Barriers To Blessings

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.719 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.440 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.800 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.439 I want to share a verse with you from Isaiah 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:24.800 forty three. This verse nineteen, God, see I am doing 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:31.520 a new thing. Well, y'all, that's only the first part 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:33.000 of the verse. Would you let me read the whole 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:38.560 verse before you start acting all excited and enthusiastic. 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.800 I'm just kidding. Of course, you can shout anytime. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:51.680 People shout over much stupid or stuff, so you can. 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:54.600 You can get excited here. Sorry, all right, let me 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.760 start over. Just let's start over. See, I'm doing a 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.440 new thing now, it's up. Do you not perceive it? 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:07.280 I am making away in the wilderness. That's what you are, 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:14.039 just singing and streams in the waste slam. Permit me 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:15.800 to go over to the Book of Hebrews. I want 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:18.040 to put one New Testament verse together with that Old 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:24.559 Testament prophecy. And this is Hebrews Chapter six, Verse one. 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.280 The writer says, Therefore, let us move beyond the elementary 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:33.080 teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.920 laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.360 to death and of faith in God. So what I 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:40.880 want to talk to you for a few moments today, 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.279 and I'm so very thrilled to get to stand before 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:45.800 you again and share the word. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:46.200 Of God with you. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:53.680 And my subject, my subject is barriers to blessings. And 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:55.520 I want you to pray for me that I would 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.640 be able to deliver this word to you, just like 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.200 God wants you to hear it. Father, Thanks, thank you 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.000 for the time we have together. Now, these are your people, 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.760 This is your word. Make the connection so that your 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.520 word gets in the hearts of your people and changes 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:10.120 their lives. 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:12.840 Because if that happens, the world will change. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.040 So we believe we're standing on the brink of something great, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.119 and we declare it by faith in Jesus name. 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.160 Amen, you may be seated. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.320 Well, not to be unspiritual, but would you help me 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:30.040 wish my wife a happy birthday. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:36.640 She celebrated her birthday and I didn't ask her if 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.000 I could tell you that she's thirty seven. 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:44.880 We're getting old girl, No are We talk about this 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:46.840 all the time that we know we're getting old, and 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.120 we know we're getting old because we listen to Cheryl 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:57.040 Crowe and we yeah, I was in love with Cheryl 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:02.040 Crowe round age fourteen. I think she was like sixty 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.040 five at that time, and so but she's still. 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.080 Going and. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:11.560 Oh, yeah, we're getting old. It's true because I was 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.280 telling Holly the other day, you know, we were even 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.240 listening to trying to listen to some new music from 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.560 the new Cheryl Crow album, which sounds, you know, like 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.280 a paradox, but it's not. It's she's still making music today. 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.080 But I looked at Holly I was like, I just 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.440 can't do it. I just can't listen to the new 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.480 Cheryl Crow. And so we had this weird discussion about 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.360 neural pathways and how your brain starts to like certain 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.800 music in certain stages, and we had a very this 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:41.640 was on her birthday. 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:42.680 We had a very. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:46.320 Deep discussion about why we don't like the new Cheryl 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.920 Crow and why we like the old Cheryl Crow. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:50.680 And it's not I don't think it's Cheryl's fault. 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.560 I don't think Cheryl's vocals have gotten weaker or songwriting 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.840 abilities and sensibilities have gotten any less. Keen, I promise, 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:58.920 i'mnna get back to the scripture. 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:01.400 I see a few guests looking nervous. What did you 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:02.120 bring me to? 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:04.960 I see a few teenagers looking confused. 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:06.040 Who is Sheryl Crow? 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.200 And it all makes me feel old, because like, if 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:12.360 you play a bassline from an old Cheryl Crow song, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.320 just automatically, it puts me in a certain frame of mind, 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:18.599 you know, and music does that to you. They've written 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.680 books about it, They've done studies at prestigious universities about 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:26.239 why certain like why if you played leaving Las Vegas 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:29.760 right now by Cheryl Crow, just even the baseline, just 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:30.400 even just a. 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.280 If he started playing that, I. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:43.520 Could remember being at the music Farm when I watched 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.680 her open for Blues Traveler. It makes me feel free 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:48.480 and it makes me feel excited. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.440 And I remember smelling marijuana for the first time. But 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.960 that's not the point of church. Well, I'm saying this. 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.760 It's like a it's embedded, it's an attachment, it's an 0:04:58.800 --> 0:04:59.600 anchor memory. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:00.960 And I liked it. 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.040 I liked the old stuff, I like the new stuff, 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.839 or any of you like me, like just music is not, 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.640 but it it's. 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:16.280 Okay to talk about just not what it used to be. No, no, 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.520 what happened to the guitar solos and the Sheryl Crow basslines? 