The Power Of A Better Question

0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:04.000 Ah, But we love you today, and we worship and 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:09.640 adore you. We're not angels, but we want to gather 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:11.879 around your throne like they do and give you praise, 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.600 and we want to sing what they sing. We want 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.280 to say worthy, Worthy, Worthy is the lamb to open 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.520 the scroll. We thank you, Lord, that all of history 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.760 is in your hands. We thank you that everything in 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.840 the past that has happened is now being brought into 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:32.280 perfect alignment with the future that you have prophesied over 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:40.840 us in this moment. We say that because our confidence 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:45.760 is in your unchanging nature and your steadfast character, and 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.159 we want to be more like you are. God. We 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:54.840 want to be rooted and grounded in what lasts. So today, Lord, 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:59.080 I thank you for a sustaining blessing over these men 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.720 and women, a sustaining blessing over these boys and girls. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.240 We thank you that you are a creator and a keeper. 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.560 So Lord, right now, I thank you that I'm in 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:16.120 the palm of your hand. Right now, I thank you 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.920 that your grip is stronger than my resistance. God, I 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.240 thank you that you're stronger at holding me than I 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.240 am at letting go. And I thank you that you've 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.080 got me right where you want me. I'm not behind, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:36.600 I'm not off schedule. I'm right where I need to be. 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.120 I'm who I need to be. You didn't want to 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.360 make me any different than you made me. There wasn't 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:46.679 a missing worker on the assembly line on the day 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.920 that you created me. Before I was born, you knew me. 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:55.080 You set me apart in my mother's womb. Everything that 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.640 I'm missing is just an opportunity for a miracle. Every 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.080 space in me is just somewhere for you to show 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:07.680 off in my life. In my weakness, you are strong. 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:18.040 You are a mighty God, a wonderful counselor, an everlasting father, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:24.440 and the Prince of peace. We call on your great name, Jesus. 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:30.320 Your name is above every other name. Who you are 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.440 is what we trust it, and we place our hope 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:40.160 in you. In Jesus' name. Everybody who believes that name 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.720 is the name that matters. Shot a mad, come on, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:54.600 shot a mad awesome awes Well, we were singing the 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.160 names of God. But let me just take a minute, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:59.280 and what's your name? Tell three people around you, Hi, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.760 my name is. What's your name? Just get to know 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:08.120 him all right? In the chat? How are you? Where 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:12.680 are you? Let me open this YouTube lane. All right, 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:17.480 in the chat, who are you? Let me know in 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.240 the chat, who are you? Somebody? Shout your name right 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:26.400 here at me, real quick, shout your legal name. I 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.639 don't know you enough to have a nickname relationship yet 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.480 and from all over the world. It's just it would 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.240 amaze you. I don't want you to do it because 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:39.640 it would be distracting. But if you saw all the 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.640 people in the chat that are joining us for church today, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.040 it really is true. I didn't know God was literal 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.200 when he said I'm going to stretch your boundaries, but 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.720 he did. That's even beyond what we could have thought. 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.320 We built buildings all these many years for the church, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.760 and the Lord was like, that's great. The buildings are great. 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.840 Build them. But what God is doing now in the 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:03.680 year twenty twenty one is so far beyond the building. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:10.880 Come on. And what I love about it is it's 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.280 not only it's not only people who watch online, but 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.880 they worship, they give, they build. It's our extended family. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:29.520 Let's welcome our Epham all around the world. I learned 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:33.960 that the Lord's ways are higher than mine. Have you 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:38.040 learned that? Yet? Sooner you learn that Man you're gonna 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:43.400 waste less money, less time, less prayers asking God for 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:45.080 stuff that if He gave it to you, you'd want 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.200 to return it back to send her. I'm just trying 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:53.560 to save you some time. That God's ways are better, better, better, 0:04:54.160 --> 0:05:04.279 better better. Yeah, all right, we got Emma, Chris Jane Steven. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:08.360 What an anointed name that it is with a V. 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.240 He spelled it right, Steven, God, bless your mother and 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:17.240 blessed be the fruit of your mother's woman. Samantha from Malaysia. 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.440 You see what I'm saying. From Malaysia. I never thought 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.360 I would put a campus in Malaysia, but God did that. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:29.440 God is gonna do so much more through your life then, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.560 you know to ask him for right now, so be encouraged. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.760 We're getting ready. We're preparing our year end offering. It's 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.760 called the year end offering, is called better this year better. 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.760 That's the word God spoke to me. I'm like, Lord, 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.599 I can't tell him it's gonna get better. He said, 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:49.560 that's not the point of it. The point is if 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:55.159 it doesn't get better, they will. So. God is gonna 0:05:55.160 --> 0:06:01.080 increase you, make you stronger and wiser. He's gonna do that. 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.400 He's doing that sometimes when you don't feel it. I 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.760 noticed when I'm working out physically, the moments where I 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:11.120 feel the weakest, I'm growing the most. Wonder is that 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:16.000 true in the spirit? Me too? She said, I hope 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.680 so so you had a bad week. I barely made 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.680 it in. I hope you're telling that truth. It was 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.320 amazing though. So many you never know what somebody's going 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.520 through right next to you. That's why I hate when 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.320 y'all leave when I'm closing my sermon in prayer, when 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.080 you slip out so you can get the lunch. It 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.719 bothers me because you don't know that person on that road, 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.240 what they came in carrying, and what God is lifting. 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.120 One of our longtime volunteers, This is just one example. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.200 One of our longtime volunteers in the Raleigh Durham area 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.520 had just made it back to church last week, and afterwards, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.479 one of our campus pastors said, I you man, where 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:03.479 have you been? And he said, well, I fell out 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.039 for a little while, you know, but this week my 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:11.040 son took his own life. But while that while we 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.880 were worshiping, God spoke to me, is going to get better? 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.080 Only in God's presence can you receive a truth like that. 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.440 I didn't tell him that because that's not my place 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:25.400 to tell him that. I can't imagine what that feels like. 