Embrace Your Place (Christine Caine)

0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:06.200 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:06.240 --> 0:00:09.240 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 --> 0:00:14.960 new sermons every week. Hope you're blessed today. 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.840 I am so grateful for Jesus and I am so 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:32.360 grateful for every one of you here today at Elevation Church. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:37.000 How grateful am I and all. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.159 Of our e family. 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:40.760 I've got to say, I'm so excited this morning. Normally 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.159 I'm the one on the other side of the screen. 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:46.199 Because I'll give it. I'll let you in a little secret. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.159 You know, I live on the West Coast, and so 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.240 you're three hours ahead of us. So before I go 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.880 and preach on the West Coast, I get a dose 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.920 of Pastor Stephen Ferdick before. 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:57.800 I go and breathe. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:02.440 Every every Sunday, I'm so so grateful for Pastor Stephen 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.280 and Holly and this church. Turn to your neighbor and say, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.760 you are the best looking person I've seen today wherever 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:12.360 you are, Okay, hang on, just before you sit down, 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.480 turn to your other neighbor that's your second choice, and 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.640 say you're actually better looking than the other person. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:24.200 I was lying. I was lying you could be seated. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:28.920 I could not wait to be with my Elevation Church 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.839 family today and all our e family. I'm excited because 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.520 I'm normally that person on the other side of the screen, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.240 and it is like being home away from home. You 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.679 know when I first started coming here. I am here 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:45.119 today with the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.400 on planet Earth. And in about two weeks Nick and 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.680 I have been married for thirty years. 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:52.480 How is that? 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.680 And so you know, I gotta say my husband is 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:03.360 number twelve of thirteen children. Yes, there was no television 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:07.360 in that part of Australia at all. My Nick's mother 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.680 had fifteen full term pregnancies in seventeen years. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.079 Yola just got to say. Every woman in this. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:15.960 Room just crossed her legs right there. That was like 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.120 another level. I'm glad they didn't stop where they were. 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:21.600 But my mother in law, she didn't think you were 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:23.880 a chick unless you popped out like ten kids. And 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.560 we've only got two. So I would take my two daughters, 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.960 Katherine and I'd say to my mother in law, this 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:30.600 is Katherine and she is my Alpha. 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.960 And this is Sophia and she is my Omega. 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.880 And this is the beginning and the end of my 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:38.440 child very years. 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.280 This is where it all stops right here. 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.399 And so our daughters, you know, when we started coming 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.440 to elevation, they were like in single digits. And now Katherine, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.600 she graduated from Pepperdine last May. 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:51.760 I don't know if you know where that is. 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.040 Yes, she was suffering for Jesus at Malibu Beach for 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:57.120 the last four years. She was like, here, I am Lord, 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.440 send me so. And then she went to Archie Dinner 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.040 and did an internship with a church down there, which 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.800 was fantastic. And now she's back working with us. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.079 At A twenty one. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.840 And then our Sophia is studying comparative literature in Paris, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:15.200 and I know I called her. She's like, Mummy, I 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.000 can't talk to you right now. I'm just watching the 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.840 sunset over Notre Dame eating a chocolate croissant, to which 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:24.520 I replied, sweetheart, if you want to watch that same 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.079 sunset next semester with your fees paid, you will talk 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.600 to your mother right now. That's actually what you're going 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:32.239 to be doing. 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:37.960 There's nothing else. Don't choke on your croissant. But anyway, and. 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.000 This is the year that. 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:41.800 I turn sixty. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:46.400 So I am so excited, and I have to tell 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.600 you all that I am celebrating every day. There is 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.200 no way I'm waiting till September. 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:52.520 I figure, if you'd live this. 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.760 Long and you're not dead, you are celebrating for three 0:03:55.840 --> 0:04:00.160 hundred and sixty five days. That's what I'm doing. So 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.680 I'm telling you all because I love gifts, feel free 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.800 all year, and so I'm also doing. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.000 Sixty things I've never. 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:09.520 Done before because I want to make sure. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:10.080 We finish strong. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.680 We need a generation of young people that can see 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.800 that the longer you walk with Jesus. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:15.600 The better that it gets. 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.280 I'm telling you I want to run my race and 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.800 finish my course. I love being twenty, and I love 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.840 being thirty, and I love being forty. 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:23.839 And I love being in my fifties. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.760 But there is nothing like your sixth decade that is 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:27.280 the best thing. 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:30.559 So you just wait. It gets better and better and better. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:32.880 That's is I mean, how could you fix your eyes 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.440 on Jesus for over four decades and not grow more 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.760 in love or grace or peace, or goodness or kindness. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.640 You know, some people like they look like just a 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:43.120 whole lot. 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.120 I don't know, more depressed after forty years. I'm like, honey, 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:48.920 you could not have fixed your eyes on Jesus and then. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:49.720 Up like that. 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:51.640 Some people, you know, I have been in the wave 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:53.960 for fifty years. I'm like, get out of the way anyway. 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.920 So I'm just like I told my daughters, I'm going. 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.560 To be super Granny for Jesus's I'm going to be 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.520 like kay, he said, I'm eighty five, and I'm as 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.640 strong now as I was then. Now give me this mountain. 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.920 That's my inheritance. I'm going in. 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.440 To take it. So it just gets better. You young ones, 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.039 you don't even know. You don't even know yet. What 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:15.039 do I tell you all that for? 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.880 Because I'm doing sixty things I've never done, and that 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:20.800 could be anything. It could be, like you know, really 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:24.359 big things, really little things. And you know, so I 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.960 live in California and we that is a home of 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:28.640 in and out. 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:30.559 I don't know, do you have in and out? Yes? 