Rescue Your Testimony

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:07.800 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:09.280 Hope this inspires you. 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:11.920 Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.600 to see God has moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:14.880 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.040 We're about to jump into the message, but before we do, 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:22.759 I wanted to let you know that Elevation Nights is 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.200 back September twenty fourth through October third, and if you 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:28.280 live on the West Coast, we might be coming to 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:32.320 a city near you. We're going to be in Seattle, Vancouver, Sacramento, 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.839 La Anaheim, Boise, Salt Lake City, and Denver. It's going 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.640 to be an amazing night with Elevation worship and a 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.080 message from Pastor Stephen. So go to Elevation Nights dot 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.040 com to get your tickets. We cannot wait to see 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.440 you there. Now let's go to the message. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.640 How many came for a word from God today? 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:53.600 God's doctor. 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:56.600 Your main standing. 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:58.840 For one moment, I'm going to be sharing today from 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.319 Romans chapter five, verses one through nine, and then I'm 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.800 going to go to one other scripture as well. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:13.160 Fair warning, I overstudied this week better than the alternative. 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.000 Right, y'all, it was real busy. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:17.720 I'm just gonna see what the Lord says. 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:20.920 I actually am nervous to try to get this all 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.280 out today, but I have you home by Sunday. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:27.640 Night football nervous chuckles. 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:36.680 Romans Chapter five, Verse one, Ready say Ready. Therefore, since 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.760 we have been justified through faith, we have peace with 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.760 God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:48.960 gained access by faith into this grace in which we 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:54.640 now stand, and we boast in the hope of the 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.760 glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:05.600 in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces this perseverance, perseverance, 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:12.160 character and character, hope, and hope does not put us 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:15.800 to shame, because God's love has been poured out into 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.440 our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:19.640 Who has been given to us. 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:25.560 You see, at just the right time, when we were 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.960 still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Tell somebody that's you. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.480 I know you smell good today, but that's you the ungodly. 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.600 I know you brush your teeth today, but that's you 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.960 the ungodly. I know you've got a Christian t shirt 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:45.680 on today. But that's you, the ungodly. And verse seven 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.720 goes very theological. He says, very rarely will anyone die 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.200 for a righteous person, though for a good person someone 0:02:53.320 --> 0:03:00.600 might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:07.080 love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.919 Died for us. 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.240 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:19.119 much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.760 One more scripture from Joshua chapter four, and we're going 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:23.320 to get to work. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:34.960 Joshua chapter four and verse number nine, please, And Joshua 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.400 was set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:43.720 in the place where the feet of the priests bearing 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.120 the ark of the Covenant had stood. And they are 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:52.600 there to this day, and they are there to this day. 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:54.720 And the Lord said that we were on a rescue 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.880 mission today in this service. And so I'm going to 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.560 use as a title what the Lord wants to do today. 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:08.120 God said, we're going to rescue your testimony. Rescue your testimony. 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.320 And you know, I like to give little subtitles, sometimes 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.600 little weird subtitles. The subtitle tell your neighbor, say the 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:21.040 proof is in the puddles. The proof is in the puzzles. 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:27.080 You may be seated. We're on a rescue mission today, 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:30.719 and go ahead and bring out my teaching screen. I 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:34.040 want to break this all the way down from Romans 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.279 chapter five. My favorite word that I read you in 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.800 Romans chapter five was the very first one. And put 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:45.000 it back on the screen again, Romans chapter five, verse one. Therefore, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:46.719 everybody say, therefore. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:48.120 You know. 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:49.760 One of the most beautiful things that. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.400 Holly does for me on a regular basis is to 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.760 help me remember what my true values are when I'm 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.159 in a vulnerable place personally. And she does this in 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.400 the most tactful ways. She says things to me that 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:08.760 sounds so sweet, but beneath that layer of sweetness, she's 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:12.200 actually challenging me, come on, like step it up. And 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.560 she says something the other day which sounds like a 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:21.359 compliment until I put it in context. She said, wow, 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:26.880 you really do think of everything. Sounds nice, right, It 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.159 sounds like she's given me extra credit for being a 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.839 good planner. The context of the statement, she was definitely 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.440 saying it out of kindness, but it wasn't compliment. We're 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.480 talking about going to do something and I have a gift. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:40.960 I don't know if you have this gift too, Just 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:42.960 make some noise if you share the same gift. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.000 I have a gift for. 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:49.400 Hypothetical. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.400 I actually would say I am the high priest of 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:02.799 the hypothetical scenario, you know, plays out in many different ways. 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.760 On this particular day, I was saying, you know, if 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:07.760 we go here to see this person, we were going 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:08.560 to make a trip, and I. 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.560 Said, well, we go, if we go. 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.520 If we go, he. 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.320 Might have to work and I hadn't even checked into 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:18.560 his work schedule yet, and we might we might get 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.560 sick because he was hanging out with this other person 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:22.359 that was sick the other day and I heard they 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.000 might have COVID and I don't even know what that 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.080 is anymore, but I heard that they might have had it. 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.760 And so, but then, what if we're going, and what 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:32.839 if we And she looks at me and goes, wow, 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:40.039 you really do think of everything, And I said, well, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.520 it's just it could be kind of stressful, you know, 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:47.000 And she said yeah, but you can make anything stressful. 