Invisible Prisons

0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.600 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.080 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:10.440 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.479 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.200 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.160 Let's get into the scripture now, the Book of Matthew 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.599 chapter eleven, verse two and three. And as I share 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.079 this with you today, I pray that it will be 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:31.440 a very personal experience for you. Matthew chapter eleven, Versus 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:35.680 two and three. When John, who was in prison, heard 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.280 about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.920 to ask him, are you the one who is to come? 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:48.240 Or should we expect someone else? And really let's focus 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.479 on the first part of that, When John who was 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.360 in prison, You'll find my message right between those commas 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:58.720 in that little clause. When John and here's the phrase, 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.680 who was in prison him? Today, I'd like to speak 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.959 to you about invisible prisons. Invisible prisons, and let's pray 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.040 one more time. God, you hold the keys, you have 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.520 all authority, your sovereign, and we believe that you can 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.320 do anything. Now enable your servants to have the kind 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.640 of faith that will connect with Heaven, get us past 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:18.400 the point of our own perspective, and help us to 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.280 see things like you see him for a few minutes. 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.360 We believe that if we do, things will change in 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:26.600 our lives. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen, you may 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:37.720 be seated low ocd. My Bible was on the wrong 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:39.760 side of the thing. I have to keep it a 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.440 certain way. And you know, it's funny when you're married 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:46.800 to somebody, you notice all these little things about them. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:52.240 Now listen, this is not hyperbole. Holly Ferdick is pretty 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:57.120 much the perfect wife. We don't have the perfect marriage, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:02.280 but she's like, you know, nine point nine out of 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.360 ten on the way, and even look at me, Look 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.280 at me. I'm not just earning points up here trying 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.400 to get something started in the afternoon after I preach. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:14.000 I promise you she really is. And even when we 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.880 miss each other just by that point zero zero zero 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:21.200 zero zero one, it's usually just she's even trying. And 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.640 sometimes it's just like she loves me so much and 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.840 messes things up, you know, like she she used to 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.760 introduce me. We would go to the different campuses and 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:32.160 have a campus vision night, and so we'd be like 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.200 at University City or at Riverwalk the artist formerly known 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.400 as Rock Hill, and she get up to introduce me 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.560 like she'd she'd read a scripture, greet the people, and 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.560 she would tell them, now, in a few moments, our 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.520 pastor is gonna come preach and let me tell you 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.960 it's going to be a good one tonight. And they 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:51.799 cheer a little bit, and she'd say, I mean, I'm 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.560 telling you he's been studying all day. I mean to 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.760 tell you he hadn't come out of his room. I 0:02:57.840 --> 0:02:59.760 went in the room and he was on his face 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:04.359 on the carpet, seeking God and worshiping God. And then 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.520 he and then he on the way over, he had 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.200 a napkin out and he was writing his sermon notes 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:11.720 on a napkin. And he's just fired up. And I've 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.080 never seen him this fired up. And I think tonight 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.400 might be the best message that he's ever going to 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.160 preach in his life. And I'm like, shut up. This 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.639 is too much pressure, Like I cannot take the expectations. 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:27.080 And it's like ah, like everything she says, it's like 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:29.320 I can't possibly make it this good, you know, get 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.720 up and tell him I've been sick and and the 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.120 kids have been crazy, and it's just a miracle that 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:35.640 I'm here. And then, you know, I could just jump 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.240 over that. You know, I could dunk on that. Just 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.360 set the goal about five feet, I could dunk on that. 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:41.880 You know what I'm saying. She puts it up so 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:46.040 high I can't possibly reach it. It's about expectations. Marriage 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.720 is about expectations. I could I could preach a seminar 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.320 on that. Let's do another time, because it's just the 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:57.080 idea of when you don't understand someone's expectations, you can't 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:04.480 make sense of their disappointments. And faith when you get 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.920 to the essence of it is an expectation, a confident 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:14.880 assurance that a negative circumstance still holds the potential to 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.719 produce great purpose in my life. Come on, shout on that. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.279 I'm gonna teach y'all where to shout. Y'all been coming 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.000 to church too many years to not know where the 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.000 shouting part is. That's the shouting part means I can 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.680 walk into something dark and light it up because of 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.719 my faith, because the light of the world lives in me. 