Don't Blow It!

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 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:19.800 Enjoy the message. Something God told me very clearly as 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.000 we begin this series called Waymaker, is that before we. 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.119 Can change the world, we have to change our ways. 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:29.040 Would you please turn with me, if you can find 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.480 it in your Bible, to the Old Testament Book of Hagi. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.520 I'll give you about fifteen minutes to find the Book 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.239 of Hagi. After that the screens will kick in and 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:47.600 give you assistance. And what we want to look at today, 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.680 we want to take a look at. Give me just 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:53.960 a moment. I got my new notebook. Every series I 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.480 get a new notebook. I got the one with the 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.080 whole World on it. It's a vision series. So I figured, well, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.280 we're gonna touch the world, we better start with a 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:10.160 notebook with the with the whole world. He's got the 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.280 whole world. 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:27.679 He's got you and me, brother. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:37.840 In his sense, in his hands, got. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.080 The and if you'll permit me, real quick. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.920 Just uh, he's got the Clemson Tigers. Okay, now let's 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:50.160 look at Hagai Chapter one. I'm ready now touch somebody say. 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:54.200 We can't change the world until we change our ways. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.560 This is the message of Hagid the Prophet. I'm having 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:03.280 you seated because along scripture today fifteen verses we will 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.240 endeavor to preach. In the second year of King Darius, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.600 on the first day of the sixth month, the word 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:11.720 of the Lord came. 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.720 Through the prophet Hagi to Zaruba bel son of Schiltiel, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.640 Governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Josidac, the 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:21.640 High Priest JJ. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.480 You know how we text about preaching all the time. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.440 I would have skipped that verse in my first five 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:28.200 years of preaching. 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.160 One thing that I want you to do. This will 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.359 help you develop your preaching skills. 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.679 Take the verses that you naturally want to skip over 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:40.839 and make yourself preach them. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.200 What I did. I went back and I figured I'm 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:45.280 not going to do it, but I could. 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:48.160 Preach verse one for a whole sermon, and what I 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:50.680 would do if I was going to preach it, And 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.680 you might want to preach it sometimes, JJ, because every 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:54.320 once in a while. Let you get up here, and 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.440 if your beard keeps scrolling, you might get another shot. 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.880 But I figured you could reach that verse using only 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:02.880 the prepositions. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:04.720 So watch this. 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.640 In the second year of King Darius, on the first 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:12.280 day the sixth month, the word of the Lord came 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.600 through the prophet Hagi to Zir Rubebel. So what I 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.840 was thinking is it was in the second year. That's 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:28.040 the that's the setting. Okay, it was the word of 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:29.160 the Lord. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.800 That's the source. It came to Zor Rubebel. 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:41.080 Now he's the he's the he's the servant, and it 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.160 came through Hagi, and he was the server. 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.520 Now all of those start with the letter S. 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.920 And what's cool about it is it didn't come from Hagi. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.880 It came through Hagi. So the word of the Lord 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:58.800 came through Hagi. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.240 You see what I'm saying. This is how God speaks 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:01.680 to people. 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:05.440 God will speak to you through others. God will speak 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.000 to you through life. God will speak to you through hardship. 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.840 God will speak to you to through of the Lord, 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:17.279 through the prophet, to the people of the Lord, through 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.200 the prophet to the people. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:21.680 In the second year of. 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.960 Darius, because God's word is not spoken in abstractions and 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:30.880 theoretical constructs. God's word is designed to speak to specific situations. 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.920 So this is not a history lesson that we came for. Today. 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.960 We came for a word from the living God, and 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.880 his word is living and active and sharper than any 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:49.560 double edged sword. Now, so, if anything ever comes out 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.039 of my mouth that helps you, it might have come 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.960 through me. But it wasn't from me, because I have 0:04:56.279 --> 0:05:01.320 nothing of substance to offer. You are way too desperate 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:03.800 for me to be able to help you of my 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:07.680 own accord. But if God speaks through me to you, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.640 then anything can happen. Verse two. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.920 This is what the Lord Almighty says. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.279 These people say, the time has not yet come to 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.239 rebuild the Lord's house. Then the word of the Lord 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:29.480 came through the prophet Hagi. Is it a time for 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.680 you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:39.200 house remains a ruin? Now, this is what the Lord 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:46.279 Almighty says. Give careful thought to your ways. There's that 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:52.240 word ways. Give careful thought to your ways. You have 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:59.400 planted much, but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:04.800 You drink but never have your fill. You put on 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:10.720 clothes but are not warm. You earn wages only to 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.960 put them in a purse with holes in it. You 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:19.400 are drowning in information and starving for wisdom. You have 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.720 twenty four hour news feeds and twenty four hour ignorance. 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:31.040 This is what the Lord Almighty says. Give careful thought 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:35.479 to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.120 down timber and build my house so that I may 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:40.280 take pleasure in it. 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.080 And be honored, says the Lord. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:48.000 You expected much, but behold, it turned out to be little. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:50.240 And what you brought home I blew away. 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.640 Why, declares the Lord Almighty, because of my house, which. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.400 Remains a ruin. Well, each of you is busy with 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:58.119 your own house. 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:05.200 Therefore, because of you, the heavens have withheld their due, 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:11.280 and the earth it's crops. I have a very challenging 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.280 message for you today, and I hope you're ready for it, 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:15.440 and I'm gonna need your help to preach it. So 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.400 look at the person next to you and say, neighbor. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:24.200 God has given you a great opportunity. Now look at 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.520 them and give them my title. Say don't blow it, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:37.840 don't blow it, don't blow it. I think God presents 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:45.040 himself in the form of opportunity, and when you look 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:49.040 at Hagai chapter one, you are seeing a people who 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:53.520 are responding to an opportunity. Is interesting because Hagi has 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.480 a very hard job as a preacher. He has to 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:02.960 deliver a message of urgency in time of discouragement. Often 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:08.040 it's difficult to motivate or inspire people to action when 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.840 they are already discouraged about the outcome of their life. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.360 In order to create a sense of motivation, he gives 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.760 the people a contrast between their effort and their outcomes. 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.880 He has them evaluate the results of their lives relative 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:30.440 to the effort. And so thinking about this passage, of course, 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:35.480 made me begin to think about seventh grade South Carolina 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:40.520 geography class because apparently the people were saying something in 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.240 Hagui's time. They had a saying, and God overheard them talking, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.319 and they would say verse two, the people would say, 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.880 this is the people from Judah, which is the southern 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:55.640 kingdom of Israel. The time has not yet come to 0:08:55.800 --> 0:09:01.880 rebuild the Lord's house. Notice that these people say, the 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:07.320 time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house. Now, 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:09.480 different cultures have different sayings. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:10.160 You know this right. 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:12.520 And if you did not grow up in the South, 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:14.520 perhaps from time to time it is shocking to you 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.280 to hear some of our sayings and to try to 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:17.480 decipher the meaning of them. 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:20.800 I will never forget Miss Taylor. 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.520 I probably should have given her a pseudonym, but I've 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:28.600 said her name now. The day that she corrected my 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.520 Southern slang in front of the whole class, Now, granted 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:33.559 I deserved it. I was such a punkin seventh grade. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.440 Granted I deserved it because she had told us to 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.560 pull out our books and begin our silent reading time. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.920 Granted I was talking to somebody instead of pulling out 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:42.600 the book like I. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:43.199 Was told to do. 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:45.720 But did it give her the right to say the 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:50.360 following I'll let you be the judge, Stephen Ferdick. Did 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.800 you not hear me say pull out. 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:53.840 Your book now? 0:09:53.880 --> 0:10:00.480 Miss Taylor was Northerner, So what I said next she 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.120 had no context for. I said, I'm sorry, Miss Taylor. 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:22.080 I'm fixing too, she said, Stephen ferdie She said, before 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:26.280 you leave my class, I am going to make sure 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:31.839 that you understand how ignorant you sound when you say 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:36.840 things like I'm fixing too. Nobody else in the world 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:41.640 outside of South Carolina says things like I'm fixing too. 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:44.319 And if you go anywhere. 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.800 Else in the world in your life and say I'm 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.440 fixing to, it is going to automatically cause people to 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.160 question your intelligence. Not only do you not have your 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.079 book out, you are not even able to speak intelligently 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.920 to deliver an excuse about why your book is not. 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:09.400 I said, I'm about to Is that better? And it 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:11.040 really doesn't matter what you call it. 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.640 The problem was procrastination. And I found out we have 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:22.520 a lot of different things we say to disguise our procrastination. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:25.360 Can I give you one thing we say in church? 