WEBVTT - New Year, Same God 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.239 Well, happy New Year. Can I tell you how happy 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.360 I am that you are starting your new year off 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.920 with us? Maybe today you have plans to eat collared 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:12.840 greens and black eyed peas later. Is that just a 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.920 Southern thing? Because here in North Carolina, our family has 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.000 a New Year's tradition where we eat pork and collards 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.720 and black eyed peas. Supposedly it symbolizes good things for 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.920 the new year. I think collars represent prosperity and peas 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.880 represent good luck. But mostly we just like them and 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:35.000 we're celebrating a new year together as a family. Whatever 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.360 you feed your soul is way more important than what 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.320 you feed your body. And so no matter what you 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.080 plan to eat today, you are ahead of the game 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.880 because you're feeding your soul. It's so important to pause 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.960 and to look back, and that is what today is 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.920 all about. One of the primary ways that God speaks 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.840 to me is through the messages of this house. Every 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.920 single week, God uses our paths to bring the exact 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:05.600 word we need to hear. How does he do this? 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.679 His messages penetrate whether you have been a believer for 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.840 five minutes or fifty years, every age, every stage of life, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.200 there is a word for every single one of us. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.040 I wonder which messages spoke to you the most this year. 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:23.400 Maybe one that came at the perfect time. Maybe it 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.520 hit it a moment when you were doubting or anxious 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.960 and the sermon was exactly what you needed to hear. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.360 I love how God works. I wish we could just 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.360 sit down together and talk about it. In fact, let 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.360 me know in the chat which messages this year have 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:44.560 resonated the most with you. Today I invited some of 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:46.680 the people in our church to share about some of 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:50.360 their favorite sermons from twenty twenty two. We'll be diving 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.800 into our notes, sharing our stories, and then looking back 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.680 at portions of these sermons. My hope is that these 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.840 excerpts remind you of what God spoke to you and 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.520 what God did in your life last year. I want 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.360 us to go into twenty twenty three believing that the 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:10.040 same God that was with us last year will be 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:13.679 with us again this year. Of course he will. That's 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.240 why we're calling today new Year, Same God. We've been 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.519 singing that song, Same God over and over this last year, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:24.440 and it has been such an anthem for our church 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.000 that the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, of 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.160 Mary of David. The God of your Grandma is the 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.359 same God of you and I, and that is who 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:38.120 we worship today. He is faithful to see us through 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.280 whatever is ahead, and the best way to stir up 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.840 our faith for what's ahead is to look back at 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.960 his past faithfulness. So I'm going to go first. I 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.480 have to go first. I can't let others share about 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.600 how the message is preached by our pastor my husband 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.280 ministered to them without getting to share how they have 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:01.639 ministered to me. And I'm pretty sure everyone who follows 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.440 me and shares about their favorite sermon is gonna say 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.760 some version of it. Was so hard to pick just one, 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:12.760 because it is sometimes I cannot believe the amazing feast 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:17.120 that Stephen Ferdick lays before us each and every week. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.200 If you can sit under a sermon by Stephen Ferdick 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.680 and say that God did not speak to you, you 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.360 have a listening problem anyway. Okay, it's so hard to 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.200 pick just one. But back in the spring, Stephen preached 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.080 a little mini series three sermons on the Book of Ruth. 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.520 They were called it Will Come Together, the One who 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:42.000 seeks fines and blown away. I felt like these three weeks, 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.680 I was like trying to get a drink of water 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.360 from a fire hydrant. Stephen was dropping wisdom faster than 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.480 I could write it down, and God was speaking to 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.760 my heart. So now that I've narrowed it down to 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.560 three sermons, I'm gonna tell you the one that I 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.240 want to talk about. Not necessarily my favorite of twenty 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.440 twenty two, steven sermons are like my children, They're all 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.920 my favorite, but this one, this one really got me. 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.200 It was a sermon called it Will Come Together Now. 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.920 In this sermon, Stephen laid the foundation by talking about 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.679 Ruth and the tragedy that she had experienced in her life. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.880 She lost her husband and she lost everything that she 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:26.000 held dear in her life. It probably felt to her 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.400 like her life was over, but as we read through 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:32.360 the Book of Ruth, in reality, we realized that her 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:36.360 life was barely getting started on the basis of all 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.080 that God was going to do for her and through her. 