Rags to Righteous!

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.439 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.280 Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.440 Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:14.040 in your life. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.320 Enjoy the message. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.320 Come on, clap those hands and bless the Lord. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.360 The devil never should have let you find out that 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.920 God was for you and not against you. That's going 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:44.000 to change everything. That's going to change the way you walk. 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.280 It's going to change the way you talk. It's gonna 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.920 change the way you weep. You're not going to sorrow 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.560 without hope because you know that God is not against you. 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.760 It's going to change the way you celebrate because. 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.279 You know that it wasn't your own strength or your 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.040 own might. But if it had not been for the 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:07.840 Lord fighting for me, how many have a testimony that 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:09.119 God brought you this far? 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:11.520 Praise the Lord. 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:16.920 And as amazing as it is for us to remember 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:18.959 that God is for us, we also need to know 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.040 that there are people who are also for us. In 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:26.480 a divided world. There's real power in unity. So I 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.200 want you to make a connection with the person on 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.960 either side of you either grab their hand or touch 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.800 their shoulder, depending on your level of germaphobia and faith. 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.440 If you're watching online, we welcome you. We connect with 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:42.280 you now by the Holy Spirit. And even if you're 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.800 watching alone, you're not alone. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:46.760 There is no distance in the spirit. 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.160 Heavenly Father, I thank you for what I feel in 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.840 this moment, the faith that is rising in my heart 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.200 on behalf of the people that you're going to speak 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:56.800 to today. 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.680 Lord, I ask now not only. 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:05.080 That you would speak, but that we would hear, because 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.360 those two have to happen at the same time for 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:08.720 results to be produced. 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:11.200 And there may be things that would keep us from 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:12.480 hearing what you say today. 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:17.720 There may be distractions, There may be things in our 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.240 mind that are replaying from yesterday that would keep us 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:22.440 from being in this present moment. 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.000 Now, we just want to do that one. 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.240 Needful thing, and to sit at your feet, to learn 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.960 from you, to be with you, to receive from you, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:38.160 to worship you, to praise you, to glorify you. Your 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.880 word says that if two of us would agree concerning 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.919 anything in your name, it would be done. We come 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.799 together two or three twenty thirty thousand, two or three 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:52.320 million strong, all across the world today, believing for breakthrough, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.720 believing that anything is possible. And we clap our hands 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.560 and celebrate in advance. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.040 What you're going to do in Jesus' name. 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:08.519 Amen, somebody shot, Amen shot, Amen again. 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.560 Glory to God. Good to see you. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:20.160 Welcome, Welcome to week four of our series Through the 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:20.520 New You. 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:23.960 Let's clap our hands. We made it to week four. 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.079 I want to walk you back through really quickly the mindsets. 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.000 I'll have you say them out loud, and then we 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:35.640 are going to get into a good one today. 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.119 Got something for you today, But let's catch up. Number one. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.320 Say I'm not stuck. All right, You're gonna have to. 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.320 I know the devil stole an hour asleep, but you're 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:49.880 gonna have to. You're gonna have to caffeinate real quick 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:55.560 or something. Say I'm not stuck. Touch your neighbors. Say 0:03:55.600 --> 0:04:00.800 you're not stuck unless you stop. That in the comments, 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:04.600 say I'm not stuck unless I stop. Now, get a 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:06.960 deep breath and say Number two, Christ is in me. 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.120 I am enough. Say it again, Christ is in me. 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:19.200 I am enough. Number three. With God, there's always a 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:25.160 way and by faith I will find it. Look at 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:28.920 somebody say it might be hard to find, but I'll 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.640 find it. Come on, I've looked under the couch for 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:35.279 things less valuable than this. 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:36.360 I'm looking for this. 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.560 And today we came to talk about something so fundamental 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:42.760 and foundational that I pray that it will grip you 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.440 from the inside out by the spirit of God. And 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:46.960 I want you to repeat it after me, and then 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.480 we'll spend our entire time together today giving a lesson 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.480 on it from the Bible. Maybe hard for you to 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.760 believe this, but you just sang it, and I hope 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.520 that you will begin to live it more and more 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:01.760 in your life. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:02.800 Repeat after me. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:09.039 God is not against me, but he's in it with me, 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:11.839 working through. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:16.480 Me, fighting for me. God is not against me. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:25.240 Clap your hands like you know, yeah, yeah. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:24.800 That's the right response. 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:32.920 Thank you Jesus, and you may be seated, Smile at 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:39.880 somebody on your way to your seat. I will take 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:49.719 you now to Jeremiah thirty eight. Jeremiah thirty eight. I'll 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:54.040 share with you a story that I'll let you decide 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.240 whether it's an uplifting story or not. But it is 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:02.680 a story that pulled at me in a serious way 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:06.839 this week, and so I'm very excited to share it 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:11.560 with you. The Bible says in Jeremiah thirty eight, let's 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.080 drop to verse six. Will be jumping in in the middle, 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.880 but I will give you the backstory as a backfill 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:17.960 in just a moment. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.200 Jeremiah thirty eight, verse six. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:25.320 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.520 of Malkaija, the King's son, which was in. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:30.880 The courtyard of the guard. 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:36.000 They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern. It had 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:43.000 no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:50.239 into the mud. But ebed Melick, a Cushike, an official 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.160 in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.159 into the cistern, and while the king was sitting in 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:00.440 the Benjamin gate, ebed Melick went out out of the 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:04.120 palace and said to him, my lord, the King, these 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.320 men have acted wickedly in all they have done to 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:08.640 Jeremiah the Prophet. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.120 They have thrown him into. 