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.160 We don't say I'm fixing to. We say I'm praying 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:28.719 about it. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.280 I will preach this word until three people are left 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:39.320 in the first two rows of elevation balanine. And it's cool, 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.640 because you do need to pray about some things. But 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:44.959 some things that God just told you to do get 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.720 your book out, do not require prayer. 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:51.280 They require action. 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.480 And that guy has a hard job because the people 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.720 on one level are making progress, at least it seems 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:02.760 to them like progress. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.800 And the question becomes, this is point number one. They'll 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:05.640 put these on the screen. 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:14.800 Is it progress or is it procrastination, because apparently there 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:19.439 were some really nice subdivisions going up in the suburbs 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.679 of Judah. The exiles have been back from Babylon now 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.200 twenty years and that was a god thing, wasn't it. 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:28.360 I mean, they didn't know if they'd ever come back, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.640 and only because Persian control took the territory of Babylon 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.160 back were they able to come back and rebuild their homeland. 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.720 And when they first got back, they thought they'd rebuild 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.080 the temple because it had been destroyed. 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.280 It was the. 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.040 Preeminent place for the presence of God to be manifest 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.040 among his people, so that He would have a dwelling place. 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:48.440 You and I understand that now this temple is not 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.640 a physical building, but it is you and I the 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:56.160 Temple of the Holy Spirit, where God dwells and where 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:01.760 God lives. But in the midst of rebuilding this place 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.680 where God had appointed his presence to dwell, something was 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.319 lacking in their perseverance, or perhaps. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.240 It was just that they got distracted. 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.959 This has helped me so much in trying to minister 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.480 to people and challenge people and call people hired to 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:19.280 God's standard. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:20.319 Is that Often people. 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:27.440 Are not willfully disobedient. They are just distracted, you know 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.439 what I mean. I don't think that people always decide 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:39.520 to live in disobedience. Sometimes life just creates such a scenario. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.640 And this is what guy said. He said, each of 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:47.240 you is busy with your own house. I thought that 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.720 was an interesting phrase that he said, you're busy with 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:52.880 your own house. He didn't say they were bad people, 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:58.319 just that they were busy people. I don't think those 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.160 of you who don't serve in the church don't in 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.120 the church because you're Satanic. I just think your kids 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.600 probably have soccer. It's not satan at soccer. I'm not 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:11.120 sure the tour that much different. Yeah, no, I hate soccer. Yes, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:17.760 it's not a secret people. I'm not sure. In a 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.040 couple of weeks, we're going to take an offering. And 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:21.800 I don't think there's anybody that will be in the 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:26.240 church who will not appreciate the offering that is given, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:30.040 because it's the very offering that was given a year ago, 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.000 or five years ago or ten years ago that built 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.560 the church that you were a part of today, where 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:36.680 God blesses your life. 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:39.239 It is the very. 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.680 Sacrifice that happens this time every year, and not just 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:44.760 at the end of the year, but weekly and monthly, 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.320 as people give to God and put him first. I 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.280 think everybody values that on one level, especially the business owners. 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.040 I was talking to a business owner one time. He said, 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:55.360 I'm so glad I don't. 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:56.880 Have your job. I said, why is that. You don't 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:57.440 like to speak? 0:14:57.600 --> 0:14:59.440 He said, no, I don't mind speaking, he said. I 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.520 just can't image imagine running a business where people came 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.000 and decided whether they wanted to pay for the service 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:09.640 or not. I would go broke if I ran my 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:14.120 business like that. But here at our church, over and 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:19.240 over again, people have stepped up sacrificially and consistently. 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.080 And here's the keyword, systematically. 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.800 To put God first, because I understand that my harvest 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.480 is connected to God's house. 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:36.400 Now this is where the word gets rich. 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:41.680 Sometimes you are struggling in your life in ways that 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:46.320 you do not understand, but you are not directly discerning 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.600 the source of the dysfunction. Such is the case for 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.560 the people in haw Guy's day. He said, you're disappointed, 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.480 aren't you. I know you are. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:56.000 It's August. 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:02.720 It's the season for figs and grapes and pomegranates, and 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:06.600 you planted a lot of seed, but when you went 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:11.480 to get the harvest, it was only half of what 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:17.760 you expected. Have you ever invested in something or someone? 