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Speaker 1: Ah, But we love you today, and we worship and

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Speaker 1: adore you. We're not angels, but we want to gather

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Speaker 1: around your throne like they do and give you praise,

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Speaker 1: and we want to sing what they sing. We want

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Speaker 1: to say worthy, Worthy, Worthy is the lamb to open

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Speaker 1: the scroll. We thank you, Lord, that all of history

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Speaker 1: is in your hands. We thank you that everything in

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Speaker 1: the past that has happened is now being brought into

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Speaker 1: perfect alignment with the future that you have prophesied over

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Speaker 1: us in this moment. We say that because our confidence

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Speaker 1: is in your unchanging nature and your steadfast character, and

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Speaker 1: we want to be more like you are. God. We

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Speaker 1: want to be rooted and grounded in what lasts. So today, Lord,

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Speaker 1: I thank you for a sustaining blessing over these men

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Speaker 1: and women, a sustaining blessing over these boys and girls.

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Speaker 1: We thank you that you are a creator and a keeper.

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Speaker 1: So Lord, right now, I thank you that I'm in

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Speaker 1: the palm of your hand. Right now, I thank you

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Speaker 1: that your grip is stronger than my resistance. God, I

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Speaker 1: thank you that you're stronger at holding me than I

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Speaker 1: am at letting go. And I thank you that you've

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Speaker 1: got me right where you want me. I'm not behind,

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Speaker 1: I'm not off schedule. I'm right where I need to be.

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Speaker 1: I'm who I need to be. You didn't want to

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Speaker 1: make me any different than you made me. There wasn't

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Speaker 1: a missing worker on the assembly line on the day

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Speaker 1: that you created me. Before I was born, you knew me.

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Speaker 1: You set me apart in my mother's womb. Everything that

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Speaker 1: I'm missing is just an opportunity for a miracle. Every

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Speaker 1: space in me is just somewhere for you to show

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Speaker 1: off in my life. In my weakness, you are strong.

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Speaker 1: You are a mighty God, a wonderful counselor, an everlasting father,

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Speaker 1: and the Prince of peace. We call on your great name, Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Your name is above every other name. Who you are

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Speaker 1: is what we trust it, and we place our hope

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Speaker 1: in you. In Jesus' name. Everybody who believes that name

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Speaker 1: is the name that matters. Shot a mad, come on,

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Speaker 1: shot a mad awesome awes Well, we were singing the

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Speaker 1: names of God. But let me just take a minute,

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Speaker 1: and what's your name? Tell three people around you, Hi,

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Speaker 1: my name is. What's your name? Just get to know

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Speaker 1: him all right? In the chat? How are you? Where

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Speaker 1: are you? Let me open this YouTube lane. All right,

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Speaker 1: in the chat, who are you? Let me know in

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Speaker 1: the chat, who are you? Somebody? Shout your name right

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Speaker 1: here at me, real quick, shout your legal name. I

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Speaker 1: don't know you enough to have a nickname relationship yet

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Speaker 1: and from all over the world. It's just it would

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Speaker 1: amaze you. I don't want you to do it because

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Speaker 1: it would be distracting. But if you saw all the

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Speaker 1: people in the chat that are joining us for church today,

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Speaker 1: it really is true. I didn't know God was literal

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Speaker 1: when he said I'm going to stretch your boundaries, but

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Speaker 1: he did. That's even beyond what we could have thought.

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Speaker 1: We built buildings all these many years for the church,

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Speaker 1: and the Lord was like, that's great. The buildings are great.

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Speaker 1: Build them. But what God is doing now in the

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Speaker 1: year twenty twenty one is so far beyond the building.

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Speaker 1: Come on. And what I love about it is it's

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Speaker 1: not only it's not only people who watch online, but

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Speaker 1: they worship, they give, they build. It's our extended family.

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Speaker 1: Let's welcome our Epham all around the world. I learned

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Speaker 1: that the Lord's ways are higher than mine. Have you

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Speaker 1: learned that? Yet? Sooner you learn that Man you're gonna

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Speaker 1: waste less money, less time, less prayers asking God for

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Speaker 1: stuff that if He gave it to you, you'd want

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Speaker 1: to return it back to send her. I'm just trying

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Speaker 1: to save you some time. That God's ways are better, better, better,

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Speaker 1: better better. Yeah, all right, we got Emma, Chris Jane Steven.

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Speaker 1: What an anointed name that it is with a V.

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Speaker 1: He spelled it right, Steven, God, bless your mother and

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Speaker 1: blessed be the fruit of your mother's woman. Samantha from Malaysia.

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Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying. From Malaysia. I never thought

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Speaker 1: I would put a campus in Malaysia, but God did that.

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Speaker 1: God is gonna do so much more through your life then,

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Speaker 1: you know to ask him for right now, so be encouraged.

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Speaker 1: We're getting ready. We're preparing our year end offering. It's

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Speaker 1: called the year end offering, is called better this year better.

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Speaker 1: That's the word God spoke to me. I'm like, Lord,

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Speaker 1: I can't tell him it's gonna get better. He said,

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Speaker 1: that's not the point of it. The point is if

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Speaker 1: it doesn't get better, they will. So. God is gonna

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Speaker 1: increase you, make you stronger and wiser. He's gonna do that.

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Speaker 1: He's doing that sometimes when you don't feel it. I

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Speaker 1: noticed when I'm working out physically, the moments where I

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Speaker 1: feel the weakest, I'm growing the most. Wonder is that

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Speaker 1: true in the spirit? Me too? She said, I hope

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Speaker 1: so so you had a bad week. I barely made

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Speaker 1: it in. I hope you're telling that truth. It was

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Speaker 1: amazing though. So many you never know what somebody's going

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Speaker 1: through right next to you. That's why I hate when

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Speaker 1: y'all leave when I'm closing my sermon in prayer, when

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Speaker 1: you slip out so you can get the lunch. It

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Speaker 1: bothers me because you don't know that person on that road,

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Speaker 1: what they came in carrying, and what God is lifting.

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Speaker 1: One of our longtime volunteers, This is just one example.

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Speaker 1: One of our longtime volunteers in the Raleigh Durham area

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Speaker 1: had just made it back to church last week, and afterwards,

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Speaker 1: one of our campus pastors said, I you man, where

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Speaker 1: have you been? And he said, well, I fell out

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Speaker 1: for a little while, you know, but this week my

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Speaker 1: son took his own life. But while that while we

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Speaker 1: were worshiping, God spoke to me, is going to get better?

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Speaker 1: Only in God's presence can you receive a truth like that.

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Speaker 1: I didn't tell him that because that's not my place

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Speaker 1: to tell him that. I can't imagine what that feels like.

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Speaker 1: But God can say that, and he does every single

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Speaker 1: time we get together. How many of you are are

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Speaker 1: better in some way or your family is better because

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Speaker 1: of the ministry right here at Elevation. I mean, even

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Speaker 1: if it was just one time, if it was just

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Speaker 1: one time, God spoke to you. So the best thing

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Speaker 1: we can do is to always invest in what God

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Speaker 1: is using to feed us. There's no better place to invest.

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Speaker 1: So on the December twelfth, we set the date. Really

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Speaker 1: it's now through the whole end of the year, but

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Speaker 1: we'll be receiving into offering. We use it for expansion

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Speaker 1: and outreach and all the great ministries. I'm looking at

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Speaker 1: a couple dozen people in here who I know are Tithers.

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Speaker 1: They give God always the first ten percent of what

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Speaker 1: God gives them, not the leftovers, uh huh, not that

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Speaker 1: congealed cranberry sauce nobody wanted to eat on Thanksgiving Day.

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Speaker 1: They don't throw God the scraps, but they come to

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Speaker 1: God first and say, I trust you, You're my God. Systematically,

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Speaker 1: so thousands begin doing that. During this time, many give

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Speaker 1: above and beyond. That's what Holly and I. I didn't

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Speaker 1: tell her the number God gave me yet, but it's

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Speaker 1: it's I don't like it. It's kind of bigger than

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Speaker 1: I wanted it, but I'm always glad that I did it.

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Speaker 1: So it's a chance for you to seek God. That's

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Speaker 1: the thing is for you to ask God, God, what

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Speaker 1: would you have me to give? And there's envelopes and details,

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Speaker 1: but that's not my depart today. My role is to

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Speaker 1: take this Bible and I'm gonna try to knock that

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Speaker 1: devil off your shoulder that's been talking to your role.

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Speaker 1: Let's see, this is a pretty big Bible. By swing

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Speaker 1: it hard enough, maybe that devil leave you alone for

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Speaker 1: a couple of minutes. All right, So thank you worship team.

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Speaker 1: What an awesome video about the worship ministry. Huh, everybody,

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Speaker 1: everybody grateful for God's presens Give God a shout of praise.

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Speaker 1: All right, be seated, classes in session. This is a

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Speaker 1: lesson today. I've been threatening to teach this for a year.

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Speaker 1: I keep playing with it, and God confirmed in several

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Speaker 1: different ways that this was the word for today. So

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Speaker 1: I'm very confident about that. I'm going to teach you

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Speaker 1: on the subject the power of a better question, The

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Speaker 1: power of a better question. I've been flirting with it

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Speaker 1: for some time now, but today because our word is better.