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:27.280 Of course that brings us to Isaiah forty three. No, 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.599 it really does, because y'all were shouting, and I thought 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.839 it was odd that you were shouting, because the announcement 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.360 went like this. I don't know if you remember, It's 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:36.520 been like five minutes. And then some of us forget 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:40.760 real quickly, and everybody shot knew. I was reading the verse, 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.320 and I said, see, I am doing a new thing. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.120 I have no idea what happened in Matthews or Ronoke 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:50.320 or Raleigh or any other location, but here Valentine. When 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.640 I was trying to read my scripture and I only 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.600 got that far, and I said, see, I am doing. 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:01.880 A new thing. And they start cheering. But they do 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.480 not share for highway construction. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.559 Nor did they listen to the new Sheryl Crow album, 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.599 nor did they like their kids choice in music. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:14.359 Or clothing. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.120 We don't really how many want God to do a 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:20.760 new thing in your life. I'm setting you up. Be 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.719 careful if you raise your hand. I'm just warning you, 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:30.720 because I think that's I think that's a real challenge. 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.200 I really do. I think sometimes when God is trying 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:40.599 to bless us, I can use scriptural examples. How you know, 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.800 the early Church was so used to the law that 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.560 when the writer of Hebrews began to break it down, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.000 and he said that in times past God has spoken 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:56.719 through the prophets, and he gave us the law through Moses, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:00.360 and now he's speaking through his son. One of the 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.560 reasons that the hebrew people had such a difficult time 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.760 and they needed to be brought forth or be led 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.320 into something new, is because our brains have a way. 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.600 They've studied this now in science, not only with Sheryl 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.680 Crow songs, but also with any habit that happens in 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:25.480 your life. We know now that your brain actually creates highways. 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.280 That's not a technical term. And over the next seven seconds, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.000 I'm going to tell you everything that I know about 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.520 brain science, but it won't take me long. But I 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:38.559 don't know that your brain forms connections. Yeah, your brain. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.400 Once you've done something a certain number of way a 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.120 certain number of times, your brain just locks it in 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.760 and anything that doesn't feel familiar like that starts to 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:49.240 feel frustrating. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:50.520 And that's why some of the. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.200 Things that you do in your life that you don't 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.200 even like the results of are so difficult to undo 0:07:57.120 --> 0:08:02.240 because you've established a way of doing things. 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:04.200 We even say that, we say, well, that's just the 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:05.360 way he is. What are we saying. 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.680 We're talking about his neural pathways. We don't call it 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.080 neural pathways because our friends would look at us funny. 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.240 So we say that's just the way he is. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.320 Well, that's not just the way he is, it's the 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.239 way his brain has been trained, or it's the way 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:20.240 that her brain has been trained. I don't want to 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.440 be sexist about it. Women have issues and habitual addictions to. 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:26.000 Do. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:33.920 Somebody say, change your ways. No shouting over that. But 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.280 yet I'm excuse me for a moment. I'm just trying 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.040 to reconcile the fact that when I read my scripture. 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.679 See I am doing a new thing. It felt exciting. 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.640 But then when we actually begin to discuss what it means, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.520 because God says, now it springs up, do you not 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.520 perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.400 and streams in the wasteland, and other words, God is 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.720 saying to a people who have been exiled into Babylonian captivity. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.319 He's saying, I'm trying to bless you. I've been trying 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.440 to bless you all your life. I've been trying to 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:15.400 bless you all your life. I've been trying to release 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.640 what you need all your life. I've been trying to 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.680 give you what is in me. I've been trying to 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.040 flow through you and flow to you and to't your neighbor. Again, 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.040 I won't do this, but maybe about ten more times. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.679 Tell them God is trying to bless you. He is 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:33.800 trying to bless you. 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.000 But Isaiah speaks. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.120 Up because the people of Israel have been, by their behaviors, 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.520 blocking the blessing of God. So I called this message 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:49.920 barriers to blessings because just like there are blessings, I 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.319 mean real blessings, not just cars and houses. Those are fine, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.320 not just pools and boyfriends, although if you get one 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.439 of those or both of those, I'll celebrate with you. 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.679 But far beyond that, God wants to bless you at 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.960 the very state of your being. That's what he said 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.480 to Abraham. You will be a blessing. Not just you 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:11.439 will be blessed, but everybody you touch talk to even 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.440 look at will be blessed just because they got in 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:15.320 proximity to you. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:16.240 That's the promise. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.680 That's why God brought his people forth so that they 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.080 would be blessed. And the reason that he wanted them 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.520 to be blessed is so they could be a blessing. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.560 And that's what we're talking about in this series is 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.040 that sometimes we experience. 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:36.800 Here's the term in business terminology. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.080 Any business owners in the house, I need to know 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.520 who to pray for, because it is not easy to 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:42.719 lead an organization, is it. 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.679 And if you started your business, raise your hand. 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:47.720 If you started your business, and I see that takes 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.480 a lot of courage, because every business has barriers to entry. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:53.280 That's the technical term. 0:10:53.280 --> 0:11:00.280 It's startup costs, government regulations, knowledge that you may not 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.400 have that existing competitors already have. And so even to 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.640 think about starting a business is should make you a 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:11.920 little nauseous because there are barriers to entry. One thing 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.400 that has changed in our modern age is that in 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.640 regards to creativity and content, there are so many different 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:21.640 ways to distribute content that it's no longer like it was. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.600 It's not like the old days. In the old days, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:25.080 you had to have a record label. To put out 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.240 an album, you had to have a lot of money 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.400 to book studio time. Well, now if you have the 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:33.360 right software and a SoundCloud, you could just put your 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:35.720 stuff out off as any good. Maybe it'll get somebody's attention. 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:38.160 I mean, if you really consistently. I'm not saying it's easier, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.600 because now there are more than ever, many different people 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.400 and many different entities vuying for attention. But what's happened 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.520 is the barrier to entry has really been broken down, 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.640 and now the barrier to entry is no longer Do 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:51.160 you have enough money to make an album or do 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:52.839 you have somebody who will help you make an album? 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.800 It's are you any good? And are you consistent enough 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:59.080 that you will put out enough stuff until you connect. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:11:59.560 With your audience. 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.880 So I kind of feel like that that's what we're 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:08.400 trying to understand here in Isaiah forty three and Hebrews 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.800 chapter six. Although these scriptures are separated by about seven 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.079 centuries of time. I think God is trying to get 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:21.319 us to see that the barriers that were before us 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:26.600 to keep us from experiencing His blessing are no longer there. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:30.400 So I'm talking about shame that was dealt with at 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:36.120 the cross. I'm talking about your weakness that can actually 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.720 become strength. I'm talking about the mistakes of your past 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.040 that you relive in your mind over and over again. 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.600 I'm saying God has dealt with that, defeated death, defeated the. 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:50.280 Grave, taken your shame. 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:55.280 How many want to thank God that the barrier has 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:56.480 already been broken. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.800 Just receive it right now. 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.560 Because since you couldn't get to God, God came down 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.160 to you, wrapped himself up, looking like a little infant, 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.720 but really he was infinite, coming through the eons, coming 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.360 through the Axis, coming through Eternity. Cannot preach like the 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:19.960 barrier is broken. As a matter of fact, when I 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.679 even look out over our church, I see lots of 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.880 barriers broken. I see people who shouldn't even be in 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:30.079 church together praising God right beside each other, like we 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:34.080 have the same baptism, the same faith, the same birth, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.080 the same hope. 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:38.480 It gets me excited. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.720 Now if the essence of the Gospel is that God 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.319 breaks barriers, and that he broke every barrier, even the 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.160 righteous requirements of the law, which were fully met in him, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:53.840 so that you might be fully found in Him, so 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.160 that nothing could separate you from the love of God 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.120 that is in Christ, Jesus your Lord, neither height, nor death, 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.720 nor anything else in all creation. When Paul wanted to 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.560 say it, he said it like that, etc. None of 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.360 it can keep me from the love and the blessing 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:21.080 of God except my unbelief, because all of that can 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:27.160 be true. But if you don't believe it's true, it 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.640 won't be true for you, even if you're shout about it. 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.920 But when you go home, you really don't think that 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:39.160 God is doing a new thing, you will stay stuck. 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:44.960 In what was. And I don't envy Isaiah. 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.520 He was a much better preacher than I will ever be, 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:50.080 to say the least. Even the fact that I would 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.080 say that feels arrogant to say that. You know that Isaiah, 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:55.120 let me tell you how good he was at his job. Okay, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:59.160 he's called the egle eyed prophet because he was prophesying 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:01.960 stuff that he he wouldn't even live to see. So 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.200 he was preaching the sermons that the people would need 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:06.520 for something that they weren't even going through yet, that 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.760 he would never even go through. And so God would 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.360 download what they would need. And God knew that his 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.280 people would worship these other gods, even though that the 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:17.640 God of Heaven had promised to a man called Abraham, 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.760 who was the father of their faith, that I will 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.560 bless you, and you will be a blessing, and there 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.640 will never be a time that you will not be blessed. 