The Blessing Of Both

0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.519 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.040 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.400 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.440 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.160 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:23.320 How awesome, How awesome, What a wonderful, wonderful time of worship. Amen, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.400 do me a favor real quick before you take your seat. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.520 I'm kind of torn. I'm going to preach in just 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.880 a moment. I'm excited to preach. I'm in a little 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:38.960 bit of a dilemma. I have two different scriptures. One 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:41.680 is from the Old Testament and one is from the 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:46.279 New Testament, and I kind of can't decide which one 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.599 I want to give you. So I thought we put 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:56.880 it up for a vote. Huh. She said both. Well, 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:01.520 it's a good thing because my message to is the 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:11.319 blessing of both. Let's do it. Let's do it. You 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.080 may be seated. God bless you, God bless you, Choir, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:19.240 God bless you, Anna, God bless you, Matt, God bless you. 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:21.720 Pastor Shawn see in the house from Athens Church. Let's 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.160 thank God for this great Man of God. Thanks for 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.480 stopping by. It's good to have my brother, Pastor Mike 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.320 Todd on the second row representing the Oakland Athletics. You're 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.760 not a fan at all, are you? Oh man, that's terrible. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.600 You just watch Moneyball and bought in Oakland A's had 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:43.720 Is that what happened? Oh man? This feels good. So 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:45.440 if I'm not preaching good I can throw the mic 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.520 on the first row the second row and somebody else 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.760 can pick it up. So good to be here and 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.240 just touch somebody and say I. If Pastor had time, 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:54.880 he would say thank God for you and mentioned your 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.680 name too. Let me do that if they had time. 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.680 Many wonderful things to share from the Word of God. Hey, 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:05.320 thank you for serving this love week, whatever you did, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.240 if you did something this week, or really what I 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:13.080 like to thank God for is consistency, because it's not 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:14.480 just one week out of the year that builds a 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.119 great church. And so while this week there are many 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.200 people we could highlight and thank for their contribution, I 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.239 want to say thank you to those of you who 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.239 never make a lot of noise, but you just contribute 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:30.200 in meaningful ways prayer giving service. It's a big deal 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:36.720 and you lead an e group, whether it's a spectacular thing, 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.760 whether it's forty people or four people, you just do it. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:42.600 That's really how you can know that you're doing it 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.799 for God and not for the approval of others or 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.520 the praises of people. It's just really beautiful and I 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.320 appreciate you. I don't know how to say it any 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.400 more than that, but I appreciate you, and I hope 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.919 you can feel that that's sincere from my heart. Thank 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.400 you to those of you. You don't blow a trumpet 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.360 or anything like that. You don't announce it, just do it, 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.359 and that means a lot. It's not just a Nike slogan. 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.200 It's the way that a great local church is built 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.440 when people are just willing to do it and not 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.079 necessarily have to be known for it. But I thank 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.480 God for each and every one of you on every location. 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.840 I just wanted to say that, and in the spirit 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.120 of love, I wore pink. Now let's get into the Bible. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:28.000 Let me read you this from Ecclesiastes, chapter eleven, verses 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:34.640 five and six. Now I'm gonna take my time because 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.640 I've been waiting to preach these passages since the beginning 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.000 of June, and I couldn't figure out how God wanted 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.640 me to preach them. But today I saw it. And 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.360 I've just been pacing all day waiting for you to 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.880 put on your makeup and get here so we could 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.240 talk about it together. And now I can't find Ecclesiastes 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.119 in the Bible. Everything's falling apart. Here it is, it's 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.880 right there, I said. Verse five is you do not 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:03.840 know the way the spirit comes to the bones in 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:05.840 the womb of a woman with child. So you do 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:09.040 not know the work of God who makes everything. In 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.200 the morning, So your seat and at evening withhold not 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.200 your hand, for you do not know which will prosper 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:21.839 this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.919 There's our word both. Go over to Matthew chapter thirteen, 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.440 verse twenty four for my second scripture. You told me 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:38.040 you wanted both, so I'm fulfilling your request. He put 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.040 another parable before them, verse twenty four, saying, the Kingdom 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.760 of Heaven may be compared to a man who sowed 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.839 good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:52.600 his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weed and 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.239 went away so when the plants came up and bore grain, 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.279 then the weeds appeared. Also. By the way, by the 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.880 time something destructive appears in your life has been planted 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.800 for a little while. There's a difference between the time 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:08.720 when it was deposited in the soil and the time 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.760 it showed up in your life. So when they woke 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.520 up to the weeds, he said, the servant said, Master, 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.039 did you not sow good seed in your field? I 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.040 thought you raised your kids right, you know things like that. 