Faithful With A Few

0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.280 Hello evam, especially our West Coast family, we have an 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.760 announcement for you. Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.480 We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.280 tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.480 be me Holly, elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.840 these nights. Don't want to miss So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:35.920 Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.279 Diego and LA or anywhere near those areas, we want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.360 to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.600 Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.800 See let's go to the message, y'all. I feel so 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.000 excited to preach this word, but I feel settled about it. 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.760 I don't feel spastic like that. I feel just settled 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.680 about so cool, so beautiful what the Lord selected for 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:13.440 us to study today. And I'm excited about it. Since 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:15.440 they're baptized in half of the county, I got to 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.200 go a little quicker today, So y'all listen good, would you? 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.480 If y'all will listen better, I can finish sooner. When 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.880 I go too long, it's at least half your fall. 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.000 The Holy Spirit selected a text today. It's really like 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.280 a song, and I'm drawn to it, not only because 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.880 I love music, but because there's a truth in it 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:39.800 that I want to point out to you. It's found 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.880 in First Chronicles. Don't have a panic attack trying to 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:46.000 find it in your Bible. That's not one of the 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:49.400 books you normally look. If I say Genesis, you're good, Revelation, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:54.600 I think that's towards the bat But First Chronicles in 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.960 the Hebrew Bible, it was kind of considered the whole 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.760 Old Testament and capitulate some of the things that you'll 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.640 read in First and Second Samuel. But it goes further. 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.480 It starts with Adam, and then by the time it ends, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.040 we're in the exile. In the middle of all that, 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.240 we read a lot about David. We read a lot 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.880 about King David. And there's one thing I want to read. 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:20.639 I need to read verses seven through at least twenty, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.200 maybe twenty four, just to give you the flow of it. 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:30.160 So let's read this together in first Chronicle sixteen. There 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.160 is a message in this for me. Say it out loud. 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:37.280 There is a message in this for me, maybe not 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.080 for the person next to you. Let's say for me, 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.079 I want you to personalize this today. I want you 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:48.280 to personalize this word today. The scripture says that day 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.080 David first appointed Asaf and his associates to give praise 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.360 to the Lord in this manner. Give praise to the Lord, 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.079 proclaim his name, make known among the nations what he 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.839 has done. Sing to him, Sing praise to him. Tell 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.360 of all his wonderful acts, Glory in his holy name. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.800 Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.919 Look to the Lord and his strength, seek his face. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:22.400 Always remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, the 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.440 judgments he pronounced. You his servants, the descendants of Israel, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:32.639 his chosen ones, the children of Jacob. He is the Lord, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.520 our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:43.839 remembers his covenant forever, the promise he may, I love 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.360 that I might come back and nibble on that a 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.000 little later. Y'all hold on to that, the promise he 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:55.160 made for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.640 the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:05.119 Jacob as a decree to Israel, as an everlasting covenant. 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.720 Now that was the neighborhood. Let's pull up to the door. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.680 Now these verses are the door to you. I will 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.200 give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:24.800 Shout over what God gave you. Nah, y'all aren't grateful. 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:36.800 Shout over what God gave me to you. I will 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.600 give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:45.480 When they were but few in number, few indeed, and 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:50.080 strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.320 one kingdom to another. He allowed no one to oppress them. 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.400 For their sake, he rebuked, kings, do not touch my 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.719 anointed ones. Do my prophets no harm. Sing to the 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.120 Lord all the earth, proclaim his salvation day after day, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:12.440 to clear his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:19.599 among all peoples. Go back to verse nineteen. When they 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:26.520 were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:29.120 I don't know what we'll call this message when we 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.000 put it online, But for now let's call it faithful 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:38.880 with a few. Faithful with a few, you may be 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:50.600 seated faithful with a few. We stepped into a celebration 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:55.600 when we opened first chronicle sixteen. Did you notice they 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.720 were glorifying God. They had instruments set up in verses 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.039 one six. I didn't read you that part. Symbols and 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:08.880 harps and liars, stringed instruments, all these sounds celebrating something 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:13.320 that must have looked really strange if you didn't know 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:18.800 the whole story, all of this commotion, all of this glorifying, 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:24.240 and all this praise about something that you may have 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.240 heard of but may not know much about, called the 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:33.359 Arc of the Covenant. The Arc of the Covenant, not 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:38.599 Noah's arc. That's a boat, not a story arc, like 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.919 in a movie where a character development as arc. But 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.640 the Arc of the Covenant was a piece of furniture 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.400 made of acacial would only four feet long, two and 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:52.480 a half feet wide, two and a half feet high. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:54.120 I wish I could do it in meters for our 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.599 international audience. But see, we're here in the United States 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.599 of America, and we will not convert to the metric 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.640 system until Gus comes back and makes us do it, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:10.160 and all this celebration over what appeared to be just 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:15.240 the piece of furniture. Of course, we understand that it's 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:21.360 a symbolic representation of the presence of God. Because in 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.800 that acacia wood which was overlaid with gold, with a 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.280 chair of Him on the top of it, with the 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.720 four holes so they could carry it by poles wherever 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.680 they went, was the manna that God gave us people, 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.679 the law that he gave us people, and Aaron's rod, 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.440 which represented the priesthood. In that arc of the Covenant, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:48.600 was represented God's provision, God's protection, and God's precepts. Three 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:53.680 things in that arc, yet it symbolized one thing, which 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.200 is this God was with us. They carried it wherever 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:02.560 they went. In their mind it was the actual housing 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.960 place of the presence of God. But really we understand 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.320 that God is everywhere. We know that because of Jesus, 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:14.800 Emmanuel God with us. And when Emmanuel God with us, 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.120 left the earth, he gave us the counselor the Holy Spirit, 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.720 not just to be with us, but to be in us. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:23.920 We don't live in the Old Covenant, but we can 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.680 learn from it. We don't live in it, but we 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:29.800 can learn from it. The presence of God is inside 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.439 of you. It's inside of me. So when the Bible 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.079 says that God was with his people and he did 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.840 all these things for him, how much more will he 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:44.280 do for you? If the spirit of His son lives 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.400 inside of you. This is our confidence in Christ, not 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:54.079 in our selves. It's really not a celebration about furniture. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:09:05.200 It's a celebration about faithfulness faithfulness, not their faithfulness, because 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:11.079 that would have been a sorry celebration indeed, But God's faithfulness. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:16.360 Big difference what you praise God for. Do you praise 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:23.079 him for the furniture or for his faithfulness? Because if 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.960 you praise him for the furniture, the things that you 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.920 can see, it can be taken away. If you praise 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.120 him for the furniture, if he moves it to the 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.800 other side of the room, you might get mad. When 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.480 things change in your life, your praise goes down. But 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.440 you have to learn what David did here, and I 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.840 think is such a good lesson for us. He made 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:48.400 them praise God. He made them praise God. Reminded me. 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.560 When I was in college, I was a worship leader 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.360 before I was a pastor. I preached and led worship 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:56.480 all at the beginning of the church. I did all 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.440 of it, and I'm really glad that we have so 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.600 many gifted people who can do it now. But in 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.840 a panchroc, I could still get it done if I 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.200 had to, Okay, I promise you. Okay. I don't know 0:10:07.440 --> 0:10:09.559 all the songs anymore, but I remember a few of them, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.520 and I could. I could get this done if everybody 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.920 on the worship team went and ate Mexican food and 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:19.840 it was a bad digestive situation. It kind of gross, right, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.640 But I'm not saying it would be as good, but 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.640 I would get it done. I could get it done. 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.000 I could get it done because I was doing that 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.000 in college. When people ask Colly, when did you first 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.880 know that you wanted to marry Stephen? Sometimes she'll mention 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.080 in reference. She won't say the first time she saw me. 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.040 She talked about the first time she saw me. Still 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.240 I was crazy. I was wearing a a big Superman 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.560 T shirt, a DOUBLEXL Superman T shirt, running around thinking 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.959 I was Superman or something like that, playing in a 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.120 punk rock band. But then in our college I became 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:53.120 the worship leader for a ministry North Greenville, university, not 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.080 a big school, not a big school. But I believe 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.880 God put me there if for no other reason than 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:03.000 to win her. And how I won her through my leadership. 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:11.000 Through my leadership. Through my leadership, I found out spiritual 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:18.160 leadership is sexy to a spiritual woman. So, not that 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.400 I was thinking it, but y'all, I made a praise 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.520 team and I put her on my praise team. I 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.560 didn't audition her for her vocal ability. That really wasn't 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.560 why she got the job, but it was okay to 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.440 me if she thought that, and she could sing pretty good. 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:35.960 But we had a good time because when I first 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.000 told her about it, the worship team was just two people. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:40.840 I don't know if y'all were around in the nineties 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:42.920 and churches, but everybody was beaten on a gym bay, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.000 big drum like this, and everybody was beating on a 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.199 gym bay. Everybody was beating on Jim Bay's in the 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.600 nineteen nineties, and so it was just a Jim Bay 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.160 and an acoustic guitar. And I told her when I 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.240 take it over next year, it's gonna be huge. I'm 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:57.839 gonna have a choir. It's gonna be probably one hundred 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.680 people in the choir by the time I'm done with it, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.120 and I'm gonna have a band, and it's gonna be 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.839 real drums, not percussion. I'm go'a have a kit, a 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.319 drum kit. I'm gonna have bass guitar. I'm gonna have 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.000 maybe two keyboards, maybe one with a synth and one 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.360 with a piano. Sound getting wild and crazy. Believe in 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.240 God for big things. Now went to him who was 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.199 able to do and measurable anymore. I got big vision, 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:23.040 you know what I'm saying. And I did that because 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:28.120 God helped me do it, because he called me, and 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.000 because he helped me, and because he was with me. 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.319 There were one hundred kids in that choir by the 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.120 time it was over, and the school wasn't that big. 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:45.320 But God did it. But God did it. I preached 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:50.400 two weeks ago about but God. And I'm telling you 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.400 when I told her that, I didn't know how, I 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.080 didn't know who, I didn't know, I had no idea 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.720 how I would accomplish it. But I spoke it by 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:03.080 fail and I worked toward it, and God did it. 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.240 And so I heard her telling the kids the other day. 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.760 I never doubted something that your dad told me he 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.000 was going to do after that, because when he said it, 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:15.320 I thought he was crazy. And then guess what, it 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:18.800 came to pass. And we've seen God do that just 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.000 over and over again now in our ministry, in this church. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:23.840 Some of you have been here for a lot of it, 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:25.640 some of you have been here for all of it. 