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.279 Stephen told us that we don't taste life as a meal. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.280 We experience the ingredients as they come, and the problem 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:51.880 with this is that the ingredients themselves can often taste 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.920 bad in isolation. This really hit home with me because 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.719 I love to cook, and I understand that there are 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:04.160 essential ingredients to almost every recipe that tastes bad in isolation, 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.559 like salt and oil and flour. If you only taste 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.839 those things, you would spit them out. But put them together, 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.680 add in a little bit of baking powder and some eggs, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.400 and you're on your way to a cake. In my life, 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:22.360 so often I experience disappointment or frustration when something that 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:26.200 I asked God for doesn't go the way I thought 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.240 it would. I ask God for this relationship, but it 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.720 feels like we're fighting all the time. I ask God 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.240 for this child, but now I feel like I don't 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.240 have what it takes to raise them. I ask God 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.400 for this new job, but now I feel lonely. And 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.839 when I start to feel these feelings, my tendency can 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.479 be to think that God is angry with me, or 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.919 that maybe I did something wrong, or maybe I wasn't 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:49.880 meant to have these things to begin with and I 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.360 got it all wrong. And the thing that suck with 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.800 me from this sermon is when he said let God 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.239 mix it. He told us that our prayer should be God, 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.640 I want your will, and I want whatever comes with it. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.920 Those ingredients that taste bad to me and isolation are 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.159 actually building something good in my life. That relationship that 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.240 feels tense is teaching me humility and the art of 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.719 putting others before myself. That job that challenges me is 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.600 teaching me to depend on God in ways that I 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.280 never would otherwise. That loneliness is causing me to lean 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.919 into my relationship with God and then also to invest 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.839 wisely in the relationships around me. Stephen said, just because 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.280 it tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't serve 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.799 a purpose in the finished product. The good things often 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:50.200 come with frustration and disappointment and difficulty. That's normal, That's okay, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:54.119 And he reminded us in this sermon, if it's not good, 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:58.599 then God is not done, and that mantra will get 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.680 you through. All right, I've said enough. Now I want 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:04.560 you to check out this clip so you can see 0:07:04.560 --> 0:07:07.800 what I'm talking about. Whoever walked in the kitchen and 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.640 just use an example. I'm not a cook. Take a 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:17.120 scoop of baking powder and just down it. Did you 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:29.440 ever do it? So? Baking powder is bad? Anybody want 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.040 a big, heaping pile of baking powder? For lunch today. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:43.560 Raise your hand. Why are you messing up my illustration? Bro? Now, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:45.880 this is the message you want, the whole message in 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.800 a moment. This is a whole message, is a whole message. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.400 This is why you came from Michigan so God could 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.000 tell you. This is why you tuned in online. Just 0:07:54.120 --> 0:08:00.240 because it tastes bad in isolation doesn't mean it won't 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:09.520 serve a purpose in the finished product. I'm not saying 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:15.920 that the Bible said that after Naomi had gone so 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:21.960 low that she said, this doesn't taste good. This doesn't 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.200 taste good. And honestly, I figured out why people in 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:30.080 church often look so sour when they're in church, because 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.200 what you went through this week didn't taste good. And 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.240 you are trying to praise God with a taste in 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:43.160 your mouth of disappointment and fear? Am I preaching you? 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.920 I mean it's hard to say Hallelujah when your mouth 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:57.679 tastes like hurt. Who call me bitter? You might as well? 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:10.240 Well you might as well and taste good. And yet 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.080 what a strange blessing that they gave. Let me give 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:15.720 you a little bit more background so I can make 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.360 sure I'm not confusing Graham's my Graham's my guy, you know. 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.360 He he told me the other day, he was like, Dad, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.079 sometimes you got to slow down with these scriptures. You've 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.120 been looking at them all week and we're just waking up. 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:33.720 You got to slow down and break it down. So 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.880 even though I can't do it justice, the Book of 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:38.880 Ruth is beautiful and you could read it in the 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:41.480 time that you could watch half an episode of Ozark. 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:52.600 And when we moved through it, we see Naomi a Limelech, 0:09:53.880 --> 0:10:00.960 Killion and Meelan's Ruth's husband orpa is married to Killyon 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.600 And both of those baby names are available, by the way, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:06.680 if you want to have an original name for your kid. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.680 But when they went to Moab, they went to a 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:15.640 place that they didn't This is important plan to go. 