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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

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Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope

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Speaker 1: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it

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Speaker 1: gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy the message. Welcome today to all of our locations.

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Speaker 1: Can we thank God for all of our campuses and locations? Said?

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Speaker 1: Can we thank God for all of our campuses and locations? Amen?

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Speaker 1: I was doing my stalker thing where I go around

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Speaker 1: to all the campuses pushing buttons with cameras that are

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Speaker 1: set up in the auditoriums I've been on. Do I

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Speaker 1: look tired? I was on a trip. I went to

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Speaker 1: Asheville and Columbia, and I even went to Toronto for a minute,

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Speaker 1: all through technology, of course, before I came out to

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Speaker 1: see you, some little jed life. Thank God for the

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Speaker 1: great work he's doing also with our Ethan around the

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Speaker 1: world and our interns Our Fall twenty eighteen in terms,

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Speaker 1: come on, thank God for Thank God for them, thank

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Speaker 1: God for their wardrobes, for their sense of style and fashion.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you why they're up here in a minute,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to keep you in suspense. But hey, one

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Speaker 1: thing that I really always feel good about is when

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Speaker 1: I'm doing exactly what I know God wants me to do.

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Speaker 1: When I stand up here on the stage and as

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Speaker 1: we get ready for next weekend, which is going to

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Speaker 1: be phenomenal where so many people around the world and

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Speaker 1: here at our church locally, are going to participate in

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Speaker 1: our game change or offering where we get to bring

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Speaker 1: God something of significance and value to us, and we

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Speaker 1: all get to make that opportunity count to invest something

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Speaker 1: in what can't be taken away, as we have so

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Speaker 1: many times before. As we get ready for that, I

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Speaker 1: pray and I try to see how God wants me

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Speaker 1: to preach that would position us, each of us for

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Speaker 1: the season that He's taking us into. And that's important

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Speaker 1: to me. Not to follow a formula, it's important to me.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing it

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Speaker 1: the same way every time, because you know, we take

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Speaker 1: up these offerings for expansion and we use so much

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Speaker 1: of it for outreach each year. So I guess it

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Speaker 1: would be fine if I just repeated the pattern each year.

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Speaker 1: But maybe it's just my personality. I can't do that.

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Speaker 1: And even more than that, I don't want to start

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Speaker 1: trusting in some kind of formula. I guess that's the

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Speaker 1: best way to say it. If I'm going to preach

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Speaker 1: about faith, I want to demonstrate faith in the way

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Speaker 1: that I preach about what I'm preaching about. So does

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Speaker 1: that make sense? Why? Anyway, Whether it made sense or not,

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Speaker 1: here's what I'm going to do today. Because when I

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Speaker 1: was praying about what we should do as we set

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Speaker 1: up what's going to happen next weekend, and I pray

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Speaker 1: that you would not skip church next weekend, you know,

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Speaker 1: some people will always do that like it's going to

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Speaker 1: be a guilt trip. It's not. It's not like there's

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Speaker 1: going to be a cover charge next week or something

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Speaker 1: like that. It's for everyone, but it'll be really beautiful

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Speaker 1: to be special. But this week is probably the most

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Speaker 1: important because this is where we set it up. And

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Speaker 1: any good comedian can tell you that the setup is

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Speaker 1: often more important than the punchline. And so, but there's

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Speaker 1: nothing funny about the Word of God. So let's go.

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Speaker 1: Let's go to the Word of God today. I want

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Speaker 1: to share the same scripture just a few verses. If

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Speaker 1: I drop a few verses down from what I shared

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Speaker 1: last week, did you get to hear the message last weekend?

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Speaker 1: It's mine to manage. Touch somebody say it's God's to give,

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Speaker 1: but it's mine to manage. And I talked about this

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Speaker 1: concept that we are stewards of the story, the story

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Speaker 1: of how God has saved us and how God has

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Speaker 1: sustained us. And as a pastor, I'm coming to understand

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Speaker 1: my role more and more as a steward of the

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Speaker 1: story that God is telling through this church. And it's

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Speaker 1: God's story, but it's ours to manage. So powerful, and

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Speaker 1: so let me get into this real quick, and this

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Speaker 1: will be a little different today. I think you can

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Speaker 1: tell that I'm a little I'm excited. I'm really excited,

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Speaker 1: but I'm sitting down. I'm seated, so I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: scream as much. Those of you who don't like all that. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: this is your this is your weekend, and I'm just

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Speaker 1: gonna talk to you a little bit today. You'll laughed

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Speaker 1: a little too much of that made me feel self conscious.

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Speaker 1: I might holler once or twice, but I really just

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Speaker 1: want to talk to you. And I got all this

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Speaker 1: stuff in my Bible, and I'll tell you what it

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Speaker 1: all is in a moment. Some notes and some money

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Speaker 1: and i'll tell you about that. An envelope and some

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Speaker 1: post it notes, and we'll get to all that in

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Speaker 1: a moment. But first, let me read this. This is

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Speaker 1: so important as a backdop for what I believe God

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Speaker 1: wants to give you as a backstory today. Every blessing

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Speaker 1: has a backstory. Okay, every blessing has a backstory, and

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Speaker 1: so this is one. For the nation of Israel Josha

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Speaker 1: before nineteen on the tenth day of the first month,

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Speaker 1: the people went up from the Jordan and camped at

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Speaker 1: Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho, and Joshua set up.

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Speaker 1: Everybody says set up, and Joshua was set up at Gilgal.

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Speaker 1: The twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.

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Speaker 1: Now they're not in the Promised Land yet, but God

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Speaker 1: is setting them up. And as a part of the

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Speaker 1: setup is kind of elaborate. God is like, hey, take

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Speaker 1: the stones from the Jordan, which represents the miracle that

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Speaker 1: I just did for you, and set it up. And

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Speaker 1: then after you've set up the stones, this is the

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Speaker 1: purpose of them. They're not just props. I don't want

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Speaker 1: you to just collect these stones for props and put

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Speaker 1: them in a trophy case somewhere. But rather than just trophies,

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Speaker 1: these are triggers, these stones that you set up because

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Speaker 1: I'm not done with you yet, and there's a great

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Speaker 1: thing that I'm doing through you, and so I want

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Speaker 1: to use the stones as a setup. And then what's

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Speaker 1: verse twenty one. It gives the purpose he said to

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Speaker 1: the Israelites. In the future, when you descendants ask their parents,

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Speaker 1: not stop right there. He's teaching them to think generationally.

