WEBVTT - God Will Work It In! 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:06.640 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:07.800 you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:09.320 Hope this inspires you. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:11.959 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:15.200 to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.720 Today. I have a word from the Lord for somebody. 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:22.279 I said today, I have a work. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.320 Remember a way, he said, external processing. When the Lord 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.760 has a gift for you, get excited, remain standing for 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.080 just a moment. I only have two verses this week. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.720 I was meditating on where to go after we talked 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.280 last week about God can use this too, and this 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:44.560 is a little bit of a sequel to that message. 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:47.400 But you know, I love to preach Bible stories and 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:50.040 kind of use the different elements to use different things. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:51.800 But sometimes I feel like it's good to just come 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.960 to something that's a simple instruction in the Word of God, 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.680 and hopefully this will help us to apply what God 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:01.640 has planted in our hearts. We're going to go to 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.880 Philippians chapter two, Versus twelve and thirteen for a moment. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:09.960 I'm preaching from my daughter's Bible today, so you will 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:16.440 notice an extra anointing, gentleness, vivaciousness. I've given all three 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.399 of my kid's bibles that from I preached five years 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.840 from the Bible. Than give it to a kid, give 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.160 it to another. And so we'll see if Abby's is 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.280 more annointed than Elijah's and Graham's. Today I cycle through them, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:28.319 see which one of them has been praying for me 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:32.360 the most. All right, listen to this verse. Just because 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:34.320 I said it shorter, just because I said it simple, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.160 don't disengage your brain, because I really want you to 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.760 pay attention to what the Lord is saying here through. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.720 The Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul in this Epistle to 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.560 the Church at Philippi. Through the Apostle Paul in this 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:50.080 Epistle to the Church at Philippi, the Word. 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.080 Of the Lord says, Therefore, my dear friends, as you 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.920 have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:03.400 much more in my absence, continue to work out your 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:09.440 salvation with fear and trembling Verse thirteen. For it is 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:14.640 God who works in you to will and to act 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:18.800 in order to fulfill his good purpose. Now that's all 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.120 the verses I want to read today. But I want 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.799 to give you my sermon title. It's a common saying, 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:25.560 so I'll say it and then you fill in the 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.079 blank when I stop and point out you ready, you 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.000 could play along online too the title of this message. 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:32.040 And after I say the title, I'll read the scripture 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:33.799 again for you, just so we can get it down deep. 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:38.160 God will work it. 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:45.440 Right. I set you up, though, because that is amazing. 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.000 God will work it out. It's something that everybody wants 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.240 to believe about the situation they're facing, whether it's a 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:54.720 custody battle, or whether it's a medical situation, or whether 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.639 it's a relational tension. But the message God gave me 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.359 today is just one word different. I'm going to just 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:01.320 change one word and I'm not changing the word God. 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:03.960 And I'm not going to change the word will. I'm 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:07.040 not going to say he might, he could, he can, 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:10.400 But instead of God will work it out, I want 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:16.560 to preach on God will work it in. God will 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.600 work it in. And I'll read the verses again and 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.920 you'll see where I'm coming from. This is not just wordplay. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:23.280 I don't just think of a clever thing that I 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.359 can call a sermon that sounds good. So you could 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.400 just feel good for a minute. The text says in 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:32.799 Philippians chapter two, verse twelve. Therefore, my dear friends, as 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:35.840 you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.520 now much more in my absence, continue to work out 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.880 your salvation with fear and trembling. 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:48.280 For it is God who works in you. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:52.640 To will and to act in order to fulfill his 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:57.240 good purpose. So now as you take your seat prayerfully, 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.440 reach around and tell seven people. God will work it in. 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.160 God will work it in. Six more, tell them God 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.880 will work it in. Put it in the chat. God 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:10.160 will work it in. God will work it in. Praise 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:14.440 the Lord for what he's working out. Praise the Lord 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.360 for what he's working in. And I'll make that make 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.360 sense if I do my job. I'm gonna have fun 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:23.480 preaching this today. I already decided. I was thinking today, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:25.560 like when you were eating that tomato soup. Holly was 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.760 eating this tomato soup she made for herself. None of 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:29.839 us like tomato soup, but her. She just made it 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.359 for her and she was having so much fun eating 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.520 that tomato soup. I was like, what else is in there? 