The War of Whispers

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 --> 0:00:08.280 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.319 Enjoy the message. I do want to say, welcome to 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:20.560 our worldwide church family. 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.520 Let's welcome our e fam one time, come on Elevation 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:24.239 in Valentine. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.880 Let's thank God for all of those who are joining 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:30.440 us online. 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.600 Also since his Veterans Day weekend, I want to thank 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.880 all of you who have served our country. 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:40.400 In any branch of the service. Thank you so much. 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:43.000 We can do better than that. 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.959 I know you're holding your Bible, but kind of get 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:54.320 those hands free. I thank the Lord for each and 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.120 every one of you. I'm excited about. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:58.960 What he will speak today. 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:05.120 John seven, verse one through sixteen. The Bible says after this, 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.319 Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.160 go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.480 looking for a way to kill him. But when the 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:19.600 Jewish festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus's brothers said to 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.240 him leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.640 disciples there may see the works you do. No one 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.720 who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.920 Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.080 For even his own brothers did not believe in him 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:46.720 wow verse six. Therefore Jesus told them, my time is 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:48.600 not yet here for you. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.680 Any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.440 it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:57.720 You go to the festival. 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.000 I am not going up to this because my time 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.960 has not yet fully come. It's a good thing to 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.040 know that you're right where God wants you to be, 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.120 and it's a good thing when you know that not 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.760 to move, no matter what anybody says to you about it. 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.600 He said, my time has not yet fully come. After 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:24.280 he said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:28.320 brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:34.359 publicly but in secret. Now at the festival, the Jewish 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.000 leaders were watching for Jesus and asking where is he. 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:45.519 Among the crowds, there was widespread whispering about him. Some 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:51.680 said he's a good man, others replied, no, he deceives 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.680 the people, but no one would say anything publicly about 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.240 him for fear of the leaders. 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:00.080 Not until halfway through. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.560 The festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.840 and begin to teach. The Jews there were amazed and asked, 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:13.240 how did this man get such learning without having been taught? Well, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:18.000 that's an ironic question. The one who is wisdom is 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.520 being questioned as to where he got it. But verse 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:26.040 sixteen is where we're gonna begin our sermonic journey today. 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:30.079 Jesus answered, my teaching is not my own, It comes 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.760 from the one who sent me. I want to give 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.400 you one more scripture from Isaiah, chapter fifty four, verse seventeen. 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.000 In the New King James, no weapon formed against you 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:44.240 shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.800 judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.720 servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.720 says the Lord. I want to talk to you today 0:03:56.760 --> 0:04:01.920 about the war of whispers, the war. 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.280 Of whispers, Father, I thank you for what you spoke. 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:08.839 Help me to give it to them like you gave 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.120 it to me, not watered down, not weakened, but just 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.200 like you gave it to me, and I know that 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.840 it will bless them because you blessed me with it. 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.000 If there is someone today who needs this word online, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.200 block out all distractions. I pray that their kid would 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:25.080 just fall down and take a nap right now so 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.920 they can focus on this word in the name of Jesus. 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.800 If there's somebody who's focused on something else that's going 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.960 to happen tomorrow, we block it out right now. The 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.760 Lord is in this place. We ask you to speak 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.359 a word. We are listening in Jesus's name. Amen, you 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:46.040 may be seated. 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:46.160 The war of whispers. 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.279 I want to talk to you from four dynamics from 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:55.039 this Bible story that represent four different pressures that Jesus 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.359 was under in his life. We will definitely get to 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.120 the first three and the fourth is a ma depending 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.560 on time. I'm going to give them all to you 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.520 right now, so you can fill in the blanks as 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:10.719 we go along. In this passage, there are four pressures 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.599 that Jesus is under. Jesus, the Son of God, was 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.760 under tremendous pressure as he fulfilled his purpose. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:21.680 In the earth, and I think he serves. 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:23.159 For us as a model of what to do for 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.039 the pressure that we feel in our life. And so 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.160 I'm going to give you all four things, all four pressures, 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:31.599 as we begin our sermon. 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.400 They all start with the letter A. They will be 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:35.400 easy to remember. 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:52.679 Number one amazement, amazement, Number two abandonment, abandonment, Number three 0:05:53.160 --> 0:06:02.839 arrival arrival, and number four if we get there agreement, 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:11.080 these four pressures and more. I mean Jesus, the Son 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.240 of God, who took on the weakness of sinful flesh, 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.279 not because he was sin, but he became sin so 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:21.400 that we might become the righteousness of God, who had 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.000 then only three years to fulfill the mission of his ministry, 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.400 which would lead him ultimately to the cross, where he 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.520 would die and pay for the penalty of our sin, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.120 experienced tremendous pressure, not only on the cross, where the 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.960 pressure was so great that it actually caused his lungs 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.719 to collapse from physical exertion, but even before that, in 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.440 the garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed such a heavy 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:46.279 prayer that. 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.360 His sweat became like drops of blood. That's pressure. 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.040 And I know you're going through a lot too, But 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.800 your capillaries haven't burst like blood yet, have they? And 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.520 so it helps us in times of our humanity, when 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.560 our weakness is great to know that we have a 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:10.000 high priest named Jesus who is not unable to be 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.040 touched with the feelings of our infirmity, but one who 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.720 is tempted in all points, just like we are, yet 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:15.320 without sin. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.440 Now that's the difference between me and Jesus. 