The Year I Saw (Tauren Wells)

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to the Elevation Church Podcast. Today we have the 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.280 privilege of welcoming worship leader and recording artist Torn Wells. 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:13.000 We believe his message the Year I Saw will encourage you. 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:20.799 Thank you for joining us and enjoy the message. What's time? 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:33.080 Let's go man? What do we do next? Yeah? So 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:38.080 grateful to be here with you guys today. And I 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.800 didn't come to play no games. This ain't high school 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.400 musical where I just say a couple of lines and 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.160 sing a few songs and entertain you. I really feel 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:53.600 like I have a word from God today. And I 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.520 try to avoid this moment for as long as possible. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.279 I try to schedule trips, vacations, tours, everything possible, and 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:05.119 somehow the Lord just made it happen. And I am 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.960 so grateful to be here. I really can't say enough 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.120 of how much this church means to me. I don't 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.000 know if you realize how much you mean to me. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:19.800 This is an incredible moment for myself. And you know, 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.759 I was listening to Pastor Steven when I was twenty one, 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:26.440 twenty two years old. That was just three years ago. Ha, 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.959 just kidding, It's been been about ten twelve years. But 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.480 based on age, so you know what I'm saying. So 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.520 still looking smooth, little revitalized lotion, you know what I'm saying. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.560 But I was downloading podcasts sermons. This was when you 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.160 just download them from iTunes, and I would go back 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.160 in the archive and I would get series like Core. 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.400 Oh see, I'm a real one. This ain't no Badwagon. 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:02.480 And then I would listen to eighty See y'all don't 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.480 even know. It's got quiet in the room. Eighties rock 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.560 series Left High was a worship series. You'll remember that, No, 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:14.280 y'all remember three D Easter. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. See. 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:18.760 I was around for all that online somewhere jogging, listening 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.560 to a video iPod, listening to sermons, and Pastor Steven, 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:29.120 thank you so much for your ministry, for what you 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:33.120 have communicated to the world and into my heart. I 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:38.040 am so grateful. I was impressed from a distance, but 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:44.280 I've been impacted up close. And you know, my kids 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:50.280 last night they were watching a movie provided by the Verdicts. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:53.400 They sent a little movie night in a box and 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:58.000 it had robes and slippers and candy and popcorn and 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:02.000 seasonings and all this. I just thought, you really just 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:07.120 don't get better than these people, and thank you so much. 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.160 I could cry, but I'm not going to. I love 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.400 you guys, and I'm grateful to be here today. I 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.520 got a shout out all my Elevation fam Chris Breezy, 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.280 love you, Love you Bro. Thank you Chris for letting 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:28.400 me participate in Elevation Worship singing songs like Echo. You 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:33.200 know what I'm saying, never lost, come on, and I 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.320 love all y'all. Jenna John sal You guys have sent 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.880 me some of the nicest text messages I've ever received 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.280 from human beings. Thank you so much, Aaron, Love you, bro. 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.560 I could literally talk about everyone, and I'm not going 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.000 to because the clock is ticking. But I love you 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:50.880 all so much. I've got my wife here with me 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:57.600 today and she looking all fine, and this is a 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:03.440 mountaintop moment for both of us. I'm not preaching today. 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:09.440 We're preaching because this woman holds it down. And we've 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.320 got those three little boys, seven, four and two years old, 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:18.240 and you can't tell she's had any children because she's fine. 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.120 But I was writing songs with Pastor Steven and with Chris, 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:24.560 and like every song ended up being about her and 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:26.120 I was like, no, this is about the Lord, not 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:30.000 the Lorna. Okay, we got to refocus this writing session. 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.400 But I love you. Thank you for your love support. 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.320 You're a treasure to me and I bring you greeting 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:39.480 today from Houston, Texas Lakewood Church Pastor Joe oh See 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.239 representing h Town today. Well, you guys can go ahead 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:48.320 and sit down. You already exposed me with the video. 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.560 I was here in January. We were celebrating the kickoff 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.520 of my album, Citizen of Heaven, and I was out 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.560 here just dancing, you know what I'm saying, doing my 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.560 little thing. Had Holly in the front row. I was worried. 