WEBVTT - Move It To The Middle 0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.399 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:20.160 Enjoy the message. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.040 Oh man, We're so excited that you're here today. Been 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.360 preparing for you and praying for you and asking God 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:29.000 to speak to you. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.080 We're about to leave on tour in just a few days. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:33.560 Be in prayer for us. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:39.760 Elevation Nights is coming to Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Toronto, Canada. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:46.239 Other places too. Newark, New Jersey, Washington, d C. Go 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:51.159 to Elevation Nights dot Com. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Go there right now, Detroit, Michigan, 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.240 Go there right now, Hartford, Connecticut. I'm getting cold just 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.600 thinking about it. I'm gonna need a heavier jacket than this. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:05.200 But come ready, come expectant. Elevation Nights dot Com also 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:06.959 wanted to celebrate and welcome. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.840 A few of our e FAM leaders. Where are you 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:14.600 at in the room? Welcome to these e FAM leaders. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.520 They came to be with us today from four different countries, 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:19.880 in fifteen different states. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:29.520 I'm glad you made the trip as excited as I 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.400 am about these elevation nights. 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.959 We're not in Pittsburgh today, We're not in Toronto, we're 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:36.120 not in Detroit today. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:37.880 We're right here in Valentine. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:45.440 And I am so excited to continue what I began 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.000 to build last week about those times in our lives. 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.440 And we've all had them, whether we responded to them 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.320 or not, where God calls your name, and very specifically, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.800 I was talking about sometimes in the scripture where God 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.760 called somebody by their name, and he said their name 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.520 not once, but twice. And my point was that sometimes 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.120 you are in a pivotal moment of your life where 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:15.520 it's your past versus your potential, your past versus your purpose, 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.040 and in those moments, sometimes God will use repetition to 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.440 underscore the urgency of what He has for you to hear. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.280 I believe there are many of us, maybe not all 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.000 of us, who would find ourselves in a moment like that, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.280 and so today I want to continue that from Exodus 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.440 chapter three, verses one through eleven, and all the Bible 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.600 school students already know who we're talking about today somebody say, Moses, Moses. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.040 We grew up singing a song in. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.560 Church called Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Oh Baby, let my people go, 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.720 And then if you've really got into it, you would 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.679 go uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.200 It was to the tune of Louis Louis. 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.240 I don't want to get a copyright strike on YouTube, 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.359 so I won't sing it, but we would do that Pharaoh, Pharaoh, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.920 Oh Baby, let my people go, and then everybody would 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:06.240 go uh. 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:07.320 And a quick story. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.600 One time I was seventeen years old, just getting started 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.919 in ministry, and I was leading that for the youth, 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.440 and one of the parents was really uptight, and she 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:15.919 walked in and she saw how I had all the 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.399 kids going uh. And she said, don't do that again. 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.839 That's not a holy that's not a holy gesture. I said, 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.840 lady is just a um. But she was really special 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.560 and sanctified and holy. 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:35.400 In her own way. Exodus chapter three, somebody say, Moses, Moses. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.440 Now Moses was tending to the flock of jeth throw 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.080 his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.680 led the flock to the far side of the wilderness. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.160 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.120 Was confirmation on my message okay, the far side of 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:58.680 the wilderness, and came to horror the mountain of God. There, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.240 the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:08.920 of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.800 the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.040 So Moses thought, I'll go. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.119 Over it and see this strange sight. It's crazy why 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.320 the bush does not burn up. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:24.480 I gotta figure this out. 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.839 This thing should be down to a stub, but somehow 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.400 it's still standing. This thing should be flickering out, but 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.640 somehow there's still a flame. This thing should be over, 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.440 but somehow it's kept going. And when he thought like that, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.160 just touch the person next you and say, it doesn't 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:40.920 make any sense. 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:43.040 It doesn't make. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.680 Any sense why I'm still here after all of the 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.280 times that I thought about quitting. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:48.239 It doesn't make any. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.080 Sense why I'm still here after all of the times 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.120 that I tried to push God away, but he wouldn't 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:53.479 let me. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.560 It makes no sense why I'm here. And watch this. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.240 When the Lord verse four, saw that he had gone 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.200 over to look, God called to him from within the bush. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.520 Moses Moses only. 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.520 One of seven times this happens in the Bible, where 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.440 he said the name twice, and Moses said, here I am, Lord, 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.080 Here I am, and do not come any closer. God said, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.039 take off your sandals, for the place you are standing 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:22.960 as holy ground. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:24.920 And then he said, I. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.600 Am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.800 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.000 this Moses hid his face because he was afraid to 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.040 look at God. And the Lord said, I have indeed 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.240 seen the misery of my people in Egypt. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:40.479 I have heard them crying. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.520 Out because of their slave drivers. And I am concerned 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:44.880 about their suffering. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:50.719 So I've come down to rescue them from the hand 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.320 of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.320 that land into a good and spacious land. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.080 This isn't going to be a midland. This is a 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.120 good and spacious land. This isn't gonna be a cramped land. 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.200 This is gonna be a good and spacious land, a 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.520 land flowing. Won't be dry like the desert. It's gonna 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:20.200 be flowing with milk and honey. The home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amurites, Parizites, Hivites, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.480 and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.080 reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.800 are oppressing them. So now go, I am sending you 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:38.240 to Pharaoh, Pharaoh to tell him, uh oh, baby, let 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.520 my people go. But Moses said, that's not very appropriate. God, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.719 I can't say that to Pharaoh verse eleven. And I'll 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.440 give you my subject for the day. Moses said to God, 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:53.800 who am I? 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.680 This is what I call the burning question? 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:00.599 Who am I? 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.320 Not only the burning bush, but the burning question? 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:05.839 Who am I? 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:08.600 That I should go. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:13.720 To Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. So 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.200 the Lord gave me a word for your insecurities today 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.000 and for the things that you're dealing with that are 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.800 chapters in your life that feel like it's never going 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:21.360 to change. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.880 And this is what the Lord said. Move it to 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:25.480 the middle. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.000 Touch your neighbor on your right or your left, you choose, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.520 and say move it to the middle. Touch your other 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.640 neighbor that feels very, very discouraged by your lack of 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.720 preference for them, and. 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:42.360 Put it in the chat. When you say it, say 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.840 move it to the middle. 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.400 In Jesus' name, you may be seated. Move it to 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:57.320 the middle. Okay, four points to this message. I'm not 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.120 going to preach them to how the Lord gave it 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:06.200 to me, like a prophecy. Sometimes you got to prophesy. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.760 Sometimes you don't need points. Sometimes you need a prophecy 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.640 where the word of the Lord transcends human understanding in 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.440 all rational factual evidence and tells you what God says. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.000 And that's a shift in perspective that we need to learn. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.040 First part of this message might hurt a little bit, 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:29.840 but I'll stitch you up before lunch. But I'll do 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.040 it at my own expense, so maybe that'll make it better. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:39.720 We just got back from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As we're moving 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.320 through the airport, Abby said, I hope there's an update 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.720 in a few years where you can see projected over 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:53.520 people's heads where they're going. Now, apparently my daughter has 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:58.200 been sneaking episodes of Black Mirror. Apparently we need more 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:02.440 parental supervision over our thirteen years. And just about the 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.679 time I told her that's ridiculous, I thought it might 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:09.600 actually happen. Up on further questioning as to why she 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.360 would want to see where someone was headed, we looked 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.280 around the airport and realized that everybody in the airport 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:23.120 was carrying and moving in what's commonly culturally called main 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:24.920 character energy. 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:27.080 I don't know if you've heard this phrase. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.040 Is something that is often encouraged to say, Hey, you 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:32.319 got to own your story. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.800 You can't wait for other people to come rescue you. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.200 You can't wait for somebody else to do it for you. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.120 You need that main character energy. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.160 It's often used to speak of people who are very charismatic, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.080 driven and disposed and biased toward action. They got main 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.480 character energy. Maybe they just seem special or something like that. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.800 Moses was born with what might have been called main 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:03.520 character energy if the if the video game had been 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.360 invented by then. You know, it's kind of a video 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.680 game term. Everybody else is just a n PC, and 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.440 you're the main character, and everybody exists to help you 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.800 on your quest. And Moses, when he was born, was 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.240 born in a very difficult circumstance. And I like to 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.800 break his life down into three forty year stages to 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.400 help you understand this message today called move it to 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:26.960 the Middle. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:29.079 The first forty years. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.400 Of Moses's life were spent being raised as Pharaoh's daughter, 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.880 though he was not Pharaoh's daughter at the time. Moses 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.000 was born as a Hebrew. The Hebrew boys were under 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.720 tremendous threat. Pharaoh had decided that their presence represented a 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.040 threat to him, and so each of the Hebrew firstborn 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.720 boys were to be murdered and thrown into the Nile River. 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.240 The Hebrew women were so vigorous in giving birth the 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.920 midwives could not allow them not to live. They would 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.280 have the baby before the midwife would show up carry 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.480 out the assassination plot. This presented an opportunity for some 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.960 of the children that were born during that time to 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:07.640 live when they. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.920 Should have died. Moses was one of them. The Bible says. 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.880 That he was no ordinary child. When his parents saw 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.040 that he was special, they did something kind of cool. 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.640 They made a basket and floated him down the Nile River. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:25.440 It just so happened at that point in time that 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.520 Pharaoh's daughter was out there kind of cleaning, you know, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.880 doing some doing some Nile River activities, and seeing how 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.960 beautiful the baby was, she decided to take him in 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.160 as her own, and needing a nurse for the baby, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.720 she located the nearest nurse she could find, which happened 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:51.840 to be Moses's mother. You can see how this presents 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:56.600 not only a sense of Moses's uniqueness, but perhaps a 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.240 sense of loneliness as well, For as he grows up, 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.520 you could say that he is a Hebrew in nature 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.079 and an Egyptian in nurture. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:10.880 He is an. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.360 Israelite baby in nature in an environment of Egypt in 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.719 which he's being nurtured. The first forty years of his 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.160 life go this way, and one day Moses takes a trip. 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.040 In fact, rather than tell you this, let me just 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.720 read this to you. I think it'd be good if 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.400 we read it for a moment. If you go over 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:34.360 to Acts chapter seven, we can summarize the life of 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.800 Moses from the speech of Stephen. Now, Stephen was an 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.760 apostle in the New Testament Church who was being stoned, 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:52.319 not recreationally, but in all seriousness. He was being persecuted 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.440 for his faith in Jesus, and his face shone as 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.600 they stoned him. He was shining something from the inside 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.040 even as he was being killed on the outside. 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.840 And in giving his speech. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.440 To the people who are stoning him and accusing them 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.680 of missing Jesus the Messiah when he came to save them, 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.040 he goes into a little history lesson about Moses, and 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:18.600 I thought it would be great for us to pick 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:18.959 it up. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:19.600 Write. 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:24.040 In verse twenty, he goes back thousands of years and says, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.440 at that time Moses was born, and he was no 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.040 ordinary child. For three months, he was cared for by 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.800 his family, and when he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:36.880 took him and brought him up as her own son. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.720 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.320 and was powerful in speech and action. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:46.000 I wanted to read. 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.719 That verse because often Moses is presented to us as 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.560 being a bumbling, stumbling idiot, because when God called him, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.240 he was like, I don't talk too good, Lord. So 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.560 we kind of made Moses this bubba who was born 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.640 in a basket, missing the point that he spent the 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.600 first forty years of his life not only as a survivor, 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.400 but a student in the most powerful. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:07.920 Position of his day. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.640 And all that background is going to play into what 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.760 I'm going to tell you in a moment. But move 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.560 down to verse twenty three, because this moves us into 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.280 the second phase of Moses's life. The Bible says when 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.240 Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.360 own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.960 mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.120 and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:34.920 Moses thought that. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.640 His own people would realize that God was using him 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.080 to rescue them, but they did not. He thought that 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:47.960 he would be helpful, but they hated him for being helpful. 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:53.400 He thought he was doing something significant, but it ended 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.920 up that what he did that he thought was significant 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.200 actually became the. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.760 End of his time in Egypt. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.080 Verse twenty six says the next day, Moses came up 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.040 on two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.160 them by saying, men, you are brothers. Why you want 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.640 to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.320 the other pushed Moses aside and said, who made you 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.400 ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.120 me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.360 Uh oh. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.640 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.760 settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:32.640 Verse thirty. 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:38.800 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.680 in the flames of a burning bush. 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.160 In the desert near Mount Sinai. 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:48.040 We just read about this in Exodus chapter three, But 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.240 when we read about it in Exodus chapter three, we 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.720 missed a crucial bit of context that I want us 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:55.400 to come back to. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:56.000 For a moment. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.360 In Exitus chapter three, verse one, it says now Moses 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.160 was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:08.040 the priest of Midian. But in Acts chapter seven, verse thirty, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:14.000 we learn after forty years had passed. So what is 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:20.200 presented in one sentence in Exodus three took four decades 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:28.360 from Moses's perspective at the time it happened. Everybody in 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.160 your life is in the middle of something. Our tendency 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.280 is to treat people according to where we meet people. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.560 And this is the part that I told you would 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.680 be challenging some of us. If we meet somebody and 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.960 it seems like they're in a position to help us, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.600 we are good to those who we think are good 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:51.520 for us. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:53.280 Some of us. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.240 If we meet people and we see them as a 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.680 liability to our social credibility, or maybe a liability to 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.320 our time or our energy, we have a tendency to 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:08.280 treat people according to where we meet people. Christian maturity 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.840 does not treat people according to where you meet people. 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:14.000 Christian maturity. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:19.760 Never judges the man by the moment, let me be inclusive, 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:21.800 never judges. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.880 The woman by the moment, never. 