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.680 And it didn't offend me at all. I needed to 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:51.080 hear it. 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:55.039 Because she knows that actually what I want to experience 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.800 is on the other side of something that I may 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:58.359 not want to do. 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:00.960 And she knew that if I'm. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:04.320 Always getting hung up on the hypothetical, there's a sense 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.080 in which I would just always stay home. If I 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.880 was just left to my own devices, I would just 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.920 become a complete hermit, and I would be a hermit 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.760 because when I leave the house, this involves other humans 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.440 at this point. And so there was a song by 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:22.280 Paramore a few years ago where she said, this is. 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:23.360 Why I don't leave the house. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.160 And I look at Holly sometimes when we get in traffic, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.240 or when I can't find a bathroom, or you know, 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.240 something kind of crazy is happening, and I go, this 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.320 is why I don't leave the house. And she, on 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:37.840 the other hand, now I'm very hypothetical. I made up 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.280 a word to describe her spiritual gift. Okay, I made 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.080 this word up. You won't find it in the dictionary. 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:48.920 I am hypothetical. Holly is hypothetical. You like that I 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.160 made that up. Let me see if I can write 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:55.840 it on the screen. Hopathetical, everybody say, hypothetical not a 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.320 real word, just a word to use for our purposes 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:00.480 in studying today. 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.720 She is hope othetical. 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:12.560 So while I'm stuck in the hypothetical of you know what, 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:14.679 if my phone dies, it's only seventy two percent. 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:16.240 You never know what kind of situation. 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:17.760 You're going to run into. Give me a charger. 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:20.720 While I'm in this situation, because then it spends out 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:21.880 of control even past that. 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:23.600 Like the phone dies and then we're out in the 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:25.320 middle of nowhere. And since we're out in the middle 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:26.240 of nowhere, one. 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:28.280 Of our kids needs us, and because they couldn't get us, 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.080 it scars them deeply and it traumatizes them, which is 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.360 why they end up on methamphetamines and why we end 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:34.880 up having to go to rehab. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:35.800 To visit them. 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:40.559 Hypothetical Holly is hopathetical, and she's teaching me the art 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.080 of hopathetical living, and so she tends to go more 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.680 like this, where I'm focused on everything that we have 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.440 to go through to get there. She'll say something like, yeah, 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.480 but it could be fun, and I'm like, well, what 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.920 does fun have to do with the fact that we 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.320 might get there and I can't find a bathroom? Have 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.280 you noticed I mentioned that twice? That's something I'm thinking 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.640 about more than now. At forty four but hypothetically. Let's 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:08.640 say I get there and she's hypothetical. You know, She's like, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.079 you're a man, you could you know. 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:14.920 So she's just like, we'll figure it out. 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:18.760 Let's be all right, And I'm thankful for her hypotheticalness. 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:21.199 How many you have a hypothetical person in your life 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.160 for when you tend to get to hypothetical? 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.640 You need one, You need one. 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.760 You can't have Holly, she's taken, she's mine. 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:32.040 Everybody says you need a hype man. 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.800 Well, you need a hope man, somebody who can remind 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.240 you that, Yes, you might go through some things to 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.360 get there. Yes, it may be inconvenient. Yes they may 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.040 laugh at you. Yes you may put it out and 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.360 then nobody sees it. Yes you may do it and 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.400 nobody thanks you. Yes you may spend the energy and 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.720 it will all be worthless, but it. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:56.280 Might also be kind of cool. If you don't have 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:57.959 a hope man, you'll never leave the house. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:02.480 Take it from a hypothetical I mean, even even going 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:05.360 through the scenarios in my mind leaves me with what 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:10.760 I call a hypothetical hangover, not involving alcohol, but involving 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:12.800 all the scenarios that I run in my mind. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.600 Thank you Jesus, all the scenarios. 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:20.600 They're coming to fix it right now, hypothetically, I hope. 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:24.959 See we're thinking about this different. She's like, they're coming. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.120 This is gonna be great. The tech team is awesome. 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:28.800 I'm like, if they don't get out here right now, 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.680 this whole sermon is gonna be wrong. You can't fix 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:36.160 this one, all right, We'll see check one too. That 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.120 must mean the Lord wants me to holler and scream 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:42.480 and yell. I said, that must mean the Lord wants 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:43.880 me to scream and holler and yell. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.120 I'm good, I'm good. I'll just hold this. 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:55.320 Now, hypothetically speaking, when things happen that you didn't plan 0:10:55.400 --> 0:11:08.839 on happening, how do you handle it? Hypothetically? Paul has 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.720 a strategy for that. In Romans chapter five, verse three, 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:16.920 he says, we glory in our sufferings. If you back 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.000 up one verse before that, he says, we boast. Everybody, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.400 say boast in the hope of the glory of God. 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.640 If you needed an object lesson in boasting in the 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.720 hope of something, think of your favorite college football fan 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.679 who cheers for a team that this year is going 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.880 to be the year that we win at all. 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:43.880 First of all, who is we? Paul said, we. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.560 Boast in the hope of the glory of God, So 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:53.320 I am already celebrating something that someone else is accomplishing. Secondly, 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.640 boasting in the hope is very different than boasting in 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.680 the reality. The Bible says, who hopes in what he 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:06.800 has already seen, what he already possesses. Since Holly is hypothetical, 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.520 and since Paul in this passage is teaching us something 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:15.240 about hopathetical Christianity, I want to break down for the 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.439 next few minutes how to deal with situations in your 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:23.400 life where you are right there in the middle of 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:27.680 a I guess I could call this a flood moment, 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.560 and you need faith to move forward in it. And 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.600 I'm gonna use three points for this outline today. Write 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.080 them up on the screen for you. I want you 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.120 to write these down, and I want you to take 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.880 notes on this sermon so that the next time that 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.760 the devil tries to make you hysterical, you can get hopathetical. 