Don't Let The Attack Distract You

0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.280 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:11.600 Be sure to subscribe so we can get you these 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.600 new sermons every week. I hope you're blessed today. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.239 Essay, give me my sophy, God. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:36.120 Soph Yes, God, my Father born in heaven. How will 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:44.159 it be your name, your kingdom, Come, Your will be done, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.320 what our bless it is in heaven. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:52.400 Give us this day are vaily bread. 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:57.560 And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:06.480 Who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:18.720 But deliver us. Jesus is in this place. 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:32.000 Deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, power. 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.679 And the glory, forever. 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:49.720 And ever, not for five minutes, forever and ever, and 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:50.280 right here. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.600 I want the whole church say Amen. A men means 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:55.160 so be it. 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.040 A man means I'm coming into agreement with God's plan 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.960 for my life. Amen means that no word from God 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.800 returns boy. Amen means that my Father has the final Say. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:10.880 Amen means that I read to the back of the 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.680 book and I know how this ends. 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:19.080 Heaven wins. Amen means I'm born again. Amen means no 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.560 weapon formed against me will prosper. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:25.280 Amen means I can do all things through Christ, who 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:29.920 strengthens me. You didn't know Amen meant all that digit 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:31.240 Say it again. 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:31.680 Amen. 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:35.200 If he says I'm blessed, I'm blessed. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.800 Say amen. If he says my. 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.480 Family will be saved, my family will be saved. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:41.120 Say amen. 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.720 If he said I'm more than a conqueror. 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.600 I'm more than a conqueror. Say amen. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.440 Come on, everybody in the comments right now, even watching 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.440 this on social media, putting Amen in the comments. Let 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:58.040 the devil know. I agree with God. I belong to Jesus. 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.680 He's the one who never lets go on every mountain. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.119 I belonged to him, in every valley. I belonged to him. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:10.160 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I'm guided. 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.919 I got a good shepherd. I'm guarded. He's the gate, 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.799 he's the light of the world. He is my risen 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:22.359 resurrected king. And I'm getting not out of this situation. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.480 And I came to praise the Lord. I did not 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.600 come to feel sorry for myself. 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:30.560 I came to praise the Lord. 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.400 I did not come to impress my neighbors with proper 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:35.440 church behavior. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:40.520 I came to raise the Lord. If you knew what 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:45.200 he brought me through, you wouldn't call me crazy. You 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:53.720 would lift your hands and praise him too. Say, man, 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:03.640 what are we gonna know? How we go get out 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:04.080 of this. 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:17.640 Will be out whether I holley, but whether I that's what. 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:33.880 Burna mass talk messid sorry to God. Bless the name 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.360 of the Lord, for he is worthy to be praised. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.080 Every season of my life, he's been a friend to me, 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:43.880 and he's worthy to be praised. I don't know what 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.000 I would do without God. I don't know where i'd 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:47.960 be without Jesus. 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.800 I have a kind of idea and it doesn't look good. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.400 But look at your neighbor and say, you already look 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.240 better this year than you did last year. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:00.480 Come on, tell him one more thing. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:03.479 Look at him and say look at him and say 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:04.120 repeat after me. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:04.839 Say I can. 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:10.960 Tell you've kept your resolutions. Tell them your skin is glowing, 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:25.640 your physique is lean. Happy New Year, Elevation Church. For 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.760 the first time that I've been able to say that 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:28.359 to you. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:30.560 Our Epham around the world. 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:35.680 Let's celebrate our brand new campus, our twentieth location, Elevation Somerville. 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:43.880 Happy New Year, Happy new Campus. So many things to 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.000 tell you. We've got so much to catch up on. 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.760 God has been so good. The last time that I 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.239 stood in the pulpit, we were taking our year end offering, 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.400 and you stepped up big this year, and I told 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:00.279 them to wait until I got back so I could 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:06.320 announce to you that you gave to the Lord and 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.520 the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the building of his 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.720 kingdom and helping the poor and reaching the loss and 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:17.760 serving the world. Eleven million, four hundred and sixty three 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.760 thousand dollars gives. 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:21.800 All a cell of praise. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:35.240 All right, good word, we visit together. So every year, 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.239 every year I come before you and just say, let's 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:42.679 do another one. Y'all want to do another one? Another 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.080 year of preaching God's word. Another year of releasing worship 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.120 into the earth that can heal broken hearts. 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.560 Another year of standing beside children. 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.919 Who don't have fathers and mentoring them. Another year of 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.680 showing up with coats and blankets for people who are cold. 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:02.240 Another year of reaching into prisons and recovery centers and 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.400 telling people that their life matters and don't throw it away, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.360 and God is not done with you yet. Another year 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.680 to invite people who have been told for years that 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.120 God will never accept you, that it's not too late 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:15.560 for him to change your life. 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:16.320 If you're not. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.240 Dead, God's not done, and God is not done with 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:23.960 this church yet. I'm getting ready for the next twenty years. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.480 God is with me with this gray hair. God is 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:28.880 with me. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:31.760 And I'm just going to take a moment right now. 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.680 If you stretch your hands toward this pulpit, Lord, let 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.080 every word that goes forth from this church this year 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:44.800 bring salvation, deliverance, miracles, correction, comfort, everything you want to do. 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.280 God is all about you. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.400 I pray that even today, as I preach, that you 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.360 would see fit to use me like a woodwind instrument, 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.960 something that your breath could use to produce a sound 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.560 that would produce a melody from Heaven that would be 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.480 medicine to someone's heart. Lord, I bring before you every 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.640 person that's in this room, the nineteen other rooms where 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.200 we physically gather, every place where somebody couldn't go to 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:21.160 church or they were just too lazy. Speak your word. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.520 One time a man said, I don't even need to 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.160 have you come in my house, Jesus, if you just 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:27.720 speak your. 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.640 Word, it's enough to heal today. 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.320 Lord, we just ask for a word from you our 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.200 daily bread, not enough so we can come to church 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:38.679 once at the beginning of the year, check it off 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.360 the list, and then spend the rest of the year 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:41.240 asking God why I. 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:41.839 Didn't show up. 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.840 But enough word to nourish us for the needs of 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.480 this moment. You are Jehovah Jirah, and you're in. 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:52.680 This place, and I give you the praise in Jesus' name. Amen, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.760 clap your hands, everybody. 0:08:58.080 --> 0:08:59.719 I'm going to have you seated before I read my 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:01.960 sure which I don't normally do, but before I do, 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:09.440 give out about twenty six hugs divided by two. Give 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:12.760 five hugs and tell somebody I'm glad you're here today. Hey, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.680 we're sending you a big hug online to our epam 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.319 all around the world. Just remember, God is speaking this 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.320 message exactly where you need it to be. He's not 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.040 limited by time, or by space or by location. May 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:30.720 this message speak to your heart today. I afraid about 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.560 what to share with you for my first sermon of 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.280 the year, and the Lord led and directed me in 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.520 a powerful way. Let's thank our band, our worship team 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:45.200 for leading us so well in the presence of God today. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.160 Make sure you get the new music from Elevation Rhythm. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:54.840 Thank God, I'm free play it everywhere that the devil 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.160 has been trying to keep you bound, and let him 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:59.559 know it won't work this year. 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.880 I'm coming out of these chains. 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.280 Also, make sure that you get the opportunity to be 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:07.920 a part of Elevation Nights. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:08.560 Now. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.640 I know that for most of you who are here locally, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.559 you probably won't be getting on a plane. But we're 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.160 going to be visiting eight cities, and these nights are powerful, 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:20.000 and these nights are miraculous, and these nights are unforgettable. 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:26.600 We're going to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:31.439 Grand Rapids, Michigan, Knoxville, Tennessee, Columbus, Ohio, and Rosemont, Illinois. 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.600 If you have any friends or family, especially the ones 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.640 who really need Jesus and smell like cigarettes and other 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:39.680 stuff like that, send them over. 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.120 We'll see what we can do for them. 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:44.160 Elevation Nights dot Com where you can get your tickets. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.040 February twenty fourth through March the fifth. I thank you 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.360 for the privilege of being able to minister God's word 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:51.800 to you another year. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:53.400 What an honor. 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.640 I'll be sharing today from the Parable of the Seed 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:03.520 in Matthew chapter thirteen, Verses twenty four through thirty Matthew 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:12.760 Chapter fourteen, Versus twenty four through thirty. Now this is 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.439 not the parable that's normally called the parable of the seeds. 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.680 The parable of the seeds that we hear more about 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:22.920 is actually the parable of the soils. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.200 Okay, Because Jesus taught these parables. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:28.240 He would go out and he would give a teaching, 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.480 and on one level it would sound simple, but you 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:34.680 reflect on it and you pray about it, and it 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.720 really helps you to see what the Kingdom of God 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.240 is like, and it helps you to see what you're like. 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.720 And one of those parables that has helped me so 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.400 much through the year, he talks about a seed that 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.760 was sown in four different places. One was sown on 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.679 rocky soil, so because the soil was too rocky, the 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.480 bird came and snatched it up, so that seed got snatched, 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:58.079 so it didn't do what it was supposed to do. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.560 And then there was one seed that was sewn in 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:03.280 a place where it was scorched by. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.280 The sun, which represents the trials of life. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.760 So since it didn't have a root or a foundation, 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.679 the sun was too strong for it, and it got. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.360 Cooked up before it could come forth. I said, it 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:14.959 got cooked up before it could come forth. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:21.199 Some promises that God speaks to you, the sun, the affliction, 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:24.760 the heat of trial. It tests that seed before it 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:27.120 has had the chance to develop, and you don't pass 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.240 the test. The third type of seed that he talks 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.200 about is one that gets choked out or we could say, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:36.439 strangled by the cares of this life just getting busy. 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.640 And in each of these instances, the seed represents the 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.200 word of God, and the sower is God, and the 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.040 seed is good in each of those instances, but it 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.439 is not successful because of the soil that it lands in. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.160 One of the soils that Jesus mentions in that parable 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:58.160 is the good soil which produces a harvest thirty sixty 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.080 and one hundredfold. And this always encouraged me as a preacher, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.000 because one time I realized, most of the people that 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.400 I preach to won't remember the sermon twenty four hours 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.760 after I preach it, and most of the people that 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.360 I preach to about a specific topic aren't going to 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.800 really do what I challenge them to do, even if 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.400 I give them scripture behind it, because the seed often 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.560 gets snatched, scorched, or strangled. But the one seed that 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.600 produced the harvest, watch what it did. It produced thirty, 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:29.520 sixty or one hundred fold. So the one seed that 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.320 was successful made up for all the ones that weren't. 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.000 God can bless you with one blessing in your life 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:38.360 that will. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.040 Make every failure irrelevant. 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.000 And I came to preach that even though most people 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.680 won't receive this word, if one does, it will have 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:52.240 been worth it. That's what I believe these days. That 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.520 most won't fine, but if one does, it could branch 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.520 out and touch the world. If one does, what is 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.280 one's soul? What is one life worth? What is one 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:08.120 grandmother's prayers getting answered worth? If one does? And I 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:09.839 just want to kind of encourage you on the way 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.160 to my main text today. I'm not preaching about that 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:13.520 one believe it or not. 