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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdeik. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

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Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

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Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

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Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 1: Come on, somebody saying in the chest shout now out now,

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Speaker 1: dance now, love now, live now, trust now. Thank you Lord.

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Speaker 1: What an awesome, awesome, awesome thing to celebrate. Please do

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Speaker 1: not groove back there, because I will take up all

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Speaker 1: of my preaching time. That bass guitar in Shae Wooten's

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Speaker 1: hands is dangerous. He does these little leaks that make

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Speaker 1: me start singing again, and I'm not going to fall

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Speaker 1: for it. The devil is a liar, all right. He's

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Speaker 1: got hair like Jesus, but he's acting like Judas right now.

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Speaker 1: He's trying to betray me. Oh, if you know the

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Speaker 1: joy of the Lord is in this place. If the

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Speaker 1: joy of the Lord is your strength, come on and

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Speaker 1: give God your favorite emoji. I don't know your favorite emoji,

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Speaker 1: but if it is church appropriate, put it in the chat.

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Speaker 1: I want to see you. I want to see you.

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Speaker 1: You want to fight me, devil, you gotta fight my friend.

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Speaker 1: I love it. My friend's name was Ish Hall. Remember Ish.

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Speaker 1: He was the biggest, the biggest, baddest dude. And I

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Speaker 1: was like, Hey, if you start any ish with me,

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Speaker 1: you got to go through Ish to finish it. How

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Speaker 1: many know that if if the Devil started it, God

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Speaker 1: is gonna finish it. Bad no way, way, way, way way,

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Speaker 1: no way. Do we need to pray? Lord? I pray

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Speaker 1: for Pastor Steve, and he appears to be losing his

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Speaker 1: mind in quarantine. I'm kind of glad to lose my mind.

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Speaker 1: My mind is always overthinking and overanalyzing and making up stories.

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Speaker 1: I want to live from my spirit. I want to

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Speaker 1: see what God is showing me. I want to hear

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Speaker 1: what God is speaking Lord. In these moments we have

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Speaker 1: gathered together, we would much prefer to be together in

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Speaker 1: a watch party in Chicago, or maybe in a building

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Speaker 1: at our Concord location or our Greenville location. We barely

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Speaker 1: got to start that campus and we had to close

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Speaker 1: it because of quarantine. But we thank you Lord that

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Speaker 1: you are still making a way for us to meet together,

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Speaker 1: and we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

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Speaker 1: That might look like buildings in one season, and it

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Speaker 1: may look like streams and screens in the next season.

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Speaker 1: That's not our concern. But in this moment we have

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Speaker 1: decided to meet with you. I thank you for my

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Speaker 1: brother and my sister on the other side of this screen.

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Speaker 1: Right now. I pray that you would connect us by

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Speaker 1: the power of the Holy Spirit, that the words I

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Speaker 1: speak today would go straight to their heart. Do a

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Speaker 1: bypass surgery, bypass all the beliefs that would keep them

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Speaker 1: from hearing what you want to say. Get into the

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Speaker 1: place where they can, where they can receive your word,

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Speaker 1: receive a revelation. We give you all the glory today.

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Speaker 1: We thank you that Holli Ferdick looks better at forty

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Speaker 1: than she did when I met her. I thank you

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Speaker 1: Lord that you gave me a wife who she only

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Speaker 1: goes from glory to glory, from pretty to pretty, from

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Speaker 1: strength to strength. We bless her today before her fortieth birthday,

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Speaker 1: that the best is yet to that her ministry has

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Speaker 1: just begun. We thank you for the words she delivered

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Speaker 1: to us last week. She told us how you are

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Speaker 1: the bread God. Would you continue to feed her? Speak

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Speaker 1: to her nourish her as she refreshes us, may she

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Speaker 1: herself be refreshed. We thank you for what she means

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Speaker 1: to our church community around the world. Bless her so

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Speaker 1: much that she has to ask you to stop. Give

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Speaker 1: her a good measure, press down, shaking together, running over,

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Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, I pray the same thing over your

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Speaker 1: life today. Put it in the chat. Which one you

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Speaker 1: like the best? Good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over?

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Speaker 1: Pick one. I gave you four options. Good measure, pressed out,

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Speaker 1: shaking together, running over, Good measure, pressed out, shaking together,

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Speaker 1: running over. Put it in the chack. God is with you.

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Speaker 1: What a mighty god we serve. Anybody who loves him,

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Speaker 1: say amen at the top of your voice. I love him.

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Speaker 1: I love him so much. I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: are ready to receive this word today. It's probably too

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Speaker 1: encouraging for you. You probably don't want to be encouraged.

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Speaker 1: You probably want to be scared watching the news or

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Speaker 1: something like that, hearing them talk about all of bad

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Speaker 1: things that might happen. But I thought, you know, we're

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Speaker 1: all get in our fill of that anyway. I want

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Speaker 1: to bring you a good report today, A good report

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Speaker 1: and let me share this passage. It's a very, very

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Speaker 1: very beautiful selection of scripture. Indeed, one of the most

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Speaker 1: foundational for me in understanding faith and even in church leadership.

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Speaker 1: How many times have you heard me talk about Isaiah

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Speaker 1: fifty four where he says to the nation of Israel

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Speaker 1: that I want you to enlarge and expand your frame

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Speaker 1: of reference. And I believe God is going to show

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Speaker 1: you some opportunities today that you haven't been seeing. He's

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Speaker 1: going to show you, by the spirit, some opportunities that

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Speaker 1: your mind has been unable to recognize. One opportunity that

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Speaker 1: you have right now is to invite somebody to join

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Speaker 1: in this worship experience. I'm going to give you just

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Speaker 1: a moment to find Isaiah fifty four and also to

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Speaker 1: invite someone to join with you. Send them a text

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Speaker 1: message say come to church with me. They're going to

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Speaker 1: be like I didn't think we were allowed to go

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Speaker 1: to church. Let me get my mask ready, let me

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Speaker 1: get dressed. I'm not dressed to be like. You don't

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Speaker 1: even have You don't need a mask, you don't need mascara,

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Speaker 1: you need anything. But God has a message for you today.

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Speaker 1: If you know somebody who's trying to put their life

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Speaker 1: back together. Text them right now or share this on

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Speaker 1: your social media. Put it on your story right now,

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Speaker 1: because there is a word from the Lord. I'm giving

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Speaker 1: you a minute. Text me if the people are sharing

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Speaker 1: or not. I can't see whether or not they're sharing,

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Speaker 1: so give me a statistic real quick. Do you remember

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Speaker 1: that show with Diddy where he was shut down the

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Speaker 1: studio if they didn't do what he wanted. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: shut down the pulpit until y'all share this link. God

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Speaker 1: bless Shawn Combs Isaiah fifty four, verse one, Sing baron woman,

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Speaker 1: you who never bore a child, burst into song, shout

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Speaker 1: for joy? Why y'all waiting? We just said, don't wait.