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.840 But God can say that, and he does every single 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.760 time we get together. How many of you are are 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.960 better in some way or your family is better because 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:42.000 of the ministry right here at Elevation. I mean, even 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.080 if it was just one time, if it was just 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:50.240 one time, God spoke to you. So the best thing 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.680 we can do is to always invest in what God 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.200 is using to feed us. There's no better place to invest. 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:01.600 So on the December twelfth, we set the date. Really 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:03.400 it's now through the whole end of the year, but 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.200 we'll be receiving into offering. We use it for expansion 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:10.200 and outreach and all the great ministries. I'm looking at 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.160 a couple dozen people in here who I know are Tithers. 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.840 They give God always the first ten percent of what 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:23.640 God gives them, not the leftovers, uh huh, not that 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.120 congealed cranberry sauce nobody wanted to eat on Thanksgiving Day. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:31.360 They don't throw God the scraps, but they come to 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.599 God first and say, I trust you, You're my God. Systematically, 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.920 so thousands begin doing that. During this time, many give 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.080 above and beyond. That's what Holly and I. I didn't 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.800 tell her the number God gave me yet, but it's 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.080 it's I don't like it. It's kind of bigger than 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.240 I wanted it, but I'm always glad that I did it. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.080 So it's a chance for you to seek God. That's 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:54.960 the thing is for you to ask God, God, what 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.599 would you have me to give? And there's envelopes and details, 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:04.559 but that's not my depart today. My role is to 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:11.920 take this Bible and I'm gonna try to knock that 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.280 devil off your shoulder that's been talking to your role. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:20.040 Let's see, this is a pretty big Bible. By swing 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.760 it hard enough, maybe that devil leave you alone for 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.680 a couple of minutes. All right, So thank you worship team. 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.360 What an awesome video about the worship ministry. Huh, everybody, 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.960 everybody grateful for God's presens Give God a shout of praise. 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:42.600 All right, be seated, classes in session. This is a 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.000 lesson today. I've been threatening to teach this for a year. 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.280 I keep playing with it, and God confirmed in several 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.400 different ways that this was the word for today. So 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.160 I'm very confident about that. I'm going to teach you 0:09:54.200 --> 0:10:00.040 on the subject the power of a better question, The 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.800 power of a better question. I've been flirting with it 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.559 for some time now, but today because our word is better. 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.480 The prophet hag I asked a series of questions, who 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.520 of you is left? Who saw the former house in 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.920 its glory? And then he asked how does it look 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.520 to you? Now? He's asking questions. Do any of you 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:26.559 know the first question in the Bible? By the way, 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:31.360 anybody I can call on just guess. I won't make 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.040 you look dumb. I promise I'm not setting you up. 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.520 I would never embarrass you. First question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.680 that's the second question. I thought that was the first 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.360 question in the Bible too, Adam, where are you? So 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.760 when I was on the thing, going on the chat, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.480 and I said who are you? Where are you? And 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.760 I asked that question, you probably put a physical location 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:54.720 geographical Malaysia, or you put a name, right. But the 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.040 more specific we got with that question where are you, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.680 it just becomes endlessly deep. Right, say where are you? 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:07.040 And you're like Topeka? Right? Cool? Now I know your address, 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.200 but I don't know your attitude. So where are you? 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:13.520 If we take it deeper, the depth of the question 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:14.920 can go as deep as you want it to go. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.800 If I say where are you? Well, I'm kind of 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.440 offended because last week I was supposed to get invited 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.840 to this thing and nobody invited me. And really I'm 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:25.839 mad because I'm always the one doing the invited. So 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:27.920 I'm really in a state of bitterness that seems to 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.560 get darker as I hold on to it, and I'm deepeness. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.880 That could be the answer to the question where are you? Also, 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.360 or you could just say Topeka, But it's just depending 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:37.960 on how deep you see the question. So that is 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.320 the first question that God asked in the Bible, but 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.960 it's not the first question that appears in the Bible. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:47.040 That's what God asked, Adam. I'm glad you said that one, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.880 because that is such a powerful question. Where are you? 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.600 Like I can see that physically Fourth Road Gyra shirt 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.439 looks like a good Christian. She's got a Gyra's shirt 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.120 on her back and a blessed hoodie in her lap. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.800 She is double poors and praising God to take you. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.079 I want all of it, God, but I don't know 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.199 if I can see like because Adam, Adam was hiding 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.080 from God, and so when God says where are you Adam, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:21.840 He's not asking him for information, He's asking him for location, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.880 not for God, for Adam. That's kind of deep question 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:34.600 where are you? It's like Greenville? Nope, grief, that's where 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:38.760 I am? Right? So how deep do we go? But 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:42.240 we ask people surface questions? You know, what do you 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:46.520 do for a living? You excited about Cam coming back? 0:12:47.600 --> 0:12:49.439 Just surface stuff. That's fine. And I don't think you 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:51.440 should ask people two deeper questions when you're getting the 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.120 home as creepy you know what I mean? Oh? What 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.200 any of your Graham number you? I don't want to 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.160 talk to you about numbers yet you have not earned 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:04.960 my number yet. Right. But the first question in the 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:10.800 Bible that appears is in Genesis three, before Adam realizes 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.320 he's naked, when the serpent asks Eve, do you remember? 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:20.120 Did God really say? The first question that appears in 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.120 the Bible isn't the one God asks, it's the one 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:29.920 Satan asks, which makes me wonder sometimes is the first 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.440 question that comes to our mind about something not the 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:39.800 best question available? You feel me because sometimes the questions 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.200 that I ask about a situation are not the best questions, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.880 and that's why the Lord led me to the power 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:51.120 of a better question. And Abby, my ten year old, 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:56.640 gets this at a deep level. Apparently. I asked her 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.040 this week. She said I hadn't made my Christmas list yet. 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.680 I said, well, you better get started. What do you want? 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:13.359 And she said, what should I want? Living with Socrates 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.000 in the house? Something like that, You know what I mean. 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.280 I'm like, Wow, that's deep. I don't know if she 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.600 was trying to provoke me to say, what's my ceiling? 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.120 Is this a three hundred dollars Christmas? Is it a five? 