The Glitch That Keeps On Giving

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:21.120 Enjoy the message. Two Corinthians, chapter ten, verse seven through twelve. 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.680 The apostle Paul wants to tell you something. He has 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:34.479 some expert advice for you on how to deal with 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:35.120 this question. 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:36.560 And here's the question. You're ready. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.400 This the question every man, woman, boy, and girl in 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:41.440 the room is asking. And you've been asking it your 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:44.800 whole life in different ways, with different amounts of money 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.760 in your bank account, and different color hair on your head, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.879 and different numbers on the scale when you step on it, 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.120 and different places that you've lived, and different jobs you've had. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.360 You've been asking this question your whole life. Do I 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:03.480 have what it takes? Do I have what it takes? 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.160 Well? Paul has. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:11.440 A way of dealing with this question that I thought 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:14.240 would be helpful for us today, and. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:15.199 Let's read together. 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.840 Two Corinthians, chapter ten, verse seven. He says, your first 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.920 problem is this, you are judging by appearances. He said, 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.480 if anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:30.120 should consider again that we belong to Christ just as 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:31.320 much as they do. 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:32.920 Touch somebody say, you're not better than me. 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:40.240 So even if I both, what are y'all arguing about it? 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.919 It was just one line? Get back on the scriptures. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:46.760 So even if I both somewhat freely about the authority 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.040 the Lord gave us from building you up rather than 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:50.920 tearing you down, motives are important. 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:53.120 I will not be ashamed of it. 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.080 I do not want to seem to be trying to 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.640 frighten you with my letters. For some say his letters 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.720 are way and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.360 and his speaking amounts to nothing. Such people should realize 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.120 that what we are in our letters when we are absent, 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.680 we will be in our actions when we are present. 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.720 In other words, Paul says, I'm about to back it up. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:17.280 I don't just. 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:22.160 Talk big because verse twelve, we'll stop here. We do 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:26.160 not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:32.120 commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:38.680 themselves with themselves, they are not wise. Wait, I'm confused, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:40.680 I thought we were reading the Bible. This sounds like 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.280 it could be a relevant Facebook post. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.160 People say the Bible is outdated. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.240 That sounds like a pretty good word for twenty sixteen 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:59.200 to me. Comparison and competition, self commendation. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.160 He said, it's not wise. 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:05.440 Well, where I really want to focus is verse ten, 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:10.400 So let me read that again. And Paul says, there 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.480 are some who are saying that my letters are weighty 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:19.760 and forceful, but in person I'm unimpressive and that my 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.560 speaking amounts to nothing. So I want to speak to 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.959 you today from this subject. I want to talk about 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:33.720 the glitch that keeps on giving, the glitch that keeps 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:38.480 on giving, And let's pray one more time. Father opened 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.560 our hearts, our ears, our minds, and most importantly, what 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:43.640 we learned today, we're going to need the courage to 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.560 put it into practice and the application to know what 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.360 that means to do it in Jesus' name, Amen, touch 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:50.880 your neighbors. Say you got a glitch on your way 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:51.480 down to your seat. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:04:00.400 You got a glitch? Amen, thank you? Spec Yeah, anything 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:01.480 right now, but just in case. 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:06.440 Yeah, okay, I feel like I might get to preach 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:06.960 it in a minute. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:08.640 That's what I'm trying to say. So it's just stay 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:09.040 right there. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:12.520 Well, I want to give you a list of all 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:14.280 the movies that have made me cry. I went back 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.200 through my life and I thought about the first movie 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.680 that made me cry was called Follow that Bird, very 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.800 emotional experience to me to see big bird ostracized and 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:27.200 alienated trying to find his way back home. Second movie 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.680 that made me cry, and I maybe should have reconciled 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.440 this list with my mom's memory, but I remember crying 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.440 for this movie called Harry and the Henderson's Harry and 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:38.760 the Henderson's when they were slapping Harry, and I know 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:39.960 its for his own good, but it. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:40.760 Just couldn't take that. 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:43.240 Then you know, you've ben tour a little bit in life, 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.919 and it takes more, you know, you develop emotionally and stuff, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.760 So that kind of stuff doesn't make you cry anymore. 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.320 Then the movies that make you cry change. And so 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.080 the next movie that made me cry, of course, was 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:58.120 Rocky two, followed by Rocky three and Rocky four while 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:01.479 we're at it, and a movie that still. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.040 Makes me cry every time I watch it to this day. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.640 And if this movie does not make you cry, I 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.919 question your compassion and your Christianity. In fact, I question 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:10.320 your humanity and your ability to feel at all. I 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.559 think you might be a sociopath if you can watch 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.599 the movie Rudy and not cry or at least have 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:16.359 a lip quiver. 