WEBVTT - The Power Of Pre 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:07.760 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.680 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.760 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:21.440 We're coming from a little bit of an unknown scripture. 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.120 This is not like Stairway to Heaven or a led 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.479 Zepplin song that everybody knows. This is a deep track 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.840 from the Book of Second Kings thirteen fourteen through twenty 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:32.559 part ay. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:33.720 I want to read it real quick for you. 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.040 It says, now Elisha had been suffering from the illness 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:36.880 from which he died. 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:38.440 Jaho Ash, king. 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:40.520 Of Israel, went down to see him and wept over him. 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.480 And he uses this expression that was used when Elijah 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.000 was taken up to heaven. He was the prophet who 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:53.520 preceded Elisha, and he says, my father, my father. 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.600 The Cheerias and horsemen of Israel. 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:58.959 He didn't know what he would do as king if 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.920 he didn't have the man of God giving guidance and strategy. 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.480 And so he's weeping over an opportunity that is passing, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.319 and Elisha, instead of giving him some sort of chicken. 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.880 Soup for the kingly soul work with me, now. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.880 Gives him a set of marching orders. He gives him 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:29.119 something to do. And most of us, if we would 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:35.760 do what we already knew, we could see. 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.920 Victory in our life. It's not a lack of knowledge. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:42.360 A lot of times it's a lack of courage or 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.800 a lack of conviction. And so he understands something that 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.080 he's got to get Jehosh the King to move out 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.880 of apathy and to own the outcome and fight for himself. 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:55.760 It's almost as. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:01.440 If Elisha's saying, stop crying, man up. Look at verse fifteen, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.960 get a bow and some arrows. Take the bow in 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.839 your hands. And when he had taken it, Elisha put 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.320 his hands on the King's hands. And our theme, we 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.840 said was in verse seventeen, open the east window, and 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.400 he opened it. He wanted him to view the victory 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:21.600 before he fought the battle. 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:23.720 It's the power of a preview. 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.280 And I don't know about you, but I'm looking into 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:32.560 my future with expectation and anticipation. Amen, I don't need 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:37.360 any news network to define the future for me. I 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.520 have a preview of Heaven's agenda for my life, and 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.920 I'm pointing my expectation in the direction of my destiny, 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.280 believing that the best is ahead. Touch somebody and say, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:49.720 your best is before you. 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.560 Your best is not behind you. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.960 The devil is a liar. You have not seen your 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:58.359 best stays. The best is yet to be. Open the window. 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.640 Stop staring at the stop thinking about what you lost, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:04.360 Get what you have left. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.840 Open the east window and shoot. Take the shot. 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:14.320 And he shot, and he proclaimed the Lord's arrow of victory, 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.040 the arrow of victory over aarm. Everybody has an aarm. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.040 Everybody has a next battle to fight. 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:26.000 Everybody has a keystone conquest that if you. 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.280 Win this one, it'll set you up for success in 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:30.360 all of the other ones. 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:32.520 I don't know what your Arab is this year. 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.720 It might be very, very practical. But he told him 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:36.600 to aim. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:41.040 At aram, don't run from it, face it in faith. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.640 But don't put your eyes on aerm. Put your eyes 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.200 on the arrow flying over aarm. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.680 Kind of like Peter, if he would keep his eyes 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:53.600 on the one who was above the wind in the waves, 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:57.800 he could float. The bottoms of his feet were somehow 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.360 water resistant, but when he looked at the wind and 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.120 the waves. When you look at aram you always become afraid. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.640 But if you watch the arrow, watch the arrow, keep 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.320 your eye on the promise of God over your life. 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:19.279 He said, you will completely destroy the Aramians at afect. 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.840 And we said last week that the arrow is flying 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:24.479 over your life. 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.560 The window of opportunity is here. But what comes next 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.000 is so important because what just. 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.520 Happened is a powerful prediction of victory. But what happens 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.159 next is a practical assignment. And here I want to 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.560 spend my time on week two of work your window. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.800 Then he said, okay, sometimes that's what happens after you 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:52.280 come to church, get inspired, worship God, move the mountains 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.800 and all of that. And sometimes it's the little thing. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.080 Sometimes it's not the mountains, it's the mole hills. Talk 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.719 to me, somebody. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:02.440 He said, take. 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:05.640 The arrows, and the king took them, and Laisha told 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.640 him strike the ground, and he struck it three times. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.479 He was in compliance, but he wasn't fully committed. He 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.200 struck it three times. He was in compliance, but he 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:18.360 wasn't committed. 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.520 And stopped. Remember the Man of God said, get a bow. 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.440 He said, take the bowl he said, open the window, 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.000 take the arrows, strike the ground. But he didn't say stop. 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:35.120 He didn't say stop. There's something in your life today 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.520 that God has not said stop about. 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:41.479 You. 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:42.240 Watch this. 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:48.279 The Man of God was angry with him and said, 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:49.960 you should have. 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:54.080 Struck the ground five or six times. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.920 Then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.080 Sometimes we do just enough to survive, but not enough 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:10.600 to really succeed, so we stay stuck. In fact, we 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.400 tell ourselves the story that we're stuck. Is it that 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.680 you're stuck or is it that you stopped? 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:23.679 You would have completely destroyed it, but now you will. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.680 Defeat it only three times and watch the window close. 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:27.960 In verse twenty, Elisha died and was buried. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.880 Is over. Now you should have done it, you didn't 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:31.200 do it. 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:34.240 And I want to pick up right where I left 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.680 off last week on the power of precision, I talked 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.760 about determined the decision before the battle begins. This message 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:48.400 is called the power of pre just pre you know, 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:56.799 just pre pre light, pre marital counseling. Me and Holly 0:06:56.839 --> 0:06:59.839 had some pre marital counseling before we got married, straightened 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:06.320 her out, got our dysfunctions, not completely eliminated, but manageable. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:15.560 And then I got her some pre natal vitamins after 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:23.119 we got married, because I got her pregnant the power 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:28.760 of pre and we did not have to sign a 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.520 pre nup. We didn't have no pre nothing to sign 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:38.400 it over the power of That's what I want to 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:43.120 preach about. Sent my kids to pre school, trying to 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.600 get them prepared. And I believe in the value of preparation. 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.240 I really do. I think they said like this. 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.520 Not only do I think that the outcome of the 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:59.120 battle is often decided before it begins, pre decided precision, 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:01.600 but I also think. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.880 See if I can say this just right, because the 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:06.360 way the Lord spoke it to me, it made sense 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:06.600 to me. 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.720 I think that most of us are not currently performing 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.120 at the level of our potential. We're performing at the 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:14.280 level of our preparation. 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:19.240 It's just a simple way of saying what Elisha said 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.040 to jeho Ash. 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.280 There was more that God had in store, but you 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:30.040 stop sure, and I wonder are you living beneath the 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.000 level of your potential. I'll admit the world doesn't really 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:40.000 celebrate preparation these days. We live in a post oriented world. Okay, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.640 speaking of marriage, history between me and Holly. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.400 I'tey somethingal quick. I've told you this before. I told 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:48.240 you this several times. 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.200 But she's a great cook, and she got me voluptuous 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:56.040 in our first eighteen months of marriage. And recently she 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.079 found a picture of me with my shirt off, looking 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:05.000 kind of filled out, and real quick. 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:05.960 This isn't a nutrition class. 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:07.360 I understand you didn't come for all that, and I 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:10.040 don't claim to be a model of health any of that, Okay. 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:12.679 I just found what works for me, and I work it, 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:13.960 and what works for me is just a plan. 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:15.840 The reason I got fat when we got married is 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:18.760 because we didn't plan our meals that much. So it 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.439 was Mexican at the last minute, nine thirty at night. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:28.400 Remember this was pre children, right, This was back when 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.520 you could just pick up and do that and you 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.400 didn't have to prepare anything. So we were just we 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.520 were just enjoying everything, and I figured I got my woman, 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.720 so I don't need to look good. 