The Gift Of Grief (Lisa Harper)

0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:02.840 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.880 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:11.080 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.600 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:17.160 Enjoy the message. 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:22.680 Goodness, goodness, goodness. Thank y'all, Thank you so much. Please 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.160 sit down. I have a couple of confessions to make 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:33.120 before we dive into God's word. Ah love Elevation. I 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.240 love this house. I really really love Pastor Steven, Pastor Holly. 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.400 As a matter of fact, Holly, I had a message 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:50.920 that was rhymed and everything prepared, and then I've been 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:56.240 doing Holly is grateful for aid And the other day 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.400 I just got wrecked by thinking of what I'm grateful for, 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.680 and I realized one of my ates is grief. And 0:01:05.720 --> 0:01:09.600 I thought, what a weird thing to be grateful for grief. 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.039 And I promise I have not been smoking anything medicinal. 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:17.640 I know that sounds so counterintuitive when we come from 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:19.720 this great time of worship to then just kind of 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.440 dive into grief. But I realized grief for me and 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.880 I'm in another season of grief. I lost somebody I 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.960 loved very much a month ago yesterday, and I'm just 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:35.720 in that place of I trust in God. And he answered, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.080 but he took a wild answer. And ye know, sometimes 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.240 there's that gap between I trust in God and then 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.440 you're waiting on an answer, waiting on an answer, waiting 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.400 on answer. C. S. Lewis says, sometimes we don't get 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.040 the answer that we're so desperate for. We get more 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.400 of a no answer. He said, but it's not uncompassionates, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:02.080 as if God is saying peace child. You don't understand 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:07.080 this because we see through the lens, you know, kind 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.560 of blurry, and so it's your fault. It's not going 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:15.440 to rhyme today because she wrecks me with just that 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.280 focused on everything that filters through the hands of God 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:26.280 is good. I love this house, deeply, deeply respect your leadership. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:28.800 I'm at an age and stage of life where I 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.920 get discounts at fast food restaurants and I'm turning to 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.799 sixty one next month. So I've lived a whole lot 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.040 of life. So when I get to be around leaders 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.960 like Chunks and Colleen Tunis and people who've stayed the 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:48.640 course for a while I just so deeply respect that 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.239 kind of longevity. If you're one of those people who 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.240 gets bugged when people go on and on about how 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.200 much they love Elevation, you're going to have to get 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.760 over yourself this morning because I love the house. The 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:04.240 first time I got to come here, I really thought 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.960 they had messed up. I thought Chunks thought he was 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.560 texting Lisa Turkhurst, and I just wasn't going to tell 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.240 him any different. I was so excited about the fact 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.080 that I got to come and I still feel like that. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:17.360 I kind of feel like the shy girl, you know, 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.800 with a you know, payless haircut, and I got invited 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.800 to prom by the football quarterback. I love getting to 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.480 come here. On the plane in Nashville, they delayed us, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.120 and I was like, if they tell me they are 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.400 canceling in spite to Charlotte, I will get on my 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.839 bike and ride here, which would have been difficult because 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:39.680 it's a peloton, but still I would have attempted it. 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:44.160 I love, love, love this house, and a couple of 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.880 qualifications extra I'm a spitter, and y'all, I'm so sorry. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.520 I get really excited when I'm talking about Jesus and 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.280 I spew, So y'all are kind of going to get 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:57.520 rebaptized if your presbyteria'll be cool, because it's a sprinkling. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.280 If you need a full dunking, it's not going to 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:06.200 be that exciting. And then I might slightly wreck your 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.920 Independence Day week because I want to start with a 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.160 Fourth of July story, which is where I actually learned 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.000 to grieve in a way that led me towards Jesus 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.599 instead of into a place by myself. It's about fifteen 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.120 years ago. It was Fourth of July week, and I 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.240 was real excited. I love the Fourth of July. I 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:28.840 get all the blinkies and the Sparkleys and the red, 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.800 white and blue, and I was really really fired up. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.320 And I was also fired up because I was in 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:39.039 a very serious romantic relationship with a really, really handsome, 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:45.159 incredible man. And I guess enough time has passed that 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:47.840 I can share his name publicly now. His name is 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:55.680 Larry super fat liar pants and it was such a 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.880 big fat liar. But anyway, we dated seriously for about 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.960 and we were heading to what I thought was I 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.599 was going to finally get to, you know, buy the 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.000 white dress and get all the bride's maid's dresses. I 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.800 was going to do a bush and I was so 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.520 excited because I was almost forty and to get married 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.080 at almost forty, I mean, spanks are going to be involved, 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:20.720 but that's like exciting, that's a huge relief. And he 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:25.360 ghosted me right before fourth of July, and I know, 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:27.360 I know I should tell you it was real name, 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:33.479 but anyway, he's married another girl but they divorced, so anyway, 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.440 that was hateful and not fruit of the spirit. But anyway, 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.440 I'm going to get to gratitude in just a second. 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.800 Do not is faster? Stephen watching this. Hopefully he's just 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.600 like being alone with the Lord and doesn't know what's 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.800 happening in his church this morning. We're going to get 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.240 to the Bible in just a second. But anyway, Larry 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.680 Lyerpants ghosted me right before Jolly fourth and we were 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.479 going to this big couple's sway and that I'd gotten 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.080 a new output for It's gonna be so much fun. 