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:30.160 You have seen God do that over and over and 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.440 over again. So when the baptisms were happened, why were 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.120 some people sleeping through it and some people were weeping 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:43.160 through it? Why? Why on that screen was somebody crying 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.280 about somebody getting in water? How many of y'all got 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:50.640 in water before you came to church today, or at 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.800 least in the last twenty four hours, your neighbor hopes. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.280 So watching online, it doesn't really matter. But if you're 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.679 in the building, please have the consideration with some water 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.800 and some soap and some shampoo. And yet none of 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:10.120 that really made you cry? Did it? Did you cry 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:11.880 in the shower? I mean maybe you did, but that's 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.480 not the common thing. Is it singing the shower? But 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.320 cry in the shower? But why are they crying? They 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.680 didn't hit me. I was watching the baptisms. I thought 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:24.240 we gotta be careful where we dumped that water. We 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.000 ought to have a special you know, they have these 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:30.800 big containers for radioactive stuff, not the dirt off the people. 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:33.320 I'm not am not physical. I'm talking about all the 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:38.560 shame that Jesus washes away, all the bad choices that 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:43.120 he steps into, all the things that you did that 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.400 you couldn't get over, but his blood forgave them. There's 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.840 a lot in that water. There's a lot in that water. 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:51.960 Somebody put it in the chat. There's a lot in 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.560 that water. When Jesus saved me, he saved me from 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.600 a lot. And I don't even mean that I was 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.440 on drugs and in prison. I mean even from the 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.560 people who lived so good. You weren't so good. You 0:15:05.600 --> 0:15:10.280 weren't so good. You were not so good. I know 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.400 you weren't so good. How do I know that you're 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:19.280 not so good? Because Jesus did not die for pretty 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:23.560 good people or really bad people. He died for really 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.040 dead people who needed to be made alive in his name. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:36.000 So when we celebrate, we're not celebrating I got a race, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.880 because tomorrow I might get a drop. When we celebrating 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:45.240 God's presence, we're not celebrating because I got a lot 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:49.880 of sleep, because tomorrow we might be tired. Y'all. The 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:52.320 dog woke Cally up at three point thirty in the 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.240 morning this morning. I just had to tell you that. 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.520 So when she was praising God today, she wasn't doing 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.560 it on much sleep because she had to have a dog. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.880 And she's got a dog. Now, yes, she's got a dog. Now. 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.520 When I preach to you, I'm not preaching these things 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:14.760 because I always feel them. I'm preaching what I believe 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:22.000 by faith. If I could teach you one thing, it 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:27.560 would be to celebrate by faith, to praise by faith, 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:33.800 to worship by faith, to decree by faith, to rejoice 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.520 by faith, to walk by faith, to talk by faith, 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:42.600 to live by faith, to give by faith, to structure 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.760 by faith, to establish back faith, to stand after you 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:52.440 have done all, to stand back faith on the faithfulness 0:16:52.480 --> 0:17:02.560 of God. This is not about furniture. He's celebrating the 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.560 faithfulness of God. And he made them praise God because 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:12.520 sometimes you've got to make yourself you don't believe me. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.480 David made Asaf praise God, and he wrote the song 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.280 and he said, praise him like this. I want you 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:22.360 praising him just any way. You can't talk about his glory, 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.680 his name, his strength, his face. Don't start talking about 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:28.800 how good you didn't oh oh oh, they just got 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.120 the arc back to Jerusalem, and He didn't want them 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:36.800 celebrating their strength when they did it. They did a 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.159 good job, but that's not what they glorified. Is the 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.000 good job that they did. And I'm not saying don't 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.840 patch yourself on the back or get yourself a cupcake 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.520 or a crumble cookie or whatever you do, do it, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:58.720 but don't forget to praise God. Can I say it 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:05.400 this way? For the few? For the few, every day 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:09.040 is not going to be an amazing day. Every day 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.720 is not going to be a special event. Every day 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.680 is not Field Day. Every day is not Field Day. 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.720 But every day needs to be Faith day. Kind of corny, 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.119 but I'm trying to help you remember it when you 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:30.040 get out of here. Because they got the arc back. Now, 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.679 the Ark of the Covenant had been in Shiloh for 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.719 a long time, the Philistines, the enemies of God. They 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.760 got the Ark of the Covenant, and then God started 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.439 cursing everything because they weren't supposed to have it. It 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:47.480 is always a curse to carry what God did not 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:53.040 call you to. Remember that the next time you start 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.560 comparing yourself, I wish I had theirs, or I wish 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:57.399 I did that, or I wish I did this. It 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.080 is a curse to carry what God did not call 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:03.840 you to. God spoke to the Jewish people. He said 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.240 to Abraham, remember I will bless you, and you will 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:12.160 be a blessing. Remember they were meant to carry the blessing, 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.440 not to contain it. God said, I'm gonna bless all 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:21.800 the earth through you, through you, So what you're carrying 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.080 is not meant for you to contain. And that's why 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.840 David said, you need to praise God for what just happened. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.919 They go get the ark, they try to bring it 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:36.480 back on a cart because that makes sense because it's heavy. 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:41.040 And while they're busy making sense, not doing what God 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.560 told them to do, which was carry it on your shoulders. 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.199 And the Levites, the priests were supposed to be the 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.600 only ones who could carry it, and nobody could touch it, 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:50.480 and you couldn't just walk around looking at it because 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.720 it was too special for that. So when they tried 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.320 to put on a cart what God called them to carry, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:01.720 something terrible happened. The oxen stumbled, and when the oxen stumbled, 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.359 a man named us Are reached out trying to help God. 