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:27.680 How much does the two fairy bring? I'm gonna get up, 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.200 you know, up, hiss eyes, I can go. I don't 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:31.960 even know how deep she meant it, but I thought, wow, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.920 that's the first question Jesus asked in all of the Bible. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:38.920 The first time we see him talk. He doesn't give 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:44.520 an answer. In John chapter one, Jesus is the answer, sure, 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:53.400 but he's also the question he asked these two guys 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.840 who were following. He said, what do you want? What 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.640 a question? They said, we want to come see where 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.400 you're staying, Rabbi. But I think the rest of his 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.040 ministry was dealing with that second question, the one Abby asked, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.680 what should I want? Is what I want? Is what 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.720 I wish? Is what I think I want? Really what 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.040 I want? Or will I get what I want and 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.960 not want what I've got in the end. That's called 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:27.120 a midlife crisis. But if we would ask better early 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:32.520 life questions, we wouldn't have midlife crisis. The power of 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.680 a better question. I feel anointed in leather today and 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.800 I don't know why. So in a minute, I'm going 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.720 to give you a scripture from Numbers, chapter thirteen. Go 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.600 ahead and start turning there. But in the meantime, let 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:49.480 me give you a few examples what I mean before 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:53.040 we get very deep textually. I told you the first 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.320 question in the Bible came from Satan. Did God really say? 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.240 And then he twisted what God actually said and added 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.080 to it an exactayted it like the enemy always does. 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.080 And we'll come back to that. But then the question 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.760 God asked was simple, not where should you be? Where 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.440 are you? God starts where you are? When I start 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:15.160 with the sermon, I don't start by preparing with what 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:20.960 do I know? Because honestly, what you need goes far 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.480 beyond what I know. I don't know how to answer 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.240 the real questions you're asking. I don't know if you 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.840 should marry him or whatever. I don't know if you 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:33.320 should move out or move in. I don't know, but 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.000 God does. So I learned to ask the question as 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.720 a preacher, not what do I know? So a lot 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:41.160 of times we come to the Bible and we think 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.960 we know it so good, Oh man, I know that story. 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:45.600 Sometimes when I read this, I can see some of you. 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.040 Your eyes glaze over. You're like, go, I know this story. 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:50.120 You fit for Thios And people tell me something I 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:52.360 don't know. Okay, well, maybe God is going to show 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:54.600 you something that you don't know from something that you 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.000 think you do. Right. But if I start with what 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.640 do I know? When I read the Bible, I'm gonna 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:06.840 impose all of my influences instead of getting insight from 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.320 God's word, I'm gonna bring all to it what I 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.359 already think I know. So I don't know what my 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.639 message is gonna be about when I start to prepare it. 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.280 I don't start with that. If I start with what 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.240 I know, I'm gonna it's gonna be a thirty second sermon. 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:25.400 I'm not that smart. I'm not so how stupid would 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:27.280 it be for you to come out here and take 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.560 all this time out of your day? If the starting 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.400 place is what does Stephen Ferdick know? I can put 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.359 that in a tweet. We don't need a sermon for that. 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.080 It's a waste of time. But I start with this, God, 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:47.760 what do they need? That's a better question, because God 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.360 knows that in a way I don't. And he might 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:52.359 sneak to me and say, you need to tell him 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.399 stop crying. It's coming. I'm like, well, God, I didn't 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:57.040 even know to tell him that. I didn't even know 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.480 that there are trumpets and tears what I preach life week. 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:02.600 I didn't come to the text looking for what I 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:07.439 already knew. I came looking for God, what do we need? 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:12.080 Not just you but me? What do we need? And 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.560 this amazing thing that your father knows what you need. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.360 He knows what you need. So you start with where 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.879 you are, but you don't stop there. You start with 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:30.080 a better question. When I first started preaching again, my 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:32.760 question would always be I'd look at a message and 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.720 I'd go, how will this preach? In other words, will 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:41.400 it be exciting dynamic. Will people laugh at it? Will 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:46.080 they go ooh wow and write that down? Yeah, oh, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.159 come on with it for this reaction, But now I 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:54.080 want to know will it produce repentance. Repentance is not 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:56.399 feeling bad. I'm not saying I want you to feel 0:18:56.400 --> 0:18:58.760 bad when you leave. Let me just beat the crap 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.440 out of them and come back next Sunday for more. 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:03.960 That's not what I'm looking for, Not how to make 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.800 you feel bad. You already do a pretty good job 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.040 at that without any instruction. Do not. You do not 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:15.040 need school in how bad you already suck. So this 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.320 puppit is not a how much you suck school. You know. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.520 Point number one, you suck. Point number two you used 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.840 to suck even more. Point number three, No matter how 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.120 much you work, you're still gonna suck. See you next Sunday. 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:29.119 That is not have you been to that church before? 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.720 But see but see, God knows what you need. That's 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.800 not gonna help you. That that sin consciousness is not 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:41.400 gonna bring you to repentance. That's not gonna change you. 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.520 You need to see Jesus when you come. You need 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:49.200 to know that Christ in you is the hope of glory, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:56.720 So it's the better question. What should I want? Huh? 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:01.879 I don't know. Maybe I woul't want the stuff. Maybe 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.560 I'm focused on the wrong thing. So then Jesus said, 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:07.960 we'll seek first the kingdom. You know, don't run around 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:12.840 like the Pagans saying what shall we eat? Thanksgiving sermon? 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:21.040 What shall we wear? If you spent more time today 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.240 figuring out what you were going to wear to church 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.040 before you got here, then you do asking the question, 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.600 what did God speak to me? When you leave here? 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.360 Why are y'all looking at me like that wasn't the 0:20:37.400 --> 0:20:40.760 best thing that has ever been said from this pulpit? 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.879 If you spend more time, I remember one time I 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:46.720 was so into my what do I wear when I preach? 