God's Got Your Back

0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:05.280 Hello Evams, especially our West Coast family, we have an 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.760 announcement for you, Elevation Nights twenty twenty two West Coast. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 Are you ready for this? October twenty fifth through November third, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.480 We're coming your way so exciting. You can get your 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.240 tickets right now at Elevation Nights dot com. It's gonna 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.480 be me Holly, Elevation Worship. It's gonna be amazing, unbelievable 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:29.840 these nights. Don't want to miss. So if you're in Glendale, Arizona, 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:35.920 Las Vegas, Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, Seattle, Oakland, California, San 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.279 Diego and La or anywhere near those areas, we want 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.360 to see you. Elevation Nights dot com. Don't miss it. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.600 Elevation Nights dot com. Get your tickets Elevation Nights dot com. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.000 Let's see you there. Let's go to the message. God 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.200 is really moving through this minister. So thanks to all 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.360 of you who give and pray and serve and believe 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.440 and show up and invite and invest and do all 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.200 the stuff that makes it possible. God has using you 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.840 in a great way. And to that end, I believe 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.920 He's given me a word today that will empower your spirit, 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.240 encourage your faith, and strengthen your heart. Who's ready for 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:20.720 the word of God. I want to call your attention 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:32.160 to Isaiah chapter thirty, verse nineteen through twenty one. In 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:37.960 this prophecy, there is a promise from God that he 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:40.560 spoke to me on a personal level a few months ago. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.759 And sometimes I have to hold onto something personally before 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.720 I can preach it prophetically into your life. But I 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.960 believe today He's called me to do just that. Let 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:51.800 he who has an ear to hear hear what the 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:58.200 Spirit is saying to the church. Isaiah thirty, verse nineteen. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.080 Listen to this awe some exceeding, great and precious promise 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.840 from the Word of God. People of Zion who live 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:13.320 in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. Eugene Peterson said, 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:22.120 your time for tears is over. How gracious He will 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.120 be when you cry for help. As soon as he hears, 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:30.160 he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.920 bread of adversity in the water of affliction, your teachers 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.920 will be hidden no more. With your own eyes, you 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:44.120 will see them. Whether you turn to the right or 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.639 to the left. Your ears will hear a voice behind 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:53.480 you saying this is the way walk in it. Wow. 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.360 The Lord put me up behind this pulpit today to 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.320 remind you something very simple, very strong. He wanted me 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:15.720 to tell you God's got your back. God's God your back, 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.800 and on your way to your seat. Just tell three people. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.160 I can't reach them. You can't say God's got your back. 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:29.200 He's absolutely committed. And connect it to whatever is concerning you. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:38.440 God's got your back. Say it, God's got my back. Amen, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:43.040 you receive it. God's got my back. I need thirteen 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.680 people to put it in the chat. God's gotten my back. 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:53.160 God's got my back. Amen. And I'm learning, at least 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.280 in this season or stage of my life, how important 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.400 it is for me to stay in constant communication with 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.800 the Lord, because I forget that. I can't be one 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.480 of these pray five minutes in the morning and see 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:10.720 God again tomorrow morning Christians, because that's too long for 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.200 me to get in trouble. You give me twenty three 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:18.480 hours and fifty five minutes between prayer times. I'm a mess. 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.800 I mean imagine this, that we would just talk to 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.960 God in the morning, run off, see you back here tomorrow. 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.720 You might not make it back tomorrow. If you don't 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.159 say something to God between that morning and the next morning, 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.680 how many know I'm right? And has it gotten more 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.400 that way for you? I used to be a little cockier. 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:39.640 I think I used to be cockier when I was 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.720 younger or something like that. But now just little aches 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:44.479 and pains in your body will even remind you to 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:46.720 talk to the Lord. I don't know if I could 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.560 pick up my fork unless He helps me do it. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:50.680 I'm not trying to say I'm old in decrepit or 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:52.160 anything like that, but just every once in a while, 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:53.919 God'll give you a little signal like you can't do 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.160 this with without meaning. I promise you the whole thing 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.000 will end up in the junkyard and you better talk 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.479 to me along the way. And that's how I that's 0:05:02.480 --> 0:05:06.680 how I keep my heart with God, just to talk 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.600 to him in constant conversation. Now, I don't mean I'm 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.000 walking around out loud talking to God. I do that too. 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:19.640 One trick I learned is put your AirPod in and 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.440 that will help you talk to God and people won't 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.680 lock you up in the middle institution while you're doing it. 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:29.880 That's a little trick I use. I like that. Just 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.040 put that AirPod in. I just talk to God sometimes, 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:33.400 even if I'm driving down the road, I put the 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:35.640 AirPod in in case anybody looks over my window and 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.840 sees me talking and there's nobody in the passenger seat. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.560 There is somebody in the passenger seat. In fact, there's 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:46.200 somebody in the driver's seat. And if he stops driving 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:48.680 my life, I'm headed off this road so quick. I'm 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.080 telling you, I need constant course correction. So I was 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.200 telling my son this, how your attitude is like that. 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.480 You know, you don't just get in the car and 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.200 touch the wheel once unless pay extra for your car 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.400 to do that. You have to sit there and bring 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:05.560 it back all the time. Well, our minds are like that, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.359 our hearts are like that. At least mine is like 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.160 the infomercial used to say, set it in forget it. 