The Hardest Part Is Behind You

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 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 --> 0:00:11.480 gives your. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.480 Perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:14.680 Enjoy the message. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.919 Let's give the Lord twenty seconds a praise that he 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.080 gave Jesus the name that is above every name, and 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:30.760 he gave us that name to call on today. 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:36.560 What a beautiful name it is the name of Jesus Christ, 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:37.280 Star King. 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:40.839 Well, you might want to turn around and introduce yourself 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:41.560 to five people. 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.639 Tell him your name. Hello, my name is. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:51.120 Let's get on a first name basis. If you're watching online, 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:52.360 put your name in the chat. 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.560 Who are you? Where you come from. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.000 I'm pulling out my phone right now to see who's 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.480 joining us across all of our streaming platforms. Just go 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.520 ahead and put your name in the chat. If you're 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.000 watching this at a later time, put it in the comments. 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.520 An Elevation Church, Let's thank God for our e fam 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.280 watching all over the world right now. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.200 As I heard somebody say, you can do better than that. 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.920 One time I heard a preacher preaching out in the country, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:29.840 and he didn't like the response he was getting from 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:30.160 the church. 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.280 He said, you can do better than that, and somebody 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:38.000 in the crowd shouted, so could you don't do that? Today? 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:43.679 We have trained security who know martial arts. I'm so 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:49.120 glad you're here today. I'm so thankful, not only for 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.120 the sermon that I'm about to preach to you, but 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:52.880 the sermon that. 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:54.160 You've preached all week long. 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.000 Everybody who served during Love Week, large or small, Thank you, 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:00.440 everybody who gave so that we could. 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.600 Be out there. Thank you man. 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.440 I wish you could have seen me and Holly and 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.160 your campus pastors and your outreach staff just giving out 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.400 checks left and right this week to feed the hungry, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.919 to lift up the broken hearted, to bind up the wounded, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.799 to make a difference in somebody's life. I wish you 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.000 could have seen my son Graham with a power tool 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.320 in his hand. I told him, son, I can't teach 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:26.080 you what to do with that. The only power tool 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:28.359 I ever held was a microphone to preach the gospel. 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.440 But so many people this week made a difference. And 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.640 if you are one of them, I say thank you. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:36.840 And if you were not one of them. It is 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:38.880 never too late to get in on a good thing. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:41.720 I said, It's never too late to get in on 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:47.000 a good thing. So may today be a day of 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.480 new beginnings. It's also a day of continuations, because I 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.040 have started a series called That's what I thought. 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:57.959 Look at your neighbors, say that's what I thought. 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.119 That's what I thought. That's what I thought. You want 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:06.079 to say something, now, That's what I thought. I like 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.720 that energy. When we run up on the devil on Sunday, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.320 versus when he runs up on us on Monday. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:13.000 Come to church, come. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:20.280 About jamespray, job, bones, sway. And the key to all 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.399 of this is that when we are not together like this, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.320 you are able to take what you get here and 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.680 apply it there wherever you're there may be that is 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.280 my desire for you, and that there would be no 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.600 place that the Word of God cannot make the difference 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:38.400 in your life. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:42.320 Today, I'm excited to share. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:43.840 A message with you, and I'm going to use for 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:47.880 a foundational scripture First Corinthians thirteen eight through eleven. As 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.760 you're looking in your bible, let me welcome a few 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.880 epham from around the world. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:59.160 We've got Rebecca, Shriika, Sheryl. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:11.440 Anne, Dianelesia, Laura. We got Bremerton, Washington, Bremerton, Washington, Flagstaff, Arizona, 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.600 VICKI from Texas. God bless you from all over the world. 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.440 Just keep letting us know where you're watching from. We 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:23.159 want to connect with you. And today, as I share 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.920 a principle and then a picture, I love to teach 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.159 that way. That's my favorite way to teach a principle 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.120 and then a picture. A principle and then a picture, 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:35.799 so you can hear a sermon and see a sermon. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.760 And we're going to do both today First Corinthians, chapter thirteen, 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.120 which is normally a scripture you. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:44.560 Only hear at a wedding. 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:48.480 I don't know if somebody's getting married today or if 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.520 the Lord sent me to prophesy, but I'm preaching from 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:57.680 First Corinthians thirteen, and specifically from verse eight through eleven, 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.760 which is not commonly what they read at the weddings. 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:04.240 But this is one of the most powerful I thoughts 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.880 in the Bible. I talked last week about a God 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.800 thought and an I thought, and an I thought can 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:14.080 sometimes leave you in isolation. It can lead you to 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:17.480 do things that are impulsive. It can lead you to insecurity. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.640 I although start with the letter I, so we're exchanging 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:27.440 that now for God thoughts. And the most famous I 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.600 thought in the Bible is in one Corinthians, chapter thirteen. 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.440 Let me start with verse eight to give context. And 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:35.080 we don't stand the whole time. We're just standing for 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:37.039 the reading of God's word because it's his word, and 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.159 he's holy, and he's amazing, and he deserves it. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:40.280 We give him our full attention. 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.599 So everyone standing, clear your feet, listen to the word 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:49.120 of God. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.919 they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.960 Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.680 know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:07.479 completeness comes, what is in part disappears. Here's the verse 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.080 I want to reach you. When I was a child, 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:18.080 I talked like a child. I thought like a child. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:28.520 I reasoned like a child. When I became a man 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.599 and got this hair on my chest, when I became 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.280 a man and got these grays in my beard. When 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:44.440 I became a man, I put the ways of childhood 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:49.040 behind me. And the title of this message is a 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.120 declaration today. So turn your neighbor and say, I don't 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:55.839 know what you're going through. Looked right at him and say, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:00.400 but the hardest part is behind behind you. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.840 I knew it. I knew that was the word of 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:10.200 the Lord. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.880 The devil fought me all night last night, telling me, 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.120 you can't stand up and preach that. What if they 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.280 have something negative in their future this week? What if 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:20.840 they have something disappointing in their. 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:22.960 Future this week? You don't know what they're going through. 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.480 But the word of the Lord is the hardest part 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:36.960 is behind you. Tell three people it's behind you. 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:38.960 Put it in the chat on your way to your seat, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:40.440 tell them it's behind you. 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:48.880 It's behind you, it's behind you. Where credit is due. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:53.600 I stole that title from Holly. Is something that she 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.480 says when we go out on elevation Nights, which we 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:58.960 are coming to a city near you soon in October. 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:00.200 So go to elevation night. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.160 And usually after a few songs, Holly and I will 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.200 take the stage and welcome to people and greet them, 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.480 and it's always so excited, and we thank them for coming, 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.880 and we make a few little jokes, and then she 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.440 always tells to people something like this. I may not 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.520 get the wording exactly right. She's like, I don't know 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.360 what you had to go through to get here tonight. 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.080 I don't know if the parking deck was a mess. 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.000 I don't know if your babysit or canceled. I don't 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:26.320 know if you had the stomach flew earlier this week, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:31.679 but you decided to come contagious anyway, But just relax 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:35.360 now because the hard part is behind you. You're here, 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.040 and I can kind of see when people sit down 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.160 after she says that that maybe they're glad to hear that, 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.400 or maybe they're a little skeptical because you can't really say. 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:49.960 That to them because they still have to get out 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.679 of the parking garage after the concert, so they know, like, Okay, well, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.640 the hardest part is not behind me technically, because I 0:08:57.640 --> 0:08:59.760 have to actually like leave and then I have to 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:01.560 go home where I don't have. 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.560 An amazing worship team singing songs of praise to me, 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:05.240 and where everybody is not a Christian. I have to 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:06.920 go back to a job where not everybody believes like 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.960 I believe. But yet there's something about when she says that, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:11.920 I think it's so important She's just letting them know 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.760 that everything that the enemy could have done to keep 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.880 you from getting here tonight, you made it. And now 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.960 just take it in and just receive it. And I 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:27.040 want to say that to those of you at elevation today, 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:27.720 you got here. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.960 You got here. You got here. 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.680 Bought a plane ticket or took a scooter, but you 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.120 got here, bummed a ride, paid for an uber, but 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.040 you got here. Is something encouraging about when she says 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.240 that the hardest part is behind you. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.080 Now just receive, just sing just worship God. 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.560 Where you're like, yeah, that's so good to hear, whether 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:54.800 you're in the middle of a worship service or a workout. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.120 I used to do this thing called P ninety X 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.760 with DVDs, and the man would tell you about forty 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.640 minutes through the workout, now the hardest part is behind you. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.040 It's all downhill from here. 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.080 And it was good that he said that because I 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:10.800 was just about to hit stop on the DVD and 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.200 get a partial credit for the day. But there's something 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:18.120 about hearing that, like, the hardest part is behind you. 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.160 You're done with the hardest part. Everything from here on 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.760 out is just to cool down. Everything from here on 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.000 out is gonna be fine. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:28.120 The hardest part is behind you. 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.000 Of course, there are parts of your life and parts 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.040 of my life that the other one doesn't know. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.240 You know, I'm not sure what. 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.600 All the parts of your life that you are considering today, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.120 or the parts of your life that have led you 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.720 to this moment, have been, But I do know that 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:50.680 the apostle Paul says something so profound in First Corinthians thirteen, 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:56.040 verse eight, which is a wedding scripture. Remember, and then 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.760 the people getting married after they read First Corinthians thirteen 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.000 and the wedding is over, they think that when the 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.520 wedding is over, the hard part is over of the relationship, 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.600 after they have sailed and blissed to their honeymoon. So 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:12.920 it's kind of ironic that I'm using this chapter to 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:17.000 teach this principle. But he says something about love never failing, 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.199 and then he says, where there are prophecies, they will cease. 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.079 Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.080 is knowledge, it will pass away verse nine four. We 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:31.959 know in part, everybody say we know in part. Use 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:37.240 your mouth and say it we know in part. And 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.240 to me that scripture keeps me humble to me, that 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.040 scripture keeps me open, That scripture keeps me aware that 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.360 there are some things that I know about God, but 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:52.760 I know in part in part, and anything that I 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.839 know about God is a thing that is a part 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.400 of a thing, that is a part of a thing, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:00.520 that is a part of a thing, that is a 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:02.040 part of a thing, that is a part of a 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.080 thing that encompasses all things. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.000 So, for example, I like to use musical examples. E. 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.240 Turn the guitar volume up and just play really quickly. 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.599 And I may do this illustration more in depth. 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.920 Next week, but just to set the table, play the 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:24.560 high E string of that guitar. That string is a thing. 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:27.720 It's a thing. Play it again, the high ees string. 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.560 Now I want you to play an entire E chord, 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.560 including the high et string, but not limited to play 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.680 the high et string. That's a thing. Play the E chord. 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.760 It's a thing that's a part of a thing. It's 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.839 a string that's a part of a guitar. Okay, now 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.120 the guitar is a thing that's a part of a thing. 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:55.880 Zoom out and get the whole band real quick. I 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:58.760 want the whole band to swell like the majesty and glory, 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:00.600 and the holiness of the Lord is about to enter 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.600 the room, and I want the whole band when I 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.080 say three, play a beautiful e chord with symbol swells, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:08.480 but not too much symbols because it'll get tinny and 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.119 it'll be unbearable to our ears and it'll ruin my illustration. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.560 But just on the counter three, everybody swell on the 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:17.680 e chord one, two, three and. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:23.280 Beautiful. 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.040 I felt very powerful doing that, by the way she tried. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:27.120 Sometimes that's amazing. 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.720 The string is a thing that's a part of a 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:37.920 thing the guitar, and the guitar is a part of 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:45.800 a thing that's called a band. And the thing that's 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:47.960 a part of a thing that's a part of a 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.040 thing is a part of a thing. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:51.520 Called elevation worship. 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.240 And elevation worship is part of a thing called the 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.640 Body of Christ, and the body of Christ is part 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:00.679 of a thing called the Kingdom of God. It's a 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.440 thing that's a part of a thing that's a part 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.800 of a thing, that's a part of a thing that's 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.480 a part of a thing. I'm preaching this week about 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:10.680 a thing that's a part of a thing that's a 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.840 part of a thing, that's a part of a thing 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.120 in your life. And it may be a hard thing, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.040 or it may be a good thing. But if it's 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.760 a hard thing, I want to remind you that even 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.680 a hard thing is just a thing that's a part 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.840 of a thing, that's a part of a thing, that's 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.200 a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing. 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.800 Tell your neighbor, it's a part of a thing, that's 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.440 a part of a thing, that's a part of a thing. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.760 So never judge an incidence in isolation, because it may 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:45.960 be a bad thing that's serving a bigger purpose. We 0:14:46.120 --> 0:14:50.640 know in part, we prophesy in part, and so we 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.080 can never judge a God who has purpose that is 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.720 eternal by the part that we know that is not permanent. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.640 First Corinthians thirteen is not not really a chapter about love. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.400 It uses love as an example, but it's really a 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:10.080 chapter about pride. 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.280 The Corinthian church that Paul is writing. 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:17.080 To has not yet learned the lesson that the gifts 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:23.880 God gives you are for service, not status. So they 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.520 are running around trying to impress others with gifts that 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.920 God gave them to edify others. Sometimes we misuse and 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.600 don't steward what God gave us in service. And not 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.280 only is Paul correcting their sexual immorality, but he is 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:44.600 correcting their vision and their perspective on their priorities. They 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:49.160 are tending to prioritize things that are temporary over things 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.280 that are eternal. Now, I want to lay this foundation, 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.760 and we're going to get very practical. But go back 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.800 with me real quick to verse eight, where it says 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.360 love never fails. Where there are prophecies, they will cease. 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.880 Where there are they will be still. And where there 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:09.280 is knowledge, it will pass away. There's coming a time 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.960 when you'll go to heaven and you won't need knowledge, 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:15.240 you won't even really need faith. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.440 You'll have sight. You'll be complete in Jesus. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.880 And when what is complete has come, everything that is 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.400 imperfect or partial disappears. 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:27.720 Until then we walk by faith. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.480 But what Paul is doing is far deeper than getting 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.760 us to wait on a future day when we're going 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.840 to see Jesus say face to face, and we won't 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:40.480 need someone to interpret tongues because we'll hear his voice directly, 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.440 And we won't need someone to be able to prophesy 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.160 in our future because we will be seated with the 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.600 one who holds the future. He's far beyond that, and 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.480 he's trying to get you to see the difference between 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:59.680 what is permanent and what is passing, what is permanent 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:01.640 and what is passing. 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:07.240 Let's read verse eight again. Where there are prophecies, they 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:08.240 will cease. 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:12.280 That's foretelling or forthtelling about the future by the spirit 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:12.720 of God. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:13.840 Will need that. 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.880 In heaven, where there are tongues, they will be stilled. 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:18.120 That's a heavenly language. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.680 But if you're in heaven, you already speak heaven as 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:22.840 your first language. 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.240 It's your native language, so you will need it anymore. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.679 Love never fails, Love never goes away. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.720 But prophecies will cease, and tongues will be stilled, and 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.040 even knowledge. 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:35.840 I want to get this verse up there, in verse 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:43.040 number eight will pass away. It will pass away. 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:48.040 Circle the phrase for me justin it will pass, It 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:48.719 will pass. 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.720 And that's what Paul is trying to get you to see. 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.240 About some of the things that you think are so 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:55.480 important in your life. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:56.399 It will pass. 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.919 Paul is trying to get us to understand it. First Corinthians, 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.200 which is a letter to a church that was confused 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.000 about priorities and was carnal in their understanding that some 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:10.479 of the things that you're busy toning up, and some 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.280 of the things that you're busy tightening, and some of 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:17.320 the tricks that you're busy perfecting on this earth are 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:22.040 just solving temporary problems that really have no eternal value. 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.240 And although they matter, they are not supreme. It cannot 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:30.760 be the priority. I want to stop prioritizing things that 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.159 are going to pass away, don't you. I want to 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.159 stop putting things first that are going to fade in 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.119 the end. I want to stop giving all of my 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:45.199 attention to things that are not assets but liabilities. Spiritually, so, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:50.040 the difference between what is permanent and what is passing 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.840 is to me the essence of First Corinthians thirteen. If 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.320 you came in this morning and said, Pastor Stephen, what 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:57.240 is the essence of. 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:58.640 First Corinthians thirteen? 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:03.560 I would say to you with much confidence, the difference 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:08.560 between what is passing and what is permanent. Write those 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:14.280 two words down in your notebook, passing and permanent, Passing 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.840 and permanent. And Paul says that love never feels, but 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:25.520 everything else will pass away. 