Timing Your Testimony

0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:04.680 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:07.160 Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.479 you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.559 it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.960 see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:23.200 y'all be seated. I want to tell you a story today, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:31.600 story from the Bible from Second Kings chapter eight. And 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.840 you might not have heard this one before. It's really good. 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:44.440 It's really good. In Second King's chapter eight, there's a 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.640 little story like you said that already. I'm just stalling 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:56.000 while I find my scripture. The scripture records this. Now 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:01.360 Elisha had said to the woman who's son he had 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:06.520 restored to life, go away with your family and stay 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.679 for a while. Put that in the chat. Stay for 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:14.399 a while, I feel God on the first verse of 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.280 the passage, and we've got five more to go past 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:25.160 her keenan stay for a while. But here's the bad part. 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:30.399 Stay for a while wherever you can, not necessarily where 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:35.560 you want, because the Lord has decreed a famine in 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.600 the land that will last seven years. And the woman 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.679 proceeded to do as the Man of God said, she 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.000 and her family went away and stayed in the land 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:51.200 of the Philistines seven years. At the end of the 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.120 seven years, she came back from the land of the 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.720 Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:01.800 house and land. The King was talking to Geheesi, the 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.720 servant of the Man of God, and had said, tell 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:11.400 me all about the great things Elisha has done. Just 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:14.240 as gehes I was telling the king how Elisha had 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.920 restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.320 had brought back to life, came to appeal to the 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:31.919 king for her house and land. Wow, gahees I said, 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:39.079 this is the woman, my lord the King, and that's 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:45.200 her son whom Elisha restored to life. The king asked 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:50.359 the woman about it, and she told him, then you're 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:56.120 ready for this. He assigned an official to her case 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:06.359 and said to him, give back everything that belonged to her. 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:09.680 I need to know who's with me today because it 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.960 feels like a funeral in the room. But it's really 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:18.960 a great opportunity for you to shout say give back everything. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:24.040 In the chat, give back everything. This is not a 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.680 time for lowercase. This is a time for all cats. 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:34.720 Give back everything. Say it again, give back everything that 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:47.360 belonged to her, including all the income from her land, 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:56.400 from the day she left the country until now. So 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.320 this is your sermon. You're the one that I the 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.640 devil to get this message for well good, because the 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.560 Lord told me to talk to you today about timing 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:13.960 your testimony. Do you know what I mean when I 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.640 say testimony put the word testimony in the chat. For 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.919 some of you, this will bring up a courtroom image, 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.560 depending on the path that your life has taken, or 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.679 what you're watching or whatever you're aware of. For others, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.080 it will put us back in a church during the 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.720 scariest time of the church service. And how many know 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.400 what I'm talking about when I say a testimony service 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.040 in a church because it's totally ad lived and there 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.720 are no gutters in case the balls go right off. 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.280 You know, you never know if it's going to hit 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.480 any pins or if somebody's gonna stand up and monopolize. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.920 The time, Pastor Mickey used to do the testimony service, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.160 and he used to have people come up and say stuff. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:00.720 When I started this church, I had had people share 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.120 their testimonies, but I always had a rule, and this 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.040 was my rule, and I think it's a pretty good rule. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.240 They could share their testimony, but I always had to 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:16.360 hold the mic. Is that true? And I trained our 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:19.320 campus fastors. This is this true, Campus Fastors. I said, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.839 when you bring somebody up on stage that you can't trust, 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:26.679 and let me tell you who to trust the least, 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.080 the one who is the most excited to come up 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:35.200 and share when you offer the opportunity. So that's our rule. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.280 You hold the mic, and I'll tell you why. Just 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.000 because there's one story that stands out of my mind. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.240 I've seen some testimonies services go really bad, and maybe 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.840 you have to one that I heard about. I didn't 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.520 see this with my own eyes, but my friend Carl, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.919 he had this incident where he was playing piano behind 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.440 the pastor and during testimony service there was a man 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.080 who stood up and said, I called him this morning 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.120 to confirm this was true. Do you remember the story? 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.480 He was playing piano and a man stood up and said, 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:13.480 I just need to confess to the Lord that I've 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:18.880 been having some really bad thoughts about people. And yes, 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.000 I mean you, big boy, And he turns in points 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:27.800 to my friend Carl's dad, And so Carl's dad, do 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.040 you know the story? And Carl's dad stood up right. 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.159 I barely remembered it too, but he said, and I 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.640 mean you, big boy. I'm talking about you, big boy 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.240 in testimony service. And Carl's dad stood up, comes to 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.159 the front of the church. This is a little church, 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.360 there's no security, comes to the front of the church 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.560 with his chest out and says, well, how about we 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.400 move this to the parking lot. You're talking about me? 