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.120 You say, Jesus is the light of the world. Absolutely 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:40.360 he is, but guess where he lives. It's an expectation. 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.640 Faith is an expectation to know that, even if the 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.360 sequence of things doesn't make sense in my life, that God, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:51.080 who lives outside of time, because he is eternal, knows 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:53.839 the end from the beginning. So then I have to 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.440 trust him with element op if he is Z and A, 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.440 and if A is related to Z, because he is 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.919 Alpha and Omega beginning in the end, the first and 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:06.000 the last. My faith is an expectation that before the 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.640 movie even starts, he's already shot the closing scene. It 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:11.800 helps me to know today that I don't have to 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.839 live in suspense as to whether or not I will 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:15.720 see the goodness of the Lord in the land of 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:20.440 the living. Because faith is an expectation. Faith enables me 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.000 to wake up in the morning knowing that surely goodness 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.680 and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.240 And since this is one of the days of my life, 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.840 Goodness and mercy are my bodyguards, one on my right 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.159 and one on my left. You can't see them there invisible, 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:38.120 but if you look real close, I've got security. Tell somebody, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.640 say I got security. Goodness and mercy. The favor of 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.640 the Lord is the filter through which I view the 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.920 fights of my life. Knowing this that he who began 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.720 a good work in me will be faithful to complete it. 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.880 Don't know when, don't know how, not even sure what 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.360 he's doing yet. But my faith gives me an expectation. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:03.159 Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.839 than we ask or imagine, according to his power that 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.479 works mightily in us, not according to my preference, not 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:15.880 according to my understanding or the finite finite you know, small, little, 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.240 puny way that I tend to come at situations. But 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:24.880 my faith is an expectation, and this expectation is contagious. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.760 Talk about talk about expectations. Man John, the Baptist who 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:39.679 we just read about, he was he was really, really 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:45.599 familiar with the pressure of high expectations because he was 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:51.200 a miraculous, miraculously born baby, and an angel prophesied his birth, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:59.000 and in fact, when his mother, Elizabeth got pregnant, you know, 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.359 his father Zacho, was so shocked by it that he 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.280 told the angel it couldn't happen because they were kind 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:10.040 of old, and so his expectation, you know with age, 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:11.920 one thing can happen with age. That's good. You can 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:17.520 get experience, but it can diminish expectation. Do you know 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.720 what I mean by that? I'm looking for over forty 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:29.240 because I'm not there yet. I'm familiar with this. But 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:33.880 John was born. Before he was born, you have to 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:38.200 understand that he was the voice that prepared the way 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:43.120 for the Lord that the entire nation was expecting to 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:48.240 deliver them from oppression. That was their expectation of the Messiah. 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.120 They looked for for hundreds of years, in centuries, so 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.720 that this generation that was alive at the time the 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.680 birth of Christ had heard the stories, the rumors, and 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.280 the rumblings about the possibility and potential of his coming 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:04.720 into the world, and this expectation from their heart was 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:08.800 that he would then set them free from oppression, whether 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:16.280 economic or political, or deliver them from their their circumstantial containment. 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:19.920 There's an expectation, and one thing you got to do 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.920 when you have an expectation is make sure that you 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:29.280 connect yourself with people who have a similar expectation. And 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:35.199 this is important because expectation is contagious. Say that out loud, 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:40.360 expectation is contagious. Those of you watching this message, you 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.440 didn't get to be with us in worship. I had 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.000 everybody in the church turn to each other, and I 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.280 had them check with their neighbor and make sure that 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.199 their neighbor was the right neighbor, because I don't want 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.160 them sitting next to anybody who's not expecting God to 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.119 speak today, just going to play something on their phone, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.960 you know, candy Crush or whatever game is popular. Now, 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:04.080 play that stuff. I read my Bible in my free times. Kidding, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.040 I was kidding, read my Bible, watch YouTube in my 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:11.160 free time. But but I was just having them check, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.679 you know, because expectation is contagious. Here's how contagious it is. 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:19.120 When John the Baptist was still in Elizabeth's womb, an 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:23.560 angel appeared six months after Elizabeth got pregnant with John 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.040 the Baptist to Mary, who was a relative of Elizabeth. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:29.640 Now you know, Mary, Mary, did you know from Christmas? 