Remember Lot's Wife (Christine Caine)

0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:04.200 Today one of God's choicest vessels is here with us. 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.440 Christine Kine is about to preach the word if we 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:10.520 keep bringing in Chris Caine to fill the pulpit. When 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.280 I'm gone, y'all are gonna send me out on tour 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.480 three sixty five, because really this is one of the 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.680 most anointed preachers that God raised up, I would say, 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.880 in the last decade. And of course those of you 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.560 who have been around here a long time, you know 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.480 that she founded A twenty one, an anti human trafficking 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.720 organization not just limited to that work, but most known 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.680 for that work. We've been partners with Chris and her husband, 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.600 Nick and A twenty one for years and years and years, 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.920 and today, actually Chris and Nick I didn't tell you 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.680 this yet, but on behalf of the generous people of 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.080 Elevation Church, as we get ready for our year end 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.640 giving season that we're coming up on soon, we want 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.280 to give A twenty one a gift of one hundred 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.320 thousand dollars to stand with you for the amazing things 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.240 you're doing in the world. That's because of these amazing people, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.640 that's because of your church. So thank you, thank you 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.000 for all you do. Thank you, Chris for all you do. 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.399 Thank you for being here today. Get on your feet. 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.360 I think you're on your feet right now, but you know, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:14.480 jump up even higher, stand on your tiptoes and help me. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.959 Welcome Christine Kane as she brings the word. We love you, Chris. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:24.640 Let's go. What an honor to be here. Thank you, 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.480 Pas to Stephen and Holly and all of our etham 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:30.679 on behalf of Nick and I because I do have 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.680 the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh right here 0:01:33.680 --> 0:01:36.039 at the front row and the whole crew. We've got 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.720 our eight twenty one Charlotte team here. We want to 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.399 thank your church for your generosity and partnership in the gospel. 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.000 You know the money you have been partnering with us 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.480 almost from the outset, and such a key partner. Pass 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:54.360 to Stephen and Holly and the whole church. So generous. 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.360 And I want you to know that during this season 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.680 we have seen an unbelievable amount of rescues and convictions 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.200 of traffickers. And just in the last couple of weeks, 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.360 an entire container load of people were rescued in Cambodia, 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:13.440 an entire container load. Wrap your head around that. So 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.200 I want you to know that your giving is going 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.960 to good soil and we so appreciate it. People are 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.240 being reached, people are being rescued, people are being restored, 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.440 Traffickers are going to jail. I want to say thank 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:30.560 you Elevation, thank you to our EPAM. And I am 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:36.880 so that new song, y'all. I'm about to do laps 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:40.360 around this building. I go like, if you've got a 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:43.240 pulse that would raise the dead? That song, that's all 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.120 I'm saying. I cannot wait for that too. Chandler, I 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.960 don't know where you are and the team probably behind 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.160 me somewhere, but it was it is just like unbelievable. 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.600 We need to get that out in the atmosphere. I 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.400 want to thank you, Nick, and I so love your passes. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.400 I am part of e fam. It's nice to be 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:04.040 on this side because I am literally on the other 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:05.799 side every week. Because the good thing is I live 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.200 on the West Coast, so pasta Stephens preaching at nine 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.200 thirty and it's only six thirty am, and I'm not 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.160 in a pulpit till ten am, so I've got enough 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.440 time to get a sermon down and then preach it. 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.280 So it's fantastic to do that, but I do. Actually 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.600 every single week, I feel like I'm I'm part of 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.079 our e fam. I'm your Craig cray Ossy aunt. How 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.840 many know you need a cray cray Ossy? Aren't everyone 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:31.720 needs one? And so and Pastor Holly. I mean, I'm 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.960 texting her. I've just done like fourteen countries in the 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.600 last fifteen or sixteen weeks. I think we've just done 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:39.960 a lap of the globe and I'm texting her from 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:41.520 every place, going give me a book. You know, your 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.800 pastor she's an obsessive reader, like next level reader and so, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.080 but I give her a run for her money because 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:49.960 I read faster than her. So you can all tell 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.640 her that. And so she recommends all the best books 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:53.760 in the world to be So, I just want you 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.800 to know that we really are family. I believe I've 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.400 got a word from the lawd today. How many are 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.360 ready to hear God's work? I am you can be seated. 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.000 Thank you to the worship team for taking us into 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.800 the presence of God. I have missed you all, and 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:11.760 I have missed you. I can't even explain how much 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.040 I feel so home away from home here we're going 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.799 to go to Luke chapter seventeen, to the Gospel of Luke. 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.040 I've been so excited to be with you all, I 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.039 almost can't contain myself. Luke seventeen, verse twenty. Scripture says, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.680 being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.440 would come, he answered them, the Kingdom of God is 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.239 not coming with something observable. No one will say see 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.799 here or there, For you see, the Kingdom of God 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.800 is in your midst. Then he told the disciples, the 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.120 days are coming when you will long to see one 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:48.640 of the days of the Sun of Man. But you 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.840 won't see it. They will say to you, see there 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.760 or see here. Don't follow or run after them as 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:58.200 the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.600 the sky. So the Son of Man will be in 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:05.200 his day. But first, everyone say but first. I love 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.640 that just sounds so American. But first, first, for our Epham, 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.760 I want you to say first, mate, First, everyone say first, 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:16.280 nay in learning how to speak like a NAUSI it's fantastic. 