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:27.679 It will pass. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:32.159 Maybe the Lord is saying that about a storm that 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.000 you're going through in your life, it will pass. I 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.399 just want to stop and minister this to somebody today. 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.240 Maybe it's about the sadness that you feel and the 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:43.440 grief in the season that you're going through. 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.320 It will pass. That's why we've got to get. 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.880 You somehow to keep going through this valley that you're 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.119 going through right now, because it will pass. Tell your 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.560 neighbor tenderly, it will pass. Put it in a chat. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.840 It will pass. Whether it's a valley you don't want 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.679 to go through or a mountain that you really like 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:07.440 standing on top of, it will pass. That trophy isn't 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:09.439 going to last forever. It will pass. 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.000 Even the greatest relationship in. 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.760 Your life humanly speaking, has a time limit to it 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:16.359 called death. 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:17.400 It will pass. 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:19.760 And I don't mean to depress you, but I think 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:22.840 it is very prospective giving for me to just realize 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.840 that everything I'm worried about, and everything I'm concerned about, 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.159 and everything that I'm going through right now that feels 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:29.360 like it's never going to end. 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:33.000 The word of the Lord is it will pass. One 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:34.560 of the greatest Bible verses. 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:38.840 You could ever memorize would be and it came to pass. 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.960 Take the good times, hold them, cherish them, hold them 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.719 up high, hold them up like the lion king. Tell 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:47.000 them about this is what God gave me. But just 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.760 know it will pass. It won't always be like that. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.159 It will pass. When our kids were kids were very small, 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:56.920 I was so sick of people telling me that the 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:58.320 days are long. 0:20:58.119 --> 0:20:59.280 But the years are short. 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:01.640 And I was like, but if they don't stop screaming, 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.159 I'm gonna cut their years short. Don't give me a 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:08.520 little cliche right now, But it's true. It will pass. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.320 It will pass. That these carpets are gonna be dirty 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:13.080 and you're fussing about cleaning them up. 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:13.840 It'll pass. 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.280 One day the carpets will be so clean you might 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:18.520 just track something in just to remember the days when 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:19.760 you had kids to track them. 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:21.560 And I'm in that season right now. 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:24.399 This year, I had one boy who turned twenty and 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.440 graduated college. I have another boy who's going into high 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.520 school senior year this year and he's about to graduate. 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:34.639 And I've got a daughter. This is so sad. Y'all 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.919 who just this last week shout out doctor Hall, greatest 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:43.520 orthodonist in the Charlotte area. Just this week showing the picture. Guys, 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:53.199 got her braces taken off. Congratulations, Abby, eat all the 0:21:53.240 --> 0:22:00.200 popcorn you want. She's just gonna be eating popcorn. Ah ah, 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:07.000 my braces are off. When I was a child, I 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.280 talked like a child. Thank you so much for the picture. 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:14.399 I think they got the point. I talked like a child, 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.560 I thought like a child. 0:22:18.840 --> 0:22:19.520 Now follow me. 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:22.960 Paul is saying there's a difference between what is permanent 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:27.000 and what is passing, and to illustrate that principle, he 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.720 gives a picture. When I was a child, I talked 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.960 like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.400 like a child. When I became a man, I put 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.520 the ways of childhood behind me. And wouldn't it be 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:50.200 wonderful if that process was as automatic and as simple 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:55.480 and as summarized as Paul makes it sound. In First 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.960 Corinthians thirteen eleven, I don't know what. 0:22:57.880 --> 0:22:58.320 Age it is. 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.720 Maybe when you turn twenty, maybe when you turn twenty five, 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:04.160 maybe when you turn eighteen, But this verse happens when 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:08.640 you reach a certain birthday. The ways of childhood are 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.720 behind you. Because I became a woman, I became a man. 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:13.720 I guess what I'm trying to say this. 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:16.879 Is it awesome to think of the process of spiritual 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:22.960 transformation that Paul describes, like getting your braces off, Like 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:26.520 I went one day. I had crooked teeth. They put 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:29.960 braces on to get my teeth straight. One day, after 0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.200 monitoring my teeth for several years, they said, you're ready 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.440 to have your braces off, and they took my braces off. 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:39.679 I had crooked teeth, I had braces. I don't have 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:44.240 crooked teeth anymore. My teeth are straight, my teeth are straight, 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:45.840 my braces are off. 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:47.400 It all happened one day. 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:52.120 Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could get your truth straight. 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:57.880 Like you get your teeth straight. 0:23:57.440 --> 0:23:59.600 And then one day you can just announce to everybody 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:03.000 in your life, I have great news. I'm getting my 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:07.679 braces off. I'm getting my behaviors off from the past. 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:10.639 I'm getting my selfishness off today. 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:12.439 Yeah, ask me. In about three years, the Lord's been 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:14.040 working with me. I joined one of those e groups 0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:14.520 and I met. 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:16.400 Some people and it was awesome and he sanctified me. 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:18.960 So today you might notice my smile is a little 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:21.600 different because I got my selfishness removed today. 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:23.439 It took a while but I got it straight. 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:28.200 Would it be awesome if the Bible could just take 0:24:28.240 --> 0:24:32.080 your braces off? That's how Paul made it sound. He said, 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.080 when I became a man, I put the ways of 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:38.680 childhood behind me. Like you just went in and had 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:41.359 an appointment with Jesus and you said, it's time for 0:24:41.400 --> 0:24:43.760 me to stop complaining. Now it's time for me to 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:46.440 stop being afraid of what other people think. Right now, 0:24:46.720 --> 0:24:50.040 it's time for me to stop lusting. Now I'm married, 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:53.000 now I need to be devoted to one woman right now. 0:24:53.200 --> 0:24:56.359 And then orthodontist Holy Ghos says, yeah, let me just 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:58.879 take those lust off of your teeth. 0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:01.080 Then you just take the oh, those. 0:25:01.040 --> 0:25:04.439 Brackets, Let me take those brackets out of your brain 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.159 so that you will only be attracted to your wife 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:09.520 ever again, because you got to put the ways of 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:12.960 childhood behind you. Wouldn't it be awesome if all of 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:15.720 a sudden, one day you just went to the orthodontist 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:18.560 called the Holy Spirit and said, I need this thing 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:21.000 that happened to me when I was twelve. It became 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:23.360 trauma in my life. But I need you to take 0:25:23.400 --> 0:25:25.840 the trauma off of me so I can live in 0:25:25.920 --> 0:25:29.520 the truth. Oh, no problem. Let's put you through a program. 