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:48.520 And I was so into that because I wanted to 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:50.359 look good. You got to be presentable. You know, people 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:51.640 are looking at you up here, A lot of people 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.800 are looking at you. And the Lord said, I don't 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:55.919 want you to focus more on your outfit than you 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:03.239 do your outline. What is is God speaking? If it 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.919 took you an hour to figure out what to where 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.920 to get here, that's on me. I'm in bed right 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.679 now watching online. Okay, if it took you an hour 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.760 to figure out what to watch on YouTube, and you 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:16.639 can't even take ten seconds. That's what the enemy does. 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.399 He is gonna snatch the seed before it ever hits 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:22.400 the soil and goes deep enough to make a difference. 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:26.439 And if all you hear what I'm preaching is what 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.720 somebody else should do with what I've preached, Boy, I 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:31.720 wish my husband would have come. He could have used 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:39.280 that word. You are not God's mirror holder. Praise the 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:43.800 Lord Numbers, Chapter thirteen. I'm just trying to think about 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.240 the power of a better question. I used to ask, 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:49.760 how will this preach? Now I want to know what 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:53.840 kind of person will this preaching produce? So if I 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:59.480 preach something like your haters are elevators, you know rhymes, 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.840 it's exciting all of your haters. Tell all your haters. Look. 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:07.120 The reason that that kind of preaching gets people excited 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:12.320 is because it absolves us from all relational responsibility. So 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:14.040 if all I do is talk about your haters, your 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:16.639 haters can't stand you because you're so blessed, you're so favored. No, 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:19.040 your haters can't stand you because you are late to work. 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:29.840 Why whoa what kind of person. Is this preaching producing? 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:35.600 That's a better question. If you are single and you 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.080 are asking God for a man to pop the question 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:41.760 to you. Okay, you need to ask two questions. Not 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:47.919 only when you meet a man, is he single? And no? 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.520 Hold on, not even is he saved? That's a good question. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:53.520 He should be saved, he should know the Lord. But 0:22:53.680 --> 0:23:00.480 is he sane? Because there are crazy Christians just a 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:05.840 be he's too, but he's crazy. He can call Colosses, 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:15.840 but he's crazy. Is he sexy? Is he stable? Unstable? 0:23:15.920 --> 0:23:25.359 Is only sexy? So much? For so long numbers Chapter thirteen. 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:30.520 It's a familiar passage of scripture. The Lord told Moses, 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.399 I want you to send twelve men. Everybody shall twelve 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:37.320 twelve men into the land I'm giving. The Israelite says 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:44.919 there inheritance. The question isn't has God given it? The 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:49.960 question is will you go forward? I want to speak 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:51.720 that over every area of your life right now that 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:57.240 God has promised. The question isn't has God given it? Joy? Peace, 0:23:57.960 --> 0:24:00.800 all the fruit of the spirit, love, patience, It's kindness, goodness, 0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:02.879 fath than generes of control. That's the fruit of the spirit. 0:24:02.920 --> 0:24:05.560 That's what grows from knowing God in the spirit of 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:07.920 a believer. It's called the fruit of the Spirit in 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:11.919 Galatians life, and it's all yours. That's not the question 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:15.240 about the fruit. It's the question will you go forward 0:24:15.240 --> 0:24:18.560 into it? Now we're going to see what happens when 0:24:18.640 --> 0:24:22.159 God is bringing you into something and the devil is 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:26.440 pulling you back to something at the same time the 0:24:26.440 --> 0:24:32.760 power of a better question. Let's go in verse seventeen 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:38.119 when Moses sent them to explore Canaan. All the leaders 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:41.280 of the tribes. Just remember the leaders. I won't list 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:44.760 them all, just the leaders of the tribes, twelve of them, 0:24:45.680 --> 0:24:49.960 to explore Canaan. That's what God had promised Abraham. And 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:53.480 now he's bringing them into it, and they are right 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:58.879 on the cusp of it. You don't know how close 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:03.520 you are. Y'are looking at me and shocking disbelief. So 0:25:03.600 --> 0:25:05.720 tell the person next to you so they'll believe you. You 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:12.080 You don't know how close you are. You'll know put 0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:16.640 in chat you'll not close you are. They're coming into Canaan. 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:21.600 But you remember, they just got out of Egypt. So 0:25:23.119 --> 0:25:27.639 he told them go up through the Negev and on 0:25:27.960 --> 0:25:31.520 into the hill country. See what the land is like, 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:35.800 and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:41.200 few or many? Okay, it's an exploration. It's an exploration. 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:45.919 What kind of land do they live in? Is it 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:50.080 good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? 0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:54.480 Are they unwalled or fourty five? How's the soil? Is 0:25:54.520 --> 0:25:58.359 it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? 0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:01.879 It's like most slow down, one thing at a time, okay, 0:26:02.080 --> 0:26:06.560 and making my list good to bad? One wall, We're 0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:11.159 five trees, are no trees fertile or porcela? But then 0:26:11.200 --> 0:26:14.800 he says, do your best. Yeah, yeah, I'll say it, 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:17.359 do your best to bring back some of the fruit 0:26:17.400 --> 0:26:21.120 of the land. It was the season for the first 0:26:21.240 --> 0:26:27.560 ripe grapes. Say it is eating season. It's eating season. 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:32.760 It's eating season. It's eating season. I cancel every carbohydrate 0:26:32.840 --> 0:26:36.480 you're gonna eat on Thursday. It's eating season. I hope 0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:40.800 you've brought your elastic pants to church at Elevation Church 0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:43.920 because it's eating season. I'm going to lead a little 0:26:44.000 --> 0:26:47.359 room to grow because it's eating season. I've been in 0:26:47.560 --> 0:26:51.960 starving season long enough. I've been in scavenger scrap season 0:26:52.280 --> 0:26:55.840 long enough. I've been in Leftover living long enough. Now 0:26:55.880 --> 0:27:00.000 I'm coming to where the grapes are growing at it's time. 0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:07.040 So they went up verse twenty one and explored the 0:27:07.119 --> 0:27:10.320 land from the desert of zen As far as Reyhop 0:27:10.560 --> 0:27:14.000 to lie Bohammad. They went through the Negev came to Hebron, 0:27:14.200 --> 0:27:20.399 where a hymn she Sheeshai. I bluff y'all on these 0:27:20.480 --> 0:27:23.800 names half the time, and tell my the descendants of 0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:26.720 Anak the giants. You know this little Bible story. I 0:27:26.800 --> 0:27:28.680 promise you know it. You were at one time they 0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.320 got grapes to promise they got giants the problem. Okay, 0:27:32.440 --> 0:27:37.400 but this is really powerful. Watch this. They reached verse 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:43.320 twenty three, the valley of Eshkol. They cut off a 0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:48.800 branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them 0:27:49.720 --> 0:27:53.119 carried it on a pole between them, along with some 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:57.159 pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of 0:27:57.480 --> 0:28:02.080 Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut 0:28:02.080 --> 0:28:05.719 off there. Eshkah means cluster in Hebrew, so they're like, uh, 0:28:05.760 --> 0:28:07.560 it's a cluster of grapes. What do you want to 0:28:07.560 --> 0:28:12.720 call it? How about cluster? Cool? Let's go back at 0:28:12.720 --> 0:28:14.880 the end of forty At the end of forty days, 0:28:14.960 --> 0:28:18.320 Verse twenty five, they returned from exploring the land. They 0:28:18.359 --> 0:28:21.440 came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite 0:28:21.440 --> 0:28:27.040 community at kate Ash in the desert. They're still in 0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:31.760 the desert. So when you're in the desert, you ask 0:28:32.119 --> 0:28:39.560 desert level questions. It's survival based. When you're in the desert, 0:28:39.680 --> 0:28:42.160 it's like, how am I going to get through this day? 