Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 3: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you.
Speaker 3: Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective
Speaker 3: to see God has moving in your life.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.
Speaker 4: We're about to jump into the message, but before we do,
Speaker 4: I wanted to let you know that Elevation Nights is
Speaker 4: back September twenty fourth through October third, and if you
Speaker 4: live on the West Coast, we might be coming to
Speaker 4: a city near you. We're going to be in Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento,
Speaker 4: La Anaheim, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Denver. It's going
Speaker 4: to be an amazing night with Elevation worship and a
Speaker 4: message from Pastor Stephen. So go to Elevation Nights dot
Speaker 4: com to get your tickets. We cannot wait to see
Speaker 4: you there. Now let's go to the message.
Speaker 5: How many came for a word from God today?
Speaker 2: God's doctor.
Speaker 1: Your main standing.
Speaker 2: For one moment, I'm going to be sharing today from
Speaker 2: Romans chapter five, verses one through nine, and then I'm
Speaker 2: going to go to one other scripture as well.
Speaker 5: Fair warning, I overstudied this week better than the alternative.
Speaker 1: Right, y'all, it was real busy.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna see what the Lord says.
Speaker 2: I actually am nervous to try to get this all
Speaker 2: out today, but I have you home by Sunday.
Speaker 1: Night football nervous chuckles.
Speaker 2: Romans Chapter five, Verse one, Ready say Ready. Therefore, since
Speaker 2: we have been justified through faith, we have peace with
Speaker 2: God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
Speaker 2: gained access by faith into this grace in which we
Speaker 2: now stand, and we boast in the hope of the
Speaker 2: glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory
Speaker 2: in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces this perseverance, perseverance,
Speaker 2: character and character, hope, and hope does not put us
Speaker 2: to shame, because God's love has been poured out into
Speaker 2: our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: Who has been given to us.
Speaker 2: You see, at just the right time, when we were
Speaker 2: still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Tell somebody that's you.
Speaker 2: I know you smell good today, but that's you the ungodly.
Speaker 2: I know you brush your teeth today, but that's you
Speaker 2: the ungodly. I know you've got a Christian t shirt
Speaker 2: on today. But that's you, the ungodly. And verse seven
Speaker 2: goes very theological. He says, very rarely will anyone die
Speaker 2: for a righteous person, though for a good person someone
Speaker 2: might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own
Speaker 2: love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ.
Speaker 5: Died for us.
Speaker 2: Since we have now been justified by his blood, how
Speaker 2: much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him?
Speaker 5: One more scripture from Joshua chapter four, and we're going
Speaker 5: to get to work.
Speaker 2: Joshua chapter four and verse number nine, please, And Joshua
Speaker 2: was set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan,
Speaker 2: in the place where the feet of the priests bearing
Speaker 2: the ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are
Speaker 2: there to this day, and they are there to this day.
Speaker 2: And the Lord said that we were on a rescue
Speaker 2: mission today in this service. And so I'm going to
Speaker 2: use as a title what the Lord wants to do today.
Speaker 2: God said, we're going to rescue your testimony. Rescue your testimony.
Speaker 2: And you know, I like to give little subtitles, sometimes
Speaker 2: little weird subtitles. The subtitle tell your neighbor, say the
Speaker 2: proof is in the puddles. The proof is in the puzzles.
Speaker 2: You may be seated. We're on a rescue mission today,
Speaker 2: and go ahead and bring out my teaching screen. I
Speaker 2: want to break this all the way down from Romans
Speaker 2: chapter five. My favorite word that I read you in
Speaker 2: Romans chapter five was the very first one. And put
Speaker 2: it back on the screen again, Romans chapter five, verse one. Therefore,
Speaker 2: everybody say, therefore.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the most beautiful things that.
Speaker 2: Holly does for me on a regular basis is to
Speaker 2: help me remember what my true values are when I'm
Speaker 2: in a vulnerable place personally. And she does this in
Speaker 2: the most tactful ways. She says things to me that
Speaker 2: sounds so sweet, but beneath that layer of sweetness, she's
Speaker 2: actually challenging me, come on, like step it up. And
Speaker 2: she says something the other day which sounds like a
Speaker 2: compliment until I put it in context. She said, wow,
Speaker 2: you really do think of everything. Sounds nice, right, It
Speaker 2: sounds like she's given me extra credit for being a
Speaker 2: good planner. The context of the statement, she was definitely
Speaker 2: saying it out of kindness, but it wasn't compliment. We're
Speaker 2: talking about going to do something and I have a gift.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you have this gift too, Just
Speaker 2: make some noise if you share the same gift.
Speaker 1: I have a gift for.
Speaker 5: Hypothetical.
Speaker 2: I actually would say I am the high priest of
Speaker 2: the hypothetical scenario, you know, plays out in many different ways.
Speaker 2: On this particular day, I was saying, you know, if
Speaker 2: we go here to see this person, we were going
Speaker 2: to make a trip, and I.
Speaker 5: Said, well, we go, if we go.
Speaker 1: If we go, he.
Speaker 2: Might have to work and I hadn't even checked into
Speaker 2: his work schedule yet, and we might we might get
Speaker 2: sick because he was hanging out with this other person
Speaker 2: that was sick the other day and I heard they
Speaker 2: might have COVID and I don't even know what that
Speaker 2: is anymore, but I heard that they might have had it.
Speaker 2: And so, but then, what if we're going, and what
Speaker 2: if we And she looks at me and goes, wow,
Speaker 2: you really do think of everything, And I said, well,
Speaker 2: it's just it could be kind of stressful, you know,
Speaker 2: And she said yeah, but you can make anything stressful.
Speaker 5: And it didn't offend me at all. I needed to
Speaker 5: hear it.
Speaker 2: Because she knows that actually what I want to experience
Speaker 2: is on the other side of something that I may
Speaker 2: not want to do.
Speaker 5: And she knew that if I'm.
Speaker 2: Always getting hung up on the hypothetical, there's a sense
Speaker 2: in which I would just always stay home. If I
Speaker 2: was just left to my own devices, I would just
Speaker 2: become a complete hermit, and I would be a hermit
Speaker 2: because when I leave the house, this involves other humans
Speaker 2: at this point. And so there was a song by
Speaker 2: Paramore a few years ago where she said, this is.
Speaker 5: Why I don't leave the house.
Speaker 2: And I look at Holly sometimes when we get in traffic,
Speaker 2: or when I can't find a bathroom, or you know,
Speaker 2: something kind of crazy is happening, and I go, this
Speaker 2: is why I don't leave the house. And she, on
Speaker 2: the other hand, now I'm very hypothetical. I made up
Speaker 2: a word to describe her spiritual gift. Okay, I made
Speaker 2: this word up. You won't find it in the dictionary.