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Speaker 1: He's thinking them. He's teaching them not to just settle

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Speaker 1: for instant gratifications and what's in it for me. So

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Speaker 1: in the future, when your kids are asking what do

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Speaker 1: these stones mean? Tell them tell them very important, because

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Speaker 1: the stones can't speak for themselves. Right. This is not

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Speaker 1: like Siri, Hey, Siri, bring me lemonade it. This is

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Speaker 1: not that kind of thing. This is not some magic trick.

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Speaker 1: You've got to speak and tell them when you see

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Speaker 1: the stones, when they see the stones, tell them, I

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Speaker 1: love this stuff. I love these Old Testament stories so

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Speaker 1: much in them. Tell them Israel cross the Jordan on

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Speaker 1: dry ground, for the Lord your God dried up the

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Speaker 1: Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord

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Speaker 1: your God did to the Jordan what he had done

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Speaker 1: to the Red Sea when he dried it up before

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Speaker 1: until we had crossed over. Every generation is to experience

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Speaker 1: their own move of God, not just worship something God

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Speaker 1: did in the past, but to move forward into the

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Speaker 1: future full of faith. And so I want to speak

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Speaker 1: to you for a few moments today on the power

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Speaker 1: of the prompt. The prompt if you'd like to write

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Speaker 1: that down, it's just a little title that I'm given

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Speaker 1: the message. If you wouldn't like to write it down,

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Speaker 1: it's still the title that I'm given the message, the

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Speaker 1: power of the Prompt. So about these interns. They're pretty

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Speaker 1: cool Elevation Church dot org slash Internship Shameless Pluck. They're

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Speaker 1: two weeks out from finishing their internship and I got

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Speaker 1: to meet with them Thursday, and we had the best time. Right,

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Speaker 1: We're supposed to go minutes and it went two and

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Speaker 1: a half hours. And then, for the first time that

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Speaker 1: has ever happened, I met them at the movies because

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Speaker 1: as a part of their discipleship process, I took them

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Speaker 1: to see Creed two. Amen, Come on, I'm a good,

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Speaker 1: good pastor. It's who I am. Now what prompted me

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Speaker 1: to do that? Well, when I was getting to know them,

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Speaker 1: I like to do an icebreaker. Hey, you know, what's

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Speaker 1: your favorite music? And then they'll always say Christian bands

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Speaker 1: because I'm the pastor. And then I turn around, No,

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Speaker 1: it's you what do you really listen to? And then

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Speaker 1: they'll I'll ask us your favorite TV shows? They all

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Speaker 1: said the Office. I think everybody said the Office. And

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Speaker 1: I said, cool, y'all are too young for the Office,

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Speaker 1: but anyway, I understand. And then they said, I said

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Speaker 1: what's your favorite movie? And one of the kids screams

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Speaker 1: out Rocky. He said it, you know, like you like

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Speaker 1: sometimes you're in a worship service and somebody go Jesus.

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Speaker 1: But he said the name of Rocky. And when he

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Speaker 1: invoked the name of Rocky, he won my heart. In fact,

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Speaker 1: come here, Gabe, real quick.

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Speaker 3: L J.

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Speaker 1: Just in honor, in honor of Gabe. Let's do this

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Speaker 1: real quick. Let's go ahead, go ahead, l J. Gotta

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Speaker 1: take stairs, got take Oh you want to run the stairs?

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Speaker 1: I like that big who goes to us stairs over there? Yet?

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Speaker 4: Thank you?

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Speaker 1: Go all the way, Take take upstairs. Yeah, yeah, I

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Speaker 1: want to see ya. Don't know, man, bake me cow

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Speaker 1: after running out of time, So this could be you

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Speaker 1: Eleviation Church dot org slash intern chef. Thanks for coming.

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Speaker 1: Now let's go sit down there, listen, catch your breath.

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Speaker 1: You know you hadn't done that much cardio in months.

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Speaker 1: So I was like, you like Rocky? He goes yeah.

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Speaker 1: I said, now this is the real test. I said,

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Speaker 1: what's the best? Rocky? He said, and he didn't have

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Speaker 1: to pray, he didn't have to think, and this is

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Speaker 1: all my a test if he's a true man of God.

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Speaker 1: He said, he wants to go in ministry one day.

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Speaker 1: And there's an answer to this, and it's it's definitely

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Speaker 1: not It's definitely not five. We all know that could

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Speaker 1: be three. But he said the RCT answer. He said

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Speaker 1: Rocky four. When he said Rocky four, I said, I

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Speaker 1: perceived that thou art a prophet and the words of life.

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Speaker 1: I was like, just because that's the first one my

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Speaker 1: dad showed me. I remember my dad. On a Friday night,

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Speaker 1: we stopped by National Home Video in Monk's Corner VHS

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Speaker 1: tape and he said, you're ready for Rocky four. You're

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Speaker 1: ready for you're ready to see. By the way, it's

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Speaker 1: just so I can know who to pray for that

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Speaker 1: needs the Lord. How many of you have not seen

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Speaker 1: Rocky a single Rocky movie? Oh, come to the altar?

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Speaker 1: Are you serious? Your parents haven't shown you Rocky four?

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Speaker 1: They called DSS on those parents. I almost felt like

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Speaker 1: with my kids it was a generational responsibility, you know,

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Speaker 1: to show them how the Cold War really ended with

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Speaker 1: Rocky deceiting Drago and and then so when I found

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Speaker 1: out that Creed two was the sequel to Rocky four,

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh, man, this is the This is

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Speaker 1: the equivalent of Joshua and Moses. This is like the

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Speaker 1: Red Sea and the Jordan, you know, is to This

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Speaker 1: is probably taking the illustration too far, but I almost

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Speaker 1: had a spiritual experience. I met them at the theater

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Speaker 1: on on Thursday night and we watched Rocky. I think

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Speaker 1: we annoyed everybody in the theater. We were so loud

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Speaker 1: at Stonecrest. But we went to the Temple of Stonecrest

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Speaker 1: and we watched the Gospel according to Rocky Baboa, And

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Speaker 1: there's so much gospel and Rocky But you probably don't

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Speaker 1: know the backstory to it, and so you know it

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Speaker 1: prompted me. Sermons come to me from all kinds of places.

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Speaker 1: But I'm sitting there, Graham and Elijah went with me,

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Speaker 1: and we're watching Creed two, and I won't tell you

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Speaker 1: how it ends, because your homework this week is to

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Speaker 1: prepare your offering, read your Bible, and go see Creed

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Speaker 1: two and past there and then and then I was thinking,

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Speaker 1: Graham was sitting with me, Elijah was sitting with me,

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Speaker 1: the interns were there, and I was thinking, like, remember

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Speaker 1: my dad's in heaven now, and so I always remember

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Speaker 1: when he showed me. It was just a moment where

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Speaker 1: I was like, every generation gets their own Rocky. It's cool.