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.240 He was under pressure and I'm under pressure, but he 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.320 always stays focused on purpose, and I don't. I get 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:30.720 distracted when I'm under pressure. I start reacting rather than responding. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:34.760 When I'm under pressure, I start eating things that I 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:41.080 said I wouldn't eat under pressure, speaking things that I 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:46.360 said I wouldn't speak under pressure, texting people that anyway, 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:52.840 in my pressure state, I am often vulnerable. And so 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.200 this moment in the life of Jesus is very interesting, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.800 isn't it. The Bible says he went to Jerusalem for 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.160 one of the feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, and when. 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:05.760 He got there, they were amazed at the way he taught. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:07.480 They were amazed. I don't know if you noticed that. 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:11.080 In verse number eighteen, it says the Jews there, excuse me, 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.840 verse number fifteen. They were amazed, and they asked, how 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:20.840 did this man get such learning without being taught. They 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.400 didn't teach him, so they couldn't understand how he could 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.000 have learned so much outside of their system. 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:28.360 I told you this a few weeks ago. 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.920 But my son Graham, who wrestled for three years in 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.680 high school with say Dad, when I look back on 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.760 when I used to start wrestling, I'm amazed how much 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.359 you taught me with how little you knew. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:42.440 Which is a compliment kind of. 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.200 He means, it's not like you were some kind of 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.880 great wrestler, but somehow you were always coaching me. And 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.599 when you were coaching me in the early days, I 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.480 thought you knew so much more than you did. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:53.680 But you were. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.120 Basically just yelling the same three things over and over again, 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.040 weren't you. And I thought to myself, yes, and that 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:03.000 is my parenting as well, just to keep saying the same. 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.280 Three things over and over again. 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.839 And there's something about this moment in your life that, 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.480 if you're honest about it, even though there are some 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.240 pressures that you're under in some problems that you're facing, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.240 it's amazing that you're doing as well as you are 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:20.640 considering where you've come from. 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.120 How many of you would say Pastor. 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.360 Stephen, you would be shocked how loud I sang today 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.600 if you knew how hard my week has been. 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:36.079 Wave at me, Well, look at you, just feeling sorry 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.640 for yourself. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I baited you for that. 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.000 The fact of the matter is, in Jesus's case, he 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.600 came from heaven, and so he had the knowledge that 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:46.840 came from being at the right hand of God. Eternally, 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:48.880 he was the word of God. He didn't just speak 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.360 the word of God, and so the knowledge that he 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.240 had reflected the place that he came from. Yet the 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.880 Jewish leaders were very amazed. Keep that word in your mind, 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.880 that he could no so much when he had been 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:06.000 exposed to so little of their system. It's ironic, I know, 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:08.400 because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.839 was with God, and the Word was God, and all 0:10:10.920 --> 0:10:13.079 things were made by Him and threw him in fore him. 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:14.040 We're talking about. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.960 Jesus, and when they see him, they're amazed at him, 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.480 and they are amazed about the things that they are 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:22.680 hearing that he is doing. Jesus, at this point in 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.200 his ministry, has been doing amazing ministry. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:27.240 In the region of Galilee. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.400 He has been turning water into wine at weddings when 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.120 his mom told him to do it. Yeah, that's John 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.240 chapter two. When they ran out of wine, he would 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.000 just somehow make it flow. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:39.960 That's amazing. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.040 Anytime you have somebody who can create overflow where there 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.199 was one scarcity, it's amazing. 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:48.200 Everybody say it's amazing. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.200 One time a centurion needed a healing for his little boy, 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.679 and Jesus was busy, so he didn't go to his house. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.280 He just sent his word and healed him. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.880 He didn't even go to his house, he just sent 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.600 his word and heal him. Maybe the word of God 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.240 is going to beat you home today too and deal 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.120 with some things that you've been going through because of 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.400 the word that you heard while you were here. You 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.160 always make a wise decision when you come to church, 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.280 because God can speak something in one whisper that can 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:23.400 do more than all of your human wisdom. You could 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.520 spend the next five years trying to figure out something 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.920 God could fix in five minutes if you could hear 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:29.400 from him. 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.000 That's why I value the word of God. 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.720 That's why when I come to church, I'm not checking 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.079 to see who just buzzed me in my back pocket. 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.840 They can buzz me all they want to buzz me, 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.520 But while I'm in here, the Bible is buzzing me. 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.800 God is speaking to me. I've got a text message 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.560 alert from Heaven. There may be something God wants to 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.520 say to me about why I'm stressed out. God might 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:53.280 want to speak to me about the root of my 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.520 bitterness so I can let this thing go and move 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.360 on in my life. God might actually want to give 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.520 me a strategy to break through to me my wife 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.200 because maybe we've been going through a difficult time and 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.160 maybe He's going to show me something that I haven't 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.360 been thinking about how I can reach out and bring 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:08.120 the love back. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:09.760 God might give me a date night. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.760 Idea while Pastor Stephen's preaching. God might show me the 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.480 song to play that's gonna make the silent treatment stop 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:16.640 when I get home. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.800 I'm trying to say that God can. 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.120 Speak something in a whisper that is greater than all 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:23.720 of the human wisdom combined. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.280 So stop trying to figure everything. 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.920 Out on your own, because Jesus can do something so 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.800 amazing and he doesn't even have to raise his voice. 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.840 He can do it in a whisper. It's interesting because 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.760 I almost had to have somebody else preach this message. 