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.560 I was nervous. I was like this Holly liking this 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:04.520 is this? Okay? Am I gonna be kicked out? Am 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.080 I gonna be invited back? She's smiling, She's smiling. I'm 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.640 good and she makes me a little bit nervous, but 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.360 I love her. We were here, and we were it 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:16.000 was lit. I mean, I thought, I'm coming into twenty 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.320 twenty with a new album and I get to do 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.159 the first weekend that the music is released at a 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.160 church that I love, Elevation Church, and I was going 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.479 out of my mind, and then Pastor Stephen asked me 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:33.159 to come back and preach, and that just scared me 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.520 to death, maybe nervous. I started doing push ups immediately. Guys, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.880 I've been in the gym. You can't tell you, but 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:44.239 I've been there, and uh, I was just so filled 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.560 with expectation. But I have to be honest, this is 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:54.000 not what I saw. I dreamed about preaching an elevation church. 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:56.200 I'm gonna keep it one hundred. What you see is 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.960 what you get. I've dreamed about it. I didn't dream 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.320 that it would look like the youth room that I 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:05.560 ap preached my first message in when I was sixteen. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.560 I didn't know it was gonna be thirty of y'all. 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.360 But you're here, Phraise God. It's not what I saw. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:16.559 It's not what I envisioned. I mean, I came into 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.359 twenty twenty with so much expectation. That's the beauty of 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.479 a new year. That's the beauty of a new season. 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.720 We come into it with some expectation, We have our 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.520 hopes up. Possibility is in the air. The gym memberships 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.480 are up, the calorie counts are down. Where thinking about 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.159 this is the year, This is the year that God's 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.200 gonna restore my marriage. This is the year that I'm 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.040 gonna rebuild a relationship with my kids. This is the 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.840 year that I'm gonna graduate and I'm gonna step into 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.359 the real world. Nah, bro, you're gonna be at home. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.000 Come on. This is the year. This is the year. 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.440 This is the year. And we've all said this, We've 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.320 all wrapped our minds around this idea that I'm going 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.800 somewhere this year. I'm doing something this year. So I 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.800 was putting together my plan for the year. She sounds 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:09.479 funny to say it now, but I was. I'm a 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.760 little journal and I was writting down and like many 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.120 of you do, I pick a word every year, and 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:21.280 the word for the year for me was build. I 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.640 wanted to build. I wanted to I wanted to build man. 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.600 I wanted to build my health. I wanted to build 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:31.119 my family. I wanted to build my ministry. I wanted 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.120 to build God's Church. I was ready to build, and 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.760 I prayed about it and I felt like I heard 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.280 from God on it. But I must have missed something 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:45.640 he said in the prayer meeting, because I didn't realize 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:50.560 that if God was going to really build something that 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:56.520 stood the test of time and gave him residual glory. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.760 He was going to have to bring everything else down 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.440 to the dirt, and this year it's all been brought 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:09.040 down to the dirt. But there's good news. He knows 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.160 what to do with the dirt. He may bring it 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.560 down to the foundation, but he knows what to do, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.360 for he is a lamb slaying from the foundation of 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.480 the earth. He knows what to do with the dirt. 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.280 He breathed into the dirt and created the object of 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:30.200 his affection in the humanity of Adam. He stepped down 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.720 into the dirt of humanity when he put on skin 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.480 and bones and climbed into the trenches with us. He 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:39.600 knows what to do with the dirt. When he was 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:42.719 walking through the dusty streets of Jerusalem and there was 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.360 a man who couldn't see, he reached down, not for 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.439 some medical supplies, not to a doctor, not to a physician, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.320 for he was the great physician, and he had a prescription, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:09:00.640 and the prescription was in the dirt. Now that's not 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.640 my message today, but it sure does preach good. You 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:12.720 can bring them your dirt. The year twenty ten, my 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.319 wife and I I proposed to my wife. We got engaged, 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.440 and I gotta tell you, man, I killed the engagement, 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:28.720 no cap I mean one of the best engagements all time. 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:33.360 Definitely the best one I've ever done. Okay, and there's 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:38.000 only been one. But I was in Nashville, Lorna was 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.360 in Houston, and I had this whole plan, man, I 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.080 had this whole plan. I went and I found these 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.880 jewelry boxes and they were vintage. And this is before 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.920 you could just order it on Etsy. Okay, that's too easy. 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.280 I had to actually go somewhere and find these vintage 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.880 jewelry boxes and gave one to one of her friends, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:58.960 and I put a camera and a note in it. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.800 My friend put it under her couch and her apartment. 