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.320 I thought you went to church. I thought you prayed. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.960 But he said, if you sowed good seeds, how then 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.640 does it have weeds in the field? And he said 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.440 to them an enemy has done this. So the servants 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:36.320 said to him, then do you want us to go 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.240 and gather them? Take care of it, sort it out. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.120 He's like, no, you got to You got to be 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.840 careful because less gathering the weeds, you root up the 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:54.280 wheat along with them. Let both, everybody say both. Let 0:05:54.480 --> 0:06:01.160 both grow together interesting until the harvest. And at harvest time, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.839 I will tell the reapers gather the weeds first, bind 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.880 them in bundles to be burned, But gather the wheat 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:15.120 into my barn. When Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.240 of God, it was a new phrase and an entirely 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.599 new concept for his hearers. It had never been said 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.520 that way before the Kingdom of God. Now, Israel thought 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.680 of themselves as a kingdom in a military and nationalistic sense. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.880 But to think of the Kingdom of Heaven or the 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.479 Kingdom of God in an invisible realm required Jesus to 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.880 not only explain it, but to demonstrate it, and both 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.920 are always necessary. Everybody say both. That's why Love Week 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.080 was so important in our church. Those one hundred thousand 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.839 hours that we served validated the message that we preach. 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.400 It is one thing to explain love, but it's another 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.839 thing to hand somebody some warm food or a blanket, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.600 or to be with somebody in their time of need. 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.080 And so Jesus had to do both. And he had 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:10.080 quite a challenge on his hands because he would demonstrate 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.080 something by working a miracle, but then he would have 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.640 to explain it because the people who saw the miracle 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.360 would miss the point I told you about one last 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:22.640 week when he took the happy meal and fed everybody, 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.480 and they thought that the point of the miracle was 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.280 that their stomachs were full, and because they wanted him 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.400 to be their burger king, he had to shut that 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.600 whole thing down and say, eat my flesh, drink my blood. 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:34.960 You've missed the entire point. So he's always having to 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.840 explain it. He was always having to demonstrate so they 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.840 could see it, and then explain it so they could 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.080 understand it. He said, if you see it but don't 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.040 understand it, it'll be like a seed that was sown, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.160 but the bird snatches it up before it has the 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.320 opportunity to hit the soil. And so if you don't 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.960 get the lesson in your heart through the power of demonstration, 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.520 then you will miss the intention of the message. But 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.000 if you only see the demonstration and don't hear the explanation, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.920 then you'll understand the miracle on the wrong level, and 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:01.200 you'll always live your life thinking that the physical thing 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.240 is the real thing, and you'll not understand what's really 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.440 pointing to. So you'll engage in behavior modification to try 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.960 to fix your life, not understanding that every habit in 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.480 your life started with something in your heart. And until 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.680 God turns the soil of your heart and weeds out 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:15.880 the stuff that is choking the seed of his word. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.520 Like I said, it's a lot in the text. And 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.400 Jesus must have felt overwhelmed because in the crowd he 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:31.000 had his disciples and he needed them to take the 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.000 message after he left. And then there were the people 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.280 who were just coming just to see the show and 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.680 just to eat the fries. And he had to separate 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.000 the two out. And he would often have to pull 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.439 the disciples aside and say, now, when I said this, 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.360 this is what I meant. He had to not only 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:50.320 teach to the crowds, but he had to teach his 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.199 disciples too. He had to do both. I relate to 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.880 that challenge because some of you in this church know 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.680 so much of the Bible. You know, I'm like, you know, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:06.520 Matthew thirteen twenty four wait in the tears, Wow. And 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.199 then others are like Matthew, who is at his brother's name? 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.120 What are we doing? And it's like all over the 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.679 place in terms of knowledge and just frame of reference, right. 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:20.040 But Jesus was always able to speak to both, unless 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:21.640 they thought he could only do one or the other. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.520 He'd do stuff like this, He'd say to a paralytic sins, 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.000 your friend, your sins are forgiven, and then when the 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.360 people doubted if he had the power to forgive sins, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.720 he would tell him, now get up and take up 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.400 your bed and walk. The reason that he told him 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.240 to get up and take up his bed and walk 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:43.400 was to give them a physical demonstration of his spiritual authority. 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:49.640 So it's demonstration and explanation, and Jesus is doing both. 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.920 In the context of the Kingdom of God. He would 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:57.640 often have to teach this principle of the already and 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:05.080 not yet eschatological twenty dollars word, the eschatological tension of 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.360 the Kingdom of God, And so it simply means that 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.800 some things have already come, the Kingdom of God is here, 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.000 and then some things are still coming. Isn't it that 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.360 way in our life to know that if we have 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:24.400 trusted in Christ, we are saved, We have been saved, 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:28.600 and yet we are being saved and we will be saved. 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.120 Because there are certain things in my life right now 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.520 that God has already done. I can see the fruit 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.319 of it, but there are other changes that are still 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.480 taking root in my life. And what I've noticed about 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.960 this is that as my devotion to Christ grows, so 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.319 do the things that distract me, to try to pull 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:55.320 me away from that pure devotion and simple childlike faith 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.480 in the grace of God. And Jesus is using a 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.080 parable so he can use an earthly symbol to convey 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.840 a spiritual truth. He said, it's like if a man 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:13.240 was planting weed, weeds with the plural. Uh. Yeah, it 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:15.320 might be legal, but it isn't always just the best 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:19.280 thing to do. But that's a different sermon. But he said, 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.040 it's like if he was planning wheat and then somebody 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.280 else planted weeds. He said, I want you to know 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:34.440 that both grow together, which is symbolic of how as 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:41.400 the ministry of Jesus increased, so did the opposition. The 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:46.280 more that his popularity grew, the more vocal his opponents became, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:53.320 because both grow together. In the church I grew up 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.400 in Monk's Corny United Methodist Church, we used to go 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.560 upstairs to the youth room. Rick Burnett would lead us 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.440 in praise and worship songs like it only takes a 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:07.000 spark to get a fire going. Shine, Jesus, Shine. What 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.520 was the other one he used to love so much? Oh? 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.800 I remember the other one. I'm not gonna tell you 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.840 what it was I'll tell you know how James Taylor 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.760 sang the Carol King song You've Got a Friend. He 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:21.640 would do, You've got a friend, but then he would 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:23.840 go into what a friend we have in Jesus, and 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.120 it was like a medley, and then he would stop 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:27.880 after he played the songs. And it was only about 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:29.680 ten of us in the youth group, but he would 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:34.920 always say, and now it's time for praise reports and 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:40.560 prayer requests. So it's a bunch of teenagers, right, So 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.880 what you would usually happen is everybody that would raise 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:46.760 their hand would raise their hand and say, I have 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:56.520 an unspoken, unspoken his code for is probably about a girl, 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:02.800 or it's about a guy. I have an unspoken But 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.520 you know, maybe every once in a while, somebody will 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.679 raise their hand and give a praise report about a 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.320 test that they pass, or a prayer request about a 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.680 test that they were taking. Here's us weird, And I 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.120 wonder if you've experienced this in your life, is that 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.280 in our lives we will often see the cycle that 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.960 what will be our prayer request in one season of 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:33.440 our life will become our praise report in the next season, 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:42.760 only to become our prayer request. Again, there's probably a 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.040 couple in here who right now is pregnant with child, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.080 and you probably prayed that God would enable you to 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.679 have a child, and maybe in like five months, three months, 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:59.760 seven months, you will give birth to your prayer request. 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.360 You had your friends praying, probably even in a crowd 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.600 this size, somebody who had trouble conceiving, and maybe even 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:10.560 through the course of many different miscarriages. This may be 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.839 the third or fourth or fifth time you tried, and 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.040 now you're on the way to giving birth to what 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.160 you prayed about. Others are still waiting for that, and 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.600 we're all at different places. But let me tell what's 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.680 going to happen. Because I've had She's had three babies, 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.160 and you pray for it, and then you have it, 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.040 and you praise God for it, and then you start 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.720 praying about it all over again. So watch this, y'all. Pray. 