God’s Up To Something Upstream!

0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.240 Hasn't He been wonderful and kind and merciful? Haven't his 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:10.080 blessings been bountiful in your life, exceedingly abundantly above anything 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.480 you can ask or imagine. The presence of the Lord 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.600 is in this place. Would you just tell the person 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:18.279 next to you, the presence of the Lord is in 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:23.800 this place. Tell him what I taught you last week. 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:29.240 Tell him God is in it with me. Tell him 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:35.640 God is working through me. And tell him God is 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.640 fighting for me. Tell him don't pick on me, because 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:42.519 God's got my back. He's fighting for me. You understand 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:48.720 what I'm saying. Oh, you can't curse what God is blessed. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:56.680 He's a defender of the week. Yes he is. Come on, 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:58.800 how many of you said that a few times this week? 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.639 God is not against me. I gave you this prescription. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:08.720 Did you take it? Last week? The verdict pharmacy on 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.640 behalf of doctor God? And I gave you something to 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.840 take a new meditation for your heart. Just take that 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.440 swing out and let's sing that real quick. He's in 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:25.880 it with me, working through me. He's fighting for me. 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:31.920 God is not against me. He's in it with me, 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:40.360 working through me, fighting for me. God is not against 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:48.960 He's in it with me. He's working through me, fighting 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:57.400 for me. Do you feel that with me? He's working 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:06.560 through me. God, it's not a gast me sitting with me. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:13.600 He's working thro me. He spotted for me, God, he said, 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:22.280 agast me, sitting with me. He's sing to me, spotty 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.120 for me. God, it's not okay, you gotta numb me. Oh, 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.799 come on, he's sitting with me. He's fucking to me. 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.760 You starting for me? God, He's not a cast me. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:55.399 He sending with me. He's he started pulls casting the gods, 0:02:55.520 --> 0:03:00.519 not me. Isn't that good to know that he loves you, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:08.760 that he's with you? God Me. So the next time 0:03:08.880 --> 0:03:10.959 shame tries to tell you to put your head down 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.600 because you made some mistakes, plead the blood of Jesus 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:19.040 and say, he's not against me. And the next time 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:21.919 depression tries to wear you out down to a nub 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:24.680 where you have nothing to give to the world, look 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.639 back at depression and say, and if he before me, 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:38.040 who can mean against me? Now? I know, God Me, 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.000 I came to preach the Gospel to every tribe, nation 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.920 and talk today just to let you know what the 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:50.400 good now said God, he's not me. He loves me, 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:56.360 that he's for me, that he's a friend of tenors 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:04.960 in his righteousness. I'm found on his friend. I'm founding 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:10.640 out of the beloved God. He's not against in with me. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:16.080 He's in it with me, working through workbody, home, he 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:22.400 fight God. He's not against me. He's in it with me. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:31.240 He's starting for me. God, he sut against Steve. Come on, 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.360 let's lift up a mighty shout of praise to our kid, 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:42.560 get our friend, our savior, the only wise God. I 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:49.880 feel like preaching and prophesy him and calling you up 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:55.960 higher today, because God is up to something. Believe that 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.280 if you don't believe anything else. If you don't believe 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.480 in balloons, does it fly over? Or you don't believe 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.520 in anything else, you don't have to believe any of that. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.640 If you don't even believe in the flu believe this 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:13.040 God is up to something. I'm telling you. Even if 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:14.840 you don't believe this is a real church and you 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:16.560 just came to check it out because you heard it 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.760 was weird, or there were girls here and you're single, 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.280 or anything like that, Even if you don't believe this 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.080 is the Great Church, believe that God is up to something, 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:32.400 absolutely so, So I am so so thankful for this 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.559 opportunity to minister to you today. Remain standing for a moment, 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:37.840 I'm going to share with you a scripture. As we 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.360 continue on in this I call it a series, it's 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:46.760 really just a flow. I asked the Lord for more 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.680 flow of the Holy Spirit, and I asked him to 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.640 give it to me in the name of Jesus for 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:59.200 his glory and to build his people up. And be 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.840 careful what you ad ask for, because God, God's been 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.120 going so quick with showing me stuff. Every time we 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.120 write a song, I send Chris another one, another one. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.520 And I feel the spirit of Dj Khalid on this 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:16.359 church these days. Oh man, But he just keeps speaking, 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:18.880 he just keeps moving, he just keeps making ways. He 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:24.640 just keeps on keeping on keeping us alive. And he 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.040 has us here for a purpose. So I announced that 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:29.920 I was going to teach there's so much more to 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.080 the story, and just been steadily walking with Joshua in 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.840 the Old Testament book and as I go through the 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.600 Bible myself in my personal life, just sharing from the 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.200 overflow of what God is speaking to me. Well, this one, 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.320 this week. I have been holding for a little while, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.240 and all I've been praying all day is, Lord, don't 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.080 let me scare him. I don't want it to come 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.920 out too quick. And they have to hold on. Holly said, 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.280 let's go. But she's already warmed up, you understand, and 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:03.400 you're not. She's used to me. She knows how to 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.400 put up with me, but you don't. But maybe just 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.760 for a little while, we can enter into his presence 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:15.000 and forget the distractions and just see what if he speaks, 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.280 What if he shows you? What if he does something 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.160 for you that you couldn't do in five years of 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.040 your own effort, but he just does it. What if 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.800 he uses you in an amazing way? And I'm believing 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.600 that he will. So go with me to Joshua chapter 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:41.600 three Joshua chapter three. In an effort to conserve my 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:46.200 energy for the part of this sermon where I really 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:47.800 want to preach, I'm just going to do one verse 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:54.320 right now, and that's verse thirteen. Joshua three, Verse thirteen. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:08:00.640 And as soon as the priests who care the ark 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.800 of the Lord, the Lord of all the Earth, set 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:11.800 foot in the Jordan, set foot in the Jordan, that 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:16.160 means I'm stepping into this. That means I'm not waiting 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:20.320 for it to happen. No, I'm stepping into this, stepping 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:25.000 into this moment, stepping into this pulpit. I'm stepping into 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.560 this day. I'm stepping into this worship service. Somebody say 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:33.160 I'm stepping into it. Tell them might step on your 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.440 toes today, so watch out. I hope you didn't wear 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:40.440 your clean shoes. Wear those beaters to church, all right, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.320 he said. As soon as they set foot in the Jordan, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:55.520 it's waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:59.400 up in a heat. So see how this works. When 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:04.040 you step in it, the waters stand up and the 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.040 word the Lord gave me for today. You ready for this, 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.599 he said, to tell you God's up to something upstream. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.120 God is up to something upstream. I won't make you 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:22.160 talk to your neighbor one more time today, but just 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:24.920 tell them before you take your seat. God is up 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.280 to something. Tell him. Notice I didn't say God was 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.160 up to something, not just what he did in the past. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.480 I appreciate what he did in the past, but put 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.760 it in the present and say God is up to 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:44.199 something upstream. Now in the chat, put a bunch of 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:49.560 exclamation marks after that. Oh, thank you Lord, he's up 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:54.480 to something upstream. You may be seated. He's up to 0:09:54.600 --> 0:10:00.440 something upstream. He must be up to something. Thatcher Bob 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.080 Lohman said, when you're down to nothing, God is up 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:08.360 to something, and that good news. Oh put in the 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.319 chat as we go where you are watching from. Give 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:17.480 me city and state or city and state, country, whatever 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.920 the case may be. But be specific. So don't just 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:25.360 put United States or South America. Put Brazil, or put 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.160 put something in the chat that lets me know where 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.760 you're watching from. And I'm gonna pull that up as 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.400 we go. As we do that, if you live in 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.319 any of the following cities, come join us at elevation nights. 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.480 I never miss an opportunity to promote y'all while I'm 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.320 waiting for those, because there's twenty second delay. Austin, Texas, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:50.040 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kansas City, Missouri, Denver, Colorado, 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:53.319 Saint Louis, Missouri, Fort Wayne, Indiana. That's going to be 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:54.959 the best one. I felt it when I said it. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:11:00.480 And Toronto, Ontario, April eighteenth through twenty seventh, and you 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.040 can go to elevation nights dot com. If you live 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.959 within twenty miles of any of those cities, I'd show 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.520 up if I were you, and just expect God to 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.079 do something. And we're going to preach and release the 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.360 sound of this house. And come on, she said, Holly said, 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:18.360 twenty two hundred miles. Get there. She said, it's worth 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:20.880 buying a plane ticket. And she's right. But you didn't 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:24.280 have to fly in today, did you. God brought you 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:32.360 right here to the house. All right, We got Nashville, Tennessee, Allentown, Pennsylvania, 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:40.520 l Paso, Texas. Somebody said, Jacksonville, North Carolina. Put it 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.040 in the chat. Put it in the chat. Put it 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:48.760 in the chat. Manila, Philippines. And they're going too fast. 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.640 You'll think I can't read, but they're just really going fast. 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.520 And I thank God for that that we're reaching that 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:57.760 many people. That's amazing. Sometimes I like to do this. 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:00.559 You'll think I'm just stalling, but I have a reason 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:02.280 for it. I want us to take a moment and 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.760 consider that God is up to something, not just in 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:09.199 this room, but all over the world. In Richmond, Virginia, 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:14.040 San Antonio, Texas did already say San Antonio, Kenya, but 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.920 be specific San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tempa, Florida. Now, one 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.959 thing I'm noticing, all these are places I've heard of before, 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:22.679 the ones that i'm naming, and there's a lot going by, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:24.440 so I'm skipping ones that I never heard of because 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.920 I can't pronounce them. And if you went through them, though, 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:28.880 if you went through them real slow and you ask 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:32.200 the person you're from Tampa, they may say yes. They 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.199 may say, well, I'm kinda from a town near Tampa. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.640 And I understand that because I grew up in one 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.440 of those towns that when you told somebody the town, 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.080 you had to tell them another town to tell them 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.400 what it was near. Because when you say I'm from 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.400 Monk's Corner, South Carolina, they don't usually say, oh, I've 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.520 always wanted to visit there. I don't know why. It's 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.679 a beautiful place, but you usually don't get that response, yeah, man, 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.760 that's on my bucket list. Oh yeah, we did our 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.000 honeymoon there by unless they did it not by choice. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:05.319 And it's a good place though, and I love it. 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.160 But I usually learn to tell people around about the 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.840 time I was sixteen that I live in a little 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.559 town called Monks Corner, South Carolina, thirty miles north of Charleston. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.640 Oh yeah, I know Charleston. And you just learned because 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:24.160 the frame of reference, you know, for Monk's Corner had 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.120 to be identified by putting another place behind it. So 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.480 you just learned to say overtime like, yeah, I'm from Charleston. 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.880 Now I notice myself, I'll just say South Carolina. I'm 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:36.959 just from I grew up in South Carolina. I just 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.040 say the state now. But when I really want to 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.400 identify it, we're at in South Carolina, a little town 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.280 about thirty miles north Charleston called Monk's Corner. I got 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.080 it memorized. I could say it in my sleep. Little 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.280 town thirty miles you know, I just said it so 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:55.440 many times. I know where I'm from. Hmm. I col 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.600 appreciate that, couldn't I I know where I'm from, even 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.240 if you don't know where I'm from. I have food 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.920 to eat that you know not of. My father in 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:05.959 heaven has called me by his name. But that's not 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.360 what I want to preach about today, although I could. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.600 When we look at this scripture here from Joshua, chapter three, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.120 for us, it may be difficult to locate the miracle 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.000 because we don't know the geography of the Old Testament, 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:25.600 at least I don't, and I went to school for it, 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.920 so I read about places where things happen, Like the 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.640 Jordan River always felt like a really big body of 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.360 water to me, but it's not. I went to Israel 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:35.640 and I'm like, this is it. Yeah, it is it, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:37.880 But I know that I thought it was huge because 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.400 it's so significant in scripture. Jesus got baptized there, the 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.000 people of God crossed over into the Promised Land. There 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.960 so many amazing things happen there. But it's not necessarily 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.880 that it's that big. It's just that significant, and that 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:56.200 will preach too. Just because it isn't big doesn't mean 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.040 it's not significant. You got only two hundred and twenty 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:05.240 followers on Twitter, but you're significant if you got something 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:06.960 to say. There's a lot of people with two hundred 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.680 and twenty million they don't have anything to say. Size 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.680 doesn't indicate significance. I'm not trying to preach that today, though. 