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Speaker 1: The prophet hag I asked a series of questions, who

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Speaker 1: of you is left? Who saw the former house in

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Speaker 1: its glory? And then he asked how does it look

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Speaker 1: to you? Now? He's asking questions. Do any of you

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Speaker 1: know the first question in the Bible? By the way,

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Speaker 1: anybody I can call on just guess. I won't make

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Speaker 1: you look dumb. I promise I'm not setting you up.

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Speaker 1: I would never embarrass you. First question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's the second question. I thought that was the first

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Speaker 1: question in the Bible too, Adam, where are you? So

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Speaker 1: when I was on the thing, going on the chat,

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Speaker 1: and I said who are you? Where are you? And

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Speaker 1: I asked that question, you probably put a physical location

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Speaker 1: geographical Malaysia, or you put a name, right. But the

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Speaker 1: more specific we got with that question where are you,

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Speaker 1: it just becomes endlessly deep. Right, say where are you?

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Speaker 1: And you're like Topeka? Right? Cool? Now I know your address,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know your attitude. So where are you?

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Speaker 1: If we take it deeper, the depth of the question

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Speaker 1: can go as deep as you want it to go.

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Speaker 1: If I say where are you? Well, I'm kind of

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Speaker 1: offended because last week I was supposed to get invited

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Speaker 1: to this thing and nobody invited me. And really I'm

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Speaker 1: mad because I'm always the one doing the invited. So

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Speaker 1: I'm really in a state of bitterness that seems to

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Speaker 1: get darker as I hold on to it, and I'm deepeness.

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Speaker 1: That could be the answer to the question where are you? Also,

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Speaker 1: or you could just say Topeka, But it's just depending

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Speaker 1: on how deep you see the question. So that is

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Speaker 1: the first question that God asked in the Bible, but

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Speaker 1: it's not the first question that appears in the Bible.

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Speaker 1: That's what God asked, Adam. I'm glad you said that one,

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Speaker 1: because that is such a powerful question. Where are you?

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Speaker 1: Like I can see that physically Fourth Road Gyra shirt

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Speaker 1: looks like a good Christian. She's got a Gyra's shirt

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Speaker 1: on her back and a blessed hoodie in her lap.

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Speaker 1: She is double poors and praising God to take you.

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Speaker 1: I want all of it, God, but I don't know

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Speaker 1: if I can see like because Adam, Adam was hiding

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Speaker 1: from God, and so when God says where are you Adam,

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Speaker 1: He's not asking him for information, He's asking him for location,

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Speaker 1: not for God, for Adam. That's kind of deep question

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Speaker 1: where are you? It's like Greenville? Nope, grief, that's where

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Speaker 1: I am? Right? So how deep do we go? But

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Speaker 1: we ask people surface questions? You know, what do you

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Speaker 1: do for a living? You excited about Cam coming back?

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Speaker 1: Just surface stuff. That's fine. And I don't think you

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Speaker 1: should ask people two deeper questions when you're getting the

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Speaker 1: home as creepy you know what I mean? Oh? What

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Speaker 1: any of your Graham number you? I don't want to

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Speaker 1: talk to you about numbers yet you have not earned

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Speaker 1: my number yet. Right. But the first question in the

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Speaker 1: Bible that appears is in Genesis three, before Adam realizes

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Speaker 1: he's naked, when the serpent asks Eve, do you remember?

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Speaker 1: Did God really say? The first question that appears in

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Speaker 1: the Bible isn't the one God asks, it's the one

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Speaker 1: Satan asks, which makes me wonder sometimes is the first

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Speaker 1: question that comes to our mind about something not the

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Speaker 1: best question available? You feel me because sometimes the questions

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Speaker 1: that I ask about a situation are not the best questions,

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Speaker 1: and that's why the Lord led me to the power

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Speaker 1: of a better question. And Abby, my ten year old,

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Speaker 1: gets this at a deep level. Apparently. I asked her

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Speaker 1: this week. She said I hadn't made my Christmas list yet.

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Speaker 1: I said, well, you better get started. What do you want?

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Speaker 1: And she said, what should I want? Living with Socrates

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Speaker 1: in the house? Something like that, You know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, Wow, that's deep. I don't know if she

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Speaker 1: was trying to provoke me to say, what's my ceiling?

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Speaker 1: Is this a three hundred dollars Christmas? Is it a five?

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Speaker 1: How much does the two fairy bring? I'm gonna get up,

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Speaker 1: you know, up, hiss eyes, I can go. I don't

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Speaker 1: even know how deep she meant it, but I thought, wow,

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Speaker 1: that's the first question Jesus asked in all of the Bible.

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Speaker 1: The first time we see him talk. He doesn't give

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Speaker 1: an answer. In John chapter one, Jesus is the answer, sure,

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Speaker 1: but he's also the question he asked these two guys

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Speaker 1: who were following. He said, what do you want? What

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Speaker 1: a question? They said, we want to come see where

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Speaker 1: you're staying, Rabbi. But I think the rest of his

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Speaker 1: ministry was dealing with that second question, the one Abby asked,

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Speaker 1: what should I want? Is what I want? Is what

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Speaker 1: I wish? Is what I think I want? Really what

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Speaker 1: I want? Or will I get what I want and

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Speaker 1: not want what I've got in the end. That's called

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Speaker 1: a midlife crisis. But if we would ask better early

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Speaker 1: life questions, we wouldn't have midlife crisis. The power of

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Speaker 1: a better question. I feel anointed in leather today and

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Speaker 1: I don't know why. So in a minute, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to give you a scripture from Numbers, chapter thirteen. Go

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Speaker 1: ahead and start turning there. But in the meantime, let

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Speaker 1: me give you a few examples what I mean before

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Speaker 1: we get very deep textually. I told you the first

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Speaker 1: question in the Bible came from Satan. Did God really say?

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Speaker 1: And then he twisted what God actually said and added

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Speaker 1: to it an exactayted it like the enemy always does.

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Speaker 1: And we'll come back to that. But then the question

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Speaker 1: God asked was simple, not where should you be? Where

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Speaker 1: are you? God starts where you are? When I start

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Speaker 1: with the sermon, I don't start by preparing with what

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Speaker 1: do I know? Because honestly, what you need goes far

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Speaker 1: beyond what I know. I don't know how to answer

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Speaker 1: the real questions you're asking. I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: should marry him or whatever. I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: should move out or move in. I don't know, but

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Speaker 1: God does. So I learned to ask the question as

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Speaker 1: a preacher, not what do I know? So a lot

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Speaker 1: of times we come to the Bible and we think

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Speaker 1: we know it so good, Oh man, I know that story.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes when I read this, I can see some of you.

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Speaker 1: Your eyes glaze over. You're like, go, I know this story.

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Speaker 1: You fit for Thios And people tell me something I

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Speaker 1: don't know. Okay, well, maybe God is going to show

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Speaker 1: you something that you don't know from something that you

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Speaker 1: think you do. Right. But if I start with what

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Speaker 1: do I know? When I read the Bible, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: impose all of my influences instead of getting insight from

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Speaker 1: God's word, I'm gonna bring all to it what I

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Speaker 1: already think I know. So I don't know what my

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Speaker 1: message is gonna be about when I start to prepare it.

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Speaker 1: I don't start with that. If I start with what

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Speaker 1: I know, I'm gonna it's gonna be a thirty second sermon.

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Speaker 1: I'm not that smart. I'm not so how stupid would

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Speaker 1: it be for you to come out here and take

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Speaker 1: all this time out of your day? If the starting

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Speaker 1: place is what does Stephen Ferdick know? I can put

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Speaker 1: that in a tweet. We don't need a sermon for that.

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Speaker 1: It's a waste of time. But I start with this, God,

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Speaker 1: what do they need? That's a better question, because God

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Speaker 1: knows that in a way I don't. And he might

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Speaker 1: sneak to me and say, you need to tell him

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Speaker 1: stop crying. It's coming. I'm like, well, God, I didn't

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Speaker 1: even know to tell him that. I didn't even know

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Speaker 1: that there are trumpets and tears what I preach life week.

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Speaker 1: I didn't come to the text looking for what I

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Speaker 1: already knew. I came looking for God, what do we need?

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Speaker 1: Not just you but me? What do we need? And

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Speaker 1: this amazing thing that your father knows what you need.

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Speaker 1: He knows what you need. So you start with where

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Speaker 1: you are, but you don't stop there. You start with

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Speaker 1: a better question. When I first started preaching again, my

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Speaker 1: question would always be I'd look at a message and

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Speaker 1: I'd go, how will this preach? In other words, will

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Speaker 1: it be exciting dynamic. Will people laugh at it? Will

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Speaker 1: they go ooh wow and write that down? Yeah, oh,

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Speaker 1: come on with it for this reaction, But now I

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Speaker 1: want to know will it produce repentance. Repentance is not

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Speaker 1: feeling bad. I'm not saying I want you to feel

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Speaker 1: bad when you leave. Let me just beat the crap

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Speaker 1: out of them and come back next Sunday for more.

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Speaker 1: That's not what I'm looking for, Not how to make

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Speaker 1: you feel bad. You already do a pretty good job

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Speaker 1: at that without any instruction. Do not. You do not

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Speaker 1: need school in how bad you already suck. So this

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Speaker 1: puppit is not a how much you suck school. You know.

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Speaker 1: Point number one, you suck. Point number two you used

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Speaker 1: to suck even more. Point number three, No matter how

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Speaker 1: much you work, you're still gonna suck. See you next Sunday.

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Speaker 1: That is not have you been to that church before?

