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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 2: Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these

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Speaker 2: new sermons every week. Hope you're blessed today.

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Speaker 3: I am so grateful for Jesus and I am so

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Speaker 3: grateful for every one of you here today at Elevation Church.

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Speaker 3: How grateful am I and all.

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Speaker 1: Of our e family.

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Speaker 3: I've got to say, I'm so excited this morning. Normally

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Speaker 3: I'm the one on the other side of the screen.

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Speaker 1: Because I'll give it. I'll let you in a little secret.

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Speaker 3: You know, I live on the West Coast, and so

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Speaker 3: you're three hours ahead of us. So before I go

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Speaker 3: and preach on the West Coast, I get a dose

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Speaker 3: of Pastor Stephen Ferdick before.

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Speaker 1: I go and breathe.

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Speaker 3: Every every Sunday, I'm so so grateful for Pastor Stephen

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Speaker 3: and Holly and this church. Turn to your neighbor and say,

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Speaker 3: you are the best looking person I've seen today wherever

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Speaker 3: you are, Okay, hang on, just before you sit down,

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Speaker 3: turn to your other neighbor that's your second choice, and

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Speaker 3: say you're actually better looking than the other person.

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Speaker 1: I was lying. I was lying you could be seated.

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Speaker 3: I could not wait to be with my Elevation Church

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Speaker 3: family today and all our e family. I'm excited because

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Speaker 3: I'm normally that person on the other side of the screen,

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Speaker 3: and it is like being home away from home. You

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Speaker 3: know when I first started coming here. I am here

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Speaker 3: today with the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh

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Speaker 3: on planet Earth. And in about two weeks Nick and

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Speaker 3: I have been married for thirty years.

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Speaker 1: How is that?

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Speaker 3: And so you know, I gotta say my husband is

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Speaker 3: number twelve of thirteen children. Yes, there was no television

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Speaker 3: in that part of Australia at all. My Nick's mother

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Speaker 3: had fifteen full term pregnancies in seventeen years.

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Speaker 1: Yola just got to say. Every woman in this.

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Speaker 3: Room just crossed her legs right there. That was like

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Speaker 3: another level. I'm glad they didn't stop where they were.

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Speaker 3: But my mother in law, she didn't think you were

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Speaker 3: a chick unless you popped out like ten kids. And

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Speaker 3: we've only got two. So I would take my two daughters,

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Speaker 3: Katherine and I'd say to my mother in law, this

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Speaker 3: is Katherine and she is my Alpha.

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Speaker 1: And this is Sophia and she is my Omega.

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Speaker 3: And this is the beginning and the end of my

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Speaker 3: child very years.

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Speaker 1: This is where it all stops right here.

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Speaker 3: And so our daughters, you know, when we started coming

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Speaker 3: to elevation, they were like in single digits. And now Katherine,

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Speaker 3: she graduated from Pepperdine last May.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you know where that is.

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Speaker 3: Yes, she was suffering for Jesus at Malibu Beach for

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Speaker 3: the last four years. She was like, here, I am Lord,

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Speaker 3: send me so. And then she went to Archie Dinner

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Speaker 3: and did an internship with a church down there, which

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Speaker 3: was fantastic. And now she's back working with us.

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Speaker 1: At A twenty one.

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Speaker 3: And then our Sophia is studying comparative literature in Paris,

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Speaker 3: and I know I called her. She's like, Mummy, I

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Speaker 3: can't talk to you right now. I'm just watching the

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Speaker 3: sunset over Notre Dame eating a chocolate croissant, to which

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Speaker 3: I replied, sweetheart, if you want to watch that same

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Speaker 3: sunset next semester with your fees paid, you will talk

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Speaker 3: to your mother right now. That's actually what you're going

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Speaker 3: to be doing.

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Speaker 1: There's nothing else. Don't choke on your croissant. But anyway, and.

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Speaker 3: This is the year that.

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Speaker 1: I turn sixty.

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Speaker 3: So I am so excited, and I have to tell

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Speaker 3: you all that I am celebrating every day. There is

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Speaker 3: no way I'm waiting till September.

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Speaker 1: I figure, if you'd live this.

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Speaker 3: 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. So

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Speaker 3: I'm telling you all because I love gifts, feel free

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Speaker 3: all year, and so I'm also doing.

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Speaker 1: Sixty things I've never.

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Speaker 3: Done before because I want to make sure.

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Speaker 1: We finish strong.

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Speaker 3: We need a generation of young people that can see

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Speaker 3: that the longer you walk with Jesus.

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Speaker 1: The better that it gets.

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Speaker 3: I'm telling you I want to run my race and

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Speaker 3: finish my course. I love being twenty, and I love

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Speaker 3: being thirty, and I love being forty.

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Speaker 1: And I love being in my fifties.

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Speaker 3: But there is nothing like your sixth decade that is

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Speaker 3: the best thing.

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Speaker 1: So you just wait. It gets better and better and better.

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Speaker 3: That's is I mean, how could you fix your eyes

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Speaker 3: on Jesus for over four decades and not grow more

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Speaker 3: in love or grace or peace, or goodness or kindness.

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Speaker 1: You know, some people like they look like just a

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Speaker 1: whole lot.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, more depressed after forty years. I'm like, honey,

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Speaker 3: you could not have fixed your eyes on Jesus and then.

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Speaker 1: Up like that.

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Speaker 3: Some people, you know, I have been in the wave

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Speaker 3: for fifty years. I'm like, get out of the way anyway.

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Speaker 1: So I'm just like I told my daughters, I'm going.

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Speaker 3: To be super Granny for Jesus's I'm going to be

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Speaker 3: like kay, he said, I'm eighty five, and I'm as

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Speaker 3: strong now as I was then. Now give me this mountain.

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Speaker 3: That's my inheritance. I'm going in.

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Speaker 1: To take it. So it just gets better. You young ones,

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Speaker 1: you don't even know. You don't even know yet. What

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Speaker 1: do I tell you all that for?

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Speaker 3: Because I'm doing sixty things I've never done, and that

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Speaker 3: could be anything. It could be, like you know, really

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Speaker 3: big things, really little things. And you know, so I

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Speaker 3: live in California and we that is a home of

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Speaker 3: in and out.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, do you have in and out? Yes?

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Speaker 3: Okay, And they're going to be serving that at the

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Speaker 3: marriage Supper of the Lamb in case anybody was not sure.

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Speaker 3: And so I thought, after like three decades of going

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Speaker 3: to Texas, I thought, Okay, this is my sixtieth year.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to do things I've never done. So I

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Speaker 1: tried what a burger?

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Speaker 3: That was a once I'm done, now I'm moving on too,

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Speaker 3: they was. And then I'd never seen the Northern lights.

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Speaker 3: So Nick took me to Alaska to see the Northern

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Speaker 3: Lights and stain and Igloo, and I thought, next time

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Speaker 3: we want to go to an igloo, you can go byself. Okay,

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Speaker 3: So it was awesome, but we also did that, and

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Speaker 3: I got to tell you to give some of you

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Speaker 3: some excitement.

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Speaker 1: To keep going.

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Speaker 3: I've been almost four decades in full time vocational ministry,

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Speaker 3: and the Lord's allowed us to do lots of things,

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Speaker 3: but I did get I just want to tell you

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Speaker 3: because I did get a.

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Speaker 1: First which for me.

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Speaker 3: You know, I've written twelve books and done a lot

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Speaker 3: of ministry in nearly four decades.

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Speaker 1: But last week, The Faith to.

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Speaker 3: Flourish came out and it was the first time I

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Speaker 3: got a New York Times bestseller?

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Speaker 1: How is that the first time?

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Speaker 3: So I'm telling you that because life does not stop

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Speaker 3: when you're sixty. There's a whole lot of first.