0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:31.800 If we can get you through an eighteen month program, here, 0:25:31.920 --> 0:25:33.240 memorize these twenty scriptures. 0:25:33.280 --> 0:25:35.240 These are the top twenty scriptures for trauma. 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:37.680 And when you memorize these twenty scriptures, you will no 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:39.359 longer feel the effects of trauma. 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:41.520 But the trauma trace says trapped. 0:25:41.359 --> 0:25:44.280 In the body sometimes even when the spirit has been 0:25:44.320 --> 0:25:46.840 set free by the blood of Christ. Wouldn't it be 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:51.119 wonderful if there was an orthodonist spiritually speaking, just to 0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:51.560 sit you. 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:53.639 Down in a chair. I wish I could get you 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:56.560 in a chair today and lean you back and numb 0:25:56.640 --> 0:25:57.440 you up and. 0:25:57.440 --> 0:25:59.760 Just yank stuff off of your life. I mean, just 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.679 take it off so you can smile again. So you 0:26:02.680 --> 0:26:05.399 could say I was depressed for the last year, but 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:09.240 I went to evolution Elevation Church and that preacher leave 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:12.760 me back and yanked it off. And I'm smiling now, 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:16.760 I'm singing, now, I'm dancing. Now, I'm a man, now 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:19.439 I'm a woman now. Wouldn't it be good if you 0:26:19.480 --> 0:26:22.320 could graduate from grief? Wouldn't it be good if you 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:25.720 could graduate from greed? I used to be stingy, but 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:28.119 God did a work in my life. And now all 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:29.640 of a sudden, all I want to do is give 0:26:29.680 --> 0:26:31.919 money away. I won't even let my boss take me. 0:26:31.960 --> 0:26:34.000 I just give the check back and tell him to use. 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:36.119 It to fight cancer. Just one day I went in 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:36.840 the chair. 0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:38.840 And the preacher preaching the truth came and now I 0:26:38.880 --> 0:26:42.359 got my truth straight. But see, it is a fight 0:26:43.040 --> 0:26:52.400 for alignment in your life. 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:57.440 That takes time to get it straight, to get it straight. 0:26:59.640 --> 0:27:04.400 And this process of I thought like a child. 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:09.919 But now I think like a champion isn't as simple 0:27:10.760 --> 0:27:12.000 as it seems. And you know that. 0:27:13.560 --> 0:27:15.040 You know that. 0:27:16.240 --> 0:27:18.280 If you don't know that, the people who live with 0:27:18.320 --> 0:27:22.960 you do because they are still waiting on you to 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:34.040 get your braces off. Okay, I want to show you 0:27:34.080 --> 0:27:40.199 an example from the Scriptures of somebody who paid the 0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:44.560 price of thinking like a child, but not to be negative, 0:27:44.680 --> 0:27:48.879 not to be hateful, not to be depressing, just because 0:27:48.960 --> 0:27:52.320 this man in Second Kings chapter five had a great 0:27:52.359 --> 0:27:57.159 opportunity for his life to change, but he thought like 0:27:57.200 --> 0:28:00.520 a child. And because he thought like a child, he 0:28:00.760 --> 0:28:08.040 almost forfeited his change. That happens to all of us, 0:28:08.080 --> 0:28:15.479 you know, all of us. Something that is passing becomes 0:28:15.480 --> 0:28:19.520 something permanent. Here's what I mean. We have emotions, whether 0:28:19.560 --> 0:28:23.160 it's anger, we have emotions and feelings, whether it's self pity. 0:28:23.200 --> 0:28:26.560 We have emotions and feelings, and sometimes even just temptations 0:28:26.560 --> 0:28:29.000 that seem to come from the pit of hell, and 0:28:29.040 --> 0:28:34.680 they are passing emotions. But the temptation of the enemy 0:28:34.720 --> 0:28:37.879 is for you to take something that is passing and 0:28:37.960 --> 0:28:43.280 turn it into something permanent, so that not only do 0:28:43.360 --> 0:28:47.400 you feel anger passing, but you lash out in anger 0:28:48.000 --> 0:28:51.920 and say something to someone that you love that cannot 0:28:51.920 --> 0:28:56.000 be undone with the simple apology, what did you do? 0:28:56.600 --> 0:29:02.920 You took a passing frustration, an external expression and did 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:12.040 permanent damage. I want you to stop sacrificing what is 0:29:12.120 --> 0:29:18.600 permanent on the altar of what is passing. I want 0:29:18.640 --> 0:29:23.600 you to stop sacrificing what is permanent to satisfy what 0:29:23.800 --> 0:29:27.440 is passing. If there is a teenager in here, I 0:29:27.560 --> 0:29:30.880 want you off of every form of addictive behavior, whether 0:29:30.920 --> 0:29:34.560 it's a substance or whether it's a website. I want 0:29:34.600 --> 0:29:37.480 you off of every form of addictive substance that would 0:29:37.520 --> 0:29:40.400 rob you of your soul, because I know that those 0:29:40.440 --> 0:29:43.080 things help us, whether we're adults or whether we're children. 0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:46.560 They help us to get through the moment. But the 0:29:46.640 --> 0:29:51.000 moment is passing, and after the anxiety has passed, and 0:29:51.080 --> 0:29:53.840 after you have trained your body to be addicted to 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:58.080 stimuli that keep you enslaved, now you have a lasting 0:29:58.200 --> 0:30:01.280 habit that you embedded in your life to deal with 0:30:01.320 --> 0:30:02.720 a passing emotion. 0:30:03.360 --> 0:30:06.080 I want you off porn. I want you off every 0:30:06.200 --> 0:30:06.720 vape pen. 0:30:07.160 --> 0:30:09.440 I don't want you having to take something in your 0:30:09.520 --> 0:30:12.160 body to deal with something in your mind, and then 0:30:12.280 --> 0:30:14.800 five years from now we're trying to figure out how 0:30:14.840 --> 0:30:17.520 to get you off of this. I want it broken. 0:30:17.960 --> 0:30:22.840 I want it choked out. I want every teenager that 0:30:22.960 --> 0:30:28.240 listens to me preach, stop sacrificing what is permanent to 0:30:28.400 --> 0:30:30.480 satisfy what is passing. 0:30:31.480 --> 0:30:32.320 It will pass. 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:38.160 Let it pass, Pray till it passes, Praise till it passes. 0:30:38.760 --> 0:30:41.600 I'll need to hit a pin. I can hit a prayer. 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:42.680 I'll need to. 0:30:42.680 --> 0:30:43.200 Hit a pin. 0:30:43.720 --> 0:30:46.040 I can hit a praise because. 0:30:45.840 --> 0:30:54.360 It came to pass, and God is here to say. 0:30:55.360 --> 0:30:57.240 I felt that when I was preparing. 0:30:58.040 --> 0:30:59.880 I felt that for every woman that I went to 0:30:59.880 --> 0:31:01.160 speak to you in recovery. 0:31:01.200 --> 0:31:03.520 This week at Dove's Nest, some of. 0:31:03.480 --> 0:31:06.600 Them were looking at me, like, please tell them this, younger, 0:31:06.880 --> 0:31:11.160 Please tell them this, younger. Don't sacrifice what is permanent 0:31:11.360 --> 0:31:15.640 your character, don't sacrifice what is permanent. You're calling stop 0:31:15.720 --> 0:31:19.400 giving up your relationship with God for popularity with people. 0:31:21.080 --> 0:31:23.280 They can't put you in, they can't vote you out. 0:31:23.680 --> 0:31:32.320 He is God, and him only shall you serve. So 0:31:33.320 --> 0:31:33.880 y'all sit down. 0:31:33.880 --> 0:31:36.480 This is supposed to be a love chapter, supposed to 0:31:36.520 --> 0:31:39.960 be lovely. I love you enough to tell you that 0:31:41.840 --> 0:31:44.560 stop sacrificing what is permanent. That's what the church at 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:47.600 Corinth was doing. They were sacrificing what was permanent love 0:31:48.560 --> 0:31:50.680 for what was passing, spiritual gifts. 0:31:51.840 --> 0:31:52.680 So they would. 0:31:52.440 --> 0:31:56.120 Sacrifice their love for one another in order to show off. 0:31:57.840 --> 0:32:02.600 They were sacrificing what was permanent to satisfy what was passing. 0:32:04.000 --> 0:32:05.000 Because even if you. 0:32:05.000 --> 0:32:06.600 Do go off and say what you want to say, 0:32:06.600 --> 0:32:08.320 it's only going to feel good for about the five 0:32:08.360 --> 0:32:10.440 seconds it takes you to realize that now you've got 0:32:10.440 --> 0:32:12.880 to spend five days recovering from what felt good. 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:16.719 For five seconds. Was the five seconds really worth it? Dude? 0:32:19.840 --> 0:32:21.040 Passing versus permanent. 0:32:23.400 --> 0:32:27.040 So this is an odd story to connect with First Corinthians. 0:32:27.080 --> 0:32:27.400 Thirteen. 0:32:27.400 --> 0:32:30.760 I'm gonna just tell you right now, but the way 0:32:31.200 --> 0:32:34.320 the Lord showed it to me was a principal and 0:32:34.360 --> 0:32:40.760 a picture. The principle is stop sacrificing what's permanent to 0:32:40.840 --> 0:32:42.120 satisfy what's passing. 0:32:43.040 --> 0:32:44.440 Okay. The picture is a. 0:32:44.400 --> 0:32:47.560 Man named Naman who was a great general of an 0:32:47.680 --> 0:32:52.800 army of the enemies of Israel called Aram Benidad. 0:32:52.840 --> 0:32:56.280 The second was the king, and naming was his man. 0:32:58.560 --> 0:33:02.520 Naming was a great man, says But now I'm going 0:33:02.600 --> 0:33:03.960 to stop right there and preach. 0:33:04.480 --> 0:33:08.760 He was a great man. But he was a great man. 0:33:08.800 --> 0:33:12.480 But how many of you I just described you in 0:33:12.960 --> 0:33:19.080 one incomplete sentence. I'm a good person, but I'm a Christian. 0:33:19.080 --> 0:33:23.200 But well, he was a great man. But he had leprosy. 0:33:24.040 --> 0:33:28.000 He had lepsy. Leprosy was an incurable skin condition. Of 0:33:28.040 --> 0:33:30.720 course you've heard of leprosy, but in this time, it's 0:33:30.720 --> 0:33:34.160 hard for us to imagine what the cost of carrying 0:33:34.200 --> 0:33:38.400 that condition would have been. Not only was it incurable, 0:33:38.640 --> 0:33:42.240 but it was completely isolating. So what is it like 0:33:42.320 --> 0:33:46.640 to be a leader who is also a leper? He 0:33:46.720 --> 0:33:50.600 commanded men, but he could not cure his skin. There 0:33:50.600 --> 0:33:54.440 are conditions in the room that confound you. You cannot 0:33:54.560 --> 0:33:58.280 understand how you can be so adept at business and 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:01.520 so detached emotionally at home. You do not understand how 0:34:01.520 --> 0:34:03.760 you can be so good at getting everyone else to 0:34:03.800 --> 0:34:06.480 connect with you except the ones you love the most. 0:34:06.520 --> 0:34:09.200 You cannot understand why it has been possible for you 0:34:09.239 --> 0:34:10.000 to discipline this. 0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:13.240 Area of your life but not get that one under control. 