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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and.

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Speaker 2: This is our podcast.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

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Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

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Speaker 1: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: God is not against me, but He's in it with me,

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Speaker 1: working through me, and fighting for me. And it would

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Speaker 1: seem like I would know that at my core and

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Speaker 1: never doubt it. But I was driving to the church

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Speaker 1: to preach. It has been several months ago. It might

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Speaker 1: have been, you know, it might have been a particular

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Speaker 1: Sunday where I felt my message was confusing and I

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Speaker 1: didn't know if I was going to be able to

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Speaker 1: communicate it.

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Speaker 2: Maybe I didn't sleep good that night.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember. I just remember pulling in thinking of

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Speaker 1: all the ways it could go wrong. You know you

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Speaker 1: do that sometimes, like you're driving up to something. You're like,

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Speaker 1: I'm probably gonna blow it. These pants feel tight, look

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Speaker 1: at this, my hair is doing this thing. It could

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Speaker 1: be any little dumb thing, and you just start imagining

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Speaker 1: all the ways it could go wrong. Well, I was

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Speaker 1: doing that about my sermon. And as I pulled into

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Speaker 1: the church, I thought, wait a minute, I'm showing up

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Speaker 1: today to help people, to give them God's word, to

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Speaker 1: share with them what the Lord says the best I

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Speaker 1: know how. And it won't be perfect, and I'll miss

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Speaker 1: some things, and I'll mispronounce some things, and I'll probably

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Speaker 1: make a mess of some of it. But do I

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Speaker 1: not believe that God is for what I'm doing today,

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Speaker 1: that he wants to help these people more than I do.

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Speaker 1: That he wants to lift these people out of the

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Speaker 1: pit that they're in more than I do. That he

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Speaker 1: wants to give them their next step to fulfill his

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Speaker 1: purpose for their life more than I do. And it

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Speaker 1: hit me, Stephen, You're showing up like God is opposing you,

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Speaker 1: like he wants to trip you, leg sweep you. Why

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Speaker 1: do you believe that? And I just said right there

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Speaker 1: in my car, God is not against me.

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Speaker 2: Now I've said that sung that thought about that.

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Speaker 1: It's a core teaching in the scripture that if God

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Speaker 1: is for us, who can be against us? But it

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Speaker 1: kind of hit that time, and then I thought about

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Speaker 1: the consequences. Well, if he's not against me, what is

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Speaker 1: he He's in it with me? Yea, working through me

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Speaker 1: and fighting for me, and from there I show up

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Speaker 1: knowing He's got my back.

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Speaker 2: Let's do this now.

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Speaker 1: I think for a lot of people that almost sounds

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Speaker 1: like I have an imaginary friend. My imaginary dad can

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Speaker 1: beat up your imaginary dad.

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Speaker 2: I don't see it that way.

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Speaker 1: I really have come to tap into that belief and

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Speaker 1: the times that I do operate in confidence the times

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Speaker 1: that I don't operate in insecurity and inferiority.

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Speaker 2: So let's talk about that a little bit practically.

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Speaker 1: Let's get it out of the cartoonish realm where we

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Speaker 1: sometimes put it, and let's put it in the realm

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Speaker 1: of that everyday confidence, walking in the confidence that God

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Speaker 1: is not against me, but he's in it with me,

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Speaker 1: working through me and fighting for me. Hit me with

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Speaker 1: your best stuff on confidence, because you teach this like

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Speaker 1: nobody I've ever heard.

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Speaker 3: Well, I don't think it's cartoony at all. I think

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Speaker 3: it's a powerful metaphor because I like to tell people

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Speaker 3: loneliness only got you this far.

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Speaker 4: When you feel alone.