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:15.600 I studied it, but I'm. 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.600 Not going to preach it because you may be encouraging 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.720 your kids right now, or instructing your kids right now, 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.640 or working on something in your life. And most of 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:27.640 the things that you try, and most of the things 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.720 that you say, won't get through to them. But if 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:36.360 one does, somebody say, if one does. If one does, 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:38.840 it can change a life. If one does, it can 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.560 change the generation. If one does, it can change a bloodline. 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.640 Most won't. Don't be discouraged by the ones that don't work. 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.200 Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't call you back. 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.600 Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't say yes. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:52.880 Don't be discouraged by the ones who don't get you, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:56.480 because if one does. Look, I asked a lot of 0:14:56.520 --> 0:14:58.320 girls to be my girlfriend before Holly. 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:03.080 Most didn't, but one look at me. Now, look at 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:10.560 what the Lord has done. If one does well. 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:12.440 This is a scripture that I want to give you 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:18.360 today from Matthew chapter thirteen, about a parable of two 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.320 different types of seed, Not different types of soil, which 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.880 represents the condition of our heart, but two different types 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:25.680 of seed. I'm gonna read it to you, and then 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:26.480 we'll talk about. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:27.880 It for just a few moments. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.680 Jesus is teaching many parables, and they're collected here for 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.200 us to read. And it says Jesus told them another parable. 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.800 The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sewed 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:43.359 good seed in his field. If you are the underlining 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.200 your Bible, type, just underline the word good. 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:48.240 It was good seed. 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.560 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed 0:15:55.000 --> 0:16:01.080 weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.640 sprouted and formed heads, then. 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.920 The weeds also appeared. 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:12.080 The owner's servants came to him and said, Sir, didn't 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.160 you sow good seed in your field? Where then, did 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.240 these weeds come from? 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:21.440 An enemy? Did this? He replied. 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.120 The servants asked him, do you want us to go 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:29.760 and pull them up? No, he answered, because while you 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:34.320 are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:41.280 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.400 I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.200 tie them in bundles to be burned. Then gather the 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.760 wheat and bring it into my barn. 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:53.320 I have a. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.320 Simple message from the Lord for your heart today. And 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:58.800 the Lord told me to tell you don't let the 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:00.640 attack distract you. 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:06.440 That's what it is. It's a distraction. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:09.480 And he told me to tell you don't let the 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.560 attack distract you. Write it down in your notebook, type 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.720 it in the comments. Don't let the attack distract you. 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.800 And I love preaching the second Sunday of a new 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:25.080 year because by now your new Year's resolutions have become 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.199 good intentions, which you have modified to become more realistic. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:35.880 The new Year's energy has been sufficiently tapered and sufficiently 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:37.240 adjusted to match the. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.560 Realities of daily life for most people. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.080 And now we can really preach about the way life is. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:44.159 New Year's resolution. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.679 First Sunday of the year, I'm not cussing anymore. Second 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.800 week of the year, I'm cutting back on cussing. I'm 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.480 only going to say these four words this year. But 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:55.439 I got to have these four Lord, and you know 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:59.119 I do. I'm fast in this. 0:17:59.240 --> 0:17:59.960 I'm going to fast. 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.399 It's the first twenty one days. I'm gonna fast the 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.600 first well. I'm fast from vegetables the first twenty one days. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:09.639 The Lord will receive it as an offering, you know, 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.680 because we modify it in real life. You know, one 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.200 thing that I noticed about this parable that Jesus gave 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.560 in the passage, and I believe you noticed it too, 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:25.240 is that wherever there is wheat, there will always be weeds. 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:29.720 You know, Jesus isn't just giving us a little discourse 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:31.680 about how problems creep up in our life. 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.960 Here, he's making a bigger point. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:38.760 Specifically, he's letting us know that it is not your 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:46.639 job to judge others. It's not your job. It's not 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:51.560 your job because you're not God. And if I can 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:57.440 say a little more directly, you suck at judging. That's 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:01.080 how you bought that time share. That's how you bought 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:07.320 that vacuum cleaner because you suck at judging. Honestly, even 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.840 when it comes to the work that I create, I've 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:13.000 taught myself it's not my job to judge it. 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.399 It's just my job to make it. Especially when you 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:17.119 write a song. 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:24.359 You don't know Chris Brown, you'll know Chris Brown, formerly 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.679 an R and B singer, but now the main worship 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.760 leader at Elevation Worship. Look at what the Lord has done. 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:32.440 I always call him the real Chris Brown. He's my 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:34.760 favorite worship leader in the world, always has been, always 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:36.480 will be since first time I heard him. But I'm 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:41.200 gonna t say something else. He sucks at judging whether 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.919 a new song is good or not. He called me 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:45.800 one Sunday. We had a new song that we wanted 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:47.560 to introduce, and I wasn't gonna be there to preach, 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:49.480 and he was leading it and he called me after it. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.280 I said, how to go? He said, not too good. 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.000 I don't think the song is very good. The song 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.320 was graves into Gardens. 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:05.840 You remember, remember that cv you suck at judging. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.320 You're great worship leader, you're handsome, you're a great man 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.560 of God. You're wonderful of being a dad and a husband, 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:15.240 but you suck at judging. And I chose to say 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:17.280 it that way because some of y'all are so tripping 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.600 and stumbling over the fact that I said the word suck, judging. 