WEBVTT - When Better Feels Backwards 0:00:02.080 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.120 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.480 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.520 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:17.640 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.880 Just one verse to get us started today Hebrews chapter six, 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.680 verse nine. Though we speak in this way, yet in 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.840 your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things. Somebody 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.560 shout better things. You shouted that, like you want God 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.479 to do something awesome in your life. Yeah, he said, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.800 because the context is some are falling away, and some 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.640 are giving up on what they first believe, and some 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.200 are going back to old systems of thought because it's 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:53.240 too challenging. But he said, not you, not you. You're 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.040 not going to give up or burn out or fade away. 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.880 We speak in this way. It does happen. Yet in 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:07.000 your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things, things 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.400 that belong to salvation. I want to preach to you 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.240 for a few moments today with God's help, on the 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:20.400 subject of when better feels backwards, when better feels backwards? 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:22.679 And I pray that this might encourage you. In fact, 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.960 let's pray one more time before we take our seat. God, 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:28.600 if I share my opinion today, it will be close 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.920 to worthless. And if I share from human wisdom today, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.320 it'll have a short shelf life. But your word is eternal. 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:40.440 So speak now. We're listening. Give us open hearts to 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:45.240 receive the things that you desire to say. In Jesus' name, Amen, 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.080 tell the person next to you on your way down 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:53.200 to your seat, you've never looked better. If the Lord 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.120 has to forgive you for lion, you were just doing 0:01:55.120 --> 0:02:05.120 what the preacher said. Yeah, because on the enneagram, which 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:08.800 is like the personality type, it's not new, but Holla 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.800 just discovered it a year or two ago. And she 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.520 told me she studied the different nine personality types. And 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.440 she said you're number one. And I was like, I know, 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.440 it's about time you caught onto that. I said, well, 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:27.400 what is it? And she said a perfectionist. I thought 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.800 at first she said perfection but she said ist. She 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.080 said a perfectionist. She said the motto of the number 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.440 one on the enneagram is it could always be better. 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.040 And I thought about how that can be such a 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:50.080 wonderful thing if you're trying to make something great and 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.880 create something special, but it can be such a horrible 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.400 way to approach her everyday life that it could always 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.720 be better. And you meet these people every once in 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.919 a while, don't you. I never forget the guy who 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.119 got a raise and I congratulated him, and he said, oh, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.399 I wish my tax bill is about to go through 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.239 the roof. One guy he saw us doing the baptisms 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.079 at the church, and we baptized over two thousand people, 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.960 remember Rick in two weeks. And when I told him 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.839 about it, no listen this way, he said, Wow, your 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:28.440 water bill must have been through the roof, always looking 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:33.600 for how it could be better. And I relate to 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.800 this because, honestly, I think y'all ought to thank God 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:44.120 for all the perfectionists like me. I know we're annoying, 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.320 but don't you kind of want a perfectionist to design 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:51.640 the airplane that you fly in? Well, you want somebody 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.240 who just glued the wings on kind of halfway straight. 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:03.120 Give him more peanuts. They'll never notice. But the blessing 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.040 of seeking perfection may be progress, And yet the byproduct 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.000 so many times in our lives is that we can 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:16.920 often in our quest for perfection, fill our minds with 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:21.359 ways that it could be better when not realizing that 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.600 some of the best things in our life come through 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.919 not the things that we asked or prayed for, but 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:32.160 the things that we are currently working through. The challenge 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.080 for the author of Hebrews is that he's writing to 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.600 a group of Christians whose lives are getting worse. They 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:44.039 have accepted Jesus as the Messiah, and that caused all 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:46.920 of their Jewish counterparts to think that they were crazy, 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:50.800 that they had absolutely lost their minds to follow the 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:55.080 teachings of a carpenter who was crucified on a Roman cross. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:00.760 And so now this group of Christians in Rome is 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.599 being written to to encourage don't go back and just 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.960 look at somebody next to you, because they've been tempted lately, 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.360 tell him, don't go back. That's the temptation. Don't go back, 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.120 don't go back to the old way of doing it, 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:20.679 because this way is better. And the Christians in Rome 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.000 who are about to face severe persecution from Nero. This 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.400 for anybody who's going through anything right now. It might 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.240 not be Nero persecuting you, but it can just be 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.599 the unfamiliar territory of trying to learn to live by 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.800 grace and faith when you are constantly being tempted to 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.839 live by logic and calculation. And what is fair the 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.320 temptation to control? When God is calling you to surrender 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.560 and there is a temptation to go back to the 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.560 old way, and he's telling them, don't go back. Jesus 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:54.360 is better. He tells him that thirteen times in the 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.440 Book of Hebrews. He uses this word that a perfectionist 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.520 like me really like. In the Greek the word is 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:06.839 chritone and it means better. Is translated several different ways 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:13.000 in English superior, supreme, but mostly is translated better, better 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:19.240 in quality, better in substance, better by comparison. Jesus is better, 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.360 and he's better because he made a better covenant than 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:27.279 the old covenant. A covenant is an oath. God didn't 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.520 make an agreement with humanity. He made an agreement with 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.240 his son. He knows that you have a hard time 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.120 holding up your into the bargain, So rather than make 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.279 an agreement with your fickle faith, he made an agreement 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.280 with his faithful son, who was obedient even unto death 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.240 death on the cross. He did it better He says 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.680 that we have a better hope, not the kind of 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.640 hope that only works when things are going in your direction, 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.200 but a kind of hope that is like an anchor 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.960 for the soul. He Brew says it is a better 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.960 hope because an anchor only works when it hits the bobble. 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.200 There is a certain kind of hope that floats, and 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:05.520 as long as everything on the surface is going good, 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.440 you feel pretty good. And then there is a better hope, 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.200 a crytone hope, a hope that gets down to the bottom, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.720 and it doesn't fully function and serve its intended purpose 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.960 until it is at that bottom place. If you've bottomed 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.360 out in your emotions, if you've bottomed out in your 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.400 bank account, if your health has bottomed out, if you 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.040 feel like the worst is happening to you, I want 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.679 you to know that you have a better crytone hope 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:35.920 in Jesus, because he's better. Somebody shall better, better covenant, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.040 better hope, better promises. The Bible says that Jesus had 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.320 a better ministry, not only a better ministry, but then 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.720 his blood speaks a better word. So when condemnation rises 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:49.960 up in your heart to tell you what you're not 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.360 remember for a moment who Jesus is, and if he 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.960 went into the Holy of Holies and shed not the 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.400 blood of bulls and goats, but the blood of his 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.160 very own perfect life for you your sake. When a 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.160 drop of his blood hit the mercy seat, it spoke 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.760 over your life, a future and a hope that is better. 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.480 And it doesn't matter what has been, because what's ahead 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:21.520 is better. But I'm getting ahead of myself. And these 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:27.280 Christians who have lost so much are left wondering if 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:31.240 Jesus is better, how come my situation is getting so 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:42.079 much worse. See better is subjective, right. Some things are 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:49.640 just better than others objectively. Kendrick Lamar J. Cole. One 0:08:49.679 --> 0:09:04.400 of those is better. iOS Android, some things are just better. 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:09.239 I didn't even take a side, and y'all are booing me. Pharisees. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:18.600 Some things are just better Clipson Tigers every other football 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:30.200 team this season. Chrispy Krean dunkin Donuts. I won't even 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.200 have the conversation. You cannot beat. I'm prophesying over your 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:39.400 future after church today, an original glazed hot dozen't I 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:43.720 prophesy over your life. The carbohydrates won't even count. Stop 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.800 buy and get one and see. If it doesn't melt 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:54.080 in your mouth, it will bless you. Leo horrible. Sorry, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:10:04.280 things are just better. But when it comes to things 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.000 that really matter in life, I think all of us 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:11.560 know that better is a perspective. It's very subjective. You 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.440 know why you think some people's lives are better than 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:15.280 yours because you see the part that they show you. 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.800 They might have a better house, but I wonder what 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:33.760 goes on inside and see, you don't know which one's better. Oh, 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.240 if you live long enough, you will find out that 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.040 some of the people you spent so much of your 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:46.840 time envying were secretly miserable. Better is a perspective. Better 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.920 is not necessarily something that you can measure from what 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.439 you can see with your eyes. But we all live 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.200 in this world. Like you gotta get the iPhone? What 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.000 is it eleven that just came out? Well, I gotta 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.280 get it. I don't even like the text I get 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:10.760 now from people on the old one. No, it's better. 