Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy. The message
Speaker 1: kind of unintentionally went into a mini series from Philippians.
Speaker 1: I want to share from chapter four, Holy Spirit, give
Speaker 1: me accuracy and precision to speak this word. May it
Speaker 1: get through my mouth, but may it come from your
Speaker 1: heart Jesus Name, Amen, Philippians, Chapter four, and I want
Speaker 1: to link this message with the other messages from Philippians. One.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be dragging anybody across the stage
Speaker 1: in a chain this week. I figured it's a bad pattern.
Speaker 1: But I do want to go to this great passage
Speaker 1: of scripture that was originally like a ps that Paul
Speaker 1: put in his letter to the Philippian Church, and he
Speaker 1: just kind of tagged it on at the end to
Speaker 1: thank them for the gift that they sent to help
Speaker 1: him with his defense, his legal defense, and from a
Speaker 1: prison cell, he writes, and he's like full of joy,
Speaker 1: which is counterintuitive that you'd be in jail and have joy,
Speaker 1: or lose your job and still trust God and call
Speaker 1: him your provider, or be single but still know that
Speaker 1: you're not alone. Or maybe be wronged, but know that
Speaker 1: God is even using that to ultimately bless your life
Speaker 1: and to use you. And all of this is taught
Speaker 1: in the Book of Philippians. But I find myself coming
Speaker 1: back to this section, which is like a ps not
Speaker 1: only a PostScript to use an old letter writing term,
Speaker 1: but also it's a perspective shift. So we're going to
Speaker 1: see the power of a perspective shift today. Philippians, chapter four,
Speaker 1: verse ten through nineteen. I rejoice greatly in the Lord
Speaker 1: that you at last renewed your concern for me. I
Speaker 1: was laughing when I read that. He's like, thanks, I
Speaker 1: got your gift. It's about time. I didn't think that
Speaker 1: was very good etiquette, very good thank you note etiquette.
Speaker 1: I got the gift finally, But then he clarifies, indeed,
Speaker 1: you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I
Speaker 1: have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. Just touch
Speaker 1: the person next to you and say I'm good, I promise.
Speaker 1: I know what it is to be in need, and
Speaker 1: I know what it is to have plenty. I have
Speaker 1: learned the secret of being content. I wasn't born this way.
Speaker 1: I was born screaming my head off. I was selfish
Speaker 1: when I was two. But I'm maturing and I have
Speaker 1: learned to be content. I've learned that you can complain,
Speaker 1: but it won't do any good and people won't like you.
Speaker 1: So I'm learning amen to be content, whatever the circumstances,
Speaker 1: because I know what it is to be in need,
Speaker 1: I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned
Speaker 1: the secret of being content in any and every situation,
Speaker 1: whether wealth that are hungry, whether living in plenty or
Speaker 1: in want. And I can do all this through Him
Speaker 1: who gives me strength. I call that the international bingch
Speaker 1: press verse where you see these posters in every Christian
Speaker 1: school weight room all over the world. But it's got
Speaker 1: a little deeper meaning than that. It's about the sufficiency
Speaker 1: of God's spirit in every situation. And I just feel
Speaker 1: good today. I feel I feel relaxed and happy about
Speaker 1: this message. Verse fourteen. Yet it was good of you
Speaker 1: to share in my troubles Moreover, as you Philippians know,
Speaker 1: in the early days of your acquaintance with the Gospel,
Speaker 1: when I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared
Speaker 1: with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you.
Speaker 1: Only you were there for me. You were there for me,
Speaker 1: and I won't forget it, for even when I was
Speaker 1: in Thessalonika sent me aid more than once when I
Speaker 1: was in need. It's kind of confusing because he keeps
Speaker 1: going back and forth. I don't need anything yet, thank
Speaker 1: you for meeting my needs. But I don't need anything,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, Paul, if you don't need it,
Speaker 1: can we have it back because we need it. You know. Look,
Speaker 1: not that I desire your gifts. What I desire is
Speaker 1: that more be credited to your account. I have received
Speaker 1: full payment and have more than enough. I am amply
Speaker 1: supplied now that I have received from a paphroditis that
Speaker 1: gives you sent They're a fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice,
Speaker 1: pleasing to God, and my God will meet all your needs.
Speaker 1: I wonder if Paul was just saying this to the
Speaker 1: church at Philippi, or will he say it to Elevation
Speaker 1: Balentine today too? And elevation Toronto. And my God, in fact,
Speaker 1: I wonder would you say this to the person next
Speaker 1: to you. My God will meet all your needs. And
Speaker 1: this part is important according to the riches of His
Speaker 1: glory in Christ, because I don't have what you need,
Speaker 1: and I can't always be what you need because I
Speaker 1: got my own needs. And that's why I'm tired all
Speaker 1: the time. Is because people want me to meet their
Speaker 1: needs and I've got so many of my own. If
Speaker 1: you only knew how much I'd needed, you would leave
Speaker 1: me alone. How many want to say this to your
Speaker 1: kids every once in a while, not me. I love
Speaker 1: my kids, They're delightful. But I think that's the most
Speaker 1: misunderstood verse in the whole Book of Philippians. And I
Speaker 1: want to spend some time with it today. My God
Speaker 1: will meet all your needs according to the riches of
Speaker 1: his glory in Christ, Jesus, and see if we can
Speaker 1: get a fresh hearing for this verse in Paul's presence.
Speaker 1: And I want to speak to you today about need meeters,
Speaker 1: need meeters. Some things you learn about your spouse very
Speaker 1: quickly after marriage. Some things you know going in, Some
Speaker 1: things you find out progressively. I will never forget on
Speaker 1: our honeymoon learning. Uh. I learned a lot about Holly
Speaker 1: on our honeymoon. And yeah, and then and so and
Speaker 1: but uh in church. The thing that I learned about
Speaker 1: her that I wanted to tell you about today is
Speaker 1: we have we have very opposite vacation personalities. When she
Speaker 1: gets relaxed, she gets quiet and and boring, And when
Speaker 1: I get relaxed, I get playful. Some would say silly,
Speaker 1: some would say obnoxious, but I say playful. And the
Speaker 1: reason I knew that this was going to be interesting
Speaker 1: in our relationship is because I thought she was mad.
Speaker 1: I thought she didn't like the cruise ship. And I
Speaker 1: was like, well, I know I couldn't afford the balcony room,
Speaker 1: but at least it's a princess cruise. I was proud
Speaker 1: of it, proud of the princess cruse and nobody she
Speaker 1: was happy, and she said something to me. I just
Speaker 1: remembered it when I was preparing this message. When I
Speaker 1: was jumping up and down on the bed in that
Speaker 1: little room that they give you on the cruise ship,
Speaker 1: jumping up and down on the bed, maybe wanting to
Speaker 1: arm wrestle and making animal noises. She looked at me,
Speaker 1: and I've heard her say this to our kids, but
Speaker 1: this was the first time I heard her say it.
