It Is What It Is But It's Not What It Seems

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 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 --> 0:00:08.280 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.680 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:12.840 Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.560 in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.759 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.279 Well, I'm very respectful of the presence of God, so 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:22.400 I want to transition right into the Word because I 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.520 believe that He desires to speak to you in a 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:27.600 profound way, and I want to move into Romans chapter 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.479 four and speak a message of faith and inspiration over 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.920 your life. Today we're continuing a teaching on functional faith. 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:37.599 And what I. 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.400 Really pray that these messages are doing is that they 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:47.360 are showing up after you hear them in another form, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.239 that as opportunities present themselves to you for you to 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.960 be full of doubt that something that you've heard, You know, 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.960 the Word of God is seed, and so I'm praying 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.440 that it's breaking through the surface and helping you to 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.600 experience God's presence in a new way. Would you just 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.280 tell about five people around you that the presence of 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.440 the Lord is here. Just make sure that they know 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:11.120 if they didn't get the memo. 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:12.400 The presence of the Lord is here. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.640 And what I want to do now, I want to 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.080 plant the seed of the Word in the soil of 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.600 your heart. I believe God has given me good seed 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.720 to sew into you today, but. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:35.600 I can't make you good soil. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:44.000 And if you sit there distracted or or discouraged, or 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.240 you know, kind of in your own little world or 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:54.840 kind of like just get it over with, that seed 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.240 is gonna it's gonna fall, it's not gonna take root. 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.600 So why don't you just open your heart now? 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.000 Let me read this scripture to you from Romans chapter four, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.920 verse eighteen. It's interesting because I have noted in my 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.040 Bible I do something with my Bible. 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:11.799 I don't. 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.079 I just thought that would be cool to give each 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.560 of my kids a Bible that I had preached through, 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.519 so doing it on like seven year cycles. And I 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.400 gave Elijah after seven years of preaching in this church 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.919 the Bible that I preach from for those seven years, 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.200 and highlight all the passages that I preach. 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.240 From, and then note what the sermon was. 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.400 Just a little something that I can give them, and hopefully, 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.079 you know, an investment I can make in them. 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:40.200 So this is Graham's. I'm on the second seven years 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:41.360 right now, and this is. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.120 Going to be his, and we're like about halfway through 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.520 the second seven years of ministry at the church. 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:51.799 I think, did I calculate that right? Yeah? Yeah? Year two. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.640 So I was looking at my notes and I was 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.240 in this passage about the same time of. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:02:59.200 The year two years ago. 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:02.560 So there must be something about spring that makes me 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.880 want to preach about faith and hope and life. It 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.760 must be something about the greenery on my trees and 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:17.280 the pollen in my that just gets me thinking that 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.400 maybe it's time for some things to bud forth and 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.560 spring forth in your life. And so I want to 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.640 I want to spend some time in this passage today. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.200 Romans, chapter four, verse. 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.519 Eighteen, Apostle Paul says, against all hope, Abraham in hope 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:40.240 believed and so became. Do you know that that's always true, 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:44.240 that you always become what you believe. 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:48.360 If you see. 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.760 Yourself as a grasshopper in the land God has promised you, 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.720 you won't take possession of it, not because it wasn't yours, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.200 but because you didn't see yourself as the rightful owner. 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:01.040 So what you. 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.840 Believe eventually is reflected. 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.480 In what you become. Just pointing that out. Okay, that's 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:08.160 not my sermon. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.720 That's the chips and the salsa before the enchilada. 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:15.440 Now look at this. 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.520 It says he believed and so became the father of 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.000 many nations, just as it had been said to him, 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:28.400 So shall your offspring or your seed be without weakening 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:33.120 in his faith. He faced the fact that his body 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.000 was as good as dead since he was about one 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.400 hundred years old. 