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.680 So I sent her a text this morning in twenty 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.600 ten and said to go go look under your couch, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:17.480 little cryptic, little creepy. She goes and opens it up 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:22.280 and there's a little flip camera and a note. Now 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.720 this was before like the camera and the phone had 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:33.040 been integrated. They actually used to be two separate objects, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.840 little zoom camera. And I said, hey, record your day today. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:39.880 Pick you out a good outfit. It's going to be 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.200 a great day, I'll talk to you later. So she 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.560 gets on there. She's got a little retainer in you know, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.200 eh Turin put something under my couch and she's done 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.000 her a little thing and goes to the church. She's 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.000 working at the church. Her brother works at the church 0:10:54.679 --> 0:11:00.640 as well. Shot out Royalwood and they're working and Brandon 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.320 comes in. That's my brother in law. He says, hey, 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.760 let's let's go get lunch. She's like, cool, so they go. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.439 He gets on the phone. He's on the phone the 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:11.880 whole time. They show up at the airport. She's like, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:17.120 what are we doing at the airport? He gives her 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.680 a second jewelry box and she opens it up and 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:29.400 there's some plane tickets in it. Boy had the size. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:33.360 She opens it up. She's like, hey, this this is 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:38.280 a overnight this overnight ticket. Brandon reaches back, pulls out 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.680 the the bag. We already had another outfit plan for 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.160 I haven't made a plan since then, but I plan 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:49.839 this day. So she goes. She gets on the plane. 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:53.920 She flies to flies to Nashville and shows up. I've 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.440 got my friends there and they pick her up from 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:05.440 from the airport and they give her an iPod. This 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:09.679 sounds archaic when you just say it an iPod And 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.000 it had an inscription on the back Tory and LB 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:15.800 that she calls me Tori. You call me Toy, I 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:18.720 will send the SWAT team to your house. But that's 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.240 that's just for her. And it had a little love 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.320 songs on it, you know what I'm saying. So she 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.200 puts into little earbuds and then they blindfold her. Okay, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.440 little scary, but you know it's not a Limbniesen movie. 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.160 So uh they they're they're driving, and they show up 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.880 to this venue I'd rented out a Venue's just a 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.920 little club, you know, nothing crazy, but I had it, 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:42.880 you know, I had it looking right, you know what 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:46.000 I'm saying. There is a single chair in the middle 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.640 of the room, spot lit. And then I was up 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.800 on the on the stage. I'm a little stool, you know, 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.000 sitting with my little pose, you know what I'm saying. 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.720 And I had the third jewelry box. Yah, I told you, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.160 I told you some movie. I told you some movie, 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.439 But you got my little jewelry box. She comes and 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:09.600 sits down. They take the blindfold off and you can 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:13.280 just see like the moment wash over her face. One 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.480 of the best moments of my life. And then I 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.720 got my homie in the back, got the little lights, 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.360 got a little haste. It kind of looks like a 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.760 youth room because that was my contact at the time, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:29.680 but it was still still nice. And I started singing 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:38.079 a song, You're a diferent, beautiful a love song out 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:42.640 of control, written for me, beautifully different from me, for 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.640 me to Ryan Edgar song, y'all don't know it, and 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.200 step down off the stage. You know it's wearing my 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:55.120 little vest. I don't know why. Got down on that knee. Boy. 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:59.040 This is how you do it, guys. This is how 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.960 you do it right here. None of the taco bell 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:07.360 packets and weird stuff I've seen people doing onlines. You 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.560 know what I'm saying, You gotta go classic, sometimes retro. 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.520 You know what I'm saying. Down on one knee, and 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:14.760 I say a bunch of stuf. I don't know if 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.720 I quoted the Notebook or Casey and Jojo, but I 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.320 was just I said a bunch of stuff I don't remember, 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:23.240 but I meant it. In the moment with God stood 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.480 up Gabral hug. It was it was the year of 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:31.160 our engagement, so then then we start making the wedding plans. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.840 And by we, I mean she starts making the wedding plans. Tiffany, 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.560 remember this include him just a little, you know, he's 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.400 just happy to be there, but make him feel like 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:47.920 he's participating. And so we start, you know, getting everything together. 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:53.200 We start sending out wedding invitations, and uh, one of 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:57.000 the wedding invitations comes back, but it doesn't come back 0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.440 to our house. It gets sent to the church that 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:06.160 we attend and work at. And I went in to 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.640 my father in law's office, who was the pastor. He said, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:16.280 they they sent their wedding invitation back. Really, yeah, they 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.320 they don't agree with the two of y'all being married. 