Speaker 2: I am hypothetical. Holly is hypothetical. You like that I
Speaker 2: made that up. Let me see if I can write
Speaker 2: it on the screen. Hopathetical, everybody say, hypothetical not a
Speaker 2: real word, just a word to use for our purposes
Speaker 2: in studying today.
Speaker 5: She is hope othetical.
Speaker 2: So while I'm stuck in the hypothetical of you know what,
Speaker 2: if my phone dies, it's only seventy two percent.
Speaker 1: You never know what kind of situation.
Speaker 5: You're going to run into. Give me a charger.
Speaker 2: While I'm in this situation, because then it spends out
Speaker 2: of control even past that.
Speaker 5: Like the phone dies and then we're out in the
Speaker 5: middle of nowhere. And since we're out in the middle
Speaker 5: of nowhere, one.
Speaker 2: Of our kids needs us, and because they couldn't get us,
Speaker 2: it scars them deeply and it traumatizes them, which is
Speaker 2: why they end up on methamphetamines and why we end
Speaker 2: up having to go to rehab.
Speaker 1: To visit them.
Speaker 2: Hypothetical Holly is hopathetical, and she's teaching me the art
Speaker 2: of hopathetical living, and so she tends to go more
Speaker 2: like this, where I'm focused on everything that we have
Speaker 2: to go through to get there. She'll say something like, yeah,
Speaker 2: but it could be fun, and I'm like, well, what
Speaker 2: does fun have to do with the fact that we
Speaker 2: might get there and I can't find a bathroom? Have
Speaker 2: you noticed I mentioned that twice? That's something I'm thinking
Speaker 2: about more than now. At forty four but hypothetically. Let's
Speaker 2: say I get there and she's hypothetical. You know, She's like,
Speaker 2: you're a man, you could you know.
Speaker 1: So she's just like, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2: Let's be all right, And I'm thankful for her hypotheticalness.
Speaker 2: How many you have a hypothetical person in your life
Speaker 2: for when you tend to get to hypothetical?
Speaker 5: You need one, You need one.
Speaker 2: You can't have Holly, she's taken, she's mine.
Speaker 5: Everybody says you need a hype man.
Speaker 2: Well, you need a hope man, somebody who can remind
Speaker 2: you that, Yes, you might go through some things to
Speaker 2: get there. Yes, it may be inconvenient. Yes they may
Speaker 2: laugh at you. Yes you may put it out and
Speaker 2: then nobody sees it. Yes you may do it and
Speaker 2: nobody thanks you. Yes you may spend the energy and
Speaker 2: it will all be worthless, but it.
Speaker 1: Might also be kind of cool. If you don't have
Speaker 1: a hope man, you'll never leave the house.
Speaker 2: Take it from a hypothetical I mean, even even going
Speaker 2: through the scenarios in my mind leaves me with what
Speaker 2: I call a hypothetical hangover, not involving alcohol, but involving
Speaker 2: all the scenarios that I run in my mind.
Speaker 5: Thank you Jesus, all the scenarios.
Speaker 2: They're coming to fix it right now, hypothetically, I hope.
Speaker 2: See we're thinking about this different. She's like, they're coming.
Speaker 2: This is gonna be great. The tech team is awesome.
Speaker 2: I'm like, if they don't get out here right now,
Speaker 2: this whole sermon is gonna be wrong. You can't fix
Speaker 2: this one, all right, We'll see check one too. That
Speaker 2: must mean the Lord wants me to holler and scream
Speaker 2: and yell. I said, that must mean the Lord wants
Speaker 2: me to scream and holler and yell.
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm good. I'll just hold this.
Speaker 2: Now, hypothetically speaking, when things happen that you didn't plan
Speaker 2: on happening, how do you handle it? Hypothetically? Paul has
Speaker 2: a strategy for that. In Romans chapter five, verse three,
Speaker 2: he says, we glory in our sufferings. If you back
Speaker 2: up one verse before that, he says, we boast. Everybody,
Speaker 2: say boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: If you needed an object lesson in boasting in the
Speaker 2: hope of something, think of your favorite college football fan
Speaker 2: who cheers for a team that this year is going
Speaker 2: to be the year that we win at all.
Speaker 1: First of all, who is we? Paul said, we.
Speaker 2: Boast in the hope of the glory of God, So
Speaker 2: I am already celebrating something that someone else is accomplishing. Secondly,
Speaker 2: boasting in the hope is very different than boasting in
Speaker 2: the reality. The Bible says, who hopes in what he
Speaker 2: has already seen, what he already possesses. Since Holly is hypothetical,
Speaker 2: and since Paul in this passage is teaching us something
Speaker 2: about hopathetical Christianity, I want to break down for the
Speaker 2: next few minutes how to deal with situations in your
Speaker 2: life where you are right there in the middle of
Speaker 2: a I guess I could call this a flood moment,
Speaker 2: and you need faith to move forward in it. And
Speaker 2: I'm gonna use three points for this outline today. Write
Speaker 2: them up on the screen for you. I want you
Speaker 2: to write these down, and I want you to take
Speaker 2: notes on this sermon so that the next time that
Speaker 2: the devil tries to make you hysterical, you can get hopathetical.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna teach you a lesson on how to be hypothetical.
Speaker 1: And it's really three parts to this.
Speaker 2: Number one, we want to talk about anticipation. Everybody say anticipation.
Speaker 2: Put it in the chat anticipation. And number two, we
Speaker 2: want to talk about justification, say justification and everybody in
Speaker 2: the e FM online put these right there in the chat.
Speaker 2: Number three, I want to talk about demonstration and God
Speaker 2: helping us over the next twenty eight minutes.
Speaker 1: Oh you didn't see that, y'all? Pray the Lord will
Speaker 1: heal my handwriting? All right? That would be a miracle demonstration.
Speaker 1: Did I get them? All right? Can you read that?
Speaker 1: Is that distracting to you or does that help you out?
Speaker 1: Put three points on it.
Speaker 2: Anticipation, the anticipation that Paul mentions in Romans chapter five.
Speaker 2: He talks about the hope of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: And this thing about anticipation works both ways, doesn't it?
Speaker 2: Because I realized a long time ago that what the
Speaker 2: devil is actually attacking when he comes to me with
Speaker 2: words is my ability to anticipate what God might do,
Speaker 2: and that every time I worry, it's a.
Speaker 1: Perversion of worship. Worship and worry operate from the same energy.
