My Redeemer Lives

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.640 Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.560 thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:12.200 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.200 to see God as moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.599 We're incredibly blessed today to have one of the best 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.680 Bible teachers in the country to share God's word with us. 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:28.920 Lisa Harper is here one of the most prominent teachers 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:33.199 and preachers at conferences in women's events today. She's a 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.279 gifted author, and I think you're gonna really love how 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.760 she makes the Bible just come alive when she teaches. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.800 And I also think you're going to be encouraged hearing 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.080 God's goodness and faithfulness towards her and her family. She 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:48.760 has an amazing story, and in fact, she brought a 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.200 video just to share a little bit about what God 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.400 has done in her family's life. So we're gonna watch that. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:55.800 Then she's going to be up here to preach. And 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:57.920 so when this video is done and she takes the stage, 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.720 let's give her the best Elevation Church welcome possible. Are 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.240 you ready to hear from God today? All right, you 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.119 guys can take a seat, take a look at the screens. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:14.040 In April twenty twelve, I jumped off a proverbial cliff 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.360 and into the greatest adventure and joy of my life. 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.640 I began the process of adopting my little girl, Melissa 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:28.039 Price Harper. I love you. Her first mama, Marie, died 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.120 as a result of undiagnosed days when Missy was just 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.320 a baby, unwittingly infecting her with HIV, which was exacerbated 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.360 by a tuberculosis, severe malnutrition, and a host of other ailments. 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.559 Doctors Importer Prince didn't give Missy much of a chance, 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.479 but then again they didn't know. My baby girl has 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.800 the heart of a warrior. Our adoption process took two 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.360 long years, but I finally got to bring her home 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.960 to Tennessee on April fourteenth, two thy fourteen, just a 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:02.000 few days before Easter, which seemed especially fit girl. And 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.600 her name was Missy and she was so sutt We 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.480 and her mama came to Haiti and said, that's my baby. 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:18.000 Brought her home to tennis See. Yeah. Yeah, every single 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.320 day since has been better than the one before. By 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.080 the grace of God in great medical care, Missy's health 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.800 is now excellent. Her HIV is completely undetectable, and her 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.440 lungs have no scars from the tuberculosis she suffered from 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:39.359 as a toddler. She even has killer ABS, which is 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.360 really the only dead giveaway She's not my biological child. 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.919 We're surrounded by an incredible community of friends and family. 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.919 Missy has more doting aunts and uncles than just about 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.360 any kid I know. Plus we've had the joy of 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:56.320 getting to go back to the village she's from and 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:59.200 Haiti and share the love of Christ with her extended 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:05.480 family members. Psalm sixty eight declares that God is a 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:09.000 father to the fatherless, a husband to the husbandless, and 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.240 he places the lonely in families. That's definitely our story 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:16.040 and I plan on praising Him over it for the 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:23.160 rest of my life. That's lot of kisses. I didn't 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:29.680 kiss you a lot, though, yes, a little bit kissed you. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:37.600 No way, no way, I'm coming kiss monsters, We're coming 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.360 after you. Hey, do you know why I kiss you? Why? 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.040 Why do you think because you love me? How much 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.360 do you think I love you more than the whole world? 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.760 Yep about that much is even wider. No way, that's fine, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:04:14.360 No way, no way, y'all. Oh, please be seated, Please 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:21.360 be seated. And so tickled to be here. I cannot 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.200 even tell you how honored I am to be here. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.720 Please please please sit down. You're going to be mad 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:30.880 at me in a minute. Anyway. I'm just undone. I 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.320 feel like a donkey at the Kentucky Derby because I 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.880 love Elevation Church. I watch y'all online all the time 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.680 from Nashville, deeply, deeply respect what God has done through 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.159 Holly and Pastor Stephen, and y'all feel like you'll just 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.160 epitomize christ admonition to be a city on a hill, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.000 to be a light to the world. So the fact 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.960 that I get to be here just undoes me. I 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.279 do want to bring two qualifications because my main prayer 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.000 leading up to this was that I wouldn't unwittingly throw 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.359 a monkey wrench into what God is doing through y'all 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.480 and through your campuses, and so I need to go 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:13.520 ahead and qualify two things. One is I'm old. I'm 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.880 much much older than Pastor Steven or most of your 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.200 pastoral staff. And I'm also going through what some would 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.440 call the Change, which is probably TMI, gentlemen. But the 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.560 reason I tell you that is because during the change, 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:32.320 I've developed a spiritual gift called projectile perspiration, and I 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.680 can pretty much aim where I'm in a sweat and 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.240 because it's one hundred and forty five degrees today and 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:43.279 I'm in a fluffy season, that has exacerbated my spiritual gift. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:47.839 And so y'all are going to get wet, all of you. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.520 We're going to call this sea world in Charlotte. And 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.720 I think we just vote that it's a baptism. It's 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.440 just an extra baptism. So that's my first qualification. The 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:01.200 second qualification is we're going to talk this morning about 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.320 the immutable, that is the unchanging hope of Christ. But 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:08.599 the way we're going to get there is through a 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.760 true story in scripture that some equate with sticking your 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.240 hand in a blender. And so I need you to 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.920 hang with me when I tell you to turn in 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.159 your Bibles to the Book of Job. So turning the 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.520 Old Testament to the true Story of Job. If you'll 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:27.080 head to the Psalms and then just back up, you'll 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.920 hit Job. Usually it's not a book. We're super familiar 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:34.720 with women. We never cross stitch this one because it's 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:39.080 a hard story. It's a tough story. I so appreciate 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.919 that Pastor Zach said that this had been a difficult 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.120 week because I think all too often in Christian circles 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.279 we act like once we commit our lives to Christ, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.960 everything's perfect, and I'm like, that's not even biblically sound. 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.839 Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble. He 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.520 is a good God. Life can be incredibly hard. Sometimes 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.679 you you lose your metabolism and your hair is comically dependent. 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:07.320 But that's just me. Y'all have different kind of grief. 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.880 She've been through. And I think we do the world 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.800 a disservice when as christ followers we pretend like we 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.920 never struggle anymore. I think that's one of the reasons 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.160 they think we're big fat hypocrites, is because we aren't 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.800 hon Us about the places where we need Jesus to 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:28.440 carry us. I was at a women's event recently and 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.360 I asked a woman how I could pray for her, 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.200 and she said, oh, no, I don't need prayer, and 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:38.800 I was like, you're about to, because I'm gonna punch 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:42.240 you in the throat for being a liar. There are 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.560 seasons in our life where it is appropriate for us 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.000 to say, Lord, I'm not sure I can handle this. 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:52.160 I'm not sure I can hike up this hill in 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.360 front of me. Apart from you carrying me, I'm not 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.800 gonna make it through the next season of my life. 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:03.120 Job says exactly that. Now y'all probably know his story. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.000 He's a really good guy. In the first chapter, it 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.400 says that he is a righteous man. He's an upright man. 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:12.480 Some translations say he's a perfect man. That doesn't mean 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.760 he's sinless. That just means he's a good guy. It 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.720 says that he's living a good life. If you study 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.679 all of his acquisitions, he lived in the patriarchal period 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.720 or pre patriarchal period. They aren't sure exactly when this 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.480 story took place, but it was some time between fifteen 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.040 hundred and a thousand years before the birth of Christ, 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.520 so long time ago. And if you study his acquisitions 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:42.520 based on that context, it proves that he had about 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:46.680 eleven thousand servants if you include women and children. He 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:52.440 had vast agricultural holdings, and most of his wealth was 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.640 based in agriculture, which I love that because I'm old 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.960 and this will just telegraph my age. I'm about to 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.920 fifty five, but I am not attracted to men and 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:09.120 skinny jeans. I'm much more attracted to a guy in wranglers, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.400 like with a John Deere. And that's I mean, that's 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.480 just me, but could be while I'm fifty four and single. 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.600 But anyway, that's kind of job. You know. He's this 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.520 good guy. He's living a good life. He's got like 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.240 a fleet of John Deere's. There's a fish sticker on 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.679 all of his John Deere's. He's wearing wranglers. The knees 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.559 are worn out, and his wranglers from praying because also 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.560 in chapter one it says it is his continual habit 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.560 to pray for his family. He has seven sons, three daughters, 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.360 and it says it is his continual habit. In chapter one. 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.600 Most translations say early every morning, but that's Hebrew idiom. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.480 That just means it was his continual habit. So he 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.480 didn't necessarily set his iPhone for five thirty every morning 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.640 to get up and pray for his family, but it 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:58.080 was his continual habit. So he's a good guy. He's 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.760 doing good things with his life. He's living a good life. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.600 And one of my favorite commentators says, Job was not 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.280 filthy rich, he was clean rich because he used a 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.520 lot of his wealth to help the poor and the underprivileged, 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:15.040 underserve the marginalized. So this is this kind of great 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.960 beginning of a story, and then it turns into a 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.360 train wreck because right after we're taught all these things 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.719 about this true guy. This is not metaphor, this is 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.120 a historical tale. This really happened. Right after we read 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:32.160 those things, we find out Job loses everything through no 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.480 fault of his own. As a matter of fact, I 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.520 don't have time to go here. This is a rabbit trail. 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.720 I hope it's redemptive. But God actually is the one 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:43.120 who causes Job's loss. And we tend to think if 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.600 I put the right quarter in God's coke machine, I'll 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.200 get everything I want. What we don't bargain for is 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.480 sometimes God wants to purify us in pain as a 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.640 conduit for that. Sometimes God will prune us and it 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.880 hurts like a dog, and he says, honey, all you 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.480 can experience right now now is the pain. What you 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.760 can't see because you're human and you see through the 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.880 glass dimily is around the corner from this, this pruning 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.319 is going to cause prolific growth in your life. If 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.600 we could begin to trust that sometimes not all the times. 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.520 I would never say evil as divinely causive. I would 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:22.880 never say God caused cancer or car wrecks. That's just foolishness. 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:28.760 But sometimes the pain we walk through is directly from God. 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.040 In the case of Job, he held Job up to 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.440 that lion lizard we call Satan and says, have you 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:41.400 considered my servant Job? His uprightness did not cause him 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.680 to be immune from difficulty. It actually promoted him to 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.120 difficulty because God said, I know this guy. I know 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.960 the way he's going to walk through this difficult season. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:54.640 It's going to bring me glory, y'all. It would blow 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.280 our hard drive if we would begin to change our 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.360 perspective on pain and go some of That's what I'm 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.600 walking through is because God thinks that I can handle 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.400 it in a way that eventually I'll bear more fruit 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:09.600 and I will bring him glory. So instead of trying 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.480 to numb it or get around it or whine about it, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.160 I'm just going to walk toward him. In the midst 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.320 of this Job loses everything he's accumulated, all of his wealth, 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.800 all of his servants die, all ten of his children 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.800 are killed. And on the heels of that horrific tragedy, 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.560 his wife says, and you probably remember this, you may 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.439 as well curse God and die. Now she's vilified in 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.960 church culture, has been since the beginning of church culture. 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.200 But I don't actually take much offense with missus Job, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.360 because I can't imagine how I would react if something 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:51.200 happen to Missy and this mama has just lost ten 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.960 all ten of her children, and so the fact that 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.400 she reacts like that, I think, you know, I probably 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.480 would have cut him. So the fact that all she says, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.400 as you may as well curse God and die, I 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:06.000 think that makes sense to me for a mama who's 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:10.160 in grief and in shock. Job meanwhile says nothing. He 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:14.559 loses all of this, loses his health, his wealth, loses 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.920 his family loses everybody loves except for his grumpy wife. 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.960 And his response, we're told at the end of chapter one, 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:25.640 is he shaves his head, he tears his robe. Those 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.319 were signs of extreme grief in this era. And then 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:35.480 it says he worships isn't that beautiful y'all? Because usually 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:38.160 we think to be in grief, or to be sad, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:42.280 or to be even depressed, that that is the opposite 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.559 end of the spectrum of worship, and God says no, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.840 to have a broken heart and raised hands, that's actually 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:53.080 the same continuum. As a matter of fact, I think 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.760 it is a deeper, more sacrificial worship to worship like 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.120 kubbacic in job though if it feels like you are 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.840 slaying me yet, well, I still raise my hands and 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.920 sing Hallelujah, because even though I don't understand while I'm 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.400 walking through this, I trust that You're a good God, 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.200 and I trust that ultimately, ultimately, all of this is 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.280 for my good and for your glory. Asaiah calls that 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.800 blind faith. Sometimes it's actually just put one foot in 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.040 front of the other. Do you know that perky is 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.520 not listed as a spiritual gift? You know? I used 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.040 to think it was. I used to think there was 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.960 this continuum and there were emotions that were approved by God, 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.600 and those were like the happy, perky emotions, No, I'm 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.960 doing great, victory, victory, and then the emotions over here 