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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 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.

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Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you.

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

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

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Speaker 2: Today. I have a word from the Lord for somebody.

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Speaker 2: I said today, I have a work.

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Speaker 1: Remember a way, he said, external processing. When the Lord

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Speaker 1: has a gift for you, get excited, remain standing for

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Speaker 1: just a moment. I only have two verses this week.

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Speaker 1: I was meditating on where to go after we talked

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Speaker 1: last week about God can use this too, and this

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Speaker 1: is a little bit of a sequel to that message.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I love to preach Bible stories and

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Speaker 1: kind of use the different elements to use different things.

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Speaker 1: But sometimes I feel like it's good to just come

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Speaker 1: to something that's a simple instruction in the Word of God,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully this will help us to apply what God

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Speaker 1: has planted in our hearts. We're going to go to

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Speaker 1: Philippians chapter two, Versus twelve and thirteen for a moment.

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Speaker 1: I'm preaching from my daughter's Bible today, so you will

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Speaker 1: notice an extra anointing, gentleness, vivaciousness. I've given all three

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Speaker 1: of my kid's bibles that from I preached five years

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Speaker 1: from the Bible. Than give it to a kid, give

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Speaker 1: it to another. And so we'll see if Abby's is

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Speaker 1: more annointed than Elijah's and Graham's. Today I cycle through them,

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Speaker 1: see which one of them has been praying for me

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Speaker 1: the most. All right, listen to this verse. Just because

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Speaker 1: I said it shorter, just because I said it simple,

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Speaker 1: don't disengage your brain, because I really want you to

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Speaker 1: pay attention to what the Lord is saying here through.

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Speaker 3: The Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul in this Epistle to

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Speaker 3: the Church at Philippi. Through the Apostle Paul in this

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Speaker 3: Epistle to the Church at Philippi, the Word.

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Speaker 1: Of the Lord says, Therefore, my dear friends, as you

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Speaker 1: have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now

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Speaker 1: much more in my absence, continue to work out your

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Speaker 1: salvation with fear and trembling Verse thirteen. For it is

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Speaker 1: God who works in you to will and to act

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Speaker 1: in order to fulfill his good purpose. Now that's all

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Speaker 1: the verses I want to read today. But I want

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Speaker 1: to give you my sermon title. It's a common saying,

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Speaker 1: so I'll say it and then you fill in the

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Speaker 1: blank when I stop and point out you ready, you

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Speaker 1: could play along online too the title of this message.

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Speaker 1: And after I say the title, I'll read the scripture

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Speaker 1: again for you, just so we can get it down deep.

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Speaker 2: God will work it.

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Speaker 1: Right. I set you up, though, because that is amazing.

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Speaker 1: God will work it out. It's something that everybody wants

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Speaker 1: to believe about the situation they're facing, whether it's a

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Speaker 1: custody battle, or whether it's a medical situation, or whether

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Speaker 1: it's a relational tension. But the message God gave me

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Speaker 1: today is just one word different. I'm going to just

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Speaker 1: change one word and I'm not changing the word God.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not going to change the word will. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to say he might, he could, he can,

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Speaker 1: But instead of God will work it out, I want

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Speaker 1: to preach on God will work it in. God will

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Speaker 1: work it in. And I'll read the verses again and

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Speaker 1: you'll see where I'm coming from. This is not just wordplay.

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Speaker 1: I don't just think of a clever thing that I

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Speaker 1: can call a sermon that sounds good. So you could

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Speaker 1: just feel good for a minute. The text says in

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Speaker 1: Philippians chapter two, verse twelve. Therefore, my dear friends, as

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Speaker 1: you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but

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Speaker 1: now much more in my absence, continue to work out

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Speaker 1: your salvation with fear and trembling.

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Speaker 2: For it is God who works in you.

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Speaker 1: To will and to act in order to fulfill his

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Speaker 1: good purpose. So now as you take your seat prayerfully,

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Speaker 1: reach around and tell seven people. God will work it in.

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Speaker 1: God will work it in. Six more, tell them God

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Speaker 1: will work it in. Put it in the chat. God

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Speaker 1: will work it in. God will work it in. Praise

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Speaker 1: the Lord for what he's working out. Praise the Lord

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Speaker 1: for what he's working in. And I'll make that make

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Speaker 1: sense if I do my job. I'm gonna have fun

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Speaker 1: preaching this today. I already decided. I was thinking today,

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Speaker 1: like when you were eating that tomato soup. Holly was

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Speaker 1: eating this tomato soup she made for herself. None of

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Speaker 1: us like tomato soup, but her. She just made it

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Speaker 1: for her and she was having so much fun eating

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Speaker 1: that tomato soup. I was like, what else is in there?

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Speaker 1: She's like, no, I'm just excited. I've been growing tomatoes,

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Speaker 1: and I finally used my tomatoes in the soup. That's

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Speaker 1: how I feel about my sermons when I get to

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Speaker 1: eat it with you. And I hope you like tomatoes too. Tomato, Tomato,

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Speaker 1: Here we go. In Philippians chapter two, verse twelve and thirteen,

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Speaker 1: the apostle Paul is writing an epistle to the church

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Speaker 1: in PHILIPI, and both of those are miracles. Both of

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Speaker 1: those are miracles. The fact that Paul is an apostle

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Speaker 1: is miracle number one. Paul the Artist formerly known as

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Speaker 1: Saul of Tarsus, When the Lord wanted to reach the Gentiles,

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Speaker 1: he found somebody who was persecuting the church, And now

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Speaker 1: the persecutor of the church is now one of the

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Speaker 1: lead preachers in the church. You never know how God

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Speaker 1: is working in somebody's life. Don't write people off, don't

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Speaker 1: count people out, don't slap a label on them, because

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Speaker 1: this is the way they always are. Well, the way

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Speaker 1: God always is means more than the way they always are,

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Speaker 1: least of all yourself. Don't ever underestimate how God can

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Speaker 1: work in somebody's life. Thing about that He took him

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Speaker 1: from the persecutor of the church to a preacher, and

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Speaker 1: I guess he needed someone who understood the system from

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Speaker 1: the inside in order to overturn it. That's why God

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Speaker 1: will often call you into something that you struggle with,

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Speaker 1: because the thing that you struggle with, the mother is

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Speaker 1: the thing you're most qualified to help somebody else step through.