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:15.279 He was a great man, but. 0:34:16.880 --> 0:34:23.000 High position, leprous condition, And into this juxtaposition of his realities, 0:34:23.000 --> 0:34:25.759 which are both very real. The Bible says that there 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:27.879 was a little girl living at his house that one day, 0:34:27.960 --> 0:34:32.680 perhaps seeing him change out of his armor, noticed the 0:34:32.719 --> 0:34:36.000 spots of leprosy that were beginning to spread. In fact, 0:34:36.040 --> 0:34:39.319 the Bible says that it was a spot so they 0:34:39.360 --> 0:34:43.279 caught it early. And the little girl didn't have the 0:34:43.880 --> 0:34:45.960 audacity to say it to naymen because she was an 0:34:46.040 --> 0:34:48.520 Israelite and she was actually taken as a slave to 0:34:48.560 --> 0:34:51.560 serve in this house, so it's uncommon that she would 0:34:51.600 --> 0:34:54.399 be the one to voice this idea, but she did. 0:34:55.440 --> 0:34:57.279 You might be surprised who God will speak through in 0:34:57.280 --> 0:35:00.560 your life as well. She said, if it were possible 0:35:01.719 --> 0:35:05.520 for Naman to go and see the prophet Elisha in Israel. 0:35:06.640 --> 0:35:11.440 He could cure him. Elisha is amazing with miracles. He 0:35:13.680 --> 0:35:16.560 helped this widow who was about to have to sell 0:35:16.560 --> 0:35:18.760 her sons into slavery with just a little bit of oil. 0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:20.200 Huh. 0:35:21.360 --> 0:35:23.680 I know you're not gonna believe this, But he one 0:35:23.680 --> 0:35:25.799 time called for rain and there was a drought and 0:35:25.920 --> 0:35:28.040 water came out of nowhere when he spoke the word 0:35:28.080 --> 0:35:28.399 of the Lord. 0:35:28.400 --> 0:35:32.920 If he could get to Elisha, be amazing. So Naman 0:35:32.960 --> 0:35:34.920 did it. He did it. 0:35:34.920 --> 0:35:37.719 How hard would that be? By the way, we were 0:35:37.760 --> 0:35:40.160 talking about the hard part? How hard would it be 0:35:40.719 --> 0:35:46.400 to go to your enemy for help? He has to 0:35:46.480 --> 0:35:49.520 humble himself to do that, and he makes a journey 0:35:49.560 --> 0:35:52.480 it's about two hundred miles. But he didn't just make 0:35:52.480 --> 0:35:54.000 the journey. He had to go to the king and 0:35:54.040 --> 0:35:56.000 get a letter from the king to take to the prophet. 0:35:56.040 --> 0:35:58.240 Because you can't just show up and tell the prophet 0:35:58.239 --> 0:36:00.920 you want to be healed. You've got to have some 0:36:01.560 --> 0:36:06.120 letter of recommendation, somebody to help you with entree into 0:36:06.160 --> 0:36:09.520 the course of a great prophet. And so the king says, sure, 0:36:09.520 --> 0:36:11.280 I'll write you a letter, And he writes a letter 0:36:11.560 --> 0:36:14.080 to say to the King of Israel, would you have 0:36:14.239 --> 0:36:14.800 your profit? 0:36:14.920 --> 0:36:18.960 Heal my commander. So Naman makes the journey and he 0:36:19.000 --> 0:36:19.400 loads up. 0:36:19.440 --> 0:36:21.279 And I want to pick up here in second Kings, 0:36:21.320 --> 0:36:23.400 and not just recap, but show you a little bit 0:36:23.400 --> 0:36:27.960 of this story. In verse four, please, Naman went to 0:36:28.000 --> 0:36:29.840 his master and told him what the girl from Israel 0:36:29.880 --> 0:36:34.879 had said. By all means go. The King of Aram reply, 0:36:35.719 --> 0:36:38.440 I'll send a letter to the King of Israel. 0:36:38.520 --> 0:36:40.360 So I just told you all this, but watch this 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:41.440 part that happens next. 0:36:41.680 --> 0:36:46.400 Naman left, taking with him yeah name, and left taken 0:36:46.480 --> 0:36:50.279 with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, 0:36:50.320 --> 0:36:52.360 and ten sets of clothing. 0:36:52.880 --> 0:36:55.759 He's traveling. Heavin the letter that he took to the 0:36:55.800 --> 0:36:56.400 King of Israel. 0:36:56.440 --> 0:37:02.399 Read with this letter, I am sending my servant name 0:37:02.480 --> 0:37:04.239 and to you so that you may cure him of 0:37:04.320 --> 0:37:07.560 his leprosy. Now, when the letter got to the king, 0:37:08.280 --> 0:37:09.960 come back to me for a moment. Church, I want 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:14.080 you to see this moment. The king says, well, he 0:37:14.200 --> 0:37:19.319 tears his robes and says, am I God, can I 0:37:19.440 --> 0:37:20.960 kill and bring back to life? 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:22.520 Why does this. 0:37:22.560 --> 0:37:26.080 Fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy. 0:37:26.880 --> 0:37:29.600 See how he is trying to pick a fight or 0:37:29.600 --> 0:37:32.680 a quarrel with me. In other words, the king is 0:37:32.719 --> 0:37:38.719 saying this is impossible. But verse eight says that when Elisha, 0:37:39.480 --> 0:37:43.160 the man of God, heard that the king of Israel 0:37:43.560 --> 0:37:47.279 had torn his robes, he sent him this message, why 0:37:47.320 --> 0:37:51.040 have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me, 0:37:51.880 --> 0:37:52.799 and he will know. 0:37:53.520 --> 0:37:57.760 That there is a prophet in Israel. In other words, 0:37:57.760 --> 0:37:59.560 turn to your neighbors, say it's not hard for God. 0:38:00.880 --> 0:38:03.520 This is not hard for God. You're tearing your What 0:38:03.600 --> 0:38:06.560 are you tearing your robes about? You think God, who 0:38:06.600 --> 0:38:11.120 creates life, can't restore life. You think God, who has 0:38:11.280 --> 0:38:14.880 power over the grave, cannot raise this man from his 0:38:15.000 --> 0:38:18.080 condition before he dies of it. You think this is 0:38:18.120 --> 0:38:21.840 too hard for God. Nothing is too hard for God. 0:38:22.080 --> 0:38:26.000 Nothing is impossible for him. Nothing makes him sweat, nothing 0:38:26.040 --> 0:38:29.160 makes him shocked, nothing makes him shudder, nothing makes him 0:38:29.160 --> 0:38:32.479 back up, nothing makes him recalculate, nothing makes him count 0:38:32.520 --> 0:38:34.880 the costs. He's got more than enough to go around. 0:38:35.160 --> 0:38:37.839 You think this is hard for God. This is no 0:38:37.960 --> 0:38:42.040 problem for God. This is easy for God. And so 0:38:42.280 --> 0:38:45.359 Elisha sends a message, bring him to me. And verse 0:38:45.480 --> 0:38:48.680 nine sounds like everything is going great. So Naman went 0:38:48.760 --> 0:38:51.560 with his horses and cheriots. I'm about to show y'all. 0:38:51.560 --> 0:38:54.000 Something blew my mind when I saw it and stopped 0:38:54.000 --> 0:38:55.720 at the door of Elisha's house. 0:38:56.000 --> 0:38:58.600 I'm about to get my miracle. This is amazing. 0:38:58.800 --> 0:39:01.960 I traveled two hundred miles else with six thousand shekels, 0:39:02.080 --> 0:39:03.800 but it was worth it. I had to get a 0:39:03.880 --> 0:39:05.960 letter from the king to the king, but it was 0:39:06.040 --> 0:39:08.879 worth it. I'm having to risk everything by being here 0:39:08.960 --> 0:39:12.160 in enemy territory, but it's worth it. I am right 0:39:12.200 --> 0:39:14.759 here at the door, and I know this man has 0:39:14.840 --> 0:39:16.640 what I need and he can do it. 0:39:16.680 --> 0:39:19.000 He said, it's not even hard for him. He said, 0:39:19.080 --> 0:39:21.640 all I have to do is come. So I'm gonna come. 0:39:21.760 --> 0:39:24.080 I'm gonna knock on the door. He's gonna come out. 0:39:24.239 --> 0:39:26.640 He's gonna do a little thing, a little dance, a 0:39:26.640 --> 0:39:29.240 little wave, a little hallelujah, a little thank you Jesus. 0:39:31.000 --> 0:39:33.360 Whatever they do over here in Israel, whatever they do 0:39:33.440 --> 0:39:35.680 over there at the Pentecostal Church, whatever they do at 0:39:35.680 --> 0:39:38.680 the Episcopalian Church, whatever they do, whatever they're sign, whatever 0:39:38.719 --> 0:39:40.160 their method, He's gonna. 0:39:39.920 --> 0:39:41.800 Do that for me and the spot's gonna go away. 0:39:41.920 --> 0:39:47.040 And verse ten says Elisha sent a messenger to say 0:39:47.080 --> 0:39:52.280 to him, go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, 0:39:53.280 --> 0:39:57.520 and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed. 0:40:02.120 --> 0:40:22.400 But Naming went away angry and said, I thought, I thought. 0:40:24.520 --> 0:40:28.600 I thought we'll put it back on the scripture, scream voice, 0:40:29.360 --> 0:40:31.240 that he would surely. 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:36.360 Come out to me and stand. 0:40:37.600 --> 0:40:40.280 And call on the name of the Lord, his God, 0:40:41.880 --> 0:40:48.680 wave his hand over the spot. This guy had it 0:40:48.800 --> 0:40:53.360 down to a science what God was supposed to do 0:40:53.480 --> 0:40:58.320 for him. He had it down to the detail. Here's 0:40:58.320 --> 0:41:01.040 how it's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, 0:41:01.239 --> 0:41:04.480 he's gonna wave, he's gonna say, he's gonna pray. It's 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.959 gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave. 0:41:08.160 --> 0:41:11.160 It's gonna go. He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's 0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:13.279 gonna wave. It's gonna go. And he's visualizing it the 0:41:13.280 --> 0:41:15.319 whole time. It's gonna be great. Man, I got the 0:41:15.320 --> 0:41:15.759 favor of. 0:41:16.160 --> 0:41:17.680 God, I got the blessing of God. 0:41:17.960 --> 0:41:21.160 I'm naming. I'm naming. You know my name, man, I'm naming. 0:41:21.400 --> 0:41:24.280 They tell him Naman is here. Knock, knock, knock. It's naming. 0:41:24.360 --> 0:41:26.080 You know the one that that you got the letter 0:41:26.160 --> 0:41:28.960 about from Joem. Yeah, yeah, him, I'm naming. I'm here 0:41:28.960 --> 0:41:31.120 at the door, open up, knock, knock, it's naming. 0:41:32.840 --> 0:41:38.879 He's gonna come, he's gonna stand, he's gonna wave, it's 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:39.359 gonna go. 0:41:43.200 --> 0:41:44.200 And oh, what's his name? 0:41:44.239 --> 0:41:48.480 Answers the door instead of Elisha, you ever asked for 0:41:48.520 --> 0:41:49.160 the prophet, but. 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:50.480 You got what's his name? Instead? 0:41:54.239 --> 0:41:57.960 And Naming said who are you? He said, it's not 0:41:58.000 --> 0:42:00.000 important who I am. It's important what the prophet is 0:42:00.040 --> 0:42:05.040 said you need to do. You need to go wash 0:42:05.120 --> 0:42:09.880 yourself seven times into Jordan and your flesh will be 0:42:09.960 --> 0:42:14.800 restored and you'll be cleansed. But Naming when or where angry? 0:42:14.880 --> 0:42:22.920 And said, I don't want to wash. When I became 0:42:22.960 --> 0:42:28.880 a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 0:42:30.160 --> 0:42:35.680 Naming is a man. He is a great man. 0:42:35.920 --> 0:42:40.560 So why is a great man thinking like a child 0:42:41.000 --> 0:42:42.239 talking about I. 0:42:42.280 --> 0:42:46.000 Don't want to wash. I don't want to take a bath. 0:42:46.880 --> 0:42:48.160 I don't want to do it like that. 0:42:49.239 --> 0:42:53.319 You're supposed to wave, And the messenger said, he ain't 0:42:53.360 --> 0:42:58.400 gonna wave you gotta wash. I came with a word 0:42:58.600 --> 0:43:02.880 for somebody today who has been waiting for God to 0:43:03.040 --> 0:43:06.800 wave over your situation. And God said, you can wait 0:43:06.840 --> 0:43:10.120 all day for me to wave. Already waved all I'm 0:43:10.160 --> 0:43:14.000 gonna wave. Now you gotta wash. Tell your neighbor you 0:43:14.080 --> 0:43:15.799 gotta wash. 0:43:15.880 --> 0:43:17.960 You gotta wash some things. 