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.600 that were Man, it's tough, I know, Jesus will bring 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.160 the victory. I'm victory minded, but man, today I am 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.880 in the pit, i'd be like, you know what, you're 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.560 just opposed that Christian. That's inappropriate to see that those 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.880 two God oftentimes brings them together. And so if you 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:05.000 praise me when everything's going great, well good, it's kind 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:06.920 of like Luke six. If you love those who love 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.120 you until you look skinny in those genes, what good 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.080 is it to you? But if you praise me, and 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.120 if you love people who don't love you, well, that 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:20.960 actually is more pure and undefiled worship. And that's where 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:25.440 job is. He's being honest about his stuff. He's saying 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.960 this hurts. I don't like this. I didn't pray for this, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.320 I didn't dream of this, But I trust you, I'm 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.840 still gonna worship you. He's being honest. He's bringing all 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.440 of him to all of God. He's not editing and 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.840 just bringing the part of him that's perky to God. 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.640 He's bringing all of him to all of God. I 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.960 appreciated Lauren's testimony that she said, I thought if I 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.800 transferred schools, maybe a new peer group would make me 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.040 feel better. Y'all, some of us feel the same way, 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:02.080 even though we're older than Lauren. If only I had 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:09.640 better friends, if only I had a promotion, if only 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.600 I got the proposal I've been hanging on for. Some 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.880 of us are always thinking, if I got that greener grass, 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.080 then I'd be hopeful, And I'm like, man, we need 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.320 a bigger hero, don't we. Because the hero we've got 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.920 to hold on for is Jesus, our Redeemer, King Jesus, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:34.280 who eclipses these momentary things we think will give us 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.600 hope and healing. He's so much bigger than a peer group. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.480 He's so much better than a promotion or a proposal. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.080 He is what our souls long for most. And even 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.640 though Job was suffering well, he, like us, sees through 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.440 the glass dimily, so he didn't always get it. God 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:56.400 says he didn't sin in his grief, and y'all, it's 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.000 important for us to know that grief is not sin. 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.160 Where we go in our grief is where we get 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.560 in trouble. And I'm going to say one thing, and 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.120 I hope I don't get eggs thrown at me for this, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:13.880 But healthy grief, godly grief, does not demand an audience 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:21.640 or applause. Healthy grief. Godly grief does not demand an 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.720 audience or applause. We've gotten so used to airing our 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:29.320 aches and pains on social media, and if we don't 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.480 get enough likes or enough follows, we think nobody's being 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.680 nice to me. And I'm like, God never intended us 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:43.720 to bring all of ourselves to all of humanity. He's like, no, 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.080 you bring all of you to all of me. I'm 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:52.040 the one who has healing. I'm the one who has healing. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.680 If you feel compelled when you ache to run to 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.760 social media before you run to your savior, y'all, that's 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.600 not real grief. That's actually self indulgent whiny. We have 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:12.000 got to run to Jesus first. Jesus is our hope. Now, 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.399 before I totally grind your toe into the carpeting, I 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.520 want to encourage those of you who feel like you're 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.000 stuck in a Hawhini season. That job epitomizes that too. 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.880 Job Chapter nineteen, verse thirteen. This is the Nator. This 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.680 is the very bottom of his experience. He is at 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.359 the deepest level of the pit. And here's what he says. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.399 It's not perky at all interesting that God says he 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:36.000 didn't sin here because I want you to listen to 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.360 how depressed he is. He has put my brothers far 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.359 from me, and those who knew me are holy. Is 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.800 strange for me. This is job Chapter nineteen, verse thirteen, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:47.880 verse fourteen. My relatives have failed me. My close friends 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:49.720 have forgotten me. The guest in my house and my 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.920 maid servants count me as a stranger. I've become a 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.520 foreigner in their eyes. I call to my servant, but 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:56.440 he gives me no answer. I must plead with him 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.520 with my mouth for mercy. My breath is strange to 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.600 my wife. That's not a great translation. Better translation is 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:06.040 King James, my breath is offensive to my wife. In 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:07.880 other words, they are not sleeping in the same bed 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:09.800 he's on the couch. They are not getting jiggy with it, 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:13.879 even though they are married. Even young children despise me. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.600 When I rise. They talk against me. All my intimate 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:20.560 friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:28.560 against me. I've got nothing, no friends, no home, no reputation. 