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Speaker 3: In life, how do you act when you feel like

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Speaker 3: nobody's got your back? How do you act when you

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Speaker 3: feel like no one understands you? How do you act

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Speaker 3: those thought patterns of I'm alone, everybody's against me, no

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Speaker 3: one's for me. That doesn't inspire your courage. But I

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Speaker 3: work with a lot of elite people in the military,

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Speaker 3: and they have that phrase of all is one, right,

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Speaker 3: that moment where if you're on the battlefield and you're

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Speaker 3: by yourself as a lonely warrior, it's terrifying and you

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Speaker 3: hunker down, you don't charge. But when you're at the

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Speaker 3: line with all the guys, all is one. Yeah, there's

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Speaker 3: a four moment. There's assertiveness to it. It's like we

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Speaker 3: got this, and you got to at some point go

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Speaker 3: we got this.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Because if you're disassociated from your faith, if you're disassociated

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Speaker 3: from God, I just believe you're disempowered. And so there's

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Speaker 3: got to be that element in your life. You know what,

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Speaker 3: loneliness only took me this far. If I don't believe

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Speaker 3: he's here, if I don't believe that someone is fighting

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Speaker 3: with me, I will continue to procrastinate and to blame

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Speaker 3: and be frustrated.

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Speaker 4: So the metaphor is really powerful. It's not cartoonish.

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Speaker 2: And when you approach the day of that day.

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Speaker 3: You swarm the day you don't like hide on the couch,

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Speaker 3: and so I don't think people realize the incredible power

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Speaker 3: of there is strength with you, and there is strength

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Speaker 3: in you.

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Speaker 2: And there's stuff like swarm the day. Yeah, I'm like

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Speaker 2: put that on it hood. That's a great phrase. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean swarm the day.

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Speaker 3: It's true, you're either caged in your day or you're

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Speaker 3: charging the day.

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Speaker 2: And we often talk aged or charging. Yeah, you're you're

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Speaker 2: in the caged life.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And the cage life is where you just continually

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Speaker 3: your thoughts continually trap you where you're at, or you're

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Speaker 3: more open and you're more generative and you have higher agency,

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Speaker 3: which means you're charging the day. It doesn't mean you

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Speaker 3: you crush every day and every day is perfect. It

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Speaker 3: means you're moving forward even if you're a hot mess.

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Speaker 3: You're moving forward to even in doubt. You're moving forward

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Speaker 3: in strength, even though you know you have weaknesses because

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Speaker 3: you're empowered by something higher.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you said the part about sometimes you move

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Speaker 1: forward messy because that feeling that God is not against me.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't really mean the most to me when I

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Speaker 1: feel like I'm doing good because I feel Him with me. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I need this mindset. When I don't feel Him with me,

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Speaker 1: that's the moment where I believe I don't have to

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Speaker 1: feel it for it to be true.

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Speaker 2: That's where my faith kicks in.

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Speaker 1: And I think a lot of times when we're having

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Speaker 1: a real proud moment and we feel like, look at me, man,

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Speaker 1: I actually like, actually showed up for that I did.

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Speaker 1: That God is not against me. So I'm like, of

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Speaker 1: course he's not. Who wouldn't want to be on my team? Like, hey, God,

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Speaker 1: come work with me. I'm like a first round draft pick.

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Speaker 1: And then you hit those moments where you go, if

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Speaker 1: I were God, I wouldn't want to be on my team,

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to use me. And not only do

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Speaker 1: all the Bible heroes have this, but there's one in

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Speaker 1: specific that we both love and I use this for

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Speaker 1: probably the central character for this mindset in the book,

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Speaker 1: and it's Gideon. Yes, and the reason I chose Gideon.

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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, Brendan, I had a moment writing these

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Speaker 1: chapters about Gideon that I will never be able to

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Speaker 1: share with anyone because it was so powerful from God

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Speaker 1: to me. And I've read the story of Gideon, preached

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Speaker 1: the story of Gideon all the way from the Lavigne

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Speaker 1: Senior Center, when we had eighty people in the room.

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Speaker 1: I'm up there talking about Gideon and his army of

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Speaker 1: three hundred and we don't have what we think we need,

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Speaker 1: but if we have God, we're a majority.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: And yet the personal message of it was when I

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Speaker 1: saw Gideon in a wine press threshing wheat, which represents

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Speaker 1: us kind of in.

