Focus On The Fruit

0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:04.519 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.000 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.319 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.399 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.120 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:39.159 Don't stop no matter so Zach hurt my voice. So 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:50.040 you're gonna have to bring no. I'm my hen bank 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:59.120 like bred. Nothing I can do it, ny Y, Yeah, 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:09.200 stop for real. Come a big show, a big shout, 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:16.000 a big shout of praise. Ah, Pray for us. We're 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.000 getting happy in quarantine. Pray for us. We believe that 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.839 Jesus Christ is Lord of lords. We came to crown 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.920 him today. How many came to crown him? Take about 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.840 twelve seconds and find the crown emoji. Just let everybody 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.200 in the chat. No, this is what I came to do, 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.000 to worship him, to declare the praises of him who 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.920 called me out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Well, 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.000 I think we've got comments from people saying that right 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:52.800 now all over the world. In Brazil. What was the 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:58.520 name of that I missed it? Pasit Pause it Ukraine, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.639 keep it going. This is where we speak life today. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:07.360 We speak life, we speak life, we speak blessing. Posit, 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.200 pose it, pose it, let it roll. I don't see 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.480 any Spain. I see Spain. I see pose it, posit, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:21.000 pos it. All right, let it run again. I see 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:28.239 I see posit. I see Columbia, Columbia with a oh, Chris, 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.040 don't get too happy. This ain't Carolina. This is you 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.040 got to have your passport Columbia. Welcome all over the world. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:41.080 Thank you Jesus. It is release weekend. This is the 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:46.280 This is the day that we declare the life of 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:50.720 God to every situation. And I don't even care what 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.400 it is. It might stink where you are, just like 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.919 it stunk where Lazarus was. The stink doesn't scare Jesus. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.000 He is attracted to what others back away from. So 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.240 I know some of you haven't had your shower yet, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.080 you didn't brush your teeth, But that's all right. God 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.640 doesn't care about your bad breath. Let everything that hath breath, 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:16.880 minty breath, fresh bread, bad bread. If you got breath, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:25.040 if he lets you see another day, shout aladd that's 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:30.240 my best. That's I'm getting back to bases. I'm getting 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:41.480 back to basics. Co the hole, tell them all, come 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:54.360 liey co hey, come live, co author of life. We 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.800 give you praise today. We returned back the breath that 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.320 you gave us as a gift, and we all for it. 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.720 We offer you this breath, We offer you a thought. 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.600 We offer you our hearts. We don't feel like they're 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:12.760 very worthy, but you said you wanted to live there. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.760 We don't feel like our praise is very magnificent, but 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.640 you said you wanted to inhabit it. So come and 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.520 do that now. God. Somebody said I'm watching church, but 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.279 they were wrong. They're not watching anything when they worship 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:32.760 You and the beauty of holiness. You set up shop, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.960 if it's in a kitchen, if it's on a futon, 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.160 if it's on a porch. Trying to get some vitamin D. 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.960 Thank you Jesus, I speak another vitamin D deliverance. God, 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.200 would you set the captives free today? Do what only 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:51.800 you can do. I don't know what they need, and 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:53.560 even if I did, I don't have it to give. 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.680 But you do, Lord. I pray that that would be 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.480 the testimony of every person today when when we get 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.800 into this word, that their spirit would agree with what 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.599 is spoken, come into alignment with your purpose for our lives. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.720 I thank you for what I feel standing in an 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.680 almost empty room. I feel the fullness of your presence, 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.960 and right now I confer my faith to join with 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.240 my brother, my sister, that they would feel your presence 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.800 in that room, even if it's a hospital room, even 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.800 if they're in a prison cell. God, your word can 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:36.360 go anywhere. Your word can do anything. Nothing is impossible 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:41.920 for you, So do the impossible, the unimaginable. We give 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.760 you all that we are. We focus our hearts on you, 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:54.680 not on the diagnosis, not on politicians or governments or 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:59.480 bills or people who get on our nerves. We came 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.560 to worship you, and we honor your presence in Jesus' name. 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:06.640 And everybody in the chat, come on, y'all, break the chat. 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:12.320 Say amen, Say amen in all caps. I wonder can 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.480 we break YouTube today? I want to? I want to 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.919 see how if we can shut down YouTube today. I 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.240 want to get who owns YouTube? I want to? I 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.960 want huh. I want to get Google out their bed 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:28.800 to see what happened to our YouTube today? Oh no, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.880 they're having church. They can't contain us, you know, they 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.320 never could. They can't lock us down or lock us out. 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.599 So here we are here, You are here, I am. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.760 What's up? How you do? And take another bite of 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.000 your bagel and get ready for the Word of God. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.160 How many are grateful that he turns graves into garters? 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.400 What else does he do? He turns mourning to dance 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.600 in what you say that you can cry a tear 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:58.360 but still have a testimony. Absolutely, my tears are my testimony. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.440 He wept with me. He is the god who sees 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.119 and knows. Y'all need to sit down, feel I feel 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.280 so spontaneous. If y'all don't get a stool, we're never 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.080 gonna get to the word. Welcome to week three of 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.960 a series called Looking Forward to Normal, And I feel 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:20.760 this one in my bones. I'm already sweating right through 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:25.720 my limited edition exclusive Graves into Gardens jacket. Don't even 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.680 ask where you can buy it. It is not for sale. 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:32.080 This is special, This is the pastoral edition, This is 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.200 the founder's right, and we do just want to make 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.240 sure that you're listening to these songs. You know, one 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:40.800 of the things that I'm gonna speak about today and 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.400 just a moment, go ahead and grab your Bible if 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.240 you have one around, and this would be a good 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:51.200 time to get one with pages from trees because it'll 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.320 help you focus, and that's going to be important for 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:56.160 my message today. You'll see. Really, that's what we're talking 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:01.280 about is focus, looking forward to normal, and what you 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.960 focus on right now determines whether you will go forward 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.280 or whether you're just going to repeat the same old 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:14.280 dead routines, repeat the same old disgusting stuff. God is 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.480 helping you keep your New Year's resolutions right now because 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.560 you were so busy and distracted. So he said, well, here, 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.720 I'll help you out real quick. What if I just 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.320 unplug all of the other stuff and then we can 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.960 get some things right. And you know, I was praying that, 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.680 like God, what is it that is good that you 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.840 want to do in this situation, because I'm just being honest. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.920 It made me cry last night to watch our videos, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.960 which you can go see right now on YouTube shame 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.240 Less plug. Oh yeah, I plug stuff. I believe in. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.679 I plug stuff with a purpose. Somebody put it in 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.600 the chat, plug it with a purpose, pastor plug it 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.760 with a purpose, pastor touch seventeen people and you know, 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.680 I was watching those videos from the night that we 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.480 recorded Graves into gardens and we sang my test simony 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.600 and available. It's my prayer that my life would be 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.720 an offering. And the spirit of God just swept through 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.840 this room. And you know, our church has twenty physical 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.200 locations and watch parties Danny all around the world, not 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.000 just in Charlotte, but all over the world. Our family 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:21.360 spans the globe. And it made me so sad to 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.160 think about not being able to beat together and sing rattle. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.320 I felt like Billy Corgan said, I'm a rat in 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.160 a cage. You know, despite all my praise, I am 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.720 still just a rat in a cage something like that. 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.199 And I just felt like, God, let the people come. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.000 Why can't they all be together? You know, this is 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.240 our family. I really do love being with my church. 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:50.000 And yet I found out that a lot of times 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.520 when God doesn't let you out of a certain situation, 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.200 when you want to come out, there's something that He 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.560 wants to bring in to you that can never be 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:04.040 taken away. So I started praying, maybe this seven weeks, 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:06.360 eight weeks, nine weeks, ten weeks, however long it goes, 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.320 that we're meeting like this and just finding a way 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.520 to have church. Even if we can't hug each other, 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.480 all we can do is put hearts on a chat 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.240 on a screen or something like that. Maybe God is 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:20.959 showing us that his presence is not limited to a 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.000 physical location. And maybe the same way we're having church 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.800 in our homes right now, we won't just have on Sunday. 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.480 But maybe this is going to be a training ground 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.400 for us to learn how to just have church anywhere 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:38.360 we are. God is where you are. Yeah, you don't 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.240 go to a place where God is. How stupid is 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.560 that he's omnipresent? You think God's like keeping a desk 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.360 somewhere in a corner office, like an old college professor 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.600 on Sundays, come by, you know, like God's an old 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:52.199 man in a nurse and home. I wish you'd come 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.280 see me more. No, God is energy. God is spirit. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.520 God is a molecular structure that feels all in all. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.920 That's what it means to say that Christ was from 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.520 the beginning. So since he's eternal and he's not bound 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.440 by time or by location, since he can move with 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.480 the cloud or move with the fire. Since God is 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:14.479 always moving, that means he can visit and inhabit anywhere 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:18.160 that we choose to give him praise. Thank you Jesus. 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.880 I haven't read my scripture yet, So now what we 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:24.880 want to do in this third week? And I don't 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:27.400 think this will be the final week. I really don't 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.199 think we're going to leave this teaching for a long 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:35.000 time looking forward to know normal? What if normal is 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:41.000 not back there? What if normal isn't stressed out, you know, 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.439 like you were three months ago, like you have been 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.160 for the last three years. What if normal is something 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.880 you've never known? What if there is a joy unspeakable 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.080 and full of glory in the Holy Ghost? What if 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.559 people of faith aren't weird? What if we're the ones 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:01.080 who got it. Right time I turn on the news, 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:05.800 they're talking about how an invisible virus is shutting down 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.040 the visible world and everything we can see is affected 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:13.319 by something we can't see. Well, that's what the scripture 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.800 has been saying all along, right, Faith is the substance 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.960 of things hoped for and the evidence of things not see. 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.920 I don't see it, but I believe it. I can't 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.199 point to it, but I know it on the inside. 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.480 And so this is an excellent time go to Philippians 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.320 Chapter one, to pull out some of these scriptures that 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.400 help us to see that the kingdoms of this world 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:44.960 are meant to shatter. Excuse me, I can't multitask. I 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:46.680 was trying to turn and talk at the same time. 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:53.800 The kingdoms of this world and the kingdoms of our 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:58.480 God do not have much in common. What Romans twelve 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.080 called the patterns of this world the way that we 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.720 get used to doing things. How if somebody offends us, 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.640 we offend back, and then we get offended. Oh I 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.360 got offended. Well that was a dumb thing to do. 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:18.280 Why would you get that? But they offended me? No, no, No, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:25.920 offense is an event. Offended is a decision, So why 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.040 would I make a decision? These are the ways of 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.760 the world. If you offend me, I'm going to be offended. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.640 The Kingdom of God, the renewing of our mind, says 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.440 you can bring me an offense. One time I preached 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.559 the message where I built a fence on the stage 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.000 and I said, you can either drive it into the 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:48.040 ground and create separation, or you can drop it. And 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.800 that's really weird to the world until you realize that 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:56.199 God's ways actually work. Who would have thought he actually 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.680 knew what he was doing when he made you. And 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.760 if you made you a little weird, if he wired 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.360 you a little differently, if you're wired a little different. 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:08.920 I was telling them. We came out and had church 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.160 before church, and I almost spilled my starbucks all over 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:15.320 the stage, broke a stool. We were singing rattle, and 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.800 I told him everybody is telling me that the song 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.920 the Blessing makes them cry, and I was like, I 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.440 guess I'm weird because rattle makes me cry. I don't know, 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.720 Mom dropped me? When did you drop me? Because something 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:30.120 got wired wrong in my head. You're not supposed to 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.400 cry singing open the grave I'm coming out, but I do. 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:34.720 I cried when we were riding it, and I cry 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.480 when I hear it. And so somebody put in the 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:43.160 chat I'm wonderfully weird, And don't look at the person 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:44.920 next to you and say you sure are. If you're 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:46.640 sitting on the couch with somebody, I don't want any 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:51.000 strife in the home. But look at this. Paul was weird. 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.640 And what was weird about Paul? He wrote Philippians. What 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:59.720 was weird about Paul was that he had this ability 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.840 to come unicate uncertainty and confidence in the same breath, 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.360 in the same letter. And that was what was weird, 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:13.000 because he would say something and he would sound so courageous, 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.520 and then he would say something else about how his 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.160 situation was so unstable. And I want to show you 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.240 a passage that I really love. If I were your waiter, 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.600 I would tell you that this message pairs well with 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.040 a message that I've preached a while back, called choosing 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.640 your change, and it's available for you right now. But 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:38.480 as I'm finding lately, these messages and these passages are 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.960 taking on a new relevance to me. That's what the 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.400 Word of God is. Alive and active, That's what it means. 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.320 It means like as your life changes, God's word doesn't change, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:51.760 but your perspective does. So you have the ability to 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.440 look at a situation that you used to say, man, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.280 that was unfair. Three years later you're like, I am 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.200 so glad that they'd and keep me around. You look 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:04.200 at a situation on one hand and go, that was 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.920 the worst week of my life. You look at it 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.320 a few months ago, you go, I learned a lesson 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.200 from that. Oh, I wouldn't trade that lesson for anything. 