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Speaker 1: Well, happy New Year. Can I tell you how happy

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Speaker 1: I am that you are starting your new year off

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Speaker 1: with us? Maybe today you have plans to eat collared

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Speaker 1: greens and black eyed peas later. Is that just a

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Speaker 1: Southern thing? Because here in North Carolina, our family has

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Speaker 1: a New Year's tradition where we eat pork and collards

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Speaker 1: and black eyed peas. Supposedly it symbolizes good things for

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Speaker 1: the new year. I think collars represent prosperity and peas

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Speaker 1: represent good luck. But mostly we just like them and

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Speaker 1: we're celebrating a new year together as a family. Whatever

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Speaker 1: you feed your soul is way more important than what

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Speaker 1: you feed your body. And so no matter what you

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Speaker 1: plan to eat today, you are ahead of the game

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Speaker 1: because you're feeding your soul. It's so important to pause

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Speaker 1: and to look back, and that is what today is

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Speaker 1: all about. One of the primary ways that God speaks

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Speaker 1: to me is through the messages of this house. Every

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Speaker 1: single week, God uses our paths to bring the exact

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Speaker 1: word we need to hear. How does he do this?

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Speaker 1: His messages penetrate whether you have been a believer for

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Speaker 1: five minutes or fifty years, every age, every stage of life,

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Speaker 1: there is a word for every single one of us.

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Speaker 1: I wonder which messages spoke to you the most this year.

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Speaker 1: Maybe one that came at the perfect time. Maybe it

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Speaker 1: hit it a moment when you were doubting or anxious

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Speaker 1: and the sermon was exactly what you needed to hear.

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Speaker 1: I love how God works. I wish we could just

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Speaker 1: sit down together and talk about it. In fact, let

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Speaker 1: me know in the chat which messages this year have

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Speaker 1: resonated the most with you. Today I invited some of

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Speaker 1: the people in our church to share about some of

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Speaker 1: their favorite sermons from twenty twenty two. We'll be diving

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Speaker 1: into our notes, sharing our stories, and then looking back

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Speaker 1: at portions of these sermons. My hope is that these

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Speaker 1: excerpts remind you of what God spoke to you and

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Speaker 1: what God did in your life last year. I want

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Speaker 1: us to go into twenty twenty three believing that the

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Speaker 1: same God that was with us last year will be

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Speaker 1: with us again this year. Of course he will. That's

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Speaker 1: why we're calling today new Year, Same God. We've been

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Speaker 1: singing that song, Same God over and over this last year,

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Speaker 1: and it has been such an anthem for our church

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Speaker 1: that the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, of

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Speaker 1: Mary of David. The God of your Grandma is the

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Speaker 1: same God of you and I, and that is who

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Speaker 1: we worship today. He is faithful to see us through

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Speaker 1: whatever is ahead, and the best way to stir up

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Speaker 1: our faith for what's ahead is to look back at

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Speaker 1: his past faithfulness. So I'm going to go first. I

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Speaker 1: have to go first. I can't let others share about

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Speaker 1: how the message is preached by our pastor my husband

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Speaker 1: ministered to them without getting to share how they have

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Speaker 1: ministered to me. And I'm pretty sure everyone who follows

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Speaker 1: me and shares about their favorite sermon is gonna say

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Speaker 1: some version of it. Was so hard to pick just one,

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Speaker 1: because it is sometimes I cannot believe the amazing feast

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Speaker 1: that Stephen Ferdick lays before us each and every week.

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Speaker 1: If you can sit under a sermon by Stephen Ferdick

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Speaker 1: and say that God did not speak to you, you

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Speaker 1: have a listening problem anyway. Okay, it's so hard to

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Speaker 1: pick just one. But back in the spring, Stephen preached

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Speaker 1: a little mini series three sermons on the Book of Ruth.

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Speaker 1: They were called it Will Come Together, the One who

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Speaker 1: seeks fines and blown away. I felt like these three weeks,

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Speaker 1: I was like trying to get a drink of water

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Speaker 1: from a fire hydrant. Stephen was dropping wisdom faster than

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Speaker 1: I could write it down, and God was speaking to

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Speaker 1: my heart. So now that I've narrowed it down to

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Speaker 1: three sermons, I'm gonna tell you the one that I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about. Not necessarily my favorite of twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two, steven sermons are like my children, They're all

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Speaker 1: my favorite, but this one, this one really got me.

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Speaker 1: It was a sermon called it Will Come Together Now.

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Speaker 1: In this sermon, Stephen laid the foundation by talking about

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Speaker 1: Ruth and the tragedy that she had experienced in her life.

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Speaker 1: She lost her husband and she lost everything that she

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Speaker 1: held dear in her life. It probably felt to her

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Speaker 1: like her life was over, but as we read through

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Speaker 1: the Book of Ruth, in reality, we realized that her

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Speaker 1: life was barely getting started on the basis of all

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Speaker 1: that God was going to do for her and through her.

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Speaker 1: Stephen told us that we don't taste life as a meal.

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Speaker 1: We experience the ingredients as they come, and the problem

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Speaker 1: with this is that the ingredients themselves can often taste

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Speaker 1: bad in isolation. This really hit home with me because

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Speaker 1: I love to cook, and I understand that there are

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Speaker 1: essential ingredients to almost every recipe that tastes bad in isolation,

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Speaker 1: like salt and oil and flour. If you only taste

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Speaker 1: those things, you would spit them out. But put them together,

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Speaker 1: add in a little bit of baking powder and some eggs,

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Speaker 1: and you're on your way to a cake. In my life,

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Speaker 1: so often I experience disappointment or frustration when something that

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Speaker 1: I asked God for doesn't go the way I thought

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Speaker 1: it would. I ask God for this relationship, but it

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Speaker 1: feels like we're fighting all the time. I ask God

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Speaker 1: for this child, but now I feel like I don't

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Speaker 1: have what it takes to raise them. I ask God

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Speaker 1: for this new job, but now I feel lonely. And

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Speaker 1: when I start to feel these feelings, my tendency can

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Speaker 1: be to think that God is angry with me, or

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Speaker 1: that maybe I did something wrong, or maybe I wasn't

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Speaker 1: meant to have these things to begin with and I

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Speaker 1: got it all wrong. And the thing that suck with

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Speaker 1: me from this sermon is when he said let God

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Speaker 1: mix it. He told us that our prayer should be God,

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Speaker 1: I want your will, and I want whatever comes with it.