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:44.720 Let me back up a little bit, How am I 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:47.680 gonna make it to ten am? Let me back it 0:28:47.760 --> 0:28:49.760 up a little bit. How am I gonna get out 0:28:49.800 --> 0:28:52.840 of the bed this morning? Let me back it up 0:28:52.840 --> 0:28:55.160 a little bit more than that. How am I gonna 0:28:55.280 --> 0:28:57.760 get to sleep tonight? With everything I got on my mind? 0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:02.360 Those are desert questions. They are focused on limitation. They 0:29:02.440 --> 0:29:06.760 originate with Satan. Did God really say you must not 0:29:07.080 --> 0:29:11.840 eat of any tree? It's a limitation based question. But 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:14.920 God wants me to teach you on the power of 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:20.480 a better question, a loaded question. Do you know the 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:24.440 phrase a loaded question? It contains more than appears on 0:29:24.480 --> 0:29:27.280 the surface. So when Jesus says what do you want, 0:29:27.600 --> 0:29:29.560 he's not saying that, like your kids just walked in 0:29:29.600 --> 0:29:32.040 your room and you're trying to have some married people time, 0:29:32.200 --> 0:29:34.120 Why you want to get out of here? He says, 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:37.360 what do you want? And let's start there, and let's 0:29:37.480 --> 0:29:40.480 move toward the deeper desire that I created you for. 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:45.920 It's a better question. When you are in the desert, 0:29:46.160 --> 0:29:49.280 you let the devil do all the question asking who 0:29:49.280 --> 0:29:52.600 do you think you are dreaming like that? Who do 0:29:52.680 --> 0:29:55.440 you think you are putting yourself out there like that? 0:29:55.600 --> 0:29:58.600 What makes you think you can accomplish that? Well, if 0:29:58.640 --> 0:30:00.720 it was gonna work, wouldn't it have work? By now? 0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:05.959 Those are desert questions. It's when you've been used to 0:30:06.000 --> 0:30:09.560 not having enough, or you've been used to somebody else 0:30:09.680 --> 0:30:13.240 oppressing you or something else oppressing you. And so let's 0:30:13.240 --> 0:30:15.440 say it's an addiction, and then an addiction has been 0:30:15.440 --> 0:30:18.240 calling the shots. The only question you've been asking, if 0:30:18.240 --> 0:30:20.640 you've been stuck in the throes of addiction is when 0:30:20.680 --> 0:30:23.080 can I get another hit of that? And by the way, 0:30:23.440 --> 0:30:26.360 it can be cocaine, or it can be shopping, it 0:30:26.400 --> 0:30:29.480 can be Amazon just as easily as it can be heroin. 0:30:29.760 --> 0:30:32.960 We are not talking about one substance here. I'm coming 0:30:33.000 --> 0:30:36.360 for you today. God spoke to me. He said, those 0:30:36.440 --> 0:30:47.240 are desert questions. Desert questions, and when you ask desert questions, 0:30:47.760 --> 0:30:56.480 you get dead end answers. It doesn't open anything up. 0:30:56.840 --> 0:30:59.480 Even when you're asking somebody, uh, don't when you pick 0:30:59.520 --> 0:31:01.600 up your kids for school, don't say how is your day? 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:03.400 Because it gives them the option for a one word 0:31:03.440 --> 0:31:10.000 answer good. Bad. You got to ask them something more open, right. 0:31:10.000 --> 0:31:11.040 If you want to be creative, if you want to 0:31:11.080 --> 0:31:13.640 get your teenager to talk, you gotta have something different. 0:31:15.000 --> 0:31:16.600 And I don't even know what the question would beet 0:31:16.600 --> 0:31:18.000 because I still have figured out how to get Graham 0:31:18.040 --> 0:31:19.320 to talk to me on the way home from school. 0:31:19.360 --> 0:31:21.680 But I'm working on it, and I know what doesn't 0:31:21.680 --> 0:31:23.800 work is a is a yes or no good or 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:27.480 bad answer? Okay, now, so let's journey on in the text? 0:31:27.480 --> 0:31:29.920 Can we journey on in the text? Are y'all with 0:31:29.960 --> 0:31:33.960 me today? Are you with me today? You see? Are 0:31:34.000 --> 0:31:38.040 you with me today? Epham? Are you with me today? Valentine? 0:31:38.200 --> 0:31:44.720 Back right section? Are you with me today? Oh yeah, 0:31:44.920 --> 0:31:48.440 ah yeah, I'm with you? Preacher read the next verse. 0:31:52.720 --> 0:31:56.120 So they came back to Moses and Aaron those spies 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:01.040 Holzerite community at Kadosh in the desert of Parin. There 0:32:01.480 --> 0:32:04.360 in the desert, they reported to them and the whole 0:32:04.400 --> 0:32:08.840 assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. They 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:13.640 gave Moses this account. We went into the land what 0:32:13.760 --> 0:32:18.200 God promised, which you sent us, and it does flow 0:32:18.960 --> 0:32:28.920 with milk and honey. Newsflash, God is right. Here's this fruit. 0:32:29.880 --> 0:32:33.160 You wanted some grapes. We brought you some grapes, not 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:35.640 only the ones that Joshua and Caleb would carry, because 0:32:35.640 --> 0:32:39.600 the rest of them wouldn't carry any fruit, wouldn't carry 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:44.040 any fruit. But Joshua and Caleb, the two splies they 0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:48.320 didn't name, they had a different spirit. They had different spirit. 0:32:49.840 --> 0:32:54.680 They asked better questions. Instead of looking at how hard 0:32:54.720 --> 0:32:58.080 it was in the land and say it, how in 0:32:58.120 --> 0:33:01.280 the world are we possibly going to do this? They 0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:03.440 looked at the same situation. And this is what I 0:33:03.480 --> 0:33:06.840 want you to see. God can give you the ability 0:33:06.880 --> 0:33:09.760 to look at a situation that you were looking at 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:15.720 as an impossibility and see it as an opportunity. Who's 0:33:15.720 --> 0:33:20.200 this for? And there's a cluster of fruit, you know, 0:33:20.200 --> 0:33:22.880 the pomegranates, the figs, and the grapes, there's a cluster 0:33:23.400 --> 0:33:28.840 from Eshkol. But there's also a cluster happening between what 0:33:28.960 --> 0:33:32.560 God has called his people to do and the conflict 0:33:32.600 --> 0:33:37.160 that they feel about it inside of themselves. So it's 0:33:37.200 --> 0:33:40.000 a cluster. That's a negative word to me. I don't 0:33:40.040 --> 0:33:42.320 hear that usually about fruit. I usually heard about stuff 0:33:42.320 --> 0:33:44.800 that goes wrong. Man, it was a cluster. People say 0:33:44.840 --> 0:33:53.240 that it's a cluster at Kate Shpernie because you got 0:33:53.360 --> 0:33:55.760 these twelve spies, and you've got two of them that 0:33:55.840 --> 0:34:01.800 have faith to say, oh yeah, taste this, na I 0:34:01.920 --> 0:34:05.440 taste this fruit. All taste of this and at the 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:07.960 same time watch this. At the same time, they are 0:34:08.000 --> 0:34:11.879 getting a taste of tomorrow. They are being dragged back 0:34:11.920 --> 0:34:16.360 to a past that is beneath them. Watch watch, watch 0:34:16.400 --> 0:34:25.160 this verse twenty eight. But the fruit is just like 0:34:25.560 --> 0:34:31.480 God said it would be. But the people, the promise 0:34:32.280 --> 0:34:36.880 and the people, it's a cluster. The promise and the 0:34:36.920 --> 0:34:41.360 problems is a cluster God. God told me to preach 0:34:41.360 --> 0:34:44.960 to somebody today who is a cluster right now in 0:34:45.000 --> 0:34:48.800 your life, in your mind, in your marriage, in your family. 0:34:49.000 --> 0:34:52.799 It's a cluster of watch this, fear and faith. It's 0:34:52.840 --> 0:34:55.640 a cluster of thoughts. You can't get it untangled. You 0:34:55.640 --> 0:34:57.640 can't really figure out if it's been a good year 0:34:57.760 --> 0:34:59.440 or a bad year. You don't really know what to 0:34:59.480 --> 0:35:01.520 think about it anymore. You don't know to think. Is 0:35:01.520 --> 0:35:03.880 this my friend? Is this my enemy? It's a cluster. 0:35:04.239 --> 0:35:07.480 That's what's happening at kate ash Varniah and the man 0:35:07.520 --> 0:35:10.479 of God, Moses sent these spies out, and he asked 0:35:10.480 --> 0:35:17.640 them three simple questions. But they came back with a butt. 0:35:18.440 --> 0:35:23.480 They came back with a butt. But the people who 0:35:23.520 --> 0:35:25.960 live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and 0:35:26.120 --> 0:35:28.919 very large. We even saw the descendants of Anak there. 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:34.440 The Amalekites live in the Negev, the Hittites, Jebyuzites, Amorites 0:35:34.480 --> 0:35:38.040 live in the hill country, and the Canaanites live near 0:35:38.080 --> 0:35:41.840 the sea along to Jordan. Then Caleb silenced the people 0:35:41.920 --> 0:35:45.680 before Moses and said, we should go up take possession 0:35:45.680 --> 0:35:49.000 of the land, for we certainly can do it. I 0:35:49.160 --> 0:35:53.040 can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. And 0:35:53.120 --> 0:35:58.120 Philippians four thirteen hasn't even written yet. But the men, 0:35:58.160 --> 0:36:02.759 there's another butt. There's another butt. There's another But there's 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:04.720 a promise. There's a problem. There's a butt in between, 0:36:04.800 --> 0:36:07.000 there's a promise, there's a problem. There's a butt in between. 0:36:07.080 --> 0:36:10.320 There's a problem. But God, But God, that's my favorite 0:36:10.400 --> 0:36:15.400 butt in the Bible. But God, you don't understand. But God, 0:36:16.320 --> 0:36:20.759 who is rich in mercy. But God demonstrates his own 0:36:20.920 --> 0:36:25.360 love for us in this that while we were yet 0:36:25.400 --> 0:36:32.799 sinners Christ died for ophs. I don't know if this 0:36:32.840 --> 0:36:36.960 sounds right. But you need another butt. You need another 0:36:37.000 --> 0:36:41.439 But you need a new leader. You keep being led 0:36:41.480 --> 0:36:45.360 by your feelings, you keep being led by your frustrations, 0:36:45.880 --> 0:36:49.799 you keep being led by your limits. You need a 0:36:49.960 --> 0:36:55.239 new leader or you're gonna die in the desert, in 0:36:55.280 --> 0:37:01.880 the wilderness of what if. Wow, we can't attack those people. 0:37:02.239 --> 0:37:05.520 Is this good for you? I swear the church went 0:37:05.520 --> 0:37:08.040 Presbyterian on me overnight. I don't know what's happening in 0:37:08.080 --> 0:37:11.680 here today. I'm preaching. I am preaching this passage of scripture. 0:37:14.320 --> 0:37:17.319 You know what, Maybe that's a bad question. Is this 0:37:17.400 --> 0:37:22.760 good to you? Maybe? Is it good for you? Maybe 0:37:22.800 --> 0:37:26.160 you need to hear this word today that you can't 0:37:26.280 --> 0:37:36.680 hide behind your butt. We can't attack those people. They 0:37:36.680 --> 0:37:40.000 are stronger than we are, and they spread among the 0:37:40.040 --> 0:37:43.480 Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored, 0:37:43.480 --> 0:37:46.160 and they said, the land we explored devours those living 0:37:46.200 --> 0:37:49.080 in it. Something This is a reference to infertility in Canaan. 0:37:49.440 --> 0:37:52.200 It devours those living in it. Some scholars said that's 0:37:52.239 --> 0:37:54.399 because there was such a high infertility rate, and that's 0:37:54.400 --> 0:37:57.120 what it means. But regardless about it, they said, the 0:37:57.280 --> 0:38:03.000 land is fruitful, but the people are of great size. 0:38:03.280 --> 0:38:05.839 We saw the Nephilum there, the descendants of Ainmact come 0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:09.120 from the Nephilm. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, 0:38:09.840 --> 0:38:14.440 and we looked the same to them. Chapter fourteen, verse one. 0:38:14.600 --> 0:38:16.640 That night, all the members of the community raised their 0:38:16.719 --> 0:38:19.160 voices and wept aloud, and all the Israelites grumbled against 0:38:19.200 --> 0:38:21.759 Moses and Aaron. And the whole assembly said to them, 0:38:21.880 --> 0:38:25.960 if only we had died in Egypt on the cusp 0:38:26.000 --> 0:38:30.000 of Canaan. You know how close you are to being free. 