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.559 But first, it is necessary that he suffered many things 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.479 and be rejected by this generation, just as it was 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.760 in the days of Noah. So it will be. In 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:28.000 the days of the Son of Man, people went on eating, drinking, marrying, 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.359 and giving in marriage until the day Noah borded the 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.359 ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. It 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:34.960 will be the same as it was in the days 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.880 of Lots. People went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.520 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:45.520 rained from heaven and destroyed them all. I bet you 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:47.680 are so glad you came to church today. I bet 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.400 everyone's like that, Where are we going? We have got Noah, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.200 We've got a flood. We're now into Sodom and Gomorah. 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.440 Where is she going? On this Sunday? It will be 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.160 like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.000 On that day, a man on the housetop whose belongings 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:05.719 are in the house must not come down and get them. Likewise, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:08.479 the man who is in the field must not turn back. 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.200 Remember Lot's wife, whoever tries to make his life secure 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.280 will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.120 I tell you, on that night, two will be in 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.280 one bed. One will be taken, the other will be 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.280 left and I tell Nick often, I am not going 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:24.800 to be the one that's going to be left behind. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.080 Just putting it out there, just putting it out there. 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.560 Two women will be grinding, grained together. One will be 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.120 taken and the other left. Where Lord, they asked him, 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.720 He said to them where the corpse is? They're also 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.919 the vultures will be gathered. This is the word of 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.480 the Lord. And I bet you are so pumped up. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.960 You're like Chris, we haven't seen you for a little while. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:50.440 What do they put in the water over there in 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.080 the California. I am so fired up. I'm going to 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.320 be in San Diego with elevation nights on Wednesday night. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.839 I mean, you are just packing stadiums and arenas around 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.039 the country, putting praise and worship into the atmosphere. Stop 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.520 getting me sidetracked. But I cannot wait, That's all I'm saying. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.760 And so I hope anyone that's on the West coast 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:10.680 is going to join us this week. It's going to 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:13.120 be powerful. We're going to be San Diego and La. 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.040 But anyway, I'm getting back to the text right now. 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:21.760 So Hugh Jesus, he's having a discussion about the end 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.480 times I mean, this is this is a big word 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.200 eschatological discourse. I had to practice that, say that three 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:27.960 times you'll be speaking in tongues even if you're a 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.960 cessationist right there, and so he is having a time 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.520 a discussion about the end times, and I mean it's 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:38.880 pretty intense. He's talking about the Kingdom of God being 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.160 realized in the fact that Jesus is here. Jesus came, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:48.160 the Kingdom of God came, but it's not fully realized yet, 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:52.240 which of course we're aware of. There's war and there's famine, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.680 and there's crime, and there's violence, and there's pain and 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:56.720 there's loss, and there's death, and there's grief and there's 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.400 suffering and there's heartache, and there is so much going on. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.120 So we know that the kingdom is not fully realized. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.640 It will be one day when that sky splits and 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.680 Jesus comes back. And this text is reminding us that 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.720 when that sky splits and Jesus return, nobody is going 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.520 to be sitting around wondering going, oh did he come. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:17.720 Here's what people are going to go. Are we gonna know? 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.360 I'm like, sweete, you'll know. And so it's the sky 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.280 is gonna light up. It's all going to happen. And 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:28.080 I mean he's talking about the already and not yet, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.720 that's what it would be called they already the kingdom's 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:35.040 realized in Christ, but not yet fully until it comes 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.000 to gain. And I mean it gets intense. He's talking 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.000 and he about Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah and the 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.440 end times. And here I'm just going to give you 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:49.640 a disclaimer upfront. I basically don't overclue what he's talking about. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.480 And anybody that will tell you that they do is lying. 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:57.640 Some of you are freaking out because I'm about to 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.400 save you a lot of hours down rabbit trails on Facebook. 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:02.760 I'm about to set you free right now, because right 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.200 now one would be thinking, is this text written for today? 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:07.760 We've had a since I've seen you last, a few 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.680 things have happened on the earth. There has been quite 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.720 a few things that have gone on. We've gone through 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:16.360 a global pandemic together except for you're in Florida or Dallas, 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.080 but all the rest of the e fam around the world, 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.679 the rest of us actually we've had a global pandemic, 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.480 and we've had so much pain and political instability and 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.600 social instability and moral instability in the whole world. Have 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.480 you noticed has lost its mind? It's gone, Craig grab 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.679 a lot's happened since I was here last, And you 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.280 could think, wow, Christine's now turned up if she could 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:41.400 to pull out like some charts. Like you know, when 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:43.640 I got saved in the late eighties, it was all 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.640 about we had charts and we you know, were talking 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:48.800 about the end times and it seemed like it was 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:51.120 the end. And it's kind of like, but listen, this 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.480 is what Jesus says. This is exactly what he says 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:57.560 about it all. Ultimately, he says, nobody knows the day 0:09:57.640 --> 0:09:59.640 or the hour. I just got you back four hours 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:04.160 in your day of rabbit traus, because everyone's trying to 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.559 predict everything. And Jesus said, look, peace out, it's all right. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.040 Nobody knows. Live like it's gonna happen tomorrow, and live 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:14.880 and prepare like it's not gonna happen for generations. And 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.959 you can do both things simultaneously. It's not that hard. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.400 But you would think, do you remember, like during during 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:23.640 the pandemic life, there was that season that was like 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.760 natural disasters, and then there was locusts and then I'm like, 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:28.600 are we in the ten Plagues of Egypt? Like, what 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.120 is going on? So it would be easy, but I'm 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.640 not here to talk about that. What I'm here to 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.120 talk about is in the midst of this discourse about 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.600 the end times, in the midst of talking about Sodom 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:46.160 and Gomorrah and Noah and all the end and Jesus returning, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.520 and it sounds so much like twenty twenty two, You're like, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.640 what is going on? Everything's going great? Great Jesus drops 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:59.120 three random, apparently random words in the middle of this discourse. 