Looking Forward To Normal

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.880 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:10.240 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.280 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.120 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:18.919 All right, let me tell you a story. I'm going 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.720 to ease into the message. We are not singing rattle again, 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:24.439 y'all trick me into that last week, and I never 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.240 really got to preach a real sermon. You hear me, Joey, 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.600 do not start that Joe Perry guitar thing up again. 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.280 That is the devil back there. Get behind me, Satan, 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.200 get behind me. Signa, Joey, signa everybody. The greatest rock 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:42.559 and roll worship guitar track of the last twenty years 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.960 was on Rattle. And let me tell you, you'll can 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.280 go ahead and sit down and stuff and if there's 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.040 any debris around, just clear it out. They're gonna come 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:53.720 back and sit on stools so that I don't feel 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.360 completely and totally alone. You can sit down to if 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.400 you want to. I don't care what you do. Whatever 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:00.960 you need to do to get your faith charged. I 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:03.280 saw some people listening to me preach this week and 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:07.800 they were doing tabata squats with my sermon. I was like, cool, man, 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.959 way to be creative, right, that's what I call exercising 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.839 your faith. Yeah, it's really cool, and we need some exercise. 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.880 So's I'm looking out for you. I realized that some 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.800 of y'all have not moved that much as you just 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:25.959 did in the last eight minutes, in the last eight days. 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:28.400 So we're just trying to look after your spiritual and 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.360 body at Elevation Church. And what God gave me today 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.600 kind of goes along with this idea of just put 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.720 this in the chat, all right, that's my thing right now. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.520 I can't touch your neighbor. I can't hug your neighbor. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:41.800 I can't do anything with neighbors. We're not even allowed 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.280 to make eye contact with our neighbors. I'm so scared 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.440 of my neighbors right now. My neighbors are wearing masks 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:47.800 and gloves, and I don't know what to do with 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.440 my neighbors. So we're just chatting. We're just putting it 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.400 in the chat. That's the new touch your neighbor. I 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:54.200 want somebody to make a T shirt this week. Put 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.200 it in the chat. It's the new touch your neighbor. 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.640 We're starting it together. It's a revolution. But just put 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.080 it in the chat real quick. Say this is not normal. 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.400 This is not normal. That's really such an expansive thought 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:12.200 that I think I may spend the next several weeks 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:19.600 just unpacking the idea of normal as we know it 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:24.639 is over. You realize that, right, And so last week 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.520 when we were getting ready for Easter, and I was thinking, well, 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.280 what do you wear on Easter Sunday when there's nobody 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.760 else in the room. I was like, oh, man, we 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:39.800 should do a nice, normal Easter service because there's going 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.720 to be more people watching us than ever before, and 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:45.480 so I don't want to make a bad impression on 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.359 the first time visitors or give anybody heart palpitations. And 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.000 we were releasing this song called Rattle that sounds like 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.040 an Easter song, right, I was like, God, this is 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:06.240 not normal. Like East There ever was, Like people getting 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:12.040 up out of tombs is so normal. Like the dead 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:18.160 rising again is just an everyday occurrence. Like the idea 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.240 that an angel just moved a stone out of the 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.600 way and somebody who had been there hours ago was 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.400 no longer there is normal, And they got me thinking 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.520 about this phrase that you're hearing a lot right now 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.240 from people, and I actually want to take my time 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:36.640 with this. I don't know if this message can be 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.720 completed in a week or three weeks or four weeks. 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.960 But uh, I don't know if I might preach I 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.520 might have to preach long today. Are y'all good? Yeah? 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:48.840 I might have to preach long today. I don't know. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.600 So you may need to cancel your lunch plans. What 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:54.600 am I saying? You don't have any lunch plans. You 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:56.440 don't have any plans for anything. This is like a 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.960 preacher's dream come true. You are so captive right now, 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:05.040 so we could just do it, okay, The main thing 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:06.840 you might have to do is turn your crockpot down. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.360 But this is not normal. This is not normal. And 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.560 we hear a phrase a lot. At least I do 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.520 right now and listen since this is not a normal weekend. 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.000 I'm not a normal preacher. This is not a normal church. 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.040 You're not a normal person either. Matter of fact, the 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.400 only people that think you're normal are the people who 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:31.080 don't know you. John Hortberg wrote a book called everybody's 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:34.960 normal till you get to know them. So anybody that 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.640 you think is normal is somebody that you don't really know. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:42.560 Come on, talk to me. There's like five people that 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.040 I'm paying to be out here and I can't get 0:04:44.080 --> 0:04:47.480 them to talk to me. Everybody's normal. John Hortburg said, 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.719 till you get to know them. Your wife is weird. 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.440 You didn't see the weirdness of your wife when you 0:04:53.480 --> 0:05:02.520 were dating her. You were wife. Your wife was weird 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.360 when you met her, You just didn't know her yet. 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.400 And so what we're looking at right now is a 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.720 sentiment that a lot of people feel. And here's what 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.680 I'm doing. I did not give them my title for 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.800 the message because I wanted to try something new today 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.240 rather than put it up on the screen fancy. I 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.120 wanted to do my own special effects today because I 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.000 don't know what's going to happen in the next weeks 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.119 to come. But what if we can't put the title 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.799 up anymore and I still need to preach to people, Well, 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.760 I'm going to make my own title card. Okay, I'm 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.440 doing my own stunts today. And here's the phrase I've 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.400 been hearing from a lot of people. I'm gonna show 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:40.840 you this. Get ready to zoom in on it once 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:43.560 I write it. But I've heard this, oh man, like 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.279 I've heard it at least one hundred times, whether it's 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:49.120 people on the news or people that I know are 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.479 our staff here at Elevation. And here's the phrase. This 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.160 seems to be the goal. Let me shut up for 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.400 a minute so I can concentrate on writing. I'm not 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:04.560 a very good multitasker spell anything. Oh I love it 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.240 because I've heard this a million times, and I bet 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:12.000 you've said it a few times too. Here's the phrase. 