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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: To get my point across, I'll give you the scripture,

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Speaker 1: the story, and then the subject in that order. All right,

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Speaker 1: So for all the linear thinkers, that's how this is

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Speaker 1: going to go down. The scripture, the story. But actually

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Speaker 1: the scripture is a story, so listen to this. This

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Speaker 1: is cool. One Samuel sixteen, I'll give you just a

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Speaker 1: moment to find it in your Bible. Give you just

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Speaker 1: a moment to give your kids some benadryl so you

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Speaker 1: can fully or turn it on the kids YouTube channel,

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Speaker 1: or whatever you need to do to occupy them. On

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Speaker 1: Samuel sixteen one, the Lord said to Samuel, how long

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Speaker 1: will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him

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Speaker 1: as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and

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Speaker 1: be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse

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Speaker 1: of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to

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Speaker 1: be king. Verse two. But Samuel said, how can I go.

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Speaker 1: If Saul hears about it, he will kill me. The

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Speaker 1: Lord said, take a hepper with you and say, I

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Speaker 1: have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Invite Jesse to

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Speaker 1: the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do.

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Speaker 1: You are too annoint for me, the one I indicate,

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Speaker 1: And Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived

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Speaker 1: at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they

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Speaker 1: met him. They asked, do you come in peace? And

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Speaker 1: Samuel replied, yes, in peace, I have come to sacrifice

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Speaker 1: to the Lord. Now note this, he says, I came

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Speaker 1: in peace, but the situation is chaotic. Peace is not

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Speaker 1: a circumstance for the child of God. It's a part

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Speaker 1: of your inheritance. It's part of your birthright to be

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Speaker 1: able to have peace, even in the face of unthinkable problems. Yes,

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Speaker 1: in peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.

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Speaker 1: Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me. Then

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Speaker 1: he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to

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Speaker 1: the sacrifice. Here's where we're going to stop for a

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Speaker 1: little while. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,

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Speaker 1: surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord. But

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Speaker 1: the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance,

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Speaker 1: or his height, or his profile picture. That's not in

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Speaker 1: your version. Don't look at that, for I have rejected him.

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Speaker 1: The Lord does not look at the things people look at.

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Speaker 1: People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks

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Speaker 1: at the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him

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Speaker 1: pass in front of Samuel, but Samuel said, the Lord

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Speaker 1: hasn't chosen this one either. Jesse then had Shama pass by,

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Speaker 1: but Samuel said, nor has the Lord chosen this one.

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Speaker 1: Jesse had seven of his sons. Seven of his sons

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Speaker 1: passed before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, the Lord

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Speaker 1: has not chosen these. We're running out of options. You

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Speaker 1: ever feel like that, So he asked Jesse, are these

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Speaker 1: all the sons you have? They're still the youngest. Jesse answered,

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Speaker 1: he is tending the sheep. Samuel said, sin for him.

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Speaker 1: We will not sit down until he arrives. Are these

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Speaker 1: all your sons? There is still the youngest. That's the

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Speaker 1: Bible story. Now here's my story. I grew up in

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Speaker 1: a small town. How many of you grew up in

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Speaker 1: a small town? Raise your hand. If you grew up

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Speaker 1: in a small town, put a raised hand emoji in

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Speaker 1: the chat. If you grew up in a small town,

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Speaker 1: tell me the name of the town and the population.

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Speaker 1: Monks Corner, South Carolina was six six thousand people when

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Speaker 1: I live there. It's bigger now. It's a lot bigger now. Actually,

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Speaker 1: when I go back. One time I went back when

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Speaker 1: I was in college. I took a friend of mine.

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Speaker 1: I was showing them around, very proud to be for

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Speaker 1: Monk's Corner. It's not something I'm embarrassed of. If I

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Speaker 1: ever take you to Monk's Corner, I'm giving you the tour.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you little pathies. I'm gonna drive you

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Speaker 1: out to Macedonia, show you where my band feather Humcomber

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Speaker 1: used to practice. I'm gonna show you everything. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: show you where I have my first dance. I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: show you where I have my first kiss. Monk's Corner

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Speaker 1: is the home of the tail Race Canal, the Berkeley Stags.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you where I had my first minister.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you all of it because I'm proud

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Speaker 1: to be from a small town. So to me, there's

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Speaker 1: no shame in that. And I used to tell people

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Speaker 1: all the time from when I would meet them, I'm

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Speaker 1: from a small town in called Monk's Corner, South Carolina,

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Speaker 1: thirt miles from Charleston. This, that, and the other thing. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I've heard of Charleston. Did you say Monk's Corner like

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Speaker 1: a monk, like a monastery monk. I said, no, it's

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Speaker 1: got to see it at Monk's Corner. I said, oh,

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Speaker 1: I never heard of that before. I said, it's a

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Speaker 1: small town. You never would have heard of it before.

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Speaker 1: And I was taking one of my friends there and

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Speaker 1: I showed him all the things, and when we were

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Speaker 1: about halfway through the tour I was giving him, he said, uh,

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Speaker 1: I thought you said it was small. I said, it

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Speaker 1: is pretty small. And so he said, well, the town

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Speaker 1: I grew up in. I won't pretend to remember the

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Speaker 1: name of it, but it was another town in South Carolina.

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Speaker 1: He said it was population forty five. I say, yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: we have like six thousand, forty five hundred I guess

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Speaker 1: that is. He said, no, forty five, not forty five

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Speaker 1: hundred forty five. Wow, I thought you said it was small.

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Speaker 1: He said, you got a warm and Applebee's like it

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Speaker 1: was Sacks, you know what I'm saying, Like it was

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Speaker 1: Nimn Marcus in Monk's corner, but it was to him. Today,

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Speaker 1: I want to talk to you for a few moments

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Speaker 1: about what you call small, what you call small. Really,

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Speaker 1: what you call small is all about what you've seen before.

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Speaker 1: What you call small has a lot to do with

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Speaker 1: what you've seen before. And in the passage that I

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Speaker 1: read to you, we have several indications of the reality

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Speaker 1: that a lot of times what we call small is

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Speaker 1: big to God. The flip side of that coin is

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Speaker 1: what we call big is small to God. But today,

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Speaker 1: for the next thirty minutes, come on, let's be honest.