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Speaker 1: Ahead of you. And you know, I just truly believe.

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Speaker 3: That it is the will of God, that the body

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Speaker 3: of Christ begins to flourish again. And you know, we

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Speaker 3: dive deep into the life of the olive tree, because

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Speaker 3: I was reading some fifty two, verse eight, and David

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Speaker 3: in the midst of his darkest hour, there was so

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Speaker 3: much adversity. Was Saul was chasing him to kill him,

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Speaker 3: Doe Egg was after him. There was so much betrayal

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Speaker 3: and lies and slander and gossip and darkness. And he

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Speaker 3: was in fear of his physical life. And yet in

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Speaker 3: the midst of it, he said, but I am like

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Speaker 3: a green olive tree flourishing in the House of God.

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Speaker 3: And he was speaking of his deliverance and his state

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Speaker 3: regardless of his external circumstances.

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Speaker 1: And I was standing.

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Speaker 3: We have an a twenty one office in Athens in Greece,

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Speaker 3: and I was taking a team there.

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Speaker 1: We went up to the top of the Acropolis.

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Speaker 3: To see the Parthenon, and it's barren, and it's arid,

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Speaker 3: and it's dry and everything. It was in the middle

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Speaker 3: of the There had been great fires in Athens. There

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Speaker 3: was a great heat wave, and there was no other

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Speaker 3: trees that were alive. There was nothing, there was no vegetation,

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Speaker 3: and there was this one and if you go up

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Speaker 3: to the parthenon, you'll see it, this sacred olive tree.

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Speaker 3: And here in the midst of barrenness, here in the

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Speaker 3: midst of a place where nothing else is growing, there

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Speaker 3: is this green olive tree whose root system goes deep,

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Speaker 3: that is flourishing and thriving and producing fruit and producing

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Speaker 3: an ecosystem and keeping other things alive and giving them

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Speaker 3: shelter and producing oil.

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Speaker 1: And I sat there, and I.

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Speaker 3: Went to eight countries, went to visit olive farms on

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Speaker 3: eight different countries, talk to the owners of olive farms

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Speaker 3: to see.

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Speaker 1: I have nerded out so much.

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Speaker 3: I know more about olive trees, olive oil, olive branches,

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Speaker 3: and olives than you would ever want. But I'm Greek,

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Speaker 3: and so if you've seen my big fact Greek wedding,

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Speaker 3: that is my big fact Greek life. You had milk

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Speaker 3: in your baby bottle. I had olive oil. And so

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Speaker 3: the issue is out of that that an olive tree

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Speaker 3: grows where nothing else grows and continues to breed life.

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Speaker 1: And in scripture there are over.

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Speaker 3: Two hundred references to olive trees, olive oil, olive branches.

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Speaker 3: And I think in this hour where our world is

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Speaker 3: so chaotic, it's so full of division, it's so full

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Speaker 3: of fear, it's so full of darkness and economic instability,

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Speaker 3: and political instability, and moral instability and sociological instability. We

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Speaker 3: the Church of Jesus Christ to be like a green

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Speaker 3: olive tree, flourishing and producing life, and it will be

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Speaker 3: one of the greatest witnesses to our generation if we

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Speaker 3: would dare do that. So I was excited about writing

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Speaker 3: that message, and I'm believing to equip us to do it.

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Speaker 3: And I also want to say thank you to every

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Speaker 3: one of you because Elevation Church is such a key

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Speaker 3: partner church right from day one of a twenty one.

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Speaker 3: And I just want to testify because so many of you,

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Speaker 3: especially during Love Week, you are involved in packing packages

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Speaker 3: at our We've got an office here in Charlotte, and

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Speaker 3: so many of so much of what you pack goes

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Speaker 3: to survivors, Like we go out with law enforcement when

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Speaker 3: there are raids done and when there are operations done,

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Speaker 3: and sometimes we're the first port of contact with victims

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Speaker 3: and survivors. And because of your giving and because of

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Speaker 3: your generosity, we are able to give packs that bring

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Speaker 3: dignity to the women and the children and writing those

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Speaker 3: moments of crisis. But I do want to tell you

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Speaker 3: because there's a case that we've been working on for

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Speaker 3: nine years. This is how long it takes. Nine years.

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Speaker 3: And last week the guy from Charlotte that had trafficked

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Speaker 3: multiple women across fifty one cities, fifteen states, we put

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Speaker 3: him away for thirty five years. How is that right here?

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Speaker 3: It's Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: So that is what you're giving is doing. And so

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Speaker 1: I am so so grateful.

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Speaker 3: I could keep you here and tell you story after story,

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Speaker 3: 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. I'm from a Greek background, so I'm demonstrative

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Speaker 3: in every way. My inside voice is my outside voice,

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Speaker 3: is my every voice. And Nick is like Christine, I

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Speaker 3: am excited in worship. My big toe is moving in

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Speaker 3: my shoe, you know so.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like in orbit, like who am I on?

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Speaker 1: Like I nearly was up there through the sky today.

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Speaker 3: So but I'm also meticulous, he would say, bought aline OCD.

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Speaker 1: Anyway, I'm very meticulous.

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Speaker 3: And we have a mantra in our house since my

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Speaker 3: girls were like.

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Speaker 1: Came in Utero.

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Speaker 3: We had a mantra and we would say, and I

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Speaker 3: would say, girls, there is a place for everything, and

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Speaker 3: everything has a place.

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Speaker 1: See, you're just like me.

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Speaker 3: But Nick Nick is of the opinion that there are

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Speaker 3: many potential places for every one thing.

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Speaker 1: And let me just.

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Speaker 3: Say that over thirty years there have been some not many,

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Speaker 3: for frequent times of intense fellowship over which one of

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Speaker 3: the many places nixt keys may have been in. And

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Speaker 3: if we just put them in the one place we

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Speaker 3: would have avoided, there would have been much more fruit

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Speaker 3: of the spirit.

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Speaker 1: In our household.

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Speaker 3: He believes that the Lord sent him into my life

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Speaker 3: for sanctification, for an additional lay of sanctification. But I

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Speaker 3: always think it's really good if we just put things

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Speaker 3: in their place. I mean, it takes as much effort

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Speaker 3: to put in the right place as the wrong place.

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Speaker 3: And anyway, I'm gonna not help a lot of marriages

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Speaker 3: right now, so we're not gonna I'm watching Nudging Happening

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Speaker 3: and heads movie. But I do have to say that

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Speaker 3: after almost four decades of serving Jesus, it is nice

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Speaker 3: when God agrees with you. And so in my quiet time,

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Speaker 3: when I came across First Corinthians chapter twelve. I needed

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Speaker 3: to take it to Nick to show him that God and.

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Speaker 1: I were in the same same place.

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Speaker 3: We were on the same page when it comes to

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Speaker 3: the fact that there is a place for everything, and

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Speaker 3: I had to dig into the nineteen eighty four NIV version.

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Speaker 3: Today we have come to real church here at elevation

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Speaker 3: to pull out First Corinthians Chapter twelve, Verses twelve to

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Speaker 3: twenty seven. I'm going to read this to you. This

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Speaker 3: is the word of the Lord. The body is a

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Speaker 3: in it. Though it is made up of many parts,

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Speaker 3: and though all its parts are many, they form one body.

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Speaker 3: So it is with Christ. For we are sorry. For

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Speaker 3: we were all baptized by one spirit into one body,

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Speaker 3: whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all.

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Speaker 1: Given the one spirit to drink. Now, the body is

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Speaker 1: not made up of one part, but of many.

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Speaker 3: If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand,

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Speaker 3: I do not belong to the body, it would not,

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Speaker 3: for that reason cease to.