Speaker 2: They both attach to something that I can't see to
Speaker 2: deal with something that I'm going through. Worship attaches to
Speaker 2: a God who I can't see now. Faith is the
Speaker 2: substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things
Speaker 2: not seen. Worry attaches to something that hasn't even happened
Speaker 2: yet and gives more power to the problem than it
Speaker 2: does the promise of God who said he would be
Speaker 2: with you through every problem. So now we're beginning to
Speaker 2: see that the devil is after your anticipation. If he
Speaker 2: cannot get you to fear the worst possible scenario, he
Speaker 2: will hurt you so many times when you get your
Speaker 2: hopes up that you learn to manage your sense of
Speaker 2: disappointment by bringing down your level of expectation.
Speaker 1: And this is the truth about a lot of us.
Speaker 2: Is that really the reason we go through life with
Speaker 2: a kind of bad attitude, with a pessimistic attitude not
Speaker 2: leaving the house, is because we left the house one time.
Speaker 1: And it didn't work out very well.
Speaker 2: And so now every time that God calls us out
Speaker 2: to do something, and it could be anything, God could
Speaker 2: just call you to do anything, speak a kind word.
Speaker 2: Last time you spoke a kind word, they thought you
Speaker 2: were weak and then they took advantage of you. So
Speaker 2: now I'm not going to speak any kind words to
Speaker 2: anybody anymore, because you know how it is. You just
Speaker 2: say think nice things to people and they don't do
Speaker 2: anything back. See what the enemy is doing there is
Speaker 2: He is trying to inform your anticipation of the future
Speaker 2: based on the thing that happened to you in the
Speaker 2: past that was poorly processed. The way that we anticipate
Speaker 2: our life is a process. Even some times when I'm
Speaker 2: talking to Holly about something that could happen bad or
Speaker 2: something that did happen bad, or what might happen bad,
Speaker 2: or I was going to backfire, I'll tell myself as
Speaker 2: an excuse if you ever said this, I'm just processing.
Speaker 2: And really, while I say that I'm processing, i am,
Speaker 2: But write this down in your notes. Not all processing
Speaker 2: is productive. It's not always productive for you to just
Speaker 2: process because if you just process but there is no.
Speaker 1: God in your processing, you will end up.
Speaker 2: With a godless thought because you started with the godless process.
Speaker 1: That's why I think it's important that when.
Speaker 2: You process things in your mind for a little while,
Speaker 2: you come outside of your head every once in a
Speaker 2: while and verbalize.
Speaker 1: It in prayer to God.
Speaker 2: The verbal process of praying out loud will actually help
Speaker 2: you with the internal struggle of a hyperactive mind. So
Speaker 2: for everybody who struggles with an overactive imagination. You can
Speaker 2: think more than one thing at a time, you can't
Speaker 2: speak more than one thing at a time.
Speaker 1: And there comes a time where you have to start.
Speaker 2: Speaking things of faith to fight against the spaghetti noodles
Speaker 2: of fear. I'm telling you that Satan will spaghetti your
Speaker 2: emotional state and get you so tangled up in the
Speaker 2: things that you've been through, so tangled up in the
Speaker 2: things that you're suffering. I found it interesting that Paul
Speaker 2: said we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: I thought that boasting was bad until I read Romans
Speaker 2: chapter five, verse two, and Paul said that there is
Speaker 2: a type of boasting that is totally appropriate for the
Speaker 2: child of God. This boasting, however, does not come from
Speaker 2: an anticipation that things will always look the way.
Speaker 1: That you wanted them to look. This type of boasting does.
Speaker 2: Not come, for example, from your anticipation that you will
Speaker 2: never suffer. Jesus did not die to save us from suffering.
Speaker 2: He suffered and died to save us from sin, so
Speaker 2: that when we suffer, we're not surprised. He suffered to
Speaker 2: save us. Now, he did not save us from suffering.
Speaker 2: He saved us by his suffering, and in his suffering,
Speaker 2: we have hope.
Speaker 1: High five your neighbors say I have hope.
Speaker 2: I have hope not because I think I'll never go
Speaker 2: through anything.
Speaker 1: But I'm one of these hope pathetical Christians.
Speaker 2: I don't have hope based on the fact that I
Speaker 2: will never go through it. So this is not a
Speaker 2: naive sense in which I go through life knowing that
Speaker 2: it will always be okay. This is not a hope
Speaker 2: based on how I know it's going to go. I'm
Speaker 2: leaving the house, and I'm leaving my complacency, and I'm
Speaker 2: leaving my shell, and I'm leaving this relationship, and I'm
Speaker 2: leaving this thought pattern not based on the hope that
Speaker 2: is going to be so easy when I leave, but
Speaker 2: that he won't be with me as I go.
Speaker 1: I have a hope. So do you process with God
Speaker 1: what you go through? Or are you processing without God?
Speaker 2: And if you are, you do not have what the
Speaker 2: Bible says here in verse one.
Speaker 1: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have
Speaker 1: peace with God. He didn't say I don't have fears
Speaker 1: about my future. He said we have peace with God.
Speaker 1: He didn't say I don't have regrets about my past.
Speaker 2: He said we have peace with God. He didn't say
Speaker 2: I don't have conflict in my home. He said I
Speaker 2: have peace with God. I'm gonna go a little deeper.
Speaker 2: He didn't say I don't have temptations that are dragging
Speaker 2: me back to the Egypt I thought I left. He
Speaker 2: said we have peace with God. He didn't say I
Speaker 2: don't have bills that I don't know how I'm gonna pay.
Speaker 2: He said I have peace with God. He didn't say
Speaker 2: I don't have pain in my body. He said I
Speaker 2: have peace with God. He didn't say I don't have
Speaker 2: issues that I'm going to counseling for.
Speaker 1: He said I have peace with God.
Speaker 2: He didn't say I don't have anger that I don't
Speaker 2: even always know where it's coming from. He said I
Speaker 2: have peace with God. So my peace with God is
Speaker 2: not in the absence of the problem. My peace with
Speaker 2: God is not in the absence of the anxiety. My
Speaker 2: peace with God is not in the absence of my
Speaker 2: shaking hands.
Speaker 1: My peace with God is not in the absence of
Speaker 1: enemies who don't like me. My peace with God.
Speaker 2: Comes from somebody who won a game.
Speaker 1: I didn't even play it. Now you yawning, Am I
Speaker 1: being born? All right?
Speaker 2: What I think is good for us to remember when
Speaker 2: we have something that we have hoped for and it
Speaker 2: didn't happen for us, is that before we can move
Speaker 2: forward in pure faith, God often has to heal your hope.
Speaker 2: And the first step of healing your hope is changing
Speaker 2: what you boast in the Book of Romans was not
Speaker 2: written as a pep talk to tell you do better.
Speaker 1: Get out there, go get them. You got this.
Speaker 2: Nobody's slapping anybody on the bottom of Romans except Paul
Speaker 2: saying the way you used.
Speaker 1: To boast in was your relationship to the law. Remember
Speaker 1: they kept the law.
