Put Your Passion In Its Place

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:04.840 Church and. 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:05.840 This is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.719 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:12.880 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:13.600 in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:15.320 Enjoy the message. 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.160 So over in the Book of Revelation, Chapter two, verse 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:24.840 two through five. There's a challenge, and I'm going to 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:26.680 try to be disciplined as I preach this one. I 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.280 got a little I got a little bit off my 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.640 plan at the last one. This one, I'm gonna try 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:33.720 to just stay right right there and preach it, and 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.839 because there's so much there that I believe will help you. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.600 But let's turn our attention now to the text. The 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:47.000 Angel at the church in emphasis is receiving a message, and. 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.479 The word of the Lord comes. I know your works verse. 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:55.040 Two, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:57.720 cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.480 those who call themselves apostles and are not found them 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:06.800 to be false. I know you're enduring patiently and bearing 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:10.919 up for my Name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:12.560 You're doing a lot of things right. 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:15.920 And I see it, and I see you struggling, and 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.080 I see you showing up. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:22.399 But I have this against you. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.800 There's something that's working against you. There's something that I 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.080 need to challenge you on today. I have this against 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.760 you that you have abandoned the love that you had 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:43.480 it first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.400 It means to change your mind. It means to change 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:57.560 your direction. Repent therefore, repent, Remember and repent and do 0:01:57.680 --> 0:01:59.080 the works you. 0:01:59.080 --> 0:01:59.880 Did it first. 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.080 If not, I will come to you and remove your 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.840 lamp stand from its place unless you repent. I see you, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:16.040 I love you, But if you don't remember and repent, 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:18.120 you're gonna. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:18.560 Lose your place. 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:21.240 So I want to appreciate to you today on the 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:28.680 subject put your passion in its place, and I want 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:30.520 you to pray with me that I could communicate this 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.960 message in a powerful and clear way. Father, anoint your 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.240 word and open our hearts. May we hear it and 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:39.880 do it never be the same. We declare it, and 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.720 thank you in advance for feeding us from your hand. 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:45.560 In Jesus' name, Amen, on your way to. 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:47.600 Your seat, touch somebody, say you're gonna get it back today. 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.120 You're gonna get it back. You're gonna get it back. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:51.400 I'm just telling you right now, you're gonna get it 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:56.880 back today. Hey, So bring up my props and put 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.799 my little picture up. I want to show you something 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:01.880 from last summer. I took my kids back to my 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:06.200 hometown and took them on a tour of Monk's Corner, 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:07.080 South Carolina. 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:09.200 A lot of people want to go to the Holy 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.360 Land and then, and. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.320 Some people on their bucket list, they just want to 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.320 see Monk's Corner. So I took my kids to all 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:19.200 of the sites that I could think of that were 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.560 memorable to me growing up, very proud of my small 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.679 town heritage, and very proud. 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:25.320 Of the church I grew up in. 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.840 I took them by Monk's Corner United Methodist Church. A 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.880 lady who recognized me saw us full up. She said, 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:38.280 little Stevie Verdick, her sister taught my Sunday school class, 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:41.840 and she knew I was pastoring. Now, proud of me 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:43.400 and all that said, we could walk in and do 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.280 whatever we wanted. She was there cleaning, and we went 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.920 over to the choir room and I showed the kids 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.520 how I used to suit up on Sunday mornings when 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.600 I was about well was it ten, mom eleven? And 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:01.000 I was an acolyte at the Methodist church, and so 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:02.760 I kind of walked them through. I wanted to show 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:08.200 him how I did it back in the day, because 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.880 you know, not just anybody could be an acolyte. Took 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.520 a special talented kid, very spiritually elite children were called 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.200 upon it. They didn't let you light your own wick. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.720 They had a committee member for that. But I walked 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:25.480 them through it. And so that's me at the front 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.720 of the church there showing them how I used to 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.320 do it. And you had to do it a certain way, 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.960 you know, you come down during the first song and 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.640 you I don't remember it exactly, it's been a while, 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.560 but there was a certain way you did the candles 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.240 and all of that, and then you light it, light 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:48.080 the well, it's been a while. Abby had a funny 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.400 line when I was showing her all this. She said, Daddy, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:56.240 did you have to practice that? I said, yeah, baby, 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:58.360 took a lot of practice, and do it just right, 0:04:58.720 --> 0:04:59.520 can't mess it up. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.520 And plus Melissa Hydric was sitting up there in the. 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.400 Balcony and I had a crush on her, and I 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.120 didn't want to burn down the church in front of 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.360 my childhood crush, light my robe on fire in front 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.400 of my crush. So you had to practice that. And 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.400 then at the end, how you put the fire out. 