Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's do a roll call real quick. Just turn around
Speaker 1: somebody in your area, if you're in physical location, if
Speaker 1: you are watching online before or after the fact that
Speaker 1: I preach it, I want you to just put your
Speaker 1: first name from and your city, your first name from
Speaker 1: and your city. Do it right now. Turn around and
Speaker 1: tell somebody my name is. Tell him I come from
Speaker 1: and tell him I'm here to praise the Lord. I'm here.
Speaker 1: Come on, state your intention. Tell him I'm here to
Speaker 1: praise the Lord. I'm glad to be with you, but
Speaker 1: I'm here to praise the Lord. I didn't come to
Speaker 1: look at you. I didn't come to listen to you.
Speaker 1: I didn't come to hear a preacher in a plaid jacket.
Speaker 1: I came to hear from God and give him glory.
Speaker 1: That's what I came for, praise the Lord. Let's get
Speaker 1: into the word of God. Remain standing or stand up
Speaker 1: if you didn't yet, shake off all those lazy devils
Speaker 1: and all of those get that sleep out of your eyes,
Speaker 1: wipe it right out of the inside of your sockets,
Speaker 1: and get ready because God is going to speak to you.
Speaker 1: I thought about texting y'all that are going to be
Speaker 1: on the stools in a minute. You should have put
Speaker 1: a five hour energy drink in your omelet today. You
Speaker 1: should have just cooked it right into your omelet because
Speaker 1: I've got quite a quite a few miles to cover today.
Speaker 1: Are you ready? You're ready now. I've been been teaching
Speaker 1: and preaching in a stream about making room for the
Speaker 1: new things that God is doing in our life. I
Speaker 1: want to continue in that stream, and I want to
Speaker 1: share a story that is really, really a life saver.
Speaker 1: It's really a lifesaver, and so don't underestimate the power
Speaker 1: in this little story. I wonder if you've ever heard
Speaker 1: this one before. It's not very well known, but I
Speaker 1: think it's very very rich. In tewod Samuel twenty one,
Speaker 1: verse fifteen, did I give you my scripture yet? Or
Speaker 1: was that the first time I said it? Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: give you a second. I've been in this scripture so long.
Speaker 1: I feel like we. I feel like we just we've
Speaker 1: been together all week because while I've been preparing it,
Speaker 1: I've been picturing you and praying and hoping that God
Speaker 1: would communicate it. So they moved my camera way back
Speaker 1: to the back of the room like it always was
Speaker 1: for months. I had it real close. But let's just
Speaker 1: there's no distance in the spirit, all right. So wherever
Speaker 1: you're watching this, we're right there together. Second Samuel twenty
Speaker 1: one fifteen. If you're in Philippians, just look at the
Speaker 1: screen because you won't find it. Once again, there was
Speaker 1: a battle between the Philistines and Israelites, and David went
Speaker 1: down with his men to fight against the Philistines, and
Speaker 1: he became exhausted. And everybody feels that that scripture is
Speaker 1: not about David. It's about you. Say amen real quick
Speaker 1: and ish Fai Benob, one of the descendants of Reifa,
Speaker 1: whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels and who was
Speaker 1: armed with a new sword, said he would kill David.
Speaker 1: He threatened to kill David King David, but Abashi, son
Speaker 1: of Zaruja, came to David's rescue. He struck the Philistine
Speaker 1: down and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, saying,
Speaker 1: never again will you go out with us to battle
Speaker 1: so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.
Speaker 1: There's quite a few preacher cliches and I like them.
Speaker 1: They're really cool. I like to use them in my
Speaker 1: sermons because they stick things that you might hear preachers
Speaker 1: say like, I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I
Speaker 1: know who holds tomorrow, and it's true. I think that's
Speaker 1: very true. I think you could make a biblical case
Speaker 1: for that, and I like it. But sometimes you want
Speaker 1: to kind of ask the preacher who saying that, well,
Speaker 1: could you please tell the one who holds tomorrow? Ask
Speaker 1: him what I should do today, and ask him to
Speaker 1: let me in on it, because I had some decisions
Speaker 1: to make. Amen. I heard another one one time. I've
Speaker 1: said this one before. Actually, confession time, I've said, it's
Speaker 1: not a setback, it's a setup. Your setback is a
Speaker 1: setup for a combat. It's like, I see what you
Speaker 1: did there, but I'm broke right and the light company
Speaker 1: doesn't take Mother Goose Bible Verse spin offs for payment.
Speaker 1: You know, I got paid the bills to help me
Speaker 1: with that. The one that I've heard a lot and
Speaker 1: I found it to be partially true is they'll say,
Speaker 1: when you're moving forward in your relationship with God, you'll
Speaker 1: experience increased resistance. Right, And that's not necessarily a sign
Speaker 1: you're doing something wrong. It just means that you're advancing,
Speaker 1: and so every time you go higher, you have to
Speaker 1: fight harder. And the way that I've said that before
Speaker 1: and heard it said is I wonder if you've heard
Speaker 1: this one, New Levels, New Devils. Have you heard that before?
Speaker 1: It's true on Mario brothers. You know, the more you win,
Speaker 1: the bigger the bosses get, And it's true in life.
Speaker 1: I'm not discounting that fact. But today I want to
Speaker 1: preach it a little bit differently, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to preach on new levels, New Devils. Instead, the Lord
Speaker 1: sent me with this passage to talk to you about
Speaker 1: same devils, new levels. Father, what you gave me was good.
Speaker 1: Don't let me mess it up. The needs are too great,
Speaker 1: So I put it in your hands. I know that
Speaker 1: you will multiply it and feed your people now all
Speaker 1: over the world. In Jesus' name, everybody, say amen, Come on,
Speaker 1: say amen, Say amen. In the chat you may be seated.
Speaker 1: Reminded me of Thanksgiving when I think the Detroit Lions
Speaker 1: play every Thanksgiving, Is that right? My Thanksgiving memories consist
Speaker 1: of going over to Uncle Tommy's and Aunt Mary's in Florence,
Speaker 1: South Carolina, then feasting, but always Uncle Tommy had the
Speaker 1: NFL on TV. It was always the Lions, the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: We will know that Jesus is about to come back
Speaker 1: for real when the Lions don't play on Thanksgiving. A
Speaker 1: lot of crazy crap has happened over the last twelve months,
Speaker 1: but when that happens, the signs of his coming are near.
Speaker 1: And my Papa, at the end of his life, he
Speaker 1: would play dumb, but he would know what was going on,
Speaker 1: and his mind was sharper than he would let you think,
Speaker 1: and he'd sit there for a long time and then
Speaker 1: he'd say something kind of funny just to mess with you.
Speaker 1: And one Thanksgiving, I must have been about eleven or twelve,
Speaker 1: we were watching the Lions and I don't know I
Speaker 1: remember this, You know, you just remember little dumb stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like the spice of life, these little weird memories.
Speaker 1: And he goes, ah, he looks at the Lions playing
Speaker 1: football and Thanksgiving, and he goes, they're still going at
Speaker 1: him after all these years. They're still going at it.