Speaker 2: They did that through circumcision, which was an external sign
Speaker 2: of their faith, and they were trying to go back
Speaker 2: to that.
Speaker 1: But Paul says in this passage that what you.
Speaker 2: Used to boast in is insufficient to hold your hope
Speaker 2: in this season of your life. One reason you can
Speaker 2: praise God after you've been through something, tell somebody I've
Speaker 2: been through something. Okay, after you've been through something, but
Speaker 2: you found that God was still with you after you
Speaker 2: went through it. Now you have something to boast about
Speaker 2: that you didn't have before. And I saw somebody in
Speaker 2: this room You've been like, why am I going through
Speaker 2: everything I'm going through? Why does this all keep happening
Speaker 2: to me? Why has this been so hard the last
Speaker 2: three months? Why did I think I was so far along?
Speaker 2: And then I just snapped right back to the previous
Speaker 2: place that I was. It seems like nothing has moved forward.
Speaker 2: But instead of you seeing yourself as going through something,
Speaker 2: I want you to see yourself as getting something from
Speaker 2: going through something, getting something from two completely different paradigms.
Speaker 2: The focus on what I'm going through is me hypothetical,
Speaker 2: the focus on what I'm going to have to go through.
Speaker 1: Isn't it crazy that.
Speaker 2: The devil can beat you with something that may never
Speaker 2: even happen. Ask the prophet Elijah who ran from Jezebel
Speaker 2: and wasted days that he could have spent in revival
Speaker 2: from somebody who already proved she didn't.
Speaker 1: Have the power to kill him.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're going through something, or when you
Speaker 2: might have to go through something, your focus becomes only
Speaker 2: the pain that it will cost you. And so now
Speaker 2: your story revolves around your suffering. How could Paul say
Speaker 2: in verse three Romans, Chapter five that we glory in
Speaker 2: our suffering.
Speaker 1: We glory in our suffering. Maybe he doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: we like it. Maybe he doesn't mean that we ask
Speaker 1: for more of it.
Speaker 2: Maybe he means that while we're going through it, we
Speaker 2: get something from it.
Speaker 1: And so recently I was telling a friend a story.
Speaker 2: You know, we all have these pity party stories that
Speaker 2: we tell, and I was sharing it under the pretense
Speaker 2: like it was a testimony of something God brought me through.
Speaker 2: But in the middle of telling the story, it was
Speaker 2: as if the Holy Spirit said to me, and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do a whole sermon one day.
Speaker 1: I don't exactly know how I'm.
Speaker 2: Gonna do it yet, but it's gonna be called when
Speaker 2: you say, God said, because a lot of times when
Speaker 2: I'm preaching, I'll say God said this, and God said that.
Speaker 2: And a sweet middle school kid came up to me
Speaker 2: one time and said, when you say God said, what
Speaker 2: does that mean?
Speaker 1: Did you hear out loud voice? Did you read a
Speaker 1: Bible verse?
Speaker 2: What do you mean when you say God said, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do a sermon on that one day?
Speaker 1: But in this particular case.
Speaker 2: It was an impression, and I was in the middle
Speaker 2: of the story, telling the story, and mid sentence I
Speaker 2: stopped telling the story because was this The Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: said to me, I'm sick of this side of the
Speaker 2: story because you're telling him like it's something you went through,
Speaker 2: but you're talking like you're still in it.
Speaker 1: And if you really believe what you're.
Speaker 2: Saying, you believe this is something that I brought you through,
Speaker 2: So why are you not through with it.
Speaker 1: Now? I'm not saying this always works.
Speaker 2: Please don't take me out of context.
Speaker 1: I hate I hate.
Speaker 2: The thought that we can just cut short trauma by
Speaker 2: putting on a happy face.
Speaker 1: That is not my point.
Speaker 2: This was not a situation where there was unresolved trauma.
Speaker 2: This was a case where there was unreleased bitterness. And
Speaker 2: the Lord showed me as I was speaking, I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: it was like it was almost like my mouth got
Speaker 2: zipped by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord said, I'm
Speaker 2: sick of this.
Speaker 1: Side of it because all you keep.
Speaker 2: Talking about is the story from the standpoint of how
Speaker 2: hurtful it was to you. But you know good and
Speaker 2: well that what I did through that was something that
Speaker 2: I absolutely had to do and you know good and well,
Speaker 2: then if it hadn't hurt you like that, you wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Be here today. So stop telling that story from that side.
Speaker 2: Start saying things like, yeah, it hurt, but God healed
Speaker 2: me from it.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was hard, but I got stronger from it.
Speaker 2: Yeah I was waiting, but I felt some spiritual muscles
Speaker 2: and I got a miracle from it.
Speaker 1: High five.
Speaker 2: Somebody say, there's two sides to this story. There's two
Speaker 2: sides to this story. There's what you went through, and
Speaker 2: there's what you got from what you went through. And
Speaker 2: while you're still worried about what you might go through,
Speaker 2: you need to pick up something.
Speaker 1: Just sit right in front of you. You're about Christian
Speaker 1: glad my mic went out.
Speaker 2: I needed a big boy mike today. I said I
Speaker 2: needed a big boy mike today. I'm glad the mike
Speaker 2: went out. Some of y'all need to say I'm glad
Speaker 2: about stuff.
Speaker 1: That goes wrong. I'm glad that went wrong.
Speaker 2: That was a redirection because I would have stayed in
Speaker 2: this wilderness.
Speaker 1: If the man didn't go away. I would have stayed
Speaker 1: in that place.
Speaker 2: If they didn't push me out, how would have stayed?
Speaker 1: Stuff is something that I'm so much greater than.
Speaker 6: I am. Because a wind threw it, threw it, threw it,
Speaker 6: threw it through it.
Speaker 1: That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says.
Speaker 2: Tell your neighbor, that's what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, he didn't say, watch this.
Speaker 2: We have hope because of what might happen. We have
Speaker 2: hope because of what could happen. We have hope because
Speaker 2: of what probably will happen.
Speaker 1: Now the apostle pause says something so much greater than that.
Speaker 2: He says, Therefore, I'm about to blow your mind for
Speaker 2: everything you're going through, for everything you might go through,
Speaker 2: for every hypothetical in your life. Let's get hole pathetical
Speaker 2: for a moment. He said, since we have been, you
Speaker 2: missed it. He said, we have been. Everybody say I
Speaker 2: have been. Now clarify for your neighbors say in English,
Speaker 2: have been means past tense.
Speaker 1: That's behind me, that's behind me, that's behind me, that's
Speaker 1: behind me.
Speaker 2: That's why it's my testimony.
Speaker 1: Because I passed. Because it was a test, but I
Speaker 1: passed it. That's what put the money on it.
Speaker 2: I have.