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Speaker 1: Fifty minutes. You know, what you call a short sermon

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Speaker 1: is really relative to what you grew up in At

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Speaker 1: the Methodist church, that poor preacher got twelve minutes, and

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Speaker 1: that included the communion. Okay, so when I'm preaching fifty minutes,

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Speaker 1: fifty five minutes, it's like, Wow, this is like a series.

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Speaker 1: If you grew up in a Pentecostal church, my whole

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Speaker 1: sermon is an introduction, It's like that's all that's all

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Speaker 1: you've got keep going. So I thought i'd ask the

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Speaker 1: establishing question for you, what's your frame of reference when

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Speaker 1: you consider the challenges of your life, the gifts God

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Speaker 1: has put inside of you, and the resources that you

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Speaker 1: have in this season what you call small? For instance,

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Speaker 1: in the text, I will admit to you that I

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Speaker 1: have only ever preached this text from David's perspective. It's

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Speaker 1: easy to because this is the point in his life

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Speaker 1: where he is transitioning from shepherd to king. So I've

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Speaker 1: always seen this text almost like a terrible or an

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Speaker 1: Old Testament illustration of the New Testament concept that if

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Speaker 1: you are faithful in little God will make you faithful

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Speaker 1: in miche and I believe that, how many believe that?

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Speaker 1: That if you start small and use what God has

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Speaker 1: given you wisely and invest it wisely, whether it's your

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Speaker 1: money or your energy, or your time or your skill,

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Speaker 1: whatever it is, if you invest it wisely, God will

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Speaker 1: multiply it. That's not the people say it's the prosperity gospel,

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Speaker 1: or it's the blabbit grab it or the see it

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Speaker 1: and say it or whatever the people call it. No, no,

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Speaker 1: no, no no, no no. That's just the principle of life.

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Speaker 1: That what you invest well increases. So in my mind,

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Speaker 1: the story was always about how this little shepherd boy

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Speaker 1: did a seemingly insignificant task, and while he was doing

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Speaker 1: the task, I read it to you a moment ago,

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Speaker 1: God called him up for something more important. I kind

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Speaker 1: of used it as an illustration, like, hey, you know,

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Speaker 1: be a good employee and God might make you a supervisor.

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Speaker 1: Be a good supervisor, and one day you might own

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Speaker 1: your own company. Own your own company one day, and

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Speaker 1: you might end up on prescription pills because it's stressful

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Speaker 1: to be the boss, and nobody ever tells you that part.

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Speaker 1: That's what I that's what I should have told you,

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Speaker 1: what I missed, and what I always seem to miss

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Speaker 1: when I just gravitate towards the parts of scripture that

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Speaker 1: to me are big, right, Like on Samuel sixteen, is

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Speaker 1: is David annoying it as king? First? Samuel seventeen is

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Speaker 1: David killing Eliath first. Samuel eighteen and nineteen saw the

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Speaker 1: king that we're seeing replaced here in this process, Us

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Speaker 1: is throwing spears at David, so he's fighting for his life.

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Speaker 1: But one thing I wanted to to stop and talk

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Speaker 1: about for a moment today, I won't spend my whole

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Speaker 1: time on this. But but look where God sent Samuel

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Speaker 1: to find the king, Bethlehem. That's a very small detail

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Speaker 1: in the text, but the significance of it hinges on

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Speaker 1: understanding the context of Bethlehem Micah five two. But you,

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Speaker 1: Bethlehem Ephrath, though you are small among the clans of

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Speaker 1: Judah in comparison to all the other clans, that the

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Speaker 1: Messiah could come from you, the small one. Yes you,

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Speaker 1: yes you, you, the little one you, the one with

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Speaker 1: the ged you, the one with the one with the

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Speaker 1: issue that's not mentionable on a stage like this. The

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Speaker 1: term itself is diminutive in the context of Michael five

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Speaker 1: to two. It's not just a thing that means size.

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Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, I grew up in monk's corner. Wow,

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Speaker 1: it's like calling it the backwoods. It's actually not a

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Speaker 1: very commonly used word, but it means trifling, insignificant. Now,

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Speaker 1: the one that God would raise up to change the

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Speaker 1: world came from that same place that they called backwoods.

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Speaker 1: So do we see a principle already at work here

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Speaker 1: that God brings things that he sees as great from

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Speaker 1: things that we call small. That's my whole message. The

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Speaker 1: rest of this message will just say that over and

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Speaker 1: over and over and over again, that God brings the

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Speaker 1: biggest things out of the smallest places. I'm so passionate

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Speaker 1: about this that I spent some time analyzing my own

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Speaker 1: life in preparing for this message, not only coming from

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Speaker 1: Monk's Corner, but you know, thinking about our church right now,

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Speaker 1: and how in some ways our church has never been

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Speaker 1: smaller when you count the people that are in the

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Speaker 1: room on a Sunday, I remember when those top rows

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Speaker 1: used to be full with people. None of them were

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Speaker 1: wearing masks, none of them were in has mad suits,

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Speaker 1: none of them. You know, it's a whole different thing.

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Speaker 1: It was a whole different thing. And yet if I

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Speaker 1: remember where we started as a church, Yes, this is

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Speaker 1: actually like really big. Chad text me Julie every Sunday

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Speaker 1: if the numbers were up and down from the week before,

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Speaker 1: but the numbers he sends me for our online ministry,

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Speaker 1: like people come in from all over the world, like

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Speaker 1: people watching from Japan and Indonesia, and people watching from Brazil,

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Speaker 1: and people watching from all kinds of foreign countries Alabama, Algeria,

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Speaker 1: all over the world. I'm saying, and he'll say we

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Speaker 1: were down this week. But the number that he would

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Speaker 1: send me to say this is what we were down to.

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Speaker 1: It's a number that my Monk's corner mine. Sometimes I

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Speaker 1: have to talk to Monk's corner me to get a

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Speaker 1: frame of reference to remember this is actually pretty good.