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.480 And so today, let me give you just one verse 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.960 to start with. I want to read a lot of verses, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:26.040 so clear your calendar, Okay, check, and now listen to 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.560 this one verse. And there's really something about it that 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:33.440 took me by surprise. In Philippius, Chapter one, verse twenty two, 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:39.000 Paul says, if I am to go on living, if 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.480 I thought no weapon formed against you will prosper Isaiah 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.240 fifty four to seventeen. Paul, didn't you read Isaiah fifty 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.960 four or seventeen? Paul's like, yeah, man, me and Isaiah 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.600 are peers. We both were both writing the Bible. He 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.440 just wrote it a few centuries ago. But yet he 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.600 is introducing now y'all listen. You got to listen with 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.400 your spiritual ears. Because you're physical ear. Drums are blown 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.720 out because we were we were just rocking up here. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.120 But listen with your spirit he said, if I am 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.600 to go on living, I don't know how this will 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.840 turn out. How many feel that way about something in 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.639 your life right now? I don't know how this is 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:19.800 going to turn out. It is inconclusive. The ruling on 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.399 the field is under review. They put me in this 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:28.840 prison for preaching the gospel I didn't sell dope, I 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.480 didn't hurt anyone. I was just trying to help. And 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.400 here I am imprisoned. I believe Paul was under house 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.399 arrest in Rome. That's kind of where his ministry concludes 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.720 in Acts Chapter twenty eight. There is debate about which 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:49.359 imprisonment that Paul was facing when he wrote this letter 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:51.960 to the Philippians. But one thing we know is that 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.600 he was in prison, and the other thing we know 0:17:55.200 --> 0:18:00.000 is that he saw a purpose in it. So since 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.080 Paul has this perspective to offer us today, let's ask 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:08.119 him about what is important to him as he sits 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.919 in a prison cell, and maybe we need to make 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:15.280 it applicable to us. Okay, we're most of us. We're 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.320 not exactly locked up, but we're locked down right now. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.000 And I don't even mean whether or not you can 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:23.720 go get your nails done, or you know, whether or 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.680 not you're allowed to visit your barber, or whether or 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.119 not you're going into the grocery store without wearing a 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.240 beekeeper suit. I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:38.479 that most of us are are trapped inside of what 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:44.200 we don't yet know in this transition. And so since 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.560 Paul is awaiting whether or not they're going to kill 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.800 him for preaching Christ or let him live. I want 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:53.400 to hear what this preacher has to say. Somebody say, 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.679 preach it, Paul. It doesn't get any better than this. 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.119 The apostle Paul is the guest preacher at Elevation Church 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.840 this weekend. So he says, if I am to go 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:09.520 on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:21.600 for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not No. Wow, 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.880 he doesn't say that much. Did you hear what Paul said? 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:30.560 You better underline this because you're not going to hear 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.520 him say it much much more. He doesn't say this 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:40.639 many times he said, I do not know, and I 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.440 wish somebody was honest enough to put it in the chat. 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:50.479 I do not. No. You think the four words that 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:54.840 express the greatest faith are God will come through. No, 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.760 that's not it. You think the four greatest words of 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:05.760 FAI are he can do anything that's for right, for 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.840 he can give you. You think the four greatest words 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.800 of faith are you know, I trust in God. But 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.640 sometimes all of those are fine. By the way, Sometimes 0:20:19.400 --> 0:20:23.760 the greatest statement of faith you can make is when 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.520 Paul said, I'm waiting on a verdict. I'm in this 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:34.399 quarantine prison, I'm in this I'm in this situation, and 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:39.200 it's uncertain what will happen. And the church at Philippi 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:45.080 remembered they love Paul. They love Paul way more than 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:49.280 Elevation church loves me because Paul was a better pastor, 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.159 and and they love him so much. He started the 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:58.000 church at Philippi, and now they're having to to make 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.120 it without his physical presence. Yes, they're having to make 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.640 it without the person who taught them the gospel. They 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.560 can't be together. And so he's backing up to tell them, 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:11.880 let me give you a report on how I'm doing, 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:13.760 you know with me. Let me give you a report 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.080 on how things are going in the prison Philippians, Chapter one, 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.199 verse twelve. Remember he started the church at Philipi. But 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.600 now things have taken a turn for the worst. And 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:27.600 it's uncertain. Somebody, it's uncertain in your life right now. 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.320 It's uncertain about when certain things are going to kick 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:32.800 back in. It's uncertain about whether or not you're gonna 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.520 be able to meet this need. It's uncertain about whether 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:37.800 or not life is going to get back to normal, y'all. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.040 I don't know if we'll ever hug people again who 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.600 don't have our last name. I'm hoping kind of not. 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:45.520 I don't like the hug anymore. But I don't know. 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.280 And that's what Paul says. But listen. The way that 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:53.600 he models for us confidence in the face of uncertainty 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.000 is a lesson that I think can change your life. 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:03.000 The title of this lesson is called focus on the fruit. 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:12.479 You ready, focus on the fruit. And since the message 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:14.520 starts with focus, if you need to close the chat 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.199 to listen to me, do it. If you need to 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:22.000 give your kids a shot of niquill early in the 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:26.560 morning to listen to me, listen to me. Focus on 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:28.480 the fruit. All over the world, the gospel is bearing 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:30.440 fruit right now as I speak. The Word of God 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.240 does not return void, No, it never does. It accomplishes 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:35.960 what He sends it to do. But you've got to 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:40.800 focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. There's no 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:43.720 title coming up behind me on screen. You are the 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.320 production team today. Put right there in the chat. If 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.320 you haven't closed it, put focus on the fruit. That's 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.359 the word of the Lord today. God. I'm excited about 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:56.720 it because Paul starts with telling the church at Philippi 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:03.080 about the events that have transpired since he last saw them. Now, 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:07.719 remember Paul wasn't able to post this on Facebook, so 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:10.320 it's going to take a while for them to get 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.320 the correspondence through something that's way slower than the United 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:18.240 States Postal Service. Paul has to get them this message 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.240 and they have to wait to receive it. The man 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:22.919 of God is trying to give him a message, but 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.760 they have to wait to receive it. The Man of 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:27.719 God is trying to give him a message, but they 0:23:27.760 --> 0:23:31.560 have to wait to receive it. While you're waiting, learn 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:36.119 to worship. It is the worship that you offer God 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:39.359 while you are waiting that will prepare your heart for 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:43.840 the word. That's what tills the soil. When I offer 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:48.080 God praise in my heart while I'm waiting, That's what 0:23:48.200 --> 0:23:51.760 makes me ready and receptive for what he speaks. So 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:54.760 some of us are so anxious for God to do something, 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:59.560 but often in those seasons of transition, he's tilling the ground. 