Speaker 1: She said, do you need attention? And you know what
Speaker 1: I want to say publicly, Holly, Yes, Yes, I need
Speaker 1: your attention, your affection, your tender mercies. I need it all,
Speaker 1: all of it, anything, y'all need it all. I don't
Speaker 1: know what I need. That's one thing I know at
Speaker 1: age thirty eight that I didn't know earlier on. I
Speaker 1: don't even know what I need. I don't. She wants
Speaker 1: to be a doctor, so she's like, well, where does
Speaker 1: it hurt? And I don't know. I just it hurts.
Speaker 1: She'll ask me this, what kind of headache? The kind
Speaker 1: that hurts? And she wants to know you know, what
Speaker 1: do you need? What do you need? And the frustrating
Speaker 1: thing about it is somebody can really love you and
Speaker 1: want to meet your needs. But two things. One, if
Speaker 1: you don't even know what you really need, how in
Speaker 1: the world would they know what you need and meet
Speaker 1: your needs that you don't even really know. I can
Speaker 1: see we've got some work to do today because some
Speaker 1: of us want to act like we have no needs.
Speaker 1: You know. I almost thought that's where Paul was going,
Speaker 1: I don't need it, but thanks, but I mean I
Speaker 1: don't need it. Sorry. And some people you can't even compliment.
Speaker 1: I'm real good. It's terrible to try to compliment certain people.
Speaker 1: They'll make you feel so awkwardy, especially in church, good
Speaker 1: sermon it was God, Wow, it wasn't that good, pastor
Speaker 1: it was just okay. And when we come to Christ,
Speaker 1: there's often an expectation, on realistic expectation, that He's going
Speaker 1: to take away our needs, and he doesn't. In fact,
Speaker 1: if you are a Christian, you still have the same
Speaker 1: needs now that you did before you met Jesus, the
Speaker 1: same needs, but they are now met in a different way.
Speaker 1: In other words, you still have the same need for approval,
Speaker 1: but now instead of trying to get it from another
Speaker 1: human who doesn't even fully like themselves, you are getting
Speaker 1: it from the all sufficient, all knowing, all seeing, ever present,
Speaker 1: ever living God who gives you breath and who intricately
Speaker 1: knit you to together in your mother's wombs. So it's
Speaker 1: not that I don't have needs. It's it's not that
Speaker 1: I don't have wants. The Lord is my shepherd. I
Speaker 1: shall not want. That doesn't mean I never want anything,
Speaker 1: never need anything. It doesn't mean my appetite went away.
Speaker 1: It just means I go to a different buffet now. Amen,
Speaker 1: that means I eat off a different menu now. And
Speaker 1: sometimes we are so focused on people's behaviors that we
Speaker 1: can't discern the needs that drive the behaviors. And a
Speaker 1: lot of Christian teaching and preaching is focused on condemning
Speaker 1: behaviors without understanding the need. There is no need that
Speaker 1: you are currently meeting in your life that is an
Speaker 1: evil need or a bad need. And many of us
Speaker 1: who have various addictions need to hear this exact point.
Speaker 1: And maybe you can even leave after I say this,
Speaker 1: because this may be the whole reason God brought you here.
Speaker 1: You're not meeting the wrong need, You're just meeting it
Speaker 1: with the wrong mess. Means this applies to overspending, overeating,
Speaker 1: over talking, over bragging, and yes, I hear you Facebook
Speaker 1: over sharing. It applies to every sexual addiction. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a certain shame that comes with sexual addiction, but
Speaker 1: there shouldn't be because all the addiction is is a
Speaker 1: valid need trying to express itself. It's a need for connection,
Speaker 1: which is very good and very God. It is not
Speaker 1: good for men to be alone. But loneliness, if left untreated,
Speaker 1: becomes lust. That's all lust is is the need for
Speaker 1: connection being met through something that has no ability to
Speaker 1: satisfy the need that it is trying to meet. So
Speaker 1: it becomes more and more and more and more and more.
Speaker 1: And Paul says, My God shall supply all your needs,
Speaker 1: or meet all of your needs, not according to your resources,
Speaker 1: but according to his. And I'm I'm glad about it.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that the only one who has what I
Speaker 1: need happens to be the only one who knows what
Speaker 1: I need. How many are glad about that? Let's give
Speaker 1: God five seconds a praise for knowing what we need
Speaker 1: and for being what we need. The Lord is my
Speaker 1: light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord
Speaker 1: is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I
Speaker 1: be afraid? Listen, Blakeney, when the wicked, even mine enemies,
Speaker 1: came upon me, even they stumbled and fell, he prepares
Speaker 1: a table for me in the presence of my enemy. No,
Speaker 1: he doesn't take the need away. He becomes what I need.
Speaker 1: He meets my need. Some of us are waiting for
Speaker 1: God to remove the need. But if he removed the need,
Speaker 1: He would remove the means by which he meets the need.
Speaker 1: To remind you that he is what I need. He
Speaker 1: not only gives it, he is it. Let's back up
Speaker 1: a little bit and let's talk about your need meter.
Speaker 1: You know, spell it different, just if we spell it
Speaker 1: like this need not that meters, but the other one
Speaker 1: need meter? Like how needy are you? Like? What's your
Speaker 1: meter read? If we could read the meter on your
Speaker 1: need today, if it was right there on your forehead
Speaker 1: when you came in the house of God, what would
Speaker 1: we see if we could read your meter? What we
Speaker 1: could read your joy meter today? Not your happy meter.
Speaker 1: Happy meter might be just caffeine Starbucks can make you happy,
Speaker 1: and yet there's this joy. This contentment is described in
Speaker 1: the scripture. Oh, don't let people smile confuse you, because
Speaker 1: some people's bone structure is just arranged in their face.
Speaker 1: They look like they're smiling. Okay, some people just have
Speaker 1: you know, resting, blessed face and they just look happy.
Speaker 1: But it's covering up a lot of stuff. Don't worry
Speaker 1: about that. I'm saying, like the thing that we can't see,
Speaker 1: if we could see it, if you had a peace
Speaker 1: meter on your forehead today and we could see your
Speaker 1: peace meter, would it be like or would it be
Speaker 1: like the gas gauge of a sixteen year old who
Speaker 1: fills up five dollars at a time, you know, filling
Speaker 1: up five dollars at a time, A click at a time,
Speaker 1: a like at a time, a comment at a time.