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Speaker 1: Do you ever have to do that to yourself, Like

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Speaker 1: take yourself back to a frame of reference where you

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Speaker 1: weren't jaded, where you didn't get used to things, and go,

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Speaker 1: this is actually really good. What in the world am

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Speaker 1: I complaining about? What am I stussing about? This is

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Speaker 1: actually awesome. Say it in the chart. This is actually awesome.

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Speaker 1: Whatever the devil tries to tell you all, this is nothing.

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Speaker 1: This is just a little thing. This is just insignificant.

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Speaker 1: This is something you could have never imagined. This is

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Speaker 1: if he's just three twenty in real time. This is

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Speaker 1: above and beyond and deeper and bigger and broader. What

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Speaker 1: you call small today you thought was impossible yesterday. When

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Speaker 1: you live in it, you this seems little to you.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you'll see people come to Elevation Church and they'll

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Speaker 1: have a camera, video camera recording the whole time. Let

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Speaker 1: me tell you something they flew to get here. They

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Speaker 1: drove all night to get here, and it kind of

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Speaker 1: checks all of us because we're like, Wow, this was

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Speaker 1: on your bucket list to be here, and it's in

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Speaker 1: our backyard. The issue in One Samuel sixteen is not

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Speaker 1: only about where it happened, though, and it's not only

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Speaker 1: about who had happened to David. I want to spend

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Speaker 1: a few moments talking about who had happened through Samuel.

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Speaker 1: Samuel was a seer, a prophet, He was never referred

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Speaker 1: to as a priest. He served multiple roles. You know

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Speaker 1: how we all have to flow in multiple roles from

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Speaker 1: moment to moment, trying to be a student and a son,

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Speaker 1: or a parent and a husband, or a husband and

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Speaker 1: a pastor and a pastor and a husband and a

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Speaker 1: dad and a boss. And like for me, sometimes I'll

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Speaker 1: go into a meeting in the church and I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure if I should be pastor Stephen or get this

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Speaker 1: crap done. I don't want to say it one more

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Speaker 1: time pastor Stephen and switching all those multiple roles can

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Speaker 1: be confusing. But there's also a change happening here that

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Speaker 1: is beyond Samuel, in that God never really wanted Israel

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Speaker 1: to have a king. He wanted to be their king.

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Speaker 1: They insisted that they'd be like all the other nations.

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Speaker 1: Not for no reason. They were under attack the Phoenician people,

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Speaker 1: we know them as the Philistines, who were really good

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Speaker 1: at making weapons and were seafaring people, so they would

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Speaker 1: attack you where you had no defense, were pummeling them,

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Speaker 1: and so as a protective measure, they wanted to build

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Speaker 1: their nation like the other nations as a protective measure.

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Speaker 1: Not because they were seeking to disobey God, but they

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Speaker 1: were seeking to defend themselves. Pause. When does our self

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Speaker 1: defense become disobedience? Wow, it's when we implement something in

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Speaker 1: place to protect us that actually keeps us from experiencing

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Speaker 1: God's presence with us. The king they chose, and I

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Speaker 1: don't have much time to talk about, Saul. Everybody say better, Saull,

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Speaker 1: just get it out of your system, you heathens. They

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Speaker 1: needed someone who could protect them. But you know, like

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Speaker 1: we always do, we kind of you know, when we

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Speaker 1: reach for the wrong thing, we don't really realize how

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Speaker 1: much it will cost us, because all we can see

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Speaker 1: is how much it comforts us. And it comforted them

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Speaker 1: to have a king it comforted them to have a

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Speaker 1: to have a tall king. Saul was tall, head and

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Speaker 1: shoulders above the rest. Saul looked like a king to

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Speaker 1: everybody else, but he never really saw himself that way.

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Speaker 1: Can I show you this? This is for Samuel? Fifteen?

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Speaker 1: Where is it? Guys? Fifteen fifteen? Uh? Did I give

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Speaker 1: you this one? Yeah? I don't think I gave you

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Speaker 1: this one. I'm have to find it myself, y'all. Give

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Speaker 1: me a second. This worth fine? Here it is fifteen seventeen.

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Speaker 1: I didn't give you all that one, did it? Yes?

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Speaker 1: I did? Fifteen seventeen. Samuel told Saul. Listen what he

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Speaker 1: told Saul. This is so good. I put it in

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Speaker 1: last minute. So I said, although you were once small

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Speaker 1: in your own eyes, did not you become head of

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Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel. Here's why that's important. God had

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Speaker 1: promoted promoted Saul beyond Saul's perspective of himself. Sometimes you

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Speaker 1: are living in a role or responsibility that you have

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Speaker 1: not fully caught up to mentally yet to realize this

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Speaker 1: is who I am now. So Saul looked like a

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Speaker 1: king to them, but he didn't feel like a king inside,

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Speaker 1: and that became a problem. Because for all of Saul's reign,

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Speaker 1: he overreacted. He it's hasty. He did the thing that

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Speaker 1: made sense instead of the thing that pleased God. He

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Speaker 1: did the thing that made sense instead of the thing

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Speaker 1: that pleased God. He did the thing that made sense

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Speaker 1: instead of the thing that pleased God. He went by

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Speaker 1: what he saw instead of what he heard. He went

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Speaker 1: by his senses instead of by his spirit. And by

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Speaker 1: the time you get the first Samuel sixteen, God is

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Speaker 1: removing Saul from his position of authority. The transition will

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Speaker 1: not be immediate, but it's underway. Saul is out. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna take everybody else a while to figure that out.

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Speaker 1: But God tells Samuel, I'm done with Saul. It's not

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Speaker 1: a matter of you praying more for Remember, Samuel had

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Speaker 1: invested a lot in Saul. He had tried to coach him,

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Speaker 1: correct him, and there came a point where God got

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Speaker 1: tired of Saul. Before Samquel, did you know some stuff

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Speaker 1: God takes out of your life while you're still trying

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Speaker 1: to hold onto it that was too deep for him. Boy,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna run it back. Some stuff you're not ready

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Speaker 1: to let go of yet. God's just gonna take it away.