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:13.679 It's got a camera that can see through people. It 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:19.320 can put X ray vision, it can it's better. Oh, 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:21.720 I gotta get it. It's better. You know that's interest 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.920 because the writer of Hebrews he goes all the way 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.280 back to get the people to move forward. He goes 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.880 all the way back to get the people to move forward. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.720 He knows the only way that they're going to move 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:35.280 forward in their faith is if they go backwards. Go 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:42.480 backwards better. I thought i'd be better by now you are. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:48.560 Look where you started. You remember when you weren't even 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:54.920 going to church? Look at you? Now you gotta pin. 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.280 You're gonna steal it, but at least stolen from a church. 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:07.920 That's better. Tell somebody and say, I'm doing better. I'm 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:15.720 doing better. If you could see my bloodline, I'm doing better. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:21.200 If you could see the thoughts that I didn't act on, 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.800 if you could see the temptations that I did resist, 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:34.160 I promise you I'm doing better. See a subjective, and 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:39.720 this relative better compared to what every time I preach. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:43.920 I know, because I am a number one that the 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:49.440 sermon could be better. Of course, I'm speaking on behalf 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:54.200 of God. The gap between what he knows and what 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:58.000 I say will always be a pretty big one. So 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:03.280 I understand that it always be better, and that torments 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:08.440 me sometimes, truly it does, because a lot of times, 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.880 you know, I get used to doing things a certain way. Remember, 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.840 these people that the author is writing to so eloquently 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:22.840 are not unfamiliar with religion. They came from a religious system, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.880 not out of a meth lab. They're not being tempted 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.240 to go back to the world. They're being tempted to 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:33.880 go back to an old religious system and to drift away, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.160 or he says, fall away from grace. He makes an 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.600 argument that you should be further along by now. He 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.320 says it in chapter five that you should be teachers 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:48.280 by now, but you're still dealing with the basics. And 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.600 then he says that if you fall away from grace, 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.680 that it's impossible to come back. When I read that, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.000 I got depressed until I realized what he was really 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:02.000 saying is that if you ever really get grace, you 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:07.800 can't really fall away. And what he's teaching them Jerry, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.440 is kind of like on tennis. He has to teach 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.360 them to switch their grip. When I first came to 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.320 get him to teach me, the first thing he said 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.440 to me was because I had developed my own unique 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.880 style of playing tennis. I wasn't good at it or anything, 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.520 but I had this certain way of getting the ball 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.600 over the net that worked for me, and as long 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.560 as the person on the other side of the net 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.480 was less athletic than me, my way worked just fine. 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.040 Or even if they were more athletic than me. I 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.520 would only pick people to play against who I knew 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.840 had never played. It was good for my ego and 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.680 my self esteem, but bad for my tennis skills. And 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.520 when I first came out to Robert Stevens, if you 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:52.280 want to look him up on Google, get him for 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:54.720 a tennis teacher. He's pretty good. But when I first 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.720 went out there, this made me mad because he said, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.040 let me see what I'm working with, show me your serve. 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.800 So I did what I do. You know, I had 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:06.800 this little thing. I put my pointer finger on the 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.880 racket like that. It's my grip. Okay, it puts the 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.280 ball over the net six miles an hour maybe, but 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:16.440 it gets over the net into the box. It works. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:19.400 And when he saw my grip, he said, okay, now 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.880 you need to hold it like this, and he switched 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.440 my grip. Let me tell you what happened when he 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:27.600 switched my grip. When he switched my grip, the ball 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.800 no longer went over the net. Instead, it went over 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.320 the fence. When he switched my grip, my percentage shots 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.040 that went in the box went way down. And I 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:39.560 looked at him, like, I'm paying you for this crap. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.520 You switched my grip, but you didn't fix my serf. 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.320 But I didn't understand at the time that sometimes in 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.880 order to get to better, you have to go backwards. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:55.720 Y'all help me preach if you have spiritual ears, sometimes 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.080 in order to get to better, you have to go 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:03.280 through bad. And I'm preaching this for somebody today who 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.560 has been feeling like things have been going backwards for you. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.000 The thing about it is when God shows you a 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.480 new grip called grace for a little while in your 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.320 life is harder for you because you're used to controlling 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:21.160 things and manipulate things. And when you get something new. 