. The Lord

763
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,480
Speaker 1: has been good to me. I don't need anybody to

764
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,680
Speaker 1: tell me that. I already know the joy of the

765
00:52:27,719 --> 00:52:34,319
Speaker 1: Lord is my strength. I know. So the next time

766
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:36,440
Speaker 1: somebody tells you, oh, you're so good at that, you

767
00:52:36,480 --> 00:52:38,319
Speaker 1: don't have to say it out loud. But let it

768
00:52:38,360 --> 00:52:41,399
Speaker 1: be the cherry. Don't even let it be the icing,

769
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,440
Speaker 1: let alone the cake, because you need to know in

770
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:48,239
Speaker 1: your soul that God's hand is on me to do

771
00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:51,480
Speaker 1: what I do, and what I do I do well,

772
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,840
Speaker 1: and who I am I am fully. And when the

773
00:52:56,880 --> 00:53:01,239
Speaker 1: Lord restored the fortunes of Zion are like those who dream.

774
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,920
Speaker 1: Our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with

775
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,680
Speaker 1: songs of joy. When you fill your tongue with praise,

776
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:13,839
Speaker 1: it floods your heart with faith, and then you can

777
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:20,960
Speaker 1: sew with tears. You can do it regardless of the

778
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:24,160
Speaker 1: mood that you're in. And the man with the two

779
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:27,359
Speaker 1: talents turned his two into four. And the Master called

780
00:53:27,440 --> 00:53:30,919
Speaker 1: him back, and he said, this is Matthew twenty five.

781
00:53:31,719 --> 00:53:35,360
Speaker 1: I think we could show this to you. You entrusted

782
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:38,200
Speaker 1: me with two bags, I have gained two more. And

783
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:41,880
Speaker 1: for all of y'all that think that God is like

784
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:46,719
Speaker 1: your most cantankerous relative at the family reunion, look at

785
00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:50,200
Speaker 1: the next verse. What Jesus said, God is like his

786
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:56,640
Speaker 1: master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. Huh wait

787
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:58,960
Speaker 1: a minute, the other guy with five he gave you ten,

788
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,239
Speaker 1: only gave you four. Disappointed in me? No, no no, no,

789
00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:04,480
Speaker 1: no no, I only hold you responsible for what I

790
00:54:04,520 --> 00:54:10,239
Speaker 1: gave you. See now, I'll just set you free from

791
00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:13,879
Speaker 1: a lot of misery right there, didn't I you wish

792
00:54:13,880 --> 00:54:16,480
Speaker 1: you were a little bit taller. You wish you were

793
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:22,640
Speaker 1: a baller, and you're not. My biceps and never looked

794
00:54:22,719 --> 00:54:27,439
Speaker 1: like that. God gave me different fibers. I'm doing good

795
00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:34,080
Speaker 1: with my fibers. I'm gonna maximize my fibers. And then

796
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: something we're so surprised to find in the Bible. We mean,

797
00:54:36,760 --> 00:54:38,560
Speaker 1: we got to go somewhere else for this. We think

798
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:39,960
Speaker 1: we come to God for holy and go to the

799
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,040
Speaker 1: world for happy. Look what the Master said, when you

800
00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:45,399
Speaker 1: do what God gave you to do. You have been

801
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:49,080
Speaker 1: faithful with a few things. I will put you in

802
00:54:49,200 --> 00:54:57,279
Speaker 1: charge of many things. Come and share in your Master's happiness.

803
00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:04,879
Speaker 1: You mean God is happy, that's good news. A lot

804
00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:08,520
Speaker 1: of Christians tiptoeing around church like dad's in a bad

805
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:14,520
Speaker 1: mood again. A lot of us running around like the

806
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:17,320
Speaker 1: older son in the prodigal star saying I'm slaving for

807
00:55:17,480 --> 00:55:20,839
Speaker 1: you God, Okay, I'll do it. No one notices you

808
00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,640
Speaker 1: weren't supposed to do it to be noticed to begin with,

809
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 1: God knows, and your Father, who sees what has done

810
00:55:29,719 --> 00:55:33,359
Speaker 1: in secret, will reward you openly. So I just want

811
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:35,799
Speaker 1: to teach you today that to really get to this