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Speaker 1: Those ingredients that taste bad to me and isolation are

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Speaker 1: actually building something good in my life. That relationship that

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Speaker 1: feels tense is teaching me humility and the art of

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Speaker 1: putting others before myself. That job that challenges me is

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Speaker 1: teaching me to depend on God in ways that I

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Speaker 1: never would otherwise. That loneliness is causing me to lean

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Speaker 1: into my relationship with God and then also to invest

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Speaker 1: wisely in the relationships around me. Stephen said, just because

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Speaker 1: it tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't serve

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Speaker 1: a purpose in the finished product. The good things often

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Speaker 1: come with frustration and disappointment and difficulty. That's normal, That's okay,

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Speaker 1: And he reminded us in this sermon, if it's not good,

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Speaker 1: then God is not done, and that mantra will get

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Speaker 1: you through. All right, I've said enough. Now I want

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Speaker 1: you to check out this clip so you can see

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Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. Whoever walked in the kitchen and

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Speaker 1: just use an example. I'm not a cook. Take a

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Speaker 1: scoop of baking powder and just down it. Did you

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Speaker 1: ever do it? So? Baking powder is bad? Anybody want

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Speaker 1: a big, heaping pile of baking powder? For lunch today.

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Speaker 1: Raise your hand. Why are you messing up my illustration? Bro? Now,

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Speaker 1: this is the message you want, the whole message in

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Speaker 1: a moment. This is a whole message, is a whole message.

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Speaker 1: This is why you came from Michigan so God could

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Speaker 1: tell you. This is why you tuned in online. Just

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Speaker 1: because it tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't

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Speaker 1: serve a purpose in the finished product. I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: that the Bible said that after Naomi had gone so

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Speaker 1: low that she said, this doesn't taste good. This doesn't

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Speaker 1: taste good. And honestly, I figured out why people in

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Speaker 1: church often look so sour when they're in church, because

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Speaker 1: what you went through this week didn't taste good. And

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Speaker 1: you are trying to praise God with a taste in

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Speaker 1: your mouth of disappointment and fear? Am I preaching you?

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Speaker 1: I mean it's hard to say Hallelujah when your mouth

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Speaker 1: tastes like hurt. Who call me bitter? You might as well?

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Speaker 1: Well you might as well and taste good. And yet

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Speaker 1: what a strange blessing that they gave. Let me give

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Speaker 1: you a little bit more background so I can make

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Speaker 1: sure I'm not confusing Graham's my Graham's my guy, you know.

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Speaker 1: He he told me the other day, he was like, Dad,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you got to slow down with these scriptures. You've

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Speaker 1: been looking at them all week and we're just waking up.

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Speaker 1: You got to slow down and break it down. So

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Speaker 1: even though I can't do it justice, the Book of

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Speaker 1: Ruth is beautiful and you could read it in the

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Speaker 1: time that you could watch half an episode of Ozark.

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Speaker 1: And when we moved through it, we see Naomi a Limelech,

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Speaker 1: Killion and Meelan's Ruth's husband orpa is married to Killyon

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Speaker 1: And both of those baby names are available, by the way,

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Speaker 1: if you want to have an original name for your kid.

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Speaker 1: But when they went to Moab, they went to a

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Speaker 1: place that they didn't This is important plan to go.

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Speaker 1: This message is for somebody who is in a place

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Speaker 1: you didn't plan to go. And I'm gonna take it further.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a place you hate being there because they're

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Speaker 1: from Bethlehem and they're in Moab. Kind of like when

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Speaker 1: they went to Egypt. I mentioned it earlier, when the

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Speaker 1: Israelites went to Egypt. They didn't go to Egypt because

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Speaker 1: it was their dream to go to Egypt. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: on their bucket list to go to Egypt. They went

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Speaker 1: to Egypt to survive. And we've talked about that a lot,

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Speaker 1: because I think a lot of the sin cycles we

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Speaker 1: get sucked into in our life are out of survival mechanisms,

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Speaker 1: and if we don't deal with it that way, we

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Speaker 1: just put so much shame on it. We can't help

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Speaker 1: anybody get healed because people won't come to Jesus because

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Speaker 1: you don't understand the power of his covenant with you.

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Speaker 1: You think Jesus is like other people and that there

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Speaker 1: come a point where he'll be ashamed of you and

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Speaker 1: he'll go, oh, well that's that's that's too far there.

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Speaker 1: I was going to use you, but really you did that.

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Speaker 1: You don't understand the power of a covenant. But but

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Speaker 1: Ruth did. Because when Naomi said leave me, I've lost

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Speaker 1: my husband's i've lost my boys. I've heard there's bred

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Speaker 1: in Bethlehem. We've been here ten years. Naomi said, I'm

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Speaker 1: not leaving. Make a covenant with you. Whither thou goest

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Speaker 1: I go, Your God become my god, and your God

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Speaker 1: will often become the same god as your friends. If

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Speaker 1: you are around people who worship status and stuff. It

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Speaker 1: won't be long till you'll shear shackle to the same

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Speaker 1: things they are. But now to touch somebody next to

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Speaker 1: you and say, you ought to hang out with me

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Speaker 1: a little. While you hang out with me, You're gonna

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Speaker 1: have strong faith you hang out with me. Come on,

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Speaker 1: deth leopard, if you hang out with me. So so

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Speaker 1: they go back together, and Naomi, in this this honest moment,

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Speaker 1: she says, call me bitter. I still got the taste

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Speaker 1: in my mouth. I'm going back to Bethlehem, which means

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Speaker 1: house of bread, which makes it that much more depressing

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Speaker 1: when there's a famine in Bethlehem, when there's a famine

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Speaker 1: in the place that is named after bread, when the

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Speaker 1: joy of the Lord is supposed to be your strength,

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Speaker 1: and you are a Christian and you're depressed, and you

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Speaker 1: are a Christian and you can't sleep, and you are

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Speaker 1: a Christian and you have addictions, and you are a

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Speaker 1: I am a C I am ah, I am a

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Speaker 1: c h R ST I had but I got a

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Speaker 1: A D D A dhd hey d d I c

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Speaker 1: t I oh. I'm in the house of Brett, but

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Speaker 1: hauk grief. Call me Mara. She said, Real said, I

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Speaker 1: was with you when I wanted your son. Now you

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Speaker 1: don't have a son to give me, but I'm still

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Speaker 1: with you. I wonder who the Lord is saying that to.

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Speaker 1: I'm still with you. I don't sell low and by High.

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Speaker 1: God is not Warren Buffett. God doesn't trade like that.

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Speaker 1: God said, I'm still with you because I made a

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Speaker 1: covenant with you. It's not that kind of covenant I

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Speaker 1: made with Noah that was limited. It's not the kind

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Speaker 1: of covenant I made with Abraham that was limited. It's

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Speaker 1: not the covenant I made with Moses that was limited.

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Speaker 1: It's not the covenant I made with David that was limited.

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Speaker 1: This is the covenant of my blood, made with the

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Speaker 1: life of my son, and I am worth you. What's up, y'all.