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.400 Well, that's definitely not an overstatement. 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:47.160 Your reproductive days are certainly coming to a close around 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.440 age one hundred, especially if you live in a time 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.040 where there are no little pills. I'm sorry, y'all, let 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:59.279 me get back on this. And that Sarah's womb was 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.360 also dead. So this is an impossible situation from every angle. 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:09.880 And yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:14.080 promise of God, but was strengthened. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:15.120 In his faith. 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.800 Come on, you came to the gym today to get 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.000 strengthened in your faith. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:22.480 This is the original CrossFit. 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.040 All right, We're going to be strengthened in our faith, 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.600 and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:35.560 had power to do what he had promised. 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:36.880 Shout over the scripture. 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:41.360 Now, so here's my declaration, my title. 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.400 I want you to give your neighbor my title. 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.520 Look them right in the eye and say, neighbor, it 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.839 is what it is, but it's not what it seems. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.800 My God, I feel fire on that. It's a declaration 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.200 of faith. You understand it. To look at your other neighbor. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.039 Tell them it is what it is, but it's not. 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.039 Come on, you gotta get into this. Tell them it 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.000 is not. You gotta do your finger like that, but 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:15.240 it's not what it seems. Come on high, five to 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:19.120 seven people on your way down, TC, let's get to work. 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:29.960 Tecond not what it seems. It's not what it seems, 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.120 but it is what it is. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.760 Essentially, we're walking into the middle of an argument. In 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:44.640 Romans chapter four, the Paul is presenting against the Judaizers 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.240 who would have the gentile converts to the faith be 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:50.880 circumcised as an outward expression. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:52.919 Of their new commitment to the community of faith. 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.400 Paul sees this is a grave mistake, for understands that 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:00.799 it is not the circumcision with human hands that makes 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.240 you a believer. It's the circumcision of your heart. It's 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:07.799 not something that's cut away from your skin. Is something 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:11.440 that has to be removed from your heart that enables 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.840 you to connect with God in this relationship, and in 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:21.960 presenting one of the most important doctrinal beliefs that you'll 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:26.320 find anywhere in the cannon, Paul is elaborating on this 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.200 concept of justification by faith. It's never been presented exactly 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.880 this way until Paul puts pen to paper and God 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:39.440 uses him to expound upon the fact that you got 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:44.280 to come in on your knees. Relationship with God cannot 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:47.520 be the product of works, although works are a byproduct 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:54.760 of that relationship. And in the middle of this argument 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:59.120 about what it means to have real faith, what it 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.560 really takes to have faith, what faith really looks like, 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.920 and in this contrast between the scene and the unseen 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:11.760 elements of faith, Paul is using Abraham as an example 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:17.840 because he is the father of faith. Abraham Isaac Jacob. 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:22.200 Jacob's name was changed to Israel. The nation came from Jacob, 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.280 but Jacob came from Isaac, and Isaac came from Abraham. 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.280 So sometimes your life is a part of. 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.400 A bigger picture that you might not even be the 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:33.480 one to see certain things come to pass, but you 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.520 might be the one that God uses in the life 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.960 of the one. And that takes faith to have that 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:40.640 kind of perspective. 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:41.040 On your life. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.080 I texted Pastor Mickey this morning and I didn't tell you, 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.000 but we were talking about him, and I just said, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.640 God used you in my life so much. I was 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.600 just thinking about you this morning, and we pray for 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:54.760 me because he believed in me at a stage in 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.480 my life where my potential was hidden. Now, anybody can 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.400 believe in you once your success is evident, but if 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:05.440 you got somebody who believes in you while your potential 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.920 is still in seed form, never forget that person. So 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:10.480 that's why I was reaching out to him, just to 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:12.720 tell him, thank you. I'm preaching today, pray for me. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.480 Just had you on my mind. And he doesn't preach 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:17.199 in a big church, but he does preach in a 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:24.120 big church because his faith lives on through me. So 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.640 this is the kind of framework. And last week we 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.360 talked on frame game. Have you been working on your 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.960 frame game this week? Would you do me a favor? 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:36.760 Would you just frame up your neighbor real quick? At 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.120 all of our locations and tell him you look better 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:44.439 than you did last week. I see signs of improvement. 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:53.120 Frame game, and now Abraham enters the frame of the 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.480 discussion about faith, and Paul has given us a synopsis 0:09:58.040 --> 0:09:58.720 of the story. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.840 Now this is different than a story. 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:07.280 A synopsis requires some essence of prioritization to try to 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.080 figure out what to put out and what to leave in, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.600 you know, and this is something that women would do 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.720 well to learn when you're trying to communicate with men. 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.040 It's that we typically do better with a synopsis than 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.200 the full story. All of the men are leaving me 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.240 up here by myself. But you know, you did not 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:26.520 need to know all of that to find out what's 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.320 for dinner. And sometimes you just want to press the 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.840 button to skip to this synopsis. Can I get a 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.720 cliff note? And sometimes you think that in marriage, something 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:36.319 you do you do. I don't think that my wife 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:43.200 is captivating now, speaking of Holly, she's on this kick. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:47.880 Lately of audible dot com. 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.800 Audible dot com audio that speaks to you wherever you are. 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.960 How do I know that because my wife, my wife 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.160 folks are up in the house she's listened to. I 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.040 don't know over the last year, ten or twelve books 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.760 on audible dot com audio. 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.640 That speaks to you wherever you are, and she says 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:08.400 she read them. 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.440 But we kind of have a debate about that because 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.200 I always thought reading meant your eyes were involved. 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:19.040 So she'll say I read a book, and I'll say, 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:25.440 listen to one under my breath, in my head. And 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:27.280 one book that she. 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.679 Was looking at, she said she was looking at it, 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.000 and she I don't know if she downloaded it or not, 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.200 but she said that she wasn't going to listen to 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.439 that one because she said that it was narrated by 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.880 a child, not that the child read it on audible 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.960 dot com, not actually that a child did the voice work, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.080 but that the point of view of the book was 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:50.360 a child telling the story. 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:51.480 And she said, I just don't think. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.880 I would enjoy a whole book written from a child's 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:55.560 point of view. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:56.840 I think that would get old. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.439 And that was interesting to me because when you think 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.880 of elements of a story, you think about the characters, 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.560 and you think about the plot, and you think about 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:08.960 the setting, and it always blows my mind. I don't 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.920 know if any of you are fiction readers, but any 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.720 fiction readers, if you have any good books that I 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.120 should take to the beach this summer, feel free to 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.679 send them my way. I should totally read more fiction. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.560 It's a good escape, but I don't read enough. But 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.719 I can't figure out how somebody can have enough imagination 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.720 to make up a whole world in a fiction book. 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:34.199 I've written books before, but I mean, it's it's real stuff, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.840 and I just don't imagine that I would ever have 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.160 the imagination to make up a whole world. You know, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.720 names and where people went to school in cities that 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:47.320 don't really exist, and aliens and zombies and walkers, and 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.679 you know, I just can't imagine that I would have 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:50.800 that kind of imagination. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.000 But some people do yet. Yet. 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.839 The plot and the characters and the setting when you're 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:01.240 reading a book are all experienced through the medium of 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:05.960 whoever the author chooses to use to tell the story. 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.520 You'll know where I'm going with this. You guys are 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:10.199 quick on the draw, because. 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:15.239 I found out that in life, you have to select 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:16.120 a narrator. 