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:32.839 Okay, And they're going to be serving that at the 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.839 marriage Supper of the Lamb in case anybody was not sure. 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.800 And so I thought, after like three decades of going 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:43.040 to Texas, I thought, Okay, this is my sixtieth year. 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:44.880 I'm going to do things I've never done. So I 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:46.520 tried what a burger? 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.279 That was a once I'm done, now I'm moving on too, 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.800 they was. And then I'd never seen the Northern lights. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.799 So Nick took me to Alaska to see the Northern 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.360 Lights and stain and Igloo, and I thought, next time 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.680 we want to go to an igloo, you can go byself. Okay, 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.960 So it was awesome, but we also did that, and 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:07.760 I got to tell you to give some of you 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:09.000 some excitement. 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:09.039 To keep going. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.240 I've been almost four decades in full time vocational ministry, 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.920 and the Lord's allowed us to do lots of things, 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:16.640 but I did get I just want to tell you 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:17.800 because I did get a. 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:18.839 First which for me. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.120 You know, I've written twelve books and done a lot 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:22.680 of ministry in nearly four decades. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.600 But last week, The Faith to. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.680 Flourish came out and it was the first time I 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:28.200 got a New York Times bestseller? 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:29.880 How is that the first time? 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.000 So I'm telling you that because life does not stop 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.640 when you're sixty. There's a whole lot of first. 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.919 Ahead of you. And you know, I just truly believe. 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:41.920 That it is the will of God, that the body 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.640 of Christ begins to flourish again. And you know, we 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.880 dive deep into the life of the olive tree, because 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.320 I was reading some fifty two, verse eight, and David 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.479 in the midst of his darkest hour, there was so 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.599 much adversity. Was Saul was chasing him to kill him, 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:02.520 Doe Egg was after him. There was so much betrayal 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.680 and lies and slander and gossip and darkness. And he 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.719 was in fear of his physical life. And yet in 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.040 the midst of it, he said, but I am like 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:16.559 a green olive tree flourishing in the House of God. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.840 And he was speaking of his deliverance and his state 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.840 regardless of his external circumstances. 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:23.880 And I was standing. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.120 We have an a twenty one office in Athens in Greece, 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:28.880 and I was taking a team there. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.320 We went up to the top of the Acropolis. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.880 To see the Parthenon, and it's barren, and it's arid, 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.960 and it's dry and everything. It was in the middle 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.120 of the There had been great fires in Athens. There 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.400 was a great heat wave, and there was no other 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.440 trees that were alive. There was nothing, there was no vegetation, 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:48.560 and there was this one and if you go up 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:51.360 to the parthenon, you'll see it, this sacred olive tree. 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.880 And here in the midst of barrenness, here in the 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.480 midst of a place where nothing else is growing, there 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.600 is this green olive tree whose root system goes deep, 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:07.000 that is flourishing and thriving and producing fruit and producing 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.000 an ecosystem and keeping other things alive and giving them 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.040 shelter and producing oil. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:14.400 And I sat there, and I. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.240 Went to eight countries, went to visit olive farms on 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.320 eight different countries, talk to the owners of olive farms 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:20.880 to see. 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:22.640 I have nerded out so much. 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.160 I know more about olive trees, olive oil, olive branches, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.480 and olives than you would ever want. But I'm Greek, 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.440 and so if you've seen my big fact Greek wedding, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:31.400 that is my big fact Greek life. You had milk 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.719 in your baby bottle. I had olive oil. And so 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.400 the issue is out of that that an olive tree 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.680 grows where nothing else grows and continues to breed life. 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:41.960 And in scripture there are over. 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.439 Two hundred references to olive trees, olive oil, olive branches. 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.320 And I think in this hour where our world is 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.840 so chaotic, it's so full of division, it's so full 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.120 of fear, it's so full of darkness and economic instability, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.400 and political instability, and moral instability and sociological instability. We 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.880 the Church of Jesus Christ to be like a green 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:05.080 olive tree, flourishing and producing life, and it will be 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:09.160 one of the greatest witnesses to our generation if we 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:13.040 would dare do that. So I was excited about writing 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.640 that message, and I'm believing to equip us to do it. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.320 And I also want to say thank you to every 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.120 one of you because Elevation Church is such a key 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:26.480 partner church right from day one of a twenty one. 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.840 And I just want to testify because so many of you, 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.520 especially during Love Week, you are involved in packing packages 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.600 at our We've got an office here in Charlotte, and 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.080 so many of so much of what you pack goes 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.720 to survivors, Like we go out with law enforcement when 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.760 there are raids done and when there are operations done, 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:50.440 and sometimes we're the first port of contact with victims 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.400 and survivors. And because of your giving and because of 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:57.920 your generosity, we are able to give packs that bring 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:00.760 dignity to the women and the children and writing those 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.600 moments of crisis. But I do want to tell you 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.200 because there's a case that we've been working on for 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.320 nine years. This is how long it takes. Nine years. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.160 And last week the guy from Charlotte that had trafficked 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.800 multiple women across fifty one cities, fifteen states, we put 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:21.160 him away for thirty five years. How is that right here? 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:23.400 It's Charlotte, North Carolina. 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.360 So that is what you're giving is doing. And so 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:28.680 I am so so grateful. 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.040 I could keep you here and tell you story after story, 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.920 but I told you we've been married thirty years in March. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:38.640 And Nick and I, I mean he's from an English 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.640 Irish background. I'm from a Greek background, so I'm demonstrative 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.720 in every way. My inside voice is my outside voice, 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.679 is my every voice. And Nick is like Christine, I 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.200 am excited in worship. My big toe is moving in 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:54.320 my shoe, you know so. 