WEBVTT - Embracing Limitation 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:20.760 Enjoy the message. This week, I have one more installment 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:22.800 on Gates of Change and. 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:23.840 It's in Second King seven. 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:28.440 And I think this story for most of you will 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:34.400 be unfamiliar, which is good. It's good because I'm praying 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:36.440 that God will use it to speak to you in 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.960 a personal way and kind of catch you off guard 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.800 today and create change in your life. Here's what the 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.960 Bible says, Second King, chapter seven, Verse wan Elisha said, 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.279 here the word of the Lord. You've been listening to 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.080 your doubts so long. You've been listening to your dysfunctions 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.880 so long. You've been listening to your disappointments so long. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.600 But here the word of the Lord. 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.680 This is what the Lord says about this time tomorrow 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.840 a sea of a flower will sell for a shekel, 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.200 and to see us a barley for a shekel at 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.920 the gate of Samaria. And the officer on whose arm 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.199 the king was leaning, said to the man of God, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:18.039 looks even this joker, even if the Lord should open 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.200 the floodgates of heaven, could this happen? 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:26.400 You know how certain. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.600 People always want to put limits on what God can 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:38.000 do Taylor's secret. I actually love limitations. I know that 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.200 usually in church they say, you know, take the limits off. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:48.720 I personally love limits. In fact, I'm calling this final 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:53.240 bonus message in the Gates of Change series, Embracing limitation. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:56.000 Embracing limitation. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.640 I think limitation can be a good thing. I think 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.960 it's a good thing that sometimes we limit our consumption 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.040 on certain foods. 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.320 Say amen, I'm a. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.560 Real strict person on my eating because I'm too wild. 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:11.600 I'm too wild. 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:13.320 I need the I need the uh, I need the 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.480 what do they call it? The gutters on the I 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.680 will I will bowl into the gutter every time if 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:18.160 I don't have. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:19.000 Those little guards. 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.760 So I actually do it where I'm not allowed to 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.960 eat past a certain time or before a certain time, 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.320 but during that certain time I can. 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.480 I can do it. But I need limits. I need limits. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:32.040 Are you like me? 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.680 Maybe I have no self control? I need limits. I 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.920 don't even like restaurants with big Menus Cheesecake factory gives 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:44.800 me heart palpitations. The menu looks like Encyclopedia Britannica. 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.560 I can't do it. I need prozac to. 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.520 Make it through my my my order and usually I'll 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.480 get Holly to narrow it for me. I'll be like, 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.600 can you tell me just three things that I might like? 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.000 And can you just narrow the options for me? Because 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.920 I can't do it. I like limitations. I like to know, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.079 even in preaching, when I go somewhere to preach, they'll say, 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.680 take as long as you want, And I'll say, well, 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.160 how long are the people expecting me to preach? Because 0:03:11.160 --> 0:03:13.079 I want to know how long I have to work 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.799 before they tune me out because they won't. I can 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:17.520 preach as long as I want, but they might not 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:18.560 listen as long as I. 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:19.160 Want to preach. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.800 Why y'all clapping about that? That was a little awkward 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.960 while I'm saying that, Because limitation can be a good thing. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.160 It really can. It can be a good thing. And 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.960 especially one thing that I love is when somebody tries 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.600 to put a limit on me that contradicts what I 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.160 believe God has called me to do. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:44.400 Maybe it's my ego. 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:51.040 Maybe I have wounds from my childhood failed wrestling career 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:55.560 that I'm still compensating for. But I like somebody to 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:56.960 tell me that I can't do. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.440 Something I do. It fuels my faith. 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.640 And when we were getting ready to start the church, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.920 one time I sat down with a guy and I 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.880 was sharing my vision with him, and I was telling 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.520 him that we were going to start a church. And 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:15.920 I didn't have any better sense than to tell this 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.640 guy my dreams. He was a little older and jaded 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:26.400 because he had been disappointed in his life. And it's 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.839 a dangerous thing you ready to write something down. It 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.839 is a dangerous thing to entrust your dream to someone 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:39.360 else's disappointments. And a lot of times that's what happens 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.880 is we share our dream, Joseph, and we show our 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:48.080 coat to people who are not really ready to receive 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:52.440 what we speak, and so then if we receive their doubt, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:55.839 they will diss our appointment. 