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Speaker 1: So when the Lord needed to reach the gentiles, he said,

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Speaker 1: I can't call Peter for this, I better call Saul

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Speaker 1: and change his name to Paul with a P. So

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Speaker 1: it's a miracle that he's an apostle. His whole title apostle,

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Speaker 1: the apostle Paul. He had been something completely different and

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Speaker 1: God changed him. And that's one reason that we were

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Speaker 1: praising him today while we were singing in church. I

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Speaker 1: wish you could have heard the worship. You're watching this

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Speaker 1: online later, and I wish you could have been in

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Speaker 1: here with us because we were praising him because he

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Speaker 1: didn't leave us like we were. And that just causes

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Speaker 1: something to explode inside of you when you realize that

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Speaker 1: he takes persecutors and turns them into preachers. But the

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Speaker 1: second miracle I mentioned that there were two in the

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Speaker 1: text is not implicit, So you got to go beneath

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Speaker 1: the surface to get this one. Is that he is

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Speaker 1: writing the letter the epistle, which somebody is that like

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Speaker 1: an apostle's wife. No epistle just means letter, it's just

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Speaker 1: addressed up. It's a letter that ended up being in

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Speaker 1: the Bible. It was written to a specific audience, the

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Speaker 1: church at Philippi. It was not written from where it

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Speaker 1: was written to. And it's a miracle that this scripture

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Speaker 1: exists because of the conditions Paul wrote it in, not

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Speaker 1: a writer's cottage by the sea, not a retreat situation

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Speaker 1: in the mountains, but rather he wrote this from prison.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to point that out to you because sometimes

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Speaker 1: you get more focused on where you are than what

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Speaker 1: God has called you to do and be, and you

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Speaker 1: start acting like your environment rather than changing it. This

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Speaker 1: feels like this could have been a Rhythm Night sermon

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Speaker 1: on Wednesday. You know, walk into school and start talking

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Speaker 1: like a foolish You know you're actually a great, faithful

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Speaker 1: child of God. But you know, you get in an

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Speaker 1: environment and you start changing. But Paul would get in

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Speaker 1: an environment and change it, and that's what made him different.

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Speaker 2: And he was also a great multitasker.

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Speaker 1: Y'all say that men can't multitask ah I beg to

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Speaker 1: differ the apostle. Paul, while serving a prison sentence, is

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Speaker 1: writing sentences that we now call scriptures. I told you

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Speaker 1: this is a good tomato suit. I grew these tomatoes myself.

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Speaker 2: And the beautiful thing.

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Speaker 1: About this miracle is that you may not be an apostle,

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Speaker 1: and you might not write an epistol. But let me

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Speaker 1: break it right down to where you live. Is that

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Speaker 1: any situation in your life that isn't getting better? And

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Speaker 1: now I want you to think of that situation right now,

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Speaker 1: any situation in your life that isn't getting better, You

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Speaker 1: can do what Paul did, and you can get busy

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Speaker 1: while you wait on it to get better. So while

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Speaker 1: while you're waiting for it to change, change, while you're

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Speaker 1: waiting for a better opportunity. Obey, y'all don't like this message.

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Speaker 1: Y'all don't like tomatoes. The Bible says that Paul was

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Speaker 1: a great man of faith, But yet his faith did

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Speaker 1: not keep a snake from biding him last week, did it?

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Speaker 1: But his faith enabled him to shake the snake off

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Speaker 1: of his hand and use the incident touch somebody, say

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Speaker 1: use it, use it, use it. Everything that happens in

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Speaker 1: your life good or bad. Use it. You know. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: I will feel like the moment that God is working

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Speaker 1: with me on a specific area, that area will be attacked.

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Speaker 1: And I used to think that meant that God wasn't

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Speaker 1: really working there. But if you read the scripture, it's

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Speaker 1: very interesting how it's worded, isn't it. Paul writes to

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Speaker 1: the church and says verse twelve, my dear friends, as

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Speaker 1: you have always obeyed, And then this scripture definitely is

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Speaker 1: not about me always obeyed. No, no, no. But I

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Speaker 1: think he's like, I think this is some kind of

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Speaker 1: reverse psychology Paul is putting on him.

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Speaker 2: He's like, as.

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Speaker 1: Because they're fighting and they're arguing. And later in the

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Speaker 1: Book of Philippians he name checks two women and tells him,

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Speaker 1: y'all stop fighting. And that's that's in chapter four. I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to preach that this week. But he says,

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Speaker 1: if you were able to obey not only in my

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Speaker 1: presence watch this, but now much more in my absence.

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Speaker 1: So now think about the sadness of Paul. The apostle

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Speaker 1: is in prison, he's in a shipwreck. He gets on

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Speaker 1: another boat. Three months later, he goes to Rome. He's

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Speaker 1: under house arrest, for two years, and he writes four

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Speaker 1: epistles Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Filemen. The prison epistles. They

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Speaker 1: called him that, but they were written in prison, but

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Speaker 1: we quote them in church. So where you are right now,

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Speaker 1: help me. Holy spirit has tremendous potential. Even your darkness

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Speaker 1: has tremendous potential to be harvested to bring somebody else's light.

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Speaker 1: For the Bible says that God, who caused his light

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Speaker 1: to shine out of darkness, gives his Holy Spirit into

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Speaker 1: our hearts, and we have this treasure in earth and vessels,

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Speaker 1: that the excellency.

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Speaker 2: Of the power might be of God and not of us.

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Speaker 1: He's your neighbors say, it's God doing it.

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Speaker 2: It's God doing it.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't God throwing Paul in the cell, but it

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Speaker 1: was God on the inside of Paul that caused him

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Speaker 1: to pick up a pen while he was in there.

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Speaker 1: And because he picked up a pin while he was

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Speaker 1: in there, you and I are shouting over stuff, he

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Speaker 1: said today. Somebody else needs to be shouting in five

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Speaker 1: years because.

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Speaker 2: You didn't give up.

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Speaker 1: Somebody else needs to be praising God in ten years

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Speaker 1: because you.

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Speaker 2: Stayed the course.

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Speaker 1: Because what you need to keep going is in you, baby,

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Speaker 1: say it by faith.

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Speaker 4: It is in me.

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Speaker 1: He said, you have an opportunity now, and listen. The

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Speaker 1: opportunity is this, Paul says, absence is an opportunity for application. Absence, Well,

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Speaker 1: are You're just not gonna write down anything? That's the

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Speaker 1: best thing I am gonna say all day. Absence is

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Speaker 1: an opportunity for application. One of our staff members, Decks,

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Speaker 1: sent me a stack of different things she had written

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Speaker 1: down from the sermons that I preached, and she said,

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Speaker 1: I just want you to see that we hear you.

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Speaker 1: And in the notes that she put she would work

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Speaker 1: through the word that she heard. Now, I'm just asking,

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Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand.

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Speaker 1: Do you work through the word that you've heard? Word?

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Speaker 1: Or does it go in one ear and out in

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Speaker 1: the parking lot when you get stuck in traffic and

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Speaker 1: you start lifting up your hands, but only one finger

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Speaker 1: on the hand because that single finger praise No. But seriously,

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Speaker 1: I'm using it as a joke because I don't want

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Speaker 1: it to feel condemning, because that's not really my style,

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Speaker 1: because I don't really have room to do that, because

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Speaker 1: how many words has God given me? That I did

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Speaker 1: not work through. And I don't mean that you have

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Speaker 1: to take notes to be saved. God knows he's not

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Speaker 1: going to check your highlight highlight or colors. When you

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Speaker 1: get to heaven only pink, you're going to pink only heaven.