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:25.640 That's important there at the end. And while I'm standing 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.719 up there with them, it's memories, you know, because sometimes 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:29.479 you go back. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.440 And you just you remember things. 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.440 That was where I preached my first sermon on youth Sunday. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.120 Now they only give you twelve minutes to preach in 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.200 the Methodist Church, And I know what some of you 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:42.560 are thinking, can we make this a Methodist church? 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:43.800 That sounds awesome. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.360 It takes me twelve minutes to tell you, hello, how 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:50.839 many of you are glad I preached long sermons because 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.760 you know you're jacked up. It's going to take me 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.840 a whole lot more than twelve minutes to straighten you out. 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:02.400 Weird though, touch somebody say it's gonna take more than 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.599 twelve You're a mess. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:07.000 Me too. 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.480 Anyway, I was remembering that first sermon. I was preaching 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.960 on Peter walking on water, and I didn't even need 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:19.320 the full twelve minutes to be honest with you. Within 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:22.160 five minutes I had used all my notes and there 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.080 was seven minutes left. I had nothing more to say. 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.839 Because I was sixteen. I didn't have content. I was 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:35.279 preaching on the storms of life, sixteen years old, trying 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:39.120 to tell seventy three year old Methodist women about the 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.679 storms of life. I didn't have a lot of life experience. 0:06:42.680 --> 0:06:45.160 But I tell you what I had. I had passion. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.840 I had passion. I mean, if I could have walked 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.320 across the pews, I would have walked across the pews 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.240 to show them how Peter came out to Jesus on 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.120 that boat. And I didn't have much much sense, but 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.040 I had passion. In fact, they brought up a group 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.120 of people last night when I was preaching. They had 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.240 people up who have been in the church ten years, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.840 and it made me remember back to all the things 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.560 that we have now as a church that we did 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.160 not have ten years ago when we started. We didn't 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:21.280 have all these lights and cameras for video, and all 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.920 this money to start campuses. God knows, we didn't have 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:29.520 a building our first capitol campaign, you remember, Greg Weinberger, 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.480 I didn't have a building, a blueprint to show the people. 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:35.200 We didn't have any of that. But we had passion. 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.920 Oh man, we had passion. We had the kind of 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.960 passion that they were calling us a cult. Until they're 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:43.720 calling you a cult, you ain't doing nothing. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:45.160 We had passion. 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.920 I had passion preaching in that senior center. I wish 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:50.800 I could tell them, Josh, remember you wrote me that 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.440 letter the other day about my first green room. 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.080 It wasn't a green room, it was a closet. It 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:56.800 was a closet. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.000 We would move the plants out the closet and you 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.200 would knock on it one minute less, so I come 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.280 out and lead the music. We didn't even have that 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:07.000 many people, but we had passion. How many know you 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:08.400 can push through a lot. 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:15.800 When you have passion. When you have passion, passion matters. 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.840 And I was standing there with my kids and thinking 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.920 about when I started appreciating and having conversations with my 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.960 young self and checking my passion because in Revelation chapter 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.560 two there is a challenge to passion, and I think 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.120 it's good every once in a while to challenge your 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.840 passion level. In contrast to the passion that you had, 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:41.439 do you still have passion? You remember the first apartment 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.000 that we lived in together, Holly, you remember it well. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.679 You remember the mouse traps. You remember it well. You 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:52.320 remember how you cooked. 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:56.920 All that fried rice and pasta and made me fat 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.000 within a year and a half of being your husband, 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:01.480 And I think you were trying to make sure I 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.679 stayed with you. She got me so fat that first 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.040 year cooking for me. I found a picture the other day. 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:09.400 In fact, she brought it to me. I don't know 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.160 if she's trying to keep me motivated to stay in 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.880 the gym, but I was about forty five pounds heavier 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.240 bro not in the biceps this picture. I wish you 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.080 could see this picture. I thought about putting it on 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.120 the screen, but some of y'all are going to lunch 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:23.959 after this. I don't want to mess up your lunch. 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.000 And I'm standing there, got my eyes closed and my 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.439 shirt off and my belly out, looking like an infomercial 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:38.520 before picture. That little apartment a Juniper Terrorists apartment CEE fifteen. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.280 It was very small and the insulation in the walls 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.040 was very thin. And the reason I know because Tammy 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.840 from Juniper Terrists Apartment C sixteen came over to us 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.520 after our first night and the apartment knocked on the 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.680 door and said I'm your neighbor, Tammy, and I just 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.320 want to let you know we can hear everything. It 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.360 was a duplex. I just want you to know here 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:07.760 everything that happens in fifteen and I mean everything, because 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:08.440 we didn't. 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.880 Have a lot of space, but we had all the. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:27.040 Which brings us to Revelation chapter two. This is the 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:32.280 connection obvious people. He said, you had something when you 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:37.760 were small that you lost now that you're significant. Ephesis 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.320 was not an imaginary place. So when the Book of 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.720 Revelation is issuing seven letters to seven churches, they're real 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:48.319 churches with real people, with real histories. And it's been 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.560 forty three years since Paul started this church, traveling Inland 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:57.400 with a group of compadres that are spreading the gospel 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:00.640 of Jesus Christ. That he spends a couple of years 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.840 with these people in Ephesis. And when he started out 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.960 he just met some people. There were twelve guys who 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:11.040 were disciples of John the Baptist, and Paul asked him 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:12.320 do you have the Holy Spirit? 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:12.959 And they said, we. 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.480 Don't even know that there is a Holy Spirit. They 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.920 didn't have a lot of theological knowledge, but you know 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.040 what they had passion. Paul laid his hands on him, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.600 and when he did, they started to speak in tongues 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.120 and they received the Holy Spirit, and they didn't just 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:30.679 speak in another language. They started speaking about Jesus. They 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.480 were speaking in the synagogues, and their passion was so 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.120 strong that the crowds started coming out. And then they 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.239 didn't like it, because sometimes when you get passionate, apathetic, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:44.400 people get threatened. And the Jewish religious system was not 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.679 a fan of the prevalence of the Gospel, so they 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.240 kicked Paul out of the synagogue. But how many know, 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.800 when you have passion, you'll find another place. Nobody can 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.360 shut you down. When you have real passion, if they 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.760 kick you out the synagogue, you'll go to the lecture hall. 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.439 And that's exactly what Paul did. And he preached powerfully 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:10.320 in emphasis. And it wasn't just an accident that he 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.400 ended up in emphasis. God strategically placed Paul in emphasis 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:16.960 because there were three hundred thousand people who lived there. 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.400 Fourth largest city in the world. 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.080 At that time, known as the Seventh Wonder of the World, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.120 home of the Temple of Artemis, daughter of Zeus I 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.200 mean emphasis, was a place where people would come to 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.560 get their shipments, it was a port city, it was 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:35.559 well situated, it was an important place. So Paul is passionate, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.839 and Emphasis is an important place, and God says, I've 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:40.480 got to get the. 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.000 Guy with the passion in the right place. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.679 When I look back over my life, I'm grateful that 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:48.760 God has directed. 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.960 My past and made sure that my passion had a 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:53.600 place to operate. 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.960 I'm grateful that God found me as a teenager and 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.800 gave me a place to preach because God saw a passion. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.880 Now, as a parent, I'm always trying to look. 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.400 And make sure that if my kids have a passion, 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.120 I encourage it. If you're into a Rubic's cube, I'll 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.760 buy you three. If you like mindcraft, I'll tolerate and 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:16.920 pretend to listen to you as you explain it to me. 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.200 But I want you to have a passion. 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:30.640 Passion mattersh It matters no matter what position you're in. 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:35.400 Passion matters. And if you can't do it with passion 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.800 in a small place, why in the world would God 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:43.280 promote you to a bigger one. Paul didn't start an Emphasis, 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.280 but he ended up there. Started in Damascus, spending time 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.880 in isolation, but the same passion that was developing in 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:50.600 his isolation. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:52.520 Did that make you. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:54.920 Think of David when I said that, because that would 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.720 be a great Old Testament illustration of this New Testament 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:05.040 personality as a shepherd killing lions, killing bears and didn't 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.680 even know he was preparing for Goliath. But it was 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.599 the same passion in the pasture that got him to 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.320 the palace, same passion waiting for a place to happen. 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:18.400 And that's one of the frustrating things, is that you 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:24.000 can have the right passion in the wrong place. You 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.360 can have more passion than opportunity. 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.120 To express it. It's frustrating. 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.240 I know some of you who come to church here, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.240 some of you would express yourself more in church, but 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:39.760 you don't know if it's appropriate. 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:41.280 I have one friend. 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.840 Who grew up in churches where it was more demonstrative. 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.040 He said, when he first came to elevation, it was 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.440 kind of hard for him. I said, really, He said, yeah, 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:50.320 because I would want to. 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.600 Stand up while you were preaching and shout you down. 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:55.240 There's a black guy. 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.200 By the way, okay, incidentally, he said, But I was 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.400 around a bunch of white people and god blos and 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.720 we all have different personalities but I stood up. When 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:06.520 I was stand up, I was the only one I 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:08.560 was stand up, and I was expecting everybody else to 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.680 be standing to he said, because you were preaching so passionately. 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.120 The word just got in me and I couldn't stay seated. 