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:56.960 And I'm like in orbit, like who am I on? 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.400 Like I nearly was up there through the sky today. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:04.160 So but I'm also meticulous, he would say, bought aline OCD. 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:05.880 Anyway, I'm very meticulous. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.280 And we have a mantra in our house since my 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:10.319 girls were like. 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:12.280 Came in Utero. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.120 We had a mantra and we would say, and I 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:21.240 would say, girls, there is a place for everything, and 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.439 everything has a place. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.040 See, you're just like me. 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.560 But Nick Nick is of the opinion that there are 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.080 many potential places for every one thing. 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:34.719 And let me just. 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.760 Say that over thirty years there have been some not many, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:44.680 for frequent times of intense fellowship over which one of 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.800 the many places nixt keys may have been in. And 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.280 if we just put them in the one place we 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:53.280 would have avoided, there would have been much more fruit 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:54.240 of the spirit. 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:55.199 In our household. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:57.960 He believes that the Lord sent him into my life 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:02.400 for sanctification, for an additional lay of sanctification. But I 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.840 always think it's really good if we just put things 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:08.680 in their place. I mean, it takes as much effort 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:10.760 to put in the right place as the wrong place. 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.520 And anyway, I'm gonna not help a lot of marriages 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.760 right now, so we're not gonna I'm watching Nudging Happening 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.920 and heads movie. But I do have to say that 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.760 after almost four decades of serving Jesus, it is nice 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:30.160 when God agrees with you. And so in my quiet time, 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.120 when I came across First Corinthians chapter twelve. I needed 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.640 to take it to Nick to show him that God and. 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.880 I were in the same same place. 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.640 We were on the same page when it comes to 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.240 the fact that there is a place for everything, and 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:50.080 I had to dig into the nineteen eighty four NIV version. 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.920 Today we have come to real church here at elevation 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.800 to pull out First Corinthians Chapter twelve, Verses twelve to 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.280 twenty seven. I'm going to read this to you. This 0:12:58.320 --> 0:12:59.840 is the word of the Lord. The body is a 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.640 in it. Though it is made up of many parts, 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.760 and though all its parts are many, they form one body. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:12.840 So it is with Christ. For we are sorry. For 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.200 we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.520 whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all. 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:23.360 Given the one spirit to drink. Now, the body is 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:27.640 not made up of one part, but of many. 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.400 If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.240 I do not belong to the body, it would not, 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:35.480 for that reason cease to. 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.200 Be part of the body. And if the ear should say, 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:39.480 because I am not an eye, I. 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.040 Do not belong to the body, it would not, for 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.360 that reason cease to be part of the body. If 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.840 the whole body were an eye, where would the sense 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.480 of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.880 where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:01.320 God has arranged the parts of the body, every one 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:03.839 of them, just as he wanted. 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.280 Them to be. If they were all one. 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.000 Part, where would the body be as it is? 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.240 There are many parts but one body. 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.320 The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:16.000 and the head cannot say to. 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:17.520 The feet, I don't need you. 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.400 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:25.480 to be weaker are indispensable. And the parts we think 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.160 are less honorable we treat. 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.840 With special honor. And the parts that. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:34.280 Are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:34.960 parts need. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:35.720 No special treatment. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.040 But God has combined the members of the body and 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.880 has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.520 so that there should be no division in the body, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.000 but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:54.160 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.840 one part is on it, every part rejoices with it. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.680 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of. 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.960 You is a part of it. 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:08.600 I love this portion of Scripture, Paul was writing to 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:13.600 the church in Karnth who was incredibly divided, especially in 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.800 the way that they were ranking the value of spiritual gifts. 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:23.480 And so the fact is that they were thinking. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.760 That the more visible gifts and that they were the 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.320 more important gifts, the more spectacular, especially when it came 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.520 to the charismatic gifts of they have to be the 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.280 more important gifts. So what that was causing was division 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.880 and hierarchy. And yet God had set every part of 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.480 the body in place just as he saw fit. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.520 He has a place for every single part. There's no hierarchy. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.960 It doesn't rank as important because there's only one body 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:55.720 in dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and there's 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:58.400 only one head on this body, and his name is 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.960 King Jesus. He is the head of his body, and 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:07.440 every other part, every other part, has a very important 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.240 place to play in the Body of Christ. Now, what 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:17.280 happens is in our culture that so elevates visibility and 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:23.080 confuses prominence and visibility with significance, we end up having 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.520 a problem in the church because culture says if you 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.640 have more followers, you're more important, If you're a greater 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.400 celebrity and more people know your name. Somehow you are 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.520 more important or you have greater influence, so you are 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:40.160 more important. That's not how the body works. Just because 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.080 someone you today you see me here on this platform, 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.920 in the eyes of God and in the Church. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.800 Of God, and in the Body of Christ, I am 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:49.480 no more. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:53.360 Important than any other part of the body, because God 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:58.080 sets every member in place in his body. 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:00.120 It's actually his body. 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.280 But we can bring into our commitment to the Lord 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:06.600 the same. 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:08.120 Thinking that the world has. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:16.880 Are we confuse visibility with significance, We confuse reach and 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:17.840 being known. 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.720 With significance to God. But here in. 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.560 This passage, Pall says, there's not one part that's dispensable. 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.280 There's not one single part of the Body of Christ 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.879 that is not an important part and doesn't have a 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.160 place in the body. Just because you can't see them 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.560 doesn't mean that they are in any way of any 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:43.520 less value. Now, the fact is, for you see me here, 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.880 you see the worship team here, Pastor Jonathan. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:46.200 Today. 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.840 But before we even woke up this morning, there was 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:53.840 people that were getting up and praying for all of 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.280 our locations, for our EPAM, for all of our services. 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.879 People that nobody even has ever seen. 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:04.040 You don't know their names. There are people working in. 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:08.120 The parking lot that are getting ready, that are directing traffic. 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.960 There are people right now with our children teaching them 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.159 about the importance of the Word of God. People that 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.640 are teaching our teenagers. There are people that are working 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.680 the sound and the light, and people that are working 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.720 the scriptures going up on screen or making sure that there. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.040 Is connection for if you. 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.800 Can't see any of them. But let me just say, 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:33.640 if this microphone went off, we. 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:34.760 Would all suffer. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.760 If one part suffers, everyone suffers. If there was no 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.040 one to turn the lights on, if there was no 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.199 one that was praying, if there was no one that 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.760 was serving our children, or our kids or in the 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.280 parking lot, then. 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:50.160 We would all suffer. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.399 But what happens is we've learned to think that the 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.639 only thing that matters in the body is the prominent positions, 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.679 and somehow that prominence is more significant to God. But 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.560 God says, it's my body, and I set every member 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:11.720 in place in my body. God sets the members in place. Now, 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:15.439 you know, it's so interesting, and I don't think we 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.160 understand really the value of what it means that if 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.520 one part suffers, every part suffers. A few years ago, 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.600 you know, really, when we moved to America, I went 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.000 skiing foremost the first time in my life. What had 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.720 happened is I'm from a Greek background, and Josh, you 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.760 have to understand that Greeks are fatalist. By that, I 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.719 mean it does not matter how bad things are, they 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.679 can always get worse with a Greek family. And so 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:40.920 I grew up in a Greek home where my mother 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:42.280 would always say whose dinner? 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:43.840 We speak? 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.040 Greek is my first language, and we have windecks in 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:47.199 every room of the house, and so. 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.280 She go, Who's dinner? 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.360 You can't go skiing because if. 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:54.960 You go skiing, you'll die. 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.000 There was no possibility you could go skiing and ski 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.119 It was like ski equals death. So when we finally 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.520 moved to America, I felt like I. 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:05.840 Was a fourteen hour plane ride away from. 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.760 My Greek mother. I know, I was forty five, but 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.040 I was still scared of her. So it was like, Okay, 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.280 I can now do what I want finally, And so 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:17.320 these five families from Louisiana invited us to go skiing 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:21.359 in Colorado. Now this was during the winter Olympics, and 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:23.600 I know I'm from Australia, so I could surf. I 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.119 thought surfing and skiing were the same thing. They're not, 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.560 in case you're wondering, and so I'm thinking this is 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:31.560 going to be easy. So what I would do Church 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.840 is I would watch the Winter Olympics at night like 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.119 we just have, and then I would get up in 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.920 the morning and think, I am representing Australia. I am 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:44.640 representing Australia. 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:46.600 The fact that I didn't know what I was doing 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.160 was incidental. So you know, all the guys would be on. 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.760 These like double black diamond suicide runs and I would 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:55.679 have to go to the green slopes with the two 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:57.879 year olds that were just learning how to ski. So 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.480 there was all the two year olds and Christine. Well, 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:02.520 this one day I said to my husband, I go, Dick, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:03.760 I want you to. 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:06.080 Come with me and the guys. We had this great run. 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.879 And so you know, he'd by then had been married 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:10.920 for more than a minute. And any man that's been 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:13.040 married for more than a minute knows that if your 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.200 wife ever asks you to do anything like would you 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:18.520 want to go on the black double diamond slaps with 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:20.760 your friends or come on the green flat slaps with 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:22.520 me and the two year olds. If you kind of 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.159 wanted any action that night, you would come to the 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:27.480 thing with your wife. I'm just putting it out there 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:32.360 in the atmosphere. So married, I did say, married. 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:37.120 And so and so Nick came with me, and I. 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.719 Go to him, Babe, if you are with the guys 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:45.280 right now, you wouldn't be having any more fun, would you, 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:46.200 one would think. 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:48.359 But my husband, being. 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.680 A man of integrity, not only said. 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:53.520 Yes, this is what he said. He goes, Babe, if 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:55.639 I was with the guys right now, I. 0:21:55.640 --> 0:22:01.040 Would be having much more, much more fun. Okay, Now, 0:22:01.040 --> 0:22:03.199 that is like putting a red rag in front of 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:03.560 a bull. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:05.200 So I went. 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:08.719 I looked and there was like this blue run just 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:12.600 over there. So I turned my skis down famous last words. 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:16.359 I look over my shoulder and I say to him, well, sweetheart, 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:18.720 eat my snow. 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.199 And off I go. Now Church, I knew I was 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:24.560 in serious trouble. 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.439 About twenty seconds later on my second summersault that was 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:29.200 not planned. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:30.320 That was not planned. 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.920 Once ski went flying and then on my right leg, 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.600 I heard the loudest pop pop pop you're there that 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:41.560 I've heard, and I snapped my ACL, tore my MCL, 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:44.000 tore my meniscus, fractured my nee. 