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Speaker 1: Oh pink, green, yellow, red, Yeah, you're going to multicolor heaven.

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Speaker 1: But the process by which you mix the word with

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Speaker 1: faith is when you take what I say and ask God,

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Speaker 1: what are you saying to me about my situation through

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Speaker 1: what he said? And that's the process where you filter,

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Speaker 1: and that's the process where your faith is strengthened. And

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Speaker 1: so I used to go to a therapy session where

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Speaker 1: I would work on an issue in my life, and

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Speaker 1: after the therapy session, I would have just like a

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Speaker 1: major I don't want to call it a relapse, but

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Speaker 1: just in whatever area. And I don't mean drugs or

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Speaker 1: alcohol in these cases, but just like whatever I just

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Speaker 1: talked through would be very challenged in my life in

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Speaker 1: the next twenty four hours. So I brought that to

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Speaker 1: the therapist. I'm like, I might have to fire you

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Speaker 1: because every time we get off the phone, my life

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Speaker 1: gets worse. Therapist said, So you can get better because

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Speaker 1: sometimes when it isn't getting better, you are you are.

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Speaker 2: You don't get patience by praying for it. You get

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Speaker 2: patience by being annoyed.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no idea. There are people who are helping you

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Speaker 1: get patient that you are complaining about, and you need

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Speaker 1: to be paying them. They are your personal trainers for patients.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not saying we want it, but I'm just

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Speaker 1: saying God can use that too. And while you're waiting

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Speaker 1: on God to work some things out, whatever that area is.

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Speaker 1: Because if you need a breakthrough in your business, I

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Speaker 1: believe with you for a breakthrough in your business. If

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Speaker 1: you believe for a breakthrough in your marriage, I believe

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Speaker 1: for a breakthrough in your marriage. If you are believing

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Speaker 1: for a husband or a wife to come into your

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Speaker 1: life because you don't want to be alone, I believe

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Speaker 1: with you and stand with you for that. But just

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Speaker 1: know that some people are praying for a breakthrough in

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Speaker 1: the marriage that they prayed for yesterday that is struggling

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Speaker 1: now because they believe the lie that the situation would

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Speaker 1: fix them. So when we say God will work it in,

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Speaker 1: I'm not just trying to be clever. I thought about

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Speaker 1: how we're wanting God to affect situation, and that's great.

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Speaker 1: But Paul said, my absence in this prison is actually

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Speaker 1: a gift for you in Philippi because when you're hearing

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Speaker 1: the word or when you're learning something, you know you're

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Speaker 1: getting it at a mental level, Okay, And that's wonderful.

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Speaker 1: Instruction is wonderful. Instruction is wonderful. There's a man in

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Speaker 1: the church right now who taught me a lot about tennis,

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Speaker 1: a great tennis pro out here. That's wonderful. But the

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Speaker 1: thing about instruction is it is limited until you have

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Speaker 1: an opportunity for big word integration.

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Speaker 2: And integration happens when what you.

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Speaker 1: Were taught is challenged or tested and you have to

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Speaker 1: remember under pressure what you learned in peace. So be

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Speaker 1: careful coming to church because in this peaceful environment God

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Speaker 1: is going to prove after the peaceful. For Paul, he

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Speaker 1: provided a prison where he wrote four epistles for the

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Speaker 1: church at Philippi.

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Speaker 2: He did not leave.

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Speaker 1: Paul's physical presence with them, but he gave his presence

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Speaker 1: within them, so that when Paul's presence was taken away

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Speaker 1: from them, his presence within them intensified. What I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to say is anything in your life that goes away

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Speaker 1: and you think you need it. God is going to

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Speaker 1: release something greater in your life that you didn't even

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Speaker 1: know you had until you got in this situation where

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Speaker 1: you needed it. So eventually Paul says, give me the

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Speaker 1: first verse again. He says, continue in it. Touch your

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Speaker 1: neighbor and say keep going, continue to work out. Now

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Speaker 1: that's not a literal workout thing, y'all. I remember the

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Speaker 1: first time that somebody called me, and I guess it

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Speaker 1: was like to my ego or whatever. They were like,

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Speaker 1: uh so, as a lifter, what are your splits? I thought,

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Speaker 1: in case you need me to interpret it. As a weightlifter,

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Speaker 1: what body parts do you work out on which day?

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Speaker 1: Nobody ever asked me that before, and I figured, oh,

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Speaker 1: I must be giving evidence that what I've been doing

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Speaker 1: is actually improving my physical frame to the point where

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Speaker 1: I'm a lifter. Yah.

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Speaker 2: How good that felt to be called a lifter.

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Speaker 4: Now.

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Speaker 2: I lifted a lot, but I've never been called a lifter.

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Speaker 1: I was walking around the house. I didn't tell anybody,

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Speaker 1: but I was looking at the kids. They were like, Daddy,

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Speaker 1: I'm like lifter. You could call me lift or mister lifter.

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Speaker 2: I was so proud for three days because what I did.

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Speaker 1: Was integrated in my life in such a way. If

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Speaker 1: you would look at your neighbor and say, as a praiser,

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Speaker 1: when do you praise God? Ask him one of your splits.

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Speaker 1: Tell them, well, I praise when I feel it. I

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Speaker 1: praise when I don't. I praise on the mountain, I

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Speaker 1: praise in the valley. I praise when I'm sure y'all

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Speaker 1: gonna catch on in twelve seconds. I praise when I'm doubting.

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Speaker 1: I praise when I've got it. I praise when it's gone.

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Speaker 1: I praise when I feel it. I praise when I

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Speaker 1: faith it. I'm not faking it. I'm faith in it

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Speaker 1: because if I faith it.

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Speaker 2: It will form me. So let's break it down.

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Speaker 1: The absence is an opportunity for application. Like when I

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Speaker 1: used to work out, I needed somebody to be there

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Speaker 1: to make me work out, and I found out that

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Speaker 1: they were really good partners when I heard their voice

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Speaker 1: even when they weren't there. What I love about God

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Speaker 1: and a good good instructor is not satisfied simply with

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Speaker 1: your assimilation of information. But a good instructor will sometimes

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Speaker 1: create absence and life will you're in the season right now,

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Speaker 1: and the Lord was speaking to me about it. I

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Speaker 1: don't know who is for. I don't even know who

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Speaker 1: is for. You know if it's for you. You're in

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Speaker 1: a season right now where it is very important that

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Speaker 1: you integrate what God has given you. And it is

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Speaker 1: feeling intense right now because of the absence of something

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Speaker 1: that you think you need to have. Paul said, in

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Speaker 1: my absence, much more than my presence, you got to

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Speaker 1: remember what you know about God in the absence of joy.

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Speaker 1: You've got to remember how to rejoice in the absence

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Speaker 1: of harmony. You have to remember to be a peacemaker

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Speaker 1: in the absence of money. You got to stay creative.