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:27.440 It's an interracial marriage. I thought maybe this was one couple, 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.280 you know, maybe they were disgruntled. They were looking for 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.680 escapegoat to leave the church. Know that there were many 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:40.080 families that felt like a biracial man black and white 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.800 shouldn't be married to a white woman, So they left 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:51.440 the church. One hundred people deuces in a year that 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:56.360 was supposed to be framed by the joy of an 0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:03.640 engagement is now framed with prejudice and dissension. But we 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.040 put our heads down, man, and we just piled through it. 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.800 We get to twenty eleven. My father in law is 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:14.240 a g He's a champion. He stands up in the 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:18.880 pulpit and he preaches with passion against this sin called 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.760 prejudice and racism, to the point where someone asked him, 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:24.960 what are we going to do when you know these 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.280 black people and these Mexicans are in heaven. He said, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:33.920 don't worry about it, you won't be there. Some things 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.720 just don't go through the gate. So he took a 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:43.160 stand and he married us. He did the wedding ceremony 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:47.320 for us, and we got married. We sang to each other, 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.400 it was great. We went on our honeymoon, came back 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.400 and I went on tour. Was gone for three weeks. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.920 Well halfway through the tour, I get a phone call 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:02.480 from Lorna and her voice is shaking and she's in tears, 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:08.800 and I'm like, babe, what's going on. She says that 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:15.600 her dad has been diagnosed with leukemia. Newly weds, y'all, 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.040 we just went through a church split me finding out 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:20.760 people didn't like me for the first time in my 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.000 life because I'm black. And now my father in law 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.639 who is one of my heroes, has now been diagnosed 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.119 with what we feel like is a death sentence. And 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:35.160 a year that's supposed to be framed with the joy 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:46.360 of marriage has now been framed by illness, sickness, heartache. Man, 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.560 those were hard and there was more stuff going on. 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.720 I know that we've all had years like this that 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.720 twenty twenty has been hard, but it may not even 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.720 be the hardest year you've ever been through. We've all 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.960 got years like this where the rug gets pulled out 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.720 from under us and we're wondering what do we do? 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:09.719 And what happened to our plans and what happened to 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.560 our calendar and what happened to the things that we 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:16.159 thought were going to happen. I had a different idea 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.480 of what this was going to be. This was not 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.119 the year that I saw. We're in the middle of 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.760 a year like that right now. Where where I mean? 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.640 We started off the year with like forty seven million 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:32.080 acres of Australia being burned to the ground. We started 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.200 off the year with the news of Kobe Bryant and 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:39.160 his daughter and seven seven other people passing away. We've 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.560 had our president go under two articles of impeachment. We've 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:48.199 had a worldwide pandemic and quarantine, and that's just like 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.879 at the macro level. This isn't the personal implications of 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.879 the loneliness that we felt and the hurt that we 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.840 felt in the heartache that we felt, and we've had 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.000 to watch grandparents die on the other side of a 0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.040 piece of glass because you can't get into the facility 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.440 to see them. This is real. This is the year 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.400 that we've been living in. And that's where I have 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.440 to point myself, my soul, and my eyes to Scripture 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.120 because none of this is new to God. This isn't 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:20.760 anything that he hasn't seen before. It's not anything that 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.359 is outside of his control. And so I peered back 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.600 across the vast landscape of Scripture to look into the 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:33.080 heart of a young prophet named Isaiah, and he says, 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:40.199 in the year King Uziah died, maybe you feel like 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.760 that's the year you've been living in. It's the year 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.520 King Uziah died in your life. It wasn't the year 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.600 you saw, It wasn't the year you anticipated. It wasn't 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.040 the thing that you had in your heart for what 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:59.399 this was going to look like, and what you thought 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:10.639 was strong has been removed. Usiah means strength. In the 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:17.800 year that what I thought was strong dies, I realized 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:25.800 what true strengths really look like. Because Isaiah says, in 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:31.119 the year King Usiah died, I saw also the Lord 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.840 and maybe this year God has been removing some things 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:40.080 from your life that you've been dependent upon, that you 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.720 have placed your faith in, your confidence in because you 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.360 thought they were stronger than they really were. But there 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:51.119 is no one stronger than our God. We have discovered 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:55.680 in twenty twenty what true strength really looks like. We've 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:59.600 discovered that Hope has a name, Peace has a name, 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.760 Joy has a name, Comfort has a name. In the 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:10.720 year my strength died, I saw that God was stronger. 