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.199 Me for that, that you. 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.399 Just prove my point, because if you think if the 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.480 most important thing is whether I say the word suck 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.479 or whether I say it more fancy, it's not your 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:35.480 job to judge. If you're tripping over what I'm saying, 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.520 you're making the very mistake that I'm warning you about, 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.160 thereby validating the wisdom of my point and the way 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:45.440 I phraised it. Now, every once in a while, Jesus 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.040 would explain his parables to his disciples after everybody else 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:51.679 was gone, almost like y'all can get it at a 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.800 deep level, the disciples, but the crowds couldn't consume it, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.119 And that's why he taught in parables, so that he 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.159 could have the privilege of pulling aside his disciples and 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.840 giving them the deeper meaning. We're going to look at 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.960 the deeper meaning of this parable that Jesus shared a 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.439 little bit further in Matthew chapter thirteen. Put it on 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:09.800 the screen. 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:12.359 Please, he let the crowd went into the house. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:14.440 His disciples came to him and said, explain to us 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.360 the parable of the weeds in the field. He answered, well, 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:20.800 the one who sowed the good seed is the son 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:21.200 of Man. 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.399 That's Jesus. The field is the world. 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.760 The good seed stands for the people. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.760 Of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of. 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:34.879 The evil one, and the enemy who sows them is 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.919 the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.040 and the harvesters are the angels. As the weeds are 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.280 pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.919 be at the end of the age the Son of 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.920 Men will send out his angels, and they will weed 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.000 out of his kingdom everything that causes sin, and all 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:57.720 who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:03.480 where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:05.600 the righteous will shine like the sun, and the kingdom 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:06.200 of their father. 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:08.720 Whoever has ears let them hear. 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.280 And we read this, and we are so quick to say, 0:22:12.720 --> 0:22:25.720 that's right. Those evil people, those sinners, those terrible democrats, republicans, independence, 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.240 whatever category that you wanted to put right there, it 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:35.080 exposed something about your heart, whatever you wanted to see. 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.360 The weeds as. 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:41.239 Tells me something about what you see in the mirror. Now, 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:43.679 let me explain that for a moment. Go back to 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.600 verse forty two. It says that the evil ones will 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:52.520 be thrown into the furnace. But watch this verse forty 0:22:52.720 --> 0:22:55.359 three that comes right after it says the kingdom of 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:59.639 their father. So the furnace of judgment belongs to the father, 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:00.720 not the children. 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:04.440 The furnace of judgment. 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:09.160 Is not yours to put people in the furnace of judgment. 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.200 Is not your place to have a Facebook conversation about 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:15.840 what everybody else thinks and why they're so stupid to 0:23:15.880 --> 0:23:16.159 think it. 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:18.560 I shouldn't be preaching like this. My first Sunday back 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:20.440 in the year I might run, y'all a law from 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:20.879 the church. 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:24.480 But notice in the parable it says that it was 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.679 his field. And I'm learning more and more in my 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:32.080 life that if it's his field, that means it's his furnace. 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:35.960 That means God has to be the one to decide 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:37.439 who's right and who's wrong. 0:23:37.960 --> 0:23:40.479 God has to be the one to decide who is 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:43.720 on his side and who is not. I remember, very 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:44.320 early in. 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:47.840 My ministry there was a pastor that I greatly admired, 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.679 and he was mentoring me in many ways, and he 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.760 was bringing up examples of the right kind of ministry 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:56.480 and the wrong kind of ministry. And he brought up 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:59.760 one minister and he said, now, this guy, he's arrogant. 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:04.600 This guy, he is not doctrinally sound. This guy, he 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:08.200 is not theologically correct. In fact, you can watch him 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.760 preach and you can see his pride. He's arrogant, and 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:15.080 he's self focused, and he's fleshly. And then he brought 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:18.240 up another gentleman, and he said, now, this man is humble. 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:23.000 This man has the Greek New Testament practically memorized. He's 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.480 a serious student. This man you can tell by watching him. 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:29.679 He is meek, he is mild, he is christ Like. 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:32.280 That's who you want to be like, Not this guy 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:36.399 over here, that guy right there. Five years later, the 0:24:36.480 --> 0:24:39.040 guy who knew Greek, the guy who. 0:24:38.920 --> 0:24:41.320 Was so humble, was discovered to. 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:46.080 Have been having an affair on foreign mission trips that 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:50.040 he was taking pretending to be spreading the Gospel for 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:55.119 twelve years with one woman in Russia while he looked humble. 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:59.320 The man who was so prideful and cocky and arrogant 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:02.960 is still doing the ministry today that he was doing 0:25:03.160 --> 0:25:05.960 twenty years ago. What am I trying to say? You 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:10.000 suck at judging, and so do I. We don't know 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:12.040 who God is going to be used in ten years 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:14.520 from now. We don't know who God is going to 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.080 raise up. So why y'all are looking at me like 0:25:17.119 --> 0:25:19.760 you're confused about this? Let me break it down a 0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:22.680 little bit finer. Some of the people that you dated 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:25.359 are proof of the fact that you are not very 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:29.119 good at getting past the packaging. Let me break it 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:31.359 down a little bit further. Some of the people that 0:25:31.440 --> 0:25:34.520 you put in your phone that you knew you needed 0:25:34.560 --> 0:25:38.240 to block, but you ignored that little instinct that told 0:25:38.280 --> 0:25:41.960 you there is something about them. You cannot trust your 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:47.320 own judgment this year. You cannot trust your fleshly earthly judgment. 0:25:47.760 --> 0:25:51.760 When Israel trusted her judgment, she got Saul as king. 0:25:52.359 --> 0:25:55.840 David was a man after God's own heart. But even 0:25:55.960 --> 0:26:00.560 David had weeds, asked Bascheba, even the man after God's 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:03.800 own heart didn't always do it God's way. And what 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:06.040 I'm trying to say it, I'm kind of going all 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.480 around the barn to say it. So let me just 0:26:08.600 --> 0:26:16.840 land the plane. We all got weeds. We all got we's. 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:21.400 Say it out loud. I got we's put the asse 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:22.880 at the end of that, just making sure. 0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:31.320 Tell them about the biblical kind of weeds. It's called darnell. 0:26:32.720 --> 0:26:35.200 Darnell. It is this type of weeds seed. 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:38.359 The Bible says, Can I preach about this for a moment. 0:26:39.119 --> 0:26:42.719 The Bible says that the man planted a good seed 0:26:42.960 --> 0:26:43.879 in his field. 0:26:43.920 --> 0:26:45.320 Everybody say his field. 