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Speaker 1: That's what he did here. He said, how long will

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Speaker 1: you mourn over what I've rejected? And the crazy thing

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Speaker 1: about it was Samuel didn't even like Saul to begin with.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't like they were friends. It wasn't like he

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Speaker 1: was a good competent king. He made more messes than

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Speaker 1: he cleaned up, He tore down more than he built,

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Speaker 1: He costs more than he was worth. And yet there's

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Speaker 1: something about losing what you know that doesn't even take

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Speaker 1: into account if you really wanted it to begin with.

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Speaker 1: He tells him to go to the smallest place, Bethlehem,

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Speaker 1: same place Jesus was born. That's the place where David

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Speaker 1: would be waiting. He tells him to do the smallest thing,

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Speaker 1: fill your horn with oil, because that was the instrument

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Speaker 1: that the prophet used to signify change through anointing. Something

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Speaker 1: so small as fill your horn with oil would lead

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Speaker 1: to something so big, David, the king through whom came

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Speaker 1: our Messiah, Jesus Christ. But Samuel has to go all

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Speaker 1: the way to Bethlehem, and yet there's one thing he

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Speaker 1: doesn't know as he travels. Who am I gonna annoint

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Speaker 1: when I get there. It's like God left out the

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Speaker 1: one tiniest little detail that would have been so helpful.

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Speaker 1: And so for me, this is confusing God. If you're

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Speaker 1: gonna tell him to fill the horn with oil, if

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Speaker 1: you're gonna tell him how to get past the gates

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Speaker 1: with the heifers and all of that, somebody say bring

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Speaker 1: the heifer. If you're gonna tell him bring the heifer,

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Speaker 1: then why not tell him? And by the way, is David.

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Speaker 1: And so when you get there, skip all the other

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Speaker 1: seven and ask for David. You know, we would do

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Speaker 1: this much just to recommend something to somebody. When you

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Speaker 1: go to the restaurant, order this off the menu, right,

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Speaker 1: we would do that for somebody if we knew what

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Speaker 1: was good on the menu. And yet it's like God

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Speaker 1: wanted Samuel to have to go through the process of elimination,

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Speaker 1: the process of elimination. Sometimes God will take you through

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Speaker 1: the process of elimination. Now, this isn't just a multiple

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Speaker 1: choice test in fifth grade where you're crossing off the answers.

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Speaker 1: This is the process of God bringing you to things

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Speaker 1: in your life and going no, not that. But I

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Speaker 1: thought it was that, No, not that. How about this, Well, no,

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Speaker 1: that's not that either. That's not that. So what we

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Speaker 1: always think is that the first thing God shows us

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Speaker 1: it's going to be his final answer. So then we

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Speaker 1: get frustrated when the first thing doesn't work. If Samuel

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Speaker 1: would have gone home after looking at Eliab, Saul would

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Speaker 1: have stayed king and the nation would have perished. So

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking about now, what must it be like to

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Speaker 1: be Samuel. This is not a small moment. It's not

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Speaker 1: small to us. It's just this little annoying say ceremony.

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Speaker 1: To him, this is everything, this is the nation he

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Speaker 1: gave his life to serve. And you know what's weird,

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Speaker 1: Sometimes people have no idea how big the burden that

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Speaker 1: you're caring is because to them it seems small. It okay,

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Speaker 1: there's two tendencies that we all have. Let me go

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Speaker 1: and teach your mode for a moment. We either have

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Speaker 1: a tendency to dramatize. I don't think you should look

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Speaker 1: at your husband or wife right now. I think you

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Speaker 1: should look straight ahead. I'm just giving you a marriage seminar,

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Speaker 1: or to downplay. Both are dangerous to dramatize. Oh, this

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Speaker 1: is the worst ever. It's never been like this before,

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Speaker 1: and nobody ever said anything nice to me. Yes, seventeen

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Speaker 1: people did just not the one that you wanted to

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Speaker 1: say it the way you wanted them to say it.

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Speaker 1: That's drama. Ties over generalize. They always they never dramatized. Dramatized,

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Speaker 1: So that's to make it bigger than it really is.

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Speaker 1: And that's a problem. That's the problem. Trust me from

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Speaker 1: firsthand experience. I know, I'm not talking about what I

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Speaker 1: studied in a textbook. I'm talking about what I relived

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Speaker 1: out in my own psychosis of sanctification to go. That

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Speaker 1: really wasn't that big. What was wrong with me? You know,

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Speaker 1: you watch old film of yourself in your mind and

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Speaker 1: you're like, God, that's embarrassing. Please let's delete that off

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Speaker 1: the hard drive of history. I'll tell you what else

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Speaker 1: is just as bad as dramatizing, though, is downplaying stuff

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Speaker 1: to go like, oh, it didn't bother me. So I

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Speaker 1: was encouraged that God allowed Saul or Samuel rather to

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Speaker 1: go through a grieving process his disappointment. He wasn't saying

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Speaker 1: you're not allowed to mourn, you know, God the eleventh

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Speaker 1: commandment is not thou shalt not be disappointed. But if

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Speaker 1: the disappointment becomes a dead end, that's a problem. So

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Speaker 1: what I'm having to learn to do in my adult

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Speaker 1: life right now? How many grown ups do we have

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Speaker 1: watching the message or grown ups in the making and metamorphosis.

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Speaker 1: How many potential future hopeful grown ups do we have

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Speaker 1: in my adult life. I'm having to learn how not

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Speaker 1: to dramatize it while at the same time don't downplay it.

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Speaker 1: How long will you mourn over what I've rejected? There

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Speaker 1: comes a time where you've got to put it in

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Speaker 1: his place and move on. But there also comes a

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Speaker 1: time where you've got to say that sucked. Normally, I

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Speaker 1: tell you to touch your neighbor and say things like

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Speaker 1: God is good and glory to his name, you know

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Speaker 1: all this, look at somebody and say that sucked. That

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Speaker 1: sucked when they lied to me, That sucked when they

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Speaker 1: said they had my back and they actually did have

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Speaker 1: my back, but they had a knife that they used

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Speaker 1: in my back. That sucked. That sucked. I gave so

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Speaker 1: much and received so little. That sucked. The funny thing

404
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 1: is some people can't even hear the message that I'm

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Speaker 1: saying right now because I said the word sucked. Something

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Speaker 1: so small is that word and the holes in my

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00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,199
Speaker 1: jeans will keep somebody from here in the message that

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to preach, because watch this, we not you.