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:46.120 This weekend around Friday, I woke up and I had 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:51.520 no voice. I could only speak with a whisper. And 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.040 the Lord said, well, if a whisper is. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.040 What you've got, then a whisper is what you'll give. 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:01.800 I took some medicine and my voice feels all right 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.680 right now, and I might not be able to speak 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.120 like I normally speak today. I feel like I'm doing 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.559 pretty good so far, but I am trying to use 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.040 wisdom for this. But sometimes the Holy Spirit and the 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.560 adrenaline kicks in and I forget all my wisdom and 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:18.880 I just start screaming. But I told the Lord, well, 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.880 maybe I shouldn't preach, and the Lord said, no, maybe 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:22.600 you should teach them. 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:23.440 About the whisper. 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.400 The whisper because some of them are making decisions in 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.680 their life right now, and it's so noisy with what 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.280 everybody else thinks they should do. 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:37.400 But I want to give them a whisper. 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.320 You know, the Lord can give you a whisper and 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:44.880 save you seven years of a bad relationship. The Lord 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.000 can give you a whisper and show you a new 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.280 way to see the situation that turns the regret into 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:50.840 a lesson. 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.120 I've had it happen before. I was feeling so bad. 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.200 About something, so down about something, and the Lord just 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.800 whispered a different way to see it, and that little 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.800 whisper that he gave me completely reframe the situation. 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.000 And you know what's crazy. The situation didn't change the. 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.400 Way I saw it did and the whisper God gave 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:14.520 me reframed the situation, and I went from worry to worship. 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.720 Jesus is going to the festival. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.960 He's going to the festival and he's going to amaze 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.000 the people. 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:25.240 With his teaching. 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:31.160 But his brothers are pressuring him to do something at 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.840 this time that is not appropriate to his assignment. I 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.320 want to say to you today that not everything that 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.960 God has given you to do needs to be run 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:47.280 by a committee. Not everything that God has given you 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.840 to do will align with what everybody else is doing. 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.960 Not everything that God has called you to be will 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.720 align with what you see reflected in the environment around you. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:14:59.800 They were amazed by. 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.800 His team teaching because he didn't come from their synagogue. 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.320 They were amazed by his teaching because he did not 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:07.520 teach like they taught. 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:11.520 He taught with authority. When he spoke, storms listened. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:16.280 Jesus's voice was so powerful he could sleep through a storm, 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.280 and when he woke up, he could tell the storm. 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.920 He didn't even have to say a word, just and 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.440 the storm would say, uh oh, Jesus is talking. The 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:30.560 word just spoke. Peter could holler every cuss word he 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.800 wanted to holler. The storm didn't stop. Cuss Peter cussed. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.880 The storm stopped because Jesus said, if I could give 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.160 this sermon a subtitle, it would be called. 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:45.320 So just turn to your neighbor, don't breathe on him 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:53.320 too much, and say, when Jesus says, the storm shuts down. 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:58.120 When Jesus says, the wind and the waves died down. 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:03.280 When Jesus says, everybody else sits down and listen. 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.760 Because he teaches with authority. And it's amazing. 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:11.160 Somebody say it's amazing. It's amazing. I look at some 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.280 of your lives, and I think about the fact that 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:15.960 you were in rehab this time last year and you're 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.920 still doing good and you're here today, and I think 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.240 that's amazing. I mean, you didn't even see a path 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.000 for this life. You didn't have this model for you 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:27.880 I know people sometimes come to church and they're so 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.520 beat down by what they need to change, But can 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:35.080 we take five seconds and at least be thankful that 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.400 it makes no sense that we're even doing as good 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:48.680 as we're doing when you consider where we came from. 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.000 Remember when they said that Jesus was from Nazareth, and 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.760 they were surprised, because they said, can anything good come 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.720 from Nazareth? They were surprised that something so powerful came 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.200 from somewhere so small. They were surprised that something so 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.919 wise came from somewhere so remote. They were surprised that 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.560 something so wonderful and so amazing. 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:10.880 And I think we need. 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:15.000 To stay surprised and stay amazed, because if you actually 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.879 look at your life, it makes no sense that you 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.240 should be married today. If you actually look at your life, 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.399 it makes no sense you should be in a mental 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.120 institution today. All the weapons that were formed against you. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.240 It is a wonder that you're paying your bills. It's 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:34.280 a wonder you're living indoors. It's a wonder your standing upright. 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.840 It's a wonder you're saying. It's a wonder you're here. 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.840 It's a wonder you're praising some of you had a 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:42.880 health issue and you didn't even know if you'd be. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.480 Alive to see the end of twenty twenty five. But 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:47.600 it's amazing. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:52.679 Hot five three people say it's amazing. It's amazing. It 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.879 might not mean much to you, but it's amazing to me. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:58.399 It might be little to you, but it's a big 0:17:58.440 --> 0:17:58.960 thing to me. 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:01.520 I pray God for my smile. 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.479 I'm praising God with the teeth that are still in 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.080 my mouth. I'm praising God that I had food to digest. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:09.880 I'm praising God. 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:13.560 Just amazing. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.760 Now, the fact that it's amazing doesn't mean that everything 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:23.840 is going great. Jesus is going to a festival, but 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:24.800 he's in the middle. 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:25.120 Of a fight. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.560 It's a festival and a fight. 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.359 In the same passage, I told him I was gonna whisper. 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:38.359 Look what a hypocrite I am. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.640 And not only is he going to a festival where 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:42.639 his brothers are trying to pressure him, but he is 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:47.159 in a vulnerable moment himself. Pop quiz what comes before 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:48.959 John chapter seven in the Bible? 