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Speaker 2: Hiding in the caged life.

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Speaker 1: And so he's caged in this oppression of the Midianites,

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Speaker 1: and how they've spent all of these years being subdued

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Speaker 1: by these people, and he's come to believe these things

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Speaker 1: about himself. I'm the littlest, I'm the least, my tribe

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Speaker 1: is the smallest. All of these things that he begins

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Speaker 1: to believe. Right, the Angel of the Lord comes and says,

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Speaker 1: the Lord is with you, mighty warrior.

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Speaker 2: And he says, if the Lord is with us, why

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Speaker 2: has all this happened to us?

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Speaker 1: And I won't repreach the whole story, but what the

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Speaker 1: Lord said to Gideon that was so powerful to me

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Speaker 1: was go in the strength you have love that, because

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Speaker 1: it hit me in that moment that the strength Gideon

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Speaker 1: had was God and he's so focused on I'm the littlest,

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Speaker 1: I'm the least, and you may be too.

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Speaker 2: I do it all the time, the best singer.

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Speaker 1: I'm not the smartest person to take a Bible text apart.

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Speaker 1: I'm not really even good with geography, and here I

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Speaker 1: am trying to talk about Midian and Gideon and Israel,

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Speaker 1: and I can barely find where I live on a map. Sometimes,

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Speaker 1: if I stay stuck in that and don't get into

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Speaker 1: the mindset God is in it with me, working through me,

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Speaker 1: fighting for me, then my strength is always limited to

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Speaker 1: my situation. My strength is always limited to my skill set.

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Speaker 1: The moment that I realize go in the strength you

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Speaker 1: have is a command to tap into God himself, then

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Speaker 1: it becomes unlimited what God can do through me. Why

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Speaker 1: I put three different things behind God is not against me?

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Speaker 1: Is it isn't just God is not against me so

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Speaker 1: I can buy a Lamborghini. Now. He wants to work

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Speaker 1: through me for others, for something bigger than me. He's

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Speaker 1: fighting for me, not just fighting against the people I

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Speaker 1: don't like because I don't like them. He's fighting for

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Speaker 1: his purposes. He's fighting the make sure that I can

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Speaker 1: do everything I need to do, and he's in it

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Speaker 1: with me.

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Speaker 2: Even before I change.

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Speaker 1: He calls me strong and courageous when I don't feel

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Speaker 1: like I am. Yes, So let's talk about separating your

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Speaker 1: confidence from your feelings, because that can be so dangerous.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I imagine when you think about Gideon, you imagine

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Speaker 3: him in this wine press, and I'll give you this

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Speaker 3: framework for what's going on in his head.

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Speaker 4: Maybe because we trap ourselves a lot.

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Speaker 3: And I always use this metaphor, we zap our success,

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Speaker 3: which means it's just an acronym, zap we zap our success.

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Speaker 2: And you'll notice your thoughts to do this.

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Speaker 3: You have momentum, you feel good, and then zap it

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Speaker 3: disappears because you're like, what happened to my confidence?

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Speaker 2: What's wrong with me?

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Speaker 3: What happens with zap is zap z sent for zoom.

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Speaker 3: We zoom in to a problem, and we catastrophize. We

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Speaker 3: zoom in and we worry if I take action, I'll

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Speaker 3: be ruined, I'll be rejected, i won't be able to

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Speaker 3: hand the responsibility, or I'll regret it. So I'm just

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Speaker 3: gonna stay right here in this winepress, because if I

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Speaker 3: go out there, I'm gonna get killed.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna slow you down and give us the four

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Speaker 1: rs again because I think those are very big.