Speaker 1: He is messing with us, They're still going at it
Speaker 1: after all these years. I kind of felt like that
Speaker 1: when I was reading Second Samuel twenty one, because if
Speaker 1: you'll notice how it starts, it says, once again, put
Speaker 1: it on the screen, please once again. And I'd love
Speaker 1: for you to write those words down or just put
Speaker 1: it in the chat right now. Once again. It kind
Speaker 1: of signifies a cyclical struggle. Once again, put it on
Speaker 1: the screen one more time, please, just to make sure
Speaker 1: that it sinks in. I'm going to use repetition here
Speaker 1: because it's describing something that's repetitive in David's life, is
Speaker 1: that he's fighting the Philistines. Now, all of you Bible
Speaker 1: students are like, hey, wait a minute. He can't be
Speaker 1: fighting the Philistines. Killed the Philistine in First Samuel seventeen,
Speaker 1: and pastor Steve, I'm not so good at the Bible
Speaker 1: or theology. But Second Samuel twenty one comes way after
Speaker 1: for Samuel seventeen, So David can't be fighting the Philistine
Speaker 1: in Second Samuel twenty one. He killed him in on
Speaker 1: Samuel seventeen. His name was Goliath. He was nine foot
Speaker 1: three by some traditions, at least six foot nine by
Speaker 1: the lowest estimate. He had a big old six hundred
Speaker 1: shekel tip of his spear, and he came at David
Speaker 1: talking trash, and he defied the armies of the Living God.
Speaker 1: And David had five stones, but he sold the other
Speaker 1: four on eBay as miracle memorabilia because he only needed one.
Speaker 1: So you're correct, you're correct, you're correct, you're correct. He's
Speaker 1: fighting a different philistine enemy, the same the same opponent,
Speaker 1: the same thing. I had these moments in my life
Speaker 1: now where I'm like, really still this so it doesn't
Speaker 1: surprise me, like new levels, new devils, Like okay, well yeah,
Speaker 1: I've never done this before. Yeah, of course it's this
Speaker 1: kind of hard. But can I be honest with you
Speaker 1: when I find the same insecurities that I was dealing
Speaker 1: with as a fifteen year old, and they're still running
Speaker 1: after me, running after running after me, when I find
Speaker 1: those kinds of things that are still on my heels,
Speaker 1: and I've been running with the Lord for twenty five years.
Speaker 1: So when I called the message, same devils I knew
Speaker 1: that you would know what I was talking about, because
Speaker 1: every once in a while you get a look at
Speaker 1: yourself in the mirror and you see some things that
Speaker 1: have changed, much to your chagrin, and then you see
Speaker 1: several things that you're like, still this really and So
Speaker 1: where I want to get us in the sermon today,
Speaker 1: God being my hope and portion is I want to
Speaker 1: get us from verse fifteen put it up, please once again.
Speaker 1: There was a battle between the Philistines and Israel, and
Speaker 1: I want to get us, and you and your family
Speaker 1: and me and all of us crazy people. I want
Speaker 1: to get us all the way to verse seventeen and
Speaker 1: verse seventeen. Right in the middle of the verse, he
Speaker 1: says never again. So that's what I'm interested in today.
Speaker 1: Is I want to get from verse fifteen, where it
Speaker 1: says once again you ready? Are you ready? So verse seventeen,
Speaker 1: where he says again, Now I need allow mouth person
Speaker 1: to shout never again. All right, so sit down and
Speaker 1: let's get there, because this is gonna be a rough journey.
Speaker 1: He is fighting the same giants. Now it's not that
Speaker 1: it's not Goliath. Goliath is dead and his head's cut off,
Speaker 1: and he doesn't come back, but but it lists here
Speaker 1: in Second Samuel twenty one. Some of the people who
Speaker 1: were who were kind of like Goliath. They were kind
Speaker 1: of like Goliath, the descendants of Raifa, not the tennis player,
Speaker 1: chunks different, different God. It's it's kind of like Goliath,
Speaker 1: but it's it's not Goliath. And David has changed, but
Speaker 1: some things about him are still the same, and so
Speaker 1: you kind of surprised sometimes every once in a while
Speaker 1: to see what's still the same and what has changed.
Speaker 1: I mean, for David, he's come a long way to
Speaker 1: be the king of the United Monarchy. You know, he's
Speaker 1: got the Southern and Northern Kingdom together. He's forty years old.
Speaker 1: Now I relate to David in this way, not in
Speaker 1: many ways. I don't have a harp in my music room.
Speaker 1: David played harp. I've never done that. I played acoustic guitar.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like that. I don't relate to
Speaker 1: David all the way. I remember somebody telling me one time,
Speaker 1: you know, we shouldn't compare ourselves to the Bible characters.
Speaker 1: Then what are we doing studying history? God gave these
Speaker 1: people to us as examples the good and the bad,
Speaker 1: and so I relate to David in certain ways. In
Speaker 1: some ways, he's very different than me. I don't have
Speaker 1: his fighting skills or anything. I have his temper, but
Speaker 1: I don't have his acumen. I relate to him in
Speaker 1: the sense that, you know, he had a sense for
Speaker 1: what God wanted him to do as a teenager. I
Speaker 1: relate to that. I started sensing what God wanted me
Speaker 1: to do early. I even relate to the fact that
Speaker 1: in some ways he didn't fit in, because you can
Speaker 1: feel like that sometimes. I don't relate to bring in
Speaker 1: the Ark of the Covenant back. I've never done anything
Speaker 1: that big in my life. I really started a YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: I never brought the Ark of the Covenant back, So
Speaker 1: in a way I relate in a way is much different.
Speaker 1: There are some things about the story that are probably
Speaker 1: just to show me a bigger picture of what God
Speaker 1: has always been doing, and that part I don't relate
Speaker 1: to so much. But when it said once again there
Speaker 1: was a battle between the Philistines, and I realized that
Speaker 1: David was still fighting over two decades later with some
Speaker 1: of the same giants that he killed at age seventeen,
Speaker 1: I related to that. So we may want to give
Speaker 1: this message a subtitle. It's the same devil, it's just
Speaker 1: dressed different. Once you begin to understand that the devil
Speaker 1: is not creative God is, you can more easily discern
Speaker 1: when he's bringing a different flavor of the same temptation
Speaker 1: into your life in a different season. And I think
Speaker 1: that's important because otherwise you will become like David, exhausted
Speaker 1: trying to fight every new devil. But once you recognize
Speaker 1: that this is the same fear that's making me drink
Speaker 1: too much that earlier in my life was a part
Speaker 1: of how I grew up, or once you realize this
Speaker 1: is the same fear that's making me push people away
Speaker 1: at age. Now, now here's what happens. Though. See like
Speaker 1: it's the same stuff we deal with, right, It's the
Speaker 1: same exact stuff. The world, the flesh, the devil. Everybody
Speaker 1: say that the world, the flesh, the devil. Only three enemies,
Speaker 1: the world, the flesh, the devil. The world is the system,
Speaker 1: the flesh is the patterns, and the devil is that
Speaker 1: other thing, that other thing that we can't exactly pinpoint
Speaker 1: on a person. But once you understand that's all the
Speaker 1: devil has, and it just comes back and forth in
Speaker 1: your life in different seasons. It dresses up in different disguises.