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:19.040 And I'm standing up, but I'm the only one all 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.560 these people around me. You know, sometimes you can let 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:29.120 other people minimize your passions and downplay your passion to 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:33.800 the level of other people. Don't ever let another person 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:35.120 become the. 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:36.240 Ceiling on your passion. 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.160 I'd rather change people than lose passion. I'd rather get 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.800 some new friends that want to. 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.480 Serve God and want to love God. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.440 I'd rather move seats and stay in my seat when 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.160 the spirit of God hid me. In fact, if you're 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.360 sitting at a campus and nobody around you looks excited, 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.320 raise your hand and ask the I'm sure, and they'll 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.360 move your seating assignment because I need some room to 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.000 praise God, because when I think of the goodness of Jesus. 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:11.200 Come on, anybody got passion and see when you have passion. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.760 Sometimes when you get around complacent people or people who 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.880 have a different personality, you feel funny. My friend Carl 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.120 Lynz came to preach out our code Orang's revival. He 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.240 pastors in New York City, and so his kids play 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.200 ball in Brooklyn, and he came to my kids little 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.480 league baseball game. He came to Graham's baseball game in 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.240 South Charlotte, and he tried to bring a Brooklyn passion 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:40.040 to a South Charlotte baseball game. I mean, no, sooner 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.440 had he got out there to the bleachers than he 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:46.160 was talking trash to the ump. Now, this is not 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.560 a high school baseball game. These are eight year old, 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.720 nine year old kids. And Carl's telling the ump. He's 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:55.800 telling the ump look good to. 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.480 Me, hump, be happy to get to some glasses. Ump. 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.159 Next thing, I know, he's talking trash to. 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.560 The kid on the other team on den to about 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.360 not today number eleven. I don't think so, little guy, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.280 I said, Carl, we don't. 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:15.640 Do that here. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.040 I appreciate your passion, but this is the wrong place. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:22.960 I gotta come to the field with these people. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.600 Oh season, some of them on the other team go 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:30.760 to my church. Shut out touch. 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:37.520 Somebody say, keep your passion in his place. Right place 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.679 for sex is in the marriage bag. I know you 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:46.800 got passion but passion needs a place to operate, like 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:50.320 a fire. If you're in disagreement with what I just said, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.840 let me prove it using natural elements. When I started 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.919 this sermon, I lit this wik and none of you 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.479 had a problem. Why because it was in its proper place. 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:06.119 But I bet if I brought this wick down to 0:18:06.200 --> 0:18:07.760 the crowd. 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:13.240 And put this fire in your hair, you say I. 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:20.880 Got it, preacher, Keep it in its place. Misplaced passion 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:27.159 is very dangerous. Misplaced passion, you know, it's even more 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.439 dangerous to let somebody with Brooklyn passion get around somebody 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.600 with a South Charlotte attitude. What I'm trying to say is, 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:35.359 I mean, I love my city. We're a great city. 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.520 I'm not saying we owe anything to those Yankees, but I'm. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:39.000 Saying that. 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:43.960 Sometimes a new person will come into the church and 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.960 they're excited. I mean, they are fired up, they got 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.959 a passion, and let them get around Bobby who's been 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:51.600 a Christian for twenty three years. 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.679 And Bobby's looking at him saying, you don't do that 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:55.200 around here. 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:57.520 See, because people who are new to the faith, people 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:59.720 who have that first love, they don't know that you're 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.080 not so supposed to read your Bible. 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:02.919 Yet they don't know that. 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:04.960 We only listened to it on Sundays and we don't 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:06.160 bother with it during the week. 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:08.119 So if you don't watch. 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.880 Them, they don't bring that passion into your church. If 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:20.760 they don't get around, they are on people, and something's 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.359 happening in Ephesus because when they first started, they didn't 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:26.880 have the knowledge, but they had the passion. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.680 They didn't have the people, but they had the passion. 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.080 They didn't have they didn't they didn't. 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.560 Have the political support of the government, they didn't have 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:44.480 a five oh one C three nonprofit tax exempt status, they. 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.800 Didn't have a Christian president, but they had passions. 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.119 They had false doctrine coming into the church. In fact, 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:55.720 Paul told Timothy one time, he said, Hey, I want 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:57.719 you to look at this in one Timothy one three. 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:59.160 Because Timothy was a young. 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:03.040 Man and he didn't have much experience, and the Bible 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.040 gives us reason to believe that Timothy had a timid personality, 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.440 Paul had to remind him over and over again, Hey, 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:13.800 God didn't give you a spirit of timidity. Timothy Timid 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:18.280 Timmy Timid. Timmy is pastor in a big city church, 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:22.800 and there's people teaching false doctrine, and there's people trying 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.159 to deny the gospel of Christ. And Timothy in his 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.600 twenties with a timid personality. By the way, passion is 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:35.760 not a personality type. Passion isn't how high you jump. 