Speaker 1: If we could see your meter, I'm gonna help you
Speaker 1: next week in triggered. I want you to come back
Speaker 1: and we'll discuss all of this in depth. Because here's
Speaker 1: what I've learned about this. When joy is low, usually
Speaker 1: it's because entitlement is high. That's why the most joyful
Speaker 1: book in the Bible, according to many, was written in
Speaker 1: a prison cell. Because Paul has come to the point
Speaker 1: where he says I don't need it. I don't need it,
Speaker 1: and he really means it. It's not like the one
Speaker 1: preacher who got up. You know, I don't preach for
Speaker 1: the praise him in amen, Amen, Amen. He's really he's
Speaker 1: really found a place. He's really found a place of
Speaker 1: freedom from what he thinks he deserves. And once he's
Speaker 1: set free from what he thinks he deserves and what
Speaker 1: he expected it to be, ooh, that's good. That's good.
Speaker 1: God just gave me that for this particular worship experience.
Speaker 1: I didn't say it any other time. Once he set
Speaker 1: from what he expected, he can receive what he needs.
Speaker 1: And sometimes what blocks us from receiving what we need
Speaker 1: is what we expected we would get, and when it
Speaker 1: doesn't show up like we expected, we can't receive what
Speaker 1: we need. Can I move a little deeper into this
Speaker 1: teaching you good? Okay, find Acts chapter sixteen if you
Speaker 1: can find it in your Bible or if you want
Speaker 1: to look it up on your phone. I always have
Speaker 1: a backup plan on the screen for you just in case.
Speaker 1: In case it was hectic getting out of the house,
Speaker 1: it'll come upon the screen. But we're flowing with last
Speaker 1: week's message, and we're linking that message of how sometimes
Speaker 1: God uses a no in our life. And I know,
Speaker 1: yes sounds better, but sometimes the no is more important.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what God doesn't give you and what God won't
Speaker 1: allow is just as important as what He has given
Speaker 1: you and what He does give you permission to do.
Speaker 1: And that was a really really interesting message even I
Speaker 1: could feel it as I was preaching it, this resistance
Speaker 1: to receive God's no with this same faith that you
Speaker 1: praise Him for his yes. And when we get to
Speaker 1: married to our plans, we can miss God's purpose. And
Speaker 1: so God does something unusual in Acts sixteen as Paul
Speaker 1: is taking the gospel out. And you have to understand
Speaker 1: that Paul isn't writing the principles in Philippians in a vacuum.
Speaker 1: He's writing them in the context of historical relationship with
Speaker 1: people in the church, and he loved them, and he's
Speaker 1: writing saying, thanks got the gift, gonna use it, don't
Speaker 1: need it. What I'm excited about is how God is
Speaker 1: going to use your gift to bless you. That's what
Speaker 1: he's saying, and it goes all the way back to
Speaker 1: how he met them to begin with. And how many
Speaker 1: would say that some people in your life right now
Speaker 1: don't understand you properly because they don't know your background,
Speaker 1: and they expect you to be farther along in certain areas.
Speaker 1: But you're like, if you only knew how good I'm
Speaker 1: doing to even be as far along as I am.
Speaker 1: I mean, I still cuss, but I used to beat people.
Speaker 1: And why I think we really do Philippians four nineteen
Speaker 1: of disservices because we strip it of its context. So
Speaker 1: I want to take you through something. Hopefully it won't
Speaker 1: be boring. But one thing I love about you is
Speaker 1: you let me lay a foundation when I teach. I
Speaker 1: don't feel the pressure to perform antics to keep you engaged.
Speaker 1: And I thought we needed to look at this real
Speaker 1: quick to understand the stuff we shout over. My God
Speaker 1: will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches.
Speaker 1: And I'm sad, but that verse sounds great, so I'm
Speaker 1: going to shout over top of my sadness. It's because
Speaker 1: we don't understand the means. We don't understand the means.
Speaker 1: So let's go back several years earlier. Paul is trying
Speaker 1: to get somewhere verse seven, when they came to the
Speaker 1: border of my sea. He's got Timothy with him, and
Speaker 1: they tried to enter Bathynia, but the spirit of Jesus
Speaker 1: would not allow them to wouldn't allow them to what
Speaker 1: wouldn't allow them to preach about Jesus. Jesus stopped his
Speaker 1: own pr campaign. That's very very very unusual, very difficult
Speaker 1: for me to get my mind around until I get
Speaker 1: to the next versus. And sometimes you do not understand
Speaker 1: at all what God is doing in the moment, Graham
Speaker 1: is so funny. We're coming to church today and a
Speaker 1: lot of our staff kids went to camp last week,
Speaker 1: and we had a staff advanced last week, and I
Speaker 1: was sharing with the staff all week and it was
Speaker 1: just a fan bent and family affair. And Graham got
Speaker 1: to play Joseph in a skit in a small group
Speaker 1: at camp. So he had the story of Joseph the
Speaker 1: Old Testament Joseph on his mind, and they sent me
Speaker 1: a video of him down on the ground when Potiphar's
Speaker 1: wife is accusing Joseph. Potiphar's wife is called Hottifer, and
Speaker 1: she was a She was accusing him of trying to
Speaker 1: make advances, and Graham was on the ground saying, no,
Speaker 1: I didn't do it. But Graham asked me something. He said,
Speaker 1: you think when the Bible says God was with Joseph,
Speaker 1: you think Joseph felt that way at the time. I
Speaker 1: don't know. It doesn't say how he felt. It states
Speaker 1: the fact after the fact. But you can't really know
Speaker 1: what God is doing until he's done it. And you
Speaker 1: don't really know what you need until you get what
Speaker 1: you want and find out it isn't even what you
Speaker 1: thought it was. So Paul wants to go to Asia blocked.
Speaker 1: Paul wants to go to Myceia blocked, and he does
Speaker 1: something that you got to learn to do when you
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. Instead of going home, he
Speaker 1: goes into the place of active waiting. It means God,
Speaker 1: I'm not just waiting for you to do something. I'm
Speaker 1: waiting on you. Like we used to not call them servers,
Speaker 1: it was waiters. I'm waiting on you, God, What would
Speaker 1: you like me to do in this season? So I'm
Speaker 1: praying for a new job, but I'm being nice at
Speaker 1: this one. Y'all don't want to help me preach. I'm
Speaker 1: praying for my kid's behavior to improve, but I'm not
Speaker 1: going to exemplify the exact behavior that I'm trying to
Speaker 1: correct by going off on them and demonstrating anger. While
Speaker 1: I'm trying to correct anger, I'm actively waiting. And this
Speaker 1: place is called trow Ass. Bible says that since they
Speaker 1: couldn't get into my Sea, they went down to troe Ass.