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:50.000 I'm gonna teach you a lesson on how to be hypothetical. 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.080 And it's really three parts to this. 0:12:52.600 --> 0:13:00.240 Number one, we want to talk about anticipation. Everybody say anticipation. 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.720 Put it in the chat anticipation. And number two, we 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:11.240 want to talk about justification, say justification and everybody in 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.040 the e FM online put these right there in the chat. 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:19.320 Number three, I want to talk about demonstration and God 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.280 helping us over the next twenty eight minutes. 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:28.160 Oh you didn't see that, y'all? Pray the Lord will 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.640 heal my handwriting? All right? That would be a miracle demonstration. 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.120 Did I get them? All right? Can you read that? 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.120 Is that distracting to you or does that help you out? 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:38.600 Put three points on it. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:45.679 Anticipation, the anticipation that Paul mentions in Romans chapter five. 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.560 He talks about the hope of the glory of God. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.520 And this thing about anticipation works both ways, doesn't it? 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.360 Because I realized a long time ago that what the 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.680 devil is actually attacking when he comes to me with 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.720 words is my ability to anticipate what God might do, 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.559 and that every time I worry, it's a. 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:16.920 Perversion of worship. Worship and worry operate from the same energy. 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.920 They both attach to something that I can't see to 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:26.520 deal with something that I'm going through. Worship attaches to 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:29.080 a God who I can't see now. Faith is the 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.800 substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:37.680 not seen. Worry attaches to something that hasn't even happened 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.920 yet and gives more power to the problem than it 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.280 does the promise of God who said he would be 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.160 with you through every problem. So now we're beginning to 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.400 see that the devil is after your anticipation. If he 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.760 cannot get you to fear the worst possible scenario, he 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.040 will hurt you so many times when you get your 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.240 hopes up that you learn to manage your sense of 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.920 disappointment by bringing down your level of expectation. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.640 And this is the truth about a lot of us. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.800 Is that really the reason we go through life with 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:18.000 a kind of bad attitude, with a pessimistic attitude not 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.840 leaving the house, is because we left the house one time. 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:22.120 And it didn't work out very well. 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.440 And so now every time that God calls us out 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:27.280 to do something, and it could be anything, God could 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.360 just call you to do anything, speak a kind word. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.280 Last time you spoke a kind word, they thought you 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.360 were weak and then they took advantage of you. So 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:35.520 now I'm not going to speak any kind words to 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:38.080 anybody anymore, because you know how it is. You just 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:39.960 say think nice things to people and they don't do 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.400 anything back. See what the enemy is doing there is 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.800 He is trying to inform your anticipation of the future 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.480 based on the thing that happened to you in the 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:56.560 past that was poorly processed. The way that we anticipate 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.680 our life is a process. Even some times when I'm 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:04.600 talking to Holly about something that could happen bad or 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.360 something that did happen bad, or what might happen bad, 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.760 or I was going to backfire, I'll tell myself as 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:13.280 an excuse if you ever said this, I'm just processing. 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.840 And really, while I say that I'm processing, i am, 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.160 But write this down in your notes. Not all processing 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:28.520 is productive. It's not always productive for you to just 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.640 process because if you just process but there is no. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.600 God in your processing, you will end up. 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.440 With a godless thought because you started with the godless process. 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.720 That's why I think it's important that when. 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:49.400 You process things in your mind for a little while, 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:51.760 you come outside of your head every once in a 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.200 while and verbalize. 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.400 It in prayer to God. 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.920 The verbal process of praying out loud will actually help 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:05.040 you with the internal struggle of a hyperactive mind. So 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.440 for everybody who struggles with an overactive imagination. You can 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:11.560 think more than one thing at a time, you can't 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:13.280 speak more than one thing at a time. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.879 And there comes a time where you have to start. 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:21.040 Speaking things of faith to fight against the spaghetti noodles 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:26.280 of fear. I'm telling you that Satan will spaghetti your 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:29.600 emotional state and get you so tangled up in the 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.520 things that you've been through, so tangled up in the 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:36.400 things that you're suffering. I found it interesting that Paul 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:41.400 said we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:45.320 I thought that boasting was bad until I read Romans 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.520 chapter five, verse two, and Paul said that there is 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.000 a type of boasting that is totally appropriate for the 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:56.800 child of God. This boasting, however, does not come from 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.600 an anticipation that things will always look the way. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.040 That you wanted them to look. This type of boasting does. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.160 Not come, for example, from your anticipation that you will 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:13.840 never suffer. Jesus did not die to save us from suffering. 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:21.680 He suffered and died to save us from sin, so 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.960 that when we suffer, we're not surprised. He suffered to 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:30.320 save us. Now, he did not save us from suffering. 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.760 He saved us by his suffering, and in his suffering, 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:36.560 we have hope. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:39.960 High five your neighbors say I have hope. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.320 I have hope not because I think I'll never go 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:44.040 through anything. 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.280 But I'm one of these hope pathetical Christians. 