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:21.959 Come on and put your hands together. I thought our 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.720 education system was pretty strong until I had to download 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:31.359 twenty apps, send nineteen emails, and God bless all y'all teachers. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:35.359 I mean, it's just hard for all of us, we 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:37.520 all just trying to make I thought our healthcare system 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:42.600 was pretty strong, y'all, until they said, stay home, we 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:48.400 don't have occupancy. Y'all get sick. You one yump. Thought 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:53.280 that healthcare system was pretty strong, boy, then we gotta 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.720 flatten the curve. I thought y'all was supposed to flatten 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.520 the curve. Y'all healthcare professionalists, They're in a tough spot. Man. 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.000 I thought the economy was pretty strong. I've been here 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.200 about that a lot. Greatest economy in the history of America, 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:11.919 it's been, and it's been great. Oh yeah, But one little, 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:19.639 teeny tiny bacteria took out a whole infrastructure. Thought as 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:21.480 strong as I thought it was. Thought my marriage was 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.360 pretty strong, until we were spending weeks on end together 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.159 with nothing to distract us from our dysfunction, and we 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:30.359 had to look at each other in the eyes. Thought 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:36.240 I was strong. I thought my kids teachers were wrong 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:45.200 about them, my son miss me. No. Then you put 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.880 them in your house day after day, hour after hour, 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:56.960 minute after and you realize, Man, some of my perceptions 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:05.480 weren't as strong as I thought they were. But I 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:10.639 saw something stronger. Yeah. And instead of running to a 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:14.399 building to fix all my problems, and running to a 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.639 marriage to fix all my problems, and running to a 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:20.960 prescription to fix all my problems, I had to learn 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:24.480 to run to the name. Because the name of the 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:29.080 Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.920 and they are safe. They that way upon the Lord 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:37.640 shall renew their strengths. They shall rise up on wings 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.719 like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:44.880 will walk and not fay. I've discovered what true strength 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:56.840 really is. It's Jesus, always, only and forever Jesus. He's 0:23:56.960 --> 0:24:02.879 my health, He's my strength. Found out what strength really was, 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:09.720 found out what strength really was. You got strength today. 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:15.080 I like how the King James frames it for us. 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:22.360 In the year that King Uziah died, I saw also 0:24:25.240 --> 0:24:32.000 there's more to see. Many of us get stuck in 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:38.679 an isolated narrative where we only see one half of 0:24:38.720 --> 0:24:44.160 what is true, and because of the pain that we're 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:49.760 experiencing and the trauma that comes with the pain, our 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:54.439 perception and our perspective is held captive and we become 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:59.760 imprisoned with our pain because the narrative has been isolated. 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:06.560 But there's more to the story. My kids are fantastic 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:14.680 at isolating narratives. They'll run downstairs, hit me, he hit me, 0:25:14.880 --> 0:25:18.080 Kennon say it maybe hit me loss hit me me. 0:25:19.400 --> 0:25:21.920 I for a while it was like I just get 0:25:21.920 --> 0:25:26.040 onto the other one, like why did you hit him? Yeah? 0:25:26.240 --> 0:25:30.640 Exactly what's I've learned to ask a question, guys, learned 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:34.520 to ask a question. And what did you do to 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:41.760 him first? Cause you're not bringing me the whole story. 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:47.360 It's an isolated narrative. Facebook is sending you an isolated narrative. 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:53.440 Twitter is sending you an isolated narrative. CNN and MSNBC 0:25:53.760 --> 0:25:56.520 and Fox and all of them, they're sending us an 0:25:56.600 --> 0:26:01.080 isolated narrative. There is more to this story. There is 0:26:01.280 --> 0:26:05.119 more to be seen, there is more to experience. In 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:10.359 the year Strengths died, I saw also the Lord, and 0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:14.600 he was upon the throne. Transition did not change his position. 0:26:15.000 --> 0:26:17.840 He was still high and lifted up, and his glory 0:26:17.920 --> 0:26:23.280 filled the temple. I wish you'd just give him a 0:26:23.320 --> 0:26:25.399 little I wish I had just a little something on 0:26:25.440 --> 0:26:27.720 the organ, just a little just give me, just a 0:26:27.760 --> 0:26:34.560 little bit, gimme just to give me just I saw 0:26:34.680 --> 0:26:41.680 something else and it looked like the Son of God. Mm, 0:26:41.720 --> 0:26:45.240 thank you. I need some of them white girl amens too, 0:26:46.119 --> 0:26:47.879 you know them little white girl amens. So she's like 0:26:48.000 --> 0:26:54.040 so good, so good, Oh my god, oh my god, yeah, 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:57.240 so good. I was just journaling about this the other day. 