Speaker 1: And when you're younger, the devils are less expensive. So
Speaker 1: when you're younger and you want attention, you just act
Speaker 1: out in class and you get detention. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1: You just want attention, that's what you want. So you
Speaker 1: do something stupid and you get detention, and that's it.
Speaker 1: But what about twenty five years later, when the same
Speaker 1: need for attention outside of your marriage doesn't end in detention,
Speaker 1: it ends in divorce. Do you see what this country
Speaker 1: preacher is trying to say to you. It's really simple.
Speaker 1: It's the same devil. It's just coming at you at
Speaker 1: an entirely different expense. The stakes are higher. So that's
Speaker 1: why I love like elevation youth, because while my kids
Speaker 1: are young, I want to teach them they can pray
Speaker 1: about anything, they can ask God for anything, they can
Speaker 1: trust God with anything, they can go to God for anything.
Speaker 1: They can find everything that the world falsely advertises in
Speaker 1: the House of God. And you don't have to run
Speaker 1: from your calling. You can embrace it because you've got
Speaker 1: it on the inside. I don't know if you know
Speaker 1: this but the same passion that made David great as
Speaker 1: a teenager to kill Goliath, which was his first giant
Speaker 1: that he killed, almost got him killed a little later
Speaker 1: in his life. See he's conflicted in two Samuel twenty
Speaker 1: one because he's not a shepherd boy anymore. He's a
Speaker 1: king now, he's not in a wheelchair. When I first
Speaker 1: read this, I was like, man, David must have been
Speaker 1: really old that he got so tired in battle. Then
Speaker 1: I thought he was weak. But I read it a
Speaker 1: few more times and it didn't say that. It said
Speaker 1: once again, there was a battle between the Philistines and Israel.
Speaker 1: David went down with his men to fight against the Philistines,
Speaker 1: and he became the Bible says, exhausted. It didn't say
Speaker 1: he was weak. That's not almost what got him killed.
Speaker 1: David was not weak. He's one of these guys. Even
Speaker 1: if you thought that, you wouldn't say it to his face.
Speaker 1: He wasn't weak, and he wasn't lazy. The Bible doesn't
Speaker 1: say that David was careless. It said he was weary.
Speaker 1: There's a big difference between weak and weary. It's like
Speaker 1: the other day, me and my partner, who's also my
Speaker 1: firstborn son. We're pumping some big weights in the pound.
Speaker 1: That's what we call the room. We work out in
Speaker 1: the place of ultimate natural development. Pound. It's an acronym
Speaker 1: have a good time. You got to have a good
Speaker 1: time in life. You can't preach all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: use your creativity in other ways. So come it's we
Speaker 1: call it the pound. And I said, what would you
Speaker 1: do right now if I put a video of you
Speaker 1: curling these five pound weights? But see when I tell
Speaker 1: you he was curling five pound weights. What I didn't
Speaker 1: tell you is it was the fourth exercise in a
Speaker 1: super super super setting. If you had walked in at
Speaker 1: that moment where you saw him with the fives, you'd
Speaker 1: be like, haha, look at you. Do you even lift this? Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was lifting for five minutes before you got here.
Speaker 1: You just walked in at the end. So here we are.
Speaker 1: I'm curling tins, he's curling fives, and we're laughing at ourselves,
Speaker 1: but knowing we're much stronger. We're not weak, We're just weary.
Speaker 1: I thought you'd be happy. I'm letting you off the hook.
Speaker 1: That's why you did the dumb thing that you did yesterday.
Speaker 1: You are not a weak person. You are strong. How
Speaker 1: can Christ live in you and you'd be weak? It's
Speaker 1: not possible. That's not possible. How can greater is he
Speaker 1: that is in you than he that is in the world.
Speaker 1: How can the great I am be the spirit that
Speaker 1: brings life in sight of you and you be weak?
Speaker 1: David wasn't weak, and neither am I. I feel weak
Speaker 1: when I get weary, and I get weary when I've
Speaker 1: been fighting the same battle over and over and over again,
Speaker 1: and then people walk in on you and they're like,
Speaker 1: why would you do something so dumb? Oh God, why
Speaker 1: would you do something like that if you would have
Speaker 1: saw the three sets I had to do before you
Speaker 1: got here. Yeah. I used to want to walk out
Speaker 1: because for years I preached three services or four services,
Speaker 1: and I used to want to walk out to the
Speaker 1: eleven thirty on the third service and go, can you
Speaker 1: all be nice to me today? I mean, I barely
Speaker 1: have a voice left. I drank all the throat coat
Speaker 1: that they make in the I'm practically like living off
Speaker 1: a recola cough drop to even get these words out.
Speaker 1: Can y'all please not sit there and look at me?
Speaker 1: Cross eyed and crossed arm? Looking at me like I
Speaker 1: stole something out of your house and you want to
Speaker 1: throw me in prison. Can we please not have you
Speaker 1: looking like a terrorist on the front row of the
Speaker 1: church today while I'm trying to appreciate you know, just
Speaker 1: like pity me. I'm tired. Please help me, help me anyhow.
Speaker 1: I'm person, David is a person. You're a person. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have the treasure in earthen vessels. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: get tired. The only thing I hate is when I
Speaker 1: see you getting tired over battles that you don't even
Speaker 1: have to fight. I hate that for you. Some battles
Speaker 1: you have to fight when you're running back and forth
Speaker 1: to the nursing home where your mother is and she's
Speaker 1: an hour away, and then you're coming back home and
Speaker 1: you don't have enough to give and you're spread. Then,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's one thing, But then to have imaginary
Speaker 1: battles that you fight alongside the real So where in
Speaker 1: my life am I being defeated because I'm drained? What
Speaker 1: a question? Right? Where am I stronger than what I
Speaker 1: am acting? Like? Where am I? Where am I? Actually?
Speaker 1: I remember when I went over to somebody's house one
Speaker 1: time and their kid was acting so colicky and bad
Speaker 1: at the probably like a six month old kid, and
Speaker 1: they said, I promise they're good. They just they just
Speaker 1: need a nap. And sometimes I want to like apologize
Speaker 1: for myself like that, I promise I'm good. I just
Speaker 1: need a napp I just need a bubble bath. I
Speaker 1: just need to take a walk with Holly. I just
Speaker 1: need something. And yet so much of it, if you'll
Speaker 1: notice in the passage, so much of it is solved
Speaker 1: when we allow the strategy to match the season. And
Speaker 1: that's what drew me to the challenge of this text
Speaker 1: was that David is doing what he has always done
Speaker 1: and what has made him successful up to this point,
Speaker 1: and it almost gets him killed. So here's how God
Speaker 1: showed it to me. The thing that got him crowned
Speaker 1: almost got him killed. He was crowned for killing a giant,
Speaker 1: which was what he was supposed to do in that
Speaker 1: season of his life. But now we find him almost dying.