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:54.359 Yeah, John chapter six. So see how amazing that is? 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.760 Look that. Look at that Bible knowledge you stored up. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.800 And you think John chapter six is a happy chapter. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:05.960 And do not even make. 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:07.439 A six to seven joke right now. I don't even 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:08.080 want to hear one. 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.960 You will not slow down the momentum of my message 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:19.680 with that silliness. But he he feed the five thousand 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.280 with a little bit of food in John chapter six. Remember, 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:31.280 Jesus has been doing miracles, and that's why they're persecuting him. 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.359 Jesus has been working, and that's why they are forming 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:41.320 the weapon against him. Write this down. No work, no weapon. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.480 If Jesus doesn't do anything, they don't do anything. If 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.359 Jesus doesn't threaten the establishment, there will be no reaction 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:58.480 from the establishment. If Jesus is not moving, there will 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:02.679 be no resistance to his movement. The devil does not 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.879 attack you when you're doing nothing for God. 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:11.960 The devil attacks you when you're advancing. And so Jesus 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:12.960 is doing amazing things. 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.800 Not only turning water into wine, not only healing a 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:20.160 royal official son. He actually healed Peter's mother in law. 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:22.840 Many scholars believe that's why Peter denied. 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:33.840 Him doing amazing things. But the big one that's in 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:35.920 all four of the Gospels that everybody likes talk about. 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.640 He turned a little boy's lunch into enough to feed 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.160 a multitude, and he did that. 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.320 That's amazing. How could he do so much with so little. 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:46.200 It's amazing. 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:48.760 How could he know so much when he was exposed 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.720 to so little religious tradition. It's amazing. That's how God 0:20:51.720 --> 0:20:54.119 gets glory out of your life, when he does so 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.359 much with so little. When he takes a little bit 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.240 of oil and fills every jar you bring him, when 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.560 he takes a little stone and knocks down a big giant, 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.120 when he takes a little staff and splits a big seat. 0:21:04.359 --> 0:21:06.080 When God takes the little bit that you do know, 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.000 the little bit of clarity that you do have, the 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:09.640 little bit of strength that you do have, the little 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:11.159 bit of time that you do have, the little bit 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:12.480 of wisdom that you do have, the little bit of 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.840 experience that you do have. When He takes a faith 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:18.920 the size of a mustard seed and moves a mountain. 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:20.960 With it, and people say, that's amazing. 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:24.080 And when he takes a little boy's lunch and breaks 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:25.879 it and blesses it and gives it to the people, 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:29.200 and they all go home with leftuilvers, and the disciples 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.800 are like, wow, that's amazing. You know. The Bible says 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:35.879 in John chapter six that the crowds followed him the 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:39.280 next day, expecting him to do it again, and he 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:43.399 didn't because the pressure of being amazing is that you 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.919 have to sustain it. And we all know what it 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:52.520 feels like to feel like that what we do is 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:58.639 taken for granted. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:00.600 call her out, but I think about Holly all the time. 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:04.720 I think about how amazing it is, just stuff that 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:08.120 she does naturally for our family. It's absolutely incredible. 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.760 I'm trying to convince her to not cook for us 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:14.280 for a month just to make us appreciate how amazing 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:14.879 her food is. 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:18.040 I'm like, just put us on a fast. Just put 0:22:18.119 --> 0:22:21.280 us on a thirty day fast. We are not grateful enough, 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:22.159 you know. 0:22:22.280 --> 0:22:24.399 I know that because we invite other people over to 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.640 our house and they're like, Ah, this is amazing, this 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:31.399 is incredible, and we're all sitting there like, uh, yeah, yeah, 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:32.240 I guess it is. 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:35.840 It is amazing. I don't anybody that I'll compliment my wife. 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:36.399 It's amazing. 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:39.040 I'll tell you it's amazing, And sometimes it takes someone 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:43.640 else to come in and taste it to realize how 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.640 amazing it is, especially when the kids bring over somebody 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:48.679 and their mom doesn't cook. My mom hasn't cooked for 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.560 us in six months, and I'm like, maybe you should 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:51.919 try that. 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:56.240 I was thinking that the other day. 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:57.960 I was like, maybe I should just be a bad 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.240 dad for like a year, you know what I. 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.680 Mean, just like lower the bar for a little while. 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:07.880 And then they'd be like, Dad, that was amazing how 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:12.639 you actually texted me back. I think about sometimes I 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:16.440 should come preach and not study for like a month, 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:19.840 Like just get up here and go what y'all want 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:25.120 to talk about today? Y'all talk about the Panthers, y'all 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:27.160 talk about the Teddy Bears, a Starbucks? What y'all talk 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:29.719 about today? Y'all not got anything? Maybe we can make 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:33.160 that a sermon. I'm sure we could preach that. Somebody 0:23:33.160 --> 0:23:35.720 give me a Bible Verse revelation. Let's try something else. 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.560 But see, it shouldn't have to go away to get 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:46.919 me not to take it for granted. I should be 0:23:47.040 --> 0:23:50.800 mature enough to be able to say, thank you Lord 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.160 for this meal, thank you Lord for this breath, thank 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:56.959 you Lord for this day. 0:23:57.080 --> 0:23:59.320 But the crowds were never liked that. 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:03.280 See, Jesus could have, by the way, provided bread for 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:04.200 them every day. 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:06.560 He is the bread of life. 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.960 So he didn't refuse to repeat the miracle because he 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:16.880 was incapable of performing. He refused to repeat the miracle 0:24:16.960 --> 0:24:18.760 because he didn't want them to get. 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.720 Addicted to that particular miracle. 0:24:23.000 --> 0:24:25.320 And so when they came and said, do the bread 0:24:25.359 --> 0:24:28.880 thing again, that was awesome. This time, could you make 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:30.960 it even softer this time? 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:32.960 Could you bring butter with it too? 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:37.520 This time I appreciate the pescatarian miracle, But this time, could. 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:38.800 We get a rib eye Jesus. 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:41.879 Could you find somebody with a hamburger and touch that? 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:44.840 And Jesus said, no, I'm not doing it. Eat my 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:47.080 flesh and drink my blood, or you have no part 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:49.439 in me. You came because you had the miracles, and 0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:51.560 you got your fill. But the work of God is 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:54.119 to believe. And look at one of the saddest verses 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:56.560 in the Bible. This is one of the saddest verses 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:59.920 in the Bible. After one of the happiest miracles, John 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:01.240 chapter six, verse. 