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:01.120 I was drinking a chime, I tell you, I tell you, 0:27:01.240 --> 0:27:09.480 and it was just free. Oh lady, man, I'm a whoa. 0:27:10.000 --> 0:27:14.720 Let me ask you a question. What narrative have you 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:22.840 been isolated in? I was talking to my dad about 0:27:22.880 --> 0:27:26.600 some things, just you know, growing up, you got questions, 0:27:26.680 --> 0:27:29.320 you're trying to figure it out, and as you come 0:27:29.359 --> 0:27:32.440 into adulthood you start trying to dig around and see, 0:27:33.080 --> 0:27:35.200 you know, the context of things. And I was asking 0:27:35.240 --> 0:27:38.680 him some questions, and as he was telling me about 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:42.719 things that were happening around the context of my childhood, 0:27:42.760 --> 0:27:45.879 I started seeing a story that I hadn't seen before. 0:27:45.880 --> 0:27:49.840 In it, it changed the way that I saw some things. 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:55.320 I had been living from this place of pain, as 0:27:55.359 --> 0:27:59.840 if that was the only reality, and that the effects 0:27:59.840 --> 0:28:03.960 of that pain, those stressors, and those wounds were the 0:28:04.000 --> 0:28:13.480 only reality. You see, Pain can restrict sight. Wow, Pain 0:28:13.640 --> 0:28:19.520 can keep you from seeing the whole picture, y'all? That 0:28:19.680 --> 0:28:24.879 sure can. Man. You get hurt by one person at church, 0:28:26.920 --> 0:28:32.720 and now all Christians are bad. One pastor doesn't shake 0:28:32.800 --> 0:28:42.600 your hand. He didn't stop to talk to me, I mean, 0:28:43.960 --> 0:28:51.640 and now you all ministry is corrupt because somebody didn't 0:28:51.640 --> 0:28:57.840 shake your hand. The pain can restrict your sight. You 0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:02.080 can be hurt in your life, betrayed by a friend, 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:07.720 and now nobody's loyal. You can't even see the people 0:29:07.720 --> 0:29:11.920 that want to love you because the pain has blinded 0:29:11.920 --> 0:29:17.880 you to their very existence. You'll live from a place 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:21.720 of insecurity, where you're suspicious of everybody. Are you really 0:29:21.760 --> 0:29:24.000 with me? Are you really with me? Are you really 0:29:24.000 --> 0:29:26.440 with me? Are you really with me? Because a few 0:29:26.560 --> 0:29:29.959 people that were with you weren't actually for you, and 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:34.560 you rob yourself of deep, meaningful relationships because the pain 0:29:34.600 --> 0:29:37.680 has restricted your sight. You can't even see your kids. 0:29:37.680 --> 0:29:40.360 You can't let your kids become who they were created 0:29:40.400 --> 0:29:42.840 to be and live the life that God has called 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:45.840 them to live because you are trapped in an isolated 0:29:45.920 --> 0:29:49.280 narrative and your pain is restricting your vision. But your 0:29:49.360 --> 0:29:56.680 pain can also produce clarity. Because Isaiah saw something he 0:29:56.720 --> 0:30:02.560 had never seen before, experienced something he never experienced before. 0:30:03.800 --> 0:30:06.160 The scales came off of his eyes and he was 0:30:06.240 --> 0:30:10.760 able to see the Lord. Also, he was able to 0:30:10.800 --> 0:30:12.760 see the Lord in the midst of it. He was 0:30:12.800 --> 0:30:15.880 able to recognize the presence of the Savior. And it 0:30:16.000 --> 0:30:21.160 was that clarity of who Jesus was that allowed him 0:30:21.160 --> 0:30:25.680 to write scriptures like Isaiah ninety six, for unto us, 0:30:26.080 --> 0:30:29.840 a child is born, and unto us a son is given. 0:30:30.080 --> 0:30:33.120 How could you write it, Isaiah? I saw it. I 0:30:33.160 --> 0:30:35.400 saw it. I saw it. I saw it, and I 0:30:35.440 --> 0:30:38.360 didn't see it when everything was going right. I didn't 0:30:38.360 --> 0:30:41.000 see it when everything was lined up for me and 0:30:41.080 --> 0:30:43.720 it was all falling into place. You see. I had 0:30:43.760 --> 0:30:47.040 a vision in the year King Osiah died, and he 0:30:47.120 --> 0:30:50.000 told me the government will be upon his shoulders, and 0:30:50.120 --> 0:30:54.920 his name shall be called Wonderful counselor the Mighty God, 0:30:55.200 --> 0:30:59.160 the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. You see. It 0:30:59.240 --> 0:31:04.000 created some clarity for Isaiah. He got to write scriptures 0:31:04.280 --> 0:31:07.680 like God not only has power and strength, but he 0:31:07.840 --> 0:31:12.640 graciously uses it to save us. His clarity gave him 0:31:12.680 --> 0:31:16.440 authority when he wrote scriptures like when you pass through 0:31:16.480 --> 0:31:19.680 the water, I will be with you. And when you 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:22.920 pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. 0:31:23.280 --> 0:31:26.760 When you walk through the fire, woo, you will not 0:31:26.880 --> 0:31:35.440 be bursed. Come home if you allow it to. Your 0:31:35.520 --> 0:31:38.360 pain will allow you to see what has always been 0:31:38.400 --> 0:31:41.640 there but you never could quite put your finger on. 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:48.480 Pain can be a clarifier. You have to choose you 0:31:48.520 --> 0:31:53.440 have to choose if losing a king makes you blind 0:31:53.480 --> 0:31:58.040 to the king. Yeah, yeah, it's a king. It was 0:31:58.120 --> 0:32:01.040 a job, it was a real relationship. It was a 0:32:01.240 --> 0:32:06.120 opportunity of this. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's still 0:32:06.440 --> 0:32:10.840 the king, the king, and he's not just any old king. 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:17.160 He's the King of kings, He's the Lord of lords. 0:32:17.760 --> 0:32:22.480 He's the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. 0:32:22.880 --> 0:32:28.080 I love this one. The author and the finisher. Your 0:32:28.120 --> 0:32:33.680 story is not finished until God writes the final chapter. 0:32:34.040 --> 0:32:37.160 And let me tell you something, he hasn't written it yet. 0:32:37.560 --> 0:32:41.320 There is more story, more glory, more power, more presence, 0:32:41.400 --> 0:32:50.640 more miracles, more life. You choose what you see. You 0:32:50.760 --> 0:32:57.200 choose what you see. You choose the year King Uzaiah did. 0:32:57.280 --> 0:33:03.760 I saw also the Lord. He was high and lifted up. 0:33:05.080 --> 0:33:08.840 This glory feels when Isaiah died, I saw the Lord. 0:33:08.880 --> 0:33:12.120 He was high and lifted up. Well, I thought the 0:33:12.960 --> 0:33:16.480 greatest position in the early in an earthly kingdom was 0:33:16.520 --> 0:33:23.560 the king. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, But there's another realm 0:33:23.680 --> 0:33:27.160 higher than the earth. So there happens to be a 0:33:27.280 --> 0:33:31.000 king who is actually the king of the heavens and 0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:36.440 the earth. There was an office above his office, there 0:33:36.520 --> 0:33:41.040 was a higher court to appeal to, there was a 0:33:41.200 --> 0:33:47.200 greater reality to see. And in the pain, the pain 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:50.720 of the loss, and the pain of the disappointment, we 0:33:50.800 --> 0:33:55.040 don't ignore it. We don't act like it doesn't exist. 0:33:56.480 --> 0:33:59.360 We just allow it to point us to a greater reality. 0:34:01.320 --> 0:34:03.880 And what Isaiah saw was that the king that was 0:34:03.960 --> 0:34:10.680 over him had somebody over him. But what I'm trying 0:34:10.719 --> 0:34:14.600 to tell you today is the thing that has been 0:34:14.719 --> 0:34:23.799 over you has someone over it. Yeah, yes, sir, yes, sir. 0:34:23.880 --> 0:34:28.479 The thing that is over you has someone over it. 0:34:29.360 --> 0:34:32.759 When you're going through something difficult, you'll hear people like 0:34:32.960 --> 0:34:35.600 well intentioned trying to encourage you and say, you know what, 0:34:35.640 --> 0:34:37.640 you're gonna make it through it. You're gonna make it 0:34:37.640 --> 0:34:39.080 through it. You're gonna make it through it. You're gonna 0:34:39.080 --> 0:34:40.680 make it through it. Man, you're gonna get through this. 0:34:40.719 --> 0:34:42.279 The either way I walk through the Valley of the 0:34:42.280 --> 0:34:44.319 Shadow of Death, I'll fear not. Yeah, you're gonna get 0:34:44.440 --> 0:34:49.160 through it. Yeah I've I got through it. But I'm 0:34:49.160 --> 0:34:54.120 still not over it. I'm no longer living in that 0:34:54.239 --> 0:34:57.560 season of my life. But man, every morning I wake up, 0:34:57.760 --> 0:35:00.839 decisions that I make are being influ by the thing 0:35:00.880 --> 0:35:03.800 I've been through. But I'm not over yet. I'm not 0:35:03.920 --> 0:35:06.319 over yet. I'm not over how she hurt me. I'm 0:35:06.360 --> 0:35:08.440 not over how he hurt me. I'm not over the 0:35:08.480 --> 0:35:10.960 time we spent together, the time we didn't spend together. 