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:16.800 I'm hearing this a lot. Can y'all see it? I 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:18.600 can't see whether you can see it or not, because 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.479 there's no like imag in the screen, because there's nobody 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.000 in the room that needs to see. I'm mag this 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.120 is not normal. Normally, I would just look over here 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:28.520 to my left or my right, and I would see 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:30.279 if it's a tight shot. But can y'all see it? 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.240 Is it a good shot? This is what I'm hearing 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:34.960 a lot of people talk about right now. And this 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.359 is just a piece of Elevation Church stationary. I just 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:39.080 wrote it down because this is not a normal Sunday, 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.120 So I didn't want to preach a normal sermon to 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.240 a normal title, but I'm hearing this right now, like, 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:48.479 oh man, I just can't wait till things get back 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.880 to normal. Okay, put that in the chat. If your 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.640 thumb still work, put it in the chat. Getting back 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.240 to normal. I'm hearing a lot of people talk about 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:02.760 how long is it going to be before things get 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:08.080 back to normal? And honestly, I'm ready for some normalcy 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.720 in the fird E zip code as well. I really am. 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.720 I'm ready for some I'm ready for some normalcy to 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.160 our schedules. I'm ready for some normalcya to date, nights 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.760 with my wife. I mean, I know that sounds like real, 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.400 fancy or freely at a time when people are hurting 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.920 so much, but there's something nice about things just being normal, 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.120 even little things being normal. Like I don't even like 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.560 sports that much, but I miss them. I don't even 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.080 care about the outcome. I just I just like to 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.880 have it in the background because it's normal. It's normal. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.600 Normal is nice, and you really don't realize how much 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:53.720 you need normal until you are forced to live without it. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.280 Because I was talking to one of my friends about 0:07:57.360 --> 0:07:59.680 normal the other day and I promise you I'm gonna 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:01.840 preach from the scripture in a moment, because my scriptures 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.920 are Exodus fourteen ten through fifteen and Romans twelve one 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.640 and two. So go ahead and turn to those two books, 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:09.800 one of the Old Testament, one in the New. But 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.960 I've been hearing this phrase so much, oh man, I 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.160 just can't wait till things get back to normal. But 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.240 something arrested my attention the other day is that the 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.840 person who was saying to me how much that she 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.720 was waiting for stuff to get back to normal had 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.720 complained to me two months ago, before any of this 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:37.679 global pandemic started, about how much she hated her life. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:44.520 And that was weird to me because the normal that 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.480 she had been complaining about two months ago was the 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.280 normal that she would give anything to get back to 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:57.960 right now. Some of us would give anything for normal 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:03.720 right about now, would give anything to get to deal 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:08.040 with the annoying person that you work next to. If 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.760 you could get back to work. Oh, I would sit 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.400 next to Teresa all day and pretend like her stories 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.160 were good and funny and interesting and her breath didn't 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.319 smell that. I would love some normal right about now. 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:24.800 It's like when you go to college. You know, if 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.680 you went to college and you hated your hometown and 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.160 then you get dropped off in the middle of a 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.720 new world and nothing is familiar and you were complaining. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.680 I just can't wait to leave Monk's Corner. I shout 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.440 out Monk's corner. We sent convoy of hope and elevation, 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.960 outreach resources and teams all week to help those who 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.600 were devastated. You're gonna be seeing about that soon if 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.400 you haven't already. But man, I hated my hometown for 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.040 a minute till I left it, and then everything that 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:59.040 felt small to me started to feel I don't know, 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:06.520 like instead of confining, it felt comforting. Here here's what 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:08.040 I'm trying to say, because I think I'm being a 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.120 a little bit too vague for you. Okay, some of 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.360 the stuff that you're praying for right now is the 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:17.320 same stuff you were praying away two months ago. And 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:23.880 in the weird how quick we can shift to where 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.240 what we want to get back to is the same 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.160 thing that we wanted to escape from. Y'all ain't helping 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:36.559 the preacher a bit today. It is so so easy 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.439 in a moment like this for us to make our 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.360 goal getting back to normal. But here's what the Lord 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.760 showed me. This is where I need my hot pink sharpie. 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.760 I think red would have been better, but I couldn't 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.839 find one. So I'm doing hot pink and I want 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:55.920 us to shift our mentality today. And this may be 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.800 a whole teaching series. I don't know, because I'm hearing 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.640 so many people say I want to get back to normal. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:01.920 I want to get back to the way things were. 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:03.280 I want to get back to I want to get 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.640 back to And the Lord post a question to me 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:15.840 this week, what if normal isn't something to get back to? 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:29.600 What if normal is something to look forward to? And 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.800 what if the normal that we knew is not the 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:39.200 normal that God is leading us into. Next I'm about 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.360 to throw my title card at uhale. This might be 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.760 the most annointed message that I've ever preached in my life. 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:52.720 It's called looking forward to normal. Why do we assume 0:11:53.440 --> 0:12:00.080 that normal is back there? Why would we, as Christians 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:05.839 who serve a God who is always moving forward from 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.840 glory to glory, from strength to strength. Why would we 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:15.800 serve a God like that whose very essence is defined 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.120 by resurrection? Why would we serve a God who is 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.640 defined by resurrection, new beginnings, and think that the whole 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.720 goal is to get back to something that we knew before. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.959 And I hope that certain things are normal again. I 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.720 hope for God's sake that my kids can go back 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.400 to real school again. For God's sake, that certain things 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.000 in our society change. I hope for God's sake that 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.040 there's a time where, you know, these chairs can be 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.679 full of people again. And even the obnoxious parking volunteers 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.520 at elevation, I missed them today. You know, the ones 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.280 that do too much. You know, the extra parking volunteers 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.559 where you're like, is a forty five and they'll take 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.719 all that. Just wave me to my parking man. Just 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.320 because you gotta baton doesn't mean you have to act 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.920 like a clown. But I even miss I even missed 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:08.960 the hyperactive parking volunteers. I even missed the people in 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:13.240 the church who look bored while I was preaching, the 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.880 ones who looked like terrorists when I was preaching to them. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:20.600 I miss him. Now want normal back. But God has 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.040 been speaking to my spirit e family. God has been 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:28.000 speaking to my spirit Indonesia. God has been speaking to 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:30.320 my spirit and yours too, but you just didn't have 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:33.280 the language for it. God said, I'm bringing you into 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:39.040 a new normal because what you thought was normal wasn't 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:45.160 really normal. It was just what you knew. And I'm 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.200 going to show you this from the scripture. Turn in 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.280 your bible, or let's be honest, just wait for it 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.679 to come on the screen. I'm acting like y'all got 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.440 books spread out all over the coffee table. The fact 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.800 of the matter is you're probably stirring your meal right now. 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.280 But turn in your Bible to Exodus chapter fourteen, and 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.480 let me show you how God's people have always been 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.679 trying to go back to normal at the moments when 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.560 God is trying to bring us into something new. Now. 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.640 This message is for my business owners in the church, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.120 those of you who are hoping things go back to normal, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:23.560 but you know that they won't, but you don't know 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.160 what to do. This message is for those in the 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.000 church who are trying to deal with the level of 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.120 uncertainty that was unprecedented in your life before, and you're 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:35.480 just trying to even get a daily schedule figured out. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:39.280 This message is for you. This message is even for 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:42.160 those who have lost something in this season that you 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.680 will never get back again. And the question becomes, what 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.880 is the new normal that God has known all along? 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.880 What is the what is the new normal that I 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.320 should look forward to? Now remember this and write it down. 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:04.080 Faith looks forward, Faith looks forward. And you'll see in 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:09.320 Exodus chapter fourteen, remember a nation who has only known 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:15.440 slavery in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years, when 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:20.600 that is all you've known, that's what is normal. On 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:25.400 one hand, they hated it. They hated it because not 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.160 only was there no freedom in it, but there was 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:36.040 frustration that was increasing because the Egyptian task masters had 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.840 begun to require more from the Israelites than they could 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:44.000 reasonably do. I mean, they'd make them make bricks, but 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:46.960 they wouldn't give them straw. Go fetch your own straw 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.200 and make the same number of bricks. So you still 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.640 got to fulfill your quota, but you're not going to 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.040 have enough to do it with. So now listen, this 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:59.040 is a generation of people who had gotten used to 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:05.040 never having enough. I wonder for us, has never enough 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:11.120 become our normal? Like I'm not talking about last week 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:12.960 or the week before that, and I'm not talking about 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.520 bank account. I think the spirit of this age is 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:21.000 the spirit of never enough. We can never get enough information, 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.320 we can never get enough what we call connection, it's 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:29.160 not really connection. It's just it's just the apparatus. It's 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.960 just the illusion of connection that really keeps us more 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.280 fragmented than ever before. So now we call ourselves connected 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.160 in the world because we have social media. I'm thinking 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.920 about introducing a new trend. Social distancing is catching on. 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.520 We're practicing it right now. But how about social media distancing. 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.720 That's when you can go more than five minutes without 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:56.000 your phone. Y'all ain't saying nothing. Social media distancing. It's 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.920 a thing. Put it in the chat. Five minutes without 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.640 your phone. See us now is just completely normal for 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.199 us to be overloaded all the time and just to 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:07.879 have access to everything that's happening in the world. And 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.919 then we wonder, why are we so fearful? Why can't 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.520 we feel It's because we were never intended to carry 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.199 so much in our minds and in our hearts. But 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.399 to us, it's just normal. We're used to making bricks 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:25.480 without straw. Many of us are used to never really 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.840 getting a good night's sleep. It's just normal. We're used 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.280 to running around this and that and the other. We're 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.960 used to spending too much money. It's normal, totally normal. 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.840 It's what the neighbors do, it's what my dad did, 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:42.840 it's what my dad's dead. So what we're seeing in 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.880 Exodus fourteen isn't just God's people coming out of Egypt 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:51.120 as a territory. They're coming out of what they've known 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:58.000 as normal. So while it sounds sexy, open the grave, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.560 I'm coming out, I'm gonna live. But what if you've 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:08.200 gotten so used to death that real life seems weird? 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.000 Get back to normal? I'm not so sure. Now this 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:21.000 is how the Israelites expressed it. You already Exitus fourteen 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:27.359 to ten, As Pharaoh approached, wait, Pharaoh represents fear. Pharaoh 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.600 represents the old got it. Pharaoh said eat you eat. 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.679 Pharaoh said make bricks, You make bricks. Pharaoh is the 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:39.679 old boss, the old regime. Pharaoh is the old ruler. 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:44.280 But he's also the one who fed you. So Pharaoh 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.560 is the one who fed you, and Pharaoh is the 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.240 one that you fear. A lot of the things that 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.080 we get used to meet certain needs in our life, 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.720 and until we know a better way to meet that need, 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.159 we will always depend on the wrong source. That's what 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:05.760 addiction is. It meets a need that's for some of you. 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.040 What that person that you keep running back to every 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.119 three weeks that isn't good for you is that's a 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:15.240 form of Pharaoh. That's what certain thought patterns that we 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.760 embrace are to us. See, they're familiar. And this is 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.879 the principle that I want to show you. When you 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:28.520 are afraid, you reach for what's familiar. When you are afraid, 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.399 you reach for what's familiar. And this is very explicit 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:36.240 in Exodus fourteen, chapter fourteen, verse ten. As Pharaoh approached, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:39.520 the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians, the 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:44.320 ones they were running from, marching after them. They were 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:50.159 what does the next word say? Terrified? They were afraid. 0:19:51.200 --> 0:19:55.879 Put that right there on one side. They were afraid. 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:00.480 They experienced fear. They were terrified, And right out to 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.880 the Lord they said to Moses, was it because there 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.000 were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:14.520 the desert to die? The sarcasm is dripping in this statement. 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:20.359 Egypt was famous for grapes. Three quarters of their land 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.160 mass was set aside for graves. So when they say, 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.720 were there no graves in Egypt, it's like saying, were 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.320 there no trees in Charlotte. It's like saying, was there 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:35.919 no orange at elevation? It's like saying, was there no 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.520 electric guitar in slash? I'm gonna keep trying to light 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.800 hit somebody. It's like, that's what Egypt was known for. 