Make Peace With Your Strength

0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:07.480 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:10.600 Church and this is our podcast. Be sure to subscribe 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.720 so we can get you these new sermons every week. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:23.799 I hope you're blessed today. And now, as promised, I 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.079 am going to pick up right where I left off. 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.640 Last week. We got to get Gideon out of this 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.280 wine press. We got to get you out of your 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.720 wine press too. Been whining about things, been depressed about things. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:44.199 But last week I preached when God goes in, and 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.639 we had a powerful time in God's presence, so powerful 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.839 that I only got to one of my five points. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.720 But good news for my job is every six days, 0:00:55.360 --> 0:01:00.400 another Sunday, another opportunity to help you fight whatever devil 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.520 that you've been facing. So I believe God gave me 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.039 something for you today. Let's go back to Judges six. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.640 After I read this scripture, you can be seated, but 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:11.840 not before just stand up for the word of God. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:19.160 Let's give our attention now to what he wants to speak. 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:31.800 He has a word for you. I'll read you verses 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:46.039 eleven through fourteen. For now, Verses eleven through fourteen. The 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.880 Angel of the Lord came and sat down under the 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:53.000 oak in or I always say it wrong? Can I 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.520 start the whole verse over? The Angel of the Lord 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:59.360 came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:03.320 belonged to joe Ash the abbiez right where his son 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.080 Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.000 it from the Midianites. And when the Angel of the 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:14.200 Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, the Lord is with you, 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:22.200 mighty warrior. Pardon me, my lord? Gideon replied, but if 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.560 the Lord is with us, why has all this happened 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:30.240 to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.680 told us about when they said, did not the Lord 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.360 bring us up out of Egypt? But now the Lord 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.560 has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian. 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:48.120 And the Lord turned to him and said, go in 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:54.520 the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand? 0:02:54.880 --> 0:03:02.640 Am I not sending you? And with that question, I 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.480 want to give you a title today. The subject is 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:14.040 make peace with your strength. This is what I intended 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.320 to teach you last week before the Holy Ghost blew 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.400 my notes off my pulpit and took over on my 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.440 first point. But I'm going to teach it today. God 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:30.160 helping me make peace. God said his time to make 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.560 peace with your strength. You have spent so much of 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:40.320 your life at war with your weaknesses, wishing you weren't 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.480 something that you are, wishing you are something that you're not. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:50.080 But today God wants to help you make peace with 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:57.360 your strength. Spirit of God, reconcile your people to yourself today. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.480 Use me as a vessel, a conduit, a bridge builder. 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.400 Whatever I need to be, I'm available to you. So 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:07.720 speak those words that only you can whisper to each 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.080 and every man and woman, boy and girl. I give 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:14.480 you praise for it in Jesus' name. Amen, oh subtitle. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.240 On your way down, tell your neighbor I'm going in. 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:25.680 I'm going in. We'll get back to that. We'll get 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:31.440 back to that. You want to know my vote. Gideon 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:37.120 is the greatest judge in the Book of Judges, the 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:41.040 greatest judge of all time. Do you know how they 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.360 have debates about the greatest of all time, with like 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:50.560 basketball players and guitar players and rappers and stuff like that. Well, 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.599 I got to say to me, fresh off of a 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.560 study of all the different judges, Gideon is the greatest 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.520 of all time they call that the goat. Who's the 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:05.680 goat the greatest of all time? I think Gideon is 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.920 the greatest of all time, the greatest ever to do it, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.680 the goat. And I want to speak to you a 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.040 little bit about Gideon, the young goat. Now he's the 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.680 youngest in his family, but that doesn't stop God from 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.640 using him. His family is the least in their whole clan, 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.840 but that doesn't stop God from using them. Their tribe 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.960 is the least of all the tribes, but that doesn't 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.440 stop God from using them. Are you seeing a pattern here? 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.160 Nothing stops God from using who he wants to use. 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:43.320 So Gideon is a goat, but God is getting him 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.880 ready because you're not looking much like a goat at 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.159 the moment. He's not looking like the greatest. He's not 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.719 thinking like the greatest. He's not speaking like the greatest. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:53.880 He's not moving like the greatest. He's not doing what 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.839 the greatest would do. But God is preparing him for 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:01.920 something very amazing. Not just a new house, not just 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:05.080 a new boat, not just a new car. There is 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.400 nothing wrong with any of those things that I listed, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:12.440 But for a great purpose, say this out loud. God 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:18.000 is preparing me for a great purpose. That was about 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:22.640 forty percent participation. Let's try again. God is preparing me 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.000 for a great purpose. And maybe the reason you're hesitant 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:29.400 to say that is because you don't like talking out 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.680 loud in church, and you a little bit defying and rebellious, 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.320 and you're like, you can't make me say anything. Well 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.760 I can't. That's true. But maybe the reason you had 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.280 a hard time saying it is because it doesn't feel 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:47.480 like preparation. It feels pointless. I'm trying to adopt the 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:52.120 mindset in my life more and more that everything is preparation. 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.320 If God is sovereign, and if He has a plan, 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.479 and if all things work together for the good of 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:07.440 those who love God, who are called according to His purpose, 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.920 than all things are preparation for the purpose that he 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:16.080 called me to. Because I love Him and I'm called, 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:20.960 I'm called, I am called by God. I've never been 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.880 more convinced than my life of what my calling is. 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.840 I got it down to a sentence. Now there's my 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.040 relationship with Holly as her husband. My call there is 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.920 just to be the simply amazing man that I naturally am. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.080 Every day when I wake up, let her bask in 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:39.000 the glory of that. But when it comes to what 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.560 I do with you each and every week, whether you're 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.840 part of our e fam online or our local church, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:48.080 my job. God showed me what my job is here. Yeah. 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.120 I have to make leadership decisions and be a leader. Yeah. 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.679 I have to have vision and strategy and tactical stuff. 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.040 And there are so many wonderful people who do that 0:07:56.280 --> 0:08:00.600 because my job, my priority, my focus, is to put 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:10.560 God's words in people's hearts. If it's a sermon, if 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.880 it's a snippet of a sermon, if it's a song, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.640 if it's a line in a song, I might spend 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.880 nine months trying to get the line better because I 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.120 feel like, if that thing gets in you right, oh, 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:28.920 it could be dynamite, it can be the power of God. 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.360 It is the power of God if you believe it. 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.560 And so my job is to help you hear it. 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.560 Faith comes by hearing the word of God in a 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:46.440 way that you can receive it, digest it, and do it, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:52.600 and do it and do it. This is what we 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:56.320 understand that God is always doing in our lives because 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.000 we see him do it so many times through the 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.480 characters that he raises up in scripture is that he 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:08.760 is preparing you. He sends words to prepare you, he 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.880 sends people to prepare you. But when you compare you, 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:22.960 when you compare you to others, or when you compare you. 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.920 I was thinking about this, We either compare ourselves to 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.200 people who make us feel better about where we are. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.200 At least I'm not you know, I'm not doing good, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.080 but hey, at least I'm not that bad off of 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.360 you that you can always find somebody make feel little 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.920 better or to make ourselves feel just worse about it. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.360 But in the passage that I read you, there's something 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.720 kind of weird going on, because Okay, you've got God 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:56.960 calling Gideon a warrior, and you've got Gideon who is hidden, 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:01.640 who is heroic. He's about to go on. If I 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.079 told you all the things he's about to do, you 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.000 wouldn't believe it. Looking at him right now. If you 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:11.680 memorize him by his lowest moment, you've missed the point. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:18.120 Because Gideon is not sinning in this passage. He's threshing 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:21.360 wheat in a wine press. Last week, I tried to 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:25.240 illustrate that not only is he threshing wheat, but God 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.240 is threshing him to get you to see that in 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.280 certain seasons of your life, God is allowing things to 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:40.720 be added or subtracted, given or taken away, people in 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:45.480 your life to be coming or going. But everything is 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:53.560 preparation when it passes through his hands, his hands, somebody 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:58.080 say his hands. Now the Bible says that they were 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.240 in Midian's hands, that was their enemy. And my friend 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.560 told me, this week slowed down a little bit. When 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:06.640 you're giving us this background. You act like we have 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.000 all week to study this stuff, and we don't, and 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.240 you do, so break it down. So I'm gonna break 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.120 it down. My friend said, the only thing I know 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:22.120 about Gideon is the Bibles, little Gideon's Bibles that they 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.520 hand out. I said, really, you don't know anything about 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.320 Gideon other than the Bibles. He said no. I said, 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.959 you don't even know that the Angel of the Lord 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.560 sent a word into a wine press and called him 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.280 a warrior while he was down there scared that the 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.520 swarms of Midianites were gonna come get what he planted, 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.280 so we had to hide it. You don't understand that 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.880 Gideon the Great Warrior took on the Midianites with just 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.600 three hundred men who were laughing water like dogs. You 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:53.800 don't know Gideon had that dog. Gideon had that dog. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.679 Gideon had that I'll do it with who I've got, 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.720 where I am with the God I know. You don't 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.520 know a Gideon could get up with a jar and 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.000 put a lamp in it, and break the jar and 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.120 blow a trumpet and say, we're coming for you. We're 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:12.080 three hundreds strong, but with God, we're a majority. He said, No, 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:17.720 I didn't know any of that, and especially I didn't 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.160 know that before he did any of that, he was 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:28.959 hidden in fear and hidden in a certain place within 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:33.360 his family that nobody expected him to be the one. 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.760 A word from God just came through me. For somebody. 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:45.840 You're not insignificant because you're hidden. Nobody sees me, nobody 0:12:45.880 --> 0:12:51.920 notices me, nobody appreciates me. Do not confuse your hiddenness 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:59.800 with your significance. The significance of Gideon's life and your life, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:04.080 my life, and what's happening in this season cannot be 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:09.440 discerned just by looking at us in this moment. We 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.480 have to read a little further. There's so much more 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:18.600 to the story. So when Gideon is hidden, he is 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:25.720 not sinning, but he is shrinking. The picture we get 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:31.199 of Gideon is not of a sinner, but of a survivor. 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:39.840 Are there any survivors at elevation Valentine? Not on the 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.840 front row? Y'all didn't make it through anything? Because when 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.880 I say survivor, I don't mean you had a headache 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.360 and you took two and then it went away, and 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.800 then you went to work anyway and you didn't get fired. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.560 That's not the kind of surviving I mean. I'm talking 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:03.400 about you almost lost your faith. You almost said is 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:08.240 there a God? But something like the hand of God 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:15.480 snatched you from the hand of your own doubt, something 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.160 like the hand of God. It was invisible, so you 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.960 can't exactly prove it and say, well, it was on 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.760 this date at this time. But for everybody who knows 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.400 that I was in the in the hands, in the grip, 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:33.280 in the stronghold of the feeling that I might not 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.480 make it, and something snatched me. And I can't show 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.720 you what snatched me because it wasn't a person. I 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.680 can't show you what snatched me because it wasn't just 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.080 one event. I can't show you what snatched me because 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.080 it wasn't just one date. It was the hand of God, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.160 That's what it was. It was him that snatched you 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:02.800 because he has something for you, something to do, something 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.560 to build, something to be, something to do, something to build, 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.840 something to be. I got all free, I got something 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:15.240 to do. I've created for good works, something to build, 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:19.640 I can't stay torn down, and something to be. I 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:28.480 am becoming the new creation and crime high five. Somebody 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:33.040 say I got something. I got something, something to do, 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:38.160 something to build, something to be. Don't memorize me down here. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.200 I know I look shrunk in right now, but there's 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:48.880 a good reason for that. See, I'm a survivor. I'm 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:52.240 a survivor. I'm a survivor. Saying I'm a survivor, even 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:53.440 if you have to say it under your breath because 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:54.560 you don't want the devil to hear you, because you're 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:55.920 scared if he hears you say it, he might attack 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.040 you again. But saying I'm a survivor, I'm a survivor, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.520 I'm a survivor. I'm a survivor. I'm a survivor. I'm 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.120 a survivor. My buddy who fights in the UFC, he said, 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.920 you got to survive the assault and work the cut. 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.160 I said, what does that mean? He said, there's gonna 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.680 be around every time you fight, unless you get lucky 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.360 with a spinning heel kick in the first round, where 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:19.800 it's gonna come on like a storm and the only 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:26.480 goal in that round is to survive it. But then 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:31.400 he said, there will be an opportunity to go on offense, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.280 and when you cut him, I feel my Rocky for 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.120 anointing coming on me today. I'm scared of it. I'm 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.240 really scared of it. I'm really scared of it because 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.840 if it comes on me, I might shout Drago, I 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.680 might shout Devil. I might start doing some stuff. I 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:53.840 might start swinging. Because there comes a time when survival, 0:16:56.120 --> 0:17:11.399 survival becomes selfish, when God gives you an opportunity to 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:15.320 do the good that He created you to do, and 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.240 you shrink down. Now, sometimes when we shrink, get the 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.080 picture of Gideon in the wine press, getting out of 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:29.280 the sight of his enemy, the Midianites, shrinking down in 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.520 a low place where we discovered last week there is 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.800 no wind to blow the chaff away, where the devil 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.720 pushes you down, where there is no fresh air of 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:44.400 God's spirit, where you get in a place thought patterns 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:52.840 and thought processes. That feels safe because you are a 0:17:53.240 --> 0:18:01.720 stuck survivor, a survivor who got stuck in a season 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:07.000 of survival. Now, how is that selfish? Because God did 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:12.800 not just come to get you through it. He came 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:22.399 to get it through you. Yes, yes, we need that 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.320 revelation for all of the survival sermons that we've heard 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.400 that are saying you're going to make it, which are 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.520 wonderful when you need them. But if every six days 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.160 the only word that you can receive is you're gonna 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:41.639 make it, and then six days later you're gonna make it, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.719 and then six days later you're gonna make it, and 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.159 God is getting you ready. And six days later God 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.320 is getting you ready, and six days later God is 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:57.679 getting you ready. Meanwhile, your teeth are gonna fall out 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:02.680 while you're waiting, hogd read God, Oh God, get me ready. 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:09.080 You're gonna have a back back when he finally does so, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.800 then the key becomes watch this. We can't just stay 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:20.800 here shrinking in survival forever. At some point God is 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.800 going to give you a survival word when you need it, 0:19:24.560 --> 0:19:29.639 and then he will give you a stretching word to 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:36.080 call fourth something dormant in you to call forth something 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:39.080 holy in you. If we were to put a new 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.840 Testament verse here, I would recommend for your consideration Ephesians 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:50.960 three twenty, which states, now somebody shout, Now, don't leave 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.600 that word out. It's important because it doesn't say in 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.480 three years. It doesn't say when you get out of rehab. 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.560 It doesn't say when they come back, I can start 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.719 living with you again. It doesn't say when the doctor 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.800 tells you if it's a tumor or not. It says, now, 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:13.800 unto him who is able to do, how much more, 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:21.359 immeasurably more, you got an immeasurably more anointing. But sometimes 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:29.480 we have a depressingly low view of ourselves. Keep going. 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.360 The best part of the verse is at the end, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.800 more than we ask or imagine, according to His power, 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:38.919 which we love. Oh, it's his power. Yes, it is 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:42.320 comes from him, every single time. All power comes from him, 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:46.080 all power. No more than we could unplug this sound 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.080 system and the microphone still get a signal over the camera. 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:52.000 Can I preach this word without his power working? But 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:56.439 watch where it works, Watch where it works. It is 0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:05.600 at work within us. The contrast is not only that 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:09.879 it's his power and it doesn't come from me. The 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:16.120 contrast is that it doesn't work from without, it works 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:22.600 from within. Can I go a little bit deeper with 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:27.840 this word? Oh, I'm going in. I studied too much 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.639 to preach this thing like it was third grade class. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.679 I am going to teach the Bible to three people 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.040 today who want to go into God's word and get 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.320 what he has for you so you can be what 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:41.080 he called you to be, build what he called you 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.200 to build, and do what he called you to do. 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.639 Somebody shout, go, that's the key, because you're going to 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:54.600 see this like y'all play pick a ball. God and 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:58.320 Gideon go back and forth for a moment where Gideon 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.520 doesn't know it's God. You usually don't at first. You 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:07.399 usually don't at first. Usually God first appears as something 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:12.720 that you fear. It's a ghost. Peter said, No, it's God. 