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.240 Have you ever tried to help God? Have you ever 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.600 manipulated somebody trying to help God? Have you ever held 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.440 onto something you were supposed to take your hands off 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.680 of because you were trying to help God? And when 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:21.120 he went to help God, he died, and David was angry. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:24.960 He was mad because I need the presence of God back, 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.000 because he's just been annoyed King of the whole kingdom. 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.600 Saul is dead. He's not fighting Saul anymore. The kingdom 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.960 is united for now. There'd been a civil war when 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.000 he was rising to the king shop, but now he's 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:40.480 settling into Jerusalem. Yet he doesn't want to be there 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.560 in the seat of his power without the ark of 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:49.520 the Covenant, which represents God's power. I don't want it 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:53.440 without you, God. I can't do it without you God. 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:56.560 It's impossible for me to do it without you God. 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.960 About every time I try to prepare a message, I 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:02.520 come to a point where I say I can't do it, 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:09.320 and the Lord usually says, finally, would you like me 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:15.160 to do it? Through you. God is just waiting for 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:17.679 you to get to the point where you take your 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:20.800 hands off of some stuff. I'm not gonna being irresponsible. 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.040 This does not apply to your steering wheel unless you 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:29.439 drive a tesla, keep your hands on that. But at 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.800 the same time, we got to understand that the glory 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.119 goes to God. It has to, it's too heavy for you. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:42.119 Must have seemed strange to see all this celebrating David's wife. 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.000 Her name was McCall. She was so appalled that David 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:47.960 was dancing because he was happy when they finally got 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.160 the arc back, because they did it God's way, because 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:56.320 they did it God's way, not the logical way, God's way, 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.399 not the way that made sense, but the way that 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:05.720 takes faith. Two different ways, the way that makes sense 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:11.280 and the way that takes faith. One is called self 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:18.760 sufficiency and it's a sin. The other one, the faith way. 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:22.960 It is when you understand that for you to carry 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.120 what God has given you to carry in this life, 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.760 you will have to do it His way, even when 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.640 his way seems strange, even when it makes no sense. 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.360 You know what David did that must have seemed strange. 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:41.119 Every time they got the art six steps, he stopped 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.600 and sacrificed a bull every six steps. Now, want you 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:49.640 think about this. This is the representation of the presence 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:52.720 of God, and we already had it start to fall 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:57.800 one time, and now you're making us stop every six steps, 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:02.000 which every time we stop it increases the chances that 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:05.119 we'll have another stumble. But David said, I have faith 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.800 that if we do it like this, and we take 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:15.080 only six steps and then stop and praise God and 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:19.800 offer to him the sacrifice of praise, he will give 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:25.679 us the strength, the wisdom, the protection, the direction. God 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:31.840 will sustain us if we stop and celebrate every six steps, 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.600 because if we wait until we get to Jerusalem to 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:38.919 do it, we might not make it. If I wait 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.439 till I get there to thank God, I may not 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:47.760 make it because there is a long way. Now, when 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:50.000 I get to heaven, I'm gonna follow his feet. You 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:53.359 better follow at his feet before this Friday because the 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:55.639 devil will be in heaven and you won't have to 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.000 fight him there. But you're going to fight him now 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:03.640 and if you don't stop, you might stop. So let's 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:10.480 do it. Six steps praise him. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:14.160 Oh wait, that's six days. This is Sunday. Let's praise 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:17.800 him right now. Let's praise him. If you do six 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:22.240 steps this week, he was with you six steps. This week, 0:24:22.560 --> 0:24:25.840 he was with you on the job. This week he 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:30.439 gave you your daily branch. Sixth week sat up from heaven, 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:33.800 had a run and a scat pad. If praise him 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:45.120 every six whoa, oh the Philly. They get to art, 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:47.360 they get to art, they get to art the presence 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:49.440 of God, and they get six steps. And there was 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:56.480 a stop. How far we have to go? We just 0:24:56.520 --> 0:24:59.359 took a few, there was a no. But he was 0:24:59.359 --> 0:25:06.080 faithful for those few. He was faithful in those few. 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:11.199 He was faithful with a few. I was meeting with 0:25:11.240 --> 0:25:14.439 a pastor one time, and Chunks and Buck were with me. 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:17.960 Y'all know, Chunks and Buck sound like a WWF tag 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:20.879 team from nineteen ninety three. Sound like they thought the 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:23.879 Legion of Doom, don't they? But they didn't. They're just 0:25:23.960 --> 0:25:28.560 church staff members, that's all. And the man was going 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:31.320 on and on about everything he had done. And he 0:25:31.440 --> 0:25:33.919 is a great man. So it was a long list. 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:37.959 The in and out burger was getting cold, and we 0:25:38.000 --> 0:25:39.960 don't have those in North Carolina, and I wanted to 0:25:40.000 --> 0:25:49.400 eat mine anyway. The man says this, he says this line, 0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:52.760 He says, how do we do this? He's talking about 0:25:52.920 --> 0:25:55.119 world peace or something like that. He said, how do 0:25:55.160 --> 0:25:59.960 we do this? Well, there are nineteen ways? I thought, nineteen. 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:02.960 Here's a fly buzzing around the burger by this point, 0:26:02.960 --> 0:26:05.879 because we can't eat because he's still talking. He's already 0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:09.439 been going two hours. He said, there are nineteen ways. 0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:14.400 I won't list them all. I said, shit, he said, 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:19.960 but let me name a few. And an hour later 0:26:21.440 --> 0:26:26.280 he was on number nineteen and he stopped and he said, 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:29.040 I think I should stop now. It looks like I 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:32.040 put your guys to sleep. My back was turned to them. 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:36.000 These two jokers were sleeping on the other end of 0:26:36.040 --> 0:26:38.720 the table with their heads on their deck, not like 0:26:38.920 --> 0:26:42.879 nodding off like I am a second grader in class 0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:46.920 playing heads up, seven up, drooling all over the table. 0:26:51.119 --> 0:26:55.040 I can't list all the ways, but let me name 0:26:55.080 --> 0:26:57.399 a few. So sometimes I'm just going to give you 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:00.639 a little pro tip here for praising God. You have 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:05.720 to just list a few, Just list a few, list 0:27:05.760 --> 0:27:10.080 a few. You know what, I don't know everything God 0:27:10.200 --> 0:27:12.280 is calling me to But I do know a few things. 