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Speaker 1: Be part of the body. And if the ear should say,

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Speaker 1: because I am not an eye, I.

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Speaker 3: Do not belong to the body, it would not, for

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Speaker 3: that reason cease to be part of the body. If

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Speaker 3: the whole body were an eye, where would the sense

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Speaker 3: of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear,

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Speaker 3: where would the sense of smell be? But in fact,

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Speaker 3: God has arranged the parts of the body, every one

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Speaker 3: of them, just as he wanted.

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Speaker 1: Them to be. If they were all one.

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Speaker 3: Part, where would the body be as it is?

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Speaker 1: There are many parts but one body.

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Speaker 3: The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you,

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Speaker 3: and the head cannot say to.

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Speaker 1: The feet, I don't need you.

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Speaker 3: On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem

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Speaker 3: to be weaker are indispensable. And the parts we think

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Speaker 3: are less honorable we treat.

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Speaker 1: With special honor. And the parts that.

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Speaker 3: Are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable

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Speaker 3: parts need.

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Speaker 1: No special treatment.

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Speaker 3: But God has combined the members of the body and

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Speaker 3: has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,

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Speaker 3: so that there should be no division in the body,

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Speaker 3: but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

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Speaker 3: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If

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Speaker 3: one part is on it, every part rejoices with it.

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Speaker 3: Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of.

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Speaker 1: You is a part of it.

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Speaker 3: I love this portion of Scripture, Paul was writing to

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Speaker 3: the church in Karnth who was incredibly divided, especially in

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Speaker 3: the way that they were ranking the value of spiritual gifts.

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Speaker 1: And so the fact is that they were thinking.

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Speaker 3: That the more visible gifts and that they were the

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Speaker 3: more important gifts, the more spectacular, especially when it came

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Speaker 3: to the charismatic gifts of they have to be the

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Speaker 3: more important gifts. So what that was causing was division

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Speaker 3: and hierarchy. And yet God had set every part of

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Speaker 3: the body in place just as he saw fit.

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Speaker 1: He has a place for every single part. There's no hierarchy.

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Speaker 3: It doesn't rank as important because there's only one body

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Speaker 3: in dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and there's

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Speaker 3: only one head on this body, and his name is

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Speaker 3: King Jesus. He is the head of his body, and

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Speaker 3: every other part, every other part, has a very important

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Speaker 3: place to play in the Body of Christ. Now, what

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Speaker 3: happens is in our culture that so elevates visibility and

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Speaker 3: confuses prominence and visibility with significance, we end up having

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Speaker 3: a problem in the church because culture says if you

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Speaker 3: have more followers, you're more important, If you're a greater

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Speaker 3: celebrity and more people know your name. Somehow you are

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Speaker 3: more important or you have greater influence, so you are

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Speaker 3: more important. That's not how the body works. Just because

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Speaker 3: someone you today you see me here on this platform,

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Speaker 3: in the eyes of God and in the Church.

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Speaker 1: Of God, and in the Body of Christ, I am

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Speaker 1: no more.

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Speaker 3: Important than any other part of the body, because God

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Speaker 3: sets every member in place in his body.

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Speaker 1: It's actually his body.

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Speaker 3: But we can bring into our commitment to the Lord

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Speaker 3: the same.

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Speaker 1: Thinking that the world has.

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Speaker 3: Are we confuse visibility with significance, We confuse reach and

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Speaker 3: being known.

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Speaker 1: With significance to God. But here in.

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Speaker 3: This passage, Pall says, there's not one part that's dispensable.

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Speaker 3: There's not one single part of the Body of Christ

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Speaker 3: that is not an important part and doesn't have a

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Speaker 3: place in the body. Just because you can't see them

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Speaker 3: doesn't mean that they are in any way of any

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Speaker 3: less value. Now, the fact is, for you see me here,

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Speaker 3: you see the worship team here, Pastor Jonathan.

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Speaker 1: Today.

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Speaker 3: But before we even woke up this morning, there was

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Speaker 3: people that were getting up and praying for all of

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Speaker 3: our locations, for our EPAM, for all of our services.

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Speaker 3: People that nobody even has ever seen.

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Speaker 1: You don't know their names. There are people working in.

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Speaker 3: The parking lot that are getting ready, that are directing traffic.

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Speaker 3: There are people right now with our children teaching them

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Speaker 3: about the importance of the Word of God. People that

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Speaker 3: are teaching our teenagers. There are people that are working

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Speaker 3: the sound and the light, and people that are working

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Speaker 3: the scriptures going up on screen or making sure that there.

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Speaker 1: Is connection for if you.

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Speaker 3: Can't see any of them. But let me just say,

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Speaker 3: if this microphone went off, we.

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Speaker 1: Would all suffer.

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Speaker 3: If one part suffers, everyone suffers. If there was no

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Speaker 3: one to turn the lights on, if there was no

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Speaker 3: one that was praying, if there was no one that

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Speaker 3: was serving our children, or our kids or in the

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Speaker 3: parking lot, then.

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Speaker 1: We would all suffer.

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Speaker 3: But what happens is we've learned to think that the

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Speaker 3: only thing that matters in the body is the prominent positions,

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Speaker 3: and somehow that prominence is more significant to God. But

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Speaker 3: God says, it's my body, and I set every member

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Speaker 3: in place in my body. God sets the members in place. Now,

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Speaker 3: you know, it's so interesting, and I don't think we

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Speaker 3: understand really the value of what it means that if

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Speaker 3: one part suffers, every part suffers. A few years ago,

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Speaker 3: you know, really, when we moved to America, I went

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Speaker 3: skiing foremost the first time in my life. What had

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Speaker 3: happened is I'm from a Greek background, and Josh, you

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Speaker 3: have to understand that Greeks are fatalist. By that, I

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Speaker 3: mean it does not matter how bad things are, they

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Speaker 3: can always get worse with a Greek family. And so

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Speaker 3: I grew up in a Greek home where my mother

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Speaker 3: would always say whose dinner?

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Speaker 1: We speak?

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Speaker 3: Greek is my first language, and we have windecks in

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Speaker 3: every room of the house, and so.

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Speaker 1: She go, Who's dinner?

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Speaker 3: You can't go skiing because if.

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Speaker 1: You go skiing, you'll die.

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Speaker 3: There was no possibility you could go skiing and ski

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Speaker 3: It was like ski equals death. So when we finally

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Speaker 3: moved to America, I felt like I.

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Speaker 1: Was a fourteen hour plane ride away from.

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Speaker 3: My Greek mother. I know, I was forty five, but

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Speaker 3: I was still scared of her. So it was like, Okay,

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Speaker 3: I can now do what I want finally, And so

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00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,320
Speaker 3: these five families from Louisiana invited us to go skiing

404
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,359
Speaker 3: in Colorado. Now this was during the winter Olympics, and

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Speaker 3: I know I'm from Australia, so I could surf. I

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00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,119
Speaker 3: thought surfing and skiing were the same thing. They're not,

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00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,560
Speaker 3: in case you're wondering, and so I'm thinking this is

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Speaker 3: going to be easy. So what I would do Church

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Speaker 3: is I would watch the Winter Olympics at night like

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Speaker 3: we just have, and then I would get up in

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Speaker 3: the morning and think, I am representing Australia. I am

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Speaker 3: representing Australia.

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Speaker 1: The fact that I didn't know what I was doing

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Speaker 1: was incidental. So you know, all the guys would be on.

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Speaker 3: These like double black diamond suicide runs and I would

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Speaker 3: have to go to the green slopes with the two

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Speaker 3: year olds that were just learning how to ski. So

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

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Speaker 3: this one day I said to my husband, I go, Dick,

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Speaker 3: I want you to.

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Speaker 1: Come with me and the guys. We had this great run.