0:43:18.000 --> 0:43:22.120 God is not going to wave away some thought patterns. 0:43:22.160 --> 0:43:25.560 God is not going to wave away. I wish it 0:43:25.640 --> 0:43:28.239 was so simple. I wish we could lean you back 0:43:28.280 --> 0:43:31.560 in that chair, yank those braces off your teeth, and 0:43:31.680 --> 0:43:34.279 put you out of here straight. But the fact is, 0:43:34.320 --> 0:43:39.160 sometimes you gotta floss between those teeth. Sometimes God doesn't wave. 0:43:39.520 --> 0:43:43.560 Sometimes God tells you to wash, and nobody shouts when 0:43:43.600 --> 0:43:44.560 I preach like this. 0:43:45.200 --> 0:43:46.600 If I said God's. 0:43:46.280 --> 0:43:50.840 Gonna wave it away, I'd have thirty five Hallelujahs. 0:43:49.880 --> 0:43:51.040 In the back of the room. 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:53.640 But I can't even get the front row to stand 0:43:53.719 --> 0:43:57.480 up when the word of the Lord says, you gotta wash. 0:43:57.640 --> 0:44:00.640 There is a process that I have you in. There 0:44:00.719 --> 0:44:03.719 is a protocol that I have you in. There is 0:44:03.760 --> 0:44:07.920 a stage I am bringing you through. There is a process. 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:11.920 There is a stage for this, There is a prescription 0:44:12.200 --> 0:44:12.560 for this. 0:44:13.080 --> 0:44:14.680 There is a command for this. 0:44:14.760 --> 0:44:19.319 So the question becomes, are you mature enough that when 0:44:19.360 --> 0:44:23.239 God doesn't do magic, you will still go through with 0:44:23.320 --> 0:44:27.399 the method that will produce the miracle that you came 0:44:27.520 --> 0:44:31.600 all this way for. Anyway, Naman was just about to 0:44:31.680 --> 0:44:33.800 walk away because I don't wanna. 0:44:34.239 --> 0:44:35.640 I don't care if you wanna. 0:44:36.040 --> 0:44:38.799 You can wash even if you don't wanna, and it 0:44:38.840 --> 0:44:40.840 will work if you do what God. 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:48.200 Told you to do. I don't want to forgive them. 0:44:48.760 --> 0:44:50.840 I don't want to wear one of those volunteer T 0:44:51.040 --> 0:44:53.240 shirts and stand out there and that's not my color. 0:44:53.440 --> 0:44:56.480 I don't wanna, I don't wanna. 0:44:57.800 --> 0:45:00.480 I don't wanna. I don't want to. 0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:03.560 So you don't want to die, but you don't want 0:45:03.560 --> 0:45:10.200 to wash? Which one's gonna be stronger? Because washing is 0:45:10.239 --> 0:45:17.200 a passing activity. Healing is permanent. So I would rather 0:45:17.680 --> 0:45:22.480 give up what is passing my pride to have what 0:45:22.680 --> 0:45:26.440 is permanent. This is a life saving word for somebody. 0:45:26.800 --> 0:45:30.520 God said you gotta dip in this. You gotta dip 0:45:30.680 --> 0:45:33.480 in this. It is not enough for you to stop 0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:36.160 at the door and wait for God to wait. How 0:45:36.200 --> 0:45:39.160 many times have I waited for God to wave something 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:48.600 away that he called me to wash. I thought he 0:45:48.760 --> 0:45:52.480 was gonna wave. I thought they were gonna appreciate me. 0:45:53.440 --> 0:45:56.400 I thought I was getting a raise. Instead I got fired. 0:45:57.080 --> 0:45:59.160 I thought they were gonna say thank you to me, 0:45:59.280 --> 0:46:00.080 but instead they he. 0:46:00.120 --> 0:46:00.839 Cussed me out. 0:46:01.880 --> 0:46:04.480 Wouldn't it be horrible that God was trying to do 0:46:04.560 --> 0:46:06.600 stuff in your life, but you got blocked from it 0:46:06.640 --> 0:46:07.640 because of what you thought. 0:46:11.360 --> 0:46:13.000 And the worst thing would be. 0:46:13.960 --> 0:46:18.440 For you to get blocked by something that's behind you. 0:46:23.160 --> 0:46:25.880 Watch name in his reasoning, he sounds like a child. 0:46:26.160 --> 0:46:31.279 He's a champion in war, but he is a child 0:46:31.760 --> 0:46:34.960 in this moment, and that happens to all of us. 0:46:36.400 --> 0:46:38.399 He said, I thought he would come out here and wave, 0:46:38.480 --> 0:46:41.080 then the spot would go away and cure me of 0:46:41.160 --> 0:46:41.760 my leprosy. 0:46:41.920 --> 0:46:43.080 Verse number twelve. 0:46:43.680 --> 0:46:46.080 Are not Abana and far part of the rivers of 0:46:46.160 --> 0:46:48.640 Damascus better than all the waters of Israel. Couldn't I 0:46:48.800 --> 0:46:52.200 wash in them and be cleansed? So he turned and 0:46:52.239 --> 0:46:59.880 went back, headed for Damascus. When you turn and go back, 0:47:00.680 --> 0:47:09.800 you can never get better. But that's the hardest part. 0:47:10.000 --> 0:47:16.360 The hardest part is behind you. The hardest part is 0:47:16.440 --> 0:47:19.160 letting go of your expectations because of the way things 0:47:19.200 --> 0:47:21.760 have always been. Some of you have been eating manna 0:47:21.880 --> 0:47:24.640 for so many years you're surprised that it stops showing up. 0:47:24.800 --> 0:47:26.759 That just means you're on the edge of the promised land. 0:47:26.760 --> 0:47:28.600 God wants you to plant and harvest. 0:47:28.680 --> 0:47:29.120 Now. 0:47:29.239 --> 0:47:34.840 The hardest part is to let go of what's behind you. 0:47:36.280 --> 0:47:38.759 I had better waters than that in Damascus, he said, 0:47:40.920 --> 0:47:43.080 And I'm so grateful for verse thirteen, because I feel 0:47:43.080 --> 0:47:44.680 like we're in a moment like this today, you and 0:47:44.719 --> 0:47:46.080 I as we talk and listen to me. All over 0:47:46.120 --> 0:47:49.160 the world, some of you are about to go back 0:47:49.200 --> 0:47:51.880 to something that is behind you. And it is not 0:47:52.040 --> 0:47:54.960 the challenge in front of you that is stopping you. 0:47:56.480 --> 0:47:59.319 It's the template of where you've been and the expectation 0:47:59.440 --> 0:48:02.239 of where you're you would be. That's what's stopping you. 0:48:02.760 --> 0:48:06.360 That's what's keeping you from being pure. That's what's holding 0:48:06.400 --> 0:48:08.960 you back from the intimacy and the victory that you 0:48:09.040 --> 0:48:11.239 desire in your life. Because the Bible says in verse 0:48:11.280 --> 0:48:18.160 thirteen that Naman servants went to him and said, my father, 0:48:18.239 --> 0:48:20.200 if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, 0:48:20.480 --> 0:48:22.239 would you not have done it? How much more than 0:48:22.280 --> 0:48:25.080 when he tells you wash and be cleansed. Now in 0:48:25.120 --> 0:48:26.880 other words, what he's saying, and I'm just going to 0:48:26.920 --> 0:48:34.600 elaborate a moment, naming, Sir, we've come all this way. 0:48:35.080 --> 0:48:37.960 We traveled seven days to get here. 0:48:38.520 --> 0:48:40.960 Now, think of all the things that had to happen 0:48:41.440 --> 0:48:43.720 for you to get to this point. The servant girl 0:48:43.760 --> 0:48:45.920 had to see the spot at the right time. The 0:48:45.960 --> 0:48:48.600 odds were against it, but it happened. The king had 0:48:48.600 --> 0:48:50.520 to agree to write you a letter and risk his 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:53.600 national reputation in order to talk to an enemy, and 0:48:53.640 --> 0:48:55.840 he did that for you. We had to make the 0:48:55.920 --> 0:48:59.120 journey safely to a place that we have attacked and 0:48:59.239 --> 0:49:02.719 ransackedeveral times, and we made it safely. And we have 0:49:02.800 --> 0:49:07.080 been going through this dry, arid terrain for two hundred 0:49:07.120 --> 0:49:11.160 miles for seven days. We've been walking to get to 0:49:11.160 --> 0:49:17.200 this point. And you want to go back to Damascus, now, naming, 0:49:18.239 --> 0:49:18.799 just do it. 0:49:20.680 --> 0:49:21.399 Just do it. 0:49:21.960 --> 0:49:27.920 Worst case scenario, you get clean, best case you get cured. 0:49:29.160 --> 0:49:31.839 But either way, we've come too far. 0:49:33.040 --> 0:49:33.560 Huh. 0:49:34.360 --> 0:49:39.800 We traveled too much. Huh. God has arranged too much. 0:49:41.320 --> 0:49:44.360 The servants saw the spot, the king wrote the letter. 0:49:44.680 --> 0:49:48.040 We made the trip. You mean, we traveled seven days 0:49:48.120 --> 0:49:49.880 and you won't take seven dips. 0:49:50.880 --> 0:49:52.120 You better dip. Naman. 0:49:53.080 --> 0:49:56.880 Tell your neighbor you better dip all this way you came. 0:49:56.960 --> 0:49:59.719 You better dip all that God did for you to 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:01.360 get you hear, you better dip. 0:50:02.200 --> 0:50:04.759 Out Of all the things you could be watching on live, 0:50:05.280 --> 0:50:06.000 you're watching a. 0:50:05.960 --> 0:50:09.879 Preacher in a red crop hoodie talking to you about. 0:50:09.560 --> 0:50:12.000 The Word of the Lord. All the stuff you could 0:50:12.040 --> 0:50:15.360 have clicked on, God brought you to this point. Don't 0:50:15.360 --> 0:50:18.680 you dare click off? You better dip. This word is 0:50:18.840 --> 0:50:19.279 for you. 0:50:21.680 --> 0:50:27.440 All the hell you went through, all the enemy's annihilation tactics, 0:50:27.840 --> 0:50:31.880 scare tactics and threats, all of the panic attacks you 0:50:32.000 --> 0:50:35.719 breathe through, all of the nervous breakthroughs you survive. 0:50:39.960 --> 0:50:42.640 The hard pard is. 0:50:44.400 --> 0:50:49.320 Behind you. We're standing at the door. All we gotta 0:50:49.360 --> 0:50:52.799 do is dip. I came to prophesy to somebody. 0:50:53.080 --> 0:50:54.200 I'll know who you are. 0:50:54.680 --> 0:50:57.239 But God woke me up at three am to tell 0:50:57.280 --> 0:51:01.280 you you're standing at the door and all you gotta 0:51:01.360 --> 0:51:03.200 do Hot five. 0:51:03.280 --> 0:51:07.640 All your neighbors is say, all I gotta do is dimp. 0:51:08.560 --> 0:51:12.960 All I gotta do is dip. All I gotta do 0:51:13.719 --> 0:51:14.400 is dip. 0:51:20.480 --> 0:51:24.239 Because the hardest part is behind me. 0:51:25.840 --> 0:51:29.480 It is not what God is calling you to do 0:51:29.840 --> 0:51:30.880 that is stopping you. 0:51:31.440 --> 0:51:34.960 It is what is behind you, that is what. 0:51:34.800 --> 0:51:38.640 You expected God to do that is stopping you. And 0:51:38.920 --> 0:51:41.879 right now I just said something that we are going 0:51:41.920 --> 0:51:45.200 to receive a testimony from in the weeks to come, 0:51:45.560 --> 0:51:48.319 that somebody thought that they were blocked by what was 0:51:48.360 --> 0:51:51.480 ahead of them. But the Jordan River isn't big, The 0:51:51.560 --> 0:51:54.880 Jordan River isn't hard to cross, The Jordan River isn't 0:51:54.920 --> 0:51:55.840 hard to bathe in. 0:51:56.160 --> 0:51:57.080 The Only thing that. 0:51:57.160 --> 0:52:04.880 Was hard about it was I thought. And the reason 0:52:05.000 --> 0:52:11.880 Namon fought it is because he thought it was beneath him. 0:52:12.239 --> 0:52:15.759 God brings us to these moments in life where we 0:52:15.760 --> 0:52:20.440 are tempted to let something that is passing cost us 0:52:20.480 --> 0:52:26.440 something that is permanent. And a man with leprosy permanent, 0:52:28.080 --> 0:52:32.120 had to do something passing that he didn't want to do. 0:52:32.800 --> 0:52:34.920 And I don't know what that is for you, but 0:52:35.040 --> 0:52:38.520 you do you do because the Holy Spirit is speaking 0:52:38.520 --> 0:52:40.520 it to you in concert with my voice. 