I Know But I'm Not Nervous

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.719 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.600 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:16.560 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.760 I was led to Second Corinthians chapter one, verse six 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.720 through ten, and time permitting, we might get verse eleven, 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:27.360 but we will have to see if we have anything 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.280 left in the time budget before we decide that. And 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.640 I didn't start with this text this week, but this 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.680 is eventually the place where I felt like the Lord 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.080 wanted to spend a little bit of time. If we 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.520 verse six, Second Corinthians, Chapter one, Apostle Paul writing, are afflicted, 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.840 it is for your comfort and salvation. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.080 Everything I go through serves a purpose. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.800 And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:01.840 which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:07.840 that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.119 we know come on, somebody, shall we know. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.880 Sound good? Shouting that you sound rested? 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.200 For we know that as you share in our sufferings, 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.440 you will also share in our comfort, For we do 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.800 not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.399 the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.880 utterly burdened beyond our strength that we just spared of 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:33.600 life itself. 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.280 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of. 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:42.560 Death, but that even when it got so hard, I 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:47.520 felt helpless and hopeless. That was to make us rely 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.760 not on ourselves but on God. 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:53.320 I found my foundation. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:57.800 When I went through a shaking, so that I would 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:02.440 trust Him who raises the dead. He delivered us from 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:07.440 such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. Why 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.440 he's still God, So on him we have set our 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.400 hope that he will deliver us again. 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.079 I want you to give your neighbor my. 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:17.600 Sermon title, but I want you to have a little 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.400 conversation with him to set the context for it. Tell him, neighbor, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.079 it's kind of crazy in the world these days. There's 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:30.360 a lot going on. The stakes are high. 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:30.720 Now. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:32.720 I want you to answer what they just said to you. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:34.440 Look at them, and give him my title. Tell him 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:40.760 I know, but I'm not nervous. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:49.920 Try your other neighbor out. Tell him I know. I 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.760 watched the news I saw what. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.600 Your cousin Jimmy said on Facebook about a conspiracy theory. 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:02.119 Tell him about I'm not nervous, nervous. I am not nervous. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:06.320 I refuse to be, not gonna be, not about to be. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.880 God is too great and he's been too good for 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:15.960 me to be nervous. Heymen, I feel like I preached already. 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.040 You may be seated. 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.919 Paul would like to set the record straight. There are 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:35.360 too many rumors circulating. There's too much noise and not 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:41.440 enough signal. Come on, somebody. We are drowning in opinions 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.120 and we don't have a drop of truth. Such was 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:51.280 the case in court. They're talking about poor Paul. All 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.520 he ever did was preach Jesus Christ and help them 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:57.720 and minister to them. 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:00.600 And these other preachers are. 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:07.320 Seizing a political opportunity to run a smear campaign against 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.560 poor Paul that the NRA would have been envious of. 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.360 That the Democratic Party couldn't even come up with. I mean, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:17.520 neither one on the right or the left could do 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:22.200 any better than these opponents of Paul were doing to 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:27.039 discredit him. And he wants to talk to the church 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:31.680 that he loves from his heart and set the record straight. 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.880 In other words, he wants them to hear it straight 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.800 from the source. It does make a difference where you 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:39.080 get your information from. 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:41.240 It really does. 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:47.160 A strange thing that we live in an age where 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.880 all information is deemed equal because it takes up the 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:54.080 same amount of space on our timeline, and so we 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:56.320 don't know whether we're listening to somebody who knows what 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.480 they're talking about, or whether there is a commercialized interest 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.880 that is manipulating the information. It is safe to assume 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.720 that most of what we are hearing is diluted, watered down, 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.120 or polluted added to and it's really kind of hard 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:15.839 to even trust what you hear these days. Paul was 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:23.080 frustrated about that, and in much civil turmoil under oppression, 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.800 not only political oppression, but religious oppression. He writes back 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:32.760 home to the church, and he wants to tell. 