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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

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Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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Speaker 1: And I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

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Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

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Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God as moving

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Speaker 2: in your life.

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Speaker 1: Enjoy the message.

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Speaker 3: I am so.

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Speaker 4: Grateful for Jesus and I am so grateful for every

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Speaker 4: one of you here today at Elevation Church. How grateful

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Speaker 4: am I and all.

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Speaker 3: Of our eth family.

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Speaker 4: I've got to say, I'm so excited this morning. Normally

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Speaker 4: I'm the one on the other side of the screen.

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Speaker 3: Because I'll give it. I'll let you in a little secret.

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Speaker 4: You know, I live on the West Coast and so

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Speaker 4: you're three hours ahead of us. So before I go

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Speaker 4: and preach on the West Coast, I get a dose

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Speaker 4: of pasta Stephen Ferdick.

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Speaker 3: Before I go and preach every every Sunday.

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Speaker 4: I'm so so grateful for Pastor Stephen and Hull and

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Speaker 4: this church. Turn to your neighbor and say, you are

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Speaker 4: the best looking person I've seen today. Wherever you are, Okay,

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Speaker 4: hang on, just before you sit down, turn to your

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Speaker 4: other neighbor. That's your second choice and say you're actually

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Speaker 4: better looking than the other person.

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Speaker 3: I was lying. I was lying you could be seated.

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Speaker 3: I could not.

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Speaker 4: Wait to be with my Elevation Church family today and

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Speaker 4: all our e family. I'm excited because I'm normally that

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Speaker 4: person on the other side of the screen, and it

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Speaker 4: is like being home away from home. You know when

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Speaker 4: I first started coming here. I am here today with

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Speaker 4: the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh on planet Earth.

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Speaker 4: And in about two weeks Nick and I have been

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Speaker 4: married for thirty years.

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Speaker 3: How is that?

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Speaker 4: And so you know, I gotta say, my husband is

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Speaker 4: number twelve of thirteen children. Yes, there was no television

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Speaker 4: in that part of Australia at all. My Nick's mother

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Speaker 4: had fifteen full term pregnancies in seventeen years.

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Speaker 3: Y'all. I just got to say.

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Speaker 4: Every woman in this room just crossed her legs right there.

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Speaker 4: That was like another level. I'm glad they didn't stop

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Speaker 4: where they were. But my mother in law, she didn't

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Speaker 4: think you were a chick unless you popped out like

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Speaker 4: ten kids.

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Speaker 3: And we've only got two.

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Speaker 4: So I would take my two daughters, Katherine, and I'd

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Speaker 4: say to my mother in law this is Katherine, and

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Speaker 4: she is my alpha. And this is Sophia, and she

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Speaker 4: is my omega. And this is the beginning and the

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Speaker 4: end of my child very years.

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Speaker 3: This is where it all stops right here.

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Speaker 4: And so our daughters, you know, when we started coming

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Speaker 4: to elevation, they were like in single digits. And now Katherine,

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Speaker 4: she graduated from Pepperdine last May.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if you know where that is.

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Speaker 4: Yes, she was suffering for Jesus at Malibu Beach for

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Speaker 4: the last four years.

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Speaker 3: She was like, here, I am Lord, send me so.

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Speaker 4: And then she went to Argentina and did an internship

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Speaker 4: with a church down there, which was fantastic. And now

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Speaker 4: she's back working with us at A twenty one. And

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Speaker 4: then our Sophia is studying comparative literature in Paris, and

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Speaker 4: I know I called her. She's like, Mummy, I can't

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Speaker 4: talk to you right now. I'm just watching the sunset

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Speaker 4: over Notre Dame eating a chocolate croissant, to which I replied, sweetheart,

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Speaker 4: if you want to watch that same sunset next semester

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Speaker 4: with your fees paid, you will talk to your mother

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Speaker 4: right now. That's actually what you're going to be doing.

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Speaker 4: There's nothing else. Don't choke on your croissant.

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Speaker 3: But anyway, and.

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Speaker 4: This is the year that I turn sixty. So I

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Speaker 4: am so excited, and I have to tell you all

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Speaker 4: that I am celebrating every day.

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Speaker 3: There is no way I'm waiting till September. I figure,

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Speaker 3: if you live.

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Speaker 4: This long and you're not dead, you are celebrating for three.

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Speaker 3: Hundred and sixty five days. That's what I'm doing.

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Speaker 4: So I'm telling you all because I love gifts, feel

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Speaker 4: free all year, and so I'm also doing sixty things

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Speaker 4: I've never done before because I want to make sure

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Speaker 4: we finish strong. We need a generation of young people

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Speaker 4: that can see that the longer you walk with Jesus.

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Speaker 3: The better that it gets.

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Speaker 4: I'm telling you I want to run my race and

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Speaker 4: finish my course. I love being twenty, and I love

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Speaker 4: being thirty, and I love being forty, and I love being.

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Speaker 3: In my fifties.

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Speaker 4: But there is nothing like your sixth decade that is

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Speaker 4: the best thing.

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Speaker 3: So you just wait. It gets better and better and betterer.

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Speaker 4: That's his I mean, how could you fix your eyes

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Speaker 4: on Jesus for over four decades and not grow more

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Speaker 4: in love or grace or peace or goodness or kindness.

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Speaker 3: You know, some people like they look like just a

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Speaker 3: whole lot.

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Speaker 4: I don't know, more depressed after forty years. I'm like, honey,

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Speaker 4: you could not have fixed your eyes on Jesus and

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Speaker 4: then up like that. Some people have been in the

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Speaker 4: way for fifty years. I'm like, get out of the

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Speaker 4: way anyway. So I'm just like I told my daughters,

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Speaker 4: I'm going to be super Granny for Jesus's I'm going

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Speaker 4: to be like Caleb. He said, I'm eighty five and

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Speaker 4: I'm a strong as I was.

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Speaker 3: Then.

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Speaker 4: Now give me this mountain. That's my inheritance. I'm going

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Speaker 4: in to take it. So it just gets better. You

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Speaker 4: young ones, you don't even know. You don't even know. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: what do I tell you.

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Speaker 3: All that for?

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Speaker 4: Because I'm doing sixty things I've never done, and that

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Speaker 4: could be anything. It could be like, you know, really

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Speaker 4: big things, really little things. And you know, so I

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Speaker 4: live in California and we that is the home of

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Speaker 4: in and out.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, do you have in and out? Yes?

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Speaker 4: Okay, And they're going to be serving that at the

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Speaker 4: marriage Supper of the Lamb in case anybody was not sure.

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Speaker 4: And so I thought after like three decades of going

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Speaker 4: to Texas, I thought, Okay, this is my sixtieth year.

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Speaker 3: I'm going to do things I've never done.

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Speaker 4: So I tried what a burger? That was a once

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Speaker 4: I'm done. Now I'm moving on too. There was like

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Speaker 4: and then I'd never seen the Northern Lights. So Nick

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Speaker 4: took me to Alaska to see the Northern Lights and

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Speaker 4: Stain and Igloo, and I thought, next time we want

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Speaker 4: to go to an Igloo, you can go by self.

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Speaker 3: Okay.

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Speaker 4: So it was awesome, but we also did that, and

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Speaker 4: I've got to tell you to give some of you

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Speaker 4: some excitement to keep going. I've been almost four decades

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Speaker 4: in full time vocational ministry, and the Lord's allowed us

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Speaker 4: to do lots of things. But I did get I

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Speaker 4: just want to tell you because I did get a

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Speaker 4: first which for me. You know, I've written twelve books

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Speaker 4: and done a lot of ministry in nearly four decades.

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Speaker 3: But last week The Faith to Flourish.

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Speaker 4: Came out and it was the first time I got

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Speaker 4: a New York Times bestseller?