0:25:01.080 --> 0:25:02.159 Sixty six, look at this. 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:08.600 From this time, many of his disciples turned back and 0:25:08.680 --> 0:25:14.320 no longer followed him. 0:25:14.359 --> 0:25:23.000 So Jesus was amazing, but he was also abandoned abandonment. 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:26.800 As amazing as. 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:32.720 He was, there were disciples who said, we don't want 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:34.240 to follow you where you're going next. 0:25:35.640 --> 0:25:38.040 Now, this is the question I want to ask you. 0:25:39.760 --> 0:25:47.240 If Jesus had people leave his life and he was perfect, 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:51.399 if Jesus had people leave his life and he was 0:25:51.480 --> 0:25:55.760 all knowing, If Jesus had people leave his life and 0:25:55.800 --> 0:25:58.679 he was the savior of the world, how do we 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:00.840 expect that we're going to make get through our life 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:07.840 without ever being betrayed, abandoned, rejected. And I know this 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:09.760 really hurts to put it here, but I felt the 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:12.840 Lord speaking to me that there is a whisper he 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:17.320 wants to give you about the people who have abandoned you. Now, 0:26:18.160 --> 0:26:22.360 as I step on this, I tread tenderly, because it's 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:24.040 one thing to talk about the people who were in 0:26:24.080 --> 0:26:27.119 your life in high school that are not in your 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:28.440 life now that you're seventy three. 0:26:30.080 --> 0:26:32.040 It is one thing to talk about abandonment in. 0:26:31.960 --> 0:26:36.520 A theological capacity that will help you to understand how 0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:38.679 it relates to God, who will never leave us or 0:26:38.720 --> 0:26:45.520 forsake us. But there are sometimes where the fact that 0:26:45.600 --> 0:26:48.320 people are leaving you. Causes you to feel as if 0:26:48.320 --> 0:26:54.320 God did too. And we don't say that, but we 0:26:54.440 --> 0:27:02.960 begin to feel that way. Think about jez Bread multiplying 0:27:05.800 --> 0:27:12.119 water to wining, healing Jesus who was trying to be 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:15.199 killed by the leaders. So he's got leaders that are 0:27:15.200 --> 0:27:18.959 trying to kill him. He's being consumed by the crowd 0:27:19.000 --> 0:27:21.840 because they only want what he has to give, not 0:27:21.880 --> 0:27:26.440 what he has to teach. He's trying to be killed 0:27:26.440 --> 0:27:31.120 by the leaders, consumed by the crowd. But verse five 0:27:31.240 --> 0:27:35.440 really got me. It said even his own brothers did 0:27:35.480 --> 0:27:39.080 not believe in him. So he's got a crowd trying 0:27:39.080 --> 0:27:43.320 to kill him. He's got leaders that are trying to 0:27:43.320 --> 0:27:47.960 crucify him. He's got disciples who don't really get him. 0:27:48.400 --> 0:27:52.680 The disciples never fully got Jesus. I'll prove it to you. 0:27:53.320 --> 0:27:57.600 Lazarus died. Jesus said, he's sleeping. I'm going to wake 0:27:57.680 --> 0:28:02.359 him up. He was speaking in code. The disciples said back, well, Lord, 0:28:02.640 --> 0:28:06.200 if he sleeps, he'll get better. And the Bible says, 0:28:06.200 --> 0:28:10.200 then Jesus told him plainly, Lazarus is dead. Have you 0:28:10.320 --> 0:28:13.200 ever had to explain things to people more than you should? 0:28:13.200 --> 0:28:17.120 At this point, that's John chapter eleven. By John chapter eleven, 0:28:17.160 --> 0:28:21.040 I should not have to tell you everything, but Jesus 0:28:21.080 --> 0:28:24.760 has got a leadership team that's trying to kill him, 0:28:25.080 --> 0:28:28.880 a crowd that's consuming and taking from him, and disciples 0:28:29.240 --> 0:28:33.280 who don't get him, and even his own brothers don't 0:28:33.320 --> 0:28:34.760 believe in him. 0:28:35.040 --> 0:28:36.560 So I share it with you like this. 0:28:36.960 --> 0:28:40.600 When I was preparing for ministry, they prepared me to 0:28:40.680 --> 0:28:41.960 preach the Bible. 0:28:41.760 --> 0:28:43.840 And how to take a text and how to get 0:28:43.840 --> 0:28:44.760 the history of it. 0:28:45.000 --> 0:28:47.560 They taught me how to even grow a ministry and 0:28:47.600 --> 0:28:50.120 how to have strategic initiative so that you get out 0:28:50.160 --> 0:28:53.680 ahead of the plateaus and create new growth surges, and. 0:28:53.800 --> 0:28:55.080 You get out of this and you get out of that. 0:28:55.120 --> 0:28:57.080 I even had one professor who took us to a 0:28:57.160 --> 0:28:59.479 church and taught us how to baptize. He made us 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:01.160 do it in the water. He made us get in 0:29:01.200 --> 0:29:03.480 the tank. He was like, this is important. This is 0:29:03.520 --> 0:29:06.000 somebody's life that's being represented. You don't need to be 0:29:06.040 --> 0:29:08.760 practicing on somebody, So practice on each other. And when 0:29:08.800 --> 0:29:11.040 I did, I did the first one, and I dropped 0:29:11.040 --> 0:29:14.360 the guy in the water, and I never dropped anybody 0:29:14.440 --> 0:29:18.440 again in any baptism because I learned so much that if. 0:29:18.280 --> 0:29:21.320 I'm baptizing you, you are coming up out of this 0:29:21.400 --> 0:29:22.640 one way or the other. 0:29:22.920 --> 0:29:25.680 If I have to knock the tank over, I am 0:29:25.720 --> 0:29:28.720 not dropping you in this water. They taught me how 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:31.480 to baptize. They taught me how to context your lives. 0:29:31.640 --> 0:29:34.320 They taught me how to theologize. They taught me all 0:29:34.360 --> 0:29:37.400 of that. But one class I do not remember getting 0:29:37.520 --> 0:29:40.640 is this. They never told me what to do when 0:29:40.680 --> 0:29:44.320 the people who are supposed to believe in me. 0:29:45.880 --> 0:29:47.800 Be leaving me. 0:29:55.480 --> 0:30:04.480 No. I used to think that if they left me, 0:30:04.600 --> 0:30:06.640 they were leaving the Lord. I don't think that anymore. 0:30:07.440 --> 0:30:11.680 I think that God moves people along. Also learned that 0:30:11.760 --> 0:30:18.240 sometimes I allowed the fact that they left me. I'm 0:30:18.240 --> 0:30:22.720 going to say, like this, the Lord said, don't let 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:34.600 them leaving you keep you from believing in me. It's 0:30:34.640 --> 0:30:37.680 significant to me that at this moment in Jesus's life, 0:30:37.680 --> 0:30:39.959 when his brothers are like, hey, you need to go 0:30:40.080 --> 0:30:42.840 do something. You need to show how powerful you are. 0:30:43.080 --> 0:30:45.360 You need to go to Jerusalem at the festival and 0:30:45.360 --> 0:30:47.360 make a show, because you know you want to be 0:30:47.440 --> 0:30:50.720 this big public figure. You want to be a big deal. 0:30:51.000 --> 0:30:53.640 Isn't this something that they're trying to teach Jesus how 0:30:53.640 --> 0:30:56.080 to be a big deal. They're trying to teach the 0:30:56.080 --> 0:30:58.920 Alpha and Omega how to make a statement. They're trying 0:30:58.920 --> 0:31:01.000 to take the one who published the Sunrise how to 0:31:01.040 --> 0:31:03.720 run a pr campaign. They're trying to teach the one 0:31:03.720 --> 0:31:06.400 who was in the beginning with God how to make 0:31:06.440 --> 0:31:08.240 a splash when he gets on the scene. 0:31:08.320 --> 0:31:11.040 They're trying to get the one who chose to descend. 0:31:10.640 --> 0:31:12.880 From a throne to a cross to die for our 0:31:12.960 --> 0:31:15.280 sin how to be more like the people, and how 0:31:15.280 --> 0:31:17.640 to be amongst the people, and how to make a statement. 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:20.480 They are trying to teach the Word of God how. 0:31:20.320 --> 0:31:22.560 To make a statement, and they do it at his 0:31:22.680 --> 0:31:26.200 most vulnerable time. Remember this, The enemy will come to 0:31:26.280 --> 0:31:28.840 try to push you out of your position at the 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:33.400 times where you feel lonely and vulnerable, and he will 0:31:33.520 --> 0:31:38.240 use those moments when you feel abandoned to get you 0:31:38.280 --> 0:31:40.280 to feel bitter and to get you to start doing 0:31:40.320 --> 0:31:49.400 things that aren't even you. And if possible, the enemy 0:31:49.440 --> 0:31:53.440 will use people who disappointed you to cause you to 0:31:53.520 --> 0:31:54.320 doubt the God. 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:59.200 Who never will Who am I preaching to? 0:32:01.120 --> 0:32:03.160 I refuse to just preach this like it was just 0:32:03.200 --> 0:32:05.680 for me and Jonathan Joseph's who am I preaching to 0:32:14.360 --> 0:32:16.320 the other day, we were out on Elevation Nights tour, 0:32:16.360 --> 0:32:18.160 and the Lord really gave me this beautiful picture that 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:18.800 I wanted. 0:32:18.600 --> 0:32:19.160 To share with you. 0:32:20.320 --> 0:32:22.520 I was watching one of our sermons from back when 0:32:22.520 --> 0:32:25.680 the church was pretty empty during the pandemic, and I 0:32:25.720 --> 0:32:27.680 was looking at how you know, back in those days, 0:32:28.640 --> 0:32:30.960 I felt very abandoned by you during that time. 0:32:31.520 --> 0:32:33.400 You're like, it's your fault. You wouldn't let us come. 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:35.880 To church, I know, but it was still lonely. And 0:32:35.960 --> 0:32:37.479 yet in the middle of that preaching, I listen, get 0:32:37.520 --> 0:32:40.880 this picture. In the middle of that preaching, I looked 0:32:40.920 --> 0:32:42.360 up there on that stage and I was just going 0:32:42.400 --> 0:32:43.760 for it, like if it was a you know, two 0:32:43.800 --> 0:32:47.720 thousand people in the room, but up on the stage 0:32:47.960 --> 0:32:51.360 was you know, you had Chris and Jenna and John 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:55.960 sal and LJ and Scottie and all the team. 0:32:56.280 --> 0:32:57.920 And we went out there. We were about to go minister. 