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.560 I don't have hope based on the fact that I 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.199 will never go through it. So this is not a 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.879 naive sense in which I go through life knowing that 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.080 it will always be okay. This is not a hope 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.720 based on how I know it's going to go. I'm 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.720 leaving the house, and I'm leaving my complacency, and I'm 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:11.800 leaving my shell, and I'm leaving this relationship, and I'm 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.960 leaving this thought pattern not based on the hope that 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:17.840 is going to be so easy when I leave, but 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.840 that he won't be with me as I go. 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:30.520 I have a hope. So do you process with God 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:35.280 what you go through? Or are you processing without God? 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.119 And if you are, you do not have what the 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.080 Bible says here in verse one. 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:44.960 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:52.320 peace with God. He didn't say I don't have fears 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:58.080 about my future. He said we have peace with God. 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.200 He didn't say I don't have regrets about my past. 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:07.920 He said we have peace with God. He didn't say 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.919 I don't have conflict in my home. He said I 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:14.639 have peace with God. I'm gonna go a little deeper. 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.600 He didn't say I don't have temptations that are dragging 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:19.560 me back to the Egypt I thought I left. He 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.879 said we have peace with God. He didn't say I 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.240 don't have bills that I don't know how I'm gonna pay. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.560 He said I have peace with God. He didn't say 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.159 I don't have pain in my body. He said I 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.879 have peace with God. He didn't say I don't have 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:41.040 issues that I'm going to counseling for. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:45.040 He said I have peace with God. 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.320 He didn't say I don't have anger that I don't 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.199 even always know where it's coming from. He said I 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:55.399 have peace with God. So my peace with God is 0:20:55.440 --> 0:21:01.600 not in the absence of the problem. My peace with 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.240 God is not in the absence of the anxiety. My 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.000 peace with God is not in the absence of my 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:09.040 shaking hands. 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:12.280 My peace with God is not in the absence of 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:16.840 enemies who don't like me. My peace with God. 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:24.480 Comes from somebody who won a game. 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:34.439 I didn't even play it. Now you yawning, Am I 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:36.040 being born? All right? 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.960 What I think is good for us to remember when 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.000 we have something that we have hoped for and it 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.440 didn't happen for us, is that before we can move 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:55.200 forward in pure faith, God often has to heal your hope. 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:02.240 And the first step of healing your hope is changing 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:07.960 what you boast in the Book of Romans was not 0:22:08.040 --> 0:22:11.119 written as a pep talk to tell you do better. 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:15.919 Get out there, go get them. You got this. 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.960 Nobody's slapping anybody on the bottom of Romans except Paul 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:23.760 saying the way you used. 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:27.680 To boast in was your relationship to the law. Remember 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:29.200 they kept the law. 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:33.720 They did that through circumcision, which was an external sign 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:36.720 of their faith, and they were trying to go back 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:37.040 to that. 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:40.560 But Paul says in this passage that what you. 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:46.080 Used to boast in is insufficient to hold your hope 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.560 in this season of your life. One reason you can 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:52.320 praise God after you've been through something, tell somebody I've 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:56.320 been through something. Okay, after you've been through something, but 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.479 you found that God was still with you after you 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.680 went through it. Now you have something to boast about 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:05.879 that you didn't have before. And I saw somebody in 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:07.440 this room You've been like, why am I going through 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:09.520 everything I'm going through? Why does this all keep happening 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:11.240 to me? Why has this been so hard the last 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.240 three months? Why did I think I was so far along? 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:14.920 And then I just snapped right back to the previous 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:16.960 place that I was. It seems like nothing has moved forward. 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:21.080 But instead of you seeing yourself as going through something, 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:27.000 I want you to see yourself as getting something from 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:36.240 going through something, getting something from two completely different paradigms. 0:23:37.640 --> 0:23:42.359 The focus on what I'm going through is me hypothetical, 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:46.119 the focus on what I'm going to have to go through. 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:47.160 Isn't it crazy that. 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:48.760 The devil can beat you with something that may never 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:54.320 even happen. Ask the prophet Elijah who ran from Jezebel 0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:58.920 and wasted days that he could have spent in revival 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:02.600 from somebody who already proved she didn't. 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:04.600 Have the power to kill him. 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.919 You know, when you're going through something, or when you 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:13.160 might have to go through something, your focus becomes only 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:17.040 the pain that it will cost you. And so now 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:22.760 your story revolves around your suffering. How could Paul say 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:27.439 in verse three Romans, Chapter five that we glory in 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:28.200 our suffering. 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:35.879 We glory in our suffering. Maybe he doesn't mean that 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.720 we like it. Maybe he doesn't mean that we ask 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:40.399 for more of it. 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:46.760 Maybe he means that while we're going through it, we 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:47.800 get something from it. 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:52.399 And so recently I was telling a friend a story. 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:54.359 You know, we all have these pity party stories that 0:24:54.400 --> 0:24:58.680 we tell, and I was sharing it under the pretense 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:01.920 like it was a testimony of something God brought me through. 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:05.080 But in the middle of telling the story, it was 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:06.760 as if the Holy Spirit said to me, and I'm 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:08.080 gonna do a whole sermon one day. 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:09.800 I don't exactly know how I'm. 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:11.920 Gonna do it yet, but it's gonna be called when 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:15.479 you say, God said, because a lot of times when 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:17.640 I'm preaching, I'll say God said this, and God said that. 0:25:17.960 --> 0:25:20.439 And a sweet middle school kid came up to me 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:22.359 one time and said, when you say God said, what 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:22.880 does that mean? 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:25.280 Did you hear out loud voice? Did you read a 0:25:25.280 --> 0:25:25.880 Bible verse? 