0:27:13.480 --> 0:27:16.960 God has called me to love and honor my wife. 0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:21.120 God has called me to be there for my kids. 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:24.000 And sometimes that's all I know about being a dad 0:27:24.320 --> 0:27:30.640 is be there is the science of showing up that produces, 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:36.280 in my mind, the experiment of good kids. And it 0:27:36.320 --> 0:27:41.560 is an experiment. Fatherhood is not a formula A few 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:48.280 A few. You know, anytime you want to, you can 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:51.679 make yourself praise God. You don't think you can. You 0:27:51.720 --> 0:27:56.320 associate praise with a feeling. I didn't see anything in 0:27:56.680 --> 0:28:01.520 First Chronicles sixteen about feelings. I heard about God's sovereignty. 0:28:02.240 --> 0:28:05.640 I heard about God's shepherding. I heard about God's glory. 0:28:06.080 --> 0:28:09.280 I heard about his strength, heard about his face. Nothing 0:28:09.320 --> 0:28:12.560 about feelings. And that's why it's not dependent on feelings. 0:28:14.840 --> 0:28:17.560 So in any bad mood, you can pivot to praise, 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:24.000 pivot to praise. David knew how to do this. That's 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:26.399 what David knew how to do. That's why the Bible 0:28:26.520 --> 0:28:28.320 called him a man after God's own heart, not because 0:28:28.359 --> 0:28:30.240 he was perfect. You think that means he was perfect? 0:28:30.359 --> 0:28:34.960 Then what's Bethsheba all about? Why did he sleep with 0:28:35.000 --> 0:28:36.879 a woman while he was supposed to be at warf 0:28:36.880 --> 0:28:39.000 he was a man after God's own heart. It is 0:28:39.040 --> 0:28:42.560 not about his perfection, It was about his praise. He 0:28:42.600 --> 0:28:48.200 gave God glory in all of those things. Because if 0:28:48.200 --> 0:28:50.640 you don't learn how to pivot to praise in situations, 0:28:50.640 --> 0:28:54.040 two things will happen. When times are good, you're running 0:28:54.040 --> 0:28:59.560 into pride if you don't pivot to praise. And then 0:28:59.600 --> 0:29:02.719 when time are bad, if you don't pivot to praise, 0:29:03.640 --> 0:29:08.479 you'll be in a prison of your circumstance, pride or 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:12.640 prison if you don't learn to pivot. David made them 0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:16.840 praise God. He said, Asaf, get me twelve men station 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:19.120 and appoint them. And this is what I want them 0:29:19.160 --> 0:29:21.760 to say. I want them to start talking about the 0:29:21.800 --> 0:29:25.440 glory of God and the great things that He's done. 0:29:25.600 --> 0:29:27.640 And I want us to get our attention off of 0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:29.720 how we stumbled, and I want us to get our 0:29:29.760 --> 0:29:32.840 attention even of how we succeeded. And I want us 0:29:32.880 --> 0:29:36.720 to start singing about and thinking about all the things 0:29:36.760 --> 0:29:40.520 that God did, all the ways that God made, even 0:29:40.600 --> 0:29:44.120 the strange ways that God made. And the praise only 0:29:44.160 --> 0:29:46.920 seems strange if you don't understand the process that they 0:29:46.960 --> 0:29:50.600 went through to get it there. The praise only seems 0:29:50.640 --> 0:29:53.640 strange if you don't understand the process that you went 0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:56.960 through to get there. It only seems strange because you 0:29:57.000 --> 0:30:00.240 didn't see the struggle that led to the praise. It 0:30:00.360 --> 0:30:03.800 only seems strange from the outside when you have been 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:06.120 without the ark, and when you've tried to do it 0:30:06.160 --> 0:30:08.840 without God, and when you've ended up on your own 0:30:08.920 --> 0:30:11.680 bathroom floor. I remember when my dad came to me 0:30:11.720 --> 0:30:14.040 when I was a teenager, and he gave his life 0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:16.360 to Christ, and he said, you don't know how. I 0:30:16.480 --> 0:30:19.480 was standing in the shower and cry every morning, wondering 0:30:19.520 --> 0:30:21.720 how am I going to fake it another day because 0:30:21.760 --> 0:30:25.240 I'm so low? But this poor man cry to the Lord. 0:30:25.560 --> 0:30:28.360 Had he heard me from heaven, had he reached out, 0:30:28.640 --> 0:30:34.080 had he saved me? You don't know. Stop trying to 0:30:34.160 --> 0:30:38.480 make sense to people who don't even know your story. 0:30:40.560 --> 0:30:46.280 Stop trying to conform Christians not supposed to make sense 0:30:46.320 --> 0:30:50.000 to people who don't know God. We don't even worship God. 0:30:50.080 --> 0:30:55.120 Most of us. We say Jesus is Lord, but we 0:30:55.240 --> 0:31:02.120 live like logic is Lord. Because every time we get 0:31:02.160 --> 0:31:05.840 in a situation, the first thing we consult is our circumstance. 0:31:06.440 --> 0:31:08.760 The first thing we can soul is our energy. The 0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:11.400 first thing we consul is our feelings. The first thing 0:31:11.440 --> 0:31:13.960 we can soul is our mood. The first thing that 0:31:13.560 --> 0:31:16.760 we that we consult is something somebody told us on 0:31:16.800 --> 0:31:20.840 some god forsaken news channel. I rebuke the spirit of 0:31:20.960 --> 0:31:24.360 fear that's running your life today. Does you keep running 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:29.480 to the wrong place? I rebuke it. I tell it 0:31:29.520 --> 0:31:37.080 to dry up. But for that to happen, you gotta 0:31:37.120 --> 0:31:40.640 do it. Like David said, y'all gotta praise God. So 0:31:40.800 --> 0:31:43.560 when I would leave the choir back in college, I 0:31:43.640 --> 0:31:45.840 used to get real. My hero at the time was 0:31:45.920 --> 0:31:49.960 Kirk Franklin, and most of the people at the college 0:31:49.960 --> 0:31:55.520 were white. That was interesting. And I have always believed 0:31:55.560 --> 0:31:57.760 I don't mind telling you to praise God. You have 0:31:57.800 --> 0:32:01.240 to tell me to praise God. Yes I do, Yes, 0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:05.480 I do. I don't need you to scream at me. 0:32:05.680 --> 0:32:11.160 Yes you do. Sometimes not all the time, but sometimes 0:32:11.960 --> 0:32:14.720 this man came over to the praise service one night. 0:32:14.800 --> 0:32:16.520 I used to get down off the stage. All I 0:32:16.600 --> 0:32:20.080 was wild. While try to turn the Baptist school into 0:32:20.120 --> 0:32:23.440 a Pentecostal worship service. I didn't know what to do, 0:32:23.520 --> 0:32:26.520 so I had to make them. I'd get down off 0:32:26.520 --> 0:32:29.960 the stage. I start walking over chairs and stuff. And 0:32:29.960 --> 0:32:31.640 this one guy that was there, that was he had 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:33.840 been at the school forever. He was a ministrator, our student. 0:32:34.160 --> 0:32:35.840 And I could tell he came one night. I could 0:32:35.840 --> 0:32:37.200 tell he didn't like it. And I went to him 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:39.200 next day and I said, I don't think you liked it. 0:32:39.560 --> 0:32:41.800 He sounded like it at all. I said, well, didn't 0:32:41.800 --> 0:32:43.520 you like Did the speaker say something said I didn't 0:32:43.600 --> 0:32:49.000 like you. I don't like you. I said, well, was 0:32:49.040 --> 0:32:50.960 it something I said he said about everything you said 0:32:51.880 --> 0:32:56.520 and what you did? Cause I don't need At the time, 0:32:56.560 --> 0:33:04.520 I was nineteen with some old navy turtle. He said, 0:33:04.560 --> 0:33:07.760 I don't need some nineteen year old with a turtleneck 0:33:08.760 --> 0:33:11.479 coming down. He was real country too. I don't need 0:33:12.240 --> 0:33:15.560 some nineteen year old with a turtleneck coming down there 0:33:15.600 --> 0:33:17.640 off the stage and telling me to praise the Lord, 0:33:18.320 --> 0:33:20.880 telling me y'all don't want to praise him. I do 0:33:20.960 --> 0:33:24.080 want to praise him. That's why I can't. I don't 0:33:24.120 --> 0:33:27.440 need you to make me, no, but I think you 0:33:27.480 --> 0:33:32.040 do sometimes. I think you do sometimes. In fact, I 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:36.640 think one better than that. You need to awaken your 0:33:36.800 --> 0:33:40.400 inner David like he did in some one o three. 0:33:40.520 --> 0:33:42.880 So when we're not here to do it, because we're 0:33:42.880 --> 0:33:45.600 gonna lead you to worship God. I'm not gonna just 0:33:45.600 --> 0:33:47.840 get up here and preach like this, Oh, turn in 0:33:47.920 --> 0:33:51.120 your bible. I'm gonna take you, clap your hands. I'm 0:33:51.120 --> 0:33:53.000 gonna write and remind you to do some stuff that 0:33:53.120 --> 0:33:56.080 you know. I'm not one of these lifeguards that smokes 0:33:56.120 --> 0:33:58.720 weed and lays there and doesn't watch. If I see 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:01.560 you drowning in doubt, I'm gonna pull you out. Does 0:34:01.600 --> 0:34:07.560 that my job, dude? That is my job. And by 0:34:07.600 --> 0:34:11.640 the way, I don't even break for everybody. Just a few. Hey, 0:34:11.640 --> 0:34:14.839 if I can find five people in the room who 0:34:14.880 --> 0:34:19.040 don't care and are not a shame and who know 0:34:19.680 --> 0:34:31.760 it was the blood but the real secret news, can 0:34:31.800 --> 0:34:36.440 you say bless the Lord, oh my soul? Because David 0:34:36.560 --> 0:34:40.640 did that. He didn't just make them praise God, he 0:34:40.719 --> 0:34:45.560 made him self praise God. Why are you so much 0:34:45.600 --> 0:34:47.799 better telling everybody else what to do than you are 0:34:47.960 --> 0:34:56.520 telling you what to do? I never saw a service 0:34:56.560 --> 0:34:59.320 go from so high to so low in one sentence. 0:35:03.040 --> 0:35:05.840 But look at it. Look at the scripture he said, 0:35:06.080 --> 0:35:10.640 Glory to God, Praise God. He gets Shimamurathaiah and Jayahel 0:35:10.719 --> 0:35:14.520 and Matitataya and the Lord and all these guys. Right, 0:35:15.200 --> 0:35:17.279 but it's not so many. When he went to get 0:35:17.320 --> 0:35:21.279 the ark, he took thirty thousand with him. David didn't 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:24.920 always have thirty thousand. David didn't always have thirty thousand. 