WEBVTT - My Redeemer Lives 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.640 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.560 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:12.200 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.200 to see God as moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.599 We're incredibly blessed today to have one of the best 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.680 Bible teachers in the country to share God's word with us. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:28.920 Lisa Harper is here one of the most prominent teachers 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:33.199 and preachers at conferences in women's events today. She's a 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.279 gifted author, and I think you're gonna really love how 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.760 she makes the Bible just come alive when she teaches. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.800 And I also think you're going to be encouraged hearing 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.080 God's goodness and faithfulness towards her and her family. She 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.760 has an amazing story, and in fact, she brought a 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.200 video just to share a little bit about what God 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.400 has done in her family's life. So we're gonna watch that. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:55.800 Then she's going to be up here to preach. And 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:57.920 so when this video is done and she takes the stage, 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.720 let's give her the best Elevation Church welcome possible. Are 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.240 you ready to hear from God today? All right, you 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.119 guys can take a seat, take a look at the screens. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.040 In April twenty twelve, I jumped off a proverbial cliff 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.360 and into the greatest adventure and joy of my life. 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.640 I began the process of adopting my little girl, Melissa 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:28.039 Price Harper. I love you. Her first mama, Marie, died 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.120 as a result of undiagnosed days when Missy was just 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.320 a baby, unwittingly infecting her with HIV, which was exacerbated 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.360 by a tuberculosis, severe malnutrition, and a host of other ailments. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.559 Doctors Importer Prince didn't give Missy much of a chance, 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.479 but then again they didn't know. My baby girl has 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.800 the heart of a warrior. Our adoption process took two 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.360 long years, but I finally got to bring her home 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.960 to Tennessee on April fourteenth, two thy fourteen, just a 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:02.000 few days before Easter, which seemed especially fit girl. And 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.600 her name was Missy and she was so sutt We 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.480 and her mama came to Haiti and said, that's my baby. 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:18.000 Brought her home to tennis See. Yeah. Yeah, every single 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.320 day since has been better than the one before. By 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.080 the grace of God in great medical care, Missy's health 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.800 is now excellent. Her HIV is completely undetectable, and her 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.440 lungs have no scars from the tuberculosis she suffered from 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:39.359 as a toddler. She even has killer ABS, which is 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.360 really the only dead giveaway She's not my biological child. 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.919 We're surrounded by an incredible community of friends and family. 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.919 Missy has more doting aunts and uncles than just about 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.360 any kid I know. Plus we've had the joy of 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.320 getting to go back to the village she's from and 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.200 Haiti and share the love of Christ with her extended 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:05.480 family members. Psalm sixty eight declares that God is a 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.000 father to the fatherless, a husband to the husbandless, and 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.240 he places the lonely in families. That's definitely our story 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.040 and I plan on praising Him over it for the 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:23.160 rest of my life. That's lot of kisses. I didn't 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:29.680 kiss you a lot, though, yes, a little bit kissed you. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:37.600 No way, no way, I'm coming kiss monsters, We're coming 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.360 after you. Hey, do you know why I kiss you? Why? 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.040 Why do you think because you love me? How much 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.360 do you think I love you more than the whole world? 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.760 Yep about that much is even wider. No way, that's fine, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:04:14.360 No way, no way, y'all. Oh, please be seated, Please 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:21.360 be seated. And so tickled to be here. I cannot 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.200 even tell you how honored I am to be here. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.720 Please please please sit down. You're going to be mad 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.880 at me in a minute. Anyway. I'm just undone. I 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.320 feel like a donkey at the Kentucky Derby because I 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.880 love Elevation Church. I watch y'all online all the time 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.680 from Nashville, deeply, deeply respect what God has done through 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.159 Holly and Pastor Stephen, and y'all feel like you'll just 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.160 epitomize christ admonition to be a city on a hill, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.000 to be a light to the world. So the fact 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.960 that I get to be here just undoes me. I 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.279 do want to bring two qualifications because my main prayer 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.000 leading up to this was that I wouldn't unwittingly throw 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.359 a monkey wrench into what God is doing through y'all 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.480 and through your campuses, and so I need to go 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.520 ahead and qualify two things. One is I'm old. I'm 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.880 much much older than Pastor Steven or most of your 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.200 pastoral staff. And I'm also going through what some would 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.440 call the Change, which is probably TMI, gentlemen. But the 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.560 reason I tell you that is because during the change, 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:32.320 I've developed a spiritual gift called projectile perspiration, and I 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.680 can pretty much aim where I'm in a sweat and 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.240 because it's one hundred and forty five degrees today and 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.279 I'm in a fluffy season, that has exacerbated my spiritual gift. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.839 And so y'all are going to get wet, all of you. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.520 We're going to call this sea world in Charlotte. And 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.720 I think we just vote that it's a baptism. It's 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.440 just an extra baptism. So that's my first qualification. The 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:01.200 second qualification is we're going to talk this morning about 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.320 the immutable, that is the unchanging hope of Christ. But 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:08.599 the way we're going to get there is through a 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.760 true story in scripture that some equate with sticking your 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.240 hand in a blender. And so I need you to 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.920 hang with me when I tell you to turn in 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.159 your Bibles to the Book of Job. So turning the 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.520 Old Testament to the true Story of Job. If you'll 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.080 head to the Psalms and then just back up, you'll 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.920 hit Job. Usually it's not a book. We're super familiar 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:34.720 with women. We never cross stitch this one because it's 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:39.080 a hard story. It's a tough story. I so appreciate 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.919 that Pastor Zach said that this had been a difficult 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.120 week because I think all too often in Christian circles 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.279 we act like once we commit our lives to Christ, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.960 everything's perfect, and I'm like, that's not even biblically sound. 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.839 Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble. He 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.520 is a good God. Life can be incredibly hard. Sometimes 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.679 you you lose your metabolism and your hair is comically dependent. 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.320 But that's just me. Y'all have different kind of grief. 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.880 She've been through. And I think we do the world 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.800 a disservice when as christ followers we pretend like we 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.920 never struggle anymore. I think that's one of the reasons 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.160 they think we're big fat hypocrites, is because we aren't 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.800 hon Us about the places where we need Jesus to 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.440 carry us. I was at a women's event recently and 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.360 I asked a woman how I could pray for her, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.200 and she said, oh, no, I don't need prayer, and 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.800 I was like, you're about to, because I'm gonna punch 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.240 you in the throat for being a liar. There are 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.560 seasons in our life where it is appropriate for us 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.000 to say, Lord, I'm not sure I can handle this. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.160 I'm not sure I can hike up this hill in 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.360 front of me. Apart from you carrying me, I'm not 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.800 gonna make it through the next season of my life. 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:03.120 Job says exactly that. Now y'all probably know his story. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.000 He's a really good guy. In the first chapter, it 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.400 says that he is a righteous man. He's an upright man. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.480 Some translations say he's a perfect man. That doesn't mean 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.760 he's sinless. That just means he's a good guy. It 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.720 says that he's living a good life. If you study 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.679 all of his acquisitions, he lived in the patriarchal period 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.720 or pre patriarchal period. They aren't sure exactly when this 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.480 story took place, but it was some time between fifteen 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.040 hundred and a thousand years before the birth of Christ, 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.520 so long time ago. And if you study his acquisitions 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.520 based on that context, it proves that he had about 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.680 eleven thousand servants if you include women and children. He 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:52.440 had vast agricultural holdings, and most of his wealth was 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.640 based in agriculture, which I love that because I'm old 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.960 and this will just telegraph my age. I'm about to 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.920 fifty five, but I am not attracted to men and 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:09.120 skinny jeans. I'm much more attracted to a guy in wranglers, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.400 like with a John Deere. And that's I mean, that's 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.480 just me, but could be while I'm fifty four and single. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.600 But anyway, that's kind of job. You know. He's this 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.520 good guy. He's living a good life. He's got like 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.240 a fleet of John Deere's. There's a fish sticker on 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.679 all of his John Deere's. He's wearing wranglers. The knees 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.559 are worn out, and his wranglers from praying because also 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.560 in chapter one it says it is his continual habit 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.560 to pray for his family. He has seven sons, three daughters, 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.360 and it says it is his continual habit. In chapter one. 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.600 Most translations say early every morning, but that's Hebrew idiom. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.480 That just means it was his continual habit. So he 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.480 didn't necessarily set his iPhone for five thirty every morning 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.640 to get up and pray for his family, but it 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:58.080 was his continual habit. So he's a good guy. He's 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.760 doing good things with his life. He's living a good life. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.600 And one of my favorite commentators says, Job was not 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.280 filthy rich, he was clean rich because he used a 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.520 lot of his wealth to help the poor and the underprivileged, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:15.040 underserve the marginalized. So this is this kind of great 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.960 beginning of a story, and then it turns into a 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.360 train wreck because right after we're taught all these things 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.719 about this true guy. This is not metaphor, this is 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.120 a historical tale. This really happened. Right after we read 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:32.160 those things, we find out Job loses everything through no 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.480 fault of his own. As a matter of fact, I 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.520 don't have time to go here. This is a rabbit trail. 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.720 I hope it's redemptive. But God actually is the one 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.120 who causes Job's loss. And we tend to think if 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.600 I put the right quarter in God's coke machine, I'll 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.200 get everything I want. What we don't bargain for is 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.480 sometimes God wants to purify us in pain as a 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.640 conduit for that. Sometimes God will prune us and it 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.880 hurts like a dog, and he says, honey, all you 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.480 can experience right now now is the pain. What you 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.760 can't see because you're human and you see through the 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.880 glass dimily is around the corner from this, this pruning 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.319 is going to cause prolific growth in your life. If 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.600 we could begin to trust that sometimes not all the times. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.520 I would never say evil as divinely causive. I would 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.880 never say God caused cancer or car wrecks. That's just foolishness. 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:28.760 But sometimes the pain we walk through is directly from God. 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.040 In the case of Job, he held Job up to 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.440 that lion lizard we call Satan and says, have you 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:41.400 considered my servant Job? His uprightness did not cause him 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.680 to be immune from difficulty. It actually promoted him to 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.120 difficulty because God said, I know this guy. I know 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.960 the way he's going to walk through this difficult season. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.640 It's going to bring me glory, y'all. It would blow 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.280 our hard drive if we would begin to change our 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.360 perspective on pain and go some of That's what I'm 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.600 walking through is because God thinks that I can handle 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.400 it in a way that eventually I'll bear more fruit 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:09.600 and I will bring him glory. So instead of trying 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.480 to numb it or get around it or whine about it, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.160 I'm just going to walk toward him. In the midst 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.320 of this Job loses everything he's accumulated, all of his wealth, 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.800 all of his servants die, all ten of his children 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.800 are killed. And on the heels of that horrific tragedy, 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.560 his wife says, and you probably remember this, you may 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.439 as well curse God and die. Now she's vilified in 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.960 church culture, has been since the beginning of church culture. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.200 But I don't actually take much offense with missus Job, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.360 because I can't imagine how I would react if something 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.200 happen to Missy and this mama has just lost ten 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.960 all ten of her children, and so the fact that 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.400 she reacts like that, I think, you know, I probably 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.480 would have cut him. So the fact that all she says, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.400 as you may as well curse God and die, I 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.000 think that makes sense to me for a mama who's 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:10.160 in grief and in shock. Job meanwhile says nothing. He 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:14.559 loses all of this, loses his health, his wealth, loses 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.920 his family loses everybody loves except for his grumpy wife. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.960 And his response, we're told at the end of chapter one, 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.640 is he shaves his head, he tears his robe. Those 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.319 were signs of extreme grief in this era. And then 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:35.480 it says he worships isn't that beautiful y'all? Because usually 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.160 we think to be in grief, or to be sad, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:42.280 or to be even depressed, that that is the opposite 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.559 end of the spectrum of worship, and God says no, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.840 to have a broken heart and raised hands, that's actually 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.080 the same continuum. As a matter of fact, I think 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.760 it is a deeper, more sacrificial worship to worship like 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.120 kubbacic in job though if it feels like you are 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.840 slaying me yet, well, I still raise my hands and 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.920 sing Hallelujah, because even though I don't understand while I'm 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.400 walking through this, I trust that You're a good God, 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.200 and I trust that ultimately, ultimately, all of this is 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.280 for my good and for your glory. Asaiah calls that 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.800 blind faith. Sometimes it's actually just put one foot in 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.040 front of the other. Do you know that perky is 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.520 not listed as a spiritual gift? You know? I used 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.040 to think it was. I used to think there was 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.960 this continuum and there were emotions that were approved by God, 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.600 and those were like the happy, perky emotions, No, I'm 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.960 doing great, victory, victory, and then the emotions over here 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.600 that were Man, it's tough, I know, Jesus will bring 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.160 the victory. I'm victory minded, but man, today I am 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.880 in the pit, i'd be like, you know what, you're 