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Speaker 3: And so you know, he'd by then had been married

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Speaker 3: for more than a minute. And any man that's been

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Speaker 3: married for more than a minute knows that if your

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Speaker 3: wife ever asks you to do anything like would you

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Speaker 3: want to go on the black double diamond slaps with

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Speaker 3: your friends or come on the green flat slaps with

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Speaker 3: me and the two year olds. If you kind of

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Speaker 3: wanted any action that night, you would come to the

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Speaker 3: thing with your wife. I'm just putting it out there

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Speaker 3: in the atmosphere. So married, I did say, married.

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Speaker 1: And so and so Nick came with me, and I.

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Speaker 3: Go to him, Babe, if you are with the guys

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Speaker 3: 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 1: But my husband, being.

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Speaker 3: A man of integrity, not only said.

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Speaker 1: Yes, this is what he said. He goes, Babe, if

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Speaker 1: I was with the guys right now, I.

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Speaker 3: Would be having much more, much more fun. Okay, Now,

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Speaker 3: that is like putting a red rag in front of

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Speaker 3: a bull.

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Speaker 1: So I went.

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Speaker 3: I looked and there was like this blue run just

445
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 3: over there. So I turned my skis down famous last words.

446
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 3: I look over my shoulder and I say to him, well, sweetheart,

447
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 3: eat my snow.

448
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,199
Speaker 1: And off I go. Now Church, I knew I was

449
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:24,560
Speaker 1: in serious trouble.

450
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,439
Speaker 3: About twenty seconds later on my second summersault that was

451
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 3: not planned.

452
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: That was not planned.

453
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,920
Speaker 3: Once ski went flying and then on my right leg,

454
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 3: I heard the loudest pop pop pop you're there that

455
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 3: I've heard, and I snapped my ACL, tore my MCL,

456
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,000
Speaker 3: tore my meniscus, fractured my nee.

457
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:45,359
Speaker 1: It was or I was.

458
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 3: Lying there, I was like I couldn't move, knick kat

459
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:49,879
Speaker 3: to call the ski patrol.

460
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: You know, when they put you like in that coffin and.

461
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,040
Speaker 3: Take you down the mountain and you go down.

462
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:54,679
Speaker 1: That was me.

463
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,320
Speaker 3: And I do need to tell you this because I'm Greek.

464
00:22:59,280 --> 00:23:01,400
Speaker 1: I would leave the house all of my.

465
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,960
Speaker 3: Years that I lived at My mother would go, kose dinner, are.

466
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 1: You wearing good, new, clean underwear?

467
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:12,439
Speaker 3: To wish I would say, Mum, why because cause dinner.

468
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,480
Speaker 4: If you have an accident and you end up in

469
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 4: the back of.

470
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 3: An ambulance, it's important that you've got good underwear. Anyone

471
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 3: else's mother elevation, you are my people. And so anyway,

472
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,359
Speaker 3: you know, for the sake of Sunday morning decorum, I

473
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 3: won't go into detail, but all I'm going to say

474
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,679
Speaker 3: to you is, as they were elevating me and putting

475
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:38,879
Speaker 3: me into the ambulance, I'm just going to say this.

476
00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:40,880
Speaker 1: My mother was right.

477
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 3: Anyway, So in the festival of that.

478
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,239
Speaker 1: I was.

479
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,439
Speaker 3: I ended up having to have a hamstring graft, and

480
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,879
Speaker 3: you know, had to go through major, major rehab, and

481
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 3: you know I wanted.

482
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: To relive that this morning.

483
00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,159
Speaker 3: So I've got my friend here, who's going to come

484
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,159
Speaker 3: and show you how I had to walk around for

485
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 3: quite a while.

486
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: Look at this, let's see how you go?

487
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 3: Oh yes, look at this? Come on, is this not

488
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 3: just skillful? I want you to come and stand over

489
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:15,439
Speaker 3: here with me.

490
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:16,320
Speaker 1: You are so.

491
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 3: Tall and the crutches are the wrong size, but that's okay. Look,

492
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,120
Speaker 3: these crutches are right for me, not a six foot

493
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:25,000
Speaker 3: seven giant.

494
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 1: Okay, there we go.

495
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,360
Speaker 3: But this is what happened in this knee I had,

496
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 3: and you have an ACL. Now, before my accident, I

497
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 3: didn't even know if I had an abcdefg hi j I.

498
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,760
Speaker 3: I didn't even know that I had an ACL or

499
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,439
Speaker 3: x y Z. An ACL is a liquament that it

500
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,200
Speaker 3: is smaller than this little finger.

501
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:52,440
Speaker 1: Tucked in at the back of your knee.

502
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,440
Speaker 3: I think we've got a photo of it that you're

503
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:55,679
Speaker 3: going to see right now.

504
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,439
Speaker 1: See that. I hope you don't get nauseous.

505
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 3: See that that ACL tucked in right there.

506
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 1: I snapped that thing. And when I snapped it, I

507
00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 1: was in the.

508
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 3: Most excruciating pain.

509
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:11,399
Speaker 1: I could barely function for weeks. I couldn't think straight

510
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:12,680
Speaker 1: the pain was so great.

511
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:17,160
Speaker 3: And then when I had my surgery, I had.

512
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: To walk around and for a long time.

513
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,919
Speaker 3: With embrace because this part of my body could not

514
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 3: bear the weight. So this part of the body had

515
00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:32,199
Speaker 3: to overcompensate for what this for One small ligament that

516
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:37,359
Speaker 3: had snapped, one small ligament that had been displaced, a

517
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 3: ligament that I did not even know existed in my

518
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:45,680
Speaker 3: body because that did not embrace its place and it

519
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:50,159
Speaker 3: became displaced. It crippled and paralyzed the functioning of my

520
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:51,159
Speaker 3: entire body.

521
00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:52,440
Speaker 1: Thanks Matte.

522
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 3: And what happens in church, we think, well.

523
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 1: It doesn't really matter.

524
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 3: If I'm not up in front, you can even go

525
00:25:58,760 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 3: down the stairs.

526
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: How's that you are? Allegend? He's like, okay, now I'm limping.

527
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 3: We think doesn't really matter. And is teaching the kids

528
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,720
Speaker 3: really important? He's parking the cars really important? He is

529
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,760
Speaker 3: working in production really important? Well, nobody will ever see me,

530
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:15,400
Speaker 3: and it doesn't matter. The prescripture says, it's the unseen

531
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,159
Speaker 3: parts that often hold the whole thing together. And just

532
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 3: because you don't know they're there, it doesn't mean that God.

533
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 1: Doesn't that acl.

534
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 3: I ended up having to have a hamstring graft because

535
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,439
Speaker 3: I am so grateful when the doctor went in to

536
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 3: find my hamstring that my hamstring didn't say it or

537
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 3: my hamstring.

538
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,879
Speaker 1: I'm glad it was there. I'm glad that it didn't.

539
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 3: Decide the week before. I don't want to be a

540
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 3: hamstring anymore.

541
00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: I don't like the hamstring. I don't get any attention.

542
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: I mean it's I want to be a mouth.

543
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 4: I mean Christine and the mouth that's what gets all

544
00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 4: the attention.

545
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 3: I'm just this overlooked hamstring. I'm just taken for Graham

546
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,840
Speaker 3: as a hamstring. Nobody recognized my value as a hamstring.

547
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:11,720
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that my hamstring was in place, because

548
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:12,159
Speaker 1: every now and.

549
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 3: Again a transplant has to happen. But when you try

550
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 3: to force that transplant because you don't like your place,

551
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 3: then sometimes you can be rejected by the body in

552
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:22,880
Speaker 3: that part of the transplant. And we've got a whole

553
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 3: lot of people running around in the body of Christ.