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.639 Who is this for? He breaks up our heart and 0:24:02.720 --> 0:24:06.520 heart in waiting seasons as we praise Him by faith 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:14.240 and Philippians Chapter one, verse twelve, Thank you Jesus says, now, 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:18.640 I want you to know brothers and sisters. I want 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:23.720 you to what No, I want you to know brothers 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:28.840 and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:35.520 somebody say actually, like you're arguing, say actually what had 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:41.760 happened was actually what's going on. So there's certain things 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:45.439 that are a parent. But what if what is a 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:48.639 parent isn't what is actual? You see what I'm saying. 0:24:48.880 --> 0:24:50.479 I just want to read the Bible slow because I've 0:24:50.480 --> 0:24:54.359 got nothing else to do. He said, Actually, this is 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:59.960 what's actually happening. Physically speaking, what's happening is I mean 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:05.480 chains locked up or on house arrest. Physically speaking, I'm 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:08.760 not able to preach outside of these walls. Physically speaking, 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:11.919 I'm quarantined. Physically speaking, some things are going on right 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:15.959 now in my bank account. But actually it has served 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:20.120 to advance the gospel. If you are a note taking nerd, 0:25:20.160 --> 0:25:22.840 write down that the word advance means to make headway 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:27.800 despite severe blows. This is the kind of progress that 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:34.399 isn't pretty. This is like me doing squats. I'm not 0:25:34.520 --> 0:25:36.680 doing it so my face can look pretty. I'm doing 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:39.760 it so my muscles can grow. So this may not 0:25:39.840 --> 0:25:43.440 be the prettiest part of my life, but by faith, 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:46.880 I believe it's going to be the most productive. The 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:50.040 most productive parts of your life will not be the prettiest. 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:55.479 The greatest miracles in your life will come in the 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.080 middle of the biggest mess. Am I anointed? Or did 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:03.440 I take too much? CAF mean? He said, actually, what happened? 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:09.000 And he doesn't go into this long, long, long, long 0:26:09.280 --> 0:26:12.480 list of events, Holly, he doesn't go into like a 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:15.080 long list of events. Some of us are more verbose 0:26:15.119 --> 0:26:18.720 than others. Like when Holly tells me what happened in 0:26:18.760 --> 0:26:21.480 her day, it takes her more word counts because she's 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:25.280 she's smarter to get it done. She's like, she's like paragraphs, 0:26:26.160 --> 0:26:30.200 and I'm like sentences. And Paul Paul doesn't even give 0:26:30.280 --> 0:26:35.879 them a sentence. On his condition in prison, food sucks, 0:26:35.960 --> 0:26:42.080 y'all pray for me. It's loud here. He doesn't. He 0:26:42.119 --> 0:26:48.080 doesn't give him a single sentence. I wonder why. I wonder, 0:26:48.160 --> 0:26:51.479 by this point in his life, does he have his 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:55.480 priority straight to know that what is happening in me 0:26:55.640 --> 0:26:59.679 is always more important than what's happening to me. I 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:03.440 wonder do I have it straight. Not really not yet. 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:09.120 I'm still conformed to the pattern of this world. I'm 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:13.719 still acted upon by external events. You know, if I 0:27:13.800 --> 0:27:18.040 feel it, I believe it. Well, Paul's past that. Paul's like, Look, 0:27:18.040 --> 0:27:19.720 I can sit here and tell you all about prison 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:22.560 blah blah blah. I've been here so many times before. 0:27:22.760 --> 0:27:26.520 It's not even me worth wasting the papyrus that I 0:27:26.520 --> 0:27:29.080 would write it on. I only got so much scroll, 0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:31.280 and I don't want to take up the time telling 0:27:31.280 --> 0:27:33.639 you how bad my day was. I don't want to 0:27:33.640 --> 0:27:36.480 spend so much time just thinking about and talking about 0:27:36.640 --> 0:27:39.160 and guessing about all this stuff that I can't control. 0:27:39.359 --> 0:27:42.199 So what I want to focus on instead is the 0:27:42.200 --> 0:27:49.280 fruit and what has happened to me get this. Beneath 0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:55.160 the surface, God is growing something greater than our minds 0:27:55.160 --> 0:28:02.280 can imagine. Something's happening in the soil. Something is happening 0:28:02.320 --> 0:28:06.560 in the soil. Something is taking root in your heart 0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:10.879 right now, in this season of my life, God is 0:28:10.920 --> 0:28:15.159 giving me a root system. In this season of my life. 0:28:15.200 --> 0:28:19.160 God is teaching me to focus. In this season of 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:24.320 my life, remember, I'm looking forward to normal. God is 0:28:24.359 --> 0:28:28.119 pruning some stuff out of my life right now to 0:28:28.200 --> 0:28:31.960 make me ready for what's next. Can I get one 0:28:32.080 --> 0:28:36.520 witness in this room that God is rooting me, establishing 0:28:36.560 --> 0:28:40.680 me so that I can bear more fruit. Well, we 0:28:40.840 --> 0:28:44.440 like the fruit, right, but the roots kind of boring, 0:28:46.960 --> 0:28:50.160 kind of not too sexy, kind of ugly when you 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:51.760 get down to it. You ever put roots in a 0:28:51.800 --> 0:28:56.280 vase and handed them to somebody for Valentine's Day? Now, one, 0:28:56.320 --> 0:28:59.280 what's on the other side? We all want what's on 0:28:59.320 --> 0:29:02.800 the other side, on the other side of the Red Sea. 0:29:03.360 --> 0:29:06.680 I'm gonna give you praise Lord God. When we get 0:29:06.680 --> 0:29:09.720 back to church. I saw y'all on Instagram. I've been 0:29:09.720 --> 0:29:12.480 going through your Instagram post everybody that tagged me or 0:29:12.520 --> 0:29:16.240 Elevation Worship singing a song. I scrolled through them. Ask Abby, 0:29:16.520 --> 0:29:20.160 ask Graham. We spent three hours last night just scrolling 0:29:20.200 --> 0:29:22.680 through y'all. Some of y'all couldn't sing on key, but 0:29:22.760 --> 0:29:25.200 we still enjoyed seeing you sing these songs. I saw 0:29:25.240 --> 0:29:27.600 so many people say when we get back to church, 0:29:27.760 --> 0:29:33.160 oh man, watch out, well, why wait? Why wait? I 0:29:33.200 --> 0:29:36.880 thought you were church. I thought the Holy Spirit lived 0:29:36.880 --> 0:29:40.160 in you. Jordan, if you were at Riverwalk, you'd be 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:42.800 standing up shouting me down. Why you need a crowd 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:46.000 to shout me down? I thought the spirit of God 0:29:46.160 --> 0:29:51.520 lived in you. So now look, we love to shout 0:29:51.760 --> 0:29:56.480 over fruit, but fruit without root doesn't last long. I 0:29:56.560 --> 0:30:00.960 want something sustainable in my life. I want not only 0:30:01.000 --> 0:30:03.880 the blessing of God, but I want him to build 0:30:03.920 --> 0:30:06.360 me up so that I can bear up under it. 0:30:06.960 --> 0:30:10.240 I want to yield my fruit in season in season, 0:30:10.680 --> 0:30:14.760 in season in season. There is a time for everything, 0:30:14.840 --> 0:30:18.479 Solomon said, there is a season to mourn. So if 0:30:18.520 --> 0:30:22.240 you're mourning right now, that's the root. But you will 0:30:22.280 --> 0:30:26.040 rejoice in the morning, that's the fruit. And I'm not 0:30:26.240 --> 0:30:29.480 focused on what I'm going through. I'm focused on what 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:36.920 God is doing through and focus on the fruit. Focus 0:30:36.960 --> 0:30:41.680 on the fruit, Focus on the fruit. How was your week? Well, 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:44.560 it depends what part about it do you want to know? 0:30:44.600 --> 0:30:47.160 When I almost strangled my kids or when I hugged them. 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:51.320 I did both, the part where I was walking around 0:30:51.360 --> 0:30:53.760 the house cussing under my breath or the part where 0:30:53.760 --> 0:31:00.880 I was singing Man. Because from the same mouth the 0:31:00.920 --> 0:31:04.040 fruit of lips that profess his name and the fruit 0:31:04.120 --> 0:31:11.520 that will tell you other stuff too. So listen out 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:15.240 of this this great season of uncertainty, somebody put put 0:31:15.280 --> 0:31:20.000 again in the chat, I do not know you are 0:31:20.200 --> 0:31:25.360 allowed to say that. I don't know what makes people 0:31:25.400 --> 0:31:28.760 think that preachers know stuff that we don't know. People 0:31:28.800 --> 0:31:31.520 will ask me the weirdest stuff. If a cat dies 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:33.400 in the middle of the night and the owner went 0:31:33.440 --> 0:31:35.680 to church the day before it, would it get to 0:31:35.720 --> 0:31:37.840 heaven or does it have to pray? I don't know 0:31:37.880 --> 0:31:42.480 about your cat. In the Book of Revelations, where it 0:31:42.520 --> 0:31:44.520 talks about the horse and the Da Da Da and 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:46.480 the heavens and the earth and decide, I said, I 0:31:46.520 --> 0:31:49.080 didn't break open the scroll. The lamb did that. I didn't. 0:31:49.120 --> 0:31:54.320 I'm not the lamb. I'm a dumb sheep like you. 0:31:54.320 --> 0:32:02.680 You you e w eu insdeed y'all wake up. We 0:32:02.720 --> 0:32:07.800 don't have law. And so knowing that I don't know 0:32:08.400 --> 0:32:11.640 what a powerful what a powerful concept. Knowing that you 0:32:11.760 --> 0:32:17.080 don't know makes you open to wisdom. Knowing that you 0:32:17.120 --> 0:32:23.000 don't know. I talked to Craig Grochelle yesterday about when 0:32:23.080 --> 0:32:24.680 church is going to open, and this and that and 0:32:24.720 --> 0:32:26.840 the other, and all the states are different, and I 0:32:26.880 --> 0:32:28.320 don't know if our governor is ever going to let 0:32:28.360 --> 0:32:31.440 us out the house again or not. But certain states 0:32:31.440 --> 0:32:33.560 in the United States of America open up. Certain nations 0:32:33.600 --> 0:32:35.760 are more open than others, and we're all on different 0:32:35.760 --> 0:32:38.320 ways dealing with coronavirus. If you're watching this in a 0:32:38.360 --> 0:32:41.360 time capsule. In twenty thirty two, things were weird. This 0:32:41.520 --> 0:32:43.760 was not like elevation. Church had a bad growth season. 0:32:43.840 --> 0:32:46.760 We weren't allowed to come okay, But I was like, 0:32:46.960 --> 0:32:49.240 what do you think, man? Another month, another six months, 0:32:49.280 --> 0:32:50.719 another twelve months where we go to church and come 0:32:50.720 --> 0:32:52.120 back to D D D D. And we went back 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:55.880 and forth, just talking, just burning up our data plan, 0:32:56.160 --> 0:32:58.640 talking to each other. And finally I said, do you 0:32:58.680 --> 0:33:01.040 know what the most small ardest thing that we've said, 0:33:01.080 --> 0:33:03.400 the most smartest thing we said on this whole call 0:33:03.560 --> 0:33:06.280 was when you said, three minutes ago, I don't know, 0:33:07.640 --> 0:33:11.400 that's the smartest thing either of us have said. And 0:33:11.440 --> 0:33:15.360 so here's what's really cool about right now. We are 0:33:15.400 --> 0:33:20.880 all idiots at the same time. We are all equally 0:33:21.000 --> 0:33:26.200 ignorant of what comes next. Nobody's got a crystal ball. 0:33:26.320 --> 0:33:29.360 I know your uncle's cousin's friend worked for the Pentagon. 