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.800 I don't know if y'all ever saw that infomercial. Well, 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:17.680 my heart is not a set it and forget it 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.880 kind of heart. My heart is a set it and 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.560 reset it and reset it and reset it and reset it. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.440 And seems like, no matter how many things God does 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.040 for me, it's almost like he's too good at his job. 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.440 God is so good at his job. I almost forget 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:38.279 he's doing it, so then I ask God to help me, 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:43.760 and then I take off and like I discovered in 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.320 my body the other day, I was talking about aches 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.159 and pains. My shoulder had been hurting me for a while. 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.960 It finally got bad enough where I called doctor Gullason. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.600 I said, can you help me? He came over and 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:57.279 helped me with my shoulder, but he asked me how 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:01.920 long has it been hurting? I said four months. Because 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.160 I'm a man, I'm not going to say anything about 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.560 it till I you know, I'm only sleeping two hours 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:12.080 a night because I'm waking up every ten minutes. And 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:14.320 he was angry with me about that. He said, why 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:19.600 didn't you say something sooner? Why didn't you call me 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.760 over here after four days? I would have been happy 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:28.640 to help you if you had said something sooner. Or 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.800 I'll tell Holly, I've had a headache all day. That 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.480 woman has a pharmacy in her purse. It comes out 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.720 like an accordion file when she opens it, unbelievable. And 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.680 she has all kinds of stuff with caffeine, without caffeine, 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.080 just all kinds of different things in her purse. And 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:47.800 I'll tell her my head's been hurting all day, and 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:54.200 she'll say, why didn't you say something sooner? And so 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.520 that seems to be it with God. You know, why 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:02.160 didn't you say something sooner? Why did you run around 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:06.320 all day long feeling like a loser? And I've talked 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:07.880 to me so I could remind you who I am. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.600 And I know why we don't talk to God because 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.120 it is easier to turn to something that we can 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:17.560 see for immediate relief than it is to trust in 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:21.679 a father that we can't see, so that he builds 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.160 our faith. And that's the thing. You can't just talk 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:30.920 to God when you come here on Sunday. You really 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.320 can't just listen to a sermon a week or God 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.960 forbid you just listen to clips. I mean some people 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.200 won't even do the full sermon, just a clip. Okay, 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.880 that's not going to cut it when you really start 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:50.359 facing the challenges of life. Clips won't cut it. Cliches 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:56.160 won't cut it. Little you know, little little thank you 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.439 Lord help me as I go today and bless me 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.720 along my way. And you know, little prayer over dinner 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:03.400 is not going to cut it. I'm not saying God 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:05.480 will not love you, but you're just not going to 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.440 feel his love. You're not going to know it's there, 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.040 and you're going to turn to things that will work 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.760 for you for a little while, but they will not 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.680 sustain you. I just want to talk to you about 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.000 this before we get into the direct passage that we read, 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.760 because I have to constantly talk with God, and the 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.520 Lord was telling me pretty clearly before I came out today. 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.760 You don't talk to him enough. You don't talk to 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.640 him enough, and when you stop talking with God, the 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:44.719 enemy starts working on you when you stop coming to him. 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:47.360 I mean, in just that moment by moment way, It's 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.720 great to come to church. Trust me, I have a 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:55.080 lot invested in this. But you know, imagine if we 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.920 were Imagine if we were sitting together in the morning 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:05.600 and you saw me going and you let it go 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.560 for a little while, but finally you get up the 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.160 courage to ask what are you doing? And I'm like, oh, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.280 I'm getting my breathing in. It's because average human takes 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.439 twenty thousand breaths a day. So I really want to 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.520 be bothered with breathing later in today because I'm real busy. 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:28.520 Later today, I'm gonna just get all twenty thousand in 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.680 right now. I don't think it works like that, but 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:40.320 we think worship works like that. Three songs, three days later, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:45.160 you're going to be defeated. And I love the language 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:49.040 of Isaiah because listen, he's talking to a king, a 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.600 good king, good king, Hazekiah. He's a good king. And 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.480 Israel had a lot of bad kings. Hazekiah was not 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:57.920 one of them. He had a great heart. The Bible 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.320 says that his heart was turned to the Lord. It 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:05.600 was committed to the Lord. But just because you're a 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.040 good king doesn't mean that you don't do dumb things. 