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.960 Cap preach that at a men's conference, but I won't. Okay, 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.040 men are weird, That's all I'm saying. Let's go back 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:26.280 to the text. Back to the text. Back to the text, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:32.320 God is up to something. What was I going to say, 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.640 where you're from the town? Oh yeah, that's what I 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:39.160 was going to say. In this particular scripture, they are 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.040 crossing over into a particular place which would have been 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.080 known and relevant to the readers of Joshua. They would 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:46.480 have gone, oh, I know that town. Oh yeah, my 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.680 uncle's from there. Oh yeah, I pastored there one time. 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:50.800 Oh yeah, that's where we wanted to do our honeymoon. 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:54.239 But for us, places like Copernaium, where Jesus did his miracles, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.360 I'm where he based around the Sea of Galilee, we 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:01.600 don't really know. Copernium to us is a great place. Galilee, 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.160 where Jesus did his miracles, was known as the land 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.040 of darkness. But to us it's beautiful because it's Galilee, 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.960 and we've heard about it, and it even sounds lyrical 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.520 when you say it. Now, with that in mind, I 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.880 want you to consider that as they were taking physical 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:23.960 steps physical steps, you have been taking spiritual steps, either 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:27.680 toward God's purpose for your life this week or away 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.840 from it. And I want to know which one, because 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.600 I'm nosy and I want to know. Have you been 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.160 stepping into the true self that God sees that is 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:43.320 strong and courageous, the one that he calls by name, 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:49.720 Or have you been retreating into discouragement? Who's been in 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:53.080 your headset this week? And how have you been living? 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.400 Because I gave you this prescription last week to say 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:58.400 to yourself, God is not against me. He's in it 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:00.600 with me, working through me, fighting for me. And then 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:02.480 I wrote you a song for it, because I'm that 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.280 serious about you getting this in your heart. But one 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.119 thing I said last week that I'm not sure if 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.600 it came across, is when you find yourself uncertain, when 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.200 you find yourself discouraged, when you find yourself lonely, when 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:21.440 you find yourself tempted, do the thing that you would do. 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.800 I'm gonna have them put that sentence on the screen 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.119 so we can pick it up and make sure we 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.840 understand that I'm not trying to sound like Yoda. Then 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.120 that sound kind of like Yoda. Something Yoda would say, 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.360 do the thing that you would do. But the Lord 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:39.440 spoke that to me as I was praying about, Hey, 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:41.840 I don't feel like I am enough to do this. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:43.879 I don't feel like I have enough to do that. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.360 I don't feel like I will ever be if I'm 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.080 not that by this age, and it came to me, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.400 do the thing that you would do if you believed 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:58.480 that what God spoke is true. When you don't feel 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.000 that what God spoke is true, that it's totally normal. 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.159 So you don't wait for a feeling. You act as 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:10.480 if it's true because it is. Even though you don't 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.280 see the truth, do the thing that you would do. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:20.080 Steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:22.119 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.119 on your understanding, but all your ways. Acknowledge Him, and 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:29.359 he will direct your paths. God does not always bless 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.720 your good intentions or your abstract thoughts toward him, but 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.000 he will always support a step that you take toward 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.440 His grace, his mercy, his kindness, and his calling on 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.040 your life. I don't know who this is for, but 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.720 you're stepping into it even now. By being in church, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.680 you're stepping into it. Even now by listening to a 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.679 podcast about Jesus, you're stepping into it. As you lifted 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.920 your hands in worship today, you were stepping into the 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:59.800 you that God sees. That's the you You've got to do. 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.920 Put my sentence back up, but this time put it 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.359 up a little different. I told him to break it 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:07.280 down like this, and I'll teach it for the first 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.399 part of this seminar next slide. Look at it in 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.760 these phases. Do the thing that you would do. Let's 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.960 break it down. One part of that speaks to faith. 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:20.920 If you believe that God was with you, if you 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.240 believed that God was for you, if you believe that 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:27.120 God wanted to help you, what would you do? Then 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.600 do that whatever you would do if you knew He 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.359 was with you. Do that so I can open the 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.800 coffee shop because the Lord's gonna I don't know about 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:39.680 the coffee shop. You might be horrible at business and 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:41.440 your coffee might not taste good, so I don't know 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.640 all that. But I'm talking about the attitude you show 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.879 up for with it, uh huh, and so do the 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:50.639 thing you would do if you felt like God was 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.159 with you. So I thought it was brilliant when you 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:56.040 were telling me the other day, Graham said, when I'm 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:59.480 in an awkward environment at group setting, I pretend like 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:03.119 I'm a character in Madden, but not a main character, 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:09.040 like I pretend like an NPC, and I jump He said, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.240 because it's better than feeling awkward. So I just start 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.840 and I'm like, dude, there's like Ted talks about that 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.199 that even if you take a confident posture or an 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:22.920 excited posture, you're not as smart as you think. You 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:28.240 can trick yourself into a better mood to start. You 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.600 can you can smile sometimes before I come preach to 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.800 you all, I'll just start going and start moving my 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:38.760 muscles in a way that reflects what I need to 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:40.359 do for my message. Because I need to love you 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:42.159 to be up here. Sorry, look like I love you. 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.639 So I just start smiling. Oh it's a fake smile. No, 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.840 it's a faith smile. It's a faith smile. It's a 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.680 faith smile. It's a faith praise. Oh you got a 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:55.720 new car this week. Oh my car's in the shop. 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.800 The brick pads wore off two weeks ago. But it's 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:02.359 a faith praise. Oh you know it's gonna work out. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.399 Oh you know your kid's gonna end up in a 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.040 good place. Oh you know you're gonna get into college. No, 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.200 I don't feel it, but I just want to step it. 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:19.840 So that's one way that I mean that sentence is 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:24.560 do the thing that you would do if you felt it. 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.080 Do the thing by faith that you would do if 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.479 you had the feeling that God was with you. Can 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.560 I move on? I'm gonna go backwards. Do the thing 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.879 that you would do. Now. When I say that you 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:44.040 would do, I'm talking about that you, not the other 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:48.680 you we taught at the beginning of the year. There 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:52.760 are at least two yous in your seat today, so 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:56.480 we would really be in overflow at Valentine. If all 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.760 the youths showed up, we would need a hundred times 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:03.880 from campuses. If every you that showed up this week 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.600 in your situation showed up at church today, we couldn't 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:11.160 build the buildings big enough. Am I right? Okay? Because 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:12.840 don't make me prophesy by the spirit of the Lord, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:17.320 I will. There is a choice that is to be 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:21.200 made the strong and courageous youth that God calls. What 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:25.560 would that you do? Do it? Give some away today? Why? 