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Speaker 1: But see but see, God knows what you need. That's

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Speaker 1: not gonna help you. That that sin consciousness is not

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Speaker 1: gonna bring you to repentance. That's not gonna change you.

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Speaker 1: You need to see Jesus when you come. You need

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Speaker 1: to know that Christ in you is the hope of glory,

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Speaker 1: So it's the better question. What should I want? Huh?

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe I woul't want the stuff. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I'm focused on the wrong thing. So then Jesus said,

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Speaker 1: we'll seek first the kingdom. You know, don't run around

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Speaker 1: like the Pagans saying what shall we eat? Thanksgiving sermon?

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Speaker 1: What shall we wear? If you spent more time today

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Speaker 1: figuring out what you were going to wear to church

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Speaker 1: before you got here, then you do asking the question,

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Speaker 1: what did God speak to me? When you leave here?

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Speaker 1: Why are y'all looking at me like that wasn't the

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Speaker 1: best thing that has ever been said from this pulpit?

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Speaker 1: If you spend more time, I remember one time I

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Speaker 1: was so into my what do I wear when I preach?

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Speaker 1: And I was so into that because I wanted to

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Speaker 1: look good. You got to be presentable. You know, people

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Speaker 1: are looking at you up here, A lot of people

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Speaker 1: are looking at you. And the Lord said, I don't

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Speaker 1: want you to focus more on your outfit than you

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Speaker 1: do your outline. What is is God speaking? If it

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Speaker 1: took you an hour to figure out what to where

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Speaker 1: to get here, that's on me. I'm in bed right

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Speaker 1: now watching online. Okay, if it took you an hour

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Speaker 1: to figure out what to watch on YouTube, and you

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Speaker 1: can't even take ten seconds. That's what the enemy does.

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Speaker 1: He is gonna snatch the seed before it ever hits

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Speaker 1: the soil and goes deep enough to make a difference.

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Speaker 1: And if all you hear what I'm preaching is what

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Speaker 1: somebody else should do with what I've preached, Boy, I

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Speaker 1: wish my husband would have come. He could have used

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Speaker 1: that word. You are not God's mirror holder. Praise the

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Speaker 1: Lord Numbers, Chapter thirteen. I'm just trying to think about

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Speaker 1: the power of a better question. I used to ask,

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Speaker 1: how will this preach? Now I want to know what

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Speaker 1: kind of person will this preaching produce? So if I

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Speaker 1: preach something like your haters are elevators, you know rhymes,

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Speaker 1: it's exciting all of your haters. Tell all your haters. Look.

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Speaker 1: The reason that that kind of preaching gets people excited

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Speaker 1: is because it absolves us from all relational responsibility. So

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Speaker 1: if all I do is talk about your haters, your

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Speaker 1: haters can't stand you because you're so blessed, you're so favored. No,

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Speaker 1: your haters can't stand you because you are late to work.

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Speaker 1: Why whoa what kind of person. Is this preaching producing?

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Speaker 1: That's a better question. If you are single and you

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Speaker 1: are asking God for a man to pop the question

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Speaker 1: to you. Okay, you need to ask two questions. Not

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Speaker 1: only when you meet a man, is he single? And no?

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Speaker 1: Hold on, not even is he saved? That's a good question.

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Speaker 1: He should be saved, he should know the Lord. But

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Speaker 1: is he sane? Because there are crazy Christians just a

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Speaker 1: be he's too, but he's crazy. He can call Colosses,

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Speaker 1: but he's crazy. Is he sexy? Is he stable? Unstable?

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Speaker 1: Is only sexy? So much? For so long numbers Chapter thirteen.

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Speaker 1: It's a familiar passage of scripture. The Lord told Moses,

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Speaker 1: I want you to send twelve men. Everybody shall twelve

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Speaker 1: twelve men into the land I'm giving. The Israelite says

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Speaker 1: there inheritance. The question isn't has God given it? The

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Speaker 1: question is will you go forward? I want to speak

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Speaker 1: that over every area of your life right now that

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Speaker 1: God has promised. The question isn't has God given it? Joy? Peace,

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Speaker 1: all the fruit of the spirit, love, patience, It's kindness, goodness,

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Speaker 1: fath than generes of control. That's the fruit of the spirit.

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Speaker 1: That's what grows from knowing God in the spirit of

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Speaker 1: a believer. It's called the fruit of the Spirit in

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Speaker 1: Galatians life, and it's all yours. That's not the question

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Speaker 1: about the fruit. It's the question will you go forward

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Speaker 1: into it? Now we're going to see what happens when

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Speaker 1: God is bringing you into something and the devil is

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Speaker 1: pulling you back to something at the same time the

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Speaker 1: power of a better question. Let's go in verse seventeen

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Speaker 1: when Moses sent them to explore Canaan. All the leaders

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Speaker 1: of the tribes. Just remember the leaders. I won't list

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Speaker 1: them all, just the leaders of the tribes, twelve of them,

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Speaker 1: to explore Canaan. That's what God had promised Abraham. And

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Speaker 1: now he's bringing them into it, and they are right

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Speaker 1: on the cusp of it. You don't know how close

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Speaker 1: you are. Y'are looking at me and shocking disbelief. So

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Speaker 1: tell the person next to you so they'll believe you. You

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Speaker 1: You don't know how close you are. You'll know put

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Speaker 1: in chat you'll not close you are. They're coming into Canaan.

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Speaker 1: But you remember, they just got out of Egypt. So

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Speaker 1: he told them go up through the Negev and on

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Speaker 1: into the hill country. See what the land is like,

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Speaker 1: and whether the people who live there are strong or weak,

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Speaker 1: few or many? Okay, it's an exploration. It's an exploration.

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Speaker 1: What kind of land do they live in? Is it

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Speaker 1: good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in?

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Speaker 1: Are they unwalled or fourty five? How's the soil? Is

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Speaker 1: it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not?

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Speaker 1: It's like most slow down, one thing at a time, okay,

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Speaker 1: and making my list good to bad? One wall, We're

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Speaker 1: five trees, are no trees fertile or porcela? But then

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Speaker 1: he says, do your best. Yeah, yeah, I'll say it,

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Speaker 1: do your best to bring back some of the fruit

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Speaker 1: of the land. It was the season for the first

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Speaker 1: ripe grapes. Say it is eating season. It's eating season.

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Speaker 1: It's eating season. It's eating season. I cancel every carbohydrate

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Speaker 1: you're gonna eat on Thursday. It's eating season. I hope

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Speaker 1: you've brought your elastic pants to church at Elevation Church

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Speaker 1: because it's eating season. I'm going to lead a little

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Speaker 1: room to grow because it's eating season. I've been in

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Speaker 1: starving season long enough. I've been in scavenger scrap season

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Speaker 1: long enough. I've been in Leftover living long enough. Now

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Speaker 1: I'm coming to where the grapes are growing at it's time.

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Speaker 1: So they went up verse twenty one and explored the

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Speaker 1: land from the desert of zen As far as Reyhop

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Speaker 1: to lie Bohammad. They went through the Negev came to Hebron,

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Speaker 1: where a hymn she Sheeshai. I bluff y'all on these

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Speaker 1: names half the time, and tell my the descendants of

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Speaker 1: Anak the giants. You know this little Bible story. I

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Speaker 1: promise you know it. You were at one time they

423
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:32,320
Speaker 1: got grapes to promise they got giants the problem. Okay,

424
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 1: but this is really powerful. Watch this. They reached verse

425
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: twenty three, the valley of Eshkol. They cut off a

426
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:48,800
Speaker 1: branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them

427
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,119
Speaker 1: carried it on a pole between them, along with some

428
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:57,159
Speaker 1: pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of

429
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut

430
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,719
Speaker 1: off there. Eshkah means cluster in Hebrew, so they're like, uh,

431
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: it's a cluster of grapes. What do you want to

432
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: call it? How about cluster? Cool? Let's go back at

433
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,880
Speaker 1: the end of forty At the end of forty days,

434
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 1: Verse twenty five, they returned from exploring the land. They

435
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 1: came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite

436
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 1: community at kate Ash in the desert. They're still in

437
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 1: the desert. So when you're in the desert, you ask

438
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: desert level questions. It's survival based. When you're in the desert,

439
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: it's like, how am I going to get through this day?

440
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 1: Let me back up a little bit, How am I

441
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: gonna make it to ten am? Let me back it

442
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 1: up a little bit. How am I gonna get out

443
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: of the bed this morning? Let me back it up

444
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 1: a little bit more than that. How am I gonna

445
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: get to sleep tonight? With everything I got on my mind?

446
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 1: Those are desert questions. They are focused on limitation. They

447
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 1: originate with Satan. Did God really say you must not

448
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,840
Speaker 1: eat of any tree? It's a limitation based question. But

449
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 1: God wants me to teach you on the power of

450
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: a better question, a loaded question. Do you know the

451
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: phrase a loaded question? It contains more than appears on

452
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: the surface. So when Jesus says what do you want,

453
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 1: he's not saying that, like your kids just walked in

454
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,040
Speaker 1: your room and you're trying to have some married people time,

455
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,120
Speaker 1: Why you want to get out of here? He says,

456
00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: what do you want? And let's start there, and let's

457
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,480
Speaker 1: move toward the deeper desire that I created you for.

458
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 1: It's a better question. When you are in the desert,

459
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 1: you let the devil do all the question asking who

460
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 1: do you think you are dreaming like that? Who do

461
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: you think you are putting yourself out there like that?