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:51.159 It was known for graves. And watch this. When you 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:56.879 feel afraid, you crave familiar, even if familiar is killing you, 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.600 killing them. And on one hand, they're crying out, get 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.640 us out of here. We'll go anywhere, We'll do anything. God, 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:09.439 just make it stop. Some of y'all were praying that 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.720 three months ago. God, I need a change. God. This 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:15.920 is not working. God. I'm not happy. God, I don't 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:21.879 feel joyful. Remember remember three months ago when you were 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:23.840 praying God helped me get my priorities. Remember your New 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:29.160 Year's resolutions. I know that was like BC before Corona. 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.520 You're like, oh, well, I've gained seventeen pounds in sin. 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:34.560 I'm just trying to breathe. That's my new New Year's resolution. 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:36.919 Take another breath, tak another breath, Take another breath. But 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:42.359 when you feel fear, you reach for familiar. When God 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:47.680 showed me this, I realized why to me, sometimes negative 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:54.960 feels normal. A lot of times when I'm feeling uncertain, unstable, 0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:59.000 little thing, big thing, I reached for something negative because 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:04.160 negative is what I know, not because I had horrible parents. 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.720 I had great parents. But I will say this, my 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.359 dad was not normal. His childhood was not normal. His 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.880 dad killed himself when he was nine on his ninth birthday. 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.280 That was not normal. In fact, one of the last 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:19.639 things that my dad said to me while he was alive, 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:26.359 he said, I only ever wanted to be normal. He 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.480 was talking about how through his upbringing, when he was 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:34.159 sent to reform school, and just the different things that 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:36.600 happened in his life, you know, blowing through two marriages 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:38.600 before he met my mom and all of that. He 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:41.840 was saying, I just always wanted to be normal. I've 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:48.119 never been normal. I've never been normal. I've never been normal. 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:54.080 The Bible says that about Moses, who was leading the 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:57.159 people out of Egypt. Did you know that says in 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:03.000 Acts chapter seven, verse twenty that Moses was no ordinary child. 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.200 Isn't that cool? So say this as a compliment to 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.160 whoever you're sitting next to and I hope this doesn't 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:11.800 start an argument. Tell them you're not normal. In fact, 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:16.880 tell them stronger, say you've never been normal. You've never 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:21.120 been normal. There's nothing normal about you. And you look 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:23.040 at Josh and just tell him. Come on, say it 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:27.119 in the Josh Blackton voice. You've never been normal, Josh 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:31.119 blacks in the deepest voice. And the man from Michigan. 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:35.720 You should have sayen based in a southern gospel quartet. 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:38.119 Only problem is your tone deaf, but you got the 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:42.560 range for it. You've never been normal. You were a 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:47.719 boy scout, but you weren't normal. See look, normal is 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:53.720 just a story that you've told yourself. And so the Israelites, 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:57.760 God help them. They are standing at a red Sea, 0:23:57.840 --> 0:23:59.720 which is a body of water that they have no 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:02.840 con coext for. Like us, right now, we have no 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.720 context for this crisis. We have no context for this challenge. 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:09.880 We have no precedents for this global pandemic because we've 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:13.560 never lived through one. So when they fell terrified, watch 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:19.960 what they did. They craved familiar. Were there no graves 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:25.080 in Egypt. We'd rather be dead in Egypt than alive 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:33.399 in uncertainty. They craved the grave over having to stand 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:37.399 in front of something in an uncertain situation, And so 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:40.239 do we We do it all the time. We go 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:43.280 back to places that kill us, people that kill us, 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:46.679 patterns that kill us, routines that kill us, bottles that 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:50.240 kill us, pills that kill us, stations that kill us, 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:55.320 feeds that kill us, keep going websites that kill us, 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:59.520 accounts that kill us, thoughts to kill us. Because it's normal. 0:25:00.000 --> 0:25:05.679 Normal is nice. Normal is nice if you don't think so. 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:10.160 You never had a nice old sweatshirt. It's nice because 0:25:10.200 --> 0:25:12.239 it's normal. It's not nice because it looks good. It 0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:16.840 looks terrible. You look homeless, but it's normal. Oh, I 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:19.000 like this. This is my good sweatshirt. These are my 0:25:19.040 --> 0:25:21.560 good underwear with seven holes in it. But it's got 0:25:21.600 --> 0:25:25.880 seven holes. But it's normal. It feels familiar. So watch this. Oh, 0:25:25.920 --> 0:25:28.880 I'm annointed by the spirit of God today to help 0:25:28.960 --> 0:25:33.879 you see normal is not all that is wanted to 0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:37.000 be the way it was. We want to go back 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:40.679 to Egypt. Take us back to Egypt, the place you 0:25:40.720 --> 0:25:44.080 were crying out to God to take you from. Now 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:45.680 you want to go back, Yeah, I want to go back. 0:25:46.600 --> 0:25:48.560 I want to go back to normal. God, I will 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:50.960 never complain about my kid's teacher again, as long as 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:55.840 it doesn't have to be me. I'm going back to normal. Normal. 0:25:56.400 --> 0:26:01.520 I just want normal, just normal, something normal. That's why 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:03.680 I wanted to come in the building to preach to you. 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:04.920 It's like, do you want to do it in a studio? 0:26:04.960 --> 0:26:06.960 I was like no, no no, no, no no, because I 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:09.520 want people to get a little bit of normal. I 0:26:09.520 --> 0:26:13.280 think it'll help people, even our e fam that meets 0:26:13.320 --> 0:26:15.159 all over the world. And y'all, when I say all 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:17.680 over the world, watch the chat. Put in the chat 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:20.400 if you're from somewhere other than Charlotte, and put where 0:26:20.400 --> 0:26:22.560 it is. And I just want you to see I'm 0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:26.879 not lying, because there's nothing normal about this church. You know, 0:26:26.880 --> 0:26:28.159 the church I grew up in, it was like one 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:30.639 hundred people. It was an amazing church. But in the 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:32.840 town amongst corner is only six thousand. That was my normal. 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:36.040 So as the ministry grows bigger, to me, it's not familiar. 0:26:36.240 --> 0:26:39.480 So sometimes I fear when something is expanding or getting 0:26:39.480 --> 0:26:42.399 bigger because it's not normal to me. So it's really 0:26:42.400 --> 0:26:45.160 difficult for us to understand those of us that were 0:26:45.160 --> 0:26:48.480 coming to church buildings in river Walk and Concord. Oh God, 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:50.639 we're building a building for Concord. Now we don't get 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:52.840 to use it, and so back on. Just let us 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:54.679 get back to the plan. Let us get back to 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:56.360 the let us get back to the thing we had 0:26:56.520 --> 0:26:58.679 a few weeks ago. I know I was complaining about it, 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:00.359 but I'll take it. I'll take it. I'm sorry, I'm 0:27:00.359 --> 0:27:01.680 s sorry. Give it back, get back, give me a 0:27:01.720 --> 0:27:03.560 job back. I'm so sorry. God, give my car back. 0:27:04.040 --> 0:27:05.760 I'll ride my Honda Courd. Just let me take it somewhere. 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:07.359 Just have something for me to do. God, I'll do it. 0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:09.720 I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it, because 0:27:09.720 --> 0:27:14.159 when you're in something you don't know, you crave normal. 