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:20.920 Keep eye contact with me when I say what I 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:25.480 say next, only to wonder how could I put so 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.960 much into it and get so little out of it? 0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:38.360 Have you ever? Have you ever? This is the scene? 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:39.720 And how guys they remember? 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:42.000 This is a specific work to specific people, but I 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.760 think it has universal application and it is a timeless truth. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.680 Is that when you do not start your process with 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.720 God at the center, it will always end in disappointment. 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.520 And it will not matter how much energy you give it, 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:02.440 or how much talent that you have, or or or 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.720 how sincere you are in your efforts. 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:07.600 I'm telling you, man. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.399 I have sad with rich people, famous people, people with 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:18.159 great status and no satisfaction, great prosperity, and no peace. 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:23.240 Because any process that does not start with God ends 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.520 in disappointment. Write that down, teach it to your kids, 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:28.200 put it. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:29.160 On your mirror. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:34.000 Any process that does not start with God ends in disappointment. 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.640 You plant much, you reap little, you get dressed, You're 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:43.040 not warm. You drink, you drink you drink, you drink, 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.399 you drink, you drink, but you are bottomless, and even 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:50.960 the blessings that God gives you will be will be. 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:52.720 Can I say it this way? 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:54.160 Hollow? 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:06.240 It's a hollow harvest. And while the people were busy 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:13.080 building their own houses, busy building their own bodies, busy 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:19.800 building their own dreams, busy planning their own future, they 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:25.720 neglected the place of God's presence. I was praying about 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:27.399 this message. I said, God, I can't preach that. I 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:28.879 don't want to make them feel bad. Their lives are 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:35.600 already hard enough. And God told me I didn't hear 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.240 this out loud. Its just depression I have. Okay, so 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.879 let's get that straight right now. But the impression that 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.720 I got is if you don't ever make that connection, 0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:49.439 you will live in a continual state of frustration and 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:55.000 wonder why am I doing so much and receiving so little? 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:00.600 Why am I fishing all night and catching nothing? That's 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:05.639 what happened to Peter, you know, fished all night, caught nothing, 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:12.240 but the moment he gave his boat to Jesus, his 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:17.800 biggest problem was breaking nets. Because God is in charge 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.040 of the harvest, there is a certain part of success 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:24.360 and a certain part of life. 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:25.000 That you don't control. 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.119 You can decide how much to plant, but without the 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:32.439 cooperation of the elements, it will only grow to be 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.960 so much. It takes a little while to learn this 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.280 that you can do everything in your human strength that 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.040 you know to do to guarantee a happy life, but 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:49.000 there is a certain dimension of life that is outside 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:51.679 of your control. Touch your neighbors, say, don't blow it. 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:58.640 Here are these people. It's been twenty years. I understand. 0:19:58.720 --> 0:19:59.920 They come back from Babylon. 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.760 They're really trying to get acclimated to being back in 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.800 a place that has been so ravaged. They're settling into 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.600 their towns. Maybe two years, maybe five years, but it's 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:14.159 been twenty years. It's been twenty years now, which is 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:15.880 a significant number for me. Let me tell you why. 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:18.520 This summer, I was going back and watching some of 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.560 the sermons that inspired. 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:21.200 Me to be a preacher. 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:24.560 They're all on YouTube, and it's cool because I don't 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:25.320 have to pay for them. 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.440 I can bootleg them now, and. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.240 I've long since lost the cassette tapes, but they're all 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:32.639 online now, And so I was online watching some of 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.160 my favorite preachers that were inspiring me as a boy. 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.880 These were my heroes. I was watching them. 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.600 Just to kind of get in touch with sixteen year 0:20:40.680 --> 0:20:43.720 old Stephen, who used to walk around the block with 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.640 the walkman, and I would preach with the preachers and 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:53.160 I would hold an imaginary microphone I've said too much, okay. 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.080 And I was listening to them preach, and I was 0:20:56.119 --> 0:21:02.679 watching them on YouTube, and I thought, man, these guys 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.560 looked so much older to me. And then I did 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.960 some math, and I realized that the guys that I 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.840 used to watch when I was sixteen were the age then. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.639 Right that I am. Now. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:25.560 You talk about a broken heart, you talk about a 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:27.720 wake up call, because see, I still feel like I 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:29.800 got all this time. You know, I still feel like 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.199 we're just getting started. The church is just getting started. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:34.760 I mean, in my mind, this is still the IPO. 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.040 But it was a wake up call for me to 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:43.280 realize that what they were to you, then you are 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:48.680 to somebody now. In other words, you don't have any 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:52.119 time to waste. Touch your other neighbors say, don't blow it. 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:54.879 You only got so much time. I know. 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:55.920 You keep telling. 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.919 Yourself one day when and we're gonna get around to it, 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:02.880 and I'm fixing, but you might find yourself one day 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.440 run it out of strength. What is it your heart 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:08.840 to do? You better do it now. Some of your 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:12.040 neighbors say, do it now, cock a doodle, do this 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:17.720 is your wake up call I was twenty years ago. Man, 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:23.240 if we're gonna build it, we gotta build it now. 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.280 But sometimes the devil will tell you you're being patient 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.480 when really you are procrastinating. 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:31.040 And if he can get you. 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.520 To mistake procrastination for patients, he can keep you locked 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:36.960 out of the blessing. 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:39.240 That is on the other side of your obedience. 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:50.320 Yes, it's a process, I mean, yes. 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.480 It takes time, but really twenty years. 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:55.520 And after all, hat guy says, it looks like somehow 0:22:55.560 --> 0:23:00.400 you found time to build your own house. So glad 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:02.920 Pastor Mickey taught me that. He beat that into my head. 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.080 He said, boy, you find time for what you want 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.840 to do. He said that because I told him I 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:10.680 didn't have time to do something he told me to do. 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:13.280 He said, boy, you find time for what you want 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.840 to do. You find time for what you want to do. 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:24.520 You find passion and energy. If I could get some 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:26.960 of you to apply the same energy to serving God, 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:32.320 that you apply to sin. We would turn every county 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:44.240 in the United States of America, and it looked to 0:23:44.320 --> 0:23:46.359 them like progress. But the prophet had guy says, wait 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:51.600 a minute. Progress is more than just effort. Progress is 0:23:51.720 --> 0:24:01.240 effort in the right direction. Consider your ways, Consider your ways. 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:04.080 He gets into a vivid description, this sound is so modern. 0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:05.280 When I was reading it, I don't know if you 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:07.840 had the same experience, because I thought about all the 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:13.320 streams that we live in now, and the feeds, and 0:24:13.400 --> 0:24:17.199 when he said you eat and are never full, and 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:23.080 you scroll and are never entertained. He didn't say that, 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:26.359 but that's what it made me think of. He said, 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:28.840 you YouTube, and now you're over in cat videos and 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:30.320 you don't even know how you ended up. 0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:32.399 How did I? 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:36.520 How did I get here on a Minecraft tutorial? I'm 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:45.960 thirty seven years old. And then it gets kind of dramatic. 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:53.239 I don't apologize for God's word. He said, when I 0:24:53.280 --> 0:25:00.160 saw that you were so busy with your own work, 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:02.480 when I saw that you were so busy with your 0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:06.359 own interest, I didn't mind you building your own house. 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.520 I didn't mind you driving a new car. I didn't 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:16.000 mind you enjoying yourself on the weekend and telling your 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:18.240 friend who's always trying to use you that you didn't 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:19.160 have time to help them move. 0:25:19.200 --> 0:25:21.840 It was fine because they're always asking you in. 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:28.000 There there, But what I minded was what I minded 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:37.440 was that you lost your sense of what was really important. 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:42.879 And so now God says I had to take action. 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:50.159 I had to frustrate your process to remind you of 0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:51.040 your priorities. 0:25:54.640 --> 0:25:57.920 You know how, sometimes you'll be doing something that. 0:25:57.920 --> 0:25:59.560 Used to be fun for you and it's not fun anymore, 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:05.240 and you can't even explain why. Sometimes that's God sucking 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:10.080 the fun out of something that is keeping you from your. 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:10.840 Calling him purpose. 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:17.040 It is getting frighteningly quiet on week one of Waymaker. 0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:20.280 Good news is if I keep preaching like this, you 0:26:20.320 --> 0:26:22.080 will have plenty of seats for the rest of the 0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.840 four weeks of Waymaker. This is a space maker. That's 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:31.440 what this sermon is. Nobody said I had to do 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:35.280 something about it. I had to interrupt you in order 0:26:35.320 --> 0:26:37.960 to get your attention because I brought you back from Babylon. 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:41.520 I made a way for you, and I gave you 0:26:41.640 --> 0:26:50.199 an assignment to rebuild my temple. But you took what 0:26:50.280 --> 0:26:54.240 I gave you, and you spent it on yourself. And 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:55.320 so here's what I had to do. 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:55.919 And I'll watch this. 0:26:56.000 --> 0:26:57.879 You might not like this to you of Godess okay, 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:01.679 God is not running for any office. He does not 0:27:01.800 --> 0:27:05.520 need your vote. I said, he does not need your vote. 0:27:06.280 --> 0:27:12.800 He is not on any ticket. You expected much Verse nine, 0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:15.199 But see it turned out to be little. This is 0:27:15.200 --> 0:27:24.520 the part. And what you brought home I blew away. 