554
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: Just transplanting themselves.

555
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 3: But just like a physical body doesn't expect, doesn't accept

556
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 3: every organ as a transplant, or every muscle or every

557
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:36,680
Speaker 3: sign you in order to be able to be transplanted properly.

558
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,440
Speaker 1: There's an order. There's an order.

559
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,679
Speaker 3: The Church is not the NFL. It's not like we

560
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 3: have free agents. God sets every member in place, and

561
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,960
Speaker 3: if God wants to transplant, then then that the body

562
00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 3: will take the transplant. But I'm so glad that my

563
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 3: hamstring was in place. But you and I are living

564
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:01,919
Speaker 3: in a culture where we value a position over a place,

565
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 3: and so many people have sacrificed their destiny on the

566
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,280
Speaker 3: altar of a position they wanted because they wouldn't embrace

567
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,199
Speaker 3: the place that God had for them.

568
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 1: So many of us.

569
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 3: Because in our culture, visibility and position and title and

570
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 3: hierarchy and the last like, I've got a body. There

571
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,879
Speaker 3: is nothing more sacred than the Holy body of the

572
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:21,959
Speaker 3: Lord Jesus Christ.

573
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:25,320
Speaker 1: And we are part of that body. And he sets

574
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: us in place. Does that not mean at some point

575
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,359
Speaker 1: he might transplant us. Of course, it's his body.

576
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,679
Speaker 3: But when we start thinking were like free agents, and

577
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 3: I could just go I don't want to be an elbow.

578
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 3: I don't like an elber because the knee gets all

579
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 3: the attention. And Paul goes through the list because how

580
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 3: ridiculous that you would compare this part to that part.

581
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 3: I think we should just be grateful that God has

582
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 3: brought us into his body.

583
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: I want to care if I.

584
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: Was an ACL and MCL, if.

585
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 4: I was a sign, you were a tissue or a muscle.

586
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 4: Thank God that I am saved and I've been grafted

587
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 4: into the body of Christ and i have an eternity

588
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,959
Speaker 4: with Jesus. I'm just grateful to be part of the body.

589
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 4: I'm just grateful to be any part of the body

590
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 4: of Christ.

591
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 3: When was the last time you thanked God the miracle

592
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 3: that we are in his body.

593
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 1: There's only one head. If we understood that, we'd all

594
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 1: embrace our place elevation.

595
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,720
Speaker 3: You are one of the most potent Apostolic churches on

596
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 3: the earth right now.

597
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: Imagine how much more powerful you'd be if every single

598
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,120
Speaker 1: person embrace their place.

599
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 3: Every single person said, I don't care if I'm an

600
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:42,320
Speaker 3: ACL or an MCL.

601
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hold up my part of the body.

602
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take my place in all of our locations,

603
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:48,320
Speaker 3: our epham.

604
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: I'm gonna embrace my place.

605
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 3: Every time you tithe, every time you give, every time

606
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 3: you serve, you.

607
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 1: Are embracing your place. Some people go, well, okay, Christiana,

608
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 1: I've got these dreams in my heart. What about all

609
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 1: these things?

610
00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 3: Well, this is what I've discovered after almost four decades

611
00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:04,959
Speaker 3: of serving Jesus.

612
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: When God is looking to promote you to another position,

613
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:10,280
Speaker 1: he goes to a place.

614
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 3: He goes to the place that you're supposed to.

615
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 1: Be to find you.

616
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,080
Speaker 3: You go, Christine, give me bible. I'll give you some Bible.

617
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 3: David one Samuel sixteen. I want you to see verse one,

618
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 3: and says the Lord said to Samuel, how long are

619
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 3: you going to mourn for Saul since I've rejected him

620
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 3: as king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go.

621
00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 3: I am sending you. See God does the sending. You

622
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 3: don't have to market to yourself. When you've been marked

623
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 3: by God, you don't have to market yourself. If God

624
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 3: has assigned you, God will find you. You could be

625
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 3: not even in this room right now and serving in

626
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 3: the nursery.

627
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: And if God's anointed you.

628
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,000
Speaker 3: To be the next Billy Graham to America, He'll find you.

629
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 1: He'll find you. He says, I am sending you to

630
00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,719
Speaker 1: Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself. Remember

631
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:01,560
Speaker 1: this is god'svil.

632
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,560
Speaker 3: I've selected for myself a king from his sons.

633
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:07,600
Speaker 1: Let's go to verse six.

634
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 3: It says in verse six, when they arrived, Samuel saw

635
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 3: Eliab and said, certainly, the Lord's anointed one is here

636
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:18,040
Speaker 3: before him.

637
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 1: Now.

638
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 3: The reason he thought that is because Eliab looked a

639
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:24,400
Speaker 3: lot like Saul, head and shoulders above the rest, good looking.

640
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: He was a warrior.

641
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 3: And the prophet, I want you to catch this. The prophet,

642
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,880
Speaker 3: surely this is the Lord's anointed, because he saw Eliab

643
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 3: and thought, that's what we do. We scroll through social media.

644
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:39,719
Speaker 3: We are surely that's who God's picked.

645
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: Look at their followers. Man, they're blowing up. That's awesome.

646
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,400
Speaker 3: Surely that's the Lord's anointed. And then I love what

647
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 3: the Lord says in verse seven. But the Lord said

648
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 3: to Samuel. And thus he says to most of us,

649
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 3: do not look at his appearance or his stature, because

650
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 3: I have rejected him. Honey, doesn't matter how many likes

651
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 3: you get. If God has rejected him.

652
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 1: Humans do not see what the Lord sees.

653
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:12,360
Speaker 3: For humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees

654
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 3: the heart. He goes on in verse eight and says,

655
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 3: Jesse called Abinadab and.

656
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 1: Presented him to Samuel. Oh Lord, the.

657
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 3: Lord hasn't chosen this one either. Samuel said, So now

658
00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 3: the parade's going. Let's get out our TikTok and our

659
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 3: Instagram and start going through verse nine, and we'll just

660
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 3: keep going.

661
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 1: Then Jesse presented Shama.

662
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:37,000
Speaker 3: Here's the next one, next little celebrity Christian influencer.

663
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: But Samuel said, the.

664
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,600
Speaker 3: Lord hasn't chosen this one either. You keep posting, Lord

665
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 3: hasn't chosen.

666
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,120
Speaker 1: After Jesse presented.

667
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 3: Seven of his sons great marketing campaign. Man, I'm going

668
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 3: need to be in the right place so that the

669
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 3: right person in leadership sees me, because that's how I'm

670
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 3: going to get my promotion. A Man, if I'm serving

671
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 3: down in the kids or I'm out in the parking lot,

672
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,040
Speaker 3: How's anyone going to see my gift? And I mean

673
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 3: I want to go on tour with the band, how

674
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:04,640
Speaker 3: they going to see my gift? If I'm serving over

675
00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:06,480
Speaker 3: in the kids, They're never going to see it. I'm

676
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,560
Speaker 3: never going to be discovered God, God created you.

677
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: He doesn't have to discover you. He already knows where

678
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: you are.

679
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 3: You don't have to wait to be discovered by God.

680
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 1: He created you.

681
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,880
Speaker 3: After Jesse presented seven of his sons to.

682
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 1: Him just sounds like the world we live in. Samuel

683
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: told you, Jesse, the Lord hasn't chosen any of these.

684
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: Samuel asked him, are these all the sons you have?

685
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 1: They're still the youngest.

686
00:33:36,720 --> 00:33:40,720
Speaker 3: I am laughing because this is how King David first

687
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:42,960
Speaker 3: appears on the pages of scripture.

688
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,960
Speaker 1: No name the youngest.

689
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:47,760
Speaker 2: You know.

690
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a guy working out in the parking lot.