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:55.640 So what's my number one rule for testimony service? You 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:00.600 hold the mic because I can't trust you yet. And 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.919 trust takes time, and there are certain things that you 0:07:04.000 --> 0:07:07.600 need to hold on to until you've had enough relational 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:13.800 time to develop trust. That's not being paranoid. Yeah, that's 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:21.080 just the wisdom of experience. So another thing that I 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:26.000 would teach is kind of like a countdown timer, like 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.960 after sixty seconds, take it back. Take the mic back 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.160 after about sixty seconds, that's all it takes. If they 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.960 start with my great grandmother, get the mic, start pulling 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.320 it back, pull it back slowly, so it doesn't happen 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:47.040 all at once, It just kind of slowly. And the 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:52.600 truth of the matter is, you never really get to 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:56.760 share the truth story of what God is doing in 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.360 your life. As it is, you don't really have time 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.800 to tell everything, and you really don't have trust to 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.880 tell everything. What I called it in a recent sermon 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.880 was a time lapse testimony where you edit out the 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:12.920 scenes that you don't want other people to see. And 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.080 I think that's wise. I don't think you should just 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.720 trust anybody talking about the things that God has done 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:24.040 in your life. What I wonder is, have you even 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:34.480 told yourself your true testimony? When I read the scripture 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:39.280 in Two Kings, chapter eight, it kind of came alive 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.559 in me to realize that, I guess, depending on how 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.040 you look at it, God either has really terrible timing 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:51.800 or really impeccable timing. You could make the case from 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.240 certain scriptures that God has terrible timing. And I know 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.760 that makes me sound like a heretic, and they could 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:59.839 probably clip this and put it on YouTube or something 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:05.600 like that and say all my false teachings. But four 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.679 days after Lazarus dies is bad timing to show up 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.840 and help, Or the fourth watch of the night, just 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.160 before dawn is a terrible time to step in and 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:22.640 stop the storm. In this scripture, though it brought to 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:28.480 my memory all the times that God was waiting for 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:32.480 the exact right moment in my life where He could 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.320 achieve the most glory out of my situation to step in. 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.200 Some sermons that I preach are like a lesson. This one, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.640 to me in my spirit, feels more like a lifeline 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.760 that God gave me to give to somebody as you 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:53.600 were waiting for the restoration of something that you lost. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.280 And if we can look at this scripture for a 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.640 moment today, I think we can see some things to 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.600 help us. Especially in verse one, it says that Elisha 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.400 had said to the woman whose son he had restored. 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.920 Everybody say the word restored. I love that word. I 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.240 think we need to use it more in church, restored, 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.640 restored to life. And he told that woman go away 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.800 with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.360 because the Lord has to create a famine in the 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:29.280 land that will last seven years. Now here's what will 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.520 get you about the story. In verse two, the woman 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:36.600 proceeded to do as the Man of God said, and 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.920 then when she came back seven years later, she lost 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:48.400 what she had. So I can understand characters like Jonah, 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.400 who God says, go to Nineveh but you want to 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.559 go to Tarsish, and because you want to go to Tarsish, 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.760 you end up on the seaweed Mediterranean diet. You end 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.960 up having to spend the night the fish. That's understandable. 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:07.160 This scripture suggests that you can do exactly what God 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:12.960 tells you, that you can go exactly where He sends you, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:18.040 that you can act on God's word and not see 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.920 the results that you imagine. You can do everything right. 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:25.840 And see, this is where we get in trouble because 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.920 sometimes we become convinced that the famine is our fault. 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.920 Notice in the passage, the Lord decreed the famine, and 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.959 the Lord told the woman to leave. But when she left, 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.000 in the process of going where God sent her to survive, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.480 she lost something that she had before she left. And 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.400 the famine wasn't her fault. And there's no disobedience. I mean, 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.800 this woman, you don't know much about her, maybe, but 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.440 she's absolutely a man because she had a very generous heart. 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.480 And we kind of know this woman. We know a 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.440 lot about this woman, and to me, she's familiar because 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:10.440 I've preached a lot about her story. But see things 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.400 have changed for her. You know, one day you can 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.280 stand up and share where you're at in your life 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.599 and is so amazing and you're so blessed. One of 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.640 the reasons that I don't teach parenting sermons is because 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:26.920 mine's still live with me, and I don't want to 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:32.120 tempt God. Do you understand what I mean? To get 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.600 up and preach seven ways to raise an amazing kid? 