Speaker 1: David almost died, He almost died, He almost died before
Speaker 1: he did everything God called him to do. He almost
Speaker 1: died anointed and he almost died. You can be anointed
Speaker 1: and exhausted, and if you don't know what to do
Speaker 1: in those moments, then the thing that crowns you in
Speaker 1: one season can kill you in the next. Excellent. Can
Speaker 1: I share this personally? When COVID nineteen says it, are
Speaker 1: y'all sick of even hearing that? Can we call it
Speaker 1: something else? When the plague broke out on the earth
Speaker 1: for four weeks? And you'll verify this. I went on
Speaker 1: zoom to every meeting in the church. Every meeting. It
Speaker 1: was me creeping on every meeting. What are we talking
Speaker 1: about today? I think the e Kid's logo should have
Speaker 1: a slightly lighter shade of yellow because I was scared
Speaker 1: because they told me we couldn't open the doors of
Speaker 1: our church. And I spent almost fifteen years. This church
Speaker 1: will turn fifteen next week. Oh yeah, we kill some
Speaker 1: Zians too, Boy, we kill some big ones, some big ones. Now.
Speaker 1: Back in those days, I was in every meeting at
Speaker 1: my kitchen table with no office. I mean, and I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to make the sermon about me. I know not, David,
Speaker 1: But I just relate to trying to do something that
Speaker 1: made you successful in one season, but you don't have
Speaker 1: the strength for it in the next season, and you
Speaker 1: can't figure it out, why is this killing me? So
Speaker 1: I was trying to run the church how I used
Speaker 1: to run the church, just like you're trying to live
Speaker 1: in your marriage like you did when you were single.
Speaker 1: You don't get to keep the same schedule as a
Speaker 1: married person as you did as a single person. That
Speaker 1: will kill the law that you had in your marriage.
Speaker 1: I feel it in my legs. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: So so for a few weeks, I was going to
Speaker 1: every meeting. You remember, I was going at every meeting.
Speaker 1: I was going at every meeting, and I think I
Speaker 1: needed to for a minute, just to stabilize. But then
Speaker 1: there came a point where I became so exhausted from
Speaker 1: doing what I did fifteen years ago to or at
Speaker 1: the church, and I realized, and maybe it will help
Speaker 1: you realize that you have your own version of this,
Speaker 1: that I'm killing my creativity that God needs me to
Speaker 1: use to do what he called me to do. Can
Speaker 1: you relate? I'm not David. I never thought what's his name?
Speaker 1: Ish bay? Being not? I never I can't even pronounce it,
Speaker 1: let alone, Can I kill him? I never thought something
Speaker 1: like that, all right, But what I can relate to
Speaker 1: is trying to use an old strategy in a new season.
Speaker 1: And like, if you've lived through any kind of scarcity,
Speaker 1: this is a big temptation because you can have enough
Speaker 1: but not know what to do with it. You can
Speaker 1: have a phone full of people who would love to
Speaker 1: hear from you, and tell yourself to lie. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: to talk to me, because maybe at one point in
Speaker 1: your life nobody would talk to you. And you're still fifteen,
Speaker 1: and you're forty you're forty five. Here's what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say nicely. You're running out of time to upgrade
Speaker 1: weapons because Ishbai Binobi is coming for everything you have.
Speaker 1: One version says he cornered David, and some of you
Speaker 1: are feeling cornered right now. And if you don't figure
Speaker 1: out what to do in this weary place, that same
Speaker 1: instinct that God gave you for survival that David had.
Speaker 1: Remember he said, I killed the bear, I killed the lions.
Speaker 1: Papa said, they're still going at it. It was the
Speaker 1: lions That's what made me remember it, because David was
Speaker 1: killing lions right But now if he tries to fight
Speaker 1: in this season like he fought in that season, he
Speaker 1: will die at the hands of his own instinct you
Speaker 1: want to go home or you want me to keep going.
Speaker 1: So I realized I can't keep going in all these meetings.
Speaker 1: It's just taken all. So I want to ask you
Speaker 1: the question again, where in your life are you using
Speaker 1: an old strategy in a new season. Where does that
Speaker 1: need to be upgraded? You know, like when you do
Speaker 1: go through the legend of Zelda. This is a current
Speaker 1: pop culture reference here, Okay for all the young people.
Speaker 1: When you do go through a video game, you got
Speaker 1: to pick up all the weapons along the way. And
Speaker 1: now the shame of it is when you're fighting with
Speaker 1: an inferior weapon, because it reminds you of Gowiath. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're defensive but nobody's attacking you. That's bad. The
Speaker 1: whole thing of whether David lives or died, the whole
Speaker 1: thing on whether your joy lives or died, The whole
Speaker 1: thing on whether or not you make it, the whole
Speaker 1: thing on whether or not you live to show your
Speaker 1: kids something different. See, I feel sorry for David. He
Speaker 1: doesn't know how to be a king in this way.
Speaker 1: He had a bad example in Saul. He was only
Speaker 1: the second king that Israel ever had. The whole reason
Speaker 1: israel wanted a king was because the Philistines were oppressing them.
Speaker 1: The whole reason the Philistines were oppressing them is because
Speaker 1: the Philistines were metalworkers, so they had more weapons. The
Speaker 1: Israelites didn't have the weapons, so they wanted a king.
Speaker 1: But they got a bad king because they selected on
Speaker 1: the basis of hight, not heart. When David came into
Speaker 1: the throne, he had the heart for it, but he
Speaker 1: didn't know how. And that's the thing about the people
Speaker 1: I passed her. I have the heart to be a
Speaker 1: good dad. I have the heart to be a good woman.
Speaker 1: I have the heart to be a good employee. I
Speaker 1: have the heart to make it. I have the heart
Speaker 1: to break these changes. I want to get free, but
Speaker 1: I never saw a how So now I'm out here
Speaker 1: fighting forty year old giants with fifteen year old tactics,
Speaker 1: and you can't fight grown up battles with teenage tactics.
Speaker 1: You've got to grow into this season. You've got to
Speaker 1: grow into this challenge. You've got to grow into this assignment.
Speaker 1: You've got to grow into the annoying thing that you've
Speaker 1: had all along. It's not automatic, it's not automatic. And
Speaker 1: whenever I face something that scares me. You know what
Speaker 1: I do? They say, what is it? New levels, new devils? No,
Speaker 1: when I hit a new devil, I sink back to
Speaker 1: the same level. I go back to the sewer, you know.