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:16.920 Gideon thinks he's got an interrupt or maybe even thought 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:18.399 it was the enemy coming to get some of his 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:22.680 wik But it was an angel. And the angel starts 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:29.080 talking to Gideon, which happens every day. No, No, this 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.760 is an unusual occurrence for the word of God to 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.960 come to Gideon. There is there is a sense when 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:40.320 I read this passage. The reason I use pickleball is 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:42.439 because it's got this back and forth to it that 0:22:42.480 --> 0:22:47.320 I want to show you where Gideon is asking God 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.480 to pardon him while God is trying to empower him. 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:56.680 So God keeps human say that again. Okay, she's gonna 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:02.240 say that again. Well, I say, does anybody know I 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:04.479 was going to the next thing? You know, No, it 0:23:04.560 --> 0:23:07.639 was Gideon is saying pardon me, and God is trying 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:12.680 to empower him. Gideon, the next thing I was gonna 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:16.239 say before I got interrupted by the Holy Spirit. It's good. 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:17.520 I'm gonna tell a story about you in a minute 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:22.600 if I remember. But when Gideon is saying pardon, God's 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:26.400 trying to give him permission to get out of that, 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.840 and Gideon keeps saying pardon me. Now, the first thing 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:36.359 he does is he shrinks his view of God down 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:43.000 to his experience. He shrinks his view of God down 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:46.440 to his experience. Look at verse thirteen, pardon me Lord. 0:23:47.520 --> 0:23:50.640 But if the Lord is with us, God just said 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:54.720 he's with you. Well, if that's true, then why has 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:58.720 all this happened to us? Because he's looking to external 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:03.040 events and personal experience for his definition of who God is. 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:08.080 And that's the wrong starting place. God doesn't start with 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:12.560 your experience. He was God before you got here. He'll 0:24:12.600 --> 0:24:15.120 be God when they lay your body in the ground. 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:19.240 He'll be God when everybody's eating chicken. Five minutes after 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:23.240 they all cry that you're gone, everybody's moving on, everything 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:27.959 is coming, everything is going, And he is still God. 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:32.359 He's big, he's mighty. He's not as small as one 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:37.320 little life, one little lifespan, one little opinion, one political party, 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:41.600 one view of seeing things, one color, one ethnicity, one denomination. 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:44.159 God is bigger than any of this stuff that we 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:52.359 fight about. So watch Gideon. He's not sinning, but he 0:24:52.480 --> 0:25:00.119 is shrinking. He's shrinking. If God is with us, why 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.960 has all this You're gonna put it up? Or okay, 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:09.359 happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our 0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:12.280 ancestors told us about. Get the questions, get your list going. Okay, 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:14.159 you got your little list for God? Okay, this is 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.600 why is my daughter struggling in school? And why am 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:20.240 I always having to go down there? And why don't 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:24.480 I have a husband when you know that I am chased? Okay, 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:30.040 your words, your list. I'm just using some Bible words, 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:35.720 all right, And you know she's not And so why 0:25:35.760 --> 0:25:38.120 does she have a husband? And I don't have a husband. 0:25:38.240 --> 0:25:40.560 When I was a lady in waiting, I got three 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:44.680 promise rings, purity rings, promise rings. I am a Proverbs 0:25:44.720 --> 0:25:47.600 thirty one woman and I'm thirty one years old and 0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:52.240 I don't have a man. Why all right? So, but 0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:54.679 all of that is just experience. All of that is 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:56.560 just events. All of that is external, all of that 0:25:56.720 --> 0:25:58.439 is outside. All of that as well. I see all 0:25:58.480 --> 0:25:59.800 of that as well. I know all of that is 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.720 what I understand. So watch God kick the verse up, y'all? 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:07.200 Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about? 0:26:07.200 --> 0:26:09.440 We said, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt? 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:16.080 I love what God does here. This angel is amazing 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:19.520 verse fourteen. Now the Lord is man. I said, hand, 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:21.320 it's give him a hand of mine. Okay? Now verse fourteen. 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:28.320 And the Lord turned and said, no, he answers none 0:26:28.400 --> 0:26:36.639 of it. God's like. The reason I call it pickleball 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.439 is because Gideon is like, Okay, you are calling me 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:44.080 a mighty warrior and you're saying this about me, Then 0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:47.960 how about this thing that I struggle with, and how 0:26:48.000 --> 0:26:50.480 about that thing that I deal with? And how about 0:26:50.520 --> 0:26:52.800 the other thing that they did to us? And how 0:26:52.840 --> 0:26:54.960 about what I heard that you would do that you 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:56.720 haven't done. And that's why I'm down here in this 0:26:56.760 --> 0:27:00.720 wine press. And so you expect God right to Gideon 0:27:00.800 --> 0:27:04.800 goes why, and you expect God to go, well, you know, 0:27:05.600 --> 0:27:08.440 here's the reason. And then you expect Gideon to hit 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:11.000 it back over the net. Well, then what about And 0:27:11.040 --> 0:27:14.840 then God's like, yeah, so about that? And you expect 0:27:14.920 --> 0:27:16.800 us to go back and forth. And You're kind of 0:27:16.800 --> 0:27:19.600 waiting for this back and forth. And God's like, uh, go, 0:27:24.640 --> 0:27:29.639 because we don't have time for you to figure out 0:27:30.480 --> 0:27:34.440 and work through every single weakness that you've got some 0:27:34.520 --> 0:27:39.000 of You have taken every personality test that they sell 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:43.360 in the personality test store and department, and you are 0:27:43.400 --> 0:27:46.960 more confused than ever. And you have read every book, 0:27:47.000 --> 0:27:49.399 you have eaten, you have prayed, you have loved, you 0:27:49.480 --> 0:27:52.280 have searched, you have tested, you have Myers Briggs, you 0:27:52.320 --> 0:27:54.840 have discs, you have any of Graham. You have done 0:27:54.880 --> 0:27:57.200 it all, and those are all wonderful things. But God 0:27:57.280 --> 0:28:01.040 is like, by the time you finish the tests, the 0:28:01.160 --> 0:28:05.320 lesson will be over, and the blessing will be passed. 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:09.880 And at some point, and it might just be while 0:28:09.920 --> 0:28:16.800 Pastor Stephen is preaching today, we've got to go. We 0:28:16.960 --> 0:28:20.280 have got to go at some point. Do you know 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:22.920 how much more I could have put in this sermon 0:28:23.160 --> 0:28:26.159 if I didn't have to preach it right now? But 0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:31.560 at some point I gotta preach it. A lady got 0:28:31.600 --> 0:28:33.359 in an elevator one time at a conference. I was 0:28:33.400 --> 0:28:36.800 going to the forty thousand people at the conference. She said, hey, Stephen, 0:28:36.920 --> 0:28:39.200 are you ready? I said, what's ready got to do 0:28:39.280 --> 0:28:42.200 with it? I've never been ready to preach a day 0:28:42.200 --> 0:28:46.000 in my life. If I'm about to have the microphone, 0:28:46.240 --> 0:28:49.760 So I guess, yeah, pray for me. Whatever kind of 0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:51.960 prayers you do, praying for me, this one, the one 0:28:52.000 --> 0:28:53.680 in tongues. Any Oh, I'll take all of them. I'll 0:28:53.720 --> 0:29:02.440 take every single prayer. So we at a restaurant Friday, 0:29:02.720 --> 0:29:05.400 and the lady was so nice to us. It was 0:29:05.440 --> 0:29:11.000 the restaurant that the Jonas family owns. What's it called Nellie's. 0:29:11.720 --> 0:29:14.880 It was good, but the server was really nice. She 0:29:15.040 --> 0:29:18.000 came over and she's I think she listens to our 0:29:18.280 --> 0:29:19.960 I know she listens to our messages, and so she 0:29:20.080 --> 0:29:23.400 was extra nice and I tipped her extra big. So 0:29:23.520 --> 0:29:25.680 if you're a server and you go to this church, 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:27.400 tell me and I do a little, you know, let 0:29:27.440 --> 0:29:29.960 me take it up alot. We could do it. Just 0:29:30.080 --> 0:29:32.320 keep the diet coke coming and don't judge me by 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:35.760 how many I'd drink, and I'll take care of you. Now. 0:29:37.080 --> 0:29:39.000 I could drink a lot worse things than diet coke. 0:29:39.120 --> 0:29:43.720 I think you know what I'm talking about. Na. The 0:29:43.800 --> 0:29:46.640 lady is like, do you have any questions about the menu? 0:29:47.720 --> 0:29:56.440 And I'm like, she does. Holly loves menus. I just 0:29:56.600 --> 0:30:04.560 love full. It's not that deep. Does it have onions? 