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:45.359 It was or I was. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.840 Lying there, I was like I couldn't move, knick kat 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:49.879 to call the ski patrol. 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:51.800 You know, when they put you like in that coffin and. 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.040 Take you down the mountain and you go down. 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:54.679 That was me. 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:58.320 And I do need to tell you this because I'm Greek. 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:01.400 I would leave the house all of my. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.960 Years that I lived at My mother would go, kose dinner, are. 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:06.920 You wearing good, new, clean underwear? 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:12.439 To wish I would say, Mum, why because cause dinner. 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:15.480 If you have an accident and you end up in 0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:16.359 the back of. 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:20.920 An ambulance, it's important that you've got good underwear. Anyone 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:28.000 else's mother elevation, you are my people. And so anyway, 0:23:29.240 --> 0:23:31.359 you know, for the sake of Sunday morning decorum, I 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:33.240 won't go into detail, but all I'm going to say 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.679 to you is, as they were elevating me and putting 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:38.879 me into the ambulance, I'm just going to say this. 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:40.880 My mother was right. 0:23:41.240 --> 0:23:43.920 Anyway, So in the festival of that. 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:47.239 I was. 0:23:47.560 --> 0:23:50.439 I ended up having to have a hamstring graft, and 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:54.879 you know, had to go through major, major rehab, and 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:56.159 you know I wanted. 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:57.080 To relive that this morning. 0:23:57.119 --> 0:23:59.159 So I've got my friend here, who's going to come 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.159 and show you how I had to walk around for 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:03.040 quite a while. 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.080 Look at this, let's see how you go? 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:11.800 Oh yes, look at this? Come on, is this not 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:14.800 just skillful? I want you to come and stand over 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:15.439 here with me. 0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:16.320 You are so. 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:21.240 Tall and the crutches are the wrong size, but that's okay. Look, 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:24.120 these crutches are right for me, not a six foot 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:25.000 seven giant. 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:25.960 Okay, there we go. 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:30.360 But this is what happened in this knee I had, 0:24:30.680 --> 0:24:36.760 and you have an ACL. Now, before my accident, I 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:42.119 didn't even know if I had an abcdefg hi j I. 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:44.760 I didn't even know that I had an ACL or 0:24:44.920 --> 0:24:48.439 x y Z. An ACL is a liquament that it 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:51.200 is smaller than this little finger. 0:24:51.119 --> 0:24:52.440 Tucked in at the back of your knee. 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:54.440 I think we've got a photo of it that you're 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:55.679 going to see right now. 0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:58.439 See that. I hope you don't get nauseous. 0:24:58.520 --> 0:25:00.480 See that that ACL tucked in right there. 0:25:01.240 --> 0:25:04.280 I snapped that thing. And when I snapped it, I 0:25:04.400 --> 0:25:04.840 was in the. 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:06.480 Most excruciating pain. 0:25:07.320 --> 0:25:11.399 I could barely function for weeks. I couldn't think straight 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:12.680 the pain was so great. 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:17.160 And then when I had my surgery, I had. 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:19.280 To walk around and for a long time. 0:25:19.320 --> 0:25:23.919 With embrace because this part of my body could not 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:28.000 bear the weight. So this part of the body had 0:25:28.040 --> 0:25:32.199 to overcompensate for what this for One small ligament that 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:37.359 had snapped, one small ligament that had been displaced, a 0:25:37.480 --> 0:25:41.600 ligament that I did not even know existed in my 0:25:41.800 --> 0:25:45.680 body because that did not embrace its place and it 0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:50.159 became displaced. It crippled and paralyzed the functioning of my 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:51.159 entire body. 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:52.440 Thanks Matte. 0:25:53.040 --> 0:25:55.280 And what happens in church, we think, well. 0:25:55.160 --> 0:25:56.119 It doesn't really matter. 0:25:56.200 --> 0:25:58.720 If I'm not up in front, you can even go 0:25:58.760 --> 0:25:59.280 down the stairs. 0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:01.760 How's that you are? Allegend? He's like, okay, now I'm limping. 0:26:02.160 --> 0:26:05.280 We think doesn't really matter. And is teaching the kids 0:26:05.320 --> 0:26:08.720 really important? He's parking the cars really important? He is 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:11.760 working in production really important? Well, nobody will ever see me, 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:15.400 and it doesn't matter. The prescripture says, it's the unseen 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:19.159 parts that often hold the whole thing together. And just 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:22.200 because you don't know they're there, it doesn't mean that God. 0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:25.680 Doesn't that acl. 0:26:26.920 --> 0:26:30.600 I ended up having to have a hamstring graft because 0:26:30.920 --> 0:26:33.439 I am so grateful when the doctor went in to 0:26:33.440 --> 0:26:37.480 find my hamstring that my hamstring didn't say it or 0:26:37.560 --> 0:26:38.160 my hamstring. 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:40.879 I'm glad it was there. I'm glad that it didn't. 0:26:40.600 --> 0:26:42.080 Decide the week before. I don't want to be a 0:26:42.080 --> 0:26:42.920 hamstring anymore. 0:26:44.440 --> 0:26:47.040 I don't like the hamstring. I don't get any attention. 0:26:48.600 --> 0:26:50.600 I mean it's I want to be a mouth. 0:26:52.480 --> 0:26:54.560 I mean Christine and the mouth that's what gets all 0:26:54.560 --> 0:26:55.080 the attention. 0:26:55.600 --> 0:26:59.960 I'm just this overlooked hamstring. I'm just taken for Graham 0:27:00.320 --> 0:27:04.840 as a hamstring. Nobody recognized my value as a hamstring. 0:27:06.240 --> 0:27:11.720 I'm so glad that my hamstring was in place, because 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:12.159 every now and. 0:27:12.160 --> 0:27:14.680 Again a transplant has to happen. But when you try 0:27:14.720 --> 0:27:17.520 to force that transplant because you don't like your place, 0:27:17.800 --> 0:27:20.639 then sometimes you can be rejected by the body in 0:27:20.760 --> 0:27:22.880 that part of the transplant. And we've got a whole 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:24.800 lot of people running around in the body of Christ. 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:25.960 Just transplanting themselves. 0:27:26.080 --> 0:27:29.440 But just like a physical body doesn't expect, doesn't accept 0:27:29.480 --> 0:27:32.359 every organ as a transplant, or every muscle or every 0:27:32.440 --> 0:27:36.680 sign you in order to be able to be transplanted properly. 0:27:36.680 --> 0:27:39.440 There's an order. There's an order. 0:27:40.840 --> 0:27:43.679 The Church is not the NFL. It's not like we 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:49.040 have free agents. God sets every member in place, and 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:51.960 if God wants to transplant, then then that the body 0:27:52.000 --> 0:27:56.960 will take the transplant. But I'm so glad that my 0:27:57.320 --> 0:27:59.520 hamstring was in place. But you and I are living 0:27:59.520 --> 0:28:01.919 in a culture where we value a position over a place, 0:28:02.160 --> 0:28:04.639 and so many people have sacrificed their destiny on the 0:28:04.640 --> 0:28:07.280 altar of a position they wanted because they wouldn't embrace 0:28:07.280 --> 0:28:09.199 the place that God had for them. 0:28:09.600 --> 0:28:10.720 So many of us. 0:28:12.280 --> 0:28:15.679 Because in our culture, visibility and position and title and 0:28:15.800 --> 0:28:18.560 hierarchy and the last like, I've got a body. There 0:28:18.640 --> 0:28:20.879 is nothing more sacred than the Holy body of the 0:28:20.880 --> 0:28:21.959 Lord Jesus Christ. 0:28:22.920 --> 0:28:25.320 And we are part of that body. And he sets 0:28:25.400 --> 0:28:29.280 us in place. Does that not mean at some point 0:28:29.280 --> 0:28:32.359 he might transplant us. Of course, it's his body. 0:28:33.800 --> 0:28:37.679 But when we start thinking were like free agents, and 0:28:37.720 --> 0:28:40.320 I could just go I don't want to be an elbow. 0:28:40.360 --> 0:28:43.200 I don't like an elber because the knee gets all 0:28:43.200 --> 0:28:47.320 the attention. And Paul goes through the list because how 0:28:47.400 --> 0:28:50.520 ridiculous that you would compare this part to that part. 0:28:51.960 --> 0:28:54.200 I think we should just be grateful that God has 0:28:54.200 --> 0:28:55.360 brought us into his body. 0:28:55.640 --> 0:28:56.800 I want to care if I. 0:28:56.840 --> 0:28:59.000 Was an ACL and MCL, if. 0:28:58.880 --> 0:29:01.640 I was a sign, you were a tissue or a muscle. 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:04.640 Thank God that I am saved and I've been grafted 0:29:04.680 --> 0:29:07.680 into the body of Christ and i have an eternity 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:10.959 with Jesus. I'm just grateful to be part of the body. 0:29:11.160 --> 0:29:13.920 I'm just grateful to be any part of the body 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:14.320 of Christ. 