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.360 She was told that she was going to have a 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.320 baby and she hadn't had relations. And it's kind of 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:39.679 hard to believe a revelation that completely contradicts the circumstances 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.320 surrounding it. So the first thing that she did when 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.240 the angel left was going to the Hill country to 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:49.200 see her relative named Elizabeth, because the angel said, she's 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:52.840 also expecting. The best thing you can do when you 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:56.800 are expecting is to get around somebody else who's expecting. 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:01.640 If you get around somebody who's expecting, your expectation will rise. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.280 That's why I come to church, to be honest with you, 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:07.960 because you know what, I could watch it on my phone, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.200 but there's something about being in an atmosphere with people 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.800 who are also expected. You know what, if you're watching 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.080 this message in your house, next time you watch it, 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:21.360 invite somebody over and you'll drink some coffee together and 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:24.840 get some expectation between the two of you, and get 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.080 a Bible and break out your Bible and stand up 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.080 on your feet while I'm preaching. Even if you're watching 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.440 in your kitchen, if you got somebody next to you, 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.520 grab them right now and tell them I'm expecting something, 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.240 and what I need is somebody who will help me 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.920 with this expectation, because if I don't get around somebody 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:54.160 who's expecting something. This is so real. This is so 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.120 real that we've got worship leaders in this church who 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:06.920 lead worship and don't even have a microphone, because when 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.840 we're pulling in today, Graham, who's eleven, said to me, 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:11.640 we listened to hes Ki Walker on the way to 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.240 church today, So I had, I had, I had the 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.480 car bumping on the way in the parking lot. And 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:21.960 then we moved over into Israel Hoten circa. Two thousand 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:28.959 and six, and and then we pulled by the parking team. 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:30.360 And do you know my son said to me when 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.640 we pulled by the parking team, he said, I love 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:37.000 that guy. Now this is Graham. Graham doesn't has never 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:41.040 even said he loved me, but he he was like, 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:48.000 I love him. You can tell he's excited. Graham never 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.960 said I love Chris Brown. He never said it once ever. 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.920 But that parking attendant, Graham said, he does so much 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:04.720 for our church. What could we do for him? But 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.400 it was a childlike faith. And I promise I'm gonna 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.960 talk about John the Baptist in a minute. But it's 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:15.920 the craziest thing that when somebody is also expecting, you know, 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.640 it created an expectation. Even in the parking lot, my 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.440 son felt something. What he felt though he didn't know, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.640 it was the Holy Spirit in that man. The Holy 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.680 Spirit in that man who didn't need a microphone. He 0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:35.319 had an orange baton, and he was expecting that when 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:39.080 you pull in my parking lot, you're pulling up on 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:52.240 the holy ground. So get ready something good. I'm expecting something. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.920 So when Elizabeth and Mary got together, Mary said, oh, 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.959 I just got bumped. Mary said, what do you mean, 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.959 I just got bumped? This is the new modern steam 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.720 for the translation of Bible. What do you mean you 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.400 just got bumped? She said, When you got here, the 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:13.800 baby in your womb made the baby in my womb 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:19.559 leap for joy. Now you can't see it, it's invisible. 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:24.920 But something in you, the Jesus in you, the Christ 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.160 in you. I'm gonna calm down in a minute of preach. 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.559 But somebody who's got a purpose on the inside, sound 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:45.640 like you're expecting the greatest days of your life. Come 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.720 on on, every campus. Let's take nineteen seconds and praise 0:13:49.800 --> 0:14:07.920 a minute. There. It's all right, it's all right. It's 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:12.000 all right to be expected, it's all right, it's all right. 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.600 It's all right to love Jesus. It's all right to 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:19.440 be enthusiastic. It's all right. It's all right to lift 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.200 up your eyes to the hills. And know where your 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:40.560 health comes from. Expectation is contagious, so is skepticism. Sit down, 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:50.040 we gotta modulate because a lot has happened since John 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.600 the Baptist was jumping up and down in Elizabeth's womb 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.800 as a fetus. You know what I mean? Like a 0:14:55.840 --> 0:15:00.800 lot happens between when something gets birthed and the point 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:05.480 now where's he started his ministry. He's like, he's been 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:09.440 doing his job. You've been doing your job. Just remember 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.560 the Titans. You've been doing your job. He's been doing 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:24.040 his job. And Jesus now is really really getting He's 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:29.760 getting popular. He's blowing up, as some would say. Now 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:33.080 this is not before the blow up. Jesus is blowing 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:39.480 all the way up, all the way up. And John, 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:47.800 according to the text, is in prison. When John first 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.400 saw Jesus as an adult, and whether or not they 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.760 had much contact during their teenage years is not recorded 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:57.200 in scripture. But one thing we know is that when 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.720 John saw Jesus at one point when he was baptizing 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:06.160 in the Jordan River, John identified Jesus not by the 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:11.480 activities that he did, but he identified him based on 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.320 the essence of who he was, which is really important 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.440 in how we relate to God, because if we only 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.880 learn to identify God by what he does and what 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:27.000 he does for us, then our expectation will be attached 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:32.600 to his activity. And that's dangerous. It's very dangerous to have. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:35.680 It's very dangerous to have a low expectation of God. 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:37.720 Then you just live the life at the level of 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.960 your disappointments and then wonder why everything turns out exactly 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:42.520 the way you imagined it to turn out because you 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.680 didn't have any faith for anything else. It's a self 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:49.480 fulfilling prophecy. But it's also very dangerous, isn't it, to 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:54.120 have an expectation of God that is not congruent with 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.160 his character. And this is where it gets difficult for us, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:03.240 because and babies in the womb is one thing. But 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:08.639 now when John who was in prison, not in prison 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:12.760 for a meth laugh, not in prison because you know, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.639 not in prison for a domestic disturbance, in prison for 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.840 standing up to a wicked king herod and because he 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.359 wouldn't say what was expected of him to be said, 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:28.800 because he was a prophet and he didn't operate like 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.199 that and he was kind of rough, y'all. John the 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.760 Baptist was if he had a Twitter account, it would 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.560 definitely it would definitely need to be suspended. He would 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.040 definitely be deplatformed in this day. In this PC day, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.600 John the Baptist would not have much of an audience, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.160 but he was very popular in his time until Jesus came. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.240 And when Jesus came, he said, look, Lamb of God 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.280 takes away his sins the world. Don't follow me, follow 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.440 him John three thirty. He must become greater. I must 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.840 become less. Follow him, not me. Whole reason i'm here 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:58.960 is point to him. Here he is, y'all go with him. 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.040 I'm gonna do my thing prepared the way. I'm just 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.159 a voice. I'm not the one. I'm just a voice 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:04.960 pointing to the one. So I know my place. So 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:06.600 I'm gonna fall back now so he can do what 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:08.040 he came to do, and what he came to do 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:14.360 watch this was to judge the unwickedness and to bring 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:19.040 the people to repentance. That was John's favorite message. He 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.960 loved that word repent. He just preached it all the time, 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.560 and when they would come out to be baptized by him, 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.840 he would call him names. He one time called the 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.560 Pharisees a brute of vipers. I thought that would be 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:40.199 an interesting way to welcome the campuses one weekend. And 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.159 yet there was a prophetic power to his ministry that 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:48.159 people were attracted to because he would say things that 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:51.000 were true, whether they wanted them to be true or not. 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.439 And yet that same spirit. And I really want to 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.439 isolate this. I didn't do it last night, but I 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.800 was thinking the same thing that made him so great 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.239 got him in trouble, the same thing that made him 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.000 able to just take a stand. And I'm not moving. 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.600 And this is how it's gonna be. Repent, Repent, repent. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.119 Let me show you one example. Can I show you 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.720 one example of what his message was. So he's out 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:16.919 baptizing at the Jordan. He baptized Jesus. He said, uh, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.680 I'm not worthy to untie your thong of your sandaljes said, 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.040 we got to do it to fulfill all righteousness. It's proper, 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.440 it's appropriate. Stop thinking about how you think it needs 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.199 to be, and I'm telling you how it needs to be. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.680 You're just the voice. You're not You're not the message. 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.040 You're just the voice. Again, You're not the message. You're 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:36.560 just the voice. One more time. You're not the message, 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:40.600 You're just the voice. And so he baptized Jesus in obedience, 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:42.840 even though it didn't make sense. And now watch this. 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.639 This is something that he said that shows us what 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:50.240 his expectation was. And if you don't understand his expectation, 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.840 you can't make sense of his disappointment. This was his 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.439 expectation of the Messiah. This was his expectation of the 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.720 one that he gave away his ministry to. This was 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.720 his expectation of the Lamb of God, who takes away 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:09.560 the sin of the world and is found in Matthew 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.480 chapter three. Watch this, he's talking to the crowds. I 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:18.480 baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:23.480 one who is more powerful than I, who sandals I 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.000 am not worthy to carry. He'll baptize you with the 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:32.240 Holy Spirit and fire. Watch this verse twelve. His winnowing 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:35.960 fork is in hand. Ooh, that's what you used to 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.680 get the chaff owl the wickedness. You winnow it out, 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.560 and you separate the sheep from the goats, the good 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.840 from the bad, the righteous from the wicked. He's got 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.879 his winnowing fork. He's here now, and it's about to 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.760 go down. It's about to get good. The Lamb of 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.520 God is here, and he's got his winnowing fork in 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:59.359 his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.480 his wheat to the barn and burning up the chaff 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.080 with unquenchable fire. It's about to be fire. The Son 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.600 of God is here. It's about to be fire. He's 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.280 got a fork and he's about to start a fire. 