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:20.320 This message is for somebody who is in a place 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.000 you didn't plan to go. And I'm gonna take it further. 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.040 Sometimes it's a place you hate being there because they're 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.360 from Bethlehem and they're in Moab. Kind of like when 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.360 they went to Egypt. I mentioned it earlier, when the 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.319 Israelites went to Egypt. They didn't go to Egypt because 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.920 it was their dream to go to Egypt. It wasn't 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.679 on their bucket list to go to Egypt. They went 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:46.920 to Egypt to survive. And we've talked about that a lot, 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.400 because I think a lot of the sin cycles we 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.439 get sucked into in our life are out of survival mechanisms, 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:55.200 and if we don't deal with it that way, we 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.199 just put so much shame on it. We can't help 0:10:57.240 --> 0:11:00.840 anybody get healed because people won't come to Jesus because 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:05.520 you don't understand the power of his covenant with you. 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.360 You think Jesus is like other people and that there 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.440 come a point where he'll be ashamed of you and 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.760 he'll go, oh, well that's that's that's too far there. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.880 I was going to use you, but really you did that. 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.839 You don't understand the power of a covenant. But but 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.839 Ruth did. Because when Naomi said leave me, I've lost 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:26.560 my husband's i've lost my boys. I've heard there's bred 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.920 in Bethlehem. We've been here ten years. Naomi said, I'm 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:37.200 not leaving. Make a covenant with you. Whither thou goest 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.960 I go, Your God become my god, and your God 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:48.880 will often become the same god as your friends. If 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.280 you are around people who worship status and stuff. It 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.680 won't be long till you'll shear shackle to the same 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.839 things they are. But now to touch somebody next to 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:01.120 you and say, you ought to hang out with me 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.760 a little. While you hang out with me, You're gonna 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:09.320 have strong faith you hang out with me. Come on, 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:15.840 deth leopard, if you hang out with me. So so 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.880 they go back together, and Naomi, in this this honest moment, 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.120 she says, call me bitter. I still got the taste 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.160 in my mouth. I'm going back to Bethlehem, which means 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:30.600 house of bread, which makes it that much more depressing 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.200 when there's a famine in Bethlehem, when there's a famine 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.760 in the place that is named after bread, when the 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.480 joy of the Lord is supposed to be your strength, 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.320 and you are a Christian and you're depressed, and you 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.760 are a Christian and you can't sleep, and you are 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.040 a Christian and you have addictions, and you are a 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.320 I am a C I am ah, I am a 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.000 c h R ST I had but I got a 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.319 A D D A dhd hey d d I c 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.000 t I oh. I'm in the house of Brett, but 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:19.480 hauk grief. Call me Mara. She said, Real said, I 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:24.520 was with you when I wanted your son. Now you 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.760 don't have a son to give me, but I'm still 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.960 with you. I wonder who the Lord is saying that to. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:38.800 I'm still with you. I don't sell low and by High. 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.240 God is not Warren Buffett. God doesn't trade like that. 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.600 God said, I'm still with you because I made a 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.800 covenant with you. It's not that kind of covenant I 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.400 made with Noah that was limited. It's not the kind 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.199 of covenant I made with Abraham that was limited. It's 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.960 not the covenant I made with Moses that was limited. 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.920 It's not the covenant I made with David that was limited. 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.280 This is the covenant of my blood, made with the 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:10.600 life of my son, and I am worth you. What's up, y'all. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:14.640 I'm Elijah Fredick. I'm Pastor Stevens's oldest son. Now, obviously, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:16.559 my dad is a goat of preaching, so I had 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.000 to share one of my takeaways from one of his 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.120 sermons with y'all. The sermon that I'm going to be 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.240 talking about is a recent one. It's called I'm Not 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.840 Dead Yet, and I actually have some insider information on 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.400 the making behind it. A couple of months ago, me 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:29.920 and my girlfriend started reading through the Bible one chapter 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:31.720 at a time. It felt like something that God was 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:33.280 calling me to do because I wanted to get the 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.600 full context of the Bible and everything that God wanted 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.640 us to know. We told my dad what we were 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:39.360 doing and he said how much he loved it. A 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.200 couple of weeks later, he asked us what chapter we 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:42.640 were on so he could read it with us, and 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.640 he sent us an application from the chapter that turned 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.360 into a group chat called to Read the Bible in 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.760 four years club, because if we read one chapter every day, 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.000 that's about how long it would take us. We started 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.120 sending a key verse application that we took away from 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.960 each chapter, and obviously my dad's were always the best. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:58.960 We came to the Book of Leviticus. We started to 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.280 struggle to find an application for every chapter because the 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.400 chapters get so repetitive and specific, but somehow my dad 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.440 would always find a fire application. Leviticus is tough because 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.520 it's a lot of lists of rules and regulations for 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:11.760 the ancient Israelites, but we still did our best to 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.400 figure out what we could learn about God from reading it. Now, 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.240 when I look at all the implications that my dad 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.840 had sent in the group chat. One particular one stands 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.880 out Leviticus eleven. Leviticus eleven is a pretty boring chapter 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:25.280 of first glance. It's all about the kosher laws and 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.000 certain animals that people can't eat. I can actually show you, 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:29.640 guys the text, but he throws us a couple of 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.240 great points. We pull it out real quick. All right 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.680 here it is, got it prepared. But you know, big old, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.720 long text. So what's crazy is a lot of this 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.440 actually ended up making it into his sermon. One of 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.160 the things that he talked about in the text was 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:45.440 how important it is to ask yourself. Do I listen 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.680 when God tells me something that's polluting my heart? Or 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:49.760 do I only see it in others plank and spect 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.200 type deal. You know. He talked about verse thirty seven, 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.640 which says if a carcass falls on any seeds that 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.480 are to be planted, they remain clean. He uses to 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.720 tell us about the idea of the seed will survive. 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.200 Sometimes a dead thing falls in the seed of what 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:04.840 God is shying to do, but the seed survives. The 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:06.680 devil tried to kill the seed of your potential, but 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.440 the seed is still clean. You think it's dead, but 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.880 it's just dormant. He even connected it to how Herod 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.760 tried to kill Jesus, but the seed survived. I already 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:16.720 knew that had potential, but I had no idea that 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.760 he would turn it into a whole sermon. He was 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:20.360 able to take the potential of what he told us 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.560 and polish it up a little bit. In the end, 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.360 he used the example of the weasel which the people 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.760 were not allowed to eat, which was specified in the chapter. 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:28.920 He showed an image of a weasel that was eating 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.640 some eggs before they had a chance to be born. 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:32.440 He used it to show how you can't let the 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:34.480 devil pollute the seed of something that God is doing 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:36.880 in your life. Another one of my favorite points he 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.880 made was when he said, if you have confidence in 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.880 God's promise but not commitment to his process, that's not faith, 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.600 that's just denial. That really hit me because in my 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:46.320 life a lot of times I don't struggle with my 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:49.800 confidence in God as much as my confidence in myself. However, 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.440 when I doubt myself, that is kind of me doubting 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:54.320 the process and doubting that God has put me where 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:55.960 I need to be to impact people for His good, 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:57.600 and at the end of the day, I can know 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.160 that the seed of God's potential lives in me. It 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:01.640 was so powerful for me to hear how he was 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:04.359 able to take a seemingly boring chapter about kosher laws 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:05.960 and show us how it applies to us in modern 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.119 day life. If we're not careful, we can make the 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.119 Bible too much about ourselves and forget the framing of 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.240 the story we're reading. However, if we read the Bible 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.040 one way, that treats us like an ancient text with 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.199 no application to our current day lives, and we might 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.239 as well read Harry Potter. So I felt like this 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.400 was such a legendary sermon. He was able to give 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.080 us the full background, context and meeting of the text, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:24.879 but also try to help us figure out what the 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:26.600 chapter is trying to tell us about the nature of 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.920 God and how we can use that information to become 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.840 closer to God. Let me show you all this clip 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.240 real quick, so y'all can hear the sermon for yourself. 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:38.000 Look at that weasel, little sneaky. That guy is a 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.160 serial killer. I was looked him up. You could get 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:46.520 in a small place and then Oh, look at it. 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:50.040 He's got those eggs. Look what he's trying to do 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:51.600 to those eggs. Look what he's trying to do to 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:55.600 that thing that hasn't been born yet. Look at that weasel. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.879 Y'all are on board with Leviticus, now, are you? Because 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:05.679 you do need to know how to deal with the weasel, 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.200 don't you. You do need to learn how to deal 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:16.720 with the weasel because you got a weasel called worry 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.600 that while God is speaking his word to you, say 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.520 amen in Portuguese when he gets through on this interpretation, 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:26.359 because I need to hear an amen. I need to 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:30.040 hear an amen. That weasel, that weasel, that weasel. No, 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.760 he's not just leaving you alone. He's trying to steal 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:37.840 what God spoke. Now I know you think I'm out 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.880 of context. It's not talking about that kind of weasel. 