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:41.199 And then God sends seven demons in my kid so 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.440 that I can see that sometimes you can do all 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.920 the right things as a parent. It'll keep you from 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.800 getting judgmental. To realize that this is the same woman 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.760 when the prophet asked her what do you want? Because 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.000 see she had done a great thing for Elisha, And 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.040 when the prophet said what do you want? She said 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:03.120 something interesting. I don't need anything. I've got a home 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.240 among my own people. And the woman who needed nothing 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:14.360 in Second King's chapter four now has nothing in Second 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:19.040 King's Chapter eight. What is the point of that for 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.880 me to bring it up? Don't be arrogant in seasons 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:27.880 of blessings, don't be arrogant, And by the same token, 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:33.559 in seasons of struggle, don't despair. And you would love 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.560 to convince you that it's all your fault, even the 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.040 things that people did to you, that there was something 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:46.480 wrong with you that made them do it. But the 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:53.320 famine wasn't her fault. The famine wasn't her fault. Now 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:55.760 I hesitate to preach this because we live in a 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.280 time where people kind of don't want to take responsibility 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:03.520 for anything. So by saying this, the famine isn't their fault, 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:09.200 I'm afraid that my sermon will be misapplied. Okay, the 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:14.120 famine wasn't her fault, but she still had a responsibility, 0:14:14.400 --> 0:14:23.120 right right, So she walks back into the presence of 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:31.520 the king to ask him to give back what she 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:39.880 lost when she left, what you lost when you left, 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:47.560 what you lost when you left. Okay, I'm gonna share 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:53.680 something with you. This is kind of personal, But about 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:57.880 two and a half years ago, I realized there were 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.040 some things in my life that God wanted to give me, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.320 and that indeed he had promised me that I had 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.760 given up on. And I'll tell you exactly what it was. 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.640 It's not some deep, dark secret. I just, you know, 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:12.320 never really thought to share it with you till I 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:16.840 read this passage. Pretty much I had made up my 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:20.520 mind that I was some kind of machine that God 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.160 wanted to use to do ministry, and I thought that 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:27.280 my greatest value to God was what he could use 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.560 me to do. I don't think I would have said 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.040 it like that. I certainly preached the opposite of that. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.280 You're a child of God, you're the righteousness of God. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.400 You're not a human doing, You're a human being. But 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.200 you can say all kinds of stuff with your mouth, 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.240 and I believe it in your heart. I promise you 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.960 you can all day long have the right answers and 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:47.280 then deep down in your heart have some really dark questions. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.680 And for me, I was starting to wonder, like, do 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:59.160 I matter apart from what I do? Now that's a 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.120 tender thing to say to you, because some of it 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.840 I'm still undoing. Let me tell you a little bit 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.000 of my testimony. I started preaching when I was sixteen, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.320 So for me, that was really early for me to 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.280 become acquainted with the fact that when you stand up 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:20.960 and talk, you're representing God. Right. I'm thankful that God 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.160 called me at that stage of my life. I really 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.480 wouldn't change any of it, you know, but what it 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:31.120 did in me it started to kind of conflate my 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:36.680 identity with my contribution, or I could say it another way. 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.600 It kind of started to confuse my identity with my gift. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.200 That happens to a lot of pastors. And about two 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.840 and a half years ago I found myself in the 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.560 position of this woman. Now here's how I relate to her. 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.880 Not that I'm a widow. There's a lot I don't. 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:59.000 She's a woman, I'm a man. This woman, as a 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.400 matter of fact, has seen a physical resurrection of her child. 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:09.480 What I can relate to her in this way is 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.879 that God wanted to give her something that she didn't 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:17.560 even know to ask for, and that in the process 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:25.240 of surviving a famine, she had lost something. I think 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.960 in the process in chunks I never talked to you 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.000 about this, but in the process of building this church, 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.000 which I believe God called me to do as a leader, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.680 as a preacher, I think there are some things that 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.359 while I was doing what it required to do, that 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.840 I kind of left myself out of it. Y'all are 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.320 like God was he? What drug was he on? It 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.040 wasn't like all that, because it doesn't always have to 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.600 be like all of that. All I know is I 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:54.439 would find myself many times wondering if I couldn't do 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:58.560 what I did, would I have any right to be here? 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:02.040 And basically I thought that the only way for me 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:08.199 to belong was to bring something external to myself for others. 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.600 And there came a point because sometimes you have to 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.800 go low enough, and I experienced several moments that God 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:17.440 gave me. I really see it now as a gift. 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:18.720 I and see it as a gift at the time. 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.240 But God let me get low enough that I had 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.520 to make a decision and I did that if this 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:31.119 is what it cost to succeed in ministry, I would 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:38.320 rather fail in people's eyes but have joy inside myself 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:46.199 then achieve everything that the world offers and feel empty. 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:52.439 And the reason that I'm telling you this is because 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.800 I think this happens to all of us from time 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.119 to time, that we have to do certain things in 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:02.240 certain seasons, right like being a mom. If you've ever 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.879 been a mom, or you're considering being a mom, you 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.520 should know or testify to the fact. If you've experienced it, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.480 you can say amen to this. If you haven't experienced it, 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.840 you can consider it in the contract of becoming a 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:18.280 mom that you become a hostage to another human in 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:27.119 the process, and it's not just for moms. Like sometimes 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.440 as a man, to build your career, sometimes you find 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.879 yourself in the process of making a living, you lose 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:39.320 a sense of yourself and what's important. So the prophet said, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.280 you've got to get out of here, and she did 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.159 what the prophet said. She wasn't running from God, she 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:48.040 wasn't disobeying God. She was doing what she had to 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:54.400 do to survive. Can you own the fact that some 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:56.359 of the things that you did in your life, you 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.959 were doing what you had to do, and the devils 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.600 beats you up with it at night, like, how could 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.040 you do that? That was the best I could do 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.800 in that season. I was doing the best I could. 