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Speaker 3: How is that the first time?

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Speaker 4: So I'm telling you that because life does not stop

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Speaker 4: when you're sixty. There's a whole lot of first ahead

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Speaker 4: of you. And you know, I just truly believe that

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Speaker 4: it is the will of God that.

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Speaker 3: The body of Christ begins to flourish again.

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Speaker 4: And you know, we dive deep into the life of

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Speaker 4: the olive tree because I was reading some fifty two,

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Speaker 4: verse eight, and David in the midst of his darkest hour,

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Speaker 4: there was so much adversity. Saul was chasing him to

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Speaker 4: kill him, Doe Egg was after him. There was so

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Speaker 4: much betrayal and lies and slander and gossip and darkness,

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Speaker 4: and he was in fear of his physical life. And

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Speaker 4: yet in the midst of it, he said, but I

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Speaker 4: am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house

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Speaker 4: of God. And he was speaking of his deliverance and

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Speaker 4: his state regardless of his external circumstances.

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Speaker 3: And I was standing. We have an a twenty one office.

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Speaker 4: In Athens, in Greece, and I was taking a team there.

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Speaker 4: We went up to the top of the Acropolis to

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Speaker 4: see the Parthenon, and it's barren and it's arid, and

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Speaker 4: it's dry and everything. It was in the middle of

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Speaker 4: the There had been great fires in Athens. There was

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Speaker 4: a great heat wave, and there was no other trees

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Speaker 4: that were alive. There was nothing, there was no vegetation,

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Speaker 4: and there was this one. And if you go up

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Speaker 4: to the Parthenon, you'll see it, this sacred olive tree.

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Speaker 4: And here in the midst of barrenness, here in the

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Speaker 4: midst of a place where nothing else is growing, there

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Speaker 4: is this green olive tree whose root system goes deep,

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Speaker 4: that is flourishing and thriving and producing fruit and producing

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Speaker 4: an ecosystem and keeping other things alive and giving them

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Speaker 4: shelter and producing oil. And I sat there, and I

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Speaker 4: went to eight countries, went to visit olive farms on

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Speaker 4: eight different countries, talk to the owners of olive farms

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Speaker 4: to see.

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Speaker 3: I have nerded out so much.

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Speaker 4: I know more about olive trees, olive oil, olive branches,

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Speaker 4: and olives than you would ever want.

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Speaker 3: But I'm Greek.

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Speaker 4: And so if you've seen my big fact Greek wedding,

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Speaker 4: that is my big fact Greek life. You had milk

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Speaker 4: in your baby bottle, I had olive oil. And so

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Speaker 4: the issue is out of that that an olive tree

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Speaker 4: grows where nothing else grows and continues to breed life.

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Speaker 4: And in scripture there are over two hundred references to

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Speaker 4: olive trees, olive oil, olive branches. And I think in

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Speaker 4: this hour where our world is so chaotic, it's so

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Speaker 4: full of division, it's so full of fear, it's so

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Speaker 4: full of darkness and economic instability and political instability, and

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Speaker 4: moral instability and sociological instability, we the Church of Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 4: need to be like a green olive tree, flourishing and

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Speaker 4: producing life. And it will be one of the greatest

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Speaker 4: witnesses to our generation if we would dare do that.

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Speaker 4: So I was excited about writing that message and I'm believing.

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Speaker 3: To equip us to do it.

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Speaker 4: And I also want to say thank you to every

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Speaker 4: one of you because Elevation Church is such a key

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Speaker 4: partner church right from day one of A twenty one.

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Speaker 4: And I just want to testify because so many of you,

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Speaker 4: especially during Love Week, you are involved in packing packages

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Speaker 4: at our We've got an office here in Charlotte, and

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Speaker 4: so many of so much of what you pack goes

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Speaker 4: to survivors, Like we go out with law enforcement when

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Speaker 4: there are raids done and when there are operations done,

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Speaker 4: and sometimes we're the first port of contact with victims

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Speaker 4: and survivors. And because of your giving and because of

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Speaker 4: your generosity, we are able to give packs that bring

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Speaker 4: dignity to the women and the children right in those

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Speaker 4: moments of crisis.

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Speaker 3: I do want to tell you because there's a case

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Speaker 3: that we've been working on for nine years. This is

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Speaker 3: how long it takes. Nine years.

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Speaker 4: And last week the guy from Charlotte that had trafficked

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Speaker 4: multiple women across fifty one cities, fifteen states, we put

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Speaker 4: him away for thirty five years. How is that right here?

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Speaker 4: It's Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Speaker 3: So that is what you're giving is doing. And so

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Speaker 3: I am so so grateful.

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Speaker 4: I could keep you here and tell you story after story,

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Speaker 4: but I told you we've been married thirty years in March.

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Speaker 3: And Nick and I, I mean he's from an English

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Speaker 3: Irish background.

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Speaker 4: I'm from a Greek background, So I'm demonstrative in every way.

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Speaker 4: My inside voice is my outside voice, is my every voice.

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Speaker 4: And Nick is like Christine, I am excited in worship.

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Speaker 3: My big toe is moving in my shoe.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 4: So, and I'm like in orbit, like who am I

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Speaker 4: I'm like I nearly was.

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Speaker 3: Up there through the sky today.

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Speaker 4: So but I'm also meticulous, say bought aline OCD. Anyway,

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Speaker 4: I'm very meticulous, and we have a mantra in our house.

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Speaker 4: Since my girls were like came in Utero, we had

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Speaker 4: a mantra and we would say, and I would say, girls,

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Speaker 4: there is a place for everything, and everything has a place. See,

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Speaker 4: you're just like me. But Nick Nick is of the

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Speaker 4: opinion that there are many potential places for every one thing.

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Speaker 4: And let me just say that over thirty years there

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Speaker 4: have been some not many, for frequent times of intense

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Speaker 4: fellowship over which one of the many places nixt.

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Speaker 3: Keys may have been in.

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Speaker 4: And if we just put them in the one place

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Speaker 4: we would have avoided, there would have been much more fruit.

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Speaker 3: Of the spirit in our household.

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Speaker 4: He believes that the Lord sent him into my life

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Speaker 4: for sanctification, for an additional layer of sanctification.

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Speaker 3: But I always.

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Speaker 4: Think it's really good if we just put things in

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Speaker 4: their place.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it takes as much effort to put in

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Speaker 3: the right place as the wrong place.

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Speaker 4: And anyway, I'm gonna not help a lot of marriages

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Speaker 4: right now, so we're not gonna I'm watching Nudging Happening.

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Speaker 3: And heads movie.

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Speaker 4: But I do have to say that after almost four

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Speaker 4: decades of serving Jesus, it is nice when God agrees

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Speaker 4: with you.

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Speaker 3: And so in my quiet.

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Speaker 4: Time, when I came across First Corinthians chapter twelve, I

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Speaker 4: needed to take it to Nick to show him that

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Speaker 4: God and.

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Speaker 3: I were in the same the same place. We were

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Speaker 3: on the same.

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Speaker 4: Page when it comes to the fact that there is

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Speaker 4: a place for everything, and I had to dig into

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Speaker 4: the nineteen eighty four NIV version. Today we have come

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Speaker 4: to real church here at elevation to pull out First

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Speaker 4: Corinthians chapter twelve, Verses twelve to twenty seven. I'm going

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Speaker 4: to read this to you. This is the word of

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Speaker 4: the Lord. The body is a unit, though it is

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Speaker 4: made up of many parts, and though all its parts

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Speaker 4: are many, they form one body. So it is with

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Speaker 4: Christ for we are sorry. For we were all baptized

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Speaker 4: by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,

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Speaker 4: slave or free, and we were all given the one

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Speaker 4: spirit to drink. Now, the body is not made up

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Speaker 4: of one part, but of many. If the foot should say,

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Speaker 4: because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to

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Speaker 4: the body, it would not, for that reason cease to

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Speaker 4: be part of the body. And if the ear should say,

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Speaker 4: because I am not an eye, I.

