Move It To The Middle

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.399 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:20.160 Enjoy the message. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.040 Oh man, We're so excited that you're here today. Been 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.360 preparing for you and praying for you and asking God 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:29.000 to speak to you. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.080 We're about to leave on tour in just a few days. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:33.560 Be in prayer for us. 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:39.760 Elevation Nights is coming to Fort Worth, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Toronto, Canada. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:46.239 Other places too. Newark, New Jersey, Washington, d C. Go 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:51.159 to Elevation Nights dot Com. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Go there right now, Detroit, Michigan, 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:56.240 Go there right now, Hartford, Connecticut. I'm getting cold just 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.600 thinking about it. I'm gonna need a heavier jacket than this. 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:05.200 But come ready, come expectant. Elevation Nights dot Com also 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:06.959 wanted to celebrate and welcome. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.840 A few of our e FAM leaders. Where are you 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:14.600 at in the room? Welcome to these e FAM leaders. 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:18.520 They came to be with us today from four different countries, 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:19.880 in fifteen different states. 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:29.520 I'm glad you made the trip as excited as I 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.400 am about these elevation nights. 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.959 We're not in Pittsburgh today, We're not in Toronto, we're 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:36.120 not in Detroit today. 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:37.880 We're right here in Valentine. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:45.440 And I am so excited to continue what I began 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:49.000 to build last week about those times in our lives. 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.440 And we've all had them, whether we responded to them 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.320 or not, where God calls your name, and very specifically, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.800 I was talking about sometimes in the scripture where God 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.760 called somebody by their name, and he said their name 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.520 not once, but twice. And my point was that sometimes 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.120 you are in a pivotal moment of your life where 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:15.520 it's your past versus your potential, your past versus your purpose, 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.040 and in those moments, sometimes God will use repetition to 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.440 underscore the urgency of what He has for you to hear. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.280 I believe there are many of us, maybe not all 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.000 of us, who would find ourselves in a moment like that, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.280 and so today I want to continue that from Exodus 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:38.440 chapter three, verses one through eleven, and all the Bible 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.600 school students already know who we're talking about today somebody say, Moses, Moses. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.040 We grew up singing a song in. 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.560 Church called Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Oh Baby, let my people go, 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:52.720 And then if you've really got into it, you would 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.679 go uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.200 It was to the tune of Louis Louis. 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.240 I don't want to get a copyright strike on YouTube, 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.359 so I won't sing it, but we would do that Pharaoh, Pharaoh, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.920 Oh Baby, let my people go, and then everybody would 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:06.240 go uh. 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:07.320 And a quick story. 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:09.600 One time I was seventeen years old, just getting started 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.919 in ministry, and I was leading that for the youth, 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:14.440 and one of the parents was really uptight, and she 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:15.919 walked in and she saw how I had all the 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.399 kids going uh. And she said, don't do that again. 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.839 That's not a holy that's not a holy gesture. I said, 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.840 lady is just a um. But she was really special 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.560 and sanctified and holy. 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:35.400 In her own way. Exodus chapter three, somebody say, Moses, Moses. 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.440 Now Moses was tending to the flock of jeth throw 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.080 his father in law, the priest of Midian, and he 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:47.680 led the flock to the far side of the wilderness. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.160 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that. 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:54.120 Was confirmation on my message okay, the far side of 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:58.680 the wilderness, and came to horror the mountain of God. There, 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.240 the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:08.920 of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.800 the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:16.040 So Moses thought, I'll go. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.119 Over it and see this strange sight. It's crazy why 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.320 the bush does not burn up. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:24.480 I gotta figure this out. 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:27.839 This thing should be down to a stub, but somehow 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.400 it's still standing. This thing should be flickering out, but 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.640 somehow there's still a flame. This thing should be over, 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.440 but somehow it's kept going. And when he thought like that, 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.160 just touch the person next you and say, it doesn't 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:40.920 make any sense. 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:43.040 It doesn't make. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.680 Any sense why I'm still here after all of the 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.280 times that I thought about quitting. 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:48.239 It doesn't make any. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.080 Sense why I'm still here after all of the times 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.120 that I tried to push God away, but he wouldn't 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:53.479 let me. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.560 It makes no sense why I'm here. And watch this. 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.240 When the Lord verse four, saw that he had gone 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.200 over to look, God called to him from within the bush. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.520 Moses Moses only. 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:09.520 One of seven times this happens in the Bible, where 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:14.440 he said the name twice, and Moses said, here I am, Lord, 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.080 Here I am, and do not come any closer. God said, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.039 take off your sandals, for the place you are standing 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:22.960 as holy ground. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:24.920 And then he said, I. 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.600 Am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.800 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. At 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.000 this Moses hid his face because he was afraid to 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:36.040 look at God. And the Lord said, I have indeed 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.240 seen the misery of my people in Egypt. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:40.479 I have heard them crying. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.520 Out because of their slave drivers. And I am concerned 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:44.880 about their suffering. 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:50.719 So I've come down to rescue them from the hand 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:54.320 of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.320 that land into a good and spacious land. 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.080 This isn't going to be a midland. This is a 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:05.120 good and spacious land. This isn't gonna be a cramped land. 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.200 This is gonna be a good and spacious land, a 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.520 land flowing. Won't be dry like the desert. It's gonna 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:20.200 be flowing with milk and honey. The home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amurites, Parizites, Hivites, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.480 and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.080 reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.800 are oppressing them. So now go, I am sending you 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:38.240 to Pharaoh, Pharaoh to tell him, uh oh, baby, let 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:43.520 my people go. But Moses said, that's not very appropriate. God, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.719 I can't say that to Pharaoh verse eleven. And I'll 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.440 give you my subject for the day. Moses said to God, 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:53.800 who am I? 