Speaker 1: I go back to the dumpster, back when I was
Speaker 1: emotionally homeless and had nothing to eat. Go back inside
Speaker 1: myself and keep counsel with the most unreliable person that
Speaker 1: I know, me unchecked. How does it go? See all
Speaker 1: these crazy things preachers say, new levels, new devils. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to show you, on one hand, how this
Speaker 1: is not Goliath. It just reminds you of him and
Speaker 1: that you have grown. But really, what I want to
Speaker 1: show you is what God did for David when he
Speaker 1: was cornered, and I believe He's going to do it
Speaker 1: for you. I know what we want to happen. That
Speaker 1: is not going to be what happens we want when
Speaker 1: David's got a sword to his throat. Remember this guy,
Speaker 1: this Ish. I like how his name starts with ish
Speaker 1: because we're all dealing with some Ish, aren't we. That's
Speaker 1: the part of his name. I can't say. Somebody put
Speaker 1: in the chat new Ish, same God, all right, stop
Speaker 1: stop it? He had a sword three hundred sheecls. Can
Speaker 1: you believe that that's seven pounds? Can you believe that
Speaker 1: Golias was fifteen pounds six hundred shekels? It was only
Speaker 1: half the size of golias sword. So why couldn't David
Speaker 1: beat him? I should be able to do this. I
Speaker 1: should be able to movement. I always did it this
Speaker 1: way before, and I got up and you know, my
Speaker 1: get up and go, got up and went. While we're
Speaker 1: doing cliches. You know what's happening right now? Why isn't
Speaker 1: this working? Because it sucks because the moment you mastered
Speaker 1: the strategy of chefs. So like when my oldest became
Speaker 1: a teenager, I'm so proud of him, but I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to raise a teenager. And you know, everybody
Speaker 1: start telling me, just give him his space, I says space.
Speaker 1: So let me get this right. This human being that
Speaker 1: gave me no space or sleep for the first two
Speaker 1: years of his life now so it's just back off.
Speaker 1: That's hard to do. Why are y'all looking at me crazy?
Speaker 1: You can't parent a fifteen year old the way you
Speaker 1: parent a two year old. I see people try to
Speaker 1: do it, and then I see the kid explode when
Speaker 1: they get out from under that supervision because you did
Speaker 1: not shift the strategy to match the season. Do you
Speaker 1: think pastoring this church now is like how it was
Speaker 1: pastoring when we had nineteen people. Imagine if we imagine
Speaker 1: if we tried to have the cookout on my grill
Speaker 1: after this sermon like we did back then. There's not
Speaker 1: enough propane in North Carolina. Uh huh uh huh huh
Speaker 1: huh huh. So what you have to do is what Abashi?
Speaker 1: I want somebody to their baby that I wish I
Speaker 1: would a name one of my kids Abishai. It's a
Speaker 1: good name. No, it's a good name. It means father
Speaker 1: of a gift. And what I wanted for the Bible
Speaker 1: to say, because when I feel like the enemy is
Speaker 1: closing in on me and I'm tired and I'm spent,
Speaker 1: and I'm out of ideas and I'm sick of people,
Speaker 1: I want him to send me an angel. God did
Speaker 1: not send an angel to rescue David. He sent abishaid.
Speaker 1: God did not send an angel. He sent a person.
Speaker 1: What David does when Abishai comes determines whether he lives
Speaker 1: or dies. Are you pushing your abishi away because it's
Speaker 1: like I'm waiting on God. You know the old story
Speaker 1: the man was dying and the Lord sent him a helicopter.
Speaker 1: And how's the story going, Danny, you heard it before.
Speaker 1: He's like, God, if you'll save me, he's dying, he's
Speaker 1: about to drown, and helicopter flies by. He says, no,
Speaker 1: I'm waiting on God. The boat comes by. I'm waiting
Speaker 1: on God. Jet ski comes by. He said, I'm waiting
Speaker 1: on God. And he dies and he gets to heaven
Speaker 1: and they said, Lord, I waited on you. He said,
Speaker 1: I sent you a helicopter and a boat and a
Speaker 1: jet ski. I sent you aver ashire. But you know
Speaker 1: what you keep doing. You keep reverting back to when
Speaker 1: you had no help. How stupid does a king look
Speaker 1: with a sling like this. You're not stupid. We look
Speaker 1: when we start trying to fight things in the flesh.
Speaker 1: I'll show them. I got in a fight with a
Speaker 1: woman the other day, not a physical fight or anything.
Speaker 1: She was just talking crap. She was saying some stuff
Speaker 1: and I checked her. It wasn't inappropriate. You wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been ashamed to call me your pastor. But I checked
Speaker 1: her enough enough enough, and do you know what I
Speaker 1: got for it? Y'all are clapping. Y'all are cardinal. Y'all
Speaker 1: are real cardinal. Y'all are real cardinal. Just like me.
Speaker 1: I got two hours of an elevated heart ray, good job,
Speaker 1: didn't get a check, didn't get a royalty, didn't even
Speaker 1: get a belt, you know, like nothing, no metal, no nothing.
Speaker 1: But that's what I'm used to doing, right, That's what
Speaker 1: I'm used to doing. I going back to what I
Speaker 1: used to do. In some cases, that's worked well for me.
Speaker 1: You know, in some cases that's what I had to do.
Speaker 1: But you don't always have to. In some cases you
Speaker 1: had to make it alone. But maybe you don't have
Speaker 1: to right now. Maybe God's got somebody carrying the Father's gift.
Speaker 1: Abashi Abishai, pray for the next seven days, God, make
Speaker 1: me aware of the abishi, the help that you've said
Speaker 1: in my life. Pray it and see what happens. Get
Speaker 1: some cards, Get two or three cards, and handwrite some
Speaker 1: notes to people who have been an abashi for you
Speaker 1: in a season. Because at the moment that David would
Speaker 1: have died in steps abashi and Abishai is like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we can't let the light go out. David is symbolic
Speaker 1: of the land. He's the one who keeps the covenant
Speaker 1: for Israel. He's the one that God gave. They were
Speaker 1: protective of their light. Are you protect of your light?
Speaker 1: He said, You can't put Verse seventeen up. You can't
Speaker 1: go out to battle like this anymore. You can't keep
Speaker 1: doing this like this anymore. You have got to upgrade
Speaker 1: how you do this or the light is going to
Speaker 1: go out. And what I'm seeing in this season of
Speaker 1: being a pastor, if I can be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a lot of people's lights go out. I'm
Speaker 1: seeing the light in their eyes go out. I'm seeing
Speaker 1: the light in their mind go out. They're not thinking clearly.
Speaker 1: They're just tripping over stuff in the dark, just getting
Speaker 1: real reckless right now, getting real crazy, going back to
Speaker 1: stuff they left alone for six years, going back to
Speaker 1: stuff they hadn't thought about in a long time, because
Speaker 1: that's what you do in survival. But you're in a
Speaker 1: different season. Now, You've got ABESHI. Now God has put
Speaker 1: something between you and your enemy. I'm talking about Jesus.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the grace of God. Because while I
Speaker 1: was praying for those who are long dogs, said, if
Speaker 1: they don't have a human amphcide, I'll be their aber shod.
Speaker 1: I will stand between them and the pestilence and the
Speaker 1: sword and the depression. I will stand between you and
Speaker 1: the darkness. Stop pushing abashid away. I'm waiting on God. No,
Speaker 1: God has given you some help in the form of humans.