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.320 I mean, it's just right there he looks seventeen thirty two. 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.880 As Jesus is talking about all of this great end 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.400 time stuff, he just drops in like remember Lot's Wife. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:14.840 I'm like, okay, okay, remember Lots The second shortest verse 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.760 in the entire scripture. Do you know what the shortest 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:21.120 verse is? You are such a well taught church and 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.719 you Pastor Stephen takes you deep into the Hebrew and 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:29.760 the Greek and the Arabaic. The second shortest verse in 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.200 the scripture. You're gonna get that on Bible trivia now, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:38.360 is remember Lot's Wife? What a random thing to throw 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.920 in the midst of a discourse about the end times 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.040 to throw in the midst of a discourse about the 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.800 already but not yet nature of the Kingdom of God, 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:51.000 which most of us have awakened to at a whole 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:55.400 new level over the last three or four years, he says, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:12:01.840 remember Lot's wife. And I'm like, okay, I've been doing 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.520 chicks ministry for like one hundred I've been doing chicks 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.760 ministry for you know, thirty years. I've had a lot 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.439 of men, but sermons on chicks. I don't remember ever 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.480 hearing one about Lot's wife. I mean, there's one hundred 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:19.440 and seventy women mentioned in some way in scripture, one 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.960 hundred and seventy, and yet there is only one woman 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.880 in the Gospels that Jesus Christ ever tells us to remember. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:31.360 Only one. There's not a lot of real estate in 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.800 the red letters of Jesus. So three words that he 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.120 gives over to that remember Lot's wife in the midst 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.120 of an eschatological discourse, in the midst of talking about 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.120 the already but not yet nature of the Kingdom of God, 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.800 he drops in three words, remember Lot's wife. I would 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.200 wonder whether in twenty twenty two it would be a 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.320 good time to remember the one woman that Jesus told 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.240 us to remember. Out of one hundred and seventy women, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.360 remember Lot's wife. If I was one of the other 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.680 one hundred and seventy cheeks, I'd be a little bit annoyed. 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:08.360 I mean literally, if I was like Eve, I'd be going, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.360 what do you mean? Remember that's wife? I was first 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.880 I came out of a rib, and I've been blamed 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:21.320 for all of humanity's problems ever since. I mean, if 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.760 I was imagine, if I was Sarah, I'd be like 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.360 I popped out a kid at ninety without an epy jewel. 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.600 What do you mean? Remember Lot's wife? If I was 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.480 like Miriam, I'd be like the first chick worship leader ever. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.360 She comes out of Egypt, I mean, out of slavery, 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.200 out of bondage, the Red Sea parts. She's like, hang 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.400 on a minute, hold the Red Sea. I gotta grab 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.719 a tambourine. Who grabs a tambourine when you're coming out 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:51.679 of slavery knowing you're gonna have a dance party on 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.360 the other side of the Red Sea. But Miriam be like, 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.360 what do you mean? If I was Deborah be like, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:02.440 what do you mean Lot's wife? Hi, Deborah ruse I 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:06.760 was the first female judge in all of Israel. Of 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.240 course we know it's because no man stood to the 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.559 I won't go there, but anyway, so we know Deborah 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.360 Rose or Mary Mary be like I popped you out 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:25.040 in a manger. I mean, he didn't even say to 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.280 remember his mother. A lot of people would be very 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:34.080 annoyed with it. He said, remember Lot's wife. So of 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.760 course that then sent me on a little a little 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.760 exposition on Okay, what is it that we know about 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.400 this woman that appears on the pages of scripture just 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.640 quick enough to disappear a woman that we don't even 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.480 know her name? I mean Lot's wife. How politically incorrect 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.440 in twenty twenty two, like you are going to get 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:56.360 up very Lot's wife. So we know in Genesis thirteen, 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.680 you remember when Abraham and Lots separated because they just 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.160 had you know, there was too many animals and the 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.000 herds were too big. So in the midst of all that, 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:09.000 we know in Genesis thirteen that they separated. In Genesis 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.800 thirteen twelve to thirteen, Abram settled in the land of Canaan, 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.320 while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:17.920 moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now, the men 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:24.280 of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. So 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:28.240 we know that Abram and Lot separated. Lot set up 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.880 camp right on the edge there in Sodom. And then 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:37.640 because of the iniquity, the Lord decides by chapter Genesis 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.880 eighteen that you know what he's going to deal with it. 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:42.880 He's done with Sodom and Gomora. Now, a lot of us, 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.000 especially in the if you've been around the church world, 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:47.640 and then even if you've been just out in the world, 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.640 you kind of go Sodom and Gomorrah, and instantly you 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.080 start thinking, Man, the sexually moral sins, that's why God, 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.320 you know, destroyed it all. And of course the sexually 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.120 moral sin that you think is the worst is the 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.120 one that you're not committing. But anyway, for everybody else, 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.240 we just choose the one that we're doing is okay 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:11.240 with God, but for everybody else's one, and so we 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.120 get so caught up in that. But that is true. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.640 And also there is an aspect of the sin of 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.200 Sodom that most of us in the church have forgotten, 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.160 but is very important to God. And you'll see in 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.280 right there in Genesis chapter Sorry, I'm gonna go to 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.440 ezek you're sixteen forty nine to fifty. I want you 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.960 to see this now. This was the iniquity of your 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.720 sister Sodom. This is from the scripture. She and her 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:45.800 daughters had pride, plenty of food, comfortable security, but didn't 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.840 support the poor and the needy. In the next verse, 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:51.760 we'll get to the immorality, but I do want you 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.320 to see what the scripture says. In the prophet Ezekie 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.040 says this was the sin. I wonder with the reckoning 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.720 that's been happening over the last couple of years, and 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:04.640 we've seen God clean inside the house and outside the house, 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:09.480 there's a reckoning happening. Whether in some places the church 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.640 just got a little bit too prideful, a little bit 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.080 too comfortable, a little bit too plenty. This is why 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:21.000 I love this house. I mean, your pastors barely introduced 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:24.560 me and said, before Christine even comes, we're giving to 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:26.879 the work of the poor and the needy, and the marginalized, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.440 and those that are enslaved and those that are dispossessed. 