0:30:05.920 --> 0:30:11.040 If no, bring it to me, that's all. If it 0:30:11.080 --> 0:30:13.880 doesn't have carbs and it doesn't have onions, bring it 0:30:13.920 --> 0:30:17.040 to me. But not Holly, not my Holly, Oh not 0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:20.000 my Holly. So she said, do y'all have any questions? 0:30:20.080 --> 0:30:27.440 I'm like, go ahead, babe. Have had her looking at 0:30:27.440 --> 0:30:30.240 Stephanie like you asked for this. Just remember you asked 0:30:30.240 --> 0:30:35.560 for this. So then the whole quiz started, the whole test, 0:30:35.680 --> 0:30:41.560 the whole final exam started, like we are buying a ranch. 0:30:44.320 --> 0:30:48.840 So the meat loaf. What's the meat loaf like? And 0:30:48.920 --> 0:30:50.720 I'm so bored because I didn't bring my phone because 0:30:50.720 --> 0:30:53.040 I was trying to be focused on our day together. 0:30:53.560 --> 0:30:55.160 I wish I had my phone. I took her phone, 0:30:55.640 --> 0:31:00.920 start playing with her phone. Then after after I guess 0:31:00.920 --> 0:31:03.680 it was only about ninety seconds, but it felt like 0:31:03.960 --> 0:31:07.040 longer because I'm hungry. And she said, now they're talking 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:11.400 about the dumplings and the diameter of the dumplings. And 0:31:11.440 --> 0:31:13.960 I'm like, hey, but think I think I think we 0:31:14.120 --> 0:31:16.560 I think you know enough to get go on, move 0:31:16.600 --> 0:31:18.160 far with this, linch. You think we can go ahead 0:31:18.160 --> 0:31:19.800 and do it now? We can go in order. Now, Stephanie, 0:31:19.840 --> 0:31:23.320 we're good. She's got gut enough information. And Stephanie goes, no, no, 0:31:23.320 --> 0:31:28.200 I don't mind. I don't mind. And I said, none 0:31:28.200 --> 0:31:33.400 of Stephanie, you don't understand. This could go on a 0:31:33.800 --> 0:31:38.800 long time. I know this woman. This could go on 0:31:39.760 --> 0:31:43.600 and on. When does your shift in, Stephanie? This could 0:31:43.680 --> 0:31:47.640 be she loves menus. If we do this, you know, 0:31:47.880 --> 0:31:51.000 what about the dumplings? What about the meat loaf? What 0:31:51.160 --> 0:31:55.000 about the other stuff? About those dumplings again, are they 0:31:55.040 --> 0:32:00.000 like dumpling dumplings or dumpling dumplings, Like, because dumpling dumplings? 0:32:00.040 --> 0:32:04.120 Are they chewy chewy? Or are they? We gotta ee. 0:32:04.960 --> 0:32:07.560 I don't have a phone. I'm a dopamine addict. And 0:32:07.600 --> 0:32:13.240 there's nothing interesting on your text messages. I've looked. Let's 0:32:13.240 --> 0:32:18.080 just do it. I feel like God, God is saying, 0:32:18.720 --> 0:32:25.120 get in. We could do this all day. I could 0:32:25.160 --> 0:32:29.520 give you twenty reasons why you're struggling. What good would 0:32:29.560 --> 0:32:34.120 it do? Just an endless awareness of your weakness. That's 0:32:34.160 --> 0:32:38.720 what God saved you for. Just an endless awareness of 0:32:38.760 --> 0:32:41.800 who hurt you. Well, they hurt me, and they wounded me, 0:32:41.920 --> 0:32:43.920 and they hurt me, and I have church hurt, and 0:32:43.960 --> 0:32:46.360 I have job hurt, and I have marriage hurt, and 0:32:46.400 --> 0:32:49.080 I have relationship hurt. And I got burned over here 0:32:49.120 --> 0:32:52.040 and burned over there, and burned over here and burned 0:32:52.080 --> 0:32:54.800 over there. And God's like, that's cool. I'm fire. Let's 0:32:54.840 --> 0:33:01.840 burn different Noweah. Yeah, if the fire shows up, I say, 0:33:01.920 --> 0:33:05.760 fight fire with fire. If you got burned, let's call 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:10.000 on the God who answers bought fire. I feel fire. 0:33:10.400 --> 0:33:17.560 I feel fire falling from heaving fresh strike. Now, yes, Lord, 0:33:20.080 --> 0:33:25.560 God says, I'm going in right now to the strength 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:28.880 that you have. Now, this is a word for a 0:33:29.000 --> 0:33:32.880 person who you've been going back and forth in your mind, 0:33:33.240 --> 0:33:35.280 back and forth. Well, if I do that, then they 0:33:35.360 --> 0:33:36.960 might say that. And if I go there, then they 0:33:37.040 --> 0:33:39.240 might do this. And if I go there, it is 0:33:39.280 --> 0:33:46.720 the pickleball game from hell. And you're hungry, and meanwhile 0:33:46.760 --> 0:33:48.800 God is like, would you like me to bring you 0:33:48.880 --> 0:33:50.840 something off the menu so I can show you who 0:33:50.880 --> 0:33:52.760 I am and what you have? Or you just want 0:33:52.760 --> 0:33:59.960 to go back and forth like this. I thought about 0:34:00.120 --> 0:34:03.720 bringing out a pickleball paddle and tell you to give 0:34:03.720 --> 0:34:09.759 it back to God, like, man, whatever, whatever it is, 0:34:09.920 --> 0:34:12.920 it is what it is, and let's do what we 0:34:13.360 --> 0:34:15.200 can do with what it is because we know who 0:34:15.200 --> 0:34:18.640 God is. Which is actually the turning point of the passage, 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:20.879 if you want to know truth about it, it's when 0:34:20.880 --> 0:34:24.600 God says, go in the strength that you have. Say that, 0:34:24.719 --> 0:34:29.960 go in the strength that you have. Let's get that 0:34:30.040 --> 0:34:32.360 verse on the screen. Get it real deep in your spirit. 0:34:32.880 --> 0:34:37.760 When you don't feel strong, when you don't feel kind, 0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:42.800 when you don't feel backed, when you don't feel endorsed, 0:34:43.080 --> 0:34:47.400 when you don't feel important, when you don't feel significant, 0:34:47.600 --> 0:34:50.319 when you don't feel like turning off the thing and 0:34:50.360 --> 0:34:53.839 not snoozing it the seventh time. Snooze at six and 0:34:54.000 --> 0:34:57.799 get up and go with the sleep that you have. 0:34:58.239 --> 0:35:01.800 Can we all stop saying tie as our primary identification 0:35:01.920 --> 0:35:08.319 of what we are. I wonder what God feels, who 0:35:08.320 --> 0:35:10.520 never sleeps, norse slumbers when we take his name. I 0:35:10.560 --> 0:35:14.920 am and put tired after it all the time. I mean, 0:35:14.960 --> 0:35:19.319 I'll take a nap whatever, or I won't. But is 0:35:19.320 --> 0:35:21.640 this really gonna be my primary identity in life? How 0:35:21.680 --> 0:35:28.560 are you just tired? Man? Wow? I gotta take charge 0:35:28.600 --> 0:35:32.040 of some things on the inside of me, starting with 0:35:32.080 --> 0:35:36.600 what I say, Starting with what I say, and say 0:35:36.680 --> 0:35:41.360 things that make me feel stronger. I'm collecting little mantras. 0:35:41.400 --> 0:35:43.200 I'm gonna put a lot of them in a book 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:45.799 that I'm working on that you can get in your 0:35:45.880 --> 0:35:48.920 spirit and say things like He's in it with me, 0:35:48.960 --> 0:35:51.239 working through me, fighting for me. That started as a 0:35:51.280 --> 0:35:53.480 mantra that I told myself driving up to church, didn't 0:35:53.480 --> 0:35:57.520 start as a song, became a song. You know what, 0:35:57.560 --> 0:36:02.080 that's a weird thing. For years years of my life, 0:36:02.160 --> 0:36:07.759 I resisted the gifts that I had been given. I 0:36:07.800 --> 0:36:10.080 didn't know that's what I was doing. I thought I 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:15.239 was being self aware, right, which is a very good 0:36:15.320 --> 0:36:20.239 thing to be, by the way, But if self awareness 0:36:20.440 --> 0:36:27.280 doesn't lead to spirit dependence, it has its limits. Self 0:36:27.320 --> 0:36:30.160 awareness is meant to get you to the place not 0:36:30.320 --> 0:36:34.879 only of being at war with your weaknesses, but being 0:36:34.920 --> 0:36:39.560 aware of your strengths. For many years, when I went 0:36:39.600 --> 0:36:42.960 into a songwriting situation, I would think I'm a preacher, 0:36:43.280 --> 0:36:47.080 not a songwriter. The reason I probably felt that way 0:36:47.560 --> 0:36:51.480 is because, over the course of giving up things to 0:36:51.560 --> 0:36:55.840 God that he had given me, I felt like maybe 0:36:55.880 --> 0:36:58.279 in preaching I was giving up this love that I 0:36:58.320 --> 0:37:02.280 had for music. I never will forget Israel Holton's standing 0:37:02.400 --> 0:37:05.799 on a sidewalk in Sydney, Australia telling another pastor what 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:09.520 an anointed songwriter I was, You know, I say I am. 0:37:11.120 --> 0:37:14.520 I wasn't being false humble. I literally didn't feel like 0:37:14.560 --> 0:37:17.799 I was one. In fact, it was reinforced by the 0:37:17.840 --> 0:37:19.920 fact that a lot of people would tell me I 0:37:19.960 --> 0:37:21.919 heard you just put your names on the songs because 0:37:21.920 --> 0:37:24.920 you're the pastor and you don't really write them. So 0:37:25.040 --> 0:37:28.279 now I got a couple things going on. One is 0:37:28.360 --> 0:37:35.399 people God love them. You know how easy ministry would 0:37:35.400 --> 0:37:41.200 be if people weren't in it. I'm kidding. I love people, 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:46.040 But it gets in you, doesn't it. You ever have 0:37:46.160 --> 0:37:49.640 something to get in you that you believe about yourself, 0:37:51.080 --> 0:37:54.520 especially now man not only on songwriting, but if I 0:37:54.520 --> 0:37:57.160 could just share with you honestly, there's a lot of 0:37:57.200 --> 0:37:59.879 fear for everybody who is a public figure these days, 0:38:01.040 --> 0:38:03.520 with cancel culture and the way that things get clipped, 0:38:03.600 --> 0:38:06.959 taken out of context, abuse be rated, and nobody even 0:38:07.000 --> 0:38:09.440 bothers to read the story. They look at a headline, 0:38:09.719 --> 0:38:12.600 or they hear a headline that was passed on to 0:38:12.640 --> 0:38:16.200 them by someone else. They put that headline in their 0:38:16.239 --> 0:38:18.640 heart and they define you by something that they heard 0:38:18.719 --> 0:38:23.880 that somebody else didn't even read. They skimmed and for 0:38:23.920 --> 0:38:27.799 a couple of years, the last few years, it has 0:38:27.840 --> 0:38:32.799 been a wrestling match for me. On one hand, I 0:38:32.840 --> 0:38:37.040 want to spread the gospel, put God's words in people's hearts. 