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:25.920 And not only will you be blessed, but all peoples 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.400 of the earth will be blessed through you, all of them. 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.840 Not I'm not just doing this for one nation, one people. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.280 Grow The heart of God has always been that all 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.520 of us would be blessed, that every barrier would be 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.440 broken down, not just in one zip code, not just 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.960 one ethnicity, not just one denomination, but that all people 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.560 would be blessed through those who are called by His name. 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:48.640 That's the promise. Here's the problem. 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:54.840 You notice that they always like hang out together. The 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.880 problem is that the people of God blocked not only 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.720 their own blessing, but the blessing. 0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:05.120 That they were created to distribute to the earth through. 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.520 Their unbelief in the true and living God. So Isaiah 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.040 knows this and knows that there will be a time 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:16.280 when they will live in captivity, in bondage. That blessed 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:26.080 people can still live in bondage mentally emotionally blessed people 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.400 can still live in bondage, and they weren't imprisoned in 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:36.160 physical cells. They were taken away into a Babylonian land 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.280 where a lot of their life really wasn't that bad. 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.880 It wasn't that they lacked physically. It was just that they. 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:47.000 Were in an unfamiliar, strange place, away from the place 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:50.520 God had called them. Usually when we think of the 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:53.000 opposite of blessing, we think that the situation would be 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:56.320 really bad. It wasn't really the situation that got bad 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.400 for these people that Isaiah is writing to. 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.360 Their soul, and so. 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:06.440 The situation wasn't that terrible, but the state of their 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:12.720 soul very dry, very destitute, and very desperate. And into 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:18.720 that situation Isaiah speaks forth a promise from God, and 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:20.080 he says to the people. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.960 Who are not yet in captivity, but they will be. 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.480 So he's giving them what they need for what they're 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:26.880 going to go through that they don't. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:27.360 Know about yet. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.480 That's why you need to take notes in church, even 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.879 if you don't think it's for you right now. Oh, 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.239 I'm not a parent, but you never know when you 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.320 might get one of those little puppies you. 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:42.879 Might need the manual. What did he say four years ago? 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.720 Well, he has a difficult task because he's speaking to 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.280 a future that they don't experience yet, and so maybe 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:55.840 they're not listening. So what's what he does? I want 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.800 to back up a few verses. Go to verse fifteen. 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:03.280 He reminds them who he is. I am the Lord, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.840 your Holy One, because Isaiah is only a mouthpiece. He 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.640 is not the message. He is the mouthpiece of the message. 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.720 I am the Lord, your Holy One. That's a cool 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:19.919 thing that unholy people could claim a personal relationship with 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:23.680 a holy God because the barrier has been broken. If 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.720 Isaiah could talk like that, and Jesus hasn't even lived yet, 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.000 how can we talk about our relationship with God. 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.040 Living on this side of the cross. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:36.719 I'm broken, but I belong to one whose name is exalted, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:41.359 whose name is holy, and in the center of unbroken praise, 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:43.200 I am the Lord. 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:53.120 You belong to me. I am Israel's creator, your King. 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.320 This is what the Lord says, he who made away 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:04.040 through the See that's what we were just singing. We 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.199 didn't really write that song. It was written in a 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:10.760 long time. We plagiarized it. But there's no copyright on it, 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:12.879 so we just up there singing it like us ours. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:14.840 Man oh tongs. 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:19.080 And you gotta understand, this was Israel's jam. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:22.840 No, I'm serious, this was their song. So this was 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:23.120 the one. 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:25.520 You know, how you have your song, whether Sheryl Crow 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.399 or Metallica. I see you out there, I see you. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.080 I love it too. I love it too. I saw 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:33.760 damage incorporated. I even know what Metallica short it is. 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:35.760 And you got jarms, Yeah, I saw I saw all 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.680 of it, whatever your jam is. And I know it's 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.159 not just white people in the church. And at this 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:42.520 point I've only mentioned a few bands in certain genres, 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:44.840 so it's a lot of different songs. But when Israel 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.800 heard that, their collective consciousness as. 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.480 A nation would remember the core story. 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.080 That is referenced, because it's not just some generic thing. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:53.280 You know. 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.240 The Bible's not like a fortune cookie where you just 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.520 kind of open it, look at the numbers, look at 0:19:57.520 --> 0:19:58.040 the thing. 0:19:58.080 --> 0:19:58.840 Pass it around. 