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.480 We're trying to have a baby. Y'all pray. We haven't 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:46.520 slept in thirty four days, y'all pray. Our toddler is 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.400 now showing some developmental delays. Y'all pray. We're trying to 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:52.280 get him into this school, but we can't get him 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:55.520 with the right teacher. Y'all pray he's got his driver's license. 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.480 Y'all better pray for yourselves. As a matter of fact, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:58.840 y'all might want to stay off the road for the 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:02.720 next few years. Y'all pray. It was your prayer request 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.520 that became your praise report that turned back into your 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.080 prayer request. So here's what I'm trying to say. You 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:23.720 prayed for your problems, Yes you did. You prayed for 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:28.120 the promotion on the job, and the promotion came with people, 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.920 and people are stupid and lazy and late and tardy. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.680 You prayed for that. Touch somebody say you prayed for it. 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.320 You asked for it. Don't get mad about it now. 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.040 You prayed for it. You prayed for a man. I 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.240 heard one girl praying for a husband one time. She 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.240 was praying for a future husband. She had a whole 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.480 list about it. She was praying. She was like, God, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.440 I pray that he would be godly, and I pray 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:56.960 that he would be tall. But God, I'd rather than 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.160 be godly than tall. But God, if he could be both, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:08.280 if he could be both, if he could be Oh, 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:14.080 it's both, you need both. You need both. It's in marriage. Like, 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.120 you know, don't marry somebody you're attracted to. Marry somebody 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.480 that you know loves the Lord. You better be attracted 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:26.920 to him too. It better be both, now, for real 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.240 about this. Most preachers won't say these things because they 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.200 sound carnal and unspiritual, but it needs to be both. 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:34.400 You need to like to look at each other. You're 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.400 gonna be looking at each other all the time in 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.920 this thing. Y'all gonna be prayer partners. Don't have to 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:48.800 get married. You gotta have some chemistry and christ. So 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.600 it goes back to the idea that humans are always 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:57.280 wanting to categorize, and we always want to divide things. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:16:58.960 You want us to get the you want us to 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.280 get the wheat, Separate from the weeds. That's what we 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.639 always want to do. We always want to separate the 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.520 good from the bad. You know, we want to talk 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.120 about I'm in a season of blessing right now, or 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.119 I'm going through a really hard season right now. Let 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.760 me tell you the truth, all of us are going 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.080 through a season of blessing right now, and all of 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.119 us are going through a really hard season right now. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.760 It just depends on which angle that you catch me 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.880 from as to what season I look like I'm going through. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.399 If you see me from one side, from my good side, 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.679 I might look like the most blessed man in the 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:42.040 United States of America, in the continental United States of America. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.920 But on the other side, I yelled at one of 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.359 my kids, who shall remain nameless, right before I came 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.320 to preach to you. But you didn't have to see that. 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.080 So now I'm a man full of the spirit and 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:53.680 wisdom up here. Give him a praise. Let it be done, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.760 receive your reign. We're like a flood. I was coming 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:58.679 through like a flood, but a different kind of flood. 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:00.720 Just a few minutes before I out on the stage. 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:05.160 Just both I could preach the Bible and I want 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.880 to beat your behind, both in the same two hour period, 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.240 in the same one hundred and twenty minutes. Because I'm 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.600 a pastor, but I'm also a daddy. And if you 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.880 disrespect my wife, I will turn into something else. Because 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:26.359 I'm a transformer, I'm a go by. I'm both. You 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:32.200 didn't know how to be both. WHOA wasn't in my notes? 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.639 But he kept trying to describe the kingdom. He said, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.919 it's like the seed was good and the weeds were bad. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.840 But they both grow together. And that's so true. They 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:53.320 both grow together. The opportunities grow, and so do the responsibilities. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.639 God take me deeper in my walk with you. Okay, 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:05.480 as you go deeper, you're gonna gain intimacy with Christ. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.040 And then you are gonna also gain awareness of your ignorance, 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.440 because the closer to Him you get, the more you're 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:18.040 gonna realize how much you don't know. So it's like, 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:19.840 I want to know you more, but the more you 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:21.959 come to know Christ, the more you're going to know 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:27.199 that you didn't know him at all. That's why I 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:32.000 liked the Ecclesiastes eleven. I was reading that how Solomon 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:37.360 had chased things that he called vanity or meaningless. It 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.159 was like the sense that, in the context of having 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:45.040 success and fulfillment, if you have one without the other 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.879 as problematic, what you really want is both. See like, 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.600 if you have success but not fulfillment or wholeness, that 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.679 will feel to you like the ultimate failure because to 0:19:57.840 --> 0:19:59.920 chase what you thought you wanted and to get it 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.080 and it didn't do what you needed done makes you 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:06.199 feel like, well, what do I do now? That's the 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.360 point that he was writing from where he said that 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.560 there are certain things that you just don't know, and 0:20:13.600 --> 0:20:17.480 he mentions two things an Ecclesiastes eleven. Because all of 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:21.040 us struggle from time to time when we are sowing, 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.480 when we are investing, when we are living our lives 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.239 and doing the things that we believe that God has 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:30.480 called us to do, without knowing whether it's making a 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:35.480 difference at all. There's so much you don't know. Solomon says, 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.160 if you watch the wind to see if it's blowing right, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.520 you will never sow. And if you watch the clouds 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:44.400 to see if it's dry enough, you will never read. 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.320 Your mind will always find an excuse for you. We'll 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.679 always find a reason, will always find an indication that 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.439 this is not the right time. And so Solomon is 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:01.800 giving advice. He's saying, just like you don't know how 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.160 the breath enters the bones of a woman in the womb. Now, 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.119 granted we have ultrasounds now, but it's still is still 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.400 true to be said today that there is a part 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.280 of the process of human life that we can't put 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:24.200 on a sonogram. There's a part of it, he says, 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:28.399 there's the bones, and then there's the spirit or the 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:33.440 breath Hebrew word rua. It's the same way that God breathed. 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.879 It's the spirit of God, the ruh of God. In 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.640 the Old Testament, he said, there's the bones, and there's 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:46.639 the breath. There's the structure, and there's the spirit. And 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:50.720 if you have structure but not spirit, you don't have life. 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:55.800 If you have spirit but you don't have structure, you 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.760 don't have life. In a few weeks, I'm going to 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.800 be teaching our staff on our annual staff Advance, and 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.840 I'm doing a whole session just around this verse for leadership, 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.879 because in church you can pray for the spirit of 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:12.400 God to come. But if you don't have structure, if 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.920 you don't have any capacity to manage what God brings you, 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:20.199 it will simply be irresponsibility and wishful thinking. On the 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.800 other hand, you can have organizational charts and resources and 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:27.200 all of the things that would tend to make people 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.040 think you are successful, but without the spirit, just without 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:33.520 that thing that only God can do. Can I tell 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:36.320 you something? I can get up here with an outline 0:22:36.560 --> 0:22:39.480 and an outfit and think that I have something to say, 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:41.520 but there's a part of me that knows because I've 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.720 been doing this for fourteen years now on this stage, 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:47.240 well not this when we had different buildings, but at 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.080 this church as the pastor, and there is a certain 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:53.040 thing that God has to do that I can't do, 0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:55.880 and I don't always know what He's going to do. 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:58.520 So there's a part of me that came in today 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:01.480 excited to preach to you because I had a structure, 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:04.119 I have some scriptures. But there's a part of me 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:06.240 that knows that God, if you don't blow on this, 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:09.439 if you don't breathe on this, if you don't do 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:13.800 that thing that you do that I can't do, if 0:23:13.840 --> 0:23:18.160 you don't tear open somebody's facade and speak down deep 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.280 in the places of their heart, then I'll just be 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:24.800 a clanging symbol. I'll just lose my voice, but I 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.720 won't say anything. God. I need you to breathe on 0:23:27.840 --> 0:23:30.560 my life. I need you to breathe peace. I need 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:33.520 you to breathe joy, because God, I can get a 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.200 big house, a nice car, the right clothes, and a 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.760 lot of people. But if you don't breathe, I won't 0:23:39.800 --> 0:23:45.480 be fulfilled. If you don't do it, it won't be done. 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:50.520 I need bone I need the bones and the breath. 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:55.320 I need the structure and the spirit I need Here's 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:57.600 what I love about it. I need the friends and 0:23:57.640 --> 0:24:05.679 the enemies. I need both. I was amazed how Jesus, 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:10.399 when he was putting together his Kingdom dream team, knew 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:16.560 that one of them was a devil and kept him anyway. John, 0:24:16.640 --> 0:24:22.160 I understand the disciple that Jesus loved, at least that's 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:29.919 what he put in his own bio. Of course you 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:32.920 chose John. He's going to take care of your mama 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:39.480 when you're gone. And of course he chose Judas because 0:24:39.560 --> 0:24:41.720 Judas was the one who got him to the cross 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:44.520 where he paid the price that he came to pay. 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:52.760 You need both. You need wheat and weeds, and if 0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:55.239 you try to pull them up. He tried to get 0:24:55.240 --> 0:24:57.040 the stuff out of your life that you don't like. 0:24:58.320 --> 0:25:03.800 You'll tear out the wheat, the substance. You'll tear out 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:08.240 the thing that God is growing. Because see what would 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:12.640 happen if you planted this particular type of weed, or 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:15.800 some versions call it the tears. The wheat and the tears. 