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Speaker 1: And then I thought, I wonder how many of them

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Speaker 1: know the backstory of how Rocky Balboa was created. I

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Speaker 1: wonder how many of I wonder how many of them

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Speaker 1: know what these stones mean? You know, they know that

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Speaker 1: Michael B. Jordan wasn't the first Creed. I wonder if

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Speaker 1: they know. And I don't know how much of this

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Speaker 1: you knew gave. But when Sylvester Stallone created Rocky, he

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Speaker 1: was inspired because he was broke right. He had been

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Speaker 1: in one movie and he had moderate success, but he

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Speaker 1: moved to la because he wanted to start really trying

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Speaker 1: to write, and he would walk around writing stuff, and

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Speaker 1: that he went to see Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Webner.

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Speaker 1: How many of you didn't know any of this, Just

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Speaker 1: raise your hand real quick. Okay, this is important. This

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Speaker 1: is almost biblical. Rocky is canonical, and I promise you

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Speaker 1: would be in Joshua in just a moment. But let

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Speaker 1: me get the backstory this. And when he was watching

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Speaker 1: Chuck Webner fight Muhammad Ali and go the distance even

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Speaker 1: though he didn't win and put the champ down, he

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Speaker 1: was inspired by the story of an underdog. He thought,

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Speaker 1: that's what I need to write. And he spent the

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Speaker 1: next three days writing the rough draft of Rocky. Three

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Speaker 1: days three days, so for those of you who don't

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Speaker 1: believe that Rocky is biblical. Three days. And then when

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Speaker 1: he finished writing it, he remember he was prompted just

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Speaker 1: by something that he saw. Talk about the power of

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Speaker 1: a prompt He was prompted watching it. I need to

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Speaker 1: write that. He wrote it, and then somebody asked him

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Speaker 1: what he was working on when he went for an

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Speaker 1: audition one time, and he almost didn't want to tell

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Speaker 1: him because he didn't know if he was any good,

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Speaker 1: but he show him him working on this thing. He's prompted.

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Speaker 1: And then they offered him twenty five thousand dollars for

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Speaker 1: the script, fifty one hundred. No, because they weren't going

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Speaker 1: to let him be Rocky, and he wanted to play

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Speaker 1: Rocky and something in told him, you know, you need

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Speaker 1: to play this character. This is what's a lifetime thing.

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Speaker 1: And then they offered him two hundred fifty thousand dollars,

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Speaker 1: three hundred thousand dollars, three hundred and sixty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: He had one hundred and six dollars in his bank account,

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Speaker 1: and they offered him three hundred and sixty thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: from the script. He said no, he had already sold

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Speaker 1: his dog, Buckus, Buckus, He sold his dog Buckus, and

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Speaker 1: he turned it down. And finally they gave him a

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Speaker 1: million dollars to make the movie, which wasn't much, and

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Speaker 1: he made it. And as of twenty seventeen, according to

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Speaker 1: what Light Google, the Rocky franchise has earned in the

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Speaker 1: box office alone over one point four billion dollars. So

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Speaker 1: let's thank god for Rocky. And then and then we'll

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Speaker 1: move on into something I want to pay you about.

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Speaker 1: I just told you I can see some of you like,

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Speaker 1: come on, man, I ain't come for all this. Let's

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Speaker 1: shut up. I'm trying to get to something here, all right.

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Speaker 1: I got a reason for telling you this, because everything

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Speaker 1: great that I've ever seen I would attribute to the

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Speaker 1: hand of God in my life started with a prompting,

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Speaker 1: a prompting. And the thing about game changers and game

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Speaker 1: changing decisions is that they don't feel like game changers

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Speaker 1: in the moment. It doesn't. A promise from God usually

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Speaker 1: doesn't feel like a promise. Here's how it operates in

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Speaker 1: the pattern of scripture. Okay, that God will give you

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Speaker 1: a promise, and then he will give you a prompting

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Speaker 1: to act on the promise that he gave. And learning

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Speaker 1: to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit is

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Speaker 1: the most crucial skill that you could ever acquire in

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Speaker 1: your life. It takes courage, it takes discernments, it takes

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Speaker 1: sometimes being still shutting the other voices off. But the

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Speaker 1: promptings of the Holy Spirit. I mean, how many times

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Speaker 1: have I missed the blessing of God in an area

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Speaker 1: of my life because I did not respond to a prompting.

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Speaker 1: How many times have we come to church and heard

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Speaker 1: a sermon and then we experienced a prompting, But because

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Speaker 1: we didn't respond to the prompt we did not receive

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Speaker 1: the promise. It could be the smallest things. One time

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Speaker 1: God prompted me to send somebody a voice memo. They

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Speaker 1: said they saved it for four years on their phone.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know that they were going to save it

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Speaker 1: for four years. I just knew they were going through something,

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Speaker 1: and I sent it to them prompting, prompting, And it

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Speaker 1: must have seemed weird to the Israelites. Right set up

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Speaker 1: the stones, But the stones are not there to serve

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Speaker 1: the purpose that they seem to be serving on the surface.

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Speaker 1: They are to prompt the story. Now I'm preaching to

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Speaker 1: you today because there are some things that God has

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Speaker 1: placed in your life and some things that he's doing

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Speaker 1: that if you will pay attention, God is trying to

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Speaker 1: use that thing to prompt you in an area of

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Speaker 1: your life where He intends to bless you. The stones

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Speaker 1: prompt the story, and then the story is meant to

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Speaker 1: prompt the faith of the people so that they can

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Speaker 1: continue on. And this is how God works. So I

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Speaker 1: want to practice this today. I want to do this

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Speaker 1: in front of you. It's one thing to preach it,

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Speaker 1: it's another thing to practice it. And I realized that

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Speaker 1: the Israelites didn't go back to that place in Gilgal

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Speaker 1: and tell their children the story. That's why in Judges

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Speaker 1: two ten it says that the next generation didn't know.

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Speaker 1: Why didn't they know because their parents didn't revisit the place.