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Speaker 1: So God will some times take resources away from you

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Speaker 1: to remind you of something that you're not using. One

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Speaker 1: of the worst things God can give some people is

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Speaker 1: too much money, because they will start stuffing themselves with

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Speaker 1: stuff and forget the substance of who they were that

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Speaker 1: led them to the point that they had the wealth

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Speaker 1: to begin with. That's why the Word says, when you

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Speaker 1: have become great, do not forget the Lord your God,

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Speaker 1: for it is he that gives you the power to

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Speaker 1: get wealth. And I think that as much as God's

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Speaker 1: presence provides comfort, absence creates opportunity. I want to really

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Speaker 1: get this home to you. Okay, so just bear with

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Speaker 1: me for a minute, then put another tomato in this soup.

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Speaker 1: We had a great conversation, me and Elijah, my oldest,

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Speaker 1: and I'm working all my kids into the illustration today. Okay, Okay,

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Speaker 1: So I'm just working my kids in because they're expensive.

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Speaker 1: Get the most out of this relationship. When he left

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Speaker 1: for college, enough for a couple of years after Buck

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Speaker 1: and Chunks stopped coming over to help me work out.

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Speaker 1: He was my workout partner. When he left for college,

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Speaker 1: he went three hours away. I was so depressed. I

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Speaker 1: would still go lift weights, but I wouldn't even put

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Speaker 1: my shoes on or turn the lights on. And I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't even turn Metallica on. I mean Maverick City, Kurt

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Speaker 1: Franklin on forgot where I was for a minute. I

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Speaker 1: sit out there in the silence, just cranking out the reps.

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Speaker 1: And I would sometimes just send him just to make

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Speaker 1: him feel bad about leaving me, send him a picture

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Speaker 1: of me sitting there in the dark. That's hard without

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Speaker 1: your partner. Then I felt better because about a month

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Speaker 1: or two after he'd been gone. We were having this

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Speaker 1: deep conversation one night and he opened up to me.

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Speaker 1: He's like, college is great, but it's hard. I'm grateful

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Speaker 1: to be here, but it's hard, he said. And it's

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Speaker 1: hard because I have to be both of us here.

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Speaker 1: I have to be both of us. I'm so used

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Speaker 1: to having you say you know, son, and sometimes you

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Speaker 1: got on my nerves. But I needed that. I needed

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Speaker 1: you to get on my nurse. Y'all. I've had a

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Speaker 1: grammy of New York Times, all that stuff. I felt

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Speaker 1: like I got the greatest reward of my life when

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Speaker 1: he said this. He said, now I have to be

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Speaker 1: both of us because it let me know we've gone

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Speaker 1: from instruction to integration. And then let me know my

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Speaker 1: voice is still speaking, and let me know that I'm

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Speaker 1: still talking three hours away. I'm still talking to you

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Speaker 1: three hours away. And Paul wanted the church at Philip

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Speaker 1: Fi to know I'm still talking to you even though

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Speaker 1: I'm in this prison cell. God wants you to know

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Speaker 1: I'm still talking to you even though you lost your

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Speaker 1: mother last year. And God wants you to know I'm

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Speaker 1: still talking to you even though you don't know how

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Speaker 1: you're going to make payroll next month. And God wants

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Speaker 1: you to know I'm still talking to you. Even though

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Speaker 1: you haven't felt goosebumps in a while, and while everybody

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Speaker 1: else seems to be rejoicing, you feel kind of empty.

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Speaker 1: God says, this is not absence, it's integration, because.

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Speaker 2: My sheep know my voice.

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Speaker 1: And the most powerful moment of your life to work

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Speaker 1: a word from God is not just when you're putting

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Speaker 1: it in a journal to write it down, but when

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Speaker 1: you are putting it into practice, to live it out.

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Speaker 1: This is a practice season for you, this absence that

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Speaker 1: you feel, this thing that has changed. And I wish

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Speaker 1: I could sit down and get to know your conversation,

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Speaker 1: your exact situation, so we could have an exact conversation.

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Speaker 1: But Paul wrote one letter to the whole church, and

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Speaker 1: he said, it's good that I'm gone. That's what Jesus

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Speaker 1: said to the disciples. If I leave you, I'll send

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Speaker 1: you the Holy Spirit. I can send you something greater

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Speaker 1: than just my words. I can give you my spirit,

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Speaker 1: greater integration. God is doing something greater in your life.

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Speaker 1: So something goes away, something greater come. This is the

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Speaker 1: rhythm of God. Give him praise. Come on, giveing praise,

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Speaker 1: not PGA praise, give him a God praise, big God,

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Speaker 1: big praise. Okay, Okay, God.

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Speaker 2: Will work it in. So I want to study. I

432
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 2: want to study this a little bit more.

433
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 1: And I'm relatively about halfway through my message right now,

434
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,239
Speaker 1: and we will see if I get to continue it

435
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: all the way. I got some other parts that I

436
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 1: want to put but I don't know if they But anyway,

437
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,879
Speaker 1: therefore my difference, as you have always obeyed, not only

438
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,840
Speaker 1: in my presence, but now much more in my I

439
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 1: can't get off of this. God said, the absence of

440
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,120
Speaker 1: what you think you need in this season is an

441
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:41,320
Speaker 1: opportunity for.

442
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:42,960
Speaker 2: You to get a tuned to what you really have.

443
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: The best thing that happened to me to be able

444
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: to effectively minister to you was when we couldn't have

445
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,959
Speaker 1: people in church in twenty twenty. Because it taught me

446
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,960
Speaker 1: not to need your energy to be effective to minister

447
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,919
Speaker 1: God's word. And when I couldn't ride on the waves

448
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,880
Speaker 1: your energy, I had to let God make a wave

449
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,440
Speaker 1: inside of me with this word. So I came out

450
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: of it never more alive and in love with the

451
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 1: word of God. Because of something that was taken away.

452
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: Now I'm not using this to talk about me or

453
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: tomato soup or weight lifting, although I am proud to

454
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: be a lifter. But but I want you to see

455
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:27,760
Speaker 1: that the absence creates an opportunity for application. And this

456
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 1: was weird. I don't know if you thought it was

457
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: weird when I read it. He said, work out verse

458
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,400
Speaker 1: twelve again, please on the screen, work out your salvation

459
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 1: with fear and trembling. So I thought that might mean

460
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 1: when we give the invitation every week for you to

461
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,439
Speaker 1: get saved, raise your hand just in case, you know,

462
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: Like I don't know. I thought I did this when

463
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,159
Speaker 1: I was eight, but I'm scared and i'm trembling that

464
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: maybe what I did last week canceled it out. So

465
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 1: just in case, Lord, I'll put my hand up right there. Yeah,

466
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 1: you give me another one of those Bibles. I hadn't

467
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: read any of them. I got seven of them stacked

468
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 1: up at home, but yeah, give me another one. And

469
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: then I realized what he didn't say. Now watch this.