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:21.439 It looked the same on the surface, but where it 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:27.880 was really difficult was underground. Where the tears would intermingle 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:32.720 with the wheat and the root systems would get intertwined. 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:37.560 And sometimes what God is doing in your life beneath 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:45.320 the surface, the pain is intertwined with the purpose. You 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:49.639 hear me. The thing that you don't like about yourself 0:25:50.640 --> 0:25:55.359 is sometimes the thing that God is using. And we 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:58.560 ask God to use us, and we ask God to 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:01.720 do as will in our lives unless we don't like it, 0:26:02.800 --> 0:26:05.280 and then we want to root that out. And so 0:26:05.320 --> 0:26:07.320 then it's like, well, God, I want you to do this, 0:26:07.440 --> 0:26:11.160 but not that. And what Solomon said is what Jesus said, 0:26:11.440 --> 0:26:14.439 you don't know which one is which, And so we 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:17.280 have to be very careful when we are trying to 0:26:17.320 --> 0:26:20.159 do our own gardening. Because I don't know about you, 0:26:20.280 --> 0:26:23.600 but I am not a horticulturist. I don't have a 0:26:23.600 --> 0:26:26.760 lot of agriculture experience. I was preparing this message and 0:26:26.800 --> 0:26:30.000 I had this weird memory of being a little boy 0:26:30.320 --> 0:26:33.359 and my mom had this little flower bed outside our house. 0:26:33.760 --> 0:26:36.399 And one day I decided to be helpful and I 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:39.520 came back to the door and I was so proud. 0:26:39.800 --> 0:26:41.760 I was like mom, and I had my hands full, 0:26:42.080 --> 0:26:44.199 and I said, I got all the weeds out of 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:46.960 your flower bed. And she looked like she wanted to 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:50.040 slap me, but she restrained herself. She said, those were 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:55.560 the flowers. But I didn't know the difference because I 0:26:55.680 --> 0:27:00.719 was too immature to know the difference. And sometimes we 0:27:00.760 --> 0:27:05.640 are spiritually immature, and we are running from things and 0:27:05.920 --> 0:27:09.760 removing things and resisting things. And in the process of 0:27:09.800 --> 0:27:14.000 trying to pluck out the weeds, you're removing the wheat. 0:27:18.359 --> 0:27:22.399 If God answered every prayer your brain right now, I'm sorry, Bruce. 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:25.199 Almighty was a pretty good movie. It would screw up 0:27:25.240 --> 0:27:30.159 the universe. It would ruin your training. Look, can I 0:27:30.200 --> 0:27:32.840 teach you a little bit? All right? So I used 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:35.000 to not be able to do a pull up. I'm 0:27:35.000 --> 0:27:36.480 not gonna lie to you. I was twenty two years 0:27:36.520 --> 0:27:39.040 old and I had never done a pull up in 0:27:39.040 --> 0:27:43.639 my life. So I start training to do pull ups, 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:49.200 and I could do some pulloups. One day, this guy 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:51.720 told me that I had to do not only pull ups, 0:27:51.760 --> 0:27:55.280 which was a feat of accomplishment for me. I work 0:27:55.320 --> 0:27:57.879 my whole life tour to this point, a culmination of 0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:01.080 my entire life's effort in the rum of X. He's like, 0:28:01.160 --> 0:28:03.320 now I need you to do a negative. I said, 0:28:03.320 --> 0:28:05.879 what's a negative? He said, well, there's two parts to 0:28:05.920 --> 0:28:09.240 every rep. There's when you're going up and there's when 0:28:09.240 --> 0:28:12.760 you're coming down. But there's just as much benefit in 0:28:12.840 --> 0:28:18.800 coming down as there is in coming up. I'm gonna 0:28:18.800 --> 0:28:22.760 give you seven seconds, because if that hits you right, 0:28:23.480 --> 0:28:26.600 you will start to see that the things in your 0:28:26.640 --> 0:28:30.639 life right now that you perceive as negative might be 0:28:30.840 --> 0:28:36.439 a crucial function in building your strength and your stamina 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:40.560 and your hope. There are some things about God that 0:28:40.600 --> 0:28:45.080 you can only learn going down. Ask Peter beginning to 0:28:45.240 --> 0:28:48.080 sink when he felt the grip of the grace of 0:28:48.120 --> 0:28:52.000 God through the hand of Jesus of Nazareth, and he said, 0:28:52.160 --> 0:28:59.640 now I know that, your Lord. It's the blessing of both. 0:29:00.680 --> 0:29:02.800 And you don't know touch Somebody say you don't know. 0:29:03.760 --> 0:29:07.320 You don't know the difference between wheat and wheat. You 0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:11.960 can't do the angel's job. Let God sort that out. 0:29:13.240 --> 0:29:17.600 I heard the Lord say, keep sewing and stop sorting. 0:29:18.240 --> 0:29:23.320 Sr T I n G. Keep sewing and stop sorting. 0:29:24.080 --> 0:29:27.640 Stop judging the experience the moment it happens, Give it 0:29:27.720 --> 0:29:30.360 some time to see what it is. As a matter 0:29:30.440 --> 0:29:32.640 of fact. I don't know if you have experienced this, 0:29:33.080 --> 0:29:36.400 but some of my successes have been the fruit of 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:40.760 my failures. Some of the things that have produced the 0:29:40.800 --> 0:29:44.080 most in my life were the things that, honestly, at 0:29:44.120 --> 0:29:47.640 the time I was the most embarrassed about some of 0:29:47.640 --> 0:29:52.240 the things that have Actually, I know that most of 0:29:52.280 --> 0:29:54.000 you in this church know the song, Oh, Come to 0:29:54.040 --> 0:29:59.320 the altar, the song that almost never was. There were 0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:03.880 twelve versions of that song. All of them sucked. All right, 0:30:03.920 --> 0:30:07.480 write this down. You want a deep revelation. Success starts 0:30:07.480 --> 0:30:19.920 with sucks, he says. Sow it in the morning, sow 0:30:19.920 --> 0:30:23.640 it in the evening, because you don't know. Seeds can 0:30:23.680 --> 0:30:29.920 be deceiving. Seeds can look awfully small. Seeds can look impotent, 0:30:30.600 --> 0:30:32.360 and they may be dormant for a while. And when 0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:34.080 you sew them, they go away for a little while. 0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:37.880 But they didn't go to die. They went to multiply. 0:30:39.280 --> 0:30:41.240 Some of the things in your life that you said 0:30:41.280 --> 0:30:43.920 goodbye to, you need to say see you later. I'm 0:30:43.960 --> 0:30:46.920 expecting you to come back up again. Because I believe 0:30:46.960 --> 0:31:02.400 in resurrection, the blessing of both both. I need both 0:31:02.400 --> 0:31:05.640 in my life. Paul needed both. I guess I do too. 