812
00:55:35,920 --> 00:55:38,880
Speaker 1: place that you've been praying about, it's gonna take some

813
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:42,640
Speaker 1: new patterns. And sometimes that will mean I am crying

814
00:55:43,080 --> 00:55:45,759
Speaker 1: while I am carrying. It means I will take the

815
00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:48,680
Speaker 1: seed with me into my day and I will sow

816
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:51,960
Speaker 1: it in contradiction and defiance to every dry place in

817
00:55:52,000 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: my life. You want to do the work or do

818
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:03,160
Speaker 1: you want to wait on the faith fairy to put

819
00:56:03,200 --> 00:56:08,239
Speaker 1: peace under your pillow? And how in the world am

820
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:12,800
Speaker 1: I gonna pray about something like God give me my

821
00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:16,200
Speaker 1: joy back if I am not willing to sow into

822
00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:23,040
Speaker 1: the very thing that I am asking for. I want

823
00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:25,880
Speaker 1: to talk about this I want to go through in

824
00:56:25,960 --> 00:56:28,520
Speaker 1: the next few weeks, and I want to talk about

825
00:56:28,520 --> 00:56:32,799
Speaker 1: the difference between watch this supernatural happiness that comes from

826
00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 1: God and can't be taken away by the world, that lasts,

827
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:40,560
Speaker 1: that permeates and that makes a difference and the shallow,

828
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:43,719
Speaker 1: superficial stuff that will end up costing us everything that

829
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 1: we have in the pursuit of realizing that we don't

830
00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:51,000
Speaker 1: even want it when we get it. And so you're like, well,

831
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:56,000
Speaker 1: a pastor, you share some pretty I'm gonna be honest,

832
00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:59,240
Speaker 1: some pretty disturbing stuff, saying that you were not happy

833
00:56:59,239 --> 00:57:03,800
Speaker 1: coming to preach and all that, and you weren't very happy,

834
00:57:04,120 --> 00:57:05,799
Speaker 1: just like I have to go to the gym every

835
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:10,520
Speaker 1: day to keep my body resembling something that I can

836
00:57:10,560 --> 00:57:13,880
Speaker 1: feel good about and feel good in. I got to

837
00:57:13,920 --> 00:57:16,560
Speaker 1: go to God every day to get my joy where

838
00:57:16,600 --> 00:57:24,880
Speaker 1: it needs to be. You worked out one time in

839
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:27,040
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, and you think you're going to be in

840
00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:30,080
Speaker 1: shape for the rest of your life. And emotionally, we're

841
00:57:30,200 --> 00:57:36,000
Speaker 1: so weird we want to break through, but the Lord

842
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: said it's going to be hard work. Now. The interesting

843
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 1: thing about sowing in tears and reaping in joy, because

844
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:45,320
Speaker 1: the Bible makes the connection. See it says those who

845
00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:48,320
Speaker 1: sow with tears, who press past the pain of what

846
00:57:48,360 --> 00:57:51,200
Speaker 1: they feel into the purpose that God is accomplishing, which

847
00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:53,600
Speaker 1: maybe where God has you right now, I'm doing the

848
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:57,520
Speaker 1: hard work to stop blaming other people for where you're at.

849
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:02,120
Speaker 1: I got home the other day and the toilet was

850
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:04,360
Speaker 1: broken before I left, and I told everybody not to

851
00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:09,040
Speaker 1: use it. And I got home and the only two

852
00:58:09,120 --> 00:58:10,800
Speaker 1: of our kids that were there because me and Abby

853
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:12,959
Speaker 1: and Holly were gone. The only two of our kids

854
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:16,120
Speaker 1: that were there were Elijah and Graham. And I went

855
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:20,920
Speaker 1: to use that toilet and it was filled not with

856
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:24,720
Speaker 1: the joy of the Lord, but it was still all right.

857
00:58:24,880 --> 00:58:32,480
Speaker 1: I gotta clarify. Oh, I lost it, y'all. I lost

858
00:58:32,520 --> 00:58:35,720
Speaker 1: it because I told y'all not to use it. And

859
00:58:35,760 --> 00:58:39,240
Speaker 1: I was mad at first, but not crazy mad, but mad.