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Speaker 1: I'm Elijah Fredick. I'm Pastor Stevens's oldest son. Now, obviously,

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Speaker 1: my dad is a goat of preaching, so I had

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Speaker 1: to share one of my takeaways from one of his

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Speaker 1: sermons with y'all. The sermon that I'm going to be

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Speaker 1: talking about is a recent one. It's called I'm Not

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Speaker 1: Dead Yet, and I actually have some insider information on

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Speaker 1: the making behind it. A couple of months ago, me

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Speaker 1: and my girlfriend started reading through the Bible one chapter

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Speaker 1: at a time. It felt like something that God was

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Speaker 1: calling me to do because I wanted to get the

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Speaker 1: full context of the Bible and everything that God wanted

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Speaker 1: us to know. We told my dad what we were

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Speaker 1: doing and he said how much he loved it. A

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks later, he asked us what chapter we

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Speaker 1: were on so he could read it with us, and

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Speaker 1: he sent us an application from the chapter that turned

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Speaker 1: into a group chat called to Read the Bible in

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Speaker 1: four years club, because if we read one chapter every day,

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Speaker 1: that's about how long it would take us. We started

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Speaker 1: sending a key verse application that we took away from

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Speaker 1: each chapter, and obviously my dad's were always the best.

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Speaker 1: We came to the Book of Leviticus. We started to

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Speaker 1: struggle to find an application for every chapter because the

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Speaker 1: chapters get so repetitive and specific, but somehow my dad

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Speaker 1: would always find a fire application. Leviticus is tough because

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Speaker 1: it's a lot of lists of rules and regulations for

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Speaker 1: the ancient Israelites, but we still did our best to

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Speaker 1: figure out what we could learn about God from reading it. Now,

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Speaker 1: when I look at all the implications that my dad

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Speaker 1: had sent in the group chat. One particular one stands

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Speaker 1: out Leviticus eleven. Leviticus eleven is a pretty boring chapter

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Speaker 1: of first glance. It's all about the kosher laws and

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Speaker 1: certain animals that people can't eat. I can actually show you,

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Speaker 1: guys the text, but he throws us a couple of

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Speaker 1: great points. We pull it out real quick. All right

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Speaker 1: here it is, got it prepared. But you know, big old,

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Speaker 1: long text. So what's crazy is a lot of this

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Speaker 1: actually ended up making it into his sermon. One of

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Speaker 1: the things that he talked about in the text was

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Speaker 1: how important it is to ask yourself. Do I listen

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Speaker 1: when God tells me something that's polluting my heart? Or

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Speaker 1: do I only see it in others plank and spect

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Speaker 1: type deal. You know. He talked about verse thirty seven,

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Speaker 1: which says if a carcass falls on any seeds that

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Speaker 1: are to be planted, they remain clean. He uses to

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Speaker 1: tell us about the idea of the seed will survive.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes a dead thing falls in the seed of what

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Speaker 1: God is shying to do, but the seed survives. The

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Speaker 1: devil tried to kill the seed of your potential, but

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Speaker 1: the seed is still clean. You think it's dead, but

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Speaker 1: it's just dormant. He even connected it to how Herod

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Speaker 1: tried to kill Jesus, but the seed survived. I already

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Speaker 1: knew that had potential, but I had no idea that

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Speaker 1: he would turn it into a whole sermon. He was

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Speaker 1: able to take the potential of what he told us

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Speaker 1: and polish it up a little bit. In the end,

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Speaker 1: he used the example of the weasel which the people

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Speaker 1: were not allowed to eat, which was specified in the chapter.

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Speaker 1: He showed an image of a weasel that was eating

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Speaker 1: some eggs before they had a chance to be born.

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Speaker 1: He used it to show how you can't let the

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Speaker 1: devil pollute the seed of something that God is doing

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Speaker 1: in your life. Another one of my favorite points he

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Speaker 1: made was when he said, if you have confidence in

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Speaker 1: God's promise but not commitment to his process, that's not faith,

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Speaker 1: that's just denial. That really hit me because in my

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Speaker 1: life a lot of times I don't struggle with my

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Speaker 1: confidence in God as much as my confidence in myself. However,

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Speaker 1: when I doubt myself, that is kind of me doubting

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Speaker 1: the process and doubting that God has put me where

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Speaker 1: I need to be to impact people for His good,

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Speaker 1: and at the end of the day, I can know

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Speaker 1: that the seed of God's potential lives in me. It

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Speaker 1: was so powerful for me to hear how he was

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Speaker 1: able to take a seemingly boring chapter about kosher laws

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Speaker 1: and show us how it applies to us in modern

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Speaker 1: day life. If we're not careful, we can make the

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Speaker 1: Bible too much about ourselves and forget the framing of

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Speaker 1: the story we're reading. However, if we read the Bible

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Speaker 1: one way, that treats us like an ancient text with

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Speaker 1: no application to our current day lives, and we might

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Speaker 1: as well read Harry Potter. So I felt like this

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Speaker 1: was such a legendary sermon. He was able to give

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Speaker 1: us the full background, context and meeting of the text,

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Speaker 1: but also try to help us figure out what the

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Speaker 1: chapter is trying to tell us about the nature of

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Speaker 1: God and how we can use that information to become

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Speaker 1: closer to God. Let me show you all this clip

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Speaker 1: real quick, so y'all can hear the sermon for yourself.

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Speaker 1: Look at that weasel, little sneaky. That guy is a

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Speaker 1: serial killer. I was looked him up. You could get

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Speaker 1: in a small place and then Oh, look at it.

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Speaker 1: He's got those eggs. Look what he's trying to do

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Speaker 1: to those eggs. Look what he's trying to do to

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Speaker 1: that thing that hasn't been born yet. Look at that weasel.

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Speaker 1: Y'all are on board with Leviticus, now, are you? Because

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Speaker 1: you do need to know how to deal with the weasel,

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Speaker 1: don't you. You do need to learn how to deal

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Speaker 1: with the weasel because you got a weasel called worry

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Speaker 1: that while God is speaking his word to you, say

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Speaker 1: amen in Portuguese when he gets through on this interpretation,

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Speaker 1: because I need to hear an amen. I need to

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Speaker 1: hear an amen. That weasel, that weasel, that weasel. No,

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Speaker 1: he's not just leaving you alone. He's trying to steal

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Speaker 1: what God spoke. Now I know you think I'm out

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Speaker 1: of context. It's not talking about that kind of weasel.

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Speaker 1: It's talking about everything in your life to try to distinguish,

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Speaker 1: like the enemy will plant a seed in your mind,

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Speaker 1: right you say, okay, well this is gonna go wrong?