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Speaker 1: They got so far from where they started that they

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Speaker 1: lost their sense of who brought them. Now, I don't

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Speaker 1: want that to happen to us as a church, and

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Speaker 1: so I thought what might be appropriate today to help

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Speaker 1: prompt your faith is to share stones, not twelve. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to do twelve. Like the twelve stones. We

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Speaker 1: don't have that long. If I just want to take five,

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Speaker 1: I just want to take five prompts. And this is

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Speaker 1: where the post it notes come in, because I wrote

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Speaker 1: down five prompts, you know, like a writing prompt that

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Speaker 1: you get writing prompt And I'm going to hand these

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Speaker 1: one at a time to these interns and I'm going

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Speaker 1: to ask them to tell me the story. And you

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Speaker 1: can ask me anything you want, as long as it's

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Speaker 1: exactly what's written on this post it note, and I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna answer it to prompt everybody, say prompt. Prompt, that's

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Speaker 1: the word God gave me. Prompt to learn how to

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Speaker 1: respond to the prompting of God. That's what this offering

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Speaker 1: is about. That's what life is about. That's what forgiveness

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Speaker 1: is about. God is going to prompt you, and will

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Speaker 1: you respond to the prompt That determines how you experienced

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Speaker 1: the promise. So I've got five of these and they

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Speaker 1: will prompt the story like those stones prompted the stories,

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Speaker 1: and I pray that God is it. You want to

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Speaker 1: read the first one? He didn't get to go last night? Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's the same ones as last night, though. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: didn't change him because it went good last night. So

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Speaker 1: read me last. Tell me about the time you thought

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Speaker 1: your college roommate was going crazy? What was actually setting

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Speaker 1: an example you would follow for the next twenty years.

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Speaker 1: What a great question. Thank you for asking me that.

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Speaker 1: So my college roommate my junior and senior year, was

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Speaker 1: named Alex Early, which is funny because he would get

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Speaker 1: up super early and he would pray I would get

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Speaker 1: up last minute seven fifty seven for an eight am class.

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Speaker 1: We went to North Greenville University. It's where I got

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Speaker 1: my degree. It's where I got my wife. If you

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Speaker 1: were to ask me which of those two has served

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Speaker 1: a greater purpose in my life, it would no doubt

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Speaker 1: be that one. So I hadn't shown anybody my degree

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Speaker 1: in a while, but I show her off all the time. Anyway.

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Speaker 1: My roommate was Alex Early. He was very spiritual, but

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Speaker 1: he's also one of these people who wasn't so spiritual

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Speaker 1: that he wasn't funny. He was like able to He

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Speaker 1: could quote John Calvin to you, but he could also

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Speaker 1: make the funniest prank phone calls. And he would call

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Speaker 1: he had this this this redneck persona called dew Wyane

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Speaker 1: McGraw d u w I a n E with a

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Speaker 1: thing over the e because it's French, dew Wane McGraw

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Speaker 1: and he called He modeled after roy D Mercer and

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Speaker 1: had the best time in college. But what I learned

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Speaker 1: from him that I never forget that I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: you asked me about and thank you for asking me.

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Speaker 1: That is. One day he came running back to the

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Speaker 1: room between classes and he looked like he looked like

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Speaker 1: he was in a state of absolute emergency. Was in

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Speaker 1: a panic mode. And he starts grabbing out of the

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Speaker 1: drawers all the money he can find in the room.

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Speaker 1: Not my money, his money. He starts grabbing all the

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Speaker 1: money out of the room. And I was like, what

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Speaker 1: are you doing. He's like, I'll have time to talk

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Speaker 1: about it. I'll tell you when I get back. Like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, what is Alex? What is Alex into?

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Speaker 1: Just like some Walter White crap going on? And so

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Speaker 1: he uh, he came back. He wouldn't talk, tell me

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Speaker 1: what he was doing. And he came back. He said

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Speaker 1: he looked so relieved. I was like, what was that?

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Speaker 1: And he and he said he was real serious. He goes,

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Speaker 1: God convicted me, Bro, I've been hold on. Let me

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Speaker 1: tell you what he said. Next, said Max. He said,

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Speaker 1: since I've been here at college, I haven't been tied in.

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Speaker 1: He belonged to a church that I really admire in

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Speaker 1: his hometown in Woodstock, Georgia, first Baptist Woodstock pastor Johnny Hunt.

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Speaker 1: And he said, I am I'm sending my tithe. I

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Speaker 1: calculated God spoke to me that his money was in

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Speaker 1: my bank account. And I've been telling myself the whole

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Speaker 1: time I was here at college. That since I was away,

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Speaker 1: and since I didn't have much anyway, he said, but

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Speaker 1: God convicted me not to keep his money in my account.

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Speaker 1: And that boy mailed the cash and he had coins

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Speaker 1: and everything he could find and send it in the mail,

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Speaker 1: and God used him. One of the ways God will

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Speaker 1: prompt you sometimes is through the example of somebody else.

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Speaker 1: That's why I always do the giving on the weekend

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Speaker 1: where people come in and give, because I think that

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Speaker 1: sometimes an example is better than a sermon. Amen. And

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Speaker 1: when he did that, God spoke to me, you know,

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Speaker 1: because my mom had taught me the same principle of tithing.

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Speaker 1: And yet I found so many excuses. And you know

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Speaker 1: what I did. Next. Thing I did well, I had

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Speaker 1: a checking account. I didn't think it had to be

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Speaker 1: as ghetto as he made it out to be, like

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Speaker 1: he's throwing cash in the mail. But I did the

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Speaker 1: same thing. I decided, you know what, he's right, He's right.

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Speaker 1: If I can't trust God with that ten percent, how

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Speaker 1: can I say everything I have comes from him? And

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Speaker 1: I said it, yeah, Amen, see I'm not I need

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Speaker 1: you to know this in case you're new or a

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Speaker 1: guest or something. I am not one bit timid about

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Speaker 1: preaching this stuff. This is my testimony. I don't apologize

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Speaker 1: for it. I believe in what we do. I believe

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Speaker 1: in what God's work teaches. I've seen it in my life.

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Speaker 1: So like, if you need me to get up here

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Speaker 1: and say, eh, it don't be okay, I order God.

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Speaker 1: That's not me. That's not how I feel about God.

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Speaker 1: That's not how I feel about his word. That's not

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Speaker 1: how I feel about his principles, that's not how I

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Speaker 1: feel about his promises. I believe this stuff, man. So

428
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: it prompted me and I never kept God's money in

429
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: my bank account after that, no matter how much I

430
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 1: had didn't have, and he got harder when you have more.