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Speaker 1: Shout now. I read you a scripture. What are y'all

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Speaker 1: waiting for? One thousand people? Two thousand people in the room,

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Speaker 1: he said, Sing barn woman and shout for joy. I

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Speaker 1: know it's gonna scare your kids, but shout real quick,

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Speaker 1: come on, shout a shout of joy. You've been yelling

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Speaker 1: at your kids all week to clean up, But shout

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Speaker 1: right now, he said, because more are the children of

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Speaker 1: the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.

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Speaker 1: Enlarge the place of your tent. Look at somebody and say,

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Speaker 1: you look bigger than the last time I saw you.

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Speaker 1: You were scared to say that to your wife, weren't you, Josh.

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Speaker 1: That's wisdom, brother, enlarge the place of your tent. Stretch

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Speaker 1: your tent curtains wide, Do not hold back. Strengthen your chords,

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Speaker 1: or rather, lengthen your chords. Strengthen your steaks. Lengthen your cords.

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Speaker 1: Strengthen your steaks. We're going to talk about those words

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Speaker 1: in a moment. For you will spread out to the

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Speaker 1: right and to the left. Tell somebody I need room.

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Speaker 1: I need room. Well, y'all got plenty of it out

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Speaker 1: there today. For your descendants will dispossess nations and settle

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Speaker 1: in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid. You will

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Speaker 1: not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace. You

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Speaker 1: will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of

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Speaker 1: your youth, and remember no more at the reproach of

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Speaker 1: your widowhood. I want to speak to you from an

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Speaker 1: unusual title today, but those of you in the construction industry,

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Speaker 1: or if you've been renovating a house, or maybe you're

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Speaker 1: looking at buying a house. Maybe this term will be

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Speaker 1: a little more familiar. And since we've all been at

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Speaker 1: home a lot lately, more than usual, I thought I

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Speaker 1: would use as a title for this sermon, flex space.

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Speaker 1: Flex space. You may be seated, Go get your stools

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Speaker 1: and come back. Ten nine eight seven six five. I

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Speaker 1: don't think they're going to beat the buzzer on this one.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to tell you a story I I don't

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Speaker 1: know if you've ever heard this one for when we

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Speaker 1: were trying to get the Matthews Plaza where our offices are.

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Speaker 1: Now you only know those as the offices of Elevation Church,

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Speaker 1: But it used to be an Ashley Furniture warehouse, and

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Speaker 1: then there was a couple other stores. Okay, now stores

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Speaker 1: were these things that we used to go into to

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Speaker 1: buy supply. Oh man, The story, though, Abby goes like this,

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Speaker 1: and then you can ask mister Chunks later if I'm

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Speaker 1: getting all the details right. But we were planning to

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Speaker 1: rent about forty two thousand square feet to make it

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Speaker 1: our offices and to have our Matthews campus back in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. In two thousand and seven, now,

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Speaker 1: some of y'all are just new to this ministry, and

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Speaker 1: you've never been to one of our physical locations. Because

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Speaker 1: now we have EPAM all over the world and God

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Speaker 1: is redefining what church is as we speak. We're excited

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Speaker 1: about that because our old preconceptions about needing to gather

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Speaker 1: together in a physical space to have a spiritual connection

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Speaker 1: were so limited that God did not place those limitations

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Speaker 1: on his church to begin with. He told Abram, go

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Speaker 1: to the land. I'll show you, and I'm going to

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Speaker 1: make you a blessing to the whole earth. He told Joshua,

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Speaker 1: everywhere you put your foot, I'm going to give it

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Speaker 1: to you. So God is not confined to a location.

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Speaker 1: We've just been confined to a mindset for so long

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Speaker 1: that God is exploding some of our limitations in this

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Speaker 1: season because he wants out of the box. Nevertheless, we

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Speaker 1: needed an office space. God doesn't need an office. The

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Speaker 1: earth is his footstool, but we need a desk and

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Speaker 1: internet connection. So we thought it'd be great because we

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Speaker 1: could get this forty two thousand square feet rent it.

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Speaker 1: The church was growing and exploding, and listen, you need

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Speaker 1: to know some of the history of the church, because

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Speaker 1: there are tens of thousands of new family members that

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Speaker 1: were welcoming to Elevation Church. Over the course of the

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Speaker 1: last sixty six days, since we have not been able

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Speaker 1: to meet physically, God has increased our reach like never before.

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Speaker 1: It's just like him to use a shut down to

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Speaker 1: show off all ain't ready for me. So we were

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Speaker 1: going to raise some money, which you have to have

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Speaker 1: to rent space. Okay, God inhabits the praises of his people,

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Speaker 1: but if you want to inhabit a physical space, God

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Speaker 1: inhabits the rent payment and then you get to go there.

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Speaker 1: That's how that works. It's transactional. And we set up

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Speaker 1: a meeting to take our donors over to the space

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Speaker 1: where we were going to lease forty two thousand square

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Speaker 1: feet and we were going to show them the space

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Speaker 1: and ask them to pay for it. Okay, I know

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Speaker 1: you probably remember certain moments in your life where you

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Speaker 1: got the worst news of your life, and I want

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Speaker 1: you to think about it right now. It's going to

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Speaker 1: bring the mood way down. We've been having fun so far.

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Speaker 1: This is going to be very much a slam on

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Speaker 1: the brakes moment, but I want you to do it anyway.

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Speaker 1: Think of the worst news that you ever got in

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Speaker 1: your life. This is not the worst news I ever

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Speaker 1: got in my life. At the time it was in

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Speaker 1: the top five. A lot of crap has happened since then.

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Speaker 1: I don't even think this makes the top fifty. Now

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Speaker 1: at age forty, Live a little while, and it'll demote

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Speaker 1: the things. You know, God, this is a disaster. Live

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Speaker 1: a little while, you'll be saying that was a mild disappointment,

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Speaker 1: that was a temporary setback, or you might even say

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Speaker 1: that was actually a blessing in disguise. Give it time,

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Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to say. Give it time, and

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Speaker 1: upon reflecting on some of the events of your life,

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Speaker 1: you can see how the spaces where you thought God

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Speaker 1: had left you were actually the setups for him to

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Speaker 1: do some of the greatest things he did in your life.

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Speaker 1: And So Chunks, who's our CFO. That's not his legal name,

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Speaker 1: but he goes by Chunks. James is his legal name.

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Speaker 1: But this day I wanted to throw him out of

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Speaker 1: my office because he brought me some bad news. And

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Speaker 1: he walked in my office Abby and told me the

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Speaker 1: deal is dead. Don't he said, don't get too upset,

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Speaker 1: because I've done everything I can do. Don't throw anything

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Speaker 1: at me. It's not my fault. But there is a

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Speaker 1: tenant in the strip, mall am I saying this right,

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Speaker 1: there's a tenant in the plaza that doesn't want us

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Speaker 1: to meet there, and they have an option in their

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Speaker 1: least to say that we can't meet there, and they've

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Speaker 1: decided to exercise their right to say we can't meet.

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Speaker 1: And I said, well, who can we call? He said,

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Speaker 1: I can't call anybody. Can we call ghost No, it

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Speaker 1: can't call Ghostbusters, can't call anybody. There's nothing left to do.