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:31.240 And you do this in love week, and you do 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.080 that with your end of you giving every single time, 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.840 because it matters to God. It matters to God. Do 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:41.880 you wonder, if we don't wonder too long, why there's 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.720 such the blessing of God on this house. Why the 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.399 Lord's taking you around the world and you're worship to 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.399 a whole other level. And of course your pastor is 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:56.359 preaching probably in the world while people listen to him, 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:01.320 because you have a holistic faith that honors Jesus, honors 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.760 the word, reaches the world, cares about the poor and 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.040 the need. He doesn't just get so comfortable. Understands we 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.760 are blessed to be a blessing, understands that we are 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.359 called to be soul and light in the midst of 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.240 a broken world. But the sin of Sodom was that 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.080 they had forgotten that. And then of course it goes 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:24.200 on and says they were haughty and did detestable acts 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:27.520 before me, and so I removed them when I saw this. 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:32.320 So then in Genesis nineteen, the Lord sends the Angel 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.880 of the Lord to come and rescue Lot and his 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:39.000 wife and their two daughters. And so literally an angel 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:40.960 comes and takes them by the hand, you know the story. 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.000 I mean, they were literally touched by an angel. And 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.040 so the angel comes and takes them by the hand 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.679 and leads them out. And this is the only instruction 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.000 that the Lord gives in verse seventeen. And as they 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.119 brought them out, escape for your life. One said, escape 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:59.320 for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.439 in the valley. Escaped to the hills, lest you be 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:06.280 slept swept away. And this is the only thing we 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.480 see specifically about Lot's wife in scripture. Remember in the 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:13.240 New Testament, Jesus said, one woman out of one hundred 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.200 and seventy, there's only one. I want you to remember 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.720 when the world is burning, when everything seems to be 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.639 going cret Cray aka twenty twenty two, when it all 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.040 seems like everything is crazy, I need you to remember 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.159 Lot's wife. So we go, Jesus, What is it about 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.640 Lot's wife the way to remember? So we go then, 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.400 And the only thing we see in scripture in Genesis 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.960 nineteen about Lot's wife, it says in verse twenty six, 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:43.359 but Lot's wife behind him looked back and became a 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:48.359 pillar of salt. That's all we know. Lot's wife looked 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.760 back and became a pillar of salt. She became a 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.480 pillar of salt because she was torn between where God 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.879 was taking her and what she was leaving. She was 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.560 prioritizing her past over her future. She had lost sight 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.200 of the fact that the promise of God, the provision 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.520 of God, the purpose of God was ahead, and so 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.240 she got stuck in a place she was only meant 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:20.560 to be passing through. She was being pulled back by 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.080 what she was leaving more than she was pressing on 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:29.840 to where God was taking her. And she got stuck, calcified, 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:35.080 turned into a pillar of salt. And you and I 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:36.920 called to be the salt of the earth. And right 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.639 now on the earth, the Church of Jesus Christ, in 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:44.800 many places is stuck, stuck, and the purpose of God 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.880 is ahead, the provision of God is ahead, the promise 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.879 of God is ahead, but we are stuck looking back 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.320 instead of fixing our eyes on Jesus ahead, to move 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:01.639 into the promise and the purpose and the provision of God. 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:07.119 It's time for us to remember us wife, and to 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:12.919 stop looking back. Because for many people, our attachment to 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:17.440 the past outweighs our commitment to the future. And a 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:22.440 generation is at stake. And it is amazing as I 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:26.440 travel and I've just done fourteen nations, and I hear 0:21:26.680 --> 0:21:30.639 so many people talking about Christine. You know, if we 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.879 could just go back, if we could just go back, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.199 I could talk to pastors and leaders and individuals and 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.439 businesses and people in relationships, and many things could just 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:41.840 go back to normal. If we could just go back 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:45.520 to pre pandemic. I'm like, why are we talking about 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:50.320 twenty nineteen. Why are you giving me numbers from twenty nineteen. 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:53.640 This is not twenty nineteen. This is twenty twenty two. 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.919 And Jesus is in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.280 three and twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five. At 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.040 twenty twenty six, the purpose of God is ahead of us. 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.000 All the promises of God are in Christ. Jesus, Yes 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:11.359 and amen, his promise is still ahead. And the same 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:17.120 Jesus that brought us here is the same Jesus that's 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:19.639 going to take us there. But we've got to stop 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.080 looking back. There are people in this room, there's a 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:30.520 family online, and we're stuck, absolutely stuck going. Man, I 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:33.359 just just want things to go back to normal. Listen, 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.640 I am not denying, I am not dismissing. I am 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:43.639 in no way minimizing the pain, the trauma, the loss, 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.280 the grief, or the suffering over the last few years 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:56.880 in every realm personally, economically, relationally, politically, environmentally, sociologically, morally, 0:22:56.880 --> 0:23:00.960 there is not one sector of society spiritually that has 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:05.640 not been impacted. But if you and I are going 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:07.320 to do what God has put us on this earth 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.080 to do, then we've got to stop looking back and 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.840 we've got to start looking forward and start pressing into 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:17.240 the purpose and the promise of God. You know, people 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:24.520 are stuck. People are stuck in disappointment, stuck in discouragement, 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:32.200 stuck in a fence, stuck in bitterness, stuck in unforgiveness, 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:39.760 stuck in disillusionment, stuck fixated on what went wrong on 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:45.320 the past, fixated on what we lost in the past, 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:50.320 fixated on who betrayed us, who disappointed us, who hurt us, 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:56.399 what didn't happen, Fixated on something we're supposed to face 0:23:57.359 --> 0:24:02.159 and move on from. And you fixate instead of face, 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:07.920 you get stuck. And so many of us in this hour, 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:10.480 the herd of the Lord would be you need to 0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:15.960 start remembering Lot's wife because she got stuck. And it's 0:24:16.119 --> 0:24:19.879 little wonder. I mean, her life was back there, she 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:22.440 had other family back there, she had her friends back there. 