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:41.280 I'm just kidding. 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.160 But she found a picture of how I look back. 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:49.079 Then, and it looked you've seen. 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.880 The infomercials late at night like that before picture. 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:53.600 I had my eyes closed. 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.520 I didn't even remember the picture, and I was just 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.120 having some fun and I went and found a picture. 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:00.880 Of me now and I put them side by side, 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.079 just for me. Send it to Holly and said, how 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:07.240 many men get better looking as the years go by? 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:09.880 And she started praising the Lord. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:16.079 She sent me some praise hands Emodish and. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.160 I was showing Elijah my old listen. He said you 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.240 should post that, Daddy, and I said I'm not. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:26.160 I said, boy, let me teach you something. Everything is 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:27.920 not meant to be posted. 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:31.600 My point number one. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.839 I got four points of this message. Point number one 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.240 is the post. Because we live in a world where 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:44.199 everybody wants to post everything, and we got people who 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:49.360 are more interested in posting than they are in progress. 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.520 One man was talking about the game Guitar Hero, the 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.400 game where you can press the buttons and pretend pretend 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:01.920 to play the guitar. You don't have to prepair, you 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:04.360 just pretend. And he said, everybody wants to be a 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.240 rock star, but nobody wants to learn the chords. 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.080 Preparation is underrated. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.360 Preparation is not very celebrated in our culture, is uh 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.040 Because we want to post and we need instant validation. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.640 We live in the age of outrage, instant outrage and 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:25.720 instant validation. 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.280 We learned to tweet before we learn to think. 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.440 Just post everything that you think, like everybody needs to 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:39.920 hear what you know. I'm thinking about doing a lesson 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.120 because it's disturbing me and show you the difference between 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:49.680 a journal and a Facebook page. Everything you think does 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:55.240 not deserve an audience. Preach past statement age, break to 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:55.840 the people. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.559 Some of y'all are shouting because you're hoping that your 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:08.559 aunt Susie in Oklahoma. Here's this message. She's embarrassing you 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:13.880 and the whole family the post. 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:16.280 I know you're wondering how m I get back to 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:18.840 second Things thirteen. I know exactly how to get back there. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.440 See because I prepared. 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:24.360 To preach. 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:26.040 What would you do if I came up here to 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.200 preach and instead of telling you to turn your Bible ass? 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.760 So I got anything you want. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.559 To talk about this week? 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:44.360 Anybody, Let's think whole Testament, New Testament. Look at some scriptures? 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.679 Do see who looking for? 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.360 And I wonder, why do you expect me to prepare 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.960 to preach. I'm not gonna be mean about it, but 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:05.200 just the question are you prepared to receive? 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.079 Because the last time I checked. It's often the quality 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.319 of the soil that determines the harvest more than the 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:21.520 quality of the sea. 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.520 Sometimes when chumps will tell me that was your best 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:28.079 sermon you ever preached, I said, no, you finally just listen. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:35.200 I'm preaching good every week. You're just awake this week 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.280 when the king went down to see Elisha. Remember he 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:50.080 had recently been appointed to his post as king, and 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.080 Elisha has not been mentioned in the scriptures. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.199 For something like forty five years, but he's still on 0:13:56.240 --> 0:14:00.520 his post. There's something about staying on post. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.160 It is the lost art of being planted. 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:13.520 And you are never going to fulfill purpose until you 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:19.200 commit to your post. Thinking about posting a couple of 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:23.440 different ways, I'm thinking about how God has posted some 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.480 of you in places that seem insignificant, And isn't that 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.360 really the message of Second King's. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:30.680 Thirteen fourteen through twenty. 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:32.720 We were talking the other day in a little group 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:34.440 about this passage, and one person said, I. 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.760 Feel sorry for the king. If Elisha would have wanted 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.320 him to strike the ground five or six times, he 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.760 should have told him to strike it five or six times. 