0:32:58.000 --> 0:32:59.840 This is crazy, We're about to minister to twenty thousand 0:32:59.840 --> 0:33:02.280 people or fifteen thousand people or however many people were 0:33:02.320 --> 0:33:05.520 there that night. And I realized that the same people 0:33:06.200 --> 0:33:08.120 that were about to go out there and minister with me. 0:33:09.760 --> 0:33:15.000 In that big arena. Were the same people that. 0:33:15.000 --> 0:33:23.920 Had my back in an empty room. Now, the Lord 0:33:23.960 --> 0:33:28.120 really checked me on this because he said, sometimes you 0:33:28.200 --> 0:33:31.400 get so sad about who left. 0:33:32.760 --> 0:33:34.360 That you start missing who's left. 0:33:42.560 --> 0:33:46.760 I know that they left you, but God didn't let 0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:50.479 go of you. I know that they should have treated 0:33:50.520 --> 0:33:53.480 you better, but God has treated you better than you 0:33:53.520 --> 0:33:54.800 could have ever deserved. 0:33:56.040 --> 0:33:56.920 I know that they. 0:33:56.720 --> 0:33:58.840 Didn't give you what you needed or what you could 0:33:58.840 --> 0:34:02.200 have rightfully expected from them, But you have got to 0:34:02.280 --> 0:34:04.760 release that now in order to receive that in this 0:34:04.880 --> 0:34:05.920 season of your life. 0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:08.239 Your wisdom is coming from. 0:34:08.040 --> 0:34:11.680 God, and it's going to be amazing because even though 0:34:11.719 --> 0:34:14.880 many left Jesus, the ones who stayed ended up building 0:34:14.920 --> 0:34:16.160 the church that we're a part of. 0:34:16.960 --> 0:34:18.600 I can't wait to see. 0:34:18.360 --> 0:34:21.279 What God is going to do through what is left 0:34:21.320 --> 0:34:24.279 in your life. I can't wait to see when you 0:34:24.440 --> 0:34:27.560 finally forgive the fact that it's not like it used 0:34:27.560 --> 0:34:29.759 to be, when you finally forgive the fact that they 0:34:29.760 --> 0:34:31.880 were a jerk, when you finally admit the fact that 0:34:31.960 --> 0:34:36.000 you were sometimes too, when you finally forgive the fact 0:34:36.000 --> 0:34:38.399 that they did not stay for the whole journey when 0:34:38.440 --> 0:34:41.759 you finally make peace with the fact that not everybody 0:34:41.920 --> 0:34:44.640 was meant to be in the whole movie. 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:47.160 Some people were therefore a scene. 0:34:47.200 --> 0:34:50.120 Some people were there for a lesson, some people were 0:34:50.160 --> 0:34:51.280 there for a blessing. 0:34:51.760 --> 0:34:54.840 Some people needed to be released because God has something 0:34:54.880 --> 0:34:55.640 else for them. 0:34:55.960 --> 0:34:58.799 And when you release that, when you let that go, 0:34:59.320 --> 0:35:02.920 when you let God be God, and you just follow 0:35:03.080 --> 0:35:12.759 Jesus with what you have leved, you will realize. The 0:35:12.800 --> 0:35:17.840 greatest truth that I ever realized is that wherever people 0:35:17.920 --> 0:35:22.839 leave as face, God does a miracle. Wherever people leave 0:35:22.880 --> 0:35:26.800 a vacuum, wherever people leave a need. 0:35:27.000 --> 0:35:28.400 God steps in to meet it. 0:35:29.080 --> 0:35:31.960 And I can stand before you today, honestly, by the 0:35:31.960 --> 0:35:34.520 grace of God and say that some of the greatest 0:35:34.520 --> 0:35:37.200 times that I have felt His presence in my life 0:35:37.640 --> 0:35:38.960 is when people were absent. 0:35:39.680 --> 0:35:40.239 Some of the. 0:35:40.160 --> 0:35:43.480 Greatest times that I have felt His favor over my 0:35:43.560 --> 0:35:47.840 life and really experienced this deep thing with Him was 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:49.240 in the secret place. 0:35:49.800 --> 0:35:52.760 Do you know about? The secret place? 0:35:53.320 --> 0:35:56.680 Is when people stop calling you, and people stop texting you, 0:35:56.920 --> 0:35:59.640 and people stop checking on you, and you can either 0:35:59.680 --> 0:36:02.640 get bitter about it or you can get blessed about 0:36:02.640 --> 0:36:05.160 it and realize that this is a season where God 0:36:05.239 --> 0:36:11.520 is drawing me closer to himself. And when they go quiet, 0:36:11.600 --> 0:36:15.600 he speaks, and sometimes he lets it get real quiet 0:36:15.680 --> 0:36:20.400 so he can whisper. And Jesus says something all so powerful. 0:36:20.560 --> 0:36:23.120 What he says to his brothers, he says, you go, 0:36:24.520 --> 0:36:30.560 I'm good in Galilee. Somebody shout, I'm good in Galilee. 0:36:31.400 --> 0:36:31.600 Oh. 0:36:31.719 --> 0:36:35.480 That's the greatest thing you can ever decide in your life. 0:36:35.680 --> 0:36:38.800 Is that where God has me right now is where 0:36:38.840 --> 0:36:40.880 I want to be. Because if he had wanted me 0:36:40.960 --> 0:36:44.200 to be somewhere else, I'd be somewhere else. If he'd 0:36:44.200 --> 0:36:47.200 wanted me to be someone else, I'd be somewhere else. 0:36:47.520 --> 0:36:50.839 So somebody declared, they say, I like my life. 0:36:51.280 --> 0:36:52.240 I like my life. 0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:55.000 I like all the banged up little things on my car. 0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:58.040 I like all the scratches on my car. I love 0:36:58.080 --> 0:37:00.799 all those little marks all around my house where we 0:37:00.840 --> 0:37:01.759 need to repaint it. 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:04.959 I like my life. I like my crooked second toe. 0:37:05.360 --> 0:37:08.320 I like my life. I like my male pattern baldness. 0:37:08.680 --> 0:37:11.520 I like my life. I like my grays in my beard. 0:37:11.840 --> 0:37:14.480 I like my life. I like my free time. I 0:37:14.600 --> 0:37:17.520 like my life. I like my busy I like my life. 0:37:17.560 --> 0:37:17.800 Say it. 0:37:18.080 --> 0:37:21.840 I like my life. Tell your neighbor. I like my church. 0:37:23.239 --> 0:37:26.919 Tell him I like my pastor, I like my son, 0:37:27.000 --> 0:37:28.560 I like my wife. 0:37:29.200 --> 0:37:33.840 I like my wife. I love her cooking. It's amazing. 0:37:38.120 --> 0:37:40.360 Can I talk to you for a moment about a rival. 0:37:41.440 --> 0:37:43.280 It's our third point is a rival. 0:37:43.800 --> 0:37:46.600 Because see they're trying to get Jesus to go somewhere, 0:37:47.000 --> 0:37:49.520 but he already is what they're trying to be. 0:37:51.239 --> 0:37:54.759 Look at verse four. Let me teach this. Say I 0:37:54.880 --> 0:37:57.799 like my life. Maybe we'll make that the title of 0:37:57.800 --> 0:38:00.400 the sermon when we put it on YouTube. I like 0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:04.160 my life. Click bait everybody, you know, rage bait them. 0:38:04.160 --> 0:38:05.959 You know, I don't like my life. 0:38:06.080 --> 0:38:08.480 It's easy for you to say if you had my life, 0:38:08.560 --> 0:38:11.040 you wouldn't like it either. You know. People want to 0:38:11.040 --> 0:38:17.399 try to make you be miserable like they are. Say 0:38:17.400 --> 0:38:23.640 I like my life now, Jesus. Jesus had every reason 0:38:23.680 --> 0:38:27.759 not to like his life. Jesus had every reason to. 0:38:29.719 --> 0:38:32.440 Jesus had every reason to feel bitter, but he didn't. 0:38:32.480 --> 0:38:34.799 He he is tempted in every way. Like how you 0:38:34.800 --> 0:38:36.560 get bitter, how you start thinking? Man, that would be 0:38:36.640 --> 0:38:38.600 that's not fair. How they're doing that for me. Jesus 0:38:38.680 --> 0:38:40.839 had every reason to think that too. But he was 0:38:40.880 --> 0:38:43.160 tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin. 0:38:43.960 --> 0:38:47.799 That's why he's our example. And in verse four, what 0:38:47.880 --> 0:38:50.040 the brothers said to him, I got to show you 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:55.200 this so powerful how it was worded. They said, no 0:38:55.239 --> 0:39:00.640 one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. 0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:04.080 Jesus, you need that blue check mark annointing. 0:39:07.960 --> 0:39:11.200 But for real though, the keyword to that, no one 0:39:11.200 --> 0:39:13.759 who wants to become public figure as secret is. 0:39:13.640 --> 0:39:16.120 Not secret, it's become. 0:39:18.560 --> 0:39:20.680 Jesus doesn't need can I can I say it with 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:21.360 bad grammar. 0:39:21.840 --> 0:39:28.600 Jesus doesn't need to become nothing. He was and is 0:39:29.719 --> 0:39:30.560 and is to come. 0:39:35.280 --> 0:39:38.919 So when you know that you've already got what they're 0:39:38.960 --> 0:39:42.600 trying to get you to chase, the temptation isn't so 0:39:42.680 --> 0:39:43.440 great anymore. 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:49.520 He's like, no, I'm good, y'all, go, I'm good. Because 0:39:49.600 --> 0:39:52.600 Jesus knew what he was, so he knew what he 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:55.200 didn't have to do. Jesus knew. 0:39:55.440 --> 0:39:59.080 John's Gospel gives the seven I am statements of Jesus. 0:39:59.600 --> 0:40:03.200 I am the Bread of life, I am the true Vine, 0:40:03.640 --> 0:40:07.239 I am the Gate. I am the good Shepherd. I 0:40:07.280 --> 0:40:10.520 am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the door. 0:40:10.960 --> 0:40:11.399 I am. 0:40:11.480 --> 0:40:13.360 I forgot the seventh one, but y'all can look it 0:40:13.440 --> 0:40:13.839 up later. 0:40:14.360 --> 0:40:17.040 I am. Somebody shout I am. 0:40:17.239 --> 0:40:19.720 But I think one of the most powerful things Jesus 0:40:19.719 --> 0:40:23.480 said in John wasn't one of the seven I am statements. 0:40:23.880 --> 0:40:25.800 It's in verse eight, and I want. 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:27.439 To show it to you so you can say it too, 0:40:27.680 --> 0:40:29.280 because when you know who you are. 0:40:29.160 --> 0:40:34.840 Jesus said, you go to the festival. I am not going. 0:40:35.560 --> 0:40:38.880 Justin circle that phrase because Jesus said, I am the 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:42.560 true Vine, I am the good Shepherd. I am the 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:46.319 Resurrection in the life. I am the Door. I am 0:40:46.480 --> 0:40:48.239 the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I got the 0:40:48.239 --> 0:40:49.000 seventh one too. 0:40:49.440 --> 0:40:50.520 I am all that. 0:40:51.120 --> 0:40:54.359 But since I know who I am, I also know 0:40:54.680 --> 0:41:01.080 what I am not. And sometimes the power of knowing 0:41:01.160 --> 0:41:07.200 your purpose is being able to say, I am not 0:41:08.040 --> 0:41:15.440 going watch this, teenagers, I am not going to that party. 0:41:15.840 --> 0:41:19.760 I know everybody else is going to be at that party, 0:41:20.000 --> 0:41:23.240 but I don't care about where everybody else is going 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:28.480 because I am not going. Because I am a child 0:41:28.560 --> 0:41:32.600 of God. I don't care if everybody is talking nasty 0:41:32.760 --> 0:41:37.640 on Facebook. I am not going to talk like the 0:41:37.719 --> 0:41:40.120 world when I'm a citizen of. 0:41:40.160 --> 0:41:42.640 The Kingdom of God. I am not. 0:41:44.160 --> 0:41:47.120 I don't care if everybody else is having sex before 0:41:47.120 --> 0:41:48.000 they get married. 0:41:48.520 --> 0:41:50.680 I am not giving something. 0:41:50.440 --> 0:41:54.640 That was blood Boss for something that is Gertie. 