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:13.679 And he's burning up all y'all that don't want to 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.080 do it, and get right and get left, and you know, 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.119 all this stuff he had John the Baptist had a 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.520 church sign. It would have all those things about hell 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:24.240 on it, you know, about the fire and the wicked 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:26.880 and the righteous and turn or burn, and you know, 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.439 and he's got his fork in one hand. Now watch this. 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:35.960 He's in prison now. He's in prison now, and something 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.320 is making him doubt what he was so sure about 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.040 from the time even before he was born, what he 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:50.879 knew before he was even born, he's now doubting in 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:58.679 this prison. Sends messengers one hundred miles on foot just 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:04.640 to ask Jesus one question. And I get it, because 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.679 you know, we're supposed to be partners. And here I 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:12.080 am in prison, and all I keep seeing is you 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:17.240 healing people, blessing people. All I see, all I keep 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:20.720 seeing is the reports of how awesome it's going for you. 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:24.560 But I stood up to a king and I'm here 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.600 in prison, And here's what he's wondering. Did you catch it? 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.280 In the verse? He said, are you the one? Or 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:36.280 should we expect someone else? In other words? Is it 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:43.240 always gonna be like this? In other words, I thought 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:51.080 I thought I thought you were gonna Have you ever 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.960 thought God was gonna where'd y'all go? Y'all were fired 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:58.240 up when we had a little praise moment and all that. 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:05.159 Have you ever thought God was gonna you? Have you 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:07.720 ever wondered? Because John the Baptist is just wondering. He's 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.800 just wondering. He's not denying Jesus. He's not. He's not. 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.280 He's not turning away from the sovereign Lord who bought him. 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:19.160 He's not. He's he's he's not contradicting what he said 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:26.199 to begin with. He's just thinking, now, maybe God isn't 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:30.840 what I thought he was. Maybe the one that I 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.640 trusted in, maybe I trusted in the wrong one. Now 0:23:35.680 --> 0:23:37.800 You don't say it like that, because if you said 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:40.320 it like that, you would be scared. God would hit 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:43.680 you with the lightning bolt. But you just send messengers. 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.080 You don't say it like that directly, but indirectly. Somebody 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.040 came in here wondering, and you don't talk about this. 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:55.119 You're you're wondering. You know, God made some promises and 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:57.840 and here's the here's the interesting thing about it. A 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:03.040 lot of times our entire faith journey is sabotaged because 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:08.160 of our expectation of salvation when it gets started. And 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:11.240 I'm not sure that as preachers we've been very responsible 0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:14.200 about it, because a lot of times we will preach 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:17.919 that salvation from your sin is a one time event. 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.639 In fact, it is you will never pay the penalty 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:25.760 of your sin. Jesus is the lamb of God. This 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.960 is what John knuw who takes away the sin of 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:33.159 the world. But the power of sin is very different 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.359 than the penalty of sin, and the patterns of sin 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:39.800 are very different than the penalty of sin. So when 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:42.600 we preach that you've been forgiven of your sin, you 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:45.439 are set free from the penalty of your sin. But 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:48.560 if the pattern of your sin has been ingrained, not 0:24:48.680 --> 0:24:51.600 only just throughout your lifetime, but some of it is 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:55.360 even generational, and some addictions that you are fighting against, 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:58.800 you know, the invisible prisons that you live in, the 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:01.600 things that you do over a over again. I was 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:05.639 thinking about how some of us are in invisible prisons today, 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:09.280 even as we try to appear free to people. There 0:25:10.160 --> 0:25:14.480 is a spiritual depression on so many, so many thousands 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:17.360 that I will preach to this weekend, and nobody can 0:25:17.400 --> 0:25:20.720 see it because we paint the walls with a smile, 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:24.440 but we live behind bars on the inside. It's an 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:29.280 invisible prison. It's ways of thinking and reasoning and fearing. 