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.080 It was written to a Pacific people, So Isaiah is 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.040 going back to the past to remind the people of 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.280 the faithfulness of God. And he goes, he goes all 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.760 the way back to when they were slaves in Egypt, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.359 and they were in bondage and they didn't see a 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.119 way out, and God sent them a deliverer, and his 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:17.200 name was Moses. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.360 And Moses stood before Pharaoh and said, let my people go. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:21.560 And he had to say it a. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:24.679 Bunch of times, because sometimes Pharaoh is stubborn, and freedom 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.919 doesn't always come easy, and sometimes it takes persistence, And 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.360 sometimes God has to let your situation look humanly impossible 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:33.840 so that he can reveal himself as to God of 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.080 all possibility. Sometimes Lazarus has to stay in the grave 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.520 a little while longer so when he gets up, you 0:20:39.560 --> 0:20:41.359 won't just think it was the prayers of the church. 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.679 You'll know it was the power of God that raised him. 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:49.159 Like so he says, this is what the Lord says, 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:52.880 he who made away, raise your hand. If God ever 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:54.880 made a way for you, just even a little way, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.159 just even if he ever healed a headache, or just 0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.000 if he ever helped you get a job, or even 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:00.120 if somebody slipped your two. 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:01.960 When you didn't have a job and you got the gas, 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:02.840 or maybe it. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:04.800 Was one time when you were so depressed, crying your 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:06.600 eyes out, and you woke up one morning and you 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.399 realize you know, I feel a little better today, and 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:09.960 maybe I can get out of the bed today and 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.080 maybe I'll wash a few dishes today. And before you 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.240 knew it, you were back to normal. God made away? 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.760 Has he ever made away for you? Has he ever 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:19.320 made away? If he made if he made a way 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.639 for you, just wave your hand. If he made away, 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:23.840 just wave it. I don't know what you're talking about. 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:27.960 Don Don John Jun Don don Donjon. 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.800 When they started, when Isaiah said, dak the people that 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:40.159 that was remembered, that was their soundtrack to remind him 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:41.840 that they were no longer slaves. 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.520 He who made away? Because this is a scene. 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.720 This, This is not an abstract, theoretical, metaphorical out of 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.120 words to say this. This is this is not what 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.800 God kind of like does in a picture for him. 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.439 This this is an actual, practical memory from the past 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:06.320 of what God did for his people. 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:09.040 He didn't do it for these people. 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:12.160 They're in a different situation, but he did it for the. 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:14.919 People that they're a part of. So it's part of 0:22:14.960 --> 0:22:19.240 their legacy. It's part of their core story. 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.359 Their core story is that we were slaves. God brought 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:25.640 us out of Egypt. We were there for over four 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:28.400 hundred years. He brought us out into a promised land, 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:31.920 and now they need to go back to their core 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:35.440 story so that they can survive their captivity. 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:40.160 Are you with me so far? So he brings them 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:46.320 back ton toun to ton toun, toun to toun, tou 0:22:46.520 --> 0:22:51.560 tou tou toun tun tun tou toon tun. 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:57.960 He made away Tondundun through the see tondund a path 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:00.880 through tantandun mighty. 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:05.920 Waers who threw out turn ton ton the cherry, Yes, 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.880 tongue tun tunt and horses, hand army and reinforcements together, 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:12.159 they're never to rize, like extingge something that was going. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:21.919 So they're like, yeah, yes, Jesus, won'tie do it? Wonie 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.320 do it? Won't he make away? 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.600 So then I'm surprised when he says verse eighteen, coming 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:35.840 messes up the flow. 0:23:38.440 --> 0:23:41.640 He got the people remembering how strong and mighty God 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.320 was it the Red Sea made away. We did it 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:47.680 with no way. 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:59.760 And then he says, forget the this is the next verse. 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:05.520 I promise you, I'm not moving these all around. Forget 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:09.679 the former things. I understand that because if you live 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:14.600 in a state of regret over I mean if you 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:17.920 relive over and over again every dumb thing you said, 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.840 or everything that every decision that you made, every purchase 0:24:21.880 --> 0:24:22.280 that you mean. 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:24.639 It is paralyzing to live in the past. 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:29.399 And you really do have to understand that one thing 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:31.760 that the Cross of Jesus does is it gives me the. 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:38.760 Freedom to move past my mistakes. I am so grateful 0:24:38.800 --> 0:24:40.600 for that. And here's what I mean. 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:45.639 I feel change breaking while I preach today because I 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:49.280 always always preach that a certain way, and then one 0:24:49.359 --> 0:24:53.960 day I realize that most people are not living enslaved 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:56.960 to the mistakes that they made, like twenty three years ago. 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:01.440 It's that I keep making mistakes. 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:05.680 So really, when I say moving on past your mistakes, 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:08.640 that might not be very difficult if it was three 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:14.480 years ago. But what if those three minutes ago and 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:17.159 here you are in church and God is trying to 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:19.040 bless you. Do you remember I said he's trying to 0:25:19.119 --> 0:25:19.520 bless you. 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:22.280 He was blessing. 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:24.480 Abraham to be a blessing. He wanted to bless his 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:26.120 people so they could bless the earth. 