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:25.720 I mean who, I don't know. Did she just renovate 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:30.119 her kitchen? I don't know, so would there? I mean, 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:32.240 imagine just one day, an Angel of the Lord comes 0:24:32.240 --> 0:24:35.760 and out we go. And that's literally what happened to 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:42.320 most of us. Overnight. Overnight things shut down, Overnight things changed, Overnight, 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.719 things blew up, and the Angel of the Lord, the 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:48.600 presence of God, Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:53.159 forsake you. His presence was with us. And the issue 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:54.920 is did we let go of the hand of Jesus 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.919 so that we could keep facing back and fixate on 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:01.760 what was back there? And we're in twenty twenty two, 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:05.840 but everything about us is still back, and we are 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:09.200 stuck in a place that we were only supposed to 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:13.520 be moving through because God's presence is still with us. 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:17.680 I sometimes wonder how Jesus feels during all of this, 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:21.159 because he's like, I didn't go anywhere. You know what 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:23.520 I've become during this is this last two or three years, 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:27.480 I've become like what I call a Hallmark pinterest Christian. See. 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:29.879 I used to like roll my eyes at those plithy 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:32.720 little statements, you know, with nice little flowers and colors. 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:34.679 And I used to kind of want something deep in 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:37.280 the Hebrew and something deep in the you know. Nowadays 0:25:37.320 --> 0:25:39.320 I'm like, when I just see, you know, Jesus is 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:41.600 the same yesterday, today, forever, I'm like, thank you God, 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:44.320 because nothing else is the same. I'm so glad Jesus 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:46.280 is the same. Or yeah, I will never leave you 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:48.560 nor forsake. I'm like, thank you God, because everybody else 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:55.240 is bailed. And those little plithy statements suddenly become life 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:58.360 and suddenly go, that's the stuff that actually really matters, 0:25:59.000 --> 0:26:02.040 that's the stuff that sustains you. That that's the stuff 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:05.840 that keeps you going. And I wonder so many people, Chris, 0:26:05.840 --> 0:26:07.720 you know, I just I didn't sign up for this. 0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:12.159 I'm like, what did you sign up for? Last night 0:26:12.320 --> 0:26:16.000 checked Jesus died for me. I didn't die for him. 0:26:16.680 --> 0:26:19.280 Last I checked that I was supposed to deny myself, 0:26:19.320 --> 0:26:21.760 take up my crust, and follow him. I decided that 0:26:21.880 --> 0:26:25.200 I will follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back, 0:26:25.280 --> 0:26:28.880 the crust before me, the well behind me, no turning back. 0:26:29.119 --> 0:26:34.760 I have decided to follow Jesus. You see, I'm old school, 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:39.399 because I'm so old that when I got saved, I 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:43.600 was mentored and schooled by Christian martyrs and missionaries, not celebrities. 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:48.920 So when I gave my life to Jesus, I thought 0:26:48.960 --> 0:26:53.600 I was laying down my life. So just the last 0:26:53.680 --> 0:26:55.679 few years has caused us to waiver. I don't know 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:57.680 where we've been, because yes, we've had a bit of 0:26:57.720 --> 0:26:59.679 a tribulation, but it's not the great tribulation. What are 0:26:59.680 --> 0:27:01.640 we going to do when the great tribulation comes? If 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:06.199 that's all it took for us to lose hope, so 0:27:06.280 --> 0:27:09.280 many of us are like you know in Luke chapter 0:27:09.640 --> 0:27:11.919 twenty four, where the two disciples are going back to 0:27:12.119 --> 0:27:16.679 Emmaus back because Jesus. They saw him crucified and buried, 0:27:16.680 --> 0:27:19.240 but they didn't know that he rose again, and they 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:21.639 thought that he was the Messiah, and they were so disappointed. 0:27:21.640 --> 0:27:24.840 They were so discouraged. They were so disillusioned. And then 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:28.199 Jesus came and was physically walking with them, God incarnate 0:27:28.240 --> 0:27:32.680 walking with them. But they were so obsessed, and they 0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:36.000 were so downcast and so overwhelmed by their disappointment, and 0:27:36.040 --> 0:27:39.520 the disillusionment that the God of the universe was walking 0:27:39.600 --> 0:27:43.720 with them and they didn't even recognize him, and they said, 0:27:43.760 --> 0:27:48.600 we had hoped he was the one, and so many 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:51.439 of us we had hoped that business was going to succeed. Man. 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:53.399 We had hoped that person wasn't going to die. We 0:27:53.440 --> 0:27:55.639 had hoped that marriage was going to make it. We 0:27:55.640 --> 0:27:58.800 had hoped that kid was going to start following the Lord. 0:27:59.000 --> 0:28:01.000 We had hoped that that promotion was going to come. 0:28:01.040 --> 0:28:06.600 We'd hope that that opportunity, And because our hopes didn't 0:28:06.640 --> 0:28:09.320 come to pass, we're sitting here in twenty twenty two going, 0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:13.040 I'm just so disappointed, I'm just so offended. Now we 0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:15.320 won't add the last bit, but if we were honest 0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:18.280 and not fake Christians, we'd say disappointed with God that 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:23.040 he didn't do what I wanted, Disappointed and offended with 0:28:23.119 --> 0:28:27.359 God because he didn't come through, and Jesus is standing 0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:30.960 right with us, going I'm right here we had hoped. 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:34.600 I wonder if the last couple of years has actually 0:28:34.680 --> 0:28:38.280 served to make us, because it hasn't shocked God, God's God. 0:28:39.240 --> 0:28:43.120 I wonder if it has helped us to realize where 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:49.120 perhaps we had some misplaced hopes in our life. I 0:28:49.160 --> 0:28:53.360 wonder whether if we're stuck in disappointment and stuck in unforgiveness, 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:56.880 and stuck in offense, and stuck in disillusionment, and stuck 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:00.880 in discouragement, and stuck in comfort, and stuck in apathy 0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:05.479 and stuck in indifference, and stuck in this place, is 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:09.280 it because we have a misplaced hope? Because hebrew Sick 0:29:09.360 --> 0:29:12.560 says that Jesus is this hope we have as an 0:29:12.600 --> 0:29:17.080 anchor for our soul, both firm and secure. Yes. Are 0:29:17.080 --> 0:29:20.120 we living in a world with war and with trauma, 0:29:20.280 --> 0:29:25.040 and with pandemics, and with pain and political instability and suffering. Yes, 0:29:25.320 --> 0:29:27.360 but my hope was never meant to be in that 0:29:27.600 --> 0:29:30.960 Jesus is this hope we have as an anchor for 0:29:31.080 --> 0:29:35.040 our soul, both firm and secure. And then the writer 0:29:35.200 --> 0:29:41.720 to the Hebrews says, do not throw away your confidence 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.120 in this hope, for it has great rewards. Let us 0:29:46.240 --> 0:29:50.840 not lose the confession of our hope. Let us hold 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:53.920 on to it in fact without wavering. I wonder how 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:56.040 much wavering there's been over the last couple of years, 0:29:58.600 --> 0:30:00.760 Because the minute we lost the thing that we thought 0:30:00.800 --> 0:30:08.200 we needed, we just tapped out. It's just too hard. 0:30:09.800 --> 0:30:15.280 We had hoped, man, we had hoped and got stuck. 0:30:16.400 --> 0:30:19.400 You know, if Jesus is this anchor and all that 0:30:19.440 --> 0:30:22.000 we've seen in this season, is Jesus truly the anchor 0:30:22.360 --> 0:30:26.560 of your life, because then your hope doesn't waver, even 0:30:26.600 --> 0:30:28.600 when everything in the world wavers and everything in the 0:30:28.640 --> 0:30:32.760 world is wavering, everything in the world is wavering. But 0:30:32.800 --> 0:30:36.600 if you're anchored, you know. I remember my husband loves boating, 0:30:36.600 --> 0:30:40.040 and one of the first times we went out. You know, 0:30:40.040 --> 0:30:42.040 I believe the purpose of boats is for sun baking. 