Speaker 1: And if you keep pushing people away like you're pushing
Speaker 1: people away, you will die at the hands of a
Speaker 1: giant that is under your feet. One more layer of
Speaker 1: this sermon. I want to show you who skinner. It
Speaker 1: got so good to me, and every word I was
Speaker 1: seeing was showing me something. Everybody say, same devil, new level.
Speaker 1: It means that, yes, I'm dealing with the same thing. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with the same uncertainty. No, there is no
Speaker 1: abracadabra annoying thing. I wish I had that power, man Ah,
Speaker 1: sprinkle it all over all of y'all. I'd just be
Speaker 1: out sprinkling it all through the hospitals, all through the streets,
Speaker 1: all through the divorce courts, all through the custody course,
Speaker 1: all through everything you're going, all through the unemployment lines.
Speaker 1: I just sprinkled Abricaabra's gone, but God sent him Abishi Abashi.
Speaker 1: And what really got my attention was not only did
Speaker 1: ish by benob have a sword half the size of Golias,
Speaker 1: but look what it said in verse here, It is
Speaker 1: verse sixteen. You ready, is it bad that I'm this
Speaker 1: giddy over a scripture? Okay? I feel bad. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm like being corny because I'm like excited about
Speaker 1: the Bible and stuff, the Word of God and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. It's like I'm paying too much attention to
Speaker 1: the Word of God. All right, it said that he
Speaker 1: was armed with a new sword. I'm wondering, why, Why
Speaker 1: does it matter if it's new or used? Why did
Speaker 1: it same new sword? I believe God is using the
Speaker 1: new sword that the enemy had to point to a
Speaker 1: deeper reality. Not only did the enemy have a new weapon,
Speaker 1: so did David. Not only did the enemy have a
Speaker 1: new weapon, so did David. Yeah. Remember this is the
Speaker 1: same David that struck down the lion, the same David
Speaker 1: that struck down a bear, the same David that put
Speaker 1: a smooth stone in Goliath's forehead. You remember when he
Speaker 1: came up on Goliath and Goliath coming closer, closer, closer,
Speaker 1: but David doesn't let him come all the way. David
Speaker 1: is practicing watch this spiritual distancing, spiritual distancing. It's that
Speaker 1: David ran to the battle line and he took his
Speaker 1: stone and he hit him from a distance, because look, look, look, look,
Speaker 1: you got to keep your enemies out there and your
Speaker 1: abishize here. Many of us do the exact opposite. We
Speaker 1: bring our enemies right here, and we keep our abbesshiys
Speaker 1: out there. So what we'll do. We will go in
Speaker 1: and spend five hours on Facebook having imaginary battles with
Speaker 1: people we don't know and wouldn't like if we did,
Speaker 1: or somehow we think we owe the universe an account
Speaker 1: of how we spent our day and our money and
Speaker 1: our week. So I don't go on social much anymore.
Speaker 1: I was reminded why the other night somebody in our
Speaker 1: family we were having a Friday night dinner. We had
Speaker 1: a very very busy, fruitful week last week. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to share what we created. It's amazing, one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things I've ever been a part creating, and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to share it with you. But right
Speaker 1: after that, right after that, while I was trying to rest.
Speaker 1: Somebody in our family was like, Oh, somebody's saying something
Speaker 1: bad about the church on social Da da da da dah.
Speaker 1: And I noticed in that moment, I had a decision
Speaker 1: to make. I had a decision to make in that moment.
Speaker 1: Do I want to be a part of a gang
Speaker 1: fight in a fish tank? Because if I choose to,
Speaker 1: y'all better listen to the man of God. This is
Speaker 1: wisdom for your life. If I choose to at that moment,
Speaker 1: I can go so deep into this. Who said what,
Speaker 1: and they said this, and they said that. And then
Speaker 1: when I'm preaching to you today, I'm mad. And you
Speaker 1: didn't even say anything but praise the Lord. So now
Speaker 1: I'll be fighting you in the pulpit. So I said,
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear anymore. I made a phone call.
Speaker 1: I said, Hey, if anything happens about this, let me
Speaker 1: know if let me do it. Boom boom. Now let's
Speaker 1: go watch that movie because I had told the kids
Speaker 1: that we were gonna now for us, movie night is
Speaker 1: like a big endeavor anyway. I mean, game night is
Speaker 1: like I can the Himalayas. We don't even try game
Speaker 1: night anymore. And that's a bloody sport in the Predict family.
Speaker 1: We can't do game night, but movie night. I just said, hey,
Speaker 1: y'all want to watch a movie to night. Everybody's stealing it.
Speaker 1: We had this big week as a family ministry. God's
Speaker 1: doing a great work in our church and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to share with you. But we all experienced it together.
Speaker 1: I said, let's watch a movie tonight and they said okay.
Speaker 1: I said, without our phones, they're like, okay, you would
Speaker 1: have thought. I said, let's go on a mission trip,
Speaker 1: right like this is some huge thing, like we're gonna
Speaker 1: watch a two hour like just very very very very
Speaker 1: brave of us. And I said, what do y'all want
Speaker 1: to watch? And then I realized, don't put it to
Speaker 1: a vote. I said, I'll figure out what to watch.
Speaker 1: And while that was happening, somebody said, hey, so and
Speaker 1: so is saying so and so about so and so
Speaker 1: and so and so, and I says, stop. They don't
Speaker 1: get to come to my movie night. You get it.
Speaker 1: They don't get free space in the movie theater. On
Speaker 1: my hand, if they want a ticket, they gotta buy it.
Speaker 1: Ah ah, no right there, Ah, you don't come in
Speaker 1: the front door. So so what about you, Because I
Speaker 1: meet in a lot of people and they are letting
Speaker 1: all these voices come all in, and you are dying
Speaker 1: at the hands of ish come on, pushing away the
Speaker 1: gift of the Father. Wow, it's complicated, it's not easy.
Speaker 1: David got this far by fighting, but to stay alive
Speaker 1: the same freaking philistines, these same habits, these same christ
Speaker 1: is same fifteen this again, really so God said, it's
Speaker 1: the same devil. But I want you to fight it
Speaker 1: at a new level. Because if you don't come up
Speaker 1: higher and see it from God's perspective and seek him
Speaker 1: and be with him and start your day different Injurre
Speaker 1: day different and make some adjustments, you'll be walking around
Speaker 1: with a sling shot when you're supposed to be wearing armor.
Speaker 1: The Lord said, put down the sword, put on the armor.
Speaker 1: Say it with me. Put down the sword, put on
Speaker 1: the armor. When David fought Goliath, he tried on the
Speaker 1: King's armor, but it didn't fit him. Yet it fits
Speaker 1: now it fits now, I said, it fits. Now. You're
Speaker 1: not that scared little girl anymore. No, no, you're not
Speaker 1: that weak, little defeated, little anemic. I'll take every crumb
Speaker 1: you you are not that now it fits now. Now
Speaker 1: step into this season with the confidence that you have
Speaker 1: the anointing for this assignment. Come on, let the week
Speaker 1: say I am strong. That fits me now. I got
Speaker 1: a little tired, but I'm strong. I got a little vulnerable.