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Speaker 1: We have this tendency to make big what God calls small,

410
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Speaker 1: and to make small what God calls big. So the

411
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: trick of it is, don't ever diminish anybody else's it's pain. Ever,

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Speaker 1: don't ever try to tell them things like ah, I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can give them a little tough love, like come on,

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Speaker 1: let's go, let's do that, come on heavy, all right,

415
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Speaker 1: you can do that, But don't ever look at somebody

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Speaker 1: like that's all you're going through. That's all. I used

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Speaker 1: to get frustrated when people would I call them toppers.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what you call them. Do you call

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Speaker 1: them that? Toppers? Like you have a good story, they

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00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: have a good story. You want a trophy, they want

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Speaker 1: a Grammy everything, there's nothing you can do. You have

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Speaker 1: a house, they have a neighborhood. Right, you went to

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Speaker 1: the beach, they went to Mars. They bought an island.

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Speaker 1: But we also sometimes not only we try to top

425
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: each other with accomplishments, but it can be like, oh

426
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 1: you went through that, I went through this, right, we

427
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: do it mentally, like we kind of make what other

428
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: people go through small and something that we don't realize

429
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 1: is we are only seeing it. Remember, what you think

430
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: is small is relative to what you've seen. Do you

431
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 1: remember that from them a few minutes ago. That's also

432
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 1: true when it comes to people's pain. Sometimes you're only

433
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: seeing it on the surface and you're like, why is

434
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: that so hard for them? There is a history to

435
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:32,080
Speaker 1: why that's so hard for them, and something knocks them

436
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 1: off balance and you're like, well, you know I went

437
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: through that and I didn't act like that at all.

438
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 1: That's a small thing. Now, that's what you call small.

439
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: And you've got your own little petty your own little

440
00:29:55,360 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: petty problems too. We all do. We all do when

441
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: in the passage, Samuel has this moment that for us

442
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: is so you're just going to pour some oil on

443
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 1: somebody said, no, it's much bigger than that. To him,

444
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,440
Speaker 1: this is a big moment for him. Like even what

445
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: we've been going through the last year, since our lives

446
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 1: changed so much, I think there's this tendency to just

447
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: be like, oh, it's not that big of a deal.

448
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 1: It is. It's weird. I'm kind of worried about, like

449
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 1: what it will do to us as a society that

450
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 1: we're kind of not touching each other. Like that's not

451
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,800
Speaker 1: a small thing. You understand that. And sometimes we downplay it.

452
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,920
Speaker 1: Sometimes when I'm excited about something that's in my life,

453
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: I will downplay it. And there's a reason that I

454
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: do it. If I make it seem small, I feel safe.

455
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,080
Speaker 1: The other day you called me out on this. Know

456
00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna say. I was telling somebody about a

457
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: song I wrote, and I was showing it to them,

458
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: but I was scared they wouldn't like it as much

459
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 1: as I did. So as I'm planning, and I'm like,

460
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: it's not really that good of songs. Just a little song,

461
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 1: just a I mean, I'm not saying it's a big

462
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 1: song or anything like that. What was I doing. I

463
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: was making it small while I showed it to them,

464
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,160
Speaker 1: so I could beat them to the punch of putting

465
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 1: it down. Come on, come on, if I call it small,

466
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: you don't get the chance to. So now sometimes we

467
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: go around just saying stuff about ourselves, you know, just

468
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:40,840
Speaker 1: putting ourselves down. The problem with that is Christ is

469
00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:46,239
Speaker 1: in you. So when you put down what He made,

470
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: you insulf a manufacturer and you don't get to do that.

471
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 1: But see there's a danger in down playing it too.

472
00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:02,240
Speaker 1: And Elijah said to me afterwards, he was like, I

473
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: thought we liked that song. Were we talking about the

474
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: same song or we listened to the same song. I said,

475
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 1: you caught me. I admitted to him. I confess to him.

476
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: I said, forgive me, Father, I have sin. I do that.

477
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll put stuff. I'll make it small because it

478
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 1: makes me feel safe, because somehow I believe that for

479
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: God to be big, I have to be small. God

480
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: is not like Saul. God is not insecure. In fact,

481
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 1: this is worth putting on your refrigerator. God doesn't need

482
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 1: you to be smaller for him to be big. God

483
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 1: is not gonna get any bigger because you shrink yourself

484
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: down smaller. Oh, I'm just a worm, I'm just an

485
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: I'm just a sinner. That's already established. Okay, all of

486
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: that is already a fact. We already know you came

487
00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 1: out of Bethlehem. We already know you're limited, we already

488
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:07,960
Speaker 1: know you're human. But the thing about the thing about

489
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: when you bring yourself down to that level, it doesn't

490
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,760
Speaker 1: acknowledge your humanity. It diminishes the divinity that God has

491
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: put inside of you. We think God is like our

492
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:30,080
Speaker 1: insecure friends from middle school who had to bring us

493
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,240
Speaker 1: down for them to climb up. God's not like that.

494
00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:37,840
Speaker 1: So religion is like that. Religion treats God like the

495
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 1: worst friend or worst boss you've ever had. The only

496
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: way they can feel big is to belittle you. So

497
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 1: then we bring that same mentality into our relationship with God.

498
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,720
Speaker 1: We think that for God to be great and glorious,

499
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: we have to be screwed up and horrible and oh God,

500
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. I just everything about me is wrong.

501
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:08,280
Speaker 1: That's how Saul was. That's not how God is. Saul

502
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 1: was so insecure. Remember he didn't think he was a

503
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,440
Speaker 1: king in his own eyes. So when David came out

504
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,319
Speaker 1: to fight Goliath, Saul said, you can't fight him, You're

505
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:24,320
Speaker 1: too small. Can I ask you something? Was Saul talking

506
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: about David or was Saul talking about Saul. That's the

507
00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:37,279
Speaker 1: same thing David's big tall brother said, Eliah. He was

508
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:42,279
Speaker 1: still salty that Samuel didn't annoy him. Remember Samuel was

509
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 1: walking around, He's like, oh, the tall one. The tall

510
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: one reminded him of the sul one. So we gravitate

511
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: toward what's familiar, right, even if it's not right. Oh,

512
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:57,440
Speaker 1: this must be, this must be how it is, This

513
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 1: must be how it is. And the Lord said, I

514
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,200
Speaker 1: don't look at what you look at. I don't see

515
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:09,680
Speaker 1: what you see. I don't measure like you measure. I

516
00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: don't take stock like you take stock. I don't count

517
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:19,800
Speaker 1: like you count. What you call small, I call sacred.