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Speaker 3: Do not belong to the body.

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Speaker 4: It would not, for that reason, cease to be part

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Speaker 4: of the body. If the whole body were an eye,

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Speaker 4: where would the sense of hearing be. If the whole

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Speaker 4: body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

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Speaker 4: But in fact, God has arranged the parts of the body,

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Speaker 4: every one of them, just as he wanted.

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Speaker 3: Them to be. If they were all.

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Speaker 4: One part, where would the body be as it is?

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Speaker 3: There are many parts but one body.

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Speaker 4: The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you,

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Speaker 4: and the head cannot say to.

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Speaker 3: The feet, I don't need you.

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Speaker 4: On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem

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Speaker 4: to be weaker are indispensable. And the parts we think

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Speaker 4: are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the

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Speaker 4: parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while

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Speaker 4: our presentable parts need.

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Speaker 3: No special treatment.

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Speaker 4: But God has combined the members of the body and

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Speaker 4: has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

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Speaker 4: so that there should be no division in the body,

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Speaker 4: but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

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Speaker 4: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If

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Speaker 4: one part is on it, every part.

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Speaker 3: Rejoices with it.

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Speaker 4: Now you are the Body of Christ, and each one

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Speaker 4: of you is a part of it. I love this

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Speaker 4: portion of scripture. Paul was writing to the church in

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Speaker 4: Karnth who was incredibly divided, especially in the way that

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Speaker 4: they were ranking the value of spiritual gifts.

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Speaker 3: And so the fact is.

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Speaker 4: That they were thinking that the more visible gifts and.

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Speaker 3: That they were the more.

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Speaker 4: Important gifts, the more spectacular, especially when it came to

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Speaker 4: the charismatic gifts of they have to be the more

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Speaker 4: important gifts. So what that was causing was division and hierarchy.

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Speaker 3: And yet God had set every.

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Speaker 4: Part of the body in place just as he saw fit.

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Speaker 4: He has a place for every single part. There's no hierarchy.

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Speaker 4: It doesn't rank as important because there's only one body

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Speaker 4: in dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and there's

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Speaker 4: only one head on.

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Speaker 3: This body, and his name is King Jesus.

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Speaker 4: He is the head of his body, and every the part,

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Speaker 4: every other part, has a very important place to play

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Speaker 4: in the Body of Christ.

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Speaker 3: Now, what happens is in our culture.

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Speaker 4: That so elevates visibility and confuses prominence and visibility with significance,

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Speaker 4: we end up having a problem in the church because

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Speaker 4: culture says, if you have more followers.

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Speaker 3: You're more important. If you're a greater.

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Speaker 4: Celebrity and more people know your name, somehow you are

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Speaker 4: more important or you have greater influence, so you are

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Speaker 4: more important.

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Speaker 3: That's not how the body works.

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Speaker 4: Just because someone you today you see me here on

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Speaker 4: this platform, in the eyes of God and in the

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Speaker 4: Church of God, and in the Body of Christ, I

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Speaker 4: am no more important than any other part of the body,

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Speaker 4: because God sets every member in place.

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Speaker 3: In his body. It's actually his body.

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Speaker 4: But we can bring into our commitment to the Lord the.

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Speaker 3: Same thinking that the world has.

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Speaker 4: Are we confuse visibility with significance, We confuse reach and

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Speaker 4: being known.

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Speaker 3: With significance to God. But here in this.

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Speaker 4: Passage, Paul says, there's not one part that's dispensable.

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Speaker 3: There's not one single part.

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Speaker 4: Of the Body of Christ that is not an important

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Speaker 4: part and doesn't have a place in the body. Just

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Speaker 4: because you can't see them doesn't mean that they are

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Speaker 4: in any way of any less value. Now, the fact is,

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Speaker 4: for you see me here, you see the worship team here,

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Speaker 4: Pastor Jonathan today. But before we even woke up this morning,

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Speaker 4: there was people that were getting up and praying for

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Speaker 4: all of our locations for our EPAM, for all of

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Speaker 4: our services.

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Speaker 3: People that nobody.

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Speaker 4: Even has ever seen, you don't know their names.

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Speaker 3: There are people working in.

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Speaker 4: The parking lot that are getting ready, that are directing traffic.

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Speaker 4: There are people right now with our children teaching them about.

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Speaker 3: The importance of the Word of God.

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Speaker 4: People that are teaching our teenagers. There are people that

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Speaker 4: are working the sound and the light, and people that

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Speaker 4: are working the scriptures going up on screen or making

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Speaker 4: sure that there is connection for if you can't see

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Speaker 4: any of them. But let me just say, if this

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Speaker 4: microphone went off, we would all suffer. If one part suffers,

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Speaker 4: everyone suffers. If there was no one to turn the

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Speaker 4: lights on, if there was no one that was praying,

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Speaker 4: if there was no one that was serving our children,

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Speaker 4: or our kids or in the parking.

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Speaker 3: Lot, then we would all suffer.

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Speaker 4: But what happens is we've learned to think that the

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Speaker 4: only thing that matters in the body is the prominent positions,

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Speaker 4: and somehow that prominence is more significant to God. But

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Speaker 4: God says, it's my body, and I set remember in

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Speaker 4: place in my body. God sets the members in place. Now,

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Speaker 4: you know, it's so interesting, and I don't think we

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Speaker 4: understand really the value of what it means that if

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Speaker 4: one part suffers, every part suffers. A few years ago,

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Speaker 4: you know, really, when we moved to America, I went skiing.

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Speaker 3: Foremost the first time in my life.

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Speaker 4: What had happened is I'm from a Greek background and chose.

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Speaker 3: You have to understand that Greeks are fatalist.

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Speaker 4: By that, I mean it does not matter how bad

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Speaker 4: things are, they can always get worse with a Greek family.

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Speaker 4: And so I grew up in a Greek home where

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Speaker 4: my mother would always say whose dinner?

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Speaker 1: We speak?

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Speaker 4: Greek is my first language, and we have windocks in

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Speaker 4: every room of the house, and socia go Who's dinner.

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Speaker 3: You can't go skiing.

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Speaker 4: Because if you go skiing, you'll die. There was no

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Speaker 4: possibility you could go skiing and ski It was like

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Speaker 4: ski equals death. So when we finally moved to America,

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Speaker 4: I felt like I was a fourteen hour plane ride

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Speaker 4: away from my Greek mother.

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Speaker 3: I know I was forty five, but I was still

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Speaker 3: scared of her.

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Speaker 4: So it was like, Okay, I can now do what

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Speaker 4: I want finally, and so these five families from Louisiana

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Speaker 4: invited us to go skiing in Colorado.

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Speaker 3: Now this was.

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Speaker 4: During the Winter Olympics, and I know I'm from Australia,

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Speaker 4: so I could surf. I thought surfing and skiing were

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Speaker 4: the same thing. They're not, in case you're wondering, and

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Speaker 4: so I'm thinking this is going to be easy. So

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Speaker 4: what I would do Church is I would watch the

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Speaker 4: Winter Olympics at night like we just have, and then

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Speaker 4: I would get up in the morning and think.

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Speaker 3: I am representing Australia.

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Speaker 4: I am representing Australia. The fact that I didn't know

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Speaker 4: what I was doing was incidental. So you know, all

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Speaker 4: the guys would be on these like double black diamond

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Speaker 4: suicide runs and I would have to go to the

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Speaker 4: green slopes with the two year olds that were just

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Speaker 4: learning how to ski.