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:36.480 And you taste tomorrow. Sometimes you taste the grape. Sometimes. 0:38:37.160 --> 0:38:39.960 Oh that's what a good day feels like. Oh that's 0:38:39.960 --> 0:38:42.000 what it feels like to not have to prove myself 0:38:42.000 --> 0:38:43.880 and just sit there and let them sound smart if 0:38:43.880 --> 0:38:45.839 they want to. But I don't have to say anything back. 0:38:46.760 --> 0:38:49.880 Oh that's what it feels like. Three hours without Instagram 0:38:49.880 --> 0:38:52.120 and I feel like I have detoxed from the devil 0:38:52.200 --> 0:38:55.279 himself and you get a little taste of it, a 0:38:55.280 --> 0:38:58.000 little taste of tomorrow. I almost wanted to call this 0:38:58.080 --> 0:39:04.080 message tomorrow taste better. That's the only way you're gonna 0:39:04.120 --> 0:39:07.120 give up Egypt. We all have a secret Egypt. A 0:39:07.160 --> 0:39:13.759 secret Egypt, not a geographical place, an emotional place. It 0:39:14.360 --> 0:39:25.880 emotionally grips your potential tightly. Egypt emotionally grips your potential tightly. 0:39:27.000 --> 0:39:32.200 Em Egypt. I'm spelling Egypt emotionally. I'm gonna stop working 0:39:32.200 --> 0:39:33.759 so hard on this stuff if y'all don't like that. 0:39:35.160 --> 0:39:38.640 Everybody has a secret Egypt. And so here, I mean, 0:39:39.200 --> 0:39:42.000 let's be nice to these people. You think you would 0:39:42.000 --> 0:39:45.640 have done better. You wouldn't almost even come to church 0:39:45.680 --> 0:39:53.880 because I'm back to parking. Look. Look, look, they're nervous 0:39:54.040 --> 0:39:57.800 of warriors that are bigger than them. You're nervous about 0:39:57.840 --> 0:40:02.120 your mother in law on Thursday coming in town for Thanksgiving, 0:40:02.280 --> 0:40:04.360 and can you put up with her for four hours? 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:08.280 So let's give some grace. They just came out of Egypt. 0:40:08.880 --> 0:40:14.160 It's not easy leave in Egypt. I'm preaching about this 0:40:14.239 --> 0:40:17.279 for two years now. If only we had died in 0:40:17.320 --> 0:40:23.799 Egypt or in this wilderness? Why why verse three is 0:40:23.840 --> 0:40:27.000 the Lord bringing us to this land only to let 0:40:27.120 --> 0:40:32.160 us fall by the sword. That's a really dumb question. 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:38.279 You know you could take that same question. Why did 0:40:38.320 --> 0:40:40.520 the Lord bring us through the Red Sea? Why did 0:40:40.520 --> 0:40:42.719 the Lord get me through my twenties? Why did the 0:40:42.760 --> 0:40:45.200 Lord get me through that horrible divorce? Why did the 0:40:45.200 --> 0:40:47.399 Lord get my kid through that horrible situation? But look 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:49.560 how they finish it, only to let us fall by 0:40:49.600 --> 0:40:52.120 the sword. I think you could take that same question, 0:40:53.080 --> 0:40:55.960 why did God bring me this far to leave me? 0:40:57.840 --> 0:41:02.080 And if you flip that question a little bit, why 0:41:02.120 --> 0:41:07.440 would God bring me this far to leave me right now? 0:41:10.320 --> 0:41:15.560 That is a better question. Do you really think he 0:41:15.800 --> 0:41:19.080 saved you with his son's blood but he's not gonna 0:41:19.120 --> 0:41:23.440 provide for your material needs? You really think that he 0:41:23.480 --> 0:41:26.680 came all the way from heaven at Christmas time like 0:41:26.719 --> 0:41:29.719 a baby, but he's gonna leave you now because you're 0:41:29.760 --> 0:41:33.680 struggling with this? Do you really think that God did 0:41:33.920 --> 0:41:37.839 all of that and saw you through all these dangers? 0:41:37.840 --> 0:41:42.000 And toenails and snares, and his grace is going away. Now, 0:41:43.200 --> 0:41:46.279 why would God bring you this far to leave you? 0:41:47.640 --> 0:41:49.440 Why would he think it if he didn't mean it? 0:41:49.719 --> 0:41:54.160 Why would he do it if he wasn't permitted to him? 0:41:54.440 --> 0:41:57.160 He who began a good work in me is faithful 0:41:57.239 --> 0:42:00.840 to complete it. So the same question they're using to 0:42:00.840 --> 0:42:03.200 get discouraged, I want to turn it on the devil 0:42:03.239 --> 0:42:06.880 and say he didn't bring me out of Egypt to 0:42:07.080 --> 0:42:12.200 kill me in Canaan. He didn't bring me out of 0:42:12.280 --> 0:42:17.000 depression to let me die in this uncertainty. No, No, 0:42:17.520 --> 0:42:21.480 he didn't bring me through COVID to let me drop 0:42:22.920 --> 0:42:29.040 this Christmas whoo. It's a better question. Why would he 0:42:29.080 --> 0:42:32.560 have done all that? If that was all that it was, 0:42:33.880 --> 0:42:35.319 why would he have put it in you? I had 0:42:35.320 --> 0:42:37.919 another better question. Why is the devil fighting you so hard? 0:42:40.120 --> 0:42:43.400 If you're not carrying anything? Why is he coming at you? 0:42:44.320 --> 0:42:46.680 I watched a little bit of football. They don't usually 0:42:46.760 --> 0:42:48.920 hit somebody if they're not carrying the ball or blocking 0:42:48.960 --> 0:42:53.200 somebody who is. I never saw a fan get hit. 0:42:53.480 --> 0:42:55.840 I never saw a water boy get hit, except on 0:42:55.880 --> 0:42:59.160 Adam Sandler and Bobby Bouchet. But that's not in the Bible. 0:43:00.120 --> 0:43:04.040 Carrying something, I got something. I'm under something. I'm on 0:43:04.120 --> 0:43:08.520 the something. I got a better question. Why it's the 0:43:08.560 --> 0:43:18.280 devil standing at this stop. I'm calming out of the desert. Yahay, whoa, 0:43:18.520 --> 0:43:23.880 I'm on it now, Babies, I'm on it now. I 0:43:23.920 --> 0:43:28.040 don't know the answer, but I got a better question. 0:43:28.880 --> 0:43:40.520 It's God before me. Oh damn, gess it. Ah Ah. 0:43:41.000 --> 0:43:45.520 I'm carrying something. It's a cluster. I'm carrying some grapes, 0:43:45.800 --> 0:43:50.200 but I'm fighting some giants. It's a cluster. I'm carrying promise, 0:43:50.520 --> 0:43:55.960 but I got some problems. It's a cluster. I got 0:43:55.960 --> 0:44:00.320 a heavenly calling. I got some human conflict, she said, cluster. 0:44:01.080 --> 0:44:04.640 I'm in the valley of Ashkhol right now. Be patient 0:44:04.680 --> 0:44:11.360 with me. It's heavy. I'm carrying something. I'm carrying them 0:44:11.360 --> 0:44:17.200 promise on a pole. I never carried graceful, for I 0:44:17.239 --> 0:44:22.279 only ate quail in Egypt. I never tasted tomorrow. Yet 0:44:24.120 --> 0:44:28.120 when you're nice to me, it scares me because the 0:44:28.160 --> 0:44:29.840 only people I ever knew who said they loved me 0:44:30.280 --> 0:44:33.840 were nasty to me. And I'm trying to start liking 0:44:33.840 --> 0:44:36.400 when you're nice to me. But when I push you 0:44:36.400 --> 0:44:39.440 away like that. Be patient with me because it's a cluster, 0:44:40.600 --> 0:44:42.520 because I don't know how to trust. Because it's a cluster, 0:44:44.239 --> 0:44:46.080 because I don't really know how to show love. That's 0:44:46.120 --> 0:44:48.400 why sometimes I lash out because I don't know how 0:44:48.440 --> 0:44:51.799 to show love, so I lash out. But really I 0:44:51.800 --> 0:44:54.360 want to be close to you. But it's a cluster. 0:44:55.920 --> 0:45:01.359 It's a cluster. And then the craziest question text, the 0:45:01.360 --> 0:45:06.279 one that I wanted to preach, is verse four. They said, 0:45:07.360 --> 0:45:15.839 wouldn't no, yeah, verse three? Sorry, verse four, we should 0:45:15.920 --> 0:45:22.200 choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Next part 0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:26.479 says there's a verse missing, y'all, y'all took a verse out. 0:45:26.880 --> 0:45:30.359 That's a pro problem. They've took a verse out, that's all. Yeah, 0:45:30.400 --> 0:45:32.959 that's that's there's a there's another verse in there, y'all. 0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:36.959 Y'all left out the best verse verse verse three, Verse three? 0:45:37.680 --> 0:45:39.839 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land less 0:45:39.840 --> 0:45:41.320 fall of us or our Why isn't the children be 0:45:41.360 --> 0:45:50.960 taking us plunder? There? It is? Wouldn't it be better 0:45:52.320 --> 0:45:58.759 for us to go back? Hm? Hm? We should choose 0:45:58.760 --> 0:46:04.960 a leader and go back. Really, they are not being 0:46:05.040 --> 0:46:10.919 led by their potential at this moment. Or their wisdom. 0:46:11.040 --> 0:46:14.839 They're certainly not being led by God's promise. They're being 0:46:14.920 --> 0:46:23.720 led by their fear back to what is familiar. People 0:46:23.760 --> 0:46:28.160 preach coming out of Egypt like Egypt represents sin. It doesn't, 0:46:29.600 --> 0:46:41.399 it doesn't. It represents survival, survival. You notice the threat 0:46:41.400 --> 0:46:44.319 of my teaching this past two years. I'm watching people 0:46:44.400 --> 0:46:50.800 stuck in survival mode. You get a little taste of tomorrow, 0:46:51.080 --> 0:46:54.400 a little glimpse of God's best. But the moment you 0:46:54.480 --> 0:46:59.400 taste the graves, you start thinking about the giants. The 0:46:59.480 --> 0:47:03.880 people who made the decision not to go into this canaan, 0:47:03.960 --> 0:47:10.640 this promise, this flowing place, this promised land. They didn't 0:47:10.680 --> 0:47:15.040 even see the giants for themselves. And you know what's 0:47:15.040 --> 0:47:19.240 even crazier. The spies that came back answered a question 0:47:19.280 --> 0:47:24.240 that Moses didn't even ask. I read you every question 0:47:24.360 --> 0:47:27.600 Moses asked. He said, what are the people like? And 0:47:27.600 --> 0:47:31.080 that was his problem right there. He started the question 0:47:31.239 --> 0:47:35.080 with what are the people like? That's something you can't control. 0:47:36.440 --> 0:47:39.759 That's something you can't control. So when you start with 0:47:39.920 --> 0:47:44.160 other people, you need a better question. No no, no, 0:47:44.160 --> 0:47:46.400 no no no. This is going to have practical value. 