860
00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:44,480
Speaker 1: Who did this? Who did this? You know, like the

861
00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:47,320
Speaker 1: Bible says a man came and sold tears among the wheat?

862
00:58:47,360 --> 00:58:52,800
Speaker 1: Who did this? And I texted Elijah, you did me dirty,

863
00:58:54,080 --> 00:58:56,080
Speaker 1: because he was there when I found out the toilet

864
00:58:56,160 --> 00:58:58,000
Speaker 1: was broken, so it had to be him that forgot

865
00:58:58,000 --> 00:58:59,880
Speaker 1: and used it. He said, I'm so sorry for what

866
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:01,880
Speaker 1: you're dealing with right now, because I said, it smells

867
00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:04,040
Speaker 1: like a sewer down here, and I don't know how

868
00:59:04,040 --> 00:59:06,240
Speaker 1: many days this has been down here, but it's been.

869
00:59:06,360 --> 00:59:08,040
Speaker 1: I think you did it. The first day I left

870
00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:10,160
Speaker 1: and you left it. He said, Dad, I promise it

871
00:59:10,200 --> 00:59:12,560
Speaker 1: wasn't me. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I'm

872
00:59:12,560 --> 00:59:13,960
Speaker 1: here for you in any way you need me to

873
00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:16,000
Speaker 1: be here for you. But as it was not me

874
00:59:16,160 --> 00:59:18,960
Speaker 1: and he wasn't there, and Graham was there, so Graham

875
00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:21,880
Speaker 1: felt the rat. I said, there's only one left. If

876
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:24,720
Speaker 1: it wasn't him, it was you. Graham said it wasn't me.

877
00:59:24,840 --> 00:59:28,440
Speaker 1: I said, oh, we got a mystery pooper just breaking

878
00:59:28,480 --> 00:59:32,040
Speaker 1: through the window, just sitting on the toilet, just coming

879
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:35,360
Speaker 1: through the back, kicking down the door and using the toil.

880
00:59:35,600 --> 00:59:43,000
Speaker 1: This is great, this is great. Kind of stole my

881
00:59:43,080 --> 00:59:48,960
Speaker 1: joy for a minute. But when they came out with

882
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:57,480
Speaker 1: the plumber. So what happened was I went out in

883
00:59:57,520 --> 01:00:01,120
Speaker 1: the yard a few days later, after the case of

884
01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:07,680
Speaker 1: the mystery toilet abuse her and I smelled something in

885
01:00:07,760 --> 01:00:11,360
Speaker 1: the yard and I saw some water on the ground,

886
01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:14,240
Speaker 1: and I saw a light on something that looked like

887
01:00:14,280 --> 01:00:20,080
Speaker 1: a tank. And I realized that I was walking around

888
01:00:20,200 --> 01:00:25,520
Speaker 1: looking for who did it. And the plumber confirmed my suspicion.

889
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:32,680
Speaker 1: The pump is broken. And it became to me a parable,

890
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:41,439
Speaker 1: a parable of the mystery true that you can run

891
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:45,400
Speaker 1: around blaming people for crap for however much longer you want.

892
01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:50,480
Speaker 1: To Come on, y'all, I'm back. I'm back. I'm back,

893
01:00:50,520 --> 01:00:58,040
Speaker 1: I'm back. I'm back. I'm happy to be back because

894
01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:02,720
Speaker 1: I gotta fix this at the pump. I gotta fix

895
01:01:02,800 --> 01:01:06,920
Speaker 1: this at the palm, and I gotta be willing to

896
01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 1: get in my heart and say, you know what, Lord,

897
01:01:10,720 --> 01:01:13,240
Speaker 1: there are some things in me right now in this

898
01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:18,400
Speaker 1: season of my life that if I don't dig through

899
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:20,520
Speaker 1: this and sow through this and cry through this in

900
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:23,520
Speaker 1: process through this, I'm gonna always stay at the surface,

901
01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:28,680
Speaker 1: settling for a high but never really being happy, trying

902
01:01:28,680 --> 01:01:32,600
Speaker 1: to look like a hero but never being happy, having

903
01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:36,400
Speaker 1: another baby, naming an asher, but never really being happy.