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:27.320 Because I want to be more generous. Well, do the 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:30.560 thing that you would do. The generous you y'all don't 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.680 want this. Y'all don't want this over on this side. 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:36.440 They'd like good preaching. So this is where I must 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:38.880 spend the rest of the day, y'all let me down bad. 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.440 You know that you the one that you get glimpses of, 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:49.359 the one that God calls strong and courageous and leader, 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:52.800 that you the one that's able to be selfless, the 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:55.159 one that's able to trust him, the one that doesn't 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:57.520 have to figure everything out to move forward in faith. 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:02.119 So when you feel stuff and paralyzed and discouraged, you 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:07.000 have to learn to do the thing that you would do. 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:10.960 When you don't have enough resources to do everything you 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.560 want to do, do the thing that you would do 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:19.200 with more resources, with less resources. Five loaves, two fish 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:25.520 to a Schmorgasborg in the wilderness, Do the thing, the thing, 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:31.720 the thing, one more time, the thing. Paul said, This 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:34.879 one thing I do. Why because if I try to 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.320 do all five things at once, I'm gonna get discouraged 0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:40.480 and give up on all of them. So I remember 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:42.640 an older minister told me when I was a young 0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:45.720 man like you, my favorite scripture was I can do 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:48.800 all things through Christ, who strengthens me. He said. But 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:51.440 now I'm sixty five, my scripture is this one thing 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:56.280 I do. That's wisdom because you learn how to focus 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:04.000 and not get overwhelmed Joshua is doing it, and the 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:10.000 people are doing it. The thing that the previous generation 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.240 wouldn't do. They're doing it, and so are you. So 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:19.159 are you. You don't give God enough credit for how 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:22.800 far he's brought you. You don't give the Holy Spirit 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:25.960 enough credit for how much he's strengthened you. Well, I 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:27.440 don't want to be prideful. I don't want you to 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:29.040 be prideful either, but I do want you to be 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:33.560 praiseful and give God praise for the progress that you've made. 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:38.680 And here they are on the brink of an amazing 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:42.600 thing that God is doing. God is up to something. 0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:47.240 They are about to cross over the waters, and the 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:49.840 Lord is doing it in a very different way than 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:52.800 he did a generation ago when they crossed the Red Sea. 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:56.560 Remember that one At the Red Sea, Moses took his staff, 0:24:56.600 --> 0:25:00.520 stuck it out, waters parted, they went through, Pharaoh drowned, 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:03.760 all the chariots, wheels rusting off in the middle of 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:09.639 the water because God was setting his people free. This time, however, 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:13.160 is going to be a little different. And I'll stop 0:25:13.280 --> 0:25:15.760 right here and just pause for whoever this is for, 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:18.440 God is going to make you do it a little 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:24.280 bit different. In this season, not to repeat the same 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:28.359 routines that you saw from the traditions that you were handed, 0:25:28.400 --> 0:25:31.239 but to evaluate them and say, does this line up 0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:36.560 with God? Does this line up with who He's calling 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.960 me to be right now? And that means sometimes that 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:43.880 the me that God is bringing into this season has 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:48.040 to embrace certain limitations and say goodbye to certain things 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:52.640 from the season before. The important thing is to keep 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:58.040 stepping forward, and with every step he makes you stronger. 0:25:58.960 --> 0:26:03.280 With every step he shows you something. Joshua gets the 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:06.400 people ready and says, in three days, we're crossing over. 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:10.000 In three days, we're crossing over. In three days, we're 0:26:10.000 --> 0:26:13.360 crossing over. They don't even have their marching orders yet 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:16.400 for Jericho, because if he told them we're gonna blow 0:26:16.440 --> 0:26:20.840 trumpets at the walls, they might have turned around. God 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:24.520 doesn't tell you everything. He knows what would make you 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:27.000 turn around. He knows if he said, Hey, I'm gonna 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:29.960 take you to Jericho and you're gonna start blowing trumpets, 0:26:30.240 --> 0:26:33.320 we send in the marching band in boys, he knows 0:26:33.400 --> 0:26:36.960 you turn around. So that's why sometimes he will trick 0:26:37.080 --> 0:26:42.000 you into trusting him. Y'all didn't like the way that 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:45.360 sounded you thought I meant God was deceptive. I don't 0:26:45.400 --> 0:26:50.600 mean he's deceptive. I mean he's selective. He shows you 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:52.520 what you need to know to do what you need 0:26:52.640 --> 0:26:56.640 to do today, and that's it. So he tells him, 0:26:57.240 --> 0:27:00.760 let's go toward the Jordan. Now, imagine the conversations they 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:05.080 have as they're walking, because as they're stepping, they're stepping 0:27:05.240 --> 0:27:11.359 towards something that they see no way through. The Bible 0:27:11.400 --> 0:27:17.120 says something in the next verse. I read Joshua three thirteen, 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:20.800 but verse fourteen is important to it says when the 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:24.320 people broke camped across the Jordan, the priest, carrying the 0:27:24.600 --> 0:27:27.800 ark of the Covenant went ahead of them. Now, the 0:27:28.000 --> 0:27:32.040 ark of the Covenant represents God's presence. You have God's presence, 0:27:32.160 --> 0:27:34.760 not on the shoulders of a priest, but you have 0:27:34.920 --> 0:27:38.680 the great High Priest Jesus, who lives inside of you. 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:43.359 So you are never without his presidence. He's in it 0:27:43.560 --> 0:27:49.800 with me, what else, working through me and fighting for me. 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:53.480 So they carry this arc of the Covenant ahead of them. 0:27:53.840 --> 0:27:59.160 The whole passage is filled with anticipation about a certain 0:27:59.200 --> 0:28:02.800 situation that is very uncertain for the people who are 0:28:02.840 --> 0:28:07.119 walking into it life feels like that. I told Holly 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:10.080 the other day that a lot of times I will 0:28:10.160 --> 0:28:14.480 say I'm anxious when I'm really excited because I don't 0:28:14.520 --> 0:28:19.680 always know the difference, and I get excited and I 0:28:19.880 --> 0:28:24.679 label it anxiety. But what I really am is excited, 0:28:25.240 --> 0:28:31.879 just uncertain. That's what I think we're stepping into. In 0:28:31.960 --> 0:28:39.560 this text. They're excited, their faith faith filled, but they 0:28:39.600 --> 0:28:42.840 also have an incomplete picture of what's going to happen next. 0:28:43.800 --> 0:28:47.680 And the Lord says through Joshua, when the priest's feet 0:28:48.560 --> 0:28:51.280 touched the waters, this is what he said, when they 0:28:51.600 --> 0:28:53.360 priests carrying the ark of the Covenant when ahead of 0:28:53.400 --> 0:28:56.200 them verse fifteen. The Jordan is at flood stage all 0:28:56.320 --> 0:29:00.400 during harvest. Yet as soon as the priest who harried 0:29:00.480 --> 0:29:03.760 the art the presence of God reached the Jordan. Not 0:29:03.920 --> 0:29:09.880 prayed about the Jordan, not study three books about the Jordan, 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:14.760 not took a class about the Jordan. But when they 0:29:15.000 --> 0:29:19.760 reached the place, when they got to something that they 0:29:19.800 --> 0:29:23.600 had no idea how we'd get through it, it was 0:29:23.720 --> 0:29:28.360 in walking toward it that they demonstrated their faith for it. 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:33.760 And it says that as soon as their feet verse fifteen, 0:29:33.880 --> 0:29:37.200 y'all got it. As soon as their feet touched the 0:29:37.320 --> 0:29:42.800 water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. Now, when 0:29:42.880 --> 0:29:47.480 I say faith, we should take a moment and clarify 0:29:48.320 --> 0:29:51.960 what we mean by faith in the context of a 0:29:52.040 --> 0:29:55.840 Christian church. Faith means almost anything you want it to mean. 0:29:56.360 --> 0:29:59.760 If you say it in a generic way, I have 0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:04.040 faith in you could just be a nice way of 0:30:04.120 --> 0:30:07.640 saying that I love you, I love you, I have 0:30:07.960 --> 0:30:10.880 faith in you. Well, if that's what we mean when 0:30:10.920 --> 0:30:12.640 we say faith, if we have that kind of faith 0:30:12.680 --> 0:30:15.200 in God that we have in the friend, that we 0:30:15.240 --> 0:30:17.040 would say I have faith in you, or if we 0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:20.000 just mean I have a good feeling that it's going 0:30:20.040 --> 0:30:22.800 to turn out all right, that's not the kind of 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:25.040 faith I need when I'm going through and overflowing Jordan. 