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.680 This is what I call the burning question? 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:00.599 Who am I? 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.320 Not only the burning bush, but the burning question? 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:05.839 Who am I? 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:08.600 That I should go. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:13.720 To Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt. So 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:16.200 the Lord gave me a word for your insecurities today 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.000 and for the things that you're dealing with that are 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:20.800 chapters in your life that feel like it's never going 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:21.360 to change. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.880 And this is what the Lord said. Move it to 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:25.480 the middle. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.000 Touch your neighbor on your right or your left, you choose, 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.520 and say move it to the middle. Touch your other 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.640 neighbor that feels very, very discouraged by your lack of 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.720 preference for them, and. 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:42.360 Put it in the chat. When you say it, say 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:44.840 move it to the middle. 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.400 In Jesus' name, you may be seated. Move it to 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:57.320 the middle. Okay, four points to this message. I'm not 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.120 going to preach them to how the Lord gave it 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:06.200 to me, like a prophecy. Sometimes you got to prophesy. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.760 Sometimes you don't need points. Sometimes you need a prophecy 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.640 where the word of the Lord transcends human understanding in 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.440 all rational factual evidence and tells you what God says. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.000 And that's a shift in perspective that we need to learn. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.040 First part of this message might hurt a little bit, 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:29.840 but I'll stitch you up before lunch. But I'll do 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.040 it at my own expense, so maybe that'll make it better. 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:39.720 We just got back from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As we're moving 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:44.320 through the airport, Abby said, I hope there's an update 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.720 in a few years where you can see projected over 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:53.520 people's heads where they're going. Now, apparently my daughter has 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:58.200 been sneaking episodes of Black Mirror. Apparently we need more 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:02.440 parental supervision over our thirteen years. And just about the 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.679 time I told her that's ridiculous, I thought it might 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:09.600 actually happen. Up on further questioning as to why she 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.360 would want to see where someone was headed, we looked 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.280 around the airport and realized that everybody in the airport 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:23.120 was carrying and moving in what's commonly culturally called main 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:24.920 character energy. 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:27.080 I don't know if you've heard this phrase. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.040 Is something that is often encouraged to say, Hey, you 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:32.319 got to own your story. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.800 You can't wait for other people to come rescue you. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.200 You can't wait for somebody else to do it for you. 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:41.120 You need that main character energy. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.160 It's often used to speak of people who are very charismatic, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.080 driven and disposed and biased toward action. They got main 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.480 character energy. Maybe they just seem special or something like that. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.800 Moses was born with what might have been called main 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:03.520 character energy if the if the video game had been 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.360 invented by then. You know, it's kind of a video 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.680 game term. Everybody else is just a n PC, and 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.440 you're the main character, and everybody exists to help you 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:15.800 on your quest. And Moses, when he was born, was 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.240 born in a very difficult circumstance. And I like to 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.800 break his life down into three forty year stages to 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.400 help you understand this message today called move it to 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:26.960 the Middle. 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:29.079 The first forty years. 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:32.400 Of Moses's life were spent being raised as Pharaoh's daughter, 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.880 though he was not Pharaoh's daughter at the time. Moses 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.000 was born as a Hebrew. The Hebrew boys were under 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.720 tremendous threat. Pharaoh had decided that their presence represented a 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.040 threat to him, and so each of the Hebrew firstborn 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:50.720 boys were to be murdered and thrown into the Nile River. 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.240 The Hebrew women were so vigorous in giving birth the 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.920 midwives could not allow them not to live. They would 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.280 have the baby before the midwife would show up carry 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.480 out the assassination plot. This presented an opportunity for some 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.960 of the children that were born during that time to 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:07.640 live when they. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:11.920 Should have died. Moses was one of them. The Bible says. 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.880 That he was no ordinary child. When his parents saw 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.040 that he was special, they did something kind of cool. 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.640 They made a basket and floated him down the Nile River. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:25.440 It just so happened at that point in time that 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.520 Pharaoh's daughter was out there kind of cleaning, you know, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.880 doing some doing some Nile River activities, and seeing how 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.960 beautiful the baby was, she decided to take him in 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.160 as her own, and needing a nurse for the baby, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.720 she located the nearest nurse she could find, which happened 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:51.840 to be Moses's mother. You can see how this presents 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:56.600 not only a sense of Moses's uniqueness, but perhaps a 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:00.240 sense of loneliness as well, For as he grows up, 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:04.520 you could say that he is a Hebrew in nature 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.079 and an Egyptian in nurture. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:10.880 He is an. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.360 Israelite baby in nature in an environment of Egypt in 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.719 which he's being nurtured. The first forty years of his 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.160 life go this way, and one day Moses takes a trip. 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:26.040 In fact, rather than tell you this, let me just 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:27.720 read this to you. I think it'd be good if 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.400 we read it for a moment. If you go over 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:34.360 to Acts chapter seven, we can summarize the life of 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.800 Moses from the speech of Stephen. Now, Stephen was an 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.760 apostle in the New Testament Church who was being stoned, 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:52.319 not recreationally, but in all seriousness. He was being persecuted 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.440 for his faith in Jesus, and his face shone as 0:12:56.480 --> 0:13:01.600 they stoned him. He was shining something from the inside 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.040 even as he was being killed on the outside. 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.840 And in giving his speech. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.440 To the people who are stoning him and accusing them 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.680 of missing Jesus the Messiah when he came to save them, 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.040 he goes into a little history lesson about Moses, and 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:18.600 I thought it would be great for us to pick 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:18.959 it up. 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:19.600 Write. 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:24.040 In verse twenty, he goes back thousands of years and says, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.440 at that time Moses was born, and he was no 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.040 ordinary child. For three months, he was cared for by 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.800 his family, and when he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:36.880 took him and brought him up as her own son. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.720 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.320 and was powerful in speech and action. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:46.000 I wanted to read. 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.719 That verse because often Moses is presented to us as 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.560 being a bumbling, stumbling idiot, because when God called him, 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.240 he was like, I don't talk too good, Lord. So 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:57.560 we kind of made Moses this bubba who was born 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.640 in a basket, missing the point that he spent the 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.600 first forty years of his life not only as a survivor, 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.400 but a student in the most powerful. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:07.920 Position of his day. 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:10.640 And all that background is going to play into what 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.760 I'm going to tell you in a moment. But move 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.560 down to verse twenty three, because this moves us into 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:20.280 the second phase of Moses's life. The Bible says when 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.240 Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.360 own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:29.960 mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.120 and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:34.920 Moses thought that. 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.640 His own people would realize that God was using him 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.080 to rescue them, but they did not. He thought that 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:47.960 he would be helpful, but they hated him for being helpful. 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:53.400 He thought he was doing something significant, but it ended 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.920 up that what he did that he thought was significant 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:57.200 actually became the. 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.760 End of his time in Egypt. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.080 Verse twenty six says the next day, Moses came up 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.040 on two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.160 them by saying, men, you are brothers. Why you want 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.640 to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:17.320 the other pushed Moses aside and said, who made you 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.400 ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.120 me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.360 Uh oh. 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.640 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.760 settled as a foreigner and had two sons. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:32.640 Verse thirty. 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:38.800 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.680 in the flames of a burning bush. 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.160 In the desert near Mount Sinai. 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:48.040 We just read about this in Exodus chapter three, But 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.240 when we read about it in Exodus chapter three, we 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.720 missed a crucial bit of context that I want us 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:55.400 to come back to. 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:56.000 For a moment. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.360 In Exitus chapter three, verse one, it says now Moses 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.160 was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:08.040 the priest of Midian. But in Acts chapter seven, verse thirty, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:14.000 we learn after forty years had passed. So what is 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:20.200 presented in one sentence in Exodus three took four decades 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:28.360 from Moses's perspective at the time it happened. Everybody in 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.160 your life is in the middle of something. Our tendency 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.280 is to treat people according to where we meet people. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.560 And this is the part that I told you would 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.680 be challenging some of us. If we meet somebody and 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.960 it seems like they're in a position to help us, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.600 we are good to those who we think are good 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:51.520 for us. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:53.280 Some of us. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.240 If we meet people and we see them as a 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:59.680 liability to our social credibility, or maybe a liability to 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.320 our time or our energy, we have a tendency to 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:08.280 treat people according to where we meet people. Christian maturity 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.840 does not treat people according to where you meet people. 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:14.000 Christian maturity. 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:19.760 Never judges the man by the moment, let me be inclusive, 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:21.800 never judges. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.880 The woman by the moment, never. 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:30.119 Judges the book by the chapter, never judges the potential 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.840 of someone by the problem that they are currently carrying. 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.800 So you find in life two different approaches. Main character energy, 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.600 which is kind of like, I'm focused on what I'm doing, 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:45.919 I'm focused on what I'm becoming, I'm focused on my goals, 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.399 And sadly a lot of this gets peddled in the 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.679 church as spiritual growth, but it is not sanctification because 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.879 sanctification and self help sometimes are a little different. Self 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.200 help is sometimes about what you can do for you 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:03.800 to reach the goal that you set without God. Sanctification 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.240 starts with God's goal that he wants to do that 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:11.480 is much bigger than what you see right now. Moses 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.640 did it his way, he became a murderer. Moses did 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.640 it God's way. He was a messenger. And all I'm 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:19.760 trying to get you to see is that it's a 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:23.959 matter of perspective. Tell somebody, move it to the middle. 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.359 Come on, Tell the person on either side of you 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.840 move it to the middle. Tell both of them. In 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:31.960 case the first one doesn't like it, tell the second one. 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.879 So you got a backup plan. Move it to the middle. Amy, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:37.840 I'll never forget something you said to me. We got 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.200 cut off by somebody in traffic. This has been years ago. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.800 I never forgot it. Amy lives her life with out 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.760 whatever is the opposite of main character energy. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:47.560 She lives her. 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:51.040 Life with christ like nature. I guess that's the opposite 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.399 of main character energy. It's not like she's a side character. 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:54.760 She's just more christ Like than me. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:56.640 And I was. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.880 Talking about the person who cut us off in traffic. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:04.119 There wasn't very mindful of their potential in Christ or 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:09.159 their value to God. And I said, Amy, how do 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.159 you never get mad when you get cut off in traffic. 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.240 I've never seen you road rage And she said, well, 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.280 I like to play a game. I like to pretend 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.479 that the person in the passenger seat is pregnant and 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.480 the person driving them has to get them to the. 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.520 Hospital because their water just broke. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:28.280 I don't know if you remember that, but I never 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.440 forgot it because I also like to play pretend when 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.639 somebody cuts me off in traffic. I like to pretend 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.760 that I'm not a pastor. And I never even met 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.920 Jesus and I never even heard his name. I like 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:45.199 to pretend like I'm a terrorist. I like to pretend 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:51.919 like I've been training as an assassin. I like to 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.200 pretend like God sent me to teach you a lesson. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:59.320 Can't let you get away with that. I saw it 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.520 as a shift. Here's the picture that the Lord gave me. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.760 We're gonna work this out on the fly, because honestly, 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:08.080 I kind of thought of it last minute. 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:11.600 When we finish singing at the church, usually they bring. 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.399 My pulpit to the stage and they put it in 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:17.000 the place where it goes, and we do it in 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.760 a way where it just kind of signals a shift 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.800 to say, we've worshiped God with our singing and the melodies. 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.240 Now we are going to worship God through his spoken 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.800 word and his message, and both are worship. So when 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:36.480 we position the pulpit, the camera shots also change. You 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.440 will notice that you no longer see the drummer very 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:43.920 much once it's preaching time. You no longer see Scotty 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.639 as handsome as he is and as dignified as he 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.000 look leading the South Carolina State Choir last week. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:53.560 I mean, he's got that main character gift. 0:20:55.320 --> 0:21:02.240 But everybody switches positions. Somebody say positions perspective. Okay, now 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.240 that we're in this part of the message, the perspective 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.800 has shifted, not because I'm more important than anybody on 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.199 the stage, but because it is my time to deliver 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.800 the message that God has given me to share with you. 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:17.400 Therefore, the camera operators have to be instructed. 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:18.159 At this point. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:21.520 You no longer need to show Otis, You no longer 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.160 need to show Scottie. They'll be back when we sing again, 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.679 But for now, this is our focus. Now here's what 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.160 I want you to understand about the way a lot 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.399 of us live our lives if they disobeyed that order 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:37.560 and just go with me for this picture, because I'm 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:39.720 gonna show you a lot of why we stay stressed out. 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:42.160 I'm gonna show you a lot of why. 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:49.159 We stay resentful, bitter, demotivated, angry. I'm gonna tell you 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:51.760 why a lot of our passion goes out because people 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.480 hurt our feelings. If at the moment that I take 0:21:55.520 --> 0:22:00.920 this pulpit, the camera operator just decides to rebel and 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:05.000 go like I think the podium is boring. Now, camera operator, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.040 do what I'm about to say to illustrate my point. 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:08.560 We have not worked this out, so I hope it 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:11.480 goes well. Just put the camera somewhere else that has 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:13.400 nothing to do with this and show them what I'm 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:13.840 talking about. 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:19.399 And again, we did not plan this. I'm just working 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:20.600 this illustration through with you. 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:30.320 Wave at the people, and as suave as as as 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:36.400 deboneir as he is on those drums. It is a 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:44.080 distraction at this moment to show the drums. Now go 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:48.240 back to what you're supposed to be shooting. Not because 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:53.120 I'm better looking, not because of status, not because I'm 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:59.840 the boss around here, but because of purpose. Purpose determines position. 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:06.560 Get the picture and then we'll break it down. Purpose 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:08.920 determines position. 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:11.439 So show them the otis shot. 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.240 This is me focusing on something that is meant to 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:18.639 be peripheral in the moment. 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:23.520 Show them the tight shot. 0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:30.160 This is me focusing on what is being spoken from God. 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:37.440 And if you keep doing this, you're gonna miss this. 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:45.959 Clap your hands. I thought that turned out pretty good. Now, 0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:48.800 of course, put it back on the drums. 0:23:49.000 --> 0:23:50.440 I could. 0:23:53.840 --> 0:24:00.439 Takes two men to carry this out. Most sundays I 0:24:00.480 --> 0:24:04.399 could do that. I could carry I could carry the 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:13.280 burden for a little while. I'm pretty strong. I curled 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:18.240 some fifties yesterday. I could do it for a little while, 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:21.359 but I don't think I could do it for long. 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:25.000 So which one's easier, go back to otis which one's 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:26.320 easier for. 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:27.320 Me to carry this. 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:35.640 And move it to the middle. 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:36.960 Or. 0:24:39.560 --> 0:24:45.800 Stayloadice, stayloaded, stayloadice for them to do. 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.399 This and move it to the middle. 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:57.840 So God said, what you're trying to do by lifting, 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:07.359 you do by looking? I divide Moses's life? Can I 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:09.080 preach this like God gave it to me? 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:12.240 Come on, I'll behave in fort Worth, I'll behave in 0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:16.040 I promise I'll represent you well. In Detroit, I'll preach polite. 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:18.800 In Toronto, i'll do it. But this is my church, 0:25:18.840 --> 0:25:21.240 where I can preach it dirty, where I can preach 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:23.479 the words like a bush coming up out of the desert, 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:26.360 crownd that won't burn up no matter how long it's 0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:28.880 been burning, that won't give out, no matter how much 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:29.639 it's gone through. 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:33.399 That represents the very life of Moses. 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:39.119 Himself, whose perspective is being shifted from the first forty 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:43.760 years of his life, which started in a basket, past 0:25:43.840 --> 0:25:47.240 the forty years of his life that he spent in Midian, 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:54.359 and now this bush ye a basket first forty, a 0:25:54.400 --> 0:25:59.040 bush next forty. But the forty years that we read 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:04.040 in one sentence is the middle. Now, I guarantee you 0:26:04.840 --> 0:26:09.400 it did not feel like the middle to Moses. I'll 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:12.119 tell you how I know. The verse I read you 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:15.560 in Acts chapter seven. Oh, I'm so glad I got 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:19.200 that New Testament perspective on Moses, because if I would 0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:21.359 have just read he was tending sheep of bush burned, 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:23.840 we would have thought we're meeting Moses at the beginning 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:25.639 of this story. 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:29.160 But Moses. For Moses, it didn't feel like the beginning. 0:26:29.920 --> 0:26:30.960 It felt like the end. 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:35.520 And the piple says that when Moses heard this, he 0:26:35.600 --> 0:26:38.320 fled Verse twenty nine, Acts chapter seven to Midian. 0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:39.080 Where he's settled. 0:26:40.400 --> 0:26:42.640 He settled, He. 0:26:42.640 --> 0:26:46.920 Wasn't passing through in his mind. He settled in Midian 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:51.359 and had two sons. That's not something you do on 0:26:51.400 --> 0:26:52.119 a quick trip. 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:58.720 That's not something you do just passing through. He's in 0:26:58.800 --> 0:27:01.520 a place called Midi, and it feels like the end. 0:27:01.560 --> 0:27:03.280 But to us, it looks like the beginning. 