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Speaker 1: And have you thought about this? And did you hear

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Speaker 1: what they said about that? And it's a recession of recession,

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Speaker 1: a recession, a recession of recession of recession, of recession,

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Speaker 1: of recession. You have thought about resurrection in about three

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Speaker 1: months because all you've been reading about is recession. So

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Speaker 1: now that weasel got right in there in your space,

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Speaker 1: your little space where God does great things and he

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Speaker 1: eats through the potential of what God sneaks. So what

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Speaker 1: do you do with the wisel? God said, don't eat it?

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Speaker 1: What do you do with the weasel? God said, put

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Speaker 1: it off limits? What do you do with those little

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Speaker 1: thoughts that come up a million miles an hour? And

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Speaker 1: you know that's a good question to be asking. Enemy

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Speaker 1: will weasel his way into your marriage, He'll weasel his

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Speaker 1: way into your business, gets you to start cutting corners

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Yeah, I know how he works.

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Speaker 1: I'm a weasel expert. Weasel try and keep you from

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Speaker 1: worshiping God, usel the Lord. I'm a list a lot

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Speaker 1: of things that will multiply rapidly in your life, small things,

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Speaker 1: moving things, sorrows, and I'm gonna show you what to

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Speaker 1: do with them so I can keep doing big things.

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Speaker 1: God still has big things for me. I felt chills

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Speaker 1: on my body when I said it. God still has

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Speaker 1: big things for me, things that are bigger than my intellect,

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Speaker 1: things that are bigger than my imagination, exceedingly abundantly above

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Speaker 1: all I ask, or imagine, the seed of God's potential

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Speaker 1: lives inside of me. I say it again for the

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Speaker 1: people who who really believe what the word of God says.

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Speaker 1: The seed of God's potential lives in me. I mean,

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Speaker 1: think about it. Here are people in Leviticus who have

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Speaker 1: been through Egypt, have been through the Red Sea, who

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Speaker 1: started with a man named Abraham. All out of one

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Speaker 1: man came millions of people because God said, I will

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Speaker 1: bless you and multiply you. And Abram was waiting. We

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Speaker 1: preached about him for two weeks a while back. We

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Speaker 1: preached about him for two weeks. How he was ninety nine,

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Speaker 1: and God gave him the promise when he was a hundred.

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Speaker 1: And I preached on keep it a hundred. But can

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Speaker 1: I keep it a hundred with you? Abraham said, my

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Speaker 1: wife's womb is as good as dead, and so is

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Speaker 1: my body. And my body is as good as dead,

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Speaker 1: because I'm ninety nine. But then something God inside of

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Speaker 1: Abraham and kicked inside of Abraham, because see the seed

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Speaker 1: that was inside of him was greater than the limitation

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Speaker 1: that was on him. So something got inside of Abraham

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Speaker 1: and he looked in the mirror. But then he looked

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Speaker 1: at the stars and he talked to himself and his situation.

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Speaker 1: But then he talked to God, and God reminded him

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Speaker 1: of the promise. And Abram said, I'm old, but I'm

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Speaker 1: not dead yet. I think he said it with no teeth.

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Speaker 1: All right there yet I'm not teddy yet. I'm not

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Speaker 1: teddy yet. I'm not done yet. I'm not teddy yet.

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Speaker 1: It's not over yet. I'm not dead. God's not done.

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Speaker 1: If I'm not dead, God's not done. Greater things are

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Speaker 1: still to come. That. Wow, that was an amazing sermon.

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Speaker 1: If you hadn't gone back and watched it, if you

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Speaker 1: didn't know, it's on YouTube. Matter of fact, all of

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Speaker 1: the messages from pastor Steven you can find on YouTube,

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Speaker 1: and so go back watch them. I don't know about you,

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Speaker 1: but every single Sunday I actually watched the message two times.

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Speaker 1: I watched two times. The first time. I watch it

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Speaker 1: for myself as a husband, as a father, just as

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Speaker 1: a man. I need to be able to take some

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Speaker 1: time to see what does God want to speak to

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Speaker 1: my life? But not only that, not only that I

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Speaker 1: watch it the second time because I'm trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out how am I going to reteach it, how am

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Speaker 1: I going to repre And after Pastor preached this sermon

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Speaker 1: called Bent Needs Breaks Chains, I went back and I

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Speaker 1: began to read over and over and over again throughout

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Speaker 1: the story of Joseph, and God just really ministered to

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Speaker 1: my soul. I love how Pastor it just gives us

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Speaker 1: a fred fresh take on so many stories that maybe

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Speaker 1: you've read over and over and over again, but in

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Speaker 1: this message, it reminded us that life happens. Sometimes we

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Speaker 1: go through things that are difficult. We have loved ones

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Speaker 1: in our lives that are struggling, that are hurting, that

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Speaker 1: are maybe sitting in a hospital bed, and in those

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Speaker 1: moments sometimes you feel helpless. Sometimes I just get paralyzed

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Speaker 1: because I feel like there's nothing that I can do.

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Speaker 1: What I love about this message, vent Needs Breaks Chanes.

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Speaker 1: It reminds me that, yes, God is in control, but

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Speaker 1: I'm responsible for my posture. And Pastor in this message,

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Speaker 1: he gets right on his knees and he demonstrates that

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Speaker 1: it's vent Needs that breaks chains. Now, I will either

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Speaker 1: stay chained to the event or I'll make a decision

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Speaker 1: to fix my posture. When Pastor said that, it really

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Speaker 1: spoke to me because it lets me know that I

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Speaker 1: can do something. I can focus, I can worship, i

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Speaker 1: can lean into the presence of God. I can get

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Speaker 1: some people around me to support me and encourage me,

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Speaker 1: and then God will do what only he can do.

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Speaker 1: And so here's one of my favorite moments from this

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Speaker 1: message that needs breaks chains and Joseph has a decision

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Speaker 1: to make and he does it like this, I'm not God.

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Speaker 1: And in the moment of decision, he takes a posture

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Speaker 1: as the second most powerful man in the land. He

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Speaker 1: takes his posture to say, God has been when what

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Speaker 1: looked like for you to have this mentality? To say,

429
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:02,480
Speaker 1: God put me here for a purpose, and I'm submitting

430
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 1: everything that's happened to me to God. I'm gonna, I'm gonna,

431
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna. I'm gonna put myself in a position on

432
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 1: my knees before God. I've never come to preach to you.

433
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 1: If I can help it that I don't do this,

434
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,640
Speaker 1: even if it's for ten seconds before I round the corner,

435
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: because a lot of times the way that I'll preach

436
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:29,840
Speaker 1: stuff will be just be coming to me to the

437
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: last minute, and I'm literally like, but I try. I

438
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,760
Speaker 1: try every time to take one minute by myself. I

439
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 1: say God, when I get out there today and there's

440
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,400
Speaker 1: people out there whose parents abandoned them. There's people out

441
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:49,399
Speaker 1: there who were molested. There's people out there who are

442
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 1: going through the most scary medical situation in their life

443
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 1: or their kids are There's people out there who have

444
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 1: no idea how they're gonna catch up on four months

445
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,560
Speaker 1: worth of mortgage. There are people out there today who

446
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 1: need you, and I can only meet that need on

447
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: my knees. And it reminds me that if I do this,

448
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: I can do this because see, the power that you

449
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: need is not in me. But if I go to

450
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: the one who has all power and all authority, and

451
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,879
Speaker 1: I get down low and I say God, I lift

452
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 1: my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?