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Speaker 1: The deal is dead. I said, okay, and he said,

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Speaker 1: I guess I'll go ahead and cancel the buses. And

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Speaker 1: now I don't know what it came over me next,

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Speaker 1: because I don't always have this much faith. I usually

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Speaker 1: don't have this much faith, but something in me. Have

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Speaker 1: you ever had something in you tell you that although

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Speaker 1: everything seems to be against you, that God is for you.

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Speaker 1: And see in these moments where you feel that on

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Speaker 1: the inside you don't even know how God is going

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Speaker 1: to do it, but something in you becomes so convinced

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Speaker 1: that neither life nor death, nor angels nor demons, nor

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Speaker 1: the present, nor the future, nor the past, nor any

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Speaker 1: other power shall be able to separate me. So something

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Speaker 1: on the inside of me in that moment. I need

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Speaker 1: you to get this stood up against what was going

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Speaker 1: on around me at the moment. And although I didn't

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Speaker 1: understand what was going on around me, what was inside

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Speaker 1: of me? And I almost like felt myself saying do

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Speaker 1: you ever watch yourself saying stuff? And it's like you're

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Speaker 1: having an out of body experience and you're like, who

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Speaker 1: even is this talking right now? And I said to him,

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Speaker 1: don't cancel anything going anyway. What are we going over

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Speaker 1: there to do? I said, I don't know, yeah, but

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Speaker 1: don't cancel the buses. We had two buses booked. Apparently

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Speaker 1: they were booked on a low budget because they had

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Speaker 1: no air conditioning. It was a Carolina muggy summer when

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Speaker 1: we loaded up our donors and said we are taking

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Speaker 1: you over to a building tonight and we are going

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Speaker 1: to pray. Now. We didn't march around the building seven

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Speaker 1: times or anything like that because we didn't want it

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Speaker 1: to fall down. We just wanted God to let us in.

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Speaker 1: But we got down and we prayed. And I will

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Speaker 1: never forget the sight because some of you come on

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Speaker 1: this church and you're like in a consumer mode, and

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Speaker 1: you don't know this part of the faith that it

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Speaker 1: took for this family to exist all around the world.

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Speaker 1: When they got down on their knees in the loading

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Speaker 1: dock of the Matthews Plaza and prayed, God make a way.

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Speaker 1: And I need somebody to pray that right now, just

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Speaker 1: as boldly as you can. God make away. Now. See

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Speaker 1: the thing about praying God make away is you don't

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Speaker 1: get to define the way that He makes. So we prayed,

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Speaker 1: and I think they have a picture of the plaza.

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Speaker 1: I want to just show you something. This is where

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Speaker 1: we were, and this is what it looked like. And

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Speaker 1: now go to the next picture. This is what it is.

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Speaker 1: I thought y'all would holler for y'ahweigh on that one.

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Speaker 1: I thought y'all would shout to the Lord like Darlene

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Speaker 1: check in nineteen ninety six, because show them the first

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Speaker 1: one again, that's what it was. You can't get in

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Speaker 1: and here's what it is. Every time I drive up

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Speaker 1: to our offices, I have to remember that between what

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Speaker 1: it was go back and what it is was a

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Speaker 1: space where I did not know what God was doing.

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Speaker 1: Why are you talking to me about an office plaza?

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Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm talking to you about this season of

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Speaker 1: your life, and God told me to call it flex space.

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Speaker 1: Flex space, the space between. Give them the pictures one

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Speaker 1: more time, please the space between. Go to the second one,

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Speaker 1: and that this and that. Don't worry. I'm not raising

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Speaker 1: any money. We don't even have, can't even go in

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Speaker 1: our buildings right now. I don't need to buy one.

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Speaker 1: This is not a message about buildings. This is a

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Speaker 1: message about belief, about belief. And it was so cool

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Speaker 1: when Chunks was showing me all the plans for when

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Speaker 1: we finally were able to rent the space, because he

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Speaker 1: called me one morning and said the tenant that didn't

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Speaker 1: want us in just went out of business. I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying that God put them out of business. I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying that God made a way. I'm not here to

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Speaker 1: tell you the details of how he did. How many

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Speaker 1: of you know. I'm not saying that I deserve it.

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Speaker 1: I'm just saying I've got it. I'm not saying that

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Speaker 1: it all makes sense. I'm just saying I have faith. Granma,

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Speaker 1: my preaching too hard for these quarantine Christians. I'm not

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Speaker 1: saying it's not scary. I'm just saying God is with me.

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Speaker 1: I can't explain that, but I got it. So he

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Speaker 1: was showing me how on the blueprint because I'm not

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Speaker 1: very good at visualizing. This isn't my expertise. This is

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Speaker 1: Josh Blackson and chunks. They were showing me the square

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Speaker 1: footage that we were going to take over. We don't

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Speaker 1: own forty two thousand square feet of it. We don't

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Speaker 1: rent any of it. We own one hundred and four

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Speaker 1: thousand square feet of it because God blessed us so

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Speaker 1: much that we're able to use all of it to

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Speaker 1: get the gospel out all over the world. That's not

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Speaker 1: my point. My point is this. When he was showing

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Speaker 1: me the square footage, there was one piece that when

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Speaker 1: we were buying the property, we were buying the entire

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Speaker 1: one hundred and forty thousand square feet. I said, what

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Speaker 1: about that space because it didn't have anything in it.

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Speaker 1: This was going to be the creative office, and this

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Speaker 1: was going to be the auditorium, and this was going

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Speaker 1: to be the meeting room, and this was going to

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Speaker 1: be the conference room. I said, what about this space?

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Speaker 1: And there was a blank part right there where it

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Speaker 1: was just all this square footage that I said, we

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Speaker 1: We're just going to waste all that space. Now, Keshu's revelation.

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Speaker 1: He said, no, it's not wasted space. That's flex space.

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Speaker 1: I said, uh huh, And I know what flex space is,

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Speaker 1: but just so I can hear your definition of it,

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Speaker 1: What exactly do you mean when you say flex space?

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Speaker 1: And he didn't know it. He thought he was talking

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Speaker 1: about a building, but he wasn't. He was talking about faith.

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Speaker 1: He thought he was showing me a floor plan, but

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Speaker 1: really he was showing me faith. He thought he was

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Speaker 1: pointing to a blueprint, but really he was teaching me

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Speaker 1: something about belief. He said, we want to leave this

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Speaker 1: space empty on purpose, so we can grow into it.

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Speaker 1: You remember saying all this, You said something like this.

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Speaker 1: This is the edited version, he said, because he didn't

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Speaker 1: probably say it this eloquently, but this is how I

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Speaker 1: heard it. Okay. He said, this space can be anything

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Speaker 1: we want. So at the time, look how it look.

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Speaker 1: This was the Ashley Furniture showroom. Look at that. I said,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna waste all that space. We're not putting anything

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Speaker 1: in it. He said, it's not wasted, it's flex space.