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.280 I don't know if you have any passion. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:19.720 I don't know if there's any reason for God to 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:20.719 leave you on this earth. 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.200 And I think you're probably going to go to Hell 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:26.200 when you leave this place. So it gets me every time. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:32.000 It was a sunny afternoon, Saturday afternoon when normally I 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.560 would be heading in to prepare for church, but I 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.560 had a guest speaker, and it afforded me the rare 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.200 privilege and opportunity to take my two sons to see 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:41.200 a movie. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:42.920 And I was not. 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:48.160 Expecting that day to be wrecked by the movie Wreck 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.560 at Ralph, but it happened. When they put that girl 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.719 on the screen called Vanelope, and she was stuck in 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:58.760 a video game where they were supposed to race, but 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.720 she couldn't race, and they called her glitch Girl because 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.000 there was something wrong with her programming and pixelation, and 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.000 so she wanted to race, but she couldn't race, and 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:11.520 it was because of her glitch, and the movie. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:12.400 Kind of takes a few turns. 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.480 And at one point in the movie, I was watching 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.200 Glitch girl glitch and she wanted to race, and I 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.880 started crying in the movie and I told Grim shut 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.960 up when he asked me, are you crying, Daddy? 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:28.120 And it just got me thinking about thinking. 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:31.359 About all the ways that my glitches have caused me 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:32.280 to miss God in. 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.200 My life, and thinking about how many. 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:38.880 People would go further faster if they knew how to 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.680 deal with their glitch. Just reminds your neighbor again, They're 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:43.360 not going to be offended because I made you say it. 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.120 Just remind them one more time you got a glitch. 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.040 Just make sure that they're well aware of that fact. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.560 And well, I didn't say give him a whole paragraph 0:06:51.640 --> 0:07:00.400 of evidence. We preach things sometimes that are easy to 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:04.320 accept but a little bit harder to apply. And I 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:08.760 understand that writing this book How God Uses Broken People 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:10.960 to Do Big Things is two parts. One is just 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.960 convincing you that God uses broken people to do big things. 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.000 I bet you don't believe that to the level that 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.280 you should. And all the efforts that we've made to 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.960 convince you, well, sometimes they fall short. And we can 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.840 tell you all the Bible characters. I'm trying to pull 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.080 this thing up. Just one that I found online, how 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.640 God doesn't pick the ideal candidates. 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.200 For the offices that he appoints him to. 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:42.560 And one guy put it online. I've seen this before, 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.680 maybe you have. But he went through a list. He said, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.440 you know, Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, 0:07:49.560 --> 0:07:52.840 Isaac was a daydreamer, Jacob was a liar. Leah wasn't 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:58.560 very good looking. Joseph was abused, Moses had a stuttering problem. 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.760 Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair. We all know, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:06.880 God kid use you with long hair tattoos. Rahab was 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:11.960 a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David had 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.640 an affair and was a murderer. Elijah was suicidal. Isaiah 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.680 preached naked. You know, I've done a lot of things 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:18.360 to get attention. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:24.720 I'm gonna skip that point at the stage. 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:28.600 Somebody and say, miss me with that, Pastor, Stephen, I don't. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.040 Let's say God told him to. 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.280 Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow, Job went 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:42.080 through bankruptcy. Peter denied Christ. The Disciples fell asleep while 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:46.960 praying Martha worried about everything. The Samaritan woman was divorced 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:52.200 more than once, Zachius was too short, Timothy had an ulcer, 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:58.000 and Lazarus was dead. Now touch your other neighbor and say, 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:04.440 what's your excuse? The question is can God use broken 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.520 people to do big things? I wonder what you put 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.200 my book title up, not my sermon title. My book 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:09.840 title up one more time, just so you can see. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.000 I want to focus for week one on this one 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:17.520 where how God uses, how God uses, and I want 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.240 to talk about how he does that. And of course 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.559 we could have no better consultant than Paul. I didn't 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:26.199 put him in the. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.120 List that I read because Paul is more known for 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:34.600 his gifts. He was very gifted. Paul was very gifted. 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.160 We know he was gifted because God chose him, of 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:40.719 all people to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, and 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.040 he was the first one to take it beyond the 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:45.400 original Jewish converts, along with Barnabas. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:46.880 He was very gifted. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:51.559 Paul was very gifted in debate and in reasoning as 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.920 well as philosophy, because he had studied under Gamaliel Gamaleo 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.120 was a part of the Jewish Sanhedron, and he was 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.400 known as a guru. So Paul had that kind of degree, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.120 added to the fact that he was a Roman citizen, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.440 which gave him entree and prestige into places that common 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.840 people could not go. Makes sense God would choose him 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.240 then to preach in Europe and in northern Africa and 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.160 parts of Asia, and to establish churches in the most 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:21.440 strategic cities of his day. So we see him in Rome, 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.360 and we see him in Athens, and we see him 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:30.040 establishing churches in Philippi and Galatia and Ephesus and Corinth, 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.600 just to name a few. But in Second Corinthians we 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.280 watch him writing back to the church at Corinth, and 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.520 he's having to do something that you would never imagine 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.320 Paul would have to do at this stage of his 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:42.720 life and ministry, considering his accomplishments. 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.640 He's having to defend his credentials. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.880 How could a man that learned, How can a man 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:54.520 whose life had meant so much to so many find 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.239 himself in a spot where he's having to defend his credentials. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.040 In fact, I don't take it as. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.720 As much of a dilemma as I do as an 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.400 encouragement to know that even Paul, at this point in 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:14.800 his ministry, was still answering the question do you have 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.920 what it takes? I put that out there because if 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:21.040 you thought that question was going to go away when 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:23.720 you hit forty, and it didn't. If you thought that 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.000 question was going to go when you. 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:27.640 Graduated high school and it did it. 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:29.960 If you thought that question was going to go away 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.480 when you got married and it didn't. If you thought 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.400 that question was going to go away when you first 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.560 started making six figures and it did it. If you 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.840 thought that question was going to go away, you know, 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.040 when you finally prove to your ex that you could 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.040 get somebody to and it did it. Paul is at 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:52.040 the pinnacle of his ministry effectiveness, and he's still dealing 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:57.840 with people who are calling him unqualified, and so he 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.959 deals with this question and he confronts challenge because what 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.400 he has to do in his life is too important 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.319 for him to leave these issues unconfronted. Now, I want 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:11.400 to say that over your life today, whether you believe 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.280 it or not, that what God has purposed for you 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.640 to accomplish is too important for you to leave your 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:23.960 issues unconfronted. Touch somebody say confront it. Sometimes You've got 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.040 to take a stand for what you know God has 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.240 called you to do. And sometimes that means standing against 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:32.280 what others say, and sometimes that means taking a stand 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:39.000 within yourself, against yourself. Paul said, you can't strip me 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.719 of my credentials. You can't take away from me what 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:44.720 I know God is placed on me. 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:46.280 I'm confident of it, he said. 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:49.280 And the reason that you're getting into trouble, and the 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.680 reason that you come to the conclusion that you don't 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.400 have what it takes, and the reason that you are 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.160 spending so much time trying to impress people, is because 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.520 you are judging by appearances. 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.040 There it is. That's the number one problem with our 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:03.640 world today. 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.160 I think that's the number one reason we get ourselves 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:07.320 in trouble, and that's. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.920 The number one reason that potential is. 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:13.839 Unfulfilled because we judge by appearances. But touch your neighbor 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.240 and say there's more to me than what you see. 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.000 Turn to her and tell her there's more to me 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.160 than what you see. So don't judge me by what 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.319 you see on the surface. Don't judge me by what. 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:27.760 I look like. 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.520 Right now, That's what Paul was saying to these super apostles. 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.040 They had permeated and pervaded the Corinthian Church that he 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.600 had established, and now they were claiming superiority over him 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.840 and threatening to undermine the work that he had established. 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.120 He wrote back to the church, and he said, you 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:46.079 need to take another look. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:47.560 Another look. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.240 I wonder how many things in our lives would look 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:55.000 differently if we look beneath the surface. That's it, beneath 0:13:55.040 --> 0:14:00.280 the surface, if you got past your first impressions. I 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:01.840 want to preach a sermon one day, and I may 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:03.480 preach it next week, and I may preach it in 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.000 three years. I want to call it the estimation game. 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.480 And I hadn't quite figured out everything I'll put in 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.400 it yet, But it's just this idea that most of 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:16.360 us vacillate between wildly overestimating what we can do without 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:26.560 God and underestimating what we could do with Him. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.400 Because we look at it at the surface. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:28.920 And just in honor of the sermon that I may 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.240 preach one day, I just want to give a little 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.320 illustration or something like that. I want to play a 0:14:33.360 --> 0:14:36.440 little game with somebody right over here and. 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:40.160 Play it with him. I like his hat. Yeah, come 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.240 on over, man, Why not just a little game. You know. 