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:47.680 I'm gonna point this out to the over and over 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:50.719 again as I preached today. It was his field. It 0:26:50.800 --> 0:26:54.159 belonged to the farmer. It belonged to the man. He 0:26:54.359 --> 0:26:57.800 planted the seed in his field. It was his property. 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:01.360 It was his territory to do with it as he wished. 0:27:01.720 --> 0:27:05.040 He planted a good seed in the field. The seed 0:27:05.200 --> 0:27:08.560 was doing what it was supposed to do. It was growing. 0:27:08.800 --> 0:27:11.560 And since the seed was doing what it was supposed 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:15.119 to do and growing, an enemy noticed the growth of 0:27:15.160 --> 0:27:17.879 the seed and said, if I don't do something about 0:27:17.880 --> 0:27:20.600 this seed, my enemy will triumph over me. 0:27:21.160 --> 0:27:22.520 So the Bible says that. 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:28.119 Overnight wild men slept, an enemy came and planted weeds 0:27:28.560 --> 0:27:29.959 among the wheat. 0:27:30.200 --> 0:27:34.720 Say it weeds among the wheat. Notice what he couldn't do. 0:27:35.080 --> 0:27:43.080 He could not pluck up what God had planted. He 0:27:43.119 --> 0:27:47.639 could not change what had already been done. He could 0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:50.840 not cast the seed that was in the ground to 0:27:50.960 --> 0:27:53.400 stop being what it was meant to be. 0:27:55.760 --> 0:27:58.159 He could not destroy the seed. 0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:05.359 The only stratage he had was to distract the harvesters. 0:28:06.680 --> 0:28:09.880 So here's the progression of growth in our life. 0:28:09.920 --> 0:28:12.359 We advance a little bit like the seed was doing, 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:15.000 and then we get attacked. 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:17.240 How many of. 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:20.800 Y'all almost have to laugh at how quickly the devil 0:28:20.840 --> 0:28:23.360 attacked the very thing you were advancing in this year 0:28:23.400 --> 0:28:27.880 already Just wave at me. It's almost comical, right, It's 0:28:27.880 --> 0:28:31.800 almost like two on the nose, like really devil, like 0:28:31.920 --> 0:28:34.720 really really like that you're going to be that obvious, 0:28:34.800 --> 0:28:36.440 You're you're just gonna do it right in my face 0:28:36.520 --> 0:28:39.520 like that, At least in the parable demand snuck in 0:28:39.560 --> 0:28:40.360 and did it at night. 0:28:41.160 --> 0:28:44.360 Some of us. The devil's just doing it in broad daylight, 0:28:44.560 --> 0:28:46.880 just attacking things that are advancing. 0:28:48.240 --> 0:28:52.560 So now you're advancing, the seed is growing, and you're attacked. 0:28:54.320 --> 0:28:56.800 And when the enemy attacks you and what God is 0:28:56.800 --> 0:28:59.160 doing in you. 0:28:58.200 --> 0:29:02.720 You get distracted. He can't destroy the seed. It's not his. 0:29:04.440 --> 0:29:09.480 He can't destroy the seed. It's already planted. He can't 0:29:09.520 --> 0:29:12.440 destroy the seed. What God put in the seed is 0:29:12.440 --> 0:29:16.000 still in the sea. He doesn't have permission to do that. 0:29:17.200 --> 0:29:21.600 But what he can do is distract you so. 0:29:21.480 --> 0:29:23.960 That you will destroy yourself. 0:29:27.240 --> 0:29:29.160 And some of the things that are attacking you in 0:29:29.200 --> 0:29:34.360 your life right now. The attack doesn't matter unless it 0:29:34.440 --> 0:29:37.840 distracts you from what God has called you. 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:41.760 I'll break it down for you with a few pastoral examples. 0:29:42.080 --> 0:29:42.840 Thank you so much. 0:29:43.760 --> 0:29:45.800 It feels good to be wanted, feels good to be loved, 0:29:45.800 --> 0:29:48.680 feels good to be supported. But you know, you have 0:29:48.720 --> 0:29:50.800 to preach through all kinds of seasons. And there have 0:29:50.800 --> 0:29:54.320 been seasons in this ministry where I have had to 0:29:54.360 --> 0:29:57.200 preach what God gave me to preach even though I 0:29:57.240 --> 0:30:01.400 felt attacked, and in my early years of preaching, I 0:30:01.400 --> 0:30:04.080 would become hyper focused on any attack that was coming 0:30:04.160 --> 0:30:07.000 my way. I don't just mean critics, I mean any attack. 0:30:07.120 --> 0:30:10.400 Like if a staff member resigned, I would call it 0:30:10.440 --> 0:30:13.360 an attack. Well, no, maybe they just need to move 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:15.160 to Florida to take care of their parents. No, it's 0:30:15.160 --> 0:30:18.520 an attack. I rebuked the devil. Why do you rebuke it. 0:30:18.520 --> 0:30:21.960 It's not an attack. It's a it's a it's a 0:30:22.040 --> 0:30:26.400 it's an adjustment. You got to adapt. Life just happens. 0:30:27.040 --> 0:30:28.560 But there have been seasons. 0:30:28.160 --> 0:30:29.960 And I remembered one very specifically. 0:30:31.800 --> 0:30:33.480 Well, I've been looking forward to sharing this with you 0:30:33.560 --> 0:30:35.520 because it was so fresh and so vivid. 0:30:36.280 --> 0:30:38.920 What was happening in our church was explosive. 0:30:39.000 --> 0:30:42.520 And much like the seed in the Passage, it was growing, growing, growing. 0:30:43.000 --> 0:30:45.840 God planted this church in Charlotte in two thousand and six. 0:30:46.320 --> 0:30:47.239 I didn't plant it. 0:30:47.400 --> 0:30:52.880 He did. And what God plants, God protects. And God 0:30:53.000 --> 0:30:55.320 was doing all kinds of miracles for us. If we 0:30:55.360 --> 0:30:58.440 needed a building, he opened a building. If we needed 0:30:58.440 --> 0:31:02.280 a volunteer, he sent a volunteer. If we needed funds, 0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:05.680 he would send people with money. God was just providing 0:31:06.160 --> 0:31:10.000 and protecting. But in one season of our ministry, and 0:31:10.040 --> 0:31:14.000 it was over ten years ago, this vicious attack began. 0:31:14.920 --> 0:31:17.520 And if anybody was here at the time, you will 0:31:17.560 --> 0:31:19.240 remember several phases of the attack. 0:31:19.320 --> 0:31:20.760 The last phase of the attack was. 0:31:20.760 --> 0:31:24.080 The hardest for me to stomach, because they began to imply, 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:26.840 on news stories that were on the eleven o'clock news 0:31:27.160 --> 0:31:31.280 that at Elevation Church we fake baptisms. In other words, 0:31:31.320 --> 0:31:34.320 they were saying that we have people pretending to be baptized, 0:31:35.040 --> 0:31:37.080 I guess, just so we could put it on camera. 0:31:38.120 --> 0:31:40.680 Not only was that not true, but it was a 0:31:40.680 --> 0:31:44.480 direct assault against the most meaningful expression of faith that 0:31:44.520 --> 0:31:46.800 a person can make, to be baptized. 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:50.000 And I felt so attacked. 0:31:49.880 --> 0:31:52.440 Not only on my own behalf, but on behalf of 0:31:52.480 --> 0:31:54.960 everyone who was going to work who had been baptized 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:58.200 at this church, hearing the lie that had been perpetuated, 0:31:58.240 --> 0:32:01.800 the attack that had been waged, saying your baptism was 0:32:01.840 --> 0:32:04.760 it fake? And I was praying about this one day, 0:32:05.440 --> 0:32:08.640 and I was asking God very specifically something that you 0:32:08.680 --> 0:32:11.240 may have been praying about a situation or an attack 0:32:11.280 --> 0:32:12.320 in your life as well. 0:32:12.560 --> 0:32:17.000 I prayed God make it stop, Make it stop. 0:32:17.960 --> 0:32:21.400 By this point, there had been several attacks against our church, 0:32:21.880 --> 0:32:23.520 and this one just felt like too much. 0:32:23.960 --> 0:32:26.120 And I said, God, make it stop. 0:32:26.760 --> 0:32:28.720 And I will never forget what the Lord said to 0:32:28.760 --> 0:32:31.160 me in my spirit, not in audible words or not 0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:33.880 in a physical impression, but in a way that he 0:32:33.920 --> 0:32:35.920 gave me a thought that I have carried with me. 0:32:35.920 --> 0:32:38.720 To this moment, and I share it with you today. 0:32:38.960 --> 0:32:42.840 The Lord said, I can stop the attack, but if 0:32:42.880 --> 0:32:46.320 I stopped the attack, I have to stop the impact 0:32:46.680 --> 0:32:55.840 that created it. So now you have to decide do 0:32:55.920 --> 0:32:59.360 you want the attack to stop that enough to give 0:32:59.440 --> 0:33:03.320 up the impact that brought it? Because if you weren't 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:08.800 baptizing anybody, they wouldn't be making up stories about your baptisms. 0:33:10.640 --> 0:33:15.320 But maybe what God was doing in this church was 0:33:15.440 --> 0:33:20.400 so unbelievable that the enemy saw it and said, if 0:33:20.440 --> 0:33:21.240 they keep. 0:33:21.160 --> 0:33:23.280 Baptizing people like this. 0:33:23.800 --> 0:33:27.280 There's gonna be a water shortage in Charlotte and a 0:33:27.400 --> 0:33:31.080 people shortage in Hell. And so I got a plant, 0:33:31.640 --> 0:33:35.760 a little lie to try to get them to stop 0:33:35.880 --> 0:33:41.600 doing what God's started. But God said, if you want 0:33:41.640 --> 0:33:46.080 the impact, you got a man up and button your 0:33:46.200 --> 0:33:50.239 pants and tighten your belt. And lace your boots, and 0:33:50.400 --> 0:33:54.200 open your bible, and open your mouth, and take your 0:33:54.360 --> 0:33:58.360 next breath, and lift your voice, and lift your head 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:02.560 and swing your in the name of the Lord, and 0:34:02.720 --> 0:34:07.200 realize that he who began a good work in you 0:34:07.760 --> 0:34:11.840 will be faithful to bring it full circle till the 0:34:12.000 --> 0:34:18.040 day when the angels gather the tears to be burned. 0:34:18.040 --> 0:34:18.800 In the fire. 0:34:27.200 --> 0:34:30.440 I wanted to tell you about that. I wanted to 0:34:30.440 --> 0:34:33.000 tell you that. Now that I'm through it, I'm glad 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:38.080 they attacked me. I am iss set me free of 0:34:38.160 --> 0:34:43.000 some ego. I'm glad that happened. I want it to 0:34:43.000 --> 0:34:47.040 happen again. I'm not asking for another one. I'm not 0:34:47.120 --> 0:34:48.840 saying if I went back in time, I would have 0:34:48.880 --> 0:34:52.759 walked that path. But there is a young man on 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:56.920 our staff who runs my scriptures every week. As a 0:34:56.920 --> 0:34:58.880 matter of fact, put a scripture up there, just in anyone. 0:34:58.920 --> 0:35:00.399 I don't care which one. Just put it up there 0:35:00.560 --> 0:35:04.040 and just put the week appeared, We circle the word appeared. 0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:09.520 Look at that. Why did I tell him to do that? 0:35:10.200 --> 0:35:14.319 Because he started coming to the church because he heard 0:35:14.360 --> 0:35:18.080 about the baptisms on the news. 0:35:19.960 --> 0:35:23.040 From the attack. Y'all don't want to mess with me. 0:35:24.520 --> 0:35:27.960 And now he's the one helping me preach the word. 0:35:29.080 --> 0:35:34.000 So God used their words as a weapon. Oh God, 0:35:35.200 --> 0:35:36.200 And now let's. 0:35:35.960 --> 0:35:43.040 Talk about you. No weapon forlved against you shall prosper. 