0:33:29.480 --> 0:33:33.600 Shut up hearing from everybody. When my dad went to 0:33:33.600 --> 0:33:39.880 college with doctor fouche, shut up. Nobody knows. Paul didn't know. 0:33:41.720 --> 0:33:46.880 Nobody knows. Are my kids ever going to have a 0:33:46.920 --> 0:33:50.440 real teacher again? Nobody knows. Then they might send them 0:33:50.440 --> 0:33:54.240 to school, and they might send them back right, Nobody 0:33:54.320 --> 0:34:03.280 knows when is the Nobody knows, Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody. 0:34:04.480 --> 0:34:06.080 All the depths of the wisdom of the riches and 0:34:06.120 --> 0:34:09.040 knowledge of God, how insearchable is passed beyond tracing out 0:34:09.520 --> 0:34:11.640 who has known the mind of the Lord, and who 0:34:11.760 --> 0:34:15.360 has been as counselor. This is Romans eleven, right before 0:34:15.480 --> 0:34:18.880 Romans twelve, where it says, be transformed by the renewing 0:34:18.960 --> 0:34:21.120 of your mind. He says, Oh, the depths of the 0:34:21.160 --> 0:34:24.480 wisdom of the riches and knowledge of God, how unsearchable 0:34:24.560 --> 0:34:29.240 his pathways? Beyond tracing out? Who has known the mind 0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:37.880 of the Lord? Who knows not me, not me, not 0:34:38.040 --> 0:34:46.239 you not Paul. Paul always had an answer. You know, 0:34:46.480 --> 0:34:50.440 he was one man said he was seldom he was. 0:34:50.600 --> 0:34:53.640 He was often wrong, but seldom in doubt. Do you 0:34:53.640 --> 0:34:59.359 know anybody like that? That was Paul. Paul always knew 0:34:59.440 --> 0:35:01.720 And look you can to see him. He starts this passage, 0:35:01.719 --> 0:35:04.920 he says, I want you to know brothers and sisters 0:35:05.000 --> 0:35:08.040 verse twelve, and then by the time he gets to 0:35:08.760 --> 0:35:12.799 verse twenty two, he says, I do not know, So 0:35:12.840 --> 0:35:15.759 how are we supposed to know if you don't even know? Right? 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:20.160 I love this because the truth is in the tension 0:35:20.520 --> 0:35:24.200 hermeneutical principle one oh one. The truth is in the tension. 0:35:25.200 --> 0:35:31.240 So the presence of faith does not eliminate uncertainty. In fact, 0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:36.920 it operates by uncertainty. Can I preach like I? Like 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:39.399 I saw it in the text? He said, I want 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:42.000 you to know that the Gospel is going forward. That's 0:35:42.080 --> 0:35:46.280 the important thing, And as a result, it has become 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:50.160 clear verse thirteen throughout the whole palace. Guard Wait a minute, 0:35:50.160 --> 0:35:53.640 Wait a minute. He's talking about clarity, but he's still 0:35:53.960 --> 0:35:59.320 not defining the outcome. His clarity is not about the outcome. 0:36:00.120 --> 0:36:04.000 His clarity is about God's presence in the process. What 0:36:04.120 --> 0:36:07.680 a word. I'm focused on what God is doing in 0:36:07.719 --> 0:36:11.319 me right now. I can't control what politicians do. I 0:36:11.360 --> 0:36:14.279 can't control how long this prison sentence is. There is 0:36:14.320 --> 0:36:17.239 something outside of my control. But this is what I 0:36:17.280 --> 0:36:19.560 told Elijah in the Pound the other day. Graham, I'm 0:36:19.560 --> 0:36:21.880 giving him life lessons, and I think this has to 0:36:21.920 --> 0:36:24.360 be number one. Just if you strip it all away, 0:36:24.560 --> 0:36:26.200 and I don't even need a Bible verse for this, 0:36:26.440 --> 0:36:28.279 but if you strip it all away, this is what 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:31.360 I taught him. The only thing you can really control 0:36:31.440 --> 0:36:36.680 is your focus. What you're gonna do, make it sonny, 0:36:38.800 --> 0:36:41.880 what you're gonna do, make it rainy, what you're gonna do, 0:36:41.960 --> 0:36:45.800 make people nicer, You're gonna make people stop being crazy. 0:36:46.920 --> 0:36:49.680 What are you gonna do. You're gonna do. You're gonna 0:36:49.719 --> 0:36:53.920 pray away the virus. Look, man, I'm praying just as 0:36:53.960 --> 0:36:56.120 hard as anybody for stuff that I can't control. That's 0:36:56.160 --> 0:37:00.239 all I can do. But what I can control is 0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:11.320 my focus. I can control my focus. Not me pastro feurdics, feuritic. 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:16.040 I can't control my focus. I'm a ADHD. I'm not. 0:37:16.280 --> 0:37:19.919 I am not talking about physical focus. I'm talking about 0:37:19.920 --> 0:37:26.440 emotional focus. I'm talking about spiritual focus. I'm talking about 0:37:26.520 --> 0:37:31.279 focusing your priorities. Now. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 0:37:31.320 --> 0:37:34.359 patient's kindnes, goodness, faithuless gentlemen, and self control. Galatians five, 0:37:34.440 --> 0:37:38.560 twenty two, twenty three. Cross reference for your Bible study. 0:37:38.640 --> 0:37:43.000 The fruit of the Spirit is joy. The fruit of 0:37:43.040 --> 0:37:48.000 the spirit is joy, but the root of the spirit 0:37:48.760 --> 0:37:55.200 is priorities. What you are planted in what matters to me. 0:37:56.400 --> 0:37:59.799 This is Paul's message. He's writing back to the church 0:37:59.840 --> 0:38:03.400 that he founded in Philippi. He led that purple cloth 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:05.879 dealer Lydia to the Lord, and the city was never 0:38:05.920 --> 0:38:10.520 the same. He got locked up with Silas in prison 0:38:10.719 --> 0:38:14.919 in Philippi for preaching the gospel. Remember that story. Most 0:38:14.960 --> 0:38:18.600 people don't know that he is writing a letter to 0:38:18.760 --> 0:38:22.960 the same people who only have a church in their 0:38:23.000 --> 0:38:27.560 city because Paul was thrown in prison. Did you hear me? 0:38:28.400 --> 0:38:32.440 The only reason there is a book of Philippians is 0:38:32.520 --> 0:38:36.960 because Paul was thrown in prison. The only reason that 0:38:37.040 --> 0:38:40.640 he writes, I can do all things through Christ who 0:38:40.680 --> 0:38:47.160 strengthens me Philippians four thirteen. Mountain was able to do. Wait, No, 0:38:47.200 --> 0:38:50.600 that's Ephesians three twenty Philippians four nineteen able to do 0:38:50.680 --> 0:38:53.400 And that's Ephesians three twenty two. What's the one in 0:38:53.400 --> 0:38:56.440 Philippians four nineteen, No, No. Four thirteen is I can 0:38:56.480 --> 0:39:00.239 do all things? Philippians for nineteen nineteen nineteen, I want, 0:39:00.560 --> 0:39:06.040 I want for nineteen I know what that through your 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:11.200 prayers and God's provision. No Verse nineteen says, my God 0:39:11.280 --> 0:39:15.120 will supply all your needs. But yet Paul is saying, 0:39:15.440 --> 0:39:18.640 I don't know how this ends. But yeah, he's saying, 0:39:18.719 --> 0:39:22.560 my God will supply all my needs. But I don't 0:39:22.640 --> 0:39:26.399 need to know how it ends. To know that I'm 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:30.640 going to see the glory of God in the middle 0:39:30.680 --> 0:39:36.400 of it, some things I don't need to know. I 0:39:36.400 --> 0:39:40.200 don't need to know. That is why I am encouraging 0:39:40.239 --> 0:39:44.239 you to limit your intake of the news. You do 0:39:44.280 --> 0:39:50.360 not need to know everything up to the minute. Amen. 0:39:51.760 --> 0:39:54.480 You do not need to know the things that you 0:39:54.520 --> 0:39:59.000 cannot directly affect. You do not need to know all 0:39:59.239 --> 0:40:02.840 the detail to take your next step. Just ask Abraham. 0:40:04.840 --> 0:40:07.600 You do not have to know the ten year plan 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:11.600 for your life to give God your best today. You 0:40:11.680 --> 0:40:14.840 do not have to know how long until there is 0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:17.960 a vaccine for a virus. To praise God and worship 0:40:18.040 --> 0:40:20.239 God for the life that he has given you in 0:40:20.320 --> 0:40:24.279 this moment and releasing my need to know is the 0:40:24.280 --> 0:40:28.560 hardest thing because I thought that information was the key. 0:40:28.680 --> 0:40:32.920 But yet Paul says, there is a confidence that goes 0:40:33.480 --> 0:40:40.120 beneath knowledge. Let me sit back down because I got 0:40:40.239 --> 0:40:43.399 more to say about this. In fact, I haven't even 0:40:43.920 --> 0:40:50.960 started my sermon yet, Paul said, because of my chains, 0:40:51.040 --> 0:40:53.600 most of the brothers and sisters verse fourteen have become 0:40:53.719 --> 0:40:57.160 confident in the Lord and dare all the more. I'm 0:40:57.200 --> 0:41:01.520 gonna praise him all the more. Oh, thank you Devil 0:41:01.600 --> 0:41:04.800 for challenging my fate. It's gonna make me more grateful. 0:41:06.000 --> 0:41:09.160 Thank you Lord for pruning my branches. It's only gonna 0:41:09.160 --> 0:41:12.960 make me more fruitful. More fruit, more fruit, more fruit, 0:41:13.239 --> 0:41:15.799 more fruit. I don't know who it's for, but you're 0:41:15.840 --> 0:41:18.200 gonna have more fruit, even if you got a little 0:41:18.280 --> 0:41:21.560 less money. Right now, I'm gonna bear more fruit. Somebody 0:41:21.640 --> 0:41:24.439 say more fruit, Come on, bring LB back next week. 0:41:24.480 --> 0:41:27.160 I need some help out here. More fruit, more fruit, 0:41:27.400 --> 0:41:29.879 more fruit in the chat, more fruit. Say it out 0:41:29.880 --> 0:41:33.160 of your mouth, more fruit. Because my roots are going deeper. 0:41:33.520 --> 0:41:36.279 Because I'm humble and I'm open, and where I am 0:41:36.280 --> 0:41:38.719 not a closed system, God can sow the seed of 0:41:38.760 --> 0:41:41.600 his word and bring forth something that my mind could 0:41:41.600 --> 0:41:49.480 never conceive. Now it is true verse fifteen that some 0:41:49.640 --> 0:41:52.759 preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out 0:41:52.760 --> 0:41:55.480 of goodwill. The latter do so out of love. This 0:41:55.560 --> 0:41:59.280 is all the stuff Paul can't control. He's like, yeah, 0:41:59.320 --> 0:42:02.880 some people are talking about me. Yeah, there's some idiots 0:42:02.880 --> 0:42:08.440 out here. Yeah I got trolls too. Yeah. I just 0:42:08.520 --> 0:42:12.000 block them and move on. Isn't it crazy how you 0:42:12.040 --> 0:42:16.600 just focus on the one thing that's against you. Do 0:42:16.640 --> 0:42:19.719 you do this too, or okay, pray for me? This 0:42:19.760 --> 0:42:23.960 is what I do. I focus. I have a thousand 0:42:24.040 --> 0:42:26.720 people say something nice to me, one person say something nasty, 0:42:28.880 --> 0:42:33.360 and I will. I will snuggle up to nasty. What 0:42:34.239 --> 0:42:38.719 am I doing? I'm being immateure that's immature. It means 0:42:38.760 --> 0:42:42.319 I'm not rooted enough yet in love to know that 0:42:42.600 --> 0:42:45.959 God is for me, who can be against me? Paul 0:42:46.040 --> 0:42:50.000 knew that. He knew that. He actually wrote that if 0:42:50.000 --> 0:42:52.400 God is for me, who could be against me? So 0:42:52.440 --> 0:42:54.040 he knew it. He wrote it. He said it came 0:42:54.040 --> 0:42:56.439 from within him. He knew it because it came from within. 0:42:58.200 --> 0:43:01.560 I almost called this message. She hates when I do this, 0:43:01.600 --> 0:43:04.759 She says, just give it one title, don't give it 0:43:04.800 --> 0:43:08.600 the alternate titles. But here's the alternate title for this message. 0:43:09.239 --> 0:43:15.799 Prison sentence, Prison sentence, because we hang up Philippians four 0:43:16.000 --> 0:43:18.319 thirteen in a weight room. I can do all things 0:43:18.400 --> 0:43:21.480 through Christ, who strengthens me. Paul wrote that sentence in 0:43:21.520 --> 0:43:26.800 a prison prison sentence. I wanted to know what's gonna 0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:29.560 come forth out of your life in this season of frustration. 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:34.799 Prison sentence. I could do a whole series on prison sentences. 0:43:35.480 --> 0:43:38.000 It has a double meaning. I don't know how long 0:43:38.040 --> 0:43:40.600 I'm gonna be here, but I'm gonna bear some fruit 0:43:40.640 --> 0:43:44.319 while I do. I am like a tree planted by 0:43:44.360 --> 0:43:47.640 the streams of water. I don't know how long, but 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:52.200 I know how high, how wide, how deep, how unsearchable 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:55.040 is the love of Christ. I know that it is 0:43:55.160 --> 0:44:00.480 beyond my comprehension. I do not know, but I know 0:44:00.600 --> 0:44:07.280 there's more fruit, more favor, more faith. So he said, 0:44:08.000 --> 0:44:11.920 I'm gonna ignore what I can't control. I'm going to 0:44:12.040 --> 0:44:15.040 ignore what I can't control. Yeah, but Paul, don't you 0:44:15.120 --> 0:44:17.640 need to be informed. You think you get informed by 0:44:17.680 --> 0:44:26.480 watching the news. You think you get informed by receiving 0:44:26.600 --> 0:44:30.840 fragmented information. No, no, no, Paul said, focus on the fruit, 0:44:31.840 --> 0:44:35.200 the fruit. You will know the tree by its fruit. 0:44:36.880 --> 0:44:38.840 We should step all the way back real quick before 0:44:38.840 --> 0:44:40.759 we get to this really good part of the passage. 