431
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,880
Speaker 1: You know, ten percent of fifty dollars, isn't that hard

432
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,760
Speaker 1: to sin? Sin God? Some coupons in the mall or

433
00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 1: something like that. But then when God starts blessing you,

434
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 1: you have to decide do you want to trust him

435
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 1: on the next level. Amen. So I believe God's going

436
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 1: to prompt some people this year in that you've been

437
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,679
Speaker 1: holding on to what is God's I should move on

438
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,199
Speaker 1: from this point. Feel super uncomfortable, but these are just

439
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,120
Speaker 1: my stones, These are my stories. This is what God

440
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: has done for me. So here's another one. I really

441
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 1: like this one, This is probably my favorite one. Who

442
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: wants to do this one? You want the prompt? Yeah, okay,

443
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,479
Speaker 1: let's get her a mic Ben Landier. By the way, Ben,

444
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:06,160
Speaker 1: who's your favorite intern on the stage right now? Don't

445
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:08,199
Speaker 1: answer that. I'll just give it to Mike. Just give it.

446
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: Like to tell me about the big decision you made

447
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,119
Speaker 1: at the kitchen table that made you feel like you

448
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: were going to throw up in your mouth. And I

449
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,520
Speaker 1: wrote it in an acceptable way. I think I actually

450
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: did throw up in my mouth and swallow it back down.

451
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:27,639
Speaker 1: So here's the story. It's too vivid, I understand. You know,

452
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,879
Speaker 1: when Holly and I got married, she taught school and

453
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: I traveled, and we saved up and put a down

454
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: payment on a house, and we did what Dave Ramsey

455
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,479
Speaker 1: taught in his financial piece, stuff like no debt and

456
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,439
Speaker 1: all that. We try to do that, but other than

457
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,440
Speaker 1: our house. But then another thing we did was he said,

458
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: put an emergency fund. And Dave Ramsey said it, he

459
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:55,399
Speaker 1: said it. It scared me to not do it the

460
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,280
Speaker 1: way he said it. And he said that it should

461
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 1: be a certain amount of your expenses in case something happens,

462
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:02,159
Speaker 1: and he said, do it as quick as you can. Well,

463
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,280
Speaker 1: we were just married, and we didn't start with a

464
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,360
Speaker 1: lot of money or anything like that. We started with

465
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 1: no money. But over time I was able to build

466
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: up and I'll never forget. Like we're in our house

467
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,120
Speaker 1: at three thirty dell Wood Drive, Shelby, North Carolina. Could

468
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,080
Speaker 1: go by there and knock on the door and ask

469
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: the person and say hey, hello, and then go into

470
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 1: the kitchen and then sit down and you'll see the

471
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:27,320
Speaker 1: spot where this happened. Okay, all right, So we had

472
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:29,199
Speaker 1: just put that amount of money. We just hit the

473
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: amount in the savings account. And I was going in

474
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: to tell Holly, Hey, good news. We got our emergency fund.

475
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: We hit the number because we set the number, hit

476
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 1: the number, and when I went in to tell her,

477
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,159
Speaker 1: prompt something prompted me, And at first I thought it

478
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,920
Speaker 1: was the devil. I really did, because it was like, Hey,

479
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,439
Speaker 1: what if you gave that money instead. We didn't have

480
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,639
Speaker 1: kids yet, we didn't have that pressure of providing for children.

481
00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:00,120
Speaker 1: Yet we were young. We could afford number one combo

482
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: at the Mexican restaurant, and so it was like, what

483
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,439
Speaker 1: if you gave it away? Would you do that? So

484
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: when I sat down at the table, I told Holly, hey,

485
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:15,240
Speaker 1: I got good news and bad news. The good news

486
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,160
Speaker 1: is we've got our emergency fund, like the less deposit

487
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 1: we made it to the she said, let's say bad news.

488
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,159
Speaker 1: I think God, God might be I don't know if

489
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 1: I use the word prompting, but I feel like an

490
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 1: impression that we should give it away. And see, I'm

491
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: counting on her to say that's not God, Like I'm

492
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: counting on her to have no faith, right because then

493
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: I can say, well, Lord, the woman that you gave me,

494
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 1: you know, And she goes, oh cool, I trust you.

495
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 1: God spoke to you this book. You know it's good.

496
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 1: It's good. Dang it woman. And so I remember sitting

497
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,800
Speaker 1: down writing fives. I remember who we wrote them to.

498
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 1: It's not important. We didn't have Elevation Church at the

499
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: church we were part of at the time, another ministry,

500
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,879
Speaker 1: and we gave it away. But the funniest thing was

501
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:12,800
Speaker 1: while I was doing it, I was like my hands

502
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: were shaking, and right when I've written the last one,

503
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: I felt like a piece. And the way that I

504
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 1: interpreted what the piece that I felt was like God

505
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 1: was saying to me, keep your hands open to me,

506
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 1: no matter how much I bless you with, no matter

507
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,640
Speaker 1: how hard things get at certain times in your life,

508
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: or how tired it seems. And I've experienced both of those.

509
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: Keep your hands open, and if you keep your hands

510
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: open to me, You'll always have everything you need to

511
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: do everything I've called you to do. Now, let me

512
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 1: tell you the sequel to that. Because every Rocky four

513
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 1: has a creed to every red sea has a Jordan.

514
00:28:56,320 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 1: Just as past Monday, I got to sit down with

515
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,320
Speaker 1: our kids at the kitchen table, and it was some

516
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: holy sacred moment. In fact, they were running around. They

517
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,680
Speaker 1: were I think, annoyed that they had to sit and

518
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: listen to these stories again. I think Graham said, Dad,

519
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,600
Speaker 1: we know this already. But what I did I told

520
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 1: them our testimony, and I asked them to bring all

521
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 1: their money to the table, which is really technically my money.

522
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: You have no money, you understand that, But bring my

523
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: money that I let you pretend like is your money

524
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: and keeping your little stupid wallet, bring it to the table.

525
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: Abby has more money than the boys. I don't know

526
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: what she's running on the side of school selling some

527
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: jolly ranchers or something. Abby is so loaded. She's like

528
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: says to her brothers all the time, you need to

529
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 1: visit the bank of Abby seven. I sound and I'm like, hey,

530
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 1: it's time. It's your end offering. You know, we did

531
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: this with Waymaker, we did this with Surround, we did this.

532
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 1: We've been doing this since they were conscious. Like here's

533
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: mommy and Daddy and remember Da da Dad Bo Bob.

534
00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,320
Speaker 1: Because different times we've done that over and over again,

535
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,560
Speaker 1: not the tithe but above and beyond. And then we

536
00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 1: pray about it. And sometimes God will give me, like

537
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 1: a specific number that's meaningful. Sometimes I'll think I have

538
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 1: the number, and then it's not the right one because

539
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: it doesn't take faith. And God will stretch me because

540
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: one will be what I can do, and then one

541
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: will be something that really says how I need him.