453
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: My help comes from you. I know, bit and knees

454
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: can break chains. I know one word from Almighty God,

455
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 1: one bread from the Spirit of I feel change breaking

456
00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: right now. I feel the bird is lifting right now.

457
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: I feel sackle second on present floors at present dolors

458
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 1: flying open right now. Because when you do this. God

459
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:28,200
Speaker 1: does that, Braith, Hey, what you did to me was bad.

460
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: What happened to me is bad. What I'm going through

461
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:34,320
Speaker 1: is bad. But if I blame you, then my blame

462
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 1: will become bitterness, and my bitterness will become bondage. Not

463
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:46,440
Speaker 1: your bondage, it will be my bondage. So I either

464
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: get to stay chained to the events or I get

465
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: to make a decision. This is where God brought you to.

466
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:56,639
Speaker 1: This is why you logged on. This is why they

467
00:27:56,680 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: sent you the link. This is why you came to church.

468
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 1: You thought you'd decided to come to church. You're crazy.

469
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: God sovereignly brought you to church. You had ten excuses

470
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,040
Speaker 1: not to come. What didn't fit and I have nothing

471
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,080
Speaker 1: to wear. But here you are. It's a size too small,

472
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,879
Speaker 1: but you can't why for this moment. God wanted you

473
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:22,679
Speaker 1: to know. You are in an important moment of your life.

474
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 1: And if you do this, come on. Every athlete knows

475
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: you can't hit a golf ball good if you don't

476
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,560
Speaker 1: bend your knees. That's where your power comes from. You

477
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: can't shoot a basketball right if you don't bend your knees.

478
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 1: That's where your accuracy comes from You can't do a

479
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 1: takedown standing up straight. There's no Division one wrestling champions

480
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: that stand up straight time. Why are you fighting your

481
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: battles like this? When God gave you this? This is

482
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: how I fight my down devil. Watch me surrendered to God.

483
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: Cuss been knees break. You can't do it in your

484
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: own strength. If you could, you would have by now.

485
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 1: But God brought you to your knees cause he's breaking

486
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: subsederational tag. I feel the holy ghosts. Come Lord, Come Lord,

487
00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 1: break ghost change, break it, break it, break it, breaking,

488
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,719
Speaker 1: break it, breaking, break it. Breaking the past has no

489
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 1: power over you. The blood of Jesus speaks up better.

490
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:35,240
Speaker 1: I breaking in the name of Jeson. Okay, bent these

491
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: breaks chains. You gotta listen to chat there, go and

492
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: catch that message, because just a clip like that, it's

493
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: not enough. You gotta catch the whole thing. Okay. One

494
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: of the things I love so much that we get

495
00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: to do as a church is see how far these

496
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: sermons reach. Now. Back in September, we were able to

497
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 1: share a story with you about one of our family

498
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: members in the DMV area. Now, I'm sure you remember

499
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: this because all I heard was so many people said, man,

500
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,480
Speaker 1: we love Leon. That message was so good, that video

501
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: is so good, and so today we wanted to bring

502
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: Leon here to share a little bit of how messages

503
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: have impacted him. So we don't have him in the room,

504
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: but we've got him right here. So Leon, thank you

505
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: for joining us. Thank you for being a part of

506
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. We love that. It's not buildings. We talk

507
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 1: about that all the time. It's not buildings here at Elevation,

508
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: it's people. And from where you are, you've been impacted

509
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: by messages. So why don't you share with the church

510
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,240
Speaker 1: family a message that has meant a lot to you

511
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:39,160
Speaker 1: this year. Well, thanks Pastor Chad for having me. There's

512
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: so many messages, of course that resonate with me. But

513
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: there was one particular message that Pastor Stephen preached back

514
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: in April, I believe, and the name of the message

515
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,720
Speaker 1: was the facts aren't final. And one of the things

516
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,360
Speaker 1: that Pastor encouraged us and this message was that most

517
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: of the time, on some of the time, the things

518
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: that we struggle with in our faith actually have nothing

519
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: to do with the enemy and have nothing to do

520
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 1: with an attack. But it is some things that happen

521
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 1: with our friends, and some of those things are actually facts,

522
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 1: and because their facts, they scare us. But he encouraged

523
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: us in this message that as long as we remain

524
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,160
Speaker 1: faithful and continue to believe God, that those things that

525
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: we struggle with, that our facts are not going to

526
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: put a limitation on God. But if we continue to

527
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: worship and we continue to believe, that those things will

528
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: be in to be a blessing in our lives. And

529
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for that message. It impacted me because

530
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: I was going through something at that time and it

531
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: really spoke to my heart. Well, leone, you're preaching it,

532
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,680
Speaker 1: you might as well keep going. Okay, No, we're gonna

533
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 1: share it with you, though the facts aren't final. Take

534
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: a look. It's kind of our junk drawer to say,

535
00:31:54,640 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: I'm just under attack. Mm hmmm. It's not always an attack, No,

536
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: it's not. It is sometimes it's not always an attack,

537
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: and it's not always the enemy. Because I know the

538
00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: devil is a liar, even when I believe him. Something

539
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 1: in me kind of knows, called the Holy Spirit, this

540
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 1: is not true. So the devil's lies are one thing.

541
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 1: But look at the passage with me in verse thirty five.

542
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: It doesn't say that the devil told Gyrus a bad report.

543
00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: It says that while Jesus was speaking follow Me, some

544
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 1: people came from Gyrus's own house, people who worked for him,

545
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: and they told him, your daughter is dead, and then

546
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 1: they asked him, why bother the teacher anymore? Notice what

547
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: they call Jesus the teacher because to them, that's all

548
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 1: he was. They didn't believe in him yet. He hadn't

549
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,719
Speaker 1: died yet, he hadn't risen yet. These were not believers

550
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 1: in Jesus. These were members of the synagogue who were

551
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: still making up their mind about Jesus. So when they

552
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,840
Speaker 1: call him the teacher, they're not lying, but they are

553
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: limiting because if all he is is a teacher, then

554
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: why are you still standing here listening to him with

555
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 1: this crowd. You need to get home. Your daughter's dead,

556
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: and you are needed for the funeral arrangements, because in

557
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 1: Jewish custom, there would be mourners that would come in

558
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: two flutes and there would be at least four people.