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.640 She's like, no, I'm just excited. I've been growing tomatoes, 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.080 and I finally used my tomatoes in the soup. That's 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:41.919 how I feel about my sermons when I get to 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.160 eat it with you. And I hope you like tomatoes too. Tomato, Tomato, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.000 Here we go. In Philippians chapter two, verse twelve and thirteen, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.200 the apostle Paul is writing an epistle to the church 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:59.200 in PHILIPI, and both of those are miracles. Both of 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.880 those are miracles. The fact that Paul is an apostle 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:08.920 is miracle number one. Paul the Artist formerly known as 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:14.000 Saul of Tarsus, When the Lord wanted to reach the Gentiles, 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:19.240 he found somebody who was persecuting the church, And now 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:21.040 the persecutor of the church is now one of the 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.440 lead preachers in the church. You never know how God 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:28.320 is working in somebody's life. Don't write people off, don't 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.880 count people out, don't slap a label on them, because 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.760 this is the way they always are. Well, the way 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.440 God always is means more than the way they always are, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.160 least of all yourself. Don't ever underestimate how God can 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.320 work in somebody's life. Thing about that He took him 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:48.080 from the persecutor of the church to a preacher, and 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.880 I guess he needed someone who understood the system from 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.280 the inside in order to overturn it. That's why God 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.760 will often call you into something that you struggle with, 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:00.599 because the thing that you struggle with, the mother is 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.440 the thing you're most qualified to help somebody else step through. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.080 So when the Lord needed to reach the gentiles, he said, 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.599 I can't call Peter for this, I better call Saul 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:17.320 and change his name to Paul with a P. So 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.159 it's a miracle that he's an apostle. His whole title apostle, 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:25.440 the apostle Paul. He had been something completely different and 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.600 God changed him. And that's one reason that we were 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.000 praising him today while we were singing in church. I 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:32.560 wish you could have heard the worship. You're watching this 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.599 online later, and I wish you could have been in 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.760 here with us because we were praising him because he 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:42.120 didn't leave us like we were. And that just causes 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.159 something to explode inside of you when you realize that 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.599 he takes persecutors and turns them into preachers. But the 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.880 second miracle I mentioned that there were two in the 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.080 text is not implicit, So you got to go beneath 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:56.760 the surface to get this one. Is that he is 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.600 writing the letter the epistle, which somebody is that like 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:05.000 an apostle's wife. No epistle just means letter, it's just 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.120 addressed up. It's a letter that ended up being in 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.160 the Bible. It was written to a specific audience, the 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.320 church at Philippi. It was not written from where it 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.600 was written to. And it's a miracle that this scripture 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:22.640 exists because of the conditions Paul wrote it in, not 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:27.680 a writer's cottage by the sea, not a retreat situation 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.400 in the mountains, but rather he wrote this from prison. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.600 I wanted to point that out to you because sometimes 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:40.240 you get more focused on where you are than what 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.200 God has called you to do and be, and you 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:47.680 start acting like your environment rather than changing it. This 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.600 feels like this could have been a Rhythm Night sermon 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:53.160 on Wednesday. You know, walk into school and start talking 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.920 like a foolish You know you're actually a great, faithful 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.480 child of God. But you know, you get in an 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.400 environment and you start changing. But Paul would get in 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.920 an environment and change it, and that's what made him different. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.280 And he was also a great multitasker. 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.120 Y'all say that men can't multitask ah I beg to 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:18.560 differ the apostle. Paul, while serving a prison sentence, is 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:25.960 writing sentences that we now call scriptures. I told you 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.240 this is a good tomato suit. I grew these tomatoes myself. 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.800 And the beautiful thing. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:37.280 About this miracle is that you may not be an apostle, 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:39.959 and you might not write an epistol. But let me 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.680 break it right down to where you live. Is that 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:49.920 any situation in your life that isn't getting better? And 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.840 now I want you to think of that situation right now, 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:56.080 any situation in your life that isn't getting better, You 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.120 can do what Paul did, and you can get busy 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.600 while you wait on it to get better. So while 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:10.520 while you're waiting for it to change, change, while you're 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:16.160 waiting for a better opportunity. Obey, y'all don't like this message. 