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.399 I was balancing on Oh, I was balancing so much. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:15.119 It was all I could do to stand up stream. 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.200 And then the enemy will come along and subtract all 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:24.359 of those all of those factors of survival. She didn't 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.320 run from God. The prophet told her to go away, 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.840 and she lost what was hers in the process of 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:37.760 being obedient to God. Because I kind of felt like 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:41.520 a hypocrite when I was struggling emotionally. And here's how 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.920 it wou be. You come out to preach. The worship 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:48.280 team is going into, you know, something very powerful and anthemic. 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.399 And sometimes it was a song I wrote and I 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:56.560 wouldn't feel the lyrics to the song I wrote, and 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:58.240 I'd be coming out here. But I have a job 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.200 to do and I want to be responsible. I mean, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:02.720 good God, if I'm a plumber, I don't get to feel, 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:05.600 you know, putting a wrench on a pipe. You got 0:21:05.640 --> 0:21:07.879 to just fix something. So I've got a job to do. 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.480 So I'll come up here and inspire faith. Not every time, 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:17.160 but a lot of times. And I would feel guilty. 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:22.760 What it took out of me to build the ministry 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.520 put me in a place where I could not receive 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:37.359 ministry myself, and it scared me. It scared me that 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:42.439 I could become a shell. And I had to have 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:47.000 a moment. And I had a moment that reminds me 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.880 of this woman boldly going to the King and saying, 0:21:51.920 --> 0:22:02.760 I want it back. I want it. I don't want 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:14.040 to just build something or survive something. I want it back. 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:24.000 I want it. That you're scared to say that because 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.720 we are taught that if God wants us to have it, 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:31.400 he'll just give it. And he will. But the other day, 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:34.639 we were driving in this rainstorm and we were coming 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.639 home from the mountains and it was raining so hard 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.919 there was a flash flood warning on all of our phones. 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.480 And I was just driving. I could barely see out 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.320 of the windshield. I was just driving. And Graham is 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:48.760 the kid in our family who will say the most 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:51.200 with the least words. And he said, is no one 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:54.359 else scared about this other than me? Am I the 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.239 only one that's concerned about this? And I said, I 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:00.840 was just playing around. But I said, son, God's hand 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.520 is on our vehicle, and God will see us through 0:23:03.520 --> 0:23:06.840 this storm. And the boy says, there's only so much 0:23:06.920 --> 0:23:16.560 God can do. Maybe we should pull over. How does 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:22.440 he get this at thirteen and we don't at thirty. 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:26.280 At the risk of running you out of this church, 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:31.040 let me say something theologically deep. There is only so 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:36.120 much God can do. No, no, no, God can do anything. 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:40.359 He can make the stars, he can make the sun, 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:43.320 he can move the mountains. But you got to speak 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:52.760 the word. So so it starts with me being honest 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:56.560 about the fact that, in the process of surviving of 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:59.680 famine that I didn't cause like some of you were 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:02.160 doing the best you could. You didn't have an example 0:24:02.200 --> 0:24:04.359 for it. You were doing the best you could. You 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:06.520 didn't have a frame of reference for it. You were 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:08.880 doing the best you could. You had never been this 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:13.400 way before. And the Lord sent her to the land 0:24:13.440 --> 0:24:15.320 of the Philistines. What do you know about the Philistines? 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:19.720 In the Bible? Good guys are bad guys. Good place 0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.320 to be, a bad place to be. She had to 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:29.399 go into an enemy occupied place to survive a famine, 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:34.080 and so have some of us. Some of us that's 0:24:34.080 --> 0:24:40.000 where our addictions came from. In order to keep ourselves 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:42.080 on the planet, we had to do something to numb 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:52.480 the pain. I love this sermon because it takes the 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:57.199 shame out of where I've been. It helps me to 0:24:57.359 --> 0:25:03.480 understand there comes a time where you have to appreciate 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:08.160 where God fed you during the famine, but be willing 0:25:08.240 --> 0:25:11.639 to leave and go back to the place where you 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:22.240 really belong. You know, I said this was like a lifeline. 0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:27.400 You've convinced yourself that you can never have it. You've 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:30.719 convinced yourself that you can never be happy, and you 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:35.080 quote Bible verses. God wants you to be holy, not happy. 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:40.359 That's in the first version of you. That's not a 0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:44.160 Bible verse. That's the book of your dumb cousin's opinion. 0:25:45.480 --> 0:25:53.280 You ever read that? Now, in cases, seems like a 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:56.320 stretch to compare us to this woman. Let me tell 0:25:56.320 --> 0:26:01.840 you a little bit more about our story. She wasn't 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:04.600 really looking to get something from God. She was looking 0:26:04.640 --> 0:26:09.800 to give something to God. She had a Well, you 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:11.960 can go watch the sermon online. I preached it to 0:26:12.040 --> 0:26:15.600 Holly called just the two of us. I preached it 0:26:15.600 --> 0:26:18.560 in the whole empty room. That was just her on 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:20.480 the front row and a few people that stuck in 0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:22.720 the back. But it was just the two of us, 0:26:23.880 --> 0:26:25.639 and I used it to talk about this woman and 0:26:25.680 --> 0:26:30.880 her husband. Did y'all hear this sermon? Yeah, is most 0:26:30.880 --> 0:26:32.679 awkward sermon I ever preached because it was just two 0:26:32.720 --> 0:26:35.879 of us in the room. It's very big room. And 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:40.440 this woman was just determined to use what she had 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:44.639 for God, really expecting nothing in return. Now, when I 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:48.200 say timing your testimony, and I use these examples about 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:52.399 taking the mic away and all of this, what I 0:26:52.440 --> 0:26:56.920 really mean by timing your testimony is about trusting God 0:26:57.280 --> 0:27:01.600 to obey him before he has