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:19.399 Do you see all those cities and hamlets and provinces 0:27:19.440 --> 0:27:21.400 on that screen. I can't read them all out. There's 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:24.640 too many. That's amazing, you know. I used to say 0:27:24.680 --> 0:27:27.399 this all the time to our church. I used to say, 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:29.879 to the people who could come to church here and 0:27:29.960 --> 0:27:34.440 a physical location, I would say, some people came here 0:27:34.480 --> 0:27:36.960 this weekend on their honeymoon, their vacation. They wanted to 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:38.920 come to Elevation for vague where you want to go 0:27:38.960 --> 0:27:40.520 to vacation this year, I want to go to you 0:27:40.560 --> 0:27:41.760 want to go to Dine World. I want to go 0:27:41.800 --> 0:27:47.080 to Elevation. I want to go to Elevation, the vacation 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:51.000 destination of the world right here off of five twenty one, 0:27:51.520 --> 0:27:53.960 and be like some people be here, like, man, this 0:27:54.119 --> 0:27:57.120 was on my bucket list to come to Elevation. People 0:27:57.160 --> 0:27:59.520 would say that this is my bucket list. And I 0:27:59.600 --> 0:28:03.000 use this say to those of y'all who were sitting 0:28:03.040 --> 0:28:07.520 out there, I'd say, don't ever take for granted that 0:28:07.600 --> 0:28:10.159 what God put in your backyard is on somebody else's 0:28:10.160 --> 0:28:15.120 bucket list. Didn't I say that? And now I can 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:18.119 show you better than I can tell you. Some of 0:28:18.160 --> 0:28:20.640 the same people that used to complain about the parking 0:28:20.720 --> 0:28:23.879 lot at Valentine, I bet you would love to have 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:25.760 to wait for a parking space right now if you 0:28:25.760 --> 0:28:27.639 could just come to church and be in the presence 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:29.199 of God. Now I know some of you you're like, no, 0:28:29.280 --> 0:28:30.880 I kind of like this church at home thing. Better. 0:28:30.920 --> 0:28:33.399 This is actually pretty awesome, brother Steve. I'll tell you 0:28:33.440 --> 0:28:36.639 what that Ephaan was onto something. This is this is 0:28:36.680 --> 0:28:39.200 this is really an innovation right here. I mean I'll 0:28:39.240 --> 0:28:41.400 tell you what. Right now, I'm sitting right here, I've 0:28:41.400 --> 0:28:44.200 got my oreos and I'm getting spiritually fed as well. 0:28:44.680 --> 0:28:47.440 Praise the Lord Christ and carbohydrates. This is the ticket. 0:28:47.440 --> 0:28:49.880 I'll tell you what. I praise God for innovative ministry. 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:55.240 This is a digital revolution, this is a revival. You know. 0:28:56.360 --> 0:29:01.080 All I'm trying to think about these days. Is not 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:03.200 the normal that I want to get back to because 0:29:03.200 --> 0:29:05.880 I have a feeling. I have a feeling, and I 0:29:05.880 --> 0:29:09.440 think you do too. Let's just let's just have the 0:29:09.480 --> 0:29:14.240 funeral right now that we are not going back to normal. 0:29:16.760 --> 0:29:21.200 We're not. I was on a zoom call this week 0:29:21.240 --> 0:29:25.080 with a department and our staff, and by the end 0:29:25.120 --> 0:29:28.520 of it, I was beating the desk saying, y'all aren't 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:34.640 getting it. Everything has changed. Y'all are having a normal meeting. 0:29:34.680 --> 0:29:38.880 This is not a normal time. People need the Gospel 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:41.480 more than ever before, and y'all are talking about what 0:29:41.520 --> 0:29:44.920 happened ten days ago and right now for our ministry, 0:29:45.120 --> 0:29:47.680 we have to be in the moment because people need 0:29:47.720 --> 0:29:51.880 this oxygen. This is not a normal time. This is 0:29:51.920 --> 0:29:54.840 not a normal church. And I hope, in some ways, 0:29:54.880 --> 0:29:57.760 I hope this building is full again. But I hope 0:29:57.800 --> 0:30:01.479 we never just go back to nor normal where we 0:30:01.520 --> 0:30:04.000 come in church and act like, you know, it's just 0:30:04.040 --> 0:30:07.520 star right to come in here. I hope we never 0:30:07.640 --> 0:30:10.479 go back to normal, where we just come in and 0:30:10.520 --> 0:30:13.080 we can't get the eyebooger out of our eye until 0:30:13.120 --> 0:30:16.280 the fourth song, until they play our favorite song and 0:30:16.360 --> 0:30:19.200 everything has to match our preference and we just kind 0:30:19.200 --> 0:30:21.400 of yawn and wait for it to be old. I 0:30:21.440 --> 0:30:25.160 hope we never go back to normal. I'm never going 0:30:25.280 --> 0:30:32.840 back to normal, never. Never. It's never been normal. So 0:30:32.960 --> 0:30:35.320 I'm up here last week thinking, oh man, this is 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:41.440 not a normal Easter. I'm wearing leather, we're singing a 0:30:41.480 --> 0:30:44.840 song that sounds more like Stone Temple Pilots and Michael W. Smith. 0:30:46.840 --> 0:30:51.520 We're kicking over stuff. It's supposed to be Easter. Now. 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:55.880 The weirdest part about that is in twenty and eleven 0:30:56.600 --> 0:31:00.280 we did something called three D Easter. I travel to 0:31:00.360 --> 0:31:03.840 Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and everybody had three 0:31:03.920 --> 0:31:06.360 D glasses on. It was real budget three D, but 0:31:06.400 --> 0:31:08.000 it was enough for us to market it as three 0:31:08.080 --> 0:31:10.520 D Easter, and it was good to us creative. It 0:31:10.560 --> 0:31:13.000 was the Gospel Jerusalem Judea, Samaria, ends of the Earth, 0:31:13.000 --> 0:31:14.800 the three different places God brings it to. And I 0:31:14.840 --> 0:31:16.960 used an old church to talk about God saving people 0:31:17.000 --> 0:31:19.080 who are religious but don't have a relationship. And then 0:31:19.120 --> 0:31:21.240 I use Vegas to talk about Samaria the wild people 0:31:21.240 --> 0:31:22.520 in the world. And then I talk about the ends 0:31:22.520 --> 0:31:23.800 of the Earth, that the Grand Canyon, no matter how 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:25.760 far away you feel from God. And everybody's sitting there 0:31:25.760 --> 0:31:27.840 with their three D glasses on, and I have pictures 0:31:27.880 --> 0:31:29.400 of that of meat in a suit with three D 0:31:29.480 --> 0:31:34.440 glasses on, standing there like happy Easter. Jesus. All right, 0:31:35.360 --> 0:31:38.880 and now I want to be normal. Now you want 0:31:38.880 --> 0:31:44.120 to be normal? Can wait till church gets back to normal? 0:31:44.240 --> 0:31:48.160 What normal are you talking about? Because I know many 0:31:48.160 --> 0:31:50.360 people say I just want to go back to the 0:31:50.400 --> 0:31:54.920 old time religion. What they mean by old time is 0:31:55.040 --> 0:32:00.960 nineteen fifty five, isin't that funny freeze frame. It's like, 0:32:01.760 --> 0:32:05.400 I just like the old hymns. It's like, how old 0:32:06.600 --> 0:32:11.120 hell you want? Like Gregorian chants? You want? You want 0:32:11.160 --> 0:32:15.320 like you want like three ninety seven ad Oh that's 0:32:15.320 --> 0:32:17.920 how Oh no, no, no, no no no, I'm talking about 0:32:17.920 --> 0:32:23.520 the old hymns. Oh, you mean the ones that are familiar. 0:32:24.920 --> 0:32:28.560 You mean the ones that you know. You want to 0:32:28.600 --> 0:32:31.720 go back to what you know. And you know what's crazy. 0:32:32.080 --> 0:32:35.200 Those hymns you want to sing now are the ones 0:32:35.320 --> 0:32:41.640 you yawned through when you were little. You didn't even 0:32:41.840 --> 0:32:45.120 know what you had when you had it. And now 0:32:45.240 --> 0:32:49.440 God is teaching us to appreciate some things that we 0:32:49.520 --> 0:32:52.880 took for granted. But we can't right now. I just 0:32:52.960 --> 0:32:57.200 appreciate the opportunity. Some of us who complained about airports, 0:32:57.480 --> 0:32:59.840 we're gonna be begging them to pad us down if 0:32:59.840 --> 0:33:02.000 we can ever go get on a plane again. Please 0:33:02.040 --> 0:33:05.320 tap me down, Pat me anywhere, pat pat pat me 0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:10.480 wants pap me just anything, anything normal. We want to 0:33:10.520 --> 0:33:13.440 go back to. Jup, Really, I thought you wanted to leave. 0:33:15.920 --> 0:33:18.280 All I'm trying to say is God is doing some 0:33:18.360 --> 0:33:23.800 of the stuff we asked him to do, but we 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:27.600 don't know it because we're trying to what get back 0:33:27.640 --> 0:33:31.040 to normal. I just want to get back to normal. 0:33:32.400 --> 0:33:34.440 You mean when you were running around like a chicken 0:33:34.440 --> 0:33:43.200 with your head cut off? What a graphic graphic idiom? Yeah, 0:33:43.720 --> 0:33:47.120 so vulgar. You see though, it's just normal. We just 0:33:47.160 --> 0:33:49.280 say that a chicken with your head off, you stop 0:33:49.440 --> 0:33:52.920 and picture it. It's grotesque, but see how anything can 0:33:52.960 --> 0:34:00.440 become normalized. And then we get confused because we think 0:34:00.480 --> 0:34:06.840 that what we know is what's normal. That's where a 0:34:06.840 --> 0:34:10.439 phrase is like white privilege come from. It means that 0:34:11.320 --> 0:34:13.839 because as a white man, certain things that I think 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:18.600 are just normal are not the same experiences of brothers 0:34:18.719 --> 0:34:24.520 or sisters who are not white males. You think it's 0:34:24.560 --> 0:34:29.160 normal somebody else is your normal? Is somebody else's goal. 0:34:30.920 --> 0:34:33.680 Just to even be treated equally, you have to understand 0:34:34.000 --> 0:34:36.919 just because something is normal to you does not mean 0:34:36.960 --> 0:34:40.719 that it's normal to everyone. And that's very important for 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:43.600 us to understand. Like, the best example I could give 0:34:43.600 --> 0:34:45.200 you is with my kids, Are y'all getting something out 0:34:45.200 --> 0:34:48.800 of this so far? Okay? Abby said to me the 0:34:48.840 --> 0:34:54.240 other day, what would you tell nine year old Steven Ferdie, 0:34:54.600 --> 0:35:00.120 because she's nine if you could tell him anything. So 0:35:00.200 --> 0:35:05.680 I was like, I would tell him that one day, 0:35:05.840 --> 0:35:10.520 you're not going to walk through Walmart looking at CBS 0:35:11.719 --> 0:35:13.920 figuring out which one to buy. You are going to 0:35:13.960 --> 0:35:18.439 be able to instantly listen to any music in the 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:21.680 history of the universe on the device that is the 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:27.040 size of a note card. I would tell him that 0:35:27.800 --> 0:35:33.240 video games are going to radically change because see, for us, 0:35:33.880 --> 0:35:39.319 tech mobile was high tech. Now when my kids are 0:35:39.360 --> 0:35:42.240 playing video games now, they laugh at my video games 0:35:42.920 --> 0:35:47.759 because their normal was something that I didn't even know 0:35:47.800 --> 0:35:51.680 to imagine. Like we didn't have, for instance, Abby, we 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:56.280 didn't have roadblocks and flying unicorns, neon unicorns, flying driving 0:35:56.320 --> 0:35:59.120 neon exploding unicorns. We didn't have any of that. And 0:35:59.160 --> 0:36:01.440 once you bought the game, you didn't have to spend 0:36:01.480 --> 0:36:05.560 any more money on it. That's new, that's new. You 0:36:05.560 --> 0:36:09.239 bought it one dang time, one time. Now you had 0:36:09.239 --> 0:36:13.160 to blow in it until you had a seizure to 0:36:13.160 --> 0:36:15.399 get it to work. But once you bought it, it 0:36:15.480 --> 0:36:17.439 was yours and you didn't have to buy anything else 0:36:17.520 --> 0:36:19.480 for it. You didn't have to grind to get your 0:36:19.520 --> 0:36:23.359 team ready. My god, it's a video game, not a job. 0:36:24.920 --> 0:36:29.000 But it's your normal. It's your normal that we put 0:36:29.040 --> 0:36:32.239 trolls on the video screen. Look at me sounding like 0:36:32.280 --> 0:36:35.120 an old man. It's your normal that we rented the 0:36:35.160 --> 0:36:39.239 movie The Trolls World Tour and we didn't have to 0:36:39.280 --> 0:36:41.799 go see back in the day. Let me give you 0:36:41.800 --> 0:36:49.239 a history lesson back in Yonder Yonder Ye back in 0:36:49.280 --> 0:36:54.880 the times of Jesus. Blockbuster video reigned Supreme. Come on, 0:36:54.920 --> 0:36:57.120 y'all don't know nothing about late fees, and I know 0:36:57.160 --> 0:36:59.440 you don't know anything about rewinding, or you pay an 0:36:59.440 --> 0:37:02.359 extra nine nine cents if you don't rewind the tape. 0:37:02.400 --> 0:37:07.800 I'm taking you back. That was normal, not now, not now. 0:37:09.560 --> 0:37:13.520 My daughter's never been in a Blockbuster in her life. Blockbuster? 