0:30:42.120 --> 0:30:44.440 It's the will of God in Christ Jesus for us 0:30:44.440 --> 0:30:47.760 to sun bake. And so I was out there and 0:30:48.040 --> 0:30:50.040 Nick was disturbing my sun baking because he parked the 0:30:50.080 --> 0:30:51.560 boat in the anchorage and he's like, Chris, can you 0:30:51.600 --> 0:30:54.800 throw the anchor out? And I'm like, how just this 0:30:54.840 --> 0:30:58.680 is bugging me? Okay? And so I go down, yes, yes, yes, honey, 0:30:58.880 --> 0:31:01.640 And so I I threw the anchor out and then 0:31:01.680 --> 0:31:04.080 I went back to sun baking. And then about thirty 0:31:04.080 --> 0:31:07.120 minutes later, we kind of hit this other boat in 0:31:07.160 --> 0:31:09.640 the anchorage and Nick's like freaking out. Christine. Christine, I 0:31:09.680 --> 0:31:11.320 told you to throw the anchor out. I go, I did, 0:31:11.920 --> 0:31:13.920 He says, yes, But did you make sure we were anchored? 0:31:15.560 --> 0:31:18.440 Are we? You didn't tell me that, he said, throw 0:31:18.480 --> 0:31:22.680 it out? And I think what some of us have 0:31:22.720 --> 0:31:27.160 realized over these last couple of years is that our anchor, 0:31:28.360 --> 0:31:31.240 because our anchor isn't going to fail, our anchor doesn't 0:31:31.240 --> 0:31:33.200 actually go down to the seabit. Our anchor goes into 0:31:33.240 --> 0:31:36.400 the other side of eternity and is secure up there 0:31:36.400 --> 0:31:42.719 in eternity. But some of us have wavered and started 0:31:42.800 --> 0:31:49.040 drifting and gotten stuck. And you know, an anchor, when 0:31:49.080 --> 0:31:51.400 it's attached to a boat, it's got little links in 0:31:51.400 --> 0:31:54.479 a chain. Some of us have discovered that maybe some 0:31:54.520 --> 0:31:57.880 of those links are a bit rusty, or maybe we've 0:31:57.880 --> 0:32:01.360 been disconnected. Because the anchor will, But are we holding 0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:05.240 the anchor? And if you and I are going to 0:32:05.280 --> 0:32:08.840 go forward and not turn into a pillar of salt 0:32:09.760 --> 0:32:11.880 and be the salt and light on the earth that 0:32:11.920 --> 0:32:14.120 we have been called to live because God chooses in 0:32:14.120 --> 0:32:16.080 the Book of Acts, says the times and the seasons 0:32:16.080 --> 0:32:18.480 and the places that he puts us in. So he 0:32:18.560 --> 0:32:20.840 knew exactly what would be happening in the world in 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:23.280 twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. And you know what, 0:32:23.440 --> 0:32:25.400 You and I are not his Plan B, where his 0:32:25.520 --> 0:32:28.080 Plan A. We are a product of eternity, not a 0:32:28.080 --> 0:32:30.720 product of time. God has plucked us out of eternity. 0:32:30.720 --> 0:32:33.160 He has positioned us in time. He's given us gifts 0:32:33.200 --> 0:32:36.480 and talents for the purpose of serving our generation. This 0:32:36.520 --> 0:32:38.880 is not a time for the church to get stuck. 0:32:39.080 --> 0:32:41.480 This is a time to remember Lot's wife and to 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:44.080 move on and to press on into the purpose and 0:32:44.080 --> 0:32:46.800 the promise and the provision of God in the future. 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:51.800 But you've got to stay connected to the anchor that 0:32:51.880 --> 0:32:56.479 will keep us stabilized in a very unstable world. Jesus 0:32:56.600 --> 0:32:59.680 is this hope we have. So how do you know? 0:32:59.720 --> 0:33:03.280 You know, in the Writer to the Hebrews, he wrote 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:09.440 this to the Jewish Christians, that we're facing such persecution, 0:33:09.920 --> 0:33:12.920 like real persecution, not like the kind of persecution we think, 0:33:12.960 --> 0:33:16.560 you know, we call here in the Western inconvenience of persecution. 0:33:16.640 --> 0:33:19.080 But that's another sermon. And so they were like really 0:33:19.160 --> 0:33:23.880 losing their lives and losing their jobs and their families 0:33:24.120 --> 0:33:27.040 and their assets everything for being Jesus followers. So they 0:33:27.040 --> 0:33:29.400 were like, you know what, it would just be easier 0:33:29.440 --> 0:33:34.320 to go back to Judaism, be much easier because we'll 0:33:34.360 --> 0:33:38.640 be accepted by culture, we'll have opportunities again. It would 0:33:38.720 --> 0:33:41.560 just be a lot easier because it's just really, really hard. 0:33:42.040 --> 0:33:45.680 So the Writer to the Hebrews is writing to Jewish 0:33:45.760 --> 0:33:49.760 Christians that are just drifting, that are wavering, that are 0:33:49.800 --> 0:33:53.320 just going back, like the two disciples on the road 0:33:53.360 --> 0:33:55.560 to Emmaeus. They were going back because you know what, 0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:58.760 when you start wavering, when you get stuck, when you 0:33:58.840 --> 0:34:01.320 lose sight of your hope, you'll go back to the 0:34:01.320 --> 0:34:03.120 thing that you came from. And you're wondering why so 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:06.440 many people are going back to Amaus, Because if you're 0:34:06.480 --> 0:34:10.080 not moving forward with Jesus, you will go back to 0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:11.960 what you came from. You just go back. It's just 0:34:12.000 --> 0:34:14.040 the way that it is. So the Writer to the 0:34:14.080 --> 0:34:17.799 Hebrews is writing to the Jewish Christians in Hebrews chapter two, 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:19.879 and he says, for this reason, he's just talked about 0:34:19.880 --> 0:34:22.600 the supremacy of Christ. He's just talked about the sufficiency 0:34:22.640 --> 0:34:24.879 of Christ. He's reminding them Jesus is better than the law. 0:34:25.080 --> 0:34:28.000 Jesus is better than the prophets. Jesus is better than Moses. 0:34:28.200 --> 0:34:30.600 Jesus is better than the angels. He's reminding them of 0:34:30.680 --> 0:34:32.960 the greatness of Jesus. And I've come to elevation to 0:34:33.000 --> 0:34:35.600 remind you of the greatness of you, because he is 0:34:35.800 --> 0:34:38.800 better than anything that you left. Because he is better 0:34:39.080 --> 0:34:41.560 than anything else there you can see, touch, tastes, smell, 0:34:41.640 --> 0:34:44.680 or feel on this earth, because he is supreme over 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:47.680 the angels, over the Law, over the Prophets, over Moses. 0:34:47.800 --> 0:34:51.920 He is supreme and says, therefore, we must pay attention 0:34:52.840 --> 0:34:54.799 all the more to what we have heard, so we 0:34:54.880 --> 0:35:02.279 will not drift away. We must pay extra attention. In 0:35:02.320 --> 0:35:05.680 the Greek that phrases betty sought at us proso hiin. 0:35:06.480 --> 0:35:08.520 And why do I know, because I know a little Greek. 0:35:08.520 --> 0:35:11.640 I'm little and Greek, and so it says. But my 0:35:11.719 --> 0:35:13.440 mother used to say that to me when we came 0:35:13.520 --> 0:35:17.000 to a big freeway that was busy, hustinner. Betty's sought 0:35:17.040 --> 0:35:20.759 in us proso kiin, be extra careful, And I would say, 0:35:20.760 --> 0:35:23.279 the Holy Spirit is saying to his church right now, Hey, 0:35:23.440 --> 0:35:28.120 Betty's sought a us proso kiin extra careful, be careful 0:35:28.200 --> 0:35:33.839 lest we also drift. My dad would take us to 0:35:33.880 --> 0:35:36.799 this beach that had this big undertow in Australia, and 0:35:36.840 --> 0:35:38.960 he'd always put a big beach umbrella on one side 0:35:39.000 --> 0:35:41.239 and towels on the other side of the sand. And 0:35:41.280 --> 0:35:43.279 he'd say, kids, when you go out there swimming, I 0:35:43.320 --> 0:35:45.920 need you to check those markers really often, because you're 0:35:45.920 --> 0:35:48.120 going to be having so much fun out there and 0:35:48.200 --> 0:35:50.279 you're not going to realize the undertoe is going to 0:35:50.360 --> 0:35:54.160 take you out, So regularly check your markers. And he 0:35:54.160 --> 0:35:57.640 would always say, because kids, never forget, the only thing 0:35:57.680 --> 0:36:03.960 you have to do to drift is nothing. And while 0:36:04.200 --> 0:36:09.520 many of us right now have got so many misplaced types, 0:36:09.560 --> 0:36:12.719 we're just like doing nothing. It's too much hard work 0:36:12.719 --> 0:36:15.520 to pray, too much hard work to read my Bible, 0:36:16.280 --> 0:36:20.000 too much hard work to come to church. It's very 0:36:20.080 --> 0:36:22.960 quiet in this Presbyterian church right now, you're you're all 0:36:23.000 --> 0:36:30.040 in the room. It's too much hard work. But I'm 0:36:30.040 --> 0:36:31.279 here to remind you all you have to do to 0:36:31.320 --> 0:36:33.440 drift is not commit some great sin. Just do nothing. 0:36:34.640 --> 0:36:37.840 Just do nothing. And all of a sudden you go, 0:36:37.920 --> 0:36:40.640 why am I stuck? Why is it twenty twenty two 0:36:40.680 --> 0:36:42.840 and I don't feel anything fresh in my relationship? With Jesus. 0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:45.520 Why am I stuck? And I don't feel like I've 0:36:45.560 --> 0:36:47.960 gone anywhere and I'm just on a treadmill? Why am 0:36:48.000 --> 0:36:53.000 I stuck? Because inadvertently you're drifting because you're doing nothing. 0:36:54.000 --> 0:36:56.600 And we got good at doing nothing, didn't we. I mean, 0:36:56.680 --> 0:36:59.040 it's hard work putting on hard pants. Nowadays we just 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:03.480 like our sweats. Twenty twenty changed our fashion for life. 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:07.280 It's like, oh, who wants to get up and do something? 0:37:07.800 --> 0:37:09.759 What do you mean? Do something for the Lord? What 0:37:09.800 --> 0:37:11.799 do you mean fulfill the mission of God? What do 0:37:11.840 --> 0:37:15.279 you mean? Move forward? And we're stuck. We're stuck spiritually, 0:37:15.880 --> 0:37:21.520 we're stuck emotionally, were stuck physically, was stuck relationally because 0:37:21.680 --> 0:37:24.120 we do not How do you know, well, what might 0:37:24.160 --> 0:37:27.280 be some signs in this day that you might be drifting? 0:37:27.320 --> 0:37:28.759 I don't know. You go like, how do I know 0:37:28.800 --> 0:37:30.839 if I'm stuck, if I'm drifting, if I've lost sight 0:37:30.880 --> 0:37:33.840 of my hope Jesus? Well, well, maybe he's just a 0:37:33.840 --> 0:37:36.120 few things. Pretend we're connected to an anchor and we're 0:37:36.440 --> 0:37:38.759 checking the links in the chain. Maybe you know that 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:41.680 you're drifting if a blue check mark matters more to 0:37:41.719 --> 0:37:46.000 you than a heart checker. Oh, it's so we're obsessed. Man, 0:37:46.280 --> 0:37:48.440 If I could just be verified by man, it doesn't 0:37:48.480 --> 0:37:53.640 matter that God validated me two thousand years ago at Calvary. Oh, oh, 0:37:53.680 --> 0:37:57.719 if I'm just verified. If it's more important for you 0:37:57.760 --> 0:38:01.120 to be known than to make Jesus known, if it's 0:38:01.120 --> 0:38:03.800 more important for you to have likes than to become 0:38:03.920 --> 0:38:07.040 like Jesus, if you care more about how many are 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:09.319 following you than how many are not following Jesus. Just 0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:13.480 maybe you've drifted, just maybe and lost our source of 0:38:13.840 --> 0:38:18.560 hope when my will becomes more important than God's will, 0:38:20.080 --> 0:38:22.840 when I just am so encouraged in the whole world's 0:38:22.880 --> 0:38:25.800 like you, you wonder why we're stuck. We're stuck because 0:38:25.840 --> 0:38:28.719 we're seeking our own will, because we just and then 0:38:29.440 --> 0:38:31.640 we just have all of these misplaced hopes because we 0:38:31.680 --> 0:38:33.279 think God, you didn't come through for me. And He's like, 0:38:33.280 --> 0:38:35.560 I never really promised you that I said. All the 0:38:35.560 --> 0:38:38.160 promises of God are in Christ, Jesus, Yes, and in 0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:41.520 Christ Jesus amen. Not all of everything that you want, 0:38:41.600 --> 0:38:44.560 not your selfish ambition, But the promises of God are 0:38:44.600 --> 0:38:49.400 in Christ. Jesus, Yes, and in Christ Jesus. Amen. In 0:38:49.480 --> 0:38:52.600 Look twenty two, remember Jesus when he was in G seventy. 