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:33.200 Them not what. 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.560 Others say about his situation, but to allow them to 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.800 see the situation and to hear it straight from the source, 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:48.880 Straight from the source, he says in verse eight, And 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:51.120 this could be a whole sermon in and of itself. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:57.600 We do not want you to be ignorant. And he's 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:02.960 setting us up here a little bit. His assumption is 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.760 that there are some things that we know, that we 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.719 think we know, that we don't really know, and some 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.880 things that we need to know. He uses here a 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:18.200 Greek word, and I wrote it down phonetically, So would 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:26.520 it mispronounce it for you? Oh, it's translated in my 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:30.359 Bible here ignorant. On the screen, it's translated in a 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:35.400 more updated version unaware, And it's translated different ways because 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.720 it's a difficult concept to pin down. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:40.080 Paul is speaking to. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.120 A group of people who have heard a lot, but 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.200 in spite of all the information that they have received, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.719 they still know very little about the facts. In spite 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:53.760 of all the access that they have, in spite of 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.480 all the blogs that they've read, in spite of all 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:01.080 the twenty four to seven news stations, what they're hearing 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.120 isn't very true to reality because they're not getting it 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.520 from the source. So he explains the situation, sourcing it 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:15.360 with the reality, because he doesn't want them to be ignorant. However, Oh, 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:20.280 does it necessarily mean uninformed? Rather, it means more likely 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.560 given the Greek shade of meeting misinformed. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.120 Can I teach you a little bit today? 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.440 I figured that you would be excited to hear the 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.280 word of God, because you have to hear everybody else. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:32.960 Talk all the time. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.240 So let's take a little time and talk about the 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:39.920 word of God. He said, it's not that you haven't 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:43.000 heard things, or that you have not been exposed to 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:48.600 statistics that concerns me. It's just that I'm afraid that 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.000 what you're hearing and what you're seeing is so far 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:56.040 removed from the source that it is not pure in 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.960 its essence. And I don't want you to be ignorant. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.760 Now all ignorant, it says, not created equal. There are 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:05.000 different levels of dumb. 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.360 Am I right? Am? I right about it? There's an 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:12.400 innocent ignorance. 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.040 Some things you haven't had the opportunity to learn yet. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.360 I hate when somebody tries to correct my five year 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:20.960 old Abby from the way she says certain phrases that 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:22.040 I think are adorable. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.160 She's got the rest of her life to get it right. 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:25.120 Would you shut up and. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.920 Let my daughter call it a vacuum cleaner. I prefer 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:31.080 vacuum cleaner. She called a vacuum cleaner the rest of 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.079 her life. She's only got a few years to call 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.920 it a vacuum Get off my girl's speech and let 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.360 her say it how she wants to say it. It's cute, 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:44.000 it's beautiful, it's adorable to me. I like it, and 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:50.559 that's fine. There is another type of ignorance, agne O. 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:56.200 This would be when you have a an indifference that 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.800 leads to ignorance you. 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.000 Don't care enough to find. 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.400 Out personally, this is the way I feel about all 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:10.560 of the people who eat super healthy. They come to 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.280 me and they want to tell me all of the 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.199 chemicals that are in my food. And I know it 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.200 probably shouldn't address this. There's enough controversy in the world 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.000 today as it is without me adding to it. And 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.040 I know somebody is gonna email me or send me 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.040 a book about the seventeen foods that you're cancer and 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.199 the foods that are riding my brain. But I need 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.640 to let you know if the steroids will make the 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.960 chicken bigger before Holly fries it. I am for the steroids. 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.880 That might make me a horrible person. I might burn 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.440 in hell for saying this in church, but I. 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:43.000 Just don't care. 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.079 Touch somebody say I just don't care. There are some 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:48.800 things I just don't care about. I just want to eat. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.760 I do not care some things. I just got to 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.800 be honest with you. I just don't care. I am 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.439 amazed that some of you men with your fantasy football. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.880 I am amazed how much you know about another man's 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.200 ankle and whether or not he's going to play, and 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:05.920 how that is going to affect one hundred dollars that. 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.960 You might win twelve hours a week's studying it. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.160 You've been at church once in the last six weeks. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.640 Crazy self, ignorant about the things of God. But you 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:17.640 can tell me statistics on somebody in some tight pants 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:18.200 around there. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.640 That's what Paul's talking about. He said, I want you 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:27.599 to be ignorant. 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.120 I don't want you to be those kinds of Christians 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.880 that just don't care. You don't even take time to 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.920 find out when they talk about climate change. You won't 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.520 even look into it because Jesus coming back on a 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.760 horse anyway, and he's gonna nukee this whole place. 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:44.920 There ain't nothing we can do. 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.600 You know, you sound crazy when you talk like that. 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:54.400 You sound so ignorant. Paul says, I don't want you 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.440 to have that kind of hope. I don't want you 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:03.320 to have this cotton candy Christianity where you are ignorant 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:07.080 of the afflictions. No, I want you to know some things. 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.120 But the most dangerous kind of ignorance is not innocent 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.360 ignorance or indifferent ignorance. Who I'm really scared of are 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:26.000 the people who have that confident ignorance, not uninformed, misinformed, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.320 and they think they know everything about something. 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:34.160 That they know nothing about. 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.640 And perhaps half of maturity is coming to the place 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.240 where you know that you don't know what you don't know. 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:51.120 I'm I appreciate, all right, I love my children. 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.760 But when Elijah said to me yesterday, and I've heard 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.679 a lot about the teenage yeers and Elijah's eleven, and 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.240 a lot of people have tried to create a sense 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.960 of fear and dread in me regarding the teenageers, because 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.560 you know, I'll say I really enjoy being a dad, 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.280 and they go, oh good, back to me on that 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.559 when they're fourteen, and we'll see how much you love 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:14.240 in big boy, And. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:14.640 I get it. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.439 And I'm not planning on preaching my parenting series till 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:18.520 I'm about seventy five. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.319 But Elijah, I got a taste of. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.240 What this rebellion may look like when we were pulling 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.600 into the garage the other day, and this boy looks 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:33.800 at me confidently and says, Daddy, I need you to know. 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.720 As one of the greatest albums from the nineteen nineties 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:41.760 plays on my car stereo, Counting Crows, August and Everything After, 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.800 with the soothing, soulful lyrics of Adam Durretz blaring on 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:49.800 the speakers, and he has the nerve to look at 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.959 me and say, Daddy, I hate to break it to you, 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.360 but the music from your day really isn't very good. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:05.720 Said it with swagger too, like he worked for Rolling 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:11.640 Stone magazine. It's really not that good. I hit the brakes. 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.559 We weren't even in the garage yet I hit the brakes. 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:14.200 I said, what. 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.400 Because you can question me as a preacher, you can 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.600 tell me I'm getting too old to wear my jeans 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:23.920 kind of tight. You can say a lot of things 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.880 to me, boy, But when you talk about my music, 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.120 I said what He said, Yeah, the music in your 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:34.320 day didn't have loops. 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.760 And I said, well, let's take a little lesson. Do 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.480 you remember, and I gave him some history. Do you 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:46.920 remember when I took you. 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.360 To see Weird Al Yankovic at Oven's auditorium, and he 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.400 was singing Amish Paradise, that song. 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.000 That you thought was so clever. And then I had 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:57.400 to let. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.000 Him know that before there could be an Amish Paradise, 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.600 there had to be a coolio. There had to be 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.679 a coolio, and so I played him. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.160 I took him to the source material. But before there 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:10.880 could be a coolio. 