0:41:55.760 --> 0:41:58.719 I am not. I am not. 0:42:00.239 --> 0:42:02.640 I know the devil wants me to complain and lay 0:42:02.680 --> 0:42:04.840 down and die, but I am. 0:42:04.600 --> 0:42:08.080 Not going to. I am not going to quit. I 0:42:08.120 --> 0:42:10.839 am not going to give up on this. I am 0:42:10.880 --> 0:42:13.919 not going to bury my dream. I am not going 0:42:14.000 --> 0:42:16.680 to become a cynic. I am not gonna drink a 0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:19.440 pain away. I am not gonna drunk and dumb it 0:42:19.480 --> 0:42:24.120 with another drug. I am not going. 0:42:25.560 --> 0:42:27.480 We can have a whole e group up of this 0:42:27.600 --> 0:42:32.400 one point. Just tell somebody I am not going. I 0:42:32.440 --> 0:42:35.600 am not going. I'm good in Galilee. I'm not gonna 0:42:35.640 --> 0:42:37.719 try to prove it. I'm not gonna try to make 0:42:37.760 --> 0:42:39.799 you believe it. I'm not gonna try to make you 0:42:39.880 --> 0:42:40.400 accept me. 0:42:40.719 --> 0:42:42.759 I'm not compromising my values. 0:42:43.160 --> 0:42:47.200 I am not Oh I feel political annoying, it. 0:42:47.360 --> 0:42:50.040 Not gonna do it. You don't remember that you were 0:42:50.040 --> 0:42:53.799 in Canada. But tell somebody, I am not. I am not. 0:42:54.640 --> 0:42:55.319 I am not. 0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:07.840 Whisper, whisper. He says, sh I'm gonna do something secret. 0:43:08.360 --> 0:43:14.320 Sh I'm going secretly. You know God is doing secret 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:18.480 stuff in your life right now, don't you? 0:43:18.480 --> 0:43:18.680 You know? 0:43:18.800 --> 0:43:22.520 The Lord sees what you're doing secret? Don't you? 0:43:22.520 --> 0:43:24.960 You know the one who sees in secret rewards openly? 0:43:25.040 --> 0:43:29.759 Don't you You know? You might already be there, but 0:43:29.800 --> 0:43:32.239 you just don't have anybody to tell you how good 0:43:32.280 --> 0:43:33.040 you're really doing. 0:43:35.400 --> 0:43:37.840 So let me be that one today. 0:43:39.080 --> 0:43:44.239 You're already there, and if you were supposed to be 0:43:44.360 --> 0:43:46.800 further along, God would have sent you a faster car. 0:43:47.239 --> 0:43:52.480 You're already there. I know you got a long way 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:52.680 to go. 0:43:52.760 --> 0:43:55.520 The Bible says Jesus went, but he went when he 0:43:55.680 --> 0:43:56.440 was supposed to. 0:43:58.360 --> 0:44:02.480 He went and he was supposed to, and when he 0:44:02.560 --> 0:44:03.040 got there. 0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:06.880 Look at verse twelve that it says there was widespread 0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:09.719 whispering about. 0:44:09.520 --> 0:44:14.480 Him, and there always is, there always is. 0:44:16.760 --> 0:44:19.239 Some said I like. 0:44:19.239 --> 0:44:27.520 Him, he's a good man, and others said, we've seen 0:44:27.560 --> 0:44:28.400 this show before. 0:44:29.800 --> 0:44:31.840 M hm, he's a deceiver. 0:44:33.200 --> 0:44:35.680 But what's crazy to me is Jesus didn't respond to 0:44:35.760 --> 0:44:38.680 either because both were limited. 0:44:41.000 --> 0:44:43.360 He wasn't a good man, he was the god man. 0:44:46.000 --> 0:44:49.400 And Jesus did not answer to their whispers because he 0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:58.239 walked in his father's will. So what I realize about 0:44:58.280 --> 0:45:00.759 everyone I'm preaching to today is there is a war 0:45:00.840 --> 0:45:04.960 happening in your heart. It's not loud, there's no bombs 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:07.200 going off. Nobody can see it, and you look really 0:45:07.239 --> 0:45:11.400 beautiful in your church clothes. But underneath that purple sweater, 0:45:12.680 --> 0:45:16.040 underneath that beautiful smile, underneath those lifted hands that you 0:45:16.160 --> 0:45:19.120 raised sincerely because you love the Lord and you worship him, 0:45:19.280 --> 0:45:24.719 there's a war going on and there's a whisper. A 0:45:24.760 --> 0:45:27.480 while back, Hollywood was giving me some affirmations. That's my 0:45:28.719 --> 0:45:31.080 final point. I want to talk about affirmations and agreement. 0:45:32.120 --> 0:45:33.759 You don't need to sit down. If you're standing up, 0:45:33.800 --> 0:45:35.520 it'll just make me think I need to talk longer. 0:45:39.480 --> 0:45:42.000 But something very strange happened to me, and it took 0:45:42.080 --> 0:45:43.839 me a few days to analyze it, and then it's 0:45:43.880 --> 0:45:46.000 taken me several months to process it so that I 0:45:46.000 --> 0:45:49.080 could share it with you. But it came back to 0:45:49.120 --> 0:45:50.600 my mind when the Lord told me to talk to 0:45:50.600 --> 0:45:54.320 you about the war of whispers. You know, when I preach, 0:45:54.400 --> 0:45:56.720 by the way, there are the words that I'm speaking, 0:45:56.840 --> 0:45:59.000 and then there is the whisper that comes after that 0:45:59.040 --> 0:46:02.120 word either moves you from the word that you heard 0:46:04.719 --> 0:46:07.960 or tells you to obey it. Yeah, and if you 0:46:08.080 --> 0:46:12.200 obey it, if you obey the word, peace will be 0:46:12.280 --> 0:46:16.200 the product. But if the enemy whispers it. The Bible 0:46:16.239 --> 0:46:18.880 talks about how sometimes the devil will snatch a seed 0:46:18.920 --> 0:46:20.040 of the word of God that is. 0:46:20.040 --> 0:46:24.480 Sown because the enemy will whisper. And so. 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:28.800 Cognizant of this fact that as I'm speaking, the enemy 0:46:28.880 --> 0:46:30.239 is whispering, and so is God. 0:46:31.040 --> 0:46:33.280 And it's a war of whispers. See there's two whispers. 0:46:33.320 --> 0:46:37.799 Right. He's a good man, Ah, I don't think so. 0:46:37.920 --> 0:46:40.560 He's a liar. You've got this. 0:46:41.680 --> 0:46:44.800 You might as well give up. It doesn't matter anyway. 0:46:45.200 --> 0:46:48.000 You know, you really could, and you really could confess 0:46:48.080 --> 0:46:48.520 that sin. 0:46:48.920 --> 0:46:51.880 They would forgive you. Yeah, but then they'll think I'm 0:46:51.920 --> 0:46:53.360 weak and they'll take advantage of me. 0:46:53.880 --> 0:46:57.280 It's a war of whispers. You don't say that stuff 0:46:57.280 --> 0:46:59.279 out loud. It just goes on in the night. And 0:46:59.320 --> 0:47:01.120 the reason I know, oh it is because it happens 0:47:01.160 --> 0:47:04.160 to me too. When I finished preaching to you, I 0:47:04.239 --> 0:47:09.040 am in a vulnerable place. Why will you run around 0:47:09.040 --> 0:47:10.960 a room screaming at the top of your lungs for 0:47:11.000 --> 0:47:13.400 an hour, and see how you feel afterwards, and talking 0:47:13.440 --> 0:47:16.319 to people about abandonment and deep issues, and then just 0:47:16.360 --> 0:47:18.320 come off the stage and try to eat a pancake. 0:47:21.920 --> 0:47:24.359 The devil comes in behind it, and he discouraged it. 0:47:24.480 --> 0:47:28.440 So Holly was sharing with me one time, in a 0:47:28.440 --> 0:47:32.040 particularly vulnerable state, some affirmations. 0:47:32.120 --> 0:47:33.279 She was saying things to me. 0:47:33.239 --> 0:47:37.120 That were so kind and so rooted in scripture, very 0:47:37.160 --> 0:47:37.880 soft voice. 0:47:38.200 --> 0:47:39.399 You're man of God. 0:47:40.760 --> 0:47:42.600 You shared what the Lord gave you to share today. 0:47:43.600 --> 0:47:47.320 God is proud of you. Now, as she was speaking, 0:47:48.080 --> 0:47:52.160 I was having thoughts. I believe they were from the enemy. 0:47:52.640 --> 0:47:54.560 I believe they were from the enemy, but they didn't 0:47:54.640 --> 0:48:00.920 sound like the devil's voice. In fact, it was a 0:48:00.920 --> 0:48:03.880 thought that came as the exact opposite of everything she 0:48:04.000 --> 0:48:04.600 was saying to me. 0:48:05.880 --> 0:48:08.080 So she would say, you're. 0:48:07.920 --> 0:48:11.279 A man of God, And while she was pausing to 0:48:11.360 --> 0:48:14.440 let that sink in, the enemy was answering it. 0:48:16.280 --> 0:48:18.520 And everything that would come back through my mind. It 0:48:18.560 --> 0:48:19.560 wasn't an out loud. 0:48:19.400 --> 0:48:24.120 Voice, it was just it was the space between her 0:48:24.320 --> 0:48:29.640 words were filled by whispers from the enemy. So if 0:48:29.640 --> 0:48:32.560 she said you are a man of God. The thought 0:48:32.560 --> 0:48:35.040 would come back that was the exact opposite of that. 0:48:35.600 --> 0:48:39.400 And I won't tell you what those thoughts were because honestly, 0:48:40.600 --> 0:48:43.480 they were so raw and so terrible, I. 0:48:43.400 --> 0:48:44.600 Would not repeat them to you. 0:48:45.080 --> 0:48:50.920 Okay, So they're coming back to me and she's saying, 0:48:51.920 --> 0:48:55.560 God delights in you, and the answer that would come 0:48:55.600 --> 0:48:58.680 back as a thought or an impression or an argument 0:48:58.680 --> 0:49:01.120 with what she just said would be the exact rhythm 0:49:01.200 --> 0:49:02.160 of what she just said. 0:49:03.040 --> 0:49:05.360 It was almost like it was a songwriting session. It 0:49:05.440 --> 0:49:07.520 was like ba ba ba bah bah bah. 0:49:08.600 --> 0:49:16.040 Bada, and it matched it almost exactly, except it was 0:49:16.040 --> 0:49:16.880 the exact opposite. 0:49:18.360 --> 0:49:19.120 And it was intense. 0:49:19.160 --> 0:49:22.040 I've never had anything like this happen before in my life. 0:49:23.640 --> 0:49:26.520 The next day, I was reflecting on it because I 0:49:26.520 --> 0:49:28.560 didn't even know how to tell her what happened, because 0:49:28.560 --> 0:49:30.960 it was it was, honestly so. 0:49:33.640 --> 0:49:35.960 It was so dark to feel something like that, you. 0:49:35.920 --> 0:49:40.319 Know, And I was I was praying about that and 0:49:40.400 --> 0:49:44.239 asking God, what was that like? What was that thing 0:49:44.280 --> 0:49:47.640 that was going on in in in my in my 0:49:47.800 --> 0:49:50.560 mind while my wife was speaking such beautiful words over me. 0:49:50.600 --> 0:49:54.920 After I just preached your words to people, and he 0:49:55.040 --> 0:50:01.200 said uh. It is enemy's whispers, and it's not important 0:50:01.200 --> 0:50:04.640 that you get it to go away. It's just important 0:50:04.680 --> 0:50:17.600 that you never agree with it. It's a war of whispers. 0:50:19.120 --> 0:50:21.279 One is saying God's got you right where he wants you. 0:50:21.360 --> 0:50:24.359 It's going to be okay. Hold on, the others saying, 0:50:24.360 --> 0:50:26.080 you've screwed up so bad. There's no way that God 0:50:26.080 --> 0:50:28.279 can redeem this situation in your life. You might as 0:50:28.320 --> 0:50:33.319 well give up. One whisper is saying, you slipped up. 0:50:33.400 --> 0:50:35.319 Let's get back on track. Come on, we can get 0:50:35.320 --> 0:50:37.200 this back together again. You don't have to go all 0:50:37.200 --> 0:50:39.000 the way down just because you slipped a little bit. 0:50:39.280 --> 0:50:41.400 Another is saying, well, you've already blown it now, and 0:50:41.440 --> 0:50:43.600 you've already broken the street, and you might as well 0:50:43.640 --> 0:50:44.399 just go all the way. 0:50:44.680 --> 0:50:47.239 It's a war of whispers. 0:50:48.840 --> 0:50:51.360 But what was true of Jesus is true of you 0:50:51.440 --> 0:50:55.920 and me, because in verse sixteen, Jesus says, you're amazed 0:50:55.960 --> 0:50:57.880 by my teaching, and you want to know where it 0:50:57.920 --> 0:51:01.280 came from. My teaching is not my own. It comes 0:51:02.040 --> 0:51:08.440 from the one who sent me. Listen to the whisper 0:51:09.239 --> 0:51:10.080 of the one. 0:51:10.320 --> 0:51:11.040 Who sent you. 0:51:13.000 --> 0:51:16.960 Because God, who sent you into this assignment for your life. 0:51:17.200 --> 0:51:20.520 God who sent you to be the leader of that family. 