0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:20.560 When was the last time you thanked God the miracle 0:29:20.600 --> 0:29:21.640 that we are in his body. 0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:25.320 There's only one head. If we understood that, we'd all 0:29:25.360 --> 0:29:28.880 embrace our place elevation. 0:29:29.080 --> 0:29:31.720 You are one of the most potent Apostolic churches on 0:29:31.800 --> 0:29:32.520 the earth right now. 0:29:32.560 --> 0:29:35.920 Imagine how much more powerful you'd be if every single 0:29:36.000 --> 0:29:38.120 person embrace their place. 0:29:39.360 --> 0:29:41.120 Every single person said, I don't care if I'm an 0:29:41.120 --> 0:29:42.320 ACL or an MCL. 0:29:42.600 --> 0:29:44.320 I'm gonna hold up my part of the body. 0:29:44.720 --> 0:29:47.600 I'm gonna take my place in all of our locations, 0:29:47.600 --> 0:29:48.320 our epham. 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:49.880 I'm gonna embrace my place. 0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:52.560 Every time you tithe, every time you give, every time 0:29:52.600 --> 0:29:53.800 you serve, you. 0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:58.720 Are embracing your place. Some people go, well, okay, Christiana, 0:29:58.960 --> 0:30:00.800 I've got these dreams in my heart. What about all 0:30:00.800 --> 0:30:01.360 these things? 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:04.120 Well, this is what I've discovered after almost four decades 0:30:04.160 --> 0:30:04.959 of serving Jesus. 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:09.240 When God is looking to promote you to another position, 0:30:09.320 --> 0:30:10.280 he goes to a place. 0:30:11.400 --> 0:30:13.440 He goes to the place that you're supposed to. 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:16.000 Be to find you. 0:30:16.000 --> 0:30:18.080 You go, Christine, give me bible. I'll give you some Bible. 0:30:18.400 --> 0:30:22.360 David one Samuel sixteen. I want you to see verse one, 0:30:22.400 --> 0:30:24.000 and says the Lord said to Samuel, how long are 0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:26.120 you going to mourn for Saul since I've rejected him 0:30:26.240 --> 0:30:28.400 as king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go. 0:30:28.880 --> 0:30:32.400 I am sending you. See God does the sending. You 0:30:32.440 --> 0:30:34.680 don't have to market to yourself. When you've been marked 0:30:34.680 --> 0:30:39.400 by God, you don't have to market yourself. If God 0:30:39.480 --> 0:30:43.680 has assigned you, God will find you. You could be 0:30:43.720 --> 0:30:45.560 not even in this room right now and serving in 0:30:45.600 --> 0:30:46.320 the nursery. 0:30:46.400 --> 0:30:48.000 And if God's anointed you. 0:30:47.880 --> 0:30:51.000 To be the next Billy Graham to America, He'll find you. 0:30:51.440 --> 0:30:55.920 He'll find you. He says, I am sending you to 0:30:56.040 --> 0:31:00.719 Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself. Remember 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:01.560 this is god'svil. 0:31:02.880 --> 0:31:06.560 I've selected for myself a king from his sons. 0:31:06.640 --> 0:31:07.600 Let's go to verse six. 0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:12.120 It says in verse six, when they arrived, Samuel saw 0:31:12.200 --> 0:31:17.480 Eliab and said, certainly, the Lord's anointed one is here 0:31:17.520 --> 0:31:18.040 before him. 0:31:18.080 --> 0:31:18.200 Now. 0:31:18.200 --> 0:31:21.040 The reason he thought that is because Eliab looked a 0:31:21.040 --> 0:31:24.400 lot like Saul, head and shoulders above the rest, good looking. 0:31:24.520 --> 0:31:25.360 He was a warrior. 0:31:25.600 --> 0:31:28.840 And the prophet, I want you to catch this. The prophet, 0:31:30.080 --> 0:31:34.880 surely this is the Lord's anointed, because he saw Eliab 0:31:34.960 --> 0:31:37.560 and thought, that's what we do. We scroll through social media. 0:31:37.800 --> 0:31:39.719 We are surely that's who God's picked. 0:31:40.200 --> 0:31:43.800 Look at their followers. Man, they're blowing up. That's awesome. 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:48.400 Surely that's the Lord's anointed. And then I love what 0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:51.080 the Lord says in verse seven. But the Lord said 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:53.000 to Samuel. And thus he says to most of us, 0:31:53.560 --> 0:31:56.680 do not look at his appearance or his stature, because 0:31:56.720 --> 0:31:59.840 I have rejected him. Honey, doesn't matter how many likes 0:31:59.880 --> 0:32:02.320 you get. If God has rejected him. 0:32:03.400 --> 0:32:07.080 Humans do not see what the Lord sees. 0:32:08.040 --> 0:32:12.360 For humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees 0:32:12.400 --> 0:32:16.360 the heart. He goes on in verse eight and says, 0:32:16.440 --> 0:32:18.120 Jesse called Abinadab and. 0:32:18.040 --> 0:32:20.440 Presented him to Samuel. Oh Lord, the. 0:32:20.400 --> 0:32:25.400 Lord hasn't chosen this one either. Samuel said, So now 0:32:25.440 --> 0:32:28.000 the parade's going. Let's get out our TikTok and our 0:32:28.040 --> 0:32:31.160 Instagram and start going through verse nine, and we'll just 0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:31.760 keep going. 0:32:31.880 --> 0:32:33.560 Then Jesse presented Shama. 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:37.000 Here's the next one, next little celebrity Christian influencer. 0:32:37.120 --> 0:32:38.720 But Samuel said, the. 0:32:38.680 --> 0:32:42.600 Lord hasn't chosen this one either. You keep posting, Lord 0:32:42.640 --> 0:32:43.320 hasn't chosen. 0:32:43.440 --> 0:32:45.120 After Jesse presented. 0:32:44.880 --> 0:32:50.440 Seven of his sons great marketing campaign. Man, I'm going 0:32:50.560 --> 0:32:52.440 need to be in the right place so that the 0:32:52.520 --> 0:32:54.520 right person in leadership sees me, because that's how I'm 0:32:54.520 --> 0:32:56.680 going to get my promotion. A Man, if I'm serving 0:32:56.720 --> 0:32:58.760 down in the kids or I'm out in the parking lot, 0:32:58.760 --> 0:33:01.040 How's anyone going to see my gift? And I mean 0:33:01.040 --> 0:33:02.680 I want to go on tour with the band, how 0:33:02.720 --> 0:33:04.640 they going to see my gift? If I'm serving over 0:33:04.680 --> 0:33:06.480 in the kids, They're never going to see it. I'm 0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:09.560 never going to be discovered God, God created you. 0:33:09.640 --> 0:33:12.080 He doesn't have to discover you. He already knows where 0:33:12.120 --> 0:33:12.440 you are. 0:33:12.520 --> 0:33:15.160 You don't have to wait to be discovered by God. 0:33:15.480 --> 0:33:16.400 He created you. 0:33:17.240 --> 0:33:19.880 After Jesse presented seven of his sons to. 0:33:19.880 --> 0:33:23.240 Him just sounds like the world we live in. Samuel 0:33:23.280 --> 0:33:27.520 told you, Jesse, the Lord hasn't chosen any of these. 0:33:28.800 --> 0:33:32.640 Samuel asked him, are these all the sons you have? 0:33:33.920 --> 0:33:36.040 They're still the youngest. 0:33:36.720 --> 0:33:40.720 I am laughing because this is how King David first 0:33:40.720 --> 0:33:42.960 appears on the pages of scripture. 0:33:44.000 --> 0:33:45.960 No name the youngest. 0:33:47.560 --> 0:33:47.760 You know. 0:33:48.440 --> 0:33:51.240 Yeah, there's a guy working out in the parking lot. 0:33:52.440 --> 0:33:54.560 There's that person that's running the prayer team. There's someone 0:33:54.600 --> 0:33:57.320 that's running an e group that I don't ever really 0:33:57.320 --> 0:34:00.760 know their name. Just there's that that one. I think 0:34:00.760 --> 0:34:03.480 we got this person that like, man, they come every 0:34:03.560 --> 0:34:07.200 early on Sunday and they're like sweeping the foyer to 0:34:07.240 --> 0:34:08.320 make sure that it's clean. 0:34:08.360 --> 0:34:09.440 That there's that one. 0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:11.759 Don't really know if there's the one down there with 0:34:11.800 --> 0:34:14.720 the kids in the in you know, like the first grade. 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:16.479 Yes, there's that one. 0:34:17.920 --> 0:34:20.040 Not scrolling on TikTok to see who's the. 0:34:19.920 --> 0:34:22.160 Most prominent influential one. 0:34:22.239 --> 0:34:26.560 There's just that one, whoever that is on any of 0:34:26.600 --> 0:34:27.280 our campuses. 0:34:28.280 --> 0:34:29.520 There's that that one that's. 0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:32.440 Been just tithing for the last twenty years and just 0:34:32.480 --> 0:34:35.520 been giving. I don't know, I don't really know the 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:38.160 name the youngest, he answered, But right. 0:34:38.000 --> 0:34:40.200 Now he's doing the loser job. 0:34:42.000 --> 0:34:44.279 I mean, it wasn't even worth bringing up in the 0:34:44.320 --> 0:34:48.920 marketing campaign. I mean, he's just he's just just tending 0:34:48.960 --> 0:34:49.480 the sheep. 0:34:50.840 --> 0:34:53.759 He's actually being faithful, doing the last thing I told 0:34:53.840 --> 0:34:58.640 him to do. He's just down there with the kids, 0:34:58.760 --> 0:35:01.880 or with the youth, or the parking lot or somewhere 0:35:01.880 --> 0:35:04.040 back behind the sound. Is that you can't even see 0:35:04.080 --> 0:35:06.520 that's making this happening, or put the lights on or. 0:35:06.440 --> 0:35:09.520 Working the cameras, don't I don't know that's all they're doing. 0:35:10.760 --> 0:35:15.640 I mean then I'm like prominently on tour or holding 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:16.680 the microphone or anything. 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:19.959 I put those seven in front of you. He's like, no, no, no, 0:35:20.200 --> 0:35:24.160 he's just tending the sheep. And I love this, Samuel 0:35:24.160 --> 0:35:24.960 told Jesse. 0:35:25.280 --> 0:35:29.439 Said for him, because this is what happens when God 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:32.040 says the prophet can get it wrong some of you. 0:35:32.360 --> 0:35:33.640 But what happens if someone comes. 0:35:33.560 --> 0:35:35.880 And they prophesying, and I'm gonna be the next person 0:35:35.920 --> 0:35:37.440 and I'm gonna be the next campus pastor. 0:35:37.239 --> 0:35:40.560 And they don't see me, the prophet could actually get 0:35:40.560 --> 0:35:40.920 it wrong. 0:35:41.640 --> 0:35:42.960 To Eliot, we go surely you're it. 0:35:44.000 --> 0:35:48.080 The Father of the house can get it wrong. Jesse 0:35:48.160 --> 0:35:52.560 got it wrong, but God never gets it wrong. Sometimes 0:35:52.640 --> 0:35:54.240 we'll wonder if I do that and I start serving 0:35:54.280 --> 0:35:56.319 and someone overlooks me, and what about my gift and 0:35:56.320 --> 0:35:57.080 what about my talent? 0:35:57.239 --> 0:35:59.759 And I'm not gonna And it's like you got insurance. 0:36:00.400 --> 0:36:02.040 The prophet can get it wrong, the Father of the 0:36:02.040 --> 0:36:02.799 house can get it wrong. 0:36:03.040 --> 0:36:05.400 God won't get it wrong. And this is what I love. 0:36:05.440 --> 0:36:08.160 Sabbia told Jesse said for him, we won't sit down 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:11.200 to eat until he gets it. It makes me laugh 0:36:11.480 --> 0:36:13.640 because God will actually send the ones that tried to 0:36:13.719 --> 0:36:15.279 keep you out to go and get you to put 0:36:15.320 --> 0:36:16.080 you in position. 