0:47:46.480 --> 0:47:48.319 If you are going to entrust your time to me. 0:47:48.640 --> 0:47:51.120 I am going to help you in your Monday, your Tuesday, 0:47:51.160 --> 0:47:54.680 your Wednesday. I'm not giving you some Sunday syrup pancake 0:47:54.800 --> 0:47:57.359 preacher sermon where we just feel good for a few 0:47:57.360 --> 0:48:00.879 minutes and everybody goes out in a little coma trenkoma 0:48:00.960 --> 0:48:08.880 for thirty minutes. This is the word of God. You 0:48:08.920 --> 0:48:11.200 can't start in the wrong place and end up at 0:48:11.239 --> 0:48:13.719 the right place. So when Moses said what are the 0:48:13.719 --> 0:48:16.200 people like? Are they big or small? The people who 0:48:16.200 --> 0:48:18.840 were under his leadership went in and looked for exactly 0:48:19.200 --> 0:48:22.040 the lens that he gave them. And so when they 0:48:22.080 --> 0:48:24.960 came back, all they could talk about was the Amalekis, 0:48:25.040 --> 0:48:27.799 the hit Tights, the jug Desias, this holiday season, the 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:32.360 cellu lights, and all of the battles. I couldn't resist it. 0:48:35.160 --> 0:48:40.279 And when you start with that, when you start with 0:48:40.520 --> 0:48:48.000 desert questions, you end up in dead end situations. Eleven days, 0:48:48.040 --> 0:48:52.560 you could have moved through this wilderness. What you got 0:48:52.600 --> 0:48:55.160 to study this? Sometimes? Promise me you'll look this up later, okay. 0:48:55.880 --> 0:48:58.560 In joshua Io, one of the spies that carried the 0:48:58.560 --> 0:49:01.640 pole with Caleb to go into promis Land everybody else 0:49:01.640 --> 0:49:04.120 that was over twenty died in a wilderness. They get 0:49:04.160 --> 0:49:09.920 stuck because they asked questions that God didn't tell them 0:49:09.960 --> 0:49:12.640 to ask. They tried to answer questions that God wasn't 0:49:12.640 --> 0:49:19.440 even asking. How's it going to work out? That's above 0:49:19.480 --> 0:49:24.560 your pay, Gray Bubba, the Monk's corner coming out of me. Now, 0:49:24.800 --> 0:49:29.920 that's above your pay, great Bubba. But I know that 0:49:30.000 --> 0:49:34.960 all things work together for the good, right, So my 0:49:35.480 --> 0:49:37.719 question about it can't be how is this going to 0:49:37.800 --> 0:49:40.960 work out? Because if I do that, I will limit 0:49:41.040 --> 0:49:43.920 my answer to my experience. How I've seen God work 0:49:43.960 --> 0:49:46.000 it out so far at this point in my life? 0:49:46.440 --> 0:49:51.560 What if he wants to do something? Huh huh. It's 0:49:51.600 --> 0:49:54.840 the power of a better question. God, what have I 0:49:55.000 --> 0:49:59.239 not even asked? Thought or imagine that you have the 0:49:59.280 --> 0:50:04.720 power to do. And when Joshua led the people into 0:50:04.719 --> 0:50:08.000 the Promised Land forty years later, he sent two spies, 0:50:08.120 --> 0:50:13.520 not twelve, because he didn't want another cluster that represents focus, 0:50:14.560 --> 0:50:17.480 that represents focus. This word is thick. Y'all, pray for me. 0:50:17.560 --> 0:50:20.560 I can't, I can't. I can't even get it out. WHOA, 0:50:20.640 --> 0:50:25.560 You got the wrong focus group? You're asking the wrong people. 0:50:26.920 --> 0:50:32.719 You're asking jealous people. You're asking people sometimes they don't 0:50:32.760 --> 0:50:35.719 even know that they're insecure, and you are limiting your 0:50:35.800 --> 0:50:43.680 potential to their insecurity. Well, i'd tell my wife off 0:50:43.719 --> 0:50:45.360 if I were you, I'd just go down there to 0:50:45.440 --> 0:50:53.400 the golf course. That's why your wife sleeps in another room. Dude. Okay, okay, 0:50:53.560 --> 0:50:55.200 Oh this is kind of rough now. I like the 0:50:55.200 --> 0:51:01.880 other stuff that he was preaching earlier. True, isn't it 0:51:01.920 --> 0:51:05.319 is that sometimes when we get the wrong focus group, 0:51:07.440 --> 0:51:15.719 it cost us our fruit. There are three questions that 0:51:15.800 --> 0:51:19.600 Moses told them to ask. When Joshua sent the people 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:22.200 into the land, he didn't do any of that. He said, 0:51:22.640 --> 0:51:26.120 just go check it out, come back. We're going in becus, 0:51:26.160 --> 0:51:29.960 God said it. So we're going to focus. And do 0:51:30.000 --> 0:51:37.759 you remember about Rahab? She was a questionable profession. She 0:51:37.840 --> 0:51:44.160 has a prostitute and Lord Euster. I don't know if 0:51:44.200 --> 0:51:46.000 the Lord can use a prostitute. He didn't ask you 0:51:46.040 --> 0:51:53.200 who he could use. You didn't think virgins could have 0:51:53.280 --> 0:51:55.799 babies either, But you know'll be seeing hat silent night 0:51:55.840 --> 0:52:04.120 in a few days. Nothing is impossible with God. Oh, 0:52:04.520 --> 0:52:07.520 but when Raya told Joshua, she said we're all scared 0:52:07.520 --> 0:52:11.840 of y'all. The spies came back, saying they're huge. We 0:52:11.880 --> 0:52:15.640 look like grasshoppers to them. Well, first of all, what 0:52:15.680 --> 0:52:17.840 are you doing asking your enemies what you look like? 0:52:20.480 --> 0:52:23.480 Why are you answering the devil's question? When Eve put 0:52:23.480 --> 0:52:25.160 Genesis three, verse one up there, just so I can 0:52:25.239 --> 0:52:28.800 show you, the serpent said to Eve, did God really 0:52:28.840 --> 0:52:31.680 say you must not eat from any tree in the garden? 0:52:33.920 --> 0:52:38.359 That's the devil's question. Eve looked verse two, said back 0:52:38.400 --> 0:52:42.360 to the serpent, So what would be a better question? 0:52:42.520 --> 0:52:45.560 The serpent slithers up to you in the garden, did 0:52:45.600 --> 0:52:49.080 God really say questioning God's intentions and motives and capacity 0:52:49.120 --> 0:52:51.840 and wisdom and all that stuff? Right, what would be 0:52:51.880 --> 0:52:54.920 a better question than did God really say? Here's I 0:52:54.920 --> 0:52:59.360 got one suggestion for Eve. Okay, why am I talking 0:52:59.360 --> 0:53:06.719 to a snake? Why? Ah? Why am I speaking to 0:53:06.880 --> 0:53:12.120 something that's beneath me? Why am I dealing with something? 0:53:13.239 --> 0:53:20.200 Why am I consulting with something that Jesus can crush? 0:53:20.760 --> 0:53:26.399 That's a better question, right? You like that? He Yo? 0:53:26.800 --> 0:53:29.120 The other day I was driving to a parking lot 0:53:29.360 --> 0:53:32.520 and this lady whips out of her parking space, groom 0:53:32.840 --> 0:53:36.120 almost hissed me, and I had to put the brakes on. 0:53:36.400 --> 0:53:38.480 I put them on pretty hard. And then when like 0:53:38.520 --> 0:53:40.840 the airbag came out. But it was a close call. 0:53:41.160 --> 0:53:42.719 And my car does this thing. I don't know if 0:53:42.719 --> 0:53:45.520 your car has this feature when somebody does something stupid, 0:53:45.800 --> 0:53:48.120 the car honks and it grabs my hand and it 0:53:48.160 --> 0:53:50.960 honks the car. It's a feature on my car. Why 0:53:51.040 --> 0:53:56.239 honked that? The lady, y'all? She I'm sure she saw 0:53:56.280 --> 0:54:00.400 my elevation sticker, but she she flipped me the bird. 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:05.760 She flipped me the bird, sideways bird with the thumb, 0:54:06.040 --> 0:54:08.719 and she was eating a bagel and looking at she 0:54:08.719 --> 0:54:10.640 di'd't even look up at me to flip me off 0:54:10.800 --> 0:54:14.319 a bagel, driving with her knees, running out the parking lot, 0:54:16.400 --> 0:54:20.320 flipping the bird. Apparently my car also has a feature 0:54:20.480 --> 0:54:23.760 that it goes in reverse when someone flips me the bird. 0:54:24.160 --> 0:54:29.080 Because y'all, I wasn't thinking something took over. I put 0:54:29.120 --> 0:54:31.880 the car. Oh, this wasn't eighteen years ago before I 0:54:31.880 --> 0:54:35.520 became a pastor. This was last week. I wish it 0:54:35.600 --> 0:54:38.279 was eighteen years ago. Under the blood. I'm not even 0:54:38.280 --> 0:54:40.399 sure I'm forgiving of this one yet, that I'm telling you, 0:54:40.560 --> 0:54:43.719 I hadn't even told my kids this yet. I put 0:54:43.760 --> 0:54:46.400 the car in reverse. I don't know what I'm gonna 0:54:46.400 --> 0:54:48.600 do when I get back, but I can't drive by 0:54:48.640 --> 0:54:51.000 somebody flipping me the It was the bagel that put 0:54:51.040 --> 0:54:53.200 me over the top. It was the bagel. If she 0:54:53.280 --> 0:54:55.640 hadn't been eating the bagel, I wouldn't have backed up. 0:54:55.800 --> 0:54:58.799 But bagel and bird, I'm backing up. I put the 0:54:58.840 --> 0:55:06.640 car in reverse, boom, right into another lady's jeep. Boom. 0:55:06.880 --> 0:55:09.920 So now I'm like, I got out my car with 0:55:10.000 --> 0:55:18.080 my hands off, my dig not worship, just surrender, just stupidity. 0:55:20.560 --> 0:55:22.279 I said, I'm so sorry. Let's look at it. We'll 0:55:22.320 --> 0:55:23.759 do whatever you want to do. It's my fault. I'm 0:55:23.760 --> 0:55:25.680 an idiot. She had a bagel. She flipped me off. 0:55:25.719 --> 0:55:29.200 I said, babe, it was the bagel. It was the bagel. 0:55:29.320 --> 0:55:31.160 It was the bagel. It took it over the top. 0:55:33.200 --> 0:55:36.360 And then we looked. Her car was fine, it's a jeep. 0:55:36.840 --> 0:55:41.560 God loves jeets. Mine was fine too, and I gave 0:55:41.600 --> 0:55:43.200 her all the cash I had. She didn't want to 0:55:43.200 --> 0:55:44.560 call the cops. There was nothing wrong with her car. 0:55:45.280 --> 0:55:47.799 But when I drove back off I looked at my car. 0:55:47.880 --> 0:55:50.120 It was a little scratch, just a little scratch, and 0:55:50.120 --> 0:55:51.759 it could have gone a whole different way. Right, she 0:55:51.760 --> 0:55:53.680 could have been crazy, she could have been mean, she 0:55:53.719 --> 0:55:56.680 could have been a church member. Thankfully, it was just 0:55:56.719 --> 0:56:03.040 a little scratch, and and I got a lesson from it, 0:56:03.320 --> 0:56:07.239 very very simple lesson, but was powerful. The Lord said, 0:56:07.280 --> 0:56:09.279 I want you to be glad that you have that 0:56:09.360 --> 0:56:14.319 scratch to remind you what happens the next time you 0:56:14.360 --> 0:56:17.600 are tempted to back up to something that is beneath you. 0:56:30.760 --> 0:56:35.719 It's a little scratch. What a lesson, Because here's the 0:56:35.760 --> 0:56:38.400 real question. What were you going to do when you 0:56:38.440 --> 0:56:43.280 got back there? You want to go back to Egypt. 0:56:45.640 --> 0:56:49.000 You want to go back to that. So what are 0:56:49.000 --> 0:56:50.600 you going to do When you prove you're right, You're 0:56:50.640 --> 0:56:55.120 going to be right and lonely. Every time you want 0:56:55.120 --> 0:57:00.160 to go back, remember you are going back to something 0:57:00.920 --> 0:57:08.000 that is beneath you. By the way, it's not always 0:57:08.040 --> 0:57:11.920 bad to go back. It's not always bad to go back. 0:57:12.760 --> 0:57:16.520 In Luke fifteen, there was this young man who decided 0:57:16.560 --> 0:57:20.160 to ask his father for his share of the inheritance. Early. 0:57:20.880 --> 0:57:23.440 I want it now, I want it now, and you 0:57:23.480 --> 0:57:26.080 know what's really scary. His father gave him what he 0:57:26.160 --> 0:57:30.160 asked for, even though it wasn't best for him. Israel 0:57:30.240 --> 0:57:32.640 got soul as their king, and God didn't want to 0:57:32.640 --> 0:57:34.280 give him a king. He wanted to be their king. 0:57:34.840 --> 0:57:39.280 You can get what you wanted asking the wrong questions. 0:57:42.080 --> 0:57:44.240 And after this young man had spent all his money, 0:57:44.360 --> 0:57:47.720 father said, okay, I'll let you go, because he loved 0:57:47.760 --> 0:57:49.400 him enough to let him go. Now, this is one 0:57:49.400 --> 0:57:52.360 parable that Jesus told. It's just one. It's just one. 0:57:53.240 --> 0:57:55.200 But the Bible says that after he had spent all 0:57:55.200 --> 0:57:58.880 he had in a foreign land, there began to be 0:57:58.920 --> 0:58:02.760 a famine in that country. And that's what connected me 0:58:02.880 --> 0:58:08.000 from numbers thirteen with the Israelites who went to Egypt 0:58:08.000 --> 0:58:11.960 for a famine. God is setting them free. But they 0:58:12.000 --> 0:58:13.640 have to go through the desert, and so do you 0:58:14.720 --> 0:58:17.680 and so do I. We have to learn new ways. 0:58:18.800 --> 0:58:21.760 It's not enough to taste tomorrow. We have to learn 0:58:21.800 --> 0:58:26.280 new patterns, new responses. Backing up to somebody who shoots 0:58:26.280 --> 0:58:29.720 you the bird, You are a preacher, bro, what are 0:58:29.760 --> 0:58:35.080 you doing? And we all have these moments, these moments, 0:58:36.200 --> 0:58:38.200 But what you do in those moments can be critical 0:58:38.240 --> 0:58:42.760 because watch this. Their fear in the moment kept them 0:58:42.920 --> 0:58:49.920 stuck for an entire generation, all because they asked the 0:58:49.960 --> 0:58:55.280 wrong question. Moses didn't ask them all that. Moses didn't 0:58:55.280 --> 0:58:59.320 ask them all that. He said, find out about the land. 0:58:59.480 --> 0:59:04.400 Is it good or bad? That's a multiple choice. That's 0:59:04.400 --> 0:59:09.760 the first question. Is this worth it? Is this worth it? 0:59:09.840 --> 0:59:13.760 Isn't that a great question? Is this worth the energy? 