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.680 A cistern where he will starve to death when there 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.120 is no longer any bread in the city. Then the 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.920 king commanded e bed Melick, the Kushite, take thirty men 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:27.320 from here with you and lift Jeremiah the Prophet out 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:32.200 of the cistern before he dies. So ebed Melick took 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.120 the men with him and went to a room under 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.640 the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.800 and worn out closed from there and let them down 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:46.920 with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. E bed Melick 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.600 the Kushite said to Jeremiah, put these old rags and 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:54.720 worn out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes. 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.200 Jeremiah did so, and they pulled him up with the 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:05.600 ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:10.920 remained in the courtyard of the guard. Say amen, for 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.280 the word of the Lord. Somebody say amen, if you 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.640 know that God has the power to pull you out. 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:18.560 Yeah. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.920 So I want to speak to you today from this 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:22.280 subject or this title. 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:24.920 I want to just call the message this. 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.000 I want to call it instead of uh, rags to riches, 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:37.400 I want to call it rags to righteous, rags to righteous. 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.120 And as I move further into this talk with you, 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.000 I just want to tell you something that my family 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:43.920 picks on me about. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.200 As you settle in and prepare to take notes on 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.520 this sermon. They call me safety Steve. 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.720 The reason is that although I pride myself in being 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.400 somewhat of a risk taker in ministry to reach people 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.200 for Jesus, like doing whatever I need to do to 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:05.600 get the message across, when it comes to average everyday stuff, 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:07.200 I'm a little bit of a whimp. I'm a little 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.960 bit fearful. Out of my loving heart, sometimes I go 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:14.800 a little overboard. I'm not a helicopter parent exactly, but 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:19.800 I do require bicycle helmets on every bike ride, even 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.120 for Holly. And I'm not saying you'll never catch me 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:24.840 without a bicycle helmet, but I will usually have on 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.880 a bicycle helmet if you see me, because the shield 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:29.920 of faith will not stop me from crushing my head 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:31.719 on the pavement with the way some of y'all drive. 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:34.920 So I need protection. Everybody say protection. 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.040 How funny thing about my kids is sometimes they confuse 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.240 my protection as punishment. 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:43.280 I remember clearly one. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:44.959 Time we were on vacation and we were getting on 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.080 our bikes to ride, and Elijah was about thirteen, and 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.080 I said, where's your helmet? And he said, Dad, do 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.400 I really have to wear a helmet? I'm thirteen. By 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.240 the way, happy birthday to my newest thirteen year old 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:57.600 Abigail Faith Thirday. 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:58.720 Today is her birthday. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:01.760 I said, today is her birthday. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:05.800 I've now got three teenagers. 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.360 Watch this beard go totally gray over the next few weeks. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:12.040 All right. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:13.960 So when he turned thirteen, of Liife just said, do 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.080 I really have to wear a helmet? And I said, yeah, 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.959 you really have to wear a helmet? And he said, 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:26.840 and I quote, but Dad, you're ruining my fit. He 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.080 had exactly dressed the way he wanted and then the 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:30.400 helmet clashed. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:34.640 With the with something that he was wearing. He said, 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:35.720 you're running my fit. 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:38.800 I said, son, I don't know if I said it 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.240 this eloquently, but I tried to convey this thought. 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.320 I'm not worried about your fit. I'm worried about your future. 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.120 I would like you to live more than I would 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:56.280 like you to look good. Somebody say amen, because I'm 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:00.880 really not talking about bicycle helmets right now. I'm talking 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:06.960 about God, our father, who is never against us, who 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:11.640 is always for us. But sometimes what he wants for 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.240 you is so much greater than what you want for you. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:23.960 Because God thinks legacy while you think lunch. God thinks 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.640 destiny while you think desire. 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.320 What do I want right now? 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.880 God knows what he's walking you into, and so sometimes 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.880 while you are so worried about messing up your fit, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:42.319 God is trying to protect your future. Therefore, we cannot 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:44.959 assume that when we say God is not against me, 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:46.400 somebody say it, God. 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:47.000 Is not against me. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.400 We cannot assume that that means that God will always 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.520 be in complete agreement with us, any more than I 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.120 allowed Elijah to take off this helmet so it didn't 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:03.120 clash with his shoes. This is so important as we 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.679 understand the context of the scripture that I read you. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:11.920 Because God has a prophet named Jeremiah. Everybody say Jeremiah. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:13.760 I'll probably have you talked back to me a little 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.200 bit more today than normal, just to make sure that 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:20.839 this story, which is unfamiliar, really gets in your heart 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.280 before we finish it today. Jeremiah, of course, was a 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.760 priest who ministered to the southern Kingdom of Judah just 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.000 before they were destroyed, and they were destroyed because of 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:33.040 their disobedience. 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:34.200 I want to point that out. 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:39.040 They were destroyed not because it was their destiny, but 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:43.160 because they were disobedient. You ever notice how a lot 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:48.720 of things that we call destiny, really, if we look 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.560 at it, dissect it and take it for what it is, 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.640 and don't deny it, Really, what we call destiny sometimes 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:00.760 was a series of decisions that we made, and looking 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.560 back at it, we say, that's just the way it happened, 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.280 that's just the way it went, that's just the way 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.199 it unfolded, and there was nothing I could do. And 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:12.880 yet throughout the Book of Jeremiah we see that what 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.719 we call destiny is a collection of. 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:16.720 Decisions in many ways. 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.960 In many ways, Jeremiah exists to turn the nation back 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:24.640 to God, but knowing that they would not turn back 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:28.720 to God, God sends him as a warning. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:30.319 And then after. 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:32.679 They are taken captive into Babylonian exile. And I know 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:34.320 I'm covering a lot, but I have to, because you 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.360 have to understand why Jeremiah is in this pit. 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:39.280 When we pick up in verse. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:44.640 Six, Really, Jeremiah's words did not accomplish the purpose that 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.679 he intended them to accomplish. 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.640 Therefore, it would be easy to assume that he failed. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:52.560 Yet he did not fail. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.280 And the Bible says that as he prophesied and told 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.160 the people, you know, you really do need to surren 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.640 and turn back to God. In this particular case, he 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.760 was telling them you need to just go ahead and 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:10.600 go along with what God is doing. In this particular instance, 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:15.000 God was sending the Babylonians to take his people captive 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.720 for a season to bring them back to him for 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:24.960 a greater purpose in the future. God is allowing something 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.160 in their life in order to bring them into alignment 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.960 with Him for their future. Sometimes what God allows is 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.920 for alignment. And when God sees your life getting out 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.600 of alignment with the word that He has spoken and 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.600 the purpose that He desires to achieve, he will allow 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.520 something in your life, even if it feels like an attack. 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.760 God will use the attack of the enemy to bring 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:56.640 you into alignment with himself. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:01.280 Tell me he won't do that. 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:04.680 Tell me he won't make you put your bicycle helmet 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.280 on and take your phone if you want, because He'd 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.560 rather take your phone than for you to crush your skull. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.200 And I know this isn't what you expected when we started, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:15.160 because I said. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:20.480 God is not against me, and yet I'm telling you 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:25.400 that God is against some of the things that hurt you. 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:33.320 God is not against you. But he is against some 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:38.520 of the fake stuff that you call you, that is 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:44.280 not you, that rots you and robs you of what 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:51.200 he calls you. Now, now, Jeremiah kept coming to the 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.120 king and saying, I'm telling you you need to go 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.960 with what God is doing. You should have turned earlier. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:57.640 You didn't. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:00.200 But now if you just surrender, God will say you 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.320 and they still won't surrender. And so these these these 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.120 four officials, these these four cronies of the king, the 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.560 cabinet of the king, uh, the the guys who tell 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:11.040 him what he wants to hear. They say, you need 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.680 to throw Jeremiah. You need to deal with Jeremiah. Lock 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:14.440 Jeremiah up. 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:15.920 Let's put him in a cistern. 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.520 Let's find one of those things that holds water, and 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:20.880 let's let's throw him in there so he will shut up. 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:27.080 He's discouraging everybody because he's preaching negativity. He wasn't preaching negativity. 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:38.160 He was preaching repentance. And repentance is the process by which, 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:43.680 when you find yourself in a pit, you stop digging. 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:52.080 That's what repentance is. Repentance is realizing, oh I'm in 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:57.040 a pit, maybe I should stop digging, Touch your neighbor 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:01.560 and say stop digging. The best strategy when you find 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:06.000 yourself in a pit of sin is stop digging. And 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:07.600 let me just say, if I'm the only one here 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.200 who came to church willing to be honest and vulnerable 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.720 and open today, how many have ever found yourself in 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.960 a pit because of your own sin? 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:24.440 Let's try that again. 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.119 How many of you have found yourself sinking deeper and 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.880 deeper into something that God tried to get. 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.240 You to stop sooner? 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.520 How many of you waited until the consequence has got 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:48.119 so bad? How many of you waited until the pain 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.400 became so severe? 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:51.800 How many of you. 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.840 Waited until the point where now you have to pray 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:58.320 three times as long because now you've got ten times 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.800 as many issues. You just would have said something when 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.040 you started sinking. 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.000 God is not against me. 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:19.080 He's always for me, and he's always with me. He's 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:24.200 always with me, and he's always for me. So now 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:27.320 we have to answer the big question of Jeremiah thirty eight, 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.800 verse six. Let's go back to that scripture again, because 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:31.560 now you're really ready for it. 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:33.320 It says, so. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.960 They took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern. 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.159 The cistern isn't very big in diameter, only about. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.399 Three feet, but then it has a bulb at the 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.040 bottom because it's fifteen feet deep, and the deeper it goes, 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.560 the wider it gets. These cisterns were meant to collect 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.920 rain water, not human bodies, and yet in the nation 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:57.480 of Israel there was not much water to be found. 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.200 The Bible says there was only mud in this cistern. 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.920 Look at it again. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.919 the cistern. It had no water in it, only mud, 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.000 and Jeremiah sank down. 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:14.879 Into the mud. 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.360 Which makes sense if Jeremiah sinned. 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.679 I understand sinking when you sin, because I've done it. 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.000 I understand sinking when you're bitter because I've been it. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.359 I understand sinking in an addiction because I've dealt with that. 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.000 I understand sinking in my own dumb decisions. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.240 How many of you have ever sunk in stupid. 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.600 It ain't even always sin. Sometimes you just bought a 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.840 time share. It's not necessarily a Bible verse about that, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:56.400 but nature reveals seven hundred and sixty two months later, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.800 you're still sinking, and you've been there three days and 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:01.760 it's got roaches. 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.200 Now we must ask the question. 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:16.240 If Jeremiah was speaking for God, if Jeremiah was serving God. 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.120 And not sinning and not stupid. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:21.560 And we've all. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.080 Sunk before because we sinned, And we've all sunk before 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.800 because we were stupid. And when you are sinking in sin, 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.880 you repent. What do you do when you are sinking 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:41.879 while serving? This is the question that I came to 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:47.000 have a conversation about today. I'm serving God. I'm not 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.440 saying I'm perfect, but I'm serving God and I'm sinking. 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.240 It would surprise you where some of my sermons come from. 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:57.480 It would because some of my. 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.320 Sermons, if you asked me where I got them from, 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.200 I would I have to tell you, honestly, I got it. 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.040 From the Mud. Touch somebody next to you and say 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:06.000 I got it from the Mud. 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:07.640 Yeah. 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:08.439 Yeah. 