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:06.480 And I need you to remember so you have Christian 0:27:06.520 --> 0:27:11.600 empathy that everybody you meet is in the middle of something. 0:27:13.000 --> 0:27:14.840 And we could be nicer to people on. 0:27:14.880 --> 0:27:17.800 Road rage if we said they must be in the 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.040 middle of something very important. They must be in the 0:27:21.080 --> 0:27:23.720 middle of giving birth to a child. Maybe that child 0:27:23.760 --> 0:27:26.360 will be the next Moses. That's how Amy does it. 0:27:26.600 --> 0:27:29.040 I'm like, maybe they're gonna die before they get there. 0:27:29.080 --> 0:27:31.480 If they cut me off one more time, that's me 0:27:31.960 --> 0:27:39.639 main character energy, christ Like energy, and ooh, I feel 0:27:39.640 --> 0:27:44.439 as strong. When you realize that everybody you meet is 0:27:44.440 --> 0:27:47.800 in the middle of something, you will be more merciful. 0:27:50.280 --> 0:27:54.560 The middle will make you merciful. The middle will make 0:27:54.600 --> 0:27:58.600 you merciful. It will make me and it will make. 0:27:58.480 --> 0:27:59.680 You more sanctified. 0:28:00.640 --> 0:28:06.000 In order to stop seeing ourselves as the point of 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:11.480 every pursuit, to stop seeing ourselves with the destination over 0:28:11.560 --> 0:28:14.080 our head, rushing through the airport, trying to get somewhere. 0:28:15.640 --> 0:28:19.200 Here's Moses in a place that seems like a destination, 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:24.639 feels like a detour. It's not the beginning. It's not 0:28:24.760 --> 0:28:29.600 the end either. Moses doesn't know that yet, and neither 0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:32.480 to you. When you're in it, you know that's the 0:28:32.520 --> 0:28:36.119 thing about it. When you're in it, the middle feels 0:28:36.160 --> 0:28:41.080 like the end. I'm talking about failures, and I'm talking 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:44.400 about moments of setback, and I'm talking about closed doors, 0:28:44.440 --> 0:28:47.040 and I'm talking about rejection. You know what's interesting to 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:48.400 me to study about Moses? And I want to give 0:28:48.400 --> 0:28:50.440 you this because I thought it was very psychologically and 0:28:50.520 --> 0:28:53.960 theologically a line so greg The Bible goes on to 0:28:54.000 --> 0:28:58.040 say that he was sent to deliver the children of Israel. 0:28:58.880 --> 0:29:02.040 And he was sent to deliver the children of Israel, 0:29:02.400 --> 0:29:06.160 but the children of Israel resented him. He is sent 0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:12.240 to someone who resents him. He's not all Hebrew in 0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:17.640 their mind. He's not all Egyptian either. He is a 0:29:17.800 --> 0:29:22.560 middle child. When you are in the middle, it can 0:29:22.600 --> 0:29:26.520 be difficult to find where you fit in. Someone told 0:29:26.520 --> 0:29:31.560 me one time my preaching was too black. In fact, 0:29:31.560 --> 0:29:34.280 they said, I used to listen to you on podcasts. 0:29:34.280 --> 0:29:36.440 I was surprised to find out you were white the 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:40.160 first time I saw you on video. But what they 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:43.920 said was you might want to consider modulating your preaching 0:29:44.760 --> 0:29:47.640 in order to reach a broader audience. I said, what 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:51.000 exactly do you mean modulate? They said, sometimes when you 0:29:51.080 --> 0:29:54.479 do the really high preaching and the Oregon starts playing 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:59.720 it's a little distracting. And I said, it's only distracting 0:29:59.760 --> 0:30:02.560 for you. You because it is different to you. 0:30:05.760 --> 0:30:09.000 And if you think that I preach like I preached 0:30:09.000 --> 0:30:12.440 because I did a market study on ways to incorporate 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:16.600 different ethnocentric backgrounds into a message so that all people 0:30:16.640 --> 0:30:19.440 will feel included, You're crazy. 0:30:19.560 --> 0:30:20.960 I preach how I. 0:30:20.960 --> 0:30:25.920 Preach because when I was sixteen, Chris Dixon invited me 0:30:26.000 --> 0:30:29.520 to join the Voices of Unity Gospel Choir, where I 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:33.400 was the only white one in the whole choir. I 0:30:33.440 --> 0:30:37.200 stood in the middle. I didn't sway in rhythm, but 0:30:37.360 --> 0:30:40.320 I stayed in the middle. And because of that, my 0:30:40.480 --> 0:30:43.959 life was informed that there are different styles and the 0:30:44.040 --> 0:30:48.280 same substance. So I don't have to apologize to you 0:30:48.880 --> 0:30:51.760 for any weapon in my arsenal that God gave me 0:30:52.200 --> 0:30:56.880 to get this word across step. Because I'll have to 0:30:56.880 --> 0:31:00.560 preach like I'm white, I'll have to preach. I can 0:31:00.600 --> 0:31:01.680 move it to the middle. 0:31:02.200 --> 0:31:03.560 I can do it either way. 0:31:04.000 --> 0:31:07.160 Send a coastal bath, a costal the Topelian Catholic. 0:31:07.400 --> 0:31:10.480 I can tell Mary, I can take you, Jesus. 0:31:10.160 --> 0:31:10.800 I can do it. 0:31:10.880 --> 0:31:11.480 It comes. 0:31:11.800 --> 0:31:14.240 I could give a tech talk. I could thrink it out. 0:31:14.280 --> 0:31:15.280 He gets this us. 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:19.160 Because I'm a middle tip. 0:31:20.640 --> 0:31:24.760 Donna layel me shut. The neighbors say, don't let a need. 0:31:26.160 --> 0:31:33.240 I'm a middle time. All the middle children give God 0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:43.720 a pray. I'm a middle child. Holly is a middle child, 0:31:44.760 --> 0:31:48.280 Graham is a middle chop. There's benefits of being a 0:31:48.360 --> 0:31:51.720 middle child. You can watch how the first one did 0:31:51.800 --> 0:31:55.320 it dumb, make some corrections, get right in front of 0:31:55.320 --> 0:31:57.080 the younger one that they're still. 0:31:56.840 --> 0:31:59.280 More busy with, and do what you need to do. 0:32:03.320 --> 0:32:09.120 No less significant, just hidden in the middle, in the middle. 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:18.360 My legal name is not Stephen Fredick. My legal name 0:32:18.640 --> 0:32:21.080 is Larry. 0:32:22.160 --> 0:32:22.760 That's funny. 0:32:23.720 --> 0:32:26.320 You know you just offended every Larry. 0:32:26.040 --> 0:32:29.360 Watching this sermon online. You are gonna get us canceled 0:32:29.400 --> 0:32:30.960 by the Larry's and the Karens. 0:32:32.400 --> 0:32:33.520 We messed the whole thing up. 0:32:38.720 --> 0:32:47.760 Yeah, little Larry Furdick, because I'm Larry Stevens Ferdick Stevens 0:32:47.920 --> 0:32:48.760 Fredick Junior. 0:32:50.640 --> 0:32:51.960 Why are you Stevens? 0:32:53.040 --> 0:32:58.760 Do you have multiple personalities? Perhaps? And so do you. 0:33:02.400 --> 0:33:05.560 Depends on which moment I meet you in mm hm 0:33:06.680 --> 0:33:08.480 mm hm mm. 0:33:08.320 --> 0:33:13.880 Hmm saying Hallelujah one minute and other multi syllabic words 0:33:14.040 --> 0:33:18.200 the next minute. Never judge a man by the moment, 0:33:18.280 --> 0:33:21.000 Never judge yourself by your lowest moment. Never pride yourself 0:33:21.040 --> 0:33:21.880 in your high moment. 0:33:22.400 --> 0:33:25.240 Come on, talk about it. 0:33:25.640 --> 0:33:29.960 Moses, who was in a murder murderous situation, hid in 0:33:30.000 --> 0:33:34.160 a place called Midian and assumed that these forty years 0:33:34.160 --> 0:33:36.880 would be the end. Forty years is a long time 0:33:36.920 --> 0:33:40.240 to wait for an angel, y'all. I think it's verse thirty. 0:33:40.280 --> 0:33:42.040 Put it up and see if I'm right, it said. 0:33:42.360 --> 0:33:46.880 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses, 0:33:48.400 --> 0:33:52.920 said Moses, Moses, I guess God was calling him by. 0:33:52.760 --> 0:33:55.520 His middle name, Moses. Moses. 0:33:55.560 --> 0:33:59.640 Moses means to draw out, because he was drawn out 0:33:59.680 --> 0:34:02.760 of the river, and now he was being sent to 0:34:02.880 --> 0:34:06.360 draw out. He was moving from what God had done 0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:08.439 for him to what. 0:34:08.360 --> 0:34:09.760 He was being called to do for others. 0:34:09.760 --> 0:34:15.239 And God said, Moses, Moses, you know, as much as 0:34:15.280 --> 0:34:19.520 my name made you laugh, it could have been a 0:34:19.560 --> 0:34:23.160 lot worse. My mother tells me that there was a 0:34:23.200 --> 0:34:27.200 time when my parents considered naming me different names, and well, 0:34:27.280 --> 0:34:29.440 Larry Stephens Ferdick Jr. It turns out, is not the 0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:34.719 worst one that they rehearsed, she says, and he's in 0:34:34.760 --> 0:34:36.800 heaven now, so he can either confirm or deny that. 0:34:36.840 --> 0:34:39.120 There was a season of time where my dad seriously 0:34:40.000 --> 0:34:43.319 and sincerely wanted to name me Clym. 0:34:43.640 --> 0:34:44.920 His reasoning was solid. 0:34:45.680 --> 0:34:48.720 Don't judge the name till you've heard what creative plans 0:34:48.760 --> 0:34:51.319 he had for it. He said, I wanted to name 0:34:51.360 --> 0:34:54.800 you clem so when I called you, I could say 0:34:55.160 --> 0:35:03.080 clem Son. See my mom, I went to Clemson University, 0:35:03.840 --> 0:35:06.239 and my dad thought it would just be so amazing 0:35:07.360 --> 0:35:09.279 if when he said my name, the next thing that 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:19.839 came clem Son. Let's all thank God for my mom. See, 0:35:21.600 --> 0:35:23.439 because why I threw my notes away because I knew 0:35:23.440 --> 0:35:24.759 the Lord was going to take us in a few 0:35:24.800 --> 0:35:25.640 directions today. 0:35:26.840 --> 0:35:29.719 It's what came after my name that mattered. 0:35:29.360 --> 0:35:37.160 To him, is what came after my name, clem Son. 0:35:37.560 --> 0:35:40.680 You're my son Son, get it, clem Son. 0:35:42.200 --> 0:35:44.680 And here's God calling Moses, but he doesn't really talk 0:35:44.719 --> 0:35:47.480 about Moses. I want to read it to you from 0:35:47.480 --> 0:35:49.840 Exodus chapter three. Oh, this is going to help you 0:35:49.920 --> 0:35:53.000 so much. And let me give you this principle real quick. 0:35:54.000 --> 0:36:04.719 Selflessness is the most underused tool for stress management. Selflessness. 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:08.240 I don't mean thinking less of yourself, I mean thinking 0:36:08.280 --> 0:36:15.160 of yourself less. Selflessness is the most underutilized tool for 0:36:15.239 --> 0:36:20.200 stress management. Being at the center is keeping you stressed. 0:36:21.000 --> 0:36:22.680 And I'll show it to you from Moses, and then 0:36:22.719 --> 0:36:26.640 I'll show you why, and then we'll have a big 0:36:26.680 --> 0:36:29.120 party in the place and go home. 0:36:29.719 --> 0:36:32.680 But Moses gets all caught up. 0:36:33.360 --> 0:36:36.040 In main character energy, and we forgive him because look, 0:36:36.400 --> 0:36:40.080 the Lord calls his name and says Moses, Moses, and 0:36:40.120 --> 0:36:43.680 Moses like, that's me here, I am right, I'm here, 0:36:43.680 --> 0:36:46.680 and Midian, do not come any closer. God said, this 0:36:46.719 --> 0:36:49.520 is verse five. Place where you are standing, this holy ground. 