0:30:25.960 --> 0:30:27.320 Because I'm gonna tell you what I don't have when 0:30:27.320 --> 0:30:30.040 I'm going through and overflowing Jordan, a good feeling about this. 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:38.520 So I need faith that will help me step through 0:30:38.720 --> 0:30:43.400 something that I don't have a good feeling about anybody else. 0:30:45.240 --> 0:30:48.240 I need faith that can take me to the brink 0:30:48.320 --> 0:30:53.640 of something that is a breakthrough. But in the absence 0:30:53.720 --> 0:30:56.920 of the information that I need about it. I need 0:30:57.000 --> 0:31:02.440 the faith to help me step into it, even at 0:31:02.480 --> 0:31:05.280 the moment that I don't see how it's going to 0:31:05.360 --> 0:31:10.440 be moved out of my way. The nature of Christian faith, 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:15.320 the nature of Christian faith, it is distinctive from any 0:31:15.400 --> 0:31:19.280 other kind of faith. And here's why most versions of 0:31:19.400 --> 0:31:25.479 faith are generated from within the person and then placed 0:31:25.520 --> 0:31:29.360 upon the object. You sat in that chair today because 0:31:29.440 --> 0:31:32.520 you had faith in it. So you were in that 0:31:32.720 --> 0:31:36.840 chair because of your faith in that chair. Well, in 0:31:36.920 --> 0:31:40.920 the sixteen hundreds in England, these theologians got together in 0:31:41.000 --> 0:31:43.440 Westminster Abbey and there was a civil war happening in 0:31:43.520 --> 0:31:46.240 the country, and they were trying to boil down the 0:31:46.320 --> 0:31:50.240 faith to the distinctives. Now, this Westminster Confession came to 0:31:50.360 --> 0:31:53.760 be one of the core documents for many denominations, especially 0:31:53.840 --> 0:31:58.800 in the Reform tradition. What do we really believe? And 0:31:58.880 --> 0:32:00.600 one of the things that they said up about faith 0:32:00.760 --> 0:32:06.720 was this that by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:12.000 Christ unto you, and you receiving and resting on Him 0:32:12.880 --> 0:32:18.720 and his righteousness by faith. Watch this which faith you have, 0:32:19.840 --> 0:32:26.840 not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Now 0:32:26.960 --> 0:32:28.760 let me give you the monkst corner version of that 0:32:29.560 --> 0:32:38.760 you're ready. It doesn't come from you. So if you've 0:32:38.800 --> 0:32:44.480 got dried up faith, if you've got weighed down faith, 0:32:45.440 --> 0:32:50.240 if you've got broken down faith, but you've got a great, big, 0:32:50.800 --> 0:32:55.240 full God, who is heavy with blessing, who is sovereign 0:32:55.560 --> 0:33:00.640 over the affairs of men, then you don't put your 0:33:00.880 --> 0:33:03.880 faith in your faith as you walk through this life, 0:33:04.720 --> 0:33:09.440 sometimes up, sometimes down. The good news of the Gospel 0:33:09.640 --> 0:33:14.240 is even my faith doesn't come from me. So God says, 0:33:14.560 --> 0:33:17.560 I'm gonna give you grace for your life. I want 0:33:17.600 --> 0:33:20.200 to give you grace for your situation. I want to 0:33:20.240 --> 0:33:22.920 give you grace to save you from your sin. But 0:33:23.080 --> 0:33:26.440 you need faith to receive grace. So guess what God's 0:33:26.480 --> 0:33:29.120 gonna do. I'm not just gonna give you the grace 0:33:29.440 --> 0:33:31.760 because you need the faith to get the grace. But 0:33:31.920 --> 0:33:34.320 I know you and you don't even have the faith 0:33:34.440 --> 0:33:37.160 that it takes to get the grace. So what I'm 0:33:37.240 --> 0:33:40.960 gonna do is send my son in the likeness of 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:45.320 a sinful man. And when he dies and the blood 0:33:45.440 --> 0:33:49.680 runs down, and when they bury him in Joseph's tomb, 0:33:50.040 --> 0:33:53.360 I feel like preaching. And the Angel rolls the stone 0:33:53.400 --> 0:33:56.720 away and he gets something that sinds into heaven and 0:33:57.040 --> 0:34:00.640 sends the spirit down. Guess what he's doing. And he's 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:05.160 sending you faith from another place. He's sending you trust 0:34:05.600 --> 0:34:08.799 from another realm. He is sending you the gift from 0:34:08.840 --> 0:34:12.719 another dimension. And it doesn't come from you. And if 0:34:12.760 --> 0:34:15.840 it doesn't come from you, it doesn't depend on you. 0:34:16.400 --> 0:34:19.759 And if it comes from God, they cannot run out. 0:34:22.200 --> 0:34:25.760 It'll be like that wine at the wedding in Kanov Galilee. 0:34:26.280 --> 0:34:32.719 It'll just keep coming because God is enuf to something upstream. 0:34:36.200 --> 0:34:40.560 My faith flows from him. Don't put them on two 0:34:40.640 --> 0:34:43.960 different levels. Oh, grace comes from God. Faith comes from me. 0:34:44.360 --> 0:34:48.480 You need the faith to get the grace. So what 0:34:48.600 --> 0:34:51.680 they were saying in England, I'm saying in Charlotte, and 0:34:51.840 --> 0:34:55.919 somebody's watching it in England too, somewhere in England. First 0:34:55.960 --> 0:34:57.839 time I went to England, they were telling me about 0:34:57.840 --> 0:35:00.359 all the towns and everything. We got there. We landed 0:35:00.400 --> 0:35:02.520 one day. I was preciated in London. We landed at 0:35:02.600 --> 0:35:12.440 six am and Heathrow, Heathrow at six am is Heathrow 0:35:14.480 --> 0:35:18.919 is hell? That place they said, is only twenty miles 0:35:18.960 --> 0:35:23.120 to the hotel We got in a car in London 0:35:24.400 --> 0:35:30.399 from Heathrow Airport three hours to get twenty miles twenty 0:35:30.480 --> 0:35:36.560 miles where I'm from. If you don't respect the Lord 0:35:36.640 --> 0:35:38.640 or the law, you could do that in fifteen minutes 0:35:39.840 --> 0:35:48.000 where I'm from, and and and so it's it's relative. 0:35:48.280 --> 0:35:52.200 What That's what I'm saying. It's it's it's relatives. It's relative. 0:35:53.600 --> 0:35:59.000 The amount of faith that you have in your steps 0:36:00.400 --> 0:36:03.600 relates to the amount of faith that you have in 0:36:03.680 --> 0:36:13.400 his sovereignty. When I tell God all the reasons he 0:36:13.480 --> 0:36:16.160 can't use me, I get this sense that He already 0:36:16.239 --> 0:36:22.560 knew that. So I step into it anyway. As I step, 0:36:23.800 --> 0:36:26.320 he makes me strong. I see you in the spirit 0:36:26.400 --> 0:36:29.840 steping towards something right now. I see you steping toward 0:36:30.239 --> 0:36:33.480 a better version of the parent that you wish you 0:36:33.560 --> 0:36:36.600 would have had, and you didn't. But you're stepping into it, 0:36:37.000 --> 0:36:39.320 even though you don't have a frame of reference for it. 0:36:39.600 --> 0:36:45.680 But you're stepping into it. You're stepping into it. We 0:36:45.800 --> 0:36:49.600 got an upstream God who knew you'd be in the 0:36:49.680 --> 0:36:53.240 situation you were in before you were in the situation, 0:36:54.400 --> 0:36:58.680 and prepared you for the moment before you got to 0:36:58.800 --> 0:37:02.239 the brink. The Bible said that when they're when their 0:37:02.440 --> 0:37:08.480 feet touched the water's edge, the water stood up. I 0:37:08.600 --> 0:37:11.920 love that picture. So that means they had to step 0:37:12.080 --> 0:37:18.000 all the way toward the Jordan, and only when they're 0:37:19.000 --> 0:37:25.440 big toe got wet did a break apart. But y'all 0:37:25.480 --> 0:37:28.279 know something, Apparently I still don't know how to read 0:37:28.280 --> 0:37:34.360 the Bible. In my imagination, I always pictured this just 0:37:34.520 --> 0:37:38.840 like the Red Sea. They step at the Jordan. He's overflowing, 0:37:39.480 --> 0:37:45.600 boom step. Always pictured it like that. What's that Kevin 0:37:45.640 --> 0:37:50.040 Costner movie water World? Always pictured that on the Jordan. 0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:54.920 But remember Jordan's small. And also that's not what the 0:37:55.000 --> 0:38:02.760 Bible says. The Bible says the water flowing verse thirteen 0:38:03.440 --> 0:38:08.480 downstream will be cut off. That's where they saw the miracle, 0:38:09.360 --> 0:38:11.799 when they stepped toward the uncertainty. That's where you're going 0:38:11.840 --> 0:38:14.840 to see the miracle as you step into it, awkward 0:38:14.960 --> 0:38:18.359 and uncomfortable, as you step into it, as you move 0:38:18.520 --> 0:38:20.840 toward it, as you keep moving toward it, as you 0:38:21.040 --> 0:38:24.600 keep praying, keep believing, keep trusting, keep coming, keep digging, 0:38:24.760 --> 0:38:28.520 keep going, keep flowing, keep showing up, keep scheduling. Stuff 0:38:28.520 --> 0:38:30.800 that feels fruitless, because you know, God told you to 0:38:30.880 --> 0:38:34.279 do it, keep coming, keep going, keep moving. And when 0:38:34.360 --> 0:38:38.000 they got there, they saw it. They saw it when 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:40.640 they got there. When did they see it when they 0:38:40.760 --> 0:38:43.320 got there? They got there when they saw it. You know, 0:38:43.480 --> 0:38:45.960 God says, you know, are we there yet? No, you're 0:38:46.000 --> 0:38:48.799 not there yet. You'll know that you are there when 0:38:48.880 --> 0:38:51.280 it happens. But I'm not going to show you anything 0:38:51.360 --> 0:39:02.560 until you step into it. And yet that's not really 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:07.279 the point that I want to make, because it's true 0:39:07.360 --> 0:39:09.920 they did not see it until they stepped into it. 0:39:10.320 --> 0:39:12.400 That's when God cut off the waters and enabled them 0:39:12.400 --> 0:39:16.239 to cross. When they did it. But watch what the 0:39:16.280 --> 0:39:21.759 Bible said in verse sixteen. It says the water from 0:39:21.920 --> 0:39:28.200 upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a 0:39:28.320 --> 0:39:35.600 great distance away, had a town called Adam in the 0:39:35.719 --> 0:39:40.960 vicinity of Zarathon. You ever heard of Zarathon? Let me 0:39:41.040 --> 0:39:46.040 tell you about Zarathon Xarathon is about twenty miles from 0:39:46.080 --> 0:39:49.239 where they crossed the Jordan River. You know the Jordan River. 0:39:49.960 --> 0:39:53.799 You've heard of that. Okay, twenty miles away, you've heard 0:39:53.840 --> 0:39:58.600 of Charleston. Okay, about thirty miles away you've heard of 0:39:59.000 --> 0:40:03.719 You've heard of Charlotte about twenty miles away, and a 0:40:03.760 --> 0:40:08.080 place that they still call Indian Land. I don't know 0:40:08.160 --> 0:40:11.280 how long that one's gonna last to y'all have renamed 0:40:11.320 --> 0:40:18.680 that soon. I'm sure. Hey, you heard of Charlotte. You 0:40:18.760 --> 0:40:21.359 heard of the Jordan. Yeah, let me tell you about 0:40:21.360 --> 0:40:25.719 the Jordan. That's where we crossed over, but that's not 0:40:25.880 --> 0:40:32.960 where the miracles started. Don't do it, don't do it. 0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:34.879 Don't do and play a single note, because I gotta 0:40:34.880 --> 0:40:40.399 teach this. Somebody say twenty miles away. I studied it out. 0:40:40.440 --> 0:40:45.000 I asked chat gpt, where is the town called Adam 0:40:45.320 --> 0:40:48.080 in Joshua three? And the thing came back and I 0:40:48.120 --> 0:40:50.120 looked it up in a real book. It said it's 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:55.600 twenty miles away, which means watch this that for good 0:40:55.680 --> 0:41:02.080 to time it this right, that for them to get 0:41:02.480 --> 0:41:06.320 to the edge of the Jordan River, that for the 0:41:06.520 --> 0:41:14.440 priest big Toe to touch that water at floodstage, carrying 0:41:14.840 --> 0:41:18.799 that arc after forty years in the wilderness plus five 0:41:19.040 --> 0:41:24.560 after that, for this to happen at this moment, for 0:41:24.760 --> 0:41:28.640 the water's downstream to be cut off at this moment, 0:41:29.760 --> 0:41:33.759 that means God must have been up to something on 0:41:33.960 --> 0:41:40.080 the stream hah, before I got here. Before I got here, 0:41:43.080 --> 0:41:49.840 God's not walking with you, He's going before you. He 0:41:50.120 --> 0:41:55.560 not sucking ball. He Sobrin's sister, He's sovereign brother, He's 0:41:55.800 --> 0:42:06.560 sobrin baby. Yeah. God got there about three hours earlier 0:42:06.680 --> 0:42:10.640 to Adam. He said, hey, waters of Adam, I need 0:42:10.719 --> 0:42:14.840 y'all to stop real quick. Why because about three hours 0:42:14.920 --> 0:42:17.560 from now, the priest's feet are about to hit the 0:42:17.640 --> 0:42:21.160 Jordan River. About three hours from now, they're about to 0:42:21.239 --> 0:42:24.759 come into the brink of the promise that I made Abraham. See, 0:42:24.800 --> 0:42:27.719 this thing didn't start with Joshua. God was up to 0:42:27.840 --> 0:42:33.240 something upstream before Joshua. Oh, God ever got to this moment. 