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:10.720 Some of my sermons that I preached to you, I 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.000 must be honest with you. They came not because I 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.439 was so high, and not because I was so holy, 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.119 and not because I was so right, and not because 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:21.640 I was so righteous, and not because I was so brilliant, 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.639 and not because I was so bold. But some of 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:27.840 my sermons that I've preached to you. I got them 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:32.840 from a muddy place, muddy messages. I know my boots 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.679 are clean at this moment, but some of the stuff 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.199 that I've walked through and that you've walked through to 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:42.199 be in your seat today would surprise somebody. Some of 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.520 the messages that you get in your life come from 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:46.920 the mud. Some of the things you help people with 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.280 are from the hell that you've been through that you 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.119 don't want anybody else to go through, And so you 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:54.720 tell them I've been through this hell, so. 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.800 I could hand you this helmet so I can tell you. 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:01.000 I said, called a callback, Remember the hell from the bicycle. 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:03.400 Remember when he was mad because I made him wear 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:05.600 the helmet, But I told him, I don't. 0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:07.679 Want you to have to go through hell when you 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:09.160 could just put on this helmet. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.080 I don't want you to have to suffer the consequences 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:14.760 when you could just listen to God. I don't want 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:18.119 you to have to go through sixteen sexual partners. 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.680 To find out that you can't get it. 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:23.320 From that, And after they're gone, you're still left with you. 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:26.920 And if you can't be complete in Christ, nobody can 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:27.639 complete you. 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:29.160 See, you gotta get. 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:30.600 This from the mud. 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:38.000 The people who are praising God on this point have 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:43.040 been through something. But people who are cute are still 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:44.359 not climbing out yet. 0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:49.600 But when you've been stuck in something and you finally. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.359 Take a step out of it, it'll make you jump 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:57.159 up and holler. Look how he lifted me with nothing 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:09.920 else could help, nothing but mud in the cistern and Jeremiah, 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:15.320 God's man is in the mind. What is God's man 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:16.359 doing in the mud. 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:19.440 What is a prophet doing in a pit? 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:22.480 I thought if you worked for God, he would work 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:28.640 it out for you, working through me. I thought God 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.920 was fighting for you, So shouldn't Jeremiah thirty eight, verse 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:33.040 six read Duslie. 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:37.080 So they took Jeremiah and. 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:39.440 Tried to put him into. 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:43.359 The cistern, but the angel Gabriel grabbed him by the 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:51.560 throat and said, touch not mine anointed. So this one 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:54.600 I'm learning because I talk to people who love Christ 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:59.440 and have cancer. Because I talked to people who raised 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:01.000 their kids I You're an admonition of the Lord, and 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:03.880 their kids still went buck wild crazy, never wore a helmet. 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:08.639 I could say other stuff, but I pray for me. 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:09.960 I feel unfiltered right now. 0:24:10.720 --> 0:24:13.840 I don't want this message to get so muddy that 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:16.919 you missed the heart of it. And the point of 0:24:16.920 --> 0:24:20.720 it is you can do everything right and things still 0:24:20.760 --> 0:24:29.960 go wrong. I release every parent of the parental guilt 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:32.520 that says if you would have put them in the 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:34.920 special school when they were two and a half years old, 0:24:35.880 --> 0:24:38.040 if you would have taught them Spanish by the time 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:41.200 they were four, they would have been doctors. 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:45.280 They would have been the president. First of all, they 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:46.960 can't be the president till they're over eighty. 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:56.280 Apparently, I told you it's getting money, it's getting muddy. 0:24:57.040 --> 0:25:10.280 This is the dirty version I guess today. Yeah, it's 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:13.840 good to be back home. You can't say this kind 0:25:13.880 --> 0:25:15.119 of stuff just anywhere. 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:16.679 I can't talk like this. 0:25:16.800 --> 0:25:26.560 In Philadelphia. We're talking about Jeremiah, God's man in the Mud, 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:29.119 God's man in the Mud. 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:33.800 And notice how I said that he sank down into 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:34.240 the mud. 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:36.399 Now, I'm just going to minister this for a moment, 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:42.359 because it seems to me very important. Strong people sink. 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:49.160 Strong people sink, and if we want to get really 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:56.320 technical about it, the more weighty the object, the more 0:25:56.400 --> 0:26:04.200 quickly and deeply it sinks. Strong anointing means strong attacks. 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:12.119 Now I see why he was sinking because he was 0:26:12.160 --> 0:26:16.479 saying something. Now I see why he was under attack 0:26:17.800 --> 0:26:21.480 because he was valuable. Now I see why he was 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:22.640 under attack because. 0:26:22.400 --> 0:26:23.320 He had an assignment. 0:26:24.080 --> 0:26:28.320 Do you understand that about your life, that your assignment 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:31.720 to glorify God, your assignment to shine a light for Christ, 0:26:31.800 --> 0:26:34.840 your assignment to make a difference in the lives of others, 0:26:34.880 --> 0:26:41.320 will sometimes cause you to sink. So, then full disclosure, 0:26:41.840 --> 0:26:43.520 God is not against me. He's in it with me, 0:26:43.560 --> 0:26:47.359 working through me. Fighting for me was written by me 0:26:49.119 --> 0:26:54.040 one morning driving to this church to preach to this 0:26:54.160 --> 0:26:59.399 congregation whom I love, and the anxiety of standing up 0:26:59.400 --> 0:27:02.879 to preach will often create in me a fear that 0:27:02.920 --> 0:27:04.520 I have nothing to say and I'm not worthy to 0:27:04.560 --> 0:27:07.760 say it. One morning, as I drove up to the church, 0:27:08.760 --> 0:27:13.359 I begin to say to myself, God, I thank you 0:27:13.400 --> 0:27:18.480 today that you are working through me as I preach, 0:27:19.600 --> 0:27:21.879 and that you want me to do a good job. 0:27:23.440 --> 0:27:26.760 In that amazing thought, why would I even have to 0:27:26.760 --> 0:27:30.439 tell myself that? Well, let me tell you. The reason 0:27:30.440 --> 0:27:32.360 I have to say, God is not against me. He's 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:34.119 in it with me, working through me, fighting for me, 0:27:35.200 --> 0:27:38.240 is because just because God doesn't ever line up against me. 0:27:39.119 --> 0:27:42.919 Just because God is not against me doesn't mean that 0:27:42.960 --> 0:27:43.840 nobody else is. 0:27:46.240 --> 0:27:47.880 There have been times in my life. 0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:50.240 And ministry where people have uttered an unkind word or 0:27:50.240 --> 0:27:55.680 two in my direction. Therefore, if you are not intentional, 0:27:55.720 --> 0:28:00.879 you will begin to assimilate the hatred of peoples, of people, 0:28:01.720 --> 0:28:07.080 the opposition of people, or even the trials of your life, 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:08.960 and you will begin to think that since they are 0:28:09.080 --> 0:28:14.040 like that, and since life is like that, God is 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:18.480 not like that. When we say God is not against me, 0:28:19.760 --> 0:28:21.520 perhaps it seems to you unnecessary. 0:28:21.560 --> 0:28:24.199 Perhaps you've never had the thought that God was against you. 0:28:25.640 --> 0:28:27.760 But is it possible that. 0:28:27.720 --> 0:28:33.320 While confessing God is for me, that life is coming 0:28:33.359 --> 0:28:36.359 against you in a way that is making you wonder, 0:28:37.800 --> 0:28:42.160 if God is with me, why is there only mud. 0:28:43.320 --> 0:28:43.920 In this pit. 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:49.719 I don't know if you noticed, but the one thing 0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:51.760 that was never mentioned in the chapter that I read 0:28:51.800 --> 0:28:59.440 you was the presence of God. It does not say 0:28:59.560 --> 0:29:01.320 that Jeremy I was thrown into the pit, but God 0:29:01.440 --> 0:29:02.920 was with him in the pit. It says that about 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:04.960 Joseph in prison and the Old Testament, But this is 0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:05.680 a little different. 0:29:05.800 --> 0:29:06.360 This is one of. 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:10.000 Those moments where Jeremiah must have been thinking as he 0:29:10.160 --> 0:29:14.000 was sinking, where are you God? We know that he 0:29:14.040 --> 0:29:17.640 thought this way because in the Book of Lamentations, I mean, 0:29:17.680 --> 0:29:19.800 think about the name of that book. Jeremiah wrote that 0:29:19.840 --> 0:29:24.680 book lament It means to grief, it means the question. 