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.080 And I think the message here is that God leaves 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:44.960 a lot of it up to you. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:48.320 How far do you want to go? 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.040 I don't think God makes all the decisions for your life. 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.000 I think he lets you decide, within certain parameters, how 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:04.400 much purpose orotential you want to fulfill. I don't think 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:07.120 that God precides everything about our life. Do I believe 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:08.200 that we each have a purpose? 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:08.440 Yes? 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.640 Do I believe that He's God whether or not you 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:11.360 marry Jimmy? 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.760 Yes? Do I believe that you quitting your job will 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.840 cause the cosmos to collapse, or that any presidential office 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.080 could thwart her overpower? 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.280 The presence and the pre eminence of God. No, I 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.400 believe he's sovereign. But I also believe that within his sovereignty, 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.080 he has left space. 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:38.640 For you and I to take responsibility the post How 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.040 do you preach about the value of preparation in a 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:49.200 post oriented world. How do you preach to a It's not. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.520 Really an age thing, it's not really a social media thing. 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.760 I mean, I've put stuff on line too, just like 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.480 the rest of you. But I wonder sometimes do we 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:04.200 want recognition before we've taken responsibility? 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:07.200 Do we need the. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.800 Pat on the back the battle is won or lost 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:17.520 in preparation. This is true of athletes. I can tell 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.880 any athletes in the house. Are there any professional athletes 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:25.280 in the house. Any NASCAR drivers. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:31.360 In the house. Y'all know NASCAR is not that simple. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.520 I mean, it is a very sophisticated sport. I only 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:38.720 know because of Joey Brittany. If he isn't racing, I 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.400 don't watch. I'm not a NASCAR fan. I cheer for 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:50.000 twenty two comes to my church and he told me 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.120 to come out to a race to see him race. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.720 I really want to go to the NASCAR race. And 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.760 after I went, I was fascinated. I got to hear 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:58.040 his teamwork and everything. 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.440 And Chunks, who I mentioned earlier, who only half listens 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:02.560 to my sermons sometimes. 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.080 I'm kidding about Chunks. 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.760 But he turned to me and said something because when 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.960 I went to the race, Joey wan, I'm not saying 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.159 it was the favor of God because your pastor was 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:12.960 at the race track. 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:14.639 I would never say something like that. I would only 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:15.239 employ it. 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:19.879 But he won, and Chunks looked at me on the 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:22.480 way home, he said, you know what's interesting about that race? 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.919 He said that race wasn't one on the track. It 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:28.720 was won in the garage because he had been talking 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.000 to one of your team members during the race, explaining 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:36.520 how all week the team is three hundred and fifty people. 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:40.560 He told me, working on that car, you see one driver, 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.560 and he's a good driver, and if he can't drive, 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:45.960 they don't win. 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.520 But no matter how well he can drive, it's not 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:56.080 what happens on Sunday. I feel like preaching a little bit. 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.120 Because I think this has something in common with spirituality. 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.879 It's what happens Monday when they're trying to make the 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.240 car a tenth of a pound lighter. Just a tenth 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.080 of a pound lighter can make all the difference. I mean, 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.040 just a little bit, just a little tweak on the motor, 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.960 just a little race note on this track and this turn. 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:16.800 And I'm making stuff up because I don't know a 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.679 lot about NASCAR. But what I'm trying to say is 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.520 maybe God is more interested in the garage than he 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:31.119 is the track. God is a god of preparation. He 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.439 would not feed the multitudes until they sat down in 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.520 the grass. Why provision awaits preparation. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:40.520 You've been asking. 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.840 God to send it, and he's been asking you to 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:43.480 form it. 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:52.439 Does he can't fail what you don't form post. It 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:53.760 was decided. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.320 The battle had not been fought yet, but Elisha predicted 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:04.280 the outcome based on the King's persistence and preparation. 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:06.200 Here's what he said. 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.159 If you won't do the groundwork, when it doesn't seem 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.560 to make sense, if all you want. 