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:34.160 I've got nothing. I feel absolutely despondent. Have you ever 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.240 been there, ever been in the place, so you think 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.520 I can put on a happy face at church, But man, 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.720 I hate what I'm facing when I go home. This 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.520 is a little more than I bargained for. I started 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:47.919 the adoption process when I was in my late forties 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.600 and I got matched initially with a precious young woman 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.439 who was a prostitute and hardcore crack addict. Till the 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.040 adoption agent. I don't want a kid that it's the chance, 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.200 a good chance at a mom and a dad. I 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.840 think that's best case scenario. So I would much rather 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.359 be considered for a child who doesn't have much of 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.639 a shot, because, in my opinion, as a single woman, 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.399 best case scenario for a kid is to have a 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:18.160 mama and a daddy. And I said, so, if there's 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.440 a child who doesn't look like they have a great 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.879 shot for that, then I think maybe a fluffy single 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.280 woman in Tennessee would be a better option than death 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.000 in a third world orphanage or in a precarious situation 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.200 of states. And I got match with this precious kid, 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.639 hardcore crack addict. I spent seven months in relationship with her. 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:40.640 I spent Christmas that year in the crackhouse because when 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.919 I was with her, she used a lot less and 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:45.439 I just fell in love with this little mama because 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.960 she was desperate twenty three years old. Don't have time 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.560 to tell you her backstory, but I will tell you 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.240 if I had her backstory, I would be very tempted 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.200 to abuse narcotics as well to numb the pain of 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.159 what she had walked through. I'm almost fifty five, and 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.159 I can tell y'all I have yet to meet a 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.320 woman who has struggled with abuse or solicitation who asked 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:12.400 for a prostitute barbie when she was five or six 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.560 years old. We are so quick in the church to 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.919 turn our noses down at people who use different things 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.439 to medicate their pain instead of recognizing, you know when 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.320 I'm not condoning the sin. But Lord have mercy, what 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.560 led them to medicate that way? Let me pray for that. 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.320 Let me see the wounded little girl and the wounded 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.320 little boy that drove them to that trajectory. Spent seven 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.399 months with this kid, desperately hoped she would come to 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:45.320 know Jesus get in recovery. We formed a really close relationship. 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:47.760 I told all my friends in Nashville, don't throw me 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:52.280 any baby showers. I said, this is such a precarious adoption. 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:55.000 The doctors are saying it will be an absolute miracle 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:57.600 if she carries the baby to term, if the baby 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.199 even survives, because she just it and let go of 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:05.000 the crack. And I said, so, don't give me any gifts. 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.000 Just pray, just pray that God's will will be done, 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:11.159 that first of all, Marie will be rescued from the 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:14.760 life that she's just ensneered in. And pray for the 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:18.080 baby's health. But don't give me any baby gifts. Well, 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.000 a week before Marie was going to be induced, I 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.600 got a phone call from the adoption agency and she said, Lisa, 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:29.840 it is great news. She said, every tea has been crossed, 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.960 every eye has been dotted. You're going to bring Anna 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:36.120 Price home. Marie had let me name her baby girl, 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.320 and I named her Anna after Anna and Luke chapter two. 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:41.480 You remember she was the prophetess who waited and waited 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:45.160 and waited, held on to her hope for a real 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.600 hero in Jesus. And so I so admire Anna. And 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.440 then my little brother's middle name is Price, and our 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.040 family's a little Jerry springer Ish, and so I thought 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:57.960 that'll kind of redeem our family's lineage, and so I 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.720 named her Anna price. The adoption agent said, you're going 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.159 to get to bring Enterprise home, and I was like, 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:07.000 you are kidney, and she said no, she said, actually, 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:10.520 all the entities involved have agreed that you were the 0:23:10.560 --> 0:23:14.000 only one legally allowed to bring her home from the hospital. 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:16.359 So when I got off the phone with the adoption agent, 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.280 I immediately called my mom and I said, Mama, you're 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:23.040 going to have a granddaughter, because my sister has two boys, 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.320 my little brother has a son, and that would be 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.240 Enterprise was going to be my mom's first granddaughter. And 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:32.320 so we cried on the phone. We were both so excited, 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:35.120 so excited at what God had redeemed in the story. 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:37.680 Got off phone with my mom, called two or three 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.680 other friends. We all cried, because guys, that's what women 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:44.560 do who were happy, even when you have not one 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.400 cell of estrogen left in your body. We just it's 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.640 still is kind of the thing we do when we're happy. 