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:27.600 What do you mean when you say God said, I'm 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:29.080 gonna do a sermon on that one day? 0:25:29.200 --> 0:25:30.600 But in this particular case. 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:32.439 It was an impression, and I was in the middle 0:25:32.440 --> 0:25:34.840 of the story, telling the story, and mid sentence I 0:25:34.880 --> 0:25:37.800 stopped telling the story because was this The Holy Spirit 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:41.359 said to me, I'm sick of this side of the 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:52.440 story because you're telling him like it's something you went through, 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:55.360 but you're talking like you're still in it. 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:01.000 And if you really believe what you're. 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:05.520 Saying, you believe this is something that I brought you through, 0:26:07.880 --> 0:26:10.400 So why are you not through with it. 0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:15.200 Now? I'm not saying this always works. 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:18.040 Please don't take me out of context. 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:19.119 I hate I hate. 0:26:19.640 --> 0:26:22.600 The thought that we can just cut short trauma by 0:26:22.600 --> 0:26:23.800 putting on a happy face. 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:25.159 That is not my point. 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:29.360 This was not a situation where there was unresolved trauma. 0:26:30.160 --> 0:26:36.159 This was a case where there was unreleased bitterness. And 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:39.480 the Lord showed me as I was speaking, I'm telling you, 0:26:39.560 --> 0:26:42.040 it was like it was almost like my mouth got 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:44.480 zipped by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord said, I'm 0:26:44.520 --> 0:26:45.080 sick of this. 0:26:45.119 --> 0:26:47.240 Side of it because all you keep. 0:26:47.080 --> 0:26:52.520 Talking about is the story from the standpoint of how 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:55.800 hurtful it was to you. But you know good and 0:26:55.840 --> 0:27:01.239 well that what I did through that was something that 0:27:01.280 --> 0:27:05.680 I absolutely had to do and you know good and well, 0:27:07.000 --> 0:27:10.680 then if it hadn't hurt you like that, you wouldn't. 0:27:10.320 --> 0:27:16.159 Be here today. So stop telling that story from that side. 0:27:16.920 --> 0:27:20.600 Start saying things like, yeah, it hurt, but God healed 0:27:20.640 --> 0:27:21.240 me from it. 0:27:21.840 --> 0:27:24.840 Yeah it was hard, but I got stronger from it. 0:27:25.280 --> 0:27:28.720 Yeah I was waiting, but I felt some spiritual muscles 0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:30.880 and I got a miracle from it. 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:36.080 High five. 0:27:36.160 --> 0:27:40.600 Somebody say, there's two sides to this story. There's two 0:27:40.680 --> 0:27:44.080 sides to this story. There's what you went through, and 0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:46.840 there's what you got from what you went through. And 0:27:46.960 --> 0:27:49.760 while you're still worried about what you might go through, 0:27:50.240 --> 0:27:51.719 you need to pick up something. 0:27:52.080 --> 0:27:57.800 Just sit right in front of you. You're about Christian 0:27:59.359 --> 0:28:00.360 glad my mic went out. 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:03.000 I needed a big boy mike today. I said I 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:05.960 needed a big boy mike today. I'm glad the mike 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:08.359 went out. Some of y'all need to say I'm glad 0:28:08.359 --> 0:28:09.240 about stuff. 0:28:09.000 --> 0:28:11.399 That goes wrong. I'm glad that went wrong. 0:28:11.800 --> 0:28:14.520 That was a redirection because I would have stayed in 0:28:14.600 --> 0:28:16.040 this wilderness. 0:28:15.720 --> 0:28:18.680 If the man didn't go away. I would have stayed 0:28:18.720 --> 0:28:19.479 in that place. 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:22.840 If they didn't push me out, how would have stayed? 0:28:22.960 --> 0:28:26.720 Stuff is something that I'm so much greater than. 0:28:28.200 --> 0:28:35.040 I am. Because a wind threw it, threw it, threw it, 0:28:35.960 --> 0:28:37.840 threw it through it. 0:28:40.400 --> 0:28:44.560 That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. 0:28:44.600 --> 0:28:46.520 Tell your neighbor, that's what the Bible says. 0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:50.160 Yeah, yeah, he didn't say, watch this. 0:28:50.480 --> 0:28:53.520 We have hope because of what might happen. We have 0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:56.760 hope because of what could happen. We have hope because 0:28:56.800 --> 0:28:58.160 of what probably will happen. 0:28:58.520 --> 0:29:02.120 Now the apostle pause says something so much greater than that. 0:29:02.480 --> 0:29:08.160 He says, Therefore, I'm about to blow your mind for 0:29:08.280 --> 0:29:11.680 everything you're going through, for everything you might go through, 0:29:12.440 --> 0:29:15.400 for every hypothetical in your life. Let's get hole pathetical 0:29:15.520 --> 0:29:21.320 for a moment. He said, since we have been, you 0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:28.160 missed it. He said, we have been. Everybody say I 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:33.160 have been. Now clarify for your neighbors say in English, 0:29:34.040 --> 0:29:36.600 have been means past tense. 0:29:37.760 --> 0:29:42.040 That's behind me, that's behind me, that's behind me, that's 0:29:42.160 --> 0:29:43.000 behind me. 0:29:43.360 --> 0:29:46.200 That's why it's my testimony. 0:29:45.440 --> 0:29:48.960 Because I passed. Because it was a test, but I 0:29:49.120 --> 0:29:52.120 passed it. That's what put the money on it. 0:29:52.960 --> 0:29:53.400 I have. 0:29:57.680 --> 0:30:04.040 Because it happen. It happened. But I'm here it happened, 0:30:04.320 --> 0:30:14.200 But hallelujah, it happened. But I have this hope. 0:30:17.000 --> 0:30:24.840 I have this hope because I have been justified. Some 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:27.320 of you are waiting for other people to celebrate how 0:30:27.360 --> 0:30:30.680 far you've come. But I got news, baby, They don't 0:30:30.720 --> 0:30:34.760 live on the inside of you. Jesus does, the Holy 0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:35.840 theory does. 0:30:36.440 --> 0:30:37.760 The righteousness of. 0:30:37.800 --> 0:30:40.120 God has been impaled. 0:30:39.760 --> 0:30:41.640 To you by faith. 0:30:48.440 --> 0:30:55.840 So that's my second point of discermon is justification justification. 0:30:57.280 --> 0:31:06.120 This is for all of your justified. I'll be further 0:31:06.200 --> 0:31:14.920 along justified. You know all those regrets. You know I 0:31:14.960 --> 0:31:17.719 wouldn't be in this mess justified. 0:31:20.080 --> 0:31:21.960 Along comes Jesus. 0:31:23.160 --> 0:31:26.960 Talking about you keep going back in your past, but 0:31:27.120 --> 0:31:32.360 not far enough. You keep going back in your past, 0:31:33.400 --> 0:31:37.840 but you're not going back there far enough. Because before 0:31:37.880 --> 0:31:42.840 you even called on me, before you even looked to me. 0:31:43.920 --> 0:31:47.640 Jimmy Romans, Chapter five, verse eight, this is the verse 0:31:47.680 --> 0:31:50.800 you wanted to shout about a minute ago. Because the 0:31:50.840 --> 0:31:55.240 Bible says that we were not good people, we were 0:31:55.280 --> 0:31:59.640 not godly people, we were not righteous people. We did 0:31:59.680 --> 0:32:03.160 not earned this spot. We did not make the team. 0:32:03.560 --> 0:32:06.640 We did not make the cut, we did not live 0:32:06.760 --> 0:32:07.360 up to it. 0:32:08.040 --> 0:32:16.240 But God but God. So when we go back to 0:32:16.280 --> 0:32:19.880 the past, you need to learn a phrase, say I 0:32:20.160 --> 0:32:28.960 was but God, sit right there, Sit it right there, because. 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:32.280 Just to show you real clear what the Bible says, 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:33.280 I don't care what I say. 0:32:33.400 --> 0:32:35.120 I don't care what you say. I don't care what 0:32:35.160 --> 0:32:37.640 your grandmother says. I'm sorry. I'm sure she's beautiful. 0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:39.280 I'll give her a hug if we ever meet, and 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:41.560 all of that stuff, and I respect her and I'll 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:43.080 call her whatever you told me to call her. But 0:32:43.120 --> 0:32:45.040 I don't care what you were taught about this, the 0:32:45.160 --> 0:32:53.600 Bible says. The Bible says that I have. 0:32:57.640 --> 0:33:05.160 That sass. Access is an interesting thing. 0:33:07.080 --> 0:33:13.440 It kind of suggests that something can be there and 0:33:13.480 --> 0:33:17.240 you have it, but you can't get to it. 0:33:18.800 --> 0:33:22.840 Because of what's blocking it. And that's why you died. 0:33:25.280 --> 0:33:29.760 And that's why I have hope, because He gave me 0:33:30.560 --> 0:33:36.840 access by faith into disgrace, in which I now stand 0:33:37.200 --> 0:33:40.560 and we boast in the hope. 0:33:41.560 --> 0:33:44.440 Of the glory of God. 0:33:46.160 --> 0:33:52.719 Now, the more you understand this that you have, the 0:33:52.760 --> 0:33:55.760 more you will have of this. 0:34:01.320 --> 0:34:05.760 And the way that you access this peace. 0:34:07.320 --> 0:34:17.640 I need more peace, you need more awareness, you need 0:34:17.719 --> 0:34:27.920 more hoypathetical Christianity, you need more. I don't know if 0:34:27.920 --> 0:34:35.680 you're gonna like this character, which is an interesting word. 0:34:37.160 --> 0:34:39.480 I was studying that word because I thought, well, this 0:34:39.560 --> 0:34:42.239 is how it works. This is how God matures us, 0:34:42.840 --> 0:34:46.080 matures our lives, and this is how God brings forth 0:34:46.280 --> 0:34:47.320 his fruit in our lives. 0:34:48.120 --> 0:34:53.880 He gives us hope through the suffering. 0:34:54.880 --> 0:35:03.080 That produces perseverance, and the perseverance the not quitting, produces character, 0:35:04.200 --> 0:35:10.000 and then character hope. So in order to get to 0:35:10.120 --> 0:35:16.560 the hope, you got to go through some hell and 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:20.200 what it produces. Y'all, I feel annoyed to help somebody today. 