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:11.240 Paul had this thing. He called it thorn, and he 0:31:11.360 --> 0:31:14.920 kept trying to weed it out. Ask God three times, 0:31:15.000 --> 0:31:18.520 take it away. Now, if you've ever asked God to 0:31:18.560 --> 0:31:23.680 take something away, that's fine. But if he doesn't do it, 0:31:24.280 --> 0:31:28.120 leave it alone. And here's why you can leave it alone, 0:31:28.800 --> 0:31:31.520 because the presence of weeds will not cancel out the 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:35.240 power of the week. What is supposed to grow will grow. 0:31:36.240 --> 0:31:38.680 Leave it alone for a little while and see what 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:41.480 it becomes. See if it will be the fruit this 0:31:42.000 --> 0:31:44.720 failure that you're processing right now. Some of you started 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:46.560 the business, you did the thing, you took the step, 0:31:46.720 --> 0:31:48.560 and you made a mess out of it. See if 0:31:48.680 --> 0:31:52.880 maybe that might be the seed of something that becomes 0:31:52.880 --> 0:31:55.040 something that people will celebrate in the future. And you 0:31:55.120 --> 0:31:57.920 will know, and God will know that you almost gave up, 0:31:58.080 --> 0:32:00.000 and the enemy was there telling you stop sewing it. 0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:02.520 It's not working. But you kept sewing, and you sewed 0:32:02.560 --> 0:32:05.040 in the morning, and you sewed in the evening, and 0:32:05.080 --> 0:32:08.040 you loved any way, and you forgave any way, and 0:32:08.080 --> 0:32:11.080 you showed up anyway, and you did it anyway, and 0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:13.880 you memorized a scripture and quoted it any way, even 0:32:13.920 --> 0:32:16.320 though it wasn't happening in your life. But you kept 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:19.080 quoting it, and you kept sewing, and you didn't try 0:32:19.080 --> 0:32:21.000 to sort it out, and you didn't try to root 0:32:21.040 --> 0:32:24.239 it up, and you didn't get impatient and immature. But 0:32:24.360 --> 0:32:26.720 you waited for the will of God to come to 0:32:26.840 --> 0:32:33.080 pass in your life. Once you ever stopped sewing. Because 0:32:33.160 --> 0:32:36.520 you don't know. Solomon said, you don't know the way 0:32:36.560 --> 0:32:38.320 that the breath enters the bones, and you don't know 0:32:38.360 --> 0:32:43.000 the way God works either. You don't know. We don't 0:32:43.000 --> 0:32:45.360 know which sermons God's going to use to touch people. 0:32:46.400 --> 0:32:48.200 Then you ever preach one you hate it, and then 0:32:48.200 --> 0:32:50.360 everybody wanted to talk about it for the next year, 0:32:51.480 --> 0:32:55.000 and you preached one you loved and nobody ever remembered it. 0:32:55.000 --> 0:32:58.000 It'll make you mad, but that's how the breath operates. 0:32:58.480 --> 0:33:01.120 So you'll be reminded that you need the spirit of God, 0:33:01.200 --> 0:33:04.720 not just structure and skill and some things in your life. 0:33:04.840 --> 0:33:08.680 It's gonna surprise you because you don't know. He said 0:33:08.720 --> 0:33:10.960 one might work and one might not, or both might 0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:13.600 do equally well. In fact, he said in the ESV 0:33:14.120 --> 0:33:18.120 both may be good. Now that made me think of 0:33:18.200 --> 0:33:28.080 Joseph Naturally Old Testament Joseph with the coat Joseph, the 0:33:28.080 --> 0:33:31.160 coat that got him beat up, the coat that got 0:33:31.240 --> 0:33:34.000 him thrown in a pit, The coat that represented the 0:33:34.040 --> 0:33:36.880 favor of his father. The coat that was kind of 0:33:36.920 --> 0:33:40.120 loud and obnoxious, but he wore it anyway. The coat 0:33:40.160 --> 0:33:42.280 that let him know he was chosen even if people 0:33:42.280 --> 0:33:46.600 didn't like him. Remember, you need both. Everybody's not supposed 0:33:46.640 --> 0:33:50.360 to like you. If everybody likes you, you are doing nothing. 0:33:50.800 --> 0:33:54.200 If everybody likes you, you stand for nothing. If everybody 0:33:54.240 --> 0:33:57.040 agrees with you, you are saying nothing. You don't need 0:33:57.080 --> 0:34:01.360 everybody to like you, and like a true prophet now, 0:34:01.880 --> 0:34:04.760 because one time I was going through some criticism and 0:34:04.800 --> 0:34:07.360 I asked God to make it stop. He said, well, 0:34:07.360 --> 0:34:09.840 if I stop that, then I got to stop the 0:34:09.880 --> 0:34:14.800 blessing that created the criticism to begin with. Because both 0:34:15.360 --> 0:34:22.440 grow together. Both grow together. Oh, I want to be 0:34:22.640 --> 0:34:25.279 used by God, and I want everybody to agree with 0:34:25.360 --> 0:34:31.240 all of my decisions and validate my existence. Both grow together. 0:34:31.960 --> 0:34:34.319 And so when Joseph did get pushed in a pit, 0:34:35.000 --> 0:34:38.560 it was no surprise to me that the Ishmaelit caravan 0:34:39.120 --> 0:34:42.000 was the one that picked him up. It didn't surprise 0:34:42.080 --> 0:34:45.680 me at all. Because that's just like God. He always 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:50.120 uses both. Ishmael was the son that Abraham had doing 0:34:50.120 --> 0:34:52.600 it his own way. Isaac was the one that he 0:34:52.680 --> 0:34:55.720 had doing it God's way. But guess which one God used. 0:34:57.880 --> 0:35:01.879 Guess which one God used both? You mean God will 0:35:01.960 --> 0:35:06.080 use my mistakes to bring about a deliverance in my future. 0:35:07.520 --> 0:35:10.000 You mean God will use the dumb thing I did. 0:35:10.280 --> 0:35:13.879 I'm saying absolutely, if he's sovereign, he will, if it's 0:35:13.920 --> 0:35:17.440 his field, if it's his harvest, if it's his job 0:35:17.640 --> 0:35:22.320 to superintend your life. Even the ishmaelite served a purpose. 0:35:24.640 --> 0:35:28.600 When David slept with Bathsheba after the child died. The 0:35:28.640 --> 0:35:31.319 next son he had was named Solomon, who was the 0:35:31.360 --> 0:35:35.840 wisest man who ever lived, who wrote Ecclesiastes eleven. His 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:42.160 dumbest decision led to the world's greatest wisdom. I'm gonna try. 0:35:42.800 --> 0:35:45.120 I'm gonna try because I saw it in my mind 0:35:45.200 --> 0:35:47.839 like this. I saw that God is using both in 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:51.680 your life right now. He's using both. So when Joseph 0:35:51.680 --> 0:35:55.840 gets thrown in prison, it's not good. But God uses 0:35:55.880 --> 0:35:58.719 that to introduce him to somebody who is going to 0:35:58.760 --> 0:36:02.560 bring him before Pharaoh. When he comes before Pharaoh. Pharaoh 0:36:02.640 --> 0:36:04.960 was telling him about a dream that means there's going 0:36:05.000 --> 0:36:07.280 to be a famine in the land. Well, the femine 0:36:07.280 --> 0:36:09.960 isn't good, but God is using the famine to create 0:36:10.000 --> 0:36:13.000 a position of favor for his people. Now, when they 0:36:13.040 --> 0:36:16.279 finally got there, Joseph is standing before his brothers and 0:36:16.320 --> 0:36:19.600 he has a revelation that everything that has happened in 0:36:19.640 --> 0:36:23.600 his life wasn't good, But everything that happened in his 0:36:23.680 --> 0:36:26.680 life has been held in the hand of God. So 0:36:26.920 --> 0:36:30.160 God wasn't just using the stuff that felt good to you, 0:36:31.080 --> 0:36:33.880 not just the stuff that you praised him for, not 0:36:34.080 --> 0:36:37.280 just the stuff that you thanked him for. Paul finally 0:36:37.320 --> 0:36:39.759 came to the point where he said, I learned to 0:36:39.920 --> 0:36:43.839 thank God for my thorn. I learned to thank him 0:36:44.080 --> 0:36:46.759 for the things that he is using that I did 0:36:46.760 --> 0:36:50.320 not choose for myself, the things that he is using 0:36:50.600 --> 0:36:54.319 that tormented me at one time. But the tormentor was 0:36:54.400 --> 0:36:58.160 my mentor that transformed me into who I needed to 0:36:58.200 --> 0:37:01.480 be so that I would rely on the grace of God. 0:37:01.719 --> 0:37:10.880 It's the blessing of both. It's both. So when Joseph said, 0:37:11.560 --> 0:37:15.000 you meant it to harm me, but God meant it 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:18.120 for good. He's not speaking out of both sides of 0:37:18.160 --> 0:37:25.359 his mouth. It's both. They meant it, but God used it. 0:37:26.960 --> 0:37:35.360 God is going to use both. I promise you he is. 0:37:37.400 --> 0:37:41.279 I promise you he is. That's what the cross represents, 0:37:41.320 --> 0:37:44.840 after all, is two beams, one vertical that's you and God, 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:48.759 one horizontal that's you and people. Is both. Love the Lord, 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:51.600 your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, Love 0:37:51.640 --> 0:37:55.040 your neighbor as yourself. It's both. It's not one or 0:37:55.040 --> 0:37:59.120 the other. It's both. I praise God when I feel it. 0:37:59.640 --> 0:38:02.600 I pray God. When I don't feel it. I praise 0:38:02.640 --> 0:38:05.239 God when I sense him. I praise Him when it's 0:38:05.239 --> 0:38:08.080 so distant that I wonder sometimes as any of this 0:38:08.200 --> 0:38:11.440 even real. I praise him in the good times. I 0:38:11.560 --> 0:38:14.640 praise him in the bad times. I praise him when 0:38:14.680 --> 0:38:16.759 he does what I ask. I praise him when he 0:38:16.800 --> 0:38:19.520 runs a little late to lazarus funeral, because I know, 0:38:19.640 --> 0:38:33.600 even on the fourth day, he can say something. And 0:38:33.719 --> 0:38:43.600 Joseph said, oh, it's both. Is pain and purpose. It's both. 0:38:45.480 --> 0:38:50.520 