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:30.119 Judges the book by the chapter, never judges the potential 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.840 of someone by the problem that they are currently carrying. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.800 So you find in life two different approaches. Main character energy, 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.600 which is kind of like, I'm focused on what I'm doing, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.919 I'm focused on what I'm becoming, I'm focused on my goals, 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.399 And sadly a lot of this gets peddled in the 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.679 church as spiritual growth, but it is not sanctification because 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.879 sanctification and self help sometimes are a little different. Self 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.200 help is sometimes about what you can do for you 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.800 to reach the goal that you set without God. Sanctification 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.240 starts with God's goal that he wants to do that 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:11.480 is much bigger than what you see right now. Moses 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.640 did it his way, he became a murderer. Moses did 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.640 it God's way. He was a messenger. And all I'm 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.760 trying to get you to see is that it's a 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.959 matter of perspective. Tell somebody, move it to the middle. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.359 Come on, Tell the person on either side of you 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.840 move it to the middle. Tell both of them. In 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:31.960 case the first one doesn't like it, tell the second one. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.879 So you got a backup plan. Move it to the middle. Amy, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:37.840 I'll never forget something you said to me. We got 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.200 cut off by somebody in traffic. This has been years ago. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.800 I never forgot it. Amy lives her life with out 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.760 whatever is the opposite of main character energy. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:47.560 She lives her. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.040 Life with christ like nature. I guess that's the opposite 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.399 of main character energy. It's not like she's a side character. 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:54.760 She's just more christ Like than me. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:56.640 And I was. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.880 Talking about the person who cut us off in traffic. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.119 There wasn't very mindful of their potential in Christ or 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:09.159 their value to God. And I said, Amy, how do 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.159 you never get mad when you get cut off in traffic. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.240 I've never seen you road rage And she said, well, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.280 I like to play a game. I like to pretend 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.479 that the person in the passenger seat is pregnant and 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.480 the person driving them has to get them to the. 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.520 Hospital because their water just broke. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.280 I don't know if you remember that, but I never 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.440 forgot it because I also like to play pretend when 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.639 somebody cuts me off in traffic. I like to pretend 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.760 that I'm not a pastor. And I never even met 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.920 Jesus and I never even heard his name. I like 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.199 to pretend like I'm a terrorist. I like to pretend 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:51.919 like I've been training as an assassin. I like to 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.200 pretend like God sent me to teach you a lesson. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:59.320 Can't let you get away with that. I saw it 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.520 as a shift. Here's the picture that the Lord gave me. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.760 We're gonna work this out on the fly, because honestly, 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.080 I kind of thought of it last minute. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.600 When we finish singing at the church, usually they bring. 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.399 My pulpit to the stage and they put it in 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.000 the place where it goes, and we do it in 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.760 a way where it just kind of signals a shift 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.800 to say, we've worshiped God with our singing and the melodies. 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.240 Now we are going to worship God through his spoken 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.800 word and his message, and both are worship. So when 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:36.480 we position the pulpit, the camera shots also change. You 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.440 will notice that you no longer see the drummer very 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.920 much once it's preaching time. You no longer see Scotty 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.639 as handsome as he is and as dignified as he 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.000 look leading the South Carolina State Choir last week. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.560 I mean, he's got that main character gift. 0:20:55.320 --> 0:21:02.240 But everybody switches positions. Somebody say positions perspective. Okay, now 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.240 that we're in this part of the message, the perspective 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.800 has shifted, not because I'm more important than anybody on 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.199 the stage, but because it is my time to deliver 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.800 the message that God has given me to share with you. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.400 Therefore, the camera operators have to be instructed. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:18.159 At this point. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:21.520 You no longer need to show Otis, You no longer 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.160 need to show Scottie. They'll be back when we sing again, 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.679 But for now, this is our focus. Now here's what 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.160 I want you to understand about the way a lot 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.399 of us live our lives if they disobeyed that order 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:37.560 and just go with me for this picture, because I'm 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.720 gonna show you a lot of why we stay stressed out. 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:42.160 I'm gonna show you a lot of why. 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:49.159 We stay resentful, bitter, demotivated, angry. I'm gonna tell you 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:51.760 why a lot of our passion goes out because people 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.480 hurt our feelings. If at the moment that I take 0:21:55.520 --> 0:22:00.920 this pulpit, the camera operator just decides to rebel and 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:05.000 go like I think the podium is boring. Now, camera operator, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.040 do what I'm about to say to illustrate my point. 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:08.560 We have not worked this out, so I hope it 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.480 goes well. Just put the camera somewhere else that has 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:13.400 nothing to do with this and show them what I'm 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:13.840 talking about. 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.399 And again, we did not plan this. I'm just working 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:20.600 this illustration through with you. 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:30.320 Wave at the people, and as suave as as as 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:36.400 deboneir as he is on those drums. It is a 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:44.080 distraction at this moment to show the drums. Now go 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:48.240 back to what you're supposed to be shooting. Not because 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:53.120 I'm better looking, not because of status, not because I'm 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:59.840