0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:27.480 At one point, after God had annointed him to be king, 0:35:28.280 --> 0:35:32.399 he has six hundred. And the Bible describes him men 0:35:32.440 --> 0:35:36.759 who were in crippling dead. Crippling dead, that's the only 0:35:36.800 --> 0:35:39.040 reason they came to David. What they needed from him. 0:35:39.280 --> 0:35:43.560 That's who he had. Ruffians, they were, Yeah, that's who 0:35:43.600 --> 0:35:47.240 he had. God has gathered to David all these armies, 0:35:47.440 --> 0:35:49.160 and he takes them all down to get the ark 0:35:49.600 --> 0:35:53.359 thirty thousand. And they can't do it because they don't 0:35:53.360 --> 0:35:56.560 do it God's way. Because sometimes you start thinking that 0:35:56.640 --> 0:36:02.239 you need more of something more, you get smarter than God, 0:36:02.280 --> 0:36:08.520 don't you. Hagar. That was Abraham's wife. She thought if 0:36:08.560 --> 0:36:10.439 she helped God out having a baby, it would help, 0:36:10.560 --> 0:36:14.120 because look, can we admit it was a strange way 0:36:14.600 --> 0:36:17.560 for God to start a nation, to pick a woman 0:36:17.600 --> 0:36:20.799 with a bear and wound. If you're going to need 0:36:20.840 --> 0:36:24.640 a nation, you need a son, so you find somebody 0:36:24.680 --> 0:36:28.520 with the sun and you start there. No, God's gonna 0:36:28.520 --> 0:36:32.200 do it in a strange way, so it can be 0:36:32.239 --> 0:36:36.319 his strength. God has a strange way. The next time 0:36:36.360 --> 0:36:41.120 you seeing waymaker, make sure you understand that the way 0:36:41.280 --> 0:36:45.319 that he makes will seem strange. As he's making it, 0:36:47.080 --> 0:36:51.719 you'll look back and say, miracle worker, promise keeper, light 0:36:51.760 --> 0:36:55.680 in the darkness. That's who you are. Only thing you'll 0:36:55.680 --> 0:36:58.719 be thinking while you're going through it is this is weird. 0:37:00.440 --> 0:37:02.799 This is weird. How many have been there the last 0:37:02.840 --> 0:37:05.160 couple of weeks in your life, just going this is weird, 0:37:05.239 --> 0:37:09.120 this is crazy. Yeah, this is crazy, this is heavy, 0:37:09.440 --> 0:37:13.600 this is dark. Well, when David gets to the other 0:37:13.680 --> 0:37:18.760 side of this journey with the Arc, he does something 0:37:19.560 --> 0:37:25.040 really fantastic, really beautiful. He said, God remembers his covenant 0:37:25.160 --> 0:37:30.240 and the promise he made. Now a lot of times 0:37:31.040 --> 0:37:34.400 we are trying to hold God to our preferences, not 0:37:34.480 --> 0:37:40.399 his promises. So that's where the disappointment is. A lot 0:37:40.400 --> 0:37:43.239 of times, what we are trying to get God to 0:37:43.280 --> 0:37:45.680 do in our life, he never said he would do it. 0:37:46.880 --> 0:37:50.120 GI you an example of that take your stress away. 0:37:50.280 --> 0:37:51.920 He didn't say I'll take your stress. He said I'll 0:37:51.920 --> 0:37:54.840 give you strength. In order for God to take your 0:37:54.840 --> 0:37:57.759 stress away, he's got to take your breath away. Nice 0:37:57.760 --> 0:38:00.239 way of saying he's got to kill you. How many 0:38:00.320 --> 0:38:02.440 y'all want God to take their stress away? Don't raise it. 0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:04.920 I don't want you to die like USA right here 0:38:04.920 --> 0:38:10.719 in front of me. God is good. God is good, 0:38:11.160 --> 0:38:15.520 But the ways that he shows his goodness seems strange. 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:18.919 It seems strange what you're going through right now, doesn't 0:38:18.960 --> 0:38:22.600 That certainly seems strange to me. The Lord told me 0:38:22.760 --> 0:38:26.920 ready for this. The Lord told me in twenty thirteen. 0:38:27.239 --> 0:38:30.440 Was that when I did surround twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, 0:38:31.160 --> 0:38:33.840 run about there, he said, you're going to reach one 0:38:33.880 --> 0:38:38.240 hundred thousand people every week when you preach. That didn't 0:38:38.280 --> 0:38:44.960 happen until COVID hit and the buildings closed. I am 0:38:44.960 --> 0:38:47.160 not saying God sent COVID so I could hit a 0:38:47.239 --> 0:38:49.239 number that I made up in my mind. Don't hear 0:38:49.280 --> 0:38:51.480 it like that. Don't hear it like that. But the 0:38:51.480 --> 0:38:54.160 first day we ever reached that number of people live 0:38:54.200 --> 0:38:57.000 in service, not through podcasts and later stuff. The first 0:38:57.040 --> 0:38:59.239 day we reached that number of people in service, there 0:38:59.239 --> 0:39:01.359 were five people in the room, and I thought, this 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:07.000 is strange. This is strange because when you're standing there 0:39:07.040 --> 0:39:11.520 in it, it just looked like we went backwards. And 0:39:11.560 --> 0:39:15.520 to your senses is strange, and to your feelings is strange, 0:39:16.120 --> 0:39:19.080 and to your rational mind is strange. And to those 0:39:19.160 --> 0:39:21.440 watching you carry the arc is strange. Why don't you 0:39:21.440 --> 0:39:23.120 put it on a cart? Why don't you do it 0:39:23.160 --> 0:39:25.319 the easy way? Why don't you just sell out to this? 0:39:25.480 --> 0:39:27.360 Why don't you just give up on that. Some people 0:39:27.360 --> 0:39:29.960 in your life think you're strange for coming to this church. 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:33.040 I know you don't want to hurt my feelings, so 0:39:33.120 --> 0:39:37.240 you just kind of what we're talking about clearly normal. 0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:41.840 Holly says something funny the other day. I'm planned to 0:39:41.840 --> 0:39:44.080 share this, so we'll take it out later if it 0:39:44.080 --> 0:39:49.120 doesn't come out right. One time they did a parody 0:39:49.200 --> 0:39:50.959 article of us. They said we put a water slide 0:39:51.000 --> 0:39:54.920 on our stage for baptisms. Why I didn't see it. 0:39:55.280 --> 0:39:56.920 I just had people texting me, what's up with the 0:39:56.920 --> 0:39:58.680 water slide? Now, that's a weird text to get if 0:39:58.680 --> 0:40:01.360 you don't know the contact Some good the water slider 0:40:01.360 --> 0:40:02.960 you in my backyard. What's going on? I don't have 0:40:02.960 --> 0:40:06.440 a slide. You mean in the church. You think I 0:40:06.480 --> 0:40:08.880 have a water slide in the church. And people were 0:40:08.920 --> 0:40:11.160 saying that she said something the other day because we 0:40:11.160 --> 0:40:14.719 were reflecting on God's faithfulness to our ministry. She said, 0:40:14.719 --> 0:40:16.719 now that I look back on it, I kind of 0:40:16.960 --> 0:40:21.680 like that this church is crazy enough that when they 0:40:21.760 --> 0:40:24.320 said we would put a water slide in the church 0:40:24.640 --> 0:40:29.520 for people to get baptized, it was believable. Don't y'all 0:40:29.600 --> 0:40:35.840 love Holly Fernick. Because I'm sitting there one to sue somebody, 0:40:36.120 --> 0:40:39.960 you can't say that about me. She took the insult 0:40:40.800 --> 0:40:44.480 as a compliment that they thought we were just that 0:40:44.600 --> 0:40:48.440 crazy that if God said put a water slide, or 0:40:48.480 --> 0:40:50.960 if God said feet a crowd with five loaves and 0:40:51.000 --> 0:40:54.319 two fish. No, I'm not announcing the water slide. Don't 0:40:54.320 --> 0:40:57.719 get the illustration twisted. It's just an illustration. I'm just 0:40:57.760 --> 0:41:00.440 saying that it's a weird way to make an to 0:41:00.480 --> 0:41:03.880 pick a barren womb. It's a weird way to deliver 0:41:03.960 --> 0:41:07.160 a nation with a staff over a sea. It's a 0:41:07.200 --> 0:41:09.920 weird way to feed a crowd with a little boy's lunch. 0:41:10.600 --> 0:41:13.200 It's a weird way to attend a funeral four days 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:15.919 late and then tell the man to get up. It's 0:41:15.960 --> 0:41:18.600 a weird way to stop a storm, to sleep through 0:41:18.640 --> 0:41:21.040 it and wait till the last watch of the night. 0:41:21.840 --> 0:41:27.160 But sometimes weird works. Sometimes when I start praising God 0:41:27.719 --> 0:41:34.400 for the few I have, he hadsn to me. I 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:38.279 love it. I love him, I love him, I love it. 0:41:39.920 --> 0:41:42.400 I was so weird when I was in college. I 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:45.000 was so weird. I was so weird. I used to 0:41:45.000 --> 0:41:47.480 go to the bathroom between classes sometimes so I could 0:41:47.520 --> 0:41:51.200 get my Bible reading in because I wasn't disciplined enough 0:41:51.200 --> 0:41:55.040 to wake up early. I'll say, if I get five 0:41:55.040 --> 0:41:58.600 minutes in the bathroom, nobody will bother me in this bathroom. 0:41:59.320 --> 0:42:01.719 Nobody will bother me in this bathroom. And if I'd 0:42:01.760 --> 0:42:03.520 had a phone, I would have probably wouldn't have done it. 0:42:03.520 --> 0:42:06.799 I would have scrolled something, but I would take just 0:42:06.840 --> 0:42:13.120 a few. I think the enemy wants you to think 0:42:13.840 --> 0:42:20.360 that you don't have enough of stuff. David not only 0:42:20.400 --> 0:42:24.560 said that it was God who gave you Canaan. That's 0:42:24.600 --> 0:42:26.600 the promised land. We're not talking about land, We're talking 0:42:26.600 --> 0:42:30.960 about the lives God has given us the lives. You 0:42:31.040 --> 0:42:34.000 are living in what God has given you. That's the 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:35.880 difference between me and the person who says I'm a 0:42:35.920 --> 0:42:40.040 self made man. I don't claim that everything I have 0:42:40.200 --> 0:42:46.000 got is the result of something. God gave me everything everything, 0:42:49.360 --> 0:42:52.319 So I don't want to apologize for it, but I 0:42:52.320 --> 0:42:55.399 don't want to be proud about it because God gave 0:42:55.480 --> 0:42:58.759 it to me. You are living in something that was 0:42:58.800 --> 0:43:01.719 given And if you don't believe that, you will be prideful. 