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:55.000 And so anyway, we all cried on the phone. And 0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:57.879 then when I got off the third phone call, there 0:23:57.920 --> 0:23:59.360 was a knock at the door. I go to the door. 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:03.000 It's the upa guy and he hands me this big 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.679 box and I saw him the return address. It was 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:08.399 from a friend of mine in Atlanta, and I opened 0:24:08.440 --> 0:24:11.520 it up and her note basically said, I know you 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:14.000 told us not to give you any baby gifts, but 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:16.080 she said, Lisa, I know, like I know my name, 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:18.520 that you're going to bring in a price home. And 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:22.000 I also know that the generational sin and her family 0:24:22.080 --> 0:24:25.000 is going to end with you, and that's why I'm 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:27.080 giving you this gift, because I believe there's going to 0:24:27.119 --> 0:24:29.200 be purity infused in the rest of her life. And 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:33.560 she give me a miniature white fur coat. Yeah, her 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:38.480 husband has done really well. And I sat back down 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:42.080 on the couch and I cried harder because nobody's ever 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:46.600 given me a fur coat. And then a few minutes later, 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:49.520 the phone rings again and I saw from caller Idea 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:51.679 it was the adoption agent, and I thought, I've just 0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:54.040 forgotten to send in some paperwork and I probably need 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:56.920 to sign something and scan it and send it to her. 0:24:56.960 --> 0:24:59.720 But as soon as I heard her voice, I knew 0:24:59.720 --> 0:25:02.960 it was good news. And I'm not at liberty to 0:25:03.000 --> 0:25:05.919 tell y'all what happened, the details of what happened, but 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:08.639 the bottom line is the bottom fell out of our 0:25:08.680 --> 0:25:12.240 adoption and we lost that little mama. She did not 0:25:12.359 --> 0:25:16.639 go in recovery, and I lost enterprise. And I don't 0:25:16.640 --> 0:25:19.840 have words to wrap around what I felt in that moment. 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:23.240 I felt like my heart had been just cut outside 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:26.239 of my chest. And I don't know how long I 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:29.320 sat there crying. They weren't happy tears anymore. Where the 0:25:29.320 --> 0:25:32.440 phone rang again, a song caller idea. It was my mom, 0:25:33.359 --> 0:25:36.600 and I thought, oh, good night, I'm going to tell 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.320 my mama that she's not going to have a granddaughter. 0:25:39.680 --> 0:25:43.480 After all, I don't have the emotional wherewithal to even talk, 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:47.520 much less explain what just happened. And then I thought, 0:25:47.560 --> 0:25:49.680 you know, if I don't answer the phone, my mama 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:51.840 is just going to keep calling. I don't know if 0:25:51.920 --> 0:25:56.240 y'all's mama is like that. And then I thought, you know, 0:25:56.280 --> 0:25:58.760 if I don't answer after about thirty minutes, she's going 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:01.639 to call nine one one, And so I thought I 0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:03.840 need to go ahead and deal with this. And I thought, 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:08.400 I'm just going to keep it short, and I said hey, Mama, 0:26:08.600 --> 0:26:12.000 and she didn't even notice that my voice was broken. 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:15.119 She just real quickly said, baby, I'm so sorry to 0:26:15.240 --> 0:26:17.960 call you with bad news on such a celebratory day, 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:21.160 but I'm scared and I need you to pray. She said, 0:26:21.160 --> 0:26:23.480 I just got off the phone with my doctor and 0:26:23.560 --> 0:26:27.120 she said, what we thought was an ongoing bladder infection 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:31.520 is actually appendiceal cancer. And she said, Honey, the cancer 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:34.760 is metastasized to at least three of my major organs 0:26:35.119 --> 0:26:38.760 and my prognosis isn't good, and I'm scared and I 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:41.600 need you to pray for me. So I just prayed 0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:43.280 on the phone with my mom. At that point, I 0:26:43.320 --> 0:26:47.359 didn't tell her about losing Enterprise. Got off the phone, 0:26:47.400 --> 0:26:49.440 and just a few minutes after that it rang again. 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:52.000 I saw it as my daddy. My mom and my 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:56.960 dad divorced when I was five years old, long acrimonious divorce, 0:26:57.480 --> 0:27:00.600 so my dad didn't know anything about my mom and 0:27:00.680 --> 0:27:03.760 my dad. I hadn't told him that morning about Enterprise, 0:27:04.480 --> 0:27:08.119 and I thought, oh, goodness gracious, and I just can't 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:11.720 deal with my daddy right now. But he's kind of 0:27:11.800 --> 0:27:14.000 like my mama, and that he would just keep calling, 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:16.080 and I thought, I'm just going to try to keep 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:20.440 it short, and I said, hey, Dad, and he said, honey, 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:24.440 I need your help. He said, I just got home 0:27:24.520 --> 0:27:28.240 from my surgeon and he said, they did the scans again. 0:27:28.359 --> 0:27:33.159 My father battled colon cancer successfully, we thought five years previously. 0:27:33.720 --> 0:27:36.439 And he said, honey, the cancer's back. It's in my 0:27:36.520 --> 0:27:39.439 lungs and it's in my bones, and doctor's given me 0:27:39.480 --> 0:27:42.560 two months to live. He said, Now, I'm okay, I'm 0:27:42.600 --> 0:27:44.920 totally fine. I know exactly where I'm going, but I'm 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:47.239 worried about your sister. So I want you to get 0:27:47.280 --> 0:27:48.679 on the phone. I want you to explain this to 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.840 your sister. I told y'all we're Jerry Springer. And so 0:27:52.280 --> 0:27:55.320 I prayed with my dad, got off the phone with 0:27:55.320 --> 0:27:58.199 my dad, and I just collapsed on the couch and 0:27:58.240 --> 0:28:01.320 I don't know how long I sat there. I mean, 0:28:01.359 --> 0:28:03.080 I just thought, I don't know if I'm ever going 0:28:03.119 --> 0:28:05.360 to be able to peel my heart up off the pavement. 0:28:05.880 --> 0:28:08.560 And I thought, Lord, you've picked the wrong girl. I mean, 0:28:08.600 --> 0:28:11.960 I'm not this faithful. You needed to get Chris Caine 0:28:12.040 --> 0:28:14.600 or Holli Ferdict for this. I mean, I can't, I'm 0:28:14.640 --> 0:28:17.439 not going to walk this well. And then I just 0:28:17.520 --> 0:28:22.800 had kind of this jarring epiphany of oh, good night, 0:28:23.960 --> 0:28:26.879 I've got an early flight in the morning because I 0:28:26.960 --> 0:28:30.040 have to go to Kansas City and speak at a 0:28:30.119 --> 0:28:35.560 conference for Christian leaders on the faithfulness of God. And 0:28:35.640 --> 0:28:39.160 I thought, Lord, I'm not sure I can even make 0:28:39.200 --> 0:28:43.800 it to the plane, much less speak honestly about your 0:28:43.840 --> 0:28:46.560 faithfulness when I feel like my heart has been cut 0:28:46.600 --> 0:28:50.200 out of my chest. Y'all, here's who our Jesus is. 0:28:50.280 --> 0:28:55.120 He is not a fair weather friend. We don't have 0:28:55.160 --> 0:29:02.160 a bridegroom who stands in front of the judge and says, 0:29:02.880 --> 0:29:08.680 for better, that's all, just for better, like I'm out 0:29:09.000 --> 0:29:14.080 if worse comes. That's not who our bridegroom is. Jesus 0:29:14.120 --> 0:29:19.240 says when your heart is broken, I'm right there. When 0:29:19.280 --> 0:29:22.880 you feel like you're crushed. I am near to you, 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:28.680 when you can't walk, I will carry you. My love 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:31.280 for you will not fade, and it will not fail, 0:29:31.480 --> 0:29:35.800 even when your faith is fickle or frail or broken. 