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Speaker 1: It's designed to be flexible. We don't want to put

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Speaker 1: permanent fixtures in this place yet because we don't know

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Speaker 1: what it needs to be based on how God is

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Speaker 1: going to bless our ministry, so we don't know what

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Speaker 1: ministry is exactly going to look like. But we're gonna leave.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna go ahead and take the space over, but

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Speaker 1: we're not going to assign a purpose for it. He said,

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Speaker 1: it's flex space. Now. In the last few years, let

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Speaker 1: me show you what I've seen. Next picture, I've seen

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Speaker 1: this space become an opportunity for us to stage and

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Speaker 1: set up campuses. You went too far, go back. This

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Speaker 1: is the equipment that is going out to one of

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Speaker 1: our campuses that we started in the last few years

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Speaker 1: flex space. Do you see all of those cases. That's

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Speaker 1: our teams getting ready to send out equipment to our

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Speaker 1: location so we can have church. Now, we didn't even

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Speaker 1: know we were starting the location yet when we were

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Speaker 1: dayed the space as flex space. But God knew the

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Speaker 1: space that we would need for the opportunity. We didn't

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Speaker 1: even know we would have. Next picture, this is our

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Speaker 1: Love Week team where we served our city over one

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Speaker 1: hundred thousand hours with Jamie Waldron's air pods Beta air

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Speaker 1: Pods with the cord in our ears, smiling because we're

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Speaker 1: feeding the hungry, and we're touching the people who know

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Speaker 1: nobody else is touching, and we're moving from this space.

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Speaker 1: This is not a warehouse, it's a headquarters. It's a

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Speaker 1: staging room. The stage is being set for compassion to

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Speaker 1: be released. Next picture. I saw our staff worship in

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Speaker 1: this space as we were growing and expanding, and what

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Speaker 1: looked like it was wasted was a stage that God

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Speaker 1: was setting. How many No, he takes what the enemy

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Speaker 1: means for evils. So he told me that Abby, He said,

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Speaker 1: that's called flex space. Flex space. Isaiah's preaching about flex

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Speaker 1: space to the nation of Israel. See, because this is

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Speaker 1: a very encouraging scripture on the surface, let's read it again.

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Speaker 1: Sing O baron, sing for you're about to have more

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Speaker 1: children than the woman who had children by natural means.

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Speaker 1: But I need you to sing before you see. I

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Speaker 1: got to tell you this because it's just been going

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Speaker 1: through my mind all week. Whatever you do, whatever the

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Speaker 1: enemy takes away from you in this season, For some

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Speaker 1: of you, he's limited your mobility. Your business is three

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Speaker 1: quarters of what it was, or one quarter of what

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Speaker 1: it was, or for some of you. You know, in

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Speaker 1: this season, it's almost like you lost all the progress

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Speaker 1: that you made on the last level. Did you ever

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Speaker 1: have somebody cut off your video game and you lost

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Speaker 1: your progress? That is kind of what the devil did

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Speaker 1: and come along and unplugged it while we were in

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Speaker 1: the middle. And Graham's looking at his mom right now,

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Speaker 1: because sometimes she'll call him to come take out the

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Speaker 1: trash and he'll say, Mom, I'm losing and I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: lose all my progress, and she just shout back, I

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Speaker 1: don't care about your progress. I care about this trash,

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Speaker 1: and I am calling you to a higher level of responsibility.

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Speaker 1: I'm more concerned about this kitchen being a mess than

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Speaker 1: I am about your progress with your Fortnite and your

410
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Speaker 1: Donkey Kong multi generational sermon. But listen to me. Are

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Speaker 1: you listening to me? If you're listening, say man, in

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Speaker 1: this season of feeling like you've lost some progress, oh man,

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Speaker 1: I was just getting here. And I even heard somebody

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Speaker 1: say to me the other day, I was just getting

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Speaker 1: in shape and they closed the gym. You can't do pushups.

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Speaker 1: Somebody else was telling me the other day. They said,

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Speaker 1: they said communication has gotten harder during this time, because

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Speaker 1: you can't see anybody face to face. I said, what

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Speaker 1: is this nineteen seventy two. When's the last time you

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Speaker 1: saw anybody face to face? Anyway? But see how excuses

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Speaker 1: come in to keep us from expanding. Excuses come in

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Speaker 1: to keep us from expanding. And instead of saying, what's

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Speaker 1: another way I could do this? Instead of saying, you know,

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Speaker 1: how could God? How could God actually take what the

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Speaker 1: enemy means for evil and turn it for good? We

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Speaker 1: wed ourselves to what it was, thereby prohibiting the potential

427
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: for it to be transformed. And the thing that I

428
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: wanted to say to somebody is, whatever you lose in

429
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: this season, whatever the devil takes, whatever the quarantine takes,

430
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: whatever the virus takes, whatever it takes, don't you ever

431
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: let the devil have your song? Your song? And I know,

432
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: I know you don't sing very good, but you still

433
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 1: need to sing. I asked one of my friends one time,

434
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:02,840
Speaker 1: why don't you sing along in church? He goes, I

435
00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: love the church and I love the music so much.

436
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: I said, that's weird because I always watch you and

437
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: you never sing. He said, well, I'm not a good singer.

438
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 1: And he said sometimes I don't want to sing it.

439
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: If I don't mean it, I said, tell me more

440
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 1: about that second part. And I know you're not a

441
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,359
Speaker 1: good singer. I've known that for a long time. But

442
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: the second one, what do you mean? He said, Well,

443
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: when we're singing something like you can have it all here,

444
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 1: I am you can have it all. That's a newer

445
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:35,400
Speaker 1: song that we've been singing called Available Here. I am

446
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 1: you can have it all, he said. If I don't

447
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 1: mean that, I don't want to sing it. I don't

448
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:42,159
Speaker 1: know if the Lord gave me this or if it

449
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,199
Speaker 1: was just my idea. I said, well, then sing it

450
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: till you mean it, Sing it till you do mean it,

451
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,800
Speaker 1: Sing it till you do mean it. When you start singing,

452
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 1: it might be like a car that's kind of slow

453
00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,679
Speaker 1: to start up on a Michigan January fourteenth morning, and

454
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: it might go and your praise might be like that.

455
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: You know, it might take a little while to start up.

456
00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, some of y'all are just starting to

457
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,679
Speaker 1: listen to the sermon. You have been running around. And

458
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 1: one of the things that I love about this this

459
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: time where we can't meet together, is it is teaching

460
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 1: you to multipurpose your home as a house for God's

461
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 1: presence to dwell. Now, one thing that I pray does

462
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 1: not happen. Whenever we can come back together physically. I

463
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,160
Speaker 1: hope you don't shut the church down in your home,

464
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,920
Speaker 1: because the same way the Church is coming into your

465
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 1: home right now, your car, right now, your kitchen, right now.

466
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 1: That's what God wants to do. Psalm twenty two to

467
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:47,360
Speaker 1: three says he inhabits the praises of his people. Say it,

468
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: He inhabits the praises of his people. God lives where

469
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 1: praise does. God lives, Where praise does God lives, where

470
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:02,000
Speaker 1: gratitude is Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and enter his

471
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: courts with praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

472
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: He inhabits the praises of his people. So what I

473
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 1: do when I praise God, even if I don't feel it.

474
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 1: When I praise Him, I set the stage for the

475
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: feeling to come when I praise Him by faith. And

476
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 1: He inhabits the praises of his people. I need everybody

477
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: to do me a favor. We do me a favor.