Speaker 1: This is a place of transition. It's a port city
Speaker 1: Asia minor one side, Europe on the other where we going?
Speaker 1: What's God doing? I don't know, but I'm not going home.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm not giving up. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I'm not losing sight. I don't know, but I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go into despair. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, I thought it was God, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was this, and I moved to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: or I moved to Raleigh, or I moved to Winston.
Speaker 1: And I had this idea and I had this plan.
Speaker 1: But God's purpose is greater than my plan. So I
Speaker 1: am in. I am in the place I'm positioned to
Speaker 1: hear God's voice, and God speaks to Paul in that place,
Speaker 1: God speaks to Paul. I believe He's going to speak
Speaker 1: to somebody here today too, during the night Verse nine,
Speaker 1: not in the daytime when everything is pretty and you
Speaker 1: can see what you're doing. During the night. This is
Speaker 1: a theme in scripture. Some of the greatest stuff God
Speaker 1: will show you will be when you can't see with
Speaker 1: your eyes, and when you can't feel with your emotions
Speaker 1: and you can't understand with your mind. During the night,
Speaker 1: Paul had a vision of a man, a man of Macedonia,
Speaker 1: this big region in Europe with people who were not
Speaker 1: yet reached by the Gospel. There were a lot of
Speaker 1: Jewish people in Macedonia, but not many believers yet, and
Speaker 1: certainly no church. And now I understand why God told
Speaker 1: Paul no, because God knew the real need. The plans
Speaker 1: of a man are in his heart, but his steps
Speaker 1: are ordered by the Lord. God has a purpose and
Speaker 1: you have a plan, and sometimes he has to do
Speaker 1: away with one to get to the other. I'm preaching
Speaker 1: right to your heart today, trying to get you to
Speaker 1: see this vision that Paul saw. It was a man
Speaker 1: of Macedonia, a what of Macedonia, a man of Macedonia
Speaker 1: standing in begging him come over to Macedonia and help us.
Speaker 1: Paul was looking for an opportunity. God showed him a need.
Speaker 1: Could it be possible that you've been asking God for
Speaker 1: an opportunity and God is showing it to you in
Speaker 1: the form of your greatest need. Would you be willing
Speaker 1: to receive that? Maybe the way God is speaking to
Speaker 1: you in this season is not by what you feel,
Speaker 1: and not by what you think, and not even by
Speaker 1: what you want. When you try to figure out your
Speaker 1: life and how others should act and how it needs
Speaker 1: to be, have you got to the place like Paul
Speaker 1: where you say I don't know what I really need.
Speaker 1: I need you to lead me. God. Somebody say lead
Speaker 1: me Lord. I don't want to lean on my own understanding.
Speaker 1: I need God to lead me. I don't need to
Speaker 1: lean on what I think I need because I think
Speaker 1: I need one thing when I really need another. That's
Speaker 1: how I gained weight when we got married. I thought
Speaker 1: I needed an oreo and I really need an exercise.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we think we need food, we really need an
Speaker 1: app sometimes we think Sometimes we think we need another person.
Speaker 1: What we really need to do is pray and ask
Speaker 1: God to get our minds right. Sometimes we think we
Speaker 1: need people to treat us different, when what we really
Speaker 1: need is to see people not as trees for us
Speaker 1: to pick the fruit from, but for soil for us
Speaker 1: to sew in. And God speaks to Paul and says,
Speaker 1: if you want an opportunity, here it is, and it's
Speaker 1: in the form of a need. God is trying to
Speaker 1: lead you through your need. And my God will meet
Speaker 1: all your needs with a need. God is God, He
Speaker 1: meets needs with needs. He's better than Christian mingle. God
Speaker 1: is a matchmaker. He's better than farmers only and Christian
Speaker 1: farmers only, and God is in the business of meeting
Speaker 1: needs with needs. Has your joy been low lately? Has
Speaker 1: your focus been off? Is your meeter reading need need
Speaker 1: need need, need, need, need, need need need? Maybe God
Speaker 1: is going to show you a need that you can meet,
Speaker 1: so that you can see what you had all along
Speaker 1: that you have not been using. The plot thickens now.
Speaker 1: Paul's like, God, give me an opportunity. God give me wisdom.
Speaker 1: God give me God, God, God give me. You know
Speaker 1: the prayers we pray. God give me, God give me,
Speaker 1: God give me, give me, get me me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, God, get me, give me,
Speaker 1: get me, get me, give me God, God, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, get me, get me, give me, give me, grace,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me me, get me, get me,
Speaker 1: get me, give me, give give give me, chill bumps,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, gain me, gain me,
Speaker 1: give me. I don't like the song. God give me, me,
Speaker 1: get me, get me, get me, get me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, gim me, get me, give me,
Speaker 1: get me, get me, give me. And Paul, there's no
Speaker 1: evidence that he's praying that. But I'm just I'm imposing
Speaker 1: what I would be doing on Paul. I'd be praying, God,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give give me, direction, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, gim me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: and give me, give me me. And God gives him
Speaker 1: a need of a man standing and begging him come
Speaker 1: over and help us. No, Paul needs help. So God
Speaker 1: helped Paul. And the way God helps Paul is by
Speaker 1: showing him someone who needs help. Y'all are quiet, y'all
Speaker 1: want me to get back to and my God, we'll
Speaker 1: meet all your needs. I wasn't saying that about himself.
Speaker 1: Paul was in prison thinking about somebody else's needs because
Speaker 1: he knew if I focus on my needs right now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be depressed because I am going to shrink
Speaker 1: my spirit to the size of my situation. So God,
Speaker 1: instead of focusing on what I need, what I think,
Speaker 1: what I want, what I don't, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me. I'm changing my prayer. Show me, show me,
Speaker 1: show me, show me, show me, show me, show me,
Speaker 1: show me. Show me what you're doing in the world,
Speaker 1: Show me what you put in my kids. Show me
Speaker 1: what you're calling me to be in the season that
Speaker 1: I'm in. Show me who I can bless, Show me
Speaker 1: who I can encourage. Show me ten people I can
Speaker 1: text and tell them you got this, because I'm waiting
Speaker 1: on somebody to tell me you got this. But maybe
Speaker 1: the way I'm gonna get it is to give it.
Speaker 1: Give it, and he shall be given unto you good measure,
Speaker 1: press down, sick it together, and run over if you
Speaker 1: want joy, rejoice if you want purpose, give praise, Give
Speaker 1: it if you want it. I don't mean to holler
Speaker 1: at you. Sit down, and I've caught up in the moment.