470
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,760
Speaker 1: He didn't say work for your salvation. Put it back up.

471
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: He said work out your salvation. He's not saying earn it.

472
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: That's contrary to everything else that God gave Paul to

473
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,879
Speaker 1: teach us. That's contrary to the very essence of the

474
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:29,480
Speaker 1: Cross of Christ. How are you going to earn a

475
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 1: grace that was given from across You didn't die on

476
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: So what he's saying is not only to integrate what

477
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: you've been taught, what you've been instructed, and apply it.

478
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: Like Van Saevner said, never forget in the darkness what

479
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 1: God showed you in the light. He's saying, the reason

480
00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 1: that you're so worried now, fear and trembling is a

481
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 1: saying that they had, Like I don't know, we might

482
00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:03,560
Speaker 1: say lock stock and barrel means everything you know. They

483
00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 1: would say fear and trembling like a saying. It was

484
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,880
Speaker 1: a colloquialism. He says, work out your salvation with fear

485
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: and trembling. He does not mean be afraid that God

486
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: didn't give you what he promised to give you. He said,

487
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 1: you're forgiven. You're forgiven. He said, there's no condemnation. There's

488
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:23,919
Speaker 1: no condemnation. It is being afraid to live your life

489
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: without the awareness of that. Because you know that if

490
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 1: you ever lose awareness of who God is to you

491
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: and in you, you will make the stupidest mistakes. So

492
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: I want you to work out. You're about to see

493
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: it what God has already worked in. And God is

494
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: working on you, and you are a work in progress.

495
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 1: But your salvation is not. It's finished, so there's nothing

496
00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: more to be done. That's why Jesus said it is finished.

497
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: God already worked that out.

498
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 2: If you placed your faith in him, you are all right.

499
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: He's saved. Now you are taking what God gave you

500
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: and working it out. And that's what I told Elijah.

501
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,959
Speaker 1: I said, this is your season to grow. Every conversation

502
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,479
Speaker 1: we've had down here lifting weights together, every time I've

503
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 1: ever corrected you that you wanted to kill me, but

504
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: you knew I would kill you if you tried to

505
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,719
Speaker 1: kill me, every single one of those things. Now that

506
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,239
Speaker 1: we're not together, now that it's not like it was,

507
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 1: it gets to go deeper inside of you. God is

508
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: taking you deeper in this season. He did not depart

509
00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: from you. He's taking you deeper. But the reason you

510
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 1: keep worrying about stuff that God has already worked out.

511
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: I got to say that better. You are worried about

512
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: something God has already worked out.

513
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:50,480
Speaker 2: Now, why do you do that.

514
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 1: Because you stop at verse twelve and never reverse thirteen.

515
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 1: You know, I mean people would take verse twelve and

516
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: stop right there again. Please, therefore, since you were obeying

517
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: when I was there, you know, keep that same energy,

518
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 1: Paul is saying. When I was preaching, y'all were saying, Amen,

519
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: Now keep that same touch. Your neighbors say, keep that

520
00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: same energy a couple tuesdays from now, no matter who

521
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 1: wins the election, no matter who's acting crazy, keep that

522
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: same energy because we had Republicans, Democrats, black, white, Hispanic, male, female,

523
00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:30,960
Speaker 1: all in the same church, and we were all unified.

524
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 1: And we will not let a culture that divides us

525
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: speak greater than a.

526
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 2: King that defines us.

527
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 1: Y'all, keep that same energy out there in the world,

528
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: all right over the next two weeks. Don't you get

529
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 1: Facebook crazy and be church saying. I don't know where

530
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,040
Speaker 1: that came from. They just came to me. I decided

531
00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: to work it in, work it in, work it in.

532
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: Work I don't know where that came from. I just

533
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 1: decided to work it in. I don't know where this

534
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: snake came from. I just decided to shake it off

535
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 1: and work it in.

536
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 2: I don't know where that feeling came from. I just

537
00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 2: decided to work it in. I don't know where that

538
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,200
Speaker 2: temptation came from. I just decided to pray extra this.

539
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: Week because if I'm gonna get extra temptation, I'm gonna

540
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 1: need extra grace. So I'm gonna pray extra prayers.

541
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 2: I'm gonna work this in. I like it.

542
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 1: I like it so so the reason you're worrying about

543
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 1: stuff God has already worked out. The reason you keep

544
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: worrying is because of the way you keep thinking verse twelve.

545
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: It is God that works in you. Uh No, not

546
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:46,440
Speaker 1: only my presence, now, I was from I just continue

547
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:47,800
Speaker 1: to work out your salvage my fear and tremble. And

548
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: you're like, okay, okay, no, go back, go back to

549
00:31:49,760 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 1: verse twelve. You stopped there. Church. That's a comma.

550
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm a multitasking preacher.

551
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:09,760
Speaker 1: I talk about fitness, English grammar, theology, parenting recipes, tomatoes,

552
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: work it all in, work out your salvation with fear

553
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: and trembling. Now, if you read that, you will be

554
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 1: worried because you are trying to work out something without God. Okay.

555
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,600
Speaker 1: What gets me tripped up every time that I get overwhelmed.

556
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 2: And I'm not.

557
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: Talking about just having butterflies or getting nervous. I think

558
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 1: all that is good, but when I get overwhelmed to

559
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: the point where it really shuts me down. You know how,

560
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 1: there's that line between when you're working on something and

561
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 1: it's wearing you out, and you realize, huh, this feels

562
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: kind of cyclical because it's making me sick. If that's

563
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: where you are in the field, and read what comes

564
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: after the comma work out yourself with fear and trembling,

565
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 1: For it is God who works in you. So that's

566
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: a very interesting thought, isn't it. It is God who

567
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 1: works in you. Don't forget that while you work it out.

568
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,920
Speaker 1: Don't forget that. So don't get so good at trying

569
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 1: to figure stuff out on paper that you forget to

570
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,520
Speaker 1: work stuff out according to purpose, because the Bible said

571
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: it is God that works in you, too, willing to

572
00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: do according to his good purpose. So God starts with

573
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 1: the purpose, not the person, and then he finds the

574
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 1: person that will accomplish that purpose, and he shapes the

575
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: person that will accomplish that purpose. And that's why you

576
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,320
Speaker 1: can know God is working on you right now and

577
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 1: working in you, and so when you sit down, I

578
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,000
Speaker 1: will never forget sitting down to work on something one time,

579
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you exactly what it was, because I

580
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 1: think it's a great illustration. I had the opportunity several

581
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: years ago to interview Bishop ts right here on this

582
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,120
Speaker 1: stage at Elevation Church, and I was so honored to

583
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 1: do it. He is my preaching hero, and he's my

584
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 1: friend now too. But you know, if someone is your hero,

585
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,320
Speaker 1: even if they're your friend, you still get really nervous,

586
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: even if it's not their fault. I was so nervous

587
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,680
Speaker 1: to interview that man because I wanted to do a

588
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,439
Speaker 1: good job for it. I wanted to do a good job.