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.560 just opposed that Christian. That's inappropriate to see that those 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.880 two God oftentimes brings them together. And so if you 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:05.000 praise me when everything's going great, well good, it's kind 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.920 of like Luke six. If you love those who love 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.120 you until you look skinny in those genes, what good 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.080 is it to you? But if you praise me, and 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.120 if you love people who don't love you, well, that 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.960 actually is more pure and undefiled worship. And that's where 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:25.440 job is. He's being honest about his stuff. He's saying 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.960 this hurts. I don't like this. I didn't pray for this, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.320 I didn't dream of this, But I trust you, I'm 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.840 still gonna worship you. He's being honest. He's bringing all 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.440 of him to all of God. He's not editing and 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.840 just bringing the part of him that's perky to God. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.640 He's bringing all of him to all of God. I 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.960 appreciated Lauren's testimony that she said, I thought if I 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.800 transferred schools, maybe a new peer group would make me 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.040 feel better. Y'all, some of us feel the same way, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.080 even though we're older than Lauren. If only I had 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:09.640 better friends, if only I had a promotion, if only 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.600 I got the proposal I've been hanging on for. Some 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.880 of us are always thinking, if I got that greener grass, 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.080 then I'd be hopeful, And I'm like, man, we need 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.320 a bigger hero, don't we. Because the hero we've got 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.920 to hold on for is Jesus, our Redeemer, King Jesus, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:34.280 who eclipses these momentary things we think will give us 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.600 hope and healing. He's so much bigger than a peer group. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.480 He's so much better than a promotion or a proposal. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.080 He is what our souls long for most. And even 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.640 though Job was suffering well, he, like us, sees through 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.440 the glass dimily, so he didn't always get it. God 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.400 says he didn't sin in his grief, and y'all, it's 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.000 important for us to know that grief is not sin. 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.160 Where we go in our grief is where we get 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.560 in trouble. And I'm going to say one thing, and 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.120 I hope I don't get eggs thrown at me for this, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:13.880 But healthy grief, godly grief, does not demand an audience 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:21.640 or applause. Healthy grief. Godly grief does not demand an 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.720 audience or applause. We've gotten so used to airing our 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.320 aches and pains on social media, and if we don't 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.480 get enough likes or enough follows, we think nobody's being 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.680 nice to me. And I'm like, God never intended us 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:43.720 to bring all of ourselves to all of humanity. He's like, no, 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.080 you bring all of you to all of me. I'm 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.040 the one who has healing. I'm the one who has healing. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.680 If you feel compelled when you ache to run to 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.760 social media before you run to your savior, y'all, that's 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.600 not real grief. That's actually self indulgent whiny. We have 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:12.000 got to run to Jesus first. Jesus is our hope. Now, 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.399 before I totally grind your toe into the carpeting, I 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.520 want to encourage those of you who feel like you're 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.000 stuck in a Hawhini season. That job epitomizes that too. 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.880 Job Chapter nineteen, verse thirteen. This is the Nator. This 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.680 is the very bottom of his experience. He is at 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.359 the deepest level of the pit. And here's what he says. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.399 It's not perky at all interesting that God says he 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.000 didn't sin here because I want you to listen to 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.360 how depressed he is. He has put my brothers far 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.359 from me, and those who knew me are holy. Is 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.800 strange for me. This is job Chapter nineteen, verse thirteen, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:47.880 verse fourteen. My relatives have failed me. My close friends 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:49.720 have forgotten me. The guest in my house and my 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.920 maid servants count me as a stranger. I've become a 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.520 foreigner in their eyes. I call to my servant, but 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.440 he gives me no answer. I must plead with him 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.520 with my mouth for mercy. My breath is strange to 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.600 my wife. That's not a great translation. Better translation is 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.040 King James, my breath is offensive to my wife. In 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:07.880 other words, they are not sleeping in the same bed 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:09.800 he's on the couch. They are not getting jiggy with it, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.879 even though they are married. Even young children despise me. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.600 When I rise. They talk against me. All my intimate 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.560 friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:28.560 against me. I've got nothing, no friends, no home, no reputation. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:34.160 I've got nothing. I feel absolutely despondent. Have you ever 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.240 been there, ever been in the place, so you think 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.520 I can put on a happy face at church, But man, 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.720 I hate what I'm facing when I go home. This 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.520 is a little more than I bargained for. I started 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.919 the adoption process when I was in my late forties 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.600 and I got matched initially with a precious young woman 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.439 who was a prostitute and hardcore crack addict. Till the 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.040 adoption agent. I don't want a kid that it's the chance, 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.200 a good chance at a mom and a dad. I 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.840 think that's best case scenario. So I would much rather 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.359 be considered for a child who doesn't have much of 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.639 a shot, because, in my opinion, as a single woman, 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.399 best case scenario for a kid is to have a 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.160 mama and a daddy. And I said, so, if there's 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.440 a child who doesn't look like they have a great 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.879 shot for that, then I think maybe a fluffy single 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.280 woman in Tennessee would be a better option than death 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.000 in a third world orphanage or in a precarious situation 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.200 of states. And I got match with this precious kid, 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.639 hardcore crack addict. I spent seven months in relationship with her. 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.640 I spent Christmas that year in the crackhouse because when 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.919 I was with her, she used a lot less and 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.439 I just fell in love with this little mama because 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.960 she was desperate twenty three years old. Don't have time 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.560 to tell you her backstory, but I will tell you 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.240 if I had her backstory, I would be very tempted 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.200 to abuse narcotics as well to numb the pain of 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.159 what she had walked through. I'm almost fifty five, and 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.159 I can tell y'all I have yet to meet a 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.320 woman who has struggled with abuse or solicitation who asked 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:12.400 for a prostitute barbie when she was five or six 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.560 years old. We are so quick in the church to 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.919 turn our noses down at people who use different things 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.439 to medicate their pain instead of recognizing, you know when 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.320 I'm not condoning the sin. But Lord have mercy, what 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.560 led them to medicate that way? Let me pray for that. 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.320 Let me see the wounded little girl and the wounded 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.320 little boy that drove them to that trajectory. Spent seven 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.399 months with this kid, desperately hoped she would come to 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:45.320 know Jesus get in recovery. We formed a really close relationship. 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:47.760 I told all my friends in Nashville, don't throw me 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.280 any baby showers. I said, this is such a precarious adoption. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:55.000 The doctors are saying it will be an absolute miracle 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:57.600 if she carries the baby to term, if the baby 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.199 even survives, because she just it and let go of 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:05.000 the crack. And I said, so, don't give me any gifts. 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.000 Just pray, just pray that God's will will be done, 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.159 that first of all, Marie will be rescued from the 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.760 life that she's just ensneered in. And pray for the 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:18.080 baby's health. But don't give me any baby gifts. Well, 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.000 a week before Marie was going to be induced, I 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.600 got a phone call from the adoption agency and she said, Lisa, 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:29.840 it is great news. She said, every tea has been crossed, 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.960 every eye has been dotted. You're going to bring Anna 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:36.120 Price home. Marie had let me name her baby girl, 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.320 and I named her Anna after Anna and Luke chapter two. 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.480 You remember she was the prophetess who waited and waited 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:45.160 and waited, held on to her hope for a real 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.600 hero in Jesus. And so I so admire Anna. And 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.440 then my little brother's middle name is Price, and our 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.040 family's a little Jerry springer Ish, and so I thought 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:57.960 that'll kind of redeem our family's lineage, and so I 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.720 named her Anna price. The adoption agent said, you're going 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.159 to get to bring Enterprise home, and I was like, 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.000 you are kidney, and she said no, she said, actually, 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:10.520 all the entities involved have agreed that you were the 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:14.000 only one legally allowed to bring her home from the hospital. 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:16.359 So when I got off the phone with the adoption agent, 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.280 I immediately called my mom and I said, Mama, you're 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:23.040 going to have a granddaughter, because my sister has two boys, 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.320 my little brother has a son, and that would be 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.240 Enterprise was going to be my mom's first granddaughter. And 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:32.320 so we cried on the phone. We were both so excited, 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:35.120 so excited at what God had redeemed in the story. 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:37.680 Got off phone with my mom, called two or three 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.680 other friends. We all cried, because guys, that's what women 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:44.560 do who were happy, even when you have not one 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.400 cell of estrogen left in your body. We just it's 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.640 still is kind of the thing we do when we're happy. 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:55.000 And so anyway, we all cried on the phone. And 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:57.879 then when I got off the third phone call, there 0:23:57.920 --> 0:23:59.360 was a knock at the door. I go to the door. 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:03.000 It's the upa guy and he hands me this big 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.679 box and I saw him the return address. It was 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:08.399 from a friend of mine in Atlanta, and I opened 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:11.520