0:35:20.760 --> 0:35:23.239 I don't even care about anything, but said who I'm 0:35:23.239 --> 0:35:27.800 supposed to help today? Because the word character in Greek 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:32.680 is actually a word that Paul made up. It's not 0:35:32.760 --> 0:35:35.880 a word that's anywhere else in the New Testament except 0:35:35.880 --> 0:35:36.960 when Paul uses it. 0:35:37.880 --> 0:35:40.600 And it doesn't just mean character in the sense of, well, 0:35:40.600 --> 0:35:41.560 that's just who I am. 0:35:42.680 --> 0:35:44.719 See, that's why some of you have the wrong testimony 0:35:44.800 --> 0:35:50.200 right now. You keep testifying about that's just who I am, 0:35:50.320 --> 0:35:52.279 that's just the way I am, that's just the way 0:35:52.320 --> 0:35:52.680 it is. 0:35:52.800 --> 0:35:55.000 And all of that might be true. 0:35:55.320 --> 0:36:00.480 But this character that God is producing in you is 0:36:00.520 --> 0:36:03.680 a certain type of character from a certain word that 0:36:03.719 --> 0:36:07.600 Paul made up to describe what happens when you go 0:36:07.680 --> 0:36:10.800 through something and get something from what you go through 0:36:11.080 --> 0:36:13.560 that you couldn't get any other way. And the word 0:36:13.640 --> 0:36:24.799 actually means proven worth, proven worth. And it started not 0:36:24.920 --> 0:36:28.520 with the amazing things that happened, but with the pain 0:36:28.640 --> 0:36:34.840 that you experienced. So the pain that you experienced produced 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:39.120 the proof of the worth of your faith. 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:42.640 What good is a hope that can't be disappointed? 0:36:44.640 --> 0:36:47.920 What good is a faith that can't be shaken and 0:36:48.000 --> 0:36:51.440 not broken? What good is it for me to just 0:36:51.719 --> 0:36:54.600 hope that things turn out well and then when they don't, 0:36:54.640 --> 0:36:57.960 stay home. What good is it for me to listen 0:36:57.960 --> 0:37:01.239 to Pastor Stephen preach for an hour and then go 0:37:01.360 --> 0:37:05.440 home and resist the very things that God brings into 0:37:05.440 --> 0:37:09.160 my life that will produce the word that he preached about. 0:37:10.680 --> 0:37:13.040 What good is it for me to keep just going 0:37:13.160 --> 0:37:17.520 through things and never stopping. God said today we are 0:37:17.560 --> 0:37:22.280 going to rescue your testimony because you have stopped talking 0:37:22.320 --> 0:37:25.080 about what God is going to do. You have stopped 0:37:25.080 --> 0:37:26.000 talking about. 0:37:25.760 --> 0:37:26.840 How it can be different. 0:37:27.080 --> 0:37:29.840 You have been disappointed, you have been hurt, you have 0:37:29.920 --> 0:37:31.719 been hemorrhaging from what you went through. 0:37:31.719 --> 0:37:33.160 But God wants to heal that. 0:37:33.239 --> 0:37:38.560 Place and rescue your testimony, to rescue it. 0:37:39.280 --> 0:37:42.879 That's what Holly does for me. She rescues me from 0:37:42.920 --> 0:37:44.719 my hypothetical situations. 0:37:44.760 --> 0:37:47.840 I say, well, if we go, something bad might happen, 0:37:47.880 --> 0:37:50.000 and she says, but if you don't go, you might 0:37:50.040 --> 0:37:51.799 look back the rest of your life and wonder what 0:37:51.800 --> 0:37:53.080 would have happened if you did. 0:37:54.440 --> 0:37:56.840 And so Paul says, it is the suffering. 0:37:57.280 --> 0:38:02.880 It is the pain that proved that proves the character. 0:38:03.320 --> 0:38:09.480 The proof starts with suffering, the proof, do you see it? 0:38:09.760 --> 0:38:14.279 The proof starts with suffering, and that's what leads to 0:38:14.320 --> 0:38:16.680 the hope, because you know, I can go back to 0:38:16.760 --> 0:38:20.120 that and I can remember that God did that for me. 0:38:21.680 --> 0:38:24.400 And so every once in a while. 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:29.440 I screenshot something on my phone just to remind me 0:38:29.520 --> 0:38:34.720 in my low moments that at the lowest moments, God 0:38:35.320 --> 0:38:40.080 is doing the most. A few years ago, I preached 0:38:40.080 --> 0:38:42.880 a sermon to where I left and thought, well, that 0:38:42.920 --> 0:38:45.880 didn't go very good. And I don't always blame myself. 0:38:45.880 --> 0:38:50.840 Sometimes y'all are just lazy listeners. But I like to 0:38:50.880 --> 0:38:53.399 take responsibility, Like, well, come on, I could have done 0:38:53.440 --> 0:38:55.800 that better and clearer, and I beat. 0:38:55.680 --> 0:38:56.879 Myself up every which way. 0:38:58.080 --> 0:39:01.160 And that same week, my friend sent me a text 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:04.160 of their notes from the sermon, and they said, just 0:39:04.200 --> 0:39:05.360 wanted you to be encouraged. 0:39:06.120 --> 0:39:07.920 Well I needed to be, so I was thankful for 0:39:07.960 --> 0:39:08.440 the text. 0:39:08.920 --> 0:39:12.440 They took six pages of notes on that sermon that 0:39:12.480 --> 0:39:16.000 I thought sucked. Okay, so I'm looking at it. I'm like, 0:39:16.080 --> 0:39:18.000 this is great, Okay, thank you Lord. Maybe it wasn't 0:39:18.000 --> 0:39:21.120 that bad. They wrote six pages of notes. But then 0:39:21.160 --> 0:39:22.960 I looked at it again and I saw why they 0:39:23.000 --> 0:39:24.399 sent it to me, because I thought, that's kind of weird. 0:39:24.400 --> 0:39:25.960 Why did you send me your notes? I preached it, 0:39:26.560 --> 0:39:30.880 don't you think I know what I said? But next 0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:38.799 to the notes was this little puddle of tears that 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:40.640 they were showing me. And when the text came through 0:39:40.719 --> 0:39:45.200 next after the photo, it said, I cried so hard 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:48.879 through your message. I left a puddle of tears next 0:39:48.880 --> 0:39:51.879 to my notes before I dried it up. I wanted 0:39:51.880 --> 0:39:57.719 to show you. And and that's something that while I'm sitting 0:39:57.760 --> 0:40:01.960 there thinking, well, that wasn't any good, and then I 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:06.720 get a picture a proof in the puddle of tears 0:40:08.640 --> 0:40:16.839 that they cry because I understand that sometimes suffering is 0:40:16.880 --> 0:40:25.160 the starting place for something amazing. Sometimes the absence of 0:40:25.200 --> 0:40:28.759 your emotional validation when you are doing the thing that 0:40:28.800 --> 0:40:31.240 God has called you to do, maybe not preaching a sermon, 0:40:31.360 --> 0:40:33.960 maybe just being a good man, maybe not preaching a sermon, 0:40:34.120 --> 0:40:36.719 maybe just keeping your purity as a teenager, maybe not 0:40:36.760 --> 0:40:39.280 preaching a sermon, Maybe just showing up to the next 0:40:39.280 --> 0:40:41.600 thing that you know you can do. And the proof 0:40:42.160 --> 0:40:44.320 I didn't feel it when I preached it. I didn't 0:40:44.360 --> 0:40:46.440 see it when I preached it. I didn't know it 0:40:46.480 --> 0:40:49.080 when I preached it. But to get that text, that 0:40:49.120 --> 0:40:52.240 puddle of tears, to say that sermon that you preached, 0:40:53.640 --> 0:40:57.520 that you felt nothing, that word you spoke, that you 0:40:57.600 --> 0:41:02.200 felt nothing, that you pray, that you saw nothing. 0:41:02.880 --> 0:41:08.360 Here's something, here's something days later that you didn't even see. 0:41:08.400 --> 0:41:13.040 You weren't even there for it. But it's proof. This 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:15.240 is the proof that I'm after. 0:41:15.880 --> 0:41:18.120 Not the proof of what you feel when you do it, 0:41:18.600 --> 0:41:20.640 not the proof of what you see when you do it. 0:41:21.040 --> 0:41:23.400 Not the proof of what you know right now, not 0:41:23.520 --> 0:41:25.960 the proof of what you think you need to be validated, 0:41:26.280 --> 0:41:28.840 not the proof of what you think would make it successful. 0:41:29.719 --> 0:41:33.120 It is the proof in that puddle of tears that 0:41:33.200 --> 0:41:36.279 you cried while you suffered. But I bet you got 0:41:36.400 --> 0:41:38.600 up after you cried and did something, didn't you. 0:41:38.960 --> 0:41:40.000 I bet you got up. 0:41:39.880 --> 0:41:41.920 When you cried. I bet you got up after your 0:41:42.000 --> 0:41:45.080 heart was broken and you kept going. So now you 0:41:45.239 --> 0:41:48.799 have a testimony, and let's stop talking about all that 0:41:48.880 --> 0:41:52.680 it costs you, and let's start talking about how God. 0:41:52.440 --> 0:42:06.000 Has called you proven, character, proven, prove I. 0:42:05.960 --> 0:42:09.200 Have hope, say not loud, I have hope. I can 0:42:09.280 --> 0:42:13.600 prove it. I have hope, and I can prove it. 0:42:14.480 --> 0:42:18.000 So Holly said to me, you really do think of everything. 0:42:18.160 --> 0:42:22.160 And I'm like, well, so does God. And she didn't 0:42:22.160 --> 0:42:26.719 really accept that as an analogy, but I told her 0:42:26.760 --> 0:42:31.200 how God has taken into account. You see, at just 0:42:31.360 --> 0:42:35.160 the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died 0:42:35.200 --> 0:42:40.080 for the ungodly. So now I want to talk about, finally, 0:42:41.200 --> 0:42:45.160 the demonstration. The demonstration. 0:42:46.680 --> 0:42:47.480 The proof. 0:42:48.719 --> 0:42:51.400 That you have hope, and the proof that you have 0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:56.440 hope is not that you don't suffer or will never suffer. 0:42:58.080 --> 0:42:59.600 And the proof that you have hope is not that 0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:02.239 you don't go through. Let me break that down a 0:43:02.239 --> 0:43:04.719 little bit more. It is not that you won't ever 0:43:04.800 --> 0:43:07.279 feel that way again. It is not that you will 0:43:07.320 --> 0:43:09.880 never be let down again. It is not that you 0:43:09.960 --> 0:43:13.400 will never experience a betrayal again. It is not that 0:43:13.440 --> 0:43:15.799 you will never wrestle with this again. It is not 0:43:15.840 --> 0:43:18.040 that it will completely leave your life. That is not 0:43:18.120 --> 0:43:21.279 what Christ died to save us from. And the good 0:43:21.320 --> 0:43:24.600 thing is, if you feel weak in this moment, that's 0:43:24.680 --> 0:43:27.239 the very point He saved you at and he's still 0:43:27.239 --> 0:43:35.839 saving so you have proof demonstration. But God demonstrates his 0:43:35.880 --> 0:43:39.359 own love for us in this that while we were 0:43:39.520 --> 0:43:42.600 still ciners, Christ died for us. 0:43:43.680 --> 0:43:44.359 I read you a. 0:43:44.320 --> 0:43:47.120 Scripture from the Old Testament earlier, and you may have 0:43:47.160 --> 0:43:50.480 wondered if I forgot about it, but I didn't, because 0:43:50.480 --> 0:43:53.120 I want to give you a picture of how God 0:43:53.200 --> 0:43:56.759 demonstrates his power in your weakness. 