Your Next Messy Step

0:00:01.520 --> 0:00:02.800 Hey, this is Stephen Ferdik. 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.840 I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast. 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:08.280 I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:11.000 this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.560 gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.439 Enjoy the message. Slap your neighbors say, wake up, Here 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:27.360 comes the word of God. I hope you didn't take 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.440 that literally when I said slap him. We don't have 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:35.640 that kind of insurance coverage at the church. What a 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.800 privilege it is to share God's word with you today. 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:44.240 I appreciate on this passage of scripture since twenty eighteen. Wow, 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.400 and this is one of my absolute favorites. The Lord 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:50.840 will surely meet us here. Look at Genesis chapter twenty eight, 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.240 verse ten through twenty two. The Bible says Jacob left 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.920 Beersheba and set out for Huran. When he reached a 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.160 certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.040 had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.039 it under his head and lay down to sleep. He 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.920 had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.720 on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.240 the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.720 There above it stood the Lord. I like that. I 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:29.119 like that God is above whatever I'm going through. That's 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:32.479 just a good reminder, refresher for my faith and encourages 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.400 my heart. Today there above it stood the Lord, and 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.080 he said, I am the Lord, the God of your 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.120 father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.840 you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:49.880 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and. 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.800 You will spread out to the west and to the east, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.680 to the north and to the south. All peoples on 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.720 earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.200 And listen to this promise, and let it get in 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:07.160 your heart for a moment. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.640 Today. I am with you and will watch over you 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.560 wherever you go, and I will bring you back to 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:17.000 this land. I will not leave you until I have 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:21.240 done what I promised you. When Jacob awoke from his sleep, 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:23.360 he thought, surely the Lord is in this place, and 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.520 I was not aware of it. He was afraid and said, 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.920 how awesome is this place. This is none other than 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.040 the House of God. This is the Gate of Heaven. 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.160 Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone he had 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.600 placed under his head and set it up as a 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:43.600 pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.840 that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.760 Then Jacob made a vow saying, if God will be 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.760 with me and will watch over me on this journey 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.079 I am taking, and will give me food to eat 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.400 and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.799 my father's household, then the Lord will be my God, 0:03:05.240 --> 0:03:07.040 and this stone that I have set up as a 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.200 pillar will be God's house. And of all that you 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.799 give me, I will give you a tenth Say amen 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.040 for the word of God. Go back to verse fourteen 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.440 for a moment. Your descendants will be like the dust 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:24.040 of the earth, and you will spread out. Your descendants 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.519 will be like the dust of the earth, and you 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:31.800 will spread out. So we've got dust and expansion in 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:32.760 the same sentence. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:34.200 And what I want to. 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:40.400 Talk to you about today is your next step. But 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.720 very specifically, for those of you who are in a 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.000 season of uncertainty or confusion or fear, I want to 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:53.840 talk to you about your next messy step, your next 0:03:54.880 --> 0:04:00.200 messy step. Father, We roll up our sleeves today to 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.320 dig into your word to see what you might say 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.960 to each and every one of us. I ask now 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.800 that you would use me. I am nothing without you. 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.000 But if you breathe through me, speak through me, this 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.720 could be monumental. In these moments, God, we stand before 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.560 a person in a passage of scripture who lived hundreds 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:19.480 of years ago. But he faced the same things that 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.960 we face. He needed direction and provision from you, and 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.039 so do we. So we ask now, God that you 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.599 would speak to us no less than you spoke to Jacob. 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.839 Remind us what you're doing, reveal to us who you are, 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.839 have your way, and give us the courage to respond 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.760 to what you say. In Jesus' name, Amen, you may 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:45.760 be seated your next messy step. I wrote that phrase 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.080 down today to use as a title, your next messy step. 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.600 And I want to talk for a moment about what 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:57.560 it's like for me as a pastor when we go 0:04:57.680 --> 0:04:59.720 down the memory lane of different things that have happened 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.200 in this church and talk about all the things that 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:03.000 God has done. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.800 See when we're showing a. 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.120 Highlight video like we showed earlier, of all the amazing 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.680 things that God did in this church, there's a part 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.880 of me that celebrates and I can clap for it now, 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:16.559 But a lot of the things that I can clap 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:21.640 about now I cried through then. A lot of times 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.359 I'm hesitant to teach leadership to other pastors, not because 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.640 I don't care for them, but because it's a lot 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.560 different to explain something than it was to experience it. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.200 And I never just want to be one of these 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:40.719 hypocrites who gets up here and hides the humanity of 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:43.599 the struggle, of the steps that I've taken in my 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:48.360 life in order to just accentuate and elevate the heavenly 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:51.800 parts of our journey where God moved. The truth of 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.560 the matter is, every time God has greatly moved in 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.200 our ministry and in my life, it was messy. I 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.000 don't remember one time that God really moved where there 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:05.240 wasn't a real mess. I don't remember one thing that 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.479 God did in this ministry that was significant that was 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.520 not sacrificial. I don't remember one time when I did 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.080 something for God and my hands weren't shaking before I 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.960 came out and steadied myself behind this pulpit and announced it. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.839 I don't remember many times when I opened my mouth 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:23.560 to preach to you that I didn't feel like I 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.479 wanted to throw up and swallow it back down before 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.200 I did. That is true to this day. And y'all 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:32.279 don't like that kind of stuff when I talk about 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.400 throwing up this early in my sermon, because you just 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.359 want the message, you don't want the mess. But the 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:41.880 fact of the matter is there is no message where 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.960 there is no mess. It's true of your life. You know, 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.040 the ways that we asked God to use us, in 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.479 the ways that we ask God. 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.440 To bless us, we kind of want the blessing without 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:53.840 the mess. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.240 In Jacob's life in Genesis chapter twenty eight, you could 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:01.719 say it was the best of times because he just 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:02.640 met God. 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.640 You could say it was the worst of times because 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.520 he met him on the run. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:12.440 It was the blest of times. It was the mess 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:17.680 of times. Jacob has made a mess of his family situation. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:22.400 When I read the context of the passage only to 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.560 refer to the blessing, I left out the mess so 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.440 that we could talk about it together right now. I 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.480 told you that Jacob set out for a place called Hauran, 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:35.160 but I didn't tell you that he ran to Haran. 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.440 He ran to Haran not because he was going on 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.040 vacation there. He ran there because his brother Esaul wanted 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.960 to kill him. His brother Esau wanted to kill him 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:49.480 because Jacob stole his blessing from their father Isaac, who 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.920 was going blind. And Genesis twenty eight starts out with 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.560 Jacob moving to a new place, not because he made 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.560 a decision that would benefit his career or his future, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.560 but because he had no other options. Jacob is in 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.600 a place of vulnerability. He has come to the end 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.760 of himself and he has to relocate in the middle 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.520 of his life to a place he's never been before. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:16.240 This is the context of the blessing of God on 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.040 the life of Jacob. And now looking back on Jacob's life, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.440 we know that he became a great nation called Israel. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.200 The twelve tribes of Israel were born from the twelve 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.040 sons that would be born to him in the place 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.760 where he was going. When he got where he was going, 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.880 he would meet his wife Leah and his wife Rachel. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:41.680 Don't do that. Those were different times, and the Bible 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.679 says that after they had birthed all of those babies. 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.640 In the messy sibling rivalry of two sisters who were 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.199 trying to prove that one was more productive or more 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.400 loved than the other. A nation set out and Jacob 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.920 became that nation twenty years later. I'm telling you all 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.800 of this because we can see now the strategy of 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:04.440 God and how he birthed the nation through Jacob. But 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.920 as I've already told you at the beginning of my sermon, 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:13.760 what is explained as strategic is often experienced as surrender. 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.920 And the reason I don't really like to teach pastors 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:24.920 about church growth or leadership or strategic objectives is because 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.040 I can explain it as the steps that we took 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.200 to get where we are. But at the time I 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:37.199 was not experiencing it as steps, not in the strategic sense. 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.000 I was experiencing it as surrender. 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:42.640 What I'm trying to say to you is most everything 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.600 I've ever done right in my life was me doing 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.320 what I thought God was telling me because I didn't 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.440 have anything else to do, because everything else I had 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.160 tried to do didn't work, so I finally had to 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.199 give up and do it God's way. So I can 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.160 explain it to you strategically. You know, how do you 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.160 start a worship ministry like elevation worship I can tell 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.079 you strategic about a record label. I can tell you 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.920 strategically about DSPs and streaming services, and I can tell 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.480 you strategically about anthems that are written for the church 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.040 and touring strategies. And I can tell you strategically about 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.120 putting together a team. And I can tell you strategically 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.160 about bands and sounds and systematations, systems and systems and 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.720 strategies and all of that. But the real secret to 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:24.080 all of it was surrender. That at the beginning of 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.120 starting our ministry, I said, Lord, I believe you want 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:29.640 us to have a worship ministry that will touch the world. 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.440 And that's where it started with surrender because I knew 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.640 I didn't have the skills to do it by myself, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.760 so God sent others. I knew I wasn't smart enough 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.800 to do it by myself, so God gave wisdom. I 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.079 knew that I could not figure it out on my own, 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:47.040 so God by faith did what I could not do 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:52.200 by flesh. And so you explain things as strategic, but 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.800 you experience them as surrender. You look back and you say, well, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:58.280 here's how we raised our kids. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:00.880 See, when they were five, taught them about them. 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.880 Then and when they were seven, we moved them onto 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:04.000 the blank and the nine. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:06.120 We taught them about the nine. And when they were eleven, 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:06.720 we taught them. 