478
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: I'm preaching as hard as I can preach. I'm giving

479
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: you everything I have. I've been up here for the

480
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 1: last sixty six days of quarantine, giving you the Word

481
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:32,800
Speaker 1: of God, doing everything I know how to do for you.

482
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: But now I need you to do something for me.

483
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: I want you to take your phone, or if you're

484
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: watching this on a phone, take somebody else's phone, or

485
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 1: if you could just turn it off for one second

486
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: and do what I'm about to tell you to do,

487
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: then in turn it back on. I want you to

488
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 1: take a picture of where you are watching this sermon

489
00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: and where you are worshiping God, and where you are

490
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: praising God. And I want you to take a selfie

491
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: of it real quick. And I want you to tag

492
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 1: me on Instagram stories or on Facebook, or just tell

493
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 1: me in the comments of YouTube. But I want you

494
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: to tell me because I want see where God went

495
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 1: this morning. I want to see where God went this evening.

496
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 1: I want to see a picture of a place where

497
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 1: the presence of God was. Where you realize, like Jacob,

498
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

499
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 1: And when you put your picture up and when you

500
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 1: tag me, say God was here. God was here. God

501
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,080
Speaker 1: was here. God was here. I didn't go to church

502
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: to meet with God. God came to me. I didn't

503
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: work my way to God. Grace came down, breaking out

504
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: of heaven and save my soul. Now, don't let the

505
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 1: devil take your song. He's taking it off. Give him

506
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: a soud of praise right now, right now, right now.

507
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: Come on, that's not just the living room. That's flex space.

508
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,520
Speaker 1: That's flex face. You didn't know when you were building

509
00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: your house or signing the leaks on your apartment it

510
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: was gonna be a church. But God did his flex face.

511
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 1: Watch this, oh zeke, I appreciate you being a multi

512
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: purpose worshiper. He said, I can sing where I can serve.

513
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 1: I'm flexible. Somebody say I'm flexible. Look how he'd been

514
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 1: down and picked that up. I didn't even know he

515
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: was that fast. I didn't know your hamstrings for that loose.

516
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 1: He just bent down. Come on, let's do a flex test.

517
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 1: How flexible are you? How flexible is your faith? Can

518
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 1: you touch your toes? Get up and let me see

519
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,880
Speaker 1: you stretched. Come on, you've been closed up. The nation

520
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: has been closed down, your faith has been closed up.

521
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:58,440
Speaker 1: But if you'll get moving, God will start working. Seesus

522
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: on the inside, working on the outside. Come on, I'm singing,

523
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 1: I'm stretching. What can we do? Come on, get them up,

524
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: Get them up. My faith is flexible. I am not

525
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,720
Speaker 1: bound to what I thought God was going to do.

526
00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 1: My plans changed, but Gods don't my plans. See was

527
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:34,719
Speaker 1: his plan a good? What's wrong with y'all? Y'all are

528
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,680
Speaker 1: supposed to be on lockdown. They didn't tell you it

529
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: was lockdown. You are not give me your attention real quick, class.

530
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: This behavior is inappropriate. You are supposed to be afraid.

531
00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:57,480
Speaker 1: You are supposed to be captive in Babylon. Don't you know?

532
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: Did I say A fifty four was not written on

533
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 1: the beach? It was not written when the dow Jones

534
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,120
Speaker 1: was at thirty thousand. Don't you know that Isaiah was

535
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:16,080
Speaker 1: a prophet, and the job of the prophet is to

536
00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 1: give people a vision that is not dependent on a situation.

537
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 1: Don't you know that The only reason Isaiah was able

538
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 1: to say, you can sing when you're barn, and you

539
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: can sing when you're scared, and you can sing and

540
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,200
Speaker 1: you can praise, and you can get a thought and

541
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: let it flood your mind. The only reason he was

542
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,920
Speaker 1: able to see that in Isaiah fifty four is because

543
00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 1: he saw it. In Isaiah six. He said, I see

544
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: the Lord seated on a throne high and lifted up

545
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: in the king in the year King. Issaiah died, I

546
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,280
Speaker 1: feel like preaching now. I don't know what happened to

547
00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: me today, but I've been I've been in the house

548
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: long enough. I've been I've been listening to the wrong

549
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,959
Speaker 1: voices long enough. I've been trying to worry and figure

550
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 1: it out long enough. And God said, this is a space.

551
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: I am creating space. Look, Isaiah said, the captivity is

552
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:20,160
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Okay, so the nation of Israel, please let

553
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 1: me teach. This is getting completely out of hand. The

554
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: nation was in captivity for seventy years. It hasn't even

555
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:38,799
Speaker 1: been seventy days since we stopped having physical church. And

556
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,319
Speaker 1: some people not you. I mean, you're watching, right, you're here,

557
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,959
Speaker 1: You're good. Send this over to the person who isn't watching,

558
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:52,359
Speaker 1: because they had to keep hope for seventy years that

559
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: what Isaiah spoke would come to pass. That sounds so sexy.

560
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: And this is where we really need to deconstruct the

561
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:03,200
Speaker 1: context in order to underst than the premise. When Isaiah

562
00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 1: says seeing barren woman. He's not talking about a physical pregnancy.

563
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,800
Speaker 1: He's talking about a nation. You will remember that the

564
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:11,880
Speaker 1: nation of Israel was started in the womb of a

565
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: barren woman. God was trying to show us something from

566
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:20,480
Speaker 1: the jump. He's trying to show us from the jump

567
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:26,399
Speaker 1: that he fills the space as we call empty. We're

568
00:35:26,440 --> 00:35:28,880
Speaker 1: gonna waste all that space. No, we're going to use it.

569
00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:36,480
Speaker 1: We're gonna use what you thought was wasted. We're going

570
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:41,799
Speaker 1: to use what you thought was wasted. I wonder is

571
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:46,359
Speaker 1: that what God is saying to you today, that what

572
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,400
Speaker 1: you thought was wasted. God is going to use watch

573
00:35:50,440 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 1: this to show himself strong flex space. He gave them

574
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: a weird command, and he gave them this command. This

575
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 1: what was interesting. Two hundred years before it would come

576
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:13,840
Speaker 1: to pass. Isaiah did not even live to see what

577
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:17,879
Speaker 1: he spoke of. He spoke of, Jesus, build a virgin,

578
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 1: will conceive embarrasson whose name will be a man? You

579
00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 1: want the Grovern movie up on his shoulders. Isaiah said that,

580
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,920
Speaker 1: but he never saw it. He said stuff that he

581
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 1: never saw. He said stuff that he never saw. And

582
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 1: isn't that The challenge of faith is to keep speaking

583
00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,560
Speaker 1: and believing what God showed you. God, give me a vision.

584
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:46,279
Speaker 1: I need a vision or I'll get distracted. I need

585
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,880
Speaker 1: a vision or I'll get discouraged. I need a vision

586
00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: or I'll die. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

587
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 1: A lot of us are dying right now because we

588
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:02,880
Speaker 1: lost sight of what God spoke seventy years of exile.

589
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: By the time that they were taken captive into Babylonia,

590
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: everything they knew as a way of life was destroyed.