0:37:13.600 --> 0:37:17.560 What's blockbuster? All right? So here's the question. I'm gonna 0:37:17.560 --> 0:37:21.520 go deep on you. Are you holding onto a Blockbuster blessing? 0:37:25.760 --> 0:37:28.320 Something that God is trying to put out of business 0:37:28.320 --> 0:37:31.759 in your life? Something that God is saying, you know what, 0:37:32.360 --> 0:37:35.160 I'm taking you through, something uncertain right now? Who is 0:37:35.200 --> 0:37:38.279 this for? I'm taking you through something right now that 0:37:38.320 --> 0:37:42.239 you've never seen before. But just because you've never seen 0:37:42.280 --> 0:37:47.800 it before doesn't mean it's not normal, Thank you Jesus. 0:37:47.880 --> 0:37:51.239 Just because I have never known it doesn't mean it's 0:37:51.280 --> 0:37:54.920 not normal. You mean it can be normal for me 0:37:55.040 --> 0:37:59.360 to have a heart that is at peace. Yes, Yes, 0:38:00.600 --> 0:38:04.120 that's how it's supposed to be. You are supposed to 0:38:04.200 --> 0:38:07.839 have peace in the middle of a storm. Jesus did 0:38:08.239 --> 0:38:12.680 he slept through stuff that we scramble about because he's 0:38:12.719 --> 0:38:16.040 not from here. See when you're from someone else or 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:19.719 somewhere else, it changes what you see as normal. Help 0:38:19.760 --> 0:38:22.520 me preach, Stand up and help me preach. Because I 0:38:22.640 --> 0:38:25.880 come from a different place, because I am not from 0:38:25.960 --> 0:38:29.040 this world, because it is not my home. I do 0:38:29.160 --> 0:38:32.680 not have to accept the patterns of this world as normal. 0:38:32.960 --> 0:38:37.839 I don't have to accept Egypt as normal. And what 0:38:37.920 --> 0:38:40.480 if God is trying to bring me into a new normal? 0:38:42.239 --> 0:38:47.400 But I'm so I'm so afraid that I reach for 0:38:47.440 --> 0:38:52.000 what's familiar. Can I tell you when new normal? I 0:38:52.000 --> 0:38:55.240 think God is trying to give us right now, better 0:38:55.320 --> 0:39:04.200 priorities because we are so toxic in the way we 0:39:04.239 --> 0:39:06.960 treat each other, what we say to each other, how 0:39:07.000 --> 0:39:09.640 we categorize and box each other. Well, we can't box 0:39:09.680 --> 0:39:12.719 each other like that anymore. Now I need you and 0:39:12.760 --> 0:39:15.000 you need me, And if we don't all do what 0:39:15.000 --> 0:39:17.040 we're supposed to do, we may not ever get out 0:39:17.080 --> 0:39:22.200 of this. God is making a nation. God is bringing 0:39:22.239 --> 0:39:24.799 the people through the red Seed together, but not for 0:39:24.840 --> 0:39:29.480 them to go through for them, for them to get there, 0:39:30.360 --> 0:39:35.680 there's something that they have to give up. Question, what 0:39:35.840 --> 0:39:39.000 is God calling you to give up to get there? 0:39:41.560 --> 0:39:46.000 What if there's a new normal. What if? What if 0:39:46.040 --> 0:39:51.080 your true nature has been so buried and embedded in 0:39:51.160 --> 0:39:54.239 what Romans twelve calls the patterns of this world? Can 0:39:54.280 --> 0:39:58.279 I show you this? Y'all sit down. I'm still I'm 0:39:58.320 --> 0:40:02.160 still feel like I'm just started this message. I'm going 0:40:02.200 --> 0:40:03.640 to teach you again next week, but let me get 0:40:03.680 --> 0:40:05.680 as far as I can today before the time runs out. 0:40:05.760 --> 0:40:08.280 What time am I supposed to be done? Like? Ten minutes? 0:40:08.719 --> 0:40:12.319 Twelve minutes? How long? I don't even know what that 0:40:12.400 --> 0:40:16.600 clock means? How many of y'all kept stop looking at 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:18.880 clocks and days of the week a while ago? What 0:40:19.320 --> 0:40:23.640 month is this? I don't know. But here's what I 0:40:23.640 --> 0:40:25.480 want to show you from Romans twelve one. Some you've 0:40:25.480 --> 0:40:27.600 heard the scripture before, but let's put it in context. Okay, 0:40:27.840 --> 0:40:30.319 just like the children of Israel, we're going through the 0:40:30.360 --> 0:40:34.880 Red Sea. And remember all they've known as normal. All 0:40:34.920 --> 0:40:37.239 their parents knew is normal, All their parents' parents knew 0:40:37.280 --> 0:40:39.479 is normal, All their parents' parents' parents knew is normal. 0:40:39.520 --> 0:40:45.640 This is four hundred and thirty years. Look how weird 0:40:45.640 --> 0:40:49.320 our world has gotten in just a few weeks. Okay, 0:40:49.360 --> 0:40:52.200 this is four hundred and thirty years of you thinking 0:40:52.880 --> 0:40:56.960 you're never supposed to have enough, you'd never be free. 0:40:57.560 --> 0:40:59.680 This is what it's like to be in bondage. And 0:41:00.160 --> 0:41:02.920 you know this because you've been in bondage to depression. 0:41:04.040 --> 0:41:07.080 You've been in bondage to patterns of thought. And this 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:09.520 is a chain breaking scripture in Romans twelve to one. 0:41:09.719 --> 0:41:12.200 And I never saw it before, y'all. I never saw 0:41:12.239 --> 0:41:16.280 it before. Rob Debby, Chelsea, Dawn Lis, Sashanika May Sharon, 0:41:16.400 --> 0:41:19.080 I never saw it before. Somebody's name on here is honey. 0:41:19.239 --> 0:41:21.440 That is not a normal name. I like it. If 0:41:21.440 --> 0:41:24.200 it's my message. My name is honey. What's your name? 0:41:24.320 --> 0:41:26.680 My name is honey. That's that's one way to get 0:41:26.680 --> 0:41:29.120 a date. All right, my name is honey, Call me honey. 0:41:29.239 --> 0:41:32.359 But watch the scripture in Romans twelve, verse one. Are 0:41:32.400 --> 0:41:36.080 you ready this revelation to me? I've read both of 0:41:36.080 --> 0:41:39.160 these scriptures a lot. They're both classic passages. The children 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:41.440 of Israel coming through the Red Sea. They want to 0:41:41.480 --> 0:41:43.359 go back to Egypt. They want to go back to 0:41:43.360 --> 0:41:46.239 what they've known. They want to go back to what's familiar, 0:41:46.320 --> 0:41:50.839 because they are afraid. I'd rather go back to what 0:41:50.960 --> 0:41:57.919 is negative, even if it's not really normal. So we'll 0:41:57.960 --> 0:42:02.719 call negative normal because it's what we know. You see this, 0:42:04.040 --> 0:42:05.879 Some of the things that I've called normal my whole 0:42:05.880 --> 0:42:10.239 life aren't normal, and this scripture shows me just the 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:13.399 full extent of it. In Jesus Christ, now let's put 0:42:13.400 --> 0:42:16.040 the gospel on this Old Testament passage. Therefore, I urge you, 0:42:16.080 --> 0:42:20.320 brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. That's not normal. 0:42:21.960 --> 0:42:25.880 That's not normal. How many of you in a relationship 0:42:26.200 --> 0:42:29.279 can just do wrong over and over and over and 0:42:29.360 --> 0:42:31.960 over and over again, and the person fully accepts you 0:42:32.719 --> 0:42:37.840 only God. So in view of that kind of mercy, 0:42:37.880 --> 0:42:40.560 and that's where we get used to things. We get 0:42:40.680 --> 0:42:43.000 used to things that we used to be grateful for, 0:42:43.160 --> 0:42:49.640 we become entitled to. But remember, for this community that 0:42:49.680 --> 0:42:53.600 Paul is writing to, none of this is normal. They're 0:42:53.680 --> 0:42:57.200 used to relating to God through a sacrificial system. So 0:42:57.239 --> 0:43:00.200 when they come before God, they have to make offerings 0:43:00.239 --> 0:43:03.520 and spill blood in order to have their prayer request heard, 0:43:04.440 --> 0:43:06.400 in order to meet with God in order to atone 0:43:06.440 --> 0:43:09.920 for sin. So this is not normal for Paul to 0:43:09.960 --> 0:43:13.920 be talking about mercy coming to God on the basis 0:43:13.960 --> 0:43:17.040 of grace. This is new, this is a new normal. 0:43:18.160 --> 0:43:20.879 And you know what their temptation was to go back 0:43:20.880 --> 0:43:24.080 to the old way. So he's telling them no, no, no, 0:43:24.080 --> 0:43:28.319 no no. In view of God's mercy, I urge you 0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:33.480 that needs you to I'm begging you to stop trying 0:43:33.600 --> 0:43:37.720 to get back to normal, stop thinking that there's something 0:43:37.760 --> 0:43:41.120 you could do to earn God's love, and realize that 0:43:41.160 --> 0:43:44.879 it's already been done through the gift of his son 0:43:45.080 --> 0:43:49.480 Jesus Christ, that the blood has already been shed. Instead 0:43:49.520 --> 0:43:53.239 of getting back to normal, moved forward into this new 0:43:53.280 --> 0:43:57.320 way of life. And instead of offering pigeons and turtle 0:43:57.360 --> 0:44:02.279 doves and lambs and goats and rams, offer your bodies 0:44:02.640 --> 0:44:06.920 as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This 0:44:07.080 --> 0:44:12.200 is your true, true You're true and proper worship. This 0:44:12.280 --> 0:44:16.520 is your new normal. Your new normal is that you 0:44:16.560 --> 0:44:22.120 are forgiven and not condemned. Your new normal is that 0:44:22.200 --> 0:44:26.000 you are a child of the Most High God. I 0:44:26.040 --> 0:44:29.440 am no ordinary child. I am a child of God. 0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:33.359 Me and Moses have acts seven twenty in common. I 0:44:33.400 --> 0:44:38.040 am no ordinary child. I am a child of God. 0:44:38.400 --> 0:44:41.600 I am a royal priesthood, I am a holy nation. 0:44:42.040 --> 0:44:44.880 I am set apart. I'm not trying to be normal. 0:44:45.120 --> 0:44:51.320 Normal is broken. Normal is broken, The culture is broken. 0:44:52.440 --> 0:44:55.800 The world is weird. And it didn't just get weird 0:44:55.840 --> 0:44:59.360 when a virus was unleashed. The world has been weird 0:44:59.560 --> 0:45:02.560 for a lot long time. I'm gonna show you in 0:45:02.600 --> 0:45:07.880 the Bible, Romans twelve to two. This is way before coronavirus. 0:45:08.000 --> 0:45:11.520 You got it. Romans twelve to two. Do not conform 0:45:11.600 --> 0:45:14.279 to the pattern of this world. Why not? Because the 0:45:14.360 --> 0:45:21.400 world is weird. Ohn't know about Christians, They're weird. You 0:45:21.440 --> 0:45:24.280 know what's you know, what's kind of cool about going 0:45:24.280 --> 0:45:29.600 through something really traumatic? What used to be weird now 0:45:29.680 --> 0:45:35.000 is the only thing that works. That's the only thing 0:45:35.040 --> 0:45:37.560 I'm excited about. I'm not excited about anybody being sick, 0:45:37.640 --> 0:45:41.000 anybody dying, anybody losing their job, anybody losing their company, 0:45:41.040 --> 0:45:43.880 anybody losing their life's work. I'm not excited about anybody 0:45:43.920 --> 0:45:46.399 having to work twenty hour days. I'm not excited about 0:45:46.440 --> 0:45:49.799 any of it. But what I am excited about is 0:45:49.840 --> 0:45:56.480 that our faith finally fits. See, the world always operates 0:45:56.480 --> 0:45:59.600 by logic, but now we've come to a red sea, 0:46:00.480 --> 0:46:02.399 and so the world is trying what is always tried 0:46:02.440 --> 0:46:06.520 ah more information ah rah, and none of it works. 