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:20.720 Y'all don't like tomatoes. The Bible says that Paul was 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.640 a great man of faith, But yet his faith did 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.800 not keep a snake from biding him last week, did it? 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.760 But his faith enabled him to shake the snake off 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:34.040 of his hand and use the incident touch somebody, say 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.240 use it, use it, use it. Everything that happens in 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.720 your life good or bad. Use it. You know. Sometimes 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.960 I will feel like the moment that God is working 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.680 with me on a specific area, that area will be attacked. 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.640 And I used to think that meant that God wasn't 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.640 really working there. But if you read the scripture, it's 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:58.000 very interesting how it's worded, isn't it. Paul writes to 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:03.240 the church and says verse twelve, my dear friends, as 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.560 you have always obeyed, And then this scripture definitely is 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.440 not about me always obeyed. No, no, no. But I 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.160 think he's like, I think this is some kind of 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:12.920 reverse psychology Paul is putting on him. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:14.400 He's like, as. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.040 Because they're fighting and they're arguing. And later in the 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.520 Book of Philippians he name checks two women and tells him, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.600 y'all stop fighting. And that's that's in chapter four. I'm 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:26.720 not going to preach that this week. But he says, 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:31.080 if you were able to obey not only in my 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.960 presence watch this, but now much more in my absence. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.079 So now think about the sadness of Paul. The apostle 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.200 is in prison, he's in a shipwreck. He gets on 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:46.960 another boat. Three months later, he goes to Rome. He's 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:50.280 under house arrest, for two years, and he writes four 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:59.240 epistles Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Filemen. The prison epistles. They 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.720 called him that, but they were written in prison, but 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:08.880 we quote them in church. So where you are right now, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:15.119 help me. Holy spirit has tremendous potential. Even your darkness 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.719 has tremendous potential to be harvested to bring somebody else's light. 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.199 For the Bible says that God, who caused his light 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.440 to shine out of darkness, gives his Holy Spirit into 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.400 our hearts, and we have this treasure in earth and vessels, 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.360 that the excellency. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.720 Of the power might be of God and not of us. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.880 He's your neighbors say, it's God doing it. 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:40.240 It's God doing it. 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.719 It wasn't God throwing Paul in the cell, but it 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:46.480 was God on the inside of Paul that caused him 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.400 to pick up a pen while he was in there. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.520 And because he picked up a pin while he was 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.240 in there, you and I are shouting over stuff, he 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.800 said today. Somebody else needs to be shouting in five 0:11:57.880 --> 0:11:58.640 years because. 0:11:58.440 --> 0:11:59.240 You didn't give up. 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.480 Somebody else needs to be praising God in ten years 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:03.040 because you. 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:04.000 Stayed the course. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.600 Because what you need to keep going is in you, baby, 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:10.359 say it by faith. 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:10.559 It is in me. 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:15.120 He said, you have an opportunity now, and listen. The 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:26.679 opportunity is this, Paul says, absence is an opportunity for application. Absence, Well, 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.560 are You're just not gonna write down anything? That's the 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:33.520 best thing I am gonna say all day. Absence is 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.200 an opportunity for application. One of our staff members, Decks, 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.120 sent me a stack of different things she had written 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.440 down from the sermons that I preached, and she said, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.280 I just want you to see that we hear you. 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:49.480 And in the notes that she put she would work 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.680 through the word that she heard. Now, I'm just asking, 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.080 and I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.240 Do you work through the word that you've heard? Word? 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:06.520 Or does it go in one ear and out in 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.160 the parking lot when you get stuck in traffic and 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.120 you start lifting up your hands, but only one finger 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:18.200 on the hand because that single finger praise No. But seriously, 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:19.679 I'm using it as a joke because I don't want 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:21.320 it to feel condemning, because that's not really my style, 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.080 because I don't really have room to do that, because 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.160 how many words has God given me? That I did 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.679 not work through. And I don't mean that you have 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.439 to take notes to be saved. God knows he's not 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.760 going to check your highlight highlight or colors. When you 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.360 get to heaven only pink, you're going to pink only heaven. 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:39.760 Oh pink, green, yellow, red, Yeah, you're going to multicolor heaven. 