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Speaker 3: So there was all the two year olds and Christine.

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Speaker 4: Well, this one day I said to my husband, I

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Speaker 4: can dig I want.

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Speaker 3: You to come with me and the guys. We had

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Speaker 3: this great run.

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Speaker 4: And so you know, he by then had been married

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Speaker 4: for more than a minute, and any man that's been

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Speaker 4: married for more than a minute knows that if your

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Speaker 4: wife ever asks you to do anything like would you

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Speaker 4: want to go on the black double diamond slaps with

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Speaker 4: your friends, or come on the green flat slaps with

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Speaker 4: me in.

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Speaker 3: The two year olds.

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Speaker 4: If you kind of wanted any action that night, you

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Speaker 4: would come to the thing with your wife. I'm just

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Speaker 4: putting it out there in the atmosphere. So married, I

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Speaker 4: did say, married.

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Speaker 3: And so and so. Nick came with me, and I.

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Speaker 4: Go to him, Babe, if you are with the guys

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Speaker 4: right now, you wouldn't be having any more fun, would you.

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Speaker 3: One would think.

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Speaker 4: But my husband, being a man of integrity, not only

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Speaker 4: said yes, this is what he said. He goes, Babe,

447
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 4: if I was with the guys right now, I would

448
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 4: be having much more, much more fun. Okay, now that

449
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,760
Speaker 4: is like putting a red rag in front of a bull.

450
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:02,440
Speaker 3: So I went.

451
00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,919
Speaker 4: I looked, and there was like this blue run just

452
00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:09,800
Speaker 4: over there. So I turned my skis down famous last words.

453
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 4: I look over my shoulder and I say to him, well, sweetheart,

454
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:19,080
Speaker 4: eat my snow, and off I go. Now Church, I

455
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 4: knew I was in serious trouble. About twenty seconds later,

456
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,400
Speaker 4: on my second summersault that was not planned.

457
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 3: That was not planned.

458
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,120
Speaker 4: Once ski went flying and then on my right leg,

459
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 4: I heard the loudest pop pop pop, You're there that

460
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 4: I've heard and I snapped my ACL, tore my MCL,

461
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 4: tore my meniscus, fractured my nee.

462
00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 3: It was or I was lying there.

463
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,360
Speaker 4: I was like, I couldn't move, knick Kat to call

464
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,000
Speaker 4: the ski patrol. You know when they put you like

465
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,399
Speaker 4: in that coffin and take you down the mountain and

466
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 4: you go down.

467
00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:51,919
Speaker 3: That was me.

468
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 4: And I do need to tell you this because I'm Greek.

469
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,960
Speaker 4: I would leave the house all of my years that

470
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,680
Speaker 4: I lived at my mother would gorise dinner.

471
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,639
Speaker 3: Are you wearing good, new, clean underwear? She wish? I

472
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,600
Speaker 3: would say, Mum, why because cause dinner.

473
00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,679
Speaker 4: If you have an accident and you end up in

474
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 4: the back of an ambulance, it's important that you've got

475
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 4: good underwear. Anyone else's mother elevation.

476
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 3: You are my people.

477
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 4: And so anyway, you know, for the sake of Sunday

478
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 4: morning decorum, I won't go into detail, but all I'm

479
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 4: gonna say to you is, as they were elevating me

480
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 4: and putting me into the ambulance, I'm just gonna say this.

481
00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,120
Speaker 3: My mother was right. Anyway, So in the festival of that.

482
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 4: I was I ended up having to have a hamstring

483
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 4: graft and you know, had to go through major, major rehab,

484
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 4: and you know I wanted to relive.

485
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 3: That this morning.

486
00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:56,400
Speaker 4: So I've got my friend here, who's going to come

487
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,359
Speaker 4: and show you how I had to walk around for

488
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 4: quite a while. I look at this. Let's see how

489
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:08,600
Speaker 4: you go? Oh, yes, look at this? Come on, is

490
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 4: this not just skillful? I want you to come and stand.

491
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 3: Over here with me. You are so tall.

492
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,440
Speaker 4: And the crutches are the wrong size, but that's okay. Look,

493
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 4: these crutches are right for me, not a six foot

494
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:22,200
Speaker 4: seven giant.

495
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,880
Speaker 3: Okay, there we go. But this is what happened in

496
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 3: this knee I have, and you have an ACL.

497
00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 4: Now, before my accident, I didn't.

498
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:36,359
Speaker 3: Even know if I had an.

499
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:40,719
Speaker 4: Abcdefg hi j I. I didn't even know that I

500
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,639
Speaker 4: had an ACL or x y Z. An ACL is

501
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,360
Speaker 4: a ligament that it is smaller than this little finger.

502
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 3: Tucked in at the back of your knee.

503
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 4: I think we've got a photo of it that.

504
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 3: You're going to see right now. See that. I hope

505
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:55,680
Speaker 3: you don't get nauseous.

506
00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:57,640
Speaker 4: See that that ACL tucked in right there.

507
00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,480
Speaker 3: I snapped that thing. And when I snapped it, I

508
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,440
Speaker 3: was in the most excruciating pain. I could barely function

509
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 3: for weeks.

510
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,680
Speaker 4: I couldn't think straight the pain was so great. And

511
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,879
Speaker 4: then when I had my surgery, I had to walk.

512
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 3: Around and for a long time.

513
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:21,119
Speaker 4: With embrace because this part of my body could not

514
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 4: bear the weight. So this part of the body had

515
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,399
Speaker 4: to overcompensate for what this for One small ligament that

516
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 4: had snapped, one small ligament that had been displaced, a

517
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,400
Speaker 4: ligament that I did not even know existed in my body,

518
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,160
Speaker 4: because that did not embrace its place and it became displaced.

519
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 3: It crippled and.

520
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,399
Speaker 4: Paralyzed the functioning of my entire body.

521
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 3: Thanks mate. And what happens in.

522
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 4: Church, We think, well, it doesn't really matter. If I'm

523
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 4: not up in front. You can even go down the stairs.

524
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,439
Speaker 3: How's that? You are a llegend? He's like, okay, now

525
00:25:58,440 --> 00:25:58,960
Speaker 3: I'm limping.

526
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 4: We think really matter? And is teaching the kids really important?

527
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 4: He's parking the cars really important? Is working in production

528
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:09,479
Speaker 4: really important? Well, nobody will ever see me, and it

529
00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:13,359
Speaker 4: doesn't matter. The prescripture says, it's the unseen parts that

530
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,919
Speaker 4: often hold the whole thing together, and just because you

531
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 4: don't know they're there, it.

532
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 3: Doesn't mean that God doesn't.

533
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 4: That acl I ended up having to have a hamstring

534
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,880
Speaker 4: graft because I am so grateful when the doctor went

535
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 4: in to find my hamstring that my hamstring didn't say

536
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:35,360
Speaker 4: it or my hamstring.

537
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 3: I'm glad it was there.

538
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,680
Speaker 4: I'm glad that it didn't decide the week before.

539
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 3: I don't want to be a hamstring anymore. I don't

540
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,120
Speaker 3: like the hamstring. I don't get any attention. I mean

541
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 3: it's I want to be a mouth.

542
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:51,760
Speaker 4: I mean Christine and the mouth, that's what gets all

543
00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 4: the attention.

544
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:57,440
Speaker 3: I'm just this overlooked hamstring. I'm just taken for granted

545
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 3: as a hamstring.

546
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 4: Nobody wreck recognize my value.

547
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 3: As a hamstring.

548
00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 4: I'm so glad that my hamstring was in place, because

549
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 4: every now and again.

550
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 3: A transplant has to happen.