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.920 Just because you're a good parent, a good spouse, good person, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.280 doesn't mean you don't do dumb things. Hazekaiah did something 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:20.600 really dumb. I'll tell you what he did. He made 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:24.200 an alliance with the king of Egypt because he was 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.240 being attacked by the Assyrians. Now, the Assyrians were fears 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.360 so much so that when they went to attack the 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:35.200 Northern Kingdom of Israel, they wiped them out, laid siege 0:11:35.240 --> 0:11:39.840 on the city, and Hasekiah, after seeing that, decides I 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:45.840 need some help, so I'll go to Pharaoh. Pharaoh rings 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:47.680 a bell for a lot of us who come to church, 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:53.120 because we remember hundreds of years earlier, when Pharaoh was 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.040 in charge of Egypt. That wasn't his name, that was 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.320 his title. Pharaoh was the one who fed the children 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.600 of Israel for a little while, and then something happened 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.600 where they became enslaved in the system that they had 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:09.000 escaped to. You remember that now this is a different pharaoh, 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.080 This is several centuries later. But there is something in 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.920 this moment of attack that causes Hezekiah to make an 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:21.760 unwise alliance. Lean in. When you're under attack, you make 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:31.360 unwise alliances. And when you feel tired, when you feel tested, 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:38.400 when you feel like you're in trouble, what do you 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.120 turn to? Just think about that for a moment. What 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.240 do you turn to? What do you turn to when 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:51.160 you're tired, when you're tested, when you're in trouble? What 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.360 do you turn to? Now see a lot of people 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.160 that'll go through something in life and it'll get so bad, 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.960 so out of control, so unmanned that at the end 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:05.880 of asking every other person that they can think of, 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.920 what should I do? How should I do it? Can 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.120 you help me? After going through everybody on their phone 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:21.200 so many times that they start getting blocked. After all 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.840 of that, they'll say, well, all we can do now 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:35.400 is pray in that backwards like in the beginning, was 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.040 the word, The Word was with God, and the Word 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.880 was God. The scripture says in Hebrews eleven three that 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:47.360 by faith we understand that everything which was visible was 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.439 made by something that was invisible, the Word of God. 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.880 That the Word of God created the world and framed 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.079 the world. So that everything you step into in your 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.880 life is something that God spoke before you got to it. 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.320 So everything I'm stepping into in this season of my 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.080 life is something that God has already spoken. If he 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.080 doesn't speak it, I can't step into it. If he 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:13.840 didn't speak it, there would not be ground beneath my feet. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.160 If he didn't speak it, there wouldn't be a next 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.520 step for me to take. If he didn't speak it, 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:22.400 it wouldn't be here. So everything I'm stepping into God 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:26.400 has already spoken. Why would I speak to others about 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.280 something that God spoke into existence before I spoke to 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:37.720 the one who knows where my path leads. And in 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:41.560 the text, Isaiah says something very powerful. He says that 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.960 that that that you will weep no more and watch this. 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.200 I love I love the time frame reference here because 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.000 this really gives me hope because sometimes I need God quick. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:52.720 I need God quick. How many of you came here 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.480 to church today and you need God to do something 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.120 quick in your life, something quick in your life because 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.000 you don't always have time. I know, wait on the Lord. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:00.840 I know be a good cur I know he will 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.400 strengthen your heart. But some things in your life you 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.720 need God to do for you quickly. Well, this is 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:08.800 your verse all right, get ready to shout. If you 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:10.880 need God to do it, and do it quick. Watch 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.640 this how gracious He will be when you cry for help. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.120 This is verse nineteen. As soon as you get your 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:22.160 act together, as soon as you clean up your act, 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.880 as soon as you learn these seven principles from the 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:29.760 Word of God, as soon as you memorize Isaiah thirty. 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:33.280 As soon as you go back and repair every relationship 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:36.560 you screwed up, as soon as we get through this recession, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.120 as soon as you get married, as soon as you 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.920 get kids. As soon now, he said, as soon as 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:52.080 he hears he will help you. As soon. Come quickly, Lord, 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.880 you gotta have those come quick prayers. Come quickly, Lord, 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:01.880 Come quickly, Holy Spirit. Come quickly before I slip. Come 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:05.440 quickly before I fall. Come quickly before I lose my mind. 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.920 Come quickly before I lose my testimony. Come quickly before 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.840 I relapse. Come quickly before our backslide. Come quickly before 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.960 I go off. Come quick, Lord, I need you quick. 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:28.240 Why did he go to Egypt for help when he 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:35.720 knew the God of Elijah. It's because we reach for 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:43.440 what's immediate, not always was helpful. One of the attendants 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.800 of the Assyrian army came out and said, you went 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.240 to the king of Egypt. This is in Second Kings, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:53.640 around chapter nineteen. He said, you went to that splintered staff. 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:02.240 Everyone who leans on him gets pierced. This ain't gonna work. 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.080 This isn't gonna work at all. Where do you turn 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:12.160 when you're tired? Where do you turn when you're in trouble? 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:20.840 And why don't you do it sooner? Why didn't I 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.800 go to God? I know it's easier for us to 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.600 go with what we can see. This is the challenge 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:31.160 to depend on an invisible God that you can't see 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.640 when you're facing challenges that are so big that they 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.000 are all that you can't see. Come here, time, Come on, 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:38.920 come on, come and come here. This is the one 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.480 I told the story about a few months ago, but 0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:42.359 I need you to visualize it. And since he's here today, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:46.120 we're going to take our opportunity. He does so many things. Well, 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.200 he's so gifted, he's so talented, y'all see my fate. 