shown you exactly why 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:05.359 he's calling you to do it, okay, Like it's really 0:27:05.400 --> 0:27:08.159 easy to say after the fact that God connected this 0:27:08.280 --> 0:27:11.720 and that and the other. But the trick of it 0:27:11.800 --> 0:27:14.480 is that she made a room for the prophet to 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:18.000 come and stay before she knew what God was going 0:27:18.040 --> 0:27:21.399 to do through her act of obedience. And isn't that 0:27:21.440 --> 0:27:25.520 the hardest thing, Like the author said, to believe in 0:27:25.560 --> 0:27:29.399 advance what will only make sense in reverse. That's the 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:32.480 hardest thing in the world. To let down the nets 0:27:32.480 --> 0:27:34.199 for the catch before you have any clue that this 0:27:34.240 --> 0:27:37.959 carpenter knows where they are. That's the hard part. And 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:41.399 after she did that, the prophet said, you've gone to 0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:44.960 all this trouble for us, Now what can we do 0:27:45.200 --> 0:27:48.960 for you? She had something in her heart that she 0:27:49.080 --> 0:27:51.439 wanted God to do, like you have something in your 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:53.840 heart that you want God to do, a freedom that 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:57.359 you want to experience, a gift that you want to 0:27:57.359 --> 0:28:01.919 see God develop, a state of meaning than just survival. 0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:05.280 She had it in her heart, but she had learned 0:28:05.280 --> 0:28:09.000 how to hide it. And when the prophet said what 0:28:09.160 --> 0:28:13.000 can I do for you? The woman said, I have 0:28:13.119 --> 0:28:18.160 a home among my own people. Because she did then 0:28:20.000 --> 0:28:23.040 what she didn't have was a son, And the Bible 0:28:23.160 --> 0:28:29.040 tells us her husband was old. I told you, God 0:28:29.080 --> 0:28:36.480 has terrible dyming. He waits till this man is shriveled up. 0:28:36.600 --> 0:28:45.120 Can I say it like that? And he brought her 0:28:45.800 --> 0:28:50.680 what she had stopped asking for. It was so painful 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:53.240 for her to consider the potential that it could be 0:28:53.240 --> 0:28:56.760 any different that she said, stop messing with me. Do 0:28:56.920 --> 0:29:00.680 not mislead your servant, man of God. And she pushed 0:29:00.800 --> 0:29:05.560 away the promise of God. She pushed away the promise 0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:09.560 of God. She pushed away the possibility of something different. 0:29:09.920 --> 0:29:14.040 She pushed away. That's what you've been doing to everything 0:29:14.040 --> 0:29:17.600 that God has been sending into your life to mature 0:29:17.640 --> 0:29:21.000 you and restore you. She is pushing away the very 0:29:21.080 --> 0:29:22.760 thing that came from the mouth of the one that 0:29:22.800 --> 0:29:26.080 she made a room for. She is pushing away the 0:29:26.120 --> 0:29:30.400 promise that God has sent her. But God did it anyway. 0:29:31.040 --> 0:29:33.360 The prophet looked at her and said, about this time 0:29:33.480 --> 0:29:36.200 next year, you will hold a son in your arms. 0:29:36.760 --> 0:29:41.640 And she did, and she did. There is no record 0:29:41.680 --> 0:29:44.360 that she believed it. There is no record that she 0:29:44.440 --> 0:29:47.040 had faith for it. There is no record that she 0:29:47.160 --> 0:29:50.120 all of a sudden came into a scripture quotation. Phase 0:29:50.160 --> 0:29:53.440 of her study did a Bible more Bible study on 0:29:53.600 --> 0:29:55.760 pillars of faith. There is no record of that. But 0:29:55.840 --> 0:30:01.760 she held a son and one day, unexpected to her 0:30:02.920 --> 0:30:10.680 as son died unexpectedly. So let's recap. I didn't ask 0:30:10.720 --> 0:30:13.040 you for a son. You gave it to me anyway, 0:30:13.400 --> 0:30:17.160 and then you let it die. She takes the boy. 0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:19.240 Can I tell you the story? This is such a 0:30:19.240 --> 0:30:23.040 great story, brings the boy, puts it on the bed 0:30:23.200 --> 0:30:27.080 of the prophet. She went to Ikea and picked this 0:30:27.600 --> 0:30:32.880 bed out her self, put it together herself, and she said, 0:30:32.920 --> 0:30:35.160 I'm going to put this back on the place that 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:37.400 you were laying when you told me God would give 0:30:37.440 --> 0:30:46.520 it to me. And Elisha restored the boy to life. 0:30:47.520 --> 0:30:52.240 That boy is the boy that standing in the King's 0:30:52.240 --> 0:31:00.320 court at least seven years later in Second King's eight Boy. 0:31:00.360 --> 0:31:04.720 That she didn't ask God to give her the boy 0:31:04.760 --> 0:31:07.800 that died, even after God gave the boy to her 0:31:08.000 --> 0:31:11.520 and came back to life. And what got me about 0:31:11.560 --> 0:31:15.680 this text was realizing that the thing that died in 0:31:15.760 --> 0:31:20.440 one season of her life was the thing that stood 0:31:20.520 --> 0:31:24.120 beside her in the moment of her greatest need. So 0:31:24.440 --> 0:31:28.040 you got to imagine it. Gehesi is the servant of Elisha, 0:31:28.600 --> 0:31:31.480 and the king calls Gehesi and says, tell me some 0:31:31.560 --> 0:31:35.760 stories about Elisha, and Geheesi has many. Well, there was 0:31:35.800 --> 0:31:38.440 one time, one time he took his cloak and he 0:31:38.480 --> 0:31:40.920 struck the Jordan with it, and the water's parted, and 0:31:40.960 --> 0:31:42.959 the people were waiting to see is he really a 0:31:42.960 --> 0:31:45.280 man of God? And the water's parted. And then one 0:31:45.320 --> 0:31:47.800 time there was a spring in the town and the 0:31:47.840 --> 0:31:50.400 water was poisonous, but Elisha put some salt in the 0:31:50.400 --> 0:31:51.920 water and he purified it. And he said, your water 0:31:51.960 --> 0:31:53.720 will never be cursed again, and you can drink from it. 0:31:53.880 --> 0:31:56.080 And then well, one time there were these boys who 0:31:56.240 --> 0:31:58.280 called him Baldy, and he called some bears out of 0:31:58.280 --> 0:32:00.520 the woods tomorrow. But let's skip that one, you know, 0:32:00.560 --> 0:32:03.680 you say selective stories. One time there was this there 0:32:03.720 --> 0:32:05.760 was this confederation of kings and they were in the 0:32:05.800 --> 0:32:07.600 middle of a drought, and Elisha came out to him. 0:32:07.640 --> 0:32:08.840 He said, I don't even want to talk to you, 0:32:08.880 --> 0:32:11.240 because you follow the wicked gods of your ancestors. And 0:32:11.280 --> 0:32:13.040 if I didn't have respect for johash Fat, I wouldn't 0:32:12.960 --> 0:32:14.680 even speak to you. But now bring me a minstrel, 0:32:14.720 --> 0:32:17.280 and the minstrel started playing, and Elisha started prophesying in 0:32:17.280 --> 0:32:19.080 the dry valley, and he told him dig your own 0:32:19.080 --> 0:32:21.240 ditches and prepare for the rain that you can't see. 0:32:21.280 --> 0:32:23.720 And the rain came from a direction that it wasn't expected. 0:32:23.920 --> 0:32:26.040 It didn't come from the sky like normal rain does. 0:32:26.240 --> 0:32:28.960 It came from somewhere else. It's just the way Elisha was. 0:32:29.160 --> 0:32:31.800 And you can picture Geheza. He's getting fired off telling 0:32:31.840 --> 0:32:35.120 these stories. You know, he's remembering, he's rehearsing the things 0:32:35.120 --> 0:32:38.400 that God did in a previous season. He's rehearsing the 0:32:38.440 --> 0:32:41.560 things that God did in a previous season. Because one 0:32:41.600 --> 0:32:44.120 time we went to this widow's house and she had 0:32:44.160 --> 0:32:46.000 a little bit of oil, and she thought she had 0:32:46.040 --> 0:32:48.880 no oil, but Elisha told her go back and check 0:32:48.920 --> 0:32:51.239 the thing that you called nothing again, because what you 0:32:51.280 --> 0:32:54.280 call nothing is exactly what God needs to do something 0:32:54.320 --> 0:32:58.479 that you So so he's telling the stories, right, And 0:32:58.520 --> 0:33:03.280 there's there's one that he skipped with Naman because Nayman 0:33:03.480 --> 0:33:06.000 was a leper who came to be healed, and when 0:33:06.040 --> 0:33:08.240 Elishah pronounced healing over him by dipping seven times in 0:33:08.280 --> 0:33:09.920 the Jordan, which is a ridiculous thing to do, because 0:33:09.920 --> 0:33:12.360 the Jordan is a little dirty body of water, and 0:33:12.440 --> 0:33:14.480 Nayman was a great commander, and he could have bathed 0:33:14.520 --> 0:33:17.680 in the waters of Obna and far Far, but he 0:33:17.760 --> 0:33:19.880 had to come all the way to the prophet and 0:33:19.920 --> 0:33:21.960 dip in the Jordan seven times for his flesh to 0:33:21.960 --> 0:33:24.640 be restored like a young boy. And he was so 0:33:24.640 --> 0:33:27.160 excited about his miracle that he tried to give some 0:33:27.200 --> 0:33:29.440 gifts to Elishah, and Electra said, I don't want your gifts. 0:33:30.360 --> 0:33:34.200 I didn't do it for that, and gahes I chased 0:33:34.200 --> 0:33:37.040 down Nayman and said, hey, my master changed his mind, 0:33:38.680 --> 0:33:40.520 so whatever you have, I'll take it back to him. 0:33:40.640 --> 0:33:43.680 And he kept it for himself. And Elishah, the man 0:33:43.680 --> 0:33:45.880 of God, knew about it, and he called him out. 0:33:46.560 --> 0:33:51.080 And gaheze I had leprosy, So what was he doing 0:33:51.160 --> 0:33:58.600 in the court of the king. A leper can't be 0:33:58.600 --> 0:34:03.360 in the court of the king. It looks like the 0:34:03.400 --> 0:34:11.239 little boy isn't the only one that God restored. I 0:34:11.320 --> 0:34:14.359 have to put this in because if I don't, you'll 0:34:14.360 --> 0:34:17.400 think that only if you're like the woman and you 0:34:17.480 --> 0:34:20.759 do what God told you to do, that you can 0:34:20.800 --> 0:34:25.600 ask God to restore what you lost. But Gahesi is 0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:29.960 standing in the presence of the King. Watch this to 0:34:30.120 --> 0:34:34.480 let you know that even if you did it, even 0:34:34.520 --> 0:34:39.880 if it was your fault, even if it was your selfishness, 0:34:40.920 --> 0:34:44.360 even if you were the one who let go, even 0:34:44.440 --> 0:34:48.920 if it was your irresponsibility, you can stand in the 0:34:48.960 --> 0:34:53.160 presence of God under the blood of Jesus and say, 0:34:53.239 --> 0:34:57.319 I want it back in the name of Jesus. I 0:34:57.440 --> 0:35:01.439 want back everything that SAME's stripped from and stole from 0:35:01.440 --> 0:35:10.280 me and took from me. So he's telling her the stories. 