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:44.920 I like to do stuff like this to keep people 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.000 from fall asleep during the sermon. But I got some money. 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:52.920 You like money, A little money. 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:58.760 I'm short right here for everybody to see. Got a 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:03.600 little role, golla something, not much, but if you can guess. 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:07.000 How much it is, I give it to you. You 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:14.600 want to feel it, you wanna hold it? He said something. 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.040 He said something. I've done this in all the other 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:24.840 worship experiences, but for Adorable, he's the first one that 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.720 did what he was supposed to do. He did what 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.240 he was supposed to do. He said, I see blue 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.080 under there, so I know there are some hundreds in 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:41.600 the role. I don't know what you do recreationally to 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:52.200 make money, but touch somebody and say, look beneath the surface. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:54.800 See he got it right. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.600 If you judge this stack by what you see on 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.880 the surface, you are going to underrest to me. But 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.960 if you peel back and look, come on, I'm preaching 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:05.200 and you don't even realize that. 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:07.400 If you peel it back. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.840 You're gonna see that there's more to the stack than 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:12.680 you can see. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:15.680 On the surface. That's my message. I wanted to let 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.119 you know your video and I preach to your iPhone. 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:18.920 I don't mind. 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.240 There's more to the stack than you can see on 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.160 the surface. Touch somebody and say I got layers. I 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.480 got layers, And what you see is not all there 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.880 is to me. And what I see in the mirror 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.680 is not indicative. Up my ministry, up my life, up 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:36.440 my potential. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:42.520 Take another look at me, tiger, Look at me now. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.840 Something's happening beneath the surface. I'm kind of struggling right 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:50.840 now and trying to get some stuff in order. But 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.760 there's something inside of me. Then it is greater. What 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.640 I'm rapped with is not indicative of what I'm made of. 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:58.320 There's more inside of me. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.360 And if you know this, I walked away away from 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:02.760 him before he could guess the amount because I was 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.479 scared he was onto something. That's why the devil's been 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.600 fighting you, because he knows you're onto something. You're starting 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.399 to see yourself in a new life. You're starting to 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:13.520 see yourself in a divine to fit. 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:23.520 I've seen them, so so look beneath the surface, and 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.280 it would give you confidence when you do. 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:26.200 Confidence. 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.840 That's what we're all trying to project into the world, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.639 but often we're trying to project something that we don't possess. 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:34.680 Talk to me. Often we're trying to project a confidence 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:36.480 that we don't possess because we. 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:37.240 See our cracks. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.879 But Paul said that if you're confident that you belong 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.879 to Christ, you should consider that I belong just as 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.080 much as anybody. Now, I want to make an announcement, 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:48.600 and this is in the book, and I'm gonna say 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.200 it right now, and I'm gonna. 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:51.919 Say it to everybody whoever felt like. 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:54.760 You couldn't come to church because of your conflicts. I 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.520 want to say it to everybody who ever felt like 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.040 you didn't fit in a church because everybody was so pretty. 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.520 And so I want to say it to everybody who 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:03.960 has ever felt like that that the presence of God 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.520 is the last place you should be because of what 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:08.600 your clothes smell like, because of who you've been hanging 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:10.320 out with, or I want to say it to everybody 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.920 who came into church with a religious pretense that is 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.359 much more impressive than your actual performance. I want to 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.960 say to everybody who feels like there's too there are 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:26.720 no second class citizens in the Kingdom of God. It 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.679 took the same blood and the same beating of the 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.959 same savior to get me in that it took to 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:42.879 get you in. So I'm confident. It's believing that I 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:47.920 belong watch this. True confidence is a byproduct of belonging. 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:58.720 True confidence is a byproduct of belonging. True confidence that 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.320 will just run up in my room between the nine 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.640 thirty and eleven thirty and barge. 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.160 In and say, Daddy, can I get us? BRT zero. 0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.720 The only person bold enough to run up in my 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.760 room and ask a question like that is my ten 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:16.360 year old who knows. 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:18.080 That he belongs to me. 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:20.239 Do you know that the Bible says that you can 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:23.439 come to the throne room boldly and look for grace 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:24.560 in your time of need? 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:26.480 But you don't pray like this. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:32.520 You keep associating your confidence with your conflicts, and so 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.840 because you're conflicted, and because you're cracked, and because you're 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.320 screwed up beneath the surface and you know it, you 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:38.960 don't come. 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:39.520 To God boldly. 