0:42:33.600 --> 0:42:35.920 As a matter of fact, it goes further back from that. 0:42:36.400 --> 0:42:39.880 The Bible says in the beginning, God made the heaven 0:42:39.920 --> 0:42:42.360 and the earth, and he got down in the dirt 0:42:42.760 --> 0:42:46.760 and he made a man, and the man's name was Adam. 0:42:47.239 --> 0:42:50.920 Now we've progressed a few hundred years, and Joshua is 0:42:51.040 --> 0:42:54.600 leading God's people into the promise. Y'all help me, preacher. 0:42:54.640 --> 0:42:58.080 We'll be here till one o'clock. I said, God was 0:42:58.200 --> 0:43:02.080 getting started in the garden. What has been started in 0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:05.279 this moment of your life. Didn't start in this moment 0:43:05.360 --> 0:43:16.000 of your life. God was twenty miles ahead of you. Yeah, yeah, 0:43:17.280 --> 0:43:20.120 they say, raising kids, you gotta say one step ahead, 0:43:20.440 --> 0:43:23.280 God said, I'll beat that. How about twenty miles ahead. 0:43:23.560 --> 0:43:26.240 How about I get there and I handle the situation 0:43:26.440 --> 0:43:29.040 with your kids. How About I get the friends out 0:43:29.080 --> 0:43:31.360 of their life and tell them run, devil, don't you 0:43:31.480 --> 0:43:34.600 ever come back. How About I get this thing started 0:43:35.480 --> 0:43:38.520 so when you get there, you can cross over, You 0:43:38.640 --> 0:43:40.800 can make it through. How about if I give you 0:43:40.960 --> 0:43:44.040 the faith to believe me. Okay, you got a mustard 0:43:44.120 --> 0:43:47.120 seed faith. Let's put it up against that mouth real 0:43:47.280 --> 0:43:57.879 quick and see which one wears greatest, Lord, Now, nona 0:43:57.920 --> 0:44:01.960 give me the Flawlord. I want to preach to everybody 0:44:02.080 --> 0:44:05.200 in this room who's having to trust God with something 0:44:05.520 --> 0:44:12.279 that's twenty miles away. Stuff you can't see, stuff you 0:44:12.360 --> 0:44:15.879 can't control, stuff you can't affect, stuff you can't move. 0:44:16.160 --> 0:44:18.520 Not the stuff you can do. Just do that stuff. 0:44:18.800 --> 0:44:22.080 Wear your own seatbelt. Don't ask Jesus Christ to buckle 0:44:22.160 --> 0:44:24.880 your seat belt. He's a busy guy. You do that. 0:44:25.280 --> 0:44:28.840 But for the other stuff that's overflowing the banks of 0:44:28.920 --> 0:44:32.719 the Jordans. You step into that just believing. What would 0:44:32.760 --> 0:44:35.040 you do if you believe that God was twenty miles 0:44:35.080 --> 0:44:48.919 away already doing what you're praying about. Wherever you see 0:44:49.000 --> 0:45:00.360 a problem, Heaven has a plan. Wherever you have a problem, 0:45:02.080 --> 0:45:08.800 Heaven has a plan. I'm gonna say it again, wherever, 0:45:09.480 --> 0:45:19.320 wherever you have a problem, Heaven has a plan. Turn 0:45:19.480 --> 0:45:25.799 that thing over to the Lord and leave it there. 0:45:30.800 --> 0:45:40.840 I said, wherever you have a problem, Heaven has a plank, 0:45:41.000 --> 0:45:46.720 good chord, Scottie, turn that thing over to the Lord 0:45:48.200 --> 0:45:57.200 and leave it there. Yeah, you want me to finish 0:45:57.280 --> 0:46:00.680 that song. I'll finish it and get somebody good to 0:46:00.719 --> 0:46:02.399 sing it to you next week if you come back. 0:46:04.040 --> 0:46:08.879 Because God is up to something, but you won't see 0:46:08.920 --> 0:46:13.279 it because it's twenty miles away. Can you trust him 0:46:13.800 --> 0:46:18.799 with the twenty Can you trust him that you can't 0:46:18.880 --> 0:46:20.560 get them to talk to you about it, but he's 0:46:20.600 --> 0:46:26.640 talking to them about it. Can you trust him? Can 0:46:26.719 --> 0:46:33.560 you trust him with something twenty miles away? Upstream? I 0:46:33.640 --> 0:46:35.960 always pictured that the water stood up where they stood. No, 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:38.759 they didn't see it piled up. It had been piled 0:46:38.840 --> 0:46:42.080 up for hours. You have no idea what God is speaking. 0:46:44.920 --> 0:46:48.399 We ask God for blessings, and we should we also 0:46:48.520 --> 0:47:01.200 need to ask him for damns, because he got to 0:47:01.280 --> 0:47:06.759 a town called Adam and he built a dam. It's 0:47:06.800 --> 0:47:09.920 too much, I know, it's too much. All is too much, 0:47:10.080 --> 0:47:11.759 just too much. I'm gonna save it for the base. 0:47:11.760 --> 0:47:13.239 And I'm gonna save it for the base. It's a 0:47:13.480 --> 0:47:16.239 it's it's a it's a mirror what he did. He said, 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:19.120 waters pile up. He remember, they can't see this on 0:47:19.200 --> 0:47:23.960 the live feed. If it was today, word would have spread. Right. Oh, y'all, 0:47:24.000 --> 0:47:26.200 don't worry, cause just keep walking because in and and 0:47:26.719 --> 0:47:30.479 and Adam, there's there's a there's a big pile of water. 0:47:30.640 --> 0:47:32.879 So won't be long. The water's going into the dead sea, 0:47:33.160 --> 0:47:35.480 and the one that's flowing down has completely stopped, so 0:47:35.640 --> 0:47:40.640 it will be dry in five four three two one. Now, Nope, 0:47:41.880 --> 0:47:46.440 no God, he's the god of the upstream. He's the 0:47:46.520 --> 0:47:51.480 god of the unseen. That's the nature of faith. In 0:47:51.600 --> 0:47:54.439 case all of the Westminster Confession stuff was a little 0:47:54.480 --> 0:47:58.360 abstract and theoretical, let me give you the picture. And 0:47:58.480 --> 0:48:01.120 in case the picture in the Old Testament is a 0:48:01.160 --> 0:48:04.000 little too physical for you, let me bring it over 0:48:04.280 --> 0:48:09.200 to the New Testament, this same Jordan River would be 0:48:09.320 --> 0:48:14.640 the Jordan River, not that Joshua crossed, but that Jesus 0:48:14.800 --> 0:48:22.120 was baptized in God is up to something upstream for Joshua. 0:48:22.680 --> 0:48:26.839 This moment represents the end of a wilderness experience when 0:48:27.040 --> 0:48:29.800 Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for forty days and 0:48:29.880 --> 0:48:33.399 forty nights. He came out of the wilderness and came 0:48:33.560 --> 0:48:39.240 into the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin 0:48:40.040 --> 0:48:44.440 John the Baptist, which is not a denomination, it was 0:48:44.640 --> 0:48:49.200 his occupation. And he said, I can't baptize you. You 0:48:49.400 --> 0:48:52.919 need to baptize me. You are the savior. Jesus says, 0:48:53.000 --> 0:48:56.640 shut up and do it. Jesus had the spirit of 0:48:56.760 --> 0:48:59.520 Nike before phil Knight was ever a twinkle in his 0:48:59.640 --> 0:49:04.240 mama's He said, just do it. Boom, gotta get baptized, Boom, 0:49:04.440 --> 0:49:07.640 to fulfill all righteousness. Boom, just do it. So he 0:49:07.840 --> 0:49:10.880 did it. And guess what happened to John for his obedience. 0:49:11.680 --> 0:49:13.920 He was thrown in prison for preaching to a king 0:49:14.280 --> 0:49:17.320 named Eric. And he was in prison about to be beheaded, 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:23.600 and he sent messengers to ask Jesus, are you the one. Now, 0:49:24.160 --> 0:49:28.239 how did we go all the way from your baptizing 0:49:28.400 --> 0:49:35.600 Jesus to you our doubting if he's the Messiah? Everybody 0:49:35.719 --> 0:49:52.680 has doubts downstream, me, you, the Pope, the bishop, the 0:49:52.760 --> 0:50:01.440 attorney general, you're praying grandmother, all have doubts downstream. When 0:50:01.480 --> 0:50:04.520 God speaks something to you, or when you feel a possibility, 0:50:04.840 --> 0:50:06.239 and I hope you feel least a little bit of 0:50:06.320 --> 0:50:08.960 it today. I hope you feel at least a little 0:50:09.000 --> 0:50:17.440 bit of it today. Well, Sunday is upstream. Sunday is upstream. 0:50:19.280 --> 0:50:21.440 Sunday is where you get that dose of God is 0:50:21.480 --> 0:50:23.400 in and with Me working through me, fighting for me. 0:50:24.160 --> 0:50:27.680 Where I have a problem, Heaven has a plan downstream 0:50:27.760 --> 0:50:32.839 that devil is waiting. Ask John the Baptist. He said, 0:50:32.880 --> 0:50:36.359 are you the one? Or should we wait for somebody else? Now, 0:50:36.400 --> 0:50:39.320 I want to give you a word from Jesus. Don't 0:50:39.440 --> 0:50:50.040 doubt downstream what God showed you upstream. For that to 0:50:50.160 --> 0:50:52.840 make any sense in your life, you will need to 0:50:52.920 --> 0:50:57.080 spend more time upstream this week, because if you're not 0:50:57.280 --> 0:51:02.040 getting it from God, you will be stepping into situations 0:51:02.120 --> 0:51:06.680 you're not ready for. The better. I am when I 0:51:06.760 --> 0:51:08.799 get to the brink of the Jordan is the more 0:51:08.880 --> 0:51:12.839 time I spent in his presence and staying in touch 0:51:12.880 --> 0:51:17.759 with him. Hey, I need time with God. Upstream in 0:51:17.920 --> 0:51:21.840 business terms, the term upstream doesn't have anything to do 0:51:21.920 --> 0:51:25.400 with rivers. In business terms, upstream is where the product 0:51:25.520 --> 0:51:31.960 is created and made and manufactured. Downstream refers to all 0:51:32.040 --> 0:51:37.120 of the activities around marketing and selling the product. Why 0:51:37.200 --> 0:51:40.080 do we live in a world where people spend so 0:51:40.280 --> 0:51:46.799 much more time downstream marketing who they are than upstream 0:51:46.960 --> 0:51:50.759 with God? So he can show you who you are 0:51:50.880 --> 0:51:52.279 in the light of who He is and what he 0:51:52.360 --> 0:51:56.279 has for your life. So you're never going to be 0:51:56.360 --> 0:51:59.000 able to do the thing that you would do if 0:51:59.040 --> 0:52:01.400 you don't know that you, and you will not know 0:52:01.760 --> 0:52:05.320 that you if all you do is spend time broadcasting 0:52:08.640 --> 0:52:11.160 those downstream distractions. Do you know what they are? In 0:52:11.239 --> 0:52:16.400 your life? Those downstream doubts disappointment can put you in 0:52:16.480 --> 0:52:20.839 a place where downstream, Oh, now I'm here, Now I'm 0:52:20.880 --> 0:52:24.560 at this moment. I cannot appropriately embrace or seize this 0:52:24.840 --> 0:52:28.040 moment because now I know God did some wonderful things 0:52:28.120 --> 0:52:30.840 back there. I believe God is doing some wonderful things. 0:52:31.080 --> 0:52:33.960 But like John, the Baptist. You find yourself in a 0:52:34.040 --> 0:52:39.080 downstream situation and even the one who heralded Jesus Christ 0:52:39.440 --> 0:52:45.520 begin to ask are you really him? That means downstream distractions. 0:52:45.880 --> 0:52:50.400 You have to really be careful, especially if you are 0:52:50.480 --> 0:52:52.880 one of the people that God said I'd be speaking 0:52:52.960 --> 0:52:57.160 to that you are stepping into a season of your 0:52:57.239 --> 0:53:00.480 life where you are becoming the true version of yourself, 0:53:00.880 --> 0:53:03.319 and you are willing to let some things die now 0:53:03.440 --> 0:53:05.759 that you used to cling to. If that is you, 0:53:06.400 --> 0:53:08.920 and if you are walking through something in your life 0:53:09.160 --> 0:53:12.120 and twenty miles away is an issue of situation that 0:53:12.280 --> 0:53:14.839 you can't even really talk about or figure out. If 0:53:14.920 --> 0:53:18.960 that's you, you have got to spend more time upstream. 0:53:23.520 --> 0:53:26.120 There are so many Bibles on your phone right now, 0:53:26.280 --> 0:53:28.640 it's not even funny. For free in the app store. 