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.920 And this is where some of you are ignorant, there 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.360 had to be a Stevie, because those strings on Gangster's 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.960 Paradise would not have been there without Stevie. Wonder See, 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:26.440 there's always something before what you enjoy that enabled what 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.320 you're a part of. That's why I can't stand people 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.000 who complain about this country who don't even know the 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.360 first thing about the price that was paid for you 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:38.280 to have the. 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.360 Right to express your opinion that you don't like it. 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:49.680 Come on, touch three. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:51.560 People say, get in the know, get in the know, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.760 Get in the know. Come on, Blakeney, get in the know, 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:56.520 Come on, Guston, get in the know. 0:14:56.920 --> 0:14:59.400 I know, Paul said, I don't want you to. 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.240 I don't want I want you to be misinformed. 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:05.200 About the price that was paid. 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.400 I don't want you to be misinformed about the situation. 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.120 I don't want you to think that the hope that 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:18.240 you enjoy came cheap. It didn't. It came hard. For 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.680 an ignorant hope is no hope at all. Nothing stable 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:24.840 about a hope that has its head buried in the sand. 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:28.560 I hear you, Pastor Rob Parsley. 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.720 Anyone can sing a tune on a clear day at noon, 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:33.640 God give me a song at midnight. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.400 That's what Pastor Rob Parsley used to say. I like 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.520 that Paul said, my hope came. 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:43.200 The hard way, because if you just read verse ten 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.760 of this, it sounds a lot like some kind of 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.680 campaign slogan, do you know the slogan and sound by 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:54.520 kind of mentality. 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:55.120 That people get over time. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:59.640 It's when we don't understand the source of our hope 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.240 that we've again to sound kind of silly. And this 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.840 is when people say, well, you Christians, you're just waiting 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:10.320 on the apocalypse. You Christians. You don't even vote, you 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:18.400 just pray. It's an ignorant imitation of hope. It's not confidence, 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:24.760 it's complacency that you don't know. And Paul wants them 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.560 to know. He wants them to know what he went through. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.080 He wants them to know what he's been through and 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:32.160 when he comes out on the other side. 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:33.600 You might have known this. When I read the text, 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:35.360 it shouted real good, and you were getting fired up 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:36.000 here a Valentine. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.240 I can't speak for the other campuses, but we almost 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:40.840 took off when I read verse ten. He delivered us 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.440 from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:46.520 It got us excited to think about that on him. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.000 We have set our hope. Does anybody have a hope? 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:50.880 By the way, anybody have a hope? Anybody have a hope. 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.440 Anybody have a hope, regardless of the polls, regardless of 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:54.880 the platforms, regardless of the pondus. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:56.280 Anybody have a hope. Anybody have a hope. 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.680 Anybody have a hope, a hope, a living hope. I 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.880 have a hope that'sat my hope on the fact that 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:04.840 he will deliver me again. 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:07.960 He'd been with me the last forty years. Kelly, you back, 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.399 why not forty one? Why not? 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.400 But you can only say that if you know where 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:20.520 this hope comes from. It only means something if you know, 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:25.119 if you know not, if you heard not, if you 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:26.680 thought not, if you. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.760 Wish I have Oh, he will. 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.479 Deliver us again, you know, so let's make the campaign hats. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.560 You know, he will deliver us again. If we're representing 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.760 the Kingdom of God and if Jesus Christ is our candidate, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:40.360 he will deliver us again. 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.960 And the world looks at that and they say, really 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.160 you believe that? Really? Yeah, I believe that. Totally believe that. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.720 How do you know? How do you know? Why aren't 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:51.280 you nervous? 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:51.639 You know this? 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:57.879 Everybody is so nervous right now, just incredibly nervous. 0:17:58.280 --> 0:17:59.840 They're either ignorant or nervous. 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.879 They're either in Canada or they're nervous. 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.440 Just nervous. What if she and what if he? 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.639 You know, I'm gonna go press that button, but I 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.000 might press it with a blindfold on, just to press it. 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:17.000 I don't even know. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.920 Nervous, nervous, they might take my guns. Nervous, they might 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.320 not take my guns. Nervous, you know, Nervous, he might 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.239 really build that thing. Nervous, she might, she might take 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:32.720 away our civil liberties, possa. 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:38.000 Hey, hey, hey, I have a hope. But it's a 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:43.720 hard boiled hope. It's not an unaware hope. I see 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:44.399 what's going on. 