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.200 But the process by which you mix the word with 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:51.040 faith is when you take what I say and ask God, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:56.720 what are you saying to me about my situation through 0:13:56.800 --> 0:14:00.840 what he said? And that's the process where you filter, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.680 and that's the process where your faith is strengthened. And 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.920 so I used to go to a therapy session where 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.280 I would work on an issue in my life, and 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.160 after the therapy session, I would have just like a 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.600 major I don't want to call it a relapse, but 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:18.760 just in whatever area. And I don't mean drugs or 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.680 alcohol in these cases, but just like whatever I just 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:24.200 talked through would be very challenged in my life in 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.160 the next twenty four hours. So I brought that to 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.080 the therapist. I'm like, I might have to fire you 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.880 because every time we get off the phone, my life 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:43.200 gets worse. Therapist said, So you can get better because 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:49.920 sometimes when it isn't getting better, you are you are. 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.720 You don't get patience by praying for it. You get 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:57.120 patience by being annoyed. 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.480 Yeah, no idea. There are people who are helping you 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:05.120 get patient that you are complaining about, and you need 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.880 to be paying them. They are your personal trainers for patients. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.320 And I'm not saying we want it, but I'm just 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:16.320 saying God can use that too. And while you're waiting 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.920 on God to work some things out, whatever that area is. 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.720 Because if you need a breakthrough in your business, I 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:24.720 believe with you for a breakthrough in your business. If 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:26.840 you believe for a breakthrough in your marriage, I believe 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.960 for a breakthrough in your marriage. If you are believing 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:30.640 for a husband or a wife to come into your 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.200 life because you don't want to be alone, I believe 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:33.680 with you and stand with you for that. But just 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:35.920 know that some people are praying for a breakthrough in 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.760 the marriage that they prayed for yesterday that is struggling 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.520 now because they believe the lie that the situation would 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:53.240 fix them. So when we say God will work it in, 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.400 I'm not just trying to be clever. I thought about 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.960 how we're wanting God to affect situation, and that's great. 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:07.480 But Paul said, my absence in this prison is actually 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:12.000 a gift for you in Philippi because when you're hearing 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:16.160 the word or when you're learning something, you know you're 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.040 getting it at a mental level, Okay, And that's wonderful. 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:23.240 Instruction is wonderful. Instruction is wonderful. There's a man in 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.800 the church right now who taught me a lot about tennis, 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:29.680 a great tennis pro out here. That's wonderful. But the 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.440 thing about instruction is it is limited until you have 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.840 an opportunity for big word integration. 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.120 And integration happens when what you. 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.080 Were taught is challenged or tested and you have to 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:53.200 remember under pressure what you learned in peace. So be 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:59.080 careful coming to church because in this peaceful environment God 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.120 is going to prove after the peaceful. For Paul, he 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.720 provided a prison where he wrote four epistles for the 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:06.760 church at Philippi. 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:08.360 He did not leave. 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:12.920 Paul's physical presence with them, but he gave his presence 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.639 within them, so that when Paul's presence was taken away 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:21.879 from them, his presence within them intensified. What I'm trying 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.639 to say is anything in your life that goes away 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.800 and you think you need it. God is going to 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.040 release something greater in your life that you didn't even 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:35.000 know you had until you got in this situation where 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:40.040 you needed it. So eventually Paul says, give me the 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.639 first verse again. He says, continue in it. Touch your 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.840 neighbor and say keep going, continue to work out. Now 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.439 that's not a literal workout thing, y'all. I remember the 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:55.080 first time that somebody called me, and I guess it 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:57.320 was like to my ego or whatever. They were like, 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:03.680 uh so, as a lifter, what are your splits? I thought, 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.119 in case you need me to interpret it. As a weightlifter, 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.600 what body parts do you work out on which day? 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:14.320 Nobody ever asked me that before, and I figured, oh, 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.240 I must be giving evidence that what I've been doing 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.359 is actually improving my physical frame to the point where 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:25.600 I'm a lifter. Yah. 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.480 How good that felt to be called a lifter. 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:28.400 Now. 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.879 I lifted a lot, but I've never been called a lifter. 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.760 I was walking around the house. I didn't tell anybody, 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:35.600 but I was looking at the kids. They were like, Daddy, 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.720 I'm like lifter. You could call me lift or mister lifter. 