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.320 And I was like, well, I can't go with all 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.960 the couples, you know, when I'm he just I'm not 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:05.640 with him. That's like going to Krispy Kreme when you're 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.240 on keto. I'm not going to do that. And so 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:10.320 a friend called me and said, hey, if you're not 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:11.920 going to go to that party, why don't you come 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:14.840 over to my house because she was going through a 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.600 real awful divorce and it was the first time she'd 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.000 ever been without her kids. They were with their dad 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.080 for Fourth of July, and she said, I kind of 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.200 need a friend. And then a bunch of us are 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.400 getting together for our own Fourth of July party, and 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.360 I was like, oh great, I'll be with all the 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:34.280 sad single ladies with cats. So I thought, okay, I'm 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.160 just going to own this. And so I go over 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.320 to her house and I thought, you know, she doesn't have, 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.640 you know, her husband here anymore. Maybe I could actually 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.159 help before the party. My dad was a contractor, I'm single, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.880 all kinds of power tools, and so I thought, I'll 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.120 put in some shelving in her garage. That would help 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.960 this nice girl who's a single mom and she's kind 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.640 of sad like me. And so I put these shelves. 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.680 I was putting them in her garage and I was 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.839 way up high on the ladder and the ladder started 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.159 to She had those bougie garage floors. They're real slick. 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.920 And the ladder started to slide and I'm way up 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.480 with this drill, and I thought, oh, shoot fire, I'm 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:12.640 gonna fall. I can't there's nothing I can do. I 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.160 wouldn't saidhoot fire if I wasn't in church. But so 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.560 I start to slip and I look down and you 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.119 know those tomato those swirly things people put tomato plants 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.480 on the summer metal things. I look down and I 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.920 see those, and the sharp part is up and I 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.320 was like, oh shoot, I'm about to become a kebab. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.920 And so I was trying to you know how you're 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:34.520 like swimming in the air because I knew it was 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.240 going to hit the concrete. I just didn't want to 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.000 hit the tomato spirals. So I'm kind of swimming well. 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.560 When I did, my leg hooked under the ladder and 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.400 I fell from twelve feet on the concrete and knocked 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.440 myself out, and I cracked a tooth and lost a 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.720 tooth right there, which is why I listp a little 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:54.560 and broke my ankle, knocked myself out, knocked the tooth 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.880 out of my head. She heard me fall, she comes 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.800 running around. I promise this will get better. We're getting 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.800 to the Bible and hope, so stay with me. And 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.280 she comes running around while she was really alarmed that 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.440 I was unconscious when she found me in a little 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.480 bloody and so she calls somebody she knows who's the 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.600 medical field, and they say she probably has a you know, concussion, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:17.840 so keep her up and ask her about the president 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.600 of the year and all that. And so she kind 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:23.240 of gets me on her couch and she's like, what's 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.200 the year? And I'm like, like, what are you doing? 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.400 She keeps asking me historical questions. I've never really liked history. 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.280 And then she comes back in like the fourth time, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.679 because I'm thinking, I just need to go home, Like 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.720 this has just been not at all the day I expected. 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.520 I just need to go home. She comes running back in. 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.200 I think she's going to ask me about the president, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:45.920 and she goes, Reeve's dead, and I was like, what 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.680 are you talking about. Well, a friend of mine when 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.640 they had kids, he found out his kids were allergic 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.559 to dogs, and so he said, can you keep one 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.199 of my dogs. I'm finding a place for him. And 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.400 he had a dog named Reba, because is why writes 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:02.680 country songs. And she wrote a cut on Reba's record, 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.360 so named the dog Riba. There's the worst dog in 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.800 the history of time. But I love dogs and I 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:08.600 felt sorry for this dog. Well, nobody wanted the dog, 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.000 and I ended up having the dog forever, even though 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.160 technically I was just keeping the dog for twelve years 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.000 until he got somebody to adopt this dog. So I 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.440 had several dogs, but also I had Riba and little tiny, red, 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.800 fluffy dog. And while I was helping at this girl's house, 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:27.720 I just put RIBA's leash on the fence because I 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.439 was going to go for a run with Riba before 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.080 the party. And when this girl named Kim took me 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.679 under how she just wasn't thinking that this little dog 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.000 the leash was still on the fence. And so when 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:42.199 fireworks started going off and she's making sure I'm not dead, 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.679 Rita but got all twisted up and Riba died, and 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.640 I thought she was kidding me, and I thought it 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.439 was this horrible, horrible joke. I'm like, that's just awful, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.079 and she was no. You know when people get nervous 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.680 and they laugh because they're nervous, So I still couldn't 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.040 tell she was punking me. She was like, no, he 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.000 was dead, and I was like what, Like this is awful. 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:08.199 I've lost my man, I've lost a tooth, I've broken you. 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.600 Are you really tell him when my dog died? And 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.600 then she went yeah, I put her in the freezer. 