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:51.000 Out there. I know somebody saying, I know, I'm. 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:56.600 Not uneducated, I'm not backwoods. I'm not waiting for the 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:00.080 clouds to split so I can go to glory Land. 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.960 And shout my troubles over. I got troubles right here, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:06.840 and I'm in them. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.480 And it concerns me about our communities, and it concerns 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.320 me about our schools, and it concerns me about our 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.760 police officers and the way that they're treated. And it 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.840 concerns me about certain communities in the way that they're treated. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.680 And it concerns me that people are marginalized. And I'm 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.960 concerned about abortion, and I'm concerned about many things. And 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.040 some people get frustrated because. 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.320 You won't get nervous. What we're gonna do? What are 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.240 gonna do? Sound like a life as servant. We're surrounded. 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:35.520 Look out there, man, what we're gonna do. 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.760 You better call down something, You better curse somebody, You 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.840 better pray something, you better shoot something. You gotta ball, 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:41.280 you got an arrow. What we're gonna do, what we're 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:42.919 gonna do. We can just stand by what we're gonna do. 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:46.240 Where we're gonna We're gonna nerve nervous nervous and poststeps 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:47.280 into all this and say. 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:50.040 I was beat thirty nine times by the Jews. 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.000 Don't talk to me like you know something when you 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:54.720 don't know anything. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:56.600 Don't talk to me about twenty. 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.479 One pilots when you don't appreciate Nirvana. Don't talk to 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:04.240 me when you haven't seen the source of my hope. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:11.480 This is a hope that has been through hell, and 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.679 it comes from heaven, and the world didn't give it, 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:19.040 and the world can't take it away, and it doesn't 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.520 come from the right, and it doesn't come from the left. 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:27.399 I have set my hope on one who is above 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:27.879 it all. 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.400 I set my hope on him. 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.240 I wouldn't put my hope on a party's platform right now. 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.280 I don't think it can hold the weight of your hope. 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.359 But if you're looking for a rock, Paul says, I 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:41.800 have a hope. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:42.600 But don't. 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:53.280 Don't be confused. I'm concerned. I'm concerned, but I'm not nervous. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:59.200 I have this piece that passes understanding. I called Tina 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.960 last week. Her son might die. She said, I'm broken. 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:11.000 I'm devastated. He's twenty three. I'm uncertain, she said, But 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:16.600 somehow I have peace. That's what Paul's talking about. We're 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:19.480 taking him to every doctor that we can. We will 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:21.679 spare no expense to try to get him well. I 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:24.200 can't imagine what life would be like without him. 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.200 I'm a mom. 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:29.720 There's nothing I want to protect more than the life 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:32.520 of my son. But there's a certain element of this 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.359 where I just have to turn it over. It doesn't 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.880 mean I'm disengaged. I'm engaged. I will cast my vote. 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.399 I Am not going to be apathetic and abstain because 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.399 I don't like the options that the culture I'm a 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:48.640 part of creating. 0:21:48.200 --> 0:22:00.959 Have presented to me. Hello, but I'm not nervous. I'm hurting. 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.040 I'm hurting. There are some things that broke my heart. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:07.879 I was utterly burdened. 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:13.720 Paul says his words, I'm burden, but I set my 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.480 hope and my hope isn't shaken. 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:25.160 Although my heart is hurting. He sounds kind of crazy. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:28.760 Right, I'm utterly burden. Watch how bad not I lost 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.040 the night of sleep. I was beyond my strength. You've 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:34.160 ever been there before. I don't know what to do. 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:36.639 I don't know which way it's gonna go. I have 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:39.440 no idea how to rebuild this one. I don't think 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:41.600 I can get this one back. It's been too much time. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.800 This one's beyond my control. I didn't see this one coming. 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:50.120 I was so far out there, beyond what I knew 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.280 to do, that I despaired of life as self. 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:55.640 I didn't even think I was gonna make. 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.720 It to see another day. I wondered what I ever 0:22:57.800 --> 0:23:03.600 preach again? I wondered, can we bounce back from this one. 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:09.520 I'm burdened, but I'm not nervous. 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:20.399 I'm concerned, I'm involved, I'm praying, doing my part, but 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:22.400 I'm not nervous. 