Speaker 1: But I got the victory. I got it. I got it,
Speaker 1: I got it right now, I got it. I got it.
Speaker 1: Get back devil. I got it out of a shode.
Speaker 1: I got it. Annoint I got the shield of faith.
Speaker 1: I've got the helmet of salvation. I got a new wardrobe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm dressed different now. I don't have the rags of
Speaker 1: my filthy unrighteousness. I come into the presence of a
Speaker 1: God who has clothed me with a garment that is white,
Speaker 1: with a rangment that is righteous. I got it. Same David,
Speaker 1: new sword, Sing David, new sword, sing. You new altitude,
Speaker 1: same you, new focus, same devil, same insecurity, same problemh
Speaker 1: same problem, new passion. I want you to protect your
Speaker 1: light this week. I want you to take Abashi's advice. Man,
Speaker 1: Remember what you asked me the other day on the campus, Pesto.
Speaker 1: What happens when we see people who are really strong fall.
Speaker 1: I think they don't take Abashai's advice. They keep going
Speaker 1: out over and over again to fight the wrong battles
Speaker 1: and pushing the right people away. At least that's what
Speaker 1: I've noticed. I told you i'd answer you, and that's
Speaker 1: my answer, that's God's answer. Are you pushing Abishai away?
Speaker 1: Abishai wasn't an angel. Abishai was just one of David's guys,
Speaker 1: you know, one of those dirty he was now he was.
Speaker 1: He was a fighter like David. He said, stop letting
Speaker 1: people get your light, stop letting things steal your light.
Speaker 1: You remember in Revelation too, where the church at emphasis
Speaker 1: they're having trouble keeping what the author calls your first love.
Speaker 1: That's what the angel said. He said, you're losing your
Speaker 1: first love. And he gave a warning in Revelation two
Speaker 1: five that I want to show you before I pray
Speaker 1: for you today, because I know somebody's been caught and
Speaker 1: cornered on the battlefield and you are very weary. You
Speaker 1: are very weary. Not calling you weak, I'm saying you're weary,
Speaker 1: not because you've been fighting for a few days. You've
Speaker 1: been fighting for almost all your life. And the way
Speaker 1: the Lord said it in the revelation to John, he said,
Speaker 1: consider how far you have fallen. Repent and do the
Speaker 1: things you did at first. If you do not repent,
Speaker 1: I will come to you and remove your lampstand from
Speaker 1: his place. That's not a threat from God. It's a warning.
Speaker 1: It's a warning. Don't guard your light. And I wrote
Speaker 1: them three things for light. You can write them down later,
Speaker 1: just receive it right now. I said that light represents perspective,
Speaker 1: it represents passion, it represents purpose. So when they said
Speaker 1: stop fighting these battles this way, and that might mean
Speaker 1: a lot of things for you, you you know, like a
Speaker 1: lot of times we'll say, well, I prayed about it,
Speaker 1: did you like a real prayer, like a not you
Speaker 1: know where you're playing out every worst case scenario in
Speaker 1: your imagination and calling it prayer because you said, dear
Speaker 1: Lord when you started that exercise, But like, did you
Speaker 1: really say God? I mean, I was coming in today
Speaker 1: to preach, write and the Lord is like, this message
Speaker 1: is good, but you hadn't really asked me much about it.
Speaker 1: I said, all right, let's go. Holy Spirit. Felt like
Speaker 1: Abishai came in the room right, like you need some help, right,
Speaker 1: And when we get back to that when we get
Speaker 1: back to it wasn't anything wrong with David. It wasn't
Speaker 1: that he was It wasn't that he was a bad person.
Speaker 1: It's just that if he kept fighting, not from a distance,
Speaker 1: but in the way he was fighting, the light would
Speaker 1: go out. Have you lost your perspective? Have you lost
Speaker 1: your light? He said? Repent, come up higher change levels.
Speaker 1: Repent you see it in the text. Repent, Consider how
Speaker 1: you fallen. Consider where you've brought your enemies too close
Speaker 1: and kept your absh eyes at a distance. And I'll
Speaker 1: bring your light back. I hope you start seeing clearly again.
Speaker 1: You'll know what to do in the season, You'll know
Speaker 1: what to do. I'll give you an open door for
Speaker 1: how to win your kid's heart back. I'll give you
Speaker 1: an open door for how to win your wife's heart back.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an open door for how to re
Speaker 1: establish yourself as the leader. I'll show you how to
Speaker 1: start spending your time, since you have a lot of
Speaker 1: free time, show you how to reinvent yourself for a
Speaker 1: new career. Since things are happening going to be on
Speaker 1: your control. I will give you your life back. That's
Speaker 1: what God wants to do. But now, not if you
Speaker 1: keep fighting battles at the wrong level, same devil, new level.
Speaker 1: Are you saying when I go home that all of
Speaker 1: my giants will be dead. Nope, I'm saying that between
Speaker 1: once again and never again. Between once again and never again.
Speaker 1: It's not about a devil. It's about a decision. You've
Speaker 1: got a decision to make. You're gonna keep coming down
Speaker 1: to these battles, keep coming down to these streams, keep
Speaker 1: coming down to these sores. Or are you coming back
Speaker 1: up and getting where the light is? Are you swinging
Speaker 1: stuff in the dark? No? God, I thank you today
Speaker 1: that Abashi is coming to help your people. Not just
Speaker 1: kings and leaders, certainly, not just preachers or parents, but
Speaker 1: for every person in the room. I pray that you
Speaker 1: would sign a sign an Abashi to their life. I
Speaker 1: thank you, Lord, I thank you that Abashi is standing
Speaker 1: by for someone who will open their eyes and see.
Speaker 1: Oh I don't have to fight this way. Oh I
Speaker 1: don't have to do this alone. Oh I don't have
Speaker 1: to fight it like I used to fight it. Oh,
Speaker 1: there's new leverage, there's new levels, there's new awareness, there's
Speaker 1: new weapons. Not only does my enemy have a new weapon,
Speaker 1: I have a new weapon. I have the blood of Jesus,
Speaker 1: I have the righteousness of Christ. I have the new mind,
Speaker 1: I have the new heart. I am a new creation.
Speaker 1: Same David, new sword, same David, new sword, same devil,
Speaker 1: new level. You're raising us up. We're seated with you.
Speaker 1: We don't have to be afraid. We don't have to
Speaker 1: die by the sword. We can put on the full
Speaker 1: armor of God and stand. You don't have to die, David.
Speaker 1: But you got to stop pushing Abishai away. You've got
Speaker 1: to let God fight for you. Sometimes you have to
Speaker 1: ask for Abishai. You have to tell people what you need.
Speaker 1: I don't mean be needy. We all have that, friend.
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes you need to reach out. Stop telling
Speaker 1: everybody I got this. I'm David. I've got a smooth stone.
Speaker 1: Right now, you're weary, and you need to receive the
Speaker 1: help that God has given you. Stop letting your enemies
Speaker 1: close and pushing your friends away. Received this word. It
Speaker 1: came just for you at this time. He has given
Speaker 1: me a tongue to know how to encourage the weary,
Speaker 1: and he sent this word for us today. Are you
Speaker 1: weak now? You're just weary, But God has given us
Speaker 1: new weapons. Now lift your hands all over the world.