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.480 I was like, you put her in the fresh star 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:17.920 and she said, well it's hot, and I was afraid 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.840 she'd stink and I've never dealt with the dead dog before, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.800 so yeah, she's in the freezer. And for a moment, 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.760 I thought, this isn't my life. Like I was supposed 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.720 to get married. I'd picked out the dress and as 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:29.760 July the fourth, and supposed to be all sparkly, and 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.240 now I've lost my man, I've lost my tooth, and 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.120 my dog is in the freezer, and I thought this 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.120 is not one of those I trust in God, And 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.520 he answered moments this is I trust in God. And 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.760 I feel like it's gotten me to a really bad 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.240 place because now I can't even cuss because I trust 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.280 in God and this is just hard and sad, and 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.800 all I want to do is eat been in jerries 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.559 and like, oh, this is terrible. Maybe even go to Netflix. 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:03.320 I what happens when you trust in God? And you 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.880 don't get the answer you want right then. I used 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.200 to never talk about hard things like that. I never 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.600 used to say when I was grieving, when I lost 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.880 somebody I loved. I never talked about the gap between 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.240 I trusting God any answers. Because I grew up in 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.359 a stream of the church where it was just tacitly 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.600 endorsed that you always wear a happy face. I thought 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.960 that was somewhere in the Bible. I thought, if you 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:35.559 were serious about your faith, you could not ever say 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.000 you were having a hard day. I thought you just 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.440 shoulders back, head up, big smile, hopefully a T shirt 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.199 with a verse on it. Because I didn't think we 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.760 were allowed as Christ followers to say I trust in God, 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:56.080 but he hasn't answered yet. I trust in God, but 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.840 I'm really sad right now. I thought I'm not allowed 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.120 to do that. It'll be a bad witness, It'll hurt 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:08.640 God's reputation. I used to beat myself up internally and 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.040 just say, if you could just memorize a few more verses, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.199 if you could just muster up a little more faith, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.800 you'd be a more effective evangelist. Lisa, you can't say 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:20.400 you're having a hard day. Somehow that negates the whole 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.080 fact that he's a perfect God, that he's good God, 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:26.320 that he never leaves us, and he never forsakes us. 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:29.400 So I curated my emotions and I only brought the 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.040 bright and shiny and the red, white and blue sparkly 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:37.480 wines to church. And I never brought the black and blue. 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.800 My heart is broken and my dog is dead. I 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.600 didn't bring that to the family of faith. I just 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.839 ached in isolation because I swallowed the lie that God 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:52.600 is disappointed in us if we're sad. I thought sad 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:56.960 was bad. You know, it took me a long, long 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.040 long time to realize that our guy is so kind 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.040 that never one time, never, one time, in this love 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:07.559 story we call the Bible, does he say I want 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.000 you to stuff the sad parts and only bring the 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.160 bright and shiny to me. He never ever people do that. 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.680 But our creator, Redeemer has never said I only want 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:23.080 the positivity in you. He never says that. He says, 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:33.720 bring me everything, bring me everything. If deep if deep 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.120 fake was a sport, I was a world champion. Then 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.079 I went to seminary the first go round, and I 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:45.480 could wrap Greek and Hebrew around my deep fake, and 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.600 when I got in a ditch between I trust in God, 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:53.560 and it took a while for me to hear his answer. Man, 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:59.920 I got stuck stuck in that ditch, and God did 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:05.839 chastise me, and I didn't get a holy spanky, Uni 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:10.760 said through Holy Spirit. When I was literally and emotionally 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:15.360 flat on my face, he said, Lisa, you've been running 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.520 so hard for so long that I had to put 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.600 a lump under your rug, so big that it would 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:25.120 cause you to trip. Because I love you so much 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.640 and the pretense in you has caused offense between us, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.200 and I want all of you, and so I'm going 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.560 to sit here with you in the dark until fear 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.680 doesn't own you anymore, until you can bring all of 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:43.880 you to all of me. So I still have deep ends. 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.080 This July the fourth was a hard one too, because 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:54.520 the only man I've ever trusted died, and he died 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.960 way too young, and we really believe that he would 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.360 be healed. So this July the fourth wasn't super bright 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:05.360 and shiny either, But the presence of God in that 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:10.920 place and the way grief has made his countenance a 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.640 little clear. When we're sad, sometimes the veil gets a 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.040 little thinnered, doesn't it, And His presence is just so 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.200 palpable because we need it and we're more cognizant of 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.880 the fact that we need God. I'm not trying to 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.200 be Debbie Downer today. I'm just saying, as a people 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.760 of God, sometimes I think we're missing this whole beautiful 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.640 green pasture and the still water because we try to 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:38.840 put on bright and shiny when we're in church or 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.920 when we were other Christians, and sometimes even the world. 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.720 We've got a world that is so sad and so broken, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.640 and we've become so irrelevant because we try to pretend 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.400 like we aren't. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. We 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.440 talk about how God is with us in the hard places, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.520 not that we don't have them anymore. And it's all 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.800 throughout scripture. I don't know how I miss this. All 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.240 throughout Scripture. We have story after story. You have story 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:08.480 of people who were disappointed, people who were sad. Why 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.560 do we think they are all bright and shiny and 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:17.440 in leather pants. They're not. Every single one of the 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:21.520 saints went through seasons where they lost their groove. Charles Spurgeon, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:25.680 who is my pretend theological boyfriend. I love Spurgeon, and 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.440 I was so encouraged when I read the Spurgeon, one 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:34.080 of the greatest saints we've ever experienced as a Christian 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:39.120 people lived in the UK late eighteen hundreds, amazing communicator 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.800 of the gospel. Hundreds of thousands got saved under Spurgeon's ministry. 