0:29:26.200 --> 0:29:28.160 And in that book as well as the book that 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:30.560 bears his name, many times he would speak the word 0:29:30.560 --> 0:29:37.400 of the Lord, but he would also question within himself, God, 0:29:37.440 --> 0:29:43.720 if I'm your man, what's up with this mud? This 0:29:43.760 --> 0:29:46.280 is his third imprisonment for preaching the word of the Lord. 0:29:47.640 --> 0:29:47.920 God. 0:29:47.960 --> 0:29:53.640 If I'm your servant, why am I in this cistern? God, 0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:56.720 you called me to be a prophet. You told me 0:29:56.840 --> 0:29:59.720 before I was born that you knew me in a 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:04.400 point to me. And yet he's learning, as we all 0:30:04.480 --> 0:30:09.720 must learn, that just because you are appointed doesn't mean 0:30:09.760 --> 0:30:10.920 you'll never be attacked. 0:30:13.160 --> 0:30:14.160 I'm gonna say it again. 0:30:15.280 --> 0:30:18.239 I know you don't want to wear this helmet, but 0:30:18.360 --> 0:30:21.000 I don't want your head to crash on the pavement 0:30:22.040 --> 0:30:24.479 that you think just because you have a purpose and 0:30:24.520 --> 0:30:27.840 a promise from God that there will be no pits. 0:30:29.040 --> 0:30:32.120 Because if I preach this, but I don't tell you 0:30:32.200 --> 0:30:37.640 about the pitstops on the way to purpose. You will smash, 0:30:37.800 --> 0:30:41.440 you will splatter, you will smudge, you will stop, You 0:30:41.520 --> 0:30:42.840 will feel stuck. 0:30:42.600 --> 0:30:44.880 In the moments when the feeling goes away. 0:30:46.040 --> 0:30:50.560 And yet the time to sing, God is not against me. 0:30:50.840 --> 0:30:51.560 That's pretty good. 0:30:52.000 --> 0:30:54.480 God is not against me. 0:30:55.240 --> 0:30:59.080 The time to sing it. 0:30:57.760 --> 0:30:59.000 Is not when you see it. 0:31:03.560 --> 0:31:06.480 Let me tell you when you need to sing, God 0:31:06.800 --> 0:31:08.240 is not against me. 0:31:08.480 --> 0:31:09.280 Singing a minute. 0:31:09.400 --> 0:31:11.800 God is not against me. 0:31:12.760 --> 0:31:21.600 Sing it when you're sinking. Sing it when you're sinking. 0:31:22.400 --> 0:31:26.360 Tell your neighbor. Sing it the next time you sink. 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:30.040 So this is how it's gonna work in your life. 0:31:30.640 --> 0:31:34.160 When you start to sink into the pit of your 0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:37.440 own problems. When you start to sink, God feel annointed 0:31:37.440 --> 0:31:40.240 to help somebody up today. I see you've been sinking. 0:31:40.560 --> 0:31:42.640 I see you've been going down in it. I see 0:31:42.640 --> 0:31:45.040 you've been going back to past habits that are beneath you. 0:31:45.320 --> 0:31:47.720 I see you've been going into memories that you need 0:31:47.760 --> 0:31:48.640 to leave in a room. 0:31:48.440 --> 0:31:49.360 But they keep coming out. 0:31:49.640 --> 0:31:52.120 I see you keep going into self pity. I see 0:31:52.200 --> 0:31:55.080 you keep going into old ways of processing. I see 0:31:55.080 --> 0:31:57.760 you keep going into despair. I see it keep going 0:31:57.800 --> 0:32:00.680 into suicidal thoughts. I see it keep going back to 0:32:00.680 --> 0:32:03.520 toxic relationships. I see it keep going back to the 0:32:03.560 --> 0:32:05.880 things that break your heart. I see it keep going 0:32:05.920 --> 0:32:08.000 back to the things that pulled you. I'll see it 0:32:08.080 --> 0:32:10.760 keep going back to the things that offer you temporary relief. 0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:15.560 And I see you sinking, but I see you singing 0:32:16.120 --> 0:32:17.280 as you're sinking. 0:32:18.240 --> 0:32:19.960 Love lifted me. 0:32:26.320 --> 0:32:31.200 They doesn't mean I won't sink. It means I won't 0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:36.720 stay there. Yeah, I was about to look for my band. 0:32:36.800 --> 0:32:39.280 I didn't know if y' went to sleep on me. 0:32:40.440 --> 0:32:43.520 But high five somebody and say I'm sinking, but I'm singing. 0:32:45.880 --> 0:32:48.920 Please do not let our songs. 0:32:48.600 --> 0:32:52.520 Confuse you into thinking that we never sink. Of course, 0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:56.960 we have low moments. It's called human experience. It's called 0:32:57.000 --> 0:33:00.000 being born of a woman. It's called having a name. 0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:03.160 Sure that was given to us by Adam, but was 0:33:03.200 --> 0:33:08.560 redeemed by Christ. And when I was sinking, he reached 0:33:08.600 --> 0:33:10.320 down and rescued me. 0:33:12.480 --> 0:33:13.640 I need somebody. 0:33:13.360 --> 0:33:19.560 Who's been rescued to get up and rejoice that he 0:33:19.720 --> 0:33:24.760 rescued you. Then we're getting there. We're getting there. 0:33:25.520 --> 0:33:31.920 We're getting there, We're getting there, We're getting there. I'm 0:33:31.920 --> 0:33:36.920 not rejoicing because the enemy never resisted me. I'm rejoicing 0:33:37.000 --> 0:33:40.560 because when he resisted me, God rescued me. 0:33:45.840 --> 0:33:48.800 And it is never mentioned. Y'all sit down, let me teach. 0:33:49.400 --> 0:33:54.560 It is never mentioned in this scripture that God intervened. 0:33:54.560 --> 0:33:58.080 But I'm gonna show you something. Who Thank you, Jesus. 0:33:58.120 --> 0:33:58.920 Thank you Jesus. 0:33:59.360 --> 0:34:02.720 Never write up it before went to cemetery seminary, went 0:34:02.760 --> 0:34:04.160 to Bible training school. 0:34:07.760 --> 0:34:08.840 You never ride a bouttle. 0:34:09.040 --> 0:34:12.239 I read about Jeremiah, but look what happened. 0:34:11.920 --> 0:34:12.520 When he was sinking. 0:34:12.560 --> 0:34:13.880 And this is what's happening in your life right now, 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:15.160 whether you realize or not, whether you see it or not, 0:34:15.160 --> 0:34:16.480 whether you feel it or not, whether you believe it. 0:34:16.520 --> 0:34:17.880 Right now, you're just sing i' HIPing peopleup because I 0:34:17.880 --> 0:34:19.160 got to gi himdenergy. And that's what I do on 0:34:19.160 --> 0:34:20.960 Sunday morning. That's not this what I do on Sunday morning. 0:34:20.960 --> 0:34:22.360 This is what I do on Monday morning. This is 0:34:22.360 --> 0:34:23.759 what I do on Tuesday morning. This is what I'm 0:34:23.760 --> 0:34:24.600 do on Wednesday morning. 0:34:24.640 --> 0:34:26.160 This is what I'm doing out in my own. 0:34:26.000 --> 0:34:29.600 Money moment so I can encourage myself in the law. 0:34:31.840 --> 0:34:33.920 Why y'all looking at me like you work security. 0:34:37.080 --> 0:34:40.680 You look suspicious of this, and yet I am telling 0:34:40.719 --> 0:34:42.799 you that I sink. 0:34:44.080 --> 0:34:44.560 Safety. 0:34:44.600 --> 0:34:47.279 Steve is also. 0:34:47.040 --> 0:34:55.040 Sinking Steve, and speaking Steve is authoritative sinking. 0:34:55.040 --> 0:35:00.080 Stephen has to remember, no, no, no, he's not against me. 0:35:01.400 --> 0:35:06.640 Life is, trolls are aging is. 0:35:09.520 --> 0:35:12.840 But God's note. You know what Peter showed me in 0:35:12.840 --> 0:35:14.360 the New Testament. And then I'm about to show you 0:35:14.440 --> 0:35:18.440 something that's gonna blow you away. Peter showed me in Matthew, 0:35:18.480 --> 0:35:20.600 chapter fourteen, verse thirty. I think I gave them the scripture. 0:35:20.640 --> 0:35:22.040 Put it up there if I gave it to you, 0:35:22.360 --> 0:35:24.080 and y'all clap if they put it up on the screen, Mathew. 0:35:24.080 --> 0:35:27.480 But okay, I can say, right, Peter's walking toward Jesus 0:35:27.480 --> 0:35:27.879 on the water. 0:35:27.960 --> 0:35:29.880 Right, walking toward Jesus on the water. He has a 0:35:29.880 --> 0:35:32.760 path toward purpose. Right, he has a path toward purpose. 0:35:32.920 --> 0:35:35.200 And then all of a sudden he saw the wind 0:35:37.040 --> 0:35:42.799 which was against him, and he was afraid and beginning 0:35:43.080 --> 0:35:47.640 to sink. He cried out, Lord save me. That's the 0:35:47.680 --> 0:35:51.200 only verse you need for your sinking moments. That's what 0:35:51.320 --> 0:35:55.400 you need. We'll put it backup, put it back up. 0:35:55.400 --> 0:35:59.920 I'm not doing it yet. He started sinking because of 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:03.160 what he saw. The wind was against him. Sometimes what 0:36:03.239 --> 0:36:05.200 you see is against you, so you forget what is 0:36:05.239 --> 0:36:11.680 in you that is for you, and beginning to sink. 0:36:13.040 --> 0:36:14.960 So Peter doesn't sound like this when he cries, don't 0:36:15.000 --> 0:36:21.160 go oh, you're not gargling anything. I don't even think 0:36:21.160 --> 0:36:23.759 he was up to his waist. He said, oh, no, 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:25.880 I'm not going all the way down there when Jesus 0:36:25.920 --> 0:36:26.399 is right here. 0:36:28.040 --> 0:36:29.000 I want you to get that. 0:36:28.920 --> 0:36:35.960 Mentality about your day. I'm not gonna do it after 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:39.719 I drink, ain't ate glasses. I'm gonna cry out when 0:36:39.719 --> 0:36:44.120 I start to sink. I'm not gonna do it after 0:36:44.160 --> 0:36:46.680 I've already gone off on everybody in my phone and 0:36:46.760 --> 0:36:47.960 ruined all my friendships. 0:36:49.000 --> 0:36:52.680 When I start to sink. Put it up one more time. 0:36:52.840 --> 0:36:58.480 He started to sink, and he said, what do you 0:36:58.640 --> 0:37:07.000 say when you start to sink? God is not against me. 0:37:07.920 --> 0:37:11.200 So you start to sink, the wind is against you. 0:37:13.080 --> 0:37:22.520 Remind yourself, God's not. God's not. They might be God's not. 0:37:23.640 --> 0:37:29.960 It might be God's not. Somebody say, God's not. If 0:37:30.040 --> 0:37:32.759 every demon in Hell is against you, I'm done with 0:37:32.760 --> 0:37:39.040 the verse. Now God's not. God's not done with you. 0:37:41.160 --> 0:37:45.840 God's not fed up with you. God's not gone. And 0:37:45.920 --> 0:37:48.520 I'll show you this from Jeremiah thirty eight. Now we're 0:37:48.560 --> 0:37:52.560 ready for Jeremiah thirty eight, verse seven. He was sinking 0:37:53.760 --> 0:37:55.920 down in the mud verse seven. 0:37:56.440 --> 0:38:04.440 But yeah, you missed a shout. Go to verse six. 0:38:04.480 --> 0:38:05.040 We'll do it again. 0:38:05.760 --> 0:38:07.840 I know, always catch up class. I've been going a 0:38:07.840 --> 0:38:10.000 few weeks, so you don't have my rhythm right now. 0:38:10.120 --> 0:38:16.280 Let's do it again. And he sank down into the mud. 0:38:17.800 --> 0:38:22.040 But let's do it again. 0:38:24.280 --> 0:38:33.720 He sank down into the mud. But I'm not shouting 0:38:33.760 --> 0:38:41.600 about the mud. I'm shouting about the butt. I'm sinking 0:38:42.600 --> 0:38:46.920 into the feeling of anxiety. 0:38:47.600 --> 0:38:48.080 You got it. 0:38:49.200 --> 0:38:51.640 I'm sinking into the old way of doing it. 0:38:53.840 --> 0:38:56.359 One of the best scriptures that you'll ever see is 0:38:56.880 --> 0:38:58.880 we were dead in our transgressions and sins. 0:38:59.360 --> 0:39:02.359 But God, but God. 0:39:03.280 --> 0:39:04.439 And yet the Bible. 0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:07.280 Doesn't mention God in this passage, does it. 0:39:07.280 --> 0:39:10.880 It says he was sinking in the mud. 0:39:11.680 --> 0:39:19.360 But Ebed Melic, baby name possibility right here, Ebed Melick, 0:39:20.320 --> 0:39:23.840 your child will be the only one in class raising 0:39:23.880 --> 0:39:29.720 their hand if your name me bed Melic, Ebet Melik, 0:39:31.120 --> 0:39:31.720 and eat. 