691
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 3: There's that person that's running the prayer team. There's someone

692
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 3: that's running an e group that I don't ever really

693
00:33:57,320 --> 00:34:00,760
Speaker 3: know their name. Just there's that that one. I think

694
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 3: we got this person that like, man, they come every

695
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 3: early on Sunday and they're like sweeping the foyer to

696
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:08,320
Speaker 3: make sure that it's clean.

697
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: That there's that one.

698
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 3: Don't really know if there's the one down there with

699
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,720
Speaker 3: the kids in the in you know, like the first grade.

700
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:16,479
Speaker 1: Yes, there's that one.

701
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 3: Not scrolling on TikTok to see who's the.

702
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 1: Most prominent influential one.

703
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:26,560
Speaker 3: There's just that one, whoever that is on any of

704
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:27,280
Speaker 3: our campuses.

705
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: There's that that one that's.

706
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 3: Been just tithing for the last twenty years and just

707
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 3: been giving. I don't know, I don't really know the

708
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 3: name the youngest, he answered, But right.

709
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,200
Speaker 1: Now he's doing the loser job.

710
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,279
Speaker 4: I mean, it wasn't even worth bringing up in the

711
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 4: marketing campaign. I mean, he's just he's just just tending

712
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 4: the sheep.

713
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 3: He's actually being faithful, doing the last thing I told

714
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 3: him to do. He's just down there with the kids,

715
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 3: or with the youth, or the parking lot or somewhere

716
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,040
Speaker 3: back behind the sound. Is that you can't even see

717
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 3: that's making this happening, or put the lights on or.

718
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 1: Working the cameras, don't I don't know that's all they're doing.

719
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,640
Speaker 3: I mean then I'm like prominently on tour or holding

720
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 3: the microphone or anything.

721
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,959
Speaker 1: I put those seven in front of you. He's like, no, no, no,

722
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 1: he's just tending the sheep. And I love this, Samuel

723
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 1: told Jesse.

724
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,439
Speaker 3: Said for him, because this is what happens when God

725
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 3: says the prophet can get it wrong some of you.

726
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:33,640
Speaker 1: But what happens if someone comes.

727
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 3: And they prophesying, and I'm gonna be the next person

728
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:37,440
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna be the next campus pastor.

729
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 4: And they don't see me, the prophet could actually get

730
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 4: it wrong.

731
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:42,960
Speaker 1: To Eliot, we go surely you're it.

732
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 3: The Father of the house can get it wrong. Jesse

733
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 3: got it wrong, but God never gets it wrong. Sometimes

734
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:54,240
Speaker 3: we'll wonder if I do that and I start serving

735
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:56,319
Speaker 3: and someone overlooks me, and what about my gift and

736
00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:57,080
Speaker 3: what about my talent?

737
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,759
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna And it's like you got insurance.

738
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 4: The prophet can get it wrong, the Father of the

739
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 4: house can get it wrong.

740
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 1: God won't get it wrong. And this is what I love.

741
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 3: Sabbia told Jesse said for him, we won't sit down

742
00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 3: to eat until he gets it. It makes me laugh

743
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 3: because God will actually send the ones that tried to

744
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 3: keep you out to go and get you to put

745
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 3: you in position.

746
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:17,759
Speaker 1: Because that's the kind of thing that God does.

747
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:24,560
Speaker 3: You don't ever have to worry, So Jesse said for him.

748
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,400
Speaker 3: He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance that

749
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 3: the Lord said anoint him for he is the one.

750
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 1: Where was he?

751
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 3: Oh, he was the one that this today was working

752
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 3: in the parking lot. He was the one that today

753
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 3: is working behind the lights that you can't see or

754
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 3: the sound that you can't see, or is down there

755
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,520
Speaker 3: with our children right now teaching them. Jesus is Lord.

756
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 3: The Bible is beautiful. God loves you.

757
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:46,840
Speaker 1: That's what You can't see them. You can see me,

758
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:47,919
Speaker 1: but you can't see them.

759
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 3: But then if the Lord's chosen them, he'll find them.

760
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 3: Every acl every sign you, every muscle, every tissue is

761
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 3: so critical nineteen nine point nine nine percent of the

762
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 3: effectiveness of this church. You can't even see the people

763
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:05,879
Speaker 3: that are driving it. You can't even see the people

764
00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 3: that are driving it. Because it's God's body. And when

765
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,719
Speaker 3: we all embrace our place, you saw Him in embrace

766
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 3: and crutches. If you could see a picture in the

767
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,239
Speaker 3: spirit of some of the.

768
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: Church, it's like just oh making it.

769
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,839
Speaker 3: Maybe Sunday to Sunday, we're just barely get by.

770
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: I know, it's so rough. The world's rough, and the

771
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:28,719
Speaker 1: Lord's like man.

772
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,600
Speaker 3: If that acl snap back into place and was willing

773
00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:33,960
Speaker 3: to embrace its place full, the stability of the church

774
00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 3: would be greater, The strength of the church would be greater.

775
00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:38,920
Speaker 1: The rhythm and the pattern and the.

776
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 3: Running, and we could run faster, and we could run harder,

777
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 3: and we could bring God greater glory on the earth

778
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 3: if we all embraced our place.

779
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 1: When I think of my whole life.

780
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 3: To where by the grace of God, He's brought Nick

781
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:56,919
Speaker 3: and I today. I got saved in you know, when

782
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,800
Speaker 3: dinosaurs still roamed on the earth, you weren't even born

783
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 3: to view an elevation.

784
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:03,919
Speaker 1: But I didn't know what to do. I just got saved.

785
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 3: So I started serving in the youth ministry. I'd never

786
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 3: prayed for youth. I never even thought I'm called to youth.

787
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,800
Speaker 3: I came from a Greek Orthodox background. I did not

788
00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,840
Speaker 3: even know what a Protestant church really was, let alone

789
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 3: what a youth group was. But it was just like, okay,

790
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 3: and go to the club and get drunk, or go

791
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:20,680
Speaker 3: to youth. Okay, I'll go to youth because at least

792
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:21,480
Speaker 3: I was stay straight.

793
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: So I would go.

794
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:25,759
Speaker 3: And then they said there's going to be a church

795
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 3: clean up day. Well, I had gotten saved, so I didn't.

796
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:31,480
Speaker 3: I didn't pray, I didn't fast. It was like, okay,

797
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 3: I guess that's what.

798
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 1: You do now you're a Christian. I said, Jesus, you

799
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: can have all of me.

800
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 3: I guess all of me means all of me, and

801
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:41,120
Speaker 3: so I wasn't thinking. And thank god, this was pre

802
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 3: social media, so I wasn't scrolling through everybody else's life

803
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:45,000
Speaker 3: trying to tell.

804
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,120
Speaker 1: God what I wanted to do with my life. This

805
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 1: was old school where you got in.

806
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 3: A prayer clauset and got on your knees and actually

807
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,799
Speaker 3: asked God what he wanted for your life. You weren't

808
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,440
Speaker 3: telling God what you wanted to do with your life.

809
00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 1: You were just glad that you were saved and not

810
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: going to Hell, so you would do anything.

811
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 3: So church clean up day you were like, thank you

812
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 3: God that you would choose me. Well, I turned up

813
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:07,319
Speaker 3: to the church clean up day and nobody else from

814
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 3: the youth ministry turned up. I tell everyone, this is

815
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,880
Speaker 3: how I've gotten to where I've gotten that God had

816
00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 3: no other options. It's like, well, you're a cane tag,

817
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:16,719
Speaker 3: have it go. I'm going to get a lot of

818
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 3: glory because that's it.

819
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: I've got no other options.