542
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 1: But when I was walking him through that and I'm like,

543
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 1: sit down and listen to this. You know you need

544
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 1: to hear this story. I realized something that just this

545
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:37,000
Speaker 1: year we hit a milestone where now Holly and I,

546
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,320
Speaker 1: by the grace of God, have been able to give

547
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: to this church Elevation Church. Not what we originally gave

548
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: at the kitchen table and shelby the emergency fund, and

549
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: not two times that. But over the course of this church,

550
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: we've been able to give not ten times and I

551
00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:57,520
Speaker 1: couldn't really believe this number, not one hundred times, but

552
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: a thousand times what we gave at that hitching table

553
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 1: through this ministry. And I'm not going to tell you

554
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 1: the amount because it's not about the size of the gift.

555
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: It's about the sacrifice. That's what it's always about. Like

556
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,560
Speaker 1: some people sit through this teaching and God prompts them

557
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,719
Speaker 1: to give a million dollars, and they're able to do that.

558
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: We've seen that. But some people God prompts, and God

559
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 1: prompts them to do something that would seem small, but

560
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: to him it's bigger because it represents something that comes

561
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 1: from your heart. That's all God is. I went I

562
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: went to Elevution who just talked about money. Now talking

563
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,959
Speaker 1: about money and talking about your heart where your treasure is,

564
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 1: your heart will be also and we talk about every

565
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: element of your heart. But until this happens, until your

566
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,160
Speaker 1: hands are open to God, That's that's what the offering

567
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 1: is about. It's about getting your hands open. Not because

568
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 1: God needs what you have, You need what He has.

569
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 4: I'm preaching on this stool. I don't even need a

570
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:09,600
Speaker 4: pulpit for this sermon. I am preaching on this school DRUGO.

571
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: I'm grateful, you know, like when we first gave to Outreach,

572
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 1: I had no idea that it was a set up

573
00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 1: to see it as a stepping stone. It was a

574
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 1: stepping stone. God was setting the table because when this

575
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 1: church didn't have much money, Hurricane Katrina hit and I

576
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 1: felt a prompting reach out to somebody in New Orleans

577
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:34,960
Speaker 1: or in the area, and I found a pastor in

578
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: slide El, Louisiana, and we sent him sixteen hundred bucks

579
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: that we did not have. We needed that money for

580
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: our church. But I was operating out of the same principle,

581
00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 1: you keep your hands open to me and see what

582
00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: I will do through you. And now the fact that

583
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: we've given and will have given by the end of

584
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 1: this year, over forty million dollars away to those in need,

585
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: come on, sin you right now, the praise God for

586
00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:08,000
Speaker 1: what we've been able to do around the world. You

587
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: kind of go back and you wonder, you wonder, you

588
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: wonder what if what if we had said no back then?

589
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 1: What if I said now, I'm gonna keep my little

590
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: sixteen dollars for our outreach. I'm gonna keep my And

591
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: God is prompting some of you to open your hands

592
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 1: to him, and I pray that you'll know that. Joy,

593
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 1: it's a real privilege. It's a real privilege. Let's just

594
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 1: do another prompt. I think we got time for one

595
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: or two more. You win you this one? You sure

596
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: this is a big one. Don't screw it up. Take

597
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,600
Speaker 1: the post it now, a shiny cross around your neck.

598
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 1: Tell me about the silver bullet of the church planting,

599
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,480
Speaker 1: the silver bullet of church planting. You want to know

600
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: about that? You sure? I don't know if you can

601
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: handle the silver bullet of church planting. I certainly wasn't

602
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:07,040
Speaker 1: ready for the silver bullet of church planting. So imagine

603
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: this church has not started yet. I'm meeting with the

604
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,800
Speaker 1: seven families that moved here to start the church. Come on,

605
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: let's go back to the Jordan for a minute. You

606
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,440
Speaker 1: got to go back to where you started and revisit

607
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 1: these miracles. So at that time I didn't know anything

608
00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:22,879
Speaker 1: to teach these people. So all we did was read

609
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:25,120
Speaker 1: books from people who knew how to start church because

610
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: we never started one. I was twenty five years old.

611
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I mean, I'm scared to death,

612
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:33,200
Speaker 1: but I feel like God is prompting us to start

613
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 1: this church. And we had just decided to come to

614
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:39,560
Speaker 1: Charlotte to start it. We put up a map and anyway,

615
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 1: you don't need to know all that point is. I

616
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: brought in a guy who I thought was like an

617
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: expert in church planting, and I asked him talk to

618
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 1: my team, tell him anything you want, and I'll give

619
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 1: you a fifty dollars Chili's gift card. At the time

620
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 1: that seemed generous. We got it from credit card rebate points. Okay,

621
00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,279
Speaker 1: And so he's like, you don't have to give me anything,

622
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,040
Speaker 1: just stop coming. Nice guy, and he shared with us

623
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 1: a little bit about evangelism, a little bit about marketing,

624
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 1: a little bit about team building, unity groups, all the

625
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:11,719
Speaker 1: typical stuff. But then when it was over, we'd been

626
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,759
Speaker 1: recording the whole session so we could listen to it

627
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: and learn from it and taking notes, and all the

628
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 1: families are sitting around the table and he's like at

629
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: the end, he goes, okay, can you turn that off

630
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 1: a minute. Can you stop recording? You turn off? And

631
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 1: he goes, can you shut the door? What's about to

632
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:35,440
Speaker 1: happen here? And we shut the door and he's like,

633
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:42,440
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna give you the silver bullet of church planting.

634
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: I'm about I'm about to hear this. And then he goes,

635
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,480
Speaker 1: there's friends that you have that belong to other churches,

636
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,479
Speaker 1: and those churches are big, and they tithed to their church,

637
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,399
Speaker 1: but their church wouldn't miss it if they stopped. Get

638
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,080
Speaker 1: them to transfer their tithe from that big church to

639
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: your little church for twenty four months. And when he

640
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:13,920
Speaker 1: said it, it felt like a bullet, not a silver bullet,

641
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 1: but it felt like if we did that, if we

642
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,719
Speaker 1: started this church on that kind of manipulation, then we

643
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,800
Speaker 1: would always have to manipulate. And I thanked him. I

644
00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,959
Speaker 1: didn't correct him until he left the room. I said,

645
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,440
Speaker 1: thank you for coming, appreciate it. God bless you. He prayed,

646
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 1: he left. I shut the door again. When he left,

647
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: I said to the team, I said, we will not

648
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 1: build this church on those types of principles. If we're

649
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,360
Speaker 1: going to do God's work and God's will, we'll have

650
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: to do it God's way, and it was a temptation

651
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,440
Speaker 1: in the moment, you know, because it was strategic. And

652
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 1: sometimes sometimes you'll be prompted to take a shortcut and

653
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: to do it your way, and you can justify it,

654
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 1: you know. But in that moment, here's what God prompted

655
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 1: me to ask of that team. And these are just

656
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 1: normal people, some of them with small children, all of

657
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 1: them moving with no job. We didn't have some big funding.