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:34.920 The Olpion says here Kushite. It also says. 0:39:34.640 --> 0:39:38.600 A official in the royal palace, but that's not specific enough. 0:39:38.600 --> 0:39:43.600 He was a eunuch, a eunuch who was brought over 0:39:44.320 --> 0:39:48.720 as a slave and was put in a position of service. 0:39:49.680 --> 0:39:55.920 In fact, the word ebed melick. Ebed means servant, Melick 0:39:56.440 --> 0:40:04.319 means king. But ibad Melick, that's your cue. 0:40:04.320 --> 0:40:05.080 Put it on the screen. 0:40:05.160 --> 0:40:11.320 Voice, But Ibad Melick a kushite, a eunuch. 0:40:12.440 --> 0:40:15.640 The eunuchs, when they were brought over to serve, were castrated. 0:40:16.600 --> 0:40:19.680 The Levinical law forbade anyone who was. 0:40:19.640 --> 0:40:22.440 Castrated from entering the assembly of the Lord. 0:40:23.520 --> 0:40:26.360 So I want you to get the preciousness of this 0:40:26.560 --> 0:40:31.160 partnership and the unlikeliness of this deliverance is that a 0:40:31.239 --> 0:40:35.440 man from Ethiopia, who was brought to a land that 0:40:35.560 --> 0:40:39.160 was being ravaged by enemies, who was serving a king 0:40:39.239 --> 0:40:45.439 who had no courage, speaks up and steps up as 0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:50.320 Jeremiah sinks in a cistern in a pit, he speaks 0:40:50.400 --> 0:40:54.480 up as a servant in the palace. God is working 0:40:54.480 --> 0:40:58.120 in places you can't see. God is working through people 0:40:58.160 --> 0:40:59.399 you don't know about. 0:41:00.080 --> 0:41:02.600 God is working through people who you think don't belong 0:41:02.680 --> 0:41:03.360 in that position. 0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:07.040 I'm pointing it out to you because some people have 0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:10.239 let you down. Maybe some people have been like the 0:41:10.280 --> 0:41:13.680 men in this passage who threw Jeremiah in the pit. Oh, 0:41:13.800 --> 0:41:16.680 thanks a lot. I was just trying to help. But 0:41:16.800 --> 0:41:19.880 while they were throwing him in the pit, God was 0:41:19.920 --> 0:41:24.080 already preparing somebody in the palace to steak up on 0:41:24.200 --> 0:41:28.719 his behalf. So I'm preaching this word to somebody who 0:41:28.760 --> 0:41:33.080 feels forgotten. You are not forgotten. God is just going 0:41:33.160 --> 0:41:38.239 to use something foreign. I said, God is going to 0:41:38.400 --> 0:41:39.760 use something foreign. 0:41:42.200 --> 0:41:44.120 Think how wild this is. 0:41:45.040 --> 0:41:48.759 God needs somebody to move to get Jeremiah out of 0:41:48.760 --> 0:41:52.480 the pit. Who does he choose to use somebody who 0:41:52.600 --> 0:41:58.000 wasn't even allowed to come worship. You're gonna have to 0:41:58.000 --> 0:42:02.239 watch this message twice to get it, because it's going 0:42:02.280 --> 0:42:08.320 to remind you that no matter who betrays you, God's 0:42:08.360 --> 0:42:09.319 always got a butt. 0:42:10.960 --> 0:42:12.840 Ebed melick. 0:42:15.719 --> 0:42:17.960 Yeah, let's pause and give. 0:42:17.880 --> 0:42:18.640 Him praise. 0:42:20.160 --> 0:42:30.279 For every ebed melic. And he not only comes to 0:42:30.320 --> 0:42:35.200 the king, but he confronts the king. This kind of 0:42:35.200 --> 0:42:38.520 courage that you have when you know that God is 0:42:38.640 --> 0:42:43.600 not against me, but he's in it with me, working 0:42:43.640 --> 0:42:50.880 through me, fighting for me. Isn't it amazing that you 0:42:50.920 --> 0:42:53.759 would stand up to a king and he is not 0:42:53.840 --> 0:42:58.080 even considered a true worshiper, not by that culture. 0:43:00.200 --> 0:43:01.120 Is who he wants to use. 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:05.239 I want to talk to everybody who doesn't even have 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:06.280 a high school education. 0:43:06.880 --> 0:43:09.680 God uses who he wants to use. I want to 0:43:09.719 --> 0:43:10.880 talk to everybody who's. 0:43:10.600 --> 0:43:12.319 Had an abortion and people try to make you feel 0:43:12.360 --> 0:43:13.080 terrible about it. 0:43:13.280 --> 0:43:15.480 God uses who he wants to use, and he's going 0:43:15.560 --> 0:43:17.760 to give you something in your future to help somebody. 0:43:17.960 --> 0:43:21.000 And so let's turn those tears into testimony so you 0:43:21.040 --> 0:43:24.800 can help somebody, so you can hand somebody a helmet. 0:43:26.480 --> 0:43:29.000 I want to speak to everybody who has been. 0:43:28.800 --> 0:43:41.640 Cast out, cast aside, cast graded and left any crazy, 0:43:41.840 --> 0:43:44.040 that the one who was left out is the one 0:43:44.080 --> 0:43:45.040 who lifted up. 0:43:48.960 --> 0:43:50.600 Sinking in loneliness. 0:43:50.080 --> 0:43:55.480 Right now, Oh, but Ebed Melick, I've been spending time 0:43:55.480 --> 0:43:56.359 with this guy all week. 0:43:57.640 --> 0:44:00.520 The more I studied them, the more I touched me. 0:44:00.600 --> 0:44:01.080 What he did? 0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:06.480 He heard they put Jeremiah into the cistern, and the 0:44:06.600 --> 0:44:08.440 king is sitting in the gate. Now, I want to 0:44:08.440 --> 0:44:11.600 point something out. The King is in the palace, Jeremiah 0:44:11.680 --> 0:44:14.719 is in the pit. God is not with the king. 0:44:15.840 --> 0:44:20.040 God is with Jeremiah. No, no, no, get this, get this, 0:44:20.120 --> 0:44:27.000 get this. The palace does not prove God's presence. The 0:44:27.120 --> 0:44:29.080 pit does not prove his absence. 0:44:32.600 --> 0:44:34.600 Stop looking at the circumstances. 0:44:34.840 --> 0:44:36.400 Every time you get out there, you go, well, it 0:44:36.480 --> 0:44:38.480 must not be God's will. It didn't work out, well, 0:44:38.520 --> 0:44:40.520 it must not be God's will. It's really hard. Well, 0:44:40.560 --> 0:44:42.680 it must not be working. We've all felt that way. 0:44:43.960 --> 0:44:47.960 But if you're serving while you're sinking, and if you're 0:44:48.000 --> 0:44:51.440 sinking while you're serving, know that God has an Ebed 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:57.480 Melick position in the palace. Verse eight. Ebed Melick went 0:44:57.560 --> 0:45:00.720 out of the palace and said to him, my lord 0:45:00.760 --> 0:45:03.640 the King, these men have acted wickedly, and all they've 0:45:03.640 --> 0:45:05.839 done to Jeremiah the prophet, this is not right. 0:45:06.560 --> 0:45:08.080 They've thrown him into a cistern. 0:45:08.640 --> 0:45:11.480 He will starve to death when there's no longer any 0:45:11.520 --> 0:45:14.200 bread in the city. And the king commanded he bed 0:45:14.239 --> 0:45:17.440 Melik the Kushai, all right, take thirty men from here 0:45:17.560 --> 0:45:24.840 with you. Thirty this is overkill. He be Melick, like, 0:45:24.880 --> 0:45:28.160 I don't really need thirty. No, take thirty, Take thirty. 0:45:28.600 --> 0:45:31.239 Here's what I want to prophesy. When God does lift 0:45:31.280 --> 0:45:34.560 you out, there is going to be more than enough 0:45:34.560 --> 0:45:42.040 strength to do it. Yeah, I'll tell you why God 0:45:42.120 --> 0:45:42.879 is a show off. 0:45:44.680 --> 0:45:46.680 God wants to show his glory. 0:45:47.480 --> 0:45:50.040 God sends thirty men for a task that three could 0:45:50.040 --> 0:45:53.480 handle them. But not only do they have extra resource, 0:45:53.560 --> 0:45:56.160 not only does God have more than enough power to 0:45:56.200 --> 0:45:58.879 pull you out of the pit, but the Bible says 0:45:58.920 --> 0:46:02.399 he told him to take a rope and go down 0:46:02.400 --> 0:46:05.680 there and get him out of the cistern before he dies. 0:46:06.480 --> 0:46:10.480 In other words, he's sinking, but he's not all the 0:46:10.520 --> 0:46:15.520 way sunk. He's sinking, but something stopped him from sinking. 0:46:16.200 --> 0:46:16.920 Did you ever. 0:46:16.840 --> 0:46:20.080 Wonder why God still left you here after all you've 0:46:20.080 --> 0:46:23.880 been through. Did you ever wonder why what came against 0:46:23.960 --> 0:46:25.319 you didn't take you totally out? 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:27.160 I believe it's. 0:46:27.000 --> 0:46:30.560 Because God has something more for you that he wants 0:46:30.600 --> 0:46:35.239 to do through you. After all, we were singing a 0:46:35.239 --> 0:46:39.120 minute ago. He's in it with me, working through me. 0:46:40.080 --> 0:46:42.320 And I want to ask the question today, not only 0:46:43.600 --> 0:46:46.440 what do you need to be lifted out of, but 0:46:46.520 --> 0:46:53.279 who have you lifted lately? Maybe God put you in 0:46:53.360 --> 0:46:57.400 a position to lift somebody. Did you ever think about 0:46:57.400 --> 0:47:01.279 the fact that maybe the reason you're in your pit 0:47:02.719 --> 0:47:05.680 is because you won't lift anybody else out of theirs. 0:47:11.160 --> 0:47:13.359 I want God to be in my pit with me. 0:47:14.480 --> 0:47:17.960 But what if he is using me to visit somebody 0:47:18.000 --> 0:47:21.680 else in their pit. I want you to start using 0:47:21.760 --> 0:47:25.240 everything you go through for God's glory. The moment something 0:47:25.320 --> 0:47:27.759 bad starts happening to you, I want you to go 0:47:27.800 --> 0:47:30.440 on a counterattack. I want you to say that if 0:47:30.440 --> 0:47:32.480 the enemy is gonna come against me, he's gonna learn 0:47:32.520 --> 0:47:36.520 that it's gonna cost him a little bit. So every 0:47:36.560 --> 0:47:40.520 time you discourage me, devil, just know I'm gonna send 0:47:40.560 --> 0:47:43.440 three texts to encourage somebody else. 0:47:44.680 --> 0:47:47.520 Or you want some Oh, you want some. 0:47:48.760 --> 0:47:49.640 You want to put me. 0:47:49.680 --> 0:47:50.520 Down in the pit? 0:47:51.480 --> 0:47:53.400 Wants me lift somebody else up? 0:47:54.400 --> 0:47:57.560 With the strength I do have, with the gift I 0:47:57.680 --> 0:48:01.360 do have, with the skill I do have, with the 0:48:01.480 --> 0:48:04.880 life I do have, with the opportunity I do have. 0:48:06.000 --> 0:48:08.799 I thought somebody and say I came to lift you up. 0:48:10.560 --> 0:48:13.200 If you don't have faith, borrow mind, if you don't 0:48:13.239 --> 0:48:15.000 have joy, borrow mind, you. 0:48:15.000 --> 0:48:17.080 Can surf on my way for a little while. 0:48:17.440 --> 0:48:20.080 You might be going through something, So hitch on. 0:48:20.160 --> 0:48:22.759 To me and let's get out of this pit to 0:48:22.880 --> 0:48:29.720 get up. I'm looking for a lifter in this house, 0:48:31.080 --> 0:48:35.680 an unlikely lifter. You've been through help, but you're praying 0:48:35.760 --> 0:48:36.640 for other people. 0:48:39.719 --> 0:48:40.840 You're trying to hold. 0:48:40.640 --> 0:48:44.040 Your own life together, but you're a source of comfort. 0:48:44.040 --> 0:48:44.480 After all. 0:48:44.520 --> 0:48:48.319 The famine was affecting the bed Melick too, and he 0:48:48.440 --> 0:48:52.560 found the strength to lift Jeremiah. 0:48:52.600 --> 0:48:55.880 And I got to show you one more thing because 0:48:55.920 --> 0:48:58.760 when I rean in, I thought, what a beautiful story. 0:49:00.200 --> 0:49:04.680 How sometimes life puts us in a pit, and we 0:49:04.719 --> 0:49:06.439 don't always feel God's presence. 0:49:06.080 --> 0:49:06.440 In a pit. 0:49:07.200 --> 0:49:11.120 And sometimes when God sends a person to bring us 0:49:11.160 --> 0:49:16.440 out of our pit, we don't recognize him. 0:49:16.560 --> 0:49:17.640 It's not what we expected. 