559
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: If you were poor, imagine how many people were filling

560
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,440
Speaker 1: Gyrus's house at that moment to mourn the death of

561
00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 1: his daughter. And if all he is is a teacher,

562
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: we're wasting time. So when they call him a teacher

563
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 1: and they say your daughter's dead, notice this. They are

564
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: not the enemy. These are his friends. And this is

565
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: not a lie, but it is a limitation. Now, sometimes

566
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: the devil would just outright lie to you. You can

567
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: feel it when it comes on. You're worthless, your piece

568
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,359
Speaker 1: of crap, you suck. Bad word, bad word, bad word,

569
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,759
Speaker 1: bad word. That's the devil calling you stuff that you know.

570
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,279
Speaker 1: God doesn't see you as that, right, and so then

571
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,000
Speaker 1: you just rebuke the devil. Ah, God, rebuke you, devil.

572
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 1: You're so crazy. You think I'm gonna listen to this

573
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: trash talk. You think I'm really just gonna drive my

574
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,040
Speaker 1: car into another car right now, feel so bad about myself,

575
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna end my life. Come on, devil, you're crazy.

576
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:38,919
Speaker 1: I rebuke you, Satan, in the name of the Lord,

577
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 1: the blood of Jesus against you, Satan, and all of

578
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 1: these things you can do when it's the enemy and

579
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:50,560
Speaker 1: when it's an attack. But in this case, it's not

580
00:34:50,680 --> 00:34:55,280
Speaker 1: the enemy, and it's not an attack. It's his friends.

581
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: And it's a fact. Some of the stuff that you're

582
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,960
Speaker 1: fighting with in your faith right now, it's not a lie.

583
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 1: And that's what makes it so scary. It's a fact.

584
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 1: I can't just pray everything away by denial and close

585
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 1: my eyes and wait for the rapture. The facts are

586
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: the facts, but are you feeding more facts to your

587
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:24,799
Speaker 1: spirit than you are faith to your spirit? I love

588
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 1: that sermon so much, And if we're all really honest

589
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: with ourselves, we can find a little bit of Gyrus

590
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: in each of us. And what I mean by that

591
00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: is maybe you've come through a situation or maybe you're

592
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 1: currently in a situation where the facts are challenging your faith, Okay,

593
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 1: And that looks like different things Like we'll ask ourselves

594
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 1: questions like why am I here? How did I get here?

595
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:48,760
Speaker 1: Of God? Do you even hear me or care about

596
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,319
Speaker 1: what I'm going through? But the one thing that I

597
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,120
Speaker 1: know can be fact checked is that God is always

598
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,879
Speaker 1: bigger than our circumstances. Okay. And here's the thing. This

599
00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,719
Speaker 1: passage of scripture comes from March chapter and it is

600
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,839
Speaker 1: like the gift that keeps on giving because we got

601
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 1: to hear not one, but two sermons from this passage

602
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: of scripture because just a few weeks later, Pastor Holly

603
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:13,680
Speaker 1: preached a sermon called Waiting on My Miracle, where we

604
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:17,120
Speaker 1: got to revisit the story of Gyros. And this is

605
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 1: such a great story of scripture that talks us through

606
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 1: several different things. But just maybe you remember, but in

607
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 1: case you don't, this is a story where Gyros meets

608
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 1: Jesus and his daughter is sick and he asked Jesus

609
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:30,120
Speaker 1: to heal his daughter, a thing that we would all

610
00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: maybe be looking for. What do you need healing in?

611
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,759
Speaker 1: Is this something that you're willing to come and ask

612
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:38,280
Speaker 1: Jesus for? But en route to go heal his daughter,

613
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: this other really popular Bible story comes up that you

614
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: maybe know about or have heard about, and this is

615
00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 1: the woman with the issue of blood. And in the

616
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,600
Speaker 1: midst of Jesus going to heal Girius's daughter, well, he

617
00:36:48,760 --> 00:36:51,799
Speaker 1: ends up healing this woman and stopping to address her,

618
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: which is amazing, right, this is a good thing that's happening.

619
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 1: But in the midst of this miracle happening, the miracle

620
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 1: that Gyros was hoping for ends up not happening because

621
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: his daughter dies. And here's the thing. We've all maybe

622
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,799
Speaker 1: probably had a dream, a hope, something that we were

623
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,759
Speaker 1: wishing for, something that has died in our lives, and

624
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:13,640
Speaker 1: I wonder what we do in those moments. If you're

625
00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 1: anything like me, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this,

626
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: but I'm hoping I can be honest with you. I

627
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: get mad, I get angry, I shut down, and I

628
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: don't always handle these situations in the best way. But

629
00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:28,719
Speaker 1: one thing that we learned in this Bible story is

630
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: the example that Gyrus set, and this is what Holly

631
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: preached about, is what should we do whenever we're waiting

632
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,839
Speaker 1: on a miracle? And Holly says it best whenever. She says,

633
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: if you stay close. If you stay close, you'll come

634
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:46,440
Speaker 1: out stronger on the other side. Holly preached about staying

635
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: close to Jesus in the midst of waiting and then

636
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,359
Speaker 1: seeing what God can do through that, because that's where

637
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 1: He reveals himself to us. That's where we grow in

638
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 1: our faith, is in those moments of waiting and walking

639
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 1: close to Jesus. I feel like I've talked enough about it.

640
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 1: I would love for us to be able to relive

641
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: a little bit of this sermon, So let's take a

642
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:11,399
Speaker 1: look at this. One of the greatest things that I'm

643
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:16,319
Speaker 1: learning about prayer is that I have to hold my

644
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 1: list the things I want God to do how I

645
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: want him to do it, when I want him to

646
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:25,040
Speaker 1: do it. I hold my list with a light grip,

647
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,040
Speaker 1: because sometimes God's gonna ask me to let go of

648
00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 1: my list, but hold firm to my faith. May not

649
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 1: happen the way you thought it would, But my faith

650
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:45,280
Speaker 1: is not in the list. My faith is in my God,

651
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: who I believe is working all things for my good.

652
00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,800
Speaker 1: My faith is in the God who knows the number

653
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,719
Speaker 1: of hairs on my head. My faith is in my

654
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: perfect Father, who knows me better than I know myself.

655
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 1: All I have to do is stay close to Him,

656
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:13,479
Speaker 1: no matter how dark it gets, and remember that He

657
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: is with me. You know that there is no darkness

658
00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:27,799
Speaker 1: you can experience that Jesus has not already felt. Hebrews

659
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:34,360
Speaker 1: four tells us, look at this. I love this passage

660
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 1: of scripture. Therefore, since we have a great high priest

661
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,919
Speaker 1: who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God,

662
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:50,680
Speaker 1: let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For

663
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:53,080
Speaker 1: we do not have a high priest who is unable

664
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:57,799
Speaker 1: to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who

665
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,440
Speaker 1: has been tempted in every way, just as we are.