0:59:14.080 --> 0:59:16.840 Is this worth the fight? I had to learn that 0:59:16.880 --> 0:59:19.960 some things aren't. Moses said, Spy out the land and 0:59:20.600 --> 0:59:24.280 find out is it good or bad? Is this even 0:59:24.360 --> 0:59:29.160 worth fighting for? Is this worth fighting about? Is this 0:59:29.320 --> 0:59:32.600 worth all this back and forth? Or can we just hug? 0:59:34.200 --> 0:59:37.680 Do I really need you to like me? Look, do 0:59:37.760 --> 0:59:40.080 whatever you want to do. I quit trying to change 0:59:40.080 --> 0:59:44.480 people's opinions about me. I decided to focus on my 0:59:44.640 --> 0:59:49.120 character and my actions and not backing up into people's 0:59:49.200 --> 0:59:53.720 jeeps and getting my own act together. And find out, Wow, 0:59:54.080 --> 0:59:56.560 if I will focus on my character, God will take 0:59:56.560 --> 1:00:07.320 care of my reputation. Amen. Amen, So Moses said, check 1:00:07.360 --> 1:00:10.080 out the land? Is it good or bad? Is this 1:00:10.200 --> 1:00:13.080 even worth fighting for? That's a good question. The second 1:00:13.080 --> 1:00:15.640 thing he said, is you know, check out the towns. 1:00:15.680 --> 1:00:21.160 Are they unwalled or fortified? What a great question, he said, 1:00:21.520 --> 1:00:24.440 How are we going to do this? Do we have 1:00:24.520 --> 1:00:26.600 to go around the guards? Are there big walls? What 1:00:26.680 --> 1:00:28.720 are we gonna have to do? That's a great question, 1:00:29.080 --> 1:00:31.880 not can we do it? How are we going to 1:00:31.920 --> 1:00:35.080 do it? You have got to shift your spirit to 1:00:35.160 --> 1:00:39.320 be more like Caleb. You gotta start looking at stuff 1:00:39.320 --> 1:00:44.400 and saying, if there are walls, we'll blow trumpets. If 1:00:44.440 --> 1:00:47.440 there are walls, we'll scale them. If there are enemies, 1:00:47.480 --> 1:00:51.040 God will take their protection away. So how are we 1:00:51.120 --> 1:00:53.640 going to do this? Stop focusing so much of the 1:00:53.720 --> 1:00:56.560 question on like how high the wall is? I just 1:00:56.600 --> 1:00:58.960 want to know God, is there a way around it? 1:00:59.280 --> 1:01:01.000 Or do you want me to go over it? Or 1:01:01.000 --> 1:01:03.000 do you want me to go under it? Because one 1:01:03.040 --> 1:01:08.080 thing's for sure, I will not die in the desert. 1:01:08.280 --> 1:01:14.000 I won't do it. I am not gonna let negative 1:01:14.160 --> 1:01:17.840 questions run the show of my life and contrare to 1:01:17.920 --> 1:01:21.720 God's promise. And then I love the last thing he said, 1:01:22.520 --> 1:01:27.960 how's the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees? 1:01:29.040 --> 1:01:33.720 Bring some grapes because it's the season. I learned that 1:01:33.760 --> 1:01:39.640 it's a really good question to ask what is already growing? 1:01:43.160 --> 1:01:47.480 Because sometimes it's the soil, not the sea. There is 1:01:47.560 --> 1:01:50.480 nothing wrong with what I preach to you today. There's 1:01:50.520 --> 1:01:53.240 a lot right with it. This is the word of God. 1:01:53.840 --> 1:01:58.919 It can grow in your life. How's your soil? Because 1:01:58.960 --> 1:02:01.600 if your soil is too thorn two thornty, it won't 1:02:01.640 --> 1:02:06.040 matter how true the sermon was. And sometimes we're really 1:02:06.040 --> 1:02:08.360 focused on the seed that goes in, but not the soil. 1:02:10.240 --> 1:02:13.440 That's what I want you to look at today. The 1:02:13.440 --> 1:02:17.440 soil of your heart, the soil of your soul, the 1:02:17.480 --> 1:02:20.960 soil of your mind. Is the power of a better question. 1:02:22.080 --> 1:02:24.360 It's the power of getting from a point of where 1:02:24.360 --> 1:02:27.240 they said, why would God leave bring us as far 1:02:27.360 --> 1:02:30.360 just to kill us? Shouldn't we go back to Egypt? 1:02:31.680 --> 1:02:34.760 And you remember what happened to the boy in Luke fifteen. 1:02:35.080 --> 1:02:38.480 He spent all of his money and he was filling 1:02:38.520 --> 1:02:43.080 his stomach with what the pigs were eating. A Jewish 1:02:43.160 --> 1:02:47.520 boy eating with pigs. That's about as far down as 1:02:47.520 --> 1:02:51.840 you can go, right. But then he did something, he 1:02:51.880 --> 1:02:54.080 did something very significant, and I want you to do 1:02:54.120 --> 1:02:57.200 this today. I think it's verse seventeen. It says when 1:02:57.240 --> 1:03:04.320 he came to his senses. Yeah, so, up until now 1:03:04.600 --> 1:03:08.080 he's been in his feelings. This is what I want, 1:03:08.840 --> 1:03:11.600 this is what I deserve, this is where I'm going. 1:03:12.080 --> 1:03:15.800 Up till now, he's been in his feelings. But when 1:03:15.800 --> 1:03:21.400 he came to his senses, he asked a better question. 1:03:23.160 --> 1:03:30.680 How many of my father's hired servants have food to stare? 1:03:31.480 --> 1:03:37.040 Have a fridge full, have doggie bags after every night's meal? 1:03:38.160 --> 1:03:41.520 How are the servants eating at a buffet and I'm 1:03:41.600 --> 1:03:44.680 rolling around with the pigs at the bottom. When he 1:03:44.840 --> 1:03:49.160 asked a better question, he made a better decision. When 1:03:49.200 --> 1:03:52.520 you ask a better question, Help me, Holy Spirit, help 1:03:52.560 --> 1:03:55.360 me get this message through. Help me push through all 1:03:55.480 --> 1:03:58.919 the stuff the enemy's been asking. Oh how small I am, 1:03:59.160 --> 1:04:01.880 how little I have? How much I've messed up? What 1:04:01.960 --> 1:04:04.840 I could have done different? That's the wrong question. Here's 1:04:04.840 --> 1:04:08.320 a better question. Why am I starving when my father 1:04:08.520 --> 1:04:13.400 is good? Why am I dying when my father is good? 1:04:14.040 --> 1:04:18.000 Why am I hungry when my father has more than enough? 1:04:18.960 --> 1:04:21.840 Why am I living on this level? Why am I 1:04:22.040 --> 1:04:27.400 backing up to something that is beneath me? So watch 1:04:27.440 --> 1:04:31.480 his decision eighteen Get ready to feel chose? He said, 1:04:31.640 --> 1:04:36.920 I will set out and go back. It's not always 1:04:36.960 --> 1:04:43.000 bad to go back. I'm going back to my father. 1:04:46.720 --> 1:04:50.840 That's quite the opposite of how the children of Israel responded, Hunk, 1:04:52.040 --> 1:04:55.560 it got hard. They said, we're going back to Pharaoh. 1:04:55.640 --> 1:05:02.440 This cat, he said, it's getting hard going back to 1:05:02.520 --> 1:05:17.880 my father. Please stand, stand, put down whatever you're holding 1:05:17.880 --> 1:05:26.680 in your hands, open your hands, plant your feet, take 1:05:26.720 --> 1:05:30.680 a deep breath. I want to ask you a better question, 1:05:32.080 --> 1:05:38.680 A better question numbers fourteen. Wouldn't it be better to 1:05:38.760 --> 1:05:45.600 go back, not to Egypt, to your father? Wouldn't it 1:05:45.600 --> 1:05:47.600 be better to go to the source rather than going 1:05:47.600 --> 1:05:57.080 to people? Wouldn't it be better to go back? That's crazy. 1:05:57.360 --> 1:06:01.560 That's the same question that kept stuck in the wilderness, 1:06:01.960 --> 1:06:05.439 and it's the same question that brought the prodigal son 1:06:05.520 --> 1:06:11.320 back home. Wouldn't it be better to go back? I 1:06:11.320 --> 1:06:15.720 feel God calling somebody back today. Back Back, back back 1:06:15.760 --> 1:06:18.720 to your full self, back to your real life, back 1:06:18.760 --> 1:06:21.840 to the real reasons, back to the true motive, back 1:06:21.880 --> 1:06:24.280 to the Kingdom of God, back to what's within you, 1:06:24.600 --> 1:06:26.320 back to what you were when He made you in 1:06:26.400 --> 1:06:28.760 his image, back to what you were when He spoke 1:06:28.800 --> 1:06:31.280 you into existence. Back to what you were when he 1:06:31.320 --> 1:06:33.640 created you and knit you together in your mother's womb 1:06:33.840 --> 1:06:36.240 before you knew your name. He knew you before you 1:06:36.320 --> 1:06:39.400 were born. He set you apart. Back to that, back 1:06:39.440 --> 1:06:41.960 to the real you, back to beneath all the layers 1:06:41.960 --> 1:06:45.920 of disappointment. Wouldn't it be better to go back to 1:06:45.960 --> 1:06:51.240 your father's already on the porch than to stay down 1:06:51.400 --> 1:06:56.280 here with these pigs. Wouldn't it be better to go back? 1:06:56.840 --> 1:07:03.360 It's the one who made you Father. Your word goes 1:07:03.400 --> 1:07:09.880 forth like seed, and it needs good soil. I honor 1:07:09.960 --> 1:07:16.320 you today, God, because you gave us good seed. You 1:07:16.480 --> 1:07:22.320 spoke to us a better question. Is it worthy? What 1:07:22.440 --> 1:07:27.160 will it take? What's growing right now in my life? 1:07:28.400 --> 1:07:32.200 We thank you Lord for the power of a better question. 1:07:33.880 --> 1:07:37.200 We think we know what we need. We think we 1:07:37.240 --> 1:07:42.960 know what we want. What should we want? God? For 1:07:43.080 --> 1:07:46.600 as high as the heavens are above the earth, so 1:07:46.720 --> 1:07:50.360 are your ways above our ways, and your thoughts above 1:07:50.360 --> 1:07:56.920 our thoughts. We're coming back God, coming back to the 1:07:56.960 --> 1:08:04.880 only one who knows. Yes, Lord, we repent. We're coming 1:08:04.960 --> 1:08:10.160 back to the top, repent, back to your way of thinking. 1:08:11.520 --> 1:08:13.040 I thank you now, Lord, and I want to pray 1:08:13.040 --> 1:08:16.479 for somebody who's been with the pigs. I want to 1:08:16.560 --> 1:08:19.880 speak to somebody who's halfway back to Egypt, and I 1:08:19.920 --> 1:08:21.720 want to ask that your love would draw them home. 1:08:25.680 --> 1:08:32.639 Maybe the best question is who will separate us from 1:08:32.680 --> 1:08:36.840 the love of God? I thank you Lord that nothing 1:08:36.840 --> 1:08:42.759 can stand between us and our father. For how shall 1:08:42.760 --> 1:08:45.920 he who freely gave us all things not also give 1:08:46.000 --> 1:08:53.160 us this gift? Our Father, who are in heaven hollow 1:08:53.160 --> 1:08:57.880 would be your name, your kingdom? Come? Your will be 1:08:58.000 --> 1:09:06.439 done on earth as it is in heaven. What should 1:09:06.439 --> 1:09:11.160 I want? God? What should I want? Heads bowed, eyes close? 1:09:11.280 --> 1:09:15.559 I want to tell you one more thing, and it 1:09:15.640 --> 1:09:19.719 may be my whole message for you. When Jesus said 1:09:19.720 --> 1:09:22.599 that you don't have to run around asking what shall 1:09:22.640 --> 1:09:24.719 we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? 1:09:26.160 --> 1:09:29.599 He said, your father knows that you need them. Your 1:09:29.640 --> 1:09:33.280 father knows. And here's what I want you to know. 1:09:34.120 --> 1:09:44.559 If he dress li with you? Lease la what a question? 1:09:45.280 --> 1:09:53.759 How much more? That's a better question. What shall we eat? 1:09:54.760 --> 1:10:01.439 What shall we drink? What shall we wear? That's a 1:10:01.439 --> 1:10:09.160 better question. How much for does he love ify sizzle 1:10:11.400 --> 1:10:19.200 with you? How much for will he go? How much 1:10:19.400 --> 1:10:30.120 for will he go Iffy Watch, So every Still? How 1:10:30.320 --> 1:10:36.080 much for does he Love? How much for does he looks? 1:10:37.320 --> 1:10:47.880 Siffy Stras Sizzle Little with Fetisland? How much for Willy Clue? 1:10:48.439 --> 1:10:55.080 How much for Willy Clue Giffy Watch? Well, if you 1:10:55.200 --> 1:10:57.679 enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple of things I'd 1:10:57.680 --> 1:11:00.719 love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate, 1:11:01.000 --> 1:11:04.000 and review this podcast. You can also help us reach 1:11:04.040 --> 1:11:07.920 others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org. Slash GiB 1:11:08.280 --> 1:11:11.440 and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.