0:35:10.320 --> 0:35:12.640 He's telling the king the stories, and he gets to 0:35:12.680 --> 0:35:14.680 the one about the woman and she built us a 0:35:14.760 --> 0:35:16.520 room and she put a bed in it, and she 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:18.799 didn't have a son, and Elisha said, you're gonna have 0:35:18.800 --> 0:35:20.680 a son, and she's like, I don't even want a son. 0:35:20.800 --> 0:35:23.359 I've given up on it. And Elijah prophesied the sun 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.200 and she shows up pregnant, and then the kid dies 0:35:26.320 --> 0:35:28.480 and he's in the field and he starts screaming about 0:35:28.480 --> 0:35:30.279 his head, and then they put him on the bed 0:35:30.520 --> 0:35:32.279 and I was gonna go try to heal him with 0:35:32.320 --> 0:35:34.359 my staff, but Elijah said, no, this is a job 0:35:34.400 --> 0:35:35.759 for me, and he came in, and I don't know 0:35:35.760 --> 0:35:36.800 what he did in that room because it was just 0:35:36.880 --> 0:35:38.359 him and the boy in there, but they both came 0:35:38.360 --> 0:35:52.320 out ass he is talking the woman walks in the room. 0:35:52.520 --> 0:35:58.480 Do you understand the statistical improbability that at the exact 0:35:58.880 --> 0:36:02.840 moment there are so many stories to be told about Elisha. 0:36:03.120 --> 0:36:05.720 I didn't even give you half of them. But God 0:36:05.800 --> 0:36:12.840 knew the exact moment that Gahesi would be talking about 0:36:12.880 --> 0:36:16.600 that woman. I don't know if she hit traffic on 0:36:16.719 --> 0:36:19.680 the way so that she was late, or whether she 0:36:19.800 --> 0:36:23.279 caught every green light so that she got there right 0:36:23.320 --> 0:36:27.680 on time. But I have learned something about God. You 0:36:27.800 --> 0:36:31.680 can trust his timing. You can give him the mic, 0:36:32.320 --> 0:36:35.520 you can let him speak what he wants to speak 0:36:36.000 --> 0:36:40.600 over your life, and in the appointed time, it will 0:36:41.120 --> 0:36:51.919 come to pass. I've seen it in my own life. 0:36:52.120 --> 0:36:54.760 I've seen it in my own life that God knows 0:36:54.840 --> 0:37:04.000 exactly what, who, where, when, what? Oh, this is the 0:37:04.000 --> 0:37:06.480 best scripture. Do y'all want the best scripture in the Bible. 0:37:07.520 --> 0:37:11.239 Here's the best scripture in the Bible, Psalm one thirty nine. 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:13.160 Now this is the best scripture today. I'll have a 0:37:13.160 --> 0:37:15.759 different one tomorrow. But this is the best scripture I've 0:37:15.760 --> 0:37:19.040 ever read in my life. Right now, Okay, Because God, 0:37:19.040 --> 0:37:20.560 I'll give you a certain word at a certain time. 0:37:20.600 --> 0:37:22.960 And here's what he gave me. Here's what he gave me. Boy, 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:30.279 you ready, Psalm one thirty nine one five. I know 0:37:30.320 --> 0:37:32.400 that one twenty five doesn't sound like a verse number, 0:37:32.400 --> 0:37:35.200 but it is. There's a there's one hundred and twenty 0:37:35.239 --> 0:37:39.319 five in this verse, and I'm glad I took time 0:37:39.360 --> 0:37:41.480 to find it because it said something really powerful to me. 0:37:43.360 --> 0:37:45.520 I am thy servant. Give me understanding that I may 0:37:45.600 --> 0:37:56.919 know thy testimonies. Here's the part to hit me. Hold 0:37:57.000 --> 0:38:04.960 on before I read it. Who is this for? It 0:38:05.120 --> 0:38:12.799 is time for the Lord to work, not for me, 0:38:15.320 --> 0:38:20.400 for thee. And I want you to come into the 0:38:20.400 --> 0:38:25.560 presence of the King, not the King of Israel. I 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:27.520 want you to come into the presence of the King. 0:38:29.800 --> 0:38:32.640 The Lord told me to tell you it's time for 0:38:32.840 --> 0:38:39.879 him to work. It's time. You've done everything you can 0:38:39.920 --> 0:38:43.600 do about it. You have manipulated it so much that 0:38:43.640 --> 0:38:49.200 you've messed it up. Even worse. There comes a time 0:38:49.239 --> 0:38:51.680 where Holly tells us get out of the kitchen. You 0:38:51.719 --> 0:38:56.600 are not helping and I heard the Lord saying, to somebody, 0:38:56.640 --> 0:39:05.040 get out of the kitchen and let me work. It 0:39:05.120 --> 0:39:12.680 is time for thee O Lord to work. For they 0:39:14.040 --> 0:39:19.759 have made void thy law. It is time for thee 0:39:20.040 --> 0:39:25.840 to do something about what they did. This woman left 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:30.640 a homeowner, and while she was gone surviving the famine, 0:39:31.200 --> 0:39:34.640 somebody else took her home. The king said, go back 0:39:34.680 --> 0:39:36.960 to second King's chapter eight. This is so annointed I 0:39:37.000 --> 0:39:39.360 can barely I can barely get it out of my mouth. 0:39:39.520 --> 0:39:41.560 There's so much jumping up in my spirit while I 0:39:41.640 --> 0:39:44.120 preach to you. Because the Lord said, this is a 0:39:44.160 --> 0:39:48.919 lifeline for somebody. It is time for thee O Lord 0:39:48.960 --> 0:39:52.319 to work. She comes into the presence of the King 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:57.120 to ask back for what she lost when she left. 0:39:58.080 --> 0:40:02.319 At the exact moment that she walks in Ghyes, I 0:40:02.440 --> 0:40:06.040 was telling the king her story. Does God not have 0:40:06.400 --> 0:40:13.360 the craziest timing? And geheze I said, that's that woman, 0:40:15.920 --> 0:40:17.640 the one who put the table in the lamp, in 0:40:17.680 --> 0:40:20.319 the bed in the room, the one who gave us 0:40:20.320 --> 0:40:26.279 a place to stay. That's her. The one whose son 0:40:26.360 --> 0:40:29.520 Elisha restored to life. And there's the boy. Now you 0:40:29.560 --> 0:40:32.800 have got to drag what God did in your past 0:40:34.200 --> 0:40:37.879 into the room and show the thing that you are 0:40:37.920 --> 0:40:44.120 facing today what God did for you yesterday. That's what 0:40:44.160 --> 0:40:47.120 you gotta do. It is time for you to work Lord. 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:52.600 So just like you gave me this back, I need 0:40:52.600 --> 0:40:57.360 that back. Just like you restored this that I thought 0:40:57.560 --> 0:41:00.560 was gone forever, and God did that for me. There 0:41:00.560 --> 0:41:03.040 are some things that I know that I know that 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:05.120 I don't have to prove it to you. You don't 0:41:05.160 --> 0:41:07.600 have to agree with it. God did that for me. 0:41:07.960 --> 0:41:11.040 Nobody else. It wasn't a human. God might have used somebody, 0:41:11.280 --> 0:41:13.839 but only God could bring the dead back to life. 0:41:14.280 --> 0:41:18.239 So the God who did this, I need him to 0:41:18.280 --> 0:41:22.680 do that. And verse six SSS something very interesting. This 0:41:22.760 --> 0:41:24.880 is the last verse I want to give you because 0:41:24.960 --> 0:41:28.040 the king asked a woman about it, and she told 0:41:28.160 --> 0:41:33.960 him and then read it again. She told him what 0:41:34.040 --> 0:41:38.040 God had done for her, and then he assigned an 0:41:38.080 --> 0:41:41.759 official to her case. So she only got back what 0:41:41.880 --> 0:41:45.439 she needed. When she told the story of what God 0:41:45.440 --> 0:41:50.960 had done. You follow the sequence she could have told herself. 0:41:50.960 --> 0:41:54.880 Any story. Life isn't fair, This isn't right. I tried 0:41:54.920 --> 0:41:58.360 to obey God, and now look at me. But she 0:41:58.600 --> 0:42:02.320 told the story of what God had done, And so 0:42:02.880 --> 0:42:06.240 God wants to know why have you stopped telling the story, 0:42:09.280 --> 0:42:14.400 not to others, to yourself, why have you stopped telling 0:42:14.480 --> 0:42:17.799 the story of what I did for you and replaced 0:42:17.800 --> 0:42:20.920 it with a story of fear of what might happen next. 0:42:22.600 --> 0:42:27.040 So while you are telling yourself these hypothetical stories of 0:42:27.080 --> 0:42:30.720 what might happen, or these shameful stories of what did happen, 0:42:31.120 --> 0:42:36.360 you are standing next to a story, a living, breathing, walking, 0:42:36.760 --> 0:42:41.600 talking miracle, a product of nothing but the grace of God. 0:42:47.680 --> 0:42:50.759 That's why April Carter told me. She said, God did 0:42:50.800 --> 0:42:52.719 this for me. And I said, well, why didn't he 0:42:52.760 --> 0:42:56.040 do that? And she said, in all fairness, it's not 0:42:56.160 --> 0:43:04.560 your story. Never stopped telling herself the story. You stop 0:43:04.680 --> 0:43:09.760 telling yourself the story of God's faithfulness, and you start 0:43:09.840 --> 0:43:18.799 telling yourself the story of fear. She told him what 0:43:18.840 --> 0:43:23.840 God had done. And then everybody say, then in the chat, 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:27.560 I'm telling you right now that one word, or let 0:43:27.560 --> 0:43:35.919 me give you another word. Yet ye Yet I don't 0:43:35.920 --> 0:43:43.120 have it yet. I haven't found a way to get 0:43:43.160 --> 0:43:48.439 set free from this yet. I don't see how it's 0:43:48.480 --> 0:43:54.720 going to work out yet. See timing your testimony, don't 0:43:54.719 --> 0:43:58.720 tell it too early