And we keep waiting to this day when everything in 0:38:50.560 --> 0:38:55.520 our life will be stable, and all of our relationships 0:38:56.440 --> 0:39:00.920 will be harmonious, and God said, I need you to 0:39:01.000 --> 0:39:06.720 learn how to celebrate the wheat even while you're looking 0:39:06.760 --> 0:39:17.839 at the weeds. Even the enemy serves a purpose. Even 0:39:17.880 --> 0:39:23.640 the devil works for God. The devil's not in charge 0:39:23.680 --> 0:39:27.200 of what happens in my life. God doesn't do everything 0:39:27.200 --> 0:39:31.880 that happens to me, but he uses everything that happens 0:39:31.920 --> 0:39:35.120 to me. There is nothing that is happening in your 0:39:35.200 --> 0:39:38.520 life that will not have to pass through the hand 0:39:38.560 --> 0:39:43.440 of God by the time is said and done. And 0:39:43.480 --> 0:39:49.399 so I saw this picture that really moved me of 0:39:49.440 --> 0:39:54.440 how Joseph's father, Jacob, at the end of his life, 0:39:54.520 --> 0:39:58.640 was sitting on his deathbed. And Jacob was an interesting 0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:06.560 character because he had two names, Jacob Deceiber Israel Prince, 0:40:07.840 --> 0:40:15.239 which one was he If you'll be really honest, you're 0:40:15.239 --> 0:40:21.799 both too. So please don't judge people just because their 0:40:22.400 --> 0:40:26.520 shortcomings are exposed. If it weren't for the grace of God, 0:40:26.560 --> 0:40:29.759 who knows where you would be. Come on, how many 0:40:29.840 --> 0:40:37.640 know what you're capable of. I didn't have a problem. 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:40.120 I didn't have a problem preaching in that prison the 0:40:40.160 --> 0:40:43.600 other day because I'm not in that same situation. But 0:40:43.640 --> 0:40:48.280 I could be. There's nothing better about me than anybody 0:40:48.280 --> 0:40:51.160 that I was preaching to. It wasn't a problem for 0:40:51.239 --> 0:40:55.480 me to preach. It's the power of both, it's the 0:40:55.480 --> 0:41:01.960 blessing of both. And when Jacob was about to die, 0:41:02.239 --> 0:41:05.280 Joseph wanted to get his kids in front of Jacob 0:41:06.160 --> 0:41:09.440 so that they could be blessed. And he brought these 0:41:09.480 --> 0:41:12.799 two sons that he had in Egypt. The oldest one 0:41:12.840 --> 0:41:17.440 was named Manassa, the younger one was named Ephraim. And 0:41:17.520 --> 0:41:21.360 they sat on Jacob's knees for a minute. Jacob couldn't 0:41:21.400 --> 0:41:27.680 see very well. And after all that Joseph has been through, 0:41:27.760 --> 0:41:33.640 God has blessed him. Anyway, these two sons have significant names. 0:41:34.920 --> 0:41:39.600 Manassa means to forget, because he said, I'm going to 0:41:39.640 --> 0:41:43.719 forget the shame and the pain of Egypt. God has 0:41:43.760 --> 0:41:49.240 made me forget. And then Ephraim means fruitful, not beautiful. 0:41:49.239 --> 0:41:53.640 How God can produce fruit and even the hardest and 0:41:53.680 --> 0:42:01.799 worst situations. Well, anyway, when Jacob was sitting up to 0:42:01.840 --> 0:42:06.759 bless the boys, he did something weird. I want to 0:42:06.760 --> 0:42:09.560 show you this real quick. I don't know who this 0:42:09.680 --> 0:42:16.399 is for, but in Genesis forty eight thirteen, you got 0:42:16.440 --> 0:42:27.839 it forty eight thirteen. Please they said in Joseph took them. 0:42:28.000 --> 0:42:33.439 He took both of them, Ephraim in his right hand 0:42:33.480 --> 0:42:36.160 toward Israel's left hand, and Manassa in his left hand. 0:42:37.440 --> 0:42:41.960 God's gonna bless both, and he brought them near him 0:42:42.040 --> 0:42:46.480 next verse and Israel stretched out his right hand laid 0:42:46.520 --> 0:42:49.719 it on the head of who was the younger, and 0:42:49.840 --> 0:42:53.120 his left hand on the head of Manassa, crossing his 0:42:53.200 --> 0:42:57.920 hands for Manassa was the firstborn. Now understand when he 0:42:57.960 --> 0:43:03.600 did that, it broke every protocol and violated every expectation, 0:43:05.440 --> 0:43:08.800 because he was supposed to bless the oldest one first. 0:43:11.360 --> 0:43:16.120 But God doesn't do things the way we think that 0:43:16.160 --> 0:43:20.560 he should do things, and we don't get what we 0:43:20.719 --> 0:43:23.080 deserve from God. We get so much more. We get 0:43:23.560 --> 0:43:29.880 his grace and his mercy. And when he crossed his 0:43:29.920 --> 0:43:33.200 hands over to bless the younger, when first do any 0:43:33.239 --> 0:43:34.839 of you know that God has blessed you in ways 0:43:34.840 --> 0:43:36.680 that you don't deserve and didn't earn. And there's no 0:43:36.760 --> 0:43:38.520 way in the world you could have built a resume 0:43:38.640 --> 0:43:45.640 to afford it. So when he did it, Joseph got 0:43:45.680 --> 0:43:49.040 really upset. It said, when Joseph saw verse seventeen that 0:43:49.120 --> 0:43:52.080 his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim. 0:43:52.320 --> 0:43:56.719 It displeased him, and he took his father's hand to 0:43:56.840 --> 0:44:00.360 move it from Ephraim's head to Manassa's head. Watch the 0:44:00.360 --> 0:44:03.040 next verse, and Joseph said to his father, not this way, 0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:05.680 my father, This one was the firstborn. You know, I 0:44:05.719 --> 0:44:08.239 know you're getting old and you can't. You used to 0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:09.640 do this when you were a little kid. You've been 0:44:09.680 --> 0:44:11.600 trying to switch things up your whole life. But put 0:44:11.640 --> 0:44:13.560 your right hand on his head. Watch the next verse. 0:44:13.600 --> 0:44:15.439 But his father refused and said, I know, my son. 0:44:15.680 --> 0:44:20.120 I know he shall also become a people. He shall 0:44:20.120 --> 0:44:23.600 also be great. In other words, he said, I'm gonna 0:44:23.600 --> 0:44:28.920 bless both. You know why I don't ever have to 0:44:28.920 --> 0:44:32.960 be jealous of anybody else's life. You know why I 0:44:32.960 --> 0:44:36.480 don't ever have to worry about comparing myself to what 0:44:36.520 --> 0:44:41.200 God does for somebody else, because God is big enough 0:44:41.600 --> 0:44:47.920 to bless both of us. And when you know that, 0:44:49.200 --> 0:44:53.160 come on, when you know that this is the blessing 0:44:53.200 --> 0:44:59.160 of both. To know that what I call good, what 0:44:59.239 --> 0:45:05.080 I call bad, God is going to bless both, don't 0:45:05.120 --> 0:45:08.239 you go trying to pluck stuff yourself that's above your 0:45:08.280 --> 0:45:12.680 pay grade. Don't you go on a self improvement project 0:45:12.719 --> 0:45:17.520 without God's help, You'll mess up the masterpiece. God said, 0:45:17.520 --> 0:45:23.680 it's all working together for the good. I'm gonna bless both. 0:45:26.040 --> 0:45:29.600 They were singing a minute ago. Come here, Tiff. She 0:45:29.760 --> 0:45:36.240 was singing, you never lost the battle, You never lost 0:45:36.280 --> 0:45:39.800 a battle. I felt that when when we were writing 0:45:39.840 --> 0:45:43.120 that song, I felt it. We were just singing that 0:45:43.600 --> 0:45:51.279 you never lost the battle, never lost the battle, and 0:45:51.320 --> 0:45:55.880 we just started singing that. Yes, oh man. I was like, yes, Lord, 0:45:55.920 --> 0:45:59.080 the church is gonna want to sing this. And then 0:45:59.120 --> 0:46:01.920 I was like keeping it. But then I was like, Chris, 0:46:01.960 --> 0:46:04.839 why don't you, uh, won't you help her? And then 0:46:04.920 --> 0:46:10.520 she's sang it. I said, if they what if they both? 0:46:12.440 --> 0:46:16.880 If they what if they bone? Yeah? What if they bone? 0:46:17.200 --> 0:46:27.440 What if? What if it? What if Paul is silas 0:46:28.320 --> 0:46:33.080 start praising God together? What if we come together in 0:46:33.280 --> 0:46:37.200 his name? Can't begin to lift him off? What if 0:46:37.239 --> 0:46:49.960 we praise him? Things work together? Thank you for joining us. 0:46:50.280 --> 0:46:52.719 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:46:52.800 --> 0:46:56.280 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:46:56.760 --> 0:46:58.920 You can click the link in the description to give 0:46:59.040 --> 0:47:03.160 now or visit Elevationchurch dot org. Slash podcast for more 0:47:03.200 --> 0:47:07.000 information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:47:07.280 --> 0:47:09.359 You can share it with your friends. You can click 0:47:09.360 --> 0:47:11.600 the share button, take a screenshot and share it on 0:47:11.640 --> 0:47:14.520 your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks 0:47:14.520 --> 0:47:15.920 again for listening. God bless you.