820
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,239
Speaker 3: And when you start getting to sixty, there's a lot

821
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,800
Speaker 3: less hands that go up, and the Lord's like, well,

822
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,359
Speaker 3: I will be glorified because everyone will know it's not you.

823
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 1: But that's how it started.

824
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 3: And this is the youth pastor was at the church

825
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:33,400
Speaker 3: clean up day. He said, you're Christine carry offlus, aren't you?

826
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:35,719
Speaker 3: That was my pre marriage name. And Nick thinks he

827
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:39,120
Speaker 3: saved me. And so it's like you're Christine carry Offlas

828
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 3: and he goes, you're doing psychology, aren't you? And I

829
00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:44,160
Speaker 3: was like doing English and economic history. So basically I

830
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,359
Speaker 3: can read Golden Books in counter ten, but.

831
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:50,280
Speaker 1: My miner was psychology. And he said, we're running. We've

832
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:51,920
Speaker 1: just got a grant for a youth center.

833
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 3: This is nineteen eighty nine. I said, what's a youth center?

834
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 3: He said, I don't know, but I'm going on a

835
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,359
Speaker 3: missions trip for six weeks with a sea past us.

836
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,840
Speaker 1: So when I come back, you know, i'd like you

837
00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:02,680
Speaker 1: to have worked.

838
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:03,879
Speaker 3: Out what we're going to do with the youth center.

839
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:04,800
Speaker 3: That was my call to ministry.

840
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: That was it.

841
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:08,960
Speaker 3: And I hadn't prayed. I hadn't said where do I

842
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 3: want to serve?

843
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:10,240
Speaker 1: What are my gifts?

844
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 3: I'm going to do a strength find a test, and

845
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,000
Speaker 3: I'm going to do a disc profile, and I'm going

846
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:15,960
Speaker 3: to look at my love languages, and I'm going to

847
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:16,640
Speaker 3: have a look at wishes.

848
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 4: And no, no, I was I was dead to self and.

849
00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:20,080
Speaker 1: Alive to Christ.

850
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,880
Speaker 3: I thought I was denying myself, taking up my crust

851
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:24,040
Speaker 3: and following Jesus.

852
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:26,759
Speaker 1: I'm in his body. Yes, sir, what do you want

853
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,920
Speaker 1: me to do? Church cleanup day? Okay? And then from

854
00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:30,400
Speaker 1: the church.

855
00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:34,759
Speaker 3: Cleanup day, I suddenly am overseeing what became a very

856
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 3: very influential youth center in Australia.

857
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: It became a national youth center.

858
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,360
Speaker 3: I didn't know in nineteen ninety that God was preparing

859
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 3: me for the thing he had prepared for me to

860
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,040
Speaker 3: run a global anti trafficking organization down twenty years later

861
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:49,080
Speaker 3: in the future.

862
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:50,520
Speaker 1: See, if I didn't turn up to.

863
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,359
Speaker 3: The church cleanup day, I would never have gotten the job.

864
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 3: Learning how to do government submissions, learning how to talk

865
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 3: to law.

866
00:40:56,920 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 1: Enforcement and government and schools and work everywhere.

867
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 3: All the skills I learned in anonymity and obscurity when

868
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 3: you didn't even know who I was, was preparing me

869
00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 3: to lead one of the largest anti trafficking organizations in

870
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 3: the world way back then. And then people would like,

871
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:16,440
Speaker 3: you should have gone to another church because for seven

872
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 3: years I never stood on a platform with a microphone

873
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:19,319
Speaker 3: and preaching.

874
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 1: It would be certainly one of my a gift that

875
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 1: the Lord's given me.

876
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 3: But the fact was, thank God that I had leaders

877
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:29,200
Speaker 3: over me. They knew that understood that the gift that

878
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,800
Speaker 3: was on me would have destroyed me because my character

879
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:36,400
Speaker 3: could not have sustained me after ten years of sexual

880
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 3: abuse and being abandoned at birth and being adopted out

881
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,680
Speaker 3: and broken. God had to heal me before he could

882
00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 3: actually put me at the forefront of anywhere else.

883
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:49,360
Speaker 1: Church is what did that?

884
00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 3: Because if the light that is on you is greater

885
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 3: than the light of Christ that is within you, that

886
00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:03,440
Speaker 3: light will destroy you. God cared too much about me

887
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:07,479
Speaker 3: and my future, my marriage, my children. Then to say

888
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,399
Speaker 3: it's ridiculously Imagine if I pulled Can you just put

889
00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:11,839
Speaker 3: that picture of that acl up there?

890
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:14,600
Speaker 1: Imagine if.

891
00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,960
Speaker 3: If we just stood here and applaud of that aclan.

892
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,000
Speaker 3: It looks weird, No, no, no, But I mean if

893
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 3: I just put it up, disconnected it from the knee and.

894
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,520
Speaker 1: Just put it up, because that's what we do. I

895
00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 1: want my ligament.

896
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna put a filter on it and

897
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 3: crop it and edit it and post it because I

898
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 3: need you to applaud my sign, you, my muscle, my.

899
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:42,319
Speaker 3: I mean, we don't think, what are you smoking, But

900
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:43,440
Speaker 3: that's what we've done in the body.

901
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: Look at my gift. Look about the only value of the.

902
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:49,359
Speaker 3: Sign you or the muscle or the gift or the

903
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:53,200
Speaker 3: talent is truly only in relation to the purpose that

904
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 3: it serves in the body.

905
00:42:54,840 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: That is the value of it. We appart the care

906
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 1: when you disconnected.

907
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:06,920
Speaker 3: And we've got so many people in the Body of

908
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,680
Speaker 3: Christ that are misplaced and displaced because they won't embrace

909
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:16,480
Speaker 3: their place. And if you just embraced your place, the

910
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 3: joy and the fulfillment that would come every part of

911
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 3: my life, whether it came through you know, my spiritual

912
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 3: mother for three decades, Joyce Mayer, you know people, man,

913
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,120
Speaker 3: if I just had that hook up like Chris, I'm

914
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 3: like I was a youth leader and then I was

915
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 3: working at the youth center that was training me for

916
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:37,759
Speaker 3: twenty years time in the future. I didn't even know

917
00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 3: a twenty one and because I wasn't speaking here, the

918
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,080
Speaker 3: youth center work took me to schools all around Australia.

919
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 1: That's where I learned to really communicate people. Go where

920
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,319
Speaker 1: did you learn to bridge a honey? I went when

921
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 1: nobody else wanted to go home. If you can hold.

922
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 3: The attention of fifteen hundred Australian boys that are private boys,

923
00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:02,279
Speaker 3: church is easy.

924
00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:04,360
Speaker 1: But everyone's like.

925
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:05,600
Speaker 3: Your people could see I mean, if I could just

926
00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 3: get on the Christian conference, if I could just do this.

927
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: If and I'm like, if you just embrace your place.

928
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:12,880
Speaker 3: In church and started serving, God will find you and

929
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 3: God will elevate your promotion. Doesn't come from the north,

930
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:17,920
Speaker 3: southeast or west. It comes from God. And God opens

931
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 3: doors that no man can shut. And God will.

932
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:24,160
Speaker 1: Place you where you need to be.

933
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:27,440
Speaker 3: And when God places you, you never have to fear

934
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,120
Speaker 3: being replaced. I'm never looking over my shoulder. This is

935
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 3: not like Hollywood. There is no next, Christine came, What does.

936
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 1: That even mean? God doesn't do next, He doesn't you.

937
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 1: There's only one. He only makes one of everyone. He says,

938
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: behind I do a new thing.

939
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,799
Speaker 3: We're always looking for the next thing, which is a

940
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:46,359
Speaker 3: younger version of the same old thing.

941
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,040
Speaker 1: And God says, I'm not doing the same old thing.