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:48.720 We're still reading his books. He's amazing. Spurgeon said, there 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.240 are times when I feel like I'm living in a 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:57.080 dungeon underneath a castle of despair. That's sad. I mean, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.520 that's like prozac kind of sad. Baby, that is carbo 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.760 loading kind of said, I'm living in a dungeon underneath 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.760 a castle of despair. One of the most effective evangelance 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:13.359 the world has ever seen. And he said, I ache, y'all, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.240 we will all ache. Unless you have not gone through puberty, 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:20.399 or you have amnesia, or you too are Larry or 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:24.200 Larry at liar pants, we will all ate. Jesus didn't 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.080 punk us. He didn't say everything's going to be perfect here. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.440 He said, in this world, you will have trouble. He said, 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:34.479 take heart, take heart, take heart. I've overcome the world. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.000 And if you've listened to your pasture, I think we'll 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.639 get to the place where we even become grateful for 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:49.680 grief because we realize Oh. Usually revivals follow pits. Usually, 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.480 if you'll look back over the trajectory of your walk 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.000 of faith, you'll go Man, where I really grew wasn't 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.680 a season of where everything was going well. It was 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.320 a season where the bottom fell out of my world 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:08.000 and I found God there. I still have deep ens. 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.600 I'm just not afraid I'm gonna drown anymore. I brought 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.919 a couple of multisyllabic theological words so those of you 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:19.080 who are enneagram eights would feel like you got your 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.840 money's worth in church today. I learned these in seminary, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:27.480 and I have sweat and blood in my doctoral programs. 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.800 So the few long words I remember and I paid 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.439 so much for, I want to humble brag about. But 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:37.760 these actually are really pertinent when we talk about bringing 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.000 all that we are to all of who God is. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:48.360 First word is orthodoxy, and orthodoxy comes from a Latin prefix, 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.240 a Greek sorry prefix. Ortho means right. That's why you 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.600 go to an orthopedis, because they're going to get your 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.639 bones right. Ortho means right or correct, and dox refers 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.240 to beef. Therefore, in the Christian context, and you'll hear 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:04.680 orthodoxy as it applies to other things. But in the 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.399 Christian context, for those of us who who love Jesus 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.919 or stumbling towards Jesus, it means to have right beliefs 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.959 about God. So if you are going to Elevation, if 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.440 you're a member of Elevation, if you're Epham, if you're 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:21.240 online from South Africa, if you believe what's being preached 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.960 from this from this house every single week, what's being 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:29.120 done the bands that our people are coming alongside to bless, 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.720 then you have probably an orthodox Christian belief system that 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:39.320 means your beliefs are grounded in scripture. Second word is orthopraxy. Ortho, 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.760 of course, is that prefix that means write or correct. 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:47.639 Practice means activity. Actually like practice better than practice because 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.679 practice refers to your hearts in it, so it's not 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:55.919 just duty. So orthopraxy is to have right actions in 0:19:56.040 --> 0:19:58.680 light of what you believe to be true about God. 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:02.760 You still with me orthopraxy, don't take mental field trips yet. 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.720 And then there's a third one, ortha pathy. So we've 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.639 got right and then pathos in Greek refers to feelings 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.919 or emotions, and y'all, this is where usually Christians have 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.000 train wrecks, because so many of us, like me, have 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.919 assumed there's part of what I feel that isn't congruent 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.560 with what I believe to be true about God. How 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:26.880 many of y'all heard a youth pastor when you're growing up, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:30.440 Usually their next were poking out their veins, were poking 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:31.720 on their macs. I used to think I had to 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.640 scream to be effective. I had a lot of youth 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.800 pastors that slung their bibles and screamed, and so I 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.280 started doing that. One time, Genesis fell out of my 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.200 Bible chunks and hit a woman on the front row. 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.920 It's wonder I wasn't sued. But I used to think 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.720 to be effective, I had to scream pathos emotion. How 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:51.480 many times have you heard of youth pastors say, please, 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:56.800 is not a feeling? Any of y'all heard that? And 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.240 so I thought, Ah, I got to be careful my feelings. 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.760 I can only have, like you know, biblical feelings. I 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:06.199 can't have sad. Sad is bad. That's where we have 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.359 a train rag, because you can't have right beliefs about 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:16.280 God and segregate your heart. Yes, faith is not a feeling, 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:19.720 but we feel. In Genesis one twenty six and twenty seven, 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:23.560 God said I made you in my image. So feelings 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.360 aren't bad. They just have to be under the canopy 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.320 of what we believe to be true about God. So 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:33.959 to be sad isn't bad as a believer. It is 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.400 nothing illegitimate about being sad. Where you go with that 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.960 sorrow or that grief, or that disappointment, or that anngst 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:45.919 or that anxiety, that's where we get illegitimate. But to 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:51.080 have feelings or the pathy that's supposed to be congruent 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:56.639 orthodoxy or theoproxy how we behave we don't say the 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.600 things sometimes that are in our head about the Larry 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.879 Liar pants in our lives, and then ortha pathy, those 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.720 have to be congruent. I lost a little weight last 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.240 year and I have a lot of hanging down parts 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.880 now which are exciting, and so I was moving rocks 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.800 in my yard recently, and I thought, you know, I've 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.359 seen those big people on television who are trying to 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.720 get in shape of throw tires, and so it would 