0:43:01.840 --> 0:43:03.880 And if you believe that, if you don't believe that 0:43:03.920 --> 0:43:07.759 long enough, you'll be powerless because you'll lean on your 0:43:07.800 --> 0:43:10.799 own understanding, because you will say Jesus is Lord, but 0:43:10.880 --> 0:43:13.520 you will live like logic is Lord, and you'll always 0:43:13.560 --> 0:43:15.719 be counting. We only have five, we only have two. 0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:20.080 This won't go so far. It's too few. It's too few. 0:43:21.719 --> 0:43:24.960 I've been studying the Bible for over half my life 0:43:25.160 --> 0:43:28.239 seriously to teach it, not just to learn it. And 0:43:28.280 --> 0:43:31.000 I've been studying the Bible over half my life not 0:43:31.120 --> 0:43:33.640 just to preach it, but to live it. One thing 0:43:33.680 --> 0:43:36.360 I found out in the Bible is that generally speaking, 0:43:36.400 --> 0:43:39.280 you can find some exceptions, but as a general principle, 0:43:39.320 --> 0:43:43.600 listen to this. God never looks at your life and 0:43:43.680 --> 0:43:46.959 says I can't do it because you have too few 0:43:48.360 --> 0:43:53.880 of anything. God never looks at people. He never I 0:43:53.920 --> 0:43:56.520 can't find in the Bible very many times. There are 0:43:56.560 --> 0:43:59.560 a few a few, But this is one of those 0:43:59.560 --> 0:44:03.239 cases where the exception proofs the rule that mostly the 0:44:03.239 --> 0:44:05.920 Bible is about a seventy five year old man named 0:44:05.960 --> 0:44:10.879 Abraham who became a great nation. When you're seventy five, 0:44:11.600 --> 0:44:17.400 you only have a few years left when you're I 0:44:17.400 --> 0:44:20.640 could go on and on with this, y'all. When you're 0:44:20.680 --> 0:44:23.879 making a plan to save the world and you start 0:44:23.920 --> 0:44:28.560 at thirty and you're going to the cross. Why didn't 0:44:28.640 --> 0:44:33.160 Jesus die at age seventy five? Why did he do 0:44:33.320 --> 0:44:36.400 everything that he was sent to do in three years? 0:44:37.480 --> 0:44:41.200 Even better? Why didn't he run a big campaign so 0:44:41.239 --> 0:44:43.160 he could get a big number of disciples so he 0:44:43.200 --> 0:44:47.279 could have a lot of followers if he's leaving. Why 0:44:47.320 --> 0:44:49.920 did he spend so much time with twelve men and 0:44:50.000 --> 0:44:54.640 one of them was Judas? Why did he do it 0:44:54.680 --> 0:44:56.640 in three years with twelve men and change the world. 0:44:57.640 --> 0:45:02.680 Maybe he wanted to set the model so you could 0:45:02.719 --> 0:45:13.440 see what he can do through a few because he knew. Listen, listen, 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:17.080 he knew that you would be in this situation in life, 0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:19.880 and you'd be saying, I don't have enough. I don't 0:45:19.920 --> 0:45:23.160 know enough, I don't have enough, I don't have enough time, 0:45:24.000 --> 0:45:26.719 I don't have enough talent. I don't have a big 0:45:26.800 --> 0:45:30.279 enough team. I'm not I don't that song. I got 0:45:30.280 --> 0:45:32.239 a really big team. I didn't make that song. I 0:45:32.239 --> 0:45:34.560 have a really small team. In fact, some of you 0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:36.919 are here today being like I have nobody, and that's 0:45:36.920 --> 0:45:40.520 not true. But the enemy always seeks to diminish what 0:45:40.560 --> 0:45:46.120 you've been given. That's his strategy, over and over, and 0:45:46.160 --> 0:45:48.120 how many times will he do it? As many times 0:45:48.160 --> 0:45:50.759 as you'll believe it. He'll take what you have given 0:45:50.800 --> 0:45:53.400 and diminish it and shrink it, and diminish it and 0:45:53.440 --> 0:45:56.799 shrink it until you can't focus on it, until all 0:45:56.880 --> 0:46:04.800 you see in your life is what others carry, until 0:46:04.840 --> 0:46:07.680 all you see in your life is the things you 0:46:07.680 --> 0:46:10.680 don't have, until you forget the few that you do. 0:46:12.160 --> 0:46:15.240 I want to preach to you today about the few 0:46:16.000 --> 0:46:20.520 that you do have. If that's finances, I'm talking about 0:46:20.640 --> 0:46:25.239 the few dollars you have, If that's years that you 0:46:25.280 --> 0:46:27.839 have with your kids left in the house. I want 0:46:27.840 --> 0:46:31.359 to speak about the few that you do have. If 0:46:31.360 --> 0:46:34.240 that's friends that you have who really love you, really 0:46:34.239 --> 0:46:36.400 believe in you. I want to talk about the few 0:46:36.800 --> 0:46:39.359 that you do have. If that's the things that you're 0:46:39.400 --> 0:46:41.680 good at versus the things that you're not. I want 0:46:41.760 --> 0:46:45.040 to talk about the few that you do have. That's 0:46:45.080 --> 0:46:48.719 why God used David. He knew what to do with 0:46:48.840 --> 0:46:54.480 the few. Do you are you always waiting for something else, 0:46:54.960 --> 0:46:56.840 more and more and more, God give me more wisdom. 0:46:57.000 --> 0:46:59.799 And sometimes, God says, the problem is not that you 0:46:59.840 --> 0:47:04.000 have have too few, You got too much. You got 0:47:04.040 --> 0:47:07.320 too much. God give me more wisdom, more wisdom, more wisdom. 0:47:07.400 --> 0:47:09.759 God said. The problem isn't the absence of wisdom. The 0:47:09.840 --> 0:47:14.759 problem is that you have too many opinions. Sometimes you 0:47:14.760 --> 0:47:17.759 have too much information. God just need to know more 0:47:17.800 --> 0:47:18.960 than I can do it now, you don't need to 0:47:19.000 --> 0:47:21.919 know more some way, leave at church on time, says 0:47:22.000 --> 0:47:24.160 I knew. I knew all that today before I came 0:47:24.440 --> 0:47:25.960 some of y'all here, like I knew all about the 0:47:26.000 --> 0:47:28.279 Ark of the Covenant. You didn't even get to the 0:47:28.320 --> 0:47:31.400 good part about tabernacle looking made for it that was awesome. 0:47:33.440 --> 0:47:36.000 Youn't talk about obid eedom we go obed, seem blessed 0:47:36.000 --> 0:47:37.400 me brought back down. You talk about that I was good. 0:47:37.440 --> 0:47:43.000 I knew all that. You knew it already. But do 0:47:43.040 --> 0:47:48.160 you do it already? It's what you do with the few. 0:47:49.280 --> 0:47:52.200 I learned this over and over and over and over again, 0:47:52.320 --> 0:47:56.040 that sometimes I had more faith with a few than 0:47:56.080 --> 0:47:59.440 I have with more. What's that about? As few went 0:47:59.480 --> 0:48:01.880 too many, eighth went from big to little? What's that about? 0:48:02.800 --> 0:48:09.440 Because I start depending on the cart I think I 0:48:09.440 --> 0:48:14.080 need more. So I'm just challenging you this week to 0:48:14.160 --> 0:48:18.000 take what David said to your own heart when he 0:48:18.080 --> 0:48:21.160 said that God gave it to them. Look at verse 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:24.239 nineteen again, I gave them so many scriptures today. Yo, 0:48:24.480 --> 0:48:27.880 my fear in preaching is running out of stuff. So 0:48:28.040 --> 0:48:30.360 you should see all the scriptures we don't get to. 0:48:30.719 --> 0:48:33.680 It would give you heart palpitations to know what all 0:48:33.680 --> 0:48:35.799 they're looking through back there, because the last thing I 0:48:35.800 --> 0:48:38.319 want to get up here is fifteen minutes in and 0:48:38.400 --> 0:48:48.200 go and uh, well, I guess sir. So I'm always 0:48:48.239 --> 0:48:51.040 thinking that I don't have enough to say. Sometimes my 0:48:51.080 --> 0:48:53.640 biggest mistake in preaching is I try to say too much. 0:48:55.040 --> 0:48:57.680 I do too much? Is the ark of covenant is 0:48:57.719 --> 0:49:00.360 to book a revelation in this temple of Daggon. And 0:49:00.400 --> 0:49:04.919 you're like, well, I just had my first cup of coffee. See, 0:49:05.120 --> 0:49:08.440 it could be just as bad to do too much. 0:49:10.920 --> 0:49:15.920 Here's David, from a shepherd to a king. And what 0:49:16.040 --> 0:49:19.640 does he go? Back to verse nineteen? He said, God 0:49:19.760 --> 0:49:25.200 spoke it when they were but what's the word few? 0:49:26.360 --> 0:49:31.000 But few? And then he emphasizes it, watch this few. Indeed, 0:49:32.480 --> 0:49:35.160 just in case you think he's overstating it, He's like, nah, 0:49:35.280 --> 0:49:39.759 it was nothing but Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and 0:49:39.800 --> 0:49:44.040 the patriarchs, and God did all this out of that. 0:49:45.000 --> 0:49:48.120 Don't get it twisted to think that I'm so great 0:49:48.440 --> 0:49:50.879 as a king. David said, no, no no, no, He did 0:49:50.880 --> 0:49:54.040 it when they were but few, so he could prove 0:49:54.440 --> 0:49:57.279 that he was faithful. And he couldn't prove that he 0:49:57.440 --> 0:50:01.400 was faithful if he didn't do it through. If he 0:50:01.480 --> 0:50:04.760 did it through a lot, you would consult a lot 0:50:05.040 --> 0:50:08.719 of your logic and the lot of your resources. So 0:50:08.880 --> 0:50:11.840 God has you in a season right now where he 0:50:11.960 --> 0:50:16.359 is striping away some things and subtracting some things, and 0:50:16.400 --> 0:50:20.279 some people are leaving, and some things are disappearing, and 0:50:20.320 --> 0:50:24.040 some certainties are evaporating, and some things you depended on 0:50:24.200 --> 0:50:27.719 all your life are no longer able to hold you up. 0:50:28.800 --> 0:50:34.319 So God can show you what he can do a few. 0:50:36.800 --> 0:50:40.560 It is almost like Gideon in the Old Testament, where 0:50:40.560 --> 0:50:44.239 he had thirty two thousand warriors, and the Lord said, 0:50:44.440 --> 0:50:48.279 I can't use you yet to deliver my people. Look 0:50:48.320 --> 0:50:51.840 at Judge seventy two. Why because you're not strong enough, 0:50:51.920 --> 0:50:54.319 Why because you're not smart enough. Why because you're not 0:50:54.320 --> 0:51:03.440 experienced enough? No, no no, no, He said, you have too many. 0:51:04.120 --> 0:51:05.879 So why are you praying about too few when God 0:51:05.920 --> 0:51:09.920 is talking about too many? God said, take them down 0:51:09.960 --> 0:51:14.160 to the water. I'll find them out. I'll send home 0:51:14.800 --> 0:51:18.799 who needs to be sent home, and you'll deliver the 0:51:18.840 --> 0:51:23.600 people with three hundred men. I'm not good at math, 0:51:23.640 --> 0:51:27.480 but that's backwards. I went from thirty two thousand to 0:51:27.520 --> 0:51:31.200 three hundred. And it feels bad to go backwards. And 0:51:31.239 --> 0:51:34.759 you've been going backwards, and you've been feeling bad about it. 0:51:35.680 --> 0:51:40.799 But praise the Lord, because praise paves a way for 0:51:40.880 --> 0:51:45.160 the provision of God to be revealed in your life 0:51:45.440 --> 0:51:48.520 through the few, through the few, say it through the few, 0:51:49.400 --> 0:51:52.839 through the few. I don't have that much. You don't 0:51:52.880 --> 0:51:56.280 need that much. You don't need what you think you need. 0:51:57.280 --> 0:51:59.600 I promise you, I promise you. You don't need what 0:51:59.640 --> 0:52:01.319 you think you need to do what God has called 0:52:01.360 --> 0:52:02.960 you to do. Because if you needed what you think 0:52:02.960 --> 0:52:04.440 you need to do what God had called you to do, 0:52:04.480 --> 0:52:05.719 and he's the one who called you to do it, 0:52:05.719 --> 0:52:07.040 he would have given you what you think you need 0:52:07.080 --> 0:52:08.239 to do what He's called you to do, because he's 0:52:08.239 --> 0:52:10.880 the one who called you to do it. He doesn't 0:52:10.920 --> 0:52:14.480 promise stuff that he doesn't provide for. Oh, if I 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:16.200 was more even tempered, No, no, no, you need a 0:52:16.200 --> 0:52:19.320 little bit of that oom. All right, we're gonna subdue 0:52:19.320 --> 0:52:20.880 it and submit it and we're going to train it 0:52:20.920 --> 0:52:23.120 to the Holy Spirit. But you need some of that. 0:52:23.680 --> 0:52:25.600 You're gonna get some self control, but you need some 0:52:25.719 --> 0:52:27.640 of that. Oh, if I could do this, if I 0:52:27.640 --> 0:52:29.359 could do that, if I could be more like this. 0:52:29.480 --> 0:52:32.600 I went to when I first went to Shelby, I 0:52:32.680 --> 0:52:36.520 went to a music director. This guy was a legend. 