589
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,160
Speaker 1: He was promoting a book called Sore Soar, not like

590
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 1: lift or sore like sore like an eagle anyway, And

591
00:34:36,080 --> 00:34:38,960
Speaker 1: I sat down for weeks beforehand and I would work,

592
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 1: but mostly I would worry. It wasn't like I was

593
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 1: getting anything done by the time I got done, just

594
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: being a complete stress ball for several weeks. I think

595
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 1: I counted seventy five note cards of questions to ask

596
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:55,080
Speaker 1: the man.

597
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 2: About the book, And everybody.

598
00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,080
Speaker 1: Would say, aren't you excited to interview Bishop Jake's and

599
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 1: I'd be like, yeah, excitement and anxiety can kind of

600
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:10,440
Speaker 1: feel the same sometimes, and what you call it depends

601
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: on what you're focused about. And when I look back

602
00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: on it, I regret all of the stress that I

603
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 1: felt from the pressure that wasn't even real. The fact

604
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:25,280
Speaker 1: of the matter is he could have had anybody interview

605
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: him for the book. He wanted me to do it.

606
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 2: He could have gone anywhere he wanted.

607
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 1: He didn't go to Oprah, he came to Ferdick, he

608
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 1: didn't come to doctor Phil. He came to doctor Ferdi.

609
00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: But I couldn't feel that way about it, because.

610
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,200
Speaker 2: I'd be like, what do you am? I gonna ask him?

611
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 2: He's so smart.

612
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:47,880
Speaker 1: The very reason I was stressed was the very reason

613
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:48,880
Speaker 1: I should have relaxed.

614
00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:51,440
Speaker 2: Not five minutes after.

615
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 1: We got on this stage, and he sat in his

616
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,160
Speaker 1: chair and I sat in mind, and I had my

617
00:35:55,239 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 1: whole stack right, and I said my first question to him.

618
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,840
Speaker 1: Twenty minutes later, I still had seventy four questions left

619
00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:10,239
Speaker 1: and the interview is only ninety minutes. And I remember,

620
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 1: in that moment, Oh, it's bishop. He's good at talking. Oh,

621
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 1: all this time I've been thinking about this like I

622
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:24,880
Speaker 1: gotta carry it? And what am I gonna do if

623
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: my questions are stupid? And what if the people look

624
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: at me funny? And what if I mispronounced the word?

625
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:29,400
Speaker 1: And what if he doesn't sell any books? And what

626
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:30,640
Speaker 1: if he never wants to talk to me again? And

627
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: what if I accidentally say something that wasn't intended to

628
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:33,919
Speaker 1: be offended? But I was just trying to be casual

629
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: when it came across a disrespectful.

630
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:36,359
Speaker 2: And all of this.

631
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,360
Speaker 1: To interview one of the greatest talkers in the world.

632
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:47,040
Speaker 1: The only thing I had to do to be successful

633
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:58,840
Speaker 1: in the interview was this, you know, just a reverse

634
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:04,240
Speaker 1: nod for variety and effect, but between those two nods.

635
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:12,720
Speaker 2: And he had it covered. I see it stressing.

636
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,719
Speaker 1: About something in your life today. Don't know what it is,

637
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 1: don't need to God knows. I see you playing out

638
00:37:19,239 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 1: the situation over and over again.

639
00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 2: You call it preparation, but it's not preparation because it

640
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:29,200
Speaker 2: is eating through your peace. And here you are.

641
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 1: Thinking, well, and I get to that in three weeks.

642
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:35,360
Speaker 1: It's gonna be terrible. Oh when my kids become teenagers.

643
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 2: They are yet toddlers. You got twelve years.

644
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,120
Speaker 1: To read books about this crap you're gonna be dealing with,

645
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:42,280
Speaker 1: and by then all the books will be saying different

646
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 1: stuff than they say today. I see you looking at

647
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,960
Speaker 1: a situation in the future of your life, and you

648
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:50,320
Speaker 1: are afraid. And I'll tell you why you are afraid.

649
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 1: You forgot God is going to be there when you

650
00:37:53,040 --> 00:38:02,839
Speaker 1: get there. I remember, Oh, Bishop's gonna be there.

651
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,320
Speaker 2: He's a good talker. I wish you would remember.

652
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 1: With all the scenarios you're playing out in your mind,

653
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: and all the ways it could go wrong, and all

654
00:38:13,120 --> 00:38:15,399
Speaker 1: of the stuff that you're scrolling through starting to talk

655
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 1: about is it another world war?

656
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:18,719
Speaker 2: Well, what you're gonna do about it? If it is,

657
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 2: you're gonna go fight it. In whatever happens, you're.

658
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 4: Gonna have God. You're gonna have God.

659
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,279
Speaker 1: If it's a prison, he'll be your cell mate.

660
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:35,720
Speaker 4: You're gonna have God.

661
00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I forgot. Tell your neighbor, I forgot. I'm

662
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 2: gonna have God in it with me. That's why I'm.

663
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,800
Speaker 1: Not stressed about retirement, because I've never.

664
00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:52,799
Speaker 2: Seen the righteous forsaken. I was young and now I'm old.

665
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,400
Speaker 2: I'd never seen the righteous forsaken.

666
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 1: Nor is see begging for bread God is gonna be

667
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,759
Speaker 1: in this with me. God is going to be in

668
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,320
Speaker 1: the challenge with me. God is going to be in

669
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,799
Speaker 1: the uncertainty. God's gonna walk in that doctor's office with me.

670
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 1: God's gonna be on the other side of this pain

671
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:13,360
Speaker 1: will break up with me. God's gonna be with me

672
00:39:13,440 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: when I make my first appointment with the counselor. God's

673
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:18,799
Speaker 1: gonna be with me when I show up back first

674
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 1: day to school and I'm twenty seven. God's gonna be

675
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: with me when I open up my finances and begin

676
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: to get it in order and humble myself.

677
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 2: I forgot about God. That's why I was shaken. That's

678
00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 2: why I was trembling. But I'm not trembling anymore because I'm.

679
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 4: Trusting that when I get there. Oh yeah, thank you Jesus.

680
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:47,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll get a bay a bracelet fell off. But

681
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 1: let me work it in real quick. Let me work

682
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,319
Speaker 1: it in real quick. There's some stuff that needs to

683
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,440
Speaker 1: come off of you in this season. It happens, so

684
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: I might as well work it in. It happens, so

685
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 1: I might as well work it in. There are some

686
00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:01,919
Speaker 1: things in.

687
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 2: Your life that you need to stop stressing about.

688
00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 1: At a level that assumes that you're going to have

689
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: to do it alone. I never get stressed about a

690
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:19,839
Speaker 1: sermon if I remember, oh, yeah, God's going to be there,

691
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,400
Speaker 1: and just like bishops is pretty good at talking, God's

692
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,000
Speaker 1: pretty good at godding.

