WEBVTT - Don't Fight Your Future 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:05.560 Welcome also to all of our locations. Put let's see 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:07.560 how can we do it? I don't have time to 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:13.240 wait in YouTube. Put where you're watching from EPAM, and 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:15.520 we're gonna pick ten of y'all out and send you 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:22.119 what do we send them? What hoodies do we have 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:26.000 the most of that are overstocked, that nobody buys anymore, 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:31.920 and we'll send you one of those. We'll send you 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.639 a see a Victory hoodie. That one's kind of old now. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.800 But if you live near any of these cities, listen, 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.240 this is where we're coming for Elevation Night Spring twenty 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:49.120 twenty three. Austin, Texas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:57.480 Not in Kansas Abbey, Missouri, Inside Joke, Denver, Colorado, Saint Louis, Missouri, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.800 Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Toronto. Welcome to our Toronto campus 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.360 as well. God bless you. We're coming Elevation Nights dot 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:11.520 Com April eighteen through twenty seven. Tickets are available right now. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.759 Next weekend, we'll be celebrating our seventeen year anniversary here 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.800 at Elevation Church. I hope to see you for that. 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:27.600 It's it's time right now, though, for the word that 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.520 God has for you today. And I do believe He 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.840 gave me one a certain word for an uncertain situation 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:41.240 in somebody's life, a certain word for an uncertain situation. 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.120 Go back in your Bible. Stand up, everybody, if you 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.839 took a moment to sit down on your couch, stand 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:53.360 up your calves arrested. Now in Ephesians four, I think 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.800 this is our last week in Ephesians four. We'll celebrate 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.040 the anniversary next week and then see what the Lord 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:04.520 says after that. But I have just been so transformed 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.680 while I was teaching this passage, and I pray that 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:14.400 you have been receiving as well. And this week, Holly 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.320 can tell you I have been nicer, more patient. I've 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.440 been helping with the dishes, like all the time around 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.480 the house, taking out the trash before it even gets full. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.040 She's telling me, stop, we need to use the bags 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.680 full of you taking out the trash too much. But 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.600 in all honesty, I sence the Lord doing a new 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:40.520 work in me and in our church, and this week 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.200 is going to speak directly to that. So in Ephesians 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.480 chapter four, let's just do verses twenty two through twenty four. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.239 This week. All the messages are online that I've preached 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.320 so far this year and last year and a year 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.400 before that. But all the messages are online if you 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:00.480 want to catch up sometime this week. But this week 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:04.200 I'm going to focus on these verses Ephesians four twenty two. 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.360 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:14.240 to put off your old self, which is being corrupted 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.680 by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.359 attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:30.440 created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.080 Aren't you glad to know that the new you is 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.800 the true you? All that other nasty crap you're struggling with, 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.280 that's not the core of who you are. Who God 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.080 says you are is who you are, and all the 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.920 other stuff is subject to change in the presence of 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.960 God by the power of the Holy Spirit. I declare it, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.400 I decree it, I believe it. So the word God 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:55.760 gave me for this week. He told me to tell you, 0:03:56.320 --> 0:04:06.400 don't fight your future. Don't fight your future, and let's 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:11.120 pray before we're seated. God speak it, we need it, 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:18.080 and give us the strength to do it. In Jesus' name. Amen, 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:20.640 high five somebody on your way to your seat, and 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.719 say God's not through with you. God's not through with you. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:33.000 I mean that God's not through with you yet. Say it, 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:37.920 God's not through with me yet. Put it in the 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.480 chat real quick and say it out loud again. God's 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:45.280 not through with me yet. You keep saying you so, 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:46.920 say it to the person next to you. Apparently you 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.640 want somebody to hear this. Tell them God's not through 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:55.200 with you yet. That means He's got a lot of 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.960 work to do on you. Tell him you got a 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:03.760 lot of rough edges. You really, really do you need 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:10.120 that spiritual sandpaper? Uh huh, You got a lot of 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.560 pieces floating around in that box. You are not a 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:18.440 finished product yet, So don't do you do the you 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.240 that God knew before you ever got here on the earth. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.760 What a horrible piece of cultural advice. I get it. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.719 Be yourself. I'm all for that. Find your gifts, play 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.760 to your strengths. I do that all the time. All 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.240 I do is talk and write stuff. I don't even 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:36.800 sing the songs I write. I just write them and 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.600 let somebody else sing them. That's how much I believe 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.240 in play to your strengths. But at the same time, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.919 I do believe that there are manifestations of who you 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.719 really are that you haven't met yet, and so to 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.320 sell yourself short is really to insult God if you 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:57.360 just say this is how I am, this is how 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.839 my mom was, this is where I come from, this 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.800 is just how we do it. And that has been 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.760 the challenge of this series that radical self acceptance because 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:13.320 of the grace of Jesus Christ, should not lead to complacency. 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:20.320 Radical grace leads to change the more you accept all 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:22.480 that stuff about you that only the people who live 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:26.400 with you know, and they only know affraction. Don't make 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.760 me prophesy. I'll speak in tongues, interpret my own tongues. 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:37.960 Intil your business. Is very true that we need to 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.200 be okay with who we are and where we are. 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.880 It's very true that we need to celebrate our strengths 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.040 and celebrate in each stage of our development, not waiting 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.880 for a future day for us to give God praise 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:52.000 for all that He's done. In fact, on the way 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.960 to church today, I just went through several things in 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.760 my mind that I was worried about through the last 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.000 few years that God worked out. I was driving eighty 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:03.800 miles an hour by the time I got to thinking 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.040 about it, because I'm like, let's go, Jesus, what are 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.800 you going to do in this season? I remember that 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.840 rear view mirror. What seems so big, y'all? Remember meat 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.880 love Objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:27.040 they are. And I would do anything for God a 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:31.120 mash up, a meat love mash up. Let's get back 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.360 to the message from the apostle Paul writing to the 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:38.559 church at Ephesus and writing to us to tell us, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.880 and this phrasing is really cool. You were taught, with 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.000 regard to your former way of life to put off 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.600 your old self. Ah, that doesn't mean you stop texting 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.720 people back when you blow up. That's not what he's saying. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:58.160 That doesn't mean a bigger house necessarily, although it could. 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.760 It has to do with the inside things that are 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.720 keeping me from being what God created me to be. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:07.680 And we know what He created us to be. I'm 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.000 gonna tell you what God created you to be. Look 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:16.680 at verse twenty four like him. Did they put the 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.320 verse up on the screen or yeah, that's what He 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.320 created you to be. Did God want me to be 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.120 a singer, or does God want me to go over 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.000 here and study abroad? Or does God want me to 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:26.800 go to Penn State? Or does God want me to 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:28.920 be an athlete? Or does God want me to double major? 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.160 Or does God want me to move my mom in 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.680 with me? I don't know. He wants you to be 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.880 like him, whoever's living with you, wherever you're going to school, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.800 whatever you're majoring, And that's what he's doing in my life, 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.600 in your life. And yet I had an interesting picture. 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:47.679 I'm gonna give you a picture from my life, really, really, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.000 from every Saturday in my life. When I go watch 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.200 Graham wrestle, takes me back to when I wrestled. I 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:57.720 wasn't nearly as good as him, not even close, not 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.080 even close. And be told he could beat me now, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:03.880 right now, he could beat me, and I outweigh him 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:05.880 by twenty five pounds. But don't tell him that because 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.320 he might try it. If we had to play according 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:10.599 to the rules, I mean, I hit him in a 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.120 shovel if he really comes at me. But if we 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:14.600 had to do the rules, then there was a ref 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.599 and a whistle and a mat and all that, then 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.520 I'm going to give you an Old Testament picture, and 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.680 we're gonna try to tie up this idea, not the 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.960 idea of you becoming what God made you to be, 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:34.280 because when you stop doing that, that's when God has 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:42.520 done changing you. That's when you're done. We made a 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.640 song one time that said, if I'm not dead, he's 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:52.040 not done. Greater things are still to come. I believe that. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.200 I believe it for you. Whether you want to believe 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.640 it for you or not, you can't stop me from 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.400 believing for you. What you're gonna do about it, Believe 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.280 that God is not through with you. Tell your neighbor 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:07.040 one more time. God is not through with you. And 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:12.760 here's the proof. Here's the proof. You're still doing this. 