0:46:07.400 --> 0:46:11.120 So now there's room to do what Romans twelve one says, 0:46:11.560 --> 0:46:15.680 and worship isn't weird anymore. It's not weird to worship now, 0:46:15.760 --> 0:46:18.359 is it? Because the only thing I can do now 0:46:18.480 --> 0:46:21.799 is call on God. People are praying right now. Who 0:46:21.880 --> 0:46:26.040 used to think that praying was superstitious? It's not weird anymore. 0:46:26.760 --> 0:46:30.160 For once, we're not the weird ones. We're not weird 0:46:30.200 --> 0:46:32.200 for just a minute. Let's just take this moment. It's 0:46:32.239 --> 0:46:34.520 like it's like we're a middle school boy who finally 0:46:34.600 --> 0:46:36.920 hit a growth spur and our voice isn't cracking, and 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:40.840 we finally fit. The church finally fits. You could send 0:46:40.840 --> 0:46:43.960 this link to somebody today and they wouldn't be annoyed 0:46:43.960 --> 0:46:47.200 that you invited them to church. They'd be excited. They 0:46:47.200 --> 0:46:50.920 are bored to death. They've got three ulcers. They've got 0:46:50.960 --> 0:46:53.920 ulcers in places where you don't even normally get ulcers. 0:46:54.280 --> 0:46:58.840 So faith finally fits. This is our moment, this is 0:46:58.920 --> 0:47:04.560 our time, this is what we were born to do. Oh, 0:47:04.560 --> 0:47:10.440 I'm born to be normal. We fit this amazing moment. 0:47:11.719 --> 0:47:17.000 Finally there's space for faith in your life as long 0:47:17.040 --> 0:47:19.080 as everything's normal, there's no space for faith. Oh I 0:47:19.080 --> 0:47:22.200 got this, I figured this out. Here's what I do. 0:47:22.920 --> 0:47:24.719 I took the kids here, and I took the kids there, 0:47:24.760 --> 0:47:26.040 and I took the kids there, and I take the 0:47:26.120 --> 0:47:29.960 kids here. The Lord said that in this season, he 0:47:30.120 --> 0:47:36.560 is helping people reset their schedule. And since you didn't 0:47:36.560 --> 0:47:43.040 want to do it manually, now as the whole thing 0:47:43.120 --> 0:47:46.200 is shut down, one of the new normals that God 0:47:46.280 --> 0:47:49.360 might bring us into is that we have a different 0:47:49.480 --> 0:47:58.279 baseline for busy or a reordering of priorities. Think about this. 0:47:59.480 --> 0:48:03.000 Many of us us worshiped soccer more than we worshiped 0:48:03.000 --> 0:48:06.680 the Savior. I know that sounds like one of those 0:48:06.680 --> 0:48:09.799 cliches I would normally do it in the country preacher voice, Oh, 0:48:09.840 --> 0:48:13.840 worship soccer more than the Savior. But it's the dang truth. 0:48:15.400 --> 0:48:17.319 And I don't have anything against soccer other than I 0:48:17.320 --> 0:48:21.920 hate it. But listen to me, Church, listen, you're listening 0:48:21.960 --> 0:48:23.960 to me right now, Sit up and listen to this. 0:48:24.480 --> 0:48:26.440 God said, I'm not trying to get you back to 0:48:26.480 --> 0:48:30.560 the normal to where you worshiped your kids' activities and 0:48:30.640 --> 0:48:33.919 left no space for me. I'm not trying to bring 0:48:33.960 --> 0:48:37.000 you back to that Egypt where you had to make 0:48:37.040 --> 0:48:41.800 bricks without straw, and you were just spending your money 0:48:41.800 --> 0:48:44.640 and spending your time and never full and holds in 0:48:44.680 --> 0:48:46.839 your purses and just running after this and running after 0:48:46.880 --> 0:48:50.759 that to impress people. So now you're going through a 0:48:50.800 --> 0:48:52.640 season where you can put on any clothes you want, 0:48:52.719 --> 0:48:58.400 nobody's gonna see them. God's reordering some priorities because Romans 0:48:58.400 --> 0:49:00.280 twelve to two. Put it back on the screen. Please 0:49:01.120 --> 0:49:03.000 I feel this message. I want another week of this 0:49:03.040 --> 0:49:10.000 next week. Thank you Jesus. Do not conform anymore to 0:49:10.080 --> 0:49:14.040 the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the 0:49:14.080 --> 0:49:17.640 renewing of your mind. Why the world was weird to 0:49:17.680 --> 0:49:23.880 begin with. It's not normal, and even the way you 0:49:23.920 --> 0:49:26.719 develop your construct of the world is important. Right. If 0:49:26.760 --> 0:49:28.880 you get your construct of what the world is like 0:49:28.920 --> 0:49:34.080 from the news, you will not know normal. The news 0:49:34.160 --> 0:49:39.600 does not make money by showing you normal. The news 0:49:39.640 --> 0:49:44.600 makes money by showing you the most extreme example to 0:49:44.680 --> 0:49:47.360 keep you watching. You think the news is there to 0:49:47.440 --> 0:49:50.799 inform you. The news is not there to inform you. 0:49:51.719 --> 0:49:54.320 The news is there to engage you, so you'll keep watching. 0:49:56.080 --> 0:49:58.439 So you're getting your construct of the world right. Now 0:49:58.480 --> 0:50:00.759 from the news, the news, the news, the news. That's 0:50:00.800 --> 0:50:05.000 not normal. I'm not telling you not to check the news. 0:50:05.000 --> 0:50:08.320 I'm telling you not to watch it. Just all the time. 0:50:08.600 --> 0:50:11.279 It's not normal. That is not normal. You know how 0:50:11.280 --> 0:50:14.600 the world has these patterns. It's like all these patterns 0:50:14.640 --> 0:50:17.400 of the world where we overextend ourselves all the time, 0:50:17.600 --> 0:50:20.200 and we do all these things to impress people. That 0:50:20.600 --> 0:50:26.880 has never been normal, that's just been culturally accepted. That 0:50:26.960 --> 0:50:32.160 doesn't make it normal. What does God call normal? That's 0:50:32.239 --> 0:50:35.279 what I want to know in this season. What does 0:50:35.320 --> 0:50:38.680 God call normal? I've told Elijah the other day, I 0:50:38.719 --> 0:50:41.440 don't care if you like sports or don't like sports, 0:50:42.120 --> 0:50:44.560 if music is your thing, because I grew up with 0:50:44.600 --> 0:50:47.400 this too. The kids who did sports were normal. The 0:50:47.480 --> 0:50:52.640 kids who liked music were weird. You know what. I'm 0:50:52.680 --> 0:50:55.160 forty and I probably can't play sports anymore either, even 0:50:55.200 --> 0:50:56.759 if I was good at them at one time. But 0:50:56.800 --> 0:50:59.640 I can still make music. So watch this. What was weird? 0:50:59.719 --> 0:51:05.040 There is making ministry happen? Now? Can I preach? Do 0:51:05.160 --> 0:51:09.439 not be conformed. That's to be acted upon by the outside. 0:51:10.120 --> 0:51:12.400 That's conform. You can make it what you want it 0:51:12.440 --> 0:51:14.719 to be. That's what the world has done to us 0:51:14.760 --> 0:51:18.560 for so long. Your faith goes here. Don't talk about 0:51:18.600 --> 0:51:22.800 your faith. Your faith is just Thus that's not normal. 0:51:23.880 --> 0:51:28.600 The world is weird. Faith is normal. Faith is the 0:51:28.640 --> 0:51:33.240 substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things 0:51:33.360 --> 0:51:37.600 not seen. And now we get it that the unseen 0:51:37.719 --> 0:51:41.000 is the most significant. I've been preaching this since the 0:51:41.000 --> 0:51:43.719 beginning of the year, but now we finally get it 0:51:44.640 --> 0:51:48.719 that what is unseen is most significant. We get it 0:51:48.760 --> 0:51:52.200 because we're fighting a virus that we can't see. So 0:51:52.239 --> 0:51:55.799 now we understand that the things which are seen were 0:51:55.800 --> 0:52:00.600 made of things which do not appear. Faith finally fits 0:52:01.160 --> 0:52:03.600 because we are standing in front of the red Sea 0:52:04.280 --> 0:52:06.800 and we no longer understand, and we can't count on 0:52:06.840 --> 0:52:08.879 the things we used to count on. And in one 0:52:08.920 --> 0:52:11.800 sense we want them back for comfort. But God cannot 0:52:11.880 --> 0:52:14.920 bring change while we hold to comfort. There is a 0:52:15.040 --> 0:52:18.560 new normal. There is a better you, a truer you, 0:52:18.880 --> 0:52:22.400 are real you. The patterns of this world are just pretend. 0:52:22.760 --> 0:52:25.760 It is not real. There is a peace that comes 0:52:25.800 --> 0:52:29.239 from above. There is a wisdom that whispers, and it 0:52:29.320 --> 0:52:32.200 doesn't show. And God said, I'm not trying to get 0:52:32.239 --> 0:52:36.279 you back to normal. I'm trying to bring you into it. 0:52:37.960 --> 0:52:41.879 I'm looking forward to normal. Somebody say it in the check. 0:52:42.080 --> 0:52:45.880 I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to God 0:52:45.960 --> 0:52:50.440 reinventing me. I'm looking forward to God increasing my capacity 0:52:50.480 --> 0:52:53.719 to connect with people for real. I'm looking forward to God. 0:52:53.760 --> 0:52:55.839 I prayed that God would help me with my gratitude. 0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:57.799 I'm looking forward to being able to put it into 0:52:57.840 --> 0:53:00.920 practice in the next season. I'm looking forward to normal, 0:53:02.040 --> 0:53:06.400 not trying to get back to it. I left Egypt 0:53:07.920 --> 0:53:10.240 not trying to conform to the pattern of this world. 0:53:11.400 --> 0:53:15.759 I want God to transform me by the renewing of 0:53:15.840 --> 0:53:20.600 my mind. And that starts with what I thought was normal. 0:53:22.800 --> 0:53:28.080 What I thought was normal wasn't normal. It's just what 0:53:28.160 --> 0:53:35.279 I knew. I'm so glad my dad wasn't normal. I 0:53:35.280 --> 0:53:39.839 mean at times I wasn't, But looking back, I got 0:53:39.840 --> 0:53:42.360 my passion to preach from the fact that he wasn't normal. 0:53:44.440 --> 0:53:47.560 I'm not trying to be normal. I found out that 0:53:47.640 --> 0:53:53.560 what the world calls normal, God calls broken. So when 0:53:53.560 --> 0:53:56.719 I pray for healing, understand I'm not just praying for 0:53:57.120 --> 0:54:00.640 bodies to be healed in the season. I'm not just 0:54:00.680 --> 0:54:05.360 talking about immune systems. I'm talking about belief systems. Do 0:54:05.360 --> 0:54:08.480 you hear this preacher? I don't know. He looks kind 0:54:08.480 --> 0:54:11.960 of wild today. I am wild today. I'm ready. I'm 0:54:12.040 --> 0:54:15.839 ready to flip this thing upside down. And what the 0:54:15.880 --> 0:54:21.560 world calls weird, God calls normal. Jesus was the only 0:54:21.640 --> 0:54:25.840 one on the boat who was normal. Everybody who was 0:54:25.880 --> 0:54:30.480 freaking out in fear, they were weird. So I pray 0:54:31.560 --> 0:54:35.920 that God would bring us into watch this a new normal. 0:54:39.560 --> 0:54:41.920 There's nothing normal about faith. There was never meant to be. 0:54:42.920 --> 0:54:47.680 There's nothing normal. There was nothing normal about a shepherd 0:54:47.719 --> 0:54:53.480 boy fighting a giant with a slingshot. You thought that 0:54:53.640 --> 0:54:56.279 was normal. What was normal was all the boys with 0:54:56.320 --> 0:54:58.320 the heavy equipment who didn't know how to do anything 0:54:58.360 --> 0:55:03.000 with it. There was nothing normal about a virgin birth. 0:55:04.400 --> 0:55:08.839 You ever had one? Did you get here that way? Well, 0:55:08.840 --> 0:55:11.200 if that's the way Jesus came into the world, what 0:55:11.480 --> 0:55:15.319 makes us think it's gonna be any different now? So 0:55:15.400 --> 0:55:17.920 when we pray for him to show up, he's not 0:55:18.000 --> 0:55:23.080 gonna show up looking normal. There's nothing normal about stretching 0:55:23.280 --> 0:55:28.040 your staff over the sea. There's nothing normal. There's nothing 0:55:28.080 --> 0:55:30.520 normal about what we're going through. Right now. There's nothing 0:55:30.520 --> 0:55:33.200 normal about the panic. There's nothing normal about the fear. 0:55:33.440 --> 0:55:36.000 There's nothing normal about the order of things. There's nothing 0:55:36.000 --> 0:55:38.080 normal about the rules. I pulled up to a red 0:55:38.120 --> 0:55:39.520 light today on the way to church, and I was like, 0:55:39.560 --> 0:55:42.480 do we still stop for these? I don't know? Is it? 0:55:43.320 --> 0:55:49.600 Maybe we don't anymore? Nothing is normal, And yet maybe 0:55:49.640 --> 0:55:53.279 God is bringing us closer to what He wanted for 0:55:53.400 --> 0:55:59.880 us all along. Maybe maybe God is resetting and revealing, resetting, revealing. 