Speaker 1: Give me him me, give me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me him and the men came in
Speaker 1: the dream. And then it makes an interesting turn. How
Speaker 1: many you love the little details that we slow down
Speaker 1: and point out in the Bible. When you read this
Speaker 1: thing slow and stop skimming, you'll be amazed. How to
Speaker 1: come alive. You can't read this like BuzzFeed. The Bible
Speaker 1: is not BuzzFeed. When you treat it like that, you
Speaker 1: miss the blessing of it. Slow down and watch what's
Speaker 1: happening here? Watch what's happening here? Verse seven, when they
Speaker 1: came to the border of Mysia. That's where they wanted
Speaker 1: to go. Look at verse ten. After Paul had seen
Speaker 1: the vision, we got ready. Why did he shift from
Speaker 1: day to we? This is when Luke, who wrote the
Speaker 1: Book of Acts, got on board with the mission when
Speaker 1: Paul saw the vision. And what got me was it
Speaker 1: took faith for Paul to go out on a mission
Speaker 1: after seeing a vision. How much more faith did it
Speaker 1: take for the people who didn't even see the vision
Speaker 1: Paul saw to go with him. Sometimes it's hard to
Speaker 1: follow something that you can't see for yourself. And Luke's
Speaker 1: like Paul said, he saw a man in Macedonia. So
Speaker 1: we packed up and went. We didn't debate. How many
Speaker 1: of you would have at least asked God for one
Speaker 1: confirmation before you got back out on the sea. Paul,
Speaker 1: you had a dream. And I think there's a blessing
Speaker 1: in immediate obedience when we set straight out and just give.
Speaker 1: I don't understand people who I'll meet and they'll go
Speaker 1: I've been coming to the church four years. Do you serve? No,
Speaker 1: you're in a group. No, you invite your friends. No.
Speaker 1: I don't usually ask them if they give it's a
Speaker 1: little too personal. You know, that's a weird thing to
Speaker 1: ask in that. But then they say, let me know
Speaker 1: if you ever need anything, And I'm like, do you come?
Speaker 1: Do you see the people that God is bringing each week?
Speaker 1: You see how some of them come in with a
Speaker 1: look in their eyes like they might not make it.
Speaker 1: Do you see how God is unifying this church from
Speaker 1: so many different backgrounds, not just skin color, but even
Speaker 1: belief system, ideology, and how God is centering us on
Speaker 1: Christ in a culture that has never been more divided?
Speaker 1: Do you not see the needs? The harvest is here
Speaker 1: and the laborers are few? What do you mean if
Speaker 1: I need anything? It's right in front of you. Let's go,
Speaker 1: let's steal this, let's build the charts. Have you brought
Speaker 1: a friend with you in the last couple months, invited
Speaker 1: somebody to come with you to share it with you? Go.
Speaker 1: God's not gonna meet your needs independent of you. He's
Speaker 1: gonna meet your needs through your willingness to meet someone else's.
Speaker 1: I want to spend the rest of my life preaching
Speaker 1: like this to help us see that My God will
Speaker 1: meet all your needs according to his glorious riches. Paul
Speaker 1: said that after he thanked the Philippians for meeting his needs,
Speaker 1: he said, now that you've met somebody else's needs, God
Speaker 1: is going to meet yours. And I just couldn't get
Speaker 1: over it. How they had the faith to go out
Speaker 1: to Macedonia. There's like three hundred thousand people in Macedonia.
Speaker 1: And Paul saw one man in a vision. He's like,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go find that man that I saw
Speaker 1: my vision. How tall was he? I don't know. This
Speaker 1: is his eye color, I don't know. Gotta show, gotta
Speaker 1: show us when we get there. So they go. So
Speaker 1: they go, and Verse eleven describes it from Troe as
Speaker 1: we put out to sea and sailed straight for Simothrus,
Speaker 1: and next day we went to Neapolis. Side note, God
Speaker 1: doesn't take you there all at once, It's little stops
Speaker 1: along the way. Is this? It is this? It is this?
Speaker 1: It is this? It is this? It How many can testify?
Speaker 1: God doesn't just take you there all at once, and
Speaker 1: he doesn't meet every need all at once, because then
Speaker 1: he knows you'd start thinking you didn't need him. So
Speaker 1: what he does is he leads you step by step,
Speaker 1: little bit of light. Thy word is a lamp unto
Speaker 1: my feet. Watch me walk, and a light onto my path.
Speaker 1: Next step, next step, next step, next step. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: been down and buck on my shoe back because that's
Speaker 1: going to annoy me and it's probably been driving somebody
Speaker 1: crazy on the front. Row is just the little things,
Speaker 1: and God speaks through the little things and he meets
Speaker 1: big needs. Watch this through small acts of obedience. We
Speaker 1: went here, we went there. What you're looking for, Paul?
Speaker 1: I saw a man in Macedonia and I'm looking for
Speaker 1: him and they end up. Watch this from there. Verse twelve.
Speaker 1: We traveled to Philippi, Philippians. That's the city, that's the place,
Speaker 1: that's where the first church in Europe or the Western
Speaker 1: world was started. This is how it started, this right
Speaker 1: here through someone you've never even heard of. I know
Speaker 1: you've heard of Paul. I'm really not here to preach
Speaker 1: about Paul today. I'm gonna show you somebody who doesn't
Speaker 1: get listed, Samson. All he ever did is get a haircut,
Speaker 1: and we preach about him all the time. No, I
Speaker 1: want to introduce you to a woman. Let's hear it
Speaker 1: from the women. This is this is like the ultimate
Speaker 1: women's Bible. Holly write a Bible study about this, because
Speaker 1: the Bible says that they traveled to Philippi, a Roman
Speaker 1: colony where a lot of the Roman generals would go
Speaker 1: to retire. About twenty to thirty thousand people lived in
Speaker 1: this one city, and then there's four districts of Macedonia.
Speaker 1: So Paul's really looking for a needle in the haystack.
Speaker 1: And there's not a lot of not a lot of
Speaker 1: Christian If there are any believers here, they're hiding. And
Speaker 1: there's not that many Jews either. I'll show you how
Speaker 1: I know that in a moment. But he gets there
Speaker 1: and God uses a need to lead him there. Lead me, Lord,
Speaker 1: How did God lead with the need? How is God
Speaker 1: going to lead you into what he has next for
Speaker 1: your life? With a need? How is God going to
Speaker 1: choose who he uses through the people who are broken?
Speaker 1: He can't meet a need through someone who doesn't have
Speaker 1: a need. And He will often use you to alleviate
Speaker 1: the same pain that you yourself are experiencing. Because God
Speaker 1: leads with me. God is leading me. What do you
Speaker 1: mean when you say that you mean you feel good
Speaker 1: about it. Jesus didn't get to the cross feeling good
Speaker 1: about it. In fact, he prayed, Father, if it's possible,
Speaker 1: take this cup from me. I don't want to do it.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like doing it. But lead me, Lauren.