0:38:37.680 --> 0:38:40.840 On the other hand, I find myself wanting to shrink 0:38:43.320 --> 0:38:48.440 because when you talk into a microphone for people, you 0:38:48.560 --> 0:38:51.560 become a target. Every word you say, every syllable. Look 0:38:51.600 --> 0:38:54.040 how he mispronounced that, Oh look how he said that? 0:38:54.280 --> 0:38:56.399 And it doesn't even have to be what you really said, 0:38:56.400 --> 0:38:58.280 because they don't have to take the ten seconds before 0:38:58.280 --> 0:39:00.640 you said it. They can chop it, drop it, and 0:39:00.760 --> 0:39:03.040 drop it, and then the next thing you know, people 0:39:03.040 --> 0:39:05.799 will say, oh, well, you know he's a this or 0:39:05.800 --> 0:39:07.520 he's a that, or she's a this or she's that. 0:39:07.760 --> 0:39:09.640 It's just a real thing. Now you deal with it 0:39:09.680 --> 0:39:11.400 on your own level. I deal with it on my 0:39:11.400 --> 0:39:14.040 own level, but sometimes it makes me want to go 0:39:15.840 --> 0:39:18.000 Maybe I don't even want these sermons to go online. 0:39:19.760 --> 0:39:21.640 I drove by this little Baptist church one time. I 0:39:21.680 --> 0:39:23.040 was like, I think I'm gonna just go over there 0:39:23.080 --> 0:39:24.960 and preach and not tell anybody I'm preaching, so I 0:39:24.960 --> 0:39:26.880 can still help people, but I don't put it online. 0:39:27.040 --> 0:39:30.600 I'm gonna make sure there's no internet connection, collect everybody's 0:39:30.600 --> 0:39:32.640 phones at the door, and just preach like it's nineteen 0:39:32.760 --> 0:39:40.520 thirty seven. And that fear is real. Man. That probably 0:39:40.560 --> 0:39:43.160 happens to you in some way where you feel like, oh, 0:39:43.200 --> 0:39:48.319 I feel like if I really step forward with me 0:39:48.640 --> 0:39:50.920 to be who I believe God is calling me to be, 0:39:51.360 --> 0:39:53.760 I feel like I'm probably gonna get like either attacked 0:39:53.800 --> 0:40:00.880 or misunderstood or criticized, or I might fail to stay safe. 0:40:03.040 --> 0:40:05.560 I shrink this day safe. So I feel like the 0:40:05.560 --> 0:40:07.319 Lord will say, tell me to say something, but I'm 0:40:07.360 --> 0:40:09.719 not gonna say it because what if it comes out 0:40:09.719 --> 0:40:11.600 the wrong way. What if it comes out the right 0:40:11.640 --> 0:40:13.920 way and somebody takes it the wrong way. Well if 0:40:13.920 --> 0:40:15.320 it comes out the right way and somebody takes it 0:40:15.360 --> 0:40:16.759 the right way, but twist it the wrong way because 0:40:16.760 --> 0:40:25.280 they don't like me. We could do this all day, Stephanie. 0:40:25.800 --> 0:40:30.719 But there comes a time when God gives a word, 0:40:32.200 --> 0:40:34.480 and the word is did you just say, come on, verdict, 0:40:35.160 --> 0:40:39.600 call me by my last name? What's wrong with you? 0:40:39.640 --> 0:40:45.560 What if this is a turning word for you today 0:40:46.440 --> 0:40:50.840 that God is saying the answer is not for you 0:40:50.960 --> 0:40:56.400 to shrink yourself. It is to depend on Him and 0:40:56.760 --> 0:41:04.000 step into it. Now. I see you shrinking, and you 0:41:04.040 --> 0:41:07.239 have your reasons. You don't have a college education. I 0:41:07.320 --> 0:41:10.120 see you shrinking, and you have your reasons. You don't 0:41:10.160 --> 0:41:13.240 have a support system in your life. I see you shrinking, 0:41:13.440 --> 0:41:16.799 and you have your reasons. The business fail and you're embarrassed. 0:41:17.200 --> 0:41:19.920 I see you shrinking, and you have your reasons. The 0:41:20.000 --> 0:41:22.840 addiction really has its clause in you. You feel like 0:41:22.880 --> 0:41:25.560 you're in the hand of Midian. I see you shrinking, 0:41:25.800 --> 0:41:28.719 and you have your reasons. You have been diagnosed with 0:41:28.840 --> 0:41:30.960 something that you don't know if you're going to live 0:41:31.040 --> 0:41:34.160 or die in this body. I see you shrinking, and 0:41:34.239 --> 0:41:37.240 you have your reasons. You're really worried about your kids. 0:41:37.719 --> 0:41:41.879 So now life is just survival. And you're stuck here 0:41:42.200 --> 0:41:45.399 and you can't move here, and you feel like if 0:41:45.440 --> 0:41:48.080 I shrink, I'll be safe. And if I'm not safe, 0:41:48.120 --> 0:41:51.439 at least I feel safe. Because see when I take 0:41:51.480 --> 0:41:55.080 these pills, I feel safe. I'm not really safe, but 0:41:55.200 --> 0:41:57.440 I feel safe. I'm not talking about medication that a 0:41:57.480 --> 0:42:00.760 doctor prescribed you. I'm talking about when you get in something, 0:42:01.000 --> 0:42:05.000 when you shrink yourself down to stuff that God is 0:42:05.040 --> 0:42:09.399 setting you free from. You're shrinking to feel safe. But 0:42:09.440 --> 0:42:11.399 the Lord told me something, and I want to give 0:42:11.440 --> 0:42:15.600 it to you. God said, you keep shrinking, thinking that 0:42:15.719 --> 0:42:18.880 it'll make you safe. But the answer to your fear 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:23.399 is not to shrink yourself down. The answer to your 0:42:23.440 --> 0:42:27.400 fear is not to shrink yourself. The answer is to 0:42:27.400 --> 0:42:35.680 get moving. When they do security training, touch somebody say 0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:37.160 get moving, get move, and get move and get moving. 0:42:37.560 --> 0:42:41.279 Because when they do security training, they teach you. The 0:42:41.320 --> 0:42:45.960 worst thing you can be is a sitting target. You 0:42:46.160 --> 0:42:50.200 have got to get moving in this season of your 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:53.239 life and not just sit in the thoughts of what 0:42:53.360 --> 0:42:57.440 could go wrong. We could do this all day. I 0:42:57.480 --> 0:42:59.360 can give you a list of ten more things to 0:42:59.400 --> 0:43:01.120 be scared of, but you don't even know to be 0:43:01.200 --> 0:43:06.279 scared of. We can do this all day, or you 0:43:06.360 --> 0:43:14.120 can go in the string that you have now. The 0:43:14.160 --> 0:43:16.880 problem is that doesn't feel like a lot right now. 0:43:17.400 --> 0:43:20.200 The wisdom you have doesn't feel like a lot right now, 0:43:20.800 --> 0:43:23.160 and there are some facts to back that up. So 0:43:23.320 --> 0:43:25.800 now I just want to stay shun But the problem 0:43:25.880 --> 0:43:29.080 is you are a sitting duck for the devil down there. 0:43:30.239 --> 0:43:34.200 You're not serving anybody. You're not encouraging anybody. Some of 0:43:34.239 --> 0:43:37.640 you quick giving because you started watching the news. Are 0:43:37.719 --> 0:43:42.720 you crazy? It's called currency. I've got to generate something 0:43:43.080 --> 0:43:47.280 through my giving so I can receive something as I'm wait. 0:43:51.640 --> 0:43:57.040 You gonna sit down there and die down there? Get 0:43:57.680 --> 0:44:03.120 going in the string you have. Gideon has a dilemma. 0:44:03.400 --> 0:44:06.640 He's in a real pickle. He's down low. God is 0:44:06.680 --> 0:44:10.040 calling him up high. He's down low. God is saying 0:44:10.080 --> 0:44:12.799 you're a mighty warrior. Now here's the word of the 0:44:12.800 --> 0:44:18.759 Lord for you. You might be. You might be think 0:44:18.760 --> 0:44:22.719 about that. You might be in a hard place. You 0:44:22.840 --> 0:44:27.360 might be alone, living by yourself. You might be in 0:44:27.440 --> 0:44:31.240 a very difficult dilemma. You might be in a situation 0:44:31.320 --> 0:44:36.320 where the odds are against you. But you are still 0:44:37.320 --> 0:44:43.480 a mighty warrior. If God is within you, he is 0:44:43.640 --> 0:44:51.000 more than anything that is against you. Go in the 0:44:51.040 --> 0:44:56.560 strength that you have, and the strength that you have 0:44:57.440 --> 0:45:01.520 will become the strength that you need for what is next. 0:45:02.680 --> 0:45:05.799 If I am prophesying this word for you, put it 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:08.960 in the chat. It's for me. I need to get moving. 0:45:09.239 --> 0:45:12.080 It's for me. I need to get step in It's 0:45:12.160 --> 0:45:14.759 for me. I need to get back in it. I 0:45:14.800 --> 0:45:17.399 need to step back into it. I need to get 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:21.440 out of this place of feeling sorry for myself. I 0:45:21.480 --> 0:45:24.359 need to get out of why and step into what 0:45:24.560 --> 0:45:32.400 God called me to be. He's able according to his power. 0:45:34.080 --> 0:45:36.520 This fellow named Trenton, I hope he's there right now. 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:39.360 Wrote me this week and he serves at Lake Norman 0:45:39.719 --> 0:45:43.120 on a week he serves. You know, Trenton sent me 0:45:43.160 --> 0:45:45.520 a text. What meant the most to me is where 0:45:45.520 --> 0:45:49.960 he sent it from sitting in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy. 0:45:51.040 --> 0:45:55.240 He said, thank you, Pastor Stephen for preaching about Gideon, 0:45:55.960 --> 0:45:59.040 and thank you for the song more than Abel because 0:45:59.040 --> 0:46:03.960 it means a lot to me because I'm disabled and God, 0:46:04.120 --> 0:46:07.440 God started speaking to me, he said. And God started 0:46:07.480 --> 0:46:12.439 speaking to me that I'm disabled. But when you said 0:46:12.520 --> 0:46:17.400 go in the strength you have, and I'm sitting in 0:46:17.440 --> 0:46:22.680 this wheelchair listening to that word, I realize if you 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:28.520 take disabled and put go in front of it, help 0:46:28.560 --> 0:46:33.280 me preach this, Treton. If you take disabled and put 0:46:33.560 --> 0:46:38.520 go in front of it, what does this smell? I said, what? Trenton? 