591
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,719
Speaker 1: To the time that the first exiles came back was

592
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,839
Speaker 1: seventy years. You know, Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, did

593
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,640
Speaker 1: you ever have it on a cross stitch or a

594
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 1: quilt or a Bible memory scripture page. I know the

595
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and

596
00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: not to harm you. After seventy years, the plan became

597
00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:37,839
Speaker 1: a parent. That means it took an entire lifetime for

598
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,399
Speaker 1: them to see what God spoke. And here's what I'm

599
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 1: trying to say. It may take our whole lives before

600
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 1: we make sense of certain things, but it is not wasted.

601
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 1: I'm preaching this to somebody. I got somebody on my

602
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: mind right now. Your life was not wasted. Before you

603
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 1: were four in the womb, God knew you, and God

604
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,560
Speaker 1: knew what would happen to you, and God knew what

605
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: would not come to pass that you planned on, and

606
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,480
Speaker 1: he knows the plans that He has for you. And

607
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:16,839
Speaker 1: what you've been calling wasted God sees as a stage.

608
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: Can I take it a little bit deeper? One prophet

609
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: said to the king that the eyes of the Lord

610
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,239
Speaker 1: are going to and fro all over the earth, searching

611
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 1: to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts

612
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 1: are fully committed to him. Let's work backwards. Your heart

613
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 1: is fully committed to God. That's the space that you've

614
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,319
Speaker 1: given him. How much space have you given God to

615
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: work in your life? Or do you keep secret corners

616
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,560
Speaker 1: for yourself. God, I'm gonna trust you with this much,

617
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 1: but not that much. God. I'm gonna give you this part,

618
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 1: but not that part. God. I'm gonna let you in here,

619
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:53,959
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna fake it over here. God, I'm gonna

620
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: go this far, but if this happens, I'm gonna start

621
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,879
Speaker 1: pulling back. Isaiah said, don't hold back, because the part

622
00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,960
Speaker 1: of your heart that you don't give God becomes enemy.

623
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: Held territory. And that's where doubt takes over, and that's

624
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: where fear takes over. And that's why you can't seem

625
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 1: to get short. Mine's straight because you gave God's territory

626
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,280
Speaker 1: to your enemy. But today we came to take it back.

627
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,920
Speaker 1: Here's my heart, Lord, he wants to show himself strong.

628
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:29,640
Speaker 1: Somebody say strong, strong. For those whose hearts are committed strong,

629
00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,680
Speaker 1: go ahead, make a muscle, say strong strong. God wants

630
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: to give you a strong heart. God said, the space

631
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: in your life where you don't know what I'm gonna

632
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,080
Speaker 1: do next, that's the flex space. That's the flex your

633
00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: muscle real quick. If you got one, come on, flex it.

634
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,279
Speaker 1: If you don't have one, give me an emoji if

635
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 1: you don't like the one you got, but you want

636
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,319
Speaker 1: to use the one that's on the screen. Somebody say

637
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:57,359
Speaker 1: flex I find out God loves to show off. God

638
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 1: likes to take a nine foot giant down through a

639
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 1: five foot three little boy. Why the differential between the

640
00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:08,920
Speaker 1: size of my giant and the size of me is

641
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,319
Speaker 1: God's flex space. God said, I'm coming into your situation.

642
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,880
Speaker 1: I'm breaking through like I'm strong and mighty. The Lord

643
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,960
Speaker 1: is my name. I know We're not supposed to flex

644
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:26,080
Speaker 1: in church, but let's flex on the devil real quick

645
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 1: in the name of the Lord. Come on, I'm not

646
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: backing down from any giant. I'm not backing down from uncertainty.

647
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 1: I'm not walking away from my promises. Flex space, flex space, God,

648
00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 1: I love it. Graham, stand up in flex flex space. Son.

649
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 1: There are gonna be times in your life where you

650
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:50,800
Speaker 1: feel weak. But guess what Paul said. When I am weak,

651
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 1: he is, so guess what your weakness is. Huh, what

652
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: is it? What kind of space? Flex You mean my

653
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,800
Speaker 1: weakness is in wasted No, it's not wasted space. It's

654
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,560
Speaker 1: flex space. Come on, instruments, do I have to tell

655
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: you what to do. God inhabits the praises of his people.

656
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: Let's take twenty seconds and praise him that twenty twenty

657
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:33,359
Speaker 1: is not wasted. It's a setup flex space. You gotta

658
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,399
Speaker 1: stop acting like you're so perfect so God can have

659
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 1: some flex space. He can't operate, He can't be strong

660
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,840
Speaker 1: while you're pretending to be. You need to come before

661
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,360
Speaker 1: God and say I need you like I needed that breath.

662
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: I need you, God, I need you. This is not

663
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 1: the time to hold back Isaiah said, he said, strengthen

664
00:41:55,680 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: your steaks linked in your course. Strengthen and stretch. Strengthen

665
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:09,040
Speaker 1: and stretch, strengthen and stretch. It's no good to have

666
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 1: strong faith if it's not flexible faith. Because he has

667
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,480
Speaker 1: strong faith. But your confidences and circumstances. What are you

668
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:26,759
Speaker 1: gonna do when they threw Paul in prison? Say the

669
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: word from two weeks ago, apple kara doquilla. Don't even

670
00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,600
Speaker 1: try on dictionary dot com. It's a Greek word and

671
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 1: it's not even a real Greek word. Paul made it up.

672
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,839
Speaker 1: He was saying, look at the scripture from Philippians one twenty.

673
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,839
Speaker 1: This is the fourth week of a series. Y'all thought

674
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: the series was over, but it's not. This is the

675
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:51,279
Speaker 1: flex space, This is the extra bonus sermon. I don't

676
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 1: even know if I'll stop this week, because I feel

677
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,760
Speaker 1: God is doing every time we expose our old normal

678
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 1: to God's king order, our hearts grow, our faith grows.

679
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,959
Speaker 1: Don't you feel it? God is growing your heart. God

680
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,720
Speaker 1: is growing your capacity to trust him. But he needed

681
00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: an uncertain place, like Paul needed a prison. So Paul's

682
00:43:14,920 --> 00:43:17,680
Speaker 1: in prison, and you know the church is praying get

683
00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 1: him out, Get him out, Get him out, Get him out,

684
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 1: get him out, get him out. Take it away, Take

685
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:22,799
Speaker 1: it away, Take it away, Take it away, Take it away,

686
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:26,800
Speaker 1: take it away. Everybody's always praying about that, circumstantial prayers.

687
00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 1: You know, is that my sweat on the ground. Look

688
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 1: at that, Chris. That's amazing. Yeah. I found it interesting

689
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:41,759
Speaker 1: that Paul decided to multipurpose his prison cell and turn

690
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:48,520
Speaker 1: it into a pulpit. He said in Philippians one twenty.

691
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:54,320
Speaker 1: He said, I know that no matter what happens to me, circumstantially,

692
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 1: that what is within me can withstand. I know this

693
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: from my experience, and I know this from my revelations.