0:44:41.160 --> 0:44:47.040 I still haven't gotten to the good part. Man. I 0:44:47.120 --> 0:44:49.239 just feel like I know something that you don't know yet, 0:44:49.239 --> 0:44:50.680 and I can't wait to show you. But I know 0:44:50.760 --> 0:44:52.279 that you don't know yet. It's so good. It's so good, 0:44:52.320 --> 0:44:54.920 it's so good. But for now, let's go back a 0:44:54.920 --> 0:44:59.920 couple thousand years, real quick, let's go back to normal. Okay, 0:45:00.000 --> 0:45:01.879 everybody wants to get back to normal. Let's get back 0:45:01.920 --> 0:45:05.280 to normal for a minute. Adam and Eve are naked 0:45:06.320 --> 0:45:10.520 in a garden and they can eat anything they want 0:45:10.719 --> 0:45:12.920 and they don't have to uber eat, to do or 0:45:13.000 --> 0:45:18.359 dash it. It's just there, and that was normal. It 0:45:18.440 --> 0:45:22.640 was normal. Some of us are so used to scarcity 0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:25.359 that abundance doesn't even feel normal to us, and when 0:45:25.360 --> 0:45:28.239 God brings it, we reject it because we've never known 0:45:28.280 --> 0:45:32.600 it before. Deeper, God will send someone to love us, 0:45:33.200 --> 0:45:35.360 but if they love us too much, we will push 0:45:35.400 --> 0:45:38.600 them away because we are not used to receiving fully, 0:45:39.160 --> 0:45:41.200 and so we do what Adam and Eve did. Do 0:45:41.280 --> 0:45:46.240 you remember what they called the Tree of the Remember Abby, 0:45:46.600 --> 0:45:51.879 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of 0:45:51.920 --> 0:45:56.120 the knowledge of the knowledge. And do you remember what 0:45:56.160 --> 0:46:00.719 the snake told Eve? He said, you eat it, you'll 0:46:00.760 --> 0:46:06.040 be like God knowing the difference between good and evil. Y'all. 0:46:06.120 --> 0:46:09.399 They didn't get in trouble because God didn't like apples. 0:46:11.320 --> 0:46:16.520 They got in trouble because they lost focus of all 0:46:16.600 --> 0:46:20.439 the things God had given them to eat, of all 0:46:20.480 --> 0:46:23.120 the choices that God has given us. Like we have 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:24.960 a choice, how we spend this time? You made a 0:46:24.960 --> 0:46:27.040 good one today. You know all the crap you could 0:46:27.080 --> 0:46:30.360 be watching on YouTube and you're in church. Give yourself 0:46:30.400 --> 0:46:33.960 a clap hand emoji, just just right now, just to 0:46:34.080 --> 0:46:37.480 thank God. I made a good choice today, a quality 0:46:37.560 --> 0:46:41.000 choice today. I'm gonna plant myself by streams of water 0:46:41.080 --> 0:46:46.239 this week, not by stagnant cons of misinformation and speculation. 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:49.759 So I'm gonna plant myself today. I'm getting my roots right. 0:46:50.760 --> 0:46:52.560 That's what Holly said to me. She was going to 0:46:52.600 --> 0:46:55.439 the beauty shop. Remember beauty shop. She said, I'm gonna 0:46:55.440 --> 0:46:57.960 get my roots right. Put it in the chat. I'm 0:46:57.960 --> 0:47:00.399 getting my roots right. That's what I'm doing today. I'm 0:47:00.440 --> 0:47:04.759 getting my roots right. I'm getting my roots right. I'm 0:47:04.760 --> 0:47:08.080 getting my mind right, I'm getting my belief system right. 0:47:08.400 --> 0:47:11.960 I'm getting my priorities right. I'm finding out what really 0:47:12.000 --> 0:47:15.840 matters right now, I'm gonna do it in this prison cell. 0:47:16.280 --> 0:47:19.000 I'm gonna see something. God's gonna show me something. The 0:47:19.040 --> 0:47:23.000 gospel is going to advance through this season. We're getting 0:47:23.000 --> 0:47:28.120 our roots right. And yet Adam and Eve they wanted 0:47:28.160 --> 0:47:31.680 to know. They wanted to be God. They wanted to know, 0:47:32.239 --> 0:47:36.520 they wanted to be God. Our need to know is 0:47:36.560 --> 0:47:45.319 what keeps us from receiving. That's what was so bad 0:47:45.360 --> 0:47:49.440 about that tree. Nobody even knows what fruit they ate. 0:47:50.960 --> 0:47:54.680 I hope it was delicious, because it really was expensive. 0:47:56.160 --> 0:47:58.840 He'd had to put her clothes back on. Just imagine Chris, 0:47:58.920 --> 0:48:02.680 how it could have been. I called this message option 0:48:02.800 --> 0:48:07.680 number three. When naked was normal, Adam and even just 0:48:07.719 --> 0:48:10.640 walking around nothing to hide. It is what it is. 0:48:10.680 --> 0:48:12.360 We are who we are. We're loved by God. We 0:48:12.400 --> 0:48:14.520 walk with Him in the cool of the evening. We 0:48:14.719 --> 0:48:17.359 just take pluck what we want, just anytime we want. 0:48:17.600 --> 0:48:22.120 Just you know, naked was normal. Didn't have to hide 0:48:22.120 --> 0:48:26.000 behind fig leaves, didn't have to create a covering, didn't 0:48:26.040 --> 0:48:28.680 have to create a persona, didn't have to create a 0:48:28.800 --> 0:48:31.360 pretension of good behavior and pretend to be somebody that 0:48:31.400 --> 0:48:34.120 you're not. Didn't have to try to bear somebody else's 0:48:34.160 --> 0:48:37.480 fruit with plastics, so you could be impressive to get 0:48:37.480 --> 0:48:40.759 people to like you, just walking around because God made me, 0:48:41.160 --> 0:48:44.480 because God breathed in me, because I am who God 0:48:44.560 --> 0:48:50.200 says I am. When naked was normal, When naked was normal. 0:48:51.560 --> 0:48:56.359 But now it's more normal for us to hide. It's 0:48:56.400 --> 0:49:03.200 more normal for us to hide, cover ourselves, compare ourselves. 0:49:05.239 --> 0:49:07.640 The first thing God asked Adam is the thing I 0:49:07.640 --> 0:49:11.600 want to ask you today. When Adam felt the shame. Remember, 0:49:11.680 --> 0:49:13.680 Shame is what makes you cover. Shame is what makes 0:49:13.680 --> 0:49:16.320 you shrink. Shame is what makes you pull back. Shame 0:49:16.400 --> 0:49:18.520 is what makes you believe, well, maybe I better not try. 0:49:18.760 --> 0:49:20.560 Shame is what makes you start staying up in the 0:49:20.600 --> 0:49:22.880 middle of the night thinking that maybe it's all going 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:25.040 to catch up with me. But Christ died to take 0:49:25.160 --> 0:49:29.600 away my shame. And yet the first thing Adam did 0:49:30.520 --> 0:49:35.680 when he believed a lie was to hide. And God said, 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:41.200 and I want to say, who told you that you 0:49:41.200 --> 0:49:47.959 were naked? Who told you that you were naked? Who 0:49:48.000 --> 0:49:51.440 told you that you had to do something else, or 0:49:51.440 --> 0:49:54.640 be something else, or have something else? Who told you 0:49:54.680 --> 0:49:57.280 that it took something extra for you to be accepted? 0:49:59.520 --> 0:50:01.680 Who told you that life has to be perfect for 0:50:01.719 --> 0:50:05.799 you to have a praise. Who told you that what 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:11.280 you've known is what's normal? Who told you that question? 0:50:12.600 --> 0:50:16.080 Who told you that, yeah, well, I'm just not good 0:50:16.120 --> 0:50:19.440 with money. Who told you that, yeah, well, I'm just 0:50:19.480 --> 0:50:23.040 not very good with I'm just I'm a set, a 0:50:23.080 --> 0:50:25.600 teenager free, I'm just not good with girls. Who told 0:50:25.600 --> 0:50:29.080 you that you could fake some swags so quick and 0:50:29.120 --> 0:50:32.799 have them lined up when the quarantine is over. I'm 0:50:32.800 --> 0:50:37.160 telling you right, Who told you that? Who told you 0:50:37.840 --> 0:50:40.640 that I'm just an introvert? This is the time where 0:50:40.680 --> 0:50:44.560 God is trying to get us to prune ourselves of 0:50:44.680 --> 0:50:51.359 perspectives that did not come from heaven. Who told you that? 0:50:52.560 --> 0:50:57.080 Did it come from God? See? Because in this season 0:50:57.680 --> 0:51:00.719 of my life, I have got the focus on what 0:51:01.239 --> 0:51:06.080 he is speaking, prison sentences. I've got to let his 0:51:06.360 --> 0:51:11.760 word get in my life, my heart, my mind transformed 0:51:11.960 --> 0:51:16.080 by the renewing of my mind, not conformed by my situation. 0:51:16.520 --> 0:51:22.920 Watch this, transformed by my revelation. Situation revelation. Now, Paul 0:51:23.000 --> 0:51:27.160 saw it one way, y'all see chains, I see opportunity. 0:51:27.520 --> 0:51:31.399 Paul saw it one way, y'all see limitation. I see 0:51:31.440 --> 0:51:35.520 an opening. Paul saw it one way. Y'all see captivity, 0:51:35.960 --> 0:51:39.799 I see freedom. I see what God said, and I'll 0:51:39.840 --> 0:51:45.360 speak it over your life. Focus on the fruit. Focus 0:51:45.400 --> 0:51:49.759 on the fruit, not the frustration. He could have spent 0:51:49.920 --> 0:51:53.279 every sentence in Philippius. How would Phlippians four thirteen be, 0:51:53.719 --> 0:51:56.040 I really have a headache right now and I'm sick 0:51:56.080 --> 0:51:59.560 of this. Would you quote Philippians four thirteen if he 0:51:59.600 --> 0:52:02.880 didn't focus on the fruit. He said, no, I'm going 0:52:02.920 --> 0:52:06.640 through stuff, but I can't do. What I went through 0:52:06.920 --> 0:52:10.680 showed me what I can't do because Christ is in me. 0:52:15.200 --> 0:52:21.080 Focus on the fruit. Because Paul said, I don't know, 0:52:22.480 --> 0:52:25.799 I don't know. Isn't it funny how he's so used 0:52:25.800 --> 0:52:27.600 to call him the shots that he's still talking like 0:52:27.640 --> 0:52:30.680 he has a choice. When you've been in charge a 0:52:30.680 --> 0:52:33.600 long time, You know, my dad thought he could beat 0:52:33.640 --> 0:52:35.880 me up. When he was sick in his bed and 0:52:35.920 --> 0:52:38.719 he couldn't move, he still said, boy, I'll whip your 0:52:38.719 --> 0:52:40.560 so and so and stuff like that to me. I 0:52:40.760 --> 0:52:43.719 was I was walking around with muscles and stuff and 0:52:43.719 --> 0:52:45.920 he was laying in the bed. He was so used 0:52:45.960 --> 0:52:49.640 to being bigger and stronger than me. Paul is almost 0:52:49.680 --> 0:52:52.960 like that he's waiting on a verdict do you live 0:52:53.080 --> 0:52:55.120 or die? And then look what he says and are 0:52:55.160 --> 0:52:57.520 you ready for verse verse seventeen. Okay, he said, the 0:52:57.520 --> 0:52:59.359 former christ have sef termpiation. I SI said this spose 0:52:59.360 --> 0:53:00.960 they served tim for me changed? What does it matter? 0:53:01.040 --> 0:53:02.920 What does it matter? What does it matter? What does 0:53:02.960 --> 0:53:05.000 it matter? What does it matter? What does it matter? 0:53:05.360 --> 0:53:13.040 What actually matters? When you get that clear, it'll set 0:53:13.080 --> 0:53:23.040 you free. When you get that clear what actually matters? This? 0:53:23.080 --> 0:53:25.919 One woman told me the best parenting advice is don't 0:53:25.920 --> 0:53:29.839 spend your whole life chasing clean carpet, only to wish 0:53:29.840 --> 0:53:31.520 when your kids went to college that they could come 0:53:31.560 --> 0:53:34.279 back and mess it up one more time. She said 0:53:34.320 --> 0:53:37.600 her biggest regret was she spent her whole life chasing 0:53:37.680 --> 0:53:45.040 clean carpet. What actually matters? Do this in worship? Right? 0:53:46.040 --> 0:53:48.600 I don't care if you hit the note right. I 0:53:48.640 --> 0:53:52.600 care if the note hits your heart right. I don't 0:53:52.600 --> 0:53:55.840 care if we have a mistake. I don't care. I 0:53:55.920 --> 0:53:57.840 don't care. Let me tell you about this sermon. I 0:53:57.880 --> 0:54:03.600 don't care if I'm grammatically correct. Who cares? I care 0:54:04.040 --> 0:54:07.440 if the spiritual fruit As a matter of fact, and 0:54:07.600 --> 0:54:10.359 this is this is probably this is Yeah. I'm gonna 0:54:10.360 --> 0:54:13.160 say I'm say I'm saying. I'm saying, I don't really 0:54:13.200 --> 0:54:17.880 care if you like this message. I don't care. I 0:54:17.920 --> 0:54:19.360 mean I do. I want Okay, I want you to 0:54:19.440 --> 0:54:22.520 like the message. I wouldn't post it on Instagram if 0:54:22.520 --> 0:54:24.359 I didn't want you to like it. That's literally how 0:54:24.360 --> 0:54:30.960 the system works. But I care more if this message 0:54:31.040 --> 0:54:35.719 bears fruit in your life than if you like it. 0:54:37.880 --> 0:54:40.960 I hope you fight me today in your mind. How 0:54:41.080 --> 0:54:43.160 dare he say it doesn't matter this and that he 0:54:43.200 --> 0:54:48.120 doesn't know what I'm going through? No, I don't. That's 0:54:48.120 --> 0:54:52.000 why I'm so glad I called Paul to preach because 0:54:52.040 --> 0:54:59.120 Paul went through the stuff Paul went through that this 0:54:59.280 --> 0:55:05.200 isn't fair. Paul was trying to do right. I don't 0:55:05.200 --> 0:55:07.319 think anybody help people. I don't think anybody was smarter 0:55:07.360 --> 0:55:08.919 than Paul. That's why I was so surprised. You said, 0:55:08.920 --> 0:55:13.200 I don't know. I'm like, what that's like one of 0:55:13.200 --> 0:55:15.959 my kids saying thank you. I'm like, what's happening right now? 0:55:16.960 --> 0:55:26.960 I said, the rapture can only imagine. But he said, 0:55:27.000 --> 0:55:31.600 I know what's important? Do you? Yeah? Most of us, 0:55:31.600 --> 0:55:35.279 don't most of us. It takes our whole life. What 0:55:35.320 --> 0:55:40.879 if this season is fast forwarding us into the correct priorities? 0:55:41.560 --> 0:55:45.960 Would it be worth it? Would it be worth it? 0:55:48.320 --> 0:55:53.200 What if we're going to get fifty years of wisdom 0:55:53.400 --> 0:55:58.200 the fruit of a season of frustration. Can I show 0:55:58.239 --> 0:56:04.360 you something else? Paul said, go to Romans eight. Focus 0:56:04.400 --> 0:56:08.640 on the fruit. Or you can focus on all the 0:56:08.680 --> 0:56:12.760 things you don't know. You can spit ignorance with everybody else, 0:56:13.360 --> 0:56:16.880 conspiracy theories. I saw a UFO the other day. It 0:56:16.920 --> 0:56:19.200 barely even registered because the world is so screwed up 0:56:19.280 --> 0:56:24.560 right now. So you can, you can. You can focus 0:56:24.600 --> 0:56:31.920 on the UFOs, the the unknowable faith outcomes. I'm playing. 