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Speaker 2: Will you do them again? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Are four primary big fears that prevent action. The first

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Speaker 3: one is ruin, which we just believe if I do

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Speaker 3: something that's going to ruin my reputation, that's going to

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Speaker 3: ruin my opportunities, that's going to ruin my ability to

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Speaker 3: get ahead. Then we go, oh, well, I'm worried if

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Speaker 3: I take action, people will reject me. I'll be ostracized,

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Speaker 3: I'll be abandoned. They won't understand. Then we fear responsibility,

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Speaker 3: which is the one most people forget. It's like we're

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Speaker 3: scared of more responsibility. If you get that responsibility, I'm

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Speaker 3: not to be able to handle it. I don't know

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Speaker 3: if myself. I mean, I'll burn out, I'll freak out.

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Speaker 3: I'll have too much anxiety and stress. I don't want

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Speaker 3: the responsibilities. It's too much to bear. And then we

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Speaker 3: fear a regret. Well, if I do take action and

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Speaker 3: it doesn't go well, I'll always regret I made that

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Speaker 3: decision to trust her. I'll always regret I made that

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Speaker 3: decision to try that thing. I'll always regret and that's

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Speaker 3: the form of catastrophizing that we have in a problem.

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Speaker 3: We just zoom in. Oh my gosh, there's gonna be ruined,

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Speaker 3: there's gonna be rejection. I can't handle it, and I'll

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Speaker 3: regret it forever. Why would you take action after that?

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Speaker 3: And then a is we attach ourself to it. This

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Speaker 3: problem is me. This circumstance that I don't like is me.

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Speaker 3: I'm the problem. I'm the same. We make our psychology

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Speaker 3: the same as the problem, and we forget that our

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Speaker 3: personhood is bigger than the problem, and that the problem

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Speaker 3: is not permanent. The problem is placed there to challenge

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Speaker 3: us to rise above it. And then the p what

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Speaker 3: we do is so we've zoomed in and catastrophized. We've

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Speaker 3: attached ourselves to it, so we feel insecure, and now

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Speaker 3: we procrastinate or we pause or we punish.

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Speaker 4: What that means is we say, oh, well, I just.

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Speaker 3: Want to do it, because you know, we start telling

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Speaker 3: ourselves all these stories about why we're procrastinating, Well, I

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Speaker 3: don't have enough resources, or this is going on or

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Speaker 3: that's going on.

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Speaker 4: Then we punish ourselves.

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Speaker 3: It's weird, like we're scared because we've catastrophised and we

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Speaker 3: don't feel enough. So now we do all these weird

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Speaker 3: things to punish ourselves. We overeat, we get addicted, We

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Speaker 3: turn to video games all day long.

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Speaker 4: Nothing against video against but all day long, you know.

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Speaker 3: We go into social media and we scroll because we're

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Speaker 3: uncomfortable and we're doing these behaviors that are not moving

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Speaker 3: anything forward. And like we talked about previous sessions, you

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Speaker 3: have to learn to flip that thing. Instead of zooming

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Speaker 3: in and catastrophizing, we zoom in.

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Speaker 4: We ask what if?

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Speaker 3: What if God actually has my back here and I

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Speaker 3: am being challenged to grow into more of his glory.

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Speaker 3: What if instead of you know, attaching myself to it,

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Speaker 3: I attach spirit to it. Instead of taking it personally,

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Speaker 3: what if I recognize it's part of the world and

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Speaker 3: it's part of a plan that I don't understand, And

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Speaker 3: instead of pausing, then I kind of power up in

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Speaker 3: his faith and I power up and I go, Okay,

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Speaker 3: I know that I have been given these tools. I've

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Speaker 3: been given his faith, his words, And he said, did

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Speaker 3: I not command you? And so he's saying, did I

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Speaker 3: not command you? This is in front of your life.

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Speaker 3: You didn't want it there, but I put it there, yeah,

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Speaker 3: and then you have to go, oh, and it gives

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Speaker 3: you a different edge. And this is what you always

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Speaker 3: have to realize when you're facing a problem in life,

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Speaker 3: and when you're thinking about this, you know, is God

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Speaker 3: fighting for me or not? If you believe God is

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Speaker 3: fighting for you, have an edge, just like when you

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Speaker 3: were sitting in the car wondering are my pants too tight?