0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:27.720 He's always blessing. 0:25:27.800 --> 0:25:31.080 It's not just an activity, it is an attribute of 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:34.639 his character. He is the God who blesses it's what 0:25:34.840 --> 0:25:37.880 he does, it's who he is. It's what he does 0:25:38.040 --> 0:25:40.399 that flows from who he is, and he's always trying 0:25:40.880 --> 0:25:43.840 to bless you. But sometimes I've got to be honest 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:47.879 about it. My unbelief, not only my unbelief, but my 0:25:48.040 --> 0:25:52.560 stubborn refusal to really accept the fact that whatever I did, 0:25:53.760 --> 0:25:56.960 he's already done something about it. It keeps me from 0:25:57.240 --> 0:25:59.320 entering into the present moment. 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:02.200 So now I'm stuck. 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:07.440 And he gives me permission to move on, pass my mistakes, 0:26:07.440 --> 0:26:10.760 and he says, see, I'm doing a new thing. Forget 0:26:10.800 --> 0:26:14.800 the past, which makes sense when we're talking about the 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:20.600 mistakes of my past. But remember Isaiah did not just 0:26:20.760 --> 0:26:25.639 list the mistakes of their past. He just mentioned a 0:26:25.720 --> 0:26:31.040 miracle from their past. And right after he mentions the miracle, 0:26:31.760 --> 0:26:37.520 he tells them to forget it. Oh, I got you 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:41.359 curious now, because that first thing I said, that's. 0:26:41.320 --> 0:26:44.399 Just normal preaching. Forget it and move on. That's bumper 0:26:44.440 --> 0:26:50.520 sticker stuff, Fidoh you know, forget it, drive on. I mean, 0:26:50.560 --> 0:26:58.359 that's not even really preaching. So you're clapping for it right. 0:26:58.440 --> 0:26:58.879 Moving on. 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:03.280 If only the credit card companies would get the same 0:27:03.320 --> 0:27:05.040 spirit of forgiveness that God has right. 0:27:06.880 --> 0:27:13.280 They didn't get the memo though he male. 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:19.760 Where there was no way through the Red Sea, brought 0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:23.240 us out of Egypt. And that God, the same God 0:27:23.280 --> 0:27:28.000 who did that, wants you to do this. Forget it, 0:27:31.400 --> 0:27:35.040 do not dwell on the past. Put my verse back. 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:38.440 I don't want to think I'm making this up because 0:27:38.480 --> 0:27:40.680 I'm strange. I know forget. 0:27:42.240 --> 0:27:42.639 Well I did. 0:27:44.040 --> 0:27:47.280 I always assumed that the greatest barrier that keeps me 0:27:48.000 --> 0:27:51.600 from being blessed by God is what the devil did 0:27:51.640 --> 0:28:02.920 to me. Sometimes it is barrier to the blessing of 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:09.080 God in your future. You got it is not what 0:28:09.240 --> 0:28:13.240 the devil did to you. It's what God did for 0:28:13.400 --> 0:28:18.800 you in one season that you expect him to repeat 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:26.400 in the next season. So I've heard one hundred sermons, 0:28:26.760 --> 0:28:29.880 I probably preached a hundred sermons on move on from 0:28:29.920 --> 0:28:34.119 the mistake. But what about when God wants you to 0:28:34.240 --> 0:28:42.160 move on from the miracle? And this is the weirdest thing. 0:28:42.200 --> 0:28:43.520 I don't know how to explain it to you, but 0:28:44.480 --> 0:28:47.240 we have all these course stories at our church. In 0:28:47.320 --> 0:28:49.760 business terminology, your core story is the crux of your 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:52.600 central value proposition, where you describe what you do as 0:28:52.640 --> 0:28:54.720 a company that differentiates you from all the other ones. 0:28:54.880 --> 0:28:56.600 Well as a church, we have a course story what 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:59.400 makes us unique, the faith of the early days. You know, 0:28:59.760 --> 0:29:01.520 may some of the stuff y'all are talking about it 0:29:01.600 --> 0:29:04.520 backstage past weekend on a history tour. 0:29:05.440 --> 0:29:08.120 You know those stories are good. Can I be honest 0:29:08.200 --> 0:29:08.400 with you. 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:10.320 The reason I'm not going to give you it the 0:29:10.480 --> 0:29:13.840 tour is because I don't remember the stuff that a 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:15.800 lot of the stuff, And I used to think it 0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:17.960 was because I wasn't grateful, because I felt. 0:29:17.800 --> 0:29:19.800 Like, you know, if I was really grateful for what 0:29:19.920 --> 0:29:20.239 God did. 0:29:20.320 --> 0:29:22.080 I mean, there are things that Hollywood remind me of 0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:24.440 a lot of the times, and she'll be like, remember 0:29:24.440 --> 0:29:27.200 when God did this, And she'll mention something that had 0:29:27.280 --> 0:29:29.360 me all up in knots when it happened. 0:29:29.400 --> 0:29:31.120 But I don't even remember about it anymore. 0:29:31.160 --> 0:29:32.840 And I used to think that there was something wrong 0:29:32.880 --> 0:29:34.880 with me, or maybe I'm starting to lose my memory 0:29:35.000 --> 0:29:36.560 or something, because I already told you we're getting old, 0:29:36.800 --> 0:29:38.640 and maybe it's starting to deteriorate. 0:29:38.720 --> 0:29:43.040 My brain isn't functioning the same way. Or maybe God 0:29:43.200 --> 0:29:45.520 doesn't want me to rely on. 0:29:48.680 --> 0:29:54.719 A memory of a miracle that he has already performed 0:29:56.200 --> 0:30:04.640 and miss the miracle that is in progress. I'm trying 0:30:04.720 --> 0:30:11.080 to preach a progressive message today, and here's the message. 0:30:12.280 --> 0:30:17.080 Remember the ways he made, but forget the way he 0:30:17.240 --> 0:30:25.840 made it. This a run in place message. I gotta 0:30:25.840 --> 0:30:27.760 get some energy, so i'll holler jut too bad. 0:30:28.760 --> 0:30:33.680 Remember what he did for you, Remember how he kept you, 0:30:33.720 --> 0:30:35.640 how he blessed you, how he sustained you, how he 0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:38.280 opened doors, how he made opportunities, how he made a 0:30:38.320 --> 0:30:38.840 way out. 0:30:38.720 --> 0:30:44.520 Of no way. But then you gotta forget exactly how 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:45.040 he did it. 0:30:47.000 --> 0:30:52.440 Remember how much fun your marriage was before you had children, 0:30:54.320 --> 0:30:59.560 But then forget the freedom that you had before you. 0:30:59.640 --> 0:31:04.680 Brought human beings and to exist. 0:31:04.760 --> 0:31:10.160 This no, I'm serious, because sometimes we get stuck in 0:31:10.280 --> 0:31:12.360 a season and. 0:31:12.480 --> 0:31:17.920 We miss God's supply. He said, I want you to 0:31:18.040 --> 0:31:20.360 remember what I did. 0:31:22.840 --> 0:31:25.560 And then forget how I did it, because I'm not 0:31:25.920 --> 0:31:28.040 going to do it the same way every time. And 0:31:28.160 --> 0:31:29.600 here's why I'm not going to do it the same 0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:31.800 way every time. I'm not gonna do it like I 0:31:31.920 --> 0:31:34.080 used to do it. Because you got imagine the people 0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:37.320 in captivity. They're hearing this message. Dun dua du duh 0:31:38.240 --> 0:31:41.040 and they're remembering Moses. Now by this time, Moses isn't 0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:41.760 somebody they know. 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:44.920 He's like, no offense. 0:31:45.040 --> 0:31:49.200 Most if you're listening to me preach, I don't imagine 0:31:49.200 --> 0:31:51.160 he's tuning into my sermons, of all the sermons that 0:31:51.200 --> 0:31:52.680 he has available, if you know. 0:31:52.800 --> 0:31:54.880 But however that works with heaven and live streaming and 0:31:54.960 --> 0:31:59.560 stuff like that. But just for the record, no offense Moses. 0:32:00.480 --> 0:32:04.840 But I gotta believe that they were waiting for Moses 0:32:04.920 --> 0:32:08.960 to get them out of this captivity because Moses was 0:32:09.040 --> 0:32:13.160 kind of like a mascot. So they're looking, they're in 0:32:13.240 --> 0:32:16.200 Babylonian captivity, and they're going, Okay, who's God going to 0:32:16.240 --> 0:32:17.080 send to get us out of this? 0:32:18.040 --> 0:32:21.400 And so then Isaiah says, thus say it, the Lord, 0:32:22.080 --> 0:32:24.080 your King, your creator. 0:32:25.440 --> 0:32:26.920 Thus say it the Lord, the one who spoke to 0:32:26.960 --> 0:32:29.360 Abraham and called him out of ear of the Chaldeans, 0:32:29.400 --> 0:32:31.520 and made many out of one, and made you a nation, 0:32:31.680 --> 0:32:33.080 and brought you out of slavery. 