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:53.840 Every week that's fly tie to Jacobs, the one and only, 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.320 the one and only. I always tell him in my 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.679 chair everything I'm going to preach for Orre, I preach it, 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:02.639 and then I preach none of it because God always 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.919 changes it between Saturday and Sunday. But come here, because 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:10.359 he was going to give somebody a haircut recently. You know, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:13.640 this is like crazy sponsorship life right here. What I'm 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.479 doing for you right oh man, I'm telling you you 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.800 owe me like seven free haircut something of this. There's 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.600 a lot of people that watch. But this will be 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:24.680 worth it you, This will be worth it for the illustration. 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.280 He said. I went to cut somebody's here the other day, 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.439 and when I was going in, you know what I'm 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.640 gonna tell them. When I was going in, I got 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:38.359 intimidated because their house was crazy and I started thinking, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.040 first of all, about why they get this house, and 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.280 I don't get it because he's petty, so y'all pray 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:48.919 for money. Secondly, he said, it started to get in 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:50.720 my head. It started to get in my head. I 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:53.359 got distracted by how nice the house was. I started 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.000 getting intimidated. And he said, but when I went in 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.920 and I started doing what I do, what God gives 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.000 didn't need to do, He said, it was amazing because 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.800 when I left, I got a text from everybody that 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:11.959 was in the house that said, man, it changed our 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:18.040 lives having you in our house today. Yeah. Yeah, did 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:19.879 you make that up? Or is that true? True? You 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.480 have a good he said, this is a true story, 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:25.199 all right. I only have his word to go off of. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:30.760 He is an exaggerator, but I believe it. And I 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.600 looked at him and I said, it sounds like you 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:40.440 got so distracted by what you were walking into, Yeah, 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.840 that you forgot what you were walking in with. Yes, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.439 won't that breach Tom? And that like the children of 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.119 Israel going into Canaan to spy out the land carrying 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.399 the promise of a covenant keeping God talking about the 0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:01.520 giants are big. What happened They got so distracted by 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:05.480 what they were walking into that they forgot the promise 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.080 they were walking in with. That's so good. So when 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.240 you remember, I'm done with you. So when you remembered, 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:14.479 I just wanted to use that illustration because I saw 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:15.760 him there and it came to my heart, and I 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.160 think it might be for somebody, because when you are 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.159 not in constant communication with God, and I mean just 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.400 throughout the day, God is there. I go. I get 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:26.280 off track. God, there I go. I get off track. God, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.280 there I go, I get off track. You will be 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:35.000 all the way through the whole bag of fridos before 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.040 you realize. Oh, I need the Holy Spirit to fill me, 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:41.160 because these freedoms are filling me. But it doesn't feel 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.320 very good now that they fill me. I'm not less stressed. 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.240 I just got three more pounds to carry when I 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.760 get off this couch and now don't feel like doing anything. 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:51.080 And now I'm gonna take a nap and I'm gonna 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:52.399 miss my job, and now I'm gonna get fired, and 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:54.120 then my wife's gonna leave me, and everything fell apart 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:58.119 because I ate FreeDOS. But what I'm saying is what 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:04.080 I'm saying is listen to me. Say something sooner, Say 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:10.200 something sooner. Catch yourself quicker. Instead of running to pills, 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:14.040 say something to God instead of running to porn, Say 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:17.760 something to God, instead of running to pessimism. Say something 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.120 to God instead of watch this crying out for help. 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:23.879 Because everybody has a different way they yell for help. 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:29.040 Some people yell for help through anger. They're really not mad, 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.919 they're scared, so they get angry. It's a way of saying, 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:35.399 help me. I'm afraid, but I don't know how to 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:38.639 ask for help. So I get angry because I'm yelling 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.399 for help because I never learned how to ask for help. 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.240 So if you would say something sooner, maybe it wouldn't 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.040 get to this point. Maybe it wouldn't get this ridiculous. 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.440 Maybe it wouldn't come to the point where you blow up. 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:51.879 Maybe it wouldn't get to the point where it crushes you. 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:54.080 Maybe it wouldn't get to the point where you're carrying 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:56.960 it so long and the load weighs so much that 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.359 you don't see any other way out. Why didn't you 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:06.080 say something sooner? When your God has medicines of all descriptions, 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:10.000 When your God says has healing for everything, that hurts you. 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:13.440 When your God says, I'll answer you as soon as 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.639 I hear you, not as soon as you hurt, but 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.080 as soon as you pray about it. You can hurt 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.680 a long time and not get help, because hurting does 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:29.840 not attract help, fake does. Prayer does praise us. Eh. 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:40.000 When you are prayerless, you are paralyzed. A lot of 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:42.280 the paralysis in our lives. Oh I don't know what 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:43.959 to do. Oh I don't know how to handle it. 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:49.879 Oh I can't go forward. It's because prayerlessness leads to paralysis, 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.120 keeps you focused on what you're walking into. How many 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:57.040 are walking into a season right now that you just 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.359 don't see any way it's going to turn out? Okay, 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:01.879 and it may be five or maybe five hundred or 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:05.160 maybe fifty thousand, but raise your hand right now, I'm 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.360 walking into something. Okay, that isn't enough. Let me try 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:11.120 another way in how many of y'all are going back 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:20.159 to school this week? Okay? Stand up, look at me, 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:29.840 a God's got your back. Look at me, look at me, 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:35.600 look at me, stand up straight. God's got your back. 