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.679 About the And in stage one you're more like a coach, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.320 and in stage two you're more like a consultant, and 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:14.679 then in stage three you're more like a confidant. 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:15.319 And here are the. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.599 Stages and the steps for raising godly kids. 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:20.360 And there's really only one. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:28.160 You're God one step to raising godly kids. Here, God, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:34.360 They're yours. Parenting can be explained strategically. I mean, you 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.560 can write a book about it all you want, but 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:40.040 the truth is, you really know that if God didn't 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.240 give you what it took to raise those kids, you 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.920 would have lost your mind a long time ago. So 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:49.320 I'm trying to get you to see that in this 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:54.880 journey called faith, what we explain as strategy, we experience 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:56.040 as surrender. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:58.920 Why is that important for our lesson today? 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.280 In case you don't know what God is calling you 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:05.959 to do next, and you think that because you don't 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.320 know the next step, that means that God is not 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:12.600 in it. That's not true. Everything God is ever in 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:20.960 feels uncertain. Look at Genesis twenty eight, verse ten. The 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.439 Bible says that Jacob set out for Haram. Verse eleven 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:29.920 says when he reached a certain place, everybody say a 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:34.080 certain place. Now. Isn't that ironic that the Bible calls 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:38.600 it a certain place and Jacob's life has never been 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.760 more uncertain? How many of you feel like? I'm in 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.439 an uncertain place right now in my life? 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:45.680 Come on, I'm. 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.719 Uncertain about who to talk to. I'm uncertain about who 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.760 to trust. I'm uncertain if I'm in the right job. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.160 I'm uncertain if I'm at the right school. I'm uncertain 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.080 if I have what it takes. I'm uncertain whether God 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.280 is calling me to step out the boat or stay 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.080 in the boat. I'm uncertain about whether God wants me 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.520 to quit because this is not him, or he wants 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.160 me to persevere because it is. I hear you talk 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.240 about how you can tell you're in God's will when 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.760 the enemy attacks. But I'm not so sure if it's 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.080 an attack from the enemy, or if it's actually a 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.080 bad decision I made that I need to go back 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.480 and remake. I'm uncertain. Raise your hand again. I'm in 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.920 an uncertain place now. I tell your neighbor don't feel bad. 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:29.120 I don't know either. When we started the church, one 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.560 of the books they told us to read was pretty good. 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.480 It was about building your church with strategy. And they 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.080 gave me the book and I like most of it, 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:39.480 but there was one part. Matt, I couldn't stand this part, 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.280 and I did not adhere to it. It said that 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.520 when you bring people into discipleship in your church, it's 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.880 like taking them around the basis at a baseball game, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.559 and when you go to the base one, it looks 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.000 like this, and this is what discipleship looks like with 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:57.640 first base, and then you take them to the second 0:13:57.679 --> 0:13:59.640 and then this is what the second stage looks like, 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:01.040 the third base and the. 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.000 Home play, and then you get them all home and 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:03.880 they're all disciple. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.360 I read that and I wanted that, and I would 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.240 like that because that would be cool if it was 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.440 that clear, not only for me as a pastor, but 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.400 for me as a person. See, your walk with God 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.240 goes like this. You do this, and then you do that, 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.120 and then you do that and then your home. But 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:24.920 home is called heaven and you have to die to 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.920 go there. So now, as long as we're on this earth, 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.040 I found that life is more like dirt and less 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.080 like a diamond on a baseball field. 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.880 It's more dirt less diamond. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.560 Because my spiritual journey, I don't know about yours, has 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:47.440 not looked like home. My spiritual journey. If I'm really 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.480 telling you the truth, I could explain it that way. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.080 I took step one. I accepted Jesus Christ as my 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.560 Lord and savior. I took step two. I was baptized 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:56.720 in his name. I took step three. I began to 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.120 share my faith with others. I took step four, And 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.400 now I am a wonderful, beautiful child of God with 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.000 absolutely no blemish and no flaw. But the fact of 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.600 the matter is that God formed me, and I'm flawed, 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:17.400 that I am following Jesus flawed, And so it has 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.320 not looked like this, And there have not always been 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.040 base coaches telling me is safe to come. It has 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:29.280 looked more like I should draw this for you. But 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:47.680 you'll get the picture. All the base path people. Teach 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:52.920 me how you know so clearly what to do next? 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.200 Teach me how you know so certainly what God is 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.520 calling you to do right now? Because most of my 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:08.960 discipleship has been through making the wrong decision, repenting, learning, trusting, 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:14.160 and growing. Most of my discipleship has looked like I'm 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.760 doing everything that I think I'm supposed to do. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.080 And I'm all over the place, and I'm all over. 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:20.800 The map, and God, I going to do this and 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:28.440 that and finally just this. Okay, God and the true 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.120 everybody over fifty back your man up. Today it looks 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.640 like this. I'm up, I'm growing, I'm down. I feel 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.240 like I'm dying. I want to die. I'm back up, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:41.360 I'm back down. 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:41.840 I'm left. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.040 I'm right. I dated him. God said he was the one. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.520 But that wasn't God talking. That was my loneliness. Back 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.720 down to singleness. Back up, here's another chance. Took that job, 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.400 looked like a good job, you know. I get a promotion, 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.200 got a new manager, wanted to walk out, stayed for 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.800 three years, wondered if I stayed thirty six months too long. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.919 Don't even know right now what I'm doing. Not I 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:10.040 was gonna retire. Made an investment in crypto, Still learning 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:16.679 how to do it. It's like this, look at your 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:19.119 neighbor and make some swiggles and some scribbles and some 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.320 zigs and some zags and say it's like this. It's 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.240 like this and like that. It's like this and like that. 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.159 It's like this and it's like that. But everywhere I've gone, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.800 I ran head on into grace. Everywhere I've been, I 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.080 ran right into God. Whether I went to the right 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.920 or to the left. Somehow I heard a voice saying, No, 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.640 this is the way. Walk in it. This is the way. 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:51.119 This is the way. I'm zigging, and I'm zagging, and 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.480 I'm up and I'm down and I'm back and I'm four. 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:56.639 I don't know if this is third base or second 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.840 base or the outfield. Sometimes I feel like I'm just 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:02.879 the dugouts. I'm gonna put me in coach. I'm ready 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:04.880 to play. Sometimes I feel like I'm eating a hot 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.320 dog in the Chief Seas. But I'm here for it 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.480 and I'm in the game, and God is with me. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.560 That's what God told Jacob in verse fifteen. Show him. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.119 He said, I am with you and will watch over 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.960 you wherever you go. You're not always gonna go like 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.320 this and like that. You're not always gonna even know 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:31.600 where homeplate is. Every umpire is not going to agree 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.480 with your opinion of a striking a ball. You're gonna 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.840 miss some stuff. You're gonna slide into some stuff. 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.720 But the promise is this, I will be with you, right, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:45.240 I will be with you. 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.520 M He didn't say I will be with you, He 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:54.840 said I am with you. Which one would you rather have? 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:57.000 A God who will be with you or a God 0:18:57.000 --> 0:19:04.399 who already is? So when it comes to your next 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.200 step that God has given you to take, and I 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.959 don't know if that's walking someone that you love through 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.320 a difficult medical procedure that may be your next step. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.600 I don't know if that is working through this addiction 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:20.200 issue that's really really got you by the throat. I 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.600 don't know whether that's just you continuing to be faithful 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.080 in something that feels kind of boring and mundane. I 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.679 don't know if that's you getting together with all of 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.240 those people in a couple of weeks for a meal 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.359 without cursing any of them out. Whatever your next step is, 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:45.080 I want to talk to you about it, and I 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.240 want to let you know what God told Jacob. See, 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:54.080 Jacob is such a messy man, and I'm glad for 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:55.960 that because the Bible says that the steps of a 0:19:56.000 --> 0:20:01.480 good man are ordered by the Lord. But Jacob shows 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:06.320 me that the steps of God's man, even if he's 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:09.959 not a good man, are ordered by the Lord too. 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.320 Because for Jacob to steal Esau's blessing and his name 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:20.600 literally to mean trick, it means he was messy. He 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:23.399 is at this point in his life grown enough to 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.480 know better, and he should be mature. But we see 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.600 three things in the passage that may be going on 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:33.560 in your life too. One is a mistake, one is 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:39.280 a middle, and the other is a move. A mistake, 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:45.800 a middle, and a move, all in one passage, all 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:49.520 happening in the life of one man. You may say 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.000 it wasn't a mistake for him to steal Esau's blessing, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.920 because God is sovereign, and the Book of Romans says, Jacob, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.560 have I loved and saw, have I hated? And it 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.920 was predestined by God. Yet be that as it may 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:03.360 he went about. It wasn't right. He lied to get 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:11.639 this blessing. He's blessed, but it's messy. He's successful, but 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:18.639 it's messy. He is increasing, but he's isolated. That's a 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.560 crazy place to be where you find yourself in a 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:27.560 certain place because of a mistake. You know, as we 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:30.240 talk about God. We say things like where God guides, 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:36.000 he provides, But in this specific situation of Jacob's life, 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:39.200 we get an indication that even if it wasn't God 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.720 guiding you there, he will provide for you there if 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.520 you will turn to him and trust him. I don't 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:48.800 know who this is for, but you need to go 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.480 ahead and own the mistake that you made. Don't even 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.440 blame the devil for it. The devil didn't make Jacob 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:57.760 dress up and take his brother's blessing. He decided to 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:00.879 do it, and it was his mom's idea. He was 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.000 seventy one years old when he did it. It's too 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.480 late to blame your mom when you are seventy one 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.280 years old. So sometimes you got to come to the 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:11.840 place and say, God, I'm in this place because of 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:16.320 my mistake. Not all four jobs that you lost in 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.600 the last eight years were the result of the devil 0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.480 attacking you. If it was one job in eight years, 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:24.480 maybe it was the devil. If it was four jobs 0:22:24.480 --> 0:22:28.680 in eight years, maybe there are some decisions, not just devils. 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:31.959 They don't like me today, not one bit in the 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:36.760 world today. How can the grace come until the mistake 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:41.760 is acknowledged and accept it. So I'm in this mess. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:43.199 God, I'm in this mess. 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:45.040 I don't know what to do about this mess. 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.960 God, it was my stubbornness that got me here. 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:50.440 I think it's so great when we preach about Jonah, 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:53.240 you know, because he's an example of somebody who made 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:57.320 his own mess. But so is Jacob. In fact, Jacob 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:01.119 literally made his bed and had to lie in it. 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:04.359 I don't know if you noticed this or not. It 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:06.679 said that when he got there to the place in 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.879 verse twelve, in a certain place that wasn't so certain, 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:13.480 he had a dream on which he saw a stairway 0:23:13.520 --> 0:23:16.280 resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven. 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:18.239 But go to the verse before that so we can 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:20.680 get the full context. When he saw this beautiful dream, 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:23.119 It says he reached a certain place stop for the 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:25.600 night because the sun had set, and taking one of 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:28.639 the stones there, he put it under his head and 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:33.919 lay down to sleep. He is literally in a hard place, 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:44.680 and it's not hard because of God. It's hard because 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:47.880 of him. This is not in my notes, So bear 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.520 with me and be patient. Sometimes it's not him making 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:56.480 it hard. Sometimes it's us and our decisions making it hard. 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:01.800 Sometimes it's our being pair in the past that's making 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:06.239 it so hard. Sometimes it's our grabbing after things that 0:24:06.320 --> 0:24:08.320 God told us to give up that makes it hard. 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.040 And the problem with preaching is that people will clap 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:14.520 for the clips that we put on the Internet that 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:16.760 say that if life is hard for you right now, 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:19.960 it's because God has something great for you. But sometimes 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:22.439 we need to also say, if life is hard for 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:25.040 you right now, it might be because God is trying 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:30.240 to change you. It can be both. It can be both. 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:35.600 Waking up with a hangover every morning is not God 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:42.440 testing you or the devil attacking you. Getting yourself excluded 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:45.760 from each opportunity because you are never on time is 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:49.840 not the devil attacking you. The devil is not in 0:24:49.880 --> 0:24:58.560 the traffic. You cannot rebuke traffic. The remedy for traffic 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:02.560 is not rebuke. Remedy for traffic is ten minutes earlier. 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:11.840 Now y'all want me to move on, clap a little louder, 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:15.879 and I'll think about it. I'm not playing with y'all 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:19.720 no more. I'm not playing with y'all no more. Because 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:23.520 you have to admit I am why I'm here. I 0:25:23.560 --> 0:25:27.000 am why I'm here. You know, God sends some opportunities 0:25:27.040 --> 0:25:29.680 for me to have some friends, but I wasn't friendly. 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:35.320 He's saying, rejection is God's protection. Maybe it's a maybe 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:39.959 it's a bad personality. Maybe you need to be nicer, 0:25:40.760 --> 0:25:43.560 Maybe you need to ask other people how are they doing? 0:25:44.200 --> 0:25:47.920 They rejected me, that was God redirecting me. No, they 0:25:48.040 --> 0:26:00.120 rejected you because you're mean, because your drama, because you're messy. 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:06.000 And before you just ghost them and move your mess 0:26:06.000 --> 0:26:08.480 around to the next person who hasn't figured you out yet, 0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:14.199 take some time to say, Hey, God, is there a 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:16.840 reason why I don't have the same friends at the 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:21.800 end of every year? Hey, God, is there a reason 0:26:21.840 --> 0:26:25.159 why I continue to fly off the handle with my 0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:28.359 temper and think about how others made me lose it. 0:26:31.359 --> 0:26:32.880 I didn't even intend to preach like. 0:26:32.840 --> 0:26:43.600 This today, but notice in the mistake that Jacob made, 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:48.919 God gets in the middle of Jacob's mistake. Well, that 0:26:49.000 --> 0:26:52.000 really blessed me, because you would think that if you 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:54.680 got yourself here, you've got to get yourself out of this. 0:26:57.080 --> 0:27:00.280 Or I would at least think that if Jacob wanted 0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:01.800 God to visit him, he would have to pray and 0:27:01.840 --> 0:27:04.840 ask him to come show me in Genesis twenty eight 0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:09.680 where Jacob prayed, it's not there. Show me in Genesis 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:14.199 twenty eight, where Jacob repented it's not there. Show me 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:16.639 in Genesis twenty eight where Jacob took seven steps to 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:17.440 get his life together. 0:27:18.400 --> 0:27:20.760 Show me where Jacob set up on the base path. 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:23.560 And the first step, and the second step and the 0:27:23.600 --> 0:27:26.120 third step. I burned that book when I read it. 0:27:26.359 --> 0:27:29.080 I was like, people aren't coming to church because they're 0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:32.200 in a baseball game. They're coming to church because they're 0:27:32.200 --> 0:27:35.760 in a battle. It is a battlefield, and it looks 0:27:35.800 --> 0:27:38.280 like this, and it looks like that, and it looks 0:27:38.359 --> 0:27:41.120 like this, and it looks like that, and get this 0:27:41.359 --> 0:27:45.400 little league Christianity out of your mind. God will meet 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:48.600 me in the middle, right on the mound. God will 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:52.080 set up and throw me another pitch, no matter how 0:27:52.119 --> 0:27:56.760 the last one went down. That's what I see in 0:27:56.840 --> 0:28:00.840 Genesis twenty eight. The Bible says in verse eleven that 0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:05.399 with Jacob's pillow being a rock, this is horrible for 0:28:05.480 --> 0:28:10.320 your posture and the sun being set, because not only 0:28:10.359 --> 0:28:13.879 does God come into the middle of hard places, he 0:28:13.920 --> 0:28:18.879 comes into the middle of dark places. God does some 0:28:18.920 --> 0:28:22.520 of the best stuff in the dark, and Jacob stops 0:28:22.520 --> 0:28:23.879 in a place he doesn't even know the name of. 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:25.639 I'm gonna tell you a story about that in a minute. 0:28:27.000 --> 0:28:28.440 Look at this story, he said. He took one of 0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:30.200 the stones, put on his head, laid down to sleep, 0:28:30.240 --> 0:28:33.879 and verse twelve, he had a dream in which he 0:28:33.920 --> 0:28:40.200 saw a stairway pay attention resting on the earth, with 0:28:40.320 --> 0:28:45.880 its top reaching to heaven, and the angels were going 0:28:45.960 --> 0:28:49.800 up and down on it. That's what he saw with 0:28:49.880 --> 0:28:54.840 his eyes closed, that's what he saw. Laying on a rock, 0:28:56.120 --> 0:28:59.560 That's what he saw in a hard place, trying to 0:28:59.560 --> 0:29:03.040 decide which set the stairs to come over to. This 0:29:03.080 --> 0:29:07.920 one feels right today. This is the right one. It 0:29:08.040 --> 0:29:12.000 went up and down the angels. Now the angels are 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:17.720 moving Jacob, isn't Jacob is stopped because the sun is set. 0:29:19.200 --> 0:29:22.120 But just because the sunset stopped you doesn't mean to 0:29:22.160 --> 0:29:26.360 stop God. Oh, I love to make the Bible come 0:29:26.400 --> 0:29:29.480 alive for people. Can you see it? Isn't it crazy? 0:29:29.560 --> 0:29:32.560 In all of Jacob's scheming, he got blessed by his dad, 0:29:33.120 --> 0:29:37.720 But in Jacob's sleeping he got blessed by God. And 0:29:37.800 --> 0:29:47.720 the angels are moving up and down and up and 0:29:47.760 --> 0:29:57.560 down because life ain't always like this, it's up and down. 0:29:58.440 --> 0:30:06.240 So the angels are doing what life does, ascending, descending. 