658
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,360
Speaker 1: It was nothing like that. It's nothing like that. I

659
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:24,240
Speaker 1: just said, what if we gave ten percent the tithe

660
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 1: to the church that we're currently a part of until

661
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:30,360
Speaker 1: we leave that is sending us, and another ten percent

662
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 1: to the new one we're starting. But if we all

663
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 1: committed to lead the way and to do that so

664
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: that when we stand up and ask people to be

665
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 1: a part of this, we will have set an example

666
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,239
Speaker 1: that they can follow. Do you want to know why

667
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: God is using this ministry today? And now, like I

668
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:52,120
Speaker 1: look in the camera and it's like in Singapore and

669
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 1: Cape Town and Gastonia and all kinds of places all

670
00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,800
Speaker 1: around the world. It's not because of it's not because

671
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 1: of great preaching. It's because of personal sacrifice that people

672
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:09,439
Speaker 1: were willing to make and hear me.

673
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 4: I appreciate the front row, but I want to say

674
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,440
Speaker 4: something to everybody watching this sermon.

675
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:20,399
Speaker 1: If we become now just consumers Christian consumers where it's

676
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: like I didn't really like the word today. I didn't

677
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 1: do my song today. I was a guest today. I

678
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,799
Speaker 1: was of this. If it becomes about that, God will

679
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,080
Speaker 1: shut it all down, because that is not what this

680
00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:38,319
Speaker 1: church was founded on. You see how they're looking at

681
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 1: me out there. It's like this, you are sitting right

682
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:49,840
Speaker 1: now in somebody else's sacrifice. I always thought that was

683
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,400
Speaker 1: so crazy. People come and go. I don't. I don't

684
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 1: like when the church talks about giving. How do you

685
00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:57,799
Speaker 1: think there was a church for you to come to?

686
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 1: If somebody didn't get me too? JJ. I love to

687
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 1: tell the story of how that original core team they're

688
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: all still here at the church. By the way, all

689
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 1: of those families. Do you know how rare that is

690
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,759
Speaker 1: that God kept those families together these twelve and a

691
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:23,320
Speaker 1: half years. And now God is calling on another generation.

692
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,240
Speaker 1: And I really don't have time for the last two stones.

693
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,399
Speaker 1: I'd like to give them to you, but I'm only

694
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:32,520
Speaker 1: going to be able to give you one of them,

695
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna let you vote on this one. Which

696
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,480
Speaker 1: one you want. Do you want to hear about the

697
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:43,880
Speaker 1: time that John the Baptists came into my office? Or

698
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: option A? Or do you hear about the time that

699
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: we took a bus ride from Hell? These are your options.

700
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,000
Speaker 1: Pray about it. See if God prompts you. Who wants

701
00:39:57,040 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: to hear John the Baptists make some noise at every location.

702
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: Who wants to hear about the bus ride from Hell?

703
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:10,319
Speaker 1: Makes them all right? So John the Baptist, I'm gonna

704
00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: tell you this one real quick. That's the time that

705
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,759
Speaker 1: John Butler, who was a Baptist who yeah, he was

706
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,439
Speaker 1: a Baptist preacher, and he came in my office. Listen

707
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:22,200
Speaker 1: to this. You heard this last night, but listen again.

708
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 1: You need to hear these stories over and over again.

709
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: He came in and he had three hundred thousand dollars.

710
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,880
Speaker 1: He had a denominational job. He'd been coming to the church.

711
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 1: The church was full. He sits on my couch in

712
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,120
Speaker 1: my office. He asked for meeting with me, and he said, well, preacher,

713
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:37,919
Speaker 1: you were full this Sunday. I noticed you were full.

714
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:39,800
Speaker 1: I noticed there wasn't an empty seat in the house.

715
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,439
Speaker 1: And I'm so proud of that. I was like, yes, sir,

716
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: praise the Lord, you know, spiritualize it, but really I

717
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 1: was proud of it. Yes, sir, praise the Lord. We

718
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:52,600
Speaker 1: prayed for it. Praise God. He goes, Preacher, that's a problem.

719
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 1: I said, no, it's not a problem. It's a goal.

720
00:40:55,760 --> 00:40:57,399
Speaker 1: I want a full house. He said, yeah, but you're

721
00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 1: telling these people to bring their friends. Friend's gonna sit.

722
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,000
Speaker 1: You need to start another campus. And I have three

723
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:08,000
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars that a little old lady who died

724
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 1: left to the Baptist Convention for church planting, and I'll

725
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 1: give it to you if you'll start another campus. And

726
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:16,000
Speaker 1: here's what I said. And I'm ashamed to tell you

727
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 1: this to this day because for all of you that

728
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 1: think this is just a brag session to tell you

729
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:21,800
Speaker 1: about my great faith, it's not. It's about God's faithfulness

730
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 1: in spite of it. Because I looked at that man

731
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: and says, I don't have the gifts to do that.

732
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:44,759
Speaker 1: People will not watch me preach on a screen. So

733
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,360
Speaker 1: I thank God for what he said. Next so powerful.

734
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:53,920
Speaker 1: He said, here's how it works, preacher, And he's talking

735
00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 1: to me like a like, like a young punk like

736
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,680
Speaker 1: I was. But he said it would love to He said,

737
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:06,440
Speaker 1: if you get ahead of God trying to obey him,

738
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:11,320
Speaker 1: he'll just shut the door. If you get behind God

739
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,880
Speaker 1: and won't obey him, he'll just get somebody else to

740
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:19,240
Speaker 1: do it. You take a few days and pray about it, preacher,

741
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,560
Speaker 1: and let me know what you want to do. And

742
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:23,120
Speaker 1: he got up to walk out. I say, you gotta

743
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 1: come back. We'll do it. We'll do We'll do that.

744
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,960
Speaker 1: Don't want God to make somebody else. Come on.

745
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,600
Speaker 3: I want in on this. I want to be in

746
00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 3: the middle of what God is doing. And now today

747
00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 3: watch this over over.