0:35:11.160 --> 0:35:13.759 I'm not quite over it yet. I'm not over it. 0:35:13.920 --> 0:35:18.040 And if you're not over it, it's probably over you. 0:35:20.560 --> 0:35:25.640 It's probably influencing decisions you don't even realize. It's probably 0:35:25.680 --> 0:35:28.000 making you take a stand on things that you don't 0:35:28.040 --> 0:35:30.560 really need to take a stand on. It's making you 0:35:30.680 --> 0:35:33.640 view people a certain way, and they really have great 0:35:33.680 --> 0:35:37.040 intentions and they want what's best for you. If you're 0:35:37.080 --> 0:35:39.719 not over it, it's probably over you. And I'm not 0:35:39.760 --> 0:35:42.560 an insensitive preacher today. I'm not saying just get over it, 0:35:42.640 --> 0:35:44.520 just get over it. You gotta get over you gotta 0:35:44.520 --> 0:35:46.719 climb over it. You gotta I'm not saying any of that. 0:35:46.840 --> 0:35:51.440 But you can look over it. You can look over it. 0:35:51.520 --> 0:35:54.319 You can lift your eyes a little bit higher. You 0:35:54.360 --> 0:35:56.480 can lift your eyes a little bit higher. You can 0:35:56.520 --> 0:35:59.440 see a little bit further beyond the reality that you 0:35:59.560 --> 0:36:02.600 think is all consuming. You can look a little higher 0:36:02.680 --> 0:36:05.839 and realize that the thing that is over you has 0:36:05.960 --> 0:36:10.160 someone over it, that there is a higher office of command, 0:36:10.520 --> 0:36:14.600 that he is in control, that he is ordering your footsteps, 0:36:14.880 --> 0:36:17.560 that he is doing what he has purpose in your life, 0:36:17.840 --> 0:36:23.879 that he's working all things together for the good. There's 0:36:23.960 --> 0:36:29.400 somebody over it, somebody over it. God is still God. 0:36:30.040 --> 0:36:35.759 God is still God, and you still aren't. God is 0:36:35.800 --> 0:36:41.120 still God. So stop trying to control it, stop trying 0:36:41.160 --> 0:36:45.080 to manipulate it, and look over it. I will lift 0:36:45.160 --> 0:36:50.240 mine eyes to the hills from which come in my help. 0:36:50.320 --> 0:36:53.319 You have to look over it so that you can 0:36:53.360 --> 0:36:57.799 see a greater reality. You're through it, but you're not 0:36:57.920 --> 0:37:04.520 over it. Life is full of both wonders and wounds. 0:37:06.280 --> 0:37:10.520 We choose which one we glance at and which one 0:37:10.560 --> 0:37:16.160 we stare into. We choose which one we live from. 0:37:16.280 --> 0:37:18.880 Are you gonna live from the wonder of who God is? 0:37:19.000 --> 0:37:21.360 Or from the wounds of what people have done to you. 0:37:26.440 --> 0:37:30.839 I'm gonna change gears a little bit here, and I'm 0:37:30.840 --> 0:37:33.279 gonna move us to a little bit further down in 0:37:33.320 --> 0:37:40.000 this scripture. Is this all right today? Yeah? Verse one, 0:37:40.080 --> 0:37:42.840 it says, in the year King Uzaiah died, I saw. 0:37:46.360 --> 0:37:49.839 In verse three, Isaiah describes what he hears, and one 0:37:49.920 --> 0:37:53.680 crowd into another, speaking of the angels, and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, 0:37:53.800 --> 0:37:56.200 is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full 0:37:56.239 --> 0:38:01.520 of his glory. So verse one he sees. Verse three 0:38:01.680 --> 0:38:08.680 he hears, and then down in verse five he speaks, 0:38:09.800 --> 0:38:14.719 I wonder what our world would look like. Wow, if 0:38:14.760 --> 0:38:23.520 we would see listen, and then respond, I didn't come 0:38:23.600 --> 0:38:25.480 to talk about that, but I drop it off and 0:38:25.520 --> 0:38:30.279 see what y'all would do with it. He responds to 0:38:30.320 --> 0:38:33.360 what he has seen, he sees the Lord. Now anyone 0:38:33.480 --> 0:38:37.239 who sees the Lord and like the vision that Isaiah 0:38:37.480 --> 0:38:40.320 has received, I don't want to know what they say next? 0:38:41.719 --> 0:38:47.680 What's the response? And he says, WHOA, it's me, And 0:38:47.719 --> 0:38:51.720 I'm not talking about like David at like eight point thirty, 0:38:53.560 --> 0:38:56.600 Like how why what do you do you wake up 0:38:56.600 --> 0:39:00.320 at four to like are you working up through the morning? 0:39:00.719 --> 0:39:07.279 I don't understand this. He says, WHOA, it's me for 0:39:07.640 --> 0:39:14.200 I am undone. See so many of us when we 0:39:14.239 --> 0:39:17.920 get a revelation of who God is, we want to 0:39:18.000 --> 0:39:23.320 run and tell somebody else what they should be doing. 0:39:24.800 --> 0:39:31.480 Because you saw this in scripture. We miss we missed 0:39:31.520 --> 0:39:38.880 the fact that revelation is for reevaluation of us, not 0:39:39.040 --> 0:39:43.680 everybody else. What I gotta The Lord told me, you 0:39:43.719 --> 0:39:45.520 know he really wants me in that word six am 0:39:45.560 --> 0:39:49.879 every day. Well he told you, bro, he didn't tell 0:39:49.920 --> 0:39:55.000 me six am. He told me nine pm something. We 0:39:55.040 --> 0:39:58.799 want to click the share button on and God's like, na, Bro, 0:39:58.920 --> 0:40:02.600 I need you to download that into your spirit because 0:40:02.680 --> 0:40:04.960 I want to change some things. I want to transform 0:40:05.040 --> 0:40:11.080 some things that anger. I'm gonna work on that. That perspective, 0:40:11.120 --> 0:40:14.280 I'm gonna work on that a little bit. You cussing 0:40:14.320 --> 0:40:17.680 out the TSA agent, Torrin, I'm gonna work. I'm gonna 0:40:17.680 --> 0:40:22.520 work on it. God be testing my patience in the 0:40:22.560 --> 0:40:31.279 TSA liney'd Oh my God. So I just I just 0:40:31.320 --> 0:40:34.480 want to remind you today that the true response to 0:40:34.560 --> 0:40:37.400 people who have really seen Jesus is an inward look, 0:40:39.680 --> 0:40:42.839 woe is me? You know, they should really fix that, 0:40:43.640 --> 0:40:47.440 they should really work on that. They should. Doesn't anyone 0:40:47.440 --> 0:40:50.200 around here know what they're doing. I'm sure there's people 0:40:50.239 --> 0:40:53.120 talk about church like that, not elevation church, that wouldn't 0:40:53.120 --> 0:40:56.160 exist here. But everybody got an opinion, and they got 0:40:56.160 --> 0:40:58.480 a revelation who Jesus. They want to share it with 0:40:58.520 --> 0:41:00.799 everybody and tell everybody with their supposed to be doing. 0:41:01.040 --> 0:41:04.759 You post articles on your timeline hoping that somebody else 0:41:04.800 --> 0:41:08.040 sees it. You sub tweeting because you're gonna fix somebody 0:41:08.239 --> 0:41:12.360 on Twitter. No no, no, no non nine nah? Whoa 0:41:12.800 --> 0:41:16.480 is me for? I am a man of unclean lips. 0:41:16.719 --> 0:41:20.520 I got problems, I got issues. I'm dysfunctional. I'm not 0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:23.920 here to call you out. I need work done in me. 0:41:24.960 --> 0:41:29.400 Fix me, heal me. I'm a sinner. I need Jesus. 