0:35:44.280 --> 0:35:49.920 And every time sun rise this against you, you shall 0:35:50.120 --> 0:35:55.240 convin this is the heretage at the service of the Lord, 0:35:55.680 --> 0:36:06.680 and their righteousness is from me. So one thing the 0:36:06.840 --> 0:36:11.160 enemy didn't realize when he was planting those weeds is 0:36:11.200 --> 0:36:14.680 that you can plant all the weeds you want to devil. 0:36:14.840 --> 0:36:17.160 And let me just remind you this year, this year, 0:36:17.200 --> 0:36:20.320 there will be weeds. There will be no weed free 0:36:20.400 --> 0:36:22.080 week in your year this year. 0:36:23.760 --> 0:36:24.439 Sit back down. 0:36:26.200 --> 0:36:28.399 You know how we do these little New Year's slogans 0:36:29.120 --> 0:36:30.680 come alive in twenty five. 0:36:33.239 --> 0:36:36.440 You know it's gonna it's gonna well, could be. 0:36:36.400 --> 0:36:40.359 Said it's gonna get fixed in twenty six. No, it's 0:36:40.400 --> 0:36:44.279 not either. It's gonna be mixed in twenty six. It's 0:36:44.280 --> 0:36:48.200 gonna be some wheat. It's gonna be some weeds. It's 0:36:48.200 --> 0:36:51.919 gonna be some joy, it's gonna be some morning. It's 0:36:51.920 --> 0:36:55.200 gonna be some weeping. It's gonna be some reeping. It's 0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:58.480 gonna be some friends. It's gonna be some enemies. It's 0:36:58.520 --> 0:37:00.880 gonna be some frenemies. You can't tell the difference to 0:37:01.080 --> 0:37:04.359 us over But don't judge it before God's done with it, 0:37:04.520 --> 0:37:07.440 because God might use some of this stuff in your 0:37:07.520 --> 0:37:11.000 life that you were asking him to remove to reveal 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:15.839 who He is in your life. And the only problem 0:37:16.040 --> 0:37:19.000 is if you start trying to pluck out the weeds, 0:37:19.560 --> 0:37:28.319 you might mess around and remove the wheat. Y'all got 0:37:28.400 --> 0:37:34.200 enough or keep going? One thing I noticed in the 0:37:34.239 --> 0:37:38.800 text that was really powerful is that the Master didn't 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:44.680 panic about the attack. He was so cool about it. 0:37:45.400 --> 0:37:48.399 Read it again, sir, Now the servants are freaking out 0:37:48.400 --> 0:37:50.680 like we do. Sir, didn't you so good? See it 0:37:50.719 --> 0:37:52.200 in your field? Where's come from? Who did this? What's 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:53.960 going on? This is the devil? Who's fault? Is this? 0:37:54.000 --> 0:37:54.120 Only? 0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:55.279 As so many did this? 0:37:57.200 --> 0:38:02.880 And the mask sure because he represents God in the parable. 0:38:02.920 --> 0:38:10.760 Look at this, He's like an enemy did this because 0:38:10.760 --> 0:38:14.680 that's what an enemy does. That's what an enemy does, 0:38:16.640 --> 0:38:21.560 That's what a devil does. I read about a book 0:38:21.560 --> 0:38:25.160 that Mel Robbins wrote called the Let Them Theory. I 0:38:25.160 --> 0:38:28.200 didn't read the book, but I like the title. It's 0:38:28.239 --> 0:38:31.160 like people want to talk about you. Let them. Your 0:38:31.239 --> 0:38:33.600 kids want to leave without a coat and it's cold outside. 0:38:33.880 --> 0:38:42.160 Let them. They're not going to die of hypothermia. They 0:38:42.160 --> 0:38:43.080 will figure it out. 0:38:43.160 --> 0:38:47.000 Kids are resilient, they need a little frost bite. 0:38:48.040 --> 0:38:53.760 Let them. And I wonder if we could write. 0:38:53.520 --> 0:39:01.080 One together today this year in your life, called let him. 0:39:01.200 --> 0:39:03.879 Don't let the attack distract you. You give so much 0:39:03.880 --> 0:39:06.040 focus on how the devil is discouraging you, and now 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:10.560 discouragement is all you see everywhere. You got so many 0:39:10.600 --> 0:39:13.400 things going right in your life, so much wheat. 0:39:14.120 --> 0:39:15.360 But all you see is weeds. 0:39:16.560 --> 0:39:21.400 You a little perfectionist, your little type a personality, your 0:39:21.400 --> 0:39:24.640 little enneagram number one just always could be better. Just 0:39:24.719 --> 0:39:27.040 oh man, I gotta get these weeds out this year. 0:39:27.520 --> 0:39:30.040 No you don't. I'll tell you why. 0:39:30.440 --> 0:39:33.760 If Jesus's field wasn't weed free, what makes you think. 0:39:33.640 --> 0:39:34.440 Yours is gonna be? 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:41.400 Jesus couldn't have a weed free field, but you can. No, 0:39:42.400 --> 0:39:46.719 it's gonna be mixed in twenty six. It's gonna be 0:39:46.760 --> 0:39:50.280 mixed in twenty six. It's gonna be at eight am 0:39:50.320 --> 0:39:52.000 in the morning, this is the day that the Lord 0:39:52.040 --> 0:39:56.160 has made. It's gonna be by three pm. In the afternoon. 0:39:56.160 --> 0:39:58.040 My God, My God, why hast thou forsake of me? 0:39:58.120 --> 0:39:58.600 It's gonna be. 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:05.040 Wea It's gonna be weeds. And stop judging stuff before 0:40:05.160 --> 0:40:11.319 God is done with it. Stop judging stuff before the 0:40:11.400 --> 0:40:14.360 appointed time. Stop telling me graves into gardens in a 0:40:14.360 --> 0:40:19.080 good song. Stop telling me I tried it, it didn't work. 0:40:19.440 --> 0:40:21.480 And I'll just use a physical example because we can. 0:40:21.440 --> 0:40:22.200 All relate to it. 0:40:24.160 --> 0:40:27.840 When you work out and you haven't worked out in 0:40:27.880 --> 0:40:34.080 a while, not that you would know. The first thing 0:40:34.120 --> 0:40:37.000 that is going to indicate that you successfully completed the 0:40:37.040 --> 0:40:41.840 workout is a feeling of soreness that will feel like 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:47.240 Satan himself brought seven spirits to your body and invaded everything. 0:40:47.480 --> 0:40:51.759 But that just means you're growing. So now you're surprised 0:40:51.800 --> 0:40:56.399 that you're sore, but you wanted to grow. If there 0:40:56.440 --> 0:40:58.640 had been no wheat, there would have been no weeds. 0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:03.880 You're praying for God to use you, but you're surprised 0:41:03.920 --> 0:41:06.600 that you feel like you're empty on the inside. That's 0:41:06.600 --> 0:41:09.120 so He can fill you up again. And the promise 0:41:09.160 --> 0:41:12.440 of this year is not that it will be weed free. 0:41:12.560 --> 0:41:15.880 I am not trying to keep a weed free in 0:41:15.960 --> 0:41:18.600 one sense, I am, but I am not trying to 0:41:18.680 --> 0:41:21.880 keep a problem a weed free. I'm trying to be 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:27.600 spirit filled this year so that whatever is planted around me. 0:41:27.840 --> 0:41:31.799 And you got to know that the Master is very, 0:41:31.960 --> 0:41:36.279 very methodical in what he plants, and he knew from 0:41:36.320 --> 0:41:39.759 the moment he planted this seed that the enemy would 0:41:39.760 --> 0:41:43.799 attack it. Now, the Master wasn't surprised. The servants were, 0:41:43.920 --> 0:41:45.600 so they said, what do you want us to do 0:41:45.680 --> 0:41:48.200 about it? Do you want us to pluck it up? 0:41:49.560 --> 0:41:52.399 Do you want us to remove it? Do you want 0:41:52.480 --> 0:41:55.359 us to do something about that? I was reading a 0:41:55.400 --> 0:42:00.000 passage in First Kings or maybe Second Samuel last week 0:42:00.040 --> 0:42:00.560 with Graham. 0:42:01.480 --> 0:42:02.640 Which scripture did I give you? 0:42:02.719 --> 0:42:06.840 Justin Second Samuel or First Kings, we're reading about David. Yeah, 0:42:06.960 --> 0:42:10.759 one time David was running through his city that he 0:42:10.840 --> 0:42:14.120 used to rule over from his son, Absolom, and his 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:17.000 son was trying to take his crown from him. And 0:42:17.840 --> 0:42:20.200 the son's name was Absolom, and David actually had to 0:42:20.239 --> 0:42:22.600 go flee from his own son. And as he was 0:42:22.680 --> 0:42:27.120 leaving the city, he approached Bahiram. You couldn't pronounce it either, 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:29.799 a man from the same clan Asau's family came out 0:42:30.440 --> 0:42:31.040 from there. 0:42:30.880 --> 0:42:33.400 And so this is one of his enemies, right, And. 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:38.359 His name was shimmy I, son of Gera. And he 0:42:38.480 --> 0:42:43.680 cursed as he came out, cursing at the king. Well, 0:42:44.239 --> 0:42:48.680 he pelted David in the king's officials with stones. Now 0:42:48.719 --> 0:42:51.840 remember David's pretty good with a stone, So this is 0:42:51.880 --> 0:42:55.200 a bad idea. Though all the troops in the Special 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:56.560 Guard were on David's right and left. 0:42:56.560 --> 0:42:58.160 In other words, he could have done something about it. 0:42:58.239 --> 0:43:02.920 And as he cursed, Shimiyeh said, get out, Get out. 0:43:02.760 --> 0:43:04.399 You murder, you scoundrel. 0:43:05.400 --> 0:43:07.279 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you 0:43:07.280 --> 0:43:09.640 shed in the household of Saul, in whose place. 0:43:09.440 --> 0:43:11.680 You have reigned. God's getting you back. 0:43:11.880 --> 0:43:14.440 The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of 0:43:14.480 --> 0:43:15.879 your son Absalom. 0:43:15.960 --> 0:43:19.080 You have come to ruin because you are a murderer. 0:43:19.120 --> 0:43:21.839 Is planning all these seeds of doubt in David's mind. 0:43:21.840 --> 0:43:24.839 Then Abishai, which one of David's guys, said to the King, 0:43:25.080 --> 0:43:27.080 why should this dead dog curse my lord? 0:43:27.120 --> 0:43:27.480 The king? 0:43:27.719 --> 0:43:30.719 Let me go over and cut off his head. But 0:43:30.840 --> 0:43:34.600 the king, David said, what does this have to do 0:43:34.719 --> 0:43:37.600 with you, sons of zahu Ayah? 0:43:37.680 --> 0:43:39.359 If He's cursed him because the Lord said to him, 0:43:39.360 --> 0:43:42.399 curse David, who can ask why do you do this? 0:43:43.280 --> 0:43:44.279 David then said to. 0:43:44.239 --> 0:43:48.320 Abishai and all his officials, my son, my own flesh 0:43:48.320 --> 0:43:50.080 and blood, is trying to kill me. 0:43:50.239 --> 0:43:52.240 In other words, I got bigger problems. 0:43:53.040 --> 0:43:55.440 I got bigger things to deal with than this dude, 0:43:55.760 --> 0:43:57.320 and I came to remind you. 0:43:57.320 --> 0:44:00.759 You've got bigger priorities. You've got too much to do 0:44:00.920 --> 0:44:02.200 to be offended by them. 0:44:02.520 --> 0:44:05.800 You've got bigger fish to fry than this guy whose 0:44:05.880 --> 0:44:10.319 name I can't even pronounce. You're David, how much more 0:44:10.360 --> 0:44:14.680 than this Benjamin? Leave him alone, let him curse. 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:18.480 You want us to do something about it, now, let 0:44:18.600 --> 0:44:22.200 him Let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. 