462
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: What makes you think you can accomplish that? Well, if

463
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: it was gonna work, wouldn't it have work? By now?

464
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:05,959
Speaker 1: Those are desert questions. It's when you've been used to

465
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: not having enough, or you've been used to somebody else

466
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 1: oppressing you or something else oppressing you. And so let's

467
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 1: say it's an addiction, and then an addiction has been

468
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,240
Speaker 1: calling the shots. The only question you've been asking, if

469
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:20,640
Speaker 1: you've been stuck in the throes of addiction is when

470
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,080
Speaker 1: can I get another hit of that? And by the way,

471
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: it can be cocaine, or it can be shopping, it

472
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: can be Amazon just as easily as it can be heroin.

473
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: We are not talking about one substance here. I'm coming

474
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: for you today. God spoke to me. He said, those

475
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 1: are desert questions. Desert questions, and when you ask desert questions,

476
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: you get dead end answers. It doesn't open anything up.

477
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: Even when you're asking somebody, uh, don't when you pick

478
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: up your kids for school, don't say how is your day?

479
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,400
Speaker 1: Because it gives them the option for a one word

480
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:10,000
Speaker 1: answer good. Bad. You got to ask them something more open, right.

481
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 1: If you want to be creative, if you want to

482
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: get your teenager to talk, you gotta have something different.

483
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 1: And I don't even know what the question would beet

484
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 1: because I still have figured out how to get Graham

485
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: to talk to me on the way home from school.

486
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 1: But I'm working on it, and I know what doesn't

487
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,800
Speaker 1: work is a is a yes or no good or

488
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,480
Speaker 1: bad answer? Okay, now, so let's journey on in the text?

489
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: Can we journey on in the text? Are y'all with

490
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 1: me today? Are you with me today? You see? Are

491
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: you with me today? Epham? Are you with me today? Valentine?

492
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 1: Back right section? Are you with me today? Oh yeah,

493
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: ah yeah, I'm with you? Preacher read the next verse.

494
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,120
Speaker 1: So they came back to Moses and Aaron those spies

495
00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: Holzerite community at Kadosh in the desert of Parin. There

496
00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: in the desert, they reported to them and the whole

497
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:08,840
Speaker 1: assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They

498
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: gave Moses this account. We went into the land what

499
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: God promised, which you sent us, and it does flow

500
00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 1: with milk and honey. Newsflash, God is right. Here's this fruit.

501
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: You wanted some grapes. We brought you some grapes, not

502
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 1: only the ones that Joshua and Caleb would carry, because

503
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: the rest of them wouldn't carry any fruit, wouldn't carry

504
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 1: any fruit. But Joshua and Caleb, the two splies they

505
00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,320
Speaker 1: didn't name, they had a different spirit. They had different spirit.

506
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: They asked better questions. Instead of looking at how hard

507
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,080
Speaker 1: it was in the land and say it, how in

508
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,280
Speaker 1: the world are we possibly going to do this? They

509
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: looked at the same situation. And this is what I

510
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 1: want you to see. God can give you the ability

511
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 1: to look at a situation that you were looking at

512
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: as an impossibility and see it as an opportunity. Who's

513
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: this for? And there's a cluster of fruit, you know,

514
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: the pomegranates, the figs, and the grapes, there's a cluster

515
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:28,840
Speaker 1: from Eshkol. But there's also a cluster happening between what

516
00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,560
Speaker 1: God has called his people to do and the conflict

517
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 1: that they feel about it inside of themselves. So it's

518
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: a cluster. That's a negative word to me. I don't

519
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,320
Speaker 1: hear that usually about fruit. I usually heard about stuff

520
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 1: that goes wrong. Man, it was a cluster. People say

521
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: that it's a cluster at Kate Shpernie because you got

522
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: these twelve spies, and you've got two of them that

523
00:33:55,840 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 1: have faith to say, oh yeah, taste this, na I

524
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: taste this fruit. All taste of this and at the

525
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,960
Speaker 1: same time watch this. At the same time, they are

526
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,879
Speaker 1: getting a taste of tomorrow. They are being dragged back

527
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,360
Speaker 1: to a past that is beneath them. Watch watch, watch

528
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:25,160
Speaker 1: this verse twenty eight. But the fruit is just like

529
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: God said it would be. But the people, the promise

530
00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:36,880
Speaker 1: and the people, it's a cluster. The promise and the

531
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 1: problems is a cluster God. God told me to preach

532
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 1: to somebody today who is a cluster right now in

533
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,800
Speaker 1: your life, in your mind, in your marriage, in your family.

534
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 1: It's a cluster of watch this, fear and faith. It's

535
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 1: a cluster of thoughts. You can't get it untangled. You

536
00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 1: can't really figure out if it's been a good year

537
00:34:57,760 --> 00:34:59,440
Speaker 1: or a bad year. You don't really know what to

538
00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: think about it anymore. You don't know to think. Is

539
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: this my friend? Is this my enemy? It's a cluster.

540
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:07,480
Speaker 1: That's what's happening at kate ash Varniah and the man

541
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,479
Speaker 1: of God, Moses sent these spies out, and he asked

542
00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 1: them three simple questions. But they came back with a butt.

543
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 1: They came back with a butt. But the people who

544
00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:25,960
Speaker 1: live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and

545
00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,919
Speaker 1: very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.

546
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 1: The Amalekites live in the Negev, the Hittites, Jebyuzites, Amorites

547
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,040
Speaker 1: live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live near

548
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:41,840
Speaker 1: the sea along to Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people

549
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 1: before Moses and said, we should go up take possession

550
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: of the land, for we certainly can do it. I

551
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. And

552
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: Philippians four thirteen hasn't even written yet. But the men,

553
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: there's another butt. There's another butt. There's another But there's

554
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:04,720
Speaker 1: a promise. There's a problem. There's a butt in between,

555
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 1: there's a promise, there's a problem. There's a butt in between.

556
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,320
Speaker 1: There's a problem. But God, But God, that's my favorite

557
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 1: butt in the Bible. But God, you don't understand. But God,

558
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,759
Speaker 1: who is rich in mercy. But God demonstrates his own

559
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 1: love for us in this that while we were yet

560
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:32,799
Speaker 1: sinners Christ died for ophs. I don't know if this

561
00:36:32,840 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: sounds right. But you need another butt. You need another

562
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,439
Speaker 1: But you need a new leader. You keep being led

563
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:45,360
Speaker 1: by your feelings, you keep being led by your frustrations,

564
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,799
Speaker 1: you keep being led by your limits. You need a

565
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:55,239
Speaker 1: new leader or you're gonna die in the desert, in

566
00:36:55,280 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: the wilderness of what if. Wow, we can't attack those people.

567
00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 1: Is this good for you? I swear the church went

568
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,040
Speaker 1: Presbyterian on me overnight. I don't know what's happening in

569
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 1: here today. I'm preaching. I am preaching this passage of scripture.

570
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,319
Speaker 1: You know what, Maybe that's a bad question. Is this

571
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,760
Speaker 1: good to you? Maybe? Is it good for you? Maybe

572
00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: you need to hear this word today that you can't

573
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:36,680
Speaker 1: hide behind your butt. We can't attack those people. They

574
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 1: are stronger than we are, and they spread among the

575
00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored,

576
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,160
Speaker 1: and they said, the land we explored devours those living

577
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: in it. Something This is a reference to infertility in Canaan.

578
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: It devours those living in it. Some scholars said that's

579
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:54,399
Speaker 1: because there was such a high infertility rate, and that's

580
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 1: what it means. But regardless about it, they said, the

581
00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:03,000
Speaker 1: land is fruitful, but the people are of great size.

582
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,839
Speaker 1: We saw the Nephilum there, the descendants of Ainmact come

583
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 1: from the Nephilm. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes,

584
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:14,440
Speaker 1: and we looked the same to them. Chapter fourteen, verse one.

585
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: That night, all the members of the community raised their

586
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: voices and wept aloud, and all the Israelites grumbled against

587
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:21,759
Speaker 1: Moses and Aaron. And the whole assembly said to them,

588
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,960
Speaker 1: if only we had died in Egypt on the cusp

589
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:30,000
Speaker 1: of Canaan. You know how close you are to being free.

590
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,480
Speaker 1: And you taste tomorrow. Sometimes you taste the grape. Sometimes.

591
00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: Oh that's what a good day feels like. Oh that's

592
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 1: what it feels like to not have to prove myself

593
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,880
Speaker 1: and just sit there and let them sound smart if

594
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,839
Speaker 1: they want to. But I don't have to say anything back.

595
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 1: Oh that's what it feels like. Three hours without Instagram

596
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: and I feel like I have detoxed from the devil

597
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: himself and you get a little taste of it, a

598
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,000
Speaker 1: little taste of tomorrow. I almost wanted to call this

599
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 1: message tomorrow taste better. That's the only way you're gonna

600
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: give up Egypt. We all have a secret Egypt. A

601
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:13,759
Speaker 1: secret Egypt, not a geographical place, an emotional place. It

602
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:25,880
Speaker 1: emotionally grips your potential tightly. Egypt emotionally grips your potential tightly.

603
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:32,200
Speaker 1: Em Egypt. I'm spelling Egypt emotionally. I'm gonna stop working

604
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 1: so hard on this stuff if y'all don't like that.