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:17.760 Stay with me on this. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.200 You have to select a narrator because the narrator you 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.640 choose will determine the way you. 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.160 Experience the events. 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:32.720 Everybody in here has an internal narrator, somebody who in 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.040 every situation is trying to tell you how to think 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:40.960 about that situation, how to interpret the motives of people 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.120 in certain situations, how to look at an opportunity and 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:45.520 to size it up. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:47.680 And the Lord told me to come out here and 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.679 tell you today that some of you need a new narrator. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:56.079 I'm gonna say it again. 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.520 Maybe it'll hit the back, maybe it'll hit Providence, maybe 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:05.560 it'll hit Gaston. Some of you have a really annoying, whiny, complaining, suspicious, 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:10.440 negative narrator, and see it swearing you out because you 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:14.840 keep going into situations and your narrator keeps on telling 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:16.800 you what to think about this and what to think 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:17.320 about that. 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:19.280 But I got good news for you. 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:23.160 Anytime you get ready, you could get a new storyteller. 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.920 I'm trying to say, you can have a life narrated 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:31.400 not by feelings, but by faith. I gotta ask a question, 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:37.640 is your life narrated by your feelings or your faith? 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:42.560 And I think that's the plot line that we're plucked 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:47.640 into with Abraham, who has a decision to make. In 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.480 Romans chapter four, Paul has given us some of the story, 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.160 not all of the story. If you read all of 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.480 the story, you're gonna read about how Abraham, while he 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.000 was waiting on God to give him a son, slept 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.680 with his wife's assistance to try to produce something that 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.880 he couldn't be patient and wait for. That happened, and 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.600 in Genesis we hear about it, but it didn't make 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:12.640 the trip across the centuries to Romans chapter four. That 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.240 interesting that in the story selection process, in the synopsis, 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.680 it didn't even make the story. It didn't even make 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.200 the story. That Abraham got in trouble one time, and 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:25.400 he was scared because his wife was beautiful, and he 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.200 thought that if the king knew that it was his wife, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.120 he'd be in danger. So he told his wife survived 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:32.200 to pretend like she was. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.680 His sister, and then the king almost slept. 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:37.480 With his wife because he thought that it was Abram's sister. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.680 And then God started messing with the king because God 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.760 didn't like it very much that the king was about 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.320 to take Abraham's wife, And so the king figured it 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.040 out real quick and said, why did you lie to me? 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:50.560 Yet I can't find that in Romans chapter four. And 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:52.920 it's not as if it didn't happen. It's just that 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:59.040 when you narrate your life by grace, When you narrate 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.280 your life by grace, this is the context of faith. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.520 And so some of the failures that are most prominent 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.440 in your mind didn't even make the cut of the 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.600 story in the mind of God, because he sees you 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.160 from a different perspective and sees. 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:15.920 You in a different dimension. I feel the. 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.320 Spirit of God on me today. I'm just gonna preach 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.240 this like I feel it in my heart. Touch somebody say, 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.880 it's not even a part of my story. It's not 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.680 even a part of my story. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.840 But it is. But it is, But it is in 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:36.840 your story. See, there's a kind of faith that is 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.160 very dangerous. And I'll show you two extremes here, and 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:43.720 both are warned against in Romans chapter four. Sometimes there is. 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:49.800 A version of faith that really looks more like denial, 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:58.920 and then there is the absence of faith, which creates despair. 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:03.160 And what I see in Romans chapter four Front and 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.679 Sinner from the Father of Faith, is that he was 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:13.280 able to avoid both extremes, it says in verse nineteen, 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.120 without weakening in his faith. 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:18.359 He faced the fact. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.719 Now that one phrase helps me understand what faith is 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.239 and what faith Isn't that the kind of faith that 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.720 I am to emulate from my father Abraham, who seed 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:38.840 I am, is not a sort of denial. And I'm 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:44.439 putting that before you because when we teach about being positive, 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.680 it doesn't mean that everything in your life is positive. 