0:44:23.040 --> 0:44:27.920 It may be, oh, this is an anointed verse. If 0:44:27.960 --> 0:44:31.040 you've been under attack and the enemy is pelting you 0:44:31.080 --> 0:44:34.400 with rocks and stones, and it may even be coming 0:44:34.440 --> 0:44:37.040 at the expense of your own dignity, and you are 0:44:37.080 --> 0:44:38.879 asking yourself, what do I. 0:44:38.880 --> 0:44:40.080 Do about this attack? 0:44:40.239 --> 0:44:43.240 David said, it may be that the Lord will look 0:44:43.400 --> 0:44:47.160 upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:49.120 instead of his curse today. 0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:52.319 In other words, what David is saying is that he 0:44:52.400 --> 0:44:57.920 cannot curse what God has already blessed, so let him. 0:44:58.800 --> 0:45:04.200 He cannot just what has God's dna. He cannot steal 0:45:04.600 --> 0:45:10.040 what God has spoke. He cannot negate what God has established. 0:45:10.400 --> 0:45:13.680 He cannot cancel out what God is called. 0:45:14.080 --> 0:45:16.319 How many different ways do you need me to. 0:45:16.320 --> 0:45:19.200 Say it to get you to see it won't work. 0:45:20.400 --> 0:45:23.919 Let him come, let the flood rage. God will lift 0:45:24.000 --> 0:45:26.880 up a standard. It won't work. 0:45:27.200 --> 0:45:30.120 Don't let the attack distract you. Don't let it get 0:45:30.200 --> 0:45:32.520 you out of your character. Don't let it get. 0:45:32.400 --> 0:45:34.560 You out of your joy. Don't let it get you 0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:37.640 out of your peace. Sit there and whistle a worship song. 0:45:37.719 --> 0:45:40.480 If you can't sing one, lift your toe. If you 0:45:40.520 --> 0:45:43.799 can't lift your hands, do a body weight squad. If 0:45:43.840 --> 0:45:47.200 you can't do a real one, do something. But whatever 0:45:47.320 --> 0:45:51.040 you do, remember that if it's started with God, it 0:45:51.160 --> 0:45:54.880 is sustained by God, and there is nothing the enemy 0:45:54.880 --> 0:45:59.520 can plant. Sharreamaijah said, before I was born, he called 0:45:59.520 --> 0:46:00.800 me and at me apart. 0:46:01.200 --> 0:46:03.480 So that means I know the enemy has been busy 0:46:03.520 --> 0:46:04.280 in your life. 0:46:04.480 --> 0:46:08.319 He's been speaking to you, he's been sabotaging you. He's 0:46:08.360 --> 0:46:11.480 been distracting you, trying to get you off your course, 0:46:11.800 --> 0:46:13.920 trying to get you out of your flow, trying to 0:46:13.960 --> 0:46:16.080 get you out of your calling, trying to get you 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:18.080 out of your nature, trying to get you out of 0:46:18.120 --> 0:46:21.080 your kindness, trying to bring you back to bitterness, trying 0:46:21.080 --> 0:46:21.839 to plant. 0:46:21.560 --> 0:46:22.800 Weeds where there's wheat. 0:46:23.040 --> 0:46:26.120 But there's one thing that the enemy should have realized 0:46:26.440 --> 0:46:29.080 that he didn't realize, and he would have saved his 0:46:29.320 --> 0:46:32.440 energy and realized that the weeds weren't worth planting. 0:46:32.680 --> 0:46:36.239 Because you've got to remember, no matter what the enemy. 0:46:35.920 --> 0:46:49.840 Plants in your life, God got there first, and he 0:46:49.920 --> 0:46:53.600 prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies. 0:46:55.760 --> 0:47:00.560 So let the devil try, because it must be that 0:47:00.640 --> 0:47:03.280 if God isn't removing those weeds, how many can picture 0:47:03.320 --> 0:47:05.200 some weeds that are in your life as I speak 0:47:05.239 --> 0:47:10.400 this word, Every weed free person, run to this altar 0:47:10.840 --> 0:47:15.160 right now, because you have the weed of delusion? 0:47:19.719 --> 0:47:20.520 Am I right man? 0:47:20.600 --> 0:47:23.120 And the one thing about it, Graham, check this out. Gee, 0:47:23.880 --> 0:47:26.560 the type of weeds that were growing, You couldn't tell 0:47:26.600 --> 0:47:29.359 that they weren't wheat until they had grown a little bit. 0:47:30.600 --> 0:47:33.680 They looked exactly the same until the head came up 0:47:33.719 --> 0:47:35.920 and then they're like, oh no, this is not wheat, 0:47:35.920 --> 0:47:36.640 this is a weed. 0:47:38.000 --> 0:47:42.919 And sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you don't know. I'm 0:47:43.000 --> 0:47:46.839 never going back to the way I was. Look at 0:47:46.880 --> 0:47:50.520 what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to 0:47:50.640 --> 0:47:52.000 the way. A little the. 0:47:52.120 --> 0:47:55.080 Video and you know, the kids just screaming at the camera, 0:47:55.400 --> 0:47:56.920 but what if they were singing it? 0:47:57.080 --> 0:47:59.960 Like just like just for real though, like, look at 0:48:00.160 --> 0:48:01.840 what the Lord has done. 0:48:02.160 --> 0:48:05.400 I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna cuts. 0:48:05.560 --> 0:48:10.240 You know what I'm saying, Look here what the Lord 0:48:10.360 --> 0:48:12.760 has done. I'm never going back. 0:48:12.840 --> 0:48:15.840 But I still get drunk because what we're saying is, 0:48:16.920 --> 0:48:19.120 look here what the Lord has done. 0:48:19.320 --> 0:48:22.480 I'm never going back, but I'm still gonna lust. You know, 0:48:22.800 --> 0:48:26.200 just whatever y'all struggle with, the fact is. 0:48:27.960 --> 0:48:31.879 What's really going on in our hearts sometimes doesn't match 0:48:31.920 --> 0:48:36.319 what's coming out of our mouths. And we really do 0:48:36.440 --> 0:48:39.520 want to grow, and we really do want to be free, 0:48:40.480 --> 0:48:42.040 and we really do want to be more loving. 0:48:43.440 --> 0:48:47.880 But the enemy isn't going to stand by and watch 0:48:47.920 --> 0:48:51.040 you grow without attempting to. 0:48:50.960 --> 0:48:54.960 Plant something alongside your destiny that will disrupt it. 0:48:56.600 --> 0:49:00.239 I just want to remind you that the attack is 0:49:00.280 --> 0:49:05.399 a distraction. And God knew when he planted you that 0:49:05.440 --> 0:49:08.960 what he gave you was stronger than what would come 0:49:09.000 --> 0:49:20.680 against you. Look at what the Lord has done in 0:49:20.719 --> 0:49:24.799 your life. Look how far he has already brought you. 0:49:25.680 --> 0:49:28.080 How many can say I have a testimony. God has 0:49:28.120 --> 0:49:29.399 done so much in my life. 0:49:29.600 --> 0:49:36.040 It's amazing. You would say that. But it came with weeds, 0:49:36.040 --> 0:49:36.520 didn't it. 0:49:38.200 --> 0:49:41.120 And you have been believing the lie lately that you 0:49:41.239 --> 0:49:43.720 have got to get rid of all the weeds before 0:49:43.800 --> 0:49:47.560 you can enjoy the weaed It's a lie. I come 0:49:47.600 --> 0:49:51.600 against it. I break the spirit of depression off of 0:49:51.640 --> 0:49:54.960 your soul that has been telling you that you cannot 0:49:55.000 --> 0:49:57.280 worship while you still have weeds. 0:49:57.640 --> 0:50:01.040 We all have weeds. It would suppor rise you what 0:50:01.120 --> 0:50:03.239 the person next to you is struggling with. 0:50:04.239 --> 0:50:06.839 And just because you can't see the weeds doesn't mean 0:50:06.880 --> 0:50:11.400 they're not real. But have you come to a point 0:50:11.440 --> 0:50:14.400 in your life where all you are seeing in this 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:18.880 season is the weeds? Have you got one kid that 0:50:19.040 --> 0:50:22.160 is in trouble and you have failed to appreciate. 0:50:21.680 --> 0:50:22.880 The two that are doing good? 0:50:24.000 --> 0:50:29.759 That means you have become two weed focused. Have you 0:50:29.800 --> 0:50:33.160 got nine things in your body that are working well, 0:50:33.480 --> 0:50:36.000 but the one thing that is not working right just 0:50:36.080 --> 0:50:39.920 causes you to obsess, and you are googling every possible 0:50:39.960 --> 0:50:42.439 thing that might be wrong with you and taking out 0:50:42.520 --> 0:50:46.759 every life insurance policy because you got a headache one Thursday. 0:50:47.080 --> 0:50:50.600 Are you letting one headache really make you stop believing 0:50:50.800 --> 0:50:54.040 that God is my healer and that God is my sustainer, 0:50:54.280 --> 0:50:57.760 and that God is my source. I'm telling you whatever 0:50:57.840 --> 0:51:00.880 the enemy plants in your life is not more powerful 0:51:01.120 --> 0:51:04.960 than what God planted, because the Bible said he planted 0:51:05.040 --> 0:51:05.680 good seed. 0:51:06.480 --> 0:51:09.720 Somebody say I'm good seed. I'm good seed. 0:51:09.760 --> 0:51:12.560 And all things work together for the good of those 0:51:12.600 --> 0:51:15.920 who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. 0:51:16.200 --> 0:51:18.480 So this week I want you to think a little 0:51:18.480 --> 0:51:21.439 bit less about the weeds and a little bit more 0:51:21.560 --> 0:51:25.279 about the wheat, because when the passage starts, we've got 0:51:25.400 --> 0:51:28.680 wheat and we've got weeds. But at the end of 0:51:28.680 --> 0:51:31.719 the passage, one is going to be burned, and one 0:51:31.800 --> 0:51:33.959 is going to be in the barn. And I came 0:51:34.000 --> 0:51:37.120 to declare today the fire will not burn you. 0:51:37.120 --> 0:51:40.280 You're going to the barn. Baby. You belong to God. 0:51:40.719 --> 0:51:44.920 You are God's child. You are God's planting. You are 0:51:45.120 --> 0:51:46.840 God's Oh, you are. 0:51:46.960 --> 0:51:52.120 God's master peace. I belong to God. Try your best, devil, 0:51:52.480 --> 0:51:55.720 it won't work. As a matter of fact, my God 0:51:55.880 --> 0:51:58.720 might use the thing that you are using to curse 0:51:58.840 --> 0:52:03.400 me and bless me even better. God might do something 0:52:03.480 --> 0:52:07.040 out of this. So go ahead, hit me with your 0:52:07.080 --> 0:52:10.959 best shot. But everything you do has to go through 0:52:11.000 --> 0:52:12.800 the cross of Jesus. 0:52:12.440 --> 0:52:15.200 Christ, and he'll began a good. 0:52:15.040 --> 0:52:23.240 Word, will be faithful to complete it. Stop judging stuff 0:52:23.280 --> 0:52:25.080 before God is done. 0:52:25.200 --> 0:52:27.719 I asked one parent the other day. They said, the 0:52:27.800 --> 0:52:28.640 kid that gave. 0:52:28.480 --> 0:52:31.799 Me the most trouble ended up bringing me the most blessings. 0:52:32.280 --> 0:52:34.880 You can't judge this thing while it's still growing. 0:52:35.200 --> 0:52:38.279 You can't label this thing while it's still in process. 0:52:38.560 --> 0:52:41.759 You cannot categorize your life based on the way you 0:52:41.800 --> 0:52:44.960 feel right in hew And you cannot quit eleven days 0:52:44.960 --> 0:52:49.760 into January just because it's mixed in twenty six. Na, baby, 0:52:50.000 --> 0:52:53.040 the Lord is at my right hand. The Lord stood 0:52:53.040 --> 0:52:57.440 by my side. Many deserted me, God never did. I 0:52:57.560 --> 0:53:02.360 got battles, I got blessings, I got weeds, I got weeds, 0:53:02.800 --> 0:53:06.799 I got goodness, I got mercy, And they follow. 0:53:06.560 --> 0:53:09.720 Me all the days of my life. 0:53:11.280 --> 0:53:14.640 So all I wanted to tell you today is don't 0:53:15.040 --> 0:53:16.040 let the. 0:53:16.080 --> 0:53:22.840 Attack distract you. That's what it is. It's a distraction. 