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Speaker 3: Am I going to do a good job in the

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Speaker 3: sermon today? What's happening there is You're going to insecurity?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: And I always want you to hear it's like, am

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Speaker 3: I feeling insecure about something? Or do I feel the edge?

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Speaker 3: The edge is like a forward lean. It's a confidence.

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Speaker 3: And the funny thing, it's the same it's the same acronym.

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Speaker 2: It's still ZAP.

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Speaker 4: But now I'm I'm zooming into the opportunity.

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Speaker 2: Okay, all right, this is what I wanted you to get.

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Speaker 1: This level of We're talking about ancient warrior in a

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Speaker 1: wine press. It takes some jars and read Judge A

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Speaker 1: six and he goes and defeats Midianites. I'm really really

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Speaker 1: just trying to pay this rent, bro, Like I'm really

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Speaker 1: really just trying to get my kid back off drugs

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Speaker 1: and doing good in school. Like I'm really just trying

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Speaker 1: to recover from this miscarriage.

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Speaker 2: I don't I like the story. I believe that, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I believe it.

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Speaker 1: But how we always used to say Holly's thing was hallelujah? Now,

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Speaker 1: how like praise the Lord He's with me? Now?

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Speaker 2: How do I have him with me?

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Speaker 1: Because I can't see him, I can't always feel him.

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Speaker 2: This is a tool, Zach.

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Speaker 1: It's a tool for me to know what's happening when

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Speaker 1: I'm shrinking myself, because I used to think that when

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Speaker 1: I shrink myself that magnifies God. You know, I grew

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Speaker 1: up in a great little Methodist church, and I went

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Speaker 1: to a Baptist church to learn how to do ministry,

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Speaker 1: and then I went to seminary, and none of.

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Speaker 2: My professors taught me this.

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Speaker 1: They all taught me well, I'm sure that the things

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Speaker 1: they said were good. But somehow I got the message

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Speaker 1: that in order for God to be great, I almost

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Speaker 1: had to make myself little and less. And my feeling

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Speaker 1: about that has changed over the years. And I'll tell

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Speaker 1: you what it is. It's not that, oh I think

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Speaker 1: I can do it without God. Because I know now

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Speaker 1: more than ever, if he doesn't show up, I'm done.

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Speaker 1: Is that I realized that the children that God has

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Speaker 1: given me to raise, Elijah, Graham and Abbey, the woman

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Speaker 1: that God has given me to love Holly, the.

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Speaker 2: Church that God has pastor.

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Speaker 1: They don't need me in the wine press of all

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Speaker 1: my reasons why I'm not good enough.

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Speaker 2: And the same is true.

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Speaker 1: Of the people in your life when you think, oh,

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Speaker 1: beating up on myself is kind of like giving God

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Speaker 1: glory because I know that He's holy and I'm not holy.

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Speaker 2: But didn't he make you holy? Isn't that why Jesus died?

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Speaker 2: If you want to zoom zoom into the.

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Speaker 1: Cross and see how he paid the price for you,

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Speaker 1: Now zoom back out from that.

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Speaker 2: Who would he die for? That he would not fight for?

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Speaker 1: So now I know that any situation I find myself in,

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Speaker 1: I already have evidence. I don't need another evidence. I

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Speaker 1: already have evidence because I believe God sent his son

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Speaker 1: to die for me. And that may not be your belief.

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Speaker 1: Right now, I'm just telling you where my confidence is.

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Speaker 1: It's in the Cross. It's in the fact that after

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Speaker 1: he died he rose again. So now if he went

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Speaker 1: down into the grave for me. What situation will he

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Speaker 1: not get in with me?

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Speaker 2: Right now?

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Speaker 1: You're telling me God won't be with me through a

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Speaker 1: divorce when he went to the grave. You're telling me

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Speaker 1: God won't be with me through a bankruptcy when he

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Speaker 1: went to the grave. You're telling me God won't get

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Speaker 1: in the middle of my insecurity and the trauma that

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Speaker 1: I went through and helped me heal through that and

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Speaker 1: then turn around and work through me so I can

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Speaker 1: be a healer of others, so we can give glory

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Speaker 1: to God together. That's what he's all about. That's what

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Speaker 1: I mean. He's in it with me. That's what I mean.