0:43:57.719 --> 0:43:59.640 The children of Israel are headed out of the. 0:43:59.680 --> 0:44:02.600 Land that they've known as the place of their captivity 0:44:03.040 --> 0:44:06.480 for over four hundred years. They've been wandering in the 0:44:06.480 --> 0:44:10.040 wilderness for forty of those years because of the regrets 0:44:10.320 --> 0:44:13.280 of their past. I gotta be thinking at this point 0:44:13.360 --> 0:44:14.320 something is going. 0:44:14.120 --> 0:44:14.759 Through their head. 0:44:15.320 --> 0:44:19.920 Justified believe God and gone through the Promised land. Just 0:44:20.200 --> 0:44:23.440 if we'd gone through and faced the giants in our 0:44:23.480 --> 0:44:27.840 faith and believe the minority report of Caleb and Joshua, 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:31.520 just if we had not brought a complaint to Moses 0:44:31.560 --> 0:44:33.560 in the place of where our faith should have been. 0:44:33.800 --> 0:44:37.920 But now God is bringing a new generation led by Joshua, 0:44:38.040 --> 0:44:40.920 into the Promised Land, and the Bible says that on 0:44:41.000 --> 0:44:43.680 the way to where they're going, because you're going somewhere, 0:44:43.880 --> 0:44:44.160 I don't know. 0:44:44.200 --> 0:44:46.359 If you feel stuck where you are, you're gonna die. 0:44:46.360 --> 0:44:47.200 Where you are is. 0:44:47.160 --> 0:44:50.239 Gonna be like it is, But you are transitioning out 0:44:50.280 --> 0:44:50.560 of this. 0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:53.520 Before they transition out. 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:55.759 Of the land that they've been in, the wilderness that 0:44:55.800 --> 0:44:58.640 they've wandered in, the what ifs that they've wasted away in. 0:44:58.920 --> 0:45:02.080 Before they transition out of this, God gives a very 0:45:02.120 --> 0:45:06.160 strange instruction to Joshua. He says, before you completely cross 0:45:06.239 --> 0:45:08.760 and by the way, I think you should commemorate every 0:45:08.800 --> 0:45:13.799 crossing in your life, every crossing over. Just start celebrating 0:45:13.840 --> 0:45:16.200 stuff when you cross over. So that could be as 0:45:16.200 --> 0:45:18.520 simple ass thank you God for a new day. I 0:45:18.600 --> 0:45:21.440 lay down to sleep and I woke up again, and 0:45:21.560 --> 0:45:24.759 somebody didn't, So thank you for it. Lord, thank you 0:45:24.800 --> 0:45:27.279 for another week. Thank you for bringing me to the 0:45:27.280 --> 0:45:30.480 Lord's house another day. Thank you for a new season. 0:45:30.800 --> 0:45:33.640 Thank you God for a new opportunity. Thank you for 0:45:33.680 --> 0:45:36.600 my next breath. Thank You for my next opportunity. And 0:45:36.800 --> 0:45:40.600 as they are crossing over watch this, God calls Joshua, 0:45:40.840 --> 0:45:44.560 I want you to commemorate and demonstrate what I did. 0:45:44.800 --> 0:45:47.840 And here's why four verse number five. I'm ready to 0:45:47.840 --> 0:45:48.439 preach now. 0:45:48.760 --> 0:45:52.040 Chapter number four, Verse five, and Joshua said to them, 0:45:52.360 --> 0:45:55.120 pass on before the ark of the Lord, your God, 0:45:55.280 --> 0:45:59.000 that represents God's presence, into the midst of the Jordan, 0:45:59.400 --> 0:46:02.320 and take each of you a stone upon his shoulder. 0:46:02.680 --> 0:46:05.040 According to the number of the tribes of the people 0:46:05.040 --> 0:46:09.920 of Israel. How many tribes were there twelve? How many stones? Twelve, 0:46:10.160 --> 0:46:13.560 one for every tribe, one for every trial, one for 0:46:13.640 --> 0:46:16.560 every tribe, one for every trial. You ought to get 0:46:16.600 --> 0:46:19.200 something out of everything you go through that makes you 0:46:19.239 --> 0:46:21.960 stronger in God. I'm not going to cry like that 0:46:22.080 --> 0:46:24.320 and not get stronger from it. I'm not going to 0:46:24.400 --> 0:46:26.960 suffer like that and not get stronger from it. So 0:46:27.040 --> 0:46:30.480 make sure you take something from this. But then verse success, 0:46:30.600 --> 0:46:35.839 very importantly, why you're doing this, that this, this may 0:46:35.880 --> 0:46:39.920 be a sign among you. So when your children ask 0:46:40.320 --> 0:46:43.120 in time to come, what do these stones mean? 0:46:43.200 --> 0:46:43.600 You stop? 0:46:43.760 --> 0:46:45.719 How do you want to answer that question for your 0:46:45.800 --> 0:46:51.000 kids one day? 0:46:51.719 --> 0:46:53.600 This is important because. 0:46:55.680 --> 0:47:00.120 He said, I want you to rescue your testimony. 0:47:01.080 --> 0:47:02.520 I want you to stop. 0:47:02.239 --> 0:47:08.440 Right now and redefine everything you've been through. And instead 0:47:08.480 --> 0:47:12.160 of remembering this as the river that was so hard 0:47:12.200 --> 0:47:13.799 to cross, I. 0:47:13.760 --> 0:47:16.040 Want you to take something out of it that you 0:47:16.080 --> 0:47:19.279 can commemorate how great God was to bring you through it. 0:47:23.239 --> 0:47:26.840 So when your children ask, what was it like to 0:47:26.880 --> 0:47:30.200 deal with that? When your children ask, tell me about 0:47:30.200 --> 0:47:33.279 that time when your children ask did you ever deal 0:47:33.320 --> 0:47:36.000 with loneliness? And how did you handle it? When your 0:47:36.080 --> 0:47:39.279 children ask, did you ever wonder if you were good enough? 0:47:39.600 --> 0:47:43.000 When your children ask did you ever feel depressed? I 0:47:43.080 --> 0:47:47.600 want you to have some proof to point through to 0:47:47.760 --> 0:47:58.600 let them know God does miracles and I have a testimony. 0:48:00.000 --> 0:48:04.680 Whatever you're standing next to exhibit A. So verse six, 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:07.680 verse six, Verse six. When your children ask what do 0:48:07.760 --> 0:48:09.200 these stones mean to you? 0:48:09.560 --> 0:48:12.319 It's personal to me. I can't speak for you. 0:48:12.719 --> 0:48:16.200 I can't prophesy for you, I can't praise for you. 0:48:16.200 --> 0:48:18.799 You can't praise for me, there are some things that 0:48:19.000 --> 0:48:21.560 I went through. This showed me who God was to me. 0:48:23.320 --> 0:48:25.440 And verse seven says, when they ask you what do 0:48:25.520 --> 0:48:28.960 these stones mean, then you shall tell them that the 0:48:29.040 --> 0:48:32.640 waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark 0:48:32.760 --> 0:48:35.239 of the Covenant of the Lord. Do you want us 0:48:35.239 --> 0:48:37.160 to tell them how hard the wilderness was for forty 0:48:37.239 --> 0:48:38.600 years for something that we didn't do. 0:48:38.760 --> 0:48:40.160 No, I just want you to tell them that. 0:48:40.160 --> 0:48:46.200 When I got to that Jordan, oh, there was a demonstration. 0:48:47.160 --> 0:48:49.040 And we didn't know how it was going to happen. 0:48:49.800 --> 0:48:50.360 But watch this. 0:48:50.680 --> 0:48:53.880 My faith is not in a how. My faith is 0:48:53.880 --> 0:48:59.719 in a who. So tell them the Lord. Somebody say 0:48:59.760 --> 0:49:04.120 the Lord. Now say but God, Now ask your neighbor. 0:49:04.239 --> 0:49:11.560 Was it hard? Tell him it was? But God? Ask him? 0:49:11.600 --> 0:49:16.440 Were you a mess? Tell him I was? But God? 0:49:17.880 --> 0:49:18.239 Ask him? 0:49:18.239 --> 0:49:23.080 Were you tempted to quit? Tell him I was? But God? 0:49:24.040 --> 0:49:25.920 Were you a little nervous about how it was going 0:49:25.960 --> 0:49:28.319 to turn out? Back there in twenty twenty four? Were 0:49:28.320 --> 0:49:31.799 you sitting in church one Sunday morning in September? Were 0:49:31.800 --> 0:49:33.960 you thinking about a football game in lunch? 0:49:34.239 --> 0:49:36.799 But God had a word for you. Tell him, I was, 0:49:37.920 --> 0:49:38.640 But God? 0:49:39.719 --> 0:49:42.440 See when that man grabbed that microphone and he started 0:49:42.480 --> 0:49:45.680 preaching about the flow of the Jordan being cut off. 0:49:46.040 --> 0:49:50.000 It reminded me of Calvary. It reminded me of Jesus. 0:49:50.320 --> 0:49:53.520 It reminded me of a cross. It reminded me of 0:49:53.600 --> 0:49:57.160 my crossing over. It reminded me of death to life. 0:49:57.400 --> 0:49:58.399 It reminded me. 0:49:58.400 --> 0:49:59.080 Of the blood. 0:49:59.400 --> 0:50:01.520 It reminds to me, a broken says. 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:08.880 It reminded me I was. And I'm gonna show you something, Holly, 0:50:09.200 --> 0:50:11.759 that I never saw before, because he said, I want 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:14.160 you to take the stones from what you went through 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:16.240 and tell your children what. 0:50:16.160 --> 0:50:19.000 God did, but I want you to take the stones 0:50:19.040 --> 0:50:22.160 to be a memorial forever. And the people of. 0:50:22.160 --> 0:50:25.200 Israel did just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve 0:50:25.280 --> 0:50:27.720 stones out of the midst of the Jordan. 0:50:27.800 --> 0:50:28.600 Go back to verse eight. 0:50:28.600 --> 0:50:30.560 I wasn't done with it yet, out of the midst 0:50:30.800 --> 0:50:33.040 of the Jordan. According to the number of the tribes. 0:50:33.040 --> 0:50:34.560 They try to see if I got this thing memorized, 0:50:34.560 --> 0:50:37.360 and I don't. The people of Israel, just as the 0:50:37.440 --> 0:50:41.839 Lord told Joshua, Just as the Lord told Joshua, just 0:50:41.920 --> 0:50:44.560 if I do what God told me to do, I 0:50:44.600 --> 0:50:48.200 don't have to justify it any other way than God spoken. 0:50:48.320 --> 0:50:52.480 First number nine and I'm closing, And Joshua set up 0:50:52.520 --> 0:50:56.440 twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the 0:50:56.560 --> 0:51:01.520 place where the feet of the priest stood. Wait a minute, 0:51:01.680 --> 0:51:04.239 I thought he brought them out of the Jordan and 0:51:04.320 --> 0:51:06.440 put them in the camp where they stayed when they 0:51:06.480 --> 0:51:07.000 got through. 0:51:07.520 --> 0:51:11.240 He did. But there was a second set of stones. 0:51:11.600 --> 0:51:14.520 That Joshua was set up, not where they were going. 0:51:19.120 --> 0:51:21.480 I know I love it too. I know it makes 0:51:21.520 --> 0:51:22.560 me excited. 0:51:22.160 --> 0:51:25.160 Too, because God said, I want you to set up 0:51:25.200 --> 0:51:29.320 something right here, right here, not when you get through, 0:51:29.560 --> 0:51:32.800 but right here and in the middle of the Jordan. 0:51:32.880 --> 0:51:35.800 God told Joshua, I want you to make a pile 0:51:36.280 --> 0:51:40.000 of the stones in the middle of the Jordan, so 0:51:40.040 --> 0:51:43.040 that when your children asked what was it like when 0:51:43.080 --> 0:51:46.000 you were crossing the Jordan, you'll have something to point 0:51:46.040 --> 0:51:49.799 to that you went through that they can understand how 0:51:49.880 --> 0:51:51.000 powerful God is. 0:51:51.800 --> 0:51:53.600 So now you understand what I'm saying. 