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:39.760 Passion is how straight you walk when your feet hit 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:45.560 the ground. Put this down. If you're passionate, you take 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:53.040 notes in church. The proof of passion is perseverance. I'll 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.879 prove it to you in the scripture. I'll prove it 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.600 to you from verse Timothy one to three. Paul says Timothy. 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.200 I urged you before when I was on my way 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.280 through Macedonia, and I'm telling you again. Remain in ephesis. 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:07.520 Now watch this. You don't have to tell somebody to 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.960 stay somewhere they want to be. I've never had a 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:12.240 massage therapist have to. 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:13.320 Tell me to stay on the table. 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:17.560 I have had a physical trainer have to tell me 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.000 to do another rep to urge me to keep going. 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.120 You don't urge people to do something they naturally want 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:26.359 to do. So there must have been an instinct in 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:31.440 Timothy to run. You're young, you're inexperienced. There's false doctrine 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:32.639 circulating in the church. 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.359 Timothy must not have been feeling it anymore. 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:39.760 Timothy's fire might have been going out. So Paul said, 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:46.040 I want you to remain there in Ephesus and do 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:53.000 the hard stuff and persevere and persevere and stick it out, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.240 and come home to a family that might not even 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.200 appreciate you right now, and show up at a job 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:04.480 that might not even recognize your value right now, and 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.400 preach in a place where you're persecuted. 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.120 And the proof of your passion is your perseverance. 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:15.600 I don't know if I was really passionate when I 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:19.800 was preaching when I was sixteen. I was just excited. 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:27.520 There's a difference. Interest is not passion. Come on, Knowledge 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:32.800 is not passion. Passion is something different. When you watch 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:34.760 a movie and they go home after a night at 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:37.760 the first time they meet at a bar and rip 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.440 each other's clothes off, that's not passion. That's attraction. One 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:47.000 is from the heart. One is from the hormones. Passion 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:49.200 isn't I rip your clothes off after the first. 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.360 Time we met. That's not passion. 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.800 Passion is when I saw my mom taking my dad's 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.679 clothes off while he was dying. To give him a 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:06.000 bath because he couldn't move his own body. That's passionate passion, 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:12.440 June Am I right about passion. Passion is proven by perseverance. 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.679 Passion is proven when you kneel down in the garden 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.560 of gethsemine like Jesus and say, I'm under pressure right now. 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:21.520 I don't want to do it right now. 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.359 Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:29.280 haven't even found your passion until you've passed your feelings. 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:33.400 And I'm concerned about this because we've convoluted it. We've 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:35.080 talked to people that if you don't feel it, you 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:37.840 don't have to do it. But if you have real passion, 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:40.080 you'll do it when you're up, do it. 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:40.720 When you're down. 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:43.080 Do it when they pay you, do it when they go, 0:23:43.600 --> 0:23:45.439 do it when they thank you, do it when they 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:46.120 look you over. 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:48.400 Do it when they hate you, do it when they 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.000 love you. I got passion. 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:54.960 I got passion to preach, I got passion to parent. 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:57.840 I got passion to pay down my debt. And if 0:23:57.840 --> 0:23:58.840 it doesn't happen. 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:00.400 All at once, that's all all right. 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:03.560 I got the passion to stick it out. 0:24:05.920 --> 0:24:08.680 I'm like Ruth Naomi. You can't run me off if 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:09.280 you want to. 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.560 I'm like alifsha Elia. You can tell me to leave, 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:14.160 but I won't because. 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:22.399 I got a passion. Where is your passion? Passion? Say it? 0:24:22.560 --> 0:24:26.400 Passion, say like that with the concentration on the vow passion. 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:33.480 Passion. You can't say passion sounds ridiculous. Passion. 0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:36.359 I mean, can you imagine if I preached how some 0:24:36.400 --> 0:24:43.320 of y'all listen, that'd be horrible. Well, y'all know something 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:45.439 say today that's gonna get around to it. 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:46.560 And there's a Bible area. 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:50.240 The relationship to the Book of Ephesian gives us a 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:50.879 picture of the. 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:53.400 Church of Officis from a doctrinal standpoint, but now it's 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:55.560 been in a couple of decades. And then listen, the 0:24:55.640 --> 0:25:01.199 passion lost their first love, first love, love, passions, love, passions. 0:25:00.920 --> 0:25:07.159 The boy got me about the Church of Emphasis is 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:11.040 that he commends their labor, but they've lost their love. 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:17.199 See it isn't like they weren't making progress, but in 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:21.800 the process of making progress, of keeping the false doctrine out, 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:25.680 in the process of eliminating things from their life and 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:27.440 their church that didn't need to be there. 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:29.520 In the last forty three. 0:25:29.400 --> 0:25:31.239 Years because now John is writing from a place called 0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:33.640 the Island of Patmas, sending a messenger to the Church 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:36.000 of Emphasis, and he says, I see your progress. 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:40.120 You got a job, now, you got a wife now. 0:25:40.440 --> 0:25:44.240 But the question is the question is do you still 0:25:44.320 --> 0:25:53.720 laugh passion? You've got the apparatus, but you've lost your passion. 0:25:55.920 --> 0:26:01.320 All this is kind of pointless. If nothing's burning passion, 0:26:03.240 --> 0:26:07.520 you lost it. You lost your passion. 0:26:10.280 --> 0:26:13.600 One thing I always ask our worship team is that 0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:17.160 they lead you with passion, because I don't know what 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:19.679 kind of hell you went through this week or what 0:26:19.720 --> 0:26:20.800 kind of hell you're going home to. 0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:22.400 So let's make it heaven on earth in here. 0:26:24.480 --> 0:26:27.080 And I think they do a really good job at 0:26:27.119 --> 0:26:33.880 every campus. Kelly Summers and Jane Williams and John sal 0:26:34.480 --> 0:26:40.399 Barrion tests you let me roll that out. Barri In tests, 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:47.119 Barrien test what bar in testest? This is a place 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:51.080 for passion. This is a place. Hey, hey, hey, you 0:26:51.119 --> 0:26:53.840 want to cry in the church. You can cry. Here's 0:26:53.840 --> 0:27:00.480 a hanky and shout. 