0:36:49.560 --> 0:36:51.200 Take your shoes off. You're not going to run from 0:36:51.239 --> 0:36:56.320 this one. Remember Moses ran to Midian, fleeting and hiding, 0:36:57.719 --> 0:37:00.279 and then God is bringing him to this bush, says, 0:37:00.320 --> 0:37:07.279 you're not running away this time. Now that he's standing 0:37:08.080 --> 0:37:11.680 and not running, turning and paying attention to what God 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:14.799 is doing, the Lord says, the place where you are 0:37:14.840 --> 0:37:17.879 standing is holy ground. And then the next thing God 0:37:17.920 --> 0:37:21.040 said is I am the God of your Father, the 0:37:21.080 --> 0:37:23.640 God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 0:37:23.680 --> 0:37:24.200 of Jacob. 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:26.359 God's been doing this a long time. 0:37:26.360 --> 0:37:33.480 Y'all, God's miracles didn't start with your mortgage payment. The 0:37:33.560 --> 0:37:35.719 God you pray to has done much tougher stuff than 0:37:35.719 --> 0:37:36.680 what you're asking him to do. 0:37:36.760 --> 0:37:37.200 Right now. 0:37:38.680 --> 0:37:41.960 This man led a nation out of slavery. You don't 0:37:42.000 --> 0:37:43.680 think God to show you how to raise those kids? 0:37:44.880 --> 0:37:48.319 Have you lost your mind? You forgot who you're talking to. 0:37:49.680 --> 0:37:52.400 You forgot who called you, You forgot who promised to 0:37:52.480 --> 0:37:55.480 keep you, You Forgod who lives in you. But just 0:37:55.520 --> 0:37:58.919 about the time we get the perspective of who God 0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:01.839 is and what he's come to do verse eight, I've 0:38:01.840 --> 0:38:05.680 come down to rescue my people out of the Egyptian's hands, 0:38:05.880 --> 0:38:08.080 to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey. 0:38:08.120 --> 0:38:08.640 Verse nine. 0:38:08.800 --> 0:38:10.560 And now the cry has reached me. 0:38:10.920 --> 0:38:12.920 And now in verse ten, so now go, I am 0:38:13.000 --> 0:38:17.480 sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, 0:38:17.520 --> 0:38:21.279 out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, who am I? 0:38:22.880 --> 0:38:25.879 And this is where I think we miss it. Go 0:38:25.920 --> 0:38:28.920 to the drums, real quick, camera, man, That is the 0:38:28.960 --> 0:38:35.080 total wrong focus. When God is speaking and you shift 0:38:35.120 --> 0:38:39.960 your attention back to you, let me say it this way. 0:38:40.080 --> 0:38:43.399 When the Great I Am is talking and you say, 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:46.879 who am I You need to shift your attention back 0:38:46.920 --> 0:38:50.440 to me, back to the one who is speaking to you, 0:38:51.280 --> 0:38:53.440 back to the one who puts you in the basket, 0:38:53.960 --> 0:38:56.240 back to the one who floated you down the nile, 0:38:56.920 --> 0:38:59.560 back to the one who made sure you survived. There's 0:38:59.640 --> 0:39:03.520 one thing about it for sure. The enemy has already 0:39:03.640 --> 0:39:07.040 made so many attempts to end your faith journey, to 0:39:07.280 --> 0:39:11.560 end your life, to end your hope, to end your optimism, 0:39:11.880 --> 0:39:14.680 to end your faith, to in your progress, to end 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:19.080 your sanctification process. The enemy has already tried to end it, 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:23.800 and he didn't. Why is that because he couldn't Because 0:39:23.840 --> 0:39:27.800 it was what came after what God called Moses Moses, 0:39:27.880 --> 0:39:31.080 Moses that mattered more than what Moses was. 0:39:31.600 --> 0:39:32.920 I'll put it to you this way. 0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:36.160 When Moses got confused and said, who do I say 0:39:36.280 --> 0:39:37.120 sent me to them? 0:39:37.160 --> 0:39:40.480 If they doubt me, God said, tell them I am 0:39:40.960 --> 0:39:43.160 that I am. 0:39:43.320 --> 0:39:46.440 You didn't know this verse, but Exodus chapter three fourteen 0:39:46.520 --> 0:39:51.560 teaches us something very powerful. God's name yahweh is I am. 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:56.839 He wasn't was, he isn't gonna be he is I am. 0:39:57.520 --> 0:39:59.960 Now I've taught you that before, and I've taught you. 0:40:00.000 --> 0:40:02.200 Thank you that his name, being I am means he's 0:40:02.200 --> 0:40:04.880 a present help in the time of trouble. But what 0:40:05.080 --> 0:40:07.759 never taught you so clear before is when he said 0:40:07.800 --> 0:40:12.600 I am that I am the place of that is 0:40:12.680 --> 0:40:16.120 meant to represent every place where God will express his 0:40:16.280 --> 0:40:20.000 power in your life. So let's say, in this specific 0:40:20.120 --> 0:40:23.560 season of your life, God wants to accomplish a purpose, 0:40:23.600 --> 0:40:26.719 and in order to accomplish his purpose, he is going 0:40:26.760 --> 0:40:28.319 to have to open a door for you that you 0:40:28.320 --> 0:40:30.240 can't open for yourself, and only. 0:40:30.040 --> 0:40:34.200 God can do that. Well, I am that open door. 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:35.120 I am. 0:40:35.840 --> 0:40:37.640 Let's say you're in a season in your life where 0:40:37.640 --> 0:40:39.520 it looks like there's no way you're going to be 0:40:39.600 --> 0:40:41.640 able to move through this next month. 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:45.160 It is so busy, it is so hectic, it is so. 0:40:45.320 --> 0:40:48.960 Overwhelmed, and you need a sustaining power in your life. 0:40:49.080 --> 0:40:52.360 Come on, a sustaining energy over your life. Some of 0:40:52.400 --> 0:40:55.600 you are so tired. Your biggest prayer last week was 0:40:55.840 --> 0:40:58.640 I can't do this. You didn't even have the faith 0:40:58.760 --> 0:41:01.640 left to ask. Every time you thought about it, it 0:41:01.680 --> 0:41:04.719 started twisting up inside of you. But what you didn't 0:41:04.760 --> 0:41:09.040 realize about God's name is that that feeling, that place, 0:41:09.520 --> 0:41:12.440 that need is the place where God wants to express 0:41:12.440 --> 0:41:15.640 his name. So if tired is the place where you 0:41:15.719 --> 0:41:19.279 need God to show up, that is the place where God's. 0:41:19.080 --> 0:41:19.759 Energy will be. 0:41:20.400 --> 0:41:23.520 Wherever it is that He has positioned you, that's where 0:41:23.560 --> 0:41:25.080 it is that He will empower you. 0:41:25.560 --> 0:41:26.560 I'll take it further. 0:41:26.880 --> 0:41:29.919 If there is an insecurity in your life that makes 0:41:29.960 --> 0:41:31.960 you think you can't do it, that's good. 0:41:32.440 --> 0:41:35.360 The insecurity is the insurance. 0:41:34.760 --> 0:41:38.600 Policy that lets you know that when it gets done, 0:41:38.800 --> 0:41:42.239 you won't be tempted to take the credit because you'll know, 0:41:42.760 --> 0:41:46.279 and they'll know, and everybody who knows you will know. 0:41:46.920 --> 0:41:50.759 It had to be God. I've watched them in the basket. 0:41:51.160 --> 0:41:55.000 I saw them make a mistake, but somehow God kept 0:41:55.080 --> 0:41:57.880 drawing them out. And that's what I see in this 0:41:58.000 --> 0:42:01.319 season for your life. You're gonna be drawing from the 0:42:01.360 --> 0:42:03.680 God who drawed you out of the water. 0:42:04.040 --> 0:42:04.960 And you are not. 0:42:04.840 --> 0:42:07.640 Going to run out of resource because you will not 0:42:07.840 --> 0:42:10.359 run out of God. You are not going to run 0:42:10.400 --> 0:42:13.440 out of wisdom because you will not run out of God. 0:42:13.760 --> 0:42:14.960 You will not run out of. 0:42:15.040 --> 0:42:18.120 Meal because you will not run out of God. You 0:42:18.160 --> 0:42:20.920 will not run out of support because you will not 0:42:21.120 --> 0:42:23.600 run out of God. You will not run out of 0:42:23.760 --> 0:42:28.759 end because you will not run out of them. You 0:42:28.800 --> 0:42:31.080 will not run out of it because you will not 0:42:31.239 --> 0:42:42.080 run out of Him. Because I am that I am, 0:42:42.239 --> 0:42:45.399 take your knee and move it to the middle and 0:42:45.440 --> 0:42:49.080 make a great I am sandwich, And God says, I 0:42:49.120 --> 0:42:51.320 am that I am. 0:42:51.880 --> 0:42:52.120 Boy. 0:42:52.160 --> 0:42:53.840 If I'd have planned this better, I'd have brought some 0:42:53.880 --> 0:42:58.040 bologney and so and some and some. 0:42:58.000 --> 0:43:00.920 Pumper nickel bread up here, and I will showed you how. 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:05.120 To sandwich your situation by the presence and the spoken 0:43:05.200 --> 0:43:12.680 promise of God and move it to the middle. What 0:43:12.840 --> 0:43:16.080 we know that Moses doesn't know. And that's a bold 0:43:16.120 --> 0:43:18.120 statement because the Bible said other prophets have I spoken 0:43:18.160 --> 0:43:20.319 to other ways, but Moses I spoke to face to face. 0:43:20.360 --> 0:43:21.280 Now that's in numbers. 0:43:21.800 --> 0:43:25.440 After they complained to Moses and didn't appreciate him, well, 0:43:25.480 --> 0:43:26.160 I almost. 0:43:25.840 --> 0:43:27.399 Forgot to say this, thank you Lord. 0:43:28.719 --> 0:43:30.640 His hesitancy to do what God called him to do, 0:43:30.680 --> 0:43:34.359 because he argued back and forth with God. His hesitancy 0:43:34.400 --> 0:43:37.120 to do it wasn't rooted in rebellion. 0:43:38.880 --> 0:43:46.080 It was rooted in rejection. Because he tried to do 0:43:46.120 --> 0:43:47.760 this the first time. It didn't work. 0:43:50.080 --> 0:43:51.880 The first time. He tried to fight for his people. 0:43:51.920 --> 0:43:57.160 It cost him forty years in the wilderness. And now 0:43:57.200 --> 0:44:01.880 you understand why you're uncomfortable receiving love from others, and 0:44:01.920 --> 0:44:04.160 when people try to treat you good, you treat them bad, 0:44:04.280 --> 0:44:06.279 just to get things back to the natural habitat that 0:44:06.320 --> 0:44:11.719 you're used to seeking, the lower state, because it's the 0:44:11.760 --> 0:44:19.120 state that you know. He wasn't rebelling against God, that's Jonah. 0:44:19.520 --> 0:44:22.759 He wasn't rebelling against God, that's Jonah. He was rejected 0:44:22.760 --> 0:44:28.319 by them, and the rejection takes root, and it gets 0:44:28.320 --> 0:44:30.000 to the place where you go, I don't really want 0:44:30.000 --> 0:44:35.120 to put it out there like that anymore. I love 0:44:35.320 --> 0:44:43.319 when you all get quiet thinking about those hesitancies in 0:44:43.360 --> 0:44:47.520 your life to trust God because of a root of 0:44:47.560 --> 0:44:52.640 rejection where the first time it didn't work, and after 0:44:52.719 --> 0:44:57.120 forty years you pretty much assume this is it and 0:44:57.160 --> 0:45:00.840 there's not much I can do about it. But Moses 0:45:00.840 --> 0:45:03.200 should have known. He should have known because he was 0:45:03.239 --> 0:45:07.160 no ordinary child that even in those forty years, and 0:45:07.200 --> 0:45:10.040 even with his perceived lack of natural talent to speak 0:45:10.080 --> 0:45:15.960 watch this, he should have known. This can't be the end. 0:45:16.680 --> 0:45:28.640 It's called mid end. This can't be the end, it's Midian. Now, 0:45:29.239 --> 0:45:31.399 a few years ago, I was having my own sort 0:45:31.440 --> 0:45:36.400 of Moses moment. I know, boohoo, wow, wow, tell us 0:45:36.440 --> 0:45:39.279 your therapy session, Pastor Steve, and that's what we came for. No, No, 0:45:39.560 --> 0:45:42.560 I'm just trying to relate this because it's one of 0:45:42.560 --> 0:45:44.960 those powerful things that I ever did in my life. 0:45:45.160 --> 0:45:46.040 It helped me so much. 0:45:46.800 --> 0:45:49.239 The story that was going in my mind was a 0:45:49.320 --> 0:45:52.600 little bit like the Moses story in that I had 0:45:52.640 --> 0:45:55.160 had a few things that I tried to do in 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:56.959 an effort to trust God. And I'm sure I didn't 0:45:56.960 --> 0:45:58.920 do them perfectly, but I was doing them sincerely. 