0:49:19.840 --> 0:49:21.840 And I thought, that's a great story, because everybody in 0:49:21.880 --> 0:49:26.000 here either needs to be more like Jeremiah and don't 0:49:26.000 --> 0:49:29.840 die in the pit, or be more like Ebed Melick 0:49:30.719 --> 0:49:35.360 and come get somebody out of a pit. And the 0:49:35.400 --> 0:49:37.080 Lord said, and he didn't say it like this, but 0:49:37.400 --> 0:49:43.640 the Lord said, dummy, how did he do it? And 0:49:43.680 --> 0:49:48.680 I read about the ropes It said that the King 0:49:48.680 --> 0:49:50.560 told him take thirty men from here and lift Jeremiah 0:49:50.640 --> 0:49:52.560 of the systern before he dies, and Ebed Melick took 0:49:52.600 --> 0:49:54.840 them in with him verse eleven, and went to a 0:49:54.920 --> 0:49:56.600 room under the treasury in the palace, and he took 0:49:56.640 --> 0:49:58.360 some old rags and worn out clothes from there and 0:49:58.440 --> 0:50:02.840 let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 0:50:02.880 --> 0:50:06.240 Now you're Jeremiah. 0:50:06.320 --> 0:50:10.959 You've been sinking, you've been starving, and something starts coming 0:50:11.000 --> 0:50:14.120 down into the cistern, and you've been down here and 0:50:14.160 --> 0:50:15.320 you've been wondering. 0:50:15.480 --> 0:50:16.800 Am I done? 0:50:16.920 --> 0:50:18.640 And we can all relate to this, even if not 0:50:18.719 --> 0:50:20.919 this extreme example, that we are the prophet of God 0:50:20.960 --> 0:50:22.080 to the nation in the time. 0:50:21.960 --> 0:50:26.320 Of backsliding and wickedness. We can relate to these moments. 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:31.040 In the pit where we do not feel sense or 0:50:31.080 --> 0:50:34.040 discern the presence of God, and all of a sudden 0:50:35.160 --> 0:50:40.560 here comes the rope. But not yet, for the Bible 0:50:40.560 --> 0:50:42.680 says in verse eleven that e bed Melick took them 0:50:42.719 --> 0:50:45.200 in with him, and on his way to the cistern, 0:50:46.080 --> 0:50:47.640 he has to make a pit stop. 0:50:48.840 --> 0:50:52.839 Wat watch off. He stops by the. 0:50:52.840 --> 0:50:56.120 Treasury in the palace, And if you're one of the 0:50:56.120 --> 0:50:58.879 thirty men with him, you are thinking, no doubt, Oh, 0:50:58.880 --> 0:51:02.160 he's going to get some gold or some silver, and 0:51:02.200 --> 0:51:04.880 we're going to buy Jeremiah out of the pit. But 0:51:04.920 --> 0:51:07.560 look at verse eleven. He doesn't go into the room 0:51:07.560 --> 0:51:11.000 where the riches are. The Bible says, he went to 0:51:11.080 --> 0:51:15.560 a room under the treasury. The treasury is where the 0:51:15.640 --> 0:51:20.600 valuables were stored. The treasury was the room that accessed 0:51:20.600 --> 0:51:22.839 all of the spices and all of the relics, and 0:51:22.920 --> 0:51:26.000 all of the valuables and all of the memorials. 0:51:27.520 --> 0:51:28.520 He doesn't go in that room. 0:51:29.560 --> 0:51:34.720 He went to a room under the treasury in the palace, 0:51:35.920 --> 0:51:38.160 a room that he knew how to get into. 0:51:39.400 --> 0:51:40.520 What kind of room is this? 0:51:40.600 --> 0:51:42.560 And why are we stopping on our way to a 0:51:42.600 --> 0:51:48.799 rescue to go into a room under the treasury? So 0:51:49.080 --> 0:51:58.560 he stops. He goes into a room, and he emerges 0:52:00.320 --> 0:52:08.680 sometime later with an unexpected resource. Because this room under 0:52:08.719 --> 0:52:13.839 the treasury is not where they kept the riches. That's 0:52:13.880 --> 0:52:20.560 where they kept the rags. And on his way to 0:52:20.680 --> 0:52:25.879 rescue Jeremiah, God's man in the mud, who has been 0:52:25.880 --> 0:52:29.040 sinking and starving and can't spare another second. 0:52:29.360 --> 0:52:34.600 Put the verse up, please. He goes into the room. 0:52:33.719 --> 0:52:40.280 And took some old rags, some old rags and worn 0:52:40.280 --> 0:52:41.160 out clothes from. 0:52:41.040 --> 0:52:44.840 There, and he let them down with ropes. 0:52:46.320 --> 0:52:51.040 To Jeremiah in the sister and verse twelve says the 0:52:51.040 --> 0:52:53.879 welcome voice of he Bed Melick echoed and said to Jeremiah, 0:52:54.120 --> 0:52:58.919 put these old rags and worn out clothes under your arms. Jeremiah, 0:53:00.360 --> 0:53:05.839 we've come to help you. I'm Ebed Mellick. I'm an Ethiopian. 0:53:07.000 --> 0:53:08.840 I'm not the kind of person that you're used to. 0:53:10.080 --> 0:53:13.320 But God has put me in a position, and he. 0:53:13.160 --> 0:53:17.440 Heard your prayers. And we're here, Jeremiah. 0:53:17.480 --> 0:53:21.640 And I got thirty of my boys, and we're about 0:53:21.680 --> 0:53:22.719 to get you out of this pit. 0:53:24.280 --> 0:53:28.200 I said, we're about to get you out of this pit. Jeremiah. 0:53:28.440 --> 0:53:31.799 We're about to get you out of this pit. We 0:53:31.920 --> 0:53:33.279 got enough power to do it. 0:53:34.160 --> 0:53:34.640 We've got a. 0:53:34.680 --> 0:53:37.840 Heart to do it. It's the purpose we came here for. 0:53:38.840 --> 0:53:43.760 But Jeremiah verse twelve, Please, Jeremiah, before we pull. 0:53:43.640 --> 0:53:48.880 You out of this pit, put these rags under your arms, 0:53:49.880 --> 0:53:52.760 and put these clothes under your arms. 0:53:53.640 --> 0:53:57.440 I know they're old, I know they're worn out. 0:53:58.800 --> 0:54:03.760 But I brought you something, Jeremiah, that you didn't expect. 0:54:04.760 --> 0:54:07.960 But I'm gonna drop it to you now. I'm going 0:54:08.040 --> 0:54:11.960 to drop you these rags before I drop you this 0:54:12.120 --> 0:54:16.480 rope I'm going to These rags came from our house. 0:54:18.600 --> 0:54:22.280 I was on my way out this morning, and before 0:54:22.320 --> 0:54:25.359 I came to preach to you, it crossed my mind 0:54:25.400 --> 0:54:25.800 to make. 0:54:25.640 --> 0:54:28.680 A pitstop because I wanted to. 0:54:28.640 --> 0:54:31.960 Stand in this sermon in the moment and speak to 0:54:32.000 --> 0:54:37.239 everybody who's waiting for the ropes to come, waiting for 0:54:37.320 --> 0:54:41.800 the ropes to pull you out, and knowing that God 0:54:41.880 --> 0:54:46.520 has the power to pull you out of it, every stronghold, 0:54:47.120 --> 0:54:53.240 every wicked thing, every low place, every spiritual demonic force 0:54:53.320 --> 0:54:56.440 that is pulling you down. God is greater than the 0:54:56.480 --> 0:54:59.600 gravity of that, and he asked the power to pull 0:54:59.600 --> 0:55:04.120 you out. But I heard the voice of Ebed Melick saying, 0:55:05.760 --> 0:55:09.839 before you grab those ropes, I. 0:55:09.800 --> 0:55:11.080 Want to give you these rags. 0:55:12.960 --> 0:55:16.719 And I know they don't look like much, and I 0:55:16.760 --> 0:55:20.440 know you don't see the purpose in them. And I 0:55:20.480 --> 0:55:23.760 know that this is something that normally people would throw away. 0:55:24.360 --> 0:55:29.839 But Jeremiah, I brought you a rope, and I brought 0:55:29.880 --> 0:55:30.640 you some rags. 0:55:32.719 --> 0:55:44.759 The rags always come before the rope. The rags always 0:55:44.920 --> 0:55:48.239 come before the rope. 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:51.080 And I'm saying this because you've been in a pit 0:55:51.440 --> 0:55:54.360 praying for God to provide for you, and he is. 0:55:57.520 --> 0:56:03.239 He's given you rags right now, Jeremiah, I'm gonna drop 0:56:03.280 --> 0:56:03.920 these rags. 0:56:04.800 --> 0:56:07.759 I work in the treasury, and I know about. 0:56:07.480 --> 0:56:10.719 A secret room where they keep the old cloths and 0:56:10.800 --> 0:56:13.880 the old rags and the discarded clothes. 0:56:14.320 --> 0:56:16.480 And I came to bring you something. 0:56:16.960 --> 0:56:21.040 That people would throw away, but that God is going 0:56:21.080 --> 0:56:26.279 to use so that when I drop this rope, it 0:56:26.360 --> 0:56:32.080 will not kill you. So that when I drop this rope, 0:56:32.280 --> 0:56:35.319 when I pull you out of this pit, when you 0:56:35.440 --> 0:56:39.759 take these rags and put them under your arms, when 0:56:39.800 --> 0:56:43.920 the ropes pull you up, when the ropes bring you out, 0:56:44.400 --> 0:56:48.000 because of the rags that I'm dropping now, the ropes 0:56:48.040 --> 0:56:51.040 are going to do what they're supposed to do. If 0:56:51.040 --> 0:56:54.680 I didn't give you the rags, you couldn't handle the ropes. 0:56:55.640 --> 0:56:59.600 So you're praying for ropes. But God has given you rags. 0:57:00.280 --> 0:57:05.960 And it is the same hand of Almighty God. It 0:57:06.080 --> 0:57:13.560 is Jesus Christ, the Alpha, the Omega, the lamb of 0:57:13.719 --> 0:57:23.120 God is the lion. The one who wore the rags 0:57:24.240 --> 0:57:28.880 is the one who holds the rope. And I'm telling 0:57:28.920 --> 0:57:32.080 you this right now because I see God dropping stuff 0:57:32.360 --> 0:57:36.000 into your pit, dropping stuff you took for granted, I 0:57:36.080 --> 0:57:38.920 don't even know what's in this basket, but God does, 0:57:39.320 --> 0:57:41.920 and God is sending it, and God is giving it, 0:57:42.080 --> 0:57:45.280 and God is supplying it, and God is answering, and 0:57:45.480 --> 0:57:49.200 God is giving, and God is supplying, and God is saying, 0:57:49.600 --> 0:57:53.480 when you take those rags that look like nothing, and 0:57:53.560 --> 0:57:56.680 you'll get ready for what I'm about to do. When 0:57:56.720 --> 0:58:01.280 I say, three, Jeremiah. 0:58:00.160 --> 0:58:02.480 Pull you up out of every can. 0:58:03.320 --> 0:58:04.800 I'm to pull you up. 0:58:05.440 --> 0:58:09.840 Oudam generation poverty about to pull you up out of 0:58:09.920 --> 0:58:13.240 despair on bree Let's. 0:58:13.080 --> 0:58:15.200 Praise him for the rags. 0:58:15.640 --> 0:58:28.560 What dude, free the rash, for the rags, for the rags. 0:58:32.840 --> 0:58:34.880 The rag is not the rope. The rag is what 0:58:35.040 --> 0:58:39.480 gets you ready for it. And I feel God getting 0:58:39.640 --> 0:58:45.439 somebody ready for your next season, your next assignment, your 0:58:45.560 --> 0:58:54.480 next endeavor, your next moment, your next move. That's the 0:58:54.600 --> 0:59:02.080 message of the Gospel, not rags to rich, but rags 0:59:03.400 --> 0:59:04.120 to righteous. 0:59:06.680 --> 0:59:15.280 Because he became sin who knew no sin Romans five 0:59:15.440 --> 0:59:16.040 twenty one. 0:59:16.160 --> 0:59:20.520 I hear you calling me, he became sin who knew 0:59:20.560 --> 0:59:21.040 no sin. 0:59:22.360 --> 0:59:27.240 He dropped his rags that I might become righteous. 0:59:29.760 --> 0:59:34.640 And I speak today by the spirit of God that 0:59:34.720 --> 0:59:39.760 the thing you've been overlooking. That's your rag, the thing 0:59:39.800 --> 0:59:42.840 that you've been waiting for it to be over. That's 0:59:42.880 --> 0:59:46.640 your preparation, the thing that you've been praying God to 0:59:46.680 --> 0:59:51.600 take away. That's how he's getting you ready. And when 0:59:51.640 --> 0:59:58.240 you're ready, here, calm the ropes here, Calm the ropes here, 0:59:58.760 --> 1:00:00.320 calm the Roman. 1:00:01.640 --> 1:00:08.360 Touch. Three people say, here come the ropes and the 1:00:08.480 --> 1:00:14.320 rose wrapped in. And you say, but, Beessor Stephen, I 1:00:14.400 --> 1:00:15.560 have no e bed Melick. 1:00:17.040 --> 1:00:22.320 Oh, you haven't met him yet. Be means servant, Melick 1:00:22.400 --> 1:00:25.760 means king. Have you not met the servant king? 1:00:29.120 --> 1:00:31.520 Have you not met our Emanuel? 1:00:33.360 --> 1:00:36.920 Have you not met the one who laid aside his 1:00:37.120 --> 1:00:41.680 crown is king and wrapped himself in the rags of 1:00:41.840 --> 1:00:43.560 flesh to. 1:00:43.640 --> 1:00:49.040 Make you righteous? You haven't e beed Melick. His name 1:00:49.120 --> 1:00:49.720 is Jesus. 1:00:51.320 --> 1:00:55.440 For every pit you've ever been in, Jesus was my 1:00:55.600 --> 1:00:56.400 ebed Melick. 1:00:57.000 --> 1:01:02.360 Jesus was my fourth man. Jesus as my rescuer. Jesus 1:01:02.520 --> 1:01:03.400 dropped these. 1:01:03.280 --> 1:01:13.840 Rags and washed my feet and made me righteous. 1:01:15.360 --> 1:01:19.760 I'm speaking to everybody today who's in a pit, and 1:01:19.800 --> 1:01:21.000 I want you to watch. 