Speaker 1: If this is what they need to be redeemed, then
Speaker 1: let's do it. If you need me in philip I,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go to Masia, I wanted to go
Speaker 1: to Asia. I wanted to be married. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be in this situation. I don't even like this
Speaker 1: right now. But God lead me, show me the need
Speaker 1: and lead me through the valley of the shadow of death.
Speaker 1: God being my leader doesn't mean I won't go through anything.
Speaker 1: It means he won't leave me alone. And there's a
Speaker 1: reason I'm going through what I'm going through. God knows
Speaker 1: what I need. And so he says. We ended up
Speaker 1: in Philippi, the leading city of that district of Macedonia,
Speaker 1: and we stayed there several days, and he doesn't talk
Speaker 1: about what they did over those couple of days. And
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, what do you do when you
Speaker 1: get to philip Hi. It's twenty thirty thousand people in
Speaker 1: the town and you saw one man in a vision?
Speaker 1: Do you walk around looking for him, like, hey, I
Speaker 1: saw a man, are you? Are you him? What do
Speaker 1: you do? One time me and Buck went on a
Speaker 1: mission trip in Buck's on staff. Now he's been on staff.
Speaker 1: God guess about coming up on eight years on staff.
Speaker 1: But we've been friends since college. We were on this
Speaker 1: mission trip and he's a Bucks Bucks, a funny guy,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't like to show it a lot. He
Speaker 1: reminded me of this guy that we went on the
Speaker 1: mission trip with. This dude was country. Oh no, I
Speaker 1: don't mean like Monks corner country. This dude was from
Speaker 1: Louisiana and he was big country and he would walk
Speaker 1: up and talk to anybody and he had these little
Speaker 1: country sayings that I still don't know what they mean.
Speaker 1: He used to We be getting ready in the morning
Speaker 1: and be like you're ready, and he say waiting, no
Speaker 1: men backing up. And the first part was understanding what
Speaker 1: he actually said, like please say that again, And then
Speaker 1: he'd say what he said, if you're waiting on me,
Speaker 1: you're backing up, And I still wouldn't know what it
Speaker 1: meant even though I understood what he said. But I
Speaker 1: had this flashback preparing this message. We were at a
Speaker 1: gas station and there was another guy named Clint that
Speaker 1: was on the team, and he was from Australia, but
Speaker 1: he wasn't with us at the time. They were somewhere
Speaker 1: else and a vanful of people rolled up and this guy,
Speaker 1: Bob in case he watches he's a pastor now. And
Speaker 1: Bob just walk up and talk to anybody. And they
Speaker 1: didn't understand a word he was saying. But he just
Speaker 1: walk up and talked to anybody. And he's walking up
Speaker 1: to him, where are you all from? And they said Australia, mate,
Speaker 1: And he liked that to him, that was exotic. You know,
Speaker 1: a van full of foreigners. I just got back from Australia.
Speaker 1: So that's the best accent. I can do a kind
Speaker 1: of Australia. If you want to do Australian accent, just
Speaker 1: leave off random syllables all the times. They just leave
Speaker 1: crap off all the time and shorten everything. Australia, mate,
Speaker 1: he said, Australia. Hey, Australia. Y'all know a guy named
Speaker 1: Clint from Australia, And the poor guy driving the van goes,
Speaker 1: Australia is a pretty big place, mate. There's more than
Speaker 1: one Clint. So Macedonia is a big place, you know.
Speaker 1: It's not. Faul sees this vision, but he's not exactly sure.
Speaker 1: You ever noticed how many times you're not exactly sure,
Speaker 1: like you since God is leading you to do something,
Speaker 1: but it's a needle, ooh, a need, a needle in
Speaker 1: a haystack. So I'm here, but I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm looking for. I'm raising these kids, but I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'm doing it right. I'm trying to discipline
Speaker 1: them and be their friends. Sometimes I don't know which
Speaker 1: one to be at each which time. And I want
Speaker 1: them to love me, but I need them to fear me.
Speaker 1: So I don't know which one to be right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm trying to be patient, but I'm also trying
Speaker 1: to be proactive. And sometimes I don't know what's waiting
Speaker 1: on God and what's pushing ahead because I hear both.
Speaker 1: I hear step out the boat and I hear stay
Speaker 1: in the boat, and I don't know what to do
Speaker 1: with boat and boat. I don't even have a boat
Speaker 1: running like the water. So you got to look for
Speaker 1: a synagogue, right That's where Paul would always start his preaching.
Speaker 1: And to have a synagogue, you need everybody, say need
Speaker 1: you need ten men at least but there's not ten
Speaker 1: Jewish men to form a synagogue in Philippi. That's how
Speaker 1: desperate the city is for what Paul had. And that's
Speaker 1: why God had to tell him no about my sea
Speaker 1: and know about Asia, because there was a more desperate
Speaker 1: need somewhere else. I wonder if God told you no
Speaker 1: for a reason. I wonder if God left you there
Speaker 1: for a reason. Paul's looking. You've seen Clint Clinton this
Speaker 1: big place. Mate. I saw a man in a vision,
Speaker 1: and they go out one Sabbath and watched this since
Speaker 1: they knew that there wasn't a synagogue Verse thirteen. On
Speaker 1: the Sabbath, we stayed outside the city gate to the river,
Speaker 1: where we expected to find a place of prayer. You'll
Speaker 1: find what you're looking for. By the way, if you
Speaker 1: look for a place God is working, you will find
Speaker 1: it in every situation. Ask Lanny if God will show
Speaker 1: up in a hospital room. Ask him if God will
Speaker 1: show up in a desperate situation. Oh yeah. God will
Speaker 1: show up at a custody hearing. Oh yeah. God will
Speaker 1: show up in a bankruptcy. God will show up in
Speaker 1: a divorce. God will show up in a broken heart.
Speaker 1: God will show up in a season of despondency. God
Speaker 1: will show up in a crisis. God will show up
Speaker 1: in national turmoil. God is here. I'm just looking for it.
Speaker 1: So Paul says, I didn't find what I expected, and
Speaker 1: I didn't get what I wanted, but my God will
Speaker 1: meet all my needs. Now here's what God knew. I've
Speaker 1: been waiting all week to show you this. So please
Speaker 1: be merciful if I'm too excited and you don't like
Speaker 1: my level of energy, because I've had all week to
Speaker 1: get ready for this. There was a woman, let's hear
Speaker 1: for the women one more time, who was what the
Speaker 1: Old Testament called a god fearer. Now, a god fear
Speaker 1: is a gentile who believes in the Jewish God. So
Speaker 1: she's ready to receive the message about Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
Speaker 1: but she needs somebody to explain it to her. Well,
Speaker 1: good news. There's somebody in Philippi who need somebody to
Speaker 1: preach to. So somebody who needed the message got together
Speaker 1: with somebody who needed a congregation. God is a need meeter.