0:36:16.120 --> 0:36:17.759 Because that's the kind of thing that God does. 0:36:20.280 --> 0:36:24.560 You don't ever have to worry, So Jesse said for him. 0:36:24.719 --> 0:36:27.400 He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance that 0:36:27.480 --> 0:36:30.480 the Lord said anoint him for he is the one. 0:36:30.480 --> 0:36:31.000 Where was he? 0:36:31.480 --> 0:36:33.680 Oh, he was the one that this today was working 0:36:33.719 --> 0:36:35.600 in the parking lot. He was the one that today 0:36:35.760 --> 0:36:37.880 is working behind the lights that you can't see or 0:36:37.880 --> 0:36:39.440 the sound that you can't see, or is down there 0:36:39.480 --> 0:36:42.520 with our children right now teaching them. Jesus is Lord. 0:36:42.520 --> 0:36:44.719 The Bible is beautiful. God loves you. 0:36:44.920 --> 0:36:46.840 That's what You can't see them. You can see me, 0:36:46.920 --> 0:36:47.919 but you can't see them. 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:53.080 But then if the Lord's chosen them, he'll find them. 0:36:53.400 --> 0:36:57.480 Every acl every sign you, every muscle, every tissue is 0:36:57.520 --> 0:37:00.759 so critical nineteen nine point nine nine percent of the 0:37:00.760 --> 0:37:03.040 effectiveness of this church. You can't even see the people 0:37:03.080 --> 0:37:05.879 that are driving it. You can't even see the people 0:37:05.880 --> 0:37:10.319 that are driving it. Because it's God's body. And when 0:37:10.360 --> 0:37:13.719 we all embrace our place, you saw Him in embrace 0:37:14.000 --> 0:37:17.160 and crutches. If you could see a picture in the 0:37:17.200 --> 0:37:19.239 spirit of some of the. 0:37:19.280 --> 0:37:21.520 Church, it's like just oh making it. 0:37:21.719 --> 0:37:24.839 Maybe Sunday to Sunday, we're just barely get by. 0:37:24.960 --> 0:37:28.080 I know, it's so rough. The world's rough, and the 0:37:28.120 --> 0:37:28.719 Lord's like man. 0:37:28.760 --> 0:37:31.600 If that acl snap back into place and was willing 0:37:31.600 --> 0:37:33.960 to embrace its place full, the stability of the church 0:37:34.000 --> 0:37:36.920 would be greater, The strength of the church would be greater. 0:37:37.360 --> 0:37:38.920 The rhythm and the pattern and the. 0:37:39.000 --> 0:37:41.840 Running, and we could run faster, and we could run harder, 0:37:41.960 --> 0:37:44.480 and we could bring God greater glory on the earth 0:37:44.520 --> 0:37:47.120 if we all embraced our place. 0:37:48.600 --> 0:37:50.600 When I think of my whole life. 0:37:50.960 --> 0:37:53.120 To where by the grace of God, He's brought Nick 0:37:53.120 --> 0:37:56.919 and I today. I got saved in you know, when 0:37:56.960 --> 0:37:59.800 dinosaurs still roamed on the earth, you weren't even born 0:38:00.120 --> 0:38:00.920 to view an elevation. 0:38:02.160 --> 0:38:03.919 But I didn't know what to do. I just got saved. 0:38:03.960 --> 0:38:06.600 So I started serving in the youth ministry. I'd never 0:38:06.640 --> 0:38:09.000 prayed for youth. I never even thought I'm called to youth. 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:10.800 I came from a Greek Orthodox background. I did not 0:38:10.880 --> 0:38:13.840 even know what a Protestant church really was, let alone 0:38:14.080 --> 0:38:16.960 what a youth group was. But it was just like, okay, 0:38:17.280 --> 0:38:18.920 and go to the club and get drunk, or go 0:38:18.960 --> 0:38:20.680 to youth. Okay, I'll go to youth because at least 0:38:20.680 --> 0:38:21.480 I was stay straight. 0:38:22.360 --> 0:38:23.120 So I would go. 0:38:23.840 --> 0:38:25.759 And then they said there's going to be a church 0:38:25.800 --> 0:38:28.640 clean up day. Well, I had gotten saved, so I didn't. 0:38:28.680 --> 0:38:31.480 I didn't pray, I didn't fast. It was like, okay, 0:38:31.840 --> 0:38:32.640 I guess that's what. 0:38:32.560 --> 0:38:34.360 You do now you're a Christian. I said, Jesus, you 0:38:34.400 --> 0:38:35.040 can have all of me. 0:38:35.120 --> 0:38:37.200 I guess all of me means all of me, and 0:38:37.320 --> 0:38:41.120 so I wasn't thinking. And thank god, this was pre 0:38:41.200 --> 0:38:44.200 social media, so I wasn't scrolling through everybody else's life 0:38:44.280 --> 0:38:45.000 trying to tell. 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:47.120 God what I wanted to do with my life. This 0:38:47.360 --> 0:38:49.400 was old school where you got in. 0:38:49.440 --> 0:38:51.200 A prayer clauset and got on your knees and actually 0:38:51.239 --> 0:38:53.799 asked God what he wanted for your life. You weren't 0:38:53.840 --> 0:38:56.440 telling God what you wanted to do with your life. 0:38:56.719 --> 0:38:58.480 You were just glad that you were saved and not 0:38:58.560 --> 0:39:00.000 going to Hell, so you would do anything. 0:39:00.360 --> 0:39:02.239 So church clean up day you were like, thank you 0:39:02.280 --> 0:39:04.920 God that you would choose me. Well, I turned up 0:39:04.960 --> 0:39:07.319 to the church clean up day and nobody else from 0:39:07.320 --> 0:39:09.640 the youth ministry turned up. I tell everyone, this is 0:39:09.640 --> 0:39:11.880 how I've gotten to where I've gotten that God had 0:39:11.920 --> 0:39:15.400 no other options. It's like, well, you're a cane tag, 0:39:15.520 --> 0:39:16.719 have it go. I'm going to get a lot of 0:39:16.719 --> 0:39:17.759 glory because that's it. 0:39:17.760 --> 0:39:18.920 I've got no other options. 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:21.239 And when you start getting to sixty, there's a lot 0:39:21.320 --> 0:39:23.800 less hands that go up, and the Lord's like, well, 0:39:24.960 --> 0:39:27.359 I will be glorified because everyone will know it's not you. 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:29.080 But that's how it started. 0:39:29.280 --> 0:39:30.960 And this is the youth pastor was at the church 0:39:30.960 --> 0:39:33.400 clean up day. He said, you're Christine carry offlus, aren't you? 0:39:33.440 --> 0:39:35.719 That was my pre marriage name. And Nick thinks he 0:39:35.800 --> 0:39:39.120 saved me. And so it's like you're Christine carry Offlas 0:39:39.160 --> 0:39:41.200 and he goes, you're doing psychology, aren't you? And I 0:39:41.239 --> 0:39:44.160 was like doing English and economic history. So basically I 0:39:44.160 --> 0:39:46.359 can read Golden Books in counter ten, but. 0:39:46.400 --> 0:39:50.280 My miner was psychology. And he said, we're running. We've 0:39:50.440 --> 0:39:51.920 just got a grant for a youth center. 0:39:52.440 --> 0:39:54.680 This is nineteen eighty nine. I said, what's a youth center? 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:56.960 He said, I don't know, but I'm going on a 0:39:56.960 --> 0:39:59.359 missions trip for six weeks with a sea past us. 0:39:59.400 --> 0:40:01.840 So when I come back, you know, i'd like you 0:40:01.920 --> 0:40:02.680 to have worked. 0:40:02.440 --> 0:40:03.879 Out what we're going to do with the youth center. 0:40:03.880 --> 0:40:04.800 That was my call to ministry. 0:40:04.840 --> 0:40:05.200 That was it. 0:40:06.160 --> 0:40:08.960 And I hadn't prayed. I hadn't said where do I 0:40:09.000 --> 0:40:09.560 want to serve? 0:40:09.600 --> 0:40:10.240 What are my gifts? 0:40:10.239 --> 0:40:12.040 I'm going to do a strength find a test, and 0:40:12.080 --> 0:40:14.000 I'm going to do a disc profile, and I'm going 0:40:14.080 --> 0:40:15.960 to look at my love languages, and I'm going to 0:40:16.000 --> 0:40:16.640 have a look at wishes. 0:40:16.719 --> 0:40:19.200 And no, no, I was I was dead to self and. 0:40:19.200 --> 0:40:20.080 Alive to Christ. 0:40:20.320 --> 0:40:22.880 I thought I was denying myself, taking up my crust 0:40:22.960 --> 0:40:24.040 and following Jesus. 0:40:24.320 --> 0:40:26.759 I'm in his body. Yes, sir, what do you want 0:40:26.760 --> 0:40:29.920 me to do? Church cleanup day? Okay? And then from 0:40:29.960 --> 0:40:30.400 the church. 0:40:30.280 --> 0:40:34.759 Cleanup day, I suddenly am overseeing what became a very 0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:37.440 very influential youth center in Australia. 0:40:37.480 --> 0:40:39.200 It became a national youth center. 0:40:39.360 --> 0:40:42.360 I didn't know in nineteen ninety that God was preparing 0:40:42.400 --> 0:40:44.520 me for the thing he had prepared for me to 0:40:44.600 --> 0:40:48.040 run a global anti trafficking organization down twenty years later 0:40:48.360 --> 0:40:49.080 in the future. 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:50.520 See, if I didn't turn up to. 0:40:50.440 --> 0:40:53.359 The church cleanup day, I would never have gotten the job. 0:40:53.760 --> 0:40:56.520 Learning how to do government submissions, learning how to talk 0:40:56.560 --> 0:40:57.000 to law. 0:40:56.920 --> 0:40:59.080 Enforcement and government and schools and work everywhere. 0:40:59.120 --> 0:41:02.759 All the skills I learned in anonymity and obscurity when 0:41:02.760 --> 0:41:05.160 you didn't even know who I was, was preparing me 0:41:05.200 --> 0:41:08.040 to lead one of the largest anti trafficking organizations in 0:41:08.080 --> 0:41:14.239 the world way back then. And then people would like, 0:41:14.239 --> 0:41:16.440 you should have gone to another church because for seven 0:41:16.520 --> 0:41:18.920 years I never stood on a platform with a microphone 0:41:18.960 --> 0:41:19.319 and preaching. 0:41:19.320 --> 0:41:21.680 It would be certainly one of my a gift that 0:41:21.719 --> 0:41:22.560 the Lord's given me. 0:41:22.600 --> 0:41:25.600 But the fact was, thank God that I had leaders 0:41:25.640 --> 0:41:29.200 over me. They knew that understood that the gift that 0:41:29.320 --> 0:41:31.800 was on me would have destroyed me because my character 0:41:31.840 --> 0:41:36.400 could not have sustained me after ten years of sexual 0:41:36.440 --> 0:41:40.160 abuse and being abandoned at birth and being adopted out 0:41:40.280 --> 0:41:43.680 and broken. God had to heal me before he could 0:41:43.880 --> 0:41:47.440 actually put me at the forefront of anywhere else. 0:41:48.320 --> 0:41:49.360 Church is what did that? 0:41:51.239 --> 0:41:54.440 Because if the light that is on you is greater 0:41:54.560 --> 0:41:56.560 than the light of Christ that is within you, that 0:41:56.680 --> 0:42:03.440 light will destroy you. God cared too much about me 0:42:03.520 --> 0:42:07.479 and my future, my marriage, my children. Then to say 0:42:07.680 --> 0:42:10.399 it's ridiculously Imagine if I pulled Can you just put 0:42:10.400 --> 0:42:11.839 that picture of that acl up there? 0:42:13.120 --> 0:42:14.600 Imagine if. 0:42:16.520 --> 0:42:19.960 If we just stood here and applaud of that aclan. 0:42:20.000 --> 0:42:22.000 It looks weird, No, no, no, But I mean if 0:42:22.000 --> 0:42:25.560 I just put it up, disconnected it from the knee and. 0:42:25.600 --> 0:42:27.520 Just put it up, because that's what we do. I 0:42:27.600 --> 0:42:28.480 want my ligament. 0:42:29.040 --> 0:42:31.440 I mean, I'm gonna put a filter on it and 0:42:31.480 --> 0:42:33.920 crop it and edit it and post it because I 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:38.080 need you to applaud my sign, you, my muscle, my. 0:42:38.280 --> 0:42:42.319 I mean, we don't think, what are you smoking, But 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:43.440 that's what we've done in the body. 0:42:43.920 --> 0:42:47.440 Look at my gift. Look about the only value of the. 0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:49.359 Sign you or the muscle or the gift or the 0:42:49.400 --> 0:42:53.200 talent is truly only in relation to the purpose that 0:42:53.280 --> 0:42:54.640 it serves in the body. 0:42:54.840 --> 0:43:00.799 That is the value of it. We appart the care 0:43:03.840 --> 0:43:04.799 when you disconnected. 