0:27:00.520 --> 0:27:02.600 You can shout. You want to run, just don't run towards. 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:07.679 The stage and makes me frightened, distracting me run in place? 0:27:10.000 --> 0:27:11.639 What kind of running motion was that. 0:27:16.400 --> 0:27:19.560 And sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen. 0:27:22.000 --> 0:27:25.800 Sometimes your passion is waiting on a place to happen. 0:27:25.880 --> 0:27:27.840 Graham's teacher told us the other day in the parent 0:27:27.880 --> 0:27:32.760 teacher conference. She said, Graham just loves life, she said, 0:27:32.800 --> 0:27:36.200 but sometimes I got to work with him on where 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:42.159 it is appropriate to express that love for life. I said, example, Please, 0:27:42.280 --> 0:27:45.919 she's a great teacher, Kimberly Springs, teaching my third grader. 0:27:46.400 --> 0:27:47.760 She said, though, that. 0:27:47.800 --> 0:27:50.080 Sometimes Graham will just jump up in the middle of 0:27:50.119 --> 0:27:51.560 class and. 0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:57.000 Dab on a math problem and just dance across the room, 0:27:57.359 --> 0:28:07.800 just jump up, and there's a time to dab. But uh, 0:28:10.560 --> 0:28:18.600 but sometimes sometimes that flame becomes an ember. And I 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:21.080 felt like the Lord wanted somebody today to get your 0:28:21.119 --> 0:28:23.960 passion back, and he. 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:24.840 Tells you how to do it. 0:28:25.800 --> 0:28:30.359 He doesn't just challenge that you've lost your passion. I mean, 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:32.479 I don't know your reaction to the scripture, but I 0:28:32.520 --> 0:28:36.639 take it as parental guidance that God is warning me. 0:28:37.760 --> 0:28:41.880 If you lose your passion, you're going to lose your place. 0:28:44.040 --> 0:28:47.520 Can I break that down? If you don't love that 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:50.160 woman now that you're married, to her the same way 0:28:50.200 --> 0:28:52.680 and in increasing ways that you did when you dated her. 0:28:53.000 --> 0:28:58.080 Somebody else might. Now that's not a threat, that's just reality. 0:28:59.760 --> 0:29:01.400 I don't want to preach with passion. 0:29:01.720 --> 0:29:04.719 You think God can't raise up another preacher who's smarter 0:29:04.840 --> 0:29:05.080 than me. 0:29:06.120 --> 0:29:08.320 No, no, no, no, no, no no no. I don't. 0:29:08.720 --> 0:29:11.520 I don't operate out of the assumption that I'm entitled 0:29:11.560 --> 0:29:14.480 to anything that God gave me. I got to keep 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:18.960 my passion. How can you have so much passion before 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:20.800 you have the position? 0:29:21.160 --> 0:29:24.960 How do you get it back? He said, you've abandoned it. 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:25.360 You didn't. 0:29:25.720 --> 0:29:31.320 You didn't lose your passion. You left it. You didn't 0:29:31.360 --> 0:29:31.840 lose it. 0:29:32.120 --> 0:29:32.760 You left it. 0:29:33.440 --> 0:29:39.400 You abandoned your first love. You stopped doing the things 0:29:40.040 --> 0:29:43.680 look at it. He said, you've abandoned your first love. 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:47.080 Remember therefore, from. 0:29:46.880 --> 0:29:47.760 Where you have fallen. 0:29:47.800 --> 0:29:50.840 I love God because he doesn't say that we should 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:55.120 regret where we are. He says, we should remember where 0:29:55.120 --> 0:29:59.840 we were and get your eyes back to the hills 0:30:00.560 --> 0:30:01.720 where your help comes. 0:30:01.720 --> 0:30:03.920 Come on, I'm preaching with passion, but I could use 0:30:03.960 --> 0:30:10.880 a little participation. I'm not staying where I am. I 0:30:10.880 --> 0:30:14.840 want my passion back so much. Shout I want it back. 0:30:15.800 --> 0:30:18.840 I want it back. I want it back. I don't 0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:21.440 just want to look like a Christian. I want a 0:30:21.560 --> 0:30:29.840 fire in my heart. I want to go through the emotions. 0:30:29.840 --> 0:30:34.400 Here's what you do. Remember from where you were falling. 0:30:35.560 --> 0:30:39.120 Remember from where you're fallen. Repent. 0:30:40.120 --> 0:30:46.600 Let's look at the scripture together, repent, and let's read 0:30:46.640 --> 0:30:50.600 the next part together and feel the feelings you felt 0:30:50.600 --> 0:30:59.280 at first. Well, isn't that how we treat passion like 0:30:59.360 --> 0:31:04.240 it's a sinsa But yeah, when he challenges their passion. 0:31:04.520 --> 0:31:11.960 He calls them to action. Do the things you did 0:31:11.960 --> 0:31:19.400 it first. It's a decision, not a sensation said. Let 0:31:19.440 --> 0:31:27.240 me tell you something else. Do it? Do it? Do it? 0:31:28.960 --> 0:31:32.480 Do it? How do I get it back? Okay, I'm 0:31:32.480 --> 0:31:40.760 gonna pray, Lord, I want my passion back. It ain't coming. 0:31:41.040 --> 0:31:46.120 Not like that. You don't pray to get it back. 0:31:47.120 --> 0:31:49.040 You practice. 0:31:49.720 --> 0:31:55.400 Do the things you did at first. I don't feel 0:31:55.400 --> 0:32:01.040 grateful anymore. Be grateful. I don't feel excited anymore. Be excited. 0:32:02.440 --> 0:32:05.200 I don't feel love anymore? Be loving? 0:32:06.280 --> 0:32:07.920 Do it? 0:32:07.680 --> 0:32:08.120 Do it? 0:32:09.120 --> 0:32:14.760 Do it? What's it? What you did it first? Do it? Practice? 0:32:16.320 --> 0:32:19.520 Got shay you something you got? A second is this 0:32:19.560 --> 0:32:24.600 word good. I sure enjoyed preparing it. I think I 0:32:24.720 --> 0:32:27.000 like cooking this better than you could ever like eating it. 0:32:28.360 --> 0:32:31.320 While I was preparing it, watch this late need. The 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:36.520 Lord gave me an illustration of it. You guys may 0:32:36.560 --> 0:32:38.720 not know the names of these musicians. I mentioned them 0:32:38.720 --> 0:32:44.160 already on the platform. One of our musicians here, LJ. 0:32:44.680 --> 0:32:47.600 He's a little newer to the team, but. 0:32:47.640 --> 0:32:48.600 He's got passion. 0:32:49.280 --> 0:32:52.800 And he's not some young buck who always wanted to 0:32:52.800 --> 0:32:58.560 be on the stage. He's done some things, he's wasted 0:32:58.640 --> 0:33:04.920 some seasons, and I didn't know about him. I was 0:33:04.960 --> 0:33:10.600 looking for somebody in this particular position, and I wanted 0:33:10.640 --> 0:33:13.800 somebody who would have not just the technical skills or 0:33:13.800 --> 0:33:17.800 proficiency to be back here by someone who would have 0:33:17.800 --> 0:33:21.000 the passion for it. You know how I knew he 0:33:21.080 --> 0:33:23.800 was the guy. He said that when I send in 0:33:23.880 --> 0:33:27.000 my scriptures for them to put on the screen, he 0:33:27.080 --> 0:33:29.520 begs the people that get the email with the scriptures 0:33:29.560 --> 0:33:31.360 if he can see them so he can figure out 0:33:31.560 --> 0:33:33.600 what I'm going to preach on, so he can start 0:33:33.600 --> 0:33:35.880 thinking through what song he might start playing when I 0:33:35.920 --> 0:33:45.800 start closing. See that's passion, that's passion, And I brought 0:33:45.840 --> 0:33:47.720 him up because I love all of our team. 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:49.920 Don't get me wrong, You're not my favorite or anything 0:33:49.960 --> 0:33:50.240 like that. 0:33:52.240 --> 0:34:00.080 But just something I heard that when he was he 0:34:00.120 --> 0:34:04.040 was living in Canada, and which is known for its. 0:34:03.920 --> 0:34:11.080 Passion of you, Wayne Finch, Stephen Finch, God bless you guys. 0:34:11.360 --> 0:34:16.080 But he was he was going through season. I'm not 0:34:16.120 --> 0:34:18.319 going to tell all of his details. Maybe maybe you 0:34:18.320 --> 0:34:21.759 can ask him one day, but he would sit when 0:34:21.760 --> 0:34:23.000 his wife would go to bed at night. 0:34:23.040 --> 0:34:25.600 He would put on his headphones and. 0:34:25.600 --> 0:34:28.760 He would practice playing with preachers online. 0:34:28.800 --> 0:34:32.520 Now he didn't have a position, but he. 0:34:32.520 --> 0:34:38.919 Had a what a what a passion and he would 0:34:38.920 --> 0:34:40.759 put his headphones on so as not to disturb his 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:44.880 wife's sleep. I assume and sectually appreciated that, and he 0:34:44.920 --> 0:34:45.640 would play. 0:34:45.400 --> 0:34:48.040 Along with the preaching. 0:34:49.120 --> 0:34:52.160 I heard that there was a season where you would 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:54.120 play along with me online. 