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:24.160 Have you ever noticed if you get something new, even 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.880 if it's better at first, it gets on your nerves 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.200 because you don't know how to use it. And the 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.080 temptation for us is watch this. God will do a 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.680 new thing in our life, and he'll be teaching us 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.800 to forgive, and he'll be teaching us to get over offences, 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:40.480 and he'll be teaching us to trust him, and he'll 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.200 be teaching us to find different ways to connect to joy, 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.440 and he'll be teaching us to not be so fake, 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.200 and he'll be teaching us not to live by our feelings. 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.960 But then we look at what he fixed on our grip, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.000 and we see our shot going so far over the fence, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.760 and I wonder if I would actually be better off 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.520 doing it the old way then the new way. So 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:07.919 I go back instead of moving forward into better. He said, 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:17.919 you can't go back. You you have something better. Better. 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:27.199 When you get depressed, you stop believing that. When you 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:32.439 get uncomfortable, you stop believing that. You start trying to 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:38.280 grip life like you used to. We got to go 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:42.560 backwards to get better. We got to go all the 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.680 way back to get better. That means I have to 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.160 be comfortable in some seasons of my life. I'm looking 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:51.919 into the camera because I think this is for somebody 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.760 watching online. I have to be comfortable in my life 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.000 to accept that sometimes loss is the way to gain. 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.639 I have to be comfortable enough in my life to 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.840 know that sometimes the most painful moments are the most 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.600 purposeful moments. I have to be comfortable in my life 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:18.000 to stop comparing myself so much with people who are 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.359 not meant to be the standard anyway. Jesus is better. 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.880 I know some of you are intimidating because you don't 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:29.159 know if you're as good of a Christian as some 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.199 of the other people in the room. But let me 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.040 tell you something about being a better Christian. You know, well, 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.080 they're a better Christian than me. Look, they've memorized all 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:43.960 this scripture. They're not better at Christians. They're better at memory. 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:46.840 They just got a better memory. That doesn't make them 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.719 a better Christian. The religious people that crucified Jesus had 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.040 a good memory. They could quote all six hundred plus laws. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.600 They're not better than you. I wish you would tell 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.480 the person next to you you're not better than me. 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.520 Not when it comes to my purpose. See, better is 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.560 relative to purpose? Can I appreci this? So I walked 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.720 into a guitar center and I asked Jamie behind the counter, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.840 which one is better? I was buying software for Elijah 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.679 to make beats. Which one is better? He said, that 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:22.719 depends what you want to use it for. That depends 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:28.200 how you intend to utilize the software. Better is relative 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:33.760 to purpose. Some of you think that everybody else is better, smarter, taller, 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.359 Maybe God need is somebody short enough to fit through 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.680 that door. Have you ever thought about that? Maybe God 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:45.480 needed somebody ignorant enough to dislay his wisdom. Maybe God 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.080 need is somebody harmful enough to know that it is 0:19:49.119 --> 0:20:00.439 not I but Christ in me. And besides, if Jesus 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.879 Christ walks in this room, none of us are gonna 0:20:03.920 --> 0:20:06.800 have any fashion show to put on. None of us 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.040 are gonna roll out our righteous deeds. We all have 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.720 sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.840 grace is a way of life because you need Him 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:19.800 like I need him, and his flood that was enough 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.680 for you wasn't enough for me. If it clints Billy Graham, 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:34.200 it can hit me too, because he's better, because he's better, 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:39.119 And the fact that he's better doesn't mean that sometimes 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.760 life won't get worse. So we need a new definition 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:50.359 of better. What if better is not always higher? What 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:55.720 if better sometimes is deeper? What if better is not 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.840 always a feeling? What if it's more like a foundation. 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.680 What if better is not always what God is doing 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.160 for you, but sometimes it's what He's doing through you. 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.320 They couldn't recognize Jesus when he came in the form 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.480 of a baby because they were waiting for something better. 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.000 They couldn't recognize Jesus when he was led away silently 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:20.679 and didn't say a word before his accusers, because if 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.000 he's really the son of God, he should say something 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.959 and come down. They expect it better. And is it 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:29.840 possible that better is right in front of us and 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.000 we don't even recognize it, so we don't receive it. 