Speaker 1: Because it happen. It happened. But I'm here it happened,
Speaker 1: But hallelujah, it happened. But I have this hope.
Speaker 2: I have this hope because I have been justified. Some
Speaker 2: of you are waiting for other people to celebrate how
Speaker 2: far you've come. But I got news, baby, They don't
Speaker 2: live on the inside of you. Jesus does, the Holy
Speaker 2: theory does.
Speaker 1: The righteousness of.
Speaker 2: God has been impaled.
Speaker 1: To you by faith.
Speaker 2: So that's my second point of discermon is justification justification.
Speaker 2: This is for all of your justified. I'll be further
Speaker 2: along justified. You know all those regrets. You know I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be in this mess justified.
Speaker 1: Along comes Jesus.
Speaker 2: Talking about you keep going back in your past, but
Speaker 2: not far enough. You keep going back in your past,
Speaker 2: but you're not going back there far enough. Because before
Speaker 2: you even called on me, before you even looked to me.
Speaker 2: Jimmy Romans, Chapter five, verse eight, this is the verse
Speaker 2: you wanted to shout about a minute ago. Because the
Speaker 2: Bible says that we were not good people, we were
Speaker 2: not godly people, we were not righteous people. We did
Speaker 2: not earned this spot. We did not make the team.
Speaker 2: We did not make the cut, we did not live
Speaker 2: up to it.
Speaker 1: But God but God. So when we go back to
Speaker 1: the past, you need to learn a phrase, say I
Speaker 1: was but God, sit right there, Sit it right there, because.
Speaker 2: Just to show you real clear what the Bible says,
Speaker 2: I don't care what I say.
Speaker 1: I don't care what you say. I don't care what
Speaker 1: your grandmother says. I'm sorry. I'm sure she's beautiful.
Speaker 2: I'll give her a hug if we ever meet, and
Speaker 2: all of that stuff, and I respect her and I'll
Speaker 2: call her whatever you told me to call her. But
Speaker 2: I don't care what you were taught about this, the
Speaker 2: Bible says. The Bible says that I have.
Speaker 1: That sass. Access is an interesting thing.
Speaker 2: It kind of suggests that something can be there and
Speaker 2: you have it, but you can't get to it.
Speaker 1: Because of what's blocking it. And that's why you died.
Speaker 7: And that's why I have hope, because He gave me
Speaker 7: access by faith into disgrace, in which I now stand
Speaker 7: and we boast in the hope.
Speaker 1: Of the glory of God.
Speaker 2: Now, the more you understand this that you have, the
Speaker 2: more you will have of this.
Speaker 1: And the way that you access this peace.
Speaker 2: I need more peace, you need more awareness, you need
Speaker 2: more hoypathetical Christianity, you need more. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you're gonna like this character, which is an interesting word.
Speaker 2: I was studying that word because I thought, well, this
Speaker 2: is how it works. This is how God matures us,
Speaker 2: matures our lives, and this is how God brings forth
Speaker 2: his fruit in our lives.
Speaker 1: He gives us hope through the suffering.
Speaker 2: That produces perseverance, and the perseverance the not quitting, produces character,
Speaker 2: and then character hope. So in order to get to
Speaker 2: the hope, you got to go through some hell and
Speaker 2: what it produces. Y'all, I feel annoyed to help somebody today.
Speaker 2: I don't even care about anything, but said who I'm
Speaker 2: supposed to help today? Because the word character in Greek
Speaker 2: is actually a word that Paul made up. It's not
Speaker 2: a word that's anywhere else in the New Testament except
Speaker 2: when Paul uses it.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't just mean character in the sense of, well,
Speaker 1: that's just who I am.
Speaker 2: See, that's why some of you have the wrong testimony
Speaker 2: right now. You keep testifying about that's just who I am,
Speaker 2: that's just the way I am, that's just the way
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 1: And all of that might be true.
Speaker 2: But this character that God is producing in you is
Speaker 2: a certain type of character from a certain word that
Speaker 2: Paul made up to describe what happens when you go
Speaker 2: through something and get something from what you go through
Speaker 2: that you couldn't get any other way. And the word
Speaker 2: actually means proven worth, proven worth. And it started not
Speaker 2: with the amazing things that happened, but with the pain
Speaker 2: that you experienced. So the pain that you experienced produced
Speaker 2: the proof of the worth of your faith.
Speaker 1: What good is a hope that can't be disappointed?
Speaker 2: What good is a faith that can't be shaken and
Speaker 2: not broken? What good is it for me to just
Speaker 2: hope that things turn out well and then when they don't,
Speaker 2: stay home. What good is it for me to listen
Speaker 2: to Pastor Stephen preach for an hour and then go
Speaker 2: home and resist the very things that God brings into
Speaker 2: my life that will produce the word that he preached about.
Speaker 2: What good is it for me to keep just going
Speaker 2: through things and never stopping. God said today we are
Speaker 2: going to rescue your testimony because you have stopped talking
Speaker 2: about what God is going to do. You have stopped
Speaker 2: talking about.
Speaker 1: How it can be different.
Speaker 2: You have been disappointed, you have been hurt, you have
Speaker 2: been hemorrhaging from what you went through.
Speaker 1: But God wants to heal that.
Speaker 2: Place and rescue your testimony, to rescue it.
Speaker 1: That's what Holly does for me. She rescues me from
Speaker 1: my hypothetical situations.
Speaker 2: I say, well, if we go, something bad might happen,
Speaker 2: and she says, but if you don't go, you might
Speaker 2: look back the rest of your life and wonder what
Speaker 2: would have happened if you did.
Speaker 1: And so Paul says, it is the suffering.
Speaker 2: It is the pain that proved that proves the character.
Speaker 2: The proof starts with suffering, the proof, do you see it?
Speaker 2: The proof starts with suffering, and that's what leads to
Speaker 2: the hope, because you know, I can go back to
Speaker 2: that and I can remember that God did that for me.
Speaker 1: And so every once in a while.
Speaker 2: I screenshot something on my phone just to remind me
Speaker 2: in my low moments that at the lowest moments, God
Speaker 2: is doing the most. A few years ago, I preached
Speaker 2: a sermon to where I left and thought, well, that
Speaker 2: didn't go very good. And I don't always blame myself.
Speaker 2: Sometimes y'all are just lazy listeners. But I like to
Speaker 2: take responsibility, Like, well, come on, I could have done
Speaker 2: that better and clearer, and I beat.
Speaker 1: Myself up every which way.
Speaker 2: And that same week, my friend sent me a text
Speaker 2: of their notes from the sermon, and they said, just
Speaker 2: wanted you to be encouraged.
Speaker 1: Well I needed to be, so I was thankful for
Speaker 1: the text.