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:24.040 help me to just instead of move these rocks to 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:27.360 hurl these rocks. And so I picked up this river 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:30.120 rock that I needed to move to that garden. From 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.480 this garden, I thought, I'm gonna chunk this puppy over 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.040 my head. And when I tried to chunk it over 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.840 my head, I heard this horrible rip and I thought, oh, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:43.000 that that doesn't sound good. And so I waited for 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:44.800 a while ago the doctor because I thought, you know, 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:46.800 I'm old school. I'm like, oh, take tylernand, don't be 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.800 a baby. And after you know, a week of talan 0:22:49.920 --> 0:22:52.840 on dit coke, I was like, this hurts. And so 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:55.760 I went to the doctor and after an MRI, he said, Lisa, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.800 I need to know how you did this, because I've 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.000 been doing a surgery for twenty five years and I've 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:06.639 only had one other woman who completely tore her bicep 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.680 to her rotator cuff and her laborum and in one 0:23:09.720 --> 0:23:12.159 fell sweep. Only one other woman, and she was a 0:23:12.160 --> 0:23:17.200 professional athlete. And he said, so I need to know 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:20.240 how you did this, and I said, well, I have 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.359 these hanging down parts, and so I had to confess 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:26.840 I was throwing rocks, and so he had to do 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.080 this major surgery. And after the major surgery had to 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:31.399 drill holes in my humorous because they had to, you know, 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:33.399 reattach the bicep and running up through it looks like 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:35.800 a toggle bolt. They run up through a hole in 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:37.960 your in your bone and then plopping on the other side. 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:41.800 And then one of the nerves got stuck in that 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:47.600 bone hole and that was unpleasant. And he said, it's 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:52.200 because nothing is aligned right anymore. He said, because your 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:55.560 nerves and your muscular structure and your what's left of 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:58.560 my muscles, and your joint it's not aligned the way 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.679 it was. He's said, I'm not real sure what we 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:03.640 can do. We can't go back in right now because 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:06.439 it's hamburger meat. But he said, we just need everything 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:10.360 to be aligned. And when he said that, I thought, oh, golly, jeepers. 0:24:10.400 --> 0:24:13.240 That so often has been my walk with God too. 0:24:14.320 --> 0:24:19.480 I get orthodoxy. I mean, I'm a student, baby, I 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:22.240 want to have right beliefs about God. I want to 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:28.080 put it on a bumper sticker on my car. Orthopraxy. Well, yeah, 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:32.280 I grew up half Baptist, I'm baptocostel. We've got the 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:35.719 activity baby, and it rhymes. I mean, I've got an 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:42.480 across stick from my behavior orthopathy. Ooh ooh, hard for 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:46.879 me to be honest about where I am because I'm 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.840 afraid I'll be judged by other believers. And one scroll 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:51.879 through social media and you know we're gifted at that. 0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:56.439 But then, more significantly, I wonder if God will be 0:24:56.480 --> 0:25:01.919 disappointed in me, if he'll go geez, Louis Lise. I mean, 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:06.200 I sent my only begotten son. Wasn't that enough for you? 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:10.600 And so I just sometimes feel so guilty if I 0:25:10.600 --> 0:25:12.840 don't go, no, it's a great day. He's a good 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:15.320 God all the time. All the time. When I'm gonna, 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:17.680 I'm not really being honest about it. All the time, 0:25:18.359 --> 0:25:21.160 I just feel like I feel like there's something wildly 0:25:21.200 --> 0:25:23.840 wrong with me. And then I go to this love 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:30.159 story and I'm so stinking grateful that these saints stumbled. 0:25:30.640 --> 0:25:33.760 Wouldn't it bug you if they were all perfect and 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:38.040 like Keito worked for them and they never ever had 0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:44.200 seasons where they said, I am stumbling today. They stumbled 0:25:44.240 --> 0:25:46.920 all the time, y'all. And God didn't kick him to 0:25:46.960 --> 0:25:48.600 the curb. He said, I'm actually going to give you 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:53.879 more responsibility, because as you begin to understand, self reliance 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:56.359 is not a spiritual gift. I can actually trust you 0:25:56.480 --> 0:25:59.560 with more now that you become more dependent on me. 0:26:00.400 --> 0:26:05.000 I'm not just your savior, I'm your sustainer. You need 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:09.119 me every single moment of every single day. Don't ever 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:13.920 cut the cord with Jesus. We need him to breathe, 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:17.359 to live, to get up every morning. We've got it 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.400 wrong in evangelical circles. We think atonement is just for salvation. 0:26:21.520 --> 0:26:25.280 No no, no, no, no. Atonement's three hundred and sixty degrees. 0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:29.240 It's every day today. He's making all things new. Open 0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:31.840 your Bibles to First Kings. You know this story, so 0:26:31.840 --> 0:26:34.760 I'm gonna synopsize it. You've got a really, really good guy. 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:38.600 He's a prophet. His name is Elijah, and they have 0:26:38.840 --> 0:26:41.960 this basically a super bowl between the good guys and 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:45.119 the bad guys. There's a stinker of a king, and 0:26:45.240 --> 0:26:48.240 this king kind of says, okay. This is in verse 0:26:48.280 --> 0:26:51.840 seventeen a First Kings Chapter eighteen, when Ahab he's the 0:26:51.840 --> 0:26:55.360 bad king. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 0:26:55.600 --> 0:26:57.919 is it you, you troubler of Israel? And he answered, 0:26:57.920 --> 0:27:00.840 I have not troubled Israel, but you have, you stinker liar, 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:03.520 pens of a king and your father's house, because you 0:27:03.560 --> 0:27:06.880 have abandon the commandments of the Lord and followed the bales. Now, therefore, 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:09.199 send and gather all Israel to be at Mount Carmel 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:11.399 and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Bail and 0:27:11.400 --> 0:27:15.440 the four hundred prophets of Astra who eat at Jezebel's table. 0:27:15.760 --> 0:27:18.639 So basically, they're going to have this huge showdown between 0:27:18.680 --> 0:27:21.719 good and evil. And you've got eight hundred and fifty 0:27:21.760 --> 0:27:26.480 bad guys and you've got one lone faithful guy, Elijah. 0:27:26.520 --> 0:27:28.159 Most of y'all know this story, if you grew up 0:27:28.160 --> 0:27:30.760 like me, you've seen at flannel Graft And they meet 0:27:30.880 --> 0:27:35.520 on this pinnacle called Mount Carmel, and the bad guys 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:39.560 called down their gods, little g gods, not real gods, 0:27:39.640 --> 0:27:42.600 Larry Liar pants gods. And they call them down and 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:45.800 they say, come down, show yourself and consume the sacrifices 0:27:45.880 --> 0:27:49.800 these bulls we've prepared for you. And nothing happens, to 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:52.560 the point that Elijah says, maybe your God needed a 0:27:52.600 --> 0:27:55.320 restroom break. It's a little more colorful than that in 0:27:55.320 --> 0:27:57.359 the Hebrew and people say the Bible's boring. I'm like, no, 0:27:57.520 --> 0:28:02.280 you're lazy. If you'd actually read the these stories, they're unstinkin' believable. 0:28:02.400 --> 0:28:08.399 Yellowstone's got nothing on scripture and says, then Elijah says, 0:28:08.560 --> 0:28:11.399 go get some water. They're in a drought. That in 0:28:11.480 --> 0:28:15.520 itself is a miracle. And they're like, Okay, we don't 0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:17.120 know where we're gonna get water. We'll go get water. 