748
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,759
Speaker 4: I want to say it's seventeen locations. It's more than that,

749
00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,240
Speaker 4: because somebody's watching this in a hospital room on a screen,

750
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,200
Speaker 4: somebody's watching this on television, somebody's watching this in a prison.

751
00:42:56,600 --> 00:43:04,960
Speaker 1: And it it starts when you respond to a prompting. So,

752
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 1: for just a moment, would you just see that right

753
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,759
Speaker 1: there where you are, for a moment, would you make

754
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:16,160
Speaker 1: a space right now in your heart for the Holy

755
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 1: Spirit to prompt you in an area of your life

756
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:22,960
Speaker 1: where He is speaking to you. But you have not

757
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 1: yet responded, Joshua said, set up these stones so that

758
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 1: when the children of Israel ask you what these stones mean,

759
00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 1: you can tell them what God did. I did my

760
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:39,840
Speaker 1: best today in the little bit of time that we

761
00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: had to tell you some of the things that God

762
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,680
Speaker 1: has done for us in the twelve and a half

763
00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: years that we've been a church, some of it before

764
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:51,000
Speaker 1: you got here. Some of you have been here for

765
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 1: many of these miracles. And I did it in hopes

766
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,480
Speaker 1: that it would prompt you to know that when faith

767
00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:03,120
Speaker 1: skips a generation, and when we start to stand in

768
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:05,480
Speaker 1: the middle of something that God did that was extraordinary

769
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:11,400
Speaker 1: and treated as common, miracles start to dry up and

770
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,200
Speaker 1: all I'm asking you to do as we prepare for

771
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:17,800
Speaker 1: next weekend online around the world. You know, we've already

772
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:22,640
Speaker 1: had the conversation with our family. Here's here's Abby's money.

773
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:26,960
Speaker 1: That's the biggest money, is the kid's money. That's what

774
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,480
Speaker 1: God prompted them to do. Holly and I have have

775
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 1: been praying, and I didn't tell you this yet, but

776
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:35,960
Speaker 1: in my heart while I was preaching last night, my

777
00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:38,760
Speaker 1: number went up. So we need to talk again. Because

778
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 1: one number was comfortable and then the other number represented

779
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,560
Speaker 1: a commitment to not rest on what God has already done,

780
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:51,919
Speaker 1: but to make way for what He wants to do.

781
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:58,759
Speaker 1: And the ask is very simple. Ask God, ask him

782
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:00,359
Speaker 1: to prompt you. Some of you have never been through

783
00:45:00,400 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 1: this process, so you've never taken it seriously, and I

784
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:07,440
Speaker 1: understand it. It's uncomfortable. But this card is a prompt.

785
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 1: It's a prompt for you. You know what a great

786
00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:18,359
Speaker 1: word prompt, prompt, prompt. It also means a media prompt, prompt. Yes,

787
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:21,359
Speaker 1: God is yours. Of course God. Of course I would

788
00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: advance your work. Of course I would give to you.

789
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,600
Speaker 1: Of course I would be generous. Of course I would

790
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 1: want to make away for someone else like you made

791
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 1: away for me. Of course, Lord, it's yours. When you

792
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,839
Speaker 1: get that kind of spirit in your heart, you begin

793
00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 1: to experience promises of God that you could never imagine.

794
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 1: This is not some name it claimant, blabbit grab it

795
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,600
Speaker 1: weird theology where I'm telling you that you can get

796
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,360
Speaker 1: a Mercedes if you give God ten dollars. I'm believe

797
00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,400
Speaker 1: in that. I'm appreach that never have, never will. What

798
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,680
Speaker 1: I'm telling you is a testimony that God has made

799
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,520
Speaker 1: a way for me time after time, and I want

800
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,000
Speaker 1: to see him do the same in your life. If

801
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,680
Speaker 1: that means that right now you're in a season where

802
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: you can't give, then let this be the season that

803
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: someone else carries the load. There's nothing wrong with that.

804
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 1: But you pray, you pray that those who are able

805
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 1: to give will give, not on the level that's comfortable,

806
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:11,520
Speaker 1: but on the level that represents a true commitment to

807
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,440
Speaker 1: the cause of Christ. Maybe never become like this when

808
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:18,920
Speaker 1: we started like this. So want you to buy your

809
00:46:18,960 --> 00:46:21,480
Speaker 1: head and close your eyes, no one moving. This is

810
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 1: a pretty important moment right now is a setup for

811
00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 1: something that God wants to do in the future. And

812
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: I'd like to just give you one minute, just sixty

813
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:38,319
Speaker 1: seconds after I stopped talking, and if you would ask

814
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:40,320
Speaker 1: God silently. You don't have to pray out loud or

815
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 1: anything like that. Maybe you want to just open your hands,

816
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:44,360
Speaker 1: just physically, like right in front of you. That's what

817
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 1: I'd do sometimes when I'm praying about a message or

818
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 1: when I'm asking God for direction in my life, maybe

819
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: just with your hands open and just say, God, would

820
00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:04,840
Speaker 1: you prompt me, prompt me to respond to the gospel

821
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,279
Speaker 1: that You've freely given me? As I get the opportunity

822
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:12,200
Speaker 1: to share it with others. You speak to me specifically, God,

823
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:16,240
Speaker 1: show me how I can be used as I prepare

824
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,359
Speaker 1: my offering side give it online this week or bring

825
00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: it back next weekend. Show me what you've given me

826
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,640
Speaker 1: that came from you, that I can now give back

827
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:32,359
Speaker 1: as an offering. And in just a moment, I'm going

828
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,640
Speaker 1: to allow you to sit. You know, God often doesn't shout,

829
00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:40,399
Speaker 1: He doesn't like draw stuff in the sky. He doesn't

830
00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: always respond with a big sign that comes from Heaven

831
00:47:43,719 --> 00:47:49,359
Speaker 1: out loud. He speaks in a whisper, still, small voice.

832
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:53,759
Speaker 1: He prompts you, and it is your response to that

833
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:59,719
Speaker 1: prompting that determines how much of His promises you experience. So, Father,

834
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:03,880
Speaker 1: now speak to your people in this minute of silence

835
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:08,000
Speaker 1: and throughout the next week, and prompt them as to

836
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:11,080
Speaker 1: what you would have them to do in obedience. Thank

837
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:12,000
Speaker 1: you for joining us.

838
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:14,759
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

839
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:18,320
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

840
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,

841
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,680
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information,

842
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

843
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:30,600
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.

844
00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,200
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

845
00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:35,359
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at

846
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:36,239
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.

847
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.