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.399 You don't run up and get in his face and 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:44.920 tell him that you need him on the level that 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:48.640 you really need him. You don't walk with your headheld 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:51.359 high like somebody who has been redeemed. But the moment 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.240 that you realize, you know what, I belong here. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:20:02.800 I belong here. I belong here, not. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:08.359 Not necessarily because of my behavior, but my admission price 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:16.200 was purchased. This does not speak well in a self 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.399 help oriented culture, because I believe in helping yourself, but 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:21.720 I also believe that there are sometimes when you can't, 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.960 and so the essence of church needs. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:28.560 To be restated. 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.119 You know, we've made the church so much like a 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:32.920 country club that it's a wonder they let us. 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.080 Keep our tax exempt status. Do you know what I mean? 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.680 We've made the church so exclusive. We've made the church 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.879 such a place that you have to become something in 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:46.360 order to belong somewhere. 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.280 That might be church, but that's not the gospel. 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.320 The gospel is not you can belong when you become. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.879 The gospel is you belong so you can become because 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:04.639 nothing will change you. Like realizing that I have a father, 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:09.360 nothing will change you, Like realizing before I ever take 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.679 my first breath he loves me, Nothing will change you, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:15.160 Like realizing I belong here. 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.800 Say three people tell him, I belong here. I belong here. 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.720 I belong here. He purchased my right to be here. 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:26.280 He gave me access into his throne room, and nobody 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.520 can strip my credentials because nobody gave them to me. 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:37.760 But Christ, I belong here. I belong here. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.080 That's the greatest sensation I feel. You know, everywhere that 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:43.560 God puts me, He's giving me opportunities. But I never 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:47.160 feel like I belong I never feel every week. Every 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:49.560 week when I walk up on the stage, I wonder, 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:51.600 when are they gonna stop handing the mic to the 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:59.240 wrong guy. Where are they gonna find the real qualified preacher. 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:03.960 I'm looking around for him because I know there's somebody 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:09.000 out here with superior qualifications to me. I know I 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:17.359 because I know me, I know my cracks, I know 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:21.720 my glitches, and in case I don't, there's people always. 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:21.919 To remind me. 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:28.399 Do you know how I came up with the title 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:30.680 for this book? If you do, just pretend like you don't, 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:31.400 because I'm gonna. 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.679 Tell you again now. 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:35.000 I wish I could say I went on a prairie 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.080 retreat to the smoky mountains, and the clouds formed the 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.320 shape of the parentheses, And but what actually happened. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:42.680 I was on YouTube. 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:48.560 Right, I was getting ready to preach on a Saturday, and. 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:49.800 I put on YouTube. 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.320 Because I like that background noise, so I don't have 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:52.440 to be alone with myself. 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:55.920 That that was honest, that was raw. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.600 It's kind of slipped out, and I had it on 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:04.120 a preacher, right. And you know how YouTube will take 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:06.600 an algorithm and recommend something for you to watch next, 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:11.320 the little sidebar thing, you know. I figured, hey, I 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:13.720 may as well trust in the sovereignty of YouTube, so 0:23:13.760 --> 0:23:14.040 I went. 0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:16.920 They recommended this video up to me next. 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:19.640 These people are professionals, These people know my habits, these 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:22.679 people are acquainted with my desires. So it said that 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:24.399 there was one I should watch next. So I watched 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.240 it next, and it was a theologian. This theologian is 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:29.320 very well known, very well respected, and he was doing 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:31.200 like a pastor's conference and he was doing some question 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:34.280 and answer. So I put it on the theologian and 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:36.320 I kind of walked out of the room and then. 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:37.280 I heard him call my name. 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:39.800 They were doing a lightning round where the interviewer was 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:40.919 asking the theologian. 0:23:41.200 --> 0:23:43.680 Now, this guy is famous. I didn't know he knew 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:44.239 who I was. 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:47.159 When they said my name and asked him what he 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:50.040 thought about me. I thought he would say who That's 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:52.920 what I was expecting because I read this guy's book, 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:55.360 or I should say I was assigned this guy's book. 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:07.120 To read in seminary, and I told you I wouldn't qualify. 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:08.200 Come take the mic. 0:24:08.240 --> 0:24:15.400 Anybody, well, they said, Stephen Ferdick. They were going through names. 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:16.600 What do you think about this? And what do you 0:24:16.600 --> 0:24:18.879 think about that? Stephen Ford, You know how kind of 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:21.040 when you hear some overhear somebody talking about. 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:22.760 You makes you feel important, you know, so I ran 0:24:22.800 --> 0:24:24.960 back in. He said my name, said my name. 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:32.680 I made it now, and he said, Stephen Ferdick, well 0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:33.400 the theologian. 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:34.800 I should show you the clip, but I don't. 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:36.439 Want you to see who he is because some of you, 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:39.439 when you hear what he said about me, if I 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:41.359 told you who he was, you're not saved enough. 