WEBVTT - First Things First (Ben Graves) 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.600 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:13.680 new sermons every week. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.600 I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:23.720 Come on, Elevation Church. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.120 Why don't we lift up the name of Jesus all 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:30.840 over this room? Come on, anyone gotta testimony a story? 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:38.600 Guys, that song? That song? You know, I don't know. 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.479 If you study church history, well you go back, Welsh Revival, 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.199 Great Awakening, as Zusa Street, go through any of them. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.800 The common thread is as darkness began to prevail on 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:54.960 a culture, racism, brokenness, division, disunity. It was like at 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.200 the right time, God would look at the brokenness of 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.120 culture and say, that's my moment to pour my spirit out. 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:04.720 And I just want to prophesy and declare this. Can 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.840 we just say we're due for another great awakening, We're 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.679 due for an outpouring of God's told me spirit, do 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:12.240 it in our children. 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.520 O God, do it in our nation. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:14.160 O God. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:19.679 I'm just believing that's gonna be like the soundtrack. And 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.800 I'm just so grateful to be here. God is doing 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.800 a mighty thing in our day. Before we go a 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.440 step further, can we just make sure we give honor 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.480 where honor is due. Just before you cheer, Here's the 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.840 thing you need to know about Elevation Church. This is 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.840 a church that unapologetically believes that God's gonna plan a 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:41.480 hope in the future for the next generation. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:43.640 So if you showed up. 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.720 To church today and you're like, why are all these 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:53.920 young people on stage, I'll just say this that there's 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.080 a cultural narrative that maybe the next generation is lost. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.840 The next generation is too much on their phone. That 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:06.800 might be true, TikTok is infiltrating their culture and their 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.840 mind and they're lost. I just want to deliver a 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:16.200 different perspective that we're about to see. Thousands of students 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:22.360 from this community say I'm gonna lean into what God's doing, 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.560 and I just think the darker the world come on, 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:29.080 the more Taylor made anointing God has for this generation. 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:32.200 My Bible tells me this that in the last. 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.600 Days, what's going to happen the old men, but the 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:38.080 young men will dream dreams and prophesy, And I just 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.440 believe the best days are yet to come for the 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:46.360 next generation. And you serve it out of church that 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:51.280 your pastor's heart burns to see young people come to 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.959 find Jesus. So we'll put resources, we'll put time, we'll 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.480 put effort, we'll put music. So on behalf of what 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:00.240 God has done. 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:00.720 I know snow. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.880 This this is how you honor a movement. You honor 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.080 a movement by bringing it forward. And can we just 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:07.919 take a moment right now and just give honor where 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:11.840 honor is due to Pastor Stephen and Holly Ferdick for 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.679 creating a space in a room for the next generation. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.240 Thank you for being a role model to so many 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.480 young guys and girls like myself. We all just dream 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.840 one day could we just be like even half as 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:31.799 anointed in Jack his pastor Stephen Ferdick. Good lord, my 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.760 name is Ben Graves. I come from San Diego, California, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:41.800 and uh yeah, the land of shamou SeaWorld really suffering 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:42.480 for the gospel. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:43.320 Someone's got to do. 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.960 It is seventy five degrees year round. And my wife 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.040 and I Brooke, and our two beautiful babies. I think 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.320 we have a photo of them. We just send our love. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:58.000 God's been so good to us. And that's our daughter 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.320 Banks and our little one Benji. I was thinking about 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:02.720 this last week. I'll let you sit in a moment 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:07.120 Maory scripture, but the one with the cute pigtails. The 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.480 craziest moment when she was born was, of course, like 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.480 when it's delivered and there's young people in the rooms. 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.000 I'll spare you the details, but there's this moment parents 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:17.599 in the room. You know, this moment where like you 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:19.640 kind of live in this fairy tale land of like 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.920 having nurses and doctors check in on you and they're 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.880 teaching you how to change a diaper, and then this 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.599 moment comes where you kind of sign your life away 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:32.240 on these documents and then the nurse just kind of goes, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:36.960 see ya, and you're like holding a car seat you 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.560 learn how to put together on YouTube fifteen minutes prior. 