0:53:24.760 --> 0:53:28.080 You have been growing. You've got what it takes to grow. 0:53:28.360 --> 0:53:31.239 You've got what it takes to make this decision. You 0:53:31.320 --> 0:53:33.680 have got what it takes to do the job. You've 0:53:33.680 --> 0:53:36.160 got what it takes to learn the skills. You've got 0:53:36.200 --> 0:53:37.960 what it takes to do the inner work and get 0:53:38.040 --> 0:53:38.520 some healing. 0:53:38.719 --> 0:53:40.920 You've got what it takes because you've got God. 0:53:43.400 --> 0:53:49.440 You're in the field he wanted you to be, and 0:53:49.520 --> 0:53:51.600 God knew there was going to be a fight when 0:53:51.640 --> 0:53:52.800 he puts you in that field. 0:53:54.520 --> 0:53:59.600 Don't tell me he didn't. He's God. I'm built for it. 0:54:01.480 --> 0:54:03.759 High five three. People say you're built for it, too, 0:54:05.520 --> 0:54:10.080 built for it? Yeah, man, built for it. 0:54:11.840 --> 0:54:14.920 You know what I almost called the message, bro, I 0:54:14.960 --> 0:54:18.759 almost called it, Don't burn your bread. 0:54:22.000 --> 0:54:26.239 Don't burn your bread. The wheat has the potential in 0:54:26.320 --> 0:54:28.440 it to be bread. 0:54:31.719 --> 0:54:34.719 If you don't pluck it up and throw it into 0:54:34.800 --> 0:54:37.719 the fire, if you don't give up on what it 0:54:37.760 --> 0:54:39.520 can be because of what it is right now and 0:54:39.560 --> 0:54:40.239 what's against it. 0:54:41.239 --> 0:54:44.640 Don't burn your bread. I didn't call it that. 0:54:45.880 --> 0:54:48.120 I almost called the message this is my other almost 0:54:48.120 --> 0:54:51.520 called the message look at your neighbors, say don't pluck 0:54:51.560 --> 0:54:51.839 it up. 0:54:58.560 --> 0:54:59.840 But I decided. 0:55:01.360 --> 0:55:03.440 That I would just tell you stand to your feet, 0:55:05.400 --> 0:55:13.399 don't let the attack distract you, because if you don't 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:14.439 let it distract. 0:55:14.120 --> 0:55:17.239 You, it can't destroy you. The word of God is incorruptible. 0:55:17.280 --> 0:55:21.439 See you've been born again by imperishable sea. Don't let 0:55:21.440 --> 0:55:27.480 it distract you. You make an advance, you get attacked, 0:55:28.040 --> 0:55:31.000 You get attacked, you get distracted, You get distracted, you 0:55:31.080 --> 0:55:31.759 get destroyed. 0:55:31.960 --> 0:55:32.800 But if you can. 0:55:32.640 --> 0:55:37.120 Focus on where God is growing you put your hand 0:55:37.120 --> 0:55:37.800 over your heart. 0:55:40.040 --> 0:55:44.120 Say this is good soil. Say this is God's soil. 0:55:45.600 --> 0:55:47.640 There's something that God spoke to you that you haven't 0:55:47.640 --> 0:55:49.520 really been able to get in touch with lately because 0:55:49.520 --> 0:55:50.640 you've been so distracted. 0:55:51.520 --> 0:55:52.759 You have been so distracted. 0:55:52.800 --> 0:55:55.920 It has been a long long time since you've been 0:55:55.960 --> 0:55:58.239 able to have clarity about what God spoke to you. 0:55:58.520 --> 0:56:00.480 And you found your broken focus leading. 0:56:00.320 --> 0:56:02.680 To a lack of peace now, as it always happens. 0:56:03.280 --> 0:56:04.879 But if we can get back to the God who 0:56:04.880 --> 0:56:07.080 put it in you to begin with, you are going 0:56:07.120 --> 0:56:10.279 to survive whatever attack the enemy sins against it. It 0:56:10.320 --> 0:56:13.719 can't be stronger than God. It can't be stronger than 0:56:13.800 --> 0:56:17.000 his word. It can't be better than him. It can't 0:56:17.040 --> 0:56:21.719 be bigger than him. It's not possible that you've been distracted. 0:56:23.200 --> 0:56:27.240 So now, Lord, our hearts are. 0:56:29.920 --> 0:56:30.440 Turn to you. 0:56:32.840 --> 0:56:40.280 Yes, Lord, our hearts are yours. Our lives are yours, 0:56:41.320 --> 0:56:46.080 our dreams are yours, our plans are yours. Our future 0:56:46.160 --> 0:56:49.759 is yours. I thank you for where you planted me 0:56:49.800 --> 0:56:50.319 as a seed. 0:56:50.440 --> 0:56:50.760 God. 0:56:52.600 --> 0:56:54.719 I thank you for where you planted each and every 0:56:54.719 --> 0:56:57.120 one of these people. I think for the gifts you 0:56:57.160 --> 0:56:58.880 gave them, the abilities he gave them, the talent you 0:56:58.920 --> 0:57:01.240 gave them, the personality that you gave them, the unique 0:57:01.239 --> 0:57:03.640 struggles and challenges that have formed them and forged them 0:57:03.640 --> 0:57:05.839 in the fire of trials to make them strong. 0:57:05.560 --> 0:57:09.000 And ready for what they're going through now. They will 0:57:09.040 --> 0:57:13.680 not burn. They'll be l those Hebrew boys who. 0:57:13.560 --> 0:57:15.560 Went into the fire and said, even if God doesn't 0:57:15.560 --> 0:57:16.680 get us out, he'll join. 0:57:16.600 --> 0:57:20.919 Us right up in it. Because I'm good seed. I'm 0:57:20.960 --> 0:57:23.760 good seed. Lord. 0:57:23.760 --> 0:57:26.280 I want to pray today for the person who has 0:57:26.320 --> 0:57:27.520 never placed their faith in you. 0:57:29.320 --> 0:57:31.680 Would you just join me in this prayer as a church. 0:57:31.720 --> 0:57:33.320 I'm going to pray for someone who needs to give 0:57:33.320 --> 0:57:36.200 their life to Jesus Christ. And right now it is 0:57:36.320 --> 0:57:38.920 very possible that the reason God brought you here today, 0:57:39.000 --> 0:57:41.440 or the reason that you joined us online. 0:57:41.160 --> 0:57:42.000 Is for this moment. 0:57:42.880 --> 0:57:44.880 If you see, it's not by might nor by power 0:57:46.120 --> 0:57:50.040 that we become strong in the Lord. No, the seed 0:57:50.160 --> 0:57:54.439 was good because of who planted it. And it's time 0:57:54.480 --> 0:57:57.880 for you to stop playing around with your life and 0:57:57.960 --> 0:58:00.720 waiting on one day when it's more con to live 0:58:00.800 --> 0:58:04.920 for God. No, now is your moment of salvation. Today 0:58:05.880 --> 0:58:09.480 is your moment of change. And I don't want you 0:58:09.560 --> 0:58:11.600 to face the fire of judgment. I don't want you 0:58:11.640 --> 0:58:14.520 to live your life apart from God, and neither does God. 0:58:14.560 --> 0:58:18.160 And that's why He sent Jesus, the perfect seed, the 0:58:18.200 --> 0:58:21.280 one who gave his life on the cross and rose 0:58:21.320 --> 0:58:23.040 again that you could have life. 0:58:23.200 --> 0:58:25.000 And now, in this moment, I want to pray with you. 0:58:25.920 --> 0:58:27.560 You know, the Bible says that if you confess with 0:58:27.600 --> 0:58:30.120 your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your 0:58:30.120 --> 0:58:31.960 heart that God raised him from the dead, you will 0:58:32.000 --> 0:58:32.520 be saved. 0:58:34.080 --> 0:58:37.360 It's not by works, it's by grace. You are saved 0:58:37.400 --> 0:58:40.720 through faith, and right now, if you'll pray this prayer 0:58:40.720 --> 0:58:43.200 and mean it with your heart, God will hear you. 0:58:44.200 --> 0:58:47.280 God will save you, and you will be born again, 0:58:47.960 --> 0:58:49.520 and this can be your new beginning. 0:58:49.600 --> 0:58:51.800 We're going to pray out loud, repeating after. 0:58:51.640 --> 0:58:54.720 Me as a church for the benefit of those who 0:58:54.720 --> 0:58:57.400 are coming to Christ in this moment. Repeat after me, 0:58:57.840 --> 0:59:05.120 Heavenly Father. To day is my day of salvation. I 0:59:05.160 --> 0:59:09.320 am a sinner in need of a savior, and I 0:59:09.360 --> 0:59:14.920 believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and 0:59:14.960 --> 0:59:19.800 the savior of the world. And today I make Jesus 0:59:20.600 --> 0:59:25.000 the Lord of my life. I believe he died that 0:59:25.120 --> 0:59:30.280 I would be forgiven and rose again to give me life. 0:59:30.760 --> 0:59:36.440 I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. 0:59:37.400 --> 0:59:41.320 I am a child of God. On the count of three, 0:59:41.400 --> 0:59:44.680 shoot your hand up. If you prayed that one, two, three, 0:59:44.720 --> 0:59:48.840 I want to celebrate with you. Praise the Lord. Praise 0:59:48.840 --> 0:59:54.760 the Lord. That's beautiful. Praise the Lord online. You could 0:59:54.800 --> 0:59:56.840 just put it in the comments I received. 0:59:57.880 --> 0:59:58.400 Jesus. 0:59:59.360 --> 1:00:05.440 Come on, let's clap our hands all over the room. Everybody, everybody, everybody, come. 1:00:05.280 --> 1:00:06.240 On, Let's thank. 1:00:06.080 --> 1:00:09.880 God for all the decisions that were made today. 1:00:10.400 --> 1:00:11.360 God is so good. 1:00:13.280 --> 1:00:17.000 Well, campus, pastors, you can have it. Grab hands with 1:00:17.080 --> 1:00:19.880 the person next to you here, Valentine, look at him 1:00:19.880 --> 1:00:24.240 and tell them don't pluck it up, because God is 1:00:24.280 --> 1:00:29.000 not through with you yet another day to be in 1:00:29.080 --> 1:00:31.280 the presence of God. Come on, Holly, I ain't got 1:00:31.320 --> 1:00:36.160 no hand to hold. It's gonna be an amazing year 1:00:36.200 --> 1:00:36.760 in your life. 1:00:36.840 --> 1:00:40.080 Ben. Yeah, God's gonna give. 1:00:40.000 --> 1:00:45.400 You wisdom, strength, encouragement, stamina. 1:00:46.600 --> 1:00:47.960 God's gonna do that for each and. 1:00:47.880 --> 1:00:51.320 Every one of these people that we pastor to look 1:00:51.360 --> 1:00:53.360 at your neighbor. Look at your neighbor and say, God's 1:00:53.400 --> 1:00:55.000 gonna do that for you too. 1:00:57.600 --> 1:01:01.200 Tell him he's gonna meet you, is gonna fill you, 1:01:03.160 --> 1:01:07.160 he's gonna carry you, he's going to keep you. 1:01:09.400 --> 1:01:12.320 Tell him you're gonna grow. Come on, tell him like 1:01:12.360 --> 1:01:16.080 a trainer, you're gonna grow. Tell them like they need 1:01:16.120 --> 1:01:18.439 to do two more reps. Tell them you're gonna grow. 1:01:19.720 --> 1:01:26.480 Look at them and shall say, don't pluck it. Oh, 1:01:26.640 --> 1:01:28.200 don't let the attack distract you. 1:01:28.600 --> 1:01:30.440 It's a sign you're on course. 1:01:30.720 --> 1:01:33.960 It's a sign your significant it's a sign. 1:01:34.160 --> 1:01:37.480 God's got you. And now unto him, lift your hands. 1:01:37.760 --> 1:01:41.760 Who is able to do immeasurably more than you ask, 1:01:42.160 --> 1:01:45.080 think or imagine, according. 1:01:44.640 --> 1:01:45.720 To His power. 1:01:45.840 --> 1:01:49.920 Whose power, his power that works mightily in us. 1:01:50.280 --> 1:01:55.040 To Him be glory through Christ Jesus in the Church. 1:01:55.760 --> 1:02:01.120 Now and forever, Say amen, Say amen again. 1:02:02.080 --> 1:02:06.640 Goodbye, See you next week. Don't plug it up. 1:02:10.240 --> 1:02:12.800 Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 1:02:13.320 --> 1:02:15.920 make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 1:02:15.960 --> 1:02:18.560 get you all of these new messages as soon as 1:02:18.560 --> 1:02:21.360 they're available. I also want to take a moment and 1:02:21.480 --> 1:02:23.240 thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. 1:02:23.760 --> 1:02:27.080 Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 1:02:27.480 --> 1:02:30.200 just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 1:02:30.240 --> 1:02:33.160 able to reach people all around the world. And if 1:02:33.200 --> 1:02:35.680 you want more information on how to be a part 1:02:35.680 --> 1:02:39.640 of Elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again 1:02:39.640 --> 1:02:42.640 for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, 1:02:42.680 --> 1:02:43.520 and subscribe. 1:02:43.760 --> 1:02:53.160 God bless you.