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:45.280 I'm serious. 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:48.160 What my mom has thought about cutting his brake cables 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:50.760 in his car, but I told her not to do that. 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:57.800 She's not as Christian as me, they said, Stephen Ferdick. 0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:01.359 And he goes. His body language said it all. He goes, 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:05.439 He drops his head, he slumps his shoulder, and he exhales, 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:08.080 as if the mere consideration of my name was so 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:12.440 weirisome to the great man's theological brain that he could 0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:16.600 not bear the burden. It was like he was flushing 0:25:16.600 --> 0:25:18.840 out the toxins of hearing my name just. 0:25:23.160 --> 0:25:24.200 And the crowd chuckled. 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:28.880 And he summarized my whole minister, which is interesting because 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:31.359 I never met him. 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:33.800 You are judging by appearances. 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:39.840 Summarize my whole minister with one word, and I guess 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:42.679 by now I don't need to tell you what that 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:48.120 word was, because it became the title of my. 0:25:48.119 --> 0:25:56.240 Book, Stephen Fernick, Stephen Fernick. 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:03.720 And he said it so serious too, He said, it's 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:16.440 so serious. He said, unqualified sound like a gaffle in Texas, 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:22.640 a death penalty case. Unqualified. 0:26:24.160 --> 0:26:25.520 Now, there would have been a time. 0:26:30.160 --> 0:26:34.560 Where that word would have triggered some words in my 0:26:34.720 --> 0:26:46.480 mind that would make unqualified sound like a Valentine's stakeharde But. 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:53.159 I was surprised at my reaction. I started laughing. You 0:26:53.200 --> 0:26:57.800 know what I've thought. If you only knew, you know 0:26:57.840 --> 0:26:58.480 what I thought. 0:26:59.040 --> 0:27:02.959 Thank you doctor, Thank you sir for horm a slip. 0:27:03.640 --> 0:27:05.840 I thought, thank you. Oh, by the way, you know 0:27:05.880 --> 0:27:06.600 what I did this week? 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:08.199 You'd I signed him a copy of the book and 0:27:08.200 --> 0:27:10.320 sent it to him with a skinny red tie. I 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:14.960 just wanted to thank him for the reminder, for saying 0:27:15.040 --> 0:27:18.200 what I felt my whole life. And now that we've 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:19.640 got that out of the way. 0:27:20.160 --> 0:27:29.520 Let's have church. See. You just gotta own it? Does 0:27:29.680 --> 0:27:31.919 somebody say own it? Own it? 0:27:32.000 --> 0:27:32.160 Yeah? 0:27:32.240 --> 0:27:36.400 I'm unqualified. Yeah I feel stupid sometimes. Yeah, I feel 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:38.040 inadequate from time to time. 0:27:38.320 --> 0:27:40.679 Yeah I'm not where I'm gonna be, but I'm not 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:41.679 where I used to be. 0:27:42.240 --> 0:27:45.560 Yeah, I got some cracks, but I'm also called Yeah. 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:48.840 I got some weakness, but I also got some strength. 0:27:48.880 --> 0:27:55.200 I'm as a matter of fact, call me unqualified. 0:27:55.600 --> 0:28:02.399 It puts me in some pretty good company. Abraham Moses, Jacob, Joseph. 0:28:02.119 --> 0:28:11.159 Reha, David, Paul, Peter. Reach over to your neighbor and 0:28:11.200 --> 0:28:17.600 tell him join the club. Club, unqualified club, dysfunctional club, 0:28:17.760 --> 0:28:23.520 screwed up club, I lose my mind sometimes. Club, tempted club, 0:28:23.640 --> 0:28:26.560 unsure club, insecure club. 0:28:26.600 --> 0:28:29.719 I'm not quite there yet. Club. Please be patient. I'm 0:28:29.720 --> 0:28:31.040 gonna work in progress. 0:28:31.600 --> 0:28:35.480 Join the club where is my unqualified club? 0:28:37.680 --> 0:28:41.320 Membership is free. All you gotta do is come in 0:28:41.400 --> 0:28:42.200 on your knees. 0:28:51.240 --> 0:28:55.720 Paul had Paul had a great gift, but he still 0:28:55.760 --> 0:28:59.400 had to defend his credentials, and the way he defends 0:28:59.440 --> 0:29:01.320 them is funny to me, because if you want to 0:29:01.320 --> 0:29:05.520 defend yourself, you know, you put up a front. But 0:29:06.440 --> 0:29:10.280 he gets real honest and real raw, real honest and 0:29:11.080 --> 0:29:15.720 real raw, and he's hurt. And I can tell that 0:29:15.760 --> 0:29:19.760 he's hurt because he starts talking. 0:29:19.480 --> 0:29:27.200 About his letters versus his speaking. 0:29:27.680 --> 0:29:30.720 He said that some of you verse ten are saying 0:29:32.120 --> 0:29:38.880 that my letters are better than my preaching. Did you 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:42.280 read the verse? Look at it with me. For some say, 0:29:42.360 --> 0:29:44.640 you're always going to have those voices. They're never gonna 0:29:44.680 --> 0:29:47.440 go away. If Paul had people saying it, you're gonna 0:29:47.440 --> 0:29:50.000 have people saying it. And by the way, most of 0:29:50.040 --> 0:29:52.600 us don't need YouTube to inform us that we're unqualified. 0:29:52.840 --> 0:29:57.680 We have a little tatterbox that's alive and well reminding 0:29:57.760 --> 0:30:02.040 us of the fact. So he said, I know that 0:30:02.120 --> 0:30:06.240 some of you are comparing my letters to my speech. 0:30:06.320 --> 0:30:10.040 For some say his letters are weighty and forceful, but 0:30:10.280 --> 0:30:11.480 in person. 0:30:11.240 --> 0:30:11.680 He is. 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:26.080 Unimpressive, unworthy, unskilled, untrained. I know he wrestled with it, 0:30:26.080 --> 0:30:27.840 because he mentions it again in the next chapter. In 0:30:27.880 --> 0:30:30.760 Second Corinthians, Chapter eleven, verses five and six, he starts 0:30:30.760 --> 0:30:33.800 talking about I may not be trained as a speaker. 0:30:33.840 --> 0:30:35.920 I know I'm not trained as a speaker, but. 0:30:35.920 --> 0:30:39.200 I have knowledge. Now, you don't talk like this unless 0:30:39.240 --> 0:30:45.960 you're wrestling with it. If you're a Christian for. 0:30:46.000 --> 0:30:50.920 Very long, you're eventually going to have somebody ask you 0:30:51.320 --> 0:30:53.560 this question. And it's kind of a funny question, but 0:30:53.600 --> 0:30:55.360 they'll ask us something we do as Christians. We say, 0:30:55.520 --> 0:30:57.000 when you get to Heaven, who do you want to see? 0:30:57.000 --> 0:30:57.280 First? 0:30:58.600 --> 0:30:59.920 Now, when I ask you that, the first thing you 0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:05.240 got to say, I don't want to see Jesus. But 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:07.840 then after you say that, I've asked people that before, 0:31:07.880 --> 0:31:08.560 and you usually hear a. 0:31:08.560 --> 0:31:09.880 Lot of people say they want to see Paul. But 0:31:09.880 --> 0:31:10.600 I don't know if they do. 0:31:12.280 --> 0:31:13.720 I don't know if Paul's the first person you want 0:31:13.720 --> 0:31:19.080 to see, because we know Paul according to his gift. 0:31:20.720 --> 0:31:24.000 But apparently Paul had a glitch. 0:31:26.720 --> 0:31:30.680 Is that this man who wrote twenty three percent of 0:31:30.680 --> 0:31:34.360 the New Testament. You total up the number of words 0:31:34.440 --> 0:31:36.160 of coin a Greek, which is the type of Greek 0:31:36.160 --> 0:31:38.440 that the New Testament was written in, and you look 0:31:38.480 --> 0:31:40.240 at how many are attributed to Paul. It was up 0:31:40.280 --> 0:31:45.440 to twenty three percent. Makes him the second biggest human 0:31:45.480 --> 0:31:48.720 contributor to what we have as our New Testament canon 0:31:48.720 --> 0:31:52.120 of Scripture, second only to Luke who wrote Luke. 0:31:55.160 --> 0:32:00.880 And Acts. That guy who. 0:32:00.680 --> 0:32:03.880 We could argue was the most effective preacher of the 0:32:03.960 --> 0:32:10.600 last twenty centuries, who took the Gospel to new frontiers. 0:32:11.320 --> 0:32:16.400 That gifted guy had a glitch and apparently the way 0:32:16.440 --> 0:32:19.280 he preached, this preacher, because you know, when you picture Paul, 0:32:19.640 --> 0:32:22.200 I bet you picture him with a big, booming voice, 0:32:23.000 --> 0:32:28.280 funny illustrations B three or again. But Paul stood up 0:32:28.280 --> 0:32:31.560 to preach, and some people said he ain't nothing. 