0:38:53.440 --> 0:38:57.520 Even God himself had a moment where he said, I 0:38:57.520 --> 0:39:01.239 don't want to do this, but nevertheless, is there any 0:39:01.239 --> 0:39:03.359 other way? Would you take this cup from me? When 0:39:03.400 --> 0:39:07.640 was the last time that you thought, Oh, everything in 0:39:07.680 --> 0:39:09.719 me wants to jump into bed with that person that's 0:39:09.760 --> 0:39:15.279 not my spouse. But nevertheless, everything in me wants to 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:21.600 watch that. But nevertheless, and then we wonder why we're stuck. 0:39:23.680 --> 0:39:27.920 It's so amazing to me where we've lost sight of 0:39:27.960 --> 0:39:31.600 our source of hope. It was never in other things, 0:39:31.640 --> 0:39:34.560 It was always in Jesus, and he hasn't gone anywhere. 0:39:34.760 --> 0:39:36.960 I know we've had a pandemic, but Jesus is still here. 0:39:37.080 --> 0:39:40.160 I know we've had political instability, but Jesus is still here. 0:39:40.320 --> 0:39:43.080 I know we've got inflation, but Jesus is still on 0:39:43.120 --> 0:39:45.799 the throne. God is still on the throne. All the 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:49.280 promises of God are in Christ. Jesus. Yes, and amen, 0:39:51.440 --> 0:39:53.920 Maybe you've drifted when you know you care a whole 0:39:53.960 --> 0:39:56.040 lot more about everyone else's business than you do about 0:39:56.040 --> 0:39:59.200 the father's business. We've got a whole industry on that 0:39:59.239 --> 0:40:03.920 we're wondering why people are stuck because everyone knows everything 0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:09.000 about everyone else's business and has an opinion about it. 0:40:09.000 --> 0:40:12.080 It is amazing. Did you remember that in Luke where 0:40:12.280 --> 0:40:15.360 Mary lost God for a few days? Do you remember 0:40:15.360 --> 0:40:17.680 that when Jesus was a boy and she lost him 0:40:17.719 --> 0:40:21.239 for three days? For every mother on Ephan watching this, 0:40:21.440 --> 0:40:24.040 every mother in the room, that just sets us all free, 0:40:24.040 --> 0:40:26.840 because we've all forgotten our kid sometime at school, in 0:40:26.880 --> 0:40:31.640 the supermarket somewhere. But Mary lost God for three days. 0:40:31.760 --> 0:40:37.560 I mean, that's awesome. And then when she comes to 0:40:37.600 --> 0:40:39.440 the temple and finds him. Now, I tell my kids 0:40:39.640 --> 0:40:42.200 never do what Jesus did in this instance. You're to 0:40:42.239 --> 0:40:44.279 follow Jesus in every way, but not this, because he 0:40:44.320 --> 0:40:47.759 says to it, woman, I'm like, do not try this 0:40:47.840 --> 0:40:52.360 at home? He says, why were you looking for me? 0:40:52.400 --> 0:40:56.200 Did you not know? I must be about the father's business. Oh, 0:40:56.280 --> 0:40:59.800 we are so distracted and stuck in everybody else's business, 0:41:00.040 --> 0:41:02.680 forgotten to be about the Father's business on this earth 0:41:02.880 --> 0:41:05.719 and to do what God has called us to do. 0:41:05.760 --> 0:41:08.759 You know, maybe you've stuck and drifting when you talk 0:41:08.840 --> 0:41:11.080 about it to everyone else more than you pray about 0:41:11.080 --> 0:41:13.760 it to God, when you post more than you pray, 0:41:14.600 --> 0:41:18.520 your source of hope is no longer Jesus, because man, 0:41:18.560 --> 0:41:23.160 I just hope someone hears my something. And I am 0:41:23.200 --> 0:41:25.279 trying to get from people what I can only get 0:41:25.280 --> 0:41:30.360 from God. And I wonder why I'm stuck. So I 0:41:30.400 --> 0:41:32.960 could go on and on, but we're stuck in so 0:41:33.040 --> 0:41:36.120 many different ways. We're stuck in our attitudes. We're stuck 0:41:36.160 --> 0:41:38.680 in where we're looking for affirmation, where we're looking for significance, 0:41:38.680 --> 0:41:41.600 where we're looking for security, where we're looking for this 0:41:41.719 --> 0:41:44.919 sense of value, where we're looking for this self actualization. 0:41:44.960 --> 0:41:47.080 I mean, they're going to build some dig up a 0:41:47.120 --> 0:41:49.440 time capsule sometime in the future and go what was 0:41:49.480 --> 0:41:52.239 the most common phrase in twenty twenty two, And it'll 0:41:52.239 --> 0:41:57.279 have this thing like you do you boo, And they're 0:41:57.280 --> 0:41:59.680 going to need the interpretation of tongues. And then they're 0:41:59.719 --> 0:42:02.719 going to need to go no, don't do you boo. 0:42:02.920 --> 0:42:04.520 I feel like running around going no, no, no, no no, 0:42:04.840 --> 0:42:07.840 don't do you boo? Do Jesus boo. It doesn't go well. 0:42:07.960 --> 0:42:10.560 Do you remember in the Book of Judges, when everyone 0:42:10.640 --> 0:42:13.760 did what was right in their own eyes? It never 0:42:14.120 --> 0:42:25.120 goes well. We get stuck. Stuck, remember us, wife, stuck 0:42:25.200 --> 0:42:30.520 because we lose sight of our source of hope. He 0:42:30.600 --> 0:42:32.440 hasn't gone anywhere. So what do we need to do 0:42:32.480 --> 0:42:36.400 as we move forward? Church? Because see, you have to 0:42:37.400 --> 0:42:39.520 know your source of hope if you and I are 0:42:39.520 --> 0:42:42.319 going to keep moving forward and fulfill the will and 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:45.799 the purpose of God. We were not finished elevation Church. 0:42:45.840 --> 0:42:48.399 Our greatest days are ahead of us and not behind us. 0:42:48.560 --> 0:42:50.839 There are more people to reach. There are more people 0:42:50.880 --> 0:42:53.280 to be saved, more people to be delivered, more people 0:42:53.320 --> 0:42:55.880 to be healed, More marriage is to be restored, more 0:42:55.920 --> 0:43:00.680 have seen relationships to be reconciled. We cannot stop, we 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:03.960 cannot look back. We've got to press on and lay 0:43:03.960 --> 0:43:06.000 a hold of all of that for which Christ Jesus 0:43:06.040 --> 0:43:09.440 has laid a hold of us. But that is entirely 0:43:10.719 --> 0:43:14.760 cultural in this moment, because everyone wants you to stay 0:43:14.800 --> 0:43:19.600 stuck in your offense, stuck in bitterness, stuck in unforgiveness. 0:43:20.480 --> 0:43:22.720 And what's at stake is a generation in the future, 0:43:22.760 --> 0:43:27.440 That's what's at stake. Stay stuck in your mistakes and 0:43:27.520 --> 0:43:29.480 stuck in your figures. As if you can't move on 0:43:29.560 --> 0:43:33.759 and into the promises of God. The whole narrative of 0:43:33.800 --> 0:43:38.600 this generation is to stay stuck, and yet everything about 0:43:38.600 --> 0:43:41.279 the Kingdom is moving forward towards God's grand tell us, 0:43:43.600 --> 0:43:45.640 so we can't get stuck. Jesus is in the middle 0:43:45.680 --> 0:43:48.759 when the world is burning down and the bank can 0:43:48.840 --> 0:43:53.040 come up. While the world's burning, Jesus is like, could 0:43:53.040 --> 0:43:57.880 you remember Lot's wife? Don't look back, don't even look 0:43:57.920 --> 0:43:59.880 back at your great success days. We glance back at 0:43:59.920 --> 0:44:03.000 the God for them. By some of you were still 0:44:03.000 --> 0:44:07.719 talking about your trophy from high school football. That was 0:44:07.760 --> 0:44:13.440 forty years ago, and you've been stuck ever since. We 0:44:13.480 --> 0:44:15.839 don't want to become that as a church. We don't 0:44:15.840 --> 0:44:18.680 want to be talking about what God did, what we 0:44:18.840 --> 0:44:20.560 used to, seeing what we're used to. No, no no, no, no, 0:44:20.640 --> 0:44:23.919 have greatest days right hand. We can't look back. We've 0:44:23.960 --> 0:44:28.000 got to press on. We've got to move forward. And 0:44:28.040 --> 0:44:29.960 the only way we're going to do that going into 0:44:29.960 --> 0:44:34.360 this season is that you and I, as followers of 0:44:34.440 --> 0:44:38.080 Jesus Christ, all our epham around the world, we've got 0:44:38.080 --> 0:44:39.920 to remember what our source of hope is so that 0:44:40.000 --> 0:44:43.799 when trials come, because they will, Jesus said, when trials 0:44:43.840 --> 0:44:48.440 do come, you will have in this world trials. Peter says, 0:44:49.239 --> 0:44:51.440 do not be surprised by the Fiery Travel Trial. I 0:44:51.440 --> 0:44:53.800 feel like, to all half the Christians, why were you surprised? 0:44:54.400 --> 0:44:58.360 Don't you read the Bible? Obviously not. I think James 0:44:58.440 --> 0:45:00.680 was considered it pure joy. I'm like, consider a joy. 0:45:00.680 --> 0:45:05.200 But anyway, that's whatever is that we have to know 0:45:05.239 --> 0:45:07.480 where our source of hope is because that hope is 0:45:07.520 --> 0:45:10.960 limitless in a world that is hopeless, in a world 0:45:11.000 --> 0:45:13.160 that is gripped with fear, in a world that is 0:45:13.200 --> 0:45:18.200 gripped with animosity, with divisiveness, with chaos. We Christians have 0:45:18.280 --> 0:45:21.560 to have this sense of hope. But it only comes 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:23.640 in christ That's what we've learned. It's not going to 0:45:23.719 --> 0:45:29.160 come in money, position, title, accolades. No, no, no, we've 0:45:29.200 --> 0:45:32.480 seen all of that the last few years. Full anywhere 0:45:32.480 --> 0:45:34.560 we had misplaced hope. Jesus is like, how about a 0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:38.120 hope realignment? Because I'm about the only one that you 0:45:38.120 --> 0:45:42.920 could be sure of. And so the very first staff 0:45:42.960 --> 0:45:46.680 meeting we had on Zoom. So we're in March twenty 0:45:46.719 --> 0:45:50.120 twenty three and twenty twenty. I'm already prophetically into next year, 0:45:50.200 --> 0:45:53.680 and so we're in March twenty twenty and no one knew. 0:45:53.719 --> 0:45:57.680 It was like week one of the pandemic, so nobody knew. 0:45:58.200 --> 0:46:00.560 So we would meet like everybody else. We've got at 0:46:00.600 --> 0:46:03.759 a twenty one nineteen offices in fifteen countries, so we 0:46:03.800 --> 0:46:06.600 had everyone on zoom. And for the last two years, 0:46:06.640 --> 0:46:09.000 I've been calling it the upper Zoom Room, and so 0:46:09.080 --> 0:46:14.440 we've been meeting in the upper Zoom Room, and all 0:46:14.520 --> 0:46:18.480 of us were on lockdown. I live in California, so again, 0:46:18.600 --> 0:46:21.520 unless you were in you know, Texas or Florida, the 0:46:21.560 --> 0:46:24.520 rest of all of our country offices were on lockdown. 