0:53:28.719 --> 0:53:32.040 Put in Bible. I don't like to read. Hit the 0:53:32.080 --> 0:53:36.799 little speaker, it'll read to you. I want to listen 0:53:36.880 --> 0:53:39.200 to a man read to me. They got a woman too. 0:53:40.320 --> 0:53:43.200 I found one yesterday, was talking in a Scottish accent. 0:53:43.760 --> 0:53:49.640 I bought it. Tell me you can't spend time upstream, 0:53:50.280 --> 0:53:59.759 you better make that car at church so when you 0:53:59.840 --> 0:54:04.399 get there, I said, when you get there. I said, 0:54:04.440 --> 0:54:08.800 when you get there, you gotta be ready for what 0:54:09.000 --> 0:54:12.920 God is going to do downstream. And you gotta believe 0:54:13.080 --> 0:54:16.880 that God built a damn where you came from. And 0:54:17.040 --> 0:54:20.200 he said, your past will I remember no more. Now 0:54:20.360 --> 0:54:24.440 walk into it, Flow into it, Steak into it, Pray 0:54:24.560 --> 0:54:27.840 into it, serve it to it. Step in to it 0:54:30.520 --> 0:54:39.600 because he's up to something. I saw your nikes and 0:54:39.719 --> 0:54:43.800 I wanted to tell you step into it. Now step 0:54:43.880 --> 0:54:48.640 into it again. Somebody made those nikes that was upstream. 0:54:49.040 --> 0:54:52.960 Somebody else sold them that was downstream. But when the 0:54:53.120 --> 0:54:56.640 product is good enough, the sales can be whatever they 0:54:56.760 --> 0:54:59.759 need to be. Because if the product is good enough, 0:55:00.320 --> 0:55:04.120 God said, in this season, I'm building your character. I'm 0:55:04.160 --> 0:55:07.399 getting you ready for some things. People aren't gonna call 0:55:07.480 --> 0:55:11.480 you as much. That's all right. Don't worry about the downstream. 0:55:11.840 --> 0:55:14.800 I'm the god of the upstream. And when his time 0:55:15.000 --> 0:55:17.920 is time, and when his right is right, and when 0:55:17.960 --> 0:55:20.839 it's mine, it's mine, and he can use me how 0:55:20.920 --> 0:55:30.480 he was because he sucked to something about twenty miles away. 0:55:31.600 --> 0:55:36.160 About twenty miles away, I was writing songs with Brandon 0:55:36.440 --> 0:55:40.840 Lake this week. Y'all love Brandon. I told him to 0:55:40.880 --> 0:55:42.480 come to church. He said he had to keep his 0:55:42.640 --> 0:55:45.080 kids because I wanted to tell y'all what he told me. 0:55:45.440 --> 0:55:48.640 He said, past, we've written so many times together, and 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:50.839 we wrote some some this week that I can't wait 0:55:50.920 --> 0:55:53.239 to share with you too. And we've written with Chris 0:55:53.440 --> 0:55:55.680 and others and Boom and all my people, and we're 0:55:55.680 --> 0:55:57.600 sitting around he said, I never told you this, but 0:55:57.680 --> 0:56:01.040 I want to tell you today. Did you know that 0:56:01.200 --> 0:56:05.880 about twelve years ago I emailed Elevation and said, can 0:56:05.960 --> 0:56:09.680 I come learn something about songwriting? And they said, no, 0:56:10.400 --> 0:56:12.400 we don't offer that. And he told me the name 0:56:12.440 --> 0:56:14.760 of the staff member, and the staff member didn't here anymore. 0:56:15.120 --> 0:56:16.960 And it's a good thing too, because they did a 0:56:17.000 --> 0:56:21.640 lot of bad things. They were a downstream staff member. 0:56:21.719 --> 0:56:23.520 Let me tell you, right out to the dead sea. 0:56:23.800 --> 0:56:26.279 They were a dead sea staff member, is what they were. 0:56:27.840 --> 0:56:30.600 He said, I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help you. 0:56:30.640 --> 0:56:32.480 I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna help y'all, he said 0:56:32.560 --> 0:56:36.040 twelve years ago. Now, when I thought about that, I said, 0:56:36.080 --> 0:56:39.880 that's crazy, because now here we are eating sausage. And 0:56:39.960 --> 0:56:42.919 we wrote three songs together over the last two days 0:56:43.120 --> 0:56:46.320 and we wrote Craves into Gardens and my testimony, and 0:56:46.440 --> 0:56:48.440 me and you and Chris wrote Rattle, and we did 0:56:48.520 --> 0:56:52.160 all this stuff. And inn't that crazy that you were 0:56:52.200 --> 0:56:56.560 living in Mount Pleasant while I was living in Monk's Corner? 0:56:58.320 --> 0:57:02.920 How far is Mount Pleasant? Actually, it's about thirty eight, 0:57:03.040 --> 0:57:06.200 But for the sake of the illustration, let's call it twenty. 0:57:06.320 --> 0:57:08.520 Let's call it twenty. Let's call it twenty. Let's call 0:57:08.600 --> 0:57:11.600 it twenty. Let's call it twenty. Did you ever read 0:57:11.640 --> 0:57:15.560 your Bible to see how far was the Jordan River 0:57:15.680 --> 0:57:17.640 the place they crossed that we know about, from the 0:57:17.680 --> 0:57:20.960 place where God did the miracle? It's twenty miles. Did 0:57:21.000 --> 0:57:24.360 you ever read your Bible? The Bible says when Jesus 0:57:24.520 --> 0:57:29.120 left Nazareth to go live in Capernaum, how far was 0:57:29.200 --> 0:57:32.120 the place where he went to live and do his 0:57:32.280 --> 0:57:37.240 miracles from the place where he was raised? Twenty miles? 0:57:39.000 --> 0:57:43.400 When he got to Galilee for his ministry. Matthew quotes 0:57:43.480 --> 0:57:46.680 the prophet Isaiah in Matthew Chapter four. Y'all got five 0:57:46.760 --> 0:57:49.440 minutes for me to tie this up. Come on, if 0:57:49.440 --> 0:57:51.560 you got five minutes, I'm gonna make it worth your time. 0:57:52.840 --> 0:57:56.000 Because the Bible says in Matthew chapter four, somebody shout, 0:57:56.080 --> 0:57:59.680 God is up to something. Prophesy to your neighbor. God 0:57:59.720 --> 0:58:01.560 is up up to something. God is up to something. 0:58:02.240 --> 0:58:04.000 God is up to something. God is up to something. 0:58:04.040 --> 0:58:06.840 Put it in the chat. God is up to something upstream. 0:58:07.080 --> 0:58:09.920 Can't see it, can't prove it, don't need to. I 0:58:10.160 --> 0:58:13.320 know him, I see the problem. Heaven has the plan. 0:58:13.760 --> 0:58:17.240 God is up to something in my life. I emailed 0:58:17.280 --> 0:58:20.160 and they said no. Twelve years later, here we are 0:58:20.520 --> 0:58:23.440 write music and of touch the world because God is 0:58:23.600 --> 0:58:28.440 up to something. Now. The Bible says in Matthew chapter four, 0:58:28.520 --> 0:58:31.720 when Jesus give me my verse, y'all, God is up 0:58:31.800 --> 0:58:35.000 to something. When Jesus heard that John had been put 0:58:35.040 --> 0:58:39.640 in prison, he withdrew to Galilee verse thirteen. Leaving Nazareth. 0:58:39.720 --> 0:58:44.720 He went and lived in Copernaum, twenty miles away, which 0:58:44.840 --> 0:58:47.720 was by the lake in the area of Zebulen, and 0:58:47.840 --> 0:58:50.960 left holly places like Monk's Corner that we don't know 0:58:51.640 --> 0:58:54.280 but God did. And watch what God was doing to 0:58:54.400 --> 0:58:59.400 fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah. Some of 0:58:59.480 --> 0:59:01.920 the things that you are going through right now are 0:59:02.000 --> 0:59:05.680 not about you. They are to fulfill God's purpose. Don't 0:59:05.720 --> 0:59:09.720 be selfish, don't be myopic, don't get buried in self pity. 0:59:10.080 --> 0:59:13.080 That's exactly what the devil wants to get you downstream. 0:59:13.520 --> 0:59:16.400 Let him deal with that you walk toward it. Let 0:59:16.520 --> 0:59:18.960 him deal with your enemies. Let him deal with the 0:59:19.000 --> 0:59:21.560 people who talk bad about you. Let him deal with 0:59:21.680 --> 0:59:25.120 their ignorance. Let him straighten it out. Let him deal 0:59:25.160 --> 0:59:27.320 with the things you can't deal with as you do 0:59:27.520 --> 0:59:30.120 the things He's called you to do. I feel like 0:59:30.200 --> 0:59:33.720 I'm preaching right to somebody's dry riverbed today. God is 0:59:33.840 --> 0:59:37.320 up to something upstream is started in at him and 0:59:37.480 --> 0:59:41.560 moved through Joshua. And here's Jesus go into Galilee to 0:59:41.680 --> 0:59:46.080 fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah. Land of 0:59:46.200 --> 0:59:49.840 Zebulin verse fifteen. Now and land of Neftali, the way 0:59:49.920 --> 0:59:53.040 of the sea beyond the Jordan. You recognize the Jordan 0:59:53.560 --> 0:59:58.600 Galilee of the Gentiles. The people living in darkness have 0:59:58.840 --> 1:00:02.360 seen a great light on those living in the land 1:00:02.720 --> 1:00:05.680 of the shadow of death. Somebody has been living in 1:00:05.760 --> 1:00:08.760 the land of the shadow of death. But watch this, 1:00:09.280 --> 1:00:12.680 it's not death. It's just a shadow. Because the light 1:00:12.840 --> 1:00:16.040 is coming. Because God is getting the light ready, and 1:00:16.160 --> 1:00:18.960 it will shine, and it will dawn, and it will 1:00:19.000 --> 1:00:28.200 break forward. A light has dawned in Galilee. And I 1:00:28.280 --> 1:00:35.440 believe that God, while Jesus was twelve years old working 1:00:35.560 --> 1:00:39.960 under his father, who was a carpenter in Nazareth, was 1:00:40.040 --> 1:00:45.960 getting ready for what he would do twenty miles away 1:00:47.720 --> 1:00:51.600 when he came to Galilee the first time. As I mentioned, 1:00:52.360 --> 1:00:56.240 he turned water into wine at Cana, and then he 1:00:56.320 --> 1:01:01.280 went back. He went back to Cana, and I could 1:01:01.320 --> 1:01:04.160 tell you what Jesus told John the Baptist when he 1:01:04.240 --> 1:01:08.040 had downstream doubts. He said, Hey, the blind, see the 1:01:08.160 --> 1:01:11.080 lame walk the deaf hear, go back and tell John 1:01:11.120 --> 1:01:13.240 the good news is preached to the core, to the poor, 1:01:13.520 --> 1:01:16.040 and chains are being broken. Go tell John blessed us. 1:01:16.040 --> 1:01:20.000 He who doesn't fall away downstream and holds to what 1:01:20.120 --> 1:01:22.400 God spoke upstream. He doesn't say those words. But that 1:01:22.560 --> 1:01:25.480 was the spirit of the message. And you know what 1:01:27.520 --> 1:01:30.400 of all those miracles Jesus did that we know about. 1:01:31.800 --> 1:01:34.840 So many of them happened in Galilee. But when the 1:01:34.920 --> 1:01:38.600 Holy Spirit led me to for you before we close 1:01:38.640 --> 1:01:42.080 this service, and I don't know if you're twenty miles 1:01:42.120 --> 1:01:43.800 away or two thousand miles away. I don't know where 1:01:43.840 --> 1:01:45.200 this word's going to reach you, but I believe that 1:01:45.280 --> 1:01:46.720 it has. I believe that it is. I believe that 1:01:46.840 --> 1:01:48.680 right now God is up to something in your life. 1:01:50.280 --> 1:01:53.880 It's upstream. Some of the things that he is blocking 1:01:54.080 --> 1:02:01.520 in your life are for your blessing. Will you trust 1:02:01.600 --> 1:02:04.480 him with the twenty Will you not stress for this 1:02:04.600 --> 1:02:08.120 next two weeks while you wait for the results, while 1:02:08.160 --> 1:02:10.640 you wait for the MRI appointment. Will you just put 1:02:10.680 --> 1:02:12.880 that in his hands? Because where you see a problem, 1:02:14.000 --> 1:02:17.080 Heaven has a plan. You can't see it, you're not 1:02:17.160 --> 1:02:19.360 supposed to. You can't know it. You have to believe 1:02:19.440 --> 1:02:25.080 it by faith. Drive into situations that you don't know 1:02:25.160 --> 1:02:29.840 how to deal with. Twenty miles away, God was getting 1:02:29.880 --> 1:02:35.080 a light ready for Galilee in Nazareth. And then the 1:02:35.160 --> 1:02:39.200 Bible says in John chapter four, and this was the 1:02:39.320 --> 1:02:41.680 very last scripture that he showed me for our sermon today, 1:02:43.200 --> 1:02:45.560 it says that after he left Samaria, y'all, remember when 1:02:45.560 --> 1:02:48.480 he met the woman at the well, Samaritan woman. Yeah, 1:02:48.800 --> 1:02:51.960 my favorite story. Right after that, he stayed two days 1:02:52.000 --> 1:02:58.680 in Samaria. He left verse forty three for Galilee and 1:02:58.800 --> 1:03:00.760 Jesus himself had pointed out that a pphet has no 1:03:00.840 --> 1:03:05.640 honor in his own country. And when he arrived in Galilee, 1:03:06.080 --> 1:03:09.800 feel the pregnancy in the potency in that sentence. When 1:03:09.880 --> 1:03:15.160 he arrived in Galilee, the upstream prophet Isaiah said, a 1:03:15.200 --> 1:03:17.560 great light is going to dawn on the people in darkness, 1:03:17.600 --> 1:03:21.720 and now it's happening. It's happening. It's happening now. That's 1:03:21.760 --> 1:03:24.400 why God sent this word to you today. Is happening 1:03:24.520 --> 1:03:30.360 now in your life. It's happening now. It's a generational consequence, 1:03:30.440 --> 1:03:34.480 and he's doing it now. And when he got to Galilee, 1:03:35.840 --> 1:03:37.920 the Galileans welcomed him. They'd seen all he'd done in 1:03:38.000 --> 1:03:40.200 Jerusalem at the Passover festival, for they'd also been there. 