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:53.920 And I want you to know that because here's the thing. 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:59.920 Some people don't exercise faith because they live in deny it, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.920 and they actually begin to use their faith as a 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:13.520 cop out and don't confront things for what they are. Somebody, 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:15.200 look at the person next to you and tell them 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:16.320 it is what it is. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.480 Come on, some of you aren't participating and that makes me. 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.000 Really, really, really angry and insecure. 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:25.560 Look at your neighbor, tell them it is what it is. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:26.960 Yeah. 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.240 Abraham faced the fact he was old. 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.880 He faced the fact his stuff stopped working a long 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:40.440 time ago. He faced the fact. He looked at himself 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.760 and he said, it is what it is. And he 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.639 looked at his wife and said it was what it was, 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.280 but hey, what it was now, it is what it is. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.119 We're old now. We could have done this thirty forty 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:52.680 years ago. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.200 Maybe we could have done it fifty sixty years ago. 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.439 But now it is what it is. I didn't go 0:18:58.520 --> 0:18:59.120 to college. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:00.320 It is what it is. It is. 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:02.640 I didn't go to high school. It is what it is. 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.960 I went through my first marriage. I was too stupid to. 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:06.520 Make it work. 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.440 You know what, You can't get over what you do 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:20.480 not own, So face it, face it. Faith doesn't mean 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.160 living in denial. Faith doesn't mean that. 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:24.960 It's all cold. 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:27.919 I've got women in my church that were sexually abused. 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.480 It's not all good. I got people in my. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:33.960 Church who can't get the job because they have a 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:34.920 criminal record. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:36.320 It's not all good. 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.480 I got people in my church under the sound of 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.120 my voice right now who didn't grow up with the dad. 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.560 It's not all good. And you know what faith can handle. 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:50.760 That faith can handle that. 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:59.600 Starting place of authentic faith is honesty. 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:00.800 It is what it is. 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:08.760 Lord, I'm disappointed right now. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:13.080 You know you can tell God that and he won't 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:13.840 hold it against you. 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.399 When God spoke to Abraham and said, I'm going to 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.600 give you a seed that's going to be your son, 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.280 and out of your seed is going to come a 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.560 nation as numerous as the stars, Abraham laughed in God's face, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.320 didn't bother God because. 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.360 Faith is not a feeling. Faith is a decision. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:36.200 I'm gonna say it again to counteract all the wrong 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:38.359 thinking that you've ever had in your life about faith. 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:40.760 Faith is not a feeling. 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.280 You know, you can be a pessimistic person but still 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:45.320 have great faith. 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.760 Even great faith has weak moments. 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:52.679 So the call to faith is first a call to 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.960 come out of denial. Otherwise you'll be waiting on God 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:59.399 to deliver you from a situation that is going to 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:00.679 require discipline. 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.320 I'm gonna say it again this message and sinking in 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:06.359 Joel nine thirty was on fire. 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.119 I don't know what happened in the lobby before the 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:08.880 people got here. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:10.640 Maybe it's better at the other campus. 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.000 But when you live in denial, you'll be waiting for 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.320 deliverance in a situation that requires discipline. Are you waiting 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.800 for deliverance in a situation that is going to require discipline? 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.760 In other words, are you waiting on God to cancel 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:25.480 your debts or are you're making a plan to pay 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:30.440 them off? 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.000 Faith doesn't wait on a check. Faith gets up and goes. 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.520 To work, or at least looking for work. Faith they'll 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.160 do it, but you got to face it. You got 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:42.719 to face it or you live in denial, and you'll say, well, 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:44.879 I guess the reason that nobody wants to be my 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.399 friend is because God has just got me in a 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:50.080 lonely season right now. No, God doesn't have you in 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:54.440 a lonely season. Your bad attitude and poor relational habits 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.639 of not treating people correctly have got you in a 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.080 lonely season. And until you face it it, faith can't 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.640 fix it. Until you face it, faith can't fix it. 