666
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:06,800
Speaker 1: Yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's

667
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 1: throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive

668
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:15,359
Speaker 1: mercy and find grace to help us in our time

669
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: of need. Jesus experienced every grief and every temptation. He

670
00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:30,840
Speaker 1: is the true friend, the true empathizer, our heavenly father.

671
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: He actually went to all the schools. He went to

672
00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 1: betrayal school, he went to raise a child with special

673
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:50,879
Speaker 1: needs school, he went to loneliness school. And you can

674
00:40:51,920 --> 00:41:04,719
Speaker 1: you can come to him. I'm telling you now. You

675
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:09,680
Speaker 1: can come to him with confidence. And while we wait

676
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: for him to give us an answer, we find so

677
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:21,160
Speaker 1: much more. We find grace, and we find mercy in

678
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:25,480
Speaker 1: our time of need. It's in the waiting that we

679
00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:30,239
Speaker 1: get to know him better. We find out that he's

680
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:34,080
Speaker 1: not just a god who heals, but he is a

681
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:38,120
Speaker 1: god who is with us in our pain and in

682
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:42,839
Speaker 1: our confusion, and in our frustration and in our disappointment.

683
00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 1: And he stands by. He never left. He's with you.

684
00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: He stands by, ready with the grace that you need

685
00:41:52,440 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 1: for each moment. And when I think of the darkest

686
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: season in my life, the seasons of my life when

687
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,160
Speaker 1: you wake up in the morning and for a brief second,

688
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 1: you forget everything that you're going through. Have you ever

689
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 1: been there? And then all of a sudden, the pain

690
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 1: and the realization of what's going on and the fear

691
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:20,960
Speaker 1: sets in. In those moments, what I remember most from

692
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: those seasons is the tangible presence of God. If I

693
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:29,799
Speaker 1: didn't stay close to him, I wouldn't have gotten out

694
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: of bed. If I didn't stay close to him, I

695
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:36,800
Speaker 1: wouldn't have made it through the day. I know I

696
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:42,399
Speaker 1: wouldn't have chosen those situations and those seasons. But I'm

697
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:47,080
Speaker 1: here to tell you today, if you stay close, you'll

698
00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 1: come out stronger on the other side. One of the

699
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,359
Speaker 1: sermons that deeply impacted me this year was one that

700
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 1: Pastor titled my future is My Focus. I honestly believe

701
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 1: there may not be a better word for us as

702
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:03,400
Speaker 1: we start a new year than this one right here, Because,

703
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,239
Speaker 1: of course, at the start of another calendar year, many

704
00:43:06,239 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 1: of us see this time as an intersection of what

705
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,000
Speaker 1: we're choosing to leave behind in the previous season and

706
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:15,640
Speaker 1: what we're stepping into in this next one. So the

707
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: passage Pastor preached from was Genesis forty nine and fifty,

708
00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 1: which is toward the end of Joseph's story, and at

709
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:26,360
Speaker 1: this point the Book of Genesis has covered forty years

710
00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:31,439
Speaker 1: of Joseph's faithfulness. Even though he was mistreated, thrown into

711
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 1: a pit, even though he was put into prison. Light

712
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:38,479
Speaker 1: about he didn't let that take his purpose. Pastor said,

713
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,279
Speaker 1: you got to learn to interrupt what the enemy sent

714
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 1: to destroy you and break it with a butt God.

715
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,120
Speaker 1: I was so inspired by Joseph's determination to not allow

716
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 1: these things that could have kept him in bondage to

717
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,839
Speaker 1: keep him from his purpose. In Genesis fifty, Joseph's father,

718
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 1: Jacob has just died, and his brothers are scared that

719
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:04,640
Speaker 1: Joseph is going to hold a grudge against them and

720
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:06,919
Speaker 1: pay him back for all the wrongs that they did

721
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: to him. So they come to Joseph, who at this

722
00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:12,240
Speaker 1: point in his life is really powerful, and he's sitting

723
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,799
Speaker 1: in the court of Pharaoh because God's blessed him. But

724
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 1: his brothers throw themselves at his feet and they're scared

725
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 1: about his response, and Joseph responds in a way that

726
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:26,560
Speaker 1: only someone who's chosen to stay focused on their purpose could.

727
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 1: He says don't be afraid. You intended to harm me,

728
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 1: but God intended it for good. And I want my

729
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:39,120
Speaker 1: life to be marked by that same heavenly perspective. And

730
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:42,040
Speaker 1: so we just prophesied that same over you in this

731
00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 1: new year, that you'll focus on what matters, that your

732
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,319
Speaker 1: focus will be fixed on the truth that Christ is

733
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 1: in you and that is enough. And when the enemy

734
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 1: tries to attack you with shame or condemnation, you'll hit

735
00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 1: back with but God, who is rich in mercy, has

736
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 1: made me alive in Christ. When the same old hurt

737
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,319
Speaker 1: and bitterness tries to fight for all your attention, you

738
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:10,320
Speaker 1: remember Joseph's words, you intended to harm me, but God

739
00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: intended it for my good. In the clip we want

740
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,600
Speaker 1: to show you now, Pastor Stephen has just pulled a

741
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 1: few of our campus pastors up with him on stage

742
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 1: to help demonstrate what it takes to keep your focus.

743
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:27,799
Speaker 1: And I want to show you that now. Telling God

744
00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 1: you're worthless is an insult to the word that he

745
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: spoke over you. And it is the opposite of worshiping

746
00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:41,840
Speaker 1: God to tell him how worthless you are, because the

747
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 1: focus is on you. So watch this, watch this. This

748
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:51,719
Speaker 1: is a chain and what it becomes is terrible, but

749
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 1: it becomes bitterness. And now you got bondage. Walk with

750
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,800
Speaker 1: it for me. In your own life, something bad happens,

751
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:04,319
Speaker 1: Oh that's horrible. I didn't get to finish because of them.

752
00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 1: They weren't there for me. I mean, if we just

753
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,680
Speaker 1: named everything that's in this room, forget about all over

754
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 1: the world. If we just named everything that's in this room,

755
00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:15,600
Speaker 1: if we named everything bad that happened in this room,

756
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:20,439
Speaker 1: I wouldn't get to preach another sermon until twenty sixty four,

757
00:46:21,719 --> 00:46:24,080
Speaker 1: all right. I wouldn't get to preach. And if we

758
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 1: spent the rest of this day, we would still over

759
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:31,799
Speaker 1: into tomorrow. And then Yet Joseph, after after everything he's

760
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:36,320
Speaker 1: been through Genesis fifty twenty, put it on the screen

761
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:41,120
Speaker 1: you intended to harm me. And that's all he said

762
00:46:41,120 --> 00:46:51,439
Speaker 1: about that. Now that's freedom hold. He wouldn't in denial either,

763
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:55,280
Speaker 1: because he still wept. There was a process. He didn't

764
00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,279
Speaker 1: say it the next day, he didn't say it in

765
00:46:58,320 --> 00:46:59,880
Speaker 1: the pit, he didn't say it in the back of

766
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 1: a caravan as he's being being sold in chained. But

767
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: at some point his perspective became, but God, so you

768
00:47:18,640 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 1: break it with a butt. Let me show you again, y'all.