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:37.760 Because when I realized John was in two different prisons 0:25:37.800 --> 0:25:40.280 at the same time, it clarified the text for me. 0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:43.880 One was the one that herod Antipus put him in 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:47.800 for saying what he didn't want to hear. But the 0:25:47.880 --> 0:25:55.080 other one was an invisible prison. The other one is 0:25:55.119 --> 0:25:59.000 one that I'm all too familiar with. This is the 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:06.600 prison of your expectations, This is the prison of your plans, 0:26:07.480 --> 0:26:12.159 This is the prison of what you thought God was 0:26:12.200 --> 0:26:19.680 going to do. You know, hey, go ask Jesus, are 0:26:19.680 --> 0:26:26.199 you the one? Because uh I told everybody. You're the 0:26:26.200 --> 0:26:31.040 one I told everybody you had your fork and you're 0:26:31.040 --> 0:26:34.440 about to start a fire. Watch what the messengers say 0:26:34.480 --> 0:26:40.199 back to John. They say, Jesus, reply, go back and 0:26:40.280 --> 0:26:44.199 report to Jarn what you hear and see. Look at 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:47.560 this list. The blind receives sight, the lame walk, those 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:49.720 who have leprosy are cleansed the deaf. Here the dead 0:26:49.720 --> 0:26:51.720 are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:54.399 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. 0:26:54.640 --> 0:26:58.359 Watch what wasn't in that verse, the fork and the fire. 0:27:00.359 --> 0:27:04.600 Jesus wasn't doing any of the things that John wanted 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:09.240 him to do. Read the list again. The blind received site, 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:13.000 the lame walk, those who have leprosy or cleanse the death. 0:27:13.080 --> 0:27:15.919 Here the dead or rays, and the good news is 0:27:15.920 --> 0:27:19.159 proclaimed to the fore Go tell John that, And John's like, 0:27:19.520 --> 0:27:25.480 I'm just checking, Jesus, where's the fork? Where's the fire? 0:27:26.600 --> 0:27:37.480 You know? WTF? You ever had a moment? Why y'all 0:27:37.520 --> 0:27:41.600 hate me today? You never had a where's the fork? 0:27:42.400 --> 0:27:50.960 Where's the fire? Jo? John is having a moment. John 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:55.520 is in a WTF moment with the Lord. Walk out 0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:59.280 if you want to, but if you'll be really honest. 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:04.280 If you'll be really honest, there are some things in 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:07.840 your life you're trying to figure out. Right now, come on, 0:28:07.920 --> 0:28:13.639 where is it? Where is it? What in the world 0:28:14.560 --> 0:28:21.480 is this? Somebody show what is this? What is this? Yeah? Yeah, 0:28:21.640 --> 0:28:23.919 I don't know. I just need to know because I 0:28:24.000 --> 0:28:26.439 thought you were gonna and that is the prison that 0:28:26.480 --> 0:28:29.320 we spend so much of our lives in what we 0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:32.560 thought God was gonna do. But I got a question 0:28:32.680 --> 0:28:35.480 for you. What if He really is able to do 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:39.440 immeasurably more than you ask her. Imagine? What if he 0:28:39.520 --> 0:28:43.040 wants to do something so much better than your mind 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:54.680 can comprehend. Is you deopen to that? What if God 0:28:54.720 --> 0:28:57.240 didn't want to meet your expectations because he wanted to 0:28:57.280 --> 0:29:04.480 exceed them. And now I'm gonna make you sit back 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:08.480 down because You're not gonna like this. The way he 0:29:08.520 --> 0:29:22.160 grows my faith is usually to disappoint my expectation. John's 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:28.360 like this, This is what I gave up my ministry 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:33.560 for this. I gave my life to Jesus and I'm 0:29:33.600 --> 0:29:39.040 still struggling with depression and anxiety. This because it was 0:29:39.080 --> 0:29:45.400 your expectation of deliverance that is causing your disappointment. Go 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:51.160 tell John wishes blind c the death here, the lame walk. 0:29:52.680 --> 0:29:55.400 Tell him, I'm touching people that nobody else would touch, 0:29:56.080 --> 0:29:59.880 that were quarantined because of this dreadful disease called leprosy, 0:30:00.120 --> 0:30:02.080 able to go back to their family because they're cleansed 0:30:02.080 --> 0:30:04.000 and they can live their life. Tell him all that. 0:30:05.440 --> 0:30:07.000 But you know he's not making this upright. This is 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:09.840 what he came to do. This is what he announced 0:30:09.840 --> 0:30:12.360 that he came to do. In Luke chapter four, he said, 0:30:12.400 --> 0:30:13.640 the spirit of the Lord is on me because he's 0:30:13.680 --> 0:30:16.760 quote Isaiah sixty one, because he is fulfilling the prophecy, 0:30:17.120 --> 0:30:21.240 not fulfilling their preferences. Fulfilling the prophecy. It's very different. 0:30:21.480 --> 0:30:25.120 He's fulfilling what he said. He was not what they 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:28.000 thought he was going to be. That's what God is 0:30:28.040 --> 0:30:30.800 trying to deliver us from, you see it, from what 0:30:30.920 --> 0:30:33.840 we thought he was going to be. He's so much 0:30:33.920 --> 0:30:37.200 bigger than that. He's so much better than that. His 0:30:37.280 --> 0:30:40.080 plan is so much bigger than that. His purpose is 0:30:40.120 --> 0:30:42.720 so much greater than that. And John said, are you 0:30:42.800 --> 0:30:44.400 the one? He said, go back and tell him that 0:30:44.400 --> 0:30:47.440 the death here and the blind sea and the lepers 0:30:47.440 --> 0:30:50.720 are touched, and the eyes of the blind are open, 0:30:50.840 --> 0:30:52.800 and the ears of the death. This is all from 0:30:52.920 --> 0:30:54.920 Luke chapter four. Look it up when he unrolled the scroll, 0:30:54.960 --> 0:30:56.680 when he stood up to read in his hometown, and 0:30:56.720 --> 0:30:58.800 he said, to this day, is this prophecy fulfilled? In 0:30:58.840 --> 0:31:01.640 your hearing? Came the spirit of the Lord is upon me, 0:31:01.720 --> 0:31:03.240 for he has annoyed me to preach the good news 0:31:03.280 --> 0:31:05.600 to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind. He 0:31:05.640 --> 0:31:07.479 sent me to open death fears. He sent me to 0:31:07.480 --> 0:31:09.800 do all this. But one thing he left out when 0:31:09.840 --> 0:31:12.600 he sent the message to John. And this is crazy, Zach, 0:31:12.640 --> 0:31:14.320 because I know how much you left the Bible, so 0:31:14.360 --> 0:31:16.360 it's gonna blow your mind. The only thing that he 0:31:16.560 --> 0:31:18.640 left out. He added some stuff to it, but he 0:31:18.720 --> 0:31:24.800 left one thing out. Freedom for the prisoners. Look it 0:31:24.920 --> 0:31:34.080 up right now, reference me. It's in Luke for I 0:31:34.120 --> 0:31:38.760 can wait. I know I'm right about this, unless you 0:31:38.840 --> 0:31:42.960 got some weird bible that you made for yourself. Luke, 0:31:43.040 --> 0:31:46.760 For it's like eighteen nineteen something like that. What's his say? 0:31:48.520 --> 0:31:53.800 Eighteen nineteen? What was say? Spear Lord's This is Rick Parker, 0:31:53.840 --> 0:31:56.520 the one that you'll always hear on the podcast the 0:31:57.120 --> 0:32:01.360 one you hey, Rick, you know you're famous on the podcast. 0:32:02.120 --> 0:32:04.680 He's the one always talking back to me. The country guy. 0:32:05.120 --> 0:32:06.840 He's always talking back to them. People ask me all 0:32:06.880 --> 0:32:09.040 the time, who's that country guy that's always talking back 0:32:09.080 --> 0:32:13.160 to you. That's Rick Parker. What does it saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:32:14.000 --> 0:32:21.080 Gospel to the poor, healed the broken heart, Liberty to 0:32:21.120 --> 0:32:26.840 the captives. Where's that? He said? Tell John, I'm doing 0:32:26.880 --> 0:32:32.200 it all. Tell John that everything I said I would do, 0:32:32.760 --> 0:32:36.800 I'm doing it. But what I said I would do 0:32:37.520 --> 0:32:42.320 is not what he was expecting. And tell John that 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:46.600 I need his faith not to rest in his idea 0:32:46.800 --> 0:32:49.760 of who he thought I was. I'm gonna preach this 0:32:49.840 --> 0:32:53.720 home right now. I need his faith not to rest 0:32:54.000 --> 0:32:57.680 in whether or not I fulfill his agenda. Look, so 0:32:57.760 --> 0:32:59.840 many of the things that Jesus did in the scripture, 0:33:00.080 --> 0:33:02.800 it was a hidden agenda. In fact, he even spoke 0:33:02.840 --> 0:33:05.240 in parables, not so the people would get a cute 0:33:05.240 --> 0:33:07.160 little story about a father and a son and he 0:33:07.240 --> 0:33:08.560 ran away and he ate with the pigs, and the 0:33:08.560 --> 0:33:11.160 father welcomed him home. That isn't why he taught in parables. 