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:13.080 Faith can't fix what you won't face. So he faced 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:17.760 the fact, but he kept his faith, and you can 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.119 do both. Stay with me camera. He faced the fact. 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.679 I'm not living in denial, but he kept his faith. 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.880 I'm not living in despair. Faith is standing in the 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:34.720 middle and making a decision that it is what it is. 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.880 But watch this, it's not what it seems. I got 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:43.720 that beneath the surface faith. I got that Saturday faith 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:46.560 waiting on something to come up out of a tomb 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:51.200 and resurrect for the healing and salvation of the world. 0:22:54.440 --> 0:23:03.800 So so he narrated his situation with his faith, and 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:06.600 so he became the father of many nations, and we 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:07.320 are his seed. 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:08.880 How cool is. 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:19.879 That that we are the seed of Abraham. See that 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.040 made me think about something. Will you think with me 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:29.879 today that when Jesus was trying to explain to the 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:37.240 people what the Kingdom of God was like, he said 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:44.000 in Mark four, verse thirty one, the Kingdom of Heaven 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:55.320 is like a skyscraper, big and bold, big and massive, 0:23:55.480 --> 0:24:02.120 towering structure. No I wish he said that. I wish 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:05.960 my faith was as big as a skyscraper. I wish 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:11.479 I walked around never doubting. You know, I wish all 0:24:11.520 --> 0:24:14.760 my stuff worked. That's what I'm trying to say. In fact, 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:17.560 I wish that this stuff that I preach was as 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:20.720 easy to live as it is to preach. Sometimes talk 0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:23.439 back to me, talk back to me, talk back to me. 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:24.600 Don't you wish it. 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:26.280 Was as easy to live as it is to write 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:40.679 down in your notebook? Cam with Heaven is like a 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:50.120 mustard seed shown the mustard seed shum show. I'm the scene. 0:24:56.080 --> 0:25:01.639 Huh what come on? Talk to me. 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:04.760 It's all right, you can talk in her No it's not. 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:12.520 I mean, that's what it seems to be now that 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:16.480 it's been through the process that it went through. 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:25.720 And guess what I have in my pocket. No, not 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:34.160 mustard seeds. I got trees in my pocket. I came 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:35.359 to preach to somebody. 0:25:35.760 --> 0:25:39.720 You got trees in your pocket, You got potential in 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:44.440 your life. You got trees in your pocket. You've got 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:47.080 healing in your mouth. You can tell your neighbor you 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:52.440 got trees in your pocket. That's what God was telling Abraham. 0:25:52.880 --> 0:25:55.720 I put a seed in you, I put a promise 0:25:55.800 --> 0:25:57.960 in you, I put a purpose in you. 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:00.000 I put potential in you. 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.320 And don't judge the tree by the size of the seed, 0:26:03.560 --> 0:26:07.520 because when it's grown, it's gonna look like something you can't. 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:10.200 Even right right now. 0:26:13.040 --> 0:26:19.800 So so he says, can you see the tree in 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:20.280 the sea? 0:26:20.600 --> 0:26:22.320 And this is the question of faith. 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:26.480 Can you see the hope of the world in a 0:26:26.520 --> 0:26:35.040 barren womb? Can you see a leadership potential in your 0:26:35.080 --> 0:26:35.879 rebellious child? 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:38.600 Wow? 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:41.480 Good? 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:45.280 Can you see how it might have been a blessing 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:52.080 that one person walked out of your life? Can you 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:56.560 see They say that we missed the forest for the trees, 0:26:56.600 --> 0:26:58.920 But sometimes I think we missed the trees for the seeds. 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:05.680 So Elijah sends his servant up. He's like, hey, check 0:27:05.720 --> 0:27:08.720 it out. Causes about the rain, and the servant comes 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:11.760 back down and says, there is nothing there, And he said, 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:14.120 go and look again. Now, iija's doing something kind of weird. 0:27:14.119 --> 0:27:15.879 While he's sending the servant back and forth, because he 0:27:15.920 --> 0:27:17.879 sends him six times, Bible says that I'm not going 0:27:17.880 --> 0:27:20.720 to attempt to demonstrate this because my flexibility is limited. 0:27:23.280 --> 0:27:29.520 But he put his head between his knees, and I 0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:34.960 think it's because if he looked at the sky. 0:27:34.560 --> 0:27:38.560 If he looked at the situation, if he went by sight. 0:27:38.600 --> 0:27:41.040 You know, the Bible says that we walked by faith 0:27:41.560 --> 0:27:43.680 and not by sight. 0:27:43.760 --> 0:27:46.600 So he had to close his eyes to what was 0:27:46.640 --> 0:27:55.160 there in order to see what would be. And finally, 0:27:55.880 --> 0:28:00.439 after six times, on the seventh time, the little servant 0:28:00.440 --> 0:28:03.879 came back and said, well, it's a cloud up there, 0:28:04.840 --> 0:28:07.600 but it's only about the size of a man's hand. 0:28:09.359 --> 0:28:13.160 To what shall I compare the Kingdom of Heaven. It's like. 0:28:14.760 --> 0:28:19.360 A seed, a cloud the size of a man's hand. 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:24.040 It's like a mustard seed. That's the smallest seed they 0:28:24.119 --> 0:28:33.040 knew of at the time. Yet when planted, it grows. 