1:03:40.240 --> 1:03:44.720 And once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he 1:03:44.800 --> 1:03:47.520 had turned the water into wine. And there was a 1:03:47.600 --> 1:03:51.840 certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When 1:03:51.880 --> 1:03:54.560 the man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, 1:03:55.200 --> 1:03:58.680 he went to him and begged him to come and 1:03:58.760 --> 1:04:00.760 heal his son, who was close to death. I can't 1:04:00.800 --> 1:04:03.880 do anything about that. I can't heal him. I can't 1:04:03.920 --> 1:04:07.520 buy it, I can't do it. I need you to 1:04:07.680 --> 1:04:12.600 help me with this, Jesus said, unless you people see 1:04:12.640 --> 1:04:15.280 signs and wonders, you'll never believe in. The royal official said, sir, 1:04:15.400 --> 1:04:18.560 come down, I need you to come. Come to Capernaum. 1:04:19.560 --> 1:04:23.280 Leave Cana come with me to Capernaum. And Jesus says 1:04:23.320 --> 1:04:26.880 something that's very prophetic for this moment in your life 1:04:27.240 --> 1:04:32.640 verse fifty go your son will live. The second part 1:04:32.720 --> 1:04:36.720 of that depends on the first part of that. Walk 1:04:36.760 --> 1:04:41.640 toward it and watch what he did. And this is 1:04:41.680 --> 1:04:44.240 what you must do with the situations in your life 1:04:44.280 --> 1:04:47.560 that are beyond your control, that you don't understand, that 1:04:47.640 --> 1:04:51.760 you can't figure out. The man took Jesus at his 1:04:51.880 --> 1:04:59.760 word and departed. I watched this. While he was still 1:05:00.320 --> 1:05:03.600 on the way, his servants met him with the news 1:05:04.520 --> 1:05:12.880 that his boy was living. And when he inquired as 1:05:12.960 --> 1:05:15.680 to the time when his son got better, they said 1:05:15.800 --> 1:05:22.439 yesterday at one in the afternoon. And when they said 1:05:22.520 --> 1:05:27.560 one in the afternoon, the father realized this was the 1:05:27.760 --> 1:05:33.320 exact time at which Jesus had said to him, give 1:05:33.360 --> 1:05:38.280 me a wide shot. Your son will live. As he's 1:05:38.480 --> 1:05:44.400 walking back to Copernaum from Cana. As he's walking they 1:05:44.480 --> 1:05:48.240 interrupt him, said he's better. We came all this way 1:05:48.360 --> 1:05:51.560 to tell you he's better. When did it happen. It 1:05:51.720 --> 1:05:55.120 happened at one pm, he said, that's the exact time, 1:05:55.440 --> 1:05:58.240 and he trusted Jesus. But I want to suggest to 1:05:58.320 --> 1:06:01.280 you that the most significant thing about this text isn't 1:06:01.320 --> 1:06:05.080 the time it happened at It was how far they traveled. 1:06:06.560 --> 1:06:15.800 For Gana is twenty miles from Combernium, and that means 1:06:16.920 --> 1:06:21.400 that the words from Jesus reached all the way back 1:06:21.480 --> 1:06:25.640 to that sick boy and didn't even need the dad 1:06:25.760 --> 1:06:28.760 to make the journey. You are not even going to 1:06:28.920 --> 1:06:31.600 have to do everything you think you're gonna have to do. 1:06:32.360 --> 1:06:35.320 God's just gonna do one of these. Watch this twenty 1:06:35.440 --> 1:06:39.560 mile turnar rolphs twenty mile. I declare a twenty mile 1:06:39.680 --> 1:06:44.480 turnar rout depression. Let the daughter go, addiction, let the 1:06:44.640 --> 1:06:48.400 sun go. I call you fourth, I call light to 1:06:48.520 --> 1:06:53.160 your situation. I call strength to your ankles. I called 1:06:53.320 --> 1:06:57.919 joy to your spirit, to every pairing room, I prophasia 1:06:57.920 --> 1:07:05.680 a new soul. He did it twenty miles away. And 1:07:05.800 --> 1:07:08.000 you think he can do it for you, He can 1:07:08.160 --> 1:07:10.520 do it for you. He will do it. For you. 1:07:10.920 --> 1:07:14.000 He has done it for you. The God who fights 1:07:14.080 --> 1:07:17.520 your battles stands at your a dom and tells the 1:07:17.680 --> 1:07:22.040 waters he's still here, comes my child. Now give him 1:07:22.080 --> 1:07:26.280 that situation, give him that praise, Give him the praise 1:07:26.400 --> 1:07:29.120 that you would give him if you believed he was 1:07:29.280 --> 1:07:34.840 able to do. If you believe there are four with us, 1:07:36.320 --> 1:07:45.120 then with him. He's up to something. Touch seven. People 1:07:45.160 --> 1:07:47.760 say he's up to something. He's up to something in 1:07:47.840 --> 1:07:51.600 the unseen. He's up to something in the unsuspecting. He's 1:07:51.720 --> 1:07:54.400 up to something in the hidden place. He's up to 1:07:54.520 --> 1:07:58.640 something in the shadows. He's up to something. Get ready, Galilee, 1:07:59.000 --> 1:08:03.120 Get ready, Galilee. There's a cofferenter in Nasareth. He's not 1:08:03.280 --> 1:08:07.640 building tables. He's getting ready for a cross. And when 1:08:07.760 --> 1:08:14.600 he dies, it will flow to you and you will 1:08:14.680 --> 1:08:17.680 walk into the rest of your life as a new 1:08:17.800 --> 1:08:35.000 creation in his name. That time is now Wrever you 1:08:35.360 --> 1:08:43.920 see a problem, Heaven has a plan. Turn that thing 1:08:44.120 --> 1:08:53.160 over to the Lord and leave it there twenty miles away. 1:08:57.360 --> 1:09:00.720 Like Bianca said to me at Barnes and Noble, she 1:09:00.880 --> 1:09:05.040 came over. I never go to Barnes and Noble. I 1:09:05.120 --> 1:09:08.519 went that day. The only reason I was there at 1:09:08.560 --> 1:09:12.120 that moment is because somebody had interrupted me earlier, and 1:09:12.200 --> 1:09:13.720 then I ran out of time to go where I 1:09:13.760 --> 1:09:15.920 wanted to go. Susa, I'll just go to Barnes and Noble. 1:09:17.040 --> 1:09:18.920 I was one around like a homeless man in Barnes 1:09:18.960 --> 1:09:22.840 and Noble, not intending to buy it anything. I said, 1:09:22.920 --> 1:09:24.400 let me go over to the Christian Living see if 1:09:24.400 --> 1:09:26.120 I can at least rip off somebody's title and put 1:09:26.120 --> 1:09:32.879 it in a sermons sometime soon, little downstream sermon preparation 1:09:33.040 --> 1:09:39.840 happened in that day. But she walked in and started 1:09:39.840 --> 1:09:44.120 crying when she saw me. She said, Pastor Steve, that 1:09:44.200 --> 1:09:49.920 I never met you. I moved three years ago to 1:09:50.000 --> 1:09:55.840 go to Elevation, but then I had two miscarriages. I 1:09:55.960 --> 1:09:59.840 quit coming to church. I turned on the sermons once 1:10:00.040 --> 1:10:01.160 a while, but I don't even like the way it 1:10:01.240 --> 1:10:03.920 makes me feel, because I know I'm not where I'm 1:10:03.920 --> 1:10:08.360 supposed to be. But lately God has been doing something. 1:10:10.080 --> 1:10:13.400 So today I decided I would go and get my 1:10:13.920 --> 1:10:17.479 facial appointment because I've just been sitting around not doing anything, 1:10:19.040 --> 1:10:22.000 and that I would go to the bookstore and buy 1:10:22.040 --> 1:10:27.200 a book that God led me to. And is it 1:10:27.320 --> 1:10:33.080 random that you're here. I said, I don't know, Bianca, 1:10:35.080 --> 1:10:40.439 the way my brain works. Your feet hit this Barnes 1:10:40.479 --> 1:10:51.479 and Noble at the same time as mine for a reason. Now, 1:10:55.280 --> 1:10:57.599 she cried. We talked, and then I said, I'm gonna 1:10:57.600 --> 1:10:59.240 buy you some books. You ain't gonna have to buy them. 1:10:59.640 --> 1:11:02.639 The Lord wants you to know he sees you. I said, 1:11:02.680 --> 1:11:04.160 but I get to pick him if I'm gonna pay. 1:11:05.720 --> 1:11:07.760 And no, I did not buy one of mine. I 1:11:07.840 --> 1:11:10.920 am not that so I get the royalties. No. I 1:11:11.360 --> 1:11:15.479 bought her two books, and I said, let's make your 1:11:15.560 --> 1:11:18.880 husband a video and let's send you forward believing that 1:11:18.960 --> 1:11:20.400 God is not done with you. And she said, can 1:11:20.400 --> 1:11:21.920 I ask you one more thing? I'm like, dang it, 1:11:23.040 --> 1:11:25.040 I bought you a book when you made the sales. 1:11:25.080 --> 1:11:28.400 Stop talking. God sees you. You know, we gotta go 1:11:29.080 --> 1:11:30.960 say one more thing. What would you say to me 1:11:32.479 --> 1:11:35.439 after all that I've been through, when I struggle doubting 1:11:35.479 --> 1:11:38.000 if God is done with me, and I believe the 1:11:38.040 --> 1:11:39.840 spirit of the Lord gave me this thing to do, 1:11:39.920 --> 1:11:42.320 I'm like, I can't give her the Westminster Confession right now? 1:11:44.200 --> 1:11:47.720 What I could do? And I grabbed I grabbed the 1:11:47.760 --> 1:11:52.960 first book I saw, and I said, you're only this 1:11:53.120 --> 1:11:59.320 far in, You're only this far in, You're only this 1:11:59.479 --> 1:12:03.680 far in. There's so much more to your story. And 1:12:03.800 --> 1:12:08.600 I speak it prophetically over you. I speak it prophetically 1:12:08.680 --> 1:12:13.920 over you. God sent us here at this moment so 1:12:14.080 --> 1:12:17.639 that you could have this reminder. They're twenty miles away. 1:12:18.520 --> 1:12:25.200 God is working. Father. What an amazing, amazing moment this is. 1:12:26.960 --> 1:12:29.840 I thank you in advance for testimonies that I will receive, 1:12:30.920 --> 1:12:34.080 for people who turned it over to you in this moment, 1:12:34.880 --> 1:12:37.160 for people who gave up on their trying and trusting 1:12:37.200 --> 1:12:39.960 in their own ways in this moment, who put their 1:12:40.040 --> 1:12:43.240 big toe in the Jordan river, who called a counselor 1:12:43.320 --> 1:12:45.639 this week and said, I'm coming to work on my issues, 1:12:46.280 --> 1:12:48.160 who said, I'm going to make the call this week 1:12:48.240 --> 1:12:51.040 and I'm gonna apologize for that thing. I'm going to 1:12:51.080 --> 1:12:53.599 get up this week, and I'm going to go forward 1:12:53.920 --> 1:12:57.320 in the name of the Lord. Because you're in it 1:12:57.520 --> 1:13:04.760 with me and through me, fighting for me. God is 1:13:04.880 --> 1:13:11.080 not a gift. No, He's in it with me, working 1:13:11.200 --> 1:13:20.679 through all Right, sing it two more times. We send 1:13:20.720 --> 1:13:24.040 this word twenty miles to your home. We send it 1:13:24.120 --> 1:13:27.439 to your copernaile. We send it to your sick child. 1:13:28.479 --> 1:13:31.720 We send this work to your depression, We send it 1:13:31.800 --> 1:13:38.639 to your situation. Sing it again, Chris, We're getting the revelation. 1:13:38.760 --> 1:13:48.519 We're getting the revelation. He's fighting for God is the guess. 1:13:50.200 --> 1:13:58.840 Oh now lift your hands. I want to hear your 1:13:58.960 --> 1:14:05.760 voice saying I want to hear your voice. Come on, 1:14:05.920 --> 1:14:10.400 come on, starting, Come on, come on starting. Kids. Things 1:14:10.439 --> 1:14:14.080 are happening at your house, Things are happening in your 1:14:14.160 --> 1:14:17.680 spirit right now. God is working this thing out right now. 1:14:18.120 --> 1:14:22.200 You gotta believe this. Never before I call you forward. 1:14:23.280 --> 1:14:26.360 I'm calling you forward, and I call you forward, my 1:14:26.560 --> 1:14:31.040 grigs in the name of Jesus. Now on to him 1:14:31.080 --> 1:14:35.519 who is able to do measurably. Mor He's work to 1:14:35.640 --> 1:14:43.640 hivy glory in your life. Listen to you. He's not again. Well. 1:14:43.680 --> 1:14:45.760 If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of 1:14:45.840 --> 1:14:49.439 things I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 1:14:49.800 --> 1:14:52.720 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 1:14:52.800 --> 1:14:56.280 others by investing today at Elevation Church dot org. Slash 1:14:56.439 --> 1:14:59.799 give and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.