0:33:11.320 --> 0:33:14.040 He taught in parables because he didn't want his wisdom 0:33:14.320 --> 0:33:17.719 to be ascertained with the human mind. He taught in 0:33:17.800 --> 0:33:21.560 parables so that the spirit of God could reveal to 0:33:21.680 --> 0:33:25.120 the unlearned not the wisdom of this world, but the 0:33:25.160 --> 0:33:28.440 things of God. So much of what he does is hidden, 0:33:28.760 --> 0:33:31.160 and yet we spend all of our time in our 0:33:31.240 --> 0:33:35.000 minds trying to figure out whether God is good, trying 0:33:35.000 --> 0:33:38.200 to figure out whether life makes sense. It's a prison. 0:33:38.560 --> 0:33:41.240 You'll never figure it out that way. You can't get 0:33:41.280 --> 0:33:44.440 out that way, you can't solve your problems on the 0:33:44.520 --> 0:33:47.840 level of self. It's gonna take a great, big God 0:33:48.320 --> 0:33:52.280 with an eternal plan. It's gonna take a really good God. 0:33:52.600 --> 0:33:59.520 It's going to take a majestic God. And I'm gonna 0:33:59.560 --> 0:34:04.720 have to just whether or not I'm going to interpret 0:34:04.880 --> 0:34:10.040 him through the lens of my expectations or set my 0:34:10.160 --> 0:34:14.280 expectations on the basis of who he is. Now, here's 0:34:14.320 --> 0:34:17.680 what I know. I am preaching to so many different 0:34:17.680 --> 0:34:20.520 types of people today. For some of you, you can 0:34:20.560 --> 0:34:24.960 hardly breathe right now because I'm speaking so specifically to you, 0:34:25.239 --> 0:34:27.640 because the Lord is trying to get this message to you. 0:34:28.120 --> 0:34:30.680 For others of you, you're in a much more dangerous place. 0:34:30.800 --> 0:34:39.840 You're not even listening. See, you know what God uses 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:45.160 to develop your faith, disappointment. You know what the devil 0:34:45.239 --> 0:34:51.759 uses to destroy your faith, disappointment. And I think it's 0:34:51.760 --> 0:34:56.759 what you do with it. Because's going to happen. It's 0:34:56.800 --> 0:35:01.080 going to happen in relationships, it's going to happen in careers, 0:35:01.320 --> 0:35:07.560 it's going to happen in churches to where what you 0:35:07.719 --> 0:35:10.839 thought it was gonna be and what it really is. 0:35:12.440 --> 0:35:14.480 You know, I don't even like the way this Bible 0:35:14.560 --> 0:35:17.719 story goes, because what I want to happen next in 0:35:17.760 --> 0:35:21.040 the story is that the Angel of the Lord comes 0:35:21.080 --> 0:35:24.320 breaks John out of prison, and John goes on to 0:35:24.360 --> 0:35:26.360 preach the gospel and he has more success and double 0:35:26.360 --> 0:35:28.319 for his trouble like job like never before. In the 0:35:28.320 --> 0:35:30.680 Lord restores the years the kanker worm is wasting. We 0:35:30.680 --> 0:35:33.000 can have good church and all get a serotonin hit, 0:35:33.080 --> 0:35:38.680 go home, be happy, and watch a NASCAR race. But 0:35:38.800 --> 0:35:41.600 what I'm thinking is I need to tell you that 0:35:41.800 --> 0:35:44.040 the way you expect this story to end, since we're 0:35:44.040 --> 0:35:47.879 talking about expectations, is not necessarily the way that it does. 0:35:49.280 --> 0:35:54.880 Because John doesn't get out of prison in Matthew chapter eleven, 0:35:56.200 --> 0:35:59.520 in fact, in Matthew fourteen, his head is served up 0:35:59.520 --> 0:36:04.400 on a platter because the King decides to cut it 0:36:04.400 --> 0:36:10.440 off him. And yet there's something that's even more beautiful 0:36:10.480 --> 0:36:14.399 in the text than John getting what he wants. There's 0:36:14.400 --> 0:36:20.040 something much more profound then John gets what he wants, 0:36:21.200 --> 0:36:25.520 and what it is is in verse seven and following. Now, 0:36:26.960 --> 0:36:31.239 this transitional phrase is really important. By the way, who 0:36:31.239 --> 0:36:34.800 am I preaching to today? That there's been some things 0:36:35.520 --> 0:36:38.120 that weren't what you thought they were going to be, 0:36:38.920 --> 0:36:42.560 and it's affecting your faith now. And even in a sense, 0:36:42.960 --> 0:36:45.920 God is not who you thought he was going to be, 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:49.080 and you're experiencing him in a different way than you 0:36:49.120 --> 0:36:54.160 have a template for and it's challenging to you. So 0:36:54.200 --> 0:36:57.480 what happens next is the part of the message that 0:36:57.600 --> 0:37:00.399 I really want you to take to heart that says, 0:37:00.440 --> 0:37:05.600 as John's disciples were leaving, what does that mean? Whatever 0:37:05.719 --> 0:37:10.799 Jesus says next, John doesn't hear it. He turns to 0:37:10.960 --> 0:37:17.000 the crowd and begins to speak about John. This is 0:37:17.000 --> 0:37:21.160 significant because what he says next is what he wants 0:37:21.239 --> 0:37:25.120 the crowd to know about John. What he said before 0:37:25.440 --> 0:37:29.279 was what he wanted John to know about him. And 0:37:29.320 --> 0:37:33.320 it's a critical distinction because God never wants your faith 0:37:33.480 --> 0:37:38.440 to rest on you. He knows how fragile and fickle 0:37:38.480 --> 0:37:42.040 you are. He said, Go tell John that there is 0:37:42.080 --> 0:37:46.200 a purpose that is greater. There is a plan that 0:37:46.360 --> 0:37:50.120 is bigger. Say that there is a purpose that is greater. 0:37:50.760 --> 0:37:54.080 There is a plan that is bigger. I'm looking for 0:37:54.080 --> 0:37:56.640 one hundred percent participation on every location. There is a 0:37:56.640 --> 0:38:01.400 purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. 0:38:02.040 --> 0:38:03.480 Look at the person next you say there is a 0:38:03.520 --> 0:38:08.560 purpose that is greater. There is a plan that is bigger. 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:12.680 Other neighbor, there is a purpose that is greater. There 0:38:12.760 --> 0:38:16.359 is a plan that is bigger. Tell him zoom out, 0:38:16.440 --> 0:38:18.839 zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, zoom out, 0:38:18.920 --> 0:38:21.080 zoom out. Because you've been seeing this one little thing, 0:38:21.239 --> 0:38:22.759 and when you're in the prison of your mind is 0:38:22.800 --> 0:38:24.920 an awfully small place sitting it. It's really hard to 0:38:24.960 --> 0:38:27.439 see the light of day in solitary confinement. But go 0:38:27.560 --> 0:38:31.520 tell John. We're right on schedule. Go tell John, I'm 0:38:31.680 --> 0:38:35.640 using his preparation. Go tell John. It wasn't in vain. 0:38:35.880 --> 0:38:39.040 I heard the Lord say, Ferdick. Go tell John, Go 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:42.440 tell the people. Go tell the discourage, Go tell the beaten, 0:38:42.719 --> 0:38:45.680 Go tell the broken, Go tell the debreast, Go tell 0:38:45.719 --> 0:38:48.520 the sick, Go tell the broke, Go tell the herding, 0:38:48.760 --> 0:38:51.600 Go tell the young, Go tell the old. Go tell 0:38:51.640 --> 0:38:54.799 him this working, Go tell him. I'm doing it, just 0:38:54.960 --> 0:39:01.520 not like you wanted me to, but I'm doing it. 0:39:04.880 --> 0:39:10.000 He turns around and says to the crowd, what did 0:39:10.080 --> 0:39:13.800 you go out into the wilderness to see a red 0:39:14.040 --> 0:39:18.440 swayed by the wind? No? John wasn't fickle. John wasn't fragile. 0:39:18.600 --> 0:39:21.640 When John made up his mind about something, that's just 0:39:21.719 --> 0:39:23.600 the way it was. And that's what's getting him in 0:39:23.600 --> 0:39:29.600 trouble because he made up his mind about what he 0:39:29.680 --> 0:39:33.560 thought God was gonna do, and when God did what 0:39:33.600 --> 0:39:41.640 God wanted to do? Is that you right now? Are 0:39:41.640 --> 0:39:44.319 you in an invisible prison? I know here. It isn't 0:39:44.320 --> 0:39:47.319 gonna cut your head off. It's not that dramatic, right, 0:39:48.640 --> 0:39:52.640 But you can't enjoy people, can you? Is that you 0:39:52.719 --> 0:39:55.319 right now? You can't create? Is that you right now? 0:39:55.560 --> 0:39:57.920 Is that me who am I preaching to? Maybe I'm 0:39:57.920 --> 0:40:01.920 preaching to me? Is not that God didn't do anything 0:40:01.960 --> 0:40:06.839 for me? It's not that God didn't bless me. It's 0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:12.759 just different than what I thought. And as long as 0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:16.440 I'm in the prison of what I thought, I can't 0:40:16.440 --> 0:40:23.600 be a part of what God is doing. So be 0:40:23.760 --> 0:40:29.759 set free today. Be set free by the fact that 0:40:30.440 --> 0:40:34.600 God may not be conforming to your agenda or keeping 0:40:34.680 --> 0:40:39.280 all of your appointments. God might not be organizing everything 0:40:39.320 --> 0:40:43.520 to match your exact preference. But there is a greater purpose, 0:40:44.120 --> 0:40:47.200 and there is a bigger picture. And just like John 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:51.120 was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, some of you. God 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:55.200 is using you to fight battles for your children and 0:40:55.320 --> 0:41:00.560 your children's children, and your children's children's children will be 0:41:00.640 --> 0:41:05.280 blessed if you don't fall away. If you don't fall away, 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:11.239 if you will resist the urge to control God, you 0:41:11.280 --> 0:41:14.680 can serve Him and worship Him and it'll be all right. 