0:28:34.440 --> 0:28:37.680 I love that phrase. I feel the oil of God 0:28:37.720 --> 0:28:41.320 and the electric power of the Holy Ghost on that phrase. 0:28:42.440 --> 0:28:49.040 Yet when planted it grows. That's your word for this 0:28:49.200 --> 0:28:55.840 season of your life, is that. Yes, it's small, yet 0:28:56.880 --> 0:29:01.720 when planted it grows. I'm gonna stay right on this 0:29:01.800 --> 0:29:04.480 because I know when God is speaking, and he's speaking 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:08.800 to somebody, it's a cloud the size of a man's hand. 0:29:09.320 --> 0:29:15.200 Yet when planted it grows, it's a little boy's lunch. 0:29:15.520 --> 0:29:20.120 It's only five loaves and two fish. Jesus said, put 0:29:20.160 --> 0:29:25.680 it in my hands, because yet when planted it grows. 0:29:26.400 --> 0:29:29.920 He's just a shepherd boy in a field. He looks 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:34.120 like a seed, yet he's a king. And when planted 0:29:34.400 --> 0:29:39.360 in the soil of adversity in Saul's court, David grew 0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:42.560 to become a king to what shall I compare the 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.160 Kingdom of God. It's like a seed. You can't see 0:29:46.200 --> 0:29:49.720 it at first. It doesn't even seem like something worth showing. 0:29:50.040 --> 0:29:52.920 It doesn't even seem big enough for the cameras. 0:29:52.440 --> 0:29:56.520 To pick up. Yet when planted it grows. 0:29:57.000 --> 0:30:00.680 God said his time for you to start planting seeds 0:30:00.720 --> 0:30:04.960 of purpose, even in the soil of doubt. If you planted, 0:30:05.400 --> 0:30:09.640 it'll grow. If you planted, the cloud will burst. If 0:30:09.680 --> 0:30:12.960 you planted, the rain will fall. If you get your 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:17.520 hands dirty, and have faith and hope against hope. Yet 0:30:17.840 --> 0:30:22.200 when planted it grows. Touch seven people tell him it's 0:30:22.240 --> 0:30:25.720 gonna grow. It's gonna grow, It's gonna grow. I feel 0:30:25.720 --> 0:30:28.040 a sphere and of faith. I want to impart faith 0:30:28.120 --> 0:30:28.360 to you. 0:30:28.720 --> 0:30:31.280 I don't know if you believe in this kind of stuff. 0:30:31.120 --> 0:30:33.920 But I believe in a moment, in the presence of God, 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:37.160 he can plant the incorruptible seed of his word in 0:30:37.240 --> 0:30:38.960 the soul of an expected heart. 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:40.920 And are ripe, harvet. 0:30:50.480 --> 0:30:55.280 You better catch that. You better catch that tree. You 0:30:55.320 --> 0:30:59.000 better catch that tree. Come online, burgers. How many thinks 0:30:59.000 --> 0:30:59.680 I can get it all. 0:30:59.560 --> 0:30:59.880 The way to. 0:31:01.560 --> 0:31:05.200 Better catch that tree? You better cutch that tree. You 0:31:05.240 --> 0:31:07.840 better put that in your pocket. And this week, when 0:31:07.880 --> 0:31:10.680 you're up in a situation and it looks like a 0:31:10.720 --> 0:31:13.680 small little thing and it looks like it doesn't stand 0:31:13.720 --> 0:31:16.880 its heads, and it looks like a little virgin girl 0:31:16.920 --> 0:31:20.080 from Nasareth, and it looks like Joseph in a pit, 0:31:20.480 --> 0:31:22.960 you need to understand that the pit wasn't a pit. 0:31:23.360 --> 0:31:26.160 It was the soil he was planted in so he 0:31:26.240 --> 0:31:28.680 could come forth in each of them and bring the 0:31:28.800 --> 0:31:38.520 plant nice. Yet, tell somebody I'm growing I'm growing. 0:31:38.880 --> 0:31:43.720 I'm growing. I'm growing. I'm growing. I'm growing. I'm growing. 0:31:44.000 --> 0:31:47.320 I'm growing. My faith is growing, my heart is growing, 0:31:47.560 --> 0:31:50.240 my capacity to love is growing. But the thing about 0:31:50.280 --> 0:31:55.880 the growth of the seed is y'all hate when I 0:31:55.960 --> 0:31:59.840 holler like that. I know some of y'all wish I 0:31:59.880 --> 0:32:03.040 didn't do it. But I watched some basketball games, THEIRING 0:32:03.120 --> 0:32:05.640 Final Four and the NBA playoffs. 0:32:05.920 --> 0:32:08.280 I watch all kinds of fans get up with their 0:32:08.320 --> 0:32:11.480 shirts off and their chest painted, and they're jumping around 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:14.200 about some men in some shorts, running up and down 0:32:14.200 --> 0:32:16.800 a hardwood floor. I just think they're not faith. 0:32:16.800 --> 0:32:17.600 O gonna be enough. 0:32:17.800 --> 0:32:18.719 I'm going to get up. 0:32:23.840 --> 0:32:33.880 So it's growing, But the process stop. 0:32:34.720 --> 0:32:37.360 I want to teach. I want to teach. 0:32:45.160 --> 0:32:47.200 Jesus said, I gotta go to the Cross, I gotta 0:32:47.200 --> 0:32:50.960 be crucified, and they're gonna bury me in the ground. 0:32:52.600 --> 0:32:56.280 That's one narration of what happened when they put Jesus 0:32:56.560 --> 0:32:57.560 in a borrowed tomb. 0:32:57.800 --> 0:32:58.680 He was buried. 0:32:59.280 --> 0:33:01.840 But guess what Jesus said when they put me in 0:33:01.920 --> 0:33:08.680 the ground. I'm not being buried. I'm being planted to 0:33:08.840 --> 0:33:15.200 produce a harvest. Do somebody say I'm planted. I'm planted. 0:33:15.840 --> 0:33:21.920 I'm planted, and it does not appear yet what. 0:33:22.000 --> 0:33:25.080 I shall be. But when you see me, I'm gonna 0:33:25.080 --> 0:33:29.160 look more like him. I got news for you. It 0:33:29.200 --> 0:33:31.880 is what it is, but it's not what it. 0:33:32.080 --> 0:33:36.960 Was, and your eyes have not seen. 0:33:37.280 --> 0:33:38.320 What it's gonna be. 0:33:39.160 --> 0:33:40.520 Shouted humanly. 0:33:44.560 --> 0:33:46.880 Planting you. He's planting you. 0:33:47.240 --> 0:33:49.720 I want to talk to somebody at the rock Hill 0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:53.200 campus right now, because at the rock Hill campus I 0:33:53.280 --> 0:33:56.280 got somebody listening to this sermon who's in a state 0:33:56.320 --> 0:34:00.920 of despair. You figure that, well, if it hadn't happened 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:02.800 by now, it's not gonna happen. And you know what, 0:34:03.280 --> 0:34:05.680 it may not happen just the way that you wanted 0:34:05.680 --> 0:34:09.080 it to happen, because sometimes you have to put the 0:34:09.200 --> 0:34:13.240 seed of your dream in the soil of your faith 0:34:13.640 --> 0:34:17.040 so that God's dream for your life can but for. 0:34:18.360 --> 0:34:22.920 Yet, when planted, it grows. 0:34:24.360 --> 0:34:28.280 And I prayed for you, Peter, that after you failed, 0:34:28.280 --> 0:34:31.239 that your faith would not fail, and that after you 0:34:31.400 --> 0:34:35.960 had returned, you would strengthen your brethren. You're coming up 0:34:36.000 --> 0:34:39.040 out of the dirt. You're coming up out of this failure. 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:43.040 This is not your final resting place. Don't just stare 0:34:43.280 --> 0:34:46.680 and don't look at what you see, cause we don't. 0:34:46.480 --> 0:34:49.560 Fix our eyes on what is seen. What is seen 0:34:49.680 --> 0:34:53.320 is temporary. I'm only in this ground for a minute. 0:34:53.480 --> 0:34:57.239 But I'm coming up bigger than before. I'm coming up 0:34:57.600 --> 0:35:01.799 stronger than before. I'm coming up full of faith, full 0:35:01.840 --> 0:35:05.520 of wisdom, full of lessons, full of purpose, full of 0:35:05.600 --> 0:35:06.760 love our planet. 0:35:13.080 --> 0:35:17.400 Yet the only way for the seed to grow was 0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:22.319 for it to disappear into the soil. And the only 0:35:22.360 --> 0:35:27.160 way for Abraham's faith to be proven was for his 0:35:27.239 --> 0:35:32.840 hope to be blanted in the soil of disappointment. Yet 0:35:34.120 --> 0:35:38.120 he didn't waver in his faith. What do you mean, Paul, 0:35:39.200 --> 0:35:40.480 he slept. 