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:00.120 I put that in for Holly. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.400 Holly dared me to put that in my sermon today, 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:05.320 and I didn't get it at nine thirty. 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.000 So there it is. Maybe you owe me some. 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:15.640 Uh, but it's a it's a dangerous thing to speak. 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:16.920 Something So here's here's what happened. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.040 We're sitting down having lunch, and I'm like, I'm. 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.400 Gonna start at church. It's gonna be awesome. It's gonna 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.080 be great. We're gonna we're gonna reach the city. We're 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.240 gonna go to Charlotte. We're gonna we're gonna have church. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.480 We're gonna reach people. We'll break the rules. It's not 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.320 gonna be all this tradition and religion. We're gonna do it. 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.000 It's gonna be edgy, it's gonna be for church people. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.400 We're gonna reach people far from God. We're gonna beima. 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.800 And the more I was talking, the more he stuffed 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:40.560 his mouth and just smirked at me. 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:41.800 Now scowled at me. 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.720 He didn't look mad, he just looked amused. He was 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.359 just smirking at me. And he's stuffing his face with 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.039 French fries. You know, Oh, overweight pastor just deepness. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.000 I'm just trying to color the story a little bit. 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.080 I don't even remember if he was overweight. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.599 But what I remember is I went on and on 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:00.200 telling him it's gonna. 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.320 Be We're gonna write worship songs and. 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.479 We're gonna do worship songs gonna touch the world, and 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.320 we're gonna write songs that are gonna go around in 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:07.719 the world. 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.880 Oh and it's not just gonna be a white church. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:13.440 It's gonna be a lot of different kinds of people. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.039 It's gonna be white people and black people, and old 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:23.320 people and young people and Presbyterians and Pentecostals and atheists 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.880 and agnostics and just all kind of people and single 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.280 people and marry people and divorced people. I'm going on 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.240 and on, and he's just eating looking at me, mm hmm. 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.120 And when I finished, he looked at me and said, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:40.279 not gonna happen, Bud, Not in the South, Not in 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:46.559 the South, not gonna happen. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.440 To be fair, look down your role real quick and 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:50.200 check your role. 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.160 And I dare you to shout at the top of 0:06:55.200 --> 0:07:01.839 your little sanctified Sunday morning voice, somebody shouts happen. And 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.000 as a matter of fact, I kind of hope that 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.840 he watches this sermon on television, y'all excuse me for 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.480 a minute, so he can see. 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:14.240 Black people and white. 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:18.280 People and Hispanic people and Latina people come on and 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:23.040 loud people acquire people and big people and little people 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:27.120 and young people, and old people and broken people. 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:32.080 And all people altogether. Somebody's shad is happening. 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:51.560 Is something because the limitations you embrace will regulate the 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:58.080 blessing you experience. And when you allow beliefs to limit 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:02.040 your God, because you're mind set is too small to 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:07.720 accommodate the magnitude of His glory, you miss out on 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.000 the very miracles that have your name on them. 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.960 Please follow me for a moment. When the officer said. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:20.360 To the prophet, look, even if the Lord should open 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:25.360 the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen? What he 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:30.040 did is he closed the gate on the gift that 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:36.760 God was giving him. So it was a desperate situation 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:40.199 in the nation because the famine had been going on 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.120 so long that within the gates of the city walls, 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.040 the people had resorted to cannibalism. 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:48.480 And I debated whether to. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.160 Tell you this, but it's right in chapter six, should 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.079 you choose to read it, They had started eating their 0:08:53.080 --> 0:09:03.160 own babies. It sounds extreme, However, I think we can 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:08.200 all see ways that at times we compromise the next 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:14.080 generation when our value systems get shifted, and so as 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:18.000 the value system has shifted within the nation. The favor 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.080 of God has not been so much withheld as it 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.320 has been held up. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:25.160 And here's the difference. 