518
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:29,760
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad that what you call small? Your little

519
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,879
Speaker 1: life running around barely getting the to do list done

520
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 1: on a good day, And I mean barely. I didn't

521
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: even say you got it done well. I just said

522
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:42,640
Speaker 1: you kind of got it through it enough to call

523
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: it a day. And all of that adds up. TIF

524
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,560
Speaker 1: David was asking about a Rhythm album the other day.

525
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:53,840
Speaker 1: I sent him a screenshot of every single that Rhythm

526
00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:57,600
Speaker 1: has released. I said, you already made the album. You

527
00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 1: just didn't know it while you're doing it. You've released

528
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: eleven songs. That's an album, But to you, it was small.

529
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 1: You're already building a legacy in your kids. And if

530
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,239
Speaker 1: your kids are not yet at the stage or age

531
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:17,279
Speaker 1: where they're telling you thank you, that doesn't matter. It

532
00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. The kids started reminiscing the other day about

533
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 1: things that we did for them. They remembered stuff I

534
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,200
Speaker 1: didn't remember. They remembered stuff that while I was doing it.

535
00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:33,799
Speaker 1: I was like, you, ungrateful angels. Remember when you took

536
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:35,239
Speaker 1: us out of school and took us to the thing.

537
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, I don't remember that. It was a

538
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:45,359
Speaker 1: blur to me what I thought was small. They were

539
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 1: getting it. The words we speak, the good ones, the

540
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: bad ones. Sometimes you just say something to somebody and

541
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 1: you think nothing of it. You tell them, oh, that

542
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:02,200
Speaker 1: looks good on you. Change their whole day. Even if

543
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:03,799
Speaker 1: you got to lie to somebody once in a while,

544
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:06,359
Speaker 1: just take take five seconds and that looks great on you.

545
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 1: It's like a rehab lie. You know what I'm saying.

546
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: It's like the Lord will forgive you for it. It's

547
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:16,399
Speaker 1: a greater good kind of issue. But even the little things.

548
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend the other day. I said,

549
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 1: remember when you told me blah blah blah blah blah

550
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:24,360
Speaker 1: blah blah. And he goes, huh huh. I said, really,

551
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,319
Speaker 1: it was a turning point for my life. He said, yeah,

552
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,400
Speaker 1: that's cool. Don't remember it. I'm glad about it. I

553
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,920
Speaker 1: figure he must be in such the habit of just

554
00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:39,200
Speaker 1: doing the small thing and letting God count and letting

555
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 1: God do the math. Because God doesn't look at what

556
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: you look at. You look for immediate results. God looks

557
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:53,280
Speaker 1: for eternal impact. Yeah, God doesn't look at what people

558
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:58,439
Speaker 1: look at, right God, God does not. God doesn't see

559
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 1: the situation. He doesn't see the challenge. He doesn't see

560
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,720
Speaker 1: I think the reason David could kill Goliath is because

561
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 1: he saw him with fresh eyes. Everybody else had been

562
00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:14,640
Speaker 1: out there for forty days. The longer they looked at

563
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,600
Speaker 1: the challenge, the smaller they fell. The smaller God seed,

564
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 1: the longer they The longer you think about it, whatever

565
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,280
Speaker 1: it is, the bigger it gets, the smaller God gets

566
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:30,240
Speaker 1: in your mind. On the other hand, when you worship

567
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: like you are right now, this is not a small

568
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,279
Speaker 1: thing that you're spending an hour listening to the Word

569
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 1: of God. This is not a small thing. This word

570
00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 1: is seed. This seed of this word implanted is able

571
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:50,000
Speaker 1: to save your soul. It can be grafted into your

572
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 1: grief and give you joy. It can challenge and read

573
00:38:53,760 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 1: direct one word. James compared it to a rudder of

574
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,480
Speaker 1: a ship. The rudder is small, the ship is big.

575
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,839
Speaker 1: The little thing affects the big thing. A horse can

576
00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:14,719
Speaker 1: weigh two thousand pounds, the human tongue weighs less than

577
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,880
Speaker 1: a quarter of a pound. James makes the argument in

578
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,120
Speaker 1: James three that the tongue is to the ship what

579
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,040
Speaker 1: the rudder is. The tongue is to the life, what

580
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,040
Speaker 1: the rudder is to the ship, the tongue is to

581
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 1: your life, what the bit is to the horse. What

582
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:32,840
Speaker 1: you call small stuff you just say in anger people

583
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 1: live with for a decade. What you call small you

584
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: gotta watch what you speak in moments of frustration. My

585
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: mom taught me don't ever tell me when you and

586
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 1: Holly get in a fight. She told me this before

587
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:53,520
Speaker 1: I married her. She said, y'all will get over it

588
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:56,719
Speaker 1: by Tuesday, and I'll still be hating her about it

589
00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 1: on my deathbed, because you're my baby. I don't want

590
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 1: to know. I thought, that's great advice, because it'll be

591
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:10,040
Speaker 1: a little thing to y'all. It's small to y'all, but

592
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:15,440
Speaker 1: it's big to me. That's why I got used to

593
00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 1: get hurt when I'm preached and I go, well, I

594
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 1: go up to somebody and I'd be like, did you

595
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: like the sermon? Yeah? Yeah, I mean, what'd you get

596
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: out of it? Uh? That part where you said the

597
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: thing about God was you know, doing stuff? I like

598
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: that I was doing stuff. It's like I studied so hard.

599
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:43,280
Speaker 1: That's what you got out of it. It was small

600
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: to you. There's a sacrifice for me and vice versa.