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:20.359 They go get water, They bring it. They douse all 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:24.640 the meat sacrifice, just to make the miracle kind of amplified. 0:28:24.840 --> 0:28:26.640 And then he says that's not enough water. Go get 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:29.439 more water. They get more water. People are like, golly, 0:28:29.520 --> 0:28:31.840 he really is getting theatrical here. He says, for a 0:28:31.880 --> 0:28:34.280 third time in a drought, go get more water. They 0:28:34.680 --> 0:28:38.760 soak the sacrifice, and then he calls on the name 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:43.200 of our God, the One True God, God, the Father God, 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:46.440 the Son God, the Holy Spirit, and he comes down 0:28:47.160 --> 0:28:53.000 and he consumes not just the watery sacrifice, he consumes 0:28:53.120 --> 0:28:56.880 the boulders that the bulls are on top of. I mean, 0:28:56.880 --> 0:29:01.960 it's this unstinkin believable bic miracle. I mean it would 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:05.240 have been all over ESPN, like every single day would 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:09.160 have been a real that never went away. It was epic. 0:29:10.040 --> 0:29:17.880 Right after that unbelievable miracle where god Win. I mean, 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:20.880 I can't imagine how many worship songs that we would 0:29:20.920 --> 0:29:24.640 have from that one moment in redemptive history. Right after that, 0:29:25.400 --> 0:29:30.520 Elijah gets a text from this Houchi queen named Jezebel, 0:29:31.520 --> 0:29:35.040 and it's in the Bible. I promise. Ahab told Jezebel 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:38.880 all that Elijah had done one kings nineteen verse one, 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:40.920 and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 0:29:40.960 --> 0:29:44.200 Then Jesse sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may 0:29:44.240 --> 0:29:46.240 the gods do to me, and more also, if I 0:29:46.280 --> 0:29:48.280 do not make your life as the life of one 0:29:48.320 --> 0:29:50.200 of them by this time tomorrow, she's talking about the 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:53.800 bad guys that were killed. Then Elijah was afraid, and 0:29:53.840 --> 0:29:55.760 he arose and ran for his life and came to 0:29:55.800 --> 0:29:59.040 bear Sheeba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there, 0:29:59.440 --> 0:30:01.320 not gonna camp out there. But y'all, Verse three is 0:30:01.360 --> 0:30:05.600 so important. He goes with somebody in his sphere, and 0:30:05.640 --> 0:30:09.480 then this is a massive mistake. He leaves him there 0:30:09.600 --> 0:30:14.800 and goes alone. Don't ache alone. Isolation one of the biggest, 0:30:15.240 --> 0:30:18.240 biggest lies of the enemy. If you are in grief, 0:30:18.320 --> 0:30:20.400 if you're sad, if you're just wanted, if you're mad 0:30:20.600 --> 0:30:24.360 right now, if you are secretly shaking your fist at God, 0:30:24.520 --> 0:30:29.600 don't do that in isolation. Find someone to go. I'm mad, 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:32.120 I'm sad, I'm disappointed church it and doing it for 0:30:32.200 --> 0:30:34.560 mean before I feel like my prayers are hitting the ceiling. 0:30:35.840 --> 0:30:39.600 Find someone to go with you. Do not ache in isolation. 0:30:39.840 --> 0:30:44.360 Huge mistake. Not that he grieves, not that he's scared. 0:30:44.480 --> 0:30:47.720 The mistake is he does it alone. But he himself 0:30:47.760 --> 0:30:49.760 went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and 0:30:49.800 --> 0:30:52.520 sat down under a broom tree that's also called an 0:30:52.520 --> 0:30:55.240 acacia tree, little bitty spindley tree, like a scrub oak, 0:30:55.840 --> 0:30:58.480 and he asked that he might die. Y'all, this is 0:30:58.520 --> 0:31:03.480 on the heels of this massive miracle. People had gotten 0:31:03.520 --> 0:31:10.800 t shirts Elijah's epic. He's it, he was right, His 0:31:10.920 --> 0:31:15.000 God is the one true God, massive revival. And on 0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:18.200 the heels of that, he says, I don't even want 0:31:18.240 --> 0:31:20.960 to live anymore. It is enough now, o Lord, take 0:31:20.960 --> 0:31:23.160 away my life, for I'm no better than my father's. 0:31:23.400 --> 0:31:26.880 And he lay down and slept under that scrawny tree 0:31:26.920 --> 0:31:29.920 and behold, an angel touched him and said to him, 0:31:30.440 --> 0:31:39.880 you are such a loser. We're chasing another prophet. No, no, 0:31:41.040 --> 0:31:44.640 that's not what the Angel of the Lord did to 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:51.000 this great sad man. He said, God wants you to 0:31:51.040 --> 0:31:53.840 take a nap, but he wants to make sure you 0:31:53.840 --> 0:31:58.840 have snacks first. How amazing is a god who doesn't 0:31:58.840 --> 0:32:06.160 forget snacks? Wow? Incredible is that he doesn't chastise Elijah. Yeah, 0:32:06.720 --> 0:32:13.200 there's no reprimand he recognizes that we're human and he 0:32:13.320 --> 0:32:17.520 gives them rest, and he gives them sesstenance. What a 0:32:17.680 --> 0:32:21.760 good God. Why is it we are so hesitant to 0:32:21.840 --> 0:32:25.760 bring him our hurts when he envelops us and says, 0:32:25.880 --> 0:32:31.600 I know we don't get chastised, we get compassion. He's 0:32:31.640 --> 0:32:34.800 slow to anger, rich in compassion. Please don't be as 0:32:34.880 --> 0:32:38.520 dumb as me. Please don't wait until you're middle age 0:32:38.600 --> 0:32:42.320 to be honest with God. One of the reasons I 0:32:42.360 --> 0:32:45.920 think the church has lost its efficacy is the watching 0:32:46.000 --> 0:32:51.800 world sees us pretend and they think we're so sick 0:32:51.840 --> 0:32:56.240 of pretending. I'm so over holding in my stomach and 0:32:56.400 --> 0:32:59.880 using a filter, and y'all do it worse than we do. 0:33:00.840 --> 0:33:03.920 So your God must judge you the way other people 0:33:04.000 --> 0:33:07.320 judge me. No, he doesn't, No, he doesn't. He sees 0:33:07.400 --> 0:33:10.480 us through the righteousness of He's holy. Please hear me. 0:33:10.520 --> 0:33:14.000 I'm not saying he's Santa Claus. He is absolutely holy, transcendent, 0:33:14.360 --> 0:33:18.120 the only one who is perfectly transcendent. But he condescends 0:33:18.760 --> 0:33:22.320 to be close to us. He condescends to say, I 0:33:22.400 --> 0:33:24.760 want you to take a nap. Come to me, all 0:33:25.000 --> 0:33:28.640 you who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. 0:33:28.720 --> 0:33:31.000 He doesn't say, if you're weary and heavy laden, that 0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:35.680 you have completely just ruined your testimony. He never won 0:33:35.800 --> 0:33:40.000 times says that. So you see Elijah in First Kings, 0:33:40.040 --> 0:33:43.120 and you see that to walk in divine power, which 0:33:43.160 --> 0:33:47.760 is what happens after he has snacks and rest. To 0:33:47.920 --> 0:33:55.240 walk and divine power presupposes a pit revival, pre supposes 0:33:55.480 --> 0:33:58.080 a time when we get stripped of our self reliance. 0:33:58.760 --> 0:34:04.959 Weakness presupposes strength, presupposes weakness. Why is it that we 0:34:05.040 --> 0:34:07.800 always try to hide that. It's because we're trying to 0:34:07.800 --> 0:34:12.280 be the hero. We aren't the hero, we aren't the answer, 0:34:12.760 --> 0:34:17.520 we aren't the good news Jesus is we're conduits, y'all. 0:34:17.640 --> 0:34:22.800 We are conduits, flip over a few pages to Psalm 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:28.320 twenty two. Oh I love Psalm twenty two. We crossed 0:34:28.320 --> 0:34:32.000 itch Psalm twenty three, and we sing about Psalm twenty 0:34:32.040 --> 0:34:36.640 three because that's happy clappy and it's super inspirational. But 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:40.400 Psalm twenty two the song. Remember all of the songs 0:34:40.440 --> 0:34:42.879 were originally written as songs so O andngs, so it's 0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:47.440 like God's Spotify list. And the song that precedes Psalm 0:34:47.520 --> 0:34:51.600 twenty three, the green Pastures and the steer Still waters 0:34:51.600 --> 0:34:57.080 and God is Our Shepherd. It's a blues tune. David 0:34:57.280 --> 0:35:00.840 wrote both of these songs, and David began Psalm twenty 0:35:00.920 --> 0:35:04.640 two right before Psalm twenty three. My God, My God, 0:35:04.680 --> 0:35:06.640 why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far 0:35:06.680 --> 0:35:09.640 from saving me from the words of my groaning? Oh 0:35:09.680 --> 0:35:11.920 my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, 0:35:11.960 --> 0:35:14.760 and by night I find no rest. I am poured 0:35:14.800 --> 0:35:17.120 out like water verse fourteen. And all my bones are 0:35:17.160 --> 0:35:18.840 out of a joint. My heart is like wax and 0:35:18.880 --> 0:35:21.680 has melted within my breast. My strength is dried up 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:24.480 like a potterd and my tongue sticks to my jaws. 0:35:24.520 --> 0:35:26.840 You lay me in the dust of death for dogs 0:35:26.920 --> 0:35:30.239 encompass me. At least they're not in the freezer. A 0:35:30.239 --> 0:35:33.520 company of evildoers encircles me. They have pierced my hands 0:35:33.520 --> 0:35:35.640 and feet. I can count all my bones. They stare 0:35:35.680 --> 0:35:38.279 and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them. 0:35:38.320 --> 0:35:42.239 For my clothing, they cast lots. Now, scholars will tell 0:35:42.280 --> 0:35:46.279 you that Psalm twenty two it is christological and it's prophetic. 