0:46:38.840 --> 0:46:44.160 He said, God is able. I declare it where you're at. 0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:47.160 I declare it over your life. God is abled. I 0:46:47.360 --> 0:46:50.680 declare it over your life. God is abled. I declare 0:46:50.719 --> 0:46:54.399 it over your paralysis. God is abl I can declare it. 0:46:54.520 --> 0:46:57.800 I declare it. I declare it. I declare it, I 0:46:58.000 --> 0:47:11.920 decree it. I establish it now unto him. So thank 0:47:11.960 --> 0:47:14.759 you Trending for that truth. If you can say it 0:47:14.800 --> 0:47:18.120 from a wheelchair, I can say it in my weakness too. 0:47:18.520 --> 0:47:21.840 If you can smile in that wheelchair, I can smile 0:47:21.920 --> 0:47:31.080 through my storm too. The problem is not what you have. 0:47:31.880 --> 0:47:36.120 It's what you don't know about what you have. You 0:47:36.200 --> 0:47:38.000 won't know what it is if you don't go in it. 0:47:38.080 --> 0:47:40.760 I promise you that, I promise you that, I promise 0:47:40.800 --> 0:47:44.280 you you will always You have not yet made peace 0:47:45.160 --> 0:47:48.759 with the strength God has given you, because you're not 0:47:48.840 --> 0:47:53.400 yet good with what He didn't give you. And we 0:47:53.440 --> 0:47:57.520 could do this all day, all day long. You could 0:47:57.520 --> 0:48:03.239 wish that you were taller. I never seen anybody grow 0:48:03.320 --> 0:48:09.680 us in a meter all day long wishing they had 0:48:09.680 --> 0:48:14.200 stayed with you. They didn't, and they're only pretending to 0:48:14.239 --> 0:48:15.920 be happy in those pictures you see on Facebook. They 0:48:15.960 --> 0:48:17.960 miss you a lot. Okay, she's giving me a little 0:48:18.360 --> 0:48:21.799 spiritual hug there. You can wish this stuff all day. 0:48:21.840 --> 0:48:24.960 We could do this all day, Stephanie. We can do 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:27.920 this all day. Tom we can do this all day. 0:48:27.960 --> 0:48:32.719 Get in, or you can go with what I gave 0:48:32.760 --> 0:48:38.120 you and go in the strength you have. Somebody say it, 0:48:38.120 --> 0:48:41.440 I'm going in. I don't know what day had happened, 0:48:41.440 --> 0:48:42.680 I don't know what we could happen. I don't know 0:48:42.680 --> 0:48:45.080 what month had happened. But at some point I came 0:48:45.120 --> 0:48:48.800 to this in my spirit that as I preach God's 0:48:48.800 --> 0:48:50.400 word and teach God's word and put God's word in 0:48:50.440 --> 0:48:54.279 people's hearts. There may come a day where I fail. 0:48:55.600 --> 0:48:58.640 I'm sure I've already had many of those days where 0:48:58.640 --> 0:49:02.480 I failed. I will have them anymore. I don't know 0:49:02.520 --> 0:49:04.680 the future of my life anymore than you know the 0:49:04.680 --> 0:49:07.880 future of your life. I don't know the future of 0:49:07.920 --> 0:49:11.360 this church anymore than you know the future of you 0:49:11.400 --> 0:49:14.080 ain't even decided where you're going to lunch yet today. Okay, 0:49:14.200 --> 0:49:16.000 so let's don't pretend like you got it all mapped 0:49:16.000 --> 0:49:19.000 out either. What's the ten year plan for the minute? 0:49:19.000 --> 0:49:20.960 What's your ten minute plan? Let's talk about your ten 0:49:20.960 --> 0:49:29.200 minute plan. So God gave me a thought, and I 0:49:29.239 --> 0:49:36.520 say it a lot. It may, but I won't And 0:49:36.640 --> 0:49:40.360 specifically it goes like this. It may end in failure. 0:49:41.080 --> 0:49:44.560 I can't control that, but I will not live in fear. 0:49:48.160 --> 0:49:51.840 I don't know who this is for, but the Lord 0:49:51.880 --> 0:49:53.640 released me to share that with you. And that is 0:49:53.680 --> 0:49:57.759 from my own personal wine press. That's from the grapes 0:49:58.120 --> 0:50:00.840 of my own heart. That God has had to stump 0:50:00.880 --> 0:50:03.960 out a whole lot of insecurity to get me to 0:50:04.040 --> 0:50:06.480 a place where I can tell you you need to 0:50:06.480 --> 0:50:10.360 make a decision, Gideon, are you gonna live in fear? 0:50:11.480 --> 0:50:14.080 And I just decided, I'm gonna have moments of fear. 0:50:14.080 --> 0:50:16.839 I'm gonna have days of fear. I'm gonna sometimes draw back, 0:50:17.400 --> 0:50:21.640 but I am not gonna live in it. I'm going in. 0:50:23.280 --> 0:50:28.920 I'm going in. I told Holly, I'm going to write 0:50:28.960 --> 0:50:30.480 a song today. She said, I hope you get something good. 0:50:30.480 --> 0:50:31.560 I said, well, I don't know if I will, but 0:50:31.560 --> 0:50:35.160 I know I want. If I don't go, let me 0:50:35.160 --> 0:50:37.000 give you a success rate on seeds that are not 0:50:37.080 --> 0:50:44.840 sown zero percent, one hundred percent mortality rate on unsown seeds. 0:50:45.800 --> 0:50:49.279 So I'm going in, but we don't. We don't go in. 0:50:50.719 --> 0:50:54.719 Watch what Gideon did. God said, go in the strength 0:50:55.280 --> 0:51:00.000 you have, and Gideon says something else Verse fifteen. He said, 0:51:00.760 --> 0:51:06.120 pardon me, We're still doing this. We could do this 0:51:06.160 --> 0:51:09.040 all day. You can make excuses all day. You can 0:51:09.080 --> 0:51:11.400 list reasons all day. You can talk about why you 0:51:11.440 --> 0:51:14.360 won't forgive all day. It'll make a wonderful book. Write it, 0:51:14.440 --> 0:51:18.160 sell it. I'll buy it. But at some point, at 0:51:18.160 --> 0:51:21.080 some point, you got to receive the power and make 0:51:21.160 --> 0:51:24.239 peace with the power that God has put inside of you. 0:51:25.120 --> 0:51:27.479 Because God is trying to give you permission to live again, 0:51:28.360 --> 0:51:31.759 to love again, to breathe again, to open your heart again, 0:51:31.880 --> 0:51:35.200 to trust again, to move again, to flow again, to 0:51:35.239 --> 0:51:38.040 see him move a mountain again, to walk through an 0:51:38.040 --> 0:51:41.600 open door, to believe him for better days ahead, to 0:51:41.600 --> 0:51:43.359 tell the devil that he's a liar. And I will 0:51:43.400 --> 0:51:45.839 not live in this wine press. I will not live 0:51:45.840 --> 0:51:48.720 in the wine press of why me? And why it didn't? 0:51:50.840 --> 0:51:53.799 But it's so amazing how he kept going back to 0:51:53.840 --> 0:51:58.360 this thing about what's happening outside. Pardon me, Gideon replied 0:51:58.440 --> 0:52:01.200 verse fifteen. But if the Lord is with us, why 0:52:01.239 --> 0:52:03.600 has all this happened to us? And then the Lord said, 0:52:03.640 --> 0:52:06.320 go in the strength that you have and save Israel 0:52:06.520 --> 0:52:09.520 out of Midian's hand? Am I not sending you God's 0:52:09.560 --> 0:52:14.240 like I? I thought it was me that you trusted, 0:52:15.200 --> 0:52:17.840 not them. And then Gideon says versus the pardon me. 0:52:18.080 --> 0:52:20.640 But how can I wait? Wait, wait, wait, how can 0:52:20.719 --> 0:52:23.520 I say this reel? My plan is the weakest in Manassa, 0:52:23.560 --> 0:52:27.560 and I am the least in my family. This is 0:52:27.600 --> 0:52:34.000 the wrong I am? God said? Am I not strong 0:52:34.120 --> 0:52:39.000 enough to do it? Am I not able? Am I 0:52:39.080 --> 0:52:44.719 not enough? Am I? Not God. Gideon's like, yeah, but 0:52:44.760 --> 0:52:52.080 I am we Gideon. We can do this seven more years, 0:52:53.520 --> 0:52:58.200 or you can get up right now and go in. 0:52:59.640 --> 0:53:03.600 I'm going in. You gotta go in. Watch what happened. 0:53:03.600 --> 0:53:05.799 The Lord answered verse sixteen, I will be with you 0:53:05.880 --> 0:53:08.400 and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive. 0:53:08.400 --> 0:53:11.279 And Gideon replied, if now I have found favor in 0:53:11.320 --> 0:53:16.400 your eyes, give me a sign. Oh, come on, like 0:53:16.440 --> 0:53:19.719 you wouldn't need one too. Some of y'all need to 0:53:19.840 --> 0:53:22.359 sign to join an e group. He was taken down 0:53:22.400 --> 0:53:25.400 a nation. Let's give it up for Gideon. At least 0:53:25.400 --> 0:53:31.040 he was honest. Oh Gideon, I get it. I get it. 0:53:31.160 --> 0:53:33.400 I need a sign too. Angels don't show up and 0:53:33.440 --> 0:53:35.640 talk to me every day. Bro, I would need to 0:53:35.719 --> 0:53:38.480 know too before I'm gonna do this. Show me this 0:53:38.719 --> 0:53:43.240 use So watch what Gideon did. He said, please verse eighteen, 0:53:43.880 --> 0:53:47.440 do not go away until I come back and bring 0:53:47.800 --> 0:53:53.040 my offering and set it before you. And the Lord said, 0:53:53.640 --> 0:54:00.600 I will wait until you return. What a word? God said, 0:54:00.719 --> 0:54:05.240 I'll wait, Remember, the Bible said the Angel was sitting. 0:54:06.080 --> 0:54:10.360 He knew it would take a while. He knew it 0:54:10.360 --> 0:54:12.480 would take you to get in your thirties to learn this. 0:54:14.000 --> 0:54:16.200 He knew some of you'd have to be seventy six 0:54:16.320 --> 0:54:21.080 before you got it. He knew. So he's sacked and 0:54:21.120 --> 0:54:25.920 he waited and he spoke. So he sat and he waited, 0:54:26.280 --> 0:54:33.759 and watch what get In did next. Yeah, that baby 0:54:33.880 --> 0:54:36.480 is excited for a reason, because this is a good word. 0:54:36.920 --> 0:54:39.760 God said, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. I'm waiting to see 0:54:39.880 --> 0:54:41.600 if you want to hide here the rest of your life. 0:54:41.680 --> 0:54:43.880 I'm waiting to see if you're going to arise and 0:54:43.960 --> 0:54:46.360 try again. I'm waiting to see if you're going to 0:54:46.440 --> 0:54:49.719 receive what I'm speaking. God is waiting. I'm waiting on God. 0:54:49.760 --> 0:54:54.160 He's waiting on you. He gave you a spirit, he 0:54:54.160 --> 0:54:57.719 gave you a son. He's done a lot. He said, 0:54:57.760 --> 0:55:01.759 I'll wait till you return. And Verse nineteen is the 0:55:01.880 --> 0:55:06.120 climax of this text, for it says that after Gideon 0:55:06.440 --> 0:55:11.920 asked his questions, after Gideon second guest himself, after Gideon 0:55:12.160 --> 0:55:15.800 told the angel, I can't do it, and the angel said, no, Dice, 0:55:16.239 --> 0:55:19.480 you gotta go with what you've got, the Bible says 0:55:19.560 --> 0:55:25.479 verse nineteen, get ready, Gideon went in, is somebody shot? 0:55:25.560 --> 0:55:30.920 I'm going in. I'm going in. Gideon went inside. Now 0:55:31.080 --> 0:55:34.120 to go inside the house, he had to come out 0:55:34.120 --> 0:55:37.720 of the wine press. So that means God is bringing 0:55:37.760 --> 0:55:41.200 you out of some things to bring you into some things. 0:55:41.880 --> 0:55:45.400 Help me, Holy Spirit, I only got four minutes left, 0:55:45.680 --> 0:55:48.759 and I don't think they're ready for this. Gideon went 0:55:48.920 --> 0:55:54.560 in and watch this, He went inside prepared a young goat. 0:55:55.280 --> 0:56:00.240 Wait a minute, that's not only what Gideon did, That's 0:56:00.320 --> 0:56:05.200 what God is doing. I told you when I started 0:56:05.239 --> 0:56:10.200 my message that Gideon was one of the greatest of 0:56:10.560 --> 0:56:15.439 all time. That means he's a young goat. So when 0:56:15.480 --> 0:56:20.279 the Bible says that Gideon went in and prepared a 0:56:20.360 --> 0:56:24.040 young goat, it is nothing more than a picture of 0:56:24.200 --> 0:56:29.520 what God was doing in Gideon. Now, somebody shout, God 0:56:29.600 --> 0:56:35.560 is getting me ready for this. God is getting me 0:56:35.840 --> 0:56:40.640 ready for this. God is raising me up for this. 0:56:41.600 --> 0:56:45.960 God is strengthening me for this. God is breathing new 0:56:46.000 --> 0:56:49.960 wind into me for this. God is preparing me for this. 0:56:50.640 --> 0:56:54.960 I didn't see it coming, but God did. He's preparing you. 0:57:00.520 --> 0:57:04.920 I'm gonna be a goat, the greatest of all time, 0:57:05.320 --> 0:57:08.960 the greatest, what the greatest me? God called me to 0:57:09.080 --> 0:57:13.839 be the greatest dad Elijah and Abby and Graham ever 0:57:13.960 --> 0:57:17.520 had the greatest husband. Holly ever laid her eyes on 0:57:18.120 --> 0:57:22.080 the greatest builder up of elevation Church that could stand 0:57:22.120 --> 0:57:24.880 in a puppet till I'm not no more, but I 0:57:24.960 --> 0:57:28.200 will not live in fear of what I'm not no 0:57:28.760 --> 0:57:36.320 I am. You gotta get this, Come on, you gotta 0:57:36.360 --> 0:57:39.560 get this. He's getting you ready. I know it's painful, 0:57:39.760 --> 0:57:43.760 but he's getting you ready. He's preparing you. He's preparing you. 0:57:44.040 --> 0:57:48.880 He's preparing you. He's preparing you. That's preparation. That thing 0:57:48.920 --> 0:57:53.040 that hurts you, that's preparation before they do surgery. They 0:57:53.080 --> 0:57:56.360 prepare you for surgery. God is working on your heart 0:57:56.440 --> 0:57:59.680 in this season. God is making you ready. In this season. 