0:45:59.400 --> 0:46:00.000 You ever been there. 0:46:00.560 --> 0:46:02.319 I'm not saying I did it exactly right, but I 0:46:02.400 --> 0:46:05.239 meant well, Okay, I meant well. I'm not saying it 0:46:05.280 --> 0:46:07.920 wasn't a mistake, but I meant, well, that's Moses's story. 0:46:07.960 --> 0:46:09.040 That's why he's in Midian. 0:46:09.280 --> 0:46:11.920 I meant well, I was trying to protect in Israelite, 0:46:12.239 --> 0:46:14.600 but I ended up killing an the Egyptian, and maybe 0:46:14.640 --> 0:46:15.520 I shouldn't have got in the. 0:46:15.520 --> 0:46:16.080 Middle of it. 0:46:17.360 --> 0:46:19.799 And so now he's on the far side of the 0:46:19.800 --> 0:46:22.200 desert in a place called Midian. 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:25.239 And this place will ultimately be the mountain where God 0:46:25.280 --> 0:46:25.720 will give. 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:27.919 The ten Commandment. It's Mount Sinai, but it's not yet, 0:46:29.040 --> 0:46:33.160 because this is just the middle. Now here's Moses tending 0:46:33.200 --> 0:46:36.080 his sheep. All of a sudden, the burning bush go 0:46:36.120 --> 0:46:41.880 to Otis becomes the focal point, and Moses. 0:46:41.480 --> 0:46:47.520 Moves over in order to see why it doesn't burn up. Okay, 0:46:47.520 --> 0:46:48.879 now go back to the normal camera shop. 0:46:49.560 --> 0:46:52.000 As he's doing this, the voice of the Lord speaks 0:46:52.000 --> 0:46:54.400 to him about the future that God has planned for him, 0:46:54.400 --> 0:46:57.239 which revolves around the purpose that God has created him for. Now, 0:46:57.280 --> 0:46:59.279 that's what this is about in your life, nothing else 0:47:00.320 --> 0:47:03.520 for a few days. Forget about your preference and your 0:47:03.640 --> 0:47:06.200 plan of the way you want this situation to turn out. 0:47:07.080 --> 0:47:09.600 Because I see you going through a valley, and that 0:47:09.680 --> 0:47:12.640 feels like that's all there is, while I was recently 0:47:12.680 --> 0:47:15.000 reminded that it can only be a valley if there 0:47:15.040 --> 0:47:19.560 are mountains on either side of it. So now we've 0:47:19.560 --> 0:47:23.200 got a Moses who spent forty years rough start, he 0:47:23.239 --> 0:47:26.240 went through a dry season, and now God is bringing 0:47:26.320 --> 0:47:28.560 him to an expected end to be the leader that 0:47:28.600 --> 0:47:30.520 God has always. 0:47:30.320 --> 0:47:33.080 Meant for him to be. And he's in a place 0:47:33.640 --> 0:47:36.120 called Midian well, as. 0:47:35.960 --> 0:47:38.759 I was going through some of my self pity in 0:47:38.880 --> 0:47:44.040 moments and specifically the narrative that was playing out is the. 0:47:43.920 --> 0:47:46.439 Best is behind me? Now? 0:47:46.440 --> 0:47:48.600 I think that's one of the lies that the devil 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.799 tells that we don't talk about very much, that we 0:47:51.920 --> 0:47:53.560 all walk around wondering about. 0:47:53.560 --> 0:47:55.279 It's like, is. 0:47:55.200 --> 0:47:58.560 This going to be all there is for my life? 0:47:58.600 --> 0:48:00.959 And it doesn't take a divorced make you feel that way. 0:48:01.760 --> 0:48:05.120 It doesn't take turning forty five to make you feel 0:48:05.160 --> 0:48:08.319 that way, doesn't take having to wear readers to make you. 0:48:08.239 --> 0:48:08.879 Feel that way. 0:48:09.440 --> 0:48:12.240 You can hit a wall in your life where you wonder, 0:48:12.600 --> 0:48:15.880 is this the most joy I'm going to experience? Is 0:48:15.920 --> 0:48:18.640 this the most difference I'm going to make? Is this 0:48:18.760 --> 0:48:22.000 the greatest accomplishment that I'm ever going to accomplish? And 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:24.239 then you hit a wall, or you hit what you 0:48:24.320 --> 0:48:26.520 call a failure. It may not be a failure. You 0:48:26.560 --> 0:48:28.719 just see it as a failure. And so then the 0:48:28.920 --> 0:48:33.839 enemy says it's the end. The enemy loves to tell 0:48:33.880 --> 0:48:40.839 you where the end is. So does God. And as 0:48:40.880 --> 0:48:43.040 I was sitting with this, I think it had been 0:48:43.080 --> 0:48:45.440 going on a couple of months. I was sitting with 0:48:45.520 --> 0:48:48.440 this feeling that my best work is behind me, my 0:48:48.480 --> 0:48:51.040 best sermons are behind me, my best songs are behind me. 0:48:51.320 --> 0:48:53.640 It was just it was an avalanche. 0:48:53.719 --> 0:48:55.440 I'm gonna come to this side and see if anybody 0:48:55.480 --> 0:48:56.800 has ever felt this way before. 0:48:57.320 --> 0:48:59.879 They are looking at me like they are on a streak, man. 0:49:00.320 --> 0:49:02.000 They are on a roll over here. 0:49:02.360 --> 0:49:06.719 They are winning medals and getting raises and paying no taxes, 0:49:07.160 --> 0:49:10.759 six percent body fat, fifty million dollar net worth going 0:49:10.800 --> 0:49:14.120 on over here? Is there anybody over here who got 0:49:14.160 --> 0:49:17.279 to a certain place now? And it's like this as 0:49:17.360 --> 0:49:20.360 many and I'm tending sheep. I'm very busy, But is 0:49:20.400 --> 0:49:23.840 this the end now? I did not get this idea 0:49:23.880 --> 0:49:25.840 that I'm going to tell you about from David Goggins. 0:49:26.800 --> 0:49:29.640 No offense to brother David Goggins, but his energy just 0:49:29.640 --> 0:49:32.600 gets a little intense for me sometimes you know that 0:49:32.800 --> 0:49:34.759 that kind of like your a piece of crap, get 0:49:34.800 --> 0:49:35.640 up and do something about it. 0:49:35.760 --> 0:49:36.080 Energy. 0:49:36.400 --> 0:49:38.080 I don't really get it. That doesn't really work for 0:49:38.120 --> 0:49:38.600 me very long. 0:49:38.640 --> 0:49:39.839 I already have that voice in my head. 0:49:39.840 --> 0:49:41.600 I don't need an external one. 0:49:42.120 --> 0:49:44.080 I didn't get this piece of advice from like some 0:49:44.239 --> 0:49:46.600 chicken soup for the soul book with an inspirational thought. 0:49:47.120 --> 0:49:49.359 It was almost like the Lord gave me this. I've 0:49:49.440 --> 0:49:52.400 never shared it, even with Holly. And I looked for 0:49:52.480 --> 0:49:55.160 the I looked for the notebook where I wrote it down, 0:49:55.239 --> 0:49:58.840 and I can't find it. But something came over me, 0:49:58.960 --> 0:50:03.160 and I begin to write about the next five years 0:50:03.160 --> 0:50:07.399 of my life as if they had already happened, and 0:50:07.480 --> 0:50:12.959 as if God were with me. And I didn't write 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:14.879 anything there's a time to do this. I didn't write 0:50:14.880 --> 0:50:17.000 anything about how bad I felt and how down I was, 0:50:17.120 --> 0:50:19.319 how lonely it was, and how being all. 0:50:19.239 --> 0:50:21.520 The fears I had and all self stressed about, and 0:50:21.560 --> 0:50:22.440 all the thing bells. 0:50:22.200 --> 0:50:23.880 I need to pick and all people depend on me, 0:50:24.000 --> 0:50:28.719 because I've done that enough. But I I took what 0:50:28.960 --> 0:50:35.640 felt like the end, and I moved it to the middle, 0:50:37.320 --> 0:50:41.360 and I picked up there and I wrote down two words. 0:50:41.880 --> 0:50:49.920 But he, somebody say, but he and I wrote those words, 0:50:51.160 --> 0:50:56.600 and it was almost like Moses, Moses. It was like 0:50:56.760 --> 0:50:59.960 I saw everything that I had been, everything that I 0:51:00.000 --> 0:51:03.120 I had been through, everything that I was wrestling. 0:51:02.760 --> 0:51:05.200 With, and then that second Moses. 0:51:05.640 --> 0:51:08.160 But he and I begin to write. 0:51:08.239 --> 0:51:09.839 My pin began to move, and I begin to write 0:51:09.840 --> 0:51:15.000 about potential I began to write, but he continued to 0:51:15.000 --> 0:51:16.960 show up and preach, and God helped him and gave 0:51:17.000 --> 0:51:20.160 him messages that went around the world in order. 0:51:19.960 --> 0:51:21.680 To help people with their struggles. 0:51:22.440 --> 0:51:25.399 But he continued to write songs and collaborate with other 0:51:25.440 --> 0:51:28.640 creative individuals who were strong where he was weak, and 0:51:28.680 --> 0:51:30.800 so he was able to continue to be a part 0:51:31.000 --> 0:51:33.320 of making music for the people of God to sing. 0:51:33.160 --> 0:51:34.120 And be ministered to by. 0:51:35.160 --> 0:51:39.279 But he humbled himself and realized that he didn't have 0:51:39.360 --> 0:51:41.200 to be good at everything as long as he was 0:51:41.239 --> 0:51:45.120 in touch with the one who was. But he see 0:51:45.160 --> 0:51:47.759 what happened was I showed you this last week, I 0:51:47.840 --> 0:51:50.400 made a pivot. And in that moment that I made 0:51:50.440 --> 0:51:52.760 a pivot with my pen, something started to come alive 0:51:52.800 --> 0:51:55.360 in the spirit, and I began to see that what 0:51:55.480 --> 0:51:57.960 I was dwelling on as the end. The Lord says, 0:51:57.960 --> 0:51:59.440 I know the plans I have for you, plans to 0:51:59.440 --> 0:52:01.759 give you a hope in the future. After seventy years 0:52:01.800 --> 0:52:04.040 have completed in Babylon, I will come to you. And 0:52:04.080 --> 0:52:06.000 after I've come to you and delivered you, you will 0:52:06.000 --> 0:52:07.320 praise me on this mountain. 0:52:07.360 --> 0:52:10.200 God said to Moses, after you have brought the people 0:52:10.280 --> 0:52:11.080 out of Egypt. 0:52:11.080 --> 0:52:15.719 You will worship God on this mountain. He is taking 0:52:16.040 --> 0:52:21.160 what Moses thinks is the end and moving it to 0:52:21.280 --> 0:52:24.319 the middle. Because I'll tell you something. It can be 0:52:24.400 --> 0:52:26.879 the end if you let it be. If you let 0:52:26.920 --> 0:52:29.799 it into you, it will end you. If you let 0:52:29.840 --> 0:52:32.600 it make you tap, it will end you. If you 0:52:32.719 --> 0:52:35.759 let it define you, it will define you. If you 0:52:35.920 --> 0:52:39.200 let it bury you, it will bury you. But he, 0:52:40.560 --> 0:52:45.239 but he who began a good work in you, Now 0:52:45.280 --> 0:52:49.000 I feel, my preacher, he who began. 0:52:49.960 --> 0:52:53.879 A good work in you, will be faithful to complete it. 0:52:54.680 --> 0:52:56.880 The Bible says that all things work together for the 0:52:56.920 --> 0:52:58.880 good of those who love Him and are called according 0:52:58.960 --> 0:53:04.759 to his purpose. So if it's not good, God's not done. 0:53:05.520 --> 0:53:08.239 He said, I'll bring you to an expected end. 0:53:08.960 --> 0:53:12.239 So if his purpose isn't finished yet, for this situation, 0:53:12.800 --> 0:53:14.040 it is not the end. 0:53:14.560 --> 0:53:16.080 Move it to the middle. 