because you don't know what God 0:43:59.000 --> 0:44:07.080 is going to do. In chapter eighth, see, it's like 0:44:07.160 --> 0:44:11.520 the timing of God is so amazing. And every time 0:44:11.560 --> 0:44:16.200 you tell yourself a story about the things that God 0:44:16.239 --> 0:44:20.520 did then and you bring it into the presence of 0:44:20.560 --> 0:44:24.080 what you need him to do now, he said, give 0:44:24.880 --> 0:44:30.640 her back what belongs to her. Say it out loud. 0:44:30.680 --> 0:44:34.480 Peace belongs to me. I am a child of God. 0:44:35.880 --> 0:44:39.400 Joy belongs to me. I am a child of God. 0:44:40.560 --> 0:44:44.560 Freedom is my inheritance. I am a child of God. 0:44:45.440 --> 0:44:51.560 I belong because I believe I am a child of God. 0:44:53.960 --> 0:45:02.839 Tell yourself that story. Preach the gospel to yourself. If 0:45:02.920 --> 0:45:07.640 GAHESI can rehearse the great things that God has done? 0:45:08.000 --> 0:45:15.399 Who was a leper and a scoundrel? Can't you? And 0:45:15.480 --> 0:45:18.200 can you trust God's timing enough to give him the 0:45:18.239 --> 0:45:25.080 mic and believe what he speaks? That though the visionary 0:45:25.160 --> 0:45:31.120 wait for it, for it has an appointed time is 0:45:31.160 --> 0:45:35.400 taking me a while to understand that God's timing is 0:45:35.440 --> 0:45:42.440 created to increase my trust in Him, whether that's the 0:45:42.480 --> 0:45:45.280 fourth watch of the night or whether that's the fourth 0:45:45.360 --> 0:45:50.239 day after I have lost something that I love. And 0:45:50.320 --> 0:45:55.640 God gives you these little gifts? What are yours? Have 0:45:55.760 --> 0:45:58.880 you told anybody that part of your story? Or are 0:45:58.920 --> 0:46:02.560 you so consumed with your present struggle that you have 0:46:02.640 --> 0:46:12.440 stopped rehearsing your past victories? Thank you. I know I've 0:46:12.440 --> 0:46:14.399 told you this before, but can I tell you one 0:46:14.400 --> 0:46:17.480 thing that happened to me? Stand up, it'll pressure me 0:46:17.520 --> 0:46:23.040 to close. I can't tell you all of these things, 0:46:23.040 --> 0:46:27.440 but do you remember me telling you in twenty sixteen 0:46:27.480 --> 0:46:31.440 how I was on vacation with the family near Charleston 0:46:32.520 --> 0:46:36.160 went over to the farmer's market there at Yeah, you 0:46:36.200 --> 0:46:39.360 know this story? All right, Well, I'm gonna tell it 0:46:39.400 --> 0:46:41.640 for somebody else. It's too good not to tell you. 0:46:43.080 --> 0:46:45.280 I'm at the farmer's market. You want the whole story. 0:46:45.520 --> 0:46:47.960 I'm at the farmer's market with Holly because she dragged 0:46:48.000 --> 0:46:51.520 me there. I don't go to farmers markets of my 0:46:51.560 --> 0:46:56.879 own volition. I OneD a farmer's market, but I went, 0:46:57.880 --> 0:47:06.080 not knowing why. But I got there, and you were there. 0:47:06.840 --> 0:47:11.160 Whole family was there. This girl comes walking over to 0:47:11.239 --> 0:47:15.600 us from she had a what do you call it? 0:47:15.880 --> 0:47:20.640 Confection cupcakes and stuff bakery, a bakery stand at the 0:47:20.640 --> 0:47:29.160 farmer's market. She was so nice, her name was Addie May. 0:47:29.360 --> 0:47:33.840 She came up and said, I want I want to 0:47:33.840 --> 0:47:40.719 give your family some sugar kids hyper but she said, 0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:46.439 I love your podcasts. Can I get a picture? I 0:47:46.480 --> 0:47:49.480 was more than happy to do that, but you know, 0:47:49.560 --> 0:47:51.359 at the same time, I looked like a bomb. I 0:47:51.400 --> 0:47:53.719 was just so I was kind of worried that I 0:47:53.719 --> 0:47:58.000 wouldn't look too good in the selfie. She said something 0:47:58.000 --> 0:47:59.120 that I thought was kind of where she said, my 0:47:59.120 --> 0:48:02.239 pastor is going to be so jealous, and I said 0:48:02.320 --> 0:48:06.239 for me that we met. She said, yeah, he loves you. 0:48:06.960 --> 0:48:08.759 I said, tell your pastor. I said, Hi, what's his name? 0:48:08.800 --> 0:48:10.600 She said his name? I said, that's great, tell him, 0:48:10.640 --> 0:48:11.960 I said hi. She said, I'm going to go tell 0:48:12.000 --> 0:48:14.279 him right now. I'm going to go call him, and 0:48:14.320 --> 0:48:17.680 she called him. She came back over with the cupcakes 0:48:17.680 --> 0:48:20.959 because we're about to leave. She said, my pastor said 0:48:21.000 --> 0:48:25.080 that we actually invited you to preach at our church 0:48:25.160 --> 0:48:29.920 this week about a year ago, and your office declined 0:48:30.920 --> 0:48:34.839 because they said that you were on family vacation. And 0:48:34.920 --> 0:48:37.359 so I was like, well, they weren't lying. I'm right 0:48:37.360 --> 0:48:40.839 here on family vacation. And she said, but all the same, 0:48:40.880 --> 0:48:44.080 you should come over to uh, you should come over 0:48:44.120 --> 0:48:47.480 to our holy convocation this week. I said no, I 0:48:47.520 --> 0:48:51.840 said vacation, not com vocation. It's a whole. This is 0:48:51.840 --> 0:48:54.239 the Holy vacation. It's a whole different, this a whole while. 0:48:54.320 --> 0:48:58.880 Let me tell you it's a whole different rhythm. And 0:49:00.200 --> 0:49:03.200 but just to be polite or whatever, I took the dates. 0:49:03.200 --> 0:49:04.879 She wrote it out on in the car to church, 0:49:04.920 --> 0:49:07.239 saying all this stuff. And I'm telling you a story 0:49:07.320 --> 0:49:09.719 for a reason, I promise I am. The Lord told 0:49:09.719 --> 0:49:13.279 me to tell you this story. And sometimes I have 0:49:13.360 --> 0:49:17.040 to do this just to remember, because I have moments 0:49:18.520 --> 0:49:22.759 where I wonder, is God really ordering my steps or 0:49:22.840 --> 0:49:26.960 is this random? So I have to tell myself these 0:49:27.000 --> 0:49:30.840 stories of times where God made like at the right moment. 0:49:30.960 --> 0:49:33.760 Can you remember one where God brought at the right moment? 0:49:34.239 --> 0:49:37.080 Raise your hand if you can remember one, just even one, right, 0:49:37.680 --> 0:49:40.840 that's a testimony. And we overcome the enemy by the 0:49:40.880 --> 0:49:44.080 blood of the Lamb. That's what Jesus has done and 0:49:44.120 --> 0:49:49.480 the word of our testimony. Now, now remember what Graham said, 0:49:50.160 --> 0:49:52.520 There is only so much God can do. Yes, he 0:49:52.560 --> 0:49:56.160 can do anything, but he will not tell your testimony 0:49:56.360 --> 0:50:00.480 for you. That is your story. That is your test, Simoni, 0:50:00.680 --> 0:50:05.799 that is your choice, cavolific. So, so she writes down 0:50:05.800 --> 0:50:09.120 the name of the church, and she says, on this 0:50:09.280 --> 0:50:11.440 night so and so speaking, on that night so and 0:50:11.480 --> 0:50:14.640 so speaking, and this night so and so speaking. The 0:50:14.760 --> 0:50:16.960 last one that she put on my card. I think 0:50:17.000 --> 0:50:20.160 on the Friday night she said, this guy's speaking, and 0:50:20.239 --> 0:50:22.359 I had always wanted to hear him preach. So all 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:23.799 of a sudden, I'm like, well, maybe I will go 0:50:23.880 --> 0:50:26.680 over there. And I'm kind of glad I met her. 0:50:27.719 --> 0:50:32.200 And I had somebody in my office call over to 0:50:32.239 --> 0:50:34.759 the church and see if that pastor was coming on 0:50:34.800 --> 0:50:36.880 that night, and he was. And the pastor said he 0:50:36.920 --> 0:50:39.680 wanted to wanted us to meet and hang out. Whatever. 0:50:39.719 --> 0:50:41.000 That's not the point, okay, So let me get to 0:50:41.040 --> 0:50:43.759 the point. So the day of the I'm going to 0:50:43.800 --> 0:50:46.880 go over to the church comes and I get a 0:50:46.880 --> 0:50:50.480 text from my assistant says, the pastor who was going 0:50:50.520 --> 0:50:53.840 to come, he can't come. He had a back injury. 0:50:54.760 --> 0:50:58.040 I'm telling you, the voice of God is much louder 0:50:58.040 --> 0:51:01.600 than a shout, because a shout you can put some 0:51:02.040 --> 0:51:07.719 AirPods in and noise cancel. But when God speaks to you, 0:51:07.719 --> 0:51:12.000 you can't. You can't do anything with it, either obey 0:51:12.040 --> 0:51:16.279 it or be miserable. So so in that moment, I 0:51:16.360 --> 0:51:19.359 knew you need to call that pastor that Addie may 0:51:19.400 --> 0:51:21.680 gave you the card and offer to go over there 0:51:21.680 --> 0:51:27.520 and preach tonight. And so I'm going through my mind 0:51:27.760 --> 0:51:29.799 like it's been two or three weeks that since I've 0:51:29.840 --> 0:51:31.640 been in my own pulpit. I'm like, I don't know 0:51:31.640 --> 0:51:33.959 that I remember any Bible versus be cause I always 0:51:33.960 --> 0:51:38.279 read the Bible every day on vacation. And and so 0:51:39.800 --> 0:51:42.279 I'm like, well, I'll call, and you know it'll be 0:51:42.400 --> 0:51:46.240 like uh uh, Like I'll just put out a fleece 0:51:46.320 --> 0:51:49.480 like Gideon, Lord, and and and in fact, the first 0:51:49.520 --> 0:51:52.000 thing I was I said, I'll get my assistant to call, 0:51:52.080 --> 0:51:55.360 and the Lord is like, no, you do it. So 0:51:55.440 --> 0:51:57.720 I'm like, oh, I don't. I don't know the number 0:51:57.760 --> 0:51:59.719 of the church. I just know the name. And the 0:51:59.760 --> 0:52:06.000 Lord Lord said google, I call the church. The pastor 0:52:06.040 --> 0:52:10.920 doesn't answer, nobody answers. I leave some message, and I'm like, okay, Lord, 0:52:11.640 --> 0:52:15.319 So I offered Isaac on the altar, and you didn't 0:52:15.320 --> 0:52:19.200 want to going back to the beach. I leave this 0:52:19.880 --> 0:52:23.120 weird message on the phone. I say, hey, this is 0:52:23.120 --> 0:52:25.880 Stephen Verdick, the pastor of Elevation Church. I'm out here 0:52:25.880 --> 0:52:28.040 on vacation. I met a girl named Addie May, and 0:52:28.040 --> 0:52:30.279 I heard your speaker cancel tonight, and I was just 0:52:30.280 --> 0:52:32.680 calling to see if you needed a preacher or whatever. 