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:26.760 I love it. I love it so much that I 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:28.199 went all up and down the Bible. 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.760 I wanted to interview some other people who might be 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:37.720 able to corroborate Paul's theory of hope. That you can 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.920 be burdened and not nervous, That you can be broke 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:44.000 and not nervous, That you can lose your job and 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:46.800 not be nervous, that you can find drugs in your 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:50.360 kids room and be concerned and be involved and beat 0:23:50.400 --> 0:23:53.639 them half to death, but not be nervous. Come on, 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.160 so I asked, David, Really, you gotta fight Goliath. 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:04.440 David, nobody wants to fight Goliath. He is the Philistine 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:08.160 champion from God. His botty armor weighs more than you. Boy. 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:11.359 As a matter of fact, you have no fighting experience 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:12.800 nor a military title. 0:24:13.119 --> 0:24:14.840 If you were smart, you'd go back home. 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.960 Goliath has been defying these people for forty days. There's 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:20.320 a good reason they hadn't fought him yet. He's bigger 0:24:20.359 --> 0:24:22.240 than you. You know what David said. He said, I know. 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:27.240 I see him. I know he's big. 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:32.920 I know everybody else is standing back, weirding on God 0:24:33.040 --> 0:24:36.200 to do something. But I didn't come looking for help 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:39.560 from somewhere up there. I come in the name of 0:24:39.640 --> 0:24:43.919 the Lord God, and I'm not nervous. I know he's big, 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:45.280 I know he's strong. 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:46.840 I know I'm a shepherd. 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.840 I know I have nothing but a sling in five rocks, 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:52.040 but I might only need one. 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:54.920 If I can steady my hand and stand my ground. 0:24:55.240 --> 0:25:00.680 I'm not nervous, shad Rat. 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:04.919 They're about to throw you and your buddies in the fire. 0:25:05.200 --> 0:25:07.280 Now you understand, you have a little bit of. 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:10.879 Time left if you will bow before this statue that 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:14.800 never Kannezzar neb Kanzar has has erected. I mean we 0:25:14.840 --> 0:25:17.800 talk about crazy leaders. They ain't got nothing on Nebi. 0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:21.000 Nebbi was so arrogant. Nebbi lost his mind. 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:23.040 They said you better bow the king, Nebby. 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:25.320 They heat it up the furnace, They turned it up 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:26.359 seven times hotter. 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:27.840 Don't you feel the flame? 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:31.639 Can't you see that that there's that there's a situation 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:34.560 in front of you that's too hot for you to handle. 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:37.920 And Shadrack look back at me, Shaq, Me Shaq looked 0:25:37.920 --> 0:25:38.760 at a bed and the gold. 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:40.160 They all look back at. 0:25:40.080 --> 0:25:43.280 The church in Elevation Church and said, we know, but 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:44.560 we're not nervous. 0:25:44.880 --> 0:25:46.920 See the God we serve is. 0:25:47.000 --> 0:25:53.120 Abl I said he's abl to deliver us from the fire. 0:25:53.160 --> 0:25:56.280 And we believe he will, and we know he can't. 0:25:56.480 --> 0:26:01.680 But even if he doesn't, I'm not nervous. Come on, 0:26:01.800 --> 0:26:03.440 somebody said, I'm not nervous. 0:26:04.680 --> 0:26:06.800 Tell your name of real, Paul, look them in the arse, 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:11.359 say I'm not nervous. I'm not nervous. I went down 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:13.160 in the Lions dinner with Daniel. 0:26:13.760 --> 0:26:16.800 Daniel was looking at a lion, y'all, he was looking 0:26:16.840 --> 0:26:19.199 at something that could have snapped him in half in 0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:23.040 a split second. Daniel, don't you see that lion. Don't 0:26:23.080 --> 0:26:25.520 you know your life is on the line. Don't you 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:28.320 know you have a wicked king. Daniel said, I know, 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:33.760 but somehow, some way, the God I sir, will deliver me. 0:26:34.240 --> 0:26:38.400 I'm not nervous, be not afraid. 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:49.240 Hey, Jesus, these people are hungry. It's getting late. You've 0:26:49.280 --> 0:26:53.720 been preaching a long time. Jesus said, I know. And 0:26:53.800 --> 0:26:57.919 we don't have any bread. Jesus said, I know, and 0:26:58.000 --> 0:26:59.200 the people are on edge. 0:26:59.280 --> 0:27:02.000 Jesus said, I know, but I'm not. 0:27:03.520 --> 0:27:07.119 Because I got hands, and if you put what you 0:27:07.320 --> 0:27:10.439 have in my hands, I don't care how little it is, 0:27:10.720 --> 0:27:12.200 everybody's gonna be fit. 0:27:13.160 --> 0:27:14.280 I'm not nervous. 0:27:15.640 --> 0:27:25.080 I'm nervous, nervous, nervous, intimidated, No, concerned, Yes, disturb a 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:30.720 little bit confused perhaps, but I'm not nervous. 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:36.840 Jesus, wake up. There's a storm raising on the sea. 0:27:37.240 --> 0:27:40.200 How can you sleep in the stern with a storm 0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:42.959 on the sea, They asked them, don't you care if 0:27:43.040 --> 0:27:47.480 we perish? Jesus said, yeah, I care if you perish. 0:27:47.720 --> 0:27:51.240 And I know there's a storm, But I'm not nervous 0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:52.520 because with one. 0:27:52.359 --> 0:27:55.159 Word, the one who spoke the storm. 0:27:54.800 --> 0:27:58.600 Into existence by virtue of the elements that created it 0:27:58.840 --> 0:27:59.960 can tell it to shut up. 0:28:09.560 --> 0:28:12.919 God, Jesus, this is in They're gonna kill you now. 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:16.280 They got you on trial pilot, might send you to 0:28:16.400 --> 0:28:19.240 the cross. Don't you want to say something now? I 0:28:19.280 --> 0:28:22.600 don't need to say anything. I am the word I 0:28:22.880 --> 0:28:26.800 was staring in the buginning. I am alphans O makea. 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:30.719 I'm not nervous. This is the reason I came. So 0:28:30.880 --> 0:28:35.400 they can bury me low, so I to reign forever. 0:28:36.480 --> 0:28:38.680 Come on, find five people and say, don't be nervous, 0:28:39.240 --> 0:28:40.040 don't be nervous. 0:28:40.920 --> 0:28:41.760 Don't be nervous. 0:28:42.320 --> 0:28:44.840 That's what sets us apart as the people of God, 0:28:45.720 --> 0:28:46.480 is that we can. 0:28:46.560 --> 0:28:56.240 Know how bad it is and not be nervous. Because 0:28:56.240 --> 0:28:58.840 if we get nervous, what hope is there? 