694
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:05,279
Speaker 1: So I eagerly expect. Have you got the verse on

695
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:07,160
Speaker 1: the lower third? I eager Is it up on the

696
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: on the screen? I look at it? Is it up there?

697
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:11,959
Speaker 1: That's the feed right there? Is it on the screen? Yeah?

698
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 1: Put it up Philippians one twenty. I need it up there.

699
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: I need it up there. Somebody say, flex face, flex face,

700
00:44:18,960 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 1: He says, I eagerly expect. Y'all got Philippians one twenty

701
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:25,000
Speaker 1: for me? Is up? Is up? Are you ready? I

702
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:29,560
Speaker 1: gotta get you to see this? Eagerly expect apple kara dokia.

703
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 1: Apple means to turn away, ignoring other interests. That's the

704
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 1: prefix kara means head. We could use this to understand

705
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:43,280
Speaker 1: Paul's not talking about a physical situation, is he? Because

706
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:49,239
Speaker 1: when he says apple kara dokia, dokia means to stretch forward.

707
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:52,680
Speaker 1: And I know Paul never met Isaiah, but it's almost

708
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,359
Speaker 1: like they collaborated on these two scriptures. Because Paul is

709
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 1: doing for the gospel in p what Isaiah was prophesying

710
00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:11,520
Speaker 1: to the nation in Babylon. He's stretching, stretching. You know

711
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: why all of the planners are having heart palpitations right now.

712
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:21,759
Speaker 1: It's like this season that we've been in, it is

713
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:27,799
Speaker 1: punishing the planners. The procrastinators are loving quarantine. It's like, yeah,

714
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:31,120
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go. I'm suffering for the Lord. You're

715
00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,120
Speaker 1: not suffering for the Lord. You're eating ice cream and

716
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 1: loving it. You haven't been out of your pajamas in

717
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:38,279
Speaker 1: four days. Even watching this church you are loving it.

718
00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: But see Paul. We talk a lot about Paul's faith,

719
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,239
Speaker 1: right Oh man, he went through a shipwreck. He wasn't

720
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: trying to get in a shipwreck, but he was flexible

721
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:53,560
Speaker 1: enough to know that even if the boat breaks, I

722
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:59,359
Speaker 1: won't drown. We admire people with strong faith, people who

723
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 1: set a goal and reach it, who have a vision

724
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:04,440
Speaker 1: and make it happen. But I found out that the

725
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:10,359
Speaker 1: people whose faith is the strongest is strong because they

726
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 1: stretched it. They stretched it. He said. It's flex space.

727
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: It's flex space. The seventy years is flex space. Your

728
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 1: life is a breadth. It's flex space. God is trying

729
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: to take your life and show the world what he

730
00:46:35,520 --> 00:46:37,879
Speaker 1: can do through a heart that is committed to him.

731
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 1: He wants to show himself strong. He said. Strengthen your

732
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:49,320
Speaker 1: stakes and stretch your chords. And as you stretch your chords,

733
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:52,640
Speaker 1: you're strengthening your stakes because your faith can never be

734
00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:56,759
Speaker 1: in a circumstance. It must be in the character of

735
00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:05,680
Speaker 1: Christ revealed in you. This is flex space, is not wasted.

736
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 1: Paul said, I eagerly expect apple kara Dokia is the

737
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:13,640
Speaker 1: Greek word, and I hope that I will in no

738
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:16,040
Speaker 1: way be a shit. You know what happens in our life.

739
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:18,759
Speaker 1: This is what Isaiah was saying. He was saying, you

740
00:47:18,880 --> 00:47:26,759
Speaker 1: need to keep expanding your expectation. Expand your expectation to

741
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:32,080
Speaker 1: include what you did not plan for. Because God is

742
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,200
Speaker 1: going to work in everything. By the time this is over,

743
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,279
Speaker 1: after seventy years are completed, God is going to work

744
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,520
Speaker 1: it all in. And this is what it means to

745
00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:46,960
Speaker 1: say that all things work together. It is to say God,

746
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,759
Speaker 1: here is the space I don't understand. So now let

747
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:54,520
Speaker 1: me get real personal. What is that space for you today?

748
00:47:55,239 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 1: What is that space for you today? You've already turned

749
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,799
Speaker 1: your living room into a church. You're halfway there. Some

750
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,399
Speaker 1: of you already turned your hospital room into a sanctuary.

751
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:06,760
Speaker 1: You're halfway there. It's flex space. You get the picture.

752
00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:09,000
Speaker 1: You didn't know this would be church, but it is.

753
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:11,000
Speaker 1: You didn't know God was gonna show up in your

754
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,560
Speaker 1: living room, but he did. And you didn't know God

755
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:16,560
Speaker 1: was going to use this trial in your life to

756
00:48:16,640 --> 00:48:19,880
Speaker 1: make your faith strong. But he is his flex space,

757
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:25,799
Speaker 1: his flex space in my weakness. He is strong in

758
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:30,560
Speaker 1: my uncertainty. My faith grows. It's flex space. Don't you

759
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:36,160
Speaker 1: feel it getting stronger. Blessed are the flexible, for their

760
00:48:36,239 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 1: faith cannot be broken. That's a beatitude that I just

761
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 1: made off. Blessed are the flexible God. I didn't think

762
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,360
Speaker 1: it would look this way. God, I thought I'd be

763
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:50,600
Speaker 1: married by now. God I thought my marriage would be different. God,

764
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:53,680
Speaker 1: I thought I was going on a honeymoon to Europe. God,

765
00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 1: I didn't know about backyard was gonna be my vacation.

766
00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:00,640
Speaker 1: This summer is flex space. God's about the so off

767
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,239
Speaker 1: watch us. I learned this from last rece. When he

768
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 1: doesn't show up when you want him, it's because he's

769
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 1: gonna show off when he comes. Hit a lick l

770
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:14,400
Speaker 1: J is flex space. Four days dead, rolled the stone

771
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:18,560
Speaker 1: away up in the grate, coming out. I needs some

772
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:28,360
Speaker 1: flex space. He inhabits the praises of his people. He flat,

773
00:49:28,400 --> 00:49:33,920
Speaker 1: he flat, He inhabits the praises of his people. Would

774
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,719
Speaker 1: you give him praise right where you are? Thank you Jesus.

775
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 1: That Paul turned a prison into a puppet. It's a

776
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:46,720
Speaker 1: flex space. That Babylon became a testing ground for faith

777
00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: is flex space. And in this season, I'm not shrinking

778
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 1: up because of shame. I'm stretching forth by faith. The

779
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:06,600
Speaker 1: strength is in the stretch. Don't tell me how strong

780
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 1: your faith is because you imagine something and it happened

781
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 1: just like you imagined. Tell me how strong your faith

782
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 1: is when it happened exactly the opposite of the way

783
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:21,600
Speaker 1: you saw it going. But you didn't let the devil

784
00:50:21,640 --> 00:50:25,720
Speaker 1: take over your imagination. You still stretched forward your faith

785
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 1: Apple kru Dokia to a greater day, a brighter horizon,

786
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 1: a higher hope. How many have hope today? How many

787
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:42,160
Speaker 1: have an eager expectation of faith? So God said, I'm

788
00:50:42,160 --> 00:50:46,800
Speaker 1: about to show off in the situation, in the space

789
00:50:46,840 --> 00:50:52,239
Speaker 1: that you make for me. Have you made space for him?