0:34:55.360 --> 0:34:56.560 And I didn't know who he was. 0:34:57.520 --> 0:35:01.879 Never heard of him, never heard never even heard his name. 0:35:02.960 --> 0:35:05.719 They didn't even call David's name when he was out 0:35:05.719 --> 0:35:09.319 in the field tending sheets. Come on, I'm about to 0:35:09.360 --> 0:35:12.840 preach right section of I sure could use your passion. 0:35:13.480 --> 0:35:17.359 I sure could use it. I see he didn't have 0:35:17.400 --> 0:35:17.960 a position. 0:35:19.320 --> 0:35:23.200 But when you have a passion, you practice. You don't 0:35:23.200 --> 0:35:26.720 wait for a position. You don't do it because somebody's watching. 0:35:27.200 --> 0:35:29.920 You don't do it because there's a performance. You do 0:35:30.000 --> 0:35:33.600 it because it's a passion. And he didn't know he 0:35:33.719 --> 0:35:34.960 was just killing lions. 0:35:35.280 --> 0:35:37.360 He didn't know he was just killing bears. 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:41.600 But when Goliath came stepping forward to the battle line, 0:35:41.640 --> 0:35:45.239 he had been practicing. And now he's back there and 0:35:45.400 --> 0:35:47.840 I'm up here because he had a passion. 0:35:48.320 --> 0:35:50.280 Passion will bring you from. 0:35:50.040 --> 0:35:51.960 The pastor to the palace. 0:35:53.160 --> 0:35:56.560 Pastor will bring you from the lowest to the highest. 0:35:56.960 --> 0:36:04.480 Repair again, passion back. Come on, take fifteen seconds and 0:36:04.640 --> 0:36:05.200 praise him. 0:36:05.320 --> 0:36:09.200 Passionate, passion, passionate. 0:36:10.200 --> 0:36:15.279 Come on, Rondell, bame on, late Norman, come on, you'll see. 0:36:15.840 --> 0:36:20.000 Get your passion back. God's not there, he's not going 0:36:20.040 --> 0:36:20.920 with you. 0:36:20.920 --> 0:36:25.160 Get your passion back in place. 0:36:27.560 --> 0:36:32.200 David said, oh yeah, I've been practicing for this. I've 0:36:32.239 --> 0:36:42.319 been waiting for an opportunity. I've been waiting for a 0:36:42.480 --> 0:36:50.759 giant said, I can princh anyway I want to, and practicing. 0:36:51.360 --> 0:36:57.160 You gotta practice your passion. Practice. I was riding home 0:36:57.640 --> 0:37:02.239 with Elijah, just on't fry and we were filling up 0:37:02.280 --> 0:37:05.840 the little gas cans with gas to put gas in 0:37:05.920 --> 0:37:11.920 the four wheeler. Very spiritual activity. And we filled them 0:37:12.000 --> 0:37:17.000 up and put them in Holly suburban. And I said, Elijah, 0:37:17.040 --> 0:37:19.960 we gotta put them just right because if the gas 0:37:20.000 --> 0:37:23.680 slushes around the back of the car, your mom isn't 0:37:23.680 --> 0:37:28.120 going to be happy about our outing. And he said, Dad, 0:37:28.160 --> 0:37:31.840 I'm worried because all the way here they were sliding 0:37:31.840 --> 0:37:32.720 around in the back. 0:37:34.960 --> 0:37:36.719 But I said, don't worry, boy. 0:37:37.520 --> 0:37:42.040 They might have been sliding on the way, but they 0:37:42.040 --> 0:37:49.560 were empty. Now that they're full, they're not going anywhere. 0:37:50.840 --> 0:37:57.600 I started preaching to Eliza while I'm driving. I'm practicing. 0:37:57.880 --> 0:38:01.920 Breaching is not just my professor, it's my passion. 0:38:02.600 --> 0:38:05.759 If you got passion, you are a preaching the car. 0:38:06.480 --> 0:38:09.120 You are a preach in the kitchen. You are a 0:38:09.160 --> 0:38:11.680 worship gone Monday Tuesday. 0:38:12.000 --> 0:38:18.080 It's my passion, my passion, a practice, my passion, a practice, 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:24.200 my passion. Practice practice, practice, practice, practice practice, Find. 0:38:24.080 --> 0:38:26.040 Seven people, tell them practice. 0:38:25.640 --> 0:38:31.120 Practice, practice, practice, practice practice. You never know, you never 0:38:31.239 --> 0:38:33.480 know what God might want to do through you. You 0:38:33.600 --> 0:38:38.080 gotta practice. You gotta practice well. I would pray, but 0:38:38.160 --> 0:38:41.000 I just don't feel anything. When I pray, you hadn't 0:38:41.040 --> 0:38:44.680 practiced enough. If you would pray two minutes, you would 0:38:44.760 --> 0:38:48.000 see the peace that two minutes brings, and tomorrow you 0:38:48.040 --> 0:38:51.800 want to pray five. If you practice, if you'd open 0:38:51.880 --> 0:38:54.879 your Bible and read a verse, you'd want to read two. 0:38:55.400 --> 0:38:59.000 You might read four, you might read ay. You might 0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:01.279 finish the Book of the Relations before. 0:39:01.000 --> 0:39:01.879 The week is over. 0:39:02.239 --> 0:39:07.080 If you would practice practice, I'm practicing. 0:39:08.080 --> 0:39:09.960 So if you ever see me in the grocery store 0:39:09.960 --> 0:39:13.600 and I'm mumbling, I'm not crazy. 0:39:13.920 --> 0:39:20.680 I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. I'm practicing. What are 0:39:20.719 --> 0:39:22.839 you doing throwing that stick on the ground, Moses. 0:39:22.560 --> 0:39:25.120 I'm practicing because I got to use this stick to 0:39:25.160 --> 0:39:30.160 park the waters. But until I practice, I can't perform it. 0:39:32.080 --> 0:39:38.120 And you've lost your passion because you stopped practicing. 0:39:40.600 --> 0:39:43.399 Even the best. 0:39:44.680 --> 0:39:52.560 Lose their passion without practice, even the best, even David, 0:39:53.800 --> 0:39:58.320 even David, the kid who ran to the battle line 0:39:58.840 --> 0:39:59.359 and said, I. 0:39:59.280 --> 0:40:00.880 Don't need a position. I got passion. 0:40:02.080 --> 0:40:04.320 I don't need the endorsement of Saul. I've got passion. 0:40:05.080 --> 0:40:06.680 I don't even need my brothers to like me. 0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:08.080 I got passion. 0:40:09.760 --> 0:40:13.439 That kid who ran to the battle. A kid who 0:40:13.440 --> 0:40:20.960 practiced found himself decades later. He was in the palace, 0:40:22.280 --> 0:40:27.560 but he had lost his passion. He sat down and 0:40:28.080 --> 0:40:33.440 wrote a psalm, and he cried out to God and 0:40:33.520 --> 0:40:37.880 asked the Lord to recreate and restore his passion, create 0:40:38.640 --> 0:40:41.600 a clean heart in me, O God, I had a 0:40:41.640 --> 0:40:45.720 pure passion when I started. And I've allowed some things 0:40:45.719 --> 0:40:47.760 to come into my life. And I've allowed some people, 0:40:47.760 --> 0:40:52.240 and I've allowed some memories, and I've allowed some decisions 0:40:52.280 --> 0:40:54.400 and some distractions and even some good things. I've been 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:58.560 trying to keep the false stuff out. I've left my 0:40:59.480 --> 0:41:05.880 first love, and I want my passion back. He was 0:41:06.360 --> 0:41:11.799 home one day, walking around on his roof. That same 0:41:11.920 --> 0:41:19.000 kid who was willing to run to the battle lines. 0:41:20.560 --> 0:41:24.000 He's seen a lot of years now, maybe not forty 0:41:24.000 --> 0:41:26.879 three like the Church of Ephesus, but it's been quite 0:41:26.880 --> 0:41:31.080 a few years since that time, and he's not running 0:41:31.760 --> 0:41:32.800 toward the battle anymore. 0:41:32.840 --> 0:41:33.560 He's avoiding it. 0:41:35.040 --> 0:41:37.640 And the Bible says that in the springtime, when the 0:41:37.680 --> 0:41:44.560 kings go off to war, David stayed home. The king 0:41:46.000 --> 0:41:51.839 in the palace had lost that passion of the kid 0:41:51.840 --> 0:41:57.520 and the pastor, and he got out of place, and 0:41:57.560 --> 0:41:59.600 so we saw a beautiful woman bathing on the roof. 0:42:00.640 --> 0:42:02.440 He called for her and she had no choice but 0:42:02.560 --> 0:42:04.759 to come, and when he slept with her, they conceived. 0:42:04.440 --> 0:42:09.480 A child that resulted in a national scandal. Her husband 0:42:09.520 --> 0:42:10.319 was murdered. 0:42:10.040 --> 0:42:15.120 At the behest of David's henchman, and David received word 0:42:15.160 --> 0:42:18.640 that the child born to his wife would die, and 0:42:18.680 --> 0:42:22.680 he cried out from that place. I want my passion back. 0:42:24.560 --> 0:42:31.480 I've lost my baby, I've compromised my integrity. But if 0:42:31.520 --> 0:42:34.759 it took me losing some things to realize that I 0:42:34.800 --> 0:42:35.840 had lost my passion. 0:42:38.320 --> 0:42:39.520 God, all I can do now. 0:42:41.840 --> 0:42:45.920 I can't get back the baby, but I can get 0:42:45.960 --> 0:42:46.720 back my passion. 0:42:49.280 --> 0:42:52.799 I can't get back last week, last month, last year. 0:42:55.520 --> 0:42:57.160 Would you redeem the time I've wasted? 0:42:57.239 --> 0:42:57.279 Go? 0:42:57.719 --> 0:43:01.479 I want my passion back. I want my passion back. 0:43:03.120 --> 0:43:06.520 I just know somebody's heart is crying out, maybe even 0:43:06.560 --> 0:43:09.279 watching online. You couldn't even get the church, didn't even 0:43:09.320 --> 0:43:13.040 come today, and your heart is crying out as I preach. 0:43:13.120 --> 0:43:16.040 Stand to your feet. It's a holy moment in the sanctuary. 0:43:16.120 --> 0:43:16.960 Stand to your feet. 0:43:17.400 --> 0:43:21.160 I want my passion back. I want my passion back. 0:43:22.360 --> 0:43:24.520 I want my passion back, and I'd be asking me 0:43:24.520 --> 0:43:29.920 a question. She said, Daddy, Daddy, did you have to 0:43:29.960 --> 0:43:35.240 practice that? And I just I was standing there thinking 0:43:35.280 --> 0:43:40.480 about my kids. Maybe one day they'll take their kids 0:43:40.520 --> 0:43:43.879 to the church they grew up in, and I wonder 0:43:43.920 --> 0:43:46.560 what they'll be telling them about our church. 