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:31.720 Well that's not nice, Heavenly Father. I thought your eye 0:27:31.760 --> 0:27:35.600 was on the spare row. I thought you had the 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:40.080 whole world in your hands. I thought you would give 0:27:40.119 --> 0:27:42.639 me this day my daily bread. I didn't know you 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:48.399 would blow it away. Touch somebody say, don't blow it 0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:58.000 what you brought home? I blew away. Why would you 0:27:58.040 --> 0:28:02.160 do that? Why would you Why would a good God 0:28:05.359 --> 0:28:12.040 called something to leave your life? I blew it away. 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:16.960 It wasn't the devil. This would be my first assumption. 0:28:18.040 --> 0:28:24.560 Anytime anything that I don't like happens, it was the devil. 0:28:25.480 --> 0:28:28.520 The devil made me do it. The devil gave me 0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:32.480 a flat tire. The devil gave me a stomach flu. 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:35.439 The devil gets more breast time in a lot of 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:37.399 pulpits than Jesus Christ. 0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:37.720 Does. 0:28:38.120 --> 0:28:46.080 God said, no, I did that. I let it go bad. 0:28:47.200 --> 0:28:52.160 I made him break up with you. I made her 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:53.160 not call you back. 0:28:56.880 --> 0:29:00.040 This is crazy stuff here now, this is. 0:29:00.240 --> 0:29:01.840 This is the stuff that you get in the parts 0:29:01.920 --> 0:29:05.120 of the Bible, like Haggi. That's flip pass to get 0:29:05.120 --> 0:29:08.080 over to the good stuff. My God shall supply all 0:29:08.120 --> 0:29:11.120 your knees according to his glorious riches. Can we get 0:29:11.120 --> 0:29:14.080 back to that, No, not this week. This week is Hagi. 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:21.840 And Hagi said, God, blew it away? Why why would 0:29:21.920 --> 0:29:24.920 you do that? Why would you blow it away? Why 0:29:24.960 --> 0:29:31.960 would you blow it? God said, so you wouldn't. It 0:29:32.040 --> 0:29:37.000 was not to punish you. It was to protect you. 0:29:40.160 --> 0:29:44.640 If I allowed you to depend on your stuff, you 0:29:44.720 --> 0:29:50.080 would forget your source. So when I see you getting 0:29:50.120 --> 0:29:54.800 too attached to something that I gave you, sometimes I 0:29:54.920 --> 0:30:00.720 gotta make sure that you remember that I give you breath. 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:04.720 And if I don't breathe out, you don't breathe in. 0:30:04.840 --> 0:30:08.680 Touch somebody say, don't blow it, don't blow it. When 0:30:08.680 --> 0:30:13.360 I see you building your house on sinking sand, sometimes 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:15.400 I gotta send a storm. 0:30:15.320 --> 0:30:16.880 To check your foundation. 0:30:17.360 --> 0:30:20.920 And the rains came down, and the streams rose, and 0:30:20.960 --> 0:30:31.920 the winds blew and beat against that house, because God 0:30:31.960 --> 0:30:34.960 would rather have you go through a season of frustration 0:30:37.360 --> 0:30:39.480 than to build your whole life on the wrong foundation. 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:54.720 You uh, I'm fixing too. They didn't say they wouldn't. 0:30:56.680 --> 0:31:02.520 You never say you won't. You say you're gonna. Ah, God, 0:31:02.560 --> 0:31:05.360 I'm gonna. This was the craziest got I tell y'all, 0:31:05.400 --> 0:31:06.160 crazy story. 0:31:06.720 --> 0:31:07.960 Crazy people go to this church. 0:31:09.680 --> 0:31:09.920 Wow. 0:31:10.280 --> 0:31:10.880 See what I'm. 0:31:10.720 --> 0:31:15.080 Saying right on June good crazy, bad crazy. This is 0:31:15.120 --> 0:31:18.200 bad crazy, I told the man. 0:31:18.200 --> 0:31:19.720 He kept saying, I love the church. 0:31:19.800 --> 0:31:21.440 I love the church is the gravest. 0:31:21.640 --> 0:31:22.520 I love the church. 0:31:22.720 --> 0:31:25.000 Do have a lot of money too. I love the church. 0:31:25.320 --> 0:31:28.920 I'm so successful. I love the church. Church is so great. 0:31:28.960 --> 0:31:31.800 I love the Lord. I love the church. I checked 0:31:31.840 --> 0:31:37.160 the record. He never gave anything to what he said 0:31:37.160 --> 0:31:42.280 he loved. Now in my universe, God so loved the world. 0:31:44.320 --> 0:31:44.880 That he gave. 0:31:46.280 --> 0:31:48.880 I said it real respectfully, and I don't check everybody's record. 0:31:48.920 --> 0:31:51.000 This was a long time ago. I just got so 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:54.240 tired of it because he always loved the church. Love 0:31:54.320 --> 0:31:58.160 the Lord, love the word, love the worship, Love what. 0:31:58.160 --> 0:32:00.840 Y'all are doing for the community. I love it. I 0:32:01.040 --> 0:32:04.680 love it. He's a baller. Yeah, I love it, I. 0:32:04.600 --> 0:32:08.360 Said, I said, there might be something wrong with our records, 0:32:08.400 --> 0:32:12.280 but we have no recorded gift you ever made. This 0:32:12.400 --> 0:32:15.120 is when I was a younger preacher. I wasn't as sophisticated. 0:32:17.760 --> 0:32:21.040 I said, is that correct? He said, oh yeah, oh 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:24.640 dog son, but hold I had. He was a Baptist, 0:32:24.640 --> 0:32:25.920 but he started speaking in tongues. 0:32:25.960 --> 0:32:28.320 I was so confused. I didn't know what to do 0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:39.760 about that. Tom. He's he's so long. He said, you 0:32:39.800 --> 0:32:40.480 know what he said to me? 0:32:40.520 --> 0:32:43.440 He said, he didn't say I'm fixing to but he said, 0:32:44.280 --> 0:32:50.200 he said, all right, when I die, I'm gonna put 0:32:50.240 --> 0:32:54.080 the church in my will, and I'm gonna send you 0:32:54.160 --> 0:32:59.520 one hundred thousand dollars. I wish I would have told 0:32:59.560 --> 0:33:02.040 him what I thought, but I didn't think of it 0:33:02.120 --> 0:33:07.200 right then. Holly does this all the time. She'd come 0:33:07.240 --> 0:33:08.640 home to me and she'd tell me about somebody who 0:33:08.640 --> 0:33:09.360 said something to her. 0:33:09.320 --> 0:33:10.200 And they just say, I was like. 0:33:12.320 --> 0:33:15.360 Time to town, and she just slices and burns them 0:33:15.400 --> 0:33:17.600 and roast them and told them to down. 0:33:17.640 --> 0:33:20.200 And I was like, Donna, sat down. I'll be like 0:33:20.520 --> 0:33:22.720 you sat that because she's so nice. I'm like you 0:33:23.000 --> 0:33:26.800 sat that. She's like, no, I was like that. 0:33:28.720 --> 0:33:31.160 I was like, it means I mean I would have 0:33:31.200 --> 0:33:32.719 said it. I mean I'm fixing too. I mean when 0:33:32.760 --> 0:33:34.160 I when I die, I mean, I'm gonna get my 0:33:34.160 --> 0:33:36.040 money over here, my checking in, my savings, and I 0:33:36.120 --> 0:33:38.040 got this thing over here, my money market, and it's 0:33:38.040 --> 0:33:39.200 somebody's gone. 0:33:39.200 --> 0:33:45.840 But we don't say never. We say not now. 0:33:47.960 --> 0:33:52.680 And twenty years past, and you were gonna, and you 0:33:52.720 --> 0:33:57.600 were gonna, and now the kids graduated and you were gonna. 0:33:59.720 --> 0:34:04.120 You were gonna. We were gonna. Oh, we were gonna 0:34:04.120 --> 0:34:04.520 build it. 0:34:04.640 --> 0:34:05.960 He God, we were gonna build it. 0:34:06.200 --> 0:34:07.000 We were going building a. 0:34:07.080 --> 0:34:13.600 Bamba son dahmba shan. And you say I'm fixing to 0:34:16.280 --> 0:34:19.280 And your whole economy is broken. Maybe not your financial economy. 0:34:19.280 --> 0:34:21.520 I mean you can financially succeed without God, but you 0:34:21.560 --> 0:34:27.879 can't have significance, not without God. There is no significance 0:34:27.920 --> 0:34:30.000 to any process that God is not the center of. 0:34:31.200 --> 0:34:33.120 I don't believe anything more than I believe. 0:34:32.840 --> 0:34:36.719 That there may be short term success, there may be 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:42.120 illusion of happiness, but there will be no deep seated 0:34:42.120 --> 0:34:44.920 fulfillment in any process. That God is not the center 0:34:44.960 --> 0:34:51.360 of whether it's your money, whether it's a marriage, and 0:34:51.440 --> 0:34:55.360 God doesn't want you to blow it. He does not 0:34:55.480 --> 0:34:59.399 want you to waste the opportunity. I don't think there's 0:34:59.400 --> 0:35:06.640 any greater pained and the pain of a wasted opportunity. 