0:43:04.800 --> 0:43:06.920 And we've got so many people in the Body of 0:43:07.000 --> 0:43:10.680 Christ that are misplaced and displaced because they won't embrace 0:43:10.760 --> 0:43:16.480 their place. And if you just embraced your place, the 0:43:16.600 --> 0:43:19.759 joy and the fulfillment that would come every part of 0:43:19.800 --> 0:43:23.200 my life, whether it came through you know, my spiritual 0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:26.600 mother for three decades, Joyce Mayer, you know people, man, 0:43:26.640 --> 0:43:29.120 if I just had that hook up like Chris, I'm 0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:32.520 like I was a youth leader and then I was 0:43:32.719 --> 0:43:35.560 working at the youth center that was training me for 0:43:35.600 --> 0:43:37.759 twenty years time in the future. I didn't even know 0:43:38.320 --> 0:43:43.880 a twenty one and because I wasn't speaking here, the 0:43:43.920 --> 0:43:47.080 youth center work took me to schools all around Australia. 0:43:47.200 --> 0:43:50.839 That's where I learned to really communicate people. Go where 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:53.319 did you learn to bridge a honey? I went when 0:43:53.320 --> 0:43:56.560 nobody else wanted to go home. If you can hold. 0:43:56.280 --> 0:43:59.880 The attention of fifteen hundred Australian boys that are private boys, 0:44:00.640 --> 0:44:02.279 church is easy. 0:44:03.760 --> 0:44:04.360 But everyone's like. 0:44:04.320 --> 0:44:05.600 Your people could see I mean, if I could just 0:44:05.640 --> 0:44:07.480 get on the Christian conference, if I could just do this. 0:44:07.480 --> 0:44:10.040 If and I'm like, if you just embrace your place. 0:44:09.800 --> 0:44:12.880 In church and started serving, God will find you and 0:44:12.960 --> 0:44:15.160 God will elevate your promotion. Doesn't come from the north, 0:44:15.160 --> 0:44:17.920 southeast or west. It comes from God. And God opens 0:44:18.000 --> 0:44:21.000 doors that no man can shut. And God will. 0:44:20.920 --> 0:44:24.160 Place you where you need to be. 0:44:24.760 --> 0:44:27.440 And when God places you, you never have to fear 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:31.120 being replaced. I'm never looking over my shoulder. This is 0:44:31.120 --> 0:44:34.920 not like Hollywood. There is no next, Christine came, What does. 0:44:34.760 --> 0:44:36.920 That even mean? God doesn't do next, He doesn't you. 0:44:38.160 --> 0:44:41.040 There's only one. He only makes one of everyone. He says, 0:44:41.040 --> 0:44:42.520 behind I do a new thing. 0:44:42.960 --> 0:44:44.799 We're always looking for the next thing, which is a 0:44:44.840 --> 0:44:46.359 younger version of the same old thing. 0:44:46.400 --> 0:44:48.040 And God says, I'm not doing the same old thing. 0:44:48.080 --> 0:44:49.960 I'm doing your brand new thing. So there's a place 0:44:50.239 --> 0:44:51.720 for everyone in my body. 0:44:51.760 --> 0:44:55.120 There's a place for everyone in my body. 0:44:55.840 --> 0:44:59.600 Would you trust him enough to embrace your place? This 0:44:59.680 --> 0:45:05.080 is the I went from being teaching. 0:45:04.719 --> 0:45:08.400 In high schools and then my past or because it 0:45:08.520 --> 0:45:12.440 watched me for nearly a decade, goes Christine. 0:45:12.440 --> 0:45:14.240 Now I want you to lead the largest youth movement 0:45:14.640 --> 0:45:15.360 in Australias. 0:45:15.400 --> 0:45:17.720 I went from like high schools to twenty thousand people 0:45:17.880 --> 0:45:18.560 and people. 0:45:18.320 --> 0:45:20.560 Go, oh, where is she come from? 0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:23.920 I was like, David, and then like what an overnight success? 0:45:23.960 --> 0:45:29.600 I'm going it was a long night. But God was 0:45:29.640 --> 0:45:31.640 preparing me the whole time for what He prepared for me. 0:45:32.000 --> 0:45:36.560 And then because I was in that position, because God 0:45:36.600 --> 0:45:39.440 came and found me in anonymity, in obscurity at a 0:45:39.480 --> 0:45:42.360 church cleanup day, in the back of a youth center 0:45:42.400 --> 0:45:48.399 with teaching elta at risk young people in a high school, 0:45:49.000 --> 0:45:52.040 teaching and serving in church the whole time. And then 0:45:52.040 --> 0:45:55.400 He's like, Okay, I've got a woman coming from America 0:45:55.400 --> 0:45:57.279 that I didn't even know. We didn't even have Christian TV. 0:45:57.400 --> 0:46:01.279 Then there's the largest media ministry in the world. And 0:46:01.320 --> 0:46:03.080 because I was a woman, and it was like, okay, 0:46:03.120 --> 0:46:03.920 we need someone to go. 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:05.600 Pick her up. So I was her driver. 0:46:06.719 --> 0:46:09.120 I'm a youth leader and there's the largest ministry in 0:46:09.160 --> 0:46:11.120 the world and I drove her. 0:46:11.160 --> 0:46:13.000 Some people, well, I'm too good to drive. I'm a preacher. 0:46:13.040 --> 0:46:15.360 I speak to twenty thousand people. Why would I drive anybody? 0:46:15.719 --> 0:46:19.239 But when you embrace your place you don't value this 0:46:19.440 --> 0:46:22.200 anymore than you value the driving, because. 0:46:21.920 --> 0:46:24.399 God sets you in place. Well, who would have known 0:46:25.120 --> 0:46:26.720 that I would be driving. 0:46:26.640 --> 0:46:29.720 Joy Spire and the Commisa. I remember they said to me, Christine, 0:46:29.719 --> 0:46:31.719 Remember I'm a youth leader. You have to go pick 0:46:31.760 --> 0:46:33.400 her up at eight o'clock. 0:46:33.440 --> 0:46:35.399 I was so nervous, and I was a youth leader. 0:46:35.400 --> 0:46:37.280 I had no money, so I borrowed a friend's suit, 0:46:37.600 --> 0:46:40.600 and then I went and stood in the hallway outside 0:46:40.640 --> 0:46:42.360 her room at the hotel at five point thirty in 0:46:42.360 --> 0:46:44.359 the morning because I didn't want to be late. And 0:46:44.400 --> 0:46:46.560 then she opens a door at six point thirty because 0:46:46.560 --> 0:46:49.400 her breakfast came, and she looked, and I looked the 0:46:49.400 --> 0:46:51.600 other way, like, you know, as if naturally I'm just 0:46:51.640 --> 0:46:54.839 standing in a hall in a suit borrowed. And so 0:46:54.960 --> 0:46:57.000 then she opens the door again at seven point thirty 0:46:57.200 --> 0:46:59.200 to put the trade back out, and Nerd is still 0:46:59.239 --> 0:47:01.319 standing here, and I didn't even know what She goes 0:47:01.600 --> 0:47:04.840 Are you here for me? Honestly, church I was born aline, 0:47:04.840 --> 0:47:07.719 thinking maybe I could lie and say no, But then 0:47:07.760 --> 0:47:08.439 I thought she's going. 0:47:08.360 --> 0:47:10.719 To get in my car, so she's gonna know. So 0:47:10.800 --> 0:47:13.120 I didn't even know what to do. So I went, yeah, 0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:16.160 I didn't want to be late, and she goes, come in. 0:47:16.719 --> 0:47:18.759 Then I'm dying, going my past is going to kill 0:47:18.760 --> 0:47:20.840 me because I'm going into the room of the guest speaker. 0:47:21.280 --> 0:47:23.440 And then this is my first conversation. 0:47:23.640 --> 0:47:25.480 She'd tell you when she comes in next time, she'll 0:47:25.480 --> 0:47:27.960 tell you she before back then, she was like, so 0:47:28.080 --> 0:47:30.680 into Saint John's and look at me, I'm like as plain. 0:47:30.520 --> 0:47:32.560 As and she opens the cupboard. 0:47:32.400 --> 0:47:35.320 And she goes, Christy shows me all her jackets, Christine. 0:47:35.600 --> 0:47:38.359 The more it sparkles, the more I like it. 0:47:38.440 --> 0:47:39.680 Anyway, So that was that. 0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:43.840 And then who would have known that that woman would 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:48.040 bother me? That I found out that I was adopted 0:47:48.120 --> 0:47:50.360 and don't know my biological mother and after all the 0:47:50.560 --> 0:47:53.160 abuse and you know her story and all of the 0:47:53.239 --> 0:47:56.600 rejection and the abandonment, and you know, last year we 0:47:56.640 --> 0:47:59.080 found out Joyce was born the exact same year as 0:47:59.080 --> 0:48:02.000 my biological mother. Wouldn't that just be like God to 0:48:02.120 --> 0:48:04.799 do things full circle? And she has mothered us and 0:48:04.840 --> 0:48:07.840 because of that, our marriage has been so strong and 0:48:07.880 --> 0:48:10.880 our kids. Because of what she went through, she was 0:48:10.960 --> 0:48:13.560 able to prepare the way for me, and a lot 0:48:13.600 --> 0:48:15.239 of why I'm still here by the grace of God 0:48:15.239 --> 0:48:17.799 at sixties, because she's still here at eighty three and 0:48:17.960 --> 0:48:23.640 still honoring God and still serving God. And I was 0:48:23.680 --> 0:48:27.520 the driver because my pastor asked me to go and 0:48:27.520 --> 0:48:31.359 pick her up. You might think that's a demeaning job. 0:48:31.440 --> 0:48:33.120 I think it sent me up pretty well. 0:48:35.080 --> 0:48:37.120 So elevation. What am I saying? Your greatest days are 0:48:37.120 --> 0:48:38.920 ahead of you, are not behind you. 0:48:38.920 --> 0:48:42.200 Your strongest days are ahead of you and not behind you. 0:48:42.200 --> 0:48:44.320 Your fastest days are. 0:48:44.200 --> 0:48:48.400 Ahead of you and not behind you. And your willingness. 0:48:48.440 --> 0:48:52.760 Every single person, if family, all of allocations, every single 0:48:52.800 --> 0:48:56.400 person that says, I don't care whether I am visible 0:48:56.760 --> 0:48:59.680 or prominent. I don't care if I'm an acl assign 0:48:59.760 --> 0:49:02.919 you a muscle, a tissue. All I want to do 0:49:03.239 --> 0:49:06.680 is embrace my place, because ultimately it's not even about 0:49:06.719 --> 0:49:07.240 my place. 0:49:07.400 --> 0:49:09.839 It's about the God that sets me in place, and 0:49:09.920 --> 0:49:12.080 this is his body. In Jesus' name. 0:49:12.080 --> 0:49:13.759 Come on, if you believe that, give the Lord a 0:49:13.920 --> 0:49:17.160 mighty ovation in his place today in Jesus' name. 0:49:17.320 --> 0:49:18.359 In Jesus' name. 0:49:21.080 --> 0:49:23.640 Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast, and if you did, 0:49:24.160 --> 0:49:26.759 make sure to share it and subscribe so we can 0:49:26.800 --> 0:49:29.360 get you all of these new messages as soon as 0:49:29.400 --> 0:49:32.200 they're available. I also want to take a moment and 0:49:32.280 --> 0:49:34.080 thank all of you who are a part of Elevation. 0:49:34.600 --> 0:49:37.920 Whether you support us financially, or serve with us, or 0:49:38.320 --> 0:49:41.040 just share these messages, it's because of you that we're 0:49:41.040 --> 0:49:44.000 able to reach people all around the world. And if 0:49:44.000 --> 0:49:46.520 you want more information on how to be a part 0:49:46.520 --> 0:49:48.879 of Elevation, click the link. 0:49:48.680 --> 0:49:49.440 In the description. 0:49:49.960 --> 0:49:52.080 Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review, 0:49:52.560 --> 0:49:54.279 share the message, and subscribe. 0:49:54.600 --> 0:49:55.239 God bless you.