0:32:35.520 --> 0:32:36.800 He can't preach like a Polos. 0:32:37.040 --> 0:32:40.920 Apollos was another preacher during his day, and people always 0:32:40.960 --> 0:32:43.640 wanted to compare Paul in a Polus, and they say, 0:32:43.680 --> 0:32:46.320 I follow Apolus because Apollos was an orator. 0:32:47.440 --> 0:32:52.000 He was spellbinding. He had a vocabulary like a thesaurus. 0:32:53.840 --> 0:32:55.160 He had metaphors and. 0:32:56.640 --> 0:33:06.320 Analogies and synonyms and antonyms, other grammar tools, and boy. 0:33:06.120 --> 0:33:09.600 He could preach. So he preach. He's just spellbinding. He preached, 0:33:09.600 --> 0:33:14.240 and people will leave. Paul said, I know I'm not 0:33:14.240 --> 0:33:18.800 a very good preacher. I know him. 0:33:19.960 --> 0:33:22.640 That gets me because he's talking about confidence, but then 0:33:23.760 --> 0:33:27.400 he talks about the conflict he fulfilled a great destiny, 0:33:28.280 --> 0:33:32.040 but he illuminates his deficiency. One of the great things 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:35.840 about pastoring a large church now is that I get 0:33:35.880 --> 0:33:37.840 to know some of the people who have always been 0:33:37.880 --> 0:33:42.960 my heroes from a distance personally, and sometimes you wish 0:33:43.040 --> 0:33:47.280 that you had kept them at a distance. But sometimes 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:48.920 you get to know them and you realize that the 0:33:48.960 --> 0:33:50.959 secret of their strength isn't what you thought it was. 0:33:54.200 --> 0:33:57.440 So there are three pastors that I consider the best, 0:33:58.240 --> 0:34:01.800 just my personal ranking for whatever it's worth. 0:34:01.880 --> 0:34:04.320 I've seen certain things that they do. 0:34:04.200 --> 0:34:07.000 And I respect them all on different levels for different reasons, 0:34:07.040 --> 0:34:09.680 but they all in some way represent something that I 0:34:09.680 --> 0:34:12.440 would love to emulate. And I've asked them over the 0:34:12.520 --> 0:34:17.360 last I would say, eight months, the same question across 0:34:17.400 --> 0:34:21.520 three different areas. So the first one, he's really great 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:25.720 with money, and his church reflects this. He has millions 0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:28.600 in assets and zero in debt, both in his. 0:34:28.560 --> 0:34:29.879 Personal life and his church life. 0:34:30.960 --> 0:34:32.600 And I see how he orders his life and how 0:34:32.600 --> 0:34:34.000 strategic and efficient it is. 0:34:34.040 --> 0:34:37.439 And I asked him, what made you that way? What 0:34:37.480 --> 0:34:38.919 do you think made you that way? 0:34:39.320 --> 0:34:44.600 He answered quickly, I was so broke growing up, I 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:45.480 was so poor. 0:34:45.800 --> 0:34:46.600 I had nothing. 0:34:47.480 --> 0:34:52.160 So when I finally got something, it was the poverty 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:54.920 that I experienced growing up that gave me the discipline 0:34:55.200 --> 0:34:59.400 to handle what I had when I got it. Okay, 0:35:00.480 --> 0:35:05.759 the second guy, he's the best empower Is that a word? 0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:09.520 He is the best at empowering other leaders that I've 0:35:09.560 --> 0:35:13.719 ever seen, and now, at around age sixty, he's got 0:35:13.800 --> 0:35:16.640 leaders that he raised up and sent out all over 0:35:16.680 --> 0:35:19.799 the world who are doing more than he could ever 0:35:19.880 --> 0:35:22.239 do through the power of his life multiplied. So I 0:35:22.280 --> 0:35:26.560 asked him, how have you always had the virtue or 0:35:27.280 --> 0:35:31.440 the humility to be able to empower other leaders in 0:35:31.440 --> 0:35:34.160 the way that you have, you know he said? He said, 0:35:35.040 --> 0:35:36.920 I don't think it was humility as much as it 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:40.760 was my insecurity. I never saw myself as a great leader, 0:35:41.040 --> 0:35:43.200 so I had no other choice but to lean on 0:35:43.239 --> 0:35:43.800 other people. 0:35:45.960 --> 0:35:47.080 That's the second one. 0:35:47.239 --> 0:35:48.640 I want you to look for the common thread in 0:35:48.680 --> 0:35:51.000 the three of these, because the third one he's the 0:35:51.040 --> 0:35:55.200 best preacher I've ever heard, the best, the best, and 0:35:55.239 --> 0:35:56.080 I'll fight you over that. 0:35:56.239 --> 0:35:56.880 He's the best. 0:35:58.360 --> 0:36:01.360 I heard him say twice in the last couple of weeks, 0:36:01.719 --> 0:36:04.480 something that shocked me because I see his gift. 0:36:05.680 --> 0:36:07.880 I see his gift, but I never saw his glitch. 0:36:09.560 --> 0:36:10.080 I see his. 0:36:10.080 --> 0:36:12.400 Gift, and it surprised me when he said, when I 0:36:12.440 --> 0:36:15.279 first started preaching, my hand would shake so bad I 0:36:15.320 --> 0:36:17.520 could hardly hold the microphone. 0:36:17.640 --> 0:36:19.240 I had to get a microphone. 0:36:18.760 --> 0:36:20.640 That would clip on me because if I held one, 0:36:20.719 --> 0:36:22.640 my hand would shake too bad and I couldn't hold 0:36:22.640 --> 0:36:24.680 it still. 0:36:24.800 --> 0:36:26.000 And he said, when. 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:28.960 I first started preaching, he said, I preached harder than 0:36:29.000 --> 0:36:29.760 anybody else. 0:36:29.840 --> 0:36:32.880 I preach for two hours, three hours. 0:36:32.920 --> 0:36:35.759 He said, I would preach so hard that not only 0:36:35.840 --> 0:36:38.799 would I sweat through my suit, I would sweat through 0:36:38.840 --> 0:36:42.399 my shoes. You could ring sweat out of my shoelaces. 0:36:42.440 --> 0:36:45.480 When I got done preaching, and he said, watch this. 0:36:45.080 --> 0:36:48.120 This made me cry like Vanilope on record Ralph when 0:36:48.120 --> 0:36:52.160 he said it. He said, the reason I preached so 0:36:52.360 --> 0:36:55.280 hard is because I never thought I preached that good. 0:37:01.000 --> 0:37:06.160 In each of those cases, it was their glitch that 0:37:06.320 --> 0:37:16.120 made them great. It was the thing that they would 0:37:16.160 --> 0:37:21.799 have asked God to take away, or it was the 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:24.319 thing that they would have asked God to put in 0:37:25.000 --> 0:37:31.680 that he didn't, that fed their strength through their weakness. 0:37:34.280 --> 0:37:38.560 This is such a powerful revelation when you consider that 0:37:38.640 --> 0:37:43.480 Paul wrote twenty three percent of the New Testament, and 0:37:43.520 --> 0:37:48.120 I found myself wondering, if Paul had been a better speaker, 0:37:49.719 --> 0:37:52.480 would he have picked up his pen and written all 0:37:52.480 --> 0:37:59.440 those letters? I wonder if Paul could have preached like 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:02.400 a PAULA, would we have Second Corinthians? 0:38:04.200 --> 0:38:08.719 Would we have Romans? Would we have Ephesians three? Twenty now? 0:38:08.760 --> 0:38:09.759 And him, he was able to do a measure a 0:38:09.760 --> 0:38:11.640 little bit more than all we ask himage Accordey's. 0:38:11.280 --> 0:38:13.479 Powerhich words mightily en us. He picked up. 0:38:13.400 --> 0:38:19.400 His pen, perhaps because he couldn't preach like a Polus. 0:38:22.040 --> 0:38:22.560 It was. 0:38:25.360 --> 0:38:27.319 I gotta be careful because I'll get choked up thinking 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:29.520 about it, because I've spent so much time feeling like 0:38:29.600 --> 0:38:32.640 my glitch was gonna keep me from being used by God. 0:38:33.200 --> 0:38:41.279 But it was his glitch that became his gift. The 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:46.480 words that you read today that Paul wrote may not 0:38:46.600 --> 0:38:50.080 even be on the page if he could have preached better. 0:38:51.239 --> 0:38:55.560 It was because he couldn't preach like a Polus that 0:38:55.719 --> 0:38:57.040 he wrote like Paul. 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:07.240 His glitch was the gift that keeps on giving. 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:15.799 How many Bible verses can you quote that a Polus wrote, but. 0:39:15.800 --> 0:39:16.920 A Polus could preach. 0:39:18.440 --> 0:39:22.000 A Polus was impressive, no doubt what he said was profound. 0:39:22.760 --> 0:39:24.960 But he said it, and it died. 0:39:26.040 --> 0:39:29.800 Paul couldn't preach like a Polus, so it forced him 0:39:30.280 --> 0:39:34.440 to sit down. He said, I gotta take my glitch 0:39:35.400 --> 0:39:39.440 and find a way to turn it into a gift. 0:39:40.520 --> 0:39:42.680 And because he had a glitch, you gotta get this 0:39:42.800 --> 0:39:46.440 in your heart. Because he had a glitch. His words 0:39:46.719 --> 0:39:49.880 are still reverberating today. 0:39:50.120 --> 0:39:52.880 I thought you might want to take fifteen seconds. 0:39:52.560 --> 0:39:56.279 And praise God for your glitch, and praise God for 0:39:56.320 --> 0:39:57.759 your weakness, and. 0:39:57.840 --> 0:39:59.680 Praise God for your struggle. 