0:41:15.040 --> 0:41:19.640 Because my faith is not the expectation that circumstances will 0:41:19.680 --> 0:41:23.920 be blessing. My faith is the expectation that the voice 0:41:23.920 --> 0:41:35.480 of the Lord is upon the waters. Go tell John, 0:41:37.040 --> 0:41:42.359 blessed is he who does not trip over the way 0:41:42.400 --> 0:41:45.480 he thought it was going to be? Blessed is he 0:41:46.040 --> 0:41:53.520 who accepts what I'm doing in his or her life. 0:41:54.120 --> 0:41:58.239 And the Lord wants to set you free today from 0:41:58.280 --> 0:42:02.960 the way you thought it was gonna be. And that's it, 0:42:04.680 --> 0:42:11.440 and that's it because you know what's gonna happen. Once 0:42:11.480 --> 0:42:12.960 you get set free from the way you thought it 0:42:13.000 --> 0:42:15.640 was going to be, you can embrace what it is. 0:42:18.280 --> 0:42:21.000 And you know what God's gonna do more than what 0:42:21.080 --> 0:42:24.920 you thought he was gonna do. The blind see the 0:42:25.040 --> 0:42:29.960 lame walk. God's got something better than a fork. God's 0:42:29.960 --> 0:42:33.400 got something better than a fire. The first place of 0:42:33.440 --> 0:42:38.640 deliverance is in the area of your expectation. Holy Spirit. 0:42:38.680 --> 0:42:40.600 I thank you for this moment, and I pray that 0:42:41.560 --> 0:42:46.360 this message would not fall on deaf ears, because truth 0:42:46.400 --> 0:42:51.719 be told, Lord, there is a prison that is not physical. 0:42:53.120 --> 0:42:58.360 There are captives in here today. Those chains are invisible. 0:43:00.120 --> 0:43:03.080 To pray for him right now, Lord, that you would 0:43:03.080 --> 0:43:04.839 look into the places of their life where they've been 0:43:04.840 --> 0:43:10.799 disappointed and where they've been bruised or even worse than that, 0:43:10.840 --> 0:43:14.399 where they got their hopes up so high and they 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:18.520 made a fool of themselves, and so now it's kind 0:43:18.560 --> 0:43:20.759 of hard for them to really have an expectation of 0:43:20.800 --> 0:43:28.800 your goodness. They're in an invisible prison of disappointment, resentment, bitterness. 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:36.319 But you said you came to set us free, So 0:43:36.360 --> 0:43:40.440 you didn't do it physically for John, But would you 0:43:40.480 --> 0:43:45.160 set us free, set us free from ourselves, set us 0:43:45.160 --> 0:43:49.680 free from our regrets, set us free from our sin. 0:43:52.520 --> 0:43:56.960 With everyone's thending, where the spirit of the Lord is, 0:43:57.000 --> 0:44:03.040 there's freedom. And the kind of freedom that I mean 0:44:04.840 --> 0:44:09.880 is the freedom from the need to control your life, 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:13.600 the freedom from the need to call the shocks and 0:44:13.640 --> 0:44:17.840 to always know the plan. John said, are you the 0:44:17.880 --> 0:44:24.279 one I just need to know? And I hear the 0:44:24.320 --> 0:44:30.560 Lord saying today, Yeah, it's me. It's me. It's me 0:44:30.600 --> 0:44:34.600 getting you through this season. It's me that allowed some 0:44:34.680 --> 0:44:36.200 of the things in your life that you don't like. 0:44:36.239 --> 0:44:38.719 I didn't cause all of them, but I'm using all 0:44:38.719 --> 0:44:42.719 of them. It's me. Go tell John, it's me. It's me. 0:44:44.239 --> 0:44:49.240 It's me. That thing that won't let you go, that's grace. 0:44:49.880 --> 0:44:54.160 God said, that's me. I think that keeps pumping in 0:44:54.200 --> 0:44:57.440 your heart getting you back up. You fall down, seven, 0:44:57.480 --> 0:45:01.319 you get up eight. God said, that's me. That thing 0:45:01.360 --> 0:45:04.960 in you that it can't always make sense. You know 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:07.239 you should read the Bible, sometimes you don't. God said, 0:45:07.239 --> 0:45:09.279 that's me. I want you to wrestle with it. That's me. 0:45:09.480 --> 0:45:11.040 I don't want you to put me in a formula. 0:45:11.080 --> 0:45:12.600 That's me. I don't want you to have me in 0:45:12.640 --> 0:45:14.000 a box. I don't want you to be in this 0:45:14.080 --> 0:45:20.919 prison of your small view of me. That's me. Oh God, 0:45:20.920 --> 0:45:24.879 of every moment that come before you now, in need 0:45:24.920 --> 0:45:31.359 of your mercy, in need of your grace, we need 0:45:31.400 --> 0:45:34.840 to know that you are our shepherd, even if we 0:45:34.920 --> 0:45:39.239 go through a valley of the shadow of death. Now 0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:42.000 thank you now, Lord, that as this word has gone 0:45:42.000 --> 0:45:47.600 forth today across multiple campuses, across multiple continents, that you 0:45:47.640 --> 0:45:52.440 are confirming your presence to your people right now. If 0:45:52.480 --> 0:45:57.440 you would just lift your hands, God said, it's me. 0:45:58.920 --> 0:46:01.120 It's me that you need to make sense of your life. 0:46:01.120 --> 0:46:05.279 It's me. Lord. I thank you that there is a 0:46:05.280 --> 0:46:09.919 bigger picture. We do not see in full. We see 0:46:09.920 --> 0:46:12.239 in part, we prophesy in part, we speak in part. 0:46:12.680 --> 0:46:15.000 But when that which is perfect has come, that which 0:46:15.040 --> 0:46:18.000 is incomplete will be taken away. Until that time, Lord, 0:46:18.600 --> 0:46:21.919 we trust in your presence, We trust in who you are. 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:25.160 You're still the lamb of God that takes away the 0:46:25.160 --> 0:46:28.200 sin of the world. You're still the king of our life. 0:46:28.239 --> 0:46:30.359 You're still the hope and foundation that our lives are 0:46:30.360 --> 0:46:33.239 built on. You're still the solid rock on which we 0:46:33.360 --> 0:46:36.480 stand all of the ground of sinking sand. It's you, God. 0:46:37.280 --> 0:46:39.720 It's you that we worship, and it's you that we trust. 0:46:40.400 --> 0:46:44.480 It's not ourselves, it's not our circumstances. It's you. Somebody say, 0:46:44.520 --> 0:46:47.360 it's you. It's you that I need. Lord. It's you 0:46:47.440 --> 0:46:50.440 that fulfills me. It's you that completes me. It's you 0:46:50.520 --> 0:46:53.520 that makes ways. It's you that opens doors. It's you 0:46:53.640 --> 0:46:56.920 that sets the prisoners free. It's you that broke the chains. 0:46:57.080 --> 0:46:59.920 It's you that I'm looking to. Promotion doesn't come from 0:47:00.120 --> 0:47:03.080 the East or the west. Promotion comes from you. It's 0:47:03.200 --> 0:47:06.399 you I'm counting on. It's you I'm looking to. It's 0:47:06.440 --> 0:47:10.160 you I'm leaning on. It's your everlasting arms. It's your 0:47:10.280 --> 0:47:14.319 mighty hand, it's your outstretch power. It's your grace that 0:47:14.400 --> 0:47:18.279 we need. It's you, Lord, It's nobody else. It's you. 0:47:18.840 --> 0:47:21.799 Our health comes from you. Our strength is in you, 0:47:22.120 --> 0:47:25.399 our trust is in your name, and we worship you now. 0:47:28.520 --> 0:47:31.080 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 0:47:31.120 --> 0:47:34.120 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:47:34.160 --> 0:47:37.080 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:47:37.120 --> 0:47:40.360 link in the description to give now or visit Elevation 0:47:40.560 --> 0:47:44.160 Church dot org slash podcast for more information and if 0:47:44.200 --> 0:47:47.480 you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share 0:47:47.480 --> 0:47:49.720 it with your friends. You can click the share button, 0:47:49.760 --> 0:47:52.200 take a screenshot and share it on your social stories 0:47:52.200 --> 0:47:54.960 and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. 0:47:55.000 --> 0:48:00.080 God bless you this