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:43.879 God's got your back. Everybody say it out loud, God's 0:23:43.920 --> 0:23:47.840 got my back. I need you to go back to 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:53.440 school knowing that God is behind you in your y'all 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:59.639 want to sit down? Stand up one more second? Stand up? 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:02.680 On more said, I sent it one more second. You 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.399 can't afford to go back to school alone. You're not 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:09.760 ready to go back to school just because you got 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:13.000 new shoes for it. We all get new shoes to 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:16.159 go back to school. I got my Rebod pumps, but 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:20.119 my Rebod pumps weren't enough. If God doesn't have my back, 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:23.719 I can't make it through the temptation. If God doesn't 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:31.640 have my back. But if God be for meoo can 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:37.600 be against me? Come on, slap yourself on the chest, 0:24:37.640 --> 0:24:41.920 say God's got my back. And I'm telling you say 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:44.439 no, no no, I'm telling you you can call on God. Now. 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:46.359 Don't call on God when you didn't study for the 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:48.240 test and ask him to help you pass it. Lord 0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:50.560 don't really work like that. You gotta pray for God 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:53.160 when you feel like playing video games instead of studying, 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:56.080 and involve Him at that point. If you involve him sooner, 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:58.480 maybe you won't get to the test sweating and having 0:24:58.520 --> 0:25:00.720 to wonder if I gonna make it. If you will 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:07.280 come to God sooner, anybody wish they would have started 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:09.439 living for God when they were in the eighth grade, 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:17.560 learned how to talk to God sooner run around trying 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:19.880 to fulfill all these desires you to understand in sexual 0:25:19.920 --> 0:25:23.000 ways and in social ways, trying to climb the ladder 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:25.080 of status, to only realize that there's no substance in 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:27.080 status if you don't know who you are in the spirit. 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:32.400 God's got your back. We get so distracted by what 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:34.479 we're walking into and what other people have and what 0:25:34.520 --> 0:25:38.959 they look like. Come on, man, they didn't even buy 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:41.159 that Gucci bag with cash. They put it on a 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:43.439 credit card that's matched out and it's the fourth one, 0:25:43.520 --> 0:25:45.600 and now you feel insecure because you don't have what 0:25:45.640 --> 0:25:52.760 they have. I'm just talking from my heart, y'all. I 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:54.679 told the Lord after last week's sermon, I said, I 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:57.720 will never I will never after how God convicted me 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:00.959 about David taking the census. I will go by how 0:26:01.000 --> 0:26:05.040 many views a sermon gets to verify and validate whether 0:26:05.119 --> 0:26:06.680 or not it was the word of God. I will 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:13.120 never do it again. That's when I get up here 0:26:13.160 --> 0:26:15.560 to preach. I only need to know one thing. Did 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:19.840 God say it? Is it true? Because if he did. 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:30.639 That means what he begins, he backs what God begins, 0:26:31.520 --> 0:26:35.960 He backs. The Bible says that before you were born 0:26:36.080 --> 0:26:40.399 in your mother's womb, God fashioned you. That's right before 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:44.959 you got here. God spoke it. You stepped into this world. 0:26:45.200 --> 0:26:49.199 But God spoke you before you stepped into it. So 0:26:49.359 --> 0:26:52.080 at the moments you feel too weak to walk on, 0:26:52.680 --> 0:26:55.320 you got to remember this truth that the preacher gave 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:58.720 you on this Sunday morning, on this Tuesday night, on 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:02.159 this Wednesday afternoon. Whenever you're listening to it, God is 0:27:02.200 --> 0:27:04.639 speaking it. But he is going to speak it now, 0:27:04.880 --> 0:27:07.720 for when you step into it later, that you remember 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:12.800 that He backs what he begins. He finishes what he starts. 0:27:13.080 --> 0:27:16.720 He does not progress today. He's right on time. He's 0:27:16.720 --> 0:27:20.359 not running behind. He didn't forget about you. He said 0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:24.639 that soon as I hear you, AH help you. That's soon. 0:27:25.160 --> 0:27:28.760 That's your call. I answer you. In the day I'm trouble, 0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:37.840 I'm reach down and do it. Good quick, law good quick, 0:27:37.920 --> 0:27:40.880 and help me stop quick and do it. Cup quick 0:27:40.920 --> 0:27:43.919 with the red seam miracle. Duck quick, move a mountain, 0:27:44.200 --> 0:27:47.679 Doug quick, make me strong, God quick, break these chains. 0:27:47.760 --> 0:27:56.920 He said, I'll do it. God is strengthening me. Watch 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:00.479 verse twenty, gotta throw verse twenty in he said, sometimes 0:28:00.560 --> 0:28:03.480 you get the bread of affliction and the water of adversity, 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:05.440 or one or the other. I don't remember which one 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:09.359 came first, adversity or affliction. But he he calls a 0:28:09.400 --> 0:28:17.200 fight food. Isaiah at thirty twenty isaid, thirty twenty, I'm stolen. 0:28:17.240 --> 0:28:22.800 So then get on the screen the bread of adversity, 0:28:22.840 --> 0:28:27.520 the water of affliction, adversity, affliction. That's the fight, God said, 0:28:27.560 --> 0:28:35.560 that's the food. That's how I'm building you. I'm bringing 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:38.920 you through things right now, and even the things that 0:28:39.000 --> 0:28:41.920 are coming against you are going to work for you, 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:51.000 because God's God. My bad. You don't need the king 0:28:51.040 --> 0:28:54.600 of Egypt for this fight. When Hezekiah got serious and 0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:57.840 prayed to God, look it up. God sent angels into 0:28:57.840 --> 0:29:01.200 the tents of the enemy and slew one hundred and 0:29:01.240 --> 0:29:05.600 eighty five thousand of them. And all you get when 0:29:05.640 --> 0:29:12.120 you lean on Pharaoh's staff is a splinter. So why 0:29:12.120 --> 0:29:16.240 didn't you say something sooner? Why don't you say something? 0:29:16.520 --> 0:29:21.640 Watch this, not after they ruined your day. Stop letting 0:29:21.640 --> 0:29:25.920 people ruin your five minutes. Say something to God. Okay, 0:29:25.920 --> 0:29:28.320 I'm off track. Now you see how they looked at me. Lord, 0:29:32.120 --> 0:29:34.280 Now I will do it to an extreme, and you 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:36.080 may not need this extreme, but maybe God sent you 0:29:36.080 --> 0:29:38.640 an extreme preacher because you are extremely dysfunctional. I don't know. 0:29:39.240 --> 0:29:41.800 I tell you how I do it. I got to 0:29:41.880 --> 0:29:44.080 drop on my knees sometimes, just right in the middle 0:29:44.080 --> 0:29:45.840 of stuff, just sneak off and get on my knees. 0:29:47.160 --> 0:29:49.960 And I think that's better than to fall flat on 0:29:50.000 --> 0:29:54.600 my face because I didn't get on my knees. Now, 0:29:54.680 --> 0:29:56.160 you have to get a style that works for you. 0:29:56.240 --> 0:29:59.080 But God said, you're not talking to them enough, and 0:29:59.120 --> 0:30:01.600 that's why the enemy is busy. That's what worry is. 0:30:03.960 --> 0:30:11.600 It's the substitute for the prayers you didn't pray. That's 0:30:11.640 --> 0:30:13.760 how the enemy fills the space with the things that 0:30:13.800 --> 0:30:17.800 you won't pray about. He gets your faith in reverse, 0:30:17.880 --> 0:30:20.400 so it starts working against you, starts tearing your part. 0:30:21.720 --> 0:30:24.760 Got you now, got you now? But the Lord said, 0:30:24.760 --> 0:30:29.080 as soon as you cry, I hear you, and I 0:30:29.120 --> 0:30:34.360 help you. You can't make that stuff happen. You know what, 0:30:34.480 --> 0:30:37.120 that was an illustration. We didn't work that out. But 0:30:37.320 --> 0:30:40.600 God got my back. God said, you need an illustration. 0:30:40.920 --> 0:30:44.040 I'll make a baby cry at that moment. I'll set 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:46.640 it up, I'll make it work, I'll bring it together. 