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.720 When you read about famine in the Bible, you probably 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.400 associate famine with drought. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.200 And usually when you see. 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.520 A famine in the Bible, it is connected to a 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:41.559 pronouncement by a prophet, like when Elijah said, there will 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:43.520 be no rain or do in the land in the 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.040 next few years except at my word to King Aha. 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:51.360 And God withheld the rain from the heavens, and God 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.440 cut off the source of supply so that the people's 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.440 hearts would turn back to him. Now, in antiquity, people 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:03.720 did not regard famine and drought only with agriculture or 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:11.680 weather conditions. In antiquity, people regarded the rain as a 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.840 sign or symbol of the presence and blessing of God, 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.680 because blessing was associated with life and life with blessing 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:21.760 and without rain, there can be no life. And so 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.240 where there is no blessing, there is no life. Where 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.160 there is no rain, there is no food. Where there 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.720 is no presence of God, where there is no worship, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:34.640 there can be no life, no strength, no hope. However, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.960 this is a different kind of famine that was not 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.320 created by a drought. 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.319 This famine started with a siege. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.720 Ben Adad was an excellent military strategist, and so when 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:50.720 he surrounded the northern Kingdom of Israel, which was known 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:55.880 as Samaria, what he did of common military tactic was 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.480 that he cut them off from their supply. And when 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.439 he cut their line to their food supply, it wasn't 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.080 that he eliminated the food. It was that he prevented 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:11.000 them from accessing it. And so, since the devil cannot 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.720 prevent God from blessing you, his only alternative is to 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.280 put you in a state of spiritual siege, so that 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.440 you cannot access the blessing that God has freely given you. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.040 Sometimes we are starving not because of something that God 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:32.480 did not supply, but because of something he supplied that 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:37.560 we cannot cease. When the enemy puts you in a 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.679 state of unbelief, it. 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.200 Blocks you from your own blessing. 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:46.720 And King Jehoram had the wrong people around him at 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.920 this time. We saw it in the text the Officer 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.679 verse two, on whose arm the king was leaning A 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.560 side note for all the students, be careful who you 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:02.240 lean on. He was leaning on man who would not believe, 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.760 who would not connect to the prophecy by faith, and 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.960 when you lean on people who insist on dragging you 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:17.040 into their dysfunctional way of thinking. This might be only 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:21.520 for five people, but sometimes something you lean on in 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.120 one season that props you up can paralyze you in 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:29.800 the next season. And sometimes we build in our lives 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.800 support systems that are unable to accommodate the weight of 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:36.000 what God is speaking to us. So be real careful 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.200 who you lean on. Ask somebody, can I lean on you? 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:41.360 Because see, I don't want to get in the middle 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:43.920 of a famine and be leaning on someone who doesn't 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.840 have faith. For the life that I'm trying to live, 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:51.000 I can't just be surrounded by people who refuse to 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.000 believe that better days are ahead and that greater things 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.920 are in store. So sometimes I have to restrict access, 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:02.800 and I can't just be around anybody, and I can't 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.679 just listen to anything, and I cannot believe everything I see, 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:11.040 and I certainly cannot believe everything I think. So sometimes 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.960 I've got to shut it down, and sometimes I got 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.040 to mute some people, and sometimes I got to spend 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.120 some time in the presence of God, because my signal 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.560 to noise ratio has caused me to miss the provision 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.439 of God, because I'm leaning on the wrong people and 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.560 listening to the wrong voices. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:30.959 This is the word of the Lord. 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.440 I'm not saying be mean to people, just don't lean 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:43.920 on them. Lean on the everlasting arms, lean on the 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:44.959 promises of God. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:46.920 Build your house. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:52.800 On a solid foundation, not the shifting sands of people's opinions. 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.240 And the man on whose arm the king lean said, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:03.480 could this happen? Responded he said, you will see it 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:12.200 with your own eyes, but you ain't getting none of it. 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.080 That's the new new international version, new. 