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:29.720 Is this great marriage, happy family, eight pack, whatever, prayer, life, whatever, 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.359 I don't care what it is. I'm telling you it's 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:41.320 about the garage. He is the god of the garage. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.040 Tweaking stuff and fixing stuff. Stuff you can't see. Because 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.879 my second point is the point. I don't think I've 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:51.360 ever had a sermon point. 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:57.359 About the point, but I've tried to put myself. I tried. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.119 Here's the thing about perspective. 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.800 And if you're watching, uh the news sometimes and you're 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.880 seeing somebody that you disagree with, and your first instinct 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:06.640 is to argue with them. Before you argue with them, 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.320 try to get their perspective. Try try to get an 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:10.280 inverted perspective. 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.080 That's called empathy. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:15.320 And so one way, Jonathan, you were texting me yesterday 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.480 about reading the Bible and preaching and all of this, 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.439 and and I was trying to show him some things. 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:24.040 And when you when you take jeho Ash as a villain, 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.160 and and and and jeho Ash is a lazy man, 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.080 and and you don't you don't stop to think about 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:35.040 what's happening here in that How many times have you 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:39.879 stopped because it didn't make sense? The reason I believe 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:44.320 he stopped is because arrows are supposed to go like this. 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:50.200 What sense does it make to put an arrow in 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:55.480 the ground? And I want to point this out to you. 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.000 I'm having fun, man. I love what I do. I 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.359 do what I love, and. 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.639 To do this with something that's supposed to do this, 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.000 It's hard to be persistent when you can't see the purpose. 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:17.199 That's all I'm trying to say. And I guess what 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:22.600 I wanted to tell you, Daniel's son is that mister 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.560 Miagi isn't always going to explain to you why you're 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:32.200 painting his fence. That he's not always going to tell 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:36.320 you why you're waxing his car. And I know that 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:38.440 you would paint the fence if you knew the purpose 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:40.080 of painting the fence. 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.159 And I know that you would wax the car if 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:43.600 you knew the purpose of waxing the car. And I 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:45.160 know that you would stay a virgin. If God would 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:46.040 give you your wedding date. 0:21:54.160 --> 0:22:00.879 See Jehosh had a calling and elish enroll them in 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:01.440 a class. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:05.000 Write this down. Don't expect the class to look like 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:15.359 the calling. Don't expect your training, don't expect your don't 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:21.399 expect your preparation to look like your promise. Because the 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:23.200 place God prepares. 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:28.000 You the most is the place that seems the most 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:28.960 pointless to you. 0:22:31.920 --> 0:22:35.639 I laugh when people talk about elevation Church being a 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:42.000 marketing phenomenon. I laugh because in a sense they're correct. 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:43.879 Who lights the lamp and puts it under a bowl 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:45.880 and put it on the stand, give light to everybody 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:46.520 in the house. 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:49.440 I didn't get the gospel to keep it to myself. 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:51.359 I didn't start a. 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:53.240 Church so I could get one hundred and twenty people. 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:55.760 Send everybody else to hell. Both the doors and everybody 0:22:55.760 --> 0:23:00.080 sing Kumbai Yah while the ships come sailing by. 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:01.720 You're right, we. 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:05.320 Want to get the word out, but it takes me 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:06.480 back to my preparation. 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:10.199 Now. To understand why Elisha was angry, you would have 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:16.959 to understand something about his process. You really can't understand 0:23:17.000 --> 0:23:21.880 someone's priorities without knowing their process. So I didn't start 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:23.600 marketing the church with the budget. 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:27.800 I started marketing in ministry, if you want to call 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:33.040 it marketing, printing out flyers because Jamie Williams gave me 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:36.359 his code to the copying machine at First Baptist Church 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:39.879 and let me run off three hundred. He said, no 0:23:39.920 --> 0:23:42.080 more than three hundred, but I gave him out every 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:47.600 Monday to FCA at Berkeley High School, I was marketing 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:51.439 with a copier code. I was marketing on the Summer 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:55.440 Impact team. When I say work your window, when I say, 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:58.560 even if there's a peephole right now, if you'll work 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:01.399 your copier code, maybe one day God will. 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:02.320 Give you a billboard. 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:05.880 Come on, somebody, I know what I'm talking about from. 0:24:05.640 --> 0:24:07.320 My personal experience. 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.600 It's not a theory or a principle or philosophy. It 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:15.919