0:30:46.920 --> 0:30:56.640 I cannect it, I'll hold it on. And just like that, 0:30:58.680 --> 0:31:03.000 you can trust and the knowledge and the wisdom of God. 0:31:04.200 --> 0:31:05.760 I can quit right here, we can keep going. It's 0:31:05.840 --> 0:31:15.120 up to you. That was the set up. Because we 0:31:15.120 --> 0:31:17.480 did at who what? When? Where? Right? We did who? 0:31:18.840 --> 0:31:22.120 The Lord said, I want to help you. We did 0:31:22.160 --> 0:31:26.040 a a What will he do? He said that he 0:31:26.040 --> 0:31:30.320 will hear you. Yeah, we did a win. As soon 0:31:30.360 --> 0:31:35.920 as you cry. As soon as you cry, the Lord 0:31:35.920 --> 0:31:39.400 will quickly deliver you. But then he will also direct you. Now, 0:31:39.440 --> 0:31:43.040 this is what I had to meditate on because verse 0:31:43.040 --> 0:31:48.440 twenty one upended a lot of my understanding. It messed 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:51.320 with me because in twenty one he says, whether you 0:31:51.400 --> 0:31:57.080 turn to the right or to the left, did you 0:31:57.160 --> 0:32:01.680 hear a voice behind you saying this the way? Walk 0:32:01.720 --> 0:32:08.560 in it? So it sounds like that wherever you go, 0:32:10.040 --> 0:32:15.520 whatever you do, God will be with you to tell 0:32:15.560 --> 0:32:21.479 you when to turn. If you're not stubborn. If you're 0:32:21.480 --> 0:32:23.560 stubborn and you won't pray and you just stuff it 0:32:23.600 --> 0:32:25.600 all down all the time, and you won't join any group. 0:32:27.360 --> 0:32:32.400 It's called a call back. Then the Lord can't direct you. 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:37.680 So you know. I'm look, I'm not a bad driver 0:32:38.560 --> 0:32:41.080 as long as I don't have to find where to 0:32:41.080 --> 0:32:46.719 turn right. Holly's much better. She is much better, And 0:32:46.800 --> 0:32:48.360 usually I listen to her other thight. I didn't. We're 0:32:48.360 --> 0:32:50.720 coming home from my mom's I'm going in traffic circle, 0:32:50.800 --> 0:32:52.800 she said. Now I'm not this one. The third one, 0:32:52.800 --> 0:32:54.480 the third one, the third one, the third one, the 0:32:54.480 --> 0:32:56.880 third one, the third one. Now watch what she didn't do. 0:32:56.960 --> 0:32:59.800 She didn't grab the wheel, she didn't yell at me, 0:33:00.480 --> 0:33:04.320 she didn't reprimand me. She just said very softly, which 0:33:04.360 --> 0:33:10.520 is usually not Holly's normal gear for talking. But she said, 0:33:10.520 --> 0:33:15.200 not this, not this. And I was like, you know, woman, 0:33:16.360 --> 0:33:18.200 you how many times I came back from my mom's house. 0:33:18.240 --> 0:33:24.160 It's the second one. It's the second one. She said, Okay, 0:33:29.320 --> 0:33:35.760 this is not the same circle. This is the one 0:33:35.840 --> 0:33:40.760 they put in since the last six months, since we've 0:33:40.800 --> 0:33:42.160 been going the other way to go to your mom's 0:33:42.160 --> 0:33:44.520 house on Wednesday night to eat dinner and watch Wheel 0:33:44.520 --> 0:33:46.560 of Fortune. This is the new We do that every 0:33:46.560 --> 0:33:48.800 Wednesday night. I love it. From the highlights of my week. 0:33:49.240 --> 0:33:54.000 She cooks so good, so nostalgic. Stay with me, Stay 0:33:54.000 --> 0:33:58.160 with me, She said, this is the new circle. This 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:03.160 is not the same circle. This the new circle. This 0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:07.120 is not the same circle. Your challenge is going to 0:34:07.200 --> 0:34:11.200 be in your life that you are going to try 0:34:11.239 --> 0:34:16.799 to memorize the miracles that God does for you and 0:34:16.840 --> 0:34:21.080 the ways that He takes you. Not to realize that 0:34:21.120 --> 0:34:25.319 things are always changing, and the way that you raise 0:34:25.360 --> 0:34:28.319 your kids or approach your life in one season may 0:34:28.360 --> 0:34:32.400 not produce success in the next season, because this is 0:34:32.440 --> 0:34:35.799 not the same circle. And if you don't have the 0:34:35.880 --> 0:34:40.040 voice of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit, either 0:34:40.080 --> 0:34:43.160 one will do to tell you where to turn, you 0:34:43.200 --> 0:34:48.719 miss it. But sometimes even when the Lord tells you. 0:34:49.680 --> 0:34:51.560 My friend the other day said I had a really 0:34:51.560 --> 0:34:53.520 bad marriage, but God tried to tell me so many 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:55.879 times not to marry that person. It was crazy. I said, 0:34:55.920 --> 0:34:57.919 what kind of little signs did he give? You? Said, 0:34:57.920 --> 0:35:00.960 not little signs. She cocked a gun and pointed it 0:35:01.000 --> 0:35:03.520 at me. I still married her. That was the first time. 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:18.439 So that might be God saying, you know, there's other 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:23.640 fish in the sea. Even if there's not another fish 0:35:23.719 --> 0:35:27.839 in the sea, go kill a deer, eat that get 0:35:27.840 --> 0:35:34.040 out of the sea. But the passage was so powerful 0:35:34.040 --> 0:35:36.839 to me. It said, whether you turn to the right 0:35:38.880 --> 0:35:43.759 or to the left, whether you go to Elon or 0:35:43.880 --> 0:35:46.960 Chapel Hill. Let's think of a college. Right now. You 0:35:47.040 --> 0:35:49.080 are so stressed about did you make the right decision 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:51.600 to go to school? Here it's the freshman year and 0:35:51.600 --> 0:35:54.839 you're thinking, is this the right school? It really doesn't 0:35:54.880 --> 0:35:58.480 matter right now. What you got to do is find 0:35:58.680 --> 0:36:07.560 the right people. We can get paralyzed in decision making 0:36:07.600 --> 0:36:10.880 about things that don't matter as much. I was telling 0:36:10.920 --> 0:36:13.600 them one time in church, how in the town I 0:36:13.640 --> 0:36:16.160 grew up and there weren't so many schools to choose 0:36:16.200 --> 0:36:18.600 from where to put your kids. I mean, there weren't 0:36:18.640 --> 0:36:21.040 so many schools like that. So you just did it, 0:36:21.120 --> 0:36:23.240 and you got along with it, and you made peace 0:36:23.280 --> 0:36:26.799 with it. Sometimes our options are the enemy of our peace. 0:36:29.280 --> 0:36:31.080 Oh I should have done this, Oh I should have 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:33.120 done that. Oh I could have done that. The Lord said, 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:35.040 whether you turn to the right or to the left. 0:36:36.400 --> 0:36:40.040 The important thing isn't necessarily the road that you take. 0:36:41.080 --> 0:36:43.560 The important thing isn't necessarily I'll be honest with you, 0:36:43.680 --> 0:36:45.200 I don't think you have to come to church here 0:36:45.239 --> 0:36:48.160 for God to bless you. You can go to another 0:36:48.239 --> 0:36:50.880 church and God will speak to you there. You can 0:36:50.880 --> 0:36:52.879 go to another church and God will have a word 0:36:52.920 --> 0:36:55.920 for you there. That's fine, But the important thing is 0:36:55.960 --> 0:37:00.560 not necessarily about that initial decision. Is itant thing is 0:37:01.160 --> 0:37:04.440 not necessarily which way you go, but how you walk 0:37:04.520 --> 0:37:09.239 on that path. The important thing isn't necessarily which church 0:37:09.280 --> 0:37:11.720 you go to. Y'all, I think this is an amazing church. 0:37:11.960 --> 0:37:13.919 As a matter of fact. This is my favorite church 0:37:14.040 --> 0:37:17.000 in the world. As a matter of fact, if y'all 0:37:17.040 --> 0:37:19.040 run me out of this church, I don't think I'll 0:37:19.080 --> 0:37:21.120 will go find another one to preach in, because what 0:37:21.160 --> 0:37:24.600 could I ever do after pastoring Elevation Church that would 0:37:24.600 --> 0:37:26.520 live up? It would be such, it would be so 0:37:27.000 --> 0:37:29.440 all I spent my whole time doing was comparing it 0:37:29.440 --> 0:37:31.319 to this. I don't even think. I mean, if God 0:37:31.360 --> 0:37:32.600 told me too, I have to do it, but I 0:37:32.640 --> 0:37:34.880 wouldn't want to. I would do with a bad attitude. 0:37:34.960 --> 0:37:38.240 If the Lord make me pastor another church, well, I'm saying, 0:37:41.719 --> 0:37:44.080 And yet the important thing isn't what church you go to, 0:37:44.320 --> 0:37:46.280 Because you could sit in the back of this church 0:37:46.520 --> 0:37:49.480 and never get involved and never get helped, and never 0:37:49.520 --> 0:37:52.759 get hooked up, and never get connected, and never be successful, 0:37:52.880 --> 0:37:56.000 and never be set free. And it's a great church. 0:37:57.000 --> 0:38:00.440 You came to the right church. You turn to the right. Okay, 0:38:00.440 --> 0:38:03.760 good job, But how are you walking on that path 0:38:08.200 --> 0:38:11.399 whether you turn to the right or the left? Give 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:13.760 me Verse twenty one is so annoying. It is so annoying. 0:38:14.120 --> 0:38:17.080 The Lord said, you will hear a voice. God will 0:38:17.120 --> 0:38:19.719 speak to you there. God will speak to you in 0:38:19.800 --> 0:38:22.680 your rebellion. Even when you turn your back on him, 0:38:22.800 --> 0:38:25.560 He'll still speak. Even when you walk away from him, 0:38:25.640 --> 0:38:29.000 He'll still speak. He is always speaking. He's still speaking, 0:38:29.200 --> 0:38:32.760 He's still talking, He's still directing. God didn't stop talking 0:38:32.800 --> 0:38:35.640 when you graduated. God didn't stop talking when you got 0:38:35.680 --> 0:38:38.600 the job. God didn't stop talking when you got saved. 0:38:39.719 --> 0:38:45.120 He's still talking. Are you still stepping? Are you still growing? 0:38:45.320 --> 0:38:47.880 Are you still going? Are you still maturing? Are you 0:38:47.960 --> 0:38:51.000 still changing? Are you going around in the same circle, 0:38:52.120 --> 0:38:55.640 the same circle? Missing your turn? Because there's something God 0:38:55.719 --> 0:39:00.839 is speaking, but you can't see it. As the Bible said, 0:39:00.880 --> 0:39:03.640 something crazy. You will hear a voice behind you saying 0:39:03.800 --> 0:39:07.920 this is the way. Walk in there. We found a 0:39:08.000 --> 0:39:11.840 video of Graham's some of Graham's first steps the other day. 0:39:12.160 --> 0:39:13.799 I show it to you. It's only thirty seconds. It 0:39:13.840 --> 0:39:15.840 was too cute. Watch it, me and Graham watching it together. 