0:51:20.600 --> 0:51:24.359 God who sent you into this city. God sent you here. 0:51:24.600 --> 0:51:27.319 God sent you into this church. God sent you to 0:51:27.360 --> 0:51:30.239 be the teacher in that classroom. God sent you to 0:51:30.320 --> 0:51:33.640 be the manager of that division. The God who sent 0:51:33.719 --> 0:51:38.279 you can whisper to you, and he can whisper to 0:51:38.360 --> 0:51:41.560 you a word that can pivot your whole life. 0:51:41.560 --> 0:51:43.400 It's a war of whispers. Right now. 0:51:43.600 --> 0:51:47.400 They were whispering about Jesus, and they will always be whispering, 0:51:47.640 --> 0:51:49.399 and the voices will always be. 0:51:49.440 --> 0:51:50.880 Speaking opposite things. 0:51:51.120 --> 0:51:53.319 And one voice will always be telling you you're not 0:51:53.400 --> 0:51:55.640 going to make it, and another voice will be telling you, 0:51:55.640 --> 0:51:57.960 come on. God has seen you through this far. And 0:51:58.000 --> 0:52:00.719 it is not important which voice is the lot. It's 0:52:00.800 --> 0:52:04.600 important which one you agree with, and the one that 0:52:04.640 --> 0:52:07.480 you lean into is the one that will lead you forward. 0:52:07.719 --> 0:52:10.239 I don't know who I'm prophesying to right now, but 0:52:10.320 --> 0:52:12.839 it's so strong on me right now, because it's been 0:52:12.880 --> 0:52:15.120 back and forth in your mind, and you're like, what 0:52:15.360 --> 0:52:17.680 is this? And you came to church today and the 0:52:17.719 --> 0:52:20.120 whisper has been there the whole time I've been preaching, 0:52:20.320 --> 0:52:22.200 and you just turned this on and you're like maybe. 0:52:21.960 --> 0:52:23.160 God can speak to me. I don't know. 0:52:23.280 --> 0:52:25.080 It's chaotic in my mind right now. I can't make 0:52:25.160 --> 0:52:27.360 sense out of it right now. And God is saying, 0:52:27.400 --> 0:52:29.680 go with the whisper of the one who sent you, 0:52:30.080 --> 0:52:32.600 the one who knows you, the one who died to 0:52:32.760 --> 0:52:36.000 save you, the one who intricately knit you before you 0:52:36.080 --> 0:52:39.359 were formed in your mother's womb, the one whose words. 0:52:39.040 --> 0:52:41.120 Spoke your life into existence. 0:52:41.480 --> 0:52:50.400 Listen to that whisper, because the whisper now you listen 0:52:50.480 --> 0:52:58.360 to it is the one that winds. 0:53:10.400 --> 0:53:13.560 When I get done in a minute, the enemy's gonna 0:53:13.560 --> 0:53:14.160 whisper to me. 0:53:14.680 --> 0:53:16.680 You shouldn't have told them that story at the end. 0:53:17.200 --> 0:53:18.320 That was too personal. 0:53:22.560 --> 0:53:26.040 I set it for somebody who has been dealing with 0:53:26.160 --> 0:53:36.960 it in your own life. 0:53:37.840 --> 0:53:43.319 Maybe we just thought it called the sermon. God is 0:53:43.360 --> 0:53:47.360 whispering over my life. I cannot afford to get distracted 0:53:47.960 --> 0:53:52.040 by other people's opinion right now. I cannot even afford 0:53:52.080 --> 0:53:55.560 to be distracted by my own shame right now, because 0:53:55.600 --> 0:54:01.480 the grace of God is whispering a better word. I 0:54:01.520 --> 0:54:03.040 want you to stand, and I want you to be 0:54:03.120 --> 0:54:13.320 still in this moment, and I want to be quiet 0:54:14.680 --> 0:54:15.879 so you can listen. 0:54:17.480 --> 0:54:18.200 For the whisper. 0:54:21.440 --> 0:54:24.719 It won't be the only voice you'll hear, because one 0:54:24.800 --> 0:54:26.320 voice is gonna be telling you. 0:54:26.320 --> 0:54:30.920 You know, you know, there's your stomach growling, sh stomach. 0:54:30.920 --> 0:54:34.480 We're gonna eat, We're gonna eat. You're gonna get filled 0:54:34.520 --> 0:54:35.200 in a few minutes. 0:54:35.200 --> 0:54:36.600 But right now I need my soul for. 0:54:39.840 --> 0:54:43.120 It's not important that you get that other whisper to 0:54:43.239 --> 0:54:44.520 go away. 0:54:45.239 --> 0:54:52.200 It's important that you don't agree with it. So Lord 0:54:52.200 --> 0:54:52.960 fill the space. 0:54:56.160 --> 0:54:58.520 Some people that are listening to me preach today, they've 0:54:58.520 --> 0:55:03.239 been left by others because they ate the loaves and 0:55:03.280 --> 0:55:07.480 had their fill, and they left, And now. 0:55:07.280 --> 0:55:09.320 They've been believing the whisper you're all alone. 0:55:09.520 --> 0:55:14.000 Sh I'm not alone. God is with me. 0:55:15.600 --> 0:55:15.880 Say it. 0:55:15.920 --> 0:55:16.600 God is with me. 0:55:17.960 --> 0:55:19.239 That's the whisper you agree with. 0:55:19.360 --> 0:55:20.000 God is with me. 0:55:20.160 --> 0:55:21.800 If I'm feeling me, he's with me. If i'm seeing 0:55:21.800 --> 0:55:23.160 the he's with me. If I can't prove it, he's 0:55:23.200 --> 0:55:24.919 with me. If it doesn't work out, if it doesn't 0:55:24.920 --> 0:55:25.759 get better, he's with me. 0:55:25.800 --> 0:55:26.319 He's with me. 0:55:26.760 --> 0:55:29.560 That's the whisper that I agree with. 0:55:32.920 --> 0:55:34.719 I want to speak to the whisper that's been telling 0:55:34.760 --> 0:55:39.319 you it's too late, too late. Maybe your kids are 0:55:39.360 --> 0:55:41.959 grown now, or maybe you're about to graduate high school 0:55:41.960 --> 0:55:43.200 and you didn't really live for the Lord. 0:55:43.840 --> 0:55:46.000 It's not too late for anything God. 0:55:47.120 --> 0:55:51.879 God can save the best to last, and God can 0:55:51.920 --> 0:55:55.480 give you a fourth quarter, last two minute victory that 0:55:55.600 --> 0:55:59.600 will shock you. God can knock the devil out and 0:55:59.600 --> 0:56:01.960 make the last five rounds insignificant. 0:56:02.239 --> 0:56:03.120 You listen to this. 0:56:03.080 --> 0:56:12.520 Whisper, it's not over. It's not over, not for you. 0:56:12.520 --> 0:56:18.120 You're still breathing while it is still gold. Today. You 0:56:18.239 --> 0:56:21.880 let go of what didn't happen. You let go of 0:56:21.920 --> 0:56:25.680 who didn't stay. God is with you. It's not over. 0:56:28.320 --> 0:56:31.360 I want to come against the whisper that's telling you 0:56:31.400 --> 0:56:36.359 that you'll never change. Who you've always been is who 0:56:36.400 --> 0:56:41.160 you're going to be. I declare over you that greater 0:56:41.280 --> 0:56:42.680 is he that is in you than he that is 0:56:42.680 --> 0:56:46.440 in the world. And not only are you where you're 0:56:46.480 --> 0:56:49.560 supposed to be, you are who you are supposed to be. 0:56:51.680 --> 0:56:57.120 You're not too much or not too little. You are 0:56:57.320 --> 0:57:02.279 just right for this assignment. Somebody say I am enough 0:57:04.000 --> 0:57:08.400 now This week, Lord, we're gonna listen for your whisper. 0:57:10.280 --> 0:57:14.399 We're gonna resist the whisper that's telling us that this 0:57:14.440 --> 0:57:17.919 is all ridiculous. We're gonna resist the whisper that tells 0:57:18.000 --> 0:57:19.840 us we might as well stay down. We're gonna resist 0:57:19.840 --> 0:57:22.000 the whisper that tells us that our past is greater 0:57:22.040 --> 0:57:22.720 than our future. 0:57:25.720 --> 0:57:29.280 We're gonna listen for your whisper. 0:57:31.000 --> 0:57:31.280 Today. 0:57:31.320 --> 0:57:33.480 Lord, I believe that as I'm preaching, you are drawing 0:57:33.520 --> 0:57:34.680 somebody to be saved. 0:57:35.720 --> 0:57:38.000 This is their day to give their life to Jesus. 0:57:39.520 --> 0:57:41.600 I believe that you stand at the door and knock, 0:57:41.680 --> 0:57:45.120 like Revelation three and twenty says, if anyone will open 0:57:45.160 --> 0:57:48.240 the door, you will come in, and you will sit down, 0:57:49.400 --> 0:57:52.840 and you will make your throne in their heart. Right now, 0:57:52.880 --> 0:57:55.840 if you're here today and you've never really given your 0:57:55.840 --> 0:57:59.640 life to Jesus, or maybe you used to be close 0:57:59.680 --> 0:58:02.920 with the life and lately you've been very far away, 0:58:03.840 --> 0:58:06.600 and you hear that whisper, the Lord is. 0:58:06.600 --> 0:58:07.520 Saying, come back to me. 0:58:08.440 --> 0:58:10.120 The Lord's saying, give me your life, Give me the 0:58:10.120 --> 0:58:12.440 broken pieces, give me all the broken dreams. 0:58:12.480 --> 0:58:14.240 I see all of it. I'll make you new. 0:58:15.640 --> 0:58:19.440 I'll turn this broken all this clay in this broken vessel, 0:58:19.480 --> 0:58:21.240 and I'll turn it into something amazing. 0:58:22.440 --> 0:58:25.400 It's going to be amazing in his hands today. 0:58:25.440 --> 0:58:28.040 If that's you and you're ready to give your life 0:58:28.040 --> 0:58:30.160 to Christ, I would love to lead you in a prayer. 0:58:30.920 --> 0:58:32.800 This prayer is not magical. 0:58:33.080 --> 0:58:35.520 But if you'll pray it from your heart. The Bible 0:58:35.560 --> 0:58:37.680 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus 0:58:37.720 --> 0:58:40.280 is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him 0:58:40.280 --> 0:58:43.840 from the dead, you will be saved. It's a promise. 0:58:43.880 --> 0:58:47.320 So right now, as a church family, I want you 0:58:47.360 --> 0:58:50.040 to repeat after me for the benefit of those who 0:58:50.120 --> 0:58:53.520 are coming to Jesus for the first time or coming 0:58:53.600 --> 0:58:58.720 back to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father, today is 0:58:58.800 --> 0:59:04.400 my day of salvation. I am a sinner in need 0:59:04.400 --> 0:59:09.920 of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ is 0:59:09.920 --> 0:59:13.400 the Son of God and the savior of the world. 0:59:14.160 --> 0:59:18.480 And today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. 0:59:19.480 --> 0:59:23.760 I believe he died that I would be forgiven and 0:59:23.920 --> 0:59:29.520 rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. 0:59:30.440 --> 0:59:35.800 This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. 0:59:36.640 --> 0:59:38.560 On the count of three, if you prayed that, shoot 0:59:38.600 --> 0:59:40.680 your hand up one, two, three. 0:59:40.760 --> 0:59:41.720 I want to celebrate you. 0:59:41.800 --> 0:59:42.000 God. 0:59:42.000 --> 0:59:42.600 Bless you man. 0:59:43.360 --> 0:59:47.800 God, Bless you man, God, bless you, sir, God bless 0:59:47.800 --> 0:59:51.480 you in the fact the black shirt God bless. 0:59:51.200 --> 0:59:52.880 It come on less. 0:59:52.880 --> 0:59:59.280 Thank God for them, Thank you for joining us. Special 0:59:59.280 --> 1:00:02.120 thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry. 1:00:02.440 --> 1:00:05.400 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You 1:00:05.440 --> 1:00:07.880 can click the link in the description to give now, 1:00:08.400 --> 1:00:12.280 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 1:00:12.800 --> 1:00:15.440 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:00:15.840 --> 1:00:17.200 You can share it with your friends. 1:00:17.480 --> 1:00:19.760 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:00:19.800 --> 1:00:21.920 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:00:21.920 --> 1:00:22.800 Elevation Church. 1:00:22.880 --> 1:00:23.880 Thanks again for listening. 1:00:23.920 --> 1:00:29.480 God bless you.