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:23.120 New I was just thinking how sad that was that 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.880 it was a day of deliverance and the top advisor 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:29.920 to the king starved to death. 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:31.440 As a matter of fact, he didn't. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:32.680 Even get the chance to start, because look when the 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.160 people went into the enemy's camp and plundered the enemy's 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.920 camp in accordance with the word of the Lord. Verse 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.800 seventeen says, now the king had put the officer on 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.560 whose arm he leaned, in charge of the gate. Question, 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.600 who have you put in charge of your gates? 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.200 What regulates your thoughts? 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:56.560 What regulates your belief, what regulates your self image. Look, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.160 he put the man in charge of the gate. There's 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.360 a lot of revelation in this message. I'm gonna give 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:03.840 you all of it I can, but you will need 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.040 to lean into this message because sometimes you have put 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:14.400 a past experience in charge of the gate to your future. Listen, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.440 and when you let your past experience regulate access to 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.640 your future, you will always be stuck in a stage 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.440 of life that can no longer accommodate what God is 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.640 speaking in this season. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:34.240 Not gonna happen. 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.480 But what if I had listened to him, we wouldn't 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.080 get to hang out today. What if I had listened 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.160 to him, I would have built me a little white 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:45.960 church with some little white people, and it'd be about 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.560 fifty of us, and we would just preach to the choir, 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.600 and we wouldn't change anything, and we wouldn't touch anything, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.840 and we wouldn't have Epham watching all over the world. 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.040 The devil is a liar is happening, and it's gonna happen. 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.400 Within or without you. You might as well get in 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:08.600 on it, because it's here preaching. My watch off my wrists. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.160 So if somebody says, happening and what a horrible thing 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.120 for it to be happening right in front of you, 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:20.120 but you don't experience it. The man on whose arm 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:25.400 the king leaned stood in the gate, and while the 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.720 people were running to the victory, the Bible says, they 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:33.040 trampled him in the gateway. 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:38.600 He died in the gate of what was possible. Y'all 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:44.840 give me a minute. I don't really know what to do. 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:52.080 It's a little too minute. Touch somebody say, get out 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:56.320 of the gate till twelve people sucking he it. 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:00.240 My love, Tom, come on, twelve people, get out of 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:00.480 the gate. 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.400 Oh, nobody coming to help me either. Buck, I don't 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.800 need you. I don't need you. Buck, and do this myself. 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:15.600 I started with week one. 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.119 I was saying, get back in the gate, but I 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:19.760 heard the Lord saying, this time, get out. 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.160 Of the gate. I said, what is it? He said, 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:21.760 make a move. 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:26.240 You hear all this teaching, you, hear all this excitement. Ah, 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:29.879 that's good, but you got to get started. And he 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:37.520 died in the gateway. He blocked his own breakthrough. He 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:42.200 saw it, but he did not experience it because he would. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.320 Not believe it. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.960 It is our unbelief that blocks our blessing, not others. 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.920 Some of us we block ourselves by blaming others, and 0:17:56.000 --> 0:18:00.639 so we stay locked in prisons of offence and we 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.880 miss blessings because we would rather blame somebody else than 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:06.040 believe God. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:08.200 See, let me preach this. 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:12.320 You cannot believe God and blame them. At the same time, 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.280 you can't believe God and blame others. 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:18.120 Either you believe. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:21.680 That what people meant for evil God means for good, 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.920 or you don't. If you believe God, it means there's 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.080 nothing life can do to you. There's nothing people can 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.800 throw at you. There's nothing they can say about you, 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:35.040 think about you, or lock you out of that will 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.760 keep you from receiving what God is a signed to 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:46.720 your life. So here's the announcement, Elisha. You can have 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:49.679 your breakthrough or you can have your blame, but you 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:57.440 can't have both. When the king came to Elisha, he said, 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:02.800 this is God's fault that we're in this famine. 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.280 It wasn't the lord's fault. It was the fault of 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:05.720 the leader. 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:11.840 And sometimes we will not lead our own lives and 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:17.879 take initiative for our own repentance, so we block our blessings. Boys, 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:23.960 do you hear me. We block our own blessings, not 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:31.280 the devil, our disbelief. God's going to do it. The 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.679 other day, a great man of God was encouraging me. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.359 Great man of God. If you made a list of 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.720 the top five people in the world, he would be, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:51.399 in my opinion, somewhere in the top ten. But I 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.680 respect him so much. Now why I respect him? He 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:59.520 has longevity and ministry. And he was introducing me to speak, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.800 invited me to speak, and he got up to introduce me, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.600 and the things he was saying about me, they were 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:09.600 so nice and encouraging, I thought he. 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:11.600 Was talking about someone else. 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.840 It was a kind of introduction where he wasn't just 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.320 speaking like he wrote a book or he pastor to church. 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.679 He was saying things that he saw in me and 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:26.800 how God had called me and our ministry and a 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.920 voice to the generation, a bridge to reconciliation, just things 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.240 that while he was saying them, at the same time 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.879 that he was affirming me, watch this, there was another 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:43.160 There was another voice, not on the stage, but inside 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:48.439 my soul. You ever had this happen, Like somebody is 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:54.119 trying to affirm you, trying to love you, trying to 0:20:54.240 --> 0:21:00.760 validate you, but you cannot receive that because your gates 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:07.000 are blocked. There is something in the way called you 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:13.800 that will not allow you to receive the love that 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:18.800 God is trying to give you through someone else. And 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.600 while he was saying these things about me, it's almost 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.080 like the more he said good about me, the worse 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.280 I felt, because what I thought is he doesn't know me. 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:33.280 The problem with you is you've got too much dirt 0:21:33.320 --> 0:21:39.000 on yourself. And the problem with you is you think 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:44.600 you know yourself better than God does. The moment the 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:47.560 revelation hits your life that the only one who knows 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.600 you completely is the same one who loves you unconditionally, 0:21:51.160 --> 0:22:00.119 you will be unstoppable in the Kingdom of God. And 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:02.720 while he was sitting there affirming me and saying things 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:06.480 about me, the devil that will, slithering serpent that came 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:09.240 crawling up the eve talking about did God really say 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:14.639 he was placing limitations? It was my own limitation. It 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.400 is hard for you to take on giants when you. 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:22.040 See yourself as a grasshopper. It's hard for. 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:23.760 You to come out of a famine when you are 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:25.800 living in the depths of your own frustration. 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:27.639 And even when I preach. 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:30.600 Sometimes some of you play me off and hold me 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.439 off and cross your arms and close your heart and 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.280 you lean back, and it is your way of shutting 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:36.800 the gates. 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.359 But you are missing the miracle. 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:52.840 Because you feel unworthy. But God never predicated his blessing 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:54.359 on your worthiness. 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:01.160 Perfection is not the price of admission to. 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.639 The Kingdom of God, nor to the great works and 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:05.359 mighty things that He has called you to do in 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:05.800 the earth. 0:23:07.080 --> 0:23:08.399 I feel annoyed to tell. 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:12.679 You today, imperfection has never stopped God from blessing anybody. 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:17.600 The only thing that blocks your blessing is unbelieved. But 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.240 I dare you to shout right now, loud enough where 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:21.399 that devil can hear you. 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:27.680 I believe I am the righteousness of God. I need 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:30.640 you all this shout. My voice is tired. Shout. I believe. 0:23:38.840 --> 0:23:42.640 Elijah said you'll see it, but you won't experience it. 0:23:44.560 --> 0:23:46.600 He doesn't say how he ever, knows how. God doesn't 0:23:46.600 --> 0:23:49.960 give you a lot of the details. Sometimes I wish 0:23:49.960 --> 0:23:54.040 he did it be super nice, but he doesn't. All 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:58.679 he says is this time tomorrow the famine is going 0:23:58.720 --> 0:23:59.160 to be over. 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:03.000 How's he gonna do it? What are we gonna get 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:08.560 some manna from heaven. A little flashback Friday famine flashback, 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:11.439 because remember we're there in willerness the job. 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:13.119 Drop down a man out of heaven and say, a 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:15.600 man out of having what's it gonna look like? 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:17.840 How's he gonna do it? This time? 0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:25.159 You might be surprised how God bless us and delivers 0:24:25.400 --> 0:24:28.520 the nation. Because the Bible says, oh, I love this 0:24:28.600 --> 0:24:32.320 part right here? Can you tell that I love what 0:24:32.400 --> 0:24:37.159 I do to preach to you? Because I really feel 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:41.639 like I've been cooking this all week and we're about 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:43.199 to eat something right now. 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:48.840 I mean I smell it. Who smells good? Verse three. 0:24:48.960 --> 0:24:50.400 Now there were four men. 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:53.600