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Speaker 1: He's working through me. That's what I mean. He's fighting

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Speaker 1: for me. But you don't see any of that if

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Speaker 1: you're zap. I listen to acronyms like most people eat candy.

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Speaker 2: I'm like hogging into the acronym and we just.

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Speaker 1: Did so much and it's all going to be right

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Speaker 1: here for you to go back and revisit and go

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Speaker 1: what was that? Or again, what am I doing right now?

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Speaker 1: Which one am I at right now? Or when I'm attaching,

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Speaker 1: I'm attaching what if you'll go through it slowly, and

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Speaker 1: I want to encourage you go back through this masterclass,

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Speaker 1: go back through the ones that you haven't watched yet,

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Speaker 1: get into this truth, and get this truth into you

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Speaker 1: because it gives you a way to tap into the

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Speaker 1: strength that you have. You have no idea what resource

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Speaker 1: is available to you through your relationship with God when

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Speaker 1: you are accomplishing His purpose. Now, I want to bring

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Speaker 1: up another thing that might be a little difficult to

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Speaker 1: talk about. Maybe if I feel like God is against me,

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Speaker 1: it's because I'm going in the wrong direction. There will

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Speaker 1: be times in my life where I'll feel like, man,

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Speaker 1: God is against me, and it may just be He's

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Speaker 1: closing a door to something because it's what I want,

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Speaker 1: not what he wants. And we have to be so

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Speaker 1: careful in those moments not to mistake the circumstances that

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Speaker 1: are not favorable for the absence of God. I've always

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Speaker 1: liked to say that the presence of problems doesn't prove

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Speaker 1: the absence of God, right, And so now we want

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Speaker 1: to get into what I call non circumstantial confidence, where

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Speaker 1: we can just know that this is always true, God

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Speaker 1: is in it with me.

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Speaker 2: What's it fill in the boything?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think it's so important because you mentioned

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Speaker 3: earlier about how some people you know, minimize themselves or

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Speaker 3: shrink themselves. And you know, a lot of my audience

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Speaker 3: have never heard me speak a whole lot about my faith.

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Speaker 3: Have been telling my car accident story where I found

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Speaker 3: my connection with God. But I often have to tell

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Speaker 3: my friends of faith there's a difference between being receptive

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Speaker 3: of his word and the idea that he might be

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Speaker 3: powerful and responsibility. You can be recept you can be receptive,

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Speaker 3: or it can be responsible. And I think you have

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Speaker 3: to know there's a spectrum there right. Some people are

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Speaker 3: very receptive, but they're very passive, and some other people

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Speaker 3: are receptive, but their response and what I always got

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Speaker 3: from Gideon, and this was a turning point, I think

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Speaker 3: in our friendship, at least for me, when you told

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Speaker 3: me the story of Gideon. The way you explained it

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Speaker 3: to me was that you know, no matter what's going

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Speaker 3: on around you, it still do not be afraid, be

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Speaker 3: bold and courageous, yeah, and go in. The strength that

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Speaker 3: you have was so huge to me that I started

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Speaker 3: shouting to my audiences last year, I'm all put their hands.

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Speaker 2: Up, I'm here, I'm ready, I go in strength. I

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Speaker 2: love that.

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Speaker 3: And this is after we've acknowledged all the suffering and

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Speaker 3: all the challenges and all the difficulties we have, we

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Speaker 3: can still say I'm here, I'm ready, I go in strength.

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Speaker 3: And I really believe that the huge shift is when

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Speaker 3: we say I'll go and strength forward.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

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Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

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Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,

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Speaker 1: or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more

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00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,120
Speaker 1: information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

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00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:04,920
Speaker 2: You can share it with your friends.

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00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:07,480
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

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Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at

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Speaker 1: Elevation Church.

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Speaker 2: Thanks again for listening. God bless you