0:56:33.280 --> 0:56:35.000 I love y'all so much. I wish all we're here. 0:56:35.840 --> 0:56:38.040 I wish we're here one day we'll get back together 0:56:38.080 --> 0:56:41.160 when I don't know. But in the in the meantime, 0:56:41.280 --> 0:56:43.040 let me speak. Let me speak this over your life, 0:56:43.080 --> 0:56:47.359 because Romans eight, how much do you want? Because I've 0:56:47.360 --> 0:56:49.279 got like ten verses and I got two verses, I 0:56:49.320 --> 0:56:51.360 can do it either way. Let's take a vote in 0:56:51.360 --> 0:56:54.480 the chat on a scale of tend to to how 0:56:54.560 --> 0:56:58.319 much of God's word do you want today ten ten 0:56:58.400 --> 0:57:04.440 two to ten two to ten. Man, you'll ot to 0:57:04.480 --> 0:57:07.080 be sharing this message right now. You ought to be 0:57:07.080 --> 0:57:10.600 sharing this link right now, because see, the gospel can 0:57:10.600 --> 0:57:13.359 bear fruit only if it's sown. You got to share 0:57:13.400 --> 0:57:15.920 this message when it's over. We have other services all 0:57:15.960 --> 0:57:17.880 through the day. You got to tell somebody catch it 0:57:17.920 --> 0:57:19.680 when it comes on again. You need to You need 0:57:19.720 --> 0:57:23.360 to receive this word. That's how we sow the gospel. Okay, 0:57:23.400 --> 0:57:27.040 I only see tens block everybody who said to block them, 0:57:27.120 --> 0:57:30.040 Ban them from the chat, ban them from the chat, 0:57:30.400 --> 0:57:34.360 kick them out the church. So Roomen's eight is really 0:57:34.360 --> 0:57:38.720 good for perspective. I consider verse eighteen that our present 0:57:38.840 --> 0:57:43.320 sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will 0:57:43.360 --> 0:57:48.080 be revealed in us. Both are a focus suffering and 0:57:48.160 --> 0:57:51.320 glory at the same time. What do you want to 0:57:51.360 --> 0:57:56.720 focus on? The frustration or the fruit? I am convinced, 0:57:57.400 --> 0:58:01.320 I am persuaded. I have met aid up my mind 0:58:01.800 --> 0:58:05.080 that what I am going through is nothing compared to 0:58:05.200 --> 0:58:08.439 what is going to come forth from it, because I've 0:58:08.440 --> 0:58:11.400 seen God do it before. Read the verses. Faster verdict 0:58:11.680 --> 0:58:16.480 for the creation waits in eager expectation for the children 0:58:16.520 --> 0:58:19.880 of God to be revealed, for the creation was subjected 0:58:20.120 --> 0:58:24.080 to frustration. But I'm not focused on the frustration. I'm 0:58:24.080 --> 0:58:28.520 not focused on the frustration. I'm not focused on the fear. 0:58:28.880 --> 0:58:31.680 I'm not even focused on the facts. Not of its 0:58:31.720 --> 0:58:34.120 own choice, but by the will of the one who 0:58:34.160 --> 0:58:38.080 subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be 0:58:38.200 --> 0:58:43.600 liberated from its bondage. Somebody shop, God is setting me free, free, free, 0:58:43.640 --> 0:58:46.560 free from the bondage of the kay and brought into 0:58:46.600 --> 0:58:49.640 the freedom and the glory of the children of God. 0:58:49.880 --> 0:58:51.720 You want me to keep going. This is good to 0:58:51.800 --> 0:58:57.960 me because we know, we know, we know some things. 0:58:58.000 --> 0:59:01.840 I just know something. I just know in my soul. 0:59:02.360 --> 0:59:05.640 Some things I can prove from a book, some things 0:59:05.680 --> 0:59:09.320 I can't google. Some things I can't get from the news, 0:59:09.760 --> 0:59:13.120 some things I can't learn from Twitter. Some things they 0:59:13.160 --> 0:59:16.200 can't teach me in a classroom. But I know in 0:59:16.240 --> 0:59:20.240 my spirit that the whole creation has been groaning, as 0:59:20.280 --> 0:59:23.240 in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. 0:59:23.600 --> 0:59:33.520 Not only so, but we areselves who have the first fruits. Fruits, fruits, fruits, fruits, fruits. 0:59:33.560 --> 0:59:37.240 Focus on what the fruit, the fruit of the spirit 0:59:37.360 --> 0:59:41.360 is what love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gu 0:59:41.520 --> 0:59:43.959 self control. What God is doing in me right now 0:59:44.160 --> 0:59:49.160 is setting me free from everything that doesn't look like him. 0:59:49.200 --> 0:59:54.680 I got the first fruits, the first fruits, the first fruits, 0:59:56.360 --> 1:00:00.480 first fruits. What you focus on? Focus on the fruit. 1:00:01.960 --> 1:00:05.720 That's why I still tithe in a recession. You think 1:00:05.760 --> 1:00:07.520 I'm not going to bring back to God what he 1:00:07.640 --> 1:00:12.480 gave me. He is my source. And yet there's this groaning, 1:00:12.520 --> 1:00:17.040 there's this tearing, there's this, there's this groaning. He said 1:00:17.040 --> 1:00:21.200 that words can't explain. There's this, there's this tension, there's 1:00:21.240 --> 1:00:27.439 this unsettled there's this it's the three am stuff, it's 1:00:27.480 --> 1:00:31.320 the three pm crash, it's another day of this. It's 1:00:31.440 --> 1:00:35.120 the I'm so sick of these people around me. And 1:00:35.200 --> 1:00:38.480 yet if I focus on the fruit, he said that 1:00:38.520 --> 1:00:43.480 my present suffering isn't even worth comparing to the glory 1:00:43.520 --> 1:00:49.080 that will be revealed. Can I keep going? Not only so, 1:00:49.240 --> 1:00:51.640 but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the 1:00:51.680 --> 1:00:56.360 spirit grown inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption 1:00:56.480 --> 1:00:59.560 to sonship, the redemption of our bodies, For in this 1:00:59.680 --> 1:01:04.600 hope we were saved Hope is a focused people, not 1:01:04.680 --> 1:01:12.440 a feeling. Hope is a focus. Hope is a focus. 1:01:13.680 --> 1:01:17.080 Hope is a focus. I'm focusing on the fruit. I'm 1:01:17.080 --> 1:01:22.240 focusing on the character. Perseverance builds character, Focus on the fruit. 1:01:22.960 --> 1:01:26.000 Look what God is doing in you right now, He said, 1:01:26.040 --> 1:01:29.080 in this we hope even though we don't. We don't know. 1:01:29.200 --> 1:01:32.320 There's an instability in the world. There always has been. 1:01:32.480 --> 1:01:35.680 But hope that is seen is no hope at all. 1:01:35.840 --> 1:01:39.640 For who hopes for what they already have. See, if 1:01:39.640 --> 1:01:41.280 I know it, I don't have to hope for it. 1:01:42.360 --> 1:01:46.840 That's where my faith grows. That's the soil. That's where 1:01:46.880 --> 1:01:49.880 the seed breaks apart. That's where you are right now. 1:01:50.080 --> 1:01:54.240 That's what God is doing in this season, Thank you Lord. 1:01:56.080 --> 1:01:57.800 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, 1:01:58.640 --> 1:02:02.000 we wait for it patiently, the same way the spirit 1:02:02.040 --> 1:02:09.959 helps us in our weakness. We do not. No. Come on, Paul, 1:02:11.280 --> 1:02:15.960 come on, Paul, make it rhyme, make it ring, Come on, Paul, 1:02:16.440 --> 1:02:18.880 give me the facts. Come on, Paul, set it up. 1:02:19.440 --> 1:02:22.680 Come on, Paul, you can preach better than that. We 1:02:23.440 --> 1:02:32.320 do not. No, that's the soil where hope springs forth 1:02:32.520 --> 1:02:40.920 and buds like faith and looks like resurrection. You alone, Lord, 1:02:41.040 --> 1:02:45.040 no if these bones can live. But in the same 1:02:45.080 --> 1:02:50.640 way Verse twenty six, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 1:02:51.040 --> 1:02:57.240 We do not no what we ought to pray for, 1:02:57.320 --> 1:03:02.440 but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless grounds. 1:03:03.800 --> 1:03:07.840 I don't even know what to pray. God said, I'll 1:03:07.880 --> 1:03:13.800 take it from here. I'll finish the sentence. Paul's in prison. 1:03:15.440 --> 1:03:18.680 God said, I'll finish the sentence. Even if the devil 1:03:18.720 --> 1:03:23.240 started it, I'll finish it. I'll finish it. I'll finish it. 1:03:23.280 --> 1:03:26.800 He began a good work in you, will be faithful 1:03:26.840 --> 1:03:31.240 to complete it. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused 1:03:31.280 --> 1:03:34.120 on the fruit because God is helping me and he 1:03:34.360 --> 1:03:38.280 Verse twenty seven, who searches our hearts knows? He knows, 1:03:38.640 --> 1:03:42.960 He knows. You. Remember Jeremiah, they were in captivity to Babylon. 1:03:43.240 --> 1:03:45.960 He said, it's going to be seventy long years. But 1:03:46.080 --> 1:03:50.280 God said, I know the plans I have for you, 1:03:51.280 --> 1:03:54.920 and you're not supposed to know them all. There are 1:03:54.960 --> 1:03:58.240 some things you're not supposed to know, because that's where 1:03:58.240 --> 1:04:06.160 faith grows, that's where hope grows, that's where maturity takes 1:04:06.160 --> 1:04:13.760 truth and the spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance 1:04:13.800 --> 1:04:17.880 with the will of God. Here comes my favorite verse, 1:04:19.440 --> 1:04:23.440 And we know. Have you ever heard Roumins eight twenty eight? 1:04:24.840 --> 1:04:28.320 Oh you can. You can put this anchor down in 1:04:28.400 --> 1:04:32.959 the deepest water and get through the storm. That all 1:04:33.040 --> 1:04:36.600 things work together for the good of those that love God. 1:04:36.600 --> 1:04:38.280 Wait a minute, Wait a minute. That's where people stop. 1:04:38.680 --> 1:04:42.479 Finish the sentence. Somebody say, finish the sentence, like Paul 1:04:42.560 --> 1:04:45.680 in prison. I'm staying I'm not. Do you know that 1:04:45.760 --> 1:04:49.160 when Paul and Silas were in prison, the doors opened, 1:04:49.200 --> 1:04:52.720 but they didn't leave. Why we still got work to do. 1:04:53.160 --> 1:04:57.160 I'm gonna finish the sentence. I'm gonna see the goodness 1:04:57.280 --> 1:05:00.320 of the Lord. Don't let the devil cuts you off now, 1:05:00.880 --> 1:05:04.760 don't let him speak fear while God is building faith. 1:05:05.080 --> 1:05:09.080 Finish the sentence, Finish the work, Be strong and courageous, 1:05:09.480 --> 1:05:15.200 take the land, for we know that all things work 1:05:15.280 --> 1:05:18.200 together for the good of those who love him. I 1:05:18.240 --> 1:05:20.360 don't know much, but I know I love you Lord. 1:05:20.960 --> 1:05:23.600 That may be all I need to know. I know 1:05:23.760 --> 1:05:27.600 I love you, I know I'm called, I know I'm appointed, 1:05:27.880 --> 1:05:35.360 I know you spoken, I know you're Abel. But finish 1:05:35.480 --> 1:05:39.960 the sentence. All things work together for those who love 1:05:40.000 --> 1:05:44.880 God and are called according to His purpose. That's the fruit. 1:05:47.000 --> 1:05:51.640 Focus on the fruit, because if you don't focus on 1:05:51.680 --> 1:05:53.360 the fruit of what God is doing right now, you 1:05:53.400 --> 1:05:57.800 will die in the frustration as you wait. So I 1:05:57.840 --> 1:05:59.560 want to give you a choice, Paul said, I hadn't. 1:06:00.280 --> 1:06:03.560 I hadn't decided yet. What I want to do is 1:06:03.600 --> 1:06:08.640 like Paul, this is not Applebee's. There is no menu, y'all. 1:06:08.640 --> 1:06:12.760 Remember Applebee's. It was an American food chain that existed 1:06:12.800 --> 1:06:18.560 before the plagues. Paul, this is not Morton's. You're not 1:06:18.720 --> 1:06:24.120 deciding steak or chicken. This is prison. Nobody's asking you 1:06:24.120 --> 1:06:30.240 if you want to live or die. Yet, Paul still 1:06:30.280 --> 1:06:36.120 had a choice. You still have a choice. The choice 1:06:36.200 --> 1:06:40.440 is your focus. Focus is always chosen. How are you 1:06:40.520 --> 1:06:42.120 going to start this week? How are you going to 1:06:42.200 --> 1:06:44.720 start this day? How are you going to start tomorrow? 1:06:44.880 --> 1:06:47.880 Where are you going to look at? Focus is chosen. 1:06:49.480 --> 1:06:52.760 That's the only thing you can control. That's the only 1:06:52.800 --> 1:06:57.120 thing that will really create peace. In a storm, Peter 1:06:57.200 --> 1:06:59.440 didn't fall down when he got out the boat because 1:06:59.480 --> 1:07:03.360 the water out wetter. He didn't fall down because of 1:07:03.400 --> 1:07:07.560 strong wind. He fell down because of broken focus when 1:07:07.560 --> 1:07:10.280 he took his eyes off Jesus. Now that's what happens 1:07:11.160 --> 1:07:13.920 when we go by sight when we need to know 1:07:14.040 --> 1:07:17.480 too much. And give me Verse twenty one again, because 1:07:17.520 --> 1:07:20.400 I'm not done with this and I intend to mind 1:07:20.400 --> 1:07:22.920 every drop out of this word God gave me. Focus 1:07:22.920 --> 1:07:26.080 on the fruit. If God is squeezing you right now, 1:07:26.160 --> 1:07:29.000 something productive is coming from it, I promise you it 1:07:29.160 --> 1:07:32.600 is for we know that all things work together for 1:07:32.600 --> 1:07:34.960 the good of those love God. But check this out. No, 1:07:35.040 --> 1:07:38.320 that's not the one. It's maybe twenty two. No no, no, 1:07:38.360 --> 1:07:41.200 it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No no no, go back, 1:07:43.040 --> 1:07:47.840 Go to the one before, Go to the one before. Yeah. 1:07:47.960 --> 1:07:52.840 The creation waits Romans eight nineteen. Is it on the screen? 1:07:52.960 --> 1:07:56.600 The lower third? Read this with me. For the creation 1:07:56.680 --> 1:08:01.400 weights in eager expectation for the children of God to 1:08:01.440 --> 1:08:09.080 be reviewed. The creation waits for a revelation, waits eager expectation. 