Speaker 2: They took six pages of notes on that sermon that
Speaker 2: I thought sucked. Okay, so I'm looking at it. I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is great, Okay, thank you Lord. Maybe it wasn't
Speaker 2: that bad. They wrote six pages of notes. But then
Speaker 2: I looked at it again and I saw why they
Speaker 2: sent it to me, because I thought, that's kind of weird.
Speaker 2: Why did you send me your notes? I preached it,
Speaker 2: don't you think I know what I said? But next
Speaker 2: to the notes was this little puddle of tears that
Speaker 2: they were showing me. And when the text came through
Speaker 2: next after the photo, it said, I cried so hard
Speaker 2: through your message. I left a puddle of tears next
Speaker 2: to my notes before I dried it up. I wanted
Speaker 2: to show you. And and that's something that while I'm sitting
Speaker 2: there thinking, well, that wasn't any good, and then I
Speaker 2: get a picture a proof in the puddle of tears
Speaker 2: that they cry because I understand that sometimes suffering is
Speaker 2: the starting place for something amazing. Sometimes the absence of
Speaker 2: your emotional validation when you are doing the thing that
Speaker 2: God has called you to do, maybe not preaching a sermon,
Speaker 2: maybe just being a good man, maybe not preaching a sermon,
Speaker 2: maybe just keeping your purity as a teenager, maybe not
Speaker 2: preaching a sermon, Maybe just showing up to the next
Speaker 2: thing that you know you can do. And the proof
Speaker 2: I didn't feel it when I preached it. I didn't
Speaker 2: see it when I preached it. I didn't know it
Speaker 2: when I preached it. But to get that text, that
Speaker 2: puddle of tears, to say that sermon that you preached,
Speaker 2: that you felt nothing, that word you spoke, that you
Speaker 2: felt nothing, that you pray, that you saw nothing.
Speaker 1: Here's something, here's something days later that you didn't even see.
Speaker 1: You weren't even there for it. But it's proof. This
Speaker 1: is the proof that I'm after.
Speaker 2: Not the proof of what you feel when you do it,
Speaker 2: not the proof of what you see when you do it.
Speaker 2: Not the proof of what you know right now, not
Speaker 2: the proof of what you think you need to be validated,
Speaker 2: not the proof of what you think would make it successful.
Speaker 2: It is the proof in that puddle of tears that
Speaker 2: you cried while you suffered. But I bet you got
Speaker 2: up after you cried and did something, didn't you.
Speaker 1: I bet you got up.
Speaker 2: When you cried. I bet you got up after your
Speaker 2: heart was broken and you kept going. So now you
Speaker 2: have a testimony, and let's stop talking about all that
Speaker 2: it costs you, and let's start talking about how God.
Speaker 8: Has called you proven, character, proven, prove I.
Speaker 2: Have hope, say not loud, I have hope. I can
Speaker 2: prove it. I have hope, and I can prove it.
Speaker 2: So Holly said to me, you really do think of everything.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, so does God. And she didn't
Speaker 2: really accept that as an analogy, but I told her
Speaker 2: how God has taken into account. You see, at just
Speaker 2: the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died
Speaker 2: for the ungodly. So now I want to talk about, finally,
Speaker 2: the demonstration. The demonstration.
Speaker 1: The proof.
Speaker 2: That you have hope, and the proof that you have
Speaker 2: hope is not that you don't suffer or will never suffer.
Speaker 2: And the proof that you have hope is not that
Speaker 2: you don't go through. Let me break that down a
Speaker 2: little bit more. It is not that you won't ever
Speaker 2: feel that way again. It is not that you will
Speaker 2: never be let down again. It is not that you
Speaker 2: will never experience a betrayal again. It is not that
Speaker 2: you will never wrestle with this again. It is not
Speaker 2: that it will completely leave your life. That is not
Speaker 2: what Christ died to save us from. And the good
Speaker 2: thing is, if you feel weak in this moment, that's
Speaker 2: the very point He saved you at and he's still
Speaker 2: saving so you have proof demonstration. But God demonstrates his
Speaker 2: own love for us in this that while we were
Speaker 2: still ciners, Christ died for us.
Speaker 1: I read you a.
Speaker 2: Scripture from the Old Testament earlier, and you may have
Speaker 2: wondered if I forgot about it, but I didn't, because
Speaker 2: I want to give you a picture of how God
Speaker 2: demonstrates his power in your weakness.
Speaker 1: The children of Israel are headed out of the.
Speaker 2: Land that they've known as the place of their captivity
Speaker 2: for over four hundred years. They've been wandering in the
Speaker 2: wilderness for forty of those years because of the regrets
Speaker 2: of their past. I gotta be thinking at this point
Speaker 2: something is going.
Speaker 1: Through their head.
Speaker 2: Justified believe God and gone through the Promised land. Just
Speaker 2: if we'd gone through and faced the giants in our
Speaker 2: faith and believe the minority report of Caleb and Joshua,
Speaker 2: just if we had not brought a complaint to Moses
Speaker 2: in the place of where our faith should have been.
Speaker 2: But now God is bringing a new generation led by Joshua,
Speaker 2: into the Promised Land, and the Bible says that on
Speaker 2: the way to where they're going, because you're going somewhere,
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you feel stuck where you are, you're gonna die.
Speaker 1: Where you are is.
Speaker 2: Gonna be like it is, But you are transitioning out
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 1: Before they transition out.
Speaker 2: Of the land that they've been in, the wilderness that
Speaker 2: they've wandered in, the what ifs that they've wasted away in.
Speaker 2: Before they transition out of this, God gives a very
Speaker 2: strange instruction to Joshua. He says, before you completely cross
Speaker 2: and by the way, I think you should commemorate every
Speaker 2: crossing in your life, every crossing over. Just start celebrating
Speaker 2: stuff when you cross over. So that could be as
Speaker 2: simple ass thank you God for a new day. I
Speaker 2: lay down to sleep and I woke up again, and
Speaker 2: somebody didn't, So thank you for it. Lord, thank you
Speaker 2: for another week. Thank you for bringing me to the
Speaker 2: Lord's house another day. Thank you for a new season.
Speaker 2: Thank you God for a new opportunity. Thank you for
Speaker 2: my next breath. Thank You for my next opportunity. And
Speaker 2: as they are crossing over watch this, God calls Joshua,
Speaker 2: I want you to commemorate and demonstrate what I did.
Speaker 1: And here's why four verse number five. I'm ready to
Speaker 1: preach now.
Speaker 2: Chapter number four, Verse five, and Joshua said to them,
Speaker 2: pass on before the ark of the Lord, your God,
Speaker 2: that represents God's presence, into the midst of the Jordan,
Speaker 2: and take each of you a stone upon his shoulder.