0:52:32.719 --> 0:52:34.560 But I'm sure you don't, so have a nice day 0:52:34.560 --> 0:52:36.920 and God bless him Ephesians three twenty. So I hang 0:52:37.000 --> 0:52:44.040 up about the time I can get my beach attire 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:48.359 back on. I'm headed out to the phone rings and 0:52:48.360 --> 0:52:54.480 it's the pastor. He said, this is Stephen Verdick. I said, yes, sir. 0:52:55.800 --> 0:52:59.520 He said his name, and he said, you really will 0:52:59.520 --> 0:53:03.759 come preach for us tonight. I said, yeah, I guess, 0:53:04.400 --> 0:53:06.000 I said, but I would tell you I have no 0:53:06.120 --> 0:53:08.800 convocation clothes. I'm out here on vacation with my family. 0:53:09.000 --> 0:53:11.480 I look like Tom Hanks Ond eighty one with Wilson 0:53:11.520 --> 0:53:15.960 out here, so so so it's just gonna have to be. 0:53:16.800 --> 0:53:19.480 I said, I only have all I had. The dressiest 0:53:19.480 --> 0:53:22.120 thing I have is yeasies. He said, I'll wear my 0:53:22.160 --> 0:53:26.120 easies too, if you'll come. I said, I'll come. I 0:53:26.160 --> 0:53:28.040 don't I don't know what I'll preach but I'll come. 0:53:28.239 --> 0:53:34.920 And when I got there that night and showed up 0:53:34.920 --> 0:53:37.920 the preacher, I got to see Addie May and then 0:53:37.960 --> 0:53:44.719 I got to see the pastor. And when I saw him, 0:53:44.760 --> 0:53:47.680 he was he had tears his eyes. He said. After 0:53:47.719 --> 0:53:50.520 so many years in the ministry, several decades, he said, 0:53:51.160 --> 0:53:54.640 I never had the Lord answer a prayer as directly 0:53:54.680 --> 0:53:58.080 as he did today. He said, you were our first 0:53:58.200 --> 0:54:02.880 choice to come preach tonight, and I've done three funerals 0:54:02.920 --> 0:54:08.880 this week when you called. The reason nobody answered the 0:54:08.880 --> 0:54:13.800 phone was because we were in a prayer meeting asking 0:54:14.200 --> 0:54:27.719 for God to send us a preacher to you. And 0:54:28.040 --> 0:54:30.680 I preached, and I don't know if it was any good. 0:54:30.680 --> 0:54:39.480 It didn't matter. The point was obedience. Point was obedience, 0:54:40.120 --> 0:54:55.200 Oh not my obedience at amys think about God at 0:54:55.400 --> 0:54:57.520 just the time the verdicts are getting to the farmer's 0:54:57.640 --> 0:55:02.200 market thirty more minu. She would have packed up those 0:55:02.239 --> 0:55:10.360 cupcakes at just that moment, he said. The pastor said, 0:55:10.600 --> 0:55:16.040 you were my ram in the bush talking about Genesis 0:55:16.040 --> 0:55:21.720 with Abraham and Isaac. I like to tell that story 0:55:23.200 --> 0:55:27.040 to remind myself that God is going to bring things 0:55:27.040 --> 0:55:28.920 together in the right time, and I can trust them 0:55:28.920 --> 0:55:35.400 in that. I can trust them in that. But I 0:55:35.400 --> 0:55:37.960 want to tell you something that I never told my 0:55:38.040 --> 0:55:43.040 church before. About two years ago, I sent Chris Brown 0:55:44.520 --> 0:55:49.439 out to do some music with this amazing worship team 0:55:49.520 --> 0:55:52.000 called Maverick City Music. I said, you got to go 0:55:52.040 --> 0:55:55.000 out there, and when he came back, I wanted to 0:55:55.040 --> 0:55:58.080 know everything because there's such a great annoying on this ministry. 0:55:58.360 --> 0:56:00.680 I said, what is God doing? I said, it feels 0:56:00.680 --> 0:56:02.399 punk rock to me? Is it punk rock? He said, 0:56:02.400 --> 0:56:08.800 it's so punk rock for the Lord? And he said, 0:56:09.600 --> 0:56:12.319 but do you know about Chandler. It's Chandler back there? 0:56:13.239 --> 0:56:15.759 He said, do you know about Chandler? I said, yeah, 0:56:15.760 --> 0:56:19.040 that's the guy. He's amazing. What about him? He said? 0:56:21.719 --> 0:56:28.279 He said that was his dad's church. His dad was 0:56:28.360 --> 0:56:32.200 the pastor that you went and preached for in twenty 0:56:32.239 --> 0:56:47.759 sixteen when Adam may In dided and God gives you 0:56:47.800 --> 0:56:53.560 these moments. God gives you these moments or something that 0:56:53.640 --> 0:56:58.360 seems so small to you in one season. And I 0:56:58.400 --> 0:57:02.960 find myself last year sitting in a room with Chandler 0:57:03.000 --> 0:57:07.400 and Naomi and Chris and writing a song called Jirah, 0:57:15.160 --> 0:57:18.760 a song that we weren't even trying to write. He 0:57:18.920 --> 0:57:23.520 was sitting at the piano and he just sang sirah. 0:57:24.960 --> 0:57:29.320 I said, did you just say girah? He goes and 0:57:29.400 --> 0:57:31.440 I said, if you ever said that in a song before? 0:57:32.480 --> 0:57:37.320 He said, I said, we're gonna say it in this one. 0:57:39.320 --> 0:57:48.160 Shirah means we'll see to it. Jehovah jirah. That's what 0:57:48.280 --> 0:57:52.800 Abraham called the place where the Lord gave him a 0:57:52.920 --> 0:58:01.040 ram so he wouldn't have to sacrifice his son. And 0:58:01.200 --> 0:58:07.840 sometimes I need to remember and tell these stories to 0:58:07.920 --> 0:58:13.040 myself for when I'm wondering if God's going to come 0:58:13.080 --> 0:58:17.280 through for me. If you've been feeling that lately, just 0:58:17.320 --> 0:58:21.080 lift your hands, because sometimes I need to remember that 0:58:21.200 --> 0:58:23.560 the same God who brought me to the farmer's market 0:58:23.960 --> 0:58:29.040 Jesu to meet Dady May so I could preach in 0:58:29.120 --> 0:58:34.680 my ye'sies at a holy convocation for a pastor I 0:58:34.720 --> 0:58:40.480 didn't know, whose son was a songwriter that I would 0:58:40.560 --> 0:58:46.400 later collaborate with to release a song that God would 0:58:46.400 --> 0:58:53.560 send into the hearts of millions of people. That God 0:58:54.840 --> 0:59:01.280 can be trusted and at the right time, if you 0:59:01.360 --> 0:59:06.320 humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, in due time, 0:59:08.080 --> 0:59:18.200 he will lift you up, and he may is not 0:59:18.280 --> 0:59:29.680 here anymore on the earth. She was Chandler's nanny and 0:59:29.800 --> 0:59:39.800 he lost her, but she brought us together, so she's 0:59:39.880 --> 0:59:49.120 right here. Some of the things that you've lost in 0:59:49.160 --> 0:59:57.640 your life, I feel God's presence. Give me one moment. 1:00:00.160 --> 1:00:03.720 The things that you've lost in your life. God is 1:00:03.760 --> 1:00:09.040 not going to bring them back in the exact same way. 1:00:09.160 --> 1:00:13.560 He is going to restore them to you in a 1:00:13.680 --> 1:00:20.320 greater way than you have ever seen them before. And 1:00:20.480 --> 1:00:25.040 your only job in this is to look for the 1:00:25.120 --> 1:00:31.720 ram in the bush. Father. We've come into your presence 1:00:31.720 --> 1:00:39.720 today not entitled, no, not at all, not thinking that 1:00:39.760 --> 1:00:42.880 we've been so good, or so worthy or so perfect 1:00:43.880 --> 1:00:47.800 that we just deserve the blessings that you've given us. 1:00:49.920 --> 1:00:51.600 But we come to you on the merit of your 1:00:51.640 --> 1:00:55.800 grace toward us and our position in your heart as 1:00:55.840 --> 1:01:02.080 your children. Thank you, Lord. Our times are in your hands, 1:01:04.560 --> 1:01:11.320 and now it's time for THEE to work. It is 1:01:11.480 --> 1:01:22.440 time for THEE to work. It is taught for THEE 1:01:23.040 --> 1:01:28.160 to work. We were in the land of the Philistines 1:01:28.240 --> 1:01:35.160 for seven years, but we are coming back into your presence, 1:01:35.840 --> 1:01:39.640 the presence of the King of Kings. And the Lord 1:01:39.680 --> 1:01:44.760 of lords, to receive back that which you have spoken 1:01:45.520 --> 1:01:50.880 over our lives with interest. Lord, I thank you that 1:01:51.080 --> 1:01:54.960 even in this moment, you are restoring the hopes and 1:01:55.040 --> 1:01:58.720 the dreams, and the sanity and the peace and the 1:01:58.800 --> 1:02:02.920 right mind of your children, restoring the years that the 1:02:02.960 --> 1:02:07.440 locusts have eaten, restoring the years that we wasted. We 1:02:07.560 --> 1:02:09.960 thank you, Lord that you are bringing it all back, 1:02:10.680 --> 1:02:15.080 and that little by little, day by day, we will 1:02:15.200 --> 1:02:20.240 see the goodness of the Lord in the Let's time 1:02:20.720 --> 1:02:24.280 for THEE to work. O Lord, We've done all we can, 1:02:24.600 --> 1:02:28.880 We've done all we know. It is time for THEE. 1:02:28.960 --> 1:02:33.480 We want it back. We want your glory back, we 1:02:33.520 --> 1:02:37.920 want your joy back. We want our purpose back, we 1:02:37.920 --> 1:02:42.360 want our focus back, our passing back. We want it back. 1:02:42.680 --> 1:02:46.080 In the presence of a God who will freely give 1:02:46.160 --> 1:02:50.680 us all things in the name of Jesus, we receive it. 1:02:55.280 --> 1:03:07.680 We receive it. We receive it. Though atarry wait for it, thoitarry, 1:03:09.680 --> 1:03:19.200 wait for it. Though it's been seven years. Bring every 1:03:19.280 --> 1:03:28.480 expectation into his presence. And now unto him who is 1:03:28.560 --> 1:03:35.280 able to do immeasurably more than you ask or imagine, 1:03:36.360 --> 1:03:40.440 according to his power, that works mightily in you. To 1:03:40.640 --> 1:03:48.800 Him be glory through Christ Jesus in the Church. Now 1:03:48.840 --> 1:03:53.400 and forever. Come on, give God a great shout of prase, 1:03:55.400 --> 1:04:26.520 my God. Long thank you for joining us. Special thanks 1:04:26.560 --> 1:04:29.120 to those of you who give generously to this ministry. 1:04:29.440 --> 1:04:32.400 Is because of you that this ministry is possible. You 1:04:32.440 --> 1:04:34.800 can click the link in the description to give now 1:04:35.400 --> 1:04:39.240 or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information 1:04:39.800 --> 1:04:42.920 and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You 1:04:42.960 --> 1:04:45.040 can share it with your friends. You can click the 1:04:45.040 --> 1:04:47.360 share button, take a screenshot and share it on your 1:04:47.360 --> 1:04:50.320 social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again 1:04:50.360 --> 1:04:51.520 for listening. God bless you.