601
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 1: There's volunteers in the church, and you start feeling like

602
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: nobody ever even cares i'd do anything. No, that's fine,

603
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,439
Speaker 1: I'm moped. I'll get my mansion in heaven. But deep

604
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:59,000
Speaker 1: down inside you're wondering, does anybody care? Like j Max

605
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:05,480
Speaker 1: said that I'm here, does anybody see that I'm here? Oh?

606
00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:09,240
Speaker 1: I know it seems small. I know it seems unappreciated.

607
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,439
Speaker 1: I know it seems like people just trample over top

608
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,080
Speaker 1: of you to something they think is more important, good

609
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 1: thing that what men call small, God calls big. We

610
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,879
Speaker 1: need to feed this big crowd, Jesus, and they need

611
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 1: to go away. The crowd is big. Okay, what do

612
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:35,319
Speaker 1: you have with you? John six ' nine, Get ready

613
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 1: to shout over the small stuff in your life. Get

614
00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,320
Speaker 1: ready to shout over the small assignments. Get ready to shout.

615
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:43,080
Speaker 1: Don't shout yet, just get ready to shout, here is

616
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: a boy with five what kind of barley loaves? Big

617
00:41:50,680 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 1: fat barleylows? Huh, five small barley loaves, two small fish.

618
00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: Of all the ink that God needed to use to

619
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:08,319
Speaker 1: write the Bible, he wanted to make sure you knew

620
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: it was small stuff that he blessed and multiplied. He's tall,

621
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 1: but no, that one he looks like a king. But no,

622
00:42:26,320 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: that one's got cool sneakers. But no, you got any Jesse,

623
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: do you have any this is this is Samuel now said,

624
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:37,680
Speaker 1: do you have any sons you're not telling me about?

625
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:46,440
Speaker 1: He said, there's the the one that we're hiding from you.

626
00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:52,840
Speaker 1: He's the youngest one. Is that eleven? Yeah, the Hebrew

627
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:58,720
Speaker 1: doesn't say youngest. It's the smallest. Look it up, test

628
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:00,400
Speaker 1: me on it. I wish you would. I wish you

629
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:06,319
Speaker 1: would look it up on a Bible dictionary. Just like

630
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: Bethlehem was the smallest. The one God wanted was the

631
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 1: small one. Quit telling God you'll do big things for him.

632
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: He don't want it. Quit parading all the stuff in

633
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:27,240
Speaker 1: front of God that you think will make him proud.

634
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 1: He's not insecure enough to need to be impressed by us.

635
00:43:34,239 --> 00:43:39,200
Speaker 1: Oh you've got a small loaf. You've got a small fish.

636
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:45,320
Speaker 1: Now we're in business. Oh you've got a mustard seed faith.

637
00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: Oh you have a little strength, now we're in business.

638
00:43:52,960 --> 00:44:05,000
Speaker 1: What Jesse called small Samuel crowned as king because God

639
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:10,520
Speaker 1: doesn't see what people see, and God doesn't count like

640
00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: people count. By the spirit of God, I say to

641
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:24,520
Speaker 1: someone today, wait for David. There's gonna be temptation in

642
00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:28,000
Speaker 1: your life to always crown the first thing you see

643
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,880
Speaker 1: that looks good, and settle for something that reminds you

644
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,640
Speaker 1: of Saul, and get in bad relationships just so you

645
00:44:35,719 --> 00:44:38,799
Speaker 1: won't be alone, and take shortcuts just so you can

646
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 1: get it now. But if you can hear what I'm saying,

647
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:47,400
Speaker 1: by the spirit of God, wait for David. He's not

648
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 1: the one that you see who's paraded out in front

649
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:51,960
Speaker 1: of you. He's not the one that makes sense. He's

650
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 1: not the one that reminds you of how it's always been.

651
00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:00,000
Speaker 1: He's the one keeping those little sheep in the field.

652
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:06,400
Speaker 1: He's the smallest one. God's asking like he's in the

653
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:12,279
Speaker 1: department store trying on stuff. You got anything smaller. I

654
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:15,799
Speaker 1: appreciate all your big faith. I appreciate you want to

655
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 1: make a difference. So I appreciate you want to break through.

656
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: I appreciate you got a small prayer, you got a

657
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:24,439
Speaker 1: detail of your life you think I don't care about.

658
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: Know what you call small is big to me. And

659
00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:35,759
Speaker 1: what you think is so big. I got that. The

660
00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: stuff that you're up at night about, I was working

661
00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:42,720
Speaker 1: on that, but you keep getting in my way go

662
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 1: to sleep. That's the little thing. But the little thing

663
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:56,160
Speaker 1: that you think doesn't matter. Your character, your integrity, the

664
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:58,560
Speaker 1: way you treat people when no one's looking, the way

665
00:45:58,600 --> 00:46:03,879
Speaker 1: you carry out your responsibilities, that's big to me. So God,

666
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 1: show me what's big to you that's been too small

667
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:16,479
Speaker 1: to me, what I've been neglecting. Oh, it doesn't matter

668
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,080
Speaker 1: if I say I'm sorry, Oh, it doesn't matter. It

669
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:22,799
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. It does matter. What's small to us as

670
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:26,800
Speaker 1: big to God. I never try to text my wife

671
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:30,399
Speaker 1: like she's my assistant. I always try to remember that's

672
00:46:30,440 --> 00:46:33,600
Speaker 1: my wife, because if our communication gets down to just

673
00:46:33,640 --> 00:46:36,759
Speaker 1: getting stuff done, I feel like that's very dangerous to

674
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,719
Speaker 1: our love for one another. Always try to talk to

675
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:42,520
Speaker 1: her like a human being, even on text. And I'm

676
00:46:42,560 --> 00:46:44,840
Speaker 1: sure I miss the mark sometimes, but that's important to me.

677
00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:47,440
Speaker 1: Oh that's so small. Why are you bringing that up

678
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:50,520
Speaker 1: at the end of the sermon, Because what is small

679
00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:56,880
Speaker 1: to us is big to God and marriage As he

680
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:05,160
Speaker 1: rode one text at a time, what's small to you?

681
00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:08,040
Speaker 1: That little thought that you give place to Oh, it's

682
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:10,440
Speaker 1: not hurting anybody. It's just a thought, just a thought.