0:29:36.400 --> 0:29:41.560 I'm right here. I'm not leaving so that you will 0:29:41.600 --> 0:29:45.880 not be destroyed Malachi three to six. His hope, y'all, 0:29:45.960 --> 0:29:50.120 is immutable. It doesn't change. We change, We wax and 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:53.920 wayne depending on our circumstances, but he doesn't. His love 0:29:54.120 --> 0:29:57.600 is said fast, and that's exactly what job comes to. 0:29:58.000 --> 0:30:00.240 It's exactly what I came to the next morning. You know, 0:30:00.240 --> 0:30:03.320 it wasn't even hard to stand up and say, our 0:30:03.360 --> 0:30:06.960 God is faithful, because even the next morning, after I 0:30:07.000 --> 0:30:09.960 felt like I lost most of my heart, I could 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:12.080 look back over my life and go, I've never seen 0:30:12.160 --> 0:30:15.880 us back. I have never seen God's back. He is 0:30:15.920 --> 0:30:22.120 a good God. He's a faithful God. He's kind. He 0:30:22.160 --> 0:30:26.000 has never left my side. Even when I am in 0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:32.040 the pit. His presence sustains me. Right after Job says 0:30:32.200 --> 0:30:35.760 I can't take this anymore, there's this sharp turn, and 0:30:35.800 --> 0:30:38.800 he says next what most of us know because we've 0:30:38.840 --> 0:30:43.320 heard Nicole Mullen sing it. He says, verse twenty five four, 0:30:43.480 --> 0:30:48.080 I know that my Redeemer lives. I'm at the deepest 0:30:48.120 --> 0:30:52.120 point of the pit, but I know my Redeemer lives. 0:30:52.160 --> 0:30:54.200 I know he lives. And at the last he will 0:30:54.240 --> 0:30:56.600 stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been 0:30:56.680 --> 0:31:01.560 thus destroyed, after my metabolism has thus been shot yet 0:31:01.920 --> 0:31:05.280 in my saggy flesh, that's just a little liberty with 0:31:05.360 --> 0:31:10.240 the Hebrew. I shall see God, whom I shall see 0:31:10.280 --> 0:31:14.160 for myself, the Psalmist says, when I see him face 0:31:14.280 --> 0:31:17.800 to face, it'll be enough. And y'all, what's so interesting 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:20.600 about what Job says here about his redeemer. The word 0:31:20.640 --> 0:31:23.840 he uses there for redeemer and Hebrew is go well, 0:31:24.400 --> 0:31:28.680 and it's most commonly translated kinsman redeemer. And most of 0:31:28.720 --> 0:31:32.360 y'all know a Kinsman redeemer could rescue somebody in their family. 0:31:32.400 --> 0:31:34.400 Didn't have to be a close family member, could be 0:31:34.480 --> 0:31:38.160 like a seventeenth cousin. But if you were somewhere in 0:31:38.200 --> 0:31:41.360 the family circle of a Kinsman redeemer, they could rescue 0:31:41.360 --> 0:31:44.640 you from a minor emergency. Like girls, Let's just say 0:31:44.640 --> 0:31:46.680 you got all fired up about a shoe sale at 0:31:46.720 --> 0:31:50.440 the rack and you ran your visa up to high. 0:31:50.520 --> 0:31:53.600 You could text your Kinsman redeemer and say, I am 0:31:53.760 --> 0:31:55.800 in trouble. I'm not going to be able to to 0:31:55.880 --> 0:31:58.400 pray the rent next month, but I got some pretty shoes, 0:31:58.920 --> 0:32:02.320 and your Kinsman redeemer could say, I'm going to pay 0:32:02.360 --> 0:32:04.280 off your debt and don't go to the rat for 0:32:04.320 --> 0:32:06.160 a while, but I'm gonna pay off your debt, so 0:32:06.200 --> 0:32:09.760 they could rescue you from a minor emergency, or if 0:32:09.760 --> 0:32:14.280 you had a major emergency, let's say you're facing incarceration, 0:32:15.120 --> 0:32:18.080 your Kinsman Redeemer could stand between you and the judge 0:32:18.120 --> 0:32:21.040 and plead, plead for leniency, or they could even take 0:32:21.160 --> 0:32:25.280 your incarceration, your punishment upon themselves. Y'all know Ruth's story, 0:32:25.360 --> 0:32:27.960 you know, bo as her kins Redeemer redeemed her from 0:32:28.480 --> 0:32:31.160 a life of poverty and shame as a widow, as 0:32:31.200 --> 0:32:34.160 a childless widow. And then they, after they got married, 0:32:34.200 --> 0:32:38.360 had a son named Obed. Thirty nine generations later, Jesus see, 0:32:38.920 --> 0:32:43.400 the ultimate Kinsman Redeemer was born through their lineage. So 0:32:43.560 --> 0:32:47.240 Job says, my kinsman redeemer, my go Well is coming 0:32:47.440 --> 0:32:52.360 for me. So that's normal, relatively speaking. Actually, in that 0:32:52.520 --> 0:32:55.000 era of history, they didn't even use the word redeemer. 0:32:55.360 --> 0:32:57.880 But God makes the veil thin in pain, doesn't he. 0:32:58.520 --> 0:33:00.880 If we'll look up, you'll actually see him more clearly 0:33:00.920 --> 0:33:03.240 when you age than you do when everything's unky dory. 0:33:03.920 --> 0:33:07.000 He says, my Kinsman Redeemer is coming. What's curious about 0:33:07.000 --> 0:33:10.640 this is in chapter sixteen he said God is my accuser. 0:33:10.760 --> 0:33:13.640 God go Well is the one who has brought this 0:33:13.800 --> 0:33:17.840 calamity upon me. So it's curious that he would say 0:33:17.920 --> 0:33:20.800 God is both the one who has punished me and 0:33:20.880 --> 0:33:24.160 the one who is going to redeem me? Unless unless 0:33:25.440 --> 0:33:28.080 job saw what we know now because of where we 0:33:28.120 --> 0:33:31.440 are in redemptive history. Unless job saw one is coming, 0:33:32.720 --> 0:33:35.000 who is going to shrug into the orange jump suit 0:33:35.040 --> 0:33:40.000 meant for me? So God, my judge does wear the 0:33:40.040 --> 0:33:44.920 black robe of perfect, holy, divine judge, and he has 0:33:45.040 --> 0:33:50.520 brought this upon me in his sovereignty. But Jesus is coming, 0:33:51.200 --> 0:33:53.600 and he's going to redeem me. And when I see 0:33:53.680 --> 0:33:57.320 him faced faith, it's going to be enough. My redeemer 0:33:57.520 --> 0:34:01.479 is coming, y'all. It's amazing what obseas You know, he 0:34:01.600 --> 0:34:05.480 uses Messianic terminology in this book that's a thousand years 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:08.719 before the birth of Christ. He uses Messianic terminology that 0:34:08.840 --> 0:34:12.480 she used nowhere else in that period of literature. He 0:34:12.719 --> 0:34:16.600 sees Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming, that's his posture. 0:34:16.600 --> 0:34:19.799 If we would get that in the pit, if we 0:34:19.840 --> 0:34:23.480 look up, we will see Jesus more clearly than ever before. 0:34:23.800 --> 0:34:26.680 We would not fear pain. Now I'm not saying we'd 0:34:26.680 --> 0:34:29.840 all be massive massochist or sayis, but we would go 0:34:29.920 --> 0:34:34.680 you know what, this too, somehow, this too will be 0:34:34.760 --> 0:34:36.719 for my good and for his glory. So I'm gonna 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:39.120 walk it. I'm not gonna try to get around it. 0:34:39.160 --> 0:34:41.759 I'm not gonna hide, I'm not gonna numb. I'm just 0:34:41.960 --> 0:34:45.480 gonna walk it because he thinks I'm strong enough for this, 0:34:46.440 --> 0:34:49.719 and I'm so grateful my God has such a high, 0:34:50.160 --> 0:34:53.640 high expectation of me. So I'm gonna walk it as 0:34:53.680 --> 0:34:55.920 well as I can. I'm gonna be honest about it. 0:34:55.920 --> 0:34:57.520 I'm gonna bring all of me to all of him, 0:34:57.719 --> 0:35:00.799 but I'm gonna be honest about it. Two weeks after 0:35:00.840 --> 0:35:03.720 I lost Enterprise, I was in a waiting room hospital 0:35:03.719 --> 0:35:06.160 waiting room in Orlando, Florida, waiting to hear from the 0:35:06.200 --> 0:35:09.439 surgeon who was operating on my mama. And after four 0:35:09.440 --> 0:35:11.319 and a half hours, he called and he said, Lisa, 0:35:11.320 --> 0:35:14.080 I've got mostly good news. He said, most of the 0:35:14.120 --> 0:35:17.239 cancer was encapsulated. He said, we weren't able to get 0:35:17.280 --> 0:35:19.239 all of it, but we got most of it. He said, 0:35:19.239 --> 0:35:21.680 here's the deal. Your mama will die, but she's going 0:35:21.760 --> 0:35:23.520 to die of old age. She's not going to die 0:35:23.760 --> 0:35:28.600 from the cancer. He said, so I've got a good report. Well. 0:35:28.640 --> 0:35:33.240 Two days later, that same surgeon called and he said, Lisa, 0:35:34.680 --> 0:35:37.720 the cancer was successful, but your mother is doing poorly. 