551
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 4: But when you try to force that transplant because you

552
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 4: don't like your place, then sometimes you can be rejected

553
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 4: by the body in that part of the transplant. And

554
00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:21,119
Speaker 4: we've got a whole lot of people running around in

555
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 4: the body of Christ just transplanting themselves. But just like

556
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 4: a physical body doesn't expect doesn't accept every organ as

557
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 4: a transplant, or every.

558
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,959
Speaker 3: Muscle or every sign you in order to be able

559
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 3: to be transplanted properly. There's an order. There's an order.

560
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,919
Speaker 3: The Church is not the NFL. It's not like we

561
00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:41,680
Speaker 3: have free agents.

562
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 4: God sets every member in place, and if God wants

563
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 4: to transplant, then then that the body will take the transplant.

564
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 4: But I'm so glad that my hamstring was in place.

565
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 4: But you and I are living in a culture where

566
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 4: we value a position over a place, and so many

567
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 4: people have sacrificed their destiny on the altar of a

568
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,360
Speaker 4: position they wanted because they wouldn't embrace the place that God.

569
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,440
Speaker 3: Had for them. So many of.

570
00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 4: Us because in our culture visibility and position and title

571
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 4: and hierarchy and the last like, I've got a body,

572
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,960
Speaker 4: there is nothing more sacred than the Holy body of

573
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 4: the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are part of that body.

574
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 4: And he sets us in place. Does that not mean

575
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:29,000
Speaker 4: at some point he might transplant us. Of course, it's

576
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 4: his body. But when we start thinking went like free agents,

577
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 4: and I could just go, I don't want to be

578
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:37,480
Speaker 4: an elbow.

579
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 3: I don't like an.

580
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:43,000
Speaker 4: Elber because the knee gets all the attention. And Paul

581
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 4: goes through the list because how ridiculous that you would

582
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 4: compare this part.

583
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 3: To that part.

584
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 4: I think we should just be grateful that God has brought.

585
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 3: Us into his body.

586
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 4: I want to care if I was an ACL, a MCL,

587
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,240
Speaker 4: if I was a sign you, or a tissue.

588
00:28:58,040 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 3: Or a muscle.

589
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 4: Thank God that I I am saved and I've been

590
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 4: grafted into the body of Christ, and I have any

591
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,720
Speaker 4: turnity with Jesus. I'm just grateful to be part of

592
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 4: the body. I'm just grateful to be any part of

593
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,240
Speaker 4: the body of Christ. When was the last time you

594
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 4: thanked God the miracle that.

595
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 3: We are in his body? There's only one head. If

596
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 3: we understood that, we'd all embrace our place elevation.

597
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,959
Speaker 4: You are one of the most potent Apostolic churches on

598
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 4: the earth right now. Imagine how much more powerful you'd

599
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 4: be if.

600
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 3: Every single person embrace their place.

601
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 4: Every single person said, I don't care if I'm an

602
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 4: ACL or an MCL.

603
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 3: I'm gonna hold up my part of the body.

604
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 4: I'm gonna take my place in all of our locations,

605
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:45,520
Speaker 4: our epham.

606
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 3: I'm gonna embrace my place.

607
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 4: Every time you tithe, every time you give, every time

608
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 4: you serve, you are embracing your place. Some people go, well, okay, Christida,

609
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 4: I've got these.

610
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 3: Dreams in my heart. What about all these things?

611
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,320
Speaker 4: Well, this is what I've discovered after almost four decades

612
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 4: of serving Jesus. When God is looking to promote you

613
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,479
Speaker 4: to another position, he goes to a place.

614
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 3: He goes to the place that you're supposed to be

615
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 3: to find you.

616
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 4: You go, Christine, give me bible. I'll give you some bible.

617
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 4: David one Samuel sixteen. I want you to see verse one,

618
00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 4: and says the Lord said to Samuel, how long are

619
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 4: you going to mourn for Saul since I have rejected

620
00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,360
Speaker 4: him as king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil

621
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,840
Speaker 4: and go. I am sending you. See God does the sending.

622
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 4: You don't have to market to yourself. When you've been

623
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 4: marked by God, you don't have to market yourself. If

624
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 4: God has assigned you, God will find you. You could

625
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 4: be not even in this room right now and serving

626
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 4: in the nursery.

627
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 3: And if God's anointed.

628
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 4: You to be the next Billy Graham to America, He'll

629
00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 4: find you.

630
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 3: He'll find you.

631
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 4: He says, I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem

632
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 4: because I have.

633
00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 3: Selected for myself. Remember this is god'svil. I've selected for

634
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 3: myself a king from his sons. Let's go to verse six.

635
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 4: It says in verse six, when they arrived, Samuel saw

636
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 4: Eliab and said, certainly, the Lord's anointed one is here

637
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:15,239
Speaker 4: before him.

638
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 1: Now.

639
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,240
Speaker 4: The reason he thought that is because Eliab looked a

640
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 4: lot like Saul, head and shoulders above the rest, good looking.

641
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 3: He was a warrior.

642
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 4: And the prophet, I want you to catch this. The prophet,

643
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 4: surely this is the Lord's anointed, because he saw Eliab

644
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 4: and thought.

645
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 3: That's what we do. We scroll through social media.

646
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 4: We are surely that's who God's picked. Look at their followers. Man,

647
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 4: they're blowing up.

648
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: That's awesome.

649
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 4: Surely that's the Lord's anointed. And then I love what

650
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:46,960
Speaker 4: the Lord says in verse seven.

651
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 3: But the Lord said to Samuel.

652
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 4: And thus he says to most of us, do not

653
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 4: look at his appearance or his stature, because I have

654
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 4: rejected him. Honey, doesn't matter how many likes you get.

655
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 4: If God has rejected him. Humans do not see what

656
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 4: the Lord sees. For humans see what is visible, but

657
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:11,840
Speaker 4: the Lord sees the heart. He goes on in verse

658
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 4: eight and says, Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. Oh, Lord,

659
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 4: the Lord hasn't chosen this one either.

660
00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:23,520
Speaker 3: Samuel said, So now the parade's going.

661
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 4: Let's get out our TikTok and our Instagram and start

662
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,120
Speaker 4: going through verse nine, and.

663
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 3: We'll just keep going. Then Jesse presented Shama, here's the

664
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 3: next one, next little celebrity Christian influencer. But Samuel said, the.

665
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 4: Lord hasn't chosen this one either.

666
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,520
Speaker 3: You keep posting, Lord hasn't chosen.

667
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 4: After Jesse presented seven of his sons great marketing campaign. Man,

668
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 4: I'm going to need to be in the right place

669
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,360
Speaker 4: so that the right person in leadership sees me, because

670
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 4: that's how I'm going to get my promotion.

671
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 3: A Man, if I'm.

672
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 4: Serving down in the kids, I'm out in the parking lot,

673
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,239
Speaker 4: How's anyone going to see my gift? And I mean

674
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 4: I want to go on tour with the band, They're going.

675
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 3: To see my gift.

676
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 4: If I'm serving over in the kids, They're never going

677
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 4: to see it. I'm never going to be discovered God.

678
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 4: God created you. He doesn't have to discover you. He

679
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 4: already knows where you are. You don't have to wait

680
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,080
Speaker 4: to be discovered by God. He created you after Jesse

681
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 4: presented seven of.

682
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 3: His sons to him. Just sounds like the world we

683
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 3: live in. Samuel told you, Jesse, the Lord hasn't chosen

684
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 3: any of these. Samuel asked him, are these all the

685
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:33,240
Speaker 3: sons you have? They're still the youngest.

686
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 4: I am laughing because this is how King David first

687
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 4: appears on the pages of scripture.

688
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 3: No name the youngest. You know.

689
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's there's a guy working out in the parking lot.