605
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: Everybody has a secret Egypt. And so here, I mean,

606
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 1: let's be nice to these people. You think you would

607
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: have done better. You wouldn't almost even come to church

608
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 1: because I'm back to parking. Look. Look, look, they're nervous

609
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,800
Speaker 1: of warriors that are bigger than them. You're nervous about

610
00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 1: your mother in law on Thursday coming in town for Thanksgiving,

611
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 1: and can you put up with her for four hours?

612
00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:08,280
Speaker 1: So let's give some grace. They just came out of Egypt.

613
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 1: It's not easy leave in Egypt. I'm preaching about this

614
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,279
Speaker 1: for two years now. If only we had died in

615
00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 1: Egypt or in this wilderness? Why why verse three is

616
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,000
Speaker 1: the Lord bringing us to this land only to let

617
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: us fall by the sword. That's a really dumb question.

618
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:38,279
Speaker 1: You know you could take that same question. Why did

619
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,520
Speaker 1: the Lord bring us through the Red Sea? Why did

620
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:42,719
Speaker 1: the Lord get me through my twenties? Why did the

621
00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 1: Lord get me through that horrible divorce? Why did the

622
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:47,399
Speaker 1: Lord get my kid through that horrible situation? But look

623
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: how they finish it, only to let us fall by

624
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: the sword. I think you could take that same question,

625
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: why did God bring me this far to leave me?

626
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:02,080
Speaker 1: And if you flip that question a little bit, why

627
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:07,440
Speaker 1: would God bring me this far to leave me right now?

628
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 1: That is a better question. Do you really think he

629
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: saved you with his son's blood but he's not gonna

630
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:23,440
Speaker 1: provide for your material needs? You really think that he

631
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 1: came all the way from heaven at Christmas time like

632
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: a baby, but he's gonna leave you now because you're

633
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: struggling with this? Do you really think that God did

634
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:37,839
Speaker 1: all of that and saw you through all these dangers?

635
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:42,000
Speaker 1: And toenails and snares, and his grace is going away. Now,

636
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,279
Speaker 1: why would God bring you this far to leave you?

637
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 1: Why would he think it if he didn't mean it?

638
00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:54,160
Speaker 1: Why would he do it if he wasn't permitted to him?

639
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: He who began a good work in me is faithful

640
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 1: to complete it. So the same question they're using to

641
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: get discouraged, I want to turn it on the devil

642
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:06,880
Speaker 1: and say he didn't bring me out of Egypt to

643
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 1: kill me in Canaan. He didn't bring me out of

644
00:42:12,280 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 1: depression to let me die in this uncertainty. No, No,

645
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,480
Speaker 1: he didn't bring me through COVID to let me drop

646
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: this Christmas whoo. It's a better question. Why would he

647
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,560
Speaker 1: have done all that? If that was all that it was,

648
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:35,319
Speaker 1: why would he have put it in you? I had

649
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,919
Speaker 1: another better question. Why is the devil fighting you so hard?

650
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,400
Speaker 1: If you're not carrying anything? Why is he coming at you?

651
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:46,680
Speaker 1: I watched a little bit of football. They don't usually

652
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:48,920
Speaker 1: hit somebody if they're not carrying the ball or blocking

653
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 1: somebody who is. I never saw a fan get hit.

654
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: I never saw a water boy get hit, except on

655
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:59,160
Speaker 1: Adam Sandler and Bobby Bouchet. But that's not in the Bible.

656
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:04,040
Speaker 1: Carrying something, I got something. I'm under something. I'm on

657
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:08,520
Speaker 1: the something. I got a better question. Why it's the

658
00:43:08,560 --> 00:43:18,280
Speaker 1: devil standing at this stop. I'm calming out of the desert. Yahay, whoa,

659
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 1: I'm on it now, Babies, I'm on it now. I

660
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: don't know the answer, but I got a better question.

661
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 1: It's God before me. Oh damn, gess it. Ah Ah.

662
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 1: I'm carrying something. It's a cluster. I'm carrying some grapes,

663
00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 1: but I'm fighting some giants. It's a cluster. I'm carrying promise,

664
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:55,960
Speaker 1: but I got some problems. It's a cluster. I got

665
00:43:55,960 --> 00:44:00,320
Speaker 1: a heavenly calling. I got some human conflict, she said, cluster.

666
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,640
Speaker 1: I'm in the valley of Ashkhol right now. Be patient

667
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:11,360
Speaker 1: with me. It's heavy. I'm carrying something. I'm carrying them

668
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 1: promise on a pole. I never carried graceful, for I

669
00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:22,279
Speaker 1: only ate quail in Egypt. I never tasted tomorrow. Yet

670
00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: when you're nice to me, it scares me because the

671
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:29,840
Speaker 1: only people I ever knew who said they loved me

672
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:33,840
Speaker 1: were nasty to me. And I'm trying to start liking

673
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 1: when you're nice to me. But when I push you

674
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,440
Speaker 1: away like that. Be patient with me because it's a cluster,

675
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: because I don't know how to trust. Because it's a cluster,

676
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 1: because I don't really know how to show love. That's

677
00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,400
Speaker 1: why sometimes I lash out because I don't know how

678
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,799
Speaker 1: to show love, so I lash out. But really I

679
00:44:51,800 --> 00:44:54,360
Speaker 1: want to be close to you. But it's a cluster.

680
00:44:55,920 --> 00:45:01,359
Speaker 1: It's a cluster. And then the craziest question text, the

681
00:45:01,360 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 1: one that I wanted to preach, is verse four. They said,

682
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:15,839
Speaker 1: wouldn't no, yeah, verse three? Sorry, verse four, we should

683
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:22,200
Speaker 1: choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Next part

684
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:26,479
Speaker 1: says there's a verse missing, y'all, y'all took a verse out.

685
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 1: That's a pro problem. They've took a verse out, that's all. Yeah,

686
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,959
Speaker 1: that's that's there's a there's another verse in there, y'all.

687
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,959
Speaker 1: Y'all left out the best verse verse verse three, Verse three?

688
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:39,839
Speaker 1: Why is the Lord bringing us to this land less

689
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:41,320
Speaker 1: fall of us or our Why isn't the children be

690
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: taking us plunder? There? It is? Wouldn't it be better

691
00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:58,759
Speaker 1: for us to go back? Hm? Hm? We should choose

692
00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:04,960
Speaker 1: a leader and go back. Really, they are not being

693
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:10,919
Speaker 1: led by their potential at this moment. Or their wisdom.

694
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:14,839
Speaker 1: They're certainly not being led by God's promise. They're being

695
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:23,720
Speaker 1: led by their fear back to what is familiar. People

696
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 1: preach coming out of Egypt like Egypt represents sin. It doesn't,

697
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:41,399
Speaker 1: it doesn't. It represents survival, survival. You notice the threat

698
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,319
Speaker 1: of my teaching this past two years. I'm watching people

699
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:50,800
Speaker 1: stuck in survival mode. You get a little taste of tomorrow,

700
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:54,400
Speaker 1: a little glimpse of God's best. But the moment you

701
00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:59,400
Speaker 1: taste the graves, you start thinking about the giants. The

702
00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:03,880
Speaker 1: people who made the decision not to go into this canaan,

703
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 1: this promise, this flowing place, this promised land. They didn't

704
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 1: even see the giants for themselves. And you know what's

705
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,240
Speaker 1: even crazier. The spies that came back answered a question

706
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:24,240
Speaker 1: that Moses didn't even ask. I read you every question

707
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,600
Speaker 1: Moses asked. He said, what are the people like? And

708
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: that was his problem right there. He started the question

709
00:47:31,239 --> 00:47:35,080
Speaker 1: with what are the people like? That's something you can't control.

710
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:39,759
Speaker 1: That's something you can't control. So when you start with

711
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:44,160
Speaker 1: other people, you need a better question. No no, no,

712
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,400
Speaker 1: no no no. This is going to have practical value.

713
00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:48,319
Speaker 1: If you are going to entrust your time to me.

714
00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:51,120
Speaker 1: I am going to help you in your Monday, your Tuesday,

715
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,680
Speaker 1: your Wednesday. I'm not giving you some Sunday syrup pancake

716
00:47:54,800 --> 00:47:57,359
Speaker 1: preacher sermon where we just feel good for a few

717
00:47:57,360 --> 00:48:00,879
Speaker 1: minutes and everybody goes out in a little coma trenkoma

718
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:08,880
Speaker 1: for thirty minutes. This is the word of God. You

719
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 1: can't start in the wrong place and end up at

720
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:13,719
Speaker 1: the right place. So when Moses said what are the

721
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:16,200
Speaker 1: people like? Are they big or small? The people who

722
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:18,840
Speaker 1: were under his leadership went in and looked for exactly

723
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:22,040
Speaker 1: the lens that he gave them. And so when they

724
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: came back, all they could talk about was the Amalekis,

725
00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:27,799
Speaker 1: the hit Tights, the jug Desias, this holiday season, the

726
00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:32,360
Speaker 1: cellu lights, and all of the battles. I couldn't resist it.

727
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: And when you start with that, when you start with

728
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:48,000
Speaker 1: desert questions, you end up in dead end situations. Eleven days,

729
00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 1: you could have moved through this wilderness. What you got

730
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:55,160
Speaker 1: to study this? Sometimes? Promise me you'll look this up later, okay.