0:52:37.239 --> 0:52:39.360 He was the best musician that at that point in 0:52:39.400 --> 0:52:42.600 my life I had ever met. He played in studios, 0:52:42.680 --> 0:52:45.720 he played on people's albums. And here I was asking 0:52:45.800 --> 0:52:48.960 him to come be my keyboard player at a church 0:52:49.000 --> 0:52:51.040 of just a few hundred people, just a few hundred. 0:52:52.800 --> 0:52:55.279 Everybody around me told him he won't do it. He 0:52:55.320 --> 0:52:57.439 doesn't need to be on some church band. He won't 0:52:57.440 --> 0:53:00.000 play on a church stage. I said, well, let me 0:53:00.160 --> 0:53:02.520 just go talk to him, and I said, I know 0:53:02.600 --> 0:53:05.000 that you probably won't do it. You know, by the way, 0:53:05.000 --> 0:53:06.279 you'll never get a date if you come up with 0:53:06.280 --> 0:53:07.960 this kind of confidence. I was like, I know you 0:53:08.000 --> 0:53:13.320 probably don't want to do it. But before I finished, 0:53:13.320 --> 0:53:15.160 she said, yeah, I'll do it. I said, I can 0:53:15.160 --> 0:53:16.560 only pay you this much, and it was just a 0:53:16.560 --> 0:53:19.480 few I was gonna pay him for a week what 0:53:19.560 --> 0:53:22.480 he could get in an hour. He saw, I do it. 0:53:23.000 --> 0:53:27.640 I've been praying about that. Okay, just start doing Every week. 0:53:27.760 --> 0:53:29.759 I go over to his house. And it was such 0:53:29.760 --> 0:53:33.279 a trip, y'all because I would teach him the songs. Now, 0:53:33.320 --> 0:53:37.640 let me explain to you, I don't have much musical training. 0:53:38.080 --> 0:53:40.120 Just the chords I learned on my guitar when I 0:53:40.160 --> 0:53:44.520 was a boy, and that's it. Now. I know those 0:53:44.560 --> 0:53:48.640 four chords really well. But I learned to play guitar 0:53:48.680 --> 0:53:55.399 off Green Day, Huh not Boch Hootie and the Blowfish. 0:53:55.719 --> 0:53:59.040 That's how I learned to play guitar. But I know 0:53:59.120 --> 0:54:01.560 what I know. So I'd go over to his house. 0:54:01.560 --> 0:54:03.400 He had a little studio in his house, and I 0:54:03.440 --> 0:54:06.520 would sit down with him. His name was Richard, still 0:54:06.560 --> 0:54:11.120 is Richard. But I sit down with Richard and I 0:54:11.200 --> 0:54:13.120 take the little chord charts over. I say, let's go 0:54:13.160 --> 0:54:15.240 over these songs for the week. Not because he needed 0:54:15.239 --> 0:54:16.960 to learn him just we were getting it all charted 0:54:16.960 --> 0:54:18.920 out and he would chart it for me and everything. 0:54:19.440 --> 0:54:22.240 I would always apologize to him. I always felt bad 0:54:22.360 --> 0:54:25.480 because he's such a great musician. I mean, he knows jazz, 0:54:25.760 --> 0:54:29.120 he knows rock, he knows country. He can play anything 0:54:29.480 --> 0:54:31.759 by ear or by sight. And here I am with 0:54:31.840 --> 0:54:34.360 a G and a C and D and A and 0:54:34.400 --> 0:54:37.440 that's the whole song. And I say, I'm so sorry, Richard. 0:54:37.680 --> 0:54:40.320 I know this is so simple, this is so stupid 0:54:40.600 --> 0:54:43.080 me sitting here a great musician like you. I don't 0:54:43.120 --> 0:54:45.560 even know all the chords that you know. And one 0:54:45.600 --> 0:54:48.120 day he stopped me. He says, Stephen, stop thinking. Everybody 0:54:48.200 --> 0:54:53.520 I am personate has a country accent, right, Stephen. He said, 0:54:54.560 --> 0:55:00.560 you don't need to know more chords, the right four. 0:55:02.840 --> 0:55:06.560 And then he started. He gave me a tutorial. He 0:55:06.680 --> 0:55:09.439 started playing songs with the four chords that I used 0:55:09.480 --> 0:55:12.520 over and over again. And he showed me at least 0:55:12.840 --> 0:55:17.560 twenty songs that use those four chords only, and every 0:55:17.600 --> 0:55:19.200 time he would do it would drive the message home 0:55:19.239 --> 0:55:23.919 a little bit more. You only need four, You only 0:55:23.960 --> 0:55:29.160 need four. Then he played again. It was just a one, five, six, four. 0:55:29.800 --> 0:55:34.160 That's the notation the Nashville number system, right, It's the one, 0:55:34.719 --> 0:55:37.760 the five, the six, and the four. And he showed 0:55:37.800 --> 0:55:40.520 me with those four chords, you can write a number 0:55:40.560 --> 0:55:46.439 one hit. It's not how many chords you know, it's 0:55:46.520 --> 0:55:56.759 how you use the ones you know. Hey, hey, I'm 0:55:56.800 --> 0:56:03.840 not preaching to everybody today. Few, just a few that 0:56:03.880 --> 0:56:05.920 had been going around saying, God, I don't know enough, 0:56:06.640 --> 0:56:10.319 i don't have enough. I have been trained enough. I'm 0:56:10.360 --> 0:56:13.920 not good enough. I'm not sleeping enough. That must be 0:56:13.960 --> 0:56:17.880 a parent of a newborn or a dog. God, I'll 0:56:17.880 --> 0:56:24.279 have enough. And Richards showed me you only need four chords. 0:56:24.760 --> 0:56:28.839 You only need four. I'll prove it. When God got 0:56:28.880 --> 0:56:31.560 ready to turn on the lights of the solar system. 0:56:31.840 --> 0:56:37.480 He said, four words, let there be light. Four words, 0:56:37.520 --> 0:56:40.480 and the lights came on. Four words, and the world 0:56:40.600 --> 0:56:45.040 was illuminated four words, and the darkness had to back up. 0:56:45.560 --> 0:56:50.080 You only need four. You only need four. You only 0:56:50.120 --> 0:56:54.239 need for play a DLJ. You only need four. You 0:56:54.280 --> 0:57:00.239 could do more with four. You could be faithful with you, 0:57:01.320 --> 0:57:04.239 He taught me. Four chords can do so much. So 0:57:04.320 --> 0:57:06.960 follow me. I'm gonna do it on the spot, and 0:57:07.000 --> 0:57:09.800 then I'm gonna close. But I'm gonna show you before 0:57:09.800 --> 0:57:13.120 I close, what you can do with four. If everybody 0:57:13.120 --> 0:57:17.160 on the worship team went out and got Salmonila, just 0:57:17.240 --> 0:57:19.480 keep making up horrible stuff to happen to the worship team, 0:57:19.480 --> 0:57:24.600 all right, And I knew four chords, What could I do? 0:57:24.640 --> 0:57:31.280 I could say, tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, 0:57:33.080 --> 0:57:42.120 just to take him at his word, four course, just 0:57:42.880 --> 0:57:52.560 to rest upon his promise, Just to know th saith 0:57:53.080 --> 0:58:01.160 the Lord. Four course Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, 0:58:01.400 --> 0:58:13.000 how I've proved him? Or and or Jesus, Jesus prayscious Jesus, 0:58:13.000 --> 0:58:16.400 this is what we need more of, Oh for grace, 0:58:18.240 --> 0:58:21.920 to trust him more. You don't need more stuff. You 0:58:21.920 --> 0:58:36.360 need more faith, h fourpos purpose, one name, my Jesus. 0:58:37.360 --> 0:58:44.360 I love THEE. I know Thou art mine for THEE 0:58:44.640 --> 0:58:56.000 all the fires of sin. I resign my gray suss redeemer, 0:58:57.280 --> 0:59:13.160 my Savior are if I love my Gesus? Just now 0:59:13.360 --> 0:59:16.920 see four course and we could go. What a friend 0:59:17.600 --> 0:59:22.160 we haven't changed keys four courts. You don't need more courts. 0:59:23.080 --> 0:59:27.760 You need more faith, you'll need more time, you need 0:59:27.800 --> 0:59:32.520 more focus. You might not even need more money. You 0:59:32.600 --> 0:59:39.040 might just even need better priorities. What a friend we 0:59:39.200 --> 0:59:46.080 have in Geesus, all our sense and griefs to bear. 0:59:48.080 --> 0:59:56.240 What a privilege to carry h e fathing to God 0:59:56.320 --> 1:00:03.280 in prayer. Here's the problem listen. Oh, oh yeah, I 1:00:03.360 --> 1:00:06.920 know where the courts go. Oh what peace we often 1:00:07.400 --> 1:00:14.680 for fit? And oh what needless pain? Me ben, And 1:00:14.720 --> 1:00:19.520 here's why we've been stressed out, Oh, because we do 1:00:19.600 --> 1:00:28.560 not give everything to God in prayer. I know a few. 1:00:29.960 --> 1:00:32.720 I know a few courts, I know a few truths. 1:00:33.560 --> 1:00:37.080 I know a few things. I know what to do 1:00:37.160 --> 1:00:40.160 with a few. I know what to do with the few. 1:00:41.200 --> 1:00:44.640 He was faithful with the few. God will give you 1:00:45.320 --> 1:00:52.360 what you need. Here. I am to worship here, I 1:00:52.400 --> 1:01:00.200 am too bout here I am to say that you're myga. 1:01:00.920 --> 1:01:09.720 You're all together, loving, all together, worthy, all together wonderful 1:01:10.920 --> 1:01:12.960 to me. I need a few of you to stand 1:01:12.960 --> 1:01:19.000 and see it. Here. I am to worship here, I 1:01:19.080 --> 1:01:42.400 am here. You say you're host ah, A few of 1:01:42.480 --> 1:01:44.400 you really been carrying a lot. Lift your hands up 1:01:44.440 --> 1:01:57.240 and give it to God. Here rides here. Here say 1:02:02.640 --> 1:02:31.680 your send chords new songs, say and exhaustthy ah. Come on, 1:02:31.760 --> 1:02:34.680 let's livet Jesus high in this place today. Come on, 1:02:34.800 --> 1:02:42.400 He's worthy of praise. Well. If you enjoyed today's podcast, 1:02:42.440 --> 1:02:44.200 there are a couple of things I'd love for you 1:02:44.280 --> 1:02:48.600 to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. 1:02:48.960 --> 1:02:51.320 You can also help us reach others by investing today 1:02:51.320 --> 1:02:54.959 at Elevation Church dot org, slash give and thanks again 1:02:55.000 --> 1:02:57.120 for joining us on the Elevation Podcast