690
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,800
Speaker 4: There's that person that's running the prayer team. There's someone

691
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 4: that's running an e group that I don't ever really

692
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 4: know their name. Just there's that that one. I think

693
00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 4: we got this person that the man they come early

694
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,600
Speaker 4: on Sunday and they're like sweeping the foyer to make

695
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 4: sure that it's clean.

696
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:06,440
Speaker 3: That there's that one.

697
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:08,960
Speaker 4: Don't really know if there's the one down there with

698
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,239
Speaker 4: the kids in the in in you know, like.

699
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 3: The first grade. Yes, there's that one.

700
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 4: Not scrolling on TikTok to see who's the most prominent

701
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 4: influential one. There's just that one, whoever that is on

702
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 4: any of our campuses.

703
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 3: There's that that one that's been just tithing for the

704
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,720
Speaker 3: last twenty years and just been giving. I don't know.

705
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 3: I don't really know the name the youngest, he answered,

706
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,399
Speaker 3: But right now he's doing the loser job.

707
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't even worth bringing up in the

708
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 4: marketing campaign. I mean, he's just he's just just tending

709
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 4: the sheep. He's actually being faithful, doing the last thing

710
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 4: I told him to do.

711
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 3: He's just down there with the kids.

712
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 4: Or with the youth, or out the parking lot, or

713
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 4: somewhere back behind a sound that you can't even see

714
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 4: that's making this happening, or put the lights on or

715
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:04,520
Speaker 4: working the cameras.

716
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,719
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's all they're doing.

717
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 4: I mean then I'm like prominently on tour or holding

718
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 4: the microphone or anything.

719
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 3: I put those seven in front of you. He's like, no, no, no,

720
00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:21,360
Speaker 3: he's just tending the sheep. And I love this, Samuel

721
00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 3: told Jesse said for him, because this is what happens

722
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 3: when God says the prophet can get it wrong some

723
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:29,239
Speaker 3: of you.

724
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 4: But what happens if someone comes and they prophesying, and

725
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be the next person and I'm gonna be

726
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 4: the next campus pastor and they don't see me. The

727
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 4: prophet could actually get it wrong.

728
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:40,080
Speaker 3: To Eliot and goes, surely you're it.

729
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:42,959
Speaker 4: The Father of the House can get it wrong.

730
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,839
Speaker 3: Jesse got it wrong, but God never gets it wrong.

731
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 4: Sometimes we'll wonder if I do that and I start

732
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,399
Speaker 4: serving and someone overlooks me, and what about my gift?

733
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 3: And what about my talent? And I'm not gonna And

734
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 3: it's what you got insurance. The prophet can get it wrong,

735
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 3: the Father of the House can get it wrong. God

736
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:02,640
Speaker 3: won't get it wrong. And this is what I love,

737
00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:05,359
Speaker 3: Sabya told Jesse said for him, we won't sit down

738
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 3: to eat until he gets it. It makes me laugh

739
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 3: because God will actually send the ones.

740
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 4: That tried to keep you out to go and get

741
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,280
Speaker 4: you to put you in position.

742
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:17,560
Speaker 3: Because that's the kind of thing that God does. You

743
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 3: don't ever have to worry, So Jesse said for him.

744
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 3: He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome.

745
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:27,360
Speaker 4: Appearance that the Lord said anoint him for he is

746
00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:27,680
Speaker 4: the one.

747
00:36:27,680 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 3: Where was he?

748
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:30,920
Speaker 4: Oh, he was the one that this today was working

749
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:32,840
Speaker 4: in the parking lot. He was the one that today

750
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,080
Speaker 4: is working behind the lights that you can't see, or

751
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 4: the sound that you can't see, or is down there

752
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 4: with our children right now teaching them Jesus is Lord.

753
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:41,920
Speaker 4: The Bible is beautiful. God loves you.

754
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 3: That's what You can't see them. You can see me,

755
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:45,120
Speaker 3: but you can't see them.

756
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,280
Speaker 4: But then if the Lord's chosen them, he'll find them.

757
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,719
Speaker 4: Every acl every sign, you, every muscle, every tissue is

758
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 4: so critical ninety nine point ninety nine percent of the

759
00:36:57,960 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 4: effectiveness of this church.

760
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 3: You can't even see the people that are driving it.

761
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 4: You can't even see the people that are driving it

762
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:08,720
Speaker 4: because it's God's body. And when we all embrace our place.

763
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 4: You saw Him in embrace and crutches. If you could

764
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,800
Speaker 4: see a picture in the spirit of some of the church,

765
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 4: it's like just oh making it. Maybe Sunday to Sunday,

766
00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 4: we're just barely getting by.

767
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 1: I know.

768
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 3: It's so rough. The world's rough, and the Lord's like man.

769
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,800
Speaker 4: If that acl snap back into place and was willing

770
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 4: to embrace its place full, the stability of the church

771
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,160
Speaker 4: would be greater, The strength of the church would be greater.

772
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:36,879
Speaker 4: The rhythm and the pattern and the running, and we.

773
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,399
Speaker 3: Could run faster, and we could run harder, and.

774
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,879
Speaker 4: We could bring God greater glory on the earth if

775
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 4: we all embraced our place.

776
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 3: When I think of my whole.

777
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,080
Speaker 4: Life to where, by the grace of God, He's brought

778
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,839
Speaker 4: Nick and I today. I got saved in you know,

779
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 4: when dinosaurs still roamed on the earth. You weren't even born,

780
00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:00,160
Speaker 4: most of you at elevation. But I didn't know what

781
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:02,280
Speaker 4: to do. I just got saved. So I started serving

782
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,920
Speaker 4: in the youth ministry. I'd never prayed for youth. I

783
00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:06,200
Speaker 4: never even thought I'm called to youth.

784
00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:07,720
Speaker 3: I came from a Greek Orthodox background.

785
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 4: I did not even know what a Protestant church really was,

786
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 4: let alone what a.

787
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:12,400
Speaker 3: Youth group was.

788
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 4: But it was just like, okay, and go to the

789
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 4: club and get drunk, or go to youth. Okay, I'll

790
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 4: go to youth because at least I'll stay straight. So

791
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 4: I would go. And then they said there's going to

792
00:38:22,560 --> 00:38:25,240
Speaker 4: be a church clean up day. Well, I had gotten saved,

793
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 4: so I didn't. I didn't pray, I didn't fast. It

794
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,359
Speaker 4: was like, okay, I guess that's what you do now

795
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,000
Speaker 4: you're a Christian. I said, Jesus, you can have all

796
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 4: of me. I guess all of me means all of me,

797
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 4: and so I I wasn't thinking. And thank God, this

798
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:40,800
Speaker 4: was pre social media. So I wasn't scrolling through everybody

799
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:42,200
Speaker 4: else's life trying to tell.

800
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 3: God what I wanted to do with my life.

801
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,959
Speaker 4: This was old school where you got in a prayer

802
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,320
Speaker 4: clauset and got on your knees.

803
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 3: And actually asked God what he wanted for your life.

804
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 3: You weren't telling God what you wanted to do with

805
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,480
Speaker 3: your life. You were just glad that you were saved

806
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 3: and not going to Hell, so you would do anything.

807
00:38:57,560 --> 00:38:59,440
Speaker 4: So church clean up day you were like, thank you

808
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 4: God that you would choose me.

809
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:02,200
Speaker 3: Well, I turned up.

810
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 4: To the church clean up day and nobody else from

811
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,840
Speaker 4: the youth ministry turned up. I tell everyone, this is

812
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 4: how I've gotten to where I've gotten that God had

813
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 4: no other options. It's like, well, you're a cane tag

814
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 4: have it go. I'm going to get a lot of

815
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 4: glory because that's it. I've got no other options. And

816
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:18,759
Speaker 4: when you start getting to sixty, there's a lot less

817
00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:22,319
Speaker 4: hands that go up and the Lord's like, well I.