769
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:30,760
Speaker 1: I got the I got the remedial class, the summer school.

770
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 1: In here today, I'm gonna show you again. You intended

771
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:39,879
Speaker 1: to harm me. That was bad. Now I could blame you.

772
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 1: I could be bitter about it, and I could spend

773
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:47,640
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. But God show you again,

774
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:51,280
Speaker 1: show you again, get back together. Let me show you again.

775
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:57,120
Speaker 1: Let me show you till you see yourself interrupting what

776
00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:00,960
Speaker 1: the enemy said to destroy you, and you can break

777
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:06,480
Speaker 1: it with a butt. God, you can break it. So

778
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,120
Speaker 1: so I'm looking now now I'm looking. My future is

779
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:14,359
Speaker 1: my focus. So I'm looking for everything in my life

780
00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:18,200
Speaker 1: that has me in bondage. And I'm looking to put

781
00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:22,520
Speaker 1: a butt right here to see what God is gonna

782
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:27,680
Speaker 1: do next. I need thirty of yall. I need thirty

783
00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:34,360
Speaker 1: people in a Hammond B three to brace God, not

784
00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:38,360
Speaker 1: the power to break it. It's in your praise, in

785
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:45,520
Speaker 1: your perspective, in your purpose. Get together. That's how you

786
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: break a chain. That's how they left me. But God

787
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 1: has somebody else for me. They hurt me, but God

788
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,960
Speaker 1: healed me. He's healing me right now. Somebody's saying in

789
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:02,440
Speaker 1: the chat but God, God, but God. I feel like

790
00:49:02,560 --> 00:49:07,320
Speaker 1: preaching in this room today, right, God is breaking says

791
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:11,720
Speaker 1: I'm serious, Jop, you can break it with a fuck.

792
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:16,879
Speaker 1: We were dead in our sin, but God, you meant

793
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:21,319
Speaker 1: it for evil, But Gop. The weapon was formed against me,

794
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:26,800
Speaker 1: but it didn't prosper because I'm still breathing, living, walking,

795
00:49:27,239 --> 00:49:42,600
Speaker 1: talking ooseh. But God, but God, but God, but God, Bah,

796
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:47,760
Speaker 1: break that thing. I can break that thing. You break

797
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:51,760
Speaker 1: it before it breaks you. You hear me. You break

798
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:57,319
Speaker 1: it before it breaks you. New year, same God. I

799
00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:00,640
Speaker 1: hope that this encouraged you. I hope that today you're

800
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:03,680
Speaker 1: walking away with a sense of gratitude for what God

801
00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:06,800
Speaker 1: has done in your life and a feeling of expectancy

802
00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: for what He's going to do in the year ahead.

803
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,239
Speaker 1: God came through last year. God spoke last year, and

804
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:15,400
Speaker 1: he's going to come through again, and he's going to

805
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:17,960
Speaker 1: speak again this year. If you miss any of the

806
00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 1: sermons that we talked about today and you were thinking

807
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:21,719
Speaker 1: that you would love to see the rest of it,

808
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,800
Speaker 1: good news. They're all up on our Elevation Church YouTube

809
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:30,040
Speaker 1: channel or also available on the Elevation Church podcast. The

810
00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:33,760
Speaker 1: titles are all listed in the description below. I also

811
00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:36,840
Speaker 1: hope that today you'll take a few minutes to reflect

812
00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,360
Speaker 1: on the past year. Yes, it's important to set goals

813
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:43,120
Speaker 1: for the year ahead, but before you do that, take

814
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,320
Speaker 1: some time to look back at the faithfulness of God

815
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,399
Speaker 1: in your life in twenty twenty two. How did God

816
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:51,640
Speaker 1: provide for you? Who did God bring into your life?

817
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,240
Speaker 1: Who did He remove from your life? What did God

818
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:58,520
Speaker 1: speak to you this year? If you'll just start writing

819
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:01,359
Speaker 1: and reflecting on the presence of God in your life

820
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:03,560
Speaker 1: over the past year, I know that you're going to

821
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:07,600
Speaker 1: be overwhelmed with gratitude and excited about what's ahead, or

822
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,399
Speaker 1: maybe I should say excited about who is ahead with you.

823
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:14,279
Speaker 1: He was with you in twenty twenty two, and he'll

824
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: be with you in twenty twenty three. And I have

825
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 1: to say thank you to all of you who attend

826
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:23,719
Speaker 1: a location, who watch every week, who volunteer, and who

827
00:51:23,760 --> 00:51:26,839
Speaker 1: give faithfully to this ministry. Pastor Stephen and I count

828
00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: it a privilege that we get to do this every

829
00:51:30,280 --> 00:51:34,480
Speaker 1: single week right alongside you. Let me pray for us,

830
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,600
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your presence in our lives.

831
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,799
Speaker 1: It is with gratitude that we look back, and it

832
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:45,120
Speaker 1: is with excitement that we look ahead. We know that

833
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:48,040
Speaker 1: whatever we will face in twenty twenty three, we do

834
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:51,520
Speaker 1: not have to face it alone. You go before us,

835
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:55,480
Speaker 1: you come behind us. You're with us every step of

836
00:51:55,520 --> 00:51:59,920
Speaker 1: the way. God, we surrender our year and our lives

837
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: to you, and we ask that you not only be

838
00:52:03,719 --> 00:52:08,280
Speaker 1: with us, but that you use us for your glory.

839
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:11,480
Speaker 1: Thank you for our pastor. May you continue to bless

840
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:14,359
Speaker 1: him and give him the words to speak to us

841
00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:16,840
Speaker 1: each week. Thank you for this church. It means so

842
00:52:17,560 --> 00:52:20,480
Speaker 1: much to us. We love you, Lord. It's in Jesus'

843
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 1: name we pray. Ama. Well, if you enjoyed today's podcast,

844
00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:26,680
Speaker 1: there are a couple things I'd love for you to do.

845
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:31,160
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. You

846
00:52:31,200 --> 00:52:33,600
Speaker 1: can also help us reach others by investing today at

847
00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:37,600
Speaker 1: Elevationchurch dot org, slash give and thanks again for joining

848
00:52:37,719 --> 00:52:39,280
Speaker 1: us on the Elevation Podcast.