0:56:00.320 --> 0:56:03.759 Be not conformed outside into the patterns of the storld, 0:56:03.800 --> 0:56:09.120 but be transform inside out, transform inside out. Stuck in 0:56:09.160 --> 0:56:13.040 my house, but God transformed my family, Transform my mind, 0:56:13.320 --> 0:56:17.800 transform my habit. Give me new neural pathways, give teach 0:56:17.880 --> 0:56:20.400 me new wayte to trust you. I'm not trying to 0:56:20.440 --> 0:56:24.400 get back to normal. I'm moving forward into a new normal. 0:56:25.239 --> 0:56:27.920 That's what the Kingdom of God is. It's a new normal, 0:56:28.040 --> 0:56:30.719 a new way of being, a new form of humanity, 0:56:31.560 --> 0:56:36.160 a new level of faith. Do it, God, That's what 0:56:36.239 --> 0:56:40.480 faith is. It's a new normal. Blessed or the poor 0:56:40.560 --> 0:56:43.839 in spirit? Huh, that's weird. No, that's the way it is. 0:56:44.560 --> 0:56:46.520 We've just been weird for so long that we got 0:56:46.520 --> 0:56:50.000 it out of order. But God is bringing us into 0:56:50.040 --> 0:56:54.640 new normals. How long until we get back to normal? 0:56:55.960 --> 0:56:59.640 You can keep waiting all you want, or you can worship. 0:57:01.360 --> 0:57:06.839 You could keep resisting, or you can receive, not love. 0:57:06.880 --> 0:57:10.680 What God told Moses when the people were looking for 0:57:10.760 --> 0:57:14.040 someone to blame, you know how we do. Yeah, it 0:57:14.080 --> 0:57:16.040 was the bats, It was the lab It was to this, 0:57:16.240 --> 0:57:18.440 It was the that it was heard that God, we 0:57:18.480 --> 0:57:22.320 always want somebody to blame. But blaming somebody doesn't bring 0:57:22.360 --> 0:57:26.600 you into what God is taking you into. And no, 0:57:26.720 --> 0:57:29.440 sooner did they get to this uncertain place till they 0:57:29.480 --> 0:57:32.520 start to say to Moses, didn't we say to you 0:57:32.600 --> 0:57:35.800 in Egypt, leave us alone? This is verse twelve Exodus fourteen. 0:57:36.240 --> 0:57:39.080 Let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better 0:57:39.200 --> 0:57:43.200 for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in 0:57:43.240 --> 0:57:48.000 the desert. But Moses answered the people, hear the word 0:57:48.040 --> 0:57:51.400 of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord. Do 0:57:51.520 --> 0:57:56.000 not be afraid. Stand firm, and you will see the 0:57:56.080 --> 0:58:02.480 deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you 0:58:02.600 --> 0:58:09.840 see today, you will never see again. What does that mean? 0:58:10.920 --> 0:58:15.040 You're never going back to normal, You're moving into a 0:58:15.080 --> 0:58:19.920 new freedom. I minister this to you like it was 0:58:20.040 --> 0:58:22.480 just us. I love it because it can just be 0:58:22.560 --> 0:58:26.000 like we're having a conversation right now. We're not in 0:58:26.040 --> 0:58:28.040 a big crowd right now, it's just me and you, 0:58:28.280 --> 0:58:31.479 and the Lord told me to tell you you're never 0:58:31.560 --> 0:58:36.160 going back to normal. In fact, some of the stuff 0:58:36.200 --> 0:58:39.000 that you thought was normal, it wasn't really normal. It 0:58:39.080 --> 0:58:45.560 was just old. This is a season to embrace the 0:58:45.640 --> 0:58:54.720 new normal. Lord, God of our fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, 0:58:56.760 --> 0:58:59.000 the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We 0:58:59.040 --> 0:59:01.200 call on your name now because you never change and 0:59:01.240 --> 0:59:05.600 you never fail. We stand before you, not only as 0:59:05.600 --> 0:59:10.800 a nation, but as a planet, and we so crave normal. 0:59:13.360 --> 0:59:15.600 We stand before sees that we don't know how to park, 0:59:15.880 --> 0:59:18.960 holding nothing more than a stick in our hand, and 0:59:19.000 --> 0:59:22.360 our natural defenses are nothing for the principalities that we 0:59:22.440 --> 0:59:25.680 face that we cannot see. If there were only a 0:59:25.760 --> 0:59:27.840 virus that we were fighting, we could solve it on 0:59:27.920 --> 0:59:31.000 a physiological level. But God, the truth is, we need 0:59:31.040 --> 0:59:35.080 something more than that. Many of us were controlled by 0:59:35.120 --> 0:59:39.360 fear long before there was a virus to fight. Many 0:59:39.400 --> 0:59:43.480 of us were dominated by depression, way before we were quarantined. 0:59:45.360 --> 0:59:47.600 So when we've been asking you, God, make it normal again, 0:59:47.640 --> 0:59:50.520 make it normal again, get us back to Egypt, we've 0:59:50.520 --> 0:59:55.560 been really praying the wrong thing. We've been praying for familiar, 0:59:55.600 --> 1:00:01.800 but what we really want is freedom. And I pray 1:00:01.840 --> 1:00:04.840 that you would use this season in our life, as 1:00:04.880 --> 1:00:07.680 horrible as it may be, weird as it may be, 1:00:09.480 --> 1:00:16.360 to make something beautiful, creative, supernatural. Do it, God, do 1:00:16.440 --> 1:00:20.120 it for your people, Do it for every man, woman, boy, 1:00:20.160 --> 1:00:25.240 and girl. Give us a new normal. The old one 1:00:25.280 --> 1:00:32.720 wasn't really normal. It just felt familiar. We trust you Lord, 1:00:35.160 --> 1:00:39.640 not always like we want to, but we kind of 1:00:39.680 --> 1:00:44.000 feel like the Disciples did in John six. Where else 1:00:44.040 --> 1:00:47.360 are we going to go? You're our hope, You're our normal. 1:00:50.400 --> 1:00:53.320 We pray like you taught us to pray, and I 1:00:53.360 --> 1:00:56.400 want you to repeat this prayer after me, our Father, 1:00:57.480 --> 1:00:59.960 who are in heaven Hell. It would be your name, 1:01:01.000 --> 1:01:06.520 your kingdom, Come, Your will be done on earth as 1:01:06.520 --> 1:01:11.200 it is in heaven. That's what Romans twelve two says 1:01:11.280 --> 1:01:15.160 that after you have shattered the patterns of this world, 1:01:16.080 --> 1:01:18.520 you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind, 1:01:18.560 --> 1:01:22.640 and you will be able to prove what his will is, 1:01:24.160 --> 1:01:30.040 his good, pleasing and perfect will. God. I pray that 1:01:30.080 --> 1:01:34.520 you would reveal your will to people right now. We 1:01:34.560 --> 1:01:40.560 need strategy. We need you to speak. We need you 1:01:40.640 --> 1:01:45.360 to speak into the unseen places of our life. Part waters, God, 1:01:45.440 --> 1:01:48.680 do it, part the waters of worry until we can 1:01:48.720 --> 1:01:52.640 clearly see how your sovereign hand is moving through it all. 1:01:52.680 --> 1:01:56.280 We thank you Lord, What a great God you are. 1:01:58.760 --> 1:02:03.280 What an awesome cove that we have in you, that 1:02:03.360 --> 1:02:05.640 you will lead us through it. And the Egyptians that 1:02:05.680 --> 1:02:12.400 we see today, We're never going back to normal. With 1:02:12.440 --> 1:02:14.760 your head bowed and your eyes closed. Right where you are, 1:02:15.920 --> 1:02:19.800 The scripture says in tewod Corinthians five point seventeen that 1:02:19.840 --> 1:02:22.240 if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 1:02:23.080 --> 1:02:30.040 The old has gone, the new has come. I believe 1:02:30.080 --> 1:02:34.240 that today there may be somebody who needs to give 1:02:34.280 --> 1:02:37.960 your life to Jesus Christ. You've never surrendered control of 1:02:38.000 --> 1:02:41.280 your life to God, and you've heard this message today 1:02:41.280 --> 1:02:45.320 about a new normal. God wants to create a new 1:02:45.360 --> 1:02:49.920 You give you a brand new start. On the cross 1:02:50.000 --> 1:02:54.000 was nailed everything that stood against you, and when Jesus 1:02:54.120 --> 1:02:57.760 rose from the dead in his body, it was that 1:02:57.800 --> 1:03:00.840 He might raise you to life in your spirit and 1:03:00.880 --> 1:03:02.400 you never be the same. Right now, I want to 1:03:02.400 --> 1:03:05.240 pray with you. We do this every single week. This 1:03:05.320 --> 1:03:07.760 is our custom, this is our normal. But for somebody, 1:03:07.760 --> 1:03:10.880 there's nothing normal about this moment. This is your moment 1:03:11.120 --> 1:03:13.600 to come home to God, to come back to God, 1:03:13.840 --> 1:03:15.920 to come to God for the first time. Pray this 1:03:16.000 --> 1:03:20.080 prayer after me out loud, Heavenly Father. I am a 1:03:20.160 --> 1:03:24.880 sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that 1:03:25.080 --> 1:03:29.120 Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior 1:03:29.160 --> 1:03:33.439 of the world. And today I make Jesus the lord 1:03:33.480 --> 1:03:37.040 of my life. I believe he died that I would 1:03:37.080 --> 1:03:41.520 be forgiven and rose again to give me life. I 1:03:41.640 --> 1:03:47.360 receive this new life. This is my new beginning in 1:03:47.480 --> 1:03:50.400 Jesus's name. If you just pray that, I want you 1:03:50.480 --> 1:03:55.200 to type in the chat I receive Jesus. I receive Jesus. 1:03:55.840 --> 1:03:59.680 We're going to celebrate with you. Right now. We're clapping 1:03:59.720 --> 1:04:05.600 our he has angels are rejoicing. Come on. It's a 1:04:05.640 --> 1:04:13.280 new day, a new nature, a new normal. I'm looking 1:04:13.360 --> 1:04:18.720 forward to it. I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking 1:04:18.760 --> 1:04:22.240 forward to it new found freedom. I'm looking forward to it. 1:04:22.840 --> 1:04:25.880 Come on, somebody say I'm looking forward to it. I'm 1:04:25.920 --> 1:04:29.480 going to preach part two of this next weekend. Somebody say, 1:04:29.520 --> 1:04:32.360 I'm looking forward to it? Are you looking forward to it? 1:04:32.960 --> 1:04:36.560 A new normal, a new nature. I did not even 1:04:36.680 --> 1:04:39.840 get to these notes today. Do you know how many 1:04:39.920 --> 1:04:43.040 notes God gave me to talk to us about normal? 1:04:43.400 --> 1:04:47.160 Look how abnormally I wrote my notes. I couldn't get 1:04:47.200 --> 1:04:50.760 it down fast enough. I'm telling you, I'm excited about 1:04:50.800 --> 1:04:54.439 the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by 1:04:54.520 --> 1:05:00.400 the word of God. We're not normal. Is not a 1:05:00.440 --> 1:05:03.920 normal church, never have been, never will be. God deliver 1:05:04.040 --> 1:05:08.320 us from normal and bring us into new. I am 1:05:08.440 --> 1:05:13.959 so thankful for you, so thankful. I'm headed home now. 1:05:15.040 --> 1:05:16.840 The Graham's been begging me to leave the church for 1:05:16.880 --> 1:05:22.000 about three hours now, Ain't that right? Abby? Definitely right? 1:05:22.160 --> 1:05:26.080 And we can't see you. Definitely right. Hey, don't worry, 1:05:26.120 --> 1:05:30.120 Holly's driving completely safe. But I just wanted to thank you, 1:05:31.160 --> 1:05:34.400 thank you for not being a normal church. I just 1:05:34.480 --> 1:05:36.440 quoted a verse at the end of that message. Faith 1:05:36.480 --> 1:05:39.920 comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. But 1:05:39.960 --> 1:05:43.360 the verses right before that in Romans chapter ten say, 1:05:43.400 --> 1:05:46.840 how can they preach unless they're sin And it takes 1:05:46.840 --> 1:05:49.160 people like you, a family like this, to send the 1:05:49.160 --> 1:05:52.080 gospel into the world. Thank you for your giving, Thank 1:05:52.120 --> 1:05:55.160 you for sharing the gospel. Don't stop now. God is 1:05:55.200 --> 1:05:58.680 bringing us into new opportunities. Just so we're praying for you. 1:05:58.720 --> 1:06:01.400 We're here for you. Make sure you subscribe, make sure 1:06:01.400 --> 1:06:03.640 you share. I want to hear from you this week 1:06:03.680 --> 1:06:08.000 what this message means to you. And let's get ready 1:06:08.000 --> 1:06:10.480 for what God has next. Into one thing, it's not 1:06:10.520 --> 1:06:11.200 going to be normal.