Speaker 1: Wherever this word finds you today, I want you to
Speaker 1: know you're not alone. You have an Abeshi, you have
Speaker 1: an elder brother Jesus. You have a great salvation, You
Speaker 1: have an unlimited grace, you have a fresh anointing. You
Speaker 1: have a holy spirit. Lord, as you open the eyes
Speaker 1: of every weary warrior this week to see the help
Speaker 1: that is already there. I thank you for the testimonies
Speaker 1: that I'm going to receive where people are glorifying you
Speaker 1: because they thought it was over, because ish came with
Speaker 1: a new sword. But we came with a greater weapon.
Speaker 1: But you spoke a better word. But you sent your help.
Speaker 1: But you sent your word. But you sent an army,
Speaker 1: but you sent deliverance, but you sent an instruction. But
Speaker 1: you sent a grace, but you sent a mercy. And
Speaker 1: when the enemy came in like a flood, you raised
Speaker 1: up a standard. And David didn't die. And we will
Speaker 1: live in the name of the Lord, same devil, new weapons,
Speaker 1: he'll steak now, revelation, new words, brash soil, no seple,
Speaker 1: no health, no zoys, no socks, no straks, no seasons,
Speaker 1: Brass soil, brash soil from photos. It's still huts, shug
Speaker 1: good rounding, it's swamy goods, running okay, shows, running down
Speaker 1: swim for you, it is running down study. So the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit stopped me on my tracks. And there's two
Speaker 1: things we're going to do in response to this word,
Speaker 1: because I do think that somebody's life is in the balance,
Speaker 1: and if not your physical life, your spiritual one. So
Speaker 1: what I want to do is this week, I want
Speaker 1: our prayer team to stand in agreement with those who
Speaker 1: need God to show you and abashi in your life.
Speaker 1: And right now, if that's you, look at me. You're
Speaker 1: not alone, you're not alone. You're weary, you're confused, you're conflicted,
Speaker 1: you're between two things. That's all right. But I want
Speaker 1: you to put your name in the chat. And if
Speaker 1: you do that right now, and I'm assigning our prayer teams.
Speaker 1: We have hundreds of people around the world who are
Speaker 1: here just for this and they're going to pray for
Speaker 1: you this week specifically, God show them their ab a shi. Now,
Speaker 1: this may not be a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or
Speaker 1: a husband or a wife or something like that. It
Speaker 1: may not be what you expect, but something to stand
Speaker 1: between you and your light going out. We stand in
Speaker 1: agreement with you this week. God show me my abit
Speaker 1: Shid if you have the guts for it. There's a
Speaker 1: second prayer that we will pray for you this week,
Speaker 1: and you know what it is already. God show me
Speaker 1: where I need to be ab a shi for somebody
Speaker 1: that you've called me to fight for. All right, all right,
Speaker 1: because I'm sick of seeing David's die in the absence
Speaker 1: of Abashi. So would you be that too. I don't
Speaker 1: want it to be creepy, like we're running around and
Speaker 1: Valentine's like, be my Abba shot, be my Valentine. Not
Speaker 1: like that. But we need to pray about this. It's
Speaker 1: real out there right now. People are turning to crazy
Speaker 1: things in this season and they're reverting back to old ways.
Speaker 1: And can we stand in the gap as a church
Speaker 1: this week and just pray for the people around us?
Speaker 1: Can we do that? I don't want you to die
Speaker 1: at the hands of a giant that God gave you
Speaker 1: the victory over. I don't want you pulling out slingshots
Speaker 1: that should be in a trophy case. I want your
Speaker 1: strategy to match your season. I want you to embrace
Speaker 1: who you are now and be that person, be that parent,
Speaker 1: be that manager, you know, be that in the season.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I can't make the Devil's abracadabrah way, but
Speaker 1: I am praying that God would give you have a
Speaker 1: shot the father's gift. After all, if six hundred shekel
Speaker 1: tip of a spear couldn't kill you, what makes you
Speaker 1: think this ish? Well, you made it through a whole
Speaker 1: lot crazier. You made it through a whole lot crazier.
Speaker 1: Stand right now all over the world, living rooms, kitchens,
Speaker 1: hospital rooms. Pull your car over, pull over, pull over,
Speaker 1: pull over. Let me pray for you, and then our
Speaker 1: teams will take it. Lord. I uh wow, I feel
Speaker 1: like really I just began to unpack some of the
Speaker 1: things that we learned from David. But I pray that
Speaker 1: the one thing that they needed to hear, that it
Speaker 1: won't get snatched up now, and that they won't stand
Speaker 1: up and say I've got this and pretend like they
Speaker 1: don't need help. Give us the humility to receive your help,
Speaker 1: give us the boldness to believe that we've got it.
Speaker 1: I thank you that these enemies that we face, we
Speaker 1: don't look them in the eye, but we stand on
Speaker 1: the promise of your word, and we will not run
Speaker 1: from a defeated foe. Thank you for standing between me
Speaker 1: and the darkness. Thank you for giving light back. Thank
Speaker 1: you for giving light back to homes, light back to churches,
Speaker 1: light back to pastors. I feel an annoying to pray
Speaker 1: for pastors right now. There are pastors who are dying
Speaker 1: in this season. Your light has gone out. You haven't
Speaker 1: been protecting it. You've been trying to do the old stuff.
Speaker 1: But this is a new season. God has given you
Speaker 1: fresh bread, a fresh word. God's gonna give you your
Speaker 1: passion back. You're gonna get happy to preach the word
Speaker 1: of God again, worship leaders, campus fasters. God's gonna do it.
Speaker 1: God's gonna restore it. God's gonna light your lamp again.
Speaker 1: You're not out of oil, not yet. The Holy ghost,
Speaker 1: the holy ghosts, the Holy Ghost is coming upon you
Speaker 1: in a greater measure than ever before. And I pray
Speaker 1: for you right now. I pray for parents, pastors, teachers,
Speaker 1: school teachers, business owners. I thank you for them. Lord.
Speaker 1: I thank you for students, sick of being in and
Speaker 1: out of online class, sick of having to wear masks,
Speaker 1: sick of not knowing, sick of God. We come into
Speaker 1: their life and we stand as an Abishai to say,
Speaker 1: you can't have these children, you can't have this generation,
Speaker 1: you can't have what we've worked so hard to build.
Speaker 1: We thank you for the victory. In Jesus' name. I
Speaker 1: pray Amen hear your testimony this week. We want to
Speaker 1: hear from you. We love you, We bless you in
Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. It's not over. You've got the
Speaker 1: same spirit. You killed the lion, you killed the bear.
Speaker 1: You'll take it. A lot of phillos things down and
Speaker 1: this what can't kill you either. Bed bless We love you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevation
Speaker 1: Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share
Speaker 1: it with your friends. You can click the share button,
Speaker 1: take a screenshot and share it on your social stories
Speaker 1: and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: God bless you.