0:30:08.200 --> 0:30:14.840 The angels are doing what your bank account does. The 0:30:14.960 --> 0:30:21.640 angels are doing what your mood does. Am I not 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:25.120 preaching this thing? I haven't preached this since twenty eighteen, 0:30:25.200 --> 0:30:27.320 so I've been waiting to get back to it. Up 0:30:27.400 --> 0:30:30.160 and down and up and down and up and down 0:30:30.480 --> 0:30:34.720 like your life, and Jacob isn't moving because God shows 0:30:34.840 --> 0:30:37.840 up in the middle of his mistake, and in the 0:30:37.880 --> 0:30:41.200 middle of the night, and in the middle of sleep. 0:30:41.520 --> 0:30:43.280 So that you and I know that it is not 0:30:43.400 --> 0:30:47.719 when we get there that God shows up. It is 0:30:47.760 --> 0:30:52.040 not when we accomplish that that he shows up. It 0:30:52.080 --> 0:30:54.200 is not when we reach the place of our goal 0:30:54.280 --> 0:30:58.520 that we meet God. God meets me in the middle. 0:30:59.360 --> 0:31:01.080 And this is the a I sermon where you touch 0:31:01.120 --> 0:31:02.800 five people and say He met me in the middle, 0:31:04.360 --> 0:31:04.600 and you. 0:31:04.600 --> 0:31:06.080 Don't have to say any more than that. 0:31:06.840 --> 0:31:08.760 You don't have to say what it was the middle of. 0:31:09.320 --> 0:31:11.560 If it was the middle of a divorce, if it 0:31:11.600 --> 0:31:14.120 was the middle of a diagnosis, if it was the 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:16.440 middle of a battle with sickness, if it was the 0:31:16.480 --> 0:31:18.840 middle of a season of depression, if it was the 0:31:18.840 --> 0:31:21.160 middle of you losing your mind, if it was the 0:31:21.200 --> 0:31:23.560 middle of a nervous breakdown, if it was in the 0:31:23.560 --> 0:31:25.640 middle of the street when you sit there and said, God, 0:31:25.680 --> 0:31:27.960 I don't know which way to go. I'm too young 0:31:28.000 --> 0:31:30.200 to be old, I'm too old to be young. God 0:31:30.280 --> 0:31:32.920 met me in the middle. I'm too happy to be sad, 0:31:33.000 --> 0:31:35.280 too sad to be happy. And he met me in 0:31:35.360 --> 0:31:38.880 the middle. I can't quite name this place yet, but 0:31:39.200 --> 0:31:44.480 God met Jacob in the middle. And Jacob did not 0:31:44.720 --> 0:31:48.360 even know the name of the place where he was. 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:50.160 But he didn't have to know the name of the 0:31:50.240 --> 0:31:54.960 place because God knew his name. There is a woman 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:58.240 who brought me a letter in Atlanta, Georgia. Her name 0:31:58.320 --> 0:31:59.080 is Lish. 0:31:59.240 --> 0:32:01.560 She's watching on line right now from Atlanta. 0:32:01.840 --> 0:32:05.320 Everybody say, hey, Lish, I want to show you her 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:07.960 picture so you can see who we're talking about. This 0:32:08.040 --> 0:32:12.080 is Lish getting baptized just recently at one of our 0:32:12.120 --> 0:32:15.560 pop ups at Elevation, Atlanta pop up. 0:32:16.040 --> 0:32:17.920 Did y'all know our church has to pop ups? 0:32:19.760 --> 0:32:22.880 Did you know we have pop ups? We go to 0:32:22.920 --> 0:32:26.600 different cities. We popped up in Riverside, California today, we're 0:32:26.600 --> 0:32:28.680 having a pop up You could take the picture down 0:32:28.760 --> 0:32:31.400 right now. Why do we have pop up church because 0:32:31.400 --> 0:32:34.040 we have a pop up God. Because the devil is 0:32:34.080 --> 0:32:36.640 a pop up devil, and the devil will just pop 0:32:36.760 --> 0:32:39.120 up at times you don't expect him. So we just 0:32:39.160 --> 0:32:42.320 take church wherever people are and God will pop up 0:32:42.360 --> 0:32:44.720 in the middle of a place. God will pop up 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:47.160 in the middle of a struggle. God will pop up 0:32:47.200 --> 0:32:49.320 in the middle of a panic attack. Have you ever 0:32:49.360 --> 0:32:52.240 had God just pop up for you? Black boom, zam, 0:32:52.400 --> 0:32:55.800 wig wock. There it is, Sam. God just popped up. 0:32:55.960 --> 0:32:58.560 Looked like it was over looked like it was done, 0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:01.560 felt like it was over. He felt like it was done. 0:33:01.840 --> 0:33:06.400 Thank God popped up. He turned a grave into a garden. 0:33:06.880 --> 0:33:11.200 They were weeping for Lazarus, but Jesus popped up, and 0:33:11.400 --> 0:33:16.320 Lazarus popped up when he said his name. So we 0:33:16.440 --> 0:33:17.200 baptized her. 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:17.920 It to pop up. 0:33:18.200 --> 0:33:20.280 But she told me I haven't always been on such 0:33:20.320 --> 0:33:23.000 a good track. Listen what she told me. She said, 0:33:23.320 --> 0:33:26.640 I had opened several doors to the enemy through the 0:33:26.640 --> 0:33:29.000 course of my life, and because of that, I ended 0:33:29.040 --> 0:33:32.000 up on the run from many abusive situations, and one 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:36.960 in particular She didn't tell me what those situations were, 0:33:38.040 --> 0:33:39.719 but she told me that it got so bad for 0:33:39.760 --> 0:33:41.280 her that she was going. 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:43.280 From place to place to place. 0:33:43.360 --> 0:33:46.040 Now stop, you're thinking, well, my life isn't that bad, 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:49.479 is but we go from place to place to place. 0:33:50.960 --> 0:33:54.360 She was doing it physically, but some of us do 0:33:54.440 --> 0:33:59.200 it emotionally. From place, come on to place. I'm going 0:33:59.280 --> 0:34:02.840 to preach to everybody in this church will admit that 0:34:03.000 --> 0:34:05.200 is this, and it's that is this, and it's that 0:34:05.720 --> 0:34:13.279 is this and it's that. So she wrote me this 0:34:13.360 --> 0:34:14.960 letter and she gave it to me, and she said 0:34:15.320 --> 0:34:16.719 it got so bad at one point that I had 0:34:16.760 --> 0:34:19.040 to go live with a friend and my friend would 0:34:19.040 --> 0:34:22.400 always play Christian TV and it was so annoying. 0:34:22.400 --> 0:34:24.200 And one night I walked in and this guy was preaching. 0:34:24.880 --> 0:34:29.080 She was talking to me, and it really spoke to 0:34:29.120 --> 0:34:31.120 my situation, and it spoke so straight to me. I 0:34:31.160 --> 0:34:32.920 felt like I didn't even know what to call it, 0:34:32.960 --> 0:34:35.279 because I wasn't yet a Christian, but I felt something. 0:34:35.320 --> 0:34:37.520 I didn't know what it was called. I just felt something. 0:34:38.719 --> 0:34:40.320 She said I had to leave there suddenly, and I 0:34:40.360 --> 0:34:41.879 didn't get to ask my friend what was the name 0:34:41.920 --> 0:34:43.760 of that Preacher that we watched. 0:34:45.480 --> 0:34:48.239 She said, for three years, I would think about it. 0:34:48.239 --> 0:34:51.480 Well, I kept making the wrong decisions for three years, 0:34:52.800 --> 0:34:55.120 and my situation didn't get better. It got worse. 0:34:56.200 --> 0:34:57.759 Eventually, she said, I was in a car wreck and 0:34:57.800 --> 0:34:58.280 I wasn't. 0:34:58.120 --> 0:35:01.520 Able to walk for six months after it. She said. 0:35:01.560 --> 0:35:03.360 During the six months, I would try to watch the 0:35:03.400 --> 0:35:05.600 Christian TV anywhere I was, but I couldn't find that 0:35:05.640 --> 0:35:08.359 preacher again. And the other stuff was good, she said, 0:35:08.360 --> 0:35:11.439 but there was just she said. I wish I could 0:35:11.440 --> 0:35:12.799 say that it got better from there, but it didn't 0:35:12.800 --> 0:35:14.359 get better from there. As I went from safe house 0:35:14.400 --> 0:35:15.919 to safe house. At one point it got so bad 0:35:15.960 --> 0:35:17.759 that I thought, I don't even know if I want 0:35:17.760 --> 0:35:19.719 to go on living anymore. What is my life worth 0:35:19.760 --> 0:35:21.399 when I'm just going from place to place to place 0:35:21.440 --> 0:35:25.359 to place to place to place, she said. 0:35:25.360 --> 0:35:27.960 One night at the safe house, I just decided to. 0:35:27.880 --> 0:35:30.200 Turn on the old clock radio. It was the only 0:35:30.239 --> 0:35:33.279 thing in the room, and I turned it on. I 0:35:33.280 --> 0:35:36.080 wanted to hear some music, and some music started playing 0:35:36.080 --> 0:35:37.360 and it was very beautiful, but I didn't know what 0:35:37.400 --> 0:35:39.520 it was. And then they started saying the name of 0:35:39.560 --> 0:35:42.880 Jesus on the song she said, and I reached to 0:35:42.920 --> 0:35:45.440 grab for the dial because I was not trying to 0:35:45.480 --> 0:35:46.399 listen to Christian music. 0:35:48.040 --> 0:35:50.240 But before I touched the dial, the most beautiful. 0:35:50.080 --> 0:35:53.640 Thing that I've heard happened, and she played played the 0:35:53.640 --> 0:36:04.600 intro real quick to more than Able. She said, the 0:36:04.600 --> 0:36:07.600 most beautiful music that I've heard came on the radio, 0:36:08.719 --> 0:36:11.719 and she said, the presence of God looking back. I 0:36:11.719 --> 0:36:13.560 didn't know what to call it when the presence of 0:36:13.560 --> 0:36:15.560 God met me in that room, and I began to 0:36:15.560 --> 0:36:18.160 cry and I began to weep, and she said, I 0:36:18.200 --> 0:36:21.440 honestly feel that God came into my life when that 0:36:21.480 --> 0:36:26.279 song was playing, and it said, I've come a long way. 0:36:26.320 --> 0:36:30.959 I've seen how you work. There's so much goodness and grace, 0:36:31.040 --> 0:36:33.279 much more than I deserve. And I know who I am, 0:36:33.320 --> 0:36:35.600 and I can't stay where I'm at. We've come this 0:36:35.680 --> 0:36:37.359 far by faith, and I just can't turn back because 0:36:37.360 --> 0:36:46.600 you're not done with me yet. I listen, she said, 0:36:46.600 --> 0:36:48.920 I'm crying, and when the DJ comes on after the song, 0:36:48.960 --> 0:36:52.040 he says, that was elevation worship with more than Abel 0:36:53.000 --> 0:36:54.680 and she said, I thought to myself, what is an 0:36:54.719 --> 0:36:59.800 elevation worship? That's literally what she wrote me. In the note, 0:37:00.120 --> 0:37:02.560 she said, I thought to myself. This is her note. 0:37:02.719 --> 0:37:07.439 She said, I literally thought to myself, what is an 0:37:07.480 --> 0:37:11.880 elevation worship? I borrowed a computer from the counselor the 0:37:11.920 --> 0:37:18.120 next morning and googled what is an elevation worship? This 0:37:18.160 --> 0:37:21.600 is what Lich said in her letter to me, and 0:37:21.640 --> 0:37:25.400 I was led to the Elevation Church website. After years 0:37:26.440 --> 0:37:28.200 of looking for you, I found you. But I want 0:37:28.239 --> 0:37:30.960 to say something. Don't clap for that. It's not after 0:37:31.040 --> 0:37:33.680 years of looking for me. She found me. It's not 0:37:33.719 --> 0:37:38.359 about finding me at all. It's after years of running 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:53.200 God found her. I messed up by showing you the 0:37:53.200 --> 0:37:56.560 first picture before I read you the letter, because you 0:37:56.560 --> 0:37:59.319 would have just thought that she went like this and 0:37:59.480 --> 0:38:05.400 like this and like this and now she's home. But 0:38:05.480 --> 0:38:07.359 she told me that it was like this and like this, 0:38:07.560 --> 0:38:11.560 and like this and like this and like this, and 0:38:11.600 --> 0:38:23.080 then with a clock radio, the Lord found her. She said, 0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:27.320 she's doing good now. She said. The Lord is working 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:31.640 in her life. She said, she teaches at a Christian school. 0:38:35.200 --> 0:38:38.680 Not like this, but like this and like this and 0:38:38.760 --> 0:38:40.080 like this and like this and like this. 0:38:40.560 --> 0:38:43.640 I came to find somebody today who has been doing 0:38:43.680 --> 0:38:45.799 all of this and this and this and this and 0:38:45.840 --> 0:38:49.000 this and this and this and this and this and this, 0:38:50.080 --> 0:38:53.800 and I came with an announcement. The Lord is in 0:38:53.920 --> 0:39:04.960 this place, and it's messy. I know it is. But 0:39:05.040 --> 0:39:08.680 we're celebrating a holiday called Christmas in a few weeks. 0:39:09.440 --> 0:39:11.880 And it kind of proves that the greatest miracles start 0:39:11.920 --> 0:39:16.600 in the messiest situations. After all, why will millions of 0:39:16.640 --> 0:39:19.040 people sing all around the world of a baby who 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:21.719 was born in a manger, who was really the king 0:39:21.760 --> 0:39:24.520 of kings. Now you may say, what does that have 0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:27.239 to do with me? Because I see you trying to 0:39:27.280 --> 0:39:30.160 make your next step. I saw it when I was 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:33.960 praying about this message. I saw people like Jacob who 0:39:34.040 --> 0:39:36.919 know I have made this mistake and I don't really 0:39:37.040 --> 0:39:39.080 can't go back to where I came from. I can't 0:39:39.360 --> 0:39:41.640 really figure out where I'm supposed to God? What is 0:39:41.719 --> 0:39:43.959 my next step? And the Lord said it is going 0:39:44.040 --> 0:39:50.560 to be your next messy step. And what messy means 0:39:50.680 --> 0:39:52.880 is you're not going to know if it's the right one. Oh, 0:39:52.880 --> 0:39:55.600 you'll look back and you'll say, this was my path, 0:39:59.360 --> 0:40:02.080 But what is it explained as a path? Later? Was 0:40:02.160 --> 0:40:07.000 really experienced as a problem in real time. Everything that 0:40:07.040 --> 0:40:09.400 God ever did for me that later I could be like. 0:40:09.719 --> 0:40:13.839 And then God directed my path. It was really this 0:40:13.920 --> 0:40:16.520 and this and this and this and this. I don't 0:40:16.560 --> 0:40:19.520 know what kind of day you're having today. You might 0:40:19.560 --> 0:40:22.160 be doing like this and your life. That's wonderful for 0:40:22.239 --> 0:40:24.960 that lady, But what does it mean for me? I'll 0:40:24.960 --> 0:40:27.160 tell you what it means for you. It means that 0:40:27.239 --> 0:40:30.520 you cannot forget the God who brought you this far 0:40:30.960 --> 0:40:37.839 when you remember that you started at rock bottom. You 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:42.120 can't come all this way and say look what I did. No, 0:40:42.400 --> 0:40:45.360 if it had not been for the Lord, come on, 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:49.080 if it had not been for the Lord on my side, 0:40:49.200 --> 0:40:53.240 I would be I would be down, I would be over. 0:40:54.440 --> 0:41:03.440 But God is Abel. But God is Abel. So you 0:41:03.560 --> 0:41:07.640 have Jacob lying on the ground, and you have God 0:41:07.800 --> 0:41:12.160 speaking to Jacob, and you have both things happening simultaneously. 0:41:12.800 --> 0:41:15.600 You have the nation of Israel in this man who 0:41:15.680 --> 0:41:19.400 is lying on the ground with no one, with nothing. 0:41:19.680 --> 0:41:23.399 God is speaking of his descendants and he doesn't even 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:27.239 have one child. God is speaking of his future and 0:41:27.280 --> 0:41:30.840 he doesn't even have a single friend. God is speaking 0:41:30.880 --> 0:41:33.920 to you about things that you can't see in your life. 0:41:34.200 --> 0:41:38.120 But notice what verse fourteen says. It says that there 0:41:38.200 --> 0:41:41.120 was a ladder that started on the earth and went 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:43.680 to heaven, and a voice from the Lord who stood 0:41:43.719 --> 0:41:46.600 over it, and he said, your descendants will be like 0:41:47.239 --> 0:41:48.440 the dust. 0:41:51.080 --> 0:42:04.080 God does stuff in dust. God does stuff in dust. 0:42:05.400 --> 0:42:07.160 Y'all, I'm having a moment right now where I know 0:42:07.200 --> 0:42:12.839 I'm preaching to a lish I am preaching to somebody 0:42:13.600 --> 0:42:16.520 who is going to write me a year from now 0:42:17.600 --> 0:42:22.040 and say I was in the dust. Well, that's how 0:42:22.080 --> 0:42:25.480 your whole life got started. Did you ever read the 0:42:25.520 --> 0:42:35.360 Book of Genesis. We talk about destiny. I'm talking about destiny, huh. 0:42:35.400 --> 0:42:38.360 I'm talking about God knows the plans he hasks for you, 0:42:38.960 --> 0:42:41.480 plans to give you a hope in a future. I'm 0:42:41.520 --> 0:42:44.240 talking about God speaks to the youth that he formed 0:42:44.280 --> 0:42:47.600 from the dust, and he breathed the breath of life 0:42:47.680 --> 0:42:50.319 into him, and he formed you from the dust. And 0:42:50.360 --> 0:42:54.120 now you are following the God who formed you from 0:42:54.200 --> 0:42:57.680 the dust. And it's going to be messy. Sometimes it 0:42:57.840 --> 0:43:01.640 was messy for the disciples following Jesus. Air up and 0:43:01.719 --> 0:43:04.440 we're down, and we're here, and we're there and it's 0:43:04.480 --> 0:43:07.880 working and it's not, and Hosanna and crucify him and 0:43:07.920 --> 0:43:10.440 we get it and we don't and we understand and 0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:17.920 we're confused. And that's okay because God leads people through 0:43:18.000 --> 0:43:24.160 messy next steps, just a messy next step. It doesn't 0:43:24.200 --> 0:43:26.759 have to be a beautiful next step. You don't have 0:43:26.800 --> 0:43:29.640 to have a choreographed next step. You don't have to 0:43:29.719 --> 0:43:33.640 dance into your future. You can just absolutely, Okay, God, 0:43:34.560 --> 0:43:37.280 I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna call it Christian counselor. 0:43:38.320 --> 0:43:40.920 I don't even know if this's the right one. If 0:43:40.960 --> 0:43:43.799 they're weird, I'll fire him and get another one. There's 0:43:43.800 --> 0:43:46.960 a whole lot of counselors, and chat GIVT doesn't count 0:43:47.000 --> 0:43:50.319 as a counselor. So I'm gonna get a real human being, 0:43:51.239 --> 0:43:56.439 a real human being, because I'm gonna take that messy step. See, 0:43:56.440 --> 0:43:59.279 a controlled step is you keep trying to deal with 0:43:59.320 --> 0:44:02.000 things that the love well, you can see things. But 0:44:02.080 --> 0:44:04.040 what if the next step for you is that God 0:44:04.080 --> 0:44:08.040 wants to show you a staircase. Remember, God can do 0:44:08.160 --> 0:44:11.239 more while you're sleeping than you can do while you're striving. 0:44:11.800 --> 0:44:15.359 It is not It is not you figuring this out. 0:44:15.800 --> 0:44:20.719 It is you following Jesus into the mess. When Jesus 0:44:20.800 --> 0:44:25.400 called his disciples, he called one disciple named Nathaniel, and 0:44:25.520 --> 0:44:28.440 Nathaniel was confused. He was like, how do you know me? 0:44:28.800 --> 0:44:30.920 How do you see me under the fig tree? How 0:44:30.920 --> 0:44:33.759 did you know who I was? And in John chapter one, 0:44:33.880 --> 0:44:37.160 verse fifty Jesus said to Nathaniel, you are amazed and 0:44:37.200 --> 0:44:39.799 believed because I saw you under the fig tree. You 0:44:39.840 --> 0:44:41.520 will see greater things than that. 0:44:41.719 --> 0:44:43.759 Watch this skinner verse fifty one. 0:44:43.840 --> 0:44:47.840 He said, very truly, I tell you will see heaven 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:54.240 open and you will see the angels of God. Watch 0:44:54.320 --> 0:44:59.040 this flashback Genesis twenty eight. He said, you will see 0:44:59.360 --> 0:45:06.000 the Angel of God Us sending and descending, not on 0:45:06.160 --> 0:45:09.719 Jacob's ladder. But Jesus said, you will see the angels 0:45:10.120 --> 0:45:14.759 Us sending from a versa voice and descending on the 0:45:14.760 --> 0:45:19.479 son of Man. Who's the son of man? Jesus, who 0:45:19.600 --> 0:45:23.920 is the ladder that appeared to Jacob in the wilderness. Jesus, 0:45:24.600 --> 0:45:26.680 who is the one who is calling to you in 0:45:26.719 --> 0:45:29.600 this season of your life, saying we can do this, 0:45:30.160 --> 0:45:32.880 we can move forward in this. And I came to 0:45:32.960 --> 0:45:36.320 declare to you that it is not your next step 0:45:36.600 --> 0:45:40.280 that matters. It is the step that God has already 0:45:40.320 --> 0:45:54.319 made toward you. It's a mistake, it's a middle and 0:45:54.360 --> 0:45:57.839 it's a move. But it wasn't Jacob's move that saved him. 0:45:58.360 --> 0:46:03.799 It was God's move. God is moving in your situation. Man. 0:46:05.239 --> 0:46:07.279 You say I can't see him, that's because he puts 0:46:07.320 --> 0:46:12.360 you to sleep to do it. You say I can't 0:46:12.520 --> 0:46:16.680 see it, that's because it's covered in dust. But whether 0:46:16.719 --> 0:46:21.920 it's Genesis or whether it's Jesus who been down in 0:46:21.960 --> 0:46:24.280 the dirt when a woman who committed adultery was about 0:46:24.280 --> 0:46:30.640 to be stone, God does stuff in the dust. Your 0:46:30.680 --> 0:46:37.600 next messy step, that's all it's going to take. It's 0:46:37.760 --> 0:46:43.040 just your next messy step because God has already done 0:46:43.800 --> 0:46:46.239 the real work. Now you will know what it is 0:46:46.280 --> 0:46:47.960 today that the Lord is speaking to you about. How 0:46:47.960 --> 0:46:49.719 could I now? God? 0:46:50.840 --> 0:46:52.440 You will know the place in your life where he 0:46:52.440 --> 0:46:53.040 has felt like. 0:46:55.520 --> 0:46:58.000 I feel like I'm speaking to somebody though, who you 0:46:58.160 --> 0:47:00.920 thought you had arrived and now you've been in a 0:47:00.960 --> 0:47:07.640 setback and you're surprised by it a little bit. Well, surprise, 0:47:08.960 --> 0:47:13.200 God is in the setback too, because this is this 0:47:13.320 --> 0:47:20.560 is this is this is this everyone's standing all over 0:47:20.600 --> 0:47:23.640 this auditorium and nobody moving to leave at this moment. 0:47:26.480 --> 0:47:29.399 Where did the Lord find you today? 0:47:30.640 --> 0:47:33.719 Was it like this where you're like, yo, man, I 0:47:33.760 --> 0:47:36.800 don't even see a way forward? Or is it like 0:47:36.920 --> 0:47:38.480 Jacob who should have been at the top of his 0:47:38.600 --> 0:47:41.520 life but was empty inside. 0:47:42.160 --> 0:47:44.560 This is a moment for you to decide. 0:47:45.320 --> 0:47:50.120 Is he your God? And do you trust him? In 0:47:50.239 --> 0:47:53.080 verse fifteen, he told Jacob, I am with you, and 0:47:53.120 --> 0:47:55.600 I will be with you wherever you go, and I 0:47:55.600 --> 0:47:58.560 will bring you back to this land. I will not 0:47:58.760 --> 0:48:03.320 leave you until I have done what I have promised you. 0:48:03.320 --> 0:48:04.719 You know, the Lord didn't say he was going to 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:06.560 do everything that we prayed for. He said he would 0:48:06.600 --> 0:48:14.799 do everything that he promised. Who is that for? And 0:48:15.880 --> 0:48:17.719 you think for you to take the next step, God 0:48:17.760 --> 0:48:20.880 has to answer your last prayer. No, he's already done enough. 0:48:21.760 --> 0:48:23.319 And if the next step he called you to take 0:48:23.440 --> 0:48:26.920 is just stand still, then you do that. Because the 0:48:27.000 --> 0:48:35.080 Lord is in this place. Father, I've administered your word 0:48:35.880 --> 0:48:38.239 with the grace and conviction with which you ministered it 0:48:38.239 --> 0:48:40.720 to me. Now put it in your hands. 0:48:40.800 --> 0:48:47.120 These are your children, these people, they're precious to you. 0:48:47.120 --> 0:48:48.839 You see where they're running to, you see what they're 0:48:48.880 --> 0:48:52.880 running from, and you know where you're leading them. I 0:48:52.920 --> 0:48:55.480 believe that your hand is on each and every one 0:48:55.520 --> 0:48:58.560 of them, none too dusty, none too dirty, none too messy, 0:48:59.200 --> 0:49:02.520 none too far gone. I believe there are some people 0:49:02.520 --> 0:49:05.520 God who have accomplished a lot in earthly standards. 0:49:06.160 --> 0:49:08.600 There is a spiritual vacuum, and they're starting to feel it. 0:49:08.680 --> 0:49:13.279 Right about now, Lord, would you meet that person in 0:49:13.360 --> 0:49:13.880 that place? 0:49:15.800 --> 0:49:19.160 And there's somebody listening to me God at a point. 0:49:18.960 --> 0:49:22.200 In between, like ah, I just don't feel like I 0:49:22.239 --> 0:49:25.080 know what God has called me to do next. I 0:49:25.120 --> 0:49:29.719 pray that heavens would be open over them, even if 0:49:29.719 --> 0:49:32.600 it's just for thirty seconds while I'm praying this prayer, 0:49:33.800 --> 0:49:37.319 and they would know that angels are coming up and 0:49:37.400 --> 0:49:41.120 down for the high times, for the low times, that 0:49:41.200 --> 0:49:45.160 this staircase, this step did not start with them, as 0:49:45.200 --> 0:49:48.680 started with you. And now Father, we commit our lives 0:49:48.760 --> 0:49:52.920 to your grace. Like Jacob said, I will make you 0:49:53.000 --> 0:49:57.880 my God, I will follow you forward. I thank you, 0:49:57.920 --> 0:49:59.640 Lord for what you know about them that they don't 0:49:59.640 --> 0:50:01.319 know about. I thank you for what you see in 0:50:01.360 --> 0:50:03.600 them that they've lost sight of. I thank you for 0:50:03.640 --> 0:50:06.919 what you're doing that I just can't perceive. Now, lift 0:50:06.960 --> 0:50:08.840 your hands just a little bit and give that situation 0:50:08.960 --> 0:50:09.480 to the Lord. 0:50:10.120 --> 0:50:14.080 Surrender it. You know what it is. I want you 0:50:14.120 --> 0:50:14.880 to have a strategy. 0:50:14.880 --> 0:50:16.279 I want you to have a plan, but I want 0:50:16.320 --> 0:50:20.080 you to have His presence, so you could just surrender 0:50:20.120 --> 0:50:23.239 it to him. Every time in the church I didn't 0:50:23.280 --> 0:50:26.720 know what to do, I did this, and God did something. 0:50:26.880 --> 0:50:28.560 Every time with my kids, when I don't know what 0:50:28.600 --> 0:50:30.279 to do, I do this, and I trust God to 0:50:30.320 --> 0:50:32.560 do something every time in my life when I don't 0:50:32.600 --> 0:50:36.400 know what to do, I do this. Because it's not 0:50:36.520 --> 0:50:41.359 strategy that blesses your life. It is surrender. Father. 0:50:41.440 --> 0:50:43.640 You see all these hands lifted to you right now. 0:50:44.840 --> 0:50:49.719 Everything they're caring, every burden that they bear, we place 0:50:49.760 --> 0:50:53.640 it on Jesus. We see angels ascending and descending on 0:50:53.680 --> 0:50:58.280 the son of Man. Jesus, the burden bear, the shame remover, 0:50:59.239 --> 0:51:02.480 the way maker, the God who is always with us. 0:51:03.719 --> 0:51:06.319 Put your hands down for a moment. If your head's 0:51:06.320 --> 0:51:08.520 bowed and your eyes closed, is there one here today, 0:51:08.560 --> 0:51:11.759 even just one who God brought you here and met 0:51:11.800 --> 0:51:14.759 you here? Because you need to give your life to 0:51:14.880 --> 0:51:18.680 Jesus Christ. Maybe you've been running from God, or maybe 0:51:18.760 --> 0:51:22.560 you've never really even stopped to consider it. But I 0:51:22.600 --> 0:51:24.319 believe that God brought you to this moment so that 0:51:24.360 --> 0:51:29.440 you could give him your heart. Right now, in the 0:51:29.480 --> 0:51:33.759 stillness of this moment, I want to lead you in 0:51:33.800 --> 0:51:36.239 a prayer, and if you are ready to give your 0:51:36.239 --> 0:51:38.960 life to Jesus Christ, I want you to repeat this 0:51:39.040 --> 0:51:41.040 prayer after me. Now, the prayer is not magical. The 0:51:41.080 --> 0:51:44.600 prayer does not save you. God saves you. The Bible 0:51:44.640 --> 0:51:46.720 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus 0:51:46.800 --> 0:51:48.799 is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him 0:51:48.840 --> 0:51:52.120 from the dead, you will be saved. So right now, 0:51:52.239 --> 0:51:54.160 this is your day, and God is calling you home. 0:51:54.400 --> 0:51:56.360 I want you to repeat after me. We're going to 0:51:56.400 --> 0:51:58.880 pray it out loud as a church family for the 0:51:58.880 --> 0:52:01.680 benefit of those who are coming to God. Repeat after me, 0:52:01.920 --> 0:52:06.720 Heavenly Father, I am a sinner in need of a savior, 0:52:07.719 --> 0:52:12.200 and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of 0:52:12.200 --> 0:52:17.520 God and the Savior of the world. And today I 0:52:17.640 --> 0:52:22.000 make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe he 0:52:22.080 --> 0:52:27.239 died that I would be forgiven and rose again to 0:52:27.320 --> 0:52:32.560 give me life. I receive this new life. This is 0:52:33.440 --> 0:52:38.360 my new beginning. I am a child of God. On 0:52:38.440 --> 0:52:40.600 the counter, three, shoot your hand up high in the air. 0:52:40.600 --> 0:52:42.680 If you prayed that one. Two chree. 0:52:42.719 --> 0:52:43.880 I want to celebrate with you. 0:52:44.719 --> 0:52:51.960 Praise the Lord. That's awesome. Less God, come on, let's go. 0:52:52.120 --> 0:52:57.640 That's amazing. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to 0:52:57.680 --> 0:53:00.560 those of you who give generously to this ministry. Is 0:53:00.600 --> 0:53:03.600 because of you that this ministry is possible. You can 0:53:03.640 --> 0:53:06.480 click the link in the description to give now or 0:53:06.600 --> 0:53:10.920 visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information and 0:53:10.960 --> 0:53:14.160 if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can 0:53:14.200 --> 0:53:16.640 share it with your friends. You can click the share button, 0:53:16.680 --> 0:53:19.120 take a screenshot and share it on your social stories 0:53:19.120 --> 0:53:20.799 and tag us at Elevation Church. 0:53:20.880 --> 0:53:21.880 Thanks again for listening. 0:53:21.920 --> 0:53:27.520 God bless you.