0:40:08.840 --> 0:40:11.360 You might as well put your weakness to work, because 0:40:11.360 --> 0:40:19.359 it's not going away. I'm not saying don't improve. I'm 0:40:19.400 --> 0:40:21.319 not saying don't get more intelligent. I'm not saying don't 0:40:21.320 --> 0:40:23.720 take the class. I'm saying that there is a glitch 0:40:23.760 --> 0:40:24.399 in all of us. 0:40:25.560 --> 0:40:29.480 That's a lie. There are multiple glitches in all of us. 0:40:32.920 --> 0:40:35.680 When Vanelope found out, I'm gonna tie it all together, 0:40:35.840 --> 0:40:36.160 wreck it. 0:40:36.320 --> 0:40:41.360 Ralph, Apostle, Paul, here they come. They're meeting up. Watch this. 0:40:41.880 --> 0:40:43.960 Vanelope is stuck. 0:40:43.680 --> 0:40:46.160 In a game and she can't race because she's a glitch. 0:40:46.200 --> 0:40:46.680 But guess what. 0:40:47.360 --> 0:40:49.640 The reason that they unplugged the machine to try to 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:52.160 turn her into a glitch to begin with is because 0:40:52.160 --> 0:40:53.120 she was royalty. 0:40:53.600 --> 0:40:54.319 She was a hero. 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:56.440 You gotta watch the movie to get the full revelation 0:40:56.560 --> 0:40:58.400 of this sermon. I want you to sit down and 0:40:58.400 --> 0:41:00.839 watch it for your quiet time this week, because when 0:41:00.840 --> 0:41:03.120 you watch her, you'll find out that the way she 0:41:03.400 --> 0:41:06.560 ended up saving the game was that she glitched to 0:41:06.680 --> 0:41:09.839 the finish line. It was her glitch. God, don don't 0:41:09.880 --> 0:41:12.160 hear me, Y, don't hear me. You keep thinking that 0:41:12.200 --> 0:41:14.480 your glitch is getting in the way. I'm trying to 0:41:14.640 --> 0:41:18.640 tell you that Paul's clinch became the gift that we're 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:19.600 reading today. 0:41:19.960 --> 0:41:20.400 And if you. 0:41:20.480 --> 0:41:23.080 Got a glitch, and if you got a weakness, and 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:25.560 you got a broken spot in your life, and you'll 0:41:25.560 --> 0:41:26.839 bring it to godnedge. 0:41:26.560 --> 0:41:35.919 Humility and sincerity. Your weakness is about to become your 0:41:36.080 --> 0:41:44.080 secret weapon. Your weakness is about to the come your 0:41:44.239 --> 0:41:47.000 portal to God's power. 0:41:48.600 --> 0:41:53.600 Not givin praise if you believe it, given praise if 0:41:53.640 --> 0:41:54.399 you believe it. 0:41:55.960 --> 0:41:57.640 Givin praise if you're receiving. 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:08.200 So the reason I'm so smart with money is I 0:42:08.280 --> 0:42:12.360 was so broke. My glitch became my gift. The reason 0:42:12.400 --> 0:42:14.759 I empowered so many leaders is because I didn't think 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:18.040 I was a very good one. My glitch became my gift. 0:42:18.480 --> 0:42:21.080 The reason I can preach and connect with people is 0:42:21.080 --> 0:42:24.160 because I was convinced I never could see. People who 0:42:24.200 --> 0:42:27.160 have a great gift often find that the gift stunts 0:42:27.239 --> 0:42:32.600 their growth. But when you know you have a glitch, 0:42:37.040 --> 0:42:40.960 when you know that you have a deficiency, and you 0:42:41.040 --> 0:42:51.360 begin to believe that my deficiency is connected to my destiny. 0:42:48.880 --> 0:42:56.800 That's how God uses broken people to do big things. 0:42:57.719 --> 0:42:58.560 Jump up on your feet. 0:42:58.560 --> 0:43:00.440 If you receive this word on any level, will clap 0:43:00.480 --> 0:43:01.720 your hands and give God praise. 0:43:07.080 --> 0:43:08.640 I want, I want, I want, I want you. 0:43:08.600 --> 0:43:12.080 To summarize my message, hug at least six people and 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:14.120 tell him your glitches, your gift, your glitches, your gift, 0:43:14.120 --> 0:43:14.959 your glitches. 0:43:14.600 --> 0:43:26.000 Your gift. If if, if, if. 0:43:28.200 --> 0:43:32.239 He could have preached better, maybe he wouldn't have written it. 0:43:32.160 --> 0:43:36.360 Down if he. 0:43:38.360 --> 0:43:42.000 Sometimes what God leaves out is just as important as 0:43:42.040 --> 0:43:53.640 what he puts in. If Paul had spoken Second Corinthians 0:43:53.680 --> 0:43:56.120 twelve to ten, we wouldn't be able to throw. 0:43:56.000 --> 0:43:59.440 It up on the screen. They didn't have a tape recorder. 0:44:00.440 --> 0:44:08.480 I ain't have pro tools, reason logic ableton, I'm just 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:15.920 saying stuff now. He would have said it, but because 0:44:15.960 --> 0:44:21.560 of his glitch, oh God, because of what he couldn't do. 0:44:24.560 --> 0:44:27.160 I would have liked to have been a better athlete. 0:44:27.360 --> 0:44:29.080 I would love to be able to run the forty 0:44:29.120 --> 0:44:30.560 faster than over five seconds. 0:44:30.640 --> 0:44:31.279 I would love that. 0:44:33.680 --> 0:44:35.400 Well, maybe if I had been a better athlete, I 0:44:35.400 --> 0:44:39.239 wouldn't have been a youth minister. I know some of 0:44:39.280 --> 0:44:40.400 you would have loved to have had a dad that 0:44:40.480 --> 0:44:46.839 raised you, and you should have. But maybe your deficiency, 0:44:46.920 --> 0:44:48.879 maybe the fact that you didn't have a great dad, 0:44:49.080 --> 0:44:50.480 is going to be the thing that drives you to 0:44:50.520 --> 0:45:03.040 become one h I don't think it's coincidence that the 0:45:03.120 --> 0:45:08.960 nerdy kids become the most successful ones, because since they 0:45:08.960 --> 0:45:11.840 don't have a whole lot of people around, they have 0:45:11.880 --> 0:45:12.239 to get. 0:45:12.160 --> 0:45:14.120 To know themselves and they have to develop themselves. 0:45:16.280 --> 0:45:20.400 And so then what in high school is loneliness becomes 0:45:20.480 --> 0:45:21.600 later in life success. 0:45:23.280 --> 0:45:28.760 It's the glitch that keeps giving. 0:45:29.120 --> 0:45:30.560 You know, the thing that didn't happen for you that 0:45:30.600 --> 0:45:31.880 you prayed it would happen, and you felt like a 0:45:31.920 --> 0:45:35.200 failure when it didn't happen, the thing you didn't get, 0:45:36.200 --> 0:45:38.600 the opportunity that you screwed up. Hey, maybe you screwed 0:45:38.640 --> 0:45:42.840 it up. Maybe God didn't do it. But Paul said, 0:45:43.719 --> 0:45:47.680 when I am weak, then. 0:45:47.600 --> 0:45:51.080 I am strong. Joint hands with the person next to You. 0:46:00.040 --> 0:46:04.880 Think God doesn't see your glitch, you think he's limited 0:46:04.920 --> 0:46:09.160 by it. You think the manufacturer doesn't know your defect. 0:46:11.520 --> 0:46:14.320 Of course he does chose you anyway. 0:46:16.440 --> 0:46:17.960 And I know a lot of preachings says, you know, 0:46:18.000 --> 0:46:19.759 God's going to use you in spite of that thing. 0:46:19.880 --> 0:46:21.759 Uhh, that's not my message. 0:46:21.920 --> 0:46:28.279 I'm saying He's gonna use you because of it. It 0:46:28.360 --> 0:46:32.040 is going to be your weakness that feeds your strength. Father, 0:46:32.160 --> 0:46:36.320 in the name of Jesus, I declare over every glitchy 0:46:36.400 --> 0:46:41.080 person that the broken places in their lives, in the 0:46:41.160 --> 0:46:44.759 cracks in their heart, are about to become the spaces 0:46:44.840 --> 0:46:48.360 through which your glory most freely flows. We thank you 0:46:48.440 --> 0:46:51.279 that we are broken vessels, and we thank you that 0:46:51.320 --> 0:46:54.680 what is broken is full of oil. And we thank 0:46:54.760 --> 0:46:57.520 you that in our lives that you are not limited 0:46:57.560 --> 0:47:02.680 by our liabilities, but rather you specialize in turning weakness 0:47:02.719 --> 0:47:05.319 into strength. Now lift your hands in the air. I 0:47:05.320 --> 0:47:08.920 want you to reach for God today. God, empower these 0:47:08.960 --> 0:47:14.279 people by your grace. Empower these people to realize a 0:47:14.320 --> 0:47:18.840 great calling. Empower your sons and daughters with the kind 0:47:18.840 --> 0:47:22.399 of blessing, with the kind of anointing, with the kind 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:24.160 of glory that can only. 0:47:24.040 --> 0:47:25.839 Enter through broken spaces. 0:47:26.320 --> 0:47:29.720 Now clap those same hands and give God graise. 0:47:30.600 --> 0:47:34.040 If you'll know your glas it's your gift. If you'll 0:47:34.080 --> 0:47:39.839 know your weakness is your strength, the clear victory over 0:47:39.880 --> 0:47:46.120 your mind. Thank you for joining us. 0:47:46.400 --> 0:47:48.840 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:52.400 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 0:47:52.880 --> 0:47:55.080 You can click the link in the description to give 0:47:55.160 --> 0:47:59.080 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 0:47:59.160 --> 0:48:02.920 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 0:48:03.400 --> 0:48:04.720 You can share it with your friends. 0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:07.279 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 0:48:07.360 --> 0:48:09.440 share it on your social stories and tag us at 0:48:09.480 --> 0:48:10.360 Elevation Church. 0:48:10.400 --> 0:48:17.000 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.