0:43:47.680 --> 0:43:49.560 Will they be telling them what God used to do? 0:43:51.239 --> 0:43:53.200 Will they be telling them about the people who used 0:43:53.200 --> 0:43:58.040 to give sacrificially, who didn't have a building but had passion. 0:43:59.080 --> 0:44:01.840 Will this be the place where they had revival one time? 0:44:03.320 --> 0:44:05.400 Or will it be a place where the revival fire 0:44:05.520 --> 0:44:08.840 never die because of the people. 0:44:10.840 --> 0:44:17.080 With a passion. And I want to pray for you. 0:44:18.719 --> 0:44:23.200 Because when David got done lamenting what he had lost, 0:44:24.560 --> 0:44:26.880 and he prayed out, God, don't take your spirit from me. 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:31.360 I can lose anything, but I don't want. 0:44:31.239 --> 0:44:32.080 To lose my place. 0:44:34.000 --> 0:44:38.719 To the Angel of the Church at Ephesus, to the 0:44:38.800 --> 0:44:45.120 husband of for at Valentine, to the teenage girl in Rockhill, 0:44:46.880 --> 0:44:54.719 write these words, if you will find your purpose, you 0:44:54.800 --> 0:44:56.160 will recover your passion. 0:45:01.880 --> 0:45:03.760 I think the worst advice. 0:45:04.880 --> 0:45:07.960 That we could give a young person is to follow 0:45:08.000 --> 0:45:17.040 your passion. That might sound exciting, but it's self destructive. 0:45:17.880 --> 0:45:19.280 You don't follow your passion. 0:45:20.280 --> 0:45:22.760 If you follow your passion, you're gonna get your passion 0:45:23.120 --> 0:45:26.640 confused with your feelings, and the first time the wind 0:45:26.719 --> 0:45:29.320 blows real good, your flame will go out. Don't follow 0:45:29.320 --> 0:45:32.480 your passion because sometimes you can't tell your passion apart 0:45:32.480 --> 0:45:38.080 from your preference. Sometimes you can't tell your faith apart 0:45:38.120 --> 0:45:41.600 from your feelings. So you don't stay in ephesis. You 0:45:41.640 --> 0:45:46.480 don't stay in the hard places. Don't follow your passion. 0:45:47.880 --> 0:45:54.040 Follow your purpose. Remember the reason God saved you. Get 0:45:54.160 --> 0:45:55.520 your lamps stand back. 0:45:55.960 --> 0:45:57.720 Every candle needs a stand. 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:02.719 The passion is the flame, and the purpose is to stand. 0:46:02.880 --> 0:46:12.680 Put your passion on your purpose. My passion follows my purpose. 0:46:13.440 --> 0:46:17.279 My passion follows my purpose. So when I feel it, 0:46:17.480 --> 0:46:24.200 when I don't, same purpose, same purpose. And you've been 0:46:24.239 --> 0:46:30.600 here and there and everywhere, losing time, losing joy, losing passion. 0:46:30.920 --> 0:46:36.719 Following your passion, that's ridiculous. Follow your passion. How ridiculous 0:46:36.800 --> 0:46:39.520 is that? Follow your passion? You know you would have 0:46:39.520 --> 0:46:42.000 married that crazy girl. Follow your passion. 0:46:44.320 --> 0:46:45.040 No, no, no, no. 0:46:47.120 --> 0:46:51.040 Find your passion and teach your passion to follow your purpose. 0:46:52.160 --> 0:46:54.880 Tell your passion where. 0:46:54.640 --> 0:46:57.280 To show up in the place of your purpose. 0:46:57.920 --> 0:46:59.600 I mean, imagine church. 0:47:00.000 --> 0:47:02.800 Imagine if the people running the cameras at this church 0:47:04.160 --> 0:47:07.520 it got it flipped. Imagine if the people running the 0:47:07.560 --> 0:47:11.400 cameras while I'm preaching, Imagine if they all of a 0:47:11.440 --> 0:47:14.960 sudden thought that it was my job to follow the camera. 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:20.279 How ridiculous would that be? How ridiculous would it be 0:47:20.520 --> 0:47:24.120 if they? In fact, I'm gonna illustrate it. I'm gonna 0:47:24.160 --> 0:47:27.560 show you how ridiculous it is when you follow your passion, 0:47:28.400 --> 0:47:30.799 Show them real quick on the camera. So I got 0:47:30.800 --> 0:47:42.759 to preach now, and while I'm preaching that camera, so 0:47:42.840 --> 0:47:46.319 now I gotta follow the camera. How ridiculous is it 0:47:46.600 --> 0:47:50.799 when you run around in life letting your feelings tell 0:47:50.840 --> 0:47:53.360 you what job to take and what job to quit, 0:47:53.800 --> 0:47:54.120 and what. 0:47:54.200 --> 0:47:55.440 Relationship to be in. 0:47:56.120 --> 0:47:59.440 No, no, no, I don't follow the camera. The camera 0:47:59.560 --> 0:48:03.800 follows me. You gotta stay with me. I don't follow passion, 0:48:04.160 --> 0:48:07.480 My passion follow my purpose. 0:48:08.000 --> 0:48:09.640 Does anybody have purpose? 0:48:10.960 --> 0:48:15.240 Looking up to Jesus? Be after the better? 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:15.480 Sir? 0:48:15.880 --> 0:48:16.799 Top my bag? 0:48:17.239 --> 0:48:19.480 Oh brother John set before. 0:48:19.160 --> 0:48:24.440 It endured the cross, despising as shame. 0:48:25.400 --> 0:48:29.280 I want my passion back, and my passion is waiting 0:48:29.320 --> 0:48:31.200 in the place of my purpose. I want to pray 0:48:31.239 --> 0:48:34.080 for you if this message hit your heart today, If 0:48:34.080 --> 0:48:36.759 it was for you, I want you to know that 0:48:36.840 --> 0:48:40.160 after David laid down and prayed and asked God to 0:48:40.160 --> 0:48:43.960 give him the baby back, the Bible says that he 0:48:45.040 --> 0:48:49.760 made a decision to get up, to get up, to repent, 0:48:50.360 --> 0:48:54.040 to get up. After he had been there long enough. 0:48:54.920 --> 0:48:58.560 He got up and he went in and he. 0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:04.359 Had another baby. He got his passion back. Could this 0:49:04.440 --> 0:49:08.839 be the day that you get your passion back? 0:49:11.080 --> 0:49:15.399 Not just goosebumps, not just a comfortable feeling. 0:49:16.000 --> 0:49:17.680 But an inner determination and. 0:49:17.719 --> 0:49:26.320 Resolve that says, I will, I will, I will. 0:49:26.880 --> 0:49:29.919 I don't feel it, but I will. I don't even 0:49:30.000 --> 0:49:32.200 want to sometimes, but I. 0:49:32.160 --> 0:49:38.560 Will, because my passion serves for permantness. 0:49:39.640 --> 0:49:43.439 Bow your head. Created me a clean heart, O God, 0:49:43.440 --> 0:49:45.000 and renew a right spirit within me. 0:49:45.760 --> 0:49:48.520 Cast me not away from your presence, and do not 0:49:48.560 --> 0:49:50.719 take your holy spirit for me. Restore unto me the 0:49:50.800 --> 0:49:54.840 joy of your salvation, and renew a right spirit, and 0:49:55.040 --> 0:49:57.320 grant me a willing spirit. 0:49:57.400 --> 0:50:00.800 Somebody say I will, I will, say. 0:50:00.560 --> 0:50:05.040 I will, I will, I will, I will, even when 0:50:05.040 --> 0:50:07.279 I don't feel I will. 0:50:07.600 --> 0:50:13.000 Because I have a passion I will, I will I'm 0:50:13.000 --> 0:50:14.120 not waiting on the position. 0:50:15.120 --> 0:50:23.640 I have a passion. Father, we thank you today for 0:50:23.760 --> 0:50:27.080 returning us to our first love. We don't want to 0:50:27.120 --> 0:50:30.360 labor without love, and we don't want to serve you 0:50:31.560 --> 0:50:32.360 without passion. 0:50:32.440 --> 0:50:35.160 We don't want to lose our place. We don't want 0:50:35.160 --> 0:50:38.279 to miss our chance. So while the. 0:50:39.800 --> 0:50:42.160 While the lamps stand is still in place, while we 0:50:42.200 --> 0:50:45.239 still have breadth in our bodies, while we still have 0:50:45.320 --> 0:50:50.360 an opportunity, we call out to you God, and we 0:50:50.400 --> 0:50:53.000 don't ask you to restore our passion, because the fact 0:50:53.160 --> 0:50:57.640 is you didn't take it away. It's still in us. 0:50:59.080 --> 0:51:02.120 It was just waiting for this word, for this moment. 0:51:02.600 --> 0:51:06.040 To be awakened. So God, we call our passion to 0:51:06.120 --> 0:51:06.680 the surface. 0:51:07.680 --> 0:51:10.800 Like Elisha called the iron of the accent to float 0:51:10.840 --> 0:51:13.360 to the top of the water, We're calling our passion 0:51:13.440 --> 0:51:16.840 forth today. We're calling our victory forth today. 0:51:17.840 --> 0:51:21.640 Like David got up, we're getting up. We want our 0:51:21.680 --> 0:51:25.200 passion back. We command our passion. 0:51:25.360 --> 0:51:27.960 To serve your purpose in our lives. 0:51:28.360 --> 0:51:31.399 We will by your spirit, we will. 0:51:31.280 --> 0:51:33.080 By your power, we will. 0:51:33.280 --> 0:51:36.040 We're getting up today. We're getting up today. 0:51:35.920 --> 0:51:40.319 Not staying down, not staying lost, not staying lonely, we're 0:51:40.360 --> 0:51:40.920 getting up. 0:51:41.120 --> 0:51:44.040 I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm getting up. I'm 0:51:44.080 --> 0:51:44.680 getting up. 0:51:44.680 --> 0:51:49.200 Right now, right here, right now, right here, right now. 0:51:49.400 --> 0:51:52.760 How about my passion about. 0:51:54.600 --> 0:51:57.120 Thank you for joining us special things to those of 0:51:57.160 --> 0:52:00.200 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:52:00.200 --> 0:52:03.120 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:52:03.160 --> 0:52:06.880 link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch 0:52:07.040 --> 0:52:10.319 dot org slash podcast for more information and if you 0:52:10.400 --> 0:52:12.720 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:52:13.000 --> 0:52:14.320 You can share it with your friends. 0:52:14.600 --> 0:52:16.880 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:52:16.960 --> 0:52:19.080 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:52:19.080 --> 0:52:19.919 Elevation Church. 0:52:20.000 --> 0:52:26.640 Thanks again for listening. God bless you