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:02.840 If we start operating in the same spirit of the 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.680 world that caused the fear, that created the division and 0:29:05.720 --> 0:29:07.320 the dysfunction that we're a part of. 0:29:07.640 --> 0:29:08.960 If the salt loses. 0:29:08.640 --> 0:29:13.560 Its saltiness, how will it be made salty? If you 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:20.720 get nervous, if you lose your cool, what's the distinctive. 0:29:20.280 --> 0:29:21.160 Of your Christian faith? 0:29:23.040 --> 0:29:25.760 What kind of hope did you even have? If one 0:29:25.840 --> 0:29:31.680 election cycle can threaten it. I set my hope, Paul set. 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:33.960 I tried to put my hope on how I felt, 0:29:33.960 --> 0:29:36.160 and I felt like I was going to die. I 0:29:36.200 --> 0:29:37.680 tried to put my hope on what other people would 0:29:37.640 --> 0:29:42.280 do for me, and they God other people. That's like 0:29:42.360 --> 0:29:44.600 me asking you to hold this pulpit while I appreciate 0:29:44.600 --> 0:29:47.280 that thing is too heavy for you and some of 0:29:47.320 --> 0:29:52.280 the stuff that you've been putting on people platforms, even 0:29:52.360 --> 0:29:54.520 the economy, it's too heavy. 0:29:54.560 --> 0:29:59.160 So Paul Man, I feel annoyed to it today? Do 0:29:59.240 --> 0:30:03.600 I look annoyed at I just want to get this 0:30:03.640 --> 0:30:04.520 message out to you. 0:30:05.560 --> 0:30:11.600 I know I see you in Babylonian captivity, but I 0:30:11.640 --> 0:30:16.880 know Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven. I know somebody say, 0:30:16.960 --> 0:30:19.960 I know, now this is God speaking. So the inference 0:30:20.040 --> 0:30:25.239 is you don't know, but I know the plans I 0:30:25.240 --> 0:30:31.120 have for you, and we know that in all things. 0:30:31.760 --> 0:30:36.160 This is Roman's eight twenty eight. God works together the 0:30:36.200 --> 0:30:39.959 good and the bad for the good of those who 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:42.600 love Him and are called according to his purpose. 0:30:42.680 --> 0:30:45.200 I'm not nervous. I got purpose. 0:30:46.360 --> 0:30:50.720 I'm not nervous. He's got a plan. I'm not nervous. 0:30:51.320 --> 0:30:55.480 I've got a purpose. I'm not nervous. He has a plan. 0:30:56.240 --> 0:30:59.920 I'm not nervous. I have a purpose. I'm here to 0:31:00.120 --> 0:31:03.280 glorify God. I'll glorify him in a lion's den and 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:05.600 a fire, on on a ship with a storm, or 0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:06.880 even in a borrowed grave. 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:08.440 Jesus said, I'm not nervous. 0:31:09.400 --> 0:31:12.400 I came for this. I'm God of the storm. I'm 0:31:12.520 --> 0:31:16.960 God of the grave, and beside me there is no other. 0:31:18.480 --> 0:31:22.040 So I set my hope when it got real bad, 0:31:22.840 --> 0:31:25.120 when it seemed like it was going to be the bottom, 0:31:26.200 --> 0:31:28.320 I set my hope on. 0:31:28.440 --> 0:31:35.600 The one who is higher. I'm not nervous. 0:31:38.400 --> 0:31:42.440 I tried nervous. I didn't like it. I tried nervous. 0:31:42.480 --> 0:31:46.960 It made me irritable. I tried nervous. It made me 0:31:47.000 --> 0:31:50.400 eat more. I gained thirty five pounds being nervous. I 0:31:50.440 --> 0:31:53.520 tried nervous. It didn't make me a part of the solution. 0:31:53.640 --> 0:31:55.520 I tried nervous. It made me a critic rather than 0:31:55.520 --> 0:31:58.880 a contributor. I tried nervous, didn't change anything. 0:31:59.520 --> 0:32:02.200 I tried nervous. I'm mina Show'll be at my job, 0:32:02.240 --> 0:32:05.640 do what I can, cast my vote, be the dad 0:32:05.680 --> 0:32:06.440 God's called me to be. 0:32:06.480 --> 0:32:07.800 I'm be the preacher God's called me to be, and 0:32:07.880 --> 0:32:08.960 be the mom God's called me to be. 0:32:09.720 --> 0:32:12.880 I'm gonna do my part. I'm not nervous. I'm gonna 0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:14.920 do my part. But I will not panic. 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:20.360 Because I lift my eyes and I set my hope. 0:32:21.160 --> 0:32:23.960 I lift my eyes. We used to listen to that 0:32:24.000 --> 0:32:27.560 song all the time. It was a Brooklyn Tabernacles choir. 0:32:28.600 --> 0:32:32.440 I memorized all of PSOne just listening to that song. 0:32:32.480 --> 0:32:35.520 And the King James that lady who sang it, she'd 0:32:35.640 --> 0:32:37.320 I can't sing it like she sang it, but she 0:32:37.320 --> 0:32:40.960 would say, I will lift up mine eyes to the hills. 0:32:42.040 --> 0:32:49.400 From whence cometh my hell. My help cometh from the Lord, 0:32:51.760 --> 0:32:52.680 the Lord. 0:32:52.400 --> 0:32:54.400 Which made heaven under. 0:32:57.160 --> 0:33:03.560 He said, he than not suffer that foot, thy foot 0:33:03.680 --> 0:33:12.560 to be moved. The Lord which keep thee, he will 0:33:12.600 --> 0:33:14.520 not slumber nor sleep. 0:33:16.720 --> 0:33:19.960 Oh, the Lord. 0:33:19.800 --> 0:33:28.440 Is thy keeper. The Lord is the shade upon that 0:33:29.240 --> 0:33:35.920 right hand, upon that right hand. 0:33:38.320 --> 0:33:39.840 Oh, the. 0:33:41.320 --> 0:33:43.120 Sun shall not smipe be. 0:33:43.480 --> 0:33:51.040 By take, nor the moon by night. He shall preserve 0:33:51.680 --> 0:33:57.240 thy soul even forever more. 0:34:02.360 --> 0:34:04.280 Because my have. 0:34:07.880 --> 0:34:20.759 My my, oh not my help calm in for rom 0:34:21.880 --> 0:34:34.360 the Lord my my my head. 0:34:35.800 --> 0:34:53.200 Yeah, ooh, the my help calming for rom the You're 0:34:55.360 --> 0:35:07.720 the source of my strength, you are the strength of mind. 0:35:12.560 --> 0:35:22.680 I lift my hand, sin two, pray. 0:35:24.760 --> 0:35:24.960 Two. 0:35:37.000 --> 0:35:45.319 Everyone's standing, everyone's standing. I have a hope. I lift 0:35:45.360 --> 0:35:53.080 my eyes someone is called a song of a scent. 0:35:55.040 --> 0:35:58.000 There were fifteen of them recorded in our cannon of 0:35:58.080 --> 0:36:02.440 Scripture for us to read. But they were originally intended 0:36:03.320 --> 0:36:04.920 for the pilgrims who would make their way. 0:36:04.800 --> 0:36:06.719 To Jerusalem, so they would have a song to sing 0:36:06.880 --> 0:36:09.680 on the way. How many know you need a song 0:36:09.719 --> 0:36:10.239 to sing on. 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:16.400 The way to where you're going, Because Jerusalem, City of 0:36:16.520 --> 0:36:21.000 Peace was set in the hills, and the hills represent hope, 0:36:21.000 --> 0:36:25.719 but the hills also represent hidden enemies. And when the 0:36:25.760 --> 0:36:29.360 Psalmist to say, watch this, I lift my eyes to 0:36:29.400 --> 0:36:32.560 the hills, he might have felt like a tenth grader 0:36:32.560 --> 0:36:35.080 in a new school, or he might have felt like 0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:39.080 a nervous father on election day in America, or he 0:36:39.160 --> 0:36:41.560 might have felt like a refugee in another part of 0:36:41.600 --> 0:36:43.040 the world that would love to be a part of 0:36:43.120 --> 0:36:48.200 our democratic process. But he's on his way somewhere. He's 0:36:48.239 --> 0:36:52.160 on a journey, and as he progresses, he lifts his 0:36:52.200 --> 0:36:56.600 eyes to the hills, the place where his destination is, 0:36:57.680 --> 0:36:58.520 the place where. 0:36:58.280 --> 0:37:02.960 His piece is, place where his hope is. He's going 0:37:03.000 --> 0:37:06.080 to Jerusalem, and on. 0:37:05.960 --> 0:37:09.000 His way he lifts his eyes to the hills, and 0:37:09.040 --> 0:37:13.080 he asked a question, from where does my help come? 0:37:14.080 --> 0:37:16.880 Where's it coming from? 0:37:16.920 --> 0:37:20.200 Not looking over here, over there, I'm not looking to 0:37:20.280 --> 0:37:23.080 the hills or the Donald. 