0:46:25.840 --> 0:46:28.400 And so I said to them, we're prisoners of sorts 0:46:28.480 --> 0:46:33.080 right now. But we can't we can't change that. We 0:46:33.120 --> 0:46:35.640 can't change that. We're all prisoners. We're all on lockdown 0:46:35.640 --> 0:46:38.880 around the world. I said, But although we can't choose 0:46:38.880 --> 0:46:40.960 the fact of whether we're prisoners or not, we can 0:46:41.120 --> 0:46:43.400 choose the kind of prisoners that we're going to be. 0:46:44.239 --> 0:46:47.840 And in Zachariah chapter nine, verse twelve, the prophet says, 0:46:47.880 --> 0:46:52.080 return to a stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Today I 0:46:52.160 --> 0:46:54.640 have declared that I will restore to you double And 0:46:55.760 --> 0:46:58.040 what happened was the children of Israel were in bondage, 0:46:58.120 --> 0:47:01.080 and they were in captivity in Babylon for seventy years. 0:47:01.200 --> 0:47:05.000 And they came back and they thought Jerusalem and the Temple, 0:47:05.040 --> 0:47:06.920 they were coming back, Man, things are going to be 0:47:06.960 --> 0:47:11.719 back to normal. Except it wasn't. The city was decimated, 0:47:12.680 --> 0:47:18.440 the temple was in ruins, the city walls were in ruins, 0:47:18.480 --> 0:47:22.239 and they were surrounded by enemies. And the prophet said 0:47:22.280 --> 0:47:25.520 to them, you were once prisoners in Babylon. Now you've 0:47:25.520 --> 0:47:27.839 gone back, and there's a big rebuilding project that has 0:47:27.840 --> 0:47:31.040 to happen in Jerusalem. But you need to become prisoners 0:47:31.120 --> 0:47:34.560 of hope. So he says, return to your stronghold, Jesus, 0:47:34.640 --> 0:47:38.839 you prisoners of hope. And I said, oh, we're making 0:47:38.840 --> 0:47:40.480 a decision in this ministry. We're not going to be 0:47:40.560 --> 0:47:43.799 prisoners of despair, or prisoners of fear, or prisoners of doubt, 0:47:44.120 --> 0:47:47.680 or prisoners of negativity, or prisoners of unbelief. But we 0:47:47.800 --> 0:47:51.080 are going to be prisoners of hope. Why Because Jesus 0:47:51.440 --> 0:47:54.759 is this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, 0:47:54.880 --> 0:47:57.920 both firm and secure. And he hasn't gone anywhere. He 0:47:57.960 --> 0:48:00.880 said he'll never leave us, not for say, he said, 0:48:00.920 --> 0:48:03.439 all of the promises of God are in Him, in 0:48:03.520 --> 0:48:06.680 Christ Jesus, Yes, and I am amen. Yes we've got 0:48:06.680 --> 0:48:09.880 a pandemic, Yes we've got political instability. Yes we've got 0:48:09.920 --> 0:48:14.280 a lot of problems morally and sociologically and environmentally. But Jesus, 0:48:14.760 --> 0:48:18.000 is this hope I have as an anchor for my soul, 0:48:18.320 --> 0:48:21.160 both firm and secure. And then I made them all 0:48:21.719 --> 0:48:23.879 right down, and I said to them, the prophet said, 0:48:23.880 --> 0:48:28.600 and I will restore to you double nay. Listen. During 0:48:28.640 --> 0:48:30.920 a pandemic and during there's a war, we had to 0:48:30.960 --> 0:48:34.520 evacuate our Ukraine office and move them to Warsaw. Of course, 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:36.759 just the women and children. Some of those kids haven't 0:48:36.760 --> 0:48:41.160 seen their dad for a year. They're still over in Kiev. 0:48:41.200 --> 0:48:44.440 And we had to evacuate that office. And in the 0:48:44.440 --> 0:48:47.439 midst of it all we said to them, I said, 0:48:47.440 --> 0:48:49.719 I need you to get a pen and paper. Of course, 0:48:49.760 --> 0:48:51.719 they were millennials, all my staff, so they didn't know 0:48:51.760 --> 0:48:53.880 what that one was. So I had to show them. 0:48:54.080 --> 0:48:55.920 This is a pen and paper, and I said, I 0:48:55.960 --> 0:48:58.440 want you to write on that piece of paper the 0:48:58.480 --> 0:49:00.560 word double. I said, I don't know how this is 0:49:00.560 --> 0:49:02.040 going to happen, I said, but in a sense. I'm 0:49:02.040 --> 0:49:04.960 glad this has happened, because you guys are about to 0:49:05.000 --> 0:49:07.839 realize how much you've been writing in the slipstream of 0:49:07.880 --> 0:49:10.960 mine and Nick's faith. I said, you think, I said, 0:49:10.960 --> 0:49:13.040 You're about to learn that it's not a blue check 0:49:13.080 --> 0:49:15.360 mark or a cute Instagram post with a nice filter 0:49:15.680 --> 0:49:18.280 that's got the anointing on it. See, I said, before 0:49:18.760 --> 0:49:20.880 before there was ever any Internet, or before there was 0:49:20.960 --> 0:49:25.279 ever any you know, social media, or before there was 0:49:25.400 --> 0:49:27.560 any marketing plan, I said, I don't know. I see. 0:49:27.600 --> 0:49:28.960 I know what it is to be marked by God, 0:49:29.000 --> 0:49:30.239 and I know what it's like to go into the 0:49:30.239 --> 0:49:32.480 prayer closet and to lay a hold of God and 0:49:32.520 --> 0:49:35.200 the promises of God and the purposes of God and 0:49:35.239 --> 0:49:37.720 the provision of God. I said. For some of you, 0:49:37.719 --> 0:49:40.239 you think, but you know, marketing does all of this. 0:49:40.320 --> 0:49:43.000 I said, You're about to discover that being marked by 0:49:43.000 --> 0:49:45.560 God is much better than being marketed by man. That 0:49:45.680 --> 0:49:47.480 all the promises are in God. I said, So you're 0:49:47.480 --> 0:49:49.600 going to go into your rooms and you're going to 0:49:49.680 --> 0:49:52.040 learn how to pray, and you're going to learn how 0:49:52.080 --> 0:49:54.080 to see God breakthrough. And I said, and when we 0:49:54.160 --> 0:49:57.520 come out of this lockdown, period. I'm believing God that 0:49:57.640 --> 0:50:00.719 during our lockdown, when it would seem in possible to 0:50:00.800 --> 0:50:03.640 see people, women and children and men rescued, when it 0:50:03.640 --> 0:50:07.480 would seem impossible to see traffic as prosecuted and sentenced 0:50:07.600 --> 0:50:10.200 and in prison, I said, I'm believing God that we're 0:50:10.200 --> 0:50:12.680 going to see double This is in March twenty twenty. 0:50:12.880 --> 0:50:15.160 I said, because the same God's with us now that 0:50:15.280 --> 0:50:17.040 he's with us when we're not in a lockdown. So 0:50:17.080 --> 0:50:20.440 I'm believing for double the rescues. I'm believing for double 0:50:20.480 --> 0:50:23.960 the convictions. I'm believing for double the partners. And as 0:50:24.000 --> 0:50:27.120 I live and breathe by the grace of God, I'm 0:50:27.200 --> 0:50:31.160 here in October twenty twenty two, by the grace of God, 0:50:31.440 --> 0:50:36.200 during some of the most catastrophic unstable times on the planet. 0:50:36.600 --> 0:50:40.400 We have never had more victims rescued in the history 0:50:40.440 --> 0:50:43.680 of A twenty one, never seen more people away or 0:50:44.000 --> 0:50:49.640 reaching more people in the same way that this ministry 0:50:50.400 --> 0:50:55.080 has exploded. You can be seated, and I'm going to 0:50:55.520 --> 0:50:59.719 wrap up because we're prisoners of hope, not because we're 0:50:59.719 --> 0:51:03.680 also but because God's awesome. Because when you know your source, 0:51:03.719 --> 0:51:05.480 and you know what your source of hope is when 0:51:05.480 --> 0:51:08.360 all your circumstances don't align, you don't crumble, and you 0:51:08.400 --> 0:51:12.040 don't drift, because Jesus is this hope we have. So 0:51:12.560 --> 0:51:16.520 let me read this over you. Elevation Philippians three thirteen. 0:51:17.960 --> 0:51:22.640 It's time, elevation, to start forgetting, to start straining, and 0:51:22.680 --> 0:51:26.520 to start pressing. It's time, brothers. I do not consider 0:51:26.600 --> 0:51:28.319 that I have made it my own, but one thing 0:51:28.320 --> 0:51:32.919 I do for rights, forgetting what lies behind and straining 0:51:33.200 --> 0:51:38.000 forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the 0:51:38.040 --> 0:51:43.280 goal for the price of the upward call in Christ Jesus. 0:51:43.600 --> 0:51:45.840 So what we need to do is to be a 0:51:45.960 --> 0:51:48.880 church that says, you know what, I'm not staying stuck. 0:51:49.120 --> 0:51:52.279 Whatever has happened in my life. Yes, I know there 0:51:52.280 --> 0:51:55.200 have been challenges. Yes I know there's been trauma. Yes 0:51:55.280 --> 0:51:58.200 I know there has been bitterness, and there's been unforgiveness. 0:51:58.200 --> 0:52:01.000 And yes I know there's been offenses. I'm being disappointed 0:52:01.120 --> 0:52:04.879 and I've been discouraged, and I've been disillusioned. I understand, 0:52:05.120 --> 0:52:07.880 but it's time that I forget. That doesn't mean that 0:52:07.960 --> 0:52:11.080 I pretend it didn't happen. I'm not diminishing that at all. 0:52:11.440 --> 0:52:14.080 The blood of Jesus doesn't give you amnesia, but it 0:52:14.120 --> 0:52:16.680 does give you a life beyond your past. It gives 0:52:16.719 --> 0:52:18.560 you a life you know, and your history does not 0:52:18.680 --> 0:52:22.040 need to define your destiny. You say, I'm forgetting those 0:52:22.120 --> 0:52:25.040 things don't lie behind both the good and the bad. 0:52:25.239 --> 0:52:28.080 And I'm straining. Oh. I haven't strained for a while 0:52:28.120 --> 0:52:30.400 because I've been needing my cheerios in my fed. But 0:52:30.440 --> 0:52:32.759 I'm gonna start to get a little bit uncomfortable now 0:52:32.920 --> 0:52:35.799 and I'm gonna start to strain. I'm gonna start to 0:52:35.960 --> 0:52:39.280 exert a force, and I'm gonna press We're gonna press 0:52:39.320 --> 0:52:41.520 on to what it is that God has. I'm gonna 0:52:41.600 --> 0:52:47.200 exert a steady force against empathy, against indifference, against comfort, 0:52:47.560 --> 0:52:52.239 against defense or bitterness or disappointment or disillusionment. And I 0:52:52.360 --> 0:52:54.439 determined that I am gonna lay a hold of all 0:52:54.440 --> 0:52:58.000 of that for which Christ Jesus letty a hold of me. 0:52:58.440 --> 0:53:01.319 I might be small, but my Goddess bid I might 0:53:01.360 --> 0:53:04.680 be limited, but my God iss littless. I might be finite, 0:53:04.840 --> 0:53:07.160 but my God he's in for that. And I am 0:53:07.239 --> 0:53:12.640 able to do exceedingly abundantly about and beyond anything that 0:53:12.760 --> 0:53:16.920 we don't ask hypel thing according to that power that 0:53:17.040 --> 0:53:22.720 works in our Elevation Church. Remember Lot's what don't look back, 0:53:23.160 --> 0:53:27.920 press on forward in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you 0:53:28.000 --> 0:53:30.719 enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things I'd love 0:53:30.760 --> 0:53:33.880 for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and 0:53:34.040 --> 0:53:37.160 review this podcast. You can also help us reach others 0:53:37.160 --> 0:53:40.719 by investing today at Elevation Church dot org, slash gift 0:53:41.120 --> 0:53:43.920 and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.