0:32:32.760 --> 0:32:35.200 And brought you through the one who made away. This 0:32:35.400 --> 0:32:41.400 is what he says. Don't look for it to look 0:32:41.560 --> 0:32:46.120 like what it used to look like, or feel like 0:32:47.240 --> 0:32:48.680 what it used to feel like. 0:32:50.640 --> 0:32:55.400 Please do not misapply my message today to leave your 0:32:55.480 --> 0:33:02.040 husband and try to tell him that Preacher Stephens said 0:33:02.080 --> 0:33:04.960 that Moses is dead, or any of this weird stuff 0:33:05.040 --> 0:33:06.959 that Christian people do to try to make a message 0:33:07.000 --> 0:33:09.000 mean whatever they wanted to be. What I'm saying to 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:13.160 you is when Jesus walked the earth, he did miracles, 0:33:13.680 --> 0:33:15.920 he opened blinded eyes, but he didn't do it the 0:33:15.960 --> 0:33:17.040 same way every time he did it. 0:33:17.120 --> 0:33:19.360 And here's why. This is what I believe. You believe 0:33:19.360 --> 0:33:20.120 whatever you want to believe. 0:33:20.280 --> 0:33:22.440 I believe God doesn't want us to be more committed 0:33:22.520 --> 0:33:31.480 to a system than we are to a source. So 0:33:31.680 --> 0:33:34.440 this is what the Lord says. I'm gonna make away 0:33:34.520 --> 0:33:36.320 because that's what I do. How many believe he's a 0:33:36.360 --> 0:33:38.560 way maker? Yeah, yeah, he's a waymaker. 0:33:38.920 --> 0:33:42.960 I'm gonna make away, but not the way I made 0:33:43.000 --> 0:33:49.880 it before. This is so strong and so powerful that 0:33:50.040 --> 0:33:51.520 if you really received. 0:33:51.200 --> 0:33:55.880 This in your spirit today, you will realize that the 0:33:56.000 --> 0:33:58.200 barrier to the blessing of God in your life is 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:01.200 not no longer who is who is no longer in 0:34:01.320 --> 0:34:05.280 your life, or what age you are, or the money 0:34:05.320 --> 0:34:06.240 that somebody was. 0:34:06.320 --> 0:34:07.320 Owed you and didn't give you. 0:34:07.760 --> 0:34:11.520 Because we always externalize it it's always somebody else. And 0:34:11.640 --> 0:34:17.440 God says, I'm doing a new thing, and he asks 0:34:17.480 --> 0:34:23.120 a question, do you not see it or perceive it? 0:34:24.040 --> 0:34:26.640 What would keep me from perceiving what God is doing? 0:34:27.800 --> 0:34:31.839 Maybe it's expecting it to look just like what he's done. 0:34:33.239 --> 0:34:37.440 So here I am looking for God to park the 0:34:37.520 --> 0:34:40.719 Red Sea again, because that's what he did last time. 0:34:42.239 --> 0:34:45.520 Sometimes the greatest barrier to what God is doing. 0:34:46.120 --> 0:34:49.000 Is what he used to do. So when you first 0:34:49.080 --> 0:34:52.359 became a Christian, you just open your Bible and you're like, oh, 0:34:52.440 --> 0:34:54.600 you just open it anywhere, and God spoke to you 0:34:54.719 --> 0:34:56.920 and it had the verse of your street address from 0:34:56.920 --> 0:34:58.759 when you were eight, and you just opened it and 0:34:58.880 --> 0:35:01.320 you felt like a care and love shot out of 0:35:01.360 --> 0:35:08.040 your chest all across the And now men, your Bible 0:35:08.120 --> 0:35:11.600 flips up into all the depressing psalms and the Judas. 0:35:11.719 --> 0:35:14.720 And God speak to me like you used to speak 0:35:14.719 --> 0:35:17.239 to me. And God said, I'm still speaking, but not 0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:18.640 on the same frequency. 0:35:19.000 --> 0:35:21.160 I need you to go deeper. I need you to 0:35:21.280 --> 0:35:34.160 deep for something. Now forget forget not his faithfulness, but 0:35:34.360 --> 0:35:40.759 forget the form that it came in. They couldn't get this. 0:35:40.960 --> 0:35:44.200 So in Hebrews chapter six, verse one, the writer says, 0:35:44.760 --> 0:35:46.160 you keep looking for God. 0:35:46.040 --> 0:35:48.480 To look like the law because that's what you were 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:49.480 addicted to see. 0:35:49.719 --> 0:35:53.560 We get addicted to one form of deliverance and then 0:35:53.640 --> 0:35:55.200 grace comes along and we don't even know what to 0:35:55.280 --> 0:35:58.000 do with it because it's not what God used to do. 0:36:00.120 --> 0:36:00.880 You got to move on. 0:36:02.560 --> 0:36:05.520 Some of you grew up in really religious environments where 0:36:06.080 --> 0:36:08.640 you know, God wasn't happy unless you were depressed. You know, 0:36:09.560 --> 0:36:11.480 it didn't even count as church unless you had to 0:36:11.680 --> 0:36:14.000 endure it. You need to move on past that. God 0:36:14.160 --> 0:36:16.960 is doing a new thing. I mean, lift your hands, 0:36:17.440 --> 0:36:20.120 lift your heart, be free in his presence. 0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:23.239 He's doing a new thing. Do you not see it? 0:36:23.600 --> 0:36:26.000 It will spring forth out of the ground. Do you 0:36:26.160 --> 0:36:29.120 not perceive it? And what got me about it, JJ. 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:33.879 Is that when he did it at the Red Sea, 0:36:35.160 --> 0:36:37.680 he made a way through the waters. 0:36:38.440 --> 0:36:39.120 Is that what he did? 0:36:40.080 --> 0:36:42.840 Not setting you up this time? That's how the Bible 0:36:42.920 --> 0:36:46.080 story goes right, Don don don don. He made a 0:36:46.120 --> 0:36:49.759 way don dun dahntah through the waters, and the water 0:36:49.920 --> 0:36:53.279 stood up that the water that separated them from their 0:36:53.360 --> 0:36:57.560 freedom stood in attention like walls on either side until 0:36:57.600 --> 0:37:00.359 they got through and drowned the Egyptians, and they loved 0:37:00.400 --> 0:37:04.480 that story because that story reminded them of their deliverance. 0:37:07.120 --> 0:37:11.160 And he made a way through the waters. Isaiah says, 0:37:11.520 --> 0:37:15.200 this time God is going to make away. But he's 0:37:15.239 --> 0:37:18.319 not going to make a way through the waters. He's 0:37:18.400 --> 0:37:25.080 going to make away in the wilderness. Let me ask 0:37:25.160 --> 0:37:31.840 a question. What did they need in the wilderness? What 0:37:32.120 --> 0:37:36.759 was it they needed water? So what used to be 0:37:37.480 --> 0:37:44.919 the barrier is about to be the blessing. Y'all better 0:37:45.000 --> 0:37:52.520 help me preach. I feel the faithfulness of God to 0:37:52.560 --> 0:37:56.960 see what I'm saying. The barrier is now the blessing. 0:37:57.920 --> 0:38:01.040 What did threaten to kill you is now what God 0:38:01.160 --> 0:38:03.279 is bringing forth to bless your life. 0:38:03.480 --> 0:38:08.120 Sell about it. So God said, I. 0:38:08.239 --> 0:38:11.320 Am your creator, I am your King, And this is 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:16.799 what I do. I turn barriers to blessings. I turn 0:38:17.000 --> 0:38:22.680 water in dry ground into sustenance for your survival. I 0:38:22.880 --> 0:38:28.040 turn pain into power. I turn same into grace, I 0:38:28.239 --> 0:38:32.600 turn abuse into straight I'm make away. I'm a waymaker. 0:38:32.960 --> 0:38:37.120 I'm worthy of worship. I'm worthy of grace. I'm doing 0:38:37.200 --> 0:38:51.359 a new thing in your life. Whatever's next is better, 0:38:53.239 --> 0:38:58.920 Whatever's next is better. That's what my faith believes when 0:38:58.960 --> 0:39:01.360 I find myself in a way see, A wilderness is 0:39:01.440 --> 0:39:03.799 not a situation where you feel like you're about to die. 0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:07.680 A wilderness is a situation like these exiles in Babylon, 0:39:07.920 --> 0:39:09.399 wondering how long the Lord? 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:11.200 How long am I going to feel like? 0:39:11.239 --> 0:39:14.360 I'm in a place emotionally that I don't understand. It 0:39:14.480 --> 0:39:17.440 wasn't the physical surrounding of Babylon that made them weep 0:39:17.600 --> 0:39:19.759 as they sat by the rivers. It wasn't the lack 0:39:19.840 --> 0:39:23.000 of prosperity. It was a loss of purpose. How long 0:39:23.080 --> 0:39:30.160 am I going to wander in this place? But this time, 0:39:31.480 --> 0:39:35.879 I'm not sending Moses to get you out. This time, 0:39:35.920 --> 0:39:37.600 I'm going to send the water to where you are, 0:39:38.719 --> 0:39:42.160 and I am going to bless you in that place 0:39:46.160 --> 0:39:56.319 because I'm a waymaker. Boom bom, bombon. I believe, Dun dun, dun, dun. 0:39:56.800 --> 0:40:01.759 I'll see you do it again. But how you do 0:40:01.880 --> 0:40:11.239 it is up to you. I don't know if this 0:40:11.280 --> 0:40:15.080 will help you. But sometimes I get in situations and 0:40:15.239 --> 0:40:18.160 I just don't see a way. 0:40:19.440 --> 0:40:20.560 I don't know if you're there right now. 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:22.600 I don't know if you're going into that if you 0:40:22.800 --> 0:40:24.640 just came out of it. One thing I know is 0:40:25.040 --> 0:40:30.840 you will find yourself. It feels terrible because you feel trapped, 0:40:32.000 --> 0:40:37.760 you feel uncertain, you feel landlocked. And here comes water 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:43.880 springing forth from the ground where you are. And I 0:40:44.040 --> 0:40:45.279 learned something. I learned something. 0:40:45.320 --> 0:40:47.040 I hope this helps you. Really want to want this 0:40:47.120 --> 0:40:53.720 to help you. When I get into that internal. 