790
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 1: God can only feel what we bring him. Whereas your

791
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:00,560
Speaker 1: mind still so crowded with the expectations that you had

792
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:04,759
Speaker 1: that God can't bless you with the blessing that he

793
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: wants to bring. I feel God filling somebody's heart right now.

794
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:16,960
Speaker 1: Your heart is his flex space. They don't let the

795
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:23,640
Speaker 1: devil have have God's territory. Are you crazy? Isaiah said,

796
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:26,359
Speaker 1: you will dispossess nations. That means you've got to kick

797
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:30,560
Speaker 1: him out. That means you've got to eliminate the enemy

798
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:37,799
Speaker 1: to reclaim your imagination. Eliminate the enemy to reclaim your imagination.

799
00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 1: Get out of here. This is God's face, this is

800
00:51:43,239 --> 00:51:48,320
Speaker 1: flex space. You can't have it. You can't have it, devil.

801
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:52,200
Speaker 1: You can't have my song. You can't have my hope.

802
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 1: I'm turning away from other interests Apple, and I'm stretching

803
00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: my head Karl Dokiah in the direction faith so to

804
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:09,600
Speaker 1: a community that would be completely shut down by exile.

805
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:12,400
Speaker 1: Stand up on your feet right where you are. I

806
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 1: don't care if you're watching this on the archive. If

807
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,120
Speaker 1: you want to pull your car over and you're listening

808
00:52:16,120 --> 00:52:18,680
Speaker 1: on a podcast on Spotify or Apple, do it. This

809
00:52:18,760 --> 00:52:21,560
Speaker 1: word is coming to your Car's coming to your situation.

810
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:24,839
Speaker 1: It's coming to your hopelessness. It's coming to your disappointment.

811
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:27,560
Speaker 1: It's coming to your tomb. It's coming to your tears.

812
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:30,280
Speaker 1: It's coming to your trauma. It's coming to your setback.

813
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:33,399
Speaker 1: It's coming to a recession. It's coming to your sickness.

814
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:39,040
Speaker 1: It's coming. Make room for it is a flex space. God,

815
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: do what you want to do. And you know what.

816
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:43,480
Speaker 1: I keep turning because I want to say it and

817
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:45,759
Speaker 1: I can't remember how God gave it to me. God

818
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:48,239
Speaker 1: always changes my message right before I come out a

819
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:50,680
Speaker 1: little bit. I think it's because he wants flex space.

820
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:54,759
Speaker 1: I think we need to leave God a little room

821
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:56,680
Speaker 1: of how we want our kids to turn out while

822
00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:00,400
Speaker 1: we're raising them, and give him some flex space. Maybe

823
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:02,319
Speaker 1: God doesn't want my kids to be a preacher, so

824
00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:04,040
Speaker 1: maybe I shouldn't tell them one day that they have

825
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:06,120
Speaker 1: to be preachers. Maybe they can do something else for

826
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:11,200
Speaker 1: God and it'll be even greater flex space. Have you

827
00:53:11,239 --> 00:53:13,280
Speaker 1: given God any room to show off in your life?

828
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:16,000
Speaker 1: Or have you got him in a little tiny box?

829
00:53:16,040 --> 00:53:17,399
Speaker 1: And if he doesn't do it just like you wanted

830
00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:20,240
Speaker 1: him to do it, can God encourage you through anyone?

831
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:23,120
Speaker 1: Or do you only let him encourage you through people

832
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:25,760
Speaker 1: that you have pre selected as those that you receive

833
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:30,680
Speaker 1: validation from, or can he use someone else? It's not wasted,

834
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:39,799
Speaker 1: it's flex space. Waiting isn't wasted. That's flex face. That's

835
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:43,120
Speaker 1: where faith grows. That's where hope is illuminated. You hear

836
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:45,400
Speaker 1: the word of the Lord, Barb. It's flex space. No,

837
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: we don't understand. It's been two years that you've been

838
00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:51,920
Speaker 1: living with this. Two years then to find out what

839
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:54,600
Speaker 1: you found out this week. But I'm telling you God

840
00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:57,760
Speaker 1: is about to God is about to show his power

841
00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:01,200
Speaker 1: through you to you. I'm telling you, Barbara, He's about

842
00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:04,480
Speaker 1: to use you in an amazing way. There will be

843
00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:08,960
Speaker 1: glory after this. There will be glory after this, so

844
00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:13,080
Speaker 1: you keep stretching and don't Hey, the devil, the devil

845
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:15,480
Speaker 1: took your brother, but don't let him take your song.

846
00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 1: You can't have my song. No, no, no, no, you

847
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:23,719
Speaker 1: can't have my joy. God's about to show off in

848
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:28,000
Speaker 1: my life. God's and I'm gonna keep singing. I still

849
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:31,720
Speaker 1: got a song. Come on, somebody, I still got a song.

850
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,520
Speaker 1: I still got a song. How many of you still

851
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:39,680
Speaker 1: have hands? Lift them? How many of you still got hands?

852
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: Clap them? How many of you still have a mouth?

853
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:53,239
Speaker 1: Magnify the Lord with me? He's great. Hey, family, this

854
00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:59,719
Speaker 1: is a family. Number one wanted to say, wanted the

855
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:03,200
Speaker 1: same number one. I think I just screamed my voice

856
00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:06,920
Speaker 1: into every country that's watching this on YouTube. Make sure

857
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:08,799
Speaker 1: you let me know in the comments where you watched

858
00:55:08,840 --> 00:55:10,680
Speaker 1: from if you made it to the end of the message,

859
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:13,879
Speaker 1: and give me one of these GiMA flex, Graham coome

860
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:17,120
Speaker 1: On flex on the Devilish holly Don Flex. You're driving

861
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:21,960
Speaker 1: remember Holly terms forty this week. Maybe you're watching this

862
00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:26,200
Speaker 1: long after, but I just wanted to thank you. Thanks

863
00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:28,800
Speaker 1: for subscribing, thank you for following, thank you for giving.

864
00:55:28,840 --> 00:55:31,839
Speaker 1: You're amazing and this time it's so important that we

865
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:33,920
Speaker 1: continue to create opportunities of O, there's the camera. I

866
00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:35,400
Speaker 1: was looking at the wrong place. Look at the camera.

867
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:38,799
Speaker 1: That we continue to create opportunities for God to move

868
00:55:38,920 --> 00:55:41,520
Speaker 1: and for God to use this. So thank you for sharing.

869
00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:45,240
Speaker 1: Thank you for just being the most amazing church family.

870
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:49,640
Speaker 1: I never knew that our church family would expand to

871
00:55:49,719 --> 00:55:53,120
Speaker 1: all parts of the world, but God did. He's amazing,

872
00:55:53,200 --> 00:55:55,520
Speaker 1: and you're amazing, and we love you very much. Don't

873
00:55:55,520 --> 00:56:02,399
Speaker 1: forget to subscribe, share comments, rel