0:39:18.400 --> 0:39:23.160 Can you stand up and walk? No? No, stand up? Please? Graham? 0:39:23.800 --> 0:39:27.759 Stand up? There you go. Good job. Come on, come on? 0:39:28.000 --> 0:39:32.600 Oh do it again? Do it again? Come on? Stand up? 0:39:33.520 --> 0:39:50.040 Kee y come, come, come come in. Look what all 0:39:50.080 --> 0:39:58.759 he just did? And she went and clapping. I mean, 0:39:58.840 --> 0:40:01.399 that was a much more complicated journey than the one 0:40:01.400 --> 0:40:09.680 that was on that video. No, yay, Graham. He just 0:40:09.680 --> 0:40:14.840 did that. That even involved steps. It even involved steps. 0:40:16.200 --> 0:40:18.080 He didn't even trip like you did on the video. 0:40:21.000 --> 0:40:24.359 Now he's just doing it. Now, he's just doing it. 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:28.320 And y'all were just as bad, none of y'all platform. 0:40:28.480 --> 0:40:34.719 He came all the way up here. I wish I 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:36.920 could have told him that. I wish I could have 0:40:36.920 --> 0:40:40.520 told him that that is about as much encouragement as 0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:45.680 you're ever gonna get for doing so little. From this 0:40:45.719 --> 0:40:48.440 point forward in your life. You got to do crazy 0:40:48.520 --> 0:40:52.879 stuff to get that level of applause. You've got to win, 0:40:53.239 --> 0:40:56.239 like at least a state championship before your mom is 0:40:56.239 --> 0:40:57.960 ever going to be that proud of you again for that. 0:41:00.600 --> 0:41:02.440 And see that's where it shifts, because remember in the 0:41:02.520 --> 0:41:04.800 picture where was she couldn't you couldn't see her. You 0:41:04.800 --> 0:41:06.840 couldn't see Holly in that picture, could you. You couldn't 0:41:06.840 --> 0:41:08.879 see her in that video. But she was right there 0:41:08.880 --> 0:41:14.160 in front of him saying, you know, yay, Graham, please 0:41:14.239 --> 0:41:22.080 don't crawl, please, please don't crawl. She's begging him to 0:41:22.160 --> 0:41:26.160 do something that he just did. And she was barely 0:41:26.200 --> 0:41:28.000 even aware he did. I watched her. She was so 0:41:28.080 --> 0:41:33.919 bored while he walked up here, and he just did it. 0:41:35.280 --> 0:41:38.200 And and early in your in your walk, it'll be 0:41:38.239 --> 0:41:42.160 like God, it'll be like yay, okay, okay, okay. If 0:41:42.200 --> 0:41:47.720 you get baptized at elevation, we'll cheer for you. We'll 0:41:47.800 --> 0:41:50.080 cheer for you in that wonderful in that awesome and 0:41:50.120 --> 0:41:51.839 I want some of you to get baptized. I'd be great. 0:41:51.840 --> 0:41:53.279 We'll be there to cheer for you, and they'll be 0:41:53.320 --> 0:41:58.799 around that tank going yay Graham, that's amazing that you 0:41:58.840 --> 0:42:00.960 gave your life to Christ. That it's amazing that you 0:42:01.000 --> 0:42:03.280 did that. That's so great that you put your faith 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:08.359 in Christ. And that's about as good as it's ever 0:42:08.440 --> 0:42:10.480 gonna get. If you raise your hand in a minute, 0:42:10.520 --> 0:42:12.399 when I give the invitation, who wants to give their 0:42:12.400 --> 0:42:14.160 life to Christ, Who wants to turn their life over 0:42:14.200 --> 0:42:16.840 to Jesus, who wants to receive the gift of his salvation, 0:42:17.080 --> 0:42:19.440 the forgiveness of sins, the remission of sins by the 0:42:19.480 --> 0:42:22.200 shedding of His blood. When your hand goes up, everybody 0:42:22.280 --> 0:42:25.000 start clapping, and the angels in heaven will start rejoicing, 0:42:25.120 --> 0:42:27.680 and it'll be amazing. And it's our way of saying, yeah, 0:42:27.840 --> 0:42:30.440 come on, w walk do it. Do it. It's amazing. 0:42:30.480 --> 0:42:35.120 It's amazing. But watch Isaiah thirty twenty one for the revelation. 0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:54.320 Then you will hear a voice behind you saying, watch this. 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:58.560 This is the way walk in. Yeah, this is the 0:42:58.600 --> 0:43:04.000 way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. 0:43:04.800 --> 0:43:08.640 This is the way walk in. Trust me. This is 0:43:08.680 --> 0:43:12.600 the way walking in. This is the way walk in it. 0:43:12.600 --> 0:43:15.600 Turn to the left. This is the way walk away. 0:43:15.880 --> 0:43:18.359 This is the way. Do it again, turn to the left. 0:43:18.400 --> 0:43:21.560 This is the way walk in it. Y'all. He could 0:43:21.600 --> 0:43:24.000 have walked right off the edge and it wouldn't have 0:43:24.000 --> 0:43:33.319 been my fault. This is the way this is the way. 0:43:34.120 --> 0:43:41.799 Notice that God's word comes as you walk. This is 0:43:41.840 --> 0:43:46.000 the way walk in it. This is the way walk 0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:49.040 in it. This is the way walk in it. Now 0:43:49.040 --> 0:43:55.440 we've come a long way from yay Graham, yay that 0:43:55.680 --> 0:43:58.080 It wasn't that awesome what he did on that video. 0:43:58.280 --> 0:44:05.640 It was basic. But then God calls you to walk 0:44:05.760 --> 0:44:27.279 by faith, not by sight. God pass God my back. 0:44:28.000 --> 0:44:30.480 This is the way walk in it. This is the 0:44:30.480 --> 0:44:32.799 way go slow walk in it. This is the way 0:44:33.160 --> 0:44:35.719 walk in it. This is the way walk in it. 0:44:36.040 --> 0:44:38.360 This is the way walk in it. This is the 0:44:38.400 --> 0:44:41.239 way walk in it. This is the way walk in it. 0:44:41.480 --> 0:44:44.960 And he doesn't even have to touch me to turn me. 0:44:45.440 --> 0:44:48.120 This is the way walk in it. Turn left. This 0:44:48.200 --> 0:44:50.839 is the way walk in it. This is the way. 0:44:51.200 --> 0:45:03.400 It assumes that I will stay close enough. If you 0:45:03.480 --> 0:45:07.040 get too far ahead, maybe you can't hear him anymore 0:45:09.239 --> 0:45:12.839 if you get too far in the future. Somebody asked 0:45:12.880 --> 0:45:15.240 me the other day, do you plan on pastoring Elevation 0:45:15.400 --> 0:45:21.800 Church when you're eighty? If I even start thinking about 0:45:22.560 --> 0:45:27.000 having to have a new sermon thirty eight years from now, 0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:32.240 y'all will watch me have a panic attack on YouTube 0:45:32.560 --> 0:45:35.280 in front of the world. I can't think that far out. 0:45:35.440 --> 0:45:37.719 All I know is today he told me to tell 0:45:37.800 --> 0:45:40.959 you God's got your back. God s got your back. 0:45:41.320 --> 0:45:44.439 God s got your back. God Scott, You're back. This 0:45:44.520 --> 0:45:47.360 is the way. This is the way. Yeah, that's good. 0:45:47.520 --> 0:45:51.360 This is the way. You can't see me, but you 0:45:51.520 --> 0:45:55.160 believe me. This is the way. Walk in it. We 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:59.440 walk by faith, not by sight. I'm not looking at 0:45:59.480 --> 0:46:02.759 what I'm wanting into. I know what I'm walking in with. 0:46:03.239 --> 0:46:06.920 I got a word from Almighty God over my shoulder 0:46:07.160 --> 0:46:10.759 to fight every devil and to tell every Jezebel. I 0:46:10.800 --> 0:46:14.200 am no prophet. I will stand up on the mountain 0:46:14.239 --> 0:46:18.239 of the Lord. I will proclaim illustration and progress. I 0:46:18.400 --> 0:46:22.200 will declare the works of the Lord. This diet will 0:46:22.239 --> 0:46:28.360 go down. This is the way walk in in and 0:46:28.600 --> 0:46:34.760 one word from God is all you need to walk 0:46:35.280 --> 0:46:39.200 into this day. This is the way. Walk in it. 0:46:39.440 --> 0:46:41.719 This is the way. Walk in it. When you get 0:46:41.760 --> 0:46:43.840 to the next day, I'll give you the next word. 0:46:44.000 --> 0:46:46.040 When you get to the next turn, I'll give you 0:46:46.080 --> 0:46:48.320 the next word. When you get to the next decision, 0:46:48.480 --> 0:46:50.360 I'll give you the next word. When you get to 0:46:50.400 --> 0:46:53.040 the next challenge, I'll give you the next word, because 0:46:53.040 --> 0:46:55.520 I got your back, see, because I'm right back here. 0:46:55.600 --> 0:46:58.839 See because I'm fighting stuff behind you that you don't 0:46:58.880 --> 0:47:02.080 even know about. That's why I got your back. That's 0:47:02.080 --> 0:47:05.240 why you can't see me, because I'm dealing with every 0:47:05.320 --> 0:47:08.799 bar ol Hey therec see hey ho you So you 0:47:09.000 --> 0:47:18.719 don't sack God, you're bad. God's got your back. Let 0:47:18.800 --> 0:47:23.880 baral No. I don't need you anymore. God's gotten my back. 0:47:28.560 --> 0:47:31.839 So I'm not just going back to school. I'm going back. 0:47:34.880 --> 0:47:38.920 I'm going back. God's got my back. I don't care 0:47:38.960 --> 0:47:41.600 if you like me. God loves me. I don't care 0:47:41.640 --> 0:47:44.600 if you notice me. God knows me. I don't care 0:47:44.640 --> 0:47:48.960 if you recognize me. What God is revealed is this 0:47:49.120 --> 0:47:55.000 guy my bad and I can trust him because when 0:47:55.000 --> 0:47:57.440 I was in the ninth grade, you went in ninth grade, 0:47:58.239 --> 0:48:02.320 ninth grade, trying to be taller than me and he 0:48:02.440 --> 0:48:10.799 last crowd. I still I'm still stronger than him, at 0:48:10.960 --> 0:48:17.680 least psychologically. Don't look back at I'm talking to them. 0:48:17.760 --> 0:48:20.880 But take something. Man, you're not good. You have it 0:48:21.880 --> 0:48:24.120 at the school, me and Uncle Irquin too. When you 0:48:24.120 --> 0:48:26.200 were freshmen, they throw you in the trash can as 0:48:26.239 --> 0:48:30.040 an initiation, and there was a lot of rednecks, so 0:48:30.080 --> 0:48:33.799 they'd be spitting, dip in the trash can and throw 0:48:33.880 --> 0:48:38.799 you in their head. First, it goes to a bougie school. 0:48:38.800 --> 0:48:40.760 They don't throw you in the trash can at his school. 