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:45.600 It's talking about everything in your life to try to distinguish, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.120 like the enemy will plant a seed in your mind, 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.000 right you say, okay, well this is gonna go wrong? 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:52.720 And have you thought about this? And did you hear 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.720 what they said about that? And it's a recession of recession, 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.760 a recession, a recession of recession of recession, of recession, 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.640 of recession. You have thought about resurrection in about three 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.040 months because all you've been reading about is recession. So 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.840 now that weasel got right in there in your space, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.119 your little space where God does great things and he 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.800 eats through the potential of what God sneaks. So what 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.760 do you do with the wisel? God said, don't eat it? 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.480 What do you do with the weasel? God said, put 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.040 it off limits? What do you do with those little 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:29.080 thoughts that come up a million miles an hour? And 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:34.320 you know that's a good question to be asking. Enemy 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:42.119 will weasel his way into your marriage, He'll weasel his 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:46.640 way into your business, gets you to start cutting corners 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.480 and stuff like that. Yeah, I know how he works. 0:19:51.160 --> 0:20:00.200 I'm a weasel expert. Weasel try and keep you from 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:06.440 worshiping God, usel the Lord. I'm a list a lot 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:10.240 of things that will multiply rapidly in your life, small things, 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:13.240 moving things, sorrows, and I'm gonna show you what to 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.520 do with them so I can keep doing big things. 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:23.359 God still has big things for me. I felt chills 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.280 on my body when I said it. God still has 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:32.760 big things for me, things that are bigger than my intellect, 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:38.439 things that are bigger than my imagination, exceedingly abundantly above 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:44.400 all I ask, or imagine, the seed of God's potential 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.560 lives inside of me. I say it again for the 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.800 people who who really believe what the word of God says. 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:56.360 The seed of God's potential lives in me. I mean, 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.639 think about it. Here are people in Leviticus who have 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.040 been through Egypt, have been through the Red Sea, who 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.600 started with a man named Abraham. All out of one 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:10.560 man came millions of people because God said, I will 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:14.199 bless you and multiply you. And Abram was waiting. We 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:16.520 preached about him for two weeks a while back. We 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.760 preached about him for two weeks. How he was ninety nine, 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.480 and God gave him the promise when he was a hundred. 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:24.880 And I preached on keep it a hundred. But can 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.480 I keep it a hundred with you? Abraham said, my 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:30.919 wife's womb is as good as dead, and so is 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.600 my body. And my body is as good as dead, 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.720 because I'm ninety nine. But then something God inside of 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:40.480 Abraham and kicked inside of Abraham, because see the seed 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.560 that was inside of him was greater than the limitation 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:46.919 that was on him. So something got inside of Abraham 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.480 and he looked in the mirror. But then he looked 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:53.159 at the stars and he talked to himself and his situation. 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.360 But then he talked to God, and God reminded him 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.360 of the promise. And Abram said, I'm old, but I'm 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.199 not dead yet. I think he said it with no teeth. 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.600 All right there yet I'm not teddy yet. I'm not 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:09.560 teddy yet. I'm not done yet. I'm not teddy yet. 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:14.680 It's not over yet. I'm not dead. God's not done. 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:19.320 If I'm not dead, God's not done. Greater things are 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:25.960 still to come. That. Wow, that was an amazing sermon. 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:28.359 If you hadn't gone back and watched it, if you 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.040 didn't know, it's on YouTube. Matter of fact, all of 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.000 the messages from pastor Steven you can find on YouTube, 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.679 and so go back watch them. I don't know about you, 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:41.119 but every single Sunday I actually watched the message two times. 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:43.439 I watched two times. The first time. I watch it 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:47.119 for myself as a husband, as a father, just as 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.040 a man. I need to be able to take some 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:51.600 time to see what does God want to speak to 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.320 my life? But not only that, not only that I 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:56.359 watch it the second time because I'm trying to figure 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:58.879 out how am I going to reteach it, how am 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:02.399 I going to repre And after Pastor preached this sermon 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:06.840 called Bent Needs Breaks Chains, I went back and I 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:10.320 began to read over and over and over again throughout 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:13.399 the story of Joseph, and God just really ministered to 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.439