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:45.800 I was so proud for three days because what I did. 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:52.600 Was integrated in my life in such a way. If 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.560 you would look at your neighbor and say, as a praiser, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.960 when do you praise God? Ask him one of your splits. 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:06.960 Tell them, well, I praise when I feel it. I 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:12.080 praise when I don't. I praise on the mountain, I 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:17.119 praise in the valley. I praise when I'm sure y'all 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.719 gonna catch on in twelve seconds. I praise when I'm doubting. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.680 I praise when I've got it. I praise when it's gone. 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.800 I praise when I feel it. I praise when I 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.960 faith it. I'm not faking it. I'm faith in it 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:37.920 because if I faith it. 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.880 It will form me. So let's break it down. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:45.560 The absence is an opportunity for application. Like when I 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:47.600 used to work out, I needed somebody to be there 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.040 to make me work out, and I found out that 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:53.560 they were really good partners when I heard their voice 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:58.200 even when they weren't there. What I love about God 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:04.480 and a good good instructor is not satisfied simply with 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:10.760 your assimilation of information. But a good instructor will sometimes 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:14.720 create absence and life will you're in the season right now, 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:16.240 and the Lord was speaking to me about it. I 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:17.920 don't know who is for. I don't even know who 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:19.520 is for. You know if it's for you. You're in 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.399 a season right now where it is very important that 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.600 you integrate what God has given you. And it is 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.040 feeling intense right now because of the absence of something 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:33.240 that you think you need to have. Paul said, in 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:38.840 my absence, much more than my presence, you got to 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:44.720 remember what you know about God in the absence of joy. 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:49.600 You've got to remember how to rejoice in the absence 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:52.840 of harmony. You have to remember to be a peacemaker 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.360 in the absence of money. You got to stay creative. 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.120 So God will some times take resources away from you 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:07.800 to remind you of something that you're not using. One 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:09.800 of the worst things God can give some people is 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.879 too much money, because they will start stuffing themselves with 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:17.920 stuff and forget the substance of who they were that 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.200 led them to the point that they had the wealth 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:22.840 to begin with. That's why the Word says, when you 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.080 have become great, do not forget the Lord your God, 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:26.359 for it is he that gives you the power to 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.960 get wealth. And I think that as much as God's 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:36.360 presence provides comfort, absence creates opportunity. I want to really 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:38.280 get this home to you. Okay, so just bear with 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:40.880 me for a minute, then put another tomato in this soup. 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.280 We had a great conversation, me and Elijah, my oldest, 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:51.080 and I'm working all my kids into the illustration today. Okay, Okay, 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:53.640 So I'm just working my kids in because they're expensive. 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.000 Get the most out of this relationship. When he left 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.800 for college, enough for a couple of years after Buck 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:03.840 and Chunks stopped coming over to help me work out. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.760 He was my workout partner. When he left for college, 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.119 he went three hours away. I was so depressed. I 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.600 would still go lift weights, but I wouldn't even put 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:12.680 my shoes on or turn the lights on. And I 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:16.960 wouldn't even turn Metallica on. I mean Maverick City, Kurt 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:24.399 Franklin on forgot where I was for a minute. I 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.080 sit out there in the silence, just cranking out the reps. 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:29.639 And I would sometimes just send him just to make 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:31.600 him feel bad about leaving me, send him a picture 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:33.880 of me sitting there in the dark. That's hard without 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.600 your partner. Then I felt better because about a month 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:37.840 or two after he'd been gone. We were having this 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:40.639 deep conversation one night and he opened up to me. 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:42.520 He's like, college is great, but it's hard. I'm grateful 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:44.280 to be here, but it's hard, he said. And it's 0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:46.400 hard because I have to be both of us here. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:51.400 I have to be both of us. I'm so used 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:57.159 to having you say you know, son, and sometimes you 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:00.400 got on my nerves. But I needed that. I needed 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:04.800 you to get on my nurse. Y'all. I've had a 0:23:04.800 --> 0:23:07.520 grammy of New York Times, all that stuff. I felt 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:09.280 like I got the greatest reward of my life when 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:11.480 he said this. He said, now I have to be 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:14.240 both of us because it let me know we've gone 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:20.919 from instruction to integration. And then let me know my 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:25.600 voice is still speaking, and let me know that I'm 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:32.680 still talking three hours away. I'm still talking to you 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.040