Speaker 2: According to the number of the tribes of the people
Speaker 2: of Israel. How many tribes were there twelve? How many stones? Twelve,
Speaker 2: one for every tribe, one for every trial, one for
Speaker 2: every tribe, one for every trial. You ought to get
Speaker 2: something out of everything you go through that makes you
Speaker 2: stronger in God. I'm not going to cry like that
Speaker 2: and not get stronger from it. I'm not going to
Speaker 2: suffer like that and not get stronger from it. So
Speaker 2: make sure you take something from this. But then verse success,
Speaker 2: very importantly, why you're doing this, that this, this may
Speaker 2: be a sign among you. So when your children ask
Speaker 2: in time to come, what do these stones mean?
Speaker 1: You stop?
Speaker 2: How do you want to answer that question for your
Speaker 2: kids one day?
Speaker 1: This is important because.
Speaker 2: He said, I want you to rescue your testimony.
Speaker 1: I want you to stop.
Speaker 2: Right now and redefine everything you've been through. And instead
Speaker 2: of remembering this as the river that was so hard
Speaker 2: to cross, I.
Speaker 1: Want you to take something out of it that you
Speaker 1: can commemorate how great God was to bring you through it.
Speaker 2: So when your children ask, what was it like to
Speaker 2: deal with that? When your children ask, tell me about
Speaker 2: that time when your children ask did you ever deal
Speaker 2: with loneliness? And how did you handle it? When your
Speaker 2: children ask, did you ever wonder if you were good enough?
Speaker 2: When your children ask did you ever feel depressed? I
Speaker 2: want you to have some proof to point through to
Speaker 2: let them know God does miracles and I have a testimony.
Speaker 2: Whatever you're standing next to exhibit A. So verse six,
Speaker 2: verse six, Verse six. When your children ask what do
Speaker 2: these stones mean to you?
Speaker 1: It's personal to me. I can't speak for you.
Speaker 2: I can't prophesy for you, I can't praise for you.
Speaker 2: You can't praise for me, there are some things that
Speaker 2: I went through. This showed me who God was to me.
Speaker 2: And verse seven says, when they ask you what do
Speaker 2: these stones mean, then you shall tell them that the
Speaker 2: waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark
Speaker 2: of the Covenant of the Lord. Do you want us
Speaker 2: to tell them how hard the wilderness was for forty
Speaker 2: years for something that we didn't do.
Speaker 1: No, I just want you to tell them that.
Speaker 2: When I got to that Jordan, oh, there was a demonstration.
Speaker 1: And we didn't know how it was going to happen.
Speaker 1: But watch this.
Speaker 2: My faith is not in a how. My faith is
Speaker 2: in a who. So tell them the Lord. Somebody say
Speaker 2: the Lord. Now say but God, Now ask your neighbor.
Speaker 1: Was it hard? Tell him it was? But God? Ask him?
Speaker 1: Were you a mess? Tell him I was? But God?
Speaker 2: Ask him?
Speaker 1: Were you tempted to quit? Tell him I was? But God?
Speaker 2: Were you a little nervous about how it was going
Speaker 2: to turn out? Back there in twenty twenty four? Were
Speaker 2: you sitting in church one Sunday morning in September? Were
Speaker 2: you thinking about a football game in lunch?
Speaker 1: But God had a word for you. Tell him, I was,
Speaker 1: But God?
Speaker 2: See when that man grabbed that microphone and he started
Speaker 2: preaching about the flow of the Jordan being cut off.
Speaker 2: It reminded me of Calvary. It reminded me of Jesus.
Speaker 2: It reminded me of a cross. It reminded me of
Speaker 2: my crossing over. It reminded me of death to life.
Speaker 1: It reminded me.
Speaker 2: Of the blood.
Speaker 1: It reminds to me, a broken says.
Speaker 2: It reminded me I was. And I'm gonna show you something, Holly,
Speaker 2: that I never saw before, because he said, I want
Speaker 2: you to take the stones from what you went through
Speaker 2: and tell your children what.
Speaker 1: God did, but I want you to take the stones
Speaker 1: to be a memorial forever. And the people of.
Speaker 2: Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve
Speaker 2: stones out of the midst of the Jordan.
Speaker 1: Go back to verse eight.
Speaker 2: I wasn't done with it yet, out of the midst
Speaker 2: of the Jordan. According to the number of the tribes.
Speaker 2: They try to see if I got this thing memorized,
Speaker 2: and I don't. The people of Israel, just as the
Speaker 2: Lord told Joshua, Just as the Lord told Joshua, just
Speaker 2: if I do what God told me to do, I
Speaker 2: don't have to justify it any other way than God spoken.
Speaker 2: First number nine and I'm closing, And Joshua set up
Speaker 2: twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the
Speaker 2: place where the feet of the priest stood. Wait a minute,
Speaker 2: I thought he brought them out of the Jordan and
Speaker 2: put them in the camp where they stayed when they
Speaker 2: got through.
Speaker 1: He did. But there was a second set of stones.
Speaker 2: That Joshua was set up, not where they were going.
Speaker 1: I know I love it too. I know it makes
Speaker 1: me excited.
Speaker 2: Too, because God said, I want you to set up
Speaker 2: something right here, right here, not when you get through,
Speaker 2: but right here and in the middle of the Jordan.
Speaker 2: God told Joshua, I want you to make a pile
Speaker 2: of the stones in the middle of the Jordan, so
Speaker 2: that when your children asked what was it like when
Speaker 2: you were crossing the Jordan, you'll have something to point
Speaker 2: to that you went through that they can understand how
Speaker 2: powerful God is.
Speaker 1: So now you understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Right because the stones were in the middle of the Jordan. Now,
Speaker 2: if the Jordan is at high tide, then the stones
Speaker 2: can't be seen. If the Jordan is overflowing, the stones
Speaker 2: can't be seen. And the only way they're gonna see
Speaker 2: the stones is if the tide is low. The only
Speaker 2: time they're gonna see the stones is if the tide
Speaker 2: is low. The only way they're gonna see the stones
Speaker 2: is in a dry season. I'm preaching to somebody Austin
Speaker 2: who's been in.
Speaker 1: A dry season.
Speaker 2: But I got news. Fa God dries up Jordan rivers
Speaker 2: and you got some stones, Messy, you got some stone.
Speaker 2: You got some stones at the bottom of what you
Speaker 2: fit through. Oh God, I'm closing, but high five by
Speaker 2: five to five your.
Speaker 1: Neighborhood and say I got stones. Don't think I'm a whelm.
Speaker 1: Don't think I'm weak, don't think.
Speaker 2: I'm without power, don't think I'm without health, don't think
Speaker 2: I don't have a testimony. I'm gonna tell this thing
Speaker 2: from the other side. I'm gonna tell the truth from
Speaker 2: a higher plane. So I tend to rescue your testimony.