818
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 3: Will be glorified because everyone will know it's not you.

819
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:26,280
Speaker 3: But that's how it started.

820
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 4: And this is the youth pastor was at the church

821
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 4: clean up day. He said, you're Christine, carry offlics aren't you?

822
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:32,920
Speaker 4: That was my pre marriage name, and Nick thinks he

823
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:36,080
Speaker 4: saved me. And so it's like you're Christine carry Offlas

824
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,400
Speaker 4: and he goes, you're doing psychology, aren't you? And I

825
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,360
Speaker 4: was like doing English and economic history. So basically I

826
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 4: can read Golden books in counter ten.

827
00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:45,359
Speaker 3: But my miner was psychology.

828
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,320
Speaker 4: And he said, we're running. We've just got a grant

829
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 4: for a youth center. This is nineteen eighty nine. I said,

830
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,360
Speaker 4: what's a youth center? He said, I don't know, but

831
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 4: I'm going on a missions trip for six weeks with

832
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,400
Speaker 4: a Seega past us. So when I come back, you know,

833
00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 4: i'd like you to have worked out what we're going

834
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,040
Speaker 4: to do with youth center. That was my call to ministry.

835
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 3: That was it.

836
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 4: And I hadn't prayed. I hadn't said where do I

837
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 4: want to serve?

838
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:07,439
Speaker 3: What are my gifts?

839
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 4: I'm going to do a strength find a test, and

840
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,239
Speaker 4: I'm going to do a disc profile, and I'm going

841
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 4: to look at my love languages, and I'm going to

842
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:13,920
Speaker 4: have a look at witches.

843
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,319
Speaker 3: And no, no, I was. I was dead to self and

844
00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:17,360
Speaker 3: alive to Christ.

845
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,120
Speaker 4: I thought I was denying myself, taking up my crusts

846
00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:21,240
Speaker 4: and following.

847
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:23,759
Speaker 3: Jesus, I'm in his body, Yes, sir, what do you

848
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:25,880
Speaker 3: want me to do? Church cleanup day? Okay?

849
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 4: And then from the church cleanup day, I suddenly am

850
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 4: overseeing what became a very very influential youth center in Australia,

851
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:36,400
Speaker 4: became a national youth center.

852
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 3: I didn't know in nineteen ninety that God.

853
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,239
Speaker 4: Was preparing me for the thing he had prepared for

854
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,600
Speaker 4: me to run a global anti trafficking organization down twenty

855
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,359
Speaker 4: years later in the future. See, if I didn't turn

856
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,839
Speaker 4: up to the church cleanup day, I would never have

857
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 4: gotten the job. Learning how to do government submissions, learning

858
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:55,560
Speaker 4: how to talk to law enforcement and government and schools

859
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:58,799
Speaker 4: and work everywhere. All the skills I learned in anonymity

860
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,719
Speaker 4: and obscurity when you didn't even know who I was,

861
00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:03,760
Speaker 4: was preparing me to lead one of the largest anti

862
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:05,319
Speaker 4: trafficking organizations in.

863
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 3: The world way back then.

864
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 4: And then people were like, you should have gone to

865
00:41:12,120 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 4: another church, because for seven years I never stood on

866
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:16,839
Speaker 4: a platform with a microphone and ap preaching. It would

867
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 4: be certainly one of my gift that the Lord's given me.

868
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,840
Speaker 4: But the fact was, thank God that I had leaders

869
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 4: over me. They knew, that understood that the gift that

870
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,040
Speaker 4: was on me would have destroyed me because my character

871
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:34,120
Speaker 4: could not have sustained me after ten years of sexual abuse,

872
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:38,080
Speaker 4: that being abandoned at birth and being adopted out and broken.

873
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,400
Speaker 3: God had to heal me before he could actually put

874
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 3: me at the forefront of anywhere else. Church is what

875
00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:46,560
Speaker 3: did that?

876
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 4: Because if the light that is on you is greater

877
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,879
Speaker 4: than the light of Christ that is within you, that.

878
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 3: Light will destroy you.

879
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 4: And God cared too much about me and my future,

880
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 4: my marriage, my children than to say it's ridiculously Imagine

881
00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 4: if I pulled Can you just put that picture of

882
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 4: that ACL up there?

883
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:16,239
Speaker 3: Imagine if if we just stood here and applauded that ACL.

884
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:18,319
Speaker 3: I mean it looks weirdh no.

885
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,000
Speaker 4: No, no, But I mean if I just put it up,

886
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:22,399
Speaker 4: disconnected it from the knee.

887
00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 3: And just put it up, because that's what we do.

888
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:25,680
Speaker 3: I want my ligament.

889
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:28,640
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm gonna put a filter on it and

890
00:42:28,680 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 4: crop it and edit it and post it because I

891
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:32,680
Speaker 4: need you to applaud.

892
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,320
Speaker 3: My sign, you, my muscle, my I mean, we don't.

893
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:40,200
Speaker 4: Think, what are you smoking? But that's what we've done

894
00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,680
Speaker 4: in the body. Look at my gift. Look about the

895
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,880
Speaker 4: only value of the sign you or the muscle, or

896
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,480
Speaker 4: the gift or the talent is truly only in relation

897
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:51,840
Speaker 4: to the purpose that it serves in the body.

898
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 3: That is the value of it. We applaud the King

899
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:02,000
Speaker 3: when you disconnected.

900
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,120
Speaker 4: And we've got so many people in the Body of

901
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:07,920
Speaker 4: Christ that are misplaced and displaced because they won't embrace

902
00:43:07,960 --> 00:43:08,400
Speaker 4: their place.

903
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 3: And if you just embraced your place, the joy and

904
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:15,000
Speaker 3: the fulfillment that.

905
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,799
Speaker 4: Would come every part of my life, whether it came

906
00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 4: through you know, my spiritual mother for three decades, Joyce My,

907
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,640
Speaker 4: you know people, man, if I just had that hook up,

908
00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:29,160
Speaker 4: like Chris, I'm like I was a youth leader and

909
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,200
Speaker 4: then I was working at the youth center.

910
00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 3: That was training me for twenty years time in the future.

911
00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 4: I didn't even know a twenty one and because I

912
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 4: wasn't speaking here, the youth center work took me to

913
00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:44,280
Speaker 4: schools all around Australia.

914
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 3: That's where I learned to really communicate people. Go where

915
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:50,840
Speaker 3: did you learn to bridge? Honey? I went when nobody

916
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:51,560
Speaker 3: else wanted to go.

917
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 4: If you can hold the attention of fifteen hundred Australian boys,

918
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 4: at a private boys' school.

919
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,239
Speaker 3: Church is easy, but everyone's like you. People could just see.

920
00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:03,720
Speaker 4: I mean, if I could just get on the Christian conference,

921
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,960
Speaker 4: if I could just do this, And I'm like, if

922
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:08,200
Speaker 4: you just embrace your place in church and start serving,

923
00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 4: God will find you and God will elevate your promotion.

924
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:13,520
Speaker 4: Doesn't come from the north, southeast or west. It comes

925
00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:17,040
Speaker 4: from God. And God opens doors that no man can shut.

926
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:21,359
Speaker 4: And God will place you where you need to be.

927
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 3: And when God.

928
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:26,600
Speaker 4: Places you, you never have to fear being replaced. I'm

929
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 4: never looking over my shoulder. This is not like Hollywood.

930
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,560
Speaker 4: There is no next Christine came. What does it even mean?

931
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 4: God doesn't do next, He doesn't you. There's only one.

932
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,680
Speaker 4: He only makes one of everyone. He says, behold, I

933
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,560
Speaker 4: do a new thing. We're always looking for the next thing,

934
00:44:41,600 --> 00:44:43,600
Speaker 4: which is a younger version of the same old thing.