0:52:40.600 --> 0:52:43.480 Is his voice joom, just right there together. 0:52:44.760 --> 0:52:46.880 I know that seven is the number of completion, and 0:52:46.920 --> 0:52:48.799 I know that when that which is complete has come, 0:52:48.840 --> 0:52:53.600 that which is incomplete disappears. Firs Corinthians thirteen says, and 0:52:53.640 --> 0:52:55.400 I know that we know in part, and we prophesy 0:52:55.480 --> 0:52:57.320 in part, and where there are tongues, they will cease. 0:52:57.360 --> 0:52:58.360 But love never fails. 0:52:58.640 --> 0:53:00.319 I know that when I became a man, I put 0:53:00.400 --> 0:53:03.000 childish ways behind me. But watch what happened to Naman 0:53:04.600 --> 0:53:10.200 when his servant pulled him to the side and said, naming, 0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:20.880 the hardest part is behind you do it naming verse fourteen, 0:53:22.080 --> 0:53:28.840 went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, 0:53:29.920 --> 0:53:32.600 as the Man of God had told him, and his 0:53:32.719 --> 0:53:36.560 flesh was restored and became clean, like that of what 0:53:37.880 --> 0:53:38.560 a young boy. 0:53:38.640 --> 0:53:42.200 When I was a child, I thought like a child. 0:53:43.560 --> 0:53:47.680 But when I stopped thinking like a child, my skin 0:53:47.840 --> 0:53:53.239 was made new again. We take what is passing and 0:53:53.280 --> 0:53:57.960 turn it into something permanent. God took something that was permanent, 0:53:59.000 --> 0:54:02.960 naming his leprosy, and turned it into something passing. 0:54:10.320 --> 0:54:13.200 It will pass, It will. 0:54:13.040 --> 0:54:17.319 Pass, Kings and kingdoms will all pass away. But there's 0:54:17.360 --> 0:54:23.000 something about that name. It will pass. And when Naymon 0:54:23.120 --> 0:54:28.600 did it, When Naman dipped, when Naymon got out of 0:54:28.600 --> 0:54:30.560 his thought and got into the water and did what 0:54:30.600 --> 0:54:36.440 God told him to do, he was restored. I'm believing 0:54:36.480 --> 0:54:46.239 for restoration Sunday in somebody's life today, the restoration of 0:54:46.280 --> 0:54:50.080 your right mind, the restoration of your peace, the restoration 0:54:51.080 --> 0:54:55.360 of your joy. That something that you have convinced yourself 0:54:55.440 --> 0:54:59.960 is permanent is really passing, is passing. 0:55:01.200 --> 0:55:04.239 You hear me, You are not going to suffer from 0:55:04.320 --> 0:55:05.480 this forever. 0:55:05.880 --> 0:55:09.680 It will pass. And we fix our eyes and not 0:55:09.800 --> 0:55:11.799 on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what 0:55:11.880 --> 0:55:14.200 is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 0:55:14.840 --> 0:55:18.399 It will pass. Right now. God has brought you. 0:55:18.320 --> 0:55:20.080 To this moment as if it's the edge of the 0:55:20.200 --> 0:55:22.400 Jordan that you are deciding whether to obey Him in 0:55:22.440 --> 0:55:24.640 this next step of your life. 0:55:24.840 --> 0:55:26.799 And I want to tell you that the heart, the 0:55:26.920 --> 0:55:29.680 hardest part, is behind you. 0:55:32.200 --> 0:55:37.480 While says in Romans five, verse seven, very rarely will 0:55:37.520 --> 0:55:39.800 anyone die for righteous person, though for a good person 0:55:39.880 --> 0:55:45.600 someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his 0:55:45.640 --> 0:55:48.880 own love for us in this while we were still sinners. 0:55:49.719 --> 0:55:55.440 Christ died for us. The hard part is behind you. 0:55:57.239 --> 0:56:00.840 Verse nine says if He has justified you buy his blood, 0:56:00.880 --> 0:56:03.960 how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath 0:56:04.840 --> 0:56:09.360 through him? The hard part is behind you. He already 0:56:09.400 --> 0:56:11.800 hung there, stopped living in your shame. 0:56:11.880 --> 0:56:15.480 He died for it. The hard part is behind you. 0:56:16.320 --> 0:56:20.000 The hard part was accomplished for you, and by the 0:56:20.040 --> 0:56:22.880 grace of God. Today I command you to be clean. 0:56:24.040 --> 0:56:27.280 I command you to allow his grace to wash it away, 0:56:27.600 --> 0:56:30.640 to wash off the residue of the regret and the failure. 0:56:30.719 --> 0:56:35.840 The hard part is behind you. Now when everyone's standing. 0:56:35.480 --> 0:56:40.839 All over this church, no one moving, no one distracting, 0:56:40.920 --> 0:56:44.719 the moment, this moment, this moment, this moment is significant. 0:56:44.920 --> 0:56:48.560 You are standing at the door and you've come all 0:56:48.600 --> 0:56:53.600 this way. And look at how much you've survived. Look 0:56:53.640 --> 0:56:56.600 how much you've endured. Look how much God has protected 0:56:56.640 --> 0:56:59.240 you from. Look how much God did in your life 0:56:59.400 --> 0:57:01.759 since the time you were a little girl, since the 0:57:01.840 --> 0:57:03.040 time you were a little boy. 0:57:03.160 --> 0:57:05.960 No, it hasn't been perfect, but He has been present. 0:57:06.280 --> 0:57:08.440 Look at all that God did to bring you here, 0:57:10.120 --> 0:57:13.040 That someone saw the spot, that you made it seven 0:57:13.080 --> 0:57:15.759 days journey. That you are standing at the door, and 0:57:16.000 --> 0:57:18.720 every time you get close to the Jordan, you walk 0:57:18.760 --> 0:57:20.240 away and go back. 0:57:21.240 --> 0:57:22.240 To something passing. 0:57:22.360 --> 0:57:26.720 What God wants to take something passing and do something 0:57:26.760 --> 0:57:30.600 permanent in your life today, For this is the moment 0:57:30.680 --> 0:57:33.520 for someone to call on the name of Jesus and 0:57:33.600 --> 0:57:34.200 be saved. 0:57:35.520 --> 0:57:36.600 The Bible says. 0:57:36.400 --> 0:57:38.440 That if you will call upon the name of the Lord, 0:57:39.160 --> 0:57:45.160 you will be saved. That if you would confess with 0:57:45.280 --> 0:57:47.800 your mouth that Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart 0:57:47.880 --> 0:57:53.160 God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 0:57:53.960 --> 0:57:56.160 Right now, I'm praying a prayer for someone who is 0:57:56.240 --> 0:57:59.600 far from God. You don't have leprosy on your skin, 0:57:59.640 --> 0:58:02.120 but there is a condition in your soul called sin. 0:58:02.920 --> 0:58:04.520 If not dealt with, it is fatal. 0:58:04.560 --> 0:58:07.360 But it has already been provided for by the person 0:58:07.400 --> 0:58:10.840 of Jesus Christ. He died for you, He did the 0:58:10.880 --> 0:58:15.000 hard part. He rose for you. You can rise with him today. 0:58:15.240 --> 0:58:18.320 This can be your moment, This can be your day. 0:58:18.680 --> 0:58:22.400 You can come to God by his grace. So right now, 0:58:22.440 --> 0:58:24.160 if that's you and the Lord is speaking to you 0:58:25.280 --> 0:58:27.520 not to wash yourself, but that he wants to wash you, 0:58:27.840 --> 0:58:30.320 and you want this to be your new beginning, I'm 0:58:30.360 --> 0:58:33.080 going to lead you in a prayer. We're going to 0:58:33.160 --> 0:58:35.440 repeat this prayer for the benefit of those who are 0:58:35.440 --> 0:58:37.960 coming to God, are coming back to God. And if 0:58:38.000 --> 0:58:41.160 you pray this and mean it with your heart, God 0:58:41.240 --> 0:58:43.320 will hear you from heaven, and he will heal you 0:58:43.640 --> 0:58:44.320 and cleanse you. 0:58:45.040 --> 0:58:46.200 This is your new beginning. 0:58:46.880 --> 0:58:49.720 Pray and repeat after me, church family, say Heavenly Father. 0:58:51.040 --> 0:58:55.000 I am a sinner in need of a savior, and 0:58:55.080 --> 0:59:02.320 today I make Jesus the Lord and savior of my life. 0:59:02.400 --> 0:59:03.120 I believe He. 0:59:03.160 --> 0:59:08.800 Died that I would be forgiven and rose again to 0:59:08.880 --> 0:59:14.480 give me life. I receive this new life. This is 0:59:15.320 --> 0:59:20.400 my new beginning. I am a child of God. On 0:59:20.440 --> 0:59:22.240 the count of three, shoots your hand up. If you 0:59:22.320 --> 0:59:25.560 prayed that one, two, three, I want to celebrate with 0:59:25.640 --> 0:59:26.280 you right now. 0:59:27.320 --> 0:59:31.400 That's a lot of hands. I praise the Lord for 0:59:31.480 --> 0:59:32.160 your commitment. 0:59:33.320 --> 0:59:35.200 I praise the Lord for your new beginning. 0:59:36.440 --> 0:59:41.960 I believe God for your hope for your future. Praise 0:59:42.000 --> 0:59:42.440 the Lord. 0:59:43.200 --> 0:59:46.480 Let's give God a break, big church wise shot of praise. 0:59:47.840 --> 0:59:49.280 Come on, lift every. 0:59:49.000 --> 0:59:53.520 Voice, live every voice, live every voice. 0:59:54.040 --> 0:59:58.600 Hallelujah, hallelujah. 0:59:59.080 --> 1:00:01.800 Some orange Bibe coming around so you can have a 1:00:01.840 --> 1:00:04.720 new Bible to commemorate your new beginning. 1:00:05.080 --> 1:00:06.600 I just need to know before. 1:00:06.320 --> 1:00:09.760 I turn it over to your campus pastors, who received 1:00:09.760 --> 1:00:19.120 a word from the Lord today that was for your life. 1:00:20.360 --> 1:00:23.040 So everybody knows in this room. How we close service. 1:00:23.080 --> 1:00:28.400 We don't sneak out early. We finished together. Campus pastors, 1:00:28.400 --> 1:00:30.600 you take it at your campus, and I want to 1:00:30.600 --> 1:00:35.320 close right here at our Balentine location and online. Look 1:00:35.320 --> 1:00:38.440 at the camera, look at me. Grab your neighbor's hand. 1:00:38.480 --> 1:00:40.800 Tell them I don't have leprosy. You can hold my hand. 1:00:44.280 --> 1:00:46.080 Tell your neighbor you can hold my hand. 1:00:47.240 --> 1:00:52.959 You won't catch anything. Set the holy ghosts. Don't feel 1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:55.400 that fire, feel that fire, feel that fire. 1:00:58.400 --> 1:01:02.080 You know. Saying came to me and I didn't want 1:01:02.120 --> 1:01:04.120 to put it in the sermon for all the campuses. 1:01:04.160 --> 1:01:06.640 But you know how they say, what you don't know 1:01:08.080 --> 1:01:13.680 can't hurt you. That's a lie. That's a lie. 1:01:13.880 --> 1:01:15.560 What you don't know can actually kill you. 1:01:17.040 --> 1:01:19.120 And that's why God gives you moments like these to 1:01:19.200 --> 1:01:22.360 show you things in your life that are so important. 1:01:23.320 --> 1:01:25.440 What you don't know can't hurt you, that's not true. 1:01:25.440 --> 1:01:33.040 But this is what you won't do, can't heal you. 1:01:33.480 --> 1:01:34.720 Wow. 1:01:35.240 --> 1:01:40.280 And now, unto Him who is able to do immeasurably 1:01:40.360 --> 1:01:47.000 more than you ask, think or imagine, to him, be 1:01:47.040 --> 1:01:51.040 glory through Christ Jesus in the church. 1:01:52.080 --> 1:01:55.000 Now and forever, Everybody smile. 1:01:54.800 --> 1:01:59.360 At your neighbor real big say, I got my braces off. 1:01:59.400 --> 1:02:06.520 You're blessed, you're dismiss I'll see you next week. Thank 1:02:06.520 --> 1:02:07.440 you for joining us. 1:02:07.720 --> 1:02:10.200 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:02:10.240 --> 1:02:13.760 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:02:14.200 --> 1:02:16.720 You can click the link in the description to give now, 1:02:17.280 --> 1:02:21.120 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:24.440 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:02:24.720 --> 1:02:26.080 You can share it with your friends. 1:02:26.360 --> 1:02:28.640 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:02:28.680 --> 1:02:30.800 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:02:30.800 --> 1:02:38.360 Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.