0:35:06.719 --> 0:35:15.759 To neglect your priorities is to forfeit your provision. And 0:35:15.840 --> 0:35:20.080 what struck me about the text is that there was 0:35:20.120 --> 0:35:24.080 no lack of resource, natural or spiritual that prevented the 0:35:24.080 --> 0:35:30.440 people from prospering. How guys said, you planted plenty, there 0:35:30.480 --> 0:35:34.600 was nothing wrong with the seed. But I interrupted the 0:35:34.640 --> 0:35:37.760 cycle of the harvest so that you would not depend 0:35:38.560 --> 0:35:42.399 on anything that was disconnected from me. So now here's 0:35:42.400 --> 0:35:46.719 what I want you to do, very simple, very strategic, 0:35:47.960 --> 0:35:51.800 so basic that you cannot you can't, you cannot refuse 0:35:51.840 --> 0:35:54.560 to do it because you didn't understand it. Here's what 0:35:54.600 --> 0:35:59.000 I want you to do Verse eight. Go up into 0:35:59.080 --> 0:36:03.840 the mountains. That's the position, because you've got to be 0:36:03.840 --> 0:36:06.960 in the right place. You've got to be in the 0:36:07.000 --> 0:36:09.160 right place for God to bless you. You've got to 0:36:09.200 --> 0:36:13.920 stay planted to flourish. So go up into the mountain. 0:36:15.440 --> 0:36:20.160 When you get there, bring down timber. That's the potential. 0:36:22.040 --> 0:36:27.640 That's the potential. This is the temple in potential, this 0:36:27.800 --> 0:36:30.040 is the dwelling place of God. 0:36:30.320 --> 0:36:33.600 But right now it looks like simple timber. 0:36:34.520 --> 0:36:38.000 Bring down the timber, which represents the potential where the 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:40.400 place where my glory will dwell. Right now it looks 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:45.480 like timber. The temple is in the form. Now you 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:48.920 got it. That's my dude right there. That's my dude 0:36:49.000 --> 0:36:50.879 right there. How did you know where I was going? 0:36:51.719 --> 0:36:55.000 The temple looks like timber until you bring it down 0:36:55.320 --> 0:37:00.320 and build my house. That's the process. So there's the position, 0:37:01.360 --> 0:37:04.440 there's the potential, and there's the process. 0:37:05.200 --> 0:37:09.719 Here's the thing. There was no shortage of provision. There 0:37:09.760 --> 0:37:12.560 never is. There never is. 0:37:13.520 --> 0:37:16.239 When God made the earth and spoke it into existence, 0:37:16.400 --> 0:37:20.160 When God breathed the breath of life into man, he 0:37:20.280 --> 0:37:23.879 gave everything that would be needed in the form of seed. 0:37:26.239 --> 0:37:28.040 There's no shortage in God. 0:37:28.280 --> 0:37:32.720 You think the unlimited God of the universe has shortage? 0:37:33.640 --> 0:37:35.839 Do you think there's anything in your life that is 0:37:35.880 --> 0:37:37.320 too hard for God? 0:37:39.000 --> 0:37:42.320 Even when you see a nation ravaged. 0:37:41.920 --> 0:37:45.759 By poverty, it's not because there wasn't enough stuff. It's 0:37:45.840 --> 0:37:50.000 because the systems did not allow the stuff to be distributed. 0:37:52.120 --> 0:37:55.840 There's never a lack of provision. In God, never everything 0:37:55.920 --> 0:37:59.120 that you need is already here. There is never a 0:37:59.200 --> 0:38:02.279 lack of provision. So the problem of the people in 0:38:02.320 --> 0:38:05.400 the way they experienced it was a problem with provision. 0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:09.759 Haw God said, it's not provision. Consider your ways. What 0:38:09.880 --> 0:38:13.239 you think is a lack of provision is a lack 0:38:13.280 --> 0:38:16.400 of priority. 0:38:16.480 --> 0:38:18.279 Because if you will seek. 0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:24.080 First the Kingdom of God and make this your foundation, 0:38:25.160 --> 0:38:30.680 if you will seek first His righteousness, all these. 0:38:30.520 --> 0:38:33.400 Things will be added to you. 0:38:34.360 --> 0:38:37.680 Everything you need, and everything you don't even know that 0:38:37.760 --> 0:38:40.920 you need, and everything that you really want beneath what 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:41.959 you think you want. 0:38:42.520 --> 0:38:46.279 All of these things will be added to you. 0:38:46.640 --> 0:38:49.480 But if you seek the things, you'll miss the kingdom. 0:38:49.719 --> 0:38:52.560 But if you seek the kingdom, you'll get the things 0:38:52.600 --> 0:38:53.160 thrown in. 0:38:53.520 --> 0:38:55.000 If you will seek God. 0:38:54.880 --> 0:39:02.360 First everything your heart desires, we will be made manifest 0:39:04.000 --> 0:39:09.640 in His presence. And so often we are asking God 0:39:09.719 --> 0:39:14.000 to send provision. God can't send provision where there are 0:39:14.000 --> 0:39:19.480 no priorities. And if I can be just as basic 0:39:19.719 --> 0:39:24.319 about it as Pastor Mickey was, you find resource for 0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:24.680 what you. 0:39:24.680 --> 0:39:25.080 Want to do. 0:39:28.880 --> 0:39:31.800 How come people who can't afford to tithe can afford 0:39:31.800 --> 0:39:37.560 to iPhone seven Oh, they sit him back down now, 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:41.960 just to write it down, Just to write it down 0:39:45.600 --> 0:39:47.640 when we take an offering at the end of the 0:39:47.719 --> 0:39:49.839 year in our church this year, and I want every 0:39:49.840 --> 0:39:53.319 campus to hear this, especially the newer ones. The only 0:39:53.440 --> 0:39:56.200 reason that you're sitting in a seat is because somebody 0:39:56.600 --> 0:39:58.000 brought down timber for the temple. 0:39:59.120 --> 0:39:59.960 Somebody did that. 0:40:01.440 --> 0:40:07.359 Somebody did that, And this is the time of year 0:40:07.560 --> 0:40:12.680 where we develop and demonstrate our faith as a family 0:40:13.360 --> 0:40:17.040 for those who have not yet been reached, for those 0:40:17.080 --> 0:40:19.920 who do not yet know the ways of God. 0:40:21.880 --> 0:40:24.479 This is the time where we go up. 0:40:24.360 --> 0:40:26.960 To the mountain. Our church is called elevation. After all, 0:40:30.040 --> 0:40:33.120 we go up to the mountain. We don't stay down 0:40:33.920 --> 0:40:34.759 in the in. 0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:35.520 The muck. 0:40:36.920 --> 0:40:41.080 Of the of the current viewpoint of our culture. 0:40:41.680 --> 0:40:45.200 We go up on the mountain. We access the resource. 0:40:46.080 --> 0:40:49.359 After all, the same resource that God was calling them 0:40:49.400 --> 0:40:51.799 to build his house with was the resource they were 0:40:51.800 --> 0:40:55.319 already building theirs with. Because you find timber for what 0:40:55.400 --> 0:41:01.960 you want to build, right, And why I love to 0:41:02.000 --> 0:41:07.440 seek God first is because when I prioritize my life, 0:41:08.320 --> 0:41:13.239 God's provision has a place to land. If you really 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:16.359 remember some of the miracles in the Bible, where God 0:41:16.360 --> 0:41:20.680 did something great for someone, the first step was for 0:41:20.760 --> 0:41:22.120 their priorities to be ordered. 0:41:23.000 --> 0:41:29.279 The first step when the woman needed a miracle from 0:41:29.280 --> 0:41:30.080 the man of God. 0:41:30.400 --> 0:41:32.840 In the Book of First Kings, do you remember this story, 0:41:33.640 --> 0:41:35.880 the prophet said, I know you don't have much left. 0:41:36.880 --> 0:41:39.520 I know you lack provision in your own eyes right now. 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:41.919 But if you will first give me a little cake 0:41:42.480 --> 0:41:46.080 and prioritize the purpose of God, if you will sustain 0:41:46.200 --> 0:41:51.839 God's work in the earth, God will sustain you. If 0:41:51.840 --> 0:41:55.200 you remember the little boy with the lunch that Jesus 0:41:55.400 --> 0:41:57.439 had Peter go over, beat him up, take his lunch, 0:41:57.520 --> 0:41:58.600 pass it out to the crowd. 0:41:59.360 --> 0:42:00.439 Creative internation. 0:42:02.280 --> 0:42:07.359 What started with a lunch ended in leftovers, But it 0:42:07.400 --> 0:42:10.640 was because of the prioritization to bring it first to 0:42:10.760 --> 0:42:13.200 Jesus and put it in his hands. That's what we 0:42:13.280 --> 0:42:17.840 do every time we tithe. It's the first ten percent 0:42:17.880 --> 0:42:21.799 of your income. It's setting it aside for God and 0:42:21.840 --> 0:42:27.319 saying God before anything else. You be the foundation of 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:31.880 my finances. You be the foundation of my family. You 0:42:31.960 --> 0:42:36.040 be the foundation of my future. I want to build 0:42:36.280 --> 0:42:40.080 my life on you. And when you bring that first 0:42:40.080 --> 0:42:43.239 fruits to God, when you do it. Every time you 0:42:43.320 --> 0:42:48.279 do it, God says, I can build on that. But 0:42:48.360 --> 0:42:50.080 how can God build on a foundation that. 0:42:50.040 --> 0:42:52.200 You don't lay. 0:42:53.239 --> 0:42:55.040 And you are waiting for God to send something, and 0:42:55.080 --> 0:42:57.839 He's waiting for you to lay a foundation that will 0:42:57.880 --> 0:42:58.880 sustain what he sends. 