1:08:09.680 --> 1:08:14.439 What does that look like eager expectation? It doesn't look 1:08:14.480 --> 1:08:25.960 like certainty. The Greek word chunks is three words. Appo, kara, dokia, appo. 1:08:26.160 --> 1:08:31.840 Everybody say appo, not the dog food appo. Listen what 1:08:31.880 --> 1:08:37.080 it means. The prefix means to turn away, ignoring other interests. 1:08:37.280 --> 1:08:40.240 The English word is not trans you can't translate it 1:08:40.280 --> 1:08:43.880 with one word. So they put eager expectation. Because there 1:08:43.960 --> 1:08:46.639 is no way to describe humanly the kind of hope 1:08:46.640 --> 1:08:50.280 that Paul had. You can't put it in just a word. 1:08:50.479 --> 1:08:54.240 He actually made his own word up, and you can 1:08:54.280 --> 1:08:58.040 only find it in early Christian literature. Nobody in the Empire, 1:08:58.040 --> 1:09:01.160 the Roman Empire said the word apple kara Dokia. Paul 1:09:01.200 --> 1:09:05.360 made it up. It was a prison sentence. It was 1:09:05.439 --> 1:09:08.360 something he could only get when he was going through. 1:09:08.640 --> 1:09:11.320 There is some fruit that can only be born when 1:09:11.360 --> 1:09:18.000 you're going through. But you have to focus. Apple's the prefix, 1:09:18.880 --> 1:09:21.080 and I could preach a whole sermon on that prefix 1:09:21.920 --> 1:09:25.840 appo to turn away ignoring other interests. It means I 1:09:25.840 --> 1:09:29.160 have to choose my focus right now, moment by moment. 1:09:29.320 --> 1:09:31.439 What will I look at? Will I look at the waves? 1:09:31.520 --> 1:09:33.400 Or will I look at the one who created the 1:09:33.439 --> 1:09:36.120 waves and the wind? To subject to his word? What 1:09:36.240 --> 1:09:39.840 will I look at right now? If I look away 1:09:39.840 --> 1:09:41.880 from Jesus, I'm gonna fall. If I look at what 1:09:41.920 --> 1:09:43.920 it feels like, I'm gonna fall. If I look at 1:09:43.920 --> 1:09:47.559 what I don't know. I'm going to go crazy. If 1:09:47.560 --> 1:09:50.679 I keep looking at my phone, I'm gonna fall. God 1:09:50.760 --> 1:09:56.719 show me something greater on the inside. Apple Kara Kara 1:09:56.760 --> 1:10:01.679 is simple. It just means head, which is significant, right. 1:10:01.840 --> 1:10:06.200 It's significant because the only thing you really control is 1:10:06.240 --> 1:10:11.800 what goes on in here. That's the only domain that 1:10:11.880 --> 1:10:17.160 I can control. Right now, you can't have my imagination, devil, 1:10:18.680 --> 1:10:22.240 you can't have my you can't have my meditation. I'm 1:10:22.240 --> 1:10:27.280 not going to dwell on sentences of unworthiness. I'm not 1:10:27.800 --> 1:10:30.360 going to dwell on what was spoken over my life 1:10:30.400 --> 1:10:33.599 by people who didn't even like me. I'm not going 1:10:33.680 --> 1:10:36.400 to go off of what the world is saying. I've 1:10:36.439 --> 1:10:39.840 got a new mind. Don't you wish they made a 1:10:39.880 --> 1:10:44.160 mask for your mind? I would buy it, sell it, 1:10:44.280 --> 1:10:47.479 wear it, declare it. I put an elevation logo on. 1:10:47.520 --> 1:10:49.800 I'd make a fortune if I could keep all of 1:10:49.840 --> 1:10:51.680 the thoughts from coming out of my mind. But it 1:10:51.680 --> 1:10:54.639 doesn't work like that. You've got to focus. Watch this 1:10:55.360 --> 1:11:05.360 appo Karadki a Dokia. Dokia is the most annointed part 1:11:05.640 --> 1:11:10.240 to me, because after I've turned away. That's why he said, 1:11:10.280 --> 1:11:14.439 the creation waits in apple Kara, Dokia. The only other 1:11:14.560 --> 1:11:18.160 time this word is in the Bible is in Philippians 1:11:18.240 --> 1:11:21.679 chapter one. That's the only other time it's in the Bible. 1:11:22.720 --> 1:11:25.559 When Paul was in prison, and if he looked at 1:11:25.560 --> 1:11:27.719 the chains that were on his hands, he'd get depressed, 1:11:28.560 --> 1:11:30.559 and if he looked at the situation he was in, 1:11:31.080 --> 1:11:33.800 he'd get depressed. So he said, I can't look at 1:11:33.840 --> 1:11:35.720 that right now. Come on, close your eyes. You've been 1:11:35.720 --> 1:11:38.320 looking around too much. He said, I can't look at 1:11:38.320 --> 1:11:42.240 that right now. Apple, turn away, ignoring what I could 1:11:42.280 --> 1:11:45.240 focus on. I could focus on the pain, but I'm 1:11:45.320 --> 1:11:48.360 focused on the purpose. I could be petty, or I 1:11:48.360 --> 1:11:51.599 could give praise. I'm turning away from what I could 1:11:51.600 --> 1:11:56.040 complain about. I've got a reason to be grateful. Apple kara, 1:11:56.439 --> 1:12:02.360 head mine, Dokia. To stretch forward. Did you hear it? 1:12:03.400 --> 1:12:07.679 Paul said, I'm looking forward. I don't know how long 1:12:07.720 --> 1:12:12.080 I'm gonna be here, but I'm looking forward to my 1:12:12.320 --> 1:12:18.120 fruit on the other side. I'm looking forward to glory. 1:12:18.600 --> 1:12:22.960 On the other side, I'm looking forward to a greater 1:12:23.160 --> 1:12:28.400 annoying thing, a brighter day, a peaceful heart. I'm looking 1:12:28.640 --> 1:12:34.480 forward to a purpose because i know not all things 1:12:35.000 --> 1:12:39.519 work together for the good them that love him. I 1:12:39.840 --> 1:12:42.720 love I've got a purpose. I know he's got a 1:12:42.880 --> 1:12:51.040 plan and I will said times. You better give it. 1:12:51.200 --> 1:12:57.000 Fraggs and potes praising body. He's doing shoo to the 1:12:57.280 --> 1:13:07.320 ra Yes, yeah, please come on in a secret, you two. 1:13:08.479 --> 1:13:14.080 He's doing it right now, in your home, your heart, 1:13:15.400 --> 1:13:24.400 in your mind, You mar your side, you leave. Okay, 1:13:28.920 --> 1:13:32.360 this is the word of the Lord. You are in 1:13:32.680 --> 1:13:39.200 a season where you must focus on the fruit, your fruit. 1:13:40.720 --> 1:13:42.320 He will be like a tree planted by the streams 1:13:42.360 --> 1:13:45.840 of water, which will yield its fruit in season. All 1:13:45.880 --> 1:13:48.439 you gotta do in this season is yield your fruit, 1:13:49.200 --> 1:13:53.439 and you will make it. You will see it now. Caution, 1:13:55.120 --> 1:13:59.400 if you focus on your fears, you can die on 1:13:59.439 --> 1:14:02.040 the other side of something that God had for you. You 1:14:01.240 --> 1:14:06.240 You really can. As a matter of fact, give me 1:14:06.320 --> 1:14:08.760 number thirteen, and I promise, y'all, I'll go eat a 1:14:09.240 --> 1:14:11.720 I'll go eat a scrambled egg or something somebody put. 1:14:11.760 --> 1:14:13.880 Focus on the fruit. Focus on the fruit. Focus on 1:14:13.920 --> 1:14:16.360 the fruit. Focus on the fruit. Y'all can't touch each other, 1:14:16.400 --> 1:14:18.439 but tell each other focus on the fruit. Focus on 1:14:18.439 --> 1:14:20.559 the fruit. Don't touch your neighbor, not at your neighbor. 1:14:20.720 --> 1:14:24.040 Stretch your head towards your neighbor, like Apocara Dokia. Stretch 1:14:24.040 --> 1:14:25.840 your head. Come on, this is the new thing. We're 1:14:25.840 --> 1:14:27.559 going to replace the handshake in the hug with the 1:14:27.600 --> 1:14:29.800 head nod. All right, just head, nod your head right now. 1:14:29.960 --> 1:14:31.600 Nod your head right now. You see me, not not 1:14:31.760 --> 1:14:33.519 you. You You are gonna make it. You are going to 1:14:33.560 --> 1:14:37.280 come through. You are going to see it if you 1:14:37.400 --> 1:14:41.920 focus on the fruit. Because we've been preaching about Egypt. 1:14:42.360 --> 1:14:45.640 Egypt is what they were leaving. When the children of 1:14:45.720 --> 1:14:49.240 Israel were focused on where they had left and what 1:14:49.280 --> 1:14:52.280 they had lost, that generation died in the wilderness. And 1:14:52.320 --> 1:14:56.639 here's why. Look at numbers, Chapter thirteen, verse twenty seven. 1:14:57.280 --> 1:14:59.840 They told Moses, the spies who went into the land, said, 1:15:00.080 --> 1:15:01.800 we went into the land which you sent us, and 1:15:01.840 --> 1:15:04.400 it does flow with milk and honey. Watch this stay 1:15:04.439 --> 1:15:09.280 right here. Here is its fruit. They were carrying a 1:15:09.320 --> 1:15:12.720 cluster of grapes on a pole. It took it took 1:15:12.840 --> 1:15:16.120 Zeke and Brandan to carry the pole. Y'all like, y'all 1:15:16.120 --> 1:15:18.280 are carrying something between you right now, Just walk, don't 1:15:18.320 --> 1:15:20.559 come to close six feet six feet apart. This pole 1:15:20.640 --> 1:15:22.719 is six feet apart, and they walked and they walked, 1:15:22.880 --> 1:15:26.320 and they're telling, here's the fruit. Look at the next verse. 1:15:26.439 --> 1:15:28.680 This is sad. Look at it. It's a focus. It's 1:15:28.680 --> 1:15:31.559 so focused. But the people who live there are powerful, 1:15:32.360 --> 1:15:35.040 and the cities are fortified and very large. We even 1:15:35.080 --> 1:15:38.200 saw the descendants of any there. They were so focused 1:15:38.680 --> 1:15:41.879 on what they had to fight. They were so focused 1:15:41.920 --> 1:15:45.639 on what they feared that they did not even eat 1:15:45.680 --> 1:15:51.360 the fruit that they carried. They were so focused. Duck 1:15:51.400 --> 1:15:55.240 and stop. Now that was excellent, thank you and promptu illustrations, 1:15:55.960 --> 1:16:01.400 quarantine sermons. God said, right now in this season, I 1:16:01.479 --> 1:16:07.280 need you focused on the fruit. Faith comes from focus, 1:16:07.320 --> 1:16:10.880 but so does fear. The land does flow, but you've 1:16:10.880 --> 1:16:14.559 got to focus. There is a flow, the administration of 1:16:14.600 --> 1:16:18.479 the Holy Spirit. Receive it through the screen. Right now. 1:16:18.680 --> 1:16:23.120 There is a flow, but you need a focus. Here 1:16:23.200 --> 1:16:26.800 is it's fruit, but there's giants. But there's insecurities. But 1:16:26.840 --> 1:16:31.040 there's uncertainty. Are you really going to let what you 1:16:31.200 --> 1:16:37.000 don't know become greater than the God that you do 1:16:37.040 --> 1:16:45.320 you know him? Focus on that. God, show us the fruit, 1:16:45.439 --> 1:16:49.639 the grapes, the promises, the blessings enlarge in our minds 1:16:49.680 --> 1:16:53.679 the reasons that we have to have faith and help 1:16:53.760 --> 1:16:57.600 us Like Paul, maybe we can't move our feet or 1:16:57.640 --> 1:17:01.439 our hands like we want, but we can stretch our faith. 1:17:03.479 --> 1:17:07.160 We thank you Lord that in this season, even if 1:17:07.160 --> 1:17:11.440 you are pruning our branches, we will be more fruitful 1:17:11.760 --> 1:17:15.800 on the other side. It's in Jesus' name that I 1:17:15.840 --> 1:17:20.960 pray everybody who receives this word, say amen, I'm focused 1:17:21.400 --> 1:17:25.240 on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused 1:17:25.280 --> 1:17:30.200 on the fruit. I'm focused on the fruit. I'm focused. 1:17:30.800 --> 1:17:35.479 I'm focused. I'm turning my head away, no distractions. I'm 1:17:35.479 --> 1:17:38.320 focused on the fruit. God is doing a great work 1:17:38.360 --> 1:17:41.439 in you. I don't know if you felt that like 1:17:41.520 --> 1:17:45.599 I felt it, but you can see my voices left 1:17:45.600 --> 1:17:48.280 the building. But I gave it all I had to 1:17:48.400 --> 1:17:52.880 preach that message focus on the fruit. That's easier said 1:17:52.920 --> 1:17:55.240 than done, but we can do it. We can sew 1:17:55.320 --> 1:17:59.360 to the spirit and just on this Bible. And I 1:17:59.400 --> 1:18:01.320 wanted to read you one more verse before we go. 1:18:02.000 --> 1:18:05.200 And Paul prayed one time in Philippians chapter one, verse 1:18:05.320 --> 1:18:08.559 nine that he prayed that your love may abound more 1:18:08.600 --> 1:18:11.759 and more in knowledge and depth of insight. Verse eleven, 1:18:11.840 --> 1:18:14.880 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus 1:18:15.000 --> 1:18:18.519 Christ to the glory and praise of God. And he 1:18:18.600 --> 1:18:22.160 thanks the Philippian Church for their partnership. You know many 1:18:22.280 --> 1:18:26.200 are just watching and consuming this content, many of your partners. 1:18:26.240 --> 1:18:29.040 You partner with us in prayer, you partner with us 1:18:29.080 --> 1:18:32.120 in the gospel, you partner with us financially. I want 1:18:32.160 --> 1:18:34.599 to thank you for sowing the gospel is bearing fruit, 1:18:34.680 --> 1:18:38.160 like Colossians one says, because of your generosity, because of 1:18:38.200 --> 1:18:40.840 your trust. So thank you for your faithful giving in 1:18:40.920 --> 1:18:44.280 this time, for not holding back, for stretching the tent 1:18:44.320 --> 1:18:47.320 curtains wide so we can keep taking the gospel to 1:18:47.400 --> 1:18:50.400 people in this crazy time. And make sure that you 1:18:50.560 --> 1:18:52.920 sow the seed of the word too. You know it 1:18:52.960 --> 1:18:55.760 really helps when you share the message and you share 1:18:55.800 --> 1:18:58.640 the link on social or even just text it to 1:18:58.720 --> 1:19:00.760 a friend or talk about it. That's one way we 1:19:00.800 --> 1:19:03.520 share the gospel. I want to thank you for your partnership. 1:19:03.840 --> 1:19:06.120 Make sure you subscribe. I want you to get every 1:19:06.200 --> 1:19:10.240 message that we have for you, and we're here preaching 1:19:10.360 --> 1:19:13.439 Jesus Christ, believing God for great things in your life. 1:19:13.880 --> 1:19:15.920 Thank you for being a partner. Love you