0:37:27.560 --> 0:37:34.319 You get it by Tuesday. I'm looking above all of that. 0:37:36.120 --> 0:37:40.000 And I always read the verse like this, the spirit 0:37:40.040 --> 0:37:44.560 of the Lord is in this place, thank you there. 0:37:44.800 --> 0:37:45.799 I always looked at it. 0:37:47.400 --> 0:37:49.400 Like he was saying, my help comes from the hills, 0:37:49.440 --> 0:37:51.520 you know, because God is above and he's a great king. 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:54.480 And when Isaiah saw the Lord and the king, your king, 0:37:54.560 --> 0:37:56.600 Usiah died, he was seated on a throne high. 0:37:56.440 --> 0:37:58.839 And lifted up. And if funny, he was seated. 0:38:00.040 --> 0:38:02.399 And the year the king died, in the year where 0:38:02.400 --> 0:38:05.280 the nation was wondering what to do, God wasn't pacing 0:38:05.320 --> 0:38:07.080 the marble floors of heaven wondering what. 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:09.440 He was going to do next. He was still seated. 0:38:09.800 --> 0:38:14.480 I came with an announcement today he's still seated. He's 0:38:14.520 --> 0:38:19.280 still seated. Had a vision. 0:38:20.040 --> 0:38:22.640 The throne wasn't vacant and the one who sat on 0:38:22.719 --> 0:38:24.520 it was seated, so I always thought he was looking up. 0:38:24.520 --> 0:38:28.280 And that's true. You know, our hope is God reigns above. 0:38:29.520 --> 0:38:31.240 Did you know that the same God who reigns above 0:38:31.280 --> 0:38:38.560 sustains beneath. And that's why I'm not nervous, he said. 0:38:38.560 --> 0:38:40.160 I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my 0:38:40.200 --> 0:38:43.440 help come from? I have hope in the hills, hardship 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:45.840 in the hills, Paul said, I despaired of life, but 0:38:45.920 --> 0:38:46.760 I sat my hope. 0:38:46.920 --> 0:38:49.880 Both were happening at the same time. My hope came 0:38:49.920 --> 0:38:51.240 from my hardship. Watched. 0:38:51.239 --> 0:38:57.160 This is so powerful. This is so powerful. My hope 0:38:57.160 --> 0:39:00.520 comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth. He 0:39:00.560 --> 0:39:03.520 will not let your foot be moved. Who are you 0:39:03.600 --> 0:39:09.320 talking to? He's talking to himself. He's having a conversation 0:39:09.440 --> 0:39:13.640 with himself, telling himself. Don't be nervous. I know you 0:39:13.680 --> 0:39:15.440 see what's in those hills, and you imagine what might 0:39:15.440 --> 0:39:17.320 be in those hills, and there's boogeymen in those hills, 0:39:17.400 --> 0:39:18.200 and there might be real. 0:39:18.160 --> 0:39:22.920 Danger in those hills. But the Lord is your keeper. 0:39:22.960 --> 0:39:23.440 And watch this. 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:30.640 He's not sleeping, He's not asleep. He knows he sees. 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:37.360 He knows. Not one hair of your head falls to 0:39:37.400 --> 0:39:40.920 the ground that he doesn't count at, not one sparrow 0:39:41.000 --> 0:39:43.720 falls from the sky, that he doesn't have a funeral. 0:39:45.080 --> 0:39:45.920 He knows. 0:39:47.280 --> 0:39:52.880 Next verse, Behold, it's all about what you focus on. 0:39:54.040 --> 0:39:58.200 He who keeps the people of God will neither slumber 0:39:58.239 --> 0:39:58.720 nor sleep. 0:39:59.040 --> 0:40:02.720 For the Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade. 0:40:03.800 --> 0:40:05.560 For there to be shade, there must be heat. 0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:10.920 For there to be hope, there must be hardship, or 0:40:10.960 --> 0:40:13.359 else it won't really be hope. How can you know 0:40:13.440 --> 0:40:16.319 he will deliver you if you don't know that he can, 0:40:16.640 --> 0:40:19.480 And how can you know that he can if there isn't. 0:40:19.200 --> 0:40:22.400 An enemy in the hills for you to run to 0:40:22.520 --> 0:40:24.000 him seeking refuge from. 0:40:24.320 --> 0:40:28.000 I know, I know you're worried about your teenager. I 0:40:28.040 --> 0:40:29.880 know you're worried about the state of things. I know 0:40:29.920 --> 0:40:31.240 you're worried. I know you're worried. 0:40:31.360 --> 0:40:32.160 I know I know. 0:40:33.280 --> 0:40:37.600 But the Lord is on your right hand. And this 0:40:37.640 --> 0:40:40.719 is what spoke to me. I lift my eyes to 0:40:40.760 --> 0:40:44.719 the hills. That means he's above it, and God is 0:40:44.800 --> 0:40:47.160 keeping me in, sustaining me. That means he's beneath it, 0:40:48.960 --> 0:40:51.960 and he's on my right hand. That means he's beside 0:40:52.040 --> 0:40:54.000 me no matter which way it goes. 0:40:54.560 --> 0:41:00.000 So I'm not nervous. He's great and he's good. He's big, 0:41:00.120 --> 0:41:04.200 and he's near. He's omnipotent and he's imminent. He is God, 0:41:06.320 --> 0:41:07.240 and I'm not nervous. 0:41:08.520 --> 0:41:13.040 His name will be exalted. He is God, and I'm 0:41:13.080 --> 0:41:13.640 not nervous. 0:41:15.080 --> 0:41:15.360 Yeah. 0:41:16.680 --> 0:41:20.799 The writer of Hebrews said, we have this hope. 0:41:21.320 --> 0:41:22.160 What kind of hope? 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:28.040 This hope, the same hope that went down into a grave, 0:41:29.000 --> 0:41:33.200 that hit rock bottom and still stayed strong. 0:41:33.719 --> 0:41:37.280 We have no let me personalize it. You have this hope, 0:41:37.800 --> 0:41:38.359 and it's not. 0:41:38.400 --> 0:41:41.520 Out there, and it's not over here, and it's not 0:41:41.680 --> 0:41:42.200 over here. 0:41:42.320 --> 0:41:42.719 Watch this. 0:41:43.239 --> 0:41:48.560 It's an anchor for my soul. It's in me Christ, 0:41:48.680 --> 0:41:52.280 in you, the hope of Lord. You are the. 0:41:52.160 --> 0:41:53.080 Hope of the world. 0:41:54.200 --> 0:42:02.399 We are the Church, an aner for the soul. Well, 0:42:02.400 --> 0:42:04.239 what does an anchor do? It flows around at the 0:42:04.239 --> 0:42:11.160 surface and looks pretty, Oh, sir, goes down all the 0:42:11.200 --> 0:42:14.759 way to the bottom, and make sure that whatever it's 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:17.920 holding on to come on. I gotta close this sermon, 0:42:18.600 --> 0:42:21.600 But I have this hope. Touch somebody say I have 0:42:21.760 --> 0:42:25.439 this hope. I have this hope, this hope that kept 0:42:25.480 --> 0:42:28.120 him on the cross, this hope that s fucked the 0:42:28.120 --> 0:42:30.600 world's into exist us. I feel the. 0:42:30.480 --> 0:42:33.560 Spirit of hope coming over the Church of Jesus Christ. 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:37.279 I lift my eyes to the hills. I have this 0:42:37.400 --> 0:42:40.200 hope in my soul. My hope went. 0:42:40.080 --> 0:42:44.279 Down till the bottom and three days later rose. 0:42:44.080 --> 0:42:47.480 To rain forever. I'm not nervous. 0:42:48.120 --> 0:42:49.280 I'm not nervous. 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:51.600 I'm not who I have. 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:57.640 Believe it, and I'm persuaded that he is able to 0:42:57.840 --> 0:43:13.280 keep that which at hem. 0:43:13.320 --> 0:43:15.880 Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of 0:43:15.920 --> 0:43:18.000 you who give generously to this ministry. 0:43:18.360 --> 0:43:20.760 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:43:21.200 --> 0:43:23.399 You can click the link in the description to give 0:43:23.480 --> 0:43:27.440 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:43:27.480 --> 0:43:30.640 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast. 0:43:30.360 --> 0:43:33.080 You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 0:43:33.360 --> 0:43:35.640 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:43:35.680 --> 0:43:37.799 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:43:37.840 --> 0:43:38.680 Elevation Church. 0:43:38.760 --> 0:43:40.400 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.