693
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,439
Speaker 2: How about that. I'm so tired to hear people say

694
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,720
Speaker 2: in life be life and God be godding.

695
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,799
Speaker 1: Don't quote me on that. That's so corny. But I

696
00:40:41,800 --> 00:40:43,920
Speaker 1: think sometimes we take the journey in our mind as

697
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 1: if God's not going to be there. That was so

698
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,239
Speaker 1: profound for me when I realized it. It's like, have

699
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:50,880
Speaker 1: you ever been going in a situation and you are

700
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 1: so stressed and then you remembered, oh yeah, they're going

701
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,319
Speaker 1: to be there and the person that you thought of. Now,

702
00:40:56,480 --> 00:40:58,240
Speaker 1: there are some times where you're going into a situation

703
00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:01,919
Speaker 1: and you remember they are going to be there, and boy,

704
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 1: then you really are reaching for the prescription pills because well,

705
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: but uh, there's other people like I know, for Holly,

706
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,280
Speaker 1: when Amy is going to be there when you're preaching

707
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,359
Speaker 1: or recording, there's certain things you don't have to worry about.

708
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,600
Speaker 1: And she's going over to get ready and I can

709
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 1: see she's stressed. She's like I'm good Amy's gonna be there,

710
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:24,600
Speaker 1: and she just realizes there's things that I don't even

711
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:26,719
Speaker 1: have to think about because she's good at we've been

712
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,920
Speaker 1: together so long. She's gonna take care of some stuff

713
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:31,440
Speaker 1: so I can just focus on what I need to do.

714
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:35,359
Speaker 1: I hear the Lord saying, I'm going to be there

715
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 1: even if Paul can't, even if nobody else does, even

716
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 1: if you've never been there before. I only needed three

717
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 1: note cards and two nods, and that, just like the devil.

718
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,200
Speaker 1: Joyce Smeier said, worry is down payment on the problem

719
00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:01,440
Speaker 1: you may never even have. And I'd just like the

720
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:05,879
Speaker 1: devil charging you for stuff that you don't even need,

721
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:11,080
Speaker 1: that you didn't even order. So he said, work this

722
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,760
Speaker 1: thing out, but you gonna need seventy five note cards.

723
00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:18,080
Speaker 1: Just make sure the mic is on nod your head.

724
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 1: I think, as simple as this sounds, sometimes to just

725
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,280
Speaker 1: assume that God is going to be there, we should

726
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:29,160
Speaker 1: just sit in it for a minute. What would it

727
00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:34,319
Speaker 1: change about the situation that you're afraid of facing if

728
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 1: you knew God was going to be there. One time,

729
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:42,719
Speaker 1: when they got so big on cancel culture, I thought, well,

730
00:42:42,760 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: what did they just cancel me? And then God said, how

731
00:42:46,239 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 1: many people were you preaching to when I called you?

732
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,839
Speaker 1: And the answer was five. And the Lord said, well,

733
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,040
Speaker 1: surely you can find at least five that'll come listen

734
00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:01,000
Speaker 1: to if they can swer the whole earth. You can

735
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 1: find five. You can find five. And the fact is

736
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 1: that whatever happens in your life, before it even happens

737
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:16,400
Speaker 1: to you, God already has a way to work it in. Now.

738
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 1: I didn't make this bracelet fall off, It just happened.

739
00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:23,279
Speaker 1: I worked it in. I worked it in. Remember when

740
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 1: we were at Elevation Nights in Oakland. Now the reason

741
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,120
Speaker 1: they're laughing when I said Oakland, they're not like West

742
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:34,239
Speaker 1: Coast present prejudice or anything like that. I don't want

743
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:39,359
Speaker 1: you to think when we got to Oakland for Elevation Knights.

744
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: This is twenty twenty two. I will never forget this night. Now,

745
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,879
Speaker 1: when you preach at Elevation Knights, we're going into these

746
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:49,759
Speaker 1: big arenas like basketball arenas and stuff, right, and they're

747
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:51,759
Speaker 1: always telling me this is the NBA team that plays here.

748
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:53,480
Speaker 1: I don't care about basketball. I don't care about any

749
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:55,359
Speaker 1: of that. I just care about serving him.

750
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 2: No, Actually, i'm looking what bands came here?

751
00:43:57,960 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 1: Oh, the Rolling Stones were here. That's cool to me.

752
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,520
Speaker 1: I don't care if played basketball here. But when we

753
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,480
Speaker 1: were in Oakland, I don't know what made me wear

754
00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 1: that big heavy jacket that night. I remember wearing this

755
00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:10,359
Speaker 1: big heavy jacket. I'm up preaching and there's a lot

756
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: of distractions because it's not like a church service where

757
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,360
Speaker 1: y'all are so attentive even watching online right now. You

758
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 1: just at Elevation nights, it's like a concert and then

759
00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 1: a sermon. And some of the people that got there,

760
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 1: they got totally like bait and switched. They had no

761
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:24,439
Speaker 1: idea they were gonna have to sit through a sermon.

762
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 1: They thought it was just music. So I am like

763
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:33,280
Speaker 1: a total buzzkill for the whole room. But in Oakland

764
00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:35,759
Speaker 1: it was going pretty good. And you know, you have

765
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:38,000
Speaker 1: to work around the distractions. This guy's over here eating

766
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,400
Speaker 1: popcorn and chicken fingers? Did she get did she have

767
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,560
Speaker 1: a beer? Hovering? And trust in God, you know, uses

768
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,239
Speaker 1: all kinds of things going through your mind, just all

769
00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:47,920
Speaker 1: the distraction stuff, and you have to learn just to

770
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,959
Speaker 1: kind of like work around it, right, But a couple

771
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 1: times on these nights, something happens that you can't work

772
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:57,480
Speaker 1: around and in Oakland, something happened. I was in the

773
00:44:57,480 --> 00:44:59,359
Speaker 1: middle of my sermon. I was preaching on Acts, Chapter three,

774
00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:04,480
Speaker 1: verses one through ten. The message was called Surprise, and

775
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: I was talking about Peter and John at the gate

776
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 1: called beautiful, and the man showed up and he wasn't

777
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:10,280
Speaker 1: expecting to get healed, and they weren't expecting to be healers,

778
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,640
Speaker 1: but surprise. Right when I'm reving up, you know, I've

779
00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:16,759
Speaker 1: gotten my background cover. All the lights in the whole

780
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:22,480
Speaker 1: arena go out, not gradually, not dimmed out, and so

781
00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:25,799
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh, that's weird. They'll come back on in

782
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:26,720
Speaker 1: a minute.

783
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 2: Six minutes and forty five seconds.

784
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:34,280
Speaker 1: No, I'm not exaggerating six It felt like six years.

785
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,480
Speaker 1: It felt like six years because all the lights go out.