Speaker 1: God is a matchmaker. God knows how to put you
Speaker 1: where you need to be to release what He gave
Speaker 1: you to care. Don't leave yet, I'm not done. And
Speaker 1: some of you needed this word today, and that's why
Speaker 1: you almost didn't get to church. That's why you almost
Speaker 1: could go to the line. No, you needed this word.
Speaker 1: So you got in your car and you got to
Speaker 1: this church because you have a need. Well, God gave
Speaker 1: me the word, and he gave you the need. And
Speaker 1: I declare that my God shall supply all your tearing
Speaker 1: up my stuff. So said that we expected to find
Speaker 1: a place of prayer, but I bet they didn't expect this.
Speaker 1: We sat down and began to speak to the women
Speaker 1: who had gathered there. What did Paul see in his vision?
Speaker 1: A man from Macedonia? What did he see when he
Speaker 1: got to his assignment a woman. God's not going to
Speaker 1: do it how you thought he was. It's not going
Speaker 1: to feel like you thought it would feel. He's not
Speaker 1: going to do it who through you? Who you? He's
Speaker 1: not going to do it through the people that you
Speaker 1: wanted him to do it through, because then you'd worship them,
Speaker 1: not him. No synagogue. Let's find a place of prayer.
Speaker 1: That's where they could gather informally, and they would do
Speaker 1: it by the river. Let's go to the river. Let's
Speaker 1: go to the place we didn't find what we wanted.
Speaker 1: But God's going to give us what we need. Remember
Speaker 1: when can I do a Bible study with JJ real quick?
Speaker 1: I want you appreciate a sequel to this. Next time
Speaker 1: you're want to pumpet, do it from onet Ting seventeen.
Speaker 1: Do it from the Widow at aera Fath. Elijah needs food,
Speaker 1: she needs food. He sends somebody with the need to
Speaker 1: somebody with the need. When he gets there, he says
Speaker 1: to the widow, meet my need. She said, no, you
Speaker 1: meet mine. And then Elijah says something that we can
Speaker 1: learn from when you meet my need, God will meet
Speaker 1: your needs. Doesn't that sound like Philippians for and my God,
Speaker 1: I got what you sent, I got what you supplied.
Speaker 1: And now my God is gonna meet your needs because
Speaker 1: you stopped thinking so much about your needs and focused
Speaker 1: on somebody Else's my God. We'll meet all your needs.
Speaker 1: And there's one woman and we need to put her
Speaker 1: in the list. You know, good for Daniel, good for Noah,
Speaker 1: that old drunk boat building drunk. But let's put let's
Speaker 1: put Lydia in the list because one of the people listening.
Speaker 1: There's always somebody listening. You never know who's listening. You
Speaker 1: see how I'm preaching today, like I'm fighting something or
Speaker 1: like you see see it? Because I never know who's listening.
Speaker 1: I never know who's listening. And this week, somebody very
Speaker 1: famous was texting me about a message that I preached,
Speaker 1: and one of my kids was like, how cool is that.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's really cool. You never know who's listening.
Speaker 1: But it might not be a celebrity that God wants
Speaker 1: to speak to the most today. It might be somebody.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand,
Speaker 1: but if I did. Ninety percent of this church has
Speaker 1: never heard a sermon about Lydia, and yet I weren't
Speaker 1: for her, there would have been no church in Philippi.
Speaker 1: It was just as important who was listening as it
Speaker 1: was who was preaching. And we've got to do away
Speaker 1: with the celebrity culture, where God only uses people who
Speaker 1: have a certain number of followers or who have reached
Speaker 1: an elevated status in the world's eyes. We are not
Speaker 1: all Paul. I'm not Paul, You're not Paul. But there
Speaker 1: was a woman named Lydia, and God was shown me
Speaker 1: this week in my study. You've got a church full
Speaker 1: of Lydia's some men, some women, but they're unlikely. People
Speaker 1: who see themselves as unlikely, but they are the missing link.
Speaker 1: And when they begin to see themselves as a vessel
Speaker 1: and not just a receptacle. And when they begin to
Speaker 1: see themselves as the conduit through which I want to
Speaker 1: bless the people around them, the earth will not be
Speaker 1: able to contain the increase of the measure of the
Speaker 1: glory of the Lord. God is looking for Lydia. God
Speaker 1: shut down a whole Apostolic tour because he was looking
Speaker 1: for Lydia. Paul didn't know her name, but he went
Speaker 1: where he thought he was supposed to go, because sometimes
Speaker 1: all you can do is obey the best you know how,
Speaker 1: let that set you free. Paul didn't even know what
Speaker 1: he was looking for, but he was doing his best
Speaker 1: to be obedient, are you, because if you will, you'll
Speaker 1: always find a Lydia. Lydia was a woman verse fifteen,
Speaker 1: excuse me fourteen from the city of Thiatyra, formerly known
Speaker 1: as the Kingdom of Lydia. So her name probably wasn't Lydia,
Speaker 1: but that's where she was from, and that's how they
Speaker 1: often referred to women in those days, and she was
Speaker 1: a dealer in purple cloth. So purple's the expensive stuff.
Speaker 1: If you deal purple claw, you make bank. And I
Speaker 1: know it's cringey what I just said, Elijah, I don't
Speaker 1: even need to hear about it. After the sermon, Lydia
Speaker 1: didn't need money. She needed a message. Paul had the message.
Speaker 1: She had the money. And when his need and her
Speaker 1: need met, the Church in the West was born. Because
Speaker 1: God is a need meeter. But God does not meet
Speaker 1: needs independently of his people. He uses us. There's a
Speaker 1: tendency in a church this size to look around and go,
Speaker 1: I don't think they need me here. So then you
Speaker 1: get all focused on yourself. You know, how is the
Speaker 1: sermon today? Yeah? A little long, It's all right, what
Speaker 1: do you talk about? Some guy named Philip? I think
Speaker 1: his name. Give me, give me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me, give me, give me, give me,
Speaker 1: give me, give me. But there's a perspective shift, there's
Speaker 1: a ps there's a Paul said, my God will meet
Speaker 1: all your needs. He said, I didn't even need the money.
Speaker 1: You needed the message. And so Paul shows up. Lydia's
Speaker 1: sitting down. He saw a man in the vision, but
Speaker 1: he sees a woman by the river. God shows up
Speaker 1: how he wants to show up, through disappointment, sometimes through
Speaker 1: what seems to be a setback, sometimes through unexpected people.