731
00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 1: In joshua Io, one of the spies that carried the

732
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 1: pole with Caleb to go into promis Land everybody else

733
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:04,120
Speaker 1: that was over twenty died in a wilderness. They get

734
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:09,920
Speaker 1: stuck because they asked questions that God didn't tell them

735
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: to ask. They tried to answer questions that God wasn't

736
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:19,440
Speaker 1: even asking. How's it going to work out? That's above

737
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:24,560
Speaker 1: your pay, Gray Bubba, the Monk's corner coming out of me. Now,

738
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:29,920
Speaker 1: that's above your pay, great Bubba. But I know that

739
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:34,960
Speaker 1: all things work together for the good, right, So my

740
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,719
Speaker 1: question about it can't be how is this going to

741
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:40,960
Speaker 1: work out? Because if I do that, I will limit

742
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:43,920
Speaker 1: my answer to my experience. How I've seen God work

743
00:49:43,960 --> 00:49:46,000
Speaker 1: it out so far at this point in my life?

744
00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:51,560
Speaker 1: What if he wants to do something? Huh huh. It's

745
00:49:51,600 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 1: the power of a better question. God, what have I

746
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 1: not even asked? Thought or imagine that you have the

747
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:04,720
Speaker 1: power to do. And when Joshua led the people into

748
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 1: the Promised Land forty years later, he sent two spies,

749
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:13,520
Speaker 1: not twelve, because he didn't want another cluster that represents focus,

750
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:17,480
Speaker 1: that represents focus. This word is thick. Y'all, pray for me.

751
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:20,560
Speaker 1: I can't, I can't. I can't even get it out. WHOA,

752
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:25,560
Speaker 1: You got the wrong focus group? You're asking the wrong people.

753
00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:32,719
Speaker 1: You're asking jealous people. You're asking people sometimes they don't

754
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:35,719
Speaker 1: even know that they're insecure, and you are limiting your

755
00:50:35,800 --> 00:50:43,680
Speaker 1: potential to their insecurity. Well, i'd tell my wife off

756
00:50:43,719 --> 00:50:45,360
Speaker 1: if I were you, I'd just go down there to

757
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:53,400
Speaker 1: the golf course. That's why your wife sleeps in another room. Dude. Okay, okay,

758
00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:55,200
Speaker 1: Oh this is kind of rough now. I like the

759
00:50:55,200 --> 00:51:01,880
Speaker 1: other stuff that he was preaching earlier. True, isn't it

760
00:51:01,920 --> 00:51:05,319
Speaker 1: is that sometimes when we get the wrong focus group,

761
00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:15,719
Speaker 1: it cost us our fruit. There are three questions that

762
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:19,600
Speaker 1: Moses told them to ask. When Joshua sent the people

763
00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,200
Speaker 1: into the land, he didn't do any of that. He said,

764
00:51:22,640 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: just go check it out, come back. We're going in becus,

765
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 1: God said it. So we're going to focus. And do

766
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:37,759
Speaker 1: you remember about Rahab? She was a questionable profession. She

767
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 1: has a prostitute and Lord Euster. I don't know if

768
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,000
Speaker 1: the Lord can use a prostitute. He didn't ask you

769
00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:53,200
Speaker 1: who he could use. You didn't think virgins could have

770
00:51:53,280 --> 00:51:55,799
Speaker 1: babies either, But you know'll be seeing hat silent night

771
00:51:55,840 --> 00:52:04,120
Speaker 1: in a few days. Nothing is impossible with God. Oh,

772
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:07,520
Speaker 1: but when Raya told Joshua, she said we're all scared

773
00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:11,840
Speaker 1: of y'all. The spies came back, saying they're huge. We

774
00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:15,640
Speaker 1: look like grasshoppers to them. Well, first of all, what

775
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:17,840
Speaker 1: are you doing asking your enemies what you look like?

776
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:23,480
Speaker 1: Why are you answering the devil's question? When Eve put

777
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:25,160
Speaker 1: Genesis three, verse one up there, just so I can

778
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,800
Speaker 1: show you, the serpent said to Eve, did God really

779
00:52:28,840 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 1: say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

780
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:38,359
Speaker 1: That's the devil's question. Eve looked verse two, said back

781
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:42,360
Speaker 1: to the serpent, So what would be a better question?

782
00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:45,560
Speaker 1: The serpent slithers up to you in the garden, did

783
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:49,080
Speaker 1: God really say questioning God's intentions and motives and capacity

784
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:51,840
Speaker 1: and wisdom and all that stuff? Right, what would be

785
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,920
Speaker 1: a better question than did God really say? Here's I

786
00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:59,360
Speaker 1: got one suggestion for Eve. Okay, why am I talking

787
00:52:59,360 --> 00:53:06,719
Speaker 1: to a snake? Why? Ah? Why am I speaking to

788
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:12,120
Speaker 1: something that's beneath me? Why am I dealing with something?

789
00:53:13,239 --> 00:53:20,200
Speaker 1: Why am I consulting with something that Jesus can crush?

790
00:53:20,760 --> 00:53:26,399
Speaker 1: That's a better question, right? You like that? He Yo?

791
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,120
Speaker 1: The other day I was driving to a parking lot

792
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,520
Speaker 1: and this lady whips out of her parking space, groom

793
00:53:32,840 --> 00:53:36,120
Speaker 1: almost hissed me, and I had to put the brakes on.

794
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:38,480
Speaker 1: I put them on pretty hard. And then when like

795
00:53:38,520 --> 00:53:40,840
Speaker 1: the airbag came out. But it was a close call.

796
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:42,719
Speaker 1: And my car does this thing. I don't know if

797
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:45,520
Speaker 1: your car has this feature when somebody does something stupid,

798
00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:48,120
Speaker 1: the car honks and it grabs my hand and it

799
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:50,960
Speaker 1: honks the car. It's a feature on my car. Why

800
00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 1: honked that? The lady, y'all? She I'm sure she saw

801
00:53:56,280 --> 00:54:00,400
Speaker 1: my elevation sticker, but she she flipped me the bird.

802
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:05,760
Speaker 1: She flipped me the bird, sideways bird with the thumb,

803
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,719
Speaker 1: and she was eating a bagel and looking at she

804
00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:10,640
Speaker 1: di'd't even look up at me to flip me off

805
00:54:10,800 --> 00:54:14,319
Speaker 1: a bagel, driving with her knees, running out the parking lot,

806
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:20,320
Speaker 1: flipping the bird. Apparently my car also has a feature

807
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:23,760
Speaker 1: that it goes in reverse when someone flips me the bird.

808
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 1: Because y'all, I wasn't thinking something took over. I put

809
00:54:29,120 --> 00:54:31,880
Speaker 1: the car. Oh, this wasn't eighteen years ago before I

810
00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,520
Speaker 1: became a pastor. This was last week. I wish it

811
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: was eighteen years ago. Under the blood. I'm not even

812
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:40,399
Speaker 1: sure I'm forgiving of this one yet, that I'm telling you,

813
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,719
Speaker 1: I hadn't even told my kids this yet. I put

814
00:54:43,760 --> 00:54:46,400
Speaker 1: the car in reverse. I don't know what I'm gonna

815
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:48,600
Speaker 1: do when I get back, but I can't drive by

816
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 1: somebody flipping me the It was the bagel that put

817
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:53,200
Speaker 1: me over the top. It was the bagel. If she

818
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:55,640
Speaker 1: hadn't been eating the bagel, I wouldn't have backed up.

819
00:54:55,800 --> 00:54:58,799
Speaker 1: But bagel and bird, I'm backing up. I put the

820
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 1: car in reverse, boom, right into another lady's jeep. Boom.

821
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,920
Speaker 1: So now I'm like, I got out my car with

822
00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:18,080
Speaker 1: my hands off, my dig not worship, just surrender, just stupidity.

823
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:22,279
Speaker 1: I said, I'm so sorry. Let's look at it. We'll

824
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:23,759
Speaker 1: do whatever you want to do. It's my fault. I'm

825
00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:25,680
Speaker 1: an idiot. She had a bagel. She flipped me off.

826
00:55:25,719 --> 00:55:29,200
Speaker 1: I said, babe, it was the bagel. It was the bagel.

827
00:55:29,320 --> 00:55:31,160
Speaker 1: It was the bagel. It took it over the top.

828
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:36,360
Speaker 1: And then we looked. Her car was fine, it's a jeep.

829
00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:41,560
Speaker 1: God loves jeets. Mine was fine too, and I gave

830
00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:43,200
Speaker 1: her all the cash I had. She didn't want to

831
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:44,560
Speaker 1: call the cops. There was nothing wrong with her car.

832
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:47,799
Speaker 1: But when I drove back off I looked at my car.

833
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:50,120
Speaker 1: It was a little scratch, just a little scratch, and

834
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,759
Speaker 1: it could have gone a whole different way. Right, she

835
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,680
Speaker 1: could have been crazy, she could have been mean, she

836
00:55:53,719 --> 00:55:56,680
Speaker 1: could have been a church member. Thankfully, it was just

837
00:55:56,719 --> 00:56:03,040
Speaker 1: a little scratch, and and I got a lesson from it,

838
00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:07,239
Speaker 1: very very simple lesson, but was powerful. The Lord said,

839
00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:09,279
Speaker 1: I want you to be glad that you have that

840
00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:14,319
Speaker 1: scratch to remind you what happens the next time you

841
00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 1: are tempted to back up to something that is beneath you.