0:35:46.640 --> 0:35:50.640 This is nine hundred years before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, 0:35:50.680 --> 0:35:54.360 and it's a play by play of the crucifixion. But 0:35:54.520 --> 0:35:59.400 don't forget David is just like us. He's a divine 0:35:59.480 --> 0:36:03.400 condu for God's word. But he's just a man, and 0:36:03.440 --> 0:36:08.799 he's really really sad, and God says, bring it to me. 0:36:10.040 --> 0:36:15.799 I love that more of the psalms are sad than perky. Yeah, 0:36:15.800 --> 0:36:19.279 we've got some amazing victory psalms in there. I love 0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:21.160 some of the stuff that comes out of this house 0:36:21.200 --> 0:36:25.080 that just makes me want to dance. I mean, rad 0:36:25.160 --> 0:36:29.520 ole goodness, it's gracious. But I also love psalms of 0:36:29.640 --> 0:36:33.560 lament because I go, that's what I'm feeling today, and 0:36:33.600 --> 0:36:38.480 that's not incongruent with believing he is a Good God. 0:36:39.360 --> 0:36:44.040 It's being human and recognizing I'm not Him, and today 0:36:44.160 --> 0:36:46.920 I can't carry the weight of my own life. Today, 0:36:47.040 --> 0:36:55.520 I need Jesus to carry me. Two other terms, formal 0:36:55.800 --> 0:37:02.600 theology and functional theology. Is what we can put in 0:37:02.640 --> 0:37:05.600 a church mission statement. It's what you can hang on 0:37:05.640 --> 0:37:08.480 the wall if you go to a formal church. It's 0:37:08.520 --> 0:37:11.320 what some of us have recited growing up. The Apostles 0:37:11.400 --> 0:37:15.560 Creed and I see Creed. Formal theology it's what we 0:37:15.719 --> 0:37:19.200 can state or write that we believe. It's awesome. I 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:21.120 love the Creeds. I think we've thrown the baby out 0:37:21.120 --> 0:37:22.959 with the bathwater with some of the Creeds. I love 0:37:23.000 --> 0:37:31.480 the Creeds. Functional theology is how we live, and there's 0:37:31.520 --> 0:37:36.600 a gap between formal theology, between what we say we 0:37:36.640 --> 0:37:43.040 believe and functional theology. Why y'all can talk back because 0:37:43.040 --> 0:37:46.839 we're human. Because we're human. We're not glorified yet we're 0:37:46.840 --> 0:37:51.399 in the process of sanctification. So there are seasons when 0:37:51.400 --> 0:37:54.120 we have a really hard time walking out what we 0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:57.120 say we believe. In that gap between the two, it's 0:37:57.160 --> 0:38:00.960 a hotbed for hypocrisy. That's why the world goes you're 0:38:01.000 --> 0:38:04.520 all a bunch of deep fakers. Because you say you 0:38:04.640 --> 0:38:10.240 believe this, it's written on your web page. But actually 0:38:11.120 --> 0:38:14.520 I work with this guy, I work with this woman, 0:38:14.560 --> 0:38:17.920 and let me tell you what they're like. Monday through Friday. 0:38:18.000 --> 0:38:19.879 There's a gap, and there's a gap for all of us. 0:38:20.960 --> 0:38:23.359 And if you don't acknowledge the gap, if we don't 0:38:23.360 --> 0:38:26.120 act like our friends in the UK and mind the gap, 0:38:26.480 --> 0:38:28.880 then you too are Larry layer Pants. There is a 0:38:28.920 --> 0:38:31.400 gap for all of us. You know what makes the 0:38:31.440 --> 0:38:35.040 gap wider? Pretense? No, I'm fine, I'm fine. I've got 0:38:35.040 --> 0:38:37.960 it all together. I've got that gap. Makes the gap 0:38:38.080 --> 0:38:42.120 just gets bigger when we fake it, when we humbly go. 0:38:42.400 --> 0:38:45.960 I can't do this by myself. I know the theology. 0:38:46.000 --> 0:38:48.080 I went to school for theology. I can make the 0:38:48.080 --> 0:38:53.600 theology rhyme. But today I feel like I am barely 0:38:53.640 --> 0:38:59.960 hanging on. Today my heart is like wax. Gap gets mourning. 0:39:01.760 --> 0:39:05.960 Heartbreak actually narrows. Honest heartbreak when we bring it to 0:39:05.960 --> 0:39:09.520 the Lord actually nearros the gap between what we say 0:39:09.560 --> 0:39:14.920 we believe and how we respond to the world around us. Yeah, 0:39:15.000 --> 0:39:18.399 we need more Christians who say, let me tell you 0:39:18.440 --> 0:39:21.120 about the God who carried me when I couldn't carry 0:39:21.160 --> 0:39:24.799 the weight of my own life. That's not being a 0:39:24.840 --> 0:39:29.839 Debbie Downer. That's telling the world around us that he 0:39:29.960 --> 0:39:32.600 actually is who he says he is. If we act 0:39:32.719 --> 0:39:34.520 like we can do it by ourselves, what are we 0:39:34.600 --> 0:39:38.120 saying about Jesus. We're saying we don't need him. He 0:39:38.280 --> 0:39:41.240 is such a good guy. I've become grateful for grief. 0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:44.520 I don't know any other setting I could say that. 0:39:44.680 --> 0:39:50.640 In them with brothers and sisters. It's not the perky 0:39:50.680 --> 0:39:54.759 seasons when I've stayed on Quito and I'm we're in 0:39:54.880 --> 0:40:00.600 jeans of zippers. Those are not the seasons where I've 0:40:00.719 --> 0:40:05.080 needed God the most. The seasons where I've needed God 0:40:05.120 --> 0:40:08.480 the best have been the seasons where I can just 0:40:08.640 --> 0:40:13.640 barely breathe without Jesus. Last week, I didn't want to 0:40:13.680 --> 0:40:16.279 go to church. I sat in the parking lot and 0:40:16.280 --> 0:40:19.640 I thought, I just don't want to go to church. 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:23.439 I don't want to raise my hands. I don't want 0:40:23.520 --> 0:40:25.600 somebody to say God's good all the time. I'm gonna 0:40:25.640 --> 0:40:29.319 punch him in the throat. I mean, I do believe that. 0:40:29.360 --> 0:40:31.200 I believe He's good all the time. It's just right 0:40:31.239 --> 0:40:34.319 now my life feels anything but good and I am 0:40:34.520 --> 0:40:38.400 flipping sad, and he is in heaven and he wouldn't 0:40:38.440 --> 0:40:42.200 come back if he could, but I'm missing. What do 0:40:42.280 --> 0:40:46.600 I do with that? I bring it to Jesus because 0:40:46.600 --> 0:40:49.799 he's close to the broken hearted, and he's near to us, 0:40:49.840 --> 0:40:54.719 when our lives are crushed near to us, not disappointed 0:40:54.760 --> 0:40:57.439 with us, near to us, near to us, near to us. 0:40:57.800 --> 0:41:00.880 What grief have you been pretending like it doesn't hurt 0:41:02.080 --> 0:41:06.680 because you don't want to disappoint your small group or 0:41:06.680 --> 0:41:11.960 you don't think it's very singable. My parents divorced when 0:41:11.960 --> 0:41:14.759 I was really little, and it was really ugly, very 0:41:16.760 --> 0:41:20.480 acrimonious divorce with a lot of physical abuse, and so 0:41:20.640 --> 0:41:22.520 when my dad left us, I just kind of made 0:41:22.520 --> 0:41:26.600 a vow to my six year old self that I 0:41:26.600 --> 0:41:30.520 would never cry in front of my mother. She's already 0:41:30.600 --> 0:41:33.000 been through enough, so I just said that I was 0:41:33.000 --> 0:41:35.200 always going to be positive. Didn't have theology to wrap 0:41:35.239 --> 0:41:38.080 around it. Then I just had trauma. I will never 0:41:38.239 --> 0:41:41.239 ever ever cry in front of my mom, much less 0:41:41.239 --> 0:41:43.799 anybody else again. I'm just going to be positive. I'm 0:41:43.800 --> 0:41:45.479 just going to find the good, find the good, find 0:41:45.480 --> 0:41:48.480 the good. And I was able to live that way 0:41:48.560 --> 0:41:50.920 for I don't know. A year and a half and 0:41:50.960 --> 0:41:53.640 then something happened. I don't remember somebody took my bike, 0:41:53.800 --> 0:41:56.080 or another dog died. I don't remember what happened, but 0:41:56.120 --> 0:41:59.520 there was a deep hurt when I was about eight 0:41:59.560 --> 0:42:04.279 years old, and I didn't know where to go to cry, 0:42:04.440 --> 0:42:07.480 and so the only place I could think of where 0:42:07.480 --> 0:42:09.120 I could be alone and my mom wouldn't see me, 0:42:09.200 --> 0:42:12.480 was under my bed. And we were really poor, and 0:42:12.520 --> 0:42:15.000 we had those mattresses. Some of y'all don't even know 0:42:15.239 --> 0:42:18.280 a mattress used to come from a store, not from online. 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:22.399 But they used to have springs, and we were so poor. 0:42:22.520 --> 0:42:25.960 The springs hung down real low, and so I crawled 0:42:26.040 --> 0:42:28.240 under my bed. The springs were right in my face, 0:42:28.960 --> 0:42:32.680 and I was just crying under my bed. I don't 0:42:32.680 --> 0:42:34.360 know how long I was under there, five ten minutes, 0:42:34.400 --> 0:42:36.880 and I hear my mom's voice and she had opened 0:42:36.880 --> 0:42:39.040 the back door because she was calling me in for 0:42:39.080 --> 0:42:41.120 dinner and I was usually outside playing. And I heard 0:42:41.120 --> 0:42:43.560 her say, Lisa, it's time to come in for dinner. 0:42:44.360 --> 0:42:46.280 And I didn't answer because I thought if I answer, 0:42:46.800 --> 0:42:51.279 she's going to know I'm under the bed. And then 0:42:51.360 --> 0:42:53.799 I heard the back door close, and I heard my 0:42:53.920 --> 0:42:56.719 mom walk toward where my room was. I don't know 0:42:56.760 --> 0:42:59.880 how I heard that because we had avocado green shagcar, 0:43:01.600 --> 0:43:04.200 but you know, you just sense your mom's getting closer. 0:43:05.400 --> 0:43:08.359 And she stopped in front of my door, and then 0:43:08.440 --> 0:43:14.960 she said, Lisa, honey, are you under the bed. And 0:43:15.040 --> 0:43:18.080 I didn't want to say yes because I thought, oh crud. 0:43:18.920 --> 0:43:20.880 You know, she's going to see him under here crying 0:43:20.960 --> 0:43:23.400 and it's going to compound her grief, and oh gosh, 0:43:23.480 --> 0:43:27.840 what do I do? But she had really instilled honesty 0:43:27.840 --> 0:43:30.480 in us, so when she asked it the second time, 0:43:30.560 --> 0:43:33.439 Lisa Hunting, are you under the bed? I said yes, ma'am. 0:43:34.840 --> 0:43:39.440 And I expected to be chestised, or I expected to 0:43:39.680 --> 0:43:43.680 really mess up her day. But the next thing that 0:43:43.760 --> 0:43:46.920 happened is the dust ruffle lifted and there was my 0:43:47.000 --> 0:43:52.200 mom's face. My mom was a Southern bell. My apple 0:43:52.239 --> 0:43:56.360 fell pretty far from the tree. It was beautiful. You know, 0:43:56.400 --> 0:43:59.480 her hair was always done, I always had makeups, wearing pearls. 