Speaker 1: A dealer in purple cloth, she was a worshiper of
Speaker 1: God or a God fear She was close. You know,
Speaker 1: there's people in your life who are close to the
Speaker 1: kingdom and they're waiting on somebody who would have the willingness.
Speaker 1: There are people in your circle who need the presence
Speaker 1: of God, and God put you in their life. And
Speaker 1: you're part of a church. At many of our locations,
Speaker 1: we have so many seats available. Everybody could bring somebody
Speaker 1: next weekend we'd be full of everybody found one person
Speaker 1: who needed Jesus last week, our church would double in
Speaker 1: one week. And not even thinking about the impact of
Speaker 1: our Etham that's watching online. I mean we use social
Speaker 1: media to spread everything. Why not the message of the
Speaker 1: only name that saves. Why would you sit on a message?
Speaker 1: Why would you sit on something that has the power
Speaker 1: to say? Paul took the message across the sea. And
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm burdened that we just come to get our
Speaker 1: needs met and we don't get them met. Because God
Speaker 1: doesn't meet your needs. Through thinking about your needs, You've
Speaker 1: got to get outside of yourself and outside of your customs,
Speaker 1: and outside of your traditions, and outside of your expectations,
Speaker 1: and outside of your entitlement. Paul said, it's not even
Speaker 1: about me and this woman Lydia. I don't know a
Speaker 1: whole lot about her, except for I'm thankful for her.
Speaker 1: And I feel like there are many Lydias watching me
Speaker 1: today whose names may never be known, but whose purpose
Speaker 1: is important. And watch what happened when Paul's need to
Speaker 1: preach met her need to hear. This woman who was
Speaker 1: sitting by the river, it says, the Lord opened her
Speaker 1: heart to respond to Paul's message. That means she decided
Speaker 1: to become a follower of Christ. And when she and
Speaker 1: the members of her household see it's never just about you,
Speaker 1: It's not just about you. The first thing she did
Speaker 1: when she was touched by the power of God was
Speaker 1: to think about somebody else. God, Who have you connected
Speaker 1: me to that needs You, that needs hope, that needs Jesus?
Speaker 1: And I love the language, it says. After those who
Speaker 1: were in her household were baptized, the people closest to her,
Speaker 1: she invited us to her home. If you consider me
Speaker 1: a believer in the Lord. She said, come and stay
Speaker 1: at my house. And she persuaded us, and the Lord
Speaker 1: told me like this, he said, I opened her heart
Speaker 1: and she opened her house. And some of the people
Speaker 1: that you've preached to, I've opened their heart and I've
Speaker 1: blessed them, but they haven't opened their house yet. And
Speaker 1: they're in this big church just thinking about me and
Speaker 1: my nees. And it's so easy to do, and I
Speaker 1: do it all the time, and so we sing about
Speaker 1: breakthroughs and blessings and it's good. It's good, it's good.
Speaker 1: I promise, man, I help write the song. I know
Speaker 1: a breakthrough is coming. By faith. I see you, my God.
Speaker 1: God told me to tell you, be the breakthrough. Be
Speaker 1: the breakthrough, Be the breakthrough, Be the breakthrough. Be the
Speaker 1: breakthrough for somebody else, and watch how God will break
Speaker 1: through for you. Be the breakthrough for someone else. It's
Speaker 1: time to turn the pain. You've been rehearsing it over
Speaker 1: and over again. It's time to release it and ask
Speaker 1: God to use it. God lets you go through that
Speaker 1: for something. God didn't just keep you through all of
Speaker 1: that so you could just be a survivor. You are
Speaker 1: to be an agent of change and the world needs
Speaker 1: what we have, but we've got to give it and God,
Speaker 1: God is looking for Lydia, and I want to pray
Speaker 1: for you right now. I was intentional about this message
Speaker 1: going into my new series because it's going to be
Speaker 1: so helpful for people who are fighting demons. They don't
Speaker 1: even know they're fighting, they don't even know how to name.
Speaker 1: But the best thing we can do is not just
Speaker 1: come and get our needs man, but ask God to
Speaker 1: open our eyes to the needs of those who are
Speaker 1: around us. The harvest is plentiful, and I want to
Speaker 1: take a moment as the pastor of this church. This
Speaker 1: is not a performance. This is a partnership. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it again, this is not a performance. And I
Speaker 1: can't do this by myself. This church was built on
Speaker 1: sacrificial people Dan Horner and Eric Miller and guys that
Speaker 1: have been with me for a long time who are
Speaker 1: willing to open their lives and say, yeah, there's people
Speaker 1: in my life who need Jesus, and there's things I have,
Speaker 1: and there's resources and the answers yes. And I want
Speaker 1: to stand you up right now with no one leaving
Speaker 1: and disrupting the moment for someone. And I want you
Speaker 1: to get someone on your mind at every location. Campus pastors,
Speaker 1: I want you to get near the stage so you
Speaker 1: can agree in faith with this prayer. And I want
Speaker 1: to agree with you in faith concerning someone in your
Speaker 1: life who needs Jesus, someone who needs the Lord that
Speaker 1: God has put you in contact with. And I want
Speaker 1: to pray that you would have the eyes to see
Speaker 1: other people's need this week, that this week God would
Speaker 1: open your eyes. Oh God, forgive us. We've been praying
Speaker 1: to meet my needs, and you've been trying to open
Speaker 1: our eyes to see the blessing that we already have
Speaker 1: in You. The only way for our needs to be met,
Speaker 1: or to meet the needs of the world that you love.
Speaker 1: And God, we ask you now to use us. We
Speaker 1: want to see what you can do through us. We've
Speaker 1: seen what you can do for us, and we lose
Speaker 1: sight of it when we close our hearts. And so
Speaker 1: we offer ourselves to you as instruments. God puts somebody
Speaker 1: on their heart this week, somebody that they work with
Speaker 1: or live next to, or something in Maybe they'll have
Speaker 1: to ask a few times, but which you bring people
Speaker 1: here next week for this new series who need you
Speaker 1: and use us to meet those needs. We can't save them,
Speaker 1: that's not our job, but we can be a link.
Speaker 1: We could be a Lydia. We ask right now that
Speaker 1: you would do a great work through us in this series,
Speaker 1: that you would supply and meet every need according to
Speaker 1: your glorious riches. Well, I hope you enjoyed the podcast today.
Speaker 1: If you did, there are just a couple things I'd
Speaker 1: love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to our show.
Speaker 1: That way, the most recent episode will always be in
Speaker 1: your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly,
Speaker 1: if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to
Speaker 1: help us continue to reach others, you can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description and you can give now and
Speaker 1: I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast