Where You Meet With God

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.320 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.040 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:20.400 Enjoy the message. We thank you for your presence today. God. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:23.600 We do not take it for granted that we can 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.400 call upon that name, that name that moves mountains, that 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.239 name that saves souls, that name that forgives sin, that 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.520 name that rolls away shame. That name, and that name alone, 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.240 the name of Jesus is our banner today. I'm thankful 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.960 for thousands of people who are not ashamed to praise 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.800 the name of Jesus today, who are not shy or 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.240 quiet or too tired. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.519 To praise the name of Jesus. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.480 I thank you for the chain breaking power of your 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.560 son Jesus today. I thank you for the yoke destroying 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.560 annointing of your son Jesus. Today. I thank you for 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.959 the great robbing presence but the Almighty God the Great, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.800 I am the person in the work of Jesus today, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.920 and we expect miracles in that name healing in that name, 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.720 breakthrough in that name. But we didn't come today just 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:23.559 to see what we could get out of that name. 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:27.760 We came to give that name the praise today, for 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:34.319 your name is worthy, Jesus, your name is worthy, always 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.479 has been, always will be. No matter what we go through, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:42.360 You're worthy. No matter what we're facing. You're worthy, never changes, 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.480 never feels your great love. Grab the hand of the 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.200 person on either side of you. We're going to make 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.360 a connection right now by faith. And if you're watching 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.040 online and you're not at one of our physical locations, 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.120 that's all right. Just squeeze the hand of the person 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.760 next to you, and now say this out loud. 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:02.440 God, God is in this moment. 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.640 Father, we thank you and invite you into every single 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:11.920 situation represented in this room, good, bad, in between, epic 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.760 or boring. You are the lord of it all. I 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.400 thank you for the wonderful time we've. 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:19.800 Had today singing your praises. But worship is more than 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:24.399 a song. So now Lord, we bring you our lives, ourselves, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:26.320 every single part of us. 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:29.600 I pray for the person on my right, the person 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.040 on my left. I don't just pray for myself today. 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:37.120 Would you touch my brother, touch my sister. Touch them 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:37.800 enough to let. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.440 Them know they can make it another week. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.560 Touch them enough to know that it's already worked out 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.400 in heaven, and it will be done on earth as 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:45.160 it is in heaven. 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:46.880 Touch them enough to. 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.000 Know that there is nothing that escapes your all seeing eye, 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.320 and that the wings of else should I, the Most 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.240 High God, are hovering over your children today. I thank you, 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.079 Lord for your promise that he who dwelleth in the 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:00.840 secret place of the Most High will abide under the 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.480 shadow of the Almighty. And I thank you that no 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.880 weapon formed against your children will prosper. We thank you 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.200 that the Church of Jesus Christ is being built, and 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:17.480 the gates of hell will not prevail, have not prevailed, 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:23.079 cannot prevail. For we know a name that is greater 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:28.960 than sasan greater than darkness, greater than cancer, greater than depression, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:35.320 greater than diabetes, greater than sickness, greater than guilt. Grace 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.480 that is greater the nave of Jesus given. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:50.200 Praise children, all right, guess no polite praise, Give in 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:56.920 your party, pray, give in your maiden, praise, Give in. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:58.119 Your some kind of way. 0:03:58.240 --> 0:03:59.280 He's gonna do it. 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:09.840 Praise hey, well, happy twenty twenty five everybody. 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.520 I thought I would give the year a catchy slogan. 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.680 This is my first year of twenty twenty five, so 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.160 I thought, I'll give you a range of options. If 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.080 you really aren't that goal oriented, just survive in twenty five. 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:28.280 Touch your neighbors, say survive. If you had a little 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:30.360 more faith in that, look at them and say thrive 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:31.200 in twenty five. 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.040 If you got a little more faith than that, if. 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:42.479 You got faith like Lazarus, if you got faith like 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.479 the women who went to the tomb with the spices 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.520 when they said it was over look at your neighbor 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:48.240 and say. 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:55.279 Dead things come alive in twenty five. Oh oh oh. 0:04:55.360 --> 0:05:02.600 I felt that when I said it in twenty five. Yeah, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.320 come on, Brandon, come on, Chris. We're not gonna sing 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:07.560 anymore because I feel like preaching. 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.440 This is my first sermon of the year. We're gonna 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.600 put that song on on. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:13.640 We're gonna get it out as soon as we can. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:14.600 I know a name. 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.279 We're not gonna hold it hostage for two years like 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.040 we do. Sometimes that song is going into your ears 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:22.880 so it can go into. 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.039 People's homes into people's hearts, so you can call on 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:25.919 the name of Jesus. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:32.719 Do we have a date, boys, fourteenth Valentine's Day, that. 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.240 That thing's coming alive on Valentine? Can I get a name? 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:37.440 Man? 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.520 She'd be like, that's great. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.120 You can be singing like I don't have a day, 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:49.800 but I know a name. Give it up for the 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.920 Great Brandon Lake, the Great Christopher Brown. We got hey, 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.760 we got new music coming your way Friday, suns on Sunday, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:58.880 God Dad, get it on Napster. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:03.800 It's good to be back. I've seen you all in 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:04.479 a few weeks. 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:10.080 Brace the Lord, everybody. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:13.840 I want to thank you also, stay standing. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.680 I want to thank you for your amazing, remarkable, once 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.120 in a generation generosity for our church giving in our 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:28.000 year end offering over ten million dollars, over ten million 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.080 dollars at least, praise Him on a ten for ten 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:33.560 million dollars. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:35.880 That's so many people we can help. 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.840 That's so many schools we can build. That's so many 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.520 people we can come to with water and with food 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:47.440 and with clothes, and with the gospel building and blessing 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.800 and touching the world and preaching Jesus. We're gonna build 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.919 a campus in Greenville, South Carolina. We're gonna build a 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.160 campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. We're gonna build a campus 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:00.800 in Uptown Charlotte. We're gonna preach the Gospel everywhere, all 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.400 around the world, and we're doing it together. 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:05.839 I five your neighbors say, I'm. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.880 Alive in twenty five and the church is alive. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:11.000 Praise the Lord. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:20.160 Feeling good, Gavin feeling good, Graham feeling dangerous today, feel 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:25.520 a revival spirit today. You know, the Lord led me 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.360 to a passage of scripture that I thought was so 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.480 strange that I was nervous to preach it. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.240 But I find sometimes it's in the. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.480 Simplest pictures that He gives us that the greatest and 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.760 most strategic breakthroughs occur. I want you to join me 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.720 for a moment today. In Second Kings chapter six, verses 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:47.040 one through seven, I took a poll of ten Christians, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.080 ten people who went to Bible school. Nine point seven 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.160 of the ten said I've never heard that story preached before, 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.680 So that means today this will be the best sermon 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.800 on Second King six one through seven. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:04.040 You've ever heard some stacking the odds in my favor? 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:05.760 You can't say anything else. 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:07.440 You say, Well, that's the best sermon I've ever heard 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.000 about that scripture, because it's the. 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.680 Only one I've heard about that scripture. 0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:15.280 Now I am rested, but I might be a little rusty. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.960 So I need your grace Amens today. While I'm preaching, 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.480 I said, I need your grace Amens today. We're gonna 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.560 get our timing down in the first ten minutes so 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.680 we can go to church here. 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:29.200 But I don't want you to miss anything that the 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:30.000 Lord has for you. 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:33.920 So lean in from the very beginning, because I'll read 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.560 you just three verses and then I'll tell you this 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.760 very peculiar story in the scripture, and you'll wonder like 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:40.720 I wondered why that scripture. 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:42.640 That's what I wondered too, But then God showed me. 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:48.480 Let's look together at tewod King's chapter six, verse one 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:49.400 and two. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.480 Just those two verses for now. 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.920 And by the way, shout out to our Charleston, South 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:55.200 Carolina pop up today. 0:08:55.800 --> 0:08:57.840 Do you know we were meeting in Charleston today. 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.960 Welcome, Welcome, They're still shouting. Valentine's not that excited. They 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.320 don't care. What does it matter to them? You came 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.520 out in the cold, you know, you get an extra 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:10.760 dose of the Holy Ghost for coming out when it's 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.679 below forty degrees in the south. I'm gonna tell you 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:16.319 good things are gonna happen. Your car is going to 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.360 get extra gas mileage this week because you came in 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:25.199 the cold, as long as it's a tesla now tewod Kings, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.400 Chapter six, Verse one, the company of the prophets said 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.319 to Elisha, look, the place where we meet with you 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:35.080 is too. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.040 Small for us. 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.120 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.440 can get a pole, and let us build a place 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:47.640 there for us to me. And he said, go, everybody 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.760 shall go. Let me read that one more time before 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:54.160 I give you my subject for today. Second King six, 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:58.600 verses one and two. The Bible says the company of 0:09:58.640 --> 0:10:03.000 the prophets said to Elisha, look, the place where we 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.120 meet with you is too. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.319 Small for us. Now that's a problem. 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.680 So verse two, they said, let us go to the Jordan, 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.000 where each of us can get a poll, and build 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:17.920 a place there for us to meet. 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.480 And he said, go today. 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:22.560 I want to talk to you for a few moments 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:28.479 about where you meet with God, where you meet with God. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:29.360 And get you to think about that. 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.080 Because I believe it is the key to so many 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:34.520 other things that you're worried about. This year where you 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:39.640 meet with God Father, we thank you that you're already here. 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:41.559 Don't have to beg you to come or entice you. 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:44.760 And I pray that now you would make your presence 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.520 so manifest that not a single one of us can 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.720 excuse it or explain it away. When they leave, Lord, 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.959 may they say not the music was good. May they 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.960 not say they kept it cold in that auditorium. May 0:10:57.000 --> 0:10:58.679 they not say it was crowded. We got to get 0:10:58.679 --> 0:10:59.839 out of here and get out of the park. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:01.000 Lie. 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:05.880 May they say, surely the presence of the Lord was 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:10.400 in this place in Jesus' name. Amen, on your way 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.600 to your seat, touch your neighbor and say God is here, 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:19.400 and I'm glad you're here too. Never been easier to 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:24.040 pretend we're places that were not. Tim I had a 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.320 zoom meeting with a professional that I pay the other day. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.920 I put that in because it's important. He has all 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.160 kinds of trophies and awards every time we meet, because 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.680 we meet regularly, and I can always see all his 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.000 trophies and a wars kind of like an ego wall 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:41.160 so he can keep. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:42.840 Me convinced I need to pay him. I get it. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:43.680 I'm not judging it. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.839 And the other day I was meeting with him and 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.720 while I was looking, I was like, oh man, maybe 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.880 something's wrong with my eyes, because some of the awards 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.120 started like disappearing. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:11:59.199 I was like, that's weird. 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.160 Check my numb I'm forty four now, so I know 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:07.800 stuff's going to start just quitting. I'm like, the is 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:11.400 it the zoom connection? Is it just midlife? What's happening 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.040 right now? And then another award kind of started moving 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:16.400 and then it started moving around. I was like, well, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.120 now that's not the connection. And they were pixelating and 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.920 they were moving positions all over the wall and I 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.600 called his name. I'm make up a name, I said, brother. 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.520 I said, why are the trophies moving around the wall? 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.880 I said, is that a zoom background? Are those not 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.560 real trophies that I've. 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:41.880 Been looking at the whole time? 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.680 And he dropped his head, and I knew that wasn't 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.360 true because I know as credentials. He said, I just 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.640 didn't want to distract you. I had a flood in 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.040 the regular place we meet, and I didn't want to 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.880 cause a disruption. So I just recreated that background, and 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:57.720 I've been putting it up the next weeks, and I 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.000 promise you those are real. And then the next time 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.120 we met, I made him pick up stuff and show 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.679 it to me to prove that you really did earn it, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.320 and I came away with a valuable lesson. It's never 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:14.200 been easier to pretend like you're in a place and 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.240 hope that nobody stops to ask you, are you really here? 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:25.360 All this stuff that you show online, it's never been 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:29.480 easier to show it on a screen, even when you 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.200 know you don't really have it in your life to 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.440 be going through a flood in one location, but to 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:39.480 make it look like everything is fine in another. And again, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.040 I don't say this as a judgment, but just sometimes 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.880 when we come to little obscure text in the Bible 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.800 that maybe we say, why of all the passages, pastor Steven, 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.079 I need a word for twenty twenty five, this is 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.400 your first sermon of the year. Maybe you're watching this 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.280 in twenty thirty eight. Maybe I'm a hologram floating over 0:13:58.320 --> 0:13:59.800 you preaching this right now. I don't know what they'll 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.800 do in the future, but you're like, why this We 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.560 got a whole Bible full of big miracles, with big 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:11.840 old red seas and towering jericho walls and filthy grades 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:15.160 and blind eyes being open, and you would choose to 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:19.200 preach about a text as simple as the company of 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.280 the prophets said to Elisha, Look, the place, the place 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.560 where we meet with you is too small for us. 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.040 Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.000 can get a pole, and let us build a place. 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:36.320 There for us to meet. And he said, go. 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.760 So why would the Holy Spirit select this scripture for 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.320 us on this pivotal week in our lives? And I 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:45.600 have a reason that I think the Holy Spirit wants 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:47.120 you to hear about this today. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:49.000 Is first of all, because. 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:51.200 Most of the things that you struggle with in your 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:56.760 life have small beginnings. The better that you get with 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:01.800 identifying and recognizing your struggle in the small stage, the 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.760 less effort you will have to spend when that thing 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:09.680 is full grown to sabotage you in the future. And 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.800 I love these men in this passage. Okay, here's the situation. 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:17.360 They are students of a great prophet. Everybody say, great prophet, 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.040 not a pretty good prophet, not a minor league prophet, 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:26.480 a great profit, the prophet of Israel, who could call 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.920 for God to intervene supernaturally and he would, who could 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:35.200 locate enemies supernaturally, and God's people would get the victory. 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:40.080 A great prophet, Elisha, And he has gathered unto himself 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:44.280 a great company of students. And the students are kind 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.120 of looking around for a little while. As this movement 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:51.200 starts to grow, please be aware that if God really 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:56.760 blesses your life, blessing creates just as many problems as 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:00.960 struggle does. So at some point they begin to meet 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.840 with one another, meet with one another, and they say, 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:06.920 this sucks, man. 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.040 It's crowded. This is ridiculous. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.560 This was fine when there were fifty of us, but 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.800 who knows how many there were by that time. Right, 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:22.360 Elisha has fixed a complete water system in one city. 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.280 He has fixed a drought for several kings and turned 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.160 the tide of the war. He's supplied a food supply 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.920 for a widow. He's given a barren woman a child, 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:34.400 and then raised that child from the dead when the 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.680 child got all that's already happened. He healed a Syrian 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.280 commander of leprosy by telling him to go dip into 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:41.880 Jordan river. 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.360 So you got to imagine that it was at least. 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.400 Double what it had been to start with, right, because 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:51.080 he had a double portion of Elijah, his predecessor spirit on. 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:52.520 Him, and he worked great miracles. 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.000 And so they look at each other one day like, man, 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.440 somebody ought to do something about this is crowded. 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:00.400 You don't hour. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:06.119 There's no deodorant. It hasn't been invented. We got to 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.919 do something about this. And I want to focus in 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:10.760 for just a moment on verse one to show you 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:14.439 where the Holy Spirit convicted me about my life. He 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.639 told me that I live in verse one too often. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.560 And verse one is where they give the complaint. Look, 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:26.000 the place where we meet with you is too small 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:26.440 for us. 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:27.640 And that's the whole verse one. 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:30.960 And I wonder, did you live most of last year 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.480 in verse one and never make it to verse two? 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.400 What do you mean make it to verse two? Verse two? 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:44.440 They say, let us go to the Jordan, where each 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.800 of us can get a pole, and. 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.440 Let us build a place there for us to meet. 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:50.879 And he said, go. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.120 Verse one contains the problem. It's too crowded. This isn't 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.840 working anymore. We don't fit here anymore. We don't like this. 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.600 Y'all need to build a parking decat elevution church. This 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:04.399 is too much. 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.480 Y'all go too long and the services overlap and it's crazy. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:10.359 Y'all need to get us out of this high school 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.320 auditorium and get us in a real building. 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.280 You know, we got problems around here, and the only 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.480 thing about the problem is that God caused it. 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:22.760 Because I bet you they prayed for people to come 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:25.920 and be a part of their team, and now they're 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:31.760 complaining about something that they prayed for. Oh, you better 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:33.440 wear your steel toe this year. 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.600 Don't wear your crocs to this church this year. 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.840 I'm walking up and down those roads this year looking 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.320 for the person who's like me. Now, this is my 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.960 default setting to pray about something, possess what I prayed for, 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:48.840 complain about what I prayed for. 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.560 But they didn't do that. They said the place is 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.760 too small. Watch this verse two. Let us go. So 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:58.560 here's a challenge for you. Now. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.480 I hope you'll accept it, but maybe you won't. And 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.520 that's okay too, because I can just give you the challenge. 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.480 I can't make you do it. Every time you are 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:12.879 tempted to complain it is an invitation to create. Instead, 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.240 every time you are tempted to complain, it should be 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:24.720 a trigger or an invitation for you to create. I 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.960 know the Bible says do everything without complaining, but sometimes 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.760 the complaining stage is the stage you have to make 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.560 it through to get to the change stage. They were 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:41.200 not rebuked for complaining, but they were blessed for continuing. Again, 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.400 they were not rebuked for complaining. This place is too 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:47.480 small a prophet, so be grateful for what you had. No, 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.760 he was more than willing, And that's the word I 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:53.719 want us to come back to a few times today. 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:58.159 He was more than willing to give them permission. And 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:00.879 some of the things that we're praying about, complaining about, 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:05.920 worrying about and calling it prayer, God has already. 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:06.920 Given us permission to fix. 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.520 You ever worried about something and said you prayed about it, 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.720 You ever talked to everybody about it but the one 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.520 who could do something for you. May this be the 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.680 year that you stop complaining to people who can't change 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:30.480 it anyway. Maybe that's where I need to be preaching 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:35.359 from back there in the back where this is my year, 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.280 where the Bible says the company of the prophets. 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:40.680 Verse one said to Elisha, and I got to show 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:41.760 you how cool the Bible is. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:47.040 A prophet speaks for God, right, a prophet represents God aphet. 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.800 We don't have prophets like this today because we all, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:53.520 as believers have the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our great 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.200 high Priest. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You don't 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.800 need me to get a word from God. If I'm 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.520 off any day, God is still on. If I don't 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:06.240 give you the word that you need, go back and 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.159 read the scripture I read, and God will preach it 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.719 better than I did. If I fall down dead preaching 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.320 this sermon today, somebody else will pick up the mic 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.000 and preach it before I can get out of the 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:20.600 door with the ems. Because God's word is eternal, It 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:22.280 does not originate with men. 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:27.200 It originates with God. And not only, oh, not only 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:27.720 is it. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:36.879 Internal eternal, internal eternal. And when we say the place 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.520 where you meet with God, I want you to understand 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:42.880 that that place is never meant to be a building. 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:50.680 When I said I want to talk to you today 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:52.480 about where you meet with God, You're like, great, they're 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:53.640 starting a building campaign. 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.040 No where he did that. I told you our building, 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.720 where are built? The building are here? Anyman? You don't 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:01.040 have a build, and then we could put it on YouTube. 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:01.920 So we don't need all that. 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:08.240 But maybe I am starting a building campaign today where 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:09.040 you begin. 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:13.680 To build new patterns. 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:20.240 And recruit new people if necessary, so that the presence 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:24.840 of God permeates your life. This year, I want to 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:29.479 talk to you about where you meet with God. Now 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.200 let me slow down because I get excited because y'all start, 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:33.120 y'all start. 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:34.760 Drawing it out of me, and it's your fault. 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.240 When we think about a prophet, we think about somebody 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:42.480 who speaks for God and prophet to do that. In 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.439 the Bible, prophets can prophesy doom and judgment, and you 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:46.120 see this a lot. 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:46.639 In the Bible. 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.040 Prophets can also prophesy rain and blessing and life and increase. 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.399 But in this situation, didn't you find it interesting that 0:22:54.520 --> 0:22:57.080 in verse one it says the company of the prophet 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:01.240 said to Elisha, not I just said to the company 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:02.520 of the prophets. 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:04.240 Why is that significant? 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:10.960 Because sometimes God commands you to do something clearly, clearly. 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.800 There are some things that God has commanded you to 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:20.600 do clearly. These are not opinions, suggestions, or advice. These 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.720 are not influencers giving you their tips and techniques. These 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:25.840 are the truths of God's word. 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:27.520 They are eternal. 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:34.320 And so God commands you clearly to flee sexual immorality. 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.400 You don't have to pray about the affair that you're 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:37.240 on the edge of having. 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:45.040 You got to run flee sexual immorality. That's clear. 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:50.479 I know another clear one that people don't like forgive others, 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:51.840 just as God in Christ forgave you. 0:23:53.320 --> 0:23:57.280 That's clear. But Lord, which city should I live in? 0:23:57.320 --> 0:24:00.439 Should I live in Charlotte or Atlanta or Roanoke or Raleigh? 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:02.400 The Lord don't. 0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:05.359 The Lord is going to use you in the city 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:07.359 that you obey the clear thing that He showed you in. So, 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:09.679 if you don't forgiven Charlotte, when you move to Atlanta, 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:11.680 you're gonna have just the same sewage that you had 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:13.960 in Charlotte when you get to Atlanta, because you didn't 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:14.680 do what was clear. 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:20.960 Wherever you go, there you are. 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:24.720 And so a lot of the prayers we pray about 0:24:24.800 --> 0:24:29.119 moves we should make. When we can't get ourselves to 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:34.520 obey what God has clearly spoken, we create confusion so 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:38.639 that we don't take responsibility for our decisions. I'm not 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:40.240 going to be like this the whole time. I will 0:24:40.240 --> 0:24:41.840 be hopeful in a moment. 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:44.560 But I just want to spend more time this year. 0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:47.840 In verse two, where they said, let us go to 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:50.880 the Jordan, where each of us can get a poll, 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:54.440 and let us build a place there for us to meet. Honestly, 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:57.600 if this is my prayer, I'm saying, God, this place 0:24:57.640 --> 0:24:59.399 where we meet with you is too small. 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:02.359 Make us that's a bigger one. God. 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:05.160 These people you put around me are not talented enough. 0:25:05.440 --> 0:25:09.200 Give me more talented people. God, this situation you put 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:11.960 me in, it's not important enough, it's not exciting enough. 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:13.560 God moved me to another place. 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:16.800 But I want you to notice in verse two, they 0:25:16.840 --> 0:25:21.280 didn't ask the prophet for anything except permission. Let us 0:25:21.359 --> 0:25:24.600 go to the place by the Jordan, the transitional body 0:25:24.640 --> 0:25:28.080 of water where the people of God crossed over into Jericho. 0:25:28.680 --> 0:25:31.240 Let us go to the place where the vegetation is, 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:33.600 and the wood is, and the tools are, and the 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:38.639 resources are, and let us go build a place there 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:41.480 for us to meet. Put that verse on the screen. 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:44.760 Verse two, and whoever circle him back there circle The 0:25:44.840 --> 0:25:49.679 following words say let us circle us, go to the Jordan, 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.320 where each of us circle us again can get a pole, 0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:58.160 and let us circle us again build a place there 0:25:58.320 --> 0:26:03.240 for us circle us again. To me, that's their plan. 0:26:04.320 --> 0:26:07.639 We got a plan. Somebody shout, I got a plan. 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:12.680 This is my year. I got a plan thrive in 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:17.520 twenty five. I got a plan. I'm eating carnivore, I'm 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:21.639 doing cardio, I'm drinking collagen. And then two weeks in 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:23.840 you got a cold, and where did that get you? 0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:32.679 I got a plan. We're gonna go down here and 0:26:32.800 --> 0:26:36.320 build a place. It's gonna be bigger, it's gonna be better, 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:37.760 it's gonna be amazing. 0:26:38.000 --> 0:26:39.600 I got my plan I have. 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:41.960 I have my plan, and I had the plan last year, 0:26:43.200 --> 0:26:47.040 but this is different. I had this plan. I had 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:49.040 the other year before that too, and the year and 0:26:49.200 --> 0:26:51.520 the year before that, but that was COVID. That doesn't count. 0:26:51.720 --> 0:26:56.440 I mean this year is different. So we're going. Somebody shout, 0:26:56.520 --> 0:27:00.520 let's go. And I give them credit for their intive 0:27:01.160 --> 0:27:04.440 because I think sometimes when we're waiting for God to speak, 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:09.080 he's waiting for us to step Yeah. Yeah, Sometimes when 0:27:09.080 --> 0:27:12.200 we're waiting for God to move, he's waiting for us 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:16.479 to multiply what we've already been given. And so I 0:27:16.760 --> 0:27:21.679 congratulate these men for their initiative. They didn't just complain 0:27:21.760 --> 0:27:24.760 about the thing. They were willing to change the thing, 0:27:25.080 --> 0:27:28.560 to work toward the thing, to collaborate toward the thing. 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:29.359 Are you. 0:27:30.840 --> 0:27:35.520 Or are you waiting for something to happen externally? When 0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:41.399 the Word of God is internal, internal and eternal, nothing 0:27:41.400 --> 0:27:45.399 can stop it, and it can't be seen with human eyes, 0:27:46.880 --> 0:27:50.560 And so they get fired up. One of my friends, 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:53.680 who is an athlete, tells me, I don't know if 0:27:53.680 --> 0:27:55.159 this is going to encourage you, but I come to 0:27:55.240 --> 0:27:57.239 church because it helps me feel like I can do 0:27:57.280 --> 0:28:01.280 anything for about three days. I said, that's pretty good. 0:28:01.280 --> 0:28:06.280 Three days, that's pretty good. Shelf life three days, that's 0:28:06.320 --> 0:28:08.680 pretty good. Flowers can die quicker than three days, that's 0:28:08.680 --> 0:28:10.959 pretty good. He said, yeah, felt I could do anything 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:13.920 for three days. I said, but what happens on day four? 0:28:15.000 --> 0:28:16.680 He said, Well, that's where it gets tricky. I said, no, 0:28:16.760 --> 0:28:21.560 it doesn't, because you can you can go back to God. 0:28:22.520 --> 0:28:27.800 Between Sundays you can go back to God. You can 0:28:27.840 --> 0:28:28.840 go back to God. 0:28:29.800 --> 0:28:33.600 Between hours, you can go back to God. 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:36.919 You can go back to God as much as you 0:28:37.000 --> 0:28:39.600 want in any situation that you're in. 0:28:39.920 --> 0:28:42.280 And I think as simple as that sounds. 0:28:42.200 --> 0:28:46.120 We don't really practice that. We don't really practice that. 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:50.000 I saw something here that was to be celebrated. 0:28:50.480 --> 0:28:54.040 Let's go. We're gonna build a bigger school and e life. 0:28:54.120 --> 0:28:55.640 So the prophet is gonna teach us. 0:28:55.880 --> 0:28:58.960 We're gonna build something amazing for you God, and many 0:28:59.000 --> 0:29:01.640 of us have started this year with good motives. I'm 0:29:01.680 --> 0:29:04.920 gonna build something for my family. I'm gonna build something 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:05.720 so I can take. 0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:08.200 Care of my kids. I'm gonna build something for God. 0:29:08.360 --> 0:29:10.520 I'm gonna build something to make a difference. I'm gonna 0:29:10.520 --> 0:29:12.040 work on my body. I'm gonna work on my mind. 0:29:12.080 --> 0:29:13.720 I'm gonna work on my future. I'm gonna work on 0:29:13.760 --> 0:29:15.840 my career. I'm gonna work on myself. I'm gonna work 0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:17.400 on my temper. I'm gonna work on my yoga. 0:29:18.480 --> 0:29:21.080 I started doing yoga last year just so I can 0:29:21.160 --> 0:29:22.920 keep it moving as much as I need to up here. 0:29:23.280 --> 0:29:26.160 I'm just increasing the arsenal this year. And you know 0:29:26.200 --> 0:29:28.680 what the thing about it is, Holly's better at it 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:31.920 than I am, and I can lift so much more 0:29:31.960 --> 0:29:35.480 pounds than she can. But the instructor that's working with us, 0:29:35.640 --> 0:29:41.760 she always is saying beautiful Holly, beautiful Holly, and comes 0:29:41.760 --> 0:29:48.560 over to me and says it gets better. Stephen, Like, 0:29:48.640 --> 0:29:50.800 the only word she has for me is the word 0:29:50.840 --> 0:29:53.680 of false encouragement and delusional hope that I'll one day 0:29:53.720 --> 0:29:54.959 be flexible. 0:29:56.720 --> 0:29:58.120 And I found out something. 0:29:58.120 --> 0:30:02.719 When you're doing something new, it helps to have somebody 0:30:03.280 --> 0:30:07.040 who can give you personal attention so you don't get 0:30:07.040 --> 0:30:08.120 confused and quit. 0:30:09.200 --> 0:30:10.000 And maybe the. 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:12.720 Reason you had a plan last year and it fell 0:30:12.760 --> 0:30:18.000 apart in three days, three weeks, three months, Maybe the 0:30:18.080 --> 0:30:21.720 reason that your motivation sometimes only lasts three minutes. 0:30:22.360 --> 0:30:24.400 Maybe the reason it lasts too. 0:30:24.320 --> 0:30:29.520 Short sometimes is because you only get permission and a plan. 0:30:30.520 --> 0:30:32.520 But this is a year where your plan will not 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:37.040 be enough, because the most important things that will happen 0:30:37.080 --> 0:30:39.160 in your life this year will not be in your plan. 0:30:41.400 --> 0:30:43.800 The greatest things that God will bring into your life 0:30:43.800 --> 0:30:47.640 will not be on your vision board. They will not 0:30:47.720 --> 0:30:51.640 be manifested from the contours of your human mind or imagination. 0:30:52.880 --> 0:30:55.320 You will not see them coming, so you won't have 0:30:55.400 --> 0:30:57.440 time to plan a parade. 0:30:57.680 --> 0:30:58.600 You will not see. 0:30:58.440 --> 0:31:00.720 Them coming, so you won't have time to get in 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:03.960 your stance. The most important things that I'm gonna show 0:31:04.000 --> 0:31:06.400 you in the text. What I'm talking about the most 0:31:06.400 --> 0:31:09.040 important things that will happen in your life this year 0:31:09.360 --> 0:31:13.200 will not be a part of your plan. How many 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:16.680 can testify that there has already been an unplanned event 0:31:17.120 --> 0:31:19.680 that has superseded your planned year. 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:26.600 This year and we're just getting started. So they're excited. Man, 0:31:26.600 --> 0:31:28.800 we're gonna go build a place. We're gonna get a poll. 0:31:28.840 --> 0:31:29.600 We're gonna build a. 0:31:29.600 --> 0:31:32.160 Place, and the Lisha's gonna teach us. And it's not 0:31:32.240 --> 0:31:34.280 like they're going to build a strip club. They're not 0:31:34.360 --> 0:31:37.880 doing something terrible. They're not even doing something neutral. They're 0:31:37.920 --> 0:31:43.440 building something for God. Okay, we're gonna build this for 0:31:43.520 --> 0:31:45.640 God and God's gonna bless us. I just need to 0:31:45.640 --> 0:31:48.240 stop right here and take a poll. How many have 0:31:48.320 --> 0:31:50.280 something you want to do for God this year in 0:31:50.320 --> 0:31:51.480 your life? 0:31:53.160 --> 0:31:55.800 Shout out what it is on three, one, two, three? 0:31:56.440 --> 0:31:56.920 All right? Cool. 0:31:56.960 --> 0:32:00.880 God heard all that I don't need to and some 0:32:00.960 --> 0:32:02.640 of what you said you're gonna do for God this year, 0:32:02.680 --> 0:32:06.800 God was like, that's right, go do it. And some 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:11.320 of it God was like, why are you making a 0:32:11.360 --> 0:32:13.400 plan for a purpose that I didn't call you two 0:32:13.560 --> 0:32:16.280 just because you saw it in somebody else. Let me 0:32:16.280 --> 0:32:18.640 tell you something, Haul, I don't want to build anything 0:32:18.680 --> 0:32:20.840 in my life from this point on that God gave 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:28.560 somebody else the blueprint for because I've spent too much time, 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:33.440 too much energy, lost too much joy, forfeited too much 0:32:33.480 --> 0:32:37.680 contentment and peace trying to build something that isn't even 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:41.480 in my blueprint. And the Prophet Elisha, and I need 0:32:41.480 --> 0:32:48.320 to tell you something by Elisha. Elisha is a little moody. 0:32:48.520 --> 0:32:51.600 You can't call a man of God moody. I sure 0:32:51.640 --> 0:32:54.000 can because one time some boys called him baldy and 0:32:54.040 --> 0:32:56.640 he called she bearers out of the woods to devour them. 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:00.640 That's temperamental qualifies. 0:33:03.040 --> 0:33:05.800 So I think it would have taken a lot of nerve, 0:33:05.880 --> 0:33:08.360 don't you to come up to the prophet and say, man, 0:33:08.400 --> 0:33:12.600 this place you got us meeting respectfully, we need to 0:33:12.640 --> 0:33:19.040 do a relocation project. And Alisha says go, and they 0:33:19.040 --> 0:33:21.560 look at each other like this is amazing. 0:33:21.640 --> 0:33:24.160 He said, we could go. He's letting us do it, 0:33:24.720 --> 0:33:26.680 so he's gonna let us use stuff. Let's call let's go, 0:33:26.760 --> 0:33:29.520 let's go, And thenn fired up, Let's go, We're gonna. 0:33:29.280 --> 0:33:32.480 Build a house for God on three house on three 0:33:32.480 --> 0:33:34.200 house on me what to do the house? 0:33:35.800 --> 0:33:39.000 Let's go and suddenly watch this. 0:33:39.400 --> 0:33:40.800 I'd read you this part of the story yet, but 0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:42.080 it's the best part of the story. 0:33:42.360 --> 0:33:44.680 All of a sudden, as they're going to build something 0:33:44.680 --> 0:33:48.800 for God with good intentions, with the permission of the prophet, 0:33:49.240 --> 0:33:51.600 he said, we could do it. God said, I'm a conqueror. 0:33:51.760 --> 0:33:53.840 God said, I can do it. God said, this. 0:33:53.720 --> 0:33:54.240 Is my year. 0:33:54.520 --> 0:33:57.560 He's changed break. This is the year dead things come alive. 0:33:57.720 --> 0:33:59.880 We're going. We're going. We're going put up verse three, 0:34:00.160 --> 0:34:02.000 best verse I've read this year so far. 0:34:02.560 --> 0:34:07.400 Then one of them said, now, this is the kid 0:34:07.400 --> 0:34:16.320 in the class who raises his hand and says, excuse me, teacher, 0:34:17.880 --> 0:34:19.520 how about that homework assignment? 0:34:20.480 --> 0:34:24.279 This is that kid. And not only that. 0:34:24.640 --> 0:34:27.640 I can't prove it to you, but I think he 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:30.879 was the smartest one in the whole group. I don't 0:34:30.880 --> 0:34:34.840 know his name, but what he did was so important. 0:34:34.840 --> 0:34:37.640 But he didn't know is important. It seems incidental, but 0:34:37.680 --> 0:34:40.040 it's not. They're on their way. Everybody, shall let's go 0:34:41.040 --> 0:34:44.319 put it in the comments. Let's go look at your neighbors. Say, 0:34:44.400 --> 0:34:49.480 let's go tell them this year, let's go. Little louder 0:34:49.520 --> 0:34:56.320 say this year, let's go right now, let's go get free, 0:34:56.960 --> 0:35:02.160 let's go rise up, let's go be more. 0:35:02.719 --> 0:35:04.719 Let's go Verse three. 0:35:04.840 --> 0:35:12.760 One of them said, I'm gonna ask him. 0:35:12.960 --> 0:35:15.200 Wait wait wait wait wait wait no, no no. He said, 0:35:15.239 --> 0:35:17.440 we can go. Yeah, yeah, I know. He said, we 0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:20.000 can go. I know, but I'm asking. 0:35:20.280 --> 0:35:23.480 You can't ask him that, yes I can, and yes, 0:35:23.960 --> 0:35:29.680 you better like goo me right now. I'm asking him 0:35:29.880 --> 0:35:42.719 because I don't just want his permission pray for me. 0:35:43.640 --> 0:35:47.120 I don't just want his permission. I don't just want 0:35:47.120 --> 0:35:52.239 his provision. I don't just want my plan. One of 0:35:52.239 --> 0:35:59.520 them came back and said, Elisha, Elisha, I might be 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:03.839 out of line. I don't know if you want to. 0:36:03.920 --> 0:36:04.600 I know you're busy. 0:36:05.880 --> 0:36:10.400 You got kill little kids with bears and safe kings. 0:36:12.560 --> 0:36:19.520 But verse three, won't you please come with your servants. 0:36:20.840 --> 0:36:24.560 You can't ask him that this is the prophet. 0:36:25.239 --> 0:36:26.320 This is the man of God. 0:36:27.760 --> 0:36:30.879 You got time to swing an acts with you, chop 0:36:30.960 --> 0:36:34.440 down a tree with you, relocate to the messy Jordan 0:36:34.480 --> 0:36:35.080 banks with you. 0:36:35.160 --> 0:36:39.000 This is Elisha. Are you crazy? You ask him if 0:36:39.080 --> 0:36:41.040 you want I'm not getting killed by a bear. 0:36:41.239 --> 0:36:44.440 I'm leaving well enough alone. No no, no, no, no, 0:36:44.560 --> 0:36:50.640 I'm asking him. I'm asking him, Elisha. I appreciate the 0:36:50.680 --> 0:36:54.040 fact that you gave me the opportunity. I appreciate the 0:36:54.080 --> 0:36:55.479 fact that you're letting us go build. 0:36:55.520 --> 0:36:57.040 That's real kind of you, because you could have just 0:36:57.120 --> 0:36:59.040 told us to shut up and be content with what 0:36:59.080 --> 0:36:59.320 we have. 0:37:00.960 --> 0:37:04.160 But I'm not content with what we have if we 0:37:04.200 --> 0:37:04.759 don't have you. 0:37:09.000 --> 0:37:14.120 Now, remember, the prophet represents what the word of God, 0:37:15.000 --> 0:37:16.200 the presence of God. 0:37:17.000 --> 0:37:19.240 And so what I'm trying to say to you today 0:37:19.400 --> 0:37:20.279 is I. 0:37:20.239 --> 0:37:24.520 Don't want you to go for your goal without your God. 0:37:27.440 --> 0:37:29.120 I don't want it to feel like you can do 0:37:29.200 --> 0:37:32.879 anything for three days and then on the fourth day 0:37:32.920 --> 0:37:37.120 it falls apart and you start thinking faith didn't work. 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:41.160 It wasn't that faith didn't work. You put your faith 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:44.080 in the faith rather than the God who gave the faith. 0:37:46.080 --> 0:37:50.239 Because this year I have a plan, I have provision, 0:37:50.560 --> 0:37:51.560 I have permission. 0:37:52.960 --> 0:37:57.480 But this year my plan is His presence. 0:37:59.000 --> 0:38:04.520 This year, my plan is that everywhere the soul of 0:38:04.600 --> 0:38:06.840 my foot shall tread like Joshua. 0:38:07.560 --> 0:38:08.279 I believe that. 0:38:08.280 --> 0:38:12.360 God is giving me this place as Holy ground. This 0:38:12.400 --> 0:38:16.120 is the year where I moved the church outside of 0:38:16.160 --> 0:38:19.960 a physical location, and I move it to my car, 0:38:20.400 --> 0:38:23.560 and I move it to my home, and I move. 0:38:23.400 --> 0:38:24.920 It to I move it. 0:38:24.880 --> 0:38:30.520 To my unchangeable situation, and I move it touch somebody 0:38:30.600 --> 0:38:35.000 say move it. They came to elishahskin good Now and 0:38:35.040 --> 0:38:39.160 they said the place we meet with you is too small. 0:38:39.320 --> 0:38:41.279 And they were right, but not how they thought that 0:38:41.320 --> 0:38:41.879 they were right. 0:38:42.480 --> 0:38:46.880 It wasn't only too small in the physical dimensions of it. 0:38:46.880 --> 0:38:50.080 It not only needed to be expanded physically, but the 0:38:50.120 --> 0:38:52.840 place where they thought they could meet with God was 0:38:52.880 --> 0:38:58.160 too small in their perception. Because God doesn't just want 0:38:58.200 --> 0:38:59.600 to come when you build it. 0:39:01.280 --> 0:39:06.160 He wants to be with you as you build. I 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:08.880 don't know if this makes sense. It does to me. 0:39:10.719 --> 0:39:14.120 Is helping me get my confidence for this year, because 0:39:14.160 --> 0:39:16.080 I've been in this too long to think that my 0:39:16.239 --> 0:39:18.080 plan is going to go down how I plan for 0:39:18.160 --> 0:39:21.239 it this year? So guess what presence is my plan 0:39:21.360 --> 0:39:21.840 this year? 0:39:23.000 --> 0:39:23.360 Yeah? 0:39:23.880 --> 0:39:27.640 Somebody say, presence is my plan? Ask him what's your 0:39:27.680 --> 0:39:30.919 five year plan? Ask him what's your five year plan? 0:39:31.840 --> 0:39:35.160 Tell him presence. Ask them for your ten year plan. 0:39:35.920 --> 0:39:38.799 What's your ten year plan presence. What do you mean 0:39:38.840 --> 0:39:42.200 by that? When I'm ten years down the road or 0:39:42.280 --> 0:39:44.920 ten minutes down the road, the God who is with 0:39:45.040 --> 0:39:48.400 me in this moment will not leave me nor forsake 0:39:48.520 --> 0:39:52.920 me until everything he spoke concerning his purpose for my 0:39:53.040 --> 0:39:56.600 life has been fulfilled. So this year I got a 0:39:56.640 --> 0:39:59.120 plan and the plan is his presence. 0:39:59.600 --> 0:40:03.120 What's this? When I walk through the fire, I'm not alone. 0:40:03.320 --> 0:40:06.480 When I walk through the storm, I'm not alone. He's 0:40:06.600 --> 0:40:07.479 with me on the. 0:40:07.400 --> 0:40:10.360 Boat, He's with me in the bowels of the furnace. 0:40:10.760 --> 0:40:11.880 He's with me in this. 0:40:15.320 --> 0:40:19.160 Hmm. That's the word of the Lord. Presence is the plan. 0:40:19.960 --> 0:40:24.120 Presence is the plan. Presence is the plan. God says 0:40:24.160 --> 0:40:25.120 you need a plan. 0:40:25.080 --> 0:40:28.879 B this year. Uh huh, a plan B. Everybody say 0:40:28.920 --> 0:40:31.120 Plan B, Plan B. 0:40:31.560 --> 0:40:33.839 That means if I need if I'm in the wilderness, 0:40:34.040 --> 0:40:35.440 he'll be my water. 0:40:36.440 --> 0:40:37.359 Yeah. Yeah. 0:40:37.640 --> 0:40:40.600 If I'm in a hard place, he'll be my pillow. 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:44.200 If I'm in a sick bed, he'll be my physician. 0:40:44.680 --> 0:40:47.560 I got a Plan B this year. The Great I 0:40:47.680 --> 0:40:51.239 Am is my plan B. This year, his presence, the 0:40:51.280 --> 0:40:54.360 Great I Am. This is a shift in mentalities for 0:40:54.440 --> 0:40:57.080 all of us control freaks. Who think we are going 0:40:57.120 --> 0:41:00.239 to perfectly design our life and I'm gonna chuck on 0:41:00.239 --> 0:41:02.319 a tree and I'm going to build a building. But 0:41:02.360 --> 0:41:04.640 the thing that you never saw coming is going to 0:41:04.719 --> 0:41:14.200 require the God that you keep forgetting to bring along, beautiful, Holly, 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:18.839 beautiful Stephen. Would you like a few adjustments, I'm like, yes, 0:41:18.920 --> 0:41:22.680 I would. I'm not trying to twist my lumbar like 0:41:22.719 --> 0:41:25.160 a pretzel in here. I'm not trying to walk out 0:41:25.200 --> 0:41:27.080 of here like I'm ninety one years old. 0:41:27.200 --> 0:41:27.560 I already. 0:41:27.600 --> 0:41:30.439 Why are you walking like I'm eighty nine. I need 0:41:30.480 --> 0:41:32.279 some help in here. Come over here and help me. 0:41:32.680 --> 0:41:33.960 Help me, God, help me. 0:41:33.960 --> 0:41:35.760 I'm using it as an analogy. You understand. 0:41:35.760 --> 0:41:37.840 I'm not getting into new age mysticism and telling you 0:41:37.840 --> 0:41:40.720 to do yoga. I'm just saying, just like the Holy Spirit, 0:41:40.760 --> 0:41:42.600 I need you to come along this year, and I 0:41:42.640 --> 0:41:43.919 need you to go with me this year. 0:41:44.000 --> 0:41:44.719 God and God. 0:41:44.760 --> 0:41:46.799 I can't walk in this house without you and God. 0:41:46.840 --> 0:41:48.879 I can't get on this zoom without you. And I'm 0:41:48.880 --> 0:41:51.479 tired of putting up plaques and trophies on a fake 0:41:51.520 --> 0:41:54.520 green screen back behind me, pretending like I'm doing better 0:41:54.520 --> 0:41:57.160 than I am. Come with us, see life. Shall come 0:41:57.200 --> 0:41:59.880 with me, word of God. Come with me on the waters, 0:42:00.160 --> 0:42:02.480 Come with me in the wave, Come with me back 0:42:02.520 --> 0:42:05.839 to school. Come with me into this divorce. Come with 0:42:05.880 --> 0:42:09.240 me into this addiction. Come with me into this crippling state. 0:42:09.520 --> 0:42:12.359 Come with me into this contention. Come with me into 0:42:12.400 --> 0:42:15.560 this argument. Come with me into this text thread. Come 0:42:15.640 --> 0:42:18.560 with me into this seed. Done with me into this step, 0:42:18.840 --> 0:42:20.520 Done with me into this heartbreak. 0:42:26.440 --> 0:42:26.960 Verse three. 0:42:27.120 --> 0:42:29.960 Will you come with us? Won't you come with us? 0:42:29.960 --> 0:42:32.080 We don't want to go without your God. I don't 0:42:32.080 --> 0:42:34.120 want to preach without you. I don't want to teach 0:42:34.200 --> 0:42:36.640 without you. I don't want a dad without you. I 0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:38.839 don't want a husband without you. I don't want a 0:42:38.840 --> 0:42:41.520 man without you. I don't want it without you. 0:42:44.040 --> 0:42:47.680 I don't want to plan without the great I am. 0:42:48.040 --> 0:42:49.719 I want to plan be because I don't even know 0:42:49.760 --> 0:42:51.560 what I need him to be till I get there. 0:42:51.880 --> 0:42:52.560 That's why I. 0:42:52.480 --> 0:42:56.960 Said I am that I am. 0:42:57.000 --> 0:42:59.279 So when you run up on a red sea, you 0:42:59.360 --> 0:43:02.760 gotta plan be. You don't understand what I just said, 0:43:02.920 --> 0:43:04.520 you gotta plan be. You don't even know you need 0:43:04.600 --> 0:43:06.359 him to be a partner of the waters till you're 0:43:06.400 --> 0:43:10.000 looking at a sea. So the sea you didn't plan for, 0:43:10.400 --> 0:43:12.319 you got to plan be. God said, I'll be what 0:43:12.360 --> 0:43:14.400 you need me to be when you step your foot 0:43:14.400 --> 0:43:17.000 where you're going with an awareness of my presence. And 0:43:17.040 --> 0:43:22.800 the thing is He's already in you. It's an issue 0:43:22.840 --> 0:43:29.160 not of ability. It's willingness that really blessed me. How 0:43:29.160 --> 0:43:31.120 the prophet said, well, I don't even think I can 0:43:31.160 --> 0:43:32.040 do this like I want to. 0:43:32.120 --> 0:43:32.840 Not in this setting. 0:43:33.520 --> 0:43:36.520 I'd have to be talking to a small group of 0:43:36.560 --> 0:43:41.680 people who felt like you've been in situations where you 0:43:41.719 --> 0:43:46.520 felt unwanted, and you notice the prophet said in verse two, 0:43:46.600 --> 0:43:50.960 he said go. But what touched me was he wanted 0:43:50.960 --> 0:43:59.279 to come. He was waiting to be asked. Because you 0:43:59.360 --> 0:44:01.160 keep assuming, well, if God wanted to do it, he'd 0:44:01.160 --> 0:44:05.319 do it. What if he's waiting to be asked? What 0:44:05.360 --> 0:44:08.480 if he wants you to involve him? Elisha didn't say 0:44:08.480 --> 0:44:10.400 to the school of the prophet to build a bigger place. 0:44:10.600 --> 0:44:13.799 They said to him, can we do it? Elishah didn't say, 0:44:13.800 --> 0:44:17.160 mind if I tag along? They said, will you come? 0:44:18.120 --> 0:44:20.239 It took me back to something. This is why it 0:44:20.280 --> 0:44:23.640 touched me. From when Elijah was very little Maya Elijah 0:44:23.680 --> 0:44:24.360 not the prophet. 0:44:25.160 --> 0:44:25.600 I don't know. 0:44:25.640 --> 0:44:27.480 I don't know about when he was. That prophet was 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:32.799 little of my Elijah. He's he's so convincing and he's 0:44:32.840 --> 0:44:37.040 so persuasive, and he always has been. And then he 0:44:37.080 --> 0:44:39.239 started watching Ben Shapiro, and now he just wants to 0:44:39.320 --> 0:44:44.080 argue all the time. But but when he even wants 0:44:44.120 --> 0:44:45.560 to be sweet. I remember he wanted me to see 0:44:45.560 --> 0:44:47.400 The Avengers. In me, I don't like superhero movies. I 0:44:47.400 --> 0:44:54.719 think they're stupid. So I I'm like, man, we're not 0:44:54.960 --> 0:44:55.960 going to the Avengers. 0:44:55.960 --> 0:44:56.719 And I'm telling you. 0:44:56.719 --> 0:44:58.600 He he went in above like seven years old or 0:44:58.600 --> 0:45:02.279 something like that, very way too young to be out 0:45:02.280 --> 0:45:04.319 this late because it was showing at ten o'clock at night, 0:45:05.520 --> 0:45:07.239 and he's like, can we can we go see the 0:45:07.239 --> 0:45:08.880 ten o'clock And I'm going to take you to Avengers 0:45:08.880 --> 0:45:09.440 at ten o'clock. 0:45:09.480 --> 0:45:11.880 I don't like I don't like superhero movies. 0:45:11.920 --> 0:45:16.719 I don't like ten o'clock. I don't like you after 0:45:16.760 --> 0:45:21.000 ten o'clock. We're not doing this. That boy didn't say 0:45:21.000 --> 0:45:23.200 a word. He went away. 0:45:23.280 --> 0:45:25.320 I'm like, okay, good, we got that done. 0:45:25.480 --> 0:45:28.640 He comes back, doesn't say a word, and brings me 0:45:28.760 --> 0:45:34.160 my shoes and puts them down at my feet. And 0:45:34.200 --> 0:45:35.840 he didn't say anything till he was almost all the 0:45:35.880 --> 0:45:37.600 way out the door. He said, I'll be in the 0:45:37.600 --> 0:45:44.640 car if you change your mind. How how do you 0:45:44.680 --> 0:45:48.440 not take that kid to stone Crass and buy him 0:45:48.480 --> 0:45:53.719 popcorn and coke and caffeinate him and sugar him up. 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:56.080 And he's up till seven am. But I got a 0:45:56.120 --> 0:45:57.759 sermon illustration out of it. 0:45:58.360 --> 0:46:02.440 Bring God his shoe? Whose bring God? 0:46:02.600 --> 0:46:06.560 Oh, bring God, God. 0:46:06.600 --> 0:46:09.360 I know you hadn't done it yet. And if you 0:46:09.360 --> 0:46:10.000 don't want. 0:46:09.840 --> 0:46:12.600 To, I trust you. But I'm gonna be in the 0:46:12.760 --> 0:46:16.040 car if you change my mind. I'm gonna be in 0:46:16.120 --> 0:46:17.360 my seat in elevation. 0:46:17.880 --> 0:46:19.040 If you change your. 0:46:18.960 --> 0:46:21.280 Mind, I'm gonna be in therapy. 0:46:21.360 --> 0:46:25.040 If you change your mind, I'm gonna be working on this. 0:46:26.040 --> 0:46:26.799 Will you come? 0:46:30.120 --> 0:46:31.560 Ask your neighbor, will you come? 0:46:33.040 --> 0:46:36.239 You'd be surprised what God would say yes to if 0:46:36.239 --> 0:46:39.120 you'd get in the vehicle. You'd be surprised what God 0:46:39.160 --> 0:46:40.080 would say yes to. 0:46:40.520 --> 0:46:41.880 If you bring him his shoes. 0:46:44.640 --> 0:46:47.200 Yeah, you'd be surprised where God would meet with you 0:46:48.400 --> 0:46:53.520 if you bring him along. Why wait until you've built 0:46:53.560 --> 0:46:57.480 the place to learn from the prophet Why wait till 0:46:57.520 --> 0:46:59.880 you get the degree to celebrate the progress. 0:47:00.880 --> 0:47:02.879 Why wait till the chains. 0:47:02.520 --> 0:47:05.080 Are all the way broken to show somebody how to 0:47:05.120 --> 0:47:05.719 smash the. 0:47:05.680 --> 0:47:06.960 First link like you did. 0:47:07.600 --> 0:47:10.320 Why wait for the presence of God when he is 0:47:10.360 --> 0:47:12.720 a very present help in the time of trouble. 0:47:13.040 --> 0:47:17.200 I'm trying to tell you he wants to come. He 0:47:17.280 --> 0:47:20.480 wants to come, he wants to come. 0:47:21.800 --> 0:47:25.720 Stop trying to rebuke anxiety in the name of Jesus. 0:47:26.040 --> 0:47:29.520 You don't get through anxiety. By rebuking anxiety in the 0:47:29.560 --> 0:47:34.000 name of Jesus. You receive the grace of Jesus for 0:47:34.239 --> 0:47:38.719 your anxiety, and the grace of Jesus in your anxiety 0:47:38.800 --> 0:47:43.160 becomes Watch this the place where you meet with God. 0:47:47.360 --> 0:47:50.839 Put your feet on the ground and sit there and 0:47:50.920 --> 0:47:54.719 do your breathing exercises and do a downward dog in 0:47:54.760 --> 0:48:00.200 a Hallelujah, and make it the place where you meet 0:48:00.239 --> 0:48:05.680 with God because you're gonna need him. Let's let's talk 0:48:05.719 --> 0:48:07.799 along the way, Elisha, you have so much to share. 0:48:07.920 --> 0:48:08.120 God. 0:48:08.120 --> 0:48:09.840 Would you show me along the way things that I 0:48:09.880 --> 0:48:12.759 think I'm going to learn when I get there. I 0:48:12.760 --> 0:48:17.520 think that's so important because I'm perfectionist and I'm a complainer. 0:48:20.680 --> 0:48:22.319 I'm just guessed. I'm supposed to be helping you, but 0:48:22.400 --> 0:48:23.080 this is helping me. 0:48:24.440 --> 0:48:24.960 I just saw. 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:26.839 Not only do I get stuck in verse one, where 0:48:26.880 --> 0:48:28.400 I say it's too small, it's not working. 0:48:28.480 --> 0:48:29.600 I don't like this, it's terrible. 0:48:29.640 --> 0:48:34.000 I'm confined and I complain, But sometimes I get stuck 0:48:34.000 --> 0:48:37.440 in verse two. Let us go down and let us 0:48:37.480 --> 0:48:42.080 do it, and let us try. Here's my plan, And 0:48:42.120 --> 0:48:47.319 I never get the verse three his presence because when 0:48:47.320 --> 0:48:49.680 they got down there, Look how Elisha responded. He didn't 0:48:49.680 --> 0:48:51.960 call a bear to kill this boy. 0:48:52.680 --> 0:48:54.920 He didn't he didn't tell him. You ridiculous for a 0:48:54.920 --> 0:48:55.640 waste of my time. 0:48:56.400 --> 0:48:59.840 You know how, sometimes you think that God is too small. 0:49:00.440 --> 0:49:02.359 You think that what you're dealing with is something God 0:49:02.400 --> 0:49:02.920 can't handle. 0:49:03.320 --> 0:49:04.040 And we all think that. 0:49:04.080 --> 0:49:05.680 We watch the news and we see crazy things that 0:49:05.719 --> 0:49:07.239 are happening in the world, and it's not that we 0:49:07.239 --> 0:49:08.880 think God is too small, but it doesn't seem like 0:49:08.920 --> 0:49:13.080 he's doing anything about it. Sometimes I don't think we 0:49:13.160 --> 0:49:16.799 realize how small God is willing to be to show 0:49:16.800 --> 0:49:17.520 how big he is. 0:49:19.600 --> 0:49:22.919 And that's why I chose this passage for my first 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:23.719 sermon of this. 0:49:23.719 --> 0:49:27.759 Year, because I thought, if we talked about Goliath going down, 0:49:28.680 --> 0:49:30.920 you would wait for a big giant to trust God. 0:49:32.760 --> 0:49:35.200 And it's not the giants all the time that cause 0:49:35.239 --> 0:49:36.320 you to lose your momentum. 0:49:36.320 --> 0:49:37.239 And I know how it is. 0:49:37.480 --> 0:49:39.960 I can do anything for three days, but that fourth day, 0:49:40.960 --> 0:49:43.600 I really love Jesus to about nine forty five am, 0:49:44.120 --> 0:49:47.440 and then nine forty six the devil meets with me. 0:49:48.640 --> 0:49:52.000 I know that feeling, but I believe that not every 0:49:52.080 --> 0:49:54.879 day presents a red sea, a Goliath, a burning bush. 0:49:54.920 --> 0:49:56.840 I mean, all these things are wonderful, and you know 0:49:56.920 --> 0:49:59.680 I love to preach about them. But I started my 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:02.160 year with the sermon called I don't know what your 0:50:02.520 --> 0:50:06.560 bible heading says their autumn, but mine says uh An. 0:50:06.600 --> 0:50:11.640 Axehead recovered, that's all that said on the subject, and 0:50:11.760 --> 0:50:15.640 Axhead recovered, really, man, you got a whole Bible full 0:50:15.680 --> 0:50:19.680 of nine foot giants and raging seas and you want 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:24.480 to preach about And axe said, yeah, because I think 0:50:24.520 --> 0:50:26.560 the little moments with God that he wants you to 0:50:26.560 --> 0:50:30.080 have are the ones that are slipping away. And I 0:50:30.160 --> 0:50:32.520 think that's why the other stuff gets so big and 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:37.440 takes you down. Because the prophet said, I'll go with you, 0:50:38.719 --> 0:50:44.040 and Verse four records what happened next he went with them. 0:50:44.880 --> 0:50:48.080 Wonder what they talked about. Wonder if they talked at all. 0:50:48.960 --> 0:50:51.000 Wonder if they were able to ask him more specifically 0:50:51.280 --> 0:50:52.560 how you think we should build it? 0:50:53.480 --> 0:50:55.880 You know you can ask God's stuff more specific. 0:50:56.920 --> 0:50:58.359 God, is there another way to say that? 0:50:58.760 --> 0:50:58.920 Now? 0:50:58.920 --> 0:51:00.799 I have an advantage over you in this because every 0:51:00.840 --> 0:51:03.040 week I have to try to talk for God to 0:51:03.239 --> 0:51:06.759 you and I'm done, so I get a lot of 0:51:06.760 --> 0:51:09.279 practice of just gods are another way to say that? 0:51:09.280 --> 0:51:11.279 I don't know if I already said that before, they're 0:51:11.280 --> 0:51:12.840 gonna hear. They're gonna get as I mean, he says, 0:51:13.440 --> 0:51:15.439 But that's the skill you need for your life too, 0:51:15.640 --> 0:51:19.080 not just to preach. That's the skill you need for 0:51:19.160 --> 0:51:21.840 your life. The skill you need is the presence of 0:51:21.920 --> 0:51:25.440 God just right there in the middle of your zoom meeting, 0:51:25.480 --> 0:51:28.160 with your fake trophies and your shorts, your underwear going 0:51:28.160 --> 0:51:28.759 on under the. 0:51:28.719 --> 0:51:30.319 Desk, and your tie up top. 0:51:32.239 --> 0:51:33.640 You don't have to say it out loud, you don't 0:51:33.640 --> 0:51:35.200 have to go off the screen, just right there, God 0:51:35.280 --> 0:51:38.640 needs you forr ust me, just those little moments. I 0:51:38.719 --> 0:51:41.239 really believe that because watch why did God include this 0:51:41.360 --> 0:51:45.200 boring story in the Bible. You think Elisha didn't do 0:51:45.239 --> 0:51:46.480 more fantastic miracles. 0:51:46.520 --> 0:51:49.600 He did. But the Lord wanted us to have seven. 0:51:49.360 --> 0:51:51.759 Verses to know what happens to us sometimes. And this 0:51:51.800 --> 0:51:53.560 is what I see for so many of the people 0:51:53.600 --> 0:51:54.680 that I pastor. 0:51:54.560 --> 0:51:56.759 Who I meet, and when I meet you, when I. 0:51:56.760 --> 0:51:59.239 Meet you, when I meet with you, you meet with 0:51:59.280 --> 0:52:01.760 God in your own But when I meet you, sometimes 0:52:01.760 --> 0:52:05.560 I hear about the things that the enemy is tormenting 0:52:05.560 --> 0:52:07.879 you with, and it goes something like this. He went 0:52:07.920 --> 0:52:10.680 with them verse four. They went to the Jordan and 0:52:10.760 --> 0:52:15.920 began to cut down trees. It's going good. I'm making progress. 0:52:16.360 --> 0:52:20.360 I apologized, I said, I'm sorry. I actually sent the text, 0:52:20.440 --> 0:52:21.799 I actually looked up the help. 0:52:22.120 --> 0:52:23.359 I actually joined the gym. 0:52:23.440 --> 0:52:26.040 Now I'm not gonna go till about January twenty first, 0:52:26.040 --> 0:52:29.560 when it clears out. That's just strategic. But I'm making 0:52:30.040 --> 0:52:33.480 I'm making my steps. I'm clearing out that room. I'm 0:52:33.480 --> 0:52:35.440 gonna do it this time. Now, I got some food 0:52:35.440 --> 0:52:37.560 in the pantry I gotta clear out. I can't waste it. 0:52:37.600 --> 0:52:39.720 I mean, I'm gonna eat the peanut butter, but after 0:52:39.760 --> 0:52:42.640 that jar is gone. It's no more peanut butter. I'm 0:52:42.680 --> 0:52:46.920 mea kill the rest of the year. Kale collagen, cardio carnivore. 0:52:46.960 --> 0:52:48.120 I'm gonna do it all this year. 0:52:48.200 --> 0:52:50.040 I'm gonna be a vegan carnivore this year. 0:52:50.239 --> 0:52:51.479 And I'm gonna cut down this tree. 0:52:51.719 --> 0:52:53.960 And they begin to cut down the tree, and I 0:52:54.040 --> 0:52:57.560 watch this as one of them it's cutting down a tree. 0:52:59.040 --> 0:53:04.239 The iron axe fell into the water, and all of 0:53:04.280 --> 0:53:06.160 a sudden we go from let's go. 0:53:07.680 --> 0:53:15.720 Suh, oh no, have you ever be honest? 0:53:15.840 --> 0:53:19.359 Or I'll prophesy, have you ever been doing pretty good? 0:53:20.239 --> 0:53:24.680 Let's go I got this And in the middle verse 0:53:24.719 --> 0:53:27.600 five again place of doing what you believe God gave 0:53:27.600 --> 0:53:28.560 you permission to do. 0:53:29.480 --> 0:53:34.920 Oh no, oh no, you're like, it's not a big deal. 0:53:35.239 --> 0:53:37.840 It's an axehead. When it's a big deal to you, 0:53:37.920 --> 0:53:38.600 it's a big deal. 0:53:40.880 --> 0:53:43.640 Stop telling people that God doesn't care about this, and 0:53:43.680 --> 0:53:45.000 God doesn't care about that. 0:53:45.040 --> 0:53:46.560 He numbers every year on your head. 0:53:47.000 --> 0:53:50.240 He cares about everything that pertains to his child. 0:53:52.560 --> 0:53:53.799 And even Elisha, the. 0:53:53.800 --> 0:53:57.160 Rough and rugged prophet who had no time for any 0:53:57.200 --> 0:54:01.200 nonsense as this young man, it says one of them, 0:54:01.960 --> 0:54:03.759 you know, I wonder somebody looked this up for me 0:54:03.760 --> 0:54:06.440 on chat GPT later and send me a text about it. 0:54:07.120 --> 0:54:09.759 I wonder was it the same one that asked him 0:54:09.800 --> 0:54:14.160 to come or was it a different one altogether, Because 0:54:14.200 --> 0:54:16.279 the one that's cutting down the tree, they don't have 0:54:16.400 --> 0:54:19.719 many tools. You understand, this is not a very sophisticated operation. 0:54:20.120 --> 0:54:23.000 As he's cutting down the tree, boom, the head goes 0:54:23.000 --> 0:54:26.000 off the stick and it flies into the Jordan. 0:54:26.280 --> 0:54:28.280 And iron is supposed to be in water. 0:54:28.400 --> 0:54:32.240 Iron is supposed to be on wood, and when iron 0:54:32.320 --> 0:54:34.120 meets wood it makes progress. 0:54:35.200 --> 0:54:38.839 But when iron meets water, you need presents. 0:54:39.640 --> 0:54:42.359 Because the first thing he did when the axe had flew, 0:54:42.400 --> 0:54:46.359 he said, Oh no, my lord, who's he talking to? 0:54:46.600 --> 0:54:47.920 Elishah? 0:54:47.960 --> 0:54:51.120 Who do you talk to when it falls off? Who 0:54:51.120 --> 0:54:54.160 do you talk to when you fall? Who do you 0:54:54.280 --> 0:54:57.400 talk to when your momentum slips? This is so important? 0:54:58.440 --> 0:55:02.440 Oh no, my lord, he cried out. It was borrowed. 0:55:03.200 --> 0:55:07.120 Oh this is bad. I can't pay this back. Some 0:55:07.200 --> 0:55:09.840 of us are in situations this year that we can't 0:55:09.840 --> 0:55:13.480 afford to waste, another day that we can't afford to waste, 0:55:13.520 --> 0:55:16.439 another year that we can't afford to just get through 0:55:16.480 --> 0:55:18.040 a month, just barely hanging on. 0:55:18.520 --> 0:55:22.319 He said, I need help, and thank God, help was there. 0:55:22.600 --> 0:55:25.959 Remember if one of them hadn't gone back and asked 0:55:26.000 --> 0:55:29.279 him to come, there would have been no one to 0:55:29.360 --> 0:55:34.600 help when their plans stopped working. And this is what 0:55:34.680 --> 0:55:41.720 I'm saying about where you meet with God and the prophet, 0:55:42.760 --> 0:55:47.799 the great prophet Elisha, who had the power to turn 0:55:47.880 --> 0:55:52.920 the tides of wars, had the time to help a 0:55:52.960 --> 0:55:57.480 boy get it back. God said, he wants to help 0:55:57.520 --> 0:56:00.960 you get it back this year. God wants to help 0:56:01.000 --> 0:56:02.880 you get it back this year. If this joy, he 0:56:02.920 --> 0:56:04.799 wants to help you get it back this year. If 0:56:04.840 --> 0:56:07.120 this integrity, he wants to help you get it back 0:56:07.160 --> 0:56:10.040 this year. If it's the character to keep your commitments, 0:56:10.239 --> 0:56:12.080 he wants to help you get it back this year. 0:56:12.280 --> 0:56:14.759 If it's a vision for your family, he wants to 0:56:14.800 --> 0:56:16.840 help you get it back this year. If it's a 0:56:16.920 --> 0:56:19.759 perspective on what really matters, he wants to help you 0:56:19.800 --> 0:56:20.879 get it back this year. 0:56:21.320 --> 0:56:22.319 And I want you to. 0:56:22.360 --> 0:56:25.200 Notice very carefully what the prophet did in verse six, 0:56:25.560 --> 0:56:27.600 and this is what I see the Lord doing for us. 0:56:27.960 --> 0:56:32.920 The Man of God asked the boy, where did it fall? 0:56:33.200 --> 0:56:35.680 In that amazing He could have said anything. 0:56:35.960 --> 0:56:39.440 The boy says, oh, no, it was borrowed. 0:56:39.920 --> 0:56:43.400 Well, that was stupid. Why did you borrow it? You 0:56:43.440 --> 0:56:47.120 shouldn't be borrowing stuff anyway. Hadn't you heard Dave Ramsey 0:56:47.160 --> 0:56:50.400 on the radio. You're not supposed to be in debt anyway. 0:56:50.719 --> 0:56:53.080 You need to go drive a uver eats and get 0:56:53.080 --> 0:56:55.680 it paid for. Don't worry about that. That's a good thing, 0:56:55.719 --> 0:56:57.839 because if that's popping, that means the devil does not 0:56:57.880 --> 0:56:59.800 want you to hear the next part of this message. 0:57:00.120 --> 0:57:03.080 I'm very encouraged by that, and I want you all 0:57:03.120 --> 0:57:03.600 to fix it. 0:57:04.280 --> 0:57:06.919 At the same time, the Man of God said, where 0:57:06.960 --> 0:57:07.720 did it fall? 0:57:07.920 --> 0:57:10.680 And when? Now? This is the message. This is the message. 0:57:10.760 --> 0:57:12.080 I was tricking you. I told you the other part 0:57:12.120 --> 0:57:13.400 was the message. This is the message. 0:57:13.719 --> 0:57:18.720 When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick 0:57:19.800 --> 0:57:23.840 through it there and made the iron float. Thanks, but 0:57:23.880 --> 0:57:24.920 no thanks. I'm rocking on. 0:57:25.080 --> 0:57:29.360 I'm moving through. I'm walking on in Jesus' name. I 0:57:29.480 --> 0:57:30.720 want both of my hands. 0:57:30.440 --> 0:57:35.200 To preach this part because the Bible says the Bible, 0:57:35.280 --> 0:57:38.040 I don't care about what your fear says, I don't 0:57:38.120 --> 0:57:41.240 care about what your generation before you says, I don't 0:57:41.280 --> 0:57:44.320 care about what a political party says. I don't care 0:57:44.400 --> 0:57:46.480 about what your wired mind says. 0:57:46.840 --> 0:57:54.080 The Bible says, he didn't condemn him. He just guided 0:57:54.160 --> 0:58:00.200 him to the place and helped it to surface what 0:58:00.320 --> 0:58:00.760 he needed. 0:58:02.840 --> 0:58:04.880 He took a stick, he. 0:58:04.880 --> 0:58:11.200 Threw it there and made the iron float. Aren't you 0:58:11.280 --> 0:58:14.040 grateful for the stuff that God is bringing to the surface. 0:58:13.680 --> 0:58:14.720 This year in your life? 0:58:15.600 --> 0:58:21.040 Now hang on, y'all got six minutes, and I'll finish this. 0:58:21.960 --> 0:58:24.040 If y'all don't have six minutes, I'll just preach this. 0:58:24.200 --> 0:58:26.400 I'll just preach this to I'll preach it to Abbey 0:58:26.480 --> 0:58:28.320 today and she can sit there and give me an 0:58:28.320 --> 0:58:32.200 offering afterwards. Y'all got six minutes. I want to finish this. 0:58:32.240 --> 0:58:34.360 I really want to finish this. I really don't want 0:58:34.360 --> 0:58:35.200 to go home holding this. 0:58:37.280 --> 0:58:40.240 Because when he said, when he showed him the place 0:58:40.400 --> 0:58:45.000 for six when he showed him the place where it fell, that. 0:58:45.080 --> 0:58:48.880 Is where the miracle happened. So I want you to 0:58:48.880 --> 0:58:53.280 see what happened. He was building and it broke. That 0:58:53.400 --> 0:58:55.280 is some of us in the room. While we were 0:58:55.320 --> 0:58:57.960 building what we felt like we were supposed to build, 0:58:58.320 --> 0:59:04.760 it broke, broke our momentum broke our streak, broke our 0:59:05.040 --> 0:59:10.600 days of sobriety. Broke it broke the relationship, broke the heart, 0:59:10.680 --> 0:59:11.880 broke the passion. 0:59:12.120 --> 0:59:16.200 Broke it broke because he was building. Now when it broke, 0:59:16.320 --> 0:59:17.520 it flew into the water. 0:59:17.840 --> 0:59:21.000 So now it has been a functional acxid, and now 0:59:21.120 --> 0:59:22.920 it has fallen into the water. 0:59:23.200 --> 0:59:26.680 It does not belong in the water. Thank God for verse. 0:59:26.440 --> 0:59:29.560 Three where he says come with us, because that means 0:59:29.560 --> 0:59:31.920 that God is with me, not only when it's functional, 0:59:32.360 --> 0:59:33.400 but when it's falling. 0:59:34.600 --> 0:59:36.880 And so now I understand. 0:59:36.360 --> 0:59:39.160 The key of this message, and the key of this year, 0:59:39.400 --> 0:59:42.280 and the key to restoration in your life is that 0:59:42.360 --> 0:59:45.200 God does not only want to be with you when 0:59:45.240 --> 0:59:48.600 you build it, he wants to be with you when 0:59:48.600 --> 0:59:49.200 it breaks. 0:59:51.680 --> 0:59:53.960 And I want you to invite. 0:59:53.480 --> 0:59:57.160 God into the places where it breaks this year. I 0:59:57.240 --> 0:59:59.840 want you not to pretend like you've got the trophies, 1:00:00.280 --> 1:00:03.320 pretend like there hasn't been a flood, pretend like. 1:00:03.240 --> 1:00:04.320 You're in a great place. 1:00:04.680 --> 1:00:07.240 I want you to make the place that you struggle 1:00:07.400 --> 1:00:08.280 the most. 1:00:09.480 --> 1:00:16.360 The place where you meet with God. And what is 1:00:16.400 --> 1:00:16.920 that place? 1:00:18.920 --> 1:00:23.080 Because notice there is a part that God does and 1:00:23.120 --> 1:00:24.960 there is a part that God does not do. 1:00:26.440 --> 1:00:28.480 The Word of the Lord brought the iron. 1:00:28.240 --> 1:00:32.000 Verse six, please to the surface, but it did not 1:00:32.040 --> 1:00:38.000 bring it to the shore. Verse seven. Lift it out, 1:00:38.040 --> 1:00:43.840 he said, I'm showing it to you. I'm revealing it 1:00:43.880 --> 1:00:46.760 to you. There are things that the Spirit of God 1:00:46.800 --> 1:00:51.520 will supernaturally reveal to you, but they must be practically recovered. 1:00:53.320 --> 1:00:57.360 Lift it out. You can't make iron float. God can. 1:00:59.200 --> 1:01:01.440 But sometimes something is floating, but it's. 1:01:01.320 --> 1:01:05.960 Not fixed yet. And this is where you meet God. 1:01:06.000 --> 1:01:11.480 Grace is where God meets you. Faith is where you 1:01:12.400 --> 1:01:23.760 meet God. Lifted out, and then the man reached out 1:01:23.760 --> 1:01:27.840 his hand and took it. 1:01:27.840 --> 1:01:36.400 It's broken, but it's back, is broken, but it's back. 1:01:38.160 --> 1:01:40.800 It's broken, but it's back. 1:01:42.120 --> 1:01:43.960 My life is not exactly what I want it to 1:01:44.000 --> 1:01:45.080 be at this agent stage. 1:01:45.080 --> 1:01:49.880 It is broken, but it's back. I'm not on the 1:01:49.960 --> 1:01:52.880 right path that I set out to be on. It's broken, 1:01:54.360 --> 1:01:55.080 but it's back. 1:01:56.440 --> 1:02:00.280 And I hear a calling from the Holy Spirit this 1:02:00.400 --> 1:02:04.439 year to somebody's life. Who thinks that you can only 1:02:04.480 --> 1:02:07.880 meet with God when you are in a perfectly manicured 1:02:08.000 --> 1:02:12.640 environment full of meditative promises and meticulously kept character. No, no, no, 1:02:13.400 --> 1:02:16.760 the place you meet with God is in the place 1:02:16.800 --> 1:02:21.360 you need him the most. If the axe head had 1:02:21.360 --> 1:02:23.720 not fallen off, there would have been no miracle. 1:02:24.600 --> 1:02:26.040 So I am telling you. 1:02:26.280 --> 1:02:30.200 To stop waiting for a future place to meet God 1:02:30.240 --> 1:02:34.520 and experience his presence and take him to the place 1:02:34.560 --> 1:02:40.880 where the blade flung off your stick and watch him 1:02:40.960 --> 1:02:44.440 bring something up. Here's the thing I learned, Ee, you 1:02:44.560 --> 1:02:49.280 got to reach for it. The axe head did not swim. 1:02:48.840 --> 1:02:53.080 To the boy. He reached for it. And I believe 1:02:53.120 --> 1:02:54.400 that God has given. 1:02:54.160 --> 1:02:57.080 You something today to show you something today. 1:02:57.680 --> 1:02:58.800 That he's calling you to reach for. 1:02:59.080 --> 1:03:01.080 He's not gonna he not going to make you dive 1:03:01.120 --> 1:03:02.440 down to the bottom and find it. 1:03:02.520 --> 1:03:04.000 You can't do that. 1:03:04.000 --> 1:03:08.760 That's what grace does. But what does faith do? Reach 1:03:08.840 --> 1:03:17.080 out and lift it up. Grace reveals what faith retrieves. 1:03:19.520 --> 1:03:23.760 May this be a year of recovery for you. May 1:03:23.800 --> 1:03:26.959 this be a year of clarity for you, for God 1:03:27.000 --> 1:03:29.720 to bring things out up out of the muddy Jordan river. 1:03:30.080 --> 1:03:33.360 May this be a year that you don't stand swinging 1:03:33.440 --> 1:03:38.160 your stick knowing this isn't working anymore. May this be 1:03:38.200 --> 1:03:41.160 a year that you don't just keep pretending like everything's 1:03:41.200 --> 1:03:43.720 fine when you know your effectiveness is at the bottom 1:03:43.800 --> 1:03:48.000 of the water. May this be the year that you 1:03:48.960 --> 1:03:52.800 meet with God in weird places. May this be the 1:03:52.920 --> 1:03:55.920 year that you sneak into the bathroom and instead of pills, 1:03:55.960 --> 1:03:56.720 you take a prayer. 1:03:57.040 --> 1:04:01.800 May this be the year where you meet with God. 1:04:03.200 --> 1:04:05.160 I had a friend tell me one time. I said, 1:04:05.280 --> 1:04:08.080 I'm having my quiet time in the car these days, 1:04:08.120 --> 1:04:10.680 my devotion time with God. Christians we call quiet time. 1:04:11.320 --> 1:04:13.440 It's little christian Eese for you. I'm gonna do a 1:04:13.480 --> 1:04:17.280 whole series one year called do you speak Christianese. I'm 1:04:17.280 --> 1:04:19.200 gonna take every little thing we say that we don't 1:04:19.200 --> 1:04:21.320 even stop to define for people, and say this is 1:04:21.320 --> 1:04:22.600 what that kind of means. 1:04:23.400 --> 1:04:24.280 And I told him I was. 1:04:24.240 --> 1:04:26.080 Meeting with God in my car a lot lately, and 1:04:26.120 --> 1:04:28.000 God was coming in my car, and I was playing 1:04:28.040 --> 1:04:28.479 all my. 1:04:28.640 --> 1:04:30.040 Worship CDs, John P. 1:04:30.240 --> 1:04:34.040 Key's Strength and Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Tabernacle. 1:04:34.240 --> 1:04:36.200 I said, I have the best times with God in 1:04:36.200 --> 1:04:37.840 my car, Paul Blash. 1:04:37.520 --> 1:04:40.560 And Tommy Walker and all the Integrity Boys too. I said, 1:04:40.560 --> 1:04:42.040 I had the greatest meetings with God. 1:04:41.920 --> 1:04:42.320 In my car. 1:04:42.520 --> 1:04:46.040 He said those don't count. I said, it doesn't count. 1:04:46.040 --> 1:04:48.200 He said no, it's not set aside time for God. 1:04:49.400 --> 1:04:51.080 You got to set a side time for God. God 1:04:51.120 --> 1:04:52.720 wants to know you're serious. You got to set a 1:04:52.760 --> 1:04:58.800 side time for God. I believe that the place that 1:04:58.840 --> 1:05:01.080 you meet with God is too If you believe that, 1:05:02.280 --> 1:05:07.280 put up verse one again. The place where we meet 1:05:07.280 --> 1:05:11.680 with you is too small. If you want to meet 1:05:11.720 --> 1:05:14.520 with God in your breakfast nook, by all means, play 1:05:14.560 --> 1:05:17.120 a Brandon Lake CD and do it if you can 1:05:17.120 --> 1:05:21.040 find a CD player. But when you leave that place, 1:05:21.080 --> 1:05:23.040 you better meet with God in the next place too. 1:05:23.120 --> 1:05:25.360 Because the place you meet with God is too small. 1:05:26.920 --> 1:05:28.840 If the only place you meet with God is when 1:05:28.880 --> 1:05:31.480 you get a holy ghost goose bump, the place you 1:05:31.520 --> 1:05:34.440 meet with God is too small. So everybody stand up 1:05:34.440 --> 1:05:36.760 on your feet, and I want you, by faith, just 1:05:36.800 --> 1:05:39.280 to stretch your hands up like you're reaching for something 1:05:39.760 --> 1:05:42.640 that was lost that the enemy tried to steal, and 1:05:42.720 --> 1:05:43.720 just say this out loud. 1:05:43.760 --> 1:05:47.720 God, will you come with me now? Wait? 1:05:48.120 --> 1:05:55.600 Wait, wait, don't say anything. Answers yes. He already promised 1:05:55.640 --> 1:06:01.760 his presence. It lives inside of you. May this be 1:06:01.840 --> 1:06:06.240 the year where the place where you meet with God 1:06:07.320 --> 1:06:11.800 becomes the mountaintop of your victory and the valley of 1:06:11.840 --> 1:06:15.320 your midnight. The place you meet with God has been 1:06:15.320 --> 1:06:18.480 too small. The church is the only place you meet 1:06:18.480 --> 1:06:21.600 with God. The place you meet with God is too small. 1:06:21.800 --> 1:06:27.200 Expand your expectation of God's presence. I declare over your 1:06:27.240 --> 1:06:30.919 life a year of expansion, not just that you would 1:06:30.920 --> 1:06:34.000 get more stuff, but that you would get more Him. 1:06:34.920 --> 1:06:38.560 If you get more Him, you have everything. If you 1:06:38.680 --> 1:06:41.920 have not Him, you have nothing. May this be the 1:06:42.040 --> 1:06:46.800 year of His presence in your life. God come with 1:06:46.840 --> 1:06:49.920 me to work this year. God, come with me as 1:06:50.000 --> 1:06:53.280 I struggle to sleep at night. God, come with me 1:06:53.360 --> 1:06:56.000 into the challenge this year. God come with me into 1:06:56.040 --> 1:06:56.800 the uncertainty. 1:06:56.800 --> 1:06:58.640 Will you come? And he says yes? 1:06:59.440 --> 1:07:03.120 And he says when it falls, I'll show you where 1:07:03.560 --> 1:07:06.600 to reach to get it back. Put your hands down 1:07:06.680 --> 1:07:10.240 right now. There's somebody heads about, eyes closed, and this 1:07:10.360 --> 1:07:14.160 is your moment to meet Jesus and be saved. 1:07:15.280 --> 1:07:15.840 Listen to me. 1:07:17.000 --> 1:07:21.000 God is not waiting for you to come to him. 1:07:21.480 --> 1:07:25.640 He came to you. That is the message of the Gospel. 1:07:26.320 --> 1:07:28.800 So anytime you spend thinking I'm going to work my 1:07:28.880 --> 1:07:31.280 way to God, that's not how this works. 1:07:31.360 --> 1:07:34.320 That's religion. That is not the gospel. 1:07:34.320 --> 1:07:37.600 The gospel is this, God made him who knew no sin, 1:07:37.640 --> 1:07:39.920 to become sin for us, that we might become the 1:07:40.000 --> 1:07:43.080 righteousness of God. What am I trying to say to you, 1:07:43.280 --> 1:07:48.080 I'm saying God has already done it, and now right now, 1:07:48.200 --> 1:07:49.720 if this is your moment you say, I don't want 1:07:49.720 --> 1:07:51.680 to go into this year doing it by myself. I 1:07:51.680 --> 1:07:53.760 don't want to go into this yere pretending like I've 1:07:53.760 --> 1:07:56.280 got it together. I want the grace of God. I 1:07:56.320 --> 1:07:58.480 want to receive Jesus. I'm going to pray a prayer. 1:07:59.280 --> 1:08:01.800 If you repeat this prayer after me and mean it 1:08:01.840 --> 1:08:05.560 in your heart, the Bible says that God will hear 1:08:05.640 --> 1:08:06.280 you from heaven. 1:08:06.880 --> 1:08:07.280 And if you. 1:08:07.280 --> 1:08:09.880 Confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord and believe in your 1:08:09.880 --> 1:08:13.680 heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 1:08:14.360 --> 1:08:18.519 Everybody who's coming back to God today, your life is broken, 1:08:19.320 --> 1:08:22.960 but you can have it in Jesus' name. Repeat after me, 1:08:23.240 --> 1:08:30.360 Heavenly Father, today is my day of salvation. I am 1:08:30.400 --> 1:08:34.559 a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe 1:08:35.400 --> 1:08:39.479 that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the 1:08:39.520 --> 1:08:40.720 savior of the world. 1:08:41.400 --> 1:08:45.920 Today I make Jesus the Lord of my life. 1:08:46.000 --> 1:08:49.559 I believe he died that I would be forgiven and 1:08:49.680 --> 1:08:55.200 rose again to give me life. I receive this new life. 1:08:55.760 --> 1:08:59.479 This is my new beginning. On the counter of three shoots. 1:08:59.479 --> 1:09:02.000 Your hand up if you've prayed that one too, free 1:09:02.320 --> 1:09:08.240 all over the room, on every location. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 1:09:08.400 --> 1:09:10.439 reach out and take it. It's the gift of God. 1:09:11.600 --> 1:09:13.639 Reach out and take it. It's the gift of God. 1:09:14.920 --> 1:09:19.400 Let's celebrate them church. Bring those Bibles around, pass them down. 1:09:22.520 --> 1:09:23.639 Thank you for joining us. 1:09:23.920 --> 1:09:26.360 Special thanks to those of you who give generously to 1:09:26.439 --> 1:09:29.919 this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible. 1:09:30.400 --> 1:09:32.559 You can click the link in the description to give 1:09:32.680 --> 1:09:36.600 now or visit Elevation Church dot org slash podcast for 1:09:36.680 --> 1:09:40.640 more information and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. 1:09:40.920 --> 1:09:42.240 You can share it with your friends. 1:09:42.520 --> 1:09:44.840 You can click the share button, take a screenshot and 1:09:44.880 --> 1:09:47.000 share it on your social stories and tag us at 1:09:47.000 --> 1:09:47.880 Elevation Church. 1:09:47.920 --> 1:09:54.479 Thanks again for listening. God bless you.