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:20.280 He's still making ways. If you're still doing this, he 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:23.280 still has a plan for you. One prophet set on 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:28.360 behalf of God, for I know the plans I have 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.840 for you, Plans to pross for you and not to 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:37.280 harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:42.440 That's Jeremiah chapter twenty nine, eleventh. Your grandma had that 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.800 on a quilt somewhere, and you ought to get it 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.560 in your heart and in your consciousness, because he knows 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.839 the plans he has for you. I want to preach 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.840 a little bit of faith before our seventeen year anniversary. 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:04.680 God is not through with us yet, not yet. Stop 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.800 doing this and he'll quit doing what he does. But 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:11.880 as long as you have breath, you have a reason 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:18.160 to believe that all things are possible. You know, when 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:21.280 I started the series, I mentioned Jeremiah. I mentioned Jeremih 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.160 twenty nine to eleven to day. That's the most popular 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:28.319 verse that he did, his greatest hit. But then he's 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.280 writing to captives in Babylon who are going to be 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:36.360 taken away. And when he was spoken to by God 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.520 check this out, he didn't really believe that God could 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.560 do it through him because he had the three excuses 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.600 that we mentioned earlier, where he said, I don't have it. 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:51.000 I don't know how. I'm not like them. I'm too young. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.679 I'm not like them those who are seasoned who can prophesy. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.560 I don't have it. I don't have the words that 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.120 I need. And for us, it's not always worse. It's resources, 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:07.560 it's money, it's time, it's energy, it's good knees. I 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.000 got all ages in the church, so we just hit everything. 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.239 Too young, too old, you got Moses too old, Jeremiah 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.679 too young. So all of that is an excuse. But 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:18.400 remember what the Lord said. I want to show you 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.319 the scripture again. I wasn't going to show this one, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.880 but I think it's we need the whole sandwich. Verse five, 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.640 chapter one. The Lord said, before you were born, I 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:34.839 knew you, k n e W The me that I'm 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:36.800 going to be as I grow into what God called 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.480 me to be is the meed that God has already 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.920 seen that sets you free from trying to become something 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.599 I thought. Oh man, I wish I was. That. You 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.520 don't have to wish you was. You was long before 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:55.160 life did what life did, and you did what you did. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:01.240 God knew you. So when he said I knew you 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.600 before you were born, that means that God knows my potential. 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:13.240 It also means I don't I know my past, I 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:18.480 know my preferences, I know my problems. God knows my 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:23.120 potential only he does only he really knows what he 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.120 put in you. Only he knows what he sees in 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.160 two years that he's training you for. Right now, you 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.040 got to believe this as I appreach it. You got 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.679 to put a little bit of faith on this word 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:40.760 a little bit of faith. God knew, knew, And what 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:45.079 is new to me is known to God. What is 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.960 foreign to me is familiar to him. That's Jeremiah one 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.280 to five. He knows my potential. In the chat right now, 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:58.760 God knows my potential. Say it. God knows my potential. Riverwalk, 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.120 y'all aren't saying anything today. I feel your empathy. Say 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.520 it right now. God knows my potential. But then in 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.319 Jeremiah twenty nine, he says, for I know the plans 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:15.680 I have for you, and the plans I have for 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.880 your older sister, and the plans I have for your 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.760 best friend who's getting married this spring but you're not yet. 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:25.000 And the plans that I have for your your friend 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.200 who's getting on your last nerve and you keep trying 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.400 to fix them but you can't. And the plans that 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.040 I have for your boss, who you think is in control, 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.160 but really I'm gonna move him to Minnesota in six months. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.400 So don't get impatient. Just stay right there because I 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:47.960 know the plans. My confidence is in God's knowledge. He said, 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.360 I knew you before I formed you. You were spirit, 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.920 before you were skeletal, before you had a birth certificate 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.600 you had a purpose. I knew you win. Now when 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:02.520 people say that they want to keep you stuck in 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.680 something that they're comfortable with, I knew you in. But 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:09.480 when God says that He's calling you forward into something 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.960 that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.560 neither hasn't entered into the heart of man, what God 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:24.800 has planned. I know the plans I have for you. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:29.480 Spoiler alert. You don't know the plans. You know the 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.080 plans you have for you, and you know the plans 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:38.800 you have for your daughter. And God knows. God knows 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:42.840 the plans he has for you and for her and 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:48.160 for them and for this and for that. Okay, He's 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.680 not through with me. He still has things he's doing 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.680 in me. So I can't do the me that I 0:15:53.800 --> 0:16:00.720 memorized from last year. When God knows the me that 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:02.880 is going to manifest as I'm a tour in him 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:07.400 and grow in him so I can surprise myself. Wow, 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.280 Look how I responded to that so well. Wow, look 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.000 at me giving money away. When I used to be stingy. Wow. 