942
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 3: I'm doing your brand new thing. So there's a place

943
00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:51,720
Speaker 3: for everyone in my body.

944
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:55,120
Speaker 4: There's a place for everyone in my body.

945
00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,600
Speaker 1: Would you trust him enough to embrace your place? This

946
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:05,080
Speaker 1: is the I went from being teaching.

947
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 3: In high schools and then my past or because it

948
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:12,440
Speaker 3: watched me for nearly a decade, goes Christine.

949
00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:14,240
Speaker 1: Now I want you to lead the largest youth movement

950
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:15,360
Speaker 1: in Australias.

951
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:17,720
Speaker 3: I went from like high schools to twenty thousand people

952
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:18,560
Speaker 3: and people.

953
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,560
Speaker 1: Go, oh, where is she come from?

954
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 3: I was like, David, and then like what an overnight success?

955
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 3: I'm going it was a long night. But God was

956
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 3: preparing me the whole time for what He prepared for me.

957
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 3: And then because I was in that position, because God

958
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,440
Speaker 3: came and found me in anonymity, in obscurity at a

959
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,360
Speaker 3: church cleanup day, in the back of a youth center

960
00:45:42,400 --> 00:45:48,399
Speaker 3: with teaching elta at risk young people in a high school,

961
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 3: teaching and serving in church the whole time. And then

962
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 3: He's like, Okay, I've got a woman coming from America

963
00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,279
Speaker 3: that I didn't even know. We didn't even have Christian TV.

964
00:45:57,400 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 3: Then there's the largest media ministry in the world. And

965
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 3: because I was a woman, and it was like, okay,

966
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:03,920
Speaker 3: we need someone to go.

967
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:05,600
Speaker 1: Pick her up. So I was her driver.

968
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:09,120
Speaker 3: I'm a youth leader and there's the largest ministry in

969
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 3: the world and I drove her.

970
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:13,000
Speaker 1: Some people, well, I'm too good to drive. I'm a preacher.

971
00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:15,360
Speaker 1: I speak to twenty thousand people. Why would I drive anybody?

972
00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,239
Speaker 3: But when you embrace your place you don't value this

973
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 3: anymore than you value the driving, because.

974
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,399
Speaker 1: God sets you in place. Well, who would have known

975
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,720
Speaker 1: that I would be driving.

976
00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:29,720
Speaker 3: Joy Spire and the Commisa. I remember they said to me, Christine,

977
00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:31,719
Speaker 3: Remember I'm a youth leader. You have to go pick

978
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 3: her up at eight o'clock.

979
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:35,399
Speaker 1: I was so nervous, and I was a youth leader.

980
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,280
Speaker 3: I had no money, so I borrowed a friend's suit,

981
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:40,600
Speaker 3: and then I went and stood in the hallway outside

982
00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:42,360
Speaker 3: her room at the hotel at five point thirty in

983
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:44,359
Speaker 3: the morning because I didn't want to be late. And

984
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:46,560
Speaker 3: then she opens a door at six point thirty because

985
00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:49,400
Speaker 3: her breakfast came, and she looked, and I looked the

986
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 3: other way, like, you know, as if naturally I'm just

987
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 3: standing in a hall in a suit borrowed. And so

988
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 3: then she opens the door again at seven point thirty

989
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,200
Speaker 3: to put the trade back out, and Nerd is still

990
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:01,319
Speaker 3: standing here, and I didn't even know what She goes

991
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:04,840
Speaker 3: Are you here for me? Honestly, church I was born aline,

992
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:07,719
Speaker 3: thinking maybe I could lie and say no, But then

993
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:08,439
Speaker 3: I thought she's going.

994
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: To get in my car, so she's gonna know. So

995
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,120
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what to do. So I went, yeah,

996
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:16,160
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be late, and she goes, come in.

997
00:47:16,719 --> 00:47:18,759
Speaker 1: Then I'm dying, going my past is going to kill

998
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,840
Speaker 1: me because I'm going into the room of the guest speaker.

999
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 1: And then this is my first conversation.

1000
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:25,480
Speaker 3: She'd tell you when she comes in next time, she'll

1001
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 3: tell you she before back then, she was like, so

1002
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 3: into Saint John's and look at me, I'm like as plain.

1003
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: As and she opens the cupboard.

1004
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,320
Speaker 3: And she goes, Christy shows me all her jackets, Christine.

1005
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:38,359
Speaker 3: The more it sparkles, the more I like it.

1006
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:39,680
Speaker 1: Anyway, So that was that.

1007
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:43,840
Speaker 3: And then who would have known that that woman would

1008
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 3: bother me? That I found out that I was adopted

1009
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,360
Speaker 3: and don't know my biological mother and after all the

1010
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,160
Speaker 3: abuse and you know her story and all of the

1011
00:47:53,239 --> 00:47:56,600
Speaker 3: rejection and the abandonment, and you know, last year we

1012
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 3: found out Joyce was born the exact same year as

1013
00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 3: my biological mother. Wouldn't that just be like God to

1014
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:04,799
Speaker 3: do things full circle? And she has mothered us and

1015
00:48:04,840 --> 00:48:07,840
Speaker 3: because of that, our marriage has been so strong and

1016
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:10,880
Speaker 3: our kids. Because of what she went through, she was

1017
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,560
Speaker 3: able to prepare the way for me, and a lot

1018
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:15,239
Speaker 3: of why I'm still here by the grace of God

1019
00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:17,799
Speaker 3: at sixties, because she's still here at eighty three and

1020
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:23,640
Speaker 3: still honoring God and still serving God. And I was

1021
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:27,520
Speaker 3: the driver because my pastor asked me to go and

1022
00:48:27,520 --> 00:48:31,359
Speaker 3: pick her up. You might think that's a demeaning job.

1023
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 3: I think it sent me up pretty well.

1024
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 1: So elevation. What am I saying? Your greatest days are

1025
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:38,920
Speaker 1: ahead of you, are not behind you.

1026
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:42,200
Speaker 3: Your strongest days are ahead of you and not behind you.

1027
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:44,320
Speaker 1: Your fastest days are.

1028
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:48,400
Speaker 3: Ahead of you and not behind you. And your willingness.

1029
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:52,760
Speaker 3: Every single person, if family, all of allocations, every single

1030
00:48:52,800 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 3: person that says, I don't care whether I am visible

1031
00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:59,680
Speaker 3: or prominent. I don't care if I'm an acl assign

1032
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:02,919
Speaker 3: you a muscle, a tissue. All I want to do

1033
00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 3: is embrace my place, because ultimately it's not even about

1034
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:07,240
Speaker 3: my place.

1035
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:09,839
Speaker 1: It's about the God that sets me in place, and

1036
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:12,080
Speaker 1: this is his body. In Jesus' name.

1037
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:13,759
Speaker 3: Come on, if you believe that, give the Lord a

1038
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:17,160
Speaker 3: mighty ovation in his place today in Jesus' name.

1039
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:18,359
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name.

1040
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 2: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did,

1041
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 2: make sure to share it and subscribe so we can

1042
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 2: get you all of these new messages as soon as

1043
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,200
Speaker 2: they're available. I also want to take a moment and

1044
00:49:32,280 --> 00:49:34,080
Speaker 2: thank all of you who are a part of Elevation.

1045
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,920
Speaker 2: Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or

1046
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 2: just share these messages, it's because of you that we're

1047
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:44,000
Speaker 2: able to reach people all around the world. And if

1048
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 2: you want more information on how to be a part

1049
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:48,879
Speaker 2: of Elevation, click the link.

1050
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:49,440
Speaker 1: In the description.

1051
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,080
Speaker 2: Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review,

1052
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:54,279
Speaker 2: share the message, and subscribe.

1053
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:55,239
Speaker 1: God bless you.