1:01:22.240 --> 1:01:23.440 For the rags. 1:01:24.640 --> 1:01:28.720 To the rescue it's going to be the rags. Do 1:01:28.920 --> 1:01:32.480 you understand what I'm saying to you. It's gonna be that. 1:01:32.600 --> 1:01:34.320 You're like, but I don't want that. I want to 1:01:34.400 --> 1:01:38.800 rope and God's like, this will get you ready for that. 1:01:40.040 --> 1:01:44.120 And if it's not that, it's this. So take this sin. 1:01:44.800 --> 1:01:48.960 Get ready because the ropes are coming. The ropes are coming. 1:01:49.520 --> 1:01:51.320 The ropes are coming. The ropes are coming. 1:01:51.680 --> 1:01:54.360 The ropes are coming. The ropes are coming. The ropes 1:01:54.400 --> 1:01:54.880 are coming. 1:01:55.640 --> 1:02:02.640 He has the power to pull me out. What you're 1:02:02.720 --> 1:02:06.560 gonna do with these rags? I know what I'm gonna do. 1:02:07.760 --> 1:02:12.040 I learned it from Proverbs twenty four to sixteen. The 1:02:12.080 --> 1:02:21.160 Bible says that the righteous may fall seven times. I 1:02:21.240 --> 1:02:27.840 might be in the mud seven times, but they rise again, 1:02:29.040 --> 1:02:34.160 they rise again, they rise again. 1:02:35.400 --> 1:02:36.640 So chid to God. 1:02:37.840 --> 1:02:43.080 I just wanted to encourage your heart that God is. 1:02:42.920 --> 1:02:45.720 Not against you. He's in it with you. 1:02:46.800 --> 1:02:51.840 He's working through you, He's fighting for you. Somebody shout, 1:02:51.960 --> 1:02:55.760 God is not against me. God is not against me. 1:02:56.840 --> 1:02:57.520 Now high five. 1:02:57.560 --> 1:03:02.960 Everybody you can reach us, say help us on the way. 1:03:03.520 --> 1:03:07.040 He'll got the rocks, He'll. 1:03:06.840 --> 1:03:07.560 Come the eyes. 1:03:07.680 --> 1:03:12.480 So the cat he's sitting with. 1:03:12.680 --> 1:03:18.000 Me working through working threw me, fight and fall hay, call. 1:03:17.960 --> 1:03:23.080 Me God, it's not a catte. He's hitting with me. 1:03:24.520 --> 1:03:26.439 He's working, droning aroundy. 1:03:26.160 --> 1:03:30.720 Baddy, you already for me. He's got that's all get 1:03:30.840 --> 1:03:32.720 ready already he's. 1:03:32.520 --> 1:03:37.040 Hitting with me. Tell my working through you already there 1:03:37.600 --> 1:03:38.680 fdny fock. 1:03:38.560 --> 1:03:42.560 We got all this out cast me. He'll pull you out. 1:03:42.640 --> 1:03:43.720 He's hitting it with me. 1:03:44.400 --> 1:03:45.120 Don't want the help. 1:03:45.360 --> 1:03:46.280 Work and threw me. 1:03:46.440 --> 1:03:48.400 I'm gonna try not for. 1:03:49.880 --> 1:03:54.840 You're body cat he com he's sitting with me. I'm 1:03:54.960 --> 1:03:59.680 so holdly work you threw me and come, series of men. 1:04:00.240 --> 1:04:05.240 He's not a Cassie. Lift alof you with me, Lift 1:04:05.280 --> 1:04:05.760 about my. 1:04:07.640 --> 1:04:07.920 Left. 1:04:07.960 --> 1:04:11.040 That the day love me guy, he's not the. 1:04:11.160 --> 1:04:12.240 Day offhe. 1:04:13.400 --> 1:04:14.560 He's doing with me. 1:04:16.040 --> 1:04:19.840 You're working roomy. He's fighting for me. 1:04:20.120 --> 1:04:26.920 God, he's not Cassy. He's in it with me. Ready 1:04:27.120 --> 1:04:33.280 for me, God, I gusty. 1:04:34.920 --> 1:04:39.640 Bow your head, close your eyes, say thank you Jesus. 1:04:40.800 --> 1:04:47.400 For being in this pit with me. Oh, your presence 1:04:47.520 --> 1:04:48.600 is wonderful. 1:04:48.120 --> 1:04:52.120 Lord, even more intensified when we don't feel it. 1:04:52.920 --> 1:04:59.959 You are the God of rags to righteousness. 1:05:01.320 --> 1:05:04.240 Thank you for what you've done in our lives. Thank 1:05:04.280 --> 1:05:07.640 you for cleansing us. Now I want to pray for 1:05:07.720 --> 1:05:10.320 somebody who needs to receive. 1:05:09.960 --> 1:05:11.200 The gift of. 1:05:11.240 --> 1:05:13.040 Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation. 1:05:13.400 --> 1:05:15.840 It is a gift you can't earn it. 1:05:16.960 --> 1:05:19.360 In fact, the Bible says that our own righteousness is 1:05:19.440 --> 1:05:21.080 like filthy rags. 1:05:22.320 --> 1:05:23.520 So that means you don't sit. 1:05:23.400 --> 1:05:25.400 Here and say, Okay, God, I'm gonna get my life together. 1:05:25.440 --> 1:05:27.280 I'm gonna be better. I'm gonna stop cussing, I'm gonna 1:05:27.280 --> 1:05:29.360 stop drinking, I'm gonna stop doing all the bad stuff. 1:05:29.360 --> 1:05:32.560 No stop, you're just gonna sink deeper thinking that way. 1:05:33.160 --> 1:05:36.840 You need an ey beed Melick to rescue you. You 1:05:36.920 --> 1:05:40.040 need a strong arm, you need a God. You need 1:05:40.040 --> 1:05:43.160 a savior. Right now, in this moment, the savior of 1:05:43.200 --> 1:05:46.200 the world is in this place, wherever you are. 1:05:46.280 --> 1:05:48.720 I'm not saying just this room. I'm saying wherever you are. 1:05:49.560 --> 1:05:51.360 God knows how to go into the rag room of 1:05:51.400 --> 1:05:55.160 your life and turn it into something wonderful. Right now, 1:05:55.200 --> 1:05:56.720 I want to pray for those who need to give 1:05:56.760 --> 1:05:59.280 your life to Jesus for the first time, or you 1:05:59.320 --> 1:06:01.880 need to recommit your life to trusting in His grace, 1:06:02.360 --> 1:06:04.240 repent of your sin, turn. 1:06:04.080 --> 1:06:07.840 To Him and live and live. I'm going to lead 1:06:07.840 --> 1:06:08.960 you in a prayer right now. 1:06:09.400 --> 1:06:11.320 We're going to pray it out loud for the benefit 1:06:11.360 --> 1:06:13.480 of all those who are coming to God for the 1:06:13.520 --> 1:06:16.880 first time, are coming back to him. You pray this prayer, 1:06:16.960 --> 1:06:19.400 and God will lift you from the pit. You pray 1:06:19.440 --> 1:06:22.400 this prayer. God will hear from heaven. He will turn 1:06:22.440 --> 1:06:25.200 you around. This is your moment, and you know it. 1:06:25.240 --> 1:06:30.560 Repeat after me, Church, family, Heavenly Father. Today is my day. 1:06:31.080 --> 1:06:34.440 I humble myself that you may lift me up. 1:06:35.640 --> 1:06:39.960 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God 1:06:40.800 --> 1:06:44.800 and the Savior of the world. And today I make 1:06:44.920 --> 1:06:47.960 Jesus the lord of my life. 1:06:48.200 --> 1:06:49.360 I repent of my sin. 1:06:50.760 --> 1:06:56.120 I believe Jesus died that I would be forgiven and 1:06:56.280 --> 1:07:02.720 rose again to give me life. Receive this new life. 1:07:03.360 --> 1:07:07.120 This is my new beginning. On the count of three, 1:07:07.160 --> 1:07:09.919 shoot your hand up. If you prayed that one, two, three, 1:07:09.960 --> 1:07:12.640 shoot him up all over the room, shoot him up. 1:07:13.680 --> 1:07:20.800 God, bless it, God, bless it. Beautiful, a beautiful thing online. 1:07:21.320 --> 1:07:24.000 Just say in the chat I received Jesus, I received. 1:07:23.920 --> 1:07:26.920 From un Let's clap our hands all over the room. 1:07:27.000 --> 1:07:30.080 Let's retoic us all over the room, gloy. 1:07:29.920 --> 1:07:33.120 To God, hallelujah. 1:07:33.840 --> 1:07:41.080 But wow, say it. He's in it with me, working 1:07:41.160 --> 1:07:45.800 through me, fighting for me. Hug. Somebody say, God is 1:07:45.840 --> 1:07:46.440 not against you. 1:07:48.760 --> 1:07:50.960 Let's clap our hands and thank God for his presence 1:07:50.960 --> 1:07:53.200 today Campus fastors. 1:07:53.240 --> 1:07:56.360 Do what you need to do. I'm closing at Valentine's. 1:07:56.400 --> 1:07:59.720 Stay right where you are. Did you receive a word from. 1:07:59.560 --> 1:07:59.920 The Lord to. 1:08:03.000 --> 1:08:06.400 Rags to righteous? 1:08:07.400 --> 1:08:09.720 Keep this purple thing and remember what I told you today. 1:08:10.360 --> 1:08:12.919 When the devil tells you you're not the righteousness of God, 1:08:13.280 --> 1:08:15.800 wave it in his face and say, I know, but 1:08:15.920 --> 1:08:17.560 I have any bed melic. 1:08:17.520 --> 1:08:20.880 I have a savior, I have a redeemer. Just wave it. 1:08:20.960 --> 1:08:23.800 Every time you want to go back to the old way, 1:08:24.040 --> 1:08:27.720 just wave that thing. No, I've gone from rags to righteous. 1:08:27.920 --> 1:08:30.760 If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation, the 1:08:30.880 --> 1:08:35.960 oldest gone, the newest calm. And look, I hope they 1:08:36.080 --> 1:08:40.679 keep this online because I think this is good. Brag 1:08:40.760 --> 1:08:46.040 about your rags, not about your sin. Brag about what 1:08:46.200 --> 1:08:50.639 God did for you that seems like nothing, not your sin. 1:08:51.560 --> 1:08:53.919 Brag about what He did to pull you out. 1:08:53.800 --> 1:08:58.080 Of your sin. Tell the story and tell your testimony 1:08:58.840 --> 1:09:03.840 that God has the power to pull you out. Thank 1:09:03.880 --> 1:09:04.479 you Jesus. 1:09:05.800 --> 1:09:09.840 It's painful sometimes just because he has the power doesn't 1:09:09.840 --> 1:09:10.719 mean there won't be pain. 1:09:11.520 --> 1:09:13.200 But God is pulling you. You can feel it. 1:09:13.600 --> 1:09:16.160 You can feel him bringing you higher, you can feel 1:09:16.240 --> 1:09:17.240 him bringing you aboveet. 1:09:17.479 --> 1:09:18.360 You can feel it. 1:09:19.439 --> 1:09:21.320 And I'm gonna seal it right now with the prayer, 1:09:21.680 --> 1:09:23.840 join hands one more time. If you hadn't caught something 1:09:23.840 --> 1:09:26.040 from them already, you're not going to. But this won't 1:09:26.120 --> 1:09:26.839 make any difference. 1:09:26.880 --> 1:09:32.200 Now. God is not against me. I want you singing that. 1:09:33.160 --> 1:09:35.320 I want you singing that when it feels like the 1:09:35.320 --> 1:09:37.240 wind is against you. No, no, no, you worship and 1:09:37.280 --> 1:09:41.720 you say God is not a Oh, I'm gonna make 1:09:41.760 --> 1:09:42.559 a choir today. 1:09:43.200 --> 1:09:44.600 I'm gonna make a choir. You want to be in 1:09:44.600 --> 1:09:44.960 the choir. 1:09:46.560 --> 1:09:50.320 Come out next Sunday. We're gonna record some new songs. Sunday, 1:09:50.360 --> 1:09:53.240 March seventeenth, we're gonna be here. That's next Sunday, Chris, 1:09:53.920 --> 1:09:57.000 we're gonna be singing new songs. We're not gonna be 1:09:57.040 --> 1:09:59.840 singing this one that night. We're gonna sing it tomorrow. God, 1:10:00.000 --> 1:10:03.240 God is not Yeah, I'm gonna see. 1:10:03.040 --> 1:10:06.240 Which section believes it the most? Before we close, this 1:10:06.400 --> 1:10:07.000 is your chance. 1:10:07.040 --> 1:10:15.680 Ready three of ten, welcome back to you. 1:10:16.439 --> 1:10:24.080 Said I'm gonna check y'all out. Yeah they did it. 1:10:25.280 --> 1:10:28.040 Watch them in the middle. You won't believe how good 1:10:28.040 --> 1:10:36.479 this sounds. It sounds like professionals against God, not. 1:10:38.120 --> 1:10:43.639 God. Yeah, God, it is not a gas me God, 1:10:43.880 --> 1:10:45.080 it is not a good. 1:10:48.360 --> 1:10:49.000 God. 1:10:49.040 --> 1:10:53.400 It's not a me. I'm gonna join the prise team now. 1:10:53.400 --> 1:10:56.680 And to him who is able to pull you up, 1:10:57.640 --> 1:11:01.439 who is able to do in that than you ask for? 1:11:01.560 --> 1:11:05.240 Imager to a he big lie. 1:11:04.800 --> 1:11:08.040 Through Christ Jesus head the churns. 1:11:08.479 --> 1:11:13.120 Now at whatever somebody's said, come inside. 1:11:12.680 --> 1:11:20.519 Against Thank you for joining us. 1:11:20.800 --> 1:11:23.280 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:11:23.320 --> 1:11:26.840 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:11:27.280 --> 1:11:29.479 You can click the link in the description to give 1:11:29.560 --> 1:11:33.479 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 1:11:33.560 --> 1:11:36.640 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast. 1:11:36.439 --> 1:11:39.120 You can subscribe. You can share it with your friends. 1:11:39.439 --> 1:11:41.720 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:11:41.760 --> 1:11:43.880 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:11:43.880 --> 1:11:44.760 Elevation Church. 1:11:44.800 --> 1:11:46.439 Thanks again for listening. God bless you