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:17.000 I used to wait for other people to pay for 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.840 my meal. Now I'm paying for somebody else's. Wow. I 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.040 used to need somebody to put tires on my car, 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:27.240 and now I'm paying for the tires the good ones. Wow. 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:32.880 Look at you in church. Wow, look at you in 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.840 an e group. Wow. Look at you not even texting 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:42.280 or scrolling during my sermon. Wow. Look at God doing 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:46.160 a new thing in you. Give him praise for what 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.040 he's already done. Give him praise for what he's gonna do. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.280 I knew you, and I know the plans I have 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:01.960 for you, So Paul does. It's this annoying thing that 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.639 we preachers do often, which is to make something that 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.920 is such a struggle sounds so simple. I don't know 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.359 if it's been irritating you the last few weeks. It 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.000 really gets under my skin. Where he said in verse 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:18.080 twenty two, you were taught with regard to what you 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.040 used to do and what you still struggle with, both 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:26.199 secretly and openly, the rude things that you do, the 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.399 rude things that you think. How many people would be 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.760 impressed with how nice you are if they knew how 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.800 nasty you wanted to be and didn't be in certain situations. 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:41.080 So all of that that's on the inside, Paul says, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.560 you were taught with regard to your formwhere life to 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:51.640 put off your old self. Thanks Paul, because he said 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:57.880 you were taught. And here in the Greek, I spent 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.720 five and a half years on a seminary degree, so 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.159 I have to use that sometimes. In the Greek the 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.040 phrase means that it follows from the teaching you received. 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:08.520 So when God teaches you, it's to transform you, not 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.359 to puff you up. You don't get these messages so 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.600 you can look down on other people who aren't enlightened 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.040 because you know more of the Bible than they do. 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.680 Is so that you can grow by it. That's why 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.000 God feeds you the Word of God, so that you 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.000 can grow. And in this passage, he said, you were 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.600 taught give me verse twenty two, with regard to your 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.880 former way of life, to put off your old self. Now, 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.600 the way you read that is you were taught to 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.120 put off your old self. Somebody taught you to put 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.160 off your old self. But that's not what it means. 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:45.160 It means you were taught Jesus in order that to 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.880 put off your old self. So it's an infinitive imperative. 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.720 It follows from the first one. It means you were taught. 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.760 The reason God taught you the reason he brought you 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.000 here was so that you could put off That's the 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.520 reason God has him and you're teaching. That's the reason 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.200 that God gives you a word. That's the reason God 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.439 gives you an experience. That's the reason he leads you 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.800 through the valley so you can get to know the Shepherd, 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:17.240 so that when you face that situation again, you'll be stronger, wiser, better, 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:23.360 and ready. Stronger, wiser, better, and ready. I'm stronger, wiser, 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:28.000 better and ready. I'm stronger, I'm wiser, I'm better, and 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:32.320 I'm ready. I was taught to put off my old 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:37.280 way of life. Wouldn't it be nice if it were 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:45.720 only that simple? Yeah? Man, just put it off like this, 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:47.960 like everybody, everybody in the room. Do what I say 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:54.080 when I say it. Ready, stand up? I love the 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.440 contrarian's like, no, I am seated in heavenly places with Christ. 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.040 I know where this is going. Stand up, illustration, help 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:07.080 me now, sit down. That's kind of how I read it. 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:15.040 Put off the old self and put on Jesus. That's simple. Right. Well, 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:19.000 so yesterday we're at Graham's wrestling right, and this lady 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.159 was sitting up at the top of the bleachers, and 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.800 she kept yelling for her team, not just her kids, 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.080 the whole team, and that's great. I yelled for our 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.040 team too, and it's great to do that and be supportive. 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.680 Only know, these kids can't hear you while they're out 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.199 there wrestling, so all you're really doing is getting it 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.199 out of your own system. They can't hear any of that. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.280 And besides, what is this lady going to coach that 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:46.960 kid to do from up there? I mean, maybe she 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.720 was a former NCAA Division One champion her in her heyday. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.480 Didn't get that feeling though, didn't get that impression. Just 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:58.520 seemed like she was loud and so so this was 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.240 the moment of moments, and I was already praying about 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:03.239 how to end this series, and I was like, I 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.199 was out there praying about it, and she gave me 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.880 my answer. Because I'm thinking of Paul saying, just put 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.680 off your old way of life. Just stop being negative, 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:20.520 be positive, right ready, just do that, Just stand up. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:27.320 Just just trust God, just trust him, trust him, like 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:33.560 the Bible says, with how with all your heart and 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.520 and and so. All right, so it's a heavyweight match, 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.960 right and her team was the Spiders. She was cheering for. 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.200 She was cheering for. The spiders. Had a big spider 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.920 on the back of the uniform, the single lead, the tights, 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.000 the spandex that they make wrestlers wear. You gotta be 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:49.919 tough to wear those tights out there. I'm telling you 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:53.960 right now, that's that's that's tough. So so it's a 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.720 heavyweight match that goes up to two hundred and seventy 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.600 five two hundred and eight eight five pounds, and the 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.120 boy who was winning was every bit of two eighty five, 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:09.960 and the boy who was losing was not. Because it's 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:13.480 a it's a Broadway class. The boy who was winning 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:15.879 was on top of the boy who was not winning. 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:22.080 I think I'm gonna do this as an illustration. I 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:25.120 put it in my notes if you feel they need 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:28.160 it acted out. So I'm gonna act it out because 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:30.520 I feel like you need it. I feel like you 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:33.720 need it because I feel like all this is good. 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:39.000 Put off the old self. But what I wore in 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:46.240 here is heavier than a jacket. What I wore in here, 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:51.439 and what I'm worried about is heavier than just a 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:57.280 bad day. Remember, he said, the old self. Old means 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:00.480 that's been going on a long time, and a lot 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:03.800 of the things we preach about real quick have been 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.639 have been things you've been carrying for a long time. 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.560 So it doesn't feel like, you know, just just put 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:19.600 it off. Just stop being you know, manipulative, dude. I 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.560 struggle with manipulation because I was abandoned young and so 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:27.560 I had to make things happen. So that's the only 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:30.240 way I know how to do stuff, is to make 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:32.879 things happen because I had to make things happen. And 0:23:32.920 --> 0:23:37.040 now you're telling me just take that manipulative. Trust God. 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:40.920 So I'm going to be the guy that was down 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:44.960 on the bottom, and I'm gonna show you how you 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:49.320 feel and what this lady was screaming, Graham, come up here. 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:56.520 Graham's going to be the big guy. Remember this is 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:01.000 an illustration. Had this been an actual reality, I would 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:04.879 kick his butt right up here. But just get on 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:08.080 top of me like you're two eighty five. And so 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:15.359 it's something like this, don't hurt me. And then and 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:18.800 then all right, so maybe he has the bigger guy 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:20.879 has his forearm in the back of his neck, so 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:24.800 do that. Yeah, And then the lady at the top 0:24:24.840 --> 0:24:31.840 of the bleachers is yelling stand up to the spider 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:39.960 on the bottom. And I'm sure he thought she knew 0:24:39.960 --> 0:24:41.560 his name. I don't remember. Let's say his name was 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:45.720 Timmy stand up. Let's just call him Stephen. Stand up, Stephen. 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:52.639 And I'm sure Stephen was thinking on the bottom. Oh yeah, 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:57.760 that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to stand up. 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:02.520 Thank you lady at the top of the bleachers who 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.560 had an act exercised in five years for reminding me 0:25:11.240 --> 0:25:16.720 what I'm supposed to be doing down here. And I 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:23.000 think you feel like this when I preach sometimes, but 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:25.359 you don't want to hurt my feelings, so you won't 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:35.280 admit it that I'm saying trust God, and you are like, thanks, Ah, 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:40.040 I didn't think of that. Yeah, I should just trust God. 0:25:40.119 --> 0:25:43.600 Already had to fire fourteen employees my small business, but 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:45.959 I just trust God. That'll be great. That'll really mean 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:48.000 a lot to their pregnant wives who are expecting their 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:49.520 fourth child, and now I had to lay them off. 0:25:49.520 --> 0:25:57.080 I appreciate it. I'll trust God. You know whom the 0:25:57.119 --> 0:26:02.879 sun sets free? Is Frandy be free? Oh yeah, I'm 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:06.920 supposed to be free. Never mind that this dependency is 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:10.200 chemical and psychological, and societal all at the same time. 0:26:13.480 --> 0:26:15.720 That's why when Barbara King Saliver was on Holly's book 0:26:15.720 --> 0:26:18.879 Club and she was talking about the opioid crisis in Appalachia, 0:26:18.960 --> 0:26:20.680 I was so enlightened for her to talk about how 0:26:20.680 --> 0:26:23.199 we judge people as being bad by their behaviors, but 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:25.640 we don't understand the brokenness that came from their background 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:33.240 to create the behaviors. To begin with, Yeah, stand up, 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:45.879 she said, stand up. Be a spider. I don't have 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:52.720 a legs, I don't spin webs. I'm not a faith giant. 0:26:52.720 --> 0:26:56.040