Speaker 1: Does it in a testimony? Tell us been tested?
Speaker 2: And before you get baptized today, I want you to
Speaker 2: look forward to the low.
Speaker 1: Tide times when the Jordan River gets lower, so you
Speaker 1: can see where you stood that you thought you would die.
Speaker 2: Get that stone out of there, that thing you suffered,
Speaker 2: and get that hope out of therese.
Speaker 1: The proof is in the bottle.
Speaker 2: Some things, oh God, some things you won't see if
Speaker 2: it's not a dry season.
Speaker 1: That is my hope.
Speaker 9: Stones in dry seasons, strength in weak places, for you
Speaker 9: see it. Just the right time, while we were still powerless,
Speaker 9: Christ died for me.
Speaker 1: And if he justified me justification, and if he did.
Speaker 2: That for me demonstration, then guess what I got back anticipation.
Speaker 1: So now.
Speaker 2: We gotta do something about this. The proof is in
Speaker 2: the puddles. God didn't save you because you were on
Speaker 2: such a high place. God demonstrates his own love for
Speaker 2: us in this while we were still sinners. He got
Speaker 2: down in the dirt of my situation. That's how I
Speaker 2: know he's not gonna leave me.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: He started this thing in the mud. He started this
Speaker 2: thing in the puddle, and the proof is in the puddles.
Speaker 2: So don't be so freaked out with the hypothetical situations
Speaker 2: of what's gonna dry up. If it dries up, the
Speaker 2: stones will still be there. You will still have a testimony.
Speaker 2: Now take it back, take back your testimony. Today wouldn't
Speaker 2: be too soon. I need a hundred of y'all that
Speaker 2: weren't planning on getting baptized today, Get baptized today. Take
Speaker 2: back your testimony, give me my camera. Declare to the devil,
Speaker 2: I won't die in this dry season. I won't die
Speaker 2: in this dry season. God brought me to church today
Speaker 2: to repent, to turn from my sin, buy his blood.
Speaker 2: If I'm justified by his blood, shall he not much
Speaker 2: more save me from.
Speaker 1: His rat So I really don't even want to talk
Speaker 1: about Joshua. I want to talk about Jesus.
Speaker 2: Jesus who said I thirst is present and stretching in.
Speaker 1: Dry places today.
Speaker 2: And you thought I was going to preach this message
Speaker 2: about hope in a shallow way.
Speaker 9: N I'm talking about a God who is so deeply
Speaker 9: committed to you.
Speaker 2: And now you're wondering, what if it does happen, Well,
Speaker 2: God will be with me.
Speaker 1: As hopothetical Hollywood.
Speaker 2: Say, even if it does, we'll be all right.
Speaker 1: So the last season of your life was designed to
Speaker 1: show you that. Are you getting that lesson out of it?
Speaker 2: Or did you just run through it and say, oh again,
Speaker 2: you know I'm just gonna live this way now I am.
Speaker 2: You remember how the philosopher said, I think therefore I am.
Speaker 2: Let's put a twist on that. Who said that? Deskhartes, Well,
Speaker 2: if you don't know, then I can say it with confidence.
Speaker 2: I wish I could preach back in the day where
Speaker 2: nobody had chet gpt to fact check the preacher. I
Speaker 2: can make up all kinds of good stuff, he said,
Speaker 2: I think. Therefore I am. He was trying to see
Speaker 2: what can I be certain of? And he realized that
Speaker 2: even the fact that I can doubt means that I'm thinking,
Speaker 2: and even the fact that I'm doubting proves that I exist.
Speaker 2: I think. Therefore I am. Don't you understand That's the
Speaker 2: way it works in your life. You think about all
Speaker 2: of the things that are going to go wrong. Therefore
Speaker 2: you are a nervous ball of stress. I think, therefore
Speaker 2: I am. So let's do this, say I have, Therefore
Speaker 2: I hope.
Speaker 1: I have.
Speaker 2: Therefore, So I'm coming to a Jordan right now. And
Speaker 2: here's what I'm coming with Romans five to one on
Speaker 2: the screen. Police is it up there? Therefore? What are
Speaker 2: the stones? Therefore? That's the question? What is the suffering? Therefore?
Speaker 2: What are you there for? Why did God keep you
Speaker 2: alive this long? I see you every week? When I
Speaker 2: preach you never miss you. Probably wouldn't even know that
Speaker 2: I saw you. I watch you so much. I'm a stalker.
Speaker 2: You ought to get a restraining order on me, and
Speaker 2: it blesses me. And you would never know that. You
Speaker 2: never know that. But the proof is in the puddle.
Speaker 2: It's the times you don't see, the times you don't
Speaker 2: feel coming up to a Jordan river, it.
Speaker 1: Looks like it's overflowing.
Speaker 2: But God brought that thing down to a puddle for you,
Speaker 2: didn't He didn't he You saw no way to be
Speaker 2: right with him.
Speaker 9: You saw no way to put it back together. You
Speaker 9: saw no way. But the proof is in the bottle.
Speaker 9: What do he already dried up? What are you standing
Speaker 9: in front of today? When your children ask you, I
Speaker 9: want you to have a testimony, and when they say
Speaker 9: did you ever doubt it? Tell them yeah. And there's
Speaker 9: some things I doubt that are in front of me now.
Speaker 9: And I want to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: The truth is I can't do it, but.
Speaker 1: The grade can't. That's what I'm pointing out. That's all
Speaker 1: the proof we need. I can't do it, but the grade.
Speaker 1: How about this? You can dry this short?
Speaker 2: And if I will just step in. I can't do it,
Speaker 2: but the Great.
Speaker 3: I can't do it.
Speaker 1: Come on, lift your hands, thank so God, to get
Speaker 1: up on the feet and worship Him.
Speaker 5: Where you are.
Speaker 2: It may be in your home, it may be in
Speaker 2: your sick band dude, it may be in.
Speaker 1: The middle of a panic attack. But you're saying, I
Speaker 1: can't do it. That's my testimony the Great. I am kid,
Speaker 1: and I know he can't because.
Speaker 2: I know he did.
Speaker 1: I've been here before. I've been through dry season, I've
Speaker 1: been through identity crisis. I've been through nervous nights. I've
Speaker 1: been through dark waters. He can split an iceing me.
Speaker 1: Ask me how. I don't know, but I know. Sing
Speaker 1: it again, I can't do it. That's the truth to
Speaker 1: by the while, Where were your center?
Speaker 6: This is my testimony? Then you cast plead.
Speaker 1: I can't do it.
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
Speaker 2: this ministry.
Speaker 3: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give
Speaker 2: now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for
Speaker 2: more information, and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.
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Speaker 2: Elevation Church.
Speaker 3: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
Speaker 1: M