683
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: Everything that is seen is made from things that are

684
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:19,919
Speaker 1: not visible. Hebrews teaches us that you are one thought

685
00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:24,240
Speaker 1: away from ruining your life. You are one thought away

686
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:26,919
Speaker 1: from moving on into a great future that God has

687
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:32,520
Speaker 1: planned for you. No, it won't be the big thing

688
00:47:33,520 --> 00:47:35,400
Speaker 1: that will stop you from becoming what God wants you

689
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:39,040
Speaker 1: to be. He'll do that part. Yeah, it's what you

690
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:49,040
Speaker 1: call small. Yeah, what you call small? Samuel said, sin

691
00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: for the small one. That's the one I want. God said,

692
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:57,879
Speaker 1: go to Bethlehem, the small one. What step is God

693
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 1: calling me to take next in my life? The small one?

694
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:07,440
Speaker 1: But I thought we had a big God. Maybe I

695
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:11,240
Speaker 1: should preach a sermon called the God of the Small,

696
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,920
Speaker 1: just to let you know that God sees little. You

697
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:24,720
Speaker 1: be so good. If I could know your name right now,

698
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:27,719
Speaker 1: But I don't need to, because somehow, some way, God

699
00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:31,759
Speaker 1: is connecting to you right now to let you know

700
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:37,360
Speaker 1: he sees it and it's significant. You call it small

701
00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:44,080
Speaker 1: compared to God. None of us are that big and strong,

702
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:50,319
Speaker 1: But I promise you from where God sits, there is

703
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: nothing small about your faithfulness, nothing small about your integrity.

704
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:00,959
Speaker 1: And I just want to say this to someone who's

705
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:07,279
Speaker 1: been flirting with the idea of suicide. You can't die

706
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,200
Speaker 1: because even though you feel like your life doesn't matter

707
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:16,239
Speaker 1: right now, if you don't break this generationally, if you

708
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:19,279
Speaker 1: don't stand up and decide to live and survive and

709
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:22,560
Speaker 1: move forward and find a way into the next season

710
00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: of your life, you will pass along the same spirit

711
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:31,279
Speaker 1: that has tormented you. And that's not just if you're

712
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:34,239
Speaker 1: on the edge. That's anybody who feels like quitting, not

713
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,839
Speaker 1: just quitting life, but quitting the thing that God has

714
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:42,360
Speaker 1: called you to. It's not small. You call it small

715
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:46,000
Speaker 1: because you can't see it for what it is. You

716
00:49:46,040 --> 00:49:48,279
Speaker 1: call it small because you haven't lived to the other

717
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: side of it yet. You call Bethlehem small because you

718
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 1: don't yet know that kings come from Bethlehem, that great

719
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 1: things come from small decisions, and that breakthroughs come from

720
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,839
Speaker 1: small beginnings. So I want you to stand right now,

721
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: and lift your hands to the God of the small loaves,

722
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:16,719
Speaker 1: to the God of the small fish, to the God

723
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:23,040
Speaker 1: of the smallest, the smallest need that you have. He knows,

724
00:50:23,040 --> 00:50:26,799
Speaker 1: and he sees, and he cares. Jesus taught us that

725
00:50:26,840 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: He numbers the hairs on our head. We think God

726
00:50:31,640 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 1: is only someone we can come to with the big things.

727
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:42,360
Speaker 1: I want to tell you that he cares about the minutia.

728
00:50:42,520 --> 00:50:47,880
Speaker 1: Wait for David. I know you're tempted to replace Saul

729
00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:52,279
Speaker 1: and go back to the things which are not meat,

730
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:56,239
Speaker 1: are not bread, are not water. Do not satisfy, but

731
00:50:56,320 --> 00:51:08,839
Speaker 1: wait for David, for David, wait for the unseen. Thank

732
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:14,239
Speaker 1: you Lord that as I have preached today, people have

733
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,880
Speaker 1: once again been reminded and stirred up in small ways

734
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:20,279
Speaker 1: to remember the dignity of their one life and their

735
00:51:20,280 --> 00:51:24,480
Speaker 1: one act of faith. There's no prayer that we can

736
00:51:24,520 --> 00:51:29,719
Speaker 1: pray that is too quiet for you to hear. There's

737
00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:31,840
Speaker 1: nothing we're worried about that we can mention that you

738
00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:36,000
Speaker 1: would be too busy to listen to. That's amazing about you.

739
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:40,600
Speaker 1: You're a big God. When we bring all of our

740
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:45,280
Speaker 1: problems into your presence, something amazing happens. They look smaller

741
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:48,920
Speaker 1: to us. We want to look at what we're going

742
00:51:48,920 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 1: through from Heaven's perspective today. What you call small we

743
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:58,680
Speaker 1: place under our feet. What you call big will have

744
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:02,680
Speaker 1: first place in our life. Enable us Lord to seek

745
00:52:02,680 --> 00:52:09,040
Speaker 1: first your kingdom, and all these little things will be

746
00:52:09,120 --> 00:52:14,640
Speaker 1: at it as well. In Jesus' name, I prayer, Amen.

747
00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:21,279
Speaker 1: That prayer was for you. We're praying for you. There's

748
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 1: nothing our God can't do. And I just want to

749
00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:26,239
Speaker 1: thank you for every little thing that you do. You know,

750
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:30,359
Speaker 1: we have people who share these messages, who give to

751
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:32,479
Speaker 1: this ministry, who are really a part of our church,

752
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:35,560
Speaker 1: and it takes every single one of us giving what

753
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:37,960
Speaker 1: we have for the gospel to go forward. Just want

754
00:52:38,000 --> 00:52:40,839
Speaker 1: to say thank you. Make sure you're subscribed, make sure

755
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:43,919
Speaker 1: what else is just let us know that you're here.

756
00:52:44,400 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: Most of all, we want to be here for you.

757
00:52:46,280 --> 00:52:48,839
Speaker 1: And so until next time, May the Lord bless you,

758
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:52,000
Speaker 1: keep you, make his face shine upon you, be gracious

759
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,400
Speaker 1: to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you

760
00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:57,200
Speaker 1: and give you his peace. I'm