0:41:30.760 --> 0:41:34.160 Woe is me? Not woe is them? They should? How 0:41:34.239 --> 0:41:37.959 could they release everybody from all that you just saw 0:41:38.200 --> 0:41:41.160 Jesus letting them come in and change some things in 0:41:41.200 --> 0:41:46.480 your life? Woe is me? Woe is me? I need him, 0:41:46.680 --> 0:41:50.560 I need him, I need him, I need Jesus. I 0:41:50.640 --> 0:41:57.759 need Jesus and he knows it, and a lot of us. 0:41:57.800 --> 0:42:00.000 We would like to skip to verse eight right here, 0:42:02.160 --> 0:42:04.480 because Isaiah says that he hears the voice of the 0:42:04.480 --> 0:42:07.160 Lord asking who will I send and who will go 0:42:07.239 --> 0:42:10.600 for us? And and Isaiah says, ooh me, me, me, me, 0:42:10.600 --> 0:42:13.680 me me, I'll go. I'll go. I'll go, lord Ship, 0:42:13.760 --> 0:42:19.640 I'm a man, I'll go. I'll do it. I'll do it. 0:42:19.680 --> 0:42:22.120 I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll stand on stage, 0:42:22.160 --> 0:42:24.839 I'll declare your glory, Lord, I'll do it. I'll lead 0:42:24.920 --> 0:42:28.640 that corporate that corporate boardroom to the glory of the Lord. 0:42:28.640 --> 0:42:30.520 If you just blessed me with the influence God, I'll 0:42:30.560 --> 0:42:32.200 do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. Whatever you 0:42:32.239 --> 0:42:34.640 want me to do. Here am I send me And 0:42:34.719 --> 0:42:36.640 we want to skip to verse eight, but we have 0:42:36.719 --> 0:42:39.960 to go through the process from verse five to verse eight, 0:42:40.000 --> 0:42:42.880 which says one of the angels came down and touched 0:42:42.920 --> 0:42:46.319 the lips of Isaiah with a call and purified him 0:42:46.320 --> 0:42:48.799 and cleansed him from all of his iniquity. What I'm 0:42:48.800 --> 0:42:51.480 trying to tell you today is before you touch a stage, 0:42:51.480 --> 0:42:55.040 you got to touch the altar. Before you touch a mic, 0:42:55.120 --> 0:42:58.479 you need to touch the altar. We need to touch 0:42:58.520 --> 0:43:01.160 the altar. We need to touch the altar. I know 0:43:01.440 --> 0:43:04.640 church is about programming, and it's about lights, and it's 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:07.680 about all this stuff that we've built around the Gospel. 0:43:07.760 --> 0:43:09.680 I think it's all good. I use it all, I 0:43:09.760 --> 0:43:13.520 love it all, but you cannot replace the altar with it. 0:43:13.600 --> 0:43:16.200 We still got to get to the altar. We still 0:43:16.239 --> 0:43:18.640 need a touch from heaven. We still need a touch 0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:21.160 of his power. We need a touch of his goodness. 0:43:21.400 --> 0:43:25.040 We need deliverance, we need transformation. We've got to get 0:43:25.200 --> 0:43:28.760 to an altar and what twenty twenty has taught us. 0:43:28.960 --> 0:43:32.120 It may not be what we saw, but it can 0:43:32.239 --> 0:43:36.520 be the year that we saw. Also, the Lord and 0:43:36.640 --> 0:43:40.080 I went to the altar, and the altar touched me 0:43:40.520 --> 0:43:44.279 and transformed me and changed me. That's the only way 0:43:44.320 --> 0:43:47.040 you go from woe is me to hear am I 0:43:47.400 --> 0:43:51.000 is a touch from the altar. Oh, God, touch our 0:43:51.040 --> 0:43:56.480 hearts today, touch us. I don't care if it burns. 0:43:56.520 --> 0:44:01.160 I don't care if it hurts. God, you can do 0:44:01.239 --> 0:44:05.239 more with a touch from the altar then you can 0:44:05.280 --> 0:44:09.400 do with the lyric. You can do more with a 0:44:09.520 --> 0:44:14.839 touch from the altar than talent. You can do more 0:44:14.880 --> 0:44:20.640 with a touch from the altar. So do it, Lord, 0:44:22.600 --> 0:44:27.719 touch me. Yeah. I want to go. I want to lead, 0:44:27.880 --> 0:44:30.360 I want to be a part, I want to come alongside. 0:44:30.400 --> 0:44:34.840 But more than anything, God, I want to be touched. 0:44:37.480 --> 0:44:41.719 I want to be touched God. I want to be changed. 0:44:41.760 --> 0:44:47.520 I want to be more like you. Son about subscribers 0:44:47.560 --> 0:44:54.400 and followers and platforms and people and opportunities. Jesus, it's 0:44:54.480 --> 0:45:02.759 about you, so touch me. To my father in law, 0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:10.560 Pastor Ron Macy said, sometimes God has to change us 0:45:12.160 --> 0:45:17.520 before he can use us. And if change is the 0:45:17.600 --> 0:45:27.200 price to carry the cross, I'm here for it. Change 0:45:27.239 --> 0:45:34.480 anything you want in me, God, change my heart, change 0:45:34.520 --> 0:45:41.279 the motivations of it. Always striving, always reaching, always performing, 0:45:41.400 --> 0:45:49.200 always achieving. But nothing replaces a touch. So wherever people 0:45:49.239 --> 0:45:54.960 are listening from today, God, would you touch them, would 0:45:55.000 --> 0:45:58.759 you touch their relationships, would you touch their homes? Would 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:02.080 you touch the places where they're lonely? And touch the 0:46:02.120 --> 0:46:07.080 places where they're broken? Because if you're gonna really use it, 0:46:09.200 --> 0:46:17.000 we have to surrender to the process of transformation. In 0:46:17.120 --> 0:46:24.480 the year King Uzaiah died, I saw also the Lord. 0:46:25.960 --> 0:46:28.319 He was high, and he was lifted up in his 0:46:28.520 --> 0:46:32.719 glory filled the temple. Now this was not the year 0:46:32.760 --> 0:46:37.279 I saw, since the year I saw coming wasn't what 0:46:37.360 --> 0:46:42.600 I expected. And yeah, I saw some valleys, I saw 0:46:42.600 --> 0:46:46.960 some low places, I saw some hardships, I saw some disappointments, 0:46:46.960 --> 0:46:52.440 I saw some tears, But I also saw the lords 0:46:53.920 --> 0:46:57.080 and I saw attributes of his character I would to 0:46:57.080 --> 0:47:00.880 have known existed had I not have to live through 0:47:01.520 --> 0:47:12.440 the year and now in twenty twenty, I see, I 0:47:12.520 --> 0:47:18.759 see that you're good. I see that you're real. I 0:47:18.800 --> 0:47:23.759 see that you're present. I see that your grace is 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:30.840 weaving my story together with a needle called time and trust. 0:47:35.200 --> 0:47:39.680 We spend a lot of time today and Isaiah six. 0:47:40.640 --> 0:47:43.920 This is actually just the beginning of Isaiah's ministry. It's 0:47:44.120 --> 0:47:48.400 very young when this happened. There are sixty six books 0:47:49.560 --> 0:47:56.040 in Isaiah that lets me know that story doesn't end here. 0:47:58.600 --> 0:48:04.400 If it's not good, God's not done. The story doesn't 0:48:04.440 --> 0:48:12.800 in here. There's sixty more chapters to be written, sixty 0:48:12.920 --> 0:48:19.279 more seasons of life where you get to see who 0:48:19.360 --> 0:48:22.680 God is and what he's capable of. So don't get 0:48:22.719 --> 0:48:27.560 stuck here, don't get stuck in twenty twenty. Don't carry 0:48:27.640 --> 0:48:32.799 all of this with you. May this be the year 0:48:32.840 --> 0:48:38.920 that you say I saw something else. I saw something greater, 0:48:39.640 --> 0:48:46.759 something bigger. I saw Jesus. Let's pray, Lord, thank you 0:48:46.800 --> 0:48:50.560 so much for your word. It is a lamp unto 0:48:50.640 --> 0:48:55.800 our feet and a light unto our path. God. I 0:48:55.880 --> 0:49:00.359 pray that your word would illuminate our hearts today, that 0:49:00.400 --> 0:49:04.080 we would see things we've never seen before that we 0:49:04.120 --> 0:49:08.200 would behold your glory God, and that we would be 0:49:08.440 --> 0:49:11.800 changed by it. God, I pray that there would be 0:49:11.840 --> 0:49:14.600 a transformation that would occur in the heart of every 0:49:14.640 --> 0:49:17.759 person under the sound of my voice. I pray that 0:49:17.840 --> 0:49:22.080 our perspective would be lifted, our hope would be lifted, 0:49:22.600 --> 0:49:25.960 our eyes would be lifted. God. We know that you 0:49:26.080 --> 0:49:30.080 give us beauty for ashes. God, so would you bestow 0:49:30.239 --> 0:49:34.279 beauty upon us right now? God, Lord, you give us 0:49:34.320 --> 0:49:36.799 a song in the midst of our sorrows. God, so 0:49:37.080 --> 0:49:40.920 would you put the melody in our hearts again, even 0:49:40.960 --> 0:49:43.719 in difficulty. God, I pray that we would see that 0:49:43.800 --> 0:49:46.799 you are worthy to be praised, nor that you are 0:49:46.920 --> 0:49:52.040 higher than it all seed, it high and in control. Lord. 0:49:52.120 --> 0:49:56.239 We love you. We worship you in Jesus' name, and 0:49:56.320 --> 0:50:01.200 the church says Amen, God, bless you, Elevation. I love y'all, Man, 0:50:01.320 --> 0:50:08.120 God bless you. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks 0:50:08.120 --> 0:50:10.719 to those of you who give generously to this ministry. 0:50:11.040 --> 0:50:14.000 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You 0:50:14.000 --> 0:50:16.399 can click the link in the description to give now, 0:50:17.000 --> 0:50:20.840 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 0:50:21.400 --> 0:50:24.520 and if you enjoyed the podcast, You can subscribe. You 0:50:24.560 --> 0:50:26.600 can share it with your friends. You can click the 0:50:26.640 --> 0:50:28.920 share button, take a screenshot and share it on your 0:50:28.920 --> 0:50:31.919 social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again 0:50:31.960 --> 0:50:38.120 for listening. God bless you.