0:35:38.080 --> 0:35:41.000 He said, your mother's numbers continue to plummet. He said, 0:35:41.000 --> 0:35:43.680 I think she was so weak coming into the surgery 0:35:43.680 --> 0:35:47.400 that her body just can't handle such a difficult surgery. 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:50.400 And he said, if her numbers don't turn around in 0:35:50.440 --> 0:35:52.839 the next twenty four hours, we're going to lose your mother. 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:55.200 He said, I know you to be a woman of faith, 0:35:55.239 --> 0:35:57.759 and so I would just encourage you to pray well. 0:35:57.800 --> 0:36:00.560 My sister and I were keeping visual over my mom's bed. 0:36:00.600 --> 0:36:04.080 She was still in ICU, had barely been conscious since 0:36:04.120 --> 0:36:07.080 she had come out of surgery, and that afternoon my 0:36:07.160 --> 0:36:10.040 mom roused just a little bit and she whispered, I 0:36:10.120 --> 0:36:14.160 need to see your father. My sister looked at me, 0:36:14.320 --> 0:36:20.480 and I looked at her, and she went, you because 0:36:20.640 --> 0:36:24.080 our dad, my stepfather, John Angel, who my mom married 0:36:24.120 --> 0:36:26.680 when I was six years old, he had passed away 0:36:26.719 --> 0:36:29.360 the year before, and we thought Mama was just so 0:36:29.520 --> 0:36:32.040 addled from the morphine that she didn't remember that he 0:36:32.080 --> 0:36:34.920 had passed away. And so I leaned over mom and 0:36:35.000 --> 0:36:37.279 I tried to say as gently as I could, my mom, 0:36:37.400 --> 0:36:41.320 I'm sorry, but daddy Daddy passed away. I remember Daddy. 0:36:41.760 --> 0:36:45.640 Daddy died last year, and she said not that father. 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:50.000 And my sister and I were just stunned. My mom 0:36:50.040 --> 0:36:53.080 and my daddy hadn't spoken really in forty years, and 0:36:53.120 --> 0:36:56.040 there's no love loss between my mom and my dad Harper. 0:36:57.200 --> 0:37:00.480 So I walked outside of her hospital room. I called 0:37:00.480 --> 0:37:02.560 my daddy. This is the one who had the lung 0:37:02.600 --> 0:37:05.600 cancer and it was in his bones. And I said, Daddy, 0:37:05.680 --> 0:37:08.200 you know Mama is out of surgery, but she's not 0:37:08.360 --> 0:37:12.000 doing well. And he said okay. And I said the 0:37:12.040 --> 0:37:14.400 doctor told us if her numbers don't change and the 0:37:14.440 --> 0:37:18.200 next day, we're likely to lose her. And I said, Daddy, 0:37:18.280 --> 0:37:23.520 she's she's asking for you, and he said all right. 0:37:23.800 --> 0:37:26.120 He said, give me about an hour and I'll be there. 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:30.520 My dad was a little man, about five seven, one 0:37:30.600 --> 0:37:33.440 hundred and fifty pounds, soaking wet. I got my mama's jeans, 0:37:34.080 --> 0:37:39.840 and he put himself through college, busting bronx in the rodeo. 0:37:39.920 --> 0:37:42.440 Because he was little, but he was tough. It's like 0:37:42.560 --> 0:37:47.040 John Wayne Junior. And he comes swaggering down the hospital 0:37:47.160 --> 0:37:49.080 corridor and he comes up to my sister and I 0:37:49.120 --> 0:37:50.959 were standing outside of my mom's room, and he goes 0:37:51.280 --> 0:37:56.120 Lisa Teresa, I love you, girls, but I need some 0:37:56.160 --> 0:37:57.879 privacy with your mother. So she y'all need to stay 0:37:57.880 --> 0:38:00.560 out here. And he walks in to be with my mama, 0:38:00.640 --> 0:38:02.880 and I was like, we're going to be on the news. 0:38:05.200 --> 0:38:06.440 I guess he's going to go in and put a 0:38:06.480 --> 0:38:08.920 pillow over her head. I was like, this is awful. 0:38:09.840 --> 0:38:12.520 He's in there. About twenty minutes, he comes out and 0:38:12.560 --> 0:38:15.600 he says, girls, I love you. Your Mama's going to 0:38:15.640 --> 0:38:17.480 be all right. I'll be back here same time tomorrow. 0:38:17.520 --> 0:38:20.680 Swagger's off welly go busting into her room to make 0:38:20.719 --> 0:38:24.840 sure she's still breathing, and Mama's sitting up for the 0:38:24.840 --> 0:38:27.879 first time since before the surgery. She's got color back 0:38:27.880 --> 0:38:31.240 in her face, and she said, girls, your father annoyed 0:38:31.239 --> 0:38:36.000 me with oil. I'm going to be fine. Two days later. 0:38:37.640 --> 0:38:40.920 Two days later, they released my mom from the hospital. 0:38:40.960 --> 0:38:44.000 But that's not the huge miracle. She was with me 0:38:44.120 --> 0:38:46.840 last week in Nashville, Tennessee. She's eighty one. She walks 0:38:46.880 --> 0:38:50.760 six miles a day. That's that's not the biggest miracle. 0:38:51.520 --> 0:38:55.320 The biggest miracle is from April of twenty twelve until 0:38:55.360 --> 0:38:59.280 February fifth of twenty thirteen, my mama and my daddy, 0:38:59.280 --> 0:39:01.919 who had been a strain for forty years. They talked 0:39:01.920 --> 0:39:04.319 on the phone every single day or they saw each other. 0:39:04.719 --> 0:39:08.760 My mama is the very last person who was sitting 0:39:08.840 --> 0:39:12.040 next to my father's deathbed, holding his hand and reading 0:39:12.040 --> 0:39:15.120 the Bible to my daddy. It was a redemption and 0:39:15.160 --> 0:39:18.239 it was a healing. It was a miracle that I 0:39:18.320 --> 0:39:20.799 didn't even have the faith to pray for. And I 0:39:20.840 --> 0:39:25.600 thought only God, only God could bring this kind of 0:39:25.680 --> 0:39:31.960 glory out of that kind of heartache. Only God. Two 0:39:32.080 --> 0:39:34.360 days before my mama went into surgery, I got a 0:39:34.360 --> 0:39:36.960 phone call and it was from a friend of mine 0:39:37.000 --> 0:39:39.759 who had just been to Haiti, and she Sai, at least, 0:39:39.760 --> 0:39:42.920 I know you're still grieving in a price. But I 0:39:43.000 --> 0:39:44.759 just got back from Haiti and one of the young 0:39:44.880 --> 0:39:47.560 mama's died of AIDS and there's a little girl that 0:39:47.640 --> 0:39:50.400 she left behind who's two years old. She has HIV, 0:39:51.120 --> 0:39:55.719 in cholera and tuberculosis. The doctors have given her two 0:39:55.719 --> 0:39:58.680 months to live. And I just wondered if you would 0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:03.200 be willing to pray about being her mama, And I said, no, 0:40:03.680 --> 0:40:06.160 I'm not willing to pray about it. I've been praying 0:40:06.160 --> 0:40:09.840 about this for thirty years. You sign me up, y'all. 0:40:09.880 --> 0:40:15.160 I did not know. I did not know that the 0:40:15.200 --> 0:40:19.280 greatest redemption and restoration of my life would come after 0:40:19.360 --> 0:40:23.160 a river of tears. And that's what I've come back 0:40:23.239 --> 0:40:26.319 to tell y'all. I want to bring you a good report. 0:40:27.200 --> 0:40:31.920 If you are in a difficult season, maybe, like young Lauren, 0:40:32.080 --> 0:40:35.200 you just feel like I need better friends. I've got 0:40:35.239 --> 0:40:39.520 some miserable comforters like job. Maybe you long for your 0:40:39.560 --> 0:40:42.160 marriage to be as close as it once was. Maybe 0:40:42.200 --> 0:40:45.319 you just need a job. I want to encourage you 0:40:45.360 --> 0:40:50.080 to stay the course. Your redeemer has already come for you. 0:40:50.080 --> 0:40:56.720 Your redeemer will restore what seems irreparably broken. Your redeemer 0:40:57.400 --> 0:41:01.440 is enough, but stand it and worship the fact that 0:41:01.560 --> 0:41:06.680 God never leaves us, He will never fail us. His 0:41:07.280 --> 0:41:13.320 presence is enough. Well. I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. 0:41:13.520 --> 0:41:15.680 If you did, there are just a couple things I'd 0:41:15.680 --> 0:41:19.000 love for you to do. Number One, subscribe to our show. 0:41:19.080 --> 0:41:22.120 That way, the most recent episode will always be in 0:41:22.160 --> 0:41:26.239 your feed, waiting for you ready when you are. And Secondly, 0:41:26.320 --> 0:41:28.759 if this ministry has impacted you and you'd like to 0:41:28.760 --> 0:41:31.200 help us continue to reach others. You can click the 0:41:31.200 --> 0:41:33.640 link in the description and you can give now and 0:41:33.800 --> 0:41:37.160 I'll see you next time on the Elevation Podcast.