842
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:35,719
Speaker 1: It's a little scratch. What a lesson, Because here's the

843
00:56:35,760 --> 00:56:38,400
Speaker 1: real question. What were you going to do when you

844
00:56:38,440 --> 00:56:43,280
Speaker 1: got back there? You want to go back to Egypt.

845
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:49,000
Speaker 1: You want to go back to that. So what are

846
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:50,600
Speaker 1: you going to do When you prove you're right, You're

847
00:56:50,640 --> 00:56:55,120
Speaker 1: going to be right and lonely. Every time you want

848
00:56:55,120 --> 00:57:00,160
Speaker 1: to go back, remember you are going back to something

849
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:08,000
Speaker 1: that is beneath you. By the way, it's not always

850
00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:11,920
Speaker 1: bad to go back. It's not always bad to go back.

851
00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:16,520
Speaker 1: In Luke fifteen, there was this young man who decided

852
00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:20,160
Speaker 1: to ask his father for his share of the inheritance. Early.

853
00:57:20,880 --> 00:57:23,440
Speaker 1: I want it now, I want it now, and you

854
00:57:23,480 --> 00:57:26,080
Speaker 1: know what's really scary. His father gave him what he

855
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:30,160
Speaker 1: asked for, even though it wasn't best for him. Israel

856
00:57:30,240 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 1: got soul as their king, and God didn't want to

857
00:57:32,640 --> 00:57:34,280
Speaker 1: give him a king. He wanted to be their king.

858
00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:39,280
Speaker 1: You can get what you wanted asking the wrong questions.

859
00:57:42,080 --> 00:57:44,240
Speaker 1: And after this young man had spent all his money,

860
00:57:44,360 --> 00:57:47,720
Speaker 1: father said, okay, I'll let you go, because he loved

861
00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:49,400
Speaker 1: him enough to let him go. Now, this is one

862
00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:52,360
Speaker 1: parable that Jesus told. It's just one. It's just one.

863
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:55,200
Speaker 1: But the Bible says that after he had spent all

864
00:57:55,200 --> 00:57:58,880
Speaker 1: he had in a foreign land, there began to be

865
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:02,760
Speaker 1: a famine in that country. And that's what connected me

866
00:58:02,880 --> 00:58:08,000
Speaker 1: from numbers thirteen with the Israelites who went to Egypt

867
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:11,960
Speaker 1: for a famine. God is setting them free. But they

868
00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 1: have to go through the desert, and so do you

869
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:17,680
Speaker 1: and so do I. We have to learn new ways.

870
00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:21,760
Speaker 1: It's not enough to taste tomorrow. We have to learn

871
00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:26,280
Speaker 1: new patterns, new responses. Backing up to somebody who shoots

872
00:58:26,280 --> 00:58:29,720
Speaker 1: you the bird, You are a preacher, bro, what are

873
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:35,080
Speaker 1: you doing? And we all have these moments, these moments,

874
00:58:36,200 --> 00:58:38,200
Speaker 1: But what you do in those moments can be critical

875
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:42,760
Speaker 1: because watch this. Their fear in the moment kept them

876
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:49,920
Speaker 1: stuck for an entire generation, all because they asked the

877
00:58:49,960 --> 00:58:55,280
Speaker 1: wrong question. Moses didn't ask them all that. Moses didn't

878
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:59,320
Speaker 1: ask them all that. He said, find out about the land.

879
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:04,400
Speaker 1: Is it good or bad? That's a multiple choice. That's

880
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:09,760
Speaker 1: the first question. Is this worth it? Is this worth it?

881
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:13,760
Speaker 1: Isn't that a great question? Is this worth the energy?

882
00:59:14,080 --> 00:59:16,840
Speaker 1: Is this worth the fight? I had to learn that

883
00:59:16,880 --> 00:59:19,960
Speaker 1: some things aren't. Moses said, Spy out the land and

884
00:59:20,600 --> 00:59:24,280
Speaker 1: find out is it good or bad? Is this even

885
00:59:24,360 --> 00:59:29,160
Speaker 1: worth fighting for? Is this worth fighting about? Is this

886
00:59:29,320 --> 00:59:32,600
Speaker 1: worth all this back and forth? Or can we just hug?

887
00:59:34,200 --> 00:59:37,680
Speaker 1: Do I really need you to like me? Look, do

888
00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:40,080
Speaker 1: whatever you want to do. I quit trying to change

889
00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:44,480
Speaker 1: people's opinions about me. I decided to focus on my

890
00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:49,120
Speaker 1: character and my actions and not backing up into people's

891
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: jeeps and getting my own act together. And find out, Wow,

892
00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,560
Speaker 1: if I will focus on my character, God will take

893
00:59:56,560 --> 01:00:07,320
Speaker 1: care of my reputation. Amen. Amen, So Moses said, check

894
01:00:07,360 --> 01:00:10,080
Speaker 1: out the land? Is it good or bad? Is this

895
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:13,080
Speaker 1: even worth fighting for? That's a good question. The second

896
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:15,640
Speaker 1: thing he said, is you know, check out the towns.

897
01:00:15,680 --> 01:00:21,160
Speaker 1: Are they unwalled or fortified? What a great question, he said,

898
01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:24,440
Speaker 1: How are we going to do this? Do we have

899
01:00:24,520 --> 01:00:26,600
Speaker 1: to go around the guards? Are there big walls? What

900
01:00:26,680 --> 01:00:28,720
Speaker 1: are we gonna have to do? That's a great question,

901
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:31,880
Speaker 1: not can we do it? How are we going to

902
01:00:31,920 --> 01:00:35,080
Speaker 1: do it? You have got to shift your spirit to

903
01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:39,320
Speaker 1: be more like Caleb. You gotta start looking at stuff

904
01:00:39,320 --> 01:00:44,400
Speaker 1: and saying, if there are walls, we'll blow trumpets. If

905
01:00:44,440 --> 01:00:47,440
Speaker 1: there are walls, we'll scale them. If there are enemies,

906
01:00:47,480 --> 01:00:51,040
Speaker 1: God will take their protection away. So how are we

907
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:53,640
Speaker 1: going to do this? Stop focusing so much of the

908
01:00:53,720 --> 01:00:56,560
Speaker 1: question on like how high the wall is? I just

909
01:00:56,600 --> 01:00:58,960
Speaker 1: want to know God, is there a way around it?

910
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:01,000
Speaker 1: Or do you want me to go over it? Or

911
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:03,000
Speaker 1: do you want me to go under it? Because one

912
01:01:03,040 --> 01:01:08,080
Speaker 1: thing's for sure, I will not die in the desert.

913
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:14,000
Speaker 1: I won't do it. I am not gonna let negative

914
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:17,840
Speaker 1: questions run the show of my life and contrare to

915
01:01:17,920 --> 01:01:21,720
Speaker 1: God's promise. And then I love the last thing he said,

916
01:01:22,520 --> 01:01:27,960
Speaker 1: how's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees?

917
01:01:29,040 --> 01:01:33,720
Speaker 1: Bring some grapes because it's the season. I learned that

918
01:01:33,760 --> 01:01:39,640
Speaker 1: it's a really good question to ask what is already growing?

919
01:01:43,160 --> 01:01:47,480
Speaker 1: Because sometimes it's the soil, not the sea. There is

920
01:01:47,560 --> 01:01:50,480
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with what I preach to you today. There's

921
01:01:50,520 --> 01:01:53,240
Speaker 1: a lot right with it. This is the word of God.

922
01:01:53,840 --> 01:01:58,919
Speaker 1: It can grow in your life. How's your soil? Because

923
01:01:58,960 --> 01:02:01,600
Speaker 1: if your soil is too thorn two thornty, it won't

924
01:02:01,640 --> 01:02:06,040
Speaker 1: matter how true the sermon was. And sometimes we're really

925
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:08,360
Speaker 1: focused on the seed that goes in, but not the soil.

926
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:13,440
Speaker 1: That's what I want you to look at today. The

927
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:17,440
Speaker 1: soil of your heart, the soil of your soul, the

928
01:02:17,480 --> 01:02:20,960
Speaker 1: soil of your mind. Is the power of a better question.

929
01:02:22,080 --> 01:02:24,360
Speaker 1: It's the power of getting from a point of where

930
01:02:24,360 --> 01:02:27,240
Speaker 1: they said, why would God leave bring us as far

931
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:30,360
Speaker 1: just to kill us? Shouldn't we go back to Egypt?

932
01:02:31,680 --> 01:02:34,760
Speaker 1: And you remember what happened to the boy in Luke fifteen.

933
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:38,480
Speaker 1: He spent all of his money and he was filling

934
01:02:38,520 --> 01:02:43,080
Speaker 1: his stomach with what the pigs were eating. A Jewish

935
01:02:43,160 --> 01:02:47,520
Speaker 1: boy eating with pigs. That's about as far down as

936
01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:51,840
Speaker 1: you can go, right. But then he did something, he

937
01:02:51,880 --> 01:02:54,080
Speaker 1: did something very significant, and I want you to do

938
01:02:54,120 --> 01:02:57,200
Speaker 1: this today. I think it's verse seventeen. It says when

939
01:02:57,240 --> 01:03:04,320
Speaker 1: he came to his senses. Yeah, so, up until now

940
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:08,080
Speaker 1: he's been in his feelings. This is what I want,

941
01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:11,600
Speaker 1: this is what I deserve, this is where I'm going.

942
01:03:12,080 --> 01:03:15,800
Speaker 1: Up till now, he's been in his feelings. But when

943
01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:21,400
Speaker 1: he came to his senses, he asked a better question.