0:40:53.120 --> 0:40:57.880 Wilderness where I can't feel God like I used to 0:40:57.960 --> 0:41:03.040 feel God, and it used to be don don don don, 0:41:04.160 --> 0:41:16.719 and now it's just MM. When I get into that 0:41:16.920 --> 0:41:21.600 place and I don't know how, and I don't know who, 0:41:23.600 --> 0:41:28.160 and I don't know when. When I get into that place, 0:41:29.719 --> 0:41:33.200 I realize that it's not my job. 0:41:36.800 --> 0:41:44.279 To predict the way that God is going to make, 0:41:45.760 --> 0:41:47.879 So I don't have to know how. 0:41:49.320 --> 0:41:56.960 If I know who, you got me, I am alpha 0:41:58.200 --> 0:42:04.120 and omega beginning and the end. A lot of us 0:42:04.239 --> 0:42:09.080 get stuck in a beta blessing and we cannot receive 0:42:09.280 --> 0:42:13.239 the upgrade because we are so stuck in the way 0:42:13.440 --> 0:42:14.600 God used to move. 0:42:15.160 --> 0:42:20.799 But he says, today I am doing a new thing. 0:42:21.239 --> 0:42:23.320 I know it doesn't feel like it used to feel, 0:42:23.600 --> 0:42:26.440 but I'm still faithful. I know it doesn't look like 0:42:26.520 --> 0:42:28.920 it used to look, but I'm still faithful. 0:42:29.160 --> 0:42:31.680 I know some things have changed in our country, but 0:42:31.840 --> 0:42:35.759 I'm still faithful because I am the Lord. I was 0:42:35.920 --> 0:42:40.040 the Lord, I will I am, I was, I will be. 0:42:40.520 --> 0:42:45.759 I make away. It's what I do, it's who I am, 0:42:48.719 --> 0:42:51.320 and I'm making a way for you right now. Do 0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:55.719 you not see it? And so often the answer is no, 0:42:57.120 --> 0:43:01.200 I don't see it because I'm looking backwards. 0:43:01.560 --> 0:43:03.840 I found out for a lot of people, the greatest 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:08.480 barrier to their blessing is not what's before them, is 0:43:08.560 --> 0:43:09.480 what's behind them. 0:43:11.920 --> 0:43:13.719 That God has already dealt with. 0:43:17.560 --> 0:43:21.279 So, whoever God sent me to preach to today, you 0:43:21.440 --> 0:43:23.480 might be like seventy two years old and feel like 0:43:23.600 --> 0:43:25.000 you know what my best is behind me. 0:43:25.239 --> 0:43:27.400 The devil is a liar, I. 0:43:27.480 --> 0:43:30.560 Said the devil, I said, if he's talking. 0:43:30.320 --> 0:43:33.719 He's lying. Your best is not behind you. 0:43:34.520 --> 0:43:37.680 God has already been to your future, and he said, 0:43:37.760 --> 0:43:38.360 hurry up and. 0:43:40.160 --> 0:43:40.359 Back. 0:43:43.160 --> 0:43:46.200 I want to bless you where you are. I want 0:43:46.239 --> 0:43:49.000 to bless you with the strength you have left empty nesters. 0:43:49.200 --> 0:43:51.400 Just because your kids are gone does not mean your 0:43:51.440 --> 0:43:52.160 calling is over. 0:43:54.960 --> 0:43:58.279 I'm doing a new thing. I'm doing a new thing 0:43:58.760 --> 0:44:02.760 in your life. I'm doing a new thing in this church. 0:44:04.200 --> 0:44:06.359 You saw how I moved that water when you needed 0:44:06.400 --> 0:44:09.120 to go through it. Now I'm gonna make the water 0:44:09.280 --> 0:44:14.399 come up where you need it the most. I would 0:44:14.440 --> 0:44:15.279 love to pray for you. 0:44:18.480 --> 0:44:20.279 Because I know this is the kind of message that 0:44:20.360 --> 0:44:24.360 it's kind of easy to get excited about, but a 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:30.120 little harder to live out. It's one thing to sing 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:37.480 it in a worship center like this, talented musicians, beautiful lights, 0:44:39.200 --> 0:44:40.000 to declare. 0:44:39.719 --> 0:44:41.680 Your faith in a place like this. But God said, 0:44:42.719 --> 0:44:46.680 I'm gonna make the water come up in the desert. 0:44:48.680 --> 0:44:51.239 I'm going to make a way in the wilderness. 0:44:52.800 --> 0:44:56.000 I'm going to be faithful to you in the places 0:44:56.480 --> 0:44:58.960 where nobody else can provide for you. 0:45:00.520 --> 0:45:13.320 I am your source, sense your feet at every location. 0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:15.279 Put down your notes. This is not the part you 0:45:15.400 --> 0:45:17.080 need to write down. This is the part you need 0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:25.560 to receive by faith. That's the lie. The devil always 0:45:25.600 --> 0:45:29.520 tells me. Your best is behind you. I believe that 0:45:29.600 --> 0:45:33.080 since I was in college. I graduated college, married Holly. 0:45:33.160 --> 0:45:36.719 I thought, well, you know from here, I honestly thought this. 0:45:36.840 --> 0:45:38.920 I told one of my friends this. I said, this 0:45:39.080 --> 0:45:41.480 is probably the most ministry I will ever do, Because 0:45:41.520 --> 0:45:45.480 in college I had traveled to churches and done revivals 0:45:45.560 --> 0:45:47.520 and backyard Bible clubs. 0:45:47.280 --> 0:45:47.840 And things like that. 0:45:48.560 --> 0:45:50.360 I said, that's probably the most ministry I'll ever do. 0:45:51.600 --> 0:45:53.919 My friend was talking to me on the phone. He said, 0:45:53.920 --> 0:45:57.680 you're crazy. God's only going to use you more. You 0:45:57.800 --> 0:46:06.600 stay focused, they imaginative, stay creative. He's only gonna use 0:46:06.760 --> 0:46:12.040 you more. The only barrier is your willingness to believe 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:14.480 by faith that what I. 0:46:14.680 --> 0:46:17.600 Just said is true. But I'm telling you is true. 0:46:17.880 --> 0:46:20.920 If it was true for the Babylonian captives, if it 0:46:21.040 --> 0:46:23.160 was true for the children of Israel who needed the 0:46:23.239 --> 0:46:26.360 waters to part, why could it not be true for you? 0:46:28.000 --> 0:46:32.040 Why not you? So I want you to remember. 0:46:33.320 --> 0:46:37.440 The ways He's made, the demonstrations of his faithfulness that 0:46:37.520 --> 0:46:38.600 it brought you to this point. 0:46:39.640 --> 0:46:40.799 It's too many to count, right. 0:46:42.160 --> 0:46:44.960 Some of y'all got some stories, man, some core stories 0:46:46.280 --> 0:46:48.439 of the moments where you knew that God was real 0:46:48.480 --> 0:46:50.360 and he was with you, that. 0:46:50.400 --> 0:46:53.640 He would never leave you nor forsake you. You know 0:46:53.760 --> 0:46:56.120 those stories? Yeah? 0:46:57.280 --> 0:47:05.960 Remember Now I need you to forget them, because your 0:47:06.040 --> 0:47:08.040 core story is not that you were a slave and 0:47:08.280 --> 0:47:10.720 now you're not a slave, or you went to jail, 0:47:10.920 --> 0:47:13.160 or that you got a divorce or that you had 0:47:13.200 --> 0:47:13.680 an abortion. 0:47:14.000 --> 0:47:17.040 God says, I am doing now. 0:47:17.760 --> 0:47:20.800 I don't want your core story to be about the 0:47:20.920 --> 0:47:25.560 blessings that I'm giving to you. I want your story 0:47:25.640 --> 0:47:28.840 to be about the blessing that I want to release 0:47:29.000 --> 0:47:33.560 through you. You have camped at this red sea long enough. 0:47:36.040 --> 0:47:42.160 I got more miracles. I got more miracles. No, it's 0:47:42.200 --> 0:47:43.719 not going to feel like it used to feel, and 0:47:43.800 --> 0:47:45.160 it's not going to give you chills like. 0:47:45.200 --> 0:47:45.600 It used to. 0:47:45.960 --> 0:47:48.240 And it might not be your favorite song from nineteen 0:47:48.360 --> 0:47:51.160 ninety four, and Ryl Crow might have a new baseline. 0:47:53.239 --> 0:48:00.239 I'm doing a new thing. I believe. 0:48:01.520 --> 0:48:04.399 I'll see you do it again. Now I won't see 0:48:04.400 --> 0:48:08.200 you do it how you did it. The holl's gonna change. 0:48:09.040 --> 0:48:14.440 But Jesus Christ, it's the same yesterday, today and forever. 0:48:15.000 --> 0:48:17.800 I don't have to know how. Come on, tell your neighbor. 0:48:17.840 --> 0:48:22.000 I don't know how. But I know who. I got 0:48:22.080 --> 0:48:26.320 a mighty car, I got a waymaker, I got a 0:48:26.400 --> 0:48:27.320 strong delivery. 0:48:28.520 --> 0:48:29.239 I know who. 0:48:30.480 --> 0:48:34.359 I know whom. I have believe and I am leslated 0:48:34.880 --> 0:48:40.960 that he is able. I said he's amo. He's able. 0:48:42.160 --> 0:48:48.680 He's able, no matter save the song, He's able. 0:48:50.000 --> 0:48:58.640 He's able receive. Move come on funeral mood. This is 0:48:58.719 --> 0:49:12.799 our jo listeners to this. This is on God, not. 0:49:13.040 --> 0:49:17.839 See to see God. 0:49:24.600 --> 0:49:25.680 Thank you for joining us. 0:49:26.040 --> 0:49:28.440 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:49:28.560 --> 0:49:32.000 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:49:32.480 --> 0:49:34.680 You can click the link in the description to give 0:49:34.760 --> 0:49:38.680 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:49:38.760 --> 0:49:42.560 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:49:43.040 --> 0:49:44.280 You can share it with your friends. 0:49:44.640 --> 0:49:46.880 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:49:46.960 --> 0:49:49.040 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:49:49.120 --> 0:49:49.919 Elevation Church. 0:49:50.040 --> 0:49:51.640 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.