0:48:43.200 --> 0:48:46.280 But now his brother is a senior. And the funny 0:48:46.280 --> 0:48:48.000 thing is it reminds me of the exact age gap 0:48:48.040 --> 0:48:50.520 between my brother and me. I was a senior, he 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:55.520 was a freshman by that time. I don't mean the brag, 0:48:55.560 --> 0:49:00.279 but I was the man at Berkeley High School weight 0:49:00.440 --> 0:49:05.920 leave me and watch this. Watch this. My brother was 0:49:05.920 --> 0:49:09.120 a freshman, I was a senior. I said, oh, on 0:49:09.160 --> 0:49:11.680 the first day of school, when they go to throw 0:49:11.680 --> 0:49:16.680 you in that trash can, come find me because I 0:49:16.719 --> 0:49:23.960 won't let him. And he did. I was standing out 0:49:23.960 --> 0:49:27.720 there in the courtyard talking to Eric and he was running. 0:49:28.320 --> 0:49:32.959 He was running, and he said, tell him, they can't 0:49:33.000 --> 0:49:38.160 do it. And I said, all right, y'all can't do it. 0:49:39.360 --> 0:49:42.200 And they didn't do it. And he never went in 0:49:42.200 --> 0:49:51.480 in trash can because I had it's back. There comes 0:49:51.480 --> 0:49:55.680 a point where you've done all that you can do 0:49:56.719 --> 0:50:00.000 and it's bigger than you. But my confidence isn't because 0:50:00.120 --> 0:50:08.239 us I'm big. My confidence is because I'm backed. I'm back, 0:50:10.960 --> 0:50:16.920 and you have an elder brother named Jesus. See, you 0:50:17.000 --> 0:50:19.600 got a big brother and you can't see him. He 0:50:19.640 --> 0:50:22.040 is invisible, so it's hard to depend on. But I 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:24.880 just need you to get this picture before you go 0:50:25.000 --> 0:50:29.239 into whatever you're going into this week, that God has 0:50:29.400 --> 0:50:33.759 got your back, and I want us to confess it. 0:50:33.840 --> 0:50:35.560 I want us to confess it like you got a 0:50:35.600 --> 0:50:37.720 big brother that can keep you out of the trash, 0:50:37.760 --> 0:50:41.120 can see if they can't throw you away, because God's 0:50:41.520 --> 0:50:45.759 got my back. You hear a word behind you, you 0:50:45.800 --> 0:50:48.319 won't see it. I'm not looking for proof. That's how 0:50:48.360 --> 0:50:50.960 you stood up at your mom's funeral. Buck preached. He 0:50:51.000 --> 0:50:53.640 did a thing at his mom's funeral. It was so beautiful. 0:50:53.800 --> 0:50:56.480 He did such a beautiful tribute to his mom at 0:50:56.520 --> 0:50:58.960 the end of a long battle with als. He did 0:50:59.000 --> 0:51:02.200 such a beautiful trip to his mom. It was incredible. 0:51:02.400 --> 0:51:04.799 I was in tears. I told him afterwards, that was 0:51:04.800 --> 0:51:07.840 so beautiful, Buck, because he doesn't preach. He's not a preacher. 0:51:08.040 --> 0:51:12.200 He's had my back for what now, seventeen years. He's 0:51:12.200 --> 0:51:14.120 had my back, But I didn't know he could preach 0:51:14.200 --> 0:51:15.960 like that. I said, you should have never showed me 0:51:16.000 --> 0:51:17.880 you could preach like that. I'm gonna have you do 0:51:17.960 --> 0:51:21.319 a series. It was so beautiful, man, I'm telling you 0:51:21.360 --> 0:51:23.200 the truth. He got up there. He said, if my 0:51:23.239 --> 0:51:25.439 mom could see all of you here today, she would 0:51:25.480 --> 0:51:29.160 say what she always said when she was surprised, really 0:51:29.880 --> 0:51:34.239 for me. His mom was Taiwanese, and he showed when 0:51:34.280 --> 0:51:37.880 she would get really surprised, she would say, really for me. 0:51:38.680 --> 0:51:40.480 And he went on and he told about her hard 0:51:40.560 --> 0:51:43.239 life but her faith in God. And every time he 0:51:43.320 --> 0:51:45.920 was talking about it, it was a situation where, Wow, 0:51:46.080 --> 0:51:48.760 it doesn't really look like God was with her in that. Wow, 0:51:48.920 --> 0:51:50.839 it didn't look like God lifted a finger to help 0:51:50.840 --> 0:51:53.319 her during the abuse. Wow, it didn't look like God 0:51:53.360 --> 0:51:55.799 provided for a while she was working three jobs and 0:51:55.840 --> 0:51:58.239 still having to stretch. But it's not about what you 0:51:58.280 --> 0:52:02.440 can see, it's about what you can hear. God has 0:52:02.880 --> 0:52:07.840 your back. Say it, God's God mind back. I'm not 0:52:08.000 --> 0:52:10.520 pointing to something I can prove it with. No, I'm 0:52:10.520 --> 0:52:13.200 not showing the devil my bank balance right now. No, 0:52:13.320 --> 0:52:15.879 I'm not showing the devil to medical report right now, 0:52:16.040 --> 0:52:18.120 because if I look at that, I'm gonna get more 0:52:18.120 --> 0:52:21.320 focused on what I'm walking into than who I'm walking 0:52:21.400 --> 0:52:24.960 in with. I got a big brother name Jesus. Walk 0:52:25.000 --> 0:52:27.759 in it, walk in it. Walk in the confidence of God, 0:52:28.040 --> 0:52:30.400 Walk in the favor of the Lord, walk in the 0:52:30.520 --> 0:52:40.840 strength he gives. When Buck finished talking about that amazing 0:52:40.920 --> 0:52:47.040 life well live, he said, I know my mom is 0:52:47.080 --> 0:52:52.279 watching right now, and I know she's singing in the 0:52:52.400 --> 0:52:58.200 choir in Heaven Love, even though she's not the best singer. 0:53:00.200 --> 0:53:04.360 And I know that she saw her mansion, and I 0:53:04.440 --> 0:53:10.880 know what she said when she saw it. Really, for me, 0:53:12.200 --> 0:53:20.000 I lost it sitting right there in the pew because 0:53:20.040 --> 0:53:23.400 I knew what it meant, because he told me. I 0:53:23.440 --> 0:53:25.239 almost didn't even get up and do it because I 0:53:25.239 --> 0:53:30.520 thought it was trash. But God had your back. That's 0:53:30.560 --> 0:53:38.000 how you did it. That's how you did That's how 0:53:38.040 --> 0:53:40.080 you're gonna make it, son, because God has your back. 0:53:40.280 --> 0:53:43.040 Don't get too far out ahead of him, and never 0:53:43.080 --> 0:53:45.879 stop walking toward what he called you to be. Don't 0:53:45.880 --> 0:53:48.439 get paralyzed. You talk to him, you walk with him, 0:53:48.560 --> 0:53:50.680 You get in the rhythm with him. You let him lead. 0:53:50.719 --> 0:53:52.839 You can't get you back on track. God to say, 0:53:52.840 --> 0:53:54.920 oh no, turn around, dummy and the Lord to talk 0:53:54.920 --> 0:53:58.359 to you like that sometimes. But if we don't, let 0:53:58.400 --> 0:54:03.000 there be this distance. Hey, the next time that you 0:54:03.080 --> 0:54:06.080 hear from God can't be next Sunday when we get together. 0:54:06.480 --> 0:54:19.719 That's too far apart. God has your bat and I 0:54:19.800 --> 0:54:21.759 walk right off that stage and go take your seat. 0:54:21.800 --> 0:54:25.680 Everybody stand up from a list of the Lord of 0:54:25.719 --> 0:54:29.239 praise that he has my back, that he has my back, 0:54:30.719 --> 0:54:39.080 that he has my back. God has my back. Tell Hazekiah, 0:54:39.200 --> 0:54:41.600 I'll send an angel in the tent of your enemy. 0:54:41.840 --> 0:54:44.759 I got your kids, I got your future, I got 0:54:44.800 --> 0:54:47.239 your finances. I got it in my hands. But you 0:54:47.280 --> 0:54:52.160 got to walk in this word now. Father, you said 0:54:52.160 --> 0:54:55.799 in your word that if you begin a good work 0:54:55.840 --> 0:54:58.960 in us, you'd be faithful to complete it. And here 0:54:58.960 --> 0:55:02.359 we are today again, Heavenly Father, asking you for your 0:55:02.360 --> 0:55:07.280 help to hear your voice saying this is the way, 0:55:07.840 --> 0:55:10.680 walk in it. I want you to lift your hands. 0:55:11.680 --> 0:55:13.719 We're going to sing this is how I fight my battles. 0:55:15.719 --> 0:55:17.879 And we're just gonna remember that God can do more. 0:55:18.080 --> 0:55:20.120 He can do more sneaking in the tent of your 0:55:20.239 --> 0:55:24.680 enemy than you can relying on the splintered staff of Pharaoh, 0:55:24.719 --> 0:55:26.319 and I want you to lift those hands so high, 0:55:26.360 --> 0:55:30.719 because it's been too long since you ask God for 0:55:30.760 --> 0:55:34.520 his help. And he said, as quick as you can 0:55:34.560 --> 0:55:37.960 say it, I can do it. It may take some 0:55:38.040 --> 0:55:41.120 time for you to walk it out, but I'll help 0:55:41.160 --> 0:55:46.240 you so quick. I'll hold you so quick, I'll grab 0:55:46.280 --> 0:55:48.640 you as quickly as any parent would grab a child 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:52.520 going out into the street. But today, if you hear 0:55:52.560 --> 0:55:56.279 his voice, harden not your heart. Don't wander around in 0:55:56.320 --> 0:56:01.480 the wilderness because you won't ask for help, ask him. 0:56:01.520 --> 0:56:05.319 Say it out loud. I need your help, Lord. I 0:56:05.360 --> 0:56:08.480 got some hard things up ahead. I'm carrying some heavy 0:56:08.520 --> 0:56:11.440 things in my heart. I got some history that I'm 0:56:11.440 --> 0:56:13.120 not proud of. Lord, I need your help with that. 0:56:14.239 --> 0:56:17.040 I've made some decisions like Azekiah that were really dumb, 0:56:17.920 --> 0:56:22.239 some unwise alliances. But when I see that you're behind me, 0:56:23.040 --> 0:56:25.879 and remember that you've gone before me. Now, remember, our 0:56:25.920 --> 0:56:28.160 faith isn't what we see ahead of us. Our faith 0:56:28.239 --> 0:56:29.759 is not in what we see ahead of us, or 0:56:29.760 --> 0:56:33.000 how clear that path is. Our faith is in how 0:56:33.040 --> 0:56:35.239 great our God is, who fights our battles behind us. 0:56:37.440 --> 0:56:38.960 I know I said lift your hands, but I want 0:56:39.000 --> 0:56:43.640 you to clap them now and begin to celebrate the victory. Well, 0:56:43.680 --> 0:56:46.120 if you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things 0:56:46.200 --> 0:56:49.439 I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 0:56:49.760 --> 0:56:52.759 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 0:56:52.800 --> 0:56:56.320 others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash 0:56:56.440 --> 0:56:59.920 give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.