904
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:42,400
Speaker 1: And the invitation is here, Come and share in your

905
01:01:42,440 --> 01:01:50,840
Speaker 1: masters happiness. Consider Jesus, who, for the joy set before him,

906
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:55,000
Speaker 1: endured the cross, despising the shame. Now stand up. If

907
01:01:55,080 --> 01:02:01,400
Speaker 1: God has done great things for you, are you filled

908
01:02:01,400 --> 01:02:07,160
Speaker 1: with joy today? I think that's a decision that you

909
01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:10,920
Speaker 1: make in the dry places. And I think whether you

910
01:02:11,080 --> 01:02:13,400
Speaker 1: sow in these tears in this season of your life

911
01:02:14,640 --> 01:02:17,440
Speaker 1: determines whether you will carry sheaves of grain home in

912
01:02:17,520 --> 01:02:24,640
Speaker 1: the next. It doesn't happen in the same day. You

913
01:02:24,680 --> 01:02:28,080
Speaker 1: don't carry home sheaves the same day. You so see,

914
01:02:28,240 --> 01:02:31,600
Speaker 1: and that's why God gave you the Holy Spirit for

915
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:36,880
Speaker 1: these in between spaces, for these Negev deserts, that we

916
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:42,600
Speaker 1: all find ourselves here. I'm home, but I'm not happy.

917
01:02:44,000 --> 01:02:46,560
Speaker 1: I've accomplished some things, and God has done some things.

918
01:02:48,320 --> 01:02:52,640
Speaker 1: But honestly, my pump is broken. And so let this

919
01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:56,800
Speaker 1: day be a day of declaration. It's no more was

920
01:02:56,840 --> 01:02:58,800
Speaker 1: it you? Was it you? Is it? This? Is it that?

921
01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:02,960
Speaker 1: If I had, then I will stop and let this

922
01:03:03,040 --> 01:03:07,840
Speaker 1: psalm of a sin be the declaration of your life.

923
01:03:08,040 --> 01:03:12,040
Speaker 1: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were

924
01:03:12,080 --> 01:03:15,520
Speaker 1: like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter,

925
01:03:15,640 --> 01:03:22,200
Speaker 1: our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was set

926
01:03:22,240 --> 01:03:28,280
Speaker 1: among the nations the Lord has done great things for them.

927
01:03:28,400 --> 01:03:35,240
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for us. Will you

928
01:03:35,280 --> 01:03:38,120
Speaker 1: make that declaration? Maybe even lift your hands, Yeah, yeah, yeah,

929
01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:40,720
Speaker 1: just do that. Let your ass to say, the Lord

930
01:03:41,520 --> 01:03:47,880
Speaker 1: has done great things for me. In spite of all

931
01:03:47,960 --> 01:03:49,760
Speaker 1: that the enemy did to try to take me out.

932
01:03:49,840 --> 01:03:57,080
Speaker 1: The Lord has done great things for me. Look at me.

933
01:03:57,840 --> 01:04:03,400
Speaker 1: Stop taking the great things for granatt it it's here,

934
01:04:04,720 --> 01:04:08,720
Speaker 1: it's now. It's not gonna be one day. It's here,

935
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:14,720
Speaker 1: it's now, and it's in you. The joy of the

936
01:04:14,760 --> 01:04:19,320
Speaker 1: Lord is our strength. Would you tell at least seven

937
01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:21,600
Speaker 1: people God has done great things for me in my life.

938
01:04:22,960 --> 01:04:25,800
Speaker 1: God has done great things for me. Put it online,

939
01:04:25,840 --> 01:04:27,760
Speaker 1: put it in the chat if you can. God has

940
01:04:27,800 --> 01:04:31,960
Speaker 1: done great things for me. Now, let's listen up a

941
01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:34,240
Speaker 1: happy shall come on, let's left up a happy shout?

942
01:04:35,120 --> 01:04:41,920
Speaker 1: Why are not bay? Well? If you enjoyed today's podcast,

943
01:04:41,960 --> 01:04:43,720
Speaker 1: there are a couple of things I'd love for you

944
01:04:43,800 --> 01:04:48,120
Speaker 1: to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast.

945
01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:50,840
Speaker 1: You can also help us reach others by investing today

946
01:04:50,840 --> 01:04:54,479
Speaker 1: at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again

947
01:04:54,520 --> 01:04:56,640
Speaker 1: for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.