0:35:40.960 --> 0:35:45.520 With his wife's assistant. Yeah, but. 0:35:47.719 --> 0:35:50.800 Faith isn't defined by what you do in your weak moments. 0:35:54.760 --> 0:36:04.279 That's not how the narrator the narrator. You know what 0:36:04.320 --> 0:36:08.320 you have in your life. You have a third person narrator. 0:36:10.640 --> 0:36:12.960 I'm gonna break it down even more for the English teachers, 0:36:13.800 --> 0:36:17.400 it's a third person omniscient narrator. 0:36:18.400 --> 0:36:21.200 Because you've got different kinds of narrators. It's the first person. 0:36:21.400 --> 0:36:23.600 And when you narrate your life in the first person, 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:26.040 you look at yourself and you say it is what 0:36:26.080 --> 0:36:29.400 it is. But what a narrator can do in telling 0:36:29.440 --> 0:36:31.120 the story, and this is what faith. 0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:32.640 Can do in your life. 0:36:32.960 --> 0:36:38.000 Faith can show you that although it is what it is, 0:36:40.040 --> 0:36:46.120 it's not what it seems. And in between denial and 0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:51.000 despair is destiny. 0:36:52.440 --> 0:36:53.200 To stand and know. 0:36:55.760 --> 0:37:02.840 That God has planted me and I will produce my purpose. 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:08.239 You got a disappointment in your life, It is what 0:37:08.320 --> 0:37:16.960 it is. No needn't deny it. You fell short. It 0:37:17.040 --> 0:37:21.640 is what it is. Boy, Even just that first half 0:37:21.640 --> 0:37:25.160 alone would be a good start, wouldn't it, just to 0:37:25.200 --> 0:37:27.239 say it. 0:37:27.200 --> 0:37:27.919 Is what it is. 0:37:29.239 --> 0:37:31.799 That I can't come in church and pretend to be 0:37:31.840 --> 0:37:36.600 something that I'm not and expect to be blessed in 0:37:36.680 --> 0:37:37.719 my state of pretension. 0:37:40.000 --> 0:37:42.920 I was reading something because I'm reading. 0:37:42.680 --> 0:37:45.759 Through Mark a little bit, preparing these sermons for you, 0:37:46.640 --> 0:37:48.320 and I started the series in Mark, and I was 0:37:48.480 --> 0:37:50.400 over there about the woman with the issue of blood, 0:37:51.280 --> 0:37:53.480 just for a Bible lesson for you. She had been 0:37:53.880 --> 0:37:55.719 going around to a bunch of different doctors and they 0:37:55.800 --> 0:37:57.920 kept saying, you know, this is what it is, and 0:37:57.960 --> 0:38:00.319 this is what it is. And she came to Jesus 0:38:00.360 --> 0:38:01.879 and he was able to fix it for what it 0:38:01.920 --> 0:38:06.520 really was, because anyway you can try to fix all 0:38:06.560 --> 0:38:08.280 kinds of things in your life because he diagnosed according 0:38:08.280 --> 0:38:10.080 to the symptoms, but never really get down to the 0:38:10.200 --> 0:38:12.680 systemic parts that cause the symptoms. And you run around 0:38:12.680 --> 0:38:14.400 to a bunch of different doctors, a lot of different men, 0:38:14.400 --> 0:38:15.759 a lot of different women, a lot of different churches, 0:38:15.800 --> 0:38:17.520 a lot of different relationships, a lot of different places, 0:38:17.520 --> 0:38:19.279 trying to get it fixed. But until you get to 0:38:19.320 --> 0:38:21.640 the guy who really knows what it is, it can't 0:38:21.640 --> 0:38:31.440 be healed. What I never noticed before is it said 0:38:31.520 --> 0:38:33.719 that the woman when she came to Jesus, because I 0:38:33.760 --> 0:38:36.080 always saw the story like faith, just big faith. She 0:38:36.080 --> 0:38:38.160 came through the crowd, and she pressed through the crowd, 0:38:38.360 --> 0:38:39.719 and she said, if I can touch the him of 0:38:39.760 --> 0:38:41.719 his garment, I'll be made whole. And I always was 0:38:41.719 --> 0:38:44.799 so focused on that that I miss the part where 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:47.680 it said that the woman, knowing what had happened to her, 0:38:47.960 --> 0:38:50.640 came and fell at his feet and trembling with fear, 0:38:50.920 --> 0:38:51.640 told him. 0:38:51.480 --> 0:38:52.280 The whole truth. 0:38:56.680 --> 0:38:59.839 It was her faith that healed her, but it was 0:39:00.239 --> 0:39:12.600 her honesty that made her faith authentic. So the Lord 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:15.640 told me to give you two things to come out 0:39:15.640 --> 0:39:16.120 of denial. 0:39:17.280 --> 0:39:20.040 It is what it is, and you can say it. 0:39:20.080 --> 0:39:22.920 You can say I feel lonely in this season. 0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:30.160 Now be careful who you say it too, because you 0:39:30.239 --> 0:39:33.400 can say it in Delilah's barbershop and wake up with 0:39:33.480 --> 0:39:36.120 a buzz cut that you weren't expecting. So don't just 0:39:36.160 --> 0:39:39.759 say it to anybody. But God can handle it. God 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:44.279 can handle it. I talked to God real as if 0:39:44.280 --> 0:39:46.640 I'm talking to a friend, because the Bible said Abraham 0:39:46.680 --> 0:39:48.080 was a friend of God, and if I'm his seed, 0:39:48.080 --> 0:39:50.280 i'm his friend too. And friends can talk to friends. 0:39:50.440 --> 0:39:52.200 And he's my father, but he's my friend, and I 0:39:52.200 --> 0:39:54.160 can come to him and say, you know, I don't 0:39:54.239 --> 0:39:59.359 get you right now, sir, your majesty, because I don't 0:39:59.360 --> 0:39:59.920 want to lighten. 0:40:00.200 --> 0:40:04.000 Or anything like that. So I it is what it is. 0:40:05.400 --> 0:40:07.880 It is what it is. You know. I feel like 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:09.200 nobody appreciates me right now. 0:40:09.280 --> 0:40:11.480 God, just make sure that when you tell God how 0:40:11.520 --> 0:40:15.120 you feel, that you let him narrate what you should 0:40:15.160 --> 0:40:18.920 do by faith, not feelings. 0:40:24.440 --> 0:40:26.560 It's okay to say it. 0:40:26.560 --> 0:40:31.480 It's okay, it's ok it's okay to Abraham. 0:40:30.320 --> 0:40:31.520 Face the fact. 0:40:33.160 --> 0:40:35.279 Look at all these debts I have, Look at what 0:40:35.320 --> 0:40:39.840 the doctors are saying, face it, face it in faith, 0:40:41.600 --> 0:40:47.160 Face it in faith, Face it in faith. Come out 0:40:47.160 --> 0:40:50.759 of the spirit and realize that whatever it is that 0:40:50.800 --> 0:40:56.520 you're looking at, it's not the end. It's a portal 0:40:57.960 --> 0:41:07.440 to your potential. It's not buried, it's planted, it's not over. 0:41:08.239 --> 0:41:09.799 It's just in transition. 0:41:10.960 --> 0:41:15.719 It is what it is, But. 0:41:15.840 --> 0:41:18.880 My faith told me to tell. 0:41:18.680 --> 0:41:22.560 You it's not what it seems. 0:41:23.640 --> 0:41:26.360 If you receive this word, get. 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:28.040 Up on your feet and. 0:41:28.239 --> 0:41:34.640 Give your job, a great ray, a heart right, a 0:41:34.880 --> 0:41:35.600 fake rain. 0:41:38.719 --> 0:41:39.839 Thank you for joining us. 0:41:40.120 --> 0:41:42.600 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:41:42.640 --> 0:41:46.120 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:41:46.600 --> 0:41:49.080 You can click the link in the description to give now, 0:41:49.680 --> 0:41:53.040 or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more 0:41:53.040 --> 0:41:56.680 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:41:57.120 --> 0:41:59.200 You can share it with your friends. You can click 0:41:59.200 --> 0:42:01.279 the share button, take a screenshot. 0:42:00.960 --> 0:42:03.000 And share it on your social stories and tag us 0:42:03.000 --> 0:42:04.080 at Elevation Church. 0:42:04.120 --> 0:42:05.759 Thanks again for listening. God bless you