786
00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:42,680
Speaker 1: And the first thing I think the whole audience thought was, oh,

787
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: this is a part of his sermon. And so I

788
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 1: tell them real quickly. I'm like, this is not a

789
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 1: part of my sermon. And I'm standing up there. You know,

790
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,920
Speaker 1: ten seconds goes by, twenty seconds goes by. I'm a

791
00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:59,280
Speaker 1: professional man. I've been doing this since I was sixty.

792
00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 1: I've been doing this since I was in Monks corner,

793
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:03,440
Speaker 1: South Carolina. I can do this. I can hold this

794
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,319
Speaker 1: crowd for a minute. I can preach through this. But

795
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:07,879
Speaker 1: then it's thirty seconds, it's a minute, and you kind

796
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: of run out of steam to stall, you know how

797
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 1: about those lights? And then it hit me, you don't

798
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 1: know how long it's going to take for them to

799
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,719
Speaker 1: work this out, so work it in.

800
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:31,080
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, I'm telling you the truth.

801
00:46:32,239 --> 00:46:36,440
Speaker 1: With the lights off, I started preaching about when you're

802
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:40,440
Speaker 1: in a dark season. I started preaching about how Peter

803
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,880
Speaker 1: and John weren't always at the gate called beautiful, but

804
00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:47,719
Speaker 1: they had once been in a garden called Getsemone, where

805
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,719
Speaker 1: the savior of the world was facing the darkness of

806
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,239
Speaker 1: our sin. And what do you do when you're in

807
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: the darkness of the garden of Gethsemone and the lights

808
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,759
Speaker 1: are out all around you and you are uncertainty because

809
00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:02,839
Speaker 1: I don't know how long it's going to take them

810
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:04,000
Speaker 1: to put the lights back on.

811
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,880
Speaker 2: So while I'm waiting for them.

812
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:14,120
Speaker 5: To work it out, I'm trying.

813
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 1: To close this message, I really am. But there is

814
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:20,600
Speaker 1: somebody listening to me who's waiting for God to work

815
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:24,400
Speaker 1: it out, and God is saying back while you're waiting

816
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:28,319
Speaker 1: in this dark season for me to work it out,

817
00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 1: for me to show you the next step, for me

818
00:47:30,239 --> 00:47:32,040
Speaker 1: to give you the next crumb, for me to give

819
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:33,680
Speaker 1: you the next notice, for me to give you the

820
00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 1: next relationship, for me to turn this thing around, for

821
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:37,840
Speaker 1: the report to be positive.

822
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 2: While you're waiting for me to work it out. Work

823
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:44,040
Speaker 2: it in, work it in, work it in.

824
00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:47,239
Speaker 1: I hear God saying, work it in, for it is

825
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 1: God that works in you. It is God that works

826
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:54,960
Speaker 1: in you. And show them the video. About five minutes

827
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:59,040
Speaker 1: in the people did something. The people had their phones.

828
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:02,040
Speaker 2: Out, which you could put me down in the pit. Yeah,

829
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:03,279
Speaker 2: you could take me out.

830
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:04,840
Speaker 4: I didn't tell him to me.

831
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:07,399
Speaker 2: He thought they just did it. He thought he could

832
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 2: pete me here with six thousand six.

833
00:48:11,560 --> 00:48:20,440
Speaker 4: Uh huh sup surprise surprise, Yeah, breaks verdict.

834
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:28,439
Speaker 6: No course, get your likes out. Give him a seal

835
00:48:28,520 --> 00:48:34,080
Speaker 6: of praise, I said, give him a shout of praise.

836
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:39,600
Speaker 4: Are you a praiser?

837
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:41,960
Speaker 2: Are you a lift?

838
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 6: I think it's great because maybe that's the message God

839
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:50,480
Speaker 6: want me.

840
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,560
Speaker 1: Maybe that's the message God wanted me to breach you.

841
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 6: Look at all those lights, look at all that evidence,

842
00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:05,239
Speaker 6: Look all that phrase, hollylo out.

843
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:09,040
Speaker 5: Look at all of that strength, Look at all of

844
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:10,200
Speaker 5: that glory.

845
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:17,960
Speaker 4: From something we didn't sick coming surprise. It's not the

846
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:23,719
Speaker 4: lie ordered, but it's what gone ordered. Done is suffering.

847
00:49:24,239 --> 00:49:25,840
Speaker 4: God ordered my steps.

848
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 2: God is in this with me.

849
00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:32,919
Speaker 4: Get your light out, get your light out, Get your

850
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 4: light out.

851
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,080
Speaker 1: You had that light in your pocket the whole time,

852
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: but you didn't need to work that light out until

853
00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:53,279
Speaker 1: the light was absent. The absence became the opportunity for

854
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:54,279
Speaker 1: the illustration.

855
00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:56,480
Speaker 2: Because while I'm.

856
00:49:56,360 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 1: Waiting for God to work this out, might as well

857
00:50:00,640 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 1: work it in. God, what do you want to teach

858
00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:05,680
Speaker 1: me through this? God? How do you want to prepare

859
00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,919
Speaker 1: me for this? I was complaining about something that wasn't

860
00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:12,239
Speaker 1: succeeding in this season of my life lately, and God said, exactly,

861
00:50:12,480 --> 00:50:14,960
Speaker 1: because you got cocky about what you could do, and

862
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:17,360
Speaker 1: I needed to teach you to pay attention. So I

863
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:19,879
Speaker 1: took your success away for a minute so you would

864
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:27,200
Speaker 1: pay attention to the source of your strength. Jesus, I

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00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:30,799
Speaker 1: didn't even plan for us to do this altogether. We

866
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,960
Speaker 1: didn't work any of that out, but we worked it in.

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00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:39,399
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you twenty four seconds come on, turn

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00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:40,160
Speaker 1: the lights back on.

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00:50:40,239 --> 00:50:43,520
Speaker 2: It feels kind of dangerous. I'm gonna give you twenty four.

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00:50:43,400 --> 00:50:47,160
Speaker 1: Seconds to give God the greatest praise.

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00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:52,279
Speaker 4: You gave him, because he gave me one more day.

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00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 5: Nineteen seconds, Hey, key seconds, except you're running out of time.

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00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:04,879
Speaker 5: You're running out of time and that and midnight pull

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00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:06,960
Speaker 5: in silas, don't.

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00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:08,680
Speaker 4: Know what to do?

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00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:08,920
Speaker 1: Do it?

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00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 4: Didn Hey seven six fut.

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00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:24,719
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of

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00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,759
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of

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00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the

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00:51:30,760 --> 00:51:34,040
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation

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00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:37,839
Speaker 1: Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if

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00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:41,120
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share

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00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:43,360
Speaker 1: it with your friends. You can click the share button,

885
00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:45,840
Speaker 1: take a screenshot and share it on your social stories

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00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:48,600
Speaker 1: and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.

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00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:49,239
Speaker 1: God bless you.