935
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:45,239
Speaker 3: And God says, I'm not doing the same old thing.

936
00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:47,200
Speaker 3: I'm doing your brand new thing. So there's a place

937
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:48,960
Speaker 3: for everyone in my body.

938
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:52,319
Speaker 4: There's a place for everyone in my body.

939
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,879
Speaker 3: Would you trust him enough to embrace your place. This

940
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 3: is the whole thing. I went from being.

941
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 4: Teaching in high schools and then my past up because

942
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,759
Speaker 4: he watched me for nearly a decade, goes Christine, Now

943
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 4: I want you to lead the largest.

944
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 3: Youth movement in Australia.

945
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 4: So I went from like high schools to twenty thousand

946
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 4: people and people go, oh.

947
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:17,760
Speaker 3: Where is she come from?

948
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:21,120
Speaker 4: I was like, David, and then like what an overnight success?

949
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,319
Speaker 4: I'm going here was a long night.

950
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 3: But God was preparing me the whole time for what

951
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:28,879
Speaker 3: He prepared for me.

952
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 4: And then because I was in that position, because God

953
00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,640
Speaker 4: came and found me in anonymity, in obscurity at a

954
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,560
Speaker 4: church cleanup day, in the back of a youth center,

955
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:44,440
Speaker 4: with teaching el to at risk young people in a

956
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 4: high school, teaching and serving in church the whole time.

957
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,680
Speaker 4: And then He's like, okay, I've got a woman coming

958
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 4: from America that I didn't even know. We didn't even

959
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 4: have Christian TV. Then there's the largest media ministry in

960
00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 4: the world. And because I was a woman, and it

961
00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 4: was like, okay, we need someone to go pick her up.

962
00:46:01,560 --> 00:46:02,800
Speaker 3: So I was her driver.

963
00:46:03,920 --> 00:46:06,319
Speaker 4: I'm a youth leader and there's the largest ministry in

964
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 4: the world and I drove her. Some people, well, I'm

965
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:10,799
Speaker 4: too good to drive. I'm pretry. I speak to twenty

966
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,319
Speaker 4: thousand people, Why would I drive anybody? But when you

967
00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:17,239
Speaker 4: embrace your place, you don't value this anymore than you

968
00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:20,799
Speaker 4: value the driving, because God sets you in place. Well,

969
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,960
Speaker 4: who would have known that I would be driving too?

970
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:26,920
Speaker 4: I spire and the commisa. I remember they said to me, Christine,

971
00:46:26,920 --> 00:46:28,960
Speaker 4: Remember I'm a yeth's leader. You have to go pick

972
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:30,600
Speaker 4: her up at like eight o'clock.

973
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:32,600
Speaker 3: I was so nervous, and I was a youth leader.

974
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 4: I had no money, so I borrowed a friend's suit

975
00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:37,840
Speaker 4: and then I went and stood in the hallway outside

976
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 4: her room at the hotel at.

977
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:40,680
Speaker 3: Five point thirty in the morning because I didn't want

978
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:41,080
Speaker 3: to be late.

979
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 4: And then she opens the door at six point thirty

980
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,520
Speaker 4: because her breakfast came, and she looked, and I looked

981
00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 4: the other way, like, you know, as if naturally I'm

982
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,880
Speaker 4: just standing in a hall in a suit borrowed. And

983
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:53,839
Speaker 4: so then she opens the door again at seven point

984
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,160
Speaker 4: thirty to put the trade back out, and Nerd is

985
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,239
Speaker 4: still standing here, and I didn't even know what she

986
00:46:58,280 --> 00:46:59,320
Speaker 4: goes Are you.

987
00:46:59,239 --> 00:46:59,759
Speaker 3: Here for me?

988
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,759
Speaker 4: Honestly, Church, I was born alone, thinking maybe I could

989
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:05,640
Speaker 4: lie and say no, But then I thought she's gonna

990
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:08,080
Speaker 4: get in my car, so she's gonna know. So I

991
00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:10,359
Speaker 4: didn't even know what to do, so I went, yeah,

992
00:47:10,360 --> 00:47:12,239
Speaker 4: I didn't want to be late, and she.

993
00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 3: Goes, come in. Then I'm dying, going my.

994
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:16,920
Speaker 4: Past is gonna kill me because I'm going into the

995
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:18,040
Speaker 4: room of the guest speaker.

996
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:20,640
Speaker 3: And then this is my first conversation.

997
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:22,839
Speaker 4: She'd tell when she comes in next time, she'll tell

998
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:25,440
Speaker 4: you she before back then, she was like, so into

999
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 4: Saint John's and look at me, I'm like as plain

1000
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:30,480
Speaker 4: as and she opens the cupboard and she goes, Christy

1001
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,280
Speaker 4: shows me all her jackets, Christine. The more it sparkles,

1002
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:35,560
Speaker 4: the more I like it.

1003
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,040
Speaker 3: Anyway, So that was that.

1004
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 4: And then who would have known that that woman would

1005
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:45,279
Speaker 4: bother me? That I found out that I was adopted

1006
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 4: and don't know my biological mother and after all the

1007
00:47:47,800 --> 00:47:50,360
Speaker 4: abuse and you know her story and all of the

1008
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:53,840
Speaker 4: rejection and the abandonment, and you know, last year we

1009
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,279
Speaker 4: found out Joyce was born the exact same year as

1010
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,239
Speaker 4: my biological mother. Wouldn't that just be like God to

1011
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,360
Speaker 4: do things circle? And she has mothered us and because

1012
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 4: of that, our marriage has been so strong, and our

1013
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:08,440
Speaker 4: kids because of what she went through, she was able

1014
00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:10,880
Speaker 4: to prepare the way for me. And a lot of

1015
00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:13,040
Speaker 4: why I'm still here by the grace of God at sixties,

1016
00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:15,880
Speaker 4: because she's still here at eighty three and still honoring

1017
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 4: God and still serving God.

1018
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:21,719
Speaker 3: And I was her driver.

1019
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,279
Speaker 4: Because my pastor asked me to go and pick her up.

1020
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 4: You might think that's a demeaning job. I think it

1021
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:33,600
Speaker 4: sent me up pretty well. Say elevation, What am I saying?

1022
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:34,680
Speaker 4: Your greatest days are ahead of.

1023
00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:36,160
Speaker 3: You, are not behind you.

1024
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:39,399
Speaker 4: Your strongest days are ahead of you and not behind you.

1025
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:41,520
Speaker 3: Your fastest days are.

1026
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 4: Ahead of you and not behind you. And your willingness.

1027
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 4: Every single person, if family, all of allocations, every single

1028
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:53,600
Speaker 4: person that says I don't care whether I am visible

1029
00:48:53,960 --> 00:48:56,880
Speaker 4: or prominent. I don't care if I'm an acl assign

1030
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,040
Speaker 4: you a muscle, a tissue. All I want to do

1031
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:03,880
Speaker 4: is embrace my place, because ultimately it's not even about

1032
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,720
Speaker 4: my place. It's about the God that sets me in place,

1033
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,520
Speaker 4: and this is his party. In Jesus' name, Come on,

1034
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:11,800
Speaker 4: if you believe that, give the Lord a mighty ovation

1035
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,359
Speaker 4: in this place today in Jesus' name.

1036
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:20,120
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, thank you for joining us.

1037
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

1038
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 2: this ministry.

1039
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:26,440
Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

1040
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:29,359
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,

1041
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:33,840
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information

1042
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:37,160
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

1043
00:49:37,440 --> 00:49:38,760
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.

1044
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:41,319
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

1045
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,480
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at

1046
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:44,359
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.

1047
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:46,080
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you