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.520 You know what. Some of us are so used to 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:44.720 bad that we reject better when it comes. Sometimes backwards 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:52.480 feels better, feels familiar. Sometimes we'll go back to bad 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:58.280 relationships because they feel better. Oh, I'm preaching now, he 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:07.440 got quaed when backwards I called the sermon when better 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:12.560 feels backwards? But what about when backwards feels better? I 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.560 think I'll just go back to this. I think I'll 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:16.400 just go back to that. I think I'll just quit 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:18.359 trying at this. I think I'll use my old grip. 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.000 I'm tired of waiting. That's what happened to Abraham. By 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.879 the way. God told him he was going to do 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.760 it a certain way, but he thought he knew better, 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:34.520 so instead of waiting, he went in and slept with 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:38.520 the servant of his wife Sarah. Her name became Sarah, 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:42.400 but Abraham went in and made a baby with her 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.320 because God had a promise and a timetable for the promise. 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.560 But Abraham, I know you never did this before, but 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:54.479 he thought he knew better than God. And the Bible 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:59.399 even uses this illustration of Abraham in Hebrew six. He 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.920 reaches backward to show them how much better it is 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:06.280 to wait for the promise of God. He reaches all 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:09.200 the way back to Abraham that was like the progenitor 0:23:09.320 --> 0:23:11.320 or the father of the faith of the whole nation. 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:14.560 This is what they came from. And now as they're 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.400 attempted to go back away from what they're walking into, 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:21.199 as their lives get worse, as their situation seems to 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:25.040 decrease and diminish, he reaches back to Abraham and he 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:28.720 talks about how he patiently waited for the promise of God. 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:32.840 But that's not the whole story. See before Abraham patiently 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:35.680 waited for Isaac, the child of Promise, to be born 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:39.280 through Sarah, he got the word from God, and then 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:41.840 he went in did something that he thought was better 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:46.080 because he got tired of waiting. He had the right word, 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:55.000 but the wrong Wombo, and so he went in. Now 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:58.280 I know why he did this, because Abraham was from 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:02.840 a place called Er of the Caldas, and so are 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:08.800 we not geographically and it's spelled differently. He was from 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:15.520 er you are, but ours is spelled er. Because anything 0:24:15.560 --> 0:24:18.199 that God does in our life, all we have to 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:22.520 do is go on our phones and find somebody who 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:31.159 is er than us, better, er, rich er, strong er, happy, er, 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:38.400 thin er, ripped er, cute er. This is the one 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.679 that'll break your heart. You think your kids are smart, 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:42.919 and then you get around some other kids and you 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:46.760 realize that your kids, by product of comparison, were better 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:50.119 than their three year old brother but around the same age. Kids, 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:53.320 it's always this temptation. You don't have to do anything 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:56.480 but flip on a commercial and they will be pulling 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:00.840 you back to the land of er. It's better is better, 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:02.879 And there are things in your life right now that 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:05.640 you're like, it'd be so much better if would it really? 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:11.600 Are you sure? Yeah? Yeah? If I was famous, that 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:15.840 would be amazing. I would be significant if people knew 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:19.440 my name. Oh really, that would be better. You never 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:24.040 saw celebrity commit suicide? Are you sure it would be better? 0:25:24.119 --> 0:25:27.480 Is that what better really is? Well, if I had 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:30.040 this amount of money, I wouldn't have any problems. Are 0:25:30.040 --> 0:25:34.000 you sure about that? You never met a miserable rich person. 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:40.600 I can introduce you to a few. It's not like 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:43.760 this is new. It's not like it's only for the 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:47.119 church here in Rome that is being persecuted for their faith. 0:25:47.440 --> 0:25:50.280 We are all drawn back to the land of earth 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:54.840 of looking around and never feeling really enough, and comparing 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:58.240 ourselves to things that were never meant to be our standard. 0:25:58.560 --> 0:26:03.000 The only standard world of your comparison is the full 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:09.439 potential of Christ in you, the hope of glory. And 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:11.800 I want to declare over some of our lives today. 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:15.480 We don't even realize how good it already is. We 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:23.359 are forgiven, set free, redeemed, breathing, clapping, walking, talking, examples 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:26.919 of the miracle working power of God. I release this 0:26:27.040 --> 0:26:31.480 over your life. It's already better. You can already rejoice. 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:49.080 You can give thanks right now for His goodness. Chriton better, better, better, better. 0:26:49.560 --> 0:26:53.480 Don't let the quest for better in your life make 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:57.600 you miss the grace of God that is already present. 0:26:57.800 --> 0:27:01.840 I'm preaching to every enneagram right now. It could always 0:27:01.880 --> 0:27:05.480 be better, but it already is. Look what I deserved, 0:27:05.680 --> 0:27:08.399 and look what he did. He did not treat me 0:27:08.480 --> 0:27:14.600 as my sins deserve. It's already better. I'm gonna walk 0:27:14.640 --> 0:27:17.840 around saying that all week. It's already better. It's already 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:19.960 I'm gonna declare it by faith on things that I'm 0:27:20.000 --> 0:27:23.280 waiting for God to do. It's already better. It's already better. 0:27:23.400 --> 0:27:26.760 It's already better. It's already better because once you give 0:27:26.840 --> 0:27:30.119 up the hope that it can never be better, the 0:27:30.160 --> 0:27:34.760