0:58:00.120 --> 0:58:03.720 God is unzipping everything that wasn't you so you can 0:58:03.800 --> 0:58:07.840 come out strong and worsip Him again and praise him 0:58:07.880 --> 0:58:18.760 again and thank him again. You're going in. You're going 0:58:18.800 --> 0:58:20.880 in with what you got, You're going in with who 0:58:20.920 --> 0:58:23.520 you are, and it's gonna be enough because He's with you, 0:58:23.640 --> 0:58:26.880 and you're gonna strike down every swarm, every locust. The 0:58:27.040 --> 0:58:29.400 lying on the inside of you is gonna roar like 0:58:29.480 --> 0:58:33.440 never before. God is getting you ready for this, for this, 0:58:34.280 --> 0:58:36.600 for this, I don't even know what it is yet, 0:58:36.640 --> 0:58:40.240 but God said, for this, his preparation for this, his 0:58:40.280 --> 0:58:43.600 preparation for this. It's an open door. Are you gonna 0:58:43.680 --> 0:58:46.600 go through it? You're gonna stand there looking at cracked windows? 0:58:46.840 --> 0:58:49.160 Or are you gonna walk through this door? This is 0:58:49.200 --> 0:58:53.040 a season He's strengthening you. It's not just your biceps, 0:58:53.320 --> 0:58:56.200 it's your belief. You gotta get it back. You gotta 0:58:56.240 --> 0:58:58.760 get it back. You gotta get it back. You gotta 0:58:58.800 --> 0:59:01.840 take hold of it. You got a gold kidion. God 0:59:02.040 --> 0:59:14.320 is able preparation. The pain is preparation. The pain is preparation. 0:59:14.720 --> 0:59:18.800 God is gonna multiply what you have left in this season. 0:59:19.080 --> 0:59:26.840 You are not left with nothing. Go in and we don't, 0:59:27.400 --> 0:59:30.919 we don't go. In this story about the young goat, 0:59:30.960 --> 0:59:34.800 you'll be seated a moment. It reminded me of another 0:59:34.840 --> 0:59:43.080 scripture that I saw in Luke fifteen. Gave me chills 0:59:43.120 --> 0:59:49.760 to think about this about another young goat, Another young goat. 0:59:51.560 --> 0:59:55.919 This young man he belonged to a very wealthy home, 0:59:56.800 --> 0:59:59.040 but he decided at one point to leave his father 0:59:59.120 --> 1:00:02.360 and see what life would be like outside. And he 1:00:02.440 --> 1:00:05.840 found out fast his heart out of here, his heart 1:00:05.880 --> 1:00:10.400 out under the Father's protection. Have you found that out lately, 1:00:10.440 --> 1:00:16.720 that your strength runs out? Talk to me Elevation, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, 1:00:16.760 --> 1:00:24.240 Catholic Church. Talk to me and found out fast that 1:00:24.280 --> 1:00:28.640 where it comes from determines when it runs out. And 1:00:28.760 --> 1:00:30.640 get your strength from the wrong places. You won't have 1:00:30.680 --> 1:00:35.960 it when you show up for your purpose. That's why 1:00:36.000 --> 1:00:38.680 God is trying to give you his strength. But this 1:00:38.800 --> 1:00:41.240 young boy, Luke fifteen twenty eight. I asked him to 1:00:41.280 --> 1:00:43.720 prepare the scripture for the screen so we could close here. 1:00:47.760 --> 1:00:49.760 He finally came back home to his father, and his 1:00:49.760 --> 1:00:53.680 father threw a party, and then he had this older brother. 1:00:53.800 --> 1:00:56.440 So we got the young boy who ran away and 1:00:56.480 --> 1:01:01.840 came back, the older brother who represented the nation of Israel, 1:01:01.840 --> 1:01:03.960 who didn't want the gentiles to come into the kingdom. 1:01:03.960 --> 1:01:06.360 But Jesus is using a personal example, just like I 1:01:06.400 --> 1:01:09.640 am today, he said the older brother, when he saw 1:01:09.680 --> 1:01:14.240 his young brother come back, look what he did. He 1:01:14.360 --> 1:01:21.800 became angry and refused to go in. He didn't go in, 1:01:23.440 --> 1:01:27.840 and neither do we. Sometimes he refused to go in. 1:01:29.320 --> 1:01:32.280 Why wouldn't you go into the Father's house. Why wouldn't 1:01:32.320 --> 1:01:34.440 you go into this next season of your life full 1:01:34.440 --> 1:01:36.920 of faith and confidence and hope. Why wouldn't you go in? 1:01:37.080 --> 1:01:39.520 Why didn't you sing today when we were singing because 1:01:39.600 --> 1:01:41.880 there were new songs. I didn't know them. They're not 1:01:41.920 --> 1:01:47.080 that easy to learn. Okay, okay, you have a point. 1:01:48.600 --> 1:01:51.000 But why are you even fighting what I'm saying right now? 1:01:51.200 --> 1:01:54.640 Why are you distracting yourself checking a stupid snap right 1:01:54.760 --> 1:01:57.880 now while I'm preaching a word that can set you free? 1:01:58.120 --> 1:02:02.280 Why don't you go in? What do you think you're 1:02:02.320 --> 1:02:07.720 gonna find if you do? I think sometimes we don't 1:02:07.720 --> 1:02:11.120 go into God's presence because we think we're not worthy. 1:02:11.160 --> 1:02:15.080 But that's what the blood of Jesus was for. So 1:02:15.160 --> 1:02:20.360 you can go in knowing God is me again. Yeah, 1:02:20.360 --> 1:02:22.840 but I'm not worthy, may man. We could give unworthy 1:02:22.920 --> 1:02:27.800 reasons all day here, but God did not ask you 1:02:27.840 --> 1:02:32.640 about that. He just said, what do you have? Now? 1:02:32.680 --> 1:02:37.040 Watch this? The older brother refused to go in, like 1:02:37.120 --> 1:02:42.840 so many of us, so his father went out. Oh, 1:02:42.920 --> 1:02:45.040 he wouldn't go in, So the father went out. Is 1:02:45.080 --> 1:02:46.960 this a picture of a God who will come down 1:02:46.960 --> 1:02:49.560 from heaven to die for a sinner and shed his 1:02:49.680 --> 1:02:54.520 blood for someone, oh send against him. Is this a 1:02:54.560 --> 1:02:57.640 picture of an angel who will speak into a wine press, 1:02:58.440 --> 1:03:03.520 of a god who will make your strength affect in weakness? Yeah. 1:03:04.120 --> 1:03:08.120 So his father went out and pleaded with him, and 1:03:08.320 --> 1:03:12.760 verse twenty nine says that he went back and forth 1:03:12.800 --> 1:03:15.960 with the father. Look, all these years I've enslaving for you. 1:03:15.960 --> 1:03:18.240 You're not gonna believe what it says. Yet. Next, and 1:03:18.360 --> 1:03:21.720 never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even 1:03:21.880 --> 1:03:29.480 a young goat. Can you believe that's in there? So 1:03:29.680 --> 1:03:32.840 Gideon goes in and gets a young goat and brings 1:03:32.840 --> 1:03:36.320 it to the angel, lays it down. Fire from heaven 1:03:36.360 --> 1:03:39.920 comes up, and he builds an altar, and he names 1:03:39.920 --> 1:03:48.120 the altar the Lord is Peace Jehovah Shalloh. But this boy, 1:03:49.400 --> 1:03:54.920 he said, thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus. That's all 1:03:55.000 --> 1:03:58.200 right with me. Go in, Go in. Well, that truth 1:03:58.240 --> 1:04:00.040 hiss you. You shouldn't be quiet. You don't have to 1:04:00.080 --> 1:04:02.920 be quiet in my church. Just don't come down here 1:04:02.960 --> 1:04:08.080 and tackle me. All right, touch somebody and say, do 1:04:08.120 --> 1:04:10.640 what you want. I'm going in. I'm going in. I'm 1:04:10.640 --> 1:04:14.160 going in because there's a celebration in my father's house, 1:04:14.440 --> 1:04:17.120 because there's strength in my father's house. Thank you. There's 1:04:17.240 --> 1:04:20.760 joy in my father's house. There's freedom in my father's house. 1:04:21.040 --> 1:04:24.720 There's forgiveness in my father's house. I'm going in. I'm 1:04:24.760 --> 1:04:28.600 going in. I will not die out here, I will 1:04:28.640 --> 1:04:32.880 not stay out here. I'm going in. I'm going in. 1:04:35.040 --> 1:04:40.919 So watch this, watch this. He said, you never gave 1:04:41.000 --> 1:04:45.800 me a young goat. Oh, I feel so bad for 1:04:46.000 --> 1:04:49.560 him that he never got to go. But you never 1:04:49.640 --> 1:04:53.280 gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with 1:04:53.360 --> 1:04:56.400 my friends. Verse thirty. Let's go. But when this son 1:04:56.440 --> 1:04:59.960 of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, 1:05:00.360 --> 1:05:02.560 you kill the fat and calf for him. And here 1:05:02.720 --> 1:05:04.560 is the word of the Lord. Stand up and receive it. 1:05:04.600 --> 1:05:07.280 Stand up and receive it for the father said to 1:05:07.320 --> 1:05:10.480 the older son what he said to the younger son, 1:05:10.800 --> 1:05:17.080 My son, you are always with me, and all that 1:05:17.200 --> 1:05:22.600 I have is yours. Lift your hands, the father says, 1:05:23.440 --> 1:05:28.959 all I have is yours. Now go with what you've 1:05:29.000 --> 1:05:32.440 got and be who I made you to be, and 1:05:32.640 --> 1:05:35.760 do it for my glory. And move in what I 1:05:35.920 --> 1:05:40.640 gave you, and flow in your anointing and bring me glory. 1:05:41.200 --> 1:05:47.160 For all I had is yours. I fit do all 1:05:47.240 --> 1:05:52.800 things through him. PLU gave me strength, lift up, a 1:05:52.880 --> 1:05:56.560 shot of praise and I hope you enjoyed the podcast, 1:05:56.640 --> 1:05:59.200 and if you did, make sure to share it and 1:05:59.280 --> 1:06:01.840 subscribe so we can get you all of these new 1:06:01.880 --> 1:06:04.880 messages as soon as they're available. I also want to 1:06:04.880 --> 1:06:06.880 take a moment and thank all of you who are 1:06:06.880 --> 1:06:10.400 a part of Elevation. Whether you support us financially, or 1:06:10.560 --> 1:06:14.120 serve with us, or just share these messages, it's because 1:06:14.160 --> 1:06:16.760 of you that we're able to reach people all around 1:06:16.760 --> 1:06:19.760 the world. And if you want more information on how 1:06:19.760 --> 1:06:22.440 to be a part of Elevation, click the link in 1:06:22.520 --> 1:06:25.280 the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave 1:06:25.280 --> 1:06:37.680 a review, share the message, and subscribe. God bless you.