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:42.640 I'll kind of look at my wife. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:47.919 I'm like, they're just letting us leave, didn't even background 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.800 check me, and I'm a California driver. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:52.640 Yellow means go. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.160 But when that girl got in my car, all of 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.120 a sudden, I turned to sixty five years old, leaving 0:04:58.120 --> 0:04:59.719 my retirement community. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:02.159 Slow down. 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.440 And there's this portion of scripture that just reminds me 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:09.240 of this moment because I went in one moment from 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.839 just being ben to like an instant getting this new title. 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:14.120 Dad. 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.320 I didn't earn it. I didn't really know what it 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.640 all meant. But every day of my life. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.839 Has been a journey of growing and maturing into this 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:23.600 title had been given. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:25.560 And Paul writes something in two Corinthians want to read 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.760 this text for us today. He says this, that we 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:34.359 are now Christ's ambassador. I just felt for someone in 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.520 the room, like, what is an ambassador? It's just someone 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:39.920 who represents one kingdom inside of another. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.520 And Paul doesn't say one day you will be. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.159 He doesn't say maybe when you get a certain degree 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:49.640 you will be. 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:51.640 He just says you are. 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.000 Did anyone ever struggle with this reality that you go 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:57.960 from death to life? But there's still this part of 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.880 you that sometimes doesn't feel like walking in this call 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.360 of ambassadorship? And when I think of being an ambassador, 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.960 I think every person in this room, young or old. 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:07.400 You have been giving. 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.000 You have been given a sphere of influence, a domain 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.159 that you are called to be a leader and ambassador 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.320 representing the Kingdom of God in this kingdom here on earth. 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:18.039 You have been given a family. 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.279 Moms and dads catch this You've been given young people, children, 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.799 even the snatty toddlers. You have been given a domain. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.880 And what I've just learned culturally, especially around this next generation, 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.280 is some of us have forfeited or not lived up 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.280 into this title of a representation of Christ. 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.880 Pleading to a world come back to God. Because we 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:39.799 spend a lot. 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.080 Of time looking at the brokenness and the turmoil of 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.320 the world, and some of us have just become like 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:49.520 professional pointer outers of all the broken things. In what 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.640 we do when we focus on out there is sometimes 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.240 we forfeit the territory God's given us here. And I 0:06:57.360 --> 0:06:59.280 just want to encourage someone. Maybe you felt like this 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.880 week you didn't live like an ambassador for Christ, felt 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.640 like you live for an ambassador of insecurity, an ambassador 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:10.320 of trauma. I just came today to say God's got 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.840 a special amount of grace that he wants to impart 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.320 into your heart this morning. Because here's what this next 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.760 generation needs. It needs moms and dads and aunties and 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.080 uncles and business owners and workplace leaders that would say, 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.640 I want to be a representation to this broken world 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:33.560 saying come back to God. So Jesus, this morning we 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.160 say use us. Father, we don't want to vacate what 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.840 you've called us to lead in love the words of 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.480 Paul God, we are we grab. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.240 On to that. I am. 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.560 This is my core duty, this is my role. I'm 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.679 a son and daughter of God. But then he gives 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.640 me this mission to represent who Christ is, not just 0:07:55.720 --> 0:08:00.000 represent what he's against, but to represents who he is. 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.120 So God, today I pray that every individual in this room, 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:06.880 the sound of my voice, watching online, watching all over 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.480 the campuses, that today Lord, their hearts would be softened 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.360 and open to the reality. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.600 That God, you want to use me. I didn't see it. 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.400 This way, but you want to use me. I'm just 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.440 a mom, but you want to use me. I'm just 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:23.640 a dad, but you want to use me. Today, God, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.680 I pray that your Holy Spirit would move all over 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.160 this room. God, we don't want to leave this sing 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.439 transform us from the inside out. Jesus, we love you, 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:37.840 We praise you, and all God's beautiful people said, hey, man, come. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.199 On, why don't we give God a shout of praise? 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.640 High five someone as you find your seat? 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.079 What up you dam how we doing? The merch looks good. 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:51.440 The merch looks good. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.719 I am beyond excited for what God is going to 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:56.440 do today. 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:58.240 If you have your Bible turned to the. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:03.720 Book of Judges chapter six, through this portion of scripture. Really, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.360 anytime we study the Old Testament in Israelites and the 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.679 people of God, think of them really as an archaeotype 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.080 of all of humanity in many ways, right like we 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.720 see them in bondage and slavery in Egypt, and what 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:16.400 does God do? 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.000 He frees them. 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.520 This is the very same thing Christ does from your 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.120 sin in bondage and slave and his Holy Spirit through 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:23.839 the blood of Jesus. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:25.280 What does it do? It frees you. 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.560 So ever we look at the Israelites, it's like they're 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:32.319 kind of even like schizophrenic in their walk with God 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.840 because you see them being like the prize called chosen 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:39.320 people of God. But then you see them not be 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:42.480 able to let go of this love for other gods 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.079 and other nations and other cultures. And in Judges chapter six, 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.400 where we land, you got to remember that this is 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.199 before we ever saw King step onto the scene. And 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.559 a judge different than a judge in our culture. A 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.880 judge in our culture would you know, justify the law. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:57.800 Judge in this day would have been almost like a 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.920 superhero given to the people of God, pointed to be 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.360 a deliverer, someone to call the people back. So watch this, 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.160 When the Israelites would drift from God, he would then. 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.440 Send a a judge. 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:11.400 Now you read the Book of Judges and you'll see 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.120 that there are twelve different judges mentioned in this book, 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.560 which tells us that they would drift, God would. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.120 Send a judge. 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.520 They would then drift again, and God would send another 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:26.960 judge twelve different times. And that is because no human 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.160 being is the answer to the condition of their heart. 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.800 I mean Moses, Abraham, all the Old Testament, Gideon, Deborah, 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:38.000 all the judges, all of them are just a preview. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:39.880 Pointing too. 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.600 We can't fix this, but God is sending someone who can, 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.920 and his name is Jesus, his only son. So we 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.760 see God send judges to try and call the people 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:50.680 back to God. 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:53.800 And then once again the people would fall and fall 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:54.120 and fall. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:56.200 And where we find ourselves in this text today is 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.720 the reality that the people of God have once again 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.480 did evil in the eyes of the Lord. I want 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.400 to read this Judge chapter six one through six, and 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.960 it says this, the Israelites did evil in the eyes 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:07.600 of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:08.880 into the hands of the Midianites. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.079 Because the power of midian. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.640 Was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves and 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:18.400 mounting clefts, caves and strongholds. Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.119 the Midianites, Emmaclites and other Eastern peoples invaded the country. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:24.360 They camped on the land. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.120 And ruined their crops all the way to Gaza, and 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.880 did not spare a living thing for israel either sheet, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:33.040 nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their live 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.520 stock in their tents like swarms of locusts. This is 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:41.200 fascinating imagery here, right, because we saw in the delivery 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:43.959 of God's people from Egypt. Do you remember how God 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.120 judged the emperor the time said he would send swarms 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.240 of locus. Now we see this imagery bought back into 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.240 the text again. It's like saying, the thing that God 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:54.040 used to judge the enemy is now the thing that 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.360 is conquering them in their oppression. Here. Oh, this is 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.840 interesting because we see that no longer are the people 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.760 of God because at this point they have made it 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:06.720 to the promised land. So they've made it now to 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:08.160 what God has promised for them. 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:10.559 But read this, they're. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.320 Getting so beat up and so defeated by the enemy 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.600 that they have literally vacated the promise, and the Bible 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.560 says they have made homes for themselves in mountain clefts 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.640 and caves. Now, I don't know if you've ever been 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:26.360 in a season where you feel like you're just getting 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.600 beat up left and right by the enemy, that you 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.640 feel like, man, I thought I conquered this thing, but 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.280 it keeps coming back into my current situation. Maybe some 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.840 of you today you feel like, man, I've had seasons 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:39.839 of winning in seasons of losing. I just want to 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.720 ease your heart a little bit. That's walking with Jesus 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.680 that oftentimes it doesn't always feel like up into the right. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.679 But we see the people of God here make it 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:51.600 to the promised land. 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.800 And because they're so oppressed, because the enemy is running 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.840 ravage in their day, it says that they. 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.200 Vacate and they go and hide. 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.040 Like I just imagine, like what was one of the 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.360 dads one day, just like getting beat up and scrolling 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:17.560 zillow dingy dark cave, fix her upper. I think he 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.480 probably had a moment. I just imagine it this way. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.200 There was one dad who was just so tired of 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.240 his food being plumbaged, of his life being. 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:25.800 Taken from him. 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.120 He looked at his kids and went, you know what, 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.360 I think we could take him up to this cave 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.280 and we could just hide out a little bit. The 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.760 many nights can't get us up there. And maybe just 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.240 one family went up and made themselves a little shelter, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:45.280 and one night turned to two nights and three nights 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.520 into four knights, and other family saw, man, they're safe 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.920 up there, and then another family leaves. 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:51.400 And packs up. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.280 I just wonder if they really meant for it to 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.640 become their home. I think what they thought was going 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.199 to be shelter for a night, without knowing it became 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:07.360 now their defense for life. And now the promised land 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:13.400 of God is running with the enemy, and the people 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:19.840 of God are hiding. Remember same people shouted walls of 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:25.120 Jericho fall down are now hiding watching the enemy run ravish. 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.840 And here's what I know about our life. We all 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:35.400 have Midianites. There are annoying things in our lives, sin tendencies, background, 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.760 family of origin, things that we sometimes feel like we have. 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.320 Tried and tried and tried, and you don't feel delivered. 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.720 It's things that are beating you up, things that keep 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.360 you feeling down. And I just learned that oftentimes in 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.240 my life, I have a tendency not to fight when 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.640 I get tired, but to hide in. Hiding in twenty 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.120 twenty six is bougie, easy and accessible. 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.080 Because you ain't even got to go find a cave. 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:06.840 You can just hop on your phone. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.680 I learned this thing as a dad. I was like, 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:11.680 I've get stressed, overwhelmed. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.360 I'm like, I'm just gonna go take a bathroom break. 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:23.160 And then God invented something called YouTube golf. But I 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:27.160 got convicted by the Lord one day. Don't imagine it 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:28.800 too much, but I got it convicted by the Lord 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:35.960 because I could hear my kids outside, and the Lord 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:36.880 decid to me, you're hiding. 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.120 That's the domain I've called you to lead in, and 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:42.720 you're hiding. 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:45.840 I think for some of us, it's like I'm just 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.480 so overwhelmed with the pressure to provide. I mean, let's 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.400 just talk about being a mom or a dad. It's like, 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.080 now it's not even just can you raise kids to survive? 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.000 It's like, but can you make sure they get no 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.360 red forty and make sure that they eat perfectly, and 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:57.880 make sure. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:58.480 They're working out. 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.600 Inject peptides into that early so that they just get strong, 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:03.880 and make sure you're watching all this stuff and learning 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:05.160 this book and you're raising them up. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.920 And it's just this whole thing. And I've just learned this. 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:08.720 It's like, also, I got to provide, and also I 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.080 got to be fit, and also I got to make 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:11.720 sure they're in the right sports, and also I got 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.320 to make sure I'm smart, and I'm reading my Bible 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.040 and all of the different things sometimes can cause us 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:17.040 to leave and just hide. 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.440 But can I remind you you have. 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:26.680 Not been called to vacate the promised land, parent, young person. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.400 You have been giving a sphere of influence. 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.600 And what I've learned is when a sphere of influence 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.800 is vacated by an ambassador, it becomes an open door 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:37.040 for the enemy to rampage. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.000 And I wonder if you feel like. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.000 There is chaos raving inside of your life right now, 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.480 and could it be because God has called you to 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.520 that domain to lead, to pray, to make sure you're interceding, 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.040 to be present. But you find yourselves like the Israelites 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:59.600 in this text oftentimes retreating and hiding and not leading. 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:02.440 They find themselves in caves. Well, the next time you 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.159 see a cave in scripture, you would see in the 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.439 Book of Second Kings, you would see a man named Elijah, 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.400 just after defeating an enemy, he finds himself hiding out 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:11.960 in in a cave. 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:14.720 You see this all over. 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.840 You see David, King David running from Saul, who's supposed 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.359 to be his mentor his king, who's insecure. In the 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:23.400 Bible says that David runs and starts to hide out 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.800 into a cave. When go to the New Testament, two 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.800 sisters Mary Martha, Jesus finds them weeping outside of a 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:36.719 cave as their brother is now Dad Lazarus. Go google 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.760 what an ancient tomb look like in Biblical times. Even 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:46.359 Jesus found himself inside of a cave. But you know 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.920 what every cave in scripture has in common. Let's look 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.840 at Elijah for a moment. What happens. He's depressed, he's anxious, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:55.919 he wants to take his own life. Guess who shows 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.120 up the spirit of God and brings him a meal. 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:01.439 Go to King David. 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.960 What happens, He's depressed, he's insecurity. He's inside of a cave. 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:08.000 Guess who shows up. God sends brothers friends to lift 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:10.800 him up. Go to Mary and Martha. They're crying outside 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.440 of a cave. Jesus shows up, weeps with them, powerful, 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.880 and then says, Lazarus, get out that cave. Because God 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.680 is not afraid of caves. We serve a God who 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:27.360 is in the business of showing up to caves and 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:31.520 redeeming and calling out. Jesus three days in a cave. 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.600 We all know the end of the story, friends, that 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.280 he did not stay in that cave. But three days 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.800 later he got up out of the grave and defeated 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:39.879 sin death in the grave. 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:41.639 So here's what I know for your life. 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.400 You might have been hiding, you might be in secret, 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:45.480 you might being. 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.840 Broken, But good news that we serve a. 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.520 God who loves to show up in caves and call 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.720 his sons and daughters back home. Come on, can I 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.840 get an amen in the house of God today. He's 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:59.359 in the business of showing up in dark places. The 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.760 Bible says, while we were still sinning, I'll be super 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.240 playing with you while you were hiding, while you were 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.199 getting drunk, while you were messing up while you were 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.840 running from God. Fill in the blank with whatever that 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.719 sin issue is. The Bible says that while you were sinning, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.399 that's when He shows up. So some of us, what 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:20.960 we do is we go, Man, I'm just in a 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:22.720 bad season. I've been hiding in. What we do is 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.000 we double down and we make a lifestyle. What if 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.000 God's called to be something you get called out of 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.520 and today what I believe God is doing in a 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:32.120 lot of our lives. You need to meet the man 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.159 who will show up to your cave today and he 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.359 will call you home with his grace, his mercy, and 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.480 his Holy Spirit. What he wants to do in and 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.840 through your life you have no idea, But here's what 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:41.159 I know. 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:42.600 You have been given a territory. 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.680 You have been given a promise in This next generation 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.160 needs leaders and parents and people who will not vacate 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:52.880 the promise in the place God's given me in sit 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.480 and hiding. But the spirit of the Living God, here's 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.000 what I know. There's a tailor made anointing for you, Mom, 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.200 a tailor made anointing for you to do the thing 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.720 God's called you to do. You do know this, God 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.719 will never call you to do something, but not equip 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.119 you through it. So in every season you are in, 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.879 remind yourself this today that even if I've been hiding, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:17.480 the hiding doesn't define me and it's not where you 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.600 were called to live. I get it, it's been a 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:21.800 hard season. I get it. 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.040 Things have been difficult, But you can't live there. 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:31.240 There's too much a stake. Who else is coming for 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:36.119 this next generation? Many of us are just like, so, 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:41.960 you've Passor's job. It's a preacher's job. It's Bryce Crawford's 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:43.920