0:53:16.520 --> 0:53:18.880 I'm talking about the thing that you've been crying about. 0:53:19.200 --> 0:53:21.760 I'm talking about the thing that you've been gossiping about. 0:53:22.040 --> 0:53:23.040 I'm talking about the. 0:53:22.920 --> 0:53:26.160 Thing that has had you so down you can't rejoice. 0:53:26.360 --> 0:53:28.840 I'm talking about the thing that has blurred your vision 0:53:29.160 --> 0:53:31.839 and fogged your faith. I'm talking about the thing that 0:53:31.880 --> 0:53:34.480 has beat you into submission, the thing that's got. 0:53:34.320 --> 0:53:38.360 You tied up in knots. You've been treating it like 0:53:38.480 --> 0:53:43.440 the end, and you need to move in to the middle. 0:53:45.080 --> 0:53:48.160 So when you're telling this story, it is going to 0:53:48.280 --> 0:53:59.120 be a chapter and a scene, not a destiny. That's 0:53:59.360 --> 0:54:04.280 why it's called Midian. You aren't meant to live here. 0:54:04.520 --> 0:54:07.719 You will not die in this wilderness. You will not 0:54:07.880 --> 0:54:11.280 go down in this state. For there is a burning 0:54:11.400 --> 0:54:15.840 bush with your name on it, Moses, Moses. And you 0:54:15.960 --> 0:54:20.080 know what makes the bush significant. It's burning, but it 0:54:20.160 --> 0:54:25.200 won't burn up. It's still burning. After all, it's been through. 0:54:25.920 --> 0:54:29.840 And I'm preaching to somebody today that after all you've 0:54:29.880 --> 0:54:36.400 been through, after every red sea he split, after everything. 0:54:35.960 --> 0:54:37.560 He forgave you off. 0:54:38.080 --> 0:54:42.800 After every ready poured in your lungs, after every percy 0:54:42.880 --> 0:54:50.480 he dropped in your cord, you pass hey Breason to 0:54:50.600 --> 0:55:02.800 raise him. This is just a This is just the middle. 0:55:03.600 --> 0:55:07.839 This is just the middle. Of course, it's messy, it's 0:55:07.880 --> 0:55:10.680 the middle. Of course, it's difficult. 0:55:11.120 --> 0:55:15.280 It's the middle. Of course, it's dry. It's the middle. 0:55:16.640 --> 0:55:22.919 It's always different in the middle. But the Lord said 0:55:22.960 --> 0:55:23.960 for us to take this. 0:55:23.880 --> 0:55:26.719 Thing that we think is going to be the end 0:55:26.760 --> 0:55:31.839 of our testimony, and move it to the middle and 0:55:31.960 --> 0:55:32.439 let it. 0:55:32.360 --> 0:55:34.040 Become who is this for? 0:55:34.760 --> 0:55:38.120 Let it become the part of your story that you say, 0:55:38.880 --> 0:55:40.040 but he after. 0:55:47.239 --> 0:55:48.719 Do I preach about this too much? 0:55:50.480 --> 0:55:52.359 I feel like every week I'm trying to tell you 0:55:52.400 --> 0:55:55.719 not to quit in a different way. I feel like 0:55:55.800 --> 0:55:57.480 every week I'm trying to tell you it is too 0:55:57.520 --> 0:55:59.680 soon for you to sit down and settle in Midian 0:55:59.719 --> 0:56:00.560 when God. 0:56:00.280 --> 0:56:03.719 Called you to be a deliverer. And look what all 0:56:03.760 --> 0:56:07.840 God did through Moses. Oh, this is so personal, and 0:56:07.880 --> 0:56:09.000 he wants to do it for you. 0:56:09.719 --> 0:56:12.239 The Bible says that He called them by name to 0:56:12.360 --> 0:56:14.640 lead them out of Egypt, and look at Acts, chapter seven, 0:56:14.719 --> 0:56:21.400 verse thirty six. He led them out of Egypt, performed 0:56:21.400 --> 0:56:27.319 wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and 0:56:27.360 --> 0:56:28.880 for forty years in the wilderness. 0:56:30.120 --> 0:56:32.280 Now, to me, that's got to be the saddest scripture 0:56:33.840 --> 0:56:38.000 that I've read today, is that God spent. 0:56:37.760 --> 0:56:42.560 The first forty years preparing Moses his basket years where 0:56:42.600 --> 0:56:45.040 he was preserved. You know, God spent the first part 0:56:45.040 --> 0:56:48.319 of your life preparing you. It wasn't easy. It may 0:56:48.360 --> 0:56:50.680 not have been what you chose, but he floated you 0:56:51.320 --> 0:56:55.720 to where you needed to be. Then, after Moses's mistake, 0:56:55.920 --> 0:57:02.160 he spent the next forty years repairing Moses, humbling Moses. 0:57:04.239 --> 0:57:08.080 But after that burning bush, Moses was meant to lead 0:57:08.120 --> 0:57:11.239 the people into the Promised Land. And look what verse 0:57:11.280 --> 0:57:15.680 twenty six says or verse thirty six says. Please, he 0:57:15.800 --> 0:57:18.120 led them out of Egypt, perform wonders and signs in Egypt, 0:57:18.160 --> 0:57:21.040 the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness. 0:57:21.080 --> 0:57:24.760 Now here's the warning. He wasn't supposed to be in 0:57:24.760 --> 0:57:26.400 the wilderness with them forty years. 0:57:27.560 --> 0:57:28.280 Put it back up. 0:57:28.720 --> 0:57:31.800 At the Red Sea, he performed wonders, the sea split. 0:57:32.800 --> 0:57:37.200 In the wilderness, he performed miracles for forty years. But 0:57:37.280 --> 0:57:39.760 the trip through the wilderness was not meant to be 0:57:39.880 --> 0:57:44.360 the end. It was meant to be the middle. To 0:57:44.440 --> 0:57:46.720 get through the wilderness to the Promised Land would have 0:57:46.720 --> 0:57:51.200 taken the Israelites two weeks. Tops. How did they switch 0:57:51.520 --> 0:57:55.240 and make a forty year habitation out of a two 0:57:55.360 --> 0:57:56.280 week transition. 0:57:58.240 --> 0:58:00.760 It's because they treated the middle it was the end. 0:58:05.040 --> 0:58:06.840 And there are some things in your life that God 0:58:06.920 --> 0:58:09.360 is doing right now, and he's providing for you, and 0:58:09.400 --> 0:58:13.040 he's empowering you, and he's enabling you, and he's sustaining you, 0:58:13.280 --> 0:58:14.240 and he's calling you. 0:58:14.520 --> 0:58:16.200 And this for Moses, Moses moment. 0:58:16.440 --> 0:58:18.320 And if you come forward and look and listen, and 0:58:18.360 --> 0:58:21.800 turn aside and say, wonder why this bush isn't burning up. 0:58:22.040 --> 0:58:25.200 Wonder why God left me here. Wonder why cancer didn't 0:58:25.280 --> 0:58:28.120 kill me. Wonder why depression didn't have the last word. 0:58:28.440 --> 0:58:31.280 Wonder why I survived when they did. Wonder why God 0:58:31.320 --> 0:58:33.480 put me at this place in time. Wonder why God 0:58:33.520 --> 0:58:36.560 gave me these experiences. If you move it to the middle, 0:58:36.760 --> 0:58:40.680 it changes everything. So I close with one more illustration. Chris, 0:58:41.120 --> 0:58:43.960 when we were writing the song Gyra, I have no 0:58:44.040 --> 0:58:46.200 idea if you remember this, I would feel sure that 0:58:46.240 --> 0:58:48.920 you do that you know. 0:58:49.000 --> 0:58:51.080 The name Jyrah. 0:58:50.720 --> 0:58:53.680 Comes from one of the other times that Abraham was 0:58:53.720 --> 0:58:57.560 going to sacrifice his son Isaac, and the Lord said, Abraham, Abraham, 0:58:57.600 --> 0:58:58.600 don't lay a hand on the boy. 0:58:58.640 --> 0:58:59.560 I've seen that you trust me. 0:58:59.600 --> 0:59:02.560 I don't want your son as a sacrifice, I want 0:59:02.560 --> 0:59:03.800 your trust as worship. 0:59:04.880 --> 0:59:05.880 And there was a ram in the. 0:59:05.800 --> 0:59:10.360 Bush, and when Abraham saw the place where God provided, 0:59:10.400 --> 0:59:11.600 he called it Jehovah. 0:59:11.680 --> 0:59:12.080 Jirah. 0:59:13.440 --> 0:59:16.080 It doesn't necessarily mean just the Lord provides. It means 0:59:16.120 --> 0:59:19.760 the Lord sees, and he called that place Jehovah Girah. 0:59:19.880 --> 0:59:22.240 The first time that we ever wrote with our friends 0:59:22.360 --> 0:59:27.760 Naomi and Chandler, we sat down and begin to write a. 0:59:27.680 --> 0:59:30.800 Song that ended up being the song Gyra. Have you 0:59:30.840 --> 0:59:35.360 heard it? Do you like it? Yeah? 0:59:35.760 --> 0:59:37.479 Let me tell you a little thing about that song 0:59:37.520 --> 0:59:39.520 that I think will cement this message in your mind 0:59:40.440 --> 0:59:42.080 for everything that you need God to provide. 0:59:42.880 --> 0:59:46.240 When we began to write the chorus, it didn't sound 0:59:46.360 --> 0:59:50.160 very good. It said, I. 0:59:50.240 --> 0:59:57.960 Will be content in every circumstance Jrah, you are enough, 0:59:58.840 --> 1:00:01.280 and you're like, that's how it goes, now, not exactly. 1:00:01.960 --> 1:00:04.160 Listen again, this is how it started. Okay, so let 1:00:04.160 --> 1:00:05.400 me do the verse. 1:00:05.680 --> 1:00:09.880 I'll never be more love then I am, though. 1:00:10.400 --> 1:00:14.440 It was it holding you, so there's nothing I can 1:00:14.480 --> 1:00:16.560 do to let you down. 1:00:17.640 --> 1:00:19.320 Doesn't take a trophy, make you problem. 1:00:20.240 --> 1:00:24.720 I'll never be more love than I am right now. 1:00:24.960 --> 1:00:34.240 And then it went, I will be content in every circumstance. Jierah, 1:00:35.360 --> 1:00:36.240 you are enough. 1:00:38.680 --> 1:00:40.920 I will be content. That's how it went. 1:00:41.400 --> 1:00:46.919 In every circumstance, Jirah, you are. 1:00:46.960 --> 1:00:48.960 Enough, and I looked over and Naomi was yawning. 1:00:50.760 --> 1:00:54.240 I thought, this isn't very good, is it? And then 1:00:54.360 --> 1:00:56.479 Chris said, no, it's good. I said, it doesn't feel 1:00:56.480 --> 1:00:59.520 like a chorus. He said, but what if we took 1:01:00.480 --> 1:01:03.600 I will be content in every circumstance? And instead of 1:01:03.640 --> 1:01:06.280 starting the chorus with that line, what if we moved 1:01:06.320 --> 1:01:16.880 it to the middle. I said, what you're talking about 1:01:16.920 --> 1:01:24.280 singing for me? And he said, you are enough? Put 1:01:24.280 --> 1:01:25.960 that first right, Gyrah, you are enough. 1:01:26.000 --> 1:01:33.439 To say it again, Yah, you are enough, And then 1:01:34.080 --> 1:01:39.440 I will be content in every circumstance. 1:01:39.960 --> 1:01:46.200 And it make a sandwich. J you are enough. Sound 1:01:46.240 --> 1:01:52.520 pretty good? Done that when you move it to the middle. 1:01:54.720 --> 1:01:56.640 When you move it to the middle, you'll always see 1:01:56.720 --> 1:01:59.720 Jehovah Jirah. When you move it to the middle, there 1:01:59.760 --> 1:02:03.360 will always be provisioned. When you focus on what God 1:02:03.360 --> 1:02:05.439 has given you, when you focus on what He's made 1:02:05.480 --> 1:02:08.120 you to do, when you stop comparing and fix your 1:02:08.120 --> 1:02:10.640 eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your. 1:02:10.480 --> 1:02:15.200 Faith, it will always be enough. Say it again, Jyrah, 1:02:18.280 --> 1:02:26.040 you are rener. Say that again, j you are reader. 1:02:27.520 --> 1:02:28.960 Now move that line to the middle. 1:02:29.000 --> 1:02:34.640 Say I will be content in tel every circumstance. 1:02:41.200 --> 1:02:42.320 Thank you for joining us. 1:02:42.640 --> 1:02:45.080 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:02:45.160 --> 1:02:48.640 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:02:49.080 --> 1:02:51.560 You can click the link in the description to give now, 1:02:52.160 --> 1:02:55.520 or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for more 1:02:55.520 --> 1:02:59.360 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:02:59.600 --> 1:03:00.920 You can share it with your friends. 1:03:01.240 --> 1:03:03.520 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:03:03.560 --> 1:03:05.680 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:03:05.680 --> 1:03:06.560 Elevation Church. 1:03:06.640 --> 1:03:08.360 Thanks again for listening. God bless you