0:44:00.600 --> 0:44:04.239 And I saw her beautiful face and she realized what 0:44:04.400 --> 0:44:08.600 was happening under the bed, and I will never forget 0:44:08.640 --> 0:44:11.799 what my mom did next. She just stretched out her 0:44:11.840 --> 0:44:17.640 adult body and she scooched until she was right next 0:44:17.680 --> 0:44:21.440 to me under the bed. She didn't say a word, 0:44:22.640 --> 0:44:25.520 She just got right under the springs, right next to me. 0:44:25.600 --> 0:44:27.640 I could feel her all the way down my arm our. 0:44:27.680 --> 0:44:32.200 Bodies were just side by side, and she just laid 0:44:32.280 --> 0:44:39.880 under the bed with me. The presence of God doing 0:44:39.920 --> 0:44:51.759 difficult seasons becomes not just a gift, becomes the cornerstone 0:44:51.760 --> 0:44:58.640 of our faith because then when we sing I trust 0:44:58.680 --> 0:45:05.720 in God and He heard and He answered, it doesn't 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:09.600 matter if there's a gap in between, because even when 0:45:09.640 --> 0:45:14.600 there's no words, we recognize presence. I want to ask 0:45:14.680 --> 0:45:18.799 y'all to stand up. Pastor's going to come wrap up 0:45:18.840 --> 0:45:21.640 this family meeting in a minute. And I know, y'all, 0:45:21.760 --> 0:45:26.640 I know that as a very grateful guest, I have 0:45:26.760 --> 0:45:31.520 not earned the right to be bossy. I have no 0:45:31.800 --> 0:45:36.520 authority in this house except what is generously loaned to 0:45:36.600 --> 0:45:41.080 me by Pastor Holly and Pastor Stephen. And so forgive 0:45:41.120 --> 0:45:44.880 me if this comes across as bossy. I am older 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:50.080 than y'all, So I'll just be your auntie for a moment. 0:45:51.680 --> 0:45:55.760 If you are in a difficult season for whatever reason, 0:45:55.880 --> 0:45:59.279 nobody needs to know. Let's the Holy Spirit prompt you 0:45:59.360 --> 0:46:01.759 to share that part of your story. If you're in 0:46:01.800 --> 0:46:08.919 a difficult season, you're sad, you're in grief, you're mad, 0:46:10.520 --> 0:46:16.919 you're so stinking disappointed because you've done the right thing. 0:46:18.640 --> 0:46:24.640 You've tithed, and you're leading an Etham group and you're 0:46:24.640 --> 0:46:29.279 studying God's word, and right now your life has not 0:46:29.520 --> 0:46:33.040 at all turned out the way you hoped or prayed for. 0:46:34.239 --> 0:46:41.040 And because you're human, you're just stinking disappointed. You thought 0:46:41.040 --> 0:46:45.520 I was so so grateful for the presence of God. 0:46:45.560 --> 0:46:51.720 You're in that miscarriage. Surely this pregnancy will come to fruition, 0:46:51.920 --> 0:46:57.040 Surely there will be another baby, and instead you had 0:46:57.080 --> 0:47:02.719 an emotional miscarriage, and you think, I can't do it anymore. 0:47:03.719 --> 0:47:07.879 I know he's a good guy, but I just don't 0:47:07.880 --> 0:47:12.160 know how to wait until he answers again. Will you 0:47:12.200 --> 0:47:17.360 please sit down? If that's where you are today, just today, 0:47:17.560 --> 0:47:21.080 that's where you are. You're in a hard place. You 0:47:21.120 --> 0:47:24.200 feel like you're walking through wet and you're trying to 0:47:24.239 --> 0:47:25.920 keep your head up and you're trying to keep the 0:47:26.000 --> 0:47:28.320 smile on. But if you were in a safe place, 0:47:28.360 --> 0:47:33.080 you'd go I'm just tired and I don't know if 0:47:33.120 --> 0:47:36.040 I can carry the weight of my own wife well anymore. 0:47:36.080 --> 0:47:41.040 Will you just sit down? There's no shame in that. Actually, 0:47:41.120 --> 0:47:43.160 the fail is going to get thinner for you today 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:47.719 if you honestly bring your heartbreak to the God who 0:47:47.760 --> 0:47:50.160 loves us more than we can ask or imagine. Just 0:47:50.239 --> 0:47:54.560 sit down. If you're in a hard place, there's some 0:47:54.640 --> 0:47:58.400 people over here who like me, you've been raised thinking. 0:47:58.480 --> 0:48:02.719 You can't let your guard down. If it's hard for 0:48:02.760 --> 0:48:07.160 you to season, please sit down. This is a safe, 0:48:07.440 --> 0:48:10.440 safe family to say I need somebody to pick up 0:48:10.440 --> 0:48:12.400 a corner of my mind and carry me to the 0:48:12.480 --> 0:48:16.759 roof and lower me to Jesus. If you have the 0:48:17.120 --> 0:48:21.200 gift the privilege of standing by one of those saints 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:25.960 who's sitting down right now, let's actually do church. Let's 0:48:25.960 --> 0:48:32.840 not just talk about it. Let's be a community. I 0:48:32.880 --> 0:48:36.080 had a woman recently say Lisa, I pray for you 0:48:36.120 --> 0:48:40.600 every Tuesday at nine o'clock. And my first thought was, Man, 0:48:40.680 --> 0:48:43.480 I'm so grateful somebody besides my mom prays for me 0:48:44.040 --> 0:48:47.040 on a regular basis. You know what My second thought was, 0:48:48.640 --> 0:48:54.879 what if I'm struggling on Wednesday? Let's not just put 0:48:54.920 --> 0:48:57.879 each other in our prayer journals. Let's pray right now. 0:48:58.760 --> 0:49:01.800 So those of y'all who have the gift of standing 0:49:01.840 --> 0:49:04.680 by one of these beautiful saints, one of these godly men, 0:49:05.320 --> 0:49:08.000 one of these brothers or sisters, would you just lay 0:49:08.040 --> 0:49:10.560 a hand on them. That's not a denominational thing, that's 0:49:10.560 --> 0:49:13.879 not an elevation tradition, that's a biblical thing. Just put 0:49:13.920 --> 0:49:16.200 your hand on their shoulders so they can feel the 0:49:16.200 --> 0:49:19.560 physical presence of somebody who loves Jesus, somebody who's not 0:49:19.760 --> 0:49:23.120 judging them, somebody who's not going to rip them later 0:49:23.200 --> 0:49:26.479 on social media, but somebody who goes. I know I've 0:49:26.520 --> 0:49:30.919 been there. He carried me too. And would you pray 0:49:30.960 --> 0:49:33.160 for each other? Those of you who are comfortable praying 0:49:33.160 --> 0:49:35.279 out loud, please do so. You don't have to pray 0:49:35.280 --> 0:49:39.320 anything fancy. You can actually just reiterate God's promise in 0:49:39.320 --> 0:49:42.320 Psalm thirty four. I am close to the broken hearted. 0:49:43.239 --> 0:49:48.560 I'm near to those whose lives feel crushed. This low 0:49:48.800 --> 0:49:53.840 point in your life, if you bring it to a 0:49:53.920 --> 0:49:58.239 Lord will lead you to a place of intimacy, a 0:49:58.280 --> 0:50:02.360 place of personal revival you probably haven't had the faith 0:50:02.400 --> 0:50:07.400 to carry quite yet. Lowering your pretense in the family 0:50:07.480 --> 0:50:11.760 of God. Yell, it makes for a safer family of God, 0:50:16.480 --> 0:50:20.640 those of you who are grieving. If the Holy Spirit 0:50:20.760 --> 0:50:28.000 confirms this, would you be audacious enough to even right 0:50:28.040 --> 0:50:32.160 now say thank you God. I'm gonna choose to be 0:50:32.239 --> 0:50:36.920 grateful for this grief. I can't see around the corner 0:50:36.960 --> 0:50:40.720 of my circumstances yet, but I really do believe you'll answer, 0:50:40.760 --> 0:50:42.799 and I really do believe you're enough, and I really 0:50:42.840 --> 0:50:45.359 do believe you're close to the broken hearted. So I'm 0:50:45.360 --> 0:50:48.640 gonna choose right now to say I'm gonna say thank you. 0:50:48.840 --> 0:50:51.600 I don't feel it yet, but I'm gonna say thank 0:50:51.640 --> 0:50:57.000 you for this grief because somehow, some way, You're going 0:50:57.080 --> 0:51:03.080 to use even this diad dog of a season to 0:51:03.200 --> 0:51:06.000 make me more dependent on you, to make me lean 0:51:06.040 --> 0:51:09.920 into my brothers and sisters more closely. You're going to 0:51:10.000 --> 0:51:13.600 build in me a heart of flesh instead of allowing 0:51:13.640 --> 0:51:16.760 me to hide my heart of stone. Oh, King Jesus, 0:51:16.800 --> 0:51:19.840 come and bring revival. King Jesus, come and bring me healing. 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:23.320 Thank you, Thank you, Thank you God, that we can 0:51:23.840 --> 0:51:27.239 trust in you. We can trust in you, and you 0:51:27.880 --> 0:51:31.600 will answer. Help us in the no answer or Jesus, 0:51:31.680 --> 0:51:33.799 help us to keep our hands raised even when our 0:51:33.840 --> 0:51:38.719 hearts are broken, and trust that your presence never leaves us, 0:51:39.280 --> 0:51:41.480 even de're in the know. Answer kind of chapters. We 0:51:41.520 --> 0:51:45.480 love you, we need you. We cannot make it by ourselves. Jesus, 0:51:45.520 --> 0:51:47.680 you are a good God. You are a good God. 0:51:48.120 --> 0:51:50.880 Thank you that you define yourself as a man of sorrows. 0:51:51.520 --> 0:51:53.920 Thank you that you tell us you were prepared for 0:51:54.000 --> 0:51:56.880 the cross through pain. Thank you that you are not 0:51:57.000 --> 0:52:00.920 a stranger to hard seasons. Thank you that you are 0:52:00.960 --> 0:52:04.319 an empathetic high priest who says, bring it all, bring 0:52:04.360 --> 0:52:07.680 it all, bring it all to me. Don't just bring 0:52:07.680 --> 0:52:11.279 me the happy clappy parts, bring everything. I want to 0:52:11.320 --> 0:52:14.720 sit with you in every season, every moment of every season. 0:52:14.800 --> 0:52:18.040 Thank you, Thank you, Thank you God for your closeness. 0:52:18.480 --> 0:52:21.560 Thank you that your proximity has nothing to do with 0:52:21.600 --> 0:52:26.200 our performance, certainly not our pretense. Teach us what it 0:52:26.280 --> 0:52:30.000 is to be honest before you got and then honest 0:52:30.040 --> 0:52:32.080 with the people you allow us to rupt shoulders with. 0:52:32.160 --> 0:52:33.960 We love you, We love you, We love you, we 0:52:34.040 --> 0:52:35.000 love you, We need you. 0:52:38.440 --> 0:52:41.000 Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of 0:52:41.040 --> 0:52:44.040 you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of 0:52:44.080 --> 0:52:47.000 you that this ministry is possible. You can click the 0:52:47.000 --> 0:52:50.760 link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch 0:52:50.920 --> 0:52:54.160 dot org slash podcast for more information and if you 0:52:54.239 --> 0:52:57.480 enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it 0:52:57.520 --> 0:52:59.759 with your friends. You can click the share button, take 0:52:59.800 --> 0:53:02.200 us greenshot and share it on your social stories and 0:53:02.239 --> 0:53:05.120 tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God 0:53:05.120 --> 0:53:05.520 bless you.