944
01:03:23,160 --> 01:03:30,680
Speaker 1: How many of my father's hired servants have food to stare?

945
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:37,040
Speaker 1: Have a fridge full, have doggie bags after every night's meal?

946
01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:41,520
Speaker 1: How are the servants eating at a buffet and I'm

947
01:03:41,600 --> 01:03:44,680
Speaker 1: rolling around with the pigs at the bottom. When he

948
01:03:44,840 --> 01:03:49,160
Speaker 1: asked a better question, he made a better decision. When

949
01:03:49,200 --> 01:03:52,520
Speaker 1: you ask a better question, Help me, Holy Spirit, help

950
01:03:52,560 --> 01:03:55,360
Speaker 1: me get this message through. Help me push through all

951
01:03:55,480 --> 01:03:58,919
Speaker 1: the stuff the enemy's been asking. Oh how small I am,

952
01:03:59,160 --> 01:04:01,880
Speaker 1: how little I have? How much I've messed up? What

953
01:04:01,960 --> 01:04:04,840
Speaker 1: I could have done different? That's the wrong question. Here's

954
01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:08,320
Speaker 1: a better question. Why am I starving when my father

955
01:04:08,520 --> 01:04:13,400
Speaker 1: is good? Why am I dying when my father is good?

956
01:04:14,040 --> 01:04:18,000
Speaker 1: Why am I hungry when my father has more than enough?

957
01:04:18,960 --> 01:04:21,840
Speaker 1: Why am I living on this level? Why am I

958
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:27,400
Speaker 1: backing up to something that is beneath me? So watch

959
01:04:27,440 --> 01:04:31,480
Speaker 1: his decision eighteen Get ready to feel chose? He said,

960
01:04:31,640 --> 01:04:36,920
Speaker 1: I will set out and go back. It's not always

961
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:43,000
Speaker 1: bad to go back. I'm going back to my father.

962
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:50,840
Speaker 1: That's quite the opposite of how the children of Israel responded, Hunk,

963
01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:55,560
Speaker 1: it got hard. They said, we're going back to Pharaoh.

964
01:04:55,640 --> 01:05:02,440
Speaker 1: This cat, he said, it's getting hard going back to

965
01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:17,880
Speaker 1: my father. Please stand, stand, put down whatever you're holding

966
01:05:17,880 --> 01:05:26,680
Speaker 1: in your hands, open your hands, plant your feet, take

967
01:05:26,720 --> 01:05:30,680
Speaker 1: a deep breath. I want to ask you a better question,

968
01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:38,680
Speaker 1: A better question numbers fourteen. Wouldn't it be better to

969
01:05:38,760 --> 01:05:45,600
Speaker 1: go back, not to Egypt, to your father? Wouldn't it

970
01:05:45,600 --> 01:05:47,600
Speaker 1: be better to go to the source rather than going

971
01:05:47,600 --> 01:05:57,080
Speaker 1: to people? Wouldn't it be better to go back? That's crazy.

972
01:05:57,360 --> 01:06:01,560
Speaker 1: That's the same question that kept stuck in the wilderness,

973
01:06:01,960 --> 01:06:05,439
Speaker 1: and it's the same question that brought the prodigal son

974
01:06:05,520 --> 01:06:11,320
Speaker 1: back home. Wouldn't it be better to go back? I

975
01:06:11,320 --> 01:06:15,720
Speaker 1: feel God calling somebody back today. Back Back, back back

976
01:06:15,760 --> 01:06:18,720
Speaker 1: to your full self, back to your real life, back

977
01:06:18,760 --> 01:06:21,840
Speaker 1: to the real reasons, back to the true motive, back

978
01:06:21,880 --> 01:06:24,280
Speaker 1: to the Kingdom of God, back to what's within you,

979
01:06:24,600 --> 01:06:26,320
Speaker 1: back to what you were when He made you in

980
01:06:26,400 --> 01:06:28,760
Speaker 1: his image, back to what you were when He spoke

981
01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:31,280
Speaker 1: you into existence. Back to what you were when he

982
01:06:31,320 --> 01:06:33,640
Speaker 1: created you and knit you together in your mother's womb

983
01:06:33,840 --> 01:06:36,240
Speaker 1: before you knew your name. He knew you before you

984
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:39,400
Speaker 1: were born. He set you apart. Back to that, back

985
01:06:39,440 --> 01:06:41,960
Speaker 1: to the real you, back to beneath all the layers

986
01:06:41,960 --> 01:06:45,920
Speaker 1: of disappointment. Wouldn't it be better to go back to

987
01:06:45,960 --> 01:06:51,240
Speaker 1: your father's already on the porch than to stay down

988
01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:56,280
Speaker 1: here with these pigs. Wouldn't it be better to go back?

989
01:06:56,840 --> 01:07:03,360
Speaker 1: It's the one who made you Father. Your word goes

990
01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:09,880
Speaker 1: forth like seed, and it needs good soil. I honor

991
01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:16,320
Speaker 1: you today, God, because you gave us good seed. You

992
01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:22,320
Speaker 1: spoke to us a better question. Is it worthy? What

993
01:07:22,440 --> 01:07:27,160
Speaker 1: will it take? What's growing right now in my life?

994
01:07:28,400 --> 01:07:32,200
Speaker 1: We thank you Lord for the power of a better question.

995
01:07:33,880 --> 01:07:37,200
Speaker 1: We think we know what we need. We think we

996
01:07:37,240 --> 01:07:42,960
Speaker 1: know what we want. What should we want? God? For

997
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:46,600
Speaker 1: as high as the heavens are above the earth, so

998
01:07:46,720 --> 01:07:50,360
Speaker 1: are your ways above our ways, and your thoughts above

999
01:07:50,360 --> 01:07:56,920
Speaker 1: our thoughts. We're coming back God, coming back to the

1000
01:07:56,960 --> 01:08:04,880
Speaker 1: only one who knows. Yes, Lord, we repent. We're coming

1001
01:08:04,960 --> 01:08:10,160
Speaker 1: back to the top, repent, back to your way of thinking.

1002
01:08:11,520 --> 01:08:13,040
Speaker 1: I thank you now, Lord, and I want to pray

1003
01:08:13,040 --> 01:08:16,479
Speaker 1: for somebody who's been with the pigs. I want to

1004
01:08:16,560 --> 01:08:19,880
Speaker 1: speak to somebody who's halfway back to Egypt, and I

1005
01:08:19,920 --> 01:08:21,720
Speaker 1: want to ask that your love would draw them home.

1006
01:08:25,680 --> 01:08:32,639
Speaker 1: Maybe the best question is who will separate us from

1007
01:08:32,680 --> 01:08:36,840
Speaker 1: the love of God? I thank you Lord that nothing

1008
01:08:36,840 --> 01:08:42,759
Speaker 1: can stand between us and our father. For how shall

1009
01:08:42,760 --> 01:08:45,920
Speaker 1: he who freely gave us all things not also give

1010
01:08:46,000 --> 01:08:53,160
Speaker 1: us this gift? Our Father, who are in heaven hollow

1011
01:08:53,160 --> 01:08:57,880
Speaker 1: would be your name, your kingdom? Come? Your will be

1012
01:08:58,000 --> 01:09:06,439
Speaker 1: done on earth as it is in heaven. What should

1013
01:09:06,439 --> 01:09:11,160
Speaker 1: I want? God? What should I want? Heads bowed, eyes close?

1014
01:09:11,280 --> 01:09:15,559
Speaker 1: I want to tell you one more thing, and it

1015
01:09:15,640 --> 01:09:19,719
Speaker 1: may be my whole message for you. When Jesus said

1016
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:22,599
Speaker 1: that you don't have to run around asking what shall

1017
01:09:22,640 --> 01:09:24,719
Speaker 1: we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?

1018
01:09:26,160 --> 01:09:29,599
Speaker 1: He said, your father knows that you need them. Your

1019
01:09:29,640 --> 01:09:33,280
Speaker 1: father knows. And here's what I want you to know.

1020
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:44,559
Speaker 1: If he dress li with you? Lease la what a question?

1021
01:09:45,280 --> 01:09:53,759
Speaker 1: How much more? That's a better question. What shall we eat?

1022
01:09:54,760 --> 01:10:01,439
Speaker 1: What shall we drink? What shall we wear? That's a

1023
01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:09,160
Speaker 1: better question. How much for does he love ify sizzle

1024
01:10:11,400 --> 01:10:19,200
Speaker 1: with you? How much for will he go? How much

1025
01:10:19,400 --> 01:10:30,120
Speaker 1: for will he go Iffy Watch, So every Still? How

1026
01:10:30,320 --> 01:10:36,080
Speaker 1: much for does he Love? How much for does he looks?

1027
01:10:37,320 --> 01:10:47,880
Speaker 1: Siffy Stras Sizzle Little with Fetisland? How much for Willy Clue?

1028
01:10:48,439 --> 01:10:55,080
Speaker 1: How much for Willy Clue Giffy Watch? Well, if you

1029
01:10:55,200 --> 01:10:57,679
Speaker 1: enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd

1030
01:10:57,680 --> 01:11:00,719
Speaker 1: love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,

1031
01:11:01,000 --> 01:11:04,000
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach

1032
01:11:04,040 --> 01:11:07,920
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB

1033
01:11:08,280 --> 01:11:11,440
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.