0:51:53.719 --> 0:51:57.560 Right because the stones were in the middle of the Jordan. Now, 0:51:57.560 --> 0:52:00.640 if the Jordan is at high tide, then the stones 0:52:00.680 --> 0:52:04.400 can't be seen. If the Jordan is overflowing, the stones 0:52:04.440 --> 0:52:07.239 can't be seen. And the only way they're gonna see 0:52:07.280 --> 0:52:10.880 the stones is if the tide is low. The only 0:52:10.920 --> 0:52:14.120 time they're gonna see the stones is if the tide 0:52:14.200 --> 0:52:17.239 is low. The only way they're gonna see the stones 0:52:17.320 --> 0:52:20.800 is in a dry season. I'm preaching to somebody Austin 0:52:21.120 --> 0:52:21.799 who's been in. 0:52:21.760 --> 0:52:22.840 A dry season. 0:52:23.360 --> 0:52:27.719 But I got news. Fa God dries up Jordan rivers 0:52:28.239 --> 0:52:32.360 and you got some stones, Messy, you got some stone. 0:52:33.000 --> 0:52:36.719 You got some stones at the bottom of what you 0:52:36.840 --> 0:52:41.719 fit through. Oh God, I'm closing, but high five by 0:52:41.920 --> 0:52:42.840 five to five your. 0:52:42.719 --> 0:52:46.320 Neighborhood and say I got stones. Don't think I'm a whelm. 0:52:46.560 --> 0:52:48.520 Don't think I'm weak, don't think. 0:52:48.360 --> 0:52:51.879 I'm without power, don't think I'm without health, don't think 0:52:51.920 --> 0:52:54.919 I don't have a testimony. I'm gonna tell this thing 0:52:55.320 --> 0:52:58.600 from the other side. I'm gonna tell the truth from 0:52:58.600 --> 0:53:09.240 a higher plane. So I tend to rescue your testimony. 0:53:09.800 --> 0:53:13.080 Does it in a testimony? Tell us been tested? 0:53:16.200 --> 0:53:19.759 And before you get baptized today, I want you to 0:53:19.800 --> 0:53:21.560 look forward to the low. 0:53:21.360 --> 0:53:28.000 Tide times when the Jordan River gets lower, so you 0:53:28.080 --> 0:53:35.520 can see where you stood that you thought you would die. 0:53:36.239 --> 0:53:39.640 Get that stone out of there, that thing you suffered, 0:53:40.400 --> 0:53:43.360 and get that hope out of therese. 0:53:43.440 --> 0:53:47.040 The proof is in the bottle. 0:53:51.280 --> 0:53:57.839 Some things, oh God, some things you won't see if 0:53:57.880 --> 0:53:59.080 it's not a dry season. 0:54:01.000 --> 0:54:05.320 That is my hope. 0:54:06.200 --> 0:54:12.960 Stones in dry seasons, strength in weak places, for you 0:54:13.040 --> 0:54:16.919 see it. Just the right time, while we were still powerless, 0:54:17.840 --> 0:54:21.120 Christ died for me. 0:54:22.160 --> 0:54:27.480 And if he justified me justification, and if he did. 0:54:27.320 --> 0:54:32.960 That for me demonstration, then guess what I got back anticipation. 0:54:36.239 --> 0:54:37.280 So now. 0:54:38.520 --> 0:54:45.239 We gotta do something about this. The proof is in 0:54:45.280 --> 0:54:49.319 the puddles. God didn't save you because you were on 0:54:49.440 --> 0:54:52.800 such a high place. God demonstrates his own love for 0:54:52.880 --> 0:54:56.239 us in this while we were still sinners. He got 0:54:56.280 --> 0:54:59.600 down in the dirt of my situation. That's how I 0:54:59.600 --> 0:55:00.719 know he's not gonna leave me. 0:55:00.800 --> 0:55:01.560 Now. 0:55:02.120 --> 0:55:05.920 He started this thing in the mud. He started this 0:55:05.960 --> 0:55:09.000 thing in the puddle, and the proof is in the puddles. 0:55:09.200 --> 0:55:14.239 So don't be so freaked out with the hypothetical situations 0:55:14.760 --> 0:55:19.000 of what's gonna dry up. If it dries up, the 0:55:19.080 --> 0:55:24.879 stones will still be there. You will still have a testimony. 0:55:25.120 --> 0:55:30.000 Now take it back, take back your testimony. Today wouldn't 0:55:30.040 --> 0:55:33.080 be too soon. I need a hundred of y'all that 0:55:33.080 --> 0:55:36.680 weren't planning on getting baptized today, Get baptized today. Take 0:55:36.719 --> 0:55:41.040 back your testimony, give me my camera. Declare to the devil, 0:55:41.360 --> 0:55:44.600 I won't die in this dry season. I won't die 0:55:44.640 --> 0:55:47.600 in this dry season. God brought me to church today 0:55:47.640 --> 0:55:50.960 to repent, to turn from my sin, buy his blood. 0:55:51.000 --> 0:55:54.160 If I'm justified by his blood, shall he not much 0:55:54.200 --> 0:55:55.520 more save me from. 0:55:55.280 --> 0:56:01.399 His rat So I really don't even want to talk 0:56:01.400 --> 0:56:03.560 about Joshua. I want to talk about Jesus. 0:56:06.040 --> 0:56:09.759 Jesus who said I thirst is present and stretching in. 0:56:09.760 --> 0:56:11.680 Dry places today. 0:56:12.080 --> 0:56:14.280 And you thought I was going to preach this message 0:56:14.840 --> 0:56:18.200 about hope in a shallow way. 0:56:19.200 --> 0:56:24.040 N I'm talking about a God who is so deeply 0:56:24.400 --> 0:56:25.799 committed to you. 0:56:26.400 --> 0:56:31.120 And now you're wondering, what if it does happen, Well, 0:56:31.120 --> 0:56:32.040 God will be with me. 0:56:35.920 --> 0:56:37.960 As hopothetical Hollywood. 0:56:37.440 --> 0:56:44.239 Say, even if it does, we'll be all right. 0:56:47.360 --> 0:56:49.400 So the last season of your life was designed to 0:56:49.440 --> 0:56:51.520 show you that. Are you getting that lesson out of it? 0:56:52.480 --> 0:56:54.360 Or did you just run through it and say, oh again, 0:56:54.400 --> 0:57:00.000 you know I'm just gonna live this way now I am. 0:57:00.360 --> 0:57:02.880 You remember how the philosopher said, I think therefore I am. 0:57:03.640 --> 0:57:07.480 Let's put a twist on that. Who said that? Deskhartes, Well, 0:57:07.480 --> 0:57:09.239 if you don't know, then I can say it with confidence. 0:57:13.560 --> 0:57:15.160 I wish I could preach back in the day where 0:57:15.160 --> 0:57:17.280 nobody had chet gpt to fact check the preacher. I 0:57:17.280 --> 0:57:21.200 can make up all kinds of good stuff, he said, 0:57:21.200 --> 0:57:23.360 I think. Therefore I am. He was trying to see 0:57:23.360 --> 0:57:25.080 what can I be certain of? And he realized that 0:57:25.120 --> 0:57:27.480 even the fact that I can doubt means that I'm thinking, 0:57:27.520 --> 0:57:30.160 and even the fact that I'm doubting proves that I exist. 0:57:30.880 --> 0:57:33.680 I think. Therefore I am. Don't you understand That's the 0:57:33.680 --> 0:57:37.800 way it works in your life. You think about all 0:57:37.800 --> 0:57:40.040 of the things that are going to go wrong. Therefore 0:57:40.280 --> 0:57:45.760 you are a nervous ball of stress. I think, therefore 0:57:45.800 --> 0:57:50.480 I am. So let's do this, say I have, Therefore 0:57:51.680 --> 0:57:57.360 I hope. 0:57:56.160 --> 0:57:56.480 I have. 0:57:59.240 --> 0:58:04.720 Therefore, So I'm coming to a Jordan right now. And 0:58:04.760 --> 0:58:07.000 here's what I'm coming with Romans five to one on 0:58:07.080 --> 0:58:14.760 the screen. Police is it up there? Therefore? What are 0:58:14.800 --> 0:58:23.600 the stones? Therefore? That's the question? What is the suffering? Therefore? 0:58:24.680 --> 0:58:27.320 What are you there for? Why did God keep you 0:58:27.360 --> 0:58:29.040 alive this long? I see you every week? When I 0:58:29.080 --> 0:58:32.240 preach you never miss you. Probably wouldn't even know that 0:58:32.280 --> 0:58:34.560 I saw you. I watch you so much. I'm a stalker. 0:58:34.600 --> 0:58:38.800 You ought to get a restraining order on me, and 0:58:38.800 --> 0:58:42.360 it blesses me. And you would never know that. You 0:58:42.480 --> 0:58:45.120 never know that. But the proof is in the puddle. 0:58:45.120 --> 0:58:46.880 It's the times you don't see, the times you don't 0:58:46.880 --> 0:58:49.560 feel coming up to a Jordan river, it. 0:58:49.480 --> 0:58:50.560 Looks like it's overflowing. 0:58:50.920 --> 0:58:53.200 But God brought that thing down to a puddle for you, 0:58:53.240 --> 0:58:56.400 didn't He didn't he You saw no way to be 0:58:56.480 --> 0:58:56.960 right with him. 0:58:57.000 --> 0:58:58.880 You saw no way to put it back together. You 0:58:58.920 --> 0:59:03.080 saw no way. But the proof is in the bottle. 0:59:04.080 --> 0:59:07.360 What do he already dried up? What are you standing 0:59:07.440 --> 0:59:09.400 in front of today? When your children ask you, I 0:59:09.400 --> 0:59:12.880 want you to have a testimony, and when they say 0:59:13.440 --> 0:59:16.360 did you ever doubt it? Tell them yeah. And there's 0:59:16.360 --> 0:59:18.440 some things I doubt that are in front of me now. 0:59:20.800 --> 0:59:22.160 And I want to be honest with you. 0:59:22.480 --> 0:59:26.120 The truth is I can't do it, but. 0:59:28.280 --> 0:59:36.600 The grade can't. That's what I'm pointing out. That's all 0:59:36.600 --> 0:59:44.320 the proof we need. I can't do it, but the grade. 0:59:46.040 --> 0:59:49.320 How about this? You can dry this short? 0:59:49.520 --> 0:59:56.640 And if I will just step in. I can't do it, 0:59:56.720 --> 0:59:59.240 but the Great. 1:00:02.400 --> 1:00:03.919 I can't do it. 1:00:08.200 --> 1:00:12.880 Come on, lift your hands, thank so God, to get 1:00:12.960 --> 1:00:14.360 up on the feet and worship Him. 1:00:14.400 --> 1:00:14.960 Where you are. 1:00:16.040 --> 1:00:19.000 It may be in your home, it may be in 1:00:19.080 --> 1:00:21.840 your sick band dude, it may be in. 1:00:21.800 --> 1:00:24.400 The middle of a panic attack. But you're saying, I 1:00:24.480 --> 1:00:28.840 can't do it. That's my testimony the Great. I am kid, 1:00:29.880 --> 1:00:32.600 and I know he can't because. 1:00:32.360 --> 1:00:33.120 I know he did. 1:00:34.360 --> 1:00:39.720 I've been here before. I've been through dry season, I've 1:00:39.760 --> 1:00:45.439 been through identity crisis. I've been through nervous nights. I've 1:00:45.480 --> 1:00:49.320 been through dark waters. He can split an iceing me. 1:00:49.760 --> 1:00:55.000 Ask me how. I don't know, but I know. Sing 1:00:55.080 --> 1:00:59.280 it again, I can't do it. That's the truth to 1:01:00.840 --> 1:01:02.680 by the while, Where were your center? 1:01:03.880 --> 1:01:17.480 This is my testimony? Then you cast plead. 1:01:19.320 --> 1:01:20.680 I can't do it. 1:01:29.000 --> 1:01:30.120 Thank you for joining us. 1:01:30.440 --> 1:01:32.880 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:01:32.960 --> 1:01:33.680 this ministry. 1:01:34.040 --> 1:01:36.440 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:01:36.880 --> 1:01:39.080 You can click the link in the description to give 1:01:39.160 --> 1:01:43.120 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 1:01:43.160 --> 1:01:47.000 more information, and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:01:47.440 --> 1:01:48.760 You can share it with your friends. 1:01:49.040 --> 1:01:51.320 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:01:51.360 --> 1:01:53.480 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:01:53.520 --> 1:01:54.360 Elevation Church. 1:01:54.440 --> 1:01:56.080 Thanks again for listening. God bless you. 1:02:00.080 --> 1:02:00.120 M