0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:05.320 When you seek God first, all these. 0:43:05.080 --> 0:43:10.120 Things will be at it to you. And that's why 0:43:10.160 --> 0:43:14.640 I'm not afraid of what I might face in the future, 0:43:16.239 --> 0:43:20.200 because I have a foundation, because God is the bottom line. 0:43:19.960 --> 0:43:21.560 Of my life. 0:43:21.840 --> 0:43:23.920 Now, when you can't say that, you live in constant 0:43:23.920 --> 0:43:30.839 fear and suspicion and paranoia and emptiness, and even your 0:43:30.880 --> 0:43:35.200 blessings seem hollow, and you expect much and you. 0:43:35.160 --> 0:43:36.400 Come up empty. 0:43:37.080 --> 0:43:44.520 But God says, go up, bring down, and build. I 0:43:44.560 --> 0:43:48.160 love the Lord because even when he has to correct me, 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:53.040 he still gives me another chance to get it right. 0:43:55.520 --> 0:44:00.040 God said, you've had twenty years to do it. I 0:44:00.160 --> 0:44:03.440 send in my prophet Hagi. By the way, you might 0:44:03.440 --> 0:44:07.799 be interested to know that Hagi's name means feast. So 0:44:07.920 --> 0:44:10.920 God is preaching to a people in a famine about 0:44:10.960 --> 0:44:14.799 a feast. And if you will have the faith to 0:44:14.920 --> 0:44:20.600 go up, bring down, and build, this is what the 0:44:20.600 --> 0:44:27.000 Lord Almighty says I am with you. I send my 0:44:27.080 --> 0:44:32.040 word through my prophet to give you another chance, another 0:44:32.160 --> 0:44:35.719 chance to build your life on the foundation of the 0:44:35.800 --> 0:44:40.040 solid rock of Jesus Christ. This is your second chance. 0:44:40.760 --> 0:44:41.400 Don't blow it. 0:44:46.120 --> 0:44:47.719 And some of you have had the kind of year 0:44:47.760 --> 0:44:54.880 that Hagi describe, eating not filled, drinking not quenched, dressed 0:44:55.760 --> 0:44:59.040 not warm. And God is sending his word to you 0:44:59.160 --> 0:45:02.400 today saying that the storm that I brought you through 0:45:03.080 --> 0:45:11.520 was to check your foundation. Everything you've been through was 0:45:11.520 --> 0:45:16.200 about establishing a foundation for your future. And I want 0:45:16.239 --> 0:45:19.600 to take a pastoral privilege right now and agree in 0:45:19.719 --> 0:45:22.920 prayer with all of God's people on every location. 0:45:23.040 --> 0:45:25.040 And I need you to join your faith. 0:45:24.800 --> 0:45:30.280 With me, everybody who's been coming up empty and reaping 0:45:31.440 --> 0:45:35.520 in disappointment and reaping in tears and reaping and frustration 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:42.239 and wondering why. And God is now bringing you to 0:45:42.320 --> 0:45:46.799 a point of prioritizing His presence above all else. I 0:45:46.840 --> 0:45:48.440 want to pray with you right now, and that's that 0:45:48.520 --> 0:45:49.720 we stand at every location. 0:45:54.880 --> 0:46:01.080 This is the word of the Lord coming through the sermon. 0:46:01.280 --> 0:46:07.440 To your life, to your famine, to your frustration, to 0:46:07.520 --> 0:46:14.680 your barrenness. This is the word of the Lord, go up, 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:19.040 bring it down, and let's bill. 0:46:19.360 --> 0:46:20.040 Don't blow it. 0:46:20.239 --> 0:46:23.360 God has put you in this season for a reason. 0:46:23.560 --> 0:46:27.000 God put you in this church for a reason. God 0:46:27.040 --> 0:46:29.719 put you in this city for a reason. God gave 0:46:29.760 --> 0:46:33.719 you those children for a reason, on that job, in 0:46:33.840 --> 0:46:37.520 that school for a reason. Now, don't you blow it. 0:46:41.160 --> 0:46:45.000 God kept you alive this long for a reason. God 0:46:45.040 --> 0:46:48.839 delivered you from sickness for a reason, brought you out 0:46:48.840 --> 0:46:52.400 of sin for a reason, kept you from going down 0:46:52.480 --> 0:46:55.000 for the last time for a reason. 0:46:55.480 --> 0:46:56.520 Don't you blow it. 0:46:58.000 --> 0:47:05.800 Don't waste his grace, don't waste your opportunity weeping over 0:47:06.200 --> 0:47:07.080 what you didn't do. 0:47:07.680 --> 0:47:08.600 Let's get building. 0:47:09.800 --> 0:47:13.600 We've got a kingdom to build people. Let's get building. 0:47:14.719 --> 0:47:20.440 Now is the time God said, I want to be 0:47:20.480 --> 0:47:24.279 your highest priority. And when I see you giving your 0:47:24.280 --> 0:47:32.239 best self to lower priorities. But if you will bring 0:47:32.280 --> 0:47:37.319 your best self and make God your highest priority, I 0:47:37.360 --> 0:47:41.000 guarantee you you've never experienced deep peace like this before. 0:47:43.000 --> 0:47:45.640 Now I'm going to pray in just a moment. 0:47:46.600 --> 0:47:48.279 After I pray, there will be a little bit more 0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:51.120 of a setting up of what's going to happen over 0:47:51.120 --> 0:47:51.919 the next few weeks. 0:47:51.920 --> 0:47:53.120 I'm excited about the journey. 0:47:53.120 --> 0:48:02.239 How many are excited about the journey. God is going 0:48:02.320 --> 0:48:04.960 to do some things in your life like never before. 0:48:05.960 --> 0:48:10.600 That's the phrase I hear, like never before, a blessing 0:48:11.200 --> 0:48:16.440 like never before, even now, making a way away in 0:48:16.480 --> 0:48:23.040 the wilderness, doing a new thing in your life in 0:48:23.080 --> 0:48:26.960 this ministry. And I come into agreement with you right 0:48:26.960 --> 0:48:30.440 now in the name of Jesus Christ, the son of 0:48:30.480 --> 0:48:33.959 the Living God, the eternal Word made flesh to dwell 0:48:33.960 --> 0:48:38.319 among us, full of grace and truth. And I come 0:48:38.320 --> 0:48:41.160 into agreement with you today that God would become the 0:48:41.239 --> 0:48:45.080 highest priority in your life, so that you can receive 0:48:45.160 --> 0:48:50.080 the deepest peace, the peace of knowing, the peace that 0:48:50.120 --> 0:48:55.000 passes all understanding, the peace of knowing that my house 0:48:56.160 --> 0:49:01.799 is built on the rock. Give us a passion for 0:49:01.920 --> 0:49:06.480 your house, Give us your heart for your world. 0:49:07.880 --> 0:49:11.040 We want to see the things you see. We want 0:49:11.040 --> 0:49:14.200 to know the things that you speak, and we want 0:49:14.200 --> 0:49:19.000 to walk in your ways. After all that you've. 0:49:18.760 --> 0:49:22.279 Done for us and after all that you've been to us, 0:49:23.160 --> 0:49:26.200 and in consideration of all that you're going to do, 0:49:27.200 --> 0:49:32.280 we give you our full and total lives, our complete selves. 0:49:34.400 --> 0:49:38.240 We repent of all the ways that we've put everything 0:49:38.280 --> 0:49:39.279 else ahead of you. 0:49:40.760 --> 0:49:44.880 We repent of the excuses that we've made. We repent 0:49:44.920 --> 0:49:46.560 of the spirit of procrastination. 0:49:47.920 --> 0:49:49.560 There are some things you called us to do that 0:49:49.600 --> 0:49:52.480 we keep putting off, we're fixing to. 0:49:54.160 --> 0:49:55.800 But today we declare. 0:49:57.280 --> 0:50:02.480 That what you have spoken, because you say so, we 0:50:02.520 --> 0:50:05.520 will let down the nets, and we believe for a 0:50:05.560 --> 0:50:08.680 great catch, a great harvest, more than we can ask 0:50:08.800 --> 0:50:12.080 or imagine, according to your glorious richest. 0:50:11.960 --> 0:50:15.960 In Christ, do it. God, you are a wave maker. 0:50:16.440 --> 0:50:21.320 Do it in their life, do it in their life. 0:50:22.160 --> 0:50:26.960 You are Thank you for joining us. 0:50:27.239 --> 0:50:29.680 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:50:29.760 --> 0